Tag Archives: junior smart

At Last! GTA 5 Trailer

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The new trailer for Grand Theft Auto 5 has finally been released.

What can I say? Typical of its developers, Rockstar Games, it leaves a lot to the imagination.

Different magazines and sources have all given their own dissections of where Rockstar could go with this latest release.  It looks as though they are going to give the player even more freedom in the open world, much like what they did in Red Dead Redemption and from the feel of the trailer, one gets the feeling the game will focus even more on the storytelling.

One thing to improve upon will be the online multiplayer aspect. It’s not hard to understand why, as they have seen other games like Uncharted 3 do so well in this area.  Maybe they will bring a social element into GTA 5, such as offering Facebook integration.

It’s hard to say what direction the developer will go in terms of the tone of the game. We all know that the previous version was violent, while the one before that had its funny side. Maybe they ought to offer some sort of parental control, so you can have the best of both worlds.

One other source apparently ‘leaked’ some information regarding the GTA 5 world – which proved very interesting – suggesting that owing to the size of the game Grand Theft Auto 5 would be digital only. This would mean that it would not be on a physical disc, but via an online set of downloads.  So let’s play devils advocate for a second. Let’s say for a moment that there will be a physical copy as well. Would this be a PS3 only release?  It will not require as many discs as the 360, due to the fact that Sony use the Blu-ray, whereas Microsoft went for the smaller capacity DVD.

Questions are always about in matters like this. but I am interested to know what you think of the trailer, where you think it is going and what you think the new game should include.

As for the release date? Well,  we cannot be certain of this, but the rumour mill is circulating that the release date could be as early as May 24, 2012.

We wait with bated breath.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkkoHAzjnUs&w=560&h=315]

Top 10 Common Faults with Human Thought

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When you think about it the human mind is an incredible thing. Cognition, the act or process of thinking, enables us to process immense amounts of information in the blink of an eye. Take just walking down your high street for example; you are multi-tasking walking with taking in stimuli such as sound, smell all whilst looking out for the latest offers. You may be consciously thinking about one specific thing, but you brain is processing thousands of subconscious ideas.

Unfortunately our cognition is not perfect, and there are certain judgment errors that we are prone to making, and left unchecked there are certain habits we can fall into with our thinking which can limit our success. In my own journey of change NLP played a huge part as the key statement is ‘That as you think, so you are’. It shares a lot with the field of psychology ideas that ‘Thought is linked to behaviour’.

I’m going to share with you the top ten faults. If any of these ring true for you don’t worry; they happen to everybody regardless of age, gender, education, intelligence. Some of them are well known, others not, but all of them are interesting. I am sure everyone will find that one has happened to them, (I myself have been prone to several) hopefully you recognise when they are making an error in the future.

 

10. Gambler’s Fallacy

The Gambler’s fallacy is the tendency to think that future probabilities are altered by past events, when in reality, they are not. Certain probabilities, such as getting a heads when you flip a (fair) coin, are always the same. The probability of getting a heads is 50%, it does not matter if you’ve gotten tails the last 10 flips. Thinking that the probabilities have changed is a common mistake, especially when gambling. For example, I am playing roulette. The last four spins have landed on black, it has to be red this time right? Wrong! The probability of landing on red is still 47.37% (18 red spots divided by 38 total spots). This may sound obvious, but this bias has caused many a gambler to lose money thinking the probabilities have changed.

 

9. Reactivity

Reactivity is the tendency of people to act or appear differently when they know that they are being observed. In the 1920s, a manufacturing facility commissioned a study to see if different levels of light influenced worker productivity. What they found was incredible, changing the light caused productivity to soar! Unfortunately, when the study was finished, productivity levels decreased to their regular levels. This was because the change in productivity was not due to the light levels, but to the workers being watched. This demonstrated a form of reactivity; when individuals know they are being watched, they are more likely to be motivated to change their behaviour, generally to make themselves look better. Reactivity is a serious problem in research, and has to be controlled in blind experiments (“Blind” is when individuals involved in a research study are purposely withheld information so as not to influence the outcomes).

 

 

8. Pareidolia

Pareidolia is when random images or sounds are perceived as significant. Seeing clouds in the shapes of dinosaurs, the image of Jesus on a slice of bread, or hearing messages when a record is played backward are common examples. The common element is that the stimulus is neutral, it does not have intentional meaning; the meaning is in fact the viewer’s perception and reflects as much about them as the situation. So if you are looking for something like a woman in am image you are much more likely to see just that.

 

7. Self-fulfilling Prophecy

This is perhaps the most powerful fault with human thinking. A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that causes itself to become true. For example, I think my relationship with my significant other is going to fail, so I start acting differently, pulling away emotionally or I refuse to trust them because I have had negative experiences in the past and I think that every partner will cheat on me. Because of my actions, I actually cause the relationship to fail. This is a powerful tool used by so called “psychics” they may implant an idea in your mind and you eventually make it happen because you think it will.

