Tag Archives: playstation

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?

Console Wars: Could Apple Buy Sony?

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OK,  so it’s probably a crazy idea and there’s no hint that it will happen, but it’s well worth taking a look at what would be an incredible business deal.

The idea came to me on the back of the recent PSN hack and Microsoft’s deal for Skype. Apple is sitting with an ever-growing amount of cash on its balance sheet. That and their short-term investments now total an enormous $29 billion. That’s money which is not doing a great deal and many analysts believe it could be put to better use by acquiring other companies.  Microsoft has made its move by buying Skype. Now its Apple’s turn.

Sony is currently valued at $27.7 billion (according to Google finance and not including options). Some believed Apple might acquire Sony back in October of last year (at that time Sony’s share price was around $32, more expensive than the $27.58 it is today).

Of course, the true cost of buying Sony would be a lot more. Apple would have to take on Sony’s colossal debts but Apple could afford to do it – if it wanted to.

The Console War

We all enjoy the rivalry between Sony and Microsoft as each company pushes the other onto greater and better things. But the truth is, Sony has been struggling. Its share price has collapsed from $149 a share in 1999 to just $27.58 today. Its rival Microsoft is valued at about eight times more.

Sony may be winning this round in the battle of the consoles (although many would disagree). However, it has made a loss the last two years. How much longer can it keep pace with its rival? Is it destined to follow Sega and, dare I say, Nintendo into mediocrity? Perhaps Sony needs to be bought out before this can happen.

Is it time Apple entered the console war? No doubt some Sony fans will baulk at the idea of an Apple takeover. But imagine the expertise Apple could bring to a console. The PSN network could be integrated with iTunes and Apple TV, and Apple could bring its brilliant design expertise to the PlayStation hardware and software. There would a whole of host of synergies.

The Brand

Imagine the power of the Sony and the Apple brand combined. Imagine the iPlaystation. We have iPad, iPods, so why not an iPlayStation?. Apple was already recently rated as the most valuable brand in the world (at a staggering $153bn). Picture what the addition of Sony could bring to it.

Would it Really Benefit Us?

A question worth asking as consumers is: Do we want to have to pay for this super brand? Would it work? Or would the strength of both brands work against each other?

The best thing for us, the consumer, would be if Apple entered the console war by itself. While we’d love it to happen, Apple is probably too far behind to do this. That said, who knows? If anyone could do it, it would be Apple.

The Microsoft and Apple History

The Microsoft/Apple History has been a very complex one. There has been mutual co-operation, contract deals, law suits against and investments in each other.

In the last 10 years, Apple has really taken the fight to its brother. In the last few days, Apple finally passed Microsoft in Profit ($6 billion to $5.2 billion for the quarter), having already passed it in revenue and market cap.

The Xbox is one of the last bastions of Microsoft not under attack by Apple. If Apple bought Sony, this would no longer be the case.

Other synergies

If Apple bought Sony, it would immediately mitigate much of the damage done to the Sony brand by the PSN hack. If Apple handled it properly, they could portray themselves as a rescuer. I believe Apple could add value just by stepping in. They could also bring their security experts to help shore up Sony’s system and prevent another attack.

An increasing presence in online gaming and entertainment could help Apple to challenge the likes of Facebook.

There would be many other savings as well, in the production process, purchasing of raw materials, marketing and distribution etc.

Could it Actually Happen?

Apple is probably far too sensible to consider such a deal. Part of the reason they have done so well at the moment is precisely because they have avoided getting distracted by the console war. Both Microsoft and Sony have sunk huge resources into their consoles for relatively little gain and it has shown in terms of profits and share price. Both have struggled in recent years partly as a result of this distraction.

However, Sony has previously been sighted as a potential Apple target and it is known they are in the market for acquisitions. On paper, the deal might make sense but that fails to consider the very different corporate cultures at Sony and Apple. Ultimately, this is probably the reason the deal will never happen. Mergers as big as this one have a poor record of success. Sony’s deeply ingrained corporate culture would be hard to overturn.

