The Round-up: Microsoft say "Gaming doesn't have it's head in the clouds (yet)"

Guten Tag, Konichiwa, Bienvenue, welcome and come on in. It's time once again for your semi-regular gaming round-up of the week brought to you by the Game For A Laugh Blog and KillerKeyboard.com.


It's been a strange week all told. England beat Spain 1-0 at Wembley, marking the first time that the Three Lions have beaten the number one team in the world since rankings were publicly printed, Italy has finally seen the back of the Bunga-bunga obsessed playboy prime minister Silvio "shuddupayaface" Berlusconi, and in news closer to this sites roots, MINECRAFT HAS GONE GOLD!!!

"So, yes, Minecraft has gone gold. :D" - @notch

I know, i was shocked too. I guess two years was enough time to work out all the bugs, and it's nice to see that the game is to all intents and purposes "finished", but can a game like Minecraft ever truly be finished? I foresee a long lifespan for the game punctuated by many, many updates (some big, some small) but I don't think that this Gold version of the game will represent the bulk of the finished article. Either way, it'll be fun to play.


In news that will worry no-one, it was revealed today that the Unity game engine will not support Windows 7 phones due to it being a "relatively closed system". According to David Helgason, the CEO of Unity Technologies, the company might be looking at supporting Windows 8 instead.

Not a big loss in the world of mobile gaming, especially in a world where iOS and Android dominate the smart phone market by such a great margin.


There are an awful lot of unhappy Batman fans out there right now, and almost all of them appear to be Xbox owners.

Since the launch of Batman: Arkham City players of the 360 version have complained that they are losing game saves. While some suspect it's to do with the Catwoman DLC, nothing has as of yet been confirmed. Warner Brothers, who published the sequel to Rocksteady's critically acclaimed Batman: Arkham Asylum, have acknowledged the glitch and are asking users for information regarding the circumstances under which the data loss occurred. If you've suffered the loss of Save data in your game you can visit the official forum and fill in the survey to help get to the bottom of all of this.


Talking of DLC, do you remember when games developers used to wait a couple of weeks before announcing any forthcoming DLC? I do, with great fondness. Unfortunately it's not a practice that Ubisoft agree with, since they just announced their first DLC pack for AC: Revelations entitled "Ancestors". The DLC itself is a multiplayer character pack containing 4 unique skins including the Gladiator and The Privateer, each character has their own unique skill set and animations to give more variety to your online play and doesn't go live until December 12th, so at least there's a decent gap from the games release date, but if they knew about it already why not put it in the game to start with?

Oh wait, money. Doh!


In slightly better news for Xbox 360 fans it turns out that a free avatar item is available for a short time to celebrate Microsoft's 10th anniversary in the console business. The Xbox anniversary prop fires streamers and glitter into the air and does nothing else of real worth, but since it's free you can't really complain now, can you?

It's on the avatar marketplace until Saturday, so grab it while it's free and prepare to be underwhelmed...

Staying with the Xbox theme, some news that came out of GDC China this past week after Microsoft's Brian Prince spoke about the role of Cloud gaming in video games today. He stated his belief that OnLive style systems represented the "distant future of gaming in the cloud," mainly due to the high bandwidth required to stream high quality game feeds in real time with minimal slow down. On the subject of Cloud related features coming to the "Xbox platform" Prince remained tight lipped, He did go as far as to promise cloud specific features but wouldn't be drawn further on the subject.

Is it possible that the next Xbox might have some form of OnLive style streaming component? or maybe Microsoft want to emulate Sony's move towards Cloud based game saves? Either way, only time will tell on this one (okay, maybe insider sources as well).


I downloaded the free version of DCUO recently after reporting a 1000% increase in the population in the last round-up, and while it took damn near 8 hours to fully download and install I'm happy to report that the game itself runs smoothly and is easy as pie to pick up.

Apparently I'm not the only one who downloaded the MMO recently, as it was reported at the weekend that DCUO has now attracted 1 million new players since it went F2P. Maybe this was the move they needed to make all along? Now they just need to keep hold of those players...


NINTENDO NEWS!!!

