Gaming: Review – Splinter Cell: Conviction (Xbox360)

Stealth isn't the peak of cool it once was. Only a few years ago (well I say that, maybe a decade...) in doom-ridden blockbuster Independence Day we saw a fleet of stealth bombers tactically nuking an entire city, and who can forget the thrilling climax to James Bond's journalism-ridden (…?) flick Tomorrow Never Dies, which saw the nations favourite spy at odds with generic German #57013 Mr Stamper on a stealth boat in the South China Sea.

Now in 2010 we're in a world dominated by gritty, down-to-earth action heroes like Jason Bourne, Jack Bauer and Bond's latest incarnation played by Daniel Craig. Hard-as-nails heroes who use magazines as close combat weapons, there's only one word for that: 'bad-ass'.

So where does this leave poor old protagonist Sam Fischer and the Splinter Cell series? Other franchises, namely the Resident Evil series, have faced criticism for increasing the level of action in their games, raising fears up to Conviction's release that it would be too watered down and a far cry from the highs of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.

As it turns out the game has been watered down, there's no ignoring that. Recently OXM went into detail about the for and against of the “Is it dumbed down?!” argument (which you can read for yourself right here), but for my personally, I was approaching the Splinter Cell series almost fresh, having only briefly played one of the titles previously, but I found this game very easy to pick up.

Being based around the much-used 'Unreal' engine (think Unreal Tournament, Gears of War, Bioshock) gives the game a certain familiarity from the off, but it would be a mistake to think the engine is out of date because it's so often used, take Batman Arkham Asylum which astounded critics last year.

A game mechanic which was unveiled early on was that mission objectives are projected onto the background of levels, not only giving information but an indication of which way to go next. This is the first of many touches which give the game a very distinct dynamic feel, it brings you into the character and avoids to many obvious game-isms, often making it feel more like an interactive movie.

Shadows are an infiltrators best friend, making pinpointing light sources and quietly taking them out a priority, as well as knowing when you are hidden, and when you are in serious trouble. The game helps you out a lot with this, making the screen greyscale when you are in shadow, and flagging up a warning when you might be detected by guards and what direction they are seeing you from.

If the worst should happen and you are spotted, a translucent outline will appear where you were seen and so if you slip away into the nearby shadows you can ambush whoever it is who comes to investigate. The main trouble with being hidden, is that often it's too dark to see what's going on, leading you to unwittingly drag an enemy over a balcony, only to have him land on a parked car and start a car alarm blaring.

The 'Mark and Execute' (MEX) system, is a major part of this game - essentially the ability to highlight targets with a simple button press and then eliminate them without aiming, after performing a hand-to-hand takedown on an enemy. At times the system is extremely generous with line of sight, meaning you often take out enemies through walls and obstructions from sheer luck, but generally as a mechanic it means that taking down a room-full of enemies doesn't mean weeding them down, one-by-one.

The game tends to play into your hands, leaving a lone enemy slightly ahead of the rest to give you that all important MEX opportunity. This emphasis on direct assault does tend to take away from the merits of the arsenal of gadgets at Sam's disposal.

Aside from standard frag grenades, which are more than capable of taking out half a dozen tightly-packed enemies at once, there are EMP grenades too, which make short work of any lights and electronics in the area, giving you time to escape, or strike.

The more unusual of gadgets include sticky cameras, which can be attached to surfaces and remotely controlled to distract guards – or even detonated to silence them – but sadly can't be retrieved again afterwards.

One of the most commonly used gadgets is the snake cam, allowing you to sneakily peek under doors, unless you can't get the camera angle right and the floating in-game actions force you to open the door of course.

The story itself would probably mean more to a seasoned Splinter Cell player, but from what I could work out it seemed much like any given series of 24, a missing daughter, terrorists, threats to the president etc.

The few missions which mix up the relentless killing work well. The occasional flashback sequences aren't as effective as those in Batman: AA, but the war mission - a strong nod to the Modern Warfare generation – is too early on before the momentum of the story gets going, making it an abrupt change instead of a welcome break after an intense mission.

Multiplayer pushes this game to the top, the cooperative prequel missions in particular are a triumph in two-player constructive, strategic play, often forcing players to work together to get every move precisely right in order for them to move forward, and, if my own playtime is anything to go by, make up the shorter main story time for Splinter Cell veterans.

Verdict: An excellent entrance to the series for those with their wits about them, while it may not be what fans had hoped for, it's quirks make it a definite progression for the series and there is still plenty of opportunity for clever stealth moves amid the flurry of bullets.

Rating: 4/5

James Michael Parry

Gaming: The Rise of Online Gaming

It's no secret that the internet, as well as consuming many people's lives, has revolutionised the way we play games together thanks to online multiplayer.

It all began back in 1973 with a little game called Maze War (well, it did if the internet is to be believed, check out the evidence) created by interns at NASA, which allowed players on local networked computers to chase each other around a virtual maze trying to kill each other. Today it's an idea we might call a first-person shooter, making Maze War the creator of an entire genre.

Since then the game has been ported numerous times and is the reason why no one can copyright a multi-user 3D cyberspace, a principle which all modern online games use. The technology has moved on tremendously since then, of course, with simple ethernet computer linking to a worldwide web of computers all communicating across thousands of miles in an instant.

During the 1980s the home computer was born in the UK in the form of the Sinclair ZX80 (and later the ZX81 and Spectrum), making computer games more popular than ever and accessible to the masses.

It was 10 years before another major game brought us closer to online gaming as we know it today. In 1983 SGI Dogfight, a flight simulator, was created for Silicon Graphics workstation computers and networking was added the following year, allowing multiple stations to play over ethernet just as later versions of Maze War had done, but in 1986 support was added for UDP (User Datagram Protocol), which allowed the game to use the internet protocol suite.

