Tony Hawk RIDE

I have played the majority of the Tony Hawk games all the way back to the playstation days but the recent incarnations have been below par. Because of the drop in quality I defected to the glorious game that is Skate and Skate2. EA have staged a remarkable rebirth of the genre by completely redesigning the control method and taking the game back to its roots.

I have been intrigued to see what Activision could come up with to counter the emergence of the almighty Skate. With this in mind Activision have revealed their challenger.


A digital skateboard peripheral...

Now this 'could' be amazing but it also could be a horrible gimmicky piece of rubbish that will gather dust in your cupboard while you finish off the last few freeskate challenges on Skate2. But I admire Activision for trying something new and I for one will be first in line to pick this up and try it out.

I just hope my balance is better on this than it was on a real skateboard.

I'll post more details as they emerge because I'll be following this game like a Hawk...no pun intended.

Render to Video Beta

Bungie have gave us a nice random present today by releasing their much awaited render to video beta. Render to video allows you to render your clips on your fileshare straight to a downloadable wmv video. The beta is open to Bungie Pro subscribers and ex subscribers like myself, nice of Bungie to reward the people who subscribed back in the day when Pro was new, exciting and expensive. Rather than give you a meaty meandering explanation I'll give you the info straight from the mouth of Bungie.

Q. How do I create a video?

A. When a saved film or clip is in your File Share (or someone else's) and you want to turn it into a computer-playable video file, you can click "Render Film" on Bungie.net and it will tell you the cost in "Bungie(R) Points (tm)", based on the length of the file and the resolution you want to render to. If you have enough points, you can confirm your purchase, and a little while later your video will be available for you to view and download. Simple! (Well, simple for you. We have to deal with storing 500GB/day of new content!) There are currently two resolutions you can choose from. Standard definition is 640x360 WMV at about 1Mbps. High def is 1280x720 WMV at 6Mbps. That's full 720p resolution!

Q. How do I get Bungie Points?

A. We expect to make points available in a couple different ways: for light usage (say, one short clip a month), Bungie Pro members with active subscriptions (or, currently, beta testers as described above) will get one or more points dropped into their Bungie Pro account each month at no additional charge over the current Pro plan. You can think of a point like a rollover minute on a phone plan- you can redeem it for your short clip, or save it for a longer one. For more dedicated render users, we plan to offer a pay-as-you-go model where you can buy "point packs".

Q. How do Points work during the beta?

A. We'll start off beta users with 2 points each. For now, standard-def video will be set to cost 1 point per minute, and HD will cost 5. After we make sure that things have spun up smoothly in the SD world, we'll start topping off users' accounts to 5 points so that you can try out HD. Don't worry about saving up points right now, go ahead and use them as you get them.

Q. How do I watch my rendered videos?

A. After the video render is complete, you'll see a video player appear in the web page for your saved film. You can watch the video right there, or download the WMV to your computer. Currently, all Beta users can see the videos of other Beta users, but other users cannot. We're looking into getting enough bandwidth to enable public embedding of the player in the future.

Q. How long is the Beta?

A. We expect for the beta to run until sometime in July, and we plan that real post-beta points will start to accumulate on Bungie Day (7/7). So if you're planning to buy Bungie Pro for the video feature, mark your calendars, since that's the first date that will give you a full year of video service with your subscription!

There is more information on Bungie's news page.

I for one am very very excited by this, I was a little put off at first by the points but it makes sense now. How could Bungie cope with all the millions of Halo clips being rendered at one time, it makes sense to slow it down and deal with it in bite size chunks. I can see myself buying points packs to capture the odd full game. I don't mind giving Bungie more money as they do give us, the halo player, so much.

As for the quality? Why not have a look at a standard definition clip that I got off my fileshare and uploaded to Youtube this morning. I'm very impressed with the quality...and the skills.



The only problems with the clip is the lack of reticule. All Halo addicts know you fix this with a few clicks of the right stick but as of now there is no way of getting around this on the Render to Video. The other problem is multi angle recordings, if you capture footage with a capture card then you can record it from multi angles. There is no way to fix this with your old clips but if you plan to render a clip in the future then you could save multiple replays of the clip showing different angles and edit it together.

All in all im very excited by this and its just one more lovely gift from the beautiful girls and boys at Bungie. We <3 you...most of the time.

Assassins Creed News!!

New information and a screenshot is now up on nowgamer, found out from NowGamerDan over Twitter, nice bit of gaming news to wake up to. The bit that really got my attention was this;

“The entire game structure and its mission system/story [of Assassin's Creed] was the most central element for us to improve following the feedback on the game,” he says.

