Chindie

Just heard we're getting promotional Skyrim hats at work... Hoping forone of these

If Oblivion is anything to go by the PS3 version will be the runt of the litter. Though saying that I think both console versions will be creaky in some way.

Yeah Azrael is the odd bloke who pops up on rooftops once in a while. He appears in 4 places and after that gives you a (very easy) puzzle to solve before meeting him again. Whenever you see him go over, let him do his thing then scan the mark he leaves. The 4 places are probably already in a guide, can't remember them off the top of my head. Give him a minute or so to get to the next place after you find him. Completed all the side quests now bar Riddler (working on it) and Zsasz, which I've very nearly done. Enjoyed the game itself. It's about on par with Arkham Asylum - it betters it in some respects and lags a little in others. I'm not sure the storyline was as good and the setting being more open makes the whole thing feel a little less well held together, but on the other hand opens up more 'I'm the **** BATMAN' moments. The Riddler stuff is too much. And Catwoman isn't actually that good of an addition, she feels lacking compared to tooled up Batman and her treversal system just isn't as useful as Batmans grapnel and glide. Still, one of the best games I've played this year and even if the main plot line is shorter than you might like the rest of the games options make up for it - the Challenge Rooms are almost a game in themselves now.

Azrael, found . Lovely touch. Spent most of my brief playtime tonight on Riddler stuff. I'd have preferred more genuine Riddles but some of the trophy grabs in this are genuinely taxing.

RRP is actually £90. If you are the kind of person who is going to be buying all of the map packs, no matter what, the Hardened edition is probably worthwhile putting up the extra money - you effectively buy all of the DLC when you get it. The talk is that they're going to go with monthly small releases, so a map or 2 a month (with other additions like extra weapons etc filling in some months) with this rather than a map pack every 3 months or so. Then theres a shitload of other stuff that may float your boat through the COD Elite stuff. If you play a lot of COD online, it could be worth the extra investment.

IIRC the Note basically is positioned as a small form factor tablet.

General musings I've heard from numerous reviews and people getting early copies - Campaign is derivative QTE riddled bleh. - Pretty if you install the texture pack, some minor graphical issues and niggles remain but nothing terrible - Some odd scripting issues in the campaign, stuff like an NPC character disappearing through a door that they're supposed to blow open for you, leaving you stranded before it loops back to blow the door. - Multiplayer is usual Battlefield fare polished up to the best it's ever been. - EAs servers struggling, that'll improve though. - Matchmaking also a bit shit. Again, that's just stress on the system atm most likely. - Co-op stuff is hit and miss. It recycles scenarios from the campaign mostly but ramps up the difficulty quite a lot. These seem to suffer from a need to learn the script of the scenario more than even the campaign itself does. It's lauded as the best Battlefield ever basically, and most of the disappointments of the game are that it's campaign apes COD but just lacks any sparkle, it's apparently quite a dull short but pretty thing. My boss also believes the AI is laughable, though I've not heard anyone else mention that. The multi is where the appeal lies and that, asides from teething niggles and the expected issues with some balancing that'll be ironed out, if Battlefields brand of multi mayhem takes your fancy you'll not go wrong.

I think it's not being on Steam will hit it's PC popularity a little at least. Steam is so ubiquitous and convenient for the PC market now that EAs dumb Origin crap is not going to entice many people to grab it. And PC game presence elsewhere is dire. Even on retail websites (thanks to Steam in part of course) they're on the wane. It's a PC game for sure, it's the best experience on the PC and it's been hobbled for an aging console generation. But PC sales will rely on the Battlefield hardcore and the top end FPS player market.

True... however it's worth also noting that games now absolutely tank at retail if they aren't Cod or Fifa. Deus Ex is one of the years best games - I've never seen a price drop so fast. Within 2 weeks of release it was down £15 odd. On the highstreet. Rage'll do the same thing - it's inclusion in an 'When Bought With' with Battlefields launch is the bell toll for it getting a price drop shortly, imo. Couple that to trade in offers and it can be possible to buy a lot of new games on the highstreet and still cut your costs, especially if you're happy to wait a couple of weeks or are prepared to focus on a game, finish it and trade it. Saying that I think last nights midnight launch was less about people just not having the money and more Battlefield still not quite having the draw, the fact the weather was crap and the fact midnight launches just don't attract people for anything other than the huge titles - I'll be doing another in a couple of weeks for COD and that'll have a running queue through the door for 2 hours.

