E3 2009 Mats Predictions

Just though I would put up my quick list of what I am hoping for at E3 2009 from the big three. Its not a list of everything I am thinking but some of the stuff I am looking forward to and hoping for the most.

Microsoft

Halo ODST – Gameplay demo on stage with trailer and release date

Halo Chronicles/Peter Jackson’s game – Teaser trailer will be shown

Alan Wake - Trailer and release date

Mass Effect – Trailer, 360 and PC exclusive

Modern Warfare 2 – Gameplay demo on stage, new trailer and XBL exclusive beta before launch

Motion Camera – Will allow you to control your 360 with motion, several games will be shown to launch it with

New Xbox Live Features- Some cool new stuff for Xbox Live

360 slim- A mini 360?

Sony

God of War 3 – Gameplay demo with trailer

Heavy Rain- New footage

MAG – Looking forward to this now. Hope to see a lot more of it.

PSP GO! – The new PSP will be shown

Big improvements to the PSN and PS3 front end

Something new and cool

Nintendo

Bring back the faith and hardcore love. A new modern Zelda would be great that not going to be cut to shit for the casual market. Not that I have a problem with casual and Nintendo’s new audience but they have forgotten about the people who made them who they are.

Pokemon Fire Gold coming to Europe at the same time as the USA. Thats what I want.

Late To The Party: Rez HD / Part 1

So A friend gave me a few MS points for my birthday not to long ago and last night I though “fuck it I am going to buy something”. Despite always getting any new Halo DLC 800 points for new game modes is just too much I am sorry. So while looking through the list of Arcade games I came across Rez HD and remembered all the talk about it at the time and how Area 5.tv is named after it. So I check out the trail and ended up getting the full version.

Rez is hard to describe, its part shooter, part amazing visual and audio experience. In fact it could be compared to Flower on the PS3 in a lot of ways. From what I can gather its set in side some sort of computer system and you are trying to get rid of the infections inside it. There are a few pages of story you can read but I don’t really care about that. Rez is just such a laid back shooter than you can just play and get deep into without having to worry about it too much. The gameplay is very basic and never changes and the beat of the music allows you to be drawn in very quickly.

I will report back on the finer details of the game when I have finished it and might look into the story in more detail but for now I will say beyond playing though it a few times this is going to be a great game to play when I just can’t decide what to play or want something to do when chatting with friends over live.

Format

So this happened a few days ago but I can only really be assed to get round to posting about it now. Anyway I lost the entire edit of Shadower in college. Yea yea I should have had a back up but its more the fact that it was some stupid person who was suppose to only delete his/her work and ended up removing all the stuff on the hard drive. I am the wost off as I was the only other person working on it at the time but people did lose past projects that where still needed. So yea I have to start the edit again. Lucky I know whats what and have a version as a .mov file to keep as a general reference to remind me of a few things I added to it. Its pissed me off none the less but the film should be done this time next week with a lot of work I hope.

Level Design is going much better but I really don’twant to talk about production any more, lets talk about Windows 7. I was looking forward to Vista but there is a lot of hype and good things being said about 7 and I think its great Microsoft look to be putting out what could be the best version of Windows ever some people have said. We really have the likes of Apple and Google to thank for this. The pressure they started to put on Microsoft has pushed them up a great deal and they are really getting back on the top of there game. I usually wait a month or two before getting a new OS (well I did with Vista) but bar any major worries close to launch I will be getting Windows 7 on day one.

One really fun game I have been playing it Sins of a solar empire. I have always had a massive interest in ship combat and being able to control massive fleets is a dream come true with sin’s. I have yet to check out multiplayer (which I might do now) as I will most likely get my ass kicked but I have just had a lot of fun playing with the AI so far. Anyway when stress drops off a bit more I will have more interesting things to talk about so, talk to you all soon and stay safe.

Fuck The BBC

I said fuck you to the BBC and ordered Season 2 and 3 of the wire on DVD. I can’t be bothered with there very late night showing of such a great program. I really hope it arrives early in the week as I can’t wait to see the reason of season 2. There was a lot more focus on character building this season which I enjoyed and you found out a good bit more about them out side of there line of work. So yea BBC if you are going to buy great TV and show it at a shit time, just don’t bother. Reminds me why I love SKY 1 so much.

In other news, I have a lot to do. Thank goodness all this college work is all most over for the year. Not that I hate my college work but they did fuck us up this year. Very much looking forward to some of the stuff next year though. But its going to be great getting more time for level design again. Happy with how the current map is going so far. I have also been playing around with the L4D SDK, so it looks like I am getting into source at last. Anyway just though I would post an update with more to come when I have time.

