VentureBeat reports that a pirated copy of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is already being distributed illegally over the internet.
According to the article, the second disc of the PC version of Modern Warfare 3 was stolen from a shipping warehouse in Fresno California. While the article on VentureBeat doesn't clarify this, there doesn't appear to be a leak of the game on any torrent websites. Instead it seems as though multiple persons are selling illegal copies of the game.
The article says that Activision is aggressively pursuing anyone distributing the game -- as well as anyone caught playing it as one post on Craigslist warns: "Do Not Buy MWF3 Before Release Date...They Will Come Get You...(Everywhere)."
It's worth pointing out that even if one was able to get a hold of this alleged leaked copy, you can't play the game with just the second disc.
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Saturday, October 29, 2011
Review: The Book of Unwritten Tales (PC)
One of the best gags from The Secret of Monkey Island placed our scrappy hero behind a wall where he got into a series of preposterous events out of view. All players could see was onomatopoeia describing his exploits while the HUD showed him using bizarre objects until he emerged several seconds later with his pockets full of random, inevitably useful items. The new point-and-click adventure, The Book of Unwritten Tales, recycles this bit. It's still funny today, but far from original. This is endemic of the game as a whole; it's a loving tribute to the genre's heyday that cribs from the best, but fails to build on them.
The story surrounds a handful of characters whose fates intertwine with an elderly archaeologist that holds knowledge of an artifact that could end an ongoing war. Initially you play as a wood elf and a restless gnome looking for adventure, but the playable cast gradually expands. Most of the time you can only control one character at a time, but specific sections later allow you to toggle between characters at will.
Review: The Book of Unwritten Tales (PC)
It's a throwaway plot, but that's only a small part of the story. Characters are well written and exceptionally voice-acted by a European cast. One thing I really appreciated about the dialogue was that the lines you select are slightly different from what comes out the character's mouth (ala Mass Effect). It's subtle, but it makes things slightly more engaging when you've not already heard your next line verbatim.
More often than not the humor is clever with plenty of sharp satire, though there was a bit too much fourth wall breaking for my tastes and it occasionally crosses the line from homage to rip-off. Its numerous pop culture references are more akin to Shrek than The Princess Bride, but it's still nevertheless charming. My only major qualm with the script came in the last two minutes when the subtitles inexplicably reverted back to their native German before the incredibly abrupt, unsatisfying denouement.
The game looks beautiful with a smooth blend of 3D characters merged with 2D backdrops. Animations are lovely, making it especially rewarding when you crack a solution. It's a gorgeous world, too, with varied set-pieces and some creative character designs spread over its dozen-plus hour campaign.
Review: The Book of Unwritten Tales (PC)
In many ways The Book of Forgotten Tales feels like a throwback to vintage point-and-clicks, though its puzzles play things too safe, rarely straying from the "use everything with everything else" formula. Often the best brain teasers from classic games required you to think outside the box, but there's none of that here. Most of the solutions are sensible, but too obvious. That "a-ha!" moment you get from figuring out an unusual way of using a typical household item is lacking.
Making things easier, the streamlined interface allows you to highlight objects you can interact with and all actions are handled by one button. For better or worse, you can't attempt to use inventory objects where they won't work. On one hand this makes trial and error much quicker since you can tell by whether your cursor lights up if you can do anything. Unfortunately, one of the best parts from old-school point-and-clicks was listening to characters chastise your stupider suggestions, which is missed here.
For something called The Book of Unwritten Tales, it treads awfully familiar ground; yet it does so with moxie and high production values. It's generally knowing and polished enough that it can be forgiven for not innovating a great deal. The Book of Unwritten Tales feels like a great cover of what's come before, even if it can't quite capture its forebear's magic.
The story surrounds a handful of characters whose fates intertwine with an elderly archaeologist that holds knowledge of an artifact that could end an ongoing war. Initially you play as a wood elf and a restless gnome looking for adventure, but the playable cast gradually expands. Most of the time you can only control one character at a time, but specific sections later allow you to toggle between characters at will.
Review: The Book of Unwritten Tales (PC)
It's a throwaway plot, but that's only a small part of the story. Characters are well written and exceptionally voice-acted by a European cast. One thing I really appreciated about the dialogue was that the lines you select are slightly different from what comes out the character's mouth (ala Mass Effect). It's subtle, but it makes things slightly more engaging when you've not already heard your next line verbatim.
More often than not the humor is clever with plenty of sharp satire, though there was a bit too much fourth wall breaking for my tastes and it occasionally crosses the line from homage to rip-off. Its numerous pop culture references are more akin to Shrek than The Princess Bride, but it's still nevertheless charming. My only major qualm with the script came in the last two minutes when the subtitles inexplicably reverted back to their native German before the incredibly abrupt, unsatisfying denouement.
The game looks beautiful with a smooth blend of 3D characters merged with 2D backdrops. Animations are lovely, making it especially rewarding when you crack a solution. It's a gorgeous world, too, with varied set-pieces and some creative character designs spread over its dozen-plus hour campaign.
Review: The Book of Unwritten Tales (PC)
In many ways The Book of Forgotten Tales feels like a throwback to vintage point-and-clicks, though its puzzles play things too safe, rarely straying from the "use everything with everything else" formula. Often the best brain teasers from classic games required you to think outside the box, but there's none of that here. Most of the solutions are sensible, but too obvious. That "a-ha!" moment you get from figuring out an unusual way of using a typical household item is lacking.
Making things easier, the streamlined interface allows you to highlight objects you can interact with and all actions are handled by one button. For better or worse, you can't attempt to use inventory objects where they won't work. On one hand this makes trial and error much quicker since you can tell by whether your cursor lights up if you can do anything. Unfortunately, one of the best parts from old-school point-and-clicks was listening to characters chastise your stupider suggestions, which is missed here.
For something called The Book of Unwritten Tales, it treads awfully familiar ground; yet it does so with moxie and high production values. It's generally knowing and polished enough that it can be forgiven for not innovating a great deal. The Book of Unwritten Tales feels like a great cover of what's come before, even if it can't quite capture its forebear's magic.
First Footage of Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Film
It seems like the film is going to remain very faithful to the game, at least visually. I can appreciate that. It would be just as silly if the adaptation went in a serious, John Grisham type of direction, but boy oh boy does this movie look awful. I think that Phoenix Wright would have worked quite well as an animated series, a kind of Saturday morning cartoon Law & Order, but there are some things that don't translate into live-action. The haircuts should have been the first sign of trouble.
Monday, October 24, 2011
BioShock On PS Vita Won’t Be Infinite Or A Return To Rapture
When it comes to new hardware launches, you can always count on certain developers or publishers to pledge their support straight out the gate. Ubisoft will trot out Rabbids to make sure there’s family-friendly hilarity on the Wii U and EA’s always going to have some iteration of Madden or FIFA for the next next-gen PlayStation or Xbox.
But Irrational Games isn’t on of those companies. They’re a smaller studio and they turn smarter-than-average games, which takes longer than creating sequel after sequel. That’s why it surprised many when Irrational’s creative director Ken Levine came out during E3 to announce that he and his colleagues would be working on a Bioshock game for the PlayStation Vita. Things have been quiet since E3 but Levine recently took the time to give Joystiq an update on what not to expect from the studio’s Vita debut.
Levine says that the aim is to create an all-new experience that feels native to the vita and not just a ported, scaled-down version of something that Irrational’s already done. Joystiq quotes Levine as saying, “I’d rather do something that’s an experiment and that’s a little different. And is unique for the franchise.” He also says that, because the studio’s got a lot less manpower than other developers who develop for console and handheld, the Vita BioShock game might be the first time Irrational works with an outside entity to execute their vision.
But Irrational Games isn’t on of those companies. They’re a smaller studio and they turn smarter-than-average games, which takes longer than creating sequel after sequel. That’s why it surprised many when Irrational’s creative director Ken Levine came out during E3 to announce that he and his colleagues would be working on a Bioshock game for the PlayStation Vita. Things have been quiet since E3 but Levine recently took the time to give Joystiq an update on what not to expect from the studio’s Vita debut.
Levine says that the aim is to create an all-new experience that feels native to the vita and not just a ported, scaled-down version of something that Irrational’s already done. Joystiq quotes Levine as saying, “I’d rather do something that’s an experiment and that’s a little different. And is unique for the franchise.” He also says that, because the studio’s got a lot less manpower than other developers who develop for console and handheld, the Vita BioShock game might be the first time Irrational works with an outside entity to execute their vision.
New York Comic-Con’s Many Colourful Voltron Toys
News
New York Comic-Con’s Many Colourful Voltron Toys
By Brian Crecente on October 18, 2011 at 8:00 AM
I’m not really sure if the Voltron figures I spotted while browsing the floor of New York Comic-Con this weekend are new, but I’m positive I’m going to need to buy at least one of them.
I wonder if they’re made of metal, like those old Shogun Warriors? I actually picked up an original die-cast Mazinga earlier this month for $US10. It keeps Poe away from my nightstand when I’m not around. (Yes, I have a Great Dane that’s afraid of toys.)
New York Comic-Con’s Many Colourful Voltron Toys
By Brian Crecente on October 18, 2011 at 8:00 AM
I’m not really sure if the Voltron figures I spotted while browsing the floor of New York Comic-Con this weekend are new, but I’m positive I’m going to need to buy at least one of them.
I wonder if they’re made of metal, like those old Shogun Warriors? I actually picked up an original die-cast Mazinga earlier this month for $US10. It keeps Poe away from my nightstand when I’m not around. (Yes, I have a Great Dane that’s afraid of toys.)
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Is Hollywood Having A White Guy Once Again Play A Japanese Character?
So says a white guy, but stay with me. Hollywood is on the prowl, turning Japanese manga and anime into movies. And yet the star factory, once again, cannot find a Japanese person to find a Japanese character.
The movie in question is Akira, which is set in Tokyo (well, Neo Tokyo) and follows Japanese youth. The iconic manga and anime is being made into a Hollywood feature film. It’s been in development hell for a while now, and it’s being retooled for Western audiences.
The flick is apparently starring a white dude. Garrett Hedlund of Tron: Legacy fame is supposedly in talks to star as Kaneda. Not only is Hedlund older than Kaneda is in the manga and anime, he’s certainly not Japanese. And probably won’t be in the flick. Maybe Hollywood will change the character’s name to something a little more American.
Why even call this flick Akira? The source material is so directly connected to Japan, urban Tokyo, Japanese youth culture, Japanese consumerism and Bubble Economy Era anxieties. Oh, right, marketing and branding. You’ve seen what Hollywood did to Godzilla, right?
It does make sense for a Hollywood studio to shoot a movie in America (or Canada or whatever English speaking-country gives them tax breaks). Japan is expensive and a logistical nightmare. But, it begs the question: Aren’t there Japanese — heck, Asian — actors that Hollywood can find? In a diverse country of over 300 million people, surely, there’s one Asian actor they can find to play a character named “Akira”.
Hollywood studios will argue that they select the best actor for the role. More often than not, that actor ends up being white — or black. It’s not just about finding the best actor, it’s about finding a popular actor that can open a movie. It’s about getting butts in the theatre.
Hollywood is sometimes fairly accused of whitewashing. Other times, such as with Prince of Persia, it’s more complex.
Likewise, Japanese artists are sometimes accused of making Japanese characters “look white”.
Warner Bros., who recently greenlit the flick, doesn’t seem to be taking any chances. The budget is a mere $US90 million, which is small potatoes for a story of this size and scope.
There are Asian actors working in Hollywood. There are Japanese actors, who have appeared in big, Hollywood flicks. Those actors, however, are not starring in Akira.
If you are not familiar with them, the Akira manga and anime are fantastic. The games are not.
The movie in question is Akira, which is set in Tokyo (well, Neo Tokyo) and follows Japanese youth. The iconic manga and anime is being made into a Hollywood feature film. It’s been in development hell for a while now, and it’s being retooled for Western audiences.
The flick is apparently starring a white dude. Garrett Hedlund of Tron: Legacy fame is supposedly in talks to star as Kaneda. Not only is Hedlund older than Kaneda is in the manga and anime, he’s certainly not Japanese. And probably won’t be in the flick. Maybe Hollywood will change the character’s name to something a little more American.
Why even call this flick Akira? The source material is so directly connected to Japan, urban Tokyo, Japanese youth culture, Japanese consumerism and Bubble Economy Era anxieties. Oh, right, marketing and branding. You’ve seen what Hollywood did to Godzilla, right?
It does make sense for a Hollywood studio to shoot a movie in America (or Canada or whatever English speaking-country gives them tax breaks). Japan is expensive and a logistical nightmare. But, it begs the question: Aren’t there Japanese — heck, Asian — actors that Hollywood can find? In a diverse country of over 300 million people, surely, there’s one Asian actor they can find to play a character named “Akira”.
Hollywood studios will argue that they select the best actor for the role. More often than not, that actor ends up being white — or black. It’s not just about finding the best actor, it’s about finding a popular actor that can open a movie. It’s about getting butts in the theatre.
Hollywood is sometimes fairly accused of whitewashing. Other times, such as with Prince of Persia, it’s more complex.
Likewise, Japanese artists are sometimes accused of making Japanese characters “look white”.
Warner Bros., who recently greenlit the flick, doesn’t seem to be taking any chances. The budget is a mere $US90 million, which is small potatoes for a story of this size and scope.
There are Asian actors working in Hollywood. There are Japanese actors, who have appeared in big, Hollywood flicks. Those actors, however, are not starring in Akira.
If you are not familiar with them, the Akira manga and anime are fantastic. The games are not.
What To Expect From Nintendo
Nintendo
What To Expect From Nintendo
By Brian Ashcraft on October 21, 2011 at 9:45 PM
Today, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata will be speaking to gamers in a pre-recorded presentation called “Nintendo Direct”. According to Iwata, there’ll be information about Mario Kart 7‘s wireless functionality as well as a new Monster Hunter 3G
What To Expect From Nintendo
By Brian Ashcraft on October 21, 2011 at 9:45 PM
Today, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata will be speaking to gamers in a pre-recorded presentation called “Nintendo Direct”. According to Iwata, there’ll be information about Mario Kart 7‘s wireless functionality as well as a new Monster Hunter 3G
Watch Nintendo Give New 3DS Details
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata is calling today’s presentation “Nintendo Direct”. Think of it as a fireside chat with the company responsible for Mario.
It’s expected that Nintendo will detail Mario Kart 7‘s wireless features, show new Monster Hunter 3G footage as well as detail the 3D filming functionality coming to the 3DS in the November update.
It’s expected that Nintendo will detail Mario Kart 7‘s wireless features, show new Monster Hunter 3G footage as well as detail the 3D filming functionality coming to the 3DS in the November update.
Batman: Arkham City PS3 Vs. Batman: Arkham City Xbox 360. This Is No Two-Face.
Playstation
Batman: Arkham City PS3 Vs. Batman: Arkham City Xbox 360. This Is No Two-Face.
By Brian Ashcraft on October 21, 2011 at 10:30 PM
Batman: Arkham City is coming to the Xbox 360, the PS3 and the PC. Website CVG compared the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions. Watch the above clip to see them face off.
Dunno about you, but they look like they’re about the same–both look pretty great!
Batman: Arkham City PS3 vs Xbox 360 gameplay [YouTube]
Batman: Arkham City PS3 Vs. Batman: Arkham City Xbox 360. This Is No Two-Face.
By Brian Ashcraft on October 21, 2011 at 10:30 PM
Batman: Arkham City is coming to the Xbox 360, the PS3 and the PC. Website CVG compared the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions. Watch the above clip to see them face off.
Dunno about you, but they look like they’re about the same–both look pretty great!
Batman: Arkham City PS3 vs Xbox 360 gameplay [YouTube]
Cuddle Up With An Official Portal Companion Cube
In December, there’ll be a soft, cuddly Portal turret available to buy. Those who like their Portal companions a little squarer (but just as cuddly), you get yours a month earlier.
In November, NECA will release its first piece of official Valve merchandise, in the form of a plush Companion Cube. No word on price yet, but it’ll be 6″x 6″ (x 6″!). And soft.
And, for series purists, probably quite flammable, too.
In November, NECA will release its first piece of official Valve merchandise, in the form of a plush Companion Cube. No word on price yet, but it’ll be 6″x 6″ (x 6″!). And soft.
And, for series purists, probably quite flammable, too.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
More Stronghold 3 Videos
Simon Bradbury: Well, I think really it's overdue, if anything. It's the tenth anniversary of Stronghold coming up now, and we've had a lot of people asking for it. It's been a very successful game, commercially, and it's kind of in our blood, castles. As far as the relationship: the biggest thing that fans have asked for is to make it more like the original Stronghold. When we made Stronghold 2, we did what I guess a lot of people do, we went: "Oh, we've got a hit game here, what can we do with it?" And you start to think: we can add this in, we can add that in, and with Stronghold 2, we added in a lot of "sim" stuff in particular, to the nth degree, including a crazy crime system that forced players to place like 20 buildings in a castle just to get it to not be dysfunctional. So our additions kind of ballooned into this monster. And with Stronghold 3, we've got another bite at the cherry, so we're going back to core gameplay mechanics.
