E3 2010-Nintendo

Unfortunately due to events beyond my control I missed the Nintendo conference. Sorry about that. However, here's a list of the highlights.


New Zelda (Skyward Sword) with emphasis on Motion Plus swordplay. Graphical style is somewhere between that of Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, with an adult Link in a cel-shaded environment.

Metroid: Other M will be released August 31st.

Retro Studios have been working on a new 2D platformer, relaunching the Donkey Kong Franchise, entitled Donkey Kong Country Returns.

Also in the 2D platform arena- Kirby: Epic Yarn looks rather lovely, the entirity of the environments and characters appearing to be stiched from fabric and allowing interaction with the gameworld based on this.

Epic Mickey is coming along nicely- lots of old Disney characters apparantly, and reaction has been far more positive than that of the very abstract looking sreens from a while back. The demo showed a more populated 3D environment, and a black and white classic-Disney-style 2D section.

3DS was shown, with one 3D screen and one touch screen- looks very similiar to the traditional DS design, has a 3D camera, apparantly, as well as a slider-analogue type thing.

Got to our website here  http://www.7outof10.co.uk/3ds/24/03/2010/ for a look at this really clever piece of kit. With a Resident Evil & Starfox game planned for release the 3DS will be huge.

Mario Sports Mix revealed. Hockey, Basketball, Volleyball, Dodgeball. Coming 2011

Goldeneye. Split-screen, MP. Developed by Eurocom. November 2010.

3D versions of Nintendogs & Cats

Kid Icarus Uprising. Looked very action packed. Full 3D with some flight sections.

Below is a list of Publishers/Developers and some of the games they're expected to bring to theWii and DS consoles over the next year or so:

CAPCOM:

RESIDENT EVIL® REVELATIONS

SUPER STREET FIGHTER IV 3D Edition (name not final)

HUDSON SOFT:

KORORINPA franchise

KONAMI:

Contra franchise

HIDEO KOJIMA’S METAL GEAR SOLID SNAKE EATER 3D “The Naked Sample”

PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER franchise / WINNING ELEVEN franchise

LEVEL-5:

Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle (name not final)

MAJESCO ENTERTAINMENT:

A Boy and His Blob

Face Racers: Photo Finish

NAMCO BANDAI GAMES:

PAC-MANTM & GALAGATM (name not final)

RIDGE RACER® (name not final)

NINTENDO:

Animal CrossingTM

Kid IcarusTM: Uprising

Mario KartTM

nintendogsTM + cats

Paper MarioTM

PilotWings ResortTM

Star Fox 64TM 3D

Steel Diver

SQUARE ENIX:

DRAGON QUEST® franchise

FINAL FANTASY® franchise

KINGDOM HEARTS franchise

TECMO KOEI GAMES:

NINJA GAIDEN® (name not final)


DEAD OR ALIVE® 3D (name not final)

THQ:

de Blob 2

T

WARNER BROS:

Batman franchise

Game Review: Alan Wake-Xbox 360

Alan Wake has had a bumpy ride during the course of its development, one that began way back around the release of the Xbox 360 and one time there was even talk of it ever surfacing at all. It’s also seen developers, Remedy, (of Max Payne fame), come under a lot of pressure from the gaming community and critics alike as all waited patiently for the game to be released. So here we are, some five years later, and finally Alan Wake has reached retailers' shelves albeit as a leaner, more familiar survival horror as supposed to the pseudo-free roaming adventure originally planned. It would be easy to decry Alan Wake for its step back into the tried and tested waters of earlier game mechanics given its length of time under development, but to do so would be an unfair critique of a video game that delivers on many levels whilst surprising on others.

Alan Wake tells the tale of a bestselling crime novelist who is currently experiencing a rather unfortunate case of writers block and so decides to take a much needed vacation with his Wife to the picturesque setting of ‘Bright Falls’: Home of the mountain hick and annual Deer Fest. Pretty much on arrival, however, things start to go awry and soon our reluctant hero finds himself in a nightmare seemingly of his own creation as pages from a manuscript he has no memory of writing are suddenly becoming very real. If you’ve ever been privy to John Carpenter’s horror movie In the Mouth of Madness, then a plot where a novelist’s creations come to life to commit acts of lunacy and violence will undoubtedly sound familiar. It’s no secret that Remedy have been rather open about their influences for Alan Wake during the course of the games development and as such have chosen to serve them up with unashamed relish throughout. From its idyllic, mountain setting, (Steven King), its jaunts into the unnerving and unreal, (The Twilight Zone), and it’s dark humour and collection of quirky, colourful characters, (Twin Peaks), its clear that Remedy's trek into the world of survival horror draws upon the strength of these influences resulting in a gripping and compelling video game that rarely ceases to entertain.

