Recently it seems that areas of the media like the Daily Mail and the Alan Titchmarsh show feel that it’s easier to point the finger at video games for being responsible for much of societies problems, as it’s much easier than dealing with the actual complex issues faced in modern society. There is also a growing trend of reporting the worst case scenario as actual fact, but here at This Is My Joystick, I decided it was time to buck this trend and look at the positive side if things.

Sure there is a dark side of my character that chuckles to myself when I see a gas tank, and I always take note of security cameras on my travels because years of playing video games has taught me a few little tricks that come in quite useful in everyday life. When I gave this a little more thought it occurred to me that actually there are many positive lessons learned by attending the University of Gaming.

Modern education involves constant multiple-choice style exams that teaches kids to memorise rather than think. Many blame this for shackling creativity and explain why many have so much trouble solving the simplest of problems in the ‘one size fits all’ education system. The good news is that people who play video games can learn more skills from games than they ever did in school.

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Iain Lee is a jack of all trades comedian, television and radio presenter, which many of you will remember from Channel 4’s “The Eleven O’clock Show”, “RI:SE”, and gamers will fondly remember the show Thumb Candy.

I dragged Iain away from writing his gaming column for MSN and presenting for Absolute Radio to discuss his love of gaming, LOST and the fact he even has his own iPhone app.

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Big match striker is a new, free to play, online football game from Super Massive Games. It marries Football Manager with a Saturday night in the pub with your mates then throws in a sprinkle of Pub Quiz and a dash of Bragging rights. It backs all that up with a solid forum structure and coats it all with a classic Roy of the Rovers style comic book sheen.

Now moving into the “Open Beta” stage of development the game is available for anyone to sign up and start playing and that is exactly what I have done.

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In the last few days some “information” about the so called “fatigue” system in the upcoming MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV by Square Enix (you can also read my in-depth hands on article), stirred a real uproar across the internet.

A few misleading articles by the otaku site Sankaku Complex (careful, the link is definitely NSFW), full of mistranslations and omissions that seemed quite intentional, given the past hate-filled articles by the site on anything pertaining Square Enix. These misconceptions spread like wildfire and gave the general audience a quite warped vision of the system and the game. Unfortunately even more sanctioned websites decided to approach the matter in a sensationalistic way, also omitting some crucial information.

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To people of a certain generation, the name “Worms” brings up certain memories, most of which involve huddling round a PS1 and throwing Sheep at each other. It’s hard to deny the success of Team 17’s most famous franchises, and its recent edition on the Xbox Live Arcade and the iPhone have been insanely popular. However there hasn’t been a version on PC for quite a long time; a situation that is being rectified with Worms Reloaded. Is it a wriggle to victory or an Armageddon?

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There were a lot of big things at E3. New games, new hardware, and mountains more. However, Nintendo’s unveiling of the new ’3DS’ completely stole the show in more ways than one. Was this based on the sheer genius of the product itself, Nintendo’s marketing prowess, or some other reason? Read on to find out!

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Kinect is going to be an integral tool that introduces gaming into more households than ever before. Effectively, Microsoft have come to finish the job that Nintendo started with the Wii back in 2006. There’s no doubt about it, no matter how Sony may think otherwise, Kinect is going to be the present everyone wants this Christmas and after trialling it, it’s not difficult to see why. Anyone can jump straight into Kinect, stand in front of the camera and be a part of a game. It’s as if gaming is being started from scratch and everyone is being forced to adapt.

Good or bad, I find out if Kinect really is the future.

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Pac-man is innately simple. Guide the little melon around a blue maze, eating dots and avoiding colourful ghosts until you find a power pellet and get to eat the little bastards. Only they don’t die, they simply go back to base for about two seconds and then revive, still intent to have their way with the Pac one. It’s the biggest kick in the teeth ever and makes the game intense and fraught with stress. Great in its day, Pac-man is now about as old as video games get and doesn’t really cut the mustard with today’s HD-ready, COD generation. So, how to reboot the ancient legend for the new kids? Make him a platform star, it seems. Pac-man World 3 is the third in the series of Pac-platformers, taking the jolly yellow ball into the 21st century with 3D-ness, enemies you can actually kill and fantasy worlds of bizarre kinds. Not being a massive Pac-man fan and only having played a demo of World 2, I wasn’t exactly brimming with glee when I got this one through the post, but I was in for a surprise. Just not the one I expected…

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Ninety Nine Nights (or N3) was released way back in 2006 to a somewhat mixed reception. The major criticisms of the game were the often repetitive gameplay and the incredibly steep learning curve. Despite this, however, N3 still picked up something of a cult following especially in the Eastern market and a sequel seemed almost inevitable.

It has taken a massive four years but finally, we have that sequel. Developed by Feelplus and published by Konami, the demo is now available to download and play on XBOX Live and I have been testing the “control-pad-out-the-window” level so that you guys and gals don’t have to.

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It’s not often a game that I’ve never heard of hits its release date with little promotion and surprises me. With the position I have on the site, I like to pride myself on keeping my finger on the pulse of all things gaming and have a decent idea of how most titles will turn out, yet Monday Night Combat, the new game from Uber Entertainment, seemingly came from nowhere and has done exactly that. Hearing nothing about a title can often put people at odds; I mean, if there’s not a lot of advertising clout behind something, how good could it really be? Thankfully for Monday Night Combat, it’s very good, and then some.

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