Industry News

We’ve entered launch month!

More details about the PS4 were revealed this week as Sony published an Ultimate FAQ. Sad, but unsurprising, is the confirmation that the console will support no backwards compatibility. What has caused more controversy is the device’s lack of ability to play MP3s or CDs, or stream media from a PC. This seems like an odd step for an industry that has been moving closer and closer towards the home entertainment market. Worldwide Studios’ president Shuhei Yoshida has made some enigmatic comments, possibly indicating that it will be looked into in future updates, but for now the Xbox ONE is definitely ahead on the music front.

Meanwhile, there has been little news from Microsoft, but with release just around the corner there will no doubt be a lot to report in the coming weeks!

Remember that we will be announcing our new tariffs early this month to include the rental of Next-Generation video games. The PGR Annual Premium pass is already live and for a limited time you will get a FREE PSN 12 month membership or a Xbox Gold Live membership.

Game of the Month: The Wolf Among Us

The Wolf Among Us is a gritty thriller game based on the Fables comic book series by Bill Willingham, in which characters from traditional fairytales and folklore find themselves trying to integrate into modern New York society. Think grimy NY detective noir mixed with modern fantasy, and combine it with the fact that it’s created by the point-and-click masters behind The Walking Dead and you’ve got a recipe for one intriguing game.  The game has a unique aesthetic; stylised characters and heavy shadows give it that dark, comic book feel, and somehow make it easier to suspend disbelief enough to take talking animals seriously.

Similar to The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us will be released episodically. It is currently on sale at £17.09 on Steam and has so far met with positive reviews. Given the quality of the game’s writing so far, I have high hopes for future episodes...

Did you miss: Beautiful Katamari (Xbox 360)

Katamari Damacy is the fourth in the Katamari series, the bizarre set of games from the weird and wonderful mind of Keita Takahashi (if you think that’s an exaggeration, have a look at his designs for a children’s playground). Set in a stylized world with an abstract storyline, the player takes on the role of a celestial Prince whose job it is to roll objects up into an ever-expanding ball. To begin with, you are collecting tiny objects - pencil sharpeners and pieces of Lego - and by the end, you’re rolling up skyscrapers. It’s a cheerful, arcade-y game with much of the challenge lying in trying to beat the timer, and trying to master the slightly unpredictable controls.

Admittedly, the game isn’t perfect - it requires constant use of dual joysticks, resulting in a slightly painful and sometimes frustrating experience. However, it’s a unique and very fun game, well worth having in the collection.

For more information on news, views and video game reviews follow me on Twitter @cardiffgamerkat

www.paramountgamesrental.co.uk

Industry News

We’ve been taking a bit of a break here, but with only 71 days until Christmas, it’s time to get back on the ball! Some of the big seasonal titles are out already - GTA V, of course, breaking world records and hitting all the headlines, and Beyond: Two Souls doing for the PlayStation 3 what Heavy Rain er, did for the PlayStation 3. Many others are holding out for late October or mid-November, with Batman: Arkham Origins, Assassin’s Creed IV and Battlefield 4 hitting shops at the end of this month, and Wasteland 2 and Watchdogs trailing behind with November releases.

Meanwhile, UK retailers have been causing a stir by selling Pokemon X and Y a day before their official release; although Nintendo can’t really complain, as day one sales hit a record for the 3DS of 5.5 million units. Along with the news that the release of Zelda: Wind Waker HD caused a spike in weekly Wii U sales in the UK of 685%, it has undoubtedly been a good financial month for the company.

Valve made some big announcements last month, revealing further details of SteamOS, the Steam Box and the Steam Controller, opening the debate to the floor as to whether they can offer a real competitor to the big three, or whether it will go the way of the Ouya.

Sadly, industry news over the past six weeks has not all been cause for celebration. Last month came a bitter moment in UK gaming history as the iconic studio Blitz Games closed, bringing an end to 23 years of business and casting over 150 developers into redundancy. In addition came the loss of two prolific contributors to gaming. Last month, Nintendo mourned the passing of Hiroshi Yamauchi, the businessman who converted Nintendo from a producer of playing cards into the world’s largest computer gaming company. Then on the 1st of October Tom Clancy, world renowned author and the writer behind one of Ubisoft’s flagship series, Splinter Cell, passed away from an undisclosed illness.

