Take Two recently announced that Grand Theft Auto IV has now been delayed, if they thought they had issues before with "kids" who should not even be playing the game going out and doing unspeakable crimes... just wait for the news in a week or two. "Thousands of grown men attempt to commit suicide” the reason? They say “Grand Theft Auto IV was delayed just 2 months before it was scheduled to release."
It's an exciting year for gamers, with some really promising new titles on the horizon for 2007 and beyond on both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 gaming platforms. New IP's of interest include Assassin's Creed, Bioshock, and Haze and of course perhaps the most intriguing of all has to be, LittleBigPlanet.
There are some familiar faces returning this year, with Bungie's epic trilogy sadly concluding in what looks like will be the final Halo game, at least with an FPS perspective or with Master Chief as the main character. We can still live in hope that Halo, the First Person Shooter makes a return once again down the road.
The following are the Top 10 titles I am most interested, intrigued by or just simply must-have (from now into 2008):
01. Halo 3 (Legendary Edition)
02. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
03. LittleBigPlanet
04. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
05. Grand Theft Auto IV (moved down three places due to annoying delay)
06. Assassin's Creed
07. Haze
08. Bioshock
09. WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2008
10. Unreal Tournament III
There are others of interest, but those above are the ones that interest me the most. Honourable mentions include Guitar Hero III, Rock Band, The Orange Box, PGR4 and Resident Evil 5, this last game would have made it in the list if it was not so far off in the future, 2009 seems so bloody far away... speaking of Resident Evil 5 I spent some lovely Photoshop time with an in-game screenshot from Resident Evil 5, see if you can spot the difference between the two following images.
RE5 - Original
RE5 - PS Edit
I may do future ones like this actually perhaps sticking good old' Wolly in one of my future ones, maybe ;)
Friday 3 August 2007
Wednesday 11 July 2007
MS Conference E3 thoughts...
Microsoft's conference was a good'en with many games played live and in the flesh including Call of Duty 4 and Assassin's Creed. A very well polished trailer was shown of Halo 3 singleplayer gameplay as well as a real life/CG video short based on Halo 3. The Grand Theft Auto IV trailers we have currently seen have been confirmed that these were recorded using the Xbox 360 version of the game.
Blue Dragon is the first game to hit the marketplace since the conference has ended with several new game trailers up already. I expect more up in the morning and in the coming days as well as more demos, possibly including WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 and Assassin's Creed (my own assumption).
There will likely be a montage video of the actual press conference up by the morning/afternoon too, I wonder if they will cut out the new Xbox 360 Halo themed console -- was funny!! Peter Moore was like, "heres our new console!!" crowd = silence.. and then Moore was like "Come on, I don't even get a reaction for holding it with just one hand."
Another guy on the stage (forget what game) talking about a game and going on about how "we're going to take it deeper and push it harder than ever before..." crowd laughs, one of those weird and amusing moments.
Sure I forgot alot, but thats what sticks in my mind.
And then, I'm offf -Zzzz..
Blue Dragon is the first game to hit the marketplace since the conference has ended with several new game trailers up already. I expect more up in the morning and in the coming days as well as more demos, possibly including WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 and Assassin's Creed (my own assumption).
There will likely be a montage video of the actual press conference up by the morning/afternoon too, I wonder if they will cut out the new Xbox 360 Halo themed console -- was funny!! Peter Moore was like, "heres our new console!!" crowd = silence.. and then Moore was like "Come on, I don't even get a reaction for holding it with just one hand."
Another guy on the stage (forget what game) talking about a game and going on about how "we're going to take it deeper and push it harder than ever before..." crowd laughs, one of those weird and amusing moments.
Sure I forgot alot, but thats what sticks in my mind.
And then, I'm offf -Zzzz..
Saturday 7 July 2007
Overpowering gaming bliss.
I have spent a fair amount of time with The Darkness on the Xbox 360, and must admit it is the most intriguing singleplayer campaign I have played on a console in a while. Anyone who likes FPS' and gore should come out from the darkness and buy this game. I haven’t fully completed it yet but I am in no rush to do so as the important thing is, I am enjoying it which is something I haven’t done with some games in a long while.
I have been playing another game just recently which falls into the "fun" category and that is Guitar Hero 2, this also falls into the "frustration and hair pulling" categories and that’s just playing it on Easy though this is due to me trying to dominate Easy by hitting every note on every song, which isn't going so well. Never the less, I am thoroughly enjoying it for the most part. This really is a great game to break out the guitar from the closet for, especially for some mildly drunken party times as I experienced just days ago with my Birthday. That was a right laugh, though I suppose that’s the benefit of playing multiplayer either versus or co-op; hopefully the highly anticipated third instalment has online play as that will really get me rocking. Fingers crossed that the reports of GHIII coming with a wireless guitar are true; I can then jump up and down like some mad rock type person without the fear of pulling my Xbox 360 to its death.
I've recently played and reviewed the Xbox 360 version of the Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Apparently F4’s gamerscore is not overly difficult, so I'm hoping to get some more time with it as soon as I get chance to get me over the 30k gamerscore mark. The game isn't exactly the most enjoyable one on the market but then that’s the way things seem to go with movies that turn to videogames to make a cheap buck (I mean pound...). You can read my full review here.
I feel somewhat lost now as I have "every" achievement that Gears of War has to offer, yet I'm still playing it regularly. Oh well, fingers crossed for some spilled beans on the sure fire hit that will be Gears II, of which we can hopefully expect some news or more likely a teaser trailer of at the upcoming E3 Media & Business Summit next week.
