Fight!

The Killzone 2 and Halo Wars demos releasing on the same day - more fanboytastic than you could possibly comprehend. And the first big Sony/Microsoft software clash of '09 - a year in which for the first time ever Sony's lineup looks the strongest.

The verdict? Depends on what fuckwits are populating what forum at whatever time you happen to be there.

Popular opinion: Halo Wars is actually OK! And Killzone 2 is ruined by clunky, shit controls. No! Halo Wars isn't even an FPS and the only people criticising Sony's game are Xbox fanbots who don't understand it 'cos they've been playing CoD4 too much. And that actually shit so what would they know?

The truth: Both will be above average games and both will sell a higher than average number of copies.

I've played both and, for the record, enjoyed both. RTS really isn't my shnizzle but I found myself quite compelled by the Halo Wars demo, despite the tediousness of the Halo universe. Probably concinved me to buy the game, in fact.

And Killzone 2? Lovely visuals, chunky guns, good death animations, convincing warzone. The controls are an issue, though. It's a problem that could be resolved through manual mapping but as the demo makes you choose one of the defaults, you're stuck between totally borked and workable.

Didn't like the Resi 5 demo, though. Nowt wrong with it - aside from the seemingly standard unwillingness of its Japanese developers to modernise basic presentation and usability designs in any way, of course. But I'm no survival horror fan, so it's not for me.

And just so we're all in the clear - THE CONTROLS ARE NOT BROKEN. Stilted controls are what Resi is all about. Take them away and you get Devil May Cry. Or Gears of War. Good games, for sure, but different ones. And are these controls not the same as those found in the critically ADORED Resi 4? Which is a good thing.

Paradise

To borrow a headline from The Daily Mail, HOORAH FOR COMMON SENSE.

Criterion's finally conceded and added a 'restart' option to Burnout Paradise. I played quite a bit of Paradise, but I never really got past the resentment. It looks nice, and the racing itself is still sound.

BUT.

No crash junctions? Gay. And the stupid mini-game they replaced it with is extraordinarily poor. Then there's the fact that it's a racing game, but you spend as much time pausing to look at the map as you do steering the car because unless you play for 100 hours you never know where you are or where you're going.

The most annoying thing by far, though, was the lack of restart, necessitating a GTA-style trek back across the game world every time you lost. The whole "open-world, no menus, mental immersion, I'm-like-totally-there-dude" thing is a great example of a sad triumph for ideals over playability. Wonderful in Alex Ward's head, I'm sure, but dreadful for poor souls wanting to enjoy the game.

A reality that was all the sadder owing to Criterion's praise-worthy and unparalleled post-release support for the game through free DLC. And the fact that they managed the impossible and got the game to actually run smoothly on PS3 without crippling the frame-rate or resolution.

Getting on with the job

I spent nearly all day today writing stories about people losing their jobs. Or stories that will make people worry about losing their job. Oh - and one about the UK 'officially' falling into recession.

It was pay day, too. So I came home, paid the bills, and then tried to figure out a way of making what's left over cover the next four weeks.

Joy.

Paxman bigs up GTA

I know a lot of people hate the “games as art debate”. But fuck you all ‘cos it’s a worthwhile debate with plenty of interesting facets.

And it was the first thing that came to mind when watching University Challenge tonight. Couldn’t believe it when Paxman asked “Niko Bellic was the main protagonist of which work in 2008?”

The young lad got it, too. And a hearty round of applause, incidentally, suggesting to me that the audience had no idea who Niko Bellic was, but obviously did know what Grand Theft Auto IV was. The applause was most likely due to the astonishment that a lad clever enough to be on University Challenge also knew about those silly computer game things that little boys play.

Which ‘work’. Brilliant stuff. That’s high fucking art right there. A gold badge for Paxman and a manly slap on the back for gaming. Where are ya', Bragg?

The Fable II effect

Weird how expectations can have such an affect on experience. For instance, I was gagging for Mirror's Edge. But I really didn't get on with it. I simply didn't enjoy playing it, despite the style and fantastic premise. Far Cry 2, too, I had huge expectations for. But those checkpoints! And the population's uncontrollable lust for killing me. And the guns that break. Dreadful. And I won't begin on Prince of Persia. Add EndWar to that and Ubisoft had a shit Q4. Oh, and let's not forget LittleBigPlanet. Tonnes of character, delightful in so many ways, but a SHIT platformer. And for me, that's the main determining point for a platform game. Fail.

But then came Fable II. The game simply wasn't on my radar until a copy came my way at work. Well, it came my ex-editor's way. But he was fucking off so I had it off him. Anyway, gave it a go and adored it. Absolutely loved it. I even completed the main story - a rare event for me, relatively.

Which is all in stark contrast to Fallout 3. Again, Bethesda's latest was a firm feature on my radar. But I just can't get on with it. It seems so sterile. Not in a Mass Effect kind of way. That universe successfully evoked atmosphere, but the locations were all so lifeless. Fallout 3 has an interesting world, but the inhabitants bore me to tears. And my brain doesn't understand the map.

