GAMEfest and Eurogamer Expo 2011- The Aftermath

Both event have finished, I spent some time reflecting on my experiences and collating my thoughts. I'm trying to figure out a way to deliver my coverage of the events, so I guess in the forth coming weeks and potentially moths, I'll do a piece based on every game I played, giving a comprehensive hands on report of each of them. Stay glued to the blog for a preview of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which will be the game that kicks off the season of previews. I'll post a list of what games I'm (and possibly other people) previewing soon, if I can be bothered. So, stay glued or whatever I said.

GAMEfest and EuroGamer Expo 2011; WHAT DO YOU WANT?!?

In the next two weeks some of the biggest games of the year will be tossed to the proverbial wolves that is the gaming public. Being the well respected journalist that I am, I'll be at both, looking for interviews, playing games and that. Any way, EVERY SINGLE GAME either myself or the indie developer I interviewed Bobby Bailey  will receive a full on preview report type. So, I want to know what games you want to read about. Obviously there are certain games I'll play just for me (HELLO SKYWARD SWORD), and even they will get the reports they deserve. Imma leave links to the line up of each expo below, and if you'd be so kind to leave what games you want to read about. Also, QUESTIONS FOR PETER GARZA. Peter Garza is the overseas producer for Team Ninja, the group that are developing Ninja Gaiden 3, and will be available for interview at EuroGamer Expo. The only problem is, I've never played a Ninja Gaiden game in my life. If you have, and want to get the inside scoop on the game, leave your questions in the comments section. END.

GAMEfest Lineup: http://events.game.co.uk/gamefest/exhibitors/

EuroGamer Expo Lineup: http://www.eurogamer.net/expo/whats-on#show-floor

Interview With Bobby Bailey

I recently interviewed Indie Video Game developer and self proclaimed expert Bobby Bailey to discuss the state of video game release dates. Here's the results...

Bastion- Xbox Live Arcade

There's no question, really. Bastion makes other XBLA titles pail in terms of quality and enjoyability. Bastion a bewitchingly beautiful, enchantingly intense experience that no other arcade title can come close to. Bastion encapsulates everything a service like the Xbox Live Arcade should offer. Bastion is the perfect download title.

By all accounts, the world is ending, thanks to an event known as "the calamity". The Kid (the main character. great name, I know.) awakes to find the world of Caelondia lying in ruins around him. Instructed by the voice of The Narrator, The Kid makes his way to The Bastion, the area that serves as the central hub for the game. From The Bastion, The Kid must travel to various locations to collect cores to fuel the power of The Bastion, and return Caelondia to its former glory. Obviously things don;t go quite according to plan, but I feel you ought to experience it for yourself rather than me tell you exactly what goes down. Suffice to say, you meet a handful of characters, learn The Kids backstory etc etc.

As straightforward as the story sounds, it isn't so. The story, including The Kid's actions, and various observations, is told entirely through The Narrator, who, while having an insanely cool, albeit creepy, voice, does tend to become part of the background noise after a while. This game requires concentration. And in this high speed era we live in, my concentration is no where to be seen. It's story telling in its simplest form. But it isn't story telling in its best form.

What The Narrator's inclusion does offer, however, is a different level of immersion. While it can feel like, at times, he's droning on and on, and your mind wanders from thought to thought, at the odd times you catch him narrate on you actions, you do, strangely, feel at one with The Kid. To hear "The Kid rages for a while" as you smash the hammer into some market stalls is a little bit exciting somehow.

Bastion is a stone cold stunner. Each location you visit is filled with vivid, vibrant colours that burst out of the screen. Bastion has the finest art style of any game I've played on the Xbox 360. I'd say it's like a painting come to life, but that's far too cliched and obvious for my liking. BUT I'LL SAY IT ANYWAY. Bastion is like a painting come to life. Everything in the world has a colourful glow about it. Even the enemies The Kid encounters have this aura about them that makes it regrettable to pound them for XP.

