Author Archives: Adam Hartley

Is the HP TouchPad the new Atari Lynx? Or is that doing Atari’s (at the time) impressive portable handheld console a massive disservice? Adam Hartley answers the question.

More »

VG247 got its hands on Relic-developed Warhammer 40,0000: Space Marine in Dublin last week. Associate producer James McDermott talked us through it.

More »

Kaos Studios’ Homefront was one of the more pleasant surprises from US publisher THQ at E3 earlier this year. A genuinely intriguing new wargaming IP to take on the might of Activision’s Call of Duty franchise. Whether or not there is room in this crowded market for a game of this ambition and magnitude remains to be seen. Homefront releases next March on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

VG247 was treated to a first-look at two of the game’s multiplayer levels at a preview event in London recently, with a bunch of genuinely innovative new features revealed.

We also managed to grab a one-to-one chat with Kaos Studio’s community manager to find out a little more about the background to some of these new multiplayer elements, such as Battle Points and Ground Control. And to quiz him a bit more about the background behind the game’s barking mad storyline, in which a pan-Asian mega-army lead by North Korea takes over America in the near future…

More »

VG247 was treated to a preview playtest with forthcoming 2K Czech blockbuster Mafia II at a press event in London earlier this month. We also managed to sit down for an interview with 2K producer Alex Cox and senior gameplay producer Jarek Kolar. Playing games and interviewing people: all in one day.

More »

Evolution Studios has finally unveiled the third outing in its massively popular MotorStorm series, exclusively for PlayStation 3. MotorStorm Apocalypse is, in the words of game director Matt Southern, “just fucking lunacy.”

We’ve played through the first demo level that the developer was showing off at a recent pre-E3 event in London, and you can read our first impressions on that here.

In the meantime, we also sat down for a good chat about what is new in MotorStorm Apocalypse with Evo’s Matt Southern, who told us a lot more about his thoughts on 3D gaming on PS3 (“it’s going to blow games wide open”), why multiplayer gaming is becoming more important than single-player gaming and how the team drew inspiration from various recent classics such as Starfox and Modern Warfare 1.

And from gonzo journalist Hunter S Thompson.

Oh. And before anybody asks. There are no jet-skis in the game. Or rockets.

[Interview by Adam Hartley]

More »

It’s rumour no more. Motorstorm Apocalypse is out in the open. It’s coming next year and sounds properly awesome. We were in London to check out the game.

We also chatted to game director Matt Southern about the game. Get our interview here.

[Word by Adam Hartley]

More »

Activision’s DJ Hero 2 is set to be released later this year, with many gamers and industry pundits alike still on the fence about the potential mass market appeal of the mix-and-mash-em-up dance music game.

While DJ Hero was well received critically when it released late in 2009, with plenty of positive reviews in both the specialist and the lifestyle/dance press, the sales were somewhat lackluster. Despite that, Activision clearly thinks that it can garner a good return on its investment, as developer Freestyle Games has recently announced (and has been showing off) DJ Hero 2, which amongst other new features and additions, will let dance aficionados muck around with two plastic turntables and microphone.

More »

Activision recently showcased two of the first levels from Cold War shooter Call of Duty: Black Ops in London, with lead members of the team from developer Treyarch holding the pad.

It’s hot. How hot? Hit the link.

More »

Starcraft II releases on July 27. To say it’s had “a lengthy period in development” is putting it mildly: Blizzard’s been working on the RTS since 2003. VG247 met Frank Pearce, Blizzard EVP of product development and the man in charge of the project, in London today to quiz him on the project’s background and the highs and lows of the development of what is clearly one of the biggest PC game releases of 2010.

Pearce plays a critical role in the creation of all Blizzard’s games, so we also took the liberty of asking him a few questions about the future of World of Warcraft, Blizzard’s release plans for Diablo III and his thoughts on the future of MMOs, strategy gaming and more.

More »

With the multiplayer Beta for Blur ending next week and the game itself releasing at the end of the month, we put Adam Hartley to task on forcing information out of lead designer Gareth Wilson and getting some cool gameplay details for you.

Bizarre Creations’ Blur has been in development for a little over two years now, and focuses on full damage modeling, loads of special effects, and 50 licensed cars.

The game also includes five different power ups: Barge, Mines, Nitro, Shunt, and Shock, that you collect throughout each course, allowing you to blast other cars out of the way. It includes a single-player campaign as well as competitive and team-based multiplayer races with up to 20 players online, or on a single console via 4 player split-screen.

The game mixes Mario Kart-style power-ups with the racing action of Bizarre’s Project Gotham, which leader designer Gareth Wilson said is good assessment.

More »

Konami’s Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is one of the greatest games I have ever played on the PSP, a system I had all but given up on before spending the best part of a day playing Hideo Kojima’s game at a recent preview event organised by the publisher.

That is the main thing you need to know. Secondly, even after four or five hours of playing and slowly getting into the experience, I was still left with the feeling of having only just scratched the surface of a 30-40-hour marathon I will relish. With Peace Walker there are no concerns at all about, “How am I going to find the time to play through this?” I just will.

The only other thing? June 18.

More »