Ghosts of Christmases Past

It has become a bit of a tradition for me to get out my old consoles and computers during the Christmas holidays and this year has been no exception. I've been up into the loft and amongst others I've brought back to life my Megadrive, SNES and my C64. My wife is not happy. But anyway, games I've played so far include the seasonal Daze Before Christmas, Madden 93 - I always play as the NY Jets and I don't know why, NHLPA93 - I always choose to be Edmonton and again I don't no why, Road Rash 1 & 2, Desert Strike, Exploding Fist and Suspended. I even rediscovered the delights of Rollo to the Rescue and have been playing the slightly festive James Pond 2 on my GBA. I just love all this cartridge, cassette, 5 1/4" disk, game swapping madness! I love it as much as I loved playing all the way through the latest games. Must be an age thing.

Two things have struck me while I've been playing on these old machines. No, number 1 isn't my wife hitting me with her high heeled shoes from across the room. No, the first thing I noticed was that so far this holiday I have spent as much time playing all of my older games as I have spent playing just one current generation game, Tomb Raider Legend on my Xbox360, so far this holiday. The second thing I noticed was that Electronic Arts used to release, wait for it, GROUND BREAKING games! They created and published games that other publishers could only dream of or simply wouldn't take a risk on.

We all know only too well the EA licences that now monopolise today's charts, all those once great games that have spawned huge franchises that release and re-release sequel after, often lacklustre, sequel year upon year. But in the deep murky past there are so many great games. Many gamers will remember; Racing Destruction Set, B.O.B, Archon, Bards Tale, Where in the world and Where in time is Carmen Sandiego, Boulderdash 2, Caveman Ugh-lympics, Chuck Yeager's Flight Simulator (a 3d flight sim on the C64!), Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future, Power Monger and Zool. I can go on and on...... so I will. There's Centurion: Defender of Rome, M.U.L.E, Wasteland, Crüe Ball, Rampart, Neuromancer, The Untouchables, Robot Rascals, TKO and more. Even the original Fifa was risky. Taking on the might of top down kings Kick Off and SWOS at their own game. Isometric computer footy wasn't new but it had never been able to compete with the speed and fun of the top down twosome. Fifa took everything that was great about Kick Off and SWOS, made it look gorgeous, include tricks and flicks, set the gameplay in treacle and viola! It was a massive risk that paid off and ironically Fifa is now one of the reasons EA take a lot of stick.

Not all of these EA games are classics of the same calibre as Archon but there is a tangible commitment to fun, variety and quality for the benefit of the gamers. How could it all go so wrong and when did EA get all cynical and more interested in their profits than the gamers?

Let's not end this here. After all it is the holiday season and so I'll leave with a jolly thought with tinsel on it. XBox LIVE Arcade has done a good job of releasing games that would have been in our shops a few years ago but that now would never ever have seen a shelf in the local game shop never mind be lucky enough to sit there gathering dust. Better still the new Wiiware channel will go a step further and give developers the freedom to be ground breaking and once again we'll see new innovation, creativity and variety in videogames.

A Christmas Treat

It's Christmas Eve and all through the house not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings are hung and the children are dreaming they'll find a Nintendo Wii and Mario Galaxy not a PS3.

Now, Christmas is not complete without a surprise and Gameov3r has a surprise for you. It's courtesy of forum members Fifi and Shine and, well, here it is......


Direct LINK.

Thank you both. I know getting this posted involved lots of emailing and even more time.

All that remains is to wish you all a very happy Christmas from everyone at Gameov3r. May all your presents be binary ones.

Videogame Character of the Month - December

Yum! 5 litres of sprouts with my Christmas dinner. You can tell I’ve been excited again recently. I hope my Butler remembered to order enough sprouts….. It will be quiet around Gameov3r Towers on Christmas Day so no one will moan about me farting and I’ll get some quiet time with my Sega Saturn down in the cellar. We’ll bask in the green haze together.

