Asses and Elbows People

I like Alien vs. Predator.

You like Alien vs. Predator.

We all like Alien vs. Predator.

Here are some images of the new AvP game being developed by Rebellion which yours truly was lucky enough to do a bit of work on last year.

I saw a demo of it today and it looks s-weet.

Me and My Boy Fiddy

50 Cent has said that he wants a sequel to the recent Blood on the Sand game, which if you don't know, I was involved with for a period of time. The guys and girls at Swordfish (as it was then) did a great job with the game and I had a lot of fun playing it. Its strength was also its weakness; it was the game equivalent of a dumb action movie and it had no pretentions of anything else.

I don't want to say it was throw away entertainment because that does a disservice to what Swordfish did but it was the kind of good fun popcorn game that you can consume, have a lot of fun with and feel like you got value for money. Sometimes that isn't enough for some reviwers and the less than favourable reviews weren't necessarily on the money.

Blood on the Sand is starting to show up in the sales so there has never been a better time to pick it up. If you like blowing stuff up in coop, you could do a lot worse.

I also want to post a link to a video interview my senior producer did at the recent unveiling of Rogue Warrior. Hit this ish.

There is also a Facebook fan group here. This has sprung up without us knowing and wasn't initiated by any of the developers. Show your support!

Sharkman of the Delta

The game I'm working on got announced today. Rogue Warrior is a first/third person cover shooter based on Richard Marcinko. Richard Marcinko is a famed Navy SEAL who could not only beat up Chuck Norris but he'd rip his fucking arms off.

Demo Dick is about as maverick as it gets and he pissed off the American army so much they threw him out despite being one of the best soldier they ever had. He then formed Red Cell, a group designed to test military defenses. He proceeded to break into Air Force One and inspire Dead Cell from MGS2. I like Marcinko because he is the action hero incarnate but without bullshit stunts.

One of the highlights of the project came the other day when I was asked to write some script for Mickey Rourke. Mickey fucking Rourke. He will be reading the script I wrote. How fucking incredible is that? I assume I'll be getting blown at Hollywood parties soon.

The game has been great to work on and I want to peep you a link and screens.

Preview at Eurogamer.

Far Cry 2 Review is Up

When not making or playing games, I sometimes write about games. At the moment I only write for NTSC-UK, a wondeful import gaming site full of intelligent people and great discussion. Recently I graduated from just being a forum member and into being a writer for them.

NTSC-UK is a little different from most review sites in that we don't get sent games to review (publishers don't like our pro import stance) and so we review games that we own and feel that we have something to say about. This is why I think the writing on there is so good, people aren't just reviewing any old bilge, these guys have something important to say.

The reviews sometimes aren't timely either for one reason or another. In this case, Far Cry 2 came out last October. My review only just went up as I only completed the game in January/February time and because NTSC-UK likes to give each review a refreshing amount of breathing space it took a while for it to get posted. Normally each review gets top billing for a week with full banner support before another review is posted and takes the banner spot.

This was an interesting review for me as my time with the game was pretty uneven. I spent the first six hours absolutely hating the game. At the six hour mark something just clicked and the next fourteen hours were absolutely wonderful and I fell in love with the game. I wanted to focus on this love and also to talk about the questions the game asks and the kind of metaphors it brings up. These aren't fully explored in this review as it was hard for me to articulate them and talk about the rest of the game in the word limit.

It was great fun to write and the writing staff at NTSC-UK are a great bunch to work with and have proved invaluable in my recent reviews. I have spent a number of years writing almost nothing but bullet pointed lists of rules for programmers and very brief reports for work so this kind of critical writing was hard to get back into but I was given excellent support from the guys.

The Far Cry 2 review can be hit up here, and the rest of my reviews are here. If you like reading about games in a way that isn't in the god awful Gamespot style, please browse through the rest of the site, there is some great content up there.