[RETRO] Thanks, Nintendo E-Shop!

Just a quickie from me - how much has the Nintendo E-Shop improved recently! ? However, I have encountered one major problem, illustrated below:

Number one cause of rage quits ever in my life. What's everyone else's Mean Bean? I know you've all got one!

Xbox One Media Remote Available Soon

As of March/April of 2014, Xbox One owners will be able to purchase an official media remote to make interactivity a breeze. Similar to a regular TV remote, the Xbox One equivalent will feature playback functions for Blu-Ray, as well as a OneGuide button, which "provides one-touch, quick access to your favourite TV shows and movies," all through your Xbox guide.

Microsoft

Although users can control their console using the control pads and the Kinest camera, many will be delighted to purchase a specific device that functions as a remote control.

Xbox 360 fans will no doubt recall the media remote available in the previous generation. While it was rather large, clunky and featured a whole host of buttons, sources suggest the Xbox One version will be more compact with fewer buttons to get used to.

Already, places such as Amazon UK have started listing the product, portraying the release date as "April 4" and priced at £19.99. Amazon Italy is also listing the product with the same release date and priced at twenty-three Euros.

Let us know in the comments if you think this will ultimately be a good investment for gamers/movie enthusiasts, or if it will just add another pointless remote control to the vast collection that many people already have in their homes.

Is Growing Old Something Gamers Should Worry About?

Click the link here and watch the video IGN posted last month about what it's like growing up with games and suddenly realising you may be too old for them. It's presented in a comedic and relatable way and ends by inviting viewers to discuss in the comments the moment they felt they were growing perhaps too old for games.

Inevitably every gamer reaches this epoch where brief retrospection and nostalgic memories reveal an existential revelation that gaming is no longer the child-like, carefree experience it once was. I've fallen prey to such thoughts in the past, particularly when I realise that playing video games is often something I do when I should be doing other things.

joystiq.com

Desire pulls me in but guilt makes me log back out again. Every minute spent slaying dragons, running from bad guys and erecting giant forms of compensation is time not spent doing things I know would be more productive. I have work I need to be looking for, projects I could be getting on with and even house chores that are being neglected.

For me, being an older gamer means feeling a small sense of shame for not using my time more productively.

You could argue what it means to be "productive" and get into all sorts of heated debates about the necessity of unwinding by engaging in entertainment. I'm not here to call attention to such details, because I'm not worried about growing into an old gamer. And you shouldn't be either.

Here's why:

Embracing Your Inner Geriatric

Most people who reveal themselves to be old in terms of video game fandom tend to do so by comparing their life today with the life they had ten, fifteen or more years ago. Being a child of previous generations meant playing games like Sonic The Hedgehog, Mario, Zelda and a veritable smorgasbord of other bright and cartoon-y products. This is because in their infancy, video games were either marketed to children or families.

Such games still exist and are readily available in a variety of updated versions of these beloved titles. But the reality of the situation is, the industry has matured and grown in the same way its audience has. As a result, there are more games than in previous generations that cater to a more adult demographic.

The Mario and Sonic titles will always be amongst some of the more popular games because they appeal to children and the grown ups who remember playing previous iterations of them. But for every one of these universal games, there's a Bioshock, or Grand Theft Auto and let's not forget the very mature The Last Of Us.

ign.com

This is proof that gaming isn't something that's exclusively reserved for a younger version of ourselves. Of course children still play them, but that's not the issue here. See, the beauty of being an older gamer means that not only are developers taking our interests into consideration, we also have the power to determine market trends, simply because we have the finances to put money into the industry.

Growing up, your video game collection was dictated by your parents who bought them. Now, as adults, we have control over what we purchase and from any age bracket of our choosing. 

Despite having financial responsibilities, there is literally no one in this world who can stop me from spending every penny I have in my bank account on Steam products. But I don't, because I know there are other things I need to keep that meagre amount of money for.

To me that's what being an older gamer is all about: having the financial freedom to purchase and play games, but being selective of when and how often I do this. Gaming is a big part of my life, but being an adult means slotting it into my life with other things I have going on, not making it my sole defining characteristic.

It's important to be able to distinguish between being older and being too old for something. So let's not be afraid of growing too old for games. Without us, who's going to keep the industry afloat with ad-hoc purchases? Not punk-ass kids, that's for sure!

