Humble Indie Bundle 2

Lots of really great indie games for as much as you want to pay.



Hint, pay at least $7.80 and get indie bundle 1 as well as the 2nd pack.

Nice Christmas present from these guys, thanks you awesome lovely people!

humblebundle.com

And a very Merry Christmas from me too!

Stream movies with a Sony BDP-S370 Blu-ray

This is a Sony BDP-S370. It's a blu-ray player. It also plays DVDs, and SACDs (and normal ones) and perhaps even VCDs if anyone still has any of those. It costs around £120 and I just bought one.

I didn't buy it for any of those functions (although playing DVDs is nice since my old DVD player is dead naff), I bought it because it is a DLNA certified 'network media streamer' or whichever phrase you prefer to use to describe it. This means that if I share my folders full of videos on my home PC, then attach the blu-ray player to the network via it's RJ45 socket, I can watch all of those aforementioned videos on my big living room TV. Happy days!

Actually this isn't something new and exciting for me, I had an xbox 360 in the living room which can perform the same function. But this is a £100 box that also doubles as a super duper new fangled blu-ray player and a DVD player too. Plus it's much smaller. Plus it's much prettier. And it doesn't make any noise (well... a teeny weeny amount of noise, inaudible as far as I'm concerned). Anyone using a 360 to stream media can attest to the ridiculous volume levels you need to set to drown out the console's noisy fans.

Anyway the point of posting this is that, whilst all these sexy functions are obviously great, getting it working isn't always incredibly easy. If you are running Windows 7 on your 'server' PC, you are set. Good to go. No problems, Windows Media Player 12 will act as a DLNA server and your PC will appear in the 'network' tab on the S370's main menu (as long, of course, as you have enabled media sharing in the Network and Sharing Centre). If, however, your media server is using XP or (dare I say it..) Vista, you need a separate server application. It took a lot of goes to find one that worked (I had TVersity running when I had a 360, no go with the BR player) but I finally did and it seems entirely perfect. It is...

TVMOBiLi - tvmobili.com

Installation is simple, and setup is all via a web interface. Once you've installed it, and assuming your BR player is turned on, it should appear in the 'discovered devices' section of the status page like so.

On your S370 your computer should appear in the list of network services. Now you can navigate through all the folders you should choose to share through TVMOBiLi - simply go onto the 'settings' page in the web interface (I'd strongly recommend a bookmark / favourite for this page!) and tap in the details under 'New Directory' at the bottom. You might want to remove the default shares - the usual crap like 'my videos' etc.

After that it's time to enjoy your vast library of intellectual programming from the comfort of your sofa!

The S370 can also, should you be interested in buying one, access the BBC iPlayer service and Demand Five. Oddly enough the Demand Five service is the faster and more easy to use of the two, but regardless of that just having them directly on the TV rather than using a computer is an excellent feature. It also supports several other 'on demand' services dependant on geography, I'm obviously using mine in the UK. It's well worth a hundred quid (£120 at time of going to press, sorry looks like I got a bargain!) of anyone's money.

The steps above will also apply to users of the BDP-S570 (flash gits) and any Bravia television sets with DLNA capabilities.

Indie devs not fans of the new new xbox experience

I like the look of the new xbox dashboard, it's pretty clean. But it's also kinda sparse, as if they cleaned up a bit too much. I can't find any of the stuff anymore! Which is precisely what indie game developers are worried about...

The Xbox 360's newly launched dashboard has been met with criticism from developers of Xbox LIVE Indie Games as the console's bake your own service is demoted to its darkest corner.

Once a prominent part of the Game Marketplace, Xbox LIVE Indie Games are now bundled together with the Avatar Marketplace and Game Room as part of a new section titled Speciality Shops – a move that has attracted derision from developers.

"I'd like to know the rationale behind it - at least then the community could try and come up with constructive alternatives, rather than being pushed further into obscurity," said App Hub forum user and developer of Indie title Clover Deej in comments picked up by Gamastura.

uk.xboxlive.ign.com

Fable III seems to be taking names

Hooray, killing dogs!

These kind of games are not for me. This has been a very popular example of 'these types of games' and I guess all those millions of people can't be wrong.
Well... they can actually. But I'm sure they're not.

uk.gamespot.com

Red Undead Redemption

Rockstar want another tenner. Looks reasonably fun though.

Now for some really important gaming news from IGN

Look, Atari pants.



Don't get me wrong, this is a fantastic use of time and resources. But why is IGN producing it?

