Those gamers (like us) who’ve had major and terminal problems with Uncharted 3 – namely the infinite loading ring – a real solution may be at hand.

The new 4.0 update for the PlayStation 3 appears to have solved the issue and the game appears to run as normal. You may need to delete the Game Data beforehand but we are now, after many hours of fruitless fixes, finally playing the damned game.

Update #1: Or maybe not. We can barely complete a chapter without serious framerate or texture issues. Now we are unable to progress past the first cutscene in chapter two. A shocking display of technical problems.

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If the suggestive nature of the first Hyperdimension Neptunia wasn’t enough for you then NIS America and Idea Factory are happy to offer you a chance to get down and dirty with the 4 girls of Gamindustri with Hyperdimension Neptunia MK2. This time it’s up to the four younger (!) sisters of the first game to save the world which will undoubtedly lead to more bellyaching about the exploitation of young women in a fictional and fantastical setting.

Coming in February 2012 the game promises a new combat system and a more exploratory overworld. All lewd fantasies aside (and I have quite a few) I really liked the premise of the series and only had a problem with the combat in the first game. If they can fix these issues then I’ll be locking my door and keeping my girlfriend away from my room as I snuggle up to this Playstation 3 exclusive.

Those in the USA will be familiar with the nauseating “If You See Something Say Something” campaign from Homeland Security. This political meme has worked its way into numerous sitcoms and television dramas over recent time and now, gee golly gosh, it’s worked its way into videogames.

As you can hear in the background, the herald is telling the Constantinople slaves to be on the lookout for an impostor after you have just jacked a Janissary for his uniform.

Sure, it’s in context and appropriate but really, who in 15th-Century Constantinople says “If You See Something Say Something”?

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Full of abhorrent violence, harsh countryside, beautiful vistas, and the romantic fantasy that seems to have been created to mask the truth of such a evil time, the Western setting is a personal favourite of mine in film and books.

For this reason I was fascinated to what path Red Dead Redemption would take. Rockstar’s previous works with Grand Theft Auto gave me the impression it might be a cynical, parodying experience – lacking the grandeur, depravity and majesty that the Old West deserved.

In this respect I was pleasantly surprised. Red Dead is a sober tale – it has its humorous moments but these are dark guffaws rather than the bludgeoning satire prevalent in previous games. With this stable footing I expected the game to commit itself completely to a tale of the old frontier dying at the feet of the 20th Century.

As a videogame this seemed to be the case with a first third that introduced John Marston as a man with dark past seeking to atone for his history (ever-so similar to GTA IV’s Niko Bellic).

It’s a cliche to have a character like this but hell – Marston is a likable protagonist, bolstered by solid voice acting and a consistency that Niko Bellic never. With such a solid state of tools the American world of 1911 is built with care and beauty. The discovery of all the open-world trappings that Red Dead can offer – from hunting to random encounters – is only matched by the meaningless pleasure of watching the sun set over the rolling plains.

I’ll happily admit that I was swallowed completely by RDR’s creation of a West that seem to burgeon with potential. Random instances of brutal violence, the corrupt or ambiguous law-makers and Marston’s own journey to obtain his quarry via herding cattle and breaking horses all seemed to make sense in their own contrived videogame way.

That Lonesome Dove-style animal husbandry with Bonnie Macfarlen could have seemed out-of-place but the pedestrian pace of the opening allowed an exploration of all these aspects in a convincing way. I probably wouldn’t have bothered with the open-world challenges had the first act been a roller coaster shooter.

The stereotypical caricatures from Rockstar also made an appearance. Both Seth and Irish feel spawned from the same stallion as Brucie or Little Jacob – idiotic comic relief that’s as subtle as the bludgeoning satire of the closet homosexual or Jamaican pot-smoker.

I must admit to enjoying their presence. West-Dickens adds that spirit of deceitful endeavour and this first act shows glimpses of the overall metaphor the game puts forward – of the old giving way to the new in a bloody and resentful fashion.

It’s conclusion was satisfying and the promise of Mexico convinced me that the story would take a darker turn, show me the depraved violence of that ever-volatile state and turn towards a realistic West rather than a romantic one.

