The UK Gaming Landscape Changes in hours... PSVITA

The PS VITA hits UK on 22.02.12

PlayStation Vita Midnight Opening is TONIGHT!!



The Oxford Street GAME Store will be opening at 00.01 Wednesday, 22nd February to officially launch SONY's new handheld.



Those who brave the London night will be the first to own the PS Vita hours before anyone else, but as an extra bonus, every customer will also receive a £5 PSN voucher code.



But that's not all. SONY will be on hand and are promising a memorable night for all in attendance. VITA buyers will get the chance to go head-to-head with fellow gamers with some special PS Vita challenges, with prizes including GAME PSN vouchers, t-shirts and more...

"Ami Ledger... should be Ami Ledgend!"

There's also an exclusive meet and greet with WipEout 2048 developer Karl Jones, who will be signing copies of this highly-anticipated launch game. Cosplay girl Ami Ledger will also be in attendance for meeting, greeting and signing!



As a special bonus, the first 100 customers in the queue will receive tickets to an EXCLUSIVE after-party at the PS Vita Rooms, located just around the corner on Newman Street.



My world may seem the same as yours...

But it's not!

If the PS VITA was a woman... ?

Darkmatters hearts Scott Pilgrim... It brings the 'awesome'

Scott Pilgrim - Matt Adcock's film of 2010?

Check out this new epic clip of epic epicness:

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

"read em - the graphic novels are EPIC too!"

Darkmatters Review: Moon

Moon (15)

Dir. Duncan Jones

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

Welcome to the Helium 3 solar energy harvesting mining complex on the moon – it’s literally “The last place you'd ever expect to find yourself”…

Moon is an amazing head trip from director Duncan Jones – also known as ‘Zowie Bowie’ yes, son of Major Tom himself David. In the near future earth's energy requirements have been solved thanks to the miracle of Helium 3, basically solar energy absorbed by moon rocks and sitting there waiting for us to mine it and send it back to earth.

Sam Bell (Sam ‘The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford’ Rockwell), is the lone miner serving his three year shift alone in the Lunar Industries mining complex that is pretty much completely automated. With just a couple of weeks left before he can return home to his foxy wife (Dominique ‘Dark Floors’ McElligott) and his daughter Eve (Kaya ‘Effy from Skins’ Scodelario). Sam’s only company in the moon complex is GERTY a HAL-like computer that has an emoticon – smiley face / sad face screen and larger robot arm… GERTY (voiced to perfection by Kevin Spacey) is programmed to protect and look after Sam, but he begins to suspect that all is not what it seems after things take a drastic turn when he has an accident…


"one small drive for man..."

The Clint ‘former lead singer of PWEI’ Mansell melancholy soundtrack works with some truly inspired visuals to create a captivating mood of pervading pensiveness. This is backed up by a slow burning and understatedly intelligent script that goes more for a build up of hypertension rather than bang-whizz jump from your seat shocks.

The special effects work well too, putting to shame many bigger budget sci-fi efforts, Moon’s closest space based companion film from the last decade for me was the Danny Boyle’s excellent ‘Sunshine’.

I won’t go into any details of the plot as Moon is a film best enjoyed without knowing too much about it… All I will say is that despite the slow pace and lack of traditional ‘action’, Moon still blew me away, there were echoes of one of my favourite sci-fi films Peter Hyams’ ‘Outland’ at times as a countdown to arrival mechanism comes into play…

Sam Rockwell is gives a great performance as a man driven over the edge by forces he cannot contemplate – I urge you check this out as it is certainly one of the top ten best films of 2009!

Darkmatters final rating of: ööööööööö (9 – in space nobody will hear your jaw drop…)

Darkmatters quick reference guide:

Action 6 (just enough and perfect when it happens)

Style 9 (ground control to Major Tom, love the look of your film!)

Babes 6 (there are babes but not in the flesh)

Comedy 6 (limited by some nice comic moments)

Horror 7 (psychological)

Spiritual Enlightenment 8 (would you get on with yourself?)

Tis the Season to be PS3

2008 ends with a PlayStation 3 supernova of entertainment...

Matt PSN name: 'Cleric20' Adcock's top 3 games for this holiday:

3. First choice for saving the world...

"The future of online battles meets the Sci-Fi epic of the year"

Resistance 2 is going to rock so hard, prepare for 60 player online and super slick single player campaign - if you have a pulse and have ever enjoyed shooting stuff... Look no further.