A day night cycle should lead to spooky night raids.
GameSpy: Okay, so give us some specifics of drops and adds.
Simon Bradbury: Sure. For example, the honor system, which is tied to luxury goods: in Stronghold 2 it required you to place a whole chain of buildings to get the luxury goods, and we've simplified it in 3, so that now you just place one building, say a vineyard, and it just automatically delivers it to the keep. Another thing we've done is simplify housing. So, in Stronghold you could place a house and it would give you, say, eight more beds. Didn't matter where you placed it, so people would place them on the tops of mountains and elsewhere, where they couldn't be attacked. They didn't really integrate that well into the game ethos. In 3, as you're placing a house, where you place it matters: the closer to the keep you place it the nicer and more spacious a house you get. A long way from the keep, it drops down through six different stages all the way down to a house that will only house one extra guy. So it brings in a new element: the closer you get to the keep, the more risk of attack you have, but the more benefit you get. Plus it looks nice, as well.
GameSpy: Stronghold 3's engine now features a day-night cycle and night-time battles, which is very cool. What else is new and snazzy about the new game engine?
The new engine is a massive improvement on Stronghold 2.
Simon Bradbury: The new engine allows some things that are new both in combat and in the economic game. First off, you can now place structures in any orientation. Everything in Stronghold 2 was based on a grid system so it was all 90-degree angles. This time, the maps are slightly smaller and the buildings are bigger, so to get everything to actually slot in, you'll need to rotate them. It gives everything a much more realistically medieval look, and almost creates a Tetris-like mini-game where you have to make the most efficient use of space. We've also added Havoc physics, which looks great, but it seems like it was almost invented for castle games: knocking things down, crumbling walls, rag-dolling guys falling off cliffs, it's perfect for it. And it affects combat, as well, because we've introduced splash damage, because if a wall explodes, it will collapse realistically and shatter, killing people around it with shrapnel. We've also got weather, all sorts of weather effects in the game, and these look nice, but also cause scripted events that can affect your popularity rating.
A day night cycle should lead to spooky night raids.
GameSpy: Okay, so give us some specifics of drops and adds.
Simon Bradbury: Sure. For example, the honor system, which is tied to luxury goods: in Stronghold 2 it required you to place a whole chain of buildings to get the luxury goods, and we've simplified it in 3, so that now you just place one building, say a vineyard, and it just automatically delivers it to the keep. Another thing we've done is simplify housing. So, in Stronghold you could place a house and it would give you, say, eight more beds. Didn't matter where you placed it, so people would place them on the tops of mountains and elsewhere, where they couldn't be attacked. They didn't really integrate that well into the game ethos. In 3, as you're placing a house, where you place it matters: the closer to the keep you place it the nicer and more spacious a house you get. A long way from the keep, it drops down through six different stages all the way down to a house that will only house one extra guy. So it brings in a new element: the closer you get to the keep, the more risk of attack you have, but the more benefit you get. Plus it looks nice, as well.
GameSpy: Stronghold 3's engine now features a day-night cycle and night-time battles, which is very cool. What else is new and snazzy about the new game engine?
The new engine is a massive improvement on Stronghold 2.
Simon Bradbury: The new engine allows some things that are new both in combat and in the economic game. First off, you can now place structures in any orientation. Everything in Stronghold 2 was based on a grid system so it was all 90-degree angles. This time, the maps are slightly smaller and the buildings are bigger, so to get everything to actually slot in, you'll need to rotate them. It gives everything a much more realistically medieval look, and almost creates a Tetris-like mini-game where you have to make the most efficient use of space. We've also added Havoc physics, which looks great, but it seems like it was almost invented for castle games: knocking things down, crumbling walls, rag-dolling guys falling off cliffs, it's perfect for it. And it affects combat, as well, because we've introduced splash damage, because if a wall explodes, it will collapse realistically and shatter, killing people around it with shrapnel. We've also got weather, all sorts of weather effects in the game, and these look nice, but also cause scripted events that can affect your popularity rating.
Stronghold 3 Developer Q&A
It's been more than six years since last we had a Stronghold game, so it wouldn't surprise anyone if most of you out there in internet land weren't familiar with the series. Effectively, Stronghold is a combination of two game types: a Settlers-esque economic simulation and a Castles 2 (yeah, going old-school with the reference – look it up) style fortress-building engine. The game also throws in plenty of warfare and a plot filled with intrigue to draw you into a realistic medieval world – or at least that's the hope. We caught up with developer Firefly Studios' head honcho Simon Bradbury for a series of questions that all the fans want to know.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Uhhh, its LittleBigPlanet 2, not Little Big Planet 2....
Well, we are getting bombarded by LBP2 reviews all day today, from major websites such as IGN, 1up, etc. Overall the review scores are great, but what struck me as funny is that half of these websites can't even get the games name right.
Is this the direction Gaming journalism is headed? Where we cant even fact check our titles? What happened to quality control? If the New York Times spelled the title of a movie wrong, there would be hell to pay.
A website as huge as 1up spelled the name wrong, does that make them a bad source? It could invalidate their review. If they can't even get the title right, can we really trust them to get the score right? What if they put the wrong letter for their score? Did they really play the game?
It may be nitpicking, but thats what reviewers are supposed to do, nitpick everything. Get the name right people, you just played the damn game for hours (we hope), can't you at least fact check your reviews?
Gaming journalism is going downhill, and this is a prime example of it. Lets get this straight, its LittleBigPlanet 2, Not Little Big Planet 2, if you cant see the difference, there are no spaces in LittleBigPlanet.
Is this the direction Gaming journalism is headed? Where we cant even fact check our titles? What happened to quality control? If the New York Times spelled the title of a movie wrong, there would be hell to pay.
A website as huge as 1up spelled the name wrong, does that make them a bad source? It could invalidate their review. If they can't even get the title right, can we really trust them to get the score right? What if they put the wrong letter for their score? Did they really play the game?
It may be nitpicking, but thats what reviewers are supposed to do, nitpick everything. Get the name right people, you just played the damn game for hours (we hope), can't you at least fact check your reviews?
Gaming journalism is going downhill, and this is a prime example of it. Lets get this straight, its LittleBigPlanet 2, Not Little Big Planet 2, if you cant see the difference, there are no spaces in LittleBigPlanet.
December User Blog Contest Winner!
December's User Blog contest was a very tight race, with three blogs within a vote of one another! The winner is...
BEST USER BLOG:
Winner: cgoodno with http://n4g.com/user/blogpos...
Prize: Ace Bayou Xfunctional Media Furniture X-Pedestal Audio Gamer Chair
Congratulations!!
If you don't remember the December contest details: http://n4g.com/user/blogpos...
...and be sure to check out the January contest details! http://n4g.com/user/blogpos...
How a winner is chosen: The top user blog as voted by staff and the ten most active members of the month. Staff selects a pool of no more than 10 from the User Blogs, then sends those candidates to the top ten most active members that month for voting.
BEST USER BLOG:
Winner: cgoodno with http://n4g.com/user/blogpos...
Prize: Ace Bayou Xfunctional Media Furniture X-Pedestal Audio Gamer Chair
Congratulations!!
If you don't remember the December contest details: http://n4g.com/user/blogpos...
...and be sure to check out the January contest details! http://n4g.com/user/blogpos...
How a winner is chosen: The top user blog as voted by staff and the ten most active members of the month. Staff selects a pool of no more than 10 from the User Blogs, then sends those candidates to the top ten most active members that month for voting.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Call of Duty : Ten Hut !
Stop eye-balling me soldier and listen up. If you wanna succeed in this game there are a few things you need to do. Many have come before you and failed for not listening to the words I have to say today. Eyes front!!!
Whatever Activision has planned for the next Call of Duty game it had better not be centered around the XBOX360. Playstation gamers have become second class citizens in the world’s biggest shooter franchise and they are pissed off. Don’t launch map packs a month early and don’t patch the XBOX360 ahead of the PS3. Enough damage has been done with the last two games for millions of PS3 gamers to ignore the next game altogether.
We are not your beta testers!!! Make it work before it goes live. £40 is a lot of money and in 2011 there are plenty of FPS games around for us to spend that money on. Black Ops and Homefront were both released with poor online support – Homefront has suffered and many traded in within the first week or two. Black Ops took months to get right and with the bad press the multiplayer got (especially for PS3 users) its amazing the game sold so well. Come on guys it’s not like you haven’t made multiplayer games before!
Give us an intelligent lengthy campaign. Too many games are being churned out with a short mediocre single player element. We go through the motions, cover to cover shooting the bad guys. 6 hours later we are done and its time for the multiplayer. I want something with a soul! Something with some balls and something that is not afraid to challenge the 6-8 hours of cover to cover shooting and more shooting.
I want a real reason to play the single player more than once. We are not interested in looking for Intel. Only a handful of people actually bother, the rest wait from someone to do it first then they play the campaign through on easy just to get the trophy/achievement for finding the briefcases and newspaper cuttings.
Difficulty settings are great but we don’t need 4 of them 2 or 3 max. Why not write a story with alternative endings or paths to the ending? Perhaps you can follow two teams of bad guys and select to follow one to the jungle on the first play through and the other to the Arctic on the second. It doesn’t need to be an RPG but just give us some choices and consequences. BioWare demonstrate just how much you can cram onto a BluRay – why can’t a FPS be bigger?
Whatever Activision has planned for the next Call of Duty game it had better not be centered around the XBOX360. Playstation gamers have become second class citizens in the world’s biggest shooter franchise and they are pissed off. Don’t launch map packs a month early and don’t patch the XBOX360 ahead of the PS3. Enough damage has been done with the last two games for millions of PS3 gamers to ignore the next game altogether.
We are not your beta testers!!! Make it work before it goes live. £40 is a lot of money and in 2011 there are plenty of FPS games around for us to spend that money on. Black Ops and Homefront were both released with poor online support – Homefront has suffered and many traded in within the first week or two. Black Ops took months to get right and with the bad press the multiplayer got (especially for PS3 users) its amazing the game sold so well. Come on guys it’s not like you haven’t made multiplayer games before!
Give us an intelligent lengthy campaign. Too many games are being churned out with a short mediocre single player element. We go through the motions, cover to cover shooting the bad guys. 6 hours later we are done and its time for the multiplayer. I want something with a soul! Something with some balls and something that is not afraid to challenge the 6-8 hours of cover to cover shooting and more shooting.
I want a real reason to play the single player more than once. We are not interested in looking for Intel. Only a handful of people actually bother, the rest wait from someone to do it first then they play the campaign through on easy just to get the trophy/achievement for finding the briefcases and newspaper cuttings.
Difficulty settings are great but we don’t need 4 of them 2 or 3 max. Why not write a story with alternative endings or paths to the ending? Perhaps you can follow two teams of bad guys and select to follow one to the jungle on the first play through and the other to the Arctic on the second. It doesn’t need to be an RPG but just give us some choices and consequences. BioWare demonstrate just how much you can cram onto a BluRay – why can’t a FPS be bigger?
Sony and Anonomyous - You own the console, but you don’t own the network.
There have been many attacks on Sony on the lock down of the PS3. Basically, they are mad that Sony has locked down the system from hackers for the time being, and have removed the feature OtherOS for security reasons. While I find it unfair that the feature was removed in the first place, as it was a feature I used in the past, I still think Sony had the right to do so. Just because you own the system doesn’t mean its yours to modify.
Think of it this day, you can go out and buy a sports car, drive it on the roads all you like and its completely fine. However, the second you pop racing spec tires on the thing, it becomes illegal to drive it on the public roads. You can do whatever you want with it as long as you don’t go on public roads. Compare that to the PS3 situation, you can mod the PS3 all you want, but if you want to go on Sony’s network, you have to follow their rules.
This is something the group Anonymous doesn’t understand. Sony doesn’t care if you mod your PS3 at all, they won’t take any legal action as long as you’re the one doing the moding, and you aren’t trying to use their network. However, if someone were selling illegal upgrades for cars, the police would take action, much like how hackers have released illegal code for the PS3. Once again, yes you own the PS3, but if you want to use Sony’s network, you have to follow Sony’s rules, which in this case is no custom firmware and no OtherOS.
Yes it was wrong for Sony to remove OtherOS, yes they could have handled the situation better, but the fact of the matter is people are still getting it wrong. You own the console, but you don’t own the network.
Think of it this day, you can go out and buy a sports car, drive it on the roads all you like and its completely fine. However, the second you pop racing spec tires on the thing, it becomes illegal to drive it on the public roads. You can do whatever you want with it as long as you don’t go on public roads. Compare that to the PS3 situation, you can mod the PS3 all you want, but if you want to go on Sony’s network, you have to follow their rules.
This is something the group Anonymous doesn’t understand. Sony doesn’t care if you mod your PS3 at all, they won’t take any legal action as long as you’re the one doing the moding, and you aren’t trying to use their network. However, if someone were selling illegal upgrades for cars, the police would take action, much like how hackers have released illegal code for the PS3. Once again, yes you own the PS3, but if you want to use Sony’s network, you have to follow Sony’s rules, which in this case is no custom firmware and no OtherOS.
Yes it was wrong for Sony to remove OtherOS, yes they could have handled the situation better, but the fact of the matter is people are still getting it wrong. You own the console, but you don’t own the network.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Official Pokemon Game Coming To Smartphones
The Pokemon Company is set to bring an official Pokemon Online game to smartphone devices, marking the first time that an official Nintendo-copyrighted app will be available on the iOS and Android.
Called Pokemon Iie Tap (rougly Pokemon: Say Tap?), the app appears to be a rhythm game where players “tap on Pokemon indigo trading cards to the beat of a song from the anime,” according to a translation by consumer video game site GamesRadar.
According to the game’s official announcement, it will be available for most iOS devices, as well as Android devices running version 2.1 of the platform.
Though this is the first iOS or Android application to carry an official Nintendo copyright, it is not the first mobile app of any kind: a Pokemon mobile phone game called Pokemate was released in Japan in 2006.
Though it is a rarity, Nintendo does have a history of releasing official games on platforms that are not its own, including a promotional Flash game to promote its Tingle character.
A release outside of Japan has not been announced.
Called Pokemon Iie Tap (rougly Pokemon: Say Tap?), the app appears to be a rhythm game where players “tap on Pokemon indigo trading cards to the beat of a song from the anime,” according to a translation by consumer video game site GamesRadar.
According to the game’s official announcement, it will be available for most iOS devices, as well as Android devices running version 2.1 of the platform.
Though this is the first iOS or Android application to carry an official Nintendo copyright, it is not the first mobile app of any kind: a Pokemon mobile phone game called Pokemate was released in Japan in 2006.
Though it is a rarity, Nintendo does have a history of releasing official games on platforms that are not its own, including a promotional Flash game to promote its Tingle character.
A release outside of Japan has not been announced.
The Do's And Dont's Of N4G
Greetings everyone, it's your friendly neighborhood Raven Nomad aka The Crapgamer. Recently I have been thinking of a way to give back to all the wonderful people here. That led me to coming up with a way to draw in even more members to the site. I have come to realize that a lot of people aren't exactly sure how to jump into topics and discussions around here. So this is THE comprehensive list of what to do and what not to do in order to fit in at N4G.
Do-Have a strong opinion, just make sure it's the same opinion as everyone else around here. N4G isn't the place for people who think for themselves.
Don't-Like the Xbox 360. We all know the Xbox 360 is total trash right? So we should all just act like it doesn't exist.
Do-Post Japanese game and console sales, because that's where Sony is #1 and that's what we all care about!
Don't-Post American game and console sales, because we all know the United States doesn't equal the world!
Do-Enjoy handheld gaming, just as long as it's not on a Nintendo handheld.
Don't-Mention how awful the name PlayStation Vita actually is...just not going to get you anywhere.
Do-Be a hypocrite. Usually this is a bad thing, but not here. N4G is the place to be if your a hypocrite. A good example of some hypocrisies here would be. You complained about how bad Peer to peer online was for Call Of Duty, but when you heard that it was also peer to peer on Uncharted 3, you suddenly thought P2P was the best thing since sliced bread.
Don't-Like Cliffy B. He actually enjoys Microsoft products without getting paid to endorse them. He also really likes Kinect, so obviously he is the devil.
Do-Like David Jaffe. Apparently people around here think Cliffy B is annoying and don't like him, but Jaffe who is the most annoying jackass in the gaming industry is loved here. So you gotta follow the crowd and love the guy!
Don't-Mention that Kinect is successful or that 90% of the N4G crowd predicted it to fail and be the next 32x.
Do-prefer games with 30 frames per second as opposed to 60 frames per second.
Don't-Like Call Of Duty or anything made by Activision, apparently they are evil for releasing a franchise every year that the masses love just the way they are, yet the people here think they need to go back and change everything.
