13 posts tagged “games”

 

 Well, it's been a while since I found time to post and I am sorry about that - life has been rather hectic with one thing and another and time has flown past.

 So, what's new? Well LittleBigPlanet has finally landed and, to be honest, I was getting to the point of expecting it to spectacularly fail to live up to its hype. The truth is, however, that it is an insanely great game - cute, funny and really quite challenging in parts. The voiceover by Stephen Fry just tops off a great package, really.

 Much has been made of so-called "inclusive" games recently, a phrase which braodly refers to games which appeal to those outside of the traditional demographic definitionof "gamer". The Wii is basically living on this premise, with its lack of outstanding graphics, Gamecube-esque games and sub-par media playback options - without the wand, the Wii would be dead in the water and, because waving a wand like a club to play golf is more natural than using a thumbstick to swing and another to address spin, etc, the Wii has sold like hotcakes as a "family" console - gran can play it with minimal introduction. However, the problem with the Wii is that it is, essentially last-gen technology with a gimick - it won't appeal to hardcore gamers because trying to play Call of Duty on the Wii is difficult and unsatisfying when compared to PS3 (or XBox 360). The PS3, on the other hand, has suffered from almost the exact opposite problem - it has some great games for hardcore gamers, often single player only, but few titiles that you can casually play with friends and family - mainly football, racing or fighting games.

 What LBP does is bring together the knockabout, fun-to-frolic feel of, say, Smash Bros Melee to the PS3, a liberal sprinkling of catchy tunes (you'll be humming some of them for weeks) and some great old-school platforming, all covered with a sugary coating that is as addictive as Crack. My wife loves it, I love it. The cats love it - ok, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point... The game is brilliant and that is without getting into the whole world of user-generated levels that you can create, share or download. Think of it as a cute sackboy-related version of modding Quake, but without the need to learn any coding and you're part way there - suffice it to say that this game is likely to be around for a long, long time. Sheer class.

 

 I recently got back in to Resistance:Fall of Man (primarily as Resistance 2 is out soon) - I had forgotten how good that game is. Even my wife, who is not a huge fan of FPS games, has given it a go and enjoyed it (admittedly she honed her shooting skills playing Uncharted, so she feels less intimidated), although it has scared the bejesus out of her at times. Then again, given its adrenalin-soaked nature and fast-paced action, it's not surprising it has made her jump - some of the set pieces can really get your heart pounding! Again, if you haven't got this game, I highly recommend it - it makes a change from the usual WW2 shooters and, whilst it might not be a true competitor to Half-Life 2 (what is?), it certainly has a lot to recommend it - not least the fact it is now available on the Platinum/Budget range.

 Finally, I have been enjoying another guilty pleasure recently - the Sam and Max season 2 games. Currently, I am dealing with a zombie infestation, having dealth with mer-men living under Easter Island, a psychotic Santa Claus and giant killer robot amongst other things. To be honest, season 1 felt more well-rounded, but there are plenty of laughs and some great point-and-click adventuring to be had. If you liked the original Sam and Max game (or enjoyed the humour of the cartoon series), you'll love them. If you didn't catch the original, you might want to try Seasons 1 and 2 of the new games, as they are a nice set of lightweight point-and-click games that can be truly side-splitting at times.

 Ok, that's it for now - I promise to write soon again!

 Ok, so it's not my usual lightweight fare, but I've been thinking recently about this (what with the huge round of media coverage in the UK following record GCSE results that was then followed by the usual backlash from Universities and businesses saying that more and more children have low literacy rates and no actual knowledge of the subjects they have just gotten all A* grades in). Now, I for one do believe that the current government is more concerned about pass rates, especially with the idea of having higher pass rates than their predecessor administration, and less about the quality of education given, but I also realise that this is not the fault of the children and that if they were given the appropriate tools and support, they would no doubt be just as intelligent and capable as earlier generations.

 So, what does this have to do with computer games? Well, first of all, you'll know that I have no real issue with computer games as I frequently review them here and I make my living in what can loosely be called "the computer industry". With that i mind, it is safe to say that I don't think that games should be banned and I certainly don't want us heap games consoles on a bonfire in some grotesque parody of the book-burnings in Nuremberg. No, I think what really sparked off this line of thought was the fact that I had recently wandered over to the Macintosh Garden (a great repository for old abandonware games) and grabbed a few text adventures as something to do on the train home from work instead of the usual Sudoku book. As I sat staring at the opening screen of The Hobbit, waves of nostalgia washing over me, the thought suddenly struck me that this would be a great way of encouraging imagination and reading skills in the child(ren) I hope to raise with my wife soon. Not only that, but it's a great way of spending an hour or so with a child that doesn't involve sitting in front of a DVD of "In The Night Garden" or "Bob The Builder".