 

PlayStation Phone Confirmed – Xperia PLAY {Gadgets}

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Sony has confirmed the worst kept secret in tech, the PlayStation licensed smart phone.  The Xperia PLAY will be the latest model in Sony Ericsson’s Xperia range of Android based smart phones.

Said to deliver the smartphone functionality that the most serious power users could need, teamed with the immersive gaming experience that any gamer would want. The features will also include a 5 megapixel camera, a 4” multi-touch screen and social networking features, so it rivals most existing smart phones in the usual areas.


Slide out the gaming control and users enter a new world of immersive mobile gaming. The slide out game pad reveals a digital D pad, two analogue touch pads, two shoulder buttons and the four PlayStation icons: circle, cross, square and triangle. Qualcomm’s optimized Snapdragon processor with a 1Ghz CPU and embedded Adreno GPU graphics processor deliver 60fps play-back 3D mobile gaming and Web browsing with minimal power consumption so Xperia PLAY users can enjoy long hours of battery life and game time. How long? Up to 5hrs 35mins of game play time.


Xperia PLAY will run on Gingerbread (version 2.3) and as the first PlayStation Certified device it will have access to PlayStation game content provided through the PlayStation Suite initiative, currently under development by Sony Computer Entertainment and due to launch later this calendar year. There’s only a hint as to the games to be available so far but they include The Sims 3, FIFA 10, Guitar Hero, Assassin’s Creed and Splinter Cell.



The Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY will be available globally in selected markets from March 2011.
Here’s some specifications (and by ‘some’ I mean lots):

Xperia™ PLAY at a glance:

Sony Ericsson Xperia™ PLAY

Camera

  • 5.1 megapixel camera
  • Auto focus
  • Flash / Photo light
  • Geo tagging
  • Image stabiliser
  • Send to web
  • Touch focus
  • Video light
  • Video recording
  • Video blogging

Music

  • Album art
  • Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
  • Google™ Music Player
  • Music tones (MP3/AAC)
  • PlayNow™ service*
  • Sony Ericsson Music player
  • Stereo speakers
  • TrackID™ music recognition application

Internet

  • Android Market™*
  • Bookmarks
  • Google™ search*
  • Google™ Voice Search*
  • Pan & zoom
  • Web browser (Webkit)

Communication

  • Call list
  • Conference calls
  • Facebook™ application (from Android Market™)
  • Google™ Talk*
  • Noise Shield
  • Polyphonic ringtones
  • Speakerphone
  • Sony Ericsson Timescape™***
  • Twitter™ application (from Android Market™)
  • Vibrating alert

Messaging

  • Android Cloud to Device messaging (C2DM)
  • Conversations
  • Email
  • Google Mail™*
  • Instant messaging
  • Picture messaging (MMS)
  • Predictive text input
  • Sound recorder
  • Text messaging (SMS)

Design

  • Auto rotate
  • Keyboard (onscreen, 12 key)
  • Keyboard (onscreen, QWERTY)
  • Picture wallpaper
  • Touchscreen
  • Wallpaper animation

Entertainment

  • 3D games
  • Dedicated gaming keys
  • Flash Lite™
  • Gesture gaming
  • Motion gaming
  • Video streaming
  • YouTube™

Organiser

  • Alarm clock
  • Calculator
  • Calendar
  • Document editors
  • Document readers
  • E-Manual
  • Flight mode
  • Google Calendar™
  • Google Gallery 3D™
  • Infinite button
  • Phone book
  • Set-up Wizard
  • Widget manager

Connectivity

  • 3.5 mm audio jack
  • aGPS
  • Bluetooth™ technology
  • DLNA Certified
  • Google Latitude™
  • Google Location Service
  • Google Maps™ with Street View
  • Media Transfer Protocol support
  • Micro USB Connector
  • Modem
  • Synchronisation via Facebook™**
  • Synchronisation via Google Sync™
  • Synchronisation via Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync®
  • Synchronisation via Sony Ericsson Sync
  • USB 2.0 high speed support
  • Wi-Fi™
  • Wi-Fi™ Hotspot functionality

* The service is not available in all markets.
** Requires Facebook™ application installed on the device.

