Van Persie

Its that time of year again, the transfer window has opened and many players are looking at their next big move in order to get a bigger paycheck, win trophies and look for a new challenge, and as with the last couple of years, Arsenal are in the headlines for the wrong reason again. Another "superstar" player wants to join the list of departing Arsenal players citing a lack of ambition shown by the club. First it was Fabregas and Nasri is the same summer, and now this summer it is the turn of the captain, Robin Van Persie. The two time footballer of the year has decided that the club is not looking to move in the same path which he believes that they should in order to fulfill his ambition of winning trophies. Many Arsenal fans will agree with him and believe that the policy of youth has not worked. 7 years without a trophy is evidence and Wenger still persists that they will grow and win the title finishing ahead of the financial giants Chelsea and Man City. Van Persie does not have 3/4 years to help guide these youngsters to a trophy. He is 29 soon and will want to win as many trophies as he can before he retires. Will he get these trophies here at the Emirates? As an Arsenal fan i would love to say yes, but deep down, the team is not strong enough to compete with the likes of City and United and a new look Chelsea.

Do i blame Van Persie for leaving? Yes and No, yes for the way he has declared that he wanted to leave the club, A very strongly worded statement on his own personal website came as a shock to all fans and even the club itself. It showed a lack of respect for the club, even Samir Nasri had the decency to speak out about the club after he left and not while he was still an Arsenal player and for speaking out against the club who have stuck by him for many years while he was best friends with the treatment table.  I don't blame him because he is a top class player who deserves to enjoy success, to go down as a great player you need to have medals to show off. Thierry Henry has countless Premier League and FA Cup winners medals to show for his time at Arsenal. If Van Persie does stay here for the rest of his career will he?  Who knows.


I personally would like for him to go abroad if he does leave, to show some respect to the club, for all those years where he spent injured and Wenger still keeping faith in him and letting players like Eduardo leave so Van Persie could flourish. After one good season, should he be able to demand this much from the club? Van Persie is a top class player and i hope he does perform a Wayne Rooney-esque U-turn and stay with the club because with him in the team there will always be a better chance of winning a trophy than without.

E3 Overview - Nintendo

Last up was Nintendo and there were many questions which gamers wanted answered, how much was the Wii U going to cost? What were the launch titles?

It was a great start, with Shigeru Miyamoto came out and delighted us all with Pikmin 3. Making great use of the extra screen on the Wii U gamepad this seemed like a great path which Nintendo were taking, were there going to be any more delights for us? Unfortunately not much jumped out.

Nintendo promised to concentrate on games and would not take the "entertainment" route taken by their two competitors. There were plenty of games on show, but none which stood out from the rest. There was a new Super Mario Bros 2D side scrolling game, Super Mario Bros U, and showed off the great new feature of being able to transfer gameplay from the TV onto the extra screen. As well as a Wii U version, a 3DS version entitled New Super Mario Bros 2 places great emphasis on collecting as many coins as you can. Not content with showing offjust two Mario games, Luigi's Mansion 2 and a new Paper Mario were both announced for the 3DS.

But many of the other games Nintendo showed were third party titles which have been released on other consoles. Mass Effect 3, Ninja Gaiden 3 and Alien Colonial Marines are all games which are/will be on competitor consoles. A title which falls in to that category is Batman Arkham City, but the Wii U has been given a subtitle; Armoured Edition. The addition to the Armoured Edition sees Batman with a new suit which has unique abilities like new combat moves. It seems a neat addition but would it appeal to you enough for you to spend at least £40 on a game which you played a year ago?


Not just appealing to the core gamers, Wii U Fit with new ways of using the gamepad and a working title called Sing were shown to the crowd.

One of the stand out games from the conference was Ubisoft's ZombiU. From the trailer shown, ZombiU looks like a first person action adventure game with the sole aim of surviving the zombie hordes. With many uses for the gamepad including as a sniper scope, an inventory and a scanner, ZombiU seems to be one of the few games which use the gamepad screen in a truly innovative way.


While many were expecting a new Zelda or even Metroid game to end the conference, that was not the case. Much emphasis was placed on NintendoLand. Nintendo have said that this will be the Wii Sports equivalent for the Wii U as it will get the player familiarised with the Wii U console and will launch with the console in the Winter.  NintendoLand is essentially a massive virtual theme park with many different nintendo themed areas. An example shown was the Luigi's Mansion area where the person with the gamepad would act as the ghost and would be against 3/4 other players with wiimotes who are all trying to survive by working together. The GamePad players sees all the other players on the game screen, but the players can't see the ghost who the GamePad player is controlling. The Wii Remotes rumble when the invsible ghost is near – players will need to co-operate telling each other when they're rumbling to get the ghost. They then use their torches to 'burn' the ghost. When the ghost attacks a human, the human faint, but humans can revive the downed player.

It was great that Nintendo focused on the games as opposed to their competitors, but were there any games on show at the conference which you would say would persuade you to buy a Wii U on launch??


Leave your comments below.

E3 2012 Overview - Sony

After Microsoft's mediocre showing, it was Sony's turn to flex their muscle, was there enough to impress gamers across the globe?

As usual, Sony started off with the usual thank you to PlayStation fans, and then pushed ahead with the unveiling of Quantic Dream's (Heavy Rain Producers)new IP, entitled Beyond: Two Souls. Beyond looked impressive with great visuals and a great lead character in Jodie Holmes. Her face was almost instantly recognisable as the character is played by Ellen Page. A big scoop by Quantic Dream and a blow to Naughty Dog as will be discussed further along this article.  A cut scene showing Holmes being interrogated by Policeman and then showing her using telekinetic powers by moving a coffee cup and smashing it against the wall. Nothing was given away in terms of gameplay, will it have the same gameplay style as Heavy Rain? Quantic Dream's head David Cage promises that this will be the first time in a video game that you will be "living the life of the character". What does that mean? Will it be as immersive as Heavy Rain was?

Things then got a little less serious, moving onto PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. For those in the unknown, this is Sony's version of Nintendo's highly successful hit, Super Smash Bros, which pit many of Sony's famous faces into one game to slug it out. Characters such as Kratos and Sly Cooper from PlayStation's history are in there, while two more characters were announced at the conference, in the forms of Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series and Big Daddy from Bioshock. Sony also showed off the cross platform capability of the PS3 and PS Vita, allowing PS3 players to play with PS Vita owners and vice versa.

Speaking of the PS Vita, Sony decided to leave the Vita out of the spotlight with only brief mentions of cross platform play, announcement of indie games and a new Assassins Creed bundle. The big announcement from the Vita being a new Call of Duty game in the form of Black Ops:Declassified.

