Χ-Play (2003)

Predator: Concrete Jungle, Pariah, Rugby 2005 and more! (3x41)

Air date: Apr 27, 2005

On tonight's episode of X-Play, we preview Predator: Concrete Jungle. The greatest foe Arnold Schwarzenegger ever faced wasn’t a political opponent; think unstoppable alien menace the Predator instead. But while dozens of games have let audiences play the aforementioned actor, few have chosen to cast sci-fi enthusiasts as his extraterrestrial nemesis. Enter Concrete Jungle, an attempt at shedding some light on the creature’s history, as well as, providing it with a headlining role. We at X-Play take a look at what it’s like controlling an assassin who hunts humans for sport. Atari finally made a good Dragon Ball Z console game in Budokai 3. While it wasn't a universally appealing fighter, its mechanics and production shined--especially when compared to previous efforts. Riding this wave of progress like a young Goku on his flying Nimbus Cloud, Atari and developer Avalanche Software tackle a new genre--the third-person action game. Bad move, as Dragon Ball Z: Sagas crashes into a flaming heap from the word go. At times like this it's nice not to be English. Not that there's anything wrong with England (just ask Tony Blair) but if we hailed from that green land there'd be a chance we actually knew how to play rugby, and this release from EA would probably be a lot more disappointing. While the publisher is an old hand with soccer, the sport of rugby is a more recent addition to the EA stable. This year, the company has embraced the sport of scrums, finally bringing the franchise to the Xbox. But is Rugby 2005 sporting news, or like a face full of dirt? In the early 19th century, playing chess via the postal service was the hottest multiplayer game around, but the lag was insufferable. A hundred years later the ham radio helped the lag, but required a lot of overhead. These days we have games where thousands can play together in real-time over the internet without postage stamps or radio licenses, so when a modern game comes along with multiplayer that