Google™ services*

* These services may not be available in every market Android Market™ Client

  • Gmail™
  • Google Calendar™
  • Google Gallery 3D™
  • Google Latitude™
  • Google Maps™ with Street View
  • Google Media Uploader
  • Google Music Player™
  • Google Phone-top Search
  • Google Search widget
  • Google Sync™
  • Google Talk™
  • Google Voice Search
  • Set-up Wizard
  • YouTube™

Screen

  • 16,777,216 colour TFT
  • Capacitive multi-touch
  • 4 inches
  • 480 x 854 pixels (FWVGA)

In-Box:

  • Xperia™ PLAY
  • Battery
  • Stereo portable handsfree
  • 8GB microSD™ memory card
  • Charger
  • Micro USB cable for charging, synchronisation and file transfer
  • User documentation

Facts

  • Size: 119 x 62 x 16 mm
  • Weight: 175 grams
  • Phone memory: up to 400 MB
  • Memory card support: microSD™, up to 32 GB
  • Memory card included: 8GB microSD™
  • Operating system: Google™ Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
  • Processor: 1 GHz Scorpion ARMv7

Talk time and networks Networks

  • Talk time GSM/GPRS: Up to 8 hrs 25 min*
  • Standby time GSM/GPRS: Up to 425 hrs*
  • Talk time UMTS: Up to 6 hrs 25 min*
  • Standby time UMTS: Up to 413 hrs*
  • Talk time CDMA2000®: Up to 7 hrs 40 min*
  • Standby time CDMA2000®: Up to 405 hrs*
  • Game play time: Up to 5 hrs 35 min*
  • MP3 playback: Up to 30 hrs 35 min*

Networks

  • UMTS HSPA 800, 850, 1900, 2100
  • GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900
  • UMTS HSPA 900, 2100
  • GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900
  • CDMA2000®, cdmaOne, EVDO

Colour

  • Black
  • White

Need for Speed – Hot Pursuit {Gaming Review}

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Yes indeed this is fast love…

Playing the original on the Playstation one was a thrilling affair for me years ago, taking me back to a lost youth spending many days on the legendary coin-op machine Chase HQ. It was fun and invigorating but much more so with my friends huddled around my bedroom on the weekend – it was more than a hook up it was ‘an event’. Hearing that Hot Pursuit was to have a makeover by none other than race masters Criterion got me all worked up, it was a bit like hearing Red Rum was going to race at the Grand National.

From the get go when it comes to presentation Hot Pursuit is one hot looking piece of totty. Game developers Criterion pulled out all the stops creating this game. Visually the game stops just short of astounding. Driving the vehicles is every young boy’s dirty dream and delivers a dramatic rush of adrenaline; the environments are just so outstandingly realised, drenched in detailed vistas ranging from mountainous slopes to bridges, towns and waterfalls. Race in the daytime and akin to ‘Burnout’ the lens flare will singe your retinas. Race through the night and you will squint to pick up the road ahead through the illumination of your headlights. Race in the midst of a thundering rainstorm and you will have a hard time keeping your eyes on the road because you want to gaze upon the next crackle of lightning. In case you aren’t getting my point Hot pursuit features some of the most highly detailed graphics I have seen in an age bar the game legend that is Grand Tourismo. So good is the game engine that it not only delivers impeccable detail but it does so with the smoothness of a well whipped ice cream. No matter how fast you go or how many people are on the screen it doesn’t blur or slow down.

Although it is a part of the Need for Speed franchise Hot Pursuit is mercifully without a tedious storyline. Thank heavens too it is also without a free-roaming world. All that nonsense removed means that the entire game is based around providing the finest race and chase experience.

Choose from an incredible array of predefined events spread over Hot Pursuit’s aerial view of ‘Californ-i-a’ alike Seacrest County. Much in the same way you did in Burnout before all the free-roam lunacy took hold, you choose your events – we all know the drill; forge a career, time trials, straight forward races, cop chases, concept and exotic duels, the staple diet of most racing games are all here for the taking. Progress is achieved by finishing in the required place or by gaining the required points via take downs or arrests and as you do so more tracks open and new vehicles and equipment become available. It’s a tried and tested formula, but this time with a twist – in career mode and online Hot Pursuit splits the game play experience between both ‘Cop’ and ‘Racer’ components, meaning that you’ll play on one side or the other depending on the event you chose and build up independent driver profiles for either side of the law. This brings a refreshing variation to the game as you require different skills and tactics dependent on what side of the law you are on. For example cops must work together to shut down racers, while the racers themselves are competing for first place in a ‘dog eat dog world mentality’.

