Irish video games podcast launched
Citizengame.co.uk, although it has a UK web address, is a newly launched Irish games podcast. The first edition, a ‘pilotcast’, was released on March 3 and has been so-far followed by three more shows.
In the podcasts presenters cover computer games news and talk about the latest games. The podcasts in MP3 - which vary from an hour to an hour and 25mins - can be downloaded in from citizengame.co.uk.
Highlander the game
Technically not breaking news or anything, but for those who may have missed it, when it was included as a bonus feature on the rather lack struck Highlander: The Source, here is the trailer for the upcoming Highlander game. The trailer doesn’t give much away but it does look impressive and given the wealth of mythology to draw upon this could be a gem of a game, that is as long as they disregard
Highlander 2 and the Source.
REVIEW: The Orange Box
Developer: Valve | Publisher: EA/Steam | For: 360, PS3, PC
Reviewer: Cian Ginty Ok, so the Orange Box was released at the end of last year on
consoles, but we think it’s worth a mention for anybody who has
recently bought an PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360.
The Orange Box isn’t a game, it’s five games boxed as one — Half-Life
2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Portal, and the
multiplayer Team Fortress 2. If you’re not a PC gamer, you might have played Half-Life when it got
off to a poor console start on PlayStation 2, the game was just about
playable compared to the award-winning PC version, but things have
changed since then.
Half-Life has been a standard setter since its first PC release in
1998. Half-Life 2 was long delayed but well worth the wait, again
getting critical acclaimed. Then, since its launch, games developer
Valve switched to a ‘episode’ based releases using their Steam download
system — the Orange Box partly acts as catch up for console users.
Half-Life 2, Episode One, and Episode Two are your standard-setting
first person shooters. Think highly developed storyline, impressive
graphics, and never-ending action mixed in with a range of weapons and
enemies, and you’re just about there.
Portal is puzzle game like you never. As with the original Half-Life,
you’re our stuck in a weapons research and development. But there’s a
twist. It looks like a first person shooter, but the game does not have
any guns you can pick up.
Instead you have a portal shooter, getting place-to-place or
disabling
automatic guns requires a bit of thinking. Did we mention the computer
which controls the compound has gone crazy and is trying to kill you?
If you could call Orange Box a game it would be game of the year 2007,
but, since it’s not a game, it is the best every value the games
industry has ever seen.
This article first appeared in the Ballyfermot Post in print and online at ballyer.net.
REVIEW: FEAR Files
Developer: Timegate/Day 1 | Pub: Vivendi | For: Xbox 360, PC
Reviewer: Craig J Gallagher FEAR remains one of the benchmark first person shooters of recent years. The strong storyline concerning the supernatural,
super soldiers and scary little girl coupled with superior gameplay and
instant re-playability held the game stand out from the crowd. In the
absence of a sequel we instead get two expansion packs bundled
together.
Files is a stand alone games designed for the 360
which is now coupled with Extraction and Perseus Mandate. These three
titles while lacking in comparison to the original are still passable
fare for any FEAR or FPS junkies out there.
Extraction Point begins directly after the original ending, featuring as
it does a host of familiar faces. Holiday, Jin Sun-Kwon and the
always creepy Alice all feature. Like the original game, you find your
self back at the Armacham facilities fighting off hordes of the same
Replica forces. To
add to your woes is the return of Paxton Fettel, you know the guy you
successfully killed in the original.
The expansion pack plays exactly
like the original, so much in fact that you could be forgiven for
thinking you booted up the wrong games. Bar the inclusion of a few new
weapons it could be the same game, though not as good due to the
novelty of stapling baddies to the wall having worn off. That said
Extraction is still a lot of fun to play and will have you reaching for
the light switch.
Perseus Mandate, the second expansion included follows the adventures
of yet another FEAR unit. Only this time the game takes place at
the same time of the original, meaning that at times they’re basically
the same game bar with a new protagonist.
You run around, shoot some
bad guys and utilise your ability to slow time all happening in many of
the same locations of the original. Not exactly a massive leap forward
for the franchise. Still it’s quite entertaining, and at the end of the
day all most of us want is to blow shit up to take our minds of the our
mundane lives.
The return of the Instant Action option allows you to pick a map and
just run around killing things, without having to worry about following
the plot.
It’s quick, fun and challenging. This coupled with the Online
multi player makes for a satisfying extended gaming life. All the usual
modes are available, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and
so forth.
