My latest user review is for Tekken 6 and you can read it here.

Looking forward to your feedback

I spent some serious time making this car! Unfortunately, one of the logos was created by another player so I can't make the design available on my store front. Hope you like it anyway

My review for Tower Bloxx Deluxe (360 - XBLA) has now been published on GameSpot

You can read it here.

This blog-post is also another GS milestone for me as it is my 200th blog on the site!

After years of trying to make it as a video game journalist I have taken a huge step towards my goal.

For the first time, I have had a review published on GameSpot.

It's for XBLA title "Ion Assault" and you can read it here.

I'm really loving FIFA 10 but I have two major issues regarding matches in Manager Mode, specifically when playing in the FA Premier League.

1. Even if you play (like I do) as a top 4 side, stadiums never seem to be full. Now, I understand that the idea is you are a "new manager" but stadiums like Old Trafford, Anfield and Stamford Bridge are never noticeably any less than sold out on ANY matchday. Whether that's a league match or something smaller like the League Cup. A new manager would not make less people want to go and watch a top 4 club. Away stadiums should be more full when these teams are visiting as well. Most Premier League sides will always see an enormous increase in ticket sales when visited by someone like Man. United or Chelsea.

2. The weather conditions determined by the game are completely wrong. Granted, in England a certain proportion of games are expected to be rainy, but not every match, every weekend - as appears to happen in FIFA 10. There are also far too many night matches. Almost every real match in the Premier League is played between 12-6pm on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Only Champions League and occasional League/ FA Cup matches should be at night.

I know these may seem like just niggling issues, with what is a fantastic football game, but the lack of attention to detail in these areas really can break the immersion in manager mode and remind you that you're just playing a game.

My newest review is for Colin McRae: DiRT 2.

You can find it here.

My newest review is for Batman: Arkham Asylum.

You can find it here.

Columbia Pictures have announced that a movie adaption of Naughty Dog's Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is in the works. It's being written by Kyle Ward (the man behind the upcoming game adaptations, Hitman 2 and Kane & Lynch) and produced by Charles Roven (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight).

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

A year or two ago when the Metal Gear Solid movie was announced I made an extensive list of casting ideas (which gained attention from GS staff and was read out on the HotSpot by former staffers Jeff Gerstmann and Rich Gallup). So, I figured I'd have a go at Uncharted casting ideas as well. Below you'll see the characters names with the actors I think would be a good fit listed underneath.

Nathan Drake
Matthew Fox

Elana Fisher
Scarlett Johannson

Victor "Sully" Sullivan
Pierce Brosnan (look at him in The Matador - a perfect fit!)

Gabriel Roman
Alan Rickman

Atoq Navarro
A relatively new/unknown actor

Eddie Raja
Amaury Nolasco

My latest review (which has also been published on www.hookedgamers.com) is for inFamous on PlayStation 3 and you can find it here.

Feedback is much appreciated as always.

Having moved into a swanky new apartment a couple of weeks ago I decided the gaming setup needed some tweaking. The result of which is shown in the image below.

That's a 32" 1080p Samsung LCD with all of the current consoles hooked up. Some PS3 games under the TV and the orange crate contains about 30 Xbox 360 games The rest of my 250-ish strong collection is in some drawers in another part of the apartment, with some older games (Mega Drive etc.) remaining at my parents' house for now.

What kind of setups are you guys rocking?

Check out my latest review which is for Space Invaders Extreme on Xbox Live Arcade. You can find it here.

I'd love to hear your feedback as always!

Check out my latest review which is for OutRun Online Arcade on Xbox Live Arcade. You can find it here.

I'd love to hear your feedback as always!

My latest review is for Wheelman on the Xbox 360. You can find it here.

Any feedback is much appreciated as always!

Sega have announced the return of one of the greatest video game systems ever produced. The Mega Drive.

The new super-slim version of the console comes with 2 6-button controllers and 15 legendary games installed including:

Alex Kid
Alien Storm
Altered Beast
Arrow Flash
Bonanza Bros.
Columns
Crack Down
Decap Attack
E Swat
Fatal Labyrinth
Flicky
Gain Ground
Golden Axe
Shadow Dancer
Sonic And Knuckles

More importantly though, the console is compatible with all of your old Mega Drive cartridges. Not only that but it's region-free, so get ready for the market for obscure Japanese Mega Drive games to explode!

The console will cost £37.99 in the UK and is available now for pre-order fromPlay.com

Release date is April 24th.

Other regions have not yet been announced.

Source: HookedGamers.com

My second published videogame review is up on HookedGamers.com. It's for Killzone 2 and you can find it here.

Any feedback is much appreciated!

I'm proud to be able to say that I have had a review published for the first time over at up-and-coming website HookedGamers.com

The review is for Resistance 2. Check it out at the link below if you're interested.

http://www.hookedgamers.com/articles/review/817/resistance_2

10. Star Wars Trilogy Arcade
Sega - Arcade - 1998

This is a game which I imagine people will be surprised to see on this list, but hear me out! The gameplay of Star Wars Trilogy Arcade would really lend itself to the Wii. The game's first person lightsaber sections, blocking laser blasts from Boba Fett or duelling with Darth Vader, would be a fantastic fit for the Wii Remote once Wii MotionPlus is released later in the year. Sega could add extra lightsaber levels based on other scenes from the movies to further what was already a great package in the arcade. You could even use two Wii Remotes as handlebars during the first person Speeder Bike sections from the arcade version. Make it happen Sega!

