ITSMYYARD

It's been up since Sunday but it's one you don't want to miss!

Over halfway through but only knew about it yesterday. Bioware are doing a competition for awesome prizes by just following them on facebook/twitter. All can be done by going to this link below!

http://treehousebrandstores.com/contests/bioware-twelve-days-of-giveaways/

Chances are you have already seen the new episode of Last Man Standing, but if you haven't then behold in all it's splender!

PS3 Move Bundle w/ Games Contest! (International Too!) – Blistered Thumbs

Let's make it clear to people who go onto my site, Last Ops Standing was meant to be handled differently and would never replace Last Man Standing in anyway.

It was designed to celebrate the release of Blacks Ops with episodes being released daily for a week. The 4 episodes (two of which are currently available) were recorded and edited on the release date. I designed them to be quick and simple with just viewers to see if they can guess the answer before the contestants, nothing more. It wasn't meant to be overly funny or witty, it was just trivia. Unfortunately one way or another machinima have been releasing the videos weekly.

I understand completely why some people would hate it. The typical demographic is full of young teens who want to see funny skits every day and not something different. Machinima has been changing though to be an entertainment destination to cover a broader audience that's why there's more and more live action stuff coming out and not just the same Halo machinima or COD machinima.

If you don't like it you just click the X when a new episode arrives, no hard noobies!

Anyone who has played Black ops will know online that there have been some little bugs and glitches which Activision have promptly fixed (like the care package glitch). However activision are flagging any youtube video which has any sort of glitch in it. No i'm not making this up. Youtube channels could get banned if they post this footage as was evident when Machinima Respawn with over half a million subscribers had their account suspended when they posted early footage of the game.

Activision have every right to stop people airing footage of the game as it is theirs, however reviewers like myself have every right to critique a game and show footage to reflect that. If i was going to do a video review of the game and showed a merely little bug to show the game is far from perfect should I really be suspended for showing the truth? Of course not.They've given us a theater mode to do Machinima but i'm skeptical to properly use it with Activision glaring at any Black Ops video right now incase there's something I place in it which shouldn't be in there by accident.

I understand that one reason they maybe doing this is to prevent more and more people to do a said glitch but if players are going to glitch why not BAN them while it hasn't been fixed instead of caring about the videos. People who glitch will always find out how to glitch, this won't stop them. Stop being scared activision and show some real balls please. We shouldn't be punished for your mistakes, punish your testers instead for not finding out these bugs sooner!



Big Brother gone mad!

Had to change the layout was very bored. This template needs bit of adjusting but i'll get there in the end. Til then for the new people visiting.

If you're here about LMS then recordings happen every saturday, if you just want to see me rambling then you've came to the right place!

So Black Ops has been out for a few days now with alot of people delving into the multiplayer straight away like I have. It maybe one of the best selling games this year but sales mean very little to a gamer like me, it's the gameplay.

Let's delve straight into it shall we. First notable thing is the customisation which has increased ten-fold since the previous title. As well as the traditional CLAN tag you can have a tag on your gun, change your face paint, change gun reticule colour and image, have custom thumbnail for your name (already seen a guy have a penis as his....the maturity there!). That's great if you love that sort of thing but for me I'm not totally fussed by it as it adds no real gameplay changes to it, instead it's just adds a gloss over it, but I can fully understand why fans love the new customisable options.

Secondly is the credit system in place. Just like in Reach to unlock certain items you have to earn enough credits, and in some cases be the right level/rank to be able to purchase said item, with some items being unobtainable unless you have prestiged. It's a good system if you have to save up lots and lots of credits over days to do it but least in these early levels the amount of credits needed can be bought within a couple of games, with nothing be more than a few thousand credits. That's a good thing as there are loads of little things to unlock and if you like many different guns then it won't take you ages to unlock everything. Of course if you don't have as many credits as you want you could at least go into wager match for instance. Wager matches are alright it adds a different spin with their mini games, but playing for 10 credits a game in low stakes is puny even if it's the only one that accepts party games (bragging rights i suppose), but you can play for up to 20000 credits a game if you double down in the high rollers. Having to level up to unlock all the playlists is a small gripe as some people would just rather play constant no perk games for example.

The maps for most part are alright, I do like Hanoi in the prison area but overall they feel quite clunky and monotone with some places you really want to jump to but can't because of invisible barriers and dieing way too easy by dropping down off a ledge. Likewise killing players seems to be very hard in places. Knifing is harder which is a good/bad thing but headshots seem to be alot harder in normal play. Being directly behind only 1 foot away and aiming my crossheirs directly on their head my FAMAS can not get a headshot, especially bad when they have no head gear on! I didn't know they had sheilds everywhere...

