New Poll – Where Should I be Getting my News and Reviews From?

May 13th, 2008

elite beat agents scream As I’d mentioned previously in this post, I am unhappy with what I am getting from IGN in terms of both news and reviews. Too often I spot suspicious content, whether it be the checkbox styled reviews (Wii Fit, Boom Blox) or just news, reviews and previews that just don’t feel right (Nitrobike among others). I suspect that a few of these article are paid content and it’s starting to really frustrate me.

So with this I have been on the hunt for a new authority figure to tell me what is going on in the world of gaming. My problem is that I have been reading IGN for a few years now and I don’t really know where I should go next. I have already subscribed to the 1UP network feeds but I fear that they may not be a comprehensive as I’d like. Then again I could munch into gaming’s favourite junk food; Kotaku but yeah…I don’t really like their style of writing.

This is where I cry out to you; my readers. Please show me the light.

I have selected a few default sites and put them into a site poll. When selecting my options I realized that I am gonna have to cut it with one of the big wig sites. So please vote and help me make up my mind, the poll is on the right hand side of the navigation menu. I have also allowed an ‘other’ option and if you select this then please tell me what it is by either commenting in this post or sending me an email.

Of course, if you would like to elaborate on your selection I’d love to hear it. So let me know just below or send me an email.

Posted in Site Updates | Comments (7)
Tags: 1up, game news, ign

When Game Review Criteria Hits the Floor Hard

April 27th, 2008

wii fit workout It wasn’t too long ago that I posted up my opinions about game reviews and my great frustrations with them. I want to talk more about this issue at a later date but for now though I would like to further substantiate the previous article with a final conclusion, courtesy of IGN.

Before I start I want to share a little bit of context. When it comes to standardize, routine video game news and reviews I am subscribed to two sites to provide me with such content. They are IGN and for a wider, more down to earth scope Video Games Blogger. I am aware of such issues with IGN and fortunately I can filter out there content worthy of my time from another paid DS review or hyped up preview. Despite this there is a certain authority about IGN that I am bound to which I ought to ditch sometime. So if any of you readers have any suggestions then fire away.

In anycase, since I have an Australian IP address, IGN sees fit to send me all of their Australian (brought to you by Cam Shea!) and UK based content which is fair enough. The following is a review of Wii Fit which I would like to briefly analyze.

I genuinely have no beef with IGN, they are fine and this is by no means an attack at the site or their reviews. What is presented here, is as I see it a good example of a common problem within the industry. With that in mind, lets dance:

My Previous Article

Wii Fit IGN UK Review

If you want to skim though then just focus on the intro and conclusion as that is where the meaty bits lie.

If you have read my previous article and then the review you should be able to very easily pick up on the connections. The reviewer, self admiringly has a hard time dealing with the fact that he is reviewing Wii Fit under the requirements of a video game review. He doesn’t even consider Wii Fit to be a video game! There is a great misunderstanding of audiences going on here which is why the reviewer is so dumbfounded. Instead of continuing on and deeply analyzing why this review is so problematic (which would just be a whole bunch of regurgitation anyways). I want to leave this with you readers and let you think about what this represents. Here are a few quotes which I find most interesting:

“Despite certain similarities, this isn’t a game and standard review criteria aren’t going to have much sway here.”“Admittedly, nothing here really pushes the Wii to its limit”

“But such is the hard life of your videogame reviewer. Still, for the sake of completion, let’s break the whole thing down into its component parts and slap a great big number on the end anyway. Actually, sod it, it’s going to get an 8.0. Anything else you want to know? Then read on.”

Posted in Analysis | Comments (5)
Tags: game reviews, ign, wii fit

Star Wars in Soul Calibur 4, 16gb Pro Duo and More MGS4 News

January 11th, 2008

Theres been some fairly significant news to hit the streets of the gaming industry in the last few days. So I have sifted through and selected some articles that I wanted to share my thoughts about.

Yoda and Darth Vader in Soul Calibur IV
Source

Namco has recently announced that it will be continuing the trend of cameo characters in their Soul series. But unlike Soul Calibur II which featured (mostly) video game cameos this time Star Wars is the theme of the show. With Darth Vader (PS3) and Yoda (Xbox 360) coming in as new additions to the series.

darth vader soul calibur 4 playstation 3

Unfortunately I see this as a big oversight by Namco. Yes, playing as Star Wars in the Soul franchise is indeed awesome but why not stick to video game cameos? Because video game cameos are much more appealling to video game players than Star Wars characters, surely. Theres also a lack of justification for choosing Star Wars characters over game characters, there hasn’t been a new movie or anything to back this up. I guess we can forget about the rumour of Kratos and Master Chief as playable characters then.

16gb Memory Sitck Pro Duo
Source

Although its a little off topic, Sony have recently confirmed a new 16gb Memory Sitck Pro Duo. The Pro Duo is the stick used for the PSP as well as Vaio notebooks, Sony digital cameras and other Sony branded products.

This article grabbed my attention because this size of memory card is almost unheard of. Although it will definetly be a costly item its a real trump for the PSP mod and homebrew scene. I don’t think that I would need a card that size for the PSP and I wouldn’t use it over my 2gb compact flash card for my Sony Alpha A100 SLR (Pro Duos write too slowly and require an shell to fit inside the card slot) but its awesome in anycase.

MGS4 on the Home Stretch

2 new articles have come in from IGN about my most anticipated game of 2008; MGS4. The articles weren’t ground breaking but the following quote pricked my ears:

on CES ‘Dual Shock’ Demo

“Another thing that we noticed is that the game looks absolutely stunning. Everything is rendered in fine detail from the war-torn middle-eastern city that the level took place in, right down to the individual hairs on Snake’s ‘stache. When we asked whether or not the game will be able to run at 60 fps at 1080p, Konami said that the resolution and framerate were still being optimized and they can’t promise anything, but things were on the right track.”

This is very reassuring as I’ve been a litte worried about the game’s graphics. Obviously they look brilliant but it didn’t look like there was much variance in the colour schemes used judging by the video I’ve seen. Strangely when I look at the sceenshots it looks much more colourful than the video.

I’m not too fussed if it is run in 720p because my monitor is only fairly small so the difference between 720p and 1080p isn’t as significant than say on a 42” plasma. I would much prefer it to run at 60fps even if it was in 720p. There really shouldn’t be any games that run at 30fps anymore.

metal gear rex mgs4

See the screenshots looks vibrant

These facts suggest that MGS4 is indeed taking advantage of the Playstation 3′s to quite an extent so I guess this decreases the chance of that Xbox 360 port.

The second article summarises some more information about the release of the game. Stating that they are basically on the home stretch, that all of the content is finished and they are just squeezing out the last few bugs. More importantly though its been restated that MGS4 will launch almost simultanesous in all territories. Which is fantastic news. ^_^

Posted in General Gaming | Comments (3)
Tags: ign, memory card, metal gear solid, soul calibur