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November 06 LG’s Pop, Sony Ericsson’s X10 and the week on T&GPosted by: Jane Douglas
LG’s GD510 Pop, a three-inch touchscreen available on pay as you go for under £100, and the Xperia X10, Sony Ericsson’s first phone to run Google’s mobile OS, Android. I’ve also just had the colossal HTC HD2 (pictured, with an iPhone on the left for scale) land on my desk. It’s the first Windows phone to feature a capacitive touchscreen, and it’s a big, crisp-looking one at that: 480 by 800 pixels, 4.1 inches across. Compared to the resistive screen on the similarly sized 4.1-inch Toshiba TG01 Windows phone, the HD2’s touch display is a smooth, responsive dream. That’s the very first impression – I’ll be slapping in a SIM, test driving it over the weekend and back with more next week. American beauties We asked them to put together a sample bundle of American bargains and US-exclusive gadgets and they came up with: Microsoft Zune HD 16GB: $219 (£132) Which would run to a total, with £506 added for the service, import duty and VAT, to £2196 in all. That’s a lot of gadget for the money – albeit for someone who has a couple of grand to spare… On Tech & Gadgets November 04 Our man in JapanGuest blog: David McCarthy, Rising Star Games Starting today, David McCarthy (Rising Star Games and former deputy editor of Edge magazine) is going to be guest blogging for us direct from Japan on the games scene over there. Read his first post below and check back for more from David every fortnight.
Land of the Rising Star "Man, Japan is over. We're done. Our game industry is finished." That's how Capcom's Keiji Inafune felt after walking round this year's Tokyo Game Show, apparently. Inafune is best known as the creator of Mega Man, Onimusha and Dead Rising, but he's also had a hand in the Resident Evil series, the original Street Fighter, and about a million other of Japanese developer Capcom's greatest hits. It's difficult to argue with someone who has such vast experience in the world of videogames. But he's wrong. Ever since I first visited Japan, several years ago, people have been using the Tokyo Game Show to predict the end of Japanese gaming. Japanese kids are all too busy sending emails on their phones, they'd say, or games like Grand Theft Auto are too dominant, leaving no room for Japanese games to find success outside Japan. But look at the sales charts in the UK or US and you're likely to see a top ten full of Japanese games, whether it's familiar names like Tekken and Metal Gear Solid, or newer arrivals, like Professor Layton's latest adventure or Wii Fit. Outside the top ten, you're likely to run into the sort of unconstrained creativity and eccentricity that has given Japan such a well-deserved reputation for videogame brilliance: Valkyria Chronicles, Demon's Souls, No More Heroes, and Flower, Sun and Rain, to name but a few. What's more, one Japanese company, Nintendo, has almost single-handedly transformed videogames in the past few years, opening up rich seams of design innovation, and acquiring entirely new audiences of OAPs and toddlers. So Keiji Inafune is wrong. The Japanese games industry is far from finished. Which is why this blog is just starting, to celebrate everything about Japanese gaming - the good, the bad, and the ugly, but also the neon-coloured, spiky-haired, and just plain bonkers. October 30 Follow the Golden Joysticks livePosted by: Nik Taylor Pressing all your news buttons this week have been the tales that Nokia is going to drag Apple through the courts for alleged copyright infringements, Windows 7 has continued to sell strongly and the government is planning to switch off the internet for anyone who gets a little too into file sharing. But today, the story we’ve all got our eyes on is coming from the Park Lane Hilton in London. That’s where the Golden Joystick Awards 2009 will be taking place, and we’ll be there to get all the news as it happens. Follow Jane and myself on Twitter to hear about each award as it’s announced, and go here from 3pm to see a round-up of all the results. Also on T&G this week
October 29 JBL’s acid-bright Reference 430 headphonesPosted by: Jane Douglas When it comes to headphones, sound leakage is my big pet peeve. For two reasons: 1) Having to listen to the tinny beats seeping out of other people’s leaky earphones is annoying. 2) I don’t want other people to know how desperately uncool my musical tastes are. Anyway. Today I’ve been testing the Reference 430 headphones from JBL (who supplied the audio tech), and Quiksilver girls’ brand Roxy (who supplied the acid-bright styling and pictured carry case). Our loaned pair is the blue-green variant. A pink-orange version is also available.
