The Digital Gamer

Living in Liberty

I'm really in the GTA zone at the moment. A game hasn't held my attention like this since I don't know when.

It's far from perfect - the world is full of continuity issues and the missions can be arbitrarily difficult and awkward - but I just don't care.

Spending time in the city is appealing enough to get it loaded up and once you're in and being tempted by so many activities, only repeated mission failures and tediously long drives to try again make me switch off.

Beautiful Katamari is working as a fun way to wind down afterwards too, now it's finally come down to a reasonable £19.99.

Gears of War 2 - I want in

Gears of War is brilliant - the Resident Evil 4 influence, the perfect control, the lovingly-tuned blood splatter and gun recoil - it's my favourite shooter on the Xbox 360 by a long way.

Gears of War 2 is due in November, and from the first gameplay trailer below, more of the same but on a much larger scale is on the way. The enhancements made to the Unreal Engine since the last instalment mean lots more enemies on-screen, better physics, destructible environments and little touches like interactive water effects.

Two years between games isn't long enough for a full re-imagining, but that wasn't needed. Cranking up everything that was great in the original and adding massive set piece battles, chainsaw duels and who knows what else is plenty for me.

When classified ads go bad

Who says gamers aren't masters of the written word?

I'm a pedantic jerk I know, but what can ya do? I noticed this on the intranet today:

Practically Brand New, awesome game - only selling due to the release of GTA i need a psp! Turok is a first person shoot-em-up based on a Jurrasic Park style island full of dino's and bad guys to kill. The PS3's A.I means that the dinos not only hunt you but can be used to hunt your enemies too!

Love that PS3-specific AI. Sorry.

BBC writer dismisses videogaming as "fruitless"

In an article primarily about a computer image recognition project, bbc.co.uk contributor Angela Saini begins with a concise, condensed snapshot of how she perceives videogames and those who play them: "Every year, video game enthusiasts fritter away billions of hours in fruitless fun, earning little more than sore thumbs and a sense of satisfaction."

Fritter? Fruitless? Thumbs? Why are videogames still seen as pretty much the ultimate waste of time? Is playing games any different to reading a trashy novel? Or watching a three hour omnibus of some tedious soap opera? Of course not, and there are plenty of arguments to suggest that it is in fact a whole lot better - the social interaction, problem solving opportunities, challenge and sense of accomplishment provided are obvious benefits of interactive, online entertainment. Videogames (with the exception of that Keith Chegwin thing on Wii) challenge the brain rather than massage it into a Loose Women-like drowsy malaise.

Videogamers are easily pigeon-holed - the usual stereotype of us being spotty, socially awkward recluses doesn't take long to be teased from a whole lot of people, and despite videogaming's Wii-powered jump into the mainstream, it's clear that we are still misunderstood, pitied and kind of, well, not liked very much at all.

I've met plenty of people who fit the stereotype above who do like videogames, but equally as many oddballs who don't and who are just as lost in the real world as any obsessive career gamer.

It's good to like videogames, to think and talk about them. I don't do football, so videogames are my only conversational crutch at the barbers and in taxis anyway. And when you inevitably run into the kind of ignorant, unjustifiably dismissive attitude promoted by Saini, maybe just bust out an overly-flamboyant dragon punch in right front of them - SHO-RYU-KEN!

Grand Theft Auto IV and the Uncanny Valley

This happened with Bioshock (and this blog got hammered as a result of me putting my hand up and questioning it) but why so many perfect scores for Grand Theft Auto IV?

Yes, we all know why it's great: the environment, story, AI, cultural in-jokes and hilarious hot coffee references, but, after around six hours of play, lots of stuff has already annoyed me. Don't get me wrong, the game is an amazing achievement in reality-mimicking, but as a result, the Uncanny Valley effect is really starting to hit hard. Maybe they should have gone with Wind Waker-style cel shading?

First off, it's good to see an avatar so thoroughly animated, but why does Nico lean so much when walking around? It looks insane - did Rockstar worry that we wouldn't notice their efforts if the effect was more subtle?

I was having a great time looking out the window on a cab ride, starting to feel that I really was in Liberty City, until I got to a toll booth. 'Will it work, will it work?' I thought. Nope. The car in front wouldn't move after the barrier went up, and my driver just kept ineffectually nudging him. Suspension of belief: unsuspended.

An early mission asks you to put a brick through a shop window. After trekking to a bit of wasteland for my ammo, I returned to the store and through the brick at the wrong bit. It bounced off, I picked it up and had another go. That time, the brick got lost in a virtual void in the store, and was irretrievable so I had to run round the block to get another one. Sigh.

The camera is still clunky and takes forever to point where you are going, and combat is still awkward. And don't get me started about pre-stolen cars disappearing.

Far from game-breaking, but these little things add up (and happen a lot). I don't want to detract from the most impressive virtual world I've ever seen, but GTA IV is not perfect. And, the feeling of gameplay being shoe-horned into a pre-fabricated world is still very present.

Maybe I should just stop reading reviews.

Love dem socks

So, I've got this 'thing' about sock puppets, who doesn't, right?

Anyway - this week sees the start of Season Two of the Sock Puppet Gaming Show. For a taster, have a look at the video below:

Download this episode

Flickr goes video

I love Flickr (best website ever, IMO) and I don't really like YouTube at all. Its generally cheap, nasty tabloid content (the responsibility of users, admittedly) just doesn't appeal on any level. And its noisiest users make me feel bilious. The ratio of good vs. bad material is just too extreme not to drown out anything of rare significance. The wonky Argentinean gnome thing being a rare exception.