Tiny Arcade Wristwatch Coming This March

Thinkgeek.com

Are you an avid retro gamer? Don't have enough tech gadgets and titbits in your life to reflect your passion? From March this year, you'll be able to rekindle the days of yore by purchasing an arcade wristwatch from Thinkgeek.com. It's designed to resemble the old-style arcade cabinets many people will recall fondly (particularly for those who grew up in the 80's and early 90's).

Ticking It Old School

The watch features an ornamental joystick and a fire button that activates lights and "pew" sounds when pressed. The face displays space rocks as the hours and minutes hands, while the seconds are shown as a triangular spaceship, giving it a look and feel of the classic game "Asteroids".

Thinkgeek.com

Currently priced at $60, it may be a little pricey for casual gamers/gadget collectors. But it'll certainly be a rare treat for hardcore fans who long for that little nostalgia and have some disposable income they can spare.

How Long Until Sony Goes Under?

Sony

As recently as December 2013, articles have become abundant with the news that Playstation developers, Sony, could become bankrupt within the next two years. Reports indicate the tech giant has a 78% chance of going under by 2016.

Recently more information has emerged which could showcase the beginning of this end. Earlier this month, Sony announced they will be selling their PC (personal computer) unit to combat heavy losses. They are also making plans to cut back more than 5,000 jobs, making the announcement after a net loss of £665 million was forecast for the financial year.

Playstation 4 on the rise, though

Despite the news, figures were recently published that showed sales of the Playstation 4 had doubled that of Microsoft's own new generation console, Xbox One. With the launch of Sony's own console set to be released in its home country of Japan on February 22nd 2014, sales are no doubt expected to rise even further.

Despite this, Sony are facing threats from competing companies and a decrease in PC sales globally. While they are making new plans to focus on smartphone and tablet technology, the sale of its PC division and employee cutbacks are showing signs of the conglomerate's financial troubles.

Help Required

As you can probably tell, I'm trying to get my blog up and running again. This time though, I admit I need help! Looking for perhaps two or three occasional writers to back up myself and new recruit Andy, and I would ADORE some pretty graphics if anyone were able to donate.

Anyway, while you have a good think about it, I'm off to play Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. Expect it to get sweary!

Things to come!

Alright, so no ACTUAL content today. However, over the next few weeks I shall be posting my opinions on the following:
My disastrous return to retail
Portable speaker comparisons
Xbox One
Smartglass
PS4
Mobile phone vs tablet (specifically, my S4 and my note 8 ;)
Samsung Galaxy Camera
How I convinced my bf to switch to Samsung rather than iPhone
And, er, Zoo Tycoon.

Please note, I am not sponsored by Samsung. However, if any reps would like to get in touch to arrange that, well, feel free ;)

Content soon, I promise!

Back once again like the renegade master....

Guess who's back with some free time.


Watch this space!

[REVIEW] Netflix (PS3)

I might be a little late to the party on this one, seeing as how Netflix has been out for a couple of weeks now, but you'll just have to excuse me, I've been glued to the TV for pretty much 90% of that time. At first, as usual, I was pretty skeptical about Netflix, afterall, LoveFilm has been around for a bit longer, giving us movies on demand to our consoles for under a fiver a month. LoveFilm is also run by Amazon, who I firmly believe are the new Tesco, so I was a little baffled as to why Netflix would even bother coming to the UK. However, we decided to give it a try, as Netflix has various TV series available to stream as well as movies, something that as far as I'm aware, LoveFilm doesn't offer yet.

Now fortunately for me, I live down the road from the telephone exchange, and most of the time experience superb connection speeds. Despite this, I was still convinced that the streams from Netflix would be glitchy, blocky and maybe even (horror of horrors!) standard def. All my fears were dispelled when I actually gave it a go, and we sat down to watch a series of random films on a whim, including Starship Troopers, Spaceballs, Dazed and Confused, Robocop and High Fidelity, none of which we realised we wanted to watch until we saw them pop up in the (incredibly easy to navigate) menus.

Where Netflix really comes into its own however is with the aforementioned TV series that are available. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed South Park, and no longer do we have to stand up to put the next DVD of the Arrested Development boxset in, we can simply do it by remote. Thank god. Netflix even gives recommendations based on the things you've watched recently, so you don't even have to think for yourself anymore! Hallelujah! Looks like we'll be happily forking out the subscription for this, even if all else fails, I can always watch more Jersey Shore!

Basically, I LOVE living in the future. Yay for Netflix! 5/5

[PREVIEW] PS Vita

I found myself in the rather fortunate position the other day of having a PS Vita in my house. Alright, fair enough, it wasn't mine, but I got to have a good go on it from the comfort of my sofa while my other half downloaded all the updates and demo software for it on our PS3, ready to take back to the shop.

