Disclaimer: The ‘RB6:Patriots’ information referenced within was compiled from several media outlets and is summarized in the accompanying article. Should anyone be confused, I do NOT claim to be a professional “news generator”/ journalist under the purview of their bylaws & access, traditionally reserved for the strict gathering & reporting of facts. Rather I’m acting as a “news disseminator,” spreading gaming details like an STD while editorializing on previously reported information. Thus, anyone claiming “plagiarism” is welcome to gag on my ‘Rainbow 8-3/4.’

In today’s saturated market, you can’t throw a pirated copy of ‘RB6:Raven Shield’ without hitting another military FPS. In fact, many of them are quite good and offer fans of the genre incremental tactical & graphical updates to an otherwise pigeonholed evolutionary branch of gaming. So where have Bravo team been all this time? Why come back now? And, where will ‘RB6:Patriots’ fit in the grand scheme of things?

The developers have given us just enough details in trade magazines and on podcasts to wet both our appetites and our tighty-whiteys. So I rushed to my laptop (waited several weeks) to share some of these details with all of you. I had intended to do a full write-up on RB6 until I took a ‘Black Arrow’ to the knee. Sorry. Sorry. Terrible joke. Besides, it’s completely inaccurate. I actually took a ‘Rogue Spear’ to the Distal Femur, which in truth, is slightly above the knee; just there (gestures). Never mind. No need to go into the sorted details here. But what I will do is provide you with a list of notable ‘RB6:Patriots’ features and the phone numbers of several physicians skilled in treating knee injuries, in case you’re interested.

Knee injuries are no joke. You can’t kick a football or a homeless person anymore – and did you know, knee injuries limit your ability to lift your leg and let off a ‘triumphant bum-flapping blast’ at a store or on the street. I’m tell’n you – If you fart in public just standing there, with no boisterous performance to go along with it, people look at you like you’re pathetic! There’s no appreciation for diet, effort, or the very real risk of ‘sharting’ – Ingrates! That’s the last time I ruin a perfectly good pair of pants just so they can tell their friends at lunch about the guy who spontaneously walked up and “nurtured a Hufflepuff “ (copyright 2012 – H34DCA5E) while everyone was waiting to cross the street!

Just Give Us the List, FFS!:

The fluid 2013 release date, coupled with developer fidelity claims & recent rumors concerning next gen consoles, has some speculating that ‘RB6:Patriots’ may, in fact, be one of the first titles we play on a new console.

Developers have claimed that despite the early state of the game, it already features the most realistically rendered & functioning gun models of any game to date. Reload times, operating procedures, & animations are said to be unparalleled in the current FPS space. Developers are said to be committed to real-world firearm handling that translates seamlessly to analog sticks without negating the need for accessibility and fun. Realistic melee options will be available as well.

Previous installments of RB6 games all utilized tweaked versions of the Unreal Engine. But ‘RB6:Patriots’ will use a new Ubisoft proprietary engine. This engine is a direct descendant of Anvil, known for its use in the Assassins Creed titles. Developers claim that their absence has been due, in large part, to the need to evolve a propriety next gen shooter engine from the bones of this outdated Anvil platformer.

The game features a PlayStation Home style lobby system (the HQ) for both coop & multiplayer. You’ll no longer be stuck looking at a list of pot emblems while people trade racial slurs and question your sexuality. (Sorry for that by the way. I get bored waiting for the next round to start.) But in RB6, you’ll be able to walk around, talk to teammates, and check out their customized armor, uniform, & weapons. There’s still no word on whether or not you’ll be able to do each other’s hair or shower together after the match. (Insert your own ‘soap dropping’ joke here. – Sh*t. – Just mentioning dropping the soap is a joke, isn’t it. I had wished to avoid that. – Well, as the saying goes: you wish in one hand and grope strangers with the other and see which yields better results… or something like that.)

Need a mentor? A life coach? A “shoot’em in the face” how-to instructor? Patriots is implementing a system by which new players or teammates can ask to be “mentored” by a more experienced player or, as I like to call him, an elected nob-jockey. But this feature may just work. We often tell new players to “find someone & stick with them to learn the ropes” in a game they’re unfamiliar with. Apparently, once agreed upon, squad members/underlings will be privy to this Colonel Sanders’ battlefield communications, tactics, commands, and HUD-based intel.

Want to build a sand castle? Well, RB6 has a “sandbox” to use in the HQ lobby area. This is a virtual mini-map of all the multiplayer arenas complete with windows, doors, ladders, stairs, etc. Players can now learn the maps and coordinate their efforts without the hours of getting pwned in matches normally needed to acquire this info. You can also put markers on this map so that everyone knows where & what you’re talking about even though they’re busy checking Twitter and don’t really give a sh*t.

Your character is now an imposing hybrid of Marcus Phoenix and Mikhail Baryshnikov. He can nimbly vault over obstacles whilst violently slamming into cover with the full weight and resonance of a human wearing a tactical loadout. And after all of the Cirque Du Soleil training during your 2-game stint in Vegas, rappelling is now a fluid ‘death-from-above’ tactic that even Batman would be jealous of.

Stats at the end of a match will no longer appear in boring spreadsheets. Players return to the HQ room and witness visual presentations of their performance. One example given was that of a human silhouette firing-range target depicting accuracy and hit locations. This is a nice touch. (The feature is cool, but right there I was referring to the wife trying to distract me while writing this. Whoa, another really nice touch. brb).

Where was I, oh yes. RB6 hopes to immerse you IN the game and forces you to play from different character perspectives. An example is when a hostage is strapped with a bomb, and must keep his finger on the detonator to prevent it from going off. That’s right, YOU are the hostage for this sequence. Get comfy holding down that ‘A’ button while trying to navigate & cope with the anxiety and chaos of events around you. In addition, squad commands promise to be more intuitive, streamlined, and contextually sensitive to keep you playing rather than looking at a command interface.

Options, options, & more options with no “right” answers. That’s the goal; to present numerous black & white choices in frustratingly grey situations, and force the player to deal with the outcome. Witnesses to one gameplay demo recounted a situation where the playtester deliberately chose to shoot a cop in the leg in order to hobble him. It turns out that this cop was about to confront the hostage with the bomb, making it all but certain that it would detonate and kill many others. His tactic allowed the hostage to pass unfettered and saved countless pixilated lives for the time being. Panicked players have been known to actually kill cops and civilians in other similar types of situations.

Cyberdyne/Skynet is here. ‘RB6:Patriots’ A.I. is said to be second to none. Teammates take appropriate actions based on their skill set and loadouts. Thus the sniper hangs back while the shotgun-pimp hits the kill funnel first. Both friendly’s and tangos alike utilize cover, bounding, suppression, & flanking with lethal efficacy. You’ll witness A.I.’s stumble, make mistakes, gun jams, and decision-making. In fact, desperate enemies may barricade themselves or grab a human shield. Bullets and body parts react as they should, impacting and affecting NPCs in an impressive visceral feedback system.

Morality. In ‘RB6:Patriots’ you have choices and those choices have consequences. Do you sacrifice the few to save the many? Do you risk a shot when the baddy’s got a human shield or let him get away? Your team even reacts visually, verbally, emotionally, and efficiently based on their trust in your leadership decisions.

Although FPSs are certainly part of a dried-up, clone and sequel spawning, gene pool, I have real hope for ‘RB6:Patriots.’ Firstly, they correctly predicted who would make it to this year’s NFL Super Bowl. Who really wants to see ‘RB6:Packers’ anyway. But besides that, the details emerging demonstrate that the developers are fully aware of the rinse-&-repeat formulas out there today.

As we all know, there’s more competition at the level of mediocrity. So ‘RB6:Patriots’ is striving to be the best. The FPS genre is and always will be, at its core; “person with gun.” And wow, has that translated well to countless systems and interfaces throughout gaming’s relatively short lineage. But I get most excited when a “person with gun” game gets made by a proverbial “person with insight.” We’ll just have to see if all of these things actually come to fruition when the game is finally released. Until that ‘Critical Hour,’ keep an ‘Eagle Watch’ on 360GamerCast for updates.

- H34DCA5E

The mechanics in Revelations have remained the same as its predecessors only slightly being tweaked offering a more fluid style. Ezio’s second hidden blade that offered variety in assassination options has been removed, and replaced with a quickly obtained hook blade. This has the same function as the hidden blade, but with a twist. Players can now quickly navigate plat forming sections of the environment by latching onto ropes. This is a welcome change to quickly escape guards, or just navigating the map with greater ease. The economics introduced in Brotherhood also returns enabling Ezio to purchase merchants, and gain income as the area becomes more stable and templar control is removed. As you gain control over the merchants they offer better equipment for you to purchase. The only truly new adjustment that has been made is the tower defense mechanic that is triggered when your multiples “Assassin Dens” are threatened. Once the Templers attempt to retake a den you must dive into an over complicated, mismanaged mini game of beating back their attack. This does not break the game in anyway, and fans of tower defense may warm to what it offers, but it does detract from what should be a story driven game. Ubisoft builds a great sand box to play in, but Assassins Creed is not a sand box game. You are offered the freedom to do what you want; however you do not able to what you want when you want to do it. One has to wonder if they continue to offer multiple distractions in this series, because they have lost their handle on the story, or it may just be a severe case of too many cooks in the kitchen.

Multiplayer has made a return and this must be the most polarizing multiplayer title on the market. Gamers either love it or they hate it without much middle ground to stand on. I have not spent much time with the versus game play, because I do not find it has much to offer. The game has a strict set of rules it wants you to play by, and once people begin breaking the rules the game breaks along with them. You are attempting to remain anonymous from the other players in the match, but once someone climbs to a rooftop the mystery is gone. Also if you are not playing the way designer’s intended you too your reward is decreased. If Ubisoft had tweaked the AI so that they would more mirror what players expect then the experience may have been more exciting. With gamers having a wide variety of choice this holiday companies are exercising more effort than ever to grab your attention. Assassins Creed Revelations is an improvement over past titles, but it does not reinvent the franchise. You can expect a strong helping of the same game play the series has delivered from the first three titles. I you are a fan, or have enjoyed the previous Assassins Creed releases then Revelations is a no brainer, but if you are not a long time fan then maybe wait Ubisoft out for the release of Assassins Creed 3.

The question is frequently asked by those who have passed on Assassins Creed until now “Is this a good place to begin playing the series”. With Revelations I would say “No”, because this is the title that puts a bow on many plot lines that have needed a conclusion. If you are looking for a solid entry point I would recommend beginning with Assassins Creed 2. The series seems to have taken a drastic turn after the second installment that drove them straight to the bank. Every title has refined game play, and added to the rather bland environment of the original game; however the plot has been rode hard and hung up wet. It is difficult to say that Assassins Creed requires a refresh, but it does need a more directed plot to untangle the multiple characters, and scenarios Ubisoft wants us to follow. It also does not help the series that fans are asked to be repeat customers every twelve months! Many of us have already sat down at the table, and drank the kool-aide so we have little choice apart from abandoning ship altogether. While it is difficult to let go of fan favorite characters Ezio’s time has past, and if the next title moves on as it should.  I am sure a great new hero will be born for us all to enjoy in the near future.
Verdict 7/10

We’d like to thank everyone who participated and submitted a list. You might think there were just a few favorites and an undeniable gravitation to the same 10 ‘AAA’ titles. But the 360G community showed its, let’s say, “diversity” by nominating a mind-blowing 71 individual titles amidst their Top10 & 2011 Community GOTY picks. So in case you don’t see your beloved ‘Summer Athletics 2012’ in the Top Ten, here’s the data set in order to pinpoint its ranking.

CLICK CHART IMAGE TO VIEW FULL SIZE

It cannot be stated strongly enough how much we appreciate all those people who write, moderate, code, post, review, create, and or partake in the merciless pwning of nubnubs on a daily basis with us. To all our friends, literally our friends, and new members alike, here’s to an even better 2012 in gaming.

- H34DCA5E

It’s the start of the new year and it looks like the hacking of accounts is still an all too common problem. With PSN, Square-Enix and rumours of Xbox Live accounts getting hacked it looks like the trend is continuing.

Personally I thought the rumours of Xbox Live accounts being hacked was just that a rumour but in the last few months four members of the 360GamerCast community have had their accounts hacked and all their Microsoft points spent on fifa pro clubs stuff.

Microsoft have said in the UK Newspapers that all these people have been the victims of phishing scams in emails but none of these community members have received these types of emails.

This is not on and the 360GamerCast community feel that Microsoft need to make the network more secure and make sure these idiots can’t hack anymore accounts.

We already have a name of a hacker who stole one of our members accounts. This hackers gamertag is bares like boo. Please be warned and watch out for this scum.

The story about the above hacker is that he hacked into one of our community members accounts who is also a personal friend of mine. The said community member managed to sign in under their gamertag and noticed a new friend on their list. He then joined the party chat of the this new friend ‘bares like boo’ and his friends in the chat then went on to say ‘Hey it’s ****. How come he is in our party? I thought you had hacked him out of his account with the email address and password change.’

That my friends is 100% proof that ‘bares like boo’ hacked my friends account and has most likely hacked many others.

As always make sure your windows ID is super secure and make sure your password is strong and contains letters, numbers and characters. Also make sure your windows ID password is different from passwords you use on other sites on the internet.

Be careful out there community members and if you have any information on other people hacking the service please let us know and we will name and shame.

Taranis Story

Dec 10th. I turned on my xbox as normal. message popped up briefly saying ‘this gamertag was last used on another console’. Strange i thought. Noticed straight away that my gamerscore was higher than it should be, then saw FIFA 12 as my most recently played game. Never played it. Alarm bells started ringing as i had 2100 pts on my account. Checked it and sure enough i only had 500 left. Also had 2 chievos for FIFA 12 related to making Ultimate Team purchases. Fucks sake.

Phoned xbox and they confirmed that 1700 or so pts had been made on FIFA 12 transactions. Guy said that to get these pts back he would have to cancel my gold then i would have to wait 45 days. Fuck that, screw the pts just get my credit card taken off my account. (I was on automatic renewal) To do this he said, he would have to cancel my gold! Which he did, then he emailed me fresh codes to get my 10 months i was due back. I then followed his advice and changed my windows ID to something unique as my windows ID was the same as Playfire, EA, and 360G and maybe others.
Still nervous every time i turn my xbox on, but no money was taken from my credit card so all i lost was 1700 pts.

Syntax Story

My account was hacked on the 9th Dec 11, whilst I was in work. I first noticed the suspicious activity when I received an email from Xbox confirming a purchase of 6000 points. Logging into a 3rd party app with one of my secondary accounts I seen my own GamerTag playing Fifa 12. Having seen this and after checking my sis or bro weren’t playing on my Xbox I phoned Up Xbox support detailing to them what has happened and giving them my Console serial number and Console ID of both mine and @MissChattyPants they said that depending upon the results of their investigation which can take anything between 3-6weeks, I’d get access back to my account, a refund of the 6000 and all my points back that had been previously on my account.

During the downtime I wasn’t able to connect to any parts of the XBL service. So giving that I just played offline single player games (ie MW3, DeusEx & Saints Row 3). I was givin a code for 30 days free XBL access for one of my other accounts but theres no point really cos it ain’t my primary account.

It was Boxing Day time when the investigation into my account was complete (took around 3 weeks) I was able to access my account again but through using a temporary WLID ‘sr12376381….”. When trying to log back into my email account to check up on email etc, I was again unable to login with my details and still aren’t able too, to this day. Even trying to reset my password has had no effect on the status of allowing access to my emails.

The other down side is that the games I’ve played to completion (12hrs on MW3) and the cheevos I had unlocked, whilst my account was offline, where all for nothing basically. Trying to access XBL with the account that was on my HDD was locked so having recovered my account the cheevos and saved games were invalid after several attempts of trying to sync them back up to XBL, my achievements where fucked and my MW3 saved game was at 3hrs

Currently I’m still waiting to gain access to my WLID and also waiting to change the associated WLID with my XBL.

James Bengochea (Ben-go-she-a)

UPDATE: Joystiq have a similar article regarding the hacks here http://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/04/xbox-live-fifa-hack-concerns-continue-to-escalate-microsoft-s/?a_dgi=aolshare_twitter

UPDATE: You can follow Susan’s story here http://www.hackedonxbox.com/

If you haven’t had time or you’re still on Mass Effect 2 prepping your army for march then you’ve missed some special moments that will definitely go down in to the gaming history books. Be it a mind blowing piece of technical programming or technical fail on mind blowing proportions i’ll be running down my top 10 favourite gaming moments of 2011.

10. Exploring the (not so) vast wastelands of RAGE!

After you’ve endured the rather tedious, but luckily not so lengthy, tutorialesque intro scenes you get let loose in a hand built rough and tumble, mini-gun armed buggy. Driving around the wastelands is a sight to behold. The new ID Tech 5 engine just shows why ID are so highly revered as one of the greatest makers of game engines on the planet. Every rock, chasm, explosion and freckle are beautifully rendered at 60 frames per second.

9. Getting that 1000+ metre headshot in Operation Flashpoint: Red River

Red River was released to a rather mild reception. Some loved its realism, others slated it for being not being realistic enough. But no one can argue with its ability to make you feel like an expert sniper, when you pick up that 50 cal in the night mission and take the head off of a PLA enemy from atop the hill, before he or any of his team mates even know you’ve arrived. Take into account the realistic bullet drop and accurate ballistics engine and that leads to one satisfying kill.

8. Playing that first 3d game on your 3DS

The 3DS graced our shores in March with a colossal price tag and very few games. Disappointed with early up take and poor opening sales Nintendo dropped the price tag rather substantially. This ruffled quite a few feathers leading to the so called “ambassador” programme. Despite all this i’ve yet to speak to one person who has picked up the 3DS and not been impressed. The screen offers the holy grail of 3d pictures, glasses free! Get the screen in the position with the correct depth for your personal preference and the picture jumps out into face makes you think you could actually grab the characters hands and shake them.

7. Riding your first bunny in Little Big Plant 2

Here a game that almost completely fell off my radar. How could it be any different to the first? Well the team at Mm managed to surprise me and then some when I finally played LBP2 in september. Best of which was the amazing creatures you get to ride, leading to one of my favourite, most side splitting moments in a long time. The ridiculous nature in which the bunnys jumped about with your sackboy (oooer) riding upon had me laughing so much I had to pause it to catch my breath.

6. Glitches, glitches and yet more amazing glitches

2011 brought with it some of my favourite glitches i’ve ever seen in my gaming career. A few these were so good theres whole Youtube celebrating these. My personal favourite of these were seen in the Battlefield 3 Beta. You get chased by a snake man with a gun poking out his arse, you’d better not stop to take a second look. It may cost you your sides. Others saw the likes of dragons flying backwards in Skyrim or Jeeps floating 100 metres in the air in Red River. Others were not so nice like in Homefront where we saw grenades coming out of peoples chests.

5. Skydiving to victory in Battlefield 3

Anyone who’s played previous titles in the Battlefield series knew mostly what to expect when they finally got there copy of Battlefield 3 on October 28^th (25^th in America, yes i’m still bitter!). But I dont think anyone could foresee the shear drop faced when playing rush on Damavand Peak. Once you’ve pushed back the enemy from the first two sets of MCOM stations the fight takes a more vertical take on the battlefield, forcing you to either take to the skies in a chopper but more likely you will be opting for the fall. A massive free fall dropping you right into the thick of it, and hopefully forcing the enemy into the tunnel after the destruction of the next two MCOM stations.

4. Reliving the Halo: Combat Evolved beach head mission….in HD!

Everyone remembers ten years ago screaming along the beach in a Warthog with their best mate in the gunner seat, squashing opposing forces in your quest for the Cartographer. Well this year saw us all doing again, but this time in glorious 1080p HD. Nothing is more satisfying than the nostalgia of playing your favourite game from last decade, except maybe if that game is everything and more than you remember. The guys at 343 really did a fantastic job on Halo: CEA.

3. Stepping out into the wide world of Skyrim

I remember getting Oblivion back in 2006. Stepping out into the lush green world of Oblivion was the best thing I had seen coming out of my 26” HDTV. Thinking that no other game would ever amaze me like ever again, Bethesda did it again. This time on a larger 40” HDTV it looked even better than before. The rolling mountains, the flowing streams, the wide, seemingly endless forests. Skyrim did everything Oblivion did and then some. Not to mention the gameplay, the world is one that will take some beating. The level of detail in the lore easily rivals that of any MMO and the life that you find only adds to the feeling.

2. Walking vertically down a sky scraper in Bulletstorm

For anyone who played Bulletstorm, you knew that you were getting into something silly. But silly isn’t always a bad thing. We all love movies with Arnie or Stalone. If Call of Duty and Battlefield are the Arnie and Stalone of games, Bulletstorm is the Charlie Sheen. Walking down a building vertically using magnet/gravity boots! Awesome. And consider this. That was the first mission. Imagine what could be waiting for you later on in the game. Not many games add that element of fun these days, they’re mostly a bit too serious. Starting a new game in Bulletstorm makes you remember exactly why you play games in the first place. Lets just hope the inevitable Bulletstorm 2 recaptures this amazing opening.

1. Weilding the Master Sword properly in Skyward Sword

I have been a Zelda fan since I first played Zelda: Links Awakening on the Gameboy Color back in 1999. After discovering this amazing series so late in its life I just had to go back and see what I had missed. What I found had to be the most amazing (if a bit farfetched) collection of fantasy fiction stories I had seen/held. With each new game I wanted more, more Zelda, more Triforce, more adventures. But nothing had ever wowed me more than my first taste. Until Novem 18^th 2011. 13.32pm 18/11/11 according to the receipt. That was the time that Zelda became more than just a Youtube video for me. The first 30 minutes are a little tedious in the true Zelda way. But as soon as you get that sword this game comes into its own. The controls in this game really do surprise you. It takes some getting used to but once you’ve got the hang of it, that sword feels like its in your hand and makes you feel for the first time that you are Link. You are no longer watching a story unfurl, you are experiencing it first hand (provided that you’re right handed), you are part of it. Learning how to use the sword properly is paramount in mastering this game, the enemies aren’t the usual predictable pattern following drones, they react to your movements and you have to plan your attack properly.

Written by Will Earnshaw

Back to the roots

Video games didn’t start out focused on multiplayer; in fact, the very earliest examples pitted the player against a computer-controlled opponent (a la Pong). Following on from there came immense text adventures that were designed to be enjoyed solo: much like an interactive book, these games offered a new way to play. They simply required a little imagination on the part of the player. Even in arcades, games like Asteroids in the 1980s were usually played by one person – albeit with a team of friends cheering them on. But the best example of ‘pure’ single player gaming is perhaps the role playing games that also emerged in the 80s and gained traction in the 90s.

Titles such as Final Fantasy and the Legend of Zelda have become single player juggernauts that, even to this day, remain firm favourites with fans. It was these RPG experiences that laid the foundation for hugely popular role playing games on the PC – including Skyrim’s progenitor, the Elder Scrolls series.

Gaming solo in the modern age

With the advent of the internet has come a fascination with online play. This is completely understandable, and a heck of a lot of fun, but in some ways it has overshadowed single player experiences in the last few years. Game series such as the Call of Duty games have created a huge following of multiplayer gamers, all eager to best each other in matches such as Domination and Capture the Flag. These titles also come bundled with single player modes that, whilst entertaining and cinematic, are usually quite brief.

There are exceptions to this rule of course, and games such as 2007’s Bioshock are the perfect example. Games like this offer such immersive and story-driven experiences that nobody really misses the multiplayer aspect. Skyrim falls firmly into this bracket, and with a bit of luck it will pave the way for even more expansive single player games. For those of us who love to get lost in a fictional world filled with different characters and things to do, games like Skyrim are worth their weight in gold – even if they do steal hundreds of hours from our lives.

Is there room in the industry for both?

A likely response to this topic is ‘why don’t developers just release both and please everyone?’ This is a perfectly reasonable argument, unfortunately in real terms developers (and publishers, more specifically) tend to go with the flow. They see what is popular and emulate it. That’s why we’ve seen droves of online first person shooters. So the hope now is (at least for those of us that want to indulge in some interactive narrative) that publishers will recognise the popularity of Skyrim and put more time and effort into creating similar experiences. The market is crying out for a break from multiplayer focused title – so it really is about time.

In any case, Skyrim has so much depth, so much gameplay, and so much to experience that we’ll likely still be playing it in a few years. Which means the publishers have a little while until us single player-hungry gamers demand another slice of solo pie.

Of course, tabletop RPGs (TRPGs) really haven’t evolved in the last four decades. Sure, the genres have gone beyond simple fantasy war games, and new designers are always innovating rules, but at its heart most TRPGs are still hefty 200 to 400 page tomes written not to appeal to the general public, but to an ever decreasing audience of hardcore fans. It seems all that remains is one giant meteor poised to wipe out these dinosaurs.

Ask most TRPGers to name the meteor that’s been hurtling towards them for years, and they’ll say: the video game. Video games, of course, require a lot less preparation. You don’t have to rely on one of your friends to plan out a campaign every week, so you can trek over to his house or local game store. The developers have done all the work for you, and you never need leave the comfort of your own couch.

Also unlike TRPGs, video game sales have improved dramatically. It took 20 years (1983-2003) for Nintendo to sell 61.9 million NES units worldwide, but only 5 years (2006-2011) to sell 89.36 million Wii units.  Meanwhile, Microsoft sold 57.6 million Xbox 360 consoles in six years and Sony moved 56 million PlayStation 3 consoles in five.

What accounts for this increase in console sales? Is it the gamers of 20 years ago passing on their love to their children? Simple population growth? Or is the video game love spreading out from the fans to the general public? All of the above?

It’s the computer. Or, to be more specific in a general sort of way, the proliferation and interactivity of the computer and social media in our daily lives. More jobs are becoming computer jobs, most news comes through the internet, and most mail is e-mail. Of course, all this free news and mail delivery and social networking comes at a price, and that price is advertising. Pop-up ads, flash ads, banner ads, and ads of all sorts appear everywhere on the internet we go.  And what do many of them advertise (besides sex, of course)? That’s right – online gaming.

World of Warcraft, the most popular online fantasy MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game), boasts over 11 million monthly users. Impressive, but I suspect most of these players were video gamers already, in one form or another.  What gets your mom and your grandma playing are social media games like Zynga’s Farmville, which has had as many as 83 million monthly active users.  Even the recently released Sims Social grabbed nearly 5 million monthly users right out of the gate. I won’t even get into a detailed discussion of South Korea, where teenagers train for licensed careers as StarCraft players with six-figure incomes. (Go look it up if you don’t believe me.)

Now, are you sitting down? Because I’m going to tell you that Angry Birds, a little puzzle game you can download to your smartphone (see? Rise of the computer again…) has sold over 350 million copies in the last two years.  Meanwhile, Call of Duty: Black Ops, so far the best-selling console game of all time, sold nearly 14 million. Given that figure alone, I think I’m safe in assuming that the hardcore console gamer is a minority compared to the gaming that gets done among so-called non-gamers, like your Aunt Debbie with her Angry Birds addiction or your sister who’s getting in debt with her Farmville account.

What’s the end result? Just this: gaming is growing. Where the console market will eventually go is anybody’s guess (though I’ve still got ‘holodeck’ on my wish list), but the numbers can’t be ignored. So, the next time your boss, wife, girlfriend, or whoever mocks your console addiction as “geeky”, try asking what they’ve got on their computer or smartphone. You might be surprised.

* Mark Plemmons is a professional TRPG writer, editor, and designer. He takes no responsibility for the vagueness of the above sales numbers, or whether your Aunt Debbie actually plays Angry Birds.

The Roxio Game Capture makes it very possible and simple to record your console gameplay on either the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3. It’s editing software is very simple to use and lets you add voice, text and other simple visual effects on your pc.

I tested this on the Xbox 360 and the great thing about this piece of kit is that it is very easy to use. The device is essentially just a black box that comes packaged with a set of HD Component cables and a USB cable which connects to your PC.

The setup is simple

1.       Plug the composite cables into the out side of the box and then into you TV

2.       Connect the xbox or PS3 composite cables from the console into the IN side of the box

3.       Plug the USB cable from the box into your PC

4.       Install the provided disc and the set up is complete

Here is a diagram showing how it is set up

Overall the hardware setup is very simple and the editing software is great to use. The only issue I found was that the standard video settings for the recording weren’t correct. After playing with the settings I found that the NTSC setting worked fine so if you are in a PAL territory and having issues then I recommend you try this fix and you should be fine.

For those of you with a new Xbox slim you will find that you don’t have the required HD component cables which is a slight annoyance as the ability to use a HDMI would have been a great feature but the software has a handy link where you can purchase the required cables at a reasonable price. You will still be able to play your xbox 360 at 1080i through the component cables which still looks good but some may notice a slight difference in quality that the HDMI does provide.

The video itself records onto your pc in standard definition but for the price of the product I think that this is a small price to pay especially with the fact that this is aimed as people who want to show off their gaming skills on youtube. The editing software even has a handy feature where you can upload videos directly from the editing screen to youtube.

Personally with the easy to set up hardware and the simple editing software I think this is a great piece of kit and with a price tag of only £79.99 you really can’t go wrong. I shall be using it to do some video reviews for the website. Check out an example below.

Roxio Game Capture
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Viral video by ebuzzing

Remember when you were younger and the adventures you went on? The amazing lands you traveled, monsters you slayed and priceless treasure chests looted – all in the space of a Sunday afternoon in the back yard.

