Quantum of Solace-First look

We're suckers for James Bond games, and with the sheer bulk of them in the last generation, they have kind of gone from OK, to awful to acceptable and back to bad again. Nothing has created quite the effect that the fabled Goldeneye on the N64 did.

Well, after changing hands a fair few times, the next game based on the film, Quantum of Solace looks the business. Using the COD4 engine, everything looks superb at the moment, with destructible environments and generally great effects that were first seen in COD4. Anyway, enough talking, take a look at this video from Gametrailers and see what you think, I'm actually looking forward to this Bond game.

The Next Level Update - 07/07/08

After a crazy weekend, here's the TNL update.

Noal Gallagher blames game for knife crime

Speaking to BBC newsbeat, oasis frontman Noal has claimed that rising knife crime  amongst young people can be blamed on yes, you guessed it, videogames. Nevermind the fact that many other forms of media promote violence, Gallagher says that violent video games desensitises young people to violence. He does not mention any particular game but says it is 'very, very scary'. I can't blame him for making his anti knife crime views known, what with a spate of horrible stabbing's recently, but I believe there are other things to link it too rather than video games, society in general would be one. This mainly comes from when he was in Liverpool recently and saw news stories about it every night. he goes on to say

"People say it's through violent video games and I guess that's got something to do with it, if kids are sitting up all night smoking super skunk and they become so desensitised to crime because they're playing these video games...".

PSP holds strong in Japan

Following a bit of a mad week for Sony, good news for the PSP over in the land of the  rising sun. Facing increased competition from the Nintendo consoles, the PSP has managed to hold on to the top spot, down just 500 units on the previous weeks. This may show an increase in popularity for the PSP as a platform, with quality releases such as Final Fantasy VII crisis core and Japan favourite monster hunter boosting sales. Following the massive boost of sales of the PS3 following the release of MGS4, sales of the platform have decreased again, but Sony will still probably be quite happy, as even they have admitted that the PSP is 'doing better than we hoped'

PSP - 58,861
Nintendo DS - 48,884
Wii - 48,480
PlayStation 3 - 17,973
PlayStation 2 - 7,673
Xbox 360 - 5,104

Sales data compiled by Media Create.

J Allard CXO

Poor J Allard, after been shifted from one project to another, one being the Zune (poor guy) he has now been given the fantastically made up role of...Chief Experience Officer (CXO). What that means is that

"As Chief Experience Officer (CXO) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), J Allard is  responsible for the technical architecture and user experiences related to products and services of the Entertainment and Devices (E&D) division. Allard works closely with technical leaders across the company to align E&D product teams with Microsoft's overall services strategy and product architecture, and drives the technical and design agenda to deliver Connected Entertainment experiences for consumers. With a unified approach and his personal passion for the possibilities of digital entertainment, Allard manages the E&D design group and also oversees an incubation team that scouts new opportunities for the division."

That was a lot, don't know whether that means he's going to be back into the Xbox biz, where he did a eccentrically good job, and developed a rather strange cult following. We need more bald dudes on stage now Phil has left Sony.

No More Brain Training!

Nintendo have announced they have no plans to make more Brain Training games , down to the fact the first two still make loads of money. Speaking to trade magazine MCV, Nintendo marketing director Dawn Paine said

"The idea behind More Brain Training is that people can move across to it once they have played the first one, and vice versa, and are looking for new challenges and training exercises,"

Basically, that because the Brain Training games are still doing so well in the charts, it seems silly to do any R&D into making any more. Mind you, with Dr. Kawishima (sp!) himself being ripped off by it all (apparently) I'm sure he's not keen for any more to appear.

GTA crime spree

Quite a widely reported story, as the Internet loves flaming on idiots, and who can  blame them when they are this idiotic. Siding with Jack Thompson and co, six clever teenagers have gone on a late night crime spree in Nassau county, New York. there first attempt at game emulation had them mugging someone, robbed a motorist and smashed a van with a bat, wow they even kept with GTA weapons.

"It was determined that they were emulating the character in that Grand Theft Auto game, going on a crime spree,"

Nassau's Det. Sgt. Anthony Repalone told press, following them admitting that they were trying to portray those out of GTA. What a clever way to spend your time, go back and play the actual game, rather than attempting to imitate it.

The Next Level Update! 30/06/08

Once the Internet connection finally returned to my house (after making sure we'd defiantly paid the bill), I got a chance to look at some of the news that people are talking about.

 

Diablo Returns!

Blizzard have shown a Diablo III teaser trailer at their Paris conference over the weekend, and its got Diablo fans HYPED! The game appears to be using a 3D engine, but locked down at a isometric perspective, in keeping with tradition, as your can see in the video below. Taken from CVG here is a list of what we know.

