The Growth of Twitch

When Twitch.tv branched off from the less focused Justin.tv back in 2011, it was predominantly used for eSports and general broadcasts. Now, in the year 2014, every John, Dick and Harry has a stream up showing off their gameplay for their favourite titles.

For streamers, the challenge is to make their channel stand out from the hefty crowd, and with Twitch playing host to around 1 million unique broadcasters a month during 2014, getting noticed is no easy feat. Streaming is a very competitive business and it takes a lot of effort and guile to keep the audience engaged and the viewership growing.

It’s usually a fresh idea that gets an audience growing but the vast amount of broadcasters it’s hard to be noticed. A good recent example of playing outside the box was “TwitchPlaysPokemon”. The channel allowed gamers to watch a full playthrough of Pokemon Red by inputting commands into the stream chat. It took 16 long days of sporadic commands, from 120,000 users, to finally beat the Elite Four but it became a thought provoking experiment for many (even those that didn’t take part). 

The three most popular games on Twitch are, and have been for a long time, League of Legends, Starcraft II and Dota 2. These are all cornerstones of competitive PC gaming so it’s hardly surprising that the output reflect the games popularity. However, the launch of the current console generation has seen many PlayStation 4 and Xbox One exclusives taking a seat at the table. Because broadcasting can be particularly casual it’s easy to grab a few viewers or to see how a game plays before picking it up yourself – it’s more difficult to make it into the big time. Most serious Twitch channels are expressed through Twitter as well as Facebook and Reddit. The PlayStation and Xbox One crowds have added 1 million additional broadcasters to these numbers so we can only expect for the volume of channels to get even bigger. 
Personally, I don’t think streaming works as a substitution to playing games but rather an addition to make gaming even more fund.

Streams like TheJustinFlynn has over 70,000 followers and is one of the most prominent success stories to come out of the medium. In fact broadcaster Justine Flynn, an aspiring Pokemon X and Y pro has used Twitch to teach others the mechanics of the title and its deep battle systems. It’s not being used to make him a better player, but also his audience.

Another well-known channel ManVsGame, from Jayson Love, now has 140,000 Twitch followers that watch him beat particularly difficult games. His stream has seen him conquer the Dead Space series, Splinter Cell: Blacklist and, more recently, Outlast on its highest setting. It sounds like every gamers dream to play games and to make them fun but, and Jayson shows this, you need a certain amount of charisma to keep the crowds entertained – and therefore coming back for more.

The more Internet traffic shown to Twitch, the more views and channels are bound to come up. Rajakaru Games are now streaming – not excessively – as are many other publications. It’s a great concept that has made the founders a whole lot of money, and many more gamers very, very happy.

Do you stream? Do you watch Twitch? If so please let us know your thoughts below. In fact, if you have an aversion to Twitch please also let us know why.

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Destiny Beta Overview

The Destiny Beta is now opened to everyone and the Rajakaru team have been playing through the content over the past few days (none of us own PlayStation consoles so we’re a bit behind). The application gives, in most cases, gamers the first chance to see a generous slice of Bungie’s long awaited sci-fi FPS since they left Halo to 343 Industries.

I’ve now played about 10 hours exploring the Cosmodrome and have taken part in everything the beta has to offer – as such I felt it would be good for you all to see a rundown of what is being offered this week. Which, by the way, is now open to everyone – no codes necessary.

After choosing whether to play as a Titan, Warlock or Hunter (see Fighter, Rogue and Wizard) you’re going to be treated to an introduction session of how to play and what to pay attention to. There are also three options on race but as far as we can tell this is aesthetic only. The opening cinematic is quickly followed by an introduction to your new AI Ghost; voiced by the fantastic Peter Dinklage. Whom, for those that care, is far from the terrible audio many had lead me to believe.

You get to run through a section of the game that, if you’ve seen the video, will be very familiar. After discovering your ‘ride’ for the beta zones you’ve shipped offer to the traveller and it’s hub before being allowed to explore in the PvE sandbox (which fantastically doesn’t include any loading screens despite a substantial offering).

In fact you’ll get 4 full story missions that introduce the different enemies scattered through the lands, a handful of flavoursome weapons and even the Sparrow hover-bike to zip around on. The foes come in various different sizes and the Fallen are the first to be introduced. The Dregs are similar to Halo’s Grunts, easy to take down, while their counterparts the Vandals put up a fight similar to that of Jackels. There are also some tougher foes which can be linked to Elites and Brutes.

After a while you’ll also get treated to the Hive – a bit like the Flood, again from Halo (can you see where I’m going here?). They aren’t nearly as annoying but again come in forms that are easy to take down and go up to Elite standards.  Finally, and for the life of me I can’t remember at what point, you’ll also come up against Shanks that are little floating robots; they only take a few shots to go down but they can be nimble and catch you from a vertical height too.

