The 2010 E3 show is near and videogame companies are already in a frenzy. There’ll be a lot of talk about Grand Theft [...]]]> The ice has just about thawed, so it’s time for a quick Spring Preview. We’re planning the now usual coverage of tabletop RPGs, graphic novels, boardgames and exceptional videogames:

The 2010 E3 show is near and videogame companies are already in a frenzy. There’ll be a lot of talk about Grand Theft Auto 5 and dozens of first generation touch tablets. We’re more interested in whether or not the new ‘Wii-like’ Sony control system means the Wii goes in the cupboard. Or can the arrival of Metroid Prime: Other M and Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands offer a reprieve?

We’re also going to look at exactly what second generation touch tablets are likely to deliver in terms of shared and family gaming.

A rash of Realtime Strategy Titles (RTSs) are due to appear over the next few months. We’ve heard good things about the Starcraft 2 playtests but the other contenders look like offering some tough competition.

With similar core gameplay any winners are will need to have upgraded the RTS format to stand any chance of keeping players interested.

Tabletop RPGs, boardgames and videogames that get kids used to change should get a mention at some stage, along with posts about our ‘novelty’ videogame picks for 2010 as they’re released.

Material on the future of videogames and tabletop RPGs has been piling up in a folder for a few weeks. Just not sure how or when to post it yet. More details, or posts, as soon as the wheat’s been sorted from the chaff.

We’re please to find that the title has delivered on much of its promise. So much so [...]]]> Heavy Rain stood out as a likely winner when we posted our Videogames 2010 page. Plot-centred, point-and-click investigations aren’t exactly new to videogaming but Heavy Rain’s murder mystery ’spin’ looked likely to impress and innovate.

We’re please to find that the title has delivered on much of its promise. So much so that many reviewers have overlooked a few flaws, which might have been savaged in a familiar format such as a ’shooter’ or a ‘hack and slay’. For example, Heavy Rain’s animation and voice acting are excellent but not perfect, the game’s interface sometimes makes it tricky to see which option to choose and the plot takes a while to get going.

The main reasons given for this enthusiastic and forgiving reception include the genre, the graphics, the original plot, the characterisation and the open-ended outcomes. These are the key elements of ‘genuine’ roleplaying, where a game helps players to get ‘in character’ and ‘live’ different roles and situations.

Heavy Rain is not as completely open-ended as many tabletop RPGs. However, it is immersive and succeeds in offering players a range of in-game choices/ decisions, which give players the experience of participating in the plot. There may be only eight hours of gameplay on offer but the choices encourage you to play again, using different choices along the way to arrive at different outcomes.

Heavy Rain

So, forget the minor flaws and work out where to get a cheap copy, as the games industry may finally have come up with a form of ‘DRM’ that actually works. With Heavy Rain the last thing you want is to hear how someone else’s game went and it won’t be long before the game’s status moves from ‘no spoilers’ to open discussion.

Diving adventure Endless Ocean was quite successful on the Wii. The diving and exploration side of the game worked well, allowing players to meet a wide variety of marine wildlife. The ‘adventure’ gameplay was more limited and didn’t go beyond looking round some sunken ruins and searching for a mysterious white whale.

Endless Ocean 2 has just been released and it comes across as a much more complete title. Diving is still central to gameplay but players can now dive at half-a-dozen different locations around the world. The new habitats and wildlife play to the game’s strengths, as our working diver earns a living from taking photographs and offering guided tours.

The new title also benefits from the welcome introduction of a certain amount of danger when diving. It’s hardly ‘empty the ammo clips’ time but the element of risk livens up the gameplay and helps to deliver a better diving simulation.

The improved diving works alongside roughly eight hours of plotted gameplay to provide a more polished game than the original. Players of the first game will be impressed by the choice of wildlife, the underwater graphics and the presence of a few mild threats. They’re also unlikely to have a problem with the new ’speargun’, which works as a kind of ‘healing stick’.

Endless Ocean: Blue World European Cover/ US Link

New players are likely to be younger kids and parents who are looking for games they can help their kids play. There’s certainly plenty to talk about during play and those with a Wii Speak and an online connection can go online and dive with a friend. Diving with friends would be all the better if players could still add their own soundtrack but that’s one feature of the first game which hasn’t been carried forward.

