This is what your local GAME might look like soon enough.

It has been widely reported by the gaming press, including Eurogamer, that the UK’s largest independent video game retailer is in financial difficulties. The firm had a poor 2011, and whilst many had hoped the Christmas season might bring a last minute reprieve it was not to be and sales were down close to 15% compared to the year before. To put this into context, most major high street retailers in the UK experienced a rise in sales compared to twelve months earlier, as Christmas 2010 had been so poor due to excessive snow and ice keeping shoppers away from their town centres.

To be fair GAME have, for a while now, been issuing profit warnings and talking of reducing the number of shops they have over the next one to two years. This of course is taking place at the same time as HMV recently having to reorganise its debts with its lenders. However, HMV have a broader range of products, less stores but larger ones (and hence can sell more and try a greater variety of activities) and have earnestly started moving the business into new areas, albeit some more successfully than others. The firm has invested in live music and venues, and started to transfer space in stores (which was set aside to plastic boxes) to fan related merchandise and technology.

This is not to say that HMV has the answer, but I mention it as a way of demonstrating that specialist music, film and game retailers are having to find new ways and that this is hardly new. Over the last few years we have gone from having, perhaps, 3-5 retailers offering such products per high street to 1-3, with some towns having barely 2. Those two are often HMV and GAME. There is now a serious chance that over the next 2-3 years this will reduce further to one or in some cases none.

The all conquering Amazon. It's taking sales from bookstores, toy stores and of course videogame stores. It's also the perfect platform to migrate from physical product to digital download or stream. Something it is pushing more and more.

Let’s look at the reasons why and what this means for both the games industry as a whole and the consumer. Whilst it would be easy to say it’s down to the increase in downloaded content (legal or illegal), it would not be true for the overall market. For PC, clearly, it has had a huge impact but the average store dedicates very little floor space to PC titles. Meanwhile in console land, whilst you can get a small selection of titles as downloads, most are retail only, or are retail only for a long time before they go onto Xbox Live, for example. Sony has started doing near simultaneous releases for a few titles, but it does not release numbers for the PSN store; though it’s safe to say that if a game is on for significantly more money there than it is priced in shops that it can’t be picking up many sales at present.

So what does the trouble at GAME signify? It could just be that the business expanded too fast and inherited too many shops, with a range of leases and costs which are unsustainable. In other words the business has put itself into the situation it now finds itself and is not systematic of any type of global change. I suspect though that this is not the only reason the firm finds itself in trouble. It expanded rapidly, largely on being the only place which had a good selection of titles and in more recent times in supplying a strong second hand offering.

Both areas are now under attack, from both Supermarkets such as Tesco and due to the online side of the business such as Amazon, Play and many independent ‘warehouse’ only operators using the Amazon/Ebay marketplace. Whilst GAME also has a strong online presence, it’s not actually that easy to use, and doesn’t offer great prices. This is because the focus of the business has remained its stores.

So we have established that most consumers are buying boxed games still, but the market is being redefined by the online retailers and supermarkets. Yet that is not the only factor in play here. We are buying less games. Sure some games are selling in huge numbers, and for more money per purchase, but we are buying less overall.

When discussing market size, services such as PSN, STEAM and others are rarely included in such figures. However, it's clear that if you are a PC gamer, you download, you don't get the box.

The size of the UK market shrunk last year. The UK is not alone. Some people are hoping a new console generation will solve this. I doubt it will in the short term. In the medium to long term it will as people who currently play games continue to, whilst new younger generations join the ranks of hardcore gamers. However at present, there will be no sudden demographic shift where we immediately find new consumers to join our ranks. Such a culture change last took place during the Wii/DS generation and at least 30% of that has since found that smartphones suffice, as they were never hardcore gamers to begin with.

As I’m sure many of you will have noticed the games we buy take longer than ever to complete. Aha, I know what are thinking; Modern Warfare 3. This takes a bus ride to complete. That as we know is the single player experience only. The online is an ongoing all consuming social experience, with more special op operations being added, more multiplayer maps and modes. Even the Elite experience is designed to take up your gaming hours with stat analysis! Yet check out the games sale’s figures. It made more than Black Ops but sold less copies in 2011, as reported by Eurogamer.

So back to the idea of launching new consoles. The Vita is out pretty soon and as it offers an HD experience in your hand it, ironically, will split consumer spending even more. It won’t increase the size of the hardcore market but take purchases away from the PS3, Xbox and WiiU. In case you missed it we are now in the midst of a deep economic slow down, which for some people is starting to look like a depression, or at least a slow and ongoing contraction (which could last up to a decade). Whilst the entertainment sector as a whole is less effected during downturns (as reported by TIME, quoting the ever popular Michael Pachter), as people need escapism and spend less on holidays and other high price ticket items, it’s clear that new consoles and games costing £35 or above are now falling into the luxury area of disposable income for many, bar a few yearly purchases where value is eked out through replay and DLC offered throughout the year.

So less games are being bought, which means less games being traded, which results in less profits on second hand sells for the retailers such as GAME. The more money we spend on AAA titles and then investing in DLC to go with them also means we are more likely to play them to death and not trade them in (compounded by the ‘online pass’ feature meaning second hand copies lack online functionality).

So back to the present. In the short term this has been an awful week for GAME. Whilst they have managed to secure support from publishers and creditors it seems logical that consumers will slowly start to place pre-orders elsewhere in case the inevitable happens soon. Also will you be taking your games there to get reward points? What happens if the company goes down the pan and you haven’t spent those points? The time to redeem could be now, which could actually give the firm a short rebound, but if we don’t take in new games to part-ex against other new titles their business model will dry up. Publishers meanwhile will start to encourage the platform holders to push digital delivery, at decent prices (perhaps) and at the same time as the game launches on the high street. The days where they had to protect their retail distribution is perhaps starting to end.

The loss of GAME or HMV won’t mean the end of retail or a lack of competition for the consumer. We have 3-4 supermarkets in the UK of a decent size. In addition we have a plethora of online retailers all able to sell a product which is not required to be sold on the high street. After all it’s just a box with a disc in it.

