A new reason to be afraid of the dark

Apart from Evolve, Techland's Dying Light is the only "next generation" console game I'm looking forward to the release of. The difference though, is that Dying Light will also be getting a "previous gen." release. While the version for older consoles will no doubt lack all the bells and whistles of the next gen. edition, it still looks to offer an interesting gameplay experience. 

While the developers are endorsing this as the game that will make you want to upgrade to a next gen. console, it's the seamless integration the touch control, and voice recognition features that I'm more than a little sceptical about. To me these still come across as gimmicky extra that Sony and Microsoft added on in order to outdo the opposition. As you may have guessed, neither is particularly appealing to me. 

It would be really disappointing if the overall gameplay experience of this first-person, zombie survival horror story were to be let down due to clumsy implementation of these added next gen. features. However if the team at Techland manage to pull it off, I can see Dying Light becoming a popular title, with the obligatory sequel being developed in a few years time.

In terms of the actual story, I really like the idea of the zombies becoming stronger, faster, and more agile after the sun has set. It'll require the player to be able to adapt their playing style in order to survive various situations, dependent on the number of zombies in the area, as well as the amount of ambient light. Depending on how long the in-game day/ night cycle is, as well as whether or not zombies will actively seek out the player at night, could mean that hiding, and waiting out the night might actually be a viable option when you find yourself outnumbered, and alone in the dark. Oh, and during the day, you'll have to contend with other survivors who may pose just as much of a threat as the undead.

If you want to see some of the actual gameplay with developer commentary, then watch IGN's trailer below. I suggest setting the resolution to a minimum of 720p so that you can get an idea of just how detailed the environments are.

CoD: Ghosts of Christmas present

It's almost time to celebrate the winter/ summer solstice, dependent of whether you're in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere. Associated with this event, many also celebrate the holiday dedicated to Santa Claus's birthday by observing the cardinal sins; greed, envy, gluttony, and sloth, often in this precise order.

Fortunately those at the Call of Duty: Ghosts camp are being quite old fashioned, and are celebrating the occasion by giving us a gift in the form of the Festive Personalization Pack. The 'Festive Pack' contains a holiday sweater weapon camo, and seasonally themed reticle, playercard, background, and patch. 

If you're playing on an Xbox 360, Xbox One, or P,C the 'Festive Pack' is already available for download. However, if you're playing on a PlayStation 3 or 4, you'll have to wait a while longer for the holiday spirit to kick-in, as the release date is still 'TBA,' as per the CoD: Ghosts Micro Items site.

While to weapon camo looks utterly useless, I quite like the snowflake reticle and patch, which could work rather nicely for a soldier in a snow camouflaged uniform. Dependent on when the PlayStation versions of the Pack become available, and whether I can download it to my PC and transfer it to my PS3, will dictate whether I get this or not. On the top of my list if things to do next year, is to set up a wireless network at home, then I'll be able to start downloading all types of cool stuff for my PS3.

Time lapse video from within the GTA V world

This incredible video was captured entirely inside the virtual world of Grand Theft Auto V. The developers behind GTA V have really pushed the limits of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, to produce what could be the best game on both consoles in quite some time. No wonder the PC gamers of the world are feeling so neglected.

I'm also starting to regret my decision to cancel my pre-order, although I do still have the entire Resistance Trilogy, and Diablo III to play, as well as few more achievements in various other games to unlock. There is no doubt though, that when the time is right, I'll get myself a copy of GTA V.

More on the story over at PetaPixel.

First person shooter poll results

The final result of the 'First person shooter poll' was really a no result, since nobody voted. So I took matters into my own hands, and bought Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition and Portal 2, neither of which were titles in the poll.

I played quite a bit of Borderlands on my brother's Xbox 360 while back home. It was amazingly good fun, especially when playing co-operatively.* The comic book graphics and dark humour are brilliant, and I really enjoyed playing as Mordecai. There is little doubt that I will eventually get the sequel too, but I'll hold out until I've finished Borderlands, or a Game of the Year (GotY) edition of Borderlands 2 is released.

I also ended up buying Far Cry 3 (which was one of the options in the poll) as the price was reduced by a further 25%. So from having no first person shooters a month ago, I now have three, even though Portal 2 isn't a conventional shooting game.

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* Except when my brother (playing as Lilith) ran around looting all the chests, and scavenging dropped ammo from around me, while I was busy taking on various badass bandits, bruisers and psychos; or when he used phasewalk too close to me, inadvertently depleting my shield; or when he ran away from the conflict, waited for me to soften up a couple of the tougher opponents, then reappeared with his shotgun, killed everything with a single shot, and got the experience for doing so.