(You can also read this article - with updates on the dates we’re playing on Xbox Live by using the link in the new menu bar just above the top item in the blog!)

Now and again we all need a good excuse to hog the TV for an evening and join our friends on Xbox Live. It’s nice to be able to had a valid reason to game! With this in mind we came up with the GBS Live Night.

One evening usually every fortnight or something the three of us will be on Xbox Live in a game waiting for you lot (our readers) to join us.

We’ll try and publish a list of games we’ll be in at some point before the evenings but don’t be surprised if we end up spending all night in Gears of War, PGR3 or even our personal favourite Arcade title - Marble Blast Ultra.

All you have to do is make sure you have one of us in your friends list on Xbox Live. Our gamertags are on the right. We’ll usually announce our next GBS Live Night straight after the previous one.

So for now, all you want to know is when is the first GBS Live Night… (drumroll please)

>> 8pm GMT - Thursday, 15th February

Why is it a weekday you ask? Well we figure we already have a good reason to be gaming at the weekend. So we’re going to give you a reason to game in the week as well. (And February 14th wouldn’t go down too well would it really! - Take that as a reminder)

Not be buying a HypeStation3.

Look at it this way. Forget the cost of the machine, the lack of stock (although to be fair, Sony will have more units on launch in the UK than 360 or Wii if they get 300,000 to us), and the undoubted amount of consoles that will appear on ebay the next day.

Take a look at the line up of software for day one.

Resistance: Fall of Manâ„¢ - SCEE - Disc
MotorStormâ„¢ - SCEE - Disc
Genjiâ„¢: Days of the Blade - SCEE - Disc
FORMULA ONE CHAMPIONSHIP EDITION - SCEE - Disc
Ridge Racerâ„¢ 7 - SCEE - Disc
Tekken®: Dark Resurrection - SCEE - Network
Lemmingsâ„¢ - SCEE - Network
Go! Sudoku - SCEE - Network
Go! Puzzle - SCEE - Network
Blast Factorâ„¢ - SCEE - Network
flOwâ„¢ - SCEE - Network
Super Rub’a’Dub - SCEE - Network
Call of Duty 3 - Activision UK Ltd - Disc
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance - Activision UK Ltd - Disc
Tony Hawk’s Project 8 - Activision UK Ltd - Disc
Gundam – Target in Sight - Namco Bandai Games - Disc
Full Auto™ 2: Battle Lines - Sega®Europe Ltd - Disc
Sonic the Hedgehog™ - Sega®Europe Ltd - Disc
Virtua Fighter™ 5 - Sega®Europe Ltd - Disc
Virtua Tennis™ 3 - Sega®Europe Ltd - Disc
World Snooker Championship 2007 - Sega®Europe Ltd - Disc
NBA 2K7 - Take 2 International SA - Disc
NHL 2K7 - Take 2 International SA - Disc
Blazing Angels Squadrons of WWll - Ubisoft Entertainment SA - Disc
Enchanted Arms - Ubisoft Entertainment SA - Disc
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent - Ubisoft Entertainment SA - Disc
The Elder Scrolls lV: Oblivion - Ubisoft Entertainment SA - Disc
Def Jam: Icon - Electronic Arts Ltd - Disc
Fight Night Round 3 - Electronic Arts Ltd - Disc
NBA Street 4 Homecourt 2007 - Electronic Arts Ltd - Disc
Need for Speed Carbon - Electronic Arts Ltd - Disc
The Godfather: The Don’s Edition - Electronic Arts Ltd - Disc
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007 - Electronic Arts Ltd - Disc
Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom - Electronic Arts Ltd - Disc
F.E.A.R. Vivendi - Universal Games Intl SA - Disc
Gripshift - Sony Online Entertainment - Network

The saddest thing about that list is the severe lack of exclusive titles; games that make you want to buy a system because you can’t get it on anything else. All those above in italics are such games and they total seven.  The rest (mainly those in bold) are already out on other systems or will be by the time March comes around, mainly in this case the Xbox 360, the natural rival.