Overall, it’s been a month of ups and downs. There’s plenty to look forward to over the coming weeks - one of our favourite gaming events, GameCity, takes place in Nottingham from Saturday 19th October until the 26th. If you live anywhere nearby, it’s worth dropping in - the festival is in its eighth year and offers a wealth of free events, from talks from big industry names to indie showcases, to streetgames and pub nights. Details can be found on the website, www.festival.gamecity.org.

Online competition time

We will be having online games with FIFA 14 on PS3 in October and November where you can win £5 PSN Vouchers.  Simply either follow our Twitter feeds(@paramountgames, @cardifgirlgamer @cardiffgamekat) or Like our Facebook page to receive the PSN ID and code to enter a series of 3x 5 min games where if you have an aggregate score of 5+ you win!!

That’s all for now, we’ll be back with fortnightly blogging from here on, bringing you the usual in news, reviews and general gaming goodness! Remember that we’re always interested in hearing your comments, so feel free to get in touch by email or Tweet us @cardiffgamerkat

www.paramountgamesrental.co.uk

GDC Europe/Gamescom

   The Gamescom Lowdown

Gamescom this year was only ever going to be about one thing: the battle of next-gen.

Microsoft announced no less than 50 titles for their upcoming console, including launch titles like Battlefield 4, Assassin’s Creed 4, Watch_Dogs and COD: Ghosts. Plus, pre-ordered consoles will be bundled with a free copy of Fifa 14. They also talked a bit about their hopes for their indie developers program, although their plan to allow devs to use any retail Xbox One as a dev kit is not going to be ready at launch.

Sony’s launch title list is a little more scant at 33 games, however the PS4 will have several of the big titles - including all those mentioned above - by the end of this year. They will also have a few fantastic indie games under their belt, including Flower, Minecraft and Hohokum. Sony also had a couple of other announcements up their sleeve: a PS Vita price drop from £169 to £100, and a Gran Turismo feature film.

Of course, the one announcement that everyone was waiting for was prices. The PS4 is set in the region that many were expecting, at £349. In contrast, the Kinect 2 included with every Xbox One unit has pushed the price up to £429 - a fair price, Microsoft argues, for the technology gamers will be getting, but one that will no doubt have many of us wincing at the thought of parting with so much cash.

Launch dates are another hot topic Microsoft have announced a November 22nd launch date and the PS4 is confirmed for 29th November in the UK.

Finally, Nintendo’s recent announcements also warrant a mention. Although the exact UK pricing is unconfirmed, a Wii U price drop is heading our way. More shocking though is the announcement of a new console to add to their handheld line: the 2DS. Coming out on 12th October at only £109.99, the 2DS will be able to play all DS and 3DS games, with “many” of the same hardware features of the 3DS - except, most notably, the 3D. Strangely, the design of the console itself has moved away from the flip-open design of the last eight years. Nevertheless, for fans of Nintendo franchises, this could be an excellent way to play the latest releases on a smaller budget.

So who is coming out on top? At the moment, PS4 seems to be coming out best in opinion polls. GameSpot’s Twitter battle has a whopping 91% (out of around 100,000 votes) backing the PS4, and http://www.xboxonevspsfour.com/ has 75% in favour of PS4 (out of over 153,000 votes). But it’s debatable as to whether such surveys offer a good prediction of sales. With such similar tech specs, I think the success of the Xbox One may depend on whether consumers are willing to accept a compulsory Kinect at an extra £80 - especially when the PlayStation Eye will only cost around £40. That said, console wars are notoriously unpredictable. All I can say is: roll on November!

My GDC Europe/Gamescom Highlights

Checking out the tech

Just before Gamescom, I was lucky enough to be able to attend GDC Europe - a separate event held in the same venue, which is oriented towards industry, media and business folks rather than gamers. As every year, there were plenty of awesome games devs to meet, interesting talks to go to and, above all, endless free smoothies. And there’s the parties, but the less said about those the better.

