The "General Games Chat" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
The Thing. A game based on the great horror flick, but taking place after all the events of the film. It's mixing the tried-and-tested evil-things-in-the-shadows gameplay with an all new trust/fear system, where you must get your team-mates to trust you, and not try and kill you for being contaminated by the eponymous, er, Thing. Sound good? Well, it's not only being billed as scary, but brilliant. Magazine previews have touted it as the new king of survival horror (although I am sure that Eternal Darkness will have something to say about that), and IGN has given it a pretty good final score itsself...
But why am I writing about it? Well, ukclips.com is sporadically updated with old videos of even older games, KaZaA is busy crashing my computer every six seconds, and Windows Media Player refuses to play anything but the audio of any .mpg I find. The only gaming program I can watch is three-month old Game-Pad 2 on Bravo, with hot new action from the upcoming Luigi's Mansion. I don't care for shelling out almost a fiver for either an official mag with playable demos, or an unofficial one with DVD footage - so despite it's reasonably high profile, despite the fact that Sony have made video-games cool whether you like it or not...I haven't seen a single second of The Thing in action. Sure, there's been screenshots in GamesMaster, on IGN, on SR; but if I like the sound of a film, I don't just want to see a shot of a car chase.
Yet again, I find myself talking about games in relation to movies - but when titles like Shenmue and Metal Gear Solid are costing millions to make, the two mediums are growing ever closer, with the money from games sales even overtaking the cash from films. Pretty much every time there's an advert this week, you'll see Matt Damon running in The Bourne Identity, Cameron Diaz dancing in The Sweetest Thing or that guy from Coronation Street and East is East looking like a ponce in The Guru. The hype for hot new movies is immense, with review shows, billboards, et cetera...where is this with games? XBOX and PS2 adverts don't feature in-game footage at all, where the Gamecube's have little clips of Pikmin and Super Smash Brothers. Heck, those ads aren't even on that often, let alone the proper ads that I'd like to see, such as the Halo one.
Why is it, that games get barely any recognition onscreen? It's one of the fastest growing industries in the world, with hundreds of millions of homes with boxes underneath their television. There was the ill-fated show late at night on Channel 4 with Ian something from the 11 O'Clock show, which was funny AND informative (sort of)...but it hasn't been seen since. The aforementioned Game-Pad must have been good when it was relevant, but a programme showing you how to win as Yoshimitsu in Tekken Tag Tournament just feels dated. Did any of you guys go and see Spider-Man? I'm sure you did. Happen to catch the trailer for the official videogame? I KNOW I did. And that's exactly what the gaming world needs. An advert that doesn't rely on being abstract, obtuse or just plain weird, but instead shows you the game, and tells you stuff about it. As you may have read in some of my previous topics, I am no great fan of the Spider-Man game itsself, but the advert I saw in the cinema has given me a glimmer of hope, no matter how acute the angle of said glimmer is (sorry, my last subject was maths).
On Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, there's a Shawn Palmer's Pro Snowboarder demo. OK, so it's made by the same company, and is pretty much the same game with slightly tweaked physics, it's a start. You can try out the game, and see if its worth investing your money in. On the SSX Tricky disc, amongst the DVD extras are some movies from Freekstyle (to SSX what Shawn Palmer's is to Tony Hawk's, really) and NBA Street. Dropped through my door recently was a Codemasters DVD with some footage from new and upcoming games like LMA Manager, Prisoner of War and Club Football. Things are definitely not as bad as they once were, and as this paragraph proves, companies are starting to catch my drift here...but what about going one step further? Buy that billboard space by Debenhams, and advertise Timesplitters 2. Get some thirty second spaces in the middle of The Premiership and show off Blinx. An even better idea would be taking video's lead, and as the game starts up, after the developer's logo, maybe have a few adverts for 'upcoming attractions'?
And don't think this is just wishful thinking, oh no. With the Playstation 2, XBOX and Gamecube all foaming at the mouth at the sight of a wallet, perhaps increased volumes of advertising that's actually going to make you buy a console, namely the type that shows off software, will become a reality. These ideas are by no means hard to implement, and would surely benefit the makers.
Do you have any ideas for increased video games advertising outside of cyberspace and magazines? Do you think that games don't NEED advertising? What are your thoughts on the subject, and this post? Please reply.
Thanks for reading.
