Here’s some pictures from 3Rooms for you. Thanks again to all that attended and if you have any photographs you would like added to this thread send them through to us and we will get them up. It was a good one.

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Ninja Theory’s Tameem Antoniades and Andy ‘Gollum’ Serkis, who brings a mighty motion capture performance to Heavenly Sword, popped along to the Three Speech event at 3Rooms last week, answering a bunch of questions from those in attendance.

Read on for their thoughts on cut scenes, Blu-Ray, emotional engagement, the making of Heavenly Sword and more.

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As many of you will have heard, the world of motorsport is mourning the loss of one of its greatest stars - Colin McRae. The sad news of McRae’s death, along with his son and two family friends, in a helicopter accident at the weekend will be felt throughout sport, but also in the video game world - where Colin McRae Rally games captured the amazing spirit of him as a driver, and the sport he loved, so well.

His passion for translating the excitement of rallying to gaming was unquestionable. On the Codemasters website, the team there say: “For over ten years, Colin was part of the Codemasters family and it was a privilege to have a man recognised as a true legend on the team. He always took a keen interest in the game experience, wanting to make sure it was without equal in its portrayal of the sport.”

“His contribution was inspirational and brought his technical expertise and passion for rally driving to each and every McRae game. Through the popularity of those games, he brought a whole new audience to the sport itself.”

On behalf of the entire PlayStation community, and the millions of Colin McRae game fans around the world, we extend our deepest condolences and sympathies to the McRae family and those of the others who lost their life in the crash; and to his many friends in motorsport and video games.

PS3 Fanboy are running an interview with Ryan Schneider from Insomniac. Topics discussed include the sheer, huge scope of Ratchet & Clank and the role Home will play.

Read all about it here

Guys. Just in case you haven’t seen the updates on store, here’s what’s new…

Demos

Fifa 2008
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
NBA Live 2008

Packs

Motorstorm Rally Car & Bus (AKA lite pack 1)
Ninja Gaiden Sigma Weapon Master

Video

Locoroco Cocorecho Trailer
Heavenly Sword - Creating the music (#5)
Heavenly Sword - The day of the Warrior
Assassin’s Creed Trailer

New Banners

Harry Potter Demo
Ninja Gaiden Sigma Weapon Master Pack
MotorStorm Rally Car and Bus
Loco Roco Trailer.

F.E.A.R fans - here’s some news about the sequel. It officially got its name today: Project Origin. It was actually named by fans who sent in suggestions to the developers.

“Our team really enjoyed letting the fans drive the naming process, and we are excited to expand upon the work we began in the original game and establish Project Origin as a premier gaming franchise in its own right”

You can find more info on the name here – as well as some of the rejected names that were sent in.

So you know what you are playing for, the winner will receive a signed (and it’s poster size! - no messing here) Heavenly Sword print of Nariko, a trophy and a boxed copy of Heavenly Sword, with second place winning a trophy and a boxed copy of Heavenly Sword and third place winning a trophy. It’s game on…

Games journalist Steve Boxer met Sony chiefs regarding the influence of Web 2.0 on the gaming world at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival. Over to Steve for what they said…

The Edinburgh Interactive Festival, which took place on August 13 and 14, is an unusual affair, best described, perhaps as a “boutique” games show. It’s always attended by a small but select band and, as it takes place while the Edinburgh Festival is on, the general vibe is relaxed and holiday-ish – rather than the usual manic nature of games shows in which everyone is trying to sell something. This year, a dream team of SCE people behind Sony’s merging of games and social networking – Jamie Macdonald, VP of Worldwide Studios, Paulina Bozek, Executive Producer of SingStar and Peter Edward, Director of the PlayStation Home Platform Group – gave a joint talk entitled Beyond Social Gaming.

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Over at Australia’s www.thedaily.com.au is an interview with the Insomniac developers on the new Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools Of Destruction. Click through to read up on what’s in store. Fingers crossed we are going to have some code of this for those coming down to 3Rooms on Thursday.

To brighten the start of the week, here’s some pictures from the extremely innocent boom years of computer arcades. Yes, young ‘uns, in days gone by arcades looked like this. Guys took girls, dads took their boys, men went with work colleagues - and all to play classic games such as Victory, Battlezone, Zaxxon and Space Invaders.

Some arcades were dressed as space ships; some had some very strange high score prizes in place - ‘get the high score and win a free single/album’? Looking at these pictures, you get the feeling that arcade games in the late 70s to early 80s were seen as something for all ages to enjoy.

With the advent of online remote gaming and the possibility that someone in deepest London is playing Motorstorm or Warhawk online with a fellow gamer in Orlando, it seems strange to look at these pictures and imagine a different time when the local arcade was the main place high scores happened.

Thanks to www.timouttunnel.com for the pictures.

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