09 November 2009 18:35
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is out at midnight tonight, and with the news that
Sainsbury's will be selling it for £26, even the less hardcore fans are likely to be tempted to buy a copy.
Among the noteworthy features in this latest release are: special ops missions in which you whittle down a set number of bad guys until you're the last one standing; a fast-paced snowmobile race; and a particularly grizzly opening scene that has churned the stomachs of some early testers.
Are you put off by the violence? Or does more gore equal a better game? Maybe you're a younger gamer who has get someone else to buy the 18-rated game for you (or maybe you can buy it anyway)? Let us know in the comments.
In the meantime, check out these tasty screenshots...
Whether or not you snap up a copy at midnight tonight, stay tuned for our review very soon.
05 November 2009 18:58
Robbie must really be kicking himself. First his old band mates make one of the biggest comebacks in pop history, then they produce one of the best selling albums of 2009 and if that wasn't enough they recently played the biggest tour the UK has ever seen to more than a million crazed fans.
A few months later and they've got yet another reason to clink those Cristal champagne glasses - their soulful ballads and outrageously camp/energetic pop songs will be added to the Singstar catalogue as of tomorrow.
This should please both the old-school fans who liked the camp, leather clad, belly-top, tubby Gary Barlow days as well as the new ones who have grown to know and love the more grown up, middle-aged, sharp-suited (and slimmer) band they've now become. So joining Abba and Queen, this latest incarnation of the singing game extravaganza will see fans singing along to their favourite TT hits such as
Back For Good,
Could It Be Magic as well as newer tracks such as
Rule the World and
Patience all belted out in their own unique style in the comfort of their own home.
With the amount of Take That fans out there this version of the game has the potential to be colossal. SingStar Take that is released tomorrow for the PS3 and PS2. If you can't wait until then or don't have the Patience (sorry) there is a song pack available featuring a couple of tracks and it's available from the PlayStation Network store now.
30 October 2009 16:28
The
Nintendo DSi XL was only confirmed yesterday, but already a video has cropped up on YouTube showing the bigger brother next to the current DSi.
The clip comes from a news report broadcast shown this morning on TV Osaka in Japan, and shows the DSi's 3.25-inch screen dwarfed by the XL's 4.2-inch screen.
You can also check out the size difference in the still below, or watch the video at the bottom to see the bigger screen in action.
Via:
Kotaku
23 October 2009 15:07
A shaky video of game designer Peter Molyneux showing off a live demo of
Milo & Kate, his forthcoming game for Microsoft's Project Natal motion controller, has turned up on the web.
It's the first time the intriguing game has been showed off live as its public debut at E3 earlier this year was in the form of a pre-recorded video of someone interacting with Milo, the teenage boy who is the game's main character.
While the latest footage sheds a little more light on the project, details on the ins and outs of the game are still few and far between.
Not that this has stopped
debate about Milo & Kate's merits online. Some see a game where you play with a virtual teenager as creepy, others as a refreshingly different idea.
What's your take: unappealing or interesting?
Milo
22 October 2009 10:30
Orson Welles' 1941 film
Citizen Kane marked the moment when film went from being entertainment to being regarded as an art form. And increasingly game designers are talking about the imminent arrival of video games'
Citizen Kane moment.
Game publisher
Ubisoft's Ben Mattes is the latest to predict the Citizen Kane of gaming. But Mattes, who has worked on
Assassin's Creed 2, is not alone.
Many other game developers are predicting the same, among them French designer David Cage who is openly trying to make his forthcoming PlayStation 3 game
Heavy Rain that moment.
It's a laudable aim, but video games will have a hard time turning that ambition into reality for one reason - hardware changes.
Citizen Kane was a box office flop, it took until the mid-1950s before it really started to get the recognition it deserved. It could only do that because the technology of film didn't change drastically in that time so people could still watch it.
But 15 years in the world of video games is a lifetime - 15 years ago the first PlayStation hadn't even been released. So the chances are any
Citizen Kane of gaming would be in danger of being lost and forgotten on some obsolete platform.
