Everything under the Sun is in tune, but the Sun is eclipsed by the Moon.

• 3Jul 09

  The Glorious Fourth

  As in Greenwich Mean Time, 4th July has begun, I can tell you that nothing is happening over here in Britain. 4th July is just another normal, average day. However, hats off for the Yanks, who will be enjoying their Independence Day today. I personally celebrate Independence Day, partly because I like celebrating national days for countries I'm not a citizen of (Australia Day! ), and partly because one day I hold a dream of one day living in the United States. Ah, can you believe E3 was this time last month? Time does fly. Anyway, now that the exams are over and I passed my second year, I took advantage of the spare time by chopping wood, stripping wallpaper, mowing lawns, ripping up floors. And in amongst the physical manual labour, I also got the opportunity to play some games. First off, I'd like to talk about World in Conflict. Superb game. Being someone who was born in 1989, I already know how important that year was in terms of international relations. The Berlin Wall came down, the Cold War was coming to a close, and a number of other important events also occurred. It is fun to contemplate if it could have happened any differently, and this is what World in Conflict does. Instead of the Soviet Union crumbling apart, they mount one last vast, desperate offensive campaign, invading Europe and the mainland United States. The gameplay itself is fun and engaging, and features some of the best multiplayer I have ever had the chance to play. It's so good in fact, even when you loose you don't care, because it's just that fun. There is no resource gathering; it's just pure, unadulterated action. I suggest reading my review for the full lowdown.

  

  Next came some more Fallout 3. I bit the bullet and bought some more of those mysterious Microsoft pseudo-money things, with which I got the rest of the Fallout 3 DLC's that are available at the moment, and I have still enough remaining to get the fifth and final one which comes out later this month, called Mothership Zeta. Overall, Point Lookout, the fourth DLC, is probably easily the best of the bunch. There is an actual open wasteland area to explore, a good selection of missions, and generally it feels a lot more like Fallout 3 should. Broken Steel is also the other DLC which is really worth it, because raising the level cap and extending the main storyline give the game a bit more weight. At the other end, Operation: Anchorage and The Pitt are moderately disappointing, mainly because they are just so linear. It's one mission after another, and then you're done. In Operation: Anchorage, you can't even return to the area when you finish the questline (not that you'd particularly want to anyway). It seems that Bethesda got slowly better at developing these packs, because they have got significantly more enjoyable with each one released. So, if you already own Fallout 3 and want to get some DLC, I recommend Broken Steel and Point Lookout. Only get the other two if you are a completionist. If you don't own Fallout 3, wait for the Game of the Year Edition! It will include all five packs as one, and will save you money in the long run.

  

  Finally, The Sims 3. My sister bought this for herself, and so I naturally snuck into her room one day and borrowed it for a time. I'm in two minds about it. Part of me prefers The Sims 2 for a number of reasons. For one, in The Sims 2, you could create your own towns, place your own lots and fully customise what the neighbourhood looked like with trees, rocks etc. You could also name the streets, or import neighbourhoods from SimCity 4. However, in The Sims 3, there is only one town of Sunset Valley out of the box, and one another town available for download if you register the game online. You cannot create your own. Within Sunset Valley, you can move the houses and families around, but you can't move the lots themselves, rename streets or change what the neighbourhood appearance is like. Sure, these are minor parts of The Sims, but I found it fun. Another thing I dislike is that for several types of community lots, you cannot see what is happening inside. When children go to school for example, they go to the school in town. However, they simply enter the building, and then spent the intervening time hidden before emerging again. The same is true of all jobs as well, where Military employees will go to the Army base and Politicians will work at the City Hall. There are things I like though. The neighbourhood being seamless means that it is possible for your Sims to cycle down to the local shop to buy groceries, and then cycle round to their friend's house and invite yourself in for dinner, all without a loading screen. It feels more natural and I suppose realistic, but the game strips out several things which The Sims 2 and even The Sims original did. I'm going to hold off on making my final judgement for now though.

  Anyway, I hope you enjoy your Independence Day wherever you are.

  • Posted Jul 3, 2009 4:24 pm PT
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• 6Jun 09

  To the Convention Center! E3 Awards

  One day late I'm afraid, I was rather busy on Friday and didn't have time to write this up then. But now, the end has come ladies and gentlemen. The curtain has fallen on E3 for another year. The show is packed up, and the staff are heading back to their respective offices. Overall, I was extremely impressed by this year's show. There was a huge selection of games; the overall feel of the event returned to its pre-2007 state of being louder and more exciting; and overall I think it will have to go down as one of the best in recent years. Some of my favourite moments include; the variety of technical hitches which occurred with the live stage show feed, and the reaction this often garnered within the chat room (fear, anger, sadness... ), the entire Ubisoft press conference which dragged on and The Beatles: Rock Band stage show. Just generally the talk within the chat room was bizarre, amusing and downright crazy, but certainly worth it. Kudos must be given to both JodyR for arranging it, and Caddy06_88 for lobbying for it.

  I also want to say a big thank you and well done to everyone who made E3 both possible and enjoyable throughout. Special thanks must go out to the GameSpot staff who managed to put together those great stage shows for three whole days. I'd also like to take this opportunity todraw attention to Giant Bomb's great trio of E3 podcasts, including some excellent guests (Paul Barnett!) and comments, which offered a lovely condensation of everything that happened at the show. So, it's at this point that custom dictates that it's time to distribute the awards. Below are my picks for some imagined E3 awards. Feel free to debate the various merits of my choices, but keep in mind that they are only my opinions, and have no reflection on the relative greatness or badness of the games themselves. The nominee's are in lists of five, from which the winner and runner up is chosen.

