I've been asked by my sister to give me nephew a racing game for his 360.  Now my first thought was Forza 3 - but then I thought he's ten or eleven - is it going to be a bit boring for him?  I mean I like it - and I don't go for the arcadey 'Need for speed' 'Burnout' sort of games, so what do you think?  Am i being paranoid?  Should I just get him another copy of Forza 3 ?  (I have Forza 3 and think it's great!) 
 
Or is there something else that would be more suitable for a 10/11 year old?  If so what?!

Well, after getting some tools together and deciding to 'go for it' or so to speak, I am now no longer in posession of a functional XBOX 360.  Basically the DVD Drive is gone. 
 
I spent ages stripping it to pieces, cleaning the lens and trying various other 'Internet' fixes for the unplayable discs - no joy.  At first I thought I was enjoying some success, Guitar Hero WT worked after it hadn't worked - but then Gears of War 1 didn't so a bit more messing about - and eventually I can't read a damn thing. 
 
Not that surprised - not all that bothered, it just means I need another BenQ drive installing - but my wife is now pissed at the amount of hours I've spent on it - and fashing the drive or swapping the circuit board on a BenQ is more of a pain than the others or so I'm told.  I've found a local boy who mends and mods XBOX 360's as a business, so I'll ring him for a price on Monday.  I'm guessing it's a sub £50 job to replace the drive and that will do me.  It just annoys me that the 360 is such a flimsy piece of cack. 
 
I suppose it's the console equivalent of an Alfa Romeo - nippy, great fun, nice looking, works brilliantly when it's working - but the compromise of owenership is being willing to sit on the 'gaming hard shoulder' from time to time waiting for the AA... 
 
This is a great quote from a guy on another forum about Alfa's :-  
 
"  I'd say Alfas and wives are very similar. Certainly when my brother had an Alfa all the other blokes in the street had a go in it.

And it used to randomly break down for no reason.

He got rid of it when the bodywork started to go."

Okay, so I've had my thinking cap on since my previous posts about what to play.  I still want to play Fable 3 and Force Unleashed 2 - but I refuse to pay or allow friends/family to pay £39.99 for it.  So I'll wait until my birthday in June and fish them out of a bargain bin or buy used.
 
I always like a GH game, I'm a bit of a sucker for them - despite playing the real guitar I don't know whether I fancy RB3 for it's pro-mode or not.  The biggest issue - at least from my experience of playing the Greenday Rockband demo - is that RB doesn't support my Logitech drum kit very well - it's very hit and miss.  I also don't like how it doesn't use the full kit - you never hit one of the toms or symbols - perhaps this is better in RB3?
 
So a music game - Warriors of Rock?  Maybe.... RB3?  Perhaps - I'm still not convinced... I actually miss a lot of the old songs of the PS2 earlier games and some of them really wanted more instruments - so I'm tempted to get my wife fishing about in the bargain bins for Guitar Hero Greatest Hits.
 
So still some money in the budget - what else do we look at?  Well it sounds daft, but Im seriously, seriously tempted to get Fifa 2011.... Whoah! You're thinking, isn't smokemare some ancient bumbling old fool, with a misguided notion that he's some sort of authority on the history and cultural influence of video games,  who plays a blend of casual music games, insanely long RPG's with irritatingly convoluted storylines and an assortment 'run around shooting stuff' games?
 
Well you'd probably be right in some degrees, but this wasn't always so - as my often cited references to Tony Hawks and my online Super Street Fighter 2 HD Remix ranking show - this wasn't always the case!
 
I may seem like a 'bat shit crazy' recluse now - but there was a time, less than a decade ago when I had 'friends' and I have fond memories of sitting in smoke filled living rooms, that smelled of beer, spirits and 'smoke' *ahem*.... With said friends enjoying a round robin of Fifa 2000... We spent hours playing it - even though I'm not really a football fan in anything like a real sense.   I even played vs the computer!  And enjoyed trying to build my team up - even if it mean being bitched at because of my 'super Chelsea' side which had Batistuta and Baggio up front, Roberto Carlos in defence and David Seaman in goal....  
 