When you start realising this it actually becomes quite shocking. There is an argument to say that Economic Recessions could be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Because a recession is 2 quarters of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) decline, you cannot know you are in a recession until you are at least 6 months into one. Unfortunately, at the first sign of decreasing GDP, the media reports a possible recession, people panic and start a chain of events that actually cause a recession.

 

6. Halo effect

The Halo effect is the tendency for an individual’s positive or negative trait to “spill over” to other areas of their personality in others’ perceptions of them. This bias happens a lot in employee performance appraisals. For example: my employee, Biff, has been late to work the past three days; I notice this and conclude that Biff is lazy and does not care about his job. There are many possible reasons why Biff was late, perhaps his car broke down, his babysitter did not show up, or there has been bad weather. The problem is, because of one negative aspect that may be out of Biff’s control, I assume that he is a bad worker.

The Physical Attractiveness Stereotype is when people assume that attractive individuals possess other socially desirable qualities, such as happiness, success and intelligence. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when attractive people are given privileged treatment such as better job opportunities and higher salaries.

 

5. Group Polarisation

Sometimes called Herd Mentality or Mob Mentality, this is the tendency to adopt the opinions and follow the behaviours of the majority to feel safer and to avoid conflict. At its most common form this is none other than peer pressure. We see Herd Mentality in recent incidents such as the riots, but do you notice it at Christmas when everyone wants the latest toy or is perhaps looking at the latest fashion? Creating a must have attitude in consumers is the staple diet of Marketing execs and if they can create it even through viral exposure they will at any cost; all it takes is a group of people who think something is cool, and it catches on.

 

4. Reactance

Reactance is the urge to do the opposite of what someone wants you to do out of a need to resist a perceived attempt to constrain your freedom of choice. This is common with rebellious teenagers, but any attempt to resist authority due to perceived threats to freedom and/or choice is reactance. The individual may not have a need to do the specific behaviour, however the fact that they cannot do it makes them want to.

Reverse psychology is an attempt to influence people using reactance. Tell someone (particularly children) to do the opposite of what you really want, and they will rebel and actually end up doing what you want.

 

3. Hyperbolic Discounting

Hyperbolic discounting is the tendency for people to prefer a smaller, immediate payoff over a larger, delayed payoff. Much research has been done on decision-making, and many factors contribute to the individual decision making process. Interestingly, delay time is a big factor in choosing an alternative. Put simply, most people would choose to get £20 today instead of getting £100 one year from today. Assume that the interest rate is 9%, at this interest rate, a rational person would be indifferent to taking £91.74 now, or £100 a year from now. However, it is interesting how much less we are willing to take immediately rather than wait, would you rather have £100 a year from now, or £50 immediately? How about £40 immediately? Where do you draw the line?

There are huge connotations for a society who thinks this way. Just imagine how many people are putting off their pensions because they would rather have the money now than to start saving. Just imagine how many people are getting into debt because of quick fire loans of £1443% apr – Yes I have seen them.

My personal nickname for this is P.I.G – Personal Immediate Gratification and I don’t mind saying that it is the one that I had the most problems with. Essentially it is the ability to put off immediate gratification in favour of a longer term gain. If you read Frost regularly I’ll have more on this in the next few months

 

 

2. Escalation of Commitment

Escalation of commitment is the tendency for people to continue to support previously unsuccessful endeavours. With all the decisions people have to make, it is unavoidable that some will be unsuccessful. Of course, the logical thing to do in these instances is to change that decision or try to reverse it. However, sometimes individuals feel compelled not only to stick with their decision, but also to further invest in that decision because they have sunk costs. For example, say you use half of your life savings to start a business. After 6 months, it is evident that the business is going to be unsuccessful. The logical thing to do would be to “cut your losses” and drop the business. However, due to the sunk costs of your life savings, you feel committed to the business and invest even more money into the project hoping that the additional cash will turn the business around.

Just to be clear on this – faltering on the border of failure is not always a bad thing; many successful people I know have come close to bankruptcy many times, many relationships have bordered on the edge of breakdown and in many cases people come through stronger and more educated than before; in fact some would say failure is almost a pre-requisite to success. The key becomes knowing when to walk away and when to stay.

 

1. Placebo Effect

Number one in my book has to be the Placebo effect. This is when an ineffectual substance that is believed to have healing properties produces the desired effect. Especially common with medications, the placebo effect has been observed when individuals given a sugar pill for a real ailment reported improvement. Placebos are still very much a scientific mystery. It is theorised that placebos cause an “Expectancy Effect”, (In cases of uncertainty, expectation is what is most likely to happen) individuals expect the pills to cure their ailments, so they feel cured. However, this does not explain how the ineffectual pills actually cause a reduction in symptoms.

