Techland: Dead Island - Interview

[UPDATED: Those crazy cats at Strategy Informer have now added my name to the interview questions. Lovely, lovely people.]

Well that's got me all flustered. I explored the depths of my question asking repertoire, lovingly wrapped it in the shape of an email and caress the send button and wiped a tear as my beautiful flying monkeys soared toward the Strategy Informer inbox.

Two weeks or so went by without so much as tinker from Techland. I waited poised, like a dog waiting for a morsel to fall off a dinner plate.

Dance to the music

Finally today it arrived. You'd think I'd happy wouldn't you? But NO! NO! Those horrid people at Strategy Informer left my name off the questions!! Well you can be sure I emailed them instantly to tell them that I'll pull the bloody trigger if it doesn't get sorted.

I'm sure that when they see their error they'll fix it sharpish!

Anyway...READ.

The History Channel: Great Battles of the Middle Ages - Interview.

There I was, poised on my roof trying to re-enact the Crane move as seen in the the mega smash hit film, Karate Kid. I had a perfect picture of Mr. Mayagi in my mind, the air was still: I was ready.

Just as I was about to leap the laptop sent me a distress signal. Being the consummate professional I am, I lept off my house, into my living room before anyone could say, "Wax on, wax off."

Needless to say it was Jamie from Strategy Informer. Just before you ask who Jamie is I'll say this: he doesn't make the tea...capice!

Well, as it happens, Slitherine Software had just announced a new game and they wanted me to interview them so they can sell more copies. Being the mercenary S.O.B. I am I first negotiated price and then said yes.



After what felt like a year I managed to squeeze out a few questions. The answers to those questions appear here.

I went back up to the roof again btw, but it was raining. But I'll keep you updated as to how it goes with the whole crane thing.

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!

Eternal Sonata - First Impressions

Way back in September I was rather sneaky and crept behind Microsoft's back and used my top secret US Account on their XBL Marketplace to download the Eternal Sonata demo. Naughty, naughty.

Well, those extremely charitable people behind the totally insane Boomtown agreed back then to publish it for me.

Now as it's just been released last Friday here in Europe, and as you're all dying to know what I think of it, I thought I'd re-post my demo impressions from that time. You can read them here.



Also, in case you missed it. I also interviewed Hiroya Hatsushiba, Head Honcho over at tri-Ace for the utterly stupendous site, Strategy Informer. You can read, or re-read that interview right here.

If all that Eternal Sonata goodness wasn't enough, a copy is winging its way to me as we speak and hopefully the review will be up sometime next week.

Sleep easy people, I'm on the case.

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

Ubisoft Arse in Cred

Bit of a downer this week. This doesn't really count as news, well it's news if you're interested in me, which you know, you probably aren't but it is gaming related and it's a Sunday so here you go.

The lovely, kind, caring Editor of Eurogamer, Kristan Reed, sent me a rather enticing PM. It read:

Hi Mike,
|
| I've just had Ubisoft alert me to this one-off trip. Interested?
|
|
| "I’ve got the chance to send a single community member from the Eurogamer
| forums to Montreal to see and play Assassin’s Creed next week, meet Jade
| Raymond, and generally have a hell of a trip. Can you think of someone on
| your forum who has got a high post count, is well respected/liked, and is
| likely to really enjoy playing AC that I can bring along? We’ll cover all
| costs and stuff. The visit is going to be next week so we need to move asap
| on this."

Wow. Meet JADE RAYMOND and play Assassins Creed early, write my first impressions for Eurogamer and MEET JADE RAYMOND!!

I informed Kristan Reed that I live in Denmark but I would fly to London, meet with Ubi and go and see JADE RAYMOND!!! (and maybe play a bit of Assassins Creed).

However, Ubisoft then withdrew their offer as I didn't live in the UK. Although I'm a British citizen with a British Passport and was willing to fork out for a flight to London, I couldn't go.

However, Ubi will make amends by sending me a 'goody bag' (not Jade I hope) so I'll let you know what swank I receive and as when it turns up.

That's it really.

:(

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.

Wiil Done!

What a start for Nintendo. You lot just love their shiny little white thing and can't get enough of it. You like to grab it and wave it around and show your friends and then they want to do it too! In fact, the Brits want to do it so much that it's been named the fastest selling console in UK history.

Chart Track have revealed from under their number covering boxers that the Nintendo Wii has sold over 1m units in just 38 weeks. Sony am cry as this edges their reigning champion the PS2 off its perch. This managed only 1 million sales in 50 weeks. Hah!

With profit made on every console sold, they're making lots of it!

It doesn't stop there however. Earlier this month that highly unreliable but much quoted number cruncher, VG Chartz (the 'z' makes it cool) has reported that the Wii is the bestest selling next-gen gaming console, media hub, internet friendly whatever back in August. So this is really just another medal on the military uniform for Nintendo as they do battle in these rather boring, bitchy console wars.

