#MyPS4Life - My time on the PS4!

Sony recently released 'My PS4 Life', a site where a video will be generated with interesting stats based on your time on the PS4 over the past 5 years.

Here's a few snippets of my video:

Unsurprisingly, The Witcher 3 took my top spot.

You can find your own here. Enjoy!

Review A Bad Game Day: Wreckless-Yakuza Missions

Well today is Review A Bad Game Day. Today sees a variety of different gaming writers come together to bring you their take on a particularly duff game. 

Some may be deemed a little controversial (perhaps YOU liked that game, but they didn't?), whilst many will have us all shake our collective heads and sigh with disappointment. I decided to take part too. Here's mine.

Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions (Gamecube)

Ah Wreckless. Whilst the Xbox version of the game was on the whole, critically well received, and successfully showed off the graphical capabilities of Microsoft's first Xbox, the same cannot be said for the Gamecube version. However, even with the Xbox version, I felt it was more about style rather than substance. Who wants to marvel at a well rendered Hong Kong but not entirely feel the same way about the gameplay?

Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions is a game split into two stories revolving around the Japanese Yakuza in Hong Kong. The first story sees you playing as two female police officers, whilst the second follows two shoddy spies. Each story is spread across ten missions, including tasks such as stealing contents of an armoured truck, chasing down enemies, and so on. All the missions are pretty similiar, leading the whole experience to feel a little too repetitive for my liking. It's easy to get bored when you're "chasing down" the Yakuza (in quotation marks because really...it's not much of an epic chase) time and time again.

For me, the missions were too boring, meaning that I did not engage in the game too much. Seeing as this happened rather early on, it was a bad sign of things to come. Now whilst I admit in games such as this, I'm often an awful driver (I love L.A. Noire, but my driving is rather appalling), but the handling on Wreckless seems to be particularly bad. On looking at other people's opinions of the game online, it seems that I am not alone on this assumption. 

Not only is the games handling frustrating, but unfortunately, Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions for the Gamecube is poorly rendered. Whilst graphics have never been a huge concern of mine (I'd much prefer enjoyable gameplay, if I had to choose), they can at times benefit the level of enjoyment you will find from the game. One aspect that largely faulters due to this is the increasing difficulty level. Often missions will be scored based on how much traffic you have crashed into, and/or the level of damage you have created in the environment. Well, with poor handling...it's near impossible not to make a bit of a mess! However, in the moments where destruction does count for something, well, like Burnout after it, this is where the fun lies. See? Even in a bad game I have to find a redeeming feature!

As well as the main story mode, Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions also includes a two-player mode. Not included in the original Xbox version, this two player mode introduces seven gameplay variants which are played in four different areas of the city. Sadly, here is where the game falls victim to it's boredom and repetition once again. Every mode involves one player chasing after the other, with the only difference being each time that the scoring conditions change ever so slightly. What is so awful about the two player in this game though is the choice of camera. Multiplayer is not player via split screen, but instead, rather bizarrely, sees both players sharing the one screen. This means that the camera is often all over the place, as it cannot follow both players perfectly at the same time. Supposing the chased player decides to quickly turn a sharp corner and the chaser continues to go in the same direction? Well the camera doesn't really know what to do in this situation...so it all gets a little awkward. Not fun.

As I previously mentioned, the handling of this game is rather appalling, especially when driving a car. The cars seem to drive so slowly that it actually feels rather sluggish. In an effort to "speed up" the driving, the cars have been given very, very (and may I emphasise again, very) loose handling. This means that they will constantly shift and turn even in the slightest movement, meaning that players are always fighting to simply get the car driving in a straight line. Like much of Wreckless, it's a frustrating experience. In fact, it's not only the driving that feels sluggish, it's pretty much the whole game. Whilst it felt quite fluid on the Xbox version, perhaps the reason for it's slowness is that the game engine of the Gamecube is not as powerful as the Xbox (and don't take that as a criticism...I love the Gamecube), but whatever it is, the horrid frame-rate issues, poor rendering and shoddy cutscenes make this all feel a little, well, cheap.

So overall, Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions is a disappointment. The Xbox version showed promise, with it's good graphics and often enjoyable gameplay, but this port over to the Gamecube seems to have left those redeeming features behind. Handling is frustrating, hard and sloppy, the multiplayer mode is often god-awful (no split screen camera?), and the single player missions are often dull and repetitive. There are plenty of excellent driving games out there that you can get your hands on, whether it is on the Gamecube or not. This is not one of them. Avoid!

8-Bit Girl Turns One! :D

Happy Birthday 8-Bit Girl!