However, since the data was sent in broadcast packets, it could not be played across the internet (which itself was in its infancy at the time). It wasn't until 1989, when IP multicast capabilities were available, that it was possible for the game to be played online in the way we know it today, though due to hardware constraints the capability was seldom used.

Meanwhile, other companies were trying to get their head around this new technology, which led to the use of the X Window System, which meant a game could be 'hosted' on one computer and the screen transmitted through X Window, to the other players playing the game.

Xtrek, the first remote display game based vaguely in the Star Trek universe, and later Netrek (or Xtrek II) used this technology and the latter even combined the use of UDP and TCP (Transmission Control Protocol – a system still used today) to allow users to play online on servers.

Since then online gaming has become the norm, rendering the split-screen multiplayer classics of the late 1990s, such as Rare's Goldeneye, almost obsolete, though it has taken some time for consoles to get internet gaming just right. While they were trying to find their feet, games such as Total Annihilation, Counter-Strike and Command & Conquer: Red Alert were being played at LAN (Local Area Network) 'parties' in wire-infested living rooms across the country.

But do we really miss the days of split-screen being cutting-edge? Mark Fletcher, an English Student at Leicester University, said: “Definitely. Nothing like cheering on Perfect Dark 64 by looking at your friend's section of the screen!”

Online gaming's dominance has also caused developers to put a greater emphasis on cooperative play, which isn't well-received by everyone. Graduate Andrew Baker said: “As much as I enjoy online multiplayer I do still want a little one on one split-screen every now and then. it anoys me how a lot of things these days are co-op! What if I want to shoot my friend rather than work with him!?”

So, times have changed as they often do, but the next time you load up a game like Battlefield: Bad Company II to get virtually slaughtered for the 10,000^th time, remember it's because of games like Maze War that you have to do it alone in a dark room rather than in a room surrounded by people who laugh evilly when you accidentally blow yourself up.

Gaming: Mass Effect - The essential catch-up guide

For those of you out there who are of the Xbox 360 persuasion, you may have heard about a little sequel called Mass Effect 2 – due to hit stores in Europe on Friday 29.

“But I've never heard of 'Mass Effect'?!?” I hear you cry. Well, I hope to try and explain what it's all about to those of you who are new to the Xbox family, or just those who the first game passed by, clued up on this tremendous and potentially genre defining sci-fi franchise.

So, what on Earth is 'Mass Effect'?

Mass Effect is an Xbox 360 game released in 2007 (though it also got a PC release in 2008). The game sees you control Commander Shepard, a soldier in the Alliance, through the tense narrative of a space opera, which sees you uncover the truth behind an ancient evil threatening the galaxy and defeat it. Imagine playing your way through a mixture of Aliens, Star Wars and The Wrath of Kahn and you're half-way there.

Why's it called 'Mass Effect' then?

'Mass relays' are technology supposedly left behind by an ancient race which became extinct over 50,000 years ago called the Protheans. The relays allow spacecraft to travel across the galaxy over great distances in a short space of time, in a similar way that Warp and Hyperdrive work in Star Trek and Star Wars. The Citidel is the hub of the relay network, and since the technology was discovered the galaxy has been connected through it, allowing countless races to come together to meet, trade and share their own technologies and knowledge.

So you control this guy?

When you first start a new game you must create your character. Like many RPGs (role-playing game), you are offered the choice of a male or female character and an array of different classes which affect how you play the game. The in-game universe contains three main skill-sets – Combat, Biotics and Tech - which each class has varying degrees of. Combat is the skills of a traditional soldier, if you fancy the 'all guns blazing' approach then this is the skill-set to focus on. Biotics are a strange psychic-like force which allows you to levitate enemies in the air, throw them or otherwise immobilise them, meaning fans of spell-casting classes in other games will feel most at home here. Tech is, as the name suggests, focused on technology and levelling the battlefield in more of a supporting role than an out-and-out fight, making the players who use this ability more team-focused in combat, allowing your allies to get the kills while you weaken or hack the enemy troops.

So...why does how you play the game matter?

When talking to other characters, interactive dialogue options allow you to choose what Shepard says next, meaning you can change the way you respond to certain characters or react to situations in the story as they unfold. You can be as chivalrous or as dastardly as you fancy, turning your character into a 'just' hero or a hard-ass soldier as you level up and gain skill points to spend beefing up your character's abilities and attributes. If you are nice to characters you meet in the game, they will often help you, or pay you to carry out certain missions, but if you aren't you may have to fight your way to your goals, or knock down whoever is in your way rather than talk your way past them.

What is the point of the game?

At the opening of the game, a lone human colony on Eden Prime has discovered a mysterious artefact, your first mission is to go there and uncover what is going on. It soon transpires that the colony is under attack from an race of enemy machines called the Geth, under the command of a renegade Spectre agent: Seren. As the plot thickens, you must stop Seren from unleashing an even greater enemy and wiping out life in the galaxy.

'SPECTRE', isn't that a James Bond thing?

Spectre stands for: SPECial Tactics and REconnaissance, an elite fighting group working directly under the Alliance council as their right hand their “first and last line of defence” and have access to unique weapons and equipment to get the job done, like a sort of inter-stellar SAS.

Didn't I hear something about getting cosy with an alien?!

There are countless sub-plots in the game and one of the most controversial of these is the 'romantic' sub-plot. As Shepard you can attempt to woo some of your fellow adventurers between missions as the main plot progresses, leading to the inevitable just before you visit the final planet of the game – providing you're particularly charming and romantic, obviously.

So what makes 'Mass Effect' worth playing?

