Sacred 2 - Fallen Angel Interview

Well, well. I did this interview the other day for my pals over at SI and their stats went through the roof. I spent hours trying to convince myself that it was because of me that folk came in droves but after my tears and a healthy dose of self realisation I came to the conclusion that unfortunately the reason why they all appeared in a hurry is because they were excited about the game.



Oh well. One day...one day.

Ah, yes. THE INTERVIEW IS HERE!

(Sorry for shouting.)

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune - First Impressions

My first impressions of the Uncharted demo have been lovingly posted on the digital walls in the network corridors of our favourite Danish/English gaming website Boomtown.


As I'm absolutely knackered this extremely cold Danish winter evening all I'll say is the direct link is right here.

Now go pre-order it or cheat the tax man and import it.

I said go.

Conan - PS3 Review

My bosom buddies over at Strategy Informer phoned me up to literally beg me to get off my fat arse and review Conan for the PS3. I was midway through eating my fourth double cheeseburger but being the trouper I am I agreed.

After hours of deliberating, gaming playing, sweating and inane midnight rambling I finally managed to squeeze out a few hundred words on the Conan subject. The results can be found here.

If you want a summary I think Nihilistic Software are a lazy bunch and have literally copied everything that's good about the stunning God of War and worsened it. If you want the long version you'll have to click the link above.

Anyway, here's a low res screenshot:

It does look better than this, honest.

Gran Turismo 5 (Prologue) - First Impressions

Polyphony Digital gave us a taste of things to come recently with their sneak peak at a very early build of the venerable of the next instalment of their smash hit series, Gran Turismo.

Like a fly to a windscreen I searched that magical wonderland we refer to only as the internet, found out how to set up a Japanese account, then shivered with excitement as it downloaded from the Playstation Store.



I immediately got on the Batphone to Boomtown who said I should send my impressions over to them top secret and they'll gladly publish them for me.

As ever, they kept their word and you can read the proof of that, here.

Voilà!

Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction - Preview

If any game is likely to save the PS3 this year, then Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction looks to be it. The demo has been available to download from the Playstation Store for quite a while now and my friends over at Boomtown kindly offered to publish my first impressions of Insomniacs latest title.

You can read the full article here.


Hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think. Do you agree? Or did you find it disappointing?

Look out for my full review of the game when it's released next month in Europe.

LocoRoco Cocoreccho Review!

I loved this game. It had been sitting there staring me in the face for quite a while but the other day I took the plunge and my gaming life was all the better for it.

If you, like me a few days ago, still haven't bothered to spend £2 on probably the best use of motion control ever, yes EVER!! then hope fully this will help persuade you otherwise.

Lookout soon for my Ratchet and Clank preview which will hopefully be posted in a couple of days.

EDIT: Blogspot's having a few issues atm., so no picture provided. Sorry.

Assassins Creed Can't fit on a DVD9

According to Patrice Desilets, the creative lead on Ubi-Soft's up and coming title, Assassins Creed the team are working tooth and nail to try and squeeze the content onto a DVD9 disk.

Of course its rival, Blu Ray doesn't have this problem. However, speaking in an interview with Pro-G he remained upbeat that his team could fit all on in time for the projected 11th November release date.

Conversely, he says that the team are really struggling right now due to memory issues. Though he is at pains to ease the minds of both camps:

"He added that the developer, Ubisoft Montreal, had drafted in help from both Microsoft and Sony to make sure the game has "the same quality on both systems".

"The PS3 version is as good as the 360 version. We've been showing the PS3 version at E3 this year, but we've done a lot of events and it's just easier for us and for people from the press to have a 360. But the versions are the same, basically," he said.

He added: "Both have their own challenges. Right now we have a big challenge on the 360 to make it fit on a DVD, to put five languages, to put all the data on eight gigs. On the Blu-ray side we're really good, but then the memory is quite different. How we handle memory is really different between the two machines and we're struggling right now on the PS3. But we have people who are really dedicated and we're having help from Microsoft on one side and Sony on the other side to have the same quality on both systems. It really depends on the week basically as to who's best."

Source: Pro-g.co.uk

Eternal Sonata Developer Interview

During my time with Strategy Informer they asked me to do an interview with development team tri-Ace, those responsible for the JRPG Ethernal Sonata or Trusty Bell - Chopin's Dream if you prefer the original Japanese title, as I do.

Anyway, I wasn't able to meet him in person but I did write down a few choice questions and those crazy chaps at Strategy Informer sent them off to Hiroya Hatsushiba and you can read the very interesting results here.

I'll hopefully be doing more of these and as ever I'll link you to them from here.

The game has already been released in both the US and Japan but Europe can look forward to this title Friday 19th October on the XBox 360 and a PS3 version is not too far off! Hopefully I'll be able to grab a review copy and as soon as it's published I'll give you the heads up.

