This isn’t really gaming news because it’s for TV and film, however, the service is now available (confirmed by various users) via Wii (go to the Wii shop channel), Playstation3 and Xbox 360 as well as standard via your PC or Mac.

The service will cost €6.99 per month, but as a bonus for signing up you get a month free!

5 of my favourite games from this year. I’ll add some notable ones thereafter but these are the 5 that captured my attention, imagination and – most importantly – my time. Oh, and my money… most definitely my money.

Although I’ve ranked the games from 5 to 1 (1 being the best), the 5th, 4th, 3rd and 2nd games may as well be lined up together as an equal share of awesome while the first is most certainly my “game of the year”.

5. Deus Ex: Human Revolution

The original Deus Ex was a stunning showpiece for PC gaming. How do you create a fully realised world? By having meaningless bits of it work, like ATM machines and the ability to wander up to seemingly random folks on the street and have a chat to them.

This new title was fraught with worry from gamers. Could Square Enix re-capture that feeling from being in the Deus Ex world? Or will this be so bad it ruins the original… As it turns out they did a great job. They captured a great middle ground between a full world that suits Deus Ex and a story that belongs with Ghost in the Shell in terms of sci-fi that might actually come true.

The story is a huge strong point for this game, even more than the excellently orchestrated combat, visuals and acting. The script is strong, solid and easy to follow and the voice acting is one of the best I’ve heard – not just this year, but any year.

This would have been the best FPS RPG type of game this year if Skyrim wasn’t released.

4. Portal 2

I remember when Valve acquired the students who made Narbacular Drop everyone expected something special. Add the flare and creative spark from Valve, coupled with their excellent Source engine and give it an odd puzzle-solving twist and you have to be onto a winner. And they were. Portal was a commercial & critical success that bound FPS style gameplay elements with puzzle solving. Something you often don’t get. The fact that Valve had released a game with no major multi-player element was testament to the fun of Portal. The script was incredible and it launched Jonathan Coulton’s career into new realms with the track “Still Alive”.

With that, most fans would have been happy if Portal 2 was just Portal with new puzzles but Valve really kicked it up a notch. They added Wheatley, the now-synonymous scientific robot entity that was cast brilliantly with Stephen Merchant as the voice behind the ball of cables.

In Portal we had GLaDOS, cake and personal companion cubes as memes, but Portal 2 stepped it up with potatos and Cave Johnson.

Portal 2 deserves to be in every “top games of the year” list because it’s so good, so fun and so funny. The direction Valve are taking with the Source engine is exemplified with new effects seen in Portal 2… which hopefully leads on to Half Life 3 (or episode 3).

3. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

This is a surprising entry. Not because it’s not number one on the list but because it’s on the list in the first place. I hated Morrowind. I hated Oblivion. I actually dislike Lord of the Rings, LARPing and games/books/movies set in fantasy lands that involve “magic”. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed such a thing from start-to-finish without being unimaginably bored for lengthy periods of time.

Skyrim is Bethesda’s answer. It’s the everyman RPG with magic, potions and men who look like cats. The opening sequence involves you as an interned criminal. How you manage to stop being interned is exactly what stopped me being bored… dragons. The game is all about dragons and violence. I’m into that. In fact, despite not being that far into the game, but far enough in to have a grasp of the story and direction of the game, I’m glad I don’t have to use magic, potions and other such horrendous “get out of jail free” cards RPG writers use to make their boring stories interesting (my opinion, of course).

There’s a lot to talk about in Skyrim. It’s difficult to explain the scope of this game, and in fact one of my only complaints is that some quests take a long time to do because you have to go an incredible distance to get to the quest location (once you visit a place you can get there in one click via the in-game map).

2. MineCraft

Indie darlings Mojang only released MineCraft a month ago, but many people have had it for well over a year now thanks to their business model. The model was to release the game in alpha mode for a low price and let it generate revenue before it’s even released. This was a genuinely brilliant idea that generated millions in revenue without having a finished product shipped. Slowly but surely the team added features as the game went through alpha phases and finally released a product that made sense.

While I’m gushing over it, it is worth noting that the game is horribly difficult to get to grips with if you’re a new user because there is literally no in-game help or assistance. There’s also no clear story mode to help you understand it. It’s kind of like dumping someone into an online StarCraft match with a pro player without explaining a thing or providing the single player experience first…

All that considered, it’s hard not to feel a sense of joy about this game. It’s great to see an indie developer do so well so quickly, and still have the ambition to go forward as an indie – ignoring the courting advances of EA amongst others.

And while I’m on about Sweden…

1. Battlefield 3

…which is also the home of DICE. Anyone who’s ever visited a shop, gone online or talked to someone who plays games knows what BF3 is. No, it’s not the next iteration of Bad Company, which was a lot of peoples’ introduction to Battlefield via consoles. No, BF3 is a stunning follow up to 2005′s Battlefield 2. Yes. 2005. I know a lot of people who will wince at that fact.