Yes, today marks the blog's 1 year anniversary. This time last year I had just posted my first ever blog entry, had no dedicated Twitter or Facebook, and absolutely no readers. Now, I'm here with a 450+ fanbase on Twitter, close to 200 on Facebook, and god knows how many of you actually just come to the blog to read it...but judging by my daily pageviews, it's quite a lot!


I want to take this time to say thank you for all of the support. Without all of your kind comments, shares of my posts, etc, I probably wouldn't still be here one year on.


So I'll share with you my first ever post for 8-Bit Girl once again. Hopefully in a year my writing has progressed somewhat, and my posts have got a little better. I'll let you all be the judge on that one. :) L.A. Noire-Worthy Of All The Hype?


I'll (hopefully) be giving the blog a bit of a revamp soon, with a new banner, logo etc, and I plan to continue my reviews, interviews, news posts etc, as long as you all want to keep reading them!


Thanks guys!




Kayleigh x

BAFTA Shortlist Announced

The shortlist for the 2012 British Academy Video Games Awards have been announced by BAFTA. 


L.A. Noire and Batman: Arkham City are leading it with eight nominations each. The best game is voted on by the public, and alll winners will be revealed in London on the 16th March. Check out the categories and the full list of nominees below.

Action

• Assassin's Creed Revelations
• Batman: Arkham City
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution
• Portal 2
• Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Artistic Achievement

• Batman: Arkham City
• L.A. Noire
• LittleBigPlanet 2
• Rayman: Origins
• The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
• Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Audio Achievement

• Batman: Arkham City
• Battlefield 3
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
• Dead Space 2
• The Nightjar
• Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Best Game

• Batman: Arkham City
• FIFA 2012
• L.A. Noire
• Portal 2
• The Elder Scrolls V - Skyrim
• The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Debut Game

• Bastion
• Eufloria
• Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
• L.A. Noire
• Monstermind
• RIFT

Design

• Batman: Arkham City
• L.A. Noire
• LittleBigPlanet 2
• Portal 2
• Super Mario 3D Land
• The Elder Scrolls V - Skyrim

Family

• Dance Central 2
• Kinect Sports 2
• LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean
• LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars
• LittleBigPlanet 2
• Mario Kart 7

Game Innovation

• Bastion
• Child of Eden
• From Dust
• L.A. Noire
• LittleBigPlanet 2
• The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Mobile & Handheld

• Dead Space iOS
• Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint
• Peggle
• Quarrel
• Super Mario 3D Land
• The Nightjar

Online - Browser

• Gardens of Time
• I Am Playr
• Monstermind
• Global Resistance
• Skylanders: Spyro's Universe
• The Sims Social

Online - Multiplayer

• Assassin's Creed: Revelations
• Battlefield 3
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
• Dark Souls
• Gears of War 3
• LittleBigPlanet 2

Original Music

• Assassin's Creed: Revelations
• Batman: Arkham City
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution
• L.A. Noire
• The Elder Scrolls V - Skyrim
• Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Performer

• Aaron Stanton (Cole Phelps) - L.A. Noire
• Mark Hamill (The Joker) - Batman: Arkham City
• Nolan North (Nathan Drake) - Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
• Stephen Fry (Narrator) - LittleBigPlanet 2
• Stephen Merchant (Wheatley) - Portal 2
• Togo Igawa (Dipolomat, Advisor and Military General) - Total War: SHOGUN 2

Sports/Fitness

• Dance Central 2
• DiRT 3
• F1 2011
• FIFA 2012
• Kinect Sports 2
• Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012

Story

• Batman: Arkham City
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution
• L.A. Noire
• Portal 2
• The Elder Scrolls V - Skyrim
• Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Strategy

• Dark Souls
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution
• Football Manager 2012
• From Dust
• Ghost Recon Shadow Wars
• Total War: SHOGUN 2

BAFTA Ones to Watch Award in association with Dare to Be Digital

• Dreamweaver
• Joust!
• Tick Tock Toys

GAME Award of 2011 (voted for by the public)

• Batman: Arkham City
• Battlefield 3
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
• FIFA 2012
• L.A Noire
• Minecraft
• Portal 2
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
• Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

L.A. Noire Sequel Is A Maybe?

Fans yearning for a sequel to L.A. Noire may be in luck after Rockstar announced via News Wire that the franchise could make a return in the future.


"While there won’t be any more DLC or additional content for the current release of L.A. Noire (we’re all too busy working on Max Payne 3, GTAV and other games to come), don’t count out the possibility of a new game in the L.A. Noire franchise in the future. We simply have not decided anything," reads the News Wire post. "We don’t always rush to make sequels, but that does not mean we won’t get to them eventually – see Max and Red Dead for evidence of that – we have so many games we want to make and the issue is always one of bandwidth and timing."

Last year's L.A. Noire was a fantastic game, so it would be great if a sequel is eventually in the works! 

