Just recently I bought a new PC, nothing fancy just a mid range machine as befitted my financial situation, a friend of mine who lives thousands of miles away would like to build a similar machine so that he can play newer games such as The Witcher 2 or Battlefield 3.

I suggested to him that I record video of my gameplay and post it on YouTube so that he could see the performance a mid range machine would offer him in terms of graphical quality and frames per second, so I recently set about doing this but I've been having problems with the video.

Recorded video seems choppy even when gameplay isn't and when I do get a reasonable video using Fraps or Xfire the YouTube video has tons of artefacts.

here is a link an example video below so that you can see what I'm referring too.

I know i'm bad at the game but i really just wanted him to see the combat, I appreciate your input.

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

I should preface this blog by pointing out that I'm referring to buying a desktop PC in a retail store on the high street as shopping online still provides a wealth of options for the discerning shopper but in my particular circumstance a lack of credit/debit card proved to be a major stumbling block and I had hoped that one of the major retailers would provide me with a decent PC with a good price to power ratio.

My predicament started around a month ago when I decided that enough was enough and that I would get a PC that I could use to not only surf the web but also play games on, my old laptop simply wasn't up to the task and the people at the local library frown upon you trying to install games on their surprisingly powerful PCs.

As I mentioned earlier my bank doesn't trust me to have a debit card so I was forced to look around for a PC I could buy with real money and here's where the problem lies; retail chains such as Tesco, Currys and even the ironically named PC world only want to sell you a laptop, some do sell desktops or all in one PCs but only a small selection and none included a dedicated graphics card.

Smaller stores in my area no longer even stock PCs or laptops because they simply couldn't compete with the big players prices and found themselves switching to PC repairs just to stay alive and now the big players themselves have moved away from these machines as the portable devices market has become more dominant.

It took me over a month of searching nearby towns and even the capital of our fine country before I finally bit the bullet and went to someone with a debit card with the offer of cash upfront and a hearty handshake in exchange for their services so that I could finally got a PC, nothing too fancy just a mid level gaming rig but the whole experience has soured me on large retail chains and for the first time I've felt the effects they have on local shopping.

When I last bought a gaming PC it had a Matrox G400 and at the time it turned out to be a pretty poor choice for playing games but at least there was 4-5 shops that were willing to help me and I cant help but wonder if this lack of options and accessibility is hindering new comers or even casual players getting the most from their PC gaming experience because not only is there less shops but the people who had worked in the old PC stores had a lot more stake in the experience you got from them and quite frankly seem a lot more knowledgeable than your local big electronics retailer.

Read and Post Comments (There are currently 9 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot

Ok, so that last parts not quite true but high speed internet access has made it much easier to feel closer to other nations than it has in the past and with it the world has changed but one entity hasn't came along for the ride and that's the men and women who organise the distribution of video games.

As a European citizen that spends his life on the internet reading and writing about my own hobbies its hard not to notice the disparity between continents when it comes to video game releases. Some of these are relatively minor, a 3 day difference in release date for most major video games is hard heart breaking but there are some rather massive discrepancies

Kirby's Epic Yarn took a staggering 5 months to be released in Europe, the Playstation 3 was delayed 6 months due to manufacturing difficulties. The list goes on and on, well it doesn't because I couldn't think of any pertinent examples but rest assured there are lots.

These delays in games can often be explained in very simple ways, Shipping concerns, publishers unwilling to take the risk on smaller markets, localisation problems and in a way that's fair but one thing really grinds me the wrong way and that's digital distribution.

In a world where I could watch someone else's TV from 300 miles away in real time surely I should be able to download the same content from my console or handhelds online store and while I would hope that would be true, its not.

While Microsoft and Sony have generally been quite good when it comes to releasing the same content worldwide Nintendo continues to disappoint European gamers with lack of content on its online store and each company still have problems when it comes to working out a decent exchange rate, most of the time simply settling for the same figure but with a different currency symbol prefixing the number.

To sum it all up with a video game analogy, in the world of video game distribution Japan and North America get to take turns being the easy tutorial levels, while Europe is a mid-game dungeon that may require the use of a guide and not everyone will even bother but it could be worse, the Australian level requires several GameShark codes and is set on the moon!

Read and Post Comments (There are currently 15 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot

Ocarina of Time is a genuine gem of yesteryear, everbody knows it, everybody of a certain age played it, right? well the truth is, I did play it but i never finished it, infact I played it on the N64 and again on the Gamecube when i got the disk packed in with windwaker.