The next generation of consoles will offer discs, but ultimately though, game retail will stop being physical and the next generation of consoles will offer all titles as near simultaneous digital copies, at competitive prices, as the publishers will learn a lesson from the (eventual) demise of GAME. Whilst it’s always been in their interests to protect and look after their retail channels, times are a changing and they now must look after themselves and their future distribution partners i.e. the platform holders themselves.

As predicited TVs are now shipping with game streaming software built in. This of course is a threat to everyone in the industry, but is much more of an immediate threat to one trick ponies such as GAME.

Assuming the next generation of consoles also offer a streamed game service in parallel to downloaded content for those with broadband fast enough (it’s safe to assume that a large enough market will exist 5-7 years from now with super fast broadband in many countries), it is clear that there is no hope for businesses such as GAME and HMV. In the UK it could be argued that the decline in the high street retailing of games really started with the demise of Woolworths and Zaavi (which is now online only), but the troubles at GAME have demonstrated that perhaps we have become perilously close to the tipping point which will lead to a fundamental change in the way in which the majority of gamers purchase and access future content.

This image has threatened traditional gaming since around November 2006.

It’s been a year of worry for the traditional gamer. Whilst gaming might seem to be an ever growing past-time, some of the traditional elements which make up the industry have seemed fragile. Publishers have been busy shutting down traditional developers, especially those famed for 3D racers, but beyond too.

We have seen shops such as Gamestop starting to seriously invest in alternative delivery platforms such as their own tablet and streaming services, fearing a fast-arriving dead end to their current business model. Indeed in the UK, where GAME have been less aggressive in moving into new areas of the business, we are witnessing the start of what will be a contraction of its street presence over the next five years. HMV, too, are struggling and are being quite open about the idea that they might not be around in the next 2-5 years in any shape or form.

Alongside this we have seen traditional hardware providers, such as Microsoft and Sony, in effect pour cold water on the idea of an early start to the ‘next generation’ as it is only really now that they are generating real profit dollars from their investment in current hardware and software. Whilst they might feel the urge to produce something new in the face of the soon to be released Wii U, both companies will resist in the knowledge that they have healthy, steadily improving install bases and technology which still won’t look outdated, even compared to the Wii U. I suspect they have noticed that the current generation of hardware is actually perceived to be cutting edge by many consumers today, despite being very behind suped up PCs. Hence there is little demand to bring a new, expensive console solution to the market in these difficult economic times.

Look, look I got some new plastic! But no games or applications to use with it!

Nintendo’s own year has been a difficult one, until the final quarter came around with the upturn witnessed in the holiday season. The launch of the 3DS was undermined by a range of mistakes. A high price, which did not actually put off day one early adoption but which did kill day two, three and further afield purchases. This drop in sales and consumer relevance was then compounded by the device having no actual new software (quality or otherwise) for months after release! It was almost as if Nintendo itself was surprised by the release of the console. One suspects that this observation might be closer to the truth than some might realise. Could it be that Iwata suddenly panicked when he saw the drop off in DS hardware and software sales in late 2010 and early 2011, and thought a hardware launch, which was due for November 2011, should be brought forward? Could it be that he actioned this change of timeline, forgetting that the software development teams couldn’t speed up, pro-rata?

This would explain the lack of software, both in terms of game titles and the also slightly unfinished operating system, which is still having parts of its online functionality added by firmware to this day; but which the software team have admitted were due to be there from day one.

Indeed Nintendo have taken a bashing on behalf of traditional gamers everywhere. Analysts the world over have decided that Nintendo could be the RIM (the makers of Blackberry products) of the games industry. Everyone likes to be the one who can call the end of the world (just ask the Mayans) and analysts are as human as the next guy (really they are) and Nintendo was their punching bag in 2011. The narrative went like this – people are moving from dedicated gaming devices to iPads and smartphones. Why spend £30 on a game, when you can get freeware or £1 software? The logic was sound, but too simple. People will always buy something they want, you just need to give them something they actually want, and come the end of the year Nintendo seemed to be achieving this. The 3DS sales are now running ahead of all predictions and confidence is not only building in the platform, but in the traditional games market in general. What started as a bad story for Nintendo and the industry as a whole has started to evolve into a success story.

Of course the area of growth which has probably received the most headlines, is the continued march of the social and casual gaming market. This encompasses everything from the Just Dance franchise, to the exponential growth of the Farmville type experience. There is no question that the online ‘Sim’ style of gameplay is not only hugely compelling but ideal for multi-platform, cloud play. Users can switch from the PC to their tablets, and in theory continue on the Sony Vita, as many of these games start being released in the platform agnostic HTML5 coding language. Indeed as televisions become ‘smarter’ with their own implementation of Kinect-like experiences, merged with an appstore, we can expect to see continued growth in the use of such genres. For hardcore gamers, this can be seen as a threat, as it potentially pulls funding from the type of projects they would traditionally welcome. Indeed if one looks, as an example, at Disney Interactive, it is moving evermore into this social and casual space and further away from traditional AAA game titles.

Should we as traditional gamers be worried by this? Probably not. Firstly the world is not black and white (even though according to my dad, when he was a boy it used to be – just look at old films back from when he was a youngster he tells me) and hence some of us also play those social games (maybe less so the dance titles). After all they are really very similar to RPGs, but often the character is the ‘farm’ or ‘restaurant’. However it also means that those AAA titles that are released get an increase in funding, and hence we should see an ongoing rise in production values and overall quality. The end of year titles released in 2011 are probably the best evidence for this. The range of software in your local GAME or Gamestop is reducing, but who can dispute the quality of Batman Arkham City, Skyrim, Uncharted 3 and the top shooters, MW3 and BF3?

Let us not forget the great games that have come out on XBLA, PSN, Android/iOS and recently on the 3DS, which is starting to have some quality digital titles. If you are a dedicated gamer, and not just someone who dives in to kill some time, you have never really had it so good.

What will 2012 bring to the story? For sure, we will see the ongoing decline of brick and mortar shops. Boxed product will still exist, and we will probably continue to see the ongoing investment into ‘limited edition’ versions which will help to prolong the life of this boxed product. However for many they will only order via online, postal only services. Shops will simply start to close or become trading and part exchange locations.

