August has flown passed. I swear someone has been stealing days from these months, as they feel like only two weeks apart recently. Anyway, in the short time I’ve had I really be getting some good game time in with a wide range of old, new, trials and demos.

inFamous is now complete, and although I thought the ending lacked some serious substance I enjoyed the game right until the end. At times each mission started to feel a little repetitive, with each one feeling all to similar each time, and with that I doubt I’ll be finishing the side missions for total completeness of the game.

This month I’ve been taking to the skies with IL-2 Sturmovik(Click for review). It is possibly one of the best flight simulation games on a console thus far. The campaign can be completed in a few hours, and I have all the remaining single missions to pickup next. I’ve had the choice between the 360 pad or Saitek’s Flight Stick (to be reviewed soon), but I’ve favoured the pad most of the time, The Flight Stick is awesome though, should you want that type of control, and it is needed if you’re tackling the Realistic or Simulation modes in the game.

This month also saw the release of the latest Dirt 2 demo. Having tried it on both consoles I feel the PS3 one is a little smoother in framerate. What tipped it for me is being about to use the GT Force wheel with it, which is just awesome, really looking forward to its release next month.

The latter part of this month, and no doubt part of next month, will be taken up by fighting thugs in Batman Arkham Asylum. The 12% I’ve played so far has been fantastic and probably one of the best superhero titles I have played in a long while, kudos to the devs for this masterpiece.

To sum up the rest of August’s game time: WET demo was a disappointment and felt like a generic hybrid of Hitman meets Stranglehold, both great titles but this didn’t carry over all too well into WET. I do like the Tarantino art style though.

Trials HD felt a lot of fun but my scalp wouldn't benefit from the intense loss of hair pulling that I am hearing that this game causes. I may pick it up at a later date when there is a gaming lull looming.

I loved the look of Shadow Complex, I have yet to buy the full title but I will do at some point, like Trials HD, when there is a lull. I loved Flashback and Another World which this game reminds me of so much. However, the game sounds short, which makes me doubt the 1200 MSP price tag, so we’ll see.

September appears to be a stellar month, before the grand months in gaming that follow. Games on my radar next month will be Dirt 2, The Beatles: Rock Band, Guitar Hero 5, Mini Ninjas and Need for Speed: Shift. All cracking titles that I am sure the staff here will be fighting over.

July has zoomed by, making it feel like it has lasted only a week! So what have I been played this month? Well, it has been a bit of a mixed bag which has spanned many platforms. I knew July would be a quiet one, and it has indeed been just that, so this meant that some yet unfinished games would need to be dusted off and given another spin in the drive tray.

After a brief rest I’ve returned back into inFamous on the PS3. I am around three-quarters done with the three islands, so I guess I am nearly done with that (I hope). I had forgotten how much of a good sandbox this game is, yet I still rush through the red zones, making a beeline to the manhole covers in the attempt of quickly unlocking all the campaign missions. I am still going the hero route, but whilst running through the unsecured red zones I cant help but make a few civilian casualties.

July also saw 1vs100 kick off. Sadly I have only had the time to test out the first two days of this. My overall impressions have been fairly positive. I’ve not been in any parties during the game, but I can guess that would be much more fun once in a group. Overall I have found it is a good concept for Xbox LIVE, and I can see it doing well. However, charging for entry in the future could put a dampener on this service.

Also on Xbox LIVE I have had some brief Battlefield 1943 action. Early connection problems aside, this has been a fun title for me. Even though I still find myself running around like a headless chicken, like in all Console shooters I play, I am still having great fun. It feels odd though if you are not in squad chat, as it all feels pretty quiet. I’ve yet to play the new map, something I hope to check out this weekend.

Whilst everyone has been finding The Secret of Monkey Island, I have been exploring the Tales of Monkey Island, in this new episodic content from Lucasarts on Steam. The first episode was a fun hour or two of gameplay; the usual Monkey Island quirks, humour and gamplay were at play here, though I still prefer the 2D look and feel instead of the 3D direction they have used in ToMI. It seems the point and click adventures have really been given a reboot this year, after a long lapse of interest from gamers, publishers and the like. Personally I can’t play these on a console, via the pad, I need a mouse for these types of games to point and click with. On the other hand, the editions coming to iPhone with its touch interface has raised my eyebrows. Point and click adventures and touch-screen just seem to be match made in gaming heaven. With the recent announcement of such titles like Broken Sword and Beneath a Steel Sky coming to iPhone, I may have to pick up these little gems and relive my gaming youth. However, it is just such a shame the fantastic graphics are wasted on such a small screen.