Playstation Move did not get left out, with the unveiling of Wonderbook. Wonderbook utilises AR technology by bringing books to life. Working with many authors across the world, Sony claimed that Wonderbook will reinvent story books. A collaboration with the one of the most popular; JK Rowling is not a bad opening statement for Wonderbook with the Rowling's first book "Book of Spells" to be the first title for the Wonderbook. A demo on stage showed being able to learn and cast spells in front of their TVs and see them come to life.

Sony ended strongly by showing off two of their biggest upcoming titles, first up was God of War: Ascension. Ascension will be a prequel to the first three games. The demo shown had great visuals and as expected from God of War games, massive action sequences and even bigger bosses. With a March 2013 release date, it looks like Sony has a massive hit already planned for the next year.

Ending the show was the highlight from last year's conference, The Last of Us. From Naughty Dog the creators of the Uncharted series, The Last of Us follows Joel and Ellie, two survivors of an as yet unknown apocalypse which destroys Pittsburgh. As mentioned earlier in the article, Naughty Dog has changed the look of their main character. Although Naughty Dog deny that it is because Ellen Page's likeness is being used by Quantic Dream and that they wanted the character to look like the actress who was playing Ellie instead. hmmmm... As with all the games on show in the Sony conference, visuals were superb and Uncharted style game play was prominent, but the violence on this was raised to the max. The game has a very gritty and hardcore style to it which is the main difference from Uncharted, with graphic scenes like the man being shot with a shotgun and an enemy being set on fire with a Molotov showed a move away from the Uncharted tone.

Unlike Microsoft, Sony did not dwell on non-gaming issues. Much emphasis was placed on what was going to appeal to the people watch the conference, the games. Games are what keep people at E3 on their toes and excited. But the severe lack of Vita coverage was disappointing and could be reflecting the lack of success it has had so far in its short life.
The same can not be said about the PS3, with great games like The Last of Us, Beyond:Two Souls and God of War coming soon it could be a great year for PlayStation fans and a fairly successful E3 for the Japanese technology giants.


Next up will be my analysis of Nintendo's E3 showing. With much riding on the Wii U, will it deliver or will it leave gamers disappointed?

Feel free to leave comments below!

E3 2012 overview - Pre E3 and Microsoft Conference

With the dust settling after another intriguing E3 show, it is time to have a look back at the events and happenings from a interesting couple of days in sunny Los Angeles.

The fun started pre- E3 on the Sunday, with Nintendo having an online only stream to showcase their new console, the Wii U. With many expecting more information to be shared by the big N, we were given a sneak peek of what the new console would offer. First off the bat, was Miiverse. Miiverse is Nintendo's big social network where players are able to communicate with fellow gamers using the Wii U gamepad. Miis will gather around icons of the most popular games and enable players to find others and/or friends who have similar game tastes. You will be able to send text messages as well as images, screenshots and even in game tips to friends all across the world.

As with tradition now, Microsoft kicked off the week with their press conference. With many rumours swirling around, would Microsoft show off their next generation console? The answer was No, instead of looking to the future, they looked to the present, but more specifically Kinect. Much of the conference was revolving around Kinect and the many new uses it would have. Gaming wise, EA Sports showed Kinect usage for Madden 13 and surprisingly Fifa 13 while there was some useage in the "Need for Speed"esque Forza Horizon.

But Microsoft's big highlight for Kinect was its partnership with the biggest sports brand in the world; Nike. Nike Plus Kinect Training allows people to find other people online to work out with as well as compare fitness stats with. Not the most interesting thing to announce at a games convention right?

Making this even more like CES than E3, Microsoft showed off SmartGlass. Smartglass is the new technology which enables the use of a tablet as a companion to the TV. The example given was setting up plays in Madden 13. The tablet contained a playbook which the players could use to select plays while the TV showed the action. Sound very similar to another console mentioned previously?
The non gaming presentations continued with the announcement of IE9 coming to the Xbox 360. A browser is finally coming to the Xbox 360 but is it really what gamers want to hear?


Finally moving back to the gaming part of the presentation were demos of Tomb Raider,Resident Evil 6 and kicking off with Halo 4, with the latter two having timed exclusive content for the Xbox 360. Major coups for Microsoft as the two mentioned games are two of the biggest gaming franchises. With teasers for new indie games on the XBLA in the form of Lococycle and Matter showed that Microsoft did have some games up their sleeves.

A highlight of the conference was the introduction of the creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone to show off a new South Park titled: South Park: The Stick of Truth which puts you into the shoes of a new kid who has just moved to small town. Not much else was shown but seemed to be a sort of MMO.

Ending the conference was a demo of Black Ops 2, showing off some new guns and showing diversity in the single player mode where players are able to choose between two decisions which could lead to different consequences. Cool highlights included a remote controlled hovering drone and a sort of x-ray sniper rifle.

With so much emphasis on Kinect and not so much on games Microsoft put up a pretty weak showing, but were able to boast timed exclusives for two major titles and showed off the new entry in the Halo franchise. Was it enough to "win" E3?  Find out my views on the two other major conferences later on to find out my verdict.

Is Roy Hodgson the right man to be England manager?

With the end of the Premier League coming to a close and Euro 2012 over the horizon, the debate over who the new England manager would be came to an end on the 1st May 2012, when The FA announced that Roy Hodgson would be the successor to Fabio Capello. Many were surprised as the talk ever since Capello's resignation was that Harry Redknapp was favourite for the job. The FA have made their choice but was it the right choice?

His managerial record is really impressive, managing teams from all around Europe, from Italian giants, Inter Milan to less known teams like Malmo. Hodgson has also managed national teams, taking the helm of the Swiss and Finnish national team and impressing with a quarter final appearance for the Swiss in the 1994 World Cup, whilst leading Finland to a record high 33rd in the Fifa Rankings. With the vast array of managerial experience under Roy Hodgson's wing, it looks a great appointment, as being national coach previously enables him to adapt his coaching style to suit the infrequent times that he will meet up with the players during the year, whilst Redknapp seems to thrive on building relationships with players on a daily basis.

Although one point which many fans will point to is his largely unsuccessful period at Liverpool in 2010/11, which only lasted 31 games; the shortest reign in Liverpool's history. Many Liverpool fans believe that Hodgson is not able to step up to a "top job" such as the Liverpool job, when given the chance and doubt whether his time as England manager will be successful as the media and fan expectation is always high with every tournament England go to. His tactics have also been questioned, with many describing them as rigid and less adventurous, compared to Harry Redknapp's free flowing style which has been expertly put on show by his Spurs team this season.

