Released on 02-Mar-2012

• Video Games Awards reveal games & more games!

  Video Games Awards reveal games, games, and more games

  This weekend saw the Video Game Awards rock the US of A, and while there were prizes, speeches, and parties, there were also announcements of new games. Lots of them. Here are the biggies.

  Mass Effect 3 is on the way from BioWare. The sci-fi sequel will see Commander Shepherd protecting the Earth from alien invasion, and will be hitting the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 somewhere around Christmas 2011. We love the first two games, so we're excited.

  Sticking with RPGs, Bethesda's unveiled Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the sequel to sword and sorcery classic Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. It's coming out in November, 2011, but we've got no firm word on which platforms it's going to land on just yet, or what kind of epic fantasy story it's going to tell.

  Hellboy director Guillermo Del Toro's working on a game for THQ called inSane. Aside from the fact that it's out in 2013, that's literally all we know about it from the reveal.

  Prototype 2 is on the way from Radical and Activision. The sequel to the superhero open-worlder features an interesting twist: rather than pick up the story of wall-crawling mutant Alex Mercer once more, you're cast as the man who has to bring him down. No platforms have been revealed, but the game's on the way in 2012.

  Finally, we knew it was in development, but now we also know Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception will be hitting PS3s in America on 1st November, 2011. Whether Europe gets it the same day we don't yet know, but it's nice to know roughly when to expect it.

  But it wasn't only action and role-playing fans who have things to look forward to following this weekend's Video Games Awards in the US. Sports gamers are getting a few treats, too, with new instalments for the SSX and Forza series being announced.

  SSX: Deadly Descents reinvents the classic snowboarding game for the current console generation, although no formats - or dates were revealed.

  According to the publisher, EA, players will explore the story of a team who seek to be the first to descend the faces of the most treacherous mountain ranges on the planet. The team will travel the world to face the worst that Mother Nature can throw at them. From the peaks of the Himalayas, where the air is so thin that riders have to descend through the death zone at breakneck speeds to keep from blacking out, to the solid ice ranges of Antarctica, where a sunlit line is the only survival option when temperatures drop 50 degrees centigrade in the shade.

  Sounds great. If you're a driving fanatic, though, you'll be excited to hear about Forza 4. The latest game in Microsoft's simulation racing series will be revving up on the Xbox 360 in the second half of next year, and although details are scarce, you can expect some kind of tie-in with Top Gear, apparently, and some Kinect integration to boot.

• New SSX no longer deadly

  EA forthcoming snowboarding sequel SSX: Deadly Descents has lost its subtitle, and will now simply be called SSX.
  
  It turns out Deadly Descents is the name of just one of three different modes in the game, currently under development at EA Canada. Youl have to outrun avalanches, rockslides and falling stalactites, claims US magazine Game Informer.

  Speaking to the mag, the game creative director Todd Batty explained that acing [is] the core of SSX, and we didn want to go away from that. Wee going to have Speed Descent events and of course will have tricks in our Tricky Descent events./p>

  Suggesting the game wouldn be quite as gritty as the original trailer suggested, Batty added e wanted to make sure we hit the over-the-top arcade gameplay in all of these different modes./p>

  ll of the classic SSX style will be there,he continued, which will be very good news to long-time fans of the series.

  The trick system has been completely reworked with a control scheme said to blend the simplicity of Trials HD with the flexibility of Fight Night Round 4. Right-stick flips and stunts, anyone? Seems likely. Meanwhile, missing a jump won necessarily mean your rider will plummet to his doom, as wing suits will allow players to glide across chasms, while ice axes can dig in and flip your rider back into play should your landing fall slightly short.

  Plenty of fun for the solo player, then, but what about online modes? "I wish I could talk about multiplayer because we have some awesome designs to share," said Batty, "but we're not talking about it now."

  SSX will hit the slopes on HD consoles and PC later this year.
  

