Red Faction: Guerrilla - game review (PS3) also on Xbox 360

I have always been a huge red faction fan & can remember playing them all the way back to the first one when it was released on the play station 2 in 2001..8 years ago wow. At the time it was a first person shooter that too was set on mars but what it did that other similar games didn’t do was the revolutionary geo-mod technology.. Put simply with the help of explosives or a rocket launcher you could change the landscape by blowing holes right through it, in fact it was so well done that you could literally tunnel your way across the map with ease. The sequel was released a year later but I personally didn’t like it as much & I don’t even remembering finishing the campaign. So many years on & the red faction team have put together their 3rd outing on the red planet.

Its been out now since the beginning of June but even though I had it I couldn’t find the time to actually play it! But I have now & I’m really loving it! So set on mars again the player takes the role of alec mason a miner who has a bone to pick with the power hungry earth defense force (edf) soon after he arrives on mars his brother daniel is murdered in cold blood by the edf ..mason would have been killed too if the red faction (a guerilla group fighting to liberate mars of the edf) didn’t come to his aid. Alec quickly gets recruited into the faction & begins the mammoth task of driving the edf off of mars for good..but its no easy task.

The game itself is huge & the world is completely open for all the free roaming fans out there. There are in total 6 massive districts to be explored with each of them offering unique landscape populated with edf forces for you to take out. When a guerrilla action is successfully undertook the morale of that district goes up & as it climbs higher more of the districts inhabitants join in with your struggle & attack the edf forces. The rewards for completing a mission come in the form of morale boosts & a unique pickup known as salvage. When a building or vehicle is destroyed there will often be pieces of metal scattered around the rubble this is known as salvage & they can be exchanged with the guerrilla to buy weapon upgrades such as the ability to carry more explosives & wield more powerful guns. Because this game concentrates on shooting you do of course get a wide variety of firearms & explosives like pistols/rifles/rocket launchers but what really comes in handy more times than often is the simple sledge hammer. But how is a hammer useful? Well using the new updated version of geo-mod technology you can completely level a building to nothing but a pile of rubble & this is where red faction guerrilla really shines, its so much fun smashing through walls into highly protected compounds then using that same hammer to strike a devastating blow to a group of enemies indeed the first time I turned the game on I was tasked with doing a certain amount of damage.. Even after I had the level of damage done I found myself destroying the whole area just for the hell of it.

The enemies come at you with everything from basic pistols & rifles to armoured personal carriers & tanks. Their A.I seems pretty good & they will work together when fighting against you, but they are basically cannon fodder & its so much fun dispatching a team of them with a carefully placed.. or thrown explosive device. They have established a ruthless grip on the districts of mars & in many areas have constructed huge security compounds that are just begging to be turned to rubble. There is even the option of a killing spree that pops up once you take out a certain amount of enimies, this climbs as you keep taking them out but its tricky enough to get a high score here.

The main campaign can be completed in about 15 to 20 hours but that’s not counting the various mini games & side missions scattered all over the map, these can be simple like having to help a team of guerrillas secure an enemy outpost or guard tower, or they can be hard like trying to sabotage a heavily armoured enemy convoy. All of these mini games are fun & offer a lot of play time, its good to do them because you get morale boosts & salvage for your trouble. There is of course an online multiplayer that offers hours of fun in the various modes such as capture the flag & siege but rarely enough it comes with a pretty decent offline multiplayer known as wrecking crew & it allows up to 4 players to compete against each other in a race to cause as much destruction as possible.

Red faction guerrilla is quite simply a tremendously fun game! Sure some of the missions may get a little repetitive but it’s a long time since a game has impressed me so much with its ease of play, the moment I started playing I was hooked & I’m probably only 30% through the main game. Normally I would wait until I have completed a game to review it but I’m really impressed with the latest offering of a romp on the red planet. The visuals/physics engine/graphics/music & of course the game play are all stunning & I’d highly recommend it.. I’m giving it a much deserved 9 out of 10.

Systems: Playstation 3/Xbox360 - PC/Windows date August 25th

PS3 Firmware 2.80 (update info)

The latest firmware update for the PS3 has been confirmed & this time its an optional update - unlike all the past updates where you had no choice but to do it..which got annoying but they were relatively small.

XMB works smoother and faster while in-game.

Wireless PS3 Controller now is auto-assigned controller number one at start up, instead of any USB devices that you have plugged into the ps3’s USB (like in Guitar Hero)

Text chat now enables 64 characters per message instead of 32.