The biggest highlight for me had to be David Cage’s talk about the mo-cap tech behind Beyond:Two Souls and some very impressive examples of what we can expect from Quantic Dream on the PS4. Having long held the view that hyperreal visuals aren’t all-important for narrative-driven games (I am certainly no fan of the uncanny valley looks of Heavy Rain or L.A. Noire) I nevertheless left the talk feeling that some genuinely exciting things are coming our way. As well as talking about Beyond:Two Souls - a game I am now very keen to get my hands on - Cage showed off the PS4’s graphics by wandering around the in-game set of The Last Sorcerer, a tech demo first shown at E3 this year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqeuHGESZBA. Although the graphics here might not look like a leap forward, the impressive part is that this is all in-game - you can walk around these animations and zoom right in on the characters without losing any of the lifelike quality. Cage predicts that game graphics of the coming generation will get very close to full realism.

Another piece of tech with exciting potential is of course the Oculus Rift VR helmet, which I had my first experience of last week. Unfortunately, I have to say that for me, it feels a bit too soon to be demoing the Oculus; at the moment the quality of the games you can try out is very limited, and the breakout clone I played felt like I was stuck in a clichéed 80’s vision of the future (you can see a demo of the game, Proton Pulse here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhOi8CQ5_ns). I realise that these are largely intended to demonstrate the potential of the technology, but it would still be nice to see some more creativity and imagination go into it. That said, I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before we start to see some interesting stuff come out of this.

Follow our Guest Blogger on Twitter @cardiffgamerkat

Thinking of get a PS4 or box One?? Why not purchase a PGR Annual Premium Rental pass from us today which guarantees the rental of the latest next-Gen titles as well as other formats,  For more info click on https://paramountgamesrental.co.uk/PGR-Annual-Premium-Rental-Pass(2900595).htm

Industry News

Excitement is definitely building in the run-up to GDC Europe/Gamescom 2013! In order to bring you a Gamescom special, we’ve switched round the order of our blog posts this month. Let’s take a quick look at some of the games and tech I’ll hopefully be reporting back on!

Oculus Rift’s media coverage has been gaining yet more ground recently as it builds its team of game industry veterans. In the last week, Matt Hooper and John Carmack, both formerly of the pioneering company behind Quake and Doom have joined the virtual reality developer. Oculus VR are confirmed at GDC Europe as both an exhibitor and a speaker, so I have high hopes of finally getting hands on with a VR helmet!

And that’s only one of plenty of new things that will be in Cologne next week. Sony have revealed they will be announcing something “fantastic” - we’re hoping it will be more thrilling than a release date for PS4. Microsoft are rumoured to be announcing an Xbox ONE launch title, and Ubisoft are also to reveal a next-gen IP.

Valve, who do seem to revel in causing suspicion and speculation, are putting in an appearance for reasons unknown. As GDC Europe’s platinum sponsor this year, we’re expecting Nintendo to have a big presence. And finally, on the indie side of things, Tale of Tales will be returning to GDC Europe to talk about their new projects and the future direction of the studio.

Hyped-up announcements, VR and new consoles - this definitely promises to be the most exciting Gamescom I’ve attended yet. With so much stuff to see and hundreds of thousands of gamers attending, I’ll be reporting back on as many games as I can - Mario Kart 8, Zelda: Link Between Worlds, Battlefield 4, The Sims 4, Titanfall, Firefall, Watch Dogs and more!

Game of the Month - Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

Finishing The Last of Us seems to have left a bit of a hole in my time, and what better way to fill it than with another dark, depressing, narrative-driven game? Available on Xbox LIVE for 1200 Microsoft Points (about £10), the game has received pretty positive reviews and been described as enigmatic, visually beautiful and even heart-wrenching. If you’re looking for something thoughtful for the downtime between action games, Brothers looks to be highly promising.

