Gamebrit

Mass Effect 2 DLC Dated

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:58:13 EST

The first piece of 'real' Mass Effect 2 downloadable content, Kasumi's Stolen Memory, will be released on April 6th. Bioware has delivered frequent doses of weapons, armour, and vehicle add-ons for Mass Effect 2, but nothing in the way of a storyline extension.

The DLC adds a new party member, new weapons, upgrades, and an achievement. The content can be accessed whether the main story has been completed or not, with the 1 and a half hour expansion following Shepard in an attempt to resolve Kasumi's issue with a devious art collector in a secretive mission.

OnLive Dated For PC And Mac

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:38:33 EST

The OnLive software for PC and Mac is coming to the US on June 17th. Detailed in our feature, OnLive was announced at last years Game Developers Conference. For what is an exciting prospect for gaming, there is no short-term plan to bring the service to Europe, but I'm sure a successful start will encourage expansion.

At least we have some idea or the pre-requistes and pricing plans, with the subscription costing $15. That monthly fee is for the use of the service only, and without any games. OnLive requires a minimum 5mb/s broadband connection, with the big question of latency still looming. An announcement will be made regarding the micro-console later this year.

The Diary Of A Virtual Farmer

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:38:33 EST

The allure of having virtual farm on Facebook is baffling to many. Jonathan Cresswell spent two weeks playing the game loved by millions to find out what makes it so addictive.

Day 1

 I’ve started on the farm. My previous experience of farming mainly consists of four-something crop rotations from GCSE History so I’m hoping this will provide me with a highly accurate guide to how life on the land works as a possible future career path. It seems pretty easy so far. You click somewhere to plough the land, you click again to make the strawberries start growing, and then you check back in four hours. Not the most complicated game then.

Day 2

 I’m not particularly sure about the point of all of this. I’ve leveled up (whatever that means) and unlocked new things to buy from the store, but there’s still no reason why I’m doing this. There’s no final goal, personal enjoyment or reward, so it’s turned slave labour in to a menial task of clicking squares on a grid on Facebook. I’ll plant more strawberries. Maybe some pumpkins overnight, as they take eight hours to grow…

Day 3

 There appears to be a bit of strategy behind the game that I’m trying to figure out. With different crops earning you different money for different lengths of time planted, you’ve got to be a bit tactical about things. Well, not really. After one quick go on the calculator you realise that to make the most money you’ve got to play as often as possible but not for that long. It’s completely backwards compared to most games.

Day 4

 I’ve come up with a way of making sure I check my strawberries. Seeing as one session Farmville only has about ten minutes of what can barely be called “gameplay”, I’ve had to turn to playing other games in between checking the farm. That might seem weird to have to do that to keep me interested, but getting some time to play “Peggle” isn’t something to complain about.

Day 5

 Everytime I check, Farmville’s all over Facebook. People sending gifts for you, notifications about someone visiting the farm, people posting about what they’ve done on their walls. It’s like some internet disease. You see it, try it, it multiplies, infects people’s walls and gets everywhere. It’s a digital form of peer pressure with the upside of gift sending being a great way to annoy people.

Day 6

 Blast. One simple mistake and all my hard work is gone. I forgot to check my plants once and they’re all dead. I’m late by an hour and all the money I’ve invested in crops has gone. No wonder people check this so religiously – you don’t have a choice to.

Day 7

 In my attempt to fully immerse myself in the culture of the game I’ve found the official Farmville podcast. Ten minutes of a female voice explaining in detail every little change they’ve made to it this week in the most detail possible. Well, I have had troubles sleeping, so this is just what I needed.

Day 8

 Playing this is feeling a bit like a chore. No wonder everybody else’s farms are full of patterns of flowers, animals roaming around, and buildings that don’t serve any purpose. Trying to make it look nice is the only way of keeping yourself occupied. However being the highly mature person that I am I’m just trying to see if I have enough room to write rude words in flowers. Nope, I’m going to need a bigger farm.

Day 9 

Every time I log into the game it’s coming up with a pop-up message, suggesting something to buy saying “Ooh wouldn’t this be nice”. However, when you click it throws up a price in Farmville Dollars, a currency you mostly have to spend real money on. Tempting you in with nice treats before stealing your wallet and life away effectively makes it the childcatcher from “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, in the form of an agriculture game.

Day 10 

Today the game’s trying to tempt me with an unwither ring, but that’ll cost at least £30. Every time there’s a new pop-up suggesting that I should buy something. I’m waiting for one of them to ask if I’m interested in getting a timeshare.

Day 11 

It turns out that if you have a pink cow you get strawberry milk. This appears to be less factually accurate than Wikipedia.

Day 12

 Must check farm. This is turning my life in to a downwards spiral. Energy I should be putting in to so-called “important” things such as assignments and research is being wasted on a silly 16 x 16 grid. I need to break free.

Day 13 

I’ve got another notification saying that there’s a lost animal on my farm and that I should help it find its way back home. They really should increase the security on these farms as I’m pretty sure none of these have any fences. Maybe I should buy some fences from the in-game store but that will just take away from my investment in these crops. I get the feeling random animals will still find their way on to my farm.

Final Day

 It’s the last day of the experiment and I’ve forgotten to check the site. Oh well, I’m not bothered. I’ve escaped! The second you stop caring, the hold it has over you is broken. Though really it’s got no reason to have a hold on you in the first place. It’s very cleverly engineered. The idea of short bursts of playtime is perfect for Facebook but when they made this they forgot to have any purpose behind it.

