tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62253252464449795692011-11-27T23:21:27.057ZMy thoughts about a bunch of stuff (but mainly video games)FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.comBlogger1671100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-56199170476008769822010-01-02T15:43:00.002Z2010-01-02T15:46:55.930Z

Hello happy readers.As I mentioned the other day, I am going to renew my focus on this blog. One part of this is that it's moving to a new domain so that I can host my XNA games and any other files I want.So, this will be the last post to Mainly About Games in its current location.Please go and have a look at what's going on at www.mainlyaboutgames.co.uk and remember to update your rss

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-72252340822113374742009-12-30T16:00:00.000Z2009-12-30T16:00:00.827Z

Why do game updates on PS3 take so long?We're having some friends over on New year's day, so I popped in Buzz and Singstar to make sure they were updated and could just be played straight away if the mood takes us.There have been two updates for Buzz, weighing in at 345MB and 51MB. What the hell, almost 400MB of updates to a quiz game? On my 2Mb broadband connection (not the broadest for sure,

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-90464346060935720342009-12-29T17:51:00.000Z2009-12-29T17:51:49.532Z

Ok, that may be an over exaggeration, but after an hour or so of play it's really not grabbed me like I expected.I liked:The HUD elements being introduced by name and moving in to place as they are "installed" was a very neat way of telling you what was what in a fairly seamless manner.The graphic style is very nice in motion.The intro and character introductions are nicely done.I don't like:The

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-66242604407102493082009-12-28T16:22:00.000Z2009-12-28T16:22:22.410Z

At this festive and celebratory time, my thoughts always naturally turn towards rich, delicious food, and a little more good drink than is good for me.Which reminded me of a special treat I was sent this year - Mountain Dew World of Warcraft Gamefuel. Except for the "delicious" part, but then we're getting a little ahead of ourselves.Apparently Pepsi often make special editions of their sugary

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-44172875421082686552009-12-24T12:05:00.003Z2009-12-24T12:24:36.575Z

Well, a quiet year on this blog. Three months since the last post I think is something of a record for me.For the most part this has been because of the time I've spent stateside this year for work. Although being so far from friends and family was very hard, I had a very interesting and productive time out there, and even managed to enjoy myself every now and then.I also met some great, talented

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-2449955621189079442009-10-03T14:33:00.004+01:002009-10-03T15:04:00.026+01:00

Ok, at the time of writing I can buy a white PSP 3000 base unit from Play.com for £129.99, and a 16Gb Memory Stick Pro Duo for £54.99.Add them together, and you get the functionality of a PSPGo, but for £184.98. And how much does the PSPGo cost? £199.99Er...Actually, I wasn't being quite honest. You don't get the functionality of a PSPGo, but in a cheaper package. You get slightly more, as you

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-57624468070254904872009-09-28T08:00:00.000+01:002009-09-28T08:00:04.662+01:00

Today I found out that I can't purchase things on Steam while I'm not in my home country.As I've mentioned a few times in the past, I'm currently working in the US for an extended period, and it suddenly struck me that there were things on Steam that would actually run and play quite well on this rickety old laptop I have with me.I put in my billing address. It gets confused - I don't seem to be

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-56063364301054835052009-09-22T08:00:00.000+01:002009-09-22T08:00:01.495+01:00

Fuck you, Tom Nook.So, having recently finished Professor Layton's Diabolical Box, I had an urge to buy another DS game, and start getting some serious time out of that DSi I bought and then never used.Browsing the isles of the (curiously Atlantis themed) Fry's near where I'm staying, I came across Animal Crossing, which had two things going for it. First, I'd been meaning to pick up a copy for

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-48407634986891801772009-09-14T02:33:00.000+01:002009-09-14T02:33:58.129+01:00

One benefit I've found to living in the US (as I currently do) is that when companies decide to be all weird about release dates, and encourage people to pirate their games by releasing them months later in the UK, I can get them at the earlier date.And so it came to be that I have already played through and finished Professor Layton's Diabolical Box, before it's hit the shelves of the UK (oh,

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-30353362203468989242009-09-08T06:43:00.005+01:002009-09-08T07:02:21.113+01:00

I've just realised I've got over a donzen draft articles that I haven't yet had the time to polish up and publish.Honestly, I've been playing more games and writing about them than the month long inactivity of this blog would suggest. I will get around to posting thoughts on Ghostbusters, Shadow Complex, Monkey Island, and more very soon.Look, here's a picture of Jade Raymond to keep the masses

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-65145223231472006112009-08-09T23:44:00.004+01:002009-08-10T00:11:35.484+01:00

This is what's wrong with the games industry today.Why bother talking about the actual content of a game or demo, when you can nit-pick minutiae of frame rate, resolution, and pixels that no player will ever notice in practice?That way, you can encourage both pointless system fanboyism that never gets anybody anywhere, and a worthless race for slight graphical superiority that also never gets

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-87412490108435027842009-06-25T15:28:00.000+01:002009-06-25T15:28:43.143+01:00

