sprites & bites

Gaming, iPads and a few biscuits on the side…

Is the iPhone 4 Antenna Problem Software based?

The iPhone 4 was released today and it was soon evident there was a problem with the signal dropping when people were holding the phone. Many videos showing the evidence have been posted up on various forums and video sites proclaiming a mass manufacturing error. @ghalfacree has duly noted to me that this is likely to be an OS4 related issue and a fault in the displaying of bars rather than a fault with the phone, like Apple claim.

So I thought I would test my iPhone 3GS model loaded with OS4 and voila I could replicate the problem. Within 20 seconds of holding the phone, my signal went from 5 bars down to one. I did this process 3 more times to rule out a fluke and the same happened. Some people have shown videos to show calls dropping on the iPhone 4 but as Gareth states, if the phone thinks it has a low signal it will drop the call. Now I am no scientist or a technical buff, I leave that to the experts, I can only tell you that this happens on the 3GS too on OS4 so it is highly likely to be a software issue. I await a patch from Apple to fix it.

Incoming Releases

25th June

Naughty Bear – Xbox 360, PS3.  Cuddly bears meet Grand Theft Auto. Well sort of. Cuddly bears  but not for kids under 12 apparently as it is a bit gory.  It is a brand new game idea so hopefully it may bring something new to the table. Even if it does not, shotgun-toting teddy bears could be interesting. Remember folks, it is only a game, your teddy bear will not attack you while you sleep.

Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 – All consoles.  If ever a film did not deserve to become a Lego game, it is Harry Potter. What were they thinking?  Oh well, it could be a good bit of fun, I do love Lego videogames.

2nd July

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 – All consoles. Another year, another Tiger Woods game. It is hard to know how they can change a year-in/year-out golf game but  this time you do get to play in the Ryder Cup.  Fortunately no sign of added  girlfriends.

9th July

Crackdown 2 – Xbox 360. Another long awaited sequel. Hopefully this time round the game will have just a wee bit more substance rather than just jumping around collecting orbs and shooting people.

16th July

Toy Story 3 – All consoles. Oh yes everybody loves Toy Story, right?  Good platforming games do not come around often, I am hoping this is going to be an excellent edition.

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands

I don’t know what is wrong with the developer Ubisoft of late, but some of their games have been terrible, one such bad game is their newest Prince of Perisa: The Forgotten Sands.I mistakenly bought this game on a whim when I meant to rent and I so wish I had rented it and it is certainly not as good as their last episode.

Firstly, the combat has no depth whatsoever, it is a simple press X to swing your sword and that is it. There are special powers you can upgrade to but these actually make the game a bit too easy. I am all for easy games, but eventually I was getting a one shot kill and there was no challenge. There are also not many puzzles and those that were there did not require much brain power to work out, apart from one where I resorted to looking on the web as it had me stumped.  Breakable pots and vases only contained power or health and it would have been nice to have found some collectibles. The only collectibles in the game were stone statues which you had to break – for more power and health. The other thing is the look of the game feels very dated. The previous Prince of Persia on the Xbox 360 looked stunning but this game feels like a step back before that, just not good at all.

The platforming sections – swinging jumping etc, the controls worked well but it was dull. It was the same old jumping from pole to pole, swinging from swings and evading razor saws on walls. There was just no variety at all and I felt the game was just a rehash of older versions.

I really would not recommend anyone buy this game at all unless it is in the bargain bin. It is short, it has no depth and is just old tired ideas mashed up into an omelette of nothingness.  Buy cheap, rent or avoid.

AVERAGE/10

Previously on Alan Wake…

The storyline strong Heavy Rain was released on the PS3 to critical acclaim a few months ago and a few days ago it Microsoft’s turn to release a storyline strong game – Alan Wake, which has been in development since the original Xbox was out. Both Alan Wake and Heavy Rain feature action aplenty with impressive storylines to carry the game through.  Heavy Rain had the thriller but Alan Wake is a horror story with enough twists and screams to affect your nightly dreams.

Alan Wake your character is a horror book author who has writers block and decides to go to Bright Falls with his wife Alice to take a break and end his writers block. Unfortunately, things do not go as planned, Alice goes missing and he sets on a frightening tale trying to get her back.  The world is twists, full of horrors, the darkness of evil consuming the population of Bright Falls.  To remain spoiler free I will not mention the story further, only to say that I found myself questioning the storyline several times because it kept twisting – this is not a negative note, it is saying that I was kept on my toes trying to keep up with the twists in the story and at one point I had myself thinking I got the story all wrong, but it was the story playing with my mind.

