The movie industry and the video game industry have attempted to meld on several occasions. None of which have had astronomical critical and commercial success simultaneously. The only one that came close was GoldenEye 007 back on the N64. Since then there have been many pairings of games and movies. Games first, then movie; sometimes movie first then game. Recently the games have come prior to the movies and some say ruin the story for the movies by revealing the endings. However the overall consensus is that movies based on a video game franchise or single iteration become horrible representations of the medium. So why is that?

Lack Of Developer Involvement
Nine times out of ten the developers who own the intellectual property don’t have anything to do with the movies besides selling off the rights to make quick cash. Certain companies however do make the effort to have their properties stay true to their counterparts, like Capcom and their involvement with the  Resident Evil franchise. Some beloved franchises are not so lucky, Metal Gear Solid comes to mind.  David Hayter the voice of Snake and also a professional screenplay writer has written numerous great movies such as Watchmen, X-Men and X2. He wanted to write the script for MGS movie with the supervision of Hideo Kojima (series creator) however things didn’t quite work for him and he was rejected by Sony. He is currently writing and putting into work Lost Planet: Extreme Condition. When developers take a back seat to their properties development in another medium it usually creates half-assed works of crap, or pieces that are loved by some and hated by others. Hitman was a prime example, as barely any story was congruent with the series. Same can be said about the randomness of the two Street Fighter films. Mortal Kombat feels to be the most true to the source material to this day.

Casting Errors
Casting is key to development of a movie based on a video game or based off of anything in an already existing medium that has a face. You begin to see actors who would be right for the part. Often times though studios choose what would broaden their audience and garner more money in the end. On certain ocassions they choose the cast based upon budget, which is sensible but rarely does it ever work out for the best. Overall casting has bee sub-par for game movies. The upcoming Kane And Lynch movie due out in 2011 has great casting of Bruce Willis as Kane, however Lynch will be played by Jamie Foxx. I don’t understand hollywood at times. However, one can argue that Mortal Kombat and Lara Croft has one of the most true to gaming casts.

Rating Issues
Most of the popular games that are brought to movies are M rated titles. As one would assume R rated movies based on games that are yes, aimed at mature audiences but are played and bought by many underage teenagers and children would be a wonderful idea. You want to see the R rated movie based on your favorite game? Than you have to bring a consenting adult. However sometimes it is just cheaper to create a PG-13 title and create an Unrated Blu-Ray or DVD release to appease the fans. The problem with this idea is that most of the hardcore who are into the series/game being portrayed on film are anxious to see it and won’t wait for the home release. Some recent ratings issues have come in lieu of Max Payne (did the story even keep true to the game?), Doom (WTF? Really?), and Hitman as well.

Future Holds Hope
Well, there is plenty for the industry to improve upon when it comes to transferring mediums. Hopefully subsequent titles will be good and Uwe Boll wont make any more movies like Far Cry and Postal. Halo seems to be having the same issues as Metal Gear Solid was having with the change of producers/directors so quick. So I leave you with a list of movies based on games coming out in the near or long future.

• Metal Gear Solid
• Tekken-Later This Year
• King Of Fighters( Says its released in November 2009 but I havent seen it anywhere)
• Resident Evil: Afterlife
• Kane And Lynch
• BloodRayne 3: The Third Reich

Comic-Con is the Vatican of geek culture. Sure as gamers the big one we all wait for is E3, but Comic-Con is much more than just games. It really is a pop culture phenomenon that over the last couple of years has grown to be one of the biggest events we all strive to hear from. It was from hear that Heath Ledger was announced he will be playing the Joker in the latest Batman movie, from here that we heard the Avengers Movie is indeed coming, and from hear I personally got to meet and shake the hand of Davin Tennant, the greatest motha effin Doctor to live!

Is this why I love Comic-Con? To be honest yes and no. You see Comic-Con is great and all but it also is kinda of a retreat for us gaming journalist. Not many games are showcased here at the Con. So it gives us journalist a little break from the usually hectic sprints to announcements or crunching in time to write up a article before our next interview or game hands on.

For those who are also as big as comic book geeks as me. This place is your haven! Everyone here dresses up as there favorite comic book character. It here in the San Diego Convention Center that I saw Darth Vader and Superman go all out in a Battle Royale to the death!

The Convention it’s self is one of the most beautiful centers you will ever see in your journalist travels. Its located right next to the famous San Diego Bay and across the pond you can see the also-famous Coronado Island where celebrities and families alike have fun on the beach (and if your lucky you might spot the Navy SEALS training).One of the mains reason I love this Con however is it is located in my hometown.

