Why is this little opinion piece a tad late? I threw my laptop straight into the bin as soon as Microsoft’s ‘Entertainment will grow a brain’ promo. Xbox One is HAL 9000. Seeing as I spend a gazillion hours a year sitting in front of my console, I grew concerned that it would learn my ways, decapitate me with a disc when the time is right, solder me into its joints and take on the life of Ben 2.0. After building a stick tent in Hyde Park and raising a squirrel army, I returned to scribble some other thoughts, just in case it turns out this console is actually geared towards being an entertainment device, lending my opinions on the conference as a whole…or what stood out in it anyway.

I strolled into this conference with expectations…adrift I guess. I wanted to see games, exclusives and a Kinect based Crystal Maze title, so I like to think I arrived with a blank slate of a brain. That slate remained blank for a good half an hour as I naively sat through the opening statements of the conference with no games to find. Instead, some nifty Kinect integrations with TV viewing made their way onto our screens. No longer do people have to tap the AV button on their remote to watch telly. They can now shout at the telly, and it manages programmes, games and even Skype on the fly. Everything in this instance is pretty darn impressive. The interface looks bloody fluent, speech recognition seems on the mark and Kinect functionality looks a lot more intelligent (though some may argue it should have been this fluid when it originally came out). Will it ignore me if I mention my preference for Google Chrome? Perhaps. The problem is I can’t really see myself flicking in and out of everything all at the same time. I have the attention span of a fly baked in sugar, but even I won’t be casting a movie to one side to talk to anyone. There are lots of nice features here, they just feel like they lack focus.

I’m not looking for new ways to watch telly though. I’m looking to launch my thumbs into new dimensions of gaming. EA were quick to respond to this with a look into their pretty looking Ignite engine, and with that, a peek at the inevitable bunch of sports titles that will come along with it. Yes, it looked pretty swell, but yearly sports titles are as predictable as the sun rising in the morning, and my lack of fitness through life has left me disliking them. Nevertheless, they were delivering what I wanted to see: Games.

Witnessing all the sports titles was like ingesting a roast coated in grisly brussel sprouts, only because you were promised a great dessert was to follow. I didn’t know they’d be serving a cake coated in Angel Delight. Remedy showcased a little sneak peak into their new title Quantum Break which has initially piqued my interest, being a time travel nerd and all. Forza 5 looks glorious as it bloody well should and the promise of 15 exclusives, 8 being new IP’s makes me a bit giddy. You know what would’ve made me giddier though? A Zooey Deschanel topper for that cake…or in other words, showing off some of these IPs and some longer trailers of actual gameplay. It felt as if, even when Call Of Duty: Ghosts gameplay appeared, the Xbox One is holding some cards rather close to its chest…which doesn’t help with the whole ‘Oh God, it’s going to kill me’ paranoia.

So after I was left feeling indifferent to how fast I can perform a switcheroo with games and telly, the merging of the two actually left me pretty excited. My indifference to the Halo franchise means nothing, with my opinions about as strong against its fanbase as an ant in a hurricane. With Spielberg deciding to spearhead Microsoft’s biggest franchise in the televisual era, the concept of seeing a Halo/Band of Brothers combo actually seems pretty awesome. With Netflix dabbling in original programming in recent months, the concept of tying in video games with exclusive shows makes me very excited. If we can gather the lore of some of the richest titles video games have to offer and find a new way of exploring said lore with the backing of some incredible industry names…that really excites me, especially as television drama has become extraordinary in recent years.

It seems that, despite the fact we saw a bare minimum on the game front, Microsoft are eager to jump into bed with the big players of the industry, snagging EA’s support and once again nabbing Call of Duty DLC exclusives with Activision. Even after half an hour of zero game coverage to start with, Microsoft are keen to let us know they haven’t completely forgotten about the console’s roots in gaming. It’s clear to see from this point on however, that Microsoft is tackling their marketing in a completely opposite way to Sony. Not all the concepts for the Xbox One mentioned so far speak out to me as a gamer, or even a general enjoyer of media. However, I’m no longer the sole demographic Microsoft is fighting for…and I don’t know how to feel about that.

