Final Fantasy
Metal Gear Solid
Halo
World of Warcraft
Silent Hill
Battlefield
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Guild Wars

My favourite was their version of the Battlefield soundtracks which combined the music of Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 2. Check out the video below to listen to it. (I also enjoyed the Oblivion soundtrack but it’s not that much different to the original.)

Check out the concert’s website here.

Battlefield 2 is the best and most successful team-focused fps in recent years. However, as with all games, it isn’t perfect. Here’s a list of some tweaks and changes I think would give the game that extra polish. Got any ideas of your own for this or future battlefield games? Post them in the comments section below and I may add them to the list. Ready? Here goes…

Gripes

• The amount of auto aim seems to be tad ridiculous, giving players headshots regardless of accuracy. Nearly every time I quick-scope/no-scope someone with a sniper rifle it is a headshot. Tone it down please.
• An option to have your team speak English (or whatever your 1st language is) and your opponents speak Russian, regardless of which side you are playing on. Sometimes I don’t even realise that a charge has been armed or destroyed (I know there are visual clues but my eyes are focusing on keeping me alive my, my ears are listening for updates on the map wide situation.)
• Spotting is broken. Fix it. To elaborate, in the beta you could spot continuously by repeatedly tapping SELECT, this allowed you to find enemies by moving your cross hairs around and constantly spotting. Subsequently, a cool down timer was put on the spot button meaning that you can stare at a tank, mashing the Spot button, until you are blue in the face (and your fingers are blistering) but you will not be able to say to your teammates “Look out, there’s a massive tank cannon death machine rolling towards us” – something that they may not have noticed given the level of noise on a Bad Company 2 battlefield. So please, bring back unlimited spotting, it doesn’t do any harm, and we’ll all finally be able to keep track of that Apache helicopter while trying to shoot it down.
• Team wide voice chat.
• The ability to rotate the camera around the person you are about to spawn on to see if you are likely to be killed the moment you spawn.
• Please double the ammo in each gun, it usually takes a clip to kill a person and even if you sneak up on 2 people you’re unlikely to get the second one since it takes so long to kill one of them and then you have to reload. This could possibly be solved by greater bullet damage at closer ranges.
• A faster run speed would be nice to help you cover the large amount of open space in the maps.
• And finally, my biggest gripe with the game, the sensitivity. The sensitivity in this game is so slow that you often can’t follow a running target. After coming from a game like MW2, where you can quickly turn to react to attacks from the sides and behind, in BFBC2 if you see someone to the sides of the screen you stand little chance of turning to face them in time.

Minor Annoyances

• A minor annoyance is the lack of cover that is taller than your crouch height. With the lack of prone (something I don’t mind that much) it would be nice to have some cover that doesn’t leave your head poking out.
• An even more minor annoyance is the fact that in kill cams it shows people’s guns sticking through the wall below windows. Not a problem in terms of gameplay, but can be a bit irritating to watch after just being killed.
• Louder footsteps would be nice.

Would Be Nice

• Option to have the Battlefield 2 music playing as an alternate soundtrack.
• A single player offline ‘training mode’, where you can practice marksman shooting at far away (possibly moving), driving (with a tank shooting range?) and a helicopter  so you can practice flying before taking to the skies.
• A map that has more water to make better use of water craft.
• A map where each side has choppers, for copter vs copter goodness.
• Maps where the defending team has a base/fort in the centre of the map and the attacking team can attack from all sides.
• An urban/city map.
• Remakes of BF2 classics (Gulf of Oman and especially Strike at Karkand)

That’s all I can think of. Hopefully, with Dice’s good record of supporting their games for a long time we’ll see some of these ideas implemented. Got any ideas you think should be added to the list? Leave them in the comments below.

It seems that nowadays most game developers think that an open beta is all the demonstration a game needs, but since the purpose of a beta is to find bugs and flaws (and there will be bugs and flaws in any beta) developers are using an unfinished, faulty product to advertise their game. The first Uncharted had a demo and this was the deciding factor in me buying the game. Uncharted 2 had no demo, because as co-president of Naughty Dog Evan Wells said, the developers didn’t think they could condense a “12-15 hour experience…. into 15 minutes.” Maybe that’s true (although they managed to create a demo for their first game pretty well), or maybe they were relying on their open multiplayer beta to help sell the game for them. Luckily for them, when I played the beta for Uncharted 2, the game seemed pretty much complete. So, after a less than stellar beta, the best thing that Zipper Interactive can do is release a demo to prove that they’ve taken people’s comments on board and addressed their issues with the game.