Now I’ve been all over the world. Seen a whole lot of cities. From Los Angeles to Paris, and I can tell your truthfully none of them came close to San Diego. It may not be the flashiest city like New York or as famous as Los Angeles, or historic as London. But it certainly is the most relaxing and kindest. There is a reason why San Diego is called America’s finest city, and the city transforms into a geeks dream city when Comic-Con comes to town.

So if any of you are going to Comic-Con next week relax chill. Be prepared nerd flu, sweat, a kind of piss smell in the air, and certainly be prepared to meet a lot of characters. I can gaurntee you though you will have the time of your life.

Is it just me, or has anybody else noticed an increase in snow in video games these past couple of years.

Yes sir, snow has made a comeback, and has once again become an important design choice for game designers today, specifically within the shooters genre, both First and Third person respectively.

But why?!

What is so special about this cold and icy substance when it comes to our favourite pass-time.

Well, the inclusion of snow adds a unique freshness to both environment and gameplay, offering not only a treat for the eyes, but mostly, an opportunity for developers to use that environment and woo us gamers into digging into their product.

Of course, the inclusion of snow filled backdrops need to make sense in terms of both story and gameplay.

And obviously, it always does.

Now, this is not something that was ignored during previous generations of gaming. Many games contained thriving levels of ice, whether it be an old school racer to get your ride slipping off the road, or a classic platformer (yes Croc, we remember you fondly).

One particular snowy environment that personally stood out for me was from the original Tomb Raider on the Playstation1. Which ones stood out for you?

In the latest batch of shooter based releases, I think these particular titles have made the best use of snow in terms of atmosphere, gameplay or if we’re lucky, both.

Call of Duty 5: World at War

World at War was a decent game with a very decent campaign, but nothing drew me into the narrative more then Dmitri’s painful death defying struggle to rid mother Russia of the Nazi, all set wonderfully with a cold icy backdrop adding real feeling to the element of survival and war.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

From a lush suburban environment to the heat of the desert, Bad Company 2 changes its’ background very well. But watching ice build up on your screen as you dash from hut to hut in search of a heat source whilst having to combat enemy soldiers simultaneously is a rush worth experiencing. It makes struggling for survival seem quite realistic too.

Call of Duty 6: Modern Warfare 2

Vehicular action is always a plus in FPS shooters, but many times this comes in the form of on-rails segments (I love on-rails). But a standout moment in one of the most successful FPS title’s ever is definitely the snowmobile sequence where the player is not only in control of the vehicle but is also given the option to combat chasing enemies while dodging harmful surroundings (Yes, you have to do this is all at them same time, cool huh).

If you haven’t tried this, please do, Oh and watch out for that tree!

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

What a game, I mean like, what a game! Ok, now that’s out of the way…….

From the introductory level showing Drake hanging from a de-railed train, to the snow falls visualised during the 2^nd half of the famous Uncharted 2 train sequence, snow has never ever looked so good.

Seriously, if you want to know more, play it!

Now, how do you know when you’ve got a good thing going. Well, you use it again and again in different and unique ways. In other words, I am really looking forward to see what kind of snow based environments we get in upcoming titles like Medal of Honor and Killzone 3.

And hopefully, these environments will have great affects on the gameplay to constantly keep us gamers on our toes (and with nice hot cup of cocoa by our side).

Okay you can have Hot Chocolate if you want, gamers are so fussy nowadays.

What do you think, should we see more snow based levels in future games, will developers be able keep it fresh for gamers?

Until next time, let it snow, let it snow, let it snowww…….

Ok, you saw that coming.

There’s a storm coming……. from JustaGamer.

The Bigger They Are, The Further You Have To Walk
These days, linear is for losers. Developers are turning their attentions to crafting free roam environments of immense size and beauty. These creations range from fantasy worlds filled with sorcerers and swordsman, to sun-baked prairies teeming with coyotes and cowboys. Some of them are vast wildernesses where a man can roam for miles and never see another soul, while some are considerably smaller in size and heaving with life. Then there’s the really big ones. Getting lost in these beasts may result in your in-game avatar being declared MIA and his virtual wife and kids holding a candlelight vigil. Here we are going to count down the games that boast the biggest maps, some of the results may surprise you. So, starting at number 10.

Map of Azeroth

10. World of Warcraft – 80 square miles
World of Warcraft is the fourth game set in Blizzards Warcraft universe. With over 11.5 million subscriptions, World of Warcraft is the worlds most subscribed MMORPG. As with all games in the Warcraft series it takes place in the fictional world of Azeroth which, in this iteration of the franchise at least, is a modest size of 80 square miles.

9. Burnout Paradise – 200 square miles
The seventh game in EA/Criterion’s successful racing series, Burnout Paradise featured an impressive map. The game was released with over 70 cars to explore the 200 square miles of open road with and was later updated to feature motorbikes and a day and night cycle.