13 October 2009 17:03
With Christmas tat already seeping into shops, you know the end is in sight for 2009 and with it the 2000s.
So what has been the game of the decade? Well if you use sales as your measure
it's Wii Play, according to North American figures released by the
NPD Group today.
Halo,
Grand Theft Auto and
Wii Fit lag behind the family friendly game that people most likely bought for an extra Wii remote.
So, barring any last minute upsets, we now know what the biggest-selling game of the 2000s was. But what was the best game of the decade? Over to you...
09 October 2009 12:56
Where The Wild Things Are is without a doubt the film I'm looking forward to the most this year. Judging by the trailers, the magical storytelling of Maurice Sendak's legendary children's books coupled with director Spike Jonze's unique perspective is set to create real movie magic.
And now you an immerse yourself in this realm even more with the Where The Wild Thing Are game.
You play Max, the boy-king of the Wild Things, tasked with guiding the creatures to safety by solving a series of puzzles and mini games.
But much like the film, and the book before, the game is all about the amazing environment and its inhabitants.
As you wander through the spellbinding realm of the Wild Worlds, you'll befriend and learn from the Wild Things, battle shadow creatures and fierce insects, and witness never-before-seen environments.
Now, call me soft, but being able to befriend the fearsome but loveable hairy heroes of the story makes a welcome change from firing off rounds from a rocket launcher or laser cannon. For a little while at least.
Where The Wild Things Are will be available on all consoles this Autumn.
08 October 2009 12:52
Yesterday I got the chance to try out the latest in a long line of Tony Hawk's skateboarding games – Tony Hawk:RIDE
Unlike all the games that have gone before, this is the first to have a dedicated board peripheral, and as you might guess you operate it much like the real thing, only without such a high danger of shattering bones or crushing soft bits when you fluff a handrail grind. Though I'm sure there will be plenty of gamers sharing living room-based injuries online soon enough...
So what's it like? Well let's start with the controller, because to be honest, that's the bit you're really interested in. It's not far off the size of a real skateboard deck, and sits on the floor like a skateboard with no wheels or trucks. It comes with a few velcro strips to stop you scratching up your nice wooden floors, and is equally at home on the carpet.
Down the side are all the usual controller buttons, including an extra large start button which you'll have to kick when you're setting up your riding style as regular (right-footed) or goofy (left-footed).
There are also four infra-red sensors – one each side and one at each end. These are used for activating grab tricks (by reaching down towards the sensor) and also for building up speed by kicking your foot along the side of the board, just like pushing a real board.
Unseen on the inside are two accelerometers just like inside a Wii remote that sense the motion of the board. You'll get used to tilting and ollie-ing your way through the menus pretty quickly.
When it's time to play there are three different difficulty levels: casual, confident and hardcore. In casual mode the steering of the board is taken care of, so you just have to concentrate on timing your ollies, grinds and other tricks.
The game is split into a series of diffent sections: Speed Run, Tricks, Challenge and Free Skate. So you can blitz your way through a level, hitting the speed powerups and avoiding the powerdowns, try to get the highest score from your tricks, complete a series of set moves over different obstacles, or just explore the levels at your leisure.
Controlling the character was a little trickier than I expected, but just like the real thing there seems to be a steep learning curve and it takes a while to get your balance while tilting the board around.
We're all really looking forward to giving the game a thorough play-through. It'll be out in the shops 4th December for around £100, for the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii. It'll be on my Christmas list for sure.
See more pics below and look out for a video soon in our Watch + Listen section
Filed under: review, skateboarding, Tony Hawk: RIDE
08 October 2009 10:29
Check the posts on almost any gaming forum and it won't be long before you find someone arguing that games aren't what they used to be.
Games today are too unimaginative, too similar, too easy or just not doing enough to set them on the path to pizza-fuelled enlightenment compared to the classics of their gaming youth, they lament.