Having been a lifelong Nintendo fan, I have to admit that the handheld Playstation offerings have never really floated my particular boat, however I won't deny the fact that the Vita is an incredibly good looking machine. Despite a HUGE screen, the Vita is relatively lightweight for its size, probably due to the lack of a disc drive. A quick fiddle with the sticks and D-pad confirms that the controls are going to be top quality - one thing that concerns me however is how well the prominent sticks would stand up to living in my handbag. The original PSPs were prone to losing their shoddy little sticks, these ones seem to be firmly attached, but for how long?

At this point, I decided no preview would be complete without actually turning the machine on, no matter how shiny the exterior. (For those who need to know, it is VERY shiny. Prone to fingerprinting though, but hours of entertainment for those who enjoy polishing their gadgets.) The Husband went through the set-up process rather than myself, but he reported it to be relatively easy, although anyone who owns a PS3 will be familiar with the usual PSN updates before you get to do anything new.

The HD graphics are incredibly crisp and pretty. I played Everybody's Golf (Everybody IS golf? Everybody HAS golf? I dunno.) and the new Wipeout, which ran incredibly smoothly, but was let down by some insanely long loading times. I suppose I'm used to the superfast loading times of the Nintendo handhelds. The PS button returns you to the main menu whilst pausing the game, allowing access to all the settings and various bits and bobs, which looks impressive considering how much it seemed to be labouring over loading levels in Wipeout. The whole package seems relatively user-friendly, with easy access to the PS3 through the Content Manager on the Vita.

All in all, the PS Vita seems like it's going to be a popular machine. However, at £230 for the basic Wifi version and £280 for the 3G version, it's a rather expensive toy, and I won't be buying one for myself. However, if I were to receive one as a gift, I'd be sure to say thank you!

[REVIEW] Super Pokemon Rumble (3DS)

For years, I've always been incredibly wary of Pokemon spin-off games. It seemed that for a while, they were scraping the barrel with titles such as Pokemon Mystery Dungeon (of which there were five, I think) and the irritating manic-circle-drawing-fest that was Pokemon Ranger, which actually managed to snare thirty quid of my hard-earned cash as it is the only way to get the legendary Pokemon Manaphy. And I shelled out for the sequel, too. I played those games through to the end with a frozen grimace on my face, desperate for my prize at the end of it all.

So how did I end up with Super Pokemon Rumble? Normally I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole, unless there was a rare Pokemon associated with it, or some other massive benefit to myself. I played it briefly at GAMEFest where it raised a reaction of "meh", although I was horrifically hungover, so pretty much everything got that reaction bar the girls giving out free Mountain Dew. No, I popped into my (former) shop for a quick chat with the lads, and noticed that it'd been slashed in price from £34.99 to just £19.99, only a week or two after its release. For some reason, something just snapped, and I thought "What the hell."

To say that I was pleasantly surprised is a small understatement. I was, in all honesty, expecting to ten day exchange this game, but it's simple appeal has me hooked. There's some vague story that runs through it, but I shan't bore you with that. The idea goes something like this. It's sort of implied that you're some kid who collects wind-up pokemon toys - but you only ever seem to walk around as whichever toy is chosen to be first in your party. You proceed in a fairly linear fashion through levels where different types of wind-up Pokemon toys will come and attack you. You must hammer the A button until they are all dead. Sometimes you will be rewarded with a new wind up toy of the breed that you just demolished, sometimes not. The random nature of which toys can be collected means that levels get replayed, so you can collect 'em all.

But wait! Are you meant to catch them all? There doesn't seem to be any pokedex available in-game, apart from in the village. There's the Toy Shop, where it's implied that you can swap your Pokemon toys via Streetpass, although you don't seem to be able to choose anything, people just come and throw money at you. In the village there is also the release point, for when you have too many... But I've got HUNDREDS of the buggers, and I don't seem to be short of pocket space. And then, suddenly, I had my epiphany.

I had been reading FAR too much into the meaning of this game. The reason it seemed so simple on the outside was because frankly, it's simple on the inside as well. This is a good old fashioned frenzied button-bashing game, and it keeps it simple with a maximum of two buttons that can be assigned to your toy. The idea is to cause as much destruction as possible, then at the end of each little level you are rewarded with some wholly unexpected drum and bass. Oh yeah, probably forgot to mention the thrash metal introduction too. If you purchase this game, do yourself a favour and have your first game with the volume turned right up - the music is excellent!

