Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box & Trivial Pursuit, Xbox 360 - £12.85 delivered
Back From Glastonbury
Well, as you can probably tell by the fact that I am posting bargains again, I am back from Glastonbury. I had a wicked time, definitely going to go again next year too. Musical highlights were Bon Iver, Easy Star All-Stars, Noah and the Whale, The Horrors, and blur.
Here's some photos:
<3
Meridian4 half price sale
Meridian4 half price sale at Steam.
I am thinking of picking up Vigil: Blood Bitterness.
You're in the Movies + Live Vision Camera, Xbox 360 - £12.99
You're in the Movies + Live Vision Camera, Xbox 360 - £12.99 delivered
Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride, DS - £10.93
Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride, DS - £10.93 delivered
Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon, DS - £17.99
Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon, DS - £17.99 delivered
Street Fighter IV [Collectors Edition], Xbox 360 - £26.85
Street Fighter IV [Collectors Edition], Xbox 360 - £26.85 delivered
Metroid Prime Trilogy, Wii - £32.86
Metroid Prime Trilogy, Wii - £32.86 delivered
Just under £11 each for 3 excellent games.
Resident Evil 5, Xbox 360 - £19.99
Resident Evil 5, Xbox 360 - £19.99 delivered
or £27.99 for the Steelbook edition.
Far Cry 2, PC - £2.93
Far Cry 2, PC - £2.93 delivered
Might be a miss price, so be quick.
Update:
Now sold out, and back up to £11.93.
Update2:
TheHut.com are liars. They sent me an email saying the following:
I am sorry to advise that we had a limited amount of stock available of Far Cry 2 at the promotional price which has since sold out.
We can confirm that payment has not been taken and you are free to re-order at the current price should you wish.
What they actually mean is "we typed in the price wrong by accident, and once we realised our mistake, we cancelled all of the orders, because we didn't want to have to sell it to you for £2.93"
It really wouldn't hurt them to be honest, or at least come up with a better lie.
Government choose PEGI over BBFC
Looks like the government have decided to have PEGI as the sole ratings board for videogames in the UK, instead of the BBFC.
This means that games will no longer be rated by the BBFC, but by PEGI. I assume that this will also make PEGI age ratings legally enforceable (?).
Industry responses here:
Mike Rawlinson, Director General of ELSPA, the trade body which represents games publishers:
“The Government has made absolutely the right decision for child safety. By choosing PEGI as the single classification system in the UK, British children will now get the best possible protection when playing videogames either on a console or on the internet. Parents can be assured that they will have access to clear, uniform ratings on games and an accurate understanding of game content.
Today’s decision will ensure that games ratings stay relevant and adapt to the changing nature of videogames for many years to come. Retailers will now have clear, legal backing to help them prevent access to unsuitable content by children.
We will work closely with the Government, the Video Standards Council and the BBFC to ensure a smooth and rapid transition to this new ratings system.”
Simon Little, MD, ISFE:
“This decision by the British government to adopt PEGI as the single ratings system for videogames in the UK will give British children the same protection whether they are playing at home or online, as children in 28 countries across Europe.
PEGI meets the criteria set out by Professor Byron in her review and has also been further updated to take into account developments in new technology as game playing moves increasingly online and becomes increasingly interactive. It is a robust system which protects children online and offline. We will continue to ensure that PEGI remains the most relevant and effective system for helping parents, guardians, teachers and retailers to protect children both now and in the future.”
David Yarnton, UK General Manager, Nintendo:
“The Government has made the right decision. The PEGI age rating system is right for the protection of children as it is designed specifically for games and interactive content.
As a global company we welcome the decision as mature and intelligent as it works across some 30 international territories.“
Rob Cooper, Managing Director, Ubisoft UK:
“The adoption of PEGI as the rating system for games is a good decision. The PEGI system is future-proof, delivering effective child protection now and in the future. PEGI Online is a key component of the system, ensuring that the government does not have to re-assess the entire system once again in 12 months time.”
Mike Hayes, President and CEO, Sega Europe:
"This is an important decision for the UK public. PEGI is the only system that has the power to prevent games publishers distributing unsuitable content to children.”
