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Preys-World Podcast - Episode 9 Download Link

Wednesday 3rd of December, 2008 - 21:15:40 GMT

Recorded in the middle of last month just after WoW Lich King's and just before Left 4 Dead's release, Guests WMain00 and the returning Jay joined Mantis and I for Podcast 9. Since Mantis had just had his birthday, we concentrated on his haul of games which formed the bulk of new releases around that time, as well as some retro chat towards the end.

PW Podcast 9 is an allowance-friendly 96Mb to download from The Usual FTP location. As ever, we were plagued by tech problems which we hope we addressed with sound retouching software but of course, carry on letting us know.

There's another one in the can and coming right along later, but we'll let you know when that's done at the time. For the moment, download and enjoy this one.

- Ken

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ELSPA Charts - PC - Charts Catchup

Wednesday 3rd of December, 2008 - 18:35:54 GMT

You can tell it’s a busy time of year for PC Gaming when there’s only one Sims title in the top ten and it’s grimly hanging on at 9 in the charts running up to last Saturday. That’s what happened.

In the chart following our last full PC update, Fallout was lost in the metro station as it was replaced at the top by Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 – again. The top two simply swapped places and with a reduction to £14.99 at Play.com we expect Red Alert 3 to stay high up in the charts at least until Christmas. There was one new entry at 9, Sacred 2 Fallen Angel and WoW Battlechest, helped by anticipation at Wrath of the Lich King, moved up to no.10. However every other game from 3 to 8 failed to move. At the bottom of the chart Bond held on with the Quantum of Solace game, jumping up by one place.

The following week, the chart up to exactly the middle of the month heralded a new broom of new entries with WoW Lich King at one, Football Manager 2009 at 2 and Cash on Delivery: World At War, at 3. The next new entry at 6 was the Lord of the Rings MMO, Mines of Moria. However the non-mover feat from the week before couldn’t be repeated and every other game in the chart lost places and Bond fell out of the Top 20 altogether. Cash on Delivery 4 fell to the top spot as the World War 2 replacement took over up at the top.

There was another round of musical chairs at the top in the 22 November chart but only among existing games: Football Fans sent Football Manager 2009 to the top, pushing the RPG gang down one place to WoW WOT Lich King. Valve and EA entered the chart with the Urban rather than sci-fi Zombie Shooter Left 4 Dead at, ironically, no.4. However the three games that make up the repeat of Christmas 2004 are now out and selling buckets to their respective markets, whether boxed or on Steam.

Embattled and newly Canadian Eidos launched Tomb Raider Underworld and it entered the chart at 8. The final new entries were Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir and NFS Undercover, appearing at 13 and 14 respectively. The reasonable chart position for the stable title helped renew takeover rumours, though nothing has been finalized.

Finally this week, Football Manager 2009 (hereafter known as FM 09) stayed at the top of the table and will probably do so, long after we’ve run out of puns. The place swapping was between CoD 5 and WoW Lich King, with the WWII shooter going up to 2 and the RPG dropping to 3. L4D, Red Alert 3, Fallout 3 and Spore became the non-movers at the end of the month, staying in their places from 3 to 7. Far Cry 2 climbed back into the Top 10 at 8, pushing Tomb Raider Underworld down to mid-table. FIFA has gone from the charts and PES 2009 is a non-mover at 18. Finally, Medieval Total War II’s complete edition re-entered the chart at the bottom.

- Ken

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PW Reviews - Fable 2

Saturday 22nd of November, 2008 - 19:10:59 GMT

Another quiet week on the frontlines of gaming news and once again the news team is bailed out by forum users keen to share their opinions on the latest and greatest titles, or at least one forum user keen to share his opinion. Check out this review of Lionhead's recently released Fable 2. Whilst the title didn't stay in the top spot of the charts for very long when it first came out, it is getting closer to Christmas and a purchase might be looking like a good option if you're after a light hearted game for the kids or yourselves to invest plenty of time in.

The article can be found here.

