A couple of days before the event I received an email reminding me of the high number of attendees, asking me to bring along my ID, otherwise me and my guests would not be permitted entry. Finally, I was asked to print out the ticket to bring along with me. I took three friends along and we turned up at the door expecting a mad rush of people.

The reality was that we couldn’t see anyone waiting to get in – the only people in sight were stadium staff kicking the ground through boredom. We managed to get inside without my ID being checked and made our way to the event, through the convoluted entry system that is Wembley Stadium. Three floors up and we’re finally at the event. This wouldn’t normally irk me, but I had four spare tickets that I could have given away to people I knew wanted to attend and were unable to through the fabled ‘we have too many people attending’ and the ‘we’re going to check your ID’ policy.

Entering the room, there was nothing spectacular in sight, nor were there more than 150 people in the room. That may even be stretching it – could have been 100. I’m not entirely sure how many people they were expecting to attend the event, but it was definitely a poor show. Perhaps it had to do with the mockery of a booking system you made, eh Dabs? Oh wait, yeah, I forgot to mention that due to the ‘high demand in tickets’ we were also split into two groups on the day – a morning group and an afternoon group, of which both had an hour and a half to roam around and see things. Luckily for Dabs and their awesome organisation skills, they didn’t actually put many stands out so people were done in about 25 minutes.

This period also included a wander around the ‘Gaming Zone’. This was a small cordoned off area where visitors were allotted time slots to walk-in and play games against the pro-gamers. It was a fairly boring event, with Gail Porter presenting and no Suzi Perry in sight. Anywhere. The ‘Football Zone’ was merely a kid’s keeper’s net with a few footballs hanging around to kick into it. The organisers were clearly clutching at straws to fill the event with gimmicky things to keep people entertained. Unfortunately, it was abysmal.

In light of trying to make a bad situation a little better, here are some of the releases that will be available for us to get our hands on this year:

• Microsoft was doing some heavy promotion for their wireless headsets, mice and keyboards. Their LifeCams were also a prominent feature of their stand.
• HP spent time on their industrial sized printers and printer paraphernalia.
• Gigabyte was all about their motherboard technology – the P55 series.
• Wacom had their pen tablets out in force. Something I actually had some fun with and could properly interact with was their Cintiq 21UX Interactive Pen Display (this is for the artists and designers among you). I was sceptical at first, but grew to love their products. They also had their Bamboo Pen & Touch and the Intuos4.
• Optoma had several of their new projectors out on display, including their itsy bitsy Pico Pocker Projector (PK301). A beautiful piece of kit that fits nicely in the palm of your hand!
• DGM had their Ice Top range out on display, as well as a few of their HD widescreen TVs. Crisp, clear quality not just for viewing, but also for gaming.
• Buffalo had a small stand displaying their external storage options.
• iGo Green also had a tiny stand telling you all about how to conserve energy and to use surge protectors.
• Acer completely outdid themselves with not only a pretty impressive stand (in size) displaying their laptops, but by also showing off their Ferrari One laptop. I’m fairly happy to admit that this little beauty is exactly as perfect as you might think it is up close and personal.
• The ZonePlayer S5 is an all-in-one wireless system which will connect to your iPhone that actually had pretty decent sound blasting out silly pop music to get your attention.
• Panasonic were there with their 2010 camcorder selection.
• Steel Series, who had pro gamers there, were also showing off their pro-gaming gear, including headsets, laser mice and keyboards.

Other companies that had stalls, but weren’t very interesting were Iiyama, Logitech, Hitachi, CablesToGo and Canon.

The only really great thing about this event was the stadium tour we received of the newly refurbished and designed England home ground. Highlights included, but were not limited to; the history of the old stadium, the design of the new one, stuff the players get up to and getting to walk through the home changing rooms out into the stadium, as the players do. Before the tour, I joked with my friends about wanting to know how many toilets there were in the stadium and that if I didn’t find out, I would ask the tour guide. Luckily for me, it was the last thing we were told as the tour was winding to a close. If you’d like to know the answer and more about my Wembley Stadium tour, with some very cool pictures/video of player shirts and the ground, please visit my blog for my write-up.