UPDATE: Here's a list of what we know so far:

• Set twenty years after the events of Lord of Destruction and will be a similar length to Diablo II
• 3D game engine, but locked in isometric viewpoint
• Will be available for both PC and Mac. No console.
• Two classes confirmed - the Barbarian and new class the Witch Doctor, who can control minds and use pets. There is currently five.
• Up to eight players co-operatively at present. Co-op played via battle.net
• Diablo III will concentrate more on quests, story & events that previously.
• WoW-like hotbar implemented. Is possible to play just using mouse.

Looks pretty good so far!

Spore creatures hit 1 million

In just a week since its release, the Spore Creature creator has seen users create over 1 million creatures. How many of those are creatures with questionable design choices remains un-answered, but millionth creatures was just an average bug thing. A statement from Maxis' executive producer Lucy Bradshaw said,

"Maxis is excited, humbled and inspired by the explosion of creativity that we've seen with the Spore Creature Creator online," "I'm amazed at the creations I see getting uploaded to the Sporepedia, whether it's a realistic looking bird or animal, a 10-eyed alien, or something completely bizarre and unexpected like a creature that looks like a motorcycle." 

No mention of a certain type of creature then.... Spore is due for release on September 5th in the UK.

Someone's busy...

Apparently, EA have stated that currently 5 Battlefield games are in development. Battlefield Heroes' (the mostly free online shooter) executive producer Ben Cousins has spoke at the Paris GDC about their being various games in development, however most are being kept underwraps.

"We've got five [Battlefield] titles in development, which is more than you'd expect."
"We're actually developing a battlefield game with Neowiz for the Korean market and separate from Heroes,"

So that leaves 3, which many people are guessing means different battlefield games for each of the key home platforms, which means that they must either be substantially different, or are simply putting a spin on things. In other Battlefield news, Bad Company was released, and not long after people wanted to take the mainly online shooter online, they began complaining about dodgy servers for the Xbox 360 version of the game, including connecting to game and stat tracking.

Their fool proof method which is not really fix, more something to give them more time to fix it, is to turn your 360 off for 20 min's, then back on again. Almost as sound advice as Rockstar's guide to getting GTA IV to work on the PS3....

In other news...

Xbox 360

Microsoft are considering family friendly Halo games following some rather odd questions in a recent market survey. Box art has been released for Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts (erm, woo) and the 360 DRM tool for those with new consoles has been released, letting you play all that content you bought a while ago! Other than that and general game news, still a bit quiet on the 360 front.

PS3 and PSP

However, Sony are really beginning to show off their in-game XMB, which is due for  release some time in July, with a new video on the PS blog showing off the features, why on earth it took so long I don't know. Kaz 'Riiidddgge Racer' Hirai (sorry, I'm never going to be able to let that drop) has announced that as well as a Wii style weather and news channel things being released, there will also be a video store, which will be eventually cross-compatible with the PSP. There is also news of a few more games being ported for development, yet hiding behind all this, they released a statement saying that although it has begun to decrease, losses are still $1.15 Billion on the Playstation section....ouch...And God Of War 3 is apparently ready to show off at E3, which many speculate is the game that the BBC blogger caused such a stir about by claiming it was the best looking game he'd ever seen at a Sony event, amongst a few other people.

Wii and DS

Summer line up was revealed and its quite a long list, though I'm struggling to pick out many massive games in the line up, apart from of course...Kung Fu Panda and Pimp my ride....erm. Anyway, head over here to see the list, as its quite long! 2K are going to be using Havok physics for the Wii and Castlevania Wii is a 3D beat 'em up...randomly.

The Next Level Update- 23/06/08

Yeah, it's that time again, to find all those random news stories that should be in this blog, and put em in it.

PES 09 comes out of nowhere

Quite a few of us were thinking that PES had gone into hiding after quite a poor showing last year, 08 was far better than the next-Gen versions of PES 6, but various issues plagued not only the PS3 version, but 360 as well. The developers reportedly put this down to their current engine they were working on did not agree with next-Gen hardware.

But PES has recently arrived again, with its 09 edition apparently having massively improved graphics, new moves, better control elements and key online features, mind you, having a online feature that worked and did not require about 15 different ID's as most Konami games do would be a start.

Knifes linked to games

The well known quiet and rational Boris Johnson (.....) now the Mayor of London, has  managed to link games with yet another form of violence. Nevermind the fact that society in the UK has gone down the pan, he claims that as well as 'drug addled celebrities', violent videogames are also to blame for the rise in the knife culture.

Of course, this is not he first time Mr. Johnson has come out against video games, he wrote a piece in The Telegraph last year claiming it was "time to garrote the Game Boy and paralyze the PlayStation". Perhaps so, but perhaps focusing on the more underline causes of violent crime by youths, as in maybe the fact they know they nearly always get away with it. Actually no, scrap that, lets go play Manhunt.

