Now, Blitz 1UP is the indie arm of Blitz Games Studios Ltd., and it aims to give struggling indie games devs a helping hand with PR, QA, development and distribution, so they’re good guys in our eyes.  An experienced and established studio helping out not so experienced and established developers is refreshing to see, and we hope more studios follow Blitz’s example in the future.

So, without further ado, here is the video interview with Neil Holmes:

Much thanks go to Neil, everyone at Dare Protoplay 2010, and everyone at Blitz 1UP.

The fighting too can be frustrating. The game incorparates the many styles of MMA but it can get really annoying, specifically when you want to stand up and trade punches and your opponent takes you down as soon as you get back to your feet. It’s especially enraging when you take a long time to get back up from the ground once you’ve been taken down. When you do get to trade punches and kicks, though, it is very satisfying – more so than in UFC Undisputed. The animations are fluid and the game overall looks and feels more realistic than the UFC Undisputed games.

Check it out below.

The tennis is very hard, as the motion tracking isn’t very accurate. Swinging the racket will hit the ball but with no real direction or power and you have to be very vigorous with your swings to make them go in a different direction or travel at a faster speed. Badminton is very easy – too easy in fact – as I managed to win (quite convincingly too) without really understanding where the shuttlecock was. Direction and power, once again, was all very random.

It’s obvious after playing Sports Champions what the PlayStation Move is capable of, unfortunately Racket Sports does not come anywhere near that standard. Check it out for yourself below.

Along with a whole new setlist of songs and the aforementioned career mode, freestyle sections have been added to the game. These freestyle sections differ between freestyle scratches, crossfades and samples which improve the realism of being a DJ by having more control over the music. There are also long notes where you need to hold down the correctly-coloured button. These tweaks make the game a lot more fun and realistic.

Check out ‘Pussycat Dolls – Don’t Cha vs. Pitbull – I Know You Want Me’ below:

At a glance, you would be forgiven for thinking that not much has really changed in LittleBigPlanet 2. However, as you spend more time with the game you’ll continually notice tweaks and overhauls which really show just how much time and attention to detail has been poured into it. The three main story levels on offer are typical LBP albeit with a twist, primarily platforming around hazards and collecting score bubbles, but also showcasing a few of the new features. Springboards propel your sackperson to varying heights and the grappling hook will attach to material you can normally grab (like sponge). The spaceship level shows off other additions such changing gravity, which affects your jump height, and a level link, where you can jump straight to another level without returning back to your pod.

Most of the ‘meat’ of LBP 2 is to be found in the create mode, which is incredibly deep and essentially only limited by your imagination, not only for creating platform games but all types of games in general. If you’ve been checking around YouTube recently you’ll have no doubt had a taste of what you can potentially make, from first person shooters to top-down racers. Even games such as flOw have been recreated, showing the immense power of the creation tools available.

This begs the question, then, of whether the creation mode is reserved for the hardcore, for people who are willing to spend hours to get anything decent out. For me, it’s yes and no. Having witnessed quite a few people playing LBP 2 at the recent Eurogamer Expo, it’s apparent that it’s not completely overwhelming to players. I watched both adults and children get stuck into the creation mode and make something playable without getting confused. On the other hand, if you do wish to create something other than a standard platforming level, the large number of tools and items – and how they fit together – might put you off and confuse you, unless you have access to a step-by-step tutorial.

Overall, though, colour me extremely impressed – my jaw hit the floor as I played through the story levels and checked out some community creations, and that was only a small taste of what the full game has in store for us. Once again it will be up to the community to really push the tools to their limits and personally I can’t wait. If you want to see a little bit of the beta story levels for yourself, check out the video below.

Looking at a few of the main gameplay aspects that have been changed, the passing is more realistic, meaning you have to correctly aim and power your passes more than in FIFA 10. It is also harder to pull off brilliant passes that split the defence making you work harder and feel more accomplished when you pull off a spectacular pass. The shooting, too, has been tweaked to make difficult shots, such as long range efforts and volleys, harder to score from. However once you clear the defence and are 1-on-1 with the keeper it can seem a bit easy, as the keeper doesn’t rush out as fast giving you longer to place your shot.

The new feature called ‘Personality +’, which means the big players play more like themselves, is noticeable. Playing against the likes of Messi will leave you chasing them once they use clever skill to get past you. AI opponents using skill moves is a little far-fetched, though, as there were a few occasions where defenders would 360-spin past my tackle. Running with the ball has been slightly improved to make knocking it past a defender a little harder, with jostling playing a big part. Once again I think FIFA will win the battle of the football games this year, but it’s definitely harder to call than in past years. There’s always next year, PES.

Playing Tumble is as easy as picking up blocks, rotating them and placing them as if you were actually there, which is straightforward due to the accuracy of PlayStation Move. After completing a level with either a bronze, silver or gold medal you will be told how far you were from attaining a higher ranked medal (providing you didn’t get gold) and how many other medals can be earned in that level. This gives you more incentive to go back and replay previous levels. So far Tumble seems like a solid little PSN game but it all depends on how well it varies the challenge later on in the game.

As always, here’s the video to let you have a look yourself.

The shooting is not very satisfying, as you can’t strike the ball with any real power because the ball reacts like a half-inflated balloon every time you have a shot from outside of the box. This doesn’t mean it’s hard to score though, as the goalkeepers occasionally let in very soft goals and often fumble the ball leaving an easy tap-in. Dribbling is a bit of a mixed bag, running forward with the ball is good as you have 360 degree control over your player, but trying to turn in the opposite directing is slow and really takes the momentum out of an attack. In previous games, running past defenders was far too easy but PES 11 has changed that, now it is slightly too hard to get past them.

As always, here is a video so you can see for yourself how the game plays.

So, here it is. After a hectic two months of emails, ideas, and technical issues, we can finally bring you the much anticipated StartGame Episodes. Featuring the latest games, the latest articles, and the latest in voiceover technology (or me) we hope that it is a recipe for success that will go from strength to strength in the coming months.

This episode is obviously the first episode, and in the not so distant future we are planning to implement new features, new games, and new voices so you guys don’t have to put up with me rambling on for a whole seven minutes. This episode has been made and put together by me, but I am hoping to persuade other Staff members to get in on the action as well. If you feel like lending a hand too, please don’t hesistate to get in touch with me at dexter17@startgame.org.

Anyway, why are you still reading? Click the play button below, and if you are watching on a HD screen I would recommend that you set the video to play in 720p.  Enjoy the Episode, and keep your eyes on StartGame for more news relating to this exciting, new project.

The gameplay is basic 5-a-side with a few twists. Instead of committing foul after foul you fill a foul meter which awards your oponenet a penalty when full. This is great as it doesn’t constantly interrupt the gameplay but still rewards you for bad tackles on your team. There is also the Pure Shot which can be triggered by stopping the shot meter in the correct zone or by filling the Pure Shot Meter with each shot on target. So far Pure Football is looking great for a fun, arcade-style football game and despite the loading of certain sections taking a bit too long it’s still a good game. It’s a bit like what FIFA Street 3 should have been.