It has been a little while since I last visited the Namco Bandai offices in Hammersmith, London. That time, I got to try out Enslaved before its release. Suitably chuffed with the game and the place where I was able to play it, I was looking forward to returning some day.

Indeed I did re-enter the building. This time, I had the opportunity to play not one, but four games. Two of them I didn’t try; I left Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations and Saint Seiya to Robert, a fellow member of the Destructoid EU e-mailer. He felt that Saint Seiya was very much a game in the ‘Dynasty Warriors’ vein, but with two-minute cut-scenes that happen in the middle of a battle, which irked him somewhat.



Ridge Racer is a well-known arcade racer that truly caught the imagination of the Playstation era, where Namco ported it lock, stock and barrel over to Sony’s new console. A couple of dozen ports and sequels later, and the series needed to discover a bit of new ground after the 3DS and PS Vita versions.

Which leads us to Ridge Racer Unbounded. A game that was described as awful by one of my other Destructoid emailer friends when he tried it at Eurogamer Expo last year. I was concerned about the direction the franchise was taking, feeling a diversion into Burnout territory was going to end nasty. I didn’t get round to trying it then, but when I got my hands on it six months later, I can happily say that I wasn‘t walking away with my friend‘s point of view.

You have a number of places to select in the city you’re going to race in. I believe progressing through each race will open up new areas that can be selected later, but there is also a level-up system (similar to Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit) that will get you access to more new, fictional cars when access to a new level is reached. The points to get for this, of course, are achieved by doing numerous feats through each race.

Early on, there are about four race types (might be more later on, but I can‘t tell yet). You get your standard race, drift (better drifts add more seconds and points), a timed ‘stunt track’ race against the clock, and Domination, which is a race with a more aggressive slant in that destroying your opponents can give you a boost that can increase the properties of your car, like speed, for a few seconds. There was also a ‘Frag’ mode, which LightForceJedi spotted in his playthrough, but that was something I didn’t get round to.

Oh, I said ‘boost’, didn’t I? Yes, here is where I can start getting into where Unbounded starts to become influences by other combative-style racers. In order to be able to perform a boost (available in most of the game modes), the driver needs to build a certain amount of drift, air, takedowns of other cars and slipstreaming, amongst other things. This boost will give your car a visible streaming effect and a better chance of wrecking other cars. So far, so much like every other racing game that needs a nitro enhancement, including Split/Second. You remember that one, don’t you? The game where you use power-plays at certain points activating short-cuts and destructive events to destroy opponents? Well, it seems that Bugbear (the developers of Unbounded) have been watching, and they’ve included prompts for the boost to be used. In the early races I played, I saw these prompts appear on buildings and fuel-tankers/construction vehicles. Hit the boost button when close enough to a building to cause environmental destruction and give yourself a handy shortcut (plus a few extra points towards the next level). Hit one of the aforementioned vehicles and an explosion tears up any other racers around you.



Whilst it would be easy to say that Bugbear have cribbed those features from the Black Rock Studios game, it isn’t entirely a replication. For one thing, you must drive into the environment rather than activate it from a distance, so you won‘t turn into a piece of scrap metal and lose out so long as you start the boost to protect the car. Also, the shortcuts stay open once used, so if you thought a sneaky head-start would throw your opponents, there is nothing stopping those who know the track or witness the results of the boost from following that shortcut in the remaining laps. However, this might lead to tempting situations where faking an attempt to open a shortcut can force another racer to crash headlong into the hard entrance if they don’t (or won’t be able to) press the boost button themselves.

Overall, I am pleased to say that playing the game was fairly satisfying. The cars handle fine; racers with a high drift value need to have the handbrake button held down for much longer than one with a lower value, although the lower-value drifters will take a lot more effort to control. You won’t be getting caught up on lamp-posts, brick pillars or small overpasses either; the cars can pile through those and turn them into debris. That is more forgiving than a racer that forces you to stop every ten seconds because your motor has been wrapped around a telegraph pole just by clipping it, but not lenient to let you get away with a firm collision with a sturdy building. There are small life-bars present to let you know who is on their last legs and who you need to avoid if you require a bit of preservation. There was also a track creation system present in the game that I didn’t get around to, as well as an ‘aftertouch-esque’ post-wreck camera shows awards points for the extra damage incurred to the unfortunate car as well as any racers that happen to plough into the vehicle. Early races are easy to ‘three-star’, but Domination races are tough enough to provide a challenge from the outset. An interesting amount of features in the short time I enjoyed the game that may lift it head and shoulders above other genre stablemates.



A series of games I haven’t got to grips with since the opening effort are the Armored Core ones. A quality giant robot game in the vein of Gungriffon, but with focus on customisable parts and weapons, the game has since been supported by a solid amount of gamers. Nevertheless, it has been under attack from the critics for recent instalments’ lack of significant progress and unwillingness to broaden its audience, pointing out the controls as an issue.