One online game with a demo is Battlefield 1943. I never bought the game, but then again I never would have bought the game without trying it first. So EA didn’t lose anything there. However, at 30 minutes of game time, the demo was probably too short for me to make up my mind about anything. And why was the demo only 30 minutes long? With 3 classes and a variety of vehicles how could I possibly have gotten to grips with any of the game?

Unlike a single player game, a multiplayer game has no end and therefore people tend to play them more. So why allow them to only sample an experience that has no end for only 30 minutes? Good luck finding a style of play that suits you or getting your mates together to try the demo with you in that 30 minutes. So why not give us a day, maybe even 2 (make it a weekend) to try out your game [To clarify, that is 2 days from the activation of the demo, not 2 days worth of game time]. If we like it, then we’ll buy it, if we don’t, you haven’t really lost anything.

In fact if the player is allowed to carry their stats over from the demo to the game once they’re more likely to want to buy the game to justify the hours they put into the demo [The proof's in this article explaining the commitment to Duke Nukem Forever(via Kotaku)]. Which brings me on to my next point, if you hold an open beta for your game, make sure any experience/rewards etc carry over to the full game. The beta is open to all, so there’s no argument of unfair advantage and again if people put a lot of time into the beta then carrying their stats over to the full game will encourage them to buy it.

Some games like Uncharted 2 and Modern Warfare 2 can sell purely on hype and the popularity of their predecessors. However, you’ll notice that both the first Uncharted and Modern Warfare had demos (although MW was only on PC). With so many games being hyped as amazing masterpieces (such as Borderlands, which gets good reviews but since I haven’t played it, I’m not going to buy it) the best way to set a game apart from and above the rest is to offer gamers a demo. After all, if a game is as good as its hype the game devs have nothing to worry, right?

So, hopefully we’ll see more demos in future for all games, regardless of whether they have a beta or not. And hopefully Zipper Interactive will release a demo for MAG showcasing the fixes they’ve made since beta and with plenty of game time.

How important are demos in your decisions to purchase games? Let us know in the comments section below.

I found that deleting the most recent update in my gamefiles (Uncharted 2 update 1.03) and then restarting the game fixed everything (if your internet connection is on you’ll be asked to redownload the update – which worked fine this time round).

I advise you to backup your savefiles first, just in case something goes wrong (and I take no responsibility if anything does go wrong, this is just what worked for me).

Has anyone else had this problem? If you have tell us what solved it for you in the comments section below.

Here is the advert you will see if you live in America:

And here is what you’ll see if you live in the UK:

Now I challenge you to find someone who prefers the UK advert. Does Sony think Brits incapable of understanding simple humour? Oh well, I’ve only seen the advert on TV once anyway. Sorry for the rant

Take a look at the other American PS3 ads and appreciate the sense of humour apparently only available across the pond.

Update: Kotaku just ran this story on the differences between American box art and the rest of the world for Heavy Rain. I guess we do have some things better than the Americans then.

A series of video commentaries by a man who isn’t very good at Modern Warfare 2. Each episode is a combination of his funny machinima voice overs and footage of his dreadful gameplay. Always a good laugh and quite useful as a pick-me-up after a particularly bad day of online gaming. Remember kids, there’s always someone worse than you at anything, and they’re achieving youtube fame because of it. You can see the first episode of his show here.

2. Ten FTW

A series where the video makers pick the top ten video game ‘somethings’ and compile them in a short video for your enjoyment. Take a look at their Uncharted 2: Ten Best Moments (Warning! Lots of spoilers!).

3. Unskippable

Graham Stark and Paul Saunders, the creators of LoadingReadyRun.com do voice overs of various video game opening cut scenes. A favourite of mine is their 5 part series on the opening scenes of MGS4, check it out here.

4. Zero Punctuation

Like Unskippable above, Zero Punctuation is hosted on The Escapist. It is created by Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw, a self-described ‘Professional Troll’. Each week, he reviews a different game, finding its faults and tearing it to shreds. I think the first videos in the series were great, and the new ones are still good, take a look at one of his first videos here, a review of ‘Theif: The Dark Project’ to get an idea of his style (Warning! Strong language, not for the young or easily offended!).