OnLive Now for iPad and Android

The OnLive games service offers up quick to download full Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 titles, as well as a collection of popular classics, such as Abe's Odyssey. Subscribers to the service are now able to play via the companies set-top box for their TV sets, and access a bunch of games for the iPad and Android. 


Now players will have access to great titles such as L.A. Noire on their tablets, rather than hooking up a console or playing via their computer. OnLive have also introduced their own controls which add a touch-screen interface to games that previously did not use this feature. 25 titles will now feature touch-screen availability, and a new wireless controller, costing £39.99 is also now being sold.


The great thing about OnLive is that it is a Cloud based service, meaning that remote servers do all the tricky processing that perhaps your computer may not of handled on it's own. Instead, OnLive relies on a decent internet connection to run the games. To compensate for a dip in the internet signal, the graphics are degraded somewhat until the connection speeds up once again. This allows for an uninterrupted gaming session. 


You can sign up free for OnLive, where you'll gain access to a range of free trails (perfect for it you're like me, and are looking to write up some more hands-on reviews of the latest games). A subscription fee of £6.99 a month allows gamers to browse through the catalogue and download full games. It's a great service, which no doubt will get much bigger in the months to come. 

L.A. Noire Boss to Work on Mad Max 4

Team Bondi may have disbanded, amongst the controversy surrounding the working conditions during the production of L.A. Noire, but Brendan McNamara is back. The L.A. Noire creator's new development team have announced that they are working on a game tie-in for Mad Max 4: Fury Road. The game version of Mad Max was originally going to be made in Sweden, until George Miller, the films director, saw what the L.A. Noire developer was capable of.

Miller has also secured the rights to McNamara's next concept entitled Whore of the Orient.


How do you feel about this news? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Saints Row: The Third Season Pass

Saints Row: The Third is jumping on the season pass bandwagon, much like L.A. Noire, Gears of War 3 and Forza 4.  The pass will give players a discount on the downloadable content if they purchase it early in one bundle pack before the DLCs release. THQ state that those that purchase the pack will save 15% of the total price.


The Saints Season Pass will include three new mission packs a DLC outfit and vehicle pack. The mission packs will begin arriving in January with the release of Genkibowl VII.  This pack will see sporting-Genki style, grip the town of Steelport. The next release will be Gangstas in Space, followed by the Trouble with Clones.


The DLC pack will contain the two costumes and vehicles featured below.  They are centred around the in-game famous vampire hunter/ superhero, Nyte Blayde.

L.A. Noire-Nicholson Electroplating DLC Review

On the 21^st June 2011, Rockstar released the latest DLC for their current crime best-seller, L.A. Noire. Nicholson Electroplating takes place in the Arson section of the game, and can be downloaded for 320 points on the Xbox Live Marketplace, or £3.19 on the Playstation network. Those who have downloaded the Rockstar Pass (which comes complete with the two pre-order cases, Nicholson Electroplating and the upcoming Reefer Madness, as well as badge collecting and suits) can download this straight away, as the charge has already been included in the pass price.

It’s 9.45 in the morning and a mushroom cloud has just exploded in Los Angeles. Six city blocks have crumbled, and nothing but rubble and bodies fill the devastated streets. Detective Phelps and his partner Biggs hastily rush towards the site of the explosion- the Nicholson Electroplating plant, which took the brunt of the blast. A lot of shady unanswered questions sit in the middle of the disaster, which the two Detectives have to unravel by scrabbling through the rubble for case-winning evidence. One thing they can be sure of though-once again, Los Angeles is host to another string of corruption.

The Nicholson Electroplating case allows Phelps to interrogate new suspects, find out key clues from witnesses, and explore new locations, such as the hanger holding Howard Hughes’ aeroplane, the Spruce Goose. This case also adds in the obligatory car chase, final shoot-out and phone-call making that is present in the rest of the game. Fans of the main game will by now be familiar with the way the game plays, and nothing has changed in the DLC in this respect. 

Achievement collectors should be quite satisfied with the achievements on offer for this DLC. Nicholson Electroplating only has 5 achievements to unlock, and they involve completing the case, finding and inspecting all or certain clues, and completing certain objectives which I will not reveal due to containing story spoilers. They are all rather easy to unlock.

Nicholson Electroplating is a welcome addition to L.A. Noire, which adds in new locations and achievements, as well as an intriguing and, quite literally, explosive case. Fans of the game should not be disappointed with what this DLC has to offer. The only downside is that it only takes about 35 to 40 minutes to complete, but there is always the option to replay it if you wish to get a better rating or unlock the achievements you may have missed. The next DLC and final in the Rockstar Pass, Reefer Madness, will be released on the 12th July 2011.