The island of Panau

8. Just Cause 2 – 400 square miles
The original Just Cause was a less than gratifying affair. The map was pretty and the parasailing was cool but the island was far too vast with very little in it. To fix this problem and make the sequel Just Cause 2 more enjoyable Avalanche Studios decided there was only one thing to do, make the map even bigger. Interesting idea. It seems to have worked though as Just Cause 2 sold well and has received positive reviews from most critics. It sits here at number 8 on our list with a map size of 400 square miles.

7. Asherons Call – 500 square miles
Slightly older fans of MMORPGs among you may remember this title. Asherons Call was released in 1999 for Windows and was the third major MMO to be released. Set on the continent of Dereth, itself set on the fictional planet of Auberean, the game map covered 500 square miles. Along with Ultima Online and Everquest this was one of the “Big Three” of early MMOs but its subscription numbers fell when newer titles began to flood the markets. Never the less its servers still remain online, more than ten years later.

The Oahu inspired island

6. Test Drive Unlimited – 618 square miles
The Test Drive series is one of the longest running arcade racing franchises of all time and the ninth game in the series, Test Drive Unlimited, featured a map modeled after the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The map was a magnificent 618 miles long, all the better for getting the games collection of 125 cars and motorbikes up to dangerously awesome speed.

5. FUEL! – 5560 square miles
We’re into the thousands of miles now, this is where the maps really start getting big. Released in 2009 Asobo Studio’s Fuel is truly immense. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic world and boasts a map that is 5560 square miles in size(roughly the size of the American state of Connecticut). This makes Fuel’s map the largest gaming environment ever to appear in a console game. Couple this with over 70 vehicles to cruise around in and you have one immense game.

The continent of Elona

4. Guild Wars Nightfall – 15,000 square miles
Guild Wars Nightfall is the third game in ArenaNet’s Guild Wars series. The game took place on the continent of Elona, in the Guild Wars universe. Elona was the biggest game map created for a Guild Wars game spanning a mighty 15,000 square miles(that’s bigger than Kuwait, Isreal, Jamaica, Cyprus, Barbados, Singapore, Albania or Macedonia. Just to give you some idea).

3. Lord of the Rings Online – 30,000 square miles
Released in 2007, Lord of the Rings Online completely one-ups the Guild Wars series. LotRO(as it is known) features a Middle-earth inspired map twice the size of ArenaNet’s offering. This means that theoretically you could fit the entire of Belgium into it 2544 times.

The Tamrielic provinces of High Rock and Hammerfell

2. The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall – 62,394 square miles
If LotRO went one-up on Nightfall by doubling its map size, Daggerfall two-ups it by quadrupling it. The second game in Bethesda Softwork’s highly successful and much loved franchise, Daggerfall is thought by most to be the largest game map ever created with a colossal area of 62,394 square miles(and Bethesda claims it’s even bigger, twice the size of Great Britain in fact. This would make it roughly 181,008 square miles). Spread out across this land there are 15,000 towns, cities, villages and dungeons to explore. The games sequel The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind didn’t even come close to this, with its map being only as big as 10 square miles.

1. Midwinter – 160,000 square miles
As we get to the end of the list I’ve pretty much run out of decent adjectives meaning “large”. It’s just as well though as there really aren’t any that would do this game justice. Midwinter is a first-person action role-playing game with strategy elements. It was released for the Atari ST, Amiga and PC back in 1989, making it slightly before my time. The game is set(as so many are) in a post-apocalyptic world where a giant meteorite landed in Burma and caused nuclear winter. The impact also caused a lot of volcanic activity in the Azores islands, forming the isle of Midwinter where the game takes place. Midwinter is an enormous(found one!) 160,000 square miles stretch of ice and snow, that’s nearly as big as the state of California. The game was well received upon release but due to a very steep learning curve it never became the hit it could have been.

So that completes our rundown of some of gaming’s biggest maps, with sizes ranging from big, to immense, to ridiculous. As a bonus extra here a few maps that didn’t make it into the top ten.

GTA III – 3 square miles
GTA San Andreas – 13.6 square miles
Fallout 3 – 14 square miles
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion – 16 square miles
Far Cry 2 – 19.31 square miles

Note: Most, if not all map sizes are approximations made by either the writer(based off some evidence) or the game developers. They should not be taken as gospel fact or as cause for a flame war. Chill out man.

Note to Reader – This article is not an ordinary piece of text, and has no intention to bash or hurt anybody. It is simply my own personal opinion and experiences. Please post your opinion in the comments below, as I understand some gamers may or may not agree with my thoughts. Either way, I wish all readers the best and hope you enjoy my article.

I also hope reading my opinions may help your gaming knowledge, and I request you to please post your opinion below so I can learn from your experiences and your thoughts too.

