More and more new games these days seem to come with scratch cards inside the box enabling users to download content from the first day of release. Gears of War 2, Dragon Age and Forza 3 all come in this category so it’s not like we’re talking about small fry here. It’s the triple A titles as much as any other that are making use of downloadable content on the first day or release.

There’s no doubt in my mind that this is a response by games companies to the estimated £100 million trade in second hand games in the UK alone. The problem that I have with this is that once I’ve parted with my cash all of the content I’ve paid for should be available to me to sell on if I so desire. In the case of games that rely on extra DLC that’s not the case. This content really should be on the disc so that I can do with it as I please.

The size of some of these pieces of DLC is what annoys me as much as anything. The stone prisoner quest which came as a scratch card with Dragon Age was less than half an hour of gameplay, yet rewarded the player with one of the most interesting characters for the rest of the game. To download this for people buying the game second hand will cost 1,200 Mocrosoft points. That is absolutely disgusting. It’s basically a tax on people buying the game second hand who actually want the full experience, and that I find hard to stomach.

In the long run surely this must lead to a reduction in the trade in price we all receive when selling our old games. People won’t be prepared to pay as much for second hand games when they know that in order to enjoy them to they full they will have to fork out extra cash as soon as the game is in the tray. That will mean that the shops we trade games in at just won’t be pay us as much for them any more.

I also have to ask, where will this all end? If it’s ok to force people to download content on their first day with a new game then what’s to stop companies leaving the majority of their game as DLC? That really would be a serious nail in the coffin of the second hand trade.

Everyone loves a bit of twitter these days, and most upcoming games either have their own account or at least people working on them who do. It’s thanks to the Metro 2033 twitter that we’ve learned players will have the option to play the entire game in Russian for maximum authenticity.

That sounds like an excellent feature to me as I always get annoyed by games use of voice work that doesnt mesh with their setting. I just hope I can work out exactly whats going on as I don’t speak a word of Russian!

In my opinion, it’s between three games. Mass Effect 2, Final Fantasy, that this years underdog, Resonance of Fate.

Now everyone has talked about the first two to death, so I thought I’d draw your attention to the latter.

Developed by Tri-Ace and Published by Sega, the game is set to be released in the second half of 2010. This game hasn’t been given so much press so don’t worry if you haven’t heard of it – it’s a real underdog at this point.

Originally called End of Eternity in Japan, the game takes place in the future. Much like in Star Ocean, the Earth’s atmosphere and environment has changed for the worse. Once again like Star Ocean, the human race as we knew it was close to extinction due to unfriendly gases sweeping our plane. The few humans that remained built a device titled Basel, which should hopefully solve the planets problems. Over the following months a class system starts to develop. The rich are able to live close to Basel, whilst the poor stay around the surrounding areas. Predictable, Basel starts to encounter a few problems – it’s my guess that the heroes are set to work out what’s gone wrong!

The game has three main characters; Zephyr, Vasheron and Leanne. Subject #20 also plays a rather important role.

Those lucky enough to go to Japan to play the demo early experienced one of the most complex battle systems known to date. However although one might view this as a negative – everyone was blown away. Apparently in an attempt to similar the game, no sword are present. Everyone uses different guns and explosives. Different weapons have different effects as the battle system incorporates two different kinds of attacks, and furthermore, two different types of damages.

Now until we get some more information, the details are a bit fogy, but this game in my opinion sounds like one to look out for. Check out the link below to see the Japanese demo in action.

Demo.

The hit arcade game; Splosion Man, had got a lot of press since its release. Not only is it a resurrected old favourite, but it was also said to unlock avatar clothing at the end of the game. The game has 50 levels of multiplayer funness, and an online 4 player mode to match. The game received a 9.0 review and has been called, ‘one of the most awesome games of all time’.

With that said, Major Nelson has revealed next weeks ‘deal of the week’ to be none other than Splosion Man!

That’s right, the price for Splosion Man is getting a major cut – 50% cut to be exact. Come February, for one week only, the game is going to cost 400MSP!

How’s that for an ‘explosively’ good offer? …I think that terrible pun is my que to stop typing. Damn it.

Hoyle Texas Hold’em is now available for worldwide download via Xbox LIVE® Indie Games. From the same team that created some of the most popular titles on Xbox Live Arcade including Minesweeper, Interpol, Texas Hold‘em, and Domino Master comes Hoyle Texas Hold’em, bringing an all new, feature-rich, Hold’em style poker game to the Xbox 360.

Hoyle Texas Hold’em has fully integrated Microsoft’s avatars allowing gamers to compete against anywhere from 1 to 9 other players in both single games and tournaments. Gamers can also look forward to a huge array of statistics, allowing them to track all of the most important details of their games. Trophies are awarded for great achievements as well loads of customization including AI difficulty, game types, table minimums and more.

 
Key Features:
- Gamers can play as their Microsoft Avatar.
- Single player games against up to 9 AI players.
- Mixed Multiplayer games with any combination of up to 9 AI and/or human players.
- Fully customizable games let the player decide game type, table minimums, mix of AI vs. human players and much more.
- Ability to reserve seats for private custom games.
- Deep statistic tracking covers over 50 key stats categories found to be the most important to professional poker players.

Hoyle Texas Hold’em is priced at 400 Microsoft points and can be accessed through Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE Market Place / Indie Games.