THQ just don't give a damn

"Frankly, the last thing I think the industry needs now is new hardware. You look at the games coming out on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 now and they look stunning,"

"Better graphics? They're pretty darn good now. Better sound? No. Gameplay? Probably not. So I think the ways games are evolving now is really a direction we're going. Where it's going to be is in the play experience; richer stories, better characters, production values that are much more like movies."

"I think that's the direction, rather than technology and graphics. I think those days are over."

Interesting thing for a games publisher to say. I wonder if THQ will produce some seminal games after spouting that. Let's have a look at their schedule. Oh look, Smackdown vs Raw 2011.

uk.xbox360.ign.com

Stunning digital city art, tourists and travel

These are really beautiful

Some people interpreted the Geotaggers' World Atlas maps to be maps of tourism. This set is an attempt to figure out if that is really true. Some cities (for example Las Vegas and Venice) do seem to be photographed almost entirely by tourists. Others seem to have many pictures taken in piaces that tourists don't visit.

flickr.com via bbc.co.uk

iPads will kill us all

A study from the July Journal of Applied Microbiology found a high risk of transmitting pathogens from glass surfaces like the iPad's to human skin. "If you're sharing the device, then you're sharing your influenza with someone else who touches it," coauthor and Stanford doctoral student Timothy Julian told the Sacramento Bee. "If you put virus on a surface, like an iPhone, about 30 percent of it will get on your fingertips." From there a virus can travel to your nose or eyes and infect you.

This was Steve's plan all along...

gawker.com

Windows Phone 7 hits

Microsoft today unveiled a new range of smartphones it hopes will rival the phenomenal success of Apple's iPhone.

The company wants its new operating system, Windows Phone 7 (WP7), to put its mobile business back in the running against not just Apple, but also Google, which makes the Android phone software, among others.

Speaking at a launch event in New York this afternoon, Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer said: 'Everybody should be able to take a look at a Windows Phone and say it can represent me.'

Pretty snazzy... and if Stephen Fry, obviously the most intelligent man in the world, likes it... it must be good!

dailymail.co.uk

I want one of these

Boxee is a pretty swish media-computer type front end, spun off of the excellent XMBC project.

Now Boxee comes in a box, and it looks hella cool. Apple TV can get to.. well, it can go away.

How cool is that? It plays just about everything through HDMI in full 1080p (assuming the content is hi-def, obviously) including, alledgedly, BBC iPlayer and assorted other on demand services. It also does an arse load of other clever stuff, which I'll let you read about on their own site.

It's coming pretty soon, and price looks like being about £200. That's twice as much as the apple TV, but it does more than twice as much stuff.

I can't wait.

boxee.tv and blog.boxee.tv

Free Prince of Persia loving, even on Windows 7

*slam* dulununu nuuuuuuu

Hot on the heels (ish) of the free Syndicate love, another absolute classic that you 100% need to rediscover or, if you are under the age of 20 something, play for the first time and realise how much more care went into games design before everything was just a slightly different version of Gears of War.

The original Prince of Persia (POP) is a beautiful game. For it's day, and even now, the simple graphics are really very attractive and serve the game perfectly. The game story and mechanics are equally simple and yet frustratingly challenging and addictive. You are there to save the princess. Yup that's it. Kinda like Mario. There is just one 'button' which if you weren't a veteran or didn't have a manual could take a while to find (I remember when I first got the game I must have pressed every key to find it).

It's shift. There. You owe me.

Pretty much everything is done with the shift key. Movement is, shockingly, controlled with the arrow cursors - left and right should be obvious, jumping is up and ducking is down. Running jumps and funny little crouch hops can be achieved with combinations thereof. Shift is used for clinging onto ledges, taking single steps (very useful for hazards, you'll work it out) and for the marvellously basic sword fights. Pressing up in a swordfight will block, pressing down will usually make you die (try it). Up also enters the end of stage doors. You should figure out quite early that the pushplates on the floor open gates and doors; each end of stage door has one of these plates, but not always on the same screen.

Links to files:

abandonia.com/en/games/10/Prince+of+Persia

dosbox.com

This game works 'out of the box' in combination with DOSBOX. Follow all the directions in the Syndicate tutorial to install and set up your DOSBOX options first (minus the specific parts about 'synd.bat'). Extract the game files to PRINCE under your dos games folder. Run by changing directory to PRINCE and the command to start the game is, yes, PRINCE.

cd prince [enter]
prince [enter]

The game is fairly unique in that it's designed to be played straight through in one go! You have one hour (real time) to save your beloved princess. If you don't make it, you fail. Start again. Unforgiving, yes, but brilliant as well. You have unlimited 'lives' but die and you will start at the beginning of the stage (the big blue ornate door).

Enjoy, and be sure to support the awesome people over at abandonia.com!



