Parent Play: Games The Whole

Family Can Play Together on Xbox.

Massive Xbox Games List: “It’s Good To Play Together” These Holidays!

A nice new section that we will be exploring in 2009 is family gaming.  As well as looking at the games we as parents can share with our children, we will also explore issues relating to online behaviour and how to navigate the increasingly adult-focused game world with our children.

We believe that being involved in video games with your child is not only the bonding fun experience of playing together and relating to their interest, but also the best way to educate yourself to better understand the content of the games they play.  Just as with the Internet, film, or TV, being involved allows you to make the decisions you believe are in the interests of your child more accurately.

With “Parent Play” we hope to open up a dialogue between the young and ‘older’ with various articles, personal stories, and views on the role of government agencies, hopefully from both the perspective of the parent and the child.

Plus, with all the negative press gaming gets, it can be easy for parents to see their children’s gaming as something negative.  In fact, gaming can bring the whole family together to share laughter and fun in an age where precious family time is often stolen away by busy life and there sometimes seems to be a divide between adults and kids.

This holidays why not spend some time together gaming?  Children, ask you parents; parents, ask your children. Someone has to start the ball rolling…

At OXCGN we know that it can be confusing for parents and kids to work out which games are best suited for family gameplay, so we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of 360 titles from both full disc-based retail and Xbox Live Arcade titles.

Think the Wii is the only console with good family fun?  Wrong!  We have two of our staff give you some suggestions with pros and cons and a family friendly rating, though you can get a full review by clicking on the title.   At the end we have some suggestions for Microsoft and retailers for some “game packs” we’d like to see.

But for now, let’s just have some fun and enjoy some games together this Christmas holidays . . .

Happy gaming this holiday season, from OXCGN.

TWODOGSz’s Picks:

by TWODOGSz

© 2008 Aaron Bertinetti

TITLE: Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
GENRE: Platform Adventure
PRICE: RRP $70
PLAYERS: 1-2 Offline, 8 Online
FAMILY FRIENDLY RATING: 10
PROS: Lego without the mess, colourful, funny, parents will love it, cheap, intuitive, open ended, encourages creativity and design.
CONS: Small text on SDTVs

TITLE: Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise
GENRE: Gardening Simulation
PRICE: RRP $70
PLAYERS: 1-2 Offline, 4 Online
FAMILY FRIENDLY RATING: 9
PROS: Colourful, funny, cute, engaging, open ended, teaches time and money management.
CONS: Addictive as candy, themes of life cycle (birth, death, mating, etc), original Viva Pinata game is only $30

TITLE: Kameo: Elements of Power
GENRE: Action Adventure
PRICE: RRP $30
PLAYERS: 1-2 Offline
FAMILY FRIENDLY RATING: 8
PROS: Colourful, story orientated, bargain
CONS: Minor animated violence

TITLE: Lips
GENRE: Music (Singing)
PRICE: RRP $100
PLAYERS: 1-2 Singing + up to four controllers
FAMILY FRIENDLY RATING: 8
PROS: Casual approach, easily accessible, plug in MP3 player and sing along, great for parties/sleepovers, great for non-gamers
CONS: Low difficulty, some songs contain mild language

TITLE: Scene It? Box Office Smash
GENRE: Party Game (Quiz)
PRICE: RRP $100
PLAYERS: 1-4 Offline
FAMILY FRIENDLY RATING: 8
PROS: Fun for all family, great for non-gamers, Mum & Dad will play, Avatars, get to press buzzers
CONS: Some mature themes in film clips, Some questions appear more than once

TITLE: FIFA 09
GENRE: Sports (Soccer)
PRICE: RRP $100 (Or $60 when you buy another EA title @ GAME: limited time only)
PLAYERS: 1-4 Offline, 16 Online
FAMILY FRIENDLY RATING: 10
PROS: Easy to learn, Single screen multiplayer, The best football game out there, Looks fantastic,
CONS: Dad loves soccer… but Mum may hate it!