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In one of my previous articles, I mentioned a term called the Gaming Personality

The gaming personality is not a highly complex psychological subject, but more simply the styles and preferences of a particular gamer. Any gamer, you or me. The most intriguing point though, is how a gaming personality is formed.

For example, my own gaming personality was formed over a number of years. It begun from my PS1 days (even though I gamed earlier on the Atari and Sega) and really came into its own midway through the PS2 life cycle. The more games I played, the more styles I came across, the more I started to learn about my favourite pass time and begun to realise my likes and dislikes.

Now, I earlier gamed on the Atari 2600 and Sega Master system+, and loved both of those consoles as they were always great fun. I knew I loved gaming, but never felt the passion until I was older and my understanding began to develop.

I was always one of the people who preferred 3^rd person perspective gaming over 1^st person. 1^st person was great and very enjoyable, but just not always my taste. If I had to choose a game for each perspective, I’d always pick the 3^rd person.

I was also more of an offline player then online. Even today, I prefer offline multiplayer or split screen to online any day (especially if Fifa or Tekken titles are involved, it’s a long story). But my personal flavour of gaming is and always has been the Single Player campaign and story modes. Cinematic roller coaster rides, cut scenes, emotional characters and a great narrative are key for me. I like to call it the Interactive Movie experience and this can be seen in my previous article My PS2 Top 5 and a bit more.

Open world game style is great but it’s the more linear type of tale that raises my eyebrow a little bit more.

Yes, I was a fan of The Rock, and Spock too.

Ok, I still am, you got me!

That said, freedom in gameplay with a variety of mechanics really gets my heart pumping.

For example, I recently completed the open world title Assassin’s Creed 2 with 100% completion, not only because the title appealed to me but the gameplay and freedom point kept me hooked all the way.

I also played 7 FPS titles this year consisting of – Killzone 2, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, Cod4: Modern Warfare, Resistance 2, Cod5: World at War, Cod6: Modern Warfare 2 and Battlefield Bad Company 2. Now, most of these come with a robust online multiplayer component, but it was the campaign’s that appealed to me the most.

That’s just my Gaming Personality, and the way I choose play my video games. I do play open world games and thoroughly enjoy 1^st person shooters, etc, but my personal favourites and styles are what make me (and everybody else) different from the next gamer.

It’s our gaming personality that not only keeps things fresh but enables game developers to keep trying new things in the market, never knowing what might appeal to us next.

After all, if we all played online FPS and MMO titles, then Alan Wake and Heavy Rain wouldn’t be here, right?

To note, that was just me, and I respect old school gamers who are not only more knowledgeable but also more skilled than myseIf. I have never intended to make my own gaming experiences more special than anyone else’s, but only to share my own as a member of the gaming community. Thus, I am not a Fanboy and do not believe in being one, as I beleive, fanboys are not real gamers.

Oh and for the record, in my opinion, Fanboys have NO gaming personality.

When did you first realise your gaming personality?

What titles turned you on to gaming the most?

May the force be with you……. always, JustaGamer.

Time Flies When You’re Having Fun
In 2011 it will be 40 years since the first commercially sold game was released. Gaming will be officially middle aged, or at least in human terms it will be. We have no real idea how long the games industry will last, or where it will take us in the future. We have no idea but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t fan the flames of conjecture right? So come with me now and I will take you on a trip to the potential future that awaits us as gamers and leave you with endless questions such as “Is this really possible?”, “When will this happen?” and “What was the point in that article?”.

What is Happening
Technology is advancing at an astounding rate. Everyday some new breakthrough occurs that could help find stranded civilians or prevent natural disasters, or cure debilitating diseases. However, as great as these discoveries are whenever a new piece of tech pops up corporation bigwigs and R&D nerds get together and ask one simple question: how can we market this? We’re not complaining though as every piece of life saving kit they mutilate and let loose on the masses just means more entertainment for us. Like the Virtusphere for example.

Virtusphere is a 10-foot hollow sphere that looks somewhat like one of those exercise balls you get for your pets. Far from being something to let your giant mutant hamster out in however, Virtusphere was designed to fix the primary problem facing virtual reality: space to move in. Imagine the year is 2035, Tomorrow’s World was absolutely spot on and we’re all now living on the moon in futuristic houses. For some reason however they still haven’t discovered a cure for baldness and I’m now hairless as a Christmas goose. You’ve just brought yourself a virtual reality headset and you switch on your Xbox 1440 and pop in a copy of Call of Duty 32. While trying to play though you hit a snag, followed by the wall, the sofa and ultimately the floor. The average living room just doesn’t have the space needed for full VR gaming, that’s where Virtusphere comes in. Virtusphere mounts on a special platform that allows it to move in any direction and at any speed depending on the footsteps of the user but it never leaves the spot. Originally designed for the military to use with VR training programs it is now being marketed to the general public for use with video games. With Virtusphere you get to act like your in a video game, but what about feeling like it?

