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If you still want more Batman action them get ready for Batman Arkham Asylum heading your way in 2009. The game sees the caped crusader trying to escape the mental institute after things go a bit wonky. Publishers Eidos promise it will be very dark indeed.

Related: Lego Batman

Tags: Batman, Arkham Asylum, Xbox 360, PS3

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The PS3’s Play TV which turns your PS3 into a PVR will finally be available next month for just under £70. Good news as it’s cheaper than previously announced and will let you record shows up to 1080i resolution onto your hard drive and watch them on your PSP. No word yet on a Play TV US release date yet though.

Related: Sony E3 Highlights

Tags: PlayTV, PlayTV release date, Play TV, release date, PS3

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There’s yet more hints that Max Payne 3 may be on the way thanks to actress Mona Sax hinting she could be providing a voice for it at the Comic Con event earlier this week. The flawed but interesting bullet-time inspired film noir comic book game is already a probably rubbish film out in October.

Related: The Club review

Tags: Max Payne, Max Payne 3, Max Payne movie

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Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH has announced its first European Metal Gear Online Championship, with entrants competing to win a luxury trip to Tokyo - home of series creator, Kojima Productions! Entry is open to players over 18 from all PAL territories, and entrants are invited to visit their site to register to play. The first competition will be held on August 15th.

Konami is planning to host four preliminary tournaments per week - each preliminary tournament will feature six players per team, with one back-up member, and will span 16 games of 16 teams competing within the ‘Team Deathmatch: Direct Elimination’ mode and with the maps changing each game. Each match will comprise one round of 15 minutes and the best two teams from each preliminary Tournament will advance to one of two European Final Tournaments.

The two European Final Tournaments featuring teams who win their preliminary rounds will be played in September, with 16 teams each competing for the main prize of a trip to Tokyo between 9th-13th of October where they will be entered for the Grand World Finals at this year’s Tokyo Game Show where further prizes await the successful teams!

Related: Konami registration, Metal Gear Online review

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The Edinburgh Interactive Festival concluded this Tuesday at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre after three days of fun, frolics and chicken tikka massala. A smaller, Scottish equivalent of E3 the event featured game-themed film screenings, an industry conference and a free-to-enter consumer section where a number of commercial and indie games were on display. While there was a definite casual slant to the games on the main show floor (with a live DS Indian cookery display, and Wii Fit demonstrations attracting the biggest crowds) there were a couple of gems to be found for the more discerning gamer. Of these gems, the biggest and shiniest was the first UK showing of Media Molecule’s PS3 exclusive - Little Big Planet.

I approached the demo booth with a hearty dollop of trepidation. LittleBigPlanet is a key title in Sony’s 2008 release schedule and a family-friendly counterpoint to the rather more traditional Resistance: Fall of Man 2 and Motorstorm Pacific Rift. However, while it has a U certificate vibe, the ability to tweak and alter anything about the game (from changing existing levels to creating brand new ones from scratch) is at the core of Sony’s “Game 3.0” strategy which is designed to appeal to everybody. While the show floor of EIF was a difficult place to present the sheer volume of creative possibilities within Little Big Planet, the small sections of the game I played firmly reassured me that not only is the game solid and fun to play, it has also integrated its more technical user content design tools in a slick and easy to use way.

During the 30 minutes I spent with the title, I almost exclusively played in 2 player mode. Controls are simple, using a single button to jump and another to “grab” items. The levels are 2.5D allowing some movement backwards and forwards, but largely forcing the player progress from left to right. None of the levels I played were overly challenging, being simple tests of using momentum or environmental features to progress, however what can’t easily be conveyed through screenshots or videos is just how fun the game is. It has a breezy, chilled-out vibe, and a great sense of pace and motion. There are tinges of Mario and the original Prince of Persia, but does feel unique and different, even if it hard to put your finger on quite why.

The game really shines when it introduces controllable objects. On one level we were introduced to a cartoon car which could go forwards and backwards by moving the gear lever. There then followed a chaotic and riotous race against the computer, which was far more fun than controlling a car with just forwards and backwards gears had any right to be. Another level featured an oversized skateboard, which when jumped on careered down a hill with both players precariously balanced on it, before it finally came to an abrupt stop at the bottom of the slope, crashing and scattering objects and the players in such a ridiculously silly way that it raised a few chuckles from the watching audience. Adding to the sense of fun was the presence of Stephen Fry as the voice of the in-game help, his mellifluous tones fitting the vibe of the game perfectly.