To paraphrase the great Mark Twain, the reports of the 3DS' demise may have been greatly exaggerated.

That's according to a statement from Nintendo that claims the 3DS is well on track to sell more units this year than the original DS did in its first 12 months. That isn't necessarily all good news though, as it was only when the DS Lite was released that DS sales really picked up to a respectable level and then sky rocketed into the "ridiculous-phere". The 3DS might very well sell more units than the DS did in year one, but until they re-jig the console to include a second stick as standard they're doomed to sell a disappointing number year on year.

Moving over to Nintendo's other underwhelming console, Tecmo financial results have revealed that Ninja Gaiden 3: Razors Edge will be released as a launch title for the Wii-U when the system débuts around April 2012. The game on which Razors Edge is based was launched on Xbox 360 and PS3 some time ago...

Finishing up the Nintendo news on a high note, Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma has revealed to GamesRadar that Shigeru Miyamoto has talked about the possibility of bringing old school 2D Zelda games up to date, by giving them the 3D treatment. Assuming the idea is to give them a 3DS or stereoscopic 3D update It's an interesting concept, and is certainly something that would work well for a top down perspective Zelda game such as my favourite, A Link to the Past.



Ban Hammers at the ready, Lock and Load!

It appears that Dice have been busy bees since they got the Battlefield servers working, identifying anyone taking advantage of cheap exploits in the BF3 multiplayer. Wielders of the sacred Hammer of Banning have taken a "zero tolerance policy for cheating," that they find on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, and so far hundreds of accounts have been deleted. A patch is in the works to remedy the more common exploits as well as common complaints such as flash-lights that are hotter and brighter than the sun itself.

You have been warned.



Would it be a round-up without the weekly look at the top ten best selling games on all platforms? No, probably not, so here it is.

WARNING: This top ten is unsuitable for Gamers with a sensitivity to Zumba Fitness being popular.

1.Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
2.The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
3.Battlefield 3
4.FIFA 12
5.Just Dance 3
6.Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
7.Moshi Monsters: Moshling Zoo
8.Batman: Arkham City
9.Zumba Fitness
10.Wii Party

I have no earthly idea what a Moshi monster is, but the fact it sold more than Zumba means it's okay by me. CoD:MW3 is, unsurprisingly at the top of the mountain this week after setting an all time Video Games sales record that surpassed that of 2010's MW2. Skyrim bats clean up while BF3 manages a creditable 3rd place this week.

FIFA is an unstoppable juggernaut and somehow manages to hang around in the 4th champions league qualifying spot and Batman come up a little short at number 8 on the list, just below the aforementioned Moshi Monsters.

Anyone reading this who has bought a copy of Zumba fitness should hang their heads in shame, Bad consumer, naughty consumer, did you do this?!

Right then, I'm off before I lose all hope for humanity. Maybe the Mayans were right, and it's Zumba that will end civilisation as we know it...

Monday Round-up: GLaDOS takes over iPhone, FIFA continues to dominate the world.

It's Monday which can mean only two things. One, you just had your first day back at work after a weekend that felt about as short as Wayne Rooney's temper, and Two, It's time for another Monday Round-up.



In what has to be one of the quickest U-turns in recent memory Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has announced that Qwikster is dead in the water. Going forward there will be only one account, one password and one service, be it through the post or by way of streaming.

Hastings posted this message on the Netflix blog this morning - "It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVD", "This means no change: one website, one account, one password... in other words, no Qwikster."

Victory for common sense and keeping things simple!



Listeners of the Killer Keyboard Podcast will be aware of a little game by the name of "The Binding of Isaac" which is being played by our very own Tim Regan. It's an interesting concept for a game, begging the question "just how big can a basement actually be?" but also has some really neat ideas in the gameplay department such as the idea of having only one life per play-through.
Anyone who is curious about the game can now play a free Flash based version of the game on the newsgrounds website, while those who already own the game, including Mr Regan, can look forward to a free update set for release this Halloween via steam.

The update is set to include 20 more items, 3 extra bosses, a new playable character, extra achievements and a new final chapter for anyone who has completed the game already.