Overall, the Dabs IT and Gadget Event this year was really rather lacking in any substance. Given the number of hoops I had to jump through to get into the event in the first place, I’m just not going to bother next time.

Related Pages:

1. Dabs.com Live IT & Gadget Show 2010 – Register Now For Free!
2. Gadget Show Live 2009 Review / Roundup
3. Play.com Live Gaming Show
4. Eurogamer Expo 2010 Announced (London Games Show)

And although the public voting has already closed for the BAFTA Video GAME 2009 award you will still be able to be part of it as over at the website you will be able to watch a live stream of the awards as they are given out – there’s even a nice little countdown timer at the top which at the time of writing stands at 2 days, 8 hours, 51 minutes and 19 seconds!

So if you want a quick refresh of the nominees go and have a look at the aforementioned posts, and if you are around I’m sure it will be definitely worth a watch on Friday evening from 20:45!

I’ve personally got my virtual money on Uncharted 2: Among Thieves to get the prize for most awards (hopefully with my personal favourite Assassins Creed 2 in close tow) whilst I would guess that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will claim the GAME award courtesy of its popularity!

But this really is a close year, and I’m sure each award will bring with it at least a little surprise! Thankfully we’ll be able to watch to see how it all unfolds at the BAFTA Gaming Awards ceremony video live stream. Who do you think will be the big winners for the BAFTA Video Games Awards for 2010?

Related Pages:

1. BAFTA Video Games Awards 2010 Nominations – Part 2
2. BAFTA Video Games Awards 2010 Nominations – Part 1
3. BAFTA Video Games Awards 2009 Nominations – Part 1
4. BAFTA Video Games Awards 2009 Nominations – Part 2

There are 5 worlds in the game with each one having 6 levels to guide through and of course, the further you get, the harder it is to reach your goal.

There are two games types in Switchball, Free Play and Timed Play. But I don’t see the point in having these as there’s literally no difference whatsoever. In Free Play, you’re not timed on how long it takes you to complete the level, so you can just saunter through them if you so wish.

The Timed Play does exactly what it says on the tin, in that you’re timed, but there’s no time limit. You can earn Bronze, Silver and Gold medals depending on how fast you complete each level but time never runs out. So why didn’t they just incorporate the two? So basically Timed Play is Free Play but you can earn medals for completing it quicker.

There’s the added bonus of earning trophies for the amount of medals you achieve throughout the game, which will take you a while to collect as earning a Gold medal on later stages is tricky!! Throughout the game, you’ll find yourself having to change for another ball type as certain obstacles can only be accomplished using a certain ball. But it doesn’t get confusing as the converters lie right around where you need to change to continue.

So if you need to smash through some heavy boxes, you need a heavier ball, or an air ball to get you up to a higher ledge using the fans. This a good as it makes you think a little more about how to pass certain problems instead of just doing the same repetitive thing over and over.

You have ways on controlling the ball. One of them is the token analog stick and the other is using the Sixaxis controls. I found the Sixaxis to be a bit of a chore and not very responsive for this game as there are times when you have to gain speed to get through obstacles and I could never build up enough using Sixaxis. Whereas using the analog stick gave me better control over where I wanted to go and how much speed I built up.

There are 3 camera types so you can navigate around the level to see where to go next which include, Manual, Auto and Chase. The chase camera just made me have motion sickness as it was moving around way too fast for my liking. The Manual is all down to you how you want the camera, but I found the Auto camera to be the best out of the three as it didn’t make me want to throw up after going round 3 corners in a row.

The game looks quite scenic as the levels kind of hover in a vast area with images of mountains and the like around you, similar to the backdrops in Bejewelled 2. The actual levels have a cartoon-ish look to them which I quite like and look nicely polished in HD.

I did find myself enjoying Switchball and it can get quite addictive. But of course with addiction comes frustration, so don’t be surprised if you keep screaming at your TV. I suppose that’s a good thing as once you’ve completed a level you feel like you’ve achieved something instead of just strolling through it all. If you like a good old puzzle game that will keep you occupied on rainy days, then I’d recommend getting Switchball.