The official Bluetooth wireless PS3 headset now has its microphone volume locked to level 3.

Open Remote Play (ORP) has been de-activated in 2.80 for security reasons (not Remote Play, Open Remote Play is a home-brewed application that allows you to remote play onto your ps3 via your PC or Mac).

PS1 game titles loading times have been decreased.

Internet browser runs smoother and loads less corrupt pages.

Trophy card loading is quicker (in-game and out of).

A bug which allowed friends to be displayed offline has been fixed.

Mount Charles "far from happy" at reports on Slane

LORD HENRY Mount Charles has said he is now “far from happy” with organisational aspects of the Oasis concert held at Slane Castle last weekend. The venue’s owner said he had become “extremely concerned” to hear of concert-goers’ bad experiences, largely though the media, in the wake of the event. The complaints mainly related to crowd control issues, which Lord Mount Charles put down to “a failure of systems, particularly around what people are now calling the Dublin gate. I am talking to those involved and I am far from happy – I say that as an understatement,” he said. Lord Mount Charles, who has been staging concerts at Slane Castle since 1981, added: “Quite certainly there are implications for future concerts at Slane, and I regret the awful shame and the damage to the reputation of Slane Castle as an international venue. I will be looking with care to obviously avoid that in the future,” he said. Lord Mount Charles was speaking after the complaints were aired for successive days this week on radio phone-in programmes, and on internet sites.

Complaints ranged from one-and-half hour queues through mud to get to the venue entrance, to queues of up to an hour at bars. Concert-goers also mentioned the number of lavatories and levels of public transport, with many people claiming to have walked up to 12 miles through the night after the concert. Callers to the RTÉ Radio One programme Liveline insisted that some tickets were not checked, and that people had gained admittance without bar codes on their tickets being scanned.

MCD refused to take questions about the Slane concert at a press conference to publicise details of the organisation’s next event, an AC/DC concert at Punchestown, Co Kildare, this weekend.
Afterwards, Justin Green of MCD said the numbers of tickets sold, people admitted and toilets provided were all in compliance with terms of the event licence. He said ticket scanning had been temporarily suspended at one entrance for about 30 minutes at 6.35pm to ease the build-up of people entering there. However, he said, “at the same time the gate behind them at the bridge entrance was closed, thus ensuring that no one could enter the system knowing that ticket scanning had been temporarily suspended”.

Mr Green said delays were “mainly due to the larger number of fans than expected that used public transport, and while this is welcomed, it did cause delays”. He also said the majority of transport tickets, about 17,000, were purchased on the day of the event. A “post-event debriefing” involving all security and organisational groups would be held and “changes will be implemented as required for future concerts”, he said. Commenting yesterday, the Garda acknowledged there were displays of public drunkenness at the Slane concert, but added that gardaí “rely heavily on concert-goers to take responsibility themselves” for their behaviour.
The Garda refused, for operational reasons, to say how many gardaí would be on duty at Punchestown next weekend. I have tickets to the Puncheston gig but after seeing how bad Slane was run I will not be going - roll on August 1st, Metallica.

*R.I.P. the King of pop*

Well unless you have been living on another planet for the last few hours you’ll know all about the untimely exit of Michael Jackson but rather than concentrate on the doom & gloom of the whole thing I thought I’d share a list of facts about the king of pop - I was never a diehard fan but did of course enjoy a lot of his music & he changed the world for a lot of people - R.I.P

*He played a scarecrow in The Wiz, a movie version of the Wizard of Oz

*Thriller spent 37 weeks at number one in the US Billboard chart

*Jackson paid $47 million for the publishing rights to the Beatles back catalogue in 1985 and sold a share of to Sony in 1995 for $95 million

*His middle name was Joseph

*Thriller is the world’s best-selling record of all time with an estimated 50 million copies sold worldwide

*In 1984 a French fan committed suicide because he couldn’t have surgery to look like Jackson

*He is godfather to Nicole Richie

*MC Hammer once challenged Jackson to a dance off

*Billie Jean was the first video by a black artist to air on MTV

*The video for Scream was the most expensive ever at £3.8 million.