With news also in that the Wii yet again topes the US console chart Nintendo can afford to loosen their slacks, lean back in their chairs look under their their desks, smile and think of Monica.

Souce: RegHardware

Guess who's back?

Yep. I am.

Been rather busy and not had a great deal of time to bring you all up to date on the very latest and most exciting game stories of the day! Also, working now independently for two different websites reviewing games and bound and gagged by all kinds of disclosure agreements that if broken would result in the torturous castration of my mute peregrine, Dave, I won't be able to write too many reviews now either. Which is sad for you all.

However, any review I do write, I will link you to the site so all those thousands of fans that I've neglected over the last few weeks will still get to read my musings over the latest developments from our game developing overlords.

That's about it really.

Halo 3: 4 player co-op confirmed

Once upon a time, rumours were abound that Bungie's forthcoming title, Halo 3 was not going to include the facility to play with friends over XBox live. Well now sites across the intarweb, albeit foreign language ones are reporting that Halo 3 will not only have the feature included, it will support up to 4 players playing Co-Op simultaneously.

This is huge news for Bungie and Microsoft after the leaked interview with EGM linked in the article. Many were up in arms over the alleged exclusion of the feature which came shortly after that Free Radical had announced that their debut title for generation consoles, Haze would support such a feature.

Frankie did however underline that such a process has its problems and as to exactly how smooth 4 player co-op will be remains to be seen. Expect a Day 1 patch.

Have a brand spanking new screenshot!

The countdown is on!

...and here's another!!

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?

Sonic the Hedgehog Review

A Celebration

Sonic the Hedgehog was released on Wednesday the 11th to celebrate the opening of E3 and at just 400 points is was a very difficult offer to turn down. It puzzles me why they released it alongside the dire Golden Axe - available on the same day for the same money. It was almost as though Microsoft were testing us. Will we a) choose games Golden Axe and therefore indicate to the powers behind the selection process that we, the consumer, will simply buy anything for the price of a bacon sandwich or b) choose Sonic the Hedgehog and send the message loud and clear that this is the type of game we want to play on XBLA and this is the kind of money we want to pay for it? Because it is.

The difference between the two is astonishing. Not only in terms of graphics and pad response, but in overall design quality. Although both games were released by Sega within two years of each other, the jump in quality and ideas is marked. If Sega were cutting their teeth with Golden Axe, then Sonic was the step into manhood.
Sonic the Hedgehog went down in history for a reason and playing the game once more on XBLA it is made clear just why we still revere it today.

The Lord of the Rings

From the first moment on Green Hill you’re whizzing about the place getting bumped and buffeted around the place. The ingenious level-design anticipating where you might jump and placing an obstacle at just the right height to lull you into a false sense of security. Your eyes twitch as you try to navigate the jumps, springs and pitfalls that stand in your way progression. You reel as you think you’ve pulled off a lucky escape only to find your path blocked by a set of spikes and watch in horror and the 95 or so rings you’ve hoarded going after that extra life and Centurion Achievement are splayed flickering across the screen only to fade out of site as you hurriedly try to re-gather them all. Great stuff.

Sonic: Spikey

As for the Achievements they are nicely spread throughout the game whilst a few are trying to do their best to encourage replayability and thus actually serving a purpose. For example, the ‘Fast Green’ Achievement is awarded to the player who can complete Green Hill, Act 1 in under 35 seconds. No mean feat. However, Achievements such as ‘Perfect Win’, given to the player who completes the game without dying, is somewhat missing the point I feel. Sonic is all about risk management, going for it as fast as possible. Playing the game cautiously and learning every level by heart goes against the grain of the core mechanic of the game: speed. However, this is countered by the ‘Fast Win’ Achievement, which offers a handful of points to those who complete the game in under 40 minutes. So there’s plenty to aim for the die-hard fans out there.

A lesson to be learned

A classic like Sonic is hard to score. If you haven’t played it before, then it’s a 10, absolutely no doubt whatsoever. It is something that must be experienced and compared with platformers today, still hold it’s own in terms of ingenuity and invention. If however, you’ve played the game to death, both when it came out and in all various in carnations since I’d still score it 8, as it controls beautifully and the challenges offered up by the Achievements really give some added value to experience.

Microsoft’s XBLA continues to receive criticism for charging its subscribers for re-hashes of games that weren’t even considered that great the 100 or so years ago when they were released. Every now and then however, they get it right. Maybe it’s just a case of them finding some old treasure in the dark, as they stumble around blindly throwing out any old thing they come across, or maybe they really are trying to provide a service where all tastes are catered for? Who knows? What we do know however, is that many of the titles release are never really worth the price of admission. I’m looking at you, Yie Ar kung Fu. Still, when it’s good it’s good, as the countless hours spent on titles such as Geometry Wars, Doom and now Sonic the Hedgehog will testify.

I implore all to purchase this game, even if you only play it for a couple of hours. Send out the message to Microsoft that this is the kind of game we want to see reproduced. This is what we want to invest in.

9/10

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