Misc

Valve have announced the release date for Crash Course, the latest piece of DLC for their zombie smash Left 4 Dead, as next Tuesday (September 29th). Unlike last April's Survival Pack, however, this will not be free, instead costing a reasonbly priced 560 Microsoft Points. Ostensibly an all new campaign set after the original's No Mercy, Crash Course promises to maintain the basic gameplay options familiar to L4D fans (Single/Co-op/Versus), as well as providing an update for the original game.

In other Valve-devolped, zombie-based multiplayer FPS news, the demo for the controversial sequel Left 4 Dead 2 is due for release on October 27th. However, no other details have been revealed. The sequel has proven to be something of a contentious issue amongst die-hard Valve devotees, with many suggesting that the release of a follow up so soon after the original goes completely against Valve's ethos of care and commitment to all of their games post release, and view L4D2 as nothing more than an add-on with a full-game price tag. As such, it will be interesting to see if this demo will actually manage to heal the rift.

Left 4 Dead 2 is released on November 20th.

Making an advert for a game or console is almost as difficult as developing the product itself. A misjudged commercial could ultimately decide whether a game's fate. When done well, though, game adverts have the ability to transcend their purpose, and become as iconic as what they are selling. Here are five examples that got it totally right: Read More  »

Emerging from the deepest depths of Korea for European consumption in 2007, Maplestory is a massively popular MMORPG, with over fifty million players worldwide.Inspiring everything from Anime and fan art to a range of snacks. Whilst being extremely popular, the game is also very different from its online siblings, boasting unique visuals and side scrolling gameplay, while retaining many of the classic elements that make the genre so popular. With the recent release of the expansion pack, Knights of Cygnus, the time seemed right to look at what makes the game such a fan favourite.

After the initial, coma inducing tedium that comes with installing any downloadable PC game, it quickly becomes apparent that Maplestory is much more, and in some cases much less, than an ordinary MMORPG title. Visually the game looks like a cross between an upscale anime and the psychedelic imaginings of an overactive twelve year old splattered across the monitor. Colourful players roam across 2D backgrounds reminiscent of an early Megadrive title, interacting with surprisingly detailed characters and items, while a retro digital soundtrack will either serenade them or drive them insane. This style will instantly put a lot of more mature gamers off, but for those willing to look past Maplestory’s out of retirement presentation, a deep and engrossing MMORPG experience awaits. Read More  »

Ten years ago, turn based RPG action ruled the gaming world. Titles such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest had gamers craving multiple discs, turn based battles and logic defying haircuts. Not only were these games massively popular with both their fan boy audience and casual gamers but, in the case of Final Fantasy, were some the best games of their generation. Due to the fact that the majority of these games originated from Japan and shared similar themes, the genre was affectionately crowned the ‘JRPG’. Hours were chalked up, bosses were beaten and potions were thrown, all in the name of this eccentric and engrossing brand of gaming.

It’s no exaggeration to say that in its golden age, the JRPG really was the most popular gaming genre of its time. There’s not a gamer in their twenties that hasn’t at least heard of Final Fantasy VII and almost ten million of those gamers bought the game.  This giant fan base has inspired everything, from the standard geek fare of cosplay, to the big budget heights of films and energy drinks. This success allowed other JRPGs to break into the mainstream, with Pokémon becoming a global Gameboy phenomenon and Square going on to release a host of other Final Fantasy titles, each gaining commercial and critical success.

Read More  »

Game Hub has recently looked at the impact that the internet and online gaming has had on the way we play games.  Digital distribution of games together with cloud gaming have and might shake up the games industry in a big way, but in this 3rd part in the series, we're looking at how the internet has changed who we play games with and how it has changed our personal and gaming identities through clans and guilds.

If and how we can define ourself through video games is really made possible with multiplayer gaming. Before 'the internet', gaming was, at most, only a 4 player pursuit and multiplayer aspects of games limited.  Gleaming rays of hope of what was to come came from games like Goldeneye, but the ability to identify yourself as a member of a group of gamers was stunted.  Moving into online gaming, FPS's and MMORPG's are the genres most commonly associated with clans and guilds and both allow the player to identify themselves and associate themselves with an organised group of gamers and as a member of that clan or guild.

Different species and character groups within MMORPG's mean identity within a game can... Read More  »

With details of Bioshock 2 Sea of Dreams just beginning to surface ( :-) ) , news that there will be a third installment to the franchise has already been confirmed by the boss of Take Two Strauss Zelnick.  It was suggested by Strauss Zelnick that Bioshock 3 will be released alongside an accompanying Bioshock Movie directed by Gore Verbinski of Pirates of the Caribbean director-ing fame.

Speaking with investors, Strauss Zelnick stated that in response to questions about a Bioshock movie, rather than a release with Bioshock 2, it's far more likely to be released to coincide with Bioshock 3.  The Bioshock Movie, from initial reports, looks more likely to cover the events of the first Bioshock game (IMDB keywords are Survivor, Underwater, Plane Crash and Utopia) but as we've seen before movies have no issues with amalgamating one or more games/books into one movie.

It's good news that this relatively new franchise is taking on new and bigger projects and there can definitely be comparisons drawn with the Halo franchise which successfully launched a new franchise that spawned 4 games, books and at some point, a movie. It's always good to see new franchises, games and ideas released into the games industry to compete with the latest version of FIFA and Madden with their latest incremental improvement. March has also seen reports that the Take-Two team are considering a Bioshock MMO game, which really would be a massive project but good news for fans.

With both bioshock 3 and the bioshock movie set for release towards the back end of 2010 or 2011, i'm sure a lot of people are already getting excited!