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built for speed

Need for Speed Shift is the first in the series to hit the market after EA announced a major revamp. Check out our exclusive interview with producer Jesse Abney

sony’s new psp: good to go!

Adam Grant, PSP product manager for Sony Europe respondes to some burning questions about the upcoming PSP Go

movies and games galore Over 40 brand new games and movies reviewed this month

wolfenstein / harry potter and the half-blood prince / fuel / ninja blade / battlefield 1943

gamefreaks PLAYSTATION 3 / PS2 / XBOX 360 / WII / WINDOWS / PSP / NINTENDO DS / HARDWARE / DVD

$4.00

9

771 1 77 3620 0 0

NEW ZEALAND’S DEDICATED VIDEO GAME MONTHLY

inc. GST

ISSUE

83

www.gamefreaks.tv

built for speed

Need for Speed Shift is the first to hit the market after EA announced a major revamp for the series. Check out our exclusive interview with producer Jesse Abney

sony’s new psp: good to go!

Adam Grant, PSP product manager for Sony Europe respondes to some burning questions about the upcoming PSP Go

movies and games galore Over 40 brand new games and movies reviewed this month.

wolfenstein / harry potter and the half-blood prince / fuel / ninja blade / battlefield 1943

editorial

contents coming soon

12 Need for Speed: Shift Borderlands 13 Batman: Arkham Asylum The Beatles Rockband 14 Colin McRae Dirt 2 Aion 15 IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey Scribblenauts 16 SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny Guitar Hero 5 17 Dissidia Final Fantasy Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

reviews 18 Fuel 19 Overlord 2 20 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince 22 Tales of Vesperia 23 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 Battlefield 1943 24 Call of Juarez 2: Bound in Blood 25 Ice Age 3: Age of the Dinosaurs The Conduit 26 Wii Sports Resort 27 Fat Princess Bloom Box Bash Party 29 Ashes Cricket 09 Ninja Blade

featured

12 Interview: Need

10 PSP: All

for Speed Shift

As we near the release of Need for Speed SHIFT we spoke with Jesse Abney, game team producer and former Need for Speed star, about EA’s new racer

Systems Go!

Fresh details from Adam Grant , PSP product manager for Sony PlayStation Europe

movies 32 Valkyrie True Blood: Season One The Limits of Control 33 Righteous Kill Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Vol 1 & 2) Moon 34 The Baader Meinhof Complex Wonder Woman Dr. Who: Planet of the Dead 35 Machine Girl Antichrist Trumbo 36 Chicago 10 Broken Embraces Mondovino 37 Breaking Bad: Season One The Shield: Season Six

It was a game junkie paradise as Julie, Stan and I found ourselves at a Monaco press event/party on a Wednesday evening at the RvB bar, come gaming zone on Auckland’s infamous K Rd. Monaco are New Zealand’s biggest third-party distributor and local publishers for some of the gaming industries most well known brands. This includes Ubisoft, SEGA, THQ and the upcoming giant Warner Bros.

The event was to showcase the various publisher’s big releases and announcements from E3. Some of this stuff we’ve already seen on YouTube or downloaded onto our consoles but still, these games look awful good. It’s hard not to get excited at what looks like an amazing new Splinter Cell and Assassins Creed sequel. Or feel a kind of giddy excitement about LEGO Rockband or LEGO Harry Potter!

The end result is all of the represented studios had incredibly hot looking games on display. Heck even Red Steel II looked good (and I still shudder when I think of the original Wii launch title).

Yes the industry is safe folks, and apparently recession proof -- there’s plenty of cool stuff coming out over the next year and a good amount of it has even managed to avoid being thrown into the old sequel basket.

In that theme you’ll notice we’ve got rather a lot of information about E3 in this issue of Gamefreaks. See inside for our thoughts on the event and the best looking games on display.

It is also with great sadness that we bid Lee Marrett farewell. Work and family commitments has seen the longest serving writer for the Mag finally bid us goodbye although we’d not be surprised (in fact we’d love) to see him drop in every now and then to give us a guest review.

We do however welcome onboard our talented new writer Andy Astruc who will be stepping into Lee’s might big shoes to help us with the gaming content.

Enjoy the issue and I’ll see you at the end!

Nigel Clark - Editor

contact Tenth Planet Publishing Limited Phone: 09 846 2220 mail@tenthplanet.co.nz

advertising Richa Fuller Fuller Media Ltd Phone: 09 522 7061 Mobile: 027 612 2324 richa@fullermedia.co.nz

people

Publisher: Jon Minifie jon@gamefreaks.co.nz Editor: Nigel Clark nigel@tenthplanet.co.nz Creative: Scott Judson scott@gamefreaks.co.nz Design: Kela Rose Words: Lee Marrett, Adrian Hatwell, Stan McGuigan, Julie Gray, Caleb Judson, Andy Astruc, Ben Sparks

thanks Aaron, Adrian, Amanda, Angely, Annie, Ben, BNE, Bob, Bruce, Clare, Craig, Danny, Dave, David, Drew, Ewan, Gary, Haley, Ian, Isabella, Jacqui, Jemma, Jen, Jeremy, Julie, Justine, Kate, Katie, Keith, Kela, Keri, Leigh, Leroy, Luc, Mark, Matthew, Mike, Paul, Pip, Samantha, Scott, Simon, Teresa, Zeljana The contents of Gamefreaks are copyright and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the consent of the publishers.

The views and opinions expressed in Gamefreaks are not necessarily those of the publisher.

Microsoft release Xbox LIVE dashboard upgrade

Steven Spielberg in talks to produce Halo movie

Rumours suggest that the filmmaker may be in negotiations to produce a film based on the Halo series Film website IESB have reported that Spielberg is currently in active negotiations to develop the project, though apparently not in the role of director.

Spielberg was reportedly “blown away” by screenwriter Stuart Beattie’s script for the film, which is an adaptation of ‘The Fall of Reach’ Halo novel. Beattie designed the script with the intention of having the film be the first of a proposed trilogy.

Microsoft has not confirmed the rumour, stating that the project is still ‘on hold’.

Work on a Halo film dates back as far as 2005, when writer Alex Garland wrote an adaptation for 20th Century Fox. The project attracted Peter Jackson and Neill Blomkamp, who were slated to fill the executive producer and director roles, respectively. Mexican director Guillermo del Toro had also expressed interest in directing.

The production ran into a series of problems, with development being halted and re-started several times over the following

years. Budgetary issues led to the project being put on indefinite hold, with the rights reverting back to Microsoft. Jackson and Blomkamp went on to develop the science fiction film District 9.

Rumours of Spielberg’s participation in a reinvigorated Halo film project are lent credence by that fact that DreamWorks studio, which the Hollywood mogul helped found, lost their big sci-fi/action franchise, Transformers, in the split from Paramount last year.

Zootfly sign on to develop Prison Break Game

Add-on episodes from Liberty City dated and priced Rockstar Games have recently announced that their downloadable Grand Theft Auto IV episodes will soon be released as a standalone retail disc entitled Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City.

Both the biker drama The Lost and the Damned and forthcoming Ballard of Tony Gay will be available on a single disc available for purchase October 29 with a recommended retail price of $69.99 NZD. A copy of the original Grand Theft Auto IV disc will not be necessary to play Episodes from Liberty City.

The Lost and the Damned episode sees the notorious biker gang The Lost plunged into turmoil as their reckless leader Billy is released from prison to the vexation of business-minded protagonist Johnny Klebitz.

The Ballard of Tony Gay will put players in the role of Luis Lopez, petty crook and nightclub assistant to “Gay Tony” Prince.

news

The slow, but steady, evolution of the Xbox 360 from a gaming console to a multi-purpose family fun box continues unabated. On Tuesday, August 11th the Xbox Dashboard was updated. Unfortunately it wasn’t the huge update everyone was waiting for, but it did add a few nifty features.

One of the more obvious ones is the new Avatar Marketplace, which allows you to buy clothing and props for your tiny Xbox self using Microsoft Points. The single transactions aren’t much, but no doubt Microsoft is betting on people unwittingly wasting lots of cash on imaginary t-shirts.

The other major addition is Games on Demand, which lets you purchase full versions of Xbox 360 games through Xbox Live and then download them directly to your hard drive. The dashboard now also lets people rate any Live content – videos, games, add-ons – out of five stars, and then allows you to search the highest rated content in each category.

There are a few other minor improvements to the user interface, plus add-ons like a record of how long someone has been a gold member and a streamlining of the Xbox Live Party system. For those waiting on Facebook and Twitter integration, you’ll just have to keep waiting.

WOW expansion details leaked?

Information on Blizzard’s next WoW expansion has been leaked online Has Blizzard or Activision/Vivendi done a whoopsie which has resulted in some of the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion pack details being leaked? Honestly speaking for myself I’m sick of hearing the name WOW but going by the ravenous hordes that continue to spend hundreds every year to keep playing this blockbuster massive online role playing (bring me 10 goblin noses and I’ll give you a gold coin) game in a basement this rumour could well be relevant.

The publishers have kept quiet but if you’re happy to indulge in wild rumour and speculation then the following details were released on a World of Warcraft community site called MMO Champion First off a level cap raised to 85, which

interestingly is 5 less than what the previous two expansion packs offered – milking the franchise till 100 perhaps? As well as this classes which were previously unavailable to a particular race will now be allowed – Examples being an Orc Mage or Undead Hunter…

Goblins are suggested to be a new Horde race (previously these critters were neutral race selling/scamming customers on both sides. On the other hand the Alliance are set to get the Worgen...and let’s be honest we’re talking Werewolf types here. Interesting enough going by the rumour the Worgen will be able to shape shift between human and wolfie type forms.

For those three of you who have been waiting longingly for a Prison Break game to grace our 360s/PS3s, wait no longer.

While Zootfly were originally brought on board to develop a game based on the TV series back in 2008, the project was cancelled when the publisher went bust.

However, it turns out the recession was beneficial for at least one company as Zootfly have decided to keep the rights and have secured a new publishing deal that will see it released at the end of the year.

“The cancellation was a blessing in disguise because we got to spend more time on the key gameplay features and get rid of the half-baked ideas Brash management pushed on us,” Zootfly CEO Bostjan Troha told the LA Times.

For those not in the know, Prison Break ran for four seasons and followed the exploits of a pair of brothers who repeatedly broke each other out of prison.

Ozzy Osbourne to rock BlizzCon 09 Veteran rock god scheduled to appear at Blizzard conference Blizzcon, it could be said, is not the place to go if you’re looking for heavy metal mayhem, but things look to be a little different in 2009. The annual event which celebrates Blizzard’s major game franchises (Diablo, Starcraft and Warcraft) will this year play host to the prince of darkness himself: Ozzy Osbourne.

Ozzy will be headlining the closing concert of the big event on August 22nd, bringing his own brand of orc-slaying musical power to the proceedings.

Of the strange combination of rock and games, Bizzard Entertainment CEO and co-founder Mike Morhaime noted “Our

goal with BlizzCon is to deliver an unforgettable weekend of entertainment, and we can’t think of a better way to close out this year’s show than having Ozzy rock the house.” So it must make sense.

This won’t be the first Blizzard experience for the bat-munching metal man: recently he appeared in a World of Warcraft TV spot challenging the Lich King to a dark-off. Tickets to Blizzcon ’09 sold out in mere minutes, but for those too poor or too far away to be at the show there will be various live streams available (for a price). Geeks and metal get closer every

Brutal Legend: Full Metal Soundtrack Brutal Legend’s soundtrack revealed - over 100 songs with a ton of metal It’s not every day that the music gets all the attention in a game that isn’t Guitar Hero or its billions of spawn. EA Denmark have released what they say is the full soundtrack for Double Fine’s upcoming heavy metal epic, Brütal Legend. The sheer volume of the list is the first aspect which impresses – with over 100 songs on offer, it dwarfs the soundtracks of most non-rhythm titles.

This is one more reason for Activision (who recently ditched their final effort to kill the game) to put on their sad faces. The track list features a banquet of deliciously

heavy metal music from artists such as Megadeth, Ozzy Osbourne, Def Leppard, Judas Priest and Motley Crue. In a move done with a nudge and a knowing wink, at least two Tenacious D songs will feature in the game. No doubt the intrepid hero Eddie Riggs (played by Jack Black) is a fan. Coupled with rumours that Activision wanted to absorb the game into the Guitar Hero franchise, this list certainly looks like it would have made a killer music game.

Apparently we’ll get a killer action game full of killer music instead.

Bucking bronco games, anybody?

Nintendo has patented a new horse-riding saddle peripheral It has recently been discovered that Nintendo have filed a design patent for a peripheral that simulates the experience of riding a horse.

The patent describes an inflatable seat to which the Nintendo Wii’s remote and nunchuck would be attached. As the player bounces on the air-filled cushion the movement would be tracked by the controller’s accelerometers, mimicking the riding motions in game.

The document also suggests the possibility of incorporating force feedback into the cushion, having it vibrate in response in game events.

The company filed the patent with the European patent office on Janurary 15th, it was published on the organization’s website in July.

The patent document also theorizes the device’s usefulness beyond horse riding simulation, including acting as a seat for an “aircraft, a magic carpet, a motorcycle, a jet-ski, a land or sea exploration vehicles.”

The patent describes the inflatable seat as including “a one-way air valve of conventional design… allow[ing] the user to inflate cushion. Construction may be similar to that of conventional inflatable exercise balls. An advantage of an inflatable design is that it is compact to ship and store.”

This unconventional input design fits with Nintendo’s established philosophy of developing new ways of interacting with video games, including motion control, a balance board, and a vitality sensor.

Fifty to voice Modern Combat 2 50 Cent’s voice to be part of Modern Warfare 2’s multiplayer

Just in case you haven’t had enough of him with two whole video games, Fifty Cent will be back in the upcoming multi-platform release Modern Warfare 2.

Don’t panic, though, it’s only a cameo. The mumbling rapper will feature in the multiplayer and Spec-Ops sections of the game as one of the random voices you hear yelling commands on the battlefield. Among the phrases you may hear the big man say are “Reloading,” “Watch your fire,” “I’m down, get me up,” and “Tango Down!”

Fifty is no stranger to video games, having already starred as himself in 50 Cent Bulletproof and 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, and was apparently a fan of the first Modern Warfare. His website dropped the information first – following a visit he made to the HQ of developer Infinity Ward – saying that he would be “The Multiplayer Voice”. Infinity Ward’s Robert Browning later confirmed that Fifty Cent would indeed be voicing some soldiers in multiplayer. He also noted that 50 Cent was one of a few celebrity cameos – he was tight-lipped about the others. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will be released on November 10th, complete with Fifty’s dulcet tones.

EA trademarks nineties classics EA has filed four new trademarks for four very old game titles In all that’s good and holy can it be true? In news that will please many an old school gamer’s heart is the news that Electronic Arts could very well be seriously looking at bringing back to life some of its most beloved gaming franchises.

EA has filed all new trademarks for a number of classic properties which include Wing Commander, Theme Park,

Road Rash and Populous. Popular during the days when DOS was still the common PC format, most of the games below are well known for their addictive and groundbreaking features.

Now all we need is for them to do the same with Syndicate and Dungeon Keeper and our lives will be complete.

Just Cause destined for big screen

When will they learn? Yet another wafer-thin videogame plot is heading to Hollwood, with news that Just Cause is to be a feature length movie The cool concept/crap game that was Just Cause followed CIA agent Rico Rodriguez as he thwarted regime changes with a mere fling of his grappling hook/parachute combo.

