I spent a whole 20 seconds trying to think of a pun for the title – so I can’t argue against any eye rolling or sighing at such.

The big news here is that the UK’s largest retailer of Video Games “GAME” are having some hard times of recent as you may already know.

If this is news to you, then to put it briefly; GAME has lost there credit insurance. Meaning instead of being sent new releases with the notion that they’ll pay for the shipments later, they now HAVE to pay for the new game stock upfront.  Since that news broke, their have been numerous reports regarding select new releases they are not going to be stocking (presumably due to them not being able to afford to stock them, or that they can’t afford to take the risk in stocking them).

Some of the games affected have been Metal Gear Solid HD, to the entire Ubisoft PS Vita launch line-up, and now Nintendo’s “The Last Story” [which even before it's Western releases it has earned cult status - thanks to operation rainfall].

Today through Twitter I caught on about Gameplay.co.uk being shut down.  I was actually unaware this was an asset of GAME’s, but soon Gameplay.co.uk will be extinct, with it’s remaining stock and such going towards Gamestation.co.uk (which if you didn’t know – is also GAME owned).  Furthermore, GAME will be swiftly closing 35 stores in the UK, with plans to of closed at least 60 before Christmas 2013.

[Source & more info on the store closing info].

[image courtesy of @Game_Preston

Digesting that news – I wouldn’t be surprised to see at least 1 of the 3 GAME stores in my home city [Preston] to shortly disappear off the radar, and given the way big companies always want to save face for shareholders sake – the problem could very well be more serious than we know.

Game already posted big drops in there shares recently [via Guardian].

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Personally.  I can only speculate as to how much of GAME corporate’s fault this is for the way things have panned out for them business-wise but I don’t wish bad on them.  Sure, online shopping is the cheaper option, but as a long time gamer I like that we have dedicated stores for our hobby, and I always make time to stop by – just to see if I can be tempted by any special offers… or to perhaps come across a game I’d been interested in buying/ playing some time ago but had let it slip my mind.

Furthermore, the GAME pictured above.  I’ve shopped there for as long as I can remember [since we moved to Preston], taking me back to around 8 years old.  In those days it wasn’t GAME, it was Electronics Boutique (GAME bought out EB in the UK about a decade ago).

Super Geeky Sentimental Note.  I still have my clubcard from that Electronics Boutique, I even had it with me (in my wallet) and pulled it out at an EB there to much chagrin.  1 second, I’ll photo that loyalty card ^_^

EB <3

Some highlights I remember from those old EB days:

• A big selection of PC Games on the back wall, back when PC games came in HUGE boxes.
• N64 games being £55-70 for around a year or 2 after it’s launch, and not having a problem with parting with that much money for a game.
• The carpet was a different colour.
• Megadrive and Super Nintendo ^_^
• Great selection of gaming magazines, on par with the Preston “John Menzies” (which was bought up by WHSmith).
• Gameplay.co.uk related – I pre-ordered and got my Wii on launch day through them.  December 8th 2006 was a good day.

Hudson Soft.  

Most notably responsible for:

• Bomberman
• Adventure Island
• Mario Party Series (the ones before the upcoming ‘Mario Party 9′)
• Several great lesser known but great PC-Engine/ TurboGrafx 16 classics, and more… [Wikipe link of Hudson releases]

…are no longer with us.

Keeping it brief, the company has not had the greatest few years recently.  Konami owned the majority stock in them, and as of very recently, they absorbed the company.

Presumably this means we’ll no longer see the iconic Hudson Bee show up before the ‘press start’ screen on any future Bomberman game releases, although Konami would be foolish not to keep that series alive going forward — and who knows, if they’re ever having a really good year at Konami maybe they’ll fund and bring back to life some classics like the “Bonk” platformer series?

A little bit of internet research shows a number of the Hudson staff left there posts to become part of ‘ND Cube’ (a Nintendo Subsidiary) whom are the guys responsible in recent times for Wii Party and the upcoming Mario Party 9.  So essentially the “Party” series on Nintendo hasn’t quite left the hands of those whom have raised the series over the years.

