Hi Hi Hi, Hi there. Long time no see. whatcha' been up to and that? interesting, interesting. RIGHT, enough about you let's talk about me.

I have been busy. No time for blogs. I'm currently helping final Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. It's been a really interesting process - I have learnt LOADS by the way which is nice and rather useful. Hey look, here is the trailer:





I have played/completed it so many times now that I reckon I am probably the best in the world at it...serious, super serious!

NEXT!

Portal 2, blah blah blah, Stephen Merchant is in it, blah blah blah amazing game mind bending puzzles, blah blah blah best game ever made. Blah blah blah trailer:



Starting playing CityVille on FaceBook for my sins. I sometimes imagine sitting in a dark room doing crack...no idea why that popped in my head. Anyway I would like to say don't play it. It's addicitve, expensive and leaves you with an empty hollow feeling inside that can only been filled with...guess what...MORE CITYVILLE. Excuse me while I check myself in to rehab.

Remember when I used to talk about TV? HA!. Well here goes:

Game of Thrones, high-fantasy with Sean Bean. The intro looks like a computer game.



It's a good watch, mega production values. All the main characters wear dirty cloaks with fur-lined hoods, and all the birds get their boobs out. It's worth a watch. Conan meets Camelot. Hey that's pretty good...NO ONE STEAL THAT ITS MINE!

And finally Fringe!

Tis good, very good. It's almost over though. If Lost was a show about religion then Fringe is most definitely about science - Man of science, man of faith...remember that geeks?



Finished!

By the way, if your reading this GREG, SASHA or anyone else that used to post here. START POSTING AGAIN YOU LOSERS. Also let me know if I have spelt anything wrong. Also grammer, I have issues with grammer.

Hello, it seems to be a new year. Great I suppose. I have a cold and a headache. I have run out of things to buy to make me feel better, I'm bored of all the food that normally cheers me up; like cheese and anchovies.

So I have been playing a game instead to try and brighten the mood (I do this sometimes).

Amnesia: The Dark Decent. An indie game that has received some rather good reviews.



It's a first person horror game. You have no guns, no bombs, no swords and no fists...wait you have fists but you're not allowed to swing them in anger. Your only chance of survival is to run, run far far away and hide in a cupboard somewhere. No joke, I have only discovered one type of ghoulish monster so far, he has floppy skin and a scary moan. when I first encountered him, I ran and hid in a cupboard (It's bloody good strategy as it turns out, one that I might apply in the real world when things get tough).

There is a story. It's inspired by some guy called Lovecraft or something - I have never heard of him. You probably have, your probably thinking how come this guy has never heard of H.P Lovecraft, the philistine.

Anyway you need to travel through this castle to the secret chamber...hmmm I think that's right. It's a tough journey only because of the fact that the game is FAR too scary to play for more than an hour. There are tons of creepy sound effects, screams, bugs that crawl over your face as slowly drift in to madness. That's one of the main game-mechanics; trying not to go mad - cool huh? It's dark, horrible and I'm determined to finish it.

Tonight I'm going to attack it with a bottle of vodka, hopefully I will be able to pluck up the courage to delve deeper.

If you don't here from me for a while I could be in therapy, or slumped at my keyboard.

I think I'm about a year behind the world... exactly a year. People do stuff, buy stuff and discover cool places nearly a year before I ever do. So when I strolled happily in to work and proclaimed that I have just completed that rather brilliant Batman game - Batman: Arkham Asylum I got a few strange glances as the majority of people bought it and completed it a year earlier..."bugger" I thought "one day I will be the cool kid in town, one day".

Here's the trailer for the new game Batman: Arkham City, complete with Luke Skywalker as the Joker. Hopefully I will be on the ball enough to get this one when everyone else does.



What else, what else. Oh yes,  I played and completed Costume Quest the other day; a cut down RPG with a cool take on the quick time event (basically pressing the right button at the right time). It's dirt cheap on Xbox live and worth a shout if you have a spare few days. There are a few issues with it but the charm and the jokes help to smooth out the edges. I have heard rumours that there is going to be a Christmas update coming as the current one is Halloween specific. I can't be bothered to explain further so here is a trailer.