3 out of 5

Related Pages:

1. ‘Mercury’ Review (PSP)
2. Super Monkey Ball Review (iPhone App)
3. ‘Bejeweled 2′ Review (PSN)
4. Zuma Review (PSN)

Data and games are stored on OnLive servers and the images are beamed to gamers around the world who compete in an online environment. The Beta went up quite a while ago and it seems the waiting is almost at an end for US gamers, as the official OnLive launch date has been announced as 17th June 2010.

For $15 a month users will be able to access the OnLive community, however games themselves will cost that little bit extra which is a given considering developers are still going to want their money’s worth out of their games. However this does raise some concerns with potential gamers.

For example, new services and businesses always have a high risk attached, so what if OnLive goes under? what happens to your ownership of the game? Perhaps people would rather have a physical copy of the game still that they can call their own.

Initially, the service will run on Mac and PC as a browser plugin, but the MicroConsole will be released later in the year if you’d rather have a more authentic console experience with the controller pad and all.

Impressively, the games will be run at 720p with 1080p resolutions to come later as well, with up to 60 fps. They also showed off the games running on platforms such as the iPhone which they say will be implemented, ‘over time’.

At first there will be between 12 and 25 titles including Mass Effect 2, Borderlands, Assassin’s Creed II, Dragon Age Origins, and Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. The titles can either be bought or rented from the OnLive service which provides users with the option of long term deals which will be cheaper, or testing a new game perhaps in a more thorough way than possible through downloadable demo’s. The games will be sent to 48 states in the US and the data centers storing the games are ‘strategically placed to avoid lag’.

So the service is now completely official, and it is confirmed to include features such as ‘instant play demos’, ‘multiplayer gaming’ and ‘instant video-based social networking’. There are obviously advantages and disadvantages to any service, particularly ones of this sort.

For example, travelers will no longer need to lug around huge gaming laptops as this service reduces the real need for such high spec computers. So then the questions will be raised by the manufacturers of Alienware machines which are specifically designed for gamers. Will they be left redundant if the service takes off on a global scale? But also, how will this service fare given situations of internet connection issues and high internet traffic, do we even have the infrastructure yet to properly play games using this straming, cloud-based gaming system?

Personally, I feel the prospect of OnLive and its games on demand system is certainly exciting. I can’t wait for it to be brought to the UK (if indeed it will be, we will wait on the success across the pond first) as it means I no longer have to worry about the high cost of my machines as this could be the ultimate form of digital game distribution. I feel that many people will share this view and can honestly see the service being successful, but perhaps not the real future of gaming.

Via – BBC & Geeky Gadgets

Related Pages:

1. OnLive Mobile Phone Demo Of Cloud Gaming
2. OnLive – Video Gaming Moving Forward Into The Cloud?
3. OnLive Games on Demand! – Digital Game Distribution System
4. Project Natal Release Date & Price Announced?

The announcement was made at GDC yesterday along with a trailer of the type of games that we’ll be looking at playing to start off with. With true 1:1 motion control, it is said to be more responsive than Nintendo’s Wii Motion Plus controllers which is a bold statement.

I’m looking forward to seeing just how the PS3 Move is and what kind of games will be released for it. The fact we’ll be able to play motion controlled games in HD isn’t really a major factor. What I want is a game that uses Move and to get me really immersed in the action. I’m not one for the gimmicky party titles so I’d like to see some new IP games created for use with Move and see how that pans out.

A few games of already been announced which include Little Big Planet and SOCOM 4. Will we see the next Call of Duty taking advantage of Move? It might be nice to have the option of using both the SixAxis controllers and Move.

There are quite a few big named studios already putting their name to creating games for Move including Square Enix, Capcom, EA and about 33 more.

To be honest, it looks like a bit of a Wii remote rip off, with the main controller and a sub controller similar to the nunchuck which is quite cheeky on Sony’s part. It looks like Move will cost in the region of $100 so whether that will be a straight swap to pounds remains to be seen, but it’s more than likely it will be a straight £100 for us Brits.

The Playstation Move release date is set for the back end of 2010, so expect Santa to be delivering a bucket load of these.

So what do you think to Move? A Wii rip off? What the Wii remote was wanting to be? How do you think it compares to the forthcoming Project Natal’s release date and price being proposed to be around £50? Let us know below.