PS whilst this game is basically an hour long see-if-you-can-complete-it affair, it does apparently have a save/load option within it's key set.

CTRL+Q - Quit Game
CTRL+A - Restart Level
CTRL+R - Restart Game
CTRL+S - Sound On/Off
CTRL+G – Save Game
CTRL+L SHIFT+L – Load Game
ESC - Pause Game

edit: except saving doesn't seem to work in DOSBOX. Will find out how!
Ah-ha! Fixed. Told you shift did everything.

Hack your PS3 for 18 bucks

Not that I am condoning this in any way, I hasten to say, some clever (and perhaps a bit naughty) people have released instructions for an $18 ps3 hack.

Hot on the heels of the announcement that Sony had won an injunction against a number of companies selling pre-programmed USB dongles containing the hack code, the programmers behind the exploit have released the code into the wild, allowing anyone with the wherewithal to fillet the gaming hardware's legendarily uncooperative OS.

In fact, anyone with around $18 to spend on a USB reference board such as the one offered by Teensy (it's currently sold out... we wonder why?) and the ability to follow the instructions offered by Github will soon be playing homebrew games and using unsigned apps to their heart's content.

Requires a little bit of geekiness. But if you didn't have any of that you probably wouldn't even be reading this.

thinq.co.uk

New iPod nano

There comes a time when things really don't need to get any smaller, and I think that time has been reached. Any smaller and this is going to be impossible to use, hell most Americans thumbs are going to be too fat to touch less than 3 buttons at once already.

Decent holding, but a clear amateur. One for the future, maybe.

The size of this thing seems to have been constrained only by the size of the dock connector, so it's fortunate that the connector is reasonably wide. Suggested prices are $149 for 8GB or $179 for 16GB models.

The nano is now almost the same size as the screen-less shuffle, meaning persuading the person you bought the gift for that the shuffle is better 'because it's so much smaller' is no longer a valid excuse for saving all that precious extra money.

Shrewd move, Apple.

engadget.com

New apple TV is 'king small

Excellent thing holding.

Apple, employers of the world's finest hand models, have released their new ridicu-bloody-small Apple TV. Apparently about the size of a couple of fag packets, it has lost a few features (composite out is gone, but I'm sure an HDMI adapter could solve that) but is a pretty tempting streamer at it's new price of 99 quid.

The only annoying thing (other than having to admit that an Apple product is tempting, which always hurts) is that our American cousins are paying $99 for it.

If it can stream from programs OTHER than iTunes, this is looking close to being an essential product. It's entirely noiseless, which makes it infinitely quieter than my 360. Actually it makes it infinitely quieter than everything, but you fellow 360 streamers get what I mean.

See more at apple.com

itproportal.com

Microsoft xbox controller redesign

Apparently these guys can make a revolutionary (really?) twisting d-pad, but stereo sound in their videos is too much to ask for.

Anyway MS has 'updated' it's controller by removing the kinda useful colour coding on the buttons, and making the d-pad optionally more playstation-like.

All for the bargain price of $65 (with a play&charge kit, which you should all have already unless you're a bit special or just particularly enjoy buying batteries. Maybe the girl in the shop is cute. Maybe you're just strange.)

Thanks itproportal

itproportal.com

Telltale making Back To The Future adventure game

Telltale, makers of the modern episodic Sam & Max games, are making a BTTF adventure game and have confirmed the real voice of Doc 'one point twenty one jiggawatts' Brown (Christopher Lloyd).

I didn't really feel the new S&M games were up to the awesomeness of the original, but they certainly had charm. Regardless, it's nice to see that adventure games are even still being made. The fact that this one is centered around the almost-too-good BTTF universe is just a bonus.

Let's hope they don't end up with a load of manure. I hate manure.



AWESOME RELATED NEWS:
The original movie is being re-released into UK cinemas in October in super-duper mega-high-def amazing-o-vision. If it's not on at the BFI IMAX I'll be screwing. See you there!

computerandvideogames.com

RDR movie in the works?

Sorry to those movie execs who had this fantastic 'idea' but... well, it's stupid isn't it. It's like doing a movie adaptation of the Mafia games, which are clearly games taking their inspiration from movies. They seem to think they'll have Brad Pitt in it, which should guarantee a few ticket sales no matter how bad it is I suppose.

Red Dead Redemption is no doubt wonderful (that's right, I still haven't played it) but from excerpts I've watched and the opinion of others (which, granted, I usually try to ignore) it seems it's very much influenced by the old great westerns. To make a movie adaptation of a game adaptation of a movie is just plain daft.