I managed to get a copy of Need Hot Pursuit as they make the game in the studio below where I work. It's really it a lot of fun...a lot of fun. In fact it's up there with the most fun you can have on line with 7 other strangers. Innuendo aside you other take the role of a criminal or a cop. As a cop you must shut down illegal street racers by bashing in to them or using some custom weapons to take them down. Or you can play as a criminal taking part in the races - cops hot on your arse.



Anyway, that's about it this month, I'm off to watch Come Dine With Me, then it's Xfactor and maybe some Walking Dead for desert. Laters

Hi there, something amazing happened over the weekend. I plugged in my Xbox 360 for the first time in 6 months; it was exciting times in my Streatham House. I immediately whacked in GTA 4...5 minutes later I was bored.

Was this a good game? I don't remember. apparently it got good reviews but it seems that if you try and pick it up again half way through the game you tend to have lost all attachment to the story and have no idea what the F is going on. Watched over by my expectant house mates (we have a 50" TV and everyone wanted to see what it was like in high definition.) I tried to crack on, reiterating the reasons I made the purchase to begin with: It's got good graphics, the musics well good and that...and you can gun down grannies. It was no good, the game has lost it's shine. You know that it needs don't you? "PREVIOUSLY ON GTA". It needs a run down of the story so you can still pick up the game 6 months later.

Anyway with GTA safely back in it's box I downloaded the much talked about LIMBO from Xbox Live Arcade and that's when the fun really started.



It's made by a bunch of very talented Scandinavians and it is VERY good. In fact it's probably the best game I have played in the last couple of years.

It's a jumpy jumpy game. A bit like Mario - if Mario was a small child, stuck in a horrible monochrome-dream-world in a constant search for his missing sister. It contains some very cerebral puzzles that had everyone in the house helping with -  something I haven't experienced since University. Even the non gamers among us were entranced. It took Sunday afternoon to complete and it felt like money well spent. I even got a T-Shirt and Limbo gerbil thing for my avatar. I'm honestly excited to see what these guys produce next - I hope I get another T-Shirt. In fact if T-Shirts were awarded in real life for completing certain things, like your driving test for example, the world would be a much cooler place.

And finally Bioshock. It seems only recently that I completed the my second trip to Rapture (Strange underwater city place for the mentally different). However apparently this is the true sequel to the original - I guess they neglected to us that when Bioshock 2 came out. It's a different setting - no longer under water but in the Air - a city attached to balloons no less. Apparently the Americans got so annoyed with all the immigration that a few of them decided to create a new America in the Sky....this is all set in the 1900s by the way.


These proper-gander pictures are part of the marketing campaign and they are fricking cool...and a tiny bit disturbing. I'm definitely looking forward to this one although I will be waiting a long time...2011?

Anyway I'm off to shove a load of Lemsip Max down my throat, later.

Steam - the direct to drive gaming system extraordinaire- nearly bankrupted me over the summer. However in exchange for insolvency, they have gave me LOADS of games.

I'm still trying to get through them all. However with work taking up much of time it has been rather difficult. Currently my list includes: Mirrors Edge, Trine, Puzzle Agent, Professor JM Winterbottom, Multiwinia. Trine...and some more that I just can’t remember right now.

99% of these are all indie games. Made by small developers and sold directly through steam. They are all great examples of taking one simple idea and executing it brilliantly. All I need now is a spare moment to actually play them. It’s going to be a good education in games that I probably need. Also it turns out that I might of saved the developers of Multiwinia from bankruptcy over the summer as the Steam sale pretty much saved their bacon according to this blog.


Limbo a game that I found a couple of years ago has finally be realised – took them long enough. Unfortunately I haven’t set up my Xbox at the moment so I can’t bloody play it which is a tad annoying. Anyway I have added it to my extensive to do list.


On a side note the game I have been working on has been announced. Here is the trailer:



It’s been getting a bit of a hard time - quite unfairly in my view. I would suggest waiting until you have actually played it before you cast judgement internet! Anyway, it’s been great fun working on it even though I joined the team very late in its development. I hope it gets the credit it deserves.

On the TV side of things I have been trying to catch up on the programmes I have been ordered to watch by my friends. I have started with Breaking Bad and I’m enjoying it immensely. I assumed that it was going to be a Grand Theft Auto / Scar face plot about a guy going from nothing to something in the space of three series. Turns out it’s about how two good people get corrupted by the drugs trade, fumbling their way through deadly situation and alienating the people they love. Although there is a touch of Scarface as they seem to be pretty good at the drugs stuff – they are doing it because they have to, not because they want to. Anyway it’s good, go watch it – it even has Malcolm’s Dad from Malcolm in the middle in it.

