MASSIVE news for UK 360 users

Ever since E3 08 Microsoft has pushed xbox live as being an experience. Firstly we saw the introduction of NXE (New xbox experience) with the revised XBL interface making navigation far more interesting and easier.We heard plenty of rumblings regarding "Primetime" with it's promises of interactive live quiz shows like 1 v 100.However Xbox has just announced an incredible coup just a week before E3 '09

I've always been sceptical when it comes to press conferences from big entertainment companies but when I heard Microsoft and BSkyB (Britain's main satellite TV company) where calling a joint press conference this week my big news radar went into overdrive...and I'm not disappointed.

The 2 have announced the development of a partnership that will bring premium TV to the 360 for the first time ever via the existing online service Sky Player.Details on what channels will be available and how the costings will be implimented are yet to be released however come Autumn UK gamers can probably expect to be able to navigate their 360 dashboard and tap into live streamed films as well as Premiership football and other Sports.

Exciting stuff I think you'll agree and you can be sure I'll be posting more info both here and on Youtube as soon as I get it

oooooh almost time

The original plan is finally becoming a reality!!!

Way back when I first started these blogs and the gaming videos on youtube I'd always had in the back of my mind thoughts of doing a weekly "show." Well after months of planning on how exactly it should be done recording is due to start in just over 12 hours time.

With E3 right around the corner and gaming companies starting to kick into release mode timing couldn't be more perfect.

I'm not doing this alone either as you will see when it is done and uploaded I'll keep my co host unnamed for the moment....basically because I have no idea what he wants to be reffered to as (I had settled on Salad Dodger but he has a bizarre notion that he'll be the eye candy of the show....yea keep dreaming mate lol)

As I want to keep E3 to it's own show expect frank chat about games that have hit the shelves over the last couple of weeks,games that are due to be released over the next few weeks as well as gaming news,DLC content and general gaming goodness.

Anyway time to hit the hay and hope I don't get rudely awoken by bloody workmen for the 3rd day running.

Goodbye,God Bless and thanks for reading!

Fallout 3 : The Pitt

Having played Operation Anchorage to completion and being left somewhat underwhelmed by the whole combat heavy concept I was
pleased to see that The Pitt would be taking steps back into a true sense of the Fallout world.

The pitt itself is set in Post apocolyptic Pittsburgh where what is left of the City has now become a slaver run Steel works.
Upon entering the wasteland you pick up a radio distress signal from Werner asking for assistance towards the far north of the
map.When reaching him you are filled in on Werner's tale of Slavers and Slaves and talk of a "Cure" After some brief preparation
you arrive at a small slaver camp with a train tunnel leading to "The Pitt"

Taking the trip then leads you to the outskirts of The Pitt and to the true start of the DLC. One thing that is instantly recognisable
is how the backdrop has that same Wastelands feel.The draw distance is as immense as The Wastes and whilst in ruin The Pitt
has that active feel with it's flames shooting from smoke stacks and ambient noises as opposed to just the whistling nuclear winds

Getting to the Pitt proper is no simple task as the only route into the City is across a bridge covered in burned out traffic and booby
trapped with enough frag mines to send you into orbit but a slow and steady pace or of course the tread lightly perk sees you safely
into the City where the story truly starts to unfold.Having worked hard to actually make it into the Pitt you are quickly beaten down and left
with nothing but a crappy Slave outfit.As you come to you are introduced to Midea the main NPC of the extra content who explains
more of the plot and tells you that the only way to get out of the situation is to blend in.The plot itself focuses around 2 main goals most
important is the capture of the cure for the local disease from Ashur the head of the slavers.While the second involves the typical
good/evil choice of whether you free the slaves or not.

By blending in it leads to you being "nominated" to go into the Steel yard in search of Steel ingots.The area is considered a death sentence by the
slavers as the area is full of Wildmen and Trogs.The Wildmen are effectively The Pitt's version of Raiders while the trogs similar to Feral
ghouls are diseased humans hell bent on making you their next meal.Thankfully desite being stripped of all your Wasteland items you don't
tackle these threats empty handed.While not flush with technology the slaves have modified some of their tools which double up as some
pretty melee weapons.Most notably the Auto-Axe.This large cutting tool is perfect for turning the tide on the Trogs while the steelyard itself has a
number of more familiar weapons dotted around to help deal with the Wildmen more effectively.However don't expect to end up with a
mountain of ammo here as Bethesda force you to manage your weaponry by only giving you small levels of ammo throughout the early stages
of the content.

