Personally the whole movement control has never appealed to me, partially because the Wii kicked it off with almost random response to my movements, and partially because I like to learn the language of button presses for each new game. But shut up Dan, stop being a grouch and relish the inclusion of opportunities for the casual gamer. With Kinect for Windows there’s another method of hooking in those who wouldn’t normally experience gaming. If they like gesturing wildly at an ATM (or whatever American Express are planning) then perhaps they’ll enjoy the motion sensing glory of Flower.

The incentive to help out Microsoft: there’s a 3 month competition for developers and entrepreneurs to be one of the 10 best start-up ideas and receive an office and $20,000. Not bad for an idea. If you’ve got the brains check out The Kinect Accelerator.

As cynical as I’m being, I must admit that living in a world where I can shrug at a vending machine and get a Wispa bar or have voice activated cars is one I want to live in. Except for the accidental chocolate and high motorway death rate. Kinect for Windows is also boasting “near mode” allowing it to accurately detect as close as 40cm. Something that wouldn’t have gone amiss in the small rooms around the world full of broken mirrors and vases.

Usually when I hit the airport, I head straight to the gadget stores, hunting down their 3DS display stand for some bonus Streetpass action – hey, those Streetpass Quests don’t win themselves y’know!

Automatically connecting to Boingo’s network for free via one of their 400,000 worldwide hotspots, visitors at some of the UK’s largest airports including London Heathrow, London Gatwick, London Stansted as well as Southampton, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, can now engage in SpotPass as well as browsing the internet during the inevitable long wait before boarding a plane.

Dawn Paine, Assistant General Manager & Director of Marketing at Nintendo UK says: “Boingo is an excellent partner for Nintendo 3DS owners in the United Kingdom due to an extensive airport Wi-Fi network. This partnership announcement comes at a great time for Nintendo 3DS owners, as the latest System Update has brought in an array of new features and enhancements including 3D video capture.”

So forget sending postcards of your trip to your loved ones back home, you can now shoot up to 10 mintues of 3D video from the departures lounge or scribble a little message with ‘SwapNote’/'LetterBox’ and then beam it to your friends before you’ve even stepped foot on the plane. As SpotPass automatically receives notifications plus extra content for your software and system updates without you having to lift a finger, you can be happy in the knowledge that as soon as you arrive at your destination, your 3DS will be updated and ready to play by the pool. Bliss.

Check out details on the Special Edition at http://www..rockstargames.com/maxpayne3/preorder, featuring the 10″ Collectible Max Payne Statue, Original Still Life Art Prints, Bullet Keychain, Classic Multiplayer Character Pack, Disorderly Conduct Multiplayer Weapons Pack and Official Soundtrack.

There is also a new Max Payne 3 Design and Technology Video coming later today. It will be available from Rockstar’s website after 5pm.

OnLive Founder and CEO Steve Perlman said about the CES announcement, “Integration into Google TV is a huge leap forward for videogames. Consumers have come to expect instant gratification with music, movies and video. Now, with OnLive, players in the US and soon in the UK can just as easily stream the highest-quality games to their Google TV.”

In its present state with the Viewer platform you’ll be able to use the OnLive social features. Once the full service is live, however, you’ll have access to about 200 console games from nearly all the major publishers. OnLive is already on its own MicroConsole, as well as PC, Mac, tablets and smartphones – with Blu-Ray players and set-top boxes not far behind.

Ubisoft has joined forces with audio people BOSE in a promotion offering 20 sets of BOSE AE2 headphones, purportedly worth more than £100 each, on the Just Dance 3 Facebook page

If you’re into that whole sound thing, you might consider entering the give-away. You can check out the headsets via the BOSE product page, in case you’re picky about the free stuff you can win. Who says beggars can’t be choosers, right?

Just Dance 3 is a music video game released on Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and makes heavy use of each platforms’ respective motion technologies. The game features quartets (a mode which allows four players to dance together) alongside solo and duets, as well as new songs and routines, and was released late last year.

If you’re in the habit of liking pages on Facebook, you might consider like-afying the GGS Gamer page, where you can keep up with our posts as they come flying down the Internet tubes.

It reminds me of those giant keyboards you sometimes found in large toy shops as kid. Though not nearly as awing, it’s still a pretty neat little idea.