I recall fondly one particular night when we came up with a simple drinking game, 'Fifa Hot Shots' where everyone present plays a round robin of Fifa as normal - but whenever you concede a goal you have to drink a shot of Sainsbury's own brand - value whisky.  i felt a little sorry for Mark Clay, he lost 3-0, 3-1 then 9 - 0 or something crazy... At the end he was still shuddering from the last shot as the next ball sailed into the net... He finished the bottle actually I think!
 
Hopefully, with todays capacity for online play and the promise of a potential bi-annual visit from my old Fifa playing mates - should be a good laugh.

  
I guess a lot of people are getting excited about kinnect this christmas.  The question is - are hey right to be excited?  I'm sure my three year old would love Kinnectimals, but this is a person that gets excited if you give her an empty cardboard roll - having used up all the kitchen roll on it.  (Cue - running around shouting 'A telescope! I got a telescope!') I admit I am pretty unfit, my thumbs are fairly well exercised but I can see the arguement for Kinnect fitness games.  Ultimately though - I don't 'do' dancing, by the time I'm in the mood to hit the dance floor - I tend to be so 'well oiled' all I can do is lurch drunkenly around the floor, belching, knocking people over and generally upsetting people - particularly my wife.
 
So no Kinnectimals, no Dance Dance Fever or whatever - what is left?  I did get quite excited about a Ubisoft title (Ubisoft - I know...) called 'Fighters Uncaged' now this looks like it it might be a bit of fun   I haven’t been training for a while, but I’m a 2nd Degree black belt Taekwondoist – been training off and on for over 15 years.  Now the idea of the game tracking my moves and smashing seven bells out of some digital thugs is quite appealing… Not quite as appealing as a 2 hour sparring and fitness session, but you don’t have to drive for forty minutes each way to do it.

So – I’ve been watching some video’s, reading some reviews – most notably the Eurogamer review of the game. Ellie,  the reviewer there gives it an unashamed 2/10 and having seen vids of it in action I can appreciate where she’s coming from.  The motion tracking seems awful, with the Giant Bomb dude trying to play it, completely unable to perform a headbutt despite some serious trying, and lost of moves clearly registering wrongly…

The enemies look either so camp they drink at the blue oyster bar, or so cliché they would have been rejected from character design in a 1980’s side-scrolling beat em’ up.

The tutorial looks really, really boring and seemingly can’t be skipped and seems to take ages..

Playing It looks less fun than being given a ‘Guantanamo style’ waterboarding…

So no don’t put my name down for the Kinnect this Christmas, I’m pretty much convinced there’s nothing for it even remotely worth playing.  The more annoying  thing is there probably isn’t anything remotely worth playing for XBOX 360 this Christmas… Certainly nothing that I’m keen on playing.

All in all it’s been a disappointing  year for gaming, I was looking forward to Hydrophobia, I really thought that looked interesting.  Now I wish it had been a full release title – at least I’d have the satisfaction of being able to throw the accursed thing out  of the window.

My highlights of the gaming year?  Red Dead Redemption – that was fun, hacking through Left 4 Dead 1 a few more times… Tropico 3, playing the big dictator… And um, mashing my Logitech Drum Kit on Guitar Hero when my three year old has not been around to stop me (It’s impossible to play if she’s there, she just keeps pinching the sticks and running around shouting ‘I want to drum!’)

Limbo was a highlight, I enjoyed that immensely – even if the ending was just annoying and towards the end the level design got a bit flat.  It’s just a pity that I’m left now in video game ‘Limbo’ wanting to play something new, and decent, but ultimately getting more enjoyment out of hacking through Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2 on the PS1 again…

 

Well, assuming my XBOX 360 lives until the end of the year.... I'd like something to play on Christmas day... 
 
The question is what?!  I was thinking Fable 3, but the unfavourable reviews have put me off - I liked 2 but I was more interested in 3 for it's rule the country section - which now sounds quite rubbish... And something of a wasted oppurtunity.  So I played the demo of 'The Force Unleashed 2' and I liked it - but already, some of the niggles of part 1 were visible... I sort of want to buy it anyway, but only for the story (Which they say isn't as good) and the fight with the huge beastie thing that eats Rancors - you saw it in the teaser trailer... But everyone says the problems of part 1 are still there and its too short...
 