Look, it's not dead! I've just been very busy, as usual. It turns out working in America for months really gets in the way of writing stupid things about videogames.Anyway, I have found some time to play a few things, so here are some short reviews.X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a fairly decent hack n slash that could really have done with more variation in environments and enemies. And fewer

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-80055611712590710622009-03-09T08:30:00.001Z2009-03-09T08:30:00.503Z

I've recently been playing through Creative Assembly's Viking: Battle for Asgard. It's an open-world brawler, and I've generally thought it was quite a decent game - a solid 70%er. It had a few too many flaws to be a classic, but generally was a fun way to pass the time.After this afternoon though, I'll have nothing but bad memories of it. I've just spent an hour trying to beat the final boss,

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-4739426829997697052009-03-02T08:30:00.000Z2009-03-02T08:30:00.544Z

Not quite as good. Still fun though. Shut up Cortana.(Thanks Shallow for the suggestion.)

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-13062715164415215972009-02-26T10:21:00.005Z2009-02-26T10:52:18.315Z

James Parker is a games writer and former colleague who I've briefly mentioned before. His blog is always good reading, and I thought this recent article was particularly interesting. Here's a chunk...You can't go anywhere on the internet where they are talking about game stories without some enthusiastic comment poster presenting their incredible and unique vision of the future where games

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-27397730622413815142009-02-16T08:30:00.003Z2009-02-16T08:30:01.022Z

I've got nothing specific to write about this week, so I've gone for the tried and tested route of rambling half-coherently about a bunch of games that I have been playing.First up is Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise. Two years and three days ago I wrote about the interface to Viva Pinata. I played the first game a lot (980 points, gamerscore fans!) and though I'd got used to the annoyances (the

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-71230977442387625392009-02-09T08:30:00.000Z2009-02-09T08:30:01.531Z

Over the past couple of months I've been playing both the new Prince of Persia game by Ubisoft, and also Tomb Raider underworld by Crystal Dynamics. The two games are very similar, both recent takes on the 3d platforming genre. But which one is better? There's only one way to find out, as Harry Hill would say ... fight!GraphicsTomb Raider doesn't look bad (you can almost feel the spray from some

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-24493385230867864362009-02-06T18:56:00.002Z2009-02-06T19:10:06.320Z

For anyone that's interested, I've joined Twitter, and the minutiae of my day can be read (or how about experienced?) at www.twitter.com/freakyzoidAt the moment I'm struggling to see the point in a version of what seems to be a Facebook that only has status updates on it, but I'm expecting that eventually a breakthrough will occur and it'll all become clear as day.On the plus side, there are a

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-21746094309064439222009-02-02T08:30:00.003Z2009-02-02T08:30:00.087Z

About a week ago, EA announced that there would be some downloadable content for Skate 2 that, if bought, would unlock everything in the game.This seemed to kick up quite a fuss online, with the usual cries that EA were ruining everything.Personally, I don't really see what the problem is with this DLC.Now, just to make clear - this isn't unlocking stuff that without the DLC is unobtainable. This

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-1977970813891779962009-01-27T08:37:00.003Z2009-01-27T08:47:50.748Z

Just a quick update to recommend an interesting article. Eurogamer has posted a postmortem by Jon Hare (ex-Sensible Software boss) on Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll.It's a good read, mainly because you don't often get this kind of article on totally dead titles, and the postmortems I have read tend to be a little too much on the "there were a few minor issues, but it was generally all rosey and

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-21752393510845303582009-01-26T08:30:00.005Z2009-01-26T08:30:01.190Z

I forgot to put an update in my last post about how I got on with wading through the mass of things I wanted to consume while on holiday. I know it's not terribly interesting for most people, but what is a blog good for if not me writing about things that I like? And if you're not that bothered you probably wouldn't be reading my half-arsed ramblings anyway.I got through most of the books in was

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-51876081474103910872009-01-19T08:30:00.003Z2009-01-19T08:31:14.385Z

Bah, why is it so cold and grey and miserable in the UK, when it is so warm and sunny and happy in other bits of the world?Just before I went on holiday I completed Fallout 3, I just didn't have time to scrawl down some of my thoughts about it. Be aware that the next three paragraphs have some fairly major spoilers, if you've not got that far yourself...I felt that the story had and ending that

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-65194739047571966062009-01-16T08:30:00.000Z2009-01-16T08:30:01.132Z

Sorry, I mean LittleBigPlanet of course. A game that Sony wants to be cool, so it isn't allowed to have a normal name.I haven't spent a huge amount of time with LBP. Unfortunately for it, or me, it came out when I was still very much obsessed with Fable 2. And like that game, I think "charming" is the key djective - I really can't imagine describing LBP without using that word. Everything about

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-75165049225766057082009-01-12T08:30:00.003Z2009-01-12T08:30:01.112Z

I'll make no attempt to hide that this post has been written in advance and then scheduled to publish today. The reason for this pre-record (as I'm told they call it in radio and TV circles, and I figured that if I start comparing the games industry to radio - instead of movies - I might be at the forefront of some exciting new stupid internet arguments this year) is because I'm on holiday.Which