Flickr - the most functional, smart, friendly website in the world - now allows Pro users (paying subscribers) to upload unlimited amounts of video, as long as they can be classed as 'safe' or 'moderate' and are less than ninety seconds long. Does this mean the end of Flickr's wonderfulness, or the beginning of a new age of bite size creative expression?

Flickr groups are springing up to say "no to video" (I hope someone will post a video with the same sentiment) but the few videos I've watched suggest that Flickr's seemingly innate community spirit and quality control will transfer across to video, more or less intact. I suppose the fact that only paying subscribers can upload, combined with the ninety second limit will ensure very few undesirables would bother to jump through these hoops to post up rubbish.

Footage of flocking starlings over Brighton's West Pier = worthwhile. Shaky footage of Dave dancing on the buffet table at his wedding = not so much. My effort below falls somewhere in between, sadly.

Flickr's suggestion of seeing ninety second videos as "long pictures" might just work. And, the integration of video is brilliant, but even so, it does feel like Flickr's trademark simplicity and focus has been compromised.

GAME tease Mario Kart Wii pre-orderers

It's a sad fact that the home console versions of Mario Kart have been offering diminishing returns for gamers since the series debuted on SNES, but even so - and despite that infuriating rubber-band AI - their polished charm, novelty and personality have made all of them irresistible.

With that in mind, I pre-ordered the upcoming Wii version and yesterday (Wednesday 9th) I received the following text message from GAME:

News from GAME! Your pre-order for Mario Kart Wii will be ready for collection tomorrow and will be held for 3 days.

I promptly skipped into the shop today only to be told (unsurprisingly) that the text was a mistake. And to come back tomorrow. Sniff. Then, minutes later, the following text arrived:

Please note your pre-order for Mario Kart will not be ready for collection today. It will be ready on Friday. Sorry for any confusion caused. GAME

What happened at GAME HQ? I heard it was a tornado. And ghosts. Big ones.

Quite how that wheel is going to work out remains to be seen, but Edge magazine's 6/10 isn't encouraging. All will be revealed tomorrow...

Gran Turismo 5 Prologue - too little too soon?

There's something deeply comforting about the Gran Turismo series. No dramatic Burnout-style changes in gameplay or structure - just steady, predictable iterations on a conservative and proven formula.

Do you appreciate being teased, tempted and charged for a between-sequel preview version though?

I bought Gran Turismo 5 Prologue today (for £24.99) along with around 1,000,000 other European gamers, even though it's just a demo. A demo that contains around 20% (tops) of the content that the proper game will. I rationalised it to myself using the following bullet points:

• I really like Gran Turismo (and was genuinely addicted to Gran Turismo 2 - the one with the rubber-scented scratch 'n' sniff CD)
• I like seeing what my still-underused PlayStation 3 can do
• I want to see how the online stuff will work out
• I just generally like buying games

This (now high profile) prologue model sets a dangerous precedent. Putting the requirement to purchase to one side; expanded, polished demos made available months ahead of their final form are clearly appealing (in a cheap, transient, opening-your-presents-early sort of way) to the consumer, and could be significant money spinners for developers, but... Getting a demo to a retail-ready state will divert resources away from the 'real' games, adding weeks if not months to development cycles.

Gran Turismo 5 Prologue isn't a content-heavy, fully featured game either, yet Sony Europe have advertised it more than any other PS3 game I can remember and have built it into a bespoke hardware bundle too.

Prologue can only act as a promotional tool for the final game, and as such, despite the entertainment it will provide in the meantime, why should we be expected to pay for it? Maybe its cost could be refunded if you purchase the real version? Of course, that would never happen - although the content of Prologue will almost certainly be duplicated in Gran Turismo 5.

I'm all for smaller, value-for-money, manageable game experiences, and in those terms, Prologue is a great proposition - but as an overcooked and overpriced demo of a game I'll be buying anyway (much later next year, probably) - not so much.

Peggle (iPod) - reviewed!

Formats: PC, Mac, iPod (version reviewed)
Release: Out now
Developer: PopCap
Price: £3.99 (via iTunes Music Store)
URL: popcap.com/peggle

Inspired by Japanese pachinko machines (crazy, hi-tech, prize-focussed pinball) Peggle takes their inexplicably engaging random bouncing ball mechanic and adds cute creatures, power-ups, classical music, rainbows and a comprehensive scoring system.

The iPod version contains four unique game modes: Adventure, Quick Play, Duel and Challenge – allowing you to progress through a fifty-five level story mode, re-visit previously-beaten stages, challenge computer-powered opponents or real friends, and take on specific expert levels.

Intelligently optimised for the iPod, Peggle can be played while you listen to music or podcasts, and crucially, you can save your progress at any point – making the game a persistent but convenient addition to your commuting routine. Plus the frequently used image of a cartoon unicorn (and his friends) will likely guarantee a permanently spare seat next to you.

The best thing about Peggle is that it has an uncanny knack for making you feel special and quite clever, even though all you’ve done is point an arrow and push a button. Like someone dancing wildly in a busy supermarket, Peggle revels in the fact that the results of a simple action can be unpredictable, spectacular and fascinating to watch.

One of the very best casual games ever made, and a perfect fit with iPod (check compatibility with your model before buying though) Peggle is a great value, slick, time-draining, fantasy-themed pachinko parlour in your pocket. And you don’t get to experience that every day.

8/10