Anyone heard of “The Event” I have been told it’s like Lost and I should watch it...

Anyway and more importantly Paul Terry’s Lost encyclopedia is nearly with us. Go by it here.

The Lost Initiative boys and me got asked a few questions for the last ever Lost Magazine. I haven’t seen it yet...in fact I might go buy it now. Catch ya later.

Here are two of my favourite game trailers at the moment.



The first is the trailer for the snazzy Monkey Island 2 remake - now with extra monkeys. I bloody love Monkey Island 2, I first played it 17 years ago and I can't wait to get my grubby, sweaty hands on this. The trailer is a work of pure genius, surely it's a clear sign that a Monkey Island 3D movie would totally work. It will never happen but you can see the potential - you can see the potential can't you?

The second is Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent - a puzzle game from TellTale Games. Read this:

"Puzzle Agent combines generous doses of Nordic folklore, and an X-Files style mystery along with major influences of Professor-Layton inspired puzzling, David Lynch, the Coen brothers and a dash of Stanley Kubrick. And gnomes."

Doesn't that sound like the description of the greatest game of all time. I will buy it, play it and tell you if it lives up to this description. I really hope it does.

Studio Ghibli, you may of heard of them. They are like the Japanese Disney. Although comparing them in that manner is like comparing Bladerunner to the Power Rangers (wow I definitely need to practice my analogies). Anyway to try and keep this short, lets just say that Ghibli films have a real message, don't talk down to kids and shock horror, can be a little bit scary. They make kids movies by the way although I use the term "kids" loosely. And they are from Japan...and Disney own the rights to distribute their films over here. Pretty confusing.

Anyway computer games are such an obvious thing for them to get into, I'm surprised that I'm surprised about it...if that makes sense. Anyway they have made a game with the people that make the Professor Layton games.

Anyway here is the trailer for it.

I think you will agree that it looks beautiful. Unfortunately I don't have a PS3 but I luckily know a long haired...oh wait he cut it all off. Luckily I know a short haired blogger who does. So I may be spending a weekends up north in the not too distance future.

By the way you may of noticed I can be a real geek at times. I try to deny it but it's something I can't escape it. Like today for example...right here in this blog post.

I-Spot Annoying Fanboys
It reminded me of this lovely I-Spot book I found on the E4 website...I think I'm pretty much every single one of these fans boys. Is there a prize for that? If not there bloody well should be.

I'm getting rather addicted to direct to drive distribution. It's sounds clever but it's not really. It allows you to download computer games directly to your hard drive, it negates the need to leave the house and go to the computer game store completely...genius.

The addiction derives from the fact that my particular games peddler(Steam)tend to have amazing sales every other day. So I have been picking up a vast amount of games incredibly cheaply. Take Psychonauts for example; I bought it for £1...1 WHOLE POUND - that is amazing value. This sort of distribution is definitely the future, especially with all the DRM issues at the moment. Surely Steam and other services like it solve those issues?

I also picked up Supreme Commander 2 via Steam the other day. It's one of those build yourself a base and a army, then go and stomp on your opponent games - it's a lot of fun. I have been playing online so keep an eye out for me and my army if you're an online regular. I'm pretty terrible so go easy on me.


I have been a fan of Sam and Max for blooming ages and the third season of their point and click adventure started this month.


I have just completed the first episode and it was utterly brilliant - go buy it, go buy it, go buy it. I'm a big fan of this kind of episodic content, as I have a nasty habit of just playing something until I have completed it. This way I have a game that I know will take me 5 months to finish so I end up taking my time over each episode. It's a more enjoyable experience and it feels like I have got my moneys worth

And finally I have been hearing rumors that Ridley Scott is going to revisit the Alien Franchise.

"It’s set in 2085, about 30 years before Sigourney [Weaver's character Ellen Ripley]. It’s fundamentally about going out to find out ‘Who the hell was that Space Jockey?’ The guy who was sitting in the chair in the alien vehicle — there was a giant fellow sitting in a seat on what looked to be either a piece of technology or an astronomer’s chair. ... [The film] is about the discussion of terraforming — taking planets and planetoids and balls of earth and trying to terraform, seed them with the possibilities of future life."

