Jul 03 2008
Unreal Tournament 3 is released on Xbox 360 this week. Included on the disc is around 8 minutes of exclusive video showing Gears Of War 2 multiplayer footage and details. Check it out below or click through and select the high quality version for a better look.
Jul 02 2008
Xleague TV and Codemasters are running a free to enter GRID competition with a £300 prize pool going to winners. Two tournaments will be running with one and Xbox 360 and the other on the PlayStation 3 version. Races will take place as a one V one setup with a group stage beginning on 14 of July and running until the 30th of August. A final televised knockout stage will then run at a date yet to be decided where qualifiers will face off to win the prizes on offer.
Registration for the competition closes on the 07/07/08 so players need to act quick in order to secure a slot. A maximum of 128 players will be allowed to register for the PlayStation 3 event with 70 registered players at time of publication. 256 slots are available in the Xbox 360 competition with 163 players currently registered at this point in time. Qualifying races will take place on Bridgestone Challenge, Le Mans Series (GT1) and Philips World Championship over 3 laps. Default game options will be used which means catchup switched off, damage on and assists on. For more information and to sign up for the tournament head on over to Xleague TV’s site and get signed up. Qualifying finalists will need to be available for filming at Xleague TV studios in London so the competition is only really plausible for residents of the UK.
Jul 01 2008
Like us you may be wondering where all the reviews are for Sega’s latest Olympics game Beijing 2008. Considering the game came out on the 27Th of June and so far not one major online site has reviewed it, initial perceptions due to this are that the game is sub par and being sent out to die on the shelf, falling into all good bargain bins very soon. Games of this type always have a habit of receiving poor review scores when in reality they usually offer a very good simple and fun multiplayer experience. While we haven’t had much time on the game so far but we wanted to put our initial impressions out early given the lack of coverage on any other site.
With this being the first proper Olympics game of this console generation all of us here at ButtonBandits HQ had high hopes for the online mode. As you will read below the implementation of this is disappointing but good enough to offer a decent enough competitive experience in the form of it’s many online leader-boards. 38 events are offer in the game ranging from all the standard track and field events to the more unusual kayaking and Judo. Some of the new game modes work well, others not so much. Basically Beijing 2008 is a fun classic button basher offering a good mix of both button bashing and skill games, with a few new elements thrown in to bring the game up to date for this generation.
If you enjoy games of this classic gameplay type then you will have fun with Beijing 2008 in single player modes thanks to the challenge of the online leader boards. It’s the multiplayer experience where as always the game shines and provides simple fun gameplay. For more detailed info on game modes and how the online is implemented read below.
Jun 19 2008
IGN report Codemasters E3 lineup includes Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising. It’s not known what form the games presence will take at this stage and could be nothing more than a trailer. Little information has been released about the game up to now coming to PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in the fourth quarter of 2008. This will all change next month as Codemasters Community Liaison Officer Helios advices PC Gamer in the UK US and France will be running a lead cover story in their July issue featuring ”a huge in-depth article regarding what you can expect to see in the game!”.
For now the press release excerpt and CGI target render footage below will have to make do:
“Set on a vast oil-rich island located off the eastern coast of Russia, just north of Japan, Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising’s plot takes place during a time of tension between Russia and China over the island’s disputed ownership,” explains Andrew Wafer, Brand Manager for Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising, at Codemasters. “The game opens as Chinese forces launch an offensive, and referencing the game’s title, as the dragon rises over the island, players will find themselves in a situation that is set to flare up into a flashpoint like never before.”
Jun 17 2008
SEGA have put out a new trailer for Sonic Unleashed, the 3D platformer being released towards the end of 2008 on practically all formats. The game is generating a lot of buzz online as it’s hoped it will be the first good 3D Sonic platformer since Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast (although a lot of people didn’t like that either).
Jun 17 2008
SEGA have put out some new information on forthcoming Olympics game Beijing 2008 and detailed some of the events to be included on release. Naturally the 100 metres features along with 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m and the 110m Hurdles for Men and 100m Hurdles for Women. There are eight Field events which are Hammer throw, High Jump, Pole Vault, Long Jump, Shot Put, Triple Jump, Discus Throw, and Javelin. Other events include swimming, diving, gymnastics, cycling, judo, table tennis and kayaking amongst others. The game is said to feature 38 events in total, quite an increase from the old Konami Track And Field days, a 25th aniversary remake of which is to be released on the 20th of June for Nintendo DS.
