Eurogamer Expo: Overview

Yesterday, my good self and Aquatic Wanderer headed up to London to get a chance to play some of the biggest upcoming games across all the consoles at the Eurogamer Expo 2008.

Throughout the day we got to get our hands dirty with some of the best games coming out in the remainder of this year, as well as checking out what early 2009 holds for us gamers, and in the evening we attended a panel session with some of the editorial staff at Eurogamer where they discussed games journalism.

For us it was a really special day, having never had a chance to attend any events like this before - they're all a bit far away - and spending most of the day staring at 40+ inch 1080p screens was a plus too.

So there's a quick preview of the sort of thing we'll be talking about on the blog over the coming days and probably weeks (there's a lot to talk about), and hope you'll enjoy our content!

Neurogamer

Just a quick heads-up, you may have seen I've given the blog a bit of a makeover, all in preparation for the rediculous amount of content that'll be going up over the next week or two from the Eurogamer Expo that we attended in London yesterday.

See you soon!

WWAP #4: New Arrivals Edition

Hey there, you should finally be hearing from us again on the site this week, we’ve both been laden with schoolwork and unfortunately that meant we didn’t have the time to spend working on the blog. Hopefully though, the heavy work is now past us, and we will be continuing and expanding the site in the near future. More on that soon.

The last two weeks have been quite odd games-wise. I completed Burnout Paradise to get my very first Platinum Trophy (hopefully the first of many), and then took a bit of a break -too much Burnout kills your eyes - marking the first lengthy period of time away from my PS3 since I got it.

Then of course we had the not-so-pleasant news of the LittleBigPlanet delay, made marginally easier by the fact we know we'll be playing it on Wednesday (more on that next week), but unfortunately the new release date of November 5th is the day the Wanderer is off to Italy for the week, so he'll miss the launch. :(

Later on Mercenaries 2 got patched for trophies, so the Wanderer left his collection of Network games for a bit to play, and I ordered my copy for £25 from Play.com, which came this morning. More on that one later. Oh and Dead Space just arrived in the Aquatic Household, and from what I've heard from him, he'll be waxing lyrical about that one.

So yeah, been a bit of a break from games and the blog whilst we concentrated on school - we'll be back very soon.

Shinger In Ladows

So. Linger in Shadows.

How to go about this?

Huh.

...Okay, right, so this isn't a game. God knows how many times this has to be stressed over the Internet not to infuriate fans when they 'finish' it (finish isn't right, considering you can finish it without doing anything). But since it isn't a game, I can't really review it like one. I could review it like a movie? A movie I shake a controller at? One with demonic cats, flying stone dogs, giant rock faces with tentacles and that cloud from Lost? No, I don't think so.

I'll review it as a thing.

And as a thing I really quite liked it. Alright, I give, I'm an art guy. When I see something remotely arty I will at least become interested. But this managed to hold my interest, despite actually having watched the entire thing on a video before! Heck, I even stuck round afterward to grab all the trophies (whether that's due to it being good or me being a trophy whore is up for debate). So yes, I liked it as a thing. Even if it made no sense whatsoever.

...Or maybe that's especially because it made no sense whatsoever...

I give it a B+ as a thing. And so to satiate you who cares, I give it an F as a game, m'kay?

-Aquatic Wanderer

Moshi-moshi*

I do wish I could be saying that live from Japan, but unfortunately prior engagements (homework, job, hit-and-runs) have kept us from attending the Tokyo Game Show once again this year. One day, we will make it *shakes fist*.

Anyway, it’s been a good few days game-news wise, although nowhere near as good as E3 or Leipzig from a Sony point-of-view. The loss of Tekken as an exclusive is a downer (but not particularly a relevant point for me as I don’t really play fighters), and the non-presence of Kingdom Hearts III (whether it is a Wii- or PS3-exclusive) and the next big thing from Team ICO.

And that really leads onto the main point I have about TGS: It’s completely at the wrong time. Hardware announcements? No – too close to Christmas, making old product irrelevant just before the biggest shopping season of the year, and an inability to distribute whatever is announced console-wise in time for Xmas means that many will hold out until next year for their buys, which means less monays for everyone in game development. Software announcements? Aside from teasers or more general announcements (“It’s coming” – looking at you Tekken and FFXIII), it’s not really the right timing. We’ve just had E3, the largest stage for developers and publishers to show what they’ve been working on, and for those projects that just didn’t make a playable state in time, there’s also recently been the Leipzig Game Conference. Also, those studios with fall/Christmas releases are winding down (or have wound down) development now and so are either taking some time out or working on ridiculously early (read: unshowable) versions of their next projects.