That’s where TN Games 3rd Space Vest comes in. 3rd Space Vest is, as the name would suggest a vest but a rather special one. It looks a little like a military flak jacket but it contains 8 pressure points that react to what’s happening on screen and give you a slight jab in response. Before you start panicking I should say the jabs are completely painless, they’re just intended to create the feel of immersion. Things like this have been attempted before and the concept is certainly not new but no one has ever made anything quite as clever as this before. Not only can the 3rd Space Vest tell in what side your character has been hit(front, back, chest, stomach etc.) and apply pressure to the right area but it also knows what hit you and changes the effect accordingly. In other words if you’re hit with a bullet the pressure applied will short but hefty, if hit with a knife it may be a sharp quick jolt and so on. As far as feeling in a game goes this is probably the closest we have got or will get for a long time.

So these products are all about making you feel like you’re in a game but what about a game being in you? The answer to that question is not as perverse and invasive as you might think. The Emotiv EPOC is a neuroheadset developed by Emotiv Systems. The device fits snugly over the head of the user and sports 14 electrodes that can measure brain activity. These thoughts are then used in the same way a button on a standard game controller is used today and different thoughts or emotional states will get different responses from the characters on screen. The EPOC also features a two-axis gyro for measuring head rotation and can detect facial expressions such as eyelid and brow positions and whether the user is smiling or laughing. As with the Virtusphere the EPOC has applications outside of video games(one demonstration showed a user attempting to drive a car with his thoughts) but it’s games and gamers they’re targeting. Tech wise the future looks great with virtual reality gaming and mind reading headsets in abundance. Even if half these ideas don’t make it mainstream we still have plenty to look forward to with space age devices like Xbox’s Kinect already on track to change the industry. While all these wondrous inventions may be great however technology alone is not enough. If the future of gaming really is to be brightly painted a reddy-yellow hue then some changes need to be made.

What We Want To Happen
So just what differences do we want? Well as fun as games are I’m sure we can agree that some things just annoy us. Your opinions may may vary from mine but here is just a few ideas of things we would like to see altered.

1. No Loading Times
We’ve all been annoyed at some point or another when playing a game with ridiculous loading times. Entering a building and then waiting thirty seconds to a minute before you can do anything is somewhat infuriating. As generations of games have gone by the speed with which a console reads and processes information has increased significantly. So too however has the size of the games. For every second new consoles shave off loading times, developers add on another half a second with game size and scale. This means that while game loading times may shrink, it is unlikely we will ever see them disappear.

2. More Replay Value
It’s no secret that games these days are getting shorter. Some of the best and most popular first-person shooters of the moment can take little more than ten hours to complete and some of the worst ones even less. However, a short story does not mean a short game as games can be given a lot of replay value by simply providing interesting side objectives. Side objectives that don’t involve traipsing through a vast cougar-infested wilderness picking flowers(I’m looking at you Rockstar!).

3. Fully Kitted Out Multiplayer Options
By this I mean all forms of multiplayer in one tremendously fun package. As you have no doubt noticed split screen is slowly dying out in favour of more modern modes of multiplayer such as online play. While I am in no way averse to the rise of online play, it would be nice if game developers could find away to include all forms of multiplayer. Being able to play over the internet with your friends on work nights is handy certainly but what about weekends when your all sat together enjoying a nice cold beer? The only way you can play most modern games in this scenario is if one of you goes home. Including split screen and online play is what developers call too “hardware intensive” meaning it eats up way to much memory and requires more processing power than the current generation of consoles can muster. Might be something to think about in the future though.

4. Smarter AI For Single Player
In a lot of more recent shooters, the combat AI is fantastic. They react well to incoming gunfire and will even take opportunities to flank the player should they see a blind spot in their defences. AI in single player RPGs however, is not so smart. In Bethesda’s Oblivion for example, players are arrested for murder and a public execution will result in panic and aggression by nearby NPCs. Take out someone from a safe hiding spot however and no one reacts. Of course I don’t mean you should be arrested(I mean that’s the point in hiding after all) but some reaction from the nearby NPCs would be nice. Flashing forward to a more recent game and in Borderlands there are essential characters like Dr Zed who cannot be hurt by gunfire. Fine. Surely however they should still react when shot? These are just a few examples and I’m sure you can think of many more(probably some better ones too). Red Dead Redemption’s AI on the other hand react wonderfully with NPCs behaving like characters straight from a Sergio Leone movie.

