Incomplete Gamer

Archive for April, 2009

Here at The Incomplete Gamer we like to think that when it comes to video games we’re making intelligent, informed purchasing choices, but truth be known, we’re a sucker for a great advertising campaign.

Back in November, Sony kicked off its ‘You’ve got the whole world in your hands’ print and TV advertising campaign for the PSP; a clever campaign that showcased the versatility of Sony’s portable handheld.

But if it’s software that ultimately sells consoles then we can’t help but think that the campaign would be more effective if it used that same ‘whole world’ theme to sell specific titles.

That being said, Sony have absolutely nailed it with it’s new ad campaign for Resistance Retribution. Building on the ‘whole world in your hands theme, this stunning explosive artwork ‘Your Enemy, Your Battle, Your Retribution’, excellently captures the games and the experience of playing Resistance on the PSP.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s that time of the week again.  My weekly  musings over in the hallowed halls of PALGN has just been posted.

This week I take a look at video game narrative.  Dr Souvik Mukherjee, a researcher and computer game narrative expert from the School of Arts & Humanities at Nottingham Trent University, believes that ‘the complex mesh of possible storylines and deep levels of involvement in video game narratives relate to, and often surpass, the experience of earlier narrative media, such as books and films.’

He’d get no argument from Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux’s who back in March famously predicted “Godfather” levels of storytelling in games by 2016, then upped the ante even further last month at GDC, stating that he believed video games would actually surpass those levels of story telling.

What do I think?  You’ll have to read The Wrap #27 to find out.  And remember, you’ll find links to earlier columns at the end of this week’s ‘Wrap’.

Enjoy.

The Incomplete Gamer

A quick heads up – The Wrap #26 is has been spotted onboard the good ship PALGN.  You can read my latest rant here.

This week in ‘The Limited Edition Edition’ I report on two cases on opposite sides of the Atlantic where gamers got a little more than they bargained for.  Trouble was they weren’t happy.  Far from it in fact.  How then to impress your customer base? The Wrap puts forward a way to put the ‘special’ back into the special edition.

Don’t just sit there.  Get clicking, and remember; you’ll find links to all previous editions of The Wrap at the end of the column.

Cheers,

The Incomplete Gamer

What would you you do for a free TiVo? The good folks at the corporate home of Tivo Australia are banking on you doing quite a bit.  They’ve got  5 TiVo Media Devices up for grabs in their Easter Hunt challenge which runs from Easter Monday through until Friday the 24th of April.

You’ll be glad of those twelve days when you see what they’d like you to do.  There are seven (a clever Channel 7 tie in?) challenges in all.  Three are fairly painless – click to a website as directed and snap a picture of yourself and the desired image.  Two challenges will require you to drag yourself off the couch and into a video store and a TiVo retailer to take another two photos as directed.  Challenge Six will have you and as many of your friends as possible dressing up head to toe in one of the six TiVo colours for another photo opportunity.

At this point, you might be thinking, “Well it’s all seems a lot of bother to go to, but at least I don’t have to come up with twenty five words expressing my undying love of all things TiVo.”

Read the rest of this entry »

A quick heads up – The Wrap #25 just dropped over at PALGN.  You can read my latest musings here.

This week in ‘The Passion of the Critic’ we ask the question, should game reviewers be fans of video games?  Renowned video games designer, David Jaffe doesn’t think so, expressing some strong opinions on a recent Listen Up Game Developers Conference 2009 Special podcast.

Is being a fan at odds with being a critical balanced and fair video games reviewer?  You’ll have to read the article?  The Wrap looks at the issue, offers our thoughts and welcomes your opinions.

What are you waiting for?  Get clicking, and remember.  You’ll find links to all previous editions of The Wrap at the end of the column.

Cheers,

The Incomplete Gamer

If things have been a little quiet at The Incomplete Gamer it’s because I’ve taken on a new video games writing gig.  I’m back, writing a regular weekly column - The Wrap – after a two year hiatus; courtesy of the good folk at PALGN who thankfully don’t subscribe to the old adage that ‘you can never go home again’.  It turns out it was just my folks who believed that; although in their defence, they always swore that they had meant to tell me they had moved… but that’s another story.

The Incomplete Gamer isn’t going anywhere.  if anything you should start to see increased gaming coverage (both news and reviews) as a result of my additional game writing duties, as I spend more of my day immersed in gaming, reviewing and with my head, hard-wired into the online video game news world.

You can read my latest column over at PALGN here. It drops ever Saturday – think of it as your antidote to a slow news day.   The Wrap #24 looks at the health of the games industry in these rocky economic times.  Recent colums have looked at the way the motor industry use video games as a marketing tool, poked fun at the European Union’s efforts to enforce parental controls on consoles, and taken a (tongue planted firmly in cheek) look, at all the evil things video games are responsible for.

You’ll find links to all previous editions of The Wrap at the end of each article.  If I do say so myself, they’re a good read and I’m sure you’ll enjoy.

Cheers,

The Incomplete Gamer