Keith Ramsdale, Vice President and General Manager, EA UK, Ireland and Nordics:
”We welcome the government's decision. PEGI is the right choice to protect children from inappropriate gaming content, and best suited to continue to do so in the future as interactive entertainment moves increasingly online.
We applaud this collaboration between government and industry to find the best solution for consumers and for the UK marketplace.”
Andy Payne, Managing Director, Mastertronic Group Ltd and Chairman, ELSPA:
“This is the right decision for the UK consumer. The PEGI system is specifically built for interactive content both on and offline and is recognised throughout Europe. In a connected digital world, implementing age rating standards that are understood across traditional frontiers will protect children from unsuitable content and help to educate parents at the same time.”
Neil Thompson, Senior Regional Director UK & Ireland Entertainment & Devices Division, Microsoft:
“This is the right decision, the most important issue to be considered is that of child safety. A single PEGI system is by far the best means of promoting child safety; given the fact that PEGI is used for offline and online games in 29 countries across Europe. In a globalised market where children can play video games online across borders, this decision will provide clarity and consistency in deciding what games are appropriate for children and in enforcing those decisions – now and in the future”.
Update:
Apparently the Video Standards Council has been given powers to ban games. gamesindustry.biz reports:
The Video Standards Council – the new body managing game ratings in the UK – has been given tough powers to enforce legislation of the new PEGI system.
Company's that do not adopt the PEGI system will face fines and the possibility of titles not being granted a license to be released in the UK. The VSC also has the option to ban games from release.
"The VSC will be an independent body, as is the PEGI system, and while I'm sure there's some joining up to do, it's a tough system," detailed Electronic Arts' UK MD Keith Ramsdale, who has been consulting with the Digital Britain report as part of his role on the ELSPA board.
"We've gone further than the recommendations and PEGI will impose fines for non-compliance and possible exclusion from the PEGI system for non compliance.
"This isn't something ELSPA can affect, this will become a legislative statutory system and ELSPA doesn't get an influence, it's being handled independently," he added.
While the PEGI system has always raised concerns that it was a self-regulatory system, the Video Standards Council will oversee ratings and crack down on any companies trying to exploit the system as it puts into place a self-declaration process.
"To be honest so much content now goes online it's not realistic to expect a classification body to classify a product. It's got to be a self-declared process," said Ramsdale.
"But there's a big difference between self-regulation and self-declaration. So what a publisher will do is complete a self-declaration and of course there will be checks on what content people put in, and there will be highly punitive measures should publishers not comply."
David Cooke, BBFC Director:
"We have argued consistently that any games classification system needs to put child protection at its heart. It must involve consultation with the British public, command their trust, and reflect their sensibilities. It must take account of tone and context and be carried out by skilled and knowledgeable examiners. It needs to involve the provision of full, helpful and carefully weighed information to parents and the public more generally. It must have the power and will to reject or intervene in relation to unacceptable games or game elements. It should make a substantial contribution to media education, for example through dedicated websites and through work with pupils, students and teachers. It must be speedy and cost effective. It must have the capabilities to monitor online gameplay and to attract new members to online classification schemes. And it must be independent in substance as well as appearance, reaching its decisions and providing information on the basis of its own detailed assessments.
The BBFC has always supported PEGI and wished it well, but it continues to believe that it satisfies these requirements better than PEGI. However, it will cooperate fully in the detailed work needed to give effect to the Government’s decision. And it must be independent in substance as well as appearance, reaching its decisions and providing information on the basis of its own detailed assessments.”
I'm going to Glastonbury!
I'm going to be going to Glastonbury this Friday, early because I'm stewarding for Oxfam again. If any of you are going, and see a guy in a tailcoat, that's probably me.
I'll probably post a couple of times from the festival too, and have a few guest articles to keep you busy. My Twitter feed will probably be active.
Whilst not buying any cheap games, you should check out the new (technically) legal home of the undergdogs. Highlights I have noticed include System Shock, Discworld and Xargon. It's kind of hard to find games other than spending a long time clicking on links right now, but they are working on that, and you can follow the progress in their forums.
XxX
Monster Hunter Freedom 2, PSP - £14.99
Monster Hunter Freedom 2, PSP - £14.99 delivered
Or get:
Monster Hunter Freedom: Unite, PSP - £17.99 delivered
Which I gather is like an expanded version of MHF2.
