Plain Sight, probably the stand-out independent game from the Eurogamer Expo last year, has just gone into open beta on PC.
You can download it here.
You are a robot on a planetoid populated with buildings. The aim of the game is to collect points by attacking other robots, but you only get to keep those points for the scoreboard if you blow yourself up, and the more points you accrue the easier it becomes to find you. I spent a good chunk of time playing this at the expo and I can see it being a great online game. You can plug in a 360 controller and play it with that if you so wish, too.
It'll be available on Steam and other digital distribution platforms early this year for $9.99.
Plain Sight Open Beta
SOCOM: Confrontation, PS3 - £28.99
SOCOM: Confrontation, PS3 - £28.99 delivered
This comes with a Bluetooth headset. Not entirely sure why it took this long to come out over here. Possibly ironing out all the bugs.
If you held off on importing this is a cracking deal.
World of Goo soundtrack
Those glorious people at 2D Boy have just given away the soundtrack to World of Goo, which is excellent.
You should buy the game too, it is also excellent.
Democracy 2, PC - £8.51
Democracy 2, PC - £8.51
One day only offer, to celebrate the end of Bush's reign of terror or something.
Demo here.
10 more Quake Live invites
I've got another round of invites, this time I have 10 spare invites.
Whoever the next 10 people to email me at lewiep@savygamer.co.uk are will get an invite into the Quake Live beta.
You need to include your full name, and whether you classify yourself as Beginner/intermediate/Expert skill level, or if you are not sure.
Next 10 emails I get will have them, so be quick!
Rock Band Portable Drum Kit - Review
MadCatz Rock Band Portable Drum Kit - £44.93 delivered
Review by Will Templeton
When the Rock Band Portable Drum Kit arrived at my door, I was pleasantly surprised at the build quality of the contents - the four pads are exactly the same size as the full Rock Band drum set, and made of good-quality rubber. The drumsticks unscrew for easy transport, and have rubberised ends to dampen sounds. The pedal looks flimsy but feels sturdy, and is mounted with a couple of removable carpet grips to keep it from slipping. It's clear that MadCatz have put a lot of thought into the failings of the original drum kit and piped those into the design of this portable version - the pedal especially is much upgraded from the rubberised one they initially announced.
DAY 1 - SOLO PLAY
After booting up my 360 and connecting the main body of the controller (essentially a hub with ports for each input), it occurs to me that this little thing is just a controller with a d-pad and four buttons. I can load up and play N+ no problem. After wasting an hour or so on that I remembered what I was originally going to do, and hooked up the pads and pedal. Shifting my keyboard to one side, I placed the pads on my desk and popped the pedal under it.
As I quickly found out, my desk is a little too high for drumming. I paused, dragged a table in from the lounge and set myself up, a little lower than I would have liked, and resumed. While it was a slight adjustment in play, I found that I was able to play through and beat the set with little difficulty.
There were a few occasions where I missed some notes I felt I should have hit. Most notably, the pedal works in a vastly different manner to the stock Rock Band pedal.
At this early stage I'm having trouble deciding whether these little issues are the set itself or just me playing it incorrectly. I seem to remember having issues like this with the pack-in Rock Band drum set when I first started playing, and now I have no problems at all as my play style fits that set.
DAY 2 - BAND
Today I brought my 360 and my Rock Band gear around to a friend's, as we do every now and again on a weekend. Granted, it's only the house next door, but the portability of this kit made it a single trip instead of an unwieldy two-trip exercise. After a test few songs we adjusted the coffee table and swapped out the couch for a straight-backed chair, and proceeded to play for a few hours. I tried out a few songs which I knew very well and sight-read a couple of new downloads, and I really got a feel for the new pads. There's a little more bounce than usual, and so I'm finding it impossible to pull off rolls with any kind of regularity. Double kicks are also very difficult without the springy pedal from the original kit, but I can already see myself adjusting to the shallower pedal.
One thing I did notice after prolonged play is that the sticks vibrate more than regular wooden drumsticks. As the sticks screw together, they can sometimes loosen slightly during prolonged play.While this can be fixed with a quick tightening between songs, it's very hard to do in the middle of a song and if it's left unchecked it could at possibly damage the sticks and at worst damage your hands. My wrists were aching a lot more than after extended drumming with the regular kit.