The Hive and the Fallen aren’t the best of friends and you’ll often see firefights between the two parties. Each race has a specific set of ‘special’ enemies too which you’ll see sporadically through the story missions and also in free-roam (where short missions and bounties are optional).

Between missions you’ll be able to explore The Tower, Destiny’s central hub that acts as a place to buy upgrade, make friends and exchange glimmer – the in game currency – for new armour and emblems.

Probably the most enjoyable section of the beta, for me, was the Devil’s Lair Strike mission. If you’re lucky enough to get up to a suitable level this quest is designed for cooperative gameplay and clocks in at around 20-30 minutes in length. You’ll fight against various enemies in large volumes and a lack of communication will end in failure (grab some like-minded friends). This is, I believe, the only chance you’ll get to face off with a Devil Walker (a Fallen tank).

When that’s all said and done you’ll be able to start again with another character or explore the Cosmodrome some more. Some areas are impossible to traverse (with immune enemies to ensure you don’t get outside the available areas) but you’re almost never stuck for options. If you can see if, generally, you can go there. You’ll see other player, fight in momentary one-off tasks, and find new weapons and armour to try out. The beta peaks at level 8, which took me around 4 hours to reach but that didn’t stop my drive to continue playing one bit.

You’ll also get one PvP section at level five carefully titled, The Crucible. This is a three flag conquest style game-mode with teams of 6 facing off. There is only one mode but the beta does come with four very aesthetically distinct maps.

Unfortunately there isn’t any news yet on whether you can transfer progress into the final game – due for release globally in September – but if you’re playing at 9pm GMT on Saturday night then you can expect something cool to be handed out to you when the final release comes around (no news on what this is though)

The beta closed on 27^th July so you all have a few days to enjoy it.

Let us know what you’ve thought of it, or leave us a question, in the comments section below.


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The Kinect U-Turn

So, the mandatory Kinect is no more, Microsoft have once again made a U-Turn on its original next-gen plan. Kinect has gone from being an integral component to an optional peripheral. Like most other Xbox One gamers I haven’t even used the Kinect for much more than showing off (and the odd dashboard navigation when my controllers have run out of battery.

That being said – it is a good piece of hardware and holds far more potential than the original ever did (both in accuracy and speed).

For Microsoft this solves many problems: the price differential with PlayStation 4 has now been addressed, while internal resources dedicated to Kinect processing can now be returned to game developers.

However, on the flipside, the original vision for Xbox One as a multi-faceted all-in-one entertainment system as well as a games machine now lies in a much less coordinated manner than ever – unless this was always the plan (which we doubt).

Kinect was at the heart of everything that made Xbox One different and without it we're left with a machine that offers pretty much the exact same proposition as PS4. In fact, it’s a horrible chance of pace for a company that always stripped its rivals in the race for innovation. Just two years ago Sony were doing everything they could to match their American counterparts but now it seems that the more Xbox changes, the closer it becomes to the PlayStation design choices from launch.

This week's announcements are all about levelling the playing field with Sony. The price is the same, Games with Gold moves closer into alignment with PlayStation Plus, while non-gaming services are also like-for-like thanks to the removal of the almost criminal payment requirements that saw users charged for the privilege of using Internet Explorer, Skype and even non-Microsoft services like YouTube and Netflix.

Here at Rajakaru Games we appreciate that Microsoft is finally listening.

This market repositioning was a must for our beloved console. Microsoft’s vision for an entertainment system certainly wasn’t a bad decision in principle but the implementation and demand for this hardware was misplaced.

Kinect is the main gateway to the media functions of the Xbox One and without it the hardware looks more like the set-top boxes it was trying to replace rather than the state of the art ideas that it hasn’t fully realised.

Statistics showed that for many users, the Xbox 360 was being utilised more for media streaming than it was for actual gameplay. This was the main reason for the strategy they tried desperately to maximise but unfortunately the impact didn’t really take off.

We've seen Oculus Rift, we've experienced Sony's Project Morpheus prototype but we've still not seen Microsoft's 'Fortaliza' hardware. Envisaged as a Kinect-powered augmented reality concept, Microsoft saw it as the penultimate stepping stone in console technology before the cloud took over, rendering new client-side hardware obsolete. These industry changes and innovations certainly mean we can expect some new gameplay styles over the course of this console lifecycle and, you never know, Microsoft might just U-Turn again.

The good news for Microsoft is that games and content will always trump hardware spec. This week’s Halo 5 tease was short on details but at least re-introduced a key title with an immense level of anticipation alongside it, and the E3 line-up should be strong. Beyond that we understand that Microsoft isn't done with the cloud, and that games are being built around Azure that go beyond the utilisation's we've seen thus far.  

We definitely won't see a total rethink of the Xbox One system, but at least the focus will be where it should have been from day one - on the games.