Via – IGN

Related Pages:

1. Sony Motion Controller (Arc) Release Date Delayed
2. PS3 Motion Sensor Controller At E3?
3. Sony PS3 Motion Sensor Controller
4. New Wii Classic Pro Controller

But no doubt the price will be higher over here as is the norm, so expect a price of around £3000 for the first 3D ready TV to hit the UK shores. Hopefully they’ll be cheaper than that, but I highly doubt it.

I can’t see this being an instant hit as Sony are pricing the average gamer out of the 3D market as soon as it’s launched, because who the hell as a spare £2500+ laying around the house?

But with the upcoming release of Batman Arkham Asylum: Game of the Year Edition with the option to play it in 3D without a 3D ready TV or the new firmware update, do we really need to splash out on the new higher priced TV’s just yet? They will eventually fall in price, but it might take a couple of years for Sony to benefit from PS3 users playing on 3D Bravia TV’s.

Let us know your views in the comments below.

Via – IGN

Related Pages:

1. Sony Playstation 3 To Get 3D Gaming (CES 2010)
2. Playstation Move Announced (PS3 Motion Controller)
3. Cheap Playstation 3 (PS3)?
4. Playstation Network (PSN) Global Log-In Error For PS3

In case you’ve not used used it before, Steam is probably the best digital games distribution platform out there, which most of the big and small games publishers are now using to cut out the need for physical media distribution for games. Not only are publishers using it to release new games, but also to find a market for their older games, for example Lucasarts re-released some of their older classic titles. It’s fair to say that we’re big fans of it here at Zath.

Gabe Newell, the President of Valve, said “The Mac is a great platform for entertainment services” and also introduced a great new feature which got me really excited, called Steam Play. With Steam Play, you can purchase a game for the Mac or Windows, and then download it free of charge for the other platform! This is a fantastic feature if you’re working from a PC at work and then go home to your Mac and want to continue exactly where you left off, you can!

Cross-platform compatibility is a huge advantage in what is currently a very divided market between PC games and games on Mac OS X. If you’ve bought PC games on Steam before now, this means that you’ll be able to download these games free of charge for the Mac when Steam comes to OS X.

Another piece of great news was delivered by John Cook, Director of Steam Development, who assured users “We are treating the Mac as a tier-1 platform so all of our future games will release simultaneously on Windows, Mac, and the Xbox 360″.

Updates for the Mac will be available simultaneously with the Windows updates.” Not only does this mean that OS X users won’t have to wait a ridiculously long time until releases come to the Mac, but it also means that gamers will be able to play games online with cross-platform multiplayer compatibility. Both Mac and Windows users will be part of the same universe and share servers and lobbies, ensuring the best cross-platform multiplayer gaming for Mac users.

Arguably the most important point made in the release was also from John Cook, who used the press release to say that although various methods of getting the games on to the OS X platform were considered, Steam opted to go with native versions in favour of emulation. This means that games offered through Steam on OS X will all be native versions of the game, which means better performance when gaming.

As far as I’m concerned, this news allows me to bid my final farewell to Bootcamp, and Windows on my Mac for the most part – I currently only use it for gaming and coding projects. It’s great to see Steam for OS X, which may hopefully help take an extra step in dismissing the ridiculous DRM schemes that many game companies have when selling games and until we see the likes of OnLive’s games on demand service launch and deliver on their promises, this is a great step in the right direction.

If enough users use Steam on both the Mac and PC, it may help avoid incidents such as Ubisoft’s error in their DRM usage on latest titles such as Assassin’s Creed 2, which has only put legitimate gamers at a disadvantage due to server attacks whilst all those sensible pirates carried on playing without any problem – it’s about time the gaming industry sorted itself out, let’s hope that Steam’s Mac OS X release date in April helps its cause.

Via – Engadget

Related Pages:

1. Digital Game Distribution (Games Blog Banter)
2. OnLive Games on Demand! – Digital Game Distribution System
3. ‘Call of Duty: World At War’ Bargain – 50% Off at Steam
4. LucasArts Announce Classic Game Re-Releases Via Steam

It looks more like a platform puzzle game compared to what we’re used to seeing Lara Croft doing. The camera is very Alien Breed-esque which, for a Lara Croft game, doesn’t bode well in my opinion.