“We want [Assassin's Creed 2] to be unpredictable and full of epic moments that will immerse you into our story featuring our numerous characters and environments. We are redefining the mission gameplay structure to give gamers a more enjoyable and rewarding experience.”

Now I played and loved this game. I remember playing it for 4 hours on Christmas morning and just falling in love with the physics. I'll be first to admit that the game has many flaws which I do not have to point out but I still found this to be a great game, it was just fun.

It really makes me happy to know that they are working to make Assassins Creed II a more enjoyable experience, if they keep what made the game great fun and bolster that with a really good story then this could be one of my favourite games.

Do you Swapgame?

I just joined Swapgame on Tuesday and I got a bit carried away adding games to my list. You are supposed to add at least 5 games but I ended up adding over twenty. I'm going to get my god damned moneys worth out of this service. So here's my list...

1. Afro Samurai (in the post)
2. Overlord
3. King Kong (Achievement whore...don't judge)
4. UFC 09 Undisputed (Best.Demo.Ever)
5. Prince of Persia 4
6. Street Fighter IV
7. LOTR Conquest
8. Amped 3
9. Sid Miers Civilisation : Revolution
10. Brothers In Arms : Hells Highway
11. Tomb Raider : Underworld
12. Star Wars : Unleashed
13. Viking : Battle For Arsgard
14. Lego Batman : The Videogame
15. Guitar Hero : Aerosmith
16. Beautiful Katamari
17. Shaun White Snowboarding
18. The Chronicles of Riddick : Dark Athena
19. Bionic Commando
20. Robert Ludlum's the Bourne Conspiracy
21. Quantum of Solace
22. Lego Indiana Jones
23. The Godfather II

These are in no particular order as I have not sorted through them, I honestly have no idea how to sort them out. I thought I'd just play whatever they decide to send me as I don't know what I will be in the mood to play that week.
Anyway, what i want to know is what would you recomend to add to my list? I know you wont know what games I have played before Swapgame but still, let me hear your ideas.

Geekdom part 1

Thought I'd show off some of my geeky horde. If I had more money I would have a hell of a lot more figures. My girlfriend has a few cool figures that I'll try and get her to show off in her blog. If she does not do it then I will because her Labyrinth figures and Enid (from the film Ghost World) doll are fucking awesome.

The Xbox Generation, I got the Bioshock Big Daddy with the Lmtd. Edition version of the game. I honestly cant describe how awesome the Gears of War figurines are, they have so much detail, would love to get the rest of them especially the nasty looking Theron Gaurd.

I have a HUGE love of Mario and especially Mario Kart, these little remote controlled karts are great fun, especially for annoying my cat. The Koopa plush is one of my favourite pieces as I pwn with Koopa in Mario Kart on the SNES.

Christmas is awesome when you have an Etsy loving girlfriend. I've had a lot of envy over the Mario Ipod case, as well as some very odd looks.

My small collection of Kevin Smith figurines which I'd love to extend one day. I'm really missing the Mallrats! Personal favourite is Willem from Mallrats as he was a very late Christmas present. My girlfriend bought it in time for xmas (don't moan I've already typed it on full twice) but it did not come until March, nice surprise.

My prize pieces are my Shaun of the Dead figurines, I really wish they brought out Zombie Ed, it would complete my collection perfectly. There's been rumblings about Spaced figures coming out, there was even drawings of them on the net somewhere, I may have to have another night of heavy research to see if their ever going to emerge.

Ill dig out all my gaming t shirts soon and show you them.

Post a comment and tell me what you have.

Where are my Friends?

Being a currently unemployed gamer I often find myself pining for a game of Halo when my friends are all at work or in bed meaning I have to go into the scary world of matchmaking on my lonesome. As you all know annoying things can happen when you don't have good team-mates to watch your back and help you in objective games. Safe to say there is more than 5 things that annoy me but I thought I'd tell you my personal gripes.

5. No Support

This one is a little petty but when your used to playing with good team-mates you know where they go and what they do so when you play by yourself its like losing a limb. You have to be extra careful to watch angles that you don't usually have to. I really suffer from this in the Pit when I setup on snipe tower, I'm so used to my team-mates calling out positions and locking down rockets that I never watch my back. There's nothing worse than being jumped by 3 guys in your own spawn.