Some older kids may already be too used to action titles to go for a ‘casual’ game, but it didn’t take us long to find a 10-year-old who was more than happy to settle down with a copy of Endless Ocean 2.

Online graphics suite Aviary can now be accessed for free from here:

We also noticed the first signs of [...]]]> Amazon UK has posted some excellent ‘Half-Term Deals’. The offers include a few of the best videogames we’ve looked at in recent months. If you live in the UK, or nearby, Sims 3, Darksiders and Dragon Age: Origins are among the most heavily discounted titles.

We also noticed the first signs of discount prices for Bioshock 2 and Final Fantasy 13. Unfortunately, it isn’t half-term in the US, so we couldn’t find anything comparable for US players. The UK deals are here.

While we were on Amazon it seemed like a good idea to see if any of our money saving tips actually work. The prices given below are from earlier today. They show huge differences between making full cost retail purchases, buying at Amazon discount prices and buying from Amazon outlets.

To keep the results as clear as possible there is no consideration of the full retail cost of the titles when they were first released. We’ve also left out any account credit offers on Amazon and all delivery costs.

US (Retail)

Assassin’s Creed 2 (PS3) – $49.99
Batman Arkham Asylum (XBox) – $49.99
Darksiders (PS3) – $49.99
Dragon Age (PC) – $49.99
Sims 3 (PC) – $49.99

Total = $249.95

Amazon US (Discounted)

Assassin’s Creed 2 (PS3) – $39.99
Batman Arkham Asylum (XBox) – $44.99
Darksiders (PS3) – $39.99
Dragon Age (PC) – $44.99
Sims 3 (PC) – $44.99

Total = $214.95

Amazon US (Outlet)

Assassin’s Creed 2 (PS3) – $34.00
Batman Arkham Asylum (XBox) – $27.80
Darksiders (PS3) – $34.99
Dragon Age (PC) – $28.99
Sims 3 (PC) – $25.75

Total = $151.53

UK (Retail)

Assassin’s Creed 2 (PS3) – £38.99
Batman Arkham Asylum (XBox) – £29.99
Darksiders (PS3) – £39.99
Dragon Age (PC) – £34.99
Sims 3 (PC) – £39.99

Total = £183.95 / $288.8

Amazon UK (Discounted)

Assassin’s Creed 2 (PS3) – £35.73
Batman Arkham Asylum (XBox) – £24.99
Darksiders (PS3) – £24.71
Dragon Age (PC) – £14.99
Sims 3 (PC) – £24.70

Total = £125.12/ $196.44

Amazon UK (Outlet)

Assassin’s Creed 2 (PS3) – £25.99
Batman Arkham Asylum (XBox) – £14.49
Darksiders (PS3) – £23.49
Dragon Age (PC) – £13.99
Sims 3 (PC) – £24.00

Total = £101.96/ $160.08

The savings resulting from delaying purchases for just a few months, looking for bargains and buying used/ outlet titles are plain to see. A $100 saving on a total spend of roughly $250 seems a good return for a little patience.

The UK offers on Dragon Age: Origins and Darksiders look tempting. Modern Warfare ’something or other’ and Dante’s Inferno are also on offer. The win option is Darksiders.

There are examples of such games that are so unbelievably [...]]]> ‘Serious Games’ that set out to deliver some form of training or learning have been around for years. Unfortunately, almost all of these games put the ‘learning’ before the fun, which usually involves bolting weak videogame elements on to content-heavy training materials.

There are examples of such games that are so unbelievably dull that players could hardly be blamed for losing the will to live during play. A major ICT company’s recent attempt to teach process management by wrapping it in a bad impression of an early 1990s First Person Shooter (FPS) ’stands out’ as a particularly awful example.

Which is one of the reasons why we’re delighted to see the latest release of a free ‘Serious Game’ called Wolfquest. The game is produced by a small team at the National Park at Yellowstone in the US. Much like the previous version the idea is to let players simulate the experiences of living as a wolf in Yellowstone National Park. That means hunting like a wolf, meeting other wolves, finding a partner and, in the latest release, raising wolf pups.