Secondly, but not released until the 28th of this month is Battle Stuff. This allows you to scan household objects and fight them out Pokémon style.

So. This is definitely a novel idea and I admit that having my toaster put the smackdown on an iPod sounds like it would be epic, there is still an obvious level of abuse that this system would receive. Of the phallic variety. Boys will be boys you see, and the opportunity to have your junk fight it out, or just disgust people would be a tempting attraction to the more deviant among us.

So, who of you actually have a room big enough to dance on a giant keyboard...?

Still no doubt this level of abuse has been factored in, and the banning hammer will be brought to fore to deal with the results of many drunken house parties.

Though not out until the end of the month, Battle Stuff will be free to download.

Shank 2:

I remember being really excited when Shank was first announced. I even wrote a long article about it on my personal blog, praising it’s visual style, the satisfying looking gameplay and ranting about people who were complaining that the price tag was too steep upon release. To me the idea that a 1200 Microsoft point price for a low-budget title was ‘too high’ was absurd, the petulant whining of gamers who claim to want innovative and exciting titles; but are too damn cheap to support the developers willing to provide.

The irony of course being that a few weeks prior to Shank being released my current Xbox died and it took a few months for me to able afford a new one. By that time I had completely forgotten about Shank and never got around to picking it up…

Ahem.

Anyhow, my point still stands in a ever-so-slightly hypocritical sort of way. You want good games? Good. Then pay for them.

So I sat down and tried my hand at Shank 2. I got to play through the opening level of the game. Minus the boss. He destroyed me. One criticism that was levelled at the original game was that the combat got repetitive quickly, with you getting desensitised to the gore and continuous shanking of the bad guys. This time around it has been greatly alleviated with the introduction of unique (and brutal) counter attacks. You get an ‘!’ prompt appear over an enemies head when you can counter and at a press of a button Shank uses their own weapon against them in a wonderfully violet & over-the-top manner. You’d think it would get dull. It does not.

The opening level itself was an occupied settlement of indeterminate origin. full to the brim of bad guys for to shoot, shank and chainsaw at your leisure. It was decently paced, with points for you to take stock of your environment and others where you had to keep moving avoid being crushed by flaming debris.

Teamwork is essential in the co-op mode. My companion saved my incompetent rear end more than I can count...

Alongside the singleplayer campaign, I got to try my hand at the multiplayer co-op mode. In this mode it was me and another player (played by the guy showing me the game) against hordes of enemies on a multi-layered 2D map. We got to choose a character, gun and melee loadout before beginning the match. Admittedly my contribution to the carnage was less than spectacular, but my companion really demonstrated the awesome potential at work here. Using the environment to your advantage, you can activate traps for your enemies. In this case he lured a couple of thugs over a vent and then proceeded to jump up to a switch that ignited a gout of flame, with barbecued results. The matches are frantic, with you having to keep a cool head and awareness of your surroundings to fully utilise them.

Shank 2 looks really incredible, with visuals reminiscent of a graphic novel and gameplay like something out of a Steven Seagal film.

Bejeweled 3:

The behemoth that is Popcap‘s Bejeweled has at some point graced the lives of nearly all of us. Either you’ve whiled away a lazy evening matching gems, or one of your friends/family have been sucked into its addictive embrace. Popcap have added some neat new features to this newest addition to the series, and I had a decent go with a couple of the new modes they’ve added.

I got to play Zen, Diamond Mine and Poker. For me, the later was the winner in terms of genuine fun and safisfaction. Basically rather than simply matching gems, power gems and generally ensuring you always have a ‘move’ to play; in Poker you have to match sets of gems relating to the various hands in poker. For example, matching two sets of the same colour count as a pair, three sets three of kind and five sets a straight flush.

You get more points for a higher hand. To make things more interesting, the game will sometimes lock out a certain hand. If you still play that hand there’s a 50% chance that your game will end. This discourages players from repeatedly playing the same hands for easy points.

The hands with the skull next to them have been locked out, and you play them at your own risk.