Ask yourself a question.  Of those games in italics, which ones really grab your interest?  I mean grab it enough to make you want to spend £475 just to get the console and a copy of said game?

When the term ‘killer app’ by appearances carries so much weight in the modern video games industry, just because it’s used so much in the media at times like this, I personally feel that list lacks one.  Sure Resistance looks good, as does Motorstorm, but I wonder if they are going to offer anything new over games of the same genre.

To stop sounding like a Sony-hater for a moment, the same could be argued for the Wii launch (no Mario Galaxy, almost a cardinal sin for a Nintendo console launch) and the 360 (Halo anybody?).  Plus, whilst the line-up doesn’t cause me to pee my underwear in excitement, although I can’t remember the last console that did since the MegaDrive, it is still a strong selection of games even if most of them have appeared elsewhere already.  Call of Duty 3, FEAR, Splinter Cell: Double Agent, and Oblivion to name a few; games that are sure to sell PS3s for those who don’t already own the 360/Wii/PC versions.

It will be interesting to see how the exclusive titles do against the multi-platform titles come 23rd March.  This is one industry watcher who will be keeping a close eye on the ELSPA figures.

Sony have at last released the pricing information for the Playstation 3, which is due to go on sale in the UK on 23rd March. At launch you can only walk away with the premium bundle that has as standard a 60gb HDD. The lesser “not premium” (had to stop from calling it a core set) pack which will only have a 20gb HDD is not available until later.

Sony probably think that only offering the expensive package at launch is clever but in my eyes it’s just not on. Can you imagine the backlash if MS had tried that with the 360? They’d be pulled in court on some quick on suing action from someone.

What’s really shocking is the price at which the premium launch pack will sell for - a shocking £425. Once you’ve added in two games at launch price of £49.99 each and about £25 for accessories, say a second controller or something you’d get our expected cost of £550 for a package of sorts. £550!!!!!!!!!!! (Not enough exclamation marks I hear you shout)

So, in modern day britain what will £550 buy you…

• A Samsung 26″ HD TV; or
• Two LG 20″ LCD TVs; or
• A 5* All Inclusive holiday for 7 nights to Sydney, Australia; or
• Two Xbox 360’s with five games; or
• Three PSPs and five games; or
• A DELL XPS with Intel Core 2 Duo processors, 1GB Ram and 160GB HDD; or
• THREE Nintendo Wii’s and four games.

What gets me the most out of the lot or two of them - a 5* All Inclusive holiday for 7 nights, flights included, to Sydney, Australia (found on lastminute.com) or three Nintendo Wii’s.

I’m sure that the PS3 will sell by the bucket - probably sell out completely as most launch consoles do but does this launch setup mark the next pricing stage for consoles? Or has Sony priced itself too high? Vote away in the poll!

Already two months have flown by after the first post from our very own Father Fil appeared on 23rd November 2006.  Since then a number of things have changed, and we’ve all got on our relative high horses about something or other.  Ain’t free speech great!

We’ve also seen the number of people visiting this blog, and importantly, coming back, rise significantly, regularly hitting the 150 mark.  Ok it’s a small number in comparison to other blogs/sites but considering we’ve really done bugger all promotion apart from a few friends and colleagues being kind enough to drop our URL on their own site, we’re quite proud of that.

Therefore, we’d all like to say a big thank you to all of you that have taken the time to read our collective mutterings.  Hopefully you’ve enjoyed it and will keep coming back; and feel free to pass on our blog address to anyone who you think might be interested.  The more the merrier as the saying goes.

Looking to the short term future of GBS, there are a couple of things we currently have in the pipeline to expand the experience for everyone, us included.  They may be ideas that have been done before, in fact the three of us have done both before, but we’re looking to bring a quite unique experience to you all.

