Two new Irish games sites seek volunteers

Two new Irish computer games website, ‘Irish Gamers
Ressurected!’ (sic), and ‘Next Gen Ireland’ are looking for
volunteers to write. The new sites launch at a time when updates on
IrishGamer.ie have come to a standstill.

Both sites are in the early stages, Next Gen Ireland has recently launched and is publishing content (including press releases).

Meanwhile, the blogspot-based Irish Gamers Ressurected!, which we previous reported grew out IrishGamers.ie’s forums, is now looking for staff, but so-far the site only contains internal announcements.

In other Irish games website news (or at least news to us), gamingireland.net have started staff blogs — unfortunately login is needed to view, and registration was not working when we tried.

Irish Gamers Ressurected is located at http://igressurected.blogspot.com/, while Next Gen Ireland is at http://www.nextgenireland.citymax.com/. There are more links to Irish computer games websites here.

REVIEW: F.E.A.R.

Developer: Monolith | Publisher: Vivendi | Format: Xbox 360

REVIEWER:CRAIG GALLAGHER || Last year, F.E.A.R. was a
critical and commercial success which brought survival horror ambience
to the first-person shooter genre like no other title before. At long
last F.E.A.R. makes an appearance on the console market. Vivindi have
done a fantastic job of taking the PC experience and tailoring it for
the console in an original and unique manner.

F.E.A.R.’s storyline follows a soldier of the First Encounter
Assault Recon team, as you search for Paxton Fettel, a cannibal
battalion commander who can control his troops through telekinesis.
Like all games in the genre, things are never what they appear and soon
a spooky long haired girl called Alma is stalking you.

F.E.A.R. is a creepy as hell. The atmosphere is superbly created
through imaginative use of sound and lighting. The evocative music and
sound effects conjures a constant prevailing sense of dread.

Like all FPS it doesn’t matter how good the game looks, it’s how
well the carnage is handled. F.E.A.R. has an awful lot going for it in
that department. The fire fights are intense, and coupled with the
superior AI make this one hell of a title. Enemies will find cover, and
even kick over tables to hide behind. This isn’t one of those games
where you hide around a corner and pick off enemies one at a time, like
shooting fish in a barrel. F.E.A.R. rewards a strategic run and gun
metality.

Thankfully, you have a few aces up your sleeves. You can utilise
Slo-Mo that allows you to enter a bullet time type mode, slowing the
action down just enough to give you an advantage. There’s also a very
impressive array of weaponry at your disposal. Old Favourites like
Combat Shotguns, Assault Rifles sit side by side with  high-tech
weaponry such as the Perforator, a gun which shoots metal spikes,
allowing you to impale enemies to the wall.

The 360 version includes an Instant Action mode, which is basically
an endurance test. You are dropped in the middle of a group of enemy
soldiers and you must stay alive as long as possible.

The only department that F.EA.R. on the 360 couldn’t master are
the controls. While perfectly acceptable, the button lay out could do
with a bit more thought. The melee combat controls are an annoyance.
You’ll often find yourself getting killed simply because the holster
button and melee button are one and the same.

F.E.A.R. is an excellent port of a superb game. Anyone who missed
out on the PC version would do themselves a great disservice if they
missed out again on the console version.

Gaming dolls and super men at Xbox centre

Superman
Returns will be free to play at Dublin’s Xbox Live Gaming Centre this
Saturday, while next week Ubisoft’s girl gamers will be making an
appearance.

A promotion for Superman Returns will see the centre host to free
play of the game from 11am till 5pm on Saturday, all thanks to
publisher EA.

Meanwhile, on next Saturday, December 2, Ubisoft’s Rainbow 6: Las Vegas will be promoted by the company’s ‘Frag Dolls‘
(pictured — wasn’t there once five of them?). If you’re up for
the challenge, they will be playing the game sometime from 12pm till
2pm [insert tabloid-like joke about boys not playing with dolls here].

The centre is at 51 South William Street, Dublin 2, more info can be found at xboxlivegamingcentre.com.

Irishgamer.ie “site dead?” asks users

Irishgamer.ie which named it self “the only Irish games website which is updated regularly” is no-longer doing so.

The site’s news section was last updated almost two months ago on Thursday, September 28.

Games Toaster was previously told by site
editor Noel Brady the site was “glad to be filling a niche as the
only Irish games website which is updated regularly”.

Before the stop in updates the site had included regular retail
price checks, reviews, general games news, interviews, other features,
and a reasonably busy discussion forum for a new site. 