9. Super Hang On
Sega - Mega Drive (Genesis) - 1987

Put simply, Super Hang On is OutRun on 2 wheels. This awesome motorcycle racer was a Mega Driver launch title and massive arcade hit, because it was one of the only racers at the time where you actually sat on a motorbike in the arcade. Sega have been making new OutRun games for a few years now and they're easily their best examples of contemporary remakes, so why not set that same development team on a new Hang On. Riders and bikes should be customisable (as in the Mega Drive version) and a Burnout-esque boost option should be included. In the original game travelling over a certain speed for a short time would give you access to a boost as long as you could maintain speed.

One of the game's many endings had your rider being revealed to be an old man with a long beard and pipe. That alone makes this game worth remaking!


8. Earthworm Jim
Shiny Entertainment - Mega Drive (Genesis) - 1994

There have been rumours circulating for the last couple of years that Earthworm Jim 4 is in development but nothing has ever appeared. A new Xbox 360 or PS3 Jim game, done right, would be an awesome platformer. It's worth mentioning though that the only attempt at doing Earthworm Jim in 3D so far was terrible, but put the TV show's voice actors in there and we might ignore the wonky camera controls!

If a new game isn't coming it would be great to see the original game remade with new high-def graphics for XBLA or the PSN. Surely it would make sense to make some use of the assets from the failed PSP remake?


7. Streets of Rage
Sega - Mega Drive (Genesis) - 1991

Lately, Sega have had a bad habit of butchering 3D versions of their old franchises (Sonic, Golden Axe, After Burner - the list goes on!), so Streets of Rage in 3 dimensions is probably a very bad idea. However if it worked in a similar way to the fighting mechanics of the quietly awesome Yakuza series it could be pretty good. Though, it would of course need a lot more rocket-firing police cars! If all else fails, a high-def remake would me more than welcome.


6. Lylatwars (Star Fox 64 in USA)
Nintendo - N64 - 1997

Since this was released Nintendo have experimented several times with putting series protagonist Fox McCloud into 3rd person adventure games. What fans really want though is a new air combat game now that he N64 game's graphics are starting to look super dated. The Star Fox series could almost certainly find a new generation of young fans on the hugely popular Wii system. Just imagine using the Wii's motion controls to "do a barrel roll!"


5. Road Rash
EA - Mega Drive (Genesis) - 1991

For many of the games on this list (mainly the 2D side-scrollers) HD remakes are a great idea, but when it comes to Road Rash, it's definitely time for a new 3D game. The excitement and tension of constantly being right on the edge of being knocked off your bike has never been captured by any other game. But then, that's probably because there's never been another game like Road Rash!

Although, come to think of it, it would be amazing if Road Rash was just added as a game mode to Burnout Paradise. Just think of those motorbikes at those ridiculous speeds, only now the riders have chains. Now that's DLC people would pay for. Epic stuff.


4. GoldenEye
Rare - N64 - 1997

This is a remake that very nearly happened as a re-textured high-def version for Xbox Live Arcade. Unfortunately business politics are likely to prevent this Bond FPS from ever being seen again. The original was developed by Rare exclusively for Nintendo, so any release on 360 would have meant Microsoft paying royalties to Ninty. To complicate things further, Rare are now owned by Microsoft, who theoretically now own the assets from the original game. On the other hand, employees who left Rare to form Free Radical might still have some ownership rights over GoldenEye's art. Even more confusing is the fact that Activison now have the exclusive James Bond rights so no other publisher can release a 007-themed game!

Don't shove your N64 in the closet just yet. GoldenEye isn't going to get remade anytime soon, regardless of how much the fans may want it.

3. Sonic 3 (& Knuckles)
Sega - Mega Drive (Genesis) - 1994

When they were originally made, Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles were intended to be one game, but Sonic Team missed their development deadline and shipped the games separately. The infamous "lock-on cartridge" technology was developed to allow the different game cartridges to share data, so owners of both could play the games as one experience, as originally intended.

Sonic 3 (& Knuckles) was the name given to this combined experience and it makes for arguably the definitive Sonic experience. A full HD remake with new sprites and backgrounds in the manner of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix would make this one of the best games of all time. Sega need to drop the rubbish they're producing with games like Sonic Unleashed and give the fans the remake they deserve.

2. Metal Gear
Konami - MSX 2 - 1987

Hideo Kojima's original Metal Gear was experienced by very few people outside Japan. The game was difficult to find in Europe and was never released in North America, except for as a radically altered and inferior NES port. Because so few people played the game it would be fantastic to see it remade in full 3D using the Metal Gear Solid 4 game engine and controls. Add in full voice acting (including David Hayter of course) and cut-scenes and Kojima Productions would be onto another winner.

Most people have very little knowledge of the story from Solid Snake's first mission. Remaking it would make this important first chapter much more accessible than having to find a MSX 2 and a copy of the original game, or finding a copy of MGS3: Subsistence (on PS2), which includes the game and its sequel, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, as bonus content.


1. Final Fantasy VII
Squaresoft - PlayStation - 1997

The possibilities of a current-gen FF7 remake were first seen in a PlayStation 3 tech demo shown at E3 2005, in which Square had remade the game's timeless opening cut-scene using the new PS3 hardware. It sent fanboy hearts fluttering and with good reason. It was amazing.

If the game ever really is remade (Square are willing to stick the FF7 name on just about anything these days, so why not?) it really ought to have its wonderful midi soundtrack remade with a full orchestra. In fact this has already been seen to some extent in the game's movie sequel, Advent Children. It's important though that there is no voice acting, in order to maintain the silent charm of the original game's characterisation.

An updated Final Fantasy VII with spectacular new PS3 graphics, but with its original and perfect gameplay mechanics unchanged, would instantly become one of the best games ever made. That's why it's at the top of this list.

My latest review is for Skate 2 and you can find it at the link below.
http://uk.gamespot.com/xbox360/sports/skate2workingtitle/player_review.html?id=642346

Feedback is much appreciated as always.