I still like my Guitar Hero games, and I'm sort of interested in the 'You Rock' guitar - being a guitarist also... But I can't imagine quite how this would work on Guitar Hero...  Has anyone played with one?  Are they any good?  How does it work?
 
Failing that - I really don't know, I'm not a big Halo fan, so don't expect to be asking for Halo: Reach.   The truth is I'm just not big on FPS with a pad still, I can tolerate Left 4 Dead - because you can always use the shove button to buy you a second to line your shot up and it works.  I can tolerate Gears of War because of the cover system, but I can't see myself enjoying Halo.
 
So beyond that - what is there I can ask for, for Christmas this year that is actually 'good'?  or going to be good.  I mean on the level of Left 4 Dead, Red Dead Redemption, Forza Motorsport 3 and such like - 4.5/5 93% or more games?  I still have to play through Prince of Persia : Forgotten Sands, but I'm finding it a bit flat, a bit silly and not as much fun as re-playing Gears of War 1 for achievements... 
 
So I'm at a loss this Christmas now, and may end up resorting to bucket loads of mulled wine and collapsing asleep in front of  Noel Edmunds on the telly after stuffing my face with Mince Pies... Unless someone can suggest what might be worth a play?

 Well, I've so far managed to play through the frst Act and a bit of Gears of War 1 - which seemed to be the worst effected game.  And all ths without even opening my box!  I do have some cleaning stuff and tools on order - but less invasive surgery is always preferable; the XBOX 360 DVD laser lens and mirror is a fickle enough piece of equipment as it is without me tinkering with it.  I have also identified the drive -  clearly have one with a BenQ drive.  Which may be unfortunate, as I don't believe you can do the 'change your drive and get it working by swapping your old drives circuit board' technique on the BenQ.
 
Still, I'm going to keep running it and using the lens cleaner CD and hope that gradually I can improve it further without dismantling it.  

I actually had an interesting conversation regarding this with my sister-in-law.  She claims that many of her friends who have XBOX’s and particularly those that have had them for a long time see them as something of a consumable.  Apparently it’s quite normal to go through two or three XBOX’s in a two year period, possibly more if you use it a lot.  

Now if this is true I find it despicable, that Microsoft are throwing out pieces of junk that are designed to last through the warranty covered period then go belly up.  It’s ridiculous, my PC is much older and more reliable, my PS2, Mega Drive, N64 and all my other retro consoles still work fine!

Ahhh, but you might argue the XBOX 360 is a much more sophisticated beast!  So much more powerful and hence sensitive!  I would then argue that my PC is actually far more powerful – if not as focused as the 360 – and it’s been running fine for over twice as long as the 360 with no problems.

 Suppose the only conclusion  I can come to, is that there are two things combined that cause the problem of comedically unreliable machines – that is the combination of powerful, sophisticated machine, built as cheaply as is imaginably possible.   I suppose one of the factors that steered me towards the 360 over the PS3 was the cheapness factor – although if you have a 250 GB Elite, the gap is tighter…

Clearly that choice came at a price.  I’ve come to love the 360, but I genuinely don’t want the expense and hassle of replacing the stupid thing every 18 months because it’s a flimsy piece of cack, built down to the penny so it can be sold as value for money.   I mean if it was totally foo-barred and I had to swap it,  would actually happily pay £50 more, maybe £80 more for a machine that was reliable enough to work for 5 years without any problems, as you would expect of a PC.  Not extended warranty – this stupid idea of sending your console to Microsoft while you sit at home playing all your PS2 games again doesn’t wash… Somethng that actually works, and doesn’t break and has comparable reliablity to a PC.

 

 
 
 
 

Well, I've been having some 'issues' with my 360 lately... Before you ask- it's not the RROD.  It's a little more bizarre than that - some games, many in fact, won't load fully because the console says they are unreadable, implication being they are scratched or dirty.  Now I can categorically state they aren't. I've tried running lens cleaning CD's in the DVD drive - and it doesn't seem to help much.  Wierdly the other day I couldn't Gear of War 2 to load at all - I took the HDD out and re-fitted it, and it worked, but can I get Gears of War 1 to load using the same disk removing shenanigans? 
 
Nope. 
 
