Remember SOPA? Sorry if i've brought up any purposefully-repressed memories. Fortunately, the world saw some kind of sense (or more likely certain members of congress saw that popular opinion was so against the acts that there was little money to be made from them), and it was put to bed. But it seems corporations' war against people sharing stuff has merely swapped battlegrounds, and it is now the games industry whose freedom is potentially to be restricted.

A quick look over to IGN today and any casual browser of the internet will be beset by rumours that the next generation of consoles, most specifically the Xbox 720, could introduce a feature which locks games to a single owner. The upshot of this is that we will no longer be able to buy pre-owned games, or lend games to a friend.

I suppose the ideology behind this is sound enough. You want a game, you pay for the game, and the people who made the game get the money, thus allowing them to make more games and continue the industries happy cycle. However, in order for games to be sold, they need retailers. And figures show that the most popular game retailer over here in the UK, the imaginitively titled 'GAME', makes more money from pre-owned game sales than it does from original sales. And even then, GAME and its rivals are struggling. Many GAME shops have had to be closed in the last year, due to sales being stolen from them by cheaper online services like Amazon. If we cut away the majority of these stores' income, then games won't have a place to be sold, and no matter what ideology you use, that will never be a good thing for the industry.  Read More  »

After avenging the death of most of his family, driving the Borgia out of Rome what was really left for Ezio Auditore da Firenze to do? Find out where Altair left his keys! Is Revelations really a Revelation? Read on to find out.

Poor old Desmond, dragged out of Abstergo and made to get in another Animus to live out another past life. It was only a matter of time before his brain snapped. Now trapped in the Animus he must once again relive the lives of his ancestors Ezio and Altair, whilst finding his way out of the Animus, oh and if possible patch his mind up.

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After the success La Noire it seems like it’s about time an effort was made to make the facial expressions more realistic, or in some cases give facial expressions.

Since La Noires’ release people have been talking about it, trying to figure out if suspects are lying or not and reacting accordingly. Largely were they looking you in the eye, nervous twitch etc, which was possible with facial mapping and gave more of a feeling that you were trying to outwit a person not a pre-rendered robot. Playing this game was really a break from the norm, using actor’s facial expressions in that much detail. Sometimes you were lucky to get a moving mouth, eyes and eye brows. Seems obvious when you realise that they have been using people to get physical movements right for years.

People have commented that when you watch a movie in a couple hours people have laughed, cried, been scared or angry. In gaming mostly you get stoic main character, then gets annoyed and then goes on a killing spree for 30 hours or however long the game is. Certain types in the UK media like to use this two dimensional example to bad mouth gamers. These people also never heard of Heavy Rain, where you take several roles with different characters. As much depth as Heavy Rain has it really lacked in facial area as far as communicating tough personal decisions that each character went through. Read More  »

Specialist video game retailer GAME is holding its first Event, open exclusively to reward card holders. GAMEFest will take place at NEC Birmingham on 16th - 18th September.

You can expect to play games such as, Batman: Arkham City to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. It's great to see the giants of the games industry, finally visiting Birmingham for a change.

The prices are a steal, adults (Aged 12 onwards) can enter for £10 and Children (Aged 11 and under) for £5.

Feast your eyes on the list of games, from publishers attending GAMEFest:

Microsoft Xbox 360:

Gears of War 3

Sony Playstation 3:

Resistance: 3

Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception

Nintendo:

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Super Mario: 3D Land

MarioKart 7

Kid Icarus: Uprising

Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D

Activision:

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

EA:

Battlefield 3

Need for Speed: The Run

Fifa 12

Mass Effect: 3

THQ:

Saints Row: The Third

WWE 12

U Draw Game Tablet

Disney: Read More  »

 
It’s a curious thing popular opinion. Quite often, it’s held in spite of the facts. In this instance I’m referring to the popular opinion that the Japanese games industry is on its knees creatively. “They ain't got it no mo” the cry goes.
 
But that doesn’t really hold up to any scrutiny. For a region that supposedly can’t compete against the western (primarily American) development teams. Japan has cranked out a strangely large number of excellent games.
 