Some of the new perks are well thought out, the blackbird telling you exactly where they are and where they are looking is really good for the HQ mode, but the RC car is just broken unfortunately and way overused. With even custom paths for the RC cars to go (which we can't fit in despite being just big enough to lie prone and move around) it is very hard to destroy them as they just move too fast. Yes they make alot of noise but when very few of the maps are open areas it is often a guaranteed kill. I know they nerfed the RC car before release but it needs another alteration. Nuketown is one of the smallest maps with very few spawn points. Even at the beginning of a round you can have an enemy directly beside you instead of being on the opposite end.Chopper Gunner is just overpowered right now, because most players don't have the RPG's though you could have the RPG kill streak that automatically destroys the helis and planes when in range, but few people do this, opting for the RC car or the big attacking moves instead. Teamwork people!


The auto aim bugs me alot, I swear that I have perfect aim on a guy only for the auto aim to move my cross-heirs. It ruins the skill aspect of the game in my opinion.

Overall people are hyping this to be a great game, COD games always are but I was expecting a bit more in the multiplayer not just a small upgrade. I still prefer BFBC2 to this.

Multiplayer Grade: 7/10 - Still great multiplayer but not enough updates to make me keep playing it as much as other multiplayer games.

So there's another episode up on youtube, the first one on reach no less. It wasn't until I edited it I realised that the set was a bit squint but that is fixed for episode 7.

Yes Prawn is back in episode 7 with some funky dance moves!!!!11


Other gameshows are planned like SW and Orbidome so watch the stars!

Over next few days MachinimaSports Will have videos made by me explaining the newest smackdown games but I have missed quite a few pointers that should've been explained but either chose not to or completely forgot about.

2011 has many beautiful features compared to last year and if this was your first smackdown game you would love it to no end if you're a wrestling fan. It brings a smile to my face just thinking about putting someone through 2 tables at ringside off the top of a ladder inside the ring with a swinging neckbreaker or FU, especially when that person is your friend :D

The Directional Throws (D-Throws) and Pin Combos are a much needed refresher to the franchise, being able to choose where to throw your opponent down from a suplex or powerbomb is very satisfying especially if you're near the ropes and want to go for the pin. But the D-Throws are brilliant for the weapon matches, being able to do a powerbomb onto a chair by moving into the right position at the last second is dignifying specially when you see your opponent withering in pain from feeling steel on flesh....MUAHAHAHAHAHHA

Pin Combos are brilliant and help replicate a more japanese feel to the game. Many wrestlers in japan use suplexes or bombs or drivers both in pinning form and release form. In the new smackdown game you don't have to waste sought after move slots to add 2 of the same move. If you want the move to pin then press O (PS3) when it indicates and it turns into a pinning variation instead of a release. This is perfect for tiger suplexes, dragon suplexes and more and should be great to recreate classic Kobashi/Misawa matches.

Who can forget the havok engine with the weapons, laying them on the ropes, running up ladders leaned on the apron, destroying ladders in the corner, dropping a suplex onto an open fallen ladder. Finally we get 6 man online after YEARS! of waiting The carnage that 6 man matches take online is beyond words specially in a Money In The Bank match. In fact that can be a bit of a downside, wrestlers wake up far too quickly even when completely damaged (bar hitting a finisher of course), even when being pushed from a ladder to the floor, but these new animations are far better and realistic. As a result of this matches can take up to an hour to complete but that's not to say it isn't fun :D

Let's now tackle the issues. Firstly the wrestler movesets. They SUCK, no one in WWE does the float-over DDT (bar Percy Watson) yet a lot of them have it. Where as the movesets in 2010 were pretty good bar some common repeat moves, 2011 has the same moves appear time and time again. With now only 1 running strike move it means that you can no longer have what I call the weak strike and the strong strike (Shoulder block and a Lariat for example). While they have added the tree of woe position and superplex positions it does remove 2 turnbuckle slots, I wish this option was more optional and not forced upon you despite being a good edition overall as it lets you achieve the new Create a Finisher in the superplex position, though the options are lacking. However on saying that doing a Super Angle Slam or the Pepsi Plunge has nostalgic value, just a shame you couldn't do the Emerald Flowsion off the top :(

RTWM is a mixed bag, I very much enjoyed Christian's as it was a look back at the awesome tag team E+C were specially when I was growing up with them when I first started watching wrestling. I just wish you could do the doubleteam conchairto in the game instead of just seeing it in a cutscene. Walking around backstage all the time I found a real chore. Some people will like the sandbox element that occurred in Just Bring It but for me it seems too slow, not to mention the bad mouth syncing. VERY VERY lazy on THQ's part there.


