Going, going, going onLive!

onLive first game a pund ad
Yeah that was suppose to be opening chant or whatever to the morning kids tv show way back when with Philip Schofield and Sarah Green, oh and don’t forget Gordon the Gopher hehe. But seriously folks, the online streaming game service onLive has started in the UK, and the first game is One Windle Poonds apparently, that’s £1 GBP for the sane. I tried the service out a little earlier, and it wasn’t half bad, i’m thinking i’m mostly going to use it for testing trials.

When i played earlier i tried Dirt 3, and it played fairly well, though i was on the setting where you just hold the throttle and steer, the game does all the rest automatically. One thing to note though, is that it was really choppy when using wireless network, but when i plugged in the ethernet and restarted the service it was much better and pretty playable, though if something needed serious timing like street fighter i doubt it would work. although the requirements are at least 1mb broadband speed, i noticed on my main desktop that it was using 670KB per second, which is something like 5mb. The good new though, is that these high power games can run on low powered hardware, i tried it with my old macbook which has a core 2 duo processor and an intel x3100 onboard graphics, i think, which isn’t good, it can just about manage worms and nothing else. But with the power of gaming being at the onLive end, all my graphics card need to do is be able to render the compressed video onLive sends me, and that it can do, just.

a screen shot after the break

Dirt 3 screen shot on onlive
Dirt 3 screenshot on onlive

Posted in Games, General, lartens, Mac, News, PC | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

We Love You Level 5!

Ni No Kuni

This has been a week of rejoicing here at GRiG Towers. The new Minecraft 1.8 update is out, and ever more wonderful; rumours are flying that the most bodacious of all arcades, Daytona, is getting a next-gen release; and we’ve had our first production baby join us in the offices! Exciting times indeed! But believe it or not, those aren’t the waves of joy that have floated our joyous boat this week. Oh no, no, no… Because what can be be bigger than the news that… NI NO KUNI IS GETTING AN ENGLISH LANGUAGE RELEASE!

Hurrah! (ooh, and we’ve also got some new gameplay vids for you! After-the-jump-style-Huzzah!)

Mere weeks after GRiGORiG.com launched it’s Localization campaign, Level 5 head honcho Akihiro Hono popped up at a Sony Computer Entertainment Asia press conference to confirm that a US release of Ni No Kuni: Shiroki Seihai no Joō is already in development for PS3, and will see a Q2 2012 launch. Holy Mary, Mother of GRIG!

The news was made with surprisingly little fanfare – so much so that the only western games site in attendance at the conference was GameSpot – and there’s nothing on Level 5’s site about their plans. The second bit isn’t that surprising, as there isn’t much of anything on Level 5’s site. It seems, though, that our fave Japanese devs appear to be lying low at present – they weren’t in attendance at the Tokyo Game Show for the first time in years, though they had a display on Sony’s stand, and they appear to be saving their efforts for their own event, Level 5 World, in October. This little nugget looks like a teaser, with more to follow next month – until they make a formal announcement, we’ll reserve just a little bit of caution. Oh, how we’ve been burned before!

There was also no news on a European release of the PS3 version, and still no word that the DS game will make the trip outside Japan. The Euro-side looks the biggest challenge – although they have recently set up offices in the States, Level 5 have no distribution network in Europe, and have previously relied on Nintendo and Sony to push their games over here, so this would be a considerable leap. But a US launch is a massive step forwards – one, as the English translation would be done, opening up the import possibilities; and two, because once the demand is shown, who knows?!

If you’re a European gamer looking for either of these titles, join our Facebook campaign – we’ve already attracted thousands of Ni No Kuni fans to the site, and are using the increasing support to remind Level 5 of the huge demand for Ghibli and their wonderful RPG. Fingers crossed, Ghibli-Griggers..

Oh and finally! Here’s those vids we promised you – thanks to Ruliweb.com. They’re slightly shaky, but still worth a peek!

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Guardian Heroes Again… Again!

Nicole

More Sega related hijinks now as reports abound regarding a potential sequel to the soon to be rereleased Guardian Heroes. Fans of the original game will have long been looking forward to getting their withered old man hands on the XBLA (and maybe PSN at some point) release and it’s spangly new HD filter-smoothed graphics. However, it seems more than just this update is in the pipeline.

Commenting recently on the project, in house Treasure minion Hirotoshi Matsuura revealed, “Originally, the project started as Guardian Heroes 2”.

