Gamefreakblog visits Gamecity nights: Oddworld special event.

Hey guys, this is just a quick post really. I'm just trying to find something to do while the royal wedding is happening. After you have had several cups of tea, a breakfast bap and a wank there's nothing else to do than watch the fucking thing, so i'm going to do a wee write up about Gamecity nights, the brilliant gaming even held in Nottingham. It's held regularly, but this is the first one that I attended, pretty shocking really as I live 10 minutes down the road, but i'll become a regular attendee if the quality is as high as it was last night.

There were some independent developers showing off their wares, which looked pretty cool and should be released on the Xbox live Indy games channel this year. However, the real reason I attended was to find out more details on what's happening with the Oddworld franchise.

First up was an interview with Stewart Gilray, managing director of Just add water, devs of the new Oddworld remakes. He gave us an insight into his career, the perils and pitfalls of game development and some words of advice for budding developers out there. The advice was essentially be passionate, work your socks off and don't spend your time making a 1,000,000 polygon model of Lara Croft's tits for your CV.

Next up was a video conference call with Oddworld's god, Lorne Lanning, the creator of everything Oddworld. He was funny, intelligent and devilishly handsome, kind of like a cross between Jesus and David Ginola. He told us about creating the games, his visions of where gaming is going, with prods to him embracing the social media aspects of gaming. I have some footage that I took, so i'll pop it up onto the Gamefreakblog Youtube channel for you to digest. He was very entertaining, and worth going just to hear his thoughts.

Stewart from JAW took to the stage again, and detailed what was in store for PS3 Oddworld fans this year. Firstly, the HD remake of Strangers Wrath has been postponed for a few months. No biggy, as it looks amazing. Stewart showed us some of the updated character models from the game and they looked brilliant. Stranger in the first game was composed from around 3,000 polys on the Xbox, this time he's around 16,ooo. This was also the same for the various enemies and creatures in the game. It has Playstation move support, and as if to one-up that little exciting piece he also confirmed that Stranger will have Youtube support too, so you can upload gameplay direct to Youtube....no more capture cards for you. Stewart also confirmed, thanks to a slip up from Lorne, that they are also working on an HD remake of Abe's Oddysee! YIPPEE! Munch's oddysee is also on the way, and a boxed set, called Oddbox, will be released later this year, featuring the first two Oddworld games, Munch's Oddysee and Stranger's Wrath, which is great for fans of the series. They are also looking at "The hand of Odd", a game that was cancelled around the time of Munch's oddysee. It would be wrong to call it an RTS, but it's not a game like Oddworld. Hopefully more details will be released soon, and I was privileged that Stewart showed me the actual original documents from Lorne Lanning that detailed the game and all the other aspects of Oddworld. It was fucking huge, bigger than a telephone book and infinately more cool!

I bailed from the event after this, as competitions and stuff like that aren't really my thing, but it was a great event. I have a teeth-gnashing bit of secret information that I managed to piece together from chatting to all and sundry at the event, being the nice guy I am however i'm not going to mention it. I want to shout it from the rooftops, as it's big. It was going to be announced last night, but because of what's happening with the Playstation network the news had to be called "Feature X". After going all out like an ugly version of Jason Bourne I know what feature "X" is, and it's massive news for the Playstation network....you just wait. Anyway, i'll talk about this later, i'm off to fix my sauna.

If you can get to any future Gamecity nights events i'd recommend that you do so. Next month there is a visit from TT games Jonathan Smith where he will talk about all things Lego, and the UK's first look at the fantastic NES-like homage to GTA, Retro city Rampage.

I'll see you all there!

(and just because I love you so much, here's a short clip of Lorne Lanning doing some impersonations of the characters from the Oddworld games)




Pop along here to visit the website of Just add Water.

Inside Xbox: Featured Video: Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation Zombie M...

George Romero? Sarah-Michelle Gellar? Danny Trejo? In a Call of Duty game?

Count me in!

Sony release official PSN Q&A

Sony have recently announced that your personal details, including credit card information, may have been compromised during that attack on PSN.

If you haven't already shat yourself and deleted everything from your hard drive then this is the official press release just released from Sony, giving you some more details on what's happened and what you can do about it.

The following is a quote from Sony;

Q.1 When did you realise the system had been intruded?

We discovered between April 17 and April 19 there was an illegal and unauthorized intrusion into our network.

Q.2 How did you know that the system was intruded?

We watch for any issues that may be raised with respect to security and monitor for such issues both internally and externally.

Q.3 What is the main reason to this problem? Which parts of the system were vulnerable to the intrusion?

We are currently conducting a thorough investigation of the situation. Since this is an overall security related issue, we will not comment further on this case.

Q.4 What action did you take (are you taking)? Is there any possibility of further unauthorized access?

As soon as we learned of this issue, 1) we temporarily turned off PlayStation Network and Qriocity services in order to conduct a thorough investigation and to verify the smooth and secure operation of our network services, 2) we have also engaged an outside, recognized security firm to conduct a full and complete investigation into what happened, and 3) quickly taken steps to enhance security and strengthen our network infrastructure by re-building our system to provide you with greater protection of your personal information.

Q.5 How many were affected? How many per each region? What is the latest status of PlayStation Network registered account/ operating countries.

Our investigation indicates that all PlayStation Network/ Qriocity accounts may have been affected.

Q.6 Does that mean all users' information was compromised? Tell us more in details of what personal information leaked.

In terms of possibility, yes. We believe that an unauthorized person has obtained the following information that you provided: name, address (city, state/province, zip or postal code), country, email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password, login, password security answers, and handle/PSN online ID. It is also possible that your profile data may have been obtained, including purchase history and billing address (city, state/province, zip or postal code). If you have authorized a sub-account for your dependent, the same data with respect to your dependent may have been obtained. If you have provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, it is possible that your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may also have been obtained.

Q.7 Have you notified those users?

We are sending out e-mails directly to these users to their e-mail address registered on the PS Network accounts. Also, we have posted web notices, and additional necessary procedures have been followed by each region.

Q.8 Have you received reports or claims that their PSN ID information/ credit card had been used improperly?

Not at this point in time.

Q.9 I want to know if my account has been affected.