 As I thought about it more, I realised that, as a thirtysomething, I had played such games as a child, often with a friend, and we'd talk about them, draw out maps and make notes, work out the puzzles and enjoy the storyline. I also remember the fun to be had with the old Fighting Fantasy adventure books (recently republished), but I digress. The fact is that these games made literacy, reading and logic fun for us, without trying to be "educational" and, whilst such learning titles might be worthy and even viewed as the best option for entertainment at school, the truth is that anything labelled as "educational" is likely to be avoided at all costs by children unless they are forcibly made to play the game. So, instead they sit in front of their Playstations or Wiis and watch colourful event unfold that, whist they teach logic and hand-eye coordination, do not promote literacy in any way. Ok, maybe the child has to read the menu system, but that's about it - the fact is that most of their leisure time is spent pressing buttons repeatedly whilst shooting zombies, or collecting stars, or whatever.

 Books such as Harry Potter, the Alex Rider and Young James Bond series' and the like have proved that, if it is done correctly, there is money to be made in things that get children into reading and using their imagination, so why is the computer industry so reluctant to revisit the parser-based interface? With PCs in every school and most homes having some sort of computer, there is no barrier to accessiblity and, if the technology used was, say, Flash-based, then there would be no reliance on having to have the latest hardware. Costs would be lower due to reduced development work being required and you could always combine conversation using a text parser with point-and-click interactions in the way titles such as Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic did. Providing the interface was simple enough, the graphics appealing enough and the script/gameplay enjoyable, I see no reason why such a venture wouldn't gain momentum - think of something like Monkey Island, but with more interactive dialogue, for example - wouldn't you want to give it a go? Of course you would, so your kids would be happy to try it too, especially if Mum and Dad joined in.

 I might even dust down my copy of Flash and see if I can build something myself!

 A while ago I posted about the little G3 iMac and the PowerBook G3 I bought and how I thought they were great, which I am sure you remember and, given that I am typing this on the PowerBook, I think it's safe to say I haven't changed my mind just yet. So, when I was recently left to my own devices for a week, I thought I'd investigate this passion for so-called "obsolete" computer stuff. Or, more precisely, Macintosh stuff.

 There is a very good reason I stayed away from the PC side of things - they are not in any way inspiring. I can recall my first 396SX machine, but I don't wish to relive that experience. No way am I going back to voluntarily creating DOS batch files just to get a game to work, or having to manually edit Config.sys or Autoexec.bat files in order to get Windows to work, no matter how cool I thought "Catacomb: The Abyss" or "The Rocketeer" were. Besides, I can happily run them on my Vaio as it's still fundamentally x86 architecture.

 So, what's so appealing about old Mac stuff? Well, from a purely personal perspective, it goes back to the time I was going to get a computer for studying and doing my GCSE in Computer Studies on. Pocket money, birthday and christmas money and a generous father meant I had about £1500 saved up and I tried out a Macintosh Classic and an LC with 13" colour monitor. Compared to the 12MHz 286-based RM Nimbus harddisc-less machines at school (and they were good for the time, so how old do I feel?), both the Macs felt light years ahead in what they could do, but I couldn't afford the LC, the screen, software and a printer, and my dad wasn't keen on me spending hours in front of a 9" black and white screen. In the end, I was cajoled into buying the 386 and, whilst it did the job, I always felt a bit let down.

 Having been a teenage computer geek, I obviously read Personal Computer World regularly (it used to be interesting and covered Mac and Unix as well as DOS - windows was only at 3.0/3.1 at that point) and I harboured a desire to work on machines such as NeXT, Sun and, the Holy Grail - a Silicon Graphics workstation. Unix, with a friendly GUI-led operating system that had multimedia, 3d and digital audio support in 1992? That was the stuff of dreams. In fact, a review of the Iris Indigo stated that whilst the Indigo cost nearly £15,000, as opposed to an average of £1,000 for a 386/486 PC, it was definitely worth the money as it was far more productive than trying to do the work on 10 or more PCs.