Michael was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness by his mother

*A library once accused the singer of owing $1 million in overdue book fines

*During production of a 1984 Pepsi advertisement Jackson sustained burns when an explosion set his hair on fire

*At the time of his death Jackson was rehearsing for his greatest comeback, with 50 shows scheduled in London

Ross Kemp "in search of pirates" (episode 3)

In the final part of the series Ross heads off to south east Asia to investigate & meet less high-tech pirates who use skill & cunning rather than fire power. One of the most impressive things about these pirates is they don’t even use modern day ladders to board the ships, they use bamboo. Ross is taken to an island where the pirates quickly demonstrate how with a long piece of bamboo they can easily scale even the highest of ships. When they board a ship they immediately cut off the ships communications & apprehend the crew using only a few rusty old machetes. Unlike the pirates of Somalia these Asian pirates generally take good care of the crew using violence as a last resort they even make sure they are fed. That said they are still criminals & are costing shipping companies & mariners millions of dollars a year. They mostly go for cash & electronic equipment but also claim to hijack ships to claim insurance for the ships owner. Most of the pirates hit up to 10 ships a night & make up to 30,000 dollars which they either gamble it away or use it to buy drugs & prostitutes.

Like in past episodes Ross joins a team of special forces this time around it’s the Malaysian maritime enforcement agency (MMEA), this group are authorized to take a stronger grip on the pirate situation having much more freedom than the other special forces groups. Unlike the other episodes Ross has a lot more luck meeting & interviewing pirates, he even gets to interview the wife of a pirate who tells how dangerous her husbands life is. Its clear that piracy is the number one threat in south east Asia but the pirates themselves are not as dangerous as the pirates of Somalia, as the series wrapped up piracy in Somali reached an all time high making it the number one hot spot for piracy in the world. Before watching the series it was easy to picture a pirate as the ever charming jack sparrow but today’s pirates are no where near that . They use extreme violence & heavy weaponry such as assault rifles & rocket propelled grenades to terrorize the high seas.

The cause of piracy seems to be the same across the board, poor people from a corrupt country turning to a life of violence because they have no other means to support themselves however it doesn’t excuse the fact they kill many people & keep others hostage for months. Modern day piracy generates millions perhaps billions in funds for the pirates so as long as there is a huge gain to be had it wont stop anytime soon. Many people didn’t like the series Ross did in Afghanistan & I have to say I didn’t like it that much either but with this latest series he has more than more than made up for it, at three episodes in total “in search of pirates” is both compelling & entertaining television & I would recommend it to anyone, if of course you missed it on TV the DVD will be released July 20th.

Ross Kemp "in search of pirates" (episode 2)

In the second part of the series Ross goes to Nigeria to investigate more modern day piracy. Nigeria is said to be one of the bloodiest hotspots for piracy & they say its because of foreign oil companies illegally stealing their natural resources & destroying their environment in the process. Ross quickly establishes a link between piracy & the pollution of the regions waterways, because the waters are so polluted the local fishermen are said to be turning to crime & piracy to survive. What surprised me was the fact that Nigerian pirates don’t only attack large international cargo vessels but they even go so far as to attack small local fishing trawlers often violently assaulting the fishermen themselves.

Because of the conflicts between the oil companies & the pirates, kidnapping is a weekly occurrence with figures as high as 300 a year. Many of the kidnapped victims are company workers from as far away as the UK & he meets the family of Matthew McGuire a man from Liverpool who was kidnapped by the piracy organization known as MEND (movement for the emancipation of the Nigerian delta). It is this organization that Ross & the crew try to meet but because of the situation the Nigerian government security forces follow them everywhere they go thus hampering their efforts & effectively putting them under house arrest. The new governor of the region himself admits to as going so far as to forcing the death penalty on anyone who is caught in the act of kidnapping, a tough law but for a tough country.

Its clear from the show that Nigerian is a very beautiful country with a lot of potential but its unclear as to if the potential will ever be realized. The vast labyrinth of the delta is perfect for the pirates to operate as they can attack & then disappear effortlessly but its this delta that’s being damaged daily from the many oil spillages that occur in the area. The companies themselves say they have done the cleanup work but from what I saw it was far from clean. Rivers of thick black oil surround the area & the locals tell Ross that spillages & leaks occur daily They call it bunkering & it happens when people illegally tap the wells but don’t seal them properly causing them to leak & spill over flooding the rivers. He learns that the estimated value of the bunkering is said to be over 15 billion dollars since oil was discovered in the delta many years ago. Unlike in the gangs series this time around Ross never got to meet any pirates & anytime they had a meeting set up they would cancel but given the level of violence inflicted by Nigerian pirates its probably just as well he didn’t.

VidZone on the PS3

VidZone currently runs the service from their own independent website, and is has deals with Sony BMG, EMI and over four thousand independent labels. The service on the PS3 will be ad-supported and will allow gamers to stream over 25,000 music videos.