To protect against possible identity theft or other financial loss, we encourage you to remain vigilant to review your account statements and to monitor your credit reports. Additionally, if you use the same user name or password for your PlayStation Network or Qriocity service account for other unrelated services or accounts, we strongly recommend that you change them. When the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services are back on line, we also strongly recommend that you log on to change your password.
For your security, we encourage you to be especially aware of email, telephone, postal mail or other scams that ask for personal or sensitive information. Sony will not contact you in any way, including by email, asking for your credit card number, social security number or other personally identifiable information. If you are asked for this information, you can be confident Sony is not the entity asking.

Q.10 What should I do to prevent any unauthorized use of my (credit card) personal information?

For your security, we encourage you to be especially aware of email, telephone, postal mail or other scams that ask for personal or sensitive information. Sony will not contact you in any way, including by email, asking for your credit card number, social security number or other personally identifiable information. If you are asked for this information, you can be confident Sony is not the entity asking. Additionally, if you use the same user name or password for your PlayStation Network or Qriocity service account for other unrelated services or accounts, we strongly recommend that you change them. When the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services are back on line, we also strongly recommend that you log on to change your password.
To protect against possible identity theft or other financial loss, we encourage you to remain vigilant to review your account statements and to monitor your credit reports.

Q.11 Since when have PSN/Qriocity become unavailable and in which region?

PSN/Qriocity services have not been available since April 20 (US time) in all regions.

Q.12 How come it is taking so much time to resume the service?

We are taking the investigation seriously. We decided to keep the service down to allow us to conduct a thorough investigation and verify smooth operation of our network services.

Q.13 How serious is this? Have the hackers broken the security on PSN/Qriocity? Are you taking necessary measures to prevent such outage happening in the future?

Since this is an overall security related issue, we will not comment further on this case but we are working to restore and maintain the services, including countermeasures against future intrusions.

Q.14 When will the service resume?

We are taking the investigation seriously. We will keep the service down to allow us to conduct a thorough investigation and verify smooth operation of our network services but are working hard to resume the services as soon as we can be reasonably assured security concerns are addressed.

Q.15 Seems like SOE service was also not available/ suffering outage. Is this true? Is this due to the same reason as the PSN/Qriocity outage?

SOE's service is available although a service interruption due to an external attack did occur. A thorough investigation is ongoing.

Q.16 I want my money back (subscription fee, content) since the PSN/Qriocity was not available.

When the full services are restored and the length of the outage is known, we will assess the correct course of action.

Q.17 There seems to be some games that cannot be played even offline?

Depending on the game titles, but mainly PSN games, some may require access to PSN for trophy sync, security check, etc.

Contact Details
Country Customer Support
Africa sonycustomercare.mea@ap.sony.com
Australia 1-300 365-911
Austria 0820 44 45 40
Belgium 011 516 406
Bulgaria support@sbhbg.com
Croatia playstation.hr@arsvenatus.hr
Cyprus 22352282
Czech Republic 222 864 199
Denmark 90137013
Estonia 6543484
Finland 600411911
France 0820 31 32 33
Germany 01805 766 977
Greece 801 11 92000
Hungary 1 814 4800
Iceland 591- 5100
India 1800-103-7799
Ireland 0818 365065
Israel 09-9711700
Italy 199 116 266
Latvia 67046049
Lithuania 37338655
Luxembourg 0820 31 32 33
Malta 234 360 00
Middle East - All sonycustomercare.mea@ap.sony.com
Netherlands 0495 574 817
New Zealand 09 415 2447
Norway 82068322
Poland 0 801 230 000
Portugal 707 23 23 10
Romania support@sbhbg.com
Russia 8-800-200-76-67
Slovakia 232 112 209
Slovenia 1 510 31 30
South Africa 0861 773783
Spain 902 102 102
Sweden 9002033075
Switzerland 0848 84 00 85
Turkey bilgi@eu.sony.com
UK 0844 736 0595

New PSN outage rumours.....

Well, at least we can call ourselves veterans.....we will be able to look back at this moment in time in a few years and say..."yep....I was there....the great war of PSN 2011". We should get medals made up!

Yes, as of this moment the Playstation network is STILL down. Six days and counting. I'd imagine it's the longest some people have gone without scratching their online gaming itch. Well, if anything it's a good enough reason to own multiple consoles...but if not, well, it's not all doom and gloom. Are you telling me you have finished all of your games in single player? On all difficulties? Meh, I bet you're lying.

Get used to it, because there is no sign that PSN is going to be back online any time soon.

In a statement made today, Sony's Patrick Seybold states "I know you are waiting for additional information on when Playstation network and Qriocity services will be online. Unfortunately, I don't have an update or timeframe to share at this point in time"

So...no news there then. Could be a few days, it could be another week.

The rumour mill is still flying into overtime. Sony is saying that it's down to those pesky Hackers, but other such rumours are doing the rounds. Latest, emailed to me by a reader, has maybe a slight ring of truth about it, but it also smalls a little like bullshit.

Check out this first link!

Basically, it looks like a custom firmware to enable the user developer status on the Playstation network. Now it seems believable enough that Sony would want to stop this happening, but the bullshit alarm starts to go off when it's suggested that this hack will allow the user free reign to download whatever they want from PSN. I doubt, but i'm no expert, that Sony would allow devs access to make purchases from the Playstation network. I could be totally wrong, but if any of you have any news to back up this claim please let me know. This second link i've been sent seems to back this line of thought up.

Look at it here!

Hhmmmmmm.......as I say, these are RUMOURS. RUMOURS! NOT MY PERSONAL OUTLOOK......RUMOURS. I'm not posting them for the sake of getting hits. I'm posting them because maybe, somewhere in all of the bollocks floating around the net, there is a small grain of possible truth in there....somewhere.

I really don't know what to think. The rumours are flying around like a typical tabloid paper, Sony are being suspiciously quiet, and more importatantly PSN is still down. If it's down because Sony are upping their security to make sure peoples card details are safe, more power to them.

Again, i'll update this post as I hear more news. By all means if you have any details, feel free to comment on this post or email me at therealgamefreakblog@gmail.com with any further details.

While it's down, just take out some time to...well...you know....DO OTHER THINGS! Have you really completed all of those single player games?

Sources: Computerandvideogames

*EDIT*

Reader cleft palate has written a follow up article to his thoughts on the Playstation network going down which I linked to yesterday. You can check out HIS PERSONAL VIEW, HIS OWN THOUGHTS right about here.

