In no particular order:

iPhone Sleep Cycle: my nights with a strange bedfellow [Guardian]: Sounds like a great iPhone application. That and some games make me really want an iPhone. Damnit!

Cutting to the choice [EDGE]: Great post about multiple choice in gaming.

New Xbox Live Indie Game explores Office Politics [Joystiq]: This post pointed out Indie games to me and I’ve played many great ones since. Office politics is simply brilliant. Tumblr post one and two.

The player: cheat codes [Guardian]: A post that’s proved controversial in the comments. Personally I think it’s up to everyone whether they want to use cheats or walkthroughs. I’ve only ever used cheats a handful of times, but regularly rely on walkthroughs or internet searches.

Oblivion: RolePlaying [UESP.net]: Found in the comments from the previous Guardian post. I’ve used uesp.net myself plenty of times and I’ve posted about Oblivion a lot. This is taking the game to a whole new level though!

Eat three meals a day at the appropriate times (or less if you are poor). Breakfast should consist of grains, rice, bread or fruit. Lunch can be more bread, fruit, and vegetables. Save the meat and potatoes for dinner, along with your character’s preferred alcoholic beverage.

A post from the producer of Splinter Cell Conviction regarding the lack of a multiplayer versus mode [Ubisoft forums]: I am really disappointed with that. Whilst I’ve always liked the single player of Splinter Cell games, like SCDA, it’s the multiplayer that’s always shone through. Yes, a co op mode is great, but is that going to keep me playing for months or even years after it’s release? SCDA was released in 2006 and it still has a fairly active community and I’ve played it almost daily since last November due to it being different. Very unhappy about their decision and it’s made me reconsider if I really want the game day one.

Gamesradar‘s Assassin’s Creed 2 review and guide: Loved this game a lot and I’m very much looking forward to the DLC, although that will have to wait until after Mass Effect 2!

Assassins Creed 2 glitch [GameSpot forums]: As much as I liked Assassins Creed 2, this nearly turned me off the game minutes after it started. Thankfully that was the only major glitch I encountered and was fixed with a simple reboot.

Blood sugar sex magik: examining Dragon Age’s Morrigan [Destructoid]: Great post!

I was never quite sure how to feel about her — and I mean that in the best way possible. She’s extremely useful in combat, but she’s also the most unrepentantly amoral character in the entire game. Her sarcasm and occasional (and very, very brief) moments of goodness makes her strangely likable, yet I never, for a second, trusted her.

Chasing Alistair [EDGE]:
It’s no secret that I love Alistair and this column makes me realise I’m definitely not the only one!

I don’t know how it’ll work, or what I’ll do with it when it comes. But I do know one thing: I’m in love with the next king of Ferelden, and before this is over, he’s going to make me his Queen. Or he’s never getting his armour back.

Space Cow and Shifty Looking Cow [Mass Effect wiki]: Came across the space cows randomly during one of the sidemissions and googled it just to find out what they are. Made it my mission to find the shifty looking one and was successful after over thirty minutes! Time well spent? I don’t know.. However, I absolutely love this description from one of the designers on the official Mass Effect forums:

I love the history of the Shifty Cow easter egg. When the character artists designed the space cow with two extra arms, Preston, our lead designer, was a little creeped out. His comment was “You can’t trust any animal that can milk itself.” Those extra little hands look so… grabby. So Preston came up with the idea of Shifty Cow. Turn your back on him, and those creepy little hands are going to go to work. Kiss those credits goodbye.

Progress made, now down to only 14 tabs! Back to Mass Effect I go!

Game music is an integral part of the game playing experience so it’s hardly surprising that most of the game music I own is from my favourite games and it’s also probably not very susprising that I listen to the game music of some games a lot.

