Civilization 5 – Review

So on the recommendation of the Prof I went out a got myself a copy of Civilization 5. I think I’ve ruined my life.

Football Manager 2011 – Demo available

I'm squashed? Your mums squashed.

The best football management sim around is back for a new season and you can now download the demo before the November 5th release

http://www.sortitoutsi.net/forum/topic/47425-fm11-demo-now-available/

With Prof Robot away it means I can post football related stuff on here with out immediate ridicule.
There are 2 versions of the demo, Vanilla and Strawberry. Vanilla lets you play half a season as any one in the English or Scottish leagues, the Strawberry lets you play as any one in Europe, again for half a season.

I’ve had a quick play and as expected I think it’s great. There have obviously been plenty of tweaks in the background that you’d never know about but there has also been some pretty nice additions front and center.
Tactics wise you can now plan your set pieces to a degree, where players position themselves for corners and free kicks and so forth.
The media interactions have been spruced up a bit, now if you talk to the media it’s in an interview style, they ask questions you answer or you can steer the conversation on to different topics. Press conferences however haven’t really been touched which is slightly disappointing, there is still only a very limited amount of responses and they’re all pretty much the same as last year.
Player interactions have had a revamp too. In the past I haven’t really bothered with these much but now they again take the form of conversations. I’ve already managed to upset Gomes at Spurs. He wanted to move to a bigger club, I tried telling him I was trying to move the club forward, he didn’t believe me so I told him he was being disrespectful, he then ended the meeting. Dick.
The big change every one has been talking about is the new role of agents in the game. Now agents will offer players to you and more importantly it’s the agents who negotiate all the contracts. They’ll come in and tell you what their clients want, you then start to negotiate going back and forth with different offers. Different agents have different personalities, some are more willing to bend, others won’t budge. It’s a nice feature that adds a little drama to the usual boring process of offering your players new deals. In the past I’d just offer them what they want and be done with it. Now there is a real need to negotiate.

The pitch view has been enhanced quite a bit, the players on the pitch move more fluently and the animations more varied. It’s great, it all adds to the immersion.
I’m loving the demo and can’t wait for the new game.
In fact why the fuck am I writing this for you losers when I could be playing…later suckas.

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I know your commanding officer told you never to Retweet but you must trust me now. Retweet and you could win.

Three winners will be picked at random whereby I will contact you for your email address and you will be emailed the code.

Simples.

The Sims Free Barnacle Bay Giveaway

The Sims Free. Ha ha, do you see? It means two things.

So you have The Sims 3 and you you’re thinking “This Barnacle Bay fandango, is it worth shelling out money for?”

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Yes some loco people actually decided our humble site was worthy of being a portal to gift three of you lucky souls with free gear (not that kind of gear).

It would usually run you 1,600 Sim points. I have no idea what that means exactly but it sure sounds expensive if you have no money or like free stuff. Yet also it sounds reasonable enough for those of you that have a little change, like a real value experience.

All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning is start by following us on Twitter today. This will save you time clicking an extra button in the near future.Then keep a beady little eye out for the next two days, that’s Tuesday 19th and Wednesday 20th October, ReTweet our special Tweet and that’s it. We’ll pick the winners on Thursday 21st and be in touch.

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Civilization V Quasi-Review

Sticks and stones will fuck you up

Continuing GamesBurp’s proud tradition of “being too broke to buy games and not influential enough to score review code” I humbly submit to you a look at the new, full, complete version of Civilization V………..demo.

I came into Civilization (and didn’t call back) relatively late, only about 2 years ago with Civ IV. It was pretty much love at first play and relegated The Sims from the top of my strategy game favourites list. A list which consists of two games. Until now, because Civ V has taken Civ IV roughly from behind and left it flagged and exhausted on the kitchen floor. In the good way.

I once described Civilization as being “as addictive as heroin on crack” so for me and many gamers around the world, this teaser promo was spot on.

Star Trek Online

I just got a new laptop, which is about time because my last one was pretty much steam powered. I decided it was time to actually start using it for games more recent than minesweeper and began looking around. The Sims 3 is an obvious choice for me, and I had a quick poke around Steam looking at a Demo for Machinarium and snapping up my free copy of Portal (until 25th May, get yours).

I also figured I’d check out the demo for Star Trek Online because I was jonesing for it since last year and because studio Cryptic has recently canned plans to port it for console.

Player 2 Press Start – The Decline of Multiplayer Sofa Gaming

I guess it was inevitable. Online gaming provides a route to multiplayer on a scale simply not possible at home. The allure to developers is one of new challenges and creativity while to publishers it represents a way to keep their game in the disc drive, not to mention charging for optional extras.

APB Official Pre-Order Video

It doesn’t show a helluva lot but it’s going to be epic. You can read a little about the unique business model HERE which will be taking the place of a standard subscription.

A great deal will be perpetuated by users. That’s not to say that the devs will be lazy, they wont be, but players will be able to play any damn way they please. Want to take out rival gangs exclusively? Fine, though you’ll have to deal with cops if you get caught. Want to be a cop and catch one type of criminal? Fine, but you may be a target to indiscriminate gangs. There will be this constant dynamism where you’re alerted to a crime, or alerted to a criminal opportunity depending which side of the law you’re on. It’ll be fast and frenetic and probably fun as all hell.

We’ll keep you updated.

Top 14 Games For The Rest Of The Year – 13

Part 12 is here

13. Civilization V

This screen is from Civilization Revolution on which  I spent hours and frigging hours. It was simple to get into, incredibly deep and as addictive as heroin on crack.

Master of game design Sid Meier is also making a browser based version for Facebook called Civilization Network for which I cannot wait. It will be exciting to see how it’s implemented as well as it being a barometer for how developers and publishers will approach the rush to the social gaming scene.

The Top 14 Games For The Rest Of The Year – 7

Part 6 here.

7. Mafia II – PS3, 360, PC

Mafia was pretty balls. But it’s the sort of thing which can be balls the first time round then improve massively for the sequel (I’m looking at you Assassin’s Creed). I’m looking forward to it but it’s on Take Two Interactive’s slate to be be released by the end of October along with LA Noire and Max Payne 3 which leaves not much time either for them to get it out or for me to fit it in (that’s what she said).

I’ll probably give this to NastyButler as an assignment. Not that he’ll necessarily do it, I just sometimes like to pretend I’m a grizzled stogie chomping editor from the 1950s who cares nary a damn about some young buck reporter’s ambitions because if I don’t make the evening deadline then I don’t get my bonus to buy a sweet little negligee for Mrs Editor so she can go on banging the Bank Manager, which she says she’s only doing to get him to stop the bank foreclosure on our house which we’re close to losing only because the crazy broad goes nuts for jewels. Goddamn that bitch drives me out of my mind.

Part 8 tomorrow.