Two barrells of fun, coming right up!

In the unlikely event that Red Dead Redemption doesn’t pick up any Game Of The Year awards, then it must be a shoe-in for the Most Anticipated Title of 2010.

Before I kick this review off, I’d like to tell you about the craziness that was release day here in Australia.  To begin with, five of around seven major games retailers broke street date a day early, much to the delight of gamers country-wide.  When I went to pick up a copy at around 11AM, the Big W store I visited hadn’t even had time to shelve the game’s boxes, and had sold over half their stock just over the service counter.  Leaving the store, the 50-something gentlemen who validated my parking smiled when he saw my copy of the game and pulled out a copy from under his booth’s desk.  As he explained it: “My son wanted me to bring him home a copy, but I think he’ll have to wait until I’m done with it”.

Rockstar must truly be the kings of the hype machine.  Unsuspecting console gamers (who didn’t even know they liked Westerns) have been either playing this game recently, or broke.  They were apparently the only two options on hand.

So then, for a title that everyone simply must have, how is Red Dead Redemption once the hype wears off?

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I can't believe this name was shouted down by the press club

Xbox Australia has officially announced today a new official partnership with Foxtel (one of Australia’s major pay-TV networks) to deliver pay-TV via the Xbox 360 console.  Officially.

The move comes mere days after Sony’s announcement that they will be providing their own Movies-on-Demand service (spanning all the major movie studios no less) for the PlayStation 3 later in 2010.

Microsoft’s announcement basically continues the two consoles conflict as to who can provide the better media hub.  Xbox already has it’s own pay-per-view movie streaming deal in Australia, while PlayStation owners freely get to make use of ABC’s wonderful iView catch-up program.  Packages for the new Foxtel partnership haven’t been announced yet, but the announcement confirms that you will need both an Xbox Live Gold subscription and a seperate Xbox Foxtel subscription to recieve the service.  So if you’re staunchly a Silver account holder, you’ll have to go Gold if you want your new pay-TV.  Pricing is also yet to be announced, but I for one would keep in mind that these are the people who’d ask you to pay 200 wooden nickels MS Points for a single music video.  Something to consider.

The new Xbox service is creatively titled “Foxtel by Xbox Live”, as if that was seriously the best name they could come up with.  Why not BoxTel? Or FoxBox Gold?  Anyway, if you’re interested you can head on over to the official announcement for full details and PR approved quotes.  The word “innovative” will probably be used in there somewhere.

Both 360 and PS3′s new entertainment offerings will be available later in 2010.

What IS the square-root of Lost Planet, anyway?

Harry Nilsson once famously sung “One is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do”, and if you ever have the misfortune to play Lost Planet 2 singleplayer then you’ll discover all too well what he was singing about.

Yes, I’ve been having a mixed experience back on E.D.N III this week, homeworld to any number of warring humanoid factions and a wide variety of enormous deadly fauna.  Lost Planet 2 is the sequel to Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions, and features multiple protagonists from different backgrounds to tell it’s story.

What that story might be, who it pertains to and why we should be interested is a matter of debate at this point, as most of the game appears to be centred around not being squashed by a giant animal with glowing orange weak spots.  There were only a few chapters during the game’s campaign that seemed to book-end properly, and even then it was a little difficult to figure out who these people were or what they wanted to achieve other than survival.

But who cares, right?  This game isn’t about compelling characters or intriguing plot, it’s just about fighting sky-scraper tall beasts and living to tell the tale.

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It's wall bustingly good!

It is with a sad heart that Matt and I must announce that our band, The Afternoon Frolics, is breaking up.  We had a whirlwind time recording 5 albums and doing countless world tours since the creation of the band in mid-January.  Unfortunately, when living in close proximity with one another certain facts cannot be overlooked.  For us, it was that Matt, as band leader, refused an octopus the right to be our drummer.  I found this unacceptable and we have agreed to go our separate ways.  However, more about the break up of what many people referred to as “a modern day Herman’s Hermits” later.  Now it’s time for me to talk to you about what made our career possible: LEGO Rock Band.

Let me start by saying that I am a huge fan of the Rock Band series.  Anyone that read what I wrote about it in our countdown of the best games of the previous decade would know my feelings about Harmonix and it’s rock creation.  From the outset they put out a strong product that showed that they were serious about what they were doing.  All the while LEGO had been turning it’s hand to games with the creation of the LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Indiana Jones thanks to the fine people at Traveller’s Tales. Harmonix, most likely to compete in the family friendly Wii market, teamed up with TT Fusion to create a LEGO rock spectacular.  Apparently only half of those at TT Fusion were on board with the concept, who wanted to make sure they “weren’t just skinning one franchise on another”.  Once their fears were allayed production was begun in late 2008, with release in November 2009.

And apparently we’re so lazy that we only bothered to pick it up in 2010.

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Bayonetta? I hardly knew her!

Bayonetta is, from my perspective, a button masher’s dream game. Just like in the old Street Fighter games of yore, if you learned 4 moves through mashing trial and error, you are set for the rest of the game. Add to that some amusingly thought up moves, gore, unlimited ammo and some decently executed quick-time events and you have me hooked.

I am not the finesse player that the guys are, sadly. As I’ve said before, I primarily like games for their storylines, not how many achievements I can get for twisting my fingers into arthritic pretzels. Over-intricate gameplay and punishing difficulty often get in the way, same with sidequests, achievements, leveling up and poor writing. Fuck that shit, man. Too hard.

Or that’s what I would be saying, if I hadn’t been converted. Sigh, I am just too easy.

