Film Review - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

We were promised 'Bayhem': more location, more action and, bizarrely, less explosions and Revenge of the Fallen doesn't disappoint on these counts, delivering a marked improvement on robo-duelling as well as believable robot to human interaction.

If you go to see this film expecting more than giant computer generated robots kicking nuts and bolts out of each other you were always going to be disappointed and though Director Michael Bay has done little to convert nay-sayers, there's little more of a plot this time around to hold things in place.

Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) returns with his impossibly attractive girlfriend Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox) and he's now starting college and trying to get on with his life after disposing of evil nasty Megatron two years ago.

The Decepticons (the baddies) aren't content to shuffle off and leave Earth be though, and have been tackling with ultra-secret taskforce NEST (which may stand for Nuclear Emergency Search Team – we aren't told – but the important thing is it's an alliance between the Autobots and humanity against the remaining Decepticons).

The story this time revolves around the fact that the Transformers have come to Earth before, some 19,000 years ago, and to cut a short story shorter the Fallen is the equivilent of the devil, a Prime (yes, like that Optimus guy) cast out after he decided killing innocents to obtain Energon, the races power source, was a good idea.

What follows is a highly computer generated chase movie with some comedy moments thrown in for good measure, Sam's mum trying some 'special' college brownies is a particular high point, and eventually coming to a climax in the sandy lands of Egypt.

The film works. It isn't flawless, it isn't outstandingly excellent, but it does what it set out to do. With the summer release schedule peppered with heavy releases it lets you forget reality for a moment and embrace this strange world where toys come to life...wait a second that sounds familiar...

The returning cast all put on a good performance, save Megan Fox who rests on her laurels somewhat in her eye-candy role and resorts to a few damsel-in-distress turns. John Turturro fills out Agent Simmons, who's fallen on hard times after Sector 7 was disbanded following the events of film one, and treads the line between action and comedy perfectly to set the tone of the final act.

Megatron seems a little emasculated by title-stealer The Fallen, and bravely runs away at the end to leave the door open for a three-quel, which despite Bay's insistence this was written as if it was the last Transformers movie, seems inevitable, if not for a couple more years.

Already in the two years since its predecessor you can see how much the technical complexity of the robots themselves has left forwards, with fights between up to have a dozen at a time a common occurrence, one particular highlight is the Mortal-Kombat style de-spining of a cougar shaped Decepticon.

The real hero is, of course, Optimus Prime, who, keeping with the Biblical analogy here, is killed and then resurrected for the final face-off against the big nasty, while Sam and Mikaela carry on their (slightly) forced love story, takling the issue of the 'l' word itself, which really pales in comparison to the excitement going on all around.

Bay has surpassed himself to create a film which people are sure to enjoy if nothing else, but he wasn't trying to make people thing or deliver a moral message, he just wanted to blow stuff up.

And, despite his initial claims, he does like no one else could.

Introducing: Streetfight Silence Live from the Cellar Bar Bracknell

Bracknell's Cellar Bar was rocked to its foundations last night when 80s-inspired synth rock band Streetfight Silence took to the stage.

Though they were second on the bill, the three-piece, Bracknell based themselves, wipped the crowd out of their Sunday night comfort zones to get connected with some quality music.

Russ Merry, who spends his days working at Legoland to pay the bills, tackles lead vocals and guitar with Chris Cooley on the drums and Chris Penfold on bass. The group have already won the Wokingham Battle of the Bands, bagging them a cool £200 and time at a high end recording studio, making them a hot contender for this year's Best British Newcomer at the Kerrang! Awards.

The gig drew an sizeable crowd and managed to get them singing along to melodic ballad “After All”. The energetic performance brought the dingy venue to life with some solid drumming, ambitious bass and impressive guitar work from Russ himself.

The band will soon go into the studio to record more material, but you can get your hands on the “Skys The Limit” EP now, or check out myspace.com/streetfightsilence.

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.

Misleading Trailers

Excitement, amusement and bewilderment are three things that can come from watching a trailer. They began as a mere marketing tool, designed to get the word out about new films and entice people in with flashy special effects and big actors' names with "Academy Award-Winner" pasted over the top (Public Enemies, Above), but now trailers have turned a bit nasty.

