There are many visions of the future of gaming. Your phone seamlessly beaming content to the TV screen, micro consoles, VR headsets, eXistenZ. Or maybe it’ll all be built into the telly box itself – like those horrible TV VCR combis that were popular once. Or, more relevantly, these built in consoles from the olden …
Two big games this week. You may have noticed. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag first, if only because it started bothering the world on Tuesday. It’s been sailing through a sea of 9s, including Eurogamer, GameSpot and CVG. CVG also lobbed a 9 Battlefield 4‘s way, while Eurogamer and GameSpot went with 8s. It’s not …
Sega desperately wanted to be perceived as being cooler than Nintendo back in the ‘90s. They had 18-rated games with blood and gore, backed with glitzy marketing campaigns. Nonsensical buzz words such as ‘blast processing’ were used in these adverts, as were renowned celebrities of the era. Part of us thinks that it’s because of …
We didn’t quite see it coming. Batman: Arkham Origins has knocked GTA V off the top spot in this week’s UK chart. Perhaps everyone in the world already owns a copy of Rockstar’s car theft simulator. That’s an impressive chart entry for a game that got mixed reviews, with publishers Warner Bros. putting an embargo …
We were pleased to discover that the TMNT franchise hasn’t undergone a total overhaul for the new CGI Nickelodeon series, and ergo this timely tie-in. Other than a handful of minor changes – such as Baxter Stockman now stomping around in a mech-suit rather than turning into some grotesque man/fly hybrid – they’re still the …
Fist of Awesome has been one huge charm offensive: from the early animated GIF screenshots, through the doubling-its-target Kickstarter, to designer Nicoll Hunt’s beard. It’s been either: (a) a cleverly orchestrated PR campaign; (b) a demonstration of the benefits as an indie developer of being a bit different; or (c) proof that people really really …
This week sees the release of a hotly anticipated bat-based sequel that has so far remained hidden in the shadows, muttering quietly in an oddly deep voice. Batman: Arkham Origins makes its way on to Xbox 360 and PS3 (and PC), alongside Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate on the PS Vita. Earlier games in the series, …
We’re all guilty of something, but rather than fill these hallowed pages with our sinful confessions we’re instead going to share our top five gaming guilty pleasures. All of the games below faced a harsh critical reception upon release, but despite their faults they aren’t entirely without merit…no matter how dubious those merits actually are. …
In the ’80s and early ’90s, choose your own adventure gamebooks were quite the craze. There’s been a resurgence of sorts recently, both on paper and digitally, chiefly of the fondly remembered Fighting Fantasy series. Nintendo Adventure Books? Not so much. A remarkable 12 books were released in 1991-92, based largely on Nintendo Comic System, …
This week’s UK chart looks quite familiar, with GTA V on top of the charts, sitting above FIFA 14. There is however a new entry at #3, in the form of Skylanders: Swap Force, Activision’s latest attempt to sell children more plastic figurines. Pokemon X and Y fall slightly to #4 and #5 respectively, showing …
We were planning to pen a Skylanders eBay round-up to tie-in with today’s release of Swap Force, but aside a store display case and various variants selling for £100+ there isn’t much to report on. So with Pokemon fans currently trying to catch’em all in Pokemon X/Y, we’re instead going to look at various Pokemon …
It’s a slightly subdued week for new releases – just two major titles, along with a handful of smaller games and a few Wii re-releases. The coming few weeks are crammed with new things to play though – unless Amazon is mistaken, twelve new titles are out next week alone. Skylanders Swap Force leads the …
Trading cards are big business these days. Back in 1992, Sega and Panini released the Sega Super Play cards. Another case of Sega being massively ahead of their time? Some might say unprofitably ahead of their time. They might be right. The 120 cards were split into several sections. First, and most excitingly, were two …
Back in the days when arcade machines were synonymous with gaming rather than gambling, a simple way for developers to see if they had a hit on their hands was to put it on test in a local arcade. If a player died repeatedly yet still continued to put money into the machine it was …
This week’s UK chart sees GTA V back on top, knocking FIFA 14 down to #2. With Pokemon X and Y’s sales double that of last year’s Pokemon Black 2/White 2, the first 3DS monster battler arrives at #3 and #4. Then at #5 it’s another new entry – Beyond: Two Souls. Quantic Dream’s last …