• SSX multiplayer open to all even with an Online Pass

  The concept of the "online pass", introduced by games publishers to encourage gamers to buy their games new rather than used, has angered and irritated many by locking off multiplayer content for second-hand copies unless a new online pass is purchased.

  For its upcoming snowboarding game SSX, EA Sports has come up with an interesting twist on the idea. Those who haven't entered an online pass code won't be prevented from taking part in multiplayer events, but will instead be unable to access any in-game credits earned while playing online. However, credits earned will be attached to the player profile and handed over once an online pass is activated. You'll still be able to earn enough credits in the single player modes to unlock all the game's content, EA has confirmed.

  SSX marks a fresh start for the popular snowboarding series, last seen in the guise of SSX Blur in 2007. It tumbles down a mountain and into Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 disc trays on March 2nd.

• SSX soundtrack unveiled

  You'll be treated to some fierce beats as you hurtle down the slopes in EA's upcoming snowboard sim reboot SSX, as the publisher has released a track list detailing the music available in game.

  It's an eclectic 37 track mix, drawing from the UK, Europe and the US, with traditional game soundtrack favourites like DJ Shadow and The Hives joined by cutting edge newcomers like drum and bass pioneers The Qemists, dubstep superstar Skrillex, avant garde rockers Turbowolf and west coast hip hop collective Zion I and Grouch. Legendary rappers Run DMC supply a special SSX remix of their hit, It's Tricky. That track also appeared in the 2001 sequel SSX Tricky, you see.

  The game also debuts a new soundtrack technology called Harmony, which will remix tracks on the fly ensuring a smooth aural accompaniment to your sick shredding and whatever else snowboarding people say these days. Harmony will even work with your own custom soundtrack, speeding the music up as you gain speed, skipping beats when you fall and even rewinding when you restart a checkpoint.

  SSX launches for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 next week on February 14th, which is sort of romantic if you like snow and broken bones.

• SSX to feature all-star soundtrack

  EA Sports has revealed that its eagerly awaited snowboarding series revival SSX will feature a soundtrack packed with hits from big-name artists.

  The gamemaker has licensed a total of 36 tracks from established and upcoming artists to feature in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 title, with contributing musicians including Foster the People, The Naked and Famous and DJ Shadow.

  Pretty Lights will be contributing a remix of It's Tricky, the franchise's signature theme tune by Run-DMC, while ten original songs from the likes of The Qemists, Camo & Krooked and Raffertie are also included.

  Steve Schnur, worldwide executive of music and music marketing at EA, said: "The songs on this new soundtrack cover ground from indie rock, dubstep, hip-hop, drum and bass and beyond."

  Fans will also be able to upload their own music to their console hard drives in order to create their own custom soundtracks.

  SSX will be released at the beginning of next month and will be the first new entry in the series for five years.

  Published: 13/02/2012

• SSX demo arrives on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3

  A demo version of EA Sports' snowboarding revival SSX has slalomed its way on to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this week.

  The online-enabled trial will only be available until March 20th 2012, offering a preview of two tracks: a race event in the Rocky Mountains and a trick-based competition in New Zealand.

  Since the demo is based on SSX's new Explore mode, it will incorporate a feature that automatically records race performances as ghost data, which will be uploaded to the SSX server for other players to compete against at any time.

  Todd Batty, creative director for the new SSX, said: "We wanted to design something that took into account people's busy schedules and addressed the issue of not always having friends to play online with you at the same time."

  The final game will also include a mode called Global Events, through which fans can take part in constant ongoing live tournaments which can be joined and exited whenever they want.

  SSX is the first new instalment in the series in five years and will introduce a new sense of open-world freedom to the classic snowboarding experience.