*EDIT*

Breaking news. Sony have just issued a statement that says essentially, while there is no 100% concrete evidence, all of your personal info may have been obtained. PSN ID, address, what country you are in, PSN purchase history and more importantly, credit card information.

Full statement just here!

This is potentially huge. I'd recommend cancelling those credit cards people.

Wii 2 is confirmed.

Thank fuck for that......

After over a week of pointless "rumours" about the Wii 2, Nintendo has finally announced that the console IS indeed happening.

Will it be HD? What will Zelda look like? Does it have a screen in the controller? Will it butter my toast? How powerful is it? How powerful isn't it? How much RAM? How much will it cost? All kinds of questions have been flying around the interweb, all with about as much point as a blunt pencil. I'm all one for basically thinking what the console will be like, but the amount of speculation that's been doing the rounds about the "Wii HD" as it's been dubbed has been stupid.

Anyway, as reported by AFP this morning, it's happening.

It'll be shown off to a huge fanfare at E3 this year, so in a little over a month, and it's due for release in 2012.

That's all you need to know.

So can we at least wait until we see the thing at E3 until we start fruitlessly masturbating over the fucking thing?

(Trust me, if there is a super HD version of Starfox, i'll be the first to pull my boxers down and start tugging...i'll.....AAARRRGGGHHHH.......I'M SPECULATING!!!!)

*blows brains out*

It's around about 99 hours and counting....

...that the Playstation network has been down. Unless you have your head buried in the sand, or you just don't play video games, you can't have missed that Sony are having a few "challenges" at the moment.

Last week, the Playstation network went down, and was at first thought to be scheduled maintenance on the service. After still being down for a couple of days, people started to ask questions...."is it Skynet?"....."maybe it's hackers?"...."maybe the people of Japan are still struggling after the tens of thousands that died in the Tsunami, and the countries infrastructure, while still in tatters, is taking a while to get back to normal operation levels....maybe that's why PSN is down?".

Regardless, Sony has finally announced that it indeed has been hacked. Who? Where? Why?...are the questions on peoples minds. Gamefreakblog reader cleft Palate has his ideas about why this happened, so pop along and check out what he has to say on his blog.

As with all of my reader contributions.....HIS THOUGHTS AND WORDS ARE HIS OWN OPINION. YOU HEARD, IT'S HIS OPINION. NOT MINE, NOT YOURS.....HIS WORDS!

You can find it right about here!!!


Your thoughts, as always, are appreciated.

*EDIT* I'm going all out to confirm this from a source, but i've just heard this;

"In case anyone was wondering, PSN HAS NOT be shut off due to an attack from anonymous.

What really happened was a custom firmware was released last week that allowed people to basically pirate games, add-on content, etc. from PSN. Once Sony caught wind of this, they shut the system down, and are now rebuilding with a new master key.

Still, the way they are handling it is a bit silly, but then again, it is a free service. They don't owe the majority of you anything."

As soon as I get any news, i'll add it to this post.

*EDIT* Some more details have come to light, regarding custom firmware and credit card details. Check out this link for some more details. I've fired off several emails now seeking details on some of the points raised. As always, as soon as I hear anything i'll post it back up here. Looks like certain concerns have been raised about the way Sony encrypts the data regarding your credit cards.


Look here for the updated news. -s

Gamefreakblog Call of duty: Black ops game no.3 Average somehow plays ok...

Just another quick post, another slice of average Call of duty gameplay. This was me earlier playing domination, which all in all I didn't do too bad in.

Well, at least I didn't say cunt in this video.

Have a great Easter people!

A look at the Gears of War 3 beta (now with added profanity)

*WARNING. THE FOLLOWING VIDEO CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE, INCLUDING A NOT SO NICE REFERENCE TO A LADIES PART*

Hey guys, Tony here, yet again bringing you another video, this time its a quick peek at the Gears of War 3 beta.

You may be already playing this if you kept your copy of Bulletstorm, or managed to blag a code from Twitter.....or indeed by performing sexual favours for someone. If, however, you pre-ordered the game your code isn't valid for a good few days yet, so here's a quick look at what you'll get in the beta.

Firstly, you WILL be playing this a whole lot. Not just because of the quality of the game, but because their are various unlockables that can be carried into the full game. Some of these are just flaming versions of the weapons, you get an outfit for Cole after playing something like 100 matches, there are weapon specific unlocks and you get a medal that you can only pick up from playing a game on the beta.....so get playing! It's nice that they have included these, it's a great touch. You can also unlock different characters for the maps by racking up games, such as unlocking Anya for playing 10 games of the beta.

The maps themselves are great. The one I'm showing you here is called "Thrashball", which is set in a derelict Thrashball court. It's quite a symmetrical level, with the open play field littered with walls, and spectator areas at each side, with tunnels and chambers linking them up. Spawn points are at each end of the pitch, which as you'll see in the video hold up a team in there and it could spell a whole heap of trouble. Above the pitch is a scoreboard, which you can shoot the ropes off, sending it crashing to the floor, and basically leaving anyone found underneath it a nice bloody, meaty stain on the floor.

Graphically it's a not leaps and bounds above Gears 2, but that says more about the quality of the graphics in the second game than a criticism of this one. Textures are clearer and more varied, it seems to have a bit more ooomph to it framerate wise, but slap the sound effects and voices in there and it does seem like an improvement.

Anyway, i'm waffling enough. Have a look at the video. Excuse the moments of silence as i'm playing, I kept forgetting I was doing a live commentary because I was getting into the game so much. It's full of foul language as well, which although I don't apologise for, could upset and little ones, old people and Christians, so be warned.



Pretty cool game eh? I'll get another video recorded today of the second map in the beta, the claustrophobic shopping fest "Checkout", which should get you fully prepared for playing if you're still waiting to get into the beta.

Please feel free to chat about the game, or drop me your Gamertag if you fancy like hooking up over the period that the beta is running. The beta is scheduled to end on May 5-15, or somewhere in between. I've heard the fifth, but some people online reckon it's the 15th.

Whatever the end is, get in on the beta. It's Gears through and through....loud, brash, violent and oh lordy, so much fun!

(and if the guy who I called a c**t is reading this.....I love you really)

Gears of War 3 is due for release on September 20th, 2011.

