AUG 2011 - issue (8)

LOCAL BAND FEATURES - REVIEWS - GIGS - EVENTS - INTERVIEWS - GAMING - MOVIES + MORE AUG 2011 - issue (8)

MUSIC J A PA N F O U R A MACHINE DIVINE FIERY JACK CAPSTIN POLE S H O W F LY E R S

GAMING GAME CHARTS HARD DRIVE PRICES ROCKET X B O X 7 2 0 ‘ L I K E LY ’ FOR E3 2012

MOVIES MOVIE RELEASES

DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION TROPICO 4

MOVIE QUIZ THE GUARD

DRIVER: SAN FRANCISCO

SUPER 8 INSIDIOUS

www.goguidemagazine.co.uk

CONTENT Contents

With the flood disaster in Tiawan hard drive prices are soaring.

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GAME CHARTS (pg32)

- - - - - - - MUSIC - - - - - - -

Our choice of the best games across PS3, Xbox and PC.

XBOX 720 ‘LIKELY’ FOR E3 - Feature (pg33)

JAPANFOUR - Feature (pg3)

Established indie rock band Japanfour have a hankering for a game of pool.

A MACHINE DIVINE - Feature (pg4)

A Machine Divine - the new face of Scottish School Of Wrestling... ??????

FIERY JACK (pg4)

We feature the Scottish/Celtic’Folk band in all their traditional glory.

Rumours abound about the latest hardware realease from Microsoft.

DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION - Review (pg34) We review one of the best and highly anticipated releassed of year.

TROPICO 4 - Review (pg36)

Review of the newest release from Kalypso Media.

DRIVER: SAN FRANCISCO (pg37)

CAPSTIN POLE (pg5)

Please remember to fasten your seatbelts...

Do these Indie/Rockers have it all?

GIG FLYERS (pg5)

All the best shows from local venues and bands playing around the area.

- - - - - - - MOVIES - - - - - - -

GAME FLYERS (pg38)

Posters for some great games released this month.

CLASSIC MOVIE POSTERS (back page)

We take a look back at some classic movie posters.

MOVIE NEW RELEASES (pg16)

All the new releases in cinemas this month.

Who are GOGUIDE...???

THE GUARD - Review (pg17)

Think of The Guard not as a crime thriller, but as an Irish neo-noir western.

SUPER 8 - Review (pg18)

A movie with kids, but definately not your typical Sunday afternoon family flick..!!!

GOGUIDE is a local online magazine for the West Lothian area. We are trying to be less focused on local ‘news’ and more a, ‘what’s on’ or ‘happening’ guide to the local area. At the moment we are heavily focused on the whats going on in the local music scene, whats on and good @ the movies and what is happening in the world of PC/Console gaming.

INSIDIOUS - Review (pg19)

We do have a pretty modern approach to GoGuide content and eventually hope to produce articles on subjects outside our usual stuff such as Clubbing, Internet, Lifestyle, Sport and Fitness etc.

MOVIE QUIZ (pg20)

www.goguidemagazine.co.uk www.myspace.com/goguide Facebook Search For: GoGuide

James Wan takes a break from the Saw collection to bring us his new offering ‘Insidious’

(Answers on inside back page)

MOVIE FLYERS (pg21)

With the vast majority of our content sourced from local contributors we are always on the lookout for new people to bring onboard to help us provide input to this content hungry mag so if your keen on writing stuff and getting it published in the mag feel free to drop us a message at

Posters for some of the latest movie releases.

- - - - - - - GAMES - - - - - - HARD DRIVE PRICES ROCKET - News (pg32)

content@goguidemagazine.co.uk

Click on the orange page number link to go to that page.

Although we hope to provide much correct information as possible beforer going to print some details on these pages may be subject to change after printing - please check online or with locations directly for fully up to date information.

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MUSIC

Feature

J

apanfour are a band on a mission.... and its an angry one....!!!

They are the classic four piece guitar, bass and drum combo but perhaps unlike a lot of your typical bands, these guys bill themselves as a bunch of “angry young men” and their music is testement to that.

Although in no way classed as a ‘punk band’ I think JapanFour are as close to the true essence of an original 70’s ‘punk’ band as you could get. Like the Clash once told us, ‘We’re a garageband...

We come from garageland’ JF have that ethos in abundence and believe to the core in basic D.I.Y rock & roll....

