Title Fight appears to be Sony’s answer to the cross franchise fighter, pitting all your favourite Sony characters against each other in epic battles. As this is only a rumour not much is known about the game, however  there has  been one single screen shot leaked.  This screen shot shows what could be Title Fight’s first confirmed character, Sweet Tooth from the Twisted Metal franchise. Looking at the leaked image my initial thought is that this game may have quite a gritty atmosphere whilst supporting some shiny graphics to boot.

Though Sweet Tooth is seems to be the only confirmed character at the moment, there has been a string rumours that suggest another six characters are could soon be confirmed. These include Kratos from God of War, Parappa the Rapper from the game with the same name, Nathan Drake protagonist of the Uncharted franchise, Sly Cooper  from Sly Cooper, The Fat Princess from Fat Princess and Colonel Mael Radec of Killzone fame. The line up is not looking bad so far, but I would love to fan favourites such as Crash Bandicoot, Lara Croft or even Snake from Metal Gear Solid added to the roster. Sony also have the opportunity here to revive old retro characters like Croc from Croc: Legend of the Gobbos.

If I were to give this title a release date I would predict we will probably see it hit shelves sometime late this year or early next year. Hopefully an official announcement will be appearing around E3 time.

-Garv

Over the last few years I’ve played a number of downloadable titles on PSN and XBLA. To begin with, the majority of these titles were ports of old games, and fairly average arcade games as various developers tested the waters in a new medium. However as time has progressed, there have been a selection of top-quality games produced – well worth the price tags. From 2D side-scrollers with modern engines (Shadow Complex, Bionic Commando Rearmed 2), zany multiplayer brawlers (Castle Crashers, Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game), competitive leaderboard-based titles (Trials HD, Peggle).

Not only that, but some downloadable games are also verging on the side of artistic. In 2009, Developer Thatgamecompany released PSN-exclusive title Flower. With most games being fast-paced action games revolving around beating the stuffing out of someone else, or beating them in some other fashion, Flower was something completely new. The game had the player controlling wind currents, taking things at their own pace and being more of a serene experience - taking in the sights and sounds as you follow the path of a petal travelling through the air. It’s hard to explain, but it’s actually quite soothing and was a nice breath of fresh air (no pun intended!).

Well, it’s two years later and Thatgamecompany are at it again, on another contract from Sony – built by a small team of twelve people. While their new game Journey takes a new direction, it definitely feels like it shares the same spirit behind Flower – a more tranquil experience that sees players on a non-violent journey through the vast wilderness.

Journey puts the player in control of a robed figure in a vast desert, with no real clue of your objective – that is for you to discover. Much like Flower, Journey manages to convey everything to the player without a single bit of text or dialogue. It’s hard to imagine, given the games we’re so used to in modern gaming – but the game tells all of its story through visuals and music – and this is partly where the feeling of tranquility comes from.

From what we have seen in trailers, and of course the game’s title – is that the premise behind the title is the idea of a pilgrimage. It seems that you are not the first to take this journey, and no doubt not the last. Has anyone completed it? Does it have an end? What will you find there? That’s what we don’t know – although some clips seem to suggest the goal is the peak of a mountain seen in the distance of the desert.

One of the key features mentioning about this game is that it’s a multiplayer title. However, when I say that – I don’t mean you and a friend can co-op the experience together, rather the other travellers you meet on your way are other players, just like you. However – there’s no sign of Gamertags or voice chat here – the only communication you have with them is your actions - the way you move, and a simple, wordless noise you can emit. You can be identified by a simple emblem on your robe , serving you to know if you’ve met this person before. While this concept may not appeal to all, it’s actually quite a clever idea – helping draw you into the fact that you are both complete strangers who are passing one another on their own journey. It’s up to you whether you wish to stay together or go it alone – so far there’s been no word as to whether any puzzles will require more than one player to complete. As said by Jenova Chen, the game’s director “it’s about two strangers who meet online. They don’t know who they are or how old they are. All they know is, that is another human being.”

While the game is designed in a purposely simple way - that’s not to say that the game doesn’t offer any kind of abilities. Players are able to jump and climb various structures, use their vocal noise to interact with things (such as one example where the player uses it to draw in strips of cloth in the wind), and you may also collect pieces of cloth that grant you the ability to fly temporarily. The developers have also stated that their will be other relics and objects to find – while their purpose has not yet been revealed – but trailers seem to show that your character can be imbued with new abilities upon finding certain statues and such.

With a game shrouded in so much mystery, there’s really little to explain other than what has been seen. It may sound dull to some – the draw of action perhaps more appealing, but my experience with Flower has taught me to open my mind to something different. I look forward to Journey’s release – currently set for an unannounced date sometime this year – and hope that it brings me a refreshing and emotional experience in the way the developers are trying to. Or perhaps it will be my own journey, unique to me. Check out the beta gameplay trailer below.

It certainly sucks to be you right now, Sony. All that PSN hacking nonsense can’t have been very good for business; you’re being sued and investigated for it by multiple parties, you’ve shut off the ability for many indie developers to get their revenue and cost yourself and other companies tons of money in the process. On top of that, you’ve also made it a lot harder for people to trust you in the future, and you’ve caused a load of implications about security and personal information that’s quite frankly a tiny bit over my head.

The worst part of all of this for me is that I don’t feel sorry for you.

When PSN went down, it provided endless entertainment for me and my friends, who were huddled over Lee’s iPad reading out tweets. Whoever tweeted Major Nelson asking why the PSN was down, you won the game and we salute you. Granted, I didn’t know at the time that it was going to last as long as it has done, but I can’t say I didn’t see it coming. After all, it was more or less Sony’s fault that it happened. When you tout your console as being unhackable, you’re setting a challenge to a community who’ll then go out of their way to prove you wrong. When you then threaten to sue them and demand the names and information of everyone who visited the site giving out the information that allowed people to hack their consoles, and try to get Twitter to reveal the identity of everyone who tweeted the PS3′s private key, you just prove how out of touch you are and set yourself up for a downfall. Declaring that no one would hack your console, and then trying to sue whoever did? Are you really surprised that some people would set out to retaliate and show you up in response? Why didn’t you even update your security measures that you were told were outdated, or do a better job of encrypting personal data on the serves, instead of leaving a good deal of it in plain .txt files? It simply baffles me.

Jen, this is the PSN Security Box...

When you came out with the original Playstation, back in the bygone age when games being in three-dimensions was unprecedented, you were the plucky newcomer up against the increasingly arrogant Nintendo; they may have bettered Sega time and again, but you made them look outdated with their reliance on expensive cartridges on a less powerful console. Then comes E3 2006, after you’d provided two of the most memorable and successful consoles in gaming history, and you manage to make yourselves the most arrogant company around. You also managed to look completely ridiculous and out of touch by unveiling an incredibly expensive console, telling us we’d want to get second jobs just so we could afford to buy one, then created that year’s most popular memes by looking like colossal idiots and shouting about massive damage, giant enemy crabs and Riiiiiiiiiiiidge Racer! Sure, Nintendo and Microsoft have had their terrible conferences too, but that was a pivotal moment for you; you had the change to still prove you were the company the others should be gunning for, but instead you managed to shoot yourself in the foot.

There’s not specifically anything wrong with the PS3, or for that matter the PSP, it’s just Sony’s arrogance before and after their launch that just keeps turning me off. Their arrogance just pisses me off; especially when they run their mouth off about Microsoft and Nintendo every chance they get then copy everything they do but worse.
“Wow, Nintendo sure are ridiculous with those motion controls! No one’s going to want to use them, they’re stupid.”
-Months later-
“Hey, we’ve got this thing called SIXAXIS… Basically it’s like motion controls, but you tilt the controller uncomfortably in a way that mostly breaks the immersion, and we took out rumble in order to accommodate it because rumble is last generation and does nothing to help the gaming experience.”
-Months later-
“So yeah, uh, SIXAXIS is barely used and mostly poorly implemented, but we’re bringing back rumble you guys! Meanwhile, achievements are pointless and they’ll never catch on.”
-Months later-
“Look! We have trophies! They’re like achievements, but without anything that people like about them, and they’re mostly as enticing and addicting to the player as shit-covered skittles! On the other hand, Nintendo aren’t going to achieve anything with appealing to the casual market, and motion control has man-tits and erectile dysfunction.
-Months Later-”
“Guess what we’ve made that’s totally unique! It’s this thing called ‘Move’, and it’s nothing like the Wiimote because this has a glowing ball that changes colour! We’re also going to make a bunch of casual games specifically for it and vaguely try and appeal to the casual market. However, digital distribution is a smelly pirate hooker who should go back to its home on Whore Island.
-Months later-
“Introducing the PSPGo! It’s like a PSP, but everything is digitally distributed; the games cost more than physical copies at retail and Minis are expensive and sent out to die. Also, we’ll promise free digital copies for games you already have on UMDs then cancel that for no reason! It’s literally irredeemable and we’re sending it out to die! In the meantime, the mobile market is a loser; I had sex with its mother last week, and she said it was adopted.”
-Months later-
“Hey, so we’ve got these things called Xperia Play, and… where’s everyone going?”

