Casual Hardcore Games?

Yo guys! I live in a household where I am the only true gamer. My Dad plays a few RTS and FPS games and that's about it. How much I try and educate my sister to play decent stuff, its hard (especially when my Aunt buys her games like Imagine: Pets!), but I do try and come half way with her and there's few games I can do that with. Some of these games are actually not bad. Mario Kart Wii for instance. It's not as good as say, Double Dash or MK DS but its still passable as a mad capped Nintendo racer. I think us as gamers need to be more open to the casual market. I am not saying buy Imagine: Dentist because we all know that's going to be bad but something like Peggle deserves you to at least look at it. Okay it has cartoon little characters and it actually uses bright colours but its still a good game!

What brought me on to do this is the arrogant people at my school who believe only Gears of War is the only good game in existence and don't realize how good some games can be e.g. Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts. I lent that game to Luke not so long ago and after that I haven't seen it since. Its been passed around all my friends as they all make stupid vehicles to pwn Grunty with. Sometimes people need to be a bit more open minded. So try a casual game today! You may actually enjoy yourself.

picture from: http://www.blogcdn.com/www.tuaw.com/media/2009/01/peggle-1.jpg

Teh gaming news Episode 7

Yo Guys! Its Josh and today I am announcing that we have a new team member! Marshy aka Luke will be covering Teh Gaming News from here on in. So without further ado. Over to Luke!

PS3 and Xbox 360 get new bundled consoles.

PlayStation 3 is to get a bundle console, which will be bundled with latest Sony's groundbreaking game Infamous .It is going to be a 80GB and will cost you £279.99 and will be released on the 29th of may. The Xbox 360 console has only been confirmed so far in Australia it will come packaged with both gears of war 1+2 and a red cardboard box. No one knows if it will be released in the EU or US yet so we will keep you posted.

New modern warfare two trailer

Modern warfare 2 (or call of duty 6) has a new trailer which is the first of the three to last more than 30 seconds or show a decent amount of gameplay. Furthermore the official site was launched complete with trailer.Also Infinity Ward also announced that over 13 million people have played on Call of Duty 4's multiplayer since release two years ago. But that is Xbox 360 figures alone. Also i have heard that there will be eleven story missions which is better than the last installment of the call of duty series. But it has been revealed that there will be 11 extra missions for co-op rumour or truth we'll have to wait and see. Games out 10 of November and don't forget to to check out the site and the the trailer here http://modernwarfare2.infinityward.com/

Square Enix is set to announce three new titles

This week Square Enix is set to announce three new titles , two of which are set to be multi-platform. There is no Square Enix press release so it will be pre-E3, but can these announcements be as good as Square's announcements last year when they revealed that FFXIII would be coming to the Xbox 360. There is only one way to find out and when we do we will post it up.

Hideo Kojima's next game teaser spoiled already

Hideo Kojima if you hadn't been following has a new game announced but no-one knows what. The site that has been set up seen here http://www.konami.jp/kojima_pro/next/index.html it has a basic timer and thunder in the background while what appears to be the letter S,E,Q, but in a Japanese magazine on the back cover the is a black box with a ? mark in it. One reader showed it to a webcam and it revealed what we believe to be one of the cardboard boxes in the popular game Metal Gear Solid with a ! mark above this box also on a different magazine there was another box which had a orange can with Metal Gear Solid bad guy Ocelot’s face stamped on the side. If the ad was not to be released yet is another story. If not heads will fly.

Games to become real in 15-20 years.

According to many sources that in nearly 10-15 years game will have achieved graphic realism. This report comes hours after another source say it will be nearly 20 years before we will able to smell games. So far many companies say there will be no stop to how real games could become even to overtake real life , not sure how it will but it apparently will. Epic engineer Tim Sweeney said "So we’ll certainly see that happen in our lifetimes; it’s just a result of Moore’s Law. Probably 10-15 years for that stuff, which isn’t far at all. Which is scary ". It is very scary as less than 10 years ago we thought square arms were as far a it would go .

And that is teh gaming news from Triforce Games newbie Luke.