I sat down to the fourth official sequel of the series (a hefty amount of spin-off games were created for the second and third games on the Playstation 2), and decided to try to work out what button does what on the Xbox controller I picked up. From the main map, there were three types of mission, one that is connected to the story (I didn‘t bother going for those, and Namco Bandai wouldn‘t like me to broadcast spoilers anyway), another that sets-up an operation that can have its parameters changed like difficulty and operation type, and the most common being short missions to remove skirmish forces to achieve a S-F rank. In my first mission that I decided to try, the lower left-hand face buttons were designated for boost and jump-boost. This gave off a cool heat-haze effect behind the mecha, and launched me further towards where I needed to go. The trigger buttons deployed the firepower to whatever shoulder-missiles or guns were allocated.

After completing the mission, achieved by destroying all the enemy installations, tanks and mecha, I needed a little help to change what weapons were allocated in the workshop, where the mecha are assembled. One of the shoulder buttons switched between ‘body’ type parts and ‘weapons’ to allocate between each part. I found this awkward, but more or less understood what I had to do. I had to make sure my giant robot wasn’t carrying so much that it would affect its manoeuvrability, which was clearly indicated on screen.



Afterwards, Robert and another player decided to join me to play a mission (after sprucing up their mecha with new paint jobs, earning them an achievement. It should be playing the game that’s important, dammit!). We found that whilst some missions had the ability to hold three or more players, others could only hold two. It took a little while to get a game set up for all of us, but when we did, we managed to kick backside. The only problem was that we couldn’t find the final enemy to kill. This was solved in another period of play, where the R3 button switched combat mode to scan mode, pin-pointing nearby enemy positions. The only issue there was that you were out of combat mode, so you couldn’t scan AND shoot at the same time. That was unusual, but all it took to get back to taking pot-shots was another press of the R3 button. That, and the fact I needed to focus on destroying the tougher opposition with missiles rather than ineffective gunshot rounds (did I mention that there are three different types of firepower? Kinetic and thermal types being two of them?).

Before I finished my time on the game, I did manage to play against an A.I. character in their own mech. It took me two efforts to vanquish it, and when I did, my huge killing machine was heavily damaged. With my novice ability with the controls (and not being aware of the infamous Armored Core controller meme), I was quite chuffed.

IGN said that they ‘wish the series would commit to more than gradual improvement. At this pace, it looks like [they’ll] be able to give an unqualified thumbs-up round about Armored Core 5 -- say, four or five years from now.’ That was 2002. They were out by about an extra five years. I wouldn’t know what improvements have been made or to what degree; all I can say is that if you gravitate towards these type of games, it looks like it’ll be best to give this one a try if you have the patience.

Ridge Racer Unbounded is out in Europe March 30th. Armored Core 5 is available now in North America and in Europe March 23rd.

PLEASE READ THIS:

This blog is about the results of a poll to do with the various gaming platforms that have been around since, well, forever. I have been well aware of how arguments about this matter turn into flamewars. I maybe looking for comments, but I refuse to condone any crass, unnecessary slanging matches about what console/computer makes your penis bigger. If you try to start something, I will do my best to remove any kind of opportunity to troll-feed.

You have been warned.

Everybody has their favourite platform to play on. Whether you were involved in the Sega vs Nintendo battles of the 1990s (involving many a violent image of Mario/Sonic getting his head chopped off by his adversary in a magazine’s letters section) or plumping for the more versatile PC than the ready-to-go console, everyone has their opinion. And they wish to share it.

GamesTM magazine’s website gave their readers and viewers the chance to put their vote on what their favourite gaming platform was late last year. In issue number 118, they published the results. Whilst limiting the number that would be covered in a certain depth to fifteen, the ten page spread also lists what percentage the unlucky outsiders had. Factors to remember about this poll were that voters got five choices to plump for, and although this was an internet vote where the world could contribute, the main contingent of the voters would be expected to be, once again, British.

The results, as the magazine quotes, were ‘shocking’. When I saw first place, I was more than a little surprised, too.













Okay, I’ve stopped here, because I want to calm about 75% of you down. This is only a list. Remember that. Another website by another predominant countries’ magazine might have different results. Two of the top three are predictable entries, and the other can be written off if you are not happy with it. Now, deep breaths. Inhale….and release. Now scroll down and relax.

…

I said, ‘relax’.

…

Yes, you.