Did You Miss:  Shadow of the Colossus (PS2, also available as part of the Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection on PS3)

Shadow of the Colossus is one of those rare games that is both simple and unique. You join Wander, the silent protagonist, as he lays down his beloved in the Shrine of Worship. Little is revealed of his backstory - all you know is that in order to save his loved on, he must slay the sixteen great giants that reside somewhere out in the stark wilderness.

The journeys are lonely. Following the beacon from his enchanted sword across forests, lakes and ancient ruins, Wander has only his faithful horse and the occasional passing bird for company. Once awakened, each Colossus presents a new type of challenge: speed and accuracy in horseback archery; the agility to dodge their attacks from ground and air; the strength and stamina to climb up a great, grass back to hit a weak spot. They do all have one thing in common though - every giant is awesome and every battle is epic.

Paramount Games Rental- Bi weekly Video Game Rental Chart Update

1. The Last of Us (Naughty Dog)

2. Dead Island: Riptide (Deep Silver)

3. Far Cry 3 (Ubisoft)

4. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (Activision)

5. Grid 2 (Codemasters)

Industry News

The big news this fortnight came on Thursday when Microsoft announced another u-turn: the Xbox One will allow indie developers to self-publish. Microsoft’s treatment of and attitude towards indie developers has come under several rounds of fire over the last few years, perhaps most notably following its rather public fall-out with Team Meat in 2011. At the moment, this news is a seed of great potential and hope to indie game lovers - but whether or not Microsoft will really do enough to combat their anti-indie image remains to be seen. With Gamescom fast approaching, we may know more this time next month.

Game of the Month: Agricultural Simulator: The Farmer (PC)

This month seems to be the month of sequels and ports: Limbo on iOS, Crazy Taxy on Android,  Civilization V, Sonic 4 episodes, Dynasty Warriors 8, The (urgh) Smurfs 2. Overall, a pretty uninspired bunch. So instead of a review, we are going to look at an exciting upcoming release, Agricultural Simulator: The Farmer, set for launch on the 2nd of August.

Not to be confused with Farming Simulator 2013, coming out in September, nor Agricultural Simulator 2013, which launched in January and is currently available for £3.74 on GamersGate (today only), ASTF builds on the limited success of its predecessors in absolutely no discernable way.

For those who aren't familiar with the previous installments: Agricultural Simulator gives the player the exciting chance to undertake all the mundanity of a full-time job for absolutely no reward. Manage everything from balancing the sheets to driving tractors up and down and up and down, all in the beautiful mountain setting of USA and/or, for some inexplicable reason, Tuscany.

The game is developed by an elusive company called Ikaron, whose website consists of a blank white page with two red letters in the centre.

Aside from the above, not much is known about what new heart-pumping action ASTF will bring to the genre. However, some descriptions of the game offer the following feature list:

• Includes interactive tutorial, 4 maps and more than 100 machines.

• Free placable (sic) building including (sic).

• Solar energy plant.

• Greenhouse.

• Windmills.

• Dung tank.

• Extensive help system, including transport tasks.

• 6 Different animal species.

We can’t wait.

Did You Miss: Okami (PlayStation 2, Wii), also Okami HD (PlayStation 3)

Okami is a beautiful game. I make no secret of having been brought up on Zelda. For years I searched for a game that could fill the void left by Ocarina of Time (and usually just ended up replaying it). Then I found Okami one of the few games I’ve ever played that recaptured my inner child’s sense of adventure and achieved a sense of epicness that few games manage.

Made by now-defunct Clover Studio and published by Capcom, Okami gained most attention for its distinctive ink-and-brush visuals and the brush stroke mechanic that accompanies it. You play  as Amaterasu, the Goddess of the Universe, currently in the form of a white wolf and tasked with the usual - racing across fields, taking down evil demons and saving the world.

Above all, Okami features a beautiful and rich world, chock-full of influences from Japanese folklore and traditional art, of quirky characters and, best of all, massive environments for you to explore. Overall, Okami is a game that will always have pride of place in my collection, and one that I can recommend enough to all adventure game lovers.