  Published: 23/02/2012

• Rebooting The Classics: The '90s Games That Are Rocking 2012

  
  

  In our eco-friendly times, recycling is everything. But it's not just empty soup cans and milk cartons, as great ideas are increasingly being mulched down, rebuilt and turned into something cool. Hollywood, somewhat inevitably, is ahead on this curve, increasingly plucking its summer blockbusters from the TV shows, movies and even toys that we enjoyed in the past. Now the games industry is catching on, and publishers are rummaging in their cupboards for beloved franchises that are ready for a second chance.

  

  Everything Changes

  Syndicate, currently nestled in the top ten, is a prime example. First released in 1993 for the PC and Commodore Amiga, the original game was a cyberpunk strategy game in which you played as the head of a sinister international mega-corporation. Able to despatch (and then control) four-man squads of bionic agents to disrupt and destroy the competition - with little regard for public safety - the game was a subversive cult hit.

  Revived last week by The Darkness developer Starbreeze, the new Syndicate flips the perspective from top-down view to first-person shooter, and casts you instead as one of the elite agents, able to augment your attacks with an array of cybernetic abilities.

  

  Back For Good

  Not all reboots opt to switch the gameplay style so dramatically though. PC cult classic Jagged Alliance also began life with a birds-eye viewpoint in 1994, but when it was revived earlier this February it had retained the distinctive turn-based strategy top-down style. Once again released for PC, the new version - Jagged Alliance: Back in Action - stays close to the original template, but injects lots of modern ideas as you train mercenaries and wage war on evil dictators across a campaign that can last 70 hours.

  Have A Little Patience

  Then there are the retro classics that try to have it both ways. X-COM was yet another PC strategy game from 1994, when its B-movie tale of government agents battling alien invaders was a natural fit for a world besotted with TV hit The X-Files. The series eventually fizzled out, but will return not as one reboot, but two. 2013 will bring the now hyphen-less XCOM, which re-imagines the game as a 1950s-set first-person shooter, developed by some of the team behind BioShock 2.

  

  Before that radical re-do arrives, however, we'll get XCOM: Enemy Unknown, which stays true to the isometric 3D tactical gameplay of old but updates it with such 2012 flourishes as destructible scenery and advanced AI. Developed by Firaxis, the company behind the mighty Civilization series, it should be a real treat. Is this the future of video game reboots? One game for the purist fans, another for the modern blockbuster audience? That remains to be seen, but it's an interesting and commendable experiment.

  

  Relight My Fire

  Reboot fever isn't just restricted to cult strategy titles from the early 1990s, however. Take the Medal of Honor series, for example. The original was a sombre World War 2 shooter developed in 1999 in conjunction with Steven Spielberg's Dreamworks Interactive. A new version, still developed by veterans of the same studio, now called Danger Close, hit the shelves in 2010, updating the action to modern Afghanistan but kept the same sense of duty to its real-life military subjects. It's also the first of the modern reboots to spawn its own sequel. Medal of Honor: Warfighter arrives this October.

  

  Rule The World

  The trend has even spread beyond the obvious avenues of the FPS genre. This year the decision was made to defrost the 2000 snowboarding game SSX, and the result is on the shelves now. There's not much scope to turn extreme winter sports into a first-person shooter, so instead we get a game that sticks to the style and tone of the beloved original, but beefs up the gameplay with cutting edge physics, oodles of online social features and over a decade of accumulated wisdom regarding how best to allow players to flip, grind and spin on virtual boards. It effortlessly straddles the joys of both old and new,

  Is this urge to revive and remix the past a healthy one? It would seem so. The games industry has a better track record than Hollywood of improving franchises as time goes on, and few would deny that there are some amazing games and ideas in the history books, waiting to be dusted off and given new relevance. Combining the comfort of the familiar with the thrill of today's technology, what's not to love? And which would you like to see come back?

• SSX drifts into stores this week

  EA has offered gamers a reminder that the iconic SSX snowboarding series is making its triumphant return to UK games stores this week.

  The new Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 SSX instalment is the first to be released in half a decade and is arriving on the crest of a wave of critical acclaim, attracting strong reviews from leading publications such as IGN.