Where was I now, oh yes I was excited. It's a strange feeling being excited. Doesn’t happen often to me. I did get excited when that princess turned into an ogre in Shrek. She was pretty hot! This time I’m excited because I got an email from NiGHTS inviting me to Dream World for a chat and a brandy. An ideal opportunity to add him to the Video Game Character of the Month gallery. I didn’t tell NiGHTS I’d be doing that just in case it wanted money or told Sega to bill me or something. They suggest my name enough in their games and I don’t see a bloody penny!
Now I’d much rather be in front of my TV playing games but I said I’d do these interviews, Sonic will never be back in my cellar after the last interview by the way, so I will. For once I don’t have to pretend to be hospitable and share my beanbag and beer with anyone either. I hate it when visitors get greasy hands all over my controllers! I always get my own back though. I like to put “things” in the visitor’s drinks and snacks and then giggle as they run to the bog.

This interview is a bit different. Firstly because I was asleep whilst it took place and second because NiGHTS doesn’t say a lot so we communicated with telepathy and eyelid flickering. I scribed the interview retrospectively once I woke up.

GO: You’re a kind of Jester or something are you NiGHTS? And tell me do you have a pair of horns that fill that funny hat? It is even a hat or is that a pair of floppy antennae attached to your noggin?
N: I’m a Jester and it’s a hat.

GO: Are you a he or a she NiGHTS? I had to describe you as an “IT” because I can’t tell.
N: It’s quite embarrassing but I’m a bit of both. My creator, Wizeman, thought he could control my sibling and me if we were created to be androgynous. I decided he was evil and went to help Claris and Elliot anyway.

GO: You have brothers? Sisters? Things?
N: There are Nightmaren and there’s Reala. Reala is my equal and opposite and is Wiseman’s right hand man. Reala is in the new Wii game too. I’ll have to sort it all out again.

GO: Nice plug so while we’re on the subject you’d better tell me about this new Wii game.
N: It’s a great adventure called Journey of Dreams. The Nightmaren are threatening to take over Nightopia again and there are two new children, William and Helen, that I’m helping. It’s magical and everyone is going to want to buy it and play it.

GO: Let me be blunt with you NiGHTS. Your first game wasn’t well received because it was only released on the Saturn and there were only 2 Saturn’s sold in the UK. All you really have is a cult following made up of people that haven’t even played your first game. Not exactly a great recipe for a repeat success now is it? What makes you think this new game will be a hit? Do you even want fame and worldwide acclaim?
N: I don’t want a star on Hollywood boulevard or anything. I don’t even want to be as popular as Mario but a bit of extra cash in my chequered pants back pocket would be nice. I quite fancy getting a cape like that Superman too. He’s quite cool but not as acrobatic as I am. That’s why people will buy my game.

GO: Forgive my abrupt questions NiGHTS. I am already one of your fans and I’ll be buying your new game. I still have my Saturn, analogue controller and a copy of your first game as well as the Christmas Special that I’ll be playing at the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve.
N: Wow! Thanks Gameov3r. Just don’t fall asleep while you’re playing. I’m on vacation in Bermuda and Nightopia can be a scary place without me to guide you.

GO: It’s ok NiGHTS I’ll keep Continue? by my side just in case I end up in Nightopia. He’s been spoiling for a fight since Stuart insulted his very existence.
N: Another mince pie? I soaked them in ale for 3 weeks just for you Gameov3r.

GO: Don’t mind if I do NiGHTS. Don’t mind if I do. Better not be too late back though. I don’t want to be out when dawn breaks. I forgot my fingerless gloves. Before I go though let’s get that Saturn on and have a race on ManxTT after the mince pies.

Spot The Difference

What is it with all these comparison videos that keep appearing lately? You know the ones where the differences between the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of a game are put side by side with a split down the middle highlighting the major differences how identical the games are. It seems any release worth mentioning must have one of these now. We've had The Orange Box, Assassins Creed, Burnout Paradise, Devil May Cry 4, Call of Duty 4 and countless more. Here's just one of them in case you've been lucky and managed to avoid them...



I keep finding myself watching them thinking one will come along where there actually appears to be a reason for it. Maybe it's me missing the point and the real point is to prove that there really is virtually no difference. Even if there was you'd be hard pushed to see it on videos this size, even with the HD versions. If there really are big differences that may influence a purchase then fine, go ahead and tell me and then wait for all the teen fanboy comments to begin. Actually I think it's these comments that annoy me more than the videos themselves. Well I say annoy, I think amuse would be a better word.

"Compare the flashes when the sword hits the enemy. you can tell that they are using more cpu on the PS3 version because there is more detail in the effect."

