Ghostbusters

Upon receiving Chronicles of Riddick in the post last week, I felt it necessary to contact Boomerang rentals and vent my anger at never receiving any of my top 3 games on my rental list.

Ghostbusters being one of those, I was really looking forward to playing the 80's remake but Boomerang gave me a whole load of corporate back talk tosh. No problem, I'll cancel my subscription.

After a few angry days waiting and a back with fourth with "Steve" I finally got my copy. Banged it in and boy was I excited. The second that foghorn like sound kicks in, the goosebumps sprung like asparagus. Usually I skip through the opening credits but I was happy to let the full song and video demo play through, enjoying being transported back to a simpler time. A time when Mono was the new Stereo and it was OK to call the only black member of the Ghostbusting unit Winston.

Initially the visuals aren't great, not bad just not quite what I was expecting. Especially after the opening credits boasting a company called "HD-gaming". I've heard a few things about comparable graphics between the x-box and triple on this game, apparently the triple trailing in realistic visuals. Have a look below and make up your mind yourself:

360

PS3

Not much difference? Take a look at the website for bigger pictures and a closer inspection.

I think there is a difference based on the pictures shown to me, but I've only actually played the game on the triple so I cant give your first hand info on that particular aspect of the game.

The game centres around all four main characters from the films and has voices from the original cast. This makes for a much more rounded experience, and takes away any reservations you might of had about this being a slap dash movie game. If anyone remembers the oh so bad bad boys game, that was the pinnacle of piss poor movie games utilising the power of actors not affiliated with the film. Actors who sounded nothing like Will smith or Martin Lawrence. So as you can imagine, how refreshing it is to see a high budget game with real film actors.

The game is set after the second movie, and you are a new recruit of the team primarily used for testing the highly volatile new equipment Egon has cobbled together. The game has a real movie feel, it never really gets scary just like the movie. Even the most intense dark airy halls of an old haunted library are made light with Bill Murrays slightly sexist quips. This game has ticked all the boxes of a gamer Q&A, the experimental weaponry gives you the ability to blast and capture ghosts in a variety of ways with upgrades available for purchase in the pause menu. This keeps the game interesting and there's nothing more fun that firing out a proton beam, locking onto a slimer and slamming it into a trap I AINT 'FRAID NO GHOST.

The controls take some getting used to, it feels quite clunky at first. The buster doesn't move so gracefully and when hes required to dodge out the way of an attack there seems to be a delay which can cause fits of anger. If you KNOW you pressed the dodge button in time, but you still get hit, die, and have to start the level from the beginning....well lets just say blu-rays make good Frisbees. Despite this, you will learn to incorporate the delay an generally get used to the controls.

Online, the game has is quit ingenious, pitting your survival, capture or ghost slamming skills against your fellow Ghostbuster. The more you win, the more points you earn and higher your rank is, standard online competition rules really. Unfortunately every time i tried, there never seemed to be more than 3 or four people online and I would spent 10-15 minute waiting for someone to join a game, not fun. But I assume this is because it's a relatively new game or people have put it down after completing the single player.

Overall, this is a fun well rounded game, probably more likely to tickle the fancy of a fan of the genre. Someone who's never seen the films as a child may not be able to relish in the nostalgia. I thoroughly enjoyed it, completed it in two days and would suggest you get it for a fun filled ghost busting roller coaster ride.

McGregortron

Game news

Welcome to the first of the weekly game news updates. Up-to-date, reliable news to keep you abreast of whats happening and provide you with plenty of gaming pub ammo. Relish the praise from peers as they coin you as the GTA Galileo, the Need For Speed Nostradamus, the Devil May Cry Derron Brown.

27/07/09

Pre-paid cards Europe

Several sites are reporting a rumor today that PSN Cards will finally be coming to Europe on October 1, 2009.

To quote: October 1st will be an important day for Sony. With the launch of the PSP Go and the much-awaited Gran Turismo PSP already confirmed for that day, now it's been reported that the same day what European PSN users have been clamoring for years will be finally released: PSN pre-paid cards.

While we're labeling this as rumor since it hasn't been officially confirmed yet, the timing of release makes it seem very likely, given that the download-only PSP Go launches on the same day, it makes sense for pre-paid cards to accompany it.

We'll keep you informed when Sony finally confirms the rumor.

27/07/09

Uncharted 2 update

News of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Multiplayer DLC was recently revealed at Comic-Con 2009 along with some active cinematic gameplay (video below) courtesy of IGN.

Creative director Amy Hennig stated that Naughty Dog’s latest will get post-release support in the form of multiplayer DLC.

To quote: “One of the great things about the multiplayer and the co-op is that it gives us great opportunities to expand the experience for players with downloadable content, unlockables, things like that.

Which of course you don’t really do with the single-player game that much. We tried to pack a lot of value into the first game in terms of unlockables, but with that online component the game can kind of keep growing, especially based on players’ feedback too.”

25-07-09

MySpace takes gaming direction

News Corp, the owners who bought MySpace in 2005 when it was at its most popular have announced that they will be launching a new

gaming platform for myspace to combat fleeting users of the site to facebo

ok. MySpace has been loosing users to facebook at an alarming rate and in an attempt to reposition and re-brand they are targeting a lucrative gaming market.

Speaking at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in Pasadena California. Johnathon Miller said that he saw opportunities for game developers to put their games on the site and use the sites user data to take comments and improve the game. Like online testing and feedback, ultimately better developing games. I'm not quite sure how it is exactly they will put large HD files online for gamers to play, but I'm intrigued to see.

"MySpace is and will be more in the future a gaming platform, a space for people to meet and play games," Miller said.

But Miller described video games as an opportunity for expansion not only for MySpace, but for owner News Corp, which has the Fox network and movie studio and other media companies.

"None of the traditional media conglomerates are also significant video game players, so to speak, and I think that that's the missing piece of the equation, particularly when you see how much time is spent playing games online," Miller said.

Analysis

With this new direction, news corp could be onto a winner. It's no secret that the gaming market is massive and overtaking the film industry. With many blockbusters making (albeit lacklustre) games, the market is a good place for news corp to focus their efforts. It's unlikely they will be able to beat the galactic facebook, but if they manage to convince gamers they are the real deal...they will find that gamers are very loyal.

As far as I know, there is know other source for gamers to try out HD games before release, obviously there are demos but these are promotional tools rather than feedback forums. Demos for games are usually for the big releases, development companies with a lot of money, a lot of the PS3's problems is the lack of small developers that make games. This equates to the £10,000 price tag for a Dev kit, which I understand has now been dropped to £1000. A small step forward, but if news corp pull this off I foresee wiping off that old "no games on PS3" mantra.

22/07/09

Modern warefare 2

Infinity Ward is hinting at the production of an exclusive Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 controller. It looks like Infinity Ward might be planning an extra peripheral for the release of Modern Warfare 2. Most likely a pre-order incentive, it doesn't look like the company is simply producing a few stickers, with a decision on "concave or convex analogue sticks" to be made. "In a design meeting for a #MW2 controller. Need your advice - Concave or Convex grips for the Analog sticks? Whats your preference and why?" Infinity Ward tweets. Would it be a good idea to release a specific controller for a particular game? If it's not available to all players, couldn't this be seen as an unfair advantage for some gamers in online play? Tell us what you think in the comments section.