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-21104354392359615032009-01-08T08:30:00.003Z2009-01-08T08:30:00.541Z

(To give a bit of background, this is a post I made to a message board when I was asked how I was finding Fallout 3. For something that's been pretty much roundly given the game of the year award, I thought it was interesting to look back on my early game experience - I think at this point I was around level 8, had just found Rivet City in the main quest, and had done a couple of side quests with

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-45391123711246103122009-01-04T08:30:00.000Z2009-01-04T08:30:01.271Z

If you own an iPhone or an iPod Touch, you might be fooled into thinking there aren't many good games for it. The decent to crap ratio of games on the app store is frightenly low, and when adverts are heavily pushing the frame-rate impaired Crash Bandicoot Kart Racing (or whatever it's called, research has never been high on my list of editing priorities), it would be easy to think everything is

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-762702690381893832008-12-31T08:30:00.005Z2008-12-31T08:30:00.663Z

I do like Christmas. Lots of lovely holiday to catch up on games, punctuated at regular intervals by stuffing myself silly with food and booze, and meeting up with family. And the weather's so bloody cold nobody thinks bad of you for staying inside all day. I've had a couple of weeks off so far, mostly dominated by Fallout 3 which I'm enjoying more now than when I started (due to the incredibly

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-88706944172299834432008-12-29T08:30:00.001Z2008-12-29T08:30:00.802Z

Hello chums (the seven of you that StatCounter informs me reliably visit every day). I've been a bad blogger again. I know. I had the best intentions, but work and home life still conspired against me. Whatever time I got to jot down thoughts on games I had been playing and news I had been reading, resulted in bullet point lists. I put the lists into blogger for editing into proper posts at a

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-43690029709693786772008-11-12T08:00:00.001Z2008-11-12T08:00:05.786Z

Fable 2 is a wonderful game. Absolutely riddled with minor glitches & bugs*, but still everything I was expecting, and it is brilliant.I will say at this point that I was a fan of the first Fable (possibly because I never listened to the hype before it came out, and then pushed through the fairly boring first chapter at the hero school). Fable 2 is a classic sequel - it includes everything from

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-44035879769421772292008-11-10T08:00:00.000Z2008-11-10T08:00:11.574Z

My replacement Xbox turned up a week ago. Thankfully this time I've been sent an entirely new one, rather than a refurbished one. It's much quieter than any of the Xboxes I've owned or borrowed from work, and hopefully that's a good sign.So, after two weeks of being Xbox deprived (so deprived in fact, that I even resorted to playing Haze on the PS3) I have finally been able to dive into Fable 2,

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-58748791884854951282008-10-22T08:30:00.003+01:002008-10-22T08:30:00.444+01:00

Really, Free Radical? From Timesplitters and Second Sight to this?

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-88975056019110787162008-10-20T08:30:00.000+01:002008-10-20T08:30:00.780+01:00

Well, it's happened. My second Xbox 360 has died. Something in the end of level sequence for Lego Batman stressed it an inch too far, and it gave up (though if it took my 60% complete save file with it I won't be happy). Just in time for the game release silly season. What a pain in the arse.This one has lasted pretty much a month shy of two years, having been delivered as a replacement for the

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-5426708672462593712008-10-15T08:30:00.001+01:002008-10-15T08:30:00.300+01:00

Being able to admit when I'm wrong is one of my many virtues. And since it's one that people don't often get to see in action, this is a great opportunity.Lego Batman is, contrary to my previous worries, the best Lego game Traveller's Tales have made.Unconstrained by following the plot of a movie series, they have really let themselves go, and have come up with some brilliant and inventive level

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-74498488643485313542008-10-09T08:30:00.001+01:002008-10-09T08:30:00.856+01:00

It is WipEout Pulse. In HD. Half arsed photo mode.

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-81530394232077536592008-10-07T09:30:00.000+01:002008-10-07T09:30:01.324+01:00

So, I've been going back over some notes for things that I had played over the last few months. I found some stuff about Lego Indiana Jones, which is interesting again, since Lego Batman comes out in the UK at the end of the week. The bullet pointed list, then...Feels like it's had a lot less love & effort put into it than the Lego Star Wars games. In particular there are things that were added

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-23025436899661940262008-10-01T09:00:00.000+01:002008-10-01T09:00:02.261+01:00

If anyone who reads this is in need of a professional writer, I would recommend James Parker. I've worked with this guy in the past, and his writing is top notch.He also has a blog about writing in games, here, which is interesting reading. It's good to find something to read about the writing in games that isn't just trying to push the "we should be art" or "we should be films" angles constantly.