Hodgson has enjoyed plenty of success sandwiching his time at Liverpool, he was able to transform Fulham from a club on the brink of relegation in 2007 and guided them to a Europa  League final in 2010 where they were narrowly beaten by Atletico Madrid thanks to two goals from Diego Forlan, along that run Fulham provided some excellent performance, most notably the remarkable comeback against Juventus with the Fulham 4-1 down from the first leg and managing to win the tie 5-4 on aggregate. Hodgson enjoyed similar success with his current club West Brom, as he was able to steer them away from relegation, finishing 11th; West Brom's highest league in three decades.

As well as his record on the bench, Hodgson also holds a great influence away from the pitch, Hodgson is a well respected individual in the world game and with the shambles of the unsuccessful bid for the 2018 World Cup, there is no better man than Roy Hodgson to help the FA build bridges with FIFA and its many members again.

Hodgson will offer plenty to the England job,  his vast experience will always be a benefit whilst he has always been able to get the best out of players who have been written off, but his negative tactics and his traditional style has placed doubt into many journalists and fans minds. The fans favourite was Harry Redknapp, he was expected to get the job, but now that Hodgson has it, is he able to step up to the job? Only time will tell. Good luck Roy.

Violent Video Games

Grand Theft Auto: Serial offender of "influencing" young children

On the way back from work today, i noticed in the Evening standard that the grand old debate on the effects of violent video games on children had arisen again, with an article with quotes from teachers saying that children as young as four are "acting out X-rated violence of video games". An example is given with a teacher from a primary school describes scenes of children "throwing themselves out of the window of the play car in slow motion and acting out blood spurting from their bodies".

Whilst the article initially does not lay the blame on the games with the teacher in question; Ms Sheratt, saying that she does not believe that violent video games should be banned but have more research and guidance for teachers to help children, the opposite view is is expressed by the General Secretary of the Association of of Teachers and Lecturer's Union; Mary Bousted, saying that violent video games are having a damaging effect on "tender young minds" of children. I think that cases like this might not be as common as made out by the article in the Evening Standard, giving myself as an example, i am not afraid to admit that I've played games which were over my age rating, but im not walking around streets carrying a shotgun and a knife ready to hurt random people?

As an avid gamer, I really am disappointed of this general view that video games are all bad and that they lead to teenagers/children performing unquestionable actions. It seems that whenever a teenager commits any sort of crime, they are seemingly "copying what they have played in Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty." It gives an impression that video games are being used as scapegoats by parents to find a reason for why teenagers are misbehaving without looking at themselves. Parents blame the influence of these violent video games on their children, but never stop to hesitate to buy them an 18 rated Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto game from their local game store.
Games are given age ratings for a reason and if parents are ignoring them, then they should not blame anyone but themselves if their kids are causing trouble. I have no sympathy for parents who go on national newspapers and are blaming 18 age rated games for influencing their 16 year old kid when they should not be able to play them in the first place.

Whilst violent video games will need to be better regulated in terms of who they are being sold to, they should not be made to be the scapegoat for anti-social/dangerous actions from teenagers and children.



Source: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/education/children-aged-four-acting-out-xrated-violence-of-video-games-7614796.html 

Resident Evil 6!

A new year means new games and the first big announcement was the reveal of Resident Evil 6! As many who know me, I am a massive Resident Evil fan and the reveal had me bouncing up and down for a while! Along with the reveal came a first trailer which showed Resident Evil series veterans Leon Kennedy and Chris Redfield being the main protagonists of the 6th entry into the franchise alongside a new male character which Capcom have decided to keep any sort of information about him quiet. Maybe an E3 reveal? Barely 24 hours after the trailer was released to the world, Capcom held a press event in Japan for Resident Evil's 15th Anniversary and was able to reveal more information on RE6.

With three protagonists comes three different storylines, it seems that the producers have listened to fan feedback and have bought back the survival horror aspect from the first three games, with Leon getting caught up in a Raccoon City-esque incident in the town of Tall Oaks. Leon will be joined by goverment agent Helena Harper.

The second story revolves around RE5 main lead Chris Redfield, who looks like is leading a BSAA assault in China. The reason for Chris being in China is not revealed but seems to be more action-oriented than Leon's story. As with Leon, Chris is paired with a currently unnamed  BSAA team member.

The third part and the most interesting part of the trailer was the third main character, which Capcom currently would not release any details for. From the trailer, the only information given is that he was a mercenary and his blood is what everyone is looking for. Rumours are flying around that this is HUNK, the gas masked wearing soldier working for Umbrella from Resident Evil 2 fame. The woman with the mystery man in the trailer is said to be Sherry Birkin, the daughter of Resident Evil 2 villian, William Birkin. But this has not been confirmed officially by Capcom.
 
 The press event also gave the chance for Capcom to talk about a new enemy which our heroes will be facing. Capcom has revealed its name to be Javo and has described it as having a " greater impact than the zombies."

With a 20th November release date, Resident Evil fans will not have that long of a wait to get their hands on the game, and with the release of Resident Evil Revelations and Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City fans will have their hands full of Resident Evil goodness in the game series' 15th Anniversary.

January Transfer Window 2012

Hi all, has been along time since i have blogged about anything.

Seeing as it is January, lets talk about the January transfer window, at the time of writing, we are 21 days into the January transfer window and there have not been any "big" transfers, with the total amount spent in this window at a meagre £18.4m. The two eye catching deals which have gone through is Gary Cahill heading to Chelsea to help shore up the surprisingly leaky defence, and Papiss Demba Cisse joining Newcastle to link up with Senegal international teammate Demba Ba. But why has there been a lack of movement in the transfer window? Has financial fair play finally made its mark on big spending teams? Are there no players who are good enough to strengthen teams like Man United; who many believe are in need of a central playmaker, and Arsenal; who have their yearly defensive injury crisis?

The answer is, as many of the top manager have put it, you can not find value in the January transfer window. Many of the top players will have been cup-tied for various European and domestic competitions while asking prices will rocket up as teams will not want to lose their prized assets during the middle of the season.

This has led to many teams turning to temporary solutions by loaning players with the current trend being to loan players from the MLS in the US. With three of the MLS' biggest stars; Thierry Henry, Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane, returning to the Premier League for a short period this has become very popular with Premier League teams who need that extra boost in the lead up to the final months of the season.

We have already seen the impact that they have had on their respective teams, Henry's delightful goal against Leeds in the FA Cup and Robbie Keane's double for Aston Villa against Wolves whilst Donovan returning to Goodison Park adding another dimension to Everton's attack. But will this persuade more teams to turn to players in the MLS in the January transfer window to give their team that breath of fresh life in the lead up to the final make or break months of the season?