If they fit your delicate lugs, you’ll probably find them comfortable; the padding is covered in a velvety fabric that makes them pretty cosy. I imagine them doubling as a decent pair of earmuffs in the depths of winter. The funky neon colouring makes the Reference 430 look a bit toy-like, as do the plastic ear cups – not in a cheap way, as the build quality is good, but these ‘phones are certainly not for the audiophile who likes their gear sleek and discreet. Most importantly, the audio quality – for a £60 headset – is decent. To my ears, the sound is bass-focused; crank up the volume and you’ll get a good rumble going. I had been doing just that when I remembered my fellow editor would be suffering whatever sound leakage these headphones let out. Turns out, the Reference 430 headphones aren’t quite leak-proof. All in all, though I wouldn’t recommend them to you for a long plane journey (at least, not if I’m sat next to you), these are a decent set of headphones: a good first upgrade from white earbuds for the iPod nano generation. October 23 Robopets, the Nook and Windows 7Posted by: Jane Douglas
It has a small colour touchscreen below the more familiar greyscale e-ink display. Which makes it not entirely unlike (though shorter) than the little-known Alex by Spring Design. Research on robopets and other technological innovations to help the future elderly also went down a treat. Then there was the Windows 7 launch, of course, with PC World calling it the “fastest selling operating system" in its history. And following on from last week’s ‘naked’ scanners kerfuffle comes word that a children's rights group has successfully objected to kids being scanned by the X-ray security devices. The shark that is Tech & Gadgets, meanwhile, never stops swimming: October 19 Got eyes? Sony Ericsson wants your photoPosted by: Jane Douglas
And they don’t mean hurried little point-and-shoot snapshots of your peepers, either. Edelstein is a celebrity portrait photographer who has previously captured on film the likes of Kate Moss, Daniel Day Lewis, Nelson Mandela and Simon Pegg (pictured). Therefore Sony Ericsson wants 61 volunteers to take part in the 12.1-hour photoshoot in December. Upload your a photo of yourself at the official site for your chance to be “immortalised” as an eye model. And no, we’re not sure how they’re going to do the 121st eye. (Winking? An eye patch?) October 16 BlackBerry Storm2, Google bookstore, ‘naked’ scannersPosted by: Jane Douglas
The airport’s head of customer experience considers it less intrusive than a physical pat-down. She may or may not be right (more importantly, is it more effective?), but we agree the so-called “naked” images produced are not “erotic or pornographic”. Unless you’re really into grainy, monochrome photocopies. In other news, Google outlined plans to sell books in a huge online bookstore, which will offer about half a million titles when it launches early next year, including books from third-party stores with which it will share profits. BlackBerry, meanwhile, is having another bash at its Storm touchscreen smartphone, announcing the Storm2 – this time with Wi-Fi and an improved SurePress clickable screen. T3 Gadget Awards 2009 This week also brought us the T3 Gadget Awards, at which my esteemed colleague Mr Taylor handed over the prize for New Media Service of the Year (BBC iPlayer HD), with HTC picking up two of the big awards, Gadget of the Year and Phone of the Year, for the smashing HTC Hero. This week on MSN Tech & Gadgets:
October 09 Windows Phone arrives, Kindle on the wayPosted by: Jane Douglas This week in gadget news has brought us the arrival of Windows phone (accompanied by a bevy of smart new handsets), Amazon announcing the Kindle for the UK and a phishing scam that publicly compromised thousands of Hotmail users’ passwords. Meanwhile, back at Tech & Gadgets headquarters, we’ve been primping for next week’s glitzy T3 Gadget Awards, playing with a Livescribe Pulse smartpen and strategically dismembering space zombies in Dead Space: Extraction. This week on Tech & Gadgets October 02 T3 Gadget Awards: Judgment DayPosted by: Jane Douglas
The T3 Gadget Awards are very nearly upon us. Judgment Day, in fact, has been and gone; the judges’ votes for each of the illustrious prizes have been cast, mine included. Obviously, I’ve been sworn to secrecy on my picks, so you’ll need to stay tuned for the revelations on October 14. Until then, there’s at least a teaser video to watch. September 30 LG wants to buy your phonePosted by: Jane Douglas …for a princely sum of $10,000. But! Only if it’s an old Chocolate handset, and only if it’s got one of five magical serial numbers (see the LG site for details). Whether it’s a frantic global search for five unique mobiles (the US site says LG “desperately needs to locate the phones”) or a sneaky promotion for the new Chocolate BL20 dressed up like a sudden product recall, it’s gotten our attention. Any guesses?