2. First choice for Racing fanatics...

"Nosebleed, eyebleed, adrenalin overdose of racing excitement!"

Motorstorm: Pacific Rift... As a big fan of the original and having played the demo of the new Motorstorm - I can't wait to buckle up and hit the lava, water and dirt of the Pacific Rift Island... There won't be a racing experience to rival this for some time!
"There goes the no claims bonus..."

1. First choice for - EVERYONE...

As the Good Book says - 'Let everything that has breath praise the Lord', and there's a new reason to get your knees and give thanks LITTLE BIG PLANET!


"Anyone who has ever played a game - get excited and prepare to make your own!"

Having been gaming since the days of 'Pong' and the ZX Spectrum, I can honestly say that this Christmas is the most exciting ever thanks to Sony and their PS3. The joy of Little Big Planet is tangible - nothing has come close to the winning combination of creating levels, uploading them, downloading other people's and customising every last detail...

Am currently enjoying the PS3 Beta of 'home' and trying to finish Bioshock and Far Cry 2 before the 'Sony Trinity' of Resistance 2, Motorstorm 2 and Little Big Planet hit. If you're investing in a PS3 this holiday my tips for immediate download are: WipeOut HD, Burnout Paradise, PAIN and Warhawk... I'll see you online...

Final thought: if the PS3 was a woman - I think it might be Amber Heard...

More Amber Heard love here: Hottie

The Dark Knight review 'heavy duty Batman joy'

The Dark Knight (12a)

Dir. Christopher Nolan

Reviewed by Matt Adcock


“Some men aren't looking for anything logical. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.” And the world of Batman burns in blazing style thanks to an incredible reimagining of The Joker in The Dark Knight. Director Christopher ‘The Prestige’ Nolan follows up 2005’s excellent Batman Begins with a powerhouse epic based on the iconic comic book hero’s greatest challenge.
The Dark Knight sees Batman having brought his own brand of extreme justice to the mean streets of Gotham, he’s tamed the mob and put real fear into the hearts of the underworld. But just as Harvey Dent the new crusading District Attorney (Aaron Eckhart) is appointed and looks to cement a crime free future, the criminal elements are about to be galvanised by a psychotic madman / criminal genius named The Joker (Heath Ledger).


"you will believe too..."

So the stakes are raised for Batman / Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) – how do you fight an enemy with an irrational lust for chaos? Welcome to a world without rules where the gloves are off and no one is safe. This is bleak, dark material, a million miles away from the camp knockabout of Joel Schumacher’s Batman and Robin, and so much the better for it. The Dark Knight is grim, violent and unsettling in places (certainly not a family movie) but equally wildly exciting and thought provoking too. Who’d have thought that a comic book tale could deliver potentially the best film of 2008? I have to note Ledger’s performance as The Joker as it is the stuff of legend, he even blows Jack Nicholson’s performance from Tim Burton’s Batman away and he will be very sadly missed.Are there any weaknesses in this fantastically assembled masterpiece? Well, if you want to be picky it is a bit long but that’s not really much of a grumble. My only real disappointment was that Maggie Gyllenhaal's Rachel 'didn’t quite work as well as Katie Holmes' (never thought I’d be writing that).
Her only memorable moment comes when she lands a kick in the Joker’s privates – he quips:
“A little fight in ya. I like that!”
But is immediately upstaged by Batman who appears and adds:
"Then you're going to love me…”
delivered whilst punching him full in the face!?



DARKMATTERS RATING SYSTEM (all ratings out of maximum 10 but '-' is bad whereas '+' is good):

Endorphin Stimulation: ööööööööö (9)
+ The Dark Knight delivers...

Tasty Action: ööööööööö (9)
+ Batman has never rocked so hard

Gratuitous Babeness: ööööö (5)
+ Gyllenhaal is cute but not stunning

Mind Blight / Boredom: ööööö (5)
+ Not much padding but could have been a bit sharper

Comedic Value: öööööö (6)
+ Some nice dark humour

Arbitrary final rating: öööööööööö (10)
Kapow… this is an altogether awesome film, see it as soon as you can (and it looks absolutely stunning in IMAX too).

Liable to make you:
"fall for the big black bat"

DM Poster Quote:
“cross the line..."