Hi all. I just wanted to know if there's any other British bombers that will be visiting the EuroGamer Expo over the next couple of days?  It starts today up in Leeds at the Royal Armoury (27/28), and then travels south to Billingsgate in London (30/31) . I'm heading down to the second London date which is on Saturday. I'm really looking forward to playing many of the games it will feature, the games that I've highlighted, especially Rebellion's latest Aliens Vs Predator which I've waited many years to play.  Anyway, I'll be wearing a black velvet flat-cap and white leather loafers, say hello if you spot me :)

  

• Army of Two: The 40th Day (EA) 
• AvP (SEGA)  
• Assassin's Creed 2 (Ubisoft) 
• Avatar (Ubisoft)
• Bayonetta (SEGA) 
• Beatles Rock Band (EA) 
• Borderlands (2K Games)
• Brütal Legend (EA) 
• Blue Toad Murder Files (Relentless)
• Dante's Inferno (EA) 
• Dark Void (Capcom) 
• Dragon Age Origins (EA) 
• Fairytale Fights (Playlogic)
• FIFA 10 (EA) Eurogamer HMV
• Forza Motorsport 3 (Microsoft) 
• Global Agenda (Hi-Rez Studios) 
• God of War III (Sony) 
• Halo 3: ODST (Microsoft) 
• Heavy Rain (Sony) 
• Left 4 Dead 2 (EA) 
• Lost Planet 2 (Capcom) 
• MAG (Sony) 
• Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (Nintendo)
• Mass Effect 2 (EA) 
• Medieval Games (Vir2L)
• Metroid Prime Trilogy (Nintendo)
• Monster Hunter 3 Tri (Capcom) 
• Need for Speed: Nitro (EA) 
• Need for Speed: SHIFT (EA) 
• New Super Mario Brothers Wii (Nintendo) 
• Professor Layton and Pandora's Box (Nintendo) 
• Rabbids Go Home (Ubisoft)
• Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time (Sony) 
• Red Steel 2 (Ubisoft) 
• Rogue Warrior (Bethesda) 
• Saw (Konami) 
• Saboteur (EA) 
• Split/Second (Disney)
• Star Trek Online (Atari) 
• Street Fighter IV Arcade Cabinets (Capcom) 
• Tatsunoko vs Capcom: Ultimate All Stars (Capcom
• Tekken 6 (Namco Bandai) 
• Uncharted 2 (Sony) 
• WET (Bethesda) 
• Wheelspin (Bethesda) 

    
 
 
At this years expo will be another careers fair hosted by GameIndustry.Biz, featuring representatives from the following: 
 
  London:  

• Crytek
• Game Republic
• Other Ocean
• Rare
• Relentless Software
• SEGA
• Starbreeze
• Ubisoft
• University of Creative Arts Leeds

 
 Leeds:  

• Game Republic
• Leeds Metropolitan University
• Team 17
• University of Bradford
• University of Huddersfield

 
 
This years expo will also feature the following indie developers work: 
 
Edmund McMillen and William Good   
Time Kufc
 
Introversion
DEFCON
Darwinia+
 
Robert Fearon
Squid Yes! Not So Octopus 2: Squid Harder
 
Rudolf Kremers and Alex May
Dyson
 
Beatnik Games
Plain Sight
 
Tunatech
Cletus Clay
 
Hayden Scott-Baron
Tumbledrop
 
Michael Boxleiter
Fig. 8
 
Paolo Pedercini
Ergon Logos
 
Terry Cavanagh
VVVVVV
 
Hello Games
Joe Danger
 
Steven Lavelle
Happening Game
 
Anna Anthropy
Starcade
 
AirPlay
Super Yum Yum: Baby Rescue 
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Contact:  
 
 
Leeds
 
Armouries Square  
Armouries Drive
Leeds
LS10 1NF 
Tel: 0113 220 1906
Fax: 0113 220 1997

 
London 
 
1 Old Billingsgate Walk
(Riverside Entrance)
16 Lower Thames Street
London, EC3R 6DX
Tel:  0207 283 2800
Fax: 0207 626 1095

Hi friends, I hope your all well and playing some awesome games, be them old or new.

I got a DSi on Friday and I have to say I am pretty impressed with it all. The handheld feels great, very comfortable, and I really like the new D-pad and buttons. They have a delicate spongy feel about them, which for me feels better than the Lite's.

The screen size?, well I have tried out Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword and Viewtiful Joe. Ninja Gaiden played notably better with this increase due to the nature of the controls. The UI feels cohesive with Wii, animations and sounds are neat. My GF likes the catchy DSi Shop music and is dancing to it now. Wario Ware is fun, it had my GF laughing hard. It can easily make you look like a spastic having a fit. Not good when you look like one of those freaky dudes at the mental hospital in Jacob's Ladder. To makes matters worse, it all gets played back on the title screen to almost rub it in..