September 28 Sayonara, Tokyo Game ShowPosted by: Nik Taylor So there we go. The games have been packed away, the booth babes have bowed out and the cosplayers have changed back into their civvies and headed home. The Tokyo Game Show is over for another year. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about what I’ve seen at this year’s show. The general impression among the people I’ve met over the course of the event is that it’s been a little low on really big news but that, as ever, there have been some genuinely exciting games to be seen. Of those, the titles to get everyone talking have been Resonance of Fate, Bayonetta, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Splinter Cell: Conviction and Assassin’s Creed II, to name but a few. We’re going to continue to update the TGS mini-site over the next few days, so keep an eye out for a feature on the highlights of this year's TGS, as well as sights from around the show floor and images of the army of cosplayers that arrived over the weekend. But for now, from Tokyo, sayonara. Ubisoft goes largePosted by: Nik Taylor My word, those folk at Ubisoft have been beavering away. My trip to their TGS booth was like an early look at every gamer’s Christmas list. Every one of Splinter Cell: Conviction, Assassin’s Creed II, Red Steel 2 and Avatar caused roadblock queues on the show floor. Over the weekend, I’ve been up close with each of those games. Here are a few quick thoughts. Red Steel 2
I saw some neat touches during a gameplay sequence set in Venice, which included the ability to nick a gondola or dive under the water of the city’s canals to evade capture, as well as the option to pay packs of thieves to assist you in quests. As in the original, everything you see can be reached by climbing the intricately designed buildings, but you’ll also have your eye on your notoriety meter which shows how much interest the local guards will take in you. This looks like a smooth evolution of a quality game, and was one of the stars of TGS. Avatar But is it enjoyable to play? Personally, I found the 3D system a disorienting experience that distracted me from the game I was supposed to be playing. Most of the time I was either looking at the surrounding scenery or wondering whether I was starting to feel travel sick. When I did make myself focus on the game, I wasn’t entirely sure what there was to be had. Levels jump from one reality to another (from blue-skinned tribes-people to jungle fighting marines, in my demo). This will presumably make sense when playing the whole game, but at the moment Avatar looks like a title that’s trying to be all things to all comers, especially given the god-game and RPG elements that have also been thrown into the mix. The risk Avatar runs is that it may not offer enough of one thing to please anyone. Splinter Cell: Conviction Graphically, it’s a revelation by comparison to predecessor, Double Agent. It looks genuinely cinematic, with objectives projected onto in-game surfaces and plot lines picked up via overheard conversations. Sam’s methods of extracting information from the enemy are more brutal than ever, with the player able to decide which ‘persuasion’ to use next. The use of stealth has been reworked to become ‘dynamic stealth’, so you can remain hidden and move quickly, so long as you keep the enemy confused. There’s also a new Mark and Execute feature, which enables you to tag enemies before engaging them, so Sam can do a Jack Bauer on a room and clear it quickly and efficiently. The game already looks so slick, it’s a surprise the release date is as far away as February 23, 2010. Alien evolvedPosted by: Nik Taylor Alienware doesn’t tend to do things by halves, and that was certainly the case with the slew of gaming rigs it unleashed on Tokyo Game Show over the weekend. Among them was the Area 51 ALX, yet to go on sale and the undoubted star of Alienware’s show. I’d already been told about its spec before I saw it, so I was prepared for a mind-boggling component list that includes an overclocked Intel Core i7 975 3.86GHz quad core processor, 12GB of DDR3 RAM and dual 1.8GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 295 graphics cards. What I wasn’t expecting was the sheer size of the thing. It’s an absolute beast, dressed all in black with a customisable light display shining out through the darkness. A set of motorised vents on the top rise when extra cooling is required, giving the thing the appearance of a black wolf raising its hackles. What’s always notable about Alienware machines is care is taken on more than just specifications; there’s also a great attention to detail. Peer round the back at all the various ports and you’ll notice a light that illuminates the whole area. Pop open the case and there’s clear lighting there too – powered by the PC’s internal battery – so you can see what you’re doing when working inside, even when the machine’s not plugged in. What you won’t see is a hard drive. For this, you need to pop open the opposite side of the machine, which is where the hard drives – all six of them, if you’re feeling extravagant – have been placed for better cooling (as shown in the picture). Each slots directly into place with no need for cabling. There’s no doubt this is a dream machine for any serious gamer and Alienware proudly declares the Area 51 ALX its most powerful desktop ever. It comes with a price tag to match, of course, with the standard model setting you back $3,999. You’ll need to add plenty more to that figure if you want to get it anywhere near top spec. If you’re struggling to justify such excess, Alienware was also showing some similarly desirable machines