"if you pause it you can see that on the PS3 version she has more shadow reflection and on the 360 version you don't"

I've just realised if it wasn't for these videos I'd be missing out on classic comments like these and I'd never have thought to look out for new graphic effects such as shadow reflection. Bring 'em on!

Use some more of your CPU today and visit the GAMEOV3R Forum

Have yourself a guilt free Christmas

This is not a videogame entry at all, unless you have an exercise bike in front of your TV and you ride while you play games. Specifically this is for the cyclists out there, there are a few of us on the Gameov3r forum, but don't worry if you're not a cyclist! This is interesting/useful/depressing for everyone and anyone that's having Christmas dinner.

Gameov3r dares you to indulge on Christmas Day and not feel guilty about it.

Below is a typical Christmas dinner menu but it also shows how many calories are involved and then how much riding time you'll have to do to burn them off.

Christmas Menu
Roast Turkey (90g) = 149kcal, 4g fat
Roast Potatoes (85g) = 127kcal, 4g fat
Stuffing (100g) = 231kcal, 15g fat
Bread Sauce (45g) = 42kcal, 1g fat
Roast Parsnips (90g) = 102kcal, 0g fat
Boiled Carrots = 14kcal, 0g fat
Boiled Brussels Sprouts = 32kcal, 1g fat
Gravy (50g) = 17kcal, 1g fat
Cranberry Sauce (30g) = 45kcal, 0g fat
Pork Sausages (20g) = 62kcal, 5g fat
Bacon (40g) = 135kcal, 11g fat
Total = 956kcal (calories), 48g fat
Hours riding = 1hr 49min 53sec

Dessert
1 port'on Christmas pudding (100g),
custard and brandy butter = 587kcal, 22g fat
Hours riding = 1hr 7mns 28sec

Snacks and supper
1 portion of mixed nuts (40g) = 243kcal, 22g fat
Hours riding = 27min 55sec

1 portion of cheese and biscuits = 394kcal, 27g fat
Hours riding = 45min 17sec

1 glass of mulled red wine = 245kcal, 0g fat
Hours riding = 28min 9sec

Total riding time: 4hrs 39mins 42sec

Times based on average speed of 15mph carrying 70kg

The example meal comes to 2,425kcal. Working on the 2,500 kcals daily guideline given for men on most food packaging Christmas dinner alone takes you over that. Given that you'll almost certainly want breakfast, a few other snacks and supper, Christmas Day can easily shape up to being a 5,000 calorie indulgence session. Source of food calorie counts British Nutrition Foundation.

Having a Christmas dinner? Got a bike? Diet? Got a belly to rival Gameov3r's? There's room for you on the FORUM. Gameov3r may want a Chunk's Truffle Shuffle Competition if you say your belly is bigger than his.

SWOS AWOL

Today finally for hundreds of fans and months of waiting Sensible Soccer made it's way onto the Xbox LIVE Arcade. Originally set to be released on a date way back in August, it was held back due to concerns over the quality and in particular the online play.

So after all this time things should be absolutely perfect right?!... Wrong.

Although the game was available to download earlier on today it has since been pulled with the following having been posted on Major Nelsons blog.

"This game has been pulled. I’ll post an update when it is available again. In the meantime, if you downloaded this busted version, please delete it and when the new one is available you’ll be able to downloaded it again (at no charge if you purchased it.) While you do that, I’ll go yell at some folks for letting this happen. Apologies and the moment the proper version is available I’ll update this post."

After the mess up with the new video download store things appear to be going a little pear shaped down at Microsoft. If it was any other game it'd be more understandable but to still not have it right for whatever the reason doesn't exactly instill much confidence in the final version does it? Did anyone actually manage to download this earlier and find out what the problem is?

UPDATE: This version incorrectly disconnected users that attempted to connect to Xbox LIVE.

The official Microsoft announcement states that an incorrect version was made available. If that is the case I'm a bit unsure as to why it's still being worked on now.

UPDATE 2: 21.12.07 The fixed version is now available.

Pay a visit to the GAMEOV3R Forum or just leave us a comment right here

Anya. Berserker. Satellite? Again!