5. Everything
Gamers as a society are the equivalent of that spoiled kid at Christmas who uses a whole ream of paper to write his list for Santa. No matter what devs give us we always want more. That said would it not be great if one day a developer could incorporate all the best features of previous games into one shiny product? Imagine a game where you can free roam, flick at will between third-person roaming mode and first-person shooting mode, customize your character to suit your playing style and personality. You can play online or through split screen or LAN and the in game AI’s reactions are so realistic you’re never sure which your doing. Cap all this off with graphics and sound that seem real and a story worthy of an Oscar and we will have the game of the decade right there. Of course this is impossible at the moment but you never know, one day we may see it.

What Will Happen
So there’s one and a half thousand words of guesswork and maybes. I’ve nattered on about what may happen but what about what will happen? Well short answer is… I’ve no idea. No one really knows where we will be in five or ten years time. The only thing I know for certain is that the games industry has grown from strength to strength in the years it’s been here. What started out as a pointless past time for the nerdy kids who couldn’t play sports has bloomed into a multi-billion dollar money-factory with a dedicated fan base and a culture all its own. Whatever happens in the future, I think it’s a safe bet that gaming, and gamers, are going nowhere.

References
Virtusphere

TN Games 3rd Space Vest

Emotiv EPOC

Xbox Kinect

Retro gaming has had a major revival and focus in this gaming generation more than any other, you can pick up retro games from multiple sources, such as PSN, XBLA and the VC on Wii and with plenty of remakes and revivals on the way too (Goldeneye and Donkey Kong Country anyone?); its come to my mind that are these revivals and the huge back catalogue of retroness really something that is needed, or is it just a sense of nostalgia that makes us harp after the pinnacle of yesteryear gaming?

Now don’t get me wrong here, I’m not saying that there is no reason to bring back these retro classics, it provides an invaluable history for those who are interested in gaming and missed the opportunity to play such games when they were originally released. What spurred these thoughts in the first place came from playing a slew of N64 classics for the first time (admittedly on an N64 not on the VC), and this is what led me to the conclusion that this retro revival is only done to allow gamers to relive classics they lost or sold not for the average Wii, Xbox or even PS3 user; but does this market need these games, the remakes allow for people to discover the brilliance of older games in a new light but for those who remember the originals are they not just disappointments that bastardise the original game?

For the casual gamers or for those gamers who only really play the newer games what reason do they have to go back and play some retro classics? So many games have aged terribly, and no just graphically but gameplay mechanics and storytelling, the genre of the 3D platformer has been entirely wiped out too with the standardisation of 3D graphics in the industry; games like Banjo-Kazooie, Sonic Adventure and Super Mario 64 all obsolete as their major gameplay selling feature has become the norm. Luckily Banjo-Kazooie and Sonic Adventure have both been the best offering of their series (ignoring the 2D Sonics) but Mario 64 has been easily beaten by both of its Galaxy brothers; even games that at the time were popular and still well remembered by fans have entirely dropped off the radar, games such as Gex and Rayman 2 have now lended their fun gameplay to terrible film tie-in games.

look at his little happy face

Its not just the 3D platformer that got hit by this change either, both the racing and Shooter genres are left in the dust. Many racers strive to create a realistic experience for their universe and as technology has increased this has become possible to do, many older racers now control horribly and are obviously visually lacking, only some racers can transcend this gap (mostly due to not changing how the core gameplay works) such as F-Zero and the Need For Speed series that continually shifts its focus, meaning the older games usually still hold up reasonably well, but even there the progressions in opponent racer AI has made newer games provide a much harder challenge. Even my favourite racing series Wipeout doesn’t hold up well when compared across the years, with Wipeout HD Fury being the must own Wipeout game for any fan of the series, only a sense of nostalgia means I go back to play earlier iterations, a newcomer wouldn’t touch these games when the latest offering is the best in the series.

This is what Wipeout has now become!

Shooters too evolved on the consoles first with fully 3D graphics but it wasn’t until the twin stick configuration came to be where they really took off, without a second stick or the popular configuration of keyboard and mouse many were used too FPS’ on consoles were never the biggest releases, up until Rare’s Goldeneye and Perfect Dark games were released. However these games are now severely outdated, the revival of Perfect Dark on XBLA in its intended high resolution, with twin stick support brought a classic into a new generation and really showed off its gameplay potential; playing this alongside the original with an N64 pad shows just how confusing and cumbersome it is for anybody playing for the first time, the same problem plagues the immortally popular Goldeneye when playing it for the firs time too, lets hope the wii remake does a good job of keeping the essence but updating the gameplay. Many retro shooters suffer mostly from poor AI but as the genre has moved on rapidly its main mechanics have also changed leaving them even further in the dust and segregating them from those who don’t have an urge to revisit old games or gaming history.

