Opinions

Well, Nintendo caught everyone off-guard with a surprise presentation this week and so there are a heck of a lot of announcements to discuss. Hence, TheXboxHub Official Podcast Episode 68 is going to feature the very best bits from the Nintendo Direct, which means you can look forward to Zelda, Mario and more getting a mention. That’s not all either, with the world of Xbox ready to open its arms for the upcoming arrival of Fall Guys. It’s a packed episode as we throw Project Winter, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and a couple of other games into the mix too.

I believe it was Forza Motorsport 4 in 2011 that initially introduced me to the concept of a crossover involving cars and football. What a novel idea to have a kick about in a Porsche, I thought, however it does wear thin after a game or two. And then a few years later Psyonix, in 2016 to be exact, brought their rocket-powered car and ‘soccer’ hybrid over to the Xbox One. It’s such a gimmick that it’ll die off in no time. Imagine my surprise when Rocket League became an instant favourite, having clocked almost 80 full days of game time since then. So, yeah, five years after its launch I’d like to offer some insight into the addictive experience of Rocket League and how the phenomenal success also comes with a few downsides.

It isn't every day that a company based around our favourite pastime, that of video games, manages to reach the ripe old age of 30. Blizzard Entertainment, best known these days as the developers of World of Warcraft, have reached that milestone, and I'd like to present here a look back over their history, skewed towards my own personal history with the developers.

I didn’t play Layers of Fear as intended. I lost count of the number of times that I would be bent over, rifling through a pair of drawers or rummaging through a cupboard when - DUNG! - the audio would clatter through my headphones, and I’d turn around to see what I missed. I’m sure it would have had an unsettling effect, had I seen it, but I was too busy searching for rat drawings, ‘whispering’ items, and any number of letters and journals that would fill out the story and perhaps net me some Gamerscore. As it turned out, it would even lead to a better ending, but I didn’t know that at the time.

Getting in there before American and Asian gamers complain about the date, for this latest retrospective piece we are going on the initial European release date for Final Fantasy IX, which is the 16th February 2001. That’s right, 20 years ago; a time where European gamers had to wait an extra seven months longer for one of the best Final Fantasy games.

During a press conference in Hawaii, Capcom made dreams come true by finally announcing Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. The wait was absolutely worth it - this was nearly everything fans had been hoping for.

For a period of a few years, Lemmings burned brightly. In 1991 alone, we got Lemmings, Oh No! More Lemmings, and Lemmings: The Christmas Levels, and the game was ported to systems that have long-since escaped people’s memories. It sold 20 million copies, and remains a favourite for fuddy-duddies like me, who will tell you that ‘they don’t make them like this anymore’, and ‘Starcraft wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for Lemmings’.

With Valentine’s Day 2021 a socially distanced affair, unless of course you are "lucky" enough to live with your partner, then video games could well play an important part in being together virtually. So without further ado, these are the games I've selected to give you the warm fuzzies on Valentine's Day, if you can't be with your other half.

If I told you that you could obtain four to five full-price triple-A games free of charge on Xbox every year, firstly you'd be telling me I was full of porkies. And secondly you'd probably scratch your head and ask how is that possible. Shall I let you into the secret? Well, it's not really a secret but I do feel it's a massively underappreciated feature of Xbox: Microsoft Rewards.

Russian dolls, or Matryoshka dolls if I’m to address them properly, are fascinating little trinkets. As a child, there was a sense of wonderment upon seeing one for the first time as the wooden figure housed multiple others of its kind, only each figure within got smaller and smaller. They make great ornaments, but who would’ve thought the dolls could be the main attraction of a puzzling adventure? Well, apparently the creative folks at Double Fine Productions, which led to the wonderfully imaginative Stacking coming to fruition back in 2011.

For me, a very important piece of the puzzle when it comes to creating a platform game is the design of the main character. All the most successful games throughout history have a recognisable protagonist: Sonic, Mario, Crash Bandicoot, the list goes on. With the design of Yarny - the hero of the 2016 game Unravel - the designers at Coldwood Interactive smashed it out of the park.

The series may have a cult following, but ten years on Test Drive Unlimited 2 still upsets me. It was one of my most anticipated games ever, with a concept years ahead of what Forza Horizon could achieve. But it remains one of the buggiest launches of a game I can remember, completely tarnishing my memory of it.

In our previous piece looking at the Spooky Pack DLC for Planet Coaster: Console Edition, we donned our best bedsheets and tried to give our guests the willies. With only a couple of exclusive rides though, our guests were less than impressed. Here’s hoping then that the Adventure Pack DLC for Planet Coaster can offer a bit more variation.

Every so often, a game comes along that changes the whole landscape of video games forever. Space Invaders was one, Manic Miner another. The list isn't a massive one. Often this is because the game in question brings something new to the table, and this is the case with the subject of this Looking Back article: Street Fighter II: The World Warrior.

As it turns out, there’s a lot more to Mario than collecting coins and sliding down flagpoles.