Game of the Year 2012?

The year ahead, when it comes to software, is going to be a very exciting year. Max Payne 3, Grand Theft Auto 5, MW3 map packs and BioShock Infinite (have Take 2 already sewn up 2012?) are already in our consciousness. The 3DS has some superb first and third party exclusives arriving in early 2012 too, and the industry will have the US and European launch of the Vita to look forward to.

The Wii U will release. Nintendo will see this as a slow burner, as the Wii at its new price is still selling strongly. However for those wanting to upgrade it could spoil the party for the current levels of PS3 growth and Xbox steady sale projections. Why? Because for those who already have a Wii (and only a Wii) and are considering what to step up to then if the Wii U ticks a number of boxes, it’ll be the natural platform to choose. What are those boxes?

• If the Wii U has the same range of ‘adult’ software as the 360 and PS3 in addition to being 100% backwards compatible with all their Wii content.
• If it allows them to play all the new Mario titles, along with new Nintendo only IP. Expect Nintendo to make a push to position the Wii U as the first console to take MMOs seriously with a controller designed for them.

The ultimate home based tablet and server solution?

If the above happens, then who would not buy the Wii U over one of its HD counterparts? Those of us already with a Wii and 360, or PS3 will probably fail to become early adopters. That’ll be fine by Nintendo though, as once the new inevitable Mario games and Pikmin are released, and once the hardware does eventually drop in price, they know we will still invest.

What Nintendo decides to do with its online provision for the Wii U though is very exciting. Nothing is really known, but all the rumours suggest a very open online service, perhaps with multiple portals such as EA’s Origin and Steam. However, if they could be linked with a single Wii U identity (not a friend code!) it suggests a range of delivery services, offers and perhaps even streaming services being offered through the platform, alongside its own propriety content.

2012 could be Take 2's year, at least when it comes to Metacritic scores. Sales will surely follow.

As the economy continues to stumble, the games industry will clearly find that growth and expansion is stunted by the social and economic factors around them. Yet if any leisure industry will succeed in these tough times, it’ll be ours; and 2012 will be another step forward.

May’s Mysteries: The Secret of Dragonville will be hitting shop shelves very, very soon (12th August in fact). We tracked down developer V5 Play Studio to ask some questions; but not before solving puzzles for complete strangers we met along the way, and looking for a fork hidden in a paddling pool full of spoons.

CG: Why release your first game on DS? The rivalry between Nintendo’s handhelds and mobile gaming is heating up. What are the advantages of releasing May’s Mysteries on DS rather than, say, itunes? Or 3DS, for that matter?

V5: When we decided what kind of game and platform we would develop for, we noticed a gap in the DS market for puzzle adventure games. By “gap” I mean a small number of quality games combining puzzle and adventure genres. Besides, DS has 150 million users, so it wasn’t too difficult to choose that console. The path to market on DS is more difficult than the equivalent on iTunes. But once a DS product reaches the shelves, I think it’s more likely the efforts will pay off than on iTunes. Of course, we didn’t neglect the mobile and online market. At the moment, we’re porting the game to PC/iPhone/iPad and getting ready to try out in the iTunes lottery. As for 3DS, sales have yet to meet expectations. So I believe we will wait until the console reaches a critical mass of users before we start development on that platform.

CG: What games influenced The Secret of Dragonville? There seems to be a taste of Professor Layton in there.

V5: The puzzle adventure genre, even though it seems it has taken off in recent years, is really an evolution and a twist on the genres that have been here for over two decades. From very puzzle-oriented edutainment titles such as Castle of Dr. Brain (and the whole array of successful products that followed that title), to classic point & click adventures and even visual novels, the core puzzle-solving and adventure gameplay has always been there. Professor Layton is one of the games from that genre, which is probably the best of all technically. While studying different projects from that genre, we tried to understand which features most appeal to fans and to focus our development on implementing such features as best we could.

CG: Could you give us a story synopsis?

V5: Gameplay is located in a semi-real world, with the story and atmosphere which should appeal to both young and older audiences alike. It’s a story of a clever girl, with a knack for solving puzzles, whose brother was lost in an odd town. While searching for her brother, she meets many eccentric characters (some of them will help her, some will be phoney friends, and others will be obvious enemies), and before the end of game she will reveal a few huge secrets and mysteries. The introduction to the story is not long, it throws a player right into action, and the whole concept is reminiscent of a movie. I hope players will like the concept.

CG: As the story doesn’t directly affect gameplay, you had a lot of freedom in what you could write and how you could write it. How and why did you come up with the script that you did?

V5: Each puzzle or task in the game is actually related to the story. For example, on the way to a hidden location in town, a fountain full of piranhas will stand in your way. There will be two wooden boards by the fountain. In order to get across the fountain, you will have to solve the puzzle by placing boards to create a temporary bridge so you can cross the water. Of course, we had more freedom in selecting the story and the environment where our game is placed. Like I mentioned before, we tried to create a story which both young and older players would like.

CG: From what we’ve seen so far, a lot of effort seems to have gone into the graphics in terms of style and animation. How important is the visual element of the game?

V5: The game’s graphics is an element we’re very proud of. That’s the element of a game which makes the first impression on a player and it’s very important that a game’s graphics attracts players at once. Of course, without good gameplay, not even the most beautiful graphics can help the game make a good impression. So we were trying to achieve the best possible quality in every element of the game.

CG: Rather than being a story punctuated by puzzles, you’ve also included a ‘hidden object’ element and rhythm-based games. Do you see this mix of genres as a gamble, or a calculated risk?

V5: The most important feature of our gameplay is solving the puzzles. There are 277 puzzles sorted into 14 types like Write Answer, Check Answer, Colour Area, Connect the Dots, Crossing, Draw Lines, Hidden Picture, Matches, Pouring, Placement, Sliding, etc.

Of course, each developer tries to freshen up the gameplay and attract as many players as possible in that way. We tried to do so by adding hidden object and rhythm games. Those two genres were chosen because they fit well in the style and atmosphere of our game, but also because they are very popular among DS players.