Years of mine life were lost to BF2, and indeed 1942. BF2 was an amazing open-world experience. For me it defined multi-player as an experience far beyond my first online MP days with Unreal Tournament. There is quite literally nothing like running to a capture point by gunning down 3 Chinese enemies on Wake Island while a helicopter crashes into a jet above you and a boat is launched into the air via C4 on the beach below. All controlled by real people somewhere in the world.

BF3 does nothing new. The netcode is improved. The graphics are far superior to anything this year and it runs on the earth-shattering (quite literally) Frostbyte2 engine, which gives DICE games the ability to destroy everything in front of them. This means that the mayhem and madness of Battlefield also includes destroying buildings. Twice yesterday I died because of RPG fire. I didn’t get hit by the RPG or the fallout from it… but no, the RPG took out a wall which took down the roof on top of me. The game told me “Bad Luck”…

The level unlocks are great and frequent enough to make the next round worthwile. I’m only level 13 but feel I’ve achieved a lot in that time, but obviously have a lot to do also.

The new maps are a mix between close-quartered areas and huge open worlds that would rival full games, let alone single maps in a 64-man battle.

The two maps that stand out for me are the two Parisian ones. One is set in the Metro tunnels under the city. Russians invade from the streets above while US troops try to defend the tunnels and get back out to the streets above. Stunning and life-like city streets add an extra sense of wonder to the game.

Seine Crossing is another real-world map with photo-realistic design and graphic notches. It’s here that using an RPG to blow the side of a building up really shines. There is no greater joy in this world than blowing the side of a building off to expose an enemy position.

There is a single player addition to this game, which helps new users get to grips with it as well as appease the console entrants to the Battlefield. The SP campaign is very good but falls short of Modern Warfare 3 simply because MW3 is ridiculous, over-the-top and maddening, which gives it the extra edge. BF3′s realistic campaign just doesn’t compare to rolling into Berlin as buildings fall down around you. But the multiplayer experience is far, far superior in DICE’s effort.

Beta sign-ups are going on via f1onlinethegame.com.

Track information, car data and other such ‘stuff’ is coming from the console & PC versions of F1 2012, so this will be a fully featured F1 title.

Grand Prix events, home-crafted teams (with your own livery etc.) and leaderboards will be a big part of the community features.

Check out the trailer below!

In Ireland, one of the platforms for Enda Kenny and Fine Gael coming into office was the creation and development of high-tech jobs, including the games industry. The leading image I have on this article is Enda visiting PopCap Games in Dublin during his campaign.

More than that, Fine Gael even had a game developed for their campaign, which was violent in it’s nature. You can still play it via finegael2011.com/game.

However now a press release is being circulated by the party in which Mary Mitchell-O’Connor TD lambasts gaming. She links Call of Duty (an 18-rated army game) to bloodshed “at home and abroad”. She also critiqued the fact that the franchise made a global killing with revenue of €16 billion in just over 2 weeks. Forget the fact that this generates jobs in Ireland via DemonWare as well as much needed tax.

Fine Gael TD for Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown, Mary Mitchell O’Connor, has today described reports of records sales of the new ‘Call of Duty’ video game in the lead up to Christmas as very worrying.

“In a week that saw needless bloodshed, both at home and abroad, the high sales figures of this violent video game are very concerning. Sales are estimated to have generated €1 billion in just 16 days. It is being lauded as the fastest selling entertainment product of all time, ahead of films such as the Harry Potter movies and Avatar.

“I really fear we are entering an age where such violence will be commonplace. Undoubtedly, society has become desensitized to acts of violence. There are a number of reasons for this, but violent video games certainly play a part. Life is precious and such games present people as obstacles and violent acts as having no consequence. Over exposure to such violence, be it in video games or otherwise, can distort reality.”
“Having worked as a teacher and as a principal, I am aware of how impressionable some young adults can be and I think it is really important that rules governing the sale of such games are enforced. I also think it is important that parents are mindful of buying adult games in situations where younger children might gain access to them.
“These video games provide no educational or social benefits. For me, the gift of a book will always provide real and lasting benefit. In Ireland, we are very fortunate to have exceptional authors both for children and adults and we need to support them more. It is also hugely important that literacy levels in this country dramatically improve. The Programme for International Student Achievement (PISA) shows our literacy levels have fallen from 5th in the developed world to 15th.”

The TD falls short of criticising what she should be criticising, the fact that adult games are sold to minors in some cases. As an adult that can drink and vote I should absolutely have the right to sit down and gun down people in a game. It does not distort my reality.