Bastion plays like any standard action RPG released this side of the millennium. You're given the option of a selection of melee and ranged weapons, and can carry two at a time. Weapons can be upgraded at the forge, depending on whether or not you have the correct upgrade item, and enough XP. When you level up, you can go to the distillery, and select a drink which increases The Kids attributes in some way. Combat is button mashing, basically.

Now, that's fine, but when The Kid starts to walk off the edge of the level when I look away for a second, that's where I draw the line. That bugs annoying, dammit. I want it gone.

So, Bastion. It's beautiful, it's bold, it's an excellent debut from SuperGiant games. It's a brilliant way to kick off the "summer of arcade" promotion, and an even better addition to the already impressive XBLA arsenal. It's a game that I recommend very highly, one that any self respecting gamer must experience. Bar a few bugs here, and a couple of hiccups there, when all is said and done, Bastion is an exemplary title. One that, for the price of 5 Call of Duty maps, is well worth the plunge.

9/10

E3 2011: The Microsoft Conference

It's over. Weeks of speculation, leaks and anticipation. And for what? 4 days of reveals from some of the biggest developers in the gaming industry. This is what the World Cup is to football, the Superbowl is to...that other football. This is E3. And THIS is my take on the greatest show on Earth.

So it all kicked off with the Microsoft Conference, showing off the future of the Xbox 360. What we expected was a Kinect driven show with room for the hardcore. What we got was...to be honest slightly underwhelming. Hours before the clock struck 9.30 (in L.A.), the interwebs were alight with rumours that Microsoft had not only dropped the ball, they'd thrown it to the ground, danced on the shards of its very being (I'm assuming it's a discoball), and swept it up with the tail of a greyhound. All their big announcements were posted to www.xbox.com, including the biggest of them all. If whoever posted that is reading this; click off this tab and get back to jobsite.com.

The show started slow as ever, with New York getting blown up. PUT THAT PHONE DOWN! I was talking about Modern Warfare 3, this ain't real life...

But, yeah, it looked nice. When you consider it's running off the same engine as Quake 3, it's really quite impressive what Infinity Ward have achieved. You can bleet on all day about how much better Battlefield 3 will be, but you know and I know you're gonna buy it. It looks like it'll be another popcorn title.

Tomb Raider. The developers would not shut up about Lara Croft being 21 years old in this one. We get it. Middle aged developers get off at the idea of 21 year olds being put into perilous situations, where they make, for lack of a better word, crudely adult grunts. I mean it looks quite pretty, yes, and it looks quite exciting, yes, but the focal point, it seemed, was the fact that Lara Croft was getting all dirty in a cave. And THAT is why I'm not completely sold on this reboot.

Got a Kinect? No? Then you're SCREWED for the rest of this overview. Because once those two titles were shown the door, we were greeted with the "KinectKonveyuerBelt" (if anyone says that, I'm sueing them. I thought of that name, it's MINE). FIFA 12, Madden NFL 12 and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2013 will all be "Better With Kinect". The mind races at the thought of what EA plan on doing with FIFA. I'd imagine there's be some form of penalty shootout mode, or Avatar Exhibition mode (ala Mii Footaball), but, for now at least, it's an interesting concept.

Mass Effect 3 is now also "Better With Kinect". Not combat. Voice recognition. You now say the options in conversations, and can command your team using your voice. "THANE. MOVE UP." That;'s how it'll be done. Like I predicted when it was leaked a few weeks ago. Ghost Recon Future Soldier falls into that BwK group, but only for a single mode. "Gunsmith" will allow you to use your arms to create your perfect weapon, and try it out on a testing range using Kinect. Yes. They've done it. Shooting mechanics on the Kinect. Your left arm is your iron sights, your right is your trigger. You open your palm to fire, you close to stop. It looked really cool. I'm excited.

I was buying both games anyway, but this has increased my level of excitement for both titles. I look forward to them with one eyebrow raised.

