The video gaming industry has had it’s fair share of video gaming heroes, right from the early days of Sonic the Hedgehog, or Mario and many more, all the way up to the delightful Miss Lara Croft and beyond.If I were to even start listing all the well known heroes and characters from the best loved video games, this would be more like an encyclopaedia than an article, the list is that big. Instead let’s take a look at a small selection of some of the biggest heroes in video gaming history, and take a peek at how they have influenced our lives.

Film to video and video to film
I don’t think you can take a look at video gaming heroes without mentioning the influence and interaction with the film industry. I’m sure most would agree that there has been some great film action heroes that have wanted the same success on video games, but most have failed miserably.

However, there have been some notable exceptions when viewed the other way around, that is, games making it onto the big screen, such as Lara Croft-Tomb Raider (starring Angelina Jolie) and Hitman (starring Timothy Olyphant – who also starred in Die Hard 4). I just want to mention, I thought the Hitman film was a particularly good film. I also went to see Final Fantasy(animation) at the cinema, and thought the film makers did a very good job on that too.

Heroes

Sonic the Hedgehog
Everyone’s favourite blue hedgehog. Sonic became such a success, people are still buying the original games today, in the form of ‘compendiums’. Sonic was cool, great graphics for it’s day and addictive gameplay, the sideways scrolling platformer won the hearts and minds of millions of gamers around the world. I can still remember the music that rather monotonously repeated itself throughout the game.

Snake
The first ‘sneak-em-up’ to hit the consoles. Metal Gear Solid defined a new gaming genre, and it’s leading character Snake became a huge success. He was cool and dangerous and hid in cardboard boxes. Who still remembers the guards response when he passed Snake if he was hiding in one?

Lara Croft
Ah, Miss Lara, where art thou? When Lara exploded onto the consoles, many gawped at her huge assets and fine figure, but let’s be honest, the gameplay was great too. Her unlimited pistol power, her agility to climb and swing from one ledge to the next, not forgetting the excellent puzzles and maps that gave the game much longevity. Lara didn’t always ‘perform’ to expectations however, a lot of the magic seemed to have been tarnished in subsequent games, and only recovering briefly in ‘the last revelation’, where she found herself exploring the Egyptian tombs.

Sam Fisher
To me, Sam Fisher was the cool version of Solid Snake. Maybe not as charismatic, but Sam got to use all the modern gadgets you could hope for. Splinter Cell offered all the ‘sneak-em-up’ action that Metal Gear Solid did, but without all the boring cinematic story scenes to wade through. Sam was cool, he sported a ’5 oClock shadow’ (pun intended), and as long as the lights where out, he was one of the most dangerous espionage agents ever to grace our consoles.

The Master Chief
When Halo 3 was released in the autumn of 2007, there was much hype and fanfare, and with good reason. The game was superb and built upon the previous Halo successes. The Master Chief became one of Xbox’s biggest heroes, not just demonstrated by the massive financial returns, but the Master Chief found his image everywhere tea-shirts, mugs and other paraphernalia. More than one million people played Halo 3 on Xbox Live in the first twenty hours, and the action is still growing strong today.

Gamers and their Gaming heroes
No doubt we love our gaming heroes and the adventures they lead us on. What is perhaps frustrating, is when the developers ‘loose the plot’ and try to build on the success of their first outing with a particular hero, but straying too far from the path that made the character and game so successful in the first place. But we forgive those developers for putting us through such pain and torture, should they realise the error of their ways and ‘return to the fold’ in the following release.

Many such loved heroes have suffered from this ‘developer foggy-brain syndrome’ such as Sonic; and in my opinion never really made it successfully onto the 3D platform, 2D just worked, as it did for the Street Fighter series. Tomb Raider and Splinter Cell suffered from this syndrome too, though it looks as if Splinter Cell will recover somewhat with the forthcoming title: ‘Conviction’.

When all is said and done, we enjoy good characters, decent plots, a huge dose of good gameplay and we’ll be happy.

Happy Gaming

Maturegaming thanks everyone that participated in this competition and after a troubled weekend we do have a winner.The answer we were looking for and everyone got correct (wasn’ t that hard was it) was Mclaren or Mclaren Mercedes.

