Sunday, February 13, 2011

QTE Tweets Of The Week

This is the top 10 most clicked news stories from the QTE Gamers Twitter Stream. Like Many Weeks, news regarding the PS3 and news about its struggles were big again and the number news story is an example of it. Also getting a lot of hits was the revealing of the PlayStation Phone, Aka the Xperia Play. News on Windows Phone 7 coming to Nokia also made it into the top 10 as did a rumoured price for the PSP2.

10 3DS: IGN Guide to the 3DS says the DS games, Pokémon Black & White, will have enhanced functionality when played on 3DS http://ht.ly/3URvB

9 QTE Blog: Namco Bandai Announce One Piece: Gigant Battle For The Nintendo DS http://ht.ly/1bfMTr

8 PSP2: GameStop inventory system prices the PSP2 at $299.99, $50 more than the 3DS http://ht.ly/3TWGO

7 JP Consoles, PSP 34.648, PS3 25.149, Wii 19.448, DSiLL 11.891, DSi 9.611, 360 3.513, PS2 1.938, DS 1.059, PSPgo 280 http://ht.ly/3RD0c

6 WP7: Nokia confirm they will be able to customise Windows Phone 7 OS, but most likely won't do anything too drastic http://ht.ly/3UEPh

5 Android: Xperia Play coming to O2/T-Mobile/Orange/Vodafone in UK, rumoured to be Exclusive to Rogers in Canada http://ht.ly/3Sr6x

4 360: Mum Bought Gold for her 11 Year Old Son, Son then spends £1.082.52 on her card in 6 months! http://ht.ly/3SDxL

3 QTE Blog: The Re-Cap: News From QTE Gamers From Wednesday 9th February http://ht.ly/1bgLgp

2 Android: Sony Ericsson Announce the Xperia Play (Playstation Phone) Comes out in USA on 13th February http://ht.ly/3RlTk

1 PS3: LG asks the International Trade Commission to block USA sales of PS3 due to a patent dispute, Sues Sony in Court http://ht.ly/3SrJd



What Have You Played This Week? [Updated]

Lol, Another week of not playing Darkstalkers. I have completed Prince Of Persia: The Forgotten Sands and I do recommend people playing it if they enjoyed the gameplay from previous Prince Of Persia games. [Update] I Updated this article as i forgot to mention the demos i played this week.

Football Manager 2010 – PC – Villajoyosa is an interesting challenge. I've not played much yet as i've spent time sorting out the squad for what will be a difficult season ahead.

Little Big Planet 2 – PS3 – This was another week where I set up several levels on lbp.me. But I didn't complete the 3rd section of the game. There's not much to say apart from the lack of people accepting online invitations.

Tetris – PS3 – I only popped into the game for some online, which I got a trophy in, and to see how my scores are fairing against people on my friends list...and safe to say i'm still top of them all, lol.

Prince Of Persia: The Forgotten Sands – Xbox 360 – I finished the game and overall it was a good game. Sure there are some silly parts, like water facets everywhere, but if you look past the silly level design and focus more on the game as a whole, its a fine game and worth more than what I paid for it. The end of the game is pretty hectic. Not only are the enemies much more difficult but so is level traversal. On top of wall runs and climbing, there the water freezing mechanic introduced half way through which allows you to run up/along or climb the water. Then, near the end, you gain the ability to rebuild some of the level...but only a small bit a time. So near the end your solidifying water, jumping to a part of the level you've rebuilt, then running along a wall to more water, and from the water solidifying another section of the level. That may sound complicated but its much easier to do it in the game than you think. The boss battle at the end of the game is fine, getting there is definitely much better than fighting it, but it really doesn’t detract from the game as a whole. And overall, Prince Of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is a good game. There are moments when the graphics look great, and when your on a role with the jumping and climbing its brilliant. The only thing that lets it down and stops this good game from being a great game is the controls which can, on occasion, make you jump in the wrong direction. The challenge rooms at the end are not much of an addition either but it is a quick way to get 50 points.