Spore porn is banned

I'm not surprised, but not long after the Spore Creature Creator was released in order  to help populate the Spore world before the game's release later this year, various creatures with questionable shapes started appearing. Partly fuelled by PC Gamers attempt at creating one, people went mad creating creatures in the shape of everything from swear words to appendages. EA have now taken action, sending emails to users who have abused the T&C's, saying their account has been flagged and could possibly be banned. So it doesn't look like a nation of porn stars will be taking over the galaxy...sorry guys..

Stuff Section

PS3 and PSP Stuff

Quite a lot for the PS3 this week, with firmware 2.4 being confirmed for definite meaning in-game XMB and trophies on their way, and 2.36 making everything a bit more stable...Also, PS3 is storming sales in Japan, mainly down to release of MGS4, SCEE president David Reeves has said that the PS3 will eventually outstrip the PS2 lifetime sales and for Sony, restoring game and TV profits is a priority. Shame, not too much game news.

360 News

Apparently, Command and Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath appears to be coming along well, the world debut of Cod5: World Of War was released on XBLM and MS want to be the first with Xbox 3, 720 or whatever they are going to call it. Their E3 line up has also been leaked, with 'Lips' a Singstar esque karaoke game amongst the games going to be on show.

Wii and DS Stuff

Quite a few new titles for DS have been shown, such as Ninja Gaiden DS, Bleach: Dark Souls and a few others. A Mum has developed a screen protector to save TV's from flying Wiimotes after seeing hers being destroyed and more Mums have gone crazy in Asda for a cooking game for the DS, which contains over 250 menu ideas and step by step recipes. They have sold around 10,000 copies in the first hour and apparently its still selling really well. The future for DS?

A gamers trip to the supermarket

Went to [insert brand name here] today, mainly to get supplies for the 24 hour deathathon on Tuesday, but I also, being a gamer, a took a look at some of the games they had on show. Oh they were classics. It makes me laugh as someone who knows a little bit about games (not that I'm special or anything, most people would be interested) when good games, but old ones, are priced at similar prices, or lower, as those made on a shoestring budget with all the programming prowess of a kitten.

For example, on one particular PC game section, both Rome: Total War, Medieval: Total  War (not the newer one) and STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl were priced at around £5-6, which is pretty good deals if you don't own them, especially the total war games, but below that, 'AIR FORCE [[LOCK ON]]' (yes, was wrote like that) with cover art which would deemed below standard by a  nursery assistant, was priced at £8. This may not seem much, but I remember seeing it a while ago, priced even higher.

A problem that that I and many others seem to suffer from is a deep feeling of sadness when games we know are excellent titles, Final Fantasy XII and Okami and hidden behind 'Hard Rock Casino' and 'Super Kart F1', with a price point which matches them. Why, why, why. But, although we are talking supermarkets here, and I expect to see budget crap around every turn, but this is also becoming the case in mainstream game shops.

Can this be blamed on the Wii's casual influence. Partly I suppose, as games are generally being sold to more and more people, and this includes junk like Wii Party. I was going to buy some and see what they were actually like, but would prefer to wait till, I don't know, a good game comes out perhaps.

The Next Level Update- 16/06/08

How many of us missed Fathers day....I almost did...whoops, but with MGS4 coming out, who needs Father's when we have Snake..Snake?...SNAAAAAAKKEEEE!

COD5 unveiled, the World is at War...again...

COD4 was a awesome game, no question about it, released at the back end of a very strong year, it boasted mulitplayer more popular than Halo 3 and a intense, but short single player campaign. But, people were left dismayed with the reports that Treyarch, who to be fair are good developers, were going to handle COD5 and take it back to WWII.

Me, being as open minded as possible (WTF Fools, teh cod4 iz rad!!!!11111) decided that I was just going to see what they come up with. CoD 5: World At War is taking us to a new theatre of war (one that was already seen in MoH: Pacific Assault or whatever it was) focused around the pacific theatre and the Russians moving into Germany. Treyarch apparently have decided to mess with the AI of the enemy Japanese infantry, by making them much more terrifying to fight against. Treyarch have almost come out and said it is a survival horror shooter, which sounds a bit Wolfenstein-ish to me.

But, the senior producer for the game, Noah Heller has said that the game has to redefine and stun the shooter genre, otherwise people will lose interest in the game and it could possibly harm the franchise . It's promising a similar but more balanced mulitplayer modes, but I'm unsure how this could possibly move the series forward in the leap which Cod4 did.

Sam's going all quiet

With Ubisoft's 360 exclusive Splinter Cell: Conviction been in production for such a long time, for a while it had completely vanished from my mind, which is not hard to do I accept. But Sarcastic Gamer have recently reported that they have heard from various people at Ubisoft that cult actor Michael Ironside, Mr. Gruff who voiced Fisher in all the previous games has quietly been given the boot. Many comments on websites reporting on this have been mostly negative, many comparing it to David Hayter not doing Solid Snake....unthinkable, but no official word from Ubisoft yet, maybe Sam is now so stealthy, he has no tongue, rendering his ability to interrogate eastern European militia in perfect English useless.