People, friends, DS gamers (100m), I dread to think what's going to happen, what sick nasty people in this world are going to do with it...It disgusts me already. Oh darn, Charlie Brown is on. I've seen them all, Peppermint Patty is awesome. Anyway, I took some pics and will upload them as I watch.

Feel free to ask questions


[LS]














Little Linky on a choo choo train next?



Have a great weekend all.

Many great Anime and Manga could brought to life in a way we've yet to see I think. I think it's high time we see game engines in Japan that are capable of allowing for many types of gameplay, and less of  these one hook wonders.  Back in the day Shenmue showed so much promise, and round about now I expected to living and breathing in these great Anime's. Sadly the Anime houses and the developers have not been as cohesive as they need to be, and that's been really disappointing,  Anime houses need to realise the potential of their product and start making money, they need to work closely with developers and try to tell the stories in exciting new ways... I expected the to be speeding down the motorway on Kaneda's bike kicking arse right about now. I hope the west kicks them into gear, to be precise GTA4, because of certain merits.

Akira, Ninja Scroll is another, I could go and mention other masterpieces, but what about you, what do you hope to see reach it's full potential in videogame form, and what are the hurdles in your eyes ?


Akira -1988  Katsuhiro Otomo

Pikmin Play On Wii Review



So I got Pikmin on the Wii yesterday morning, and have found myself playing it consistently since. It has many positives and some external negatives, which I think should not effect the games score. I will explain why later.

Ok, so the controls work very well even if not entirely seamless at first. The camera sensitivity takes a little getting use to, but you do get used to it. It's speedy, and I think it needs to be later in the game.  Despite that minor hurdle, the game is a joy to control from the start, everything feels great. I have found myself approaching situations in a new way at times, and that for me is the mark of it's quality when I have played so much Pikmin in the past.

The B button acts as the gather Pikmin whistle, this basically means you will enjoy using it often, finding pleasure in a little chit chat with your Pikmin from time to time. It feels very natural on the B button. The IR from the Wii Remote directs whistle sound anywhere on screen, so it's easier to round up strays, and direct your Pikmin when throwing them. You can be a lot more accurate now and this really helps the gameplay move along more freely I found.





Olimar is controlled via the control stick on the Nunchuk, while the Z button on the Nunchuk is the camera button when held down.The control stick forces the direction of the camera movement rotating around Olimar in the direction you desire. Up, down left and right on the Dpad effect the zoom and camera elevation.

The primary A button is used to punch and to pick Pikmin from the ground and throw them. Repeated presses lift them out of the ground quicker, as you would expect. The C(ancel) button is used to dismiss Pikmin whenever needed.

The graphics  look very impressive at times, some things have definitely been cleaned up. When you move out to the furthest zoom setting, this looks like a top quality new Wii game, however when zoomed in, some textures, not all, do show their true colours. I do think that the other effects make up for this though. Some elemental effects look much improved, and there are some nice transparency effects that seem smoother. These are used  well for improving camera issues that naturally occur.

Wide screen is great for the game, it's makes for a much improved feel for the game design on Wii. I think the originals 4:3 sometimes lost you that reference of scale which is very much needed. To aid the ambiance of the games theme. I would say playing this in 480p is absolutely essential, it looks awesome, with colours livened up and greater clarity. Sound design is excellent, drum beats sound particularly good on Pro Logic 2. The presentation has also been improved over the Gamecube version, as you would expect. The instruction booklet has some cool little pics and is nicely laid out. It's also yellow...

For those playing this for the first time they are going to be blown away how awesome this game is, because this is undoubtedly the best version. I cannot wait for the second already, that one will certainly be better with two player battles and improved graphics and gameplay design.

This game was released so that new players could be brought to the series, to form a fanbase for the third, both this and the second game will certainly do that. By the time Pikmin 3 hits there will be a legion of fans in want of the third. I don't think this game deserves to be docked points for improving on a great formula, a game which sees improved controls providing a better all round experience.. Roll on Pikmin 2 and the inevitable 3rd. A match made in heaven I hope on the evidence of this.


The enchanting Pikmin, just got more enchanting.

****

8.8  [new players]  8.4 [fans]

Hi friends, hope your all well and apologies if I have not visited your blogs of late, but I can assure you I have been trying to. I do have a day off today so I will make an effort.

I'm taking some of this time off to tell you about a date I had a while back...

My work, which which I wont divulge upon in detail, is is art related, sometimes it takes me to some interesting places for research purposes. A little while ago I was granted permission by the head curator of marine biology at London's Natural History Museum to take a rare close look at a fascinating creature. The creature we today call Giant Squid.  The same creature that gave birth to the legend of the Kraken.