The term “Placebo” is used when the outcomes are considered favourable or positive, when the outcomes are negative or harmful; the term is called “Nocebo”

St Giles Trust SOS Gang Project's Fifth Anniversary

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In the wake of the London riots, the spotlight has turned towards gangs and criminality. It seemed that an entire generation was lost after the riots that spread across England and ruined lives.

But there’s another side that doesn’t get the publicity it deserves. I attended the St Giles Trust SOS Gang Project’s fifth anniversary.

The St Giles Trust rehabilitates young offenders and Frost has always given them our full support. With so much negativity regarding gangs and criminality in the press, it is easy to forget that they are many people out there doing positive things.

Read more about them here.

The St Giles Trust is an amazing charity, doing amazing things. They have a lot of support, including some in very high places. Chief Executive Rob Owen read aloud an email from the Duke of Cambridge who is a supporter, alongside his wife, Catherine.

Junior Smart, a talented and genuine young man who deserves his own inspirational award, had this to say: “The whole idea of the awards for me personally is to give something back to the people who have achieved, to promote positive practice and to show others that ex-offenders can make that whole 360 degree change.

“Our award-winners this year included a young girl who had given up her children rather than have them go through the trauma of the court process (I don’t know many people who would do that) and a young person who had been stabbed in the face – and rather than seek reprisals – had gone back to education and completed a multitude of courses. The last award-winner was a teacher who was responsible for training and teaching the majority of the team and our clients in the community.

“Finally. it is worth mentioning how much it costs to keep someone in custody – £75,000 a year per person – and that does not include the costs in catching them, bringing them before a court or the costs to their victims and communities.”

For more information, and to support the St Giles Trust go to www.stgilestrust.org.uk

The Cursed Crusade – Game Review

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Take a dark period of thirteenth century history, mix in generously some supernatural elements, now whisk in some of that ‘buddy genre type thing’ and turn up the combat engine to about 89 degrees centigrade. Now pop in the oven with some decent cut scenes. Add a sprinkling of Darksiders, a dessertspoon of Dantes Inferno, a gallon of blood.

What do you get?

 

A dish that looks good, tastes good, but ultimately could have stayed in the oven just that little bit longer.

 

The dish in question is none other than The Cursed Crusade, the latest game from French seasoned PC Games developer Kylotonn Entertainment. A game, I might add that has had so many delays that not even ‘Game’ knew when it was coming out. It also sports the now familiar ‘reduced’ price tag of £32. Make of that what you want, the reality is The Cursed Crusade is nowhere near a bad title, it’s just not a great one and it could do with more, a little bit of a lot more refining.

 

Young Templar Knight Denz de Bayle is the hero of the piece. His dad has gone missing, his family’s land seized and his mother killed. All knights of the crusade have committed unspeakable acts, but those who have carried out true evil atrocities find that they are befallen with a curse. A curse that will follow their bloodline and damn their souls to hell. Denz is heir to this curse; what’s more, Death wants him and will stop at nothing to take him personally to the hot house.

 

So begins the story. Denz de Bayle is a more than capable fighter but like many tales of this genre like Ghost Rider he can use this curse to his advantage. He can switch between this world and the cursed parallax of hell almost at will. Think Constantine but with horns and glowing eyes and screams. In the hell world he is stronger, can move faster, attack quicker and has access to more power and more areas but it comes at a price – energy and then health, not to mention also providing death with easy access to your soul and he cannot be stopped.

 

Denz is joined on his generic quest by Esteban Noviembre, a wise-cracking Spaniard, tried, tested and formulaic. Esteban has the curse as well so together they form a partnership and it is their camaraderie that flows throughout the game.

 

Combat is what this game is all about. If you look at other games of this genre it is really hard to escape the ‘old chestnut’ of repetitive gameplay. However The Cursed Crusade gets around this with a deep enough combat system. Thanks to the directional controller you can carry a combination of swords, axes, shields, double handed swords, maces, with either one in each hand or, if the weapon is big enough just one. Blocking, parrying and dodging is built around timings of button presses with enemies flashing a certain colour if they are about to attack. Points are awarded at the end of every stage which you can use to build up your combos and finishers to make you even more of a formidable fighter.

 

The scenarios themselves never vary too much from the reliable old staple diet of ‘go here’ ‘do this’ ‘meet this person’ ‘fight that person’ but the nature of the storyline and their friendship is strong enough to carry it through. More often than not the enemy just runs towards you and then take it in turns swinging their swords in your direction and at first you don’t need to think about your parries and protecting your self. But later when preserving your health is a requisite to survival you find yourself drawing on all your skills and Death really doesn’t give a damn how he gets you so hopping in and out of hell to get a one up on your foes is not always the answer.

 

Did I mention the game is bloody? Well be warned, true to its historical origins heads roll, maces can be used on either side to flatten a head to a pulp, axes chop people in two. I like the way the game developers opted to define each and every limb so that you can remove each one from the torso with deadly blows each one splattering blood on impact.