For all those people who say computer games are nothing more than blinking lights and killing people, this game takes a chance on giving players a decent story to follow, and it pays off. Despite faithfully holding on to the traditions of the sci-fi of yore, the story is put across in a very sheek and modern style, and the interactive nature of the narrative means that the game can have several different endings depending on the choices the player makes during the game. On top of that the characters are full and realistic, with some very talented voice-actors lending their voices to the game, including Keith David as Captain Anderson, who has been heard lately in gaming blockbuster Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 as Sergeant Foley.

And what about 'Mass Effect 2'?

There are some problems with the first 'Mass Effect', but the game's developers BioWare have gone to great lengths to ensure these issues are addressed, and improved upon significantly in the sequel. The feel of the new game is much quicker, with the combat being easier to navigate and the visual detail of the game being greatly stepped-up. The most exciting feature of ME2 is the fact that the decisions you make in ME1 carry over to the next game if you continue your save. Something this ambitious has never been tried before, since the choices players have made can mean some characters will be either alive or dead in the second game. Side quests and plot points which seemed insignificant in the first game may prove to be important in ME2, creating a very different and individual game. BioWare always intended the games to pan out as a trilogy, meaning the stark contrast between different games is set to get even wider when Mass Effect 3 is released.

So, hopefully that has answered some questions. For those of you who are yet to play either game I would strongly recommend playing through the first one first, since the entire second game will be far more enjoyable once you know the characters, though if you do want to skip ahead you can start a new game in Mass Effect 2 with a 'standardised' storyline. But the beauty of this game is in the amount of detail put into it, from the moment you set foot in The Citadel for the first time, you get an epic sense of scale at what BioWare have created with this expansive universe. Even if you can only just stand science fiction, I would highly recommend buying this game. Since you can now pick it up for not much over a tenner, what have you got to lose?

James Michael Parry

Review: Left 4 Dead 2 (Xbox 360)

New survivor Rochelle is attacked by a Jockey, complete with The Joker-style manic laughter, while Ellis minds his own business (pic: GP)

Everybody loves killing zombies. Something about fighting off the hordes of the undead gives a certain satisfaction you just don't get from killing Minion #367 or slaying a mythical beast. Perhaps it's because we relate to the characters in games like Left 4 Dead – the whole world has gone to pot so they are forced to kill everything in sight as a last resort, a final act of desperation, for survival.

Valve's original zombie-shooter raised the bar in terms of what can be achieved in the genre, and they were rewarded with countless Game of the Year Awards. The game's intro movie entranced the imagination of players as they watched a Hunter, the hoody-wearing 'special' infected, pounce across a road to attack Lewis thinking “I hope I can do that”.

Sure enough the team didn't disappoint and the multiplayer aspect in particular demonstrated a whole new level of cooperative gaming, clocking thousands of hours of play time on Xbox LIVE.

With the sequel then, the bar was set rather high. Luckily there were issues with the original which needed to be addressed, and Valve tackled these in spades, countering complaints about the lack of campaigns playable in Versus mode by making all five stories playable this time around.

On top of the new levels there are new special infected to play around with: the Charger, a Tank-esque figure who can knock down an entire team like bowling pins and pummel one unlucky survivor to the floor, the Jockey, who piggy-backs survivors and drags them away from the team, leaving them open to attack, and the Spitter, who produces a highly toxic acid from it's mouth which can cripple a team in seconds.

Choosing not to continue the story (actually you're right, what story?!) from the original L4D by changing the setting to the southern states of America, the new survivors – Nick, Ellis, Rochelle and Coach – begin their story in Georgia, not even knowing each others names and attempt to find their way to New Orleans in hope of rescue by the military.

On top of the standard campaign, which is more amusing (and frustrating) online, and versus mode, the game also offers 'Realism', 'Survival' and 'Scavenge'. 'Realism' is for the seasoned L4D player, taking away all the pop up hints like “Don't shoot team mates!” and not highlighting weapons, items or off-screen players, making the special infected all the more deadly.

'Survival' is similar to the free add on for the first game, which sets up the four survivors in various locations from the campaigns and challenges players to stay alive for as long as possible, with as much petrol and pipe-bombs as you can throw.

'Scavenge' sees you collecting fuel to power light generators or getaway vehicles and works much in the same way as 'Survival' except there are rounds, with both teams getting to play as the special infected and the survivors, forcing players to exploit the new specials abilities, such as using the Spitter to cover the fuel pouring area in acid, or splitting up the survivors by driving one away with the Jockey.

The biggest change is the weaponry. If you ever wanted to swipe off the head of a zombie with a cricket bat (á la Sean of the Dead) you can thanks to the shiny melee weapons. Totalling eight in all, the list is topped by the deadly chainsaw, which can plough through dozens of gruesome infected before it runs out of juice.

The array of main weapons available has also been boosted, now letting you deal death with an array of FPS classics such as the AK-47 or Desert Eagle, but the jewel in the crown is the grenade launcher. Ridiculously powerful, but painfully slow to reload, the launcher sends body parts flying with precision and can quickly dispatch the fearsome Tank.

As if that wasn't enough, incendiary and explosive ammo are now available, good for one clip per gun when activated. The explosive ammo is a little lack-lustre, merely causing rounds to occasionally clip infected standing nearby. The power of fire on the other hand is devastating, creating one-hit-kills and lighting up the horde like a Christmas tree, well...maybe a pyromaniacs Birthday party...

The campaigns are as fresh and engaging as their predecessors were first time around, and the implementation of weather and other environmental effects is particularly well done. In 'Dead Center' you have to escape the building while it's burning down around you, with flames and smoke everywhere making it difficult to see and almost impossible to find the way out. This is taken even further in 'Hard Rain' where the second half of the level sees you re-tracing your steps while a storm rages slowing movement and covering the sounds of the infected's approach, creating a tense and genuinely terrifying experience.

