GameOnYou UK

Hey folks, sorry about the lack of activity recently.

I’ve been doing my dissertation, see! The last of my written work is in on Tuesday, so normal service should resume after that - including the podcast! In the next few days we’ll release (better late than never) Episode 3, which I’ve been neglecting to edit.

In the meantime, Allan’s doing a stellar job of keeping up the news output! Egg custard prize for Allan!

Ooorah?

Seriously though, because I have very little time before I bundle off to work, and I know that most people will just read the top few because they’re funny, and then spend the rest of their evening in Liberty City, I will make it easy on you. I’m just going to link to the articles themselves, and call it at that. OK? OK.

• Immigrant Council Fears GTA IV Influence (Games Radar)
  
• Man stabbed queueing for midnight launch of ultra-violent video game Grand Theft Auto IV (Daily Mail)
• Croydon Stabbing ‘had nothing to do with GTA’ (MCV UK)
• GTA 4 launch leaves school “deserted” (VideoGamer.com)
• PS3 GTA IV suffering freezing errors (GamesRadar)
• Rockstar gives GTA PS3 advice (Eurogamer)
• GTA IV online is down [OLD NEWS] (PS3 Fanboy)
• Microsoft confirms GTA 4 episodes for the autumn (VideoGamer.com)
• eBay sellers profit on GTA 4 shortages (VideoGamer.com)
• Watch Ricky Gervais’ GTA IV stand-up show (GamesRadar)
• GTA IV: GAME’s Online Store Force-Bundling GTA IV [UPDATED, BUT STILL RELEVANT] (Kotaku)

Three observations:

1. Daily Mail was obviously the first to link the stabbing to a violent video game, despite how quickly it was pointed out that the victim wasn’t even in line for the damn thing.
2. The PS3 version is the one that has been listed for both points of failure listed above.
3. People will always, without doubt, try to wring anything for money (but that’s a given, yes?)

Enjoy!

I’m surprised that they didn’t see this coming, but maybe the makers of Crysis were naive.

Citing things such as ‘massive piracy’, and therefore small returns, Cevat Yerli (the President of Crytek) has said that they will no longer be making games exclusively for the PC platform. Don’t misinterpret this; they will still be making games for the PC, it just won’t be the only platform that they are working on.

Now I have a chance at playing Crysis, since if they develop it for the games consoles, I will finally have the specs required to play it.

Grand Theft Auto 4 has now been placed on the Gamerankings database as It has now surpassed the minimum of 20 reviews. It has zoomed past Ocarina of Time by 1.1% and has made it to the top of the list!

Frankly we’re not particularly surprised as we have been predicting this for a while based on the rave reviews it’s been getting.

What do you guys think? Drop us a comment…

Source

Yes, that is the resounding sound from Richard Bartle, the creator of MUD, who is currently teaching at the University of Essex. He is in fact, referring to gamers.

If only I had the sheer brashness as this guy has, I would have come out with a similar message. It lays into those that are in parliament at the moment, saying that all these terms for gaming, such as “moral decay” and “aggressive tendencies” are just code for them not understanding the whole idea of gaming, and why it has attracted such a following. The article further delves into the Byron Report’s real reason for existing; to give politicians some real wallop when it came to going on their crusade against the video game industry. The problem is, the report that they were dying to see was indeed balanced and fair. The author relates it to her birth year, because her generation was the maiden audience for home computing, and therefore gaming as a whole.

I loved reading this article, and I highly recommend that you read it yourself. It can be found here.

OK, that might be slightly sensationalist, but it’s certainly true to a degree.

There will be no Xbox Live Arcade release this week, due to Grand Theft Auto IV. Not sure if you’ve heard of it, but it’s supposed to be this average sandbox game where you play a two-bit criminal trying to get rich and get on top of the gangs in a place called Liberty City.

Should do well.

On a serious note though, I don’t like this. I don’t like how Microsoft are sitting on their laurels, and not releasing a game. Granted, they’re not really that good anyway (imho), and it’s always good to give workers some time off, but in a game that’s selling more for their major opposition than for them, especially in system sales as well, I would hope that they used the time to come up with something else. With MGS4’s ominous arrival, Microsoft will no doubt have tough times ahead.

The definition of an embargo is “A deadline before which information should not be published”. That means, Big Four, that you are not to sell a product before the embargo is up.

As much as I would love the owners of the Big Four would read this, I doubt they would. But regardless, images of a shop receipt have appeared on the official Sony PS forums. The receipt provided is a genuine one from Clackmannanshire, where an ASDA retailer has sold the game for the PS3 before the embargo is lifted (It’s still down for another ten and a half hours, as of time of posting). They are selling it for £39.71, if you’re interested.

Since all retailers had to sign a legally binding agreement, they have broken it for all retailers in the world, and it will all snowball. What’s more disturbing, is that the copy in the photograph was bought on Friday the 25th.

Please see here for said photograph.

I honestly hope that ASDA goes on Take2’s blacklist for games releases, and that their restock delivery goes missing.

EDIT: First post done using my EeePC. : D

I would like to apologise for the title but I just couldn’t resist…

I have never played any of the other Metal Gear games online before so I cannot really compare this to the other Metal Gear online experiences. However, from my several hours of gameplay with it so far, I can say that it is everything you would want from the Metal Gear series piled into one neat little package…

It may sound like I am being a little one-sided, but just so you know that I am not, here is a nice list detailing the pro’s and con’s of what I have experienced so far:
Read the rest of this entry »

GTA IV gameplay footage is exploding all over the internet’s innocent, quivering face at the moment. Join me, my friends, as I engage in some good old fashioned English stubbornness.  Hands on hearts time.

“I hereby swear that I will not cave to the pressure and go to GameTrailers.com. The most exciting game in many a year it may be, but that is all the more reason to be strong under fire. I do not care for watching someone else experience physics or vehicle damage, regardless of how splendid it might be. I don’t want to watch somebody else’s Niko cruise the exquisitely-detailed streets of Liberty.

No. I will wait until I hold my copy of the game in my hands. And then I will lock myself away for several weeks and gorge myself on the awesomeness that is Grand Theft Auto IV.”

That’s right - so far Grand Theft Auto IV has had 4 reviews counted by Metacritic, 3 of them 100%, the other 98% and through Metacritic’s weighing system it averages out at 100%. Pretty slick so far. The summary follows…

Official Xbox Magazine UK - 100
It’s got a world you believe in, a cast you care about and a script stuffed with brilliant moments… Utterly stunning in every resepct. [May 2008, p.79]
———
IGN - 100
I could go on and on about why Grand Theft Auto IV is one of the best games we’ve ever seen and why even folks who are easily offended should play it, but that would be pointless. The only thing you need to know is that you have to play this game. Period.
———
IGN UK - 100
Expectations were so high for Grand Theft Auto IV that one of the biggest surprises is that it’s managed to meet them. That it’s also gone on to confound these is truly a marvel, and the game’s Liberty City is nothing less than one of the greatest videogame worlds yet conceived.
———
Xbox World 360 Magazine UK - 98
Rockstar have surpassed themselves, delivering unquestionably the definitive GTA and perhaps the greatest videogame of all time. [June 2008]

And that’s just the 360 reviews…
Read the rest of this entry »