 

 Later in life, whilst working as a software developer, I worked on SGI machines and they were truly as good as I'd hoped they would be. I bought myself an SGI Indigo on eBay for £150 (MIPS R4400 processor upgrade at 150MHz, with 192Mb of RAM and the Elan graphics, with 21" inch monitor) some time ago and I loved it.

 Given that it was made in 1993, my dad (who is now 66 and who has zero experience of video editing) was able to find his way around and tinker with some video clips within ten minutes. I would personally say that the only systems worth using are a Mac running OSX (with Classic supported), a NeXT machine or an SGI machine running IRIX. Anything else is compromised.

 Eventually, I bought myself a swanky new Powermac G4 (I was a early adopter of the G4) running OS9, then later OS X. It was everything I hoped it would be - usable, stable, reliable and a joy to work on. To put it in perspective, I later ran my own business and the Mac G4 was the preferred choice for video editing despite the fact it was sat next to a hugely expensive dual Xeon workstation with 4GB of memory. It just worked better and gave less hassle. Not only that, but I could probably sell the G4 setup for £200 today, despite it's age, whereas the windows machine is essentially worthless. Look on eBay for a used Powermac G5 (a machine that is some 4 or more years old now) and compare that to the cost of a Dell running a four year old Pentium. The price difference is down to the fact that Macs are usable for far longer (their obsolescence is far longer in coming). Windows bloats and bloats and you spend so much time fighting bad OS coding and built-to-a-price hardware, whereas the expensive (comparitively) Apple machines are still good as a workhorse years down the line. If you're more concerned about getting something done than about having the latest new toy, then buy a Mac. You won't ever regret it.

 So, what does this have to do with my original point? Well, aside from an urge to pick up a Mac Classic (or, ideally, a Colour Classic II) for the sake of nostalgia, my love of my old Powerbook G3 means that I'm not likely to be playing Quake 4 anytime soon (ok, I have a PS3 and a PSP, but I was talking about computers!), so I looked into the world of abandonware games. My word, there's a ton of cool things you can play on your old Mac and, because in those days we thought the Megadrive (Sega Genesis to our US friends) was graphically amazing, it means gameplay had to be more engrossing and plots had to mean something. With that in mind, I've explored the universe of Cosmic Osmo (this is the first game any child of mine will play!), along with Broken Sword, Monkey Island 1 and 2, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Day of the Tentacle and Sam and Max.

 

 If you noticed a pattern, then you're right - they are all graphical point and click adventures, a genre which is sadly underwhelming nowadays, but in the days when these were made, they were the nearest you'd get to playing a film and enjoying it.

 I've posted a few clips to give you an idea of what you are missing - if in doubt, you don't need to buy an old Mac (although I would), you can run them under either ScummVM, or you could download a Mac emulator from the trusty old interweb.

 

Personal favourites of mine are:

 

Sam and Max (I love the cartoons, too, as I get the humour)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Indiana Jones and The Fate of Atlantis - a great sequel to The Last Crusade and very funny in parts.

 

 

 

 

 

Day Of the Tentacle (again, it's funny as hell and looks great)

 

 

 

 

 

The final choice is Broken Sword - great scripting, great graphics, the sound is fantastic and you really get sucked in. I believe I've played Broken sword on every platform it's been released on. The second one is good, too, although the later sequel on the XBox was a bit poor.

  So, have a look, enjoy and realise that whilst new games are lovely, sometimes you can't beat something a decade old for sheer enjoyment. And if anyone has an old Mac Classic/Classic II or Colour Classic they want to donate to aloving home, please let me know!

 

Ok, I've finished Metal Gear Solid 4. In a word - "wow". First up, I don't really want to spoil the plot for you, as the story-telling is what really puts the MGS series apart from its rivals (Splinter Cell, et al), but suffice to say that yes, it was weirdly Japanese in some of its dialogue, but overall it makes for a jaw-dropping experience - if the trailers whetted your appetite, let's just say you won't be left feeling cheated once you've completed it.

 One of the rumours flying round the internet is that the game finishes with a final cut scene that is 90 minutes long. This isn't exactly true - it finishes with a series of movies, punctuated by some gameplay/QT Event-style sequences, so that the whole thing plays like a (much) bigger version of the escape sequence in Halo, or the climax of a blockbuster movie. Oh, and without wishing to spoil any surprises, can I just suggest you don't turn off the console as the credits start to roll...