Online, this game is a triumph and promises countless hilarious and irritating moments, often at the same time. It doesn't re-invent the genre or poke at the boundaries like Modern Warfare 2, but Valve have lived up to their pedigree and provided a sequel that surpasses the original Without Xbox LIVE though, there wouldn't be much of a game, so if you're online play-challenged then give this a miss, for anyone else who owns an Xbox though it's a crucial purchase. Lock and load.

James Michael Parry

Xbox LIVE Update: Social gaming revolution or shameless franchise spamming?

The modern world is all about sharing. Whether it's your best friend uploading those potentially career-damaging drunken photos of you to Facebook or your brother ranting about the state of the economy on Twitter, everything has something they want to say.

Microsoft's latest addition to the already jam-packed NXE (New Xbox Experience) will bring these household names direct to your Xbox, along with the likes of Zune, a video downloading service, and Last.fm, the sophisticated Spotify, which lets you stream music direct from the internet.

The icing on the cake for sports fans is the Sky player, which will allow you to subscribe to Sky packages through your Xbox and enjoy the latest football match with all your friends' avatars from around the world.

While it may all sound exciting in theory – in fact the round of applause from E3 has only just died down - it only goes further to hammer home the stereotype of the near-institutionalised computer games fan, hiding away from the world in a dark room out of touch with the real world.

Of course this is nonsense in this day and age. Gaming is more diverse than ever before, with the average UK gamer aged around 28 years old and over 59% (26.5m) of all 6-65 year-olds playing computer games, in no small part due to the user-friendly nature of the Wii.

Microsoft's vision is to fight back by turning the Xbox 360 into a multimedia super entertainment centre. The vision falls short in reality though as the update itself (after a lengthy download) doesn't 'wow' right away, just causes Facebook and the like to feature in the dashboard menus, prompting another download each time one of the applications is selected.

Sadly the lack of integration doesn't end there, with each application being treated almost as a separate game rather than part of the dashboard, meaning you can't have any part of Facebook or Twitter running in the background, so if you wanted to share with the world that you'd just nailed the 'Seriously 2.0' achievement on Gears of War 2 you'd have to exit out of the game.

Teaming up your happy-go-lucky avatar with your real self is a little unnerving at first as well, but once the update is released worldwide you'll be able to add friends to Facebook from Xbox LIVE and vice versa, as well as all the usual Facebook features such as viewing photos and spying on your enemies from your primary school days.

Being keyboard-less on the 360 is one major drawback for the text-heavy knitting circle Twitter and though you can splash out on a 'Messenger Kit', you might find it easier to dig out the laptop to tweet away than navigate through the swarm of menus to share your thoughts through Xbox LIVE.

For music fans Last.fm offers a colossal range of music from almost any artist imaginable, though you need to pay to sign up to the premium version of the service to unlock the most useful content, such as the ability to play just your 'loved' tracks, making endless CD burning for summer BBQs a thing of the past.

Zune, the least well known of the new additions, jazzes up the already popular Video Marketplace to offer a wider choice of films, though the choice is currently fairly limited. As well as feature films, Zune also highlights the best bits and bobs from the web to keep you entertained when you fancy a break from failing to beat 'Scatterbrain' on Expert for the 18th time.

Sky Player is the most illusive inclusion to date, with Xbox LIVE's message stating it will be rolled out on October 27 and that users won't need a Sky dish to access content. What it does reveal is that there will be plenty of on-demand movies available, possibly creating a bit of competition between Sky and Zune to control the download rental market.

The features are determined to show of their usefulness to gamers but for those without a lightning-fast internet connection even updating Twitter can be a strain, making the prospect of downloading a feature length full 1080p HD film a daunting prospect, though luckily you don't need to wait for the download to finish before you start watching.

There's masses of potential here, and now Microsoft has these big companies on board things will only become more refined and sleek but at the moment all the new features seem very tacked-on, giving more of a sense of bewilderment than appreciation of a revolutionised multimedia interface.

--- James Michael Parry

Interview with Burnout Paradise's Big Surf Island Producer Pete Lake

Downloadable content is big business in video games at the moment, with Microsoft famously paying Rockstar Games over a million dollars to create new episodes of Grand Theft Auto IV.

One pioneer of DLC in recent years is Criterion Games, the brains behind the car-smashing racing series: Burnout.

As a Burnout enthusiast myself, I decided to get in the passenger seat with Pete Lake, Producer of Big Surf Island, to find out how this latest release would enhance the landscape of Burnout Paradise.

---

James Parry: How do you feel the Big Surf Island DLC will enhance the
Burnout Paradise experience?

Pete Lake: Big Surf Island brings a whole new location to Paradise City. People have been exploring the existing landscape for over a year now, finally we can bring them somewhere new to drive and have fun together. With the new location we are also adding more of everyone's favourite activities, new experiences and new vehicles to drive.


JP: There's more of an emphasis on the 'playground' aspect of Paradise with this update, what's the reason for this?

PL: We have been working with our community to understand what people love to do in Paradise City. We know everyone loves the more playground elements of Paradise like the quarry and the airfield. We set out to make the entire Island like one of these, a super condensed, explosion of fun.


JP: Will there be any gameplay updates with this DLC? Such as the ability to place waypoints on the map to allow players to converge on an area more easily?

PL: We are adding many new gameplay updates with the Island, far too many to detail here. Really noticeable things are the new visible checkpoint markers. All of the events on Big Surf Island get you to drive through checkpoints so we needed to make sure the player can see them where ever they are, so adding visible markers in the world was important. On your question, there are numerous Freeburn challenges which get people to meet at specific locations, if you want to meet up with friends try one of these.