 

All of this sounds pretty good and indeed like the first mouthful of Diet Coke it actually tastes really good. I found myself drawn into this game quite quickly; rapidly building combos and cutting swathes through my opponents learning new skills all the time. However there were a few things that the game can’t shake.

 

Firstly the camera angle is dreadful. Why oh why did they opt for a floating camera when it would not know its way through a paper bag? Even with the right analogue stick being used as a last resort to control it gets stuck behind trees, buildings and walls. In the early stages this is not so much a problem but later, when you have tough enemies you cannot do anything other than block and watch as your life is ebbed away by an enemy who will tag team you into oblivion.

 

Secondly there is a real lack of direction, there are a few times where it really is not clear what to do or where to go. You spend ages aimlessly running around when if they had incorporated it into the ‘hell self’ or even done as LA Noire did where you could ask your partner for guidance the game would have flowed better.

 

Finally the game tends to sporadically save at the end of the level which means that if you die; even at the end of a stage you have to do the whole thing again and this includes the cut-scenes of which; take it from me, there are many. Just incase you are thinking to yourself – hey I have done Demon Souls and there is no way this game can be tougher than that, then hats off to you and you are right; this game isn’t tougher but the enemy tends to infrequently jump in difficulty and with the camera angles not being as solid you should expect to lose lives.

 

My Verdict

 

With a thrilling action packed story not to mention blood guts and gore and a reduced price tag The Cursed Crusade is not a bad title at all. However it does suffer from faults that set it back from being a decent enough purchase especially in light of the competition which is going to be huge in the run up to Christmas. It is competent and satisfying enough and no where near a bad title just not a great one. Try before you buy or Wait until the price drops further before you splash your cash.

 

7.5 / 10

 

 

How does this game compare to others in its genre?

 

 

Equal to: Quantum Theory

 

Better than: Wet, LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game, Disney Universe

 

Worse than: Enslaved, Castlevania, El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron

 

 

 

Gamefest 2011 Review

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It has been aptly described as the ‘Gaming Event of The Year’, ‘A gaming extravaganza’ by others and a ‘Shame if you failed to get a ticket mate’ by the people online. I am of course talking about GAMEfest; the first-ever gaming festival from high street and online computer game retailers GAME. If you are into games – and you weren’t watching Chelsea lose – there is only one big question: where were you?

The things I have to do to keep Frost readers happy is beyond belief, but I’ll let you know I aptly ‘stayed calm and carried on’ to take one for the team with my sole intention of bringing you the ‘no nonsense’ report of gaming goodness. The saying goes take five a day – well when it comes to games I’ll happily take 50; heck, make mine 100 if that’s what it takes.

Let’s talk numbers:
100+ Big games on show
70+ Big games available for test
3+ hours taken to queue at longest point during the day for the biggest game showcases
1,500 screens displaying the latest games
1,000’s of games players from all over the world
3 girls from Nuts Magazine – well I wouldn’t be a man if I didn’t mention them would I? More on them later…

Lets talk games:
Tons of exclusives, we are talking Street Fighter X Tekken, Ridge Racer Unbounded, Batman Arkham City, Sonic Generations, Modern Warfare 3, Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Tenkaichi, to name just a few. There is loads to get through, the way I see it, it is a good job that Frost Magazine is web as opposed to paper based as the environment is saved by the sheer numbers of trees no longer needed to be cut down to bring you this report. But hey, let’s talk shop because here, in this report I want to focus on the real games that are going to make a real impact this year. The ones that you need to get on your pre-order list pretty sharpish, capiche.

Modern Warfare 3.
Obviously the first stand I headed to was this one under the mighty games developers Activison. Thanks to GAMEfest I got my sweaty hands on the first playable build of the mode in the UK. Yes it really is that good; Modern Warfare 3 by its looks alone raises the bar of a genre already inundated with shooters and looking quite tired. But how does it play? One word: incredible, with the noise of the exhibition it was really hard to hear all the instructions my character was being told but the controls were fine, the graphics even at this stage were ‘baby soft’ smooth. My only gripe is that there is no 3D version planned and after playing Resistance 3 in 3D I just know it would be incredible. Release date is scheduled for the 8th Nov. Seven words spring to mind: Do Not Miss Out On This Game.

Goldeneye 007: Reloaded
Goldeneye looks better than ever thanks to the upgraded power afforded by the PS3 and it goes without saying that it looks better than its Wii counterpart. Although it has to be said although it looks great, MW3 it is not. Nevertheless it ranks up there as a Bond game to own with enemies appearing extremely agile behind cover. I managed to play this with the Move Controller and although it took some getting used to it worked incredibly well.
Release date is scheduled for Nov

Battlefield 3
This is the year’s ‘other’ most anticipated shooter and of course you know it will be going head to head with Modern Warfare 3. Not sure if it is me but this is turning into a regular duel between Activision and EA over who runs the block. I tried the single player campaign and was quite taken aback by the quality of the graphics; smoke and explosions now being even more realistic. Again the movement was silky smooth whereas the controls needed just that little bit more work. So who runs the block? Well, personally, I am a fan of the Call of Duty franchise but this game is enough to make me hedge my bets. As good old Optimus Prime says ‘One shall stand….and one shall fall…’

X-Men: Destiny
X-Men: Destiny sees you step into the shoes of a newly realized young mutant who is tasked with using their special powers for good or evil? Sounds familiar? Yep I thought so too. I am a huge X-Men fanatic so was hoping this game would be incredible, however to me, graphically it looks on par with the first Infamous game and some of the camera angles looked decidedly dodgy. This was my least liked of the titles from the Activision stand, although I could still easily be proved wrong when it is released on the 30th September this year.