The January transfer window always brings up great intrigue regardless of what managers say, it gives us fans something to get excited about, glued to our television screens watching Sky Sports News and grasping onto the hope that the manager of your team will be able to sign that one player who can change your team's fortune for the second half of the season. Over £200m was spent in the last January transfer window, Will we see a Torres-esque transfer before the transfer window deadline of 1:00pm on 31st January 2012 which would significantly increase the totalaliser on the Sky Sports website? Maybe not, but it would be great if it did happen.

The Arsenal summer of uncertainty

As it has been for the past couple of of summers, Arsenal have been one of the clubs at the forefront of transfer gossip this summer. First of all, the Cesc Fabregas saga which has gone on for a couple of years has cropped up again this summer, but the more worrying news is the potential departure of Samir Nasri as he is in his final year of his contract. With many expecting Fabregas to finally leave this summer, losing Nasri would be a massive blow. Whilst many are expecting big things from Wilshere and Ramsey in the coming season, Nasri offers that special something, which can turn games, as demonstrated in the home league game vs Fulham in December 2010 where his spectacular double won the game for Arsenal. If Wenger did buy a ready made replacement like Juan Mata from Valencia then selling Nasri would not be too big of an issue. But as many Arsenal fans know, Wenger is not willing to spend the big money on established world class players.  As a supporter it is pretty hard to believe what the papers say, as the club is linked with many players throughout the summer, with the number enough to form a completely new first team. With so many of Arsenal's rivals spending big to strengthen their team, will Wenger spend the money needed for the two or three players needed to push the club across the line towards a trophy? Only time will tell.

E3 2011

With E3 finishing for another year,  i want to discuss how well the "big three" did with their conferences and my opinion on who "won" E3.

First off was Microsoft, who were the first out of the three console makers to show their hands. Whilst many expected a Kinect heavy conference, they were disappointed in the over promotion of Kinect and giving core games a back seat. It kicked off with an impressive demos of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and the rebooted Tomb Raider, but the main body of the conference was revealing Kinect titles such as Kinect Sports Season Two, Kinect Disneyland Adventures, Sesame Street:  Once Upon A Monster and the much highly anticipated Kinect Star Wars. There were announcements and demos of Kinect support for Mass Effect 3, Forza 4 and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier which did all look impressive, but it did not help to detract from the view that Microsoft is pushing Kinect to try and eat into Nintendo's stranglehold on the casual gamers market. Whilst the majority of the conference centred around Kinect, Microsoft were able to reveal a couple of core games which included an HD remake of the first Halo, and a teaser trailer for Halo 4, which is being developed by 343 Industries and is described by Don Mattrick as the "Dawn of a new trilogy". As a core gamer myself, i was disappointed in Microsoft's conference, i expected Microsoft to announce quite a bit on Kinect, none of the games would seem to appeal to someone similar to me. Microsoft have seen the success of the Wii and wants a piece of the casual gaming market whilst trying to satisify hardcore gamers. This seems to have failed and as a hardcore gamer and an owner of an Xbox 360, i feel like i was left a bit short changed when seeing what i could look forward to in the next year. Whilst not complete terrible, Microsoft's conference did not impress much.

Next up was Sony, and with the PSN hack scandal which plagued Sony a month before E3, it was appropriate for Jack Tretton; President of Sony Computer Entertainment of America (SCEA) to "deal with the elephant in the room" with an apology to gamers and developers all over the world over the Playstation Network outage. Moving away from the PSN scandal, the main headline from Sony's conference was the announcement of the name and prices for the NGP. The official name for the NGP is Playstation Vita. With more than 80 titles already in development, including Street Fighter X Tekken, Uncharted: Golden Abyss and Modnation Racer, it seems that the PS Vita will have some excellent games when it does come out, but whether they can deliver some top titles for release unlike the Nintendo 3DS is another matter. Another announcement which got a big cheer from the crowd was from Irrational Games' Ken Levine, when he announced that there would be a game based in the Bioshock world coming to the PS Vita. As well as the unveiling of the Vita, Sony was heavily investing in the 3D aspect of their console, showing off many of their new titles in 3D, whilst also showing off a Playstation branded 3D monitor which would be affordable for people who don't want to spend thousands to experience 3D. Sony was able to show off many of their titles which impressed, there was hardly any focus on the Playstation Move which as a core gamer impressed me as well as many journalists. But will the good line up of games and the PS Vita help Sony regain the faith which was lost from the PSN outages? Only time will tell.

Last up was Nintendo and the hype leading up to the conference was surrounding the new console which many predicted they would unveil. Many rumours were spiralling around, would it be as powerful as the PS3/Xbox 360? Would it have a tablet-like controller? Is it called the Wii Stream?
 Whilst Nintendo did not reveal the new console straight away, they did kick off with an impressive orchestral performance of various Zelda themes which culminated with Shigeru Miyamoto talking about the Legend of Zelda 25th anniversary this year and the ways they would celebrate it. He announced that Link's Awakening would be in the 3DS Eshop and that the Four Swords would also be available later on in the year. A series of Zelda themed concerts would be taking places across the globe to celebrate the milestone and the anniversary would end with the release of Skyward Sword at the end of the year.
But the big story of the conference was the new home console, Nintendo revealed that it would be called Wii U. Not the most imaginative name, but what was most interesting was the "controller" which came with the consoles. Nintendo chose to focus on the controller and any pictures of the console was hidden away. The new "controller" is a tablet-like device, with the usual Nintendo buttons. But the one outstanding feature that the controller can do is to enable you to carry on your gaming when the TV is unavailable. So if your parents want to use the TV, you can transfer the picture from your TV right onto the screen on your controller and carry on playing. It can also be used as a secondary screen as well, like the Nintendo DS/3DS's bottom screen. Nintendo announced that many publishers were backing the Wii U, with titles including Batman Arkham City coming to the console, but the most impressive game was a HD Zelda tech demo, which showed Link fighting Gohma in a very realistic looking church.


Whilst all the focus was on the Wii U, Nintendo also announced the next batch of 3DS games, which includes Kid Icarus, MGS 3 and future titles including Tekken 3D and Luigi's Mansion 2. After the 3DS's slow start, the big titles are slowly starting to come out. Overall, Nintendo's conference was a success, although some were confused about whether the new console was the actual "controller" shown, as new actual console was shown on screen or live. But apart from the slight confusion, Nintendo were able to steal the show and essentially win E3 with their new hardware and getting its appeal back to core gamers. But is it too late? Has Microsoft and Sony already stolen the hearts of core gamers. The answer will be revealed when sales figures for the Wii U comes out when it is released.

How much influence do reviews have on you???