JP: After the extensive updates to Paradise to date, what thought
has Criterion put into its next title? Burnout or otherwise.

PL: We are always working on new ideas and figuring out the best way to bring them to our customers. Currently the best way has been to develop them into Burnout Paradise, who knows what else we may develop in the future and how we will get it into people's hands.


JP: Do you think the emphasis on DLC in Paradise is something which will becoming increasingly common for other games in the future?

PL: I know it will for us, it's changed completely how we think about development. It's so exciting to keep bringing new experiences to
people and to use those to bring people together in exciting and fun
ways.

JP: Freeburn Online is a big part of Burnout Paradise, what new
experiences can we expect from the new challenges?

PL: We have a set of 10 new challenges for Big Surf Island which showcase some of the incredible new locations on Big Surf Island. New for the Island is the ability to play each of these challenges with any number of players. No more waiting around for your 8th friend to get online before you can complete the challenge.

JP: The free-roaming aspect of Burnout Paradise as a whole was a
big risk to take after the previous titles, how effective do you feel
it's been overall?

PL: I think it's been a huge success. We have delivered a location people
love whether they race or just like to drive and explore. We can see people all like to play the game in different ways and express themselves. Big Surf Island brings something for all these people; there are new events but there are also new billboards, Mega Jumps and Smash Gates to reward discovery.


JP: Last year the bikes update changed the Burnout landscape forever, what is the future of bikes in Burnout? Are there any tailor made sections in Big Surf Island?

PL: Big Surf Islands offers 12 new roads to rule on bikes during night
and day and plenty of areas to explore at high speed.


JP: Many racing games strive to create a real and authentic simulation of driving, rather than simply a game. How important do you believe realism is to racing titles, and games in general?

PL: I think a sense of believability is very important and is a different concept from a simulation. Players must believe what they are doing
is possible so they can enjoy doing it. We want to make games which are accessible and fun to play, with the Bikes we spent a lot of time on the handling to ensure that it remains a really fun riding experience inside the believable Burnout world. Just creating a simulation of bikes wouldn't have been fun and would have been out of place in our world.


JP: How much have you been considering players' input and opinion
in the updates and changes you make in Paradise?

PL: We have a very active community and we have involved them as much as possible during development of all our DLC. We've even had people tour the office during development. We run our Crash TV podcasts and have developed our Criterion Games Network so we can ensure our community gets the feedback it deserves from us.


JP: Some claim downloadable content is often profiting from content which should have been included in the original retail release, what is your opinion on this?

PL: The downloadable content you are seeing for Burnout Paradise could not have even been thought about until we had released the game and seen how people reacted to it. We could not have designed Big Surf Island without the support of our community.


JP: How do you think the content and significance of DLC, Criterion made and otherwise, will change in the future?

PL: I hope we (and other developers) can continue to offer our players more and more new experiences. The game is bigger than the box it comes in, offering players new ways to experience the product and new ways to expand it are really important.

This Is Entertainment's comprehensive E3 Summary: Part 3 - Microsoft

Here it is then, the one you've all been waiting for, at least I hope so! After watching Microsoft's mammoth E3 press conference in full I'm going to digest that down as much as I can to get you all clued up on the latest and greatest information.

You may have heard a few things blowing around on the internet, so first let's answer a few quick questions:

- What do you mean there's going to be Metal Gear Solid on Xbox 360?!
- Well the creator of MGS announced the next title: Metal Gear Solid - Rising, will be coming to 360, but there's little chance MGS4 will make it over as well, sorry about that! Don't rule out MGS1 on Xbox Live Arcade though...

- I hear Microsoft is partnering up with enough different companies to be declared serial bigamist of the year?
- That's right, well, the partnering part at least, not sure what you're going on about...MS announced partnerships with Facebook, Twitter, Sky, Last.fm AND Netflix. (more on some of these later on)

- So Xbox is trying to be some sort of all-in-one box of entertainment then really?
- That's the idea. They're pushing all possible avenues to bring gamers full 1080p HD video with instant streaming, music, social networks, everything you could possibly want bar going and getting you another beer from the fridge basically.

- Halo Reach? ODST? WHAT IS GOING ON?!
- Calm down! Yes there are now officially two Halo games in the works over at Bungie. Halo 3: ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper) is an add-on to Halo 3 which will include 3 Halo 3 multiplayer maps and a 10+ hours campaign focusing on the ODST troops around New Mombasa, set between Halo 2 and Halo 3. Halo Reach is a "top" secret Halo project Bungie have been working on. My reliable sources tell me that from the name it would suggest it has something to do with the first Halo ring over Reach, which was destroyed in the first game and was a pivotal moment in the war. Not much official info on it exists just yet, but it's due out late 2010, for now, just check out the teaser trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqIEvH7sGQ0

- What on EARTH is this Project Natal thing?
- That's a very interesting question. In a nutshell it's some fancy new technology which lets YOU be the controller, including facial and voice recognition and full motion capture without the need for any strange suits or anything. It's essentially MS' answer to the Wii's motion capture, but done in true MS style...they had to go one better. If it really works like it claims to then it genuinely a big step forward in potential for MS, but the videos seem a little contrived to be convincing, take a look for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oACt9R9z37U

Also, you can check out a blog post on Natal from a good friend of mine, Andy Hemphill: http://tinyurl.com/ndz9m7

Now, I think it's time we had a look at what's the most important thing about a games console, aside from the fancy deals and new technology, which is its games.

The first game to take the floor was Tony Hawk Ride, which uses a skateboard controller to track the gamers motion and movements on the skateboard, and let them have more control than the plethora of Tony Hawk titles of years gone by. The man himself was there to show it off, just the first of MS' star guests of E3, but despite the 'bigging up' it still could be an excellent and innovative game.