Spiderman: Edge of time
The all new Spiderman game was on show looking very tasty indeed. It looks like there is more time hopping around than the last game, and of the in game footage we were shown it looked like not only was Spidey much more fluid and agile but that there was a solid emphasis on action and combos. It’s enough to bring a smile to anyone’s lips.

Street Fighter X Tekken
This is really squaring up to be one heck of a game. Thank you so much Game for giving us players a direct hands on with more than a handful of characters on each side. The characters of Tekken step into the world of Street Fighter for a fight time spectacular. No wonder the queues went on, this game really has to be seen to be believed, with an overhauled control system that’s easy for fans of the Tekken games to pick up quickly and combos, tag combos and more combos than a KFC bargain bucket this is turning into a ‘must have game’. The backgrounds too are worth a mention; there is one with dinosaurs that looks totally incredible. But what’s that little birdy? There is going to be another game some point later where the characters of Street Fighter step into the world of Tekken? Wow, we better keep that one under our hat….

Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Tenkaichi
Looked pretty incredible, I heard repeated murmurings of gamers going ‘wow’ ‘amazing’ and ‘oh my gosh’ so I went over and pretty soon I was saying the same thing too. Bosses the size that even a 50 inch screen can’t handle and an overhauled control system, all of which takes a little bit of time to get used to but soon had me pulling off 50 hit combos with ease. I liked the look of the sprites, everything just looks spruced up and ‘combat ready’ as they say.

Soulcalibur V
Have you ever picked up sequel hoping that the games developers haven’t taken something out that you really enjoyed? Well if you are, you are a lot like me; the last game I played from this series was Soul Edge, the last Soulcalibur game I heard was cack so I left it alone as that is what you are supposed to do with smelly fish. However this game brought back all the memories and finesse of the original. It looks great, it sounds great. It is easy to pick up and play, but just one question: how many fabled blades are there?

Ridge Racer Unbounded
Is yet another entry into an almost legendary franchise playing like an explosive mix between Burnout and Split-Second. It looks as good as it plays and that is heart in the mouth, pedal to the metal tricky. You build energy by driving dangerously, drifting and overtaking in order to ram cars, destroy buildings and generally just create chaos on the track. Oh yeah and don’t forget to come first – wouldn’t be Ridge Racer if you didn’t have that. The driving controls need tightening up a bit but I actually enjoyed playing this game but and can’t wait to see how it will pan out later.

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon
This was next on my list. I am an avid fan of the franchise and been playing it since the PS One days but if I am honest I think towards the end it went off the rails a bit and got all dramatized. I had heard that the game had been completely overhauled and gone ‘back to the basics’ which can only be a good thing. Immediately from grabbing the control pad I could see the graphics and the control system had been completely revamped; a choice of controlling a plane or helicopter was the first decision I had to make and then in no time at all planes, bullets and explosions met me during an epic duel in the skies; dodging between huge buildings standing out against the horizon. However, I don’t know if it is just me but I found that despite these improvements essentially you are still just lining up your shots as before. Let’s hope it does not get repetitive as its predecessors did.

Ace Combat 3DS
This looked absolutely fantastic; the 3DS taking full advantage of the analogue sticks and whole 3D thing. Bullets, guns and explosions; now you can enjoy them on the bus, the train, on the way to work, you get the picture.

Bethesda Softworks
Bethesda was my personal saviours on the day, providing myself and my nephews with some super sized bags to put our accumulated goodies in. I have to be honest; I have heard of Prey and seen Rage but I had not heard of Skyrim before. Entering their Walkthrough after an hour or so of queuing I could see what the fuss was all about. All three titles looked astoundingly good. RAGE looks like a no holds barred FPS genre with solid action.  

SKYRIM  though was the real surprise for me; swords, wizards, trolls, magic, you get the picture, but what really surprised me was the quality of the graphics and the idea that the game develops around you as you play, sort of like World of Warcraft but with extra 3rd person perspective mmm. I will be keeping my beady little eyes on this one.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
This is one of the titles that my nephew really wanted to play and even now a day later he is still going on about it. Thanks to the Wii Motion Plus Controller you take full control over Link’s sword swipes on a one-to-one basis, taking on the enemies. It looks fabulous with a real nice graphical style to it that sets it apart from its predecessors and the boss fight I saw was pretty ridiculous in terms of combos and big moves. Wii owners have a good reason to rejoice.