with slightly more palatable price points. The Area 51 (no ALX here) kicks of at $1,999, with a slightly less blistering performance the main reason for the price disparity. Alternatively, there’s the Aurora and Aurora ALX ($1,299 and $2,299, respectively) for those who need a less hulking machine. On top of that, the company also introduced the M15x, a 15-inch version of the company’s M17x and thus dubbed the ‘fastest 15-inch laptop in the world’. Take a look at http://www.alienware.com/ for full specs and pricings. September 27 Important robot tank updatePosted by: Nik Taylor Remember that weaponized spider mechanoid tank I was blogging about the other day? They finally put a sign up to explain what it’s from. Unfortunately the sign was entirely in Japanese, but I did manage to glean this web address from it: http://tekki.gameyarou.jp/ Check it out and you’ll see the game of which this arachnid war machine is the star. It looks very exciting, as any self-respecting robot game should, but who can tell what it’s called? Probably not coming to a shop near you soon. Sega’s heavy hittersPosted by: Nik Taylor Sega’s booth at TGS this year has been dominated by two games: Bayonetta and Resonance of Fate. The first of these has been big news ever since it made an explosive playable debut at this year’s E3, with game director Hideki Kamiya telling the world (in his best Michael Caine voice) that this was a game that would “blow the doors off the action genre”. You play as Bayonetta, a witch who has lost her memory and finds herself embroiled in a war against some heavily armed angels. Fortunately, she’s packing a fair bit of heat herself, including a pair of guns she can fire with her feet while cartwheeling. Yep, Bayonetta is that kind of game, high on fast, flashy action, low on caring whether anyone’s going to mind about a witch taking out waves of archangels. Hands-on, the first thing to report is that it’s really tough. In the opening sequence, before even starting the game proper, it’s remarkably easy to die. That, however, is before the importance of the mighty ‘evade’ button becomes clear. Storming into battle, mashing out button combos gung-ho is not going to cut it. You need to time both your attacks and your dodges if you’re going to stand a chance. Executing a perfectly timed dodge takes you into ‘witch time’, a slo-mo sequence during which you can inflict large amounts of damage. Avoid being hit for long enough and you can finish off enemies with elaborate ‘torture moves’. The levels I played through included a dramatic ‘descent into Hell’ sequence, where Bayonetta appears to surf into the inferno atop Big Ben, followed by a series of fights that culminate in a boss battle against some kind of hideously overgrown cherub. It’s all very slick, very gothic and often insanely fast. If you like the Devil May Cry series (Kamiya was behind those too), then you’ll feel right at home. I suspect that whether you’ll get the most from this depends on how much work you’re willing to put in learning those button combos. There are a huge number of them, which you can practice during loading times, and the tougher ones will probably become essential pretty quickly. Having said that, the game does also come with a super-easy mode, apparently added to the game by Kamiya so his mum can play. So if you just want to play through the story while sipping a cup of tea (you can play this mode one-handed), then you can.
Fighting is halfway between a turn-based battle system and completely open play. In battle, you select fight actions for each of your three characters, who you then control as they go into battle. Your weapons are divided into two types – scratch damage and direct damage – with the former taking off a large amount of points from an enemy’s health, but only converted into ‘real’ damage when they are hit with a direct damage weapon. This means you need to synchronise your attacks properly between the three members of your team, and also ensure that you don’t miss. You can gamble when setting up shots by adding more attacks to your go, but if you take a hit while you’re doing this, you’ll miss. If that sounds complex, it’s because it is, but when the system is in full flow it looks very cool and Matrix-like, especially when you chuck in a couple of ‘invincible’ attacks, which send your characters into all kinds of gun-toting acrobatics. But though the game looks funky and has a distinct lack of swordplay and sorcery, it’s still a JRPG at heart, so don’t expect it to change your mind if those aren’t your thing. For everyone else, this seems an innovative take on the genre and one worth looking out for. PES 2010 vs FIFA 10Posted by: Nik Taylor I've had the chance to play a bit of FIFA 10 and PES 2010 over the last few days, which is the first game time I've had with either of these titles. Since I've only played through a few exhibition matches, it's hardly fair to call this a preview of either game. But here are some early impressions. First up, PES 2010. I've been very disappointed with the last two releases in this series, but this version grabbed me right from the off. As with any football game, what's right about it is somewhat intangible. The 360-degree control system certainly makes a huge difference. You won't necessarily notice much difference in the way the players move on the pitch or in how they are animated, but the feeling of controlling them is delicately transformed. In particular, the ability to move in any direction at all - rather that just eight - brings manual passing via the right thumbstick into its own. This helps to quickly set up flowing moves that feel like real football.