Do-Like EA, I know, I know...it was hard for me to write. EA has long been known for their monopoly with the NFL games and releasing literally the same sports games year after year, but this year they have Battlefield 3 with 30 FPS, 4 person squad based chat, vehicles for spawn trapping! and were assuming a version for Xbox 360...but that has yet to be confirmed as we've seen no actual gameplay footage for the console as of yet and it's only three months until it's release. (fingers crossed)
Don't-Bring up Sony's utter lack of smarts for getting their PlayStation Network hacked and shut down for almost a month. Also it's probably not a good idea to mention that Sony brought on the hacks themselves by "poking the bear" so to speak, when they took Geo Hot to court.
Do-Like motion controls, as long as they are "Hardcore", which pretty much means they have to be on the PS3.
Don't-Mention that Nintendo has totally smacked the competition this generation.
Do-Make excuses as to why Nintendo won this generation. Some of my favorites are "The Wii is only owned by mothers and casual gamer's" and "Everyone owns one, but they are all collecting dust"
Don't-Ever mention that your interested in a Kinect game or Kinect integration.
Do-Pirate movies, music and games
Don't-Jailbreak your PS3 though, that's drawing the line. Piracy is fine as long as it's not on the PS3.
Do-Talk a good game, make sure whenever a new Sony product is coming out you say things like "Day one buy!" and "$599 US dollars isn't too expensive, I'll just get a second job!"
Don't-Actually buy the products you claimed were "Day one buys".
Do-Pretend party chat isn't an important feature for online gaming.
Do-Have a strong opinion, just make sure it's the same opinion as everyone else around here. N4G isn't the place for people who think for themselves.
Don't-Like the Xbox 360. We all know the Xbox 360 is total trash right? So we should all just act like it doesn't exist.
Do-Post Japanese game and console sales, because that's where Sony is #1 and that's what we all care about!
Don't-Post American game and console sales, because we all know the United States doesn't equal the world!
Do-Enjoy handheld gaming, just as long as it's not on a Nintendo handheld.
Don't-Mention how awful the name PlayStation Vita actually is...just not going to get you anywhere.
Do-Be a hypocrite. Usually this is a bad thing, but not here. N4G is the place to be if your a hypocrite. A good example of some hypocrisies here would be. You complained about how bad Peer to peer online was for Call Of Duty, but when you heard that it was also peer to peer on Uncharted 3, you suddenly thought P2P was the best thing since sliced bread.
Don't-Like Cliffy B. He actually enjoys Microsoft products without getting paid to endorse them. He also really likes Kinect, so obviously he is the devil.
Do-Like David Jaffe. Apparently people around here think Cliffy B is annoying and don't like him, but Jaffe who is the most annoying jackass in the gaming industry is loved here. So you gotta follow the crowd and love the guy!
Don't-Mention that Kinect is successful or that 90% of the N4G crowd predicted it to fail and be the next 32x.
Do-prefer games with 30 frames per second as opposed to 60 frames per second.
Don't-Like Call Of Duty or anything made by Activision, apparently they are evil for releasing a franchise every year that the masses love just the way they are, yet the people here think they need to go back and change everything.
Do-Like EA, I know, I know...it was hard for me to write. EA has long been known for their monopoly with the NFL games and releasing literally the same sports games year after year, but this year they have Battlefield 3 with 30 FPS, 4 person squad based chat, vehicles for spawn trapping! and were assuming a version for Xbox 360...but that has yet to be confirmed as we've seen no actual gameplay footage for the console as of yet and it's only three months until it's release. (fingers crossed)
Don't-Bring up Sony's utter lack of smarts for getting their PlayStation Network hacked and shut down for almost a month. Also it's probably not a good idea to mention that Sony brought on the hacks themselves by "poking the bear" so to speak, when they took Geo Hot to court.
Do-Like motion controls, as long as they are "Hardcore", which pretty much means they have to be on the PS3.
Don't-Mention that Nintendo has totally smacked the competition this generation.
Do-Make excuses as to why Nintendo won this generation. Some of my favorites are "The Wii is only owned by mothers and casual gamer's" and "Everyone owns one, but they are all collecting dust"
Don't-Ever mention that your interested in a Kinect game or Kinect integration.
Do-Pirate movies, music and games
Don't-Jailbreak your PS3 though, that's drawing the line. Piracy is fine as long as it's not on the PS3.
Do-Talk a good game, make sure whenever a new Sony product is coming out you say things like "Day one buy!" and "$599 US dollars isn't too expensive, I'll just get a second job!"
Don't-Actually buy the products you claimed were "Day one buys".
Do-Pretend party chat isn't an important feature for online gaming.
Yet Another GTA5 Wishlist...
Alrite, let's get this out of the way right off the bat: I'm not happy that I'm writing this. I too am getting sick of the flood of hypothetical and speculative things to hit this site lately, especially about games that have not yet been anounced. However, the rumor of a summer reveal of the next GTA got my mind racing about the potential ideas that could take the series forward. If I don't share them somewhere, then I will feel as if I wasted a lot of valuable thinking time. So, yes, I am indeed wasting even more time to speculate about a game that is only speculated to be announced. Call me a trend-follower, a hypocrite, a sell-out or whatever you will, but I now present to you my wishlist for the next GTA game.
1. Location
Ah, location. We're always told that this is what it's all about. While the location in many games is often just a backdrop for whatever you may be shooting or blowing up Michael Bay style, it has always been a central part of the GTA world. It is a character just as much as the many exaggerated stereotypes that you will meet along the ride. I believe that R* should move away from the cities that have already been used - stories have already been told there, and while there could undoubtably be some cool reasons for revisiting it, we've already explored these cities and discovered their secrets. Those of you yearning for a remade Vice City or San Andreas should just go boot up those games. They may not be HD, but they're still a hell of a lot of fun. Many also want the game to be set in England or Japan, but I feel the GTA series would lose a lot of its charm by moving elsewhere, though R* could prove me wrong. My personal favorite choice would have to be the city of Detroit. I know the people there are falling on hard times, and no disrespect to them, but I feel as if the current state of the city would be ripe for a story involving corruption and the rise of gang forces. It could also be funny to have a character who is a satire of Eminem. If not Detroit, then I would also love to go on crime sprees in the windy city, Chicago. Of course this is just my personal opinion, and if you disagree feel free to state your top choice in the comments section.
2. Story vs. Craziness and Fun Factor
GTA was praised by critics for its deeper and more meaningful story, free of some of the wackiness of the earlier games. However, in its attempt to become more realistic, many fans of the old GTA games felt it had also lost what made the other games so damn fun to play well after the story had ended. Gone were the Jetpacks, planes, and dildo swords. While the game was still fun to roam around in, many found that they become bored of the city much faster as a result of the ommision of oddities and insanity. It was as if people went into a movie expecting an action packed comedy, but instead got a more serious crime drama. They didn't necessarily think it was bad, but it was not as they expected. People were therefore dissapointed. This puts R* in a bit of a situation. They have proven that they can tell a wonderful and cinematic story through both GTA4 and Red Dead Redemption, but seriousness in the story often comes with a decreased fun value for the players. I therefore propose a radical suggestion. R* should keep their serious story and more serious world to go along with it, but only until before the credits roll. After that, when the city is only available for free roam, players will be able to discover many new oddities and fun within the world. Or R* could take a page from Crackdown and include a mode akin to Keys to the City, separate from the world of the story and meant to be nothing more than fun and chaos that the player controls. By having two separate but similar worlds through different modes, R* would be able to incorporate all of what they are best at into a single game.
3. Reworked Gameplay:
GTA 4 brought the gameplay of GTA into a more modern era with the inclusion of a cover system and reworked gunplay and hand to hand combat. However, it was still not perfect and R* could take a few pages from other games to make the gameplay in GTA as smooth as possible. The first game R* could borrow from is Gears of War. GTA 4 already incorporated the cover sytem that Gears popularized this gen, but it was a bit clunky, especially when compared to the fluid action of Gears. Like Gears, the next GTA should have a universal button which allows players to get into cover, hop back and forth between cover, vault over cover, and evade with a sideways roll. Another thing GTA could borrow from Gears is the ability to take a foe (or bystander) and use them as a human shield. This wwould be a great mode of protection in GTA when you are in a tight spot and need protection. Imagine if you could grab a gang member to stop their fellow gang members from shooting at you, or doing the same with a civilian when fighting off the cops. Even if they still open fire, there is a layer of protection between you and their gunfire. Another game that GTA should borrow from is Assassins Creed. The free running system in these games are great and could be implemented as parkour in GTA. Imagine if instead of tapping A or X repeatedly to sprint, you just held the button down to run and jump/climb anything in your path. It would have to be toned down to work in the more realistic setting, but it would open up the possibilities for smooth on foot chase sequences or jumping from rooftop to rooftop with ease. GTA could also borrow a page from Assassins Creed when it comes to hand to hand combat, which allows you to smoothly deal with many enemies at once. This was a major problem in GTA 4 and while I realise that it would again have to be toned down because the character is not a master assassin, it would make your fists a much more viable option in combat.
1. Location
Ah, location. We're always told that this is what it's all about. While the location in many games is often just a backdrop for whatever you may be shooting or blowing up Michael Bay style, it has always been a central part of the GTA world. It is a character just as much as the many exaggerated stereotypes that you will meet along the ride. I believe that R* should move away from the cities that have already been used - stories have already been told there, and while there could undoubtably be some cool reasons for revisiting it, we've already explored these cities and discovered their secrets. Those of you yearning for a remade Vice City or San Andreas should just go boot up those games. They may not be HD, but they're still a hell of a lot of fun. Many also want the game to be set in England or Japan, but I feel the GTA series would lose a lot of its charm by moving elsewhere, though R* could prove me wrong. My personal favorite choice would have to be the city of Detroit. I know the people there are falling on hard times, and no disrespect to them, but I feel as if the current state of the city would be ripe for a story involving corruption and the rise of gang forces. It could also be funny to have a character who is a satire of Eminem. If not Detroit, then I would also love to go on crime sprees in the windy city, Chicago. Of course this is just my personal opinion, and if you disagree feel free to state your top choice in the comments section.
2. Story vs. Craziness and Fun Factor
GTA was praised by critics for its deeper and more meaningful story, free of some of the wackiness of the earlier games. However, in its attempt to become more realistic, many fans of the old GTA games felt it had also lost what made the other games so damn fun to play well after the story had ended. Gone were the Jetpacks, planes, and dildo swords. While the game was still fun to roam around in, many found that they become bored of the city much faster as a result of the ommision of oddities and insanity. It was as if people went into a movie expecting an action packed comedy, but instead got a more serious crime drama. They didn't necessarily think it was bad, but it was not as they expected. People were therefore dissapointed. This puts R* in a bit of a situation. They have proven that they can tell a wonderful and cinematic story through both GTA4 and Red Dead Redemption, but seriousness in the story often comes with a decreased fun value for the players. I therefore propose a radical suggestion. R* should keep their serious story and more serious world to go along with it, but only until before the credits roll. After that, when the city is only available for free roam, players will be able to discover many new oddities and fun within the world. Or R* could take a page from Crackdown and include a mode akin to Keys to the City, separate from the world of the story and meant to be nothing more than fun and chaos that the player controls. By having two separate but similar worlds through different modes, R* would be able to incorporate all of what they are best at into a single game.
3. Reworked Gameplay:
GTA 4 brought the gameplay of GTA into a more modern era with the inclusion of a cover system and reworked gunplay and hand to hand combat. However, it was still not perfect and R* could take a few pages from other games to make the gameplay in GTA as smooth as possible. The first game R* could borrow from is Gears of War. GTA 4 already incorporated the cover sytem that Gears popularized this gen, but it was a bit clunky, especially when compared to the fluid action of Gears. Like Gears, the next GTA should have a universal button which allows players to get into cover, hop back and forth between cover, vault over cover, and evade with a sideways roll. Another thing GTA could borrow from Gears is the ability to take a foe (or bystander) and use them as a human shield. This wwould be a great mode of protection in GTA when you are in a tight spot and need protection. Imagine if you could grab a gang member to stop their fellow gang members from shooting at you, or doing the same with a civilian when fighting off the cops. Even if they still open fire, there is a layer of protection between you and their gunfire. Another game that GTA should borrow from is Assassins Creed. The free running system in these games are great and could be implemented as parkour in GTA. Imagine if instead of tapping A or X repeatedly to sprint, you just held the button down to run and jump/climb anything in your path. It would have to be toned down to work in the more realistic setting, but it would open up the possibilities for smooth on foot chase sequences or jumping from rooftop to rooftop with ease. GTA could also borrow a page from Assassins Creed when it comes to hand to hand combat, which allows you to smoothly deal with many enemies at once. This was a major problem in GTA 4 and while I realise that it would again have to be toned down because the character is not a master assassin, it would make your fists a much more viable option in combat.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Angry Birds for PC
Finally, those birds that everybody likes has arrived on PC. After iPhone, iPad, Android and other mobile versions, also iPhone cases and toys, Angry Birds has finally arrived on the PC thanks to the Intel App Up store. It’ll work fine and dandy on laptops and netbooks and will cost you only $4.99 to download. Nice price for this lovely game.
Angry Birds is a global phenomenon in mobile gaming and the top grossing iPhone app of 2010. So if you’re not a smart-phone wielding hipster, you no longer have an excuse not to be part of this franchise.
Overall it’s pretty much an identical game play experience to the iPhone app, with some minor differences. It’s snappy, gorgeous, and it sounds amazing. On the netbook version you use a mouse or trackpad instead of touch. There is an open hand icon when the mouse is in hover state, and a closed hand icon when you are clicking or dragging. This visible clue when pulling the slingshot is a nice aid. It allows you to fine tune shots more than just observing the angle of the slingshot band.
Angry Birds for PC
Larger screen means more visibility in the game. On many levels you can see the target that can’t be seen on the iPhone. The previous shot trail is more easily seen, allowing fine tuning of your next shot. Overall the animations and physics seem to have more fluidity.
In terms of features, options, menu etc it’s pretty close to the original. On the netbook the replay level icon has been added to the game space. So you don’t need to pause first then replay. If you start off with bad shot, just click the replay icon, then you can start over. Saving a click is nice. There is a Menu button in the Pause menu that gets you back to the Start screen. There are some things not in play on the netbook version. The leader board and achievements are not available in the main menu. The Golden Eggs are there.
Angry Birds strikes an interesting balance of repetitive, simple tasks and challenging game play working for the many scenarios. So, if you liked this game on your iPhone or Android phone, you’ll sure like it on your big PC screen. If you are new player, don’t hesitate and join the fun now.
You must know and recognize the game from the Rovio, Angry Birds.
This game consists of seven birds with super abilities are different. By using slingshots, you can control the jump and the height of ill-tempered birds to tear down the building where the collection of green pork fat is shelter.
Where is a funny collection of birds swelled, turned into a grumpy group of birds which destroy the kingdom of lustful pigs these cunning thieves.
Angry Birds now not only for the iPhone, Android OS, PS3 and PSP. even Angry Birds has been available in Ovi Store for Nokia. And now Angry Birds have been available for Windows XP and Windows 7
Free Angry Birds for PC
Plenty of dodgy website owners want to rip off Google and push traffic towards their sites on the bogus promise of the free version of Angry Birds for PC. This is only a scam but in fact there exists a download free Angry Birds for PC nevertheless, you will need to move quickly to take advantage of that offer
Finland games producer Rovio Mobile has produced their very 1st version of Angry Birds Game for the Apple iPhone. This particular game was immediately caught by the iPhonesters, and Rovio understood that they will become successful. That has been fine. However, Rovio needed to get going by recoding Angry Birds Games for several programs, which become easier for small companies to get done.
Several weeks went by and finally, the Nokia and Android users could get themselves the Angry Birds Game. After that, the RovioMobile switched their attentions to the huge users of the PSP or the Play Station Portable and the PS3. That has been an additional huge porting project for Rovio operations.
During that time, the PC users have been reading and hearing rumors regarding Angry Birds for PC. Ultimately, in January, Angry Birds for PC was released, and downloading is not for free. However, not everybody is willing to pay for $5 for just a game, even if they will enjoy playing with it. These days, several users have grown to be familiar of getting some thing for free, so there are many who are on the lookout for a totally free Angry Birds for PC download. It can be downloaded via Windows 7 and Windows XP and Vista, or Mac support. But downloading can only be downloaded if you have an internet connection for the process to activate successfully.
Angry Birds pc is one of the well-known games that have taken the popularity with over 200 million downloads. The availability of this game is taking place in almost all of the popular platforms. In addition to playing the game online in the browser you can now download it on your laptop and take it wherever you may go to enjoy the amazing games, enabling you to play whenever, wherever you go. Take it to your workplace or even in the park, while resting and basting under the sun. Probably launching the Angry Birds for PC the wisest and the best move the game maker ever made. This availability made for the millions of platform owners, even made the popularity of Angry Birds known to more video-gaming enthusiasts more than over.
Incoming search terms:
* angry birds for pc
* activate free angry birds for pc
* angry birds FLASH SCAM
* angry-birds-online scam
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*
- Angry Birds PC Updated
The PC version was updated last week which we talked about in this post. This update will finally include all episodes of Ham ‘Em High and the two chapters of Mine and Dine. I’m sure this is welcome news for all the PC players who have been feeling left out. It shouldn’t have taken this long to get all the episodes out but that’s in the past now so lets just get to playing. Since all the chapters are available you also have access to all of the golden eggs. You can finally complete your collection!