My Date with the Kraken


After having adorned myself with a white lab coat, I met with Carmen the head curator at the reception of the facility. After some quintessentially English pleasantries, she lead me onto a open lift that descended into the depths of the Darwin Centre. That's the name of the large research facility that's connected to the back of the Natural History Museum. She told me en route to the "Tank Room" that the facility had cost many millions pounds to make, and that it required unprecedented global cooperation. She added that it housed some of the worlds most rarest specimens. including many bizarre creatures like the one I was about to see. She told me that many creatures the facility had are so rare and live in environments so extreme that humans never ever come across them, and that they were in effect aliens. It was then that felt like a intrepid explorer as the lift descended through the floors.

Once we had hit the bottom, with a gentle judder, I was then lead through a series of temperature controlled corridors and rooms with security doors which seemed straight out of Star Trek. The swooshing sound they made as they opened was very cool. I had never thought this s**t like this existed for real. I was pleasantly surprised by it all..

As we made our way to the Tank Room we passed many rooms specimen room, huge rooms, dedicated to a wide array of land animals.  Some were preserved in fluid, while others, which were clearly a lot older, had been stuffed many  years ago. Carmen kindly switched the lights on as we walked through. She showed me around slowly and was happy to pass on her knowledge, despite the fact she was no expert due to land creatures not being her field.

There were a lot of WTF moments, I saw stuff I had no idea existed. it dawned on me then how amazing this planet must be if there are so many creatures people still have no idea about. I would love to be able to show pics of what I saw but unfortunately I did not have permission to take photo's of those specimens and I did not want to risk not being able to return one day for more research.

It was certainly quite a macabre scene, I imagine it would have upset some people to bare witness to it.. I adore nature and understand the quest to understand it is vital to our existance and the animals that survive today. .As a result I have problem with it. Although I will admit to feeling queasy at times.

We finally came to the doors of the Tank Room. I looked above and noticed a odd looking rail that ran beyond the door. I naturally wondered what that was for, so asked. Carmen replied, "you'll see.." she pressed her finger upon the touch pad and the doors swooshed open. I was immediately struck with a revolting stench of chemicals merged with what can only cleanly decribed as a fishy smell :  /. I looked around the room in peering into the jars in astonishment as I stood at the door, not having moved one inch.

At the end of the room there was a very large tank with the Giant Squid inside, I was taken back by it's sheer size. I walked towards it and around it in wonder of it... It was like that scene in Aliens when they come across the face huggers, in those specimen jars lol.  I told her it was bigger than I thought, Carmen told be that was actually a juvenile and that a fully grown adult could grow to be three times that size!. She said the rail on the ceiling was how they moved the Giant Squid specimen into the room because it was the only way.

In the centre of the room were a series of large metal tanks, she lifted the lid off one and I immediately realized the source of the terrible smell. The fluid inside was deep brown and murky looking. I couldn't see anything in there myself,  while I peered in covering my mouth and nose. My nose caught the terrible whiff despite my attempts, my gag reflex was tickling my throat and I was about to throw.. She told me to stand back forcefully, I did so happily.

Carmen then walked over to a nearby drawer and snapped some some gloves on while staring at me. Carmen walked over and reached into the tank and grabbed onto something, something I could not see. With both hands she lifted out this huge fish, If you can call it that. She told me it was a newly found specimen of a prehistoric fish thought to be extinct some years ago. It was a fish called a "Coelacanth". Apparently it was in the tank because they had earlier been studying the specimen. She took me over to a PC and showed me images of why it was so special. It's internal anatomy was totally bizarre!. Bishop would have loved this shit!., it did not look like a fish at all inside. And I have cut open a few I can tell you.

She then opened a lid of  another tank and showed me a "Angler fish". the fish made famous by Pixar's Finding Nemo. It still had it's dangly bit still intact. It looked as evil as any creature could be in my mind with it grotesque over-sized mouth and long spiny teeth. She opened another, and lifted out what looked like a monster, she asked me to guess what it was, I laughed an naturally replied I have no idea!. She told me it was a dismembered Penis of a Minke whale, lol.

Carmen then brought me over to a shelf which had a numerous cylindrical jars lined up and said, this is a "Oarfish." What's a Oarfish I replied?. "The Oarfish sir, is the longest bony fish in the world!", she replied.  I then asked how it could possibly be the longest fish in the world when it looked so small?. Carmen told me every jar on the shelf had the cut up segments of the specimen inside. If that was the case the specimen in question must have been nearly ten meters long. She allowed me to take one sneaky pic of that but old me not to tell anyone, or she would have to drown me in the tank if I did.

She then walked me over to a cabinet on the wall and pointed to a few smaller specimens. She told me that what I was looking at were in fact some of the very examples Sir Charles Darwin had brought back after one of his research missions. I thought that was kind cool to be able to see also.


The Giant Squid





































Anyone for deep fried squid?