Then there’s the matter of their marketing and advertising; before recently, most of it was horribly misguided, moronic and in some cases even offensive. Sony’s failed marketing is for the most part just as famous as their use of Kevin Butler; that advert with the creepy baby toy, the “White is better” PSP advert, the PSP advert with the squirrels, the list goes on. Sony botch marketing campaigns like Kotick ruins franchises. At this point, I know people are going to mention Kevin Butler; the VP of Whatever-Is-Relevant-For-The-Advert in the “It Only Does Everything” campaign. He may be awesome, but you have to keep in mind that Kevin Butler is a character played by an actor, and that he’s actually the creation of a company called Deutsch/LA; in a rare intelligent move by Sony, they hired someone else to sell their consoles for them, and it worked. Not that I have any faith in that lasting any longer; he’ll be run into the ground sooner rather than later, and they then bungled anything positive they achieved with Butler by introducing Marcus Rivers; a character so annoying and offensive that he’s more likely to caused PSPs to be destroyed rather than sold. It’s easier to justify why the bit in Resident Evil 5 with the natives wearing tribal skirts and carrying spears wasn’t racist than it is to justify Marcus Rivers.

The only way he could sell me a PSP is if I could bludgeon him with it afterwards.

After all that, it’s probably not that hard to see why I’m not only unsurprised at the PSN débâcle but unsympathetic about it too. It just seems to me that the hacking came about because of their attitude towards their security and the hackers, and their inability to realise the potential consequences of their actions. Their attitude set themselves up to be taken down, and as a result, they’ve screwed over millions of consumers and many of their partners in the industry. After all, think of all the money those partners have lost through the network being down, or all those sales indie developers have lost and won’t be able to recuperate Sony appear to be doing very little to help anyone else out or compensate developers for their loss; instead they’re only serving themselves by providing temporary free access to PSN Plus and providing free games that are basically used as extended adverts for upcoming or recent sequels. In other words, Sony’s only real action is to try to make themselves more money to make up for their own losses, not anyone else. That’s simply disgusting, and actually kind of reprehensible behaviour, and it just eliminates any positive feeling I had towards the company.

I was a big fan of the latter-day PSOne, and the PS2 gave me some of my favourite moments in gaming, but since the PS3, Sony have become a company I’ve found myself increasingly unable to defend. From everything I’ve mentioned in this article to the stuff I haven’t, like the rabid Sony fanboys (Hey there, N4G!) who’ll leap to the company’s defence over everything to the point that they give death threats to writers who give Sony exclusives anything below a perfect score (and in some cases even when they do) and attack anyone who doesn’t totally love the console. I’m already prepared for negative backlash from people intent on portraying me as someone who hates Sony because I’m a self-professed Nintendo fanboy, or claiming that I’ve been paid off by some other company to write this, even though recognise that as a potential possibility is ludicrous. I’d have better luck capturing a Unicorn and persuading him to be my friend. I have my own reasons to dislike Sony, and I’m not telling people to stop supporting them or giving solutions for Sony’s problems; I’m just trying to explain why I feel like I can’t support a company that shows itself to be increasingly out of touch and arrogant with little apparent respect for either its customers or partners. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again…

Sony couldn’t sell me a PS3 if it came with the girl of my dreams and a winning lottery ticket, then gave me a crown and made me King.

-Jokesound
<3

This past weekend I had the opportunity to steal Leon’s PS3 for a few hours, and during that time I got to play hours or God Of War III as well as try out the new Mortal Kombat demo before the majority of Xbox 360 only gamers (such as myself) could. So, is the new MK game going to be a must-buy for any retro MK fan?
Well, you’re about to find out.

I don’t know about anyone else, but the retro MK games are still winners in my mind. When I played MK 1, 2 & 3 on the Mega Drive I was having piles of fun ripping people heads off and the like, and Johnny Cage’s ball-buster was a classic move. The newer MK games really didn’t do it for me, at least until I got my hands on this demo. For me, the reboot of Mortal Kombat is a revival of what I once loved about the series.

For starters, after a massive exposure to the Street Fighter series for such a long time, I found myself very happy with the flow of the new Mortal Kombat. It was very fluid; the moves actually flowed into one another nicely allowing the player to pull off some awesome combos. Ever since I have been bitten by the Street Fighter bug, I didn’t really think any other fighter could compare, but after I played my first round I knew that this MK game could be a damn good contender.

I chose to play as Johnny Cage, one of my favorite all time MK fighters. Yes, he looks a bit like Duke Nukem and he is a bit of a tongue-in-cheek character, but his fighting style and combos work well for me. As his appearance in the MK world has been quite limited since MK 3, I was pleased to find that not only that he makes an appearance in this game but that he translates so well into it, and I was beaming liked a moron when I was playing as him. Of course, he isn’t the only playable character; you also have Sub-Zero, Scorpion and Mileena, all with their own unique fighting styles and special moves.

One of my favorite new features this new MK brings has to be the X-Ray attacks. I was always a bit hesitant because I thought these attacks would feel out of place, but believe me, they don’t. When executed, the X-Ray attack focuses in on the bones and vital organs being pulverized by the special move, making for some stomach churning visuals which made me exclaim several times, “how the hell is he/she still alive?” in a celebration of the classic over-the-top MK gameplay that I love.

The visuals are a little reminiscent of the MK games that featured on the PS2 and the N64, but this time around they don’t feel that out of place with the whole feel of the game; the stage designs are very nice to look at and help prove that a lot of time has been taken over the visuals.

Simply put I can’t get over the fact that MK has finally come back to its roots. This game is definitely a must buy.

Garv.

Last Thursday Plus XP was invited to the Motorstorm: Apocalypse Live event in London. For me the event was a fantastic evening, allowing me to get to know some great people and having a laugh while this huge post-apocalyptic tournament was taking place right before my eyes.

Both before and after the tournament event I got the opportunity to play the game itself, and even though I had only a brief stint on the game I come away with some feelings both good and bad. Sit back as I dive into what I thought about the game below the jump.

For those for you out there who aren’t in the know, Motorstorm: Apocalypse is the 4th title in the Motorstorm franchise. While the other titles have been straight-up racing affairs, Apocalypse bring a new depth to the franchise; offering break neck speed, catastrophic landscapes and environments, and even a campaign narrative which kind of makes sense. I say “kind of makes sense”, because narratives in racing games tend to fall flat on their arses.

When I first picked up the controller it was very hard not to pull comparisons from both Burnout (which I love) and Split/Second (which is crap) while I was thrown straight into the action with a 4X4 truck. The controls are standard; you have accelerate, break, and boost, the standard affair that comes with all arcade racers. The boost function wasn’t like anything I was used to; you had unlimited boost, but if you boost too much your engine overloads and you spontaneously combust, a nice little touch I think.

As you race the city falls around you and you have to make split-second decisions as to where to turn next, which turned out to be a pretty good game mechanic that really had me on the edge of my seat. Burnout had this same quick decision-making, but not to the same extent that Apocalypse offers the player. The game also brings a good balance when it comes to the A.I racers; not too challenging, yet not stupidly simple to the extent you’re lapping them, something this game manages that other racers these days need to focus more on.

One of the things that did niggle me quite a bit made itself apparent through some of the things that made you total your car. For example, a fair few times I crashed through burning rubble and self destructing buses completely unscathed, but when I came up against the likes of a tree or a lamp-post my car was suddenly totalled and I had to respawn. The way the game ignores some incidents and makes a meal out of others makes the crashing feel slightly inconsistent at times.

The graphics and scenery in the game are very good indeed, with the effects when buildings come crashing down being very well done and it really does feel like you are in the middle of a city under destruction. Something I picked up on were the hordes of rioters that were destroying the city. These rebels do anything to take you down whether it be through throwing molotov cocktails or even trying to mob your car whilst you race at breakneck speed. I loved the fact that on several occasions I had a random people grabbing the side of my car and flailing helplessly as I got up to speed, it’s little details like that in games I do really enjoy.

Even though I only got a little hands on time with the game, I feel that despite the little niggles, Motorstorm: Apocalypse is a definite competitor for one of the best arcade racers for 2011.

As Jokesound said at the event. “Motorstorm: Apocalypse is like they punched Split/Second in the face with awesome!”

Motorstorm: Apocalypse is out on 18th of March for PlayStation 3.

Garv

I love sandbox games, from the likes of GTA to Crackdown every sandbox game has a place in my heart somewhere. Even State of emergency that was released back 2002 was a pretty good sandbox even though people were comparing it to GTA (which is quite frankly the god of the sand box).

Recently the sandbox has taken a turn. Superpowers have taken the lime light when it comes to sandbox games now. Titles such as Prototype, Crackdown and InFamous have been breathing new life into the sandbox with extreme wall running, flying without a helicopter and the ability to harness electricity and use it to your advantage have been giving sandbox games a fantastic new dimension of gameplay. But even new dimensions get a little stale, once someone has come up with the idea and it sells well, then everyone else is going to jump on the bandwagon and then sooner or later there is about 5 games with the same dynamics.

So how do you breathe life into a very crowded genre such as the open world game? Well it sounds like the guys at Sucker Punch games have the answer. InFamous 2 has been in development for quite a while now, but for two years Sucker Punch have been keeping quite a big secret.

InFamous 2 will support level creation.

This again gives a whole new lease of life to the Open world genre. LittleBigPlanet did set the premise of level creation and sharing you levels online with the world, InFamous 2 is planning to build on that for the open world genre, so, what will you be able to create?