Keep an eye out for announcements in the near future on these projects and more, as the GBS universe expands.

Today the internet; tomorrow the World!

Although we’d settle for a few more readers at the moment.

Whilst Paul was off getting fit with Wii Sports (dude, seriously! Those pictures…… *lost for words*)………..

Those pictures are the exact reason why I will not be losing any clothing for a story on here!

Anyway, whilst he was off fighting the flab, I was being a couch potato and trying out a bit more of Rainbow Six: Vegas. I’ve only just cracked into the second level with the game on Realistic difficulty and by god is it tough. Suddenly all those move and cover tactics really come to life.

After finally breaking into the casino to hunt down more terrorists after a vicious street battle, my nerves needed a rest. How better to do so than by experimenting with putting my ugly mug onto my own character for use online.

Aside from the odd game of Uno, my Vision Camera hasn’t really had much use (by the way Microsoft, when are you guys gonna get an update out for Texas Hold ‘Em for the camera!?). When the thing cost me about £35 it’s money I felt had been a bit wasted, although that feeling has lessened somewhat after my experiment.

For those of you who haven’t played RS:V or haven’t heard of the Persistent Elite Creation (PEC) mode in the game it breaks down thusly. You have a selection of different heads you can pick, skin tones and war paints; your avatar can also be dressed in this seasons latest military fashions; there is amour to pick for various body parts; and of course there is your default weapon load out. Not much different to most create-a-character modes I know, but with the added bonus of putting ones own face in.

To do so, the game guides you through taking a front shot, think passport photo and your in the right territory, and a side on view of you looking left, all whilst trying to keep your head still and within the red border box on screen. I’m quite glad my wife didn’t walk into the room whilst I was doing this as trying to look left, and sideways at the screen to make sure I’m in the right place is somewhat odd. That done, and the Xbox takes a few minutes to work out how to map my features.

The result? Well I look like some kind of weird zombie drug user with the same souless eyes that EA seem so fond of using in their sports games! Probably an improvement.

By this time, it was starting to get on a bit but I thought I’d just have a quick jaunt online to try it out. This is where I found myself entering Disappointmentville.

A little while back, when Ubisoft released the multiplayer demo over the Marketplace I downloaded it with great anticipation. Soon as it was done, I hopped into the first game I could find. However I then continued to hop and stutter as the lag made it completely unplayable and hugely frustrating! I put it down to the fact that it was probably running beta version and would hopefully be resolved come release.

Switch back to last night, and I realise I was wrong. It’s still there!

This could be my connection only, as I didn’t have my headset plugged in so couldn’t ask anybody else if it was as bad. If it is then I might have a chance to correct it. If not, it’ll be a crying shame as Rainbow Six online has been one of my favourite experiences since buying the RS 3 with my original Xbox. Time will tell I guess, but let me know if any of you folks out there have experienced similar lag problems, just so I know I’m not alone!

It’s started! I’ve run my mouth off, I said I’m going to do it, and now I have no choice but to bite the bullet and go through with it! Hopefully I can keep at it and lose some of these bloody love-handles!

After returning from work, eating and putting the kids to bed, the measuring has been done. I have a very un-impressive shaped body, although there is a part that measures 12 inches. Around! You’ll see! Here they are…

Chest = 36½ inches
Waist = 36 inches
Bum = 40½ inches
Thighs = 21¾ inches
Arms = 12 inches

I really have no idea why, but Gem was insisting that she measured by arse. Maybe she just likes to grab / slap / bite it or whatever. Wierd… And I have a 36″ waist huh? No wonder I can’t fit into these 32″ jeans any more. Stop sniggering. Really, you’re not making me feel any better here. And yes, I put the cigarette out as soon as the photo was taken. That’s comedy that is. Well, to me it is.

Now then, if you think that picture of me on the left is bad, wait until you see what my belly looks like when I’ve undone my jeans and let it all hang out! Oh don’t worry, you’ll see very soon!