Wolfquest is, understandably and rightly, true to the observations and data collected by the scientists studying wolves at Yellowstone. As a result, players’ wolves are often in danger and keeping cubs away from eagles, bears and coyotes is particularly difficult.

In addition to providing an authentic simulation, Wolfquest has good graphics and offers an immersive learning environment that seems to be enjoyed by kids of 9+. (Younger kids may find it a bit too real.) There are a few limitations, as the game isn’t nearly as long as most players would like, players have to pay close attention to the instructions to progress and there are a few bugs in the software. (The software glitches can usually be solved or offset by restarting your web browser, saving regularly and/ or setting the graphics to a lower resolution).

All of which means that, to many kids, Wolfquest qualifies as a game instead of a chore. This is quite an achievement on the part of such a small team of developers, because Wolfquest offers fun and active learning instead of a simplistic spin on using the same old methods to deliver training instead of education.

Running calendar events seems to be appreciated [...]]]> Not the most common topic for a games blog but our Free Realms playtester felt we should post. As with Halloween and Christmas, Free Realms has put on a show for Valentine’s Day. Hearts, roses, cards and gifts are all over the place.

Running calendar events seems to be appreciated by most players and Free Realms deserves credit for delivering events in plenty of style. You certainly know it’s Valentine’s Day, Christmas or Halloween in the days leading up to each particular event. Personally, I’m hoping for a Pancake Day event but that’s probably expecting too much.

Intel Core i7 Processor i7-920 2.66GHz

The year ahead promises a rash of new technologies, with touch tablets, new graphics cards from AMD and nVidia, and more fast PC processors on the way. Console upgrades and motion controllers from both Sony and Microsoft can also be expected sooner rather than later.

Intel Core i7 Processor i7-920 2.66GHz

So how does a gamer get the best kit at the best prices? Mainly by looking into the future. In the absence of a crystal ball the easiest way to get accurate predictions is to visit the technology sites listed below. They’ll let you avoid buying kit that’s about to lose its cutting edge and/ or take account of the likely effects of new technologies on the pricing of current product lines. For example, AMD and nVidia have plenty of new cards either out or on the way. It seems reasonable to expect that the price of these cards and older cards will drop within the next six months, as both companies compete on price and features.

TechRadar

This is our first port of call for technology news. The site is a model of clarity and most of the ads don’t get in the way of picking up the latest information on new hardware, the technology industry and future trends. Highly recommended for letting you select which posts are of interest and allowing you to get more detail without being overwhelmed.

Anandtech

Hardware reviews with plenty of images and technical data are Anandtech’s speciality. If you’re looking to check the fine detail before buying any hardware the site’s complete articles offer all the necessary information. The articles also have conclusions available from the first page, so it’s easy to skip the detail and get a clear summary.

Tom’s Hardware

Tom’s Hardware provides hardware reviews and articles. The site also offers plenty of hardware news without throwing everything at you. The descriptions of new hardware are thorough but, perhaps, not quite as detailed as those at Anandtech. Like all of our choices Tom’s Hardware has a reputation to maintain, which means that the information tends to be pretty reliable.

Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 1 GB

Hexus

A slightly cluttered front page offers access to hardware and technology news and reviews. Hexus covers a lot of industry news as well as hardware development, so it’s a good place to go to consider possible long term developments across the technology sector. The site’s sizeable forum community is also packed with advice and information.

Lifehacker

The constant tracking of hardware and software releases, free software links and rumours about new technologies make Lifehacker a major money saver. Hardware utilities like LookInMYPC are covered in sufficient detail and there are few types of software that can’t be found at a bargain price or for free via Lifehacker’s links.

Engadget

Engadget has the very latest news on mobile phones, handheld devices and tablets. Technology companies go out of their way to get rumours and new products featured on Engadget’s front page. As a result, regular visitors to the site often find out about the latest products before the same information is available elsewhere.

We’ve included a couple of links to up-to-date hardware that we’d be happy to have in our PCs. However, for us, now is not the time to buy! New i3 and i5 chips, new AMD processors and nVidia’s new graphics cards suggest that it’s a good idea to wait a few months. At that stage we’ll visit the technology sites we’re recommending and get the latest details.