I went to play Halo 2 just recently, my Xbox backwards compatible game that is and not the Vista edition. I am unhappy as I'm having problems with the damn thing. The downloaded multiplayer maps were downloaded using a different and now dead Xbox 360 console but with my hard drive on my replacement console I'm getting an error message telling the “Content you have downloaded is damaged and not usable", which sucks as I paid £2 to download the 2 recently released multiplayer maps not so long ago. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel as Bungie have announced that these maps are to be free to download very soon. Still, it's a bit of a pain in the arse as I've paid for them and haven’t really spent a great deal of time with them, just as well there only two quid or I would be moaning a bit more loudly. Fingers crossed I can get a new computer up and running soon and then do some Halo 2 achievement whoring with the PC version of the game, this lovely new bit of kit will also enable me to throw some edited gaming footage together which will certainly come in handy for site content, gameplay montages and our recently formed Community Gaming Nights, which should make things a lot more interesting and keep me on my toes that little bit more.
Wowww! As I finished writing this I just remembered one more thing which I spent some of yesterday playing and that was Rainbow Six: Vegas. I have rented the PlayStation 3 version of the game. Why? I don’t know really, my personal intentions were to put the games online play through its paces as Resistance and Motorstorm play absolutely flawlessly online with 0% latency issues – this is what I mainly expected to compare between the Xbox 360 version of the game. Yes, the PS3 version played online flawlessly with no lag what so ever for me, though I heard many people talking in one of the matches I played and these people were complaining about lag, I had none though but I shall continue to press on later and see if I encounter any such issues. I need to jump back online with the Xbox 360 version soon as I remember this being very laggy at times when the game would have over a specific amount of players, though after speaking to a buddy he assures me these issues are now solved – I’m not so convinced, but hopefully that is the case. After putting the PS3 version on, I then decided to do a little graphics comparison whilst I was their and the difference was easily noticeable. I think I may continue to do things like this as they seem to bring up a good discussion, though some may think I am biased towards the 360 version as I’m more into my Xbox gaming. Once I have my PC rig sorted out with a capture card, I’ll then be able to throw some comparison videos and screenshots together for more of these multi-format games. Anyway, I placed my character at the same exact location on both consoles in the first sineplayer level and switched between the Xbox 360 and PS3 input. The PS3 version does look good; however the Xbox 360 looked vastly superior in terms of vividness where as the PS3 version looked dull in comparison with many jagged edges noticeable on buildings, benches, poles and any other objects that were present throughout the Mexican Streets, assume the PS3 version has no FSAA (Full screen anti-aliasing). Sony fanboys, do not be alarmed as this does not mean the Xbox 360 is “better” than the PS3, it simply indicates that the PS3 version of Rainbow is not a fantastic port from the Xbox 360 version of the game. I am assuming it took the development team some time to get it looking as good as it does now, which is certainly a commendable job on their part if the rumours of the PS3 development process being vastly difficult to programme for compared to the Xbox 360, I would imagine it’s more difficult to port a game over and rework as opposed to making a new game based on one systems architecture.
That's all folks... I think I'm all blogged out for today, don't have much else planned at the moment though; I may be heading out later to watch Die Hard 4.0, should be an excellent action film and hopefully it's a worthy edition to add to the previous three when its finally released, on Blu-ray disc of course ;)
I have been playing another game just recently which falls into the "fun" category and that is Guitar Hero 2, this also falls into the "frustration and hair pulling" categories and that’s just playing it on Easy though this is due to me trying to dominate Easy by hitting every note on every song, which isn't going so well. Never the less, I am thoroughly enjoying it for the most part. This really is a great game to break out the guitar from the closet for, especially for some mildly drunken party times as I experienced just days ago with my Birthday. That was a right laugh, though I suppose that’s the benefit of playing multiplayer either versus or co-op; hopefully the highly anticipated third instalment has online play as that will really get me rocking. Fingers crossed that the reports of GHIII coming with a wireless guitar are true; I can then jump up and down like some mad rock type person without the fear of pulling my Xbox 360 to its death.
I've recently played and reviewed the Xbox 360 version of the Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Apparently F4’s gamerscore is not overly difficult, so I'm hoping to get some more time with it as soon as I get chance to get me over the 30k gamerscore mark. The game isn't exactly the most enjoyable one on the market but then that’s the way things seem to go with movies that turn to videogames to make a cheap buck (I mean pound...). You can read my full review here.
I feel somewhat lost now as I have "every" achievement that Gears of War has to offer, yet I'm still playing it regularly. Oh well, fingers crossed for some spilled beans on the sure fire hit that will be Gears II, of which we can hopefully expect some news or more likely a teaser trailer of at the upcoming E3 Media & Business Summit next week.
I went to play Halo 2 just recently, my Xbox backwards compatible game that is and not the Vista edition. I am unhappy as I'm having problems with the damn thing. The downloaded multiplayer maps were downloaded using a different and now dead Xbox 360 console but with my hard drive on my replacement console I'm getting an error message telling the “Content you have downloaded is damaged and not usable", which sucks as I paid £2 to download the 2 recently released multiplayer maps not so long ago. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel as Bungie have announced that these maps are to be free to download very soon. Still, it's a bit of a pain in the arse as I've paid for them and haven’t really spent a great deal of time with them, just as well there only two quid or I would be moaning a bit more loudly. Fingers crossed I can get a new computer up and running soon and then do some Halo 2 achievement whoring with the PC version of the game, this lovely new bit of kit will also enable me to throw some edited gaming footage together which will certainly come in handy for site content, gameplay montages and our recently formed Community Gaming Nights, which should make things a lot more interesting and keep me on my toes that little bit more.