Street Fighter IV [Collectors Edition], PS3 - £38.99
Street Fighter IV [Collectors Edition], PS3 - £38.99 delivered
Ghostbusters: The Video Game, Xbox 360 - £28.11
Ghostbusters: The Video Game, Xbox 360 - £28.11 delivered
Completely region free, and cheaper than the best price for the PS3 version (£32.99 delivered).
The Hut link problems
For some reason my affiliate links to The Hut seem to be broken. I have found a simple workaround, press F6 then enter (F6 is a shortcut for 'focus on the address bar'), and then it will load fine.
In the meantime whilst I am looking into it I won't use the affiliate links in new deals from The Hut, til I can find a solution to the link problem. If anyone has any ideas for a solution, please let me know.
ChoicesUK cheap games
ChoicesUK have got a pretty decent selection of cheap games right now. I thought I would bundle them together into one post because of their postage pricing.
They give free delivery on orders over £25, or £1.99 for any order under £25. That means bundling together a few of the games could get you the whole lot delivered for free.
Here are the highlights:
Xbox 360:
Alone in the Dark - £5.99
Fable II - £14.99
Mirror's Edge - £7.99 Buy it! Buy it! Buy it!
Stuntman: Ignition - £6.99
Prince of Persia - £7.99
Golden Axe: Beast Rider - £6.99
Star Wars: Force Unleashed - £12.99
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith - £9.99
PS3:
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand - £12.99
Skate - £6.99
Jericho - £5.99
F.E.A.R. 2: P.r.o.j.e.c.t. O.r.i.g.i.n. - £1.2.9.9
Unreal Tournament 3 - £8.99
Wii:
Sim City Creator - £4.99
MySims Kingdom - £9.99
Warioware Smooth Moves - £12.99
Resident Evil : Umbrella Chronicles - £12.99
PC:
Empire: Total War - £12.99 (or £29.99 on Steam)
Far Cry - £1.99
DS:
Pokémon Pearl - £14.99
Phourglass - £9.99
The Incredible Hulk - £6.99
Spore Creatures - £4.99
Guitar Hero On Tour Decades + Grip - £12.99
PSP:
Patapon 2 - £9.99
Pursuit Force - £2.99
Wipeout Pulse - £9.99
Let me know if you spot any other good deals.
LocoRoco 2, PSP - £5.99
LocoRoco 2, PSP - £5.99 delivered
At Mum: That'll do nicely for my birthday please. XxX
Resident Evil: Archives, Wii - £14.73
Resident Evil: Archives, Wii - £14.73 delivered
This is a port of a remake of a game originally released in 1996, and a prequel to said game that wasn't very good. At least they have priced it fairly.
Edit:
Wait, Wikipedia says this is REmake + RE0, but the retailer is implying it is just REmake. Who should we believe?
Fallout DLC
Fallout 3 Add On: Anchorage & The Pitt, PC - £11.73 delivered
Fallout 3 Add On: Anchorage & The Pitt, Xbox 360 - £12.73 delivered
At RRP for MS points, they would be the equivalent of £13.60 on the 360, and I can't find any particularly cheap MS Points right now, and you get the advantage of not have to convert your cash into a form Microsoft will accept.
Does anyone know if these play off the disc or what?
Prototype
Prototype, Xbox 360 - £34.85 delivered
Prototype, PS3 - £34.85 delivered
Prototype, PC - £24.99 delivered
All the initial impressions I have heard on this are excellent, and I have been looking forwards to this one for a long time. I read an interesting interview with one of the games producers here.
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena - Review
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, Xbox 360 - £32.73 delivered
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, PS3 - £29.99 delivered
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, PC - £22.93 delivered
Review by Justin Thurman
In order to make some sense of this review, I would like to summarize my feelings on Assault on Dark Athena first and qualify them afterwards: I would very much like to recommend Assault on Dark Athena to you but I find that I am largely unable to do so. I wanted to like it myself. Having loved Pitch Black, been annoyed with but understanding of Chronicles of Riddick, and having not played Escape from Butcher Bay, I came to Assault on Dark Athena expecting (or at least hoping) to find a game wherein I play as the morally ambiguous, very unsettling, sneaky, stabby badass Richard B. Riddick – and at certain points throughout the game, this is exactly what I got. But those points are far too infrequent for me to have felt satisfied by the overall experience or to have felt that Assault properly seizes what makes Riddick such an appealing character.