A case study might help perhaps. Platinum Games formed in 2006 the wake of the closure of Clover Studio, the team responsible for such critical darlings as Viewtiful Joe and Okami. Already with a great pedigree, Platinum have gone on to make the well-received Madworld and Infinite Space, before hitting serious gold with Bayonetta – which earned itself full marks from both Famitsu and Edge – and Vanquish.
 
It appears then that this team have managed to turn out hit after hit since 2003, covering most of the period that this region has apparently been on the slide. So are they simply the exception that proves the rule, or are we downplaying the quality of other games in the last decade?
 

  Read More  »

 
After an eternity in development hell, 14 years after it was first announced, Duke Nukem Forever has returned to knock LA Noire off the top of all formats chart. Despite Duke's PC heritige, that format accounted for only 14% of sales, with the PS3 taking 30%, and Xbox 360 56%.
 
PS3 exclusive Infamous 2 reached number 4, just behind Zumba Fitness which gained a place despite dropping sales, though that is a place higher than the original debuted at two years ago.
 
The only other new release to crack the top 10 was 'Red Faction: Armageddon, which saw 70% of sales on the Xbox360 compared to just 26% and 4% on PS3 and PC respectively.
 
01.    Duke Nukem Forever (Take-Two)
02.    LA Noire (Take-Two)
03.    Zumba Fitness (505 Games)
04.    Infamous 2 (SCEE)
05.    Lego Pirates Of The Caribbean (Disney Interactive)
06.    Dirt 3 (Codemasters)
07.    Brink (Bethesda)
08.    Red Faction: Armageddon (THQ)
09.    Call Of Duty: Black Ops (Activision)
10.    Portal 2 (EA)

At E3 game director Sefton Hill revealed Catwoman is a playable character, intertwining in the story alongside Batman. Offering a walk on the dark side in Rocksteady's vision, with different moves and a whip to traverse Arkham City.

In the Demo shown above Two Face makes an appearance and captures Catwoman stealing from him. The game then switches to Batman, with the choice to save Catwoman first or Glide the city monitoring activity.

Batman's ability to glide has been revamped and can gain momentum, grapple hooking buildings above him. Riddler reprises his role in Arkham City and again works behind the scenes but shows his face. Arkham City is separated by Turfs owned by different Criminals, from the Joker, Two Face and Penguin etc.

Another feature revealed is Batman's ability, to identify Riddler's informants in different gangs. They are paid by Riddler to withhold secrets, which Batman will discover once interrogating them. Not only does he scatter trophies around the city but puts lives in danger for Batman to save. Rescuing the hostages is quite a challenge, as Riddler places them in areas with traps between you and them.

Batman's moves and animations have doubled since the first game with new combos as well. Challenge maps have been confirmed to return but details are scarce as of yet. More villains and features are to be announced throughout the year.

Batman: Arkham City is set for 21 October 2011 on PS3, 360 and PC.

Results from the Newzoo 2011 National Gamers Surveys were recently announced in which over 20,000 respondents in Brazil, Russia, Mexico, Spain, the US, and key EU countries reveal insights into gamers’ behavior and spending in countries, some of which had for years been perceived as low-value and so low-priority markets.

The uptake of online and mobile gaming is reported to have pushed the number of players and “payers” to a level comparable to many major European markets. The number of people actively playing games ranges from 16 million in Mexico to 35 million in Brazil to 38 million in Russia, with an an average of 50% of these gamers actually spend money on games. The research, sponsored exclusively by GlobalCollect, also revealed that more than two-thirds of the total game budget was spent online, crucially meaning for the first time that spending on online, downloads, and mobile games has passed total retail boxed sales in Western countries.

Emerging Markets - Trends Read More  »

Good news for anyone who hasn’t given up on L.A. Noire, it’s definitely in production and were getting a first trailer in how many years. Team Bondi’s L.A. Noire is Rockstar’s most ambitious title yet and actually uses Team Bondi’s in house engine as opposed to Rockstar’s RAGE engine.