One of the things I loved about Fable was the fact it allowed you to go as deep as you wanted or to skim everything. And it was great either way. It accommodated me no matter my mood. It held my hand when I wanted. It left me alone when I didn't. Fallout consistently asks more of me. And I've become a lazy gamer over the years. I'm sure it's magnificent. Much like Metal Gear Solid 4. But I can't stand that either.

I'm not giving up on it, however. Five hours in and it's not happened yet, but still, I'm determined to like it. Though maybe that's the problem.

Uncluttered

Kid's logic rules sometimes.

I would describe being startled by a noise from behind as... well, that. My daughter? "It scared my back."

Genius.

Soooooooooooooooooo.......

Almost ten months. That's pretty fucking slack, I admit. But I've been very busy with life and stuff. And when you write all it often ain't what you wanna do when you get home. The last 10 months then - its offerings have been an unpredictable and unfathomable mix of the incredible, the good, the mundane, the irritating and the almost unbearable.

That's life, as they say.

I wonder if there's just so much of everything to go round. There's X amount of love, so once that's used up the Y amount of hate is tossed about. Etc.

Had a wonderful Christmas. Really wonderful. Was dreading much of it, but it was nearly all excellent. Then just days later it's a hugely different story. I end up pondering if it is in fact the world or in reality all a little closer to home. But grasping the rationale doesn’t seem to help much. Perhaps my X entitlement has been exhausted so I'm filling myself full of Y. Or perhaps the world's full of cunts.

Hard to tell.

Those crazy Japs

We all know that the Xbox 360 has been, more or less, a colossal failure in Japan. Relatively, that is. Speculative stat-conjurers VG Charts reckon it’s sold 590,000 which, I guess, isn’t a total write off. I mean, try and imagine 590,000 things. Any things will do. If you struggle to be imaginative with your reality-TV-addled brain and need a bit of direction – I dunno, try and picture 590,000 garden gnomes in a field. Picture ten. Then a hundred. Then ten hundreds. Then ten of them. Then ten of them. And then six of them. Is that right? Either way, think of that many Xbox 360s in Japan. A little more than a drop in the ocean, I would have thought. If I made something and 590,000 Japanese people bought one I’d be dead chuffed.

All of which is besides the point. Pat’s VG247 recently published a list of the top-rated games of 2007 according to Japanese weekly games bible Famitsu. Ten of which, surprisingly, are for Xbox 360:

1. Phantom Hourglass (DS) Nintendo – 39/40
2. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Xbox 360) - 38
3. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) - 38
4. GTA San Andreas (PS2) - 38
5. Call of Duty 4 (Xbox 360) - 37
6. Call of Duty 4 (PS3) - 37
7. Minna no Golf Portable 2 (PSP ) - 37
8. God of War 2 (PS2) - 37
9. Halo 3 (Xbox 360) - 37
10. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2008 (PS3) - 36

and then from the next 20…
11. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2008 (Xbox 360) - 36
15. Lost Odyssey (Xbox 360) - 36
16. Assassin’s Creed (Xbox 360) - 36
17. Ace Combat 6 (Xbox 360) - 36
20. Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (Xbox 360) - 36
22. Forza Motorsport 2 (Xbox 360) - 36
23. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas (Xbox 360) - 36

Well, it shouldn’t be that surprising – 360 easily boasted the strongest software lineup last year. By quite some stretch. But I’d kind of presumed this fact had passed those crazy Japs by. Seemingly not.

And look at some of the games on that list – Oblivion, COD4, Halo 3, GRAW, Assassin’s Creed (and San Andreas on PS2). A very Western-centric lineup.

But this does beg the question – if Famitsu is coming round to the ways of the West, why is the Japanese gaming public not? I’m not sure if it’s simply commercialised anti-Americanism. Though saying that, the Japs genuinely do hate the Yanks – what with all that bomb-dropping business a few years back. Maybe they’re just too busy playing Wii Fit, Nintendogs and those odd rape-simulators on PC?

Mind you, I guess it’s the same as how no matter how many clever Western people like me tell you to buy great games like this, this or this, less clever Western people seemingly refuse to buy them.

And on a similar theme...

A post on the EG forum I made a while back which might, if you're as tediously dull as me, be of interest:

Before you all start, yes, there are other threads on this, but when I was looking for the answers I wanted I couldn’t really find them on here. So hopefully this will provide a more concise guide for those in the same position.

Never suffered from the RROD myself, but my launch 360 started freezing literally a few seconds after one year warranty had run out, and before Microsoft extended the warranties to three years. After a bit of faffing managed to get that replaced by Microsoft and now my second machine, again almost a year down the line, had started to play up. Started getting the odd disc read error every now and then when Colin McRae came out, and it’s been getting worse – and ever since it started doing it on Mass Effect its started plaguing me on more or less every game. Apparently Mass Effect puts a lot of strain on the DVD drive and can send those prone to failure over the edge.

So rather than risk being without a machine over Christmas (by it either dying or Microsoft taking ages to replace it), I though I’d trade in my existing system against a new one. However, I really wanted to make sure I got one with the new Falcon chipset, and preferably with the BenQ DVD drive which some sources claim to be both quieter and faster than the Toshiba or Samsung drives Microsoft uses in some machines.