Witnessing the mainstream charts continued dilution by manufactured and regurgitated pop music. These guys decided to form Japanfour and here they are

“four rock & roll mercenaries who are willing and able to say what we mean and mean what we say” Tracks like ‘Fancy Your Chances‘, ‘Go Go Girls’ and ‘Unfinished Business’ show a band with a cool, gritty sound with just the right amount of swagger and ‘sleaze’ to top it of. They successfully throw into the melting pot influences from a nice variety of rock and indie bands like Arctic Monkeys, Biffy Clyro and Kasabian, spattered with a little of The Libertines, Oasis and a rather heavy dose of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club for good measure.... in the end we get something which is uniquely Japanfour.

We like videos here so if your of suitable aWge do checkout the bands super cool video for their track ‘Go Go Girls’. We loved it anyway but be warned it does contain sections of semi nudity ;-). Good job guys... Say what you mean, and mean what you say! www.myspace.com/ japanfourband

Through their live shows they have shared stages with the likes of Glasvegas, Idlewild, Ocean Colour Scene and The Sex Pistols, Japanfour can assure anyone attending their gigs “a lethal live show”.

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MUSIC

Feature

Lothian’s finest metal musicians.

Influenced by the likes of Soilwork, Breach The Void, Scar Symmetry they come together and create some of the most soaring music in their genre. Now I’m not a metal fan but these guys seen to have come up with a blend that even I can enjoy. The tracks just seem to carry you along on their epic journey, bringing you down when they want to and then swiftly jerking you back up again when you were just getting comfortable again.

A

Machine Divine are a 6 piece metal band from West Lothian. In their quest to create the ultimate metal band they have assembled a rag tag assortment of some of West

F I E R Y J A C K

T

he Clash and The Corrie combined…..? If that kind of thing that tickles your fancy ??? then you definately need to checkout West Lothian’s very own Fiery Jack.

Named after a song by ‘The Fall’, but don’t let that fool you, the band bring you a full on blast of Scottish patriotism which oozes from every line, of every song they play.

Established in 2000, and having gone through a fair few line up switches through the years, the guys have played all over Scotland and provide a nice range of shows from small intimate acoustic performances through to exciting full on live shows.

To help take things to another level the guys take to the stage in typical; traditional Scottish attire with kilts, Page 4

Technical metal at its very best seems to be the goal with AMD and they satisfy that aspect of their persona very nicely but from the sample tracks I have had the pleasure of listening to they also have a keen ear for a melody and a killer guitar run.

Throw in a wall of keyboards and some pretty sweet drum and bass bodhrans and bags of attitude. Fiery Jack is unique in what they do and no two shows are said to be the same and you can be assured of a very energetic performance.

Giving audiences a taste of high energy Scottish/Celtic traditional and folk tunes mixed with the odd spattering of songs from their favourite artists is what the guys from FJ are all about. Across a typical set list Scottish/Celtic traditional songs like ‘The Battle of Sheriffmuir’ and ‘Bonnie Dundee’ mingle with the more Folky tunes like ‘Dirty Old Town’ and ‘The Wild Rover’. {retty much something for everyone who enjoys a good old traditional knees-up.

The guys have played at some great gigs all over Scotland and come into their own Wduring the many battle commemoration events throughout the country. “We love playing at The Battle of Falkirk commemoration and Culloden and Arbroath especially but also enjoy The St Andrews day parade every year held in Edinburgh and is very close to our hearts” is quoted on their website.

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undertones and you have…. Well… you have something that even a nonmetal head like me can appreciate, Keep it up guys.

AMD have gigged solidly over the past year and promise a live show that you won’t be disappointed in.

The guys have been lucky to play with a few of the local music scene’s stalwarts in Dirty Rose, Lethal Tender and Talisman Rise. On their travels they have also tucked under their belt a support slot with Glasgow’s Electro rockers Xavia AND the guys also played the ‘Scottish School Of Wrestling’ show @ The Attic back in Dec 2010… man would have loved to see that one.

Checkout the AMD guys over @ their web site below. www.facebook.com/amachinedivineuk

Check out Fiery Jack live at the

inaugural ‘West Lothian St Andrews Day Rally’ being held in Armadale on the 26th November 2011 or check their web site for other dates. See the bands Facebook site link below for more details.

WWW.facebook.com/fieryjack1314

MUSIC

C

Feature

apstin Pole have pretty much got it all; a killer look, a cool sound and a bucket load of top notch live appearances up their sleeve.