…









See? That was surprising! Considering how many broke down and how many votes the Playstation 3 got (half compared to the winner!), you’d think it would be lower. But no, the Microsoft Xbox 360 is GamesTM reader’s favourite console. Explanations? Well, the pie chart on its page dispels any myths about pre-teen fanboy spamming, because they only made up two percent of the vote for the console. Over three-quarters of the 360 votes belonged to gamers 26 years-old and upwards. It was run very close by the SNES (my prediction for the top), which had a huge percentage of the first choice of each gamer, but featured far less as second-to-fifth choice. This polarisation, including decent survival of a first year without many big titles thanks to Gamer Points and backwards compatible play with Halo 2 helped the leader. Along with the expansion of the Grand Theft Auto series to the platform as well as Gears of War, Forza and more Halo, the updated experience of Xbox Live to include both mainstream and hardcore gamers as well as downloadable titles (from established developers as well as independent), those are the reasons GamesTM holds up in support.

And my ideas of the rest of the places? Well, I’m glad the Game Boy and the NES managed to squeeze into the chart, although they were under threat from the Nintendo DS, which was only 0.27% off the original handheld’s standings. It’s proof of how well Nintendo managed to keep their vision on what was important in their portable gaming machines. As for the Wii, it factored only just over 1.5% of the total console gaming vote. The Big N will need to learn from that particular rating.

Interestingly, mobile gaming for Apple is growing well, with iOS getting 6.17% of the handheld vote, close behind the Game Boy Colour and Sony PSP. The Amiga had a lead of almost 5% percent lead from the PC in the gaming computer vote, whilst the poor old Atari ST only got 0.61%. What also intrigued me was that the Dreamcast managed to accumulate double the total votes over the GameCube, as well as matching the favours towards the Playstation 2 two-thirds of the way. I find it a little mindboggling that, although the Dreamcast died a premature death in the West and the games (and not the console) sales were what earned Sega the profits, it didn’t survive even with that amount of support.

So what do you think? Be good, comment nicely and don’t start a flamewar.

Hello. I’m sure you’ll have guessed by now that this blog will be concerning this week’s musing, regarding what the year 2012 holds for gamers. I’d thought that, rather than focus on just one particular gaming-based idea for the near future, I’d just do a whole number of random topics. I’d thought it would be a bit more fun for me than try and pick one particular idea and squeeze all the issues out of it.

Regarding the title, Surfer Girl was an anonymous feed of information to Destructoid who popped up about a couple of years ago for one or weeks, then disappeared. Maybe Surfer Girl had an accident with a surfboard that left her in a coma, or maybe she was outed by Wikileaks and had to change to a different username. Still, this blog entry will be in honour of this mysterious ‘Deep Throat’ individual (no, nothing to do with the adult film), and the strange way she sailed into, and vanished from, this site.

Note that the following after this paragraph will be less ‘Captain Obvious’ than you would have thought. Yes, there will be a Call of Duty in some shape or form in the coming year. Paul Christoforo will be getting a new job, although he’ll be having to apply for a lot of ones closer to the bottom-rung of employment. No, 2012 won’t be the end of the world. For the rest, I’ll have to explain a bit of the logic taken towards them.



Microsoft and Sony will announce cloud-based gaming abilities in the next generation of consoles

Onlive has pushed the envelope for promoting the streaming of games across the internet in the past year. After getting a lot of positive feedback, from myself included, I’m sure that the renewal of several subscriptions, sales of games and continued promotions will leave them comfortably at their present vocation. This effort to get recognition via adverts and word of mouth will not have gone unnoticed by the established competition in the shape of the traditional gaming-platform, the home console.

Nintendo has already jumped the gun and is prepping the Wii-U, meaning they will not be considering it for a while. The other two big companies have still to give complete details of what is forthcoming (good thing too, I’d like to get some damn use out of my consoles), so they may have room to manoeuvre a few new ideas into the designs. Cloud gaming could be one of them, but I can already see you going oh no they won’t, they’ll have their XBLA/PSN downloads which people will leave safely on the hard-drives and stick to them. Sound argument, but I still believe the developers have the planning to implement them in a valid way.

Microsoft already has the ability to save your game using a cloud system on the Xbox 360. Extra developments to this may mean more free space from smaller hard-drives in future consoles, with the increased room for fans or processing power. There could be more opportunities for the console to multitask with the processor when the internet is doing part of the work for viewing the game. Okay, okay, I’m not fully sure how it works entirely. But console-makers can’t ignore it completely. All it may take is an application to set it up. They simply need an idea to make it relevant in a home console and keep one step ahead of the competition.

Microsoft or Sony staff will mention L.A. Noire and/or Heavy Rain as starting points for their graphics builds for their next platforms

These two games (aside from the Uncharted series) have set the standard for graphics for a while now. Question the amount of gameplay in Heavy Rain if you wish. Argue against the idea of an expensive facial/motion capture process that won’t help speed up the creation of a game long in development. But there is one thing you can’t deny; these games have had enough impact with their visuals to convince the industry that this will be the way forward.

