Ubisoft held their Summer Fair in London last week, showcasing future releases, most of which were also seen at E3.
It was fantastic to get hands on with new releases in the 'Driver, Assassins Creed' and 'Tom Clancy' franchises, I’ll have details of how they are playing in the early stages of development later in the week.
'Kinect' and 'Move' were also on show and happily they look like being a big step forward in motion gaming.
It felt significantly different to your average Wii game. I enjoyed a short time playing Sony’s 'Move' at it and it was quite impressive.
For all its positives, something like 'Grand Slam Tennis' on the Wii can be a bit frustrating.
You know there are certain shots that will be impossible for your opponent to return and it loses its appeal in time.
Playing a few games of Sony’s planned sports release was very enjoyable, as you have to really put the effort in to do well when competing.
After a decent rally it really sucks you in, it will be interesting to see how it feels when the game is finished.
The controller is similar to the Wii’s so there isn’t much you can say about it except that it was easy to use, especially if you have experience of using the Nintendo one.
As for 'Kinect', well, Microsoft look to be onto a winner with one of their launch titles.
'Kinect Fitness Games' will be a huge seller this Christmas.
The gamer appears on the screen through the 'Kinect' camera and there are a huge number of exercises and activities to go through.
One such game was having objects positioned around your body and having to ‘burst’ them using your hands and legs - not the most difficult of tasks but an enjoyable experience, nonetheless, and there is a certain satisfaction when completing it.
It will be something for all ages and again it bodes well for the hardware. A lot will depend on the cost and how developers embrace it, but maybe my feelings that it does not have a future are wrong.
'Fitness Games' is definitely something you would happily purchase and even if you used it once a week it’d feel like you were getting value for it.
Maybe it will be the same for motion gaming add-ons to your PS3 and Xbox360.
Rory Houston