You go to your favourite website/magazine and check out the review for the game you have been waiting for for months. It gets a 3/10, whilst a game which you have never heard of receives a 9/10. How do you react? Reviews are published weekly on many different forms of media from video games to musicals, but with the ever increasing prices of video games and technology, they are seen by many to be the way to differentiate between ever increasingly similar growing amount of generic shooters, platformers and RPGs, which have made it harder for gamers to tell the gems from the rest.

First of all, i am not criticising a review editor's work, I think that reviewers do a great job to express their  opinions on a certain title, and can sometimes be useful for someone who is in two minds on whether they should spend their hard earned cash on a game. But do they have that much of an influence on you? I believe it depends on your situation. For a game which you have been highly anticipating for a long period of time, reviews will not be the deciding factor on whether you will buy it or not. With many people pre ordering the game and reviews not being able to be printed mostly until the date of release, gamers will not be able to read the reviews until they have the game in their hands. With retailers like HMV, who do not accept refunds, many gamers will mostly go on previews, trailers and gameplay videos to decide whether to invest. Like a reader of the IGN website where he left a very unhappy message on the review for Brink,

" I preordered this because of how positive your previews have been about this game...  I was relying on your hands on opinion which turns out to be hyperbole mixed through with bull****. Nice job."

The review obviously had an effect on the gamer, who pre ordered a game which he believed that it would be worth putting some money down for. Reviews can have that effect, but as an opposite to this case, i put myself up to examine. I like to believe that reviews dont generally have a big say on what games i buy, as i believe that previews and gameplay videos and my own judgement can decide whether a game is worth investing in or not. Being able to read other people's opinions are a help but ultimately i have influence over what i spend my money on. A great example is my purchase of Alan Wake. Although it is not a terrible game, it divided opinion. I personally loved it and was one of the best gaming experiences i had in 2010.

Do Single player games need multiplayer?

Playing Video Games with mates or family is a stable of the video games experience, being able to share this experience is quite a sweet feeling regardless of the game. Beating your friend to the finish line in a racing game, getting the final kill in a deathmatch on Call of Duty, scoring the winning goal in a football game, combining your powers to beat that boss that you struggled to beat on your own, all this could not happen if there was no one next to you or against you. But is mutliplayer always necessary??

In the past couple of years, the amount of great games which come with a multiplayer have greatly increased mainly due to the success of Xbox Live and PSN (Playstation Network) and how widely available they are to everyone. But the question that i want to ask is, do all these games need multiplayer modes?No, not the Call of Dutys and Fifa's of the world, I am talking about the games which have traditionally been a single player game and have ventured into the multiplayer sphere as they believe it is the next step of progression. Games like Assassin's Creed and Resident Evil, which have a great single player mode and have recently tried their hands on adding a multiplayer feature with mixed success.

Lets look at this from both sides, the mose recent example is probably Dead Space 2. The original Dead Space was a great game, even though it was just a single player it was a great experience and one of my favourite games of all time. I was hoping for more of the same from the sequel and would give the multiplayer a chance as i saw it as an opportunity to share the excellent Dead Space experience with millions of other people all across the world. Once i tried it, my opinion changed, yes, i loved using the necromorphs, it was something which i enjoyed, but the whole point of the multiplayer seemed a bit pointless. It did not replicate the single player horror experience, and was just wave after wave of Necromorphs stopping you from reaching your targets, with many journalists dubbing it "Left4dead Space". What made the single player and the Dead Space games great was the horror aspect and this was unduly taken away in the multiplayer. The Left 4 Dead style does not go with the Dead Space idea, whilst Left 4 Dead focused on team play and made it work, the multiplayer in Dead Space rewarded people with the most kills and not by completing objectives together. It just seems that Visceral Games jumped onto the multiplayer bandwagon because they probably believed that the single player would not be enough which is the wrong assumption.

On the other side of this argument is the success that a mutliplayer mode could do to a successful single player franchise. Assassins Creed Brotherhood is a fine example of this. Whilst i was relatively dismissive of this game when it was announced, believing that this was just merely an excuse for Ubisoft to cash in on the popularity of the Assassins Creed franchise but releasing an Assassins Creed 2.5 and shoving in a multiplayer mode. How wrong i was. The single player was excellent, but what stood out was the innovative multiplayer. Rewarding players for stealth kills made this a unique experience. It detracts people from just running up to targets and killing them and does not reward people who move away from the core principle of stealth killing as much. Hiding in a crowd of people and seeing your pursuer assassinate the wrong target is a great feeling, whilst air assassinating your target from the roof without them noticing you also brings the same sort of satisfaction.

These are just two examples of single player games making the transition to adding a multiplayer mode, with rumours that Uncharted 3 and Mass Effect 3, more and more developers will try to cash into the multiplayer phenomenon as it will make their game have longevity. But multiplayer is not the only way to improve longevity, a great single player on its own can do the same job, i have spent countless number of hours on Mass Effect 2 as the story is exceptional and the various number of different options available have kept me coming back for more. Note to developers, multiplayer is not always the answer!!

El Fenomeno (The Phenomenon) Ronaldo

"I wanted to continue, but I can't do it any more. I think of an action, but I can't do it the way I want to. It's time. It's the body that's hurting me”

 Those were the words which saw the retirement of one of the greatest football players of all time. Ronaldo Luiz Nazario de Lima, commonly known as Ronaldo announced the end to his glittering career at a press conference in Sao Paulo on 14th February 2011.

It all began for him in 1993, when he was signed by Cruzerio and has been to many of the greatest European clubs in the world, starting off at PSV, amassing 42 goals in 46 games. His outstanding performances persuaded FC Barcelona to pay around £10m for the young Brazilian. He did not disappoint, in his only season at the Camp Nou, he scored 34 goals in 37 games and helped Barcelona to the Cup Winner's Cup, the Copa Del Rey and the Spanish Supercup. This also led to Ronaldo becoming the youngest winner of the Fifa World Player of the Year awards, at the age of 20.

Inter Milan were able to take advantage of Ronaldo's contract problems with Barcelona and paid a then world record fee of £19m for the Brazilian. A change of countries did not stop Ronaldo as he carried on his great goalscoring record, which again won him the World Player of the Year award again in 1997 and then for the 3rd time in his career in 2002. He was able to pick up the Ballon D'or award as well in 1997. But knee problems hampered Ronaldo's career and whilst making a comeback from his first knee surgery, Ronaldo broke down after 7 minutes and needed further surgery. Even though injuury limited the number of games he was able to play for Inter his goalscoring record was still phenomenal, with 49 goals in 68 games.