Every Grand Theft Auto that I’ve played is an over-long operatic experience that sags during its long journey, requiring patience and tenacity to reach the conclusion. This is nowhere more evident than here. Moving to Mexico promised much and delivered very little in the way of atmosphere and content. Looking back, it seems a pointless diversion to bridge a gap that might have been better served extending the land north rather than south.

In Cormac MacCarthy’s Blood Meridian the description of Mexico and the violence that takes place there is brutal and sickening. Set sixty years before this game it’s an unflinching portrayal of the Glanton gang that roamed the country during the 1850’s, murdering and scalping Apache Indians and Mexicans alike.

I did not expect Red Dead to try and reach a similar level of unforgiving violence but the tame nature of the power struggle between Reyes and the military offers nothing more than videogame tropes. It’s an unfair comparison to make between a classic American novel and a videogame – but Red Dead’s potential was there to create something evil, to dare the censors by showing what life was really like in such an unstable time. Instead we get turret missions to mow down Mexicans like an arcade game and the only melodrama is weak and predictable in the form of Luisa and Reyes.

To me it shows how videogames revert to type when faced with the potential that the medium can offer. RDR could have turned a corner here – showed Mexico with more bite and steel than just a series of repetitive missions that never strung a narrative together.

With so much emphasis on Marston’s past I would have thought it wise to include some of that as actual gameplay. A flashback, a reminiscence or even a whole Mexican-length section that enabled you to understand what Marston was trying to put behind him and what friendships he was sacrificing.

The last act almost redeems Red Dead for its middle-age frailties. The town of Blackwater is an example of the modern world encroaching on the wildness of the previous century. It’s disappointing that this isn’t explored in more detail – with the series of McDougal missions the only time Red Dead touches upon the modern age and the past explicitly.

After the first climatic conclusion I was fascinated as to the path the story would take next. Spending time on your farm and performing the husbandry tasks learned in the first act gives a sense of symmetry that finally started to make these characters mean something to me.

Though the final conclusion makes little practical sense – why would the army use over 60 soldiers to take down a man who posed no threat? – it’s metaphorical meaning is plain. John Marston represent the old West, of horses, cattle and duels in the dust. The army and government agents with their horseless carriages represent the future and slowly erasing the past with their own blood-soaked methods and motives.

The sober end to the game shows that redemption was achieved by John, but in vain. The better life he seemingly sacrificed his life for ends with his wife’s death a mere three years later and his son exacts revenge as a killer (just like John) before the final credits roll. (If you decide to take on the Stranger quest at Blackwater station).

What stands out after these acts is how incredibly stupid John Marston is. After being betrayed by his original gang (a point that’s belaboured several times) he proceeds in being deceives by nearly every single character he meets. Twists and surprises make up the better half of a great videogame experience but when those betrayals can clearly be seen well in advance then it serves to only weaken the main character.

To have survived so long in America would have taken some level of awareness and yet because this is a videogame we have to suspend disbelief to the man’s basic intelligence.

This is where story and videogames have an unhappy marriage and I feel it will only be highlighted further as games develop. As a story Red Dead falls short of challenging literature in any way – maybe it shouldn’t even try – but I feel it has the potential to tell as bleak and as frightening a tale as Blood Meridian.

What it lacks is the directorial focus a vision requires. Such is the nature of an open-world environment. A linear game may perhaps lack the breadth and freedom that Red Dead Redemption achieves but it might create an impact I feel would serve the subject matter better.

It also lacks the kind of antagonist a strong story sometimes requires. Blood Meridian is full of monstrous characters – from Glanton’s bloodlust to Judge Holden’s dispassionate mastery over every man and beast he meets. Even the protagonist of the Kid is revealed to be the immoral centre of the novel that makes it so terrible and gripping.

The implication that Marston was part of a Robin Hood gang is ludicrous and it undermined my basic belief that he was a realistic character. Even if such gangs existed the real redemption sought by Marston should only come from someone who had been a common or monstrous criminal. Did Robin Hood seek redemption in later life? No, figure’s such as Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment or, heaven forbid, Darth Vader are examples of meaningful redemption. Rockstar should have dared to make John Marston a stone-cold killer, maybe even letting you play as him during that time and then sought his peace within the frame of the main game.

Again, it is unfair to judge Red Dead by such lofty standards but I feel its a testament to Rockstar’s efforts that I’m able to refer to other media works in comparison. It had the potential, just like GTA IV, to tell a mature story and wrap that tale in an atmospheric setting that didn’t stumble or fall. But just like Niko Bellic and his search for redemption in America, John Marston’s Red Dead Redemption falls that cacti spine short of perfection.