On top of that, the graphics in this series go from strength to strength; PES 2010 looks fantastic. In my match between Liverpool and Barcelona, Steven Gerrard looked so accurately craggy that I suspect even his pub landlord would struggle to tell the computer simulation from the real thing. So onto FIFA 10, which some people would argue took the crown from PES for the first time last year as 'top footie sim'. As ever, this looks the part from the off, and it also has the 360-degree control system. But putting the two side-by-side instantly highlights why these games inspire opposing camps of such ardent fans. FIFA feels like a more arcadey experience - a representation of football rather than an attempt to recreate the real thing. Gameplay works in a very FIFA way; you'll find yourself almost exclusively funnelled down the channels, or running through balls to the strikers from midfield. On the default difficulty mode, it's a pick-up-and-play experience that feels designed with the casual gamer in mind. Unfortunately, it wasn't possible to change the difficulty level on the demo machine, as it would be interesting to see how the game plays out as a tougher challenge. There are some great additions, though. Keepers play much more realistically. They come for the ball better than keepers in PES 2010, and they don't act like superglue-hands whenever a shot is struck at them. I scored one goal which was hit straight at the keeper, but as he went down he managed to let it under his arm. Also new are tiny flags that appear above a player during game time if he has strayed offside - so you know whether you should hold off your pass. Of course, the question of realism rears its head here too - it would be interesting to know if this feature could be switched off, although I found it useful. There even seems to be room for refereeing errors. Another of my goals was shown in the replay to be clearly offside, yet it stood. This could make for some great arguments when playing a game with your mates at home, though if you're playing online you might want to turn down the volume on your headset... Finally, FIFA retains the one-touch feature on its right thumbstick, which I love as it enables you to instantly take the ball under control or turn a player. If only it was also able to utilise an intuitive manual pass system, as PES does. To repeat, this is all based on some fairly limited play time, but my early impression is that PES has made significant strides in creating the kind of gameplay that will satisfy not only its purist fans, but also those looking for an easy-to-learn, tough-to-master footy game. FIFA has a stack of new features and also feels slicker than its predecessor, but at the moment my money goes on PES. Just. September 26 Hands on: Dead Rising 2 multiplayerPosted by: Nik Taylor Capcom sprang a surprise in Tokyo last night when it threw a preview party for not-out-for-ages-yet zombie masher Dead Rising 2. Yours truly was in attendance, and I got to spend some quality time on the game’s four-way multiplayer element. Unlike the single player game, which is set in a Las Vegas-inspired Fortune City, multiplayer takes the form of a vicious game show entitled Terror is Reality. In this, human contestants are pitched in with a bunch of zombies in a fight to the death through a number of uber-violent events. Points are scored by eviscerating zombies in all sorts of humorous ways. We got to play four of the events last night: Ramsterballs, Headache, Pounds of Flesh and Slicecyles. You can tell by the names that, happily, this sequel isn’t going to be any less silly than the first. First up, Ramsterballs. This sees your contestant loaded into a huge metal cage ball, just like Gladiators, which you have to roll around an arena as you chase the player with ‘the power’. Hit them hard enough and you get the power, meaning you can score points by bashing the pillars that litter the arena. This sends a huge crushing device downwards, pulping the unfortunate undead beneath. Of course, if you get hit before you connect with a pillar, you lose the power and have to go chasing after it again. Your points are based on how many pillars you’ve hit, but you can increase your multiplier by running over zombies before hitting a pillar. This makes the game one of risk and reward; do you go for more zombies and more points, despite the risk of losing the power?