 

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Rajakaru Review - The Xbox One "Six Months On"

The Xbox 360 that exists in 2014 bears very little resemblance to the console that Microsoft launched in 2005. It’s so different, in fact, that it helps to think of the company’s new Xbox One as an evolution, not of the original Xbox 360 but of the one that exists today.

Over the eight-year lifetime, the Xbox 360 underwent radical transformations. In 2008, the "New Xbox Experience" delivered an entirely new interface, customizable player Avatars, eight-player party chat and Netflix streaming, a first for video game consoles. In 2010, the first iteration of Kinect and the platform’s voice and gesture controls redefined the 360 once again. Microsoft were always at the forefront of the innovations that defined the generation and actually initiated many of the ideas that Sony took forward too.

Their focus on entertainment never diminished the Xbox 360's gaming offerings either. Between first-party titles like Halo, third party console exclusives like Left 4 Dead and timed titles like Oblivion, the Xbox 360 was never wanting for the best options everywhere. In fact the Xbox Live Arcade program also generated top titles like Castle Crashers, Limbo and Braid – turning them into household names.

But there was a sense that the Xbox 360's greater aspirations as a mainstream portal for entertainment were restrained by hardware created before our current age of streaming video, tablets and smartphones. And this is the direction Microsoft have taken forward with the Xbox One.

Yes, when you look at it now, the Xbox One looks similar and holds familiar features but the whole experience if more fluid and functional than ever before. Despite its recognisable elements and concepts, the Xbox One still manages a genuine sense of wonder, all without losing sight of the strong gaming foundation the Xbox was built on. 

Hardware & Design

The nicest description we could manage for the Xbox One's new sleek design is "clean" — there's no crappy coating colour – Microsoft have designed the hardware to sit under the TV and to look like its supposed to be there for the long term.

The console lacks the profile and space-saving considerations of the PlayStation 4 — or even the original Xbox 360 but holds its own against set top boxes and TV hardware.  Even the Kinect 2.0 is bigger than the original sensor but the output and recognition is cleaner and more effective than ever before. Sadly, and I can’t spin this as a positive, the old power brick makes an unwelcome return.

The console is exceptionally quiet, and it runs relatively cool at all times. But if you’re looking for aesthetic subtlety, this is not the console for you. However, given the Xbox 360's notorious reliability problems, it's a little reassuring that the Xbox One was given so much room to breathe.

Like the PS4, the Xbox One has gone digital-only with its audio and video — you'll only find HDMI and optical audio ports. For network connectivity, Microsoft has added a gigabit Ethernet port and connects to wireless networks at 5GHz.

Probably the most disappointing area is the requirement to install all games to the hard drive which, although large, can still cause an issue as a single game can occupy as much as 50 GB — and that's before any DLC, expansions, or major title updates.

Lastly, unlike the Xbox 360, the Xbox One has a Blu-ray drive, meaning those of you with a soft spot for physical media won't need to keep a second device around. That drive is partnered with the a 500 GB internal hard drive, where all games are installed (so 10-15 games is about all you’ll get). Microsoft has however added a patch to support external storage post launch, a significant improvement from the expensive proprietary storage options available on Xbox 360.

 

Controller

Microsoft had the unenviable task of redesigning something that nobody thought was broken. The Xbox 360 controller was universally praised, so it shouldn't be surprising that the Xbox One controller is familiar. Improvements have been made to the triggers, which now feature rumble motors; the D-pad, which is now a cross; and the thumbsticks are now smaller and more accurate. It's a more comfortable controller – which we at Rajakaru didn’t think was possible – has a good amount of weight, and a great texture that makes it feel like a premium offering compared to the slippery Xbox 360 counterpart.

Thankfully the Xbox One controller features a more recessed space for the battery, as opposed to the large bump found on the back of the Xbox 360's controller. Additionally you won't spend a lot of time worrying about batteries. We have been able to play for over 15 hours before fully depleting a charge on our controllers. There are some nice features that coordinate with the Kinect system to monitor its use. When you put the controller down to watch a movie, it enters a low-power state. It’s a smart way of extending the utility of Kinect in a practical way.

The Xbox One also supports the Wi-Fi Direct standard for, well, direct wireless connections between devices. This kind of connection eliminates your wireless router from the equation, reducing latency and speeding up transfer speeds — which Microsoft is using for the Xbox One's new, improved version of SmartGlass (discussed later).

Interface

I, personally, don’t feel like a lot needs to be explained here. The interface is very similar to the Xbox 360 but reduces the multiple routes to locate individual titles and content. The coloured tiles are easier to navigate than the multiple cluttered pages that made up the Xbox 360's dashboard, and there's a clear, easy-to-understand hierarchy.

The Xbox One’s “out-of-the-box” interface wasn’t as clear as it is today but the various options are now much easier to track. The various patches have shown that Microsoft are listening to the users and making changes that we, as players, feel are important improvements.

