Ok Digital distribution – will we really see the end of the digital disk any time soon?
For me the answer is a massive no. I’m not rejecting the idea that digital downloads will never become a big factor in game distribution, but the physical medium is not going to go away.
A major recent console launch has highlighted this fact. The PSP Go looked all set to fly off shelves and into people pockets. It is in many respects the iPod of the handheld gaming market. However, the iPod’s success cannot be said to be soley due to the digital distribution of music. Its success was in taking a persons physical CD collection and fitting it all into a device that fits in the palm of your hand. In this respect the PSP Go completely fails. There is no way to get digital copies of the games you may already own onto the device. Sony’s own plans to do this have failed miserably and consumers aren’t ready to put their faith in a device that only supports digital downloads. The fact that the PSP go has already had a price cut by £50 at many retailers highlights this. Read the rest of this entry »
Don’t let the name fool you, this isn’t the first Alien Versus Predator game to exist. In-fact it’s number 3, but the licensing people seem to have decided to do the same thing films are doing recently, and totally ignore number naming conventions. But i digress.
There’s some new alien game-play footage for the fore-mentioned game available to view on Gametrailers and it’s awesome-tastic. For those of you who didn’t play AVP2 (yes, because the new one is 3), it was a brilliant FPS on the PC with 3 great single-player campaigns allowing you to play as the Aliens, Predator or Colonial Marines. Each was fantastic for it’s own reasons. As the marines it was an almost horror experience, with the motion sensor of your gun sending you spinning every time you heard a ‘blip’. Where as for the Aliens and Predator it was an almost stealthy experience, of biding your time and then pouncing when the time was right, whether with a wealth of gadgets, or pure brutal strength and viciousness. This latest videos shows some great game-play from the Alien campaign, including the infamous Alien ‘little mouth head chop’. By the looks of this latest video, the developers Rebelion have the visuals and feel nailed, so I’m well and truly excited for this game, and so should you.
I guess I was right in some respects. These are the first screens of Epic Mickey, and it’s somewhat more colourful than i had expected… The concept art and front-cover of game informer looked really dark and twisted, gearing me up for a Disney themed adventure game with Dead Space-like warped enemies, and dark Warhammer 40K environments. What i see here is compromise and Disney’s brand image division at work. It just looks like a PS2 era adventure game crossed with WOW to me, with nothing appealing about it. I love the new retro look of Mickey though. Lets just hope the game-play mechanics aren’t so old-skool…
I’ll leave my final judgment until I’ve played the game, as it could still be a fun, if not different game. Who knows it might even be one of those fabled ‘good game, for the Wii’ titles.
What do you think? Leave any thoughts in the comments!
As gamers we are as guilty as the rest of the world for over indulging in electricity fueled entertainment. We shouldn’t feel guilty about gaming in-general, just more conscious about what we’re contributing to, and what we can do to minimize our carbon footprint. Its easy to say it doesn’t matter, or that if you weren’t gaming you would be doing something else which uses electricity, and it’s probably true. But there are things we can do to make our gaming habits more power efficient, which intern helps reduce carbon emissions. Unfortunately, like a lot of environmental options, they are more expensive than the norm, but since when has the cheapest option in life been the best? Check out the tips after the break: Read the rest of this entry »
I generally see Disney games as nothing more than cheap lazy efforts to make mounds of cash. That’s not to say though that there haven’t been good Disney games, as House of illusion remains one of my favourite child-hood games, right up there with sonic. But Epic Mickey looks to have the potential to go further and create a truly exciting and original game. What intrigues me is the concept art which was released a little while ago, showing a somewhat dark and twisted side of Disney. The environments and characters look like a cross between something from Dead Space, Bioshock, Warhammer 40K and steam punk imagery in general. Overall, something very un-cudly and un-Disney. Check out more here + here.
The story sounds pretty dark too, with the game’s antagonist being the first character Walt Disney created (Oswald the rabbit) who seeks to blot the world of Disney with black ink. The protagonist will be Mickey mouse, sporting a new retro look apparently. Read more about the story from eurogamer.
I see one potential problem though, and it’s partially why I’ve held off finishing this post…
VGRepublic.com is still in development (as if you hadn’t noticed), but I’d like to give you an idea of what’s going to be updated in the next few weeks. If you find bugs or any obviously bad styling, don’t worry for now as it’s most likly on a to-do list Anyway, here’s a brief list of what’s to come:
A new side bar with quick news alerts, polls and loads more
About, Contact and Submit news pages. The latter allowing you to upload a news story, review or opinion piece for the site (After moderation)
Redesigned comment section
+RSS, Twitter and email subscription
If you have any other ideas, or want to get involved, email me here
I don’t understand why this game exists. Well I do… money. But as a game why does it exist? Lego Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Batman were charming, fun and enjoyable games. They added their own slapstick humour and child like innocence to interlectual properties close to our hearts. But I fail to see how Lego Rock Band will bring anything new to the table. There’s no backstory, notable settings or characters from the Rock Band series for Lego to build on (no pun intedned). The main thing you’ll be staring at is the fret board, not the Lego band member’s on-stage antics, so you might as well be playing any other Rock Band/Guitar Hero game. And i’m sorry, but changing the coloured notes to Lego bricks is NOT EXCEPTABLE.
Sure, you’ll be able to customise your little Lego character, but that doesn’t justify a game. The song list might appeal to kids more, but why can’t these be offered as DLC? Some people will argue that a full-game experience would be better for kids than DLC, and they’re probably right in some ways.
The gaunlet has been thrown down. Lego Rock Band, prove me wrong.
With the upcoming GTA IV DLC ‘The Ballad of Gay Tony’ approaching, I’ve decided to go back to the original (+ LATD DLC) to syke me up. Sadly though, I’ve been left somewhat disappointing by the experience. Now, before you label me as an attention grabbing hater, I want to clarify that I played and completed IV, and loved it. My praise for the game couldn’t be any higher, and I couldn’t have recommended it or defended it’s criticisms any harder. So why the disappointment now?
When i first played GTA IV I was willing to mentally block out forgive any problems or issues I had with the game, simply because It was a next-gen GTA IV, and everyone was raving about it. Mainly because It’s a brilliant game. I won’t go into depth why, as it’s been said by many others, but for me It was a very engrossing, varied and enjoyable experience from beginning to end. The problem was, after returning to it after 14 months or so, the expectations were still high, but the media induced ‘happy shot’ had worn off.
These beauties were created by the author of Infinite continues, and they just rock. It’s amazing that so few shapes can be instantly recognisable as a character we all love/hate. It definitely shows how ingrained these characters are in our culture and minds, although i must admit, I struggled identifying with E Honda, but I’ve never been a big Street Fighter fan.
Check out the full set on flickr to see all 11, including nintendo favourites pikachu and kirby, and that guy in green armour (Master chief), girl in red armour (Samus) and guy in blue armour (Mega Man). My favorites have got to be Helghast soilder and Kratos, just because they look oddly cutesie in shape form. Leave your favorites and thoughts in the comments!
Anyway, here’s a brief list of what’s to come:
