Have you tried games streaming service OnLive yet? If not, why not? Head over here to see what our initial impressions were of it at the Eurogamer Expo launch. The app itself is quick and easy to install, and entirely free; and it will work on almost any PC or Mac. Best of all, almost every game in the catalogue has a free half hour trial. Still need a good reason to give it a try? Okay – how about a code for one month’s worth of the PlayPack, which gives you unlimited access to over 140 games?

We have three of these codes to give away, but please note that they are UK only. Just think – for a month you could play games such as the original Deus Ex, Bioshock, Borderlands, Alpha Protocol, and much more to your heart’s content – completely free! So: what do you need to do?

Simply send an e mail to competitions[at]criticalgamer[dot]co[dot]uk with the words ‘Give me a PlayPack code!’ in the subject line, and your name and county (note the lack of ‘r’) in the mail itself. That’s it. Good luck, and be quick – it’s the first three entries not caught in our spam snare that win!

Terms and Conditions

• Entrants must be eighteen (18) years of age or older to enter, due to PEGI ratings attached to some games. By submitting an entry, you are declaring yourself to be no younger than eighteen (18) years of age.
• The prizes on offer are three (3) codes, redeemable online, each for one month’s access to the OnLive ‘PlayPack Bundle’. There shall be three (3) winners.
• An OnLive account is necessary for the prize to be redeemed. Creating an OnLive account is free.
• No alternative prize shall be offered. Prizes, provided by Indigo Pearl for the purposes of this promotion, are non – returnable.
• There is no official closing date. The competition shall end when the final code has been given away, and this post shall be updated to reflect when this happens.
• The winners will be announced on this website.
• One entry per person. Employees of Critical Gamer, Indigo Pearl, OnLive, and their families are not eligible to enter.
• Anybody found to have breached any of these terms and conditions shall have their entry/entries disqualified.
• The decision of the Critical Gamer administration in all matters pertaining to this competition is final.

David Jaffe confirmed via Twitter that Twisted Metal will now be released in Europe on March 7, following Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s decision to cut graphic content from copies of the game destined for our shores.

It was confirmed last week that SCEE territories would see a delay due to localisation issues with the game. However, the Eat Sleep Play boss was quick to reassure fans via a post on NeoGaf that cut content will not affect story or gameplay and just tones down the gorier details.

“In the scene we’ve released on the net from the intro – where the girl stabs Tooth in the eye – the SCEE version has this but we cut away right before the scissors make contact with Tooth’s face”, Jaffe explained. “It’s CLEAR what she’s doing and I think we even keep the sound effects in and such – but the last few frames are gone.”

He then went on to cover the nature of the gameplay changes. “Only a few content cuts for the game – for example, I think the guy on the gurney from Meat Wagon is dead so you are exploding a corpse covered with TNT vs. a screaming man trapped to the gurney.”

It still sound joyously messed up and brilliant to us, we just have to wait until March 7 to enjoy it. Those in the US are completely unaffected by the changes and will be able to play the full game next week on February 14.

If you are struggling to wait for the game’s release you can check out the demo available on PSN to get your vehicular carnage fix.

Shhhh. Be wery quiet. I’m hunting tewwowists.

Bang! Bangbangbangbangbang!

Sshhh. Be wery quiet. I’m hunting tewwowists.

Bangbangbang!

[closed captions for the hard of hearing]

Paul McCartney with Wings (for extra comfort)

Yes, we’re afraid it’s true; Sir Paul “can’t name any album his music appears on released within the last thirty five years” McCartney is writing music for a videogame. What game? We don’t know! Developer? Ditto. Publisher? Your guess is as good as ours (though we’d say EA). So what do we know about the game? Well, er, Sir Paul “can’t name any album his music appears on released within the last thirty five years” McCartney is writing the music…

This…er… brilliant piece of news was first reported over at the Daily Express. As we’re not in the habit of reading right-wing newspapers obsessed with Princess Diana however, this came to our attention via MCV. The ex-Beatle is quoted as saying: “It’s a fascinating market. A new computer game sells so much better than a new CD these days.” Nice to see he’s taking an interest for all the right reasons!