Follow our Guest Blogger on Twitter @Cardiffgamerkat

www.paramountgamesrental.co.uk

Introduction to Indie Games

Six years ago, I hadn’t really heard about indie games. I didn’t play PC games, didn’t have a smartphone and my consoles were of the pre-DLC generation. They weren’t exactly in the limelight. Since then, they have grown to occupy an important space in the industry, and in my life. Big conferences have dedicated indie summits, independent studios have a significant presence at award ceremonies and the media keeps a watchful eye on the latest indie releases.

As a regular at indie game-oriented events, I’ve gotten used to talking about them. A lot. So much so, that it now comes as a bit of a shock whenever I meet gamers who don’t follow them with the same keenness. Whatever excites you most about games, indie games offer a huge variety of interesting experiences.

So, here’s my list of (some of) the indie games that are worth knowing about, and worth playing. It’s not exhaustive and perhaps it’s too personal, but hopefully at least one of these will capture your imagination as it did mine.

1. Journey (£9.99, PS3): The best game of the current console generation.

    One of the games on the list you will almost certainly have heard of, Journey did a lot to gain critical success for indie games in 2012. It’s incredibly hard to sum up in a paragraph but, in my opinion, this game is the pinnacle of what games can offer when creativity is allowed to flourish unbridled. Journey is an evocative, sometimes abstract experience, in which you travel across a barren desert towards a distant mountain. Sometimes you travel alone, sometimes your path meets with that of another player, who becomes your wordless companion - for a time. If there is one indie game I would urge everyone to play, Journey would be it.

2. Minecraft (£17.95, PC/Mac): The most captivating sandbox you will ever play in.

    Another one you probably heard about, Minecraft is about different things to different people; exploration, survival, creation. Finding your own goals can sometimes be tough, but at it’s peak, Minecraft can be both a very fun game and an emotional experience.

3. Papers, Please (Free Beta, PC/Mac): A realistically depressing portrait of Eastern Bloc life.

    Papers, Please has recently been greenlit on Steam, and in the meantime the free Beta build is well worth a look. Jump into the shoes of a passport immigration inspector for the fictional dystopian country of Arstotzka. Decide who deserves entry into the country and try to earn enough money to support your starving family. As I said: realistically depressing.

4. Dear Esther ($9.99, PC/Mac - also available on Steam): A narrative exploration unsuitable for the “games need interaction” school of thinkers.

    Dear Esther has been sweeping award ceremonies in the last two years and is the first (but by no means last) highly experimental game on the list. Explore a lonely island to uncover the narrative through spoken passages. If, like a lot of Metacritic commenters, you have hang-ups about what defines a “game”, this won’t be for you; interaction is minimal and there are no goals here beyond piecing together the storyline.

5. Amnesia: The Dark Descent (£14.54, PC/Mac - also available on Steam): Horror games at their scariest.

    A genuinely frightening, Lovecraftian horror game. Play it alone in the dark for the full effect.

6. The Endless Forest (Free, PC/Mac): A peaceful, super-experimental MMO.

    Another hard-to-describe game, The Endless Forest offers a calming experience that is more like meditation than gaming. You play as a deer-like creature, interact with others in deer-like ways and explore the serene forest to discover hidden magic.

7. SpyParty ($15.00 in Beta, PC): Multiplayer espionage that tests your ability to replicate and recognise AI.

    The premise is simple: one player is a sniper with a single shot, the other is a target. The twist is the setting: a house party full of AI characters, with whom the target must blend in by behaving like one of them, while at the same time completing missions.

8. Proteus (Currently on sale for $4.99 for PC/Mac. Also available on Steam): Is it a game? Who cares?

    Explore a dreamlike island accompanied by an ambient soundtrack. Take the game for what it is.

9. Johann Sebastian Joust: An awesomely fun physical party game using Playstation Move.

    Knock your friends out of the competition by jostling their Playstation Move controller. Sadly, this game is not yet available to the public, but it is being developed for Playstation 3 as part of a party game compendium. Their website does list events where you can play the game though, one of which will probably (hopefully) be GameCity in October (see below).