Though, please don’t take that ‘easy’ comment as some kind of lead-in/segway to how trampy Bayonetta herself is, because Bayonetta, as a game and as a character, has attracted some fairly heated discussion on the nature of female protagonists and sensuality in games. Although certainly not the first over-stylised female character in gaming history (remind me to pick up Dead or Alive: Paradise when I get the chence), she has drawn the wrath of feminists, those supposedly rare, idolised ‘girl gamers’ and the politically correct. Her overtly sexual nature, the way she is presented in the game and even the dimensions of her body are apparently an affront to women everywhere.

However, my problem is that as a female, I just don’t get it. Why is she so offensive?

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The JPEG doesn't exactly flatter Flower's appearance

I’ve had some mixed responses to supposedly “medatative” games in the past.  Some games I’ve found can really support a relaxed atmosphere for the player, while others seem to make being calm as a challenge that must be acquired competitively.

Well Flower, a indie title from ThatGameCompany, is simultaneously both of these and somehow neither.  It’s one of a very small collection of games that manages to be more about the experience than the goal, and probably a member of an even smaller group of games that can make a convincing argument for the “games as art” debate.  Flower carries itself with a relaxed sense of style, and is capable of conjuring up some of the most beautiful imagery to grace gaming in a long time.

It’s even got me talking wishy-washy.

As the title suggests players take the role of a flower.  Or, perhaps more accurately, a flower petal.  From the moment it is plucked from it’s home, this petal simply wafts on an invisible breeze until the player gives it a direction to move in.  From here, your petal must collect petals from surrounding flowers, which open and begin to shape the landscape around them.  Opening a whole collection of certain flowers is greeted with an explosion of colour, as brown grass turns green and more and more petals fly up into the air.

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I hear the Standard Edition is even rarer than the pictured "Limited Edition"

Albert Einstein once famously said: “I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones”.  It’s a pity the brilliant mind didn’t live into the 21st century, because video games lately have been trying their hardest to answer the first part of his statement.

I’m reviewing Battlefield: Bad Company 2 this week, the latest mutliplayer shooter from DICE designed to spirit away our time online.  I specify multiplayer shooter because, like many of it’s current-gen peers, Bad Company 2 is an enthralling online experience with a single-player campaign thrown in.

In many ways, the great action game has come to reflect the great action movie.  Over-the-top, espionage based plots, set against exotic locales with sufficient big explosions to satisfy your average Michael Bay fan.  Bad Company 2 certainly delivers in all these regards, although it appears to have adopted a slightly more serious tone than the original game.  Sure, you’re still treated to some amusing banter here and there, but essentially much of B Company’s previous personality has gone AWOL.  In fact, anyone who hasn’t played the original could easily be forgiven for assuming the squad of military insubordinates were just regular soldiers with a sassy sense of humour.

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Before you ask, no, he doesn't kill people using origami

Low Level Spoiler Alert: While Heavy Rain can be quite easily ruined by someone telling you about plot elements before you get the chance to experience them first-hand, it’s almost impossible to give you my impressions without stating the situations to which they apply.  To this end, this review will bring up a few in-game situations characters find themselves in, but I’ll keep the character names and motives to a bare minimum.

I’ve found myself a little confounded at how best to explain Heavy Rain to anyone who hasn’t played it.  Quantic Dream’s new “interactive drama” for the PlayStation 3 manages to confound a great many base assumptions about games and on what level we judge them.  It’s probably easier to rule out a few things that Heavy Rain isn’t, rather than try to explain what it is.  It’s not an adventure game, as most problems that the game presents to you need little in the way of working out.  It’s not, in the traditional sense, an interactive movie, as characters rely on the player for both physical and psychological guidance.  It’s certainly not as revolutionary or as innovative as Quantic Dream head David Cage would have you believe, either.

Nor is it, as Sony head Jack Tretton may have you believe, completely unique style of game.  To better prepare myself with David Cage’s body of work before trying Heavy Rain, I purchased and completed Indigo Prophecy (also known as Farenheit) a few weeks ago to get myself in the mindset.  For anyone who wants to find out if they’d like Heavy Rain without the hefty price tag, I’d suggest doing the same.  For those of you who have played it, Heavy Rain is easily described as Farenheit HD.

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I just wanted to make this joke before anyone else did.  In other, less hilarious news, your original PS3s asplode…

Piggybacks are fine, Little Sister, just don't ask for a helicopter

The 2010 sequel season (sequelganza!) continues it’s unstoppable march with the release of 2K Games’ BioShock 2.  The highly-anticipated “Deco ‘n Daddy” shooter has been a long time in the making, suffering delays in 2009 and requiring no less than five game studios to bring to fruition.  Has the result proved to be worth the wait?  Or does the sequel fall prey to the high expectations carried over from the original?

It’s been almost three years since we last descended into Andrew Ryan’s Rapture, and from the moment you stumble to your feet in BioShock 2, you’ll feel like you never left.  In-game, however, it’s been ten years since the events of Jack Ryan’s return and Fontaine’s fall, events for which our new protagonist was, for all intensive purposes, stone dead.  Subject Delta is an early model “Protector” Big Daddy, who’s line was genetically bonded to a single Little Sister to increase the effectiveness of the pairing.  Delta’s Little Sister is Eleanor Lamb, daughter of Rapture’s new leader Sofia Lamb.  In the game’s prologue Sofia gains control over Delta and forces him to commit suicide, reclaiming Eleanor in the process.  Ten years later, Delta falls out of a Vita-Chamber and discovers that he’s regained his free will.

From here Delta must make his way back to a now teenage Eleanor and effect an escape from Rapture’s grasp.  Along they way you’ll meet both new and familiar faces, and discover a whole new side of Rapture in the process.

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