-swander87
But why am I writing about it? Well, ukclips.com is sporadically updated with old videos of even older games, KaZaA is busy crashing my computer every six seconds, and Windows Media Player refuses to play anything but the audio of any .mpg I find. The only gaming program I can watch is three-month old Game-Pad 2 on Bravo, with hot new action from the upcoming Luigi's Mansion. I don't care for shelling out almost a fiver for either an official mag with playable demos, or an unofficial one with DVD footage - so despite it's reasonably high profile, despite the fact that Sony have made video-games cool whether you like it or not...I haven't seen a single second of The Thing in action. Sure, there's been screenshots in GamesMaster, on IGN, on SR; but if I like the sound of a film, I don't just want to see a shot of a car chase.
Yet again, I find myself talking about games in relation to movies - but when titles like Shenmue and Metal Gear Solid are costing millions to make, the two mediums are growing ever closer, with the money from games sales even overtaking the cash from films. Pretty much every time there's an advert this week, you'll see Matt Damon running in The Bourne Identity, Cameron Diaz dancing in The Sweetest Thing or that guy from Coronation Street and East is East looking like a ponce in The Guru. The hype for hot new movies is immense, with review shows, billboards, et cetera...where is this with games? XBOX and PS2 adverts don't feature in-game footage at all, where the Gamecube's have little clips of Pikmin and Super Smash Brothers. Heck, those ads aren't even on that often, let alone the proper ads that I'd like to see, such as the Halo one.
Why is it, that games get barely any recognition onscreen? It's one of the fastest growing industries in the world, with hundreds of millions of homes with boxes underneath their television. There was the ill-fated show late at night on Channel 4 with Ian something from the 11 O'Clock show, which was funny AND informative (sort of)...but it hasn't been seen since. The aforementioned Game-Pad must have been good when it was relevant, but a programme showing you how to win as Yoshimitsu in Tekken Tag Tournament just feels dated. Did any of you guys go and see Spider-Man? I'm sure you did. Happen to catch the trailer for the official videogame? I KNOW I did. And that's exactly what the gaming world needs. An advert that doesn't rely on being abstract, obtuse or just plain weird, but instead shows you the game, and tells you stuff about it. As you may have read in some of my previous topics, I am no great fan of the Spider-Man game itsself, but the advert I saw in the cinema has given me a glimmer of hope, no matter how acute the angle of said glimmer is (sorry, my last subject was maths).
On Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, there's a Shawn Palmer's Pro Snowboarder demo. OK, so it's made by the same company, and is pretty much the same game with slightly tweaked physics, it's a start. You can try out the game, and see if its worth investing your money in. On the SSX Tricky disc, amongst the DVD extras are some movies from Freekstyle (to SSX what Shawn Palmer's is to Tony Hawk's, really) and NBA Street. Dropped through my door recently was a Codemasters DVD with some footage from new and upcoming games like LMA Manager, Prisoner of War and Club Football. Things are definitely not as bad as they once were, and as this paragraph proves, companies are starting to catch my drift here...but what about going one step further? Buy that billboard space by Debenhams, and advertise Timesplitters 2. Get some thirty second spaces in the middle of The Premiership and show off Blinx. An even better idea would be taking video's lead, and as the game starts up, after the developer's logo, maybe have a few adverts for 'upcoming attractions'?
And don't think this is just wishful thinking, oh no. With the Playstation 2, XBOX and Gamecube all foaming at the mouth at the sight of a wallet, perhaps increased volumes of advertising that's actually going to make you buy a console, namely the type that shows off software, will become a reality. These ideas are by no means hard to implement, and would surely benefit the makers.
Do you have any ideas for increased video games advertising outside of cyberspace and magazines? Do you think that games don't NEED advertising? What are your thoughts on the subject, and this post? Please reply.
Thanks for reading.
-swander87
Uncle Albert wrote:
> Read the final line of my last post again. ;)
Try to catch me out, eh? Fiend! ;-)
I was replying to your thoughts that I'd heard.
> Read the final line of my last post again. ;)
Try to catch me out, eh? Fiend! ;-)
I was replying to your thoughts that I'd heard.
Read the final line of my last post again. ;)
Uncle Albert wrote:
> There's always a wide variety of magazines out there!
Gah, but that's the point! The only ones with any moving footage cost about a £5.
> But, by their nature, film adverts can actually use extracts from the
> films, as they are far more dramatic than games will ever be.
I don't think so. Resi's things crashing through windows? MOH Frontlines' beach landing (which was on an advert, come to think of it)? On the other end of the spectrum, you could see a wonderful goal from Pro Evolution Soccer, or some running around and killing of monsters by Mario.