My favourite addition by far, though, is the ability to skip entering codes for pre-order bonuses, DLC or other game downloads. Instead you can scan QR codes with the Kinect. It's fast and convenient, but makes the task of doing so on our Xbox 360s much more annoying than we had ever found it before.

The motion gestures and voice recognition is clear and easy to use. Obviously there is still an issue with other noises in the room but this was always an expected nuisance. Facial recognition ensures automatic login and profile changes on the fly which are nice, if not overly useful, features. It feels futuristic and cool in a way that little else about the new consoles does.

 

Xbox Live

Microsoft has every intention of making the Xbox One the centrepiece of your living-room entertainment experience. XBL has always been the big competitive advantage for Microsoft but Sony has made some headway with their improvements to the PlayStation Network.

Microsoft are trying to keep ahead though with their new television integration and One Guide feature as an augmentation to your existing cable or satellite provider. Navigating to TV shows and movies can now be controlled via voice commands — i.e., "Xbox, watch HBO" — which seems like something out of Minority Report. These voice commands also justify the TV functionality of the console, making it so that the only time you'd have to pick up your TV remote is to watch things you have on your recordings list.

Each application works much like you mobile phone and its seamless to jump from game to TV and back again. It can quickly be linked to the obvious want to put the Xbox One at the centre of everyone’s living room experience. Plus Twitch is now up and running so you can watch that too.

Skype on Xbox One has the potential to be huge. Kinect's ability to find speakers in a room and focus the camera on them is really neat. And answering a call with voice commands is pleasantly simple. Skype will run "under" games or other apps, allowing you to continue chat via the Kinect mic or the Xbox One headset while performing other tasks.

All of this depends on the system's seamless suspension of in-progress games and apps. This makes swapping between functions of the Xbox One a pleasure, rather than a chore.

It's worth mentioning that every app on Xbox One – except Skype “currently” – can also be snapped to the right side of the screen in a mini window, either by pressing the menu button on the app, or saying "Xbox, snap [app name]. Also not essential but worth noting is the fact that the Internet Explorer app is quicker than my 2011 Dell Laptop which, doesn’t mean it’s excellent, but is certainly suitably efficient at what it means to do.

Word of warning; all Xbox One consoles must be updated as soon as they're turned on for the first time. And all new games are the same. Once you have installed your updates though the actually inputs are much quicker and better calibrated than the Xbox 360. You recover your Xbox Live profiles in no time at all and you can switch your Kinect hardware off or on in seconds.

Microsoft makes it very clear from the start that it wants you to take your Xbox One profile with you. If you have an Xbox One, say, in another room you'd only need to walk into that room, have it recognise your face and it will sign you straight in (as long as you have recovered your gamertag there  before. Cloud saves on games work in the same way so you can pick up your Assassins Creed IV game exactly where you left it.

SmartGlass

The Smartglass feature for titles has been a small part of the Xbox 360 system for some time but is coming on leaps and bounds since hitting the Xbox One. Several announced titles will include this feature including “The Division” and “Fable Anniversary”. It is so easy to set up that it’s almost not worth missing the app on your Android, Windows Phone or iOS device.

Communication between your second-screen device and the Xbox One is significantly faster than with the original SmartGlass app. This is because the app connects directly to your console and not via the Xbox Live servers first. There's almost no perceptible latency between actions on one and the results on the other. This bodes well for potential second-screen implementation in games — immediate response could make your tablet device a viable alternative method of control.

 

 

Games

Let’s start with the bad news first: The Xbox One's hefty line-up of exclusive titles, at launch, wasn’t without some considerable misses. Crimson Dragon is a disappointing follow-through on its potential as a successor to Panzer Dragoon. LocoCycle is best summed up as rubbish with its amateur gameplay and racist overview. In face I think these games are so bad that I won’t even give them a score below. All the other titles however will get a brief but scored listing:

·         Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag                           9/10
·         Battlefield 4                                                          8/10
·         Call of Duty: Ghosts                                             7/10
·         Dead Rising 3                                                       7/10
·         Fifa 14                                                                   8/10
·         Forza Motorsport 5                                               9/10
·         Killer Instincts                                                      7/10
·         Kinect Sports Rivals                                             7/10
·         Lego Marvel Super Heroes                                   9/10
·         Maddan NFL 25                                                    6/10
·         Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes                     7/10
·         NBA 2K14                                                            4/10
·         NBA Live 14                                                         8/10
·         Need for Speed: Rivals                                          7/10
·         Plants vs. Zombie: Garden Warfare                      6/10
·         Rayman Legends                                                   8/10
·         Ryse: Son of Rome                                                6/10
·         Thief                                                                      7/10
·         Titanfall                                                                 9/10
·         Trials Fusion                                                         8/10
·         Zoo Tycoon                                                           7/10

AVERAGE – 7.3/10

There are however some very good titles available to date. Dead Rising 3 is technically impressive and a fun playground, but suffers from bad writing and uninventive controls. Titanfall, although not a launch title, has become almost as big a success story as any of the other FPS games vying for the Call of Duty crown. Thief has the atmosphere derived from a dark, smoky London but lacks gameplay mechanics to make the title last longer than one playthrough. Zoo Tycoon is a flawed but compelling game with a surprising amount of depth. Killer Instinct is a pretty decent reboot for the long-dormant franchise, despite some trepidation about its business model. And Forza Motorsport 5 is the best of the bunch, a strong evolution for the series despite a reduced number of tracks and cars.