Why should any young gamer, the gamers who will eventually go on to define how gamers are perceived by the wider public, what incentive do they have to rediscover the classic games of the past when so many games that are coming out in the here and now have changed how we play games completely? Im sure in a generation or twos time, when motion control is the norm, the games of today will seem incredibly outdated as well. There are, at least, some titles that are still must play games for anybody (such as Abes Oddysee, Exodus and the original Sonic the Hedgehogs); regardless of nostalgia coming into play they are classics that even today are still blindingly brilliant, complex and immensely fun to play. In the end is it just our own nostalgia thats clouding the view of how good retro games really are, should we hold it against those gamers who are yet to experience the games of yesteryear and should be ridicule a developer or publisher if a new game doesn’t live up to the feelings and emotions we felt of its retro predecessor?

Should an online multiplayer option be necessary in video games?

Platinum Games don’t think so. Do you agree?

During and after E3, masses of information, previews, video’s and articles were born as a wealth of great titles were played, displayed and scanned by masses of excited game journalists.

If you read my previous article (if not, then please do, and if you have, then I really really like you), you will know my must buy games list has painfully increased. But there is one particular title in my top 5 most wanted list (man, how many lists do I have!) that really grabbed me, and that’s Vanquish from Platinum Games.

Platinum Games is a young but very experienced game development company mostly consisting of former Capcom Clover Studio employees and the genius minds behind Okami (PS2), Viewtiful Joe (PS2), God Hand (PS2), Ace Attorney, Dino Crisis, the original Devil May Cry and Resident Evil titles.

They have so far released titles like Infinite Space (DS), Madworld (Wii), Bayonetta (PS3/Xbox360), and are now on the tail end of completing Vanquish for the PS3/Xbox360.

Vanquish is a futuristic fast paced third person action shooter, which drops the player into combat situation after combat situation, whilst providing you with a myriad of gameplay options to mix and combine during fire-fights.

In a nutshell, the title allows players to use cover, pickup a number of gun and grenade types (via an emulator device), enter a bullet time effect to take out hard targets (also while rolling), and power slide around the battlefield to gain tactical advantage. At the centre of all these abilities is the main characters battle suit which controls the rolling, power slide and bullet time features whilst also being prone to overheating (temporarily forbidding use of those features until cool off).

But even with the promise of a robust and fast paced single player campaign, the one particular point that impacted me the most was the lack of multiplayer support. There is no confirmed word regarding offline multiplayer (not looking very likely though), but the developers have taken a decision to not include an online multiplayer option when the title ships later this year.

The reason for this decision is that Platinum did not feel they could include all of the cool game mechanics used in the single player campaign into a multiplayer version, thus not doing the experience justice.

Now this is not a first, I mean there are many other titles that do not offer a direct online multiplayer option. Prince of Persia 2008 (Next gen), Assassins Creed 2, Heavy Rain, God of War 3, are all examples of this.

But is this acceptable in the gaming world of today?

What do you think?

In my personal opinion, I think this is completely acceptable, but it needs to be done for the right reasons.

After all, this is a very important game design choice which helps to shape the style and ultimately the final delivery of the game itself. Platinum Games obviously chose to give the single player element priority in order to try and deliver a stellar campaign instead of dispersing their efforts and risking the games overall quality.

Judging by Platinum’s wealth of experience and success, I am likely to support this decision.

As gamers, we want to buy a quality experience.

Would you prefer more content of average quality, or rather, less content but a higher quality product?

(Man, that’s another article in the making)

Hopefully, the freedom to use multiple mechanics during actual gameplay will allow Vanquish to remain a fresh experience throughout, allowing each individual player to progress with his own approach and preferences.

Now, we have seen this type of game design before, with extreme success.

Quantic Dreams released Heavy Rain earlier this year with mass success both critically and commercially, their priority was the story. The control scheme also contributed to an immersive and emotional experience.

Sony Santa Monica gave us God of War 3, and even though the campaign was not a 15 hour journey, the standard of quality, particularly in the presentation dept argues the point that 8 to 10 hours of high quality and varying gameplay is just as important as a multiplayer based title with a 5 to 8 hour campaign.

Ubisoft Montreal’s Assassins Creed 2 provided a 15 to 20 hour story, with easily another 10+ hours of collectables, side missions, trophies, etc. The key was the use of the open world setting with the freedom aspect as priority. The presentation was the cherry on the cake.

Prince of Persia 2008 (again Ubisoft Montreal) provided a decent length game (approx 12/15 hours, I think) and an outstanding graphically unique experience with great sound and a decent story. But the title still lacked the success of the above 3 (though not by much) due to many gamers stating the gameplay was ‘too repetitive’.

Multiplayer is a way for gamers to not only interact and socialise (both friendly and competitively) but to also get more game time and bang for their buck.