Has anyone else experienced this I wonder?  Is it a common problem easily fixed or am I going to have replace/repair my 360?

I've been looking forward to TFU 2 and Fable 3 for a while now.  I never played Fable 1, but I had a riot playing Fable 2, I spent hours on that game and loved every minute - despite it's annoyances and irritations.  The same can be said for the Force Unleashed, I played through the first one several times... It was arguably the most fun Jedi game I've played - and definately the best story.  It wasn't perfect, as I stated in my review, clunky, inaccurate controls, linear levels and poor level design at times could make the game choresome occasionally.
 
Now that Fable 3 is out - a lot of people seem to be slating it.  It sounds like a classic case of Peter Molyneux promising something amazing - then releasing something pretty good, but not all it was supposed to be.  There are some positive reviews too - it strikes me that if an unknown developer had released it without a word - it would probably be acclaimed  as a great game.  I suppose that's maybe why good independant title like 'Limbo' get such attention - the moral of the story, "Don't shout about how amazing your game is going to be, unless it really is, REALLY amazing..."
 
But of course that wouldn't sell pre-orders.
 
I played through the demo of The Force Unleashed 2 and it brought back fond memories.  That part 1 was a cracking game.... I really wanted to continue playing... However at the same time, similar obvious shortcomings are still present - even in the opening demo sequence.  I want ot play on, but as much for the story as for the gameplay.  Whether I would want to play on after 30 minutes of Fable 3... I don't know, the story in Fable 2 I didn't find that engaging - it was the gameplay that drew me in.
 
So do I still buy either of these titles?  Put them on my christmas list and keep hacking away at Tropico 3 - then dropping back to Left 4 Dead for some wholesale zombie slaughter when the mood takes me?  I really don't know...
 
Ultimately I question whether games should claim to be great, it may sell pre-orders and help the company financially, but I don't think it does the art-form much good.  It certainly doesn't do reputations much good.  I suppose there is no perfect game, there are some very good ones - but even then... If you look at the highest scoring aggregate games of all time - there are some titles there which don't really stand up to modern games in terms of graphics and sound.  If you can ignore these factors though - these games are still fun to play.
 
The conclusion is that, ultimately gameplay should come first and foremost.  Games are the artform, so game play, game mechanics are the art.  Gameplay is the painting, story, graphics, sound... They're just the frame.  A bad painting is a bad painting however nice a frame you put it in.  A game can only be judged on it's gameplay - anything else is just the icing on the cake.
 
Some people might not consider games to be an art form.  In some respects it's far easier to see them as a business model.  Look at EA games, churn out a new Fifa every year - redraw the graphics, add a couple of nice features - slap the current year onto the title and hey presto - watch the money roll in.  It hardly takes brilliant inspiration does it?  I mean yeah, these are good games and fun - but you can't really describe them as art.
 
Take Fable and the Force Unleashed though, they have a lot of short-comings, all of the Fable series and both of The Force Unleashed, but they have a story, they have nice environments and clever design, they are innovative in some degree - the designers actually tried to innovative in concieving them.   They're surely art at a certain level?  But then isn't gameplay king?  Games are for gameplay right?
 
I suppose if you are trying to paint a masterpiece - there's a lot more to go wrong.  I sometimes suspect some of these games are hindered by lack of time and budget, and because they are commercial and require commercial success to keep the developers working to develop more games and the company afloat.
 
You might think I'm over analysing here, but the fact is games have changed.  When I was a kid, you bought a game on a cassette for £3 that was written in the bedroom of some spotty nerd over the course of a few weeks... Now they are multi-million dollar productions, often hundreds of people end contributing to games.  Games as a media are gaining respectability and only by striving to improve the quality of our media all the time can that respect by gained and maintained.
 
But back on topic, are The Force Unleashed 2 and Fable 3 actually worth getting ?  :P

 Okay, so Diablo 3 is coming out soon.  As is typical of Blizzard they won't release it until it's a polished, playable, fun game with little in the way of glitches and bugs.  It's probably the only PC game I'm even vaguely interested about at the moment.  I remember waiting for Diablo 2 - it took sooooooooo much longer than expected to be released, but what a fantastic game!
 
