Bioshock. 24th August.

The spiritual successor to the System Shock games is almost here and the magazine reviews have started to roll in...

OXM - 10/10 - Console mag so pinch of salt.
PC Gamer 95% - Then again they gave HL2 94%.

I'm almost excited.

The Fallout Fall Out

What with the recent trailer for Fallout 3, I thought it would be prudent to find out what all the original fuss was about, as for some reason I'd managed to miss Fallout and its sequels. Here, for your amusement, are my findings.

AI. Shockingly bad, will happily shoot you in the back repeatedly. Not funny when they have a gun, even less funny when they have a rocket launcher. Then, unhappy with their inability to cause actual bodily harm when out of combat, will block doorways and scenery bottlenecks in an attempt to inflict mental damage instead.
Inventory management. Selling up is a bartering process, where the vendor has a limited money pool. This forces you to sell up to their limit, exit the dialogue, and start again as their money pool mysteriously replenishes on exit. The developers, obviously worried that this part wasn't infuriating enough, added slow scrolling menu transitions to really heighten the emotion.
Level design. Clowntastic in a word. Placing useful objects that are then hidden from view by the isometric perspective, meaning you have to hug the camera obscured parts of a level to explore it all. I just can't tell you how much fun that is.
Scripting. Fragile, will break if you happen to breathe during a disk access. I dread to think what it was like before the patch!
Utterly pointless weapons. The best ones are all large area of effect jobs, and guess what? That's right, all your numpty party members are still using spoons and curling tongs - apart from the dog, who spends most of the game going BANG instead of Woof. No really, you can't choose what weapon party members use in combat. The only real control you have is deciding whether they should initiate friendly fire from close or long range.

Overall, this is a clear case of nostalgia colouring reality, as no doubt the game was good - possibly even revolutionary - at the time, but things have moved on. A lot. Avoid it if you have never got round to playing it, and don't go back if you have.

I may attempt Fallout 2 at some point, simply because I enjoy shouting at my monitor.

Next time your thinking about hitting that top level in your favourite online game....

Think again.

Obviously the gang hadn't been watching 24 for torture tips. The stripped naked to a chair with a hole in it and then having your testicles bitch slapped, would have worked in seconds.

Still props to the little nutter for standing up to them. You have a gun and want my password? It's....

About time someone did it...

and by that, I mean this:

Additionally, through the innovative Hall of Monuments, Guild Wars: Eye of the North creates a path for players to carry the legacy of their characters into the upcoming Guild Wars 2. The Hall of Monuments will allow players to preserve their accomplishments and titles from Guild Wars, Factions, and Nightfall, which can then be claimed in Guild Wars 2.

Granted, Guild Wars isn't a levelling treadmill like other MMOs, but this certainly sounds like a step in the right direction to me.

Source: Guild Wars - Eye of the North newsletter

Trant dreaming about Rock Band

Harmonix are taking suggestions for songs to feature in Rock Band, a game certain to top the charts and awards.

Taking things further here is my dream list considering what my friends and I would enjoy playing given the four instruments, some variety and no massive solos.

1. Opening Licks

• The Passenger - Iggy Pop
• I Predict a Riot - Kasier Chiefs
• Bad Medicine - Bon Jovi
• Wonderwall - Oasis
• All Right Now - Free

2. Amp-Warmers

• Money For Nothing - Dire Straights
• Let Me Entertain You - Robbie Williams
• Paradise City - Guns 'n Roses
• Somebody Told Me - The Killers
• It's Been Awhile - Staind

3. String-Snappers

• Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
• Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day
• Going Down/Love in an Elevator - Aerosmith
• Bohemian Like You - The Dandy Warhols
• Holy Water - Bad Company

4. Thrash and Burn

• Summer of 69 - Bryan Adams
• Eye of the Tiger - Survivor
• Darts of Pleasure - Franz Ferdinand
• Inside - Stiltskin
• Sk8er Boi - Avril Lavigne

5. Return of the Shred

• Poison - Alice Cooper
• All The Small Things - Blink-182
• Walk This Way - Run DMC
• Danger! High Voltage - Electric Six
• In The End - Linkin Park

Instead I bet they'd stick to the 10% great, 90% filler formula loved by the music industry but hey, a gamer can dream right?

Goodbye to one of the milestones of gaming..

*Sniff*

"Yes I meant to mine the enemy flag, yes It was meant for an enemy. It wasn't my fault you got to it first" Toekiller to Lab after getting bored at 26-0 in defense and deciding to go on the offensive.

"I'll hold the roof" Labatyd. 30 seconds later bits of him where falling from the roof after he caught a mortar round in his teeth.

"You cheating scumbags" Banana Republic to Oddbod / Bloodlust for nicking their flag and making sure it never got returned by flying around in a scout.

"Trant. Stand there and hold this" Det pack catcher extraordinaire.

And so many more...

New Logo's.......

Microsoft continues to hit head against very large brick wall.

Microsoft's Shane Kim...