Next up was a biggie: Modern Warfare 2. So major it made the cover of the latest OXM, the game is the sequel to the phenomenally successful Game of the Year that was Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The trailer, which you really should have seen by now (but here it is if not), was impressive enough, but the gameplay shown was the most interesting element. It sees a new recruit, codename 'Roach', following COD4 hero 'Soap' McTavish in a snowy blizzard through which the player must claim an icy rock face to the next encounter. The weather plays a massive part, marking the shift between stealth, as you sneak around stealthily before the blizzard clears and colossal frantic fire-fight takes place. The game looks outstanding and the single player was a personal high point so it's good to see that Infinity Ward haven't relied on the predecessors ridiculous success on Live.

Joyride, a FREE XBLA game, will be the first racing title to use your avatars for some funky Mario Kart-esque action. The game certainly gives a decent platform for UGC, and while you do have to pay to get the best tracks and cars, only one of you're friends has to have bought them to play them with you, which is a neat idea.

Teaser trailers for Crackdown 2, Left 4 Dead 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction mark the emphasis of MS' focus on 'Only on Xbox' titles this E3, and admittedly come of impressively for it. Conviction in particular looks to break free a little from the traditional Splinter Cell format, as Fischer takes off his tri-goggles and dons a distinctly Bruce-Willis-in-Die-Hard attitude as he tries to find out who killed his daughter. A couple of slick design features make this release stand out, namely super-imposing credits and objectives on the landscape of the levels, immersing you in the world while keeping the real-time narrative going, and a refreshingly tasteful use of slow-mo.

Not to be left out, Epic Games, the kings of Gears of War, demoed their old-school 2.5D side-scrolling platformer, which showed a nice level of depth, ironically, for the genre through Xbox Live Arcade.

Halo was always going to get some hype, and the play-through of ODST delivered everything fans of the series have been waiting for, complete with ill-fated TV show Firefly voice actors, which is always a plus.

Natal proved to top off what was near to being a continuous round of applause for most of the press briefing, but where can I hear all this news for myself I hear you ask? Just head over to Gamespot to check out their full press conference video, but be sure you have two hours to kill!

The year looks set to be a good one, and if MS delivers on what it has promised then it will certainly give Nintendo some sales figures to contend with by the time the Christmas spending spree begins.

This Is Entertainment's comprehensive E3 Summary: Part 2 - Nintendo

Nintendo is a name which has been synonymous with video gaming for the past 30 years. Now in its 120th year, having spent it's early years making cards and dominoes, the company is beginning to feel the pressures of the ever-increasing competition in the sector.

This year's E3 was a mixture of the company's "Everyone is a gamer" philosophy and it's traditional strong points, namely that over-enthusiastic, red-hatted plumber Mario.

While it's important to put effort into franchises which consumers associate with the brand, Nintendo's press conference, which lasted just over an hour (nearly an hour shorter than the other two big names), spent around five minutes showcasing only three third party Wii titles: The Conduit, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles and Dead Space: Extraction.

While all three games look interesting and offer a "harder edge", according to Reggie Fils-Aime, President and CEO of Nintendo of America, only The Conduit is an entirely original IP (Intellectual Property).

It certainly looks like Sega have done a good job with it, and it will give people a reason to think again before dismissing Wii as a "kiddie console", but all signs point to it going against the grain of the norm on Nintendo platforms.

Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles is the natural sequel to The Umbrella Chronicles, an on-the-rails shooter which made the most of the Wii Zapper, and follows Leon S Kennedy and Claire Redfield as they play through the events of Resident Evil 2, offering a new perspective for the player. If it's predecessor is anything to go by this will be an excellent and addictive title.

Dead Space: Extraction is a prequel of the edgy psycological horror which impressed critics across the world last year when it was released on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. It's obvious that this will be a different type of game in the same universe, but should still offer an exciting gaming experience for Wii players.

With the non-Nintendo developed announcements hidden away at the end of the conference, it was difficult to ignore the BIG announcements:


Wii

• Super Mario Galaxy 2 announced
• Wii Fit Plus announced
• New Super Mario Brothers Wii announced
• Wii Vitality Sensor announced
• Metroid: Other M announced
• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers
  
• Wii Sports Resort re-announced
• Wii Motion Plus re-announced
  

DS/DSi

• Mario and Luigi: Bowsers Inside Story announced
• Golden Sun DS announced
• The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks announced
• Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box announced
• Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Prisoners of the Sky announced
  
• Facebook photo sharing announced

Chances are if you just skimmed that you're thinking something along the lines of "same old, same old" or possibly "what on EARTH is a 'Vitality Sensor' when it's at home?!".

Allow me to explain. The Vitality Sensor works in a similar way to the thing you wear on your finger when you're in hospital, and it does the same thing: measures your pulse. According to Nintendo the sensor will " initially sense the user’s pulse and a number of other signals being transmitted by their bodies, and will then provide information to the users about the body’s inner world. "

Concrete details about how exactly it will be used in games are scarce, but essentially the plan is to detect stress levels and other things from your pulsebeat. I'd really like to see it used in a psychological horror, upping the weirdness as your pulse increases perhaps?

The big game releases come as no surprise, with Mario abound, but the prospect of a straight sequel in Super Mario Galaxy 2 seems like a lazy cash-in and risks cheapening the frankly astounding brilliance of the original. Then again, riding Yoshi should be good fun.

As for the DS release, the name Bowser's Inside Story sounded exciting and original, a chance to find a little more about the growling nemesis of that plucky plumber and unleash some of his power, but sadly that potential is denied when the name is taken literally and the Mario brothers go on a journey through Bowser's insides instead.

The latest Samus project, Project M, sounds more promising, if mysterious, but the focus on back story to add depth to the character is undoubtedly a positive step. Making the character progressively more than just a super suit.