As a side note because I didn’t want to do an entire post about the subject, have you all seen the Angry Birds bra? It’s available over on etsy you should go check it out. I personally don’t know anyone who would wear it but i’m sure there is someone out there who would. I don’t recommend buying this for you girlfriend or wife unless she really loves angry birds.
Angry Birds is a global phenomenon in mobile gaming and the top grossing iPhone app of 2010. So if you’re not a smart-phone wielding hipster, you no longer have an excuse not to be part of this franchise.
Overall it’s pretty much an identical game play experience to the iPhone app, with some minor differences. It’s snappy, gorgeous, and it sounds amazing. On the netbook version you use a mouse or trackpad instead of touch. There is an open hand icon when the mouse is in hover state, and a closed hand icon when you are clicking or dragging. This visible clue when pulling the slingshot is a nice aid. It allows you to fine tune shots more than just observing the angle of the slingshot band.
Angry Birds for PC
Larger screen means more visibility in the game. On many levels you can see the target that can’t be seen on the iPhone. The previous shot trail is more easily seen, allowing fine tuning of your next shot. Overall the animations and physics seem to have more fluidity.
In terms of features, options, menu etc it’s pretty close to the original. On the netbook the replay level icon has been added to the game space. So you don’t need to pause first then replay. If you start off with bad shot, just click the replay icon, then you can start over. Saving a click is nice. There is a Menu button in the Pause menu that gets you back to the Start screen. There are some things not in play on the netbook version. The leader board and achievements are not available in the main menu. The Golden Eggs are there.
Angry Birds strikes an interesting balance of repetitive, simple tasks and challenging game play working for the many scenarios. So, if you liked this game on your iPhone or Android phone, you’ll sure like it on your big PC screen. If you are new player, don’t hesitate and join the fun now.
You must know and recognize the game from the Rovio, Angry Birds.
This game consists of seven birds with super abilities are different. By using slingshots, you can control the jump and the height of ill-tempered birds to tear down the building where the collection of green pork fat is shelter.
Where is a funny collection of birds swelled, turned into a grumpy group of birds which destroy the kingdom of lustful pigs these cunning thieves.
Angry Birds now not only for the iPhone, Android OS, PS3 and PSP. even Angry Birds has been available in Ovi Store for Nokia. And now Angry Birds have been available for Windows XP and Windows 7
Free Angry Birds for PC
Plenty of dodgy website owners want to rip off Google and push traffic towards their sites on the bogus promise of the free version of Angry Birds for PC. This is only a scam but in fact there exists a download free Angry Birds for PC nevertheless, you will need to move quickly to take advantage of that offer
Finland games producer Rovio Mobile has produced their very 1st version of Angry Birds Game for the Apple iPhone. This particular game was immediately caught by the iPhonesters, and Rovio understood that they will become successful. That has been fine. However, Rovio needed to get going by recoding Angry Birds Games for several programs, which become easier for small companies to get done.
Several weeks went by and finally, the Nokia and Android users could get themselves the Angry Birds Game. After that, the RovioMobile switched their attentions to the huge users of the PSP or the Play Station Portable and the PS3. That has been an additional huge porting project for Rovio operations.
During that time, the PC users have been reading and hearing rumors regarding Angry Birds for PC. Ultimately, in January, Angry Birds for PC was released, and downloading is not for free. However, not everybody is willing to pay for $5 for just a game, even if they will enjoy playing with it. These days, several users have grown to be familiar of getting some thing for free, so there are many who are on the lookout for a totally free Angry Birds for PC download. It can be downloaded via Windows 7 and Windows XP and Vista, or Mac support. But downloading can only be downloaded if you have an internet connection for the process to activate successfully.
Angry Birds pc is one of the well-known games that have taken the popularity with over 200 million downloads. The availability of this game is taking place in almost all of the popular platforms. In addition to playing the game online in the browser you can now download it on your laptop and take it wherever you may go to enjoy the amazing games, enabling you to play whenever, wherever you go. Take it to your workplace or even in the park, while resting and basting under the sun. Probably launching the Angry Birds for PC the wisest and the best move the game maker ever made. This availability made for the millions of platform owners, even made the popularity of Angry Birds known to more video-gaming enthusiasts more than over.
Incoming search terms:
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- Angry Birds PC Updated
The PC version was updated last week which we talked about in this post. This update will finally include all episodes of Ham ‘Em High and the two chapters of Mine and Dine. I’m sure this is welcome news for all the PC players who have been feeling left out. It shouldn’t have taken this long to get all the episodes out but that’s in the past now so lets just get to playing. Since all the chapters are available you also have access to all of the golden eggs. You can finally complete your collection!
As a side note because I didn’t want to do an entire post about the subject, have you all seen the Angry Birds bra? It’s available over on etsy you should go check it out. I personally don’t know anyone who would wear it but i’m sure there is someone out there who would. I don’t recommend buying this for you girlfriend or wife unless she really loves angry birds.
BBCW launches CBeebies games app
Games based on popular CBeebies Games series Charlie & Lola, Teletubbies, 3rd & Bird and Numberjacks are available through a new app launched by BBC Worldwide.
CBeebies On The Go is available for free on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad to pre-school children in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and South Korea.
Developed by Tag Apps, it includes matching pairs picture games for the Teletubbies and Charlie & Lola, a Kerwhizz jigsaw game and a 3rd & Bird tap-the-fruit challenge. It also holds a number of short video clips from popular shows.
Director of CBeebies investment at BBCW, Henrietta Hurford-Jones, said the team had “worked hard to build a product that upholds the core values of learning through play”.
She added: “This new kids’ app is a first for the Channels business, so the learnings from this pilot phase will help shape any future plans to roll CBeebies Games On The Go out to new territories and different devices.”
More than 53m homes have access to the CBeebies channel worldwide.
CBeebies On The Go is available for free on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad to pre-school children in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and South Korea.
Developed by Tag Apps, it includes matching pairs picture games for the Teletubbies and Charlie & Lola, a Kerwhizz jigsaw game and a 3rd & Bird tap-the-fruit challenge. It also holds a number of short video clips from popular shows.
Director of CBeebies investment at BBCW, Henrietta Hurford-Jones, said the team had “worked hard to build a product that upholds the core values of learning through play”.
She added: “This new kids’ app is a first for the Channels business, so the learnings from this pilot phase will help shape any future plans to roll CBeebies Games On The Go out to new territories and different devices.”
More than 53m homes have access to the CBeebies channel worldwide.
Disney-branded Facebook games coming in 2012, Playdom head says
Can we all just say, “finally?” During a panel named “The Rise of Social Games” at the f8 Facebook Developers Conference in San Francisco, Disney Interactive and Playdom head John Pleasants revealed that two to four Facebook games surrounding Disney xd brands will hit Facebook in 2012. The general topic of the panel was the fact that branded social games are taking off.
Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.
Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we’ve come to love.
Honestly, we’re surprised this didn’t happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn’t get into why it’s taken this long for disney channel games to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.
Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer–and we enjoyed quite a bit–peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company’s name, according to Pleasants. “We think it’s an advantage, if you put game play first,” Pleasants said.
It’s comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam’s Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.
Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.
Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we’ve come to love.
Honestly, we’re surprised this didn’t happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn’t get into why it’s taken this long for disney channel games to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.
Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer–and we enjoyed quite a bit–peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company’s name, according to Pleasants. “We think it’s an advantage, if you put game play first,” Pleasants said.
It’s comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam’s Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.
Phineas And Ferb 3D Game – Disney XD Games 63
New Disney Game – Phineas and Ferb
Disney released a new game. Phineas and Ferb 3D online game. Klick here to read the complete review.
The new game is available at the Disney XD discovery channel. Get ahead of the game before its officially released next week!
Disney is introducing the brand new DisneyXD game. Phineas and Ferb in: The Transport inators of Doooom!
Doofenschmitz is up to his old tricks again, and who has gone missing? Phineas! Help Ferb find his brother and try to help Agent P thwarth Doofenschmitz evil plans!
Check out this new exciting Disney XD online game before all others do at the Disney Cartoon network games website!
Check out Disney’s cartoon network to find a lot of amazing games and news. Disney offers a lot of cartoon games on their site. So head over to the Disney XD site and play the new Phineas and Ferb – The Transport-inators of Doooom! game!
Have Fun!
Disney released a new game. Phineas and Ferb 3D online game. Klick here to read the complete review.
The new game is available at the Disney XD discovery channel. Get ahead of the game before its officially released next week!
Disney is introducing the brand new DisneyXD game. Phineas and Ferb in: The Transport inators of Doooom!
Doofenschmitz is up to his old tricks again, and who has gone missing? Phineas! Help Ferb find his brother and try to help Agent P thwarth Doofenschmitz evil plans!
Check out this new exciting Disney XD online game before all others do at the Disney Cartoon network games website!
Check out Disney’s cartoon network to find a lot of amazing games and news. Disney offers a lot of cartoon games on their site. So head over to the Disney XD site and play the new Phineas and Ferb – The Transport-inators of Doooom! game!
Have Fun!
Play the Scary Maze Game With Your Friends!
Have you ever played the Scary Maze Game 8 now? If not, brotha you haven’t lived!!! This maze game is the most awesome game on earth! But in order to play it you MUST have a partner in the room with you. So go find a friend, co-hort, or even an enemy – it doesn’t matter! Then match your wits and your mouse skills with the game and see if you’re awesome enough to win the BIG prize at the end!
Chinese Couple Sells All Three Kids to Play Online Games
A young Chinese couple has sold all three of their children in exchange for money to play online Nick jr games at Internet cafes, reports a southern Chinese newspaper.
According to Sanxiang City News, the couple met in an Internet cafe back in 2007 and bonded over their obsession with online video games. A year later, the parents — who are both under 21 — welcomed their first child, a son. Days after his birth, they left him home alone while they went to play online agame at an Internet cafe 30 km away.
In 2009, Li Lin and Li Juan welcomed their second child, a baby girl, and came up with the idea to sell her for money to fund their online game obsession. They did so, receiving RMB 3,000 (less than $500), which they spent entirely shortly after. The couple then proceeded to sell their first child and got 10 times as much for him — RMB 30,000, or about $4600.
Upon having their third child — another boy — the parents followed in their previous footsteps and also got RMB 30,000 for him.
They were finally turned into authorities when Li Lin’s mother found out what her son and his girlfriend had done.
When asked if they missed their children, the parents answered, “We don’t want to raise them, we just want to sell them for some money.”
Sanxiang City Newsreports the couple didn’t know they were breaking the law.
According to Sanxiang City News, the couple met in an Internet cafe back in 2007 and bonded over their obsession with online video games. A year later, the parents — who are both under 21 — welcomed their first child, a son. Days after his birth, they left him home alone while they went to play online agame at an Internet cafe 30 km away.
In 2009, Li Lin and Li Juan welcomed their second child, a baby girl, and came up with the idea to sell her for money to fund their online game obsession. They did so, receiving RMB 3,000 (less than $500), which they spent entirely shortly after. The couple then proceeded to sell their first child and got 10 times as much for him — RMB 30,000, or about $4600.
Upon having their third child — another boy — the parents followed in their previous footsteps and also got RMB 30,000 for him.
They were finally turned into authorities when Li Lin’s mother found out what her son and his girlfriend had done.
When asked if they missed their children, the parents answered, “We don’t want to raise them, we just want to sell them for some money.”
Sanxiang City Newsreports the couple didn’t know they were breaking the law.
Official Pokemon Game Coming To Smartphones
The Pokemon Company is set to bring an official Pokemon Online game to smartphone devices, marking the first time that an official Nintendo-copyrighted app will be available on the iOS and Android.
Called Pokemon Iie Tap (rougly Pokemon: Say Tap?), the app appears to be a rhythm game where players “tap on Pokemon indigo trading cards to the beat of a song from the anime,” according to a translation by consumer video game site GamesRadar.
According to the game’s official announcement, it will be available for most iOS devices, as well as Android devices running version 2.1 of the platform.
Though this is the first iOS or Android application to carry an official Nintendo copyright, it is not the first mobile app of any kind: a Pokemon mobile phone game called Pokemate was released in Japan in 2006.
Though it is a rarity, Nintendo does have a history of releasing official games on platforms that are not its own, including a promotional Flash game to promote its Tingle character.
A release outside of Japan has not been announced.
Called Pokemon Iie Tap (rougly Pokemon: Say Tap?), the app appears to be a rhythm game where players “tap on Pokemon indigo trading cards to the beat of a song from the anime,” according to a translation by consumer video game site GamesRadar.
According to the game’s official announcement, it will be available for most iOS devices, as well as Android devices running version 2.1 of the platform.
Though this is the first iOS or Android application to carry an official Nintendo copyright, it is not the first mobile app of any kind: a Pokemon mobile phone game called Pokemate was released in Japan in 2006.
Though it is a rarity, Nintendo does have a history of releasing official games on platforms that are not its own, including a promotional Flash game to promote its Tingle character.
A release outside of Japan has not been announced.
Nick Jr., MTVN expand in Asia
Rugrats and music fans in Singapore and Malaysia will be able to tune in to “Dora the Explorer” and 24-hour music videos, docus and concerts with the launch of Viacom’s Nick Jr. and MTVN HD in the territories in coming weeks.
Nick Jr Games. will bow on Singapore’s Starhub from May 18, while MTVN HD will air on Telekom Malaysia Berhad’s HyppTV in Malaysia from June 1.
Nick Jr. will be available on the StarHub TV’s Kids Basic Upsize Group, while MTVNHD will be available to existing StarHub TV’s Entertainment Basic Group customers who are subscribed to the Basic HD Upsize group.
TM will offer the two channels a la carte to its subscribers on HyppTV, Malaysia’s newest pay TV service.
The services will roll out to the rest of the region at a date to be announced.
Nick Jr Games. will bow on Singapore’s Starhub from May 18, while MTVN HD will air on Telekom Malaysia Berhad’s HyppTV in Malaysia from June 1.
Nick Jr. will be available on the StarHub TV’s Kids Basic Upsize Group, while MTVNHD will be available to existing StarHub TV’s Entertainment Basic Group customers who are subscribed to the Basic HD Upsize group.
TM will offer the two channels a la carte to its subscribers on HyppTV, Malaysia’s newest pay TV service.
The services will roll out to the rest of the region at a date to be announced.
August Contest Winners!
As promised, here are our winners from the August contests! If you're curious about what's on offer for September, just clickity click: http://n4g.com/user/blogpos...
LOYAL READER LOTTERY:
Congratulations,
remanutd55
OtherWhiteMeat
ExgamerLegends
Each of you receive $100 Amazon Gift Cards!
BEST USER BLOG:
Congratulations christheredhead! http://n4g.com/user/blogpos...
Prize: Gamefly 12-month subscription (1 game out at a time)
CONTRIBUTOR CONTEST:
Congratulations!
1st: -Mezzo-3 Games of Choice (standard edition)
2nd: SpaceSquirrel 2 Games of Choice (standard edition)
3rd: Valay 1 Game of Choice (standard edition)
FORUM LOTTERY:
Congratulations,
Urrakia34
Sillyace92
mindedone
You each receive $60 Amazon gift cards!
(all winners will hear from me soon!)
LOYAL READER LOTTERY:
Congratulations,
remanutd55
OtherWhiteMeat
ExgamerLegends
Each of you receive $100 Amazon Gift Cards!
BEST USER BLOG:
Congratulations christheredhead! http://n4g.com/user/blogpos...
Prize: Gamefly 12-month subscription (1 game out at a time)
CONTRIBUTOR CONTEST:
Congratulations!
1st: -Mezzo-3 Games of Choice (standard edition)
2nd: SpaceSquirrel 2 Games of Choice (standard edition)
3rd: Valay 1 Game of Choice (standard edition)
FORUM LOTTERY:
Congratulations,
Urrakia34
Sillyace92
mindedone
You each receive $60 Amazon gift cards!
(all winners will hear from me soon!)
Why EA won't post Xbox footage of BF3
It's pretty evident that so far we have seen not an inch of xbox footage of bf3, but is it really because it looks bad or not finished/optimized? I really don't think so.
For starters, I think the reason no one has seen a trailer or even a piece of gameplay on xbox is because of Activision and Microsoft. Don't believe me? Well, look at this: xbox promotes call of duty, every map pack or DLC content released for cod is first released on XBL. Activation has exclusive partnership with Microsoft XBL basically promotes COD media. For example: we have seen COD run on xbox, but have we seen it run on PC or PS3? No. Cod is a console centered shooter, but why do you think we haven't seen it on other platforms as well?
I see people post comments like, "the console version must be hideous", or "sub par", but I believe it's not. It definitely won't be PC standard, but I can very well guess that the game will be one of the most technically amazing games out there. It all has to do will console exclusivity, hence why bf3 is prominently shown on ps3 and not xbox360. If you need another example, look at the cod press conference at the Call of Duty XP event. It had Microsoft and Xbox360 written all over it.
Want proof?: http://www.cinemablend.com/...
Or: "-$1 million dollar Call of Duty tournament by Activision and the event's lead sponsor Microsoft Xbox 360."