So all in all, a rather pleasing little gem. It's completely mindless, and there's much of it I don't understand, but it's GREAT to just pick up and play in short bursts, lunch breaks, for example. Fortunately, I think my new colleagues already think I'm a bit nuts, so the sight of me giggling into my DS doesn't seem to faze them! :)

A joyfully violent romp, but they're only wind-up toys, so it's fine! 4/5

[REVIEW] Kindle Keyboard (Wifi version)

For a while, I was one of those people who didn't see the point in the Kindle. Such an expensive toy when books were so cheap, and how could it possibly replace the feel, smell, and overall experience of a paper book? Afterall, the main reason I don't do all my reading on my laptop is because my eyes get horribly tired peering at the screen for more than half an hour or so. Even writing this is making my corneas itch after a long day at work staring at my computer screen all day, so why would I want to inflict more technological woe upon myself? In all honesty, because one of my uni friends had one, and I was jealous.. All her textbooks have been imported to her Kindle,  and she loves the thing, so on the Christmas list it went, and lo and behold, Santa (aka The Husband) bought me one!

His reasoning behind going for the slightly larger keyboard version, rather than the cheaper Kindle, Wi-Fi, 6" E Ink Display version was that it would be easier for me to make notes on and navigate, and so far, I think he made the right choice. The keyboard makes it very easy to search within the text - perfect for academic pursuits, although perhaps a tad unnecessary for the casual reader. And how easy is it to be a casual reader! You can choose to have the Kindle flipped whichever way you choose, portrait or landscape (great for awkward PDFs!) and page scrolling is controlled ever so casually by a pair of buttons on the edge of the Kindle. Did I mention there are two sets of these buttons, so you can operate it with either hand? Seriously. Dead easy.

Now onto my most pressing concern - eye strain. I haven't fully researched the e-ink technology behind the Kindle screens but let me tell you, they are strange things to behold. Completely non-backlit, they maintain an incredible level of contrast even in sunlight, the screens are non-reflective and are no harder to deal with than an ACTUAL BOOK. The Kindle is also considerably lighter than it looks, and compared to some of my textbooks, a doddle to carry around. In fact, I can carry around the entirety of the last four year's textbooks now without batting an eyelid, which I've found invaluable for studying on the fly. (In fact, for studying at all given my current hectic schedule!) Again, from a purely aesthetic point of view, I love the cover I've bought it - it matches my Filofax Metropol Personal Organiser perfectly - yes, I know I am a purebred nerd. In fact, apart from a few little things that irk me, such as the shop being a little difficult to navigate (some may say this is a blessing in disguise) the only real downside to the kindle is that unlike a real book, if you're silly enough to try and balance one on your face while you doze on the beach on holiday, you may find yourself with a rather expensive paperweight when it slides off and hits the floor!

4 out of 5 stars for this gadget, looking forward to learning to utilise it properly!

[PERSONAL] The end of one year and the start of a new!

So, it's been a busy couple of months at Geek Towers, with very little time available to me for gaming, studying, let alone writing about it! The main factor in this has been my leaving the gaming industry for a full time job, my first in over five years! As sad as I was to leave, the security and prospects offered by my new job were certainly not to be sniffed at, and from the point of view of this blog will allow me to purchase all kinds of new toys and games to play with, not least my new best friend, my Kindle!

Also for Christmas the Husband and I received a stack of new games to play including Skyrim (obviously), Pokemon Rumble Blast, Zelda Skyward Sword and Rayman Origins. One of my new years resolutions is to sleep less and play more - I also am pledging to write more about all kinds of different things, so keep your eyes peeled!

Here's to 2012! Happy New Year everyone! :)

[REVIEW] Harvest Moon - Grand Bazaar (DS)

Harvest Moon Grand Bazaar was a game I didn't originally intend to buy straight away. I've been a fan of the farm-em-up series for a while, but was intending to hold off for the 3DS version, when it eventually surfaces. After the traditional summer dead period for game releases, I was infuriated to find out that my beloved Tropico 4 had been put back a few weeks, so I scanned the new release sheets for something else to do, and Harvest Moon caught my eye. Well, I shan't recount the full story but that was put back too, and I was left wringing my hands in fury for a FULL MONTH, but now finally I have a new game to play! (Still waiting for Tropico 4, despite the PC version being out already. *sigh*)

This particular title in the Harvest Moon franchise sees you as a new farmer in the backwater Zephyr Town, a small town in a rural area that used to be a thriving commercial hub, but in recent years has seen a decline in trade in the area. One can only assume that recent council cuts and extortionate parking fees are choking the town and leaving it dying on it's ass. As the new kid in town, it's down to you to grow some excellent produce and reinject some life into the weekly market. As with any Harvest Moon game, the first thing to do at 6am on your first day is grab some tools from the Mayor, have a quick chat with the chap (yeah yeah, sales targets, growth, etc) and then quickly dash around the village looking for anything that's not nailed down that can be sold to the local seed merchant in exchange for a pocket full of turnip seeds.

