PEOPLE, Rockstar have announced earlier on today that Grand Theft Auto V has a set release date. Despite every one of us at GAME saying "Yeah, it's definately being released in Spring.", obviously we were being kept in the dark. Anyway...
- September 17th -
For all of you who don't keep up to date, but just want to know about GTA, here's what Rockstar said:
Dear all
Today, we have an official release date to share with you: Grand Theft Auto V will arrive in stores on September 17, 2013.
We
know this is about four months later than originally planned and we
know that this short delay will come as a disappointment to many of you,
but, trust us, it will be worth the extra time. GTAV is a massively
ambitious and complex game and it simply needs a little more polish to
be of the standard we and, more importantly, you require.
To all
Grand Theft Auto fans, please accept our apologies for the delay, and
our promise that the entire team here is working very hard to make the
game all it can be. We are doing all we can to help ensure it will meet
if not exceed your expectations come September – we thank you for your
support and patience.
Yours,
The GTA Team
SO GET YOUR ASSES DOWN TOWN AND PRE-ORDER NOW. Get your free poster with every pre-order!
That is all.
So we've got a good line up ahead of us in the next few months even with Halo 4, Far Cry 3, Black Ops 2 and AC3 recently gone, the future's looking pretty awesome! There are so many games being released that've been in development for a while, Sony and Microsoft could be sending out their well loved 360 and PS3 with a boom. As you've all probably heard, both Sony and Microsoft could be releasing their new next gen consoles late 2013/early 2014. With specs of around 4gb RAM, eight core 1.6 Ghz processor and 500gb hard drives these consoles must be capable of producing 1080p and 60fps standard. These are just rumours, but i hope they pump the specs up just a tad more, since PC gaming is just that step ahead already.
Anyway as I was saying, we've got so many games around the corner that I thought I'd do a quick list to keep people up to date.
Ni No Kuni -1st Feb
Cannot wait for Ni No Kuni, I'm taking the day off especially! Being a fan of Level 5 that created White Knight Chronicles and the Professor Layton series, they have worked along side Studio Ghibli to create such a wonderful title. It'll take appox. 40 hours to finish on a normal playthrough and 80 for full completion, it's going to be like Skyrim all over again. Hooked.
Dead Space 3 - 8th Feb
I've been a fan of these since day 1 of the original. I still remember playing my first hour of it, when you're in the straight jacket being chased into a nearby elevator trying to escape one of the first fucked up necromorph, heart racing you think you've escaped him until he rips his way in, all you want to do is pull the trigger or something to stay alive. Man, I seriously can't wait for Dead Space 3.
Aliens: Colonial Marines - 12th Feb
The trailer for this looked so sweet, when you heard the beeping of the machine guns' rader getting faster and faster with aliens around, so good.
Crysis 3 & Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance - 22nd Feb
Loved Crysis 1 and 2, just wasn't a fan of the multi-player, but Crytek have amazing results with their new cryengine. Crysis 3 will own all other games graphics-wise this year. I'm excited about Rising, don't get me wrong, but this is a game I think I'd probably wait until it's reduced before buying. Not sure why, but I'm more interested in The Phantom Pain. Youtube it, it could be Metal Gear 5. Yeah.
Tomb Raider - 5th March
This is a tough one. With Eidos being taken over by Square Enix, the "New" Lara doesn't seem as much of an icon as she has been. The game looks really dark, but the gameplay still looks as good as ever, if not better. I don't know too much about the story, but being an origin (How Lara became the 'Tomb Raider') I hope it's a lengthy one. All we can do is wait and see.
Gears of War: Judgement & The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct - 22nd March
Gears being a prequel, I am interested but I want to read others' reviews about it first. It sound awesome and all, but they've all kind of been the same in my opinion, adding Horde mode was the best thing they did because once the story's out of the way I didn't have a urge to go back to the games. As for the new Walking Dead, I'm a massive fan of the Telltale Games version and cannot wait to see what this is like!
Bioshock Infinite - 26th March
It took me a while to get into the original Bioshock, and a few people nudged me into playing it. I wasn't too fussed on steampunk and the playstyle of it, but once I had it for a couple of hours I loved it. Hooked up to surround sound and everything. Bioshock 2 wasn't great, but was fun and an awesome concept. With the gameplay trailers I would love to jump into this and feel as immersed as I once was.
Grand Theft Auto V - Spring
The new GTA looks immense, awesome graphics, cool story (Bro) and a massive island to play around on. Switching between the 3 characters will be awesome, this will be a treat for a while!