Here, have some box art:

Can wait to get my greasy mitts around this one!

NHL 08 Review - PS3

Again, a little bit late with this one but I got the chance to review EA's latest instalment of their long running ice hockey game, NHL 2008 on the PS3 a few weeks ago and as I now write reviews for other sites I thought I'd link them to you from here instead of breaking all manner of NDA's and losing my house and family to the site managers.

I wrote it for Strategy Informer on the 4th October and I gave it a total score of 8.2 out of 10 which isn't bad at all. In fact, I really enjoyed it.

If you want read the review in its entirety then you can find it here.

Any comments you have you're of course welcome to create an account over at SI or simply slag me off for not knowing what I'm talking about here in the blog.

FIFA 2008 gets demo date and release date

EA Sports have today announced both the release date and the demo date for their latest instalment, FIFA 2008 on the PC and XBox 360. The nature of the demo is unknown but if it follows suit with the previous offerings, then it will be 45 minutes of play with two top teams competing against each other - always Barcelona and someone else. You'll be able to compete against either the computer AI on the Easy setting or with a friend.

EA have said that FIFA 2008 has undergone a complete overhaul this time round with many new features added. Amongst those changes are the inclusion of 30 leagues, 620 teams and more than 15.000 life-like players: that a 20% increase over the 2007 edition.

Cuckoo for Kaka

In addition, Ronaldinho and his fellow faces of FIFA will be providing motion capture for the game, to ensure "body movements, individual moves and the playing style of each athlete is captured and digitised to become the life-like movement of the virtual players in future versions of EA's FIFA games", says Joe Booth, Senior Producer.

"We are proud to call some of the world's best football athletes our partners. The access, guidance and insight they give us means that FIFA 08 will create a next-gen experience that not only looks authentic, but that captures the emotion, finesse and beauty of the game." He concluded.

If all that doesn't whet your appetite you can try the game out for yourself on the 27th August and if you like it you can place your pre-order and expect it to arrive in the shops on the 28th September. Or if you can't wait for that then you can view some gameplay footage below:



As to when a PS3 demo will arrive isn't clear at this point in time but hopefully on the same day.

Six-axis compatibility with PSP?

Sony have filed an application with the US patent office for a device that seems to connect the Six-axis to the bottom of their handheld device, the PSP.

Sony have been badgered for a comment but as per usual SCEA declined to make any kind of statement.

What also isn't clear is the reason why. Does it mean that it will allow games that allow two analogue controllers to now be playable on the PSP or maybe it will allow for some in-game features of the PS3 to be transferred over to the PSP, like the rear-view mirror which was demonstrated at last year's E3?

As we already know, the PSP Lite will feature digital output which enables users to view UMD's on their televisions sets and also opens up more possibilities for PS3/PSP interaction.

Questions, questions.

Source: Gamesindustry.biz

Japanese Hardware sales, July 16th - July 22nd

Yes it's the weekly point and laugh at Microsoft time! That's right, kids. The Japanese hardware numbers are up. I wonder how many billion Wii's and DS' Nintendo have sold this week? Or maybe the PS3 has actually made some ground? Who knows?

Still, looking at Eastern sales that have no bearing on the Western gaming market is always fun, and laughing at the dire performance of the XBox 360 always brings apologists out of the woodwork from both sides of the console fence.

I know the suspense is killing you so here they are!

- DS Lite: 154,459 12,492 (8.80%)
- Wii: 86,786 23,068 (21.00%)
- PSP: 32,894 4,684 (12.46%)
- PS2: 14,059 1,718 (10.89%)
- PS3: 12,187 1,306 (9.68%)
- Xbox 360: 2,664 278 (9.45%)
- Game Boy Micro: 315 21 (7.14%)
- Gamecube: 131 25 (23.58%)
- GBA SP: 122 16 (11.59%)
- DS Phat: 45 30 (200.00%)
- GBA: 24 24 (N/A%)

What a surprise! No-one's buying anything over there apart from Nintendo products! Who'd've thunk it?

Tune in next week to marvel at more Nintendo sales figures!

Source: Media Create

Heavenly Sword – First Impressions

The demo weighed in at 996MB and I watched as every byte crawled its way from Sony’s Playstation network down to my PS3. This was a game I’d been looking forward to. I was one of the thousands who gawped in wonder at last year’s E3 at the gameplay trailer on show and couldn’t wait to get my hands on it and try it out for myself. Over a year later and my wait is finally at an end.

Having played most of the launch titles and the immediate release list looking barren, I was hoping for a demo that would give my PS3 some life whilst I wait for the deluge of ‘Fall’ – that’s autumn in English – releases to turn up in my post box. How disappointed I was.