In Zen, you can basically play forever with some relaxing music (of your choice) playing in the background. This is the mode for those of you who play games like Bejeweled simply for the cathartic peace the action brings. Sounds somewhat cheesy I know, but the attraction is undeniable; especially for those long train journeys to work. The Diamond Mine mode was quite fun I’ll admit, you basically ‘dig’ in the earth by detonating gems; like sparkling dynamite. This mode begins with 1 minute and 30 seconds on the clock, destroying gems adds more time. It’s quite frantic and there’s a surprising amount of strategy involved to really progress far in the mode.

Bejewled 3 looks much bigger than it’s predecessors. It would be easy to label a ‘casual’ game like this as a simplistic concept, but there’s clearly a huge amount of balance and tweaking involved. I was genuinely surprised when I saw some of the imaginative modes that Popcap were able to come up with, each one feeling unique and fulfilling whatever gem-destroying, point-amassing desire you happen to have at the time.

Chillingo:

Super Crossfire HD feels like a modern-day Space Invaders.

Chillingo brought several iOS games to the showcase, many from the indie scene and one surprisingly hardcore orientated game into the mix.

First off I got my hands on Super Crossfire HD , a Space Invaders inspired shooter with a twist. Or rather, the ability to move from the top and bottom of the screen at the touch. A simple mechanic, that adds much needed pace to an age old concept. Everyone knows the drill, there are floating spaceships hovering above and it’s your job to blow them out of the sky; all the while avoiding their return fire. The game features power-ups that allow you to fire different kinds of beams to lay waste to your autonomous enemies.

It definitely spoke to the retro gamer inside of me, who relied on quick reflexes and amassing stupidly high scores. I played it on the iPad, and I’m curious to see how well the game plays on a smaller screen; such as an iPhone.

Vegetable-based war is apparently upon us.

After Super Crossfire HD came Picnic Wars. Very similar to Angry Birds, except in a 3D environment and a seed-based ammo concept. The basic aim is that you use the catapults provided to launch various vegetables at progressively larger and more robust forts. Your ammo is finite, as is the different types you can field. But if you’re clever you can use well aimed shots to pick up extra seeds scattered on the map, to use as further ammunition.

It’s quite cool, taking some getting used to in terms of how far your vegetables get launched. Destroying a fort in its entirety for the sake of destruction is oddly satisfying.

Puzzles are deceptively complex, with you slapping your forehead afterwards wondering how you could be so dense to have not figured it out already.

Next came Home Sheep Home 2: A Little Epic. An Aardman Digital collaboration that once again brings Shaun the Sheep and his friends to the gaming world with a clever little puzzle game. It’s really good looking, like it’s been drawn with pastels and then animated. The basic premise is that you have to use the various abilities and handicaps of Shaun and his three friends to navigate them to the exit.

Each sheep has their own role to play: Shaun is the most well rounded, being fast and able to jump very high; Timmy is the smallest, able to fit through small gaps and finally Shirley is a large ol’ gal who can use her hight to give the others a platform to stand upon. She’s also very slow and can’t swim, so many of the puzzles involve getting her to the other side.

I really enjoyed this little game a lot. It’s fun in a really satisfying way, you find yourself frustrated when you get stuck and a rewarding sense of triumph when you finally get the whole group to the exit.

It's games like this that really pull me towards my inevitable purchase of an iPhone.

And finally, the best of the bunch; Extraction: Project Outbreak. Awesome in a way that an iOS title rarely is. Anyone remember Cannon Fodder? It has a very similar concept, you control an operative armed with a variety of weapons and you have to complete missions populated by hordes of zombies.

You control your character with a simple touch of the screen, once for movement and to target enemies you drag your finger over them and he shoots them when they’re in view. This can lead to some very epic scenes while clearing a room, with you lining-up multiple shots before you even enter.

Where the game really shined for me was in the customisation of your equipment. There is a great number of weapons to unlock during the game, such as shotguns and assault rifles. Alongside your weapons you also have the option of using a attack drone, that you give a pre-set route for it to travel. This allows you to follow up behind the drone finishing off enemies that it missed.

I was really impressed by this game, as it was something I would not have expected from an iOS title. It feels like a console or pc game, but you can play it on a handheld device. Say what you will about iOS games, but you cannot deny that Extraction: Project Outbreak is an amazing concept.