Imagine how much more interactivity can go on and added complexity into both those games on a new platform, and, so long as the gameplay holds up, you may end up with game of the year material. That’s what both sides want to sell their machines and other games, and will be something to pitch to the third party developers.



Metal Gear Rising will scoop up gamer-bile and force chunder-chimps to eat their words

After looking at the latest round of articles regarding the new game from Hideo Kojima, you’d be forgiven that those commenting on them believed that the title was going to be developed by Ninja Theory. It isn’t. It is being built by Platinum Games.

For those not in the know, Ninja Theory have been getting a lot of stick for their intended reboot for Devil May Cry, DmC. This is before the game has even been released. We agree that their work on videogames has been patchy, in spite of the solid effort that was Enslaved, but trashing the game based on visuals and changes to character designs is jumping the gun.

A similar thing has happened now with MGR with people up in arms because they see more gimmicky lines in the trailer than a Conservative Party speech from David Cameron. ‘Revengence’ and ‘Let’s Move Our Hands’ had over-reactive gamers in overdrive; the former term felt the game had been dumbed down to a level of a pro-wrestler’s botched promo. The latter had others worried that the game would be a Kinect-exclusive or something. And the action involved looked to be a final nail in a non-existent coffin; the protagonist using moves so flashy and brutal, there was absolutely no chance of the game being anything like the stealth-based predecessors that the fans loved.

So let’s set the record straight. Firstly, Platinum Games is made up of former Clover Studio members (credits include Viewtiful Joe and Okami). The development studio is responsible for Bayonetta and Vanquish, two very well-received games that would be good practise for this new title. And Kojima Productions are still involved in the production, so there should not be any deviation from Kojima‘s original vision for the game. I predict that, based on that information, the game will not take any half-hearted efforts that might lead to a mediocre review.

Secondly, the game is supposed to be different from the Solid series of titles. Kojima has eased fears by stating that a more traditional stealth-based game is in the works, so if the fans of the series don’t like Rising, they can fall back on their precious comfort blanket. Besides, this has been termed a ‘hunter-stealth’ game. It is going to be different from the MGS series, a fact that doesn’t seem to sink in to those who are plugging for a return to Solid Snake’s field of operations. Kojima should be allowed to branch out and experiment, to find new opportunities in game development. They aren’t going to force the gaming masses to buy the game, but some will complain nevertheless. Almost like an individual who is cowering in a corner, thinking they are about to be force-fed a spoonful of goodness knows what. ‘Let’s Move Our Hands’ may as well be as literal as ‘Nowhere to Hideo’, another tagline in a long-ago released trailer. That didn’t come to much, did it? I doubt that if Kinect was involved, then the game would never have use for a standard controller? Can’t you trust who is feeding you? Pity. Go miss out on what, I believe, will be some cool slice-dice action. And also…



A Policenauts reference will be shoe-horned into Metal Gear Rising

…well, maybe a copy of the full game I was hoping for. Then again, it took ages for the fan translation to be finished. A reference to Kojima’s other game will have to do.



Sega will release Athlete Kings (AKA DecAthlete) on XBLA/PSN

2012 is Olympic year. Sega have already released the second Sonic and Mario at the Olympics. Konami will (or may) put in a low-key entry in their Track and Field series, whilst Sega Studios Australia’s official London 2012 game and Ghostlight’s annual unofficial athletics-based release will battle for bronze medal position. But why shouldn’t we allow Sega to have a third bite of the cherry and release one of the best button-bashers of all time?

The arcade-thrill was pretty much ported brilliantly over to the Sega Saturn. With the company plugging its Mega Drive backlog for all its worth, and Treasure capitalising on their Dreamcast ports by adding the Saturn-exclusive Guardian Heroes to download, this will be a critical time for Sega to take advantage. Who knows, it might just lead to more ex-Saturn ports. Like Panzer Dragoon Saga. Or all the parts to Shining Force 3. Or even Dragon Force 1 & 2. Just think of all that money, Sega. Come on, you know you want it…



A new Robocop game will be released

Cast your minds back a few months ago, and you’ll have noticed that Robocop avatar clothing was available (I’D BUY THAT FOR A DOLLAR, etc) on Xbox 360. Now, with little other Robocop shows/films/promotions going on, why on earth would this be going on? Because the baying masses of Xbox Live actually requested it? Or…could this be a test to see how many people are still interested in Robocop? A test that might lead to a videogame?

It doesn’t matter whether those who crafted the avatar suit/props have any videogame experience or not; if someone wants a list of figures, they can demand it via those programmers or Microsoft or whoever. I’m guessing enough individuals want a new game taking down fleshy perps with an automatic handgun and ED-209s with a rocket launcher.