I'm super excited about this, I love all of Ridley's films: Alien and Bladerunner especially, so I will definitely be looking forward it. Ridley is one of those directers that keep on making good films...unlike Cameron!!

2010 really is the year of remakes - they promised it would be. I guess the recession was good for one thing...Tron 2, Alien prequels. I'm happy with that.

I recently read a post on Digg that was all about good to play while getting drunk. I think I pretty much disagreed with all them - I seem to have a bit of reputation of being a negative Nelly. So I thought I would show you my top 3 games to get smashed to...you know, add a bit of positivity to the post.

In third place with have Wii Bowling. The key to this is all about the comedy run-ups, the longer and the silly the better. In fact the scores don't really matter at all, marks are awarded to the best run-ups. It basically turns in to the Ministry of Silly Walks sketch from Monty Python. However I would warn you that things can get a bit dangerous once large amounts have been consumed. Run-up silliness has a direct correlation to Alcohol consumed. There is an equation waiting to be discovered right there.


Coming in a close second is WWE Smack Down - a wrestling game where you can take on your friends in 4 way beer fuelled fights. We made it our own by creating our own wrestling characters. I wasn't know as a Geeky Tom back then which is annoying as he would have made the greatest Wrestling character. So the basic premise was drink beer, challenge your friends by shouting SMAAAAAAACK DOOOOOOOWN really loudly in their face and let the chaos ensue.


and Number one has to be Rock band!!!! We call it instant party. Nothing can get the beer flowing like a bunch of people pretending to play musical instruments. When you and your mock band has enticed the room in to clapping along to your plastic instrument, everything just seems to make sense, like your were born to be a pretend rock star. Hahaha I said plastic instrument.


This is a definitely not a picture of me!

I haven’t posted in a while, I think it’s because I have been caught up in all the Christmas shenanigans that tend to fill up your calendar at this time of year.
I’m up in Sheffield at the moment watching the Pigglet Movie on BBC 1, soon to be followed by the Tigger movie apparently. TV this year has been terrible, probably to do with the recession or something. So I thought I would waste sometime on a few kids movies.

One of my biggest grievances this year has been the lack of Scrooged (Bill Murray). That changed last night as it was on Film4. Now I’m not a scheduler but what the hell is that movie doing on the 29th December. There are three films that must be shown on Christmas eve: Scrooged, Elf and Cliff Hanger. It’s not rocket science, hopefully someone will pay attention and fix it for next year.

Anyway, I thought I would post some trailers that have got me excited for the coming year.

Kick–Ass

I got shown this yesterday by Greg. It looks VERY silly, but there is something refreshing about the young girl’s potty mouth.


Iron man 2

I loved the last movie and the sequel looks like more of the same. More drinking, more womanising and loads more flying suits with guns...oh and Mickey Rourke.


Mass Effect 2


Yes it’s a computer game, but the Mass Effect series is as close to a film as you can probably get. The next game stars Martin Sheen, Seth Green and loads of other famous people, good at being famous.

Is Carly Simon Famous? She’s singing at the end of the Pigglet movie. She must be a country singer of something. She definitely hasn’t made it big over in the UK.

Homeward bound 2 is after the Tigger Movie...oh why not, I’ve got nothing better to do.

The rule used to be that you couldn't die in a Lucasarts' game (this was before the onslaught of Star Wars games). After completing the latest installment of the Tales of Monkey Island I have come to the conclusion that maybe Telltale Games don't play be the same rules. You see in the latest chapter, our hero (Mr Threepwood) gets stabbed in the chest with a sword. Pretty dramatic huh? I know that me and half the Telltale forums were a bit surprised. Yes this episode has been another cracker. We are back on Flotsam Island and this time it's night time; or as I like to call it: Monkey Time as most of the best Monkey Island games had a great night section. Guybrush is on Trial, that crazy French guy is still around and Elaine has gone pox-mad.
                                                                              (oh yeah Stan is back)

Anyway it made me think back to the other Monkey games and how they dealt with Guybrush dying - because he did, in everyone I think. Here is an example from the Curse of Monkey Island. Never mix medicine and alcohol, except if you are a lovable computer game character that is.


