I Personally think ‘girl gaming’ sites who get offended by the colour pink don’t have a right to complain if they post Hello Kitty articles and have cute pink mascots.

If you are a female gamer and own a site or write for a site that could be described as ‘gender nutural’ or ‘masculin’, I could understand if you were slightly offended by the press release of all pink accessories. You are right, it isn’t your obvious audience.

However, if your site is obviously aimed at women, by women and you review girly products, such as Hello Kitty games, pink iPods and nail decorating machines. I fail to see how you can be offended by PR companies sending you information on pink products? You claim you are ‘not the obvious market’ when I’d argue that you obviously are, maybe it verges on hypocritical.

I also fail to see why you are even offended. Pink is a colour, it sells well and that is a fact. We could hardly keep the pink DSlite on the shelves at Christmas time. Now, I own a pink DS, Pink iphone case and pink Skull Candies. This does not make me ‘less’ of anything. I just like the colour, I don’t find it degrading in any way. If I don’t like pink (even if I am female), I will quite simply not buy it. It is merely an option for those who do want it. You know, blue is a very nice colour too and I’ve even heard that they will sell you something in pink even if you have a penis!

Nobody is forcing you to buy all pink accessories because of your vagina. I write for a girl gamer orientated website and I am past the point of caring. I play games and what colour Xbox360 pad I use will not effect how badly I suck at Halo3, but I can still play.

This year saw my return to Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) and despite the usual glory that comes from carrying a media badge, this year I was also invited to spend the day at Microsoft’s head office. Yes, I know what you are thinking, I am indeed lucky. The Community day saw 30 or so people picked up from the convention centre around 1pm and not returned until 8pm.

After a quick introduction to the event by Major Nelson and the handing out of wireless codes to avoid people getting withdrawal and the shakes, we were treated to a tour of the Microsoft campus; this included the new dedicated XBL building that only went up this past spring. The tour showed everything from Microsoft’s football fields and basket ball courts, to offices, play test labs and of course a quick stop at the company store.Once the tour was over the real fun was about to stat. Microsoft had set up some of the top games, like Left 4 Dead 2, for us all to get hands on with, included some pretty amazing panels and Q&A’s.

So here are my top 3 hands on/panels from the day….

Left 4 Dead 2 and panel with Valve.

Now I loved Left 4 Dead and since Valve don’t normally f**k up games I have to admit I was damn excited to A) not only play this game but B) not have to queue up to play it. Now if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it, and this is exactly what Valve has done. Valve has kept the true essence of the original game but has added enough new content to stop it feeling like overpriced downloadable content.

The demo saw me playing as Rochelle, the Zoe counter part, in the Carnival of Doom. Now not only is ripping the horde apart with a shot gun as fun as you remember but now you get to rip them apart with melee weapons too. I assure you, there is nothing more satisfying that picking up a katana, slicing off some zombie horde head and watching the blood splatter across your screen as there body and head end up in two separate directions. Besides the katana, the baseball bat and electric guitar also prove to be just as fun. 

The three new special zombies really do change the way you play. Myself and my team mates kept close to avoid being picked off, yet before I knew it something had slammed into me knocking me off the balcony and separating me from my team. This was the Charger. Then something had jumped on my shoulders and was driving me around and straight into a group of infected, this was the Jockey. The three remaining survivors were currently pinned down dealing with the horde only to be covered in acid by the Spitter, before the Tank was there demise.

At the panel with one of the lead writers from Valve, I couldn’t help but ask what was his favourite of the new additions in Left 4 Dead 2. He replied that ‘the jockey’ was his favourite ‘because listening to your friends cackling in Vs mode as they jump on you and drive you off a cliff is priceless’. You know what? That is completely true.

Alan Wake Panel.

Now I love it when a game slips under your radar and you discover it and it leaves you with your mouth on the floor. Alan Wake did exactly this, in-fact if a friend hadn’t dragged me to the panel I still wouldn’t know of its existence.

Alan wake is a writer whose wife disappears and the only clues to her whereabouts and the strange going ons are the torn pages from the book that he doesn’t remember writing. The game is a physiological thriller and beyond atmospheric. The enemies appear to be poltergeists that can only be killed with light either from the use of the torch in you hand or from using the environment around you.

The panel saw one of the writers playing through the demo while providing running commentary. Graphically this game was superb with unbelievable detail paid to lighting and building atmosphere, which are of course this games life line. The game, while not technically a horror is defiantly scary. I have to also admit that the game did actually look quite difficult which isn’t always a bad thing. However, if you team that up with the fact you will be shit-your-pants scared I don’t think someone like me would get very far. This doesn’t stop me though because I really do want to get hands on with this game as quickly as possible to see how it feels and plays for myself.

Alan Wake is still yet to receive a launch date but the ambiguous1^st Quarter of 2010 is currently on the table.

Borderlands

Right, I am going to go out there and say my time spent playing Borderlands can only be described as a cluster f**k. I was thrown straight in with no actual explanation and I thank God that shooter controls are all roughly the same on the 360 or I would have been really screwed. Borderlands is a highly anticipated Role-playing FPS with heavy emphasis placed on co-op. Basically you run around shooting everything that moves in an attempt to search for some mysterious alien vault, with a near endless arsenal of weapons at your disposal (and it really is a near endless arsenal).

While the game can be played alone, it’s pretty obvious that the real fun is only to be had playing co-op, and like all good co-op games it is at the mercy of human stupidity. So here’s hoping you have actually friends on your friends list.

I was left feeling a bit ‘meh’ after my time with the game. Admittedly I only played for roughly 30minuites and was thrown straight in, probably not the best way to go, yet considering the amount of hype surrounding this game I can’t help but feel that I must have missed the point.Yet I am sure when this game launches and all my friends are playing it, I will defiantly be joining in. I can’t say no to some good co-op with friends.