Consisting of Mikey on vocals, Ringo, who rips killer guitar lines across Rickys’ throbbing Bass grooves held together by Kurts super tight beats on the kit. Completing the line-up and adding even more dimension to CP sound is Fulton on keyboards and Matt on additional percussion.

CAPSTIN POLE freaks only need lean slightly and I’m sure they would get what CP is doing, Indie/Rockers doing the same wouldn’t be disappointed. Its a cool, cool mix and I like it.

Influenced by the likes of KLF and the Rave scene are a given when you listen to a lot of their tracks but I hear them flitting into the Manchester baggie scene of the Stone Roses etc and even bands like XCNN/Tin Star

who are maybe a little more hard rock than these guys but it’s all good.

A quick peek at the guys online presence shows me that the guys seem to keep pretty quiet in the gig front so I’d advise keeping a close eye on their sites for their next show and get there come hell or high water, you defo won’t be disappointed. www.facebook.com/CapstinPole

Coming together these guys are one of the most polished and original unsigned bands I’ve seen in a long while. Their sound crossed 2 very distinct boundaries in that they are not a just typical guitar band but neither are they a typical electro outfit either and sit nicely placed somewhere in the middle. Electro

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MOVIES

NEW RELEASES THIS MONTH IN SELECTED CINEMAS NOW !!!!!

Mr. Popper’s Penguins Sarah’s Key Super 8 The Tree Knuckle The Referees French Cancan The Smurfs The Devil’s Double Aarakshan Rise of the Planet of the Apes The Interrupters The Taqwacores Elite Squad: The Enemy Within Project Nim The Salt of Life Beautiful Lies Cowboys & Aliens Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World The Guard In a Better World The Inbetweeners Movie Villain Glee Live! 3D! Kind Hearts and Coronets One Day Conan the Barbarian The Skin I Live In Le Chat du rabbin Final Destination 5 R: Hit First, Hit Hardest As Blood Runs Deep Powder Bol Bodyguard Some details are subject to change - please check online or with cinema directly for latest information.

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MOVIES

T

Review

he Guard comes across as not your typical cop movie, well, being based in the backwaters of a small Irish community it isn’t really going to be a typical cop movie anyway, but I read somewhere that the movie was more like a ‘neo-noir western’ and to be honest I have to agree.

It’s a, ummm… ok, let’s say it’s a cowboy movie at heart.

The story is set in the countryside around Galway with Brendan Gleeson plays a kind of gritty, dry humour version of John Wayne as his character Sgt Gerry Boyle, a member of the Gardaí (The Irish police force as taken from the saying Garda Síochána na hÉireann or Guardians of the Peace of Ireland) It’s a darkish movie that weighs in with a style of death row wit that has been the mainstay of more recent offerings from across the sea like Perrier’s Bounty or maybe In Bruges (which also both star Mr Gleeson) and although it is missing a little in the sophistication department compared to Bruges it does skilfully capture the kind of strongwilled indifference that only seems to come from living with you glass half full all the time.

Taking its cue from many a rugged hero figure in old school westerns Boyle has simple ethics, and he doesn’t care who knows it, bad is bad and everything else is just the grey areas that don’t really hurt anyone. His mission is to catch

theguard the bad guys and seems happy to let less important petty crime (like the hookers as they do, after all, afford him certain required services) get on with their own lives.

The action kicks up a gear when sophisticated FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) arrives in Galway to take charge of an investigation into transatlantic drug smuggling, they get off to a rather sticky start when Boyle vocally pisses on his presentation. Eventually capping it off with him targeting Everett’s black roots and inferring that he thought that ‘only blacks guys and Mexicans were drug dealers’ and attempting to smooth over his remarks with ‘only having fun, don’t mean anything by it!’

As we get to know Everett we find him to be a pretty distinguished character and thus sets the scene for some morally uneasy US cop/ Gardaí ‘buddy’ moments.

The laughs come in harsh respite to the gruesome murder in the opening scenes of the movie, where we hear the improbable notions of Boyle’s partner on examining the crime scene. This killing eventually gets linked to an imminent delivery of drugs, and after a few failed attempts to get info from locals; Boyle and Everett are forced to join forces and for the most part, try to get along as best they can. There does seem to be a slight understanding between the pair. It soon becomes clear as the story develops that they may actually be the only clean cops in Galway and in the minority when it comes to those in the force who are not raking in backhanders from the local mob and they appear to be a couple

AUG 2011 - issue (8)

of loners on what might be a suicide mission.