During his introduction as a character in Pitch Black, Riddick seemed like an actual human being. He quite clearly had his ethical gray areas, he had motivations that didn’t feel like cardboard cut outs (partially because those motivations were consistently kept from us as audience), and he was a very powerful anti-hero. Assault on Dark Athena entirely misses the point of these shortcomings and turns Riddick into a brooding ‘loner’ (the bad kind) that reeks of pretentious self-righteousness. Riddick says things like “The Dark protects her” and “I could [help you]. But when I help people, they end up dead.” – how are we supposed to take him seriously at this point? And it’s not even that he’s mistaken when he says these things – they are actually quite accurate in a literal sense. But they obviously point at a more artistic, metaphorical meaning that suggests that the reason Riddick is wearing those goggles is to hide all the eye-liner he must be wearing.
But immature characterization doesn’t end (or even reach its peak) with Riddick. The supporting characters are the worst in this regard. In particular, there is a conversation with a prison inmate named Jaylor that left a horrible taste in my mouth. Jaylor makes mention of a female prisoner with whom Riddick was previously conversing, making note of all the unsightly things he’s going to do to her when he escapes. During this particular exchange, I’m reasonably certain he uses the word ‘fuck’ at least every other word and concludes by claiming that, “first I’m gonna kill her, and then I’m gonna fuck her.” Throughout the entire conversation, every time he uses any sort of expletive, he emphasizes the word like he’s thirteen and has just discovered the pre-pubescent allure of cursing like a sailor. Now I certainly realize that the mercenaries are supposed to be portrayed as tough and gritty but this sort of dialogue doesn’t sound natural. I am entirely convinced that the writer had the explicit goal of putting as many expletives into this particular conversation as he could – and it shows. And to make the conversation even more unnerving, Riddick makes virtually no response to this rant by Jaylor – and what response could he make? It’s no surprise that Riddick has no acknowledgement of this exchange when this sort of dialogue doesn’t fit in the Riddick universe to begin with.
I realize that I’ve just spent a good five hundred words bitching about characterization and not mentioned gameplay once, but to be honest, that’s what I wanted out of this game: characterization. Stealth action/shooters are not in terribly short supply these days, so I can get that sort of gameplay from a number of a different sources. What I wanted here was a game in which I felt like I was inhabiting the role of Richard B. Riddick in his own universe and I was largely let down. But still, the gameplay itself could have redeemed that shortcoming and made the game worth playing again – and it made a semi-decent attempt at this, but ultimately fell short.
I realize this particular horse has been beaten to death by now, but the biggest gameplay issue I found is that the game can’t make up its mind about what sort of game it wishes to be. The opening sections are sufficiently stealthy and stabby (even if there are certain flaws in both these elements) to make the player hopeful that this sort of work will continue. Even if characterization falls short, the gameplay in the early parts of the game is very much Riddick-esque. But soon you start becoming absolutely overwhelmed with bullets, guns, and more bullets to the point that the game becomes much more about (poorly designed) shooting rather than (wholesome fun) stabbing. To be fair, it’s not as if your stabbing instruments are taken away and you absolutely cannot use stealth – but it is sure to become an increasingly frustrating experience as the game goes on. Enemies become more densely populated, their guns get bigger (as does their ability to absorb bullets to any body part except the head), and then of course the infamous spider turret makes an appearance. So you certainly can stealth and stab your way through the game, but you might as well crowbar your way through Half-Life 2, as the gameplay (at least in terms of player-enemy interaction) won’t be much different.