2, you say? Perhaps someone should tell him theres already a sequel in the form of Advance Guardian Heroes on the GBA? Mind you, according to the Grig Orig Bat Computer, it was published by Ubisoft and not Sega so it may have stood a chance of not being appalling. Hopefully by giving the new game the number 2 it wont be a description of the quality. Anyhoo…
Really?! Why I’m intrigued! Go ahead, do…

“The team that had been working on Sin & Punishment [last year’s Wii sequel], after that project they wanted to start a new game.”

A Streets of Rage Remake, perhaps? Oh wait…

“The project started as Guardian Heroes 2, but the publisher – that’s SEGA – said in order to create a sequel, they wanted us to revitalize the IP. So instead of starting on the sequel we made a remake.”

Sounds bang up Sega’s street to me. They must be about to revitalise a heck of a lot of franchises if their recent form is anything to go by. But wait just a cotton pickin’ minute! Let us focus on the positives here for once! Guardian Heroes 2 is… potentially… on the cards! That’s if the XBLA remake sells well enough to convince Sega there’s enough interest for it anyway. Better get buying my Grigs! Not that such a thing as popular franchises have stopped Sega from jumping ship at random in the past. Tssk!

But I digress. Tell me kind sir, what can the Griggish Empire expect were we to ever get such a sequel?

“The original core game mechanics is a 2D, layer-based game, and that’s what we like about it. We may create characters and backgrounds in 3D, but the core mechanics will be the same.”

So there you have it. Not much of a developmental outline there, but the fact it’s even been acknowledged is better than nothing! And forgoing the fact that it will undoubtedly suck if Sega have anything to do with it, we have to ponder, could it really happen? Or is it all too much of a step in the right direction that will have Sega running scared and in their panic trying to get hold of the publishing rights to Barbie Horse Adventures 2? One things for sure – only time, and a future Grig shaped update will tell!

Posted in consoles, Dibbs Ahoy, Fighting, Games, HandHeld consoles, News, PS3, Retro, Sega, XBox 360 | Tagged | Leave a comment

Dozens of top end games released in a 3 month window, which to get?

We’ve already seen Driver san Francisco and Dead Island released this month, as well as some cool XBLA titles such as Radiant Silvergun and Gunstringer which is apparently really good, i downloaded the free soundtrack and have enjoyed that, go to the downloads section of http://thegunstringer.com/ and check it outs.

So what comes next? Many triple A titles that’s what, and this is just a short list of games coming out, expensive fall for the hardcore, and that’s not including those importing the region free PSVita from japan late December, just in time for Christmas? maybe? It would have to Expedited to stand a chance. Here’s the list, which ones are your top five must have? Hit us up in the comments ^_^

P.S the prices are from amazon.co.uk

Gears of War 3 – September 20th xbox £37.99 limited £59.91

Rage: Anarchy Edition – October 7th xbox/ps3 £ 38.89 pc £24.99

Batman Arkham City – October 21st xbox/ps3 £37.89 Limited £69.99 pc £25.91

Battlefield 3 – October 28th xbox/ps3 limited £38.91 pc limited £ 29.91 regular xbox/ps3 £43.56 pc £34.71

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception – November 2nd ps3 £38.91

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – November 8th xbox/ps3 £42.97 pc £34.91

The Elder Scrolls V : Skyrim – November 11th xbox ps3 £38.90 pc £ 27.90

Forza Motorsport 4 – October 14th £37.99

Halo Combat evolved – November 15th xbox £29.91

Assassins Creed Revelations – November 15th xbox/ps3 £37.91 collectors £49.70 pc £24.91 pc collectors £34.90

Saints Row: The Third – November 18th xbox/ps3 limited £37.91 pc £28.89

Need for Speed: The Run – November 18th xbox/ps3 £39.89

Sonic generations – November 30th xbox/ps3 £34.99 3DS £29.91 Collectors £85.52

Like i said there are many many more, and if i’ve left out a massive obvious one then doo let us know.

For anybody interested in my preferences, its Batman Arkham City, Sonic Generations, Forza Motor Sport, Skyrim (though i haven’t played any previous elder scrolls) and maybe MW3 though i’m not happy that its not by the full original team that were “Infinity Ward”, for anyone where the developers are a factor, most the employees left and started “Respawn Entertainment”, who still have one blurred screen shot of whatever they are working on. I for one hope they can reclaim the rights to the IP they started.

Posted in 3DS, consoles, Driving, Games, General, HandHeld consoles, lartens, News, PC, PS3, Racing, Sega, XBox 360 | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Blue Skies Incoming?