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-31096161852166528472008-09-29T09:00:00.001+01:002008-09-29T09:00:00.692+01:00

As pretty much anyone who knows my gaming habits already knows, I'm a huge fan of the Ratchet & Clank series by Insomniac. I was a huge fan of their Spyro games before that (only theirs, mind), and I find their platform games to be generally very well put together.Since I've recently finished Quest for Booty, I thought I'd put together a run-down of my thoughts on every R&C game. Why? Hasn't 4

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-13189209450455700742008-09-26T09:35:00.000+01:002008-09-26T09:35:00.545+01:00

Sonic Adventure 2 [...] it should be respected for trying to make the Sonic games take themselves seriously.Yeah, that's exactly what a game series about an incredibly fast blue hedgehog and his double-tailed fox chum needed.

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-76643486682000237262008-09-24T10:30:00.001+01:002008-09-24T10:31:54.754+01:00

First, a cautionary tale about pre-orders. The previews and whatnot for Force Unleashed looked ok so being the spend-happy chap that I am, I decided to pre-order it. Then a demo was released (or unleashed? No, let's go with released), and I got about halfway through before getting very bored with it. But it had been a while, so I'd forgotten my pre-order existed. The reviews started  coming out

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-7107981459436755612008-09-24T10:29:00.000+01:002008-09-24T10:29:25.575+01:00

No, I didn't discover SingStar and then give up on gaming.Maybe it will last longer this time. I have been very busy both at work and at home, and the spare time I've had I've spent playing games instead of writing about them. And when I have been writing about them, it's been on message boards rather than here, which is rather stupid of me.I will try and do better.

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-4264889081691401302008-05-07T09:30:00.000+01:002008-05-07T09:30:00.330+01:00

Apparently Sony are going to put songs by unsigned acts up for download in the SingStore. Of the couple of hundred tunes currently available, there are lots on there by famous acts that I haven't downloaded. The reason is because I don't know those songs, and the fun of SingStar is singing along to stuff you know. Surely Sony must realise that?PS - If anyone who has any say in these things is

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-24590319145095531392008-05-06T09:30:00.000+01:002008-05-06T09:30:00.351+01:00

I don't know quite what I was expecting from this, to be honest. I've always wanted to like Metal Gear Solid games, but every tie I've tried them I've ended up giving up, due to a mixture of the controls and the cutscenes.Maybe that's why I thought I might like the Metal Gear Online beta - because it'd have no cutscenes. But in the end I've left it thinking it wasn't a very good idea to try and

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-48830120197793065412008-04-29T11:40:00.001+01:002008-04-29T11:50:00.053+01:00

This bit of news provoked two separate thoughts in very quick succession. One: Has there been a single good Spyro game since Insomniac stopped making them? Two: When are Sony going to release the PS1 Spyro back catalogue on Playstation Network?I'd buy them all again in a flash. Imagine having a good platform game (that isn't Daxter) to play on the PSP!

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-8617547817395033012008-04-27T19:16:00.001+01:002008-04-27T19:19:13.229+01:00

As you might be able to tell if you pay attention to the bits of my blog that I update over on the right there, I recently bought a PlayStation 3. Despite still only ticking one out of four of my buying requirements, the urge to play Ratchet & Clank had become too great. After all, there are only so many Mexican terrorists that you can shoot with a range of realistic weaponry before it all

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-85822356514692580512008-04-21T09:33:00.000+01:002008-04-21T09:32:56.078+01:00

Non-RPGs have often dabbled with adding in experience systems, and recently the idea seems to have really taken off in first person shooters. Halo 3 had fairly limited multiplayer progression, and then Call of Duty 4 had a fantastic online experience system. Now the Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (and that's the last time I'm ever going to type the ridiculous football score name out in full) developers have

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-45853472095375936272008-04-16T19:36:00.002+01:002008-04-16T19:39:31.766+01:00

1) Sometimes you get really cool stuff given to you.

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-85551202303429434202008-03-26T09:29:00.000Z2008-03-26T09:28:43.803Z

A thought that recently struck me, for no particular reason I can work out, is that I feel really sorry for any team given the task of producing a new Bomberman game.First, the good. They're guaranteed to get some sales through IP recognition. I would be more likely to buy "Bomberman" than "Explodeguy", just because I would know roughly what I was getting. And I'm sure there are some people out

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-42049301768950447692008-03-21T10:13:00.000Z2008-03-21T10:13:56.883Z

From GameCentral's review of Rainbow Six Vegas 2.As usual this isn't a bad game though, just a completely unnecessary one. I do love it when developers release games that are completely necessary. You know, like ... um ...