The winner that was pulled out of the hat and winner of the game goes to:-

Rob Smith

Congratulations Rob and well done.  If you didn’t win this time then don’t be too disheartened as I am sure we will have another competition soon where you can try and snag some goodies.

Its been a year since the smash new IP developed by Valve, Left 4 Dead, hit the market to critical acclaim.A year later and after much controversy, Left 4 Dead 2 is just about to hit the shelves.  Much debate about putting the game out as a seperate package rather than DLC for the original has been bounded about forums and sites alike but we are here to tell you that EA published, Left 4 Dead 2 is definitely worth being a stand alone game and well worth the price to either upgrade or buy.

Although there will be future DLC support for the original, Left 4 Dead 2 is bigger, better and more refined than the original.  Obviously there is a single player campaign which stretches over 5 chapters but the game definitely points itself towards co-operative play and a system that gamers loved with the original.  The story itself is based around 4 new survivors in the deep south, primarily Savannah and the big easy itself, New Orleans.  With an raft of different weaponry to collect and more crazy ways to kill zombies, slaying the undead has never been so frantic and so much fun.  One thing that made the original a hit was, as stated before, was the co-operative gameplay.  So many developers have missed a trick with this type of gameplay before but it seems more are starting to implement it into their IP’s and that can only be a good thing.

The set pieces provide more than adequate gameplay and fun for a long time as did the first one.  Simplicity is key here, get weapons, protect your fellow survivors and blast the hell out of the infected with anything that you can find.  The levels are set out in such a way that any turn or open of a door can send a hoarde running your way which will give you a few pants staining moments as you battle to fend them off.  Little mini missions in the levels add some good variety with super infected creatures back and also added to.  Witches that were static in the first one will now be frightened if you do the wrong thing and come running at you in a crazed attack. No more sitting in the corner crying, they will wander around for you to avoid t your peril.  New special infected are present with the introduction of the funny as hell jockey which will jump on your back and a spitter that spits out noxious acid for you to avoid.

A massive difference from the first one is the items that can now be used for melee attacks.  The first game presented a problem when the hoarde had overrun you in that you could push them off and you needed to find space to get some shots off.  Chainsaws, pans etc are now at your disposal to smash your way through which provides an ample armoury to help through this process.  In fact, these items could be more beneficial to you rather than your usual guns and are a lot of fun.

The new AI Director 2, something that is much applauded, will change your gameplay for you depending on how you are doing to give you a different look each and every time you play.  Weather systems are implemented, zombie levels are increased and decreased and even new paths are opened up with different sounds etc.  All told, this is revolutionary in the way it takes you through the game.

The beauty of the Left 4 Dead franchise is that you can pick and choose at will what you want to do.  Everything is open to you at the beginning and depending on your skill level adapts to the way you play.  The campaign is great on your own but is a hell of a lot better with friends and with the improved AI director does not just give you months of gameplay, this will give you years.

New multiplayer and co-op campaign have also been introduced, including scavenge and realism modes which will sort the men and women out from the boys and girls.  Realism mode stops zombies with more ammo, unless you get head shots and can be troublesome to complete at times unless you work together and get a grip on your surroundings.  4 v 4 versus modes have also been introduced where you can take on the role of one of the special infected to give an added dimension to the multiplayer offerings.

Left 4 Dead 2 is definitely not an add on but is so rich, deep and simplistic in its approach that you will be forever looking for your perfect survivor friends online to approach the game in a new way and play for many hours.  The fact that Valve has put a lot of effort in to making the game bigger and better before deserves praise and you can feel confident that purchasing the game will not be wasted money.

It’s taken a while and after a lot of hype, Forza 3 finally graces the gaming stage in one of the hottest and competitive genres in the industry.Racing games per se have always had a problem trying to achieve the pinnacle of the genre and that is to supply a game that gives you the feeling and immersion of racing a car for real.  The two big players for the racing console crown appear as two separate exclusives on the next gen consoles.  Turn 10 with the Forza Motorsport franchise and Polyphony Digital with the Gran Turismo franchise.  When Turn 10 appeared with the original Forza on the xbox it was a revelation to racing games and put Gran Turismo in its place.  Many arguments have occurred since then regarding what the best racer is?  Many similar arguments have always been discussed, C64 vs Spectrum, PS2 vs Xbox but this at the moment is a no brainer.  Turn 10 have released 2 editions of Forza now for the 360 with no reply, apart from an over priced demo, for Gran Turismo.  With Forza 2 creating a massive community that has evolved the game into a different breed there really is no argument or competition at all.