The Bomberman and Adventure Island are series I’ve been fond of since I first experienced them both as a young child, and thanks to my friends over the years – I’ve always remained faithful to the Mario Party series for a fun multi-player experience.  It’s sad to see the gaming landscape lose another name that was embedded into me from an early age.  Bomberman I’m sure you’ll live on.  Master Higgins though time will tell.

Shout outs also to Acclaim and Midway, 2 other publishers that no longer exist except in revival mode when I’m reliving some old favourites on my classic consoles — and If internet rumours are to be believed… THQ is next.

I’ll be dropping some e-mails today to a few of my favourite game devs/ publishers, as well as some major gaming media websites I frequent — power in numbers people.

The more fuss we make over such ridiculous anti-creativity acts like this, the less likely we’re likely to see it rear it’s ugly head again any time soon.

New Re-occurring Feature Time!!

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Need for Speed Underground 3

It was the Sony Playstation that gave me my first taste of the Need for Speed series.  “NFS3: Hot Pursuit”, and a bit of “Porsche Unleashed” where the games that first brought me in.

From there a host of new arrivals burst onto the driving/ racing game scene, and the “Need for Speed” series wasn’t so much a highlight in what I was playing any more.  That was until… Need for Speed Underground.

Need for Speed Underground came around a time where the concept of “illegal street racing” was gaining main stream hype – partly thanks to the film  “the Fast and the Furious”.  Although credit can’t all go to pop culture for why this game was so appealing.

The in-game gameplay delivered some high tension and highly enjoying races, set in a fictional but very functional city full of tight streets that were lit up for the night, further brought alive by a hit making soundtrack that fit the culture it was inspired upon.  Then pair the previous with a generously sized single player campaign,  which kept you motivated through purchasing upgrades, vehicle customization, and competing in higher stakes events to purchase that next dream car on your wishlist…  well, I know I’m not in my own little bubble when I say “Need for Speed Underground” was a classic.

Over recent years EA has taken the Need for Speed franchise in several directions — some to fit with the times (Pro Street/ Shift…) — some to experiment with the formula a little (Nitro, The Run…) — and EA also turned to their acquired driving game geniuses at “Criterion” studios into bringing to life some nostalgia with 2010′s “Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit”, which was one of the key racing game releases of that year.

So seeing proof that nostalgia can be re-invented…  I think I can’t be the only one that’s ready to go “Underground” a third time.

As a long time South Park fan — I was met with a surprise today when I browsed the XBOX LIVE Marketplace.

No… South Park Tower Defense didn’t get DLC, and no, the upcoming South Park XBLA platformer didn’t get a surprise early release.

Think more along the lines of the closest thing we may ever get to a “Chef’s Luv Shack II” ^_^

See the Video below

Pretty sure this is exploding with popularity right now online, in true MEME fashion.  Although it deserves to be seen

Consider it a comedic “Let’s Play” video on a Difficult Super Mario Clone/ Hack.

The past Friday I got my hands on the “Sonic Generations Collectors Edition” for XBOX 360.

Personally as a big admirer of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise I figured I’d do an unboxing video covering not only the new Sonic Generations CE, but also my Sonic 10th Anniversary Birthday Pack (for Sonic Adventure 2).

Check it out below.

So far I’m really enjoying my time played with the game.  I definitely agree with the words “Sonic Generations is a love letter to Sonic  fans” which I’ve seen thrown around online… a LOT of fan service has been planted into this game.

I’m hype for the release of the 3DS version of Sonic Generations (with it’s own unique levels) later this month.

Update:

Cool video below interviewing ‘Sonic Team’ members regarding the concept and direction of Sonic Generations.

A lot of you may have caught this earlier this month.

Personally I’ve just seen it now, and in an effort to revise a more regular posting schedule on this here gaming blog, I figured I’d give it some more aware-ness, albeit aware-ness with a bit of a skeptical nature.

