In my rather non-prolific quest to actually update this place, I figured it’d be best to reproduce some of the news items that I write for GU. They’ll probably get more attention here anyway!

The ever-elusive Alan Wake might be ready for a first public outing in over a year this coming Autumn, with developer Remedy choosing the Tokyo Game Show as the venue to finally unwrap the troubled horror author. With the media clamouring for new information on the title, how did the world find out? On the back of a Games For Windows flyer of course. Read more

So er… yeah. It’s been a while since I updated, but that’s largely due to being sodding busy in the last month or so. Well, that and being incredibly lazy anyway. It was a toss-up between posting this or the Alone in the Dark article, but I’ll probably plump for that one on monday. I would say that I’m going to try and make this a bit more regular from now on, but who am I kidding!

Review: The Bourne Conspiracy is a title that blurs the traditional lines between movie tie-in and pure homage to the filmmakers. After all, there is no 80 million ‘Bourne Conspiracy’ celluloid vehicle in existence, and yet this is a title that’s about as direct a translation of the cinematic inspiration as you’ll ever find. Those of you expecting another lackadaisical movie franchise cash-in would only be half way correct however, with developer High Moon Studios concentrating on aping some of the best moments from the original ‘Bourne Identity’; weaving a tale of interspersed flashbacks and prologue exposition that explains some of the gaps and implied knowledge that the film didn’t have time to visualise. It won’t be the best game that you’ll play this year, but if you’re a Bourne fan, it’s all that you need.
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So er… it’s a bit crappy.

For all the specialist enthusiasm about videogames growing up and accepting a more artistically-informed method of storytelling these days, looking at a product like Haze it’s no wonder that the industry is still trapped in the early stages of social acceptance. This is a title that had lofty ambitions to create a commentary on the ‘nature of war’, dealing with the sanitisation of combat as a starting point, and viewing both sides of the conflict rather than the usual gung-ho nationalistic representation. Whilst you can never knock ambition in itself, unfortunately Free Radical’s execution of the concept leaves a sour taste in the mouth, and a nagging feeling that this is a medium with a hell of a lot to learn.
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Ok, so I know it’s been out for a couple of days, but this alternative version of the much-maligned and scaled-down E3 still makes me chuckle. What’s that saying about there being a pinch of truth in every joke?…

So it’s not very good… but I figured I may as well post this up here anyway, as the approach to the audio is unique at the least; and usually pretty smile-worthy.

Does anybody remember the Wii orchestra mini-game that was shown to the worlds media at E3 a few years back? Well, I can only imagine that Battle of the Bands offers up precisely the same type of gameplay that the vaporware Tuxedo sim would probably conjure up; and I have to say, I’m not entirely convinced on the concept. Like so many other great ideas for the Wii, this is a title that manages to offer up considerable amounts of enjoyment right out of the box, but unfortunately burns out after only a few sessions. It’s got a spirit and sense of fun that will no doubt please most people that pick up the controller and give it a try, but it’s a one night stand at best; and there are definitely better prospects on the shelf.
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If you were to come up with a videogame website name, what would you choose?

(sensible or otherwise)

Just a heads up, but if you’re playing GTA IV and haven’t registered yourself on Rockstar’s Social Club yet, you might want to head over there and do so. Provided you can tear yourself away for a few minutes of course.

It’s an interesting suite of features, tracking player movements and stats, along with a global look at crime across the map, and some interesting facts about the playing populace. The multiplayer stats aren’t up and running yet, which is the only disappointment at this stage.

As of the time of writing for example, the global weapon of choice is the Pistol, there have been 8,241,576 police callouts, 24,700 criminals have been arrested, and 781,556 cars have been stolen. Socially responsible gaming ahoy!