- Dave K

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PW Reviews - Fallout 3

Wednesday 19th of November, 2008 - 14:36:43 GMT

It's time for another review from the denizens of Preys World, this time WMain00 shares his thoughts on Bethesda's Fallout 3. Released almost a month ago after fighting its way to the shelves through vast scepticism of simply being a rehash of Oblivion the game has met with a largely positive reaction from many of those naysayers.

The article can be found here.

- Dave K

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PW Reviews - Saints Row 2

Monday 17th of November, 2008 - 17:27:29 GMT

With little industry activity to talk about right now and a hefty catalogue of games recently released or on the horizon we've got another review in store for you today. Released in mid-October, just before the big names of Fallout and Far Cry hit our shelves you might have picked up Saints Row 2 to tide you over until your most eagerly awaited titles were released or you might have skipped it entirely and spent the weeks twiddling your thumbs until said big names came about. If you're still undecided on whether or not this light hearted free form action game is for you then check this out.

The article can be found here.

- Dave K

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PW Reviews - Mirror's Edge

Saturday 15th of November, 2008 - 18:17:50 GMT

With the current swarm of game releases overwhelming us this fall there are no doubt a few titles which might slip by unnoticed or some that we neglect to pick up so as to not hurt our bank balances too much. Mirror's Edge is one of the more recently released games which shows a lot of originality and promise but also many of you may be dubious over whether or not to actually pick up, especially considering a mix of fairly low scoring reviews. At a time like this it might not be a wise decision basing your decisions off of biased or overly dramatic reviews, instead it might seem that the best option is to trust feedback from real gamers who have already taken a leap of Faith (terrible Mirror's Edge pun). This sterling summary of Mirror's Edge first impressions from forum user WMain00 should lend you a helping hand.

The article can be found here.

- Dave K

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ELSPA Charts - Fans send Fallout 3 to the top

Tuesday 4th of November, 2008 - 22:45:52 GMT

As predicted the no.1 spot in the PC charts continues to be a revolving door; the new number one this week is the PC version of Fallout 3. Rolling in right behind Fallout is Red Alert 3. CnC fans the world over will add RA3 to the collection like a book or a Bond film, without necessarily completing the game before the add-on invades the budget charts.

This has knocked Far Cry 2 down to no.3 and Spore down to 4. The next new entry, FIFA Manager 09, takes advantage of the lull before Football Manager 09 is released and keeps people remembering the brand name, a clever move since Fifa 09 has dropped to 19, making PES the winner this year even though it dropped five places to 9 due to the new entries and the fact that the Premiership transfer window won't stoke up any more interest in active football games, as opposed to management, until the new year.

Warhammer Online took the greatest fall at six places, falling from 10 to 16 but being an MMO, it has the same bounceback potential as WoW with the Lich King episode.

The only other new entry, Quantum of Solace, has used the Bond buzz to enter the PC chart and it's only reached no.20 – but we expect it will do better on consoles. The dropping new releases and Bond pushed out the usual lower chart fare of Flight Sim X and RTS gold editions – other than the usual Civ IV Complete at 14, with Colonization one place lower.

- Ken

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Call of Duty: World At War - PC Beta Goes Live

Wednesday 29th of October, 2008 - 15:22:29 GMT

For all those who haven't yet given it a download it's not too late to join in on the fun times with the recently released PC Beta. Whilst registration and keys for the 360 beta were limited, PC users are lucky enough to have complete access to the beta content simply by signing up with CallofDuty.com at any time and checking their Account/Profile section of the site to receive their own key. Clients for the beta are available to download at all the normal sites, Fileplanet, GamersHell etc. and once you've nabbed the 800mb file it's simply a matter of popping the key in during installation.

So if you're still waiting on some of your favourite titles to be released or have already rushed through and completed the likes of Fallout 3, Far Cry 2 and Fable 2, then hop onto CallofDuty.com and claim your free beta key. Though there is one thing; beware of the dogs.

- Dave K

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ELSPA Charts - PC - Far Cry 2 jumps into the No.1 Hot Seat

Tuesday 28th of October, 2008 - 23:12:54 GMT

The PC charts of the past few weeks show that we're gearing up for another Christmas; everything which has occupied the charts since the start of the year, has fallen into the lower half and has been replaced by new release after new release, all of which struggle to stay up without a big label's (or a football fan's) backing.