Much like Operation Anchorage's intel cases most of the ingot collecting is optional but to ignore this search and collect section of The Pitt
would be a waste of what is an interesting and EXTREMELY helpful part of the DLC.While the Steelyard can be confusing with it's maze like
qualities taking time out to hunt ingots sees you rewarded frequently.Every 10 ingots you find can be turned in to Everett the Mill's foreman in exchange
for unique Pitt items. Most of these items are armour based however it's nothing to be sniffed at when you start out wearing just a loin cloth.Collecting
enough ingots can in fact see you rewarded with Power Armour that can be worn regardless of whether you have gained to ability to from the
Brotherhood of Steel in the main F3 quest. The other rewards are weapon based from stronger versions of knuckle dusters to unique versions
of the auto-axe and a rather tasty silenced assault rifle.

Whether you choose to collect the ingots or not you soon find yourself once again being nominated by Midea this time to fight for your freedom in
the Hole. Much like the Arena from Oblivion you compete in a series of increasingly difficult fights.Victory results in you going from Slave to Slaver
and the start of your usual Fallout morality choices.It's at this point that you find out more about the cure and make your final choice of good or bad DLC
ending.

The difficulty level of the Pitt gets across that feeling of a desperate situation extremely well and having to manage everything from stimpaks to ammo in the
earlier stages makes it far more of a challenge than Anchorage.The ability to come back after completing the Pitt's quests to take advantage of the ammo
press or to trade certain items much like the sugar bomb and pre war book collecting in Fallout 3 as well as hunting down those final ingots for unique items
and an achievement make this particular DLC feel like it belongs as part of the Fallout 3 experience.While the quest itself can be blasted through in a matter of
hours it feels far more staisfying than Operation anchorage ever could.All in all now the glitches and bugs have been ironed out it's well worth the 800 Microsoft
points and should keep even the most die hard Fallout 3 fans happy as the third DLC installment Broken Steel gets ever closer.

The Lost and Damned

Considering Rockstar hadn’t exactly delved into the world of DLC prior to The Lost and Damned you’d be forgiven for thinking that Microsoft’s $50 million deal for 2 exclusives was some what of a gamble. The big question is has it paid off ?

To be quite honest it’s hard to see how anyone could class it as a failure. With the 1600 MS points needed to purchase the extra content (equivalent of £13) you’ll be hard pressed to find a full retail game that delivers what TLAD does.

The extra content focuses around Johnny Klebitz and other members of Liberty City’s biker gang The Lost. The story starts as Chapter leader Billy is being released from rehab and you as Johnny along with the rest of the gang are riding out to pick him up. In Billy’s absence Johnny has tried to run the gang sensibly striking up truces and deals to keep The Lost financially secure. However Billy’s sociopathic tendencies soon send The Lost back down a road of running battles with rival gangs and send Johnny headlong into a power struggle with Billy. Do Johnny and the Lost sound familiar? So they should. Johnny appears twice in the original GTA 4 missions. The first time alongside Niko and Playboy X in the drug deal that was a police sting and again as Niko attempted to sell Ray’s stolen diamonds to the Jewish dealers in the old museum. TLAD doesn’t forget any of these crossovers in story and in fact embraces them fully with said missions being tackled from Johnny’s perspective while references to things you did as Niko are a constant undertone while you progress through the surprisingly lengthy story.

So what has changed? Well on the plus side being content focused solely around a biker gang the bike physics have had a dramatic tweak. Bikes are now far more responsive and running over a twig no longer sends you flying over the handlebars and rolling half a mile down the street. Rockstar have also added a whole stash of new bikes both Hogs and sporty and all of this combined actively encourages you to ride instead of drive. I’ve both heard and read a number of people both “experts” and gamers mention how you will still get into the habit of hailing cabs and quick travelling while this may be true of some players it totally defeats the object of the content. With missions now seemingly marked off at each cutscene as a checkpoint there is no reason to fast travel at all other than to hit a safe house to save at short notice, also with the decreased amount of crashes sending you flying off your ride (to the point that I had played through a good 75% of the story before taking my first tumble) why waste good in game money on a cab ride when you can spend it on some of the new weaponry and reign down lead death in a whole new way.