Why have a competitor to the game you sponsor posted up in headlines? Also, PS3 is not sponsoring BF3. People may think that but DICE and EA decided to use the "Buy BF3 new and get 1943 exclusively on PS3 for free" deal, it was to at least get some PS3 owners on their side because they basically had absolutely no influence on the Xbox side of things.
So please guys, don't nitpick and speculate on things that are obvious if you look for the signs, for all my nitpickers out there.
For starters, I think the reason no one has seen a trailer or even a piece of gameplay on xbox is because of Activision and Microsoft. Don't believe me? Well, look at this: xbox promotes call of duty, every map pack or DLC content released for cod is first released on XBL. Activation has exclusive partnership with Microsoft XBL basically promotes COD media. For example: we have seen COD run on xbox, but have we seen it run on PC or PS3? No. Cod is a console centered shooter, but why do you think we haven't seen it on other platforms as well?
I see people post comments like, "the console version must be hideous", or "sub par", but I believe it's not. It definitely won't be PC standard, but I can very well guess that the game will be one of the most technically amazing games out there. It all has to do will console exclusivity, hence why bf3 is prominently shown on ps3 and not xbox360. If you need another example, look at the cod press conference at the Call of Duty XP event. It had Microsoft and Xbox360 written all over it.
Want proof?: http://www.cinemablend.com/...
Or: "-$1 million dollar Call of Duty tournament by Activision and the event's lead sponsor Microsoft Xbox 360."
Why have a competitor to the game you sponsor posted up in headlines? Also, PS3 is not sponsoring BF3. People may think that but DICE and EA decided to use the "Buy BF3 new and get 1943 exclusively on PS3 for free" deal, it was to at least get some PS3 owners on their side because they basically had absolutely no influence on the Xbox side of things.
So please guys, don't nitpick and speculate on things that are obvious if you look for the signs, for all my nitpickers out there.
why is kinect being given such a harsh treatment?
As a kinect enthusiast I am a constant supporter of kinect and if something bad do happen I try to assess the reasons for the problem and comment on what could or should have been done. The thing that hits me the hardest though is when I see a bunch of comments about how it sucks and this and that when it’s clearly been proven that it can have 1:1 recognition and do other cool things. This is on top of the fact that it’s been out for only 10 months and is still a little new to the developers.
The point that I'm trying to get across is that even if most of the stuff produced by the big guys of gaming aren't the Holy Grail’s of motion controls doesn't mean that motion control in general is bad. With the kinect you really can play any type of game with it. The only issue is that with this innovative device you’re going to have to come up with an even more innovative way to do the varied actions in the games we know and love today. We have all seen such innovations like the way Ubisoft has implemented shooting into kinect without the need of a trigger and also the new ways to play made by modders/hackers online.
I believe that these are great signs of what we could do with kinect and that as time goes by the kinect will just keep getting better and better because of kinect's ability to upgrade through software. It’s going to take time but it’s a sure thing that as time goes by the games and software behind kinect will get better and better. I recently commented on this post with some cool things people have done with kinect on you tube, just check them out and just think about what could be done with kinect if you were allowed to develop your own game.
The point that I'm trying to get across is that even if most of the stuff produced by the big guys of gaming aren't the Holy Grail’s of motion controls doesn't mean that motion control in general is bad. With the kinect you really can play any type of game with it. The only issue is that with this innovative device you’re going to have to come up with an even more innovative way to do the varied actions in the games we know and love today. We have all seen such innovations like the way Ubisoft has implemented shooting into kinect without the need of a trigger and also the new ways to play made by modders/hackers online.
I believe that these are great signs of what we could do with kinect and that as time goes by the kinect will just keep getting better and better because of kinect's ability to upgrade through software. It’s going to take time but it’s a sure thing that as time goes by the games and software behind kinect will get better and better. I recently commented on this post with some cool things people have done with kinect on you tube, just check them out and just think about what could be done with kinect if you were allowed to develop your own game.
My brand new PC!
Hello there! Before I get into the specs of my new computer (I actually don't have it yet, it is sitting in a cart on Newegg.com), I just wanna say that I have never been a PC gamer in all the 20 or so years I have been playing games. Yes I always knew of the advantages they have had over consoles, but I always loved the simplicity of a console, I don't think there is anything wrong with that.
However, a certain little game called Crysis was released about 4 years ago, and that forever changed my thoughts about never getting a gaming rig. Unfortunately back then I didn't have the means to get one. Now, another little game shall be releasing soon called Battlefield 3. We all know the story of things being removed on the consoles like 24 players, reduced map size, and of course it will be less pretty. When I heard this news, I just couldn't stand it. This game MUST be played the way the developers want it to be played.
So I basically did a (F#@K THIS $H!7) sort of thing, and decided to find myself some great parts for a computer. Now I was left with one major problem, I didn't know a damn thing about this stuff. I know what a graphics card is, but not so much how one works. I know what a RAM stick is, but also not so much how important they are, something to do with speed I think? (please don't kill me!! I'm new at this!!) That's pretty much how it goes for the rest of the vital components in a computer, I just don't know a whole lot basically.
So because of this, I immediately thought of a user here on N4G by the name of ATi_Elite. I'm sure he is not the only PC savvy gamer here, he is just the one I happened to remember for some reason. I began speaking with him about all of this, and now I know a fairly good amount of what is really inside a computer, and what some of the parts do thanks to his vast knowledge. He helped me out very much in choosing the correct parts for my computer, so all credit goes to him. Here is the computer we have finally came to agree on, and I thank him a lot for all of his help. Hopefully he gets the chance to read this!
----------------------------- ------------------------
"SAMSUNG S23A350H ToC Rose Black 23" 2ms Full HD HDMI LED BackLight LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 DCR 1,000,000:1"
http://www.newegg.com/Produ...
"Thermaltake Chaser MK-I Black SECC ATX Full Tower Computer Case"
http://www.newegg.com/Produ...
"(There are 2 of these in the cart) GIGABYTE GV-R687OC-1GD Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity"
http://www.newegg.com/Produ...
"Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor"
http://www.newegg.com/Produ...
"G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600"
http://www.newegg.com/Produ...
"ASUS P8P67 PRO (REV 3.1) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard"
http://www.newegg.com/Produ...
"CORSAIR Professional Series HX850 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply"
http://www.newegg.com/Produ...
"COOLER MASTER V6 GT RR-V6GT-22PK-R1 120mm DynaLoop CPU Cooler w/ Universal bracket & Dual Fan"
http://www.newegg.com/Produ...
"(Also 2 of these, so total of 1TB) Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive"
http://www.newegg.com/Produ...
"Sony Optiarc CD/DVD Burner 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model AD-7261S-0B LightScribe Support - OEM"
http://www.newegg.com/Produ...
"Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM"
http://www.newegg.com/Produ...
"Logitech Z506 75 watts RMS 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers"
http://www.newegg.com/Produ...
----------------------------- ------------------------
That's it! For all of the PC savvy guys here, please let me know what you think! Feel free to add anything you'd like. All credit goes to ATi_Elite, whom without talking to would be incredibly lost, and not the excited person I am right now!! I can't wait to purchase this thing and start a new era of gaming!!
However, a certain little game called Crysis was released about 4 years ago, and that forever changed my thoughts about never getting a gaming rig. Unfortunately back then I didn't have the means to get one. Now, another little game shall be releasing soon called Battlefield 3. We all know the story of things being removed on the consoles like 24 players, reduced map size, and of course it will be less pretty. When I heard this news, I just couldn't stand it. This game MUST be played the way the developers want it to be played.
So I basically did a (F#@K THIS $H!7) sort of thing, and decided to find myself some great parts for a computer. Now I was left with one major problem, I didn't know a damn thing about this stuff. I know what a graphics card is, but not so much how one works. I know what a RAM stick is, but also not so much how important they are, something to do with speed I think? (please don't kill me!! I'm new at this!!) That's pretty much how it goes for the rest of the vital components in a computer, I just don't know a whole lot basically.
So because of this, I immediately thought of a user here on N4G by the name of ATi_Elite. I'm sure he is not the only PC savvy gamer here, he is just the one I happened to remember for some reason. I began speaking with him about all of this, and now I know a fairly good amount of what is really inside a computer, and what some of the parts do thanks to his vast knowledge. He helped me out very much in choosing the correct parts for my computer, so all credit goes to him. Here is the computer we have finally came to agree on, and I thank him a lot for all of his help. Hopefully he gets the chance to read this!
----------------------------- ------------------------
"SAMSUNG S23A350H ToC Rose Black 23" 2ms Full HD HDMI LED BackLight LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 DCR 1,000,000:1"
http://www.newegg.com/Produ...
"Thermaltake Chaser MK-I Black SECC ATX Full Tower Computer Case"
http://www.newegg.com/Produ...
"(There are 2 of these in the cart) GIGABYTE GV-R687OC-1GD Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity"
http://www.newegg.com/Produ...
"Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor"
http://www.newegg.com/Produ...
"G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600"
http://www.newegg.com/Produ...
"ASUS P8P67 PRO (REV 3.1) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard"
http://www.newegg.com/Produ...
"CORSAIR Professional Series HX850 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply"
http://www.newegg.com/Produ...
"COOLER MASTER V6 GT RR-V6GT-22PK-R1 120mm DynaLoop CPU Cooler w/ Universal bracket & Dual Fan"
http://www.newegg.com/Produ...
"(Also 2 of these, so total of 1TB) Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive"
http://www.newegg.com/Produ...
"Sony Optiarc CD/DVD Burner 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model AD-7261S-0B LightScribe Support - OEM"
http://www.newegg.com/Produ...
"Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM"
http://www.newegg.com/Produ...
"Logitech Z506 75 watts RMS 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers"
http://www.newegg.com/Produ...
----------------------------- ------------------------
That's it! For all of the PC savvy guys here, please let me know what you think! Feel free to add anything you'd like. All credit goes to ATi_Elite, whom without talking to would be incredibly lost, and not the excited person I am right now!! I can't wait to purchase this thing and start a new era of gaming!!
3dtv has fixed my eyes
When I was a kid I went to Alton Towers and saw a polarised 3d video- I found it amazing, intense and magical so when Avatar came out years later I was hyped.
However when I saw Avatar, although impressed with the film in general, the effects wents straight over my head. I discovered I was 'stereo-blind' and could not perceive 3d at all.
This was pretty gutting as I'd had such a great experience with it as a kid and had heard 3dtv was around the corner. I played with lots of anagyph 3d on youtube with no success to be certain.
I'm very long-sighted(+4/+6) have Astigmatism (oval-shaped eyeballs) and Amblyopia (lazy-eye)- so it was perhaps to be expected. When I went to my eye doctor and asked about it they laughed and said it would be pretty much impossible for me to percieve 3d. I persisted.
I practiced trying not ignoring my lazy eye and went from never using it to being able to summon double vision at any time but not quite line them up right. Tried some 3dtvs in a shop still no joy.
Anyway recently after some mild success with Anaglyph I decided to buy a 3dtv to practice watching 3d on as it wasn't much extra to get a tv with 3d than one without I went for a Samsung 40" D6100 for £595.
After just a weekend with this tv watching a couple of 3d blurays and healthy amount of Wipeout 3dHD on Ps3 and Batman in 3d on PC It is working incredibly well for me- whats more real life looks a LOT more 3d to me.
The point of this blog is just to let people know who have eyes like mine, who would like to see 3d effects that I strongly feel it is posslbe with no more than the four P's I use to get better at guitar- Practice, Patience, Perseverience and more Practice.
Don't give up- It is worth it, Batman Arkham Asylmn looks unbelieveably good in 3d!
Heres a decent Anaglyph (red/cyan glasses) 3d to test yourself with.
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
If you have a 3dtv use this one click the 3d button on the player, choose 'other options' then 'side to side' then press the 3d button on your tv remote and choose 'side to side'
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
Thanks for reading, please comment your experiences below!
However when I saw Avatar, although impressed with the film in general, the effects wents straight over my head. I discovered I was 'stereo-blind' and could not perceive 3d at all.
This was pretty gutting as I'd had such a great experience with it as a kid and had heard 3dtv was around the corner. I played with lots of anagyph 3d on youtube with no success to be certain.
I'm very long-sighted(+4/+6) have Astigmatism (oval-shaped eyeballs) and Amblyopia (lazy-eye)- so it was perhaps to be expected. When I went to my eye doctor and asked about it they laughed and said it would be pretty much impossible for me to percieve 3d. I persisted.
I practiced trying not ignoring my lazy eye and went from never using it to being able to summon double vision at any time but not quite line them up right. Tried some 3dtvs in a shop still no joy.
Anyway recently after some mild success with Anaglyph I decided to buy a 3dtv to practice watching 3d on as it wasn't much extra to get a tv with 3d than one without I went for a Samsung 40" D6100 for £595.
After just a weekend with this tv watching a couple of 3d blurays and healthy amount of Wipeout 3dHD on Ps3 and Batman in 3d on PC It is working incredibly well for me- whats more real life looks a LOT more 3d to me.
The point of this blog is just to let people know who have eyes like mine, who would like to see 3d effects that I strongly feel it is posslbe with no more than the four P's I use to get better at guitar- Practice, Patience, Perseverience and more Practice.
Don't give up- It is worth it, Batman Arkham Asylmn looks unbelieveably good in 3d!
Heres a decent Anaglyph (red/cyan glasses) 3d to test yourself with.
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
If you have a 3dtv use this one click the 3d button on the player, choose 'other options' then 'side to side' then press the 3d button on your tv remote and choose 'side to side'
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
Thanks for reading, please comment your experiences below!
Deus Ex vs. Deus Ex: An Examination of the Current State of Gaming
In the year MM (that's 2000 for you non-Romans), I was accompanying some family on a trip to Dublin City. While engaging in my giddiest pleasure of the time (sifting through PC games new and old), I happened upon a game released that very day. I recalled reading something starkly positive about it in PC Gamer magazine prior to this and decided I'd take a chance on this one.
That game was Deus Ex.
Needless to say, I was completely taken aback by it. My first impression was something of distaste, oddly enough, like the first time you try beer. I was almost disappointed by my inability to kill everything with reckless abandon and similarly offended by my inability to survive what would've been considered a relatively tame fire-fight, certainly by the standards of the time. But persistence (and a little insistence on not wasting my £40) soon paid off. The thrill was no longer about being some one-man army, hell-bent on nothing short of absolute destruction. Now the thrill came from being an unseen, unheard ninja, a living virus to any computer system he touched. But what was most important about all that was the sense of BEING that person. Never had I become so immersed in a character and his world. It changed the way I played games, but more than that, it changed the way I looked at them and entertainment as a whole.
Flash forward ten years or so and we have Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Without going in to too many specifics, I am still playing through the game and have thus far found the experience an excellent one. That said, this also prompted me to re-install my copy of Deus Ex for the first time in about 6 years.
First of all, the similarities. The game world FEELS quite similar. The environment, which would've been considered quite dynamic at the time, is largely the same, although by today's standards it may seem somewhat static. Augmentations are actually a bit more balanced (if not biased a little more towards the stealth method of play) and useful this time around and that sense of freedom remains.
What does not remain, at least not as much, is the sense of impact that my actions had on the world (in the original). My choice to go stealthily and mercifully about my business doesn't seem to affect my relationships with other characters as much. While this could lead to benefits in the original, such is rarely if ever the case in Human Revolution. The benefits of stealth play now come in the form of more experience points, which, while more recognizable to the modern gamer, seems to have cheapened the experience somewhat for me.
More to that, the game highlights just how games have evolved, or in some cases, devolved over the years. Many actions in this game have become automated. Stealthily dispatching of an enemy requires a single keystroke within close proximity, and lethally doing so requires the same effort. Perhaps this offers a thrill of some kind to other gamers, but I personally feel detached from the action, as though I had nothing to do with it. The player's hand is held at almost every turn, and obligatory boss battles have been shoe-horned in, presumably because your game can't be considered epic unless at least one climactic, cinematic confrontation is included. In the original, you could nearly talk your way out of or into any situation, if you worked at it hard enough. If boss fights like these were included in the original, I've no doubt you could've avoided them somehow. In HR, talking summons a mini-game of sorts (via an augmentation) that takes much of the challenge out of carefully traversing the conversation trees. Now you're told specifically which personality type your target is and which conversation options affect this type most in your favour. Modern conventions like incessant "tooltip" help messages appear, and regenerating health has been added, while individual limb damage has been removed.
All things considered, even though it's 10 years later and the it's sporting a slicker presentation, there's simply less GAME.
In summary, my question to you is this: have games REALLY evolved over the last ten years? Their presentation certainly has, this much is obvious. However, the core gameplay experience, that which truly defines a game: has it stagnated, or worse, devolved over the years? Deus Ex was meant to have heralded a new age of modern shooters, where thought was provoked as much as the inner genocidal maniac. Nowadays, shooters have reverted to corridors and mindless slaughter. RPGs are still about fetch quests and even their depth, a defining characteristic of the genre, has been replaced with hand-holding, instant gratification and linear progression. Fighting games and platformers are returning to their 2D roots in an effort to regain their glamour through a return to simplicity (although much lauded, it isn't progression). More and more user actions are stripped away so we can watch one more slick "canned" animation, one more action-heavy cut-scene and all for what?