So where were we? Oh yeah. Coming like a bolt out of those Sega blue blue skies comes an intriguing listing on the Australian Classification Database starring the one, the only, Daytona USA!

Having broken many a games cover long ahead of their official unveilings, the listing teases little of solid detail, save for the fact that it’s called Daytona (rather than the licence stripped Sega Racing Classics – eugh), it’s by Sega, its the ‘original’ (Saturn, Dreamcast, Arcade, what?!!!) and that it’s a multiplatform release.

All you speculative types are probably well ahead in your conclusions that it would seem that Daytona in one of it’s incarnations is winging it’s merry way to XBLA and PSN as we speak! Woo! Happy times abound!

Of course, ever the optimistic types, we are already envisioning a point further down the line where this first foray in to a new line of rehashes could lead us to arcade perfect versions of Sega Rally, Virtua Fighter 2, and Fighting Vipers as well!

But enough of that facade of positivity, as we slip back into our well worn negativity boots once more to declare – tread cautiously my Grigs! If there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that if it looks good, Sega probably wont do it. Or alternatively in this case, will screw it up. I wouldn’t be surprised to get a version of Daytona with bordered PAL Saturn original graphics, and CCE’s gameplay slaved into it. This after all, is the company behind recent atrocities such as the iTunes released Streets of Rage 2 with it’s music distorted beyond all listenable acceptability. Unbelievable! Its surely something special when Sega show that they don’t even have it in them to churn out a good rehash.

However, we hold our breath in anticipation. And until they officially confirm that it’ll be Sonic Karts Daytona Adventure for the Wii and similarly powered Atari 2600, we’ll keep hoping!

Stay tuned coz there will definately be more on this one coming soon, same Grig time, same Grig channel!

Posted in Arcade, consoles, Dibbs Ahoy, Driving, Games, PS3, Racing, Retro, Sega, XBox 360 | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Don’t rain on my snow baby, minecraft 1.8 is out, for reals


It’s finally happened the adventure update is out, or at least most of it, there are still features that need to be implemented, but so far i’ve met an enderman as pictured above, shortly before a spider killed me, a strong hold, a swamp, and even stumbled across a randomly generated NPC village not far from my old sandcastle lair. No NPC’s (Non Player Character) there just yet though. This village had a nice tower too.

Mincraft NPC Village

Obviously i’ve never ventured far from my spawn point on this world. to get the new featured villages and stronghold dungeon type things, you’ll have to generate new chunks. A chunk is a 16 X 16 X 128 area of full sized blocks, as you move towards an area in your far side viewing plane that hasn’t been generated yet, the new code will randomly generate blocks slightly differently than before. The new biomes will also take effect here, creating swamp like areas with vines and trees, huge deserts, vast oceans and rivers grace the landscape now.

There was talk that snow had been left out for some reason, at least it was in the pre release that was attainable from a certain url on the minecraft site, thank @jeb_ for that. This could be why my already generated snow was getting rained on this evening 🙁

raining on snow in minecraft

Other new in game features include a charge up bow and arrow for greater distance shooting, dealing greater damage to a mob when you attack from above, they now drop experience orbs for you to collect, you can also dash with a double tap of the forward key, this will use up stamina overtime but will also allow you to hit mobs further back. Eating now has an animation, and build stamina back up as well as health. Though i didn’t get to spend much time with the enderman i found, if you look at one directly with the cross hair, it will stare back at you menacingly, then when you look away it will teleport and come for you, scary huh?

So whats missing, possible new snow biomes, experence doesn’t really do anything for you at the momment, though i’m led to believe that this will still count up for when it does, though don’t doe in the mean time, haha. Eventually the ideas were to have NPC’s in the villages, kinda like in WOW (World of Worcraft) in wow they give you missions and reward you, maybe there will be something akin to that. This could be in an update of 1.8.x but more likely in the 1.9 update. But then it’s not long now for the official release date, though that’s not to say anything will change, @notch and @jeb_ will still likely be updating things, though they also have other titles they are working on too.

One last thing, there have been some additions to the lighting in minecraft 1.8, same type blocks can have a slight variation in color, and there are also options for makingthe game look moody or brighter etc, whatever they’ve done it seems to have fixed a weird artifacting especially with snow or clounds on my mac pro when on the osx partition, see the before and after below.


minecraft screenshot artifacting

before 1.8 with artifacting (1.7.3).


minecraft screenshot no artifacting

after 1.8 no artifacting.