Wowww! As I finished writing this I just remembered one more thing which I spent some of yesterday playing and that was Rainbow Six: Vegas. I have rented the PlayStation 3 version of the game. Why? I don’t know really, my personal intentions were to put the games online play through its paces as Resistance and Motorstorm play absolutely flawlessly online with 0% latency issues – this is what I mainly expected to compare between the Xbox 360 version of the game. Yes, the PS3 version played online flawlessly with no lag what so ever for me, though I heard many people talking in one of the matches I played and these people were complaining about lag, I had none though but I shall continue to press on later and see if I encounter any such issues. I need to jump back online with the Xbox 360 version soon as I remember this being very laggy at times when the game would have over a specific amount of players, though after speaking to a buddy he assures me these issues are now solved – I’m not so convinced, but hopefully that is the case. After putting the PS3 version on, I then decided to do a little graphics comparison whilst I was their and the difference was easily noticeable. I think I may continue to do things like this as they seem to bring up a good discussion, though some may think I am biased towards the 360 version as I’m more into my Xbox gaming. Once I have my PC rig sorted out with a capture card, I’ll then be able to throw some comparison videos and screenshots together for more of these multi-format games. Anyway, I placed my character at the same exact location on both consoles in the first sineplayer level and switched between the Xbox 360 and PS3 input. The PS3 version does look good; however the Xbox 360 looked vastly superior in terms of vividness where as the PS3 version looked dull in comparison with many jagged edges noticeable on buildings, benches, poles and any other objects that were present throughout the Mexican Streets, assume the PS3 version has no FSAA (Full screen anti-aliasing). Sony fanboys, do not be alarmed as this does not mean the Xbox 360 is “better” than the PS3, it simply indicates that the PS3 version of Rainbow is not a fantastic port from the Xbox 360 version of the game. I am assuming it took the development team some time to get it looking as good as it does now, which is certainly a commendable job on their part if the rumours of the PS3 development process being vastly difficult to programme for compared to the Xbox 360, I would imagine it’s more difficult to port a game over and rework as opposed to making a new game based on one systems architecture.
That's all folks... I think I'm all blogged out for today, don't have much else planned at the moment though; I may be heading out later to watch Die Hard 4.0, should be an excellent action film and hopefully it's a worthy edition to add to the previous three when its finally released, on Blu-ray disc of course ;)
Thursday 21 June 2007
Gaming video connection test.
I wanted an Elite console for HDMI and the Black finish, the larger HDD was a bonus though I'm sure it may come in handy in the near future. I have turned my current 360 into a black console with the XCM Black Knight case. I have done some tests, though this may not be the ideal way to test but it's a test none the less and on my TV these are the results...
I have my PS3 connected by HDMI and 360 by VGA (VGA on my TV looks much better than component). I have downloaded the Colin McRae: DiRT trailer from the PS3 Store and I have the game on the Xbox 360 (which has the same trailer on the game disc) and so switched between HDMI(PS3) and VGA(360) and I will admit it was very hard to tell the difference. On closer inspection the PS3 with HDMI did look better as I had the console set to RGB under its display settings, but it was only noticable on the blacks which look a little bit darker. I realise this varies between TV's but it is the only way I could come up with some sort of test for my personal set up and I am now more than happy with my VGA connection. I did dig out the old Xbox 360 Component cable and did the same test, if Component was my only choice for a HD connection then I would be more inclined to uprgrade to the Elite for the HDMI but for my setup VGA and HDMI are almost identical, minus the zero overscan on VGA.
I will be looking into trying some other trailers and what not soon but I expect similar results.
I am glad I thought of trying this out as I have been tempted by the Elite for a while now, even to the point of considering importing one. This was because I just love the black finish of the console and was expecting some massive improvement over HDMI, while I have my console in black now and have reassured myself with my VGA connection I am certainly happy to stick with my own personalised Xbox 360 Elite, minus the HDMI connection and 120GB Hard Drive ;)
I have my PS3 connected by HDMI and 360 by VGA (VGA on my TV looks much better than component). I have downloaded the Colin McRae: DiRT trailer from the PS3 Store and I have the game on the Xbox 360 (which has the same trailer on the game disc) and so switched between HDMI(PS3) and VGA(360) and I will admit it was very hard to tell the difference. On closer inspection the PS3 with HDMI did look better as I had the console set to RGB under its display settings, but it was only noticable on the blacks which look a little bit darker. I realise this varies between TV's but it is the only way I could come up with some sort of test for my personal set up and I am now more than happy with my VGA connection. I did dig out the old Xbox 360 Component cable and did the same test, if Component was my only choice for a HD connection then I would be more inclined to uprgrade to the Elite for the HDMI but for my setup VGA and HDMI are almost identical, minus the zero overscan on VGA.
I will be looking into trying some other trailers and what not soon but I expect similar results.
I am glad I thought of trying this out as I have been tempted by the Elite for a while now, even to the point of considering importing one. This was because I just love the black finish of the console and was expecting some massive improvement over HDMI, while I have my console in black now and have reassured myself with my VGA connection I am certainly happy to stick with my own personalised Xbox 360 Elite, minus the HDMI connection and 120GB Hard Drive ;)
Monday 18 June 2007
Band of Gears.
A recent update for Gears of War has included an extra eight achievements, taking the possible gamerscore attainable in the game to 1250. Now while I have all the previous achievements before this update, I have recently been ploughing through the game and gained all but one of the new achievements in one day. The only achievement that remains for me to acquire is "THIS! IS! ANNEX!", which is worth a respectable 40 gamer points and so it should be considering you must complete 100 matches of Annex. I play the game a fair bit so I'm not concerned with this one too much, I shall get it as and when I play the Annex game type - however it's not exactly my favourite game mode but still, I should acquire it soon.
A side step from gaming now -- Has anyone seen the series, Band of Brothers? Seriously, I had no idea what I was missing out on, I find it more enjoyable and interesting to watch than any WWII film before it. It's been out a while but after reading various good comments accross different forums I decided to give it my time, and it's well worth checking out.
A side step from gaming now -- Has anyone seen the series, Band of Brothers? Seriously, I had no idea what I was missing out on, I find it more enjoyable and interesting to watch than any WWII film before it. It's been out a while but after reading various good comments accross different forums I decided to give it my time, and it's well worth checking out.
Saturday 16 June 2007
100% Domination!
Yup, after owning Prey since late last year and completing the campaign shortly after on Normal difficulty, I have recently revisited the game to claim all multiplayer achievements and as of last night, I have now completed the game on Cherokee or Hard difficulty. This wasn;t much of a problem as such, but there were some moments where I got stuck and I recall these same moments from when I was playing on Normal difficulty last year, after some time aimlessly wondering around I found what I needed to progress.