TITLE: Rockstar Presents Table Tennis
GENRE: Sports (Table Tennis)
PRICE: RRP A$30
PLAYERS: 1-2 Offline, 1-2 Online
FAMILY FRIENDLY RATING: 10
PROS: Easy to learn, cheap, looks great, sounds great, single screen multiplayer
CONS: Impossible to master

TITLE: Forza 2
GENRE: Racing
PRICE: RRP A$30
PLAYERS: 1-2 Offline, 8 Online
FAMILY FRIENDLY RATING: 10 (Offline), 7 (Online)
PROS: Split screen multiplayer, caters to all difficulties, bargain price, great community, endless gaming hours
CONS: occasionally adult images on online car marketplace

TITLE: Rock Band
GENRE: Music (Instruments and Singing)
PRICE: RRP $200
PLAYERS: 1-4 Offline, 1-4 Online
FAMILY FRIENDLY RATING: 8
PROS: Three games in one (Drums, Guitar/Bass, Vocals), Whole family can play together, great spread of songs, everyone will find something they love, friendly difficulty curve
CONS: Expensive, durability of drum kit’s pedal

TITLE: Fable 2
GENRE: Adventure
PRICE: RRP $100
PLAYERS: 1-2 Offline, 1-2 Online
FAMILY FRIENDLY RATING: 7
PROS: Very accessible, Casual gameplay with hardcore depth, Local Co-op campaign, One button combat, Beautiful production values, A game that anyone can enjoy and be and do what they please (eg. fighting, exploring, levelling, trading, the Sims like socialising, Tycoon like economic simulations, etc), cute dog you can train and interact with.
CONS: Adult themes such as sex, relationships, death, etc but not core to gameplay.

© 2008 Aaron Bertinetti

dkpatriarch’s Picks:

by dkpatriarch

© 2008 David Hilton

TITLE: Age of Booty
GENRE: Xbox Live Arcade: Party Game (Board)
PRICE: RRP 800 Microsoft Points (Around $14)
PLAYERS: 1-4 Offline, 1-8 Online
FAMILY FRIENDLY RATING: 10
PROS: Easy to understand basic strategy game, kids love being pirates and sinking ships, lots of maps and an easy to use map editor, 4 players can play together on the same screen and even play in teams, cute and colourful, worth every penny of the cheap price
CONS: Someone has to win and kids hate losing, like a board game it can get repetitive

TITLE: Halo 3
GENRE: Shooter
PRICE: RRP $69
PLAYERS: 1-4 Offline, 1-16 Online
FAMILY FRIENDLY RATING: 7
PROS: Top shooter with co-op missions as well as 4 player multiplayer, great variety of multiplayer games, can film and save matches to watch and laugh at later, not as violent as most other shooters and space theme makes it more Star Wars than realistic Black Hawk Down-type shooting
CONS: Those unused to controllers may find it difficult, split-screen games can feel empty with only 4 players, younger (or newer) players will get sick of being last all the time

TITLE: Perfect Dark Zero
GENRE: Shooter
PRICE: RRP $49.95 (or less)
PLAYERS: 1-4 Offline, 1-32 Online
FAMILY FRIENDLY RATING: 9
PROS:Fun shooter with co-op missions as well as 4 player multiplayer, great variety of multiplayer games including the super fun infection mode, variety of maps, cartoony look, not as violent as most other shooters, has bots (AI controlled characters) which really makes for fast frantic gameplay and allows the whole family to be a team against the baddie bots, very cheap older title
CONS: Those unused to controllers may find it difficult

TITLE: Lego Games: Lego Star Wars, Lego Indiana Jones, Lego Batman
GENRE: Action Adventure
PRICE: RRP $69.95 – $89.95
PLAYERS: 1-2 Offline
FAMILY FRIENDLY RATING: 8
PROS: Explore popular franchises like Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Batman in legoland, great fun co-operating with another person, colourful and funny, drop in drop out so if someone wants to keep going they can with the computer AI taking over one character
CONS: Puzzles can stump some, camera angle can frustrate, only 2 players, some get frustrated when other player doesn’t keep up

