I’ve never particularly been into racing games, Project Gotham Racing was a blast online but other than that I’ve never really got into any, especially Gran Turismo. That might all change though, this trailer has very much tickled my fancy. Top Gear test track and the Stig? Awesomeness.
What a crazy month I’ve had. I’ve gone from being employed part time by Local Community Recycling to a full time employee. It’s taken a while to adjust back to full time work, especially as I was quite enjoying being a lazy bum. However, the new jobs good…I’m back using a computer for starters, where I belong!
All these changes have led to a rather empty blog and twitter feed for the last month. I am going to return though, with my pointless posts that no one reads. I just need to find some time somewhere in my day…
I probably shouldn’t be reviewing a beta release but here I am, doing it anyway. Halo is such a massive franchise, even Microsoft seem to be giving this beta release more PR than they do some of their other releases. Is it worth it though?
I think it’s still too early to tell. We have only be given 2 maps at the moment and whilst they’re not bad maps, they definitely are not perfect. There both small and have no vechicles and for me, vechicles are what really set Halo apart from the other franchises. So whilst this beta, at the moment, might not be worth forking out £30 for an Halo 3: ODST disc, it definitely has a lot of potential and I’m more than optimistic that come September, we will have our hands on the best Halo game Bungie have ever crafted.
Until then though, the beta has tickled my tastebuds and left me wanting plenty more and more we shall get.
Although, if you have £30 lying about or see a cheap copy of ODST knocking about, pick it up. This is definitely a beta that’s worth playing and it’s only going to get better when we get our hands on the new maps.
Lets start with this first. I loved the first Iron Man. What man on earth didn’t want to be Tony Stark? Nevermind Iron Man.
Iron Man 2
The sequel stuck to it’s roots and delivered everything of the first and then managed to pack in just a little bit more. Iron Man 2 is buckets of fun and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute, especially Scarlett Johansson. Mickey Rouke also played a brilliant Villian as Whiplash.
There may have been quite a few sub plots knocking about, but none of them distracted from my overall enjoyment of this film. There’s plenty of action, plenty of awesome and plenty of Iron Man. Jon Favreau (The director) couldn’t have done a better job in my eyes. It’s a brilliant opener to the summer blockbuster season and I can’t recommend this enough, just make sure you watch the first Iron Man before you see this.
Also, it gets extra bonus points for being released in the UK before the USA, it’s nice to get something first for a change.
Rating: ***** Stars.
So there we have it, my first short and sweet review.
Its that time of the year again when everything is being released and I find myself hunting high and low for cash to play or watch these new releases.
This year is a little different though as I find myself the proud owner of this blog which means I can write reviews and finally let people know what I think of these releases. I may not be a game reviewer, nor a movie critic. I’m not even a particularly good writer but hopefully this will keep my reviews short and sweet. I’ll get to the point and let you know exactly what I think about the game or movie. Ultimately I’ll give you my opinion on whether its worth your money.
So sit back and enjoy. This amateur reviewer is about to review Iron Man 2…
Tonight I had tickets to the opening night of Peter Kay’s massive UK tour, the question is, does the man from Bolton still have it?
The answer to that is an unresounding yes. He offered a packed out M.E.N Arena a laugh a minute, only pausing for a quick drink and a short interval. The man who we all fell in love with when watching Pheonix Nights, Max and Paddy or one of his brilliant Stand up DVDs is still pumping out great jokes which, once the DVD is released, will be the only jokes people will be telling many weeks afterwards. “I can’t believe he kissed his cock at night”, you’ll know what that means soon enough.
As for the warm up act, nobody had a clue, it had been a total secret. Then on came Rick Astley! Perfect for most of the women in the audience, with a women behind me proudly proclaiming “This has made my night!”. He wasnt particularly bad if I’m honestly, although not really my cup a tea.
If you can find tickets anywhere (hello, ebay) then I advise you to grab them quickly as this is one show you do not want to miss.
As for me, I got lucky (or I’m extremely skilled) and managed to bag some Lower Tier seats from Ticketmaster, back when the tickets were first made publicly available and he was only going to do around 5 nights. That didnt last long, popularity soon had more and more dates being announced with the final figure coming in at 82 dates by my count!
I’ll leave with you with two words…
GARLIC BREAD?!?!?
Today, Spotify launched a major update. It’s brimming with new features, Social Media integration and Local File support to name just two. I been a Spotify user for a while now and it’s by far the best music service I’ve ever used. It’s definitely the way forward for the music industry and I hope they continue to embrace it.
So, what does the latest Spotify release (0.4.3) bring to the table?
The free version of Spotify is invite only at the moment but I can fully recommend getting a premium account, without premium users Spotify would cease to exist (that’s a discussion for another day!) However, if your a little unsure about splashing out £9.99 a month, I have some invites for the free acounts, leave a comment or drop me an e-mail I’ll hook you up.
Everyone Loves Music.
It’s been a glorious week or so and because of the sunshine, there’s been a severe lack of time to put in a decent blog post. However, some things just have to be shared.
Following up from my previous post, I’m now a proud owner of Splinter Cell: Conviction which is proving to be amazing, especially in co-op. That’s not what this post is about though. In just a few days something very special will be unleashed onto Xbox Live which will have many people dusting off their copies of Halo 3: ODST. They knew this day was going to come when they bought their copy of ODST, but no one knew it was going to look this good…
After seeing this video, I’m very excited for the Multiplayer Beta of Halo: Reach. It looks (graphically) so much better than Halo 3 and I can’t wait to test out the new features Bungie are bringing to the table in Halo: Reach. It’s going to be a fun couple of weeks come the third of May.
I’ve just been having a peek at the release dates of a couple of upcoming Xbox 360 titles and it dawned on me how special this year is going to be for gaming. Now, I’m an Xbox 360 gamer. I’m not a fanboy, I just prefer the Xbox experience as i find it much more fluid than the Playstation experience. There is a PS3 in my house however, just incase. I’m looking at you Heavy Rain.
I decided to write down a few of the games which I’m most excited about this yerar, what started as a few quickly turned in a rather long list…so here goes. (These are all available on the Xbox 360 and may be available on other consoles too, I’m too lazy to check)
Splinter Cell: Conviction (Release: 16th April)
The demo really sold me on this gane. Splinter Cell games have been getting a little stale but this is a total reboot of the franchise and the gameplay feels awesome. Its looks rather pretty too, that always helps. If your a little unsure, download the demo, I guarentee you that you’ll change your mind.
Red Dead Redemption (Release: 21st May)
The latest release from Rockstar. It’s been dubbed Grand Theft Auto in the wild west and whilst it looks very much like that, it also looks much more. The world appears massive and I can’t wait to explore it, especially on horse back. Combat also looks significantly better than GTA, can’t beat a Revolver, right?
Alan Wake (Release: 14th May)
A game which has been in development for 6 years has to be good right? Hopefully. The trailers looks brilliant and the use of light as a weapon looks very interesting. I can’t wait to see how it spans out and if the 6 years remedy have spent on it have been worth it.
Halo: Reach (Release: 24 September)
The beta starts soon, for owners of Halo 3: ODST and this should be a good yard stick for how this game will pan out. I already know the multiplayer will be fun but how will the single player pan out? Can this Halo game, possibly the final one, finally return to the same level of greatness of Halo: Combat Evolved?
Crackdown 2 (Release: 9 July)
The first Crackdown was a massively understated game and only saw great sales figures because it came bundled with a Beta invite for Halo 3 but when people actually played it, they found they had bought a great game. Its now under new developers, although many of the original Crackdown developers have moved to the new developer, so we should expect much more of the same, hopefully on a bigger and much more explosive scale.
Fable 3 (Release: 22 October)
Fable, Fable, Fable… How I love thee. Fable 2 was spectacular and I’m loving some of the features Molyneux has mentioned for Fable 3, especially becoming king. Bring on October.
Blur (Release: 28 May)
Again, a demo of this game sold me. I thoroughly enjoyed the multiplayer beta…Mario kart crossed with Project Gotham Racing was always going to be a good game.
Max Payne 3 (Release: 1 October)
Hopefully better than the movie and as good as the previous games, Max Payne 3 will hopefully offer more of the same. Its been a while since we’ve seen Max and I’m looking forward to playing him again.
Spiderman: Shattered Dimensions (Release: 1 September)
Could this finally be a Spiderman game which is worthy of purchasing? We will have to wait and see…
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (Release: 1 October)
Ghost Recon…my third favourite Tom Clancey series. Its only third because of two spectacular opponents (Rainbow Six and Splinter Cell) as the Ghost Recon games have always been great and Future Soldier should be no different.
Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands (Release: 14 May)
I really enjoyed the last PoP game, although many didn’t. This is going back to the Sand of Time series and should offer plenty of excitement and action for Prince of Persia fans new and old.
Medal of Honour (Release: 20 August)
Following in the footsteps as Call of Duty and moving itself in the present day. Could this be as good or even better than Call of duty: Modern Warfare? It definitely won’t move as many copies but it could very well deserve to.
Naughty Bear (Release: 4 June)
An angry bear who wasn’t invited to a party seeks revengence. What more do I need to say?
Singularity (Release: 25 June)
Not seen much about this game but from what I’ve seen and heard, it could be the dark horse of the year, there’s always one…
Crysis 2 (Release: 29 October)
I adored the first game, a true classic which brought every PC available to its knees. the most realistic shooter I’ve ever played and everything was created with such beautiful detail I can’t wait to see how the second will look. It’s also going to be available on the console this time so it should see much more exposure and deservedly so.
However, Theres one game which has me more excited than any other game. It’s the sequel to my favourite game of 2009 and for making me so excited…it gets something special. It gets a video…
After having a relatively relaxing couple of weeks following my placement, this week has been crazy. I started a new job this week, I’m doing some local charity collection work. It’s pretty rewarding but my feet are killing, they haven’t walked this much in a long time. It’s only part time though, so I’ve been able to use the afternoons to continue developing my Android applications. My first release is coming along now and I’m hoping to have the first version out in peoples hands in a couple of weeks. I’ll keep you posted.
That’s all for now, I should have some interesting Android articles coming up soon once everything has settled back down. If anyone in the Staffordshire or Derbyshire area likes the idea of some part time charity work (You do get paid) then the company I’m working for can be found here.
I almost forgot to mention. Formula 1 this weekend. Don’t miss it.