> There's always a wide variety of magazines out there!
Gah, but that's the point! The only ones with any moving footage cost about a £5.
> But, by their nature, film adverts can actually use extracts from the
> films, as they are far more dramatic than games will ever be.
I don't think so. Resi's things crashing through windows? MOH Frontlines' beach landing (which was on an advert, come to think of it)? On the other end of the spectrum, you could see a wonderful goal from Pro Evolution Soccer, or some running around and killing of monsters by Mario.
El blokey wrote:
> Previews are find. If your computer is as slow as mine, downloading
> programs like QuickTime and WMP are a challenge, let alone getting
> them to work. And think of people without the net!
There's always a wide variety of magazines out there!
> Of course not, but you could say the same thing about movies. It's a
> teaser, something to make you want to find out more about the film,
> or, in this case, the game.
But, by their nature, film adverts can actually use extracts from the films, as they are far more dramatic than games will ever be.
> Hehe, guess I just repeated you up there :-) but still, is that a ad
> thing? It would get people thinking about the game if the trailer was
> interested.
Ah well, you've had my view...let's see what others have to say.
> Previews are find. If your computer is as slow as mine, downloading
> programs like QuickTime and WMP are a challenge, let alone getting
> them to work. And think of people without the net!
There's always a wide variety of magazines out there!
> Of course not, but you could say the same thing about movies. It's a
> teaser, something to make you want to find out more about the film,
> or, in this case, the game.
But, by their nature, film adverts can actually use extracts from the films, as they are far more dramatic than games will ever be.
> Hehe, guess I just repeated you up there :-) but still, is that a ad
> thing? It would get people thinking about the game if the trailer was
> interested.
Ah well, you've had my view...let's see what others have to say.
Uncle Albert wrote:
> Finding previews and videos of games on the net isn't as hard as you
> make it out to be, in my experience, anyway.
Previews are find. If your computer is as slow as mine, downloading programs like QuickTime and WMP are a challenge, let alone getting them to work. And think of people without the net!
> TV adverts, by design, cannot provide the viewer with everything there
> is to know about the game, simply because it would take a lot longer
> than 30 seconds or however long the ad is.
Of course not, but you could say the same thing about movies. It's a teaser, something to make you want to find out more about the film, or, in this case, the game.
> The advert must have a big impact on the viewer, and leave them
> thinking 'Wow, that looks pretty good.' It is then up to them to find
> out more about the game.
Hehe, guess I just repeated you up there :-) but still, is that a ad thing? It would get people thinking about the game if the trailer was interested.
> Finding previews and videos of games on the net isn't as hard as you
> make it out to be, in my experience, anyway.
Previews are find. If your computer is as slow as mine, downloading programs like QuickTime and WMP are a challenge, let alone getting them to work. And think of people without the net!
> TV adverts, by design, cannot provide the viewer with everything there
> is to know about the game, simply because it would take a lot longer
> than 30 seconds or however long the ad is.
Of course not, but you could say the same thing about movies. It's a teaser, something to make you want to find out more about the film, or, in this case, the game.
> The advert must have a big impact on the viewer, and leave them
> thinking 'Wow, that looks pretty good.' It is then up to them to find
> out more about the game.
Hehe, guess I just repeated you up there :-) but still, is that a ad thing? It would get people thinking about the game if the trailer was interested.
Hmmm, well, here's how I see it (and it's largely related to a topic started yesterday by ½pint) -
If you make your decision on whether or not to buy a game from seeing the advert on TV alone, you're probably classed as a 'casual' gamer. Those of us that play games on a more regular basis and like to keep 'in the know', research upcoming games more thoroughly.
Finding previews and videos of games on the net isn't as hard as you make it out to be, in my experience, anyway.
TV adverts, by design, cannot provide the viewer with everything there is to know about the game, simply because it would take a lot longer than 30 seconds or however long the ad is.
The advert must have a big impact on the viewer, and leave them thinking 'Wow, that looks pretty good.' It is then up to them to find out more about the game.
Well, that's how I regard the whole TV ad situation. I can see where you're coming from though. :)
If you make your decision on whether or not to buy a game from seeing the advert on TV alone, you're probably classed as a 'casual' gamer. Those of us that play games on a more regular basis and like to keep 'in the know', research upcoming games more thoroughly.
Finding previews and videos of games on the net isn't as hard as you make it out to be, in my experience, anyway.
