The Holy Pasty?

So at the moment I have left the comfort of home behind and headed for the big smoke. Yes the city of London beckons this weekend with a weekend filled with gaming wonders, oh and I’m staying with a great friend.

Today I was invited to EA (that’s Electronic Arts for those not into gaming) to their Play 4 Xmas event. This was a limited invitational event in London giving EA a chance to show off their new and not so new family games. The event was just off Oxford Street, so it gave me an opportunity to have a look around some of the shops in the area, needless to say these particular London streets were absolutely heaving. I was quite glad to get inside to the the event.

EA know how to put on an event, and the kids waiting in line to get in were quite excited, and this situation wasn’t helped by the regular mention of things like an ice-cream machine! Once inside there were various EA games to try out. I have to admit that the one that was new to me and also looked like the best game on show was “Need For Speed Nitro” which has been developed especially for the Wii. From the couple of goes that I had it looks really good with some features that are unique, but also make the game a lot of fun to play. Hopefully it shouldn’t be too long before a copy of it is in the post for me and then I can give you a full review on www.soteriamag.co.uk.

The other upcoming release that caught my eye is the new Flip for DS. These comprise of a number of books on one cartridge and then can be read like a book using the DS sideways. Some of the interactive features of these include character bio’s that can be pulled up from the text and also sounds or music that add to the mood of reading some of the book. Although I personally can see a lot of features that could be added to this I do like this idea of finding another way of getting kids reading. To demonstrate how the kids could share chapters of the book on their DS they had a special Jackanory session, with special guest Ruth Langsford. This made me feel a little more at home here because she is originally from the South West!

EA have a pretty good Christmas line-up, but tomorrow is the Eurogamer Expo which looks set to be another excellent day of gaming.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks which is why there have been very few comments on my blog – sorry about that! It doesn’t look like it’s going to stop any time soon, as the build up to Christmas is really beginning. You always know when Christmas is coming because EA Sports release all their next years games like Tiger Woods and Madden Football. However the final signal has arrived in the post in the form of FIFA ‘09 which is one of their huge selling games in the run-up to the big day.

On top of playing all these games I have been very busy working on Soteria’s new magazine which, admittedly is a couple of weeks late (nothing new there then!) We also have something special that has gone out to the printer on Friday so when they come back we can roll out the October magazine!

I have also been working on some publicity for the local Baptist Church that includes a leaflet for Messy Church and a ladies craft night that are upcoming. If you are in the Redruth area then contact the church office for more details. We also have a Children’s light party coming up too. At the moment it’s all publicity and a small Meet Jesus magazine to go with the mission. I have a bit of a holiday in a couple of weeks time which will allow me a bit of breathing space.

We are all looking forward to a nice long trip on a train with the two boys (arrrggghhh!) but it will be worth it all because we are planning to visit Legoland thanks to Warner Bros. Interactive  Toby is definitely looking forward to this as none of us have ever been before but he loves Lego! On top of this there is a Lego Star Wars fireworks display that night – which is one of his favourite X-Box games! He may well be getting a little hyper as we get nearer the holiday!

So with a pile of about 30 books to read and a load of DVDs to watch I had better get on with making sure the website is kept going too!

Tags: EA Sports, FIFA 09, Magazine, Soteria, Website

Undoubtedly Lewis Hamilton is drawing people in the UK to Formula One this year, and that’s great! However having had a taste of Formula One sometimes you want to have a go yourself. Now not everyone wants to drive the cars, but if that’s your thing and you have a PS2 then you can rush out and buy yourself a copy of Formula One 2007. However if you only have a PC then you are a little bit stuck for the racing.

However for the management I have found an excellent little game that takes around 30 days and is played in real time against other people. It’s called BATRacer and one of the best things about it is that it is totally free and played entirely online. You get to set up the car in test conditions and then qualify and go racing. If you don’t like F1 and would prefer A1GP or some other format of motorsport then you are catered for too. So why not check it out – sign up and join in with the game, it’s great fun. I’m halfway through a season as a Red Bull car and I haven’t scored a single point – but I will eventually.

Developed by 505 Games

As a Christian website it would be remiss of us to not cover this release for the Playstation 2 wouldn’t it? The Bible game is actually probably more accurately called Do Unto Others and is a game that is based around a quiz show format, although you can play many of the mini games without the quiz.

The aim of the game is simple, to get as many points as possible and win. In order to do this you have to choose the points value and challenge that you will be taking to win those points. This is done on a selection screen similar to the one they used to use for the TV series Catchphrase. The challenges can include playing mini-games against the other 3 AI players, playing a solo game or answering a Bible question in the shortest time of the contestants. When selecting your score you do have to also hope that you don’t select the score that is hiding the “Wrath of God” which wipes you current round score and ends the round! Thankfully to appeal to all users of the game the questions can be set to easy in the options and using a slider bar the difficult can be increased, but be warned the questions can be incredibly difficult from around halfway up the slider.

Read our full review of The Bible Game

Available on PC / PS2 / PSP / Nintendo DS.

PR Blurb

Everything you’ve always loved about the MICRO MACHINES games is back and turned up to eleven. Tiny sports cars race around the dinner table firing rockets, jam on the handbrake, turn sharply but don’t go careering over the edge!

Up to four players can challenge each other on MICRO MACHINES V4’s genius domestic raceways, weaving between train carriages on a model railway or ripping up the baize on a pool table.

Review

Hot on the heels of another classic, Sensible Soccer, comes Micro Machines v4 from the same game developers, Codemasters. Once more you are looking forward to racing across table tops, over ironing boards and in other unique places that other racing games cannot get to because they are simply too big!

Read our review of Micro Machines v4