Tecmo Koei will add more licenses to their Dynasty Warriors-type games

Contrary to what person was responsible for the graffiti that daubed the Koei building may have been thinking, a lot of people still put their hard-earned cash into the Dynasty Warriors hack-and-slash-and-wash-and-rinse-and-repeat series. And they still will, as long as Koei can re-edit it for Gundam and Fist of the North Star fans.

Problem is, Koei have squeezed a lot out of their above franchises. There are only so many Chinese warriors, Gundam series and characters that have been on the receiving end of Kenshiro’s fists to warrant sequels for Omega Force‘s work. The answer to this is to find more to work with.

If Yoshiyuki Tomino allowed Tecmo Koei to use Gundam, for example, how about securing the extra licenses for his other anime that he has been involved in and group them together? Or maybe Omega Force can put giant robots to one side, and create a game based in the comic-book universe of Marvel or DC? Even Jim Sterling’s love of the Dynasty Warriors series is beginning to wear thin now, so the developers need to start afresh. Which finally leads me to my final prediction of 2012...



Jim Sterling will appear on a major television news channel for an interview

Some ex-Destructoid members claim he is the reason why they are not part of the site anymore. Some so-called Destructoid members claim he is the reason why this site is rubbish, although those who send those messages do so on a regular enough basis with enough hate to make you wonder why they don’t leave. For the rest of us, we take him as he is; a British guy who has knowledge of videogames, who can put idiocy under the spotlight and show for what it is, and someone unafraid to give his view of what he thinks and knows about a game in a review.

Jim has gotten into controversy one or two times, but that doesn’t stop him from continuing to be in attendance for Destructoid or his videos on the Escapist. This is usually enough ammo for the mainstream media to keep their distance from him. However, I believe that there will be at least one corporation that will go ‘Hey, we need material for this violent videogames scandal thing, we may as well get this Jim Sterling guy. He’s outspoken and stuff, he’ll give us ratings if he says the f-word. And he’s exactly the kind of sucker we want to rip into.’ Unfortunately for them, I don’t think that is going to happen that way.

For Jim, 2012 will be the year his notoriety will increase, simply because he has managed to increase his exposure a bit within the last 52 weeks. 2/1 he says the word ‘bias’, 3/1 he has a toucan on screen, 5/1 he swears above the level of ‘crap’.

So what do you think?

Did I lack a bit of reasoning somewhere in these predictions, or that you have a piece of information/news that already confirms it/shoots it down? Comment and be gentle with me. I am a human with feelings. Do you have a prediction? Comment, give your reason, however sensible, wacky or outlandish. Want to give me any kudos if these come true? Do so, but I’m giving a tenth to Jesus. Tithing y’see.

Whatever happens when commenting, don’t suck. You don’t want to disappear like Surfer Girl.

Shepherds Bush, London, under a decade ago. I was standing around in frustration at my recent efforts to accomplish what I thought would be an ideal; my attempt to progress at an Unreal Tournament 2003 World Cyber Games qualifier came to an abrupt halt at the first hurdle (came fifth in a group where three move to the next round), then found myself out of my league in the FIFA qualifiers (I’m good enough to beat my friend many times, but not good enough to score a single goal against the pros).

After uttering a list of expletives (which only happens when something I really really really want to achieve goes begging), I returned to looking around the building at the various games to play. Whilst this was the first in several stepping stones towards convincing myself that I wasn’t cut out at all for pro-gaming in the minor leagues, I never really lost the love for competition and winning things. Ever since I won a large piece of McDonalds merchandise answering a question in a newspaper, I was bitten by the bug. Several videogame competitions were won, for decent games too.

I never won a games console before though. That was to change the moment I headed upstairs for another look at the Xbox stand.

Earlier on, I had a look at the newest console on the block. Microsoft had been largely ridiculed by gamers and critics up and down the videogaming world for its Xbox. They were thinking how it had the power of a mid-range PC, with a control pad that could barely fit into the hands of those holding it. And they all had experienced enough grief from their operating systems, so goodness knows how functional their console will be. A few months into its release, the laughing stopped. It had the games and the balls to back up Microsoft’s claims, and by the time I was at the WCG event, Halo: Combat Evolved had been on the shelves for about a year.

I’d be lying if I didn’t want an Xbox. The Battlenet LAN centre I attended had one set up, with the newest Dead or Alive, Burnout 2, Halo, Steel Battlion and Project Gotham Racing amongst the games it had available in the first couple of years. They were great fun, and not only that, the LAN centre could link the consoles up to Xbox Live. I was hearing and witnessing great stuff. On top of that, IGUK were presenting competitions (yay!) with the chance to win copies of Xbox games and other prizes by getting the various LAN centre all-comers to set times, scores, etc. This, in retrospect, was an awesome way of advertising Microsoft’s machine.