So, with the release of Forza 3, Turn 10 have refined the already popular franchise, moved to create even more community features and ramped up the gameplay all around to such a point where I feel Forza 3 can sit on the top of the pile and giggle in the faces of all that kneel before it.

Set out on 2 discs, the second one is more cars and tracks, Forza Motorsport 3 boats over 400 cars to drive with 100 tracks and variations of tracks and although the originals are back in this version, Turn 1o have managed to cram a whole load more in, including fantasy tracks and some more real tracks, Le Mans and Curcuit De Catalunya being the standouts.  The tracks have been re-worked also to give a better feel to racing them and where before, although good, some tracks could feel a little woolly and slightly off but Forza 3 delivers the ultimate racing experience as added features have been included, widths corrected and corners smoothed to give the purest racing lines yet.  The physics of the cars have also been re-written and this definitely shows in the game to give a better and more simulated feel of car to track and the way cars handle.  Forza 2 delivered so much but always had an arcady feel to it but Forza 3 feels a lot more deeper, a lot more precise and also has a lot more of a simulated feel than ever before which makes the driving experience itself second to none.

The Forza series has always catered to the hardcore racer but Turn 10 have tried to introduce the novice into racing without being afraid at the precision needed to get those perfect lap times.  I have heard from many people about being put off with Forza 2 regarding the difficulty of driving and this has been addressed in a couple of ways.  The first are the assists that are allowed and novices can now race with one button racing.  This allows you to auto brake, doing away with precision braking and having to think about a tonne of things for the first time.  Although not recommended for someone that has had racing experience it definitely helps to take the edge off and introduce newcomers to the beauty of Forza and the racing genre.  Everything can be switched on and off at will so you can find a level that suits you and the game will reward you with more credits and experience for the more assists that are turned off.  The learning curve is yours to dictate and when you feel comfortable you can turn it up a notch.  On the other end of the scale there is also a clutch you can have to add to your manual gears and although this does not feel intuitive on the controller, it will certainly add an extra element of skill if racing with a wheel.  The second big thing, and has been taken from Grid (why not if it works!), is the rewind button.  At any time you may use this to rewind time back in the race if an apex has been missed or you roll out too wide, have a crash or even miss a racing line.  Although it is a great feature for the novice it does lose some of its value to the experienced racer.  Simulator racing has always been about learning the tracks, learning the lines and if you miss, you pay the penalty.  With this feature racing, in a way, has been dumbed down but to a novice this may prove to be a little bit of genius.  Again, this feature can be used or not and as you get more competent the feature will die off anyway.

Customisation has been a major factor in this game since Forza 2 and Turn 10 have understood the needs of their community and also how to maximise the longevity of the game through its multiplayer elements.  It seems that nowadays, games are defined on the extras that are within it and Forza 3 does not disappoint in any way.  Forza 2 cast an offshoot of different types of players, breaking away to re-define the game and how it is played.  The introduction in Forza 2 of deep painting and tuning options created communities of painters, tuners, photographers, video editors and even drifters.  The game is meant to be a racing game but Forza 3′s predecessor spawned a whole new breed of players each specialising in their own skills.  Forza Motorsport 3 has celebrated this fact by giving back to these communities with new leaderboard features which now include boards for Directors, painters, tuners, drifters etc for you to rate and rank.  Instead of selling a car with a paint or tune in an auction, players now have their own virtual storefront.  Broken down into categories for each skill, players now have a plethora of different things to try out in order to reach the top of the pile and even gain some acclaim of being the best of the best in a certain area and gaining credits to boot for your hard work.  The only downside to this at the moment is that designs, tunes etc can only be sold for a maximum of 10,000 credits and sometimes is not a justified price for the work that some have already put in.