I have also now unlocked the full 1000 gamerscore from NBA Street Homecourt (Yipee!!). I quite enjoyed this game, surprisingly.
I have also now unlocked the full 1000 gamerscore from NBA Street Homecourt (Yipee!!). I quite enjoyed this game, surprisingly.
Tuesday 12 June 2007
Chasing 30,000 gamerscore.
I find as I draw ever so near to the next big milestone in gamerscore land, I like to look back and see what games I have that I can perhaps revisit and re-enjoy all in the name of gaining some achievements and putting me closer to 30,000 gamerscore. While playing some of the latest and greatest games as and when I can there are times where I look back and think "I can get this..", some online achievements are not so boring if you have a few buddies online to play with, as I have recently found with revisiting Prey. As of late I've really gotten back into this game and collected all but one multiplayer achievement, which is for 250 kills in Team Death match. The achievement that I gave up on early on was the Black Jack one tied to one of the arcade machines. Once I knew how much I needed to win, then I had it down - still struggled with it a bit though, but I got it in the end ;)
Having gotten back into multiplayer I'm now in the mood for revisiting Prey on Cherokee difficulty and am hoping to gain the last singleplayer achievement in the game.
Other than Prey my time has been spent with NBA Street Homecourt and while I wasn't "feeling it" it at first, I've now got the gameplay down to a T and I can really get stuck in and dominate - I'm playing on easy though :P.
So completing those two games should put me that bit closer to 30,000 gamerscore. I'm also working on getting as many achievements that I can get from TMNT 1989 Arcade Classic and Aegis Wing (US Arcade exclusive - free).
Dare say my time will be moving back to my usual multiplayer gaming without being concerned so much for gamerscore once I have these few small goals out of the way. Those games being Gears of War, WWE SVR 2007 and Shadowrun, this last game in particular has plenty of achievements for me to gain, though most seem attainable as you play without being concerned over the specifics.
Still plenty of other games to revisit and some recent ones that I have not yet had the chance to scratch the surface on - achievement wise.
Yes, I'm a gamerscore nut. I admit it, you happy? I don't really mind as much as I like achievements and earning them. I still try to play for fun and try my best to avoid bad unenjoyable games - unless they are incredibly easy for gamerscore. Heck, I can't be as bad as some people as I still play games I have all the achievements on regularly, these are only Gears and WWE SVR 2007 though.
The thought of the new Gears of War achievements which tie into Annex and the new multiplayer maps has me salivating and this I believe would be my first game where I would have over 1000 gamerscore for one game. So I'm looking forward to that.
Having gotten back into multiplayer I'm now in the mood for revisiting Prey on Cherokee difficulty and am hoping to gain the last singleplayer achievement in the game.
Other than Prey my time has been spent with NBA Street Homecourt and while I wasn't "feeling it" it at first, I've now got the gameplay down to a T and I can really get stuck in and dominate - I'm playing on easy though :P.
So completing those two games should put me that bit closer to 30,000 gamerscore. I'm also working on getting as many achievements that I can get from TMNT 1989 Arcade Classic and Aegis Wing (US Arcade exclusive - free).
Dare say my time will be moving back to my usual multiplayer gaming without being concerned so much for gamerscore once I have these few small goals out of the way. Those games being Gears of War, WWE SVR 2007 and Shadowrun, this last game in particular has plenty of achievements for me to gain, though most seem attainable as you play without being concerned over the specifics.
Still plenty of other games to revisit and some recent ones that I have not yet had the chance to scratch the surface on - achievement wise.
Yes, I'm a gamerscore nut. I admit it, you happy? I don't really mind as much as I like achievements and earning them. I still try to play for fun and try my best to avoid bad unenjoyable games - unless they are incredibly easy for gamerscore. Heck, I can't be as bad as some people as I still play games I have all the achievements on regularly, these are only Gears and WWE SVR 2007 though.
The thought of the new Gears of War achievements which tie into Annex and the new multiplayer maps has me salivating and this I believe would be my first game where I would have over 1000 gamerscore for one game. So I'm looking forward to that.
Monday 11 June 2007
This is the end...
Gaming community nights for the Halo 3 Beta are done and dusted for both communities of MSXbox World and WCF. The MSXbox World H3 Beta night was rather successful with some entertaining games, hopefully some of the videos from the "good" matches will be featured on our site - that's assuming members submitted some videos to MSXB. I am just about to share a video now which sees myself doing rather good at the beginning as well as some other members gunning skills in the warthog. Hopefully when the Beta is over, perhaps we can still share and view our H3 game videos.
The H3 Beta WCF Community night this past Saturday... well the less said about this the better, it was utter crap. It's not that no one turned up as the majority of players did show up, but by the time the rest of the team decided to come on, myself and the others who were gaming on time had quite simply had enough, lets just say we had a fair amount of bad games. So me and the Buck ended up on Gears of War instead - which was much more enjoyable (for the most part).
Final thoughts now on the Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta. This is expected to end sometime tonight and I feel somewhat annoyed with myself for not spending as much time with it as I perhaps should have. I mean, come the release on Sept 25th, I likely will be addicted to Halo full time once again. The Beta for me though, just didn't quite meet my expectations. This is probably due to being forced into matchmaking when at times all I really want to do is just play a custom game with buddies. There is a way around this but I feel even though it may not have benefited the development of the game that Bungie should have supported custom games as well as matchmaking to make a better experience for their users. It's not that its bad, its just I'm a sucker for being drawn into hype and I love this fact, though I had a feeling once I played the Beta that while I may enjoy it - it may not leave me as hyped for Halo 3's release. The madness surrounding Halo 2's hype a few years back was insane. I remember booking the day off work for the release day and then I got a text while I was at work telling me it arrived, which was a day early - that day didn't half drag...
My point is, this Beta has left the hype for Halo 3 flat, at least for me anyway. I'm sure Microsoft will start the hype machine rolling again soon with more trailers and hopefully more info on the campaign.