Players will be able to make missions and games such as search and destroy adventures, platforming levels, escort missions, combat missions, shooting galleries, skeet shooting and even puzzle missions for other InFamous player to get their electrified hands on. When it comes to the level creation itself players will be able to decide player goals, lay out objects and obstacles, set up enemy movements even offer rewards for the player. The list does go on and sounds like a really good way to keep open world gaming very open to the gamer.

What baffles me about this though is how in-depth this level creation goes, it has been stated that the player will be able to give dialogue to characters and cast main character from the game into their missions. This is ridiculously in-depth and I do actually wonder if they can pull it off.

All user made levels can be found easily in-game signified by a green glowing circle, these circles will be placed throughout the world for you to try out, It has been confirmed though that you will not be able to gain Karma from the missions you create and you also wont be able to earn point more than once from other people’s creations, which is a nice touch.

InFamous 2 sounds like it is going to be one hell of a title for PS3 owners, the level creation will be playable in the live Beta in April.

We will keep you up to date with InFamous 2 as soon as we get more info.

Garv

To me, LittleBigPlanet is an amazing concept. The creators build a set of platform-game creating tools, and then use them to build a complex platforming title for all the family. That’s great – platforming games have been a long time staple of gaming, and are always good fun. But then, the creators did something that no-one had done before - they gave all the creation tools to the players themselves. This wasn’t some gimmicky system that allowed you to create a slightly custom experience – rather the vast majority of tools that the game’s creators themselves had used to build the levels. Then all they needed to do was sit back, and watch the online community bloom – and occasionally sell decently-priced DLC to give the gamers even more to work with.

And it really has bloomed - gamers all over the world have taken up the task of designing their own personal levels, using a mixture of tools, physics and materials to create platforming games of all shapes and sizes. Of course, not all players produce masterpieces, but the ones that are really shine. People have often gone beyond limits of what even the creators expected – even going as far as making some levels better than those in-built into the game itself. But then… How can you possibly create a sequel to a game with infinite possibilities? With hundreds upon thousands of levels available on PSN, you could potentially play levels almost endlessly. Well, the answer of course, is by improving upon the tools themselves.

That’s essentially what LittleBigPlanet 2 is – an overhaul and expansion of all of the tools and community of LittleBigPlanet.

Play

As soon as you delve into the story mode of LBP2, it’s plain to see that Media Molecule have had to up their game. Almost right away, it’s obvious that the game looks and feels fresher than ever, and that the level designs have become so much more impressive. With dynamic cameras in cutscenes, some of which are fully voiced, the characters come to life – while LBP1′s only “living” characters consisted of the players, old cut-out style characters have been replaced with “sackbots”, AI characters who are programmed to act, walk and interact with the level in the same way that Sackboy can. While it doesn’t affect the gameplay hugely, it really does bring the game to life in a new way. Each world in the game’s story features a different character – from Larry Da Vinci in Da Vinci’s Worskshop, to Eve Silva Paragorica, nurse of Eve’s Asylum, with each world based on a specific theme (as with LBP1), with five stages per world – along with a fair amount of mini-games on the side.

While LBP1′s story mode was fun – calling it a “story” was a little bit of a stretch. This time, LBP2 has a full story – albeit with a quirky LBP feel – revolving around the appearance of a huge beast called the Negativatron, which appeared and started ripping up worlds and their inhabitants. As Sackboy (or indeed, Sackgirl), you are called in by Larry Da Vinci and friends to round up members of the “Alliance” and save the world from the Negativatron. A simple story, but it does the job – and far better than that of the original.

As with LBP1, LBP2 allows for full 4-player co-op and all of the various features the original included. Even better, there are now new power-ups to play with – while LBP1 introduced the Jetpack (and also the Paintinator as part of the Metal Gear DLC), LBP2 introduces a whole host of new tools – the Grabinators are a pair of gloves that allow Sackboy to pick up certain objects, the Creatinator allows Sackboy to fire pretty much anything from a helmet-mounted gun, and the Grapple Hook gives Sackboy the power to, well, grapple onto certain objects in order to swing, hang and climb to other areas. Mixed in with the original gameplay of the first title, the new tools open up a whole world of new possibilities.

Create

However, the power-ups aren’t the only new features to come to LittleBigPlanet. There are a number of features added to make Creation even better and easier than ever. With the original, people went above and beyond to create complex mechanisms – using levers and physics to create mechanical randomisers and such. However, LittleBigPlanet 2 introduces the idea of Logic and Microchips – allowing the player to attach various functions to objects – such as IF and OR switches, pre-build randomisers and various other things compacted into small collapsible microchips, allowing players to create fairly complex systems by wiring things together with emitters, movement controls and batteries to power things and activate various functions and create some really intricate scenarios.