  In the new SSX, players can explore nine expansive regions based on real-life topographical satellite data, bringing a new sense of freedom to the adrelaine-fuelled arcade experience.

  Race, Trick and Survival challenges will challenge fans to tackle each course in different ways, while the online multiplayer modes introduce innovative social features and a new recommendation engine to make matchmaking easier than ever.

  The game also features an all-star soundtrack, including artists such as Pretty Lights, Foster the People, The Naked and Famous, Skrillex and more.

  Dean Richards of EA Sports said: "We've built SSX with the latest technologies giving it a more modern look and feel, but everyone who has played it has agreed - this is 100 per cent SSX at its core."

  Published: 02/03/2012

• SSX reaches peak of UK sales chart

  EA's snowboarding revival game SSX has positioned itself at the summit of the UK all-formats sales chart in its debut week.

  The acclaimed Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 title has become the first SSX title ever to debut at number one in the official GfK-ChartTrack rankings, more than doubling the first-week sales of the previous top performer SSX 3 back in 2003.

  A five-year wait for the new SSX helped the winter sports extravaganza to pip its EA stablemate FIFA 12 to top spot, though the ever-popular football game also had an impressive week, climbing two places back up to second.

  Third place went to another debutant, Nintendo's Mario Party 9 for Wii, while PlayStation Vita hit Uncharted: Golden Abyss placed fourth, having topped the charts last week.

  Other top-selling titles included the likes of Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, UFC Undisputed 3 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

  Next week will see a number of big new games hitting shelves, including crossover fighting game Street Fighter X Tekken and Nintendo 3DS stealth adventure Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D.

  Published: 05/03/2012

• SSX - Review

  
  

  

  Extreme Snowboarding

  SSX on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 offers adrenaline-packed snowboarding gameplay that sees players battling nine of the world's most treacherous and diverse mountain ranges, from the peaks of the Himalayas to the solid ice ranges of Antarctica, and the deadly jagged rocks of the Alps to the volcanic tunnels of Kilimanjaro.

  There are various goals to complete across a number of game modes, from being the quickest to cross the finish line to simply making it to the end of each course in one piece as Mother Nature dishes out deadly assaults. You're also challenged to beat your objectives with the greatest amount of style possible in levels designed to offer gravity defying daredevil trick opportunities at every turn - in SSX, you're a beginner if you still have both feet strapped to the board while spinning 200 feet in the air.

  To come out on top, players will need to master the game's physics-driven snowboarding. There's no traditional acceleration or braking, just the speed you build up and regulate through physical interactions with the environment, although pulling off combinations of tricks rewards you with a handy boost function.

  

  Hit The Slopes

  World Tour mode is a solo campaign set across nine mountain ranges, each featuring three different peaks and roughly five to seven events. It's dressed up as a story-driven offering - it has a wafer-thin plot, in which you're challenged to put an old member of your snowboarding crew in his place by conquering each peak and slope - but largely acts as a tutorial for the main event, Explore.

  Explore mode lets players soak up every inch of the massive game world in over 100 challenges, and allows you compete in asynchronous competitions against online rivals, setting fastest times on race events, posting highest scores in trick ones, and descending as far down the mountain as you can in survival ones.

  The game might not offer traditional head-to-head online races (although if you're competing on a track at the same time as a friend you'll also be able to see their ghost in real-time), but the excellent use of jazzed-up leaderboard systems drives a sense of constant competition. Like the best social networking platforms, the game learns what you enjoy playing and pokes you whenever your records get beaten, offering you a non-stop flow of new challenges without ever having to return to the main menu.

  

  Survival of the fittest

  SSX also introduces 'Deadly Descent' events for the first time in the long-running series. Offering some truly epic cinematic set pieces, these challenge you to make it to the end of a run while surviving brutal natural hazards such as avalanches and rock slides. They deliver plenty of nail-biting, varied gameplay as you carve your way around dangerous icy chasms with a pickaxe, bid to overcome the freezing Antarctic cold by staying in direct sunlight, and don a special jumpsuit which adds surface area to your body to enable a significant increase in lift as you glide over gaping chasms.