Trailer below:

First up.  It’s clearly evident this Hitman game has evolved with the times.  Which makes sense considering this game will come after a 6 year absence of Hitman games, and will be truly made for our current gen systems.  Sure enough Hitman: Blood Money saw an XBOX 360 release, but it was merely a finer tuned graphical engine on a game that felt very much like it’s predecessors.

However!  Let me go straight into observation (or criticism?) number 1…  The gameplay trailer seems a lot like “Splinter Cell: Conviction”.  Don’t get me wrong, Splinter Cell: Conviction has a lot of merits and is critically regarded as a great game.  No dispute there, my problem lies with the fact I would much prefer this feel more like a “Hitman” series game.

From viewing the trailer, the level shown gives me the impression there will be FAR too much trial and error involved to learn the levels.  Whomever is playing the level in the video clearly knows how the guard patterns are scripted (you can tell this by how he walks past certain guards without even checking to see if they’ll be perhaps turning around to catch you in plain sight).  In fact the level shown in the trailer has perhaps more guards moving around than you’d find playing an end level of any previous Hitman games on “Silent Assassin”, and I’m willing to bet if you were seen in that level you would lose that gunfight (and that’s even if you were to replay the level when later in the game with much more powerful weapons and such).

In previous Hitman games the levels seemed more open and spaced out to allow it so that if you were seen, you at least had a chance to get away from where you had been sighted, and perhaps nab yourself another outfit from either a bedroom in a building, or from taking out someone, hiding there body, and taking there clothes (leaving yours neatly pressed and remarkably well folded besides said body ^_^).  Costume changing to blend in with the ever changing levels and such was a common trait of the franchise in the past, yet in the video shown it seems like another set piece moment that is pretty much mandatory to making it to the end of the level alive.  Almost as if they’ve simply put it in there for the sake of having at least some sense of familiarity for veterans of the series.

Hitman 2

On my first play through of levels in previous Hitman installments I would generally take my time and play very cautious, sometimes taking upto 20-40 minute to complete a level that I’d later know how to speed run in 5-8 minutes, even with my slow pace though, the level design, and map given to you was usually more than enough to give me an idea of a couple of ways in which I could get to my designated target.  The library level shown in the video seems very hard to read in terms of how to safely get to were I’m going, there is far too much going on, and the level shown [whilst a lot bigger than the average levels of previous "Hitman" games in size] seems quite linear.

Yet whilst it may be linear there are numerous instances were it would be far too easy to slip up and be caught simply by not knowing what action the game may want you to take.  Checking your radio when going past guards to conceal your face, going to the donut tray to avoid the SWAT…  They might seem like the realistic things to do if this was a classy spy film or something, but in terms of a video game, there seems like there could be far too many instances were you’d lose your cover simply because you didn’t know what intricate details the game wants (and allows) you to do.

Hitman Absolution seems to of dropped the freedom of previous Hitman games in favour of telling a cinematic story.  It is unclear from the video if the level can be completed in complete silence like you’d be able to in the previous games, but going off what is shown we see a hostage situation, a gun fight, and a big set piece with a helicopter that almost seems like a lot of scripted events are put in place to replace the old-fashioned hitman tension of not being seen, with a more “action” approach.  It’s sort of similar to the comparisons of the Resident Evil series prior to Resident Evil 5.

Plus, I have to mention the “instinct” view given in Hitman Absolution.  This seems very much like a mix of the “Bat Vision” in Arkham Asylum or the HUD indicators you get in Splinter Cell Conviction, this takes away somewhat from the ‘on edge’ feeling you could have in previous Hitman games.  It’s fair enough to say you did have an unrealistic map in a sense in past Hitman games, highlighting were guards were in all the rooms, but checking that map would obscur your view and character control, leaving you more vulnerable in tight situations.