Gamefreak revisits Star Wars Battlefront2 (Xbox)

Hey guys, Tony from Gamefreakblog here, once again bringing you another episode in the "Gamefreak revisits" series. Today, i'm having a quick look at Star Wars Battlefront 2, the epic space battle game developed by the now sadly defunct Pandemic studios.

The game was released in 2005, hot on the heels of the new Star Wars movies, and a little under a year since the first game in the series. It took what was established in the hugely selling first game and added a load more options, all in all your typical sequel. However, some of the changes it made were leaps and bounds over what was offered in the original battlefield game.

Firstly there was a new campaign mode, which saw you play through the various levels as a clone from the 501st legion, following this veteran test tube warrior through the battles of the new Star Wars films, all the way through to donning the classic Stormtrooper armour as the new empire rose to power. So we get to play levels from Geonosis, which hosts the game's training mission, through to levels such as the cloning facility on Kamino, all the way to battles on Yavin and Hoth from the original trilogy. In certain levels, killing enough of the enemy and taking swift control of the battlefield saw one of the more famous characters from the films unlocked, and you got to run around the battlefield as Obi-wan, Anakin, Mace, or indeed the villans such as Darth Vader etc, slaying anything that moves and sticking that laser sword where you'll never get a suntan!

There was also a mode called "galactic conquest", which was almost like an interplanetary game of risk. You had to fight over various star systems, which when contested you fought a usual battle over, victory seeing you open up various characters and bonus options to carry over into further fights. Both this and the campaign mode added some much needed beef to what was a fairly weak campaign in the first game.

Online modes were further added to, the better part of which were the newly added space battles. Now, you could start off on your armies ship, fly out into the shooty-laser-death place that is outer space, and after blowing several shades of space crap out of the enemy you could then land in their ship and fight in there. It was a fantastic feeling to be able to free-fly around like this, and it really added to the "feeling" of being in the Star Wars films.

Anyway, i'm not going to prattle on too much longer. It was a bloody ace game, and i'm sure you have all played it. If not, it's really worth tracking down a copy. You won't be able to play online, as the servers have now died (and please excuse my mistake in the video....I was told by a few people before playing the game that the servers have only just died....from looking around it was this time LAST YEAR that they were turned off.....my informants have now been disintegrated). It's still highly playable campaign mode is a joy, and you can play against each other via split screen. It's just a shame that there are no other SW Battlefront games in the pipeline, as just from sales alone you can see that they are popular. Out of all the remakes and usual bollocks Lucasfilm churns out, you would have thought they would have snapped up Pandemic and got them working on a new game. Fuck, George Lucas could probably fund it from what change he's dropped down the back of his sofa!

Anyhoo.....sit back, and watch me play through the training mission, which, lo and behold, is set on Geonosis.




Ah, brings back the memories. By all means, if you want to see any more of the game, just drop me a comment on here, on twitter or the youtube channel. If you missed my thoughts on the other Star Wars games i've looked at, look here for SW Republic Commando and fly on over here for my peek at Lego Star Wars 3.

And just to make you cry even more, look down below for a sneak peek at what Star Wars Battlefront 3 would have looked like before it was canned. I'll never forgive Lucasarts for canning this.....



So there you go. Star Wars Battlefront 2. One fantastic game....

Your thoughts, as always, are appreciated.

Star Wars Battlefield 2 is availble on PS2, PC, Xbox and PSP.

Gamefreak revisits Star Wars Republic Commando

Finally...FINALLY.....I've uploaded the videos.

Hey guys, Tony here, bringing you another game in the series "Gamefreak revisits". This time, i'm looking at the horrifically overlooked game Star Wars Republic Commando.

The game was released in 2005, and follows the exploits of a 4-man squad of specially trained Clone trooper commandos as they run around taking part in battles that act as a bridge between Star Wars: Episode 2 and 3, so we see out heroes start off at Geonosis and fight all the way through to the invasion of the Wookie planet, Kashyyyk.

The game itself played like an almost Rainbow Six "lite", as in you gave out basic squad orders, such as splice a computer, blow up a door or a wall etc by simply pointing at a location and pressing the A button. You could also dish out damage to the enemy by ordering the troops to concentrate their fire on the stronger bad guys. It didn't get as technical as Rainbow Six, so there are no sliding cameras under doors or anything like that, just a feeling that the troops were highly trained and not just cannon fodder like ordinary Clone Troopers.

I don't really know why the game isn't talked about more. I think it's down to the fact that it doesn't involve Jedi, or big bad Sith or anything like that, it's just straight up Clone on bad guy action. There are boss fights including mechs and other such enemies, and it was the first real chance to look at the Wookies and General Grievous in their Episode 3 settings. It's not the greatest first person shooter ever made, or indeed the best Star Wars game, but taking all the ingredients and mixing them all together made for a game that whilst simplistic, is fairly long, very tough in places and all in all one of the best games to use the Star Wars license!

So take a look at my videos below. I've had to split them into two parts as the video was too bloody long for Youtube.




And here's part two for ya!





So there you are guys, my take on Star Wars Republic Commando. It's a great game, one of the best in the Star Wars gaming history if you ask me.

WHat do you think? Did you play it? Love it? Hate it??

Your thoughts, as always, are appreciated.

I'm still here......

Sorry about the lack of updates over the last few days you guys, i've just been spending some quality time with mother nature. When the weather is nice, the sun is shining and life is breezy occasionally.....VERY occasionally gaming takes a back seat. I'll be back with a vengeance this week however.

Coming up on gamefreakblog will be a veritable cornucopia of gaming goodness. I'll be looking at the Gears of War 3 beta, looking back at some old games, including a double whammy of Star Wars goodness, more Call of duty average gamer footage, a couple of requests in the form of some Mass Effect 2 missions and some reader requests, some of which i'm not looking forward to at all.

Remember, this is YOUR blog just as much as it's mine.....I can't do anything without you lovely people reading my ramblings, so please keep the requests coming. If you want to hear my take on a certain game, let me know and i'll do a review (system permitting). Check out the vids on Youtube, and by all means if you have a channel let me know and i'll give you a shout out.

So remember to tune in tomorrow for the skinny on the Gears 3 beta and the first "Gamefreak revisits" of this week.

Your thoughts, as always, are appreciated.

Battlefield 3 - 12 Minutes of Gameplay Footage Trailer [HD]

Here is the new Battlefield 3 12-minute trailer.