Conclusion 

Farmville is just a shallow excuse for a game. It’s as complicated as a light switch: click it, and you get more money. There’s no sense of reward at all. You invest time in it and all you get in return is a bigger chore to complete as your farm expands. In terms of getting something out of it, smoking is a much better addiction for you. It might give you cancer, but at least it makes you happy.

Playstation Move

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:06:36 EST

PlayStation Move is a motion-sensing controller platform for the Playstation 3. It is Based on a handheld motion controller wan and uses the PlayStation Eye webcam to track the wand's position

Farmville

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:47:31 EST

An online farming simulator created by Zynga, as played by millions on Facebook.

Blue Toad Murder Files: Episode 3

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:30:18 EST

Blue Toad Murder Files (BTMF) occupies quite a niche market falling under the genre of murder mystery. On the one hand such games can be fun and addictive, whereas on the other they can be very frustrating. Think along the lines of the DS' Professor Layton series, BTMF is basically a videogame spin on the board game Cluedo.

The BTMF story is set in the small town of Little Riddle, and by the time you jump into Episode 3 the mayor and the windmill-residing village idiot have been killed. A robbery has taken place in the mansion and the town hall has just been the victim of an arson attack. You naturally take it upon yourself to deduce who started the fire and for what purpose. After finding out the likely suspects behind the fire, you visit each in turn for questioning. However, puzzles need to be solved first, with each becoming slightly more complicated than the last. Puzzles range from deducing who ate the sausage to finding out where a woman’s slippers were buried. Don’t be fooled by the silliness of these puzzles though, as some require a lot of concentration and could leave you feeling frustrated if you fail.

In addition to the puzzles, your memory will also get a work out. At intervals you will be reviewing the facts of the case, with questions in the same vain as “What did X mention-” and so on. This is to make sure you’re paying attention and not ignoring the narrator, who has a habit of rambling. Of course, the narrator is useful (he does have his moments, especially when it comes to saying “murder”), but when it comes to BTMF, the citizens of Little Riddle are what really shine through. Ranging from the American Jewellers to the Librarian whose life involves nothing but books, all are contained in a little village with English charm. One old lady even squeezes your dog’s (who’s called Watson) privates!

Other than the narrator, the length of the episodes are also quite irritating. For someone who can complete puzzles at a reasonable level, the whole episode can take between between one and a half to three hours to complete. Unlike most games, there is also very little replayablilty involved in BTMF. However, developers Relentless have clearly taken this into account, because this episode of the Blue Toad Murder Files is free until the end of March (only if you purchased Episode 1 or 2, that is).

BTMF is a quaint and fun game to waste a few hours on a Sunday afternoon, either with up to four players or on your own if you feel like testing your mettle against the various puzzles. If you are on the fence about the game, you should definitely give the first Episode a try, as the episodes are certainly addictive. It was surprisingly joy to play, but quickly joy could turn to anger and frustration after getting a few of the puzzles wrong!

7/10

Bethesda Blog Brink Development

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:33:08 EST

Bethesda have released a developer diary for it's upcoming free-running first person shooter Brink.

Scribblenauts 2 Details Emerge

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 01:27:14 EST

With the first Scribblenauts racking up sales of over one million units, it was pretty likely we'd see another title sooner or later. Nintendo Power's latest issue has grabbed the first juicy details of the follow up to one of 2009's most innovative games.

Developer 5th Cell seem to have listened to some of the criticisms levelled at the first game, especially in the control department. New camera controls have been confirmed along with the ability to move your character via the D-Pad instead of the fiddly stylus controls. The level editor will be getting a revamp, 120 brand new levels will be available and a further 10,000 words will be added to the first game's already massive dictionary. There will be adjectives thrown into the mix alongside the existing nouns which hints at some pretty complex puzzles in store.

We gave the original a very respectable seven out of ten in our review last year. Scribblenauts 2 is expected to arrive next autumn.

Metro 2033 Offer & Release Date

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:44:28 EST

The upcoming survival shooter from 4A Games has gone gold and picked up a PC only offer along the way.

Commonly referred to in the industry as 'going gold', this simply means that a game has finished being developed and is now being pressed ready to go onto shelves. Publishers THQ are taking on this task and have recently revealed that Metro 2033 is on schedule to arrive in stores on 19th March for the Xbox 360 and PC.

THQ's Vice President of Global Brand Management had this to say on its impending release, "We’re excited to be bringing such a truly original experience to market. Metro 2033 couples a deep and engaging story with incredibly atmospheric first person shooter gameplay, and the 4A Engine provides cutting edge technology behind the most impressive visuals seen on either PC or console to date."

Also as if the offer of extra graphical support wasn't enough for PC owners, they now have the opportunity to get the 3rd person destruction romp Red Faction: Guerrilla for free if they purchase Metro 2033 on day one. This does appear to be limited to physical copies only so if downloading is your preferred method they you will likely miss out.

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Ignition Entertainment Announces Blacklight: Tango Down

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:34:33 EST

Ignition entertain have announced their latest venture into video games with Blacklight: Tango Down. Developed with Zombie Studios, the team behind the 90's Spec Ops titles, it will see players take to the fictional universe of Blacklight in some near-future first person action.