Unshaven and forgetting the names of games, my lesson in professionalism left the Expo in true shock. Marvel as I even claim to be good at Far Cry 2.

Can’t really stop to chat, I have LittleBigPlanet to be playing. You may even get a review/playdiary out of me before Christmas!

Many thanks to Allan and eventually Myk for keeping the site alive!

Clickety click for ugliness.

Now that we’ve managed to get over the slight hiccup that I couldn’t find something called a bus, we’re in London and at the press room as we speak. Or rather, as I speak. Dave and his little brother have gone somewhere. Ash is chowing down on a chicken-club-minus-the-bacon, and Mike is perusing the floorplan. Dan is nowhere to be seen.

So expect many entries, or at least something similar to an entry.

That’s right folks. We’re big enough to warrant a presence at EUROGAMER EXPO 2008! Only we’ll be covering it, not actually being part of it. We’ll be checking out all the games that are touted for release up until about April next year, so it’s definitely worth keeping an eye on us. Plus, we’re press rather than public, so we’ll have the good news where other sites won’t.

So, catch us down in London on the 29th (Next Wednesday), down at the Old Truman Brewery. Visit http://expo.eurogamer.net to get the few remaining tickets, and come down to say hello. Or laugh at how bad I am at HAWX. Or how bad Dave is at EndWar because his accent is unrecognisable.

Update: I have decided to attend the event as Agent 47.  I have also convinced Dave that he too should dress up as agent 47. So, if you want to put faces to names and voices then look out for us at the event. We are still trying to persuade Allan to dress up as Lara Croft, but he swears that his legs won’t be waxy-smooth in time. Pah! Excuses, excuses.
(Myk)

Update from Author: I think you can well and truly stick that where the sun don’t shine, my friend.

Now isn’t this exciting! No doubt we’ll tinker as we go along, but feel free to jump in and tell us how much you hate us.

OK, that was a mildly misleading title; but me, apologise? Never! You may, however, have the chance to be in the Guinness book of World Records, if you enjoy dressing up as your favourite game characters. We’ve just received the following press release from the fine folks running the London Games Festival:

Read more »

Hey folks, we’re trying a funky new feature out, which… in fact, it’s pretty self-explanatory.

We’ve created an Amazon Store. If anyone is interested in buying any of the games suggested, please do it through the store if possible. We get a percentage of your money from Amazon which will go towards the running of the site!

It might look a bit ugly at the moment, but we’ll keep adding to it as we go and let you know of any updates. Also, if you have any games that you’d like to add, please email us with your reasons why someone should play your suggested game(s) at least once before they snuff it.

I’ll add a link somewhere on the site so you can always find it in the future.

Thanks,

Dave

In a study based on <10 males aged 15-40, the GoYUK staff can officially announce that buying older games is now considered socially acceptable.

In an age where consoles cost more than an affordable car, it may be comforting to know that you’re not alone when you’re being tempted by Gamestation’s “4 for £20″ deals. There has been much discussion in the GameOnYou camp about, well, basically not being able to afford all the games we’d like to.

From gamer to gamer, we’d like to extend our unwashed, under-nourished hands to our beloved readers as we enter into a new age of cheapskatery, and being just that little bit more picky about which games to purchase.

Yes, there are some instances where we must have a game on release day (read: GTA IV, Boom Blox, Football Manager, Brothers in Arms). But titles such as Assassin’s Creed, Army of Two and the Battlefield: Bad Company saga have led us to rise and up say NO.

NO, we will not pay “full price” (whoever decided that all games should come out at £40 anyway?) for something that took 3 blokes and cat two months to shit out. NO, we will not fall for your pre-release hype and/or advertising and we would suggest that you should spend your money on titles that deserve it. Yes, Ubi, we’re talking to you. NO, we will not let games companies walk all over us and hold back content that should rightfully be in the game. And finally, NO we will not shell out our cash on games just because there’s “nothing good out for a few weeks”.

It’s not all doom and gloom though. The growth of the likes of Steam and XBLA mean that, more than ever, gamers have the ability to go looking for something outside the mainstream. What makes more sense; popping into town to pick up a 5-hour action game at £30, or paying less than a tenner to buy a puzzle game on Steam that will keep you entertained, off-and-on, for weeks to come?

We feel so strongly about this issue that we’ve somewhat changed our outlook. From this point on, we’ll throw a suitable price-tag on to each game review or quick playtest stating what we think the game is worth. That includes if we don’t think you should ever buy a game, regardless of the price.

As well as changing our review system (more details to come soon), we’re also starting a new feature, tentatively titled ‘Pocket Money’, where we’ll put together a monthly shopping basket worth £50 full of games that we think deserve your money. Old, new, “leet”, casual - we’ll throw together a mixed bag of quality at a suitable price.

To get us started, here’s something to whet your newly-born discerning appetite:

Yo all,

a couple of us were having an intellectual - yet still down-to-earth - conversation last night (feel the power of my hyphens, and equally, my dashes!), and we concluded that we should all play some sort of game on Steam together. Because that’s what sisters do.

To that end, Daniel and I have ordered Dawn of War. I’ve also bought Orange Box so I can get my arse handed to me repeatedly whilst simultaneously being appeased by the jovial, cute visuals.

If you wish to join us in our exploits, you can get Dawn of War with the Winter Assault expansion pack for $20 on Steam, or you can pay £17.99 for the whole anthology on play.com like we did. Plus if anyone has any suggestions for Steam games that we can all get into (read: “afford”), feel free to email me and I shall spare your life. Something that’s either super-arcadey and addictive (with multiplayer), or something that we could employ a bit of teamwork to play preferably.

Don’t forget to look up the GameOnYou Steam Community as well (search for GoYUK), and send us some abuse/join the group.

Dave

For those of you who may not have heard of PlayStation Home yet (it seems to have made much more noise over in the US than it has here in the UK), here is a lengthy video of someone customising their character, running about and generally faffing in the beta.

Imagine this, but with more people faffing about with you. We here at GoYUK Towers are always looking for ways to “get our game on” with our fellow human beings, so we’re pretty excited about what Home might bring to the table in terms of player interaction and immersion. Expect Xbox Live with an avatar, and a lot more potential. Imagine playing Crazy Golf with your avatar then inviting someone over to your virtual house for a whack on your virtual PS1.

Either way, we guarantee that Home will get a mention at E3 this year - hopefully a definite release date too!

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.”