Jaffe unleashes anger at Nintendo

No, jafa cakes have not had a uprising against Nintendo for failing to make a game about them (Cake or biscuit?) but David Jaffe, outspoken God Of War creator has wrote on his personal blog some strong words against Nintendo and their marketing person Laurent Fischer. Fischer claimed in an interview with Edge that it was only 'geeks and otaku' that wanted more storage space in Wii, outraging many Nintendo fans and non-fans. In the rant, which refers to Fischer as a she (I thought she was a guy, but that's beside the point), Jaffe wrote:

"Ok, so if this is true [the geek statement from Edge 190], it's really, really sad.
And not so much because Nintendo seems to be telling a chunk of its loyal fanbase to go f**k itself, but because it's just reeks of junior high school vibe immaturity bullshit."

I like Nintendo. And I LOVE old Nintendo. And both old and new Nintendo have brought SO MUCH to this industry that they SHOULD be proud and excited and even a little cocky when it comes to their amazing accomplishments... But this statement, especially coming from a marketing person, reeks of one of two things:
a- arrogance at a level that should make Nintendo- if this statement reflects the core of the company- very ashamed.

b- a marketing person who has no real clue about games and thinks she's being cute and coy by dissing the 'geeks' cause she thinks the mainstream loves them now....if this is the case, she really needs someone to sit her down and explain to her which side her f***ing toast has been buttered on for years and will eventually get back to being buttered on...."

Not the words of a happy man I believe. My opinion on this is quite simple and has been like this from day one of the Wii launch. When asked by non-gaming friends and relatives about it, I always said it was a brilliant machine, and Nintendo are very clever, but for longevity, it's not for me, there just ain't enough quality games on it. But, this is someone who updated their PS3 HDD to the maximum capacity, so fit quite snugly into Nintendo's 'Geek' category. but honestly, what do marketing people know!

Wow that was a long section...Other Stuff

MGS4 is out!

As you may of guessed Metal Gear Solid 4 is out, I'm almost to the end of it, minus a few mammoth cutscenes, and so far, it's been everything I expected and so much more. And it's not just me who thinks that. Browsing round a few websites, the game has been very well received, especially by fans of the series, who praise Hideo Kojima for wrapping the story up in the best way possible. Though it appears that many supposedly 'joke' forum threads, such as looking at the MGS3 characters and how they fit into the later game, has come true, clever work Kojima.

EA sued

Electronic Arts has been hit with a lawsuit against it for blatant anticompetitive conduct' in the American football genre especially. This is mainly down to the fact that EA has bought every license under the sun, meaning that if you want to play a licensed game, you need a EA one. We'll keep an eye on how this develops.

 

That's enough for this one, be sure to be around Tuesday and Wednesday for the GT4 endurance race feature blogs, and a podcast.

Kick the ball with 500% more realism...

It's begun again, the annual FIFA announcement comes as FIFA 09 is coming with 250 key improvements following a first look from Gamemaster Magazine. The games due out in Autumn, the usual time for the FIFA and PES releases are. But this year, with it being very close last year, will FIFA overtake PES as the 'Footballers Football game'.

Many of the improvements for FIFA don't seem to just be the usual gimmick they bring in with each game, some work better than others. They seem to be generally improvements in making the game of footy better, for example an increased responsiveness, quicker, soother passing and various other animation improvements, to make the players appear less like bow legged puppets and more like actual humans.

So, can this overtake what many people presume to be the perfect footballing game series, Pro Evolution Soccer. Well personally after playing PES 2008 to death, I think it can beat it. I was one of the poor people who played PES 08 on PS3, and it was a hobbled mess of slow FPS. With this FIFA promising better animation and collision, that actually relates to the player, this could well knock PES of its shaky top spot.

I player UEFA Euro 2008 recently and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. As I've always played PES, and thought FIFA was a complete waste of time, it seemed that UEFA was as good, if not better than PES. Now obviously, if they have rebuilt the engine and completely gave the interface a redesign, PES may be OK, but I reckon with the improvements, such as my favourite 'realistic tumbling' (where players fall over basically) FIFA could really give it a run for its money.

FIFA 09 will be coming this Autumn, on every possible platform in existence, possibly even the Atari 2600

The Next Level Update 01/06/08

Its the first of June, which typically means the weather is going to start acting more like summer and less like a mutant offspring of spring and autumn. But summer means a slowdown in gaming news....Does it?