After Ronaldo's great form in the 2002 World Cup, Real Madrid paid around £35m to secure his services. A firve year spell with the Spanish giants saw Ronaldo score over 80 goals and secured the Spanish title in the 02/03 and 06/07 seasons as well as the Intercontinental Cup and the Spanish Supercup once again. A standout moment in Ronaldo's Real Madrid career was his superb performance against Manchester United in the Champions League with a stunning hattrick which led to the United fans to stand on their feet applauding as he was substituted off.

Ronaldo's last European club would be AC Milan with which he joined in 2007. With concerning weight problems, Ronaldo did not seem to be the player that he was. He managed 9 goals in 20 games and with another career threatening knee injury, AC Milan decided not to renew his contract.

With no club, Ronaldo decided that he would want to end his career in his native country Brazil and joined Corinthians, the rivals of his boyhood club Flamengo. His 18 goals helped Flamengo to a Brazilian Cup and a spot in the Copa Libertadores. After Flamengo were knocked out of the 2011, Ronaldo knew that his dream of winning the Copa Liberatdores would not come to fruition and with his many injuries meant that he had to call time on his career.

As glittering as his club career was, his international record was what made Ronaldo the special player he was. With a goalscoring record of 62 goals in 97 games, this goalscoring feat was only bested by Pele who had 77 goals. He was an unused squad member in the 1994 World Cup, but was able to stamp his authority in the tournament 4 years later with an inspiring performance scoring four goals and providing three assists. Controversy surrounded the final with many baffled with Ronaldo's underpar performance. Many believed that he was not fit, and suffered an epileptic seizure the nighe before. with just over an hour before the match, Ronaldo was reinstated back into the team.

Keen to putting things right in 2002, Ronaldo along with the two other R's (Ronaldinho and Rivaldo) lit up the World Cup in South Korea and Japan and stole the show with many majestic performances, capped off with two goals in the final. He won the Golden boot with a superb eight goals throughout the tournament scoring against every single opposition with the exception of England in the quarter final. The eight goals helped Ronaldo tie with Pele with 12 goals in World Cups. The record was broken in the 2006 World Cup with Ronaldo getting three more goals and became the all time highest World Cup Finals goalscorer, overtaking Gerd Muller's record of 14. With a record breaking 15 goals, he also became one of few players who have scored two or more goals in three successive World Cups.

With a final goalscoring record of over 400 goals throughout his career, Ronaldo was already considered as one of the greats in football history. His pace,trickery and excellent ability to strike a ball was a joy to watch, and will be known as one of if not the greatest striker of all time.

January Transfer window 2011.

The end of the January transfer window saw 225 million pounds spent by Premier League teams. This figure dwarfed the figure of only 30 million in the same period a year ago. Amongst the highlights of the transfer window was the chaotic final day of the window which saw 3 of the biggest deals completed and 2 transfer records smashed before the 11pm deadline. Liverpool's Fernando Torres moved to Chelsea for a british record £50m, which in turn caused more transfer business, as Liverpool, replaces Torres with Newcastle's Andy Carroll for £35m; which is a transfer fee record for a british player. Liverpool also completed the signing of Luis Suarez from Ajax for £22.8m as a result of the sale of Torres. Other deals which were completed earlier on in the windows were from Man City for Edin Dzeko for £27m, whilst Aston Villa spent £24m on Darren Bent.


Why are clubs spending so much on players half way through the season? I believe that clubs are panic buying, many of the teams who have spent big are teams who have not had the best first half of the season.

Aston Villa, who were lingering just above the relegation zone knew that they needed a striker who would be able to get them goals. Darren Bent fit that profile, with just as many goals as Rooney and Drogba in the Premer League overall. With many questioning whether Bent is worth the 24m that Aston Villa have paid. But Houllier and many Villa fans will argue that if Bent is able to score the goals which keep Villa away from the relegation zone then he would be worth every single penny of the 24m.

Chelsea, while not being anywhere near the bottom of the table, had a great first 3 months but suddenly crumbled and seemingly their chances of retaining the Premier League title disappeared with a poor run of games. The signing of Torres can be seen to be refreshing a seemingly aging team with many stars departing in the summer and leaving the club with a weaker squad. But is Torres really a player that Chelsea need now? With the attacking talents of Drogba, Anelka, Malouda and Kalou, bolstering their attack did not seem to be a priority. Is Torres a "Shevchenko-esque" signing, a signing which has been dealt with by the owner Roman Abramovich, without the approval of the manager or is he someone which will improve the Chelsea team and push them onto to an unlikely title? The signing of David Luiz was a better signing for Chelsea, he is able to provide some backup for the Chelsea centre back position which has been at times, stripped to its bare.

Liverpool's signing of Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez, has come from the sale of Torres to Chelsea. Andy Carroll, who is still only 22 years old, comes to Liverpool with the price tag of £35m and the most expensive British player title. Is Carroll another example of panic buying from clubs? Carroll has had a great first half of the season, with 11 goals. But is he really worth the £35m that Liverpool have paid for him? With only half a seasons experience in the Premier League, he is seen as a player for the long term. Whereas, Suarez has scored plenty of goals in the Dutch League and was one of the players of the World Cup. He is by far the better signing for Liverpool and believe that he will have a big impact on the Premier League when he finds his feet.

With much to play for in the second half of the season, we will have to see whether these signings will be worth the huge amounts of money paid for them and if it will change their respective clubs fortunes.

2010 year in review

2010 was an action packed year for the footballing year, the World Cup would be held for the first time in Africa, while FIFA would decide on the hosts for not just the 2018 World Cup but for the 2022 one as well, there was an exciting end to the 09/10 Premier League season and a brilliant start to the 10/11 season. The Champions League provided more success for the "Special One" whilst also providing the platform for an emerging Welshman.

While there were many highs throughout the years, with Chelsea winning their first double in the club's history by playing exquisite attacking football, which culminated with the 8-0 thrashing of Wigan on the final day of the season to clinch the title by 1 point from Manchester United. They followed that up with a victory over Portsmouth in the FA Cup final to complete the double. The 10/11 season started off as the 09/10 finished for Chelsea, with 8 wins in their first 10 games scoring nearly 30 goals in the process. But a slump towards the end of the year has led to the most open title race in years, with as many as 5 teams with a decent chance to win the league.

Chelsea: 2009/2010 Barclays Premier League Champions

The first World Cup in Africa was not the most enjoyable with dividing opinions on the vuvuzelas as well as the quality of football on show, the eventual winners, Spain, was the one bright spark, providing viewers with a brand of football which many teams aspire and dream to be able to achieve. With small clever players like Xavi and Iniesta, they were able to pass their way to success and showed that positive attacking football would provide sucess.