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-25564173510384727332008-03-19T09:30:00.001Z2008-03-19T09:33:47.094Z

Question: What do Gordon Freeman, the protagonist from FEAR, and Master Chief circa Halo 1 all have in common?Answer: Despite being equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and armour, they're all hampered in their efforts to save the world by being given flashlights powered by the quality of batteries that you'd expect in the remote control for a cheap DVD player. You know, the sort that has a

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-4043346162174045622008-03-14T09:22:00.000Z2008-03-14T09:22:59.595Z

I was recently linked to the Indie Gamer forums. It's an interesting place where a bunch of independent developers chat about stuff.Briefly looking over their feedback forum I was struck by the importance of having a good name for your indie project. It's all very well for the "big guys", if they release a game called Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom they have enough money to advertise it

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-89662579567558472692008-03-10T09:44:00.001Z2008-03-18T20:42:29.402Z

This game features a lovely map / waypointing system that overlays onto the screen, turning the entire thing into a nice simplified HUD view that simplifies and highlights the geometry. At the same time it winds a lovely bright spline along the player's route, and tags up anything that can be interacted with.Despite it being both practical and very nice, I've not been able to find any screenshots

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-9891485808890298652008-03-07T09:26:00.000Z2008-03-07T09:26:27.541Z

Army of Two features the same design decision that I really disliked in Criterion's Black. In a game that's all about how great it is to shoot the everloving fuck out of everything (and in AoT's case making it an important gameplay element when you're trying to get aggro from your partner), which bother having limited ammo?I can understand having a limited clip to force the player to stop

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-66385708152932665022008-03-05T20:22:00.002Z2008-03-05T20:25:51.411Z

Best of the bunch - and also the most overtly homoerotic touch in a game that's not exactly short of them - is the riot shield system, which allows one player to use a shield or car door as portable cover while the other cuddles up close behind and dispenses "lead" from his "iron". I don't know why this stuck out so much to me, but I find it interesting that a professional reviewer spent so many

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-26844923470947961762008-02-29T09:33:00.000Z2008-02-29T09:35:17.405Z

My current PlayStation 3 bundle purchase requirements:Some form of backwards compatibility, for the girlfriends Singstars at least (look, they are hers, and you certainly will never caught me singing Barbie Girl). I thought I remembered reading that the new Singstar was going to have this, but apparently it doesn't. Status: No. Any two of: Ratchet & Clank, Uncharted, and Singstar (look, it's for

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-1907154918136531072008-02-28T09:30:00.002Z2008-02-28T09:33:13.127Z

Here's a top tip for you - my method for vastly increasing the chances that you'll enjoy Fable 2.1) Have a look at a single screenshot of Fable 2 - this should be enough for you to gather that it's a fantasy themed game.2) Play Fable 1. I think it's on Xbox originals now, and the PC version is probably easy to get hold of. Or just have a look for some Youtube videos of it being played. You'll

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-8102179975555107422008-02-19T19:12:00.001Z2008-02-19T19:14:43.664Z

Hypothesis: Arousing Nero will result in his sexual pleasure.2:46pm - Experiment begins.2:48pm - Tickled Nero's balls at a medium intensity for 5 minutes.2:53pm - Experiment concludes.Devil May Cry 4 has terrible dialogue.

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-71752720025209800312008-02-15T09:57:00.001Z2008-02-15T09:59:36.972Z

For anyone in the UK - Game are selling Overlord for £15 at the moment. It's definitely worth picking up for that price.

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-62641042388475056992008-02-13T09:51:00.002Z2008-02-13T09:51:26.228Z

Recently I thought I'd try out the Video Marketplace thingy that MS have finally released in the UK. My main reason for it was that I have a high def TV, but it's only 32" (girlfriend acceptance factor dictated tht I couldn't get anything much bigger), and I was curious to see if an HD movie format would actually look noticably better than the upscaling DVD player I have at the moment.The

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-53265559209056364072008-02-11T09:51:00.001Z2008-02-13T09:52:36.685Z

The full game is indeed a lot better than the demo. So, to any Criterion bods reading: I'm sorry I said you'd cocked it right up.The lack of a teleport option is still a big pain in the arse though. I've lost count of the number of times I've wanted to warp to a junction, or even just a scrap yard. And for a game that couldn't have a "retry" option because it would add loading screens, it seems

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-27378008131397742082008-02-07T18:11:00.000Z2008-02-07T18:11:41.442Z

What is it about people called Ward? I "got it", I just didn't think that the core concept - stylishly killing people for points - was fully carried through by the gameplay. Certainly not in the demo, and after a quick look at the website it seems the full game offers little new.You can either shoot someone, or shoot them in the head. It didn't have any other type of skill shot as far as I could

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-56517865324424692002008-01-30T09:27:00.000Z2008-01-30T09:29:39.002Z

What does the "HD" stand for if you're playing Rez HD on a 480p telly?

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-49104407660106320402008-01-28T13:12:00.000Z2008-01-28T13:15:06.996Z

From the Eurogamer comments thread on the news that Call of Duty 4 sold very well.COD4 isn't revolutionary in any way. And I just hate franchises that release new installments every year. COD is turning into something like FIFA. What's next, COD8, COD11...? I would imagine CoD 5 is next. Just a wild stab in the dark, like.

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-77844900103976135752008-01-18T21:33:00.000Z2008-01-18T21:34:32.052Z

My short(ish) views on what I was playing just before Christmas:Call of Duty 4: Brilliantly exciting single player with some very inventive set pieces and levels. Makes you wonder how all war games aren't this exciting. I thought the Multi-player would grab me, but it didn't in the end, and I've kind of given up with it after only a handful of sessions. Final score: 8/10.Assassin's Creed:

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-27415193228355424192008-01-14T12:48:00.001Z2008-01-14T12:49:54.532Z

Just a week before my 30th birthday, I have finally completed the one and only thing on my "things to do before you are 30" list.I am better than 550 other people at Voyage mode Easthaven 3 Deck in Soltrio Solitaire. I was so happy I almost cried.(To be fair to me, I did only add this to my list about a month ago - it's not something that's taken me 29 years to achieve.)