Should a title with no multiplayer option (online or offline) be released for £30 instead of £40?

Or should an industry standard be set that a non multiplayer title must offer at least 15 hours of campaign time,  thus forcing developers to provide free dlc shortly after release if they give anything less (giving us more content for our hard earned cash).

This is one subject every gamer has a say to.

To check out more on Vanquish – http://platinumgames.com/category/games/vanquish/

These were just my thoughts, my opinion, what’s yours?

Forever and ever, JustaGamer.

E3 has come and gone, and wowzers, what an E3 it was! I think this E3 had the most hype (and definitely hopes) ever. And why not?!

E3 is not only the most anticipated show of the year in terms of new gaming technology coming to our homes, but also the chance for practically every game company (developer & publisher alike) to flex their muscles and show us why we should be buying their release titles this Christmas period.

As if the first real in depth showing of Sony & Microsoft’s motion controls wasn’t enough, titles like Rage, Castlevania: Lord of Shadows, Metal Gear Solid: Rising, Medal of Honor, Cod7: Black Ops, Crysis 2, and so many other AAA, AA, A*, A-, A+ titles showed us why this holiday period is just as important as any other of the past.

And trust me, topping last year is going to take some really serious releases to beat.

I still haven’t quite got over that one. Remember, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Assassins Creed 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, CoD: Modern Warfare 2, the list went on. Wait, I got to add one more……….. Fifa10.

OK, I said it, I feel better now, phew!

Going into E3, PS Move and Natal, uhhh, sorry, Kinect were top of my most anticipated list, but I’ve come out with a very long (and expensive) line up of games that I just must play. I won’t go into too much detail on each game as the Gamers Hub is full of great articles dripping with info and previews from E3.

Yes, I’m telling you to Check em out!     nudge nudge wink wink

Where was I?

Oh yeah, I’m going to list some of the crazily impressive titles from E3 that have jumped onto my super duper lightning fast quick hit list, please bear with this  –

I will take a Journey to an Echochrome (2) through the Portal (2) of Castlevania (Lords of Shadow) and into Dead Space (2), where I will become Infamous (2) in a show of Rage to save my Brotherhood (Assassins Creed) in the Call of Duty (7 – Black Ops) and earn the Medal of Honor.

If I fail, they will Vanquish me to Gran Turismo (5) on the LittleBigPlanet (2) where a Motorstorm Apocolypse of Crysis (2) is Rising (MGS) through Twisted Metal, and I’ll know it is time to face Mortal Kombat whilst on the Brink of F3AR in order to release my Force Unleashed (2 – Star Wars).

OK, I give up.

I think it made some sense. I purposely left motion related titles, no really, honest.

This is just my quick hit list from memory but there will be other titles to add as we go further to the end of the year, and yes, I think I am heading for bankruptcy

What are you polishing your controllers to play at the end of this year?

Will you buy Kinect or Move? I want both.

Thank you for reading, JustaGamer.

Ever since the beginning of this hardware generation, there’ve been near infinite topics to argue about. One that’s been a constant though, is the existence of Trophies/Achievements. It has been said by gamers and industry pros alike that trophies cheapen the product; that games should

be good enough for someone to want to finish the game without looking for an “Achievement Unlocked” notification the whole time. Nintendo, of course, believes that this play/reward concept is something that they’ve been doing since their first home console, and that their games don’t need a trophy system to keep people playing; I might agree with that. But in all honesty, I don’t. There’s a factor that I think Nintendo, and others, have missed. Do I feel good about myself every time I get a trophy? Yes. But that is not why I play games. This becomes increasingly more evident to me when I play Super Mario Galaxy 2; I beat the game within 2 days of getting it. I didn’t need a little chime to let me know I was doing well.

Back in the 90’s, when I was a kid, I would buy games, beat them, and then friends would come over and see the game on my shelf. Said friend would ask if I beat that game and we would talk about how great, or not so great, that game was. We would talk about how hard it was to find this item or that boss. That doesn’t happen anymore though. 90% of my PSN friends are people that I have never met in person. They don’t come over to my house and have discussions with me. The same thing applies to arcades. I used to go play Street Fighter 2 and Time Crisis at a local arcade and a big part of that was being able to talk about it with friends and, ultimately, let them know that I’m better than them.

That, my friends, is where trophies come in. My friend in Toronto can go to my profile and compare our trophies, notice that I got a platinum trophy in “Game X”, then send me a message asking how I got “Trophy Y”. I think that’s where achievements systems shine; they recreate the 90’s arcade/home console environment in an age of connectivity; one where people do not go to friends’ houses or arcades. These systems are an extension of what used to be gaming’s biggest draw, socialization. I think there’s something to be said for a game’s quality speaking for itself, but trophies definitely fill a much needed void in our current gaming environment.