Pounds of Flesh. Definitely the most flat-out bizarre of the four, and also the simplest. This one involves your character donning an enormous pair of coloured moose horns and using them to shovel zombies onto a weighing platform. The winner is the one who gets the most zombie poundage onto the scales within the time limit. Finally, Slicecycles. This is excellent fun, since it requires you to ride a motorcycle fronted with a double chainsaw through crowds of bewildered zombies. A bonus round marks out particular zombies for extra points. It’s got the best name of the four, and I would argue it would also win the record for ‘most blood in a game ever’. As you plough your way through the crowds of zombies, blood spatters across the in-game camera – and a particularly profitable ride will leave you barely able to see through the gore. It’s gloriously over-the-top. The only downside to Slicecyles is that, as the final round of the four, it acts as a multiplier on your previous score. The winner gets their score doubled, while last place has their score halved. We’ll wait and see whether this scoring mechanism remains in the final game, but it could do with tweaking because – with so many points available here – it effectively renders the first three games irrelevant. Still all the games are great fun and this early look bodes well for a game that should be excellent if it can only iron out the annoying quirks of its predecessor. Bring on the zombies. Iain Lee swings by TGSPosted by: Nik Taylor
September 25 Capcom on showPosted by: Nik Taylor Capcom has plenty on display at its TGS booth, but there’s no doubting the star of its particular show. Lost Planet 2 was described to me by a Capcom spokesman as “our Halo”, but with a Capcom edge. That means stacks of big boss battles, punctuated by a whole heap of run-and-gun action. I played through a couple of stages of the desert episode, areas of the game which show off perfectly the focus on teamwork. Up to four players can go through the campaign together, and playing as a team is key to getting through each stage intact. For one thing, a communal health bar drops every time one of your number gets killed. Die too many times and the whole crew are out. So you need to be a close-knit group.
Another key focus of the game is customisation. Throughout the game, you can pick up bonuses which enable you to tweak your character. There are so many options that Capcom hopes you will never come across another player customised in the same way as yourself. The point is about more than just aesthetics the changes you choose affect the way your character works in the game, even changing the type of weapons you pick up. By playing through the game once, you can build up a personalised character that will enable you to play through a second time in an entirely different way. That custom character can also be taken into the multiplayer element. Hands-on, the game feels zippy and explosive. It’s using an upgraded version of the proprietary engine that powered Resident Evil 5 (MT Framework). The result, as you would expect, is slicker and quicker than Resi 5, but not an entirely alien experience from that survival shooter. Lost Planet 2 uses a camera system that may take a little getting used to. It’s slung over one shoulder, a la Gears of War, but moving the camera with the right stick moves first your aim and only the camera if you keep it held down. It feels a little odd at first but I found it quickly became intuitive. Check it out yourself by downloading the game demo on PS3 or X360. Among the other titles on show from Capcom was Monster Hunter Tri, a game I expected to feel very ‘meh’ about, mainly since I’ve never found the PSP versions of the Monster Hunter series particularly enthralling. I’m not alone in that, Monster Hunter games remain a niche interest in Europe. That’s in stark contrast to Japan, where the games outsell the likes of Wii Fit. However, this looks like it may be able to broaden the series’ appeal. It’s on the Wii, which instantly feels a better fit for this kind of RPG. Crucially, the intro tutorial has been tightened and significantly shortened. Rather than playing through five hours of lesson time, this game gets you into the action very quickly. Again, teamwork is the key, with up to four players able to go off questing. Capcom has overcome the Wii’s horrible online interface by mapping its own over the top. I was told you can just tap in the name of your friend and you can find them straight away, though I didn’t get to see this. The game is, at its core, fairly simple and its certainly limited by the Wii’s graphical capabilities (though landscapes, in particular, look fantastic). But the multiplayer element could make Monster Hunter both fun and accessible for a significant number of people. Time is tight with so many great games on show, but I hope to fit a few more Capcom titles into my schedule, with Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles, Dark Void, Moto GP 09/10 and the intriguing Ghost Trick all on show. I also fancy another blast at Tatsunoko vs Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars after having a crack at playing as Dead Rising lead man Frank West earlier today. Mastering the zombie windmill throw is my aim. The console: deconstructedPosted by: Nik Taylor Among all the brand new games and gleaming trailers at TGS are a few interesting oddities, like this display of home consoles through the ages, all of which have been delicately, lovingly taken to pieces. It’s a bit odd seeing that magic box from under the telly reduced to its component parts, a bit like seeing a world-class footballer passed out in the local dodgy boozer. Still, if you like undoing stuff to see how it works, this would probably be your favourite part of the show. Click on the pics to see them a bit bigger.
