Consolation Prize

The latest firmware for the Sony PS3 (2.40) was released today and contained a few tasty morsels to keep gamers happy. Of primary interest to the majority was the introduction of “Trophies”.

Similar in nature to Microsoft’s “Achievements” on the Xbox 360, trophies are earned upon completion of a specific game related task and a little notification will kindly pop-up in the top right hand corner of the screen informing you of your success. However unlike “Achievements” which award a number of points contributing to an overall gamer score trophies are instead just classed as “bronze”, “silver”, “gold” or “platinum, and as you would imagine the easier tasks are classed as “bronze” whilst more difficult ones “gold”. A “platinum” trophy of which there is but one per game is only awarded once all other trophies have been attained for that game.

All these trophies however have little value unless there is some sort of gauge with which gamers can compare themselves against. In Sony’s case each PSN account now has a “Level” (starting at 1) and each trophy earned contributes a certain amount of experience towards the next level. The easiest way to think of this system is as if you’re leveling up your PSN account (like an RPG). We can already assume that thousands of gamers across the globe are beavering away in order to obtain the highest level possible and boast that they’re currently top of the tree.

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I’ve finally managed to track down the issue with Internet Explorer 7 which was cropping the first image on the site. It’s a known issue when using italic text when next to a floating image which thus explains why it appeared to be an intermittent problem. I’m not sure why my Google searches didn’t point me in the right direction sooner but nevermind, all is well in the end, at least with Firefox and IE7!

The solution: I’ve added in “position:relative” to my CSS image class.

Also, I’ve been using Twitter for a little while now and it’s a handy little micro-blogging service which I think will be beneficial to Consolation Prize, so the sidebar now contains my latest three “Tweets”. If you’re a Twitter user then look me up, follow my updates, and I’ll of course reciprocate your kindness.

QuizzicalDemon on Twitter

Released last Wednesday Ticket to Ride, another renowned board-game, swelled the ranks of Xbox Live Arcade and joined the list of other great boardgames which have been given the Xbox Live treatment such as Settlers of Catan and Carcassonne.

Ticket to Ride ranks as one of my favourite boardgames of all time, mainly because it’s so simple to learn, easy to play, fast flowing, and it’s just an enormous amount of fun when played with a group of good friends.

This version is a nigh on perfect conversion and plays exactly the same as the original board-game featuring the American version of the map. The aim of the game is simply to complete “Tickets” across North America, for example “Seattle to New York” by linking cities together. How you get from “A” to “B” is up-to the player but because in most cases there’s only one connection between cities, which when claimed can’t be used by any other player, competition for routes is fierce and claiming strategic positions on the map before your opponents is crucial to your overall success. Instead of going into more depth about the game mechanics I’ll instead just point you in the general direction of my board-game review
here.

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Dr Edgar Herbert is not a happy bunny. He was a top research scientist in the field of Weather Control Enhancements for the AIC but he’s been put out to pasture early. Like any bitter employee Dr Herbert is out for revenge and there’s no better way for a psychotic genius to show his disappointment at his golden handshake then to wreak havoc around the world against his former employees. I’m sure at some-point Dr Herbert may have even cackled to himself and asked for “one miiiiiiilllllion dollars”, and yes that was a deliberate reference to Austin Powers.

Anyway, onto the game. Elements of Destruction is a top down strategy game where the aim is purely to cause as much damage as possible to villages and cities whilst meeting your mission goals, such as “destroy five barns”. At your disposal are the elemental forces of nature enabling you to call down down lightning strikes, topple buildings with earthquakes, or even rip a path of destruction through neighbourhoods with a tornado. The title of the game sums it all up rather neatly really.

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Once upon a time there was an annual event that took place, a dreadful event, so horrendous that gamers could only whisper of its impending arrival. As regular as clockwork the dark tendrils of the summer games drought would descend upon the land leaving children no option but to brave the great outdoors and adults facing the bleak summer months with their faces buried in a good book or catching up on the latest movies.

Yeah, fine, I know I’m embellishing the situation a little but it’s true I would dread the coming of summer. Slowly watching as the number of video game releases slowly dried to a trickle as publishers re-prioritised release schedules to suit the run up to Christmas. I longed for the day when quality games were released throughout the year, but you know what? I could really do with a games drought right about now.

Now that Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft are in full swing the number of quality titles available to the video gamer is just staggering. It’s not just brand spanking new releases jostling for your attention, but retro titles and re-releases from the last generation are making there presence known thanks to the rise in distributable medium services like Xbox Live, WiiWare, Virtual Console and Playstation Network.

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After two successful outings on the PS2, it’s time for the Ghost of Sparta to step into the mobile market for God of War: Chains of Olympus on the Sony PSP. The development reigns (or should that be chains) have been handed over to Ready At Dawn Studios using an enhanced version of their proprietary engine that was developed for Daxter (PSP).

Set as a prequel to the events that took place in God of War, this entry in the franchise nicely fits into the story arc that has already been told thus far and fleshes out more of our angry Spartans background.

At start of the game Kratos, already in servitude to the Olympian gods, is sent to the city of Attica to repel the Persian invasion. It’s an adrenalin inducing start and introduces the player to the controls gradually throughout the level and finally climaxes with a showdown with a Basilisk that has been terrorising the city. The level however is merely a taster of things to come and it’s not until vanquishing the beast that the true story line becomes apparent as Kratos witnessing the sun falling from the sky begins a quest to restore the god Helios.

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Just a quick note to mention that it had been brought to my attention that some image hot links may not have been working correctly, especially in relation to feed readers and probably resulted in the image not showing and a “404 Error” when clicked.

I think this was mainly due to my server hot link protection and “.htaccess” file configuration. I’ve hopefully now enabled access to the majority of web based readers that are currently subscribed and images should now start displaying correctly for future posts.

Anyway, no doubt some gremlins may still be lurking around so if there are any problems feel free to drop me an email or leave a comment and I’ll look into it. Apologies for any inconvenience.

So this is another sequel to the original arcade classic Frogger? Personally I’d have preferred it if poor old Frogger was left in peace to laze away his remaining days in the swamp rather than have this sequel dredged up from the murky depths. Needless to say I wasn’t that enamoured with this Xbox Live Arcade release.

Trying to build on the simplicity of Frogger we’ve now got a rather hokum story that involves a cute alien called Pico making a crash landing in Firefly swamp. In the process of the emergency landing some parts fell of the UFO and Frogger, being the rather friendly amphibian he is, decides to help poor Pico find the missing items.

Levels now span multiple screens and Frogger must make his way to the goal, and thus the missing part of the spaceship, collecting coins and musical notes along the way and avoiding swamp hazards like snakes and flying fish. Of course the journey involves river crossings, and seeing as Frogger can’t swim these must be navigated by hopping on the moving logs and lily pads as per the classic arcade game.

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