Multiplayer is back with a bang and although there are some tweaks that players from Forza 2 are complaining about I feel that the multiplayer side of things has been set out really well.   The options, as usual are rediculous in their array from setting tracks, cars and even options for car weight restrictions etc.  I do feel a bit cheated in that Turn 10 could have provided 12 player racing instead of 8 but running at a very smooth 60 fps with beautiful graphics this can be forgiven for how smooth the multiplayer side of things run.  Drifting events have also been included and you can customise your gametypes to re-define what the end result will be.  Another beautiful addition is that everything you do now, you win credits and xp for, even in private lobbies which definitely appeals to the racers that want to dismiss the career and concentrate on the multiplayer element, whether it be hot-lapping, joining friends or mixing it with Forza 3′s finest racers.

The amount of content in this game is over-whelming and after 2 solid days of play I feel that I haven’t even scratched the surface of it.  Each time I play I find something new which could have a book written about it.  It is hard to imagine that with all the things that can be done, there is actually a game in which you are meant to race cars as you can easily be distracted into something different.  There is also a new view too!  Forza 3 is the first game in the franchise that actually has a cockpit view, something that has been missing but is very much welcomed.  Although the cockpits have a lot of detail, it is quite basic in its appearance but my God does it make a difference.  Cockpit views are a must in most racers nowadays and for me personally definitely adds depth to the experience itself.  I don’t care about how good it looks inside as I am not looking at the dash when braking from 150 mph to find the next apex.  This along with manual gears seem, for me personally, to give a better feel to the car and how it handles.  An example of this and what Turn 10 has created is Nurburgring.  Every racing game I have played I have hated this bloody track, absolutely hated it.  Turns seemed wrong, cars not handling right, not the right view, the track not feeling responsive and built well and the fact that if you balls it up you have seven or so bloody minutes until you can do it again.  This was my splinter, the thing I hated most and would duck out of any lobby that had this as the track.  Now?  Absolutely bloody brilliant!  The track feels right, the undulations and camber feel bang on, the car responds to the track perfectly and with the cockpit view saves me a shed load of money from taking a car around it in real life but getting the same experience.

To finish, Dan Greenwalt said with a lot of balls that Forza Motorsport 3 was the definitive driving game at E3 this year and I laughed out loud at the arrogance of the guy.  I have to say though that for once I have to bow down to what Turn 10 has created.  So, I have mixed feelings for Dan now.  I hate him for making me look stupid and wrong in how I reacted to his comments but I love him for what he has created.  Turn 10, I take my hat off to you for what IS the ultimate driving experience to date.  Forza 3 has a few minor niggles but has delivered a game that is so rich in content and gameplay that, I feel, will not be able to be repeated anytime soon.  Gran Turismo may have pretty graphics and great cars but Forza Motorsport 3 is the complete package and with that in mind, Maturegaming, for the first time ever is awarding Forza Motorsport 3 top marks.

Now, how’s that for a recommendation!!

During a press event at BAFTA for Codemasters up and coming Formula One game, MG got the chance to sit down with Formula One driver, Anthony Davidson.Anthony has, this year, been BRAWN GP’s test driver along with racing for Aston Martin at the Le Mans 24 hour race, commentating for Radio 5 Live alongside David Croft who was also present and working with promoting and developing the Formula One games.

Timing was tight so a few of us (PR) decided to sit down together and talk to Anthony (AD) and David (DC) about life in Formula One, how the games are coming along and generally anything we could throw at them.  Not literally though as we would get sued!

DC: So, did you like the game?

PR: For the casual racing driver, gamer it will be very, very cool.  For the hardcore driver, I think they will wait for the PS3/360 version.  Saying that I think the PSP version is really, really good.  The Wii version lacks in depth, for example when going around Suzuka there seems to be no camber on some of the turns where you expect them and also there is no connection with the tracks.

AD: I feel I am a hardcore gamer but because of my travelling I take around my PSP.  I already have Gran Turismo on there and this is something I would definitely take with me as well.

PR: Let’s start with your career.  With you test driving you haven’t had to do much really so what has this year been like with Brawn GP and also what it has been like to have 2 very defined camps?