Dead Island Riptide - 26th April
The same crew, different island, more story and new weapons + skills. YAYAH! Dead Island's a great game, good fun and was ALMOST perfect. The only downside was the fact that you couldn't play splitscreen co-op. I hope this is rectified in Riptide so I can play it with my wife, just like we did with Left 4 Dead. Good times.
The Last of Us - 7th May
To be totally honest, I haven't seen much of this. It's one of them games for me, because I've played all the Naughty Dog games and love them all, I'd probably just buy it without know much about it and be like "Yeah, that's awesome!" then love it. It does look great though.
Resident Evil Revelations - 24th May
I seriously don't know why Capcom had to port this to other consoles? It was doing fine as a 3DS exclusive and was one of the only reasons why I got mine in the first place, but, as a hard core Resi fan I don't mind. I just hope they do more with it in terms of voice, graphics and gameplay polishing. Also, don't make any more spelling mistakes Capcom. Heheeh.
Remember Me - TBC
Love the trailer, it reminds me of Mirror's Edge and they've even stolen the highlighted areas to jump to. But as it's Capcoms first attempt, i'd be forgiving.
Beyond: Two Souls - TBC
Just OMG. Looking at the Kara trailer and seeing what that company can do, is like emotionally jaw-dropping. BUT, the composer of all the music Normand Corbeil passed away just a few days ago. With the game still in production, It'd take a massive punch in the gut because Quantic Dream's games are alll about the soundtrack, story and pulling on your emotions.
RIP Mr. Corbeil. I'm sure you've made many people fall in love with your music. Listen.
Anyway I'm having a good week, finishing street pass quest on my 3DS, getting FF13-2 for £5, Pizza Hut, monopoly, payday tomorrow, Ni No Kuni on Friday and getting a free Halo 4 display sign from work. Awh yeahh. I hope it's the same for all of you!
Peace.
-Lloyd
An amazing 3DS mystery game with a gripping story, a magnitude of puzzles and characters with more personality and back story than most other new releases to date. This is the first Professor Layton game I've played in the series, starting off mainly because it was the most appealing 3DS game at the time, and I had been meaning to play the series eventually, it seemed appropriate.
If you haven't played a Professor Layton game before, you play as Hershel Layton a typical English gentleman, professor of archaeology with two young apprentices (Emmy and Luke). It plays like a point and click game, well suited to the 3DS' capabilities and gives you help with puzzles in the form of 'hint coins', that let you unlock hints to get through tough puzzles. The game's story revolves around Hershel's past, his friends, growing interest in archaeology (Covered by flashbacks in certain chapters), a town called Monte d'Or and a mask called The Mask of Chaos. As you start, Layton is contacted by an old friend stating that there is havoc being caused by a man in a mask, The Masked Gentleman, and is performing miracles by turning people in to stone. Layton, Emmy and Luke go to Monte d'Or to see what is happening and to find out the mystery behind The Masked Gentleman, solving puzzles along the way. The puzzles in this game do vary in difficulty, but generally get tougher as the game progresses. The Masked Gentleman performs multiple miracles in front of Laytons' eyes, but he sees through them in an instant.
This was a really interesting game to play, grabbing your attention and keeping you entertained constantly as there's always something new. It's good for all ages, preferably anything older than 10 will do as some puzzles can be hard without the help of the hint coins - or the Internet, if you go brain dead like we did. It took us just over 15 hours to finish, and that was just a normal playthrough, doing everything we were told without going overboard, but there are a load more puzzles left to do if we want to go back to them.
Should You Get Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask?:
Yes. This game was really easy to get used to in terms of controls, and fun to watch it's animated cut-scenes and gameplay in 3D. It was a great game and I'd happily play it again. Grab it if you can! It'll make you want to play the others and watch the animated film. The only downside to the game is, when you get around half way through you'll know who the Masked Gentleman is, it's a bit transparent.
My Rating:
9/10
When I finally received these through the post after 4 weeks (Took 2 weeks to send, then a further 2 just to arrive), I was eager to use one straight away on my new Nexus 7. The colours, feel, weight and use of them are really good and up to scratch compared to others around and their prices. Since I use them for typing, general navigation and painting with Sketchbook Pro, I took an instant liking to using these.
I completely recommend these to anyone who's interested in getting a touch screen stylus, because it's amazing value for money and well worth the novelty and quantity. I would give these a full 10/10, however I've had them for a couple of days now and 2 have already broken with light use after work - the nibs have gone flat. That and the postage taking so long, if I bought these again I'd happily pay for faster delivery if possible.
My Rating:
8/10
Give them a go and you won't be disappointed! - Amazon Link
Having the time this weekend and seeing both available on my dashboard, I was so eager to play both of these. And now I cannot wait to play the full games!