Whilst Spain were deserving winners, England once again failed to shine on the big stage. A howler from Robert Green and a drab draw with Algeria did not provide much entertainment for the English viewing public while the sole victory against Slovakia was hardly inspiring. The debate over Lampard's "goal" will ensure many hours of heated discussions, but the simple fact that Germany outplayed England showed that giving young players the chance to shine could pay off and it was time to follow the German model.

The "goal" that never was

                                                                      
                                                                      
An octopus also hit the headlines in the World Cup. Paul the Octopus correctly predicted the winner of Germany's seven World Cup matches as well as the outcome of the final. Paul the Octopus was presented with two boxes with food inside, each box was marked with the flags of both teams and whichever he climbed into first would be the supposed prediction for the winner of that certain match. He was made a celebrity over night and was one of the highlights of the World Cup.

FIFA's decision to award Russia and Qatar the 2018 and 2022 World Cups were controversial decisions, with many believing that the best bids ultimately did not win. FIFA's reason for choosing the two countries was that they wanted to "go to new lands" and a desire to "develop football" by bringing it to different countries. The bidding process was also clouded with allegations over corruption by the FIFA Executive Committee members with the Sunday Times and BBC Paronama which alleged that they were taking bribes for votes on World Cup bids. This has led to much criticism over how the decision process is made and that such an important decision should not be left to a committee of people.

Sepp Blatter announcing that Qatar has been picked to host the 2022 World Cup

                                                             

In the Champions League, the final was contested between Inter Milan and Bayern Munich with Inter winning courtesy of a brace from Diego Milito. The win rounded off an excellent season for the Nerazzurri by becoming the first Italian club to win the treble of the League, Italian Cup and the Champions League. This also added another feather to the ever increasing number of feathers on the cap of the "Special One" Jose Mourinho. The win virtually guaranteed the job at arguably the biggest club in the world; Real Madrid, for Mourinho.

The 2010/11 season of the Champions League saw the emergence of Gareth Bale onto the world scene, with some excellent performances against the current holders Inter, making Maicon look like a sunday leagye player at best. His excellence performance for Tottenham in the Champions League has caught the attention of many big clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid, who are all apparently fighting for his signature. The Champions League also saw the first Danish club to qualify for the knockout stages for the first time with Copenhagen finishing 2nd behind Barcelona. It shapes up to be an excellent tournament going into 2011, where we will see some great matches, with Arsenal v Barcelona the pick of the bunch.

Bale running at the Inter defence once again

A final mention to the amazing game between Barcelona and Real Madrid at the Camp Nou on 29th November 2010, where it was a joy to watch Barcelona and their masterclass in attacking football with an excellent 5-0 mauling of  Los Blancos.

The past year has been a great year for football and 2011 looks like it might exceed the great heights which were set in 2010.

My Game of the Year 2010

                                                                           


As the year draws to an end, December is a time to reflect on the events of the past year. 2010 has seen many great game releases like Bayonetta, Red Dead Redemption, Super Mario Galaxy 2 amongst others. With the recession hitting worldwide, it has been widely predicted that the video games industry would be hit hard, as it is one of the many luxuries which people would have to cut. But it has grown stronger and signs are that it will continue to grow into 2011. With some many excellent games released this year, it is hard to pick a game of the year. As mainly an Xbox gamer, my game of the year has to be Mass Effect 2.

While it may have come out right at the beginning of the year, no game has given me as much fun as Mass Effect 2 has this year. With big releases like Call of Duty: Black Ops, Assassins Creed: Brotherhood and Fallout: New Vegas, which i have all thoroughly enjoyed, coming out throughout the year there was only one game which i have spent months on. The second installment of the Mass Effect franchise incorporated everything from great storytelling to excellent third person action. With the many different story outcomes and decisions which will affect how the game plays out, it has got me to come back to it over and over again to see what would happen if a certain event was played out differently and how badass Shepherd is if you decided to take the renegade route throughout the game. The action was vastly improved from the first game, with the gameplay becoming more action orientated like the Gears of War franchise using a similar cover system. This feature plus the levelling up system made this the perfect combination. With the release of further DLCs with additional characters and the excellent ' Lair of the Shadow Broker' content which included a reunion with an old friend from the first game, the whole Mass Effect 2 gaming experience has made it my Game of the Year for 2010 and make the recently announced Mass Effect 3 my most anticipated game for 2011.

Video Game addiction - Paronama

On 6/12/2010, BBC aired a Paronama special on video game addiction. It highlighted the problem of Video Game addiction amongst young adults in the UK. They were able to interview a couple of people who were "suffering" from it, with one spending at least 20 hours on Call of Duty everyday. Although the content in the show caught my attention, the further it went on, the more i realised it was information which i already had previous knowledge of. The two main games which were highlighted in the show were World of Warcraft and Call of Duty and both were shown in a very negative light, with one of the interviewees even comparing WoW to a "disease" which he wouldnt want to inflict on others. The next part of the show, saw the presenter head to Korea, where there have been many cases of video game addiction leading to death, with one case being highlighted where a couple had left their child to starve while they were down at their local internet cafe. The presenter then quizzed a member of UKIE (The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment) on whether the industry was doing enough to help with addiction, whilst also highlighting that their site had no information on helping with any addiction problems. The programme not only did not do the Video Games industry any favours, but gave parents more of a reason to worry about the potential effects that games could have on their children. With recent controversies like Medal of Honor and the naming of the enemy forces and the ever lingering problem of the amount of violence and explicit content in games, it seems like the video games medium is made out to be an evil which needs to be stopped, instead of choosing to focus on the amount of good that video games have produced.


I am not trying to downplay the seriousness or existence of video games addiction, i believe that it is a problem and that it can be very damaging to someone's health, but is it really much worse than someone who sits by the television for the same amount of hours?

The Wayne Rooney saga

                                           

Now  that the dust has settled over the Wayne Rooney situation, lets have a closer look at it. The whole saga began with the drop in form of Rooney, with only one goal so far this season, there have been much discussion over the reason for this drop in form, was this a hangover from the poor performances at the World Cup? Sir Alex Ferguson kept on repeating that Rooney was carrying an ankle injury which had occurred at the end of last season and that he was not 100%. After the Montenegro Euro 2012 qualifier, Rooney was interviewed and he openly contradicted Ferguson's comments about the ankle injury and said that he was not carrying any injuries. This led to Rooney's omission from the next couple of Man United games. At a pre-Champions league game press conference, a devastated Ferguson announced that Rooney had told Chief Executive, David Gill that he wanted to leave Man United. The conference was once in a lifetime thing, with the kind of emotion that Ferguson normally did not show. He left the door open for Rooney to change his mind but it looked like the end of Rooney's Man United career. This seemed to be set in stone, the next day when Rooney himself sent out a statement, citing the reason for wanting to leave was that there was no "assurances i was seeking about the future squad." But 2 days later, Rooney had signed a new 5 year contract saying that his assurances were met by the Man United hierarchy in meetings the past two days.