Can’t wait for E3!

New Products

Time Magazine, Fable DLC 2, Guildwars and Banjo Nuts and Bolts. That’s more or less all the new stuff I have checked out in the last week. I am on a trial with Time at the moment but I think I will get a subscription set up because I love having stuff to read in the afternoons and on Sunday along with the paper and Time really fills that gap. I really enjoy the wide range of topics they cover and from the looks of things more or less anything from Obama to the I-Phone can end up on the front page.

The new Banjo has had my interest for a wile but it wasn’t until I saw it on sale for £14 that I finally picked it up. Honestly I am not that interested in the story missions, sure I have played though a good number of them so far but the real fun is in building vehicles for the missions or to play around in. Its beyond belief how stupid they can be and that’s why its so much fun. The main story line in the new Fable DLC was shorter than I had hoped for but it was VERY well done and it was more or less a teaser for Fable 3 at the end. I don’t have a lot to say about guild wars at the moment apart from I am really liking it so far and the fact that its free to play is great.

Talking Weekend – Work and Play

Yet again we are even more fucked at college. In fact as we where given the new dates for our assignment hand ins, which have now been brought  far forward due to a college inspection of high education, I called the page “we are fucked”. Got a few laughs for that one. The main thing I need to worry about this weekend is getting a research log finished off for Wednesday. Luck I had a good bit of it done in the first place. There is a lot I can only do in college because that’s the only place I can get on the mac’s so I am going to have to put in a few days that I am usually off.

Its been a wile since I talked about level design and its my main thing really so its about time for an update. After I finished DM-Fort (which I was not happy with) I tired a few other maps which as people pointed out where lacking a lot. Determined not to get stuck into my old ways and do fuck all over and over I have set my self a sort of schedule to stick to each day to make sure I spend several hours in Unreal. Wile I am still working in Unreal I am now making maps for a mod called haunted. Just to be clear I am using there mod and tools but I am not working with them I just found the mod a LOT of fun and wanted to work with it for a wile. So that’s what I am working on at the moment and look to be back on track.

I have some reading and gaming to do too. The new Fallout DLC rocks and can’t wait to get stuck into it again tonight. Braid is also waiting for me on the PC. Sunday has become a day I really don’t like to do much work on anymore. I really enjoyed having a day I don’t do much else apart from eat, read and game along with Lost in the evening so that’s the way its going to stay. I am around half way though Watchmen at the moment which again I will talk about when I am finished. Along with EDGE the weekend paper bla, bla bla.

Ok lets pull this one back in, going to watch this weeks CO-OP soon and have Myst on the I-Pod touch to play in bed tonight. Have a good one.

District 9

My favorite director Neill Blomkamp’ s next project District 9 just got its first trailer and O my I can’t fucking wait for August. This guy should have been allowed to make the Halo movie but, I think this is going to prove them all wrong when it finally comes out. Neill has a very different style of film making and the fact that his stuff is set in Africa is very different for a change. Really hope this gets the hype it deserves as it looks like we have one hell of a film on our hands.

At long last I am reading watchmen after seeing the film. Its been good so far to see all the bits that the film had to cut out but at the same time seeing the motion picture helps to build up a visual in your head a lot better (even though its a comic). But there is a lot of depth to Watchmen and I am going to need an entire post about it after I am finish. Finally I just got BrokenSteel for Fallout 3 and it now makes the ending one of the best rather than one of the worst. Really looking forward to playing a lot of fallout this weekend. I have loads of level design stuff to talk about and college work but I really can’t be arsed to post about it at the moment but I will try and get some footage from Shadower posted very soon. It should be done in another week or two anyway. 

My final though it fuck them for not picking up Life for a third season, hope to catch season 2 very soon. A very pissed of Mat saying talk to you soon.

Weekend Update

I am heading away tomorrow and wont be back until Sunday so I though I would post a quick update before going. So I am working on a new long term project that I hope to launch soon in the form of a podcast. I have been bad about keeping the one I had been running up to date so I am going for something with a very different style indeed. Don’t expect anything until the end of May though. I have an Audio Production assignment in college so I am tying it in with that. I am working away on levels as always so keep an eye on gearsofgames.net as its getting updated a lot more often now.

Really can’t think of anything else to say apart from go listen to the new, a life well wasted its very good stuff.