I played two games, Burnout 2 and Midtown Madness 3, thoroughly because the opportunity to win something was there. I got a copy of Burnout 2 for setting one of the fastest times, but the chance of putting my skills to a Midtown challenge was thwarted by cancellation. Oh well. It wasn’t like it was as fun as Burnout anyway. And Burnout had no annoying female characters bitching about you and your driving. And less visible bugs.

At the London event, I gazed at the booths holding the new Top Spin, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and any other new game the Xbox team could show. I also spotted Midtown Madness 3 there, so I moved on to another booth to play something I hadn’t already put my hands on.

The next time I visit the area, I see flyers about with information of a competition on the four Xbox consoles situated in the middle of the floor. The prizes on offer; one Xbox console with game and remote for the winner, one console and game for the runner-up. The game this challenge will be set; Midtown Madness 3.

All of a sudden, I realised that this was my opportunity. All those hours spent in Norwich, throwing vehicles around virtual representations of Paris and Washington D.C. How many of the people around me had the same amount of, if not more, experience than I did on the game? I signed up, and returned to the floor when the time came.



There were several groups of four players, so I had the good fortune to analyse what would go on in each of the races. The first was a normal sprint to the finish line in…buses. Yes, buses. Naturally, the organisers were going to have fun watching us manoeuvre the things around a city course that wasn’t built for racing them. Looking on, I noticed one particular corner catching out the drivers playing over the linked-up consoles. A sharp bend close to the final straight had participants stuck to the edge and each other, desperately trying to haul their metal public transport machines away from the trap. I made a mental note of that potential slip-up point.

My opportunity had come, and I made the most of it. I was doing well, and I was in second place. It would guarantee me passage for the next round, and I was some distance away from third position. I came up towards the corner of peril and…I’m stuck. OH BUGGER, I’M STUCK. Third place catches up to me, and in its attempt to navigate around me, becomes stuck as well. As soon as this happens, my big metal block comes unstuck from the concrete and powers away. I knew I had lost most of my advantage and all that separated me from third place was a small amount of stopping distance. It was a drag race down the straight to the finish, and it all hung on acceleration and speed…



…and I made it. Second place, and through to the semis. I was really shouting when I hit the corner and trapped myself. Kinda doubt I would have forgiven myself if I jammed myself out of contention.

The semis moved us to the venerable Mini as the mode of transport, whilst the game type was altered. The game type was ‘Stayaway’, since in order to win, you had to be ‘it’ and keep from making contact with the other drivers for the longest amount of time. Obviously, being ‘it’ was going to be tough; three other drivers wanting the same thing was bound to have awkward periods of bunching, then once I became ‘it’, I’d have to try and make a break with the previous owner plus two others racing after me. One benefit from my amount of time on MM3 was knowledge of getting around Washington D.C. and that was about to be used very wisely.

The game started around the foot of a hill near a park (possibly around Constitution Avenue), and the bunching started. Minis clashed into each other in the hope of getting points, only to have that chance snatched away. When I managed to become ‘it’, I raced away into the park and left them charging after me. I can’t remember the exact details of how distance was formed between me and them, but I think I managed to head in a north-westerly direction, using my memory of how fast to go on each road to force mistakes from those unaccustomed to playing on those routes. In the end, a comfortable win. I gained a lot of confidence from that result, and entered the final. Beat two of three other players and the Xbox was mine!



The final was to ramp up the difficulty and haphazardness to maximum. ‘Capture the Gold’ was a mode I was familiar with. Grab gold located on the map and stash it for points in an allocated area. However, we were now in charge of the fastest vehicle in the game, the Koenigsegg, in icy conditions within the French capital. To take a supercar and try and take corners where the back end of the vehicle could slip out was a tough undertaking, but trying to slow the car down at high speed in a straight line was hard enough. In the game, I was lagging behind two of my three competitors, each having about double the money I had. My only chance to gain the upper hand was to wait in an area of the map that was not only away from the opponents but also would end up spawning somewhere near the area I was situated. Quite risky, since I may not get the gold spawn I needed until late in the game, where someone may be so far ahead, the game is finished.

Suddenly, a yellow icon appeared closest to my vehicle. I made for it, making sure I gingerly turned each corner slowly to make the journey easier on my vehicle, which had gained a fair amount of damage throughout the match. Then, it was a case of heading towards the drop point after collection. Easier said than done, since I not only had to avoid spinning out, but also had three Koenigseggs homing in on me. Although I was taking my route carefully, knowing that a slip-up might let the others catch up or the gold be taken off me, my enemies were throwing caution to the wind and their make-believe supercars into virtual brick walls. They were gaining and they didn’t care how they did it. They didn’t care that wrecking the car would take a long respawn that would remove their momentum, they had the same thing on their minds. The Xbox that I wanted to win.

