What I want to see in Grand Theft Auto V

With the Grand Theft Auto V release date not far around the corner I have recently been replaying number four to get back into the swing of things.  Whilst playing I have noticed there are a few minor things that I'm hoping will be fixed/removed in GTA V.  There are probably a whole tonne of things that I could pick apart about the game because in all honesty it's pretty pants when you get down to it.  Obviously the game was never going to be perfect or match San Andreas because this it was very much a return to the days of GTA 3.  The game world is back in Liberty City, it's the first game on the then new console and Rockstar didn't quite know the full extent of the system and how to work with it.  GTA 3 was an awesome game but as the PS2's life cycle went on Rockstar figured out the full potential of the console and thus after Vice City, San Andreas was born and was subsequently huge in comparison.

I'm rambling now and should get back to point with the post, so without further ado here are 3 things that I would like to see fixed or removed in Grand Theft Auto V.


#1 - Jumping

Now I'm not saying jumping should be removed but the jumping in GTA IV was so slow,  vaulting an object seemed to take ages and hampered some chase sequences in my opinion.  I'm not saying that I want to see Trevor, Michael and Franklin free-running around the place because that would be ridiculous.  All I want to see is a more fluid jumping/vaulting animation to make chase sequences flow a bit more.


#2 - Taxi's

Next up is Taxi's.  When I first played GTA IV I thought the ability to hail a cab and take a ride anywhere was a good idea, I have however since changed my mind.  I understand why a fast travel option was put in the game and I'm not going to lie I use it alot, not just in GTA but in games like Skyrim.  My reason for not liking it is that it takes away from all the details and little bits that you miss when you fast travel.  It's a be lazy option and I'm just as guilty for using it but with the sheer size and scope of the detail in the GTA V world, we could do without it.  As an example in Vice City I knew all the roads, where they went and the quickest routes to almost anything whereas in number IV I know nothing due to being lazy and abusing the Taxi's.


#3 - Vehicle Spawning

This next one is the bane of my Grand Theft Auto life and has plagued me ever since the days of Grand Theft Auto 3 and even though I'd love to see it fixed I have a feeling that it will haunt me forever.  Basically it's when you are driving along and there is nothing in-front of you, you have a quick check behind and suddenly a huge dump-truck, a police car or even a massive queue of traffic has spawned in-front of you.  I don't think I can recall a single thing about a game that has irritated and enraged me more than this over the course of my gaming years.  I'm not even sure if this can be fixed in the confines of how the game engine/spawn system works but I surely hope it can be.  I know some people will be thinking; "don't look behind you and the problem is fixed".  This however is easier said than done because during a chase I will look behind me to see where people are and how close they are, and this is something I have done ever since I started playing racing games.  It serves me well in racing games but in Grand Theft Auto is screws me so badly that I need soothing ointment and a weeks bed-rest.

If Rockstar can change/fix one thing then I hope it's the vehicle spawns because as much as I'd like to see the others changed I could live with them if it meant that everytime I checked my rear-view mirror I wasn't greeted by a massive car pile-up or my head through the windscreen when I look back in-front.

The future for Microsoft

It's been a busy past few weeks for the folks over there at Microsoft, what with E3 conference, the huge backlash, getting wiped all over the floor by Sony and big U-turn on their used game and online check-in policies.

There has been lots of talk on the interwebs about the whole situation but I'm not going to go into detail because I'll be here forever and I've seen that a few people have changed their minds about what console they are going to pre-order now. I personally am still pre-ordering the PlayStation 4 because I've lost trust in Microsoft and a company that were so actively looking to shaft consumers to begin with.  I understand that money is needed to survive when you release a product but there is a difference between making money and rinsing consumers for every possible penny.  To me it seems that Microsoft only care about the money and not what the gamers want; a games console.

I've also seen some people defending the used game policy of Xbox One by comparing it to Steam, and the fact that you can't trade-in the games you purchase off there.  I don't think you can compare the two because Steam is PC gaming and downloads only.  If you download a digital version of a game off of Steam with the expectation that you can trade it in then you sir are a moron.  Needless to say I'm getting off point and must get back to the original reason of this post.