Midnight launch was a bit of a damp squib - sold about 20, 25 copies.

They do. Given theres 440 of them and some of them are devious/tedious, thats a good idea on the devs part. I will hopefully be spending tonight on this trying to track down Azrael

...Thats what he said.

Put in more time over the last couple of days. Much more settled into it now. The open world/hub side of things is still a tad overwhelming (theres regularly too much to do, from Riddler stuff all over the place to ringing phones to other little side events you come across) and I find it's still hard to orientate myself exactly, the radar and map are a must refer to constantly. Detective mode is still a crutch that you end up relying on too much.

Was setting up today at work in prep for the midnight launch tomorrow night. We had a bit of a shock when we realised that no Xbox copies (at all) have been delivered. We're crossing our fingers we get them delivered tomorrow, otherwise the midnight launch at least gonna be a bit of a damp squib

Downloads for Battlefield have to be done through EA's service that is a rival to Steam (...snigger), Origin, IIRC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDciDLweCso. If you can, install the hi res texture pack on the disc - it really makes a huge difference to the look of the thing (though I daresay frame rate will take a hit, it'll probably be worth it).

Guys, I think, maybe... that GTAV is coming? Maybe? First trailer November 2. EDIT - I love that they seem to realise that enough morons thought that the last game was called 'GTA Eye Vee' that they had to label the Roman numeral.

Gonna be £20 in Gamestation when bought with Battlefield 3.

I didn't think that much of Uncharted to be honest. It's not bad by any means but the best superlative I could use for it would be 'polished'.

You can't make a tackle like that anymore. Don't get me wrong, I loved it, I've nothing against Long so didn't enjoy it for that, but more that that's the kind of thing that the crowd always used to love in a defender, gets you on your feet. But the game today isn't going to stand for that kind of tackle week in week out, it was aggressive and dangerous. He was lucky to stay on. I think thats the first thing I've seen Hutton do that I've liked. Typically it's something that in any other game would have seen him walk... figures.

Got about an hour and a bit in I think last night, finally. First thing to hit me is that I've totally lost the touch with the combat - I got fairly decent at Arkham Asylum, but time away means I think the highest combo I've nailed so far is 10 hits :oops:. Hopefully it'll come back to me. Other than that the short time I've had with it has left with 2 main impressions - immediately, the production values feel stacked through the roof, it feels like a game that was polished and polished and then buffed up with a serious love of the Batman canon. Secondly, and I hope this feeling wanes, is that the open world-esque thing works far less well than Arkhams tight focus hub style setting. In the first game it was literally tight, there was exploring to be done and places to find and go, but the hub was small enough that you didnt feel overwhelmed by it. City, even if it's not the largest open setting, feels a bit loose - there's not quite that same drive to go to the next thing, you meander towards it following the radar in my experience. I hope that feeling disappears as I become more familiar with the setting and open up things to ease getting around. I think it will. Only other things I can say about is that Kevin Conroy's voice work is a bit off - he sounds bored, and a couple of times the voice work has sounded like it was a really crappy recording (could be my tv, admittedly), and that the Catwoman as DLC thing is a bit of a dick move - the game opens with her and it seems like she's going to be a significant player in the game's storyline. Without her in playable in your game I can't help feeling you would be missing out a little at least. I understand why they've done it but I'm sure they could have have had a different solution.

...still not played

Still not had chance to get any time in. It's sold crazily well. Only thing I can remember this year selling more heavily is bloody Fifa on it's debut weekend.

It's probably better that she has died than be left braindead, sadly.

Same thing thats always happened - we continue to spread. We will do so until we no longer can survive, which may take some time as we like no other sentient being can exploit our surroundings to our own end. The world is quite capable of supporting more people comfortably and healthy. Unfortunately that does not mean to the extent of comfort we enjoy, and certainly less than that the US does. That the rising powers want that life too will make things awkward for us - they already are in fact. (In time, this may/will lead to major armed conflict again). Most of what we might perceive as life becoming 'difficult' a great many people on this planet would kill to enjoy. 'First world whine' is the unkind term (and not one I particularly agree with, but hey).