Popularity: 8% [?]

Popularity: 8% [?]

Did anyone actually test this prior to release? Truly shocking UI design.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Bizarre Creations The Club gets to see the light of day tomorrow, 8th Feb 08. Many of you will have already played the demo which has been kicking around on Xbox Live since early Jan 08.

Whilst the demo was fun whilst it lasted, I’m just not enough of a high score Nazi to want to buy it. I appreciate what Bizarre are trying to do and bring the whole style of killing as something else to try and perfect. Whilst this does add quite of bit of extra spice to running down a corridor and shooting people it does get a little dull after a while. When it comes down to it, I like to play and complete games, rather than to just obsess over high scores. Mostly.

Like all the Project Gotham Racing games, The Club will probably keep you happy for a while before you just can’t be arsed any more.

The Club will be released on 8th Feb 08 for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360

Popularity: 13% [?]

Are you an aspiring casual game designer? YoYoGames are running their second game development competition, offering cash prizes of US$1000, US$500 and US$250 for the top three games.

The competition theme is Ancient Civilisation and the rules are simple and unrestrictive:

• The game must be created with Game Maker, version 6 or later (Pro or Lite).
• The game must comply with the terms and conditions of YoYo Games as indicated on the website.
• The game should be your own original work and you should own the rights to all resources used in the game.
• The game should run through the Instant Play mechanism at the YoYo Games site.
• The game should not change the screen resolution and should run in a window (rather than full screen).
• You can submit a game you created in the past but only if it is not already published on YoYo Games.
• The game must be submitted by an individual member, who will receive the entire prize in the event of a win. Please note this does not exclude team entries. Entrants may accept assistance from a team, but any prizes will go only to the submitting member.
• A member is allowed to submit at most two games in each competition.

So far, only 2 games have been entered and there’s plenty of time left. The competition deadline is April 27th. Their previous competition had over 200 entries, so plan your game carefully. There’s more info at the competition page. Check out the YoYoGames Winter Competition Winners to see what you’ll be up against. You’ll find some great casual games to play.

(One side comment: I am more than a little perturbed that the YoYoGames player cannot be closed using the X button in Windows Vista.)

Popularity: 9% [?]

Codemasters Online are hosting an 2 day community event on the 14th* and 15th of March 2008 at the Omega Sektor in Birmingham.

According to Codemasters this event will:

showcase all the current and upcoming titles that Codemasters Online have to offer. With exclusive announcements, competitions, Developer Q&A sessions, community meets and many exciting events, Codemasters Online Connect is set to be one of the most exciting gaming events of 2008!

Ticket prices (available to buy here):

• Friday only - £30
• Saturday only - £30
• Weekend pass - £55
• VIP Weekend - £100

Also this event will see the unveiling of Codemasters latest “blockbuster” MMO to be released at the end of 2008. Connect 2008 also has its own myspace group and facebook page.

* It’s a Friday. Also known as a workday! What’s wrong with holding it on a Saturday and Sunday then?

Popularity: 21% [?]

Ahead the the games release in Feb 2008, The Bitmap Brothers and Frogster Interactive Pictures AG have released 7 of the music tracks from Speedball 2 - Tournament.

You can download these tracks from here (32.7Mb). It’s your typical mix of “hard hitting techo” that we’ve come to expect from the Speedball games. Not bad for a free download and worth a listen.

I hope this one’s better than the last Speedball game to see the light of day - Speedball 2100 - which was rubbish. Judging by the music, the flashy looking website and the screen shots it certainly looks promising.

Hopefully it plays as good as it looks, as I was a big fan of Speedball and Speedball 2 - Brutal Deluxe on the Amiga in the early 1990s. Brilliant games. Speedball 2 - Brutal Deluxe (XBLA) is available now on Xbox Live Arcade for 800 of those Microsoft Points.

Speedball 2 - Tournament is released on 8th Feb 2008 on PC.

Popularity: 18% [?]

We hope your Christmas is as fun filled as the one happening at Aperture Science. The cake is not a lie at Christmas. Yay!

Popularity: 19% [?]

Age rating: 15+ (PEGI)

What is it?

First person shooter set in the Half-Life universe.

Is it fun?

Yes.

Is it worth the money?

PC - £26.28 via steam, Xbox 360 £26.99 (inc. p+p)
Not on its own, but as part of the Orange Box. Yes, yes, hell yes.
Continue Reading

Popularity: 22% [?]

I don’t like spoiling people’s enjoyment of games, especially when the game in question is Valve’s Portal. This is a game that really requires a whole afternoon’s uninterrupted game time to appreciate it’s sheer brilliance. So if you haven’t played Portal yet, stop reading this post and go play it. Otherwise prepare yourself for a little spoiler.

There is a song at the end of the game! Ok, not much of a spoiler to be honest. The existence of this highly amusing song been plastered all over the internet since the game’s release. However, some kind soul at topazstorm.com has recently turned the song (called Still Alive and written by Jonathan Coulton), into sheet music which can you find here.

Speaking of Jonathan Coulton, his website contains lots of his other music which is worth checking out. I especially like “Re Your Brains” which has the following chorus:

All we want to do is eat your brains
We’re not unreasonable, I mean, no one’s gonna eat your eyes
All we want to do is eat your brains
We’re at an impasse here, maybe we should compromise:
If you open up the doors
We’ll all come inside and eat your brains

We’ll be reviewing Portal when we manage to stop ourselves from playing it.

Popularity: 20% [?]