I was dodging speeding chunks of metal by bare inches, sometimes at shocking velocity. I hauled myself up to first, but the game still had several minutes left on the clock. Then a duel was forced against another racer who took to guarding the drop-off point when I nabbed the gold. I wrecked the car and had to wait moments soaked with nervousness to reappear. Slowly edging away from the pack with the gold that had been accrued, I couldn’t let up or get complacent. The seconds were counting down…3…2…1…



That’s it. I had done it. I released my sweaty palms from the gamepad and…well, I can’t remember what I did straight after that. I accepted the big box the console was in, with the game and remote, and had it put in a bag. I was happy. I met up with the second place guy who also got an Xbox. It was a guy who I knew on the IGUK Unreal Tournament leagues in a LAN centre in the north of the country. Turns out he also got some practise in for MM3. We had a chat before we left. Catching the tube back the short distance to Hammersmith, I got back to my hotel I was staying and laid the Xbox down on the floor. I called my mother to tell her what I won. She sounded surprised and glad, especially when I informed her as to how much it would have cost to buy. I hung up and rested in the room.

Looking back, I would have returned a bit despondent if I never tried to win the console, because the expectation of performing in the WCG qualifiers didn’t bear fruit and wouldn’t have had much to replace it. But I should remember that being at a gaming event is a reward in itself. You get to do the things you love. You get a glimpse of the future. And you never know. You might win something.

Hollie and the gang hanging out at her home

For those of you basking in the memories of PAX Expos, E3 and Gamescom, you’d be forgiven for believing that all of these shows managed to cover all of the forthcoming videogame treats for the next year, and that there wouldn’t be any more to come. You’d be wrong.

As I mentioned in Destructoid a while ago, Gamescom happened in Europe. As such, there has been extra pressure on both British-based gaming shows to deliver something that the German one didn’t. After all, if someone has already had a whale of a time at one event, the newer event needs to give the impression that it isn’t a case of déjà vu. GAMEfest, happening in Birmingham at this very moment, will deliver the UK’s first chance to have a go on one of the biggest titles this year, Modern Warfare 3. Meanwhile, next week’s Eurogamer Expo will have the next chapter in Sony’s ongoing attempt to muscle in on the handheld market, the Vita.

For most of the Destructoid community across the other side of the Atlantic, this won’t mean much. The Vita will probably be demoed at a later event over there. For the British and European contingent, however, the Eurogamer Expo in London will be an important chance to meet up again and have brilliant fun. I promised a post-event blog on last year’s Expo, but I’ve decided to make a pre-event blog now instead. You can blame my laziness for that, but this is also an opportunity to stir up a bit of enthusiasm.



[b]Just to make you aware, cosplay doesn't happen very often at the Expo. When it does, the outfits look very good[b]

When we all met up last year, Kinect and Playstation Move were trying to muscle in on Nintendo Wii’s active-gaming craze. Kinect was stirring up a buzz with various attendees trying out Dance Central, whilst Move had several more booths on hand for people to try the sports launch game. Microphone-based Def Jam Rapstar was something that Hollie Bennett, our leader for the event, managed to give us a more detailed preview thanks to an early copy she was allowed to try out, and was also present on the floor of Earls Court.

Several more conventional games were trying to help people decide what to do with the contents of their wallets. FIFA 11, F1 2011 and Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood were on show, but the ‘highlight’ had to be several booths dedicated to the ‘phenomenal’ Mafia 2. With its slightly buggy NPCs that seemed to have the ability to lean on the most unlikely of surfaces, it ‘could’ have taken Game of the Show. If there was a ‘Game of the Show’.

Forthcoming games like Brink and Medal of Honour were getting extremely long lines, Gears of War 3 had its ‘Beast’ mode on display, and we were getting hands on with Hunted and Killzone 3. The latter game was also being displayed on a 3D television, another important feature of the show. Whilst I was sceptical about how well it would make a long-term profit (we only just had HDTVs out before then, FFS), I was impressed by how it worked on not only the aforementioned game, but also the new Motorstorm game. Seeing people, debris and stuff fly at you was awesome.

What wasn’t so awesome was when the developers of Hunted decided to show off their game in a developer session, only to see it crash right in front of the audience. Humorous, but you had to be reminded that the game was still at an unfinished state.



You'd be surprised how many peeps managed to fit in the tiny place

The first night was spend around Hollie’s pad, checking out Rapstar, socializing, playing around with fake promo Rapstar dollars and in one case, blowing chunks when the alcohol got too much.