These are all gaming related soundtracks that I currently own and I do most definitely recommend all of them:

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Christophe Beck.
• Beyond Good & Evil by Christophe Heral
• BioShock by various. [Previous post on it here]
• Burnout 3 by various.
• Burnout Takedown by various.
• The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay by unknown.
• Crysis by Inon Zur.
• Deus Ex by Alexander Brandon, Dan Gardopée, Michiel van den Bos and Reeves Gabrels.
• Deus Ex Invisible War by Alexander Brandon.
• Fable by Russell Shaw and Danny Elfman.
• Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter by Tom Salta
• GTA III by various.
• GTA Vice City by various.
• GTA San Andreas by various.
• GTA IV by various.
• Gun by Christopher Lennertz.
• Halo 1 by Martin O’Donnell and  Michael Salvatori.
• Halo 2 by Martin O’Donnell and  Michael Salvatori.
• Halo 3 by Martin O’Donnell and  Michael Salvatori.
• Halo Wars by Stephen Rippy.
• Hitman 2 by Jesper Kyd.
• Hitman Blood Money by Jesper Kyd.
• Jade Empire by Jack Wall.
• Mass Effect by Jack Wall and Sam Hulick.
• Splinter Cell Chaos Theory by Amon Tobin.
• Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic by unknown.
• Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords by unknown.
• Star Wars Republic Commando by unknown.
• Stubbs the Zombie by various.
• The Elder Scrolls III – Morrowind by Jeremy Soule.
• The Elder Scrolls IV – Oblivion by Jeremy Soule.
• And anything done by the Video Game Pianist [and it's even better his music can be downloaded for free on his site].

My Last.fm stats aren’t very surprising to me. Within my top 100 artists the following game soundtracks are among them:

• Mass Effect – 349 listens.
• GTA [all] – 277 listens [this should be more, but unfortunately most of them are untagged and I'm too lazy to tag them correctly!].
• Halo [all] – 271 listens.
  
• Deus Ex [all] – 198 listens.
• Video Game Pianist – 178 listens.
  
• Buffy – 164 listens.
  
• Beyond Good & Evil – 143 listens.
  
• Jade Empire – 121 listens.
  
• Fable – 114 listens.
  
• KotOR [all] – 112 listens.
  
• Gun – 105 listens.
  
• Oblivion – 73 listens.
  

There some soundtracks I’ve been unable to find, however, including:

• Assassin’s Creed
• Black
• Broken Sword
• Call of Duty 4
• Destroy all Humans
• Freedom Fighters
• Hitman Contracts
• Just Cause [especially the chilled out music playing when parachuting/gliding!]
• Oddworld games.
• Rainbow Six Vegas
• Splinter Cell Double Agent.
• Voodoo Vince
• Wallace and Gromit in Project Zoo

• Assassin’s Creed: As I mentioned in my ‘first impressions’ post I wasn’t too impressed with Assassin’s Creed. My opinion didn’t much change throughout playing the game. There were many, many moments in which I hated it and was close to breaking the disc and very few good moments, such as the twist in one of the two storylines and a couple of funny moments when escaping/fighting. All in all it was very repetitive though and just a wasted opportunity all around.

• Lego Star Wars: The complete saga: I loved the previous two and the promise of extra levels/areas, more characters and two player Co op over Xbox Live was just too hard to resist. Matt and I played some of it the other day and whilst it has it’s issues, such as camera angles and the inability of advancing both player’s saves, it’s still a lot of fun.

• CSI Hard Evidence: I’m a big CSI fan, especially CSI Las Vegas [the original one] and for that reason it was clear to me that I’ll get the CSI game. I previously played the one on the Xbox, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and it should have really told me a lesson that CSI games just won’t be any good. Ever. There are a few things that save the game though, such as the voice overs being done by the original cast [with the exception of Jorja Fox [Sara Sidle]], complicated and intriguing storylines and the Las Vegas helicopter flybys.

• SWOS – Sensible World of Soccer: I was looking forward to this game for a while as I have some good memories to playing the Xbox version. I played a few games of it, but it’s going to take some time to get back into the flow.

• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare: I’ve never liked any of the previous ones. Against popular belief that is not because they were set during WWII, but rather that they felt slow, sluggish and featured uninspiring levels. Number 4 in the series is set in the near future and has a much better feel to it. It’s faster, has a really intriguing story and some great levels. I’m not too interested in the multiplayer at the moment, but the single player has definitely grabbed my attention.

