Thirteen1

No To Digital Distribution

No doubt the the title will cause controversy, but it has to be said. Digital distribution is a great thing, but when retail stores (the latest being HMV) jump on the band wagon, we’re just going to end up with a complete mess of an industry.

HMV have jumped on the digital distribution bandwagon vowing to offer their own in-house digital distribution. This is a retail store embracing technology, something which I applaud them for, but I can’t help but feel a little cynical about the way they’re going about it.

Currently there are a lot of digital content providers around, the most prominent of which, is the Steam platform. Steam is successful for a reason, it was the first to the game, it offers constant updates, a catalogue of games bigger than any retail store and some great social features. It’s evolved from a digital store into an entire platform offering its own social aspects, DRM and anti-cheat methods. Quite frankly, it’s refined, it’s well thought out, and it keeps all of your games safe (presuming of course that they don’t go bust).

The last thing we need now is another digital provider. I’m all for competition, but to compete with Steam you’re going to have to have one hell of a product with a truly fantastic back catalogue. Currently, I don’t see anyone offering anything close. The multitude of digital providers popping up doesn’t seem like a bad idea, but when you consider that big business can mean exclusive titles, we’re going to end up with our game collections spread across the internet like a double rainbow. What does it mean? (sorry for the crap reference) It means that ultimately we’re going to end up with lots of different platform software to play a game, we’re going to end up with games all over the web, we may forget where we bought our games and they’re lost forever.

Worst still, if more and more companies jump on the bandwagon, there won’t be room in the market and some of them may go bust. What happens when the provider goes bust? Bye bye games!

I’m not all against digital distribution, I prefer having a disc, it means my retro stuff will always be with me on and offline, and I like that. But I also have an ever-expanding collection of games on Steam, and I love that too. I just despise people jumping on bandwagons with little to no enthusiasm or imagination, creating just another generic service. HMV, please don’t fall into that trap!

Gran Turismo 5 Worth The Wait

This may come across as naive fanboy-ism, but GT5 finally seems to be close to release and better yet, it looks to be “the ultimate driving simulator”.

Taking a look at some of the released details about the next-gen GT game, it’s hard not to be impressed. All the years of development look well spent, and granted it’s a bit overdue, but with graphics like this and the sheer volume of options, it’s easy to see where the time has been spent.

Not everyone is making a big song and dance over it though, but it is a groundbreaking game in the GT saga. With the addition of damage modelling, GT5 is moving on leaps and bounds from its predecessor. Finally we’ll be able to destroy some of the most beautiful cars in the world and then publish our videos to Youtube… That’s right, Youtube!
GT5 will allow you to post your replays online in both standard and high definition format to show the world your skills. It’s a bit of a gimmick, but with the advent of competetive gaming and 32-player online gameplay it’s sure to be a massive hit.

So that’s 1000+ beautifully crafted cars, 32-player online races, Youtube, damage modelling… what’s left that could possibly make it better?
How about track creation? Oh yes. GT5 will allow users to create their own tracks and upload them for the community to play on, finally we’ll get to see what the gaming community can come up with, no doubt some amazing track designs are already rattling around inside gamers’ heads.

Racing around in posh fancy cars trying not to scuff the paintwork is a tricky task, but what if you just wanted to get back to your racing roots? GT5 offers a go karting mode for some Lewis Hamilton-esque racing.

Still not content with all the awesomeness listed so far? ok, well there’s more. How does 70 circuits spread over 20 tracks, rally stages, Nascar and the Stig sound? That’s right, the Stig, the topgear legend will drive your car around the TopGear test-track. Ok, so it’s you in control, but Stiggy will sit at the wheel as you barrel around the circuit trying to best the rich and famous in your Chevrolet Lacetti.

Ok, so that’s enough promotion for now, but let it be known, come November 2nd, I’ll be taking a week off and not only will I have a new PS3, but I’ll have GT5 and a kick-ass steering wheel too! Oh, and if you don’t believe how stonking it looks, check out the gallery below!

[View with PicLens]

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1 Week of The Shiny New Site

Well, a week has passed, and what a week it’s been! The new site has had a few visual tweaks, we’ve modified it slightly for IE viewers and the changes are still ongoing. On top of all this we produced another awesome issue (if I do say so my self) even though it almost killed me. Quick note, if you’re ill, sleep deprived and trying to manage both a new website and a new issue, thing’s aren’t going to go too smoothly!

This issue marks the end for the current grunge-look as we move towards a cleaner, more simplified look. If all goes to plan that should be implemented next month which means even more work for me! As always, everything we do here is off of our own backs, we’re self taught in everything we do, we’re not experts we’re just gamers like you. So on that note, time for some shameless plugging… Read More

Welcome one and all!

Well, it’s been a long time coming, but welcome to the new site. It’s a work in progress, and it’s taken what seems like forever to get it to this stage, but we’re here, it’s launched and we’re still awesome (modest too). T1 has slowly but surely evolved over the years (all 2 of them) into this slightly more streamline look we’ve got going here. The idea behind it is to make the most common uses easier to access, so at the top you’ll find our nice home icon and a direct link to the magazine. The menu is simplified to the most common stuff, and the Featured articles are all of our special stuff which we just can’t cram into the mag. Read More