I decided to revisit Diablo 2 due to the fourth coming release of Diablo 3 and have a think about where they could improve things.
 
Unfortunately the issue became apparent immediately.  As soon as I tried to log on to my expired Patriarch Gorbad level 86, I get the dreaded 'Player Not Found'.  Now the last time I played him might have been 6 months ago or more if you mean play properly – after beating Hell and starting to collect Pandemonium keys, I decided to have a break.

Now Guildwars, if you buy a copy of the game you get X character slots and they are yours permenantly that’s it – drop the game and come back in a year – your character is still there.  In Diablo 2 this isn’t the case.  Luckily I have a realm level 33 Slayer, who has all Gorbad’s hand me downs, unfotrunately not his 2 x ‘Breath of the Dying’ Executioner Swords though  or Immortal King Armour…

I really wanted to much about with the one final part of D2 that I never got around to – the Pandemonium Quest.  Or Uber Tristram as it’s often called.  Now – first of all, I don’t have any realm characters even remotely decent enough to attempt this… I don’t have time to level up my old mule to level 85….

So?  I decided to venture in an area of Diablo 2 where I’ve never ventured before – the mod zone!

First mod is tool called hero editor, you have to make sure you have the right version, but once you do it’s powerful and easy to use.  You can edit stats of your character, and even create your own items.  Obviously it won’t work on Realm so I used a single player character I had knocking about.

First of all, I made him some Cruel Ancient armour of the Vampire with a runeword and maxed out magical enhancements, then some swords, and charms and all sorts, with things like absorb on all damage times, insane, never normally possible bonuses to attack rating and damage, and lots of  items with All Skills +7, All Barbarian Skills +7.

On initial  load I found the item, despite my requirements and level requirements reductions still needed a level 75 character to wield it.  So back into the editor, and in seconds I have a level 75 character with hugs stat increases and every skill.

Back into the game, and sure enough I have an unstoppable killing machines with all skills at level 99, damage of 40,000 in each hand and over 4 million defence when Battle Orders is cast, in fact he is so pumped, the mana and health can’t display properly….

I quickly beat normal, nightmare and hell… But – now the Pandemonium quest is Realm only?  Well it should be – but back on the internet and I soon downloaded PlugY an excellent mod which does loads of useful things, like increase your stash to be infinite… And allow Uber Tristram in single player.

Back in the game, having created the organs to transmute and I enter Uber Tirstram.  First reaction is…. ‘Hmmm, nothing here…’ There are no minions to deal with whatsoever!  After wandering the map aimless for a while I spot Uber Diablo, Mephisto and Baal… Great!  Now I wade in Whirlwinding away…

After a few minutes they are dead… Although I have to say – in the main game everything, I mean everything was dying from one touch – including Hell Diablo and all of  Baal’s minions – the only thing that took more than a touch was Baal…

The Ubers, actually took a significantly long time to kill and could actually hurt my god-like modded character!

I suspect that killing these on a Realm, solo is impossible, and doing it in group requires a well organised, well thought out group of warriors with perhaps a little luck.

Other conclusions to the game, and issues they need to sort with part 3?  Well first of all – your realm characters expiring.  It just isn’t good enough in this day and age, and it shouldn’t happen.  Realm is much more fun, and interesting – playing Hardcore is like playing a different game again!  But you can’t risk leaving the game for 6 months or you lose your character.

Seriously annoying!

The next point is the stash size, normally the stash is woefully small, and you end up having to sell, which is more or less akin to destroying good items, simply because you don’t have room for them.  Now back on the realm, I had a mule account and about a dozen mules at one stage, and I would go to great pains to transfer items from one character to another to keep them.  Doing this was a complete pain and wasted hours of playtime.

I think it’s part of the mechanics that make Diablo 2 Realm addictive though.  Good items are hard to find, and hours and hours of magic runs are the only ways to get them without purchasing.  Runes are super rare, and if you want a specific item – you are probably going to have to buy it.  Getting your man well equipped is a pain in the butt.   They really need to do what PlugY does, give you a massive stash shared between all characters.  Having to essentially delete Uniques because you have no room for them is just stupid.