Saints Row: The Third
This game looked like it was shaping up very nicely indeed, colourful solid sprites with a kind of tongue in cheek storyline being at the core. The fight and combo moves feel quite satisfying. Apparently Hulk Hogan and a certain porn actress are playable characters in the game. That certainly brought a smile to my nephew’s face.

Need for Speed: The Run
Only got to see videos of this owing to the time – it was such a shame. From what I saw the game has few on foot sections, and those it does have seem to serve to push the story forward as opposed to being a part of the race itself. One thing I did see was a kind of ‘rewind’ feature that rewinds time back to just before a crash giving you time to avoid it. Use of this is incredibly limited and is quite exciting when you think of it especially if it transfers to online play. Speed was on par with the fastest Burnout and the cops were unrelenting.

The Black Eyed Peas Experience
Hot on the heels of the Michael Jackson Experience comes this title. Opting to feature digitized sprites instead of stand-ins, this can have you dancing and singing as a group or as any one of your favourite lead singers or their entourage. Now, There is no denying that the Black Eyed Peas aren’t spectacular but are they on the same level as the king of pop? I am not so sure – whats next? The N-Dubz Experience. Anyhow it has to be said the game does look good and it was fun to play – lets just hope we are not seeing the dawn of another dancing, singing, play the guitar type franchise take over the world only to crash and burn and leave players angry.

SEGA
SEGA have been in the computer game business for almost three generations now, wisely backing out of the console making business to focus on games. It looked like they had brought their gaming offices with them showing off some of their biggest titles to date. First up – Mario and Sonic at the London Olympic Games on Wii and 3DS – good solid game filled with cutesy Wii’ness that tough guys like me stay away from…o.k I can explain about the photo….

Next up Rise of Nightmares for the Xbox Kinect only, and it has to be said that it is not a bad first attempt at a survival horror title for the Kinect. Rise of Nightmares begins a bit like a SAW movie with a bad guy who just likes doing bad things to people for fun. Waking up on a moving train you have an argument with your for girlfriend for being buried in the bottle, she storms off and then the dreaded monsters attack killing almost everybody. Using the Kinect controls is a bit of a hit and miss in my opinion and take some getting used to, but if you think of melee combat similar to Dead Island you are not far wrong. Although the premise is good time will tell whether the actual gameplay will be improved enough before the release.

Next up House of the Dead Overkill on the PS3 and thankfully this is a whole new state of affairs. Compatible with Playstation Move and in 3D with effects that I have got to say jump out of the screen like your heart jumps out of your mouth, this ‘on the rails shooter’ should be on your pre-order list pronto.

Sonic Generations on Xbox 360, PS3 and 3DS was a crowd pleaser, namely because it seemed to offer something for SEGA fans in the way of nostalgia that only the Megadrive collection with all your favourite hits missing could possibly do. You have a choice of both types of Sonic, new – with 3D run into the screen gameplay and old – sideways stages. Both types offered new stages, blistering speeds, familiar faces and lets not forget his go-go I can do anything attitude which is really hard not to fall in love with. My nephew was undecided on this title, however I enjoyed it immensely.

Warner
Popping over to the Warner stand the first thing I saw was a huge Batman statue – yes this was Arkham City territory and the crowds here was unbelievable. The game hosts had good sense to have the games on a timer with players on a roll on roll off queue to prevent any game hogs and it is easy to see why people would not want to give up their joypad. The quality of this title is simply incredible. The way Batman moves, the new detective mode, the combat system, the epic vistas; everything just looks bigger, better, badder and downright tastier. I don’t know about you but I can’t wait.

The Lord of the Rings: War in the North took me by surprise – where did this game come from? The monsters are simply huge and although RPG in nature in reality the gameplay seemed a lot like Baldur’s Gate with slo-mo finishers and non stop combat. A video showed some flying sections too with the character on the back of an eagle. Could be well worth a look on its release.

And, so ended the first-ever fantastic gaming festival. But the show would not be complete without making the most of every opportunity and funny enough big boy’s magazine Nuts were on hand to show that games festivals can be fun in every way. Arm firmly twisted firmly behind my back I was frog-marched over to the table to have my Nuts Magazine signed by the lovely Stacy, Daisy and India and oh look someone took a photograph. The things I have to do eh?

DRIVER: San Francisco Game Review

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I don’t know about you but when I first heard about Driver:San Francisco I was almost bi-polar about it. I mean; the last Driver game was awful in so many ways – things could only get better on third generation hardware. However, on the other hand, I had heard that they were going to do some mad ‘supernatural’ thing with Tanner, having him ‘jump about’ from ‘body to body’ at will. Now hands up who actually thinks that, that is going to work? Er…yeah…me neither.