It's not that there's anything particularly bad about them, but increasingly you find they mislead the viewer into making false assumptions. Take latest Dan Brown adaptation Angels and Demons for instance (here there be spoilers), in the trailer a chilling voiceover says "If god has issues, it won't be with what we've done, it will be with what we're about to do"

Nothing wrong with that you might say, and you're right, it's a decent quote to stick in a trailer as a dead body is chillingly uncovered on screen and conjures up questions for the viewer like: What are they going to do? Why? and Who are 'they'?

Once you get to the film itself however, this subterfuge reveals itself. Rather than a mysterious heinous act, the quote in fact refers to the simple act of murder. Furthermore the quote has been manipulated so the 'we' that was heard in the trailer is actually 'I' in the final print, instantly taking away all the mystery and suspense since it's obvious that a killer who's already killed and has three prisoners is likely to do so again.

Another example is Minority Report, where another line change changes the meaning of what's going on. In the trailer Colin Farrell's character Danny Withwer is in Pre-Crime HQ with Tom Cruise's John Anderton when he says "I've got a warrant in my pocket that says murder".

On the surface this is a pretty good line and sounds pretty cool, but after watching the film you find it makes no sense and is just untrue.

It makes you wonder how far this will go, there's been plenty of trailers or teaser trailers which have used scenes which were eventually deleted from the final cut (see Xmen 3's "We're not kids anymore" discussion), but surely manipulating lines is a slippery slope and could become a dangerous game of deception.

Will we eventually find films changing as radically as this:



If you haven't seen or heard of The Shining, then you could easily be fooled by something as simple as this, admittedly very well done, spoof.

We can only hope that film companies decide that we can, in fact, handle the truth.

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.

Xmen Origins: Wolverine Review

Wolverine is cool, Hugh Jackman is cool (or hot, depending on your gender), so a film featuring both focusing on both should be a no-brainer, right? This was clearly the thought of Marvel bosses when they decided to launch into the Xmen Origins film series, currently at least two films, the second being focused on Ian McKellan's sublime Magneto.

As it turns out, the film reaches expectations, but goes little further. Wolverine is joined by a cast of fan favourites to make it more than just a one man show, notably Deadpool/Weapon XI (who's already been given the green light for his own spinoff) and Gambit.

X2's evil-nasty-man William Striker returns, this time embodied by Danny Huston, as Wolverine and big brother Sabretooth's (an excellent Liev Schreiber) way out of an exceptionally long military career. You do stop for a moment to wonder why no one seems to notice these recruits enlist for every major conflict in US history and never move up the ranks...

Confusing continuity aside, the brothers are soon among an elite group of mutants, a word muttered under-breath throughout the film, which serves to outline how early in mutant history we are here, there aren't going to be evil plots to mutate world leaders for some decades.

The prequel nature of the story lets us see some of the later mutants in their earlier years, such as a young Scott Summers (a.k.a. Cyclops) and a brief cameo from an even-more-digitally-de-aged Patrick Stewart as Professor X. This is all well and good, but does slightly distract from the general story.

The other supporting players in the story perform well overall. Gambit seems tragically underused, tacked on as a means to an end for our protagonist, and despite being very cool and quick to get back at the big bad Wolf after he's knocked out with a casual elbow to the face, you still feel like the story wouldn't have missed him.

Ryan Reynolds (NOT Ben Affleck as I stupidly assumed at first) put on an impressive turn as Wade Wilson, combining some excellent comic lines with some devastating katana moves in the opening act , and eventually being transformed into the Sylar equivalent of the Xmen universe: Deadpool. There's confusion here since in the comic books Weapon XI and Deadpool were too very different characters, but in the film the two have been combined.

Jackman has maintained countless times in interviews the fact that this film should take the character to a place where he could walk off-screen at the end and walk into the bar where we meet him at the beginning of Xmen.

This is unlikely to remain however, since the teasing out-scenes, now an expectation of the Xmen movies, show Logan drinking in Japan trying to remember who he is. The tragedy of amnesia is that it almost makes the entire film pointless, as everything he's learned, suffered and sacrificed are lost along with his memories, but from a storytelling perspective it's very handy, since it neatly explains why he doesn't recognise Sabretooth as his brother in Xmen 1, for example.

The film overall is a healthy blend of action, emotion, mystery and some more action thrown in. It's a worthy beginning to Wolverine's tale, and sets itself up nicely for a sequel which could bring to life Sin City scribe Frank Miller's stories of Wolverine in Japan.