Nuff said.

Section 8 Prejudice multiplayer gameplay HD

This looks amazing. Again, my finger is so far off the pulse with games like this it may as well be up my arse!

Apparently it's a sequel to a game i've never heard of....some of you may remember it. Apparently it was of no great shakes. This however, looks amazing.....like a cross between Halo, Crackdown and Battlefield.

It's release date is set for April 20th, as in just under a week. It's coming to Xbox live for the price of $14.99.....so around 1200msp. It'll also see a release on PC on May 4th.

I'm quite excited. It looks brilliant. Hard to believe it's an XBLA title.

Your thoughts, as always, are appreciated.

Outland Trailer

Wow....this came in under the radar.

Ubisoft's latest platformer, Outland, will see a release on April 26th on PSX, and a day later, that's the 27th for you thickos, on XBLA. It look stunning, and I for one am VERY interested.

What do you think? Looking good?

Your thoughts, as always, are appreciated.

Resistance 3 - Boat Level Gameplay

I didn't really get on with the first Resistance game....still haven't finished it, and I don't think I will. Never played the second, and here's a peek at the third game in Insomniac's sci-fi trilogy.

It starts off looking like Turok on the N64...but then gets better. The Goliath looks inpressive, but on the whole well....the level is a little formulaic.

I'm still not convinced, but hey, i'm willing to hold out for some more news.


Resistance 3 is scheduled for release on September 6th, 2011 on the Playstation 3.

Lego Star Wars 3: The Clone wars review.

The Star Wars cash cow keeps on rolling in, as the latest in Telltale Games Lego themed franchise rolls in. Set in the period of the Clone wars, we see out heroes Obi-Wan, Anakin, Yoda and a variety of other characters as they fight Count Dooku and his armies across the galaxy. The Lego Star Wars games have gained a following with both young and old gamers, so let's jump in and see how this new games sizes up.

The Story:

War has arrived in the galaxy, and our heroes must attempt to stop Count Dooku, Asajj Ventress and General Grievous getting other planets on their side. Fought over various planets, Obi-Wan and Anakin must take out various ships, bases and try to get other systems on their side and smash the rise of the Empire.

What I liked:

Well, firstly of course, I was looking forward to some more of Telltale Game's trademark sense of humour and parody, and the game doesn't disappoint. Right from the opening section played out in the arena on Geonosis you'll play the game with a smile on your face, if it's the creatures passing out ice creams in the arena, taking pictures, to Battle droids pretending to be troopers by popping on one of their helmets. You can tell that everyone involved in the game has a love for Star Wars.....only great fans can really take the piss properly (See SW Robot Chicken for proof of that). The gams itself is just like the others, running around levels, solving puzzles and collecting shed loads of studs to unlock vehicles, characters and other goodies. Controls are simple, A to jump, X to attack, Y to swap characters and trigger for force powers. Some of the puzzles have really been ramped up for this game, especially the boss battles, many of which will see you have to constantly swap between characters to take advantage of their unique abilities. Most of the characters now have context sensitive moves, which when performed up close will see Anakin, for example, slice the arms off battle droids before kicking them away. Lots of the little lightsaber battles are very well done, with lots of little parries and twists that make them a joy to behold. The graphics on the whole are a step above the previous Lego games, with some battles featuring literally hundreds of little Lego characters fighting on screen with no slow down whatsoever. Levels vary, so you could be on land one minute, romping across a battle ground, to some large space battles where you have to take down cruisers or repair gun batteries. These space battles are brilliant, as after flying around blowing shit up for a while you'll then get to land on a ship to take it out from the inside, so you go from flying around to landing your ship and jumping out to fight with no cut in the action.....impressive. A new addition, and with this being a game about huge battles it makes sense, is an almost mini real time strategy section. These levels see you take part in some huge, epic battles, where you have to construct bases such as barracks to get Clone troopers in on the action, massive laser cannons to help destroy some big tanks and other cannons, and vehicle stations so you can spawn all sorts of different walkers, tanks and speeders. You start with only a couple of bases against the huge base count of the enemy, and you have to overthrow their bases and take out a main objective. It's a great new addition, and in some cases these huge battles can be quite difficult, so they will take some real resource juggling to get through. Sound effects are, on the whole, fantastic as always, and playing the game through three different story paths, one for each of the main bad guys, gives you plenty of longevity, the game literally needs multiple play throughs for you to even stand a change of getting that "true Jedi" rating on each level

What I loathed:

Well, being set in the clone wars allows the game to fill in some of the back story of the characters, and on the whole it's enjoyable, but it's in no way like playing the original trilogy of the game. I'd rather play as Han, Chewie and fight with all the characters we already know and love, rather than some random Jedi characters and faceless clone troopers. The game on the whole is great, but once more getting the full compliment of studs in a level will mean playing it through at least twice to be able to unlock True Jedi, and when some of the levels can be very long it can get a bit boring. The huge RTS style levels are again, a welcome addition, but these take an age to get through, and in a certain section of the game you fight around three of these battles in a row....it's more of a stamina test then enjoyable. There is a shit load of game in this package, which Travellers tales should be commended on, I just can't see many gamers playing it through more than once.

The verdict:

The clone wars is a great addition to the Lego Star Wars game. It's fantastic looking, sounds great, it's actually very funny and hey....it's Star Wars. Some overly long battles, a few in a row in one case, can allow boredom to set in, and it's hard to give two shits about what happens to some of the characters, but a couple of niggles shouldn't put you off getting this game as soon as you can.

Rating: 7/10




Lego Star Wars: The Clone wars is available now.
Xbox 360 version reviewed. Available on most systems.

CAPCOM Lineup 2011/2012

Here are a few snippets of what Capcom will be dishing out in 2011/2012. Noticeable vids are Some more of the new Devil May Cry game, a peek at Steel Battalion and the awesome looking, bat-shit insane Asura's Wrath......that game in particular looks so crazy it could be the game of the year already!

What do you think? Excited about any of them? They all look pretty darn cool at the moment!

Your thoughts, as always, are appreciated.

The Call of Duty king reporting for duty........

You read that headline right......the Call of Duty master, the big cheese, le grande fromage, the beast of the east, the cunt of Monte Cristo, the alpha and omega of Call of Duty is here!!