Much like a TV series the game is broken up into episodes and on completion of each the player is rewarded with an enjoyable closing piece of music with the following episode beginning with a TV style re-cap of previous events. Adding to this sense of acting out a TV serial is Alan’s ever present narration as the tale unfolds. Hints as to what may lie around the next corner or within the dark confines of an abandoned farmhouse are never too far away. While it’s often considered more appropriate in a horror-cum-thriller to conceal your viewers from what’s coming next, hearing the words “It was then I heard the Chainsaw” just as you stumble blindly into that afore mentioned farmhouse, is surprisingly unnerving. It’s an interesting approach toward a genre that invariably relies on the player being completely unaware of what lies in wait within their immediate environment; using the unknown to trigger the biggest scares and induce moments of panic. Alan Wake, however, tells you what’s coming next and as a result is genuinely more frightening than many other titles in the genre and for that it should be applauded. What’s particularly clever is how Remedy has managed to remind the player that they are just part of an interactive story whilst simultaneously never really detaching them from the experience. When Alan is terrified, amused or even exasperated by the events unfolding before him you share that journey, experiencing your own set of mixed emotions as the darkness-as it becomes known-threatens to consume you at every turn.

At its core Alan Wake’s gameplay follows a linear path of encounters and the occasional puzzle solving much in the vein of Konami’s Silent Hill, in that it gives the illusion of being able to wonder off from the beaten path while always maintaining a pre-determined route that guides the player through the story. In a time where the free-roaming adventure is king it’s nice to be able to just sit back and let events pull you along without having to overly worry about having missed valuable information integral to the plot. Throughout, pages from Alan’s manuscript can be found tucked away in darkened corners of disused buildings and the gloomy depths of Bright Fall Forest, and while they do give a far deeper insight to the proceedings, (should you choose to brave the dark and unearth each and every one), they’re not wholly important in understanding the play being laid out in front of you. Having said that, these scattered pages from an as yet unfinished horror story can give you the edge in more difficult situations and does add an extra sense of depth to the overall experience.

Combat should also be familiar territory to those with a flavour for survival horror with the added twist that without a valuable source of light the weapons scattered in and around each area are next to useless against the darkness and those tainted by it. Light plays a huge part in Alan Wake because, naturally, light is the opposing force of darkness and more often than not you’ll heave a sigh of relief at finding a handful of lithium batteries in an abandoned truck on the road side as supposed to pistol ammo. Here the signal flare and torch are your best friends, not the hunting rifle. By the final third of the game the combat-even with well implemented dodge system-does become a little repetitive, but it’s an interesting concept nonetheless and one that ties in with the game perfectly for simply no other reason than it works.

It’s has been a long time coming but Alan Wake has certainly been worth the wait. Atmosphere, beautiful visuals and a compelling story rarely come together in a video game quite as well as seen here. Once you begin Alan’s nightmarish journey it’s hard to let go; just remember when you go to bed at night to leave the landing light on as you never know what may lurk in the darkness.

9/10

E3 2010-Microsoft

This week sees the gaming world heading off to the Los Angeles Convention Centre to once more to partake in the biggest gaming event in the world. All the biggest players will be there and all will be trying to woo us with new games, peripherals and other surprises. If, like me, you’re a gaming addict then no doubt you will have been watching the live online feeds to get a sneak preview of all the new and tantalising goodies due for release over the course of the next year. Most important of these announcements will come from the three big gaming console manufactures; Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony-with the later two being the most curious as they take on Nintendo at their own game and venture into the world of motion gaming.

And so it is that that I’ve chosen to briefly cover the big three in my blog over the next few days.