Look at COD as an example of reality distortion. Most levels take place in large European cities which are being invaded by Russians. If anyone on this planet plays this game and confuses it with reality then perhaps we should remove the sale of Red Dawn from DVD retailers.

If this is the attitude of our government and they’re publicly naming the games industry as a big bad wolf in society then perhaps they shouldn’t campaign in game development studios or use gaming as a way to garner support from dirty heathen youths who practise murder simulations all day.

I also despise the notion that books are non violent and broaden the mind more than games. They do, don’t get me wrong… but as a comparative form of media to enjoy in a recreational manner it’s a disgrace to say books are greater than games. I enjoy a good book, but some of the books I read are as violent as the games I might play. One of my favourite authors is Chuck Palahniuk for god sake. Imagine what my mind is conjouring up reading a violent book all by itself – it’s probably much worse than anything a murder simulator game could put in front of my eyes.

This is a highly irresponsible piece of rhetoric from a typical Irish TD – the concerned aul wan ex-teacher who’s so disjointed from actual reality that she’s going to publicly moan about something that seriously benefits the economy while it entertains & employs far more people in this country than she cares to realise.

You can have a chance to play their rather exciting Interactive Projection Mapping game – Building Breakdown – followed by a few drinks in Dakota.

It’s all happening beside Dakota, South William Street, from 5 – 6pm this Thursday 15th December.

Building Breakdown will run from 5 – 9pm next Friday 16th December beside Dakota on South William Street too. It’s the latest installment in the Play Everywhere campaign which is giving Irish gaming fans the chance to win up to 40 PS3 consoles all over the country in the run up to Christmas.

Who knows, even the shoryuken crew might show up. (when there’s beer to be had…)

Instead, Naughty Dog showed up to the party and showed us a trailer for The Last of Us, a zombie apocalypse type trailer with some pretty incredible graphics.

Check out the trailer below!

“What I really want to do is be in the forefront of game development once again myself,” Miyamoto said. “Probably working on a smaller project with even younger developers. Or I might be interested in making something that I can make myself, by myself. Something really small.”

No more Miyamoto involvement with Zelda or Mario?

Undoubtedly the transition from major budget titles that propel Nintendos ethos, culture, brand and image into smaller, cut-throat development would be difficult. The extent of these “small games” he’s talking about isn’t fully revealed, but there is a chance that we’re talking app-level games for Nintendo handheld devices that port upwards to the Wii U.

It can’t be overstated enough how significant this move is. He’s a genius in his field in terms of creating characters, stories and worlds that we consistently fall in love with. Him stepping aside to focus on smaller things is akin to Steve Jobs stepping down to focus on making small apps or Picasso stepping aside to make paint brushes.

The group ‘Fi-Fa-4-Fun’ will play the football game FIFA 12 for a total of 2012 minutes, attempting to break the previous world record by over 3 hours! The team’s target is to raise at least €2012.00.

The event will be broadcast live via webcam and the team will accept challenges from any gamer who donates to the charity. But it won’t be all fun for the team, as they will have to abide by a strict set of rules. Rules include a total of 4 hours sleep for each player over the course of the gameathon, with a maximum of two people sleeping at any given time. No alcohol will be consumed, and at least one member of the team must be playing the game at all times.

The charity the group are raising money on behalf of, Children in Hospital Ireland (CHI), is a voluntary organisation committed to promoting and ensuring the welfare of all children in hospital and their families. For 41 years, the organisation has been directly working with sick children to bring them fun and support. CHI uses its expertise to deliver unique daily and weekly play sessions that support child patients, parents and staff in 20 hospital wards and playrooms nationwide.

Team member Ross Herlihy said: “Most of the team spent some time in hospital as kids or have relations who did and have seen at first hand just how hard it can be both on the child and the parents. In the build to Christmas we just wanted to find some way to give back to the people that have helped us in the past, and to make the future a bit brighter for those going through tough times now.”

The Fi-Fa-4-Fun team met while studying Multimedia in CIT. While in CIT they organized and took part in two leg waxing fundraising events, eventually raising more then €2000 for the Simon Community and over €3000 for the Pakistani Earthquake relief fund. Since then, they have all gone on to work in the multimedia industry and technology is a big part of their lives.

For additional information or to make a donation, please visit their facebook page or email Fi.Fa.4.Fun.2012@gmail.com or follow on Twitter via @FiFa4Fun.

For decades, a different game, chess, has held the exalted position of “the drosophila of cognitive science”—the model organism that scientists could poke and prod to learn what makes experts better than the rest of us. StarCraft 2, however, might be emerging as the rhesus macaque: its added complexity may confound researchers initially, but the answers could ultimately be more telling.

The article itself is very compelling and provides great arguments that explain why StarCraft is the modern answer to chess.

You can see the full article by visiting scientificamerican.com.

Check out the two videos below…