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We have a policy here at ButtonBandits of not writing stories based on what analysts say. At the end of the day what exactly is a video games analyst? Anyone can claim to be one but who judges whether they are qualified enough to comment? We have made an exception today to prove the point that anyone really can be a video game market analyst. Yesterday retailer GAME announced record sales for the first half of the year up 52% based on the same period last year. A financial analyst stated that he believes sales have peaked when he said  ”unless we see new hardware launches into the UK market over the next two years, which appears unlikely at present, then we believe profits will peak this year and fall consistently over the following three years,”. Despite the record sales, shares in GAME then plummeted by 14% following the comments.

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With the rumour and controversy surrounding the length and amount of cut scenes in Metal Gear Solid 4, we decided to take a look at the first 90 minutes of the game and attempt to calculate the amount of time spent playing compared to time watching. The following are not 100% accurate timings but we believe them to be roughly correct. Events going on in the game have not been included to avoid spoilers.

With the disc loaded we first have to wait for the game to install which takes around 8 minutes. Following this the intro plays which lasts for around 10 minutes. At 18 minutes in we now get our first chance to play, with the next 6 minutes being a 50/50 split of stop go gameplay mixed with short cut scenes. Next up is a 12 minute cut scene which sees us view a second intro, this time the introduction to the first act of the game.

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Check back here around 5:30pm BST today where we be running a strange new concept in live blogging. Yes that’s right were going to live blog our virtual attendence at the Ubidays 08 press conference! You won’t have experienced a live blog like this before, that I can guarantee! Look forward to the “hilarious” outcome from 5:30 BST. Please feel free to comment on how bad good the coverage is at the bottom of the page. You can watch along with us at uplay.com, but you need to keep this page open in another window of course so you can follow our fantastic coverage of the event.

 (The event is now over. Take a look at what happened below) 

12:30: -We’ve arrived at the venue nice and early. The website site still looks the same as it did yesterday, meanwhile the building itself looks stunning. We’re looking at it right now  and the pictures look very good. We’re all very pleased they decided to hold it here, it should really add to the whole experience.

17:28: - There’s been some activity, Uplay.com has a still image up saying “The Ubidays 2008 Live Event will begin shortly!”. Ubisoft say they are proud to welcome us to the conference. Not a problem guys, just make sure you start on time, this seat is very uncomfortable. The site itself is working 100% perfect at the moment but let’s see how it goes at 6.

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We caught up with Ralph Fulton, Chief Game Designer for Race Driver: Grid while at a community day for the game at Omega Sektor in Birmingham. We attempted to ask questions that hadn’t been asked before elsewhere as well as ask about areas of the game people have commented on in Codemasters own forums. Here’s how it went:

GiantHaystax: Race Driver: Grid is out on the 30th May. Are you pleased that development is over and how do you think the final product has shaped up?

Ralph: yeah, I’m absolutely delighted that development’s over. It’s been quite a hard slog, obviously we have been desperate to get everything into it we wanted to get into it and I think we’re all really pleased now the dust has settled on it with the product we’ve got. I think it’s a really exciting racing game, I’d go as far to say it’s the most exciting racing game ever made, it looks stunning and I think were all going to take a well deserved rest after this.

GiantHaystax: You’ve got a couple of weeks holiday coming up or something then?

Ralph: We do yeah, I think the whole team room will be desolate for the next couple of weeks.

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We managed to pick up a Race Driver: Grid tshirt and umbrella while attending a community day for the game at Birmingham’s Omega Sektor.  We are of course giving these away to one of our lucky readers. To be in with a chance to win them both, all you have to do is tell us why you want to win the umbrella and tshirt so badly. Please make your reason as funny as possible as the competition will be judged on who’s reason is the most amusing. Do not send a serious reason.

To enter, please email your reason to gridcompetition@buttonbandits.com along with either your full name, online name, Xbox Gamertag, whatever you prefer really. The closing date is midnight on the 31 of May 2008. This competition is open to residents of the United Kingdom only. Judging and the announcement of the winner will take place on the all new Sam And Dave Show Episode One, which is basically just the old podcast with a different name and more focus on entertainment and comedy rather than in depth discussion.