Being old enough to recall the days when the faux-wood veneer of the Atari VCS looked cool (it was the 1970s anything brown was cool), I really should be also be getting all misty-eyed about
Jet Set Willy.
But actually I think we're in the middle of a gaming golden age - one that knocks the socks off the off-cited golden eras of
Pac-Man, the ZX Spectrum and the Megadrive.
Games have rarely been as experimental, brave or ambitious as they are today.
The cream of the big blockbuster games are taking games to new heights when it comes to storytelling, excitement, atmosphere, inventiveness and vision. Meanwhile multiplayer gaming has come of age making single player gaming optional rather than compulsory.
And then there's the wild experimentation of indie game movement that has grown up around mobile phones, Flash and downloads on services such as Steam and PSN.
Games such as
Zen Bound (pictured) are injecting fresh ideas into gaming, testing out new concepts and approaches. Ideas big game companies are absorbing into their own creations.
It’s like the games boom the ZX Spectrum set off. Minus the game-breaking bugs, impossible difficulty levels and ear-piercing soundtracks composed on the same technology your microwave uses to tell you it has finished zapping your dinner.
The wave of indie games might not last. As potential profits grow the expected production values may reach a point where the small fry developers that are the driving force of the indie boom can't get a look in.
So it's time gamers quit looking back and enjoyed the gaming golden age while it's still around.
06 October 2009 17:09
The game may not be out for a few weeks but the full tracklist for Activision's DJ Hero has now been released - all 93 of them.
Made up entirely of mashups mixed together by famous DJs such as Jazzy Jeff, Scratch Perverts and the late DJ AM, the tracklist covers everything from hip hop and rock to dance music and old classics, all waiting to be mixed together perfectly.
As I showed a few weeks ago, it's a lot more difficult than you might think. But give the video a watch for more of what the game is all about, and check out the full tracklist below to pick your favourites.
It's set to hit shelves on 30 October for £110 - will you be buying it? Let us know below.
2Pac - All Eyez On Me vs. The Aranbee Pop Orchestra - Bittersweet Symphony (Instrumental)
50 Cent - Disco Inferno vs. David Bowie - Let's Dance
50 Cent - Disco Inferno vs. InDeep - Last Night A DJ Saved My Life
Afrika Bambaataa - Zulu Nation Throwdown vs. Freedom Express - Get Down
Beastie Boys - Here's A Little Somethin' For Ya vs. DJ Shadow - The Number Song (2009 Version) (Produced and mixed by DJ Shadow)
Beastie Boys - Intergalactic vs. Blondie - Rapture
Beastie Boys - Lee Majors Come Again vs. Daft Punk - Da Funk (Produced and mixed by Cut Chemist)
Beck - Where It's At vs. DJ Shadow - Six Days (Remix ft. Mos Def)
Bell Biv DeVoe - Poison Beat Juggle
Bell Biv DeVoe - Poison vs. Beastie Boys - Intergalactic (Produced and mixed by DJ AM)
Bell Biv DeVoe - Poison vs. Cameo - Word Up!