  Special Achievement
  Best New IP
  Alan Wake - Winner
  Brutal Legend
  Heavy Rain - Runner Up
  Singularity
  The Saboteur

  Biggest Surprise Announcement
  Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
  Final Fantasy XIV Online - Runner Up
  Left4Dead 2 - Winner
  Metal Gear Solid Rising
  Super Mario Galaxy 2

  Most Impressive Press Conference
  Electronic Arts
  Konami Corporation
  Microsoft Corporation - Winner
  Nintendo Company
  Sony Computer Entertainment - Runner Up

  Best Exhibited Game
  Assassins Creed 2 - Winner
  Mass Effect 2
  Modern Warfare 2
  The Beatles: Rock Band - Runner Up
  Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

  

  Dubious Honours
  The 3DRealms Award for Best Game We Didn't See
  BioShock 2 - Winner
  Dead Rising 2 - Runner Up
  Fallout: New Vegas
  Gran Turismo 5
  Mafia II

  The Politician's Certificate for Biggest Waste of Time
  Imagine Games at Ubisoft conference
  James Cameron's Avatar Ubisoft talk - Winner
  NCIS cast crash GameSpot Live, Day 2
  Satoru Iwata's Wii Vitality Sensor talk
  Ubisoft Entertainment's entire conference - Runner Up

  The Needlessly Complicated Shield for Most Bizarre Peripheral
  DJ Hero mixing turntable - Runner Up
  Microsoft's Project Natal
  Sony's unnamed motion controls
  Tony Hawk Ride skateboard
  Wii Vitality Sensor - Winner

  The Big Rigs Trophy for Worst Exhibited Game
  Dante's Inferno
  Dark Void - Runner Up
  DJ Hero
  Red Steel 2 - Winner
  Spyborgs

  

  • Posted Jun 6, 2009 3:49 pm PT
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• 4Jun 09

  To the Convention Center! Day Three

  You can look forward to a slightly shorter exposition today on everything that occurred on Wednesday. The big press conferences were over, but both Square Enix and Konami were still eager to pitch in with their own ideas. The tale end of E3 is always less exciting than the beginning, but there is still some important news emerging. The second day of GameSpot's stage show also exhibited a vast amount of titles, normally with an accompanying live demo. So there is still definitely enough to sink your teeth into.

  Square Enix Press Conference
  Square Enix naturally concentrated on Final Fantasy quite a bit. It was also a much smaller affair to the other conferences, taking place in a small theatre, and only lasting for 45 minutes. The majority of the Q&A session was basically directed at FF13 and FF14, with nothing else the company might be doing really addressed. They also mentioned that the PS3 exclusive would also come into PC as well, so it cannot technically be said to be a genuine 'exclusive'. They are also considering bringing it to Microsoft, although I expect that will be after the exclusive period at Sony ends. There was no other footage of FF14 Online, besides the trailer shown at Sony conference the day before. The team consisted of Hashimoto, Tanaka, and Komoto, who answered a variety of questions concerning the Final Fantasy franchise, and where they planned on taking it in the future. Very few specifics concerning FF14 were actually discussed, and it felt like the game was still really in pre-production, rather than half-complete. They answered the questions about FF13 more openly, mentioning that there would certainly be call-backs to previous games in the series. Overall, if you weren't interested in Final Fantasy, it was quite dull. On the flipside, the Final Fantasy addict certainly got their fill of news.

  

  Konami Press Conference
  Konami on the other hand, went mad with Metal Gear. Hideo Kojima was there again, and talked about four titles, three of which were Metal Gear; MGS Peace Walker, MGS Rising (also to PC!), Metal Gear Arcade and, interestingly, a new Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, coming in 2010. Metal Gear certainly looks like a bread winner, and Castlevania attracted considerable attention. They are also continued to work, bizarrely, on a Saw game. Personally, I couldn't think of many more deplorable games (Manhunt I suppose), but to each his own. Up next was Dance Dance Revolution (solitary cheer in the crowd, also coming to other consoles), which is still certainly a dancing game. You dance in rhythm, you get points; that's the way it goes down. There was also a DS game called WireWay (defeat the aliens and save your love!), Deca Sports 2 (more sports mini-games), as well as Silent Hill for the Wii and elsewhere. Overall, Konami had a pretty impressive résumé, but what was missing anything that excited me personally. Again, it was mainly for Metal Gear Solid fans, and possibly Castlevania ones as well. Probably more impressive overall than Square Enix's Final Fantasy obsession.

  Stage Show Day Two
  Stage show yesterday was a full-length event, showcasing many games. I watched most of the second half (due to being downstairs for a rather good barbeque for the first half), but there were some interesting games. The Secret of Monkey Island special edition is a re-release of the original, which can be played in both updated and original styIe. The updated version will have new graphics, total voice acting, and more Monkey Island music. It will be possible to jump between the original and the updated version in game at any time, which looked excellent. Assassins Creed 2 also looks really great, with the setting of Renaissance Italy really working very well. Ezio is an equally frightening character to Altair, and doesn't actually begin immediately as a trained assassin. Modern Warfare 2 looked equally exciting, and it seems that Infinity Ward keep on making great shooters. There were many other things, but I can't remember them all.

  That's all today. Tomorrow I will round-off with the final day, and give my concluding thoughts. Any preliminary ideas? This may have been one of the best E3's ever, and this is not simply clichéd hyperbole. It's been an incredibly dramatic show, and a great return to form.

  • Posted Jun 4, 2009 11:31 am PT
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