Littlebigplanet... the resurgence

Hi all

Published my first level yesterday... "Bunny". Essentially it is a rocket powered skateboard propelled over a pit of fire and then it turns into a fairly standard level after that. I completed the main game a while back (check that off my list) and recently got a resurgence of inspiration that prompted me to publish my work...

With the sequel due very soon I am eagerly awaiting the next step in creative gameplay. Who knows what crazy levels I will take months working on next!

Demos... or should that be demo(n)s

Just been trying out the blur demo on multiplayer and can say that if that is HONESTLY how the multiplayer works in the main game then it is a REAL shame!

I sat for 40 minutes before playing online against someone and then had to wait for a day and age before another race started once that one was over. The only reason I sat that long was because of the competition open on PSN to win a BMW by playing a game.

I've put blur on my rental wish list from lovefilm and will see if it is any different once they send that out... I hope for the games sake that it is!

I know that demo's are not the finished product and should be taken with a splash of "meh - they'll fix that"-ness but developers and publishers need to make sure that they don't turn gamers off completely!

EDIT: Maybe I was a little harsh. Just been playing it again and turns out that it does work better some of the time... I'll await the rental to see for sure.

Artistic licence with real world locations...

Just got back from Venice this weekend... was amazing, and it was my birthday. I was granted the opportunity of carte-blanche and allowed to choose the activities for the day... Ah-ha I thought... I shall go to a church that I know is in Assassins Creed 2 and see how well it was done.

Very well it turned out... however it was a rather long trek across the city in order to get there. And would have taken time even without stopping due to the heat. It would take a non stop 40-50 minutes to get there from our hotel just West of St. Marks. When I got home and had a recap on the game last night it turns out that you can make the journey by roof top in less than 2 minutes... um... okay.

Now - I know that to recreate any city full scale would be a challenge and I would not wish that on anyone that had the job of creating a 15th Century Venice. However, measurements like distance are less open to discussion perhaps...?

I had been to Venice prior to Assassins Creed 2 being released and so knew of the compressed feeling - however any die-hard fan making the journey for the 1st time should heed the warning... take comfortable shoes, lots of water, and a map... even I needed one and I am the GPS for most journeys.

For your amusement I have included the photos for eyes!

Enjoy!

1 Month On...

It has now been over 1 month since I felt the urge to blog about games... mainly because of Open University commitments being more important (yes they are!) but now I have some new get-up-and-go to push my fingers on the keyboard. Whilst not a huge amount of game progress has been made I will recap this months gaming ventures.

• I recently set-up a USA PSN account in order to download and play the games that SCEE are yet to put on our store here in the UK...  I am now enjoying the Tomb Raider and Resident Evil series a second time around, and Dino Crisis for the first time.
  
• I booted up Flow (PS3) recently and found out it has trophy support now.
  
• I now own Skate 2 & 3 and am enojoying the online play. Brilliant games and glad to see even more improvement on the original.
  
• I have almost completed Red Faction: Guerilla - haven't been back to it recently though.
  
• I have been playing a PSP recently and am enjoying Killzone: Liberation, Dissidia: Final Fantasy & Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines - as well as the above PSOne classics on the go and remote play - though one annoying thing there is the absence of an L2 and R2 button.

That is it in terms of activity... the remaining musings are the game related thoughts I have had....

• Now LOST has concluded on TV I want to go back and play LOST the video game through to see how that fits in with the entire story.
  
• Why didn't I get a component cable for my PS2 earlier... it improves the picture 10 fold.
  
• How long will it be until the PS3 is hooked up to a 3D TV in Sony Centres so I can gawp at it?
  
• How much of my journey to Italy via Paris by train will be taken up by gaming?

A flaw in my plan... perhaps?

After my recent epiphany, I have found a somewhat fatal flaw in my "play the story through" plan...

Stories are short and boring in sandbox games - it's the messing about that I enjoy!

Take for example Red Faction Guerrilla... I love trying to beat the pro times in demolition and transporter side missions... and considering that each sector only really has about 5 story missions TOPS that leaves a lot of open world to run amok in.

I'm enjoying the sense of nearing the end but part of me is aching to slow down and mine ore deposits and look for radio tags. "Why don't you then!" I hear you cry... 20 uncomplete games I repeat.

Where next???

Last night I completed FF13 - so that officially means I can move on to another game in order to complete another story.

I will however be coming back to Gran Pulse in order to stake out the remaining 50% of trophies still to collect, but that will take a long time and shall be reserved for a future date when I am most probably left on my own with nothing to do.

I'll be moving away from the RPG genre for a while I think - not that I don't enjoy it, I think it is a great genre and I enjoy developing characters etc... It's just time to give some of my other games a look-in.

Question is... where next? I'm thinking Prince of Persia, perhaps Avatar, maybe Ghostbusters... All this considered I am probably equally through each... and saying that makes me realise that Red Faction Guerrilla needs finishing too... so I think I will leave Cocoon and Gran Pulse and board the next space ship to Mars... a little closer to home.

One game at a time...

I'm a changed man!

Not through religion or a near miss experience... No, I owe this to good old Final Fantasy 13. I've still not swapped the disc, save for a try of rentals, and it has turned a corner in my mind that reads thus... 'He who hath many games to playeth should complete the main story at least before changing his disc.'

This new me will still be on the lookout for games on the cheap (only 5games have been purchased RRP), and will continue to rent... However he shall endure to make it to a games end before decreeing 'What else is on?'