In terms of the 'Origins' aspect, it doesn't take away from the endearing mystery of Wolverine as a character to know what happened in his past that he can't remember, but the adamantium process, frequently flash-backed in the first two X films, seemed a lacklustre affair compared to the scenes of Jackman covered in blood, desperately trying to escape Alkali Lake amid primal screams.

If you compare this film to the trilogy it bobs around about the same standard as the franchise's debut, with X2 sailing in front and poorly subtitled The Last Stand trailing, aptly, in third. The effort put into the film, but that and its fairly predictable story are let down by a few jarring visual effects, which at times seem set to appeal the videogame generation.

Definitely worth checking out for fans of the series and the genre as a whole, but lacking in enough substance to draw in new viewers who aren't already trapped by the invincible Adamantium claws.

Feel Good Hits Of The Summer: May's Blockbusters

Summer has always been a big release time for film, with films released July 4 weekend smashing records on an almost yearly basis, but does this years crop of films look to stand up to the pedigree of past years.

Last year was dominated by the superhero, as Iron Man and The Dark Knight stole the world's attention, and putting in yet-another case for why comic book films are a serious business.

May is the big month this year, with almost all the big name releases being thrown at us relentlessly amid the (hopeful) sunshine.

Wolverine is the first big contender, or Xmen Origins: Wolverine, to give it its full, overblown title. Originally planned for release May 1, the date was rushed forward after a massively hyped piracy scandal, which saw the film leak prematurely on the internet, to which Hugh Jackman was reportedly very disappointed, since the version which got out wasn't 100% done, and obviously you don't get the full affect of all the nifty special effects.

Jackman is big in terms of star quality and he's a very talented actor, so the film stands to do well merely rested on his shoulders (though Baz Luhrmann may disagree with this logic...), but if you add to that the vast fanbase of the Xmen franchise, both film and comic book, then you've got a massive potential audience before a metal clawed punch has been thrown.

Another film which has a huge, perhaps even epic, potential fanbase, is the latest incarnation of Star Trek directed by JJ "Help I'm LOST" Abrams on May 8. Those who haven't heard of the starship Enterprise by now have surely been hiding under an astoriod, since the plight of the Galactic Federation of Planets has been played out in (at least) five series and nine previous films over the last 40 years.

With veteran Leonard Nimoy back for a cameo as the cooly logical poity-eared Vulcan Spock, hardcore Trekkies will already be unable to resist, while big budget sci-fi has been off the table long enough for it to make a comeback at the cinema.

This leads us inevitably on to Christian "husky voice" Bale in Terminator Salvation on May 21. Not technically a sequel, but a "re-boot" - to translate this industry jargon, it basically it means the last film didn't do quite so well, so they wanted to distance themselves from it and start afresh (see also Hulk, Casino Royale and Batman Begins).

Judgement day has finally come for John Connor and those of humanity who've decided to fight back against evil supercomputer software Skynet and its company: all-round robitics-controlling-nasty Cyberdyne Systems.

Last in May is Disney Pixar animated tale Up, about a...I'm not sure, is it a floating house with a small child an old man going for a walk? Anyway it's set up as being the most impressive Pixar spectacle yet, and since they keep raising the bar with every film (except perhaps Cars, but we'll ignore that - talking cars? That's madness!), we can expect some great things from the team.

In terms of vocal talent the film includes Christopher Plummer of A Beautiful Mind and as OAP with altitude Charles Muntz, along with newcomer SyrianaJordan Nagai as Russell. Family films often tend to do well, since they appeal to a wide audience by their very nature, and Pixar have proved their pedigree numerous times over the years, meaning young'uns will be clamouring for this latest story.

Crashing out of May and into June is Michael Bay's Transformers sequel Revenge of the Fallen, but perhaps we'll look into that a little more another time. Essentially all you need to know to appear up on the latest social trends is that is has Shia LeBouf, Megan Fox and giant transforming robots, simple!

Potential big hitters are Angels & Demons, an adaptation of another book from The Da Vinci Code's Dan Brown, and Drag Me To Hell, a horror flick directed by Sam Raimi, who helmed the Spiderman trilogy.

So, if you decide to see a film this May then you should have a bit more of an idea what to expect, chances are you've already decided what you like the look of and don't but if you choose not to take the big names at face value, who knows?, you might be presently surprised.