69 year old McCartney, seemingly having forgotten the fact that he helped launch The Beatles: Rock Band a few years ago, went on: “Young people will hear my music for the first time in a game”. Whatever the game turns out to be, it may be worth praying to the deity of your choice that it isn’t a title where sound and music is integral to the experience such as Rez, Everyday Shooter or Child of Eden. If you can’t switch music off in the options, there’s always the trusty Mute button.

SSX joins the slew of games set to ship with an online pass code included with new copies of the game. The good news is that it is not required to enjoy the game’s multiplayer mode.

An EA spokesperson told Game Informer that the code will not affect how you play the game’s two multiplayer modes, Explore and Global Events. However, in-game credits earned from the Global Events mode will be withheld from players without an online pass.

The official statement reads: “In SSX, players without an Online Pass are able to compete and play in both of SSX’s online game modes, Explore and Global Events with no restrictions. In Global Events, the top finishers from each event are awarded with in-game credits. These in-game credits earned during play will not be awarded to the player if they do not have an Online Pass; these credits will be stored so that at any time, if a player redeems an Online Pass code, all the credits that they had previously earned in Global Events will be immediately awarded to them.”

Credits in SSX are used to unlock extra equipment for characters and to gain entry to some events. EA’s statement goes on to reassure that those without an online pass will not be barred from any content in the game.

“Economy balance makes it possible to unlock all available content and allows you to participate in all event drops across both Explore and Global Events, with credits earned solely in Explore.”

SSX will be released on Xbox 360 and PS3 in Europe on March 2, following the US release on February 28.

Nordic Games is bringing Remedy’s psychological action thriller Alan Wake to PC next month. The game will be getting a boxed retail release and includes DLCs The Signal and The Writer.

“It goes without saying that we are very happy and proud to work together with some of the greatest talents and artists of the games industry”, commented Lars Wingefors, CEO of Nordic Games GmbH. “We are really looking forward to the PC version of Alan Wake, especially as we are talking about a fantastic PC adaptation thereof, rather than a mere porting of the code. We will talk about this in more detail in the upcoming weeks” he added.

“We’re very excited that we have the opportunity to bring the PC version of Alan Wake to retail and the fans out there.” said Matias Myllyrinne, CEO of Remedy Entertainment. “Working closely with Nordic Games we can deliver an amazing experience to PC gamers.”

Alan Wake was released to universally positive reviews in the press and has a Metacritic score of 83 for those who like cold, hard numbers. We thought it deserved close to top marks in our review back in May 2010.

With the promise of this being a PC adaptation rather than a simple port of the original code, this could be one to watch if you missed it the first time on Xbox 360. Look for it in shops and on e-shelves this February.

A sequel to the 2005 PS2, Xbox and PC game Sniper Elite (which saw a 2010 release on the Wii with a bonus level), very little was known of Sniper Elite V2. Until now! Today, developer Rebellion held a one hour live Q&A session on Twitter. A few juicy tidbits of information were tossed out for the public, and we of course stuck our oar in with a few questions of our own. This is what questions from others revealed, some of this you may know but most you probably won’t:

• Steam client needed for the PC version.
• Story “touches on real life scenarios. Action takes place within brain race to steal Nazi V2 tech.”
• No HUD, though there will be a threat indicator.
• If you want a challenge, “Sniper Elite difficulty removes all assistance and provides a fully realistic simulation.”
• The game could take anything from 10-30 hours to complete; “most situations offer multiple approaches”
• “Around 12” of the development team worked on the original game; one of the designers on the first is lead designer on the sequel.
• Described as a reboot, it features “same timeline, different story , missions, objectives etc”
• The developers are aiming to please hardcore fans, but also to appeal to a wider audience via the easier difficulties.
• The PC version will be released alongside the console versions (on Steam, at least)
• Enemies can be identified by rank at a distance, and “The higher the rank, the bigger the threat. Identifying the most dangerous targets is integral to strategy”.