Beijng 2008 is being produced by Eurocom who incidentally also made Athens 2004. Olympics games generally receive very average reviews in the gaming press but in reality have always been very fun multiplayer games, as well as having that one more go replay value in single player as players try and beat world records. It’s here where this latest game will hopefully shine as Beijing 2008 is set to feature 8 player online multiplayer and 4 player local. The only pre-release review so far has been on Bravo TV’s games program Playr where it received a highly respectable 8/10 and a lot of praise from the reviewer. The review appeared to be based on the PlayStation 3 version.
Jun 11 2008
Race Driver: Grid is Codemasters latest installment in the Race Driver series of games which began with TOCA touring car championship back in 1997 on the PC and original PlayStation.
The game sees you play as yourself carrying out various racing jobs in order to build up enough money to buy your own car and so start your own racing team. This effectively acts as the tutorial to the game, introducing you to a few of the different racing types on offer and some of the games original features. Once you have your own team, the main portion of the game begins. This sees races split up into 3 sections, USA, Europe and Japan. USA plays host to street race style enclosed circuits as well as a couple of drift events thrown in for good measure around locations such as San Francisco and Washington DC. The European section is where the classic European racing circuits can be found such as Donington Park. Finally Japan features variations on the drift style of event around Yokohama Docks amongst others. Each region also features different car styles with USA having mostly heavy muscle cars, Europe featuring touring cars and open wheel, with Japan featuring modded street style cars. Continue Reading »
Jun 09 2008
The latest issue of GamesTM has revealed the first concrete details on the next installment in the Call Of Duty franchise. VideoGaming247 report the game will be titled “Call of Duty: World at War”. The game will be going back to a World War II setting based around the time period of the American battles with Japan and the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The magazine goes on to say that the the Call of Duty 4 game engine will be used despite the game being developed by Treyarch who developed Call Of Duty 3 rather than Infinity Ward who developed Call Of Duty 4. The magazine also reports the game will feature online co-op gameplay as well as use of vehicles and squad based tactics in multiplayer modes. The game is being marketed as “gritty”, with the opening sequence apparently setting the tone for the rest of the game which features “a Japanese commander stubbing a cigarette out in the eye of a prisoner before slitting his throat - the blood splatters and dribbles down the side of the tent you are being held in. He turns towards you to deal out the same treatment but help arrives just in time. Cue a daring level-long escape.”
Call of Duty: World At War is released on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, Wii and PSP some time towards the end of this year, most likely in November.
(Image: Call Of Duty 3)
Jun 05 2008
Codemasters have announced the list of features, changes and bug fixes on the way in their forthcoming patch for Race Driver: GRID. The patch is planned to go live at the end of next week although this date is subject to change. Unless platform specific the list applies to all versions of the game. Further changes may also be included on release but as it stands, the list is as follows:
Network bug fixes:
• When viewing in spectator mode – wheels should now turn correctly.
• Session searching now functions correctly when there are lots of full sessions (PC and PS3).
• Track and route options no longer change when host gets back to lobby in private/LAN.
• Race results are now correct if a host migration occurs at the end of the race.
• Other player’s progress/positions are now correctly updated when you enter the race results screen.
• Several NaN (brown screen) related fixes. (also this should fix the “thousand-mile-warp”)
• Increased bandwith use in network games (to reduce lag)
• Fixed a problem whereby it was only possible to upload one world record ghost to each track (PC and PS3)
• Race to race lobby timer is now 15 seconds
Jun 04 2008
Crash Time is the worst demo ever to grace the Xbox 360 Marketplace. The graphics are decent but the demo makes no sense whatsoever, is terribly presented, has very poor gameplay mechanics and is generally just a mess of a game.
On loading the game up and once through the very cheap looking menus we’re given the mission briefing. The briefing says “TIP: try to to stop them. Try to get your oponents vehicle to spin. if you succeed your opponent will be confused. seize the opportunity to position yourself next to them”. A cut scene then plays which is basically a green car driving fast past a parked police car. We’re then treated to some appalling voice acting telling us to chase down the car to give them a ticket and So.. off we go with the game itself.
Within seconds of the actual game starting, it’s flaws are immediately visible, with the siren blazing from the police car, the numerous cars on the road just carry on regardless, you can drive right behind a car forever and it will not budge an inch to let you past. Clearly the traffic is there purposely to get in your way, only it doesn’t. There’s enough space between the road and the crash barriers on either side to floor it with zero chance of anyone being in your way as they stick to the road while you drive down the side. Should you hit a car or even a big truck, your greeted to some appalling crash scenes where a few bit’s fall off whatever you hit and it promptly stops dead. One classic crash scene we encountered was where we hit a big truck carrying tree trunks which just exploded right in front of us while our own car just picked up a few scratches. Sadly the developer seems to think these crashes actually look good as without any announcement about whats going on, the camera changes to a cinematic view and gives you a replay of what just happened. Your then dumped straight back into controlling your car again.
