Archive: January, 2011
It’s been a little while since many of you have heard from us, and that’s for two very good reasons.
- This little thing called Christmas happened.
- Scheduling the three of us together has been a bloody nightmare since the start of January.
Well the second one is more Duncan’s fault, we think he’s turned into a bit of a diva. Hugely small internet/podcasting fame has gone to his head.
There is some good news.
Episode 12 is currently in pre-release and is having all the bells and whistles added to it by Phil. Which means you lovely people can get your auditory tackle around it within the next few days!
More good news comes in the form of another TGC Radio show this Tuesday (25th January 2011) from 9pm onwards with another two hours of awesomesauce music to game to. Take a look at our Events Calendar for more detail.
On the very same night, we have a PS3 gaming night planned with both Uncharted 2 and Killzone 2 on the cards, making Tuesday night a proper TGC Gaming Night. If you want to get involved then get yourself over to the forum, sign up for your free account, and post in the this thread that you want in!
So a packed few days from us after somewhat of an extended hiatus, but we’re back in effect to make 2011 an even better year for TGC, our growing community and you, most awesome listener!
It’s a Battlefield 1943 evening this coming Saturday. The platform is Xbox Live and your host for the evening is the man of the multiplayer moment, AHDVD (Link to forum profile)
Head on over to the new events section for more information, or just click this link.
Day Twelve…
Remind Yourself Of The Competition
Head on over to the page covering the 12 Days of Christmas competition – www.thegamescast.com/competitions/12-days-of-christmas
The All Important Question
Possible Answers:
- A) Red
- B) Blue
- C) Yellow
- D) Black
How Do You Enter
Over the 12 Days of Christmas, that’s 26th December – 6th January, we will post one question every day onto the website. What you need to do is login to the forum and send your answer as a private message to our 12Days account on the forum. Simple.
Each question you get right counts as one entry. If you answer all twelve questions correctly you get twelve entries. How many PM’s (private messages) you send us is up to you, you could send one at the end with all twelve answers in it or you could do one each day with the correct answer for the days question. If you don’t know how to send PM’s or you can’t work out how to enter then leave us a comment below and we’ll get in touch.
The closing date for this competition is 11:59PM on 7th January, 2011.
Terms and Conditions (in addition to our main competition terms and conditions)
- The entry method detailed above is the only entry method available for this competition. Only entries sent by Private Message on our forum will be accepted.
- If you win a competition you will need to supply your email address, your twitter username (if applicable) and an address to which we and the sponsoring companies can send your prizes.
- Use of multiple forum accounts to enter any competition will result in all entries made by any of the multiple accounts being removed from this competition.
- The prizes have been offered to us by third party companies. These companies may withdraw their prizes at any time.
- If a third party company does withdraw a prize we will endeavour to replace it if possible but at no time will The Games Cast be responsible for replacing any prize that has been withdrawn.
- We reserve the right to withdraw a prize at any time if we need to.
- Entries after the closing date will not be counted.
- Prizes are limited to UK residents only – sorry.
- Entrants must follow the twitter account – @boomeranggames
It’s the penultimate day of our first ever 12 Days of Christmas competition. Next year we might do a seven day competition. Who fancies one between Christmas and New Year’s Day? Anyhow, onto the question.
Remind Yourself Of The Competition
Head on over to the page covering the 12 Days of Christmas competition – www.thegamescast.com/competitions/12-days-of-christmas
The All Important Question
Possible Answers:
- A) Mass Effect 2
- B) Heavy Rain
- C) Red Dead Redemption
- D) Inception
How Do You Enter
Over the 12 Days of Christmas, that’s 26th December – 6th January, we will post one question every day onto the website. What you need to do is login to the forum and send your answer as a private message to our 12Days account on the forum. Simple.
Each question you get right counts as one entry. If you answer all twelve questions correctly you get twelve entries. How many PM’s (private messages) you send us is up to you, you could send one at the end with all twelve answers in it or you could do one each day with the correct answer for the days question. If you don’t know how to send PM’s or you can’t work out how to enter then leave us a comment below and we’ll get in touch.
The closing date for this competition is 11:59PM on 7th January, 2011.
Terms and Conditions (in addition to our main competition terms and conditions)
- The entry method detailed above is the only entry method available for this competition. Only entries sent by Private Message on our forum will be accepted.