Regardless of that, you noticed that there was a certain risk in such a decision. We tried to reduce the risk by producing the highest possible quality gameplay, and I actually think we eliminated it completely.

You see, the game allows player to go to the Inventory at any moment and play a few puzzles/tasks that suit them best. In that way, they gain points that let them skip a task in the main part of the game. So, for example, if a player doesn’t like hidden objects, all they need to do is go to the Inventory and play a few puzzle games that let them skip a hidden object game. It’s the same with rhythm games.

CG: The subtitle suggests that this is set to be the first of a series. What plans do you have for the future of May’s Mysteries?

V5: We’re already working on preparations for the sequel. We hope to achieve success with the first part of the series, which would allow us to implement all those ideas we couldn’t do in the first version due to lack of time and resources.

With Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime not long ago railing against the cheapness of mobile games (how dare they offer entertainment at pocket money prices!), an unofficial rivalry between Android/iTunes gaming and Nintendo handheld gaming has arisen. But where’s the best place to start if you’re bringing your first portable title to market? That’ll be Nintendo’s DS, according to V5 Play studio.

“DS has 150 million users, so it wasn’t too difficult to choose that console. The path to market on DS is more difficult than the equivalent on iTunes. But once a DS product reaches the shelves, I think it’s more likely the efforts will pay off than on iTunes.

Of course, we didn’t neglect the mobile and online market. At the moment, we’re porting the game to PC/iPhone/iPad and getting ready to try out in the iTunes lottery.”

They were talking to us about their upcoming debut May’s Mysteries: The Secret of Dragonville. We’ll be publishing the interview in full within the next 48 hours, so watch this space. Find out, for example, what steps they’ve taken to accommodate players who aren’t keen on the hidden object and rhythm mini-games included; and why they currently have no plans to develop for the 3DS.

The latest entry in popular farm ‘em up series Harvest Moon is coming to PAL territories. The DS title Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar will be published by Rising Star Games, one of the few publishers Nintendo can still count on for a regular stream of exclusive titles.

It’s Harvest Moon as fans know and love it, with all the farming (not to mention harvesting), wandering and chatting the series is famous for. The eponymous bazaar will allow you to sell your wares, including new concoctions you can cook up in a windmill. We’re promised that the horse race festival will make a return, and you can own multiple animal slaves – er, pets – to work your farm for you. Interestingly, players will be able to hook up with one another over Wi-Fi.

Most excitingly of all, surely, Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar features “a new jump movement”. Now you can leap around to your heart’s content! In all seriousness however, this should make navigating the environments less cumbersome. Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar is due for release some time later this year.

If tapping your way through mysteries is your ideal activity for passing time on your daily commute, the above trailer of May’s Mysteries: The Secret of Dragonville is sure to push all of the right buttons at the junction of fun and logic in your brain.

The cartoon stylised graphics play host to several colourful characters and exotic locations that flesh out an adventure that looks worthy of a fedora, with the trailer giving us a glimpse of explosions, projectile dodging and a sinister looking man wielding a mono-goggle.

Puzzles look to form the meat of the game, with over 270 of the brain twisters promised. The majority of these look to be logic puzzles, with over 230 of them spread over 14 different game types. There will also be 25 ‘find the hidden object’ style pictures to scan and 13 games that test your rhythmic abilities.

There’s no firm release date for the Mastertronic published title at the moment, but expect to see it on shop shelves in the first half of August.

The 3DS false start has caused some to fear the end of dedicated handhelds

Many analysts are claiming the death of the dedicated handheld console way too early. Article after article points out the huge number of smartphone sales and app adoption, and from there leap to the conclusion that this in some way means that there is no future in the dedicated handheld market. I disagree with this position and see that there is room for a strong dedicated handheld offering from the major gaming manufactures. That is not to suggest that I’m blind to the changes taking place in this sector, nor does it mean that I think there will always be a market for dedicated handhelds. I’m open to a world without them eventually, but I would argue it’s way too hard to make that call at present.

So why are ‘experts’ stating that this market is dying? Well clearly there are a ton of smartphones out there, and many are able to play high quality games. However there are five strong reasons why, for the next generation at least, handheld consoles have a role for the serious gamer.

Firstly, if you play games a lot on the move on your phone the batteries cannot cope. This means you’ll find yourself rationing or unable to make phone calls. With their primary purpose being able to make and receive phone calls, it is a major disability when the battery cannot allow such calls to take place. Even emailing a lot can drain the battery on most smartphones, which is why many business people choose to carry a blackberry for email and another phone for calls. Whilst batteries are coming along leaps and bounds, and the CPUs which drive these machines are improving drastically, the extra ‘oomph’ these improvements deliver are fast consumed by the increase in graphical quality and screen fidelity demanded by the consumer, content creator and hardware designer.

Secondly, apart from the Experia Play, all the devices lack credible physical controls. For some forms of games this is not a problem at all, and some have blossomed because of it; but it clearly leaves out a very large number of game genres (especially those adopted by the hardcore) from being experienced in their optimum environment. The hardcore might be a minority term; but it’s a rather large minority who are willing to spend large amounts of money on games and hardware if the content justifies the financial investment (I’ll get onto that in a moment). The hardcore complained about only having one analogue stick on the PSP, so we are hardly excited about having none on the iPhone. Devices that emulate a control stick via the touch screen create a new problem as fast they attempt to solve an existing one. Have you played Street Fighter 4 on the iphone? The controls are not bad, but I can’t for the hell of me see what’s going on as my thumbs are on top of the actual graphics. Now I’m sure some can live with this, but for those that justify this and go out of their way to tell me it’s acceptable, let me pop round to your house when you are watching Avatar in HD and stand in front of your TV wriggling my bottom.

Physical buttons are no fad!