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-87053883624249614852008-01-11T09:33:00.000Z2008-01-11T09:33:10.756Z

Yellow sports cars driving away from an explosion at a slight tilt, with the game's title angled up to the right above, look cool! But then, I guess you already know that...Also, if your game's cover looks the same as your competitors, it's not really going to jump off the shelves.

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-78006877586593331732008-01-09T09:22:00.000Z2008-01-09T09:22:52.149Z

Majesco have announced a game called "Our House" - probably some sort of "just like the house-building bit of the Sims" thing for the Wii.I found the press release disappointing, mainly because when I heard the news I was expecting something with a Madness license - surely a hot IP for video games. Just think of the possibilities: Our House (a Sims clone), Driving in my Car (a racing game

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-70739623649403036822008-01-08T09:32:00.000Z2008-01-08T09:35:33.544Z

Sony have announced a new 16GB memory stick for the PSP - "Users can store up to 110 minutes of high-definition video recorded in 1920 mode, almost 6 hours of HD video when shooting in 1440 LP mode, and more than 4000 still pictures in 10 Megapixel resolution."What people are really going to use it for is their massive collection of pirated PSP games. Which will further shaft software sales on

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-50727294968838255842008-01-05T17:51:00.000Z2008-01-05T18:09:56.812Z

Having a unified online system like Live, as opposed to having every game do their own thing, is a great idea. When it works. Unfortunately Live is undergoing some troubles at the moment (apparently due to an influx of new users, which suggests that either a staggering number of Xboxes were sold this holiday, or that the system was perilously close to falling over anyway).I say at the moment,

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-76252860818927572602008-01-04T09:35:00.000Z2008-01-04T09:34:56.145Z

I had a play of the demo for Frontlines: Fuel of War recently. I thought it was quite good - a nice take on the Battlefield "capture point" mechanic, but in single player. In particular I liked the demo level, and the way it allowed you to go off the beaten track, and rewarded you for finding good routes to flank the enemy positions. The tank bit was rubbish, but it was also over much more

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-12803295729000249752008-01-02T09:20:00.000Z2008-01-03T09:19:41.600Z

"Holy crap, there's a demo of Burnout Paradise available - This'll be great, I love Burnout games, me!" was roughly what I was thinking the other Thursday morning.Oh dear, that'll teach me.The crashes are very nice, and I like that the camera while you're racing is very dynamic, with lots of shake and stuff when you nudge other cars and do other exciting things.The main complaint I can see coming

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-44440348978685355832008-01-02T09:18:00.000Z2008-01-02T09:18:45.628Z

Well, everyone else is doing it so why not, eh?This last year's been an odd one for me, mainly because of this blog - I've never been able to sit back at the end of a year and look back over what I've played, and what my thoughts on those games were at the time, in such detail. It is an oddly reassuring and peaceful thing to do, to the point that I would actually recommend other people do it

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-59438712707095797612007-11-15T21:00:00.000Z2007-11-15T21:00:21.312Z

Yes, yes, I realise I've utterly missed the boat talking about this game. But I wrote all of this stuff a month ago and just never got around to editing and posting it. Honest. And at least I've actually finished it now.So, my take on it:Even by the end I still often found myself wishing I could use the d-pad and face buttons for movement and combat a lot of the time. Especially when being chased

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-82068124956991061772007-11-10T16:59:00.000Z2007-11-10T17:03:16.147Z

Call of Duty 4's multiplayer message of the day from today. Made me chuckle - Infinity Ward is a very cool developer.

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-91855219672516168232007-10-31T09:27:00.000Z2007-10-31T09:27:17.099Z

One of the many nice touches in the game is the jester who lives in your tower.Whenever you're near him he'll shout out a nickname for your overlord, all of which are linked to in-game events. If, for example, you'd just butchered an entire village, he might refer to you as the "oppressor of humans".As you progress through the game the number of nickname-worthy events increases, until eventually

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-66075690117060764342007-10-27T11:08:00.000+01:002007-10-27T11:05:52.284+01:00

It's nice when a company spends a lot of time and effort on their game's presentation. It often leads to menu systems that look great, are a little bit different, and are very functional as well.But PGR4's menus have made a bit of a blunder. Every option is listed horizontally, meaning that typically only 2 or 3 options are visible to you at once. This means that you can't see what all of the

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-87527489858918460202007-10-18T12:34:00.000+01:002007-10-18T12:34:26.366+01:00

Video and photo editors in games are a brilliant idea, and thankfully this sort of thing seems to be getting more popular. All three of the big name 360 games I'm playing at the moment (Skate, Halo 3, and PGR4) have some sort of video or photo capturing mode.There are two excellent reasons to include this sort of thing in a game.First, it helps build community. Players will mess around in your