  Getting the most out of SSX requires a combination of skill, instinct and timing that can initially be tricky to master, but once you get the hang of things it makes for some of the most fluid, fast and satisfying gameplay available in any genre. We've been eagerly anticipating a new game in the SSX series since 2007's SSX Blur on Wii, and this long-awaited series reboot doesn't disappoint.

  GAME's Verdict

  The Good:

  • Fluid, exhilarating gameplay.
    
  • Some inspired Deadly Descents.
    
  • Addictive online, social networking features.

  The Bad:

  • No split-screen play.
    
  • There's a steep(ish) learning curve to overcome.
    
  • We had to wait so long for a new SSX.

  Published: 14/03/2012

• SSX - Review

  
  

  

  Remember SSX? It helped launch Sony's PlayStation 2 back in 2001, and was part of a wave of extreme sports titles that seemed to dominate gaming in much the same way that the first-person shooter does today. And if Activision's Tony Hawks was the Call of Duty of its day and of its genre, then EA's SSX was the Battlefield - slick, polished and with a certain European flair that its competitor lacked.

  It seems that EA Canada remembers SSX well enough, and after a handful of fumbled sequels and an extended hiatus the trick-heavy snowboarding game is back, and it's an assured return to its former glories.

  Having tinkered with the idea of doing a gritty reboot - when it was first revealed, this game had the subtitle Deadly Descents and sported a dark, almost militaristic look - EA's been wise enough to return to what SSX is really about, which is candy-coloured slopes with which to pirouette and leap from in what's at heart a refreshingly pure experience.

  

  Snow Joke

  So at heart it's the same SSX that many will remember fondly from over a decade ago - and even if you don't remember the original, it's simple enough to get to grips with. In SSX, you're presented with a selection of the world's greatest slopes - and in a first for the series they're now modeled upon their real-life inspirations. From there you're either asked to Race It, Trick It or Survive It.

  Race It's self-explanatory, while Trick It involves you racking up as many points as possible before reaching the bottom of the peak. Survive It, on the other hand, sees each peak come alive in snarling fashion as you're tasked with simply staying alive in adverse conditions - some mountains will throw avalanches your way, while in others riding in the shade will see your body temperature dip, forcing you to seek the sunlight in order to stay alive.

  It's admittedly simple stuff, but SSX manages to extract from its three simple modes a game that's incredibly tense, and one that's incredibly deep to boot. It helps that control's slicker here than ever before; now, when you're gliding in the air, tricks can be performed with the right stick, allowing deft combos with little effort on your behalf.

  

  Trick Shot

  The real skill, then, comes in reading the slopes, and in figuring out how to maximize air-time with smartly thought out trick-runs and making sure not to repeat yourself. Sometimes, just getting to the bottom can be a task in itself, and SSX can at times be a cruel and unforgiving experience, demanding that you learn each incline and ravine if you want to taste success.

  And there are many, many flavours of success in SSX. The single-player part of the game is the smallest slice, and it's only when each deadly descent has been conquered that the game really opens up. Taking cues from its EA stablemate Need for Speed's Autolog feature, SSX offers up Ridernet. It's a familiar system whereby friend's achievements, scores and times are presented for you to beat.

  In truth it's not quite as slick as it was in the likes of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, but it's a welcome addition nevertheless, and one that gets to the heart of the score-attack play that SSX is really about. It's a return to the peaks of the series then, and also to the heights of the once-great extreme sports genre.

  Our Verdict:

  What's Good?

  • Fun, dynamic trick system
    
  • Excellent soundtrack
    
  • Characterful mountains

  What's Bad?