After scouring some forums which advised peering in vents and all sorts to try and determine chipset type, it turns out the easiest way is to look at the serial number. If it says 203w, then it’s an old chipset type. If it says 175w, however, it’s the new one – as that uses less power.

Ascertaining the DVD drive type is harder without powering the machine up and looking at the disc tray. But, again, looking at the serial number, you can track one down that is almost certainly of the right type.

So, after the bloke in Gamestation tested my machine for 30 minutes and it thankfully didn’t ‘dirty disc’ on me I had the poor bloke searching through his machines downstairs to try and fine the right type. I wanted HDMI enabled, Falcom chipset and BenQ drive. Was hoping just to buy an Arcade pack as its cheap, or if not a Halo 3 Edition machine, but none of their stock of either was the 175w version. Fortunately, one of their Premiums was 175w, HDMI enabled and of the right batch code to match the BenQ machines. So, after the £145 trade offered on my old machine I ended up paying £105 for a new Premium that will, fingers crossed, last more than a year. And not deafen me.

Anyway, for those in a similar boat this is what you need to know:

1. Look for wattage on the serial code. 203w is old chipset, 175w is Falcon, which basically means it’s cooler and less likely to melt, a la the old machines.

2. To try and fine a BenQ drive machine check out this website – it lists the batch number and manufacturing teams that have to date used the right DVD drive. Once you have your machine you can look here website – it lists the batch number and manufacturing teams that have to to check for certain what drive you’ve got.

And for those who are interested, the new machine is definitely a lot cooler, and arguably more importantly, quieter than the old one. It’s still noisy, for sure, but is a noticeable improvement. I once accidentally kept the glass door on my cabinet closed whilst watching a DVD on my PS3 – after 15 minutes or so its fan went in to full blast – that’s the standard in-game noise level of the new 360. So, not great, but definitely better.

Hope this helps someone.

"Microsoft readying two further 360 hardware revisions"

It was, then it was not. But thanks to 10th Art it will now be forever:

With most on-the-shelf Xbox 360’s currently built on Microsoft’s third-generation motherboard, the Falcon, online sources are claiming that the platform holder has a further three revisions to its hardware in the works.

In October the emergence of what will be Microsoft’s fourth 360 motherboard configuration, named Jasper, which is yet to hit the marketplace, was reported.

However, the fifth and sixth iterations of 360 are already in development, according to 8bitjoystick – the site which recently claimed to have interviewed an Xbox 360 manufacturing insider.

First off, the Valhalla motherboard looks set to represent the biggest advance in 360 engineering to date. It will allegedly include a unified chip that incorporates both a 65nm CPU and 65nm GPU. The reduction in heat and power consumption will mean the machine will need only one cooling system and should, in theory, be far quieter than current machines.

Valhalla should also be significantly cheaper to produce, paving the way for future Xbox 360 price cuts.

Another iteration of the motherboard is also said to be in development. The Opus will reportedly not be used for newly manufactured 360’s, but will instead be utilised as a way of reusing all the Falcon motherboards Microsoft has supposedly got stockpiled from all the faulty Xbox 360s it has supposedly had returned.

Opus will add a 65nm CPU to these existing motherboards, allowing them to fit into the casing for a Xenon machine, thus allowing Microsoft to whittle down its reserves of hardware. Therefore, the only consumers who can expect to receive an Opus are those who have returned a faulty machine to Microsoft. Unlike the Valhalla, Opus machines will not have HDMI ports.

If you’re confused (and we wouldn’t blame you) here’s a run down of the existing and current Xbox 360 hardware configurations:

1st Generation: Xenon (2005-2006, launch machines)
90nm CPU and 90nm GPU, heatsink has since been modified, no HDMI

2nd Generation: Zephyr (2006-2007)
HDMI ports introduced on some machines, heatsinks revised

3rd Generation: Falcon (2007-present)
65nm CPU and 90nm GPU, includes HDMI

4th Generation: Jasper (TBC, expected this year)
65nm CPU and 65nm GPU, includes HDMI

5th Generation: Opus (TBC)
65nm CPU and 90nm, no HDMI, further heatsink revision, reconditioned Falcon but in a Xenon casing

6th Generation: Valhalla (TBC)
Combined 65nm CPU and 65nm GPU, single heatsink, includes HDMI

If you’re in the market for a new Xbox 360 and are keen to get your hands on one of the newer Falcon machines, the easy way to know what you’re getting without opening the box is to check the box’s barcode. Amongst all the information on there is the machine’s power usage – if it says 203w it’s a Zephyr or Xenon machine. If, however, it says 175w, it’s a Falcon, as those machines use less power.

There’s also a school out there who are very in particular about which DVD drive they want in their new machines. If you want to join these fussy legions, this web site will tell you how to identify the make of a 360 DV drive, and this web site will help you find a particular one. However, be warned – opinion on which drive is best is very much divided, though the BenQ’s do seem to be the favourite.