I really want to play some BioShock again, especially as a few extras have been released and the game was very good, albeit too short.

There is also some extra Oblivion content, which has been sitting on my 360 for weeks and not yet been played. I never did finish the ‘Shivering isles’ expansion pack.

Oh and Mass Effect. I think enough time’s gone past now and I can play it again without constantly being reminded of my first playthrough.

And then there’s my Nintendo DS with Hotel Dusk that’s waiting to be completed or at least played a little more so I can find out just what the game is meant to be all about!

I guess I won’t be bored!

Cat

• Overlong tutorial.
• Tutorial computer voice. Can she speak any slower?
• Too many too long cutscenes. Who cares I was demoted? Why did the guy with the beard go on about it so much? Why did I have to bother listening in to the conversation with the doctor and the woman? Why are they so long?
• Camera angles. Yes, I know you can move them, but but I really don’t like them disappearing behind walls mid fight. Games should know better by now.
• Fighting. Who the hell came up with that? It’s like Fable, but even more unimaginative. Press one button, press the same button, oooh, press the same button again…
• Cutscenes. They are so annoying, they deserve to be mentioned twice.
• Horse riding. First of all what is the point? Second of all do they have speed cameras in the Holy land? Has no one ever seen someone go a little faster on their horse? Why do I raise suspicion for trotting along instead of nearly going backwards striding. They must have had horse messengers or peopel in a hurry. Surely?
• Blending in with scholars and no one sees that big sword on my body?!
• He can’t swim… Why not? He’s a trained Assassin for Christ’s sake. Training since he was little. And they forgot to teach him how to swim?
• Tearing display. The game may look shiny, that doesn’t excuse the tearing display.

The worst thing about the game is that it feels so automated. Yeah, you can jump along beams, climb buildings, but it’s not really you doing it. All you need to do is hold the right trigger and move the thumbstick to climb or hold the trigger and press A to jump. Press A to hide in a group of scholars, then put the controller aside until you’re where you want to be..

People have said it’s got some Prince of Persia in it, but Prince of Persia is a very different and far superior game. It requires you to time jumps, direct the prince to where you want him; it needs reflexes and a clear strategy on how you’re going to get somewhere. Assassin’s Creed fails.

And I thought he was an Assassin, secretive, in the shadows, yet he is supposed to help citizens, thus drawing attention to himself?!

Of course Mass Effect was so good that no other game will be able to compare for a long time [ever?], but this is far worse than I though. So far anyway…

Cat

In Gaming:

• Assassin’s Creed finally [?] out this week

  The wait is over and the game is finally out.

• Mass Effect Launch trailer

  The Mass Effect launch trailer is out and makes me want to play the game even more.

• Review: Splinter Cell Double Agent

  Looking through old files on my PC, I’ve come across this, a review of Splinter Cell Double Agent I wrote for Ignition in November last year.

In TV:

• One Tree Hill

  First there was Dawson’s Creek, then the OC and somewhere in between there is One Tree Hill.

In Blog:

• Consider it blogged – Why Bloggers can’t be trusted

  Found during my travels in the blogsphere.

• Blog Community Writing Project Update 1

  Just a little reminder, the Community writing project is underway and you have until this weekend to submit your entries.

• Blog community writing project.

  This is inspired by Sha’s suggestion over on Matt’s blog who hasn’t blogged in quite a while

• You know, I know you’re here..

  I’m a bit like you.

• New look

  So I finally wanted to be different and distinguish myself from most other wordpress.com users by getting the CSS upgrade and using a different theme.

In life:

• Still bored…

  This is more or less a continuation of my other post a few days ago in which I said I was feeling really ill.

• Bored

  I’m simply bored of being ill now.

And everything else:

• Couple of things

  All of these have been sitting on my desktop for weeks and don’t really warrant an extra post.

• Some Facebook, a bit of Myspace.

  Pretty much everyone these days is registered on a social networking site and more or less active.