Besides, it's been done (ish)



showbizspy.com

Gearbox announcing new game at PAX

Speculation is 'rife', as rife as speculation can be between the 2 or 3 people that probably really care about this, that it could be the hilariously delayed Duke Nukem Forever.

This time around does seem ever so slightly more like being truthful than the many previous suggestions of this game actually being made. Still seems pretty unlikely though.

It's always bemused me how PAX came to even exist, why Valve would be announcing their 'big new game' there is even more confusing. Not long to wait to find out what it actually is.

paxsite.com

Microsoft shows those 'optimus' guys how it's done.

Ever seen those 'art lebedev' keyboards with a tiny little screen in each key? Pretty cool, yes, ridiculous effing expensive, oh yes. I can only imagine they're designed for twats with expensive apple macs and desks made of money.

They're not just expensive, they're stupid expensive, so much so that I can't imagine why anyone would ever buy one and how any foolish investors could keep the company afloat.

This concept uses just one screen that in some magical way shines through all the keys. This video is fairly dull, but does eventually show how cool this concept is. Concept, yes, apparently they won't be making these any time soon. Sniff.



Some very nice ideas highlighted in the video. The keyboard is being used at some kind of innovation contest to see what budding little hackers fresh out of their first year can do with it. Hopefully one of them will find a way to sell it to the mass market for a hundred bucks a piece.

hackaday.com

artlebedev.com

New Street Fighter X Tekken video

As ridiculous as beat 'em ups can get, this one seems to pushing the envelope even further.

More Street Fighter x Tekken Videos

I'm not the world's biggest fan of these games, but I do have a place in my heart that will always contain Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo. I am looking forward to this game, especially after watching this trailer.

Almost forgot the link
uk.xbox360.ign

APB creator goes bust, crap game likely cause...

Pioneering Dundee-based computer games company Realtime Worlds has gone into administration putting hundreds of jobs at risk. The company, founded by the creator of Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto, is based at a former jute mill in the city.

It employs about 250 people and was seen as one of the biggest players in the global computer games market. Its newest title, online role-playing game APB, launched a few weeks ago but has experienced "lacklustre" demand.

Lacklustre indeed. Even the boxart is enough to show you how shit the game is going to be, no wonder it didn't do well.

Now this is a game I would play.

Still, shame.

bbc.co.uk

Bioshock Infinite has a creepy trailer

And here it is.

Tropico 4 announced

I love Tropico 3 (never played an earlier one), if only to make the life for my minions shitty while making myself filthy rich. It's a bit like a dictatorship simulator (if you choose to play it that way).

Tropico 4 is coming and I can only assume it will just be prettier and make my PC seem even older. In fact there seems little point, although we can but hope for some actual gameplay improvements.

The last part of this little preview, however, is terrifyingly sickening.

The game is being developed by Bulgarian video game developer, Haemimont Games. Tropico 4 will see the return of El Presidente to the paradise Island of Tropico in an attempt to establish the small nation as a worldwide superpower.

Tropico 4 will feature 20 missions on 10 new maps and introduce a number of new features including the ability to elect ministers, who can be used to push controversial decisions through the government.

The game will also feature social interaction with Facebook and Twitter integration.

What a horrible world this is.

computerandvideogames.com

Mafia 2 trailer

Legend has it this is going to be shit. Shame, I liked the first one a lot (except the boring long unskippable drives).

It's out in a couple of weeks, I'm sure there'll be a few good reviews along soon.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

This looks like being the most Infinity Ward-y Treyarch COD game yet. Have they finally caught up? Or did they just take the engine and a load of graphics and borrow one of the set-piece scripters from the MW team?

Whatever, it looks pretty decent. Mostly though I want to know how much interaction I get with the SR71!



Get your pre-orders in pronto.

Don't forget this very early sneak peek, since which time things have changed a little.

How to play Syndicate on Windows 7, FREE!

Since that last post I was inspired to see if there might be any way to get this game... amazingly, it's pretty bloody easy AND it's entirely free! What a treat!

First you need the game (shock). Download it here

freegameempire.com/games/Syndicate

Then you need this natty bit of software called DOSBOX, get that here

dosbox.com

You will need the win32 version... don't bother with a 'front end', it's not complicated and it might teach you something about how us old folks had to get our games working.

For the benefits of this 'tutorial', I will be using some drive names and folder names which may differ to yours, hopefully you will be intelligent enough to substitute.

Extract the files from the syndicate download (zip file) to your preferred disk, for me that's E:\, and into a folder, I put it in E:\DOS\SYND. I recommend having a 'DOS' folder to collate the other old games you will doubtless seek out after this one. For the actual game folder, stick to a folder name under 8 letters (hence SYND not SYNDICATE), it makes things easier (back in the old days, we couldn't use more than 8 letters for anything...).

