NEXT GEN CONSOLES

[modey]

Little big planet is now only £12.99 @ play.com Clicky

Bargain and a must have game for ps3 owners

[Jaybles]

im lieutenant also, its the most online fun ive had since cod4.

ive got extra grenades also, which badges do you need for extra ammo?

i also have extra points per bodycount kill.

Edited March 3, 2009 by Jaybles

[rhysieg]

i have around 4 good conduct ribbons, i should have the medal by now but i keep cooking grenades too long

i wouldent touch custom soundtrack on killzone, probably ruin the atmosphere. custom soundtrack on wipeout is brilliant though

[rhysieg]

logged in online on killzone today and got a medal for being in the top 10% of players last week, it earned me a trophy. so jaybles you will get it and possibly the top 6% one aswell.

[Langdale Wolf]

Little big planet is now only £12.99 @ play.com Clicky

Bargain and a must have game for ps3 owners

[Halcyon]

I've been sucked back into GTA IV over the last couple of days due to the dlc. Might just be that I'm incredibly rusty at it, but it seems a lot harder than it used to be (which is good). Nice cross over mission with Niko too.... I always did wonder what happened to that guy. I'm assuming there will be a few other crossing of paths to come too.

Opened up the gang warfare bit last night, which was my favourite bit of San Andreas; so looking forward to trying that.

Anyone else tried it?

[Langdale Wolf]

I've been sucked back into GTA IV over the last couple of days due to the dlc. Might just be that I'm incredibly rusty at it, but it seems a lot harder than it used to be (which is good). Nice cross over mission with Niko too.... I always did wonder what happened to that guy. I'm assuming there will be a few other crossing of paths to come too.

Opened up the gang warfare bit last night, which was my favourite bit of San Andreas; so looking forward to trying that.

Anyone else tried it?

[Jaybles]

logged in online on killzone today and got a medal for being in the top 10% of players last week, it earned me a trophy. so jaybles you will get it and possibly the top 6% one aswell.

[Halcyon]

How much is the DLC?

Still got LOADS to do in the main game - I've only just unlocked the 3rd island. By the time I've finished, I'm hoping it might have come down enough in price to warrant buying it.

[Jaybles]

The way I see it... Microsoft did us a favour by investing so heavily in dlc for gta iv, so to get them to continue doing that in the future it needs the support of the players.

[Leprekorn]

50 millions wasnt it?

All just to keep it exclusive.

Rockstar obviously have invested that money well in this expansion, but at the same time i doubt they were lacking money to be able to publish the dlc for both consoles.

I think the 50 million was just enough to convince rockstar not to do it on the ps3.

That seems to be microsofts strategy this generation, throw money at everything

[Langdale Wolf]

Don't start another fanboy debate, eh?

On another GTA IV note, my 12 year old cousin has just got it and has been playin on line with it. Whenever he gets a new game, I get a message via xbox live saying 'I have x - wanna play?' and he's done it with GTA.

Now, I'm not a total killjoy, but I know my auntie has NO idea about the content of the game. If she did, there's no way she'd let my cousin play it. We're not talking a few games of Pro Evo here, are we?

I'm not going to play this with him, if he were my son, I'd ban him from it. I don't think it's suitable for a 12 year old. I think most games get unfair media coverage (especially from people who have never played them) but GTA IV is an '18' for a reason. It's violent, and a game for adults.

Why do kids get these games? Probably because I think the public are way too ignorant about games these days. My auntie (bless her) is a really good mum to my cousin and I know for a fact that she would never have bought it for him as she'd have read up on it at the vert least. I feel for her, as it makes her look like a bit of a shit parent. but knowing my cousin, he'll have asked a mate from school to get it for him.

Do I tell her and risk losing the respect of my cousin who - apparently - is quite shy and withdrawn?

Or do I give him a bit of friendly advice saying 'you shouldn't be playing that - I'm not going to play that with you.'?

I think I'll do the latter but it's a bit of an awkward situation.

Kids, eh?