Oh please, shut up

Konami have told everyone who has been harping on about the length of the cutscenes in the Metal Gear Solid 4, to basically, be quiet. Various early reviewers of the game have noted upon the length, not necessarily calling it a negative aspect of the game. It has been mentioned that Konami told reviewers not to release the length of the cutscenes (reputedly 90 minutes), though reviews hinted at it, with IGN claiming half the game was taken up by them, with the OPSM (Official Playstation Magazine) saying they were the length of the three Godfather movies rolled into one and that its around a third of the game. I'm still positive it's going to the best movie I've ever played.

"UHH...GAMES....GAAMMMESS"

Sound familiar? According to Slash, the fuzzy haired guitarist (I do know what bands he played for!) has come out saying that games turn kids into gaming zombies. He claims that people who play Guitar Hero don't pick up a real guitar and that real guitar playing and learning to play it is much more enjoyable, if not as instantly gratifying. However, Slash also says that its a great way to spread new 'killer' Rock 'n' Roll through Guitar Hero, which normally kids who listen to conventional radio etc. I'm sure he'll remember how much he prefers playing Guitar Hero when the next sponsor money check comes through.

"Wir nicht mochten nach Leipzig fahren"

Nintendo have announced (if you have not guessed from my terribly poor German) that they are not going to the Leipzig Games Convention 2008. They have said they want to concentrate on smaller shows over the country, rather than one main event. I believe that they want to reach as many people as possible, increasing their grasp on the casual gaming market. This seems to be following in the trend of the abandonment of the main big shows such as E3 and Leipzig and changing to smaller more concentrated events run by the publishers or developers. Meh, I can't afford go to any of them anyway!

Get back to your gaming caves

Us gamers have been called a variety of things this week, and now the the pinnacle of British hysteria, The Daily Mail, claims gaming turns male gamers into cavemen. They claim that when we pick up a games console, we turn into primordial numpty's...I'm thinking they mean console pad as picking up a PS3 or two is likely give even the most able bodied gamer a hernia. They say that research shows that gaming activates a part of the males brain used back in the day we were hunting mammoths etc. It showed that both males and females had some activation in this area when playing games but more so in the males, probably explaining the birth of the 'Man-child'.

Other bits of stuff

First Aid

Sony CEO Howard Stringer has admitted that during the mess up of the PS3's launch, it was not looking promising, and almost going to bring down the company, the PS3 was basically on 'Life Support'. But now, apparently, its all going fine, especially after HD-DVD losing the war. But, does that mean that people are just buying it as a cheap Blu-ray player, not a game console?

Afrika ain't in Europe

Sony's safari simulator is not going to be published in Europe. The game, which looked similar to the N64's 'Pokemon Snap' (well, I don't think it involved shooting the animals), looked more like a tech demo than anything else, but we'll see.

Secretive Xbox games due to be unveiled

News just in, apparently Microsoft are going to unveil 2 big new Xbox games at this years E3, probably during the pre-show conference. It's just as well, as judging by the recent activities over at E3 with developers deciding not to show up, these may be the major draw.

There's a ton more news floating around the internet, but go and find it if you want to know.

Is what you read what you get?

I recently read quite an interesting column over at Edge(or Next Gen). Games journalist N'Gai Croal wrote about how previewers of games often fill in the gaps of what they think will be in the final version. Many of them often have to try and be as positive as possible, even if the game has a very low standard and is basically unplayable, journalists are told by their managers to ensure they get a review or another preview copy, hence be positive. But is that really giving readers an insight into the game, or simply buying into the hype machine.

Look at Haze. Yeah, the shoddy unpolished graphics may hurt your eyes and crude AI may drive you insane, but none of this was mentioned in the preview versions. From that, it was going to be the perfect game, and having seen videos and articles about it, I believed it would be a good game. Nevermind then. So which would readers prefer, to be told a game ain't looking good before hand during a preview or to be told that the game is going to turn out fine.

For this blog, obviously as we ain't  journalist's or anything near it, I don't see preview copies, or review copies, or most of the time, any copies. My personal process of writing about games, if previewing them for example, is to attempt to gather as much information as possible from the largest variety of websites I can, read through it, look a videos etc and try and build up a image of what the game is like, hence why I refuse to attempt to 'review' a game. It's therefore difficult for me to actually contextualise and look objectively at games, but many blogs are now starting to be given preview builds of games, leading them to simply say what they see.

Honesty appears to be a an important aspect of the gaming community, one which is failing fast. So many games are now being hyped up to be better than they are, (Matt recently blogged about one such situation) then it has a knock on effect on the industry as a whole. It's becoming the trend for developers to have journalists to play through games in the developers HQ, so they can give feedback on the good and bad parts of it. This doesn't seem to be happening in the previews, which means some developers do not bother making changes to the game or upping the standard as the previewers seem to believe 'It's all fine'.