The H3 Beta WCF Community night this past Saturday... well the less said about this the better, it was utter crap. It's not that no one turned up as the majority of players did show up, but by the time the rest of the team decided to come on, myself and the others who were gaming on time had quite simply had enough, lets just say we had a fair amount of bad games. So me and the Buck ended up on Gears of War instead - which was much more enjoyable (for the most part).
Final thoughts now on the Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta. This is expected to end sometime tonight and I feel somewhat annoyed with myself for not spending as much time with it as I perhaps should have. I mean, come the release on Sept 25th, I likely will be addicted to Halo full time once again. The Beta for me though, just didn't quite meet my expectations. This is probably due to being forced into matchmaking when at times all I really want to do is just play a custom game with buddies. There is a way around this but I feel even though it may not have benefited the development of the game that Bungie should have supported custom games as well as matchmaking to make a better experience for their users. It's not that its bad, its just I'm a sucker for being drawn into hype and I love this fact, though I had a feeling once I played the Beta that while I may enjoy it - it may not leave me as hyped for Halo 3's release. The madness surrounding Halo 2's hype a few years back was insane. I remember booking the day off work for the release day and then I got a text while I was at work telling me it arrived, which was a day early - that day didn't half drag...
My point is, this Beta has left the hype for Halo 3 flat, at least for me anyway. I'm sure Microsoft will start the hype machine rolling again soon with more trailers and hopefully more info on the campaign.
Tuesday 5 June 2007
Shadowrun Review + Halo 3 Community Gaming Night's
I have been spending some time with Shadowrun this past week and have been enjoying it so much as to recommend it to some online buddies. It seems though there are more than a few negative reviews about the game around the interweb effecting some peoples decisions, hopefully people will see Shadowrun for how much fun it is when they get a taster in the form of the multiplayer demo of Shadowrun which is scheduled to release tomorrow. You can check out my review of Shadowrun by clicking here.
The Halo 3 Beta has been out for a few weeks now and with the end of the Beta looming on June 10th, I have taken the oppurtunity to milk whats left of it by arranging 2 community gaming nights. One has been arranged for the MSXbox World Community on June 7th and the other for the WCF Gaming Community this Saturday. So, hopefully we get a plethora of Halo 3 gaming action in and more importantly have a good time.
The Halo 3 Beta has been out for a few weeks now and with the end of the Beta looming on June 10th, I have taken the oppurtunity to milk whats left of it by arranging 2 community gaming nights. One has been arranged for the MSXbox World Community on June 7th and the other for the WCF Gaming Community this Saturday. So, hopefully we get a plethora of Halo 3 gaming action in and more importantly have a good time.
Wednesday 30 May 2007
Gaming goodness and Sony
Over the last few days I have been playing Forza Motorsport 2 and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and have enjoyed them both to a degree. You can read my review of Pirates at MSXbox World by clicking here.
I have just started playing Shadowrun only a few hours ago and am finding that there is a lot of information to take in and remember during the course of gameplay; the game has a very good tutorial mode though which helps significantly. I'm sure most Xbox 360 FPS fans will know that Shadowrun is the first game under Microsoft's Games for Windows (Vista) platform that allows cross-platform play between Xbox 360 and Windows Vista gamers. So perhaps the ultimate battle of the mouse and keyboards versus the controller?
In other news I just recently hit 27,000+ gamerscore - I am obviously aiming for the big 30k which I hope to get some time soon as I have a few games left over where there are some rather easy achievements available, its just finding the time to want to revisit old games when there are so many new "good" games available and on the horizon - also not forgetting the Halo 3 Beta which is gagging for some serious playtime.
I also received an email today from Sony regarding the Casino Royale Blu-ray disc promotion I mentioned in a previous post. Here is a quote from the email: "Being one of the first to register you have qualified for a free Blu-ray Disc™ of Casino Royale™. We will aim to deliver your disc within 45 days." I find this particularly amusing as it states I'm one of the first to register for the PlayStation Network... I didn't get a PS3 until May 1st so they must have had lots of registrations from the UK launch til then? The other thing obviously is that I received my disc of Casino Royale on Blu-ray just recently from Sony so it seems odd for the email to arrive just now and inform me that I qualify for it and that the disc will be posted within 45 days... when I already have it. Still nothing to complain about as such, as I have the film now anyway.
I have just started playing Shadowrun only a few hours ago and am finding that there is a lot of information to take in and remember during the course of gameplay; the game has a very good tutorial mode though which helps significantly. I'm sure most Xbox 360 FPS fans will know that Shadowrun is the first game under Microsoft's Games for Windows (Vista) platform that allows cross-platform play between Xbox 360 and Windows Vista gamers. So perhaps the ultimate battle of the mouse and keyboards versus the controller?
In other news I just recently hit 27,000+ gamerscore - I am obviously aiming for the big 30k which I hope to get some time soon as I have a few games left over where there are some rather easy achievements available, its just finding the time to want to revisit old games when there are so many new "good" games available and on the horizon - also not forgetting the Halo 3 Beta which is gagging for some serious playtime.
I also received an email today from Sony regarding the Casino Royale Blu-ray disc promotion I mentioned in a previous post. Here is a quote from the email: "Being one of the first to register you have qualified for a free Blu-ray Disc™ of Casino Royale™. We will aim to deliver your disc within 45 days." I find this particularly amusing as it states I'm one of the first to register for the PlayStation Network... I didn't get a PS3 until May 1st so they must have had lots of registrations from the UK launch til then? The other thing obviously is that I received my disc of Casino Royale on Blu-ray just recently from Sony so it seems odd for the email to arrive just now and inform me that I qualify for it and that the disc will be posted within 45 days... when I already have it. Still nothing to complain about as such, as I have the film now anyway.
Saturday 26 May 2007
Back on Xbox LIVE + Freebie from Sony :)
After some network issues I am back on Xbox Live, about god damn time too. Not been upto much today or over the past few days - I do not like being disconnected, feels very strange. Anyways, I'm happy to be back online in full force, just spent some time downloading a few trailers and the Colin McRae: DiRT demo; I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, and yeah it impressed the hell out of me, I will be spending some more time with the demo before the game releases.