Cat

The wait is over and the game is finally out. Well, it’s in the States, us Europeans have to wait til Friday and let’s not get started on the people down under.. Now Assassin’s Creed is one of my top five games this year, something which I’ve already mentioned in this post, so I won’t bother again.

Traditionally 1-4 weeks before the release of games the reviews surface and even though Assassin’s Creed appears to have several great reviews there are two reviews that worry me a little.

1up – 7/10:

Or at least until you get sick of it — which will likely happen very quickly. The fault of Creed’s game structure isn’t what you do — gathering intel and conducting hits is actually pretty sweet. The repetition of these actions, however, is severely bitter.

To make things worse, despite Ubisoft’s faithfulness to history, the three cities of Acre, Damascus, and Jerusalem are practically the same.

It’s a game what was clearly created with a sequel mindset. Instead of making a complete experience, we’re getting a game that’s obviously holding stuff back for the inevitable follow-up.

All of this works really well at first, but after a while, it gets so plodding that you’ll likely opt to skip fighting altogether.

Instead of going at your own pace, you are instead forced to hop around frantically searching for a hiding spot, and this means making many, many mistakes.

Launch trailer 1

Eurogamer – 7/10:

And these, frankly, become a bit dull. Eavesdropping involves sitting on a bench, locating the source of the gossip, targeting them and pressing Y. That’s it. Pick-pocketing involves much the same, except you have to follow someone for a bit and press B when your hand’s within grabbing distance of their back pocket. It’s sleuthy, but also a bit one-dimensional. If you get spotted, you hide until the heat’s off, then go back and try again. The same’s true of interrogations – listen to some chatter, follow them for a few seconds, then punch them until you get a cut-scene. That’s not simplification on our part; that’s literally what you do.

There’s no clever hiding or skulking. There are no interesting approach tactics. You just get close, watch a cut-scene, and then strike.

But there simply isn’t any variety to wax about. Enemies spot you and then surround you and you either kill them or leg it and hide. That’s it. There’s almost no fun to be had just playing with the world.

After about hour four, the most amusing thing is checking the Achievements screen to discover there’s one for beating up female beggars. Er?

But while there’s no end of potential to the foundations Ubisoft Montreal has set, the game built upon them is ultimately disappointing, and leaves you unfulfilled.

Now those are only the negative parts of the review, but 7/10 just doesn’t really strike me as remarkable.

However, the still has amazing graphics to offer and I’ve been waiting for a free roaming game for a while now. Plus the latest launch trailers look amazing. The story may not be compelling, but jumping around rooftops certainly has something to it!

Launch trailer 2 [the more amazing one!]

As for all you people getting to this blog by searching for ‘Assassin’s Creed soundtracks’ and ending up at this old post, there are two tracks now available for download:

• Jerusalem Horse Ride is available here: Right click this and ‘save as’.
• City of Jerusalem is available here: Right click and ‘save as’.

Both are composed by the excellent Jesper Kyd.

Oh and another great Ctrl-Alt-Del comic [yes, I have developed a slight obsession with it!]:

Cat

[UPDATE]

Another fairly disappointing review from IGN – 7.7/10…

That brings Assassin’s Creed to 83/100 on Metacritic..

I’ve moved, watched Heroes [amongst other stuff] and played too much Halo 3. This blog also has a new domain – carocat.co.uk

• Blame Halo 3

  This is an excellent parody on people that are playing too much Halo 3, myself included. Oh and as we’re on the subject of Halo 3, head over to my new ‘My Halo 3‘ page which has my stats and some screenshots. Cat EDIT: Came across the lyrics as well now. Enjoy!

• I’m going to be busy in the next few months…

  … playing many games.Yep, it’s that time of year again, the Christmas rush is under way and many promising games are coming out. Sadly there are also way too many games I am looking forward to play, not to mention all the games that I am still playing, including Project Gotham Racing 4 and of…

• So it’s been a while

  I will personally prosecute everyone that says moving house is easy. It really is not. Couple that with my mobile breaking and me being ill and I can safely say it’s been a ‘fun’ time. Technically I’m still ill, I’ll need a few more days to get my energy back, but at least most of [...]