The next issue is the ability to re-spec.  There is no mechanism in Diablo 2 to re-assign skills, so if you make a sword WW barb, and you decide you want a Spear, Singing Barb – you have to create it from scratch.  If you are playing casually and aren’t bothered about finishing Hell and the Pandemonium Quest – then it doesn’t matter so much.  Due to the diminishing returns of increasing skills you get a lot of powerful options by spreading your skill points around.

The trouble is – if you want to beat Hell and be useful in a Pandemonium group – you won’t be powerful enough if you follow this method.  You have to specialise, and one or two skill points placed in the wrong box can really upset a build.

There’s always the whisper in Diablo 2, that soon your man is going to be really powerful, the next level gained, the next skill unlocked, the next item in Immortal King set… It’s always kept just out of your reach.  Finding out you have to re-start your build at level 60 because swords work better for your chosen build and you put all your mastery in axes… Discovering you forgot to renew a level 96 character and it’s been deleted…

Diablo 2 with it’s expansion should have been called ‘Diablo 2 : Lord of Frustration’ it’s a great game, good socially to play, and brilliantly made… But it’s addictive in the way that Horse Racing is – there’s so much promised, that when you do get returns you get drawn into it.  When you don’t – you kow you just have to work a bit harder, a few more magic runs, two more levels, one more skill !

I’ve probably had it with Diablo 2 now, I might muck about with another character for a laugh – but I’m not going through the heart ache and hassle of  realm again – trying to keep a character active when you’re not playing is a chore and I have enough chores to do without adding one…

I just hope Diablo 3 strives to be more than this…

Well, I finally got time to sit down and play through the last part of Limbo last night, and drop back and pick up some of the hidden eggs I missed.
 
I stand by everything I said in my review it's a great game.  Okay, yes it is a bit short and seems to end rather abruptly.  You don't get any sense of what is going on - even at the end.  Limbo is clearly a creative masterpiece, there's something about that is just 'right' in a way that Hydrophobia doesn't have.  I know they are totally different games I'm sure, but they are XBOX Live arcade releases that stand on innovation.  For some reason Hydrophobia fails, and Limbo succeeds.  Which is a shame, I really wanted to Like Hydrophobia, but now I find it choresome to play.
 
I think the voice acting doesn't help and the characters, apart from Kate aren't particularly great - I don't think Kate would win any awards, but she's at least likeable - unlike the annoying guy on the radio chatting to you in a regional accent....
 
The interesting thing is that despite the abstract nature of the boy in Limbo, I find myself caring about his fate significantly more than Kate in Hydrophobia.  With Kate, watching her drown is just an annoying time-sink while I wait to try again.  With the boy in Limbo, I genuinely don't want him to get hurt - I want him to succeed, i want him to find his sister... I feel sorry for him when he get's minced up.  
 
Why this is - isn't clear, it could be a wierd counter effect - like the uncanny valley, whereby we actually naturally empathise with more abstract characters.  Or could it be the clarity of the quest, and the sureness of purpose in Limbo - move right, avoid traps, solve puzzles - find sister.  Instead of run around corridors sloshing with water listening to some irritating guy give you advice in a regional accent.   Often in Hydrophobia, I enter a new area and think right, where am I supposed to go, what am I supposed to do?  The story is vague and somewhat soul-less to me.  It maybe suffers from over-complicatedness.
 
I haven't had the stamina to finish Hydrophobia yet, so maybe it will get better.  Now I've finished Limbo, I find myself a little sad.  Sad at the short-ness of the game to a degree - even though I will play through again I think.  More so - sad at the obvious futility of his quest.  I'd read reviews before - so I knew what happened, but when you see him running up the grassy bank and see his sister - you feel happy, you're glad he's made it... You want them to run up to each other and embrace...
 
They don't of course, the next time you see them is after the credits, as corpses with flies hovering around them.  What the developers are trying to say here I'm not sure, that there is no happy ending?  That the journey IS the happy ending and as soon it is over, all you have is oblivion? 
 
I think Peter Molenuex has thought along this line too, I find the prospect of Fable 3, exploring the 'happily ever after' which often gets omitted fascinating.  
 
It's a bit like life I suppose, when you are young you sort of expect to find someone, get married - have kids and live happily ever after... But there is no such thing, as one struggle ends another begins....