That game was Deus Ex.
Needless to say, I was completely taken aback by it. My first impression was something of distaste, oddly enough, like the first time you try beer. I was almost disappointed by my inability to kill everything with reckless abandon and similarly offended by my inability to survive what would've been considered a relatively tame fire-fight, certainly by the standards of the time. But persistence (and a little insistence on not wasting my £40) soon paid off. The thrill was no longer about being some one-man army, hell-bent on nothing short of absolute destruction. Now the thrill came from being an unseen, unheard ninja, a living virus to any computer system he touched. But what was most important about all that was the sense of BEING that person. Never had I become so immersed in a character and his world. It changed the way I played games, but more than that, it changed the way I looked at them and entertainment as a whole.
Flash forward ten years or so and we have Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Without going in to too many specifics, I am still playing through the game and have thus far found the experience an excellent one. That said, this also prompted me to re-install my copy of Deus Ex for the first time in about 6 years.
First of all, the similarities. The game world FEELS quite similar. The environment, which would've been considered quite dynamic at the time, is largely the same, although by today's standards it may seem somewhat static. Augmentations are actually a bit more balanced (if not biased a little more towards the stealth method of play) and useful this time around and that sense of freedom remains.
What does not remain, at least not as much, is the sense of impact that my actions had on the world (in the original). My choice to go stealthily and mercifully about my business doesn't seem to affect my relationships with other characters as much. While this could lead to benefits in the original, such is rarely if ever the case in Human Revolution. The benefits of stealth play now come in the form of more experience points, which, while more recognizable to the modern gamer, seems to have cheapened the experience somewhat for me.
More to that, the game highlights just how games have evolved, or in some cases, devolved over the years. Many actions in this game have become automated. Stealthily dispatching of an enemy requires a single keystroke within close proximity, and lethally doing so requires the same effort. Perhaps this offers a thrill of some kind to other gamers, but I personally feel detached from the action, as though I had nothing to do with it. The player's hand is held at almost every turn, and obligatory boss battles have been shoe-horned in, presumably because your game can't be considered epic unless at least one climactic, cinematic confrontation is included. In the original, you could nearly talk your way out of or into any situation, if you worked at it hard enough. If boss fights like these were included in the original, I've no doubt you could've avoided them somehow. In HR, talking summons a mini-game of sorts (via an augmentation) that takes much of the challenge out of carefully traversing the conversation trees. Now you're told specifically which personality type your target is and which conversation options affect this type most in your favour. Modern conventions like incessant "tooltip" help messages appear, and regenerating health has been added, while individual limb damage has been removed.
All things considered, even though it's 10 years later and the it's sporting a slicker presentation, there's simply less GAME.
In summary, my question to you is this: have games REALLY evolved over the last ten years? Their presentation certainly has, this much is obvious. However, the core gameplay experience, that which truly defines a game: has it stagnated, or worse, devolved over the years? Deus Ex was meant to have heralded a new age of modern shooters, where thought was provoked as much as the inner genocidal maniac. Nowadays, shooters have reverted to corridors and mindless slaughter. RPGs are still about fetch quests and even their depth, a defining characteristic of the genre, has been replaced with hand-holding, instant gratification and linear progression. Fighting games and platformers are returning to their 2D roots in an effort to regain their glamour through a return to simplicity (although much lauded, it isn't progression). More and more user actions are stripped away so we can watch one more slick "canned" animation, one more action-heavy cut-scene and all for what?
Fractal, A Brainy Beauty
Fractal: Make Blooms Not War is a beautiful, charming puzzle game - so charming I'm not even a tiny bit grumpy over it calling me "Sweetheart" before we really got to know one another. Yes, what Fractal has in spades is style. Attractive, slick controls, quality sound - it's a glamorous package for a puzzle game that has as much brains as beauty.
Oh, what delicious brains they are, too! Center screen is a board of hexes and by tapping an empty or perimeter hex next to a filled one you create additional tiles from that point, "pushing" the neighbors along their lines. Forming a seven-tile hex cluster (or more), makes a "Bloom" that clears those tiles and pushes the surrounding tiles back - which can lead to some nifty chains. In levels One through Four all you have to worry about is achieving the level score within a certain number of tile "Pushes". With a fixed number of Pushes per level to achieve the target score, you won't be moving tiles all willy-nilly. At level Five, two color mode is introduced to confound matters, and at level Eight you finally get to make use of a power-up - "Explode" - as tiny explosive icons emerge on tiles. All that is only the beginning.
Sounds a little confusing, yeah? Fractal uses presentation to make a very math-y puzzler palatable. Around the hex-board perimeter are more soft pastel hues, and notes scrawled to the player like "Good luck, Sweetheart! XOXO" and "Make Blooms, NOT War!"; add in the melodious tunes and you've got a downright ethereal gaming experience. A game "best experienced with headphones" (which games aren't?), the soundtrack actually responds to the gameplay, even slowing like a dying pulse as you run out of pushes and the level is failed.
A conundrum of stereotype, Fractal is a brainy, feature-rich puzzler that conjures up words like “lovely” and “soothing” while delivering a very smart game. Available for $1.99 on the iPad, there are three game modes plus OpenFeint and Game Center integration packed into the polished title. Campaign and Puzzle Mode offer progressive challenge, and Arcade for time attack and high score players - all this plus achievement tracking and high score competition. Here is a game at half the cost of a typical Starbucks visit with hours more enjoyment on offer, don’t lump it in with similarly priced mediocre time killers, this price point isn’t a mark of an inferior quality timekiller - it’s a steal.
Oh, what delicious brains they are, too! Center screen is a board of hexes and by tapping an empty or perimeter hex next to a filled one you create additional tiles from that point, "pushing" the neighbors along their lines. Forming a seven-tile hex cluster (or more), makes a "Bloom" that clears those tiles and pushes the surrounding tiles back - which can lead to some nifty chains. In levels One through Four all you have to worry about is achieving the level score within a certain number of tile "Pushes". With a fixed number of Pushes per level to achieve the target score, you won't be moving tiles all willy-nilly. At level Five, two color mode is introduced to confound matters, and at level Eight you finally get to make use of a power-up - "Explode" - as tiny explosive icons emerge on tiles. All that is only the beginning.
Sounds a little confusing, yeah? Fractal uses presentation to make a very math-y puzzler palatable. Around the hex-board perimeter are more soft pastel hues, and notes scrawled to the player like "Good luck, Sweetheart! XOXO" and "Make Blooms, NOT War!"; add in the melodious tunes and you've got a downright ethereal gaming experience. A game "best experienced with headphones" (which games aren't?), the soundtrack actually responds to the gameplay, even slowing like a dying pulse as you run out of pushes and the level is failed.
A conundrum of stereotype, Fractal is a brainy, feature-rich puzzler that conjures up words like “lovely” and “soothing” while delivering a very smart game. Available for $1.99 on the iPad, there are three game modes plus OpenFeint and Game Center integration packed into the polished title. Campaign and Puzzle Mode offer progressive challenge, and Arcade for time attack and high score players - all this plus achievement tracking and high score competition. Here is a game at half the cost of a typical Starbucks visit with hours more enjoyment on offer, don’t lump it in with similarly priced mediocre time killers, this price point isn’t a mark of an inferior quality timekiller - it’s a steal.
Crimson Alliance Preview
This Wednesday, September 7, a dose of dungeon crawling will hit XBLA. Crimson Alliance, a multiplayer action RPG that may recall Torchlight but adds a serious combat punch - and that’s a good thing. An original IP from independent developer Certain Affinity, their pedigree lends both confidence and confusion: the team has had a role in CoD: Black Ops, Left 4 Dead, Halo: Reach, and Age of Booty to name a few, so where does Crimson Alliance fit in? Story goes that Max Hoberman, formerly of Bungie, wanted to make an RPG, and this is that game. Amidst all those first-person shooters the idea of an RPG was always there, and Xbox Live Arcade made it possible to take some risk, without committing a team of 120 people.
Go ahead and choose between three classes and up to four players, local or online, to wage war on the Cult of the Soul Siren - which, aside from some truly evil alliteration, share a bad case of halitosis. Each class comes equipped with their own bit of story to bring to the campaign, and taking the Wizard for a spin at PAX I paired up with the heavy-hitting Mercenary. With up to four players there is potential character confusion, so I explored my Wizard’s fabulous wardrobe - and fabulous is falling short of the vibrant splendor this guy can don. While there wasn’t an additional Wizard on screen to battle for my attention, there was no mistaking my cerise mage.
With four player co-op, having three classes struck me as a bit odd - but it reinforces what Crimson Alliance favors: action over RPG. It’s a game that doesn’t have to be about balancing out your party if you prefer to party up to cause some damage, and if you want to deal that damage with four fantastically appointed Wizards then that’s your prerogative - but you will be missing out on not only a more diverse offense but the ability to access certain areas, like doors that can only be opened by a specific class.
Priced at 1200 MSP ($15) you get Crimson Alliance, but for the player certain they’re only going to make use of one class they can buy into the game at 800 MSP ($10), with access to their chosen class (not the other two) but all other aspects of the game. Those looking to cut corners on their game purchasing will want to choose wisely - and be confident of their friends’ class picks for online multiplayer, too?
High scores are a feature these guys with shooter roots are fond of, too, with a combo meter that builds - in tandem with your co-op teammates - across attacks. New at PAX was the intro to the Assassin class, a lady with notable agility she rushes the enemy for quick damage, teleports with a stunning effect and throws daggers with deadly accuracy. With those high scores and chaining in mind, she can stun a mob (or have the party Wizard cast freeze) and carve them up. As you advance your character picks up skills, mappable to the D-pad, that function as special items for the character. A Merc, for example, can toss down a bolt-firing turret, while charging up a special attack (your Ultimate Power) makes for a fancy offensive show as well.
Across the environments are containers with wealth and health - and the health ones are handily indicated with a big ol' heart on the jug. Should you come across a jug of health and don’t need it yet (health does regenerate over time) you can pick it up and carry it with you to the next room - where there’s a boss battle! That left trigger pick-up also lets you throw items, which allows for tricks like throwing barrels as explosives, a critical part of chaining attacks - plus, you know, it’s fun.
Crimson Alliance is a fantasy world riddled with loot and heavy on the “action” part of “action RPG” as Certain Affinity’s FPS experience colors the gameplay. After blasting through some levels we tackled a Challenge Map, battling wave after wave of foe for some serious payout. Add in some class-specific chests with loot tailor-made for your Assassin, Mercenary or Wizard, some hidden areas satisfying for the player partial to exploration, and enough loot to amass a fortune and you have achieved dungeon crawler bliss.
Go ahead and choose between three classes and up to four players, local or online, to wage war on the Cult of the Soul Siren - which, aside from some truly evil alliteration, share a bad case of halitosis. Each class comes equipped with their own bit of story to bring to the campaign, and taking the Wizard for a spin at PAX I paired up with the heavy-hitting Mercenary. With up to four players there is potential character confusion, so I explored my Wizard’s fabulous wardrobe - and fabulous is falling short of the vibrant splendor this guy can don. While there wasn’t an additional Wizard on screen to battle for my attention, there was no mistaking my cerise mage.
With four player co-op, having three classes struck me as a bit odd - but it reinforces what Crimson Alliance favors: action over RPG. It’s a game that doesn’t have to be about balancing out your party if you prefer to party up to cause some damage, and if you want to deal that damage with four fantastically appointed Wizards then that’s your prerogative - but you will be missing out on not only a more diverse offense but the ability to access certain areas, like doors that can only be opened by a specific class.
Priced at 1200 MSP ($15) you get Crimson Alliance, but for the player certain they’re only going to make use of one class they can buy into the game at 800 MSP ($10), with access to their chosen class (not the other two) but all other aspects of the game. Those looking to cut corners on their game purchasing will want to choose wisely - and be confident of their friends’ class picks for online multiplayer, too?
High scores are a feature these guys with shooter roots are fond of, too, with a combo meter that builds - in tandem with your co-op teammates - across attacks. New at PAX was the intro to the Assassin class, a lady with notable agility she rushes the enemy for quick damage, teleports with a stunning effect and throws daggers with deadly accuracy. With those high scores and chaining in mind, she can stun a mob (or have the party Wizard cast freeze) and carve them up. As you advance your character picks up skills, mappable to the D-pad, that function as special items for the character. A Merc, for example, can toss down a bolt-firing turret, while charging up a special attack (your Ultimate Power) makes for a fancy offensive show as well.
Across the environments are containers with wealth and health - and the health ones are handily indicated with a big ol' heart on the jug. Should you come across a jug of health and don’t need it yet (health does regenerate over time) you can pick it up and carry it with you to the next room - where there’s a boss battle! That left trigger pick-up also lets you throw items, which allows for tricks like throwing barrels as explosives, a critical part of chaining attacks - plus, you know, it’s fun.
Crimson Alliance is a fantasy world riddled with loot and heavy on the “action” part of “action RPG” as Certain Affinity’s FPS experience colors the gameplay. After blasting through some levels we tackled a Challenge Map, battling wave after wave of foe for some serious payout. Add in some class-specific chests with loot tailor-made for your Assassin, Mercenary or Wizard, some hidden areas satisfying for the player partial to exploration, and enough loot to amass a fortune and you have achieved dungeon crawler bliss.
DBZ kinect game idea
This is just something my friends and I were talking about that would be a good idea for a kinect game. I’m not sure if those who are reading this know but kinect is like a perfect fit in for fighting games like street fighter or soul caliber. When I’m online I usually talk and brainstorm ideas for games that would work for kinect and one game me and my friends came up with is a DBZ game.
This game would be like a first person fighting experience giving you a better feeling as though you were in that universe the controlls would be simple; you would basically do or mimic the gestures done by the characters to initiate the specific action. Example: If I were to play as goku or my own custom character (or xbl avatar) I would do the kamehameha pose and also add in the idea of saying the name of the move to activate it if done in unison you would produce a kamehameha blast.
Other thing that popped into my head were the ideas of clashing and kid blast struggles for things like the super fast fist exchange you would just punch very fast at your screen and the fastest puncher wins. For ki clash struggles you would have to hold the pose of your ki blast and at the same time yell just like the DBZ characters. The person with the best stance and loudest voice wins the struggle. Punching kicking and fighting would be handled as it would in real life punch to punch kick to kick etc. for movement I was thinking about having maybe a rise of nightmares movement or you could lean forward as though you were flying or floating basically the same principle as before. This would defiantly make the combat more immersive.
This game would be like a first person fighting experience giving you a better feeling as though you were in that universe the controlls would be simple; you would basically do or mimic the gestures done by the characters to initiate the specific action. Example: If I were to play as goku or my own custom character (or xbl avatar) I would do the kamehameha pose and also add in the idea of saying the name of the move to activate it if done in unison you would produce a kamehameha blast.
Other thing that popped into my head were the ideas of clashing and kid blast struggles for things like the super fast fist exchange you would just punch very fast at your screen and the fastest puncher wins. For ki clash struggles you would have to hold the pose of your ki blast and at the same time yell just like the DBZ characters. The person with the best stance and loudest voice wins the struggle. Punching kicking and fighting would be handled as it would in real life punch to punch kick to kick etc. for movement I was thinking about having maybe a rise of nightmares movement or you could lean forward as though you were flying or floating basically the same principle as before. This would defiantly make the combat more immersive.
Borderlands 2 Interview with Jeramy Cooke
At PAX I got to chat briefly with Jeramy Cooke, Gearbox Software Art Director for Borderlands 2.
Cat: Can you start off by talking about what’s changed about the world of Borderlands for the sequel?
JC: As the Art Director, I think you can see on this wall what we really care about, and that was getting out of the desert and seeing the rest of Pandora. When we did the original Borderlands we had built this world map, and it was this huge top-down view and we had forests down in the south and we had mountains, frozen tundra up in the north and we really only went to the desert - except for the very end of the game, there was like a little bit, but...we really wanted to expand it, so you can see we’re going to go out to the tundra into the icy mountains and we’ve kinda got like a Scottish Highlands type area in the middle of the game.
Cat: Did you get to do any travel to, say, the Scottish Highlands for research then?
JC: I did actually just do a trip to Iceland myself and took a lot of photo ref for the game, so when you’re in Act 1 you’ll see a lot of inspiration from that.
Cat: On the topic of inspiration, what else inspires the level design?
JC: We want to create a world that feels rough and dangerous, but we still wanted to bring color in, so it’s about finding those places that have splashes of color but still look like they’re gonna kill you. Even the grass if you look at it, even the grass has like little sharp teeth in it. We really try and make it look like a foreboding place because Pandora’s really supposed to be like on the edge of space.
It’s kind of like, before we discovered America, Wild West style. Even though there’s spaceship travel it’s still way out on the edge so there’s not a lot of, like, ‘This is where the prisoners go, this where the trash is dumped”, and, you know, there’s a lot of opportunity as well, but you’re gonna have to fight for it, so we always want to keep that feel.