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![EF209F31E8B38196D4BD8BFB13EF[1]](https://bg48rg.bay.livefilestore.com/y1mqWOvro9JE8awKXUhn0UCNx1kh_RZv78QEbU2zP1Y48uIetP0hKXuOC9YiT575Im5fu102qpMcomh-NCCqbMLU7zAJ5WPEJdYkDa6s_an3Rewhi4TIDZ1EevSRUy3sAdwRpnDlqh6DxTXjhRI-UMKew/EF209F31E8B38196D4BD8BFB13EF14.jpg "EF209F31E8B38196D4BD8BFB13EF[1]")
![1D8273215F2ABD87D76237EA9EECE2[1]](https://bg48rg.bay.livefilestore.com/y1my0tpq88PaObar7RFjbjt2mQvju0MToHchTARhBtFOcb4yujKRWG3J1UW5GyL0hUDtloGAQoWJG-eQHW7dbVxvu5yw6KQyfDubJSrW2cgPItMKRcl6Zxik7MMkWwNV66lw3mkVtijoBbVtAC7OqDwAg/1D8273215F2ABD87D76237EA9EECE2[1][3].jpg "1D8273215F2ABD87D76237EA9EECE2[1]")
[2].png "Simon Pegg, photographed by Jillian Edelstein")
![93244324354BB839CBC8F5F7D5D12[1]](https://bg48rg.bay.livefilestore.com/y1mXx_C_pXTXqUpsrJwKZ8klZGgE4boODOxcb_pTXIvBQV3efCILqZEwS3dJgVt42cNmFSj12T3Yk7JxHgNO2YXW1ENdSLjG_W8SsvNTIDdrlhJemLEdkAIcwwfptHX9oMx32pm-KOlMooWLwpjMJOC4Q/93244324354BB839CBC8F5F7D5D12[1][4].jpg "93244324354BB839CBC8F5F7D5D12[1]")
![4A16F2F49BF16BC11FD8B244B508[1]](https://bg48rg.bay.livefilestore.com/y1mkTlsjVjRNiQl070i2csbTXLQpljdRTmWlUPjNtrY3ToQkM0Z1ijk84b9ZWH1Yxqdi9R78LemOgsQVW-aSL3otRpOZV08crTtJyOHXo0r_Cf7XtsjAWNvnrBiKFgZAxSsdZfY2UUAaixBuVW0J7HWjg/4A16F2F49BF16BC11FD8B244B508[1][3].jpg "4A16F2F49BF16BC11FD8B244B508[1]")
![619E8D5929A3C694DD9E3072F3C5FF[1]](https://bg48rg.bay.livefilestore.com/y1m_tK3eYE6QUjYnyeOzyBiSYjX8uhqwpUiAgxRMEqVUbGCHJnvD7zK9B6NAwgG2Cernfhv-rc_b3X42HbnnaUNqRW5e0s1ia8fb7BAmsNRjLE0ElzHaFmeJJONm-Oi_KZlFMqPwKRB35tAgXtzXGNoMw/619E8D5929A3C694DD9E3072F3C5FF[1][3].jpg "619E8D5929A3C694DD9E3072F3C5FF[1]")
![6BD951981AEA173B10657D1DE550[1]](https://bg48rg.bay.livefilestore.com/y1mGrbFPmiKjWm0WO2C0durWjIpQY2LRB7u2uwd32c0wwwVUsFb-UuTddB7Xk65hGL5ZjGlcRMYp3BT-hiTnn-1MxhKThb1_kh_A9LG5tDJR4YHMrI3IpI9TjfULbsjH6N0gzwOwg6NxDxdDwWCEOcLhw/6BD951981AEA173B10657D1DE550[1][3].jpg "6BD951981AEA173B10657D1DE550[1]")
Next came Headache, a game set in what looked like a basketball court in which you have to load booby-trapped Servbot heads onto zombies as quickly as possible. Having done that, you then hit a button at either end of the court to blend those brains. You can carry three heads at a time, and loading more than three zombies at once dramatically increases your multiplier. However, other players can use dynamite on zombies to knock your heads off, so you have to judge the best time to hit ‘blend’.
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