Thirdly, the software ecosystem and dedicated IP offered by the two differing types of devices vary greatly. The smartphone with its app store has allowed a huge amount of content to be generated and sold at amazingly low prices. This is great for the consumer, especially consumers who have never purchased mainstream games before. Additionally, some hardcore gamers also enjoy this content. Apple’s App Store has been good for the genres which were being overlooked on traditional consoles. Additionally, in the case of the latter years of the DS, it has helped make a mockery of the type of software Ubisoft and others were putting out priced at £30 but offering little more than a 79p app. However, this same marketplace is unable to sustain AAA titles, except once in a while. Yes, the iPhone might have its own version of Splinter Cell, but it is a different, cheaper to produce game. Would we have ever seen the iPhone version of Splinter Cell take the lead with regard to design and publishing priority? I can’t imagine such a reality, unless Apple bought Ubisoft and made it an Apple only developer as way of selling more hardware (always a possibility moving forward).

An ecosystem with such low consumer prices cannot offer a return on investment similar to that provided by traditional consoles. Is it easier to make money on the App Store? For sure, in theory, if your app can get noticed. However, is it easy to make hundreds of million of dollars? Not at all.

Will Apple ever own an IP in the world of gaming?

Additionally, Apple do not yet own or publish internally commissioned content. Perhaps one day they might; after all they have bought music software businesses and other developers as a way of capturing other markets. Yet, at present they do not and hence they lack strong IPs, which can drive the sales of hardware. It could be argued that their best IP is the App store itself along with iOS, but that perhaps is not as strong in the long term as Mario, Uncharted, or LittleBigPlanet. An App store can be replicated, but quality IP cannot be (ask Gameloft).

You see, the handheld is to the videogames industry, what the Cinema is to the film industry. The movie industry needs cinema and to an extent huge HDTVs. The experience of seeing a film on such a large screen with amazing sound is unique and consumers love it. Hence movie studios are able to invest in quality IP that makes the most of the cinema experience and justifies the high price of the tickets demanded of consumers. In turn, the dedicated handheld with its physical controls and larger, or double screen viewing experience is a perfect stage for major games such as Ocarina of Time or Uncharted, which would not see the light of day on a smart phone.

Fourth reason; whilst on paper many of the devices can provide superb graphics, many are often behind the curve in contrast to the dedicated consoles. This is because with the case of the PlayStation hardware it launches well ahead of the curve and it’s only near the end of its life that phone based hardware really catches up. It can be argued that this differential is fast reducing, however, as the smartphone has to always be running phone, messaging and other services; in reality, they can never truly throw their full processing weight behind running a game. This is why even the 3DS graphics look great compared to phones, which are technically more powerful – just compare Resident Evil Mercenaries on the 3DS to the ios version.

Fifth, the price of smart phones, or at least the ones that can really rival dedicated handhelds, are very high. If bought out of contract they can cost close to £500 (iPhone) and the iPad price is £400-£600. The iPad is often mentioned as a handheld and even home based console competitor. Let’s remember a PS3 costs around £250 and does so much more – it’s a daft claim to argue they are in the same space in reality. The PS Vita in comparison is looking at being £280 at launch, with the 3DS already selling new for around £170. The argument goes, that the software for the 3DS and PS devices are much more, but see point three above – it’s not a like-for-like comparison and the hardcore market knows and understands this. That’s why they still buy Call of Duty every Christmas for £40 as well as Angry Birds. The hardcore perceive them as two distinct offerings.

It'll do everything you know, like a tablet, except it's aimed at serious gamers...

The 3DS has had a dismal launch but if the price stabilises around £150 by Christmas, then with a strong boxed retail line up and with a good range of £2-£8 content on its excellent eShop there is no reason why this won’t be a platform which performs excellently over the next 3-5 years, appealing to old and young alike.

The PS Vita could end up being the tablet for game lovers. It is clear that for many hardcore gamers the iPad is too large, too expensive and lacks physical inputs. If the Vita also has amazing (and flash enabled) browsing, full media capabilities, perhaps even ebooks, then it could end up being perceived as the gamers tablet of choice. It’s not by chance that Sony have moved away from the small screen format of the PSP Go, and decided on a screen large enough for a quality web experience, but more portable and manageable than that of the iPad. It’s also no surprise that the device might offer compatibility with the Android market, offering the best of both worlds from an app perspective.

Will we still be playing on dedicated handhelds in 15 years? Even I don’t want to look that far ahead, but if gamers still want physical controls, AAA content and as long as there between 50-200 million of them worldwide then this will be enough to justify companies existing to provide a solution to that demand with dedicated hardware. For the immediate future though, expect to see 3DS consoles and PS Vitas on birthday and holiday season gift lists for the next 5 years.

Angry Birds has been a HUGE success. It's no fad, there will be other similar successes, but that doesn't mean that this form of gaming will replace hardcore titles. However, the game can also exist on the 3DS and PS Vita and add value to their entertainment offer.

Nintendo Conference: June 7^th 05:00pm GMT

Everyone wants to see the new console Nintendo is premièring today. I don’t really want to take guesses on what it will be like, but my assumption would be no-3D and only about as good as the current gen. That said, they will hopefully have learned from the poor 3DS sales that really what matters is a powerful launch line-up.