Then this slightly older example from Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge. I like this version because a lot of people forget that your just listening to a retelling of the story.


So proof that you can't die; well proof that you can find comedy ways out of it.

I would hazard a guess that Guybrush will be making a return and a miraculous recovery in the final chapter of what has been a really fantastic game. Because Monkey Island is still a Lucasarts franchise and I would doubt they would be pleased if one of their most popular non Star Wars character got nailed in the penultimate episode. However with a name like Tales of Monkey Island: Rise of the Pirate God; He may just be returning with some strange new powers.

Lastly, I would like to add that the episodic content format is working incredibly well for this genre of gaming. It really is something to look forward to every month. I hope it really kicks off, and a few more companies decide to start doing content like this. And maybe adventure games might have a revival; although some may argue that 2009 has been a very good year for the genre.

Which is has been, no argument here...for a change.

I don't know how, but someone has given Warren Spector permission to take Mickey Mouse and almost make it scary. I say almost because unfortunately there quite a bit of difference between the concept art:


and the screen shots from the actual game:


Which is a shame because I liked the idea of Mickey having to survive in a Fallout 3 inspired nuclear waste land.

The plot is bizarre to say the least:
"A long time ago, the sorcerer Yen Sid created a pen-and-paper world for his forgotten characters, held in an intricate model on a table, and accesible through a mirror. Mickey who finds himself inside Yen Sid's study, sees the model, and waits until Yen Sid is gone before going back to take another look at it, fiddling with it, Mickey accidentally trips through the mirror, spilling paint thinner and twisting the world. He managed to escape without Yen Sid knowing, returning to his world he went on to live years of success and fame, but his meddling had consequences. The paint and paint thinner have destroyed the world and created an evil being called the "Phantom Blot", who has usurped power from Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Yen Sid's first creation before Mickey, and sent the world into ruin. Years later, Mickey is kidnapped by the Phantom Blot and sent into the world. Oswald, his will lost, twisted by his jealousy of Mickey's rise to fame, has formulated a plan to destroy Mickey. The Mad Doctor works closely with the Blot, creating robotic "Beetleworx", which have the appearance of a Cartoon-style Car with a head protruding from the front bumper, made to intimidate and twist Mickey's vision of his friends. He also creates 'buddies' for Oswald, looking like Donald Duck and Goofy, as Oswald wants Mickey's life and popularity for himself. Mickey must stop the Phantom Blot, gain the trust of Oswald and save the forgotten world."
(Taken from Wikipedia)

For the people that haven't heard of Warren Spector: He is most famous for creating Deux Ex for the PC - A cyber-punk RPG/FPS - that was critically acclaimed for its multipath story.He is now adding some Deux Ex magic to Mickey Mouse which will probably created the strangest mashing of genres ever.

"The core of this game is the idea of choice and consequence, and how that defines both the character and the player,” says Spector. "By putting the mischievous Mickey in an unfamiliar place and asking him to make choices – to help other cartoon characters or choose his own path – the game forces players to deal with the consequences of their actions. Ultimately, players must ask themselves, ‘What kind of hero am I?’ Each player will come up with a different answer."

I have no idea which age range this game is being pitched to because I'm pretty sure that anyone under the age of ten, Mickey's biggest fan base, won't get the subtleties of cause and effect game play.

Anyway I'm pretty sure that if the confusing game doesn't get them, the horrific robot Donald Duck will!

I mean look at that! it's the stuff of nightmares, horrible cheese fueled nightmares.

"I want your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle"

On the back of the Episodes From Liberty City manual (the lastest add-on back for GTA 4)  there is a wonderfully crypic image that has got the Internet in a stir.

It hints at the next location of the new GTA game due to be released in March 2010.

Predictably there has been much speculation. All the Americans are saying that it's somewhere in the USA, while all the British are saying it's somewhere in England.

Now Rock Star started in Scotland and the second GTA game on the PC was set in London. The most recent games have all been set in an America. I think that is could be quite possible that the new one could grace our British shores. Think about the date of release, it's very close to Olympics which is going to be in London. It would be good business to some how tie the two together. GTA 5: Olympic edition. The 100 meter sprint with the Met (Police) chasing after you...maybe not.