TITLE: Burnout Revenge
GENRE: Racing/ Crashing
PRICE: RRP $49.95
PLAYERS: 1-2, / 1-6 Offline, 1-6 Online
FAMILY FRIENDLY RATING: 9
PROS: Unrealistic fun arcade racing where crashing is part of the fun, variety of locations and tracks, not just racing but a 1-6 player crashing mode where players swap the controller and take turns trying to build a huge crash score, kids like cars (so do big kids)
CONS: Some kids don’t like cars (some big kids too), hard to find this game these days, not good for sore losers

TITLE: Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
GENRE: Action Adventure
PRICE: RRP $89.95
PLAYERS: 1-2 Offline, 1-2 Online
FAMILY FRIENDLY RATING: 8
PROS: A movie game that is actually fun! Great co-op game that looks and plays well, can switch and play as a variety of characters from the movie, drop in drop out so if someone wants to keep going they can, swashbuckling and arrow shooting in a variety of locations from the film
CONS: Some players may get frustrated when someone doesn’t keep up, only 2 players, fighting gets repetitive

TITLE: NHL 08/ 09
GENRE: Sports
PRICE: RRP $69.95- 99.95 (Or $60 when you buy another EA title @ GAME: limited time only))
PLAYERS: 1-2 Offline, 1-12 Online
FAMILY FRIENDLY RATING: 9
PROS: Fun easy to work out game that even has a shootout mode to keep things different, feels like you are there with commentary and great sound, looks amazing
CONS: If you don’t like sports, 2 players only on same screen

TITLE: Guitar Hero titles, including World Tour
GENRE: Music
PRICE: RRP $69.95- 329.95 (including the bundle with drums, mic, guitar and game)
PLAYERS: 1-2 Offline, 1-2 Online
FAMILY FRIENDLY RATING: 8
PROS: Be a family band!  Kids love playing with music (so do big kids), variety of songs
CONS: Some drum pads are reported faulty and don’t last, expense of full kit, need some co-ordination

TITLE: Worms
GENRE: Xbox Live Arcade Turn based strategy
PRICE: RRP 400 Microsoft Points (around $7)
PLAYERS: 1-4 Offline, 1-4 Online
FAMILY FRIENDLY RATING: 10
PROS: Cute, colourful and fun, variety of funny weapons and locations, a classic from way back looking good on 360, cheap as chips
CONS: Some younger kids and newer gamers may initially have trouble working out buttons to press to change weapons, aim, and shoot, nobody likes to lose

TITLE: Carcassonne
GENRE: Xbox Live Arcade Turn based strategy board game
PRICE: RRP 800 Microsoft Points (around $14)
PLAYERS: 1-4 Offline, 1-5 Online
FAMILY FRIENDLY RATING: 9
PROS: Cute, colourful and fun, this unique game brings the medieval tile game to the 360 perfectly, simple to get the hand of, easy controls, cheap
CONS: Some younger kids may not get the strategy element of it but still enjoy building castles, roads, and abbeys, nobody likes to lose

© 2008 David Hilton

FUN XBOX 360 CONSOLE PACKS WE’D LIKE TO SEE:

The Rare Box: Banjo, Viva:TiP, Kameo, PDZ, and NXE

The EA Box: Two EA Sports + 1 other (Bad Company, Mirror’s Edge, Army of Two, Dead Space, Red Alert 3, Mercs 2, Fight Night 3)

The Family Fun Box: Lips + Scene It? BOS or You’re in the Movies + Banjo or Viva:TiP

The Music Box: Rock Band 2 + Lips (+songs from Rock Band 1?)

The RPG Box: Fable 2, Mass Effect + 1 Other (Lost Odyssey, Eternal Sonata, Blue Dragon, Tales of Vesperia, Last Remnant, Infinite Undiscovery, Oblivion GOTY, Fallout 3, Sacred 2, Rise of the Argonauts) – could do Eastern & Western versions?

