Need For Speed Hot Pursuit: A Return to Form

Need for Speed Hot Pursuit is the newest instalment in the need for speed franchise with Criterion taking the helm; taking the franchise back to its routes and branches off from the current Shift series.
Having criterion develop the game really shows from the start, most of all this is what the series needed. It had become stale and it felt like it was trying something new just to freshen it up and it seemed like it was drifting away more and more from what made the series great to begin with.

Utilizing Kinect: Wrestling Games

Kinect just launched and developers are still getting their heads around the technology and how it might be best used in games. An idea I have had is a way of implementing Kinect in a way that can add to a gaming experience without using it strictly for gameplay or menu navigation, thinking outside the box at the applications of the hardware.

Call of Duty Black Ops: One Week In

So it has just been over a week since the biggest release of the year and as the dust is beginning to settle how is the game fairing a week after the release and what could the future hold for the game.

Bizarre Creations Closing Down

News just hit me that Giant Bomb is reporting that the UK studio Bizarre Creations is shutting down which for me is a sad thing to hear as the studio is very talented and they have been pumping out great games over the years most notably the Project Gotham Series. Also it is disheartening to hear of another big UK studio to be shutting down after Real Time Worlds closed down just a few months ago.
It is disappointing seeing talented groups of individuals falling by the way side especially during these harsh times I just hope member of the studio move on to better and brighter things.

It wasn't like the Studio were making bad games either there recent title Blur was a great game though the timing of the release to co inside with Split Second could of possibly hurt sales of the title and most recently James Bond: Blood Stone released which seemed like a bit of an odd game to be coming out of Bizarre Creations and the game met average reviews it wasn't an outstanding success if recent reports are to be believed.

Activision had this to say in regards to said events

Over the past three years since our purchase of Bizarre Creations, the fundamentals of the racing genre have changed significantly. Although we made a substantial investment in creating a new IP, Blur, it did not find a commercial audience. Bizarre is a very talented team of developers, however, because of the broader economic factors impacting the market, we are exploring our options regarding the future of the studio, including a potential sale of the business.    

I do hope that some of the team remains even if it means a downscaled version of the studio because the talent is there no doubt about it.

If you missed out on any of there games I recommend checking out the following:

• Geometry Wars 2
• Project Gotham Racing series
• Blur 
• The Club

The Possibilities of Kinect

With Kinect now out, the general public can play the game for themselves but eyes now turn to what Kinect enabled titles could possibly do or achieve in the future. My view upon Kinect is something like untapped potential, it could offer a lot to a player in the way of physically interacting with a game world and characters in way that has not been possible in the past.

My main issue with Kinect is that it should be treated in a much different way to the Wii and should not be labeled under just motion controls as it is far different to the Wii and Sonys Move.

The key to Kinect is establishing a foundation of ideas and functions that is at its core and using those fundamentals to create a game, I think first person perspective games could be great way of seeing what is possible with Kinect because the genre is about putting you inside a persons head be it a character created by yourself or a character moulded around a story. Having a game where your individual actions, be it very subtle are reflected on screen could do wonders for immersion, now take into account voice recognition face recognition the possibilities could result in totally new refreshing elements of game play that has not be tried or seen to date.

Heavy Rain is a good example of what could be a good idea for a Kinect game based on physical movements, instead of pressing X or R1 etc, actually performing the actions corresponding to the onscreen actions could be a really cool way of using Kinects abilities.