Online is still the same as before, while you do now have 6 player matches, people still depend on running every chance they get. Even though THQ have added stamina to the running, which results in characters running slower and slower if they keep running, it ruins matches, but luckily I know people that won't abuse this. Expect loads of people to abuse the High Knee move with it's quick animation and auto-knockdown their opponents. The chain grapples are glitched in my opinion. In the last couple of years you had to time your counter and if the timing was wrong you weren't able to counter for at least a second. This is still the case in 2011 for every other move (and so far every move is now counterable, that means the stomp glitch is gone!) but with chain grapples you can spam the counter button and you're able to counter the grapple EVERY time (On PS3 I have yet to try it out on 360). That's a big flaw specially when you want players to do it. If that glitch was fixed I expect there would be less runners but alas that isn't the case.

Having the Fan Axxess pass and Online Axxess is a way of promoting the future and to stop the 2nd hand market but THQ made it very difficult to unlock everything, it will take days and days for players to unlock all arenas, characters, attires and more, where as you can just pay less than a dollar for everything unlocked in 5 seconds flat. Very cheeky on THQ's part.

Why oh why do THQ remove moves from the game every year. I never understand why, it's not like the move has suddenly disappeared from reality. A game should always add new stuff every year, not remove it. People want the hogan leg drop and brainbusters but mysteriously vanish without a trace. Tag moves especially when they had 3D but removed it last year. The more move options the more variety the more fun and the less chance of becoming bored seeing the same move. FIXED YOUR SHIT THQ!! *calms down*

Overall THQ have made something that is not just a few extra features from last years game, but it's a shame when they focus on one thing they neglect so many other areas. It's 2 steps forward, 1 step back.

Rating: 7.5/10 (And I mean 7.5/10 as it is better than average and is a good game overall, certainly not a Normal video game 7.5 which actually means 5/10)

Another episode just been recorded, it's gonna be pretty short because people didn't know about an iconic game... you will be schooled!


By the way to make sure people understand I normally record episodes at midnight UK time, 7pm EST so if contestants don't make it I do send friend requests at that time so you may just get picked then!

So episode will be available for viewing tomorrow (sorry for using original recordings in places I saved the wrong theater file!) and yet we still have not got a winner. I will be taping Episode 5 tonight, with Episode 6 likely to be the day after. If the prize is still yet to be won, expect some familiar faces returning for sudden death.... MUAHAHHAHAHAHAHA

There's not much these days that you can buy for less than a quid is there? A bag of sweets? a newspaper? a condom? How about a game? Well for 80 MSP you can play Action Arcade Wrestling (AAW for short). It says exactly what it says on the tin. It is a wrestling game but adopting the arcade style that made Wrestlefest in the early 90s such a great game.

AAW is an Indie game so you'll have to dig around the dashboard to find it. For 80 MSP you don't expect massive details or even complexity for a small independent game but with AAW there is alot of customisable options. Firstly much like Fire Pro, making wrestlers is pretty quick and easy to do, I made several WWE look a likes in a few minutes, as well as editing their moves. You can also change the arenas not just in the options but mid game if you don't like a certain look of one. Changing the colour of the apron or ring ropes is done by the flick of the wrist.

Onto the gameplay, AAW is pick up and play at it's easiest. Initiate the test of strength against your opponent, hit the right button first and you gain control of doing a grapple move or irish whip. Don't take too long or you're opponent will re-take control. The more damage they take the bigger the grapple moves you earn, such as piledriver and powerbomb, which replace your smaller moves. Do more damage and you'll be able to hit your finisher grapple or even a finisher top rope move or running move. Set in a 2D style using 3D sprites it does feel very much like Wrestlefest. The graphics are nice and bold for this sort of game and reflects the Arcade style.

The AI does need tweaking, when climbing the top rope they will stand perfectly still. While you don't have much access to hitting loads of moves to begin with, the amount of different moves on offer is rather limiting, but the creator has promised that more moves will be added in the future.

AAW has the familar types of matches, Singles, Tag, Battle Royals, Rumble, Steel Man (Ironman), Steel Cage and a nifty 4 Way Ironman match called Steel Men. There are championship modes ala Wrestlefest but you can decide on the wrestlers for each stage.

You can't win by submission which is quite a let down despite having moves like the figure four in the game. Despite requiring you to be online to play the game (due to the silly dashboard nature of all indie games), there is no online match playing. If it was included I would expect a lot of people playing it, specially with their own creations.

Overall though if you have a few mates round you can play some great 4 player action and relive some old memories of Wrestlefest, because this is the closest thing you'll get to the actual game. For 80MSP you can't go wrong, and if you're a tight git, why not download a trial of it?


AAW receives a slightly above average 6/10, you don't expect much for 80MSP but it's worth the money.

Hello and welcome to the updated Backyard Gaming website. I decided with my shows now being shown on machinima (or about to in time of writing) that it was time to fix up the site.

This website will have gaming reviews, previews, special events and of course updates for the new machinima game shows, quiz shows and other videos!

So let's get to work shall we?!