• Things are a little delayed to start with, probably with it being so early in the morning.
• Screen showing random Nintendo facts, think the same happened last year. Same with the random multiple choice questions. But here we go. The proper start now.
• Live orchestra starts playing a fantastic Zelda medley to videos of the various Zelda titles over the years. Does that mean they’re back to aiming at their older audience? Not many people younger than me will appreciate this trip down memory lane.
• Towards the end of the video is new footage. Celebrating 25 years of Zelda games. That does make me feel old.
• Shingeru Miyamoto takes to the stage. As cheerful as always. Attempted English GO. Fingers crossed for a better on-stage demo this year if there is one.
• Phew, translator comes on stage.
• Last year was Mario’s 25^th, this year it’s Zelda’s turn. The song at the end of the orchestra was the theme to Skyward Sword. Chats about famous music (chest opening, item gained). He talks about the orchestra again and asks them to preform some famous Zelda riffs.
• “Item GET-o!”
• Miyamoto takes a Titanic poster stance during the fairy music for some reason. He then wants to hear getting an item again, orchestra clearly hasn’t played Zelda and starts the wrong riff at first.
• Each hardware system is getting a Zelda game for the anniversary. Link’s Awakening will be coming to the Virtual Console as a download today worldwide.
• Next weekend Ocarina of Time 3D launches (we already knew that). Improved graphics, frame rate and a new sense of realism. Master Quest mode returns and there is a Boss Challenge mode. Free download of Four Swords.
• Finally, Skyward Sword. Worldwide release this holiday season for Wii. “It’s finally done!”
• It uses Motion+. They are making a special gold Wii remote. Will anyone seriously be desperate to get that?
• He mentions he’s been playing Skyward Sword every day and it’s great exercise, he shows off imaginary muscles. Both games will be on the expo floor.
• A symphony based around the Zelda music will be touring the world as part of the anniversary. That’s nice. Wii 2 please. Nope, plugging music CDs next. At a game expo. Really.
• He invites numerous members of the development team onto the stage. I don’t think this is building to anything, he’s just mooching applause now. Mentions all the fans and thanks them, ending this section of the presentation – implies he’ll be back later on.
• Nintendo President Satoru Iwata takes centre stage to some horrible music. I like what he’s done with his hair. What shade of dye would that be?
• Talks about the boundaries that once separated age group, personality and gender being erased. Talks about horrible casual gamers. The vermin of the gaming world. I mean in a more positive way than I am making out here. Sadly.
• “Deeper and wider”. He’s talking about the new platform…I hope. So, deeper must mean 3D, right? A wider appeal than the Wii to gamers. “Let’s everyone see games in full detail” – no glasses, then? He was being a tease, he isn’t going into details until later.
• Moving onto the 3DS and the franchises that are moving into it. He walks off stage as a large trailer begins, starting with Mariokart. Starfox is next. Super Mario is after that (these are all really short glimpses of what I’m not entirely sure is real gameplay).
• Kid Icarus is after that. Next is…Luigi’s Ghost…mansion thing. What was that called again? Doesn’t matter, wasn’t very good.
• Here comes Reggie. Medium sized microphone. Don’t start a speech with an aggressive “Look…” Reggie. It’s rude. Seems to be acknowledging people’s complaints about 3DS while at the same time implying that they are wrong.
• Five key titles to show for 3DS. Mariokart first and a trailer plays. “It’s a tricked out version you’ve never played before” apparently, looks pretty much standard fare to me. Oh until they show that the karts can to flying type glides over large areas and also go underwater. Revolutionary stuff.
• Mariokart 3D out this holiday season.
• Starfox 3D next. Trailer playing in the background while Reggie talks. You can use controls or you can use the hand-held to tilt and steer – all those people who did that for years despite not needing to will love that! 3DS cameras record during gameplay…in horribly pixelated barely recognisable ways. It is released this September.
• Super Mario 3D now. Again typical Mario game, not bad just not special either. That raccoon suit I’ve forgotten the name of returns. That counts as an innovation at Nintendo by the way, if you’re not familiar with them. Out sometime this year.
• Kid Icarus Uprising. A voiced trailer plays. Probably the most impressive of the games shown so far. Trailer ends with multiplayer battles and then Icarus themed AR cards. MP is 3 on 3. Released later this year.
• Final game, a new one. Oh right they count Luigi as new. Luigi’s Mansion 2. An entirely new game (technically). More than one mansion.
• Third party developers now starting with Resident Evil Mercenaries 3D, then Mario & Sonic. Ace Combat, Tetris, Cave Story, Resident Evil Revelations, Driver Renegade, Pac-man, Tekken 3D. Montage ends on MGS Snake Eater 3D.
• Talks about the e-shop and updated browser for the 3DS now. Tried it earlier – nothing to go on about. Though Reggie then said there’d be exclusive 3D trailers on there later.
• Virtual Console next and the GB, GBA titles on it.
• “The biggest download news for 3DS concerns one of the biggest franchises in history” – he’s talking about Pokemon. Is he really trying to make that tacky 3D Pokedex sound like some amazing innovation? I tried that earlier too, bored of it after a couple minutes.
• “The essential tool for fans” - I’ll stick with the in-game one, thanks.
• Bloody hell they are being as condescending as those old Wii training videos. Talking very slowly about how to update the 3DS.
• Reggie is talking about the Wii. The name makes sense once you hear how it is pronounced, apparently. Is this building up to the justification of whatever stupid name they’ve chosen this time around?
• It’s called….Wii U. Sounds like a poor Asian child. I mean come on. Why not just Wii 2?
• The controller is a hand-held by the looks of it. Looks a lot like the PS Vita hilariously, if it had a baby with the 3DS.
• Video plays showing Wii U in action.
• Display switches from TV to the ‘controller’. Shows that it can be used like a tablet for drawing. It has touch screen. Graphics are as poor as the Wii. Well, maybe not quite. Use it as a scope for sniping with while playing first person games. Picture-in-picture calls.
• Wii U is very underwhelming. It’s no big thing to stream to the hand-held essentially, PS3 could do that with a few select games. It’s a gimmick sure, but has no practical use. Unless the game is self contained in the ‘controller’ as well and thus you can play portable or not anywhere, but I doubt it.
• Out next year if you want one for some reason.
• Wii U has 6.2” screen built in. Backward compatible with Wii games and accessories (in other words it’s still just a Wii).
• “We believe you will love the variety of the new console” – Uh huh.
• “Ramble feature.”
• Touch screen, microphone, speakers, two circle pads, control pad, gyroscope and so on. Every time Iwata says button it sounds like he’s saying bollocks. Fitting really.
• Ah, yes it’s wirelessly transmitted so it’s a hand-held Wii with the features of a 3DS essentially. “Those with an HD TV attach it to play Wii games in HD” – isn’t that like watching a black and white movie on the world’s best colour TV?
• Promotes strong bonds with the family, web-browsing, etc.
• “How can it be incorporated into gameplay” – and why.
• Trailer of a horrible conversation between Iwata and Miyamoto begins. To be honest I’ve lost all interest in this conference so I’m not sure what their translated voice-overs are going on about.
• Smash Bros. is coming to 3DS and Wii U, working together on both platforms. First genuine claps from the audience there.
• Reggie is back to talk about what Wii U games are playable at E3. “Eight different interactive experiences” – yeah, what about some nice new games please?
• Trailer plays. A tech demo I assume, a bird flying along on river to some nice music. I’m not even sure this is a tech demo actually, it’s more like it’s just…a video. What were they thinking with that?
• He moves onto how the new controller changes things. Conceptual “New Super Mario Mii” using your Mii alongside Mario. Drowning in innovation here.
• More concept art and concept descriptions. This is sounding like the Wii U is either just really, really early in development or there’s nothing to do with it.
• Oh, oh! One title in development for Wii U! Lego City Stories! Stay there a second! I need to put in my pre-order now to beat the rush! Get out of my way!
• I’m back. Still talking about lego I see.
• Video with Peter Moore and various other assess of gaming making nothing sound like the next generation. I remember the reaction to 3DS last year, even if it didn’t turn out as good as it sounded at the time, at least it got the crowd hyped. In comparison, this is pure embarrassment.
• Assassin’s Creed and Batman Arkham City will be on it apparently. Ghost Recon too.
• “Nintendo have heard the voices of the hardcore gamer” – are you kidding me? He did not just say that. Rage.
• Darksiders 2 trailer plays next. An Aliens game was also shown and some footage of Metro Last Light, Ghost Recon and Tekken. Tekken has customizable costumes. Ninja Gaiden 3 footage ends the Wii U montage.
• Reggie and Iwata on stage together. Blathering on.
• EA’s John R takes the stage. Don’t put your hands in your pockets during a speech – good (he took them out). John chats a bit about Wii U.
• “Brilliant high definition graphics” – really? They show Battlefield 3 footage (PC version) in some poor attempt to imply a Wii U version would be anything like it.
• John is off. Didn’t really listen to what he said.
• Reggie is back to conclude things. Asks people to think what each platform represents. “They share a common pedigree – inspiration” – kind of true, but how about actually being, you know, decent?
• It’s hilarious how quiet the audience is throughout.
• And it’s over. Thankfully.