DAY 3 - BAND
I left the gear at my friend's overnight and popped back today for a full day of Rock Band. Somehow, after returning, I found a really good placement for the pads - I was even pulling off rolls and double-kicks easier than with the regular kit, with no no pain at all. It now feels like the ability to place the individual pads wherever you like is a great advantage for the Portable Drum Kit, whereas yesterday it felt like a frustrating hindrance.
I downloaded Hey Baby. Drumming without ever seeing the note chart or knowing anything except the chorus was fun times.
Tomorrow I'm taking a short train journey to go home. Hopefully we'll see how portable these drums really are.
DAY 4 - TRAVEL
I travelled by train for roughly an hour today with the Portable Drum Kit. There's not much to say except that it definitely lives up to its name. The drumsticks, as mentioned earlier, unscrew for easier portability but I really don't see why this is necessary except to keep the size of the original package down - it's not as if drumsticks are not portable enough to begin with. I actually had more trouble trying not to stab people with the end of my Xplorer than transporting the kit, which is definitely not something I could have said of my original drums, which took up an entire rucksack when I bought them.
Today's outcome is definitely positive.
DAY 5 - BAND
My nephew got Guitar Hero: World Tour for Christmas, so I brought my Xplorer and the portable drums to his house to give it a go, only to find out that he had the entire instrument set, including a second guitar. After a few rounds on the drums, I decided that the pedal on the GHWT drums wasn't for me, and swapped it out for the pedal in the portable kit. Bad idea - the pedal didn't work and we almost failed the song as a result. The next song we swapped out the whole set for the entire portable set, and again, the pedal was not compatible, although World Tour recognised it as a four-pad set. Worried that it had been damaged in transit, I set up Rock Band to test it. It worked perfectly.
This, in my eyes, is a serious black mark against the Portable Drum Kit - if you are carrying your kit around with you to other people's setups then it's quite likely that they have a different game. Playing at my nephew's also brought up the issue of placement once more - the only table that was accessible for the drums was a table tennis table in the same room as the console. I had to stand to play them and my nephew had to stand on a chair.
DAY 6 - BAND
Today the whole family came round to our house. We set up the 360 and the Rock Band equipment, my nephew bringing a guitar and mic so we could have a full set. The great new experience of playing Rock Band with my extended family (my grandma singing was a particular high point) was slightly marred by the fact that, again, we didn't have an ideal place to set up the Portable Drum Kit.
Initially I grabbed a cardboard box of about the right size, but this left no place for a pedal and kept wobbling. After some discussion about whether or not there was a suitable board in the garage to lay over some chairs (and finding there wasn't), we settled on placing the pads over two chairs. After playing one song the pads were drifting away from me due to the slightly curved cushions on the chairs, and the pedal was skittering all over the place - this was solved by removing the carpet grips from the pedal, which allows rubberised feet to grip a hardwood floor. We did continue to play Rock Band until the end of the night, but after each song the drums had to be readjusted. Rather ironically, with the chair set-up in the lounge, they took up rather more space than the standard kit, and were a little unwieldy to walk around when one of the four people not playing wanted to get a drink or whatever.
The key thing about these drums is compromise. If you have a conveniently-sized table then they will no doubt work very well for you, and they stack away neatly in a box a fraction of the size of the original Rock Band drums. They are also vastly easier to take round to a friend's house for band play, as I've experienced. When you get there, the experience you have could vary wildly. The ability to place the pads wherever you like is both excellent and frustrating depending on where you're able to place them, and while being quieter, the sticks aren't the most ideal (and regular drum sticks are actually louder when used with the Portable Drum Kit).
It's fifteen quid cheaper than the regular kit. I'm not entirely convinced it's worth the savings, but that of course depends on your circumstances and whether or not you play Rock Band away from home a lot. If you plan on buying this just for the ability to store it neatly, I can't recommend it. This kit thrives on its portability. But would I consider the extra hassle of setting up a few chairs a reasonable sacrifice for not having to lug the full set on the train? Absolutely.
And if you have a Les Paul or other detachable guitar the whole set will fit into a satchel.
MadCatz Rock Band Portable Drum Kit - £44.93 delivered
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock + Wireless Guitar, PS2 - £24.99
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock + Wireless Guitar, PS2 - £24.99 delivered
Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare [Special Edition], Xbox 360 - £49.99
Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare [Special Edition], Xbox 360 - £49.99 delivered
I guess it's a good price if there's anyone who still wants it.