Next install DOSBOX, I installed it to E:\DOSBOX but you can put it where you like really.

Now we have a few settings to fiddle with in DOSBOX. Jump through the start menu and find DOSBOX, and find the shortcut for 'options'. The configuration file will load up in notepad, don't be scared, go to the bottom where it says [autoexec] and, below the comments, add the following:

mount c: e:\dos
c:

This is to make things easier when we come to running games. Oh, and this is where you need to make your relevant substitution for 'E' to the drive you used. Leave the C intact.

Almost done... navigate to your SYND folder and edit the 'synd.bat' file. This may just show up as 'synd', if you have filetypes hidden (which is normal). To edit it, right click and hit 'edit', notepad will load. Change the '/iirq5' to '/iirq7', save and quit.

Still in the SYND folder, copy all the files (not folders) into the folder inside it called DATA. If it asks to replace choose yes or no, it really doesn't matter. Don't ask why we do this step, I don't really know, but the sound won't work otherwise.


Apparently these steps are no longer necessary (ignore the image also). Not sure whether that's due to advancements in DOSBOX or a change in the Syndicate package.

We're ready! Run DOSBOX from it's shortcut, and you will be presented with this:

Type the following commands

cd SYND [enter] (assuming you unpacked to this folder)
START [enter]

Away we go! Hit alt+enter for full screen, and enjoy some nostalgia.

Be sure to visit freegameempire.com and show them your support, God bless 'em!

Updated 20/12/11

Syndicate remake on the cards?

Gamespot thinks so.

Evidence continues to mount that Electronic Arts and Swedish developer Starbreeze are at work on a reboot of Bullfrog Productions' classic cyberpunk tactical action game Syndicate. The latest comes by way of a trio of new trademark applications that surfaced in the US Patent and Trademark Office yesterday.


As for Starbreeze's involvement in the franchise, EA announced a partnership with The Darkness developer to "reinvent" one of the publisher's "most acclaimed classic franchises" in February 2008. That game, which currently bears the title Project RedLime, was one of two commissioned by EA.

This was an epic game. I played it at my mate's house on level-by-level because my PC wasn't fast enough to run it, sniff sniff. He had a 486DX2, the posh twat. An almost straight remake (new missions I suppose) with today's graphics could be pretty cool. Not sure if it would interest any of the kids though. My current PC probably won't be fast enough for the new one either.

Just please don't fudge it up, EA... maybe I should head to their offices with my persuadatron...

uk.gamespot

NFS Hot Pursuit looks a bit nicer than the old one

How lazy are they that they couldn't think of a new name? Hot Pursuit 2? No they already made that, too. Nothing wrong with Hot Pursuit 3 though. It's like movie makers. You can't just remake something and give it exactly the same name! Hot Pursuit 2010? No sorry that's really lame.

Anyway, it looks pretty good, albeit a bit like Burnout Paradise crossed with Test Drive Unlimited with an added police mode.

EDIT: This is a much nicer version of the first part of the video:





Apologies (on someone else's behalf) for crappy sound but it is the best video.

It's made by the Burnout Paradise guys, which might explain the rather stark similarities in ridiculously over the top crashes, so hopefully it will actually be half decent. The crashing-until-the-other-car-is-buggered looks excellently reminiscent of Chase HQ, which is pretty much one of my favourite games ever.

gamehounds

A very sad BBC article about PCZone

Good times.

You may have to read the article to understand the basis for that hilarious animal cruelty...

Sales of the magazine started a slow decline, old staff started to drift away and puerile humour was no longer in vogue.
In 2004 the magazine was sold to Future Publishing, who imposed stricter budgetary controls, brought in new staff and redesigned the magazine.

"The closure of PC Zone is the end of an era," said Mr Brooker.

Puerile humour will always be in vogue. Took me a few times to spell it, mind.

Damn you all to hell, Future Publishing.

bbc

Goldeneye on Wii is going to be shit

I was excited! Maybe you were excited too! I tried to make you excited! How could you not be? Goldeneye, possibly the best fps on console and definitely the best four player split screen fps ever, revamped for a modern (well, -ish) console! Yes! Yes! YES!

Well, I was wrong. By all accounts it appears that this is actually going to be a steaming pile of turd.