Overall, I spent only minimal time with the creative and customisation sections of the game. During that time I looked at some of the fundamental ways of building objects and environments to play in. While simple to use, I imagine the time investment to make creations that rival the levels the game ships with will probably be beyond most talentless people such as myself. However, I can see the tools available creating a storm of creativity from a certain artistic subsection of the PS3 audience. There was also confirmation that “celebrity” levels were under construction, either for inclusion in the game or to be made available as downloadable content. When we dug deeper about which celebrities these were, only one was mentioned - Lily Allen. The mind boggles as to what a Lily Allen themed Little Big Planet level will look like. A general consensus from a lot of people who saw Little Big Planet was that Terry Gillingham would be an obvious person to talk to about doing custom levels, as some of the objects on display already had a very Python-esque vibe to them. I only hope they listened to us!

Interestingly, feedback on the game from other player at EIF was mixed. Some people claimed serious bugs were in evidence, and that the framerate was choppy, and certain modes incomplete. I personally didn’t encounter any glaring bugs and found the graphical performance to be near perfect. I did notice a couple of PS3s seemed to be playing up, requiring restarts (possibly due to them being stuffed in small, unventilated, boxes), but whether this was hardware or software problems is hard to say. In any event, with some time before the game is released (allegedly “October”) hopefully any lingering problems can be resolved before the game goes on sale, as it would be disappointing if the title failed to live up to expectation because of technical issues.

Overall, I was extremely pleased with Little Big Planet. For a game with such lofty ambitions, to see them so beautifully realised was extremely impressive and a credit to the developers. On what I’ve seen so far, if you’re already excited at the prospect - then remain so. If you’re not yet excited, then check this game out and become so.

Related: Little Big Planet, Little Big Planet Xbox 360 version

Tags: Lily Allen, Little Big Planet, LittleBigPlanet, Stephen Fry, Edinburgh Interactive Festival

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So with three very big games (GTAIV, Bioshock and Final Fantasy XIII) going multi-format, does this mean that one of Sony’s key PS3 titles. So when is the Little Big Planet Xbox 360 version being released? Well even though the Xbox 360 has shown itself to be more than a match for the Playstation 3 in terms of graphical power, a game like LittleBigPlanet is likely to have a small appreciative audience on the 360 and may not be worth the extra development time needed to port it over. A PC version is much more likely though as another game by the same designers; Rag Doll Kung Fu, is available on the PC through Steam. However, seeing as the games title is a registered trademark of Sony and not Media Molecule, we really don’t think you’ll see this title anywhere else, which is a shame really as the pointer and motion control of Wii would’ve really suited it. The LittleBigPlanet release date is 30th October.

Related: Lily Allen to feature in Little Big Planet, Little Big Planet details, Little Big Planet preview

Tags: LittleBigPlanet Xbox 360 version, LittleBigPlanet, Little Big Planet, Xbox 360

YouTube Soul Calibur IV review

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I love the Soul Calibur games. There’s something nice and shiny about them and it’s so easy to pick up and play that anyone can join in the fun without having to be a fighting master - I’m talking to you Virtua Fighter. Soul Calibur IV is the first game for the new batch of consoles and boy does it look pretty! All your favourite characters are there along with a few new ones and the ability to make your own character based on current characters’ fighting styles or you can modify current characters with new clothes, hair, weapons and abilities you earn whilst playing through the various play modes.

You can assign abilities to your characters to give them the edge in battle - whether it’s activating unblockable attacks or permanent attributes that up the chances of counters, breaking grapples or shaving energy off characters even if they block. And if they block too much you can break their armour which is an amusing touch, or more importantly unleash an unblockable super attack which will end the battle once-and-for-all.

Single player story mode sees you play through a short five stages with each character. Short but sweet as there are so many characters to play with - each with different endings. Arcade mode lets you play through 8 stages and posts your scores up on the PSNetwork. Then there’s the Tower of Lost Souls mode where you have to descend or ascend the ‘tower’ with two or more characters working as a tag team. It’s broken up into levels. Ascending the tower will take a while as you fight all manner of opponents and earn rewards for using special abilities and meeting criteria. When making your way down you keep the same characters and see how far you can get in a sort of survival mode.

And now for the first time you can take your skills online and play against your mates or randoms in either ranked or player matches so if you lack someone in the same room as you, you can do it over the net. A word of warning though - the standard seems to be very high - I’ve had my arse kicked, lots! I’ve been playing the PS3 version which means Darth Vader has joined the party and he’s great fun to play with. His attacks are balanced, he looks and sounds the part and fits right in. I’ve heard the Xbox 360 Yoda isn’t quite as suited to the game but I’ll have to play it to find out.