As I mentioned before, Sackbots are a big addition to the game. AI characters that can be customised using all of Sackboy’s clothing options that you’ve collected. These AI characters can then be made to follow the player, or perform other actions - such as acting out recorded animations, or even using tools such as the Grabinators or Creatinators themselves. By using camera tools and text or recorded voice, they can be given personalities and used in more story-based contexts.

Another new feature is the Controlinator - a seat that allows Sackboy to take direct control of another object. By sitting in the seat, it can be used as part of a vehicle, or to remotely control another object. With a handy controller-mapping function, people can actually decide how an object or vehicle reacts to the controller – be it movement or rotation of a vehicle, or firing projectiles as bullets by hooking up a button to an object emitter. Better yet, you can combine the Controlinator with a Sackbot to remotely control your own customisable character – altering the controls to add additional controller functions.

While the creation mode does take a little practice - it’s all more or less as simple as it can be, whilst opening up almost limitless possibilities. Oh, and just to note – all items and DLC you might have collected in LBP1 all carry over to the sequel – so don’t worry about any of your purchases going to waste.

Share

With all of the new features, LittleBigPlanet 2 is an almost complete overhaul to the original. With all it’s new features, Media Molecule have done their best to make things easy to manage. The game’s community filters have been improved to make searching easier than before, and there’s now an online service – at www.lbp.me – that can be used to look at player profiles, and queue levels into your queue list in-game to play next time you’re online.

All in all, LittleBigPlanet 2 offers more of the same, but even better than before. Many of the originals’ flaws have been fixed, and a host of new functions open up a whole lot of new possibilities within creation – with players managing to even go as far as developing RPG-style games, flight sim games, and much more. If you liked LBP1, or even if you didn’t play it, LBP2 is definitely worth picking up – and it will only get better as the community grows.

-Leon

With Christmas fast approaching many of us are now facing one of the biggest challenges of the festive season. I am of course talking about the seemingly endless mission that is Christmas shopping. Whereas some make lists and some are just plain easy to buy for there will always be others who prove more difficult. Yes, I am taking about the gamer who has everything. If your the type who buys every game you want on its release date and is less than amused with the standard gifts of soap and socks then I am talking about you. Though for much of the year you are the much loved provider of hand me down games, at the years end you are the biggest challenge on our need to buy list.  If like myself you have a couple of gamers who have everything on your list this year then never fear, the solution may just be here. All it takes is a little help from our alien friends.

Aliens stole my console is a new website which offers custom finishes for consoles and controllers. The concept is simple. First you use the tools on the website to create your perfect console. As well as changing the base and component colors you can also chose from a selection of decals or even request your own logo or design.  Once you have your design, your console is whisked away by courier (or Aliens) to be transformed. The transformation happens in three stages. The console is carefully dismantled before having each individual component covered in a specially formulated coating which not only adds extra protection but is also Uv resistant to prevent fading. Once the coating has been applied the console is put back together before being couriered back into your waiting arms. Its a little like the pimp my ride of the gaming world really, only without the big unveil and the over exaggerated screaming.

If you don’t fancy sending your own (or your friends) console to be pimped Aliens stole my console also offer a variety of new consoles and controllers which can be customized. The service is currently available for the X-Box 360, Wii and PS3 with both controllers and consoles available for the Alien treatment. The process usually takes under 14 days, and though I am not sure I could go that long without my console if you can you will be rewarded with something which is not only incredibly hardwearing but also quite unique.

One small footnote about the service. If you send your console away to be customized it will void the warranty. Aliens combat this by offering their own 90 day to 1 year warranty on consoles abducted but this is still a factor which must be considered by anyone wishing to have their console match their curtains… If you get what I mean.

So how does this service combat the age old problem of what to buy the gamer who has everything? Well though I would be dubious about sending my own console in for a paint job (mainly due to the warranty being void and red ring of death issues) I do see real potential in the custom controllers. With controllers being abducted for as little as £25 this may just mark the end of tatty controllers with scribbled marks of identification on the back.  Though the website offers limited options for controller customization I have been assured by the Aliens themselves that if you contact them almost any design can be achieved meaning your only limit is your own creativity. Having checked out one of these controllers at the 2010 Golden Joysticks Awards I can say with confidence that the feel and finish is first class giving them great potential as unique gifts. With the festive season almost upon us what could be better than to rock up at this years Christmas party with a personalized controller which not only looks the business but is also easy to find and defend should the need arise. Now all I need to do is convince them to pimp out my Guitar Hero controller… I’m working on that one…

Check out the site by visiting  www.aliensstolemyconsole.com

Until next time,

24

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RPG games for me are a mixed bag, there are very few I can really get into and enjoy to the full. The Fable series defiantly being one of them, Borderlands and Fallout 3, again some great RPG titles. But some of what I would say the more traditional ones I really can’t get into for some reason.Games such as most of the Final Fantasy titles for some reason I can’t really fully immerse myself into.

