Are Rare shit now? Kameo was alright, but didn’t really hold our attention as it should have. Well good news, Warwickshire-based developer fans, Viva Piñata is cute, bright, fun, addictive and full of ridiculous regional accents. Yes, it’s a proper Rare game. At last. The only grumble in stylistic terms is that it isn’t particularly …
It’s been around for a while, but we may as well show you the Mii Creator if you haven’t seen it already. It lets you create your own Nintendo Wii ‘Mii’ characters from the safety of your web browser. Perhaps the best time waster since Line Rider. It’s particularly interesting if you haven’t got a …
We were going to start this review by pointing out that apart from Red Steel, this is the only exclusive title in Ubisoft’s eight-strong Wii launch line-up. That was until we discovered that it isn’t a new game at all: it was first released on Xbox back in April, albeit only in the US. So …
Microsoft updated the list of backwards compatible Xbox 360 games on the Xbox website, only to retract the update a few hours later. We’re not sure why, but it was a good mixture of new Xbox titles (Family Guy, Scarface, Splinter Cell: Double Agent), old titles (I-Ninja, Pariah, Shark Tale) plus a few that I …
We like Xbox Live Arcade at the moment, as the last few additions have all been shiny and new, rather than updates of crusty old arcade games. Last week we had the 3D platform / puzzler RoboBlitz, this week overhead shooter Assault Heroes from Wanako Games. It would probably be best not to say their …
Sega are trying to confuse everybody. It’s the only explanation. Yesterday they announced that they’ve got the Alien license, and have at least an FPS and an RPG in development for release no earlier than 2009. Then today they’ve announced that an update of old Sega IP Alien Syndrome is in development, for the intriguing …
Fat Elephants Ate Rennies? Nope. Fire Everyone At Roofs? No. For Everything A Reason? Hmm, could be. Fold Envelopes At Reading? Now you’re being silly again. First Encounter Assault Recon? You got it in four – well done! Like Far Cry, Doom III, Half-Life 2 and Quake IV before it, F.E.A.R. is a first person …
No surprises there. If Wii had been released at another time of year, then maybe Zelda would have taken the chart top spot. But as it is, #5 is what it gets, with FIFA 07 hanging on at #1. The best placed Xbox 360 title in launch week, almost exactly a year ago, was Perfect …
Good news, everybody: D3 will be publishing the Xbox 360 big monster shooter Earth Defense Force X in the US next spring. Well, it’s good news if you live in the US. Keep an eye on Play-Asia to see if the Japanese version is region free. Looks like we’ll know by the end of the …
A lot of toss passes for game-related news. We throw stones in the glass house atop our ivory tower. » The games industry is absolutely desperate to find someone with a personality. David Jaffe is that person, apparently, because he got a bit drunk and rambled on in front of a camera. Quite a few …
There’s a little bit of confusion over what games are being released with the Wii today. Obviously Zelda, Monkey Ball, Rayman and Red Steel, but it appears that Splinter Cell, Gottlieb Pinball Classics, Fruitfall and a few others aren’t due until next week. Various dates are also flying around for Far Cry Vengeance – Play …
Nintendo’s European Stars Catalogue has always been a bit of a farce when compared to the regularly updated Japanese equivalent. There you’ll find proper gifts to cherish, such as Nintendo playing cards, whereas Nintendo of Europe seem to think that downloadable t-shirt transfers are what all the cool kids want. Things are about to change …
There must have been up to sixteen people loitering outside my local Gamestation just before midnight, all mildly anticipating the midnight launch of Wii in the UK. The atmosphere was literally cold. I’m justifying picking up my Wii at midnight on the grounds of practicality: it’s easier to get it then than during the day. …
The latest edition to the growing Xbox Live Arcade is RoboBlitz. It’s also the first downloadable title to be powered by the much mooted Unreal 3 engine. Amazingly though, it isn’t a first person robot-based shooter – which is what we expected it to be – but rather a neat little physics-based platform/action/puzzle game starring …
Despite Parappa the Rapper and Um Jammer Lammy performing well in the UK, Gitaroo Man flopped when it debuted on PlayStation 2 back in 2002. Which is a shame, really, as it took the rhythm action genre to a whole new level, with nifty analogue control and bizarre but loveable characters. What we’re really trying …