The opening cut scene is beautifully shot with colours and pastel-shades glistening in all their high definition glory. A press of an X-button later and I’m leaping from guy rope to guy rope performing somersaults and all manner of acrobatic feats before a quick tap of the square-button saw Nariko – our heroine – scissor kick the closest enemy in the face before landing in style with all the poise of a Nureyev.

I now found myself poised on a narrow precipice surrounded by at least 10 enemies. With a multitude of combos at my disposal I got stuck in. It is here that the game really begins to feel like God War. Not that that’s bad thing in itself but it doesn’t seem to have added anything new to the combat. One could argue that the array of moves Nariko can pull off and the amount of baddies on the screen at once is a step up from the last generation, but I would call it a step sideways. This sentiment was cemented by the fact that I dispensed of everyone on the cliff on the first time of asking in under 3 minutes by tapping triangle and circle at the same time.

Another cut scene ensued and before I know it I’m surrounded again. This time I’m in a market place and barrels and stalls smash into pieces as the enemies fly from my spinning sword attacks and deadly counter moves. Another 3 minutes later, Nariko surrounded by slain bodies barely has time to think as three more armed-to-the-teeth guards burst through an otherwise locked wooden gate. I hold down R1 to ready my powerstance, grip the controller tighter and...

...then it ends. That’s it.

So after a couple of play-throughs I managed to play through the whole demo in under 5 mins. I went into the options menu to add the six-axis camera tilt but that just seemed like another wasted use of motion control.

So after waiting so long Ninja Theory wave the chocolate cake under this starving man’s nose and pull it away again before I could get a proper mouthful. The morsel that I did taste however was delicious, although nothing about it set it apart from the other cakes out there. Anyway, before I get too hungry I’ll say this: The Heavenly Sword demo is a woefully short and an all too familiar single player experience. If Kratos could actually die he’d be turning in his grave. All that being said and done, I did have a ton of fun, which is what playing games is all about, isn’t it?

FFXIII: No Playable Demo This Year

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but according to Playstation fan-site, Playstaion Universe (PSU) SQEnix have announced that we will not be sampling the playable delights that their up and coming sequel, Final Fantasy XIII will have to offer.

Back in April, C&VG reported on an article in EGM which implied that a demo was on its way to PS3 owners this year. However, PSU have transcribed an article in Famitsu where they cite Square Enix's Shinji Hasimoto as saying that we won't be seeing a anything on the sort. This not only includes FFXIII but the spin-off Versus, too.

What will happen however, is that in-game footage will be shown "later this year", most presumably at the up and coming Tokyo Games Show. So 2008 it is then. Sorry.

Here, have a consolatory screenshot:

Looking good.

Source: Kotaku

Capcom Defends Going Multi-platfrom with Devil May Cry 4

Kieiji Inafune, Capcom's Head of R&D has recently talked about with the company chose take their forthcoming title Devil May Cry 4 multi-platform instead of following tradition and maintaining its exclusivity to the Playstation brand.

In an interview with Spong.com, Inafune remarked, "Until now it’s been hard for us to develop multi-platform games, but recently we have developed this development engine that allows us to develop a game in the engine and then put it on to PS3 and 360." (He likes the word develop - or the translator does more like!)

“Developing Dead Rising and Lost Planet helped flush out everything in the development tool system – which is now pretty much complete, aside from the usual upgrades – so we decided to use that engine, make it for the 360 and the PS3 with Devil May Cry 4”, he added.

The series has been with Sony since 2001 and when Capcom first announced their were going multi', hardcore fans of the series went nuts polling Capcom saying say were planning to boycot the company amongst other really pathetic things.

As of yet DMC4 as it's commonly known, has no official release date but some sites have it down Q4. However, screenshots are available. Here, have one!

Serious.

Source: Playstation Universe

Wii has now sold 3m units in Japan alone

According to a new report Nintendo are sitting on a huge pile of money. Having already announced that they are actually earning on every console sold, the report now states that they have sold over three million units in their home territory, Japan.

This new information has been extracted from reuters who cite Famitsu publisher Enterbrain which said that since the Wii's début on December 2nd the console has sold over 3.01 million units. Which is quite a lot in old money.

The Nintendo Wii: doing rather well it seems!

They go on to explain the in the same time-frame, although released a month earlier on November 11th, Sony's PS3 has sold only 1.01 million units. This was also compared to the 360 total sales of 420,705k consoles.

However, just to put thing into perspective it announces that the Nintendo DS has sold 18m units in Japan alone. Nintendo executives were too busy counting to comment.

Source: Next-Gen.biz

120GB PS3 for Europe?

During an interview with Norwegian newspaper, Dagbladet, SCEEs President David Reeves reinforced his stance on how the 80GB PS3 simply wasn't worth bringing to Europe.