 So, was it worth the hype? In short, yes, it was - it won't be everyone's cup of tea and it certainly has the odd moment of hokey dialogue or the odd camera issue in certain areas, but overall those gripes are so minor that they prove very easy to ignore once the game has sucked you in. Critics of the PS3 (hello to all of you 360 fanboyz!) will say that graphics don't make a game, which is a churlish way of saying that they think MGS4 is all show and no go, but the truth is that the in-game graphics look as good as most games' CGI sequences, but the gameplay is more than up to matching that high standard. The graphics are take-your-breath-away stunning in points, but they mainly serve to help you engage with the characters, as the way they interact together and their varying emotional states are portrayed in an eerily realistic manner (at times you really could believe you are watching a live-action movie). I think a lot of the sniping does indeed come from the XBox 360 fraternity who, having watched the PS3 gain momentum, the death of HD-DVD due to the victory of Bluray and also the recurring reports of the Red Ring of Death, are now starting to see the PS3-exclusive titles really show the difference between the platforms (in fact there is a little sequence that makes fun of the storage capacity of non-Bluray formats in the game). Unlike GTA IV, there is no way this game could be played on an Xbox 360 without it requiring the user to change discs at least three or four times, or without cutting the game down hugely to fit the limited storage formats available to the 360.

 Is this the last MGS game? Well, Hideo Kojima has struck out on his own and, in reality, the script of this game ties up an awful lot of storylines that have been going on for the last three games, so that it is hard to see where the franchise can go without treading dangerously close to cynical post-mortem equine flagellation. That said, there is a narrow scope for taking the franchise in a new direction, albeit without some familiar names, as the final sequence does make a big show about history repeating itself and there is a new potential faction to contend with, so I could see that being where things go. With Kojima out of the Konami stable, though, can the team left behind carry on his vision without falling down the trap of endless ever-degrading sequels (think Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness, compared to the impact the first game had) or will they manage to breath life into this old warhorse (in the way Tomb Raider: Legend re-vamped the franchise when compared to the aforementioned Angel of Darkness)? I don't know, but I can safely say they'll have their work cut out to match this solid-gold beauty.

 Without doubt the best game out on the PS3, if not any console, with Uncharted currently running in my number 2 spot - this game is an absolute must. You really do need to see it in action before it makes sense, but this game alone puts the PS3 into a league of its own.

 

 Ok, so I made a mistake. I'm only human and it happens to us all. The mistake I made was to play Uncharted: Drake's Fortune on a TV less than 32" wide and in standard definition. This made the shooting sections almost impossible and, thus, made for a very hit and miss gaming experience. The jumping/story sections were brilliant, but the gunfights were just a drag. However, once I'd installed the LG plasma (got to love that discount from Tesco!) and my wife and I had finished off Assassin's Creed (an awesome game, I don't care what anyone says - the secret is to play it in one or two hour stints, not try and finish it in a day) and the oddly enjoyable Pirates of The Caribbean, we were at a loss for something to play. My wife decided we should start Uncharted from the beginning and, boy, what a difference.

 Obviously, watching the game on a 42" plasma at full 1080p is rather nice, but what really amazed me was the difference in the feel of the game. Because things were crisper and more defined (not to mention bigger), the shooting became a more fluid affair, as opposed to the hit-and-miss random bouts of death and frustration they had previously been. Suddenly, the frustrations with the game were gone and the brilliance shone through.

 I've been a gamer since I was something like 6 or 7, which means that I have been around games for at least 20 years, and games that truly stand out are few and far between. Things that mean something to me are Turrican 2 on the Commodore 64 (great game, amazingly well done on the platform), Doom on my first PC (386 powerhouse that it was), Sega Rally on the Saturn, the first Tomb Raider (again, on the Saturn), Mario 64, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Shenmue on the Dreamcast (and Shenmue 2 on the XBox - will they ever make the 3rd?), Half Life, Goldeneye (N64), Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy X on PS2, Mystical Ninja Goemon (N64 - brilliant fun and catchy tunes), Zelda: The Wind Waker and Resident Evil 4 on GameCube, The XBox Prince of Persia games (all three), Assasin's Creed and Resistance:Fall of Man on PS3 (for the sheer Next-gen goodness and interesting storyline). Now I can add Uncharted to the list of Games By Which Others Are Measured. In fact, along with Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Shenmue and the first Tomb Raider, Id' say Uncharted is at the top end of the scale.

 Don't get me wrong - it's not perfect by any means, but it is the first truly Next Gen game that I have seen that feels neither rushed, cramped or like it's been ported from old hardware and given a bit of polish. The platforming sections are almost as good as those in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time/Two Thrones/Enemy Within, The adventure feel is up there with Tomb Raider or an Indiana Jones film, the visuals are astounding, the immersion is on a par with Shenmue and the characters are the first I wanted to actually engage with since, well, maybe Final Fantasy VII.