Benny Benassi - Satisfaction vs. Tiësto - Elements Of Life
Billy Squier - The Big Beat vs. N.E.R.D. - Lapdance (DJ-Guitar mix)
Black Eyed Peas - Boom Boom Pow vs. Benny Benassi - Satisfaction
Bobby Blue Bland - Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City vs. 2Pac - How Do You Want It
Bobby Blue Bland - Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City vs. Connie Price & The Keystones - Fuzz And Them
Boogie Down Productions - Jack Of Spades vs. David Bowie - Let's Dance (Produced and mixed by DJ Shadow)
Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers - Bustin' Loose vs. The Zombies - Time Of The Season (Produced and mixed by DJ Shadow)
Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers - Bustin' Loose vs. Young MC - Bust A Move
Common
- Universal Mind Control (U.M.C.) vs. Masta Ace - Jeep A** Gutter
(Aaron LaCrate & Debonair Samir RMX) (Produced and mixed by The
Scratch Perverts)
Cypress Hill - Insane In The Brain vs. Classics IV - Spooky
Cypress Hill - Insane In The Brain vs. David Axelrod - The Edge
Daft Punk - Around The World vs. Young MC - Bust A Move
Daft Punk - Da Funk vs. N.A.S.A. - Strange Enough ft. Karen O, ODB & Fatlip
Daft Punk - Megamix 1
Daft Punk - Megamix 2
Daft Punk - Robot Rock vs. Hashim - Al Naafyish (The Soul) (Produced and mixed by The Scratch Perverts)
Daft Punk - Robot Rock vs. Queen - We Will Rock You
Daft Punk - Short Circuit vs. Boogie Down Productions - Jack Of Spades
Daft Punk - Technologic vs. Gary Numan - Cars
Daft Punk - Television Rules the Nation vs. No Doubt - Hella Good
David Axelrod - The Edge vs. Eric B. & Rakim - Eric B. Is President
Dizzee Rascal - Fix Up, Look Sharp vs. DJ Shadow - Organ Donor (Extended Overhaul)
Dizzee Rascal - Fix Up, Look Sharp vs. Justice - Genesis
DJ Shadow - Six Days (Remix ft. Mos Def) vs. D-Code - Annie's Horn
Eminem - My Name Is vs. Beck - Loser
Fedde Le Grand - Put Your Hands Up For Detroit vs. Sandy Rivera and David Penn - I Can't Stop (David Penn Remix)
Foo Fighters - Monkey Wrench vs. Beastie Boys - Sabotage (DJ-Guitar mix)
Foreigner - Juke Box Hero vs. DJ Z-Trip ft. Murs - DJ Hero (Produced and mixed by DJ Z-Trip)
Foreigner - Juke Box Hero vs. DJ Z-Trip ft. Murs - DJ Hero (DJ-Guitar mix, produced and mixed by DJ Z-Trip)
Gang Starr - Just To Get A Rep vs. Mobb Deep - Shook Ones, Pt 2 (Produced and mixed by J. Period)
Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc. vs. Blondie - Atomic
Grandmaster Flash's - Boom vs. Tap (Produced and mixed by Grandmaster Flash)
Grandmaster Flash, DJ Kool, DJ Demo - Here Comes My DJ vs. Gary Numan - Cars (Produced and mixed by Grandmaster Flash)
Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl vs. Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.
Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl vs. InDeep Last Night A DJ Saved My Life (Produced and mixed by DJ AM)
Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl vs. Rick James - Give It To Me
Herbie Hancock - Rockit Beat Juggle
Herbie Hancock - Rockit vs. N.E.R.D. - Lapdance (Produced and mixed by Grandmaster Flash)
InDeep - Last Night A DJ Saved My Life vs. Cameo - Word Up!
Jackson 5 - I Want You Back vs. Gang Starr - Just To Get A Rep (Produced and mixed by DJ Yoda)
Jackson 5 - I Want You Back vs. Third Eye Blind - Semi-Charmed Life (DJ-Guitar mix)
Jackson 5 - I Want You Back vs. Third Eye Blind - Semi-Charmed Life
JAY-Z feat. Pharrell - Change Clothes vs. 2Pac - All Eyez on Me
JAY-Z - Izzo (H.O.V.A.) vs. Eminem - My Name Is
JAY-Z - Izzo (H.O.V.A.) vs. Jackson 5 - I Want You Back
JAY-Z - Excuse Me Miss vs. Rick James - Give It To Me
Jean Knight - Mr. Big Stuff vs. Masta Ace - Born To Roll
Jurassic 5 - Jayou vs. Billy Squier - The Big Beat
Jurassic 5 - Jayou vs. Herbie Hancock - Rockit
Kid Cudi - Day 'N' Nite vs. Black Eyed Peas - Boom Boom Pow
Kool Moe Dee - How Ya Like Me Now vs. Reel 2 Real featuring The Mad Stuntman - I Like To Move It
Little Richard - Tutti Frutti vs. Shlomo - Beats (Produced and mixed by DJ Yoda)
M.I.A. - Paper Planes vs. Eric B. & Rakim - Eric B. Is President (Produced and mixed by The Scratch Perverts)
M.I.A. - Paper Planes vs. Wale - Lookin' At Me
Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through The Grapevine vs. David Bowie - Let's Dance
Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through The Grapevine vs. Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.
