GGUK were lucky enough to sit down and have a chat with the guys from Strawdog Studios about their upcoming Xbox Live Arcade game, Space Ark. Read the rest of this entry »

SEGA kindly sent me a this cute Ai Ai  t-shirt upon hearing my intention to do a real-life monkey ball, minus the monkeys of course! Read the rest of this entry »

Step into the reality that is ‘Alan Wake’. Read the rest of this entry »

Blizzard have recently released stats for WOW that show that 70% off users have never reached  past level 10, this does not come as a huge surprise. Blizzard have aimed all of their marketing at getting users to sign up for the 10 day trial, from glitzy celeb endorsements to heavy online advertising.

 
The result of this has been a flurry of users signing up but with no real conversion to full subscriptions, having played WOW for over a year it is abundantly clear why. To reach level 10, regardless of your class is a relatively easy task with dozens of easy fetching quests fighting low level enemies and simply traveling from one town to another. However once you hit level 10 you hit a ‘grind wall’ from this point on the game seems to throw an endless stream of higher level enemies and even more fetching quests.

 
There is an acceptance that all MMORPGS have a level of grind, and even console RPGS. The key difference between an mmo and console rpg is that a user is often tied in to long periods of subscriptions and have expectations of the game providing entertainment and engaging content.The grind aspect of WOW is unavoidable and the 70% drop off rate is certainly a reflection of that, I only reached level 20 in the game before hitting the point where it became too hard for me to level up any further.

 
This is a sign of a greater problem with the current breed of MMOs, the level of time it takes a user to reach the top levels is no longer feasible as more and more users are working and do not have the hours to put in.This new audience are simply not the ideal players to keep consistent worlds going and are causing the ’servers’ or ‘gameworlds’ to have a greater % of casual players who are causing the more hardcore players problems with guilds and group quests.

 
The lesson to be learnt here is the management of in game communities and to find a better way to integrate new players into them, that way they have the needed in game support to reach the higher levels and from a company perspective convert to full paid subscriptions.

Got a new Playstation 3 ? Read the rest of this entry »

GGUK were invited by SEGA for the launch of the Sonic Spinball rollercoaster at Alton Towers over the weekend as VIP guests. The weekend also included the chance to preview the upcoming Sega All Stars Racing, and a to get a first look at the new Sonic the Hedgehog themed hotel room Read the rest of this entry »

GGUK were invited over by Capcom and Nintendo to the UK preview of ‘Monster Hunter Tri’ on the Nintendo Wii. I headed out with my rather cool Monster Hunter Tri invitation in hand to see what the new game was all about. Read the rest of this entry »

The second in our series of Q&A’s with iPhone app developers. This time around, we discuss the cereal, the Fed and hilarious press releases with Marroni Electronic Entertainment. Read the rest of this entry »

The SEGA team invited Girl Gamers UK to attend the Event: Aliens Vs Predator over at Raceways London Docklands for a touch of laser quest and to have some hands on time with the game itself. Our hands on article will be coming at a later date. This event was not like just like any ordinary event it was a chance to play some laser quest with the SEGA team. After a small coach ride up to Bunker 51, we all headed out, we got the chance to have a few refreshments and then it was down to business. Read the rest of this entry »

In the first of a series of Q&As with iPhone app developers, GGUK talks with Insurgent Games about where they are going, where they came from and what it takes to be an iPhone app developer. Read the rest of this entry »

Girl Gamers UK were invited over to the Launch event of Xbox 360’s new social Xbox Collectibles preview event which was held in ‘The Music Room’ in Central London last night. We had the chance to see in a world-first collaboration with Brit Award winning and MOBO nominated singer-songwriter Taio Cruz, who then was joined by songbird Paloma Faith. Everyone seemed to have a really good time as the party started. Paloma Faith has a seriously astounding voice and it was great to see her perform last night with Taio Cruz Read the rest of this entry »

Whether you’re into first person shooters, speeding cars or hack n slash games, you know that this year’s Eurogamer in London had something for everyone. With over 40 games to choose from, it’s hard to know what to play first. Simply everything is under one roof for all your gaming delights. Read the rest of this entry »

Wow. What a weekend? If you haven’t heard the news about ‘The 27th Annual Golden Joystick Awards’, where have you been? Girl Gamers UK were awarded ‘Press Accreditation’ for this particular event in which we could broadcast live from the awards as it happened. Hopefully bringing you the nominations and winners from the gaming industry to your attention. This allowed us to celebrate and invite you into the industry’s favourite event. Read the rest of this entry »

With less than 24 hours to go until the 27th Annual Golden Joysticks Awards that take place at the Park Lane Hilton Friday 30th October. With 15 categories to vote for, we’ll really excited to see what games will be the firm favorites this year. Girl Gamers UK will be reporting ‘Live Tweeting‘ from the event throughout the day and will give you the latest results from the ceremony. Read the rest of this entry »