After MS previewed their entry into the world of motion gaming at E3 last year in the form of ‘Project Natal’-video gaming where YOU are the controller-it was always going to split gamers down the middle when it came to opinion. ‘The future of gaming’ ‘Nothing but an advanced Sony Eyetoy’ being perhaps the loudest tunes over the last year. So when MS revealed all earlier today at E3 it came as no surprise that those very same tunes were still being sung. At it’s very core Natal, (or Kinect as it is now known), is a clever piece of hardware. Yes comparisons can be drawn against Sony’s Eyetoy when it comes to control, (even down to the onscreen selection animations), and there’s no doubt who MS are aiming for with this new project when you look at the line up of Wii Sport and Wii Fit clones.  But there’s no denying that there’s a certain attraction in being able to fire up the old Xbox 360 with a simple voice command or using the head tracking feature when participating in a live Cam Chat. Using hand gestures and voice recognition one is able to peruse their 360 dashboard without once having to take hold of the controller; from party invites to selecting a movie, all can be done using Kinect. It’s all very ‘Minority Report’ and is actually quite impressive.

The games on display, however, were less than exciting what with the vast majority on display being shallow, throwaway titles with little or no depth and/or creativity. Worst still, most showed signs of lag and a level of un-responsiveness. Whether these ‘technical’ issues will be smoothed out come Kinect’s launch in November remains to be seen. The most impressive title was a ‘Nintendogs’ styled game called Kinectimals where players can choose from up to 20 different animals, including tiger cubs, as a kind of virtual pet. Like Nintendogs, players can give their chosen animal a name which they respond too using voice commands with which to play games like catch and jump rope as well as other activities. How much was scripted, (if at all), for the event is unknown, but looking at how well implemented the voice recognition and motion control can be when in an un-demanding environment, (like in the 360 dashboard), it’s highly feasible that what was seen of Kinectimals was very real indeed.

Even so, more will have to be done on the gaming front if Microsoft is to pull in its core audience of Halo and Gears of War fanatics. There’s no doubt that MS are intent on stealing away some of Nintendo’s casual audience that saw the Japanese giant rise to fame once more with the Wii, however being as Kinect is an add on and not a stand alone unit Microsoft will have to play this one out very carefully as not to alienate their current fanbase. It’s an interesting time for Microsoft and also a tricky one.

So what of Microsoft’s current fanbase and was there anything for them to salivate over? Of the best, there was a jaw droppingly good demo of Gears of War 3 played out by Epic Games design director, Cliffy B and co. which certainly got a few whoops and cheers.  If that wasn’t enough there was a new trailer for Fable 3, (introduced by games design guru and the man behind Fable, Peter Molyneux).  And of course Halo: Reach, which showed all that is awesome about Halo but with added space combat in the style of Factor 5’s Star Wars: Rogue Squadron games. Yeah, I almost pissed in my pants at that one. Would have never of guessed I was 37, would you?

Then there was the final announcement of the Xbox360 Slim. At half the size of the original Xbox 360 it was a slick, shiny black piece of work with a 250GB HDD and built-in 802.11n wi-fi support. And if you were lucky enough to be a member of the press in Microsoft’s E3 conference that morning? Well you got one for free. On Microsoft. A week before launch.

The jammy bastards.

All in all, while it certainly wasn’t their best performance it wasn’t a bad conference from Microsoft. Those opinions are still divided when it comes to Kinect, and it’ll be interesting to see how things pan out for Microsoft and their new project. Even if you’re not sold on it, well, there’s always:

Game Review: Blur-PS3/Xbox 360

Power-up based racing games can be fantastic fun, there’s no doubt about it. Ever since Mario Kart first appeared on the scene way back in 1992 gamers have garnered plenty of amusement from this sub-genre, and when Wipeout put its futuristic spin on the idea we lapped it up. But for every Mario Kart and Wipeout there’s a Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing or Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour.

Fortunately such fears are quickly put to rest as Blur is certainly the most engaging and exhilarating of power-up racing games currently on the market. The actual racing has developed a lot since the multi-player Beta earlier this year and admittedly the handling isn't to the same level of refinement as the Project Gotham Racing series, but it is far less 'brick-like' than before. There’s more room for skilful manoeuvres and genuine ‘wow’ moments; the ability to zip around your opponents feels a lot more fluid and controlled and there's an immensely satisfying feeling of exchange between braking and accelerating when power sliding into a corner. Racing lines are redundant here and to be fair who’s going to be worrying about precision racing when a glowing red homing missile is rapidly moving up on your rear?