Without appearing too nambypamby Cheadle has an ability to look offended at times and Gleeson keeps up the commanding hero persona due to his steadfast idea of sticking to his guns even when his back is against the wall (often played out to a score which does well to capture the essence of those old school westerns). The bad guy responsibilities fall to Mark Strong who does well as the drained mob henchman, he does throw out some post-modern influences and witty one liners, and grumbles about the fact ‘a man’s got to do...’

Set up as a middleman in the murky world of organised crime he does have ideas which may be a little above his station and has grown tired of the responsibilities that his station demands on him. Overall there seems to be an underlying sense that these characters have been pushed into a corner, condemned by then very idea of what they are supposed to be and the thought that they must go through to the end with what they have to do despite how hopeless it might seem.

The movie climax is on one hand inspiring but on the other it’s also ridiculous as Doyle pulls on his famous (or should we say fake?) previous life as an Olympic swimmer. John Michael McDonagh unfortunately fairs less well in bringing his character any kind of depth with the same aptitude. The gently pleasing snippets from the main characters give this movie a flavour of mischief making rather than a completely faceless exercise in trying to blend two distinct genres.

GGG

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MOVIES

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Review

uper 8 is set in 1979 and is a gigantic mash-up of ‘50s sci-fi and late-’70s80’s event movies. The plot revolves around movie buff Charles (Riley Griffiths) and best mate Joe (Joel Courtney), who lead a group of pre-teen kids who love nothing more than dashing about town filming their own zombie flicks on an old Super 8 camera.

Sneaking from their beds to film a night scene at the local train station one night they continue to roll as a US Air Force freight train rumbles through the station and crashes in a ball of flames.

Over the next few days the military starts to arrive in increasing force and slowly take over the town under the command of Colonel Nelec (Noah Emmerich). When asked

by Joe’s dad, Deputy Lamb (Kyle Chandler), regarding the train’s cargo Nelec advises him that there were not any dangerous substances

SUPER 8

or items aboard the train when it crashed.

Around the same time things get really weird; generators and car engines burn out, power cables and microwaves disappear. The town’s dogs strangely decide to up sticks and relocate to neighbouring counties.

The genius behind Super 8’s is none other than Jeffrey Jacob Abrams (Mission Impossible 3, the new Star Trek move and Cloverfield) and is thought to be his kind of “personal project”, much like people say E.T. was to Steven Spielberg, who by the way co-produces Super 8.

If Super 8 is supposed to be JJ’s own memories from his childhood merged with a rollicking monster flick, it is only likely that it would have the same style and feel of an early Spielberg movie such as The Goonies, Close Encounters, E.T., Poltergeist, Gremlins etc. When it comes to the crunch and we get down to the actual suspense aspects of the story he definitely knows where to go, it’s this ability as much as the younger cast members fooling around that stands out during the movies early stages, basically the parts where the being is

A movie with kids, but definately not your typical Sunday afternoon family flick..!!!

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AUG 2011 - issue (8)

hidden from our view are for me the better sections.

When we eventually do get to see it, JJ’s creation is pretty good, maybe too good as you are convinced that the movie was actually filmed back in 1979 and not just based in 1979.

The crisp clean CGI does tend to jar with the overall feel of the movie a little.

The stars of the movie are definitely the kids who, unlike your typical LA brats who inhabit most modern movies, are faultless. Reminiscent somewhat of Spielberg in the earkly days or even beloved 1980s stalwarts Monster Squad and Stand

By Me. These guys are a riot to hang out with, and their heartaches ranging from Joe, who’s mom has recently passed away and the fact that they are all outsiders somehow comes across as pretty candid.

My only cringe worthy moment would be the over emotional finale, the mixture of sentiment and spectacle here harps back to Spielberg at his worst.

One of the films of the summer and will leave 90% of modern blockbusters in its wake.

GGGG

MOVIES Review

H

orror movie directors are a strange breed and only a few can produce the goods over their course of their movies. Take Eli Roth for instance, although only having a short career so far he has produced some recent classics of the genre in Cabin Fever, Hostel and Hostel II. There are others in Rob Zombies’ recent ‘Halloween’ collection, the Spierig brothers with Daybreakers and the Undead. Although a good collection of movies can be picked out they are still firmly in the minority and pretty new and are still growing and testing just how far they can stick their toes in the water with the genre. This brings us to the new offering by Wan ‘Insidious’.