The Shooters Box: Halo 3, Gears 2 + 1 Other (Left 4 Dead, Frontlines, Far Cry 2, Gears 1, FEAR, The Club, Unreal Tournament, Call of Duty series, Orange Box, Shadowrun, etc)

The Racing Box: Forza 2, PGR4 + 1 Other (Midnight Club, GRID, SEGA Rally, Pure, MX v ATV, DIRT)

The Strategy Box: Halo Wars + 2 Others (Red Alert 3, BFME2, EndWar, Universe at War, Supreme Commander, Civ Rev)

The Rockstar Box: GTAIV, Midnight Club 3, Bully, Table Tennis

The Platinum Box: 4 titles of gamer’s choosing.

The Microsoft Games Studios Box: Rare, Lionhead, Bungie, Turn10, Bizarre, Epic, etc… (Pick three)

All goes to show the diversity of games on the 360 console, doesn’t it?

© 2008 Aaron Bertinetti

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Army of Two (played on: Xbox 360): A decent co-op game at first, but as the game went along, and nothing new happened, it became redundant.

Call of Duty: World at War (played on: Xbox 360): Just can’t get back into the WWII scene. Been there, done that, Pacific or otherwise. Bring on Call of Duty: Nam already.

Castle Crashers (played on: Xbox 360): A great Xbox Live experience the first bunch of times through, but a complete version of this game, with tons of maps to battle through, would have been much more ideal to anyone looking to level their characters up.

The Club (played on: Xbox 360): The least common denominator of shooters. “Let’s go kill a bunch of people in a warehouse for no reason whatsoever!” No thanks.

Condemned 2: Bloodshot (played on: Xbox 360): A first person game that asks for more than shooting, and while the puzzle portions are a bit of fun, and the atmosphere is creepy, the replayability and combat are lacking too much to warrant a purchase.

Devil May Cry 4 (played on: Xbox 360): A great installment into one of the great on-going action series. Dante returns halfway through the game, but the real star is Nero (Virgil’s son/clone?). Non-stop monster battling fun in this great next-gen sequel.

Fable 2 (played on: Xbox 360): If you like a game holding your hand through everything, and only having to tap the A button anytime your character is supposed to be doing something different, then this game is for you!

Facebreaker (played on: Xbox 360): What didn’t everyone learn from Ready 2 Rumble boxing? Boxing games built towards the arcade and not simulation equals fail… Unless it’s Punchout!

Fallout 3 (played on: Xbox 360): Experiencing Fallout 3 for the first time this year was a lot like experiencing No Country For Old Men in theaters for the first time last year. Few experiences in my life standout as more enjoyable. Fallout 3 is everything I could want in a post apocalyptic shooter/rpg.

Far Cry 2 (played on: Xbox 360): Cliche’, Cliche’, unbalanced gunfight, take medicine, drive forever. Rinse. Repeat.

FIFA Street 3 (played on: Xbox 360): Street games just don’t have the longevity of regular sports games because of the lack of players in the games, and no franchise features. FIFA Street 3 has gameplay at a pretty fun level, now to load up on the roster and features.

Jman and Friends debate the existence of Gold Flamethrowers

Gears of War 2 (played on: Xbox 360): An upgraded campaign, an online mode that doesn’t involve playing against a team of cry babies, but a weakened online versus. It’s hard to call Gears of War 2 a downgrade on the first Gears, but the ridiculousness in EPIC removing the stun on people holding their chainsaw in an attacking position, has made online versus broken at best. Still a fun game, but hardly the GOTY candidate I was hoping for.

Geometry Wars: Retro evoled 2 (played on: Xbox 360): The sequel to possibly the most addictive game on the XBLA. Sorely lacking in Online multiplayer, and hard to warrant a purchase for anyone who already owns the original. The added game modes are merely just dressed up training missions for the real game (Evolved).

Grand Theft Auto IV (played on: Xbox 360): This game stepped the GTA free roaming up with no loading different areas of the map, rag doll physics, and cab services. The lack of weapons, different kinds of vehicles, and doing the same missions over and over keeps this game from being perfect, but it’s still leaps and bounds ahead of games like Saints Row 2 (which after viewing at length, I avoided a playthru of).