"[Unlike the US and S.Korea] going up 20GB is not worth it." He stated. Although this still leaves Playstation owners wondering why, David Reeves did leave a footnote to his sentence. "...if you double it, it's worth it. So maybe you'll see something a bit later."

So does this mean that Europe will get an exclusive machine that the US and S.Korea won't? Or does he simply mean that when Sony decide on a 120GB model for all regions, "the most important region in the world", Europe won't be left out of the loop this time.

The 80GB PS3 should be available in the aforementioned regions from around August, come bundled with the hugely successful first-party title Motorstorm and retail for around $599.

Here, have a picture!

Sony's New 80GB PS3 bundled with Motorstorm

Source: Engadget

Sony says the XBox 360 simply 'doesn't work'.

You can hear the knives sharpening across the Atlantic. Sony's Marketing Vice President, Peter Dillie hit out at the 360 at this years E3 saying the XBox 360 "doesn't even work."

This was not the only thing he said however:

"I don't want to be argumentative," said Dillie. "But I take issue with Microsoft either having a long tail, or being profitable, because they've never done either. They've never made a dime in this business.

"With the Xbox 360 you've got an inconsistent design, some have a hard drive, some don't, and none of them have Blu-Ray, and the HD DVD will be out of business in a matter of months. Is this a ten year product?" he said.

I'm sure Microsoft will reply in kind, and when they do, you'll be first (well, you know, as quick as I can!) to know.

Super Stardust HD

I was very apprehensive whilst this game made its way down to my shiny black box from the PSN. I was apprehensive because of what Super Stardust HD was billed to be: As good if not better than the now legendary 'Geometry Wars' on Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade.

I didn't like Geometry Wars. I found it too difficult and there was simply too much going on at once for me to get my head round.

There. I said it.

If you're still reading then now you understand my reservations about playing another game of a similar ilk. Still, other reviews were positive so I thought this title deserved a closer look. A decision I'm glad I made.

The control system is simple. Left TS: Move. Right TS: Fire in all different directions. LT: Boost. RT: Smart Bomb. Nothing too complicated at all.

As you're making your way around the various planets, meteorites, alien monsters and little red spiky ball thingies all hunt you down or simply just get in your way. The meteorites come in all shapes and sizes and split into teeny weeny, tinsy winsy smaller ones, all of them in need of a good old fashioned blasting.

As you progress, the sheer deluge of colour and splaying plasma fire lighting up your screen is a sight to behold. All without a shade of slow-down, running at a very smooth 60fps. Although stunning and chaotic at the same time, it didn't leave me with the feeling claustrophobia that Geometry Wars did. A timely boost with the left trigger and I had some breathing space and as you traverse around the length and breadth of a planet, your playing field feels a lot larger.

Shiny, swirly things!

There are 25 levels to get your head round, and considering it took me about an hour and a half to get through the first five that's a good few hours gameplay for around six of your English pounds. Of course if you're a dab hand at this kind of thing, your gaming-time could be considerably less. However, for the price of of a couple of Boots meal deals who's complaining?

Hopefully more games of this quality will be joining Super Stardust HD in the near future. The lean spell that almost all Playstation 3 owners have had to endure recently has been difficult, be we soldiered through it. And with games like Super Stardust HD being the light at the end of the tunnel, it seems we have certainly been rewarded for our patience.

Anyone who needs that kind of casual, 'dip in and out' entertainment that in my opinion the PS3 has sorely lacked since launch, then this is the game to get. Conversely, if you live and breathe for this sort of schmup action, and succumbed to the charms of its evil twin, Geometry Wars, it won't disappoint you either.

60GB PS3 Being Discontinued In The US

When is a price cut not a price cut? When it's to phase out and discontinue current stock to bring in a new SKU at the old price.

Make sense?

SCEE president David Reeves has announced that after they have sold off all the 60GB model PS3's, that particular model will no longer be made available. So the only model that our US friends will able to buy will be the 80GB model at the old price of $599.

The 60GB model is expected to be phased out by the end of July.

Reeves made the statement whilst being questioned about the potential European outcry over the fact that the price cut won't be applicable to them (us).

"Well, they're not really are they", he said, "because what the US are offering from the 1st of August is a USD 599 version with one game.

"All they're doing is taking their stock in trade that they've got at the moment of the 60GB model, marking the price down and it will all be gone by the end of July."

The new 80GB model will now come bundled with a copy of Motorstorm (see image below) and retail at the old 60GB price of $599.

So there you have it. Simple...

[Update]: Sony US now say that they're not discontinuing the 60GB model, although SCEE president David Reeves say they are. A Sony US spokesperson said,

""As announced this week, SCEA's product offering in North America consists of a 80GB PS3 available in August at $599 and a 60GB PS3 available now for $499. We have will have ample supplies of both models to meet the needs of our consumers for the foreseeable future."

Expect this to go on for a few more days.