I might be pleasantly surprised by it, but it looks more like a filler game whilst we wait for the next proper instalment of a Tomb Raider title.

Don’t get me wrong, it looks nice for a download title, but it just isn’t Tomb Raider in my eyes.

What do you think? Do you think they’ll cheapen the Tomb Raider game by doing something like this or a new refreshing direction? Let us know below.

Via – Computer & Video Games

Related Pages:

1. New Tomb Raider Game – Download Only
2. Xbox 360 Games for Less!
3. Alien Abduction Lamp – Shed Light On Cow-Nappings!
4. Cheap Xbox 360 Games (Play Asia)

Of course if they did re-release the second of Guybrush Threepwood’s adventures, I sure it would get a graphical overhaul as well as audio for the characters in the game.

I’m a big fan of Monkey Island of have them all set on my shelf including the latest Tales of Monkey Island, so to get to play Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge with better visuals sounds like fun to me.

The rumours that this could also be released on the PSN this time around along with Xbox 360, PC and iPhone as the first remake was.

There’s been no official announcement of this yet, but with Games Developers Conference (GDC) only days away, I’m sure we’ll could get some confirmation about this soon.

Excited by this or do you think it’s a bit too much? Let us know below.

Via – Computer & Video Games

Related Pages:

1. The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
2. ‘Tales of Monkey Island’ Preview
3. Free Tales Of Monkey Island – Episode 1!
4. Tales of Monkey Island – Guybrush Threepwood Sets Sail Again!

The aim of the game is to save what appears to be your sister from some mob bosses as they stormed the shop, killed your father and took off with your sister. All in all, not very nice guys. So it’s up to the brothers to fight their way to the top bosses and get back their sister and revenge for the death of their father.

It’s only a short game and should only take you a few hours to complete as there are 4 chapters to the game, each with 6 areas to fight your way through before the big boss.

You can play the game in single player mode or with a friend in multiplayer but no online mutilplayer mode is available, so you’ll need a chum to use the second controller to help you along the way.

As with all PS3 games, there are trophies to collect and some of these can only be unlocked if you complete things by playing with a friend. There’s the usual, collect so many of these etc which adds something extra to the game, but nothing that will keep you stuck to the game for hours. There are a few mini games available also, like collect the lanterns which adds a bit more to the game if you get a bit bored of the main game.

The game looks really nice with the comic style graphics through different settings from forests to cities, and has a nice polished feel to it in HD. But it’s the actual gameplay that really lets it down. The controls are really simple and anybody will be able to play. Bashing square and triangle will punch and kick your enemies with the token ‘X’ button being used for jump. Pressing L1 will make you backflip and R1 with a forward roll.

What really frustrated me though is the fact that you could be stood right in front of your enemies and bashing the buttons away, but your kicks go right through them and you’ve got to be stood a certain distance away or right on top of them to make contact which has left me really annoyed at times.

You’ll sometimes have a few enemies around you constantly hitting you and there’s nothing you can do about it. You just have to keep pressing jump, roll or backflip until your character finally moves out of the way. It might have been handy to have a block button at the ready so that you can actually defend yourself.

The controls are the only real problem I had with the game. The bosses can be a little bit tricky at times which does make it a bit more satisfying when finally beating them. There are some cool finishing moves throughout the game (plus you get a trophy for doing them all in one area) that you can pull off which you do when your enemies are dazed.

There’s a ’special move’ in the game called Dragon Rage which seems pretty pointless and it makes you go a bit faster for a few seconds but doesn’t seem to give you any more strength. This would have been better if they’d have made it harder to fill up the bar, and then once you use Dragon Rage you become a lot stronger and maybe throw in some more finishing moves for good measure.

In the end I was disappointed by Revenge of the Wounded Dragons. This could have been a great PSN title had it not been for the frustrating controls. But if you love these types of games then £6.29 isn’t a bad price for a few hours of kung fu action. Just don’t expect a classic.

2 out of 5

Related Pages:

1. King of Fighters XII Review (PS3)
2. Blue Dragon Plus Review (DS/DSi)
3. ‘Bejeweled 2′ Review (PSN)
4. Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword Review (DS)