In essence? Everything purdy. Everything sleak. Everything is rather suave. The conference certainly ‘Oooooooh’d’ me, but never did it beckon an ‘Arrrrrrr’. They could be saving those satisfied chants for E3, dangling tasty nuggets of exclusives to try and tantalise us into Microsoft territory. However, in terms of practicalities, there’s still a baby elephant in the room which we don’t want to see become an adult, no matter how cute it is. I’m sure the next few days will certainly be filled with speculation, but it’s the stage time at E3 that will be the turning point for pre-orders. Microsoft has everyone’s attention, let’s just hope they don’t Orth this up.

Missed the conference? Sorry for the spoilers.

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“The next generation of consoles will reinvigorate our industry and make it possible for us to deliver incredible new entertainment to gamers,” said Yves Guillemot, co-founder and chief executive officer, Ubisoft. “Our teams are using the innovations in connectivity, immersion and social gaming included in Xbox One to create original and memorable next-gen gaming experiences.”

In addition to Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag and Watch Dogs, Ubisoft will deliver a mix of new episodes of existing franchises, new IPs and digital titles for Xbox One within the system’s first 12 months on the market. More information about the lineup of games planned for the new system will be available during Ubisoft’s press conference at E3.

About Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag:
Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag tells the story of Edward Kenway, a young British man with a thirst for danger and adventure, who falls from privateering for the Royal Navy into piracy as the war between the major Empires comes to an end. Set at the dawn of the 18th Century, the game features some of the most infamous pirates in history, such as Blackbeard and Charles Vane, and takes players on a journey throughout the West Indies during a turbulent and violent period of time later to become known as the Golden Age of Pirates. Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag features a vast open world with more than 50 navigable locations. Combat combines the weaponry of the Assassin’s Order with armaments of the era, and rewards both daring and stealth. And the series’ acclaimed multiplayer experience is more varied and ruthless than ever in Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag.

About Watch Dogs
In Watch Dogs, players will be immersed in a living, breathing and fully connected recreation of Chicago. Players will assume the role of Aiden Pearce, a new type of vigilante who, with the help of his smartphone, will use his ability to hack into Chicago’s central operating system (ctOS) and control almost every element of the city. Aiden will be able to tap into the city’s omnipresent security cameras, download personal information to locate a target, control systems such as traffic lights or public transportation to stop a chase, and more. The city of Chicago is now the ultimate weapon. Fans can stay connected to Watch Dogs by visiting the official website, Facebook page and Twitter account.

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So, with the new Xbox reveal coming up soon, what is it you are hoping to see?

Better graphics are a given, but what else?  Are you interested in the ability to project the game all around the room? Do you want better Kinect like functionality?  Do you want all of the Social integration that Sony were so excited about?

For me, this reveal can’t fail – as long as they show us the new Xbox. I can live with always on, as long as you can still buy second hand games – an issue that I know many are struggling with.  I have no real interest in the social integrate, just think how annoying Rapptr is. Xxx Played Bejewelled in the last 24 hours.  Whoopdy Doo.

I think that a system that concentrated more on playing games and not being a central media hub would be nice, I could even put up with more advertising if it was simple just to get in an play.

BluRay would be a must though, no messing with custom formats this time please Microsoft.

Well, that’s my thoughts, let us know what you want this reveal to, well, reveal in the comments below!!

http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/hub/reveal

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Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment today is releasing Batgirl as a downloadable content (DLC) character for the DC Comics fighting game Injustice: Gods Among Us. Batgirl will be available beginning today on Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for 400 MS Microsoft Points.  The content will be available on PlayStation®Network at a price of £3.99 beginning tomorrow.

Also available today is the Red Sun skin pack featuring skins from Superman’s popular Soviet alternate reality, as well as the Killing Joke skin pack from the Batman: The Killing Joke DC Comics series. Each pack is available on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace for 240 Microsoft Points and the PlayStation®Network for £2.39

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The 80s was a time of…well…I was a foetus for the closing months of the decade so I don’t feel like I have the relevant qualifications to reminisce here. If DVD archives are anything to go by, it was a time of high octane action and badass one-liners coated in a VHS filter. It’s a decade even my younger self lamented with hilarity as ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ blew anything the era created out of the water…

…anyway, it’s good to see that I’m not the only one who finds its ridiculousness funny. Ubisoft are on my side, re-painting a whole island in the name of satire in Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon.