Thanks Luke! Now before we go off to play more Halo I just thought I should mention to you guys that we have a new rating system coming in soon! Basically we will be giving 5 sections (Gameplay, Graphics and Presentation, Sound and Replay Value). Then an over-all score will be given. This score will not be determined by the other three scores seeing as a game can have brilliant graphics but be rubbish. This new scoring system should help add detail in what we think of the game. This system will come in place in June. If you prefer the old way please leave a comment!

That's all from us this month! See you guys in June!

Gaming Diary: Elder Scrolls: Oblivion

Yo guys! In this months Gaming Diary I'm talking about my adventures in Elder Scrolls: Oblivion.

My character is an Orc called Ghazghkull (which I totally didn't steal after flicking through the Warhammer 40k rule book). I made him your average Orc and I decided to act like one too. One of the first things I did was kill off a whole village and killed many guards. When I say 'killed' it was more like I ran away until they got killed by something and I finished them off (E.g. I was running away from one in a cave when he fell down into a spike pit.). If that wasn't happening I was usually being chased by angered horses that I hurt by accident.

After realizing I had caught 3 disease's, still only level 1 and having a bounty of 5000+. I thought it was about time to do some quests. So I joined The Dark Brotherhood. Which I really enjoyed. The fact there seemed to be many ways to kill one person was pretty cool. Although the one where you had to drop the mounted head onto the elf's head was hard. A lil tip: Go through the basement! I wish they had told me that back in The 'Hoods lair.

Which leads me neatly to what I love about this game the most. How you never know what's going to happen! This elf had a body guard of sorts who weld a big ass war hammer. I was under strict instructions by my employer to keep him alive or I wasn't going to get extra stuff. So after escaping without hurting him and protecting him from the guards (while he was chasing me of course) I thought I won't be seeing him again. How wrong I was. Later on, I was going to a little pub in Burma (I think) to sell some stolen goods. I walked into the pub when suddenly a big man stood up with a big hammer and ran at me and started to beat me up! I was like 'What have I done to deserve this!' Then I realized who it was! It was my old body guard 'friend'.

Stuff like this is what makes Oblivion a great game. The fact that you never know what's going to happen and its set in such an world it seems anything is possible. Now I know the PC version is much better so please excuse me that I'm playing the 360 version but my PC isn't up to much so this is the only way.

I will review the game... In a few years time when I feel I have got everything out of it!

picture from: http://digitalbattle.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/oblivion.jpg

Teh Gaming News Episode 6

Hey guys!

First I would like to introduce you to the new editor of the site, Jacob. He shall be editing stuff and keeping the site in tip top condition. He has also got some wallpapers up for the ones who haven't noticed yet and there pretty awesome too! So get 'em on ya desktop and feel proud your a fan of Triforce Games! Now to what this article is all about.... Gaming News!

New Dead Rising 2 video!

Capcom can't help but put chainsaws in all there games involving zombies. Resident 4 got Dr. Salvador (or the guy with a bag on his head welding a chainsaw!). Dead Rising got a mad clown called Adam who chased you with dual chainsaws and balloons. Resident Evil 5 had Dr. Salvador's African cousin chasing you down and Dead Rising 2 has... A motor bike with chainsaws on. A stick with two chainsaws of either side. Capcom pulled out all the stops to add more chainsaw carnage! The game itself shows us the new hero of the story (Chuck Greene)... Killing zombies. The graphics seem better than the original too (but what is shown might not use the in game engine although it looks like it probably does) and with the rock music in the background it makes a good watch for those zombie slaying fans.

Lost Planet 2 Demo

Lost Planet 2 was announced not so long ago and a public demo is heading our way shortly! For those who didn't know the game is being produced by the same guy as Resident Evil 5 so fingers crossed this games gonna be a winner too.

Fable 2 DLC

Fable 2: See Into the future is the new downloadable content coming to Fable 2... Soon. You'll find out more out Theresa, be able to command enemies, change your dogs breed and explore new areas of Albion. There will be 12 more achievements too that can bump ya gamer score up by 250! It will apparently give us an in sight on what Fable 3 will be like... Fingers crossed it will involve more puzzle elements.