Guitar Hero: World Tour (played on: Xbox 360): Activision further robs Harmonix of all the greatness it creates. There are a good number of bands on here that I enjoy, that Rock Band doesn’t have (The Mars Volta!), but the presentation here is too dull to keep me coming back.

Left 4 Dead (played on: Xbox 360): Zombies everywhere! I can’t think of a shooter that lived up to the hype better than Valve’s Left 4 Dead. It brought everything it promised (Director A.I., Online multiplayer fun, tons of zombies to kill), which is more than I can say for pretty much any other game this year. If you like a quick pace with your shooting, look no further.

Lego Batman (played on: Xbox 360): A fine installment in the LEGO series, but still not a great game. These games are as face value as they come, and while I love the Batman license more than most any other, this game still didn’t do it for me. A lot of characters in this one to play as, but since they all feel pretty much the same, they’re more like re-skins. Play if you enjoy the Lego series, avoid otherwise.

MLB 08: The Show (played on: PS3): The best baseball game to come out in ages. Next step is getting the Road to the Show mode online. If they did that, MLB 09: The Show could be a system seller for Sony.

Madden NFL 09 (played on: Xbox 360): See: Last decade of Madden games…

Mario Kart WII (played on: Wii): Mario Kart proves to be one of the greatest video gaming series of all time again by re-inventing the wheel, so to speak. Possibly the only game on the Wii that I truly enjoy besides Wii Sports, Mario Kart Wii is an upgrade in the franchise. The implementation of the Wheel controller is perfect for the system and series.

Mirror’s Edge (played on: Xbox 360): Free running the game. If that interests you, that’s cool, but I found nothing redeemable about it. The action stinks, there aren’t enough colors I feel like a lot of the time, and don’t even try getting into the story.

Jman checks on Salcido’s victim

NHL 09 (played on: Xbox 360): NHL 08 + Be a Pro Mode + Stick lifting + way “crunchier” checking animations + EASHL = The best sports game ever released… By far.

Ninja Gaiden 2 (played on: Xbox 360): Some of the least fun you’ll ever have partaking in Boss battles. Ninja Gaiden brings a good bit of fun through the platforming and fighting off other ninja, but when it comes down to the Boss Fights, instead of being fun like DMC 4, they’re quite tedious. Not a better game than Ninja Gaiden for the original Xbox.

PixelJunk Monsters (played on: PS3): The sleeper of 08. Released in late January, this game is the only reason I could ever understand for owning a PS3. If you enjoy a good game of Tower Defense, this game is just for you. The only console TD game I’ve ever played (still haven’t tried Lock’s Quest on DS), and I hope this leads to more releases in the genre.

Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 (played on: Xbox 360): Rainbow Six: Vegas with a sprint button, and a sweet leveling system. An upgrade for sure, but nothing worth an extra 60 dollars.

Rock Band 2 (played on: Xbox 360): Practically the exact same game as far as in song play goes. The new music store option is pretty sweet, and makes purchasing DLC a lot clearer (no more sitting in the XBL Marketplace waiting for the sidebar to scroll up so you can see the name of the band whose song you’re looking at). The ability to port over the majority of Rock Band’s songs makes this game a pretty perfect sequel.

Soul Caliber IV (played on: Xbox 360): I’ve never enjoyed games about character wielding dull swords, axes, and the like, and Soul Caliber IV is no different. If I’m going to play a sword fighting game it’ll start with Bushido and end with Blade.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (played on: Xbox 360): This has the same problem as Soul Caliber IV to me, a dull Lightsaber is not a Lightsaber at all, and taking more than one strike to down an enemy goon makes these some dull ass Lightsabers. The story is kind of cool if you are still down with ignoring George Lucas-sized plot holes, and wielding to force to smash TIE Fighters into each other rules, but that’s about it.

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (played on: Xbox 360): I eagerly awaited this one, and was not let down by the results. I was mad that you can only play the demo with another person, but a demo isn’t really needed when it comes to this classic series. The gameplay is great, but the XBOX 360 remote still blows when it comes to fighting games, so getting lucky and finding an arcade stick would greatly improve gameplay.