To wrap all this up, I am going to go out there and say that Microsoft provided the best chocolate brownies ever. EVER.

So on Tuesday I was invited to Capcom Offices here in London to get my hands on with the latest Bionic Commando game.

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The Edge Magazine 200^th edition is finally out on sale in the UK and when a magazine as highly respected as Edge produces a list of the top 100 games EVER, it is kind of a big deal.

The list is made up of games that ‘define modern gaming’, that stand the test of time and of games that despite their age, are games that we would want to play even today without the nostalgia to cloud our judgment. Edge also acknowledges that the March of next-gen gaming has certainly taking its toll with many more next-gen games being featured as apposed to 8-bit classics.

The list contains those games which anyone would expect to find, the classic games that inspire ‘games as art’ such as ICO (no.54), Shadow of the colossus (no.68) and BioShock (no.34) also take respectably high places. The RPG Empire of Square Enix sees Final Fantasy VI, VII and XII included, and XBLA holds its own with Space Giraffe, Braid and Geometry Wars being placed. While the modern onslaught of Gears of War 2 (no58), Fallout 3 (no37), Street fighter IV (no.14) and Left 4 Dead (no.13), to name just a few, are featured heavily proving that modern gaming still has the ability to bring something new or do something and do it well.

Yet the top 10 is admittedly the only list anyone really cares about. I have to give it to Edge it’s a verity like no other with a mash up of titles, of platform and of ages that have truly had some of the biggest effects on modern gaming we have ever seen…

10) Yoishi’s Island (Nintendo SNES)

9) Halo 3 (Bungie, 360)

8 ) Super Mario Galexy (Nintendo, Wii)

7) Tetris (Alexey Pajitnov, various platforms)

6) Super Mario World (Nintendo SNES).

5) Zelda: A Link To The Past (Nintendo SNES)

4) Resident Evil 4 (Capcom, Wii)

3) Half Life 2 (Valve, 360, PC, PS3)

2) Super Mario 64 (Nintendo, N64)

1) Zelda Ocarina of Time (Nintendo, N64).

Before we get down to business even I couldn’t help notice that the top10 includes 7 games either on a Nintendo console or/and published by Nintendo. However, in this day and age many of the hardcore gamers feel Nintendo; the company responsible for a huge amount of classic games, has turned its back upon us. Despite its move towards Casual games Nintendo still have the power to dominate lists such as this, it is responsible for games that not only shaped modern gaming but shaped us as gamers and admittedly, The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time really has had the biggest effect on me as a gamer.

When I turned the page to see Zelda OoT had been placed number one I produced the biggest Cheshire Cat grin, that game made me who I am today as a geek. Do you remember breaking free and taking Epona across Hyrule field for the first time? Never before has a game created such an amazing sensation, told such a strong story in an open yet linear environment. Zelda Ocarina of Time has achieved something amazing and personally, I believe it deserves the number one spot.

And if anyone is interested, I got the Papa the Rapper front cover (you gotta believe!)

While I have always appreciated the shear accessibility of the Internet I will constantly posses a deep love for print media Read the full story

I love it when PR decides to get creative so naturally I was pretty impressed by Capcom’s latest PR stunt for the launch of Resident Evil 5.

For the Launch on March 13, Capcom well be hosting a blood drive in association with American Red Cross at the World of Wonder Gallery on Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, California. While its an odd way to advertise a video game launch I am personally all for it. People who want the game will only go out and buy it anyway, so why not encourage them to do something useful like give blood? Yeah, it’s not exactly p***ing all over the amazing Street Fighter launch but at least this might actually benefit someone in some way.

But with or without Capcom stealing our blood for medical (possible cloning) purposes there will still be the usual launch event festivities with the chance to win one of those limited edition red 360s (remember how I posted that rumor all that time ago kids? Yeah, I’m awesome) and some other Resident Evil swag.

So if you are in the area and if you are going to buy the game on launch or not, why not go do something awesome and give blood while you are at it? I actually work in obstetrics and I gotta say (lets get serious for a moment) it does save lives.

Now I’ve always felt sorry for the PSP, it is a fantastic little bit of technology (minus the appalling battery life) that was beaten to a pulp by Dr Kawashima and the DS. I love my PSP and if you have the time to look there really are some fantastic games out for the heavily under-rated system. So every time another big title is announced I always find myself getting a little bit excited.

Today Ubisoft announced a new Tenchu game for the PSP known as Shadow Assassins which is due on European shores in April. For anyone who is unaware (how is this possible?!) Tenchu is a series of games set in feudal Japan that play heavily off the stealth/ninja experience, the most recent of which, Tenchu Z , was released for the Xbox360 in 2006.

The new PSP game will once again follow the foot steps of the two main reoccurring characters and elite ninjas, Rikimaru and Ayame as they attempt to rescue Japan from the villain Onikage. Both have an arsenal of ninja like weapons (just like in Naruto kids!) such as throwing stars, katanas and smoke bombs (3 of apparently 17 different weapons and tools), the ability to sneak behind enemies, as you would expect from a ninja and unlockable extras like costumes. If the screen shot pack that Ubi released (attached below) are anything to go by then hopefully handheld gamers will have something other than Barbie Horse Adventures and MORE, More Brain Training to get excited over, in fact I’m going to go and wash my Tabbi socks right now.

Anyone wanting more information can visit www.tenchu4game.com

Now I’ve pretty much always been one of those ‘don’t call me a chick, chicks’, Read the full story

Addictions are a funny thing. Read the full story

I was lucky enough to be invited to Capcom offices in jolly old London to play through some of the review copy of Resident Evil 5. Read the full story