Bonus Video: Kotaku’s Autotune the Video Games

Can you believe that I’d never heard of autotune before I found this video? It’s hilarious, watch it here. Also check out the comments below the video for more autotune-related hilarity.

Digg or stumble this post if you found it helpful. Have a favourite gaming video series of your own? Leave it in a comment in the section below.

• First of all, make sure you always have your booster slots filled. Boosters will give you a small advantage by allowing you to carry more ammo, move faster while aiming, aim more accurately etc.

I’ll give you an example using my setup. When I started the game I began with ‘From the hip’ and ‘Bandoleer’ simply because they are cheap to buy and they give a small advantage to help you keep up with other players. Later on I swapped ‘Bandoleer’ for ‘Sure foot’, a booster that prevents you from being knocked down by explosions. I found this very useful for finishing off an enemy when you are both hit by the same explosion but they have been knocked down. It also means you don’t get knocked out of cover by people trying to flush you out with grenades, so you don’t give your position away. Now I’m level 41 and I use ‘From the hip’ to help with my tendency to run and gun and ‘Deposit’ to help me level up faster.

So, the message is, have 2 boosters on at all times because they give you an advantage no matter how small!

• If you’re having difficulty getting the drop on other players try setting your character so that you don’t play as Chloe or Elena. Each character makes a grunting noise when jumping, rolling around etc. and the male characters grunts are less distinctive than their female counterparts’. You can also use this to your advantage, if you are playing as a villain and you hear the sound of Chloe or Elena behind you, you know that it’s an enemy. Likewise, if you were playing as a hero you don’t need to turn around and check because you know they’re on your side.
• Try to find a weapon to replace the standard AK-47 as soon as possible. Others may disagree but I can’t find a redeeming feature of the AK-47. It poor accuracy and firepower, it’s best feature is that it is fairly good for running-and-gunning. But…
• You can use your pistol for that. Your starting pistol is a much overlooked gun. It fires as quickly as you can press down the trigger and has a good close to medium range with good damage.
• You can scope the FAL by pressing R3. Just in case you didn’t know.
• The shotgun is king. You don’t need to aim it, simply run and fire it. If someone is too far to reach then head for cover. Turn corners and head inside buildings to force enemies to come into close quarters.
• The Desert Eagle is a powerful gun which will kill an enemy in 2-3 shots. However, you need to aim it as it is wildly inaccurate when running-and-gunning.
• The other powerful pistol is the Pistole. Use this gun like you would the shotgun get close to someone and fire twice. Almost a guaranteed kill.
• Stealth kills are fun to pull off but don’t attempt them in the middle of a frantic firefight. The problem is, stealth kills are slow to pull off and if a grenade hits you mid attack then you don’t get the kill.
• If you see someone on a ledge rather than risking a kick off, throw a grenade at their hands and blow them to smithereens!
• One of the most important pieces of advice for anyone playing any online shooter is this: Keep Moving! This is especially relevant to Uncharted 2 as if someone spots you camping rest assured they’ll chuck a grenade into your hiding place and put an end to your camping.

Hope these tips help you when playing Uncharted 2 online.

Some other guides you might want to take a look at are:

Sarcastic Gamer’s guide to the Uncharted 2 deathmatch - This is mainly a comparison of the different weapons

The Playstation forums have these guides available:

Uncharted 2 Survival Guide – A very detailed guide to all aspects of multiplayer, well worth a look

Bullet Damage Stats – For those of you interested in the specifics of the game

Uncharted 2 Boosters – A list of all the boosters, their level requirements and what they do.

Got any useful tips and tricks of your own to share? Why not leave them in the comments section below?