DSi

The DSi has finally hit and made a impact on the market. For all you who are behind it has a camera, ability to play music and download games through the DS Ware. Oh and surf the net. Not only that but the menu screen has had a new lick of paint and basically is a better looking console. If you still yet to own a DS of some sort nows ya chance!

Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles

With Dead Space Extinction, House of the Dead Overkill and now this for the Wii, I am sure your Zapper will finally get some use. The new Resident Evil game is an exclusive for the Wii and is based on Leon S Kennedy and Claire Redfield as they try and escape Raccoon City (In other words Resident Evil 2). The graphics look great and seems to be one better from Umbrella Chronicles (which me and Mark had a great time playing!).

Gaming Diary = Success!

I myself have really enjoyed doing this over the half term and I am sure I shall carry on the feature when I want to write about games I haven't quite finished enough to review. So keep an eye out for them in the future!

Shameless Plug

Yep, besides from playing video games and managing Triforce Games blog me and Callum our on C21 Web Radio from 7 till 8 every two weeks. You can find us at www.c21webradio.com. So please drop on by and give us a listen! Oh by the way its a rock show so you know when your listening to us when... Well loads of rock and the likes playing. X D

That's all from Teh Gaming News for now!

Signing off,

The Triforce Fighter

Bully - Scholarship Edition

Ta Da.... Yes it is me, Callum and the other week I actually bothered to go outside and buy Bully. I had this game for the Playstation 2, I thought I was great and when this game came out it was on my to get list for a while. So I gathered what money I had went to my local game store and got the game. For those of you familiar with the game you will know the storyline. Basically boy's mother gets married, boy's mother goes on honey moon and dumps boy in a terrible school, boy takes over school. Yeah it's that simple. You basically go running around doing missions to try and win the trust of the different factions of the school. The Nerds, The Jocks, he Greasers, the Preps and the Bullies. Each of the missions give you respect for each of the factions either a negative response or a positive, which leads to you taking over the school. There are also fun mini-games like the lessons you have to go to, they give you clothes or abilities. If you are really bad and you hit too many people and get caught every time you do something bad you get... A detention. Which normally consists of you cutting grass with a ride on a lawn mower. Yes a ride on a lawn mower. If you think that's cool, you can get a moped, bikes and even a go-kart.

Now the graphics i love, the controls for the Wii i love and i just love this game. It is a great buy if you haven't bought it yet it is well worth it. 11 quid or something like that on play.com. So anyway back to the game not play.com, the artwork of this game looks like it has been done by a 12 year old but i love it really, let me give you an example... You know when you're 12, you can't draw hands and you kinda draw them like shovels... That's what they look like, it's amazing really. The controls are pretty interactive as well by swinging the nunchuck and Wii remote like fists to beat up people, what more could you wish for.

Now in my opinion i would give it an A* but it is extremely short. I finished it in a week and i still haven't finished Mario Kart so yeah. With that in account i would give this game a well earned,

A

Second Opinion

As soon as my good friend Callum had finished Bully I borrowed it of him. It has been a game I wanted to play for sometime and thanks to Rebel FM (a brilliant gaming podcast from some of the ex 1Up team) for doing 5 or 6 podcasts about it in there Gaming Club specials I decided to find it. The graphics is of GTA 3, if you've played you will no what I mean. Gritty cel-shaded graphics. Now take some of the gritty-ness out and that's Bully. To put it in a nutshell, it's GTA in a school but with a storyline that is more than 'kill people and take the city over'. Well it feels more than just that because you can actually sympathise with the character! James (or Jimmy to his friends) IS human. Not a psychopath. Something I love about this game. If you're younger than 18 and thirsty for sand box action pick this up. Its on PS2, 360, Wii and PC so you should be able to get it. If you are over 18 you may find this a nice change to the normal GTA affair. In other words a great game!

Picture from: http://www.8bithero.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/bully_scholar.jpg

Gaming Diary: Mega Man 9

Hi Guys,

Right now I am sitting in my room with a Mega Man 9 guide trying to helplessly defeat the game. (It's Mark and Josh by the way) Josh downloaded it from the XBLA and I must say it is a pretty hardcore game. If you haven't noticed as this is a joint article I have made what I have got to say in bold and Mark in normal. To be honest I'll likely do more typing seeing as Mark is better than me!

