You've probably all already noticed that we've (reluctantly) added Google Adsense advertising in various spots throughout TGV. On the forums the majority of ads can be disabled simply by registering, which I recommend you do to (at the very least) turn the ads off.

I just want to reassure you that this measure isn't to bleed your eyes dry of every last advertising cent you have to offer. The advsertising has been added to relieve some of the burden of server fees and licensing costs for the site. As we grow, you'll notice we'll have the capacity to feed this money back into the site, with better giveaways, perks and larger scale ideas for you all to enjoy.

So thanks for your support, TGV wouldn't be the community it is without you all and as always, if you have any questions or concerns, please let me know personally.

~DarkArmada

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Last week saw the release of a new franchise from publisher EA: Dante’s Inferno. The story is loosely based around the epic Italian poem, the Divine Comedy. You play as Dante, a man who returns home from the Crusades to find his wife murdered and her soul taken into the depths of Hell. Obviously, you’re quite displeased by this and take the express elevator downstairs to find/save her.

Hell is comprised of nine concentric circles, each representing an increased level of wickedness. Dante encounters new challenges and enemies linked with each circle; for example, in “Lust” the player will encounter seductresses with the ability to spew tentacles from their nether regions. Or more controversially, in “Limbo” the player is forced to contend with unbaptised babies with blades as arms. However, as you progress through the game, the variety of enemies will diminish, resulting in repeated battles. The soundtrack and sound effects are spot on, creating a horrifying and memorable expedition through the underworld. Visceral Games were really able to capture the terrifying imagination of Dante Alighieri's original tale. The game is very linear, with little options to actually explore the landscape. It could have been more interesting if the developers took a more open world approach and allowed the player to explore different paths, perhaps with some well placed traps if they should stray into a dangerous area. This would at least encourage multiple playthroughs to collect the numerous items.

Essentially, Dante’s Inferno is a ‘hack-n-slash’ game with a dash of platformer/puzzeling thrown in. Unfortunately, like the recent game Darksiders, Dante’s Inferno falls into the trap of being compared with God of War. The puzzle sections can be challenging and infuriating. One memorable puzzle required me to raise a platform through stages while a cauldron threatened to set the floor ablaze. Graphically Dante’s is not going to win any GOTY awards. The art style is standard and doesn’t push the capabilities of the Xbox. Most of the environments are bland and dull, and some of the character models are poorly designed. I understand the game is supposed to be based in Hell, but the place needs some serious redecorating to be terrifying. The idea of being painfully bored with your surroundings is hardly eternal damnation.

Dante’s attacks are broken into two categories: “Holy” and “Unholy”, represented by a cross and scythe respectively. Using each of these weapons to smite foes eventually allows the player to upgrade a skill tree unlocking more explosive and damaging combinations. This progression adds depth and strategy as the moves are purchased by the collection of souls during your journey. Equippable relics are scattered throughout the environment adding certain buffs to Dante. In spite of this assortment I found myself using the same three relics throughout the entire adventure. Overall, the combat is enjoyable, extremely gruesome, and chaining together huge combo’s never gets old. That being said, it can be extremely frustrating at the same time, as the AI will take cheap shots at you breaking your fluid motion. Boss encounters are straightforward, usually only requiring one specific attack and a well-timed dodge. Quick time events have been implemented to improve set pieces and finishing moves, but the lack of variety causes the player to slip into auto-pilot during these sequences.

Another game mode, Gates of Hell, is unlocked after completing the single player campaign. Similar to Gears of War Horde mode or COD:WaW Zombies mode, players are pitted against 50 waves of ever increasing difficulty. This mode is great for fine-tuning combination attacks needed to take on the game at higher difficulty settings.

Overall, although the story may be weak, it is well sewn together and I found myself empathising with Dante’s fate while being fascinated by history behind the original medieval poem. Although the story runs a mere 8 to 10 hours on normal difficulty, the promise of DLC will keep this title alive. The Trials of St Lucia due in April will allow players take on the demons of Hell in co-op as well as design original encounters and share these with others. Does Dante’s Inferno compare with the king of ‘hack-n-slash’; God of War? No, but its an original script with interesting twists that is worth at least a weekend rental.

TGV Score: 81/100

The Good

• A solid, exciting combat mechanic
• Interesting story with room for a sequel
• DLC to come
• Great combat skill tree and extra buffs through relics
• High attention to detail historically

The Bad

• Short story
• Very linear path
• Few enemy variations
• Enemy AI frustrating
• One shot boss fights on the most part

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Some interesting news in the world of Xbox today, as Microsoft has announced that it will dis-continue it's Xbox Live service for all Original Xbox consoles and the games designed for it. This is set to happen on 15th April, 2010. Quoting Major Nelson's blog post; "While I can't comment on the specifics, this change will allow us to continue evolving the LIVE service with new features and experiences that fully harness the power of Xbox 360 and the Xbox LIVE community. We did not make this decision lightly, but after careful consideration and review we realize that this decision will allow us unprecedented flexibility for future features."

This no doubt is sad news for some, and i sympathise for them; but in reality this could open up a world of features for Xbox live as a service. This could potentially end up being something really good, at the expense of only a few thousand people who still play Original Xbox games; and when you think about it, a few thousand fish in the pond of the 23 million+ Xbox live members is nothing to Microsoft. We need to face the fact that Original Xbox Live games as a whole per week would probably not bring in as many players as one of the top Xbox 360 games alone....looking at it that way, makes this move quite smart. How smart you ask? Well think about how the old Xbox is holding Xbox Live back; 1 example being the cap on our friends list of 100 people....no doubt only being kept in place because of the Original Xbox's interface.

So let's take a minute to mourn the loss of some great games which helped Microsoft make Xbox Live into what it is today:

• Halo 2
• Star Wars: Battlefront 2
• Counter-Strike
• Splinter Cell Chaos
• Star Wars: Battlefront
• Doom 3
• SW: KOTOR
• SW: Republic Commando

Those games are still being played today by people on Xbox Live, but never the less, great things must eventually come to an end.

On the darker side of this, Microsoft has already started taking down some content in preparation for this shut down. People are already reporting that the DLC and possibly title updates have been taken off the Xbox Live servers...So are you hoping to have a last chance at downloading the Blasttacular Map Pack for Halo 2? Well bad luck, all you can do now is grab the Map Pack Disc that came out a while ago and live with the maps only on that disc. Unfortunately not all gamers have the luxury of doing this since obviously not every developer released a DLC disc.

So what are your thoughts on this news? Setting aside the fact you may not play Original Xbox games anymore, do you think this was a good move by Microsoft? Or a bad move that will make many people angry? Either way my opinion will stay the same that this is a good thing to happen as it will open new features for the future of the Xbox Live service.

Rest In Piece Xbox v1.......Rest In Piece

Source: Major Nelson

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