Forebodingly, the producer of Hitman (one of 2008’s more atrocious videogame adaptations) Adrian Askariah picked up the rights to the movie. And even more worryingly, one of the more appealing aspects of the original – the protagonist – has apparently been dropped in favour of ‘The Scorpion’.

While a Mortal Kombat hook-up would arguably be a saving grace, this Scorpion is the new hero and is described as “a mix

of Jason Bourne, James Bond, Wolverine and Rambo, with a touch of Enrique Eglesias.” You had us up until Enrique.

Askariah is hoping to raise $30 million from independent sources, and it’s possible he could rope in investors currently supporting his other two video adaptations – Kane and Lynch (groan) and Spy Hunter (double groan).

While the game’s sequel is scheduled for 2010, it’d have to be a very swift rushjob that would see the film launch at the same time. Then again, we are talking about videogame adaptations, so expect it in cinemas 2010.

Halo Legends Anime project planned Geeky classic + geeky classic = pantsoilingly awesome geekfest, right? Well, Microsoft certainly seem to hope so.

After the lackluster response to Halo Wars and the generally apathetic Western critical reaction to Halo: ODST/Reach, Microsoft has decided to target the one corner of the globe so far not enamoured with the Halo franchise.

Microsoft has announced that a number of renowned storytellers from some of the world’s leading anime studios in Japan are crafting a manga/anime collection of short films called Halo Legends.

The creator of Appleseed and the director of Ghost in the Shell are involved, suggesting it may not suck quite as completely as The Animatrix.

Warners take a walk on the wild side Developer secures licensing for Where the Wild Things Are game

Futuristic Zombie RPG in the works Upstart indie game studio DoubleBear have revealed plans to develop a PC Role-Playing Game set during a modern day zombie apocalypse.

The fledgling studio are working with Iron Tower Studios, utilizing their Age of Decadence engine, to bring the as yet untitled zombie emergency to life.

Sticking closely to the classic zombie conception DoubleBear founder Brian Mit-

news

soda explained that the game’s undead will be the of the slow, shuffling variety; “our zombies aren’t that bright, nor are they that much of a threat when they’re alone. But they are persistent.”

Mitsoda’s previous RPG experience includes working for Obsidian Entertainment on Neverwinter Nights and for Troika Games on Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines.

Warner Bros. Interactive have announced an action-adventure game based on the upcoming Where the Wild Things Are live-action film.

The game, being developed for the Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo DS, will loosely follow the events of the Spike Jonez-directed adaptation. Playing as the rambunctious young Max players must help the monstrous inhabitants of a mysterious island avert disaster as ‘King of All Wild Things.’

Many of the film’s starring monsters will appear in the game, each with their own special abilities that will help Max lead the lovable creatures to safety before the inevitable destruction of their home.

The title’s release is scheduled to coincide with the film’s end of year opening.

The film itself is an adaptation of the beloved children’s book by the same name, as written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. While the slight narrative will have been heavily developed for the film a recent trailer revealed a visual style that faithfully recreated the book’s striking illustrations.

The film, with a script adapted by Jonez and Dave Eggers, stars newcomer Max Records, Catherine Keener, and the voices of Chris Cooper, James Gandolfini and Forest Whitaker. Sendak himself is a producer on the project, as is Tom Hanks.

A Warner Bros. Interactive representative stated the company is excited to deliver an immersive interactive experience that lives up to the cherished book and anticipated film.

New things are on the horizon for Electronic Art’s long running Need for Speed series. Recent years have seen the game taking an urban arcade feel featuring boy racer cars, customisation and running from the cops. Well things are about to change with Need for Speed Shift which takes direct aim at the likes of Gran Turismo and Forza with a heavy on the simulation look.

Can you please tell our readers a little about your background and your involvement in NFS Shift?

Sure, my name is Jesse Abney - I’ve been with EA since 1995. One of the first EA Worldwide Studio members, I spearheaded the collaborative launch efforts on all nextgen platforms since PlayStation2. On Need for Speed SHIFT, I play a role in design and technology development on the PC platform.

This game is all about a realistic racing experience, what was the turning point in making the decision to ‘shift’ direction?

This joint collaboration between Black Box Games & Slightly Mad Studios and Patrick Soderlund, EVP EA Games label Europe, who is also a professional endurance race car driver. Patrick’s time behind the wheel highlighted how few racing games tap into the driver’s experience – the demanding and violent nature of automotive racing. Coupled with a new engine and developer, Patrick’s creative input helped the team craft a camera and visual effect system that played up the reality

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of racing a car at top speeds.

We understand the game has or is using a new engine, who developed it and why was it chosen over others?

Recently Black Box Games announced that to better support the racing genre, it was necessary to divide NFS into 3 sub-genres: arcade, action & simulation. This was to focus on quality; pair developer with design, and produce Triple A titles in each category. Slightly Mad Studios has been working on this engine for over two years and SHIFT really highlights the engines power and versatility.

EA choose to work with SMS based on their unmatched pedigree for developing critically acclaimed racing games such as GT & GT Legends, and their passion for cars and racing.

The NFS franchise has seen multiple changes of direction from Arcade, Action, Street Racing and Simulation. Does this mean we are likely to see more NFS offerings in short term, i.e. could we see another NFS Undercover style game in the same year as

Shift?

Absolutely, Need for Speed is focused on developing driving games across all styles and consoles. For example, NITRO is an arcade racing title being developed specifically for the Wii and is scheduled to ship on November 17. Need for Speed World Online represents this year’s action racing title with massively multiplayer open world gameplay. This relieves one team and one game design from the yearly iterative cycle and instead provides 23year design & development cycles to ensure we provide gamers a quality racing experience.

How much ‘learning’ is there from each NFS iteration? What are the most important points taken from the previous development team, sales and the fan base/feedback?

We’ve been doing this for nearly 15years, so there is a good relationship with our fanbase and community groups. What’s understood is what works best for the typical Need for Speed game. We’ve iterated on those popular aspects cyclically. Approximately every 5yrs NFS turns a corner, not only identifying with but helping to define popular car culture. SHIFT’s emphasis on authentic racing is an example.

How do you weigh up direction of development with what is currently available, especially those games that are the market leaders?

We all play games and realize what they do well. In SHIFT,

we identified what was missing from the racing segment and looked at other gaming genres to fill that void. First person shooters have crafted features that drive huge multiplayer communities. SHIFT takes a cue from the best of these in Battlefield by bringing the player card to racing. The Driver Profile is just this; it’s a telemetry system that tracks every moment on the track building upon who you are behind the wheel – your persona as a race car driver. Driving accomplishments, milestones achieved, from every area of the game are reflected and accessible to the online community for pairing & competitive matchmaking.

How hard is it to develop games for multiple platforms specifically with difference between that of PS3, 360 and the Wii? We understand the Wii has very specific capabilities and control requirements. EA Montreal’s expertise in this platform made them a perfect fit for design and development of NITRO – Need for Speed’s first custom arcade design.

The remaining platforms have enough commonality that cross-platform development is achievable. All performance specs and game capabilities run in parity.

How much customisation/tuning of the cars will be available given that this one is simulation over arcade?

SHIFT features a comprehensive customization option.

Individual parts and performance packages are both

options. Broken down by area, parts are unlocked, installed, and tuned, e.g. Installed spoilers provide tunable downforce, as driver level increases. For a simpler approach a works options will group upgrades in specific areas like brakes, drivetrain, suspension, & engine. For the first time in NFS race-modify interiors further lighten vehicle weight and improve on-track performance.

Is there still thought to the arcade fans who just want to get stuck in and drive?

Absolutely. We want to introduce ardent arcade fans to authentic racing with SHIFT through the tenets of Need for Speed: fun pick-up-and-play racing action. Degrees of scalability are present in overall difficulty, physics, damage, customization and tuning engine that present a simpler experience, or go rather deep towards simulation for fans of nuts and bolts play.

How big a range of cars are we looking at?

We’ve just announced nearly 70 cars, some long time favorites, some brand new to NFS in line with the authentic WTCC/LMS style racing in SHIFT. Of course, we have big DLC plans which enable us to increase car lists and content well after launch. This has also been announced as a focus of our business going forward and Undercover was the first product to exercise this with numerous vehicle and game mode updates.

Are we going to see different road and driving conditions such as day/night, rain, ice etc and if so how will

the impacts of those conditions affect gameplay?

Times of day will change in order to create more lighting condition variance and allow us to craft unique endurance events that span a daytime. Weather was not an attribute we felt added to the core experience without further complicating the effort. Imagine an authentic racing game with rain that doesn’t affect the contact patch of the tires; windscreen wipers that don’t ‘sufficiently’ clear the water from the amazing cockpit view; track lengths that don’t ‘realistically’ collect and pool water causing hydroplaning dynamics. You start to realize how many complex variables are involved in a small thing like weather when catering to one of the largest fanbases in the industry.

What are the multi-player game offerings, what improvements in this area are available over previous titles?

We’re not going into specific online gameplay modes at this time. However, our all-new Driver Profile system adds a new layer of depth to online play. Players will continue to levelup and progress the whether they are playing quick match, career mode and online multiplayer. We feel this helps mitigate the grind associated with most authentic driving games and should also prevent player’s from dropping out of online races where they don’t feel they can win.

wherever, whenever – all systems Go! No it’s not the PSP 2, but rather a reimagining of the current generation of PSP and by all appearances Sony has a fair few more years planned ahead of it yet.

Aside from a new look the most interesting new prospect is the lack of UMD drive meaning all games will be saved onto a memory card. We speak with Adam Grant, the PSPgo Product Manager to get more details.

Firstly can you tell our readers what your relationship is with the PSPgo? I am the Product Manager for PSPgo for the PAL region, working at SCEE in London.

While being 43% smaller than the standard PSP, there is no doubt it was designed to be truly pocket portable, what were the key objectives in the design of the PSPgo? The concept of PSPgo is to allow users to enjoy various entertainment content more easily on the go, and to match the concept, we have realised a smaller and lighter body for PSPgo by adopting a sliding display panel.

Who is Sony’s target audience/demographic for the PSPgo and why?

PSPgo is targeted for broad range of users from casual to core. With smaller and lighter design to enjoy entertainment more easily on the go, PSPgo will not only appeal to the existing PSP users but also to any new audience.

It must have been a tough decision to remove UMD compatibility and go for purely downloadable content – what was the reasoning behind this call?

With the steady expansion of the broadband network infrastructure, the number of users who download and enjoy digital entertainment content has been increasing remarkably. PSPgo replaces the UMD drive with 16GB of flash memory to store a variety of digital entertainment content, offering users unlimited possibilities of digital entertainment delivered through PlayStation Network.

PSPgo will add to the PSP hardware line-up as a new model designed to match the digital lifestyle. With both the existing PSP-3000 and new PSPgo, they will further enhance the unmatched portable gaming and entertainment experience by offering users more opportunity to enjoy favourite entertainment content on the go.

Are current PSP owners in jeopardy of seeing less availability of UMD content in the near future?

PSPgo has been specifically designed for the digital lifestyle but we will continue to support the UMD platform and current PSP models by continuing to sell software titles in UMD format. We will, along with the support from 3rd party developers and publishers, make every effort to bring downloadable versions of the UMD software titles to PlayStation store to be sold along with the UMD version. By adding PSPgo, specifically designed for the digital lifestyle, to the PSP hardware line-up, we will be able to offer a product range to suit different consumer needs.

Does the PSPgo have all the functionality (apart from the absence of a UMD drive) of the PSP 3000?

The 2 biggest differences are the removal of the UMD drive and the new design. PSPgo replaces the UMD drive with 16GB of flash memory and the stylish slide open design has made the PSPgo smaller and lighter than ever making it truly pocket-size.

We have also added 3 new features: Game sleep function: You will be able to operate the

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XMB™ (XrossMediaBar) while suspending the gameplay temporarily.

Bluetooth function: This is going to let you use your favourite wireless head phone to listen to music, play games and watch videos.

Clock and calendar application: We have included a clock and calendar application which can be viewed both when the sliding panel is open and closed.

Given the savings Sony will make on downloadable content vs the sale (and cost) of UMD’s, are we going to see some of that saving passed onto the consumers?

Each title will be priced individually and for this reason I am unable to provide an overview on the price of titles on the PlayStation Store.

One of the leading arguments for existing PSP owners for choosing to stay with the status quo would be that they are not able to use their already purchased games. How would you convince them that the PSPgo is still a better option?

We know that there are many people excited about PSPgo but are hesitant at leaving their UMD games collection behind. We recognise this and as such we are planning a goodwill programme and will unveil more details soon.

We also know that there are many already released UMD games that people may not own but want to play in

the future on their PSPgo. To make this happen we are considering every possibility to bring downloadable versions for the majority of past titles available only in UMD to the PlayStation Store along with all new releases. We will announce further details on this.

What was the reasoning behind choosing sliding screen functionality over flip screen such as the DS? With a sliding display panel, PSPgo enables users to enjoy a variety of entertainment content in different styles, when the panel is open, users will be able to enjoy con-

tent with the familiar button control as PSP-3000, while when closed, it can be used to enjoy video and music.

What fabulous games are we expecting to see with the launch of PSPgo and will we see a drive in content in the future?

The line up of games this year for the PSP is the best yet and there are titles that have been specifically developed and tailored for the PSP and a portable gaming experience. We are bringing our biggest franchise to the PSP for the first time. LittleBIGPlanet, MotorStorm and Gran

Turismo will all be released on PSP this year for the first time, in games made specifically for PSP. Is Sony looking to add a swag of downloadable movies on the PSN that could be downloaded to PSPgo? Included in the box along with the PSPgo will be a USB cable, AC adaptor and Media Go software.

Media Go is an easy to use PC application that makes it simple for you to browse PlayStation Store, as well as organise and store all your favourite downloaded games, demos, music, movies and photos.

There are currently no plans for any additional content to be included.

What other technologies are lined up to ‘Go’? Will we see Video conferencing, Skype or perhaps competition with in-car navigation systems with GPS mapping functionality?

As mentioned above, 3 new features have been introduced to PSPgo; Game sleep function, Bluetooth function and Clock and calendar application. As with the PSP-3000 you will be able to use Skype via the built-in microphone. You can chat to friends online via a wireless connection and Skype – with unlimited, free calls to other Skype users across the world.

As PSPgo is set up for purely downloadable content, how will Sony combat Piracy?

We are confident that content available for digital download to the PSPgo will have the necessary security to help combat piracy.

Let’s talk memory sticks, something where ‘size does truly matter’, what does it come with and what options will there be?

PSPgo is disc free with a 16GB of built-in memory for storing all your essential games, videos, photos and music. However if you do fill this up there are a couple of options to store and manage your games, music, videos and photos. You will be able to back up to a PC via Media Go or to the M2 Memory Stick to store more content for PSPgo.

With no games to sell on PSPgo, what’s in it for the Retailer?

By adding PSPgo, specifically designed for the digital lifestyle, to the PSP hardware line-up, we will further expand the PSP business as a whole. PSPgo will not shift our business to the network but with PSPgo, we will aim to expand the whole portable gaming market. With the introduction of this new system, we will further enhance our peripheral line-up as we have done in the past.

What do you consider the top 5 reasons to invest in a PSPgo? PSPgo is designed to match people’s digital lifestyle. The built in hard drive, Wi-Fi connectivity and smaller, lighter, stylish design makes accessing the best gaming experiences, great entertainment and your digital content easier than ever before.

Given that the games are played off the memory stick rather than a UMD, will this provide improvements in gameplay such as less downloading?

The features and gameplay experience will be the same.

The new introduction of the game sleep function is only available on PSPgo.

