[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!

[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...

[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!

[OPINION] The ongoing PSN saga

No doubt by now you've heard all about the Playstation Network, and how it was attacked by hackers almost a month ago. Xbox users have been gloating, PS3 users have been distraught, scare stories have been circulated in the news about how people's credit cards have been compromised. Who would do such a thing, one wonders? Unfortunately, the days of hackers hackin' for shits and giggles seem to be over, and it seems increasingly likely that criminal gangs, after your vital information to sell on to scammers, may be to blame.

It is a terrible shame that something so dramatic might happen to such a large and high profile organisation as Sony, but we have to look at the facts. This kind of thing is happening all the time to all kinds of different companies. At the start of the year, Lush Cosmetics found their database to be compromised [source] and was forced to suspend all online sales while the security was ramped up. Having bought products from them, I did the only sensible thing, and kept an eye on my bank account for any irregularities. Luckily, there were none. The moral of the story is "be vigilant", I suppose.

PSN is not the only games network to suffer from the fraudsters, however. I have heard a few vague stories about Xbox Live accounts being hacked, and cards being cloned. Whilst all this evidence is purely anecdotal, it raises the same points. Keep an eye on your finances and be smart with your passwords. One poor lady recently told me a story about how unexplained charges had been made to her credit card. After consulting her son, who "knew nothing about it" and Microsoft, who were dismissive and unhelpful, she got in touch with her bank, who in the end looked into the matter and refunded all the charges made by the fraudster. This lady was lucky, but from this I can only make one cynical assumption. Kids lie.

Have you been affected by credit card fraud? Has your Live account been hacked? Are you just miffed about PSN? I'd love to hear from you!