Collisions with the environment have also been tweaked. Hitting a barrier, for example, is a lot more punishing than before and adds to the intensity of the race. Do you chance a high speed collision with a barrier just to gain a few seconds lead or take it smoothly knowing that the car behind armed with a Barge power-up could put an end to your current lead should it get within arms reach? Lightening fast reflexes and a steely disposition are a requisite if you’re to garner victory here.

Strategy and tactics play a greater role in Blur than any other power-up based racer, largely because you can store up to three different power-ups at any one time. Add to this the myriad of upgrades you can bolt onto your vehicle to improve performance in both racing and combat and what you have is the most in-depth racer of its kind. The best bit? Bizarre Creations have gotten the balance between racing and combat spot on. There’s no ‘blue shells’ that will unfairly strip you of your race lead here. It’s clear that a lot of testing and polishing has gone into Blur as the two elements that make up the game move seamlessly into each other without one ever compromising the other.

The single-player mode is split into nine different stages, each housing a range of different events across real life world locations, (although a little artistic license has gone into the design; obviously to tie them in with the feel of Blur), with a one on-one boss battle at the end. Beyond the traditional Race the game also features Time Trial, Destruction and Checkpoint events that feature many of the tell tale signs of Bizarre Creations’ supremely talented creative hand. As in Project Gotham Racing, players are awarded Kudos-or in this case, Fans-for skilful driving and the clever use of weapons. Send a shock wave through a rival as they try to pass you on the inside will result in a few appreciative Fans, but should you take out a rival from a distance with a Bolt Shot you’ll garner a lot more respect.  It’s a feature that also extends to the multi-player side of things, although some changes have been implemented into the proceedings just enough to differentiate the action a little. XP is issued out much like the Meta system found in the Call of Duty games where upon successful completion of set objectives during any given race will unlock new features and bonuses-giving you that much needed edge in the field. It’s clear someone at Activision had a quite word with the team at Bizarre as what they should look to for inspiration.

With support for Xbox Live/PSN, System-Link, the best use of four-player split screen this generation, ( no black boarders, no loss in resolution, a consistent frame rate), and the ability to link all your online and multi-player achievements via Twitter and Facebook, what you have is one of the most complete multi-player packages out there.

A new racing game from the people that brought us PGR was never going to be a surprise, but a racing game in the shape of Blur wasn’t at the top of anyone’s list. Beautifully designed and utterly addictive, Bizarre Creations have achieved what few developers have with the racing genre in recent times: They made it fun again.

8/10

Movie Review: Avatar

If there was ever a case for style over substance then James Cameron’s epic, sci-fi action adventure Avatar would certainly be it.  There’s no doubt that it’s a slice of visual, audio and cinematic excellence. In fact many a cinema goer is more than keen to tell anyone who cares to listen that ‘the only way to experience Avatar is in 3D’.  Well I can’t comment on ‘Avatar 3D’, but what I do know is that all the visual splendour and breathtaking special effects in the world can’t take away the fact that Avatar is as shallow, hackneyed and mind numbingly boring as movies come.

Essentially, and if we're honest, Avatar is nothing more than a tech demo from the world of cinema; a look at what the future might hold for visual and audio effects on the big screen. To see the many, many brilliant nuances that bring the world of Pandora and all that dwell therein to life is nothing short of spectacular, but to laud it as the Citizen Kane of the 21st Century when it’s anything but is laughable.

The story trips and stumbles from one clunky set piece to the next and never really finds its footing as it tries desperately to get you to care for, well, whoever is in need of caring I guess.  Worse still, the whole tale finds itself drowning in some of the most embarrassingly toe curling dialogue to grace a movie since Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first speech as Governor of California.  Trying to empathise with any of the characters, (whether it’s the two dimensional, stereotypical humans or the, quite frankly, painfully dim-witted blue skinned giants of Pandora, the Na’vi), is a tiresome task, one that actually leaves you feeling exhausted to the point that you no longer give a toss as to what happens to any of them.  In Star Wars when the Death Star blew up Princess Leia’s home planet of Alderaan they just got the wrong planet; it should have been Pandora.

At best Avatar is what a re-make of ‘Dances with Wolves’ would have looked liked had Disney been behind the wheel but had forgotten to add lovable characters, a musical score and a sprinkling of that Disney magic.  Arguable it’s entirely possibly to watch Cameron's visual spectaculaire! with the sound on mute and still have a complete grasp of what’s actually going on.

As for the film garnering critical acclaim from pretty much every film critic the world over?  Well, that can most certainly be put down to a case of the Emperors New Clothes.