Some people have not realised how small the PSP Go is. But its evident when comparing with other gadgets, including the first PSP version. Actually, the PSP Go is only a little bigger than an iPhone!

Borderlands

PC, Xbox 360, PS3 / 2K Games

There’s always room for another firstperson shooter which is set in a barren wasteland, pits you against bandits and monsters, gives you access to an arsenal of destruction, and forces you to chase after mythical objects. Enter Borderlands, the upcoming project by Gearbox Software. The game puts you in the shoes of one of four characters (each with their own unique skill trees and special bits and pieces) living on a terrible mess of a planet called Pandora and looking for a mysterious vault filled with untold loot. As the lovechild of an RPG and an FPS, each character has their own specific skills which can be leveled up and tweaked to your own satisfaction.

And then there’s the firepower. Recent reports have noted that the game contains anywhere from 650 thousand to 3 million different weapons, thanks to their new ‘manufacturing’ feature which creates an almost limitless combination of items. The game also has a co-op mode for up to four players, which lets you drop in and out of other people’s games as you please.

If gaming was a volume-based contest, Borderlands would be a serious contender for master of everything. Let’s hope the quality matches the quantity.

Need for Speed SHIFT Multiplatform / Electronic Arts

One of three separate NFS games set for imminent release, Need for Speed: Shift is a bit of a departure for the well-travelled series. Gone are the arcade thrills of speeding around city circuits with rabid police cars on your tail, replaced with serious-business racetracks and even more serious physics. Much hyped so far has been the inclusion of head-physics – a fancy way of saying your driver’s head swings around like a mad bobble-head during crashes. This ties in to the return of the in-car view when racing, not seen since the days of Porsche Unleashed.

12 coming soon

All the fancy dials and tricked out steering wheel covers will be in view for your distraction.

Aside from these additions, details on the actual game modes and features are a little scarce. So far we know there will be around 80 cars to choose from, any of which you can customise to perform better or just look pretty. Most of the tracks will be taken from real world examples around Europe and the USA, with some simply made up. The game is looking slick so far, but it remains to be seen if the series’ jump to realism will pay off.

Batman: Arkham Asylum PS3, Xbox 360, PC/ Time Warner

X-Men Wolverine: Origins has set the bar unnaturally high for movie/comic book tieins, yet Eidos’ Batman: Aykham Asylum - like the legend himself - seems set to only further defy expectations, emerging from development darkness with a swift batarang of gameplay justice to all the naysayers who say a good Batman game can’t be done.

Taking its cue from a mish-mash of the Nolan/Bale movies and the rich catalogue of pure crazy found in the comics, Asylum positions The Bat in Gotham City’s maximum security prison for the criminally insane (AKA every one of the growly voicedone’s enemies). The Joker masterminds a jail-break lock-down that means you’re stuck in a confined space with hundreds

of vengeful, blood-thirsty villains. Wonderful.

Visually, it’s looking like someone’s dropped a handful of spandex-suited enemies into the Riddick games; all moody, sneaky darkness and stunning lighting effects walking hand-in-hand with claustrophobic button-bashing clobbering action.

While expectation is reaching fever-pitch, industry-wide rumours suggest that Eidos has been stringently monitoring all printed press surrounding the release to ensure glowing reviews. It’ll be intriguing to see whether the finished product actually manages to live up to the hype that’s preceded it or whether it’ll be yet another Dark, Dark Night (guffaw) for Bat-fans.

The Beatles Rockband PS3, Wii, Xbox 360 / MTV Games

The music-game train rolls on. Even though only two of them are still alive, The Beatles have managed to personally star in their own video game. The Beatles: Rock Band is the third game in the Rock Band franchise, and gives you the chance to butcher 45 Beatles tunes with your friends.

Each of the songs utilises the familiar Rock Band peripherals, with parts for guitar, bass, drums and up to three vocal performances. The game will come packaged with special instruments shaped like the Beatles’ own, such as a Gretsch Duo Jet guitar and a Ludwig drum set. If you’re not feeling rich enough, the original

peripherals will work with the game, although there is no content crossover.

You can play through various modes, including co-operative and versus battles with your friends, as well as sections for training your drumming and harmonizing skills. There is a story mode, similar to Rock Band’s ‘Career’ option, which allows you to live through the highlights of the band’s decade-long career, competing in challenges at key points which can unlock splashes of historical information.

The Beatles: Rock Band could be a potential must-buy for fans, and maybe even for those just looking for a musical romp.

Colin McRae Dirt 2 PS3, Xbox 360 / Atari

Colin McRae tragically passed away in 2007 but his legacy is set to continue with Colin McRae: DiRT 2 the sequel to THE best rally game of the same year. DiRT 2 is all set to bring the Rally racer to an all new level with impressively realistic graphics, new race types and a huge line-up of kick arse racing machines.

The game’s main mode will take the player on a World Tour through locations as diverse as Croatia, London’s Power Station or tight tracks set in the Malaysian rainforest. All the vehicles are licensed and customization options offer to give the game

a greater amount of depth than ever.

You’ll be slinging through mud, dirt, tarmac and hanging perilously close to canyon edges in Utah and game modes which range from traditional speed trial Rally events to extreme style Stadium King Shootout.

We’re particularly looking forward to taking this baby online with features being promised including an online community, tons of events and integration between the many available disciplines. If you’re a fan of Rally driving then DiRT 2 will be one of the need to play games next month.

Aion: The Tower of Eternity PC / NCsoft

Aion is the latest fantasy MMORPG from NCSoft. We were lucky enough to score a beta key to take a look at Aion and see what all the fuss is about before it launches on September the 23rd in New Zealand.

You can play as two races in Aion - the Asmodians and the Eleys. The Asmodians are demon-like beings who ‘ascend’ after level 10 where all the real fun (read: flying) begins. Once you’ve reached level 10 you gain the ability to fly in certain areas. At

14 coming soon

level 25 you get to the real test of your skill in PvP (player vs player) battles. With the ability to fly, Aion is able to offer players gameplay mechanics that are unique and fairly new to the genre, making Aion something of a relatively ‘new’ type of MMO. The game plays very much like a combination of EverQuest (with detailed questing systems and navigation) and World of Warcraft (beautiful game graphics) with the pvp element introduced at later levels.

IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey PS3, Xbox 360, PSP, DS / 1C Publishing

IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey is based around the large-scale aerial combat and ground military operations of World War II. Players can participate in some of the war’s most famous battles piloting fighters, attack aircraft and heavy bombers across a range of missions. There are five theatres of war to engage in – The Battle of Britain, Stalingrad, Berlin, Sicily and Korsun, representing the main airborne battles of World War II in Europe.

IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey also features an all new damage effects engine as well as advanced environmental visuals enriching the game play. IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey also features hundreds of airplanes

taking part in air battles. The unique environmental engine also produces highly detailed, realistic landscapes that allow players to see breathtaking ground support actions.

The game addresses the console audience by presenting a varying level of difficulty, from your arcade-style Ace Combat battles to full-on simulation. Assisting in the realism will be a damage model for each plane, along with detailed landscapes complete with realistic ongoing ground actions. An original score by Oblivion composer Jeremy Soule is just the icing on the cake.

Scribblenauts DS / Warner Bros

Portable games seldom get much time in the spotlight surrounded by the console heavy hitters at the annual E3 expo, but 5th Cell’s Scribblenauts proved to be an exception this year. The ambitious little puzzler captured the imagination of attendees to a degree most blockbusters couldn’t compete with.

The game’s tagline, “Write Anything. Solve Everything”, is right on the money, players are asked to help side-scrolling protagonist Maxwell overcome the title’s litany of problems by summoning objects to deal

with obstacles. Simply writing the name of the required object on the touchscreen summons it from a database consisting of tens of thousands of nouns, each with their own properties and interactions.

For example, if Maxwell needed to cross a gap one could summon a ladder, a rope, a bridge, a boat, a helicopter, or any other clever object or combination of objects that an encyclopaedic gamer might think of. The game heavily promotes the idea of emergent content, the process by which players discover solutions that the developers themselves had not intended or foreseen.

Guitar Hero 5 Multiplatform / Activision

The rock party originators continue to roll on with the fifth instalment in the Guitar Hero series proper. Having graduated beyond mere guitars to full-blown band simulation in the last entry, Guitar Hero 5 is looking to more or less stay the course with a few new features thrown in for good measure.

Guitar Hero 5’s gameplay will remain largely unchanged from previous titles, with players able to take up the part of guitarist, bassist, drummer, or vocalist in any song from the title’s eclectic soundtrack. A few tweaks to the formula sees Party Play mode allowing players to jump into/drop out of a band on the fly, and even swap instruments or change difficulty mid-song.

The rules for band formulation have been relaxed as well, whereas old bands could have just one of each instrument Guitar Hero 5 will allow any configuration, even a band in which all members play the same instrument.

A new RockFest mode will offer players a host of new gaming options, like Momentum and Elimination, in which success parameters will be altered for each challenge.

As usual, a number of musical celebs will make digital cameos in the game, this time including Johnny Cash, Carlos Santana, and Shirley Manson of Garbage.

Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny PS3, Xbox 360 / Namco Bandai

Namco’s fantasy fighter Soulcalibur comes to Sony’s handheld with Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny, a portable sequel of sorts to the recent Soulcalibur IV. The shrunk down version of the long-running fighting series will deliver much of Soulcalibur IV’s features, including it’s highly praised character customisation mode.

The PSP iteration will feature an all-new single player mode that will purportedly challenge gamers’ reflexes while improving fighting skills. The traditional mission-based single-player mode will also feature in the game along with standard Vs. Modes against computer- or playercontrolled opponents.

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The deep fighting gameplay that has become the series’ signature is said to have survived the transition to the smaller screen, replete with Critical Finishes, Soul Crushes and Equipment Destruction. The title is also said to push the PSP to some impressive graphical highs in order to reproduce the typically polished look the series tends to achieve.

As well as boasting a rather large stable of original characters the series is known for including special, fan-favourite bonus stars, such as Star Wars characters and Nintendo’s Link; God of War fans can look forward to playing as grizzled protagonist Kratos in Broken Destiny.

Dissidia: Final Fantasy PSP / Square-Enix

The various Final Fantasy fables have always been ripe for crossover but, by and large, Square Enix has until now resisted the temptation to mingle beloved personalities from different titles. Dissidia represents a fan’s fondest dream as pairs of characters from each of the previous ten Final Fantasy games (and one from XI and XII each) come crashing together to fight side-by-side to decide the fate of all their worlds.

The PlayStation Portable title will meld the character customisation and epic narrative of Final Fantasy’s traditional role-playing formula with the dramatic progressive action of a fighter. A unique combat system combining character’s special skills,

magical abilities, and interactions with the environment is said to deliver dynamic cinematic action in the vein of animated feature Final Fantasy VII Advent Children.

Characters on the Dissidia roster include FFIV’s Cecil, FFVII’s Cloud and Sephiroth, FFVIII’s Squall, and FFX’s Tidus. Players must play through each of the twenty-two character’s story, both heroes and villains, to fully reveal the game’s sweeping narrative or warring gods Chaos and Cosmos.

The title has already received glowing praise at its release in Japan and it sounds as though Square Enix have put a lot of effort into making sure the game is an essential play for fans of Final Fantasy lore, rather than just a throwaway crossover.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 PS3, Xbox 360, PC/ Activision

Comic geeks are currently basking in the glorious ‘told you so’ afterglow of years of frustration. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance seemed to pinpoint the moment that comic-based games leapt the mainstream divide by offering a Gauntlet-esue action/ RPG experience everyone could enjoy.

With entitlement and expectation rising in equal measures, Vicarious Visions have decided to go back to the source material’s comic book roots by offering a sequel that’s more outlandish, content heavy and fantastical in a bid to top the original.

The plot follows the hugely successful Civil War storyline, which pit hero against hero

(with the odd villain thrown in for shock value) in an almighty ethical and physical royal rumble.

While it may look ‘more of the same’ on the surface, with the extensive roll-call of 24 characters (guaranteeing every Marvel fan, no matter the geekiness, will find someone to enjoy), the main draw is the Fusion feature. You’re now able to combine the powers of any two characters to create a super-duper jaw-droppingly awesome attack. Case in point: Invisible Woman + Hulk = Giant Genocidal Hamster Ball, as the Hulk runs people over using an Invisible ball force field.

Fuel

Asobo Studios’ post-apocalyptic racer is big on roaming but a little too sloppy on the details to fulfil its grad ambitions.

There’s a lot to do and many ways of going about it but motivating the player to do so is another thing entirely.

As our finite planet’s resources grow ever closer to exhaustion many have turned their minds to wondering what life will be like once this seemingly inevitable ecological disaster hits. Food, shelter, community, security, these are all pressing matters but it seems only Asobo Studios have had the forethought to ask the really big question; in the wake of catastrophic global warming what is motor racing going to look like?

Fuel presents the eager driver with a big, devastated playground in the form of the largest open world yet created in a video game. 14,400 km² of ravaged earth are available for exploration, races, and

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assorted challenges. Admittedly the hostile climate has pretty much reduced everything in the landscape to mulch so there’s not a hell of a lot to see, it’s still an impressive expanse no matter how desolate.

The game gives players the opportunity to explore the quiet earth in a variety of different vehicle classes, such as quad bikes, SUVs, dune buggies, and even the occasional hovercraft. The garage packs over seventy different individual rides and each of them can be heavily customised to the player’s Mad Maxian specifications.

During their career players are tasked with winning races to advance the game.

While they are free to drive wherever the

may while not racing, new official events will only be revealed once a certain level of prestige has been achieved. Racers also compete for the post-civilization equivalent of cash, fuel, which can be used to buy new vehicles, parts, and costuming bits and bobs.

While it may be set in the aftermath of one of today’s most hot button issues, Fuel isn’t interested in saying anything particularly prescient, if it has any sort of argument to make it seems to be that if we can’t avoid devastating climate change at least we’ll have some really cool tracks to drive about on afterwards. Riders are plagued by sandstorms, hurricanes, and other environmental anomalies as they cruise through the game’s 24-hour day and night cycle.

While Fuel offers all the impressive window dressing one could ask for from

a modern racer – a nifty aesthetic, lots of customisation, a huge world to carve up, many cool types of vehicles to pilot – it lacks quite sorely in fundamentals. Racing is a very vanilla affair, boasting no real grit despite its grimy context. AI competitors are often far better than the fledgling player on any given course but seem to be programmed to self-destruct in the final leg just so the player can progress.

Slightly spicier challengers, such as chopper chase and seek-and-destroy, help the bafflingly uninteresting affair to a degree but not enough to compensate for the flaccid main thrust.

There’s a lot to appreciate in Fuel but ultimately it boils down to makeup on a fairly underwhelming pig; the racing is the real let down in this racer, perhaps Asobo’s energies would be better directed at another genre.

Summary

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Boasting the largest open world yet committed to a video game, Fuel sets end-of-the-world racing on one hell of a lavish stage, its just a shame the game doesn’t deliver where it really counts.

Genre Racing Publisher Codemasters Developer Asobo Studio Platform: PC, PS3, Xbox 360 Released 2nd July Website http://fuel-game.com/ Players 1+ Rating G Price $139.99 Writer: Adrian Hatwell

Did You Know?

The game was initially known as Grand Raid Offroad, a name that plays on the granddaddy of open world gaming, Grand Theft Auto. It was to be set in the outback and boast a 10,000 km² world and 30 different vehicles before getting upgraded to what would become Fuel.

Overlord II

Controlling minions to do your bidding is everyone’s evil fantasy and in Overlord II, not only do you get to control minions, but your power reaches beyond to humans and even minion possession! It’s positively wicked...