Back in March the game was shown behind closed doors to Game Informer and reported that the game features a groundbreaking facial animation system that will shame any other motion capture technology used in the games industry.

For the first time this Thursday (11th November 2010) the whole world will witness Team Bondi’s 1940’s epic and see just how realistic this facial animation technology is. It was previously stated that L.A. Noire will be a PS3 exclusive but is now a multiplatform title being developed for Xbox 360 as well.

There’s still no word on a release date but the sign of a trailer this Thursday can only mean Rockstar’s planning a date very soon I hope. You can never predict Rockstar, let’s just hope they reveal Agent or Max Payne 3 soon as well.

DICE has confirmed they will be revealing more of its upcoming expansion pack, next week at Tokyo Game show. So far only a teaser trailer has been shown of the Vietnam expansion, shown at E3 2010.

Catch a glimpse of the teaser trailer below:

There is set to be Vietnam themed weapons, maps and vehicles featured in the pack. Brand new trophies and achievements will follow as well and new unlockables. 

So far it’s shaping up to be a day one purchase for any fan of the series. It defiantly has more to offer than its competitions map packs from Activisions, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Anybody who purchased Bad Company 2 brand new is reaping the rewards of the VIP map packs.

The Vietnam DLC is scheduled for a winter release on Xbox Live and Playstation Network. If you haven’t done so already you can read Game Hub’s, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 review right here.

The most anticipated Spider-Man game of 2010 is around the corner and will be available on Sony PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and DS on 10th September.

The plot is quite simple Amazing Spider-Man accidently, shatters the tablet of order and chaos during a scuffle with Mysterio. Now shattered into pieces the universe is in danger, any villain with the tablet is a threat.

Spider-Man must now obtain every single piece from 4 different dimensions, with the help of other Spider-Men. The dimensions that are featured in the game are the amazing universe, noire universe, 2099 universe and the ultimate universe.

The launch trailer focuses on each Spider-Man’s distinctive abilities which will help restore the tablet of order and chaos. You also get a glimpse at some of Spideys foes you will be facing next week such as Mysterio, Sandman, the Scorpion, Carnage, Deadpool, Hobgoblin, Kraven and the Vulture.

 
According to publisher Activision-Blizzard, Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty has become this year's best selling PC game to date, selling 1.5 million copies in just 48 hours.
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12 years after the original Starcraft, Activsion-Blizzard's long awaited sequel Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty stormed to the top of the UK charts.
 
Whilst the original managed only as high as 24 and wasn't even the highest placing PC game then, beaten by Lucasarts’ Star Wars Supremacy, Starcraft II became the first PC game this year to top the All Formats chart, astonishingly managing to garner more sales in it's first week on sale than Starcraft managed in it's entire lifetime in the UK. Whilst digital copies aren't accounted for, that Starcraft can still be found for sale on the high street makes Wings of Liberty's achievement all the more impressive.
 
Last weeks top 4 Disney’s Toy Story 3, Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption, Ubisoft’s Dance on Broadway and Warner Bros. Interactive’s Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 all slide down a place, whilst Just Dance and Dragon Quest IX: Sentinals of the Starry Skies both climb two places, reaching numbers six and seven respectively. A surge of sales for another Acitvision-Blizzard game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 see's it return to the top 10 at number eight, whilst Nintendo's Super Mario Galaxy 2 drops two places to nine. In tenth place, another re-entry is EA's Battlefield Bad Company 2.
  Read More  »

After listening to the fans reactions, it seems as though Sucker Punch has realized players don’t like change. It has been revealed that Cole will be redesigned, to look more like the bike messenger we knew in the first game.

Whether or not the voice actor of the first game will return is yet to be seen. Developing a video game isn’t an easy task; it would be a waste of money and time, to see the recording sessions of the new Cole go to waste.

I’m sure players wouldn’t mind having a choice, as to which Cole they want to play as. The beauty of still being in development is both an exciting and decisive phase.

Whatever the outcome I trust Sucker Punch to make the right decision, they’ve already shown that they listen to the fans. This is a great quality you don’t find in many developers. inFAMOUS 2 is slated to release exclusively on PS3 in 2011.