If anybody tells you that the games media industry isn’t cut throat, you can call them a dirty, rotten liar for me. You spend a little too long watching Netflix and suddenly somebody swoops in and steals your Newsbeat out from under you. All jokes aside, another big thanks to Jamie for manning the fort again for me, but now it is time for some serious Newsbeat! So get ready to check out an absolute boat load of news straight from Microsoft HQ…. Wait no hold on I’m being told we only have two headlines to share this week, oh well short and sweet!
Forza Horizon 2 Alpinestars Car Pack Available Now on Xbox One
Yep, I must be back at the Newsbeat desk because the first headline is about a slew of new cars heading to a Forza game. Now I know nothing about cars, but I do know that the latest DLC pack for Forza Horizon 2 is only $6.65 and comes with some real-world cars that you might see driving alongside you on the highway in peak hour (in addition to a few new sports cars and other things that are ready to race). Here is a brief rundown of the vehicles that you will have at your disposal:
2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
1953 Chevrolet Corvette
1991 Jeep Grand Wagoneer
2015 Audi TTS Coupé
1970 AMC Rebel “The Machine”
1992 Bugatti EB110 Super Sport
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood Injects More New Life Into the Series
Are you ready for some absolutely mind blowing FPS action? No I’m not talking about Call of Duty, Battlefield or Battlefront. Well Woldenetein: The New Order is getting a stand-alone prequel in Wolfenstein: The Old Blood that takes players back to World War II and lets us play through the events that lead up to the alternate-history that New Order takes place in.
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood features plenty of new gameplay elements as well. One new feature the studio is Blazkowicz’s new pipe, which allows you to take down tougher soldiers with melee attacks, and also presents some new traversal options. In terms of weapons, there’s a new pistol (which looks completely insane, and not unlike a rocket launcher that fits in your pocket), along with a sawed-off shotgun and a bolt-action rifle.
Yep, it feels good to be back! How about you Newsbeaters, how did you enjoy this week’s slatherings? Let us know in the comments below, and make sure you join us again next week where unless I get usurped, I will be back delivering all the news that’s fit to print!
So to answer your immediate question: No, Warhammer 40, 000: Regicide is NOT just chess. It definitely takes a lot from the standard design of chess in that the various pieces certainly move in a manner similar to pieces in chess. Whereas chess can require players to learn multiple permutations of various set-ups, manoeuvres, and counters, Regicide throws in an extra element of randomness to keep things interesting. The question which you should be asking instead, is whether the new game is itself enjoyable to play. The answer I can give you at this point is a tentative ‘yes’ with the game certainly showing plenty of promise in this early stage.
The game is not without its virtues. The gameplay is an interesting mix of old-school chess mechanics and some more contemporary Turn-based strategy choices in the ‘Regicide’ game mode proper (as opposed to classic chess). In Regicide, the turn begins with player making a generic chess move, with pieces moving in regard to the rules chess with bishops moving diagonally and pawns moving forward. The game then adds in its own flavour by then including an extra phase in a turn wherein the player can activate extra abilities with each unit.
Most units have a generic defend and attack ability you can choose which will either make the unit less susceptible to enemy abilities or attack the health of an enemy unit. Some units have abilities which are unique to them such as the devastator/loota ability to ‘pin down’ an enemy and prevent them from activating. Abilities like these alter the game fundamentally and prove to be an addition which changes up the game significantly. The abilities which do damage are also useful but generally aren’t as efficient as simply taking an enemy unit in a chess move. That being said; I did successful kill a heavily protected enemy king through the liberal use of grenades (which felt mighty satisfying) and shows me that these new features can still lead to some interesting plays.
The game so far features the Space Marines and Orks but the developers have indicated there will be more and from the look of the campaign teaser, we might get Imperial Guard and possibly Tyranids or the forces of Chaos as the video heavily hints at horror aspects within the campaign. The unit models are generally spot-on and although the animations can be a little underwhelming at times, (as Space Marines and Orks appear to tentatively shuffle across the board) for the most part everything looks and moves like it should. The ‘kill animations’ when one unit takes out another, are especially well done and you can see where a lot of work has been done to make the animations interesting (in a very visceral kind of way). There is still a significant amount of work that still needs to be done as shooting animations do not always appear to sync up with whether or not the shot hits home. Overall, the game looks pretty but understandable still needs quite a bit of polish.
Ultimately, Regicide has some interesting aspects to it but at this point remains a scaffold upon which more content needs to be added. This game isn’t just chess, so it isn’t right to assume that it is simply a reskin with 40K models, but there are enough elements which are recognisable that it’s easy to pick up very quickly. I enjoyed what was on offer but I’m still unsure about whether or not the game is worth it’s asking price. There is plenty more content which is slated to be added such as a story campaign, new maps, and new game objectives which should make this question moot. I would wait a bit longer until more of the game has been fleshed out as currently nothing has quite captured my attention in my recent forays into the grim darkness of the far future. I am optimistic however, and I look forward to returning and seeing what lies in store for this particular title.
Slightly Mad Studios had a dream to deliver a love letter to the motor racing industry and after four long years of hard work and community involvement, the release of Project CARS is upon us. Featuring over 65 cars, over 110 tracks, four game modes, a near unmeasurable amount of customizable options and great presentation, how does Project CARS stack up against the competition? Read on for our full review.
Story
Not so much a story mode but the main single player draw here is career mode. