EXTREME BRASS!

Drums, mic and guitar? And they’re now calling it Band Hero? Activision obviously never played in the school band as kids.

Well for those of you who feel that woodwind and brass have been decidedly slighted from the Hero franchise, you can rejoice this week as there’s now a shirt to suit the whole orchestra.

Returning this week to T-Shirt Hell, after having been assumedly sued right off the face of the internet previously, is the Band Geek Hero series of t-shirts. There are 25 different shirts all up, from Cello Hero to Bagpipe Hero, all fonted in the classic Guitar Hero style.

My advice? Get them while you can. Before the Activision legal team get wise!

Or get inspired for some more shovelware …

This title has also been released under the standalone "Episodes from Liberty City" pack

Long time readers may be well aware of my disappointment when it came to “the greatest game of all time ever” Grand Theft Auto IV being released. Despite the jump in visual quality, to me it seemed like Rockstar had stripped a lot of the really fun elements from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas out and replaced them with questionable gameplay mechanics. Gone was the expansive feeling of the game’s world, replaced by a cramped three-island city without much to explore. Also gone was a lot of the crazier mini-games, which had been replaced by compulsory bowling/theatre-going to keep your contacts happy.

So when I heard that Rockstar’s latest DLC episode, The Ballad of Gay Tony, was going to return skydiving to the game, I was interested to find out if they were looking to recapture the feel of their older games.

The result, however, was a very confusing mix of both good and bad choices when it comes to gameplay. In a sense, it truly is a ballad, a narrative set to music, but the music is distracting and the narrative doesn’t jump in to pick up the slack. I’ll explain what the hell I’m on about in just a second, suffice to say that in the end I didn’t really enjoy our second DLC story in Liberty City.

In The Ballad of Gay Tony, players take the role of Luis Lopez, the brawn of a business partner relationship with the titular “Gay” Tony Prince. Gay Tony owns two of the most popular nightclubs in town, one gay, one straight, but is up to his eyeballs in debt and has effectively sold the clubs to two seperate groups. During the game, Luis has to attempt to keep the nightclubs afloat amongst pressure from several warring factions who want to control them, and keep Gay Tony from getting killed, killing himself or overdosing on perscription pills.

Let it not be said that the life of a nightclub manager was always going to be an easy one.

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Queensland acknowledges that not all games are for kids

It may seem a little silly for no-one to have thought of this sooner, what with all our displeasure with Michael Atkinson, but the R18+ classification is again back in the headlines, and this time it’s something positive.

Some canny gamer (well, we assume anyway) in the Australian state of Queensland has managed to gain the support of their local member of parliament, and begun a petition to be presented to the state government asking that Queensland itself gain a state specific R18+ rating.  The parliamentary member sponsoring it?  The Honourable Kate Jones, the Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability

Now I know most gamers are typically pessimistic of petitions (how well did that dedicated servers for Modern Warfare 2 one go?), but if you’re a Queenslander and you believe in the need for an R18+ video games rating, be sure to sign.  This isn’t just a third party petition, it’s sanctioned by the Queensland government itself, which means if it gains enough support it will have to be acknowledged in state parliament.

If the reception is positive, this would allow alteration to the state’s classification guidelines, which would effectively mean that even though the rest of Australia is stuck with it’s present system, R18+ games would become legal in Queensland.

Unfortunately (and for obvious reasons), you can only sign the petition if you’re living in Queensland.  But the rest of the Australian gaming base would do well to spread the word as far as possible, so hopefully we can finally see some results on the issue.  And rest assured, if one state under Labor adopts an R18+ rating, it should offer a fantastic opportunity to bring up the issues with the rest of the states.  Except South Australia, of course, where presumably Michael Atkinson will continue to sulk and refuse to debate the matter.

So if you’re a Queenslander, head on over to the petition and get signing.  And if you’re just a supportive gamer, well then get talking to your Queensland friends!

Hell, even if only Queensland adopts an R18+ rating, we can all look forward to some Brisbane specific game shopping!

You'll find this box inside the other box with the expensive peripheral

As with all ‘innovative’ games, the shadow of its evolutionary past and the pressure of its own groundbreaking present is sometimes just enough to stunt its future. When considering DJ Hero as a ‘logical’ leap from Guitar Hero, the game suffers from this trip up. But seeing DJ Hero as a niche market game and isolating it from the hype of the ‘next big thing’ in plastic instruments gives it a chance to … well, not exactly shine, but perhaps glow a little in the dark, dark room of single player obsession games.

A simple way to describe the game would be to say that it’s a music/rhythm game for people who like Hip Hop and be done with it. You get a lap-sized plastic turntable, 23 set lists/concerts of mashup tracks and lots of famous and credible DJs featuring in the credits and character sets.  You could add that it features funky mixes of both old and new tracks like ‘Heard It Through The Grapevine’ by Marvin Gaye, ‘The Big Beat’ by Billy Squier and ‘Hollerback Girl’ by Gwen Stefani, and that around 78% of the time those mixes are awesome. You could easily dance to them out at a club somewhere. The controller is a simple design, reflecting in a very basic way what a real turntable and crossfader look like. To cap this off, I’d probably add that if you’re a fan of turntablism, this game will give you a small but tantilising glimpse into how your favourite DJ works their magic.

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It Came From An Alternate Time Continuum!

It seems like over the past few months a I’ve managed to grab myself a great number of adventure games published by Telltale Games.  Part of this is nostaglia for the franchises that Telltale has continued, and part of this is from my enthusiasm to see the adventure genre as a whole resurface.  But most of all, it’s because Telltale (even in their weaker chapters) haven’t yet failed to deliver a quality game to me.

Now Season 2 of Telltale’s Sam and Max series (renamed to Sam and Max: Beyond Time and Space for XBLA) has actually been available since the later part of 2007, but after seeing what an enjoyable port Season 1 had made, I’d basically decided to hold off buying the second season for PC and wait for the Xbox port instead.  Also, waiting for the Xbox port would give me another 200 achievement points.  Yes, my brain does operate that way some days.

Anyhow, Beyond Time and Space hit XBLA mid-October this year, and after playing it through I’m confident in saying that this is probably Telltale’s strongest adventure game season yet.

Beyond Time and Space basically picks up where Save the World left off, which might prove a bit of a problem to those of you who haven’t played the first season.  Much of the game’s plot relies on previous knowledge.  Max’s presidency, the detatched statue head of Abe Lincoln dating professional careerist Sybil, the obsolete computers running an auto shop … all of these things will make little sense unless you’ve played through Sam and Max: Save the World.  In this regard, it’s probably best to think of the two seasons as one large game, and be sure to play it from the beginning.

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Glad to see they're incorporating the lens flare from the latest film

For those of you looking to enjoy a little bit of phaser on phaser action with Cryptic Studio’s Star Trek Online, the wait isn’t going to be too long.  The Roddenberry-centric MMO has been scheduled for release on the 2nd of Feburary, 2010.

Yesterday the team released images of the game’s box art for everyone to ogle.  It basically encapsulates what the game is all about: being a planet-sized Star Fleet officer who likes to jump out of flaming suns holding a phaser while phantom Klingons look angrily on.

Or maybe I’ve misinterpreted something here.

Anyhoo, for anyone who wants to try before they buy, applications for the closed beta are still being accepted on the game’s official site.  So if you’d ever fancied yourself as a budding Kirk or Picard, you can now … make it so.

You know I’m very much looking forward to this game.  Not only should it be cool to play, but I’ve just got so many Star Trek puns to unleash in the lead-up.  Let me just say that I’m apologising in advance for what I’m going to put the readership through.

"Excuse me, I've got faxes to send..."

If you’re crazy/bored enough man to just go ahead and write to SA Attourney-General Michael Atkinson on his whole “R18+ has to think of the children” political stance, then it’s most likely you’ll have made yourself familiar with his standard form letter reply that he sends out to absolutely everyone who mentions the whole issue.

Including his new political opponents, apparently.

The letter is almost beautiful in it’s sheer circular rhetoric.  In a series of mostly contradictory statements, it tries to outline Atkinson’s stance as sensible and well thought out, although all it proves to gamers is the man has no idea what he’s talking about.

Well Chris Prior from Gamers 4 Croydon, obviously a little sick of reading the same letter over and over, has published a rebuttal to the Attourney-General’s completely baseless rantings multiple page photocopy.  Here’s a snip:

Claiming that the infringement on adult freedom of choice is acceptable if it keeps the most extreme content off the shelves is problematic on a number of levels, the first of which being that ‘the most extreme content’ would still be kept off shelves with R18+ for games. The slightly less extreme content would be harder for children to access. As for the infringement being ‘acceptable’, that really isn’t his call. His job is to represent the people his decisions affect. A newer version of the Bond University study quoted by Mr Atkinson in his letter stated that roughly 90% of people were in favour of an R18+ classification for games, and to ignore that is anything but representative.

Talking further on the “trifling” impact on consumer choice of the lack of an R rating, he says that only a handful of games are RC, which must mean there is very little impact. What he doesn’t mention is that the overwhelming majority of games rated suitable for 15 year olds in Australia are rated higher elsewhere in the world. Over 90% of games classified MA15+ between June and November ’09 were rated 17+ in the US. All but one was rated either 16+ or 18+ in Europe. The “trifling” impact is that games intended for adults – recognised as such internationally – are available to Australian children. This is a failing of a classification system that says – first and foremost – that “adults should be able to read, hear and see what they want”, while not providing an appropriate classification for that content.

-Chris Prior, about to sprout wings and halo

Can someone please get Atkinson in a face-to-face debate with these guys? He clearly knows nothing about console parental controls or the “depraved sex” filled games he claims to be protecting us all from. I get the feeling if he actually had to talk to anyone with a little knowledge instead of hiding behind a form letter he’d crumble like wet biscuit.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I could use a biscuit and a cup right now to calm the rageahol.

Check out Atkinson’s much repeated response, and Prior’s recent rebuttal.

As recommended by Ice T

Damn, son.

Without sounding like every other fanboy on the net, I’m going to try and give a critical, even-handed (if possible) opinion on this mega-title.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, in this reviewer’s humble opinion, is a solid game. It continues a long history of excellent first-person-shooters and great multiplayer games, but primarily I have become a huge fan of the single player campaigns.

Traditionally the story missions have been quite short, but after cranking through the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare single campaign a little while ago, I was eagerly looking forward to this next installment.

And how was I pleased.

The game picks up where the last left off; albeit five years have passed.  You now play a new range of soldiers, but some familiar faces (and voices, which for some odd reason, made me think of a fictitious uncle I have that sounds surprisingly like Bill Nighy) crop up along the way.  (more…)

This week’s release of Modern Warfare 2 has apparently, according to Activision at least, been the biggest entertainment release in history.  I’d guess this to have something to do with the game’s hefty price tag more than anything else, but in this respect: what have we been playing this week?

Mark’s Been Playing:

Unlike Matty’s opinion of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, I thought it freaking brilliant. Finished the game today (on regular difficulty), and in an out-of-character event will probably finish all the spec ops, and replay on more difficult settings.

I was honestly surprised at the game. Review coming soon (probably tomorrow). A lot of time  got eaten up by it, even though it is a short game. I actually paced out my gameplay to savour the flavours.

Matt’s Been Playing:

Busy week, actually.  We attended the Xbox Insider Tour on Monday, and got to check out a whole bunch of current and upcoming titles.  I tried out Tony Hawk: Ride, Band Hero (just don’t ask) and even logged another half an hour or so playing Assassin’s Creed 2 (I’m already going to buy it, I don’t know why I keep teasing myself).

Apart from that, back at home I’ve been playing some Tekken 6, and trying out the latest GTA episode The Ballad of Gay Tony.  Reviews this week!

And yes, I did play Modern Warfare 2 this week, but only to check out the oh-so-edgy “No Russian” mission, and try out the Spec-Ops mode (which was good fun).  Apart from that, I think I’ll just borrow it off Mark if I want to play it through one day.  It didn’t really grab me as the “must own” game that Activision would lead me to believe.

Coming in the following months: Tony Hawk: iRide. Same game, white controller!

It’s a little bit disconcerting the amount of plastic peripherals that seem to clutter up the modern day gamer’s lounge room.  If you’re a rhythm game fan, you’ve already got enough plastic instruments to equip a Devo reunion, and if you’re like me, the plastic DJ turntable to remix said reunion on.  And if you own a Wii and can navigate your way across a floor at night without stubbing your toe on a Wii-mote expansion, well then you’ve gained my respect.

For this very reason, when Tony Hawk: Ride was announced and shown off this year I wasn’t very enthusiastic.  Not just because I don’t think they’ve made an entertaining Tony Hawk title since Underground, nor because I’m not actually a fan of full-motion games.  It’s because Activision seem to be determined to take up every nook and cranny of my rather small lounge room with peripherals that we may never see used again, for games that it’s impossible to try before you buy.

However, my feelings about my jeopardised personal space aside, the concept for Ride did sound intriguing.  The skateboard must be one of the very few sporting apparatus that can translate well into a wireless motion device.  So I was quite interested when I found out that the preview would be available for play at the recent Xbox Insider Tour around Australia.  In fact (after nabbing myself some graciously free booze), it was the first game I made sure I played on the night.

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