The year is 2007…in the year 198X, and the planet has been ravaged by a nuclear apocalypse layered with another nuclear apocalypse. The new world has dawned cybersoldiers, all of questionable morality. The ‘good’ follow the likes of the unquestionable badass Rex Power Colt, a man who will stop at pretty much nothing for revenge and the taste of blood. The ‘bad’ consist of Sloan, a degenerate psychopath attempting to reset the world to prehistoric origins with the help of good old-fashioned ‘nuclear warfare’. Motives and alignments aside, both are renegades of the highest calibre, and Rex certainly doesn’t want to live in a world coated in radiation…in fact he sticks his middle finger up and impales anyone who stands in his way with it thanks to the threat.

Blood Dragon does everything in its power in the first 5 minutes to smack you in the face with montage after montage after pixellated, power ballad fuelled, cheese spewing montage. Navigating through the main story, Rex fires off one-liners left right and center like they’re-quite rightly-going out of style. It’s obnoxious, it’s naff and unashamedly hilarious. Parody reeks from every orifice of the world and decides to never let up. It’s clear those who put their creative minds behind this guffawed as hard as you will when such jokes are delivered for the first time.

Just like its predecessor, Blood Dragon awards those who face danger head on with an adrenaline fix. Hopping on minions to knife their heads, spewing bullets at anyone who dares try to protect the helpless cretins you’re taking down whilst watching your experience grow higher never tires. Completing secondary objectives gives you attachments to clip onto your weapons and completing main missions usually puts you behind the wheel of obnoxiously high power massacre machines. Decimate a wave of cretins, slay a laser imbued super dinosaur, rinse and repeat. The process barely changes. The amusement of such events doesn’t either.

There’s a spoilt little brat in me somewhere that isn’t entirely happy with the structure of Blood Dragon though. A little brat that’s coated in nits that still need picking. Scanning the map and noticing the vast array of bases to overcome and collectables to nab, my heart initially fluttered. It was impossible to play the original without investing a plethora of lifetimes investigating each and every facet of the island given to you. Here however, you only need to dabble in island life to get the most out of it. As the last trophy pinged on my screen, I noticed my play time clocked in at 5 and a half hours. A couple of hours less, and I’d be calling this the greatest film parody of all time.

With flashbacks of Rook Island gracing my retinas as I played, I found it incredibly difficult to warm to Blood Dragon’s art style. Bases and facilities have a great retro-future vibe to them, but set out across the vast plains of the environment for too long, and everything begins to look remarkably similar. The game doesn’t look bad, but when traversing the island for anything beyond 2 minutes, you find nothing pops out. The maroon of the sky merges with the maroon of the Earth effortlessly, and should you tackle a bunch of secondary missions on the outside of the more creative bases, there’s a constant danger of the game becoming a grind…until you’re given the opportunity to take down a Blood Dragon with a mini gun. Then things tend to work in its favour.

Don’t jump into Blood Dragon expecting an experience as deep as Far Cry 3. As it’s a stand-alone expansion, that should sound obvious, but it’s hard to forget just how expansive [i]Blood Dragon’s[/i] forerunner was. Crafting is nowhere to be seen and the experience system has been streamlined into a more linear upgrade path. The statistic driven will be bothered, but if you’re still disappointed after being handed sniper rifle with bullets that explode on impact and fire-imbued shotguns, then you need to get your priorities straight.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is farcical flippant fun stuffed with so many laminations it’s practically vomiting neon in your face with absolutely no shame. With a small variety of missions and not many hours behind it, it can’t escape the fact that it feels like a prologue for bigger things to come. That handful of hours , however, is a blast from the past while it lasts, filled to the brim with exploding bullets, ray blasting gargantuan lizards and pixellated montages. It may not last all that long, but you’re guaranteed to have a rollicking good time throughout, even if you’re a young ‘un who didn’t even know there were years before the 90s.

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Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Blacklist offers two player CO OP mode with 4 mission types, 14 maps with 2 player split-screen.