"VidZone is not just about giving music fans access to thousands of music videos, but offering a completely interactive and personalised music experience," says VidZone CTO Michael Russo. The VidZone application is available for download via the PS Store and will allow users to create playlists, save a video library, or select any individual video from the catalog.

"Music has always been popular on PS3 and now VidZone is set to transform the way we view music videos by letting you completely tailor your experience and is just one more reason for PS3 to be the most valued player in your living room," concluded Isabelle Tomatis, hardware and platforms marketing manager at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. The app will be available in the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, German, Spain and Australia.

eBay wins in L'Oreal fake cosmetics case

The High Court has ruled that eBay cannot be held legally accountable for the sale of counterfeit L'Oreal perfumes and face creams on its UK website. The French cosmetics giant had accused the online auction site of putting consumers at risk by failing to stem the sale of fake products on its site. L'Oreal said ebay's measures to stop counterfeiters were ineffective. Thousands of L'Oréal-branded items such as fragrances, eyeshadow and moisturising creams are listed for sale on eBay every day.

It said: L'Oreal therefore chose to take legal action in order to protect consumers and also to maintain and defend the reputation of its brands, the products of which are guaranteed for safety and quality within legal distribution channels." But eBay insists it merely provides a trading platform and has no direct involvement in the sale of goods.

Following the ruling, Richard Ambrose, Head of Trust & Safety, eBay said: "This is an important judgment because it ensures that consumers can continue to buy genuine products at competitive prices on eBay. "As such, it is a victory for consumers and the thousands of entrepreneurs who sell legitimate goods on eBay every day." But L'Oreal issued a statement saying it welcomes the court's "guiding comments on measures to prevent trade mark infringement on eBay’s UK platform". It said the decision backed up its view "held from the outset" that eBay could do more to protect consumers.

The ruling follows similar decisions by courts in Belgium and France, which ruled in Ebay's favour in three of the five cases L'Oreal brought against the world's largest online auctioneer in Europe in 2007. A German court ruled in L'Oreal's favour and a decision from Spain is still awaited. Ebay has reiterated its call for cooperation and dialogue, not litigation, to "collectively address the issues that concern eBay, rights owners and consumers".

Emma Watson for Burberry

When the little Emma Watson had acted as the 'Know–It–All' Hermione Granger in the first Harry Potter film, little had she expected how it would change her life! Now, she has lot of offers in her hand including the one to become brand ambassador to Burberry. She has joined the likes of Kate Moss, Agyness Deyn, and Rachel Weisz by becoming the new face of Burberry. Burberry is the actress' first major ad campaign and is likely to mark the start of a new career. The lucrative contract with the label will earn the 19–year–old a six–figure sum to add to her 8–million–pound fortune.

YouTube & gangland Ireland

Members of the notorious McCarthy-Dundon gang have sent out a threat to the leader of their feud rivals on YouTube. Convicted criminal John Dundon, who fled the country following a high-profile murder last year, brazenly warned his gang's sworn enemy Christy Keane: "I know where you are." Fugitive Dundon posted the threat on YouTube on Tuesday, despite the fact his gang are under the intense scrutiny of the gardai following the murder of businessman Roy Collins in April. A garda source last night said it is not clear if the video material could be used as evidence in future criminal trials against McCarthy-Dundon gang members. "That is a matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions. It is their call. It all depends on whether the DPP believes an offence has been committed," he said. On the video, Dundon poses alongside a top of the range C-class Mercedes and says: "Christy, if you're looking for me, I'm somewhere in Europe, but I know where you are." Emerging from the sunroof of the Merc, John poses holding a rifle and says: "I might come out of the roof that way." The registration plates of the dark coloured Mercedes in the internet video are covered with plastic and the vehicle comes with a full body kit and chrome pack, including alloy wheels which estimated to cost in excess of €70,000.

Beauty products from a vending machine ..?

In order to create a luxury image, a state-of-the-art and attractive design for the machine was essential. U*TIQUE machines feature a touch-screen interface, interactive LED lighting design, and an internal robot that delivers the products directly to the customers. The touch screen displays brand profiles, ingredient lists, and video demos, thereby enhancing the customer's shopping experience in a quick and hassle-free way. The products themselves are displayed behind circular and diamond-shaped bubbles, which are programmed to change colors when touched. The machine has been described as “the Ferrari of vending machines” and “retail on demand.” The U*TIQUE shop is positioning itself as a luxury lifestyle brand and is creating a whole new dimension of personal shopping- automated retail. Brand partners include luxury icons like Lancome, Bliss, and Chantecaille. Segal plans on solidifying U*TIQUE's brand image by placing the machines at boutique hotel lobbies, nightclub lounges, high-end shopping malls and airports. To further enhance their brand positioning, U*TIQUE has strategically partnered with Studio in Fred Segal (a luxury beauty boutique in Los Angeles) for their debut.