Speaking of iPhone, I have brought a few Apps in the last week that have been fantastic, and it has seen me gaming a lot more since the days of Flight Control on the device. The first game is Draw Race, certainly not a catchy title, but ignore that for now. This game sees you draw a line around a racetrack, the slower you draw, the slower your car moves at that point in the race. Once you have drawn the laps, you get to observe the race you have previously drawn the line for. It is a great concept that works very well, almost like turn-based racing. The single player is a little short lived. Although there are a number of tracks - all of them can be completed in an hour. Costing just 59p, for that much fun, you cannot do wrong. There is also 2 player network play and 2 to 3 player local (same screen) races, which gives this game some longevity. Network play isn’t Bluetooth play however, it throws you in with a live opponent, but this makes you feel a little distant whilst thinking, ‘Am I really playing against someone live or is it just a recorded path someone has uploaded online in the past’. Overall it is a great well-executed game, I hope local network play is included in an update.

The second game this month on iPhone is Space Invaders Infinity Gene. Think of this game as the love child of Space Invaders and Rez. Like Space Invaders Extreme, the Space Invaders concept has been give a polish and a heavy twist in which you find yourself fighting waves of aliens in a more vertical 1942-esque shooter mechanic. It is great fun, with lots of levels to play through and a visual style that works extremely well with the game. Mix this will your favourite music track on your iPhone or iPod and you immediately get that Rez feeling in the game. At £2.99 it is breaking the 59p App mould and it is well worth picking up if you are a fan of these game types and art style.

Finishing up the month, I have finally got around to playing Left 4 Dead on PC. A bunch of us (mainly CounterStrike 1.6 players) have been thinking about killing some zombies for a while now and we managed to get the time to do together. It has been a great laugh. We’ve only touched the first campaign, with the helicopter at the end, and we are saving the rest for later. I can imaging once all the storylines have been complete it will feel a little too similar and less fresh the second time around, so we are happy to stagger our sessions with the game in order to make that freshness last.

So overall it has been a good solid mix of games in July. In August I hope to pick up Wipeout HD Fury update for PSN, play some more Battlefield 1942, maybe some Battlefield Bad Company again. I’ll be giving Trials HD and Shadow Complex a go for sure, perhaps some Turtles Re-shelled. Then I have Dead Space still waiting to be played, more Left 4 Dead and some more Monkey Island exploring too – It is a good month to be a gamer!

June has been an epic month in gaming for me. For those of you that have just joined us, I was given the golden ticket by the Xbox Community Network to join a few other fellow bloggers and social media types in attending this year’s E3 Expo in Los Angeles, USA. So this month I have had the privilege to sample some of this year’s and next year’s hot titles, as well as being able to tick off attending the main event off my ‘must do’ list.

I had played many titles over my three days on the show floor, but my main highlights were; being the first to play Operation Flashpoint 2, attending the Xbox Conference and seeing Paul and Ringo, Steven Spielberg and Tony Hawks. Playing DIRT 2, Blur, Battlefield 2, Forza 3 and Need for Speed Shift. Also chatting to the key staff and developers of some great upcoming titles and hardware yet to hit our hands and eyeballs.

Back home in blightly, this month I’ve been playing ArmA 2 on PC, from the same developers of the original Operation Flashpoint. It’s a power hungry game, more so than Crysis I think and it’s showing my PC’s age a bit; I really need to upgrade my graphics card, I think I’ll wait though until the next batch of cards are released and Operation Flashpoint 2 is out from Codemasters.

On the consoles I have been chipping away at InFamous on PS3. I then checked out Prototype which I played at E3, a week before its release in the UK. I love both titles, though I think InFamous tips the balance just a little bit, though I do prefer the combat in Prototype, which is much more satisfying.

Finally I’ve been reviewing Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood. I missed the first title in 2007, I think you can blame Forza 2 for that, but from the off I have been hooked. Five hours of solid play later and I was watching the credits roll. So you can gather it’s a short game, but it was great fun along the way. Look out for my review before its release.

Looking forward there isn’t much on my radar in July, the only title that springs to mind is Battlefield 1943 on Xbox LIVE and PSN, so I’ll be looking into that once it releases early in July. Happy gaming peeps!

E3 2009 - It was slim pickings

After a successful Day 1 of scouting the E3 show floor, Day 2 was going to be all about playing the key titles I took note of. The second day of E3 felt a little busier than the first This is probably due to gamers still flying in to LA, but thanks to the prior scouting I knew where best to head off to first.

Sad to say, but I had to nab one of those Mini Ninja T-shirts. I had failed to get one on Day 1, and I spoke to someone that did, so I wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Like a dog returning his ball I went right back there and had some more hands-on time with the game before collaring the same friendly Eidos chap from Day 1, who was again helpful, but not so helpful on getting me one of those damn t-shirts. Talking to another guy was just as much of a brick wall, so with my tail between my legs I left the booth.

