Tag Archives: Video Games

Culch Valentine’s: 5 Video Games For Single Players

  By Lisa McInerney | February 9, 2012 - 12:00 pm | Random Whimsy, The Culch
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Hi there gorgeous, So, Valentine’s Day. Starry-eyed loser, star-crossed lover or cross-eyed malcontent, you’re bound to have an opinion on it, yes? Be it a memory, a barely-concealed urge to vomit, a poem for your other half that makes the rest of us vomit, a scribbled note on what a perfect valentine’s would be for you, a history lesson on the relics of St Valentine, an angry swipe at Hallmark, a cry for help because you don’t know your partner much better than you know your postman and you’re deathly scared of trying to shop for them or anything in between, we share those feelings and each day in the run up to the 14th one of Culch’s writers will bring you their own personal Valentine’s thoughts. With love and last-minute garage chocolates, Culch If there’s one thing that pop culture has taught me about Valentine’s Day, it’s that it’s offensive and … There’s more →

Gigs: Storyfold @ Whelan’s March 23rd

  By Sinead Keogh | February 8, 2012 - 3:00 pm | Gigs, Music
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Storyfold, who released their debut album ‘Rocket Science’ last year, are wetting the head of their 4th single release, ‘The Sweetest Silence’ with a headliner in Whelan’s on March 23rd. Frontman Paddy McKenna gives over lead vocals to pianist Lindsey Hogan for ‘…Silence’ and it’s well worth hearing: Support comes from Jet Set Radio and Laura Elizabeth Hughes (the first public gig of the YouTube sensation whose ‘Video Games’ cover is below and deserves a watch). Tickets €10 from the usual.

You HAVE to hear: Lana Del Rey

  By seanear1ey | August 19, 2011 - 12:17 pm | Music, The Culch
3 Comments

Hello. Maybe you know me, maybe you don’t. If we’ve ever conversed face to face or electronically, if I’ve ever bought you a pint or suggested where to have your haircut, in fact, if I’ve ever afforded you a nicety I’m calling in a return. Please, please listen to this song. This is a personal favour to me that you’d be doing. Forget about owing me bus-fare from that time, oh and the first round is on me next time. All because I want to bring this woman into your life. Trust me you’ll thank me later. But who is ‘this woman’? ‘This woman’ has roused me to put finger to keyboard for Culch, which admittedly, I haven’t done for a while. Lana Del Rey, known by day as Lizzy Grant is a singer-songwriter out of NYC. There’s something about her that oozes 1950s, smouldering, screen-starlet and heartbroken lounge singer… … There’s more →

The Nintendo 3DS - Should we care?

  By dinglesurf | January 24, 2011 - 10:36 am | Gadgets, Games
3 Comments
Nintendo_3DS__Sims_3_3DS_Version_May_Hit_European_Markets_in_January

Last week Japanese gaming behemoths Nintendo announced the European release date (March 25th) for their latest shiny piece of kit, The Nintendo 3DS. So the question is: Should we care? Or is this just another piece of plastic aimed at emptying out the wallets of spotty teenage boys? Well I for one believe we should. So whats new this time? The clue is in the title. The 3DS will be the first gaming console to offer authentic three dimensional graphics WITHOUT the need for any dorky glasses. Nintendo have pioneered ‘stereoscopic’ technology, that delivers jaw dropping depth of field to the gaming experience. It uses two overlaying screens and a polarising filter that sends slightly differing images to each eye, tricking the brain into seeing the image in 3D – or something like that!?! The 3DS is also equipped with a ‘depth slider’ that allows you to manually adjust the … There’s more →

Fiver says Chin-Li beats Ryu in the third round

  By Will | April 29, 2010 - 4:21 pm | Games, In The News
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To be honest, I find this slightly worrying. The console game (Xbox 360 and PS3) Super Street Fighter IV is released on Friday. Its a big deal with a free new character only tournament in Dublin in the Extreme Gaming Centre, 30/31 Lower Liffey Street on Saturday May 1. I’m all in favour of that event. The worrying thing is the contest tonight. Paddy Power, the retail and online bookmaker, have opened a book on the outcome of a videogame competition! Punters will be able to bet on the outcome of individual videogames, kicking off with a special Super Street Fighter IV UK heavyweight championship between Ryan Hart and Femi Adeboye, two of the UK’s most respected Street Fighter IV players. I didn’t know that gamers got any respect. Clearly I’m doing something wrong. In fact the interest has been so strong, Paddy Power is accepting in-running betting. In-running betting … There’s more →

Visit the Village of the Dead on the West Coast

  By Will | March 12, 2010 - 6:06 pm | Games
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So the village of the dead is in Ireland. No this isn’t about ghost estates but the 2007 PS3 game Folklore. For some reason the Japanese game designers decided to play with the tales of the Sidhe and the other Irish Fairy folk and make a little village on the West coast of Ireland the place where you can enter the realms of the dead. Realms is important here, it seems that, according to the game, there are at least seven otherworlds (and a few more thanks to downloadable content) all accessible through ring forts, standing stones and odd stone arches only seen in science fiction.