Finally, if any of this has whetted your appetite, here are some great sources for finding information about and even downloads of new and upcoming indie projects:

www.indiegames.com Indie Games The Weblog, a great source for indie game news and reviews.

www.humblebundle.com Humble Bundle offers weekly indie game bundles, sometimes including surprisingly high profile titles. You can donate any amount for the bundle and even choose what proportion goes to the site, the developer and their selected charities.

www.gamesforchange.org/ Games for Change are all about games for social impact and has a sizeable catalogue of free and low-cost games.

www.kickstarter.com For good or bad reasons, Kickstarter seems to be in the gaming news on a pretty regular basis, and is a great way to find out about projects in development.

www.gamecity.org Last of all, if you want to actually get hands-on with some indie games and even chat to the developers, Game City is a free, week-long festival held every October in Nottingham. They hold all kinds of events, from serious industry panel talks to street games and fancy dress. Previous guests have included Richard Lemarchand (Lead Designer on Uncharted 3), thatgamecompany’s Jenova Chen and Robin Hunicke (makers of Journey), Keita Takahashi (the weird and wonderful brain behind We Love Katamari), Lord Puttnam and many more.

Please feel free to leave your comments and feedback here or on my Twitter feed @cardiffgamerkat

www.paramountgamesrental.co.uk

Paramount Games Rental End of month Chart Update -

1.The ElderScrolls V: Skyrim

2. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

3. Far Cry 3

4. Forza Horizon

5. Hitman: Absolution

News in Brief: E3

Having written last week about the great timing of starting a games blog during E3, we now come to something of an ironic difficulty: how can one sum up, “in brief”, an event so full of twists and turns as this year’s expo?

In keeping with tradition, Half-Life 3 hopefuls were disappointed, whilst Mirror’s Edge, Dead Rising and Final Fantasy fans (to name but a few) will be delighted with, or possibly bankrupted by, next-gen sequels. And of course there was THE BIG drama - the u-turn so swift you could practically smell the tyres burning. Controversy and outrage quickly converted to a mixture of satisfied fans and cynical critics. The big question now is whether Microsoft’s decision has only delayed an inevitable DRM-centered future for the industry. The debate, as ever, continues...

Game of the Month: The Last of Us (PS3)

There is a clear, inarguable winner for this month’s impossible-to-ignore, taking-over-Twitter, must-get-your-hands-on game. Shooting straight up to #6 on Metacritic’s all-time high scores, this latest addition to the survival-horror genre seems to have met with unanimous approval. I tried to find someone with a bad word to say about it; I couldn’t. Well, other than Ellen Page.

The Blurb

The Last of Us is a survival action/horror exclusive to PlayStation 3. Set in 2030’s dystopia, twenty years after the zombie apocalypse, civilisation has deteriorated into hostile tribes. Grizzled survivor Joel (Troy Baker) becomes guardian to a teenage girl, Ellie (Ashley Johnson and definitely not Ellen Page). The gameplay itself mixes up stealth, firefights and quicktime combat, and gives the player the option to approach each situation in whichever way they choose. It also has systems for crafting and upgrading weapons, adding another simple but effective layer of choice. However, it’s the masterfully crafted storyline, nuanced relationship between the two main characters and haunting bleakness that seems to have captured the imaginations of thousands.  

The Studio

Naughty Dog is a studio with an impressive portfolio of successful series, most notably Crash Bandicoot, Jak & Daxter and Uncharted.

Review Roundup

“One unforgettable character proves humanity is worth saving in the bleak and brutal The Last of Us.” - GameSpot (8.0/10)

“The Last of Us is a masterpiece, PlayStation 3’s best exclusive and an absolute must-play.” - IGN (10/10)

“A memorable experience, its poignancy haunting you long after its denouement.” - Guardian.co.uk

“The Last of Us is not a cheerful story, but it's a damned good one.” - JoyStiq (5 stars)

In Summary...

From where we stand now, it’s hard to know whether The Last of Us can truly stand up, over time, to the claims that it is redefining a genre or finally ending the industry’s obsessive hunt for Citizen Kane. However, there is no doubt that it is causing waves and for that it’s well worth a play.