AD: There are always 2 very defined camps in any team, there’s a serious battle that goes on between the 2 sides of the garage, don’t ever believe for a second that it is one happy team, it never is like that.  It’s cut throat and winner takes all in this game.  Just like football, you have the 2 sides, it’s even more critical as team mates as the only direct competitor is in the same machinery as you and the 2 engineers from the 2 different sides want their guy to win and that’s the way its been for years and years.  This year is more apparent then normal as you had 2 team mates fighting for the championship so it became pretty obvious that there was an internal fight going on but it always like that be it Kovalainen and Hamilton, it just goes on.

PR: An example was at the Nurbergring where Reubens wasn’t all that happy with what was going on even though in qualifying Reubens had an edge.  Do you think there is a point where the conflict is detrimental to the team where they are not giving the information to each other they should be?

AD: Two words, Senna, Prost, yes it can be to the detriment of the team but this year they are experienced enough and friendly enough to realise that the car was losing speed against the other teams around them towards the end of the year and it was going to take both of their professionalism and workmanship to do everything they could to ensure that the car would not slip off the edge with their on-going battle in the championship so, they were fighting hard on track, I feel that Reubens did have the upper hand on Jensen, but in the race, more often than not, Jensen had the upper hand over Reubens, so it always created quite a good race between the two of them.

DC: It was interesting in Brazil after the chequered flag that Reubens was waiting for Jensen to give him a big hug.  He told Jensen that if he wanted to party in Brazil tonight, knowing that he had to back in Britain the next day, he could use his private plane rather than taking the normal booked flight.  That shows you the respect, the healthy respect the two drivers have got for each other.  I feel that Jensen would have done the same thing had he been in that position and really whatever Reubens said after Spain with the blah, blah, blah that things aren’t right on my side of the garage he is actually one of the nicest guys in Formula One and he just felt that things were conspiring against him but he drove really well.

AD: I think Reubens drove really well in the second half of the season.  I think the car suited Jensen more in the first half of the season but suited Reubens more in towards the second half, especially in qualifying.

PR: How have you been this year?  You have not had to do much as there was not the amount of testing there used to be.

AD: I’ve missed testing, obviously, with the team.  It took a long while for people to realise that I was anything to do with the team because of the lack of testing but I’ve been doing a lot with the straight line stuff and aerodynamic testing this year available to us but that was completely out of the limelight really and my main work has been working on the simulator project and other PR events but my main thing has been the sim world and its something the teams are looking into more now because of the lack of testing it has become very serious.

PR: The sim world ties in nicely with the gaming world so what have you been able to tell developers about the differences between driving for real and racing games.

AD: Well, the main thing is with formula one games.  I’ve played them for many years and to change to a wider field of view makes it a lot more easier to race against each other.  Also, racing games seem to be a lot faster and to tell them to slow the games down a little.  Developers get carried away when making computer games because they feel that everything has to be so quick, things are flying past you and the trees are flying by but when you race for real things are not actually like that.  Real racing is a lot slower and it feels like being in a road car but because the racing car can do it at faster speeds it feels a lot more calm and is a lot more slower than in a computer game.  That’s always something to get over to computer game developers that if you slow it all down, you can have better racing, especially online racing and make it a bit more realistic.

PR: The main thing that is always there is the concentration on certain features and aspects like braking points in a game.  Is this a feature that is important and do the formula one simulators implement similar things to keep your focus on the track?

AD: Yeah, absolutely, some work has been done to where the driver will look, thy put a special camera on the helmet to see the drivers eye, they will be able to see where the driver is looking when they are going around a lap.  I think it has given, especially in the simulator world a better idea of what is going on.  I think if you take away too many objects around a circuit, you lose the believability that you are in a car, racing around a circuit and as a driver in a car, you do look at certain bits on and around the track to give you an idea of where to let the car run out too, your angle on circuit, where you should brake and all those kinds of things.  There was a famous story once from Le Mans where a driver was using a caravan as a reference point for braking and more than half way into the race he was using this time and time again.  When he got back in to do his next stint, the caravan had gone and he completely missed his braking point and went off the track.  It’s stuff like that, if it’s not in the game then it will detract from your experience.  Especially you find curbs are your real reference on the circuit, curbs, exit curbs and run off areas, these are the things that a driver will use to guide them on their lap and maybe sometimes a different surface change, like a different colour.  The more advanced computer games get, the more information can be put into the game and the more information it can give you.