So when I went to the MCM Expo this weekend I hit the Tecmo Koei stand with an open mind, I had already played Fist Of The North Star and loved it, so it was time to try something new. So I was handed a PS3 controller and I started to play Trinity Souls Of Zill O’ll, a third person action RPG with a difference.

Most action RPG games center around one person. Take Fable and Kingdom Hearts into consideration here. You control one character and you basically wreak havoc by yourself or in a part of NPC’s. Trinity souls is a little different in that respect. You pretty much get to play three characters at the same time which you can switch between on the fly, each character having a unique fighting style. This gives the game a great sence of customisable combat and if used efficiently can take down even the biggest of enemies with ease.

Each character has a mixture of abilities you can choose between a hulking titan who has immense strength and can take down legions of enemies with one blow, also use pillars to take down enemies, you have a half vampire who uses ice and fire magic along with sword combat and you also have an elf lady who can double jump, use magic and is very speedy when it comes to combat. Its kind of like the strength skill and magic you have in most games but split between three characters this time as opposed to split into three sections of one character, as they are split between three characters it mean you are going to get a lot more variety when it comes to magic, skill and strength attacks.

The demo it self took us through a forest, there wasn’t really any mention of back story here, the demo was more of a way to show off Trinity Souls game play, the graphics are looking really good, and as this is a PS3 exclusive game it comes to no surprise that they are looking stunning. The attention to detail is good as well, every time you used  freeze spell in the water the water would freeze, giving an interesting element to combat in water.

The mixture of enemies was good too, with certain enemies you had to use specific magic to defeat them, or attack them in the right place in order to defeat them, for example if you were against a possessed tree you had to use fire in order to defeat it quickly, where as some of the bigger enemies you could only attack from behind in order to cause damage.

Trininty Souls Of Zill O’ll is turning out to be a promising game and a great step in the right direction for 3rd person action RPG’s. I cannot wait to see more.

Garv

LittleBigPlanet was a huge success on the Playstation 3 – allowing for some of the most creative gamers to really dig deep into its core, producing some of the most amazing platforming levels you could think of. While the story mode was good, the real depth came in the form of its online modes – tagged with the simple brand – ‘Play. Create. Share’, there you could find some true artists, with some of the best user-generated content seen on a console to date.

So you may think – with a seemingly infinite supply of levels, how could Media Molecule possibly offer us anything more? Surely the endless nature of the original made sequels redundant? Well, as it seems, there’s a lot more to the game than some new levels and graphical updates. We attended the Media Molecule developer session, where it was demonstrated to us exactly what we could be looking forward to in the next installment.

The key to LittleBigPlanet 2 is in its creation tools. While the first game offered us the tools to get the job done – Media Molecule had developed the game from scratch, creating the game, and it’s tools at the same time. The sequel, however, has been able to take what was already there, and begin to develop new tools, ideas, and seemingly endless amounts of new ideas. So, what’s in store for us?

Power-Ups

Power-Ups in LBP are items that can be placed within levels, granting Sackboy new abilities – the first game only had one included in the game – the jetpack – which obviously gave Sackboy the power to fly around stages – a nice touch. Later on, the Metal Gear Solid pack introduced the Paintinator, a paint-firing pistol that offered a new way of taking down opponents at long-range. Seeing how many new options these power-ups opened up, Media Molecule decided to add a few more in the next installment.

First off, we have the Power Gloves. While Sackboy is able to drag certain materials by grabbing it and running, the power gloves allow you to actually pick things up. It sounds simple, but it opens up so many new ideas. While the original game forced you to clumsily pull things around, it’s now possible to make any object liftable with the Power Gloves, allowing Sackboy to effortlessly lift objects and carry them around the level. It’s even possible to carry the object between layers, so there’s a lot more ability to have moveable objects in a less chore-like fashion. Of course, you can pick up your fellow Sack-people for multiplayer “co-operation” as well.

Next up, we have the grapple hook. While the power gloves offer some functionality that now seemed an obvious addition to the game, the grapple hook is a bit more fun. Any material that can be grabbed by Sackboy can now be grappled to, using an extendable hook. Platforming wise, this opens up a lot more fluidity getting around, and it’s even possible to pull objects around. The hook also reacts with realistic physics – so if you attach to a moving object you’ll find yourself flung around realistically. Obviously… you can.. grapple the other players… too.