And turnips is all you're likely to see for the first season! Like the rest of the games in the Harvest Moon series, this one is a slow builder, and relies on you getting your foundations right before it lets you go wild with too many different types of produce. In fact, if you tried to grow everything at once, and care for too many animals, you'd rapidly find yourself with not enough hours in the day and a woefully empty stamina bar.

The Bazaar adds an interesting angle to the formula, as you can fetch a much higher price for your produce there than selling them to the seed man in the village. This then leads to the need for carefully controlling your budgets, as the main bulk of your income will be coming in once a week rather than every day. Many items can only be bought at the market - such as livestock! No longer can chickens be incubated from eggs, which is a bit of a pain, but I must admit to being concerned about the inbred nature of my flock in previous games. At least this way, the gene pool might possibly be a bit deeper!

So far, I'm enjoying Harvest Moon an awful lot. It's familiar, yet challenging, with enough new ideas to keep the franchise fresh but still giving the tried and tested HM experience.

All in all, a rather happy, fed, groomed and watered 4/5

[EVENT] GAMEfest

Finally, after six or seven long, dull weeks of summer, another blog post! My urge to write has been dampened not only by my beloved Tropico 4 being put back to September 30 but also a metric shitload of university work to be completed before any gaming could occur. (For those wondering, I'm with the Open University, we don't get holidays!) Other little diversions such as the release of the ten NES games promised to the Ambassador Scheme participants proved to be fairly short lived, as I received a harsh reminder that games used to be MUCH harder, Back In The Day.(TM)

So around rolled GAMEfest, a three day event at the NEC in Birmingham showcasing the best that this Christmas would have to offer, and promising a first play of such favourites (can you hear me rolling my eyes? That's unintentional, I apologise) as Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3 and Gears of War 3. Considering that its UK release was approximately 72 hours away, a staggering amount of people queued to get a first glimpse of Gears of War 3 (to which I say, should have gone to Gadget Show!) and to the right is a quick snapshot I took of the Battlefield 3 queue, which I could almost not believe, despite it being there in front of my face.

So, not wanting to spend my afternoon queueing to get my ass kicked by some spotty teen at CoD, we went for a wander and started playing the first of many 3DS games we would try that day: Mario and Sonic at the London Olympics. Now I must admit to having a bit of a soft spot for the Mario and Sonic Olympics franchise - from the time I first played the Wii version and hurt myself breaking the world rowing record to the time I borrowed the Winter Olympics game on the DS and spent a very silly week playing the adventure mode, I've considered this game a harmless and enjoyable bundle of fun. Technically, I hate minigame collections, but these seem to have more of a purpose behind them and hold my attention by always promising that I might just do a little better than last time if I try again.

The next game we looked at was Sonic Generations. The 3DS and the 360 versions looked quite different, at least from the demo versions we looked at, and the word on the grapevine is that the 3DS version is going to contain different levels from the big console versions. One thing that they will have in common however is that they will contain a mix of classic levels from throughout Sonic's history, and the feeling of absolute speed is back, and stronger than ever. I wasn't feeling 100% when I played it, and felt my eyes weren't quite refreshing fast enough, but The Husband was absolutely stoked to be playing a new Sonic game, and was only dissapointed when the screen he was playing on decided to overheat and turn itself off... true story!

After swinging by the Metal Gear Solid stand to check out the port of Peace Walker, we went for a bit of a wander around the rest of QUEUEfest, and decided that an awful lot of things weren't worth standing around for, a good look over someone's shoulder was enough to remind ourselves that certain titles were coming. After a narrow escape by the Dance Central 2 stand, we wrung our hands in despair at all the new dance titles, (ABBA: You Can Dance anyone? The Black Eyed Peas game? Obviously they will make millions, but not in our house, thankyou.) stopped for a quick squizz on Soul Calibur V (looks very shiny indeed) and Pacman Championship on 3DS (shiny in a rather different way) and then headed to the Nintendo stand.