Overlord II is the long-awaited sequel to Overlord and is very similar to the original game but with a whole heap of improvements and new content. As the Overlord, it is your duty once again to prove your worth and rule over your minions. To become a true tyrant and rule over all that is evil, your main mission throughout is to create havoc, mayhem and chaos wherever you go. Pretty sweet, huh?

The awesome thing about Overlord is that you’re not always expected to kill humans (and in fact, you can use humans to great advantage in this game as your powers expand). Although the repetitious element of ‘hacking and slashing’ your way through buildings and various obstacles is ever-present, the game is far from boring or uninteresting. Your minions will

make sure of that!

As you progress, you will gain minions that have specific uses (just like in the previous game) which requires you to control your minions a lot more strategically.

The opposition you come up against will require a specific type of minion to defeat it (such as fire minions who throw balls of fire at their targets). As the Overlord, you certainly have your uses and eventually you will be able to cast devastating spells to aid you in your quest to rule over all. But primarily, your main position should be in support of your minions and not leading from the frontlines where you’re likely to die. Mostly because it kinda sucks when you die.

One of the biggest standout elements of Overlord II has to be the fantastic way in

which the minions tend to take over and quite often, steal the show every opportunity they get. Their chaotic and mischievous nature is often hilariously portrayed during gameplay and cut scenes. It really breathes life into what could otherwise have been a pretty standard third-person action game. The minions really do have personalities of their own but will obey their Overlord, right up until they’re reincarnated.

With a combination of even more puzzles and obstacles for the Overlord to beat, Overlord II has a lot more to do than the previous game. You can even possess the body of one of your minions which makes some of the harder to reach

areas a lot more accessible - it also happens to be a lot of fun playing as a minion.

You’ll also be able to use mounts such as wolves which the Overlord can control.

This gives your minions added speed and ability to fight a lot more effectively.

One of the best aspects of Overlord II is that it combines so many different genres including action; puzzle and third-person hack and slash which ultimately delivers a very unique and satisfying gaming experience. You’ll never run out of things to do, which is so often a problem with many games out there these days. There is also a multiplayer mode for Overlord II but the real fun is in the single player game.

Summary

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Although some of the load times were a little on the extended side, overall, Overlord II is a fantastic game and well worth buying on either platform.

Publisher: Codemasters Developer: Triumph Studios Platform: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC Genre: Action/RPG Released: July 2, 2009 Website: www.codemasters.com/ Players: 1 Rating: M Price: $119.99 Writer: Julie Gray

Did You Know?

Did you know that the plot writer for both Overlord and Overlord II is Rhianna Pratchett, none other than the daughter of the very famous fantasy fiction writer, Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld series of books.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Take control of Harry as Dumbledore prepares him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching; Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds.

You must return to Hogwarts and help Harry survive his sixth and most dangerous year. Engage in wizard duels, create potions, take to the air and play some serious Quidditch.

The game also includes multi-player elements, classes and will implement time-of-day changes.

The game follows the movie where Harry suspects danger at every quarter, even within the walls of Hogwarts. Time seems to be running out as Dumbledore and Harry seek to unlock Voldemort’s great secret that will hopefully lead to his end. The new Professor Horace Slughorn holds the first key and Harry must gain his trust and confidence to learn the deep dark secret. But another battle rages within the school, and this one not even Dumbledore can help Harry fight – hormones. The students are growing older, girls are fluttering eyelids and the boys are struggling to understand the fairer sex.

Harry and Ron are confused and surprised by the attention they are receiving where jealousy proves to be a formidable

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beast. Then of course there is the mystery of The Half-blood Prince.

The game controls I initially found unusual.The right analogue stick is primarily used for casting spells; by waving in precise directions you are able to cast your spells rather than having them mapped to specific D-pad buttons. The character designs are excellent, and easily identifiable. Authenticity is helped by the voiceovers which the majority of the film cast has added, making the bond between movie and game all that much stronger.

The world in which you play is particularly large (in fact it is easy to get lost), but luckily you can summon Nearly Headless Nick to provide directions if the going gets too hard. But even with Nick you’ll find

yourself backtracking all too often in what becomes a repetitive game.

You’ll get the chance to perfect your potion brewing, duelling and Quidditch skills whenever you feel the urge, in between specific story telling events. In fact I quite enjoyed the duelling compared to the usual searching affair. The potion brewing was laborious and it seemed ludicrous to be splashing large quantities of foul ingredients willy nilly into a boiling cauldron. Quidditch was the usual affair of flying through stars getting ever faster, and trying to catch that annoying snitch.

Fun for a while but again it becomes repetitive.

Five games in, you have to think that things would be improving in the gaming

world of Harry Potter. I admit I have enjoyed the movies but the accompanying games have tended to join the long running tradition of producing sub-par quality.

So how did this one fare? About the same as the movie really, in that it delivered but didn’t do enough to rave on about. I find myself quickly notching up a list of bad points and generally throwing this one to the heap of disappointing movie to game conversions. It’s not that this game is overly terrible, just that it didn’t offer anything more than expected. Yes the graphics are improved and the spell casting was interesting but otherwise this is one that I would only recommend to serious Harry Potter fans. Worth a rent if you’ve seen the movie and have the urge.

Summary

The environments and characters look great, supported well by film cast voicing. Patience is required for the repetitive gaming that lacks real challenge. One for HP fans or those wanting a pile of easy trophies or achievements.

Did You Know?

The book series has sold more than 400 million copies and has been translated into 67 languages. The last four books have consecutively set records as the fastest selling books in history.

details Genre Adventure Publisher EA Games Developer EA Bright Light Studio Platform: Multiplatform Released 30 June 2009 Website www.harrypotter.ea.com Players 1-2 players Rating PG Price $89.95 Writer: Stan McGuigan

CLIVE OWEN

BUY IT ON

NAOMI WATTS

&

SEPT 2nd! © 2009 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. and Beverly Blvd LLC. All Rights Reserved. © 2009 Layout and Design Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Australia. All Rights Reserved.

Tales of Vesperia

If you love anime role-playing games wherein a party of quirky – yet oddly familiar – characters assembles to fight untold evil and save the world by talking everyone to death, then follow me.

The latest in the long running Tales series, Tales of Vesperia does exactly what it says on the tin. So if you aren’t a fan of Japanese style epic role-playing, then you’ve come to the wrong party. Vesperia holds on tight to its JRPG clichés in every way, from the change-the-world story, to the characters, to the gameplay systems.

What makes the game really stand out is the presentation. The first in the series to make the next-gen leap, this is a beautiful game to look at. The character designs are fun and interesting (if a little clichéd) and the world they inhabit is a sprawling fantasy land filled with rich colours and bustling townships. As mentioned, the game is firmly entrenched in the cel-shaded anime art style, which means everyone looks identical outside their hair. But gosh darn it they’re shiny.

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Sound is well done, with an appropriately grandiose-yet-fun score accompanying your travels. Voice-acting in games translated from Japanese can often be a source of grinding teeth for players, but thankfully the lands of Terca Lumireis are populated by a less stilted and illiterate breed of voice-actor. It’s a good thing the voices aren’t terrible, because there are thousands and thousands of lines of dialogue in this game, many of them spoken.

Still, the excitable female characters will make you want to gouge out your ears.

The major focus of Tales of Vesperia is narrative, and on the positive side, the story isn’t half bad for the genre. It weaves a tale which is a slow starter but soon begins to speed along through the usual political intrigue, betrayal, ancient technology, world saving and evil pirates. The plot

itself serves more as a backdrop for the main characters to develop themselves, and you begin to care about their fates, despite yourself. Unfortunately you have to pick through a whole bunch of boring nonsense to get to that point. The story drags quite often, with endless scenes involving people talking in rooms and other similarly magical scenarios. And, as usual for the genre, the main character is a brooding, stoic dullard that has no redeeming qualities apart from being the designated selfless good guy.

Plenty of excitement can be gleaned from the gameplay itself, however. The battles use a system familiar to the Tales series but foreign to most RPGs – real

time. Each battle is fought by pressing real buttons instead of selecting from a menu.

There is a button for attacks, special attacks (called artes) and even blocking, which makes the combat feel more like a fighting game than an RPG. Characters all have their own moves, and can learn new ones by leveling up or accessing new weapons.

In the end it’s the same point I made at the start: this is a great game for fans of the genre. It isn’t going to blow anyone’s socks off with originality, but Tales of Vesperia is a solid JRPG with an engaging story and fun combat. And at around 50 hours minimum it will keep you busy for ever and ever.

Summary

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The game retreads basically every RPG cliché ever invented, from clueless-yet-spunky princesses and cute animal sidekicks to warring kingdoms and even an evil empire. And yet, the whole package is put together with enough flair for a stunning result. Invest the time.

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3 Genre: JRPG Publisher: Namco Bandai Developer: Namco Tales Studio Players: 1 Website: www.namcobandaigames.com/ Rating: PG RRP: $119.99 Release date: July 22nd, 2009 Writer: Andy Astruc

Did You Know?

If you’re really struggling (or really lazy) and you’re filthy stinking rich in real life, you can get packs of 300,000 Gald (in-game currency) for a mere 300 Microsoft points on Xbox Live.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 The Key to Tiger 10’s universal appeal is in its flexibility.

Whether you’re a casual enthusiast or a diehard golf nut, you can tailor the gameplay to suit your needs.

The all conquering Tiger Woods franchise has been at the top of the leader board for as long as anyone can remember.

However, in recent times the series was starting to lose some momentum, despite new features like Game Face and simultaneous online play.

EA Sports have responded by packing loads of new content into Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, including live tournaments online, a Tournament Challenge mode that revisits great moments in PGA his-

tory, the ability to enter the U.S. Open for the first time in series, real-time dynamic weather conditions (powered by the Weather Channel) and a completely new “Precision Putting” system.

Two new pros --Anthony Kim and Rocco Mediate -- have also been added to this year’s roster and there are 16 faultlessly recreated courses, including six new additions in Bethpage Black, Pinehurst, Torrey Pines, Hazeltine, Oakmont and Turnberry.

The game’s upgraded hitting mechanics

gives players the option between analog stick control and the more traditional three-click swing. Choosing analog you’ll get better control over your backswing and feel more confident about nailing those monster tee shots. There’s also the option to turn off all assists for a more challenging and realistic experience.

Unlike the Wii version, which makes use of the new motion-plus attachment,

there are no party modes in the 360 and PlayStation 3 versions - the popular minigames and multiplayer modes remain intact but they haven’t evolved a lot (or even a little) from last year.

On the surface many of the new features in Tiger 10 appear subtle – more refined game mechanics, graphical improvements here and there, but this latest edition was always going to be more about the tweaks than any sort of major overhaul. When these are largely for the better you can’t really complain.

Summary

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Golf fans demand and usually see small improvements to EA’s annual sports updates, but this is the first year where those tweaks have made a significant difference, making this the most complete Tiger Woods game to date.

Genre: Sports Publisher: EA Games Developer: EA Tiburon Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, iPhone, PS2, PSP Released: Out now Website: www.ea.co.nz Players: 1-4 players Price: $99.99 Writer: Jon Minifie

Did You Know?

Tiger Woods was the highest-paid professional athlete in 2008, having earned an estimated 110 million (US dollars) that year from winnings and endorsements.

Boom Blox Bash Party

The Steven Spielberg-conceived puzzler returns to the Wii with a direct sequel that is as welcome as it is obvious: More levels, more blox, more modes, more online features, more motion-tracking party game goodness.

While the Wii’s stolid library of casual games is often a point of criticism from dejected fans, the original Boom Blox is a game that sits happily in that category and I have found myself returning to it more than any other. Its basic gameplay is an easy hook for non-gamers and balanced multiplayer modes make it a perfect party game for a mixed crowd, the inevitable sequel is a pleasant excuse to revisit the game once more.

The basic concept behind Boom Blox is very simple; each level is comprised of a bunch of coloured blocks and each player is tasked with knocking them all down/

blowing them all up/ yanking them all out/etc. Just why it took the blockbusting super-mind of Steven Spielberg to come up with such a design I don’t know, but it works brilliantly and remains essentially unchanged for Bash Party.

The game delivers over 400 new levels, a handful of new game modes, and the option of building and sharing your own unique level designs. The stages exhibit that same gentle slope from child’s play to devilishly difficult scenarios as the original, though some now involve the added complexities of environmental hazards, such as flailing octopus tentacles.

The simplistic shooting levels of Boom Blox, easily the game’s least enticing feature, have been replaced by the much superior slingshot and cannon modes for Bash Party. An added co-op multiplayer mode makes grinding through levels a little breezier but the game’s main draw is still in its addictive competitive sections.

The addition of user-generated content and the ability to download new levels online brings the series, in one lithe step,

to the forefront of console relevance, heaping on potential to an already accomplished game.

If you own a Wii you should already have Boom Blox, and if you own Boom Blox you should already have played it so frequently that you’re desperate for new content, and you should definitely pick up Boom Blox Bash Party. If you’ve come to any other outcome you’re doing it wrong.

Summary

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It doesn’t reinvent the Blox, but Bash Party removes what little there was that didn’t work in the original title and slathers on a heap more of what did. It’s still the finest party game for the sociable little console.

Platform: Wii Genre: Puzzle Publisher: Electronic Arts Developer: EA Los Angeles Players:1+ Website: boomblox.ea.com/home.action Rating: G RRP: $69.99 Release date: 26th May Writer: Adrian Hatwell

Did You Know?

At some stage rumours were swirling that Spielberg wanted to make a Boom Blox movie, though EA have quashed it as mere brainstorming at this point. At any rate it seems the perfect property to combine the director’s finely tuned political sensibilities with his penchant for highoctane thrill rides.

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood

This game is the prequel to the original action shooter Call of Juarez. This time you lead the McCall brothers on a quest for the Gold of Juarez. The brothers start out fighting for the confederates in the American civil war, but soon desert and eventually make their way to Aztec ruins in Mexico in search of lost treasures.

Let’s face it, its not like there is a glut of Western games out there. Sure I can understand that the genre is limited to a certain worldwide appeal but the stories lend themselves to all the ingredients that make up a good game. Bound in Blood has a great story; the characters are well developed and supported by strong voicework. Sure the dialogue isn’t poetry in motion, but it’s exactly as you would expect from uneducated, cigar smoking, simple spoken cowboys. The Plot revolves around the two brothers doing anything necessary to look after the family, and no man can stand in their way. Gameplay-wise this one gets the job

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done. It won’t be claiming any game of the year spots but will keep fans of the genre happy. From start to finish it flows at a steady pace which is not necessarily a good thing. Variety is said to be the spice of life and unfortunately this one falls short, not for lack of trying but more in execution. The two brothers offer choice in Ray’s toughness (and use of dynamite) vs Thomas’s lasso and sniping ability. The deviations from the standard shooting mayhem don’t seem to flow and feel more like last minute additions from a shopping list of must-haves.

Of note were the ‘show-downs’; it’s true that any good western tale has a few

classic stand and deliver middle of the street showdowns but they didn’t really work for me. You are required to slowly move around ensuring you can see your opponents hands as they hover over his six shooter, whilst keeping your gun-hand close enough to your holster (but not too close) until you hear a bell ring. Then it’s all on as you both reach for your pistol and fire. I applaud the concept but this add-on should have been chewed and spat out without making the final cut as it failed to add value to the gaming experience.

Now I don’t want you to think this one is

all bad as the action is still a lot of fun. You can go through the well designed (note: this game is not sandbox) environments firing gatling guns, cannons and even shoot from horseback. I was surprised by the absence of pain felt by your enemies; I would have expected that when I shoot someone in the leg they would stumble, flinch or something? With only 8-9 hours gametime, this title didn’t truly sell me.