Motörhead - Ace Of Spades vs. Noisia - Groundhog (DJ-Guitar mix)
N.A.S.A. - Strange Enough ft. Karen O, ODB & Fatlip vs. Isaac Hayes - Theme From Shaft
Noisia - Groundhog Beat Juggle (Produced and mixed by The Scratch Perverts)
Paul van Dyk - Nothing But You vs. Sandy Rivera and David Penn - I Can't Stop (David Penn Remix)
Public Enemy - Shut 'Em Down vs. Beck - Where It's At
Public Enemy ft. Zakk Wylde - Bring The Noise 20XX vs. Justice - Genesis (Produced and mixed by DJ Z-Trip)
Public Enemy featuring Zakk Wylde - Bring The Noise 20XX (DJ-Guitar mix)
Q-Tip - Good Thang vs. Billy Squier - The Big Beat (Produced and mixed by J. Period)
Queen - Another One Bites The Dust vs. Beastie Boys - Brass Monkey (Produced and mixed by DJ Z-Trip)
Queen - Another One Bites The Dust vs. Daft Punk - Da Funk
Rihanna - Disturbia vs. Kid Sister - Control
Rihanna - Disturbia vs. The Killers - Somebody Told Me (DJ-Guitar mix)
Rihanna - Disturbia vs. The Trammps - Disco Inferno
Shlomo - Beats vs. Billy Squier - The Big Beat
Street Sweeper Social Club - Fight! Smash! Win! vs. Beastie Boys - Intergalactic (DJ-Guitar mix)
Tears For Fears - Shout vs. DJ Shadow - Six Days (Remix ft. Mos Def)
Tears For Fears - Shout vs. Eric B. & Rakim - Eric B. Is President (Produced and mixed by DJ Jazzy Jeff)
Tears For Fears - Shout vs. Eric Prydz - Pjanoo
The
Aranbee Pop Orchestra - Bittersweet Symphony (Instrumental) vs. LL Cool
J - Rock The Bells (Produced and mixed by DJ Jazzy Jeff)
The Scratch Perverts Beats and Pieces (Produced and mixed by The Scratch Perverts)
The Killers - Somebody Told Me vs. Eric Prydz - Pjanoo
Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby vs. MC Hammer - U Can't Touch This
Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby vs. Paula Abdul - Straight Up
Wale - Lookin' At Me vs. Black Eyed Peas ft. Tippa Irie - Hey Mama
Weezer - Beverly Hills vs. Evidence, The Alchemist, Aceyalone, Rakaa & 88 Keys - Fresh Rhymes And Videotape (DJ-Guitar mix)
Wild Cherry - Play That Funky Music vs. Gang Starr - Just To Get A Rep (DJ-Guitar mix)
05 October 2009 17:24
Game and movie tie-ins are getting stranger and stranger.
First we had the news that Atari's 1979 game
Asteroids is being made into a film. That's
Asteroids, the one with the vector graphics where the sole goal was to zap asteroids.
Even the game's creator Ed Logg was bemused by that deal.
Now Hollywood intends to make
a film based on Spore with the help of
Ice Age director Chris Wedge. Yes,
Spore - the story-free game where you 'evolve' a primitive sea beastie into an advanced space-exploring species.
Still given the track record of movies based on games that had stories, the absence of one might be an advantage.
02 October 2009 11:42
In
BBC Four's Gameswipe show, comedian Dara O'Briain bemoaned how his lack of gaming prowess means only sees around 10 per cent of games he buys. It's a fair criticism. Why buy something for entertainment only to be denied most of it after you've handed over the readies?