[rhysieg]

i can see your point that he shouldent be playing such a violent game, but is it really doing him any harm? ive been playing violent games for years and its had no bad effect on me. (ive always had access to violent games due to having a brother 10 years older than me)

just had a blast on dead space, wanting to complete it so i can focus on killzone. just killed that huge boss and finished chapter 6, anybody know if im near the end?

[Langdale Wolf]

i can see your point that he shouldent be playing such a violent game, but is it really doing him any harm? ive been playing violent games for years and its had no bad effect on me. (ive always had access to violent games due to having a brother 10 years older than me)

[rhysieg]

ahh ok, i thought you bordering on the stupid argument of young people playing violent games will turn them into a violent criminal. but your definately right about gta, no young people should really be playing, but i think its mostly younger people who play these games. back when i was at school nearly everybody had gta3, vice city etc.

Edited March 3, 2009 by rhysieg

[Purple Monkey]

ahh ok, i thought you bordering on the stupid argument of young people playing violent games will turn them into a violent criminal. but your definately right about gta, no young people should really be playing, but i think its mostly younger people who play these games. back when i was at school nearly everybody had gta3, vice city etc.

Edited March 3, 2009 by Purple Monkey

[Langdale Wolf]

ahh ok, i thought you bordering on the stupid argument of young people playing violent games will turn them into a violent criminal. but your definately right about gta, no young people should really be playing, but i think its mostly younger people who play these games. back when i was at school nearly everybody had gta3, vice city etc.

Edited March 3, 2009 by Langdale Wolf

[Purple Monkey]

Like I said, if actual kids games weren't so shit, they'd be playing them. Instead they're latching onto the games made for the grown-ups, because they're generally of a much higher quality.

Proper, grown up adult games (your Halos, your GTAs etc) are generally longer, have more features and longevity - so that baffles me greatly, as adults generally don't have that time to get the most out of the game - but kids do. So why actual kids games are short, fleeting experiences is beyond me.

The only one to have nailled that perfect fun factor and depth were the recent Lego games. Decent gameplay, fun puzzle elements, but also take a while to fully complete.

Wii Sports insults peoples intelligence. It's just some tech demo that people seem to love because its the easiest game in the world to play and defeat. I'd rather my kid played GTA than that rubbish.

Edited March 3, 2009 by Purple Monkey

[Langdale Wolf]

I actually believe it's simply more about the percieved freedom in the game. The guns and the violence and the edgy nature of the game acts as merely a hook to get you interested. I also believe most kids understand the difference between what is real and what is false, what is right or wrong, those morals come from elsewhere - to suggest that any sort of media is affecting a child shows a distinct lack of influence from key players i.e. schools and parents.

Also, the reason most kids play GTA is because they are actually quite discerning little people despite our recent obsession in the cotton wool culture. They actually want good video games to play, simple as that. The problem with the industry is that it patronises and does the politically correct thing of giving PARENTs the types of "kid-freindly" game they feel suitable for kids, and that often means the game experienece is heavily compromised to meet all of these standards until you end up with a totally inoffensive, boring, dull game, that pleases the parent, but the kid can't be arsed with for more than five minutes. Kids don't want to play that shit, they know when they're being looked down on. Kids play in trees and smash their face on their handlebars, that's what they do - so why would they play some boring patronising cartoon videogame that just insults them?

[Langdale Wolf]

Like I said, if actual kids games weren't so shit, they'd be playing them. Instead they're latching onto the games made for the grown-ups, because they're generally of a much higher quality.

Like I said - I think the target audience for games is older than it used to be. Not saying that's the right thing to do, but that's the way it is. Look at the xbox live top 10 games - except maybe your PES and FIFA games, they're pretty much all geared to the 20 or 30-somethings out there - shooters mainly.

Proper, grown up adult games (your Halos, your GTAs etc) are generally longer, have more features and longevity - so that baffles me greatly, as adults generally don't have that time to get the most out of the game - but kids do. So why actual kids games are short, fleeting experiences is beyond me.