 I know it's out on XBox 360, but really do yourself a favour and try it in full 1080 on a PS3. Once you do, you'll realise just how good the PS3 is and how anything else would just feel like second-best.

 Other than that, We've recently been playing Devil May Cry 4 (stuck on the final boss at the moment), which is a great game and another good way to show off your big TV. We picked up a cheap copy of Heavenly Sword, which is actually very good, if rather short - I think Andy Serkis (of "Gollum" fame) makes a great villain and also helped the game developers bring a lot of empathy to the characters - it's a really under-rated title that I can recommend.

 

But the stand-out new game has got to be Lego Indiana Jones.

 I have to admit that I love the lego games. Star Wars: The Orignal Trilogy will make you laugh out loud with some of the cutscenes and hidden moves and the Indy game is no different.

 From trying to palm off Belloq with a rubber ducky, to the hidden move where Indy grabs the girl with his whip, pulls her in and kisses her, to transferring Sean Connery's Henry Jones into Lego superbly, this game is packed full of fun.

 

Yes, you could argue that the game is "childish", but the films are simple wholesome fun and the game follows suit - it's not dark and gothic, there's not a disturbing sub-story and it doesn't offend anyone. Instead, you'll get hours of honest fun and a face that hurts from laughing. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Roll on Lego Batman, says me!

See you again soon!

 I, like most of you probably, am a regular visitor to b3ta - I read the email newsletter with glee and like to confirm that I am not the only twisted individual on the planet by reading the answers to the Question Of The Week. I think we all gain a sense of relief to see that our answers would be no worse than a lot of other peoples' - it helps us IT people feel part of society.

 The reason I brought it up was that they had a question a few weeks back which was "how nerdy are you?", to which a lot of people posted replies. A few tried to say "I'm not a nerd at all, I am really cool", but given the fact they had just posted the answer on a message board on the internet, seems a little false to me - I get the feeling that truly cool people wouldn't even know what a message board is. However, a lot of people were being quite apologetic about it, as if memories of beatings by neanderthal schoolmates were coming back to haunt them, until I saw one person post a response that I totally agreed with. What they said (and I will have to paraphrase here) was that if you have a star trek duvet cover, know the scripts to the shows, have a poster of Picard on your wall, have a replica uniform you might wear to a convention of like-minded people and play roll-playing games on your computer, you are a nerd to be socially reviled, but if you have a football team logo on your duvet, posters of men who kick a ball for a living on the wall, obsessive knowledge of who won the FA Cup in 1951, a collection of programmes from your teams' home and away games from before you were born, wear a replica strip to go to the pub to watch a game with like-minded people and play football games on your playstation, then you are fine.

 Half the reason the posters felt apologetic is that, when they were at school trying to learn or gaining skills in computer programming, or science, or engineering, the monosyllabic knuckle-draggers would beat them up because they felt intellectually inferior. The sad thing is that, 20 years on the knuckle-dragger will be driving a forklift or shovelling something for a living, whilst the nerdy kid will have got a job earning good money with a fair amount of responsibility. The people who keep the system going and who make advances in technology that benefit society are still feeling that they should, in some way, be kow-towing to the guy who empties their dustbins in case he gives them a wedgie, it seems.

 Well, I say that it's time for those of us with an interest in technology, or science, those of us who enjoy the escapism of sci-fi and fantasy, those of us who know how to write the football games for the playstation - it's time for us to be proud of the fact we actually use our brains. I'm not saying it's cool to avoid exercise and hygiene, nor am I saying that we should conduct all of our conversations in life over MSN, I am merely saying that, someone like David Beckham, who is paid millions to kick a ball, would most likely love to give up that ability if he could use his brain as well as Bill Gates. The fact is, that we nerds now rule the world - any Rich List will be topped with the likes of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, the Google owners, etc. Tiger Woods is the highest-paid sportsman in the world and I guarantee he's nowhere on that list. At the end of the day, a jock might earn a high wage, but their working life is so short that it's only really equivalent to them being a successful businessman. Bill Gates, on the other hand, could basically by the world. Nerds get bullied as kids because when they grow up, they will run the show and the jocks are just trying to ensure the nerds fear them enough to let them keep being jocks, because they aren't able to be anything else and even the very best of them are likely to be all but forgotten in 20 years, but a nerd can change history. I bet you couldn't name half of the 1966 World Cup squad, aside from Bobby Moore, but names like Newton, Einstein, Brunel - well, they change the world and will never be forgotten.