And before I finish here’s a handy hint - make sure you install the game onto your hard drive in the options menu as this cuts down loading times between stages dramatically. Soul Calibar 4 is a solid fighting game with so many options it’ll have you playing alone or with mates for months to come. It gets an excellent 8 out of 10.

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Related: Free Soul Calibur IV book, Soul Calibur IV making of video, Youtube Soul Calibur IV review

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Critically panned. Disowned by its own development team. Marketed as a sequel to a game nobody bought. It’s hardly surprising that Blacksite Area 51 can be found nestling in many a dusty bargain bin. However, with the new X-Files movie hitting cinemas it seemed prudent to go back and asses whether Blacksite can provide a fix of cheap alien killing fun.

The game starts off in war torn Iraq, with absolutely no aliens in sight. The controls are tight, the weapons are satisfying and Iraqi soldiers dutifully stand next to explosive barrels and/or stock still when you’re trying to shoot them (which is always nice). There is even a decent squad control system that allows you to direct fire from your squad on particular targets and order them about with an intuitive single button press. Nothing that would trouble Ghost Recon, but a good addition nonetheless.

During this first hour the game is just engaging enough to keep you playing, but not so immersive you won’t simultaneously be planning your grocery shopping. Because of the linear level design there is never any real confusion about where to go, so it is easy to play the game when tired, distracted or drunk (or all three). As the Iraqi level unfolds you get the vague impression there may be some sort of sophisticated political message behind the game. But just when you start thinking Blacksite might be trying to do something intelligent, along comes a badly drawn half-alien geezer with a tentacle growing out of his head and things begin to go rapidly downhill.

In a sudden switch from reality to fantasy the game quickly becomes a blur of laughable aliens, bad dialogue and a nonsensical story which wouldn’t trouble a made-for-TV scifi drama from the late 1970s. Without giving away any twists, somebody in your squad has a nasty exobiological encounter at the conclusion of the Iraqi chapter while everyone else decides to run away. Predictably, he pops up again later on and isn’t best pleased about being left for dead and turned into an alien-human hybrid. Which is understandable. Added to the plot blender is some other general stuff about aliens taking over the planet and mysterious goings on at Area 51, but fundamentally when playing Blacksite all you need to remember is to follow the objective arrow and shoot anything with tentacles.

One thing that slowly begins to become apparent as you play is that the game has more than its fair share of bugs (of the software problems sort, not the creepy crawly kind). In many ways Blacksite is a stroll down memory lane to 1994, where getting stuck on scenery in a game or hearing sound being blasted out of speakers at the wrong time was par for the course. Taken individually no one issue is too serious, but over the course of the game they begin to seriously grate. In one particularly bad example my entire squad of highly armed special ops soldiers became trapped in the back garden of a suburban house entirely unable to escape because the game refused to unlock a small wooden gate. In reality, I imagine the soldiers would kick down the gate and continue the struggle for humanity’s survival. Sadly, in this case they decided to stand around pulling faces like a cow trying to do algebra.

Further disappointment comes from the fact the game was clearly designed for co-operative play. Many areas are clearly set up for two players to flank the enemy, share vehicles or man two side-by-side gun turrets. It is widely believed that this feature was torn out at the last moment, and while the game is never broken by this decision, there are sections that are badly balanced and rather boring when playing alone. One other issue with the game is the vehicles. While the handling is not quite as bad as it could have been, the twitchy vehicles have very little inertia and a tendency to get grounded on even the smallest pebbles.

Blacksite does have a couple of redeeming points. One of these is the way the sniper rifle scope is handled. In many games using scoped weapons can block out nearby threats and cause a loss of spatial awareness. Blacksite features a sniper rifle that progressively zooms in depending on how hard you pull in the left trigger. It works brilliantly, allowing threats to be prioritised and then taken out with a combination of speed and accuracy. Visually the game also has a few moments of grandeur. Some of the larger alien foes are particularly impressive (in one memorable sequence you fight a gigantic alien triffid sprawled across a huge valley spanning bridge), and indeed the entire game is never less than graphically acceptable. The campaign is also blessedly short at about 6 hours, and never really outstays its welcome.

Multiplayer modes are included. While very simplistic the basic deathmatch and capture the flag modes are actually surprisingly solid and enjoyable. Sadly, on both Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 the lobbies remain about as sparsely populated as an American war memorabilia shop in the middle of Basra.

So is the game worth a punt at a bargain price? Probably not. There are plenty of better games on both the Playstation, Xbox and PC, but if you absolutely must have a game that involves shooting aliens, then Blacksite has enough substance to make it at least worth a rental. A slightly sub average 4/10.

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Related: STALKER review

Tags: Blacksite Area 51, Blacksite: Area 51, Blacksite Area 51, Xbox 360, PS3, PC