PR: You’ve been doing Le Mans this year, to keep up with your racing, we all want to see you back fully in a formula one car as it’s been a couple of years now.  What’s happening?  Are you staying at Brawn?

AD: I don’t know at the moment.  As yet, nothing is signed but I am talking to quite a few teams for next year, inside and outside of Formula One but it has been quite a good year really, I’ve had my involvement in racing and I have been involved with a championship winning team and working alongside David Croft with radio commentating so its been an interesting year and doing the radio has allowed me to step back and see Formula One as a whole and not being completely self-contained in your own team.  That’s what it’s like being in a team.  You are completely blinkered by your own performances, you have no idea about how the rest of the field is really getting on.  You can finish a race and have no idea who won it, if you’re last or mid-field but doing the radio stuff this year has really given me an insight into what different driver’s styles are like and how the different teams have progressed through the year.

PR: Do you think that will make you a better driver if you go back into it now?

AD: I think so because it will give you much more of a complete understanding of how different teams can react.  Look at McClaren this year, how they started the year with a very slow car an they have worked at it and worked at it and Lewis was fighting a little too hard at the beginning and over driving the car in a way and he got into the swing of things after driving a slower car because he had never been in that position before.

PR: Being a driver you sometimes cannot see the wood from the trees when you are racing but in a commentary position you can see if someone should be on certain tyres or are on the wrong tyres or have come into the pits at the wrong time.  Are all these things coming together to help you out?

AD: One of my best mates works for Brawn as a lead strategist, so I’ve always got a real insight into every teams approach to a race and what happened in finer detail after the race but at the time in the heat of the battle it is totally different.  Doing our job from the commentary box, someone sitting on the sofa will always pick out a detail we’ve missed if they are solely focussed on the one thing but to cover everything is a completely different kettle of fish.

DC: Qualifying in Brazil, Jensen had an absolute nightmare and didn’t make it through to qualifying 3 and we were both saying for about 5 minutes that he should come in for new tyres, new wets and get out there and talking to Ross Brawn afterwards we asked who made that call, was it Jensen saying I don’t want to come in, was it you as you are in charge of the team and take over all responsibility and there is a whole thought process that we do not budget for and also the audience does not budget for because it would take Jensen 3 laps or so to get the tyres up to temperature to put in the lap times and it might have been that the moments gone, it might be that he could do it or it might be that he could just say as a driver that everything would be ok.

AD: It’s like football, it’s very easy for us to sit in the armchair or sidelines and say “why didn’t he do this” but there always is more going on internally than what you see from the outside as well.

PR: It was quite a mad incident where it was chucking down with rain like that and it must be hard for a driver to re-focus after spending so long in the pits etc.

AD: Well, you can see a driver like Nico Rosberg took the risk of going on intermediates because he’s got nothing to lose where as someone like Jensen leading the championship you just cannot afford to take that chance so that’s why he ended up qualifying so low down

DC: As a fan or commentator you want to see the drivers taken out of their comfort zone and relying on their own ability, it’s brilliant.  Start dry, get wet, get dry, get wet is fabulous.

AD: This is why in computer games, if they can add these features in it’s fantastic because it really gives the fan an idea of what it’s like to be involved and then think the sky is dark, it’s starting to rain, do I come in, don’t I, what are the other cars doing out there it really adds depth to a game.

PR: You see weather dynamics and changing effects so little in computer games, I’m going to ask you this and you’re going to say no but is it something we may see in the 360/PS3 version of the game?

AD: I hope so, I hope so.  I think computer games need that really and I think now with the specifications of consoles and PC’s they are more than capable they’re more than capable of doing it, so I say “bring it on!”

PR: Do many drivers use computer games as a reference to keep them sharp sometimes?

AD: Absolutely, I mean I haven’t turned a wheel at Singapore or Abu Dhabi and I’ve done both of them on the Brawn simulator but I have also done them playing games too.  In 2006, before I went to certain circuits I played all of them on the computer games so, yeah, absolutely.