Graphically the game has its superb points when the environments look polished with high detail. Unfortunately the game looks bad in places on my big 40″ TV. Sometimes the background appears a lower resolution so while you have Alan Wake looking good, the area in the background looks pixelated and like I say on a big TV this is evident. ON a smaller TV this may not be so noticeable.  There is also an element of screen tearing at times when Alan is forced to walk places and follow people, it is no game-breaker but can be a tad annoying at times.

They have included some excellent songs in the game and the sound effects match the spooky atmosphere in the game.  There is a big fail with one part of the sound though. When someone is talking as part of the story, sometimes you can hear conversations in the background so it plays two conversations at once and it can be hard to distinguish the two apart. Turn on the subtitles and it is even more of a mess. You end up with two lots of subtitles one above another with no indication as to which subtitle is which.  If anyone has the sound turned down or is deaf and relies on subtitles this is very bad because there is no indication which are the storyline conversation words and which are the background conversation words.  It is not very well implemented at all and they should have had it so when storyline conversations come up, the background conversations are muted.  I would say this is the one thing that ruins the game sometimes and it is very distracting.

So for those obsessed with numbers, with the graphical issues and the sound/subtitles issues I have to mark this game down, I would have expected more from a game in development alledgedly for 10 years and it is a disappointment to have these flaws. However, whilst I would have knocked away 2 points from the score giving an average 8, I think the storyline has enough gusto to carry the game into a 9 score. Because the game is all about the story and you will find yourself gripped from the very beginning and emotionally driven to solve the mystery and find Alice – dead or alive.

GREAT/10

Alan Wake is available now on Xbox 360 only. Rated 15 years and over.

Don’t forget also you can download filmed episodes of the Bright Falls series on Xbox live marketplace. They add to the story of Alan Wake and are free to download.

Splinter Cell Conviction

A lot has been said on forums and blogs when the Splinter Cell Conviction demo was released, about how Ubisoft have ruined the series by taking the character Sam Fisher away from his comfortable spy role and having him as a civilian.

My personal opinion is that whilst I enjoyed every Splinter Cell game in the series, I felt that as each one passed, they were getting a little stale.  I think something had to change and the changes in this game I think are for the better.  Okay Sam is no longer a spy but a civilian but really in the sense of the game this is only a matter of how he looks.  The main element of the game is still stealth based but with a few added extras like upgrading weapons and the execute system.  I think the execute system is quite good actually, by performing hand to hand kills you get the ability with a single press to mark an enemy and with another press execute them from a distance in slow motion James Bond style bullet to the head. This can be very useful in situations where you feel there a too many enemies to handle or you cannot get to the stealthily. Some may not like it, but here is the news, you don’t have to use it!  Apart from one section in the game later you can totally ignore the fact you have the execute ability and play the game like the old games.

The graphics in this game are excellent, not quite on a par with Call of Duty MW 1&2, but it is almost there. There is high detail in the environments and aside from a little tearing of the screen occasionally, it looks fantastic.

I think fans of the series who do not play this game because it has moved from it’s roots are doing themselves a disservice because this is every bit a Splinter Cell game with a few changes and Ubisoft fully deserve the No.1 spot it has claimed in its first weekend of sales in the UK.  Well done to Ubisoft for having the balls to try something different on a tired old series and making a success of it.

Splinter Cell Conviction Demo

There is one thing in life guaranteed apart from death and taxes and that is that you can never please everybody.  Splinter Cell Conviction demo was released today with a few new changes to the series and from reading the forums there are generally two camps – those who love the changes and those who feel it is too far away from the other games and do not like it at all.

The real problem as far as I can see was that the series was getting old.  It was stale and none of the previous games really improved that much on the previous before that. In a nutshell it was the same gameplay, different location each time and very similar storyline.  Splinter Cell Conviction throws away the old rigid rule book and starts afresh with a new set of rules.  He is no longer an operative in a silly black outfit and donning night vision goggles but is working alone in civvies to his own agenda.

Gameplay wise, Ubisoft have now implemented an quick execute option so you can tag and kill multiple enemies with a couple of button presses.  I like this option. I have problem with some games sometimes in that my reactions are a bit slow so creating a set piece for multiple kills I think is excellent. It is not a given right either, so not to make it too easy, the execute option has to be earned by close up kills.  If anyone complains this makes the game too simple then the easy answer is do not use it. You are not forced to use the tag-then-execute option, it is merely there for those who do want to use it.

Personally I love the new gameplay. It is very fresh and I love the fact that they have moved away from the dry old black-clad-super-spy theme to give us something new.  This may be the recipe they need to bring back gamers who abandoned the series before because it was getting stale.

Roll on April, I will now submit my pre-order.

My friend Cat hates the changes  and you can read her well thought out rant on here

http://carocat.co.uk/2010/03/21/splinter-cell-conviction-demo/

Cat gives more information about the changes although I do not think they are all negative things. Two very polarised opinions :)