Upcoming

Right, not that I've finally vented my indignation at Bioware allowing EA to pressure them into producing a sequel inteded for an audience that didn't play nor really cared about the previous game (I mean seriously, when on the box the phrase "A good entry point" is one of the quotes it screams dumbed down) I can hopefully and finally get down to business.

I've got a few ideas in the pipes:

Expect a lot more expanded Extra Credits. In short that series is a tremendous resource for video game fans and aspiring designers alike. James Portnou knows his stuff, and Alisons art mixed with Floyds script and altered voice is a beautiful way of delivering this. I guess one really good thing came out of Zero Punctuation afterall, other than weekly trolling sessions.

I'm also going to do an in depth analysis of Sonic 3&Knuckles, Sonic 4 and Sonic Colours (I'm British, more accurately English). The reason being that Sonic 3 means a lot to me, being one of my top 10 games. Sonic 4 is the supposed sequel to such, and Sonic Colours is being heralded as being "the first truly modern feeling sonic game" so I'd be mad to not do a close cross comparison, given my experience with the franchise and my love of sonic. Don't worry, I'm as much a sonic hater as a lover, mostly because the recent stuff has been a shit-streak on sonics previously sterling face. I'll also be doing this on the Wii, using the wand turned sideways to eliminate controller prejudice.

I want to take a look at Magicka at some point. This is an indie title for digital download and truly a gem of a game, utilising a combo-system to generate a variety of spells on the fly. Mostly I want to focus on the god awful xbox controls. Being a primarily PC gamer I tend to stick with mouse and keyboard, which magicka delivers on briliantly, but my girlfriend prefers gamepads, so she was using it with her laptop so we could 2 play.

I'm also planning on doing some more in depth game-play on my other blog, The way I play, so expect some fallout 3 and some Dragon age love there soon.
Additionally, I might do a mini article on the use of themematic material, as well as HUD and menu design of fallout 3.
Also expect a side-by-side comparison of Fallout 3 and New vegas in the future too, and basically how they differ.

I'm also planning on doing an article on "difficulty sliders" and how they're steadily becoming a bit lazy in modern gaming, just buffing enemies rather than changing the challenge and the nature of the challenge.

That'll do for now!

teh_steve