Saying that, overall it was still enjoyable; certainly enough to want to finish the game. I know this review has a negative overtone but as a package it still offers genuine gaming satisfaction. If in doubt, it’s well worth a rent.

Summary

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A great western story with characters and voiceovers to match. Non stop action that keeps the game moving but is let down by gameplay mechanics in the showdowns- otherwise a solid western shooter.

Genre Shooter Publisher Ubisoft Developer Techland Platform: 360, PS3, PC Released 3rd July 2009 Website www.callofjuarezgame.com Players single and multi Rating 16+ Price $109.95 Writer: Stan McGuigan

Did You Know?

According to online movie site IMDB the worst western of all time was the 1970 film Five Bloody Graves, which narrowly beat out Blazing Stewardesses (1975) and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter (1966).

Battlefield 1943

Hit the beaches in the great battles of the Pacific Theatre in World War II in a do or die struggle for dominance between the Japanese Navy and U.S Marines.

Now this is how arcade games should be made! With graphics that match that of many full retail games Battlefield 1943 is one of the best quality…and fun games available to download for a console near you. Developed by DICE and published by EA for both the Playstation Network and Xbox Live Arcade, BF 1943 is the latest in a long line of multiplayer only first person shooters which have until now, dominated largely on the PC platform.

With BF 1943, DICE refrained from going for a full PC style port and designed the game with console mentalities in mind. That means the game is quick to access, can be enjoyed in quick doses and easy to play with friends with party options available.

Map types are limited – there are three plus a bonus unlockable one - the Battle of Coral Sea which uses fighter planes only. As for the others they are based on

famous WW2 locations such as Wake Island and Iwo Jima.

Like previous Battlefield games there are two teams – in this case divided between the U.S Marines and Imperial Navy Troops. The aim of the game is to capture and hold 5 strategic locations on the map using 3 different troop classes – a submachine gunner, rifleman or sniper; as well as vehicles such as jeeps, tanks, antiaircraft guns and landing craft. A radar installation also allows a player to call in a massive bombing raid.

The maps are a perfect size and well balances and you’ll usually find the two sides will sway back and forward in the top spot. Where-ever you are you’ll here the crackle of small arms fire and explosions which does an amazing job of providing that war zone atmosphere. To date as well the servers are well populated and run at a good speed.

Summary

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If you have an online account and have an inkling of enjoyment for first person shooters then grab this game. Yes the map numbers of limited…but you won’t notice it I promise.

Genre Shooter Publisher Electronic Arts Developer DICE Platform: 360, PS3 Released 8th July Website www.battlefield1943.com/ Players Multiplayer only Rating T Price Download Only Witer: Nigel Clark

Did You Know?

The Battle of Guadalcanal finally ended February 9, 1943. Fiercely contested on the ground, at sea, and in the air, the campaign was the first major offensive launched by Allied forces against the Empire of Japan.

Ashes Cricket 09 Ashes Cricket 2009 offers more than the 5 test series between Aussie and England. You can also play a selection of One Day Internationals, Tests, Twenty 20, and customise your own games with teams from Australia, Bangladesh, England, Kenya, India, Ireland, NZ, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Pakistan, West Indies and Zimbabwe.

I was more than a little keen to have a look at this one. You could even say too keen as I decided to skip all the tutorials and get stuck in. That was my first mistake; I was soon cursing my ineptitude at bowling and fielding as I watched ball after ball smashed to all corners and dropped a score of catches. England had 150 on the board after 15 overs and my only wicket was that of a run out I decided I’d better

do the hard yards first.

Luckily the tutorials were easy to follow, supported by Sir Ian “Beefy” Botham and Aussie legend Shane Warne. Once I completed the tutorials and some classic challenges I was ready to regain some form.

In Cricket, skill, timing and a player’s confidence play major roles for individuals within a team. This game follows the same format. Front line batters and bowlers will

be high on confidence but this can soon drop if execution of deliveries and strokes are not timed.

Batting involves choosing whether to play front or back foot selecting your direction of shot and timing defensive, attacking or lofting strokes. A skilled batsman will require less precise button timing whereas with tailenders you’ll need to be spot on. Bowlers are given a wide array of

choice when selecting a particular delivery. I don’t want to spend too much time detailing the finer points; you’ll have to use the tutorial for that.

One aspect I did find difficult to master was the catching, which is obviously a very important part of the game. Here timing is extremely important and the term ‘catches win matches’ could not be more true.

I have seen better visuals and animation in other Cricket games but the all round quality and longevity of Ashes Cricket 2009 holds up well. Sure it won’t take you long to rack up massive totals or snare quick wickets against the AI once you do the hard yards mastering the controls, but facing your mates and online opponents will truly test your grit.

Summary Noticeable improvements in both batting and bowling, great commentary and sound gameplay makes this a solid all-round sports sim.

Did You Know?

The Ashes series played between England and Australia is one of international cricket’s most celebrated rivalries dating back to 1882.

details Genre Sports Publisher Codemasters Developer Transmission Games Platform: 360, PS3, Wii, PC Released 13 August 2009 Website www.playashes.com Players single, multiplayer Rating G Price $129.95 (PSN) Wrtier: Stan Mcguigan

Wii Sports Resort

Nintendo launch their detection-enhancing peripheral MotionPlus with a second smorgasbord of sporty shenanigans in Wii Sports Resort. Like its predecessor, the Resort offers an array of simple exercises that show off the Wiimote’s new abilities to an addictive degree.

Nintendo unveiled their MotionPlus device at this year’s E3, promising that it would deliver 1:1 motion representation, something many thought the Wii should probably have been capable of from day one.

The expansion clips onto the bottom of the remote controller, boosting the hardware’s existing accelerometer and Sensor Bar capabilities with an additional dualaxis angular rate sensor. The result is basically everything we have been promised, quick robust movements to tiny twitches are represented accurately and smoothly in-game.

These new abilities are exploited in a range of mini-sporting events that take place on the perennially sunny Wuhu Island. At the Sports Resport players’ Mii avatars can kick back and enjoy a range of fun activities including swordplay, wake-

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boarding, cycling, basketball, canoeing, and archery. The game also features the return of two previous Wii Sports games, golf and bowling, which remain largely unchanged but benefit from the added accuracy of the MotionPlus. A muchimproved version of Table Tennis from WiiPlay also appears at the Resort.

The most immediately gratifying activity on the list is swordplay, since the first thing any real geek thinks of upon picking up the Wiimote is ‘can’t wait for the lightsaber game’ it’s surprising that sword-based games aren’t more prolific already. From one-on-one duels to running a multipleenemy gauntlet, waving your sword about like a drunken master instantly impresses just how much the MotionPlus improves the Wii’s capabilities.

Other games suggest the enhancement

more subtly, picking up slight motion and using intricate input to influence the more precise events. The Frisbee games demonstrate a surprising depth, requiring total arm and wrist control to truly perfect the trajectory of a disc. Frisbee golf became a quick favourite, and the challenges involving a faithful canine catching your throw became true contests of skill.

While none of the games fall down on a technical level there are a handful that don’t hold up as robust enough concepts to justify their existence. Wakeboarding is like a rudimentary on-rails skateboarding sim in which your only trick input is to jerk the control abruptly. Similarly cycling doesn’t manage to map the controller to any realistic simulation; instead the player is forced into the absurd role of peddling with ones hands. Minigames like these

feel forced and don’t demand repeat play; luckily they’re a minority in the otherwise enjoyable collection.

There’s a lot of fun to be had messing around with Wii Sports Resort, casual gamers will be able to jump right into the intuitive little skirmishes and seasoned gamers will enjoy playing like beginners again. Though Sports Resort offers a lot more gameplay opportunities than Wii Sports did it still feels as though the title could have been pushed a little further, perhaps including some of the careerbased modes that are de rigueur for other, more serious sporting titles.

All told, the game is a fine hardware demonstration, a first-rate party game, and an unashamed return to the glee we all felt when the promise of the Wii first dawned upon us a few years back.

Summary

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Nintendo’s MotionPlus expansion brings a new level of control to the field of competitive Mii sports. Wii Sports Resort offers a broad range of engaging activities to hook as wide a swath of gaming’s newly diverse audience as possible.

Publisher Nintendo Developer Nintendo EAD Platform: Wii Released: Out now Website www.wiisportsresort.com Players 1+ Rating G Price $119.99 (includes motion plus) Writer: Adrian Hatwell

Did You Know?

Wii Sports Resort’s predecessor Wii Sports is the best selling video game of all time. It’s a misleading statistic, however, as the game wasn’t technically ‘sold’ so much as bundled with the immensely popular Nintendo Wii system.

Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs In Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs you get to take on the role of Sid the Sloth, Manny the Mammoth, Diego the Sabretoothed Tiger and even the adorable unlucky Scrat as they discover a lush dinosaur world.

Movie to game conversions are always a dodgy affair; generally rushed or without polish they often leave a bad taste in your mouth. With games aimed at the younger audience I always try to look for balance in gameplay, variety and charm. This one delivers in most aspects with instantly identifiable characters, lush colourful environments and simple to play game mechanics. It’s not a game that would appeal to the older audiences but certainly should keep any movie fans glued

to the screen. The game revolves around Sid and you can see that by how fluidly he plays compared to the somewhat forced controls of the others, especially Manny and Diego.

Without going into any details of the plot, the game basically follows the movie storyline starting with Sid. You’ll be handheld through the control system via ingame tutorials where other characters will describe how to play. As I mentioned this game is aimed at a younger audience of

around the 6-11 age group with the little ones likely needing assistance in the later more challenging parts of the game. The multi-player games offer instant simple fun for up to four players. Starting out with 3 available mini-games you can unlock a few more as you complete the single player campaign.

The game itself looks bright and beautiful as you would expect, and the graphics are passable without blowing away any expectations. Voiceovers are good with most of the film counterparts adding to the game with the odd exceptions of Diego, Buck and Crash. Game mechanics are simple and there is some variety with sliding, chasing and basic platforming with simple puzzles. Some of the camera angles can cause issues and the game does get repetitive however it should still keep fans of the movie and the chosen demographic of younger players happy.

Summary

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Simple game mechanics for fans of the movie or younger players.

Graphics and sound pass for the chosen audience and gameplay has variety to keep the interest up. An acceptable movie to game adaptation.

Genre: Platform Publisher: Activision Developer: Eurocom Entertainment Platform: 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, PC, DS Released: 26 June 2009 Website: www.iceage3.com Players: 1-4 Rating: 7+ Price: $129.95 Writer: Stan McGuigan

Did You Know?

Ice Age the animated feature grossed US$383.2 million at the worldwide domestic box-office, making it the 8th best grossing film for 2002 after films like Spider-Man, Episode II - Attack of the Clones and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Ninja Blade

There’s absolutely no doubt that Ninja’s are cool. Throw in an urban modern day setting and an invasion of beastly foes and you have Ninja Gaiden? Not quite although Ninja Blade clearly looks up to the older action game with fawning eyes.

Our star is Ken (compared to Ninja Gaiden’s Ryu…do you get it?) and he’s a member of a special ops team which is betrayed from within during a mission to eliminate a parasitic outbreak in Tokyo city. Ken’s now out to end the outbreak before Tokyo gets nuked and get some revenge in the process.

The worms behind the outbreak infect people and animals alike turning them into monstrous mutants ranging from common zombie like grunts (infected humans) to massive deformities of animals like Crabs complete with magical powers such as firing fireballs or electricity.

You’ll spend about half your game time dealing with the smaller foes with your three different swords and elemental Ninjistu powers. The other half I shit you not is engaged in one boss battle after another. I’m not just talking about end of level bosses either seeing as you’ll go up against several of the buggers in most

levels – sometimes the same one, sometimes not. As is normal in such games you’ll hammer away at them until their health bar runs out and then…wait for it…Quick Time Event’s (QTE’s for short) rear their loveable little heads. Done right QTE’s can add a bit of variety to a game. But Ninja Blade just goes freaken’ overboard with them – it’s way up there with Metal Gear Solids over abundant cut scenes except the difference here is almost nobody is going to actually play this game.

Why’s that you ask? Because it’s unoriginal, short and very easy. A ninja game that’s easy you say? Let’s just say I didn’t die one…in fact I didn’t even come close. Every enemy you kill or box you smash rewards you with doses of health and you also gain cure all medicines. Even the QTE’s when you fail simply rewind and let you try again over and over…

Summary

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They tried very hard to be Ninja Gaiden but there’s nothing of value here beyond a weekend rental. Admittedly some of the moves Ken pulls off during the QTE’s are pretty cool – but you’re not bloody well controlling him now are you.

Genre: Action Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios Developer: From Software Platform: Xbox 360 Released: 7th August Website: http://www.ninja-blade.com/ Players: 1 Rating: R13 Price: $99.99 Writer: Nigel Clark

Did You Know?

Wondering what I’m talking about with Ken and Ryu? Characters with the same names star in Street Fighter as friends/rivals. Some sort of attempt at humour, a subconscious acknowledgement of a secret love these developers have with Ninja Gaiden…who knows.

Military History Commander: Europe at War Some games are only for the hardcore military lovers. Military History Commander: Europe at War is such a game. Turn based strategy based on actual, historic events. If you think you’ve got what it takes to take Stalingrad, this is the game for you. Armchair generals, make your mark!

MHC: Europe at War is the pinnacle of World War 2 strategy games where you get to play as Axis or Allied forces. Pitting your wits against your opponent is what strategy games are all about and being turn-based, this adds a sense of realism to the gameplay not otherwise seen in RTS games.

You will need to really enjoy turn-based gaming to fully appreciate what MHC: Commander Europe at War has to offer.

There is a huge hexagonal map set up for battle and you will have access to 12 different unit types including Air and Land troops. Deploying troops is fairly easy to do but I highly recommended using the tutorial prior to gameplay (even if you’re a veteran of turn-based strategy).Commander at War is very involved and will challenge even the most experienced player.

The environments in the game make it

very easy to deploy your troops and keep them moving (unlike some games where troops get ‘stuck’ in all sorts of areas). The only issue with this of course is losing oil as you move your tanks and other artillery/vehicles around the map. The map is expansive and getting troops around will cost you (as it does in a real war). It’s

also easy to identify your troops which is another minor irritation I’ve experienced in other strategy based games. MHC: Commander at War identifies alot of the issues that have otherwise been overlooked in various strategy games I’ve played in the past.

Summary Europe at War isn’t a beautiful looking game but will be a very immersive gaming experience for those who enjoy strategy and turn-based game mechanics. The more attention and time you put into this game, the more enjoyment you’re likely to get from the experience.

Did You Know?

WW2 began September 1, 1939, with the German invasion of Poland and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by most of the countries in the British Empire, and by France.

details Genre: Turn based strategy Publisher: Deep Silver Developer: Slitherine Platform: PC Website: http://www.slitherine.com/ games/mh_ceaw_gold_pc Players: 2 Rating: 12+ Price: $ Writer: Julie Gray

The Conduit

High Voltage Software gambles big in trying to appeal to the rapidly diminishing hardcore audience for the Nintendo Wii. Conduit strives valiantly to be as relevant an FPS experience as those offered on the other, more heavily armed consoles.

The Wii’s motion-tracking control system seems like a no-brainer for first-person control but, with a few notable exceptions, the concept has been largely ignored.

High Voltage Software has attempted to fill that void with near-future shooter The Conduit. The game is a decidedly uneven experience, when it gets things right it does so to a brilliant degree, but its missteps are too plentiful to ignore.