Sid Meier's Civilization 4 Complete, PC - £9.87
Sid Meier's Civilization 4 Complete, PC - £9.87 delivered
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, Xbox 360 - £23.99
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, Xbox 360 - £23.99 delivered
Iron Man, Wii - £5.99
Iron Man, Wii - £5.99 delivered
I imagine it's terrible, but it's also six quid.
GOG RPG weekend promotion
Good old games are having a 15% off promotion for their RPGs this weekend, the following games are in the offer.
Arx Fatalis - $8.49
Fallout - $5.09
Fallout 2 - $5.09
Fallout Tactics - $5.09
Gothic - $8.49
Invictus: In the Shadow of Olympus - $5.09
Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader - $5.09
Sacred Gold - $8.49
Stonekeep - $5.09
Apply code "PROMO1" to get your 15% off.
Dragon Quest - Chapters Of The Chosen, DS - £9.73
Dragon Quest - Chapters Of The Chosen, DS - £9.73 delivered
Castlevania: Order Of Ecclesia, DS - £23.73
Castlevania: Order Of Ecclesia, DS - £23.73 delivered
They also get bonus points for their photoshop'd cover, they took the original NES Castlevania cover and turned it into a DS box. "Artwork TBC" indeed.
Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia, Xbox 360 - £4.75
Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia, Xbox 360 - £4.75 delivered
(no) More Quake Live Beta Invites.
I've got another round of invites, this time I have 5 spare invites.
Whoever the next 5 people to email me at lewiep@savygamer.co.uk are will get an invite into the Quake Live beta.
You need to include your full name, and whether you classify yourself as Beginner/intermediate/Expert skill level, or if you are not sure.
Next 5 emails I get will have them, so be quick!
Update: all gone
Xbox 360 Elite - £209.99
Xbox 360 Elite - £209.99 delivered
A decent price for the console on its own, but you can also choose to get the Wireless Entertainment bundle for £20, which is Kung Fu Panda, LEGO Indiana Jones and a Wireless Controller.
You can also get any of these games for £10 too, just apply code "XBXGME10" at checkout:
Lord Of The Rings: Conquest
Prince of Persia
WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009
Far Cry 2
Fracture
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
Quantum of Solace
LEGO Batman: The Videogame
Golden Axe: Beast Rider
Warhammer: Battle March
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
CSI: Hard Evidence
Crash of the Titans
Crayon Physics Update
Haha, this is so awesome.
On of my few gripes with Crayon Physics Deluxe was that there was a flaw in how challenging it was. It felt like there was always an elegant solution, but I didn't know if I had got it or not.
Well, Petri has just updated the game. He has added an extra star to each level, for different things.
In his words "you can now get an extra star for each level if you complete them in couple of different ways and under certain restrictions."
It looks like he has fixed what was one of the only real problems I had with the game, kudos for taking on board the constructive criticism, and doing something with it. I've not had time to play with it yet, but I can't wait to dig back into it.
You can check out my review here, and grab the demo or buy the full game here.
Call Of Duty 4 [GOTY Edition], Xbox 360 - £24.73
Call Of Duty 4 [GOTY Edition], Xbox 360 - £24.73 delivered
Maybe this game is finally going to stop dropping in price...
Edit: It's opposite day or something...
Blue Dragon, Xbox 360 - £5.98
Blue Dragon, Xbox 360 - £5.98 delivered
It was this price before, then went out of stock, but has just gone back in stock.
Prices Slashed at Blockbuster
You can get it online for £27.73.
Thanks to Martinus Prime for the video.
Free Geometry Wars Megamix
The nice folks at Bizarre Creations are giving away, for absolutely free, a Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 Megamix entitled "46860 Choices".
It's pretty nifty.
Grab it here.
Sid Meier's Civilization: Revolution, Xbox 360 - £16.77
Sid Meier's Civilization: Revolution, Xbox 360 - £16.77 delivered
LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, Wii - £14.99
LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, Wii - £14.99 delivered
Mirror's Edge, PC - £26.99
Mirror's Edge, PC - £26.99 delivered
This is the best price around at the moment, but it's actually hard to recommend buying it at this price. I loved the game on the 360 (you can see my review here), but I am pretty certain that the price will drop to under £20 pretty quickly, likely in the next month or so.