Replying to site users over a week ago Brady wrote on site’s
forums that “The site isn’t dead. We’re going to try and get some
content up and running soon. I’m still writing games content for
Campus. Just been too busy with work to concentrate on IG.

However, the last games reviews published on campus.ie’s games
section were 24: The Game, Fight Night Round 3, and BLACK — all
released some time ago.

Furthermore, between September 20-21, admin Andy “There has been
no new games out recently…. IrishGamer will be hitting peak, along
with MS and Ninty…. Loads of early reviews and a new design will be
coming along shortly….” and Brady wrote after him “Nothing major
is being released lads. We’ll be back in the next few weeks with some
improvements!”. That was around eight weeks ago.

The ‘General Chat’ section of Irishgamer.ie’s forums contains
a number of threads asking about the site’s health, including threads
titled “erm……. site dead?” and “wakey wakey“.

One forum user even set up and suggested using a blogspot.com blog named “Irish Gamers Ressurected!” (igressurected.blogspot.com) to replace the site.

Separately, the website Xbox Ireland,
which previously was accessible vie the address XboxIreland.com, has
now closed with an advertisements website taking its place. Site owner
Jason Powell had told us that “xboxireland.com is coming back bigger
and better then ever before”.

REVIEW: 50 Cent: Bulletproof G-Unit Edition

Developer: High Voltage | Publisher: Vivendi | Format: PSP

Reviewer: Craig Gallagher Despite
largely negative reviews last years 50 Cent: Bulletproof sold over a
million copies worldwide. Inevitably, we get 50 Cent: Bulletproof
G-Unit Edition on the PSP.

After receiving a distressing call
for help from his friend, K-Dog, 50 stumbles upon K-Dog’s murder. In
the ensuing commotion 50 receives a number of bullets in the back, as
well as being framed for the murder by corrupt government agents.
It’s up to you to clear 50’s good name. It’s a pretty thin story,
which given the games audience is probably a positive.

This PSP
port turns a third-person shooter, into a top-down hack-and-slash
action game. The top-down view could have worked, if you had been given
the option to zoom in and out of the action. Unfortunately you’re
forced to follow 50 up close, meaning that at times it is almost
impossible to see what the hell is going on. Thankfully, the
auto-targeting system works, otherwise you wouldn’t stand a chance of
progressing. The reason 50 dies so often in the game isn’t because of
superior enemy AI, it’s that damned camera.

The game is pretty
easy going fare. Dispatching enemies is a rather simple task, due to
the fact that they simply run at you, never seeking out cover or
vantage points. It’s far too simple to merely grab enemies and use
them as shields, as you mow down their AI retarded accomplices. There
is a range of weapons available, from baseball bats to shotguns.

This
is a dull game which only comes alive in multiplayer. Up to five can
play in a variety of modes such as Smash and Grab, Breaking and
Entering, Urban Warfare, King of Bling and Slaughter the Pig. All are
somewhat self explanatory.  Of the multiplayer matches, Breaking
and Entering, a game in which you attempt to destroy or defend your
team’s vehicle  is the most enjoyable.

All in all this
isn’t a great game. The mediocrity of proceedings make it difficult
to recommend to any but the most hardened of hip hop fans.

 

Is this PSP ad the ‘worst ever’?

Pictured above, the PSP poster advertisement can currently be seen
at bus shelters and other locations across Dublin, it’s supported by TV
spots. We quite like it, but there’s mixed opinion on the PlayStation
forum on boards.ie.

The ad reads “I can’t believe she called me a dirtbag”… “Yeah. You’re clearly a dustball”.

Meanwhile, among ads for music and film events, Gears of War posters
are a little less apparent  around Dublin city centre (top right
of poster board):

Cork’s RedFM set for Gears of War special

Thursday night’s ‘Cork Talks Back’ on RedFM, a Gears of War
special, will include an interviewer with the game’s lead designer.

Epic Games’s Cliff Bleszinski (or Cliff B) will feature in an
interview on the show hosted by Victor Barry. The show will also be
giving away copies of the game.

Cork Talks Back broadcasts at 9pm from 104-106FM in Cork and online vie www.redfm.ie. After the show goes out the interview will be available for download on the station’s website.

The European “Emergence Day” — Epic’s and Microsoft’s
marketing name given to the release date of the game — is Friday. The
game is one of Microsoft’s triple-A titles on the Christmas line up.