Gaming News: Civilization 5

  By Ronan | February 24, 2010 - 10:52 am | Games
4 Comments

Great news game geeks. Sid Meier’s Civilization is back this autumn with the fifth instalment of the multi-million selling PC franchise. Firaxis is currently developing the game, due for release “Fall 2010″. No definite date yet, but there are plenty of interesting pieces of information, as well as some gorgeous screenshots. For those of you who don’t know, Civilization is a turn-based strategy-game for the PC where you take control of an empire (including the mighty Celts), and try to conquer the world/become UN leader/send a manned mission to Alpha Centauri/etc. There’s tonnes of ways to win, but even more ways to get to that goal. Civilizations 2 through 4 have taken many, many hours of my life. If it weren’t for them, I probably would have gotten an A in every uni assignment. They really do take control of your life. That’s why I’m looking forward to this one … There’s more →

Review: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Wii)

  By Mark Cullinane | February 16, 2010 - 1:05 pm | Games, The Culch
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This Wii re-imagining of that ‘other’ classic Japanese survival horror series wastes little time in demonstrating that it’s a little bit special. What’s this- detailed, smooth graphics? Precise motion controls? Sky-high production values? It’s not hard to see why our interest was piqued. Whilst we’re usually more than a little sceptical of any game or movie that attempts a ‘re-imagining’ of previous series entries, it’s a term that fits particularly well here. After all, not only is this a game that has been radically shaped around its lead platform, it comes from a new development team- UK-based codeshop Climax rather than Konami- and its adoption of a fresh new approach to horror that is more psychological than survival, conspire to make Shattered Memories an intriguing prospect.

Gaming News: Sonic the Hedgehog 4

  By Ronan | February 5, 2010 - 10:51 am | Games
1 Comment

That’s right ladies and gentlemen, a new Sonic the Hedgehog game is on the way. And none of this Rush, Adventure, Rivals, Olympics, or Black Knight/Secret Rings nonsense either. It’s the proper sequel to the Mega Drive (Genesis) series. It’s an old-school 2D side-scrolling platformer, just like Sonic 1-3 and the criminally underrated Sonic & Knuckles. Sega has had a game in development for a few months now under the name Project Needlemouse, and leaked a teaser trailer to go with it. Fans quickly suspected that this was a new Sonic title, but yesterday they announced the game’s real title to the world: Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1. They also announced that the game will be available on all three major consoles, as a downloadable title from the Playstation Store, XBox Live Arcade, as well as via WiiWare. That gives the indication that it’ll probably cost less than €20. … There’s more →

Hands on - Games out this week

  By Niall | November 9, 2009 - 12:12 pm | Games, The Culch
1 Comment

Video games are increasingly taking a more central role in our lives and in the ever broadening scope of popular culture. With that in mind I wanted to keep you all abreast of the current situation in gaming. This week sees the release of one of the biggest games of the year, along with a new karaoke title for PlayStation, a cross-platform fantasy role-playing game and the third iteration of a platforming favourite. So let’s take a look at what’s on offer…

Cool but Ultimately Pointless - Sony’s Pocket Rocket

  By Niall | September 30, 2009 - 9:00 am | Gadgets, Games, The Culch
3 Comments

Cool but Ultimately Pointless this week focuses on Sony’s latest effort to corner the market in hand-held computer gaming, the PSP Go. [History lesson - feel free to skip] Sony launched the original PlayStation Portable system back in 2005, the first hand-held video game console to use an optical disc format, Universal Media Disc (UMD), as its primary storage medium. With 1.8Gb of storage, Sony intended this medium to herald a new wave of mobile media. But the format’s proprietary nature and the lack of writers and blank media meant that film studios and content providers shied away from it. Despite the relative failure of its storage medium the PSP sold well worldwide but continually lagged behind its main competitor, the Nintendo DS. Sony has constantly strived to increase it’s market-share in hand-held gaming and with the launch of the PSP Slim & Lite in 2007 sales increased dramatically. This … There’s more →

More Than Just a Murder Simulator

  By Stephen Colfer | August 31, 2009 - 9:54 am | Featured Post, Games, The Culch
9 Comments

Video games are a rather confusing medium to introduce to people. Unlike film and more so books which have been around longer than most people who are alive today, video games are rather young in comparison and for the most part are only now deciding what they actually are. We live in a very interesting time to be a “Gamer”. Our medium is at a strange place where it’s breaking free to become a unique way to present a world, story or character. Finally cut-scenes and long blocks of story related text are being left behind in the films and books they belong in. Game developers realise there is so much more to do with their stories and ideas than simple forcing them into the face of a player. The initial thrill of long fancy looking cut-scenes has long past, these days most gamers are either too impatient and simple … There’s more →