During my down time I had the chance to get into my PS3 a bit more and have spent some well over due time with Resistance, at first I thought it was just OK but a couple of levels in then I really got into it and am really enjoying it so far, multiplayer I find weird though. It's good, no lag or anything but there is just no communication, I am not sure if I need a Bluetooth headset to actually hear people or if I should be able to hear them through the speakers like I can on Xbox Live, I'm not wanting to spend money on a headset if hardly anyone talks... perhaps Sony should have included one in the box or sell an official headset.
I will be looking to finish off the campaign of Resistance very soon then get back to some well deserved Halo 3 Beta action (before I blink and wonder where all the time went).
I was very happy this morning too, as I woke up to find a package from Sony containing the film 007: Casino Royale on Blu-ray disc. I did read about the promotion on their website but wasn't sure if I would receive it or not, though I obviously have and it took 26 days from me registering on the PlayStation Network to receive the disc. So I guess I will be watching some Bond... James Bond tonight then.
During my down time I had the chance to get into my PS3 a bit more and have spent some well over due time with Resistance, at first I thought it was just OK but a couple of levels in then I really got into it and am really enjoying it so far, multiplayer I find weird though. It's good, no lag or anything but there is just no communication, I am not sure if I need a Bluetooth headset to actually hear people or if I should be able to hear them through the speakers like I can on Xbox Live, I'm not wanting to spend money on a headset if hardly anyone talks... perhaps Sony should have included one in the box or sell an official headset.
I will be looking to finish off the campaign of Resistance very soon then get back to some well deserved Halo 3 Beta action (before I blink and wonder where all the time went).
I was very happy this morning too, as I woke up to find a package from Sony containing the film 007: Casino Royale on Blu-ray disc. I did read about the promotion on their website but wasn't sure if I would receive it or not, though I obviously have and it took 26 days from me registering on the PlayStation Network to receive the disc. So I guess I will be watching some Bond... James Bond tonight then.
Friday 18 May 2007
Playing Bungie at their own game + movies -- Everyone was Virtua Fighting' dun, dun, dun... you get the picture.
May 16th 2007 was the official release of the Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta to the public, on this date I had the opportunity to team up with and go against some of the team behind the development of Halo 3 - Bungie Studios. There were other select members of the community in on the action also and we all had the chance to take on and team up with Bungie on what is sure to be the game of the year when the retail version releases on September 25th, 2007.
You can view the article and movies by clicking here. Certainly some great games and I'm quite happy with how well I did considering I had only been playing the Beta for a few hours before joining - though I have had plenty of experience with Halo 2 though admittedly I havn't been playing this a great deal as of late.
An update on Virtua Fighter 5 from my last post, the preview is up and if you're looking at your next brawler for the Xbox 360 or perhaps even the PS3 then you may be interested in checking out my preview of Virtua Fighter 5 by kicking here.
You can view the article and movies by clicking here. Certainly some great games and I'm quite happy with how well I did considering I had only been playing the Beta for a few hours before joining - though I have had plenty of experience with Halo 2 though admittedly I havn't been playing this a great deal as of late.
An update on Virtua Fighter 5 from my last post, the preview is up and if you're looking at your next brawler for the Xbox 360 or perhaps even the PS3 then you may be interested in checking out my preview of Virtua Fighter 5 by kicking here.
Sunday 13 May 2007
Halo 3 Beta, MSXbox World, WCF Community Night
As of the last few days I have seen a couple of people on my friends list playing the Halo 3 Beta and it is that fact for any Halo fan that is enough to drive you completely round the bend. To compensate for this I have been downloading hi-def video clips of the Halo 3 Beta in action, and this probably was not a good idea; as I find myself wanting to just play the damn thing even more. Eventually I will get my hands on it, come this Wednesday at least anyway - hopefully before.
Other things I have been doing as of late are designing a few nice slide images in Photoshop for various previews and what not as well as a Video Studio Tour of Codemasters, check out www.msxbox-world.com for all that, there's loads of stuff for you to check including exclusive screenshots from Forza Motorsport 2 and more. I've just finished writing up a short Hands-on preview for Virtua Fighter 5 as I have recently been playing the PS3 version and so have compiled my overall thoughts into a preview for the Xbox 360 version which will release later this summer. This preview should be up in the next day or so.
Just recently I had some games on Gears of War with a few of my old graphics buddies from WCF, this is actually the second event... or is it the first as no one actually showed up for the first one, including me? Either way it was OK, we had some good games and some other friends and random players joined in on the action. A few WCF'ers sadly couldn't make it for various reasons including: "the event is 6pm UK time but that is 4am in Australia (-2 buddies)' 'my Gears of War disc is unreadable - perhaps fear of getting owned or legitimate? (-1 buddy)"
Still may have some ranked games tonight as a couple more are expected to come online -- anytime now, hopefully.
Other things I have been doing as of late are designing a few nice slide images in Photoshop for various previews and what not as well as a Video Studio Tour of Codemasters, check out www.msxbox-world.com for all that, there's loads of stuff for you to check including exclusive screenshots from Forza Motorsport 2 and more. I've just finished writing up a short Hands-on preview for Virtua Fighter 5 as I have recently been playing the PS3 version and so have compiled my overall thoughts into a preview for the Xbox 360 version which will release later this summer. This preview should be up in the next day or so.
Just recently I had some games on Gears of War with a few of my old graphics buddies from WCF, this is actually the second event... or is it the first as no one actually showed up for the first one, including me? Either way it was OK, we had some good games and some other friends and random players joined in on the action. A few WCF'ers sadly couldn't make it for various reasons including: "the event is 6pm UK time but that is 4am in Australia (-2 buddies)' 'my Gears of War disc is unreadable - perhaps fear of getting owned or legitimate? (-1 buddy)"
Still may have some ranked games tonight as a couple more are expected to come online -- anytime now, hopefully.