4/10

Game Review: Dead to Rights: Retribution-PS3, Xbox 360

With its dark, compelling tale of love, loss and sacrifice, a tale brought together all the more sharply with its excellently paced and erudite narrative, Heavy Rain showed that video games can appeal to a much wider and mature audience without the need of gimmicky peripherals. Or in the case of Namco’s Dead to Rights: Retribution, gallons of blood and constant, poorly placed profanity.

Taking on the role of maverick cop Jack Slate and his K-9 companion Shadow, you begin the game as the aforementioned Shadow protecting a severely wounded Jack. On completion of this opening segment Jack begins to tell his tale via a series of chapter based flashbacks dealing with the events leading up to his father’s murder and thereafter. Your main objective is the apprehension of a mysterious villain who has been working with local hoods ‘The Union’ and who has also been involved in some shady dealings with the Chinese Mafia as well as key members on the board of police. For all its clichéd plot and schlock scripting, Dead to Rights: Retribution does deliver the solid makings of a good old fashion tale of revenge. Out of context it’s stupid, hammy and over the top, but here in this reimaging of the 2002 game of the same name it serves its purpose in carrying Jack through his relentless, violence fuelled mission to avenge his father’s death. Where the game really fails is in execution and design.

On the whole the game sports some fairly decent looking character models and visual effects, but as a complete package it struggles to rise above being anything other than mediocre. All the blood, guts, guns and foul language in the world aren’t going to cover up the many failings of Namco’s latest offering. Camera angles sweep and turn erratically, whether you’re in combat with multiple opponents or moving quickly through one of the linear, albeit impressive looking, decaying environments. The slightest overreach on the analogue stick will see the camera jerk and spin uncontrollably leaving you disorientated and confused. As is easy to imagine this isn’t very helpful when you’re hot on the tail of any one of the games boss characters, or surrounded by a group of henchmen-all of whom are intent on caving in our would be hero’s skull. AI characters become stuck in their routines, downed enemies float and spin on the spot and collision detection is questionable at best. The list goes on.

But fist fights are brutal, and unashamedly so. Punches and kicks hit home with a blood curdling smack sending gouts of claret in every direction. Bones break and tendons pop as Jack rains down blow upon blow onto his enemies like some drunken thug outside a nightclub on a Saturday night. Upon reaching a set quota of melee combos, Jack can unleash one of his many gruesome finishing moves which again are visceral in their execution and often result in one or more important bones being broken or, more amusingly, several swift kicks to the family jewels. When close enough to any gun wielding gangbanger, Jack can also perform a disarm movement. Disarming an opponent involves nothing more than a simple tap of the X button which results in their weapon being torn from their grasp before finishing the job with a bullet straight to the head. Sadly character animation is twitchy and often unresponsive making much of Jack’s repertoire in the heat of battle completely redundant. Even with a counter attack and guard break at your disposal you’ll often find yourself randomly hammering away at the buttons until each one of Jack’s aggressors are permanently put out of action.

Whereas in Manhunt the act of suffocating your pursuers with a plastic bag, or cleaving their head with a blunt hand axe are ultimately far more vicious when it comes to the dispatching of ones foes, it never really relishes in the moment and is arguably justifiable within the context of the narrative. In DTR: Retribution, however, our protagonist takes great pleasure in the disposing of hoodlums and seemingly does so for no other justifiable reason than being a police officer. Even before the murder of his father, Jack has a pageant for dealing out brutal sentences on anyone who unfortunately steps into his path. Snap someone’s neck to the tune of unpleasant gurgling closely followed by a spray of crimson gore and you’ll be rewarded with a string of profanities and any number of ‘tough guy’ one-liners. It’s not that it’s offensive or in bad taste, far from it, it’s just ridiculous to the point of being embarrassing and in no way does it endear you to Detective Jack Slate or his plight. As such, this over use of macho posturing feels very much a step back for adult themed video games where a level of violence plays an integral part in the overall tale. On the one had DTR: Retribution wants to be taken seriously with it’s tale of revenge and righteous indignation and on the other it wants to be the subway scene from Capcom’s Final Fight. Unfortunately it doesn’t sit comfortably in either camp and it isn't long before you no longer care as to what happens to Jack-or anyone else involved for that matter. This is more ‘50 Cent: Blood in the Sand’ than ‘Gears of War’.