Edmund McMillen, who as part of Team Meat created Isaac as well as Super Meat Boy, said of the Halloween update - "This 2nd update is more or less my dream update, something i wanted to be able to do for release but knew it would push the game back another month to get done, so in a way on the 31st Isaac will become exactly what i wanted to release but didn't have the time to finish."

Team Meat are right up there with Valve in my estimations at the moment, let's hope they keep producing original and high quality games like this.



Two pieces of news this week in regards to the aforementioned Valve studios. First off we have this brilliantly edited video that shows just how badly things could go for you hipsters out there if iPhone's new "Siri" voice recognition system goes more the way of "GLaDOSiri". Personally i can't wait for the GLaDOS option to hit the App store...



Also of note is the news that Brandon Jones recently managed to put together a demo of Team Fortress 2 running (or at least rendering) on a web browser. As if this game wasn't accessible enough. If the Unreal Engine can run on Flash 11 there seems little reason why TF2 can't make the move to Flash soon.



Get ready for more Hats!



Xperia Play might not be setting the world of mobile gaming on fire right now, but Sony haven't given up on it quite yet. Sony have partnered with EA to make four titles available for absolutely free during the holiday period. Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Dead Space, NfS: Shift and NfS: Hot Pursuit will all be made free to download during the Thanksgiving break right up until January 15th next year. That should keep the dozens of Xperia owners happy...



And if that doesn't then maybe the announcement of Minecraft: Pocket Edition being released on Android will. On October 7th Carl Manneh, the managing director of Mojang, tweeted that the Android release of Minecraft was finally available for download on the Android Marketplace, having originally been slated for a late September release. Owners of Android platforms can now download a free demo of the game to see how well it will run before stumping up the $6.99 (£4.29) it costs for the retail version.



Bad news for XBox 360 owners who love their "Gears" after an influx of reports from gamers complaining that their game was freezing and/or crashing when they try to load a game mode. It appears to be confined to split screen Horde mode and makes one of the users profiles unusable in game.

Epic games are currently trying to resolve the issue, telling Joystiq.com that "Getting this resolved is a priority for Epic. We are collecting information internally, sourcing as much as possible from the community and exploring potential fixes. We do not have any recommendations to share with players just yet."



In other XBox 360 news, it would appear that the Fall dashboard update will be hitting on November 25th. According to GIGAom, Microsoft is targeting a Black Friday launch for the update which includes the Live TV functionality reported in last weeks Round-up as well as Bing universal search and Kinect functionality. Interestingly XBox TV partners are favouring the use of Apple's H.264 encoded video over Microsoft's own smooth streaming system, that's a bit of a kick in the nuts if you ask me, but if it works then who cares?



We have Skyrim news!

The above image is apparently the world map for the upcoming Elder Scrolls title and points to the in game world being every bit as expansive as you could have hoped. Revealed at the Igromir Expo in Russia, no i have no idea what that is either, but according to sources every attendee got a copy of said map to take away with them. here's the map translated into English, you can click it to zoom in and drink up "ye olde worlde mappe goodenesse"



Right then, for any Nintendo geeks out there it;s time to hold onto your Virtual boys and baton down your 3DS's. Nintendo have announced that a new Wii bundle will be released in conjunction with the release of Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games this November.

As you can see from the above picture it's...well...It's Blue. It's also one of the new versions of Nintendo's best selling console, meaning that you won't be playing any Gamecube titles on this powder blue relic, oh for god's sake, it isn't even the same colour as Sonic!



Time to wrap it up as we always do, with the UK's Top ten best selling games on all formats for the week ending October 8th.

1.FIFA 12
2.Rage
3.Dark Souls
4.Gears of War 3
5.F1 2011
6.Zumba Fitness
7.Dead Island
8.Deus Ex: Human Revolution
9.Lego Pirates of the Caribbean
10.Resistance 3

So FIFA makes it 2 weeks at number one, leaving everything and everyone in it's titanic wake. No surprises there then. Rage makes a solid début at No.2 while Dark Souls surprises many, including myself by reaching the No.3 spot. Zumba somehow continues to sell well despite the fact that everyone and their aunt must own a copy by now while games like Dead Island, Deus Ex and Resistance 3 all manage to stay in the top ten best sellers.

