Posts By Mat Growcott

Microsoft have announced some major changes coming to Xbox Live, both in the way it works and in the things you'll get for subscribing. Some of these changes have been a long time coming, while others will affect only a small subset of the Xbox Live community. Even so, they're welcome changes and have a lot of potential.

Master Chief is returning next year, in a new experience currently just called Halo. The CGI trailer - which we'll add to this post when it's made available by Microsoft - showed Master Chief walking through the desert, his visor cracked and his armour beaten down. The desert wind hits against his iconic green suit (covered only by a sack cloak of sorts), until he arrives in front of a giant mech. The crowd understandably went wild.

Respawn Entertainment, a company made up of much of the team that left Infinity Ward after the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, officially unveiled the long-awaited Titanfall this evening and the Microsoft 2013 E3 conference. It was much as any fan of Call of Duty might expect - silky smooth multiplayer action with a few clever ideas to really capture the player, keeping them coming back time and time again. There were also mechs. A lot of mechs.

The Microsoft Conference at E3 2013 is now over, and although there were some pretty fantastic announcements in there and plenty of gameplay, perhaps the most important thing announced were the Xbox One price and release date. While a little on the pricey side - especially after the last few weeks of controversy - the release date is far earlier than the rumours would have had us believe and is right in line with the rumoured release date of the PlayStation 4.

Zombie adventure State of Decay has become the fastest selling new IP on Xbox Live Arcade after its release last week. It sold 250,000 units in only two days and has continued to sell, hitting that sweet spot between zombie adventure and player-controller narrative that perhaps games like DayZ and The Walking Dead so often just miss. There's no doubt that it's paid off anyway, and that State of Decay will continue to be a must-play title over the coming weeks ...

Have the previous entries in the Saints Row series been a little light in the drama department? Is jumping through the window of a plane not enough, do you need a string orchestra and slow motion to really feel moment? That's not going to be a problem with Saints Row IV, at least if this E3 trailer is anything to go by. With a cast of larger-than-life characters and a plot that's almost literally out of this world, Saints Row IV is going to be something new all ...

The original Coconut Dodge, released as a PlayStation Mini in 2010, is one of only a small handful of games that I've rewarded with a 10/10. At a time before FuturLab became the Sony darlings they so deservedly are today, they were just another developer vying for attention on the Minis platform and in Coconut Dodge they made a game that was not only so much better than almost anything else on the platform, but that was so much better than it needed to be. ...

Fez was a long time coming, and even longer if you didn't own an PC. Although it was discussed, at length for many years, legal and personal problems constantly delayed the original 360 version and Fish's outspoken relationship with gamers and with the industry at large kept him in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Despite that, Fez was released to high praise and has sold incredibly well.

Konami have today announced that Keither Sutherland will be taking over the role of Snake in the upcoming Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. He replaces David Hayter, who played the well loved character in various guises for almost fifteen years. Hayter wasn't warned about the transition, but seems to have seen the writing on the wall long before the game's April blowout.

Harmonix and Disney have announced a new game based on the classic Fantastia. That should be pretty damn good, right? The classical music, the wondrous world - where can they go wrong?