This winters releases from EA are a nice varied collection. Coupled with the big-budget titles like Battlefield 3, EA are stepping into the Christmas period with a strong and appealing line-up.

Schofield vehemently defended the quality of the Modern Warfare 3 engine (which has been the same engine used since Call of Duty 2) and touted that there would be clear improvements between MW2 and MW3.

Schofield said, “If you put Modern Warfare 2 next to Modern Warfare 3 you would see a huge difference. Look at all the character models, look at all the gun models, look at the reflections, look at the water. There is so much that we’ve added, so when someone says ‘cut and paste’, I don’t even want to talk to them because they don’t know. They just don’t know. They have no idea.”

The proof is in the pudding, as they say. I’m skeptical how much different MW3 will really be on consoles, given that with titles like Battlefield 3, the lowest possible graphical settings on PC are the baseline for consoles. I imagine PC gamers will be able to see a difference. Newer hardware means the game engine can display more detailed textures without much change to the guts of the engine, itself.

That being said, CAVG.com points out that a lot of PC and PS3 gamers were disappointed by how MW2 performed on the various platforms.

Schofield explained, “What happens is we start developing on 360 and at some point we switch. We switch to the PS3 and you make sure that that’s running at 60 frames a second, the graphics look freaking great, and we play both. They’re in parity. Every place is exactly the same. I’m not sure what the issues were with the last one, but there’s nothing to worry about with this one.”

So, the PS3 and PC will at least have “parity” with the Xbox 360. And since parity literally means “being equal”, then I suspect we may have a bit of a problem. The whole problem was that there WAS parity, when the PC and PS3 should have better visuals.

Reading this interview, I see a lot of bluster, a sort of nonchalance when discussing Battlefield 3 as competitor. “My competition is Modern Warfare 2. It always has been and if you think back two years ago when we were starting on the project I didn’t know anything about Battlefield. I started hearing stuff about it maybe five or six months ago, news coming out. I never got a chance to play it until we got the beta a little while ago. So as far as a competitor goes, by the time we saw anything of it, the window to make changes was closed.” said Schofield.

That’s well and good, but Battlefield: Bad Company 2 was a far superior game to Modern Warfare 2 or Black Ops. As long as EA doesn’t mess up too badly with Battlefield 3 (which isn’t necessarily a given), then Activision will have a very strong challenger. Will Modern Warfare 3 sell millions? Of course, but it isn’t just this battle they need to win. If Modern Warfare pales in comparison to Battlefield 3, then Battlefield 4 will be the new juggernaut, with Modern Warfare 4 being the underdog. We’ll have to wait and see…

The Steam-exclusive demo contains the first half of the 2011/2012 season, using Quick Start leagues from Australia, Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Italy, Norway, Scotland, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands. You can continue on from where the demo leaves off when you purchase the full version of the game, so fear not about losing your unbeaten streaks or key transfers.

The game will require Steam to play, as well as internet activation in an attempt to combat internet piracy. The game will still be playable offline, but never the less, the DRM features have not been met with the best of reactions from the games community.

You can view the complete system requirements below – overall, they are generally low spec, allowing for people with sub-gaming standard equipment to experience life from the dugout.

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PC Requirements:
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OS – Windows XP/Vista/W7
Processor – XP : 1.4GHz or Faster; Vista/W7 : 2.0GHz or Faster
Supported Processors: Intel Pentium 4, Intel Core, AMD Athlon
Memory - XP : 512MB RAM; Vista/W7 : 1.0GB RAM
Hard Drive Space - 2GB
DVD-Drive – 4x Speed
Video Card – 128MB.
Supported Chipsets – Nvidia FX 5900 Ultra or greater; ATI Radeon 9800 or greater; Intel 82915G/82910GL or greater.
Earlier cards may only display 2D Match Viewer Mode and are not supported. Laptop versions of these chipsets may work but are not supported.
Sound Card – DirectX 9.0c compatible
DirectX – Version 9.0c (included)
LAN – TCP/IP compliant
Input – Keyboard, Mouse.
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Mac Requirements:
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OS – OS X 10.5.8/10.6.x or higher
Processor – Intel Processor
Video Card - Nvidia Geforce 7300 GT or greater; ATI Radeon X1600 or greater.
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