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Last night saw the close of the Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising competition.

We had a great deal of interest in this competition (for obvious reasons) and the winners have been drawn and are being or have been contacted as we speak.

The answers that we were looking for were as follows:-

1. The island of Skira

2. 220km squared

3. 4 players can play co-op

Most of you got this right and were entered into the draw and the winners are as follows:-

Mr Ryan Macdonald

Mr Nick Farmer

Mr Gary Truswell

A massive congratulations to those who won and thank you to everyone that participated in this competition .  If you didn’t win this time then we are sorry but please look out for another competition in the very near future.

The first price drop for the Wii confirmed as Amazon sells off its remaining stock.

Amazon are now selling the existing bundle of the Wii for £139, maturegaming can report today.  The bundle includes the Wii console bundled with the standard Nunchuck, wii-mote and and wii sports which is stepping aside for the new bundle that has been released which includes Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort and Wii Motion Plus for the standard £179.99.

Good news also comes for retailers too as the cost price has been dropped to enable some profit to be made on them.  Time to get the credit card out early and embrace a cheaper Xmas present while the stock lasts.

Thanks to our friends at Codemasters, maturegaming are giving away 3 Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising goody bags, including a PS3 copy of the game, an exclusive t-shirt and torch key fob.

Enter the realm of a pure military shooter as Codemasters bring to next gen consoles for the very first time a real taste of battle and how it plays out.  With 11 missions in campaign, online co-op of all the missions for up to four players, an extensive multiplayer experience with vehicles and weaponry to suit all your strategic needs, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising raises the bar higher in an evolution to the traditional FPS genre.

Set on the island of Skira, located of the East coast of Russia, with 220km2 of oil rich land on the brink of war.  An airborne division of the People’s Liberation Army of China (PLA) lands to claim the island as the sovereign possession of the People’s Republic. Russia turns to the US for support aid and they’re quick to respond. Sending in the USS Iwo Jima, a battalion of US Marines launch an assault on the strung out but dug-in Chinese force. Can the situation be defused before this flashpoint turns white hot and an all-out global war between the superpowers erupts?

Players will fight as infantry soldiers in battle, drive tanks in armoured assaults, pilot helicopters in air strikes and infiltrate the enemy in covert special operations utilizing a wide variety of realistic military weapons from knives and rifles to machine guns, grenade launchers and laser designators for air strikes. Whatever the situation, players will need to balance brute force with intelligent use of tactics in their engagement against the full force of the PLA.

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising will set the new standard for sandbox shooters when it arrives October 6th/8th/9th for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system, and PC. Feel the heat of the battle like never before by visiting the official site for all the extra information you need www.flashpointgame.com.  To see some beautiful screenshots of this title please visit our gallery here.

For your chance to win one of these three goody packs, please answer the following questions below:-

1. Name the island where Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is set?
2. What is the total area of the land you can play in?
3. How many players can you co-op with online in the console version of the game?

E-mail your answers to flashpoint@maturegaming.co.uk with your name and contact phone number.

Rules

If you love this game you might want to break a few rules but unfortunately for you tyrants there has to be some.

1. The closing date for competition entries is Midnight, Friday 9th October.
2. The competition is open to U.K and EU residents only.
3. The minimum age for entries due to the rating on the title is 18 (if you’re under 21, you shouldn’t be here you naughty boy!)
4. I.D. checks maybe carried out to verify your age and if found to be unsatifactory you maybe excluded from the competition.
5. People with the correct answers will be drawn from a hat at random and contacted after the closing date and within 2 days.
6. The judges decision is final.
7. Any suspected breaking of these rules will result in your entry being disqualified.
8. Only one entry per person.
9. Maturegaming.co.uk reserves the right to withdraw the competition at any time.

Well, it is a matter of days before the NFL season starts again and what better way to get your gridiron juices flowing than going great guns with a game of Madden.

Traditionally, Madden is a huge seller in the sports market with many other EA sports games taking note and implementing features that were first seen in the Madden series.  For those of you that have been locked in the cupboard for the last 20 years or unfortunately dead then you have probably missed out on the most precise, feature packed, statistic heavy and geeky sports gaming franchise to date.