Josh and Renai (Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne) have a family of three children with their eldest being Dalton (Ty Simpkins). The family has just moved into a new house and have not even emptied their moving boxes when peculiar things begin to

ensue.

Things start to move, fall over or generally appear not where they should have been. Then we find odd noises and voices appearing in rooms where the children sleep.

The story is set when one night, Dalton finds himself exploring in the attic and falls and bumps his head.

From the darkness he can sense something not quite right, next we hear a scream and his parents run to see what has happened. They find Dalton fine with just a normal bump on the head, he mentions nothing about why he screamed. The next morning, dad Josh finds Dalton in a comatose state in bed.

The family takes Dalton to the hospital, but despite extensive examination the doctors are at a loss as to why Dalton is unresponsive, they explain to the parents that they can find no valid reason for Josh being in a coma. Months pass and the situation gets no better and Dalton is back at home where he is looked after by his mother and a day nurse.

The mysterious things which had started before Dalton’s accident continue to happen in the house. Doors open, noises and voices still can be heard and apparitions are seen by Renai while Josh is away at work.

The movie kicks into another gear when a red blood handprint appears on Dalton’s bed sheet, seeing this as the last straw the family moves in fear that their house is haunted.

Their new home is no better and we eventually learn that it is their son that seems to be being haunted, not the house. Experts explain that Dalton can astral project himself and he look to have now lost himself in a place known as The Further. His father Josh has equivalent projection talents and under hypnosis attempts to find Dalton and rescue him while various dark elements battle for control of his sons physical body.

The similarities between Insidious and classic 1982’s movie Poltergeist are too alike to ignore; both films have a child involved in paranorAUG 2011 - issue (8)

mal goings-on; both have a psychic expert with assistants who have use strange appliances in an attempt to capture proof of the unknown and let us not forget that both films employ a payoff where a parent must get involved in finding and bring back their child.

Insidious uses great scares and moments of spine-tingling suspense for the most part. The frights come in what actually happens to the family from their point of view I suppose like a more expensive Paranormal Activity shoot with multiple camera and proper direction.

Like so many Stephen King movies it is only in the final resolving of the story that the momentum and on edge moments start to wean. Specifically ‘The Further’ element which seems to really slow the pace of the action down and for me I could easily have been watching something done for college by a student and uploaded to YouTube, the smokey nothingness did seem to reek of running out of a big chunk of budget midway through filming.

Insidious delivers the goods enough to be a recommendation. Wan knows what he is doing; he puts humour in all the right places and doesn’t dumb things down too much for the genre loving audience. resolving of the story that the momentum and on edge moments start to wean. Specifically ‘The Further’ element which seems to really slow the pace of the action down and for me I could easily have been watching something done for college by a student and uploaded to YouTube, the smokey nothingness did seem to reek of running out of a big chunk of budget midway through filming.

Insidious delivers the goods enough to be a recommendation. Wan knows what he is doing, he puts humour in all the right places and doesn’t dumb things down too much for the genre loving audience.

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MOVIES

2

GG QUIZ

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In homage to the invisables creators we have painstakingly removed the actors from these film stills.

Can you guess the movies...???

4

3

5 on Answers ck inside ba page !

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GAMING

Thailand floods cause global hard-drive shortage and inevitable prices hikes.

H

ard-drive prices have skyrocketed, and shortages caused by the Thailand floods in August this year have forced computer makers to raise PC prices by up to 20%.

All of the major online stores have also almost doubled the cost of a typical OEM 2TB Sata drive for normal home consumers. Just before the disaster a Samsung HD204UI Spinpoint F4 2TB OEM Drive retailed at around £55 that same drive can now be seen at a price of over £105.

Analysts expect PC prices to continue rising as the severity of the floods are assessed over the coming months, with prices expected to stabilise as shortages end by the first half of 2012.

Thailand accounts for up to 45% of worldwide hard-drive production and floods have disrupted

production and supply chain operations of key hard-drive makers Western Digital, Seagate and Toshiba.

Causing fewer hard drives to roll out of Thailand and the inevitable price hikes.

The world’s largest PC makers like HP and Dell are feeling a lesser impact as they keep months of harddrive supplies in stock.

Even with this stock hard-drive makers are still shipping the largest volume of units to the largest PC makers to meet their contract commitments, which in turn is hurting normal household customers buying from the open market.

The hard-drive shortage has led to an upsurge in solid-state sales, which have been stable on price.

