Mriceguy

I've moved

2010-02-14T23:51:00.003+13:00

to here http://www.mriceguy.wordpress.com. All my old posts have been imported thanks to some incredible Wordpress wizardry. Hopefully I'll be able to buy my own little domain name when I get some cash.

Thanks for the good times Blogger, you were good while it lasted.

Goals

2010-01-10T10:04:00.001+13:00

I'm going to try out Joe's Goals for a while. I feel like I need to track my progress this year and this badge will show how I'm doing.

Training Pics

2009-12-22T17:13:00.004+13:00

Our bike training pics are up at Flickr. Not long now till the real thing...

The Magic Turkey

2009-12-07T21:57:00.008+13:00

The other day I was rummaging through my old school stuff and putting it into cardboard boxes, when I came across an old story I wrote back at Silverstream School. It was called The Magic Turkey. I wrote a number of stories at school over the years - I really loved creative writing but I was never that great at it! There's no date so I can't remember which year exactly but it would've been between 1993-1999. The story was typed up in horrendous capital letters so I thought I'd spare you the assault on your retinas (although the rest of the punctuation is kept the same as when I wrote it). Enjoy the psychotic ramblings of an 8-year-old-or-so kid.

The Magic
Turkey
By Michael Gray

Once upon a time there was a witch called Wanda. She found a turkey in her castle one day. She thought she could make a magic spell for it. Now I need dragons heart, human eyes, frog slime, mouse tail , vampires blood and giants' spit. Suddenly a cat jumped on to the bench.

" Stop Stop!" said Wanda. But it was too late. The cat bumped the turkey into the cauldron. Then the turkey flew right out of the cauldron. The turkey threw a human eye at Wanda. Bonk on to her head.

She tried to run after it but it was too late. The turkey flew out the window. Luckily Wanda saw the window was shut but it went right through the window sill. The turkey flew on and on until he came to a little cottage. It banged right into the door . A little boy opened the door to see who was there but there wasn't any body there .

But just a turkey at the bottom of the door . The boy picked up the turkey and carried it inside . The turkey smelt some muffins baking . Before he could get out of the boy's hands he got put in a tray in the oven.

The turkey just disappeared and appeared again at the boy's bedroom looking at the boy playing with his toys. The turkey squeaked. "Let's have some fun before my life's ended".

So turkey made his best trick on the boy. The turkey hid behind a soft toy. Then he moved over to the boy carrying the pink soft toy with him. The boy suddenly got his eye on the soft pink toy. He picked it up. The turkey clung to the soft pink toy. The turkey grabbed the toy train that the boy was playing with. The turkey threw the toy train into the drain pipe. The boy tried to pick it up but it had already disappeared. The turkey felt sorry for what he had done. So he made himself disappear and appear again inside the drainpipe. He just saw the toy train disappear through the creek pipes. The turkey suddenly saw himself in the sea. He caught a sea plant and tried and tried to hold on tightly, but his feet couldn't hold on any longer. Then he let go and bumped right in to an octopus . The octopus grabbed the turkey and coiled his legs around him. The turkey screamed "Help! Help! Help!" and then came the toy train and knocked itself into the octopus's head. The octopus fell to the ground. The turkey escaped.

Then there was a loud rumble and bumble. It made the stones clatter and jatter. It was the killer whale. It swam right up to the turkey then suddenly he got swallowed up. He floated down his throat. He tumbled and did somersaults in his throat. A giant was fishing outside his house and he caught a big bite. He pulled and pulled and pulled and up came the killer whale which inside was the magic turkey.

The giant cooked the killer whale for ten minutes until it was all nice and brown. The giant served it with tomato , lettuce , herbs and spices . He swallowed every bite one by one . Soon the turkey was in his tum . First he started at the digesting bit . By 5 seconds the turkey was so small that he was only up to your thumb. Now he met the heart right next to him protected by the ribs . Soon he was getting squashed and squeezed and soon he was coming out of his bottom . He saw that there was water at the bottom . Then suddenly he realised that he was at the toilet . He heard a plop then that happened to turkey he plopped right in to the giant's toilet .

He floated up and down until he was at a castle made of iron . There was a sign put up . It said "Dreadful Dracula's Territory" . The turkey drifted down to the ground . He saw the sign . So decided to check in . The castle's door creaked and screeched as the the turkey opened the door. It was dark and spooky.

There were bats hanging on the ceiling. Then he saw a staircase leading to a room. So the turkey wanted to investigate. So he climbed up the staircase. As he did every step the steps squeaked. As he reached the top and opened the door it didn't creak. He caught his eye on a case. It wasn't a case but a coffin made of black leather. Suddenly the coffin opened and out jumped Dreadful Dracula. Then the turkey 's heart beat fast and now even faster. Suddenly Dracula leaped on to the turkey and carried him all the way to the kitchen. Dreadful Dracula cooked him for dinner. Dreadful Dracula had a feast called Spook Bat Turkey. It was so delicious that he had to have a rest for two years. Now the Dracula was a flying Drac grandpa flying to every country in the world.

The End.

Note: I own all rights to this story, so you sneaky hollywood producers better speak to me first before you go about making The Magic Turkey film!

New stuff on the way

2009-12-07T10:54:00.003+13:00

Just experimenting with putting my reviews up top so I can still add new blog posts. Trying to find the right javascript code to make it appear when you click it. So far no such luck.

Coming soon, a story I wrote back at primary school. :)

Game Reviews

2009-07-29T20:16:00.024+12:00

Hey guys, I won't really be writing on this blog for the time being, as I'm busy helping out writing for ButtonMasher. Though I will keep this post at the top of the blog and keep it updated, showing all the reviews I've done (most recent at the top).

2010 Reviews
January 25 - Dark Void via ButtonMasher

2009 Reviews
December 1 - Encleverment Experiment via ButtonMasher
November 24 - Plants vs. Zombies via ButtonMasher User Blogs
November 4 - Tales of Monkey Island: The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood via ButtonMasher
October 25 - South Park: Let's Go Tower Defense Play! via ButtonMasher
October 22 - Lucidity via ButtonMasher
September 30 - Tales of Monkey Island: Lair of the Leviathan via ButtonMasher
September 27 - Dissidia: Final Fantasy via ButtonMasher
September 21 - Batman: Arkham Asylum via Salient
August 24 - Tales of Monkey Island: The Siege of Spinner Cay via ButtonMasher
August 11 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time: Re-Shelled via ButtonMasher
August 5 - Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures - Episode 4: The Boegy Man via ButtonMasher
July 9 - Tales of Monkey Island - Episode 1: Launch of the Screaming Narwha l via ButtonMasher
June 24 - Lode Runner via Xbox Forums (Winner!)
March 30 - Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned via Salient

2008 Reviews
December 18 - Gears of War 2 via Xbox Forums (Winner!)
September 15 - Army of Two via Salient
September 1 - Guitar Hero III via Salient
August 4 - The Simpsons Game via Salient
July 8 - Everybody's Golf 2 via ButtonMasher
May 19 - Grand Theft Auto IV via Salient
May 12 - Stuntman: Ignition via Salient
April 7 - Burnout Paradise via Salient

Opinion
October 18 - The Digital Distribution Take Over via ButtonMasher User Blogs

Sam & Max next week on XBLA!

2009-06-12T15:31:00.002+12:00

Well Telltale is really going at it this month! First they introduced the five-part Monkey Island season, and now they have announced their re-envisioning of Sam & Max for Xbox Live Arcade!

And such a good deal too; 1600 Microsoft points for the entire Season 1 collection, consisting of 6 episodes. That's around $24.75 (if you have 100 or so points already) versus $90 on Wii or $30 on PC.

A great deal for those into adventure gaming and who haven't already experienced it on the PC or Wii.

*The ButtonMasher link

ButtonMasher’s Upcoming Releases

2009-06-09T23:06:00.004+12:00

I came up with the idea on the ButtonMasher forums to write down a list of games we are looking forward to and their release dates, New Zealand specifically if we could get them. So basically a giant release schedule but only for interesting games! I will be constantly updating it along with the help of other Button Mashers.

The Google Spreadsheet

The ButtonMasher Forum Post

Starcraft II Beta

2009-05-07T15:43:00.005+12:00

Blizzard are now letting people sign up for the Starcraft II Beta. Just login to Battle.net, find the option under profile settings and follow the steps. Let us know in the comments if you get accepted.

I used to play the original Starcraft back in the heydey but it truly has been a while. Let's hope Starcraft II is a worthy sequel.

By Mriceguy

3D Realms Goes Under

2009-05-07T14:56:00.007+12:00

Just when we thought the day was finally coming closer to Duke Nukem Forever's release, after 12 years in the making, developer 3D Realms has closed its doors. Shacknews reports that because of lack of funding 3D Realms has had no choice but to discontinue. Somehow after all this time they were still funding themselves. Take-Two will still own Duke Nukem Forever's publishing rights but I hardly think that they will hire a new developer to work on the game after this point.

But did any of us really believe that Duke Nukem Forever would ever come out?

In remembrance of Duke and his great one liners, "Your face, your ass, what's the difference?"

By Mriceguy

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned (360)

2009-03-31T09:24:00.005+13:00

You can check out the Salient website here for the GTA IV: Lost and Damned review, click on the printed version for a closeup, or read it below...

Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: Action Adventure
Developer: Rockstar North

Rockstar has produced some of the most incredible DLC to date (that’s downloadable content for you newcomers), or an expansion pack if you will. The Lost and Damned is an extension of GTA IV, and Microsoft paid Rockstar a lot of money to have it as an exclusive for their console.

You play as Johnny Klebitz, member of The Lost biker gang. You will get to meet up with Niko Bellic later on, the main character from GTA IV, as some of the missions will revolve around the story from the original game. The Lost gang are a tight group of folk. These characters are really fleshed out and captivating, especially Billy Grey, the gang’s arrogant president. Along with Niko you will come back into contact with Elizabeta, Playboy X and some other familiar faces.

For those of you who have never played a GTA game in your life, the basic premise of the series is that you have an open city to explore or destroy at your will—completing a grand array of deadly missions, involving drug dealing, murder, assassination, kidnapping, armed robbery, and of course grand theft auto—just things in general your mother wouldn’t be too proud of.

For most of the missions you will be riding with your gang, and it pays to stay in formation if you wanna converse with your biker mates. The Lost and Damned features new weapons, including a grenade launcher, pipe bombs, sawn-off and automatic shotguns. There is also new content for the virtual internet, radio and TV. The most important being the new songs for the radio, including that rocking track from the TV ad, Wild Side by Motley Crue. Between missions you can also partake in turf wars and races. These are both marked on the map in varying places. Turf Wars lets you and your gang go out and kill some dudes from rival gangs. Races are the same as in GTA IV, except now you’re on motorbikes, and you have baseball bats to knock the snot out of your opponents.

Johnny’s custom-built bike is just one of the new vehicles available. The bike physics have been drastically improved. It’s much harder to fall off now, less realistic of course, but it really helps when cruising the mean streets of Liberty City. New multiplayer modes have been thrown in for good measure—one pretty creative mode in particular is called Chopper vs. Chopper where the biker must escape a lethal helicopter.

There are some additions that might not be so noticeable at first glance but really pay off in spades; now mission checkpoints have been gracefully added in more convenient places. Driving back to the same location every time you fail a mission is long gone, and it makes it a lot quicker to get back into the action. Now Johnny’s friends finally stop calling you up on your virtual phone while you’re in the middle of fighting off some coppers. You can still call your friends out for air hockey if you wish, but more often than not you will only reach their answer phone. Getting denied in real life, fair enough, but in an action game where you’re the bad-ass hero, c’mon!

The missions overall are largely similar to the previous instalment. If you’re looking for something completely different, you’re not going to find it here. Some new gameplay would have been nice but Rockstar decided to stick to the tried and true. Of course there’s the whole new focus on motorcycle riding, we gotta give them that.

Thankfully in this update, the stuff that was taken out of our version of GTA IV because of Australia’s absurd rating system is now back in, even in the original game. Which means more blood, boo yah! Be warned though, this game also contains “full frontal male nudity”. Yes this is not a drill, in one of the cutscenes, Congressman Thomas Stubbs reveals all!

The Lost and Damned costs 1600 Microsoft points, or you can buy the code in a box from most gaming retailers, which is really a waste of cardboard for a game that you have to download! Remember: this isn’t a standalone expansion; you do need GTA IV in order to play it. All in all, The Lost and the Damned is a very meaty expansion. So if you’re still itching for some more missions and things to do in Liberty City it is well worth the purchase.

Michael Gray

Bike To Parachute

2009-03-06T13:38:00.004+13:00

Some friends and I are set to tackle on biking from Upper Hutt to Hamilton next year for Parachute 2010. Are we crazy? Of course we are!

Please check out our Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=68153082896

And if you could sponsor us online, it would be much appreciated!
http://www.fundraiseonline.co.nz/BikeToParachute/

Gears of War 2 Review

2008-12-28T22:38:00.004+13:00

I wrote a review for Microsoft's game review contest and was a winner!

You can check out the Xbox Forums here for my Gears of War 2 review or read it below...

Gears of War 2 is described as the videogame equivalent of a ‘summer blockbuster’ by lead designer, Cliff Bleszinski. And that’s exactly what Epic Games pulled off, a high impact thrill ride, blood fest, through war torn settings and is something else altogether in the graphics department.

The story was criticized in the first Gears of War for being too shallow. In Gears 2 however things are a bit more deep and emotional, especially with Dom’s new search for his wife. All the major players are back from COG Delta Squad for this instalment including Dom, Cole, Baird and Marcus Fenix himself. Some new characters are introduced also; Benjamin Carmine, Dizzy, and the spiritual Tai. Even after their assault and activated lightmass bomb on the locust underground tunnels, the locust horde kept on fighting and the war raged on. Gears 2 is set six months later, and the COG are “taking the fight to the locust” by sending troops underground in grindlifts. I cannot reveal much more about the story without giving away too much but it has much improved since the original and is a real driving force to motivate you to finish the game and find out what happens in the end.

A new feature to the Gears of War series includes riding familiar enemies Brumaks and Reavers which gives some diversity to the gameplay. New weapons include the mulcher, mortar, ink grenade and flamethrower, and bring gunfights to a whole new level. Chainsaw duels now occur when two lancers come into contact, this has you rapidly tapping the B button fending for your life. In the first game, once you were killed you were stuck waiting for someone to revive you, now there is a small but ever so handy ability to crawl around, avoiding any executions and hopefully finding a teammate to revive you. The ‘meat shield’ is one of my favourite new features, letting you grab onto a downed enemy, providing pretty decent cover when moving about, using nothing but your pistol.

The multiplayer has been criticized by many with lag and match waiting times. Luckily a recent patch has improved gameplay for most people. Horde mode, a new addition to the franchise, has you with up to four other players on the regular maps fighting waves of locusts. Playing with just yourself or with a friend is extremely challenging but a completely different experience. There are 50 waves but fortunately you can resume from the highest wave you got up to. There are different waves of spawning enemies and the locust get stronger and tougher to beat. It’s surprising how much time you can actually sink into this mode. Who would’ve guessed that bots would be brought to the other multiplayer modes? There’s nothing like honing up your multiplayer skills within the safe constraints of offline play; no humiliation, and no guilt for heading your team’s downfall.

Gears of War 2 adds three new multiplayer modes to the mix, Guardian, Wingman and Submission. Guardian picks one person from both sides as the leader, everyone can respawn but when a guardian dies that team lose the ability to respawn. Wingman splits players into teams of two and everyone can only be killed through executions (killing the enemy up close when he is down). Keeping close to your partner in Wingman is critical to your team’s survival. Submission is like Capture the Flag, except the flag is a Stranded called Chaps, also known as the ‘meat flag’. His shotgun can catch you off guard in the best of times.

There are ten maps on the disc but with the purchase of a new copy of Gears of War 2 you get the code to the Flashback Map Pack with five maps from the first game spiced up and looking prettier (or is that dirtier?) than before. Three new maps just released in the Combustible Map Pack for 800 points. So with a maximum of 18 maps, there’s plenty of variety to wreak mayhem on.

As with the first game you can play with a buddy online or offline cooperatively throughout the entire campaign. A not so well known problem, which has happened to me, was when I finished the campaign, my ‘War Journal’ which saves all my collectables, unlocked characters, Horde, and Achievement progress, was entirely erased. Such bugs, when they do occur, make the game extremely hard to go back to. Why they couldn’t find these bugs in testing is completely beyond me.

If you enjoyed the first game, Gears of War 2 has plenty of new features to make you stick around. However after shooting through countless locust you may start to get tired of the repetitive gameplay. The multiplayer, especially Horde mode is a blast and the campaign is just really fun and exciting through every turn.

By Mriceguy

ButtonMasher Avatar Photo

2008-12-11T16:26:00.003+13:00

Here...

http://www.mriceguy.webs.com

Major Conflict In Congo

2008-11-16T08:37:00.009+13:00

Renewed and heavy fighting in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo had forced the suspension of World Vision's relief and recovery programme recently. We need humanitarian relief to continue to be able to get through to the people in need in the Congo. Up to 50,000 women and children have been forced to leave their homes. The total number of people displaced is now over a million and all seeking shelter in refugee camps. The safety and protection of women and children in these camps is absolutely vital. Also children that have been captured by rebel forces, have been forced to fight for the rebel cause. Bring hope to the broken lives of these young children who have been separated from their families. Please pray for an end to the conflict there very soon and that peace efforts would be successful.

The people of Congo need our help. They are being terrorised - murder and rape are rife, hundreds of thousands have fled their homes caught between the brutal violence of both rebels and the Congolese army, without food or shelter. Only the hesitating EU can deploy an effective, neutral force in the next two weeks.

There's no military solution, but right now a neutral force in the region to protect civilians, helping to reconstruct the UN peacekeeping presence and putting real diplomatic pressure on Congo and neighbouring countries will greatly boost our chances of stopping this humanitarian crisis and starting to build a lasting peace. So sign the petition below and spread the word - it will be sent to key European and international officials once we have reached 100,000 signatures.

Sign the petition here to spread the word, they only need 7526 signatures to reach 100,000! Avazz will then send these to European and International officers.

This is the letter:

To EU and UN Security Council leaders:
We urge you to address the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Congo by supporting the immediate deployment of a neutral European force to protect civilians from rape, murder and starvation and secure humanitarian access - United Nations peacekeepers are crying out for this help, and it would provide impetus for them to play a more effective and balanced role in Congo. UN, EU and African officials should step up political engagement to strengthen the peace processes, acting as honest brokers and guarding against partisanship and exploitation.

learn more here

So please I beg you that you sign the petition, send it to friends, talk about it and make some noise. I have digged the petition, so please spread the word by giving your digg to that article here.

If you can please donate here as well:

Oxfam - Select Crisis in Congo 2008

World Vision - Select Democratic Republic of Congo

Half-Life 2 Essay

2008-11-06T19:11:00.003+13:00

Here is an essay I did for my last Media Studies course (a 200 level paper) on immersion, play, narrative and Half-Life 2. Enjoy!

Half-Life 2

Video games, an ever popular form of new media, are often described as just mindless entertainment but there are games out there that let us experience emotions, immersion and extend ourselves in some way. Half-Life 2 (2004) developed by Valve is once such game. It is a first person shooter that feels truly immersive and toys with our emotions. Half-Life 2 as a game does extend our understanding of the self through narrative, identity of an avatar, play and as an immersive experience. The narrative tells a story to enrich and guide players through the experience. The avatar of Gordon Freeman is an embodiment of the self in as little characterization as possible. Through play the player can experience freedom and fun within the actual gameplay constraints. Immersion pulls players into the game, leaving their quiet lives on the sofa to a virtual world where the earth needs saving from alien destruction.

The story moves the player through Gordon Freeman's journey while the characters of Half-Life 2 really add the much needed contact. In the original Half-Life, Dr. Gordon Freeman was a scientist for a research facility named Black Mesa. This was until an experiment went horribly wrong and created a portal which allowed aliens to cross into our dimension and cause havoc on earth. Now set years later in Half-Life 2, Gordon must continue to fight The Combine and the alien threat. The other main ally character who accompanies you on some parts of your journey is Alyx Vance, of Black and Asian descent. Through well done facial animation and convincing voice acting I actually felt as if she really cared for my wellbeing. She is not a stereotypical video game female but brave and resourceful, although still getting nervous at times. If there was ever a video game character I could truly love, Alyx would be it. Over the next two Half-Life
2 episodes you will get to spend a lot more time with Alyx and her relationship with Gordon will become a whole lot clearer. The main antagonist of Half-Life 2 is Doctor Wallace Breen who works with the aliens against Gordon and the resistance. There is also the mysterious G-man who seems to pop up in random places over your journey watching over you and sometimes appearing as a vision. The story in Half-Life 2 is fixed but it does makes an excellent thrill ride. "In video games, when players both act the roles in the story and determine the outcome by their choices and actions, the story is at the same time working on them – changing their experience" (DeMaria, 2007:46). Although in the case of Half-Life 2, you do not really have an impact on the story unless you end it prematurely with the death of Gordon Freeman. Of course you can always restart from that checkpoint. How the narrative is delivered to the player in Half-Life 2 is all the more intriguing.

The narrative is interwoven nicely into the game itself. Narratology shows that the narrative plays its role in helping this game become what it is. Without it, players would get immediately disinterested in the world and might even consider not to carry on playing. In Half-Life 2 there are no levels, you live a continuous life although the game is divided into chapters. The narrative is really only unveiled through wherever Gordon is and through dialogue between other characters as they speak to you. There are no cut scenes chopping up the game at all, although at the start and end of the game there are parts you have no control over but it is still shown from Gordon's perspective. "Narrative material can also be provided by 'in-game' devices, more seamlessly integrated into the game-world". The original "Half-Life marked a notable development in this direction, avoiding cut-scenes or other information that has to be accessed outside the main game-space" (King and Krzywinska, 2006:45). The sequel improved on that greatly with amazing animation and facial expression, I really felt like I was inside scenes of a science fiction film. "Scenes important to the plot of Half-Life remain fully interactive, allowing the player to move around while information is relayed by non-player characters and other integrated devices" (King and Krzywinska, 2006:45). You still cannot affect the story in any way but sometimes you as a player can actually reach for more information. When you look at some props for long enough, characters like Alyx's father Eli will talk to you about a certain topic for example newspaper clippings will trigger Eli mentioning a Seven Hour War, a backstory to the Half-Life universe. Although it looks like you are free, the game is very linear made up mostly of a lot of scripted events. There are breaks where the game pauses and loads, a loading bar shown on the screen does takes away my immersion but only for a few seconds. Gordon Freeman is more than just another character; his success is your success, his pain is your pain.

You are Gordon Freeman. As Half-Life 2 is a first person shooter you never see your face in the game, only on the box. Also Gordon does not talk, at all. All these instances lead to it being easier to indentify with him as a character, you become him. Your personality is now his. First person shooters offer far more immersion than any other genre as you are looking through a second pair of eyes, the eyes of the avatar. You start off as a prisoner with no power, treated like scum by the Combine soldiers. As you escape and progress through the game you become stronger with better weapons, vehicles and a Zero-Point Energy Field Manipulator, easily known as the gravity gun, which allows you to grab and hurl large objects. In fact near the end of the game when your gravity gun gets supercharged you are easily able to fling Combine soldiers around like rag dolls. This is a huge narrative and play contrast to the start of the game. When I become Gordon Freeman I feel stronger, more powerful and also less fearful because I know there is life after death. I am still afraid of losing my life and having to restart from a checkpoint but if there was no such thing as reviving I would probably act a lot stealthier than I actually do and try to avoid danger. Even though trouble always manages to catch up with Gordon Freeman somehow. Gordon's main weapon of choice, the crowbar, is an everyman's weapon something that we could actually own in real life, which he can use to smash through obstacles and as a weapon against enemies. Not only is it an instantly recognizable trait of Dr. Freeman but the feeling of smashing boarded up doors to clear a pathway for myself, I have never experienced in any other game and yet it all feels so natural. Gordon is more often than not traveling on his own, allowing you to feel even more like a hero, able to change the world in a single day. "The figure of the individual hero, the player-character, faced with some kind of upheaval… [and] the hero is, typically, presented as a figure hyperbolically reduced to the status of lone individual assaulted from all sides, with the exception of the occasional ally" (King and Krzywinska, 2006: 173). This is akin to other media as well including films with many action heroes such as Sylvester Stallone as Rambo and Bruce Willis as John McClane, able to take on the world with their superhuman endurance. Of course the main reason people like I play games, is to interact and control the experience through the means of play.

An interactive video game allows a play-er to play and this is exactly what Half-Life 2 allows you to do. The main gameplay of Half-Life 2 is made up of shooting, driving and puzzle sequences. Ludology shows that you cannot have an interactive game without play. The term paidea is used to describe gaming moments that are unstructured and spontaneous. Half-Life 2 is "an example of a shooter in which widespread collateral damage can be caused for its own pleasure, as a mark of the player-character's agency in the on-screen environment" (King and Krzywinska, 2006:14). I often do get distracted sometimes while playing games, I might come up with a goal in mind that the game will probably not reward me for but I do it anyway for the joy of spontaneous fun. Like seeing the biggest explosion I can make if I stack enough explosive barrels on top of each other. Ludus is the term to describe game rules in which paidea is contained (King and Krzywinska, 2006:10). Which means that while I still have to follow the linear narrative I am still free at most stages to muck about essentially. In games such as Half-Life 2 "restriction predominates. The gamescape consists of seemingly endless sequences through which the player is encouraged to move in a primarily linear fashion. Some scope is given for paidea, primarily in the form of non-essential destruction of the environment, but relatively little in the way of freedom to explore" (King and Krzywinska, 2006: 81). Without worrying about where to go this restriction also aids in a little something I (and others I'm sure) like to call immersion.

Not that it's the only way but today immersion is seen to be created of course with high quality graphics, of which Half-Life 2 does have. It must have looked amazing back in 2004 as it still looks great today. "Video games as screen media texts offer visual pleasures; the attractions of Halo, Half-Life 2, or The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker are inseparable from the beauty of their graphics." (Giddings and Kennedy, 2008:17). It is nothing close to realistic, but the continuous world, along with how you can play with physics, adds the depth needed for a player like myself to escape from reality. McMahan says that immersion is made up in two levels, the diegetic and the nondigetic (2003:68). Diegetic means that you are immersed in the world and story that the game creates, while nondiegetic is the strategy and how the player likes playing the game. You really can feel emotions while playing a game such as Half-Life 2, especially fear. In the small town of Ravenholm, alien headcrabs leached onto the villager's heads, turning them into zombies. Just my luck I had run out of ammo (a deliberate game design act I'm sure), reduced to using just the gravity gun and whatever object I could find as a weapon. And even when you set them on fire they would still come towards you groaning just like in your typical zombie horror flick. Tense music and limited lighting really added to the feeling of terror. In most first person games when you die it shifts into a third person perspective of your avatar, like in Halo 3. Yet in Half-Life 2 it
stays in first person, "the first-person perspective survives lethal encounters, creating the strange impression of being able to look around through the otherwise immobilized player-characters eyes" (King and Krzywinska, 2006: 109). A red filter covers the screen to confirm your demise but your guts are not splattered across the level like in the original Half-Life. The onscreen Heads-Up Display displays the value of your current health, shield, and ammo. This does detract from complete immersion but in the case of Half-Life 2 it could be considered as information from the HEV (Hazardous Environment) suit just like the female robotic voice announcing that you have entered a toxic area. In Halo 3 there is a similar graphical interface, but it is explained because the main character Master Chief is in a hi-tech suit with an information relaying helmet. Yet the character of Gordon Freeman is never shown wearing a helmet of any kind so the icons we see onscreen, Gordon would never actually see, if he was a real person. Plus while choosing a weapon, the weapon selection icons appear in the middle of the screen. Half-Life 2 is not as subtle as Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of The Movie which has no Heads-Up Display at all but sometimes ease of use does work a lot more in your favour than just plain realism. Half-Life 2 is not an easy game to sum up in just a single paragraph; it really must be played and experienced.

Half-Life 2 is my favourite video game of all time for a reason. A simple enough premise becomes an entangling narrative with backstabbing characters along with threats to the safety of your ally friends. The design of play is contained within linear walls while still leaving the player with enough freedom to discover and destroy at their will. When we identify with Gordon Freeman as a character we are actually becoming him, making his motives our own. Immersion is a huge concept in video games but with Half-Life 2 in particular it bottles right down to it being in first person and never-ending. Half-Life 2 extends our understanding of the self as a player, a person with the ability to play as somebody else within a new story and a different world. In the end that is why we play games, to escape from reality and its constraints on our lives.

By Michael Gray

References

King, Geoff and Krzywinska, Tanya. Tomb Raiders & Space Invaders: Videogame Forms & Contexts. I.B. Tauris & CO Ltd, 2006. pp. 45, 173, 14, 10, 81, 109.

DeMaria, Rusel. Reset. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, INC. 2007. pp. 46.

McMahan, A. "Immersion, Engagement, and Presence: A method for analysing 3-D video games". The Video Game Theory Reader. M.J.P Wolf & B. Perron (eds.). London: Routledge, 2003, pp. 68.

Giddings, Seth and Kennedy, Helen W. "Little Jesuses and *@#?-off Robots: On Cybernetics, Aesthetics, and Not Being Very Good at Lego Star Wars". The Pleasures of Computer Gaming: Essays on Cultural History, Theory and Aesthetics. M. Swalwell & J. Wilson (eds.). North Carolina: McFarland, 2008. pp. 17.

GTA: San Andreas Essay

2008-10-26T18:42:00.003+13:00

Here is an essay I did for my Media Studies Level 100 course last year on discourses and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Enjoy!

GRAND THEFT AUTO: SAN ANDREAS -

DISCOURSES IN SOCIETY

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is one of the best selling games available that plays with discourses in society. GTA: SA uses satire to reveal discourses in capitalist societies, delving into social satire and the justice society. American culture is mocked using America's obesity problem and violent gang behaviour. GTA: SA uses parody and self-reflexivity to mock different discourses in media and game culture. San Andreas deals with discourses in a variety of ways, and in the end do we all just take ourselves too seriously by adapting strictly to certain discourses at work?

Social Discourses play a role in each of our lives every day in many different situations. From how you behave in public transport to how you act at a party or talk at a formal meeting. There are expectations in play, and anything you do outside these expectations may cast you off as an outsider. Angenot says, discourses "systematically form' the objects of which they speak", (1979). With the recent emergence of video games becoming more than just spaceships on a screen, discourses have worked themselves into games whether they are reflections of our normal reality or ones created specifically for games.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is the latest game in the popular Grand Theft Auto franchise. Set in the fictional state of San Andreas, GTA: SA is a parody of American culture, featuring town look-alikes, Los Santos (Los Angeles), San Fierro (San Francisco), and Las Venturas (Las Vegas). The main playable character is named Carl Johnson (CJ) and is back in San Andreas after leaving gang life, only to return much later to work with his old gang members after being framed for his mother's death. The key aspect to the Grand Theft Auto games is the sandbox style gameplay. Players experience the freedom of doing anything they want in a living, breathing artificial world.

Taylor goes to say most action games are stripped of social relevance and have no political or social contexts. And this is not just because of setting differences; a lot of so called 'real world' games may be based on real life but where is the context? GTA's satirical examination of society is a new thing in games and the only way forward if games want to stand alongside film and television as an art form. The way GTA: SA uses social satire is very much like South Park and Family Guy, using satire to criticize modern-day social structures. GTA: SA is a game, but at the same time, also a social critique.

Unger and Kingsley examine the discourse behind illegal behaviour in GTA: SA. In order for the player to gain access to cars, CJ has to jack the cars outside the view of police, as this is seen as an illegal activity. Car jacking violates the authoritative voice of the law. But in GTA it is a necessary task, and the "indirect discourse" pushes the player to move away
from the law. If the task of hijacking a car is performed a high number of times, players soon regard it as a normal thing to do in the game world. In the same way as it is normal unlocking and opening a car door in the real world. It becomes a monotonous task, even when flinging people from their own cars to the pavement, the player is just thinking about which destination they wish to head to. Game On! notes the controversy surrounding the Grand
Theft Auto games. However, San Andreas does not encourage deliberate breaking of the law. The game's difficulty is increased upon such unnecessary crimes. If a player chooses to commit crimes, the local police force will do whatever it takes to bring justice
such as car chases, roadblocks and even a following helicopter if your star rating is high enough. There are two main discourses at play; citizens abiding the law, and criminals participating in illegal acts.

Fast food restaurants have been highly criticized for America's growing obesity problem. GTA: SA shows players the implication of eating only fast food. Taylor discovers that as with the names of the cities, the names nearly resemble actual food chains, "Cluckin' Bell" (Taco Bell) and "Burger Shot" (Burger King). CJ needs to eat to restore health by eating at these places, only to gain weight which affects CJ's performance. This weight can be worked off by a number of physical activities such as the gym, swimming, running and biking. With the amount of obese people in the United States, Americans now see it as a natural part of life. So via a twisted logic, having only the option of fast food allows the player to see the full effects of eating convenience food.

CJ starts working with his old gang in Los Santos called The Grove Street Families, so a lot of the missions in the game tend to revolve around what GTA thinks gangs get up to in their day to day lives. Leonard describes the racial implications behind African Americans being shown with violent and sexual behaviour. But Carl is one of the few 'black' video game characters in existence. Denying Black characters a role in games, is racially prejudiced and shows that we are unfortunately still a 'white' dominated society. Race culture discourses are a good thing and contribute to the diversity of the planet, but why do we still have racist discourses? Discourses that believe 'black' people all act and talk in a similar way. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is not purposefully out to upset people, but to show us that race issues are still around.

Since the beginning of the series, Grand Theft Auto satirizes the media, including game culture. San Andreas is not afraid to acknowledge it is a game via subtle self-reflexivity. David Parry finds one example of this, a sign on top of a bridge in the game. "There are no Easter Eggs here. Go Away", a reference to a sign in GTA 3, that shows, "You weren't supposed to be able to get here". The game developers are talking to the player directly through these signs, changing the usual discourse of a typical game, where most try to immerse the player in the experience. Even the term 'easter egg' is gamer's jargon for secrets inside video games, not really intended for the main product. Another sign on the same bridge reads, "Bridge Facts, length – 150.7 m, height – 60.3m above sea level, 16000 polygons inc. LODs, 600m draw distance, 11 textures, takes up a staggering 1.27mb of disc space." Again GTA: SA refers to itself as a game, even using the technical discourse of game development, a parody of the realism they are trying to create.

Garrelts notes another self-reflexive moment in San Andreas; Pogo the Monkey is a fictional game advertised on the radio stations in the game. The advertisement parodies the cliché story of typical video games, ie. save the world and be rewarded. "Players save Timmy from a Well and eventually become President of the United States. Pogo is rewarded by gold coins, then moves onto diamonds and cars." Consumerism is further mocked with a variety of merchandise such as ties for men and hygiene products for women. Other advertisements reveal the needlessness of so many commodities we have nowadays; Creative Plastic Surgery is a clinic promoting odd changes to the body such as tails or a third breast. Rapidite, a DIY sex change kit,
Tropicarcinoma, an anti-tan cream made from volatile metals such as aluminum, boron and magnesium. Reflecting a capitalistic society, these radio commercials parody commercialism and radio itself.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a great example of a game using discourses in a multitude of ways. Social satire and the justice society bring to light the expectations we hold. American culture is stereotypically defined by obesity and gangs. The media and games specifically, are parodied via self-reflexivity. If only there were more people that could enjoy GTA: SA's satirical look back on society. Instead Grand Theft Auto is demeaned by people over 30 with a limited view on video games. Times are changing nevertheless, and as the gaming audience grows up, game developers will be encouraged to communicate more deep ideas through the interactive medium, like social discourses, satire, parody, and self-reflexivity.

By Michael Gray

References

Taylor, Laurie N. "From Stompin' Mushrooms to Bustin' Heads: Grand Theft Auto III as Paradigm Shift", in The Meaning and Culture of Grand Theft Auto: Critical Essays, McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2006. pp. 115 – 125.

Unger, John A. Kingsley, Karla V. "Positioning and Creating the Semiotic Self in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas", in The Meaning and Culture of Grand Theft Auto: Critical Essays, McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2006. pp. 177 – 198.

Byron, Simon. Curran, Ste. McCarthy, Steve. "Grand Theft Auto III", in Game On! From Pong to Oblivion: The 50 Greatest Video Games of all Time, Headline Publishing Group, 2006, pp. 84 – 89.

Garrelts, Nate. "An Introduction to Grand Theft Auto Studies", in The Meaning and Culture of Grand Theft Auto: Critical Essays, McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2006. pp. 1 – 15.

Leonard, David. "Virtual Gangstas, Coming to a Suburban House Near You: Demonization, Commodification, and Policing Blackness", in The Meaning and Culture of Grand Theft Auto: Critical Essays, McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2006. pp. 49 – 69.

Parry, David. "Playing With Style: Negotiating Digital Game Studies", in The Meaning and Culture of Grand Theft Auto: Critical Essays, McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2006. pp. 226 – 243.

A new look

2008-10-21T17:49:00.006+13:00

I know, this page does look quite unprofessional. I do appreciate good web design and I know how it can make or break a site, so a new look is coming soon hopefully. And maybe even a new name as that gamer is now in the dust?

Of course I should really be getting back to my last essay, an essay on the sound design of Joss Whedon's film Serenity believe it or not. The film that takes place after the television show Firefly. I haven't talked about Firefly on this blog before but all you need to know is that you need to watch it. It's only one season so go hire it, buy it, just make sure you watch it! Tell me what you think.

On that note, I know I'm quite insignificant in the blogosphere, I'm not pretending that this site is extremely popular. But if you took the time to stop by, please leave a comment or a suggestion. Don't forget to digg the reviews. I want to make this blog as awesome as possible for you guys.

Gamer who?

2008-10-18T14:38:00.009+13:00

Okay so my domain www.thatgamer.com is now expired and no more. My venture into journalistic blogging didn't turn out like I expected. But I'm still here at www.mriceguy.blogspot.com (Gosh I sound like an advertiser!) and will occasionaly put some random stuff up like reviews and the like.

Chow for now :)

Army Of Two Review (360)

2008-09-15T19:00:00.010+12:00

You can check out the Salient website here for the Army of Two review, click on the printed version for a closeup, or read it below...

Army of Two
Genre: Third Person Shooter
Platform: Xbox 360, PS3
Developer: EA Montreal
Publisher: Electronic Arts

Although it’s expected these days, Army of Two was designed for co-op play. You play as two best buddies, Rios and Salem, who are private contractors hired by the American military to exterminate power hungry military corporations. These two mercenaries are so hard that they can stomach a friendly fist pound after slaughtering hundreds of soldiers. Story-wise there doesn’t seem to be anything compelling; to me it felt like you were just gunning down terrorist after terrorist with a few tougher ones thrown in for good measure. But in some pretty nice places. The game’s missions occur in well known locations; Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, China and Miami.

The unique element of this shooter is called Aggro. This means that if one of you starts shooting up a storm, your Aggrometer will build up and you will start to glow red. This attracts enemy fire towards you while your partner turns slightly invisible and can sneak up behind the enemy. The same works in reverse if you order your partner to attract attention.

The gameplay is novel. When you get shot your buddy can come and drag you off to safety and magically heal you. Of course the AI (who are a sandwich short of a picnic) sometimes continue to drag you off hundreds of metres away even when there was adequate cover just near you. At times while you play, Rios and Salem stand back to back and shoot in a circle in slow-mo, just like in those action flicks! Sometimes you’ll come in gliding, have limited control over where you go, and have to shoot, which is fricken hard, especially with a rifle! Other nifty features are Overkill which occurs when you have the Agrrometer down on one side for long enough. If you’re glowing red you will continue at normal speed while everything else around you is slowed down. If you’re glowing blue you also go slow-motion but this helps with precision and you get 2x damage.

This is a third person shooter so you’ll be needing to find cover the majority of the time. Unlike Gears of War you won’t attach yourself to walls but instead only crouch down behind them. This has its advantages as you can easily move out from cover, but on occasion while it might look like you’re safe, bullets will spew out at you from the sides. Annoying. Until you get to China, the environments you’re in are pretty drab. After a while seeing grey concrete walls and buildings things do become a bit dull.

Several times during the story you will come across the hovercraft. Linear progression of the levels makes it not that entertaining but it does break up all the shooting sequences. Your GPS is a very handy tool with an arrow pointing out where you should go. It looks pretty cool too, like you’re walking through a blueprint. Weapon purchasing and customization is here in all its glory, although you will need quite a lot of money to pimp out your artillery. Guns including the M249 saw, and incredibly powerful M134 Gatling gun are a must for your arsenal. Also for a price the metal masks that hide the pair’s faces and can be painted with a few menacing patterns.

Army of Two does try a lame attempt at making co-op seem worthwhile by including doors that require two people to knock them down. Coop gameplay also makes sense when giving your friend a boost up on your shoulders to reach higher places. Online is two on two and unfortunately I couldn’t find an online match to try it out. Modes include Versus, Warzone, Extraction and Bounties. A huge downer is that Army of Two is bizarrely not cross-region compatible, so if you have a friend over in the States with an NTSC disc there’s no way you can play with them.

Army of Two is a pretty decent shooter but can get rather derivative at times. More fun split-screen with a friend at your side or online across the tubes. Sometimes the AI being recognizably artificial becomes more than apparent, your partner and enemies included. But you can’t go wrong with a good old terrorist hunting, blood spilling action game.

By Mriceguy

By the way the last issue of Salient has been published, so Army of Two is my last review for this year. However I may write a few reviews just for this blog before hopefully writing for Salient again next year.

If you can, please digg this article - I appreciate it! :)

The Simpsons Game Review (360)

2008-08-04T19:43:00.009+12:00

You can check out the Salient website here for The Simpsons Game review, click on the printed version for a closeup, or read it below...

The Simpsons Game

Developer: EA Redwood Shores
Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, Ps2 Wii, PC
Publishers: Electronic Arts
Genre: 3D Platformer

There have been many Simpsons’ games in the past but really they weren’t any good. So the aptly named The Simpsons Game was produced to change all that and make something that stands up to The Simpsons name. The game starts off when Bart discovers a manual for The Simpsons Game and realizes he is actually a video game character and discovers the unique abilities he and his family has.

You have the entire town of Springfield to explore, discover every unique nook and cranny which is quite a task with all the collectables on offer. Unless you’re extra careful on your first play through, you’re gonna have to go back to each level if you want the illustrious achievement of collecting every token in the game.

Each character you play has unique abilities; Homer can change into a large ball and easily smash through obstacles and roll with extreme speed. Bart turns into Bartman and can glide, rappel and climb walls. Lisa has the palm of Budda which she uses to pick up objects, squash enemies and solve puzzles. Marge has the power of nagging which she uses to recruit nearby people to her mob of flames and pitchforks. Maggie comes into play when Marge finds airducts she can climb into, so she can solve certain puzzles. As you progress through the game you gain extra abilities that add to or extend your current performance. Very humorous moments are when you come across common video game clichés, The Comic Book Guy pops up and tells you how wooden crates and your character not being able to swim is quite unoriginal. Hilarity. The Simpsons Game often breaks through the fourth wall with selfreferential dialogue; especially in the cut-scenes. Even Electronic Arts isn’t spared from the irony. A video game designer and other famous people make cameo appearances. You also come across other video game characters such as Mario, Sonic, Madden football players and Ryu from Street Fighter. In a nice touch many of the voice actors from the show lend their voices to the many colourful characters of Springfield.

Splitscreen co-op mode is pretty fun – apart from fighting over who wants to be Homer. A huge downside is that only one player can explore Springfield, player two is kicked out until they enter an episode. My guess being that the town is too large for players to go their separate ways.

The graphics are appealing. The game is presented in 2D so it looks like you’re actually in the Simpson’s cartoon world. But the game is a bit short and can probably be finished in a single weekend. The platforming aspects aren’t really amazing and nothing is exactly original but that is excused by the fact that the game is only trying to act like a typical video game. If you’re into The Simpsons at all, interested in a parody game, or are just looking for a simple platformer that passes the time, try this one out.

By Mriceguy

Guitar Hero III Review (360)

2008-07-21T18:24:00.014+12:00

You can check out the Salient website here for the Guitar Hero III review, click on the printed version for a closeup, or read it below...

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PC
Genre: Music/Rhythm
Developer: Neversoft
Publisher: Activision

Guitar Hero is a recognised brand globally, although it was really Konami that invented the music/rhythm genre with GuitarFreaks. Yet Guitar Hero, by porting to the console from the arcade, really capitalised the genre and brought it mainstream. This time around Harmonix have moved on to bigger and better things with Rockband, (still not released in NZ) so Neversoft of Tony Hawk fame have taken the reigns as developer and here we have Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

Not much has changed since Guitar Hero II - a bit of a graphical overhaul with the user interface, but of course what more can you really do to Guitar Hero? The addition of Battle Mode is interesting and slightly amusing against friends but really, using power-ups against virtual reincarnations of Slash or Tom Morello is just embarrassing. Power-ups are used as weapons against your opponent by causing broken strings, breaking the whammy bar or increasing the difficulty. Winning Battle Mode is achieved by firing enough power-ups so your victim misses notes, and falls into the red.

The Sex Pistols got back together to do an exclusive rerecording of Anarchy in the UK, since their master recording mysteriously vanished. Many classic songs appear in the set list such as Paint It Black by the Rolling Stones, Hit Me with Your Best Shot by Pat Benatar and Welcome to the Jungle by Guns ‘N Roses. There are a couple of song packs available for download for consoles with the ability but the selection is really pathetic, plus there is no option to download songs singularly from song packs.

The new plastic guitar that comes with Guitar Hero III, if you’re that way inclined, is a black Gibson Les Paul. The first wireless Guitar Hero controller is a blessing. No more tripping over tangled wires as you jump off your couch! It also hosts a removable faceplate, and the neck can be disconnected for carrying round to mates’ places. You can’t do that with your electric guitar now can you?! However at $80 the peripheral bears a price tag that only the most extreme Guitar Hero fan could justify.

Guitar Hero III does little to improve upon its predecessors, and even removes some of the charm of the originals but if you’ve yet to own a Guitar Hero game, than this is as good a place as any to start. Otherwise sticking to what you already own will save you money and disappointment.

By Mriceguy

Everybody's Golf 2 Review (PSP)

2008-07-12T18:41:00.014+12:00

Now you can find my review for Everybody's Golf 2 (PSP) on Button Masher!

http://buttonmasher.co.nz/2008/07/08/everybodys-golf-2-review-psp/

After reading, please help me out and also digg the review:
http://digg.com/playstation/Everybody_s_Golf_2_Review_PSP If you don't have a digg account, here's your chance to join the insane web phenomenon! Digg is a news site where the web community decides what they want to hear about. So the articles with the most diggs gain an even larger readership. Join Digg here, its easy :) http://digg.com/register/ .

If Everybody's Golf 2 sounds like your cup of tea, the game is now in NZ stores (since June 27th).

Button Masher

2008-07-07T15:54:00.002+12:00

After a really bad turn of events Geekpulp is very unfortunately no more.

Please check out Button Masher, hopefully Brian, Wugga and the gang will regain momentum.

At the moment the forums are active, the blog might take a while to get started up...

Button Masher Site

Button Masher Forums

Grand Theft Auto IV Review (360)

2008-05-19T11:29:00.005+12:00

You can check out the Salient website here for the Grand Theft Auto IV review, click on the printed version for a closeup, or read it below...

Game: Grand Theft Auto IV
Platform: Xbox 360, PS3
Genre: Action Adventure
Developer: Rockstar North
Publisher: Rockstar

Only once in a while do games really remind you of why you play video games in the first place. Grand Theft Auto IV is one such a game. On the surface it may seem like a mindless romp: running over pedestrians, firing on hotdog stands and soliciting in the service of prostitutes; it is that and oh so much more. Behind it is a gritty story of crime and alliances all encased in a virtual city, showcasing the irony behind American culture.

You play as Niko Bellic, a European immigrant arriving in Liberty City (based on New York City) to meet his cousin Roman who says he’s been living the American Dream. Niko soon finds out that it is anything but and Roman is heavily in debt. This is not a story from rags to riches but as Sam Houser, Rockstar President, puts it, “a story from rags to slightly better rags.” The plot has many twists and turns and Niko’s dark past will inevitably catch up with him. The characters are dynamic and engaging, and there was never the urge to skip a cutscene. Every cutscene is interesting and enjoyable to watch, from the comic relief of Brucie the oddball auto garage owner, to Little Jacob the Jamaican arms dealer who is near impossible to understand!

Liberty City is smaller than the state of San Andreas, but the developers have substantiated that it is better to put in greater detail than large areas of nothingness. In GTA style you have streets to run around in, cars to jack, shops to visit, pedestrians to bowl over. At the beginning you only have access to a section of the city, but once you have unlocked all parts of Liberty City the world is really yours for the taking. The scope is incredible, from surfing the web at an internet café, to listening to all eighteen radio stations and competing in darts at the local pub. The game pokes fun at TV shows such as CSI and 24, and brands like Sprite. Even the series itself is fair game, with the Xbox 360 achievement ‘Warm Coffee’ after taking your girlfriend inside, alluding to the controversial hot coffee mod in San Andreas. Even something as simple as a taxi ride is made satisfying as you sit back and look at Liberty City go on around you, while Niko chats to the cabbie.

In this GTA your mobile phone plays a crucial role. By pressing the up button, a virtual phone comes onscreen that you can call on or receive calls and texts from characters you have met in the game. Once you do enough missions for a character, the phone presents new options and you can go socialising with them in a number of activities such as bowling, dining out, or even visiting a strip club.

The mission structure is pretty similar to previous installments where you head out to a destination on your radar, a cut scene plays and the mission starts with the location mapped to your radar. Although there are variations, sometimes missions start as soon as you answer a call. This time around if you fail a mission you can easily restart it from your mobile phone, which is a godsend after getting fed up with travel time in San Andreas. One small nitpick however, the game does autosave after completing missions, but saving is still a pain as you have to travel all the way to your safe house and save there.

Using the powerful Euphoria animation technology, the animation plays smooth and believably well. For example, if you gently ram into a pedestrian they will lose balance and topple over, then carefully pick themselves up. After a long night at the pub, Niko will stumble around for a good while, falling over easily and using whatever he can to balance himself. Yes it is possible to go drink driving! Be prepared for real nausea as your screen is distorted and your eyes punished as a reward.

Multiplayer has arrived for the first in the GTA series. There is no main menu in GTA IV so like Burnout Paradise, multiplayer is accessed in-game through your mobile phone. It is definitely mayhem as you and up to fifteen others parade around Liberty City guns a-blazing and cars a-squealing. There are fifteen multiplayer modes comprised under team, cooperative, competitive, race and party focuses. Free Mode is the highlight where there are no rules, and you have free roam of the city alongside your mates.

Not only is Grand Theft Auto IV one of the best games ever created but it has got itself into the Guinness World Records for the biggest entertainment release of all time! Rockstar have really cornered themselves now. How can they possibly improve upon this? If you own an Xbox 360 or PS3, you owe it to yourself to buy this game.

By Mriceguy

Stuntman: Ignition Review (360)

2008-05-12T22:25:00.009+12:00

You can check out the Salient website here for the Stuntman: Ignition review, click on the printed version for a closeup, or read it below...

Shinigami, editor of the Games Reviews page also wrote a review for Rainbow Six: Vegas 2.

Game: Stuntman: Ignition
Genre: Action Racer
Developer: Paradigm Entertainment
Publisher: THQ

Stuntman: Ignition is the sequel to the stunt driving game, Stuntman released on the PS2. It does try to improve the formula but that still isn’t enough to save this title from being left alone on store shelves.

This is quite different to the usual racer where you play as a vehicle stuntman in Hollywood. In the Career mode there are six fictional films where you take part in six fast action scenes. Each film is a take on an actual film or a stereotype of the genre: First starting off in Aftershock a volcano disaster movie, taking control of a variety of vehicles like a motorbike and fire truck among the rubble and flowing lava. Whoopin and a Hollerin’ II is a take on The Dukes of Hazard, the definite highlight is crushing cop cars with a monster truck! Strike Force Omega is a straight up action movie in the desert. Overdrive is a Starsky and Hutch clone, set in the 70’s. Never Kill Me Again is obvious even in the title that of the James Bond film Die Another Day. Night Avenger pretends to be Batman and lets you perform the craziest stunts in the game.

Stunts have to be achieved near perfectly, fail several and you have to restart. At the end you are given a score and a star rating out of five. It’s near impossible to get 5 stars as you need to link each stunt together to create a chain. The trial and error is the most frustrating part of Stuntman: Ignition. You will find yourself repeating scenes over and over to perfection, so depending on your patience will make or break this game for you.

The Stunt Constructor was a nice gesture but ends up being a bit messy and especially irritating when you need to unlock items in the Career to actually start building anything. Online Multiplayer doesn’t really suit a game of this type and is not even worth playing unless you’re an achievement whore, good luck finding a match though!

If you’re looking for something new in the driving action space it may be worth a rental but it’s safe to say you probably won’t miss this game. Earlier this year THQ have confirmed that there will not be any more sequels to Stuntman or THQ’s street racing game, Juiced, another indicator of the game’s failure to please the masses.

By Mriceguy

Burnout Paradise Review (360)

2008-04-08T22:17:00.013+12:00

You can check out the Salient website here for the Burnout Paradise review, click on the printed version for a closeup, or read it below...

Burnout Paradise
Genre: Arcade Racer
Developer: Criterion Games
Publisher: EA Games

Burnout Paradise flat spins the Burnout franchise in an entirely new direction, creating a huge open world named Paradise City. Paradise City is a fictional American location consisting of mountain ranges, a beach and a harbour town. As soon as you start up the game, Paradise City by Guns N’ Roses blares from your speakers, you’re thrown into a junk yard, and you are free to chose a car, and roam the city. Criterion Games promised an open world to explore at your leisure, and that’s exactly what they delivered.

There are no boundaries or set paths, the beauty of this game is that you clear your own route through the streets to the finish. At each intersection marked by traffic lights, there is one of five different events on offer. Races involve you competing against the AI to a set landmark. Stunt Run has you performing outrageous stunts like a madman before your time runs out. The classic Road Rage mode is back, from previous titles with the aim to score the most takedowns (crashing into an opponent car and obliterating them from existence). Marked Man is a game of cat and mouse as you try to escape from your pursuers.

Showtime mode is the evolution of Crash mode. Crash mode was a feature in the previous Burnout games where you picked an intersection, and drove your way into traffic, trying to crash into as many vehicles as possible. In Paradise you can enter into Showtime mode at any time, which has you flipping over endlessly — steering your wreck left and right as you bounce along the streets, smashing into traffic to rack up the points.

The Online component of Burnout Paradise is absolutely seamless between offline and online. One moment you’re driving on your own, and the next racing or competing for challenges among your friends or other gamers. The Freeburn challenges are so different to what Burnout has been before and work perfectly with the open world of Paradise City. Some involve racking up jump distance, drift meters or performing a jump in a specific location like the airfield or the mines. Headset support is an added edition with players usually helping each other out when someone needs a hand.

I don’t own a Live Vision camera for the 360 (PlayStation Eye for the PS3), but every time you score a takedown, their camera snaps a picture and adds it to your collection, which is rather neat. Of course my collection is mostly made up of people with their middle finger outstretched!

If you loved the original Burnout series there is a good chance you will love this game too. If you haven’t played a Burnout game before, Burnout Paradise is the perfect open world racer. There is just so much to do in this game, and you can do it your way!

By Mriceguy

salient and a fall from grace

2008-03-29T12:29:00.008+13:00

Okay, so its not as easy I thought running a website/blog by yourself. Geekpulp seem to be doing a pretty good job of keeping kiwis informed on the world of videogames. Who knows maybe one day i'll join their ranks? You can find me there on the forums www.forums.geekpulp.co.nz.

So the announcement: I will be writing Xbox 360 game reviews for Victoria University's Student magazine, Salient. I have to admit i'm still feeling a bit giddy from having something of mine published, even if it is only reviews. The reviews will also be published online at www.salient.org.nz. I will post each time there is a new Games Reviews page up. Tell your friends, and leave some comments over at Salient on my article's. I'm not getting paid to do this at all but it is enjoyable to do, and I hope it will be something useful to add to my CV.

So I guess you're wondering what my fall from grace is all about. Well, last night I started up the family scooter i've been using lately, to get to the bus for Elevate. I revved the accelerator far too much and drove at a straight angle into the curb across the road. The scooter fell on top of me, my leg got trapped underneath and I couldn't lift the scooter off me. Luckily a passerby came to help and lifted from the handle bars so I could climb out from underneath. If that guy wasn't there I don't know how long I could've held the scooter up from crushing my leg. Thank-you stranger! Those scooters are surprisingly heavy when placed on top of you. The damage... the scooter is badly scratched on the side it hit the ground, it still seems to work fine however. I am scratched in various places on my body, worst case my right leg. Kinda hard to walk at the moment but i am still alive!

cat killer

2008-03-17T22:46:00.007+13:00

This TV3 story shocked me. You would think there would be some laws in place to deal with such people who do horrific things to harmless animals. This New Zealand man, Yopie Alternburg, uses modified possum traps to catch and kill cats in his own backyard.

The Campbell Live interview is here.

I posted this comment to the article:

"For those of you who think this is a right course of action to take. Do you think shooting a harmless dog in the back of the head, while it's still full of a life, would be a normal thing to do. If anything humans are the pests. We're the ones who have destroyed most of the wildlife in this country."

Note that the photo above is of our family cat, Mustang, and he is not in any way connected to the killings.

*

new direction

2008-03-13T16:44:00.005+13:00

I've been thinking of a new direction for this blog and I have decided to split it up into two blogs:

One for personal posts which is at www.mriceguy.blogspot.com

&

the games blog at www.thatgamer.wordpress.com (www.thatgamer.com also directs there)

I'll see if I can come up with an interesting name for my personal blog, instead of just Mriceguy's blog!

videogames.com

2008-02-27T22:32:00.003+13:00

So I was trying some links for game sites (as you do!) and guess what site came up when I typed in www.videogames.com ?

Go ahead, try it...

blu-ray wins over hd dvd

2008-02-21T11:56:00.011+13:00

I've been vaguely following the whole next generation video format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD. And Toshiba the creators have finally given up and are going to stop supporting HD DVD. (Surprising enough I found this news out from the News channel on my Nintendo Wii!)

Now this has definitely shifted to Sony's favour. With inbuilt Blu-ray player, the PlayStation 3 might actually make the comeback needed to surpass the Xbox 360. Microsoft have backed HD DVD from the start and although there is no inbuilt player, they released an external device that plays HD DVD's. Microsoft has previously stated that they might release a Blu-ray player add-on, revealing that they already knew HD DVD was doomed to fail.

Most people don't really care about Blu-ray at the moment because of the lack of high definition televisions in homes around the world. They are so expensive! But as the years go by and prices drop, and all future movie/television releases come out on Blu-ray, people will be more willing to purchase a high definition television and a Blu-ray player (PS3?). Bring on the BD's!

*Michael*

wii have lift off

2008-02-14T14:46:00.008+13:00

Okay, so I have sunk to a new low by using the word Wii as a replacement for We just like the rest of the media. I promise it won't happen again!

So, The Gamesman eventually got a new shipment of Wii's in... and I have now finally jumped on the Wii bandwagon! And because of the delay they were nice enough to give me an EA Sports t-shirt and drink bottle, and a Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 mini soccer ball. Cool I guess...

So after the fun of unwrapping and setting up all the components, I messed around making some Mii's and got into some Wii Sports. Okay so Wii Sports wasn't entirely what I was expecting from the Wii. The boxing was probably the most fun to play (it involved using the nunchuck adapter). And all the reports of everyone wanting to have a go at the Wii, including grandparents sadly did not happen. In fact only my younger brother wanted to have a go. Am I too late? At least I hope this changes when I get my mitts on Super Mario Galaxy. Zack and Wiki also looks like a promising adventure title when it comes out on 21st February in NZ.

I still haven't been able to connect to the Net to update my Wii because I get the same error every time. Not including an Ethernet port is really frustrating! So I have two out of the three next-gen consoles! I have no plans to get the PlayStation 3 for the meanwhile at least...

*Michael*

spore release date

2008-02-13T11:38:00.001+13:00

Will Wright and EA have finally told the world the release date for their next big hit, Spore. Will Wright is the creator of million dollar successes, Sim City and The Sims.

I've posted about Spore before, but if you haven't heard of Spore, here's a quick refresher:

You move across various stages inside the game, starting off as a microscopic creature in a tide pool. Eventually you evolve and you can begin to create your creature with the vast tools available. Soon your creation will grow a tribe of fellow creatures and eventually grow to become a civilization. Afterwards, the move to the final frontier, space. Each of these stages have their own gameplay types, and so the game constantly changes as you play.

so here is the release date...

September 7, 2008

see the original teaser video here.

*Michael*

wii-less

2008-02-10T07:37:00.001+13:00

After winning $500 from a work submission, I decided what better way to spend it than buying a brand spanking new Nintendo Wii! I placed an order through The Gamesman website only to hear the following reply...

I am however currently out of stock on the Wii Consoles as is all Gamesman stores ...

I heard the news about Australia having a short supply of Wii's but not over here in New Zealand! The madness! I didn't even know the Wii was popular amongst kiwis...

*Michael*

burnout paradise preview

2008-02-08T09:09:00.000+13:00

Burnout Paradise flat spins the Burnout franchise in an entirely new direction creating, a huge open world, Paradise City. Criterion Games, the developers, promised an open world to explore at your leisure and that's exactly what they delivered.

The Online component of Burnout Paradise is absolutely seamless between offline and on. One moment you're driving on your own, and the next racing or competing for challenges among your friends or other gamers.

The Freeburn challenges are so different to what Burnout has been before and works perfectly with the open world of Paradise City. Some involve racking up jump distance, drift metres or performing a jump in a specific location. Everyone needs to finish the challenge in order to complete the challenge. The beauty of headsets comes into play with players usually helping each other out when they are stuck.

I don't own a Live Vision camera for the 360, but every time you score a take down on someone, their camera snaps a pic of them and adds it to your collection which is rather neat. Of course my collection is mostly made up of people with their middle finger outstretched!

If you want to hear more about Burnout Paradise, check out Criterion's podcast, Crash FM for what goes on behind the scenes, and questions you've always wanted answering.

*Michael*

xbox live gold

2008-02-04T20:39:00.000+13:00

So I finally gave in and paid for a 12 month gold membership for Xbox Live. I'm hoping to be playing more online and really get into this new gaming experience. When I get Burnout Paradise, Call of Duty 4 and a new copy of Halo 3 I should be all set for proper online gaming, for the meanwhile at least...

Games I am playing online...
Team Fortress 2
Gears of War
Stuntman: Ignition

arcade...
GripShift
Bankshot Billiards 2
Undertow
Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Remember my gamertag is 'Michael Gray'. Feel free to add me and what not. :)

*Michael*

Parachute 08:stephen's version

2008-02-02T14:41:00.000+13:00

Wow. That's all I can really say about Parachute 08. Wow. It was amazing. Even though this was my third Parachute, I still did not know what to expect, but I am thrilled I ended up going.

Friday night. Red. Although we couldn't get very close to the front of the stage at all (infact, we were completely off to the side), they were still awesome, and when they started singing Breathe into Me, the crowd just went wild. Great song.

Saturday night. Spacifix and Switchfoot. Both amazing live. Spacifix played some classics like Final Countdown and Eye of the Tiger, as well as using their own songs like Sunshine Day. And seeing that I knew most of the songs that Switchfoot played, I really enjoyed it. Great night.

Sunday night. Probably my favourite night of the weekend. Parachute Band, Hillsong United and Israel and New Breed. Aamzing worship night. Everybody was REALLY getting into it. And also, they announced a couple of the bands playing next year at Parachute 09. The David Crowder Band, and Family Force Five. I think many people really enjoyed Sunday night as it was their last night of Parachute, and everybody tried to make the most of it.

Also, I ended up being on One News. How cool is that??? (not really that cool but hey, its better than nothing lol)

I have not mentioned everything I got up to over the weekend, as there was way too much to write down in 1 post.

An awesome Parachute, and it was such a shame to have to leave...it was well worth the money.

parachute 08

2008-01-31T12:04:00.000+13:00

Israel New Breed, Parachute Band, Red, Switchfoot (from left to right)
Check out more Parachute pics here.

PARACHUTe 08 was the first Parachute I have attended in its 17 year or so running. An estimated 30,000 people attended the 3 day event in Mystery Creek, Hamilton sheltering in tightly packed camping grounds. I camped with Stephen and his Elevate pals in the hot, hot sun. If this isn't an indication of global warming, I don't know what is.

The highlight of Parachute of course is the music. Standing in front of the Main Stage among thousands of people huddled together listening to rock and roll, looking up to the Heavens above. Amazing.

Another huge thing that weekend, Stephen and I both decided to sponsor a child. To make a difference in this world, to give back something.
This is my child, Pierre from the Kubuga community in Rwanda.

Pierre Nyamurangwa is 7 years old (this may only be an estimate, isn't that sad?). He's not in school but his chores are to carry water. Pierre loves to play and hide and seek.

Pierre lives with his mother and brother, his father abandoned their family.

I'll get Scuba to post something about his child shortly...

If you would like to sponsor a child, please visit World Vision. To learn more about making a difference, visit Rampant. Remember, the money goes towards the community (water tanks, classrooms, medicine etc). This in turn helps your chosen child and their family.

*Michael*

cloverfield

2008-01-22T13:51:00.001+13:00

So... Cloverfield, that mysterious movie no one knew much about. I saw it. And it was friggin' awesome.

There was actually quite a lot of stuff on the Internet focused on promoting Cloverfield, but it was so obscure I didn't find out about it until I had already seen the movie! Honestly, I get really into this wider media stuff, participating outside of a film. There was a 1-18-08.com site showing an assortment of interesting photos where you can flick them around the screen like some sort of Microsoft Surface software. If you click your mouse and draw a circle, they will turn over and there are some messages on the backs of them. PR also created fake myspace pages for the six main characters dating back to July last year! But the characters haven't logged on since 18/1/08. You really should have seen the movie before this date to get the full effect! There's some interesting references inside Cloverfield to a fictional Japanese drink called Slusho which makes you very happy when you drink it. J.J. Abrams also shows off Slusho in his other work, Alias. Even though he isn't related to the Heroes team, here's an assortment of pictures of the crew enjoying their Slushos! Kristen Bell who plays Elle actually sips from a Slusho bottle in one of the episodes in season two! Thanks to cloverfieldclues for helping me find this stuff out.

So the movie, I won't spoil anything you probably don't know already, but it is a monster movie. And it does wreak havoc upon New York. And the way it is filmed is as mentionable as anything, like the Blair Witch it is filmed with a handheld camera but thanks to J.J. Abrams spectacular budget, is much higher quality video and audio!

And something I found interesting, if you look at the reviews, people over 30 seem to find it annoyingly dizzy, like my father and his friend did. Under 30's seem to be really drawn into the experience, such as I. What it really feels like to me is a intense first person shooter, more like Half-Life, without the interactivity though. So I'm pretty used to the camera pointing every which where, just don't do it in my 3rd person games, thank-you very much!

the police concert

2008-01-18T11:31:00.000+13:00

Last night I attended the biggest concert of this year, The Police reunion tour! My Dad and I hit the Westpac Stadium in Wellington for a night of classic rock.

Starting off with FictionPlane a unique English band. A bit too rock 'n roll for some Police fans...
Then Fergie, the American duchess hit the stage for some obnoxiously loud hip hop with dancers in tow.

The Police performed their top tracks including Roxanne, Message in a Bottle, Every Breath You Take, Every Little Thing She Does is Magic, Synchronicity II and my personal favourite, So Lonely. The Visual effects were spectacular, splashed across multiple screens, best evidenced by Synchronicity II

The Police chose to donate the majority of the earnings to their charity of choice, Water Aid.

And what concert would be complete without a tour t-shirt?

*Michael*

my xbox 360 has a blog

2008-01-16T15:46:00.000+13:00

Now my Xbox 360 has its own blog!

http://www.360voice.com/tag/Michael%20Gray

Seriously, this is some weird stuff right here... your xbox blogs about you!

there's not much on my page right now, so check out Jeff Gerstmann's!

http://www.360voice.com/tag/Gamespotting

*Michael*

sir edmund hillary

2008-01-11T13:49:00.000+13:00

Sir Edmund Hillary died today. A New Zealand hero. The first man in the world to reach the top of Mount Everest with Tenzing Norgay in 1953.

Sir Edmund Hillary is a hero to all New Zealander's, showing that even the ordinary person can accomplish incredible things. His significance can be seen by his image on every five dollar note in New Zealand.

For a full news item: http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/1316907/1540100

*Michael*

procrastination

2008-01-09T10:49:00.000+13:00

Isn't procrastination one of the most annoying things in the world?? Once you put something off just a couple of times, it's extremely hard to go back. It's like this invisible force, a propellor blowing you in the opposite direction. So you find something else to do. This happens to be a case with reviewing games on this blog. I do enjoy writing reviews don't get me wrong. There's just this pressure in that other people will be reading what I have to say. I want each review to be perfect. But perfection is impossible and ultimately I can't do impossible. Someway, somehow, I will have to get over it...

Until next time,
Michael

The best t-shirt ever.

2007-12-29T14:41:00.000+13:00

Recently, as some of you may very well know, it was Christmas. I got many presents this year (including truckloads of chocolate). One of the presents I got was a t-shirt that is funny. Very funny. It doesn't sound that good when I explain it, but when you see it you know how cool it is. On this t-shirt are the words:
HI I AM STEVEN
027........(insert my mobile number here)......
CALL ME

It is a very good present, and everyone that has seen has laughed. As one would. When one sees a t-shirt. A funny one. That makes one laugh. Of course, the other presents I got were good, but this was probably the funniest one I got, just thought I'd put that out there for all you fans of my work.

Til we meet again, sayonara
Scuba

merry christmas everybody!

2007-12-25T11:41:00.000+13:00

Just a quick post, wishing everybody a happy christmas. Just enjoying the Summer time over here in New Zealand. A ton of games to catch up on from this year and Burnout Paradise is coming so soon!

Have a safe and happy new year, looking forward to 08!

*Michael*

musically minded 1.

2007-12-14T13:00:00.000+13:00

Okay, so this is a post about music, one of the main bases of our society. I'm not going to go into details that nobody cares about, like how it affects the psychological areas of the human make-up, or anything like that, I'm just going to talk about music. Bands I like. You get the picture.

One of my favourite all-time bands is probably Linkin Park. Although not Christian, they have such awesome songs that you can't do anything but like them. They have come a long way since Hybrid Theory, and many argue that their Minutes to Midnight album is nowhere near as good as previous albums, as it has started to get really soft. I say it doesn't really matter. You can't please everyone, so let it go. At the moment, my favourite song by them is Paranoia, it has just the right amounts of everything, and is truly an awesome song.

I wonder if there are any other Linkin Park fans out there???

I will try to keep up these musically minded posts, but if you don't see one for ages it means I'm either lazy...or dead.

*Steve*

when in rome...

2007-12-14T11:00:00.000+13:00

Okay, so this actually has nothing whatsoever to do with Rome, but I liked the idea of 'When in Rome' being a title.

Kiwi artists. International artists. 7 stages. January 25-28. Mystery Creek, Hamilton. This can only mean one thing. PARACHUTE '08. As the biggest Christian music festival in the Southern hemisphere draws closer, thousands of New Zealanders are preparing themselves for a weekend of heat, tenting, loud music, lack of sleep, and awesome atmosphere.

With international bands like Switchfoot, Red, Hillsong United, Leigh Nash, Israel and New Breed, and Jonezetta, and Kiwi artists like Rapture Ruckus, Mumsdollar, and many other well-known Christian bands, who wouldn't be excited? I know I am. I've got my ticket already and Parachute is the next big thing on my calendar.

This will be my third year at Parachute, but I still can't contain the excitement. The first year I didn't really know what to expect, so I actually ended up staying in the tent for most of the weekend. Last time, I was walking round the Village for most of the time, and was at Mainstage from about 6pm-11pm, listening to some of the best artists I've heard live. Next year is gonna be off the charts.

Lets just hope it doesn't rain hard on the last night, and everyone's tents get destroyed again.

*scuba steve*

Michael: Welcome Stephen, aka Scuba Steve, to that gamer. Stephen will post some occasional randomness to break up all my gaming posts. Good luck Scuba! :)

child's play

2007-12-14T09:33:00.000+13:00

If you haven't heard of it already, Child's Play is a charity who donates toys and games to improve the lives of sick children in hospitals worldwide. Imagine being a child and stuck in a hospital for an extended time, even over the holidays and Christmas.

The unique approach of Child's Play is that each hospital sets up a wishlist on Amazon, say they want 5 DS lites, and 8 copies of Nintendogs. You can take a look at that and donate a pink DS to your local hospital. Child friendly games of course! Wii's and the Nintendo DS seem to be the most popular consoles to buy for. Nintendo has succeeded again with their family friendly image!

See the wishlist of Sacred Hearts' Children's Hospital in Spokane, Washington.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/24ABUC9MH3EQJ?ie=UTF8

I recently contacted the manager of Child's Play, Kristin Lindsay from Penny Arcade, about why some hospitals only accept paypal (like Starship Children's Hospital in New Zealand) and not wishlists.

"Unfortunately Amazon.com does not ship games and electronics outside the US, and there is no Australian affiliate. Last year we were able to work with online retailer DStore, but Dstore chose not to come back this year so we are left without a viable system for items for Australia and New Zealand. Until we can work out a new partner retailer for those countries, we are limited to cash donations."

So hopefully some other online retailer will step up to the plate. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

I highly suggest you take part in this charity as a fellow gamer and human being. Donate to your local hospital using PayPal or buy something from one of the wishlists and have it sent off and make a child's Christmas, something special. It is the giving season. :)

gripshift coming to xbox live arcade

2007-12-06T09:27:00.000+13:00

A new game has been announced for Xbox Live Arcade. GripShift by New Zealand's lead game developer, Sidhe Interactive.

Sidhe Interactive's press statement:

8 November 2007 - GRIPSHIFT(R)TO RACE ONTO XBOX LIVE(R) ARCADE

Wellington, New Zealand - November 28, 2007 - Sidhe Interactive, industry leading developer of cross platform titles, today announced that their award-winning driving platformer title, GripShift(R), is headed to Xbox LIVE(R) Arcade (XBLA), the premier destination for digitally distributed, high-definition original and classic games. Available this year, the Xbox LIVE Arcade-exclusive title features updated graphics, improved controls and additional single and multiplayer content, including new Challenge courses and a Deathmatch mode.

- Veteran players and newcomers to the game will both find something to love in this definitive version of GripShift, said Mario Wynands, Managing Director of Sidhe Interactive. We've added a substantial amount of new content, including new single player courses and a multiplayer Deathmatch mode for players bent on dominating their friends or climbing to the top of the leaderboards.

GripShift brings the action online to Xbox LIVE Arcade with an abundance of new content, including upgraded graphics, Deathmatch mode and new race courses. Additionally, unlockable achievements and TrueSkill Leaderboard functionality will keep Xbox 360 owners coming back to race their way to glory!

GripShift will be released in the couple of weeks leading up to the New Year along with Arkadian Warriors, Brain Challenge, N+, Omega Five, Poker Smash, Rez HD, and Sensible World of Soccer.

Check out the official site:
http://gripshiftgame.com/xbla/

And now since the game has been announced I think I can finally tell you about my experience testing this game. Yes, I did actually get to test GripShift for the Xbox 360! I replied to a sign inside The Gamesman, asking for usability testers. On August 17th I arrived at the Sidhe offices. I had no idea what game I would be testing, but I turned up all the same. I met Gareth in a small office and saw a bunch of guys from Sidhe testing the game. Moving into an even smaller office, sitting down by a desk, with a xbox 360, television, refreshments and a camera to video my reactions or something. Gareth told me the game was GripShift and that they were bringing it to the Xbox 360. I had played the first PSP version and I soon experienced the massive changes the game had gone through. So basically, I was instructed to complete specific levels and go for the 3 basic goals of GripShift; the medal (bronze, silver or gold), the GS symbol hidden somewhere in the level and collecting all the stars. All the while Gareth asked me questions or I told him things I liked or disliked about the game. After the single player levels I had to try some multi-player races, with the guys in the next room. It was surprisingly addicted, in the PSP version the races were kind of the weak point of the game I thought. But here, the multi-player aspect worked extremely well and you really wanted to win. And then I got to try something that completely surprised me, deathmatch mode. With all new deathmatch type levels, and powerups scattered everywhere. You have to avoid falling off which was my main downfall, all the while avoiding been destroyed by your opponents.

.

gamespot's editorial director fired

2007-12-03T09:36:00.000+13:00

Jeff Gerstmann, a fellow games journalist and chief editor at GameSpot was abruptly fired a couple of days ago. Gerstmann has been working at GameSpot for more than 10 years and was the Editorial Director for GameSpot before his termination.

The rumours that have been surrounding Jeff's sudden and unexpected departure revolve around a recent review of Kane and Lynch: Dead Men. Eidos had been investing heavily in advertising on GameSpot including skins for the site and a trailer making function. Now Jeff gave Kane and Lynch a 6.0 score and a negative review (so says Eidos, the game's publisher). Eidos' retracts all future advertising with GameSpot, only to change their minds a while later. CNET, the owner's of GameSpot have been speculated in firing Jeff Gerstmann in order to please Eidos. CNET report to say that Jeff was already in trouble for his tone and that "GameSpot [does] not terminate employees based on external pressure from advertisers". However, many are finding this hard to believe.

Now there has been a lot of things going on at the GameSpot website, although no one has commented on the what has really happened. Many of the staff at GameSpot have posted their reactions including popular past figures like Rich Gallup, Greg Kasavin, Bob Colayco and Carrie Gouskos: http://www.virtualfools.com/games/jeff-gerstmann/

Many of GameSpot's users have swamped message boards asking why this has happened, what will happen to GameSpot's credibility and proposing campaigns to have a GameSpot black out or to bring Jeff back.

The Kane and Lynch: Dead Men review itself has also been subject to many changes. The video review was pulled while the review and 6.0 rating remain. And a note was placed,

Editor's Note: This review has been updated to include differences between the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions and a clarification on the game's multiplayer mode.

The user's rating system has been disabled and stuck at 2.6.

The Kane and Lynch video review that was pulled by GameSpot:

Here is a source as the story updates...

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/30/rumor-gamespots-editorial-director-fired-over-kane-and-lynch-rev/

Now you may be wondering why this is important to the games industry. Well because of this, if the rumour is indeed true, the whole gaming world's reviews and scoring system will have lost massive credibility. Game media and reviews play a much larger role in this industry than people realize.

UPDATE: GameSpot have stated that Jeff Gerstmann's termination was due to internal processes, nothing at all to do with external advertising, so called Kane and Lynch. And that the false conspiracy was all due to an amount of bad luck and coincidence.

Q: Was Jeff fired?
A: Jeff was terminated on November 28, 2007, following an internal review process by the managerial team to which he reported.
Q: Why was Jeff fired?
A: Legally, the exact reasons behind his dismissal cannot be revealed. However, they stemmed from issues unrelated to any publisher or advertiser; his departure was due purely for internal reasons.

If you listen to the latest edition of The HotSpot, the GameSpot team are extremely sincere. I believe that GameSpot's readers (including myself) should give them a chance to get their site back together.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6183666.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=multimodule&tag=multimodule;picks;title;2

.

assassination

2007-11-26T22:34:00.000+13:00

Assassin's Creed has been subject to much hype, and now controversy due to the wide array of game reviews.

So last Friday I picked up my pre-ordered copy of Assassin's Creed. To be honest, this is perhaps the only game I've ever bought on the day it came out. Looks like Ubisoft's hype train worked!

And the big secret that the Ubisoft team have teased us with all this time is really not what anyone was expecting , which I won't mention here. At first I was a little turned off, as what Ubisoft had been promising was completely different to what lay before me. However I soon caught on and now I'm really seeing it as it should be! On The Major Nelson podcast, E (the host alongside Major Nelson) said that at first he was playing Assassin's Creed as just another action title, but then he changed the way he played, acting stealthy like a real assassin. Which completely changed the game for him, and although it was taking longer, he was enjoying it more than ever before.

quote of the day

2007-11-25T20:42:00.000+13:00

A radio ad recruiting for the NZ Army...

"We require our recruits to have a high level of common sense."

I would like to think so!

100!

2007-11-21T22:32:00.000+13:00

100!

I have had 100 readers since my decision to go game-centric. Thanks to you all for dropping by. Remember that this blog is a work in progress, I am new to the whole blogging scene. You can leave comments, suggestions, whatever just using the link below each post.

Happy gaming everyone ! :)

a capella

2007-11-19T10:28:00.001+13:00

A capella. My good friend wikipedia says, "In modern usage, a cappella often refers to an all-vocal performance of any style, including barbershop, doo wop, and modern pop/rock."

A capella really stands out to me when people take out the instruments from full-bodied songs, and perform them using only their voices and the occasional clap of hands.

I came across a very good performance of some classic game themes including Tetris, Super Mario and Zelda. Of course me being a U2 fan and all, I searched and found a unique A capella version of Sunday Bloody Sunday!

And my media studies course starts tomorrow at Vic which should be interesting...

surfer girl reviews star wars, revealed??

2007-11-14T15:39:00.001+13:00

Just recently I submitted my blog to Technorati, and was adding some blogs I like to my favourites list. While doing that I added Surfer Girl Reviews Star Wars.

Surfer Girl Reviews Star Wars is a new blog that has inside information for games that haven't even been announced. Quick fame spread around gaming sites. Surfer Girl has decided to keep her identity a secret, although she has stated that she does works inside the game industry.

And I think I might know her secret identity...

The Author for this blog is named as Harry Davidson under their Blogger profile.

http://technorati.com/people/technorati/harrydavidson

This name could be made up,

or it could be very real...

UPDATE:
Some loser has hacked into Surfer Girl's account, and added some crap to the page. Surfer Girl asked for her account back in the comments, but to no avail. This happened after my post, and now HarryDavidson has no blogs linked to the account.

UPDATE 2:
So Surfer Girl got her blog back, all is right in the world. And my Harry Davidson hunch is completely wrong. Surfer Girl gave a clue to her identity with her first name starting with Cather... so it is most probably Catherine. But that doesnt really help us much does it without a last name! Oh well... back to the games I guess!

november overload

2007-11-13T21:35:00.000+13:00

November is a crazy month for this games this year. Over 20 games worth playing across all consoles. The problem is spending your time and money on the games you want most.

Which brings me to another point. Finding time to fit games intoy your day to day life. I know at the moment, i'm enjoying the freedom of holidays. But in a weeks time i'll be back into the thick of things at university

here are some release dates for kiwis...

November 1st
TimeShift (PC, PS3, 360)

November 9th
The Simpsons Game (PS2, PS3, Wii, DS, PSP, 360)
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (360, PS3, PC)
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PS2, PS3, Wii, 360)
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

November 16th
Crysis (PC)
Lair (PS3)
Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction (PS3)

November 22nd
Mass Effect (360)

November 23rd
Assassin's Creed (360, PS3)

November 29th
Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
Jackass: The Game (PS2, PSP)

November 30th
Haze (PS3) UPDATE: Delayed Until Early Next Year!

three red lights

2007-11-13T12:54:00.001+13:00

I had just turned on my console, and was playing Geometry Wars for a couple of minutes when bam, the screen turned black and the whirring of the 360's fans stopped. And a hideous 3 red lights shone out from the console. I stared in disbelief, and quickly turned off the console. After waiting 10 seconds, I turned on the Xbox and it was working fine to my relief.

I now know the frustration of millions of gamers worldwide. And I can't believe people still support this system, its so buggy and unreliable. That was the real reason I bought a 360, because it was popular and had the most games released.

So surfing Wikipedia I found that there's also a lot of news about the 360 scratching discs (see my earlier post) including some people who decided to sue Microsoft earlier this year...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_technical_problems

review: geometry wars

2007-11-11T21:10:00.000+13:00

Game: Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved
Platform: Xbox 360 Live Arcade
Developer: Bizarre Creations
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Genre: Arcade Shooter
Players: 1
Release: Nov 21, 2005
Rating: G (8 +)

Geometry Wars first appeared in Project Gotham Racing 2 as a bonus minigame. With basic graphics and addictive gameplay, players were really enjoying it. And so Bizarre Creations caught on with this and developed a better looking and overall, better experience.

The original graphics from the original minigame are also still there in the option, ‘Retro’. ‘Evolved’ is what you really want to play though. Evolved is a complete makeover of the original Geometry Wars game. The game is on a grid set in front of hundreds of stars. It doesn’t fit all on the screen, though if you move around a little you’ll see the sides. You start off with 3 lives and 3 bombs.

As in the title Geometry, the things you shoot are different shapes, which also have different movements and strategies. The most basic is the green

Control-wise its pretty simple. Left stick to control the ship, right stick to fire in the direction you push, and the triggers to set off a bomb.

Retro is also a lot harder than the Evolved option

Pros:
- Very affordable at only 400 points. Best value game on the Xbox Live Arcade.

- Graphics are very pretty, like a mini fireworks display on your tv set.

- Simple yet addictive gameplay.

Cons:
- Very hard! You need to maneuver your ship so tightly you’ll find yourself cursing aloud.

- Repetitive gameplay, but this is only an Arcade title after all.

By Michael Gray
Sunday 11 November 2007

(Screenshots coming soon, when I figure out how!)

xbox live arcade

2007-11-06T21:53:00.000+13:00

So I paid for my first Xbox Live Arcade title, Geometry Wars. I have to admit that its really cool that you can try before you buy, with the trial versions. The only problem is that the file sizes are quite large and you might get carried away with your bandwidth. That's what we get for wanting HD!

Xbox Live Arcade games I might actually purchase down the track...

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 UPDATE: Got it!
Bomberman Live
Alien Hominid HD
Uno
Prince of Persia Classic UPDATE: Got it!
Worms
EXIT

welcome to the world of next-gen

2007-11-05T18:34:00.000+13:00

By the way, misleading title, if you read on you will discover its true meaning.

So although other people have had similar problems with Halo 3 not loading maps, I now examined the disc to find a scratch on the outside, all the way around.

So I take it back to Dick Smith and the guy says that it was made by the Xbox 360 they sold to me, and that it was my fault. Just my luck, I talk to someone who actually owns the console. No replacement, no apologies. And I'm stuck with a mostly useless Halo 3 disc.

So be warned 360 owners, Microsoft advertise that the 360 can be moved vertical and horizontal. What they don't tell you is that if a disc is in the drive, it will get scratched and bad. And don't say, oh but its your own fault then. Because I payed money for a quality product, not one that will actually make your other purchases unusable. Look, they could have fixed all this mess with just a small piece of rubber foam!!
http://www.llamma.com/xbox360/news/Xbox-360-Game-Disc-Scratched.htm

And so I found out the hard way, with my first game, and most popular, Halo 3. There's nothing like wishing you payed a little extra for a PlayStation 3 huh.

UPDATE:
By the way, you may be noticing why the page looks the way it does. I'm trying to re-vamp the page, give it its own unique look. The posts will keep coming, just hang on while I try fiddle with some technical web stuff...

reviews coming soon

2007-11-01T10:17:00.000+13:00

I will try to finish a game before I make a review. Of course games these days don't just come with a simple story mode, theres unlockable extras, online multiplayer, the list goes on.

And I'm playing quite a few games a the moment from all over the place! So get ready for...

PS2
The Warriors
Shadow of the Colossus
Gran Theft Auto: San Andreas

N64!!!
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Xbox 360
Halo 3
Stuntman: Ignition

I'm still unsure if I should write a review for Ratchet and Clank: Locked and Loaded, the second game in the Ratchet series, after playing the first one not too long ago...

If you have a preference of what game you want to see first, give me a shout out, and post a comment below :)

halo 3 disc error

2007-10-31T17:12:00.000+13:00

I don't know what's happened. I was playing Halo 3 just fine yesterday, now it won't load any level, but comes up with a disc read error. It's a brand new disc, no scratches whatsoever. Arghhhhh!

I'll look on the net and see if anyone's had a similar problem...

xbox 360

2007-10-30T13:41:00.000+13:00

I actually did it, I bought an Xbox 360. I purchased the Halo 3 Starter Pack from Dick Smith Electronics. My first jump into the next-gen arena. I mean with so many awesome new games coming out, how could I resist? So I've been playing my two games, Halo 3 and Stuntman: Ignition (Thanks nzgamer!).

Check out my gamertag on the right, I was hoping to get my online alias, Mriceguy, but alas it was taken, and so was that gamer. Out of desperation I eventually wound up with my own name, Michael Gray. So yeah, nothing special about that. And afterwards, I found out that you have to pay Microsoft to get your name changed! I understand that you wouldn't want people changing their name all the time, but they could've just put on a time restriction. Like where you can only change it once a month. I mean you are paying for the service.

Well, back to what matters most, the games! Here's a list of 360 games I'm hoping to get into at some stage (in no particular order)...

Fallout 3
Resident Evil 5
Fable 2
Viva Piñata
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
Grand Theft Auto IV
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Mass Effect
Half-Life 2: The Orange Box
Rock Band
BioShock
Burnout Paradise

Assassin's Creed
UPDATE: Already Pre-ordered, the metal tin!

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Dead Rising
Gears of War

street fighter iv

2007-10-26T16:44:00.000+13:00

Street Fighter IV has just been announced by Capcom and is currently in development. This is happening 10 years after Street Fighter 3 was released in 1997, of course there were all those spin-off titles. Unfortunately Capcom have also said that the game is more than a year away from release. Platforms have not been determined yet, but you can probably expect some Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 treatment.

Ken and Ryu duke it out!

I haven't really played much of the Street Fighter series, seeing as my first console was a PlayStation. I've been hearing a lot of controversy surrounding whether the game should be 2D or 3D. And will it top Street Fighter II, the almighty beast? And I know this was announced a couple of days ago, please bear with me though as I work towards more timely posts. Next time, you will find the best gaming news right here, game announcements, controversies, the lot!

the office

2007-10-24T15:29:00.000+13:00

I just recently finished watching the tv series, The Office on DVD. (the complete first series, the complete second series and the Christmas specials, 14 episodes altogether). I now see why it attracted all the attention, it deserved it. Ricky Gervais is brilliant as David Brent, and the other characters Gareth, Tim, and Dawn are excellent & actually believable also. The script was written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. It's a comedy mockumentry with a pretend BBC crew filming the goings on in the paper company Wernham Hogg, in Slough, England. The humour is mostly embarrassment based and cringe worthy followed with long moments of silence. Although there are also smut liners, practical jokes and moments of idiocy.

The American version of The Office is airing at the moment in New Zealand on Thursdays at 10.00 TV3. It stars Steve Carrel as the boss from hell. Although there are a lot more episodes than the original, and the scripts are completely new, the characters and basic plot are retained. To me it feels over the top and unreal, for example the boss (Michael) fighting his own assistant (Dwight) and Dwight's desk moved to the bathroom as a practial joke, where somehow the phone is still working. I would still recommend the original, UK version of The Office. It was Ricky Gervais' rise to fame.

By the way that was not a official review! Just in case you think I'm going to be reviewing films and television shows. That would be fun, but it's best if I stick to one thing and do that well!

Free Love Freeway

David Brent Dance

review: ratchet and clank

2007-10-19T16:26:00.000+13:00

Game: Ratchet and Clank
Platform: PlayStation 2
Developer: Insomniac Games
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Genre: Platform/Action Adventure
Players: 1
Release: Aug 22, 2003 (Platinum)
Rating: G (8+)

(8) Awesome

Ratchet and Clank is a funny and unusually refreshing platformer. The game starts off with Ratchet, a big-eared lombax fixing spaceships on his home-planet. When a mysterious robot (Clank) crash lands, they both set off on a high-speed adventure across the galaxy to stop the evil Chairman Drek from destroying their galaxy. From the team behind the Spyro the Dragon series, Insomniac Games presents a polished and very entertaining action experience.

Like most platform games, Ratchet and Clank has you jumping, falling and collecting (nuts and bolts in this case). But what makes Ratchet and Clank stand out from the rest is the large array of weaponry and gadgets at your disposal. Ranging from the Blaster, Pyrociter (flamethrower), to the Glove of Doom (releases tiny robots that attack the nearest enemy) and Magneboots (These help you walk upside down!). These 35 weapons and gadgets will help you immensely with your quest across multiple planets and space stations.

A key feature to this game, is the humour, most prominently featured in the cutscenes. The voices behind the characters are of high quality, Captain Qwark with his zany lust for fame, Chariman Drek's business-type voice, and Ratchet and Clank provide distinct and loveable tones.

The environments of the worlds in Ratchet and Clank are very pretty. From flying spaceship cities, to green fields, to snow-capped mountains, each world has a distinct flavour. They all share a theme with new technology and nature.

All in all, Ratchet and Clank is a great, innovative game that revitalizes the platformer genre.

Pros:
- The cutscenes are humorous, and the story blends nicely with the gameplay
- Delicious environments and amazing animation

Cons:
- The quick select wheel is too small to accommodate the amount of weapons and gadgets (which meant I had to pause the game quite often to select the weapon/gadget from the menu).

By Michael Gray
Friday 19 October 2007

(Screenshots coming soon, when I figure out how!)

thatgamer.com

2007-10-16T22:44:00.001+13:00

I have been considering purchasing a web domain for my blog for quite a while now. Today was the day I finally went through with it. Hopefully it will be easier to find this page, and for those of you newer readers, please recommend it to your friends and family that enjoy video games. So much more is on the way...

Remember to stay tuned to www.thatgamer.com !!!

my scoring system

2007-10-14T22:32:00.000+13:00

So with my Ratchet and Clank review coming soon, and more reviews on the way, I thought now would be a good time to share the scoring system I will be using.

As most gamers already know, there are a number of scoring systems already out there on the net, GameSpot and IGN being the most well known. And what those systems usually use are several ratings for each part of the game, for graphics, sound, gameplay etc. But this is no use to anyone, as games come in all sorts of different styles. For example, Singstar's graphics do not measure up to God of War. And it does not need to, because the graphics suit the game's purpose.

So my scoring system has a single number out of ten that will give an overview of the game's overall quality. Remember to read the full review though, the score is just an indication.

(1) Shocking
Avoid playing this game at all costs!

(2) Awful
Don't waste your time.

(3) Bad
This game is just not fun to play.

(4) Poor
There's something making this game even less than mediocre.

(5) Okay
There are a number of issues with this game that prevent it from being recommended.

(6) Good
A fun game, although not spectacular.

(7) Great
An enjoyable experience.

(8) Awesome
A recommended title, it entertains well.

(9) Amazing
One of the few out there, a must-play.

(10) Perfect
This game is absolute perfection. Go buy it now!

EDIT: I am no longer going to use a scoring system to rate games due to the explanation above. Games and other media like music and film, you really just can't put a number on them.

bungie leaves microsoft

2007-10-09T14:51:00.000+13:00

There has been recent speculation on a blog post (http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/digitaljoystick/archives/122799.asp) stating that Bungie was to leave Microsoft. Then a while later after many people ignored it as nothing more than a hoax, the unthinkable happened and Bungie and Microsoft put out an official press release (http://www.bungie.net/news/content.aspx?type=news&cid=12835). Bungie have said that Halo 3 was to be their last title in the series, and are now already working on their next game. However, Microsoft still has plans to milk the franchise with the RTS game 'Halo Wars' created by Ensemble Studios, and a hushed series of games from newly created studio, Wingnut Interactive in New Zealand, led by Lord of the Rings director (and Halo film producer) Peter Jackson.

Personally I think it's great that Bungie have gone independent. Just look at companies like Insomniac Games, they still make games for their respective console, but they are given more rights, and creative freedom to shape their games how they want them to be, without being pressured by companies like Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo. I bet Bungie were just getting a little tired of Microsoft pushing Halo down everybody's throats.

game journalism

2007-10-07T20:58:00.000+13:00

From this day forward, I will be centering this blog around the games industry, including important news, game reviews and more. And occasionally you will still see some pieces here and there about me. My goal is to grow a reader base so more people can learn through a kiwi's insight into the world's fastest growing entertainment, video games.

So the reason behind this change is that I've had a sudden realization. Since 12 years old I've wanted to be a video games programmer/designer. And I've just been so focused on getting that job and nothing else, that I've blocked out all the other billions of opportunities there are. After my first year courses in computer science, I found programming extremely boring, unsatisfying and difficult. Now why would you waste your life doing something you don't love? I know that university costs money and I still have to pay off my student loan. But it's better to use up one year, than many more down the track. My deep gratitude goes towards Robin Sharma and Steve Pavlina, for helping me realize this.

Now moving forward, I still love video games, don't worry! I've been paying attention to game journalism for a while now, reading reviews, news, video features, podcasts etc. but I never considered doing that for myself, until now. I've always had a passion for writing. And what could be better for me than playing video games and writing about them! Game journalists are needed more and more, now that games are becoming entertainment of choice. My big career goal now is to get a job at a New Zealand game magazine (eg. The Game Console) or website (eg. nzgamer.com). So this blog and these reviews will be a great way to train myself up. And also to stop the Sony Bias , I will hopefully go out and get a Xbox 360 soon. Even with the PlayStation 3 at $799 now, I have to stop myself from getting one one just yet... LittleBigPlanet isn't out until next year!

Because I'm still playing a whole lot of PlayStation 2 games I haven't had a chance to play yet, I will be reviewing some older games to begin with. If you've missed out on some old games, here's your chance to see if you should really go back for them. I will also have my own, "Michael Gray's Game Scoring System" (name pending!).

So, Ratchet and Clank (2002) review, coming soon!

Queries, questions?

the golden compass

2007-09-27T21:00:00.000+12:00

The new movie for the first book 'Northern Lights' of His Dark Materials Trilogy is coming to NZ cinemas on boxing day! I can't wait! It stars Nicole Kidman as Mrs Coulter, Daniel Craig as Lord Asriel, Eva Green as Serafina Pekkala, and Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra (she actually looks like my idea of Lyra).

And now I'm reading 'Northern Lights' aka 'The Golden Compass'. The last time I read it, was 7 years ago! I've been thinking about how people remember books lately. It's really much harder to remember a book than say a film or a game because you are remembering visual images that were created in your mind. Food for thought, there must be a book about it somewhere...

Another pointless thought crossed my mind about time traveling. If time travel could one day be invented in the future, why haven't we seen any time travelers? Wouldn't they travel back to this present day? So does that prove time travel is impossible, or do the time travelers stay hidden to prevent anything from affecting their present time?

rant: 'The Golden Compass' is a boring title really, released only in America, Pullman should have kept the original title. But actually now that I think about it... I guess it matches up with the other two novels, 'The Subtle Knife' and 'The Amber Spyglass'.

The trailer below gives me goosebumps each time I see it!

extended trailer

web 2.0

2007-09-02T21:05:00.000+12:00

i'm kinda getting swept up in that web 2.0 phenomenon.

last.fm the online radio, facebook the social networking site, and more!

i'm having some ideas of my own for a new web 2.0 application... but my lack of web development experience and major procrastination issues might prevent anything actually happening!

guitar hero II

2007-07-26T18:30:00.000+12:00

i bought guitar hero II with the guitar for ps2, its friggin awesome!! I also got the original guitar hero which has better songs but doesn't feature the multiplayer bass/rhythm/lead guitar. At the moment i can play pretty well in Medium... hard difficulty might have to wait for a while!

e3

2007-07-16T17:37:00.000+12:00

so e3 was pretty rad. i didn't go of course, coz this time its only open to the press - e3's attempt at shrinking the huge extravaganza down. so i got connected through my internet connection. our broadband wasnt good enough for live video so i saw them after it was over.

the 3 press conferences (Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft) and the gamespot stage demos were definitely the most worthwhile.

killzone 2 trailer was 'real-time' this time around and still looked awesome

the psp got a redesign, but why not keep ceramic white? the coolest feature would have to be the video out port so you can connect your psp to any tv!

so check out all the news, pics, vids, blogs of the NEW E3 @ gamespot.com
http://e3.gamespot.com

my favs...
EDIT: i had to take the videos off because they kept on playing automatically!

holidays

2007-07-08T20:47:00.001+12:00

well holidays are over now... i really have so much i want to write and i know that i can write whatever and always edit it later but for some reason i feel as if i need to enough time to write it good enough the first edit!

Hopefully when i get back into the swing of things with uni starting again tomorrow i can write some new posts, especially about poverty and the No More Excuses campaign...
www.nomoreexcuses07.org
www.nomoreexcuses07.bebo.com

contacts

2007-06-20T10:59:00.000+12:00

i just got contact lenses... 'nuf said... well not really! if you're a glasses owner you probably know their setbacks, they fog up, get in the way, can't see out the sides, plus they look like a pair of binoculars on ur face!

So contacts are a great alternative, i'm just having a few troubles getting the left one in. My eye won't stay open! I'm sure the whole process will get much easier when i get used to it. ;)

i'm not really the sort of guy to take pictures of himself, so when a photo comes along and i'm in it, i guess i could post it up here...

will wright and brian eno

2007-06-19T23:18:00.000+12:00

generative systems, music, games, spore & more... check out the vid

skip ahead to 36.50 (or under Open Tools choose chapter 17: Spore if u want to get to Spore ;)

exams

2007-06-13T10:24:00.001+12:00

i'm in the middle of uni mid-year exams at the moment. scary stuff!! since i would like to pass, i'm probably not going to be having any new posts out for a little bit (but u never know...). My last exam is next friday, then it's 2 weeks of holiday-time baby!

psp pics

2007-06-04T17:04:00.000+12:00

Here are the pics I promised, I know the quality sucks! It was harder than I thought, there must be a better way to taking close-up shots of LCD screens...

hackin' it

2007-05-27T23:18:00.000+12:00

okay, i should've posted this quite a while ago... cos I finally managed to get emulators and mods working on my psp!!

PlayStation One
It's a hack of the official Sony emulator. I'm currently playing, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back and Final Fantasy VII. They both run excellent. Some games don't work however like FFVIII but for the majority it's been all good.

Super Nintendo (SNES)
Haven't played anything much but Lemmings and Super Mario Collection. Playing the original Super Mario, two players is a blast!

ScummVM
Like I mentioned before. Right now I'm going through The Curse of Monkey Island (3) because I got stuck on The Secret of Monkey Island (1), even though I've already finished it twice before!

Gameboy Advance
haven't actually got it on my psp, but my bro is definitely lovin' Pokemon!

Doom
only got the demo, but it's the same fun, speedy doom!

Quake
couldn't get wifi working which is the only reason i wanted it.

I'll upload some photos shortly... who knows, i might even put a short guide of where to go to get this stuff working (there are some awesome instruction guides out there).

U23D

2007-05-27T23:04:00.001+12:00

If you haven't heard the news yet, a 3D film of the South American leg of U2's Vertigo tour has just been finished. "U2 3D is the first live-action film to be shot, edited, and shown entirely in 3-D". Recently premiered at the hugely popular Cannes film festival. U2 even performed a couple songs, 'Vertigo' and 'Where the Streets Have No Name" right on the red carpet!

Now comes another problem with living in beautiful, isolated New Zealand; we get stuff so much later than everyone else! Where it be technology, television, or movies, kiwis are always left behind. So I have no idea if U23D will even get released here! Plus in the entire country of New Zealand there is only one IMAX theater, located in Auckland. So I guess if they do bring it here, there's gonna be another trip to Auckland. I'll probably fly this time. I couldn't stand another grueling train journey by myself!

full moon show

2007-05-13T22:41:00.000+12:00

As I've already mentioned before, the Insomniac Full Moon Show is my favourite podcast. And guess what, they answered my question on their show! Check out episode 5 along with a fascinating interview with 'Old Grandma Hardcore'. Check out her blog here!

Listen /download the full episode here: Full Moon Show podcast

or listen to a clip with just my question: getting into game development

psp time

2007-05-02T11:28:00.000+12:00

this week i won a beautiful psp auction off trademe! pretty good ay, and only for $350!

i'm experimenting with homebrew at the moment. i've got ScummVM working which is great. i can play LucasArts adventure games like The Secret of Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, and Sam and Max: Hit the Road. i've still yet to find a SNES, gameboy advance or PSOne emulator that works properly.

another thing you don't see here is the 2GB Sony Pro Duo memory stick. You think that's big, try squeeze a couple of PSOne iso's onto that!

The unfortunate thing I just found out are that all the games are from america (region 4) except Loco Roco (they all run). I was looking forward to playing Wipeout Pure with my brother but the European version is incompatible with mine!

until next time...

podcasts

2007-04-17T09:27:00.000+12:00

Podcasts are a relatively new media but I think they are beginning to catch on. Like the advent of radio, podcasts will change how you listen to or watch media. There are podcasts on nearly everything from fashion to video games. Here's a few of my favourites:

Audio:
Insomniac Full Moon Show
GameSpot Presents The HotSpot
The GameSpot UK Podcast
@U2 Podcast

Video:
Ask A Ninja
Chad Vader
Virtual Magician

comments

2007-04-11T00:56:00.000+12:00

i've finally turned on comments for anyone. so feel free to post anonymous tips or... well, comments!

ico

2007-03-30T16:47:00.000+12:00

i recently finished ico a couple of weeks ago. ico was developed by team ico, who have recently made shadow of the colossus (which i still have yet to try!). it's a wonderful ps2 game with brilliant graphics and original ideas. The many game designers who admire ico, deemed me responsible to try it out. although the gameplay can get a bit repetitive at times, the story (although simple) is emotionally engaging and helped me play ico right to the end.

here's a fan-made video of ico (warning: contains spoilers! Don't watch if you are going to play ico later on)

there's a laugh-your-ass-off parody of ico from mega64.com

If you've got a ps2, you are hereby decreed to hire out (or buy) ico

work shoes

2007-03-29T09:12:00.000+12:00

here's the pair of nifty work shoes i need as part of my foodstuffs attire. Of course the longer i stay working at foodstuffs the less i have to pay for them...

foodstuffs

2007-03-27T17:44:00.000+12:00

i finally have a job!! i have a contract for a position at foodstuffs in silverstream, only a short walk away from home. for those that don't know, foodstuffs is nz's largest grocery distributor, supplying groceries to supermarket stores such as new world, four square and pak 'n save. woolworths and countdown are the opposition! i had an interview on monday which went on for more than two hours! i tried extremely hard to not let my major character flaw show, but he picked it up instantly. I'm now known already as the quiet guy! I'm gonna get paid pretty well, the hours aren't too extreme, although will take up a lot of my weekend 8am - 4.30pm Sat and Sun. hopefully all goes well.

U2 NZ

2007-03-22T00:38:00.000+12:00

Last night I watched U2 NZ perform at the tote in Upper Hutt. A disappointing turnout, but a fantastic show nonetheless. The performers even kind of looked like U2 (apart from Adam Clayton). I wish some more people could've gone with me but that's a lesson for next time...

red nose day

2007-03-21T00:34:00.000+12:00

check out this hilarious vid! two of my heroes... Ricky Gervais & Bono.

Ricky Gervais Comic Relief 2007 Red Nose Day

of course, the real issue of poverty isn't a laughing matter. but the actors have humorously made fun of themselves in order to raise donations and awareness for this extremely worthy cause.

is it just me, or are lower case letters looking better these days?

the future of 'there'

2007-03-21T00:17:00.000+12:00

I'm looking forward to using this site more frequently... writing is always a good way to get your ideas straight!

Mriceguy

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Button Masher

Grand Theft Auto IV Review (360)

Stuntman: Ignition Review (360)

Game: Stuntman: IgnitionGenre: Action RacerDeveloper: Paradigm EntertainmentPublisher: THQ

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salient and a fall from grace

cat killer

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The best t-shirt ever.

merry christmas everybody!

musically minded 1.

when in rome...

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8 November 2007 - GRIPSHIFT(R)TO RACE ONTO XBOX LIVE(R) ARCADE

gamespot's editorial director fired

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review: ratchet and clank

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Game: Stuntman: Ignition
Genre: Action Racer
Developer: Paradigm Entertainment
Publisher: THQ