"I still am a believer in our ability to do well in Japan. We're not going to win in Japan. We know that. That was never our goal, this generation, to win in Japan. We can win this generation without winning Japan. But we can do well in Japan. Now that's going to take a long time."

What!?

Just cut your losses and concentrate on a market that buys your shit ffs. Even France has bought more broken 360's than the japs. Then again, they didn't nuke France. Yet.

Crysis! Crysis Delayed!

Taken from the webnet somewhere, someone said...

A person from http://www.i4u.com/ spoke to a Crytek employee at E3. That employee told that Crysis may have some problems with Vista, under some hardware configurations, so they have towait for release of new GPU drivers to work with them on game. "Vista is not stable in some cases, connected with games, under some hardware configurations"-he said.That person, from http://www.i4u.com/, tells us that there are problems withSLI 8800 Ultra under Vista: games unload after some time of playing.Crytek has been waiting for more stable Vista GPU drivers, thats why game releaseis being delayed (the same about MULTIPLAYER BETA).

I'd slag off thier spelling and grammer but pot, kettle black etc. ;)

Who the fuck has two 8800 ultra's ?! 4 people thats who.Screw those rich fucks. Release now and torment the bastards.

One of the all time great FPS's gets a sequel.

Hell, even Lab managed to get through it.

Have you guessed yet?

Halo 3 - No Co-Op at launch?

No excuses. We want it now!

"We're not dumb. We know that people want it and we're trying to make it happen. I think the biggest problem for us for online co-op is that we have a situation where you can be in a Warthog with five troops, almost a mile away from the other player. That's a significant challenge. And there's lots of design things you could do to prevent that from happening, but they would make it not feel like Halo anymore. If we can make it happen in a way that works well, we will — and if it works badly, we won't."

Says Bungie's Frankie.

I Am Murloc - L70ETC

Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain, is a band made up of Blizzard employees. Blizzard just released their latest video in time for BlizzCon.



I AM MORE THEN A FISH! I AM MORE THEN A MAN!

News: Peter Moore Resigns

Blimey didn’t see this coming.

"Moore will be replaced by Don Mattrick, a former president of EA and current external adviser for Microsoft, who will now lead the Interactive Entertainment Business for Microsoft. While the official release says that Moore 'has decided to move his family back to the Bay Area for personal reasons' "

Full story Kotaku

Back from the Dead?

Those of you with a fascination for miscellaneous facts will be interested to know that the Internet has been free of 'Jadedness' for just over a year. I am of course, still alive, and you'll probably remember me as the only member of the JG staff that didn't have the typing skills and grammar of a shaved ape.

I think I'm going to like 'blogging', which really is the literary form of wanking. Go figure.

Anyway, here we are, back again. Sony still lies like they're all on crack and gets away with it - although judging by their sales figures you have to wonder if they are still getting away with it. The PC scene is dead as ever, with about one decent title a year, though I'm struggling to remember the last one. Even my beloved 360 is going through a dry period. Bah, why even bother gaming anymore? - go here instead: http://puppywar.com/ (because cats suck)

The next big MMO.

Being oldish and jaded is not good. The only real hope to rekindle the old gaming magic, is for total memory loss. There may be a silver lining to dementia after all ;) I'm not quite there yet though and in a probable futile attempt, have been looking toward an MMO to give me a good month of gaming ( stunning achievement these days ) and stave off any urge I might have to have my memory wiped.

So what's piqued my interest?

• Pirates of the Burning Sea. Ships! Cannons! Whores! How can it fail? Not to be confused with the no doubt horrific Pirates of the Caribbean.

• Age of Conan. The first to the table with DX10. Looking to introduce more interactive combat ( gibbing / Limbs off included! ) and player run towns.

• Tabula Rasa. From the man who brought Ultima to the world, comes a scifi epic. Currently some of us on beta. All I'll say is, it shows promise but needs a lot of work.

• Warhammer. Orcs and axes. The next WOW?

Those are my big four. Shed loads in development though. Can one or two surprise the favourites? Lets hope so. For my memories sake at least.

Metal Gear Solid 4 Trailer

Ive always enjoyed the metal gear series although i always thought they were a little heavy on dialogue and cut scenes. Doesn’t look much is going to change.



1st Post good to be back :)

Everquest 2...

Well it used to be like this.....

Now things are much more sedate, huge amounts of content added, still graphically top of the pile, drips atmosphere and leveling is so much quicker.

For me it's up there with WOW as the best MMO out there. It took a while but I defiantly recommend going back if you haven't tried it in a while.

Almost missed a gem....

It almost passed me by but after it kept coming up in various Darkness threads, I finally laid my hands on and played through Chronicles Of Riddick - Escape from Butchers Bay.

Well it lived up to its reputation is all I can really say. Graphics were quite good on the PC, reminded me a lot of Doom3, mixed up game play styles, sneaking, running, gunning and puzzles wrapped in one cool package with Vin Diseal's voice oozing atmosphere. Not only that but the storyline is actually worth paying attention to and is set before Pitch Black and fills in a few holes.

7 / 10 ( For a jaded gamer that's a very good score )

Defiantly going to pick up the Darkness after playing this.