Unfortunately, he's just popped to the shops for some ciggys, so you'll have to put up with me instead. And a little video i've made for your perusal.

I make no secret about the fact i'm quite average on the Call of Duty games. I rarely come first in a game, and I rarely appear at the bottom.....I kind of lurk around in the middle of the scoreboard, occupying the no-man's land between being a hopeless numbskull who can't get to grips with the basics of a controller and the twitchy-fingered, eagle-eyed player that could shoot a virtual cigarette out of your avatar's mouth from across the map....arseholes that they are.

I couldn't give two shits about my kill/death ratio....and people that do are the ones that put me off playing the game. They bleat on about it down their headsets, shouting about how they are on "X Kill death ratio blah blah fucking blah" like there is a virtual Jenna Jameson listening in on the conversation ready to give them a great big virtual suck of their microscopic cocks the higher that ratio was. No, I don't care. I don't even know where to look for my kill death ratio i'm that bothered about it. And I don't want to know, so PLEASE don't get in touch telling me where to find it, i'll just ignore you.

However, I have had a few of your friendly lot ask me to do a Call of Duty vid. Probably just so you can laugh at my complete lack of skills, but anyway, you take your time out to read what I have to say, so fuck it, i'll do it.

Down below you'll find my first recorded game on COD Black ops. I joined into the game with expectations of what may happen, and my instincts didn't let me down. What we have is the same as what thousands of players the world over experience on a daily basis.....being pretty average at the game. I talk more in the video, so I don't want to waffle on too much, but rest assured if it's excitement, a score of over 80+ kills and adoration at my skill that you're looking for, check out some of the other 192, 483, 038 Black Ops videos that are on youtube.

However, I give you my word. I'll take the plunge, get the wallet-crippling DLC for the game and upload videos on a weekly basis. You may see some improvement in my skills, but I doubt it.

So, enjoy the vid. It's just down there.....




So there you go....a completely average game on Black ops. If that didn't bore the living shit out of you, like the vid, leave a comment and if your skills are somewhat on a par with mine, please feel free to drop me your gamertag or send me an invite so we can be decidedly average on the game with a crap team.

Your thoughts, as always, are appreciated.

Jurassic Park: The Game Gameplay Demo (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

Telltale Game's Jurassic Park game is on the way, and it's looking pretty awesome....if in a kinda "seen it before way".

Taking obvious inspiration from Heavy Rain, specifically in the way you interact with the environment, it's looking pretty cool. For a dinosaur nut like me, who can sit for hours watching documentaries about how T-Rex took a shit, mixing dinos in with Heavy Rain is a match made in heaven......a slightly toothy kill-you-in-one-bite heaven, but heaven all the same.

The video above shows 13 minutes of footage taken from a recent build, and of course, if you're looking forward to playing the game and having it all as a new experience don't watch the video. I have no will power, so I watched it and love what i'm seeing so far.


Jurassic Park will be available on PC/Mac in April 2011. Console releases are in the fall 2011.

Gamefreakblog's first ever giveaway extravaganza!

Ah, what a lovely weekend that was.

I apologise over the quiet nature of the blog over the weekend. The temptation of actually venturing outside, letting the suns rays turn my porcelain corpse-like skin into something resembling a slight off-blue colour whilst entertaining friends in random beer gardens was just too much for this gamefreak, even though I have shedloads more reviews, videos and other stuff to share with you fair folks.

So....seeing as i'm in a jolly mood after bathing in natures glory, i'm going to start off the week on a high point with the first ever Gamefreakblog givaway. I'll have many more coming up over the next few months, so of course stay tuned for those. For the first though, I have a copy of the fantastic Sega Classics collection for the PS2.

Now......PAY ATTENTION!!

Seeing as how I have readers from all over the globe, including some great guys over in the U.S, this is an NTSC copy of the game. Did you get that? NTSC!!!! So as not to alienate half of the people that actually take time out to read my blog and some youtube subscribers, it's a game that our U.S cousins can play, and also any of my chums from the U.K and Europe, IF you have a chipped/NTSC Playstation 2 console. And if you don't have a U.S PS2, shame on you....some of the games on there piss on the PAL versions from a great height!

It's a brand new copy, all sealed, and even if you have a copy you can give it to a friend, tell a friend about the competition or indeed just pop it on Ebay and sell it for some beer tokens....whatever the fuck you want....it'll be yours! It's home to some fantastic 3D remakes of your favourite Sega games, from Alien Syndrome to Golden Axe, Virtua racing and Outrun.

So what do you have to do to win this game, I hear you cry? Well, if you're female a quick fumble in a toilet cubical will suffice......anyone else simply has to give the correct answers to these simple, Sega-related questions:

1. Name the four playable characters in Quartet.

2. What are the names of the first four levels in Space Harrier?

3. In what year was the arcade version of Alien Syndrome released?

Simple.

So, submit your answers to me at therealgamefreakblog@gmail.com or tweet me the answer. All correct answers will be dumped into a rusty bucket with some sick down the side and picked out at random. This little competition will close in a weeks time, so get your answers in no later than midnight, Sunday 17th of April. Just under a week. I'll hold all of your details in the strictest confidence, until the competition is over and then i'll sell all of your contact details to the highest bidder.

(Disclaimer: That was a joke)

Keep tuned into the blog this week....I have lots to share with you!

Peace.

Street Fighter X Tekken 'NEW Gameplay GamesCom 2010' TRUE-HD QUALITY

I did have my doubts about this game, but after this video i'm starting to get convinced.

New Mass Effect 3 details emerge.

Dribble....

Some new details on Bioware's space epic Mass Effect 3 details have dribbled out of the pages of the latest Gameinformer magazine. Avert your gaze now, dear reader, if slight spoilers are not your thing.

Apart from these details, I have all I need to know about this game. I'll never look at another leak, video, picture....ANYTHING to do with Mass Effect 3 until the game is released. Mass Effect 2 won the game of 2010 award from this reviewer, and it deserved to be. So...no more Mass Effect 3 news for me.