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-35789616539770230712007-10-16T09:23:00.000+01:002007-10-16T09:30:56.442+01:00

I can't tell if it's me who really doesn't understand, or Ubisoft. To me, this range of games is borderline insulting. But then maybe young girls don't care that they have stereotypical 'girl' interests, and which game publisher wouldn't happily shit out "Imagine Washing Up and Doing My Laundry, and Get Me a Beer While You're in the Kitchen?" if they thought they'd make money out of it?The

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-45072697653851110912007-10-14T12:20:00.000+01:002007-10-14T12:20:42.397+01:00

Bioshock, Halo 3, Skate, Mass Effect, Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Project Gotham Racing 4, Halflife Orange Box, Call of Duty 4.And I'm sure there's plenty of quality out there that I've forgotten about, or aren't really that interested in*. Forget "is this next gen?" - it doesn't matter. It's a brilliant time to be a gamer.* I'm saving "I think all 3d Mario games are rubbish" for another

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-60165047224367980172007-10-02T20:22:00.000+01:002007-10-02T20:22:06.427+01:00

I sometimes feel sorry for the guys who write dialogue for games. Imagine crafting what you think is a perfect little one-liner - a throwaway funny comment for a towns person to make as their oppressor strolls past with his goblin army.Then imagine playing the game and realising that your joke has been ruined in the implementation by five townspeople saying it one after the other so it sounds

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-66760334558160806272007-09-24T12:50:00.000+01:002007-09-24T12:54:39.375+01:00

There's an interesting update on Make It Big In Games right now, about focussing your game's design. That's all really, I don't have any new content to post so I may as well pimp someone else's good stuff.

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-83907070171065730732007-09-18T09:33:00.000+01:002007-09-18T09:32:54.421+01:00

A subject that seems to come up fairly often (and you'll no doubt see a lot more frequently in a week's time when people rush to be the first and hippest dissenting voice on the internet) in game discussions is "why on earth does everyone think Halo is so good?"It's usually followed by a list of things that the poster doesn't like about the Halo games, and often surmises that people like them

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-23887707741702175592007-09-17T09:32:00.001+01:002007-09-17T09:36:17.424+01:00

...you get the "Centurion" achievement in Soltrio Solitaire.In other Soltrio Solitaire news, I've stopped buying the extra game packs. Although that's only because my addiction has focused itself on 3 deck Easthaven in voyage mode (which I am officially the 5th best player in the world at, something I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad about).And now I've added "Soltrio" to Google toolbar's

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-24902107520956938022007-09-15T12:35:00.000+01:002007-09-15T11:35:12.630+01:00

The Godfather game got a fair amount of flak, and it's easy to see why. Film license games never get an easy ride of it, but when you're doing a game of what's widely considered one of the best movies of all time you'd better hope you really ace it. And Godfather didn't.That's not to say it's a terrible game, while there's plenty that could be improved upon, there are a lot of things it does very

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-36236097675544093002007-08-17T09:17:00.001+01:002007-08-17T09:30:03.961+01:00

The Darkness has quite long loading times between areas. In order to help maintain the immersion while the game brings up the next level the developers have put in little cutscenes.These are little monologues by the main character giving details of his background, or filling you in on his thoughts on the story's progression. The story ones are triggered by entering the next level that the game

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-19630581259557536892007-08-15T09:21:00.000+01:002007-08-15T09:33:48.021+01:00

The tower in Overlord is one of those in-game menu type things. Functionality-wise it's just a nice-looking hub that lets you access armoury and dungeon rooms that you could otherwise imagine being on a front-end options list.It's dressed up nicely though. You can buy upgrades to make it look more impressive, and characters you bring back with you from the main game worlds can be seen wandering

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-39341261752787267702007-08-14T09:21:00.000+01:002007-08-14T18:14:26.581+01:00

It turns out that I really am utterly rubbish at updating this thing. I suppose I could comfort myself with the thought that it's better to only write when you have something worth saying, but then that'd mean I have very little worthwhile to say. And I suspect that most of the previous updates break that rule anyway.No, I'll stick to the line that I'm too busy and / or lazy to write any

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-49576887017955794142007-08-01T13:36:00.000+01:002007-08-01T12:36:36.650+01:00

First bit of happy news - congratulations to anyone who won a Develop Award last week.Misery-guts insurgents would like people to believe their "you didn't deserve it" propaganda, but fuck 'em, just bask in the glory of somebody - anybody - recognising your hard work.In particular well done to Realtime Worlds. I've bleated on enough about how I love Crackdown, and you guys did a great job.

