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Since releasing the Unreal Development Kit only a week ago, Epic Games are reporting the toolset is in the hands of over 50,000 users from over 4,500 cities across 130 countries.
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When asked if I’d buy Borderlands after playing a very early version of the game last year, I answered rather confidently “no”. Has almost a year of refinement and a whole new change of art style changed my opinion? Read more »

Finally putting an end to rumours of Netflix streaming hitting the PS3, the official PlayStation blog confirms that “does everything” will include providing access to the movie service “next month”. <!–more–>

Oddly though, PS3 users will need to insert a BD-live enabled Blu-ray to gain access to the service which will be provided free by Netflix:

Initially, watching movies instantly streamed from Netflix via the PS3 system will be enabled by a free, instant streaming Blu-ray disc that is being made available to all Netflix members. The free instant streaming disc leverages Blu-ray’s BD-Live™ technology to access the Internet and activate the Netflix user interface on the PS3 system, which must be online via Wi-Fi or Ethernet.

Netflix members and PS3 system owners can now reserve a free instant streaming disc for PS3 systems by going to www.netflix.com/ps3. Upon availability, the instant streaming disc will be delivered for free by first-class mail, generally one business day after members request it.

This is obviously of huge benefit for current Netflix subscribers with a PS3 but it could also bring around a number of converts. The PSN currently offers a number of video titles for rental but at a hefty price tag, $4-6. At only $9 a month for the Netflix service, it could well kill rentals from the PSN.

Hate zombies? Abhor mummies? Detest the dreaded undead? Like to play MMOs for free? You could be the one. You could be the Champion we need!

Cryptic studios are letting us all relive our childhood dreams of being superheros by offering a free weekend of their superhero MMO, Champions Online, this friday. <!–more–>

Running 10am Friday 30th Oct through to 10am November 2nd (Pacific time), the free weekend will allow players to experience the Blood Moon in game event which will see the undead taking over with plenty of zombies and werewolves for would-be heros to dispatch.

You can download the game ahead of time from the Champions website.

Offering the deadly combination of MMO gameplay and the Star Trek universe, Star Trek Online is set to ensure geeks the world over are forever more glued to their computer chairs.
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Kombo have revealed a whole bunch of details about the co-op multiplayer for the greatly anticipated Ghostbusters video game.

Offering gamers the unique opportunity to play as one of the four original Ghostbusters, an option not available in the single player game, the multiplayer is a fast-paced, co-operative experience. Taking place on an average phantom-packed day for the Ghostbusters team, players will work together to contain supernatural phenomena around the city while competing to earn the biggest pay check.

• Unique Achievements: Players are given scores and ranks for each match that are also applied to their online profile. Difficulty scaling is available according to rank;
• 6 Unique Power-ups: To help players on even the trickiest of jobs, unique power-ups such as the Ghost Shrinker or Ethereal Shield are available;
• Limited Ammunition: To ensure teamwork, players must pick up ammunition for each type of equipment with ammunition levels being shown on the proton pack;
• Unique AI Features: To add another dimension to the hunting, wrangling and trapping experience of being a Ghostbuster, ghosts have unique AI features such as more aggressive behaviour, the power to sabotage traps and the ability to fuse with other ghosts;
• Full VOIP support: Voice support for both Xbox 360 and PS3 allows for easy communication between players.Two Multiplayer Co-op Game Modes:
• Instant Action: players can test their mettle in a variety of Job Types across a selection of 12 different maps to see if they’ve got what it takes to be a true Ghostbuster;
• Campaign Mode: players work through one of four different environments busting ghosts to earn cash and upgrade their equipment.
  • Six Unique Job Types:  Survival: Survive a paranormal onslaught Containment: Capture all the ghosts Destruction: Eliminate mysterious artefacts to prevent spawning ghosts Protection: Protect Egon’s devices Thief: Save the artefacts from being stolen by ghosts Slime Dunk: Dunk the most Slimers
• Leaderboards and player statistics: have you got what it takes to be the world’s greatest Ghostbuster?
• Ranking: Skill and rank based matchmaking is available.
• Most Wanted Ghosts: these ghosts appear are special ghosts that appear mid game based on the experience of the current players – it’s your job to trap them all.

It really seems like Terminal Reality are going all out to ensure this 20 year wait to reunite the Ghostbusters cast is everything fans expect and desire, ensuring a high quality blockbuster video game, rather than a weak movie tie-in, this is one I really can’t wait to play.

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Rule #2 Trailer

One of the year’s big movies is Terminator: Salvation, so it should come as no surprise that there will be a video game tie-in. The game takes place two years before the movie and will introduce the player to some of the characters in the movie as well as others that you won’t see on the big screen such as Angie Salter, voiced by Rose McGowen, “a fatalistic ex-elementary school teacher who’s still not adjusted to the harsh realities of war”.

A third-person shooter, Terminator: Salvation promises “cinematic fight sequences” and an “innovative, multi-layered cover mechanic”. Given how tempremental those can be, it’ll be interesting to see if developers GRIN manage to pull it off.

Personally, ever since I saw the Terminator movies I’ve been itching to ride on the back of a truck, manning the turret and shooting down HKs. From these screenshots, it looks like I’ll get the opportunity to do just that.

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Borderlands Screenshot

So back in December, Gearbox invited a bunch of gamers to come play a very early alpha build of one of their games in development, Borderlands.

Borderlands Screenshot

Now beyond the fact I played it for a good few hours and I that I liked it and thought it showed some great promise, there’s little else I can say. Not just because of the NDA, but that this was a very early build and much of what we saw was still being decided and ironed out and so there’s no telling how much of it will be in the final game.