Players take the role of Agent Michael Ford, a Secret Serviceman dropped in the middle of an interplanetary conspiracy that has just erupted violently in Washington, D.C.. On a routine terrorist-hunting expedition Ford finds himself at ground zero for the invasion of earth by an insectoid alien race known as The Drudge.

The title’s biggest achievement is its control scheme; The Conduit is quite possibly the most comfortable FPS outing to appear of a console to this day. Even without the use of the new MotionPlus peripheral Ford handles like a dream. The ability to completely customise sensitivity, speed, and HUD elements further emphasises the ridiculously natural and convenient nature of the control system.

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It’s a shame, then, that the single-player campaign is such a drag to play through.

Borrowing heavily from almost every notable FPS release of the last few years and adding none of its own ideas, the story mode is simple to the point of being outright tedious. Enemy design is generic, gunplay is rudimentary, environments are not destructible, puzzles are unwelcome frustrations, and the narrative is beyond obvious.

The game saves a little face in its multiplayer options, offering a fun and frantic 13-player competitive experience. The title also falls back on some rather impressive graphics, despite the system’s limitations, which just makes the single-player campaign’s unnecessary failings all the more frustrating.

While it might not be a huge claim, The Conduit really is the best FPS for the Wii to date, and High Voltage should be proud of the risks they have taken. A little more attention in this direction and the Wii could really consolidate its traditional gaming appeal.

Summary A fantastic control system, surprisingly tight visuals, and an enjoyable multiplayer lark are marred by an unforgivably dull single-player component, The Conduit falls short of its promise but succeeds enough to keep up hope for the future of serious Wii games.

Did You Know?

The Conduit features a father-and-son act on vocal duties with protagonist Michael Ford voiced by Mark Sheppard (X-Files, CSI, Star Trek: Voyager) and his pappy W. Morgan Sheppard (Star Trek, Babylon 5, MacGuyver) voicing commander John Adams. Kevin ‘Hercules’ Sorbo plays the terrorist-turned-sidekick Prometheus.

details Genre First Person Shooter Publisher SEGA Developer High Voltage Software Platform: Wii Released 17tH July Website www.theconduitgame.com Players 1+ Rating M Price $99.99 Writer: Adrian Hatwell

HARRY POTTER characters, names and related indicia are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Harry Potter Publishing Rights © JKR. WBIE LOGO, WB SHIELD: ™ & © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (s09) HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE Software © 2009 Electronic Arts Inc. EA and the EA logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All rights reserved. “PlayStation”, “PLAYSTATION” and the “ ” are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. * Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies and are used under license from Microsoft. Nintendo DS and Wii are trademarks of Nintendo. © 2006 Nintendo. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

OUT NOW!

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www.ea.co.nz

Armed Assault II

Hearts of Iron III

The King of Fighters XII

505 Games / PC

Paradox Interactive / PC

SNK / PS3, 360

Armed Assault 2 is your straight-up tactical shooter bundled with significant vehicle elements. Commanding your troops enhanced by the ‘high command system’, you’re able to control multiple squads anywhere on the map.

ARMA 2 is set in the fictional Eastern European nation of Chernarus. Armed Assault 2 features a vast array of game play options both single player and multiplayer with five different armed factions. With 80 different weapons to choose from, ArmA 2 sounds like a nifty little tactical shooter, perfect for all those armchair generals out there.

Hearts of Iron 3 allows you to take control of almost any nation that existed during the period of 1936–1948 as you guide your nation through the turmoil of World War II. A variety of decisions regarding the armed forces, production, research, diplomacy and politics is the focus of the game. The major enhancement to Hearts of Iron III is the 3D engine which improves every area of game play from sharper graphics to better screen resolution.

Sounds ace, especially if you’re into your real-time strategy games.

2D fighters can rejoice. With an alternative to the Street Fighter franchise, KOF XII features a 3-on-3 team fighting system with each fight consisting of up to five rounds.

KOF XII also features new and exciting improvements such as ‘critical counter’ mode where a character can link their attacks into powerful combinations. With the option to choose any team members you want, KOF XII is pure arena fighting at it’s most lethal - all in 2D! Although it lacks any form of storyline, KOF XII is brutal and fastpaced, just like a good platform fighter should be.

Battle Fantasia

Fast Food Panic

Disney G-Force

505 Gamestreet / PS3, 360

N3V Publishing / Wii, DS

Disney / Xbox 360, PC, PSP, PS3, PS2, Wii, DS

Battle Fantasia is yet another arcade fighter for two players. Although the characters and environments are all 3D, it’s basically created in a 2D plane but that’s OK. You can expect all the charm and artistic style of an anime coupled with pretty unique looking characters (Magical Rabbit’s anyone?). There’s a story mode and an Arcade mode for the single player stuff, with Arcade pitting you up against 8 other fighters at different locations on the map, featuring virtually no story, just the opening and exit dialogues between a match.

Create the best restaurant in the world by cooking up yummy dishes, and keeping your restaurant squeaky clean in this vibrant and fast-paced restaurant simulation game. Also features three difficulty levels, over 10 additional cooking mini-games, and Free Mode to replay completed levels and try for the top score. You can also replay each level from Story Mode to Free Mode and challenge your high score. Unlock 11 fun cooking minigames to further hone your skills. Three levels of difficulty for beginners and master chefs alike.

G-Force is a fast-paced action-platform game featuring a unique elite team of specially trained guinea pigs that use high-tech gadgets and specialised talents to complete a dangerous government mission. And I don’t know about you, but this game sounds almost too ridiculous to be true! G-Force also uses gameplay that features a unique sense of scale, and puzzle solving that requires players to manipulate environments and enemies, including diabolical waffle irons and various other evil household appliances!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Sacrifice

Magicians Quest: Mysterious Times

Streets of Moscow

505 Games / DS

Konami / DS

Atari /PC

I’m a huge Buffy fan, and I mean HUGE. So when I hear about BtVS games, I am all over it like Angel on Buffy.

Ahem. BtVS: Sacrifice is a survial horror game which is cool because that’s exactly what being Buffy is all about.

In BtVS: Sacrifice you get to use a range of special weapons, powerful spells and martial arts to take out vicious vampires and demons. You’ll also come across recognisable characters from the show including Spike, Angel, the Master, the First Evil, Caleb and, of course, the Scooby Gang. What more could you possibly want?

Magicians Quest: Mysterious Times is set in a magic school and is all about mastering a series of spells and incantations in order to achieve a Magician Licence and become Master Wizard. Cool!

During the course of a school term you’ll be required to solve a series of puzzles by mysterious beings that appear once a week throughout the game. Once you’ve done this, you’ll receive more spells and advance in the game. The best possible magic game for all those budding Kris Angel’s and Wiccans...

Streets of Moscow is a sequel to A-Race: Extreme Show (which I’ve never heard of either). Set in a world of reckless high-speed races during rush hour, Streets of Moscow is all about crazy stunts and nighttime drag competitions.

Huge environments are jammed with cars to be avoided or crashed into. Take part in street races, upgrade your car and become famous among other drivers. Probably suited for those gamers who enjoy the adrenaline rush of high-speed racing much like Need for Speed except minus, well, practically everything good.

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giveaways madden nfl 10 (xbox 360) Experience first-hand what its like to Fight for Every Yard.

Madden NFL 10 captures the authenticity and emotion of the NFL like never before! EA have generously handed over 3 Xbox 360 copies for us to give away so get those answers in and get yourself in the draw!

Who were the 2009 Superbowl champions?

‘Splosion Man Twisted Pixel Games / XBLA

a) Green Bay Packers b) Pittsburgh Steelers c) Seattle Seahawks

Say hello to ‘Splosion Man - an explosive, mentally deranged take on the Italian plumber.

Twisted Pixel return with an effortlessly stylish platform puzzler that’s as easy to pick up and play as it is to get sucked into three hour long ‘one more go’ marathons.

Players take charge of ‘splosion man, who has to make it across a number of increasingly devilish levels, jumping/exploding in perfectly timed bursts off bad guys, obstacles and head-scratching layouts. Manic, kinetic and utterly brilliant.

call of juarez: bound in blood (ps3) Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood transports players from a ravaged Civil War-era Georgia to the Aztec ruins of Mexico.

Monaco has kindly provided us a PS3 copy to give away.

So get your answers in to us and get in the draw.

Which one of the following actors did not star in the classic 1960 western, The Magnificent Seven? a) JOHN WAYNE b) STEVE MCQUEEN c) YUL BRYNNER

Gears of War: Dark Corners (Map Pack) Microsoft / Xbox 360

The first comprehensive map pack for Gears of War 2 titled ‘Dark Corners’ has arrived with 19 maps in total and seven new multiplayer maps available. Dark Corners also introduces a deleted campaign called ‘Road to Ruin’ where players can choose to attack the campaign in stealth mode or with guns blazing. It’s nice to see so many maps bundled together, but it probably would have saved gamers a lot of download time and MS points knowing Dark Corners was coming. This map pack includes all previous maps made available for Gears of War 2.

ghostbusters the videogame (ps2) Remember the ever so popular Ghostbusters movie? Well, now you can turn your ghostbusting fantasies into reality.

This is your chance to become the newest recruit in the Ghostbusters team and save the city of New York from its latest paranormal plague!

Enter and be into win one of three copies of Ghostbusters: The Video Game for the PlayStation 2. Just answer the following question.

When there’s something strange in your neighborhood... who you gonna call? a) the spca b) police c) ghostbusters!

Shinobi SEGA /XBLA

Shinobi features Joe the Ninja on a quest to defeat the evil Zeed organization, who have taken to kidnapping children of the Oboro clan. A classic side-scrolling brawler, the game challenges the player to rescue all hostages within a level while battling waves of thugs and a handful of powerful bosses with little more than an endless supply of throwing stars to rely on. Definitely worth a download if you have fond memories of playing the original in the arcade, and still worth a look if not, it’s one of the true genre giants.

how to enter

Write the correct answer, your name and contact details in an e-mail and send it in. All correct entries immediately go into the draw. This month’s winners will be drawn September 9th, 2009. No entries will be accepted after that date; please refrain from flooding our e-mail.

Send e-mail entries to: competitions@tenthplanet.co.nz

Last Month’s Winners

Please keep those entries coming: our congratulations to all the lucky winners from issue 82.

EDIFIER LUNA SPEAKERS S. Snow, Belmont MONSTER HUNTER (PSP) Debbie Trott, Albany | Chris Maihi, Auckland Tracey Ward, Wellington PROTOTYPE (PS3) Lynette Franklin, Christchurch SACRED 2 FALLEN ANGEL Rodney Joll, Tauranga | A. Sharma, Auckland

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limits of control

valkyrie STARRING / Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Carice van Houten DIRECTOR / Bryan Singer RATING / M RUNNING TIME / 121 minutes STUDIO / United Artists RELEASE DATE / New to retail REVIEWER / Julie Grey

According to historical accounts, there were 42 attempts on Hitler’s life during the Nazi regime. The failed attempt undertaken by Stauffenberg (played by Tom Cruise) on July 20, 1944 resulted in no less than 4,780 executions by the Gestapo, the majority of these carried out at Ploetzensee prison. Stauffenberg, along with seven others, was shot by a make-shift firing squad shortly after being captured by the Gestapo.

Valkyrie depicts the events leading up to the failed assassination attempt with remarkable accuracy, events which have been confirmed by family members of

true Blood: season one STARRING / Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Sam Trammell, Jim Parrack CREATOR / Alan Ball RATING / R18 RUNNING TIME / Season One STUDIO / HBO RELEASE DATE / New to retail REVIEWER / Adrian Hatwell

Where once the transgressive love of a vampire was a thing of tawdry taboo that could only be hinted at in subtext, today it seems a little undead loving is positively mainstream as represented in the sweaty writhing of True Blood’s first season. Sex, drugs, and immortality collide in the dirty south for Six Feet Under creator Alan Ball’s latest tribute to living dangerously.

Based on the Southern Vampire novel series, True Blood imagines a world in which vampires have come out, living

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Stauffenberg. If there’s one thing I dislike in a movie that states to be based on true events, it’s a lack of historical or factual accuracy. Bryan Singer must be commended for his efforts to produce a movie that captured a lot of the realism behind such a historically fundamental event in world history.

The actors were fantastically cast with Cruise delivering an explosive and extremely credible portrayal of Stauffenberg. The same can be said of many of the cast, most of whom are talented actors in their own right, including Bill Nighy (Underworld), Kenneth Branagh (Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein), Terence Stamp (Superman), Tom Wilkinson, and Thomas Kretschmann (Wanted).

It has been a while since we’ve seen Cruise’s incredible talent onscreen but Valkyrie is one movie you shouldn’t miss. And I have to add that I’m a lot happier to see Cruise in movies with just a little more depth than the Mission Impossible series (although, to be fair, they weren’t all that bad either). The Cruise machine is well and truly back.

acrimoniously beside humans, able to ingest synthetic blood for sustenance rather than having to rely on their predatory nature. Vamps make up a new societal minority who campaign to have their rights legally acknowledge while facing the customary bigotry and prejudice familiar to all marginalised populations.

It’s not all grass roots political campaigning and discriminatory suffering, however, in fact if one had to pick a defining aspect of the series to this point it would probably be sex. Vanilla sex, gay sex, dangerous sex, vampire sex, drug-addled sex, even a bit of bestiality depending on how far you want to stretch the definition, the show’s got coitus in spades.

Tucked away between the heaving bosoms and righteous liberal whining is a moderately interesting cast of characters embroiled in a pedestrian murder mystery.

The show’s protagonist, Sookie Stackhouse, is a local waitress, not-so-secret telepath, and head over heels

STARRING / Isaach De Bankolé, Alex Descas, Jean-François Stévenin, Óscar Jaenada DIRECTOR / Jim Jarmusch RATING / Focus Features RUNNING TIME / 116 minutes STUDIO / M RELEASE DATE / NZ Film Festival REVIEWER / Adrian Hatwell

That Jim Jarmusch likes to make slow films is no great criticism but it does mean his style will appeal to a particular sensibility; the laidback pace has certainly never hurt projects like Ghost Dog, Coffee and Cigarettes, and Broken Flowers. As the title suggests, the filmmaker has this time decided to push this philosophy to its limit, creating a film that barely contains dialogue, characters, plot, action, or conflict.

The result is problematic.

Isaach De Bankolé plays a lone unnamed hit man.

He arrives at the Madrid airport for an undisclosed job where he meets the first of several contacts. Each of these mysterious people, whom he does not know, will pontificate vaguely about some subject or other before pointing him towards the next contact. The film drifts through this process dreamily, each scene mirroring the one that came before, until arriving at the ill-defined maze’s inevitable conclusion.

The film, shot by the magnificent cinematographer Christopher Doyle, oozes beauty as it frames both the urban and rural landscapes of steamy Spain.

Amongst this wonderful set Jarmusch scatters a handful of terrific actors who get away with doing very little work at all. John Hurt turns up as a discreet philosopher, Gael García Bernal as a Mexican cowboy, and Tilda Swinton as a flamboyant starlet. Each of these accomplished actors is asked to do nothing more than sit at a café table with De Bankolé and chat as he silently sips his two espressos in separate cups.

It’s a maddeningly economic film, filled with characters we would love to know more about but there’s never time, the film must always drift away airily to its next destination. Just what it was Jarmusch set out to do here (besides have a lovely holiday in Spain with his cool famous friends) is unclear, but the phrase which bookends the film may be an audience’s bet advise; “use your imagination”.

for Bill, the new vampire in town. When bodies start piling up Sookie finds herself stuck between the two main suspects, her dreamy new fancy vampire and her bumbling dolt of a brother, Jason.