• Heroes

  Every year various TV stations are competing for the viewers by bringing newer and bigger things to our screens. Some raise to cult status withing weeks, others are a little slower to capture the viewers hearts.I always seem to be catching on to the hype late. There was Lost which I gotten bored of…

• Welcome to http://carocat.co.uk

  As Ashish already pointed out [and he noticed within minutes!] this blog now has a new domain and no longer includes the .wordpress.com.I bought carocat.co.uk quite a while ago, mainly to reserve it as carocat.com was already taken and I wanted to make sure that this one is mine, especially as I…

• I have the keys!

  As of yesterday I finally have the keys and can start moving and setting up furniture. Not too sure if the actual move is something to look forward to, but the final result will be worth it. View of the fireplace and the mirror above it! Currently I am aiming to have fully moved by Tuesday, [...]

Cat

Yep, it’s that time of year again, the Christmas rush is under way and many promising games are coming out. Sadly there are also way too many games I am looking forward to play, not to mention all the games that I am still playing, including Project Gotham Racing 4 and of course Halo 3.

So which games am I going to get over the next few months?

Carry on reading this post, however, be aware that there is a selection of Youtube videos and several images.

———————————————————————-

Tomb Raider Anniversary [Release 26.10., November via Downloads].

This game came out last week for the Xbox 360, however SCI are promising to release the game via downloadable content on Marketplace in November, so I’m holding out for that. You simply cannot beat Lara Croft. I’ve loved the series since the second game and have just dug out my ‘Legends’ copy this weekend to give it another spin. Reviewers say it’s a massive improvement to the series, so it’s looking very promising!

The official trailer

———————————————————————-

The Simpsons Game [Release 02.11.].

The Simpsons are everywhere this year; the series is in season 19, the film was released in Summer and now a new game. The game is unrelated to the film and infact appears to be more of a GTA/Sandbox type game in which items have to be collected, missions completed, but the player is able to roam around in between. It is also a parody of several other games, such as ‘Medal of Honor’ is ‘Medal of Homer’, ‘Everquest’ is ‘Neverquest’ and ‘Grand Theft Scratchy: Blood Island’ an obvious reference to ‘Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas’. The demo level released a few weeks back is funny and promises a great game.

The official trailer

The trailer for the NeverQuest level

———————————————————————-

Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga [Release 9.11.].

A few years back I’ve fallen in love with the Star Wars films, the story and pretty much everything related to it. I simply love the games of recent years, including the ‘Jedi Knight’ series, the ‘Knights of the Old Republic’ series and of course ‘Lego Star Wars’. It all started with Lego Star Wars which was released back in 2005 and featured the ‘new trilogy’, Episode I-III with a minor bonus level set in Episode IV. A sequel featuring the ‘original trilogy’, Episode IV-VI followed in 2006 after the first one was immensely successful and received great reviews. On the Xbox 360 version it was also possible to download the characters of the first game.

This new one features all six films and has revamped and extra levels not present before. The most exciting addition however is the introduction of Co-op via Xbox Live. A must buy!

The official trailer

———————————————————————-

Assassin’s Creed [Release 16.11.].

I’ve been very interested in this game for a very long time. It’s all about being an assassin during the crusades combined with beautiful graphics and big accessible cities. And I’m still looking forward to this game, however with all the delays to it [it was meant to be released in Spring '07] and the continuous over exposure with countless videos I am definitely not as hyped as I used to be. That didn’t stop me from preordering the special edition, including a figurine of Altair, the main character, though!

The latest official trailer

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Kane and Lynch Dead Men [Release 23.11.].

I first heard of this game last year around the time ‘Hitman: Blood Money was released. I was intrigued as it was made by the same people that made Hitman and had a new approach including two vastly different characters and what seemed to be an intriguing story. Couple delays and videos and news later and I’m again not that hyped any more. It seems to be much more of a shooter than I imagined and the characters appear to be very similar. Nevertheless, it seems to be highly polished and it does still intrigue me to an extent.