The LIMITED COLLECTOR’S EDITION, which will be available for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, will comprise the FINAL FANTASY XIII game; FINAL FANTASY XIII Original Sound Selection – an exclusive soundtrack CD featuring in-game music tracks especially chosen for the Limited Collector’s Edition by composer Masashi Hamauzu; The World of FINAL FANTASY XIII – a hardback book featuring character artwork, CG rendered artwork and environments from across the game’s production; Exclusive Art Prints – three highly collectable prints showing artwork of the Eidolons, the powerful summoned allies of the lead playable characters; and a Unique ‘Brand of the l’Cie’ decal – a collectible decal featuring the most iconic symbol from the game’s storyline. The LIMITED COLLECTOR’S EDITION will be available in a branded presentation box.

Larry Sparks, Vice President Brands PAL Region of Square Enix Ltd. comments, “FINAL FANTASY XIII is one of the most anticipated entertainment releases of all time and we’re pleased to announce this LIMITED COLLECTOR’S EDITION for fans across PAL territories, the contents of which have been individually selected by the FINAL FANTASY XIII development team.”

SEGA® Europe Ltd today announced an exciting three year partnership with Alton Towers Resort, the most popular theme park in the UK. The deal, which gives SEGA the exclusive videogame rights at the resort, also marks the first time a videogame character has been given their own ‘Ride and Stay’ experience at the popular UK attraction.

The sponsorship will encompass the launch of a Sonic The Hedgehog branded rollercoaster and Sonic The Hedgehog themed room at the Alton Towers Hotel. The Sonic hotel room allows guests to live, sleep and even play the latest games from the Sonic franchise in a room dedicated to the famous Sonic videogame universe. The rollercoaster, entitled Sonic Spinball, and the Sonic hotel room will open to the public on 13th February 2010.

 
“We are delighted to be working with Merlin Entertainments and Alton Towers Resort” commented Amanda Farr, SEGA Europe UK Marketing Director. “Partnering Sonic with one of the UK’s most popular destinations for a family day out is a fantastic opportunity for people to engage, and have fun, with the Sonic brand. I’ll certainly be there at the launch of the rollercoaster to have my turn!”

 
Morwenna Angove, Sales and Marketing Director at the Alton Towers Resort, said: “It’s a great joint venture between the Alton Towers Resort and SEGA. The affiliation of both brands will add to the great family offering at the Resort for kids seeking fabulous family fun and adrenalin addicted adults”.

You know how Darksiders is gaining all manner of praise for combining aspects from many different sources, refining them, and coming up with something even better? Well Dark Void has tried the same principle, yet failed almost completely.

Developed by Airtight games, Dark Void tells a rather hackneyed story of a plane crash in the Bermuda triangle that leads to an adventure killing bizarre robots which were apparently responsible for stirring up the nazis in the lead up to world war 2. Fan of Lost? If so then the story in Dark Void will definitely feel very familiar. Plane crash on a desert island? Check. Person killed by who knows what just after the crash? Check. Ship stranded in the middle of said island? Check. I’ll be surprised if there isn’t a lawsuit from the Lost writers!

The big hook of the game is supposedly the jet pack which the player gets to use to soar through the air, killing enemies all the while. This is teased in the prologue to the game during which you have a fully powered jetpack at your disposal which you use to take down some UFO’s. The jetpack sections are without a doubt the most enjoyable parts of the game.

So far so good then. Unfortunately though, as the game proper starts you are stripped of your jetpack and forced into a rather poor third person shooter (think Gears of War, but nowhere near as good). The cover system is poor, often leaving you still vulnerable to fire. Zooming in moves the camera just that little too close in causing you to lose track of where you are and making movement difficult. Enemies often take up to a full clip of ammo in order to die which is almost reasonable considering they are mainly cybernetic. Strangely though the player also seems to be able to take a full clip of ammo before being killed, despite only wearing a leather jacket for armour.


As you progress through the game you slowly unlock a better and better jetpack however the problem persists that you are constantly thrown back into these sub par third person action sections. Exploration of the island (think Uncharted, but nowhere near as good) is really not as enjoyable as it could have been as for the most part you have an underpowered jetpack when you are longing for far more.

Graphically the game is nothing special with below par textures permeating the poorly designed levels. The soundtrack is nothing to write home about either. The control scheme for both jetpack and third person sections is poor and inaccurate. All of these factors serve only to confirm the conclusion that this is a poor game indeed.

In conclusion, I would seriously recommend avoiding Dark Void unless you have played absolutely every other game you are even slightly interested in. Playing the game wasted several hours of my life that would have been better spent doing pretty much anything else at all.

Verdict: 4/10. Poor

The podcast will be back next tuesday. This is our first week off in our 2 year history. We hope you can survive a whole week without us.

See you next week

I’m finally playing through Assassins Creed 2 at the moment, just 2 months after release. The thing is: I’m not enjoying it as much as I know I should be simply because everyone else has already been through it already. It’s not the game that’s the problem, but my mindset.

That’s the thing about being heavily into gaming. There’s a constant quest between gamers to be the first to do things. First to play; first to finish; first to prestige. Being the one to do these things is a badge of honor worn proudly by those able to do so. Just look at all the posts from people getting the latest big release early on any of the major gaming websites.

There are several problems with this eagerness to be the number one. Once someone else has reached the milestone, the feeling of accomplishment for doing so will be diminished for those coming next. The longer this goes on the worse things become as more and more people have beaten you to it. Hence there’s a tendency amongst gamers to rush things and to spoil the experience for others in order to prove their own worth.

So, what has all this got to do with Assassins Creed 2 I hear you ask? Well, the point is that although I can recognise that the game is indeed much better than the first and well worthy of my time, I am somewhat rushing through it. I’m constantly thinking my time would be better spent on the latest big releases so that I can avoid any spoiling of their experiences.

All of this means that the further past the release of a game I go without playing it the less and less likely I am to go back to it. I’m sure this has lead to my missing some tremendous experiences, but I cannot see a way to change my outlook. I would rather not go to the party at all than turn up late.