- If you win a competition you will need to supply your email address, your twitter username (if applicable) and an address to which we and the sponsoring companies can send your prizes.
- Use of multiple forum accounts to enter any competition will result in all entries made by any of the multiple accounts being removed from this competition.
- The prizes have been offered to us by third party companies. These companies may withdraw their prizes at any time.
- If a third party company does withdraw a prize we will endeavour to replace it if possible but at no time will The Games Cast be responsible for replacing any prize that has been withdrawn.
- We reserve the right to withdraw a prize at any time if we need to.
- Entries after the closing date will not be counted.
- Prizes are limited to UK residents only – sorry.
- Entrants must follow the twitter account – @boomeranggames
By now the world is back and turning and we’re well into the swing of 2010 2011. If you’re following this site from another forum, which may have copied and pasted the question, and probably even put a little smiley face next to the right answer (we know who you are 
, welcome to our website!) please do remember that a lot of work went into creating this competition and we’d love it if you would come and just say “Hi” in the forum. We are interesting people really. Anyhow, on with today’s question, number ten.
Remind Yourself Of The Competition
Head on over to the page covering the 12 Days of Christmas competition – www.thegamescast.com/competitions/12-days-of-christmas
The All Important Question
Possible Answers:
- A) Mario
- B) Sonic the Hedgehog
- C) Pacman
- D) Donkey Kong
How Do You Enter
Over the 12 Days of Christmas, that’s 26th December – 6th January, we will post one question every day onto the website. What you need to do is login to the forum and send your answer as a private message to our 12Days account on the forum. Simple.
Each question you get right counts as one entry. If you answer all twelve questions correctly you get twelve entries. How many PM’s (private messages) you send us is up to you, you could send one at the end with all twelve answers in it or you could do one each day with the correct answer for the days question. If you don’t know how to send PM’s or you can’t work out how to enter then leave us a comment below and we’ll get in touch.
The closing date for this competition is 11:59PM on 7th January, 2011.
Terms and Conditions (in addition to our main competition terms and conditions)
- The entry method detailed above is the only entry method available for this competition. Only entries sent by Private Message on our forum will be accepted.
- If you win a competition you will need to supply your email address, your twitter username (if applicable) and an address to which we and the sponsoring companies can send your prizes.
- Use of multiple forum accounts to enter any competition will result in all entries made by any of the multiple accounts being removed from this competition.
- The prizes have been offered to us by third party companies. These companies may withdraw their prizes at any time.
- If a third party company does withdraw a prize we will endeavour to replace it if possible but at no time will The Games Cast be responsible for replacing any prize that has been withdrawn.
- We reserve the right to withdraw a prize at any time if we need to.
- Entries after the closing date will not be counted.
- Prizes are limited to UK residents only – sorry.
- Entrants must follow the twitter account – @boomeranggames
Day Nine and we’re in the final lap of the competition now. Right about now everyone will start to think towards tomorrow and the day when most of us return to work. However, rest assured, it is only 362 days until Christmas! Ha ha ha… you’re not laughing?!
Remind Yourself Of The Competition
Head on over to the page covering the 12 Days of Christmas competition – www.thegamescast.com/competitions/12-days-of-christmas
The All Important Question
Possible Answers:
- A) Gamezville
- B) Game Guru
- C) When Games Attack
- D) G@mers
How Do You Enter
Over the 12 Days of Christmas, that’s 26th December – 6th January, we will post one question every day onto the website. What you need to do is login to the forum and send your answer as a private message to our 12Days account on the forum. Simple.
Each question you get right counts as one entry. If you answer all twelve questions correctly you get twelve entries. How many PM’s (private messages) you send us is up to you, you could send one at the end with all twelve answers in it or you could do one each day with the correct answer for the days question. If you don’t know how to send PM’s or you can’t work out how to enter then leave us a comment below and we’ll get in touch.
The closing date for this competition is 11:59PM on 7th January, 2011.
Terms and Conditions (in addition to our main competition terms and conditions)
- The entry method detailed above is the only entry method available for this competition. Only entries sent by Private Message on our forum will be accepted.
- If you win a competition you will need to supply your email address, your twitter username (if applicable) and an address to which we and the sponsoring companies can send your prizes.
