But I want to watch my pirated films… I mean my backed up films… damn it!

You may have heard recently that a new 360 dashboard update is in the works and it may, just may, bring USB memory support with it. A nice addition in anyone’s books and one gamers with the tiny 20 gb hard drives will likely thank their lucky stars for, but what about the rest? Sure, we’ve got Facebook and Twitter, but Microsoft could do so much more, here’s what we think…

1) Web browser support

This is never going to happen, why would Microsoft give the 360 a web browser when the world is filled with PC’s all running Windows. Microsoft are keen on keeping the 360 a games and film featured device, so get used to looking at websites on your PC.

2) BBC iPlayer

There’s a very good reason the iPlayer will never hit the 360 and it’s not because there’s a conspiricy to keep it exclusive to the PS3. It’s all down to the licence fee and charge Microsoft has on exclusive content on Live. Untill an agreement can be arranged where everyone has access to iPlayer on Live neither Microsoft or the BBC will budge.

3) Use the Hard drive for anything you want

There’s a bit of a strangle hold on the sort of content the 360 hard drive recognises at the moment. This may change with the new update but as it stands moving content around is highly restricted, mainly due to the fact that the big M doesn’t want you sharing out your XBLA games among your mates. Somethings will just never change.

What else could the dashboard do that it doesn’t already? Let us know what you think…

The stupid box won’t even fit on my shelf!

We all love Special Editions because they come with lots of juicy extras, simple. Who doesn’t want more of a game? But things are getting out of hand. Half the time these Special Edition boxes can’t even fit on a normal shelf and even then the content itself is unimpressive and spectacularly, not that special.

X360 gives you the run down of the worst offending games of recent years…

10) Assassin’s Creed II: Black Edition

Do you really want a little statue of a fully kitted out Ezio? What about annoying ‘exclusive’ in game content? At what point does all this crap become usless?

9) Fallout 3: Collectors Edition
Want to be the coolest kid in school or more likely the work place. Then get the fallout 3 Special Edition lunch box, just don’t count on getting too many sandwiches in it.

Street Fighter IV: Collectors Edition
What makes you want a collectors edition of a fighting game? That’s right a full-length anime film, in HD no less and a strategy guide of course.

7) Batman: Arkhan Asylum: Collector’s Edition

We can’t think of anyone who hasn’t at least thought about being Batman. That’s why a full size Batarrang is such a bad idea, it’s literally starting people off.

6) Aliens vs Predator: Hunter Edition
Want to scare your girlfriend half to death every time she comes near you? Simply adopt this face hugger and keep it as a pet. Our’s is called Crabby.

5) Bioshock 2: Collectors Edition
Do you own a record player? Of course you don’t, no one does, Just like no owns tapes anymore. But with this collectors edition you get a nice shiny LP.

4) GTA IV: Special Edition
Many special editions keep in theme with the game, like GTA IV’s coming complete in a duffel bag and lock box (minus actual drugs). A tad excessive we think…

3) DJ Hero: Renegade Edition
The only thing that can make these games even more expensive is more pointless plastic plastic, that and a CD with some Jay-Z and Eminem tracks.

2) Halo 3: Legendary Edition

Want the most frustrating special edition ever? Then pick up Halo 3 with its Master Chief helmet that won’t fit on your head. Trust us we tried, Lynch is still stuck in it.

1) Modern Warfare 2: Prestige Edition
Night visions goggles! Fully functioning, military style, stupidly expensive night vision goggles. That’s all you need to know about Modern Warfare 2. What a waste of money.

Can you think of any we missed? Let us know below…

Watch out for the Splash Damage!

Richard Ham, creative director at Splash Damage talks us through some of Brink’s finer points…

Multiplayer has for many people become the reason why they invest in a game, is Brink’s ambition to marry single and multiplayer a reaction to this?
Actually, our fusion of single and multiplayer gaming came about for the opposite reason.  We think there are still too many players out there who love solo shooter gameplay, but never go online once they’ve finished their single player campaign, and therefore are missing out on some of the best action videogames have to offer.