Then the 3DS release came along and i bought it, only then did i realise how little of this game I actually slogged through, when i started the game up it all looks so familiar, i travelled through tha first 2 dungeons and made my way to the third.

right as i entered Zoras domain it struck me, I have never been to this area and from that point on everything has been new to me but now one thing bugs me.

they made some of the things easier how much of the content am i breezing through that others have slogged through in the past ? if you can answer this leave me a message in the comments.

So i have played what i think is half of the game by now and aside from one eye shattering moment at the end of the first dungeon the 3D has been great, the world looks amazing and its testament to the artists that i narely botice how much the game world and art style have changed until i look at side by side comparisons.

The whole world looks fantastic, the day night cycle is a sight to behold and the dungeons look suitably epic though i did notice the fog effects from the original dungeons boss battle have not made the transition to 3d which made it feel a lot less creepy.

Gameplay is incredibly fun, the controls feel very intuitive even the positioning of the touch screen buttons for switching equipment dont feel out of place. combat is satisfying especially in later dungeons where enemies require gadgets to defeat.

Not much else to say except im thankful im able to finally play through the whole journey again.

Read and Post Comments (There are currently 5 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot

Read and Post Comments (There are currently 10 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot

Here it is 2011 a new year and my first chance to reflect on the releases of last year. I compiled a top ten list that I'll be posting in the near future but one thing struck me about it during my deliberation process, there where some notable games missing from it and the reason was simply that I hadn't even bothered to pick them up.

By far out of all the developers Platinum Games had by the best and worst of years.They started the year with the great Bayonetta which was an amazing feat of both programming and visual style, the combat with its crazy over the top style and fantastic combo system blended with a world that just looks stunning made this game instantly enjoyable , unfortunately its competition came in the form of Mass Effect 2, Darksiders, No More Heroes 2 and MAG just to name a few and although it sold moderately well it (1.1 million copies according to SEGA) it deserved so much more.

Platinum then rounded out the year in break neck fashion with the superb shooter vanquish which currently holds an aggregate score of 85.1% on Gamerankings, the introduction of the Rocket Sliding to the standard cover based shooter instantly made it stand out from the pack but again the game didn't sell as it should.

Both of these games have won numerous awards from Best Debut from Giantbomb for Bayonetta to Best Mechanic and Best game No One Played at Gamespot for Vanquish.

The other game missing from my list that I decided to check out was Enslaved, the story and look of the game have received high praise from reviewers and with a decent combat system I feel bad for missing it.

So I picked up all 3 of these games and decided to hold off my judgement of the top 10 of 2010 until I can get these titles under my belt.

Top 10 games, reviews and impressions coming soon.

Read and Post Comments (There are currently 8 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot

They accidentally leaked the info on the deals through the Download to Win contest info on the Dashboard yesterday. Here's the Complete List of "Countdown to 2011" Daily Discounts. this info is also in the official rules section of the xbox.com website.

Arcade Games:

• -Lara Croft: GoL
• -Castlevania Harmony of Dispair
• -Perfect Dark
• -Monday Night Combat
• -Sonic the Hedgehog
• -Sonic the Hedgehog 2
• -Sonic the Hedgehog 3
• -Sonic the Hedgehog 4
• -Sonic Adventure
• -Sonic and Knuckles
• -Limbo

Add-Ons:

• -Halo Noble Map Pack
• -Fable III Understone Quest Pack
• -RDR: Liars & Cheats, Legends & Killers, Undead Nightmare
• -Alan Wake: The Signal and The Writer
• -Dance Central: I Gotta Feeling
• -Mass Effect: Lair of the Shadow Broker
• -Mass Effect 2: Overlord; Kasumi

Avatars:

• -2011 Glasses
• -Pet Monkey
• -Rock Band Keyboard Prop
• -Alan Wake Raincoat
• -Kinect Sports Giant Foam Finger (Red)
• -Modern Warfare 2 UAV Prop
• -Fantasy Pets Minotaur
• -Cool Jobs Policeman Outfit
• -Plants vs. Zombies Mask
• -Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing Car
• -Yoda Green Lightsaber
• -Free Premium Theme

Movies:

• -Layer Cake
• -13 Going on 30
• -The Spy Next Door
• -Wall Street
• -Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
• -Brothers
• -I am Legend
• -GAMER
• -Semi-Pro
• -The Notebook

note the UK movies will most likely been different and this list may include all content.