4.Awful Hog Drivers

Ever been left in the middle of nowhere with no one to shoot at? Ever been driven straight through the front door of the base in Standoff in your nice shiny Gauss Hog? If yes then you've been at the victim of mindless hog drivers, even worse than bad gunners. Countless times I have been denied a big multi kill by the actions of a suicidal driver hoping to get a one in a million splatter.

3. Quitters

There is quite a few variations of quitters and every one of them pisses me off. Either they quit out because their favourite map gets vetoed or they leave as soon as you go a flag score down usually guaranteeing your imminent defeat. I don't get why they don't just play it out? If your gonna lose then just take it like a Spartan, by quitting out your just losing Exp so surely a defeat is better than losing your hard earned Exp? Personally some of the best games I have ever played have been epic comebacks, think of all the glorious wins your missing out on, stupid...

2. Unfair Matchmaking

Unfair matchmaking may be a bit of a harsh term but when you get partied up with a lieutenant and his two simple minded thumb less guests against an organised team of Brigs and generals then you do wonder if Bungie is out to get you. The above picture was a game of BTB I played a while back, one of many times it has happened on my favourite playlist.
I remember coming against a party of 8 players who were ridiculously good. I promptly submitted negative feedback for being too good (I'm a pussy, I know) and went off to get some food. I came back about 15 minutes later to be partied against them again and to make the situation worse, four of my team-mates quit out in fear of their scary ranks. This would have been fine if they had just quickly won the game of Neutral Assault on Rats Nest but nooo they proceeded to destroy us for 20 minutes rather than just score the bomb and end the game.
I tried to fight back but there is not a lot you can do when you can barely get 3 steps off the spawn. The worst thing about the whole experience was the fact that I could not even give them negative feedback for being assholes...I'm sorry to say this but Why Bungie? Why? (I love you really guys <3)

1.Betrayers!!!

GRRAAGHHH!! Phew, got that out if my system. The above picture just invoked a wave of fury in me. Nothing worse in Halo then people betraying you for a power weapon that they were too slow to get their hands on. Is it my fault I'm faster than you? Did you ask for the weapon? No? Well piss off then! Its such a childish and immature act that completely ruins the game for the player that gets betrayed. If...sorry, when this happens to me, and it always does, I make it my number one mission to hunt the little bitch down and destroy him. I don't care about the weapon or if I get booted its purely an act of revenge. You cant beat the instant revenge of no scoping the team-mate who's trying to betray you, such a satisfying feeling.


Fell free to leave comments about your personal hates, I'm sure there are HUNDREDS I have missed!

Trade in Tribulations

Thinking of trading in a couple of games for Call of Duty World at War. I'm definitely trading in Halo Wars which breaks my only trade if completed code but I have really struggled to get into the game, I'm not a huge RTS fan but I did play alot of Red Alert in my youth as well as Age of Empires and even a little of Rome Total War. Its a good game but its just not a great RTS, its too simple. Does that make sense? The interface is good but there's just not enough buttons to facilitate what I want to do, I cant create armies or split my troops into small manageable units, I'm left with sending a massive chunk of troops around chasing objectives and enemies, its like watching little kids playing football. Its also too hectic, you never have time to breathe and build as the enemy keeps getting thrown at you wave after wave. I like the patience to build up and set up defenses but you cant really do that in this game. Its like they have made an RTS for the FPS fans, too much action not enough strategy.

Maybe I just don't like console RTS's, now that I think about it I have owned a few and traded them in without finishing them, all my favourites are on the old PC. I think I'm just going to blacklist RTS's on the Xbox from now on. I probably would not have bought it if the Mythic map pack was not included.

So Game said they would give me 25 quid for it which is quite good for Game, shame I have to give my ODST drinks coaster away :(

I love all the freebies you get with limited edition games so it is a little bit of a pain to trade but needs must.

The other game I'm going to trade is Fable 2 which I also am having pangs of doubt about. Since listening to the Hi-score podcast today and hearing about the interesting new DLC which is planned I'm slowly coming round to not trading it. Props have to go out to 8bitjoystick as well for trying to convince Lionhead to give me some free DLC, Yeah, it might happen and monkeys might fly out of my butt! (cookie to whoever spots the reference). But if I dont trade these games then I do not get COD5 which looks really good. Played the co op story on split screen with a friend and really enjoyed it but I want to play it on SP and experience it for myself with the added missions. I think I would have bought this game if the Multiplayer beta was not so disappointing. Alot of people who shared my hatred have said that the MP is much better than the beta suggested. Is it?

So its a bit of a 50 50 the now on whether or not I'm going to trade but check back tomorrow and you'll find out. I might give it one more week to decide...hmmm.