Competitive Advantage?

I’ve really neglected my blog this year

Having baby number two has monopolised a lot of my time and something had to give. I started a couple of posts but deleted them as they didn’t seem too great to me

Now that I’m getting used to the sleep depravation (actually that should be, now that getting used to the extra sleep depravation) I’m hoping to get back into the swing of things and what better way than with a good rant!

I’m a massive fan of the streetfigher series of games so I’ve been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Streetfighter IV

I had a quick look on the Game website this morning and saw this

Bargain i thought and as there is a Game store just around the corner from the office I thought I’d pick it up on the way home

When i got to the shop i was disappointed to find it was labelled up at £34.99.

I enquired at the desk and was told that the website is a “separate division so they work to different price lists”

I’m fully aware that online stores have lower running costs compared to the shop. Surely this means the shop needs to “add value” so I’ll purchase in store as opposed to online

One of the easiest ways to differentiate yourself is by having great customer service but this isn’t something I’ve ever experienced in a Game store to be honest. There is never enough staff on meaning you always have to queue which gets on my nerves. The knock on effect to this is when you do have a question there is never anyone to speak to!

So as far as i can see the only advantage i get from buying it in store is the fact i get it straight away

I’m not that desperate to get the game though this instant and the website has free delivery with a two day turnaround

I only really buy from Game as i have a ton of points on my loyalty card (which you have to pay to get….) so once I’ve used those i can’t really see me going into a Game store again

Am i being unreasonable?

Mirrors Edge – XBox 360

I haven’t posted anything game related in a while, mainly as I’ve been playing Pro Evo 2009 (more on that later!) but since I got a couple of games for Christmas I’ve spent a bit more time away from the football!

I saw a couple of reviews and screenshots of Mirrors Edge and added it to my Amazon wish list as a reminder to take a better look at it at a later point

Since it was on my wish list my good wife picked it up for me and i’m glad she did

First up I’d like to congratulate EA and DICE as publishers and developers for trying something a bit different

The main theme of Mirrors Edge is that you are a “runner” whose job it is to deliver information for an underground organisation

The term runner nods to “free runners” (see video below) who jump across buildings and climb over obstacles using various acrobatic means. I’m sure you’ve all seen this sort of thing?

The game is played from a first person perspective (like Halo, Call of Duty, etc) and when I first realised this I was a bit concerned because if you’ve tried to do any sort of jumping and climbing in a first person shooter you’ll probably understand my frustration as it rarely works all that well (mainly because your view means you can’t see the floor and where you going at the same time) so I was pleasantly surprised that the controls are pretty easy to get to grips with and before I knew it I was sliding under barriers and jumping off walls like a good ‘un

Graphically it’s amazing and any screenshots you see don’t really do it justice. Once you’ve mastered the controls and you’re stringing together jumps and slides, the action moves at quite a pace and the feeling of speed is very realistic

I read in a review (somewhere – can’t remember where it was sorry) that the combat sequences feel “tacked one” like an marketing afterthought and I can see where this view is coming from. Your character doesn’t carry a gun and is generally expected to run from the bad guys using her skill and speed to get away. You can take weapons from the bad guys but this isn’t all that easy and there are actually two achievements (XBox) you can obtain by not using any weapons. However, every so often the game forces you stand up to the enemy and go toe to two with them and the game wont continue till you have knocked them out whereas in other sections the point is to get away. When there is four of them and they all have machine guns it can get a bit frustrating!

My only real gripe with the game is sometimes it isn’t immediately obvious what you have to do next. You’ll be trapped in a room and the only way to advance is to find a way to the air conditioning vent high up in the corner of the room. (I think these are generally called “puzzles”!)

If you don’t have a lot of patience I could see some gamers giving up in frustration.

I finished Chapter six last night and according to the achievements list I’ve got two more to go. Other than the main story mode there are also time trial and speed run modes which will be also be worth a look once I’ve got tired of all the difficultly modes

There also isn’t any online functionality other than the time trial leader boards. It would have been cool to maybe race against friends across a level but maybe there will be scope for this in a sequel?

When I was talking to someone about this I compared to playing a first person version of Jet Set Radio Future (can we have a new version of that please??)

In summary I’ve really enjoyed playing this so far and the small annoyances wouldn’t stop me from recommending it though the lack of online features make me wonder about how often you would revisit this after completing the story mode and getting some decent times on the trial mode

Shame on you Konami

I never thought i’d say this but i dont think i can play Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 anymore….

I’ve been a huge fan of this series of football (soccer) games since it’s early incaration as International Superstar Soccer on the SNES

The previous version was the first on the XBox 360 and while it was deemed a success many felt they hadn’t pushed the hardware enough and it didn’t deserve the “next gen” tag. However the online play was massively addictive with it’s only problem being the occasional slowdown (lag) when on busy broadband connections

So i eagerly awaited the arrival of the latest version which i’ve had for a couple of months now. As usual they have tweaked the game enough so that it is still Pro Evo but different enough so that it’s not just an graphic and team update.

I usually play it offline for a little while then jump in once confident i’m not going to get hammered every time. It didn’t take me long to get into the swing of things and was happy with the changes

This is where my happiness quickly wore off.

The online version this time around is dreadful

It doesn’t suffer from slowdown…at all! However ,the problem is what i can only describe as jerkiness. The ball and players seem to randomly jump around the pitch and the camera usually follows them

This makes for hugely frustrating games. Earlier tonight i was playing a really close game with someone. I had the ball on the halfway line, looking to start a new attack when the ball suddenly disappeared and reappeared at the feet of the striker. Who promptly scored to send me to a disappointing loss. At least in the previous version if you got slow down you knew you’d still have the ball at the end of it

Apparently Konami have released a patch but i don’t think it’s made any difference. I’ve stuck with it a while as the game has years of goodwill on it’s side but i came very close to damaging some equipment tonight

In modern gaming online gaming can make or break a game. I don’t understand how they can go from having it pretty much spot on last time round to the shoddy state it’s in now 

The basics don’t even work. There is an achievement for scoring a direct free kick during an online game. I’ve done this twice tonight (which is rare..i’m crap at free kicks) and still no achievement

From looking on other sites i’m not the only one to be annoyed with this. Fingers crossed for a new patch soon or Fifa my get another look in, which if your a fan of either game you’ll know it’s like changing the team you support!

The grand unboxing

Humour me please 

I don’t normally worry about the packaging on stuff i buy. Usually it’s just in the way of something i want!

But Halo 3 legendary edition is different (especially since it’s a lot of wedge for a game!) so i took my time and took pics as i opened it all up (here)

My lack of a TV at the moment means all i’ve done is look at it

Thanks…normal service is now resumed

Halo 3 Torture

As i’m sure your aware a certain first person shooter is in the shops now

My shiny copy of the legendary edition should be waiting for me when i get home.

I have a problem though….my tv is away for repair

They have had it far longer than i was expecting and even after ringing them everyday i have no idea when it’s coming back.

My other half suggested i plug the XBOX into the portable tv in the bedroom but after being so used to my flat screen to move to the portable would be like playing it on a mobile phone

Read at your own risk to productivity

Desktop Tower Defense has been updated!!

New features

“What’s New: New Ink, Snap & Boost Towers, New Morph & Dark Creeps, New Trickle, Random, 15 Tower & Splash/No Splash modes, 10K mode is now 100 levels, Bash tower improved, Improved Interface, New Sounds – Enjoy!”

Had a couple of goes and the new feature certainly change the game again. I’m still crap against the flying ones though!

Pro Evolution Soccer 2008

Just saw a link on AceyBongo’s XBox Life that links to an article on IGN with new details of Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 

YAY!

I’m a massive Pro Evo fan and 95% of my XBox time is dedicated to it. I’ve been playing Konami’s finest ever since it was International Superstar Soccer on the SNES/N64

One thing i love about it is that you have to relearn the game with each version instead of just rechurning the same game but with better graphics and updated teams (you know who i’m talking about!).

However, one of the new features though is that the game will learn as you play. I think this will take the game onto the next level when playing against the console as it is a little stupid and always falls for the same tactics. Though nothing beats playing against someone else.

Thank goodness for XBox Live!

Desktop Tower Defense Anonymous

My name is Andy and i’m a Desktop Tower Defense-a holic

After spotting it the other day i can’t tear myself away from it.I love this game!

First proper go on the “normal” level and i managed to beat it…just!

View my map here!

Desktop Tower Defense – Game coding for profit

Go check this out – Desktop Tower Defense

I’ll warn you though..it’ll take up so much of your time!!

There is a bit of back story about the developer (and how it’s making him rich!) here which is where i first picked it up from. Almost straight after reading that there was a similar post on Coding Horror where Jeff backs me up in how addictive the game is

I finised the easy level after 3 goes. I managed to finish it straight after that and only lost one life! I’ll be making a start on the harder levels tonight

There are some stategy videos on youtube as pointed out by this post on neatorama but i prefer to figure it out for myself

 Enjoy!

A-Z of Cool Computer Games

I picked up this book from a book shop in Coventry for £2 at the weekend

First couple of chapters show promise and it’s had me wondering down an electronic memory lane!