Read and Post Comments (There are currently 13 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot

Read and Post Comments (There are currently 9 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot

Read and Post Comments (There are currently 6 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot

Then the incident occurred, the camera started adjusting and out of curiosity I looked up and saw that on the dashboard IR input display the screen was lit up as if the camera had detected hands waving, a little freaked out I got up to check it out and then the straw that broke the camels back, the screen flashed purple indicating that it had indeed found a person.

http://support.xbox.com/en-us/PublishingImages/kinect/hand-glow.jpg" border="0" alt="No ghost here" width="150" height="112" />

Not pictured is any ghost what so ever!

This happened just for a second and then it was gone but it freaked me out and I decided to check out information on how the IR sensor works and apparently the Kinect sensor incorporates two separate technologies that are typically used by ghost hunters.

The IR sensor to detect possible anomalous movement and the multiple microphone setup with a system to reduce ambient background noise which creates the possibility of capturing disembodied voices.

As someone who is sceptical of ghosts and ghost hunting I honestly don't believe what I saw was indeed a ghost, possibly it was a mote of dust or some sort of glitch in the system but I wanted to throw this out there and gauge peoples thoughts, especially the people who do believe in this stuff .

Who we gonna call? Microsoft Ghostbusters!

Read and Post Comments (There are currently 20 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot

I dont think it will be quite this drastic

The main difference I see between this model and that of EA is that rather than be side mission content this DLC will effectively be core content from the series, the first game to use it will be MX vs. ATV so I could imagine the missing content to be the higher tier vehicles or the more difficult tracks.

The biggest problem here is that racing series typically see a lot of DLC which is typically faster vehicles or more difficult tracks so in this sense its not much different than standard DLC for a full price game which the developer sees profit on even if you bought the game preowned and with the game releasing at a lower cost under the new scheme the developer is then likely to see less profit returned rather than more.

The other major stumbling block the developer will face is that of cutting content, assassins creed 2 developer Ubisoft faced a rather vocal backlash when their game was missing a few select chapters which subsequently was sold as premium DLC even taking into consideration that MX vs. ATV will sell at a cut price there is still likely to be some sort of outrage if twisted pixels experience with XBLA title The Maw which sells for $10 is anything to go by.

To sum it up if the developer/publisher sees less return at retail and releases DLC which isn't likely to see a larger return than normal will this help to reduce the damage the preowned games market creates? I for one don't think so.

Read and Post Comments (There are currently 8 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_h54YmwlRIDY/TNvw23lxMXI/AAAAAAAAABM/Yon0B6U9Nb0/s512/kinect1.jpg" border="0" alt="Denim was a bad idea and it had to go" width="452" height="512" />

Denim was a bad idea and it had to go

I played Kinect adventures for most of the day and by 3:30pm my son got home from school and joined me in some multiplayer, the camera had no problems tracking the two of us at one time even when we switched sides or tried to mess up each others games. What's even more surprising about this is that I am so much taller than my son.

The multiple game modes within Kinect adventures are all pretty fun from the serene Space pop which is super laid back as far as motion controls go right down to reflex ridge which is hyper energetic and really gets the muscles going.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_h54YmwlRIDY/TNvw23ZCbaI/AAAAAAAAABQ/ywfQmEZGcpo/s512/kinect2.jpg" border="0" alt="the kids loved it though my daughter is to small" width="452" height="512" />

the kids loved playing on that invisible trampoline!

By around 6 we had decided to try out the demo for Joyride and as we where both exhausted we took turns trying out the battle race, straight away the control scheme took some getting used to but after a while we both got the hang of drifting and shooting the weapons and though it was just the one track to try it seemed like a pretty fun game.

8pm dinner over and my old bones rested I stepped up for some 2 player joyride and the game switched us to a pro race mode and allowed us to race on a different track which had a ton of shortcuts and jumps and we had some pretty tight knit races but in the end we decided to try out another game.

The game was dance central and during this time I did get several messages questioning my manliness but I have to admit the dancing is pretty fun allowing even the most disjointed of "dancers" like myself to have fun, the only snag was that my son had trouble getting the game to recognise his moves but it worked for me perfectly.

Finally to wrap up the play day at around 9:30 pm we tried out fitness evolved and unfortunately it just wasn't my sons cup of tea though it is something I'm considering buying for myself so I can get a little more structured exercise.

After the kids went to bed I did stay up a while and I used the Kinect interface to watch some TV before replying to a few messages I got during the day and after almost failing to get up of the sofa I went to bed to recuperate.

So here I am the next morning 24hrs later and I have muscles that ache that I didn't even know I had and I'm asking myself if it was all worth it. The answer of course is yes from a fun standpoint I get to pretend I'm in Minority Report and the games although obviously first-gen releases are fun and can only get better from here.