See, I told you it didn’t get any better! And I wasn’t holding it in either! You’ll be happy to know that I actually have a shirt on in the next pic!

After I’d been measured up, we then noted that I really should weigh myself too. Unfortunatly, we also noted that we don’t actually own a set of scales. D’oh! Suppose we’d better buy some tomorrow!

After all this, I put on a shirt (”Thank God” I hear you all shout) and went to the “Test Your Age” bit on Wii Sports. Now when I first did this, I received an age of 41. Oh dear. I was not looking forward to doing this. I’d prbably end up being 50 or somewhere round there! As it turns out, I managed to get an age of 33, which I thought wasn’t too bad. Only 3 years above my actual age! I was quite impressed!

So onto the actual Sportage! I decided, like the guy who inspired me to do this, to do 15 minutes of 4 different sports. I started with something nice and easy, namely Bowling. Not too breath taking, and easy on the arm. And also improving my aim somewhat! But not too much though. After I was done with Bowling, I went onto a smattering of Baseball. Again, not too much on the old arms, but a bit more worthwhile than bowling. Around 15 minutes later, it’s time to pick the pace up a bit.

Tennis! A bit of arm swinging should get the ol’ blood pumping! And it did. A bit. But not enough though. So I did my quarter of an hour of that and went onto boxing! My God I hate the boxing. With a passion!

Can I hit my opponent! Barley! OK, not quite that bad. I managed to beat 4 guys, then I got onto another guy. Jesus, he beat the crap out of me! And to make matters worse, he had a tash and was bald. Bald for crying out loud! That’s like me beating me! Dammit! Anyhow, I did my 15 minutes of boxing and on top of that, I did a few minuets of boxing training. God only knows that I need it!

After a few minutes of that, I thought I’d go and see how much better I did with the age thing. Unfortunatly, you can only do it once in any given day. Bollocks. So now I have a plan. Tomorrow night, I will do another 15 minutes of the 4 games, then I’ll do the age jobbie. Hopefully, I’ll start to do a bit better!

So that’s the update for today! I’ll give you an update every Monday night after I’ve completed that nights session. With updates on my size, and if we ever get round to buying some scales, my weight to!

See you next week!

Whilst browsing the interweb today I happened across a story care of those folks over at gamesindustry.biz. Currently their latest news story, it tells of a prediction from EA execs in Australia that software prices may well be cut very soon.

Ryan Jones, GM of EA Australia, predicts a drop from the current AU$120 to AU$99 for all premium full price titles.  Once you get over the shock of reading a three figure price for a game (don’t forget the good old exchange rates), that’s quite a decent drop.  What isn’t clear though is whether Mr Jones is talking about EA titles, or software in general.

This does make sense though.  Here in the UK, the largest chain retailer, GAME, has begun to drop it’s prices.  Since the launch of the 360, you’d be hard pressed to walk into any of their stores and find a game for the system priced below £49.99.  Yet on a visit I made a couple of days ago to a local branch, around 80% of the 360 titles were now sporting a lovely £39.99 tag instead (not including any promotional items).

If that trend continues, and I expect it will, what happens when the PS3 finally gets itself over here.  Undoubtedly Sony would push the £49.99 RRP, but what choice would the retailers have.  Bear in mind that there are probably going to be a far few 360 gamers who buy a PS3 as well, and given that there are a number of games available cross-platform, any price difference at the till will have a significant influence.  The Honeymoon period of buying a console, then buying whatever games you can for it, doesn’t last forever, and soon sense begins to prevail.  Well it does in most cases.

Come March 2007, assuming that is still the planned release window for PS3, round two of the now current generation begins in earnest.  A scary thought when Sony missed round one altogether, and Nintendo to a degree.  I want to see a good clean fight (yeah right!), nothing below the belt (seriously?) and everyone come out fighting on the bell!

Seconds out!