TV adverts, by design, cannot provide the viewer with everything there is to know about the game, simply because it would take a lot longer than 30 seconds or however long the ad is.
The advert must have a big impact on the viewer, and leave them thinking 'Wow, that looks pretty good.' It is then up to them to find out more about the game.
Well, that's how I regard the whole TV ad situation. I can see where you're coming from though. :)
Mafia > GTA Vice City.
Now say something relevant (i.e. the stuff I mentioned in the last paragraph) or get out.
Now say something relevant (i.e. the stuff I mentioned in the last paragraph) or get out.
Shenmue rules. So does Mafia. Get them both.
*cough*Mafia*cough*
http://special.reserve.co.uk/reviews/ review.php?custid=1003932231
spaces, people.
*cough*Mafia*cough*
http://special.reserve.co.uk/reviews/ review.php?custid=1003932231
spaces, people.
The Thing. A game based on the great horror flick, but taking place after all the events of the film. It's mixing the tried-and-tested evil-things-in-the-shadows gameplay with an all new trust/fear system, where you must get your team-mates to trust you, and not try and kill you for being contaminated by the eponymous, er, Thing. Sound good? Well, it's not only being billed as scary, but brilliant. Magazine previews have touted it as the new king of survival horror (although I am sure that Eternal Darkness will have something to say about that), and IGN has given it a pretty good final score itsself...
But why am I writing about it? Well, ukclips.com is sporadically updated with old videos of even older games, KaZaA is busy crashing my computer every six seconds, and Windows Media Player refuses to play anything but the audio of any .mpg I find. The only gaming program I can watch is three-month old Game-Pad 2 on Bravo, with hot new action from the upcoming Luigi's Mansion. I don't care for shelling out almost a fiver for either an official mag with playable demos, or an unofficial one with DVD footage - so despite it's reasonably high profile, despite the fact that Sony have made video-games cool whether you like it or not...I haven't seen a single second of The Thing in action. Sure, there's been screenshots in GamesMaster, on IGN, on SR; but if I like the sound of a film, I don't just want to see a shot of a car chase.
Yet again, I find myself talking about games in relation to movies - but when titles like Shenmue and Metal Gear Solid are costing millions to make, the two mediums are growing ever closer, with the money from games sales even overtaking the cash from films. Pretty much every time there's an advert this week, you'll see Matt Damon running in The Bourne Identity, Cameron Diaz dancing in The Sweetest Thing or that guy from Coronation Street and East is East looking like a ponce in The Guru. The hype for hot new movies is immense, with review shows, billboards, et cetera...where is this with games? XBOX and PS2 adverts don't feature in-game footage at all, where the Gamecube's have little clips of Pikmin and Super Smash Brothers. Heck, those ads aren't even on that often, let alone the proper ads that I'd like to see, such as the Halo one.
Why is it, that games get barely any recognition onscreen? It's one of the fastest growing industries in the world, with hundreds of millions of homes with boxes underneath their television. There was the ill-fated show late at night on Channel 4 with Ian something from the 11 O'Clock show, which was funny AND informative (sort of)...but it hasn't been seen since. The aforementioned Game-Pad must have been good when it was relevant, but a programme showing you how to win as Yoshimitsu in Tekken Tag Tournament just feels dated. Did any of you guys go and see Spider-Man? I'm sure you did. Happen to catch the trailer for the official videogame? I KNOW I did. And that's exactly what the gaming world needs. An advert that doesn't rely on being abstract, obtuse or just plain weird, but instead shows you the game, and tells you stuff about it. As you may have read in some of my previous topics, I am no great fan of the Spider-Man game itsself, but the advert I saw in the cinema has given me a glimmer of hope, no matter how acute the angle of said glimmer is (sorry, my last subject was maths).
On Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, there's a Shawn Palmer's Pro Snowboarder demo. OK, so it's made by the same company, and is pretty much the same game with slightly tweaked physics, it's a start. You can try out the game, and see if its worth investing your money in. On the SSX Tricky disc, amongst the DVD extras are some movies from Freekstyle (to SSX what Shawn Palmer's is to Tony Hawk's, really) and NBA Street. Dropped through my door recently was a Codemasters DVD with some footage from new and upcoming games like LMA Manager, Prisoner of War and Club Football. Things are definitely not as bad as they once were, and as this paragraph proves, companies are starting to catch my drift here...but what about going one step further? Buy that billboard space by Debenhams, and advertise Timesplitters 2. Get some thirty second spaces in the middle of The Premiership and show off Blinx. An even better idea would be taking video's lead, and as the game starts up, after the developer's logo, maybe have a few adverts for 'upcoming attractions'?