So begins another entry into the Driver Franchise and perhaps the most outrageous premise in computer game history seen in a decade. Man, I would have loved to have been at the developers table at Ubisoft when they thrashed that idea out; I am guessing that they would have been more raised eyebrows than a Roger Moore convention. Yet for some insane reason it got the go ahead and here we are, Driver:San Francisco is a reality that has had gamers raving. But is it as good as they say?

Well I might as well cut to the chase and blatantly say DRIVER: San Francisco is not a ‘10/10’, a ‘gaming masterpiece’ or a ‘must buy’ like a lot of reviewers are/were saying and I don’t care what anybody says the multiplayer is never going to be a ‘Call of Duty killer’ but as far as a single player driving game goes it does hold up to provide an enjoyable race experience. Once you get past the aforementioned ludicrous storyline and clichéd scripting the only negative thing you are left with is the terrible handling of the vehicles. Yes – Burnout, Split-Second, Need for Speed, even Motorstorm Apocalypse fare better when it comes to the handling of the incredibly weighted vehicles of Driver which sporadically felt like I was steering a tank at times through quick drying cement.

Other than those ‘facets of joy’ though everything else is largely excellent; San Francisco is a beautifully glossy, detailed vista and the whole jump into another person’s head idea – called ‘Shift’ despite being an absurd idea actually works quite well; thrusting you into the mainstream driving, racing, chasing and crashing scenarios with ease.

Now hands up if you want to know more on this whole ‘shift’ thing? Thought you did. Well, fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you look at it) the first 60 minutes of game play is taken up with the storyline and ‘mere reasons’ to justify the plot. John Tanner the undercover cop from the main game has finally tracked down his long time nemesis Charles Jericho. In an attempt to take him down he is forced into a near fatal collision and ends up in a coma. This means the vast majority of the game takes place in Tanner’s head and in which he continues to track his nemesis down; mind jumping from person to person in order to get close enough to stop Jericho once and for all.

Just in case you couldn’t tell – I had huge doubts about the whole ‘shift thing’ but in play I found what it brings is some real immediacy to the proceedings and a kind of ‘cocky but coolness’. What it also gives is options; trying to chase down a target? Hey why not just jump into a bus driver coming in the other direction – he-he laugh out loud as you say ‘any more fares’. What’s more every crash, every explosion happens in beautiful slo-mo so there is always a reason to do it; the game delights in bringing you thought out destruction.

Being a sandbox game there is a fair bit of exploration to be had and as typical for this type game alongside the main missions you have a plethora of side missions. However fortunately Driver: San Francisco has the least boring side missions I have seen this year besides perhaps those seen in LA: Noire. One such mission sees you jumping into the body of a young weedy chap, nervous as anything about his driving test. Do you think the idea is to help him pass? Nope…the idea is to put the fear of the devil into the test instructor by driving as insanely as possible.

Other than this though for most of the time you have standard Driver fare; follow this car, get to x in x amount of time, come first in this race, smash this car etc. Of all of these though the most exciting is shaking off the police and it has to be said that for all of the faults synonymous with driver of the past, one of the things that they have got right here is the police AI. No longer can you shake off the police by just bombing it down a road or even driving into oncoming traffic, they really do keep up the pressure and you have to be good to get away from them.

Longevities is sadly not a strong point of this game; the whole title taking me just over 6 hours to get through resulting in an ending hardly inspired enough for me. Although completing the game opened up some challenges and online multiplayer which in all honesty was not too bad and I am sure enough people went out there to buy this so there is hardly going to be a drought online. There are issues with balancing out gameplay between players of different ability so my advice is be the best you can be before you go online or else you will lose…a lot. Quite controversially I read the developer stating in interviews that no DLC (Download Content) has been planned which is an incredible shame.

My Verdict

Despite my initial concerns about the whole shift thing I do have to say it brings a level of originality, even if it makes serves to make the script clichéd and downright weird I would be lying if I said that I did not enjoy this game. I am hoping that further patches will be released to improve the atrocious handling and fix balancing issues because once those issues are resolved the game will go from great to being fantastic. At the moment I would say whilst it is a great purchase it is far from essential and for some hardcore gamers I would even say wait until it comes down in price before giving it a long hard look.

8.0 / 10

 

How does this game compare to others in its genre?

This is a hard one as although there are other racing games, none have the ‘shift’ feature and so are not the same and can’t be compared.

Equal to: Need for Speed – Hot Pursuit (only just)

Better than:  Burnout Paradise

Worse than: None

Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine Review

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Life can be truly strange when you think about it; I mean if you had asked me anything about Warhammer years ago I would have probably recalled memories of having my tie ‘peanutted’ and being resigned to the geek crew in school. Playing this with a closetful of outcasts who shared similar experiences, arguing whether chess was better than Dungeons and Dragons – this was the age of what could only be called the ‘original tabletop RPGs’. Now here it is brought dynamically and almost eagerly up to date on the latest console hardware and many would fail to agree that in the trailers at least it looks good – real good. Turning this into a console game is bound to bring positives and negatives. Gone are the cards, the dice and the makeshift boards that take an hour to put together and bring to life, gone are the 100+ interpretations of different rules, but do the positives of late nights and hardcore action remain? That’s exactly what I wanted to find out.