The Xbox One is a hundred dollars more than its direct competition, and several third-party games run in lower resolution than they do on the PS4 which has concerned some. However, Sony hasn’t invested in other areas like Microsoft. If the PS4 is a Video Games system then the Xbox One is an entertainment hub.

Conclusion

Microsoft has insisted it has the software gamers want. But it's also maintained that this generation is about more than that. It's repeatedly outlined a vision for a console based around entertainment, apps and connected experiences, tied together by Kinect, which has been met with apprehension by the enthusiast audience.

To be clear, Kinect isn’t a fully realised product yet. The gesture supports are functional but the gaming inputs are lacking to say the least. The application store is also missing some big titles like HBO Go and Sky Sports but the television functionality impresses me greatly.

The integration of the system has been well constructed and the foundations have been set to keep the company, and the console, moving in the direction of the market. Yes, Sony may be ahead in sales right now but the Xbox One is already scoping an audience for a virtual reality market that Sony just won’t be able to compete with.

E3 this year may be more important than last, with rumours galore already hitting the Internet. Microsoft are being expected to announce many new AAA titles (like Halo 5) as well as their VR offering which should make for an interesting next 12 months. And that’s not even stating the remaining releases this year.

The Xbox One is an impressive marriage of software and hardware that raises the bar in terms of what we expect from a living-room machine. Looking forward more than it looks back, the Xbox One feels like it's from the future.

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Rajakaru Games' Favourite DLC

I’ve been going back over my old (if you can call it that) stash of Xbox 360 games. While I know the last generation is slowly falling behind us, it seems justified to create a list of DLC you should play now before the new generation fills in the void.

In fact I’ve basically decided to write this after I came full circle with the recent release of BioShock Infinite's much anticipated DLC Burial at Sea Part 2. It's clear to see that DLC is gaining a higher profile than ever before and developers are really starting to experiment with creative and enjoyable content. Therefore, I thought I'd take a look at some of the best single player DLC there is out there.

Honourable Mention: Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon

While it isn’t a true DLC piece for the original title the lasers, dinosaurs, cyborgs and 80s music creates a spectacular list of awesome things. It’s such an ironic plague on your sense that it makes you want to go back and play even more retro titles. It has nods to all our favourite titles of yesteryear and knows exactly what it is trying to accomplish. If you enjoyed the full Far Cry 3 title then this will be right up your street.

5. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dragonborn

When the dreaded “Horse Armour” hit our download stores back during the Oblivion era we were worried that Bethesda wouldn’t provide anything substantial for the acclaimed Elder Scrolls series. Thankfully they have become one of the best content providers on the planet producing a completely range for their titles; including Shivering Isles, Broken Steel and Old World Blues. However, the only one that allows you to fly dragons is that of Dragonborn for Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

The immense amount of content that came alongside this piece gave players multiple additional hours of content, a couple of fresh new areas to explore and several enemies that should really have made the original cut. Bethesda listened to fan feedback and delivered on every area that we – games – wanted to do or see. For a game that I had already plugged 100 hours into this made, what was already, a great game outstanding.

4. Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker

One problem with single player DLC is making it matter in regards to the main narrative. Many developers opt for DLC that explores sub-plots but BioWare made the difference with this offering, They managed to successfully separate and impact on the overarching storyline for the whole trilogy.

Throughout the first two Mass Effect games we had heard about The Shadow Broker and were intrigued by the mystery surrounding them. In this DLC we finally got to meet them in dramatic fashion. It’s a fantastic success story for single player DLC and changed the dynamic of what would shortly become a trend for other titles.

What's great about this DLC is not just the excellent story and gameplay, but the fact that you can return to the Lair of the Shadow Broker and gather information on your enemies and your allies, absorbing us more into the delectable lore of Mass Effect.

3. Bioshock 2 - Minerva's Den

Bioshock 2 will forever be overshadowed by the both of the home developer options despite it excellently refining the gameplay and being just as good. However, the problem with Bioshock 2 is that many would have overlooked the amazing DLC that is Minerva's Den, as it was released several months after Bioshock 2's initial release and after some pretty standard multiplayer DLC which was a terrible design choice anyway.

Minerva's Den is standalone story in the world of Bioshock 2 that once again puts you into the shoes of a prototype Big Daddy. This time however you're taking out a sentient intelligence known as The Thinker. Not only does this DLC offer up more of the great gameplay that the title refined, but it tells a captivating story that is arguably more moving than that of the original game.