Eurocom have been big fans of Bond for many years, and we were privileged to develop 'The World is Not Enough' on the N64, followed by our work on 'Nightfire' (Gamecube, PS2, Xbox) and then later by 'Quantum of Solace' (PS2). After our work on 'Quantum', we began to talk with Activision, and the licensors Danjaq, about a new Bond game development. It was during those discussions that the idea of reinterpreting the film GoldenEye on the Wii came about.
The first thing we need to point out is that we're approaching this with a fresh perspective. As such, the main beats of the storyline remain, as well as most of the iconic movie settings you'd hope to see.
We're basing it in the world of Daniel Craig's Bond, rather than Pierce Brosnan's Bond and this means a grittier, more cinematic feel with large explosive set pieces and more emphasis on Bond's physical strength.
It also has to stand alongside other contemporary first person shooters - it's a new, fresh game in it's own right.

So.. it's made by the team that made all the rubbish Bond games, and it's an entirely new game based on the Goldeneye movie but with the wrong Bond in it.

Idiots. If they just remade Goldeneye N64 scene for scene with sexy graphics they'd make billions. Sigh.
Release it on XBL you bastards!

officialnintendomagazine

Give the people what they want.

Ok so here's more tits.

Actually, credit where it's due, this is a really nicely put together video.
It's probably one button in Apple iYoutube or whatever, but still it's nice.

Comic Con Booth Whores

Now now, don't be upset. I'm using the word 'whore' in it's truest sense, selling your body for money. Nothing wrong with that now. These girls are basically human billboards.



To all those 'booth babes' who are actually massive fans of the things written in big letters across their tits, I am willing to retract the statement. But, again, it's nothing to be ashamed of, ladies. If I had massive tits I'd get some corporate sponsorship for those puppies.

Street Fighter X Tekken !?

This actually is a bit exciting, provided you're about as old as I am and spent all your pocket money as a kid on a slightly broken Street Fighter 2 arcade machine.

Yoshinori Ono from Capcom and Katsuhiro Harada from Namco played against each other in a quick match. During gameplay, Ryu called in Chun Li to help him out and Kazuya called in Nina Williams for a ridiculous team-up attack. They fought on a futuristic battlefield with giant mechs roaming in the background. The game was running on a PlayStation 3. Visually, it looked very similar to Street Fighter IV with 2D gameplay and 3D rendered character models.

Street Fighter X Tekken is being developed for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. When will it be out? Capcom says "not for a while." Namco also said it is creating its own version of the game, Tekken X Street Fighter, but details on that aren't available at this time.

What's that last bit all about?

More Street Fighter x Tekken Videos

Trailer's a bit shit though, innit...

uk.xbox360.ign / pics

Halo: Reach has a forklift in it

Yep, this is today's exciting news. Lap it up.

A Bungie representative told IGN that originally the forklift had the ability to raise and lower, but that feature got cut because it was just too crazy and pointless.

That's right folks, it doesn't even work. Excited yet?

uk.xbox360.ign

Starcraft 2 is not exciting

Yes it's called Starcraft 2, not Starcraft II. We finally got rid of those pesky Romans years ago, why honour them by using their silly number system?

Anyway, I remember Starcraft fondly. It was good fun. Not amazing, but good fun. Clicking on those little dudes, sending them off to their death and then being raped by annoying little reptile type monster things. Good stuff.

But somehow the PR machine at Blizzard has the world foaming at the mouth for the sequel. No surprise, these people are clearly masters of mind control (see World of Warcraft for details), but c'mon... really?

They release exciting trailers like this...



.. but don't let it fool you! It's still just a top-down fake 3D 2D C&C'em up. Really, it looks like... Starcraft! With sharper graphics! Shocking.



Don't believe the hype!

Unless you're Korean. In which case this is like crack for you. I know you can't resist buying it. Get help.

Valve giving away their new game 'Alien Swarm'

It looks kinda like a cross between a top-down Left4Dead and the old classic Alien Breed games.

There's plenty more videos to check on the site, in case you're not sure if you want to download it. However, it's FREE so there's not much to complain about. I guess they want to up the numbers of people playing on Steam.

store.steampowered

No more PCZone!

super lo-res logo

What the cock? PCZone is being cancelled!

I always bought this magazine until the internet made it easy for me to get all the information for free and much more quickly. Why on Earth would they possibly think about cancelling it?

If you are/were a PCZone lover/reader/hater then you have an opportunity to have an effect on the final episode, be it with an article or a mention or with a personal insult in reply to your retarded letter.

You can do it by looking here.

It went downhill when they dumped Culky anyway.

Brooker had this to say: "PC Zone was a cross between Viz and Which? magazine. It never took anything too seriously, least of all itself. It was also where I learned to write, so if you hate my flippant, manic-depressive 'style', blame PC Zone.