Offering more in the way of lascivious spectacle than involving narrative, it’s well worth the ride just to see what kind of messed up new vice the series can whip up with each episode. Tonally the show hits its mark, with swampy blues permeating the atmospheric fictional town of steamy Bon Temps, Louisiana, just don’t look for too much by way of plot.

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star wars: the clone wars (volumes 1&2) righteous kill STARRING / Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, 50 Cent, John Leguizamo, Brian Dennehy DIRECTOR / Jon Avnet RATING / M RUNNING TIME / 101 minutes STUDIO / Millennium Films RELEASE DATE / New to retail REVIEWER / Julie Grey

You’d think a movie with Hollywood heavyweights Al Pacino and Robert De Niro would pack a punch.

Unfortunately, Righteous Kill doesn’t deliver the way you’d expect.

The premise of the movie revolves around De Niro and Pacino as two cops who have seen their fair share of crime and the horrors that go with the territory. As partners who back each other up no matter what (even if that involves covering up your partner’s psychopathic killer spree in the

moon STARRING / Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey, Matt Berry, Robin Chalk DIRECTOR / Duncan Jones RATING / M RUNNING TIME / 97 minutes STUDIO / Sony Pictures Classics RELEASE DATE / NZ Film Festival REVIEWER / Julie Gray

What does David Bowie and Moon have in common?

Well, Duncan Jones the writer and director of Moon just happens to be David Bowie’s son. And also happens to be one fantastic talent in his own right.

name of being ‘righteous’) De Niro’s narrative throughout the movie actually gives a lot of the plot away which ruins any momentum the movie may have.

A cop who pursues a personal vendetta against criminals that he fails to put away for one reason or another could be entertaining but there was something seriously missing in the dialogue and the acting. Pacino and De Niro come off as two over-the-hill actors who are trying desperately to recover some of their previous glory and just fail, miserably. The story seemed dull, the acting mediocre and all in all, the movie was a complete snorefest, end of story.

De Niro and Pacino were great in their hey-day and will always be remembered for their roles in movies such as Raging Bull and The Godfather. But Righteous Kill is abysmal and is worth giving a miss unless you’re a true fan of the actors - not that you’ll be seeing much to remember in this flick.

Duncan Jones’ movie Moon is a sci-fi/thriller about astronaut Sam Bell who is just about to finish up his three year contract on the Moon. He’s more than ready to pack up and get back home to his family and back to real food, real air and the love of his wife and daughter. But something isn’t right with Sam or more to the point, Sam has a feeling something isn’t right, period.

Whilst watching a live feed of his wife’s video message to him sent from earth, he notices a small glitch on screen and begins to question things, things he probably shouldn’t question. As time progresses, it appears that being on the Moon for so long has affected his mental state. As the viewer, we are gradually exposed to what appears to be Sam’s slow

STARRING / André Sogliuzzo, Mat Lucas, James Arnold Taylor, Grey DeLisle (Voices) CREATORS / Bryan Andrews, Mark Andrews RATING / PG RUNNING TIME / Seasons One & Two STUDIO / Cartoon Network RELEASE DATE / New to retail REVIEWER / Julie Grey

It can be a little disappointing when you see animated versions of your movie heroes or heroines. They’re either very accurate representations of their onscreen counterparts or the opposite and look nothing like them.

Although the animation in Star Wars: The Clone Wars is actually pretty solid, it does take some getting used to.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Volume One takes place between episodes 2 and 3 of the Star prequel trilogy and introduces us to the dreaded assassin Asajj Ventress (and is pretty kick-ass by the way) who is deployed by the scheming and vindictive Count Dooku to do his dirty work. Anakin Skywalker features prominently in several episodes as does Padme Amidala and C-3PO (one of the only characters to be voiced by the original actor).

Volume 2 features episodes 6 - 10 where our vengeful Sith Asajj Ventress is still on the warpath and does battle with Anakin’s padawan Ahsoka. Meanwhile poor R2-D2 has managed to get himself into hot water (when is he never not in hot water!) and requires extraction by Anakin and Ahsoka.

The Clone Wars is packed with great action sequences, fundamental to the Star Wars storyline and the animated series carries over this tradition from the movies flawlessly.

Each episode is well written and overall the animation sequences are solid and well presented and definitely worth watching. But I’d be more inclined to recommend this DVD to serious fans only and perhaps animation fans looking for inspiration.

For a spin off series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars has enough content and depth to keep viewers entertained.

When the Star Wars animated series first featured on TV in 2003, it was a huge success and a lot of this success is primarily due to great story writing and animation.

and painful decline into madness as his only companion GERTY (a robotic aid that fulfils Sam’s every need including nursemaid, friend and bodyguard) assures him everything is OK. Moon will have you wondering just what the hell is going on and it’s great. Sam Rockwell is one of my favourite actors and proves yet again that he is a magnificent (if underrated) acting talent, well deserving of award nominations for his role in this.

The story is brilliant, the acting talent equally as good and I just couldn’t fault it. Moon is one of the best scifi/thrillers I’ve had the pleasure of seeing in a long, long time and if you get a chance to see this, do it. You won’t be disappointed.

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wonder woman STARRING / Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Alfred Molina, Rosario Dawson, Marg Helgenberger DIRECTOR / Lauren Montgomery RATING / M RUNNING TIME / 74 minutes STUDIO / DC Comics RELEASE DATE / New to retail REVIEWER / Adrian Hatwell

the baader meinhof complex STARRING / Martina Gedeck, Moritz Bleibtreu, Johanna Wokalek, Nadja Uhl DIRECTOR / Uli Edel RATING / M RUNNING TIME / 150 minutes STUDIO / RELEASE DATE / New to retail REVIEWER / Adrian Hatwell

The foundations of a fragile post-war German democracy were radically shaken in the 1970s by a band of young insurgents known as the Red Army Faction. The Baader Meinhof Complex attempts to recount the decade-spanning wave of domestic terrorism through a conventional period piece lens, to varying success.

A cursory knowledge of this period in German history should be prerequisite to viewing the film; while it stretches on for a marathon 150 minutes the actual events are far too complex and involved to assimilate easily into a straightforward narrative. Those looking for a complete education will likely be disappointed, those after a bit of context and texture to pre-existing knowledge will be much more comfortable.

The film doesn’t attempt to explain the motives behind the kidnappings, bombings, heists, and killings undertaken by the young radicals, nor does it attempt to engender sympathy by eschewing their arrogance, entitlement, amorality, and (in some cases) downright stupidity. Instead we get a dramatised version of events, as we more or less know them to have occurred, blame and empathy are left wholly up to the audience.

Production-wise the movie is as slick and polished as anything Hollywood has to offer, the 70s are here reproduced in painstaking detail to brilliant effect. The defiant rock soundtrack of the era adds to the heady bravado of the outlaw gang’s early dalliances in mischief, before the nolooking-back days of actual armed insurrection.

The story, however, never rests too comfortably in its arrangement; characters appear out of nowhere, without introduction, and proceed to dominate the screen as though they were lead roles. Despite really needing a good hour further to really do the story justice the film feels too long as it is, with an odious final act stretching on well beyond reasonable patience.

The story is one worth telling, the acting is superb, and the production is sharp, but the very nature of the project is unfortunately self-defeating.

While Warner Bros.’ live-action Wonder Woman film has long languished in the development underworld their animated division has had much better luck. The latest in a slate of above average animated features starring iconic DC superheroes, Wonder Woman brings mainstream relevance the likes of which the Amazonian Princess hasn’t seen since the days of Lynda Carter.

The film shares the Bruce Timm-designed aesthetic of the recent Justice League cartoon series, which also featured Wonder Woman, but the film and series stand apart continuity-wise. Dealing, as it invariably must, with Princess Diana’s origin and her transition from isolated warrior to global protector, the film offers a satisfying reimagining for fans and perfect primer for newcomers.

In ages long passed the race of Amazonian warriors defeated Ares, god of war, and imprisoned him within the realm of humanity where they guard him on the hidden island of Thamyscira. Born of that immortal conflict, Princess Diana is indelibly linked to the fate of Ares and upon his escape is lured from her protected paradise into the grubby world of man to defeat the vengeful god.

Myth and blockbuster action sit comfortably next to each other in this trim, effervescent fable. Wonder Woman is portrayed as the strong, strategic warrior she should rightfully be while still retaining a youthful idealism that makes her more identifiable than her battle-hardened Justice League analogue. Keri Russel isn’t the most obvious voice for the Amazon but she certainly makes it work.

Good-time air force rake Steve Trevor is just charming enough to make the predictable not-all-men-are-evilscumbags arc work as a bubbly necessity rather than dogmatic diatribe, and being voiced by geek-favourite Nathan Fillion doesn’t hurt either.

As with DC and Warner’s other animated joints, the production values are sharp, the direction is assured, and the voice acting is ever a fun game of guessthe-capable-second-stringer. If only all superhero adaptations were as solid.

The special introduces yet another female partner-incrime for the Doctor to flirtatiously adventure with, the haughty adrenalin-junky Lady Christina de Souza. On the run from the police after a half-botched heist, Lady Christina finds herself hiding aboard a bus alongside the Doctor and a gaggle of passengers who have no idea what sort of interplanetary shenanigans they’re about to be dropped in.

A mysterious force suddenly transports the bus from the middle of London to the surface of a seemingly uninhabited desert planet. While the mere mortals begin to panic the alpha-personalities of the Doctor and Lady Christina kick into action, each jostling amorously to become group leader.

Aside from its extended length the episode doesn’t really have much of ‘special’ feel, the lark seems like a miniature version of vintage caper films in which the elegant leads banter cleverly before having to run like hell.

Still, after the dark goings-on of last season it’s nice to see a bit of levity back in the show.

Tennant is his usual wonderful self, ever perky with inexhaustible wit but able to turn on the urgency or gravity at the drop of a hat. Michelle Ryan invests Lady Christina with appropriate zest and sympathy and Noma Dumezweni makes a welcome return as the ruthlessly efficient UNIT leader Capt. Erisa Magambo. Comedian Lee Evans also appears as scientist Malcolm Taylor, an adorable acolyte of the Doctor who will surely turn up again later in the series.

Dr. who: planet of the dead STARRING / David Tennant, Michelle Ryan, Lee Evans, Glenn Doherty DIRECTOR / James Strong RATING / PG RUNNING TIME / 59 minutes STUDIO / BBC RELEASE DATE / New to retail REVIEWER / Adrian Hatwell

It’s the beginning of the end for the Tenth Doctor as David Tennant delivers the first of his four final specials as Dr. Who. Billed as an Easter Special purely due to its time of release (the show doesn’t feature any of the festive underpinnings associated with similar Christmas specials) Planet of the Dead plays out like a typical, somewhat upbeat Who debacle.

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TRUMBO

MACHINE GIRL STARRING / Minase Yashiro, Asami, Kentaro Shimazu, Nobuhiro Nishihara DIRECTOR / Noboru Iguchi RATING / R18 RUNNING TIME / 96 minutes STUDIO / Eastern Eye RELEASE DATE / New to retail REVIEWER / Adrian Hatwell

Japanese splatter-comedy has a very niche appeal, but those that love it do so dearly. The Machine Girl DVD release comes on the heels of a few other distinguished releases in the genre, notably Tokyo Gore Police and Tokyo Zombie, but stands tall as the bloodiest, silliest, most bizarre film of the recent wave.

Ami is a young schoolgirl who has been the sole caregiver for her younger brother since their parents’ suicides some years ago. She’s a tough, spritely youth who has made an admirable life for her little family against all odds. However, her docile home is torn violently apart when her brother falls victim to the fatal bullying of a local gang led by a Yakuza brat.

ANTICHRIST STARRING / Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg DIRECTOR / Lars von Trier RATING / R18 RUNNING TIME / 109 minutes STUDIO / Zentropa RELEASE DATE / NZ Film Festival REVIEWER / Adrian Hatwell

Lars von Trier, self-proclaimed “greatest director in the world”, is a man of extremes and in Antichrist he has crafted his most unpleasant, despairing film to date, and perhaps ever.

The film, laden as it is with perversely biblical imagery, is a slight story about two people, simply credited as He and She, and their relationship following a crippling tragedy. The film opens in horrific beauty where a black

Grief stricken, Ami foolishly decides to raid the local Yakuza home alone to wreak bloody vengeance on the bully and his family. The plucky young schoolgirl does pretty well against the hordes of ninja bodyguards but is eventually defeated by big daddy Yakuza, narrowly escaping a torturous ordeal that claims her left arm.

The driven youth stumbles to a local garage where a similarly aggrieved mechanic couple patch her up, train her, and outfit her with a replacement arm in the form of an attachable machinegun. Newly armed and with the aid of an equally enraged sidekick, the Machine Girl takes her final run at the villainous Yakuza brood.

A shabby story, cheesy acting, and over-the-top gore effects all set the stage for some of the most bizarre grindhouse scenarios of recent memory, including deep fried tempura appendages, sushi made of human fingers, a detachable chainsaw leg, and the nipple-erecting horror of a deadly metal drill-bra. The film might be short on logic but its certainly high on mind-boggling spectacle.

If arterial blood fountains, comically caved-in skulls and amputee anarchy are your idea of a good time then The Machine Girl is just the party for you.

and white scene set to a heavenly aria shows the couple making love as their young child becomes fascinated by the falling snow outside and crawls out an open window, falling to his death.

In an attempt to confront their feelings of guilt the couple retreat to a forest, ominously named Eden, where they hope to come to grips with their new reality. Instead the pair end up in a remorseless, primal battle against each other; he commits unspeakable acts of psychological torture against her upon arriving at their rural destination, which she then trumps with sickening acts of sexual violence against him in the following act.

Antichrist is a troublesome and difficult film, so horrid and oppressive is its imagery that one can’t help but feel compelled to turn away from the screen at certain points.

The film elicits crushing feelings of disgust and misery, and while these are not generally welcome feelings it’s difficult

STARRING / Joan Allen, Brian Dennehy, Michael Douglas, Paul Giamatti, Dustin Hoffman DIRECTOR / Peter Askin RATING / PG RUNNING TIME / 96 minutes STUDIO / Madman RELEASE DATE / New to retail REVIEWER / Adrian Hatwell

With quiet pride and the smug satisfaction of hindsight this subdued documentary recreates important events from one of Hollywood’s darkest hours, celebrating a cantankerous scriptwriter who championed personal freedom in the face of crushing governmental and commercial oppression.

When Senator McCarthy dropped his anti-communist dragnet over 1950s Hollywood the paranoid fear of a nation destroyed the lives of ten artists and their families.

Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo was the most visible of the ‘Unfriendly 10’, a group of accused communists who refused to cooperate with McCarthy’s insidious witchhunt and were resultantly blacklisted from the industry.

This modest documentary production relates Trumbo’s personal struggles through the late 1940s until his eventual vindication in the 1950s. We see the tenacious artist resolutely deny the court’s unethical invasions of personal rights, the industry’s cowardly reaction of rejecting their own, and the desperate flight of out-ofwork artisans to Mexico, where they toiled tirelessly under pseudonyms for substantially less pay.

The project began life as a play in 2003, written by Trumbo’s son Christopher and based on a collection of the screenwriter’s personal correspondence from the time.

Events are reconstituted through archival footage, home movies, occasional movie clips, and the performance of several letter-monologues by distinguished Hollywood actors. Amongst those there to pay homage to Trumbo are Liam Neeson, Paul Giamatti, Nathan Lane, Michael Douglas, and Joan Allen.