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-45652807295583337372007-07-31T18:11:00.000+01:002007-07-31T18:26:08.970+01:00

I've gotten a bit down recently about how fucking miserable everyone in the games industry seems to be.I know it's probably not the case (I bet there are plenty of happy developers out there, and I know and work with a whole load of them) and it's more than likely just the horribly twisting looking glass that is the internet working its wonderful charm again, but it's still annoying me.We have

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-59279948165600990262007-07-11T20:46:00.000+01:002007-07-11T20:48:56.464+01:00

...there's another Soltrio Solitaire game pack up to buy. I swear if they keep up this release schedule I'll have spent £50 on the most comprehensive collection of obscure solitaire rules by Christmas. I might even have to put Soltrio in to Google's custom dictionary.Still, it's better than buying Golden Axe or Sonic again.

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-41817927250207880892007-07-11T09:24:00.001+01:002007-07-11T09:28:08.631+01:00

Not because of any particular announcements (though stuff like a release date for Mass Effect, and confirmation that the Europeans will actually get the video marketplace is nice).No, I'm mainly loving it this year because I didn't have to work my ass off preparing a demo.Hooray! (And also commiserations to those who did.)

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-40727011535672079132007-07-09T10:30:00.000+01:002007-07-09T09:27:54.345+01:00

So ages ago I was going to write an update about a nice little Live Arcade card game, but then I got sidetracked by stupid things like becoming addicted to a nice little Live Arcade card game.Soltrio Solitaire is excellent because it takes all of the hassle out of card games, but adds no extra hassle. The presentation is clean and easy to follow, with fonts, colours, and cards all being well

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-53012695792202995202007-07-04T10:35:00.000+01:002007-07-04T09:35:58.873+01:00

So it seems that because of my update drought I've never mentioned that I've finished Condemned either.So, just quickly, this game is great and if you're at all a fan of creepy games (or not a fan of them, but just like great games you can get dirt cheap - I fall in to this category) you should hunt out a copy.Why is it great? It's very atmospheric with some very nice graphics for a lunch title;

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-21756105649066504812007-07-02T21:40:00.000+01:002007-07-02T20:44:41.728+01:00

I could write a year's worth of updates on the subject (especially given how few updates I did last month), but this article pretty much sums it up.Polls of "best games ever" are worth less than the paper they're printed on. Because at least when it was first pulped there was chance that the paper would be used to publish something useful or life-changing, like a treaty on world peace, or the

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-34597473192033995802007-06-14T19:35:00.000+01:002007-06-14T18:43:21.154+01:00

I love reading articles about Assassin's Creed on Eurogamer. Not because I like to soak up every detail about the game, but because the comments are always an hilarious shitstorm.On one side you have people banging on about how they'd like to bang on Jade Raymond, and on the other you have the glorious white knights of the internet defending her honour.I particularly liked this post:There is no

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-15236803339231464322007-06-13T20:22:00.000+01:002007-06-13T19:25:45.325+01:00

I recently read an article on Eurogamer where David Doak talked about various bits and pieces Haze related. It was interesting enough, but then I had a brief flick through the comments on the article (I'm my own worst enemy really, but sometimes you just feel like being astounded by the stupidity of your audience, you know?) and came across this gem.Other developers are usually humbleI have no

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-16671948554179462922007-06-02T18:06:00.000+01:002007-06-02T17:06:25.706+01:00

I'm a bit of a Picross fan (it turns out that I'm easily addicted to any puzzles based on grids and numbers), so I snapped this up.Initially I thought it was rubbish, but I've gradually come around to it- I'm starting to think that it does what it sets out to do pretty well, and it's just that I don't really agree with that initial goal.This is a Picross game for people who have never played

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-56556065910005991672007-05-30T10:36:00.000+01:002007-05-30T09:35:43.040+01:00

There's an article on Eurogamer about the new Splinter Cell, where the too-complicated controls of the previous games in the series have been simplified down to three different button presses (and probably some analogue stick wiggling too).I'm not convinced about going very context sensitive - I like it when a game character responds in a predictable and timely way to my input (though admittedly

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-32850885142470010542007-05-26T19:00:00.000+01:002007-05-26T18:03:31.205+01:00

I think I might mark today down in my calendar - The day I finally beat Crackdown. Those street races went on for far too long. On the one hand, I'm glad I eventually beat them all using all vehicles, since it filled in a 150 gamerpoint gaping hole in my life (yes, I think I am one of "those" people).On the other hand, I wish I had managed to beat them by using my awesome driving skills, instead

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-35225551498218404862007-05-25T10:28:00.000+01:002007-05-25T09:28:33.219+01:00

More threes I have recently spotted in games.God of War 2: three secondary weapons to choose between.Crackdown: three agency vehicles; three gangs to take down.I think I'll leave it there, I'm already bored of this joke.

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6225325246444979569.post-26115437429267397982007-05-23T21:07:00.000+01:002007-05-23T20:07:15.587+01:00

So it seems that both Haze and Halo 3 will have four player online co-op. Lovely, I'm very glad that this is catching on.Playing through the co-op campaign of G.R.A.W was the best thing about that game, and I enjoyed Gears of War more than most people I work with because I played the entire story in co-op (which meant that I could laugh with my friend during any of the annoying loading cut-scenes

FreakyZoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13968264557604484432noreply@blogger.com0