"Often the reviews were quite long: you'd have to write four or five pages on Tomb Raider, say, which offered plenty of scope for going off on tangents or penning lengthy nonsensical screeds. There was an attitude of 'anything goes provided it's funny'. It was as much comedy mag as games mag.

"I guess its demise is inevitable. Actually, I'm impressed it lasted as long as it did, given the dominance of consoles, and the sheer wealth of reviews and so forth you can find for free online. The mag itself may have died, but the general tone and character of PC Zone lives on in British gaming sites and forums, and in Ben Croshaw's Zero Punctuation pieces and the like."

guardian

New Xbox reviewed

The shiny new xbox comes out tomorrow somewhere (perhaps even here?), so here's CVG's review of it.

Speaking to Microsoft reps at the unboxing event, we were told repeatedly that the firm believes this is the best console it's ever made. We make them right. This is the solid, polished machine it should have been to begin with. If PS3 had one undeniable advantage over 360 in the past it was in the hardware stakes, but MS has truly stepped up its game.

We want one. You should too.

cvg

How the 3DS works

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh...

Stereoscopic 3D has been around for a very long time. Many of us had toys that used the effect when we were kids in the form of a View-Master. The way the 3D works is that two nearly identical images are presented, one to each eye. Your brain combines the images into a single image, which creates depth in the single image. The reason the depth effect works is because each image is slightly different from a perspective standpoint, and when the image is fused in your brain, both perspectives are preserved, making the scene look alive.


Below I have a good example piece. To make it work you’ll have to cross your eyes until you see a 3rd image between the two. Focus on that 3rd (middle) image and it should come into focus. You may have to get closer to your monitor (10 to 12 inches) to make it work. If you do it correctly, the image should clarify and show depth to it. Try it now.

I may, possibly, have used a different example image.

stupidgamer

Ok I think I have to buy Red Dead Redemption

I hate admitting that popular games might actually be good, and I hate agreeing with RICHARD about anything, but the hype and the chatter has all gotten too much now. I need to play.



No-one seems to remember Red Dead Revolver though. Maybe I'll pick that up and dust off the ol' PS2...



Oh, praps the 360 would play the old xbox version?

Pro Evo 2011 looks... I dunno, pretty?

I love Pro Evo. No matter how much better FIFA might get, I'll always claim Pro Evo is superior. But I still play '08 because I absolutely hated the shit they changed with '09 and '10.

This video for '11 looks pretty slick, but I can't tell how much is game options/settings and how much is video frill (I think it's mostly the latter).

Have a look courtesy of gamespot.

More games need big heads

I was reading some IGN (yes I was bored) and came across this marvellous looking gem called 'Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2010'.



As with all crazy games like this it seems to have some form of Pokemon esque boring conversation pieces, although this might be the team talk or something. The next bewildering part is probably a lot less bewildering if you understand Japanese. Plus I think this is an old crusty PS2 version or something.

Anyway, it made me think. Big heads are, obviously, the most heart-warmingly hilarious thing in the world. So why are they so horrifically underused? The best we get is 'big head mode', which of course you have played in Goldeneye.



Sorry about the Scottish twats (thanks for the video guys!)

Super Mario Crossover

I just spent ages looking for a NES on ebay so I could play super mario bros, then I found this. It's a pretty awesome remake. Plus you can play as the dude from Contra... complete with gun.

PS it takes AGES to load, and then when it has it takes AGES to load AGAIN for some reason. But it's worth it. To be this good takes ages!

AAAH HE SAID IT!

SuperMarioBrothers.org

PS Move much better video

Those crazy japanese marketing people have come up trumps.
Don't forget the strapu!

PS Move FAQ

Since I devoted a few posts to Kinect, it only seems fair to take a look at the daft looking stupid coloured balls of Playstation Move.

The PlayStation Move is coming to a PS3 near you, and it's bringing a brand new way to play. The next sword fighting game you play might require you to get off the couch and pick up your weapon, and a future level you dive into in LittleBigPlanet might need you to rotate the world with your hands.


We at IGN aren't going to abandon you as motion makes its way to the masses. Here, we've gathered the most common PlayStation Move questions and paired them with the answers we know. As we get more and more information, we'll update this FAQ.

I can't tell if their 'FAQ' is wrong/rubbish or if specs have changed, since both these Sony videos have two silly little balls on the controllers but the article says only one hand gets one. Maybe it's just because the video is 100% faked and the marketing company making it wasn't briefed properly.



Apparently the future of video games unavoidably involves looking like a twat.

uk.ps3.ign

'New interface' coming to XBL

Not so much a total overhaul (a la 'NXE') but basically it seems just a new Arcade browser.