I've not really got a whole bunch to say about Mario Kart 7. I played a couple of levels lifted from the latest Wii incarnation, and yes, it plays like a dream, yes, there's customisable karts now, yes, there's all your favourite characters and yes, it's a good deal of fun. But there's nothing new to report. This in itself is not necessarily a bad thing, afterall, if they changed it too much, it just wouldn't be Mariokart, and then I'd be slating it for that. I'll definitely buy Mario Kart 7, but somewhere in my mind I'll be conscious of the fact that I've already been there,  done that, and literally got the t-shirt. Super Mario 3D Land looked a bit more interesting, even if I was having major brain fail at that point and couldn't do it. The 3D adds some tricky puzzles in, like platforms not appearing where you think they should until you rotate the scene. Not one to play with a hangover!

And finally, to the overall wonderful surprise of the day. I was tired, had a headache you could split rocks on and ready to go home, when The Husband spotted the WWE '12 stand. I've never played a wrestling game, and had no intentions of after seeing the floaty mess that was Allstars. After a short queue (part of which was spent sitting on chairs, thank god!) his Miz thoroughly kicked the arse of my Zack Ryder (WWWYKI) and I laughed hysterically. Out of everything I played that day, who'd have thought I'd now be looking forward to this the most?

So that's all over for another year now. What are you most looking forward to for Christmas?

[OPINION] The Summer Lull

Traditionally, the summer is a bit of a limp dick for new releases, as games companies decide to give up on releasing stuff for a bit, and start to concentrate on the run-up to Christmas. Yep, that's right - people complain about it getting earlier and earlier each year, but in the exciting world of video games retailing, it's on your mind from about the middle of July.

I suppose in theory, it's a great time for getting outside and indulging in such outdoor pursuits as sports, barbeques and afternoon beer gardens - unfortunately, I tend to burn easily, and I have a list of projects as long as my arm to be getting on with. However, let's not allow that to put us off looking forward to the next couple of dates for your diary! First on the agenda is August 26th, or Argue Over The Telly Day as it shall most likely be known. Deus Ex: Human Revolution is released on the same day as Tropico 4, and while I intend to play Deus Ex at some point, I simply cannot resist my dictatorial urges, and will most likely insist on husband waiting till I go to bed before he gets his go on the 360, after all, it's INCREDIBLY hard work being El Presidente!

Three weeks later, starting on September 16th is GAMEFest. Tickets are available for all GAME reward card holders at a price of just £10, pretty good for a day out at the NEC - just bring your own sandwiches or be prepared to pay through the nose at Subway! GAMEFest promises to provide a preview of all the games coming out in the oh-so-important quarter four - that is, the run up to Christmas! It also gives you all a vital first look at all the games that I shall NOT be reviewing here such as Gears of War 3, FIFA 12, Battlefield 3 and Bloody Modern Fucking Warfare Bollocks 3. Ahem.

September 20th is new Gears day! Enjoy, kids, I'm off to France for the week!

I suppose this summer lull isn't so bad, after all, the last three months of the year are traditionally the busiest of the year, and as a whole, the industry becomes cranky and frazzled. Maybe I ought to embrace this opportunity to enjoy sitting on my backside for a short while. I might even head out to my local beer garden...

[REVIEW] Honest Hearts (Fallout New Vegas DLC, Xbox 360)

Wow, doesn't time fly when you're up to your eyes in other stuff... Before I whizz off to York for a week-long intensive uni project, I thought I'd spend a few minutes telling you all about Honest Hearts, the second downloadable content pack for Fallout New Vegas. After getting woefully and embarrassingly stuck somewhere in the Sierra Madre in Dead Money, I was a little apprehensive about going back to a previous save and starting this one, in case FNV had suddenly got really hard in the few months I hadn't played it.

My fears were put to rest just a few minutes in. Although the baddies in this particular area (above the top edge of the map, it is mentioned that you are headed towards Utah.) are armed to the teeth with submachine guns, they wear little to no armour as they are based on a kind of alternate reality wasteland tribal group. Which makes the removal of their heads from a distance all the easier. I found the story to be quite engaging - without trying to give too much away, this is the story of Joshua Graham, also known as The Burned Man, who is mentioned during the main quest plotlines as an associate of Caesar who turned against him. This is his story, and what he's been up to all this time in exile in the Zion National Park.