Seeing a game like Dark Souls doing so well in the chart this week makes me both happy, and optimistic, that gaming hasn't turned away from hardcore titles. While Zumba may well represent all that I despise in gaming, there are plenty of people out there who still like to get their arses kicked regularly and then ask "Please sir, can i have some more?" Props to any of you that bought the sequel to Demons Souls, you're encouraging developers to continue to make great games that challenge the player on several levels.

It's been a while...Blame Minecraft!

It's been quite some time since the last article was posted here on Game for a Laugh. I apologise for the lack of content over the last month but i promise i have a really good excuse, and it has nothing to do with the dog eating my laptop (although i swear he did try that once due to a rather fetching Pedigree Chum screen saver). You could say that i've been doing research for the blog, but i don't think that you should have that much fun researching something, unless it's porn or product development at Frankie and Benny's. Nope, the reason that it's been so quiet can be summed up in one word.

Minecraft.

I've heard a fair bit about Minecraft over the last year or so, until recently i just ignored it due to the large number of AAA titles that were on the horizon. Red Dead Redemption, Fallout New Vegas, GT5, Portal 2 and Fight Night Champion, which i'll be writing about later on, all took my attention away from the small game originally developed by one man in the snowy depths of Sweden in May 2009. That is, until i saw a video feature on IGN about the popular indie game scheduled for full release on 11.11.11 (that date sounds familiar).

You'd think i would have learned by now. Games such as the super successful Angry Birds proved that low budget games with reasonable price points can be just as enjoyable and deep as the biggest budget blockbusters. Minecraft cost me just short of £14 and has swallowed literally days of my life in the last month, Angry Birds did just the same thing a few months earlier.

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself here, let's talk a bit more about what Minecraft actually is.

Minecraft was developed by Swedish game designer Markus Persson after he quit as a developer for King.com to concentrate on his independent work. Partly inspired by Infiniminer, a mining game by Zach Barth, it was initially released on May 17th 2009 and continues to be in Beta to this day. The game is graphically very simple, the environment is rendered in 3d but the textures themselves are extremely reminiscent of Doom. While it won't blow your socks off in the looks department it's great to see a game that is so confident in its game play that it couldn't care less how it looks, and to be fair to it the graphics actually grow on you after a while to the point where it becomes charming. The low res graphics also have a practical purpose however. Persson has been quoted as saying that he wanted to create a game that could be played on anyone's PC. He certainly achieved that since i can play it on my Laptop with very little slow down at all.

Gameplay consists of mining blocks of wood, dirt, cobbles and gravel and then using these resources to craft your shelter, weapons, clothes, tools, torches and even your own bed. The list of items you can craft is truely exhaustative, everything from sheep sheers to garden hoes can be made with the right ingrediants. The real appeal of this game is simple, You create everything. It's like seeing the condensed history of man in video game form.

Make a shelter, form stone tools, mine metals, make better tools, protect yourself from the things that come for you at night... Oh wait i forgot to tell you, there are Zombies in this game too.

While daylight hours are the time when you collect resources and form the world as you want it to be, darkness belongs to the things that go "bump" in the night. This sets out a very rigid structure for how you should proceed. Make a shelter and arm yourself before night falls or you're in serious doo doo! Of course the options allow the player to turn the zombies off or on at any time, giving you the opportunity to build a fortress before you need worry about uninvited guests slathering after your poor overworked brains, but for the hardcore out there you can struggle through your first night with the hoard after you.

It's the shear freedom and creativity in this game that appeals to me. Minecraft is a sandbox game in its truest form, allowing you complete freedom in what you do with it. Form your own kingdom? Go ahead! Make a recreation of Hyrule and have yourself a 3D Zelda adventure? Why not! Make a 1:1 scale model of the Enterprise? Well it's a pretty nerdy thing to do but Yes, indeed you can!

The reason i can't put this game down is simply that it's endless, both in possibilities and in game play. Every day i set off in a new direction and find another strange unexplored island full of caves and resources to be tapped in to. How can i stop when there's so much still to explore?!

Now i know how Sir Walter Rayleigh felt...