What all this amounts to is a strange mish-mash of hands-on sessions for imminent releases (LittleBigPlanet, Fallout 3, Far Cry 2, Dead Space and so on), early showings for the few Xmas 09 games we know about (See Nobi Nobi Boy), and the only games with great presentations (Spring’s Resident Evil 5 and inFamous) are dwarfed by those out this side of new year. not that I have a better solution as to where a games show should go between Leipzig and GDC in the new year. Anyways, enough ranting; on to the games, which I shall discuss in a brief bullet form!

• LPB: OMGIHEARTYOUCOMEOUTFASTER.
• Dead Space: More and more interested.
• Fallout 3: What happened to colour in games.
• Far Cry 2: Anything with a level editor is win.
• Nobi Nobi Boy: WTFWANTMOREINFO.
• Resident Evil 5: Tempting.
• inFamous: Looking lush.
• FFXIII: Show me some hands-ons.
• FFXIII Versus: Ditto.
• LocoRoco 2: Deep and adorable? HEARTYOUTOO.
• Patapon 2: Anything new here?
• Mirror’s Edge: Seriously intrigued by new level vids.
• Resistance: Retribution: Hmmmm… *undecided*.

And yeah, I know I’ve missed many games here, but these are they ones I’ve been checking up on. In other news: R2 and Retribution is nifty, very similar to how the SOCOM PS2 and PSP games linked up – love it. Intrigued to find out more about how exactly ‘Infected’ mode affects RR gameplay. PlayStation Store for PSP? FINALLY. I’m looking at getting a 3000 to replace my smashed 2000, and plan to invest in a 16GB Memory Stick and download games instead of buying the UMD versions. I meant legally, I’m not the Wanderer. Oh and here’s some pure beauty. Home coming soon? When I have it on my own PS3, I’ll believe it’s real. No Team ICO makes me cry.

The Wanderer’s still on a break, but you should hear from me on a daily basis this week providing I manage the time to get a post up.

See you soon!

FO

PS: To those of you here from the PlayStation Forums, hello!

*by the way, this is ‘hello’ in Japanese, but only in the context of answering the phone. It’s also quite casual. Japanese is so complicated. I only used it ‘cos it sounded like something from LocoRoco.

WWAP #3

Hello again there.

We’re still on hiatus here at A Pail of Beavers, but I’m dropping by again to let you know what we’ve been playing this week.

Again, both of us have been digging into LittleBigPlanet, although the whole confusion over whether levels would stay online after the beta meant that we spent noticeably less time creating this week, and more time playing. Glad to see that’s all cleared up now, but seeing as the beta finishes tomorrow (which doesn’t give much time for levelmaking) you wont see any new levels from us until launch in just under two weeks. One thing we’ve found out this week in LBP however is just how incredible some of the levels being made are. Most amazing LBP creation this week? The actual working calculator. How? I vote too much spare time. Or pure genius.And yes, the ‘Braaiinnsss’ tag always gets my attention.

Aside from LBP this week, we both bought Linger In Shadows when it went up on Thursday’s store update. And about a quarter of an hour later we were done. What did I think? You’ll find out on Monday. I’ve been dabbling in a bit of Burnout here and there, mostly late at night, as this is when the Americans are online – and that is hilarious. Quoteable online conversation of the week:

“Are you a girl?”

“Yes”

“Oh my god.”

The Wanderer has been splitting his time between LittleBigPlanet, PixelJunk Eden and WipEout HD. No-one play him at WEHD, he’s a monster now. He notes that Eden is awesomer (and easier) with other players, its a pity my sisters aren’t as SIXAXIS trained as his brothers :(

See you soon.

FO.

WWAP #2

This week both of us have been spending every spare second we have crafting horrendous beautiful LittleBigPlanet levels (except that bit where we read the LittleBigPlanet review. hen we went back to playing). You can find my first level now published online under the name “Frantic Fiery Minigame of Doom” – it’s still a work in progress, but I wanted to get something online before the end of the beta. This week I’ve been designing levels to make once the full game comes out, here’s some rough ideas: V for Vendetta, Robot Wars, Doctor Who, 1984 etc. And of course many many pointless minigames.The Wanderer is also hard at work on his levels.

In un-LBP news, I plan to churn my way through the latter half of Uncharted this weekend, and probably get some good Burnouting done too. Needless to say, I’m sure you’ll here from the other one here about LBP very shortly.

SO

What Are I Playing

Its been a long time since I blogged here, and although you will likely be hearing much much more from us here in the near future, I thought I’d just update you on what I’ve been playing lately. Although the Wanderer is surviving the credit crunch having spent all his money using illegal means, I’ve taken to new tactics.

Pre-owned games, obviously. I am such a CheapAssGamer (oh snap!). In the past weeks and months I’ve added a significant number of said games to my collection, namely Army of Two, Need for Speed Carbon, Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction, SingStar, Rainbow Six Vegas and Warhawk, many of which you will see us talk about in the soonness.