And don't think this is just wishful thinking, oh no. With the Playstation 2, XBOX and Gamecube all foaming at the mouth at the sight of a wallet, perhaps increased volumes of advertising that's actually going to make you buy a console, namely the type that shows off software, will become a reality. These ideas are by no means hard to implement, and would surely benefit the makers.
Do you have any ideas for increased video games advertising outside of cyberspace and magazines? Do you think that games don't NEED advertising? What are your thoughts on the subject, and this post? Please reply.
Thanks for reading.
-swander87
But why am I writing about it? Well, ukclips.com is sporadically updated with old videos of even older games, KaZaA is busy crashing my computer every six seconds, and Windows Media Player refuses to play anything but the audio of any .mpg I find. The only gaming program I can watch is three-month old Game-Pad 2 on Bravo, with hot new action from the upcoming Luigi's Mansion. I don't care for shelling out almost a fiver for either an official mag with playable demos, or an unofficial one with DVD footage - so despite it's reasonably high profile, despite the fact that Sony have made video-games cool whether you like it or not...I haven't seen a single second of The Thing in action. Sure, there's been screenshots in GamesMaster, on IGN, on SR; but if I like the sound of a film, I don't just want to see a shot of a car chase.
Yet again, I find myself talking about games in relation to movies - but when titles like Shenmue and Metal Gear Solid are costing millions to make, the two mediums are growing ever closer, with the money from games sales even overtaking the cash from films. Pretty much every time there's an advert this week, you'll see Matt Damon running in The Bourne Identity, Cameron Diaz dancing in The Sweetest Thing or that guy from Coronation Street and East is East looking like a ponce in The Guru. The hype for hot new movies is immense, with review shows, billboards, et cetera...where is this with games? XBOX and PS2 adverts don't feature in-game footage at all, where the Gamecube's have little clips of Pikmin and Super Smash Brothers. Heck, those ads aren't even on that often, let alone the proper ads that I'd like to see, such as the Halo one.
Why is it, that games get barely any recognition onscreen? It's one of the fastest growing industries in the world, with hundreds of millions of homes with boxes underneath their television. There was the ill-fated show late at night on Channel 4 with Ian something from the 11 O'Clock show, which was funny AND informative (sort of)...but it hasn't been seen since. The aforementioned Game-Pad must have been good when it was relevant, but a programme showing you how to win as Yoshimitsu in Tekken Tag Tournament just feels dated. Did any of you guys go and see Spider-Man? I'm sure you did. Happen to catch the trailer for the official videogame? I KNOW I did. And that's exactly what the gaming world needs. An advert that doesn't rely on being abstract, obtuse or just plain weird, but instead shows you the game, and tells you stuff about it. As you may have read in some of my previous topics, I am no great fan of the Spider-Man game itsself, but the advert I saw in the cinema has given me a glimmer of hope, no matter how acute the angle of said glimmer is (sorry, my last subject was maths).
On Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, there's a Shawn Palmer's Pro Snowboarder demo. OK, so it's made by the same company, and is pretty much the same game with slightly tweaked physics, it's a start. You can try out the game, and see if its worth investing your money in. On the SSX Tricky disc, amongst the DVD extras are some movies from Freekstyle (to SSX what Shawn Palmer's is to Tony Hawk's, really) and NBA Street. Dropped through my door recently was a Codemasters DVD with some footage from new and upcoming games like LMA Manager, Prisoner of War and Club Football. Things are definitely not as bad as they once were, and as this paragraph proves, companies are starting to catch my drift here...but what about going one step further? Buy that billboard space by Debenhams, and advertise Timesplitters 2. Get some thirty second spaces in the middle of The Premiership and show off Blinx. An even better idea would be taking video's lead, and as the game starts up, after the developer's logo, maybe have a few adverts for 'upcoming attractions'?
And don't think this is just wishful thinking, oh no. With the Playstation 2, XBOX and Gamecube all foaming at the mouth at the sight of a wallet, perhaps increased volumes of advertising that's actually going to make you buy a console, namely the type that shows off software, will become a reality. These ideas are by no means hard to implement, and would surely benefit the makers.
Do you have any ideas for increased video games advertising outside of cyberspace and magazines? Do you think that games don't NEED advertising? What are your thoughts on the subject, and this post? Please reply.
Thanks for reading.
-swander87