Right now we just defeated Galaxy Man. When I say we, I mean Mark. I tried but epic-ally failed. I am quite good at platformers but this is a whole new level of hard....ness. I knew what to expect because I had got myself Mega Man 2 on the Wii Shop thing.

I have to say though this game is harder than any retro game I've played in a very long time, I must say as well it is very much like the early Mega Man games. The story is rather simple. Basically Dr. Wily has once again begged forgiveness, but then Dr.Lights' robots go mad and start creating havoc. Dr.Wily quickly comes out to say that he isn't involved in this plan saying that he has turned a new leaf. Megaman then goes out to clear Dr.Lights' name and defeat Dr.Wily once and for all (Well until Capcom feel a bit retro and make Mega Man 10).

This game is can be fast paced or slow, it all really depends on what your playing style is in games like this. The gameplay is simple, there are eight "Robot Masters" and you pick which one to attempt to battle, you then play through a side scrolling level shooting the evil robots. Or something that looks like a giant meatball. Well on Jewel Man's level anyway. I really think Capcom were quite creative with their enemy designs as well, I mean earlier on I found myself fighting a blue elephant that blew a giant pink ball at me... It was scary.

In this game you can also shop in between levels with the "Screws" you have collected (your sister is the shopkeeper by the way, you think she'd be a bit more generous in a situation where evil robots are attacking). What gets me is that you can only use you items once... Only once and they cost the Earth too. This game has NES 8-bit style graphics but was never actually released on the NES and its available for all three major consoles. And for all you guys saying gaming is getting easier then I think this game officially proves that not all of them are!

That's all we have to say about Mega Man 9 for now! Stayed tuned for are next update on what us guys are playing in Gaming Diary!

Signing out, Josh and Mark!

pictures from: http://saitonetwork.files.wordpress.com

Gaming Diary : I finally caved in (World of Warcraft)

Our fellow banner maker Jacob has forever nagged at me to try World of Warcraft and every time I just couldn't see the point of playing it. Why play that when I could play Final Fantasy? I mean they both have big ass swords, stupid names, monsters and some evil bad guy hell bent on taking the world over. Only difference I can tell instead of NPC's repeating there lines over and over you get n00bs asking for gear and whatnot.

I was actually surprised when I started playing. No one hassling level 80's for stuff! The only other MMO I played before in depth was Runescape and I can tell you there was a lot of that. Anyway, my character is a human warrior called Luneth or something like that. It was a name from Final Fantasy 3 which I had fused with another name from Final Fantasy 3. I did first jump to my Warhammer 40k rule book to find a name, but they were to 'spacey' for my liking.

So I was doing a few quests. Kill 10 wolfs that sort of thing. When I was tasked with visiting a inn. Sounds easy right? And it was really but during the 2 minute walk from the gates of the Abbey to Goldshire (I think that's the place) I realized how you never know what might happen in this game. I had been reading the pop ups saying how Goldshire is under attack and Level 80's were needed but you know it didn't register till I actually got there.

I knew something was up when I noticed so many skeletons surrounding the place. I asked the guard where the inn was. He happily told me to just keep following the road. I looked in front of me and there were big monster things everywhere! I couldn't work who was Alliance or Horde all I knew is that it was scary. I think I stood in the middle of this all perplexed for about two minutes until I realized I should really find cover. I ran into the first house I found and lo and behold it was the inn! I got some pumpkins and felt rather chuffed. I thought to myself 'This WoW thing isn't that hard!'

It went down hill from there on. After that I died so many times I lost count, got chased out of a mine repeatedly by tunneling monster things, got lost in a wood full of thugs and BIG bears then finally to cap it all off when I was looking for cover in the forest I found a hut. I went inside thinking 'yeah, I'll eat a pumpkin and be on my way' when I turn around I am trapped inside by 3 thugs and something which looked remarkably like a Gretching from Warhammer 40K. I was like ' What the -' and died....... Again. It got to a point where I gave up finding my dead body because every time I spawned, I died!

I might give it a go again tomorrow..... Wish me luck!