Like many current developers, Volatile Games have incorporated a cover system into their 3rd person shooter and for the best part it ticks all the right boxes. Jack can shoot around corners, blind fire over the top of walls etc and zip from one area of cover to the next while avoiding gunfire. Jack also has the ability to leap over said cover to perform a mid-air stomp on any hapless villain hiding behind it. Again though, the use of snapping in and out of cover is poorly executed and you’ll often find our protagonist refusing to snap onto a wall or barrier just when you need it most leaving our trigger happy cop exposed to a relentless barrage of bullets.

The ‘Focus’ ability, (which allows you to slow down time for pinpoint accuracy and bullet dodging), from the original game has made a return, although its presence is less important here and you’ll often find yourself forgetting you have the ability at all. For those times you do remember to use it, it can be a very useful tool in getting Jack out of difficult situations. More often than not though, these problematic scenarios are created by the in-game camera suddenly having a mind of its own during the most inappropriate of moments; usually during a hectic gun battle or fist fight where Jack finds himself drastically outnumbered.

As in the original game you can command Jack’s four legged friend, Shadow, to attack enemies and bring you extra ammo and weaponry thus evening the odds when you’re up against numerous foes. If things get a little hot you can also command Shadow to take cover, but should he be put down by a hail of bullets a quick comforting pat on the back is all that’s required to get him up and running again. Surprisingly it’s during your time controlling Shadow that the game shines that little bit brighter and provides a welcome break from the endless slaughter. Like his master he also has his own gory repertoire of moves in which to takedown the enemy while at the same time proving to have a lot more guile and cunning. Shadow can sneak around on his belly, his heightened senses picking out individual heartbeats allowing him to sneak by the enemy undetected or unleash a fatal stealth attack, after which he can hide the body by dragging it to a secluded corner. Also, like Solid Snake tapping a wall to attract his enemies thus luring them into a trap, Shadow can give a low bark with which to attract guards before leaping upon them from out of the darkness, quickly taking them down with deadly efficiency. Not only do these elements break up the repetitive gameplay of moving from one stronghold to the next they offer far more sense of fulfilment; a shame then that these moments in which you take control of Jack’s K-9 companion are few and far between and very short lived.

Dead to Rights: Retribution isn’t a terrible game by any stretch of the imagination and when it works it does provide a modicum of entertainment. Snapping out from behind cover to take out several foes in one go as Focus mode kicks in can be very satisfying and, as already mentioned, those few missions where you take control of Shadow break up the pace nicely. Unfortunately the bulk of Volatile Games action adventure is marred by poor design choices and annoying glitches that threaten to break the gameplay at every turn. With so many other titles of this ilk offering a far tighter, more intelligent experience it’s difficult to recommend this latest offering as worthy of a full price purchase. One for the bargain basket.


5/10

Robert Duncan's Winning 40k Force

Rob Duncan, a good friend of mine, recently won joint first in mini's competition at a tournament at his local Games Night and I thought it would be nice to show off his work here. Good job, buddy. Much respect.

A Few Facts About Gordon Brown

Okay, I've done well to pretty much avoid pollitics in my new blog, but with a general election just around the corner I thought I'd stick my boot one last time into a party I once trusted and feel utterly betrayed by:

Enjoy...

We used to have 6 independent regulators to regulate the different divisions of the financial services industry, including our Banks. (Margaret Thatcher knew what the Banks were like and in the 1988 Finance Act she bound the Banks up in regulation to prevent them from being reckless. That's right, a bloody Tory bound the banks up, who'd of thunk it! )

Then Gordon Brown became Chancellor on 6th May 1997

Gordon's banker friends said "We want all these regulators to go. We don't want regulators watching everything we do"

AND GORDON SAID OK

So, Gordon announced on the 20th May 1997 (2 weeks after becoming Chancellor) that the six regulatory bodies would be broken up and a new Financial Services Authority would replace them. The FSA had virtually no powers over the Banks and he also took away the powers from the Bank of England to enforce regulation on them. The result is the devastation we are all suffering today.

We used to have a Monopolies and Mergers Commission

Then Gordon's banker friends said we don't want the Monopolies and Mergers commission telling us who we can and can't "Take Over"

AND GORDON SAID OK

So, in 1998 Gordon scrapped the Monopolies and Mergers Commission and created a replacement called the Competition Commission, with very much reduced powers and different ideas of what used to be regarded as a "Monopoly". The result is the Massive Corporations we have today who are ruling and shaping our lives for their own benefit and profits. Not to mention the massive Monopolies held by some of these corporations through the forced purchases of all their competitors.