- Use of multiple forum accounts to enter any competition will result in all entries made by any of the multiple accounts being removed from this competition.
- The prizes have been offered to us by third party companies. These companies may withdraw their prizes at any time.
- If a third party company does withdraw a prize we will endeavour to replace it if possible but at no time will The Games Cast be responsible for replacing any prize that has been withdrawn.
- We reserve the right to withdraw a prize at any time if we need to.
- Entries after the closing date will not be counted.
- Prizes are limited to UK residents only – sorry.
- Entrants must follow the twitter account – @boomeranggames
Are you bored of 2011 yet? Well don’t be, remember to check out our Outlook to 2011 which has some awesome titles and hardware coming out. Nintendo 3DS anyone? Oh yes. Princess Peach in 3D!?! Awesomesauce. (Duncan wrote that bit by the way)
Remind Yourself Of The Competition
Head on over to the page covering the 12 Days of Christmas competition – www.thegamescast.com/competitions/12-days-of-christmas
The All Important Question
Possible Answers:
- A) Little Jacob
- B) Niko Bellic
- C) Dimitri Rascalov
- D) Roman Bellic
How Do You Enter
Over the 12 Days of Christmas, that’s 26th December – 6th January, we will post one question every day onto the website. What you need to do is login to the forum and send your answer as a private message to our 12Days account on the forum. Simple.
Each question you get right counts as one entry. If you answer all twelve questions correctly you get twelve entries. How many PM’s (private messages) you send us is up to you, you could send one at the end with all twelve answers in it or you could do one each day with the correct answer for the days question. If you don’t know how to send PM’s or you can’t work out how to enter then leave us a comment below and we’ll get in touch.
The closing date for this competition is 11:59PM on 7th January, 2011.
Terms and Conditions (in addition to our main competition terms and conditions)
- The entry method detailed above is the only entry method available for this competition. Only entries sent by Private Message on our forum will be accepted.
- If you win a competition you will need to supply your email address, your twitter username (if applicable) and an address to which we and the sponsoring companies can send your prizes.
- Use of multiple forum accounts to enter any competition will result in all entries made by any of the multiple accounts being removed from this competition.
- The prizes have been offered to us by third party companies. These companies may withdraw their prizes at any time.
- If a third party company does withdraw a prize we will endeavour to replace it if possible but at no time will The Games Cast be responsible for replacing any prize that has been withdrawn.
- We reserve the right to withdraw a prize at any time if we need to.
- Entries after the closing date will not be counted.
- Prizes are limited to UK residents only – sorry.
- Entrants must follow the twitter account – @boomeranggames
2011 is the year of the Rabbit. It’s also the International Year of Forests and the International Year of Chemistry. If only we could convince the Chemists to experiment on rabbits in a forest; a hat trick of celebrations. Que the virtual party poppers in my head… anyhow, moving on.
2011 also looks as though it’s going to be a great year for gaming with some spectacular titles lined up from the developers, as well as one massive piece of hardware that we’re all on the edge of our seats for. So, without further ado, and no more awful jokes, let’s crack on with the first in a three-part series as we look ahead to the year of the rabbit.
Nintendo 3DS
The Nintendo 3DS
It’s good form to get the hardware out of the way first and this is one piece of hardware you’re going to want as early as possible. Sporting a very nice 3.53inch 3D screen at the top with a slightly smaller screen at the bottom and what appears to be an analogue thumbstick, it’s refinement of the previous DS hardware. The main feature though has to be the new 3D technology. That’s what everyone is talking about.
Personally we can’t wait to get our hands on 3D MarioKart or imagining Super Mario 64 in Super Mario’s own 3D style. As far as the handheld market is concerned the 3DS takes it to a whole new level. Whether it’s a level that is here to stay or a level that fails because of the “sweet spot” required to get the proper 3D effect, will remain to be seen.
Nintendo’s dominance of the handheld market could be pushed even further down the throats of the competition if the 3DS takes off as well as it should do – providing the technology is as good as we hope it is. One concern is that whilst the 3D tech should work nicely for the regular Nintendo games such as MarioKart, Super Mario Bros., Kirby etc, there may be trouble ahead if games such as Metroid try and apply the same tech. Whilst Nintento will work hard to ensure their flagships work well my fear is that some lesser titles will get less polish, and less polish in a 3D environment is going to stick out like a sore thumb.