That’s right NEW weaponry. Not only do you now have a whole host of new bikes and a small handful of new cars a couple of handy and extremely satisfying new weapons are also available. Whilst all the old items are still available in the gun stores a quick call to Terry and up rolls a van with a few new options. (Same idea as the call for guns made to Little Jacob) In addition to the regular handgun an automatic version is now available, as well as pipe bombs and my personal favourite the assault shotgun. The later is a TOTAL beast, quick fire and able to annihilate any vehicle in no time at all you’ll find yourself using it over and above most other guns in the game. The range of uses has also been tweaked. While in 4 you where restricted to handguns and smgs while driving TLAD allows the use of sawn off shotguns while riding so we can all fulfil our Arnie Terminator 2 fantasies.

On top of new physical items the ambience has also received a tweak. Most radio stations now have a handful of new songs that are slotted in randomly so after a short time they feel as if they have always been there. A number of new adverts and DJ chatter have also been effortlessly blended in to keep the comic touches that are now part and parcel of a Grand Theft Auto title. Speaking of comic touches WKTT now has a completely new segment “The Martin Serious Show” which is a not so subtle spoof of the shock jock culture…or is it more of a blatant finger point at the self proclaimed “King of all Media.” Add to that more TV content and a special Split Sides appearance of one of my personal favourite comics in Frankie Boyle and it becomes clear that despite it being merely DLC Rockstar have still given it an incredible amount of detail.

There is however one minor down point. In seemingly an attempt to give TLAD a grittier feel than GTA 4 the visuals have a grainy film effect filter placed over both cutscenes standard play. While I can understand why it was done it does the game no favours at all and makes the Liberty City that wowed us a year ago a very bland feel. This effect can easily be removed though through navigating the pause menu and removing the “noise” filter.

As a solo play title in itself TLAD certainly stands up extremely well to criticism. For a relatively small download story wise you are treated to a solid 8-10 hours of extra gameplay. The missions consisting of the regular drive, chase, shoot that you come to expect from GTA. The story itself isn’t as full of comic touches that GTA 4 was but it is however still engaging. Also the way in which certain parts of Johnny’s story tie in nicely to Niko’s give the player a whole new perspective on GTA 4 which may or may not make Niko seem less likable. Side missions take the shape of bike races done in the style of Road Rash as you ride and whack rivals with a baseball bat and gang wars which involve you riding with The Lost and trying to take down other gangs. Completing these unlocks more bike varieties that can be delivered to you with a simple phone call. “Dates” are still available but are no longer an annoying must but rather riding out with other gang members will over time boost their stats and make them far more effective in combat.

Multiplayer modes have not gone untouched either while certain modes are just revamped versions of multiplayer modes we all know from other titles each mode is done well and feels a part of the title rather than a hastily thrown in mode to appease multiplayer fans. Three modes especially stand head and shoulders above the rest ;

Gang War -

Kind of like a tug of war. The city is split into zones guarded by NPC’s Taking out said NPC’s and any enemy gang members captures the territory. When a certain percentage of territory is captured or the timer runs out the gang with the most area captured wins. Simple principal but it translates brilliantly to GTA.

Chopper vs. Chopper

Easily the most insane mode available. A straight 1 on 1 battle one player on a bike trying to hit checkpoints while the second player controls an attack chopper and tries to stop him. A great test of skill but great fun with it.

Witness Protection

Carnage by the bucket load. Two teams one controlling N.O.O.S.E the other controlling The Lost. The N.O.O.S.E team protects a prison bus that is dropping off people at Police Stations around the map while The Lost throws everything at taking out the bus and it’s witnesses. Utter mayhem but again awesome fun.

So in closing TLAD is an awesome addition to the franchise and well worth the 1600 MS points for download regardless of whether you are a solo play or multiplayer fan. It’s unlikely to convert those of you out there that don’t like GTA games but for those that do it is certainly worth the purchase and has now set a benchmark for DLC that other companies must surely be cursing. (TAKE NOTE EA)

Due to TLAD effectively being an update it would be unfair to score it on individual categories but I would HIGHLY recommend picking this up if you haven’t already