Blanket good reviews can get you at least one week at the top and the best example of this is the new number one this week; Far Cry 2. It's good that all formats were included on the one campaign which clearly helped the sales, although the game has divided the early buyers on our forum alone, let alone the rest of the web. It knocked the previous new chart entrant, Pro Evo Soccer 2009, down from no.1, another game which seems to have a split fanbase with its latest version, even if it's selling better than FIFA down at no.16. The other new entry was EA's Deadspace at 3. Considering almost every new EA game gets a barrage of abuse on Amazon, depending on the copy protection method, this is a respectable showing. Clearly, gamers are taking the game's challenging control method and lack of classic Sci-Fi weaponry to heart.

X3 Terran Conflict which entered the charts at 4 last week, dropped to 6 this week. The new entries of the past few weeks dropped Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway from 3 to 8, Warhammer Online fell from 6 to 10 and Crysis Warhead lost the one place to 9 – a reasonable performance now that Amazon has abandoned the game to its marketplace sellers rather than risk unsold stocks.

This new entry at the top spot kept Spore in the runner-up position this week at 2. Once the new Football Manager arrives, it's inevitable that Will Wright's latest will only monopolize the top spot when sales are really slow. Speaking of Will Wright, The original Sims 2 game dropped out of the top 20 at the end of May with a last bank holiday hurrah, leaving its add-ons to take up one-fifth of the chart at 5, 7, 14 and 17 respectively. The first and newest, Apartment Life, was the non-mover at 5. Another pair, Double Deluxe at 7 and Bon Voyage at 17, were the only titles in the chart that gained places where everything else fell, or represented a new release or re-entry.

The Civilization twins, the Colonization remake and the 4th full game, dropped to 11 and 13 respectively. With one week before marking a year in the charts World of Warcraft dropped out of the top 10 for the very first time, dropping to 12 – It wouldn't surprise us if the Lich King release puts the MMO back in the top half.

The final new entry was at no.19 with another hardcore strategy game; WWII Battle Tanks: T-34 vs Tiger. It was surrounded by two re-entries at 18 and 20; Medieval Total War Gold and MS Flight Simulator X Gold.

- Ken

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ELSPA Charts - PC - Brothers In Arms at no.1

Wednesday 15th of October, 2008 - 07:09:50 GMT

We'll spare you the Dire Straits wisecracks. The combination of heavy TV support and a hardcore fanbase combined two markets which bought Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway in massive quantities and allowed the game to enter at no.1. Spore isn’t sticking to the Sims/2 pattern of topping the charts for months, let alone years – it’s back down to 2 this week, as the Warhammer Online dropped to 3. However, MMO games always have the bounceback potential of patches and add-ons (in WoW’s case, maybe Bradster is buying all the copies that kept it at no.9 with no Lich King in sight). The Colonization Remake with the sneaky Civ IV rebrand dropped to 5, but is now approaching Sims and WoW-like heights of unpirated sales.

The free multiplayer weekend was bound to have an immediate impact on the Crysis Games; the original dropped out of the charts whilst Warhead dropped two places to 6. Crytek is hoping the exposure will result in potential Steam-based, if not retail, sales. Cash on Delivery 4 dropped to 10, potentially its lowest chart position since release. After ten million copies worldwide though, ActiBlizz have certainly made their money out of it, even with the pirated accounts.

Lego Batman was another new entry at 11, knocking the Witcher Enhanced edition down to 15 and its progress will be interesting given that there was no Dark Knight videogame in the summer. STALKER Clear Sky dropped to 13 as the wait for the savegame-friendly megapatch continues. The complete and original Civ IV remains in the bottom half, trickling sales to new converts at 14. Mass Effect is back and it’s surprising that the free-add-on, together with surprising price cuts from EA, have helped jump-start the title’s sales again (plus, its DRM was relaxed prior to release, instead of waiting for the disasters that befell Spore and Crysis Warhead). Age of Empires III which re-entered at the bottom of the chart, remains at 19 but it’s Sins of a Solar Empire which has fallen to 20 this week.

- Ken

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