Nintendo wins worst conference of E3 2011 hands down. There wasn’t a single on-stage demo. Even a Kinect heavy Microsoft conference couldn’t compare to that waste of time. Forgive my obvious frustration as I watched, because even if I hate what Nintendo has become I loved them for many years. Those days are long gone.

While everyone was busy pretending to be surprised at the latest Duke Nukem Forever delay, Apogee Software (who first birthed Mr Nukem) and Deep Silver snuck a brand new handheld adventure starring The Duke onto shop shelves. So is Critical Mass an FPS, a platform shooter, a third-person shooter, or a top down shooter? Answer: Yes.

In an admirable attempt at variety, Frontline have forced different genres to sit side-by-side and give one another dirty looks in the same game. Most of your time will be spent in the 2D platform shooter levels which, while utilising 3D polygons for the characters and most of the environments, are heavily pixellated and none too pretty. It’s still easy to see what’s going on, though – this game has much bigger problems to worry about.

The platform sections run from left to right, but you’ll often come across a mysterious device which goes by the name of ‘ladder’ (with the occasional flying platform) allowing you to travel up and down. Now and again, the ground even slopes slightly; which means that you’ll sometimes come across enemies above, below, or at a slight angle to you. Shame, then, that you can only shoot left or right. Particularly frustrating when you can see an enemy waiting for you at the top of a ladder.

Was there an evil creature waiting for Duke at the top of this ladder? We'll never know.

Talking of seeing enemies, you may find that, well… you can’t. Not until they’ve already started shooting you from off-screen. L and R shift the camera angle left and right respectively by about 45 degrees, which means the problem is largely fixed by running left to right with R held down constantly. This doesn’t help when an enemy materialises half a dozen steps behind you for no apparent reason while you’re busy kicking blocky backside though. Why on earth Frontline didn’t simply pull the default camera out a little more is a mystery.

There’s a decent selection of weapons to be found throughout the game, and they’re (mostly) surprisingly distinct from one another in terms of damage and fire rate. With L and R busy on camera duty, weapon selection is handled via the touchscreen; a slightly awkward horizontally scrolling line of weaponry that will prove a nightmare for anybody paranoid about fingerprints (weapons cannot be switched while the game is paused). Picking up a weapon will automatically equip it, even if it’s already in your collection – not always desirable. That said, you needn’t worry too much about being caught out in the middle of a firefight; you soon realise that most enemies you encounter can’t hurt you while you’re crouched (but you can still shoot them).

There’s a primitive third person cover system to take advantage of at strictly designated points, usually for just one enemy. You can run straight past these back alleys if you want, and we’d advise you to do so – especially as the curse of unexpectedly spawning off-screen enemies can kick you in the teeth here. The other break in platforming is what is essentially a sniping minigame, activated when you pick up a sniper rifle. Zooming in and out from a first-person perspective, you’ll take out three or four enemies before being thrown back to the platforming. Simple yet, ironically perhaps, the only sections of the whole game where a little planning and thought are required.

There are a handful of top-down shooter levels which aren’t nearly as fun as they should be. Donning a jetpack, Duke takes to the skies to fly over the same few square inches of backdrop repeated ad nauseum, shooting the same two enemy types (in the last of these levels, just one) again and again. It seems quite literally impossible to avoid all of the incoming fire, with survival depending on picking up all the health and armour pickups dead enemies leave behind. Oh, did we mention you get just two weapons here?

Bigger and uglier than most, but still easily dealt with.

Boss fights are third-person affairs with an over-the-shoulder camera that’s very nearly first-person. Again, this is a wasted opportunity. With no option to invert the Y axis or adjust sensitivity, the controls will feel awkward for many; and the only tactic most of the bosses employ is running up to your face in order to attack you at point blank range.

Despite all this we found that by the final quarter of the game, Critical Mass was leaning away from ‘chore’ in the direction of ‘guilty pleasure’ – simply because this is very, very much a Duke Nukem game (rather than the fact it features anthropomorphic pigs in jetpacks). The plot, such as it is, is B-movie sci-fi hokum that’s best ignored. The best fun is to be had from Duke’s laughing-in-the-face-of-political-correctness one liners, delivered (as ever) by Jon St John. There are, of course, ‘babes’ to be rescued. A typical encounter will go something like this:

BABE: What can I do to thank you?