However the "Seagull" theater does point to somewhere in the South East of England...Brighton maybe. This would mean a very big game map. Unless the game was going to be set in Brighton, which unforunatly isn't one of the biggest crime hubs in the UK. Unless you count inferior jam with your cream tea a crime.

If it is set in America then the image with trees and the mountains could depict somewhere like Reno and the Rocky Mountains. New England has country side like that too. Anyway I'm sure the speculation with continue.

I hope it is set in the UK. We are definitely due some GTA love.

Lucasarts are finally doing things right. After years in the Star Wars wilderness, they have decided to concentrate on their often exceptional back-catalog.

This has brought us the new Monkey Island games and now some of their older classics that, thankfully, didn't have anything to do with Luke Skywalker or Lego.

Anyway ZAMN (See what I did there?) first reared it's rotting face on the Super Nintendo back in 1993. I think I was about 10, maybe 11 years old and I had just watched Arachnophobia on VHS round Jonathan Wood's house. He had bought an American version of the game that you needed a converter to get to work in his UK system.

Thinking back: I have no idea where he got all these American games from - I seem to remember him owning a lot more. The game was basically a piss-take on the B-Movie horror genre and was great fun to play with a mate. I might hazard a guess that the creators of Left 4 Dead may have even played this game at some point (you never know). You got to choose between 2 rather cool characters and you had to leg it around various themed levels trying to save your neighbors from a quick death; it was that simple. It's one of the first games I remember being REALLY hard. Maybe I was just too young and my hands were too small to work the controller properly. However that didn't seem to stop me being kick-ass at Super Mario Kart - yes Saltdog, far far better then you.

I think the Wii version is a straight conversion so I doubt much has changed. I did hear a rumor that Lucasarts could be working on a brand new installment, which would make sense with all the zombie love going around these days.

Here is some game play footage from the SNES version:



Unfortunately for the Wii, these old games are pretty much all it has going for it. Unless you like Yoga or flapping your arms around like a complete prick. It's a shame because even though Nintendo has been brought back from the brink with this console. I think it maybe secretly dying inside; wishing for games like Left 4 Dead and Bioshock to grace it's waggle stick.

Shed a tear with me for Parent friendly Nintendo. Hopefully it will grow-up in the next great console war. I doubt it though, they are making far too much money.

I had almost forgotten how much I enjoy point and click adventures. I have just completed the latest installment of the computer game sitcom that is The Tales of Monkey Island and if I may, I would like to add that it is the finest so far.

This month we find Guybrush trapped in the stomach of a gigantic Narwhale - cue laughs, silly faces, intestinal fluid, a missing inner. It also has one of the funniest mini games since insult sword fighting. It's called the "face off" and is based on those gurning competitions that rural England seem to love so much.



On a more intellectual note, I think Guybrush has evolved..as a character I mean. At first I thought it was his new 3D body and fancy beard, but I think it's his personality that has changed the most. No longer do you feel you are in control of a inept pirate wannabe, stumbling from dangerous situation to even more dangerous situation. It seems he has embraced his stupidity and has made the puzzle thing his preferred style of combat. Where he once seemed to escape most situations by the skin of his teeth, he always seem to have some underlying plan. I hate to say it but almost like Captain Jack Sparrow...argh.

Anyway bring on the next episode, I can barely contain my piratey excitement.

Tai Chiem, an "Award winning, ambitious, passionate designer, self motivated with a great eye for design" has put together his take on what the next generation of consoles should look like.

PS4



Xbox 720


I think the designers are fantastic, especially the PS4. Give this man a job that's what I say. If you want to see more of his work then you can visit his site here:

Tai Chiem - Industrial Design

As the recession bites, studios have started to turn to computer games for inspiration rather than just smashing out endless sequels. There are a couple of games, bright sparkles in an otherwise black abyss that I’m hoping will buck the trend of bad game to film translations.

Avatar


The game and the film are being released at the same time and it should be a real cinematic event, yes you guessed it, it’s James Carmon’s Avatar.

The 3D spectacular that will turn going to the Cinema in to an event again (the best way to fight the pirates) will also spawn an MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role playing game).

Based in the same world as the film, you will be able to experience his vision first hand with another couple of thousand people. James was heavily involved in the creation of the game so it should be up to standard.