Meteos Wars - Review
Review by Robert Boyd
Meteos Wars is the latest puzzle game to be released on XBLA from Q? Entertainment - publisher of such gems as Lumines Live and Rez HD. As a big fan of Q? Entertainment's previous games, I went into Meteos Wars with high expectations.
In Meteos Wars, the player is tasked with the defense of a planet from the meteor-like meteos (meteor, meteos, get it?). In typical puzzle game fashion, this is accomplished by matching up colored blocks (the meteos) in lines. In not so typical fashion, matching up colors doesn't instantly remove those meteos from play, but instead creates rockets that launch your meteos up into the air. The bulk of the gameplay consists of trying to juggle stacks of meteos in the air, matching enough colors to keep them aloft, but not enough to leave the planet, allowing the stacks to get bigger and bigger from the falling meteos, before finally creating enough propulsion to launch the entire stack off the playing field for a ton of points (and a lot of extra meteos on your opponent's screen in multiplayer and versus modes).
I was a little worried that Meteos Wars wouldn't control well with a traditional controller (Meteos was originally a stylus-based DS game), but I'm pleased to report that the game works reasonably well with the 360 controller, using one analog stick to move the cursor and the other stick to move meteos up and down. Switching from one side of the screen to the other can be a little slow, but even this problem can be alleviated by adjusting the cursor speed in the option menu.
Meteos Wars contains a respectable amount of content for an 800 point puzzle game. There's a story mode where you fight against the computer across a number of different planets, finally fighting on planet Meteos itself. There's a vs. mode where you can play against another player or the computer in a single match. There's a Marathon mode where you don't have to worry about an opponent and you just try to get as many points as possible. Finally, there's are a few challenge modes available like trying to get as many points as possible in a minute. With multiple difficulty levels, unlockable planets (each with their own visual scheme & music), unlockable accessories for your alien avatars, achievements, and leaderboards, there are plenty of reasons to come back for one more game.
The game is not without its flaws. Online multiplayer is a joke with game-ruining lag being a frequent problem, assuming of course, that you can even find an opponent to play against in the game's barren online community. The color schemes for some of the planets can make it difficult to distinguish between colors which can be frustrating. Finally, if you have played a good deal of Meteos on the DS, you may find it difficult to adjust to the different controls.
Problems aside, I have enjoyed the time I've spent playing Meteos Wars and plan to spend much more time on it in the future. It looks and sounds great (the audio in particular seems to be much better than the DS game) and the game's frantic gameplay is a nice change of pace from the other puzzle games I tend to play. It's not the best puzzle experience I've had on XBox Live Arcade (that being Lumines Live with the Rockin' Holiday pack add-on), but it's still a lot of fun. I highly recommend it to fans of fast paced puzzle games, especially if you haven't already played the DS version.
BE QUICK RE5 FOR £30.36
The Hut.com 10% off everything
Head to The Hut.com now, and enter code "JAN10" for 10% off the total of your order. I'm going to compile a list of the highlights now. Sale ends tomorrow (Wednesday) at midday, so don't delay!
PC
Saints Row 2 - £20.46
Command And Conquer: Red Alert 3 - £13.26
Dead Space - £13.26
Spore - £22.26
FIFA 09 - £13.26
World Of Warcraft - Battlechest - £13.26
World Of Warcraft - The Wrath Of The Lich King - £15.96
Mercenaries 2: World In Flames - £13.26
The Witcher [Enhanced Edition] - £15.96
DS
Trackmania - £15.96
Dragon Quest Monsters - £8.94
Space Invaders Extreme - £13.26
Guitar Hero: Decades (with stupid clippy thing) - £25.86
Wii
Sega Bass Fishing - £10.56
Mario And Sonic At The Olympic Games - £21.36
Endless Ocean - £13.26
Animal Crossing: Let's Go To The City - £29.46
Tomb Raider: Underworld - £15.96
Top Spin 3 - £15.96
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core - £6.96
Lego Batman - £15.96
Wii Play - £26.76
Links Crossbow Training + Wii Zapper - £13.26
We Love Golf - £10.56
Ghost Squad - £10.56
De Blob - £15.96
PS3
Lord Of The Rings: Conquest - £33.96
Dead Space - £22.26
Lego Batman - £15.96
Xbox 360
Lord Of The Rings: Conquest - £33.96
Infinite Undiscovery - £15.96
Command And Conquer: Red Alert 3 - £22.26
Top Spin 3 - £15.06
Dead Space - £22.26
Lego Batman - £15.51
Dark Sector - £4.26
Gears Of War 2 - £26.76
John Woo Presents: Stranglehold - £6.96
Devil May Cry 4 - £13.26
Skate 2 - £33.06
PS2
Dragon Quest - The Journey Of The Cursed King - £7.86
PSP
Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII [Limited Edition] - £15.96
If you see any good deals, let me know in the comments.
