[Games] Whither the Handheld?

With the Nintendo 3DS in crisis and the PlayStation Vita risking stillbirth, is the era of the handheld console over? So in the past week we’ve learned two important things about the state of the gaming market. As I predicted, the Nintendo 3DS in big trouble. With it’s price cut by a staggering 32% just […]

[Games] First Thoughts: LA Noire

It’s been enjoyable, my first few hours in the shoes of newly minted detective Cole Phelps, but not quite in the way I was expecting. It seems that Rockstar, having practically invented the 3D sandbox genre, are now defying the expectations heaped upon that market niche by the countless Grand Theft Auto clones that fill […]

[Games] Modding Pro Evolution Soccer 2011

A few months back I wrote about the modding options available for perhaps the most playable game in the whole Pro Evolution Soccer series, PES 6. For all the countless shirts, stadia and options that modding PES 6 provides, and as much as it still plays a cracking game of football, there may be those […]

[Games] Review: Dirt 3

Dirt 3 may be the first title in Codemasters’ offroad racing franchise to have dropped the name of the late, great Colin McRae, but oddly it feels more like a celebration of the discipline he helped make famous than any other title in the series. Dirt 2’s teeth-grating slide into easy Americanisation is well-documented and […]

[Games] First Thoughts: Nintendo Wii U

So after months of speculation; most of it, as it turns, out fairly accurate, we know know what the Wii’s successor will look like, play like and be called. Wii U (pronounced “you” rather than “oo”) is, I suppose, no less stupid a name than Wii was in the first place, and is substantially less […]

[Games] Review: Blur

Yes, another old game, but I only decided to check Blur out after the sad demise of its developer Bizarre Creations prompted several people to tell me how good it was. “It’s Mario Kart with real cars”, “it’s Project Gotham with power ups”. You’ll have heard both of these phrases bandied around when discussing Bizarre […]

[Games] Modding Pro Evo 6

Aside from emulation, and the odd PC-exclusive like Starcraft II, the only compelling reason to own a gaming-capable Windows machine is the joy of modding. For the uninitiated, modding is that art of tinkering with a game’s content to either add new maps or characters (as is often the case with first person shooters), to […]

[Games] First Thoughts: Portal 2

Portal was perfect. A bonus gem tacked on to the already stunning Orange Box alongside Half Life 2, its two follow-ups and Team Fortress 2. It arrived with almost no fanfare and quickly became the surprise hit of 2007. It was though, in a very real sense, a limited experience. The game only lasted about […]

[Games] FIFA 12 Wishlist

Somewhere in Canada (Burnaby, British Columbia to be precise) a talented team of EA developers are busily beavering away over the what will doubtless be the UK’s Christmas gaming number one. For years now FIFA has dominated the festive software charts, and there’s no reason to expect this year will be any different. In fact […]

[Games] Wii 2 Rumour Roundup

In the past 48 hours the Wii 2 rumour mill has gone into overload. Here’s a quick look at some of the theories doing the rounds about the machine that Nintendo’s expected to unveil at E3 in June. Pooooower! Various “sources” have told various publications that the Wii 2 will be anything from “nearly as […]

[Games] It’s Coming – Wii 2 Set for E3

So as I reported some time ago, the momentum behind rumours of a replacement for Nintendo’s Wii are starting to gain traction. Several reports have emerged in the last few days quoting “insiders” as saying the new machine will be unveiled at E3 this June. The timing certainly makes sense. The Wii has been on […]

[Games] Get The Bulletstorm Score For Free

There are many things about me that others would find strange. One of which is my secret love for videogame soundtracks. Listening to Harry Gregson-Williams score for Metal Gear Solid 2 is one thing – after all he’s a proper film composer, but I’ll listen to anything. Just this morning on the tube my iPhone […]

[Games] Review: Collision Effect

As someone who has to regularly commute on the tube, I’m always a fan of casual iOS titles that can be played one-handed, leaving the other hand free for the required death grip on whatever pole, rail or hoop it can find among the thronging mass of bodies. The Flick Kick series (in Football, Rugby […]

[Games] It’s Pocket Grenade Time You Hussy!

Is this advert for Sony Ericsson’s new gaming-focussed Xperia Play smartphone, which stars Flight of the Conchords Kristen Schaal, possibly the best advert ever? Yes. Is the Xperia Play, an Android handset with PlayStation-inspired gaming controls, looking more and more tempting as an ownership proposition every single day? Yes. Honestly I’m seriously thinking about getting […]

[Games] Can We Please Go Back To The Eighties?

A recent rainy afternoon rewatch of eighties ‘classic’ The Cannonball Run prompted me to tinker with my 360’s custom soundtracks to recreate at least part of the experience in digital form. I’d already downloaded Need for Speed Hot Pursuit‘s Lamborghini Countach, and with the addition of Ray Stevens’ disco-infused theme song from the movie on […]