Prince of Persia



A Jerry Bruckheimer blockbusting extravaganza, featuring an extremely ripped Jake Gyllenhaal and Ben Kingsly doing his standard villain routine.

It has been in production for a while and apparently they are just finishing up the special effects so it should be out soon. The film follows the 2003 console reboot Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, with the hero (Gyllenhall) tasked with retrieving the Sands of time -an ancient relic that can control time itself...surprisingly.

I have a feeling it will have a similar tone to Transformers – huge explosions, stunning girls and great combat. It should be worth watching you want to turn your brain off.

Bioshock



I was excited about until it got put on hold due to budget concerns. It was going to be filmed on a green screen, think 300 but under the sea. It’s based around an underwater city called Rapture that a bunch of Scientists built to escape the aftermath of the Second World War.

They chose the best and the brightest to build the perfect society but things went a bit wrong. It was to be directed by Gore Verbinski of pirate Caribbean fame and written by John Logan who penned Gladiator and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. So it has potential and I really hope it gets made.

Halo



Peter Jackson and the Wheta workshop were working on this one. They got themselves a cult director from South Africa (Neil Blomkamp). They made some test footage that got the Internet very excited because Wheta had created a bunch of amazing props including a fully working Warthog, a type of army truck you can drive in the game.

However in 2007 the project got declared dead by Neil although Peter has said that the movie will be made. Neil and Peter have been working on another film - District 9.

It’s Sci-fi and you can see the potential of how good the Halo film could have been or may still be. Fast forward a few months and the Mighty Steven Spiel berg has been linked with the project as an executive producer...

The World Of Warcraft


Blizzard's unstoppable snow ball of a franchise has finally had a director linked with it. And in typical Blizzard style, they have the very best to turn their game in to a film - Mr Sam Raimi - The veteran of the Spiderman films and the Evil Dead series.

That is all we know so far but this is set to be a biggy, he has probably got the hardest task ever in film making history. He has to please 11 million internet geeks that will start an rampage if the film doesn't live up to expectations.

So we have a release name and I hear this is set as a sequel to Shadow of the Colossus, interesting.

The new trailer is pretty much the same as the last but with some better graphics and more gameplay stuff, which by the way looks rather fun.



Sweet.

Check out this fan video that has blown the Half-Life-loving internet to pieces over the last few months.

Some of you might not have played these iconic series of games so things may not make a lot of sense.

Here is a VERY brief over view from Wikipedia:

Half-Life 2 takes place in a dystopian world in which the events of Half-Life (the first game) have fully come to bear on human society, which has been enslaved by the extraterrestrial civilization known as the Combine. The game takes place in and around the fictional City 17 and follows the adventures of scientist Gordon Freeman. Freeman must fight against increasingly unfavorable odds in order to survive.

These guys have a spent a lot of time and money so it only just that they introduce their master piece:

Directed by The Purchase Brothers. (David and Ian)

Filmed guerrilla style. No crew. First two episodes made on a $500 budget, not including previous capital. Valve flew the brothers out to Seattle last year. and mentioned they were 'blown away' by the project on Steam.

Part Two is on the way. Hopefully finished by the mid May. The episode has taken more time then expected as the David and Ian are working on their careers.

I came across something very interesting the other day – a games on demand service. With faster and faster broadband speeds this kind of thing has been promised by a number of companies and now it seems to finally have been put in to practice.

It's based around the idea that with really quick broadband, there is no need to run applications on your home computer anymore. They can be run remotely by the company that makes the application and the data streamed to your computer – sort of like how Hotmail and Gmail work but on a much bigger scale.

So no more having to upgrade your computer with faster and faster processors and better graphics cards. The computer that is hosting the app will take care of all of that – they will just stream all the visuals to you and do all the hard work on their end.

So here is the first company that is going to give it a go.

http://www.onlive.com/



There are lots of doubts surrounding this service – manly around the issue of lag. No one can quite believe that this service will run as smoothly as Onlive have promised. A veteran of online gaming myself, I know that it can really ruin your gaming experience. Also I have a download cap on my broadband, I have a feeling that a service like this would eat up my allowance at a very fast rate of knots.

Anyway I definitely think this kind of thing is the future - I will be the first one to sign up when it's out in the UK - I just think the technology behind our broadband just needs to catch up first.