Fans of the original will lap up whats on offer here, but newcomers
looking for the next big thing will be disappointed. While everything
remains basically the same, Extraction point is still worth a look.
Just don’t go in looking for the next Crysis.
GameStop expands with new shops in Finglas, Gorey, Castlebar, and Limerick
Games retailer GameStop is continuing to expand on its Irish locations with new stores recently opened in Finglas, Gorey, and Castlebar, while Limerick is to get a third store.
GameStop Ireland will have 50 shops under its control by the end of the month, including two in the UK.
The retailer has massively expanded since the US games giant bought up and re-branded independent Irish retailer GamesWorld in 2003. In the last two years alone, it has nearly doubled the number of locations in the Republic and the North.
Its parent company runs 5,000 stores across Europe, the US, and South America.
PREVIEW: Assassin’s Creed
Developer / Publisher: Ubisoft | Format: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Previewer: Cian Ginty
There used to be a bit of magic or mystic that surrounded the worlds of old 2D games, your imagination governed what laid in the world outside of your mission path. The advent of 3D games — and 3D games which tried to be too much — somewhat killed this. Assassin’s Creed is one of those games that brings you back, while keeping the gameplay at the edge of today.
As the name should suggest, you play as an assassin. It’s set in the Holy Land in middle east in the year 1191 AD, but there’s futuristic hints around the game - from the menu and loading systems to graphics which appear around some enemies.
“And it’s about this science company trying to, Matrix-style, go into peoples brains and find out an ancestor who used to be an assassin, and sort of locate who that person is” actor Kristen Bell, in this case voice actor, let it slip to US games site IGN.
Some type of Timecop theme? However, when we went to see the game recently at Ubisoft offices outside London, they were remaining tight-lipped, saying they want some things left as a surprise, only elusively saying it’d be revealed at the start of the game.
Assassin’s Creed is set in a free roaming environment with four main areas — three cities, the assassin’s enclave, and the open lands and paths of the ‘the Kingdom’ in the middle. There’s freedom of which city
to go to first, and there’s freedom to jump wildly across city rooftops or to slowly walk among the people.
In the backdrop is a Crusade, the third one we’re told, and in a hidden group of assassins you’re sent on missions to kill members of both sides of the conflict for the greater good. Nevertheless, as cut scenes
just before assignations will tell, moral conflict might ensue as things aren’t all that black and white.
In gameplay, there’s basically you, the civilians, the guards, more cutely aware groupings such as patrols, and your targets. Guards will for the most part ignore you unless you act up — for example, jumping around rooftops isn’t normal and the archers will literally draw their attention on you. You can attack back with throwing knifes, your sword, or your assassins’ blade — unfortunately no archery of your own.
The developers have tried to balance thing out, picket pocketing or messing around with civilians won’t get you too much trouble. The levels of danger can be lowered by, for example, hiding in plain sight in your monk-like robes, among monks or not. Patrols on the other hand may be actively searching for an assassin.
You could say the game is Hitman meets the speed and building jumping and climbing of the revived and critically acclaimed Prince of Persia games, with a dash of horse riding and open environments of Shadow of
the Colossus. Although, that’s a bit of a mouth full and Assassin’s Creed should stand out on its own. It’s not a bog standard stealth game, you’re not a prince, and your targets are not Colossi (at least not in size). It’s a unique and immersive game.
Assassin’s Creed is out in Ireland and the UK on November 16 on Xbox 360 and PS3, the release date for PC is yet to be finalised but is due before the end of the year.
REVIEW: World in Conflict
It’s the end of the world as we know
it, and if World in Conflcit is any indication as to how that will go
down then it should be a hell of a lot of fun. Set in an alternate
1980s at the head of the Cold War. The Reds invade half of Europe
before launching a full scale attack upon American soil. As is to be
expected, the Americans don’t take this well and retaliate.
Players take on the mantle of Lt.
Parker, who has in the past fought across Europe and must now defend
his country’s freedom. One of the most impressive attributes of the
game is how it addresses that there is no right side in war. Most
games have good and evil, with no real examination of the horrors of
such conflicts. The adult manner in which World in Conflict examines
this makes it a far more adult and interesting game, than the usual
run of the mill RTS.
The biggest differance between World
in Conflict and other RTS games is that there is no resources
management system in operation. Instead, gamers are allocated a
number of points which they can utilise to purchase additional units.
This manipulation of age old ideas, puts far more pressure upon the
player to spend his points wisely.
