Okay, so this is more relevant to FPS games but I am sure there are rage fuelling moments in most genres. There's nothing worse than working your balls off to reach a certain point in the game and then - BOOM - game over. Whether that be something from the environment screwing you over, or that self obsessed, no life camper.
Trust me, I have experienced it all. Just tonight I was catching up on some Modern Warfare 3, playing CTF which is one of my absolute favourite game types. The point of this tale is that the enemy team was almost entirely made up of kill-whore rushers, who only captured the flag once per round, within the last few seconds to ensure a victory.
The amount of rage I was filled with during the above game was immense. In fact, I almost threw my controller out of the window. It annoys me so much when people play objective-based game types with no intention of playing the objective. Maybe their intention is to make people angry, that notion certainly works a charm. On the flip side, I can see why many people are against any form of video game related rage. It unnecessarily stresses you out, can make you cause damage to your home and more worryingly to yourself in the process and is it really worth it? From that 5 minutes of rage, what have you achieved - apart from maybe giving others a laugh. At the end of the day, you will always encounter a rage moment when playing video games. Whether this be your own or someone else's. Perhaps if people actually played the game properly, and didn't K/D whore in objective based games, maybe rage would be less prevalent. However, trying to stop those that do this from doing so is a mammoth task in itself. Like anyone else, they are playing the game for fun. I suppose if that makes them enjoy the game then so be it - perhaps back out of the game and try another. I might start backing out and choosing another game when I can feel rage creeping in. I just may be able to counter a repeat of the many situations I have put myself in before. The only problem with this comes when you are in a party, or playing with others. Just because you're playing really badly, or something is winding you up, should your party have to suffer and back out with you? It would be interesting to hear others' stories about video game rage. If you have a little spare time and have a memorable moment, why not share it? Comments are open to all and your contribution is greatly appreciated.
So I have just read something very interesting. Rumour has it, that Sony is due to announce their next gen console - dubbed the Playstation 4 (PS4). These rumours have been sparked by the news that Sony have ceased worldwide production of the Playstation 2 (PS2). Shortly after they did the same thing with the original Playstation, the Playstation 3 (PS3) was announced. Now, I am not a Playstation gamer myself. I do own a PS2, and did originally own the first Playstation but I don't have the PS3. The reason for this is solely one of price. When the PS3 was first released, it was well beyond my budget. The Xbox 360, on the other hand, was much more affordable for me. Being an Xbox gamer for the last few years has made me rusty on the Playstation(s). I can't get used to the controller, so quickly give up and return to the Xbox. I have no idea when Sony would even be likely to announce the PS4. It could be in a few days, weeks, months. It might not even be at all. They may have already shown a very select few individuals what they are working on, however. Either way you look at it, a new console is inevitable from Sony. They know consoles like I know how to breathe - it completes them and, to be quite frank, is one of the key building blocks to their corporation. In my honest opinion, I can't see myself going back to Playstation. If they make the controller similar to the Xbox, or they make the Xbox controllers compatible, I might consider it but I can't see that becoming a reality. We'll have to just keep our eyes and ears open for more juicy news. You can see some concept art below the post. I don't think the PS4 (or whatever Sony's next console will be) is going to look a thing like these, but it's nice to see the community are so involved in the potential project and what they'd like to see. I can almost definitely believe that 3D will be introduced. With the likes of the 3DS and 3D televisions becoming ever more popular, I would think the likes of Sony would be first in there on introducing a 3D capable console - like they did with the Blu-Ray.
Concept design 1 - Kind of has the "Wii" look
Concept design 2 - Controller looks bulky and the console looks unstable
The hugely anticipated, latest instalment of Tomb Raider is due out in early March. As you can see from the image above, taken directly from the tombraider.com website, Lara looks a lot different than in previous games.
Then again, the entire story is different. Square Enix, who now publish the franchise, have taken a different spin on the life of Lara Croft. No longer is she the hardened adventurer that you experienced in previous versions. In the new Lara Croft, she's a fresh adventurer, new to the field and rearing to get going. Unfortunately she gets herself into a right pickle and has to learn how to survive, and how to do it well.
The story on the official site explains how the game explores Lara's origins and how she must adapt in order to survive and become the veteran she is on previous titles. The developers, Crystal Dynamics, have really thought through this one and the trailer makes the game look incredibly enticing. I know this is the sole purpose of a trailer but I don't know, with this it's different and obvious that a lot of time has gone into it. I mean, we've been waiting since 2008 for another instalment. I genuinely thought they weren't going to reboot the series.
Many people have already jumped the gun and criticised Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix of creating an aura of sexist fantasy amongst male gamers. The most informative article I found that tackles this topic was from The Guardian. You can read the article here. In my opinion, Tomb Raider has always been targeted more towards the male gamer. Why else would they use an athletic, fearless and strong female lead who hardly wears any clothes and has larger than average assets?
A multiplayer mode has also been confirmed. I wonder how this will turn out, and what is planned for it. What types of game modes will see, weapons, maps. Building a multiplayer platform is just as important and requires the same attention to detail as the standard single player mode. It is being developed by none other than Eidos Montreal, the developers responsible for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, so I have my fingers crossed for something at least half decent. It also pleases me that the studio developing the multiplayer have a link to the franchises old publisher, Eidos Interactive.
Price wise, it marries up nicely to other high end games of this modern day. There are 3 separate packages for sale: Standard, Collectors and Survival. You can pre-order them now from Game UK for the following prices:
Standard: £39.99
Collectors: £74.99
Survival: £54.99
It is worth noting that, with the collectors and survival versions, you get some rather nice additions. The collectors additions comes with an 8" Lara Croft figurine - great for all those die hard fans who want good old Lara in their display cabinet. There's also a map, art book and a "survival tin" that the game rests in. In-game content wise, you get a weapons DLC pack (presumably for the multiplayer aspect but can't confirm) and a 10 track score (not entirely sure what this is).
The survival pack is very similar to the collectors, although there is no figurine and the game packaging is different. You still get the map, art book and in-game content however.
Personally, I won't be pre-ordering a fancy copy. I'll go to the shops on release day and purchase a standard copy instead. I cannot justify the massive price hike, sorry.
Tomb Raider: Survivor is released in the UK on 5th March, 2013 and will initially be for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC. I reckon it'll play better, or at least feel right, on the PS3 because the Playstation is Tomb Raider's roots - where it all began. I'm not sure if they'll release a Wii version, but there's no sniff of speculation about it so I can't see it becoming a possibility.