The price difference between the

GG GAMES CHARTS GG GAMES CHARTS

is not that significant, so more consumers are opting for SSDs which although cannot offer the same low cost mass storage as Sata drives they do offer much greater access speeds. So rather than buy a 2 TB drive gamers are grabbing a 100GB super fast SSD drive and enjoying much better game speeds at the cost of a little more space management until the price of drives come down to reasonable levels again.

The Top 10 games for Playstation, Xbox and PC as voted by GoGuide

The Top 10 games for Playstation, Xbox and PC as voted by GoGuide2

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Theof Elder Scrolls V: The Skyrim Call Juarez: Battlefield 3 Cartel FIFA 12 Forza Dirt 3 Motorsport 4 Batman: Arkham City LAKinect Noire Sports: Season Two Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure FIFA 11 Gears of War 3 RageFitness Trainer UFC

Cars 2 Zumba Fitness Call of Duty: Black Ops Harry Potter: The Deathly Hallows Part 2 Brink

PS3

nFamous 2 Cars 2 Sniper: Ghost Warrior Fight Night Champion Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

X-BOX

PC

no. 10

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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Call ofSims Duty: Modern Warfare 3 The 3: GeneraFootball Manager 2012 tions Battlefield 3 The Sims 3: Pets Football Manager The Sims 3 2011 The Sims 3: Generations Rage The Sims 3 The Sims 3: Late Night LA Noire The Sims: Medieval The Sims 3: Late Night The Witcher 2 StarCraft 2 Portal 2 World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Shogun 2: Total War

PC

no. 13 1 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Theof Elder Scrolls V:The Skyrim Call Juarez: 3 Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception Cartel 4 Battlefield 3 5 FIFA312 Dirt 6 Batman: Arkham City LA Noire 7 Pro Evolution 2012 8 F1 2011 Call of Duty: Black Ops 9 Sonic Generations 10 GoldenEye: Reloaded LittleBigPlanet 2

X-BOX

PS3

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competing storage technologies

GAMING Xbox 720

‘likely’ for E3 2012

+ Crytek confirm TimeSplitters 4 in development for next Xbox and PlayStation.

M

icrosoft is preparing to announce the Xbox 720 as successor to the Xbox 360 at E3 2012, and Crytek is rumoured to already be developing a new title for the next generation console as originally posted by VideoGamer. com.

The Crysis 2 developer says that Microsoft are likely to announce the existence of a new Xbox within the next 12 months and it is thought that they are aiming to beat their rivals Sony to the punch by targeting E3 2012 for the unveil. Crytek is keen to stress that it is also investing resources into next-generation PlayStation development hand in hand with Xbox products.

Hardware setup for the new Microsoft machine has not been completely determined but it is thought that Crytek is using Microsoft’s DirectX 11 as the basis for its on-going development of titles for the platform. DirectX 11 advanced features like Tessellation, multithreaded rendering, and compute shaders are what put it at the forefront. Crytek has invested heavily in DirectX 11 development primarily to focus on the new consoles, with the upcoming DX11 patch for the PC version of Crysis 2 being used internally as a benchmark of anticipated hardware trends.

The VideoGamer.com exclusive was detailed as being provided by a source at Crytek, who also added that the 4th instalment of ‘TimeSplitters’ was currently being demonstrated internally by the company. It is being built with CryEngine 3, and had been shown privately in video form at E3 2011 and is thought to be one of their first potential releases on the new platforms Xbox 720 and Playstation 4.

Free Radical had been developing the 4th in the series of ‘TimeSplitters’ for almost a year when it was bought out by Crytek.

In 2009 the studio was forced into administration following the lacklustre critical and commercial performance of its PS3-exclusive shooter Haze. The Nottinghambased studio was then rebranded as Crytek UK. Since then little information has been released on the title. On August 17 2009, the project had officially been declared as on hold. In an interview, Crytek UK claimed that they would continue the project once there is a high industry demand for such a game. Speculation about TimeSplitters 4 has been running since then.

Younger gamers might not be aware of the TimeSplitters series.

2005’s TimeSplitters: Future Perfect was the last game in the franchise with the highlight of being 2002’s TimeSplitters 2.

Crytek UK’s last job was to handle the multiplayer portion of Crysis 2 Original Source: www.VideoGamer.com

The ‘XBOX 720’ Unofficial Concepts

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GAMING Review

Deus Ex: Human Revolution completely blew my mind, I had no idea that this game would be so… WOW! At first I wasn’t going to buy this, it really didn’t look like my type of game, I had considered renting it, but other games had crossed my mind. But with a few encouragements and an epic cinematic trailer, I decided to give it go and what a treat I was in for.