  • Can be a bit of a muddle sometimes
    
  • A little unforgiving in places
• Rebooting The Classics: The '90s Games That Are Rocking 2012

  
  

  In our eco-friendly times, recycling is everything. But it's not just empty soup cans and milk cartons, as great ideas are increasingly being mulched down, rebuilt and turned into something cool. Hollywood, somewhat inevitably, is ahead on this curve, increasingly plucking its summer blockbusters from the TV shows, movies and even toys that we enjoyed in the past. Now the games industry is catching on, and publishers are rummaging in their cupboards for beloved franchises that are ready for a second chance.

  

  Everything Changes

  Syndicate, currently nestled in the top ten, is a prime example. First released in 1993 for the PC and Commodore Amiga, the original game was a cyberpunk strategy game in which you played as the head of a sinister international mega-corporation. Able to despatch (and then control) four-man squads of bionic agents to disrupt and destroy the competition - with little regard for public safety - the game was a subversive cult hit.

  Revived last week by The Darkness developer Starbreeze, the new Syndicate flips the perspective from top-down view to first-person shooter, and casts you instead as one of the elite agents, able to augment your attacks with an array of cybernetic abilities.

  

  Back For Good

  Not all reboots opt to switch the gameplay style so dramatically though. PC cult classic Jagged Alliance also began life with a birds-eye viewpoint in 1994, but when it was revived earlier this February it had retained the distinctive turn-based strategy top-down style. Once again released for PC, the new version - Jagged Alliance: Back in Action - stays close to the original template, but injects lots of modern ideas as you train mercenaries and wage war on evil dictators across a campaign that can last 70 hours.

  Have A Little Patience

  Then there are the retro classics that try to have it both ways. X-COM was yet another PC strategy game from 1994, when its B-movie tale of government agents battling alien invaders was a natural fit for a world besotted with TV hit The X-Files. The series eventually fizzled out, but will return not as one reboot, but two. 2013 will bring the now hyphen-less XCOM, which re-imagines the game as a 1950s-set first-person shooter, developed by some of the team behind BioShock 2.

  

  Before that radical re-do arrives, however, we'll get XCOM: Enemy Unknown, which stays true to the isometric 3D tactical gameplay of old but updates it with such 2012 flourishes as destructible scenery and advanced AI. Developed by Firaxis, the company behind the mighty Civilization series, it should be a real treat. Is this the future of video game reboots? One game for the purist fans, another for the modern blockbuster audience? That remains to be seen, but it's an interesting and commendable experiment.

  

  Relight My Fire

  Reboot fever isn't just restricted to cult strategy titles from the early 1990s, however. Take the Medal of Honor series, for example. The original was a sombre World War 2 shooter developed in 1999 in conjunction with Steven Spielberg's Dreamworks Interactive. A new version, still developed by veterans of the same studio, now called Danger Close, hit the shelves in 2010, updating the action to modern Afghanistan but kept the same sense of duty to its real-life military subjects. It's also the first of the modern reboots to spawn its own sequel. Medal of Honor: Warfighter arrives this October.

  

  Rule The World

  The trend has even spread beyond the obvious avenues of the FPS genre. This year the decision was made to defrost the 2000 snowboarding game SSX, and the result is on the shelves now. There's not much scope to turn extreme winter sports into a first-person shooter, so instead we get a game that sticks to the style and tone of the beloved original, but beefs up the gameplay with cutting edge physics, oodles of online social features and over a decade of accumulated wisdom regarding how best to allow players to flip, grind and spin on virtual boards. It effortlessly straddles the joys of both old and new,

  Is this urge to revive and remix the past a healthy one? It would seem so. The games industry has a better track record than Hollywood of improving franchises as time goes on, and few would deny that there are some amazing games and ideas in the history books, waiting to be dusted off and given new relevance. Combining the comfort of the familiar with the thrill of today's technology, what's not to love? And which would you like to see come back?

  Published: 01/03/2012

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