Game of the week

Castlevania LOS is set in the middle ages and tells the story of Gabriel Belmont -  a member of the Brotherhood of Light, an elite group of holy knights who protect and defend innocent people against the supernatural creatures. Gabriel's wife Marie was brutally murdered by one of them, and her soul cannot leave as it is trapped in limbo.Gabriel intends to defeat the three factions of the Lords of Shadow in order to obtain the pieces of the God Mask, and bring back his deceased wife.

The story isnt that revolutionary - its the games combat style and overall look which stands out. The combat is easily the most fluid in any of the Castlevania games - Gabriel unleashes his chain whip against the undead with the most beautiful flair and style - as it forces them into nothing. The abilty to upgrade moves and weapons, make Castlevania a joy to play - combos are easy to pull off, with a few presses of a button and special moves are brilliant to watch.

With some stunning visuals and great voice acting, Castlevania LOS is a stand out game of the series.

Most notably, Castlevania Lords of Shadow is a reboot of the series - with the help of Hideo Kojima - producer of the Metal Gear series - who took an "advisory role" for the games development.

The game has many famous actors lending their voices, including Sir Patrick Stewart and Robert Carlyle and is thegaystation's game of the week!

8 / 10.

Tokyo Game Show 2010 (TGS)

I am close to bursting. I am literally, going to burst. Not because of food (this time) but bursting with excitement. I am experiencing Playstation overload – and thought I would let you lucky peeps in on the big news... courtesy of the Tokyo Game Show 2010. Whatever social life I had before is seriously going to be wiped out thanks to Sony!

The Tokyo Game Show has (sadly) been and gone…. leaving behind so many frenzied gamers in its wake. The TGS is one of the many reasons why I love gaming – and you will love it too. Prepare your senses for what you are about to read and what happened at TGS.

 It ran from 16-19 September and is hosted in Makuhari Messe – Chiba, Tokyo by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA). With thousands of tourists, gamers and what’s known as Cosplayers – gamers who dress up as their favourite videogame characters – attending, the TGS is the definitive place to be for videogames. And 2010 has been one hell of a show!

One of the biggest gaming news came from publishing giant Capcom. The major publisher had a lot of exciting games on show – the biggest being Marvel Vs Capcom 3: Fate of two worlds. Set for release early next year, MVC3 is the third instalment of the Marvel Vs Capcom franchise – where it pits famous characters from Marvel (Spiderman, X-Men and the like) to battle it out against Capcom characters (from games such as Street Fighter, Viewtiful Joe and even Resident Evil) with explosive results. The original games were jam packed with explosions on screen – punches, kicks and multiple hits created dazzling displays in one of the fastest fighters known to man.  The third instalment delivers the same, only better. With faster fighting, more characters and better tweaked moves – this will be huge when it comes out.

The visuals look brilliant in full HD – the characters have a cool cel-shaded 3D look in a 2D environment – similar to Street Fighter 4.

The character roster is looking very good too – with many returning faces from previous games– Wolverine, Spiderman, Ryu etc to new characters such as Joe from Viewtiful Joe, Chris Redfield (Resident Evil) and even Thor (Marvel comics). There were many demos and videos released at TGS – some of them showing Trish (Devil May Cry) and Wesker (Resident Evil)battling it out – sending fans ballistic with excitement – and I am with them!

Capcom also treated us to a teaser demo of the new Devil May Cry game known simply as DmC. The demo is set in the present day and shows a young guy being tortured in a chamber – as an unknown voice asks for his name. The view quickly changes to a familiar character in a red coat – poking a cigarette into a monsters eye and shows off some spectacular moves on other beasts. It changes back and forth to the guy in the chamber – his name still being demanded by the voice. By the end, the guy shouts “My name is DANTE!” (Shock horror etc). It’s supposed to be a re-imaging of the series, rather than a prequel according to Capcom managing director Keiji Inafune. I don’t care what they call it – I want it ASAP!

 Not only were Capcom pulling out the big guns, there was also plenty of news of Final Fantasy Versus XIII: Advent Children, Batman Arkham City, Alice: Madness Returns, ICO and Shadow of the Colossus Collection, Killzone 3, Tekkan Tag Tournament  2 and Mortal Kombat to name but a few.

The biggest news for me was the about Ico and Shadow Colossus Collection – a 3D HD re-release of two of PS2’s greatest games and I need to play them – now! Ico was released originally in 2001 - it was designed and directed by Fumito Ueda, who wanted to create a minimalist game around a "boy meets girl" concept. The game was (at the time) visually ground-breaking and so emotionally strung story-wise. Unfortunately the game had a minimal release – forcing gamers to pay sky high prices for this fantastic game. It suffered from poor box art and alien game play – the unusual concept of fending off ghosts with a stick whilst holding a ghost girl’s hand. Sounds odd, but the game itself was immersive as well as innovative. The sequel or “Spiritual successor” as the designers wish it to be known, Shadow of the Colossus had gamers fighting gigantic beasts in a huge environment and looked the business.

