Tornado Outbreak has one of the best premises in video game history – you command a tornado and must use it to destroy things. The more things you destroy, the bigger the Tornado gets, along with the things it can rip apart. It’s sure to be a hit this season with high ratings from most major video game review sites.

The title is one of the latest from Konami and was titled Zephyr: Rise of the Elementals in development, before being renamed. It is available for Wii, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

The storyline has something to do with intergalactic elemental beings trying to save earth while collecting stuff for their giant overlord – I skipped past all the storyline guff in favour of the destruction bits.

The gameplay in Tornado Outbreak is pretty original. It’s unusual for modern games to offer something outside of the usual genre range and still be appealing – like Dungeon Keeper managed to do in the 90s – but Tornado Outbreak delivers. (more…)

Microsoft has arguably the best offering available in modern console gaming with the combination of the Xbox 360 platform and accompanying Xbox Live service. However, the global rollout strategy for Xbox Live is far behind that of its primary competition; the Playstation Network (PSN). The main reason Microsoft Xbox Live is one giant fail is that it is blocked off to most of the world, and is too restrictive even where it is available. (more…)