by Bret

Our Daily Beard

Sun!

This weekend, you have probably already noticed, is Xbox Live Gold free weekend.

You can ‘get’ Xbox Gold for free. This weekend.

It starts on Friday at midday and allows a brief window of access to multiplayer gaming, Netflix and Lovefilm (and other apps) and so on and so forth. I have a smart TV, so poo on that, but maybe I’ll try to get someone to do a game with me. I don’t really like online gaming. I’ve said it before- I didn’t get into computer games for interaction with the public.

These are some of the haps:

‘Football fans can take part in the EA SPORTS FIFA 13 Ultimate Team Spring Classic in-game tournament all weekend for the chance to win 1,000,000 in-game coins plus other prizes. Petrol heads should check out the Forza Rivals Mode events for both Forza 4 and Forza Horizon. On Halo 4, play a total of ten Spartan Ops or War games missions over the weekend and receive Double XP on your next ten missions!’

Apparently some existing Goldies will get TV tokens so that they can watch some of the overpriced TV for free, which is nice.

‘Fans are also invited to enhance their Xbox 360 game and entertainment experience with Internet Explorer, as well as Xbox SmartGlass which turns their phone or tablet into an intelligent second screen.’

In case you don’t already have A COMPUTER.

I’m going to pretend that free Gold weekend actually means that my Xbox will eject bars of gold from the CD tray. I’m going to camp out all weekend beside the console.

I’ll let you know what happens.

 
[sociable]

Our Daily Beard

Gleeeooooocat.

So, yes, anyway. Three new GTA 5 trailers have emerged from the aether!

You’ve probably seen them; they’re entitled Michael, Franklin and Trevor and they focus on each character in detail.

I really recommend that you check these out, even if you didn’t need, want or ask for GTA 5. Break through that pesky age gate!

There has been a trend for some time to make game trailers that look like movie trailers and this is no exception- if anything, it’s the peak of the art. The graphics, you see, are fantastic- while only a little hop up from GTA 4 graphics, Rockstar seem to have perfected the nuances of facial and bodily animation. Now, in a way, you may say they cheated by using the techniques pioneered in L.A. Noire- but it works soooooo well!

They just look… right. In reality, it’s less about graphics and more about intelligent use of the technology available and talented artists. With great voice acting on top (where have Rockstar ever failed on that front?) you have trailers that make me want to watch this game more than play it!

That may be partly because GTA 4’s sluggish controls drove me mad as I stumbled around the city like man with a ferret for a spine.

In Michael’s trailer, we have something of a Ray Liotta character- rich and powerful gangster who just can’t find happiness unless he’s involved in chaos and violence. Ultimately damaged, we can expect an inevitable and fascinating demise for Michael. He’s your typical blaze-of-glory antihero. The trailer uses Radio Ga Ga to give this quite odd air to the chaotic scenes it depicts; there’s something slightly ghostly about it. Actually, on the subject of Ray, there’s no small degree of GTA: VC’s Tommy in this fella.

Franklin’s trailer is far less interesting, sadly. He’s black and a gangster, living the hood, arguing about how hard life is with his, erm, posse. I don’t really get this one- I hope the storyline is stronger than it looks. I don’t even recognise the hippity hoppity music! I just hope that this character’s segment plays out more like the Wire than like a rehash of GTA: SA, and that it hasn’t been thrown in to get more fans.

Trevor is very intruiging. He’s a country character with a country soundtrack (nope don’t recognise this one either, sorry!). To me, he’s something like Jack Nicholson meets Breaking Bad. While I’m not a massive fan of wacky comedy nutjob types, as the character who is least like any past characters from GTA games, he interests me the most. He feels most like a new generation character. He also gets a little more fleshing out than Franklin, but not as much as Michael.

That, of course, is not necessarily a bad thing. What we have here is three games in one, with three distinct atmospheres and styles. I’m again reminded of GTA: SA, because you could go from urban gangland areas to sleek business districts and then way out to farmland and crop dusters.

At the least, check these out and see what you think. I’ll just post a link to the site, so you can find them all together in easily-streamed glory, along with the previous generic trailers.

I want to see this movie. I want to know this story. Will it be a good game? It doesn’t really matter to me at this juncture. Will it be particularly deep, or just a load of crime gags and unrealistic violence? Well… yes, but hopefully in a good way. Let’s not forget, the GTA series has always had a really strong comedic core (the radio stations if nothing else) which takes the edge off the silly violence by making it a tad tongue-in-cheek.

Well, my tongue’s ready.

Erm… yeah.

 
[sociable]

Our Daily Beard

A’ernoon!

We have some sunshine once more!

Is anyone else massively looking forward to some semblance of summer?

Walks in the countryside, jardins à bière, lazy evenings and all that.

I particularly look forward to some days out with friends and family!

So in that spirit, here’s a summery Haiku:

The new sun rises,

The bitter cold is driven,

Chav blokes go topless.

 

Tata!

 
[sociable]