Google Stadia: Game Breaking or Game Changing

Google made some controversial splashing in the gaming world recently by announcing the Google Stadia and being the ultra-switched-on-mile-a-minute person that I am…. it kinda passed me by. I think I have a certain noise filter when it comes to gaming news and promises of live-streaming have been the right amount of hyped and disappointing over the years for me to mentally file it under “Meh”. This morning’s commute however saw it crop up on my twitter feed a few more times and I decided to take a look at the details.  Continue reading “Google Stadia: Game Breaking or Game Changing”

Rockstar Lifestyle: Crunchy Underfoot

It’s been a turbulent few weeks for Rockstar studios; the release of their latest open world behemoth overshadowed by the issue of studio crunch once more being the focus of widespread discussion and confusion in the preceding weeks. The waters were muddied by internet commentators on all sides of the debate shouting down the opinions of others with their own and the situation at Rockstar itself rapidly evolving as they went in to all out damage control seeing the potential hit to day-one sales looming.

Holding my hands up, I can’t offer any further insight here, after-all I’m just a consumer and have started this particular piece a few times as the situation morphed before giving up and just waiting for the dust to settle. It feels like we’re at a point now where I can at least safely write some kind of post about it all, but given the complexity of the issue it’s difficult to even know what it is that I want to say. Continue reading “Rockstar Lifestyle: Crunchy Underfoot”

Resident Evil 2 Remake: E3 Trailer Breakdown

Anyone who… well… has ever heard my talk about gaming will more than likely know that Resident Evil 2 is not only my go-to answer for “Favourite Game”, but also holds a very special place in my gaming history. The escapades of Leon & Claire as they escape Raccoon City forms part of my own plot of sacred gaming ground and with the announcement of Capcom’s intention to remake it I scrunched up my eyes and wished for them to tread gently and carefully with something I hold so dear. With this year’s E3 I awoke on Tuesday morning to take in the two trailers of this revisiting to Raccoon City and as I sipped my coffee, sat on the train, sat through a teleconference, and everything else I did that day, my mind set about trying to process exactly how I felt about what I’d seen first thing in the morning. It wasn’t until I arrived back home that I watched them for a second time… and then a third… and then some more to try and figure this out. Honestly I won’t know how I feel about it until January next year when I’m playing it, but for now, here is my breakdown of the Resident Evil 2 Remake… or RE2Make for ease of typing.  Continue reading “Resident Evil 2 Remake: E3 Trailer Breakdown”

Rezzed 2018 Wrap-Up: I’m Still Not Great at Expos

Despite disruption on the District Line I managed to navigate the sprawling metropolis of London to make it to the Tobacco Dock for this year’s EGX Rezzed. Ok, so I really just dropped that “District line” in there to make it sound like I know how London works where the truth is that I was pretty lucky not to end up on the confusing “Overground” (that seemed to be mostly underground) in the wrong direction. In my summation of the last EGX I mentioned how I’m not great at expos and I once again failed to take any meaningful pictures, but I did play a few more games this time so maybe I’m improving.  Continue reading “Rezzed 2018 Wrap-Up: I’m Still Not Great at Expos”

The Expectation of Perpetual Updates

Ok gamers, it’s once again time to take out that mirror and take a look at ourselves as a group. A few weeks ago I noticed a tweet by a clearly rattled Jim Rossignol; linchpin of ‘Big Robot’, a tiny development team responsible for that excellent British romp ‘Sir! You are being hunted’ and ‘The Signal From Tölva‘ which won me over earlier this year with it’s sci-fi vistas.

Jim_tweet1
yes… I tend to use night mode on twitter…

The above tweet was the beginning of a mini-rant from Jim about the annoyances of some gamers assuming that the development of a title can go on perpetually; curious to know Jim’s views on the subject I decided to jump in to the conversation:

Continue reading “The Expectation of Perpetual Updates”

I Suck at Expos: EGX Rundown 2017

The title pretty much covers it, I suck at expos. I want to see the hot new games, but I don’t like to queue and don’t really enjoy the sensation of other people watching me play over my shoulder. Add to this that there are also some games that I’m interested in, but kinda feel like I want to settle in to them at my own pace rather than a frantic whistlestop sample that the expo environment provides. Nevertheless, the pull of EGX was too much this year so I picked up a day ticket a few weeks ago and last Friday moseyed on over to the NEC in Birmingham with my wife for a game filled day in the crowds feeling more than once a little self-consciously-over-30, although I’d like to thank the guy who complimented my Owlboy T-shirt for validating my fashion choice for the day. Luckily the Rezzed section (full of the latest indie titles) was near the entrance and we found ourselves 2 hours in without progressing more than two rows of booths from the door. Continue reading “I Suck at Expos: EGX Rundown 2017”

So long ‘Mad Catz’; at least I have my R.A.T. to remember you…

In an uncharacteristic move, I’m going to do something of a current gaming news type blogpost to lament the movement of staple game hardware manufacturer ‘Mad Catz’ from “Woooh! we’re a company” status, to “Urgh! We’ve filed for bankruptcy” as reported late last week. As a company they were dubiously renowned for producing opinion dividing products, specifically in their console market given some of the rants that I’ve just found on various forums, but it’s equally valid to say that anytime a company drops out of the market (particularly the less populated 3rd party gaming hardware market) we lose diversity & choice when it comes to how we bridge the gap between fingertips and machine. As gamers, when we’re wrapped up in that world, most of us would likely say that whatever control interface is forgotten… and that should be the goal of controller manufacturers… to make us forget that bridge from our hand to the game. I think this is why I struggle to write hardware reviews (as I discovered previously), the best compliment you can give many pieces of gaming hardware is that when it works, you forget about it.

So, in memory of fallen ‘Mad Catz’ (I’m avoiding making the 9 lives joke that so many gaming news sites have made) I’m going to give it the old college try and attempt to elucidate my thoughts on the R.A.T. 5 gaming mouse that has been a permanent fixture on my desk for the past few years.

Continue reading “So long ‘Mad Catz’; at least I have my R.A.T. to remember you…”