Embracing social media, albeit in a small way, with the integration of Facebook photo sharing on the DSi, is definitely another step in the right direction, but a far cry from the bold partnerships Microsoft have announced (full MS round up coming soon).

In the end Nintendo seem to have taken their "Games are for everyone and everyone's a gamer" ethos a little to far and a little too literally. It's all well and good making games which appeal to the masses, and work as tools rather than games in the case of things like the blatantly obvious Wii Fit Plus, but it has to remember that games for everyone aren't really for everyone.

Sometimes people want something a bit more specific, tailored for people like them. Nintendo may argue that it fulfils this by letting players tailor games to suit their own tastes, but sometimes it's nice to have things done for you. Rather than being able to adapt games to your needs, it's a nice feeling when you switch on a title and think "This game was made for me".

This Is Entertainment's comprehensive E3 Summary: Part 1 - Sony

So it's that time of year again, when the best gaming minds from around the world descend on Los Angeles for the Electronic Entertainment Expo (that's E3 to sophisticated people like you and me), the event which in the past has given such shock announcements as the undercover launch of the Sega Saturn back in 1995, the first trials of Sony's current gaming monster, the Playstation 3, and the debut of the Wii's patented motion-sensing technology (not to mention motion plus).

It will come as no surprise then that I, and countless gamers around the world, were excited about this year's event, and with good reason. All three consoles are in their stride now, with competition hotting up in the too-oft-mentioned recession.

So, without further preamble, allow me to present This Is Entertainment's quintessential guide to the comings and goings of E3 2009:

Sony (watch the full conference on Gamespot HERE)

The PS3 failed to light a fire of enthusiasm at last year's E3, so what did the Blu-ray kings offer this year?

President and CEO Jack Tretton opened Sony's press conference with a plathora of impressive sounding numbers, boasting there would be an admittedly impressive 364 games released on Playstation platforms in 2009 (you feel as though they could have found one more to make it a year's worth).

Sony reports it made over 30% of 2008's industry sales over it's three platforms: PS3, PS2 and PSP. The problem is, PS2 and PS3 are competing for the same market, so the only reason people would go for a PS2 over a PS3 is price. Hence the latest announcement of cutting the PS2 RRP to $99.

If they would cut the price of the PS3, then it may encourage gamers to opt for the clearly superior console straight away, and save people the money and hassle of swapping over 6 months down the line when developers stop releasing titles on Ps2...hmm...

Despite the questionable marketing strategy, Sony still shifted 22million PS3s in 2008, no doubt helped by titles like the much-hyped Killzone 2.

Other than a handful of PS3-exclusives like Killzone, last year gave the platform little to distinguish it from Microsoft's Xbox 360, with few developers willing to put in the time to stretch the graphics power of the PS3 beyond that of the Xbox 360, one of its key advantages.

Undoubtedly Playstation Network will be a big area for growth in the next year (particularly if the competitions' plans are anything to go by - check back in a few days for details), due to it being free.

The main thing that people need to know about though, is the games, and the PS3 lineup with its plethora of new games was impressive but only 35 of them will be exclusive to Playstation platforms.


The closing of the feature-length press conference was a demonstration of the excitingly shiny-looking God of War 3 - a PS3 exclusive - which saw a hunter-type character take on mythical beasts while a hell-fire demon writhed around in the background. Certainly looking promising on the action stakes, something between the blockbuster feel of Lord of the Rings and the rich imagery of the original Greek stories themselves.

All in all this year should be better for Sony, and since, by their own admission, they didn't do too badly in 2008, it should mean they sail through the economic troubles without a second thought.

Xbox LIVE: The Past, the Present and the Future

Online gaming is no longer just a novelty, it's a phenomenon, and in the console world if there's one platform that shines brighter than all others it's Microsoft's Xbox Live.

The service launched back in 2002 and had amassed 10 million users by February last year, but will its 'golden age' last? What makes it so successful? Where will Live go from here?

It's difficult to work out exactly how many people log on, since Microsoft keeps such information pretty close to the chest, but since it reported a rise from eight to 10 million users in only a few months, it's clear there’s potential for further success.

But what about the other side? There have been hacking issues, deleted accounts, glitches and cheaters who upset the online status quo for their own personal gains.

Totally360.com spoke to Gary Shaw, the Managing Director of unofficial troubleshooting site Xbox Live the Guide, who believes cheating is a serious issue:

“Cheating has been around since games were invented and it will never go away. I’m firmly from the ‘you’re only cheating yourself’ camp. If it’s not a genuine win when playing PES [Pro Evolution Soccer] or ‘winning’ COD [Call of Duty] with a rapid-fire mod... well... have you really won anything?”

The effect of cheating is that is creates more cheaters, since more people exploit the glitches in games that they see others doing. Colin Miller, a professional Games Journalist, believes that if cheating is allowed to continue it can cause other issues: “The main problem is that it leads to more ‘rage quitting’. I have quit quite a few games of COD: World at War myself after seeing cheaters shooting other players whilst hovering in thin air. It's annoying for players when you spend all that time waiting to join a decent match and then that happens.”

The introduction of the ‘New Xbox Experience’, or NXE, in November last year led to an increased focus on the social side of gaming, allowing gamers to form ‘parties’ and jump from game to game together.

These benefits were generally well-received, with some even going as far as saying it felt like playing a brand new console, but according to Helene Wilson, EMEA Xbox MVP and webmistress of Xboxliveaddicts.co.uk, there is a down side to relying on ‘party’ based gaming:

“Although [it’s] great to have it so we can chat whilst all playing different games and from wherever we are, it’s taking away to a certain extent the ability to make new friends. If you are in a Party Chat and someone comes into a lobby, how are you meant to hear them?