Over the years wether it’s growing up, or games that tells you what to imagine and which path to follow, it takes a special something for a developer to say “Not all games have to be like this”.

At its inception gaming was all about that feeling of escapism and the chance to participate within a world you can shape simply by the choices you make or the evils you stand against.

Well other people also remember those golden times and for Bethesda, Skyrim is the answer.

Skyrim is set in mountainous hills, rolling tundra and lazy flowing creeks that cut through amber forests filled with various bushes, herbs and flowers. All of it is desperate for a hero (you!) to journey into and spend countless hours looking around every rocky crag for that extra herb, or the reward of finding a treasure chest or coin pouch by taking the time to look behind a weirdly shaped tree that caught your attention off in the distance.

The character selection has 2 sides to it. On one side it’s simple and not a number crunch stat sheet that just gets in the way unless you are into really into that sort of thing. And on the other side you can drop an hour or more right here. Like most bethesda games customisation is everything, so if you want an Orc female with a weak chin, plump lips and extra deep eye sockets all the tools are there to create that perfect someone to represent you. This is a fun time sink, but matters very little as you generally play the game in first person mode anyway. And despite smoother character modelling 3rd person mode still looks clunky and tends to remove you slightly from the full immersion of 1st person view.

The opening story is fast pace and suits perfectly as a set up for the game in full. You encounter a few different foes and can find plenty of equipment to easily arm yourself suitably by the end. The tutorial is a little lean, making the game booklet actually useful rather than sitting unused within the box. A couple of times I was left wondering if there was an easier system or controls only to learn hours later of such a function. It’s not enough to be a pain but a little surprising that management for weapons, shouts and magika which are your bread and butter abilities are only quickly glossed over.

Skyrim as a world is amazing. The depth and scope of how much you can do is simply incredible. If you want to run off and continue with the main quest line to decide the fate between the Nords and the Empire, or simply want to settle down and marry, farm lumber and do miscellaneous quests while mastering your skills, the choice is yours. Few games give you such a big playground to take in at your convenience. Even if only playing a couple of hours a night you will be left excited during the day thinking about your next adventure filled episode. Main and secondary quests are fun, well paced and fleshed out allowing for a different feel in gameplay rather than just kill X, fetch X or acquire X – a style of questing that has these days become rather overused generally in the MMO market. Quests are discovered by talking with people, finding quest items, reading books, discovering new locations or people asking for your help. This adds to the immersion and participation within the world rather than NPC’s with a giant glowing asterisk appearing above their head. And as you easily fall into Skyrim’s lands and world, you will already be talking and interacting with people regularly and the quests all appear nicely within your quest log. It doesn’t take long for you to have dozens of quests and plenty of options to spend your time enjoying.

Skyrim is not a game to rush through, the amount of story, loot and sheer beautiful scenery to see is something that has to be savoured. With the limitless ways in which to play the game, the amount of possible quests to be done and then adding a random dragon attack or 3 means no 2 people in the world will play this game the same way. Already it is fun sharing stories and encounters with friends then logging into your own world to add to your tales of adventure and conquest.

Bethesda has taken all the numbers and stats that are needed to run a RPG and placed them under the hood, then added various game difficulty modes to makes an awesome colourful role play that is accessible to anyone that want to experience true fantasy escapism. How they fit lands, races, monsters and countless hours of game play on a disk is incredible but will be great to play again for years to come.

Skyrim is a purchase not a rent. Keep it on your shelf and don’t be rushed. This is a game Gary Gylax would call into work sick to keep playing. You will play again and put as many if not more hours into it than the first time, simply due to how full and rich the world of Skyrim is.

10/10
BestestMates

So, why exactly should you get excited for Rayman Origins at a time when most of your gaming hours will be spent answering the Call of Duty or on the Battlefield? Many parts of the game fall well within the established platforming norms, but the beauty of the handcrafted level design coupled with the stunning looking visuals comes together to form a platforming game that’s old school in it’s heritage but very much modern day in terms of the ideas it possesses. Add into that mix a cast of genuinely funny characters and you have a potentially brilliant game here that’s being overlooked by the majority of gamers. As hopefully the screens around this article and the trailer at the end will show the visuals on offer in this game are genuinely beautiful. The entire game has been drawn by hand by the artists at Ubisoft, and it truly stands out as a phenomenally good looking game.

Sit up and take note people, Rayman Origins is going to be rather special.