Show host Frosty will have the final decision on who should win and his decision is most definitely final. A select amount of entries will be read out on the show so you enter on the understanding that the text of your email (not the address) may be read out on the show or published on the website. The winner will then be contacted to obtain full name and address details to be able to post the prize. There is no limit to the number of times you can enter, but each entry must be a unique reason as to why you want the prizes so badly. Good luck and look out for the first episode of the relaunched podcast to find out who wins! Actually I think you should subscribe to the Itunes or RSS feed at the top left of this page right now so you can pick the show up as soon as it’s released!

ButtonBandits received their imported PlayStation 3 Rock Band earlier in the week (review coming soon). Within a few hours the guitar began to experience a lack of response when pushing the strum-bar down. This soon turned into no response at all. Strumming upwards still worked perfectly but proved a lot more difficult than when using down-strum. Fully aware of not being able to make use of the products warranty due to lack of residence in the US, the decision was made to take the guitar apart and try and fix it.

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The Daily Mail has advised that this weeks Byron report said that ”allowing children to play on computers unsupervised is as dangerous as letting them play outside on their own”. This is going to be bad news for today’s release of Crayola Treasure Adventures on the Nintendo DS which is being targeted at kids but is said to depict graphic images of a colour crystal thief. Players of the game are tasked with completing a series of puzzles that eventually lead to the capture of the thief and so restoring colour to the world. ButtonBandits.com has learnt that shockingly, hundreds of titles a year are released which are blatantly marketed at encouraging kids to play on them. The majority of these carry no warning about this requirement of parental supervision.

One such title called Noddy and The Magic Book was released back in October 2006 on the Playstation 2 and is amazingly still available to buy today from leading on-line retailers. The game features two naughty goblins, Sly and Gobbo who have stolen Big Ears’ magic book and are using it to play tricks on people in Toyland. One parents review of this “game” on Amazon is chilling in it’s encouragement of allowing young children to play it, saying “This is a great game for young children. My 4 year old really enjoys it.”. If this wasn’t bad enough the parent goes on to say “Let me stress though that on most of the games the average child will not need much help”, blatantly ignoring all warnings about the harm this product could cause their child if they are left unsupervised with it! The front cover of the games box even goes as far as to claim the product is suitable for anyone aged 3 years and up.

Fortunately it’s not all bad news as it seems some of these so called games may not be too bad an influence after all. Anne Diamond reports in the Daily Mail that a title called “Halo 3″ is violent but that there’s not really much blood or bad language in it and that her sons tell her it’s relatively non-threatening. Look out for discussion on these shocking discoveries in Sundays ButtonBandits.com podcast.

Frosty Caught up with Far cry 2 Producer Lois-Pierre Pharand at the recent Play.com Live event for a chat about how the games development is progressing as well as how the show itself compared to similar events in other countries.

Click the play button below to hear his thoughts. Only on ButtonBandits.com!

Frosty caught up with James Schall (community team manager) & “jack of all sports” David Hanson from Sega for a chat about their newest titles while at Play.com Live.

 Click the big play button below and have a listen to what they had to say about Sega Superstar Tennis, Football Manager Live and Sonice Riders2. Only on ButtonBandits.com!

Ubisoft, in my opinion, had one of the most impressive presences at the show. They really pushed the boat out on this one. They’re main area on the main floor consisted of a mix of Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 and Soul Caliber 4. The next floor up had Haze pods and then, if you go upstairs again, you see one of my favourite parts of the show, the Farcry 2 presentation area.

The Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 area consisted of not only several pods all with playable versions of the game but mini-casino too with a roulette table. Also there was a mini stage with huge glittery dice where scantily clad Vegas show girls would dance every so often. We watched them 6 times. The game itself is also shaping up to look really special. Something to definitely keep on eye on over the coming weeks.

Also intertwined in that area was about a million Soul Caliber 4 pods. This was certainly not a bad thing as it meant everyone could have a go and you wouldn’t have to wait too long either. The game is playing superb. It’s still Soul Caliber but it’s the finest version and most stunning that I’ve ever played. I managed to get a couple of game with the legend that is John Watson and, well, what can I say? I totally thrashed him. The prize for winning the Soul Caliber 4 tournament (a Dodge Nitro SUV worth £20,000) was on display all weekend too. They left the hazard lights on though so I imagine the battery’s flat by now but congratulations to the winners all the same. Click continue reading for more

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