That final game does look to be of great interest though. Based around four player co-op gameplay, Borderlands looks to be a shooter with a stubtle mix of RPG elements thrown in for good measure along with lasting replay value coming from unique random environments and weapons, GameInformer reported there’s going to be over 600,000 gun combinations, calling the game a mix of . Landscapes will have main paths that remain the same but with randomized locations for outposts, bunkers and the like.

Most promising for Borderlands though, was the fact the Gearbox staff are already testing and pushing for feedback on the game, clearly they are enthusiastic not only about their own games but gaming in general. With such a pro-active and passionate team, Borderlands is certainly a title to keep a very close eye on.

[Click here to view the Borderlands trailer]

Treyarch have consistently said it isn’t fair to compare their latest Call of Duty offering to Infinity Ward’s ‘Modern Warfare’, when talking about ‘World at War’. Unsurprising given the amazingly high bar set by that game, but lets go ahead and avoid talking about why it sucks compared to CoD4 and simply go with saying why it sucks on its own.

Firstly, the game opts for two very differing WWII scenarios, the Pacific front as the Americans and the Assault on Berlin as the Russians. Lacking a cohesive narrative between the two stories, jumping from one to the other feels disjointed and jarring, breaking up a feeling of progression or storyline and reducing the game to ‘do x objective for y’. There’s no sense of identity among either force. That is emphasised by the game’s attempt, with the American forces, to hammer home the brutality of war, the desperation of the Japanese forces and their willingness to do everything to slaughter the Americans. Once that dark reality sets in, you’re then off to join the Russians and mow down endless streams of retreating Germans, shattering the game’s message.

The game itself suffers from ‘Call of duty-itis’ in that it is a fairly serviceable shooter with beautiful locations, ruined by the fact the game forces you to merely run from one objective point to another. The enemies often feel more like decoration than an obstacle to overcome, especially given the reliance of Call of Duty games on sections with infinitely spawning enemies. This ruins the illusion of fighting as a force as you’ll see your comrades rush forward and be mowed down, only to be replaced by generic soldier #99 who does exactly the same, the cycle repeating until you push forward deactivating the enemy spawns.

Not that you can sit still any way, enemy bullets will penetrate cover and the opposing forces all got handed x-ray specs as no matter what you use for cover or where you are, they’ll still hit you perfectly every time. Good luck returning fire to enemies behind cover though as their sandbags seem to be armor plated, meaning you’ll have to pick your shots to the few pixels of exposed flesh. In intense firefights this can be extremely difficult and a source of frustration.

This imbalance also surfaces with the use of grenades, while your grenades will do little beyond daze your enemies unless laid at their feet, the merest hint of the grenade indicator on your HUD will prompt a quick trip to the reload screen. That is, when the indicator lights up as running when near the edges of a grenade’s damage radius it can fail to show entirely.

It as though Treyarch feel that littering every step with countless grenades or Kamikaze troops is the way to increase difficulty, sidestepping fixing the flawed AI or balancing the weapons so that every rifle feels like more than just a different 3d model.

Multiplayer is the game’s saving grace. A ranking systems where experience is earned per round, unlocking more weapons and abilities is a fantastic idea (If only it had been thought of before… oh, wait) and is spread over six multiplayer modes with strong maps, some featuring vehicles which is great for when you want to even the odds against vastly more skilled players by dispensing with all that marksmanship and just running over them with a tank.

The addition of co-operative play to the single campaign is another fantastic move by Treyarch, it allows up to 4 players to play through the campaign mode and really helps to sell the ‘teamwork’ aspect of campaign, though I invariably always ended up with at least one pacifist team mate who would spend the game lagging behind staring at the sky or their shoes. Team mates downed in co-op can be revived by the press of a button from a fellow team mate, but there is a time limit and I do feel it needed to be a little longer as those ‘infinite enemy’ spawns can make it virtually impossible to reach your buddy in time.

In summary, Call of Duty: World at War is a perfectly average shooter and were it not for Modern Warfare that’d be the end of it. But we’ve been shown now how good these games could be, so this just can’t help but feel like a disappointment. Sure Zombie mode is great fun, but the Campaign feels like penance one must serve in order to get to the fun part and there are a number of other shooters that manage to pull off a great multiplayer experience AND manage to still provide an engaging and coherent single-player storyline.

It has been almost two years since LucasArts revealed their teaser tech demo of what a next gen Star Wars game might look like and with releases of The Force Unleashed on almost anything with a screen, including the iPhone, they are clearly betting on banking big with the next installment of the Star Wars saga.

The Good

Compelling storyline that is almost as good as the Dark Forces games and does well at bridging the gulf between the two movie trilogies.

The force powers are suitably impressive and combined with the destructive environments give a real feeling of raw power. Force power cominations are also satisfying and in the case of the Lightning grenade/Cannonball combo, sometimes hilarious.

Smart AI that clings to objects, each other. My most memorable moment of the game is trying to grip a stormtrooper only to have them grab onto a crate legs swinging in the air.

The Bad

Twitchy targeting can have you facing a room of enemies while you latch onto and force grip the one droid in the room.

Linear level designs, the ones that aren’t about simply going from point A to point B mix things up by having you go to point C first

Limited replay value and lack of multiplayer leave maybe 8hrs of gameplay, 12 or so if you decide replay to collect all items and unlock all costumes.

The Verdict

Visually TFU is stunning and does well to convey the feeling of power to the player especially towards the end where one of the final missions involves pulling a start destroyer out of the sky. The game is hampered by limited replay and the fact that many enemies are easy defeated by repeating the same couple of powerful combos. Once those are unlocked, much of the challenge is removed from the game leaving TFU as a must own only to devoted Star Wars fans. Everyone else will be happier renting and completing over a weekend.