Too Human (played on: Xbox 360): Silicon Knights can sue Epic Games all they want, and blame the Unreal Engine for this game’s failures, but none of it takes away from the fact that this game isn’t good. Some people can look past Too Human’s flaws like those who enjoyed Two Worlds last year, but like that, it’s a lost cause. Fallout 3 came along and showed everyone how Action/RPG’s are to be done, but this game probably stole sixty bucks from a lot of people.

That’s it as far as I can tell. I missed out on some big games due to not owning a Wii, PS3, PSP, or PS2. Hopefully next year I can double the amount of this list, but we’ll see. Maybe I’ll get Gamefly or something like that. Be back with GNS’s, the Gaming Never Sleeps 08 awards, within the week.

Pourquoi est-ce que NHL 08 à medium c’est vraiment facile et qu’à difficult c’est pratiquement impossible?

Ny vecka, nytt spel. Hockeysäsongen har tagit fart. Lakers tuffar på och ligger fint till i Allsvenskan. Vi på bibblan sträcker oss så långt i hockeyeufori att veckans spel är det bästa hockeyspelet av dem alla: NHL 08 (PlayStation 2). Så, plocka med en kamrat till vår hörna och visa var pucken skall placeras…

I had wanted tonight’s post to be the first in a series of interviews from the Emerson Hockey summer retreat, but I’m having a bit of trouble with getting the video up (because I shot in widescreen) so that’ll have to wait until tomorrow. For my post tonight, I present you with the paper resume I’ve put together. I’d still like to get a web site together as well, but all things in time.

Here it is:

You can get the PDF here. All comments and criticisms are welcome. I haven’t sent this anywhere yet and I’d like to get a few opinions before I do in case there are changes that need to be made. But, if you know anyone in the media you might want to pass this on to, go right ahead.

5 days until NHL 09 ruins/enhances my life. It got a 9.0 rating from IGN… good Lord, please grant me restraint… I’m currently in like the 6th season of an NHL 08 dynasty and it was consuming my life for a few days until I realized I could do video work and while things were rendering, play it. I don’t know if that’s sad or amazing, but at least I’m getting things done again.

The unofficial Madden week continues here at SC. I’ll move on to other sports a little later in the week but right now with the football hype in full effect, I’ll stay on Madden.

There are games that get a review bump no matter how good or how bad they turn out. Madden is the game that sets the sports review bar. I don’t mean the actual game but it seems the Madden score sets the mark for sports games reviews. A game would have to be astonishingly good to be rated better than Madden, at most review sites.

MLB The Show 2008 (PS3) was rated 85 on Metacritic. Madden (360) was also rated at the 85 mark. Few would argue how good of a baseball game MLB The Show turned out to be. Madden was a good all-around game if not a little stale. But for a great baseball game not to break the 90 barrier shows two things.

One, non-football games have to unconditionally great. And hype or a lack thereof can inflate or deflate your score.

Going back to the MLB example, what does a game have to do to get higher scores? It has great graphics and atmosphere, excellent gameplay, and two career modes (franchise, and Road to the Show). Take NBA 2k, a yearly contender for sports game of the year. Another game which falls off the Madden curve is NBA 2k8. Every release it’s a contender for sports game of the year and is critically recieved. Where do these two games go wrong? Hype because both are unconditionally great with a normal but accepted amount of issues.

What they had in gameplay, they lacked in hype. MLB: The Show was a great baseball title but that’s not enough for reviewers — they need to be hyped up. NBA 2k has been pretty stagnant as well. The gameplay has been stellar but again where are the two or three key features that drastically improve the experience.

EA Sports figured this out years ago. Refinement bores customers regardless of the game or its gameplay. Instead offer two or three new features to enhance the experience, hype them up where every preview drills this into readers minds and if you don’t get around to improving the gameplay drastically, you can fall back on the hype.

NHL is a good game with huge holes in it’s gameplay mainly, lack of defense and goalies being too good, but it had tremendous hype and it scored an 85, the same score as Madden. Why did it grade so high? Hype. It’s a second-year game with the hype that it can move the hockey genre forward. It did that even with some basic aspects of hockey missing. Bad game no, but with promising hype.