Cat: Looking back, what did you want to ditch or revamp from Borderlands?
JC: Well, I don’t think we really ditched a whole heck of a lot, but we did revamp almost everything. I mean, the gun system was rebuilt from scratch, the UI was rebuilt from scratch, we were really disappointed with how the UI turned out on PC, and consoles for split screen and low-def. So we’re doing custom UI for every platform and you’ll see the main UI is all vertical format so that when do side split screen you can still see everything on your screen and still use it properly. On PC you’re going to have drag-and-drop, like a full mouse-driven interface. We had a ton of PC users and we feel like we didn’t take care of them very well, so this time we want to make sure that they get an awesome experience.
Cat: How did it happen that the PC gamers got the short end last time...
JC: Well, you know, it was an unfortunate thing. We really wanted to give them that UI, it just came down to time, you know, it was one of those things.
Cat: What do you say to gamers that skipped the first game?
JC: I think what I’d say is we really know who we are at this time. We switched visual styles in the middle of development of Borderlands 1, and a lot of stuff had to be really quickly retrofitted to the new style, and we kind of hadn’t found our voice yet. Little bits of it here and there that we thought were cool, but this time it’s all right there, we know who we are, we know what it’s all about, the game’s gonna be badass, it’s gonna be like dual-wield 87 bazillion guns or whatever, it’s a huge, huge experience.”
Cat: Yes, tell me more about the weapons!
JC: We revamped the gun system, as you can see looking at some of these guys there’s a lot more personality, they’re a lot more identifiable, we’re really working to show the manufacturers. Like you can see, this is a Vladof here, Vladof is kind of like our AK manufacturer. The Bandits now make their own guns. We never had a Bandit manufacturer in the old game, so now the Bandits are using like beer bottles to make scopes and all sorts of crazy stuff. Not only that, we’ve extended the scope so that when you’re looking through the scope in the old game you might have only seen like two or three different images, or actually maybe like six or eight, now that is fully parameterized so you can have 87 bazillion scopes as well.
Each gun is going to have so much more personality. Like, you might find a boss named “Eight Ball” and kill him and get a gun that actually has an eight ball in the charging handle, or something like that, so a lot more personality in these things so I think people are going to get really attached to them.
Cat: Bosses like Eight Ball?
JC: We’re working really hard on bosses - there’s going to be more bosses in this game than there were in the last game, and segueing again to the ending of the game, I know a lot of people were disappointed with the ending in Borderlands 1 and we were, too, but the new ending to the game is going to be awesome. We’re definitely not going to disappoint this time when you get to the end of the game.
Thanks, Jeramy, and the rest of the Gearbox Software team!
Want more? Check out my preview of Borderlands 2! http://n4g.com/user/blogpos...
Cat: Can you start off by talking about what’s changed about the world of Borderlands for the sequel?
JC: As the Art Director, I think you can see on this wall what we really care about, and that was getting out of the desert and seeing the rest of Pandora. When we did the original Borderlands we had built this world map, and it was this huge top-down view and we had forests down in the south and we had mountains, frozen tundra up in the north and we really only went to the desert - except for the very end of the game, there was like a little bit, but...we really wanted to expand it, so you can see we’re going to go out to the tundra into the icy mountains and we’ve kinda got like a Scottish Highlands type area in the middle of the game.
Cat: Did you get to do any travel to, say, the Scottish Highlands for research then?
JC: I did actually just do a trip to Iceland myself and took a lot of photo ref for the game, so when you’re in Act 1 you’ll see a lot of inspiration from that.
Cat: On the topic of inspiration, what else inspires the level design?
JC: We want to create a world that feels rough and dangerous, but we still wanted to bring color in, so it’s about finding those places that have splashes of color but still look like they’re gonna kill you. Even the grass if you look at it, even the grass has like little sharp teeth in it. We really try and make it look like a foreboding place because Pandora’s really supposed to be like on the edge of space.
It’s kind of like, before we discovered America, Wild West style. Even though there’s spaceship travel it’s still way out on the edge so there’s not a lot of, like, ‘This is where the prisoners go, this where the trash is dumped”, and, you know, there’s a lot of opportunity as well, but you’re gonna have to fight for it, so we always want to keep that feel.
Cat: Looking back, what did you want to ditch or revamp from Borderlands?
JC: Well, I don’t think we really ditched a whole heck of a lot, but we did revamp almost everything. I mean, the gun system was rebuilt from scratch, the UI was rebuilt from scratch, we were really disappointed with how the UI turned out on PC, and consoles for split screen and low-def. So we’re doing custom UI for every platform and you’ll see the main UI is all vertical format so that when do side split screen you can still see everything on your screen and still use it properly. On PC you’re going to have drag-and-drop, like a full mouse-driven interface. We had a ton of PC users and we feel like we didn’t take care of them very well, so this time we want to make sure that they get an awesome experience.
Cat: How did it happen that the PC gamers got the short end last time...
JC: Well, you know, it was an unfortunate thing. We really wanted to give them that UI, it just came down to time, you know, it was one of those things.
Cat: What do you say to gamers that skipped the first game?
JC: I think what I’d say is we really know who we are at this time. We switched visual styles in the middle of development of Borderlands 1, and a lot of stuff had to be really quickly retrofitted to the new style, and we kind of hadn’t found our voice yet. Little bits of it here and there that we thought were cool, but this time it’s all right there, we know who we are, we know what it’s all about, the game’s gonna be badass, it’s gonna be like dual-wield 87 bazillion guns or whatever, it’s a huge, huge experience.”
Cat: Yes, tell me more about the weapons!
JC: We revamped the gun system, as you can see looking at some of these guys there’s a lot more personality, they’re a lot more identifiable, we’re really working to show the manufacturers. Like you can see, this is a Vladof here, Vladof is kind of like our AK manufacturer. The Bandits now make their own guns. We never had a Bandit manufacturer in the old game, so now the Bandits are using like beer bottles to make scopes and all sorts of crazy stuff. Not only that, we’ve extended the scope so that when you’re looking through the scope in the old game you might have only seen like two or three different images, or actually maybe like six or eight, now that is fully parameterized so you can have 87 bazillion scopes as well.
Each gun is going to have so much more personality. Like, you might find a boss named “Eight Ball” and kill him and get a gun that actually has an eight ball in the charging handle, or something like that, so a lot more personality in these things so I think people are going to get really attached to them.
Cat: Bosses like Eight Ball?
JC: We’re working really hard on bosses - there’s going to be more bosses in this game than there were in the last game, and segueing again to the ending of the game, I know a lot of people were disappointed with the ending in Borderlands 1 and we were, too, but the new ending to the game is going to be awesome. We’re definitely not going to disappoint this time when you get to the end of the game.
Thanks, Jeramy, and the rest of the Gearbox Software team!
Want more? Check out my preview of Borderlands 2! http://n4g.com/user/blogpos...
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Kabam on Edgeworld's release and what battles lie ahead [Interview]
Even at first glance of its war-torn landscape filled with futuristic buildings blasted to bits by the laser weapons of alien and mechanized armies, it's clear that Edgeworld is San Francisco-based developer Kabam's most ambitious project yet. Formerly known as Watercooler, the studio and publisher is filled with fans of traditional strategy PC games. Even CEO Kevin Chou was a world-ranked StarCraft player back in the day.
Inspired by sci-fi staples like Star Wars, Star Trek and even the Halo series of shooter games, Edgeworld is the culmination of Kabam's ongoing mission to bring a true 4X (explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate) game experience to Facebook. Since the game's "open beta" release in August, the team is hard at work to make that vision a reality as it claims to have in previous games. (As of this writing, the game enjoys over 858,000 monthly players, according to AppData.)
We sat down with Edgeworld Producer James Holloway recently to hear his thoughts on the game post-release, and what plans he and the rest of the Kabam team have for the strategy game in the future.
Edgeworld in action
Now that Edgeworld has released, what are your knee-jerk reactions? What do you love about the game at release, and what would you like to fix most?
We're really pleased with the release so far. We're seeing a lot of people come back to play the game--it has a really high retention. A lot of people are joining Alliances and engaging with each other. In every sector, I see chat is very active. But this is just the beginning.
The biggest thing that I think we're missing is that our Alliance feature is pretty lean right now. The thing that we would like to emphasize more is a cooperative play of the game. I think we have just the basics right now. The new Maps feature is going to integrate very tightly with alliances--you work together [with Alliances] to conquer territory.
We have about four unique turrets and nine units, and that's just the beginning. We're working on a new unit and a new turret that we're really excited about, and those are going to launch in the next month. We'll be introducing higher levels of our buildings. So, there's a lot more content that we need to create, and we're just getting started.
What's the most interesting thing you've seen players do in the game since release--something that never happened during testing?
One thing that we sort of didn't anticipate was that some Alliances and players are attacking each other for resources. At one point we didn't have inter-Alliance resource sharing, so right now you can actually send resources to other players to help them out. So, we didn't have that feature [originally].
But what people were doing was working around that by setting up their Command Centers, which are what contain your resources, outside the perimeter of their turrets. [Players would then] leave their Alliance, cook it, and then attack them and take their resources. So, they were doing resource transfers before the feature was even allowed.
Do you have any interesting or helpful gameplay tips for the players to get ahead in Edgeworld?
Certainly! If you're just starting out, we give every player two days of starter protection wherein no other player can attack you. That's a free few days of protection, and use that time wisely to build up your base and experiment with different configurations. Allow the Factions to attack your base. There's a lot of experimentation with the units.
Players are posting on the forums, talking with each other and also within their Alliances about the best combinations of units to deploy when attacking a base. There are a lot of combinations of tanks and DPS [damage per second] units you can deploy. Rhinos, or other types that have a lot of hit points, can take a lot of fire, and then you can deploy units with longer range or higher DPS behind them.
Edgeworld blast
Depending on what your goals are--like, you might want as many resources as possible--you might want to deploy the Raiders. The Rhinos draw fire from the turrets, while the Spectres sit outside and fire away at the turrets. You really want to upgrade your Spectres to give them a longer range.
We have two different types of units in the game right now: infantry units and mechanized units. It's not necessarily that the mechs are more powerful than the infantry--we're still constantly balancing the game to make sure every unit has its role.
Another thing is that the Warp Gates are really important as far as attacking goes. As you upgrade those, you increase their capacity so that you can actually deploy more units on the ground [at once]. As you unlock more units, the more powerful units will start to consume more of the [Warp Gates'] bandwidth, so you want to upgrade those to deploy the biggest army that you can.
Thanks for talking with us (and for the tips), James.
Territories Could Blow Alliance Play Wide Open
During our chat, Holloway had something brand new to show coming soon to Edgeworld. (Though, it's still in the concept phase, so weren't provided images.) It's a feature tentatively known as "Territories," and the game's producer hopes that it will expand Alliance play into something even more meaningful.
"We haven't seen a past feature like this that I can think of, and we all play a lot of games," Holloway gushes about what he's about to show me. "We're trying to make this a deeper, more robust 4X or empires building game."
As it relates to the game's story, many of the Galactic Union's outposts have been abandoned during the war for Cerulea IV, and they're ripe for the taking. The Territories feature will provide you with a map of the entire planet Cerulea IV, with your home base appearing in the center as a star. Your home base will be surrounded by either hostile, Alliance or neutral territories marked in red, green or simply displayed as abandoned outposts, respectively.
Edgeworld concept art
It's up to you to work with your Alliance to invade either hostile (controlled by enemy Alliances) or neutral outposts, and keep them under your control for as long as possible to reap their benefits, which weren't revealed to us. (Our best guess is additional resources to keep your home bases going.) Players will individually attack outposts just as they would enemy bases, and can call on their Alliance for help asynchronously.
However, players cannot build on these outposts, only bolster their existing defense turrets with their own resources to maintain control of the benefits they provide. This will make it more difficult for enemies to invade. Speaking of invading, players can only enter outposts that are adjacent to their own base or controlled outposts. Eventually, we see the Territories feature becoming a constant struggle between opposing Alliances, and hopefully something for us to work toward.
"This is very different from our other strategy games," Holloway says. "In most cases you individually own tiles on the map, but in this case you kind of need an Alliance to own territory. This is something we're really excited about. We're still working on it and prototyping it, but hopefully we'll have something out in the next four weeks."
[Image Credit: Kabam]
What are you impressions of Edgeworld so far? Are you excited about the upcoming Territories feature coming to the game, and what else do you hope to see from developers like Kabam? Sound off in the comments. 4 Comments
Inspired by sci-fi staples like Star Wars, Star Trek and even the Halo series of shooter games, Edgeworld is the culmination of Kabam's ongoing mission to bring a true 4X (explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate) game experience to Facebook. Since the game's "open beta" release in August, the team is hard at work to make that vision a reality as it claims to have in previous games. (As of this writing, the game enjoys over 858,000 monthly players, according to AppData.)
We sat down with Edgeworld Producer James Holloway recently to hear his thoughts on the game post-release, and what plans he and the rest of the Kabam team have for the strategy game in the future.
Edgeworld in action
Now that Edgeworld has released, what are your knee-jerk reactions? What do you love about the game at release, and what would you like to fix most?
We're really pleased with the release so far. We're seeing a lot of people come back to play the game--it has a really high retention. A lot of people are joining Alliances and engaging with each other. In every sector, I see chat is very active. But this is just the beginning.
The biggest thing that I think we're missing is that our Alliance feature is pretty lean right now. The thing that we would like to emphasize more is a cooperative play of the game. I think we have just the basics right now. The new Maps feature is going to integrate very tightly with alliances--you work together [with Alliances] to conquer territory.
We have about four unique turrets and nine units, and that's just the beginning. We're working on a new unit and a new turret that we're really excited about, and those are going to launch in the next month. We'll be introducing higher levels of our buildings. So, there's a lot more content that we need to create, and we're just getting started.
What's the most interesting thing you've seen players do in the game since release--something that never happened during testing?
One thing that we sort of didn't anticipate was that some Alliances and players are attacking each other for resources. At one point we didn't have inter-Alliance resource sharing, so right now you can actually send resources to other players to help them out. So, we didn't have that feature [originally].
But what people were doing was working around that by setting up their Command Centers, which are what contain your resources, outside the perimeter of their turrets. [Players would then] leave their Alliance, cook it, and then attack them and take their resources. So, they were doing resource transfers before the feature was even allowed.
Do you have any interesting or helpful gameplay tips for the players to get ahead in Edgeworld?
Certainly! If you're just starting out, we give every player two days of starter protection wherein no other player can attack you. That's a free few days of protection, and use that time wisely to build up your base and experiment with different configurations. Allow the Factions to attack your base. There's a lot of experimentation with the units.
Players are posting on the forums, talking with each other and also within their Alliances about the best combinations of units to deploy when attacking a base. There are a lot of combinations of tanks and DPS [damage per second] units you can deploy. Rhinos, or other types that have a lot of hit points, can take a lot of fire, and then you can deploy units with longer range or higher DPS behind them.
Edgeworld blast
Depending on what your goals are--like, you might want as many resources as possible--you might want to deploy the Raiders. The Rhinos draw fire from the turrets, while the Spectres sit outside and fire away at the turrets. You really want to upgrade your Spectres to give them a longer range.
We have two different types of units in the game right now: infantry units and mechanized units. It's not necessarily that the mechs are more powerful than the infantry--we're still constantly balancing the game to make sure every unit has its role.
Another thing is that the Warp Gates are really important as far as attacking goes. As you upgrade those, you increase their capacity so that you can actually deploy more units on the ground [at once]. As you unlock more units, the more powerful units will start to consume more of the [Warp Gates'] bandwidth, so you want to upgrade those to deploy the biggest army that you can.
Thanks for talking with us (and for the tips), James.
Territories Could Blow Alliance Play Wide Open
During our chat, Holloway had something brand new to show coming soon to Edgeworld. (Though, it's still in the concept phase, so weren't provided images.) It's a feature tentatively known as "Territories," and the game's producer hopes that it will expand Alliance play into something even more meaningful.
"We haven't seen a past feature like this that I can think of, and we all play a lot of games," Holloway gushes about what he's about to show me. "We're trying to make this a deeper, more robust 4X or empires building game."
As it relates to the game's story, many of the Galactic Union's outposts have been abandoned during the war for Cerulea IV, and they're ripe for the taking. The Territories feature will provide you with a map of the entire planet Cerulea IV, with your home base appearing in the center as a star. Your home base will be surrounded by either hostile, Alliance or neutral territories marked in red, green or simply displayed as abandoned outposts, respectively.
Edgeworld concept art
It's up to you to work with your Alliance to invade either hostile (controlled by enemy Alliances) or neutral outposts, and keep them under your control for as long as possible to reap their benefits, which weren't revealed to us. (Our best guess is additional resources to keep your home bases going.) Players will individually attack outposts just as they would enemy bases, and can call on their Alliance for help asynchronously.
However, players cannot build on these outposts, only bolster their existing defense turrets with their own resources to maintain control of the benefits they provide. This will make it more difficult for enemies to invade. Speaking of invading, players can only enter outposts that are adjacent to their own base or controlled outposts. Eventually, we see the Territories feature becoming a constant struggle between opposing Alliances, and hopefully something for us to work toward.