Nintendo's solution is 'kind code', which lets players skip past bits they are stuck on. But that comes at the risk of removing any sense of challenge from games. In contrast, Lionhead Studios have just come up with a more appealing way of tackling the problem with the re-release of their fantasy epic
Fable II as a Xbox 360 download.
Instead of asking players to buy the whole game,
Lionhead have sliced Fable II into five parts. The first is free, the rest you have to pay for.
As a result you can try the actual game for free rather than play a demo designed as a sales pitch. And you only pay for more if you want to continue playing, which if you're stuck early on means you don't need to pay for stuff you'll never see.
Since
Fable II is a good game, it should work out well for Lionhead. But will others be brave enough to give away the first part of their games?
I doubt the ‘escape from the Vault’ opening of
Fallout 3, which gives little hint of the greatness to come, would win many players over. And I wouldn’t have bought the rest of
Halo 3: ODST, which seems to get more disappointing with every play.
01 October 2009 09:57
It's taken years but finally TV has served up a show about games worth watching:
Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe, which you can still watch on BBC iPlayer.
For anyone who has watched Brooker's
Screenwipe series, it's a familiar experience with Brooker casting a caustic eye on videogames in 50 minutes from the comfort of his sofa.
It's worth watching just for his sneering lampooning of
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand and the bizarre review of Sega's comic book slasher
MadWorld through song.
That said it's by no means perfect. The
Consolevania pair's ode to the days of the ZX Spectrum being marred by them citing Australian and German games as examples of great British retro games.
But taken as a whole it's a great show, although game fans are unlikely to find out anything they didn't already know.
The viewing figures have also been good, apparently attracting more watchers than
Screenwipe. Let's hope
Gameswipe becomes a series rather than a one-off.
By the way you might also want to keep an eye out for
Micro Men, which is also part of
BBC Four's Electric Revolution season.
It's a comedy based on the battle between the Spectrum and BBC Micro for dominance of the 1980s UK computer market and stars Martin Freeman who played Tim in
The Office.
28 September 2009 14:38
It's brave move making a
Halo game without Master Chief, the faceless face of the series to date. But
Halo 3: ODST does just that, replacing the iconic supersoldier with a team of very much human orbital shock troopers.
The game is set in New Mombasa, the futuristic city introduced in
Halo 2, where your squad has ended up spread out across the Covenant-infested streets after its mission went pear-shaped. The story tracks the troops' attempts to regroup with players switching back and forth between soldiers much like the to-ing and fro-ing between Master Chief and The Arbiter in
Halo 2.
The main difference between
Halo 3: ODST and the series proper is in perspective. As Master Chief, the player went on the offensive, charging into battle. But this time around the player is the hunted rather than hunter, fighting to stave off swarms of aliens while desperately seeking an escape route. It's a change reflected in the soundtrack that replaces the bombastic score of the main
Halo games with a more muted jazz soundtrack.
Yet beyond these changes it's largely business as usual: battles with alien troops peppered with chances to take control of vehicles and memorable firefights. The one big disappointment is how lifeless New Mombasa is. Beyond a few upturned or burnt out vehicles and some audiotapes of one citizen's experience of the invasion, there's little to suggest the game is set in a once-thriving city now under alien control.
Despite this
Halo 3: ODST is a decent enough spin-off, providing a worthy fix for
Halo fans keenly awaiting a proper follow-up to
Halo 3. Solid, but rarely surprising.
Halo 3 ODST - Official Trailer
21 September 2009 12:58
Remember all the fuss around magic eye puzzles a few years ago? If you were one of the people who could get your eyes to go funny and see beyond the crazy pattern to an image behind – we've got something rather cool for you.
A clever deviantART user called 3Dimka has created a magic eye 3D tetris, which is fully playable – if not a little tricky to begin with.
You can move your tetris blocks with the arrows on your keyboard, and the magic eye adjusts constantly so you can watch the block move and fall in to position as if you were playing normally.
Why not
give it a go, and let us know how you get on. And if you've never tried it before, there's hints and tips on the page for getting your eyes trained up as well.