Victor Barry will be playing over Xbox Live in a public session on
Saturday between 3pm and 5pm. Barry (gamertag: vicbarry) will follow in
the footsteps celebrities worldwide, and Today FM DJ Ray Foley
(gamertag: Ray Foley).

Foley says on his blog
that Gears of War “has changed my life”. After introducing himself
in a YouTube video “getting my ass kicked” (in the game), he says
he’s “shit at games”:

Barry has also been blogging about Gears of War — here, here, here, and here.

Game On responds to “30 minute ad” claims

“This show is for nobody else but the viewer and we want to ensure that we are meeting those needs”.

A producer for the Channel 6 games show, Game On, has replied to criticism levelled at the show by gamers on boards.ie.

In response to criticism that ‘Game On’ was a “30 minute ad” for
Microsoft, Michael Brennan, Producer, Intermission Studio told Games
Toaster that “The Programme is not funded by Microsoft or any other
3rd party in any way. Game On is 100% funded by Channel 6″

Brennan said that they rely on Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, EA Games
and other publishers for video content, but he said “Game On is
completely independent from the console makers as this keeps the game
reviews and features un-biased and credible”.

Expanding on the extensive Xbox 360 coverage he said, “Microsoft
did feature primarily in the 1st programme as they had (in our opinion)
the most relevant releases/news which we feel the viewers wanted to
see. All other consoles, games etc will be covered in the show between
now and Christmas”.

“We have had News sections on the Wii, Modding, and the web. As
for the PS2 we have shown in game footage reviews of Pro Evo 6, Canis
Canem Edit and Battlefield 2142 on the PC”.

With PSP, Brennan stated that they will be “there are no New Major
PSP Titles on release at moment apart from GTA Vice city stories, and
Killzone liberation”, adding that, along with DS titles, these PSP
games will be reviewed “over the coming weeks up to Christmas”.

When asked how does the Microsoft’s involvement compared to other
publishers, he said “Microsoft have been very accomodating to the
show at launch, as have Sony and Nintendo. All the developers and
publishers have also been very helpful and as at the moment Microsoft
have the big titles releases for Christmas so they are able to provide
more content to us. As we get material we assess how releavant it is to
the weeks show and then include it”.

Dublin Games Price Survey (no 1)

The Dublin Computer Games Price Survey (no 1) is Games Toaster’s first comprehensive games price check.

We plan to conduct further surveys in the future, and possibly smaller price reviews after launches of high-profile games. Apologies for the lack of Nintendo titles in this one. (For details and methodology read after the table).

Price table

Key
Lowest street price have red background, overall lowest in bold text. ^ = was not in stock.

Methodology
All street prices
are from the evening or night of Tuesday November 7, 2006, bar
Xtravision which was done the next night. Games are a random sample of
popular or high profile titles currently on release, most are just
recently released.

Date
was not collected on non-listed titles; the selection shown is
formatted raw data. Beyond the stated prices, no special offers or
store card discounts were taken into account.

With high street
stores, all prices were checked in-store. Most prices were taken from
display boxes, with the exception of a few titles (in GameStop, where
staff were asked for the pricing of the PC and Xbox 360 games, as the
shop was closing).  Argus prices taken current from “games update” catalogue.

Online stores were taken at displayed euro
pricing on the night of Sunday November 11. Both online retailers
surveyed include free postage.

No updated prices will be taken
into account (but if you want post them below). However, if you can
prove that the pricing on the day differs from what is shown, please
contact us.

Legal note
Games Toaster has done
all that is reasonably possible to obtain correct date, however the
date is for information reasons only. We have no involvement with any
of the retailers listed, and can not guarantee product will be
available to buy at rates shown.

Comment or suggestions
Feedback
can be posted anonymously without login in the below comments section
or can be emailed to the usually address (see left hand side menu).

RDS: Gears of War Wii for the weekend

The highly anticipated Xbox 360 game, Gears of War, is playable in Dublin a week before launch at the RDS.

As we reported before,
it joins the Nintendo Wii at the ‘Boys 4 Big Boys’ expo until
10.00pm tonight, and over the weekend from 10.00am — 7.00pm.

The Nintendo Wii strangely missed the ‘vip’ and press and opening
night, leaving any gaming inclined alcoholic drenched hacks to get
their blood pumping with Gears of War.

In a four-section stand made out to be sitting and bed rooms, Zelda
is accompanied by three Wii Sports games. Nintendo reps also had DS
handheld consoles, secured for public use by attachment to the reps.

Wii Sports is set to come preloaded on the console at the December
8 launch, with the new console retailing at around

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