sprites & bites

Gaming, iPads and a few biscuits on the side…

Monthly Archives: September 2008

Pure Xbox 360 Review

I was asked to write a review for this game PURE of course I jumped at the chance to play a game before release.  But what I failed to mention to them and what I should reveal now is that I hate racing games.  I hate them mostly because I am rubbish at them and feel more at home with a good story-driven game.  

So it has been hard for me to decide how to approach this review.  Of course I have to be impartial and just say really whether it is good or bad and hope that my hatred of racing games is brushed aside.

Continue reading →

Mod Your Quad

PURE is a new off-road racing game coming soon from Disney Interactive Studios and Black Rock Studios. 

Based around seven real world locations, including New Mexico, Italy and Wyoming, PURE will have you tricking your way to off-road racing gold.  

PURE is not just an off road racer.  You must beat the game using tricks, stunts and aerial jumps.  It is a bit like snowboarding but in a big quad bike and without the snow.  

Naturally there will be online multiplayer and 16 of you can cram a room, get drunk and fall 100 feet down a hill on a 4-wheeled motorbike.  Just be sure to have the vomit bowl ready in case the jump is so high you get an attack of the vertigo devil.  All in the name of gaming of course and not real life.  

Furthermore in PURE you can build your ride from scratch and there are approximately 60,000 variations of quad bike to build so you can mod and tune to your hearts content.  Check out the videos below for how to mod your quad.

PURE recently won the Best Racing Game award in the Critics Game Awards of E3 2008, so you know it does have something special up it’s sleeve. 

PURE will be available in Europe on 26th September on Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC

I will be reviewing PURE hopefully some time before it’s release so keep your eyes peeled for a run down of this great looking game.

 

Check out these crazy videos

 

 

 

Check out my more in depth Review

Rocketbowl Xbox Live Arcade

Rocketbowl appeared on Xbox Live Arcade today for a mere 800 points.  I say “mere” as in not a lot because it is not a lot of points for a LOT of fun.

There are 10 bowling alleys to unlock, except these are no normal bowling alleys.  Instead of an alley in the traditional sense, you have a wide map area with lots of sets of pins and collectables.  Think maps about the size of Marble Blast Ultra but with bowling pin sets scattered across the course.  The purpose of course is to knock down the set of pins in that frame only (the one which is highlighted by a red arrow) but there is nothing to stop you from going for other sets of pins on the same course to boost your score of the current pin set.  Say for example for some reason you miss your target pin set.  You can guide your ball while it still has pace to another pin set and try and take down those instead.  If you take any out of that set, when it comes to bowling that set in your next go, the pins you took down will already be down.

Rockets can boost your balls to go a lot faster.  But be careful when using them because pressing X to left boost will shift the ball slightly left and you can actually miss your target, the same for pressing B to boost right.  It is difficult to explain but you can clearly see how it works in the trial version of the game.

Alongside the courses and collectables on the map you have challenges and tournaments.  Challenges are against one computer opponent and Tournaments are against 4 or 5.  The good thing is that you do not have to go through every computer controlled opponents before you get another go.  You only see your goes and the opponents are tallied up in the background.

This is of course also online and local multiplayer if you wish to play your friends.

Throughout the course of the game you will earn cash and this will allow you to buy better bowling balls with more accuracy and better firepower.

It is a good game and quite addictive and certainly worthy of 800 points in my opinion.

Kiss My Arse Goodbye

This coming Wednesday (10th September 2008) scientists in Geneva will be conducting what is probably the biggest and riskiest experiment ever known to man.

300ft under the ground in a system of tunnels they have been building a massive machine (17 miles long) that can collide particles.  When these particles collide they can create little tiny black holes which then evaporate into air.  What they are aiming to do is to recreate the big bang theory which they think started the creation of earth.

Looking around the web, opinions seem to be divided on whether it is a safe practice or if it spells the end of the earth and we get swallowed up by a huge hole.  Obviously the scientists conducting this research insist it is safe but others disagree.  Apparently the Hawking Theory (named after Stephen Hawking who made it up) says that a black hole will evaporate within milliseconds after creation because it lacks stability.  Only stable neutral black holes can suck things up like a Dyson, but they need radiation.  These black holes will create radiation but they will not be neutral therefore they will dissipate into thin air.  Or so Mr Hawking and his friends think.

But what if the scientists are wrong?  Who are they to play God and decide to put the world at risk?  Maybe there is no risk involved but as everybody knows, no machinery on earth is 100% reliable especially on such a serious thing as this.

Of course if there is a problem and we all get sucked up, it may not even happen on Wednesday, it might be later on in the week when they eventually collide these particles.

Now I am all for scientists doing research in the name of mankind – finding cures for cancers, altzeimers, tornadoes and so on, but I see no reason why we need to know how Earth was formed.  Okay there was a big bang created by some geezer called Adam and his wife Eve and a hole exploded and created this beautiful globe and that is all we need to know.  We don;t need to know why or how or when, we want cures for illness.

All I can see this experiement is useful for is to inflate the ego’s of these scientists to give themselves a good name.

See You next Thursday?  Don’t All Fart At Once!