Games Cheats and Reviews

Two members of the VideoGamer.com team play through some extended scenes of Splinter Cell Conviction and discuss their thoughts on the title in real time.

Alan Wake developers respond to the in-game graphics debate:

"The actual cinematics are all separate pre-rendered video files. We do have some sequences where we do what I guess could be called real-time cutscenes (like the "reveal camera" moments, for example), but percentagewise, those are definitely in the minority.

All of the cinematics have been rendered by our game engine, though. It’s just that we use more high-resolution models because the camera tends to be a lot closer to the characters than during gameplay, and we throw in a bunch of post-processing to make things look very pretty."

NextGen Player writes:

"Not convinced that Canada is the coolest gaming country in the world? Aside from the, you know, hundreds of news items discussed right here on NextGen Player, how about this — Sheridan College has created the first ever real-time stereoscopic 3D video game that does not require 3D glasses. Oh yes, it’s true. Read on."

Apparently a man known as Paul Wendling (pictured above) who worked on the CGI/Real Time trailer for Platinum’s new game Vanquish has given some interesting insight into the game.

Including information on the game play and the functions of the suite.

With out further ado, hit the jump to find out more!

Three Nvidia GF100 vids leaked out: The videos shows real-time ray tracing, tessellation-water-features and a performance test with the ego-shooter Far Cry 2.

Bungie Tweets: our cinematics run real time in our game engine, they’re not outsourced CG

The iOpener team recently announced that they signed a world renowned driver to participate in their program as a real life driver. Michael Schumacher seems to be the top guess for the position…but who knows.

Portable Gamer writes: "This game reminds me of my favorite RPG: Skies of Arcadia. The characters are similar and, of course, there’s the presence of airships. However, this story isn’t like most of the others I’ve seen. Though there isn’t a lot of replayability here, but the combination of new storyline and familiar controls makes for a great game that you can jump into and enjoy immediately. Kids will enjoy this game as well, and with everything I’ve mentioned about ease of control, you can rest assured that they won’t be asking you every 5 seconds for help. With the world map that is true in placement and relation between destinations, coupled with destinations that actually exist, they may even learn something. So sit back, relax, and allow yourself to enjoy this guilty pleasure. Don’t worry, we won’t tell them it’s not real-time fighting."

What do you want out of the battle system in the latest and greatest RPG? That’s a bit of a broad question, eh? It’s highly subjective; based on each gamer’s perspective and interpretation. But, what sort of gamers tend to gravitate to what type of battle system? You have your real-time battles, action-based battle systems, turn-based, strategy, a mixture of all of the above and more. Why the RPG focus? Because most games outside the genre usually have a fairly standard genre-wide flow to battles, even though the specific mechanics of battle differ greatly. Take first-person shooters, for example. They’re all "the same", in that if you pick up an FPS title, you pretty much know what you’re going to be getting into. You have a good idea of how the game is going to be played, even though the specifics might change from one FPS to another. The same goes for third-person, action-oriented titles like Grand Theft Auto IV or Infamous. However, if you pick up an RPG without ever reading anything about it, it’s a toss up. I know the phrase is overused, but it really is like a box of chocolates given to you by your sweet old aunt – you never really know what you’re going to get, and sometimes it might be scary.

Erik Brudvig from IGN writes: "Anybody who has played more than a handful of JRPGs will find a game that feels all too familiar from the very outset. If you’re fine with buying a game that will feel like you’ve probably played it before, by all means give Magnacarta 2 a shot. I’d say that newcomers would find more to like here, but the fact is that there are better JRPGs out there on Xbox 360 that I’d recommend as an intro to the genre before this middle of the road adventure."

6.0 Presentation

No new ideas. Magnacarta 2 takes absolutely no chances.

7.0 Graphics

Serviceable art direction and decent visuals.

7.0 Sound

Lots of voice acting. Most of it isn’t awful. Japanese voice tracks would have been nice, though.

7.0 Gameplay

The real-time combat is a good start, but the quest design and lack of evolution through the game don’t help things.

6.0 Lasting Appeal

It’s a pretty long game, but not one you’d be likely to play through twice.