(Unless there is some dodgy video doing the round of Miranda and Jack getting down and sweaty)

Have a look at what's coming up in the game:

- Game begins with Shepard on Earth
- Shepard is on trial in regard to the events of Arrival
- Reapers invade while the trial is happening
- Prologue: Shepard’s escape to the Normandy, off to start finding allies, fighting Reaper troops
- Squadmates include Liara, Ashley/Kaiden, Garrus, James Sanders
- Screenshot shown of Ashley with her hair down
- Confirmed appearances (may not be squadmates): Wrex, Mordin, Legion, and Anderson
- Game will show a “previously on Mass Effect” comic to make decisions if you’re starting from scartch
- The Illusive Man plays a big role
- Cerberus is out to kill Shepard
- Enhanced RPG elements
- More freedom with character skills
- Larger skill trees
- Powers will evolve several times, not just once
- Weapons are like the ones in Mass Effect 2, have a set list
- Mods returning, swap out different parts such as barrels, scopes (effect both the weapon’s combat performance and its appearance)
- All classes can wield all weapons unhindered now,
- There will be limited slots to carry these weapons
- Soldier can carry all weapons at once
- Adept, Engineer, and Sentinal will likely be limited to two weapons, three for Vanguard and Infiltrator
- Numerous endings
- Who you have in your squad and which allies you recruit greatly impact the endings that are available
- No multiplayer


What do I say?

Bring it the fuck on!!

Mass Effect 3 will be released later this year.

Gamefreak revisits the Matrix: Path of Neo (Xbox)

In these new "revisits" section of my blog, i'll be looking back at game across all formats, some old, some new, and some old gems that you may have missed. Or indeed hated....but that don't matter, i'll cover them anyway.

The first game i'm revisiting is the Matrix: Path of Neo.

Release by Shiny Entertainment in 2005, it was the second game in the Shiny released series, the first being the lacklustre "Enter the Matrix". It was pretty so-so as a game, which essentially failed as you didn't get to play as Neo....pretty much a big pull in a game really, playing as the main character. However, Shiny began work on this game, which starts at the beginning of the 1st film and follows the various scenes of the movies, with some added bits to it. The new additions to the story that were included in the game essentially filled out some of the bollocks back story that the Wachowski's had to blag their way through when the knew that had to make sequels to the 1st movie.

Most of the missions took on the form of training simulators, to expand your knowledge of gunplay and martial arts, which were ok. Some of the other missions took Neo into the Matrix to free the minds of other "potentials", other people who could be "the One" which, if you followed the canon of the movie I guess were interesting enough. All the levels were strung together with in game cut scenes and clips taken from the movie, which were edited together in such a messy way it's like the dev's just clicked "random" on the computer and put them in as they ended up. Weak. It did have an original ending too, where you had to fight a gigantic version of Agent Smith, written specifically for the game by the Wachowski brothers, as they thought the films ending would be too boring for a game. It was too boring for a fucking film, but hey ho.

Graphically the game punched above it's weight. It wasn't the worst game i've ever seen, some levels looked great, but it was basically just too ambitious for the consoles of the day. Even so, Shiny must be praised for doing what they did with such technical constraints. The jumping was pants, you drifted around the levels like you were a pisshead on roller skates and occasional glitches broke the levels, but there was just something about it.....the combat.

The combat in this game was simply amazing. Gun play was handled in your typical third-person way, lock onto target, shoot, reload etc. Pretty much in the same vein as Max Payne, Tomb Raider yadda yadda. The hand to hand stuff was where the game REALLY excelled. It was essentially mapped to just a few buttons, Y for attack, B for grab, X for dodging and L trigger for focus moves. Combinations of these buttons would see you punch, kick, counter, somersault, sweep, cartwheel, just generally batter the living shit out of anything that moved. Before a level you could choose your upgrades, from adding moves to combos, to ariel throws, weapon strips, and as you started out with just a few basics by the end of the game you were literally the One in the game world....it was epic.

The standout level in the game though, and the reason for me starting a revisit section to my blog, was around halfway through the game. Based on the scene in the movie dubbed "the Burly brawl", it's the scene where Neo, after meeting up with the Oracle, is visited by Agent Smith to have a boring chat about "purpose". Now just one Agent Smith though.....oh no....that would be a waste of a level.....you're visited by a couple of hundred of them. The scene in the film was almost like a videogame itself, and so Shiny took this ball and ran with it. The results you can see in the video below. I played this again the other night and had just as much fun playing it over again as I did the first time. Enjoy.



So that's the Matrix: Path of Neo. It had its haters, and on the whole it was a flawed, average game with a few stand out levels, which despite its technical achievements was marred by the power of consoles at the time.

Shiny should be applauded for attempting to do something different, and in my eyes the game should be played, not for the mind-numbingly boring story, or the flaws, but for the combat system which in my baggy-eyes still stands up today.

Let me know what you think. Did you play it? Love it? Hate it?

Your thoughts, as always, are appreciated.

Lego Star Wars 3: The Clone wars preview.

Hey guys, thanks for dropping by again.

As you probably know, Lego Star Wars 3 was released last week. This one however is based on the recent Clone Wars series that's been doing the rounds. I watched all the hand drawn stuff, and that CGI film where the son of Jabba the Hutt has been kidnapped.....hilarious that.....but i've only caught a few episodes of the latest CGI show....i'll wait until they all get released in a boxed set for a decent price.

However, i'm enjoying this game quite a lot. I'm not going into detail here, as i'm going to pop up a review in the next couple of days. I played through the first level of the game for your viewing pleasure however, which is set in the arena of Geonosis seen in Episode 2 of the Star Wars films.

Have a watch!!




Tune back in for my review, just as soon as i've digested the game some more.

Spider-Man: Edge of Time TEASER TRAILER

My first multiplayer game on Crysis 2.

Hey peeps, how was your weekend? I hope it was a bloody lovely one!

Here's a bright, shiny, spanking new video for your perusal this fine Monday morning. Over the weekend I took my first tentative steps into the online portion of Crysis 2 on the xbox 360. Just for a laugh I recorded the first game, which didn't turn out too bad. I had another couple of games afterwards and from what i've seen and played so far i'm liking it.

I totally ignored the ramblings of people who are saying on various sites and forums "well, i'm not bothered about the powers, I just want to run around and shoot!". Well, the quick answer to that is....either play it enough to unlock the mode where you don't have the suit, or.....PLAY A DIFFERENT GAME!!!

I tell you....you could get some people a blow-job from Kelly Brook and they would moan that she's not doing it right.....

Anyway...check out the video. If you're up for a game at any stage feel free to drop me your gametag on here, the Facebook page or via Twitter.




