Nintendo GameCube Pre-Reveal Information | Everything we knew about GameCube Part 1 (1999)

Nothing got me more excited than following up all the information and rumours leading up to a console reveal. The drip-feed of information, the rumours, the pre-release screenshots and promo footage - it was a magical time. With the 6th generation of consoles looming, Nintendo had a lot to prove. Moving from the Nintendo 64, it had lost a lot of market and mind share. 

So I thought it would be interesting to have a look back at everything GameCube prior to it's release. I have spent hours collecting everything from wild rumours, off-hand comments and official information will be here to get a wider perspective and to really give a perspective of Nintendo from 1999 to it's official reveal at E3 2001.

Early Information on GTA 3 | Coverage of the game from the year 2000

One thing that fascinates me is looking back at early game development of popular games before they changed everything. GTA 3 was a landmark game, It changed games forever, and was a cultural phenomenon in a way not even Rockstar themselves could have imagined. Coming off of GTA2 the series had a strong fanbase, enough to warrant a sequel, but the earlier games never reached the cultural status.

Little did the world know how much the gaming industry would evolve with the release of the 3rd entry. People were interested in the sequel, and Driver 2 gave everyone a taste, but at the time the game did not garner the amount of interest it had once the game released. And this is what makes it so fascinating to look back, to see the history of GTA3 in the public eye, at a time when it was just a small blip on many people's radars...

The Most Interactive DVD Games | Playing golf with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 Family DVD Game

With the advent of the DVD and it's rise to success starting from the early 2000's, the boundaries of what the medium could offer were to be tested. Among the features of extra content and interactive menus also saw the rise of interactive media and gaming on your DVD player.

You've probably seen the countless TV series adaptions such as a Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Deal or no Deal piled among countless of other DVD's now on sale for pennies. These were basically an interactive video footage where you're essentially dictating the next scene which is about to play. The slow paced and methodical nature of these adaptions were a good fit for any generic DVD remote.

However the 2 main games I want to look at are two of the most interesting examples; PGA Tour and Tomb Raider. Trust me, they're more interesting than you think... 

Initial sales in Japan ps5

It’s seems so long ago now when console gaming was synonymous with Japan, yet as the years have gone by, gaming has never felt so western. Japan’s tastes have changed since the early 2000’s as mobile and handheld gaming has taken centre stage. With the launch of the PS5 I thought it would be interesting to see if a new generation and a new console launch has made any impact over the past year, or are things just going to stay the same? 

Japanese Launch Photos

Games Exclusive to Xbox One | Part 2 - Digital Games

Continuing from Part 2, we will look at the digital games that are currently only available on Xbox One consoles. Now there's not as many to look at, well to be honest - there's only 3, but they're well worth looking at. There's plenty of other games that are also on PC, or strange Asian mobile games ported over like Q, but we'll focus entirely on games you can only get on Xbox One. 

Playing Differently | Watch Dogs - No upgrade playthough

Watch Dogs didn't set the world on fire on its release, but it was still a fun game nevertheless and scratched that next-gen open world game for me at the time. One thing that struck me was how quick you can die. The game pushed for stealth; utilising the environment to your advantage. Strangely this went to odds with the fantastic gunplay, probably some of the best in an open world game of it's kind.

Aiden Pearce - everyone's favourite protagonist

The game features a skill tree which offers a range of upgrades. Initially I was going to ignore this entirely. However my only exception was the hack skill tree simply because it's a unique mechanic to the game and is a core gameplay element. The other abilities on offer are arbitrary upgrades that provide no additional gameplay features. Greater accuracy? reduced recoil? Not only does this dilute the gunplay to aim and shoot, but goes against the game's push towards stealth and environmental takedowns. 

Games Exclusive to Xbox One | Part 1 - Physical Games

To say Microsoft has changed gears during the Xbox One's lifespan is a bit of an understatement. At first, their priorities were in shifting consoles and now, it's about shifting subscriptions. Microsoft will happily launch their first party games on PC and Xbox (and in rare occasions, Switch and PlayStation) as long as you play their titles.

Now the Xbox One doesn't have many exclusives to speak about, and notable first-party franchises always get a PC release. So that means, inevitably, some games have been left behind on the Xbox One. So we're going to look back at some Xbox One Exclusive games that you cannot play elsewhere.