Now onto the good stuff - the new perks, items, and so on. The level cap has been raised by 5 again, so I can try and get myself closer to wiping out those Deathclaws at Quarry Junction (anyone got any tips? Seriously, I'm desperate here.) New perks have been added, such as the delightful Eye For An Eye (10% extra damage for each crippled limb you have) and Fight The Power! which gives bonuses against any authoritative figures in uniform such as NCR, Legion and Brotherhood of Steel. There are also new items and recipes, mostly based around the datura plant, known for it's use as a poison, a hallucinogenic and a general nasty piece of work.

All in all, I enjoyed this DLC very much. The scenery was beautiful, and there was even rain, for the first time! (Can't vouch for it's acidity, though.) The plot was good, and kept me entertained for a good 4-6 hours which in my opinion is SUPERB value for money, especially considering some games *cough*Bulletstorm*cough* are rumoured to last only 8-10 hours. Next on the agenda, Old World Blues!

For keeping me entertained and helping me procrastinate over my uni work, a solid 4/5!

[REVIEW] Alice: Madness Returns (Xbox 360)

Admittedly I have never played American McGee's Alice, the predecessor to this game, although I read Through The Looking Glass when I was a kid, and am vaguely aware that it's really a woeful tale of mental illness. Within the first minute or so of the gameplay, Alice comes across a small boy who has had his pants stolen by another boy in the institution. She tells him, "Wear bloomers" and my hopes are raised for some very dark humour indeed. The game starts with Alice having to pop to the chemist to pick up her prescription, and we see that the streets of London are paved with half-starved hookers and smelly street urchins, and an odd cat that wants to be chased.

As you might expect, this is where Alice's problems begin. Her first hallucinatory experience (or "cut-scene", as I shall call them) ran quite jerkily, although that doesn't seem to be the general rule which I'm glad about, because visually this game is very pretty. Unfortunately it does seem to suffer from the same problem as a lot of third person perspective games - a bit of a wanky camera. I find that I tend to get disorientated if the camera doesn't automatically centre itself when the character is running forwards, hence in Madness Returns I find myself running into the camera perspective quite a lot.

Another thing I find particularly frustrating is the combat system. Again, the camera causes most of the hindrance, although I think a lot of my problems are due to being relatively inexperienced in the hack 'n' slash genre - perfectly timed dodges are NOT my forte. A lot of the platforms have that "sudden death" feel to them, possibly because I keep falling off a lot - however, I work on a "third time lucky" basis, that is, if I don't do it the third time, I'll give up and play Fallout instead. One particular puzzle involving leaping onto moving invisible platforms (!) particularly got on my nerves!

Now onto the good bits. This game is exceptionally creepy for a BBFC 15 rated game in my opinion, even if The Husband does say I have the courage of a wussy child (I got freaked out by Unstoppable, which is a 12, embarrassingly enough.) The NPC's have an aura of griminess befitting of the era, and the whole story makes me feel uneasy. But that's what it's supposed to do, so I can't fault it there! The soundtrack is very atmospheric and certainly adds to the sense of wonder/terror.

Overall, I have to give Alice: Madness Returns 3 out of 5, due to wanting to launch the controller at the telly. If you are a more patient soul than me, consider it a 4 out of 5, but don't say I didn't warn you! :)

[REVIEW] Legend of Zelda extravaganza!

While we sit and patiently twiddle our thumbs waiting for the next installment in the Legend of Zelda saga, Nintendo decided that it would be a superb idea to re-release the old N64 classic, Ocarina of Time, for the 3DS. Originally released at the arse end of 1998, it's been tarted up and given the 3D treatment, but at the same time feels fresh and exciting. Graphically, the game seems superior to the original, in fact, I'm fairly sure that if you go and plug your N64 into your 42 inch high definition telly and expect things to go back to the way they were when you were a teen, then you're very much kidding yourself. (Seriously, I tried it with my SNES, and it's not as pretty as it used to be. Knew I should have kept my old portable TV!)

The controls are nice and responsive, but you can see the metaphorical scars behind the ears where this old dear has had her facelift - the player has bugger all control over the camera, except to be able to centre it behind Link's head while in targeting mode. In these luxurious days of two analog sticks on PS3 and 360, and a kind of second analog in the form of the Wii remote, it's very easy to forget that THAT'S HOW IT USED TO BE DONE. Since the 3DS only has one analog stick, the revolutionary Z-targeting (as it was then) system translates perfectly.

All in all, as a slice of nostalgia, Ocarina of Time is perfect. The spectacles are perfectly rose-tinted, and the game seems to have been polished in all the right places. However, if we were to view this as a new game, (and I'm happy to, as I never finished the original!) I would be quite convinced that this is a good test of the 3DS's capabilities. The game looks beautiful, and is fairly easy to get sucked into. A fairly obvious 5/5 from me!