So should the process be changed. As mentioned earlier, yes. Previewers all do a good job, they allow fans of a series to gain the next bit of knowledge, allow readers to generally get a interest in the games, but overall being forced to bow down to the more corporate side of the industry. I listened to a podcast a while back, where some journalists were talking about how they were not being given games by a well known publisher simply for writing some less than complementary comments about their new release. With attitudes like that with some developers, it's understandable when previewers 'play nice'.

The Next Level Update 23/05/08

Hello again, and its time again for the look at the informative, interesting, mad and downright random news stories we have noticed over the week.

As predictable as FIFA 09...

Bioshock, the critically acclaimed shooter from Take Two has made the predictable jump to the PS3. Following in the footsteps of Lost Planet and Rainbow Six: Vegas (1), the PS3 is getting used to having 'older' games from the 360 being ported over. Bioshock has made the jump in a relatively short period, after being released at the end of last year. My view on this is that the developers are not saying 'Yeah, we'll release on both consoles simultaneously simply because they know they can't code as fast (or couldn't) for the PS3, and would end up delaying the game for both systems, and for a company as on the edge financially as Take Two would not of wanted that. But hey, so long as it hits the consoles and allows as many gamers to experience good games as possible, the wait is not a problem

Fetch the Popcorn

Onto more PS3 news, coming soon is the supposed (or not, as it was recently revealed) final instalment of the Metal Gear Solid series. MGS has always been known for having very long cutscenes with some in MGS2 reaching around 30 min's, but, at recent reviewer has said that a cutscenes in MGS4 is over 90 minutes long....that's 1 and a half hours...that's a average feature length movie. It's been advised that you watch it, as not only does it fill in a lot of the story, but actually contains some of the greatest CGI in a game ever. Well the game got 10/10, so it must be 'alright'...

Dead...Haha, ROFL, LMAO

Valve, the developers of Half Life and the steam distribution service, have had a good old chuckle at the expense of the PC doubters, who have claimed the PC as a gaming machine is dead, killed by piracy and system specs.

'If you look properly you'll find that PC game sales are even, if not bigger, than all of the next-Gen consoles'

(Doug Lombardi, courtesy of CVG)

He explained to Shack news that they just laugh at it and they have been really successful from PC games and now have multiple projects going, with Steam growing and growing. At the moment it's coming from both sides, with people trying different methods, abandoning the PC altogether or simply soldiering on with it, I like the PC as a platform, but it's sure a struggle to keep up the system specs, hence, games going on to consoles.

The Big Summer Drought

Nope, we ain't all of a sudden running out of water, but this is traditionally the period of the year where very few big games are released. Developers seem to be believe (something the tabloids seriously don't) that during summer, everyone runs outside and indulges in polite games of cricket etc etc.

This is a load of rubbish obviously, we're all obese, unhealthy slobs and would much prefer to spend our days becoming pale and potato shaped. Summers generally turn into a world of mediocre releases, seemingly made in the developers spare time, or ports of older games onto a different system. Many of these being rushed and lazily put together.

It seems that the only games which are released around this period are those which have been delayed from the congested Christmas period (just think about how crowded it would of been with both MGS4 and GTAIV being released then). I found that last year, there were not too many games, but too many for me too afford and play. I found I could not devote enough time to every game. I enjoyed Assassins Creed, until it dissolved into a guide of how to repeat the same action 14 times, Uncharted: Drakes Fortune was fun, but linear and a tad frustrating at times, COD 4 was well...COD4 basically and Ratchet and Clank: Tools Of Destruction, was a fun blast.

But that still left quite a few games for me to play, hence me having to rush buy about 4 games after Christmas. I would prefer games to be spread out a lot more over the year, as they ain't cheap, especially in the UK. It's slightly better this year, with MGS4 just round the corner and it doesn't seem quite so congested. At least we get to look forward to a summer of confrences including another version of E3, which will eventually end up just like the old one anyway!

Anyway, as a more personal message, my fellow blogger is vanishing on holiday this week, so I can't guarantee that content will be put online as regular as we would like, on that note, anybody who feels they fit the role we outlined in the first post, contact me as soon as possible for a chance to be part of The Next Level Team.

Get 'Gaming' with AMD

It took until my first PC got really outdated for me to realise why people preferred playing games on consoles. My arguments were that 'I can play loads of different games on my PC' and 'The graphics are much crisper' etc etc. Now these are valid, apart from when you get slightly, behind the times. The first experience I had was when attempt to install Knights of the Old Republic on it. 'Why isn't it working?' then discovering my PC was greatly behind what it needed to be.

At that point, my PC gaming wavered massively and I began to look on in envy at those people who could play 'The Sims 2' on full graphics settings, and to this day, I still ain't properly played KoTOR, much to my dismay. At the time, PCs were beginning to lose their appeal as a gaming machine, compared to the early 90s, mainly down to the success of the PS1 and 2. Although the general quality of PC games was always above consoles, developers found it increasingly easier to port PC games onto their console counterparts.