Ken Kutaragi on PS4 | The PlayStation's creator input on PS4

The PS4 was the first console not headed by the creator himself, Ken Kutaragi, and ultimately had more western influence then other PlayStation console that came before. We're gonna look back and see if the grandfather of PlayStation had any influence on Sony's most successful console.

Playing Differently | Dead Rising 4 - no combo, no exo and no skill playthrough

Rules:

• No Exo suit (if obtained one, get out straight away)
• No use of combo weapons (if obtained one through story, get out/drop it straight away)
• No Exo combo weapons
• No upgrading of any skills

Exceptions:

• Exo suit was used on the last boss as it was too difficult without it
• Going to be some anomalies in there due to how the game forces you at some point to use combo item/vehicles.

Capcom Vancouver have continuously advertised during release that Dead Rising 4 is "going back to it's roots" with the return of the main protagonist Frank West and the Willamette Mall. Though despite what the developers claim, this is most certainly not a call back to the original Dead Rising. Everything from Frank, to the combat mechanics as well as the location have had major overhauls to the point where Dead Rising 4 resembles very little of the original game. Despite the reception of changes, it's become unanimous that this game is easy, in fact - very easy. The addition of the ludicrously overpowered combo weapons became apparent with the third game, where combo weapons can be created on the fly with many having little to no balancing whatsoever. 

So I decided what better way to play the game than to play with no upgrades and avoiding combo weapons entirely. After all, the developers emphasised it's homages to the original series so I thought I'd play in a way that pays homage too. I want to play the game the developers didn't really intend and hopefully provide some much needed difficulty. I like a good challenge! 

PS3 Demo Disc Collection | Games that are no longer obtainable.

The Official PlayStation magazine (OPM) was the only PS3 based magazine that handed out game demos through a Blu-Ray disc. Many other magazines couldn't afford to use Blu-Ray such as PSW (PlayStation World) and PSM3. Instead, they decided to use double sided DVD's where they tried to make up for with their inclusion of videos, themes, pictures, save files and more. 

What makes these demo discs even more interesting is the fact that only the UK and some selected European countries (from my knowledge) were the only OPM to have access to these demo discs. Finding any information on what is contained on these discs is impossible due to the limited appeal, regional exclusivity and just a lack of coverage in general.

So it's time to scour through my complete collection of these discs and find out what's on them. Here's the list of games that you will never be able to get access to ever again and which never saw a PC release.

PS3 and Xbox 360 Games at 1080P | The definitive list

Using two main reliable sources and some research myself, this has become a definitive list of Xbox 360 and PS3 games that run in both upscaled and native 1080p. One of the websites contained a list of PS3 titles that upscaled to 1080p, while the other website documented the list of native rendering resolutions. 

However the latter has been inactive for a few years and with the help of Eurogamer's Face Off series and other sources such as developer comments and websites, I have compiled and categorised all this information to create a more focused and up-to-date list.

Game Over for Xbox One | The time when Microsoft nearly sold Xbox

The 7th generation of consoles was nearing to a close. Microsoft were coming out strong, despite the huge RROD (red ring of death) fiasco that plagued early consoles. The 80 million sales figure was in reach and the Kinect was a huge success. 

The Xbox One destroyed all that in just one conference. We all know the story; always-online DRM, mandatory Kinect, no game sharing - it was not looking good for Microsoft. When the console finally launched, Xbox 360 faithfuls jumped ship to the PS4; making it one of the fastest selling consoles in history. Microsoft on the other hand, still had unsold 'Day One' edition consoles well into early 2014.

Microsoft had a huge problem, the PS4 was outselling the Xbox nearly 3:1. Amazingly, Microsoft had to make one of the biggest decisions in their company's history - whether to keep Xbox going. 

N64's Later Years | How the N64 sold during the new millennium

I am fascinated by the N64 in its later years. By the turn of the millenium, the N64 was beginning to age much more than its rivals on the market. Carts and single stick controllers was something of the past, yet Nintendo had to hold on for another 2 years in a fierce market dominated by disc based consoles and new emerging technologies.

So how did the N64 fare during this time?