"This is very different from our other strategy games," Holloway says. "In most cases you individually own tiles on the map, but in this case you kind of need an Alliance to own territory. This is something we're really excited about. We're still working on it and prototyping it, but hopefully we'll have something out in the next four weeks."
[Image Credit: Kabam]
What are you impressions of Edgeworld so far? Are you excited about the upcoming Territories feature coming to the game, and what else do you hope to see from developers like Kabam? Sound off in the comments. 4 Comments
Zynga, Playdom, EA and Bioware vets cause a Rumble with new freemium studio
While many a story has come to light recently, detailing high-level game designers jumping ship to Zynga, here's one where a fairly big gun under the big Z's umbrella has left for new pastures. To be specific, John Yoo, lead designer on CityVille, is one of a few industry veterans that have joined with Greg Richardson [pictured], of former BioWare/Pandemic fame, in the creation of a new freemium (free-to-play) game studio by the name of Rumble.
After speaking with Rick Thompson, the founder of another major social games company - Playdom - the two partnered to form Rumble. Rounding out this new package are former EA employees Mark Spenner and David O'Connor. With these big names in their camp, Richardson's goal with Rumble is to create games that are free to play (supported with paid add-ons), but lie somewhere in between the expensive world of high-end PC games and the extremely casual games represented by many Facebook titles.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Richardson has faith that this middle ground holds a lot of merit. "We saw this third hill, and we think it's the biggest of the three hills," he says. This isn't to say, though, that Facebook games are out of the picture, as Richardson confirmed that they will use the social service, but will also focus on mobile devices and PCs through the browser.
In addition to developing its own games, Rumble will publish other developer's titles. While no specific details were announced about any of Rumble's specific games (we can expect the first sometime early next year), Richardson did list many of the company's areas of inspiration, which lie anywhere from Zelda and Super Smash Bros. to Diablo and Civilization. Regardless of the game in question, he says that Rumble looks to avoid overly complex gameplay. With this many areas of inspiration, we're definitely interested in seeing what Rumble comes up with, but for now - the possibilities are endless.
Are you excited in trying out this apparent middle-ground of freemium games that aren't too challenging, but aren't too basic either? Sound off in the comments.
After speaking with Rick Thompson, the founder of another major social games company - Playdom - the two partnered to form Rumble. Rounding out this new package are former EA employees Mark Spenner and David O'Connor. With these big names in their camp, Richardson's goal with Rumble is to create games that are free to play (supported with paid add-ons), but lie somewhere in between the expensive world of high-end PC games and the extremely casual games represented by many Facebook titles.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Richardson has faith that this middle ground holds a lot of merit. "We saw this third hill, and we think it's the biggest of the three hills," he says. This isn't to say, though, that Facebook games are out of the picture, as Richardson confirmed that they will use the social service, but will also focus on mobile devices and PCs through the browser.
In addition to developing its own games, Rumble will publish other developer's titles. While no specific details were announced about any of Rumble's specific games (we can expect the first sometime early next year), Richardson did list many of the company's areas of inspiration, which lie anywhere from Zelda and Super Smash Bros. to Diablo and Civilization. Regardless of the game in question, he says that Rumble looks to avoid overly complex gameplay. With this many areas of inspiration, we're definitely interested in seeing what Rumble comes up with, but for now - the possibilities are endless.
Are you excited in trying out this apparent middle-ground of freemium games that aren't too challenging, but aren't too basic either? Sound off in the comments.
Bubble Witch Saga pops on Facebook, King.com hits 900M gameplays
If games like Bubble Bobble have taught us anything, it's that sometimes there's nothing more relaxing than popping bubbles. Casual and social game developer King.com knows this all too well, and has released its second bubble-bursting game on Facebook, Bubble Witch Saga. This new game is a socially-enhanced port of one of the top five most popular games ever on King.com (the casual games website of the same name), King.com Director of Product Performance, Social and Mobile, Lars Jornow told us.
The game features more levels than ever with 70 unique stages, new booster power-ups available for Facebook Credits and a deeper storyline than before. Players assume the role of an aspiring witch who wishes to join the proverbial circle of three. In order to impress the witches, you must burst the bubbles by matching three of the same color to fill their cauldron with magic goop. I mean, who knows what witches put in those things?
Bursting the bubbles will get the cauldron below bubbling, as witches are so wont to do. Each successful match causes spiders to drop from the ceiling. The more spiders you have when you burst enough bubbles, the more points you'll get (and hopefully stars), as the spiders will act as bumpers for the remaining bubbles and increase your chances of scoring big.
Buggle Witch Saga concept art
Completing each level with the most stars possible will help you reach new uncharted parts of a vast forest in your quest to become the fourth witch of the circle. Players can invite their friends to the game to help restore their lives if they fail to clear a difficult level, and later in the game they will need more friends to unlock new levels to play.
Bubble Witch Saga takes an interesting spin on the bubble-bursting sub genre of casual and social games, with its semi-realistic art style that's delightfully reminiscent of the unforgettable Halloween flick Hocus-Pocus. While the game already has six episodes (with about 10 levels each) of content, Jornow tells us that more content is already in the works.
Bubble Witch Saga gameplay
Not to mention that the game will hit mobile devices later this year. King.com also announced that it has surpassed 900 million monthly gameplay sessions across all of its platforms. Granted, that's thanks to its over 200 games total, but an impressive feat nonetheless--though, the company does say that it has beat PopCap in monthly players on Facebook, according to AppData. Bubble Witch is available for play now on Facebook, so have at those bubbles, my pretties. (I promise that's the last time I say "my pretties" here ... whoops, done it again!)
Click here to play Bubble Witch Saga on Facebook Now >
Are you excited to kick back and blow up some bubbles once again? What do you think of this game so far, and the bubble-bursting sub genre of casual or social games? Share with us in the comments. 4 Comments
The game features more levels than ever with 70 unique stages, new booster power-ups available for Facebook Credits and a deeper storyline than before. Players assume the role of an aspiring witch who wishes to join the proverbial circle of three. In order to impress the witches, you must burst the bubbles by matching three of the same color to fill their cauldron with magic goop. I mean, who knows what witches put in those things?
Bursting the bubbles will get the cauldron below bubbling, as witches are so wont to do. Each successful match causes spiders to drop from the ceiling. The more spiders you have when you burst enough bubbles, the more points you'll get (and hopefully stars), as the spiders will act as bumpers for the remaining bubbles and increase your chances of scoring big.
Buggle Witch Saga concept art
Completing each level with the most stars possible will help you reach new uncharted parts of a vast forest in your quest to become the fourth witch of the circle. Players can invite their friends to the game to help restore their lives if they fail to clear a difficult level, and later in the game they will need more friends to unlock new levels to play.
Bubble Witch Saga takes an interesting spin on the bubble-bursting sub genre of casual and social games, with its semi-realistic art style that's delightfully reminiscent of the unforgettable Halloween flick Hocus-Pocus. While the game already has six episodes (with about 10 levels each) of content, Jornow tells us that more content is already in the works.
Bubble Witch Saga gameplay
Not to mention that the game will hit mobile devices later this year. King.com also announced that it has surpassed 900 million monthly gameplay sessions across all of its platforms. Granted, that's thanks to its over 200 games total, but an impressive feat nonetheless--though, the company does say that it has beat PopCap in monthly players on Facebook, according to AppData. Bubble Witch is available for play now on Facebook, so have at those bubbles, my pretties. (I promise that's the last time I say "my pretties" here ... whoops, done it again!)
Click here to play Bubble Witch Saga on Facebook Now >
Are you excited to kick back and blow up some bubbles once again? What do you think of this game so far, and the bubble-bursting sub genre of casual or social games? Share with us in the comments. 4 Comments
OpenFeint co-founder leaves, Gree International head becomes CEO
Well, that sure was quick. Just months after Japanese social game network Gree acquired OpenFeint (for a cool $104 million, mind you), the latter's co-founder and CEO has left the company, VentureBeat reports. The Burlingame, Calif.-based mobile social game network's 26-year-old co-founder Jason Citron has moved on to new opportunities, and has been replaced by Gree's head of international operations Naoki Aoyagi (pictured).
"In just over 24 months, OpenFeint has grown to over 120 million users across 7,000 games," Aoyagi said in a release. "I thank Jason for his leadership growing the company and wish him well in his new adventures." But, according to VentureBeat, the old switcheroo might not have been so cut and dry.
VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi reports hearing rumors that Citron had been fired from the company before contacting OpenFeint and Citron, both of which declined to comment on the news until Aoyagi made the above statement in a release. However, both companies aim to announce their plans for integration between the U.S. operations of both companies in the coming weeks.
In other words, Gree's westward expansion into the U.S. through OpenFeint is imminent, and Gree will likely have even more of a say in how OpenFeint handles things now with a former Gree executive at the reins. Gree hopes to turn U.S. mobile gamers into the apparently wild spenders that Japanese mobile gamers tend to be.
However, direct Japanese competitor DeNA has already launched its Mobage mobile social games platform in the U.S. through recent acquisition ngmoco, and already has support of major U.S. carrier AT&T (though, it is AT&T). It looks like this holiday season will prove whether Gree and OpenFeint can catch up to their new rivals, not to mention existing western competitors like Zynga and EA, both of which have global and mobile ambitions. At any rate, it's going to be a very merry Christmas for mobile gamers.
[Image Credit: VentureBeat]
Do you think Gree and OpenFeint can catch up to DeNA under its new management? What do you hope to see from Citron now that he's freed himself from the company he helped bring up to this point? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
"In just over 24 months, OpenFeint has grown to over 120 million users across 7,000 games," Aoyagi said in a release. "I thank Jason for his leadership growing the company and wish him well in his new adventures." But, according to VentureBeat, the old switcheroo might not have been so cut and dry.
VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi reports hearing rumors that Citron had been fired from the company before contacting OpenFeint and Citron, both of which declined to comment on the news until Aoyagi made the above statement in a release. However, both companies aim to announce their plans for integration between the U.S. operations of both companies in the coming weeks.
In other words, Gree's westward expansion into the U.S. through OpenFeint is imminent, and Gree will likely have even more of a say in how OpenFeint handles things now with a former Gree executive at the reins. Gree hopes to turn U.S. mobile gamers into the apparently wild spenders that Japanese mobile gamers tend to be.
However, direct Japanese competitor DeNA has already launched its Mobage mobile social games platform in the U.S. through recent acquisition ngmoco, and already has support of major U.S. carrier AT&T (though, it is AT&T). It looks like this holiday season will prove whether Gree and OpenFeint can catch up to their new rivals, not to mention existing western competitors like Zynga and EA, both of which have global and mobile ambitions. At any rate, it's going to be a very merry Christmas for mobile gamers.
[Image Credit: VentureBeat]
Do you think Gree and OpenFeint can catch up to DeNA under its new management? What do you hope to see from Citron now that he's freed himself from the company he helped bring up to this point? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Scrabble gets ridiculously meta in Scrabble Showdown [Video]
We think it's official: Scrabble is now available on every game platform ever--even cable TV. What if we told you that, while playing Scrabble on Facebook against your friends playing on their smartphones, you could watch folks play on TV? (Now, if that's not meta, we don't know what is.) Scrabble Showdown, a new game show on The Hub cable TV network produced by Hasbro Studios, will debut this Saturday, Sept. 17, at 6:30 p.m. EST. (Check here to see where it will play in your area.)
In the half-hour long game show, families compete in a variety of Scrabble games including Scrabble Babble, Slam, Flash and the Final Lightning Round (you know, because it wouldn't be a game show without one of those). Of course, there are major prizes at stake like vacations to "anywhere in the world," according to a release. At this point, you really will have zero excuse to not own your friends in Scrabble on Facebook.
This show, hosted by Justin Willman of The Food Network's Cake Wars, is bound to get intense. I mean, have you seen professional Scrabble players? They'll be flocking to this new battlefield in no time. Check out a preview of the show below, and if you tune in this weekend--who knows--you might learn a trick or two to school your friends with on Facebook.
Do you plan on tuning into Scrabble Showdown this weekend? What other Facebook or casual games do you think would make a fun game show? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
In the half-hour long game show, families compete in a variety of Scrabble games including Scrabble Babble, Slam, Flash and the Final Lightning Round (you know, because it wouldn't be a game show without one of those). Of course, there are major prizes at stake like vacations to "anywhere in the world," according to a release. At this point, you really will have zero excuse to not own your friends in Scrabble on Facebook.
This show, hosted by Justin Willman of The Food Network's Cake Wars, is bound to get intense. I mean, have you seen professional Scrabble players? They'll be flocking to this new battlefield in no time. Check out a preview of the show below, and if you tune in this weekend--who knows--you might learn a trick or two to school your friends with on Facebook.
Do you plan on tuning into Scrabble Showdown this weekend? What other Facebook or casual games do you think would make a fun game show? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Adventure World Danger Mine Expedition: Everything you need to know
After completing the three Indiana Jones-themed Expeditions in Adventure World, you'll have a chance to get back on track with the main game. The next Expedition on our list is Danger Mine, which asks you to recover a set of TNT crates before they can explode. This particular Expedition requires 1000 Supplies and five each of Fuel, Food and Water to begin, and you only have a single day to accomplish all of the quests therein. Here's a guide to help you out.
Crates of Boom
* Get the First Crate of TNT
* Get the Second Crate of TNT
* Get the Third Crate of TNT
The crates are all sitting next to numbered rocks, so you know the order to go after them in. However, picking them up in the wrong order would be incredibly difficult, as this is one Expedition that has you navigating between open areas using mine carts. As you're underground and in a mine, after all, you'll only be able to walk long distances by pushing a mine cart in front of you. This wastes a lot of energy, but eventually you'll end up at an open area containing the TNT and other goodies that can be collected / cleared for extra energy or XP. Note that there are plenty of other TNT crates around the map, but only the ones standing next to numbered rocks really count.
Mush Rooms
* Clear 15 Mushroom Colonies
Blocking your path(s) here in Danger Mine are Mushroom Colonies, along with spider webs and other traditional debris. These Mushroom Colonies are important, because apparently one of your adventure teammates wants mushroom soup tonight (leave it to you to be the errand boy/girl). You'll clear out Mushroom Colonies with your machete, so just clear out every colony you see to be sure.
Back on Track
* Collect 5 Track Fragments
* Repair 5 Broken Tracks
The Track Fragments are found scattered around the map, and a simple click on them will collect them. You'll be able to pick them out amongst the rest of the tracks as they tend to face the opposite direction and look like the picture below. Also highlighted there are the broken track areas that need to be repaired.
All in all, this particular Expedition is fairly straight-forward, and so long as you're diligent about coming back and playing more than once per day, you should have no problem completing the entirety of it within the one day time limit. Remember, you can also bring up to five friends in on this Expedition with you, for 15 free energy, making any spiders you encounter not such a great threat to your energy bar after all. Keep checking back with us as we'll bring you more coverage of all of the Expeditions in Adventure World!
Check out the rest of our Adventure World Cheats & Tips right here.
What do you think of this Danger Mine Expedition? Did you find it to be one of the easiest we've seen so far, or do the spiders over-complicate things? Sound off in the comments.
Crates of Boom
* Get the First Crate of TNT
* Get the Second Crate of TNT
* Get the Third Crate of TNT
The crates are all sitting next to numbered rocks, so you know the order to go after them in. However, picking them up in the wrong order would be incredibly difficult, as this is one Expedition that has you navigating between open areas using mine carts. As you're underground and in a mine, after all, you'll only be able to walk long distances by pushing a mine cart in front of you. This wastes a lot of energy, but eventually you'll end up at an open area containing the TNT and other goodies that can be collected / cleared for extra energy or XP. Note that there are plenty of other TNT crates around the map, but only the ones standing next to numbered rocks really count.
Mush Rooms
* Clear 15 Mushroom Colonies
Blocking your path(s) here in Danger Mine are Mushroom Colonies, along with spider webs and other traditional debris. These Mushroom Colonies are important, because apparently one of your adventure teammates wants mushroom soup tonight (leave it to you to be the errand boy/girl). You'll clear out Mushroom Colonies with your machete, so just clear out every colony you see to be sure.
Back on Track
* Collect 5 Track Fragments
* Repair 5 Broken Tracks
The Track Fragments are found scattered around the map, and a simple click on them will collect them. You'll be able to pick them out amongst the rest of the tracks as they tend to face the opposite direction and look like the picture below. Also highlighted there are the broken track areas that need to be repaired.
All in all, this particular Expedition is fairly straight-forward, and so long as you're diligent about coming back and playing more than once per day, you should have no problem completing the entirety of it within the one day time limit. Remember, you can also bring up to five friends in on this Expedition with you, for 15 free energy, making any spiders you encounter not such a great threat to your energy bar after all. Keep checking back with us as we'll bring you more coverage of all of the Expeditions in Adventure World!
Check out the rest of our Adventure World Cheats & Tips right here.
What do you think of this Danger Mine Expedition? Did you find it to be one of the easiest we've seen so far, or do the spiders over-complicate things? Sound off in the comments.
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