I have seen the light

In the pursuits of keeping my loyal readers up to date tonight I found online, a video featuring game play from.......GTA 4. ooooooooooohhhhhhhhh! For a start it was in French so I didn't pay attention to what was going on but the look of the game is like nothing you expect. It all looks so solid and real with lots of lovely wee touches that look like they will make the game a real gem. I'm not going to link to the site so that it's not easy for you to just click to it I will tell you that the site is called dailymotion and it's up to you whether you want to see it before release. Me, I liked what I saw. UK mag Xbox world 360 have score the game 98/100. 6 days to go!

Hey, hey I wanna be a rockstar!

It is filtering through that Activision have said that Guitar Hero 4 is set to possibly include drum and microphone peripherals. Ok, it is a blatant cloning of Rock Band but if the price is right ie. under £100 then people may be interested in it. Of course some of us 360 owners are still waiting for the Rock the 80's edition to be released, that has some really good songs on it- Skid Row, Faster Pussycat, Anthrax, Twisted Sister etc. I hope they don't muck with the Guitar Hero formula too much.

Super skid marks

Coming in the next couple of months, maybe July, Criterion are adding bikes to Burnout Paradise. I wouldn't say that they are needed to improve the game any but they will be a welcome addition. Of course the whole thing with bikes in games is the handling, and if it is wrong, it could render the bikes un-playable. But wait a minute.....did the Burnout guys not make a game with bikes in it? I think it may have been called Speed Kings.

Finish him, Batboy!

Recently announced at some convention in our favourite Rainbow Six location, Midway games have let loose with some details of the next instalment of the Mortal Kombat series. Titled so far as Mortal Kombat vs DC it looks to be a fighting game in the mould of previous MK games featuring an all star ensemble cast of DC comics characters. This could be read as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman etc. Game arenas are to be split over levels with destructible scenery and stuff. Might be good but I'd rather have Marvel vs Capcom 3!

A perfect 10?

Ok few words, one picture. OXM have given GTA 4 a 10/10 score. If you can see it the pic is the last page of their review. 15 days to go.

Grand day out

Ok I'm running out of tag lines for GTA 4 but I have so much more to say about it. Anyways the following is a list of all the multi player modes in the game, ready? Hangman's noose-car jack city-bomb da base-bomb da base 2-mafia work-team mafiya work-deathmatch-team deathmatch-turf war- cops 'n' crooks-race- GTA race-deal breaker-free roam. I make that 14 in total sounds like we could all be verrrrrrry busy for a while. The pic is the actual HUD from the game. Only 15 days to go.

Feel the force.

Ok I like Star Wars, always have and always will so the prospect of a decent game to do the films justice is always eagerly anticipated.. The upcoming Force Unleashed is sounding better and better and recently it has been announced that you get to control Darth Vader himself-woo hoo! The game is looking good with rancor fights and large battles but time will only tell if it is any good. The picture here is the first official release of the dark lord himself.

Going Def, I said going Def?

Coming this month, the 24th to be precise is a new track pack for Guitar Hero III. This time around the featured Artists will be that motley band of Sheffield rockers-Def Leppard. The three tracks will include their new song "Nine Lives" along with two early song "photograph" and "rock of ages". I quite like the lep so these songs could be a welcome addition. No price point yet but expect it to be 500 ms points. Rock on!

Two good?

This week on the Live Arcade we are being treated to two games. First up is Rocky and Bullwinkle which stars those two famous American cartoon characters, Rocky the squirrel and Bullwinkle the moose, or is it the other way round?!! Anyway it is apparently a series of mini games, some of which are vision cam enabled, price is 800ms points. Secondly an update of the 28! yikes! year old game, Battlezone. This was originally done in vector graphics and featured tank battles, price 400 ms points. Try before you buy come Wednesday.

Grrrrand stuff....can't wait....

Ok this is not a full post as such but follow the link to the GTA4 website, it is revealing lots, more than i could fit in my blog. Check out the multi player stuff and the music download service. I'm now feeling all warm and tingly. http://www.rockstargames.com/IV/#?page=multiplayer

Coming soon

Just an advance warning of what's to come, more GTA 4 news including the multi player games. Some stuff on the force unleashed and anything else that floats my boat.