• The first rule is plunder, plunder, PLUNDER! Plunder matches last 20 minutes and if your team gets the treasure the maximum 5 times you get $5k ($10k if you use the ‘Deposit’ booster, which you should). On top of that you should easily be able to get at least 20-30 kills in that amount of time.
• The medal ‘Triple Threat’ is awarded for 9 kills (3 pistol, 3 long gun and 3 grenade) and earns you $3k. You should make a conscious effort to get at least one of these per game and, with some practice, you should be able to net 2 per game.
• Sometimes you’ll find people stood stock still at their spawn points. They’ve either gone to get a drink or they’re xp farming, hoping that their team will capture the treasure and net them xp, without them having to do any work. Use these people to help you get the kills you need to get your ‘Triple Threat’ medals e.g. if you’re not a good shot with the pistol then now’s your chance to get a free kill. Also, always make sure you go for a headshot on these stationary targets as 3 headshots gets you the ‘Headhunter’ trophy, worth another $500.
• I mentioned the ‘Deposit’ booster earlier. This doubles the amount of cash earned for objective based medals like ‘Captured’ or ‘Expansionist’. You can only buy it once you’ve reached level 40 but you should use it from then on if you want to reach those Roman Numeral levels.
• You should use the first few minutes of play to get a feel for the game you’re in. Try to keep the enemy away from the treasure and if you get a chance help get it back to base. If you get the impression that your team can handle securing the treasure by themselves then you should make it your mission to prevent the opposing team from capturing the idol and generally disrupting them. This allows you to focus on gaining money-earning medals while still receiving cash each time your team captures the treasure.
• If your team is not doing a good job of securing the idol, take it upon yourself to go after the treasure yourself (but keep stopping the enemy from getting it!). Try to learn the places where the treasure spawns and begin to head towards them once the treasure is certain to be captured by either team. All it takes on some maps such as ‘Village’ and ‘Ice Caves’ is 2 throws of the treasure and it’s almost at your base.
• If you have an exceptionally good match and you have plenty of time after capturing the treasure for the 4^th time you may want to wait and rack up some more kills before capturing the final treasure.

That’s all for now, be sure to check back for the upcoming set of general tips and tricks for Uncharted 2 multiplayer.

Got any tips on how to level up quickly? Put ‘em in a comment in the section below.

So here we go:

• Please, please, please can we either have stabbing while reloading or no auto reload. I have lost count of the number of times I have emptied a magazine into an enemy, ended up standing next to them and stood there dumbly as my character slowly reloaded.
• Could it be made possible that the player can view and compare weapon stats BEFORE they purchase them.
• Add the ability to mute players without having to target them or block them.
• Add the ability to view the scores of all players (on both teams) from the in-game score screen and be able to message them/view their stat cards.
• Lower the re-spec requirement (to 1000 maybe). A high count makes it difficult for players to experiment with different styles of play.
• Disable the knife from being used as a player spawns. Loads of people seem to do this (and I think it has happened to me once or twice, so it may be a bug) and it leads to accidental team killing.

Also, I think that a there is a bug preventing me from blocking 2 players in quick succession.

If you haven’t played the MAG beta yet you still have 2 days left to download it from the Playstation Store. If you have played the beta, have you got any gripes with the game? Anything you think needs changing? Please leave your comments in the section below.

Part of the problems is the limitation of only three maps to a game type (at this time that is, I don’t know if they will add more maps per game mode). In fact, Zipper Interactive have kind of shot themselves in the foot by limiting you to only playing as defender or attacker (depending on the map) and therefore halving the variation in game play you can get out of each map. It also makes familiarising yourself with the maps difficult as the only view you ever get of the enemy half of the map is the hectic dash to your objective.

The second problem is the use of fixed spawn points, which encourages spawn camping. In sabotage, after securing the first 2 objectives you can spawn closer by parachuting in. Except sometimes your parachute doesn’t open, so you die instantly. If your parachute does open you still have to contend with an army of enemy snipers all lining up head shots on your slowly descending noggin.

On a more positive note I will say that the sounds in this game are great. The weapons are satisfying to fire and the gunfire and explosions heard across the battlefield create a great chaotic atmosphere. Also, if you listen carefully, you can hear an eagle from Assassin’s Creed.

Another thing I think has been done really well is grenades. Having gone from Uncharted 2 multiplayer to the MAG beta you really do notice a difference in the effect grenades have on gameplay. In MAG there is no cross-hairs for aiming the grenades and you have to switch weapons to use them. Compare this to Uncharted 2 where you can aim grenades with pinpoint accuracy and they have their own dedicated throw button which leads to grenade mayhem. The grenades in MAG are more like suppressive fire, which I think is a good thing.

MAG seems like a great idea on paper, but when you get down to it the large battles it offers are simply a collection of smaller fights. While 256 multiplayer is an astounding technical achievement (providing it does work), in reality it is more like eight 32-player matches on a really big map.

What’s your opinion on MAG? Will you be buying the game when it comes out later this month? Leave your comments in the section below.