From a financial stand point I would say yes too, a day out with my kids would typically cost me around £50 and with one day over and with many more to come this thing will be a godsend during the school holidays.

Read and Post Comments (There are currently 15 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot

Read and Post Comments (There are currently 12 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot

Rather than throw up some intellectual discussion about the pros and cons of such market manipulation, I simply wanted to ask the people who read this about your nightmares and your greatest moments involving pre-orders.

My greatest Pre-order moment came quite a few years back, a local game store was offering plush toys on the Pokemon red and blue games, I had to wait around because the delivery was late but I went home with the red copy and around 5-6 pokemon plushes which was pretty cool.

My biggest nightmare was GTA 3 which I pre-ordered, went to the store on launch day, stood in the queue before opening, at lunch time I was told they were sold out and I was devastated.

Took me a few weeks to finally get a copy

Care to share your own? Leave it in the comments.

Read and Post Comments (There are currently 15 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot

I've also had a chance to try out the demo for vanquish and Ruse, the vanquish demo was great, I can't wait to get my hands on the full game though I was less impressed with the ruse demo, nothing particularly bad about the gameplay, the missions in the demo just aren't that interesting.

If you haven't already watched it, head on over to the now playing section of the site and check out the gamespot staff playing Halo: Reach.

I watched the show last night as soon as it was up and was extremely impressed by what I saw, the graphics looked amazing and Shaun even took the time to show us the grunt grenade rush, which happened a few times to my amusement.

As someone who is excited about the games forthcoming release the preview I watched last night gave me all the info I could possibly want albeit with a few spoilers from the early game.

Straight up I noticed just how much the game has changed graphically since halo 3/ODST the sprawling world is a beautiful mix of organic and technology, with trees and buildings both beautifully rendered. The games AI doesn't let down either, anyone who played the previous games will know that the Ai is one of the highlights of the series and the return of the elites just sealed the deal for me.

I can't wait to pick this up on Tuesday.

Read and Post Comments (There are currently 15 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot

As many of you will know the actual release date for Call of Duty is November 9th, the reason I thought otherwise is that I saw the following advertisement

As a British citizen my crazy back to front brain reads this as September 11th making that release date clash with the highly anticipated Sci-Fi shooter.

Only today did I realise that the advertisement was in what I like to call "Americanish" and now my brain can rest easy in the knowledge that I won't have to decide which of these two games to buy.

Read and Post Comments (There are currently 18 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot

It's not that I expected too much from it, I knew it was linear and that there is nothing to do outside of missions but that doesn't bother me, there are tons of great games out there that don't have anything to do outside the story, heck I would go so far as to say that that's pretty much what all games where up until hardware could handle these huge sandbox environments.

So why didn't I like Mafia 2?

Find out here in my review

Leave comments on what you guys thought of the game

Read and Post Comments (There are currently 16 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot

This week I finally returned to the hallowed Battlegrounds and cities of Azeroth though fear not I haven't returned to my old ways, rather with my new PC I finally got round to buying Warcraft 3 and immediately upon booting it up I was hit by a wave of nostalgia. The game itself is absolutely fantastic and after playing through the first two campaigns and the prologue I'm hankering for more so I think the Frozen Throne expansion is next on my list of games to buy.

My second return to Azeroth came from a different Blizzard game Starcraft 2, I decided to buy it and although my computer hardly runs it and I had a heck of a time getting it installed with no internet connection at home , I still love this game, what really made my day was the dancing night elf hologram in the cantina, it genuinely made me laugh out loud.

I would also like to say DAMN you Blizzard for taking all my money!!

If you guys get a chance please check out my review of Dark Void.

Read and Post Comments (There are currently 17 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot

or possibly just as bad as always

Read and Post Comments (There are currently 22 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot

One example of this which inspired this article was a recent interview I watched with peter Molyneux, in the past Molyneux has promised much and delivered just the bare essentials. In this interview the journalist sat while Molyneux described the multiplayer portion of his new game fable 3 and to my ears it sounded just like what he said about the multiplayer in Fable 2.

Instantly my head was awash with follow up questions and as I neither have the brains or inclination to be a journalist I was shocked when the interviewer just moved on to another topic, how can such a glowing opportunity pass without the right questions being asked? Is the balance so far in the developers favour that we simply have to agree with everything they say?

This is by no means directed at anyone in particular, I just wonder when I come to a video game site to read an interview may I be as well just going to the developers home page and reading their latest press release?

Read and Post Comments (There are currently 14 other comments) | Get the full article at GameSpot