The game is set in the year 2027, where society has been growing into a new era of transhuminism and Augmentation of the human body.

You play as Adam Jensen, an ex-S.W.A.T. member and now head of security at Sarif Industries, one of the main corporations that indulge and specialize in Augmentations. These include a range from artificial limbs to neural implants that can increase a person’s skill for example, to drive better or fly a plane better. At the beginning Sarif Industries is attacked by unknown group that also kidnaps Adams love interest Megan whom was also on the verge of a major breakthrough for Augmentation.

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Deus E Adam becomes critically injured during the attack and must undergo through multiple body augmentations to survive and begin his search for Megan and the terrorist group responsible for the attack.

The story is Deus Ex: Human Revolution is overwhelmingly good and along with the plot it was amazing, the use of RPG elements and the environment was used very well, the fact that the side missions you can do and how you accomplish them it will effect how people react to you and effects your surroundings, AI you chat to will comment to you about how you handled the situation either bad or good. Free roaming elements took place as well adding more levels of interactivity, you can walk around Detroit and see how the public thinks and you can also see how Augmentation is affecting society. There’s also multiple hidden paths or unique paths that you can take in order to get to your goal, for some paths though you will need certain Augmentation upgrades just to go that way for example this path includes a breakable wall or high drop, you’ll need upgrades that allow you to punch throw walls or gravitational defying AUG 2011 - issue (8)

Human

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is pheric adventure that keeps y

Ex:

Revolution

s an engrossing and atmosyou guessing throughout.

energy that stops damage from a high fall.

There many ways that you can play Deus Ex: Human Revolution including multiple endings, for instance you can go guns blazing, terminator style or you can go stealth, metal gear solid style. Either way the game is equally fun with so many upgrades not just for your character but for also you weapons, you equipped silencers, scopes, increase ammo capacity or increase weapon damage. If your not very good at stealth but like it there’s many Augmentations that increase stealth like silent movement even to a cloaking yourself, or if your for combat then there’s Augmentations for reduce recoil and increase the durability of your armour. The game really does focus on 1st person but also has some 3rd person elements to it as well, like when you go into cover or take someone out with your melee combat augmentations just to show how bad ass Adam is.

Only one or two issues I AUG 2011 - issue (8)

had with Deus Ex: Human Revolution. I thought that the melee combat could have had a little more flow to it rather than it seeming it was cut scene. The other was like most RPG’s you can continue to play after you have completed it but unfortunately that’s not the case for Human Revolution, but I suppose you could look at that and say well that way it wont carry on and begin to get boring.

Graphics wise, it equally matches and reflexes the game with a sharp, slick style. Deus Ex: Human Revolution is definitely a sleeper game and possibly the sleeper game of 2011 where the game is amazing but didn’t get much of a hype like Modern Warfare or Uncharted so therefore not much people are expected to play it, but Human Revolution is definitely worth it, especially for gamers that love a good, in-depth storyline and plot to go along with it.

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GAMING

T

Review

ropico 4 places you smack bang in control of your very own banana republic; although unlike previous games this stint will see you constructing an empire and not just a one-island populace.

The campaign involves a collection of 20 missions spread across different islands, with interludes noting your grand plan of constructing an empire island by island. Each island has its own structure and natural resources available and they all come with their very own unique set of challenges. The challenges are wide-ranging and full of entertaining references. One enjoyable missions at the start of the game involves you being tasked with succeeding in breaking five world records, starting with growing the world’s largest Papaya.

As your first farms begin to bear fruit and are being occupied by your growing labour force, a woman informs you that the challenge is basically down the drain as the people have begun fighting over it and that there is a threat to radically drive up the cost of building supplies on your island if you keep going. Fortunately, your right hand man Penultimo pops up and lets you know that you should perhaps not take her too seriously.

All missions rely heavily on building your economy with one in particular influencing you into the tourism

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TROPICO 4 route, and others pushing you more to mine all the resources out of your island or to build particular structures that you might never have thought of building without these particular incentives. Other trials include resolving clashes between rival divisions on the islands where pleasing one will cause the other to rise up against you and in the end eventually lose any respect they had for you.

