Gamesblog Live Debuts in London

The first ever Gamesblog Live conference took place in London today. The Guardian Newspaper's chief Games Corespondent, Keith Stuart  was responsible for hosting the event, which had been purposefully split into a morning and afternoon session in order to cater for a sell-out audience.

Mike Laidlaw talks about Dragon Age and Dragon Age II

Gamesblog Live featured talks by three of world's most impressive Games Developers to date: Nathan Camarillo, Executive Producer of Crysis 2: Crytek,  Andy Tudor, who is Slightly Mad Studios' Lead Designer on Shift 2 Unleashed, and Mike Laidlaw, Lead Designer on the ever-popular Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age II. Each talk was then followed by a hands-on with the game and an open Q&A session with the Developer.

Nathan Camarillo discusses the importance of creating stunning graphics

Gamesblog Live has been promoted as a way for gamers to get "the chance to meet the most talented developers in the world and find out how modern video games are created." [Keith Stuart, Gamesblog - The Guardian, Friday 21 January 2011]

One of the beautiful screenshots from Shift 2: Unleashed.



For more information about the Gamesblog Live Conference, please visit: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog.

Call Of Duty: Black Ops Launched at Midnight.

Video game producers Activision staged a midnight launch last night for the latest Call of Duty game, known as Call of Duty: Black Ops.

As part of the UK launch, entertainment giant, HMV opened 100 of its highstreet stores overnight, including its flagship Oxford Street branch, which was attended by approximately 350 gamers, some of whom had been queueing for more than twelve hours in order to get their hands on the game!

A free version of the special Prestige Edition of Call of Duty: Black Ops was handed to student Imran Chowdhury, who happened to be the first customer in the Oxford Street HMV store at midnight. Other prizes were also on offer for the store's first 500 customers.

All UK HMV branches are currently offering an Exchange Promotion on the Xbox and PS3 versions of EA's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which means that gamers can get the new Call of Duty: Black Ops game for £7.99 when they trade in an old copy of Modern Warfare 2. Unfortunately, this offer does not apply to the Nintendo DS. 

HMV were not the only retailer to take advantage of the midnight launch. Supermarket retailer, Tesco also opened up 362 of its UK stores.

Meanwhile, a special launch party was held at the disused Battersea Powerstation last night. A life size image of the Call of Duty: Black Ops logo was beamed onto the side of the building in celebration. The party included a celebrity tournament of the game and a performace by British rapstar Tinie Tempah.

The US launch was an even more lavish affair. GameStop opened a total of 4408 branches of its retail chain across the country, whilst Best Buy and Walmart also opened many of their branches at midnight as well. The US launch party was also headlined by a stage performance from rock veterans Metallica.

So far, one million sales are predicted for Call of Duty: Black Ops in its first week of sale alone, which could put it at the very top of the Christmas gaming market. Judging from the amount of pre-order sales alone, this is very likely.

HMV's Head of Games, Tim Ellis said: "Call of Duty: Black Ops is set to challenge last year's phenomenon Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to become the fastest and biggest selling title in games history." [sourced from: http://www.gamesindustrybiz/articles/2010-11-09]

Whether the game does indeed manage to top the Christmas gaming charts or not, one thing is for certain, with its use of  heart-racing action and an in-depth storyline which sees players engage in secret warfare, and millitary operations, as well as explosive conflicts across the globe, the Nintendo DS version of Call of Duty: Black Ops is definitely worth a try.