2. Red Dead Redemption - Undead Nightmare

Rockstar knows how to make DLC, but with Undead Nightmare for their cowboy epic they really excelled themselves. While the original title was excellent, this standalone single player DLC blended horror and comedy perfectly. At the time Zombies had become a really big area for media titles everywhere and this showed us just how well they could be implemented in Video Games.

Headshots were a necessity that changed the gameplay dynamics immensely. It was refreshing to see zombies posing a really danger as it was instant death if you go overrun. In fact the title was so successful that Rockstar ended up releasing it as a standalone game which showed how great the title was. John Marston and the wild west was the best setting for this DLC “dream” – excuse the pun.

1. BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea (complete saga)

I know I have Minerva’s Den in this list but the BioShock series has excellent when providing us with something extra to play. Having just finished off part 2 (the Rajakaru Review is due shortly) I felt a deep sense of satisfaction I haven’t experienced since the finale of Final Fantasy IX. It is a massively rewarding piece of storytelling that ties up every loose end the franchise put in front of us.

In fact, Infinite feels a little incomplete if you haven’t played Burial at Sea (as does the entire franchise). Burial at Sea is the most import single piece of DLC on the planet and deserves top spot for bringing something completely fresh to an ageing series. One that has sadly finished forever now Irrational Game has closed.

Ken Levine will always be remembered for his fantastic story telling techniques and the studio is respected in every corner of the industry. 

So what do you think is the best DLC? Have I missed any classics off my list? Let Rajakaru know in the comments below.

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The Biggest Xbox One Titles

When the Xbox One was released back in November 2013, it did so alongside a handful of great game: Forza Motorsport 5, Dead Rising 3 and Battlefield 4 to name a few. Since then, barring a few exceptions, there hasn’t been that much to play. 2014 however, will address this is with some massive titles due to hit from Bungie, Respawn, BioWare and more - below I’ll mention a few.

Alien: Isolation

Alien games are a bit like the films that take after, they have a massive amount of hype, they usually look pretty good, but they don’t tend to finish with anything substantial. While James Cameron’s sequel, Aliens, was all about the “BIG” guns and action, Ridley Scott’s original film was a thrilling ride of terror and the dread of being hunted by the most capable creature in the universe. Thankfully the recently announced game is more interested in the latter – unlike the often awful Colonial Marines from last year.

Isolation is due to take players back to the Nostromo mining ship from the original film where you will step into the shows of Ellen Ripley’s daughter Amanda. You’re searching for the ships black box in an attempt to find out what exactly happened to your mother. You are the prey and it’s all about survival of the fittest if you want to finish this title.

Below

Capybara made one of the most exciting games of last year in the form of Superbrothers: Sword and Sorcery. This iOS adventure featured charming visuals, an intriguing soundtrack and original gameplay design.

The studios next game, Below, will focus heavily on exploration and the synonymous question of permadeath. It’s narrative is formed through the adventure without any dialogue. Following on from Superbrothers will be a challenge but one I certainly feel they are up to completing. Original gameplay will be at the forefront again and this title is definitely something to keep your eye on.

Destiny

It wouldn’t be a successful list of 2014 games if we didn’t mention the galaxy traversing, planetary adventure of Desting. Those familiar with this file will have already made up their own opinion but Bungie are looking to seamlessly blend single and multiplayer experiences into this giant shooter.

Destiny is Bungie’s first crack at a new first-person shooter property since Halo: Combat Evolved in 2001. Looking at everything the developer accomplished over the past decade – setting new standards for writing, art, music, and multiplayer - it’s hard not to be excited about what’s coming next.

Dragon Age: Inquisition

The Dragon Age series already has a strong foundation, but with Inquisition, Bioware is going all out. The second instalment in the saga missed a lot of the target audience that the original had reached.  This third incarnation will bring with it new races, new creatures, an improved dialogue system, and is due to be powered by the amazing Frostbite 3 engine. The gameplay footage seen so far certainly looks the part but there is still some way to go for the RPG super-developer to reel in the general consumer market.

The most common complaints about Dragon Age 2 have been addressed in droves. There will be a stronger emphasis on open-world discovery, a large redaction of reused environments and an intelligent story to witness. This really could be something special.

Dying Light

Showing unmistakable touches from Dead Island, this first-person Zombie based parkour game will blend together the brutal melee combat of Left 4 Dead with fresh open-world gameplay. I’ve played it and can 100% confirm my enthusiasm for this new franchise.

You play a survivor trapped in a zombie apocalypse; dealing with human survivors as much as the standard “walking dead” and both will try to stop you at every opportunity. You’ll find some interesting side quests – missing children and trapped families – as well as a day/night cycle that will increase the size of the zombie hordes you’ll encounter on foot and therefore the danger.

There are also the typical ‘special’ zombie offerings; and the one wearing a hazard suit is my particular favourite.