The first game to fall victim of the Madden curve might just be NFL Head Coach. The line will be something like, “It’s a deep game, with a lot of options but will people want to play as the Head Coach?” Their score will range from the 65 to 80 but probably fall closer to 75 on Metacritic.

If you see a sports game that breaks the 85 metacritic barrier this year, it might turn out to be sports game of the year and instant classic.

Dacă mai aveţi şi voi informaţii, puteţi posta commenturi cu ele în pagina respectivă. Aştept comentariile voastre!

Interesul poartă fesul

Nimic nou pe patinoar. Dacă aţi jucat predecesoarele lui NHL 08, nu veţi avea niciun fel de surpriză din partea acestuia. Grafic este acelaşi joc, chiar cu unele glitch-uri grafice destul de nasoale, dar asupra cărora nu ne vom opri, deoarece le vom arunca pe spatele portării jalnice de pe console. Partea cu sunetul este mai mult decât identică cu ceea ce ne-am obişnuit. Mă mir chiar că s-au obosit să rearanjeze echipele după sezonul trecut. Ceva tot este schimbat în joc. Gameplay-ul a fost îmbunătăţit prin introducerea a ceea ce se cheamă stick skill. Cei care se joacă cu un controller cu două stick-uri direcţionale pot scoate nişte scheme destul de interesante cu care vor mai sparge un pic din monotonia consacrată deja a seriei. Dar, şi acum să vă ţineţi bine, acest lucru nu se poate face pe versiunea pentru PC. Da, aţi înţeles bine, doar cei care se vor juca NHL 08 pe Xbox 360 sau pe PS3 vor putea să danseze pe gheaţă cu un puc ce brusc prinde viaţă sub crosă.

O găselniţă interesantă care ne face experienţa de joc un pic mai acătării este modificarea AI-ului. Acesta se schimbă în funcţie de tipul de joc adoptat de fiecare jucător în parte. Ce înseamnă asta? Ei bine, dacă foloseşti în mod constant un jucător pentru a înscrie din aceleaşi poziţii sau o anumită fază de atac pentru a marca, AI-ul devine conştient de acest lucru şi te va bloca în mod constant. Jucătorul tău preferat va fi marcat încontinuu de o grămadă de găligani care vor avea grijă permanent de el. Acest lucru poate duce ori la frustrare, ori la distracţie. Distracţie pentru că te vei putea folosi de găurile astfel create în defensivă pentru a crea alte şi alte faze de gol.

Din nefericire, AI-ul se simte doar în echipa adversă, coechipierii tăi fiind praf. Cele mai frustrante momente din tot jocul apar când trei dintre ai tăi se reped către un puc singuratic şi se împiedică între ei, iar pucul ajunge la un adversar total bulversat de norocul ce i-a căzut pe cap.

Sursa: level.ro

S-a spart gheaţa

După cum suntem obişnuiţi deja din ’91, EA ne tratează anual cu câte un simulator sportiv bazat pe hochei. 1992 a fost singurul an în care EA nu a binevoit să ne bucure cu prezenţa pe piaţă a unui astfel de joc. Aşadar NHL a ajuns la fantasticul număr de 18 (optsprezece) variante. Aşa că poate vă întrebaţi ce îmbunătăţiri ar mai putea aduce, încât să se justifice an de an lucrul la această serie. Ce îmbunătăţiri s-ar putea aduce încât să fie necesară an de an munca la acest joc? Dacă stai să analizezi, ai putea spune că în materie de gameplay nu prea mai ai ce aduce nou. Jocul nu s-a schimbat deloc, sunt aceleaşi reguli, aceleaşi crose, aceleaşi pucuri. Evident se poate vorbi despre îmbunătăţiri grafice, având în vedere că tehnologia evoluează, calculatoarele noastre devin din ce în ce mai bune şi mai ieftine, dar parcă ne pusesem de acord de acum doi sau chiar trei ani asupra faptului că modul în care NHL arată este cât se poate de real. Aşadar nici acolo nu prea mai ai ce face… Gheaţa tot gheaţă rămâne fie că suntem în 2005 sau în 2010. Aşadar ce îi poate face pe cei de la EA ca an de an să scoată un simulator de hochei? Dacă până acum nu este destul de clar care este politica EA, vă voi spune eu: REGELE BAN. Cei mai mulţi bani care se fac acum se obţin din serii de jocuri deja consacrate şi nu din inovaţii menite să schimbe soarta lumii. Inerţia consumatorului este piatra de bază pentru o companie care deja se bazează pe un nume şi nu pe calitate pentru a-şi vinde produsul. Exemplul cel mai concret nu poate fi decât SIMS.    (Va urma!)