Another observation is that the game seems ot of “matured” like several other games of recent years.  “Hitman” games of the past have had a sense of humour too them, sure there is NPC dialogue in this game, and the fact a cop was killed with a hippies bong, but fans of the series will know what I mean when I say this game feels distant to the previous games in it’s presentation and delivery.  This might not prove to be that big of a deal in the final game, as long running series do need to evolve to remain relevant, but it goes without saying this is another example of the franchise distancing itself from it’s roots.  Kinda similar to how more “mature” GTA:IV was compared to the much more light hearted “GTA: San Andreas”.

Now, putting aside my gripes with the changes.  The game does look interesting, and it’s certainly on my hype radar as far as 2012 game releases go.
Still… right now I have a lot of concerns that the Hitman games I have loved for the past 10 years will only remain in my nostalgia, and the offerings of a ”Serious game vs Fun little murder filled Sandbox” given too me in the past will remain in the past, and that I’ll have to learn to live with the fact that the fun playful child I knew has now grown up.

I encourage anyone who took the time to read to drop comments, opinions and counter arguments below.

I’m going to presume you’re a gamer if you happen to be reading this article, well good, because there’s something I want to run by you and remind you of real quick.  Firstly I’ve got to ask, when you was growing up, did you ever talk and speculate to [your video game liking] friends about what the future would be like for video games?

I know I did with many different friends of mine… heck, I ought to do again sometime soon for old times sake.

When we weren’t speculating how amazing the graphics would be, or what the consoles could do… or optimistically believing in Virtual Reality coming soon [circa 95]… The KEY thing me and several different friends would wonder was how amazing “X” game series would be in the future.  Now, I didn’t back one horse as a kid, I loved both Nintendo and Sega, as did quite a few of my buddies back in the school days.  So we’d enthusiastically tease ourselves and bounce ideas off each other about how amazing Sonic or Mario would be in the future.  Whether this was merely a “in the next sequel I want…” wishlist, or some far-fetched ideas as to how the games might play, I can fondly remember having conversations like that a lot.

So here’s the deal.  If me and my playground/ neighbourhood kid buddies could of had a sneek peek back then at November 2011.  Our developing minds would be BLOWN!!  Let me highlight a few releases (UK dates) for November 2011 to illustrate my point.

UK Release Calendar:

• November 4th — Sonic Generations
• November 8th — Super Mario 3D Land
• November 18th — Zelda: Skyward Sword

Ironically, part of the charm of the new Sonic Generations game would be lost on my child-self as the classic Sonic bits would seem all too familiar, although obviously with a beautiful graphical overhaul, however I know for sure I would be circling that game in catalogues to ensure my parents knew for certain to have that ready for me on Christmas Day.  Beyond that though, I’d argue that Sonic Generations might be a better sampling of ‘next gen Sonic’ than what Sonic Adventure brung (although I was still taken back by Sonic Adventure when that hit me (at 14 years old).

Now for Zelda.  As a kid Zelda gained so much respect out of me simply for the size and length of the adventures they presented too me.  That was enough to seal my love for the series back then, and it’s a love that has only grown and grown as the years went on and the sequels went in [...my Nintendo's ^_^].

I’m talking about those “Limited Edition Super Mario Licensed Converse”.  They were unveiled and hyped up across several video game news outlets and blogs a few months back, and for a while now I’ve been occasionally checking eBay to see when they’d pop up for importing (I’ve seen that there have been a few knock-offs/ fakes in recent months, but forget that isht! ¬_¬).

Kinda breaks my heart to know they’re available now but that they’re costing a vast amount of gold coins to acquire.  I don’t think there are enough “?” blocks and hidden brick blocks containing like 9 coins in (providing you continue to jump fast enough) in the world for me to justify these even though I HIGHLY HIGHLY like them.

It’d be cheaper to tattoo the whole pattern onto my bare foot (now there’s an idea…).

Oh if only I could justify saying good bye to £180 right now.  Heck, if only I had £180 to my name right now

Click >HERE< for a list of the ones currently on offer amongst eBay.