The power-up system is well judged as is the learning curve which is both rewarding and frustrating at the same time. The equipment that you receive for achieving levels of success range from spike strips that can be dropped to pop the tires of pursuers, as well as ‘fast and furious-esque’ EMPs that target vehicles just ahead of you with a system-crashing boost of energy. The power-ups that you gain in this game were never going to be able to compete with the neon fantasy of other racing titles such as ‘Blur’ or the extraordinary explosions of ‘Split-Second’ but lets face it – they weren’t supposed to. For all the fantasy that Hot Pursuit offers it is grounded in reality, and that reality is at its best when cops and weapons are involved.

Here lies my first area of criticism I found the ‘Racer’ side of the career just a little bit…erm redundant. Besides the chase modes, the head to head duels and races were just too stripped to my liking. All you get are racers, nitrous boosts and…well…that’s it, no cops no nothing. I found myself wondering if the cops were at the doughnut shop and whether I should join them because to be honest these type of races are boring compared to the rest of the game and lack any real thrill, worse still they happen far too often and go on for just a tad too long. It would have been so good to have elimination rounds, nitrous boost rounds, something, basically anything to spice these tracks up because to be frank, besides the scenery, after a while they are…well…dull.

Online modes are what takes the game to the next level and at the heart of Hot Pursuit lies a gem in the form of a superbly integrated ‘Autolog’ hub. A very ‘facebook’ like addition to a racing game and built obviously with the aim of reimbursing the social aspect of the original title. Here you can add friends, post images on your wall and set fast times that will show up on your friends logs when they play the game. You can even post news about scores that you’ve just beaten and this adds a huge competitive element to the title. Racing just got a lot more compelling.

Another serious area of criticism to be made is regarding the Artificial Intelligence level especially in the offline modes. Sometimes it goes soooo beyond the call of duty to ensure that every race is nail-bitingly close that it bends conventional rules and even laws of gravity. For example I can recall a number of races where I took competitors out of the competition by slamming them over a cliff or hitting them with a spike strip yet within seconds they were in my rear-view mirror. How does that happen? Are they driving cars designed by ‘Q’ out of James Bond? No it is not good and not possible.

I also got the feeling that this game wasn’t sure what it wanted to be, whether it wanted to be a simulation or an arcade type racer. Certainly with the effort put into the graphics you get the feeling that this was meant to be a world class racer. Compared to ‘Split-Second’ I found the steering to be too overly weighted in comparison and often you need to pull real precision tight racing lines even in the shortcuts to be successful, all this screams ‘Racing Sim’ to me. Yet there is no manual transmission option, there are police on your tail, power drifts, nitrous boosts and spike strips – this seems to say ‘arcade’. In my opinion the game fares worse for not knowing or investing completely in what it is meant to be.

My final verdict? – well don’t get me wrong, for the most part this is a thoroughly enjoyable title, full of adrenaline, action, gorgeous graphics and some show stopping sequences. However is it a 10 out of 10? Hell no, it is more like an 8.7.
In my opinion it just pinches past the post in front of its rivals but not by that much. But it must be said that this title is still a fast love that you will want to spend a lot of time with.

by Junior Smart

Playstation Move {Technology Review}

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I am one huge fan of Sony’s games machines. There you go I’ve said it. That’s because I work hard and I play hard. When I play hard I want an interactive, fun and exciting experience. I have had every single incarnation of their Playstation – yes including the original formidable black Playstation – the one where they gave every nerdy individual the somewhat futile chance in hell of developing and testing games for themselves in their own front room. In my time I have been called a games player and a games technician – work that one out. But don’t ever get me started on the amount of times they have missed opportunities.