There was much more to consider over the first two days which I attended. I didn’t get to see the booth with The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, but I had fun with Mario Sports Mix instead. I was joined by Approximation (the same could be said about my spelling of his name, because he might have spelt it differently to how I believe), who related a tale of frustration at being barged off Marvel vs Capcom 3 by an over-zealous gamer. Both of us had a go in the end, and I was feeling particularly impressed at my ability to catch my rival’s characters in a Dante/Chun Li cross-up until a big attack on both my fighters wiped them out. But I was happy.



This is the smile of a man who got his first ever go on Marvel vs Capcom 3

Last year will also hold happy memories of what was the last time we got to play in the arcade heaven that is the Trocadero Funland. A hotel will be constructed in there for the Olympics for next year, and I’m sure that all of us will be mourning/enraged at its loss. I personally will be gutted, as will the area of its coin-op machines. I’m praying that they all get good homes. Hopefully, we’ll be able to visit Namco Station at Westminster instead or something.

And can I mention the karaoke? Yes, that was a thing that happened, and it will be happening again this year. It will be joined by a special after-show charity party AND a night watching Jurassic Park in the cinema. And don’t forget the meet and greets with the other Destructoid members. And all the stuff at Eurogamer like free Onlive sets, Gears of War 3, Halo: CE, Forza 4, the new SSX, Skyrim, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, Batman: Arkham City, Final Fantasy XIII-2, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, Guild Wars 2, Mass Effect 3, Saints Row: The Third, Sonic Generations, Soul Calibur V, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, Retro and Challenge Areas, developer sessions, Rage, Ninja Gaiden 3, the Indie Games Arcade, Battlefield 3, FIFA 12, Dark Souls…

gasp, gasp, gasp, gasp, gasp, huuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrr….



Expect to feel like this towards the last day of the Expo. Barring any mishap, Aidan (AKA Toilet Duck) will be present at this year's event!

I never knew that looking through the Expo newsletters and listing the names could be so tiring. O_O

Well, I let you in on how it went. Or I’ll let someone else do it, and do the same type of blog next year. Anyway, I’m looking forward to a weekend of fun. Roll on next week.

I noticed the title for the weekly C-blog musing and thought could I really be bothered to write about a favourite/worst handheld? I couldn’t be. In the end, I’ve decided to do something a little different. Instead of a sharp focus on the chosen subject, I’ll attract your attention over to the area a handheld doesn’t cover, as well as all the bonuses. That is, all that empty space that would otherwise be taken up by a home console.

It may sound like a stupid idea, the very thought of lugging a home console in the open air. Whether you wanted to show it off at work during break-time so more fun could be had playing Halo with your work-mates or taking it to play games around a friend’s house…it was a little inconvenient. In a rucksack, on a bicycle for several miles, or sitting it on the seat of your friendly public transport, you either had to carry extra things you wanted in your pockets or have another backpack that would make you look pregnant/overweight/overloaded.

No, no, no. That will not do. A handheld games-console is the way to go. Put one up against your home console. Go on, do it. Look at the difference in siiiiiiiiiiiiiiize. Look at the difference. Now think about how much stuff you can put in your bag now that you have something that still can play games, but smaller. Granted, you still need to bring games and a charger in the event of the handheld losing power, but even with those items, you still have more space.



Now, I put a comment forward in a debate about whether handhelds would overtake home games consoles in the major part of the industry. I decided (and a few members noted) that handhelds, since they couldn’t do the things that the home consoles offered (a movie experience, decent controls for one-on-one fighting games were a couple of standards that handhelds still fall short of) would be a smaller, if not equal force in the market rather than the dominant.

We don’t stay at home all the time. Since we love gaming, we can’t bear to be without some semblance of our pastime during periods when we haven’t got anything to do, and handhelds fill that gap. But what quite a few negative nancies are spouting are comments in the above paragraph. They can’t do this. They can’t do that. We should have had robots that cleaned our grotty bedrooms like Tomorrow’s World said, but we have progressed to this, etc. We all nod our heads sagely. However, I feel that continually comparing what handhelds can’t do against their home counterparts is like putting small children next to fully-grown adults, and telling everybody that they will criticize the kids for not being able to hold their own in a pub-brawl. We know they can’t, but that’s because it is not their modus-operandi. They were made that way.



But you know what you can do with them. You can fit one on the extremely tight luggage quota or take it on board a plane for your holiday without much hassle. You’ve got the rest of the space to cram more stuff you want to relax with. You are not encompassing an area of your friend’s or relative’s living space with one. You already have it in your hands, in the event someone wants you to go downstairs and considers a cut in the electricity will spur you on to get your food. You don’t have to be stuck in the same room all the time or fight over the use of a television with someone to play with it.

And just to make you aware, the paragraph above was about handhelds, not small children.