“It's a great feature for people who love to be in a small group, but not so good for new people to Xbox Live who may be looking to make friends.”

Despite this, Xbox Live remains significantly more developed than it’s equivalents on other consoles. The Playstation 3’s ‘Playstation Network’ (PSN) recently announced over 20million members, a significant amount in the two and a half years it’s been up and running.

The key difference between their successes is money. A silver subscription to Xbox Live is free to Xbox owners, but it requires a monthly fee of £4.99 in order to upgrade to a gold membership and access its best features, particularly multiplayer, while Sony’s PSN remains entirely free.

Talking to Edge magazine about the financial worth of Live in 2007, Aaron Greenberg, the group product manager for Xbox and Xbox Live, said “You’re creating your friends list, messaging…. instant messaging, you get a good 80% of the Live experience for free…we feel our multiplayer offering is good value at 50 bucks (£39.99) a year.”

The content of Xbox Live isn’t just limited to games though. Video on demand and other digital distribution has been increasingly utilised in the past year, with film studio Pathé being the latest to sign up only a few weeks ago. The studio, responsible for Oscar triumph Slumdog Millionaire, joins Universal Studios, MGM and Paramount, who are all already providing films for Live.

Video downloads still have some way to go to reach the popularity of DVDs, which had sold over a billion units in the UK by 2007, but Shaw believes attitudes differ between America and Europe: “I think if you live in the states it’s been great. Outside of the US though seems to have been forgotten about. Sure we’ve got a line up of movies but it’s not to the same extent as our cousins over the pond.”

Another major part of the success of Xbox Live is downloadable content (DLC) for games. Almost every week there are reports of download records being broken, the latest being for Xbox exclusive downloadable episode 'The Lost and the Damned' for Grand Theft Auto IV, which became the fastest opening day money-maker on Live, retailing at 1600 Microsoft points (around £14).

There have been numerous controversies and problems with DLC in the past, such as the infamous horse armour for Oblivion, which caused an uproar on release when developer Bethesda charged 200 Microsoft points (about £1) for something which most gamers agreed would have been an unlockable secret in days gone by.

This begs the question of what qualifies as ‘good’ downloadable content, just as ‘The Lost and the Damned’ made us wonder if there should be a limit on how much developers can charge for DLC.

Andrew Hemphill, a Freelance Entertainment Journalist and Sub Editor, believes the quality of DLC can often depend on the individual game: “It’s a very mixed bag, while some of it is priced correctly, there are far too many developers placing a massive tag on their DLC- I shouldn't have to pay £10 to download three maps for COD 4 for example- that's extortionate. It should be capped.”

Some would like to see DLC pushed even further though, Wilson said: “I would like to see in the future all games being downloadable to the hard drive or to some kind of server for consoles, the way they do for P.C. Not only does this eradicate the stack of boxes and reduce the need for storage, but it would also get rid of scratched discs and be much easier to find the game you are wanting to play.”

Another issue which had left the gaming community throwing their pads across the room is ‘pay-to-unlock’ content. This is content which is included on the retail disc and is merely unlocked by paying the Microsoft points.

A chief example of this comes from EA games who publish both Burnout Paradise and Skate 2, both of which have downloadable codes to unlock all the secrets in the game. For some gamers this has already started alarm bells ringing, since players are being offered a choice to pay for little more than a cheat code.

Recently action horror hit Resident Evil 5 released its Versus mode amid a wave of allegations due to the download’s filesize being a meagre 1.5megabytes (about half a song’s worth of music), since it was widely claimed the content was already on the disc. Capcom responded stating that the structure of the mode wasn’t on disc already, but brought together content from all over the disc and bundled it up with only a bit of new code.

The fact of the matter is that Xbox Live works, and with new releases on the horizon, both retail and DLC, there’s plenty of scope for the service to increase in popularity, but what else will change?

Miller believes Live will embrace the social element: “with the fact you can access your account from any computer, I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes a bit more of a social network, like a gaming version of facebook.”

Hemphill sees it taking advantage of advances in web technology: “As high-speed internet connections become more popular, I can see an expansion in video and game downloads being forthcoming and possibly entire games being downloadable over the service.”

Wilson envisions a virtual world in your living room: “Touch, speech and movement sensitive controls and I would like to see an Xbox Live radio, web browser and perhaps a place to see how many lobbies are open on a game without having to put your disc in.”

Shaw thinks of the economics of the service: “People ask why Xbox Live isn’t free. I think it would ruin the service. It needs money to make sure it evolves. Although I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt to reduce the subscription price a bit or at least offer some sort of discount for gamer families who have to fork out a gold subscription for every child/parent in the house.”

The future economic and global success of Live will depend on the continued communication with its members and responding to their requests for their service, since without them, Live could not exist.

This piece can also be seen on Totally360.com here.

I do, I undo, I redo

You may have noticed a change around here. On the other hand I suppose you may have never been here before, in which case welcome along, but the big change to the blog today is the name.

Yes, that's right, I've finally realised that no one except me and old people in Vatican City with big beards understands Latin anymore, so it was out with "Ex virborum auditorum" and in with "This is Entertainment". I thought I'd opt for a name which reflected a little more the content of the page, something which I hope to build up on in future.

Also there's a snazzy banner at the top (comments?), which I knocked up on trusty Photoshop Elements (6.0, none of this archaic 4.0 University nonsense) so hopefully it gives things a little more cohesion, I suppose only time will tell.

The name of the post, for those who are interested, is from an artistic work I saw (above) in the Tate Modern in London a few years ago by Louise Bourgeois, which consisted of three large metal towers called "I Do", "I Undo" and "I Redo".

I just the symbolism reflected here quite nicely, I hope you'll read on...