Wrestlevania

Full story: Microsoft To Enable User-Created Xbox 360 Games

[bump] A beta version of XNA Games Studio Express is now available for download. Might be time I finally give in to Microsoft and learn C#.

For some benign reason, I've always switched channels as this was about to start. I'll make sure I watch it this time.

I'm a dedicated FPS slut, but I'm having to force myself to play Prey--it's that lame.

Saw this last night and was quite disappointed. The visuals are striking and quite spectacular for the most part, with just a few 'iffy' scenes where a lightsource couldn't possibly be projecting in the way it appears to be. (I'm a 3D whore though - and a former animation student - so I probably notice this stuff far more than is healthy.) The script is the biggest disappointment. While the main characters do initially intrigue, their respective backstories are only probed to a very shallow level. As a consequence the main players feel flat and two-dimensional; this obviously isn't helped by the film's art style either. Furthermore, in one particular scene a previously-badass character instantly switches motivation and stance simple to further the plot. It's jarring and screams of amateurish screen writing. By 2/3's of the way through I really didn't care about any of them, which actually annoyed me, and I had already started guessing (accurately) at the film's conclusion. Apart from its visual style, there's nothing to really recommend this film to serious cinema goers. Yes it's spectacular - there are a couple of really memorable scenes in there - but what you find underneath that glitzy exterior is very superficial and quite unsatisfying. The story is quintessentially linear and you can guess the approaching plot twists several minutes before they actually come into play. Renaissance wants to be the French Akira, but turns out to be decidedly average comic pulp.

I've only ever encountered what you describe during heavy data loads, i.e. when a level loads up and your computer begins to draw the graphics. Audio gets cropped into a 1/4 soundbite which loops until the machine has finished caching textures and other assets. Are you saying this continues throughout the level once it's started at some seemingly-random point during play? OK, which hardware acceleration did you knock down?

Full story. Hadn't seen this before now, but, judging by the titles on offer for £1 at Woolworths, there's very little to get excited about--either as a consumer or as a journalist. Proof enough it's the slow season methinks, and that's about it. "Nothing to see here, move along please..."

Can't speak for anywhere else in the world, but UK branches of Toys R Us are particularly good at this; I scooped Operation Flashpoint Gold and Heavy Gear 2 for £1.99 each just a couple of months back.

I was worried as to how the humble DS would handle planetary encounters, but that scenery looks fantastic.

Simple reason this won't work; winning on frags alone is extremely difficult. If memory serves me correctly, you get the equivalent of between 10-20 'frags' for each capture. If you're pissing about going for frags, your flag gets stolen over and over. Bad team organisation and cooperation equals a whitewash--it's that simple and Valve won't change that for the sequel.

Someone posted a link to a very smart video on YouTube, which featured a bunch of jazz (as in "music", you filth!) artists making music by tapping and thumping various household items in an apartment. I've done the searchy-searchy - here and at YouTube - but I can't find it. Could some kind soul please point me in the right direction?

In The Girl Who Wanted To Be God, Kieron Gillen takes a scalpel to Shodan, the AI villainess from the brilliant System Shock universe. The article was originally printed in last month's (August 2006) UK edition of PC Gamer magazine. It's not short, weighing in at 4,000 words plus, but it's an engaging read none the less. ______________________________ On a related note; it's been announced that System Shock 3 is actually in production. Before you get too excited though, a couple of things to consider: No-one involved in making the original two games is working on the third title. It's been handed to the group responsible for the monumental disappointment The Godfather. :\

A resistance fighter that it pounced on as it entered the building. Nasty.

Phantom Hourglass, along with Twilight Princess on Wii, is one Zelda game I'm really looking forward to. The DS game especially looks like it's got tonnes of as-yet undocumented tricks and treats; using that steamboat to get from island to island whilst fighting off pirates(?) looks especially fun, as does the touchscreen control of the boomerang.

Picked this up off Slashdot Games earlier today and thought (hoped) others might find it of interest too... Put an idling PC - or Mac - to good use.

Oh good... at least I'll only loose one entire day (give or take) at the office then?

"Damn you ys, damn you!" Far too bloody funny for its own good.

I've been playing Minish Cap on and off (which says a lot on its own) for a couple of months now and I just can't get into it. I've always found 2D Zelda's puzzles to be frustrating and not exactly intuitive, so I'm no fan of the series in the first place.

TF2 is looking really good. I hope Valve have tweaked the character and level balances from TFC to make it fresh, but not completely overhauled it--it worked brilliantly as it was. ...really? That looks even better than the original Portal vid. I'm glad the new female vox wasn't just for Valve's original Portal showreel either, and will actually feature in the game.

Thanks Kingz, much obliged. My laptop's 64-bit so, whilst I don't have hyperthreading to worry about, it's run older games at twice the speed you'd expect. I'm guessing this is because the game engine uses the processor tick rate to gauge "real time", so having double the tick means things run uber-fast. It's actually ruined* my retro PC gaming in the majority so far. * I'm especially gutted that I can no longer play Freedom Fighters as that was awesome. I did contact EA about this a couple of years back. They said that they had no plans to patch older games to be compatible with 64-bit processors. Which is understandable, but still sucks.

- I found my SS2 disc! - I'm suffering the same no-go as you, Kingz. Was pretty sure you (or someone else) had linked to a couple guides for getting the game running earlier, but I can't find them now. Which guides did you use to get it running on your system?

Blasphemy! WarioWare Inc. on GBA is the funniest game I've played in ages! Had me sniggering like a school boy on every stage. And, whilst it's not as refined as Rhythm Tengoku, it's positively bursting with character and comedy. (It's also the easiest rhythm action game I've played, but I've not played many.) You'd be a fool to write it off out of hand, seriously.

Ah OK, I stand corrected. Fingers crossed they won't butcher this into the equivalent of Prey with a smart-mouthed female antagonist. I can't honestly see it turning out any other way though.

Over in the latest issue of Primotech, editor Alex Petraglia reports on how his mother faired when putting Peter Moore's infamous "even your mom will be playing games on here" statement (regarding Xbox 360) literally to the test, in a piece called Warrior Woman. Lots of interesting material in here, with a personal favourite being his mother's experiences when playing her first ever FPS game.

Absolutely. Nintendo have been pimping the Wii's "pick up and play with zero intimidation" aspects right from the start. I reckon you won't be able to move for articles along this theme concerning Nintendo's new hardware though. I'm also anticipating articles concerning Nintendo Wii to appear in all sorts of unusual places too, such as medical periodicals and local* newspapers. * Can't speak for anyone else, but, my local rag is dumbed down to the point of being offensively simplistic - not to mention utterly banal - at the best of times. About the most technical thing featured on a regular basis is a plot butchery of the latest cinema releases, which in fact manage to give away each film's ending without fail every week.