Take the Playstation Move for example – Tempting, all so tempting. Waiting in the queue inside my favourite games store I had all that anticipation a young child feels going into a bakery but then upon seeing it I felt unsatisfied and like that kid out of that famous fairy tale ‘The Emperors New Clothes’ – you know the one, the one who spoke up with brutal honesty and said to the emperor “Your naked!”. Because there I was standing amongst people who were going oooh and ahhh and emailing their mates ‘OMG’ at the Playstation Move demonstration only to pipe up and say “But it looks like a Wii control for god sake!”

Stunned silence ensued. “Oh” but the techie with the Matrix style jacket said sternly, “It’s got true 1:1 motion control and a glowing end”. ‘Right,’ I thought out loud ‘so that’s where I got it wrong – how silly of me’
Lets be honest, such is the strikingly similarities between the Wii and the Move remotes that you almost feel like you are being conned. Yes, it does have a round glowing end – an end very reminiscent of an Ambi Pur air freshener which changes colour at regular intervals but true 1:1 technology is nothing new; in fact it is the same technology pushed forward by Nintendo in their recent range of Motion Plus. Arguably where Nintendo have gone wrong is that their games have been made too much for the younger casual gamer, so where Playstation ultimately needs to pull rank is in the games and in the graphics.

To be fair to Sony the Playstation Move has a whole different set up to the Wii; although again very similar. The Playstation Eye camera tracks the movement this time, (those of you who have owned an Eye Pet will know just how sensitive it can be) and with its own on board mic what this brings to the games is a whole new level of interactivity as you can be the star and hear your voice in your own games. Huge thumbs up.

The controllers whilst similar in design to the Wii’s are lighter – thanks to built in lithium rechargeable – which, much like the Playstation 3 controllers are quick to charge yet take ages to run out. This is another plus as games on this machine tend not to be casual affairs – they last for hours compared to minutes and to make it worse you often want to just get stuck in. The controllers are also much more ergonomic too and ‘just feel right’. They also have Sony’s trademark rumble feedback as opposed to mini speakers which you get on the Wii controls which, let’s be honest are pants.

There is however a number of issues that easily emerge. You see, with exception of the Tiger woods game I made a concerted effort to avoid any Move Sports games, purely because I had been there and done it many times with the Wii already and, to be frank, I am sick of it and what’s more I am sure I am not the only games player to say this. Sony has almost left it too long to capitalize on this technology. So failing the sports games how many games are left at launch? Well not many, Start the Party, Eye Pet Move and Kung Fu Rider. Things that make you go hmmm eh? In fact I had to wait until this week to get my hands on Move editions of Resident Evil 5 and Heavy Rain. I just hope every game is not going to be updates of old classics.

Also the technology does need some final tweaks. Whilst the Playstation Eye camera picks up speed and movement very quickly, I spotted that detection of the force behind a gesture is relatively non-existent, and this could cause problems in fighting games. I’m also not sure about so many buttons being positioned on both controllers, this could cause problems against the more simplistic approach offered by the Wii and could prove to be a nightmare should games require lots of button combination.

Another thing is the price – it will cost you around £59.98 for both halves of the Playstation Move controller and Playstation Eye camera and all this comes with just a demo disc. Let’s get this in perspective this is one third of the cost of a complete Wii system – which comes with a game as standard. Tut-tut indeed.

So what’s my final verdict? Well no doubt for many serious gamers and kids this will be the pressie at the top of their shopping and impending (dare I say it) Christmas list however I would advise that you wait to see whether time brings about better games and improved technology. Xbox and the Kenect system are just around the corner…

1:1 Technology – what is it?

In a nutshell – 1:1 Technology is the reading of precise movement. In the earlier days of the Wii you would move your arm and the sensor would pick it up and would play what was essentially an animation for your character on the screen. This could be for your character to punch, jump, move etc in the game and it was a standard animation; that means it didn’t register degrees of movement. (Yes, you were probably flapping your arms about for nothing.) Motion plus and Playstation Move took it to the next level so now not only does the computer recognise that you have done a movement in real life but it also senses how much and transfers this animation to your character on the screen in a 1:1 way. You move – it does it exactly. Hence the term 1:1 Technology.

by Junior Smart