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As the victim of a raw deal you must work alongside three other captured wastelanders to recover the legendary treasure of the Sierra Madre Casino. In Dead Money, your life hangs in the balance as you face new terrain, foes, and choices. It is up to you how you play your cards in the quest to survive.

So begins the new round of Fallout DLC – this time exclusive to the Xbox 360 (until it isn’t) – and Dead Money certainly bigs itself up from the get-go. With dark moody streets to explore and a ghostly casino to rob will Obsidian provide content worthy enough to live alongside New Vegas’ main game?…

So this fixes the ending right?

No, this doesn’t ‘fix’ the ending. Dead Money takes place before the end of the game so you’re gonna have to reload a previous save if you’ve completed New Vegas. At this stage it doesn’t look like any of the DLC will ‘fix’ the ending and make it open-world again but hey, if enough of us complain maybe it’ll get altered.

What Dead Money does add is five new levels, raising the cap to 35 (it recommends that you be about LVL 20 to play) and in terms of loot you’ll get some sweet new melee weapons if you get out of the Casino alive. There’s also a rather nice dress which Veronica will croon over if you get it back to her as well as open up a few more lines of dialogue for her character.

What the theme of the DLC?

Once you receive the distress call from the Sierra Madre Casino and find its location (through a hole in the ground, naturally) you’re immediately stripped of all your possessions, fitted with an explosive collar and sent to gather three other unfortunates under the antagonist (Father Elijah) guidance/duress. From there you gain entry to the old world casino and eventually crack open its hidden vault – where all manner of treasure (apparently) will be there for the taking.

Sounds simple enough, what’s the catch?

Apart from the explosive collar which can be set off via old radios and speaker systems, new enemies make your job all the more difficult. Ghost People are the demented remains of former Sierra Madre inhabitants and are very hard to kill – only staying dead if you sever a limb or two (helloo Dead Space). Life doesn’t get any easier once you’re inside the casino either – security holograms are impossible to kill and send out fatal beams of death if you alert them.

This change of enemies forces the gameplay to tuen into a stealth/survival-horror experience. Sounds awesome on paper, doesn’t work so well in practice as skulking around the villa’s streets turns into a dull and repeititve four hours. The stealth sections inside the casino are ok but really, the combination of collar beeping, tough as nails enemies and dark visuals makes this a dreary and uncomfortable piece of content.

Is there anything to like about it?

It has a certain atmosphere and the casino itself, thanks to the art deco furnishings, brings back memories and feelings of Bioshock. In this respect it’s very different from New Vegas and goes a little way to alleviating the wretched minute to minute gameplay. The interior of the buildings just reek of old 50′s Casinos and although you can’t actually play casino there, everything else feels just right.

The characters are also pretty damn cool. There’s a Super Mutant with a split personality – one called Dog who’s a murderous beast and the other, God – an erudite character who struggles to keep Dog at bay. This one example shows the expertise of Obsidian’s craft and how richer the world of Fallout is in their hands.

The other characters are good – Dean Domino is a suave charmer and a performing star of the casino you’re about to break into. He’s also a Ghoul, which is cool. And then there Christine – a bald, mute girl whose backstory is the most fascinating of them all.

This mix of characters kept my interest going and made sure I reached Dead Money’s conclusion long after the point where it became annoying.

So this is bad Fallout DLC?

In a word – yes. The premise and atmosphere are really good but are let down by really poor gameplay that gets irritating and repetitive after the first hour. The story to Dead Money is interesting but stumbles badly at the end with execution and I was left puzzled after its conclusion with the feeling that I’d missed out on a critical chunk of story-telling. The characters are also worthy of note but quite frankly it’s asking a lot of someone to suffer through eight hours of tedious gameplay to experience something that was better executed in the main game. It’s a real shame that Obsidian dropped the ball here because Dead Money had the potential to be something cool – I can only hope for better in the future.

But then I watched the trailer for the game scheduled to come out on February 21st 2012 and was blown away.

Sure, trailers can deceive, lie and embellish aspects of an unreleased game but the action, style and presentation of the rebooted Syndicate looks like Deus Ex on genetically-modified steroids. I cannot wait!