With Brink, it’s really important to us that there are no barriers to entry that would prevent players from going online.  So while they’re playing through the campaign, we’ll actively encourage them to make the jump and play the story online, with their friends in co-op (up to 8 players), or taking that next step and trying to play online competitively.  But no matter how they play, they’ll still experience the same story, they’ll still earn XP and unlockables for their characters, and they’ll have a fantastic time.

It’s interesting too that it goes the other way.  For players who traditionally only play online and ignore the single player game, they’ll find themselves experiencing stuff they don’t normally get to see when they jump from random match to random match:  an actual story that ties everything together, collectables that flesh out the background of the world and the conflict, and tons of great character customization.

It seems the designing of Brink centres around enticing players to work as a team by designating XP, why did you come to this decision?

Teamwork has been really important in Splash Damage’s previous Enemy Territory games, and Brink is taking it to the next level.  And while there are plenty of great games out there that encourage team play, most of the time, a player’s experience in those games will still be that of a bunch of individuals running around, pursuing their own agendas, ignoring their teammates; basically being lone wolves.  We feel there are very few players who ever really get to experience the incredible rush you get when you’re working as part of a well-organized squad, accomplishing objectives and defeating the enemy together.

So in Brink, we’ve added a lot of features that really enhance teamwork, and make it rewarding to accomplish.  One of the biggest features centers around communication, ensuring that everybody knows what’s going on everywhere on the map, so they can make smart decisions.

For instance, if you’re alone standing guard at a computer server that the enemy is trying to destroy and bad guys start to attack, your character will automatically tell the rest of the team, via radio, “We’re under attack in the server room”, and everyone else on the team will get new objectives to come and help you defend the room. They’ll also have their mini-maps updated immediately to show where those enemies that you’ve spotted are.

That sort of thing happens automatically, so as a player in this situation, you can really just focus on the task at hand:  defending the position.  But because that report has gone out, everyone else knows what they now need to do, and they have interface systems that make it really easy for them to get their jobs done.

This “auto-spotting enemies” example is just one of many different ways that we encourage team play.  I think when people really get into Brink, they’ll find it hard to go back to same old death match/capture the flag gameplay!
When designing the world of Brink did you keep in mind your multiplayer and single player ambitions? The structure of the world seems perfectly suited for the red vs blue set up but also has some darker connotations with players not understanding the motives of either side, what other elements of narrative are you fusing with multiplayer?

Probably the most unique and exciting element of our narrative is that we’re telling the story of a modern civil war from two different sides.  To me, this is really interesting as a storyteller, because we let players decide what they think is “the truth” in the world of Brink.

We fully support multiplayer in every element of the game (including story), meaning that every time you’re playing in an online match, fighting on the side of your chosen faction, pursuing objectives that help finish your storyline, you’re actually playing against other players who are on their own campaign, pursing their storyline, with wildly different goals and motivations.  And when you finish the storyline you’re on, you can start playing the game again and experience the civil war from the other side, and you’ll learn all kinds of new insights and points of view about the overall conflict.

It’s really fresh and exciting, and it’s the kind of thing we can only do because we’re a multiplayer shooter.  We have to make sure that both sides of the civil war are equally fun to play.  So players get twice the value out of every map!

Many multiplayer games now allow customisation on a huge level, not just of characters and their abilities but often what players can do within matches (call in air strikes etc) have you approached these ideas in Brink?

Definitely!  In fact, back in 2003, our title Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory introduced earning XP (experience points) to level up and earn new combat abilities.  So we’ve been doing this kid of gameplay for a long time, and Brink definitely takes it to the next level.  I think players are going to be really surprised by the sheer number of new items, abilities, weapons, weapon add-ons, and outfits they can earn as they play.

Since Brink is a class-based shooter, you can choose to be a Medic, a Soldier, an Operative, or an Engineer (and you can change from one class to another at any time).  But the type of Medic, Soldier, etc. that you are can change hugely depending on what abilities you buy for yourself as you level up.

For instance, will you be a Medic who focuses on improving “the basics” (healing people and keeping them alive)? Will you branch out and focus on other elements (like focusing on a wide variety of medicinal “buffs” you can give to others and yourself).  Or will you ignore all the neat potential Medic abilities, and focus instead on being a strongly varied Operative?