In the past, luxury retailers have placed a great deal of importance on creating a comfortable retail space where shoppers can come and linger in a pleasant environment; however, there is now a growing market segment of young professionals who simply do not have time, but do have the disposable income, to purchase luxury goods. So long as the vending machines are placed in high-traffic locations for these target consumers, it seems U*TIQUE, with their distinctive brand positioning, should be successful in the luxury goods market.

Ross Kemp "in search of pirates" (episode 1)

A long time ago pirates would fly the jolly rodger & terrorize the high seas, it seems that the only thing that has changed is modern day pirates don’t fly the flag anymore & instead of cannons carry rocket propelled grenades. Over the past year piracy has taken off & many ships have been taken by pirates, the crew kept for randsom & some never seen again. The ships that are taken are mostly large vessels carrying precious cargo such as oil so its no suprise that goverments are sending out fleets of heavily armed war ships to deal with the problem. Kemps latest assignment this time around is to track down modern day pirates operating around the coast of Africa. Monday was the showing of the 1st in a 3 part series which will investigate the level of piracy & the reasons behind it. Just a few minutes into it ross interviews a pirate & is told by him that there are over 30 training camps specifically teaching the tactics to board & control huge ships, he even goes as far as to say the ones teaching them are former special forces. Kemp spends most of the episode aboard the HMS Northumberland with the royal navy. “Realistically, with the time we’ve got on board, do you think there’s any chance of bumping into pirates?” he asked the captain & then almost straight away they are hit with a high number of false alarms from various ships around the gulf of Aden. Soon after a cargo ship with a crew of 22 was seized by the pirates but there was nothing the navy could do about it except fly overhead & monitor the situation. Surprisingly the navy are only allowed to act if they chance upon pirates at the very moment they’re trying to board a ship. Once they’re on, they’re on, and that’s that. So with that the seized ship MV Saldanha made its way effortlessly past the British war ship & off to its new home in Somalia. The odds seem to be always stacked against them so when they did come across an abandoned pirate boat they tossed the munitions overboard & blew it out of the water with high powered guns. The situation of modern piracy seems more stressing than I had originally thought & I found the first episode to be very insightful however I’m looking forward more to see the next episode where he leaves the navy to track down & interview the pirates himself.

Press Release for Rockstars "Agent"

Rockstar Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), is proud to announce Agent. Developed by the people behind Grand Theft Auto, Rockstar North, Agent will be available exclusively for the PLAYSTATION3 computer entertainment system. "We have always enjoyed making action games, and with Agent we are making what we believe will be the ultimate action game," said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. "Agent is a game we have wanted to make for a long time. The team in Edinburgh is doing an amazing job combining intense action, atmosphere and story in a great period setting to create something that feels quite unique. We cannot wait for people to experience this game."

Agent takes players on a paranoid journey into the world of counter-intelligence, espionage and political assassinations during the height of the Cold War at the end of the 1970s.

MGS: Rising confirmed for PS3/PC

It was pretty obvious anyway, thanks to internet leaks (and just a little common sense), that Metal Gear Solid Rising will be coming to PS3, but now Konami has made it all official. Let's be friends.PS3 and PC versions of the game will make it to stores alongside the previously announced Xbox 360 version in 2010, which Konami points out make this the series' first simultaneous multiplatform release. "The first Metal Gear Solid game in the series' history to be released simultaneously on three platforms, Metal Gear Solid: Rising stars Raiden - one of the most popular characters within the MGS universe," says Konami.

Konami marketing man Martin Schneider says: "The Metal Gear Solid series has always pushed the bar with its cinematic visuals and entertaining story line ... Now even more gamers can immerse themselves in the franchise and experience the groundbreaking series as Metal Gear Solid: Rising heads to the platform of their choice."

Karl Lagerfeld to voice Totally Spies

Fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld is to lend his voice to an animated feature film for the first time in the French movie "Totally Spies." Lagerfeld who is the head designer at French fashion brand Chanel, will feature as bad guy Fabu in the animated action film based on the long-running hit TV series about three high school girls who become secret agents, the movie will open in France in July. As a fashion line, Chanel has been ubiquitous on the big screen recently in the movies "Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky" and "Coco Before Chanel" starring Audrey Tautou.