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Does Xbox Live On Windows 8 Mean Cross-Platform Gaming?

The Xbox Live screen as it will appear in Windows 8

Major Nelson has confirmed that Windows 8 will be packing full compatibility with Xbox Live, sounding the apparent death-knell for the Games for Windows initiative. In a brief blog linking to the Windows BUILD showcase, the Xbox Live afficionado issued a call to game developers to exploit the power of the Xbox Live system and said that there was much more detail to share about its capabilities.

“Xbox LIVE brings your games, music, movies, and TV shows to your favorite Microsoft and Windows devices.” he explained. “Bringing Xbox LIVE to Windows 8 is part of our vision to bring you all the entertainment you want, shared with the people you care about, made easy.”

What he didn’t say was the Xbox games would now run in Windows. This would of course mirror the wonderful Steam model, and effectively put paid to the recent rumours that Valve were bringing their platform to Xbox. Tech blogs are already alive with the possibilities for cross-platform functionality, but let’s get real – that’s a huge programming, financial and political headache that Microsoft have very little incentive to handle. It’s 100% more likely that they’re merely trying to build bridges between their key platforms, and exploit more of a social angle – as well as expanding their audience for Xbox Live downloadable content such as music and video from Zune.

More details as they’re announced…

Posted in bedgell, consoles, News, PC, XBox 360 | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Ni No Kuni IN ENGLISH! (Sort of…)

Hurrah for bokuwaiaindesu, who has given us our first glimpse of a translated Ni No Kuni with this subtitled trailer. While the quality of the video isn’t fantastic, it’s great to understand more of Level 5’s plans for their wonderful Ghibli world. And now we know that that includes:

* Real time 3D animation – confirmation that those beautifully rendered Ghibli characters are all in-game renders
* A huge world map to explore
* A simple battle system – but one incorporating both attack and defence tactical gameplay
* That the little lantern-nose guy occasionally goes a bit mental

Over on Facebook, our Campaign for A Ni No Kuni English Language Release goes from strength to strength – if you’ve not already signed up, come and tell Level 5 how much you want to get their PS3 gem released outside Japan. After all, now you’ve got a little taster of what it would be like!

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Ubisoft Driver Their Fans Nuts With Mixed Messages

Driver

It’s a bizarre world. Just weeks after Ubisoft hacked off PC Driver fans by refusing to fully drop their horrendous DRM system from the release of Driver San Francisco, they go and release a load of freebie online content for Xbox 360 and PS3 gamers. Um, thanks?

The first bit is a nice slab of DLC – 12 new online routes will be released for free on September 15th, and another route each week for the next 10 weeks. Better than a kick in the nuts, I suppose?

The second is a bit more “meh” – an online Driver Club that let’s you check stats, share your director clips and unlock some exclusive achievmo’s. Again, though, it’s free – and that’s the interesting thing about this little tale. Ubisoft join Activision in launching a major game-to-web service for free – though with their theatre mode included – in another sign than cross-pollination of your audience is a crucial way forwards for today’s modern devs. And we’d agree – Facebook and the like have spawned a secondary games industry of horrendous micro-transaction gaming that’s robbing focus from better platforms. And why’s that? Because mainstream gaming offers too few chances to get social, and that needs sorting out.

Personally, though, we’d only really sign up for the ‘chievmos, but if you fancy hooking up with other Driver fans, toddle off to The Driver Club webpage to sign up.

Posted in bedgell, Driving, Games, News, PS3, XBox 360 | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ni No Kuni – Now With Added Jokes

As if the magic of Ni No Kuni could possibly get greater – now Level 5 have released a vid showing a brand new idea for a sub-game in their upcoming PS3 delight: stand-up comedy! This little routine is apparently a straight rendition of Newman and Baddiel’s History Today – the one with Brighton Marine World (google it, people). And as you can see, it has all the funny-shaped-head people in stitches. Hell, at one point they even get the mountains laughing – job well done little Ghibli-creatures!

The reason this is such a lovely insight into the upcoming game is it’s a real Ghibli-style diversion – a low-level interaction with the lives of the characters that takes you beyond the linear storytelling of most animated film. And that shows that it’s more than just the animation that The Studio has brought to this release – the feel and spirit of everyone’s favourite anime-house is alive and well.

But, sadly, only in Japan! So, onwards with the campaign for an English language version. Go! Sign up now! Find the page here!

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