• 1Aug 08

  A good time to be a gamer.

  Maybe it's because we're all using a relatively new console now or maybe it's that gaming companies are becoming more ambitious but upcoming games and recent releases seem to be getting quite interesting. I think as a whole the gaming industry is taking more risks these days than before. One thing that sets games apart from films or books is the fact that sequels are nearly always better than the original, generally for gameplay or graphical improvements. Plus a sequel has a guaranteed market (assuming the original sold enough copies). So, with this logic in mind, companies generally focus their resourses on sequels. Well, until recently. Since the release of the first "next gen" console, the XBox 360, gamers have seen some great new franchises begin. Games such as Assassin's Creed, Bioshock, Resistance, Uncharted, Gears of War and Crysis. This hasn't stopped either, I'm keeping my eyes on inFamous, Prototype, They, Dead Space, Too Human, Damnation, Cipher Complex and many more. It would be naive to say that all of these will be successful. A great idea or original story won't save a flawed game e.g. Haze or Turning Point: Fall of Liberty, but it's refreshing to see companies taking risks. I'm aware that there's a self contradiction in my point as inevitably we're going to expect sequels to these games but that brings me to my next point. It's good to see companies pushing the envelope with their sequels too. I'm exited to see the new settings in Far Cry 2 and Resident Evil 5 just as I was when I saw the first trailer for Metal Gear Solid 4. Splinter Cell is taking a whole new direction. Activision did great changing the setting in Call of Duty to modern day as did Electronic Arts with Battlefield. I think this is necessary for a franchise to be respectful to it players. The truth is most of us will pay the money for a sequel regardless of how different it is. Aside from giving the fans something really new it can do a company alot of favours, I'd say Rockstar were glad they took the risk when the first reviews came in for Grand Theft Auto III. I'm hoping this trend of new ideas and original concepts will continue as it seems it could breed some real masterpieces in the long run. On the topic of masterpieces, I'm happy to see that companies are revisiting franchises that were thought dead. In the last while we've been told of a revival in three major games, Fallout, Starcraft and Diablo. I just hope it's in the interest of quality gaming and not a guaranteed successful financial investment. One last thing I have to say about this trend of new ideas is it's interesting to see what can be done with an existing universe. Halo Wars is doing something new with a great continuity and Command and Conquer is trying again to make a first person shooter under the C & C brand, hopefuly yielding better results. Endwar and Hawx are Tom Clancy's next promising creations so I'm wondering what will we see next? A squad based Metal Gear? Perhaps a real-time strategy set in the Killzone continuity? I know I'll be keeping a sharp eye for what the industry will do next.
  • Posted Aug 1, 2008 4:42 pm GMT
  • Category: Editorial
  • 12 Comments
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• 3Jul 08

  I got tagged so here's ten facts.

  Ten facts.

  1) I'm 6 foot tall and have long brown hair, can be found on Bebo.

  2) I have a girlfriend named Ciara.

  3) I live in the countryside of Dublin, Ireland and I love it.

  4) I like to read, big fan of graphic novels also.

  5) I love films, have quite a few. Having a thing about Pixar at the moment.

  6) I like many types of music, Nirvana, Radiohead, Slipknot, Bloc Party, Jack Johnson and Death in Vegas to name a small few.

  7) Enjoy some TV. LOST, Prison Break, Rescue Me, Heroes, and The Sopranos are on my hard drive at the minute.

  8 ) I'm an animation student. I like drawing and painting.

  9) Favourite game is now Metal Gear Solid 4.

  10) I either want to work for a game company (Ubisoft, Crytek etc.) or Pixar someday.

  So there they are. Anyways the blog you'll see if you scroll down was made just the other day so feel free to comment it if you find the time.

  • Posted Jul 3, 2008 3:08 pm GMT
  • Category: Writing
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• 29Jun 08

  Well well well.

  So here we are once more. Before I say anything I must apologise to my fellow MGSU Officers for my absenteeism as of late. There is a simple reason for this. I find that after the release of a new game there seems to be too much analysis of it. I loved MGS4. Best game I ever played but that's all I'm going to say about it. I love discussing games before they come out but afterwards I don't feel I can bring too much to the table. I know it's a great game, you know it's a great game so I don't feel much needs to be said after that. However I will contribute whenever and wherever possible. Oh and I also must apologise for my lack of commenting on fellow bloggers blogs as I generally only visit Gamespot once every day, or in some cases, two days. Some of the people on my list will have made ten posts by then and I simply can't keep up. So please don't take it personally that I'm not contributing. So anyway now that I have that out of the way. I've settled in with my Playstation 3. So far I have Metal Gear Solid 4 and Grand Theft Auto IV. Both games need no comment. I got the official guide to MGS4 and I recommend it to anyone. I would love to play online but my broadband isn't hugely fast and there are three PCs in the house online. So I won't even attempt to play online until I work out that issue completely. Recently I've been tempted to buy a laptop. Just a decently high spec one within a modest budget. See the computer I own has Vista but isn't particuarly fast. So it can't play games like Mafia and Far Cry (in any sort of acceptable manner) and the games that do run on Vista are too demanding for a PC. So I feel that a laptop with XP would be sweet for the old legends (Far Cry, Mafia, Starcraft, Diablo, Fallout, Commandos, Doom, Quake etc) plus the ability to bring my computer anywhere is very handy. One of my all time dream purchases would be a ridiculously high end PC, like a Voodoo PC or Alienware, water cooling system and everything. However I would need to win the lottery or suddenly get a job that pays a wage far higher than I deserve. At the very least this would need to play Crysis at top quality while running Photoshop and Maya. I'm talking not one but two 42" LCDs side by side, 10GB of ram and 2TB of Hard drive. And, for the love of all that is holy and pure, the ability to play any game old or new that has been released for the PC NO QUESTIONS ASKED. I will return to this topic. Anyone wanna buy a soul?
  • Posted Jun 29, 2008 2:27 pm GMT
  • Category: Opinion
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