Then, apart from the ever improving hardware out pacing consumers, the increasing costs of making games began to take their toll. For consoles, it was much more difficult to copy games and play them, requiring consoles to be chipped etc, but with the advent of broadband etc, the use of torrents shot up, and it got to the point where almost any game you could think of for PC, as well as movies, music etc, could be downloaded and run without you spending a thing.

PC developers couldn't compete with console ones anymore, as they simply began to lose so much money, projects that were destined for greatness either ended up on consoles or as a steaming pile of dung. This is still going on, but with developers such as EA and 'Battlefield Heroes' attempting to pay for games depending on people playing them and Valve using Steam and attempting to protect developers from pirates.

Now on the hardware side, its still going faster than ever, but now AMD have released 'AMD Game!' a program that attempts to make it easier for people to judge what spec etc their system is running at, and hence the games for it. It designed for more mainstream gamers, to educate them. The program has already had a lot of support from hardware makers and retailers. With around 80% of PCs being sold every day not capable of playing games, this program attempts to label those capable as being capable, making them also classed as consoles rather than PCs.

At the moment, it is still all geared towards AMD and ATI hardware, simply because 'If hardware was involved that we did not have control over, it would be out of control' (Brent Barry, AMD gaming strategist). At the moment, it seems that overall to be labelled either AMD Game! or AMD Game! Ultra, the PCs must meet a required standard, of quite a high spec.

Overall, I believe this is a step in the right direction to try and revive PC gaming, as it will allow people, who are not hardcore gamers, to have some idea of the capability of their system, if it also links up with game developers and publishers, it could become as simply as buying for a console.

Really a revolution?

Having followed the Civilization series since its second game quite a few years back, I've often wondered if they could ever bring it to consoles. Sure, I prefer playing RTS games on PC's, but seeing as for the most part these 'Next gen' machines operate like computers (see the 20 mins install times for PS3 Lost Planet and DMC4), shouldn't the process of adapting a game to work on a set lot of hardware be easier than the variety that is afforded to PCs.

For those not familiar to the Civ series, you pick a civilization and a leader (in this installment). You then attempt to spread your cities, influence and military might, if you want to, over the randomly generated content, researching nation wide technologies and city based buildings and units. The main fun part of the game comes from the strategy from interacting with other Civs, who may attempt to be your ally, or threatening you into violence.

Previously, many console based RTS games have been forgettable. The 360 has recently seen a influx of such games, although nearly all have been the poor, inbred, stunted half cousin of the PC counterparts. More and more aspects of PC gaming are now moving over to consoles, with mouse support in games (such as UT3 for the PS3) and hard drive based installs.

So can the console version (which is also coming out on DS) of Civ IV, Civilization Revolution, really give the kick up the backside console based RTS games need. First, the DS version. Now the main limit with the DS is the memory required to load it all and the screen space. Now C:R attempts to pull the same tricks the Age Of Empires game did by stripping out a lot of the details of the game, but attempting to keep as much of the substance as possible.

The game itself controls itself a lot more, leading to far less micromanagement. For example, citizens automatically exploit resources such as farms and mines, and cities require far less looking after. However, the game still requires a keen tactical mind, as although the games are shorter (with your varying options of winning from world domination to cultural er..domination still intact), the CPU still attempts some cunning tricks. The touchscreen uses some point and drag systems, making it easier to control for those used to PC's.

The 360 and PS3 versions are as you expect, much more lavish on the graphical side of things. The characters are big and cartoonish and this is also mirrored in the overall environment presentation, which has very vivid colours and smooth animations. The game plays very similar to that of the PC versions, with you researching technologies through day one of your civ to the space age, but one main criticism at the moment was the lack of on screen text at various points. This is not too much of issue, but it may hinder various decisions as details are skimmed over.

Controls have been adapted to allow easy movement between cities, but getting around the world map seems sluggish at the moment, with no easy to navigate mini-map. Why they haven't put a keyboard input for the PS3 version I don't know, but hopefully Fireaxis may be persuaded to if they take a glance over some forums

Overall, it looks like Sid Meiers Civilisation: Revolution could be a console hit, hooking many console fans with its addictive, time sucking gameplay. The game is set for release on 360, PS3 and DS this June, but if you can't wait for that to play a civ game, Civilization 4 on the PC comes highly recommended.

Condemned+light x Girl=Faith

Mirror's Edge : premier trailer
Uploaded by nofrag

Recently shown at a Playstation press event, Mirrors edge is being developed by DICE, creators of the Battlefield series, and published by EA. Now, game designers are having to think different, and take an alternative view on things, in order for their game to be separate from the swarms of others that are released throughout the year.

For example, the Condemned series by Sega, which recently saw the release of its second instalment, is a game based in a FPS perspective, yet increases the immersion levels. People always go on about the fact you're 'Right in the firefight' or 'Demonstrates the tension and immersion of a real war scenario', but at the end of the day, most FPS characters are faceless spoons, who took fashion tips from Rayman, ending up with floating arms as a body.