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
I played through the tutorial for a couple of minutes to get the hang of it, got too excited to continue so i skipped after I had to slice the mannequins. The graphics are quite awesome, but i wasn't expecting amazing since it was only a demo. The demo starts you off as Raiden, linked up to a cool small stealth bomber getting briefed for the upcoming mission. As you land, all you want to do is kill. As much as you can. So you come across your first bad guy, slice him up finely into cheese then completely muller him with a finisher that steals his spine. Nice.
Anywho, I don't want to spoil much for ya. I know Raiden's awesome and all, but I was hoping for more gun-play as it's all sword, constantly.
Dead Space 3
After downloading, I instantly started up this demo and was plonked on the menu with campaign or weapon customisation options. I was real interested about the weapon customisation so I went with that. Before I knew it, I was in a tiny room with a Bench (Weapon upgrades and customisation), a few windows and a big door. So I walked up to the Bench, had a fiddle, was suprised to see that I had been given a load of materials to play around with! So I went for it, and once again, before I knew it I had made my own single handed Spartan Laser! (I'm still happy with it). You can create weapons from scratch, and it is immense. Starting with the frame, going all up to the tools that it uses and the power core. Amazing.
Content enough with my new weapon, I went for campaign. Starting off as Isaac in his infamous suit, his helmet folded upon his face just like a transformer, soo good. You're amongst a load of debris from a burning ship wreck, low on health (Indicated by the red light on his spinal health bar) stammering through the blizzard in search of anything to make Isaac feel better. This game plays so well throughout the demo and feels like walking art, with something new to see every step of the game. Blindsighted by all the snow, you get to a point where you get jump-scared your first enemy, and that's where there the game grabs you.
Verdict:
I'm not too much of a Metal Gear fan, but Rising: Revengeance is still an awesome game to play. However, it didn't grab my interest as much as Dead Space 3 did. With not much else to say, and since they're both demo's I can't really give them my all. But based on these so far, I'm so much more excited for Dead Space. The story, controls and the fact you can build your own weapon and stomp on some alien 100 times with guts and blood splashing everywhere just to make sure something's dead wins my vote this time.
My Ratings:
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance - 7/10 Could've been improved with guns.
Dead Space 3 - 10/10 So far, completely content and eager to play the full game with or without a friend.
So I've had my blue 3DS XL for a couple of weeks now, and after fully checking out all the apps, functions, online store and a few games I really enjoy how the console keeps you entertained constantly. When I was looking at buying, I was curious and a bit worried about whether I would use the 3DS more than other gadgets, especially with my new tablet on the scene, but it does an amazing job with street pass and play coins, two functions that want you to name your 3DS and take it everywhere!
Street Pass is genius. Whenever you put the console on stand-by with the built in wireless turned on, you can take it with you wherever you go and connect with other people that also have a 3DS, sharing your mii (a cute little representation of yourself), your 'likes' and game information so you can unlock extras in certain games. Play coins are another smart feature of the 3DS that transform the console into a pedometer, turning every 100 steps into a coin that can be used in games (two of which already installed on the console itself).
Anyway, this is a review about the XL, and since the software hasn't changed there's no point going on about things you probably already know. Being the bigger model of the 3DS, it feels a load more solid and not as fragile as it's younger sibling. Two upgrades Nintendo made to the 3DS which I like, is the top screen snaps into place when opening to a certain angle, and the 3D slider clicking into place. The screens being bigger are definitely worth the extra £30, but one annoying thing is that all of the XL models do not come with a charger. I mean come on Nintendo, you're not making any more money on this, in fact your actually losing out on sales when chargers aren't in stock. Besides that being the only problem which I overcame, because my wife has her own 3DS and I can use her charger, I have no problem whatsoever with this lovely piece of equipment.
Should You Get A Nintendo 3DS XL?:
Yes you definitely should, if you can afford it of course. I picked this over a Vita and haven't looked back. With it's great exclusive games for all ages and play-styles, awesome graphics and the big 3D screen you can't go wrong. The only quarrel I have with Nintendo is the lack of charger, but was rewarded with a free full-game download of New Art Academy over the New Year.
My Rating:
9/10
Right people. Here I am. My name is Lloyd Fleet and I'm writing from Hastings in England, crap weather as always. But I want to make the most of that. I work in GAME down at the local shopping centre as a part-time sales assistant trying my hardest with everything I do and keeping up to date with it all. I want to start talking about all things in the gaming industry, be it headsets, upcoming games, reviews of games or consoles and even about the artwork behind it all. But hey that's enough about me, I want to keep things interesting!
Gonna start off with a couple of reviews since I have a bit of time.