Monday 7 May 2007
Added Twitter... The Buck-eth's Review.
I have added Twitter to my blog, you can see this just to the right below my Xbox Live gamercard, basically this little tool allows you to update the box with your own text to let people know what you're doing (or for other reasons). The handy thing about it is that you can not only update it from Twitter.com but also using your mobile phone or instant messenger... I have not figured out everything yet so am updating it via. the web but it would be more convenient if it works with my msn messenger though. I will have to dig a bit deeper and find out about that. Not that I'm doing anything of interest but it's handy if some buddies are wondering why I'm not on Xbox Live or msn for example.
Also my good buddy mr Buck-eth or Buckdawg as he likes to be called of WCF fame has got his very first review up on www.msxbox-world.com, you can check that out by clicking here.
Also my good buddy mr Buck-eth or Buckdawg as he likes to be called of WCF fame has got his very first review up on www.msxbox-world.com, you can check that out by clicking here.
Thursday 3 May 2007
HDMI cable arrives :) Gears of War new map pack now available.
Finally after the waiting, my HDMI cable has arrived today and as can be seen by my setup pictures I'm sure you can imagine how much of pain it was to get it connected to my TV (click here for setup pictures). First off I had to remove the top of my desk and then remove the TV's speakers just so I could get to the underside of the TV, needless to say once that was out of the way it was pretty straight forward. Anyway, these pictures were taken yesterday afternoon as I was in the mood for snapping some pics at the time, so the PS3 image on the TV is in low resolution 576i using the composite cable. However, I now have it setup to 1080p over HDMI and it looks drop dead gorgeous. I will hopefully find some time tonight to start the singleplayer campaign on Resistance: Fall of Man and maybe get some Motorstorm in if I'm lucky.
Though anyone that knows me will know that I can barely keep off Gears of War, I thought I would stop playing it once I got the last achievement in the game (Seriously .. 10, 000 ranked kills), but as of late I seem to be enjoying the game more because I don't have to try and take it so seriously all the time - no pun intended. Though I'm sure any Gears of War fan will have heard about the new Multiplayer Map Pack entitled Hidden Fronts, this new map pack includes 4 new maps and is available to download now from the Xbox Live marketplace for 800 MS points - keep in mind though that this new pack will be made available to download for free on September 3rd.
Wednesday 2 May 2007
PS3 arrived yesterday!
Yesterday was a very long day. Waiting in for the PS3 to be delivered and it shows up about 5.10pm, after about 3pm I had given up hope of it arriving at all. I was more dissapointed that my HDMI cable did not get delivered the same day - still fingers crossed that should arrive some time this morning as I have not had any post yet.
So yesterdays activities obviously revolved around the PS3 and getting it setup and setting my online account up and then downloading some demos and trailers. First thing I downloaded was the GT:HD demo which seems impressive, it looked quite poor though - I am putting that down to me using the composite cable that ships with the console.
Today though I've stuffed some more demos and trailers for download including Formula One CE, Ridge Racer 7, Genji: DotB and the Virtua Tennis 3 demo - I actually have the Xbox 360 version of this so I'm more interested in comparing it visually. The thing I have had the most fun with today is Super Rub 'a' Dub, this is basically what Sony were showing off in one of their demonstrations a while back. So they've turned it into a game which actually works surprisingly well and is all controlled by tilting the SixAxis Wireless controller. The basic premise of the game is to free your young ducklings from the enclosure and in some of the later levels avoiding sharks too. I havn't played it a great deal and have only downloaded the free demo version so I'm not sure how many levels are available.
The thing I am most excited about playing today is the Ninja Gaiden: Sigma demo, this is not available on the UK PS Store so I created a US account - basically the same way to access content from other regions on the Xbox 360. The download has just finished as I'm typing this but I'll wait for now and try it out once my HDMI cable arrives.
As an Xbox 360 owner it seems I have not been appreciating what my 360 offers me as I'm sure I am not the only one to take some of the consoles features for granted but this becomes more evident when playing on other consoles and you expect to be able to do specific things. I cannot access the Friends list whilst playing a game or watching a video and you cannot check on your currently running downloads - to do any of those things you need to be on the XMB (Cross Media Bar) or Dashboards to keep things simple you 360 people (assuming there is something I'm not missing).
One other thing I want to add before I finish, which really disgruntles me for some reason and that is if you download a game or demo from the PS Store you can obviously check on its progress and access it on the XMB, but when you come to launch it for the first time it has to install it, this is a very quick process but just seems so odd, I guess Sony really are pushing their console to be like a computer or something... I really don't understand why they just don't auto install during the download, I would have thought if it must install that the download could pause at say 99% and then install and hit 100% and be complete that would just seem so much more beneficial and convenient for gamers - the less screens to go through to access the content the better or at least thats what I think.
I shall head off now and wait for Mr Postman, quite looking forward to getting on Resistance: FoM, I havn't even opened it yet - I want my first impression of the game to be in HD goodness :)
--- Nooo as I was just finishing this up and the postman has been and there is no HDMI cable :*(
So yesterdays activities obviously revolved around the PS3 and getting it setup and setting my online account up and then downloading some demos and trailers. First thing I downloaded was the GT:HD demo which seems impressive, it looked quite poor though - I am putting that down to me using the composite cable that ships with the console.
Today though I've stuffed some more demos and trailers for download including Formula One CE, Ridge Racer 7, Genji: DotB and the Virtua Tennis 3 demo - I actually have the Xbox 360 version of this so I'm more interested in comparing it visually. The thing I have had the most fun with today is Super Rub 'a' Dub, this is basically what Sony were showing off in one of their demonstrations a while back. So they've turned it into a game which actually works surprisingly well and is all controlled by tilting the SixAxis Wireless controller. The basic premise of the game is to free your young ducklings from the enclosure and in some of the later levels avoiding sharks too. I havn't played it a great deal and have only downloaded the free demo version so I'm not sure how many levels are available.