(no) More Quake Live Beta Invites.
I've got another round of invites, this time I have 5 spare invites.
Whoever the next 5 people to email me at lewiep@savygamer.co.uk are will get an invite into the Quake Live beta.
You need to include your full name, and whether you classify yourself as Beginner/intermediate/Expert skill level, or if you are not sure.
Next 5 emails I get will have them, so be quick!
Update: All gone, keep checking back for more though!
Far Cry 2, Xbox 360 [Collectors Edition] - £24.98
Far Cry 2 [Collectors Edition], Xbox 360 - £24.98 delivered
You can get the regular edition for £19.99.
Dawn of War II, PC - £22.99
Dawn of War II, PC - £22.99 delivered
Although it's probably worth thinking about getting the special edition for only £4 more, although I have no idea what extras it comes with beyond what looks like a steel case.
Trauma Centre: New Blood, Wii - £15.92
Trauma Centre: New Blood, Wii - £15.92 delivered
As I posted before, Amazon seem to keep dropping the price on this, first it was £19.99, then £18.56, then £16.75. Maybe it will drop further soon...
(no) More Quake Live Beta Invites.
I've got another round of invites, this time I have 3 spare.
Same as before the first 3 people to email me at lewiep@savygamer.co.uk will be in the Quake Live beta
You need to include your full name, and whether you classify yourself as Beginner/intermediate/Expert skill level, or if you are not sure.
They go pretty quickly, so don't delay!
Update: And they're all gone
Fable 2 [Collectors Edition], Xbox 360 - £39.99
Fable 2 [Collectors Edition], Xbox 360 - £39.99 delivered
Contains:
1 token card for in-game content
Bonus disc containing the "Making of Fable II"
"The Wreckager" Legendary Cutlass Weapon
"The Hall of the Dead" Dungeon
"Otherworldly Bonus" - Two items, "Hal's Outfit" and "Hal's Sword",
And a purchasable "Master Chief" Hero title.
Animal Crossing: Let's Go To The City, Wii - £28.99
Animal Crossing: Let's Go To The City, Wii - £28.99 delivered
Braid givaway
Jonathan Blow is giving away 20 copies of his superb game Braid on XBLA, all you have to do is guess the games in the ten screenshots.
I've got two of them, but then I am stumped.
You can see my review of braid here.
X-COM Complete Pack - £2.99
X-COM Complete Pack - £2.99
Contains:
X-COM: UFO Defense
X-COM: Terror From the Deep
X-COM: Apocalypse
X-COM: Interceptor
X-COM: Enforcer
A whole bunch of cheap PSP games
All these games are £7.99 at Shopto, but all of them are "Stock Due In", so who knows when they will arrive:
God of War: Chains of Olympus
Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters
Killzone: Liberation
Tekken: Dark Resurrection
Loco Roco
Everybodies Golf
Armoured Core 4: Answer, Xbox 360 - £17.99
Armoured Core 4: Answer, Xbox 360 - £17.99 delivered
Update: Apparently Shopto don't want to sell this any more.
Far Cry 2, Xbox 360 - £15.99
Far Cry 2, Xbox 360 - £15.99 delivered
It's been this price for a while, but just come back in stock.
Resident Evil 5, PS3 - £33.99 delivered
Resident Evil 5, PS3 - £33.99 delivered
Student discount is available too, might be the best pre-order price, if not I'll post again before it comes out, and you can cancel this one.
Resident Evil 5, Xbox 360 - £33.99
Resident Evil 5, Xbox 360 - £33.99 delivered
Student discount is available too, might be the best pre-order price, if not I'll post again before it comes out, and you can cancel this one.
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