Sursa: level.ro

Jocul va avea câteva noutăţi faţă de ediţiile de anul trecut:
- va fi introdus sistemul Skill Stick System care, după spusele celor de la EA, va permite jucătorilor să deţină un control mult mai bun asupra pucului.

- va fi introdus modul Goalie Mode în care jucătorii vor avea posibilitatea să controleze portarul, având o cameră special pentru acest lucru.

- Dinasty Mode va permite jucătorilor să creeze o echipă proprie şi să pătrundă în Stanley Cup pentru a cuceri trofeul.

- American Hockey League (AHL) va cuprinde 29 de echipe. Jucătorii vor avea ocazia să-şi dezvolte îndemânarea în AHL pentru ca apoi să joace în NHL. Fiecare echipă din AHL va putea fi jucată.

NHL 08 este dezvoltat de EA Canada, aceeaşi echipă care v-a lansa în acest an şi Fifa 08.

Sursa: http://www.wizoo.ro/jocuri/sport/articol.html?id=4

Aici aveti trailerul oficial al NHL 08! Enjoy it!

Acest super joc a apărut pe PC, PS2, PS3 şi Xbox 360. Încercaţi-l şi voi!

Na noite do jogo 5, na Joe Louis Arena, com a mais barulhenta torcida que os Red Wings ouviram nos últimos anos e a atmosfera ideal para uma conquista, a possibilidade de levantar a Copa pesou muito nos tacos e patins dos jogadores, ficando a 35 segundos de distância de lugar nenhum.

Todos os méritos para os Penguins, que sobreviveram a tudo no jogo 5: ao amplo domínio do Detroit por três períodos (com outros 55 chutes no gol e quatro vantagens numéricas), a 20 mil torcedores apoiando o time da casa e às baixas de Sergei Gonchar e Ryan Malone, ambos contundidos durante o jogo, mas que retornaram antes do fim.

Para o Detroit…

Se você tem uma chance de ganhar a Copa Stanley, tem a obrigação de aproveitá-la. Nas circunstâncias do jogo 5 (em casa e com 3-1 na série), a obrigação virou dever. A equipe falhou quando não podia e talvez aprenda a lição da pior maneira possível, perdendo o jogo 6 e assistindo em casa ao Pittsburgh levantar a Copa, fazendo (belíssima) história.
Humberto Fernandes – TheSlot.com.br

Penguins  0 x 4 Red Wings

15 de maio de 2008 – Game 4
Penguins 2 x 4 Flyers

17 de maio de 2008 – Game 5
Stars 2 x 1 Red Wings

18 de maio de 2008 – Game 5
Flyers 0 x 6 Penguins

19 de maio de 2008 – Game 6
Red Wings 4 x 1 Stars

12 de maio de 2008 – Game 3
Red Wings 5 x 2 Stars

13 de maio de 2008 – Game 3
Penguins 4 x 1 Flyers

14 de maio de 2008 – Game 4
Red Wings 1 x 3 Stars

8 de maio de 2008 – Game 1
Stars 1 x 4 Red Wings

9 de maio de 2008 – Game 1
Flyers 2 x 4 Penguins

10 de maio de 2008 – Game 2
Stars 1 x 2 Red Wings

11 de maio de 2008 – Game 2
Flyers 2 x 4 Penguins

Fonte: Newsletter NHL – www.nhl.com