I'll bring you some more of Crysis 2 online later this week.

Your thoughts, as always, are appreciated.

[Royal Game] Forza Motorsport 4 - Gameplay

Gamefreak retro review #1. Violent Storm

Hey guys, thanks for checking out this, Gamefreak blog's first retro review.....hopefully the first of thousands.

Today I want to look at what I consider to be THE best side scrolling beat-em-up ever released, the absolutely awesome "Violent Storm", released by Konami in 1993.

Now you may be forgiven if you have never seen or heard of the game before. Indeed, in all of my years of being a gamer and checking out arcades all over the world, i've only ever seen the one machine, and that used to be in the arcade in Hockley, Nottingham. You couldn't actually miss the machine in there, not because it had huge crowds surrounding it or anything like that. Oh no....it was the VOLUME....it was probably the loudest cabinet in there...almost as loud as if you had a grime band playing in one of the shadowy corners.

The game was amazing. Choosing from 3 characters, you battles over several levels, funny levels mind, and had the pleasure of beating the shit out of some of the best enemies in any fighting game ever, from greasy metal-heads to leather clad whores with knifes, to the bosses themselves which were ace. The sprites in the game were huge, some of the biggest in a beat-em-up ever,and you have a shed load of moves available, not just your usual fare that you get in this genre. Not only a variety of hand to hand moves, you could pick up chains, bats, even piglets to batter your foes to death!

So with no further delay, let's have a look at the game in action.



So that's Violent Storm. Side scrolling beat-em-ups are pretty much an extinct genre these days, so going retro is the only real way we can appreciate the classics of days gone by. And in my eyes Violent Storm is the best you can get.

You can keep Final Fight, you can masturbate over Double Dragon, and any other game of this type you care to suggest. Violent Storm is the best that there is, and if you disagree, I have a baby pig here ready to launch at your stupid head!!

Your thoughts, as always, are appreciated.



(Disclaimer: I won't actually launch a baby pig at your head....i'll just call you silly if you disagree with me!)

A brief look at an old classic, Steel Battalion.

With the news that Capcom are releasing a new, updated version of Steel Battalion for Kinect, I thought it would be good to have a quick look at the original game on the Xbox.

Steel Battalion was released on the Xbox here in blighty in 2004, slightly later than the U.S and Japanese launches. Numbers were limited, literally down to a few thousand units, if that. The reason for the limited nature of the game was the controller.....it was a behemoth! A monster of a controller, around 2 ft wise, 40 buttons, foot pedals.....it would put most light aircraft to shame.

The game itself was played from the cockpit of a huge walking tank, and as the pilot you fought in virtual battlefields, commanding other units, and taking down enemy walking machines, tanks and anything else stupid enough to get in your sights. The way that the game interacted with the controller, such as when the screen got dirty you could wipe the windows, and the way lights would flash informing you of a shortage of ammo really sucked you into the game world. It was big, brash, explosive and most importantly, unique.

If you never got the chance to see the game or the controller in action, i've shot a small video for you all, so you can revel in it's brilliance. Please excuse my croaky voice, I think I have some sort of man-flu-cat-aids that makes me sound like i'm on 20 Park Drive a day.



Awesome, isn't it. And as I say at the end, it's something that could only really be done in the video game world. Yeah, ok, you could argue that Rock Band/Guitar Hero also immerse you in the game with the controller, but in my humble opinion no other game managed to fuse together the two in such a unique way.

It was, and still is, the video game equivalent of Concorde. Expensive, prohibitive, but a class above the rest.

So lets here it for Steel Battalion. It's one of a kind.

R.I.P Cliffy B 1975-2011

Like me, you're more than likely completely devastated having woken up to the sad, tragic news that Cliff Bleszinski, the force behind the Gears of Wars series and one of the leading lights in the gaming industry, passed away at the early hours of this morning. He was 35.

Cliff Bleszinski, or "Dude Huge" as his enemies called him, was a playful scamp. He brought a much needed injection of youth and humour into an industry that can be stale and boring. But it wasn't always this way for Cliff.

His early life was blighted by tragedy. A little known fact about Cliff was that he was born with an atrophied arm of a twin that never developed on his left side, and at school he was constantly teased, with bullies attempting to make him juggle with it. This exclusion by the other kids led him to turn insular, go into himself and create "imaginary" friends. When these imaginary friends also took the piss out of him, Cliff broke down. He started to go into the local woods near to where he lived, building little dens, lighting fires and strangling small animals. One day whilst playing in a local car park, Cliff was locked in, and he struggled to get out as he couldn't manage to get over a wall about chest high.....this event would subconsciously effect Cliff in all of his future work.

Cliff has his first taste of video games when he saw a local kid playing with a Gameboy. The child, seeing Cliff emerge from the woods covered in mouse guts, dropped the Gameboy allowing Cliffy to look at the console. As soon as he started to play he realised his future was in the games industry.

Early days in the gaming world were a struggle for Cliff. Starting off his career with Microsoft, his first job was being Steve Ballmer's wig. Finding this a bit easy, he was then passed around from office to office, making coffee, dishing out handjobs, and on special days he was allowed to sniff Bill Gates chair. Cliff, seeing this was going no-where, left the industry for the bright lights of Hollywood.

Acting also came hard to a young Cliff. He struggled to find any jobs at all, his first brake being on set on the X-men film, where he was Bryan Singer's chair. However, a maturing cliff soon saw himself landing better roles, with his highlight playing the part of a gay vegan waiter in the film "Grandma's boy"



Having cracked the acting world, a newly-confident Cliffy went back to his first love, the games industry. Having blown some very powerful people, Cliff could now start to call the shots. Slaving away for years, his labour of love being the Gears of War games and the recently released "Bulletstorm", Cliff was riding that wave when tragedy struck. In a phone call to a friend last night, a deranged Cliffy B was heard to shout "I......fucking......love.....ah......this......fucking.....gu" and the line went dead. Rushing around to his apartment, Cliffy was found with his hands handcuffed behind his back, a bag on his head and a gold-plated replica Lancer stuck up his rear end.

The funeral service is being held this weekend, where Dude Huge himself will be shot into space. He leaves a loving family, a devastated games industry, and a blood-stained Lancer.

Cliff Bleszinski.......Who died today.

R.I.P