This unfortunate shift really is quite a shame because the melee combat in the game is great. It’s visceral, the killing blow animations are excellent, and the stealth kills always feel rewarding. And then the gunplay feels approximately like flashing a strobe light at a mannequin until someone tips it over for you. But my absolute biggest peeve with the gameplay is the horrific eyeshine. The Dark Athena is sufficiently dark to warrant the name. Oftentimes you will be creeping along a corridor or an air vent with only a single light source off in the distance, making navigation rather cumbersome. Your eye shine, however, while semi-functional in absolute darkness, is blindingly headache-inducing when there is any source of light in the vicinity. I found myself switching back and forth constantly in order to even walk down an empty hallway. Many of the rooms you must navigate have light sources abundantly placed in one section with total darkness everywhere else, so you must switch your eyes on and off just for turning around. I am not exaggerating when I say that it quite frequently gave me headaches over longer playing sessions. Weird, glowy vision was fine in the movies for one reason: we weren’t the ones controlling it. In game, it is cumbersome and unnecessary. More traditional forms of night vision would have been just fine. But the worst part of Riddick’s eye shine is that it actually hampers your ability to hide from enemies in shadows. Quite frequently you find yourself slinking about in a dark section of a room with enemies just on the other side of whatever crates you’re hiding behind, and you have two options: leave eyeshine off and be unable to make out the environment in which you’re hiding, or turn it on and be unable to see when you’re about to stick the end of your nose into the light, resulting in it being blown off your face. The only way to make sense of the situation is to switch eyeshine on and off repeatedly, which, as I’ve suggested, is rather frustrating.
I could go on about other complaints I had such as frequent backtracking, long loading, or a boring story (and how could the story be any good with such lackluster characterization?), but I feel that would be largely unnecessary. The game had two fronts on which it could have succeeded. It could have been an engaging portrayal of the Riddick universe but it turned out to be immature and insipid. It could have been entertaining, well-executed stealth gameplay but it turned out to be a weak shooter. Even still, I have heard that Escape from Butcher Bay is better in both these regards and I was not so turned off by Assault that I won’t play Escape. I want to reiterate that I really enjoyed stealthing around and picking off guards in the early sections of the game. I still hold out hope that the Riddick character can be revitalized and that more of the engrossing stealth-stabbity fun is in there somewhere. There are some promising aspects of Assault on Dark Athena’s gameplay that, if they were refined and focused on more fully, could make an excellent game and I am hoping that Escape from Butcher Bay will fit that bill.
And last but not least, there’s the multiplayer. Seeing as multiplayer was not originally planned to be included, I expected it to feel tacked on and unnecessary – and largely it did. But the Pitch Black game mode in which one player plays as Riddick and the rest as the mercs hunting him was surprisingly engaging. Playing as Riddick is a fun hide and seek, cat and mouse chase, whereas playing as a merc brings out the fear that should be associated with hunting and being hunted by Riddick. The environments are claustrophobic and dark, forcing the mercs to choose between a relatively weak weapon with a stronger flash light or a strong weapon that offers little in the way of visibility. It promotes coordination among the mercs and allows Riddick, when that coordination is lacking, to pick them all off one by one, exactly as he should. I don’t know if that experience is worth the price of admission all on its own, but it’s an enjoyable diversion nonetheless.
So ultimately, if you enjoyed Butcher Bay (as many people did) and would like to play it on a current-generation console, pick it up. You’ll get the game you know and love, some entertaining multiplayer, and if you must lengthen (and reduce the quality of) the Riddick experience, you have the single player portion of Assault on Dark Athena. But for anyone looking for a new, exciting entry into the Riddick universe or the stealth/action genre, I must suggest you look elsewhere.
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, Xbox 360 - £32.73 delivered
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, PS3 - £29.99 delivered
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, PC - £22.93 delivered
Lego Indiana Jones + Kung Fu Panda + Wireless Controller, Xbox 360 - £19.99
Lego Indiana Jones + Kung Fu Panda + Wireless Controller, Xbox 360 - £19.99 delivered
Wii Motion Plus
Wii Motion plus is out soon (12th of June), and here are the best prices for the unit on it's own, and bundles with games.
Wii Motion Plus - £15.96 delivered
Wii Sports Resort + Wii Motion Plus - £37.96 delivered
Grand Slam Tennis + Wii Motion Plus - £42.73 delivered
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010 + Wii Motion Plus - £42.99 delivered
Professor Layton And The Curious Village, DS - £17.99
Professor Layton And The Curious Village, DS - £17.99 delivered
Mario Power Tennis (New Play Control), Wii - £9.99
Mario Power Tennis (New Play Control), Wii - £9.99 delivered
Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box + Trivial Pursuit , Xbox 360 - £14.95
Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box + Trivial Pursuit , Xbox 360 - £14.95 delivered
Utter steal.
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