Tropical islands at first can appear beautiful, but they also prove to be a little hazardous. Natural disasters regularly wreak havoc across your well looked after islands causing an assortment of outcomes. A venting volcano for instance will cause your buildings to burst into flames, which will leave you with no choice but to call the expensive helicopter to hopefully put out the fire, or you can choose to your own fire stations manned with heroic islanders ready to douse any blazes as they crop up. Another disaster sees a tsunami washing away your buildings rendering them in need of repair, environmental disasters can see ships tossed onto your beaches just where your new hotels might have been drawing bucket loads of well off tourists and dashing any hopes of using that particular purpose as its beauty is well and truly reduced.

As well as Russia and America, El Presidente now finds he has to keep up a good relationship with all the other large governments or organisations out there like say the EU and China. This brings in an interesting area where you have the power to appoint ministers to look after the six main areas of government. You can bring these ministers on board

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from either your own group of employees or you can employ a skilled foreigner when no workers are available for you to use, or maybe just not qualified for the job. The prime reason for have a minister is that you can unlock the capacity to give decrees in his/her region of expertise. However ministers do have their own lives too and will casually get themselves into bother but a good one will help run you islands much better.

Technically, the game played pretty well and although stable for the most part it is not completely immune to the odd bug or two. I only came across one, but it was a particularly nasty one where no new immigrants arrived on the island.

As it takes a long time for your own population to provide enough people for your workforce, and college graduates in particular, it became a real challenge to fulfil my goals. I decided to keep playing and treated it as my own ‘extra’ mission and try to overcome the challenge. I did finish but with an island that wasn’t a particularly successful campaign I had done but it was amusing to play.

If you wanted to quantify the game in fun terms then Tropico 4 I suppose would not really disappoint anyone. The campaign mode can be very enjoyable, the radio running bulletins on various new events occurring on the island are fun to listen to and having tweaked several areas compared to the original Tropico formula you are pretty much guaranteed to keep you stuck to your PC screen for days, if not weeks.

GG

GAMING Review

D

river San Francisco sees a return to the title’s roots as like the first Driver game you never get to leave the car. In a way I suppose that is a good thing as their developers never truly got the shooting element quite right.

However, the method the game uses when changing cars is, on the other hand, quite ingenious.

The in game story surrounds John Tanner, the hero from Driver 3, who lies in a coma after a battle with Jericho. The twist being that practically all of the action takes place in Tanner’s head while he is comatose in his hospital bed where he is repeatedly pitted against an imaginary

villain.

In his head Tanner has had a lucky escape. He appears unharmed, and is suddenly instructed by various billboards to help the people of ‘Frisco. At this point he soon finds he has strange magical powers; He can perform an elasticated ram attack; He can boost; he can astral project to a plan view of the city; he can take control of any car he likes.

So, his new ‘head’ life revolves around possessing various people in need of help, assisting with their problems and thus his brain. Completing these missions unlock story missions.

The game developers Reflections have done a remarkable job with this game as there isn’t really a massive amount of things that you can do while driving a car really fast.

They have managed to ensure that the various missions do have a fair deal of variety.

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The game is pretty easy to get to grips with and the coma story progresses with some real imagination.

It doesn’t demand massive amounts of brain power so just enjoy the ride and the senseless fun of the driving and shifting.

Using your newly acquired powers various races can be won more easily by say taking control of an oncoming traffic vehicle and proceeding to crash into your opponents.

I like the fact that this game doesn’t take itself too seriously and if you don’t mind the insane American TV’esque “Previously, on Driver San Francisco” cut scenes, and enjoy the character banter with the right mind-set, Driver will charm the pants off of you, It’s just a bit of fun after all.

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MOVIES

ANSWERS

GG QUIZ

1

Bedtime Story

2

d Be Kind Rewin

3

Juno

4

300

5

You Don’t Mess with the Zohan

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AUG 2011 - issue (8)

CLASSIC MOVIE POSTERS 101

The Blob was an independently made 1958 American horror/science-fiction film that depicts a giant amoeba-like alien that terrorizes the small community of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. In the style of American International Pictures, Paramount Pictures released the film as a double feature with ‘I Married a Monster from Outer Space’. It also has 2 sequels and a prequel but “the blob” is the original created in 1958

The film was Steve McQueen’s debut leading role, and also starred Aneta Corsaut. The film’s tongue-incheek theme song, “Beware of the Blob”, was written by Burt Bacharach and Mack David and became a nationwide hit in the U.S. It was recorded by studio group the Five Blobs - actually singer Bernie Nee overdubbing himself.

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