When we asked why they chose to stick with the second world war rather than a more modern setting, they replied: “We looked at every conflict known to man – kept coming back to the Battle of Berlin – strong in history & conflict […] We found sniping to be much better in a lower tech setting”. Fair enough, say we. But how is the gameplay balanced between actual sniping and stealth gameplay? 50/50. 60/40 etc? “This depends on how you choose to play it, it could be as much as 80/20 or as little 20/80”. Combine this with the aforementioned buckshot length estimate of 10-30 hours, and it sounds like the player will actually have a decent say in how they play the missions. This is definitely one to watch.

Throughout history, Nintendo has squished the flies of competition in the handheld arena time and time again, seemingly without trying. Game Gear? Nice try! Lynx? Pshaw. PSP? Close, but no cigar. Wonderswan? Never made it outside of Japan! The Neo Geo Pocket, too, didn’t last long; but it seems that SNK Playmore will be bringing the Neo Geo name back to the world of handheld gaming.

Andriasang details what Japanese site Famicom Plaza has to say about the new device. The console above is currently known only as “Neo Geo Portable Device” with no release date, pricing, or manufacturer details. However, it will reportedly ship with twenty built-in games, all North American versions. No word on if more games can be added to the library; but there is apparently 2GB of internal storage, and the device has a slot for an SD card. The built-in games are apparently to be:

• 1.WORLD HEROES
• 2.ULTIMATE 11
• 3.TOP PLAYER’S GOLF
• 4.SENGOKU
• 5.NAM-1975
• 6.MUTATION NATION
• 7.LAST RESORT
• 8.KING OF MONSTERS
• 9.FRENZY
• 10.CYBER LIP
• 11.FATAL FURY SPECIAL
• 12.ART OF FIGHTING
• 13.SUPER SIDEKICKS
• 14.LEAGUE BOWLING
• 15.METAL SLUG
• 16.MAGICAL LORD
• 17.BASEBALL STARS PROFESSIONAL
• 18.SAMURAI SHODOWN
• 19.KING OF FIGHTERS ’94
• 20.FATAL FURY

Pretty exciting line-up there! Er, right?

Microsoft Points, the currency used to purchase a variety of digital goods from Xbox Live, Windows Phone and Zune marketplace could be phased out according to a report.

Inside Mobile Apps claims that Microsoft will cease to use the points system by the end of the year, switching over to a regional currency based model similar to that of the PlayStation Store and other app marketplaces.

Of course, when contacted Microsoft slung the usual line that they “do not comment on rumours or speculation.” However, according to the report, mobile developers that have publishing agreements with Microsoft have already received a warning about the change and have been told to plan their upcoming releases in accordance with it.

You don’t need to panic about spending your remaining points at the moment though, as those with an outstanding Microsoft Points balance will have it converted into the regional currency of their account. Although, as this is an unconfirmed story, there’s no word as to how fair the exchange rate will be.

Microsoft’s point system has been a much debated topic amongst gamers since its introduction. Many support the system, especially when they can find a good deal buying the points from a retailer instead of directly from Microsoft. However, lots of people end up buying more points than they need due to the set value of points on each card, meaning there is a high possibility of purchasing several points that you are unable to use without acquiring additional points.

Spotted on MCV

Guild Wars 2 will be opening its doors for an open beta test in March according to ArenaNet founder and president, Mike O’Brien. This will then pave the way for the game’s release later this year.

Writing on the ArenaNet blog, Mr O’Brien said: “We recently finished our first closed beta test, and we’re now ready to hold progressively larger events. In February we’ll invite select press to participate in beta testing, and in March and April we’ll aggressively ramp up the size of our beta test events so that many of you will have a chance to participate. And of course, this all leads to the release of Guild Wars 2 later this year.”

This April will mark seven years since the release of the original Guild Wars title in 2005. The sequel promises to shake up the genre and try something new. To quote Mr O’Brien again, “let’s usher out old thinking – the tired old quest model, stiff repetitive combat, and monthly fees – and usher in the new.” That sounds good to us.

Spotted on ArenaNet blog