This year E3 game shwag was like gold dust. I’ve been used to going to events like these in the past, and by just walking alongside just a few booths I would have come out with 5 large bags containing stickers, postcards and hats, and the traditional XXL t-shirts I can shelter under, should I ever loose my hotel key. But alas this wasn’t going to be the case this year. I am sure this is due to the economy, with marketing spends being tight this year. Even the booth babes were limited. Sure a few caught my eye, but it was more the games and its developers that were lining the show floors this year. This was probably wise, as it makes us journos concentrate that little bit more on the games, and not get distracted by some PVC wearing model, whose being paid to be your ‘best friend’, and know very little about the game they are endorsing.

Access denied - Modern Warfare 2 behind closed doors & only demoed

One gripe I had from the show is the amount of denied access in covering a game that was fully on display. It makes you ask yourself – why showcase something you can’t tell you readers about? You stand there admiring the latest and greatest title on display (or being played), you then decided to take a photo or video, and as soon as you poise your shot you’re tapped on the shoulder and then asked no to do such a thing. Most of the time there were no clear sign that you couldn’t take any shots at the event. Even when some of the displays were twenty feet wide, such as Square Enix, you soon had someone from camera police on your case in no time.

So you can understand that after a few confrontations it soon made me paranoid to whip out my camera and capture the glorious games I was seeing throughout the day. Instead I ask for any press material, and I am given a PR business card. ‘Erm, this doesn’t work in my DVD drive?’, I think to my self. So much for hot off the press coverage; instead I have to roll up online and download their gigabytes of screenshots and videos, all over a crippled media Wi-FI connection. Oh the joys of being press!

Anyway, as planned, the rest of the day was filled with some much need play and view time, these included:

Mini Ninja
Lost Planet 2
Alan Wake
MAG
Fat Princess
Pixel Junk Shooter
Need for Speed Shift
Operation Flashpoint 2
Dirt 2
Ratchet & Clank
DJ Hero
Prototype
Ghostbusters
Guitar Hero Van Halen
God of War 3
The Agency
Darksiders
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

You'll hear more about all these over the coming days as I give my views on each.

This could have been in-game photo or video if we had our way!

The day ended with a dinner with the Xbox EMEA team at a top LA hotel – The Standard. A venue that had all the top Microsoft members and publisher teams staying there.  Even Microsoft’s John Schappert was there, dining with other Microsoft executives, no doubt toasting a successful showing at this year’s E3.

What could end a great evening of fine food and fun? Well an intimate Milo Q&A with Peter Molyneux of course! But more about that in another blog. So pop back soon for some Milo info and impressions from Day 3.

[images thanks to sean @ flickr]

Well I have survived Day 1 of the E3 Expo. Finally seeing upcoming titles in the flesh was awesome!

Like most things in life, everything is imagined to be much bigger than it actually is, and E3 is no different. The last major event like E3 I have been to was ECTS (Electronic Computer Trade Show) in London, many years ago. It was hot, sweaty and very loud, it was a big deal at the time and I relished mingling with the gaming journalist, publishers and developers, all under one roof. It was awesome back then, but hearing about the big E3 event for many years I was expecting BIG things.

When I pulled up to the venue, I always thought front venue that we have all seen in photos was going to be massive, but its actually fairly small. Once inside we had to wait around a little bit until the tickertape was lowered and all the gaming journalist started to funnel into a single open double door.

Once inside I was surprised how open the whole venue was this year, I was accepting real shuffling around mass crowds, but it was all very open and airy. Sure there were busy areas in the most ‘must see’ areas, but outside of that it was very roomy – which is a good thing.

So what did I see?  Well, with two halls to wander around in, and with a maze of walk-ways, it was difficult to see everything that I had planned to so, and I did have a plan. Some games I had planned on seeing I was unable to track down, or when I did find the game it had the biggest waiting line in history waiting to play it. These games I hope to visit tomorrow and to get there quick before it gets far to busy. Below is a list of games I had time with today:

• Operation Flashpoint 2
  
• Split Second
  
• Need for Speed: Shift (PS3)
  
• Just Cause 2
  
• Batman: Arkham Asylum
  
• Mini Ninja
  
• Blur
  
• Uncharted 2 (PS3)
  
• Forza 3
  
• Section 8
  
• Splinter Cell: Conviction

Although I had clocked many other games on Day 1, I hope to get more hands on time with the titles I missed off my list. These include: Dark Void, Lost Planet 2, MAG, God of War 2, Battlefield 1943,  DIRT 2, Mafia 2 and  CoD MW2, just to name a mere few – oh and a bit more Flashpoint ☺

Overall, it just shows an event of this calibre cannot be covered in just one day. More so when you are in lengthy appointments, or just playing some great games for longer than you had planned to. I believe I did a worthy scouting mission today, ready for a full frontal attack the games I missed or slipped under my radar. So expect previews of the games I play over the coming weeks.