Blue Estate

If you've ever played an on-rails shooter like Time Crisis and House of the Dead, you will know exactly what to expect from Blue Estate. Just don't expect any of the class and genius of the former two. I picked it up on the back of enjoying the demo but quite frankly the £9.99 price tag, is too steep. Sure a tenner won't get you much in the way of entertainment these days but I'm betting  if developer HeSaw slapped a £4.99 tag on the game, it would have had it shooting off the (virtual) shelves.
You play the son of Los Angeles crime boss, Tony Luciano  who is a thug with penchant for gold 9mm pistols and pole dancers. But its never taken seriously and gags aplenty spill from Tony's mouth (especially when his hair gets into his eyes during a gunfight). I kinda like this because far too many games these days take themselves much too seriously.
One of the first things which drew me in was the design. Its very stylish and the art is a joy to behold (you feel bad for shooting the sh!t out of it). And the lunatic characters in Blue Estate mad world only add to the  'lushness' of it all. Be warned, enemies can be frustrating as hell,  owing to ridiculously lengthy health bars. Okay players get a good a dose of continues (8 in some cases) but doesn't stop it becoming repetitive which can plague on-rails shooters. To sum up then, £10 is a tad on the high side for such a short game but the fact it often takes the pizz out of itself I don't feel so peeved.
Its not as dire as other gaming sites would have you believe mind, and its important to remember this. If you are looking for a quick ten minute blast of video gaming fun (for fun see guns and violence)  then Blue Estate will deliver in spades (or should that be Uzi's?)  Its not the type you'd pull an all nighter on but get a get few mates around with some beers and you could get some thrills out of it.

The Next Gen Consoles

Xbox One (or XBone as its 'affectionately' become known to gamers) was released just 15 minutes ago. Playstation 4 out next week. But most gamers I know on forums are waiting until next year until they get one because there are still great games out for PS3. Oh and there are not many new titles worth the splurge, especially at £50 a pop :o Killzone is the only one I would be interested in. Watch Dogs too but thats been delayed.
Ive still got loads to finish myself: Sly Raccoon 4, Heavy Rain, Killzone 3, Hitman Absolution, Arkham Origins, Borderlands 2, Bioshock Infinite, Far Cry 3 etc, not to mention the awesome The Wolf Among Us series, so even though I will be getting a PS4 (I was offered a special exclusive deal) I can't see me playing much on it for its first few months of life.
The graphics jump this time around are not going to be as spectacular either. Gone are the days of SNES to Playstation 1 improvement, or even the PS2 to PS3 which still feels like yesterday (was only 2007 remember). Going from PS2 (still a [b]great[/b] console) to PS3 was very impressive; jaws were indeed dropped when Motorstorm first hit our screens after MGS3 or Hitman: Blood Money on PS2 (again still fantastic titles) but the PS4 and XBone don't look to be much different to what we have now. Oh the number crunchers will notice for sure but yer average player will not.