Remember in 2007 when the blades disappeared, and your dashboard transformed into something more accessible? Yeah, in a few months that's going. The "New Xbox Experience" will become something that resembles the tiles thingy on Windows Phone 7. It looks really clean and will suit those with Kinect more than what they've got now. But I'd imagine it'll become really awkward for non-Kinect users. Only time will tell. Oh, and YouTube, Bing and Live TV will be coming to your 360 with the update. Yeah, they're partnering up with more stations or whatever to bring you a tv experience on your Xbox. and YouTube also. And Bing.

Sticking with the live tv thing, you'll now be able to order UFC fights on your Xbox. Something about it being pretty popular, and Microsoft having a lot of money. While watching the fights, you can check fighter stats and other cool things you'll use once and never use again.

Cliffy B and Ice-T played Gears of War 3, giving the Xbox conference the title of "Microsoft: Year of the Three-quel." It looks like a Gears of War game. I don't play Gears of War, so I was left unaffected, but I'm sure fans of the series will enjoy it plentifully.

Crytek's Ryse had a teaser trailer. Set in Rome, you'll fight off attackers. I was all ready to crown it the new Sparta: Total Warrior (the most under-appreciated ever), when i was revealed to be BwK. ENOUGH KINECT! WE GET IT! IT EXISTS!

So, 10 years ago a little game called Halo: Combat Evolved was released. It's getting a HD remastering, with 4 player online co-op, and 8 multiplayer maps. Halo: Anniversary is set to be released for this Christmas, and we're all very excited. I never got to play this game, so I'd like to see where it all began. And it's a budget title. So happy days all round.

Forza 4. Sequel to the "best driving game ever". World tour, rivals mode, voice recognition and head tracking...yep...it's better with Kinect. It's got the Top Gear test track in it, though, so I guess fans will be well happy with that one.

Leaving no franchise alone, Kinect comes to Fable, in; Fable: The Journey. Which looks like a slow, boring, on rails shooter. Is this the mode that was meant to be in Fable III? Because if they're creating a £40 game for something that was meant to be a single mode in the last game, I will not be pleased.

MORE BLOODY KINECT. Minecraft, Disneyland Adventures, Kinect Star Wars (which got a few 'woop's from the crowd), Sesame Street: Once Upon A Monster, and Kinect Fun Labs were all announced. I'm not going into detail on for any of them, because they're all essentially the same. You wave your ams around, stuff happens.

Time to wrap it up. Kinect Sports: Season 2 announced. The big Rareware title. That company is wasted at Microsoft. It's hard to believe these people made Donkey Kong Country, Banjo-Kazooie and Viva Pinata. Forced to slave endlessly at Avatar stuff and Wii Sports rip offs.

Dance Central 2. Now with everything you expected from Dance Central. Like multiplayer. and and online mode. But, you can import your songs from Dance Central 1 onto Dance Central 2. Ala Rock Band to Rock and 2, and Rock Band 2 to Rock Band 3. I really liked Dance Central, so I'll probably get this.

BIG REVEAL TIME! It's Halo 4. The Cheif is awake after his nap, and ready to kick some futuristic ass. Apparently. The trailer lasted about 40 seconds, and was just a CGI thing. If this wasn't leaked, it would've been as big as the Twilight Princess announcement in 2004. We've got to wait for anything that big to come along again...

So that was Microsoft. What did I think? I was really impressed. I saw games I'm excited for, I saw Kinect support where there wasn't any before (the core gamer market), and I liked the new dashboard. I think it was a hardware announcement away from greatness, but, as it is, it's a very very good, professional conference.

Tomorrow I'll cover EA and Ubisoft, so stay plugged to the Gohma gaming Blog, and The Mercurial Anecdote.

Welcome

So, yeah. Welcome to the Gohma Gaming Blog, named after the infamous boss on every single Zelda game. First review will come tomorrow, when I cover LA Noire, but keep tight, and follow. Or whatever.