PS3 Pish

Demon's Souls has been the only game in my PS3 since the turn of 2010 and now it's finally getting a European launch in June. I'm not sad I spent 50 notes importing my copy as it's a fantastic game but I could really have done with the Strat guide as this is one of the most challenging RPG games I've played in a decade. I imagine there's plenty of people who've never got past the first couple of hours, especially those who're used to the hand holding offered in contemporary games like say Uncharted 2. For examples of it's teeth grinding toughness consider that there's no pause button, no mid level checkpoints, an obtuse and unexplained upgrading system and those first couple of hours, blimey, I think I did 15-20 times at least.

Still it's probably in my top 5 games for PS3 and here's why - the combat is visceral and combined with the difficulty level it forces you to fight carefully, thoughtfully, shield-up always, forever peeking round corners till you've memorised the entire level just in case some red eyed Knight takes your head off with one strike. Doesn't sound like fun but the feeling of achievement once you've killed the first boss makes all that pain worthwhile. Moreover this game has one of the most interesting, innovative online setups I've seen in a game: playing while connected to the net means you'll see real time wispy "ghosts" of other players that are playing the same level, there's blood splatters on the floor which will reveal the actions previous players have made shortly before dying and there's a smattering of messages across each level left by players that offer(mostly) good advice about how to proceed. Not only that but you can assist other players in their level by placing a stone on the floor ingame & there's also another stone you can place that allows you to forcibly invade another players game so you can school them proper and steal their accumulated souls.

Film critic Roger Ebert gets back into the debate about whether video games can be considered as art or not.

Sony are feeling the 3D fever apparently there's a 3D gaming patch coming soon and one for playback later in the year. Personally I'm not that fussed but Super Stardust HD in 3D is tempting.