Did You Miss: The Jak & Daxter Trilogy (PS3)

In honour of the critical success of The Last of Us, we’re opening our first “Did You Miss...?” section with a classic masterpiece from platformer geniuses Naughty Dog. Originally released on the PlayStation 2 back in 2001, Jak & Daxter follows the adventures of farm-boy-turned-hero Jak and (surprisingly) his friend Daxter, whose accidental transformation into an ottsel sparks the duo off on their quest.

What ensues is a thoroughly enjoyable trilogy of platformers. True to Naughty Dog form, these games feature level design that we can only imagine has been perfected by excruciating levels of playtesting. Rarely too frustrating (with perhaps a couple of exceptions in the second game), the challenges are nearly always just on the edge of your abilities. What’s more, even those that do seem impossible at first are addictive enough for you to enjoy until you finally succeed.

As well as featuring highly entertaining gameplay, Jak & Daxter is one series that successfully ups the ante with each game. Every sequel builds on the successful elements of the previous title: more powered up characters, bigger and better guns, more souped up off-roading and a narrative that escalates to an epic climax. Combine this with an engaging, if slightly predictable, plotline, tongue-in-cheek humour and the occasional injection of hammy character acting, and you’ve got a winning formula. It’s brilliant, silly, engrossing fun.

For this platformer fan, it’s sad to have seen the genre decline since first playing these games a decade ago, but thanks to the 2012 re-release on PlayStation 3 gamers can still enjoy this heyday classic in all its high-def, trophy-supporting glory.

@Cardiffgamerkat

June 2013.

The eyes of the gaming world are pinned on Los Angeles, hundreds of cameras at the ready. Thousands of pens are poised, preparing to scrutinise every detail, every specification.

What better time to start our new games blog than during the most fervently watched and hotly debated event in the games industry? I’m talking, of course, about E3.

The best thing about E3 isn’t the rush of excitement at the possibility of revived franchises, or the first glimpses into next gen consoles. It isn’t even the entertaining accusations of Orwellian conspiracy as new and evermore sci-fi-esque tech is revealed. The best thing about E3 is the sheer, unadulterated passion it inspires in gamers, developers and journalists alike. People care about games. A lot. And it’s this awesome force of fandom that, in my opinion, makes games the most exciting media industry to be a part of.

Who am I?

Video games were my first love, and I’ve been playing them since I was old enough to operate a space bar from the comfort of a parental knee. Since then, I’ve had a lot of different relationships with games. I’ve had overly obsessive relationships (Pokémon), fun and flirty relationships (Fruit Ninja), angry and abusive relationships (Guitar Hero), and just about everything in between.

When I got to university, I realised that my passion for games had the potential to become more than just a hobby, so I took a degree in Computer Games Design. These days, I like to spend more time working on games than playing them. Thankfully, choosing games design as a career hasn’t hampered my ability to enjoy them - if anything, it’s made me appreciate them even more.

What is this?

Enough about me, though. What you really want to know is what we’re going to be blogging about. Well, as of today, we’re going to be writing two blog posts a month:

Post #1: Monthly News & Reviews

Chart Update

The clue’s in the name: a rundown of the current games charts.

Game of the Month

We know you love to get your hands on the absolute latest games. Luckily, so do we! That’s why each month we’ll bring you our favourite pick of the charts.

News in Brief

It’s not enough just to know about new releases. We also love to get excited about games still in production, and that’s why we’ll be delivering an up-to-date overview of the latest games announcements and events, all in a digestible paragraph. Or two.

Did You Miss...?

Keeping up with the charts can be a tough job and sometimes, despite your best efforts, a top game can pass you by. In our final section, we look back at a gem of a game that you might just have missed.

Post #2: A Closer Look At...

Each month, we will also bring you one in-depth feature article. This could be a detailed review of a game that we couldn’t put down, or an industry hot topic that fascinates us. It might be about our all-time favourite villains or a look back at the history of a franchise. In short, it could be about anything!

We also want to hear your views. Whether it’s about something we’ve written, or something you’d like us to write about - let us know what you think by email, Twitter or Facebook.

Happy gaming!

@cardiffgamerkat     www.paramountgamesrental.co.uk