The amount of choices you can make is staggering, and what’s even better is that you’ll be playing online with tons of other people who also have this huge list of things to choose from.  So every match you play in will be a new adventure of fun and surprising combinations.

How have you balanced a single player narrative with matches that can be joined by multiple players?

Very carefully.  The way it basically works is that you have to think of every level of the story that you’ll play through as an 8 on 8 match, even if you’re playing by yourself.  Now, when you’ll start the level, there’ll be characters and cutscenes that establish why you’re doing what you’re doing, what’s at stake, and what the ramifications of your previous actions in other levels have been, and then you’ll start the action, with 7 teammates, trying to achieve your new mission.

Now the important thing to remember here is that you’re not the center of the universe.  The world won’t wait for you to make big things happen.  Each one of your teammates (whether you’re by playing by yourself, or co-operatively with others) is as capable as you of doing whatever needs to be done to win.  So maybe you’ll take the lead and always stay on the front lines, fighting against the enemy to complete big objectives, or maybe you’ll hold back and support the other guys, while they take all the big risks.  Or maybe you’ll search around on the battlefield to find other opportunities to ensure your team wins the day.  Eventually, your team will complete their objectives, and then move on to the next mission in the campaign storyline.

Meanwhile, a completely different group of people out there will be playing through their own storyline, on the other side of the civil war.  They’ll have their own opening cutscene that explains why they’re fighting, what their goals are, and why they’ve got to win.  They’ll start the same match as you, and do everything they can to stop your team from succeeding.  And if they do, then they win and get to move forward in their storyline.

This is what makes Brink so unique.  But it’s a lot of extra work for us to pull it all together so it always makes sense for players, and they always have a great time and feel like the heroes of their own story.

There have been very few games that have focused on just providing a multiplayer experience, Brink is a step in a new direction and is crossing the divide, with consoles now constantly online is Brink the sort of experience we can expect to see in the future?

I hope so.  I think we’re starting to see this a little bit in other titles.  Left 4 Dead is easily one of the best examples to date of a radically new approach to multiplayer structure. We hope Brink inspires other developers in the same way!

Would you consider Brink to be the console equivalent of a PC MMO? Or at the very least as far as an MMO would realistically work on a console; drop in drop out play, fast gameplay and less time consuming.

It’s an interesting analogy, but I don’t quite think so.  Brink is something that’s really different to everything else out there, taking the best of single player shooter gameplay, the best of multiplayer shooter gameplay, and meshing them into something completely new.  It’s kind of hard to even describe to players who haven’t tried it, because it breaks so many rules.

How exactly will the squad single player work with drop in drop out co-op, will the enemies for example be controlled by the AI or real players, will there be a lobby system or will the inner workings be invisible to the player?

Yeah, it’s all invisible.  There’s only one place where the player has to get involved with the inner-workings of the system:  when they accept a mission, they’re asked “Do you want to play this publically, or privately?”  If it’s private, that means they can play on their own, solo, and have their friends seamlessly join in the action mid-mission (no lobby screens or any of the traditional stuff) for co-op, if they like.  If it’s public, it means that anyone can join in the game, either as teammates or enemies, again, completely seamlessly.  Either way, the player will be able to continue working through the storyline campaign, continue to level up his character, and continue to have a great time shooting bad guys.

How have you structured mission objectives around the storyline and the fact that there may be multiple players of differing skills playing all at once?

The most important element that makes this work is gameplay variety.  At any given time in any mission, there’s up to six different objectives the player can give himself.  There’s always so much to do in any level, that if you find you’re having a hard time completing one objective, you can switch and try a different one.   For example, in the middle of a match, you might be a medic with the following choices:

a)    Stand guard at an important objective that must be protected
b)    Change class from medic to soldier to blow up an obstacle that’s impeding your team
c)    Revive a couple of teammates who have been injured by the enemy
d)    Search for hidden intelligence somewhere on the battlefield that would give your entire squad the upper hand

No matter what, one of those things (usually more than one) should be doable by you, regardless of the skill level of the enemy you’re up against.  And all these tasks are hugely important to the overall success of your squad.  So you can’t make a wrong choice, but it is up to you to make the smart choice.  And that’s where the fun comes in.