For those familiar with blacklist-era politics or American film history the documentary’s narrative wont provide any great revelations, but newcomers to that sordid era of the screen will enjoy an accessible, impassioned retelling of important acts of institutional tyranny and individual courage and rage.

Dalton Trumbo gave the world a litany of memorable screenplays, amongst them Spartacus, The Fixer, and Johnny Got His Gun, but the man’s most important gift was his personal tale of conviction, struggle, and dogged resilience, as inspiring a story as anything Hollywood could conjure.

to deny the film’s power. It is an affecting experience, if not a comfortable one.

The film has divided audience to extremes, considered either a thing of transcendent beauty or repugnant filth.

While either camp could easily argue their case, neither opinion speaks to the film’s true worth, that’s a decision that lies with the individual. Are our feelings of despair, hatred, repulsion, and dread worthy achievements for a film? Lars von Trier just gave us his answer, and he dares us to discover our own.

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CHICAGO 10 STARRING / Hank Azaria, Dylan Baker, Nick Nolte, Liev Schreiber, Roy Scheider (Voices) DIRECTOR / Brett Morgen RATING / M RUNNING TIME / 110 minutes STUDIO / Independent RELEASE DATE / New to retail REVIEWER / Adrian Hatwell

BROKEN EMBRACES STARRING / Penélope Cruz, Lluís Homar, Blanca Portillo, Rubén Ochandiano DIRECTOR / Pedro Almodóvar RATING / M RUNNING TIME / 129 minutes STUDIO / Independent RELEASE DATE / NZ Film Festival REVIEWER / Adrian Hatwell

Pedro Almodóvar weaves yet another self-conscious tale of illicit love, betrayal, and revenge in Broken Embraces, a love letter to cinema, it’s lusty leading lady Penélope Cruz, and I dare say to the director himself.

The film opens in late ‘00s where reclusive blind screenwriter Harry Caine convalesces, nursing mysterious pain from over a decade earlier, in the care of his agent Judit and her son Diego. We are informed that in his younger days the writer had concocted dual identities and was once also known as Mateo, though he was eventually forced to commit to a more singular existence as the blind, libidinous author.

While Caine’s legacy as a filmmaker is relatively solid his final film, Women and Suitcases, was an

MONDOVINO STARRING / Albiera Antinori, Allegra Antinori, Lodovico Antinori, Piero Antinori DIRECTOR / Jonathan Nossiter RATING / PG RUNNING TIME / 135 minutes STUDIO / Fiches Films RELEASE DATE / New to retail REVIEWER / Adrian Hatwell

I’m no oenophile though I do drink a lot of wine, I gravitate towards the drop whose full and broad flavour is most pleasing to my wallet, more Bernard Black than Paul Giamatti’s Sideways character (though at the end of the day they’re all alcoholics, right?). But one doesn’t need to be a connoisseur to enjoy Mondovino, a sweeping documentary about the sad state of the global wine industry.

While the production takes us into the heart of a very specialized, elite industry the conflict at the story’s heart is one that can be applied to almost any aspect of modern life. On one side we have the salt-of-the-earth French winemakers who work their ancient vineyards and consider their wine a sacred gift of the earth, the process a thing of art. On the other side are the movers and shakers of a booming global industry, billionaires who pedal the latest technology to produce a homogenised product and a profitable brand.

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unlikely disaster that mars the artist’s public memory.

In a series of flashbacks the film teasingly unfolds the twists and turns that resulted in such creative disaster, slowly removing relationship façades to expand a noirinfluenced web of cheating, grief, and revenge.

The meticulous plot, as is Almodóvar’s style, deftly manipulates the audience through its harrowing melodrama labyrinth, all the while glimmering fabulously from shot to gorgeous shot. In fact, style-wise Almodóvar seems to have reached an almost exact facsimile of the glitzy classic Hollywood to which he so joyously pays homage.

It is perhaps the prevalence of these knowing winks to film history, present in all the director’s works but never to this level, that might be the film’s weakest trait. While an encyclopaedic knowledge of film history isn’t needed to enjoy the film the obvious visual elbow nudges point to a level of meta referencing that can’t help but annoy.

Still, with the only real criticism of the film being that it seems to love cinema too much, Almodóvar successfully re-establishes his relevance on the world theatre stage after an uncharacteristic absence.

It’s not hard to pick the good guys from the bad guys, and the doco makes no attempt to hide its contempt for those looking to spoil the harvest. After all, you don’t have to hate capitalism to hate the guys who are best at it. Using a less invasive HD camera setup the documentarians manage to coax their villainous subjects into letting their masks slip on more than one occasion, revealing true motivations of greed, power, and good old fashioned imperialism.

The venture capitalists’ unending monologues about their own prestige and enterprise are neatly contrasted with the thoughtful philosophising of wrinkled old vino artists whose metaphysical musings bring a heady righteousness to the otherwise unexamined act of getting pissed. We should all have drinking buddies as well spoken and interesting as these.

A truly epic running time aside, there’s nothing about this winecentric documentary that should turn off the uninitiated, it’s funny, clever, provocative, and intoxicati

Casting aside balance for out-and-out hero worship, Chicago 10 documents the protests and subsequent arrest of iconoclast anti-war protestors at America’s 1968 Democratic National Convention. Animated recreations mingle with archive footage as a superb cast of voice actors give life to one of the most volatile and exciting times in recent US history.

Originally known to the world as the Chicago 7, a group of youth leaders led by Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin were charged with inciting a riot and brought to trial after an organized protest against the Vietnam war attracted heavy police attention. The rest of the titular 10 comprise of Black Panther Bobby Seale, who just happened to be the wrong colour at the wrong time, and the two lawyers who defended the activists and were eventually held in contempt of court during the farcical trial.

The film does a great job of conveying the deep rupture at the heart of American society at the time, anchoring it quite sensibly with the schism experienced today in the US. The ‘yippies’, a less passive, more radical form of hippie, are held up as martyrs and heroes, desperate to compel society out of apathetic slumber and brave enough to face the consequences of provoking society’s elites.

The actual footage presented in the documentary gives the project a compelling air of authenticity that it flippantly squanders with motion-captured animated court scenes that sees the likes of Hank Azaria, Nick Nolte, Jeffery Wright, and Mark Ruffalo re-enacting court testimony.

Anyone unfamiliar with this pocket of recent history would do well to clue up right away, and The Chicago 10 is a decent place to start, it’s very persuasive if not academically detached. An incongruous modern soundtrack featuring Rage Against the Machine, Beastie Boys, and Eminem works to sell the idea of timeless rebellion and should up the appeal to disinterested viewers born after the fact.

STARRING / Michael Chiklis, Catherine Dent, Walton Goggins, Jay Karnes CREATOR / Shawn Ryan RATING / R16 RUNNING TIME / Season Six STUDIO / Fox Television Network RELEASE DATE / New to retail REVIEWER / Adrian Hatwell

At the top of its game, as in the first arc of season 6, The Shield is one of the finest, most compellingly crafted television shows of recent times. The very definition of ‘pot-boiler’, the show has been simmering intensely since the line-crossing events of the series pilot, and this latest season sees the waters bubbling with the heavy fury of inevitability.

Farmington’s heavy-hitting strike team have waltzed seductively about the morality line since day one but the shocking conclusion of season 5, in which their most redeemable member was killed by one of their own, pushed things to an unjustifiable point, and now every one of the team’s past crimes threaten to come tumbling out the closet.

NOW SHOWING

The early episodes of season 6 address Lem’s murder brilliantly, tying up things with the obsessive IA agent Kavanaugh while playing up the taught dramatic irony of the audience being aware of Shane’s guilt while he pretends to assist Vic in his misguided quest for revenge.

Here we get glimpses of the show’s trademark brutality balanced superbly with those lovely character moments that have earned the cast their Emmy nods.

This was to be the show’s final season and everything about its initial episodes suggests things are rocketing towards a fateful conclusion. However, receiving a stay of execution for one more season the show loses its way in the second half, scrambling to find ways of delaying the inevitable. On the plus side this gives the creators a chance to introduce a new character played by the wonderful Franka Potente, but ultimately the final episodes just feel like foot-dragging, and offer nothing that matches the indelible impact of the previous season’s conclusion.

Even while the show cools its jets the drama is still leagues ahead of most others in the genre, and the big hits of the final season just can’t get here soon enough.

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The Shield: Season six

coming soon TUESDAY The venerable heist movie gets chopped up in the non-linear Tuesday, in which three separate gangs of robbers attempt to rob the same bank at the same time. Portions of the brit TV show ‘Life on Mars’ star in this admirable attempt at originality in a stolid genre.

NOTORIOUS You don’t have to be a hip-hop fan to enjoy this fantastic enactment of the life and death of East Coast superstar The Notorious B.I.G. Jamal Woolard does a sensational job as Biggie, and the story stays as faithful as can reasonably be expected from a feature film.

DEPARTURES This year’s winner of the Best Foreign Film Oscar is the beautiful and touching Departures, a Japanese film which sees an unemployed cellist take up a job preparing the recently deceased for burial. Solid performances, striking cinematography and a lovely score

by Joe Hisaishi make this an easy win.

BREAKING BAD: SEASON ONE STARRING / Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn, Aaron Paul, Dean Norris, Betsy Brandt DIRECTOR / Vince Gilligan RATING / R16 RUNNING TIME / Season One STUDIO / Sony Pictures Television RELEASE DATE / New to retail REVIEWER / Adrian Hatwell

While its creator insists development has been years in the making, Breaking Bad bares unmistakable resemblance to the suburban drug-dealing black comedy of Weeds.

If you can get beyond the Nancy Botwin comparisons, however, the amphetamine-soaked show has a lot of its own crooked thrills to offer.

The first episode opens in the sparse Southwester desert, where the absurd figure of chemistry teacher Walter White stands, pants-less, with a shaky pistol aimed towards approaching sirens in the distance. It’s an image that was milked heavily for the show’s leadup ad campaign and ends up being a little disingenuous, but nicely exemplifies the show’s decidedly dark spin on American suburbia gone horribly wrong.

The episode flashes back from this point to reveal how placid hangdog Walter wound up in such a predicament.

It turns out the non-smoking chemistry wiz has been diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer and, in a desperate self-destructive bid to provide his family with

APPALOOSA

financial security before his death, partners with a slacker ex-student turned dealer to cook and sell the best damn meth the city of Albuquerque has ever seen.

Don’t look for the levity or friskiness of Weeds here, no matter how similar the set up may sound, Breaking Bad takes its vein of comedy very seriously indeed, relying heavily on horror and unpleasantness to deliver uncomfortable chuckles amongst the general mischief and pervading feeling of doom.

The show is mainly elevated by its leading man, Brian Cranston, who most probably know as the hairy patriarch of Malcolm in the Middle. While the supporting cast tend to be overly reactionary or just plain annoying, Cranston’s White genuinely begs rock-and-hard-place sympathy, forced (and occasionally choosing) to do terrible things for the best of reasons.

Not an out-and-out win, Breaking Bad nevertheless provides plenty of insidious American Gothic for the morbidly curious.

Ed Harris directs this ode to classic westerns of old, in which two drifting lawmen are hired by a desperate town to get a villainous local rancher under control. Friendship, jealousy, and a bit of good old-fashioned gunplay round out this solidly entertaining homage.

DUPLICITY A stylish caper flick in which a pair of sexy corporate spies team-up to con their uberwealthy bosses, Duplicity relies more on star power than true narrative strength. Complex to a baffling degree, the only real reason to stick around is the chemistry between Clive Owen and Julia Roberts.

SHINJUKU INCIDENT Jackie Chan finally returns to more serious fare with the hard-boiled Shinjuku Incident, a thoughtful Chinese gangster drama. Banned in China for being too violent, the film presents a morally complex world of crime that is so much improved over Chan’s boorish Hollywood slapstick it beggars belief.

the death of pc gaming?

A friend of mine told me via MSN conversation once that he thought PC gaming was dying. He’s an Xbox 360 gamer. For some unforeseen reason, I felt compelled to defend PC gamers worldwide. A quick look at the statistics and facts regarding many of the biggest PC games played today, it’s fairly obvious that PC gaming is still very much alive.

World of WarCraft has (quoted by Blizzard Entertainment, January 2009) 11.5 million subscribers and is listed in the top 100 (currently ranked 56th) most successful video games of all time (with the Mario franchise listed as the highest selling game of all).

Surely then if PC gaming was ‘dying’, the general video-gaming public hasn’t noticed.

Having played both PC and Xbox games for a considerable amount of time, I know that a gamer will go wherever the best gaming experience happens to be. That could mean swapping from the PS3 to their Xbox in one month or from their Xbox to the PC the next. The point here is that ‘hardcore’ PC gamers very rarely have the need to do this because they tend to stick to a handful of games and continue to stay faithful to them without feeling the need to buy the next ‘flavour of the month’. There will always be hardcore communities of gamers that exist and stick to one game or two that they prefer. But I seriously doubt that experience would equate to millions of gamers (11.5 of them anyway) staying devoted (and paying for) the experience provided by a solitary game on a console.

In the next year or so we will see a vast majority of games, in particular MMORPGs, being developed for the PC. LucasArts and BioWare are currently working on Star Wars: The Old Republic which boasts the use of thousands of voice actors for all of the char-

NEXT ISSUE Holy Smoke its Batman! With the Dark Knight on the resurgence due to the Christian Bale starring Batman movies it’s about time that we get a videogame take on the series. And you know what…it looks to be one of the most funtastic games of 2009. No we kid you not, the videos look great, the graphics look great and from our hands on time with the game it plays downright amazing. We’re keen, no, exited no pass that downright slavering to get you the details next month!

Of course it’s not the only big name gracing September with Wolfenstein making a welcome return to our screens. The original was hailed as a groundbreaker, it’s follow-up Return to Castle Wolfenstein had one of the best multiplayer modes of its day and now thanks to Raven and it’s id powered engine we’re about to see a new generation take on the venerable classic.

It doesn’t end there. Rock Band herald their next take on the music game genre with The Beatles Rockband packed with heaps of cool new features and instruments. Mini Ninja’s simply oozes cuteness and I’m hedging my bets that it could be the new LEGO <insert famous franchise here>; while IL-2 Sturmvovik: Birds of Prey, coming off a series of highly praised PC simulators is finally coming to consoles – here’s to bombing the heck out of the Reich with our Russian death machines!!

38 last word

acters as well as the opportunity to finally play as Sith and battle it out with hundreds of other gamers. And then there’s Aion, the new game from NCSoft about to unleash itself on us this September. For fans of RPG and RTS games StarCraft 2 and Diablo 3 are currently in development. And they’re both going to be seriously huge.

That said, of course there’ll be a whole lot of exciting action coming up for console gamers as well in the shape of Left 4 Dead 2 (which I am personally drooling for) and CoD Modern Warfare 2. But each and every one of these games will eventually see a port to the PC and in the case of Left 4 Dead and the very successful Call of Duty franchise; both games are played by hundreds of PC gamers and in some instances, played more frequently and for longer periods than they are on the console.

What can be said about PC gaming is that there is definitely a place for it in the world of today’s video gaming communities. The developers know it as do the publishers. And that’s a very powerful combination, much too powerful to ignore. As long as there is money to be made (which there obviously is), I doubt very much that PC gaming will ever ‘die’. I think it’s probably more accurate to say that PC gaming is being ‘reborn’.

And in closing, I’d just like to say that the same friend I discussed this very topic with a few months ago has recently told me that he’s spending $3000 on a new PC gaming rig just so he can play Diablo 3 and StarCraft 2. Nuff’said.

- Julie Gray