Now, these two little gems will be packaged together in a 3D HD game to celebrate the release of the third instalment – The Last Guardian. News is a little sparse, but there was a new video unveiled at TGS which showed a boy and a strange gigantic dog like beast which can fly – trapped in a huge castle. It looks like you will need to work together to help each other out like in Ico. But, as mentioned before, confirmed news is sparse, so expect to hear more in the coming months.

So, I have officially died and landed into Play station heaven. I have been waiting for news of The Last Guardian since it was first hinted at in late 2005 – and to be treated with the previous games packaged in glorious HD and 3D support – well, you spoil us Mr Sony!

As if that’s not enough – the new Silent Hill has been confirmed and a new video was shown – displaying a convict escaping into the odd and horrifying world of Silent Hill. Sweet!

Playstation is consuming my life once more – and I am sure, it will consume yours too – best just to give in and obey….. I know I will!

Finally, I will be attending the Eurogamer Convention in London this October – so expect more news and pictures from the event right here on The Gaystation

Strictly sexy come dancing!

The line up for this year's Strictly Come Dancing line up has been announced - I couldn't care less about the other contestents, because this will be in it:

Yep, 28 year old former husband of Charlotte Church, Gavin Henson will be in Strictly (huskies not included!) and looks better than ever. I've always had a thing for him, so when the show starts this Saturday, do i watch Strictly or X-Factor as they battle it out for viewers? That body is so tempting to watch in sequinned shirts and tight trousers...

I want Gavin to win, but the bookies are putting former Destiny's Child singer Michelle Williams as the winner. Still, i always get sucked into the show - just might have to watch it on BBC Iplayer rather than miss X-Factor!

Which show will you watch?

Deal of the week!

Blazblue: Calamity Trigger - only £9.99!

visit thehut.com

Just in time before the sequel comes out, from the makers of Guilty Gear series comes Blazblue: Calamity Trigger - a 2D fighter with fantastic visuals with a real edge. Finely tuned balance of characters and online play make's BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger our Deal of the week at only £9.99!

More info on the sequel Blazblue: Continuum Shift soon.

Eurogamer Expo - October 2010

I will be attending the Eurogmaer Expo 2010 in October and thought I would share info on the games available to play at this year's event:
The expo is now only a matter of weeks away and tickets for Saturday are now sold out - but don't worry, I will be there to get all the pictures and gossip!

First on the agenda is this year's lineup from Electronic Arts. Medal of Honor, FIFA 11, Crysis 2, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and Dead Space 2 will all be playable at this year's event. It's a mighty offering which includes the opportunity for gamers to go head to head in a 16 player demo of Medal of Honor.

Creative director of id Software, Tim Willits, will be jetting over all the way from the US to present RAGE on all 3 days. This is the first UK showing of this highly anticipated title and each of the sessions is bound to be packed to the rafters.

In addition, both the president of inXile, Matt Findley, and the team's game director, Maxx Kaufman, will be on hand to present Hunted: The Demon's Forge on Saturday at 3pm. Again, this is a UK exclusive presentation.
As well as bringing over their development chums, Bethesda will also be bringing along playable versions of Brink, Fallout New Vegas and Hunted for you to get your hands on. This is the first time all 3 games will be publicly playable in the UK.

Visit http://expo.eurogamer.net/ for more info!

First Look - Batman Arkham City

Last year's Batman: Arkham Asylum was a massive hit - executing perfectly the style of the Bat, terrific game play and an engaging storyline. It captured the brilliance of being the Dark Knight to a tee - so it's no suprise the sequel has spawned so much hype and rumours,  forums reaching feverpitch at the release of new screens. Although fans will have to wait another year until they get their hands on the Black Bat. And I am one of the fans who cannot wait for its release.

Named Batman: Arkham City, things are a little bit different this time as inmates are fenced off in a secluded area of Gotham - free to run havoc without worry. Except the worry of the Batman - who stalks the streets, keeping the crazies in line.

> Above The Catwoman is set to play a part in helping Batman, but her intentions, as ever, are unclear.

But where is The Joker? He appeared on a drip in the teaser trailer but is no where to be seen. He can be heard over the speaker system through out the opening of the game - similar to Arkham Asylum. Is he ill from taking the Titan chemical in the previous game? Is he too old? Or is it something else? Who knows... developer Rocksteady is keeping tight lipped on that.

Old characters are set to return - as well as new ones such as Two-Face and Catwoman. My personal favourite, Harley Quinn will be more visible in this game - crazy as ever but now with less clothing. She will be hounding the Batman at every opportunity possibly acting as The Joker would.

>  Harley Quinn has had a slight make under - probably to appeal more to the straights

The new game looks bigger than the previous one - and that was big already! As designer states: “Gamers who played Batman: Arkham Asylum will know how dedicated we are as a studio to injecting an incredible amount of detail into every environment we build. It is this attention to detail that gives our games the deep and intense atmosphere that so many players have found so compelling, and so we have had to seriously scale up our art team in order to bring the same level of detail to Arkham City.”

So, with a year to wait Batman: Arkham City is looking just as good as it's predecessor. Batman looks sexy as ever and I cannot wait to see what tricks The Joker has up his sleeve.