 So, with that in mind, I am happy to stake my claim as a nerd - I read Terry Pratchett, I paint gaming miniatures and make scenery despite having no opponent to play, I own several old computers just because I lusted after them when I was younger (Silicon Graphics Indigo anyone?), I know what BIOS means, I love Firefly, I am a trained scientist (Pure Chemistry) and I have written software for use in automotive design - a double-whammy there, I feel. True, I like mountain-biking and snowboarding when I have the time and money, I enjoy cricket and I will happily crawl over broken glass to get to a pub to watch the World Cup, but by any standard, I am a geek, a nerd - an outsider. I don't care, though, I live in a beautiful home, with a beautiful wife, have a good job and will be buying myself a nice new car soon - no doubt the kids who called me a dork at school will be along later in the week to empty the bins. I look forward to it, as the cat has been ill.

Well, where to start? March is barely started and I am already left with my head spinning with everything that's happened.

 So far, I've ordered a new TV (37" 1080p goodness - not bad for £500!), after trying out a Techika in my local Tesco, I figured I'd rather live with the slightly dodgy aesthetics, when an equivalent Samsung is retailing for about £150 more and Sony cost more than that. Yes, I know a Bravia is the best of the best, but this way I can get the full HD experience without having to get a divorce when my other half finds out how much that Sony costs... I could go for a 720p Sony for the same cost, but it seemed a bit silly, really. So, it's out with the old TV and in with something that will do my PS3 justice at last. Woo!

 You probably couldn't care less that I changed jobs, but the upshot is that I have a bit more free time and a lot more pocket money, so with that in mind, I blew £70 on some games, namely the Simpsons and Uncharted: Drakes Fortune. I know that the Simpsons is never going to break the gameplay mould, but I have to say that it made me laugh out loud more than once, the presentation is flawless and if you're a Simpsons fan, you really should give it a go. It's enjoyable, funny and has enough nods to the show to satisfy the geekiest fanboy - a class of which I count myself a member.

 As for the much vaunted Uncharted, I must admit to being in two minds about it - the story is engaging enough, the graphics are astounding, but there is something lacking at times...maybe it's just me, but I was expecting gameplay to rival the first Tomb Raider when it hit the market way back when. Instead, there is an awful lot of run-and-gun with enemies able to hit you from such distance that you die without even seeing who the hell shot you. The controls are...adequate. Not great - not intuitive like Assassin's Creed, or the Prince of Persia games, but they do the job.

 I think the problem is that the sections that drive the story along are amazing and the parts of the game that ape the aforementioned Prince of Persia and Tomb Raider are excellent, which just goes to show how repetitive and dull the gun battle sections are. If they left it with two or three enemies, the tension would stay high and the story would run smoothly, but you get wave after wave of bad guys swarming into an area of ruins whilst you repeat it time and again because the AI is such that you very often get shot dead as soon as you enter an area - you don't even see where it came from. It's a shame because the rest of the game is so fantastic - it's like you bought a Ferrari only to find out that , whilst it looks beautiful and goes well, it's electric and can only run for 10 minutes before it needs recharging. Great, but in short doses. I'd recommend the game and I am hoping that the new big Hi-Def TV will make the enemies easier to see, so that the shooting sections continue at the pace the story deserves, rather than bogging down for half an hour or die-repeat-die-repeat-die, as has been the case until now. Try before you bu, but if you like it, it'll suck you in - I'd give it a solid 8 out of 10. 9 out of 10 when you get things right.

For a while now, I have been raving about how I think the PS3 is going to be the king of the hill once developers start getting to grips with it (not to mention showing some tasty snippets from some rather lovely up-coming games), when two things happen that could drastically improve the quality of the games on PS3 - first up, Sony announce RSX Edge, a set of development tools that, in a similar way to the way Renderware allowed PS2 programmers to forget about the nitty-gritty of graphics/physics and concentrate on the gameplay and textures, gives Third Party developers the tools they need to get on with giving us top-notch PS3 games that look astounding.

 The second, well, it's a more personal thing - I've just been asked to apply for a Producer/Project Management role running a team of PS3 developers. Keep your fingers crossed that I get it, as I promise that I'll take any developers that fail to deliver top-grade product out to the car park and shoot them - how's about that for a deal?