When did I last talk about the Xbox on here? Anyone remember? No, me either. I’ve definitely been neglecting the Xbox over the last few weeks. So while I big upped the Wii, generally slagged the PS3, big upped the Wii, big upped the DS and big upped the Wii some more the Xbox has missed out on some quality blog time.

To make up for this here's a gratuitous Xbox promotional picture……


Marvelous. I’m sure that makes everything all better.

But that’s not all the Xbox fun for today. Oh no. Not on your nelly. Or something. I read today that apparently, I didn’t see it myself, Amazon.com had Gears of War 2 listed for pre order with a release date of 15th November 2008. I say “had” because a short time later it was removed as quickly as it was listed.

Firstly, bloody hell that’s a long bloody way away and it’s not even the European release date! At least I live in the hope and expectation that that amount of time means Gears 2 won’t just be a rehash and should offer an all new experience. Secondly, neither Microsoft nor Epic have even announced a sequel, not officially anyway. So I wonder if someone at Amazon.com knows something the rest of us don’t? Has someone taken a calculated guess based on the original’s release date? Can big retailers such as Amazon actually influence the developers and publishers, even when they’re Microsoft sized, into giving them release date so they can get lots of pre order cash?

The good thing is that we all KNOW Gears of War 2 is going to come out. We’re just waiting to hear when. It can’t be soon enough for me personally after recently completing the original on insane difficulty in co-op with gameov3r co-host Lee.

So come on Microsoft …. Come on Epic ….. Put me and all the Gears fans out of our collective misery and tell us when we’ll hear such awesome quotes from Marcus and his squad as;

“Shit!”
“Sucks to be them.”
“Shit!”
“That smells nasty. What are these guys made of, shit?”
and “Shit”.


Guess you have to have been there.

A simple question then…. Gears of War. Any good? FORUM!!!!!

Vick's Monday Blues (Football)

One for the football fans... or just fans of people falling on their arse.



Pay a visit to the GAMEOV3R Forum or just leave us a comment right here

:) Vick :)

Rock Band Unplugged

Looking forward to Rock Band? Just be aware that this is what you really sound like. I just love the singer as he shuffles around not quite sure what to do with his arms...

3000 Barrels

Kind of puts my experiments with The Orange Box physics to shame...

That Sinking Feeling

On 11th December Microsoft set out into the glorious sunset with the launch of the Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace. Yes it's been a while coming to these shores but the water looked calm and peaceful.

"We pushed it back because we thought that the service was big enough to deserve its own launch, and we wanted to make sure we tested everything and had it all ready so you had a great experience when you try it. Right away at launch, you’ll be able to download to your heart’s content."

But...things haven't been going so smoothly, and by the light of morning it became clear that Bill's boat had been made of cardboard all along.

Issues such as downloads not finishing, slow download speeds, error messages and even people getting a different film to the one they asked for.

All teething troubles I'm sure, but I'm curious to know how popular it'll be. With standard definition films around 1.5-2Gb and HD versions around 5-7Gb you're talking a lengthy download for most peoples connections.

The way it works is that you keep the film for upto 2 weeks but once you start to watch it you have 24hrs to finish it before the film expires. Is this a service you would use or is it just less hassle to pop down to Blockbusters?

Do you have a boat that Bill could borrow? Let us know on the GAMEOV3R Forum

Nintendo slay fat black turkey

Monster Hunter has seen massive success in Japan on Sony's PSP. The popularity of the game, despite it's short comings, is astounding and we all know that if a game sells like hot cakes it's almost a written rule that it will get a sequel. The originally titled Monster Hunter 2 came along in due course impressing the already loyal following and forcing gamers, that had ignored or missed the original, to sit up, take note and then spend their Yen on it.

Why should you care?

Because Monster Hunter is good. Very good. And there's going to be a third instalment...... and it's going to be on the Wii.

The controls were never really suited to PSP so if this is done properly the mix of team-based dinosaur slaying, character customisation AND massive amounts of selectable equipment will make this series realise it's full potential on Nintendo's baby. Better still, this game will be mammoth, pun intended, if Capcom, as is suspected, make this game online.

Fingers crossed for yet another game that will be a must have for Wii owners.

Here, for your pleasure, is a teaser trailer.....