The only one to have nailled that perfect fun factor and depth were the recent Lego games. Decent gameplay, fun puzzle elements, but also take a while to fully complete.

Really good point. I'd add Mario games to that list as well, but I can't disagree with this.

Wii Sports insults peoples intelligence. It's just some tech demo that people seem to love because its the easiest game in the world to play and defeat. I'd rather my kid played GTA than that rubbish.

I see where you're coming from here. It's okay, but the novelty soon wears off. Good for a piss up with mates, but I haven't touched it in ages as the Wii is gathering dust.

Edited March 3, 2009 by Langdale Wolf

[jammy2211]

The problem for kids games now is the westernification of games developement.

When I think back to when I was a kid, my first three consoles were the SNES, N64 and PlayStation. All the great games I played were made by Japanese developers, and the Japanese developement ethic was always to make a great game for 'everyone' and it'll sell. This meant me and all my mates grew up on games which while suitable to kids (and everyone), had tons of depth and meaning - Zeldas, Marios, Pokemons, Final Fantasies, Resident Evils, Metal Gear Solid, Secret Of etc.

Anyway at some point between the release of the PS2 and Microsoft entering the console race all of a sudden the Japanese developers saw their games lose popularity and the western developement take over the forefront of video games. It became the EA sports generation, the GTA generation, the Halo generation etc.

And once the American-developement ethic is the primary ethic you get all the American corporate bullshit with it. Every game has a demographic, and if you're making a game for kids, you follow the cliches of the kids demographic. Which generally involves making some lifeless game based off of Ben-10 or Spongebob Squarepants and putting some adverts for it during Saturday morning TV. Kids want it cause they don't know better, and their parents don't have a clue either.

This western-lead developement has other consequences all around us too now - Resident Evil has become a shooter, Final Fantasy XII got rid of turn-based combat to try and appeal to the west further, MGS4 had a first person shooter view and we pretty much see next to no RPG's on consoles nowadays, outside a Final Fantasy every 5 years.

It really sucks to be a kid playing video games now.

Think I might write something about this for my press job thingy... hmm.

[Langdale Wolf]

Good post, jammy.

[rhysieg]

Final Fantasy XII got rid of turn-based combat to try and appeal to the west further, we pretty much see next to no RPG's on consoles nowadays, outside a Final Fantasy every 5 years.

[Halcyon]

The problem for kids games now is the westernification of games developement.

When I think back to when I was a kid, my first three consoles were the SNES, N64 and PlayStation. All the great games I played were made by Japanese developers, and the Japanese developement ethic was always to make a great game for 'everyone' and it'll sell. This meant me and all my mates grew up on games which while suitable to kids (and everyone), had tons of depth and meaning - Zeldas, Marios, Pokemons, Final Fantasies, Resident Evils, Metal Gear Solid, Secret Of etc.

Anyway at some point between the release of the PS2 and Microsoft entering the console race all of a sudden the Japanese developers saw their games lose popularity and the western developement take over the forefront of video games. It became the EA sports generation, the GTA generation, the Halo generation etc.

And once the American-developement ethic is the primary ethic you get all the American corporate bullshit with it. Every game has a demographic, and if you're making a game for kids, you follow the cliches of the kids demographic. Which generally involves making some lifeless game based off of Ben-10 or Spongebob Squarepants and putting some adverts for it during Saturday morning TV. Kids want it cause they don't know better, and their parents don't have a clue either.

This western-lead developement has other consequences all around us too now - Resident Evil has become a shooter, Final Fantasy XII got rid of turn-based combat to try and appeal to the west further, MGS4 had a first person shooter view and we pretty much see next to no RPG's on consoles nowadays, outside a Final Fantasy every 5 years.

It really sucks to be a kid playing video games now.

Think I might write something about this for my press job thingy... hmm.

[jacketspud]

Hi - so much for my Wii lasting 3 years - its gone and broke - the disk drive bit - guess - it has had quite a bit of use. Where is the best place to get it fix - do shops do it like Game fix them or do I have to send it off to Nintendo? they charge about £70 I think