Ricochet HD - Demo - PS3 - this demo is short...maybe 10 minutes. its a breakout style game but i didn't enjoy it. the UI is far too cluttered and the demo doesn't explain enough what each of the powerups are. i wouldn't recommend people get the demo.


Trinity: Souls Of Zill O'll - Demo - PS3 - I really didn't know alot about this game going in and thankfully the demo is pretty robust. you need to know a bit about how games work as it chucks you straight into the games menus. they explain in enough detail each significant part, like shops, but some people unfamiliar with games my find navigating it difficult. the game is well explained as you play and you have a good portion to play through. you get to experience a fair bit of combat. the game feels a bit like Dynasty Warriors but with more RPG elements. if your interested, this demo is pretty good and worth checking out.


Plants Vs Zombies - Demo - PS3 -  The best demo to come out this week was Plants Vs Zombies. i've never played this game before and this demo was a great introduction. it explains each thing you need to do simply and then asks you to do it. you get to do several levels and you get several new plants to try out. once the demo is over, if you enjoyed it like i did, there is a part of you that wants to continue playing. this could be down to the fact you unlock a new plant and are teased it just as the demo ends. it also teases you saying if you had the game you would've unlocked a trophy. its a great demo and honestly a very good game


QTE Gamers - 2 Years Old And Still Going Strong!

Well QTE Gamers is now over 2 years old! I can safely say that when I started it all, I never imagined it would be still around after 2 years. The site was started as just something to do whilst I was unemployed after Woolworths went under. But with the recession hitting hard and my qualifications not being suitable for where I live, I ended up being unemployed far longer than I wanted. You'll be glad to know that I am employed now and have been since October. The hours aren't great but at least its something. I hope that the site hasn't been too effected since I had a job, but if it has please let me know.

On the one year anniversary I wrote about the frustration in trying to get in touch with PR and access to press accounts. Well there's been some big changes since then. Codemasters got in touch with me!. They were a big help and I soon got access to their press site and they have been great when it comes to questions...so a big thankyou to Capcom. Another big addition was gaining access to GamesPress, who are probably the biggest Press site out there. Now I have access to Capcom and a whole host of other companies, large and small. Its not perfect, but it has made a big difference for the site. Only a few days ago I gained better access to Temco Keoi assets. Getting the news to my readers is important and i'm always looking to gain more access.

I would like to give a big shout out for Namco Bandai. As a developer and publisher they are usually keeping me busy. But they became the first company to send me a review copy of a game and for that i'm extremely grateful. I will say that that had no bearing on my review score, lol.

I admit I haven't pursued other review copies as yet. With all the new press sites I have access to, I don't have too much free time during the day to play games, and those who keep up with What Have You Been Playing may have noticed the drop off. I did enjoy reviewing Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2, but I played that game for just over 25 hours and ultimately the review came out later than I wanted. I already don't have much time to chase news with PR and I have to think carefully about reviewing games on top of it all.

Another big annoyance was with Viddler. It was great when they moved to HTML5, it meant more mobile users could watch trailers and videos I post. I wish Picasa and Podbean were equally accessible with HTML 5. but near Christmas issues emerged with Viddler and my account was basically frozen. The help page and email they provided didn't exist which left me high and dry. After looking around I decided to go with Veoh and i'm mostly happy with them. I'd be happier if they HTML5 support and if they didn't delete some of my videos for copyright issues, which I have contacted them about but not heard back yet.

But highs and lows are to be expected. I thoroughly enjoy what I do and would like to keep it going. I have ideas for features i'm looking to start in the next month or so and I know there's a few publishers/developers i've yet to get access to their press sites...i'm looking at you Atlus. I know changes to the site have slowed down over the year, and the change from Viddler to Veoh will have been annoying as Viddler at HTML5. But here's to the next year and seeing you around this time next year when I celebrate year 3!

Simon Revell