If you’re anything like me you not only love playing games, but you also like completing them. After plugging hours of sleepless nights into an RPG or action game, it’s incredibly satisfying to bask in the soft glow of your television as the end credits roll.  Sometimes, however, you’ll be 30 hours into a Final Fantasy game when something new and shiny distracts you from the epic quest you were on.  After your fickle gaming side quest has been completed and you’re ready to pick up the unfinished JRPG again, however, it can be near impossible to reenter the state of mind you were in when you stopped.  What can game developers do to make sure we see games through to their epic conclusion?  Read on. Read more… »

Rick made a good point in his Sunday Soapbox. Games need a “casual” mode so everyone can enjoy them. However, the vast majority of hardcore gamers enjoy a challenge. In 2004 our prayers were answered: Ninja Gaiden for the Xbox resurrected difficult gaming. But with every Ninja Gaiden, there’s a “Devil May Cry Special Edition”. Want to know what I mean? Head inside for answers. Read more… »

As I sling my M-82 assault rifle around to my back and exit the war-torn battlefield, a strange feeling of dread engulfs me. It’s been a good day, I’ve left plenty of soldiers riddled with bullets, blown a fair few sky high with a well placed grenade or two and revived a dozen comrades, enabling them to once more join me in fighting the good fight. I’m satisfied enough to return to my quarters and sleep easy.

But, unlike other days over last three weeks, this time I leave the smoke and screams in my wake knowing that it will be a matter of weeks rather than hours until I return. I’ve built up a solid bond with my team mates of late, really taking in the experience and learning who I can expect to have my back when I’m in trouble and who I should be keen to follow in order to stay alive and rack up some key victories. Read more… »

Welcome to the Gamer Limit Money Shot, where the fine folks here at Gamerlimit bring you the best gaming deals of the week. Stop by here every Sunday for the chance to get the most for your gaming dollar each and every week. Read more… »

If there’s one thing that truly gets my goat as a gamer, is that the treatment of the Australian market is absolutely appauling. Ever since the creation of the PAL standard, and this countries subsequent lumping into it, we’ve been destined to the backwater of the western gaming economy. Not for any lack of trying though, I’ll tell you.

Australia is one of the most successful video game markets in the world. Over $9BILLION was spent on games and consoles last year, more per capita then any other country, including Japan. Yet, companies still treat us as an offshoot of Europe, purely because 15 years ago our TVs and their TVs displayed the same signals. Why is this? What’s the excuse now?

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For my first Sunday Soapbox I planned to write about…Well, actually I didn’t plan anything really, so here goes the addled mind of an Englishman infront of a keyboard.

As a law-abiding citizen I’d like to see the government that watches over me and tucks me into bed at night as a friend, and I suppose I do see it as a friend. Albeit a friend who I feel I have to bang my head against the wall every time I hear it speak about me (a member of the games industry and gaming community, not myself personally, that would be weird.)

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Hey guys, welcome to my first Sunday Soapbox. Occasionally mine will be my own personal little rants, specifically about things in games that annoy the hell out of me. What am I going to talk about this week? Elevators! Some love em, some hate em. Trust me when I say that I loathe them with all my soul. There are a number of annoyances when it comes to elevators in games and I plan to cover the two that annoy me the most. Waiting for, and Waiting in. Read more… »

Like quite a few of you out there, I’m a man in a committed relationship. And like most of you in similar situations, me and my partner have little to no shared interests. As my writing here on Gamer Limit would reveal to anyone, one of my primary hobbies is playing videogames, I buy them, love them, and to a certain extent, live them. Naturally, I’d want to share this aspect of my life with my girlfriend, just as she is so intent to get me vested into the universe of Twilight (shiny vampires? No thank you).

The first few strokes my her indoctrination were made of the most obvious choices. Her Nintendo DS was arguably barely a step into real gaming. Mario Party DS was about as much of a game as taking out a pen and drawing circles on a piece of paper, but she loved it nonetheless. I may not identify a DS Mario game as being a contender for Game of the Year, but she liked it, and that fact was enough for me.

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The Gamer Limit Sunday Soapbox is a Sunday-only set of Gamer Limit articles straight from the minds of your favorite writers and editors. Think of the soapbox as a blog post or diary entry that we want you to see. Content will will be limitless, ranging from feelings about what we’ve been playing, to reactions to a piece of news.

Keep in mind that these aren’t your standard news, features and previews that you’re used to, and significantly more grounded in opinions and personal feelings. As such, you’ll be getting a much deeper look into the minds of the staff here at GL. Read more… »

Since 1977 every generation has in some way experienced an incarnation of Star Wars. It was only natural that the franchise would eventually cross over into the gaming industry. While some gave you the opportunity to fight with the space opera’s signature lightsaber, none truly captured the feeling of wielding the iconic tool of destruction.

When it was announced that the same company that was releasing The Force Unleashed was also developing a game specifically for the Wii, speculations were a plenty. At long last were we going to be able to duel with our friends with something more than sticks, or plastic toys? Kinda…… Read more… »

In a sign that Starcraft 2 or Diablo 3 are on the release path for this year, Blizzard has unveiled the new Battle.net system.

A complete revamp of the original online matchmaking system, BN 2.0 combines a steam-like game registration and downloading system, allowing people to “register” the CD-Keys of any multiplayer enabled Blizzard title. Once registered and stored on an account, the games can be downloaded and installed at will, which will be welcome news to anyone with old and busted Starcraft, Diablo or Warcraft 3 discs.

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The Hunter, developed by Avalanche Studios (the creators of Just Cause), promises to be the most true-to-life simulation of buck hunting ever designed. With a mixture of different gaming features, from social networking to online play, The Hunter provides a sandbox island where patience and careful planning win out over run and gun play.

The game is just recently out in Open Beta, utilizing the same “login to play” system alongside ID Software (Quake Live) and EA (Battlefield Heroes). It’s currently free to play after making an account and grabbing a 400mb file from download. From the brief moment of play I’ve had, the presentation is nothing short of stunning. Birds fly in random patterns, deer sniff the air and scratch themselves. The graphics are phenomenal for such a small install, so it’s definitely worth a look.

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