Thirdly, we have the Creatinator. This essentially works as a head-mounted gun that sackboy can fire at will. While the downloadable Paintinator already gave us a way to fire, the great thing about the Creatinator is that it’s able to fire anything any object in the game can be assigned to the gun, allowing you to fire bombs, fire, water, missiles, blocks, or even cheese blocks. As creators can also tell objects how to react when they hit certain objects, it will be possible to make guns that can fire special objects that can destroy certain objects, or put out flames with water. Or squash other players by firing a giant boot. Who knows?

New Level Elements

Now, those are just the items Sackboy himself can pick up as power-ups. However, there’s a lot more than that. With the new tools at the creators’ disposal, there are new ways of playing, and working with elements in the levels themselves.

Gravity is one such feature. While a lot of thing were possible to simulate in the original game, it would take a lot of hard work, and sometimes not turn out brilliantly. While a select few could pull off optical illusions and such that would appear to make Sackboy be doing something he isn’t, features such as gravity mean that it’s possible to alter the level of gravity in the stage – this means that Sackboy can jump higher and further, or could be mired down by heavy gravity. The stage we were shown had Sackboy in a collapsing space station type area, and gave a lot more leaping ability than usual. It’s also possible to have objects affected by gravity, with levers and such that could reverse gravity, causing some objects to move from floor to ceiling. In one case, they even had a vehicle that sackboy could ride, and by pressing the X button, the small “wheelchair-like” device would flip from the ground and attach to the ceiling, and visa-versa.

While vehicles were possible in LBP1, they were more “forced” essentially built as objects that would roll, propelled by a rocket. They could do the job, but could be difficult to control. However, LBP2 introduces Direct Control Seats. These clever objects allow Sackboy to attach to a static seat (which may or may not be attached to the vehicle or object in question), and allow him to control the object. This means that the X button could be used to accelerate, while Square can allow you to fire from a mounted turret or such, while pressing left and right control the vehicles’ direction. Control Seats don’t necessarily have to control vehicles, though – they just allow sackboy to be rooted to the spot, while you take control of another object – they even showed Sackboy playing Pong on an arcade cabinet within the level, sat in the chair as the controller controlled the paddle on the screen. This means that players will be able to essentially “remote-control” objects – so I can see a lot of puzzles and such being made later on.

One of my favourite new features are Sackbots. While the original game’s cast were all essentially cardboard cut-outs with faces stuck on, LBP2 allows for creation of non-playable characters. The great thing about them is that there are so many options – with Sackboy’s entire wardrobe available, and options to change their size, there are more options for Sackbots than Sackboy himself! Once they are created, they can then be programmed to do certain things, stand in the spot and spout dialogue, follow Sackboy around the level, or even used as enemies. At one point, they demonstrated creating an angry, flaming, panda-suit-wearing sackbot that would follow Sackboy around, walking like a zombie (using a zombie animation that could be selected in the settings). The levels themselves had sackbots pacing around, sweeping, or performing other actions that gave the game a lot more life (such as a couple that sat in seats apparently playing an arcade game together).

More Technical Stuff

While there are a lot of new things added as fun ideas to the game, there are also some new additions that have the creator in mind. These will definitely improve the overall experience, while adding more efficiency and allowing creators to do even more than before.

One such feature is the Microchip. While clever creators were previously able to create clever mechanisms in order to create special functions (such as randomisers, or complex sequences of objects spawning), it was quite complicated, and even worse, it ate up memory that determined how many objects that could be placed within the level. Now, some of these ideas can be stored in small “Microchips” that attach to objects. Now, I’m no creator, but as I understand it this means that creators can go into details such as if statements, sequences of events on a timeline and various other things. With direct control seats, it’s possible to map different controller buttons to different actions (such as rotate, change gravity, spawn object),  allowing creators to effectively create their own control layouts for their own games using controlled objects. It’s even possible to create your own music, by mapping various notes to a score that can play, with various instruments.

Lastly, for those who like to create huge levels, we have the level link. In the past, creators would often create “Level – Part 1″ and “Level – Part 2″ etc, when they couldn’t fit their whole idea into a stage. With Level Links, creators can add doors into stages that will directly take them to a different level – as well as creating longer stages with various zones, this opens up the idea of world maps and such as well, with various stages leading into one another.

Overall, there’s a hell of a lot of new stuff to look forward into LittleBigPlanet 2. With all of the LBP1 content and DLC carrying into the second title (excluding the storyline levels), and being almost completely backward compatible, LBP2 is almost more of a glorious expansion than a sequel. With loads of new tools on the way, and plenty of new ideas for creators to entertain, I’ll definitely be picking up a copy just to see what the community can do this time.

-Leon