The first official trailer

———————————————————————-

Mass Effect [Release 23.11.].

Only 24 days to go until this game finally comes out. Everyone who knows me knows just how much I go on and on and on about it and cannot wait for it to come out. This game infact deserves it’s own post if not it’s own blog dedicated to it.

It is created by the same people that made two of my all time favourite games, ‘Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic’ one and two and Jade Empire which sadly was way too short.

The game is set in the future where humanity has discovered an abandoned alien lab on Mars thus allowing them to use the technology for faster space travel. With it came the discovery of other alien races, the council and enemies. The pre story is explained in depth in the book ‘Mass Effect; Revelation’ which came out a couple of months ago and is well worth a read even if you’re not intending to get the game.

Mass Effect is an RPG looking to revolutionise gaming. It consists of several planets, many characters to interact with and a compelling story.

Only 24 days to go..

The latest official trailer

———————————————————————-

Too many games, too little time!

Cat

Time for another podcast, yes, the ConsoleMonster podcast number 8 [or 7, part 2] is out now. I’m not too sure if I like it, James seemed to have been on a little Vendetta and left a lot of stuff in that I thought was going to be removed! But, of course I’m only joking and James would never do such a thing!

Anyways, this comes a just after my last post on the ConsoleMonster podcast number 7 [which I forgot about and only posted a week after it was released!] and is a little shorter than the previous one.

Episode 8 – Console News & Debate (Part 2)

In the second part of our debate, our host James along with John, Cat, Scott and Chris continue our ramblings about the following Console news and topical debates:

* Manhunt 2 Gets ‘M’ Rating
* Do Real Time Strategy (RTS) Games work on consoles?
* Tank Rush!
* Fireworks!
* Assassins Creed – John concerned, Cat excited and wot not
* Multi-platform gaming damaging overall quality?
* The Simpsons Game – Doh!
* Cats love for Simpsons Hit and Run – Medic!!!
* Cats Xbox 360 Elite – Crisp and Shiny
* What we are playing?
* Yoshi Ringtone!

Length: 26 Mins
File size: 9 MB

This podcast is slightly different to the previous one, it is a lot more random with fireworks in th background [It was the Reading festival and I just happen to live close to it...] to me wanting to buy Simspons Hit and Run again which I think is a quality game.

Any comments are welcome and thanks for listening [if you do that is!].

Cat

Is a game I’m really waiting for. Most of today I’ve been on their official site and listened to the soundtrack. Very nice.

Game scenario:
“Jerusalem, 1191 AD. The Third Crusade is tearing the Holy Land apart. You are an elite Assassin sent to stop the hostilities by suppressing the powers on both the Crusader and Saracen sides. But as you carry out your missions, a conspiracy begins to unfold. You find yourself tangled up in a conflict that threatens not only the Holy Land, but the entire world.”

Thoughts?

Matchbox360 today announced details of XL which is their first LAN event and will take place in Birmingham on the 25th and 26th of November. If anyone who reads this and hasn’t been to MB yet, check out the XL thread. I’ll definitely go and can’t wait. :)

Today was also MS X06 press conference. X06 this year was in Barcelona and they were showing some quality stuff. Assassins Creed being one of them. AC is a game developed by Ubisoft, has strong similarities to both Hitman and Prince of Persia and is set during the crusades. All in all very promising and the trailers and gameplay presented at X06 truly showed that there really seems to be some ‘Next-Gen’ games out there. Other Games shown at X06 include Gears of War, Viva Pinata and an extension to the Halo franchise called Halo Wars. The original Doom is now available for download in the Xbox Live arcade and has Xbl Co-Op and Deathmatch and is all in all a lot of fun to play.

The video of Assassins Creed plus the news of Doom on the Arcade also convinced Azure to get a 360. And that after all this scepticism. I really do hope his won’t break. :)

So, go and check out Matchbox360.

Good night.

Cat

Music: Royksopp, So easy