Latest Articles (Page 2914)

Exhibit A

Does anyone still care who would win in a fight out of Aliens and Predator? They should stop churning out these films and diversify, perhaps with a six-part BBC1 sit-com. Imagine the pitch: "Ian Predator and Steve Aliens are two neighbours from very different backgrounds. They get on like chalk and cheese, but they learn to tolerate each other's differences through a series of hilarious misunderstandings." Sort of like Love Thy Neighbour. Hang on, that's the racist one. More like To the Manor Born.

I was a fan of the original SOCOM, not so much for the single-player game - although the voice recognition was cool - but for the online experience. I spent even more hours playing SOCOM II online, but by the time the third game was released, the novelty had worn off.

No one would suggest reviewing games is ever as unpleasant as working in a coal mine or an abattoir or a Wetherspoons, but there are still days you want to have a little cry. Days when you've got to review your fifth mini-game collection in as many weeks. Days when the press release for the game includes the word "whimsical" and the phrase "crazier than ever" (twice). Days when the game says "Mario Party" on the box.

With the veritable cornucopia of fantastic games which have landed on our laps in the last three or four months, it's easy sometimes to forget that the first half of 2007 was no slouch in gaming terms either. For many, the highlight of the early months of the year was Final Fantasy XII - Square Enix's triumphant return to its best-loved RPG franchise, and to the fascinating world of Ivalice.

Front Mission on the DS is pretty much exactly the same game as Front Mission on the SNES. Which, since it wasn't ever released in Europe, might not mean much to you unless you're the sort of hardened import gamer for whom only kanji will suffice. So, just in case you aren't, it means this: it's a turn-based strategy game in which squads of bipedal metal robots wander across isometric landscapes and fight each other with guns. And the robots are called wanzers. Snigger.

Not much to talk about this week, I'm afraid, so bear with me while I do a little editorialising.

Nobody does demos quite like Polyphony Digital. There are times, in fact, when it feels like Sony's celebrated racing studio has given up on making games entirely in favour of turning out an endless series of demos - drawn in, perhaps, by the allure of offering up games in bite-sized chunks rather than preparing three-course feasts.

Sony has said the US will be able to find itself this spring by using the snazzy Go! Explore GPS package for PSP. We are still waiting for clarification over European plans.

ONLY WAR. Man, I never get tired of saying that. There's something inherently hilarious about Warhammer 40,000's knowingly twisted take on masculinity. "In the grim darkness of the future there is only war." ONLY WAR. Now that's selling your idea in a single sentence. No love. No talk. No morality. No nice sit down and a cup of tea. ONLY WAR.

Sony has unveiled a fancy new 16GB Memory Stick PRO Duo, which is good news for those of you who like to store a lot of save game files wink wink for use on your PSP.

Although their existence won't come as a surprise to anyone, Microsoft has announced the names of a few upcoming games that have found their way into the Games for Windows line-up.

The upcoming Xbox Live Arcade version of Rez - called Rez HD - will not be compatible with the legendary USB trance vibrator peripheral, but don't be too downhearted (or in this case flaccid).

Electronic Arts' FIFA 08 as started the new year as the number one game in the UK.

Microsoft has spread clarity on our toast and told us Tron and Omega Five will be on Live Arcade tomorrow.

Sony's Kaz Hirai has said that the company hopes the next fiscal year will see the PlayStation 3 console business achieve a profit, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

Square Enix's president Yoichi Wada thinks that Europe has great potential for growth and wants his company to be stronger in that market.

Ubisoft is to include Philips' amBX tech in some of its major upcoming titles, confirming today at Las Vegas’ CES that Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway and Far Cry 2 will both feature support for the ambient product.

Those of you with sneaky eyes will have noticed two fresh samplers for Yakuza 3 on the Japanese PlayStation Store.

Despite weeks of tireless speculation about the possibility of major gaming announcements from Microsoft at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this year, company head Bill Gates and other senior executives focused on other subjects for the Microsoft chairman's swan song performance, including little related to gaming and favouring rhetoric over real substance.

Majesco has come up with a bizarre idea to let you build your own house using the Wii.

Konami has revealed a fancy new Yu-Gi-Oh! card battling game for DS due out this March.

Microsoft has distanced itself from rumours that a game for the next next next next next generation of Xbox is already being worked on.

SEGA has said it will furnish Live Marketplace with The Club demo tomorrow.

Microsoft has skirted speculation that Rare is working on a Live Arcade game called The Fast & The Furriest by making no sounds shaped like comments.

Angry Texans have marched to court and filed a lawsuit against Microsoft for its shoddy Live performance over Christmas.

Sony says more MotorStorm tracks will populate the PlayStation Store this month, and we're convinced.

Nintendo has explained how Professor Kageyama's Maths Training will work when it's released on DS next month. Result! Or "solution", probably.

Eidos has strained a PC demo for Kane & Lynch into the Internet cup.

Details of the Lost Videogame have popped up after people who could be bothered to sit through all the tedium of the Season 3 box set unearthed a preview video on one of the extras DVDs.