After one of the biggest u-turn in football, why did Rooney sign a new contract? Was it the money, was it to get Man United a bigger transfer fee in the summer or did the owners actually meet the demands for world class players in the team?

With the numbers which have been banded around the newspapers ranging from £150,000 all the way up to £250,000 a week, money seems to be one of the reasons for Rooney signing a new contract, but the important question is whether Rooney's refusal to sign a contract initially was down to the "low" amount of money offered and that the increase in the offer of wages was the one factor which got Rooney to sign on the dotted line? Another possiblity is that signing a new contract would guarantee Man United a higher transfer fee if he decided to go ahead with his demands to leave next summer, as his previous contract only had 18 months left on it and would therefore command less of a fee if the likes of Real Madrid and Man City came calling for Rooney. Or it could be that Sir Alex Ferguson, David Gill and the Glazers were able to convince Rooney that major investment would be put into the team and the likes of Snejider and Benzema would be headed to Old Trafford.

I personally believe that Rooney did get a rise in wages, but with Rooney's love of football, money must not have been the only motivating factor for him to sign a new contract. Its obvious to see his love for Man United where he has been for 6 years, and that nothing would make him happier than to see United lifting the Premier League or Champions League trophy again. With the power that agents have in football nowadays, Rooney might have been easily persuaded to release that statement saying that he wanted to leave, fully knowing that there would be a queue of clubs who love to have him in their team and hold Man United to ransom over his wages. But with the amount of debt coming from the Glazers' takeover showing no signs of decreasing, it is hard to see where the money for marquee players is going to come from. There was a chance to significantly strengthen the team over the summer but no big money signings were made. Fans wonder where the £80m from the sale of Ronaldo has gone while David Gill always maintained that there was £100m in the transfer kitty if Ferguson needed it, so why not spend on players to replace the aging Gary Neville, Scholes and Giggs?

There has been a happy ending to this saga for all parties, Rooney has his increase in wages, Ferguson is able to keep his star players while the Glazers have kept one of the main players to bring in as much money into the club, but will Rooney's future creep up again in the summer? We shall see if  the assurances that Rooney demanded have been met in the next year before that can be answered.

Mass Effect 2 review

The epic adventure of 2007’s Mass Effect from Bioware had left gamers with an unbelievable experience which consumed many gaming hours. But the question is; can the sequel deliver more of the same? In one word, yes.

Mass Effect 2 is very similar to its predecessor in many ways, with many of the great RPG elements from the first game being incorporated into this incarnation. The levelling up and the conversation trees which have been a trademark for the series are back along with the Paragon and Renegade actions which will affect how your Shepherd is seen and reacted to by other characters. There is also the addition of the ability to intervene in cut scenes which enables you to affect how the scene is played out depending on which way you swing in the morality system. The six character classes are retained from the previous game but now each class having class-specific skills.

Mass Effect 2 also retains a great storyline which Bioware has done an excellent job with. Mass Effect 2 sees Commander Shepherd teaming up with Cerberus; a pro-human organisation fronted by The Illusive Man, to investigate the sudden and mysterious disappearances of human colonies. Shepherd and his Normandy ship is attacked by the Collectors and is torn apart which leads to the supposed death of Shepherd. Cerberus helps to effectively resurrect Shepherd and then gives him the job to put together a team to defeat the threat to mankind. The many different types of crew members you are tasked to recruit are widely ranged characters, from the almost emotionless Cerberus agent Miranda to fast talking Salarian, Doctor Mordin. With each team member comes a personal loyalty mission which gives you a closer insight into the character which can also lead to romantic ties.

While the excellent story telling is retained, one improvement from the previous game is the combat system. The combat has been streamlined with a Gears of War element to it, using the cover and shoot mechanics to full effect. Ammo is found from fallen enemies with all guns using the thermal ammo clips with the exception of Heavy Weapons. If going in all guns blazing is not your style then you still have the option to choose biotic or tech powers as well as being able to command other squad members to do your bidding through the circle roulette style pause wheels for commands and powers respectively. 

Mass Effect 2 delivers what the first game did and more, the same great compelling storytelling through excellent dialogue between characters, whilst giving the power of choice in many issues to the players is an experience which is experienced in few other games. With the improved streamlined combat system making this more accessible to more gamers and the only blemish being the repetitive and boring nature of mining for minerals; it has all the right mixtures to be considered one of the strong contenders to be Game of the Year for 2010.

Tackling in football

Tackling has been a topic of great debate in the world of football in recent weeks. It started with the comments made by Fulham captain Danny Murphy at a football conference, when he blamed managers of pumping up their players so much that it would inevitably lead to strong tackles. This was after the horror tackles from Nigel De Jong and Karl Henry, with the former's breaking Newcastle's Hatem Ben Arfa's leg.  Murphy also named three clubs who supposedly employ these tactics, the three clubs being Stoke, Blackburn and Wolves. After these comments were broadcasted throughout England, it caused a divide in opinion on this issue. In one corner, many have argued that the majority of the tackles in the current game are not reckless but rather mistimed. Blackpool manager Ian Holloway argues the case that because of the fast pace that the game is played in the Premier League, tackles are bound to be mistimed and that accidents will occur from them. While in the other corner, there is a belief that reckless tackles do occur in the game today, and as Danny Murphy says, players are so pumped up and are sent out to stop other teams from playing. Arsene Wenger has been arguing about this for the past couple of years, with Arsenal being at the end of teams with the tactics of "roughing them up" which has led to two high profile injuries involving his players, Eduardo in 2008 and Aaron Ramsey in February 2010.

My personal opinion is that, tackling is a major part of Football, hard and fair tackles are what defines some players, players like Patrick Vieira and Roy Keane were tough tacklers and it was what made them such great players. Getting rid of tackling would make football non contact and games would not have the same amount of  intensity as it would now. Many fans are able to feed off the energy of a crunching tackle from their top defender or centre midfielder and gives the whole crowd a lift. But being able to tackle hard does not excuse tactics of kicking players. I believe that many teams who play Arsenal employ these tactics, because as many pundits say, "they dont enjoy a physical battle and a bit of roughing up." I believe reckless tackles need to be cut out of the game, and anyone caught doing it should be severely punished irrespective of who it is. Even if the referee does see it and does not act on it, the FA should punish the offending player themselves. Reckless tackles are the one of the main reason players careers are shortened and legs are broken, regardless of which team they play for, no football fan wants to see a football player have their leg broken.