The 3DS hits EU shores in March 2011 and some price points are heading for the £200 mark. It’s not available for pre-order from the bigger stores just yet but for now though the 3DS is on my list for 2011.
Batman: Arkham City
Batman: Arkham City
Ever since Adam West put the grey, black and yellow suit on… dang that was an ugly batsuit… us geeks and gamers have had a somewhat unhealthy link to the Batman. Many more have worn the suit since, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney and of course the ever popular Christian Bale, but to us gamers the Batman is a symbol, a character who has no actor underneath. The Batman video games started out in the days of the ZX Spectrum, which incidentally saw three different Batman games during its lifetime. The latest game, and almost undeniably, the greatest, came from the British developer, Rocksteady. Scores as high as 96% from GamesMaster, 95% from Xbox World 360 – Eurogamer gave the game a score of 9/10 citing “this isn’t just the best grown-up Batman game, its the best superhero game, bar none.” Some likened it to 2008′s Bioshock, saying Batman had delivered a story unlike any other. The game itself has won countless awards, including its very own entry in the Guinness World Records for Most Critically Acclaimed Superhero Game Ever.
So as we look towards 2011 we wonder whether or not rocksteady can improve on their masterpiece. Batman: Arkham city will use the same playing style were already used to, with just a couple of small tweaks. We’ll see the introduction of side stories to accompany the main game story and according to some press reports the game will also include new multiplayer features. Bioshock 2 had the same pressures upon it as it raced toward release date and history tells us it didn’t get close enough to its predecessor. Fingers crossed that Batman outshines it’s parent. Is this too big a job for The Dark Knight?
Halo HD
Halo: Combat Evolved (In SD)
I doubt any of us could have foreseen what would happen to the gaming world when, on November 15, 2001 the very first Halo game hit the shelves. Halo: Combat Evolved, as we all know, was initially intended for the Apple Macintosh platform, but after a buyout from Microsoft the game was exclusively released on the Xbox. The Halo series revolutionised first person shooters as we know them and created a series of games that would be at the forefront of the Xbox lineup.
Since 2001 we have seen Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo:ODST and the most recent of the series, Halo Reach. Not forgetting the real-time strategy idea with the release of Halo Wars, which was actually the intended genre for the first Halo game at the beginning. We know that there is a new Halo game in development but did we also know that there are moves to re-engineer the first Halo game?
Halo HD (suggested, working, made-up title) is the original game, re-engineered to use the same graphics engine that brought us Halo Reach. This is an idea I really like. At the moment you can get Halo 1 on Xbox Originals via the Games On Demand feature of Xbox Live but to play it all again with modern graphics capabilities would be awesome and definitely something I would pay out for – however the chances of them updating the Xbox Live code at the same time is apparently not “in-scope” of the project. Much the same as including achievements. The word on the street is that it’s the original game, warts and all, with only the graphics engine being updated. Shame.
It’s still Master Chief, albeit a bit shinier.
Duke Nukem Forever
Come get some!
I can remember many late nights spent in front of a computer screen playing Duke Nukem 3D. Shooting pigs and paying strippers to dance as well as saving the world from an invasion was a highlight of many evenings. And we all know the long story of the development of the new game, Duke Nukem Forever – thirteen years of guessing release dates!
However there is light at the end of the tunnel as Gearbox Software, the same team that brought us Borderlands, have bought the rights and intellectual property of the entire franchise and have been working on the new title since 2009. According to an article written by Steve Gibson, who now works at Gearbox, the development process is quite far gone with final polish being applied to the game.
Of course the aliens-invade-and-one-guy-saves-the-world is a genre that has been done-to-death with the continuous line of Half Life titles. Not forgetting Doom and the to-be-released Xcom. This is very much a market where only the 30+ amongst us will remember the first outings of the Duke and it now faces a whole new market to appeal to. Nostalgia isn’t going to buy them that many sales.
However, the light seems to be bright for the tough-guy; in an interview with 1UP.com, Jason Hall commented that the game was “amazing”, and, “This might be the only game in history worth waiting 12 years for”. Big, strong words for a game thats got more hype than a royal wedding. Fingers crossed it can deliver.
Agree? Disagree?
Whether you think we’ve got it right so far, or whether we’re so far off the mark its embarrassing – leave your comments below.
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