News, Reviews, Other Stuff Probably

Recently, I helped create and contribute to Mission Control, a campaign made to promote the games industry developments in Teesside (North-East England). The campaign focused largely on Launchpad , a games dev startup located in Middlesbrough, which houses/supports multiple developers, including Radical Forge , FoxByte Games , and Sock Monkey Studios . There, we interviewed Launchpad's founder, Steve Dougan.  We also met Olly Bennett (Radical Forge) and Bruce Slater ( Cardboard Sword ), both founders of Teesside games networking event Gamebridge , and talked to them all about their event.  Other video content we created for Mission Control included an inside look at Launchpad , and various promotional videos for the campaign. We also ran social media channels for Mission Control, which helped to promote our message. That message? Teesside is a great area for anyone who wants to work in the games industry. Thanks to the combined forces of Lau...

Today saw 2017's edition of The Game Awards take place, starting at the convenient time of 1:30am over here in the UK. If you were busy during the proceedings, want a refresher, or just like to sleep at night, then here's a run-down of everything that happened, and when. Also included are URLs to all the relevant trailers (and other highlights), should anything pique your interest. The Pre-Show 01:38 - Let the games begin! The show starts off with The Game Award's creator and lead organiser, Geoff Keighley, being interviewed about stuff including what's to come, what The Game Awards is all about, and how the soon-to-be winners are chosen. Pre-filmed promo stuff, basically. 01:45 - The actual live ceremony begins, live from The Microsoft Theatre in LA. Keighley's introducing the show, talking about all of the platforms the show is being hosted on. 01:47 - The first announcement, and world premiere, of the night is a World War Z game , developed by Saber. ...

Here once again (and fashionably late), is The Month in Gaming. Though perhaps not as many as last month, there are quite a few big releases to sink your teeth into. So, here are some of the games you should be keeping an eye on (or...are likely already playing) for the month of November 2017. Call of Duty: WWII Release Date: 3rd November Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One The fourteenth (!) main entry in the Call of Duty series brings the fight back to boots-on-the-ground, historical action; as opposed to the futuristic jetpack warfare of the last couple entries. As you've likely guessed from the title, that action has also returned to World War II.  WWII brings a notable new addition to the series with Headquarters, a social space and multiplayer hub akin (very akin) to Destiny's Tower area. Here, you can pick up challenges, customise weapons, open loot boxes, and watch other people open loot boxes. Also, you wander around in third-person. You know, like Destiny. ...

“I feel like I’m on Jonathan Ross”, my 1 st -year Games Design student interviewee quips as I direct him where to sit. Rather than a fancy expensive set however, both he, Aaron Ryan, and the 2 nd -year Games Development student I’m interviewing alongside him, Andrew Gill, sit in a small student house living room, on an also small sofa. I sit on another one, looking to build a profile on ‘the games student of today’, and to get some fresh perspectives on topical gaming issues from people yet to be crushed by the monotonous wheel of work. The gaming industry both are working towards being a part of, has been ever-evolving right from the start, since the days of the early arcades and the Brown Box, to the reign of Nintendo and Sega, to the debut of the PlayStation and the Xbox, right up to 2017 with the launch of the Switch. Throughout we’ve seen the jumps from black and white graphics, to the 8-bit and 16-bit eras, to our first 3D castles and tombs, and so much more.  What other...

This week, EA announced that the Star Wars game being developed at Visceral had been "refocused", and furthermore, Visceral was being shut down. While they didn't explicitly say so, whatever this game was going to be seems pretty much dead. The "broader experience" that it becomes will essentially be a new game developed by other EA studios. And so, Visceral's Star Wars title joins the pile of much-anticipated cancelled games, one that has been tragically growing quite fast over the past few years. Let's rip open old wounds and take a look at some of the other games on that pile. Star Wars: 1313 Announced: May 2012 Cancelled: April 2013 Platforms: PC. PS4, Xbox One A third person action-adventure title, 1313 was set to follow Boba Fett as he navigated underground Coruscant, presumably doing sick Bounty Hunter stuff.  The only existing gameplay footage  teased what looked to be Uncharted meets Star Wars. This was another way it echoed Visce...

Another year, another COD, another COD live-action trailer. You know the deal. Typically explosive, celebrity-riddled affairs, this year's instalments dial it back down a bit. Notice I said 'instalments'? That's because today, three similar, yet different trailers for this year's title were released. There's one for the  US , one for the  UK , and one for  France . They're all good fun, give them a watch. As with the Black Ops 'Replacer' ads, the focus here is on dropping whatever's going on in your 'real life' to play some good ol' Call of Duty. But with less Peter Stormare. Call of Duty: WWII launches November 3rd.

Microtransactions, and more specifically loot boxes, have caused quite a stir in recent months. This is largely because it's starting to seem like every other game has them, whether it's a multiplayer fashion show of death like Overwatch or even a singleplayer-only affair like Middle Earth: Shadow of War. Love 'em or hate 'em, there's no denying how popular loot boxes have become with AAA publishers like Blizzard and WB, and how topical they are in the industry at the moment. The ESRB's recently declared that it doesn't see them as gambling , after calls for them to label games that feature them as such. While many may dislike loot boxes, few might attempt to combat them using the British Parliament. Regardless, someone has done just that.  Reddit user 'Artfunkel' shared on /r/Games that after a productive talk on the issue, the Labour MP for Cambridge, Daniel Zeichner, has reached out to the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, ...