Are you looking forward to the multiplayer specific Brink? Come on, let us know below…

Remember a couple of days ago when we were trumpeting the fact that EA was to offer its Bad Company 2 updates for free? Well, EA’s marketing campaign has been given a substantial leg-up by Activision, with the announcement that the ‘Stimulus Package’ will cost some 1200 Microsoft Points. And that’s for just three new maps, as opposed to Modern Warfare’s four. It’s pretty clear that the but a small fraction of the installed user base deciding to take part will equal plenty of profit for the publisher, but surely there has to be some limit to this seemingly exponential rise in DLC costs? We’ll be paying similar sums at the store counter and afterwards before too long, you mark our words!

The LA Times suggests that a new publisher could be in the pipeline, but considering CAA has talent on its books that spans the breadth of the entertainment industry and that Zampella and West aren’t just suing for Modern Warfare 2 royalties, but creative control over any game in the Call Of Duty series set after the Vietnam War, a succesful suit could result in much broader opportunies for the Modern Warfare series.

Read more about new Dragon Age content and a possible sequel on NowGamer.com

It has been announced that EA is to take ever more aggressive steps to halt the testosterone fuelled dominance of its main rival, confirming that on the same day Infinity Ward’s Stimulus Package will arrive on Xbox Live for a princely sum, their DLC will arrive for free. Providing you’ve actually bought the game new, of course. Though the situation is not quite like-for-like, EA’s offering merely adding gameplay modes to pre-existing maps while Activision’s offers bona fide fresh thrills, this can obviously be nothing but good news for us consumers. Could free market competition force companies into the altogether more honest pursuit of selling their entire title once more for one flat price? Probably not, but a man can dream…

Will I wave my sword if I’m simply reaching for my beer?

Whatever your thoughts and feelings over Natal, it’s hard not to give over just a little bit of excitement for Lionhead and Fable III. Now that it’s been revealed ex-Python and all round funny man John Cleese will be providing the voice of your own personal butler, the steam roller of hype has already begun. We’ve no doubt Cleese will provide plenty of sarcastic quips as the general populace becomes  totally bitter towards whatever ridiculous mistakes you’re making, especially when all we give them to eat is cake.

Lionhead and Peter Molyneux have used GDC10 to show the industry they’re building on the success of Fable II with careful consideration. In a Fable III presentation, Molyneux revealed that 60% of Fable II’s players understood 50% of the features and as a target for a mainstream  product that simply isn’t good enough. It needs to be simpler and easier to understand. Molyneux also revealed that if Fable III is to be considered a success it has to sell at least 5 million units. Like that’s not going to happen…

Will you be picking up Fabe III and returning to the colourful world of Albion, let us know below…

…but, does anybody really care?  Having peaked absolutely too soon, EA continues to metaphorically browse the shelves of Lidl for new additions to its musical line-up. Still, we assume that at least twelve isolated teenagers will throw some money at the Peter Pans of rock and roll. If you ever catch us dressing that young while approaching 40, do the decent thing, eh? Anyway, up to six gamers can take in more than forty minutes of band-based video,simply porting the whole thing to Rock Band 2 if they like for around a tenner. An appreciable money saving tip that, but not as effective as simply not buying the thing, eh…

Yeah, I’m that hard I’m going to beat you to death with my own arm!

Violence and videogames is nothing new, it’s always popping up in the mainstream media every now and again (you know when election season rolls around or there’s nothing else news worthy out there). So, it’s a little promising to see a developer already on the offensive when it comes to the violence in their game.

Nigel Cook, executive producer on Splatterhouse is more than forth coming about the insane laugh out loud violence in his retro remake.

“With any type of M-Rated game there are always people that do not appreciate the material. It is a calculated risk. Many other games of this sort have succeeded before Splatterhouse, a lot of them in spite of some negative reactions from watchdog groups and even being banned in certain countries.  We feel that Splatterhouse  is compelling enough and fun enough for players that it will overcome these obstacles and succeed based on its own merits, but we are not about to sacrifice the core of the Splatterhouse experience for fear of the ratings boards – with whom we are working up front – or the potential negativity of consumer groups.

Rick isn’t about pulling his punches, and neither is Splatterhouse when it comes to its gory horror presentation.”

Not bad, what do you think about violence in games? Let us know below…