Play as Sam Fisher or Isaac Briggs (a CIA operative) and work as a duo : help your teammate access parts of the maps you couldn’t access on your own, create your own tactics depending on your Play Style and watch each other’s back as you complete missions.

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Independent developer Flying Wild Hog (Hard Reset) and rogue game publisher Devolver Digital (Serious Sam 3: BFE, Hotline Miami, LUFTRAUSERS) are thrilled to announce their collaboration on Shadow Warrior, a complete reimagining of the 1997 3D Realms cult classic. Shadow Warrior is a bold new vision of the 1997 cult classic, reimagined with a blend of modern design, inventive combat mechanics, and a contemporary retelling of Lo Wang’s comical rise to legend.

“The team here at Flying Wild Hog are longtime fans of the original Shadow Warrior with its unique combat innovations and distinct setting not seen in shooters at that time,” said Michal Szustak, Studio Head at Flying Wild Hog. “The classic arcade-style shooter is a genre we genuinely love, so redesigning the world of Shadow Warrior and the character of Lo Wang has been a fantastic project for the team.”

Shadow Warrior tells the offbeat tale of Zilla Enterprise’s corporate shogun, Lo Wang, who is ordered by his employer to track down and acquire a legendary blade known as the Nobitsura Kage. Forced into a timeless battle, Lo Wang learns of the blade’s connection to ancient gods from another realm, pushing our world to the brink of destruction. Aided by Hoji, a banished spirit from this mysterious world, Lo Wang must use a masterful combination of gun, blade, magic and wit to discover the truth behind the demonic invasion and banish the encroaching forces back into the darkness.

“If you read this far you should know that you tangle with twin female assassins and slice off demon heads to use as weapons,” said Devolver Digital CFO Fork Parker. “It’s super fucking rad.”

Shadow Warrior is set to launch on PC via Steam and other digital download service this fall with next-gen console release in 2014. For updated information on development, follow @_ShadowWarrior on Twitter or visit www.shadowwarrior.com.

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Today, PlayStation®3 and Windows PC players have access to Call of Duty®: Black Ops II Uprising, Activision and Treyarch’s latest DLC Map Pack for the record-breaking Call of Duty®: Black Ops II. Uprising includes four new multiplayer maps, plus “Mob of the Dead,” a bone-chilling new Zombies experience that takes players to the notorious prison island of Alcatraz, where four of Hollywood’s most iconic mobster actors, including Ray Liotta, Michael Madsen, Chazz Palminteri and Joe Pantoliano, lend their talents to the game to bring this horrifying adventure to life.

Following the tradition of the original Call of Duty®: Black Ops fan-favourite Zombies mode “Call of the Dead,” Call of Duty: Black Ops II Uprising’s wildly creative new “Mob of the Dead” Zombies experience puts players in the shoes of four Prohibition-era mobsters: Billy Handsome (Liotta), Al “The Weasel” Arlington (Pantoliano), Salvatore “Sal” DeLuca (Palminteri) and Michael “Finn” O’Leary (Madsen). All four are serving time in Alcatraz Prison, only to discover that being behind bars is the least of their problems. In order to survive, players must work their way through the steel cells and aging concrete buildings while fighting off a multitude of zombified prisoners and guards trapped on the island with them.

Uprising also debuts four new diverse multiplayer maps, each set around the globe:

• Magma - Set within a modern Japanese village, volcanic eruptions carve multiple paths throughout the town.
• Encore - Taking place in the aftermath of a deserted London music festival, Encore leaves numerous opportunities for run-and-gun, close quarters combat.
• Vertigo - A futuristic high-rise mega-structure located in India featuring dizzying vistas and multi-tiered pathways.
• Studio - A contemporary re-imagining of “Firing Range,” the fan-favourite multiplayer map from the original Call of Duty: Black Ops.  “Studio” is a Hollywood movie back lot with a variety of cinematic themes that range from Sci-Fi to the Old West.

Fans can purchase Uprising as a standalone Map Pack for a suggested retail price of £11.59 for PS3 and £11.49 for PC. Call of Duty: Black Ops II game sold separately, and is required to play this Map Pack.

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