There are over 250 games available on the Xbox Live Arcade, and more come out every week. It's easy to find new titles, but browsing the XBLA library to find something to play isn't fun, and older content is hardly featured. Microsoft is going to try to fix that with the Destination Arcade visual browser, launching next week.

Major Nelson has the scoop. "Destination Arcade will allow you to discover new games and content you enjoy through an easy-to-use visual browser. You’ll have the ability to sort by price, community rating, and more! Also, stay up to date on the latest arcade releases through a news feed and also find out what games your friends like and recommend."

There's a brief little look at it in this video, I hope you can stomach the boredom of the voiceover. Video should start at the relevant point (1:01).

arstechnica

Vanquish looks fun

It's as if SEGA made Gears of War. Wait. It basically is SEGA making Gears of War, but complete with all the stupid effects and jetpackiness you would expect from those lovely folk.

In Vanquish, the story is set in the near future. Russia and the United States are vying for ownership of the world’s fast-depleting energy resources and the US has constructed a space station in order to harness energy from the sun. Russian forces capture this space station and divert its harvested solar energy into a blast wave that destroys San Francisco, aiming to force the US into a total and unconditional surrender. In response, the US tasks its armed forces with recapturing the space station before the Russians can annihilate their next target – New York. The player will take control of Sam, a government agent kitted out with a futuristic battlesuit.

Blimey. Bullet time looks fun. It's still basically Gears though, innit?

gameranx

14 Saturn games UGO want to see again

Seems UGO are excited about the Saturn back catalogue too. They made some good suggestions as to what they think should be re-released onto XBL and PSN, including the amazing Fighters Megamix! You could play as the damn Daytona car. How good?



And Radiant Silvergun for those of you who like having their EYES BURNED OUT.



UGO

Am I doing it right?

I'm trying...

xkcd

"Hottest girls playing video games"

Spreading this does make me feel a little bit dirty. I'm certain I'll get over it though.

PUNCHAFISH.COM (really?) introduces the Top 10: Hottest girls playing video games!
Rather amusing in it's ridiculousness, although I can't say that I didn't enjoy it just a little.

The girl playing counter-strike with no mouse is pretty amazing (wow!). And it should come as no surprise that all of these girls (and all girls everywhere, right?) play their games in some varying state of undress.



That's number 10 that is. Sets the bar.



She's number 7. Quite a lot of missed gates, disappointing.

I think perhaps the count-down is backwards, or number 1 is the author's girlfriend/wife. You'll understand if you bother to look at them all.

Anyway, pretty daft but gotta be a good crowd puller. Well done punchafish!

punchafish

Console wars 2010 style

It used to be so simple. You chose one, then had a fight with anyone at school who chose otherwise. Unless you were a dick you chose Megadrive (or Genesis if you were geographically challenged). DKC was pretty good though... oooh and mario kart...

Anyway Gamesradar has pit the modern day big hitters (MS, Sony, Ninty and 'PC') up against one another. Guess what, the PC wins! Oh wait, I mean SPOILER ALERT: the PC wins!



That's the new fallout that is, which will be sexier on the PC. It'll still be fucking annoying when you're lost in the desert with only a shitty gun with 3 bullets and some fat bastard animal that keeps killing you because you replaced your really comfy quicksave with the one you made 10 seconds ago when it spots you walking by. Definitely. But the graphics will be nicer.

Since when is 'PC' a console, though?

gamesradar

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II

Force Unleashed passed me by, I'll be honest (the last Star Wars game I really got into was X-Wing vs Tie Fighter... maybe Dark Forces...) but apparently a lot of you fans were a little disappointed by it.

Well, this sequel certainly looks pretty "kick-ass" and according to IGN it looks like it will play that way too.

Combat is designed to be flexible, so Starkiller can combine powers in a variety of ways. The Lightning Grenade, for instance, allows him to Force Grip an enemy, charge him with lightning and then throw him at other enemies for explosive results. Lightsaber attacks and Force powers can also be combined, so players can do things like charge up their lightsaber with lightning for extra attack power.

Shiny!

We mentioned earlier that the team sees this game as its Empire Strikes Back, and this is a theme that Blackman returns to a number of times. "Not only is it the second in what we hope to be a saga," he says, "but it also is a much darker story, just like Empire Strikes Back is a darker story than A New Hope, and it's a much more personal story – Starkiller's on this quest to be re-united with Juno and figure out who he is, much the same as Empire Strikes back is a more personal, character-driven movie than the first Star Wars." Here's hoping LucasArts delivers on The Force Unleashed's full potential second time around.

Lovely closing paragraph. Nice work.

uk.xbox360.ign