But there is one other way to get PS3 games that’s been eating up my money too –The PlayStation Store. And yes, £3.50 games are an impulse buy. All ye readers (yes, all 0.5 of you) know I bought PAIN when I first got my PS3, but since then I’ve downloaded High Velocity Bowling, Calling All Cars, Super Rub a Dub, flow, PixelJunk Eden, Loco Roco Coccorecco, Pixel Junk Monsters, Super Stardust HD and all the DLC for PAIN. Please no-one calculate how much I’ve spent there. Seriously.

But anyways, enough debt gloating, I’m here to give the verdict on some games I’ve been playing. First up: Burnout Paradise. And more specifically – the Bikes Pack. I honestly think the Bike Pack is better than the original game (or at least as good as). Riding around the city once through the day-night cycle is a thing of beauty, and the sense of speed is like nothing else, even Burnout Cars. Oh and it’s unlikely I’ll stop playing anytime soon: trophies arrive on Thursday. I’ll have more to say on Paradise soon.

I’ve also really got into Warhawk. I bought the game pre-owned on my most recent spending spree and invested in a Bluetooth headset at the same time (okay and the Store convinced me to get the add-on packs too), but in my opinion it is money well spent – Warhawk is easily one of the most fun games I’ve ever played. More fun than MotorStorm? Potentially. I think the best bit of the game though has got to be that it never takes itself too seriously. MAG might take the “woah” victory for online gaming come its release next winter, but Warhawk will always have a fun community to play against. Oh, and jetpacks.

Elsewhere, the PAIN Abusement Park expansion is endless hours of fun, and I’m running through Uncharted yet again for some trophies. And in terms of playing with mates offline, PixelJunk Eden is the winner, followed just behind by Army of Two, which I haven’t really played too much of yet.

And it can only get better: Wipeout HD, LittleBigPlanet, Dead Space, Bioshock, Far Cry 2, Fat Princess, Resistance 2 and Mirror’s Edge are all on their way too. Now, to find some money…

FO

And Breeeathe

So I was looking through my bookmarks today, catching up on the world of gaming news, when lo-and-behold something familiar caught my eye.

A Pail of Beavers. That blog thing that I was meant to be posting on when I had interesting things to say.

And listen! I've got interesting things to say!

As of today, I have games. That's right. I have, for the lack of a better and more legal word, acquired several of the best DS games there is to date, and am now working my way through them. To limit myself in my range, I have chosen five games to play and complete before I go onto the next five. Here is the first group of five:

Soul Bubbles
Rune Factory
Starfox Command
Summon Night Twin Age
Professor Layton

As you can see, quite a varied bunch of awesome I have. Now, I can't really give you much of a hands on impression yet, (despite my hands being on the DS for most of the day) but what I can say is that the beginning of every single one of those games is super fun time. Now to wait and see how many prove me wrong.

Toodles.

-Aquatic Wanderer

A Case Of The Rambles

For once, I actually decided to sit down and write a blog, not because I was bored, or the Wanderer had pestered me, or I hadn’t blogged in ages, just because I actually kinda fancied it. And you know what, I don’t even know what I want to talk about, I guess I’ll just see what happens.

I haven’t played Starcraft in over a week now, and if it wasn’t for the fact I’ve had a heck of a lot of exams to revise for, as well as working on a couple of little projects I currently have going, I would probably have gone insane from the withdrawal. Seriously though, I’ve been keeping my eye on a few Starcraft 2 blogs, I’m so hyped for that game.

Only problem is, as I have noted a few times, my laptop is perfectly fine for blogging and internetting and musics (when it feels like it), but it’s only a Core Duo-thingymabob, with integrated graphics and 1GB of RAM, so although it can cope with Starcraft, I think if I showed it Starcraft 2, it would just cry. And that's on the lowest settings.

And I finally found myself a job, so I could save up for a new PC for gaming, but not having any actual approximate release date for SC2 makes it difficult to work out timings of savings. But I start next week, so first thing I’ll be getting is a wireless box at home, because having to lug the laptop downstairs every time I want to go online is so incredibly annoying, and I also need it for the PlayStation Network. After that on the shopping list is a new hi-def video camera, a hi-def TV, a new PC for family use as our (256mb RAM, AMD Athlon-based) current PC is pretty much on it’s deathbed.

But then when to get a new machine for gaming? I guess the best bet is to just keep saving up and then go out and buy the best I can get for my money just before Starcraft 2 gets released…whenever that may be. Who knows. But you can see how expensive this addiction is gonna become.

And that’s not even including the nuts amount of PS3 games coming out. God, I’m gonna be skint by Christmas again for sure. Uncharted is pretty damn awesome by the way, I’m really getting into that; I stuck GTA in again today for a bit too, but revision just keeps eating into my precious game time. Oh well, just over a week of exams left now. Then I’m free.

Mwahahaha.

FO.