Madden has been around for a very long time and as the evolution of the game continues, as with every other EA Sports title year in and year out, you have to wonder what new things can be included to make you want to spend £40 a year for what some would consider updates.  With the exception of a couple of the Madden titles every single year this game surprises and surpasses expectations on what it delivers and Madden 10 is no exception here.

I could bore you with technical details like other sites do talking about graphics, physics and blah, blah, blah but I’ll leave it to them to sort out and just let you know what features have changed, what has been added, taken away and all the juiciness of how it actually makes you feel by playing the game.  After all, that is what a review is meant to be about – right?

For those of you that haven’t played this game before, been put off by the what you think are over complicate rules, or just think that you will not understand what is happening then fear not.  Madden has always been designed with the beginner in mind.  Traditionally you have been able to customise anything you want, from your skill level, playbooks, maddens advice on play calling and everything in between to make your life easier when you start off and enable you to learn as you play without being put off.  In Madden 10, things remain the same but with the addition of an ingenious idea that was in Madden 09 and that is an IQ test.  This is designed to put you through a series of skill tests to determine your awareness of the game and automatically assign the right skill level for you.  As you play, you’re IQ will go up and down according to how well you are doing in each area and will also adjust the A.I. to keep things fair but help you develop without wanting to never play the game again.  If you fancy stepping the level down though you can do so through the settings option but I would strongly advise utilising the IQ feature.  There is nothing worse and boring than having an 84 – 0 win against the opposition and feel as though you never competed for the win in the first place.

The main theme and also tag-line to this year’s version is “fight for every yard” and this is executed perfectly in the game play.  Earlier versions, up to last year’s game, were based around 1 or 2 players tackling your ball carrier, receiver or QB but this time around they have added a more realistic dimension of gang tackling which allows the initial hit and if the ball carrier is still standing up more players will pile in.  This is an absolute Godsend to the game because before you could break the initial tackle and go for very long yards and even touchdowns very quickly, now you literally are fighting for every yard as the processor creaks under the weight of processing needed to calculate all the information coming in.  Stats are all the more important now as weight and quality of the players will play a part in the hit.  If you have a top runner against a defender that doesn’t hit as hard then he will more than likely get run over initially and need the help of some of the team to slow him up or bring him down.  This simple little addition, which I am sure took a long time to code, toughens up the game play more and in the higher skill levels definitely brings another thought process to the table and increases the depth and experience of playing the game for real.  Yes, you can still break tackles for big gains but they are a lot harder to come by and you have to think of your tactics to get it right.  It doesn’t stop with just the tackling but also a new fumble feature where players can fight for the ball, referees pull the pile apart, more immersive cut scenes to make the game come alive a lot more than previous offerings.

All the normal game types that have become ingrained into Madden are still available which include a franchise mode, where you can fully manage and play 30 years of football, become an NFL superstar where you take control of one player’s career which includes training, contract negotiations, managing your agents and, of course, playing the game in one position.  Something that FIFA has now adopted into its game play mechanics.  New to this year’s Madden 10 though is the ability to play franchise mode online with live leagues and tournaments where you can manage every aspect of your team from drafts, injuries, depth charts and playing the games.  The list is endless to what you can utilise here but do be aware that to unlock this feature you will need the code that comes with the instructions.  Once it is used you will not be able to download it for free again and therefore if you are buying a pre-owned copy will have to pay 800 MS points to unlock it.  I will be honest here and say that it would be well worth the money and for the experienced players among you there is an elite madden feature that can be unlocked too for another 800 points.

Overall, Madden 10 does everything you expected from Madden 09 but with more features and tougher, more realistic game play implemented. My only concern with the game was that they have taken out the design a play and playbook which I particularly liked and I’m sure other experienced players did too.  Push that to one side and you have what I would consider the most solid Madden exper
ience yet that will keep you playing until the next one arrives.  How they can better it we will probably find out next year but for now, I feel it is time to trade in the old one and immerse yourself into the joys of American Football once more with the feeling that you haven’t been cheated out of a few quid.