The thing I am most excited about playing today is the Ninja Gaiden: Sigma demo, this is not available on the UK PS Store so I created a US account - basically the same way to access content from other regions on the Xbox 360. The download has just finished as I'm typing this but I'll wait for now and try it out once my HDMI cable arrives.
As an Xbox 360 owner it seems I have not been appreciating what my 360 offers me as I'm sure I am not the only one to take some of the consoles features for granted but this becomes more evident when playing on other consoles and you expect to be able to do specific things. I cannot access the Friends list whilst playing a game or watching a video and you cannot check on your currently running downloads - to do any of those things you need to be on the XMB (Cross Media Bar) or Dashboards to keep things simple you 360 people (assuming there is something I'm not missing).
One other thing I want to add before I finish, which really disgruntles me for some reason and that is if you download a game or demo from the PS Store you can obviously check on its progress and access it on the XMB, but when you come to launch it for the first time it has to install it, this is a very quick process but just seems so odd, I guess Sony really are pushing their console to be like a computer or something... I really don't understand why they just don't auto install during the download, I would have thought if it must install that the download could pause at say 99% and then install and hit 100% and be complete that would just seem so much more beneficial and convenient for gamers - the less screens to go through to access the content the better or at least thats what I think.
I shall head off now and wait for Mr Postman, quite looking forward to getting on Resistance: FoM, I havn't even opened it yet - I want my first impression of the game to be in HD goodness :)
--- Nooo as I was just finishing this up and the postman has been and there is no HDMI cable :*(
Saturday 28 April 2007
Sony PlayStation 3
I have finally ordered one. I was always planning on getting one but I have ended up with one much sooner than I anticipated. My reason for wanting a PlayStation 3 next to my Xbox 360 is for Blu-Ray playback and its exclusives games so when I came across a weekend only offer for £359.98 I slowly clicked the [BUY] button.
I've missed out on some recent PS2 gems as of late so if the PS3's backwards compatibility does its job well then I intend on picking up Metal Gear Solid 3 and Resident Evil 4 (assuming both are BC), obviously I would like to play these games before the new-gen versions are released later this year. I have not ordered any games as of yet, though I'll probably pick up Resistance: Fall of Man and Motorstorm in the not too distant future. I may be tempted by Virtua Fighter 5 as well as the last proper fighting game I played was last year with Dead or Alive 4 on the Xbox 360 - though having said that I may just rent Virtua Fighter 5 on PS3 as I'm an Xbox 360 achievement whore and can no way afford to start buying two of the same games for different consoles.
I was non too happy when I found out shortly after ordering that the console does not even come with a HDMI or Component cable! All you get are the lousy composite rca connections -this doesn't seem promising on a console that is supposedly strongly pushing their Blu-Ray HD format, I really would have expected to find a HDMI or at the very least a component cable in the box.
I will post some pictures soon once it arrives.
I've missed out on some recent PS2 gems as of late so if the PS3's backwards compatibility does its job well then I intend on picking up Metal Gear Solid 3 and Resident Evil 4 (assuming both are BC), obviously I would like to play these games before the new-gen versions are released later this year. I have not ordered any games as of yet, though I'll probably pick up Resistance: Fall of Man and Motorstorm in the not too distant future. I may be tempted by Virtua Fighter 5 as well as the last proper fighting game I played was last year with Dead or Alive 4 on the Xbox 360 - though having said that I may just rent Virtua Fighter 5 on PS3 as I'm an Xbox 360 achievement whore and can no way afford to start buying two of the same games for different consoles.
I was non too happy when I found out shortly after ordering that the console does not even come with a HDMI or Component cable! All you get are the lousy composite rca connections -this doesn't seem promising on a console that is supposedly strongly pushing their Blu-Ray HD format, I really would have expected to find a HDMI or at the very least a component cable in the box.
I will post some pictures soon once it arrives.
Friday 27 April 2007
Marketplace spending and more.
I finally bought myself some Microsoft Points for the first time recently since having my Xbox 360 since the UK launch. I'm not a big spender when it comes to marketplace content but the points were purchased as I had been wanting to change my gamertag for a long time, so I decided to go a head and do that. Though shortly after changing my gamertag I found out I may have put my Halo 3 BETA invitation at risk due to changing my gamertag, well I'm hoping the invites are issued by email so fingers crossed I should receive it. Failing that I've got Crackdown to fall back on which enables you to download the Halo 3 Multiplayer BETA when available.
I also took the plunge recently and purchased the new Halo 2 map pack for an incredible £2! I have not spent a great deal of time playing the maps but they seem balanced enough, I will likely spend some more time on them once they are included in the Halo 2 matchmaking system.
I decided to also purchase my first Arcade game... after seeing the new animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film recently and playing and reviewing the recent Xbox 360 game I was left wanting more and so I "jumped in" and downloaded the TMNT 1989 Arcade Classic from Xbox Live Arcade.
I also took the plunge recently and purchased the new Halo 2 map pack for an incredible £2! I have not spent a great deal of time playing the maps but they seem balanced enough, I will likely spend some more time on them once they are included in the Halo 2 matchmaking system.
I decided to also purchase my first Arcade game... after seeing the new animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film recently and playing and reviewing the recent Xbox 360 game I was left wanting more and so I "jumped in" and downloaded the TMNT 1989 Arcade Classic from Xbox Live Arcade.
Thursday 26 April 2007
Remember, remember...
Yay! I remembered I had this blog up when I woke up today, so been doing some tinkering to improve the visual flair some what. Will get to work soon on a banner to replace the generic green title header - that is once I have the colours 100% the way I like them first, there would be little point in doing a banner and then ending up changing the colour scheme and it not matching.
Blog is alive!
Finally got one up, been meaning to do this for ages, just never found the time to do it. So at approximately 4:34am and several lagers later it is finally up.
I should continue to update this, assuming I remember to add it to my fav's once I've got the basics setup.
I should continue to update this, assuming I remember to add it to my fav's once I've got the basics setup.
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