 In all seriousness, I think that life for PS3's early adopters is going to get better and better - XBox 360 is already creaking at the seams to keep up and Microsoft have just basically admitted the first "Core" system is obsolete by announcing the "Ultimate" edition with a bigger hard drive and (it is rumoured) HD-DVD as standard, or at least the ugly £120 external drive bundled in the same box. So that would make the 360 cost £350-ish including a standard "premium" pack and an HD-DVD add-on. Not much less than the PS3 that is all in one box (no external PSU or HD-DVD drive to clutter the place up), has a larger hard drive (60gb, as against 20gb) and has Bluray, which is looking set to trounce HD-DVD as a format. Oh, and you have to pay to get all the "Gold" (i.e useful) features of XBox Live, whereas Playstation Network for PS3 is totally free. That white box doesn't look like such a good investment after all - I am so glad that I cancelled my order for one when Amazon had their pre-order fiasco: a) it means I waited for PS3 and b) I bought a PSP to get me by in the meantime and love it.

 It's a shame that 360 seems to be relying solely on Halo 3 and Gears of War to try and beat down the opposition, as none of the other features seem as well implemented after 12 months in the field as either those on the Wii or the PS3. I really loved my original XBox (I sold my PS2 when I got one, it took over so much), but the 360 didn't seem next-gen enough once I got my hands on one and now, by altering the specs and selling bolt-ons to try and match the PS3's specifications, it appears that Microsoft is admitting that is exactly the case. If you bought a "Core" 360 at launch, you'd have paid £299-ish. Say £250 to be fair. Then add £80 for the hard drive and £120 for the HD-DVD drive. That's £450 for a machine that still doesn't match the PS3's standard spec (£425 list price at launch in the UK), not to mention the "Red Ring Of Death" (no free replacement under warranty in the UK, by the way - £80 charge to replace a dead 360, unlike in the USA where it is done for free) problems, or the fact that you end up with an Xbox, an external drive and a brick-sized PSU all making the place look untidy. Oh, and you'd have a non-wireless controller and only basic XBox Live features unless you paid even more. Methinks that Microsoft has dropped the ball...

 Firstly, forgive the cheap pun, but I couldn't resist. The point of this article is that, as part of my on-going PS3 research, I have discovered that a game that is also being developed for PC and XBox 360 is shaping up to be potentially revolutionary.

  Stranglehold, for that is the title of the game in question, at first seems like it will be another Max Payne-esque third-person shooter with a gangster theme, but the truth is something a bit more special than that. That its full title is "John Woo presents: Stranglehold" should give you more of a clue about what sets this game apart from the rest. The legendary action film-maker is not just lending his name or characters to a game, he is actively shaping its creation. Now, I know that the Wachowski brothers supposedly sat in on development of Enter The Matrix, but the truth is that they probably signed-off on the design brief and made the live-action clips that were scattered throughout the game, in the same way they had basically no input on The Animatrix, as all the shorts were ostensibly made by the animators who they signed up. But Mr. Woo is different. Mr. Woo is trying to make a sequel to "Hard Boiled" (possibly the best action film ever made, period) that just happens to be on a games console. The developers have stated in their blog, as quoted on ign.com, that Woo is taking at least a directorial role over camera angles, whilst also taking a keen interest in how the player becomes Tequila, Chow Yun Fat's character in the earlier film that is reprised here. Yes, Mr. Fat is here in all his digital glory. I know that attempts to stick an action actor in a game have been made before (from a bitmap version of Arnie in the awful "Red Heat" game of the late 80s/early 90s, to Pierce Brosnan in "Goldeneye", to Jet Li in the PS2 game "Rise To Honor"), but the power of the next-gen machines really allows you to be Chow Yun Fat - you can see his expression and, with the input of Woo directing the action, the animations look to be exactly how Chow Yun moves in his films. You get the obligatory bump-mapping, real-time lighting and the like, but the game doesn't look much better than any decent title on 360 or PS3 in terms of the modelling, etc. No, it is in the characterisation and, for want of a better word, emotional reaction to the game that the difference is.

