Consolation Prize

Going back a few years to 1996 I remember thoroughly enjoying Tomb Raider on the PlayStation. It was an amazing game to play at the time; full of exploration with intricate platforming levels, featured some truly stunning and varied locations, and was steeped in mythology which enhanced the story. Both gamers and the media alike took to the new English upper class gun-toting-ass-kicking heroine, Lara Croft, like ducks to water. And for a while everything was hunky-dory.

However, after so many sequels it got to the point where the game had moved far away from the roots of its success and had become just another run of the mill action game, albeit with a female protagonist. Thankfully the series was given a much needed reboot by Crystal Dynamics with the release of Tomb Raider: Legend – an enjoyable romp based on the Arthurian legend. And now we’re on the verge of finding out whether the series is going to continue it’s upward ascent, or is about to plummet back down to earth like a fallen angel (of darkness) with the release of Tomb Raider: Underworld

The recently released demo at least gives us an inkling of how the finished game is going to fare, and on the whole I’m pretty happy with what I’ve seen so far. Although there are still some issues that could do with being ironed out.

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I’ve now returned from a fantastic snowboarding holiday in Winter Park and I can safely say it had some of the best snow and trails I’ve ever experienced. Ah, the memories… No bones were broken, just some minor sprains, and my body clock is now returning to normal after a few days of confusion from jet lag and a very long return journey when our flight was cancelled because of very high winds in London.

As you can probably imagine I was a bit too preoccupied to play any games on the DS while away as I’d hoped. I’m only just settling back into normality here in the UK and catching up with the latest goings on with our beloved hobby, but as soon as I’m back in the flow you can expect the usual run of impressions and reviews to continue.

Just a brief post to say that there won’t be any updates for a while as I’m embarking on another Snowboarding trip soon. This time I’m off to Winter Park, Colorado, USA and I can’t wait to hit the slopes!

Also, I found out yesterday from a colleague that the site hasn’t been displaying correctly on Internet Explorer since Wednesday. This has now been fixed and I’ll have to ensure I check the site with other browsers more often. Apologies!

I’ll be posting as usual upon my return and I’ve a few improvements planned for Consolation Prize which I didn’t want to implement before the trip. Until then, whatever game you’re playing, have fun!

Just a quick post to let you all know about a new video game blog network that is launching today over at
VG Media Network, a community based site with the aim providing high quality blogs and improving member sites via reviews and helpful critique.

Although I’ve not looked at all the blogs in detail thus far they all appear to be of a high standard, are updated regularly and cover a wide range of topics including MMOs, World of Warcraft, retro gaming and game development.

Members at the time of writing are:
DrainingSouls.net
Girls Don’t Game
Daniel Primed
Press the Buttons
Tank Hard!
The Hunter’s Mark
The Server is Down
Write the Game

Well it’s been quite a long time since the last post but fear not I’m hoping to start regular posts again starting this week.

Unfortunately I’ve not had a serious gaming session for a few weeks now. Even though there have been plenty of games to play, and a backlog of games to complete, I’ve been having a bit of “game burnout” recently and just couldn’t get enthused enough to play any of them. I tend to find it happens every now and again and the best thing to do is just to step back from the gaming scene for a few weeks (or even months) until you’re ready to play games for fun again.

After a week’s trip snowboarding in the French Alps and settling back into the daily grind I’m once again getting the gaming itch. The only deliberation is whether to finish the game of “Mass Effect” I started weeks ago (if I can remember what I was doing) or to start the year afresh with a completely new game. Suggestions are welcome!

Apologies for the distinct lack of posts over the last couple of weeks but in the run up to Christmas everything seems to have gone a bit haywire. In addition my broadband router decided to die on me and it took me a few days to get around to setting up a new one.

When I put my gaming hat back on again I’ve the usual back log of games waiting to be played. Firstly I need to finish off Mass Effect, which I started a few weeks back and was certainly an enjoyable, if flawed experience. Waiting to pounce from the shadows is Assassin’s Creed, a game which seems to have generated a lot divided opinions, and of course how could I forget the silent Gordon Freeman, patiently waiting for me to finish Episode 1 and 2 from The Orange Box.

So all that now remains to be said is to thank any readers that have meandered onto this blog and decided to hang around, and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

I picked up a Sony PS3 last weekend. The price has recently been reduced to the point where I was willing to part with my hard earned cash. The price also included three games (from a selection of five) bundled with the system and fortunately all of them were on my list of titles I would have bought for the system. I also wanted to pick up the 60GB version before it was phased out in favour of the slightly cheaper, but feature stripped, 40GB version that was released recently.

I’ve not had a great deal of time to play with it but first impressions are good. The system was simple enough to set-up, connect to the wireless network and once connected to the outside world update to the latest version of the operating software (version 1.93). The PlayStation Store is easy to use and there’s quite a lot of content available to download should you wish to try out some demos, watch movie clips or purchase games but it’s not on a par with Xbox Marketplace yet.

It was very noticeable just how quiet the PS3 is compared to my Xbox 360, although it still gets just as warm! Unfortunately the system only comes with a SCART TV connector (Europe) which is useless for HD and gives poor picture quality, thus you have to purchase a better connector (HDMI) to get the full benefit.

So yet another toy to play with and more games added to the stockpile with Heavenly Sword, Resistance: Fall of Man and Motorstorm all waiting to be played. Firstly though I’ve The Orange Box, Puzzle Quest and Sega Rally Revo on the the Xbox 360 to complete!

I was hoping to get my hands on the Halo 3 Legendary edition tomorrow when the game is officially released but my online supplier has “kindly” informed me that my preorder will not be met and the order has now been cancelled.

Although it’s not the end of the world I was looking forward to the Legendary edition as it looked like something a bit special and not just an extra disc in a metal case like most “limited” editions. Instead I will just have to settle for the standard copy, or if I really want the metal case, the collectors edition. In the end though it isn’t the packaging that matters but the game inside and hopefully it will live up to both the hype and my expectations from playing the
beta version.