Warhammer Space Marine, takes the transition from board game to a visceral brutal third-person shooter/beat ’em up that has blood, more blood and monsters which I will fondly refer to as ‘greenies’ which you will blow to bits – yes with more blood. Yes, no dice and scorecard needed here to tell you whether you are going to hit or miss, all you need is the R2 button, and hey in this environment you don’t even need a cover button because this game is geared towards consistent ‘lets take them on from all corners’ type game play that even ‘Team America’ would be proud of. So table-top RPG this is not, and world of Warcraft this is not, but what Warhammer removes, it replaces with action and above everything else it captures the spirit of the universe epitomised in the board game.

A fantastic opening sequence sets the pace nicely, looking like it could have been pulled from a summer blockbuster and it really looks amazing, but once you press the start button any delusions you may have had that you are playing a game with in-game graphics the quality of God of War quickly dissipate. That’s not saying the graphics are poor, they are just standard fare and to be honest at times – below standard.

The Ultramarines’ are gung-ho, nicely voiced and still wearing the same huge armour from their board game counterparts years ago. The storyline is hardly worth going over and is almost non-existent – ‘humans versus aliens’ is about right. Aliens aren’t nice and the good guys aren’t nice enough not to shoot anything that gets in the way of getting the job done.

Gameplay is pretty straightforward too; stepping into the boots of Captain Titus – a member of the ultramarine squad it is your job to basically kill the alien forces and that it is really. The action is a mix of third-person shooting and melee.  You have guns, you have chain-swords and later you have rocket packs; all which carve a path of destruction through the enemy hordes. You fight in trenches, on the alien’s machinery, and you basically work your way up through the food chain until you get to the big fry, which in this game are aptly called ‘the forces of Chaos’.

I would be lying if I said the action was not satisfying; you do get the feeling that you are up against the odds.  When you take down the enemy forces and emerge victorious, the feeling of success in the initial stages at least is solid. It is a shame then that the game falls into a repetitive pattern. When the big cheese of the enemy arrive – ‘the forces of Chaos’ – it’s almost too late as at that point you have been subjected to a multitude of sequences each feeling like the one before. There’s just too little to break up the pace. The boss fights are few and far between, with only the final boss fight offering something different.

Online Multiplayer should extend the game’s longevity and appeal but it doesn’t. I honestly think that the melee combat approach here isn’t too well suited for competitive online play. The ranged combat ‘lets get a bigger gun’ idea though, works just fine, as does the game class and goal objectives. Needless to say Warhammer doesn’t try to re-invent the wheel or bring anything new to the table when it comes to online play which, considering the sheer number of fans out there I would say is a total shame.

My Verdict

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine is a fair attempt at crossing a genre and bringing a franchise to life. The result is a likeable title, but one that falls foul of repetitive play. When I think of all the other titles being released this week such as Resistance 3, Star Fox 64 3DS andDeadIslandI know which one I would rather spend my money on. But fans of the original and gamers that decide to take that plunge and splash out their pocket money on this one will find a solid third-person action/shooter at its core. Just don’t expect miracles. Smart gamers will wait for the price drop.

7.5 / 10

 

How does this game compare to others in its genre?

Equal to: Lost Planet: Extreme Condition

Better than: Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon, Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team

Worse than: Vanquish, Red Faction, Resistance 3, Resident Evil 5, Dead Space

 

First picture of the New Man of Steel hits the web

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This is the first official picture released of Henry Cavill looking very dramatic, very serious and very dark as the new Superman slowly begins to gather pace in time for it’s 2013 release.

Yes we know 2013 seems like an age away and yes this is just one picture for a film which has almost taken six years to get this far – but hey, this is Hollywood and hey, this is a reboot.

So what can we tell so far about the man of steel from this shot?

Well it seems the older blacker suit that was floating around the internet has been dropped; we can clearly see that the familiar blue, yellow and red colours are in place as well as the cape.

The familiar ‘S’ logo is still there although much bigger– so the idea that it will be silver was obviously too a mistake.

Henry Cavill seems to very much look the part. I have to say he looks just that bit bulkier than his last counterpart and the shot looks quite serious; perhaps indicating that this story will be that bit more edgy.

I am really quite excited by this shot although I admit it is not much to go by I think of what Christopher Nolan did with Batman and David Goyer did with Blade and I cant help but think what they recently told the LA Times:

“I immediately got it, loved it and thought: That is a way of approaching the story I’ve never seen before that makes it incredibly exciting. I wanted to get Emma and I involved in shepherding the project right away and getting it to the studio and getting it going in an exciting way.”

If that doesn’t sound like something well and truly promising I guess nothing else will.