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The other Zelda game I have had a brief look at this week is Link's Awakening, released on the eShop for the 3DS. First released in 1993, this was probably the second Nintendo game I ever played. (The first being Tetris - I was a late starter, I didn't even get my SNES until about '97!) I was a member of a small nerdy clique at school, (I was the fat ginger one) and we used to enjoy playing on our GameBoys at lunchtime, partially to avoid eye contact with the bullies. My GameBoy was also a handy form of mental self-defence on the bus home as well. Kids can be so cruel.

Anyway, enough of my personal demons, onto the review! Link's Awakening is a little diversion from the usual Hyrulian power struggle between Ganon and the forces of good. Link is washed ashore on Koholint Island, and is told that he cannot leave until he wakes the Wind Fish with a song. To play this song, he needs to retrieve eight instruments, which give rise to eight dungeons in the traditional Zelda manner. The 3DS Virtual Console version is vividly coloured, which took me by surprise, and seems to be every bit as engrossing as I remember it, except without having to pick chewing gum out of my pigtails when I get home this time around. Another 5/5, if only for the memories!

 

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The apparent success of these two games makes me wonder, what else could work on the 3DS? Will we see other titles in the Legend of Zelda series become available? I'd certainly love to see A Link To The Past, as well as some of the other titles in the series that I haven't had a chance to play. While we're at it, what else would you like to see, either on the 3DS Virtual Console or reimagined and re-released on a cartridge? (Donkey Kong Country series plz!) Let me know in the comments!

[EVENT] E3, or not, as was the case.

An awful lot of press coverage has been given to E3 already, and I was desperate to give you my take on things, but a week has passed and a lot has happened to dampen my enthusiasm. For me, E3 couldn't have come at a worse time, in the week where I was seemingly working all the overtime in the world, and had a uni assignment due in at the end of it. The only announcements I got to see live were the EA ones which I saw whilst half asleep with a headache, and to write a story based on those would make for angry reading! Nonetheless, here are the main points I have derived from the conference, mostly from gossiping around the water cooler.

Need For Speed: Run With Us - Or whatever it's called. I shan't lie. I'm not a massive fan of the N4S series, but boy, do I sell a lot of them at my day job. The premise is simple. Drive around, often avoiding the cops, sometimes being the cops, sometimes just racing for the hell of it. The point is, this is a purebred driving game, which is why I recoiled in ABSOLUTE HORROR when it was revealed that in the new game, at certain points your character (your what now? There's never been an actual character before, surely!) gets OUT of the car and RUNS OFF! You must then perform a series of quicktime events to ensure that your character does the right jumps and rolls to be able to get to another car, which in the demo they showed happened to be a POLICE CAR. Well done that chap. Cue facepalm, and much shouting at the TV.

The Wii U - Just as when the MotionPlus was released and everyone started bashing Nintendo for not having the technology to put it in the Wii Remote in the first place, I have a similar feeling in the pit of my stomach about the Wii U. It looks near identical, but with rounded corners, uses the same controllers but is in full HD. Obviously, this is just my first impression, and a lot more lies beneath the surface. It's just what they actually DO with it that I'm dreading. The original Wii cornered the casual market so effectively that hardcore gamers were left feeling that their Wii had become a bit of a novelty, the slighly retarded, standard definition cousin that everyone said they were fond of but no-one invited to parties in case it got drunk and ran around with no pants on. Hopefully this time around Nintendo can get a few more developers on board if they don't have to release watered down versions of 360 and PS3 titles anymore.

And that's without mentioning the gimmick controller once!

Luigi's Mansion 2 - Nintendo did redeem themselves by announcing this title for 3DS, amongst a few others. I heard the news about this one from my overly excited husband who came rushing in to tell me all about it as I was getting myself settled in bed. My admission that I've never actually played the first one was responded to with a ten minute rundown of the entire game from start to finish. Other old favourites are in the works such as Mario Kart, a new Super Mario (but this time, not called New Super Mario. A bit confusing, I agree.) One thing I REALLY wish I'd seen was Tetris. There are some details on the Nintendo website, and to quote one of my other half's favourite sayings, it looks "wacky as fuck". Just when I thought that every possible game mode had been covered, the new version claims over 20. Just how many ways there are to fit tetraminos together simply boggles the mind!

Right, that's enough blagging blogging for now, I'm off to play some actual games!