I apologise for the lateness of this article, the weather looked like it was going to be nice over the Easter weekend (and it was wasn’t it!) so I took a trip down to Devon. Anyway, AJ, Akardo and I all went to The Gadget Show Live at the NEC this year.
This is my take.
Continue reading ‘The Gadget Show Live 2011’
As part of my test I am writing this on my X10 Mini Pro using the WordPress application which is free in the Android Marketplace, Due to the lack of spell checker in this software I apologise for what will likely be a larger than usual number of mistakes.
So finally after 18 months Three have let me upgrade to a new phone, the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro. But is it any good?
The Mini Pro is an Android smartphone, but unlike a lot of others it isn’t defined by it’s screen size. Where other manufactures have been competing by making phones with larger and larger touchscreens Sony Ericsson have made a compact Android phone instead. Continue reading ‘Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro’
Infinity is a massively multiplayer online game set in a persistent futuristic universe, currently in development.
I’ll be honest, the idea of this being an MMO does not interest me hugely, I would much prefer a Freespace type game. The tech that is being used however…
Continue reading ‘To Infinity…’
Game fan art. Far too often it includes game characters with far less clothing than they would normally wear or it simply puts them in a compromising position with another game character. This is not good, and it can’t be a healthy mind who draws such things.
However, when you throw out the cartoon pornography, there are some very talented artists out there who have done wonderful pieces of art based on games they clearly love.
Here follows a selection of the best I have found, prepare to be blown away*;
If you are a reader of Rock Paper Shotgun[1] then you are probably already aware of this but Shattered Horizon is having another free weekend.
Shattered horizon is a brilliantly original competitive shooter but sadly lacking in players. it is DirectX 10 only and when it was first released Vista was the only option for playing it. I just hope that this free weekend and the increased number of people with DX10 capable machines will save it, because it would be a shame if all shooters were clones of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. You can read my thoughts on the game here.
As well as being an excellent shooter set in space with jet packs there are no unlocks to worry about, so new and old players are on the same footing apart from practice, which is how it should be and makes it easier to get into for a free weekend.
The pre-load should go live on Wednesday night and the game should be free to play from Thursday night until Monday, though as Valve and time differences are involved this may vary.
It will also be reduced over the period so keep an eye on the store page and be sure to download and have a go when it goes live.
It’s free right?
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[1] if you are not you should be, a better blend of humour (not humor) and game journalism can not be easily found elsewhere.
Yo Kerrigan, I’m really happy for you imaletyoufinish, but Bob Page was the greatest Video Game Villain of all time!
OF ALL TIME!
Gamestop have announced the results of their competition to find the greatest video game villain of all time.
Continue reading ‘Kerrigan, imaletyoufinish.’
I have not played Battleforge in some time, and as I don’t intend to go back to it I think it is time for me to finish off this feature with my reasons why and my final thoughts on the game. I mostly played PvP, these games are more fun than the PvE campaigns in my opinion but I did find that the standard free deck is not suitable (unless you organise a game with someone else who has the free cards as well) as you will get quickly trounced.
In the end I gave in a purchased some more cards, like with all trading card games you don’t know exactly what you are going to get in a booster pack. Going back into PvP I found I faired little better. But in the end I as still getting trounced buy people who had handed over more cash.
This is where the free to play model falls down, games funded by adverts are fine, games where you pay for purely cosmetic enhancements are fine but when the game is competitive and paying gives you an advantage it is simply not fun any more.
Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed the game, it is an original take on the RTS, the lore could do with a bit of work, but the mechanics of the game were very interesting and I really wanted to like it.
Battleforge may be free to play, but you have to pay to win…
What are games teaching children?
I came across http://www.antispore.com, the blog belonging to a religious nut-case who is concerned about what spore is teaching children. Clearly concern about teaching evolution over creationism is stupid, there is so much evidence in favour of evolution, it has even been observed in a lab[1], that is is not considered a theory any more. But it did get me thinking, what are games teaching children?
Continue reading ‘Will someone please think of the children!’
You probably have a pair of these that were given away with a promotion. Perhaps when Channel 4 did their 3D night and you could pick them up from Sainsbury’s? Even if you don’t have a pair they are a couple of pounds on eBay.
And they have more uses than you might think*.
Taken useing IZ3D driver and DirectX Quake
Jon_hill987's Blog 