DUKE: Whoa, careful with those things!

Yes, really.

Upon learning that aliens are kidnapping earth’s women for cross breeding, Duke cries “That really pisses me off!” It’s all absolutely crapulous. Incredibly (we’re pretty sure we didn’t imagine this), once he quips at an enemy: “Do I look French? I’m not retreating!”

There has been an attempt to add replay value. There’s a local co-op mode we were unable to test (two game carts are required). There are also a few secrets and nine ‘Accomplishments’. Think trophies & achievements; only, with no way of boasting online, so even more pointless.

We’d only recommend you buy this if you’re desperate for a brand new slice of The Duke, in which case this will almost certainly push your buttons. Be warned, however; once you’re done with him (or rather, once he’s done with you), you’ll feel cheap, dirty and used.

• Format: 360 (version reviewed), PS3, Wii, DS, 3DS, PSP, PC
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: LucasArts
• Developer: Traveller’s Tales
• Players: 2
• Site: http://www.lucasarts.com/games/legostarwarsiii/index.jsp

The Lego games from Traveller’s Tales have always mimicked the spirit of the building blocks themselves, serving as toy boxes full of imagination, colour, and straight-up fun. But too much of anything can dull you to its joy, and as the seventh instalment in the series (and the fourth Star Wars title, counting the Complete Saga release), another return to the world of blocky blasters and plastic protocol droids threatens to do just that. To avoid this fate, Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars adds a fresh coat of paint to the well-worn toy box and throws in enough new pieces to fill it to the brim and then some.

You’ll jump into the square shoes of countless characters from the Clone Wars television series as they pantomime everything with that goofy Lego humour we’ve come to expect. You can hop between three story paths at your leisure (each with its own key villain), covering a smattering of episodes from the first two seasons. The premise may seem less interesting to grizzled Star Wars purists out there, but the show is captured to perfection with delightful humour that would put a smile on anyone’s face. (Unless they’re still hung up on The Phantom Menace, in which case it’s probably hopeless.)

Look, it's a video game based on a Lego product based on a cartoon based on a movie series!

So the humour is intact, but how has the gameplay changed? To sum it up in two words: speed and scale. The basic mechanics are all there– namely, light puzzle-solving and breaking stuff– but there’s significantly less puzzle-solving and a boatload more of breaking stuff. Jedi slice up battle droids with an uncanny grace, and while the ease of deflecting lasers makes them overpowered, it looks cool enough to justify the imbalance. The Force is another nifty tool at their disposal and can now directly manipulate objects. Clone troopers are also (unsurprisingly) a common sight and come equipped with a variety of weapons, depending on the chosen soldier. These are the two main “classes” you’ll take control of during the story; either choice is easy to grasp, bordering on overly simplistic. While this makes for a faster game, the lack of puzzles and platforming might be harmful if not for that one special ingredient: scale.

Lego Star Wars III has increases the scale to gigantic proportions. You’ll virtually wade through seas of droids, duel a Sith atop an oversized robot plummeting through the air, and go up against enormous star cruisers using tiny stunt-fighters. It doesn’t hurt that the game looks great; top-notch lighting effects, motion blur, and animation do wonders to immerse you in this ridiculous world. It would have been nice for more monsters and locations to be built from actual Lego bricks, but that’s the only real gripe to grumble about here.

Pictured: oversized robot plummeting through the air. We're not making this stuff up.

The freedom that takes advantage of this scale is made possible with the genius invention of adaptive split-screen (pioneered by Lego Indiana Jones 2) which lets you ditch your fellow player instead of arguing over directions on a single screen. While this poses some camera problems, the end result is more than satisfactory. Some story sequences will intentionally split up the characters as they take on challenges of their own simultaneously, helping each other out indirectly until everyone reunites. This is a neat touch that mimics the moment-to-moment action of the TV series in a genuinely clever way.

Now, when we say “Lego Star Wars”, the first thing that jumps to mind probably isn’t “RTS”, but that’s exactly what this game has brought to the table. Uncomplicated but unexpectedly fun, this mode has you dashing about a sprawling battleground in an effort to build bases, form an army, and destroy the opposition. As usual, breaking stuff yields sparkly Lego studs, which can be used to purchase turrets, vehicles, and structures for your outposts. This is where the clone commanders really come in handy, since they’re the ones who can order soldiers around and get things done. The strategies aren’t deep and the rules aren’t very well-explained, but breezy-yet-effective tactics combined with the joyful feeling of stomping a group of battle droids in a hulking AT-TE walker make the mode well worth playing. Multiplayer options for both co-op and versus are the icing on the cake and will bring back nostalgic memories for those who engaged in large-scale Lego wars as kids, complete with rampant destruction and wooshing speeder bikes.

This entire mode could have been a mess, but it's a highlight of the game.

However, not everything has been turned on its head in this entry to the series: beating the game is still merely half the battle, as a whole mess of collectables and unlockables are waiting for you. The primary way of earning the needed funds is Free Play, a mode that lets you choose any level to bring in your character of choice from the staggeringly large cast. Using character-specific powers will let you access areas with elaborate gags and secret treasures, so poking around is always worthwhile. You’ll have plenty of secret items to round up and more than enough to spend them on, which brings us to the vast Star Destroyer known as the Resolute.

Acting as the game’s hub, the Resolute slowly opens up as you make your way through the story. You can spend studs on new characters and vehicles, many of which lay hidden behind sealed doors. Collecting golden bricks unlocks even more corridors to investigate and the sense of exploration will draw you farther and farther into the collection of unlockables and surprises.

Why this creepy cyborg beast couldn't be built entirely out of Lego bricks is beyond us.

Rather than feeling stale, Lego Star Wars III is a fresh take on the mini-genre Traveller’s Tales has built for themselves and, while not outright better than its predecessors, offers pure, preposterous fun for those with a functioning sense of humour. If the cartoon-centred, family friendly vibe is scaring you away, don’t let it; this is one of the rare cases where everybody can have a good time.