It's a me...Haggis

I was lucky enough to get an early copy of Mario Kart Wii and just have to tell you all it is wonderful. It plays like the game we all know and love and the addition of the Wii wheel is truly a mark of genius.. Control with the wheel is spot on and within minutes you'll be driving like a pro. For the first time Mario Kart is playable online and it doesn't disappoint, any games I have joined have been lag free and an absolute laugh. Such a shame that you can't talk to others but that aside this is sweet.

Dark Sector vs Condemned 2

Ok I tried Condemned 2 and initially I hated it, then I kinda liked it but then I really dis-liked it again. It's just too dark and a bit samey, the forensics are good and it looks ok when you can see what;s going on but overall I was quite disappointed with it.. Now I had a dilemma, do I keep it for the GTA 4 trade in or do I exchange it (Gamestation still do 10 day returns) so I took it back and swapped for Dark Sector. Thank the maker I did, Dark Sector had slipped under my radar but on playing it I don't know how. It is like a mix of Resi 4, GOW and of course the film Krull coz of the Glaive weapon you have. Haven't touched the multi player yet but so far loving it.

Everyone hates campers!

Do you remember a few years ago some games companies were paying people to camp outside game shops in advance of big releases? The one that springs to mind was for a Turok game. Anyways some really sad individuals have started to camp outside a games shop in Sweden in anticipation of GTA 4. Now don't get me wrong I want this game to but camping......no way Jose. I might jump the queue a bit if I can but no way am I taking my flask and sleeping bag.......IDIOTS!

No more parachutes

Come June we will be able to get our hands on the next Lego game. Lego Indiana Jones will be bringing smiles of joy to our faces and I suspect it will feature all FOUR films, yup I think the new film will be part of it. Anyways I have just learned that in typical Lego game fashion, there will be over sixty playable characters. Most of the popular ones I can think of but sixty from the Indy games?? I reckon there may be a few Star Wars cameos and maybe even.......Batman? Time will tell.

Iron lion zion

A nice wee man at Capcom has let loose a few details about Resi 5. Mostly he has been explaining why Africa has been chosen as the setting. It seems that Africa is where life and the T-Virus originated, so why not. Also we get to find out what has been happening in the ten years since S.T.A.R.S. dis-banded. This game is high on my want-o-radar so as soon as I hear more it will be here. Just for the record, I do not see there being any racism with setting the game in Africa and having to shoot coloured zombies.....we've been shooting white zombies for years and no one minded so.....

Grand theft Sony

Word has emerged that Sony has secured an exclusive deal with Rockstar to launch a GTA 4 PS3 bundle. This will be the 40gb version bundled with GTA 4 for £299.99. Which is essentially giving away the game for free. This is a kick in the nuts for MS who seemed to be great friends with Rockstar by securing downloadable content for the 360 first. This game is going to shift a lot of consoles, who will come out on top? Four weeks time will tell.

Say Halo to ready-up

My friends at ready-up.net recently visited the i33 event, which caters for the world of multi player gaming and while there made a video about the Halo 3 tournament that was taking place. The video was submitted to OXM who are now showing it on their website follow the link to see what went down, great work guys. http://www.oxm.co.uk/article.php?id=3700 also follow this link to the more brilliant ready-up home page http://ready-up.net/

Too late to GTA

It seems that a fair few UK online retailers are approaching and indeed have sold out of pre-orders for GTA 4. Play.com has recently stopped taking orders and GAME and Gamestation are no longer guaranteeing delivery on time. Indeed GAME have cancelled all non UK orders for the special edition pack, citing weight limits and postage as reasons. This could be the biggest selling game of all time, if you want to get it on the day looks like you might need to camp out. I must confess I wasn't that into this game but after reading lots about it I really want it!

Get the Rock outta here

Oh dear! EA have messed up big time with this one, pay attention. At long last Rock Band has been given a confirmed release date for the end of May here in the UK but.............It will retail at £129.99, which is for the drums, microphone and guitar. Not too bad I hear you say, well that doesn't actually include a copy of the game!!! That will be an extra £50 or thereabouts, so round about the £180 mark all in. Then you find out we will be getting charged 160 ms points per song compared to 80 points in the US of A. Sounds to me like someone don't want this game to sell in Europe, watch this space.