The Elder Scrolls Online

This epic title from Bethesda is what most people consider to be the first real MMO on consoles. I know we could class Final Fantasy XI and Defiance but this is the first ‘heavyweight’ to reach the genre. Taking in the whole of Tamriel, this giant fantasy world will be littered with everything from the Imperial City to Morrowind and you can traverse the world in a host of interesting ways.

A first-person mode was added after E3 last year to help the game feel more like the usual Elder Scrolls affairs but, even so, will the $15.00 monthly subscription model hold up.

Evolve

Turtle Rock, the original creators of Left 4 Dead are doing it again, with this horror epic. A four player coop survival game evolving from their previous zombie hit. Each player takes over the role of one of four human characters – with differing roles and classes – in order to take down a Goliath.

The Goliath is a human-controlled monster that grows as the match goes on. The players must work together to get through each chapter and the action looks explosive. We are happy that Turtle Rock has made a bold choice here, with a genre they are comfortable with, and this could be another new AAA-title, and no doubt subsequent franchise, to watch.

Fable Legends

After the recent release of Fable Anniversary I am much more excited about this title than ever before. Taking place 400 years before the original, during Albion’s “Age of Heroes”, this title is designed for four player co-op.

The best thing though, and certainly the part everyone will want to play, is that a fifth counterpart controls the villain. They will be able to set traps, enemies and ambushes from a top-down perspective in order to stop our heroes from completing their quest.

This take on the pen-and-paper RPG dungeon master system is ambitious, and it’s a breath of fresh air for Microsoft’s role-playing series.

Halo 5

While we don’t know an awful lot about the next chapter of the Reclaimer Sage we certainly know that it’ll be a crowd pleaser. 343 Industries did exceptionally well with Halo 4 and with the new generation of consoles being in place we are in for so much more. Expect Halo 5 (although this title name could change) to run at 1080p and 60fps for the first time in the series history. It’s widely known that dedicated servers are in too.

Meanwhile, the director from the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot, Timothy Longo, is also leading the story. Cortana is gone and the battle with the Didact is still in full swing. I wouldn’t be surprised if gameplay is shown at E3 this year with a release early 2015.

LEGO: The Hobbit

The LEGO games have grown massively in popularity and quality over the past few years; encompassing Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Marvel, Harry Potter, and more. The next stop for the big brick train is The Hobbit – or more specifically up until the conclusion of Desolation of Smaug.

Obviously the usual mechanics will come into play with a multitude of playable characters, an interesting world to explore and more content then your regular titles. This will be a fun family game that everyone should enjoy.

Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes

So, this has technically been released (review to follow shortly) but the overall plan is for this to bridge the gap between now and when the Phantom Pain finally hits shelves next year. Brace yourselves, the title takes place in 1975 and stars Snake. It’s set in a small but very fun sandbox with the foundations coming from the brand new Fox engine (which basically looks amazing).

Ground Zeroes takes a cue from Peace Walker, adopting the base-building feature used to upgrade weapons and items. In stark contrast to past Metal Gear Solid games, the story missions can be played in any order -- supposedly without sacrificing the player’s understanding of the plot.

Minecraft

Minecraft’s impact on gaming can’t be understated. Collecting materials, surviving, and building whatever and wherever you can imagine is unbelievably satisfying. It’s simple, but wildly addictive, which means almost anyone can get in on the fun. Whether you build a simple wooden cabin or an intricate underground transportation system, every completed project feels like a huge success.

Mojang’s survival game has been on the Xbox 360 since 2012, but with the release of the Xbox One, and the inevitable migration of players to the new platform, it’ll be great to see Minecraft transition into the new generation.

Project Spark

Playing is creating and creating is playing. This is the pitch for Project Spark, which puts the power to shape a game world into your hands. The beta has been a resounding success story and looks like a fresh take on the Minecraft creation formula. Level designs, even in this brief version, have been varied and interesting.

What enemies do you want? What towns do you build? What is the environment like? What game genre are you going for? Whether it’s and RPG or a Tower Defence title, you will decide. You can even go as far so the AI intuition of the NPCs. This looks like taking the “Little Big Planet” formula to a whole new level.

Tom Clancy's The Division
From the moment this was unveiled; this persistent, gorgeous and apocalyptic action title had my interest. The Snowdrop engine is wonderful to behold - just watch the trailer – and the New York City of “tomorrow” is grey, dank but full of intrigue. I wouldn’t be surprised if this missed 2014 completely but by the end of the year we should have seen enough of the title to confirm its amazingness.     

It’s a squad-based third-person MMO, where you and your squad of friends work together to try and scavenge and survive against other groups. Its big and ambitious and also utilises everything the Xbox One has pinned its hopes on. It has Smartglass, it has Kinect functions and it integrates its online gameplay seamlessly (play Titanfall for some hints).