We used to have pension regulations, which for many decades had included something called "The Pensions Cap" The pensions cap set a limit on how much pension any scheme member (including directors) could get from an occupational pension scheme, irrespective of how high their earnings were.

It was there to protect the ordinary members pensions to prevent Directors paying themselves obscene salaries and then draining the pension funds with huge pensions.

Then Gordon Brown's banker friends said that they wanted the pensions cap removing so that they could get
pensions related to their obscene earnings. (The whole Pensions industry gave him warnings of the effects it would have. Even the Inland revenue put forward objections)

BUT GORDON SAID OK

Because Gordon never likes to disappoint his banker friends

So Gordon took away the Pensions Cap in 2005 and then some of his friends were able to leave their boardroom positions with huge pensions.

For example:

Fred Goodwin was apparently entitled to a pension of over £700,000. If Gordon had left the pensions cap in place that would have been a mere £125,000.

The Superannuations Division of the Inland Revenue have kept a record of what it should be, in readiness for
when we get a new chancellor who sees fit to re-instate it. George Osborn has pledged to do that. The record of Pensions Cap limits are available to view on the Revenue's website. The result of this is that along with Gordon's "Tax Raid" on pension funds starting July 1997, over four thousand UK company pension scheme's have closed their doors to new members and many of them have had to close down altogether, leaving millions of workers without any pension provision.

This man Gordon Brown professes to be a socialist and "for" the working man.

The working man's main form of long term financial security had for many years been his company pension scheme, something to look forward to at the end of a life of hard work, his reward, light at the end of a long dark tunnel. Gordon has put an end to that by destroying the most valuable asset of the average British worker.

• IT IS ONE OF THE GREATEST TRAVESTIES OF JUSTICE THAT THIS MAN WHO PRETENDS TO BE "FOR THE WORKING MAN" HAS IN FACT BEEN HIS WORST ENEMY FOR THE LAST THIRTEEN YEARS AND WILL LEAVE A LEGACY THAT WE WILL STILL BE CLEARING UP FOR MANY YEARS TO COME.

• THE REAL INJUSTICE IS THAT ITS ALL BEEN DONE IN AREAS WHICH ARE TOTALLY OUT OF SIGHT TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC AND BEYOND THE UNDERSTANDING OF MANY.

• GORDON RELIES ENTIRELY ON PEOPLES' IGNORANCE TO GET AWAY WITH HIS INDISCRETIONS.

• GORDON'S MOTTO OF: "DENY EVERYTHING AND ADMIT NOTHING" SEEMS TO BE WORKING QUITE WELL FOR HIM SO FAR.

Lastly, what Gordon likes to call the "Global Banking Crisis". Have you noticed that we were the first to be in it and are the last to be out? (And whether we are out is very speculative!!!)

As he has openly admitted, The Royal Bank of Scotland was the worlds biggest bank. So when RBS and HBOS were about to go BUST in October 2008 they had to be bailed out overnight so they did not take the entire countr down with them. (That by the way was almost certainly a decision made by the hierarchy in Whitehall for which Gordon loves to take the credit)

As the worlds leading banks now all lend money to each other on a colossal scale, isn't it obvious that the worlds' biggest bank going down would have a devastating effect on all the others it dealt with?

This "worlds biggest bank" had also sold bad mortgage books to other banks - and bought dodgy loans from USBanks. Most of the Banks in Europe which ran into crisis were dragged into it because of the crooked dealings of our big Banks. A fact that both Germany and France were quick to remind Gordon Brown of at the G20 emergency meeting shortly after the crisis.

There are many other indiscretions, far too many to list here, but perhaps the few biggie's shown above will give some insight into how Gordon operates. (Plus of course he sold off our Gold reserves at give-away prices against advice from many who knew far better - we could do with those reserves now !)

By the way - have you noticed how he has suddenly become interested in Social issues now an election is looming? He seems to be able to promise the world when, as Alistair Darling put it a few days ago, there is not a penny left in the bank !

Think very carefully before casting your vote for this man who is probably the most extreme capitalist of the past century while pretending to be "for the working man"