 By using a film director who knows how to make the best action movies, you are ensuring that not only will the dialogue be of an acceptable standard, but also that the way in which the plot progresses feels like a movie, as opposed to feeling like a game that tries to be a movie (I am thinking of things like GTA, which wants desperately to be a "Goodfellas", or at least an episode of "The Sopranos", yet always feels like a game). This is something that has not really been tried since the ill-fated (thank god) "Interactive Movie" games of the early to mid 1990s when CD was a new media for PCs and consoles - I am thinking of things like "D" on the Sega Saturn. Many of these games basically just linked CGI or Full Motion Video clips together in the same way the Quicktime Events in a game like "Tomb Raider: Legend" or "Shenmue" work. This lead to dull gameplay that was essentially just a string of either/or choices linked by video clips. Since that time, the phrase "interactive movie" has been a bit of a pariah, a euphemism for "looks lovely, but plays like crap" at best. Stranglehold, however, looks to play pretty well - you shoot, jump, slide on things - everything you want in an action game, after all. The "movie" part comes in when you look at how the camera moves whilst you shoot, or how the action blends into a pre-rendered clip, for example.

 If you are a developer (and I have been, albeit on non-gaming products), your main concern is that the mechanics work - if the camera doesn't clip the scenery and the player can see what is going on, then that's all you worry about. Look at it like this, you can probably point a camera at a person and get a photo of them that doesn't cut their head out of frame - you'd still hire a professional photographer to take the pictures at your daughters' wedding, wouldn't you? By using Woo's undeniable talent, the camera can be used to dictate the pace of an action sequence, your reaction to events on screen and even push the emotional part of the plot forwards without the use of extraneous dialogue. Think of the shot in Jaws of Brody sitting in his beach chair when he thinks he sees the shark in the water - that pull-back/zoom-in shot shows not only his concern, but isolates him totally from the surrounding holidaymakers who are unaware of the danger. That's what a good camera move/angle can do and that is what, aside from the plot and the rights to use the characters, Mr. Woo ultimately brings to the table.

 I am genuinely excited by this game - it is trying to do something genuinely new (make the line between cinema and gaming all but disappear) and, by choosing a genre that is ideally suited to a games console, there is a real chance of pulling it off. Even if the gameplay is identical to Max Payne, this game will still be better, as it will feel less like an homage to a Hong Kong action film and more like the real deal. Release is currently set at "summer '07", but it has been pushed back from November '06 already, so they are obviously not rushing to meet a release date at the expense of quality. Hopefully it'll come out for summer and we'll all be shooting gangsters in slow-motion whilst a flock of doves flies past well before autumn.

Could it be true, could it really be the case that a game based on a box office smash-hit might not be a foetid pile of monkey poo? Yes, the Spiderman games were...ok, but the golden rule has always been that the bigger the license, the worse the game. There have been a few exceptions - the original wire-frame Star Wars arcade game was amazing for its day, Rogue Squadron doesn't count (based in the universe, not on an actual movie). Before anyone cries "Tomb Raider" or "Resident Evil", the films were based on the game, not the other way around. Same goes for Doom. The side-scrolling Robocop game was good in 1989...erm, now I am struggling. Some of the Lord of The Rings arcade action games were ok, if a little samey in a Golden Axe rip-off sort of way...Ok, as a last-ditch attempt, I would pick Die Hard Trilogy on the Playstation. Whew, that was tough. I think the point is made, however - 90% of movie license games are pants.

  Imagine my horror when I heard that there is an upcoming release of a Pirates Of The Carribean game that spans not only the second film, but the soon-to-be-released third film, too. After the shambolic first effort, I did not hold out a lot of hope, but so far, on PS3 at least, it looks to be shaping up pretty well. The characters look great (obviously, considering it's on PS3), with gestures motion-captured from Mr. Depp himself. Every action Jack Sparrow makes is not just a set punch or kick, but is blended with a Mo-Cap'ed sequence that may be a stumble or a wave of the hand which makes it look and feel like it is the real deal on your screen. True, the voice acting is by someone else, but you can't have everything.

 The game allows you to play as not only Cap'n Jack, but also as Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann. From the footage I have seen, you appear to be able to use Will and Elizabeth as a sort of tag team in combat, which is nice. The game makes use of the SIXAXIS controller to balance along beams, etc, as well as allowing you to dodge attacks in combat and counter with a suitably pirate-y kick to the groin, etc. All in all, it looks to be a good action game with some exploration/adventuring thrown in (you get to have sea battles and look for booty, it appears). Ok, it's not exactly paradigm-shifting stuff, but I think it'll be a good enjoyable romp with a yo-ho-ho and a whole bottle of rum thrown in. Once my PS3 arrives, I will be looking to get Pirates Of The Carribean: At World's End firmly on my shopping list. Yar!