All this talk and the U-turn has left me wondering what the future holds for Microsoft, not so much the next few years but beyond that and the time after Xbox One.

I don't see Microsoft giving up the potential money making opportunities of putting the used game market out of business.  I can see that something similar will return in the distant future and have a very strong gut feeling that the next console they work on will be download only (like Steam).  It is the only sure fire way to get rid of trade-ins altogether in one big swoop and I feel that this will happen at some point.  Whether or not the generation after the Xbox One and PS4 will be consoles as we know them now is something I'm unsure of, but I am confident that the next few years at Microsoft's research/development team will be based primarily on new ways to bypass the used game market and other ways to make more money without seeming like a complete bunch of money hungry arseholes.

I know that this is very, very early days to be talking about things like this when the Xbox One isn't even out yet but it's something that has been rumbling around in my head for the past few days and I felt that I needed to share it.  Let me know what you think either in the comments below or via the Twitter button in the top right.

Xbox One Reveal: Thoughts

Today saw the the new Xbox revealed to the world after months of speculation, "leaked" information and shady pictures.  We now know what it looks like (unlike the PlayStation 4, aye Sony), a general release time (later this year), a look at some of the features of the console and the hardware specifications.

Firstly I would like to make something very clear; I don't fully understand all the Hardware Specification mumbo-jumbo. I know how to use a computer and I have a basic level knowledge of what everything means in a computer. HOWEVER when it comes to gaming consoles I couldn't care less if you had tiny little miniaturized people running the thing or hardware in your console that so powerful it could break a hole in the time-space continuum. All I care about is these simple things:

• Does it look better
• Are the loading screens either gone or quicker
• Is there room for bigger and better games in general.
• Is there enough space for my game saves, demos and updates.

That is more or less all I care about when it comes to a new console, and all your technical words, processors and RAM means jackshit to me.  Obviously I'm drifting off topic so I will get back on track and say that all the video of games that I saw on the reveal looked awesome and loads better than the current gen, minus the EA section where people looked a little rubbery to me.

As we are on the games section there were a few games shown at the reveal; Call of Duty Ghosts, Forza 5, the usual yearly EA suspects of FIFA, NFL etc, and new game Quantum Break to name all the games shown.  Seriously for a big huge hyped reveal that had 4 games if you include the EA collection as one.

So there was a fair amount of the time of the reveal spent on explaining how Xbox One can work with your TV, how it is a complete entertainment unit and not just a games console. How you can talk to it and it recognizes your face and voice thanks to the new Kinect. Talking about how you will have a relationship with your Xbox, cue all the loons and the episode of the talk show: "My partner left me to marry his Xbox".
There was a lot of chat about the new partnerships with the NFL and how your 

be totally up to date, by the minute, with your fantasy teams across multiple sports (all American of course).

Essentially there were just talking bollocks for most of it, telling you that your games console is no longer a games console and is so much more now.  It's a TV box, it's a Blu-ray and DVD player, it's a music player, it can browse the internet and it can cook Bacon faster than a grilling machine. OK I made that last bit up.
I really couldn't give a flying monkeys left nut if it has all those features because I like most people have a computer that can do all those things. Admittedly having Netflix or BBC iPlayer on their is handy but it's not the end of the world or a selling point to me. Because do you know what I really want??

A GAMES CONSOLE!!!

I want something to play games on that maybe has some cool features within the gaming section. I want awesome games that will whittle away the hours of my exceedingly boring and wasted life.  I want to play games with a controller, the way it's always been and not by doing movements or talking to the big huge box sat on my living room unit.  I want something that can play games of amazing quality and that is what sells a new console to me.

I surely can't be the only one out there who feels this way?

The Tomb Raider Problem

Recently I purchased the new Tomb Raider game having heard many good things about the game via reviews and word of mouth.  I initially gave it a few days before starting the single player campaign so that I could fully commit to it without being distracted by things I had to do on other games or to a lesser extent, my life.