One features The Collector’s Edition of Persona 2: Innocent Sin and the Collector’s Edition of Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky and the other features the Collector’s Edition of Persona 2: Innocent Sin and the Collector’s Edition of Persona 3 Portable. Both packs are available on the Ghostlih website for £69.99 – a saving of £10 if you bought both editions separately.

Just check out the Collector’s Editions below and tell me – to my face – that you aren’t tempted to get them.

Oh yeah, the release date for both Trails in the Sky & Persona 2 is November 4th 2011 for £39.99 each. Goodbye money.

Supremacy MMA should be exactly the type of fighting game that appeals to me and thanks to its brutal, yet arcade realisation of mixed martial arts it achieved just that. As a plebeian when it comes to technical, boring and highly complex button combos that other fighting games trade on, Supremacy’s simplicity was a breath of fresh, unofficial, blood-soaked air. Sadly it doesn’t quite become the whole package thanks to some unresponsive controls and a battle system all too easily exploited.

I love hitting people in the mouth (virtually of course) and for pure fist to face fun however Supremacy MMA hits hard in all the right places. The brutal visuals of taking down an opponent and seeing bruises, cuts and breaks graphically appear as you fight is superb. No other fighting game has reached this level of gratuitous violence without being unnecessary and its one of the reasons why I keep coming back to it.

The positives don’t stop at the visuals though and it’s the story-based aspects that most supreised me about the game. Each fighter featured in Supremacy MMA has their own story-based journey with some stylish-animated cut-scenes to introduce each real-life character and show their progression. This was pretty visually cool at first but what was suprising is the about of pathos induced by some of the characters. All come from interesting backgrounds and I’ll be damned if I wasn’t actually rooting for these guys and girls after a few short minutes.

Stunning though it is to have this kind of real-life element in such a Mary Whitehouse-killing experience, Supremacy MMA also lays on the fighting options pretty hard. With a large number of different fighters there’s enough variety to please anyone who likes to “‘ave it” and options to play through the standard exhibition mode, tournament mode, Xbox Live fights, women’s mode and a story mode.

My problems with Supremacy MMA come simply in the controls. For the large majority of the time I played mindlessly bashing buttons worked just fine. The game has a simply underlying strategy when it comes to defeated an opponent and that is to knock them off their feet and wail on them until their a bloody pulp. It really didn’t matter which discipline my fighter was proficient in, whether it was wrestling or kickboxing, just smacking someone on the floor was the best route to winning. That was my choice to play however and by being stricter on myself to role-play a little, Supremacy MMA stands up as a satisfying arcade beat ‘em up.

Unfortunately the other issue was more egregious and that was the responsiveness of the controls. The basic speed of moves being performed after pressing a button was just too slow for my liking. It always seemed like some kind of lag was going on between controller and on-screen action – not as bad as the actual multiplayer lag – but bad enough to be frustrating. Also, and I’m going to hate myself for saying this, the simplicity of the controls left me wanting. Now I hate all that Street Fighter nonsense of quarter-circles and fifty million button combos to do a roundhouse kick but having just one button each for a kick, punch, block etc. seemed a little too limiting. At least on the Xbox 360 Controller it did.

Having said all that I have to admit I enjoyed Supremacy MMA for its basic gratification when it comes to dude on dude (or dudess on dudess) action. The knarly visual flair and the addition of two female fighters are enough to make Supremacy MMA worth a look. And with no other MMA game on the horizon this should keep you occupied with some simple, blood-blistering fun over the winter months.

For more Supremacy MMA shenanigans check out their official Twitter & Facebook pages.

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The PC version of Super Meat Boy has been available for a few months via digital download services but now, thanks to Lace Mambo Global, you can buy a physical, hold-in-your-hand-and-coo retail version.

And it’s not just any type of retail package, oh no. For a mere £19.99 you get the Super Meat Boy Ultra Edition containing:

• 40 page comic/sketch book
• A poster
• Soundtrack
• Secret bonus content
• Over 350 levels
• Retro warp zones
• 16 unlocakble characters
• Full level editor

But for an extra fiver you can get the Ultra Rare Edition which contains a T-shirt as well as all the content from the Ultra Edition. It just so happens that Amazon UK are offering this version for nearly half price! Which is, I think, RETAIL MADNESS.

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