Condemned, and a few others change this, by allowed you to see the hands move up to the characters face when you shout for someone, or see their legs (Shock, gasp and horror) as they fall. This is similar to what the team at DICE are trying to do with Mirrors Edge. The trailer shows off the very slick and overall clean visuals, with HD textures really put to good use as your character climbs over objects.

Basic information on the game seems to be that it is set in a world where information is closely guarded and monitored, and if people want to move information without being monitored, they employ the help of runners. You play a female runner called Faith, and overall the game seems inspired by free running (think those crazy building site antics in Casino Royale).

Mirrors Edge is a beautiful game to watch, as Faith effortlessly bounds, leaps and climbs over obstacles. Her backstory seems a slightly cliched one for mysterious characters like herself. She grew up on the streets of the city, having lost both her parents, and distrusts the modern communication system.

To be perfectly honest, I couldn't care less about her backstory if she controlled like a drunk elephant. The designers have put the emphasis on maintaining momentum through difficult environments, rather than running and gunning, but the game is not really open world. The key to the game appears to be stringing moves together, so you don't start falling off things or getting shot by those chasing you.

The developers main problem appears to making the game simple enough for people to pick up and enjoy, yet clever enough to allow the stringing together and flowing of moves. The main issue with games is, how does the developer make the player go where they need to go. DICE's answer, something they call 'Runner Vision'.

When you watch the trailer, keep an eye out for all those things that glow red against the mainly white and blue environment. These show the route you should take, so for example, a door you need to go through suddenly gets embarrassed and glows red as you get nearer. The developers have compared this to the way in the Bourne films, 'Bourne sees things differently, a weapon whilst we only see a pen, so the game shows you this route'. Hopefully, this will allow novice players to move quickly through the environment, rather than plodding. And this should reduce the chance of the character 'snagging' on the environment.

As well as simply bouncing over roof tops, there are going to be some movement puzzles ie: How the hell do I get to that vent? and at some points, combat. From the trailer, it appears that it uses self defence disarming techniques and chokes, with some use of weapons, though this still isn't clear, but the game defiantly is not a shooter. There, as always, is some form of bullet time 'Reaction Time', which you gain from linking slick moves together, and allows you to fine tune huge jumps by slowing down time.

So, a promising looking game, which seems to be trying to steal some of the hype that Assassins Creed enjoyed last year. Hopefully, if DICE can make the game work as well as it does in the trailer, and the environments don't get too samey, it should be one to watch out for.

Mirrors Edge is planned for release this year on 360, PS3 and PC.

Why do I still like Lord Of The Rings Games?

When I first got my PS2, around 2003, I was mainly encouraged to buy it over the Gamecube after seeing two games, 'James Bond 007: Nightfire' and Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers. Mainly because I was into the LOTR films at that point, and I really wanted to play out the movies. Obviously games like GTA: Vice City, were influential, but I was really wowed by 'The Two Towers'.


The settings were exactly how I thought they should of been, the blending between DVD quality footage and CGI were astounding to me at the time, having been a late adopted from the PS1-N64 era. Sure, looking back, it was pretty bland, but we can do that with every single game produced a while ago. At the time the movies were in full flow and they were capturing the minds of people who had never even heard of books.

In 'The Two Towers' and the follow up 'The Return of the King' you hacked and slashed your way through all the scenes and hidden scenes based on the movies (as the Fellowship game was based on the books, and was pretty crap and unexciting), with a variety of well known characters, all voiced correctly and made me think 'Yeah things really have moved on from the old days'.
5 years have passed since then, and there have been a variety of LOTR games produced, with varying degrees of success. The RTS series 'Battle for Middle Earth' has proved to have a small but loyal following, yet various console based LOTR games have been a bit hit and miss. 'Shadow of Angmar' has been gaining a following, as a similar type game to WoW, only based in the LOTR universe.

Now Pandemic, creators of the Mercenaries series and Star Wars: Battlefront series, are creating a LOTR style game, based on SW:B. This has mainly come about from them being bought by EA, who own the LOTR license. Now i liked the SW:B series, as they were probably the most enjoyable star wars based game i had played, with the emphasis on you being one soldier in a massive battle.


Now According to IGN, Pandemic are developing LOTR: Conquest, which aims to do the same for LOTR as Battlefront did for Star Wars. And I really want to play it. No real reason why other than I like Pandemic as developer I suppose. But the idea of being one soldier fighting against or for orcish hordes, alongside Aragorn and Legolas, kinda brings out the LOTR geek in me. It will also be interesting to see how Pandemic's development process has changed since being acquired by EA.

Lord of the Rings: Conquest is being released on 360, PS3 and PC around Autumn time.