Watch Dogs

This futuristic open world adventure game has a very “big brother” feel to it. Unfortunately it seems to have lost some momentum since its release data delay (as this was originally touted as a launch title) but is looking very polished. Scheduled, now, to release in May we feel the title is starting to get it’s mojo back.

Being able to hack everything is an interesting concept and the gameplay videos, of which there are many, have kept this quietly – but confidently – ticking over. Its second-screen experience actually looks like it might be interesting, while its always-connected over a blended single-player/multiplayer experience it could lend a surprisingly delightful element of unpredictability to your hacking affairs.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

This is probably my most anticipated game on this whole list. The Witcher 2, while not completely adverse of issues, was a fantastic title full of depth, dark storylines and menacing gameplay. CD Projekt have set up an unenviable task for themselves – looking to created an open-world game with all the strengths that kind of layout can provide (hidden areas, great side-stories), all without sacrificing an effective, overarching storyline.

This is even more impressive when you think back to the previous ‘Witcher’ titles as these were far more closed but did feature well-written, mature plots.


Unlike Skyrim, which many people are comparing this against; the enemies of Wild Hunt won’t scale to your level. This means you can stumble upon enemies that are much more powerful than you. So, while exploration will be exciting and rewarding, it will also be considerably more dangerous than it is many open world games. Let’s not forget, of course, that Witcher games have always looked incredible, and seeing what CD Projekt can pull off with the Xbox One should be a treat.

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Why I am a Console Gamer.....

With the release of every new console, I always have to ask myself: is this the year I return to PC gaming and stop buying consoles? The answer, every time, is a resounding no.

I suppose it’s best for me to start with some honesty: I'm too lazy these days to be a PC gamer. I realize that things have likely improved since the nineties, but that doesn't mean I want to spend any time whatsoever setting up a game to play it. What I like about console gaming is that you don't need to worry about resolution, colours or graphics card.

Obviously this comes at the sacrifice of customisation but I’ve never been one to move from default much anyway. Except when an FPS has too much sensitivity. I’d prefer my entertainment to be spoon fed into my face straight from the box; playable exactly as the developer intended. I don’t have the time to spend working out the optimised options for each title I purchase and I’m not a fan of tinkering with different pieces of hardware every few months. I’d rather upgrade my system in one fell swoop every  6 or 7 years.

That said, being lazy doesn't make me stupid. I love a challenging, complicated game. I'm sick of the handholding, tutorial-centric crap in games like Assassin's Creed. I hated the "consoleification" of Mass Effect as much as PC gamers did, and my favourite experience with Fallout: New Vegas was playing through on hardcore mode. Just because twitch shooters and cinematic adventure games sell well on consoles doesn't mean we're all looking for simplified games that everyone can master within minutes

It’s probably because I spend 40-50 hours a week in front of a computer for work, and I'm sure most of you do too. The last thing I want to do is spend my leisure hours there as well. Console gaming gets me away from computer, out of my chair (or in the case of mobile gaming, out of my house completely), and away from work. Plus you get to kick back on the couch, which is a great way to take a load off at the end of a long day.

It’s probably about time that I addressed the age old questions here – controllers or a keyboard and mouse. I'm not huge into twitchy first person shooters, so I could care less about precision. I'll play and enjoy the occasional slow shooter like BioShock, Dishonored, or Metro, but you typically won't find me playing Battlefield or Call of Duty unless my friends are involved. So, that whole "mouse and keyboard is the best and most precise control scheme" just doesn't do it for me.

For all the keyboard-centric games on the PC, there are just as many games that are best played on a controller. Dark Souls, while looking exquisite on PC, is suited far better with the Xbox One controller in hand. It’s the same for all the Batman Arkham games, Dead Space and Fable. I have a far stronger preference to the pressure sensitive analog sticks to the heavy skill required with a mouse.

Those of you making a mental note that you can in-fact use controllers on a PC, I completely agree, but this takes time to configure as well. And in my experience they never quite feel like the real deal.

The other thing that always gets me is that most of the AAA titles made for PC instantly, or shortly thereafter, come to consoles anyway. But console exclusives like Halo stay exclusive (excluding the original Halo) and the games are the only real thing that matters.

Some of my favourite titles of the last decade have been console exclusives – you can’t get the Naughty Dog games on PC (The Last of Us and Uncharted are some of the best action-adventure games I’ve ever played). You can’t play Trials, Journey, Super Smash Bros or Metal Gear Solid on your PC.

I love a good strategy game but unless you’re hugely into them  then the PC games don’t come close to the quality of exclusive IPs.

It wouldn’t be fair for me to say it’s all about consoles because PC gaming and console games are two very different things. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. Honestly, I'd argue they're so different that they're almost impossible to compare. Both attract a different kind of person entirely, but that doesn't make one better than the other. Sure, maybe us console gamers are a bit lazy, but that doesn't make us stupid. We crave intelligent, hard, and complicated gaming experiences. You just have to trust us more.

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