Occupying areas is also rather
differant to what most gamers will be used to. Instead of simply
killing of the enemy, you must deploy troops to specific points in
the surrounding area. These points are usually so far apart that
diverting troops to fortify one area, leaves another vunreable.
Strategy really is key to succeeding in World in Conflict.
Multiplayer differs from the
traditional aspects of RTS by forcing players to choose a specific
role. Players can choose to specilise in Armor, Infantry, Air or
Support. There is a far greater level of cooperation between players.
It also raises the challenge up a notch.
World in Conflict is the pertfect
blend of strategy and fun. The only real drawback to the game is that
at times, it can get a bit too crazy. The rest of the game more than
compensates for those few ocassions, when you have to turn the game
off and take a breather.
TGS07 Round-up
Last week, most of the major players of the video game industry
congregated in a giant conference centre just outside Tokyo to outline
their plans for the future. Yesterday marked the final day of the
event, and here is a recap of what you may have missed.
Being on Japanese soil, much of the wares on display were aimed at the
local market. Microsoft, who haven’t enjoyed the same success in Japan
as they have in other territories, showcased many games that were
designed to appeal to the Japanese gamer. They devoted a large section
of their floorspace to a very Japanese-style theatre for the extremely
graphic Ninja Gaiden II - and it proved a big hit with the locals, with
queues to watch the trailer in such settings stretching to over an hour.
Their Xbox Live Arcade platform received a shot in the arm with
announcement that shoot-em-ups Rez and Ikaruga were bound for the
online-gaming service. Virtua Fighter 5, Devil May Cry 4 and the latest
installment in the Winning Eleven series also proved popular on the
event floor. Halo 3 didn’t command the attention of gamers as it does
outside Japan, however.
Going into the conference, Sony had much to prove with regards to their
under-performing Playstation platforms. With games like Talkman Travel
and MyStylist and the Japanese-only TV tuner, Sony seem keen to widen
the audience of the beleaguered handheld - though there was also an
abundance of established franchises on display, including Metal Gear,
Final Fantasy, Star Ocean and Silent Hill.
Playstation 3 owners received welcome news that a new Dualshock - the
Dualshock 3 - will be coming to gamers’ hands within the year in Japan,
and early next year for those in other territories. The joypad will
also boast motion-sensing controls like the current SIXAXIS, but it is
unknown if it will replace it entirely.
On the software front, Metal Gear Solid 4 was undoubtedly the game of
the show. With queues to play the game stretching for over 4 hours at
peak times, the demand was clearly high. A new trailer was unveiled,
and Metal Gear Online was also showcased.
At Sony’s booth, The Eye of Judgement and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue
garnered much attention - but there was quite an array of software on
display. Games from established series like Time Crisis 4 (complete
with a new, complicated Guncon controller), Devil May Cry 4, Yakuza 3
sat beside some innovative-looking titles like the afformentioned Eye
of Judgement, LittleBigPlanet and Echochrome. Judging by such titles,
Sony should be in better shape going into next year’s show than they
are now.
With Nintendo absent from proceedings, third parties were left to pick
up the baton. For the Wii, Capcom dedicated much space to
platform-exclusive Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, but outside that
there were very little of note for owners of the innovative console.
Nintendo DS owners were also left largely disappointed, with a large
proportion of the games on show likely to never see light of day
outside of Japan.
World Cyber Games Irish finals still open
- Irish finals open without attending 
- Must register on lanparty.ie and then on page sign up
- Two Dublin regional qualifiers in the next weeks
Registration for the Irish finals of the World Cyber Games is still
open, and is open to everyone not just those who competed in the
regional heats.
Gamers wishing to play in the finals must register at lanparty.ie, and also then sign up to the event on the ‘WCG Irish Finals‘ page.
Games to be played are Counter Strike 1.6 on PC with a team of five,
Project Gotham Racing 3 on Xbox, and FIFA 07 on PC.
Tickets cost
Irish gamer to feature in Tiger Woods game
An Irish gamer is to feature in EA’s latest Tiger Woods golf
computer game, the gamer won a phone-in competition on radio station
2FM last September.
The likeness of Stephen Brown, from Birr in Co Offaly, is to appear — above is a screenshot of Brown in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08.
He also got to meet and play against Tiger Woods (pictured below) in
an EA Sports event ‘You vs Tiger’ at Leicester Square in London.
The promotion was in part to promote ‘Photo Game Face’, a new
feature in the golf game that allows players to up load their images
into the game by just adding normal photographs.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 is set to be released next month for the
PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, and PC, as well as on handheld
systems the DS and PSP.