There's just one little detail I haven't yet mentioned and it's a detail that was the clincher while I was deciding what I would write today. You see, 2 years ago Capcom agreed with Sony that Monster Hunter 3 would be released for the PS3 but because the PS3 has turned into a turkey Capcom have moved the game to the Wii. That's not all either because it's now a Wii exclusive too!!

If you want a definitive definition of videogame irony or you just want to know why you should never share your bath with a toaster come and ask Gameov3r on the FORUM.

New Releases

Later than planned due to technical problem! Promise to be on time this week :)

• Singstar Next Gen with Microphones (PS3)
• Sonic Rivals 2 (PSP)
• Tomb Raider: Anniversary (Wii)
• Wii Zapper with Link's Crossbow Training (Wii)
• Pokemon Battle Revolution (Wii)

Not much to choose from but I would be looking at Tomb Raider or of course the Wii Zapper!

Merry Christmas to All!

Stuart

Vick's Monday Blues

Pay a visit to the GAMEOV3R Forum or just leave us a comment right here

:) Vick :)

The Upper Crust

Today I came across this little tool that analyzes the readability level of blogs, then translates that into the "Level of Education" necessary to understand the writing. How it works out these things I have no idea but here's some results from popular gaming blogs:

* Kotaku: Junior High
* Destructoid: Junior High
* GayGamer: Junior High
* Slashdot: High School
* Joystiq: College
* Level Up: Genius

So where exactly does GAMEOV3R come on this scale I hear you ask? Well, come on, from the extinction of the Pac-People due to a nut allergy, through gamer repetitive strain injuries and finishing up somewhere around choosing a game character to wed it is now official.... you have to be a GENIUS to understand our musings and here's our badge to prove it!



Actually I guess this shouldn't have come as such a surprise, I mean let's face it who else would be able to follow this stuff? We always knew you lot were some of the smartest gamers in town. Maybe Jack Thompson should pay us a visit and reconsider his opinions, "Do you need an IQ below room temp to be a gamer and post here?"

Astute, clever, intelligent, smart, brilliant, sharp, egghead, that's you lot that is. The GAMEOV3R Forum awaits

The richest Mario in the world

Mario is rich. Rich to the tune of 10,000,000,000,000¥

In the last 12 months Nintendo have become valuable again. Valuable to the sound of 10 trillion Yen. That's TEN TRILLION. It makes Nintendo one of the most valuable companies in Japan and has them rubbing shoulders with huge car manufacturers Toyota and Nissan. Considering Nintendo's relative size this is nothing short of phenomenal. To save you the effort of Googling for a currency converter the amount coverts to a cool £41.7 billion.

This is a massive step for Nintendo and can only bolster their re-established position as number one videogame company in the world, ever.

In other gaming news, Shigeru Miyamoto has apparently been banned from his favourite Tokyo restaurant this week for waving 10,000¥ notes under the nose of Kaz Hirai while he was enjoying his lunchtime sushi. It is alleged that Mr Miyamoto was annoying Mr Hirai by repeatedly asking if he wanted to "borrow a tenner??!"

Want a loan? Get excellent rates on the Gameov3r FORUM.

Too Many Games!

And you thought you had too many games to buy and play this Christmas!...



Nice to see some exercise equipment in there as well after all that gaming. They have rather skimped on the TV though don't you think? Maybe it's a retro thing.

I know this happens every year with something like 50% of all games released in the 8 week run up to Christmas. I can even see the developers and publishers thinking in that it's the time of year when people splash out with their spending and possibly spend more time indoors gaming, but this year seems worse than ever. There are so many games I'd like this Christmas but even if I could afford them all it'd take me until next Christmas to play them.

Unfortunately some games that at a quieter time of year you may have taken a gamble on, will get overlooked and fail to recoup their costs. What's even more unfortunate is that it'll be the marketing giants that make it through unscathed. I hear this is the reason Zak and Wiki has been delayed until 2008 on the Wii, to prevent what looks like a fantastic little game from getting completely trampled on by the big releases from Nintendo. Maybe this is the start of some publishers learning from their mistakes?

Should game releases be spread out more evenly over the year? Let us know on the GAMEOV3R Forum

Vick's Monday Blues (banned ad)

Now we know where kids get their 'potty mouths' from.



Pay a visit to the GAMEOV3R Forum or just leave us a comment right here

:) Vick :)