Once started though I found the campaign extremely difficult thing to stop player, a testament to this being the first evening where it took me after 5 hours of playing to finally turn it off to get sleep.  The game looks amazing, the story draws you in and makes you want to keep playing to find out how Lara actually gets off the island, and the gameplay is as good as Tomb Raider has ever been.  I would wholly recommend this game to anyone who loved the original Tomb Raider games, and also to anyone who loves a good adventure game.  As with all good games it has it's downsides; the overall story is quite short considering the pure brilliance of the story and the other one being collectibles.  This however is a personal preference because I much prefer to play a storyline rather than spend my free time looking for obscure pointless things that are hidden around the world.  You can always extend the story playing time by hunting the collectibles during the story but I get to distracted by my quest/goal to easily.

The single player is brilliant however I have reached a major problem with the game; the as titled 'Tomb Raider Problem'.

The problem is the second half of the game; the multiplayer.  I can only point blame to the huge successes of games like Call of Duty and Halo that have made the gaming industry think that almost every game has to have online multiplayer.  It's my own personal opinion, and from what I've read from general consensus, that the multiplayer is shockingly terrible and a pointless addition to the game.  To me Tomb Raider has always been a single player game and not a game where I thought the ability to play against each other is what the game was missing.

Even though the online multiplayer has put a massive dent in the game, it has shifted over 3 million copies since release which is a reasonably solid display.  Square Enix however have seen this as a failure compared that their financial expectations for the game.  I get the feeling that if Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics had got rid of the multiplayer and instead concentrated on the single player then they could have sold so many more copies of the game.  If they had invested all that time on extending the single player campaign, enriching the experience even more then this new revamp of the series would have been a phenomenal success.

The issue is that everything has to have multiplayer nowadays and too many games companies can't just plan for a totally single player game.  The companies are too focused on trying to achieve sales of Call of Duty's magnitude to not realise that there is still a big market for good, solid single player games.  You only have to look at games like Skyrim, Fallout 3 and the Arkham series of Batman games to show you that totally single player games still have a place in the gaming world.

I still hold a considerable amount of hope that the generalised collection of games companies will realise that online multiplayer isn't required in every single game, and that they lower their expectations and stop striving for sales figures that are ridiculously high.  But maybe that is a fools hope.

The PS4 has been revealed!

So the new PlayStation 4 has been revealed, to an extent anyway. While we now now what the new features added into this new console will be and an idea of what the games will look like we still are none the wiser as to what the console itself will look like.

So the emphasis on this new next gen console would be appear to be on the social aspect of gaming and instant gaming.  New features include the ability to instantly share screenshots or video of games you are currently playing by the use of the 'Share' button on the new controller.  You are also able to watch what your friends are playing, live, and to message you friends with helpful tips of how to get through tricky parts of the game they may be stuck on.  This isn't all though, you see with the PS4 you can now remotely control your friends game from your console and do those tricky parts that they just can't seem to do.  The console and network itself is being made to incorporate social network sites like Facebook to make sharing your progress or game stats that much quicker and easier.

Also revealed was the ability to use the PlayStation Vita as a second screen to play your PS4 games on (much like the Wii U and what Sony tried to do with the PS3/PSP).  It looks good and providing it works with the majority if not all games then I can see this feature having a knock on effect on the sales of the Vita.

There are cool features like the "suspend mode" which allows you to turn off and then turn on the console and pick up exactly where you left off, without having to reload the game.  Gaikai cloud system that allows you to play a chunk of any game that catches your eye on the store. And there is also the ability to play games while their are being downloaded without the need to wait for the download to be finished to play.

Alot more was revealed but overall I am very excited for the new PlayStation and for all the features that come with it.  The social aspects of the console particularly impressed me and I'm hopeful that they will all work as they have been shown to.  My eyes are currently fixed on Microsoft and the reveal of the next Xbox because as it stands at the moment, if they don't pull something amazing out of the bag I can see alot of people going back/converting to the PlayStation 4 when it's released.

Check out the official PlayStation UK blog post (linked below) about the PlayStation Meeting 2013 for more information and for the link to re-watch the meeting if you missed it.

PlayStation Meeting 2013

My Name is Stuart and I am addicted to X Com.

This is a confession. I have been slowly losing my life to this addiction and it has to stop. I have been hurting sentient life from other planets and dimensions for my own filthy addiction and I haven’t cared how I got my fix.

Look at this shit

I had better start with the beginning. A long time ago, all the cool kids were into turn based combat, it was the in-thing. I wanted to fit in so I tried Final Fantasy X on my Playstation 2 but it was a bad trip. The story was awful and all the characters looked like they had been designed by someone experiencing both a split personality and massive head trauma. The turn based combat itself was tedious, watching the characters repeat the same inane actions over and over for ages until the battle was won. My only reward? Pushing the annoying bastards forward to the next mind numbingly boring battle to while away the hours of my life. This was not for me!

I told my friends that I didn’t want to be cool, if this was what it took. I stuck to real time combat and I stayed healthy. Fortunately this fad didn’t last long and soon turn based combat was relegated to dingy cellars and attics where sad, hollow beings spend hours with calculators working out which stats to increase on their spiky haired personalities which have more life than their users. That was the end of it, or so I thought.

Fast forward more than a decade and turn based combat has come back in a new guise. I knew it was bad news, but a friend talked to me about it. He said turn based combat had changed. It wasn’t about stupid looking gits whining about to esoteric situation, this time, it was about fighting off an alien invasion with big burly men and big burly women. The game was getting high score reviews everywhere you looked and once again, my curiosity was peaked. The demo appeared on the Xbox live market place and I gave in, deciding that I would be just as bored as I had been before.

I couldn’t have been more wrong

Before I knew it, I was selecting a squad to fight off an alien menace, I was picking their weapons and skill sets, their armour and sending them out into battle, choosing optimal routes of attack, sending my snipers to higher ground so they have an advantage, making sure I don’t get out flanked. I was in heaven.  

You see, I was always a huge fan of Real Time Strategy games. While they had advanced, my laptop, the one I am typing this on, was a hybrid engine of steam power and hamsters on treadmills. 

Unfortunately steam and hamster power doesn’t work together very well and 8 steamed alive hamsters later, my computer can barely run basic programs at the same time, let alone a high end Real time strategy game.

There had been attempts to make Real Time Strategy games on the console market, but sadly, the controller is not suited to this, and made every battle an exercise in frustration and defeat. Xcom solves this problem by using a mixture of strategy and turn based action which is satisfying almost to the point that it would be illegal to play it in public and especially not in front of children.

When the mission is over, you return to your base which isn’t just a mission hub, it’s also a vital part of the game, making sure you keep funds coming in from countries in the world so you don’t run out of money, keeping aircraft ready in those countries if a UFO is spotted above them, making sure the base has enough power, workshops, scientists and engineers. There is a whole litany of things you can build in the base, all there to provide support for your team and hell for the invading aliens.

You raise your team members from frail humans with normal machine guns to the point where they are armoured titans, striding across the battlefields as a tightly knit team. Snipers dealing with long range enemies, assault troops being the grunts, heavy weapons soldiers to take on the tougher opponents, support troops with med kits and tasers to capture aliens. I was even giving them stupid nicknames. Mr. Cuddlebums was the name of my heavy weapons expert from the first level of the game and I have still kept him alive since then and in that, is where my real shame comes from.

You see, in Xcom, troops get stronger with each mission, develop their own specialties and tactics and soon become your primary soldiers. Unfortunately, when your soldier dies, they are dead forever. All that work, all that experience can be ruined by one berserker running up to him and tearing out his anus through their oesophagus.

Farewell Soldiers. You're killing aliens in heaven now

I could not handle that. I needed my favourite troops to stay alive. I didn’t want their names on the memorial wall  So I saved. I saved every time I thought my troops were going to be in danger. I saved before I started a mission and I saved after it. I reloaded so often if one of my team were killed, and the first thing that came to my head was “NOPE!”.

Xcom had made me something I’m not, a Save Spammer. Cowardly, unwilling to take defeat because I knew that one step back meant eight steps forward for the alien menace. I don’t need to make a game that is already pretty bloody difficult any harder.

So this is my confession, I spend hours on Xcom but do I really accomplish anything?

You bet your arse I do! DIE ALIENS DIE!

PSN down on 1st March for Maintenance

The PlayStation Network will be down for maintenance on Thursday 1st March from 16:00 until 07:00.

Both the console and PC PlayStation Stores will be unavailable during the downtime, as well as Customer Account Management and Account Registration services.

"User who are already signed into their account on PlayStation Network before the start of the maintenance will not be able to stay signed in to their online session and will be signed out at the start of the downtime period" Sony says.

"Users who attempt to log into their account after the maintenance begin will be presented with the site maintenance notification page."

The maintenance might have something to do with it being a leap year. During the last leap year in 2010 a calender related bug caused older version PS3 clocks to reset, leading to problems with lost trophies.

Amazing Spider-Man release date revealed in new trailer

Activision has released a June 26th US release date for Amazing Spider-Man.

The new Spider-Man game is being developed by Beenox who developed the Edge of Time and Shattered Dimensions Spider-Man games.  The games story will take place after the events of the upcoming Spider-Man film released in July, and will serve as an epilogue. The game is set to be released on Xbox360, PS3, Wii, DS and 3DS, and is expected to hit European shelves three days later.

Activision also released a new trailer reveal for in-game villain Rhino, you can check it out via the IGN Youtube video below.

Killzone 3 multiplayer to be released as a free download by Sony

Sony have revealed that they are releasing the multiplayer aspect of Killzone 3 as a free download.

From Tuesday, 28th of February gamers in the US will be able to download the multiplayer portion of the PlayStation exclusive FPS for free from the PlayStation Network, the latest episode of the PlayStation Blogcast has revealed.  There is currently no definite news on whether this offer is coming to Europe.

This standalone part of the game comes with all the maps but will have an unspecified level cap. There will also be a limit on what rank players can achieve in this free offering and a limit of the number of unlockable weapons and skills available.

Gamers will have to pay $14.99 if they then want to unlock the full multiplayer experience.

GAME closing 35 stores and Gameplay.co.uk

GAME have announced plans to close 35 stores and it's gameplay.co.uk website.

All stores affected by closures have been notified and all Gameplay website customers will now be served via Gamestation.co.uk as of the 1st March. The closures are part of the firms plans to reduce GAME and Gamestation stores from 610 stores to 550 outlets by December 2013.

The company told MCV that it has a 'detailed plan to help customers move to another local store or online' and has said that it would do its best to redeploy its staff if possible.

The news comes after a few trouble months for GAME group, where it has suffered credit issues following a poor Christmas and troubles with stocking games in it's stores.

Capcom announce Street Fighter x Tekken preview event in London

Capcom Europe announced details today of a special Street Fighter x Tekken preview event in London on the 29th Febuary.

The event will take place at the Villain Bar Great Eastern Street, London and will begin at 6pm.  Entry to the event is free to enter and will give gamers a chance to preview the game before the games official UK release on the 9th March.  It has also been announced that there will be prizes and giveaways to the best players of the night.

For full details visit the Capcom Europe blog post here: http://www.capcom-europe.com/blog/2012/02/want-a-fight-sfxt-preview-event-in-london/

Borderlands 2 hits the US on September 18th

Gearbox Software has announced that Borderlands 2 will be released in the US on September 18th.

As well as releasing the date, Gearbox have also announced that if you pre-order the game from either GameStop or Amazon and you'll receive a ticket to the Borderlands 2 Premier Club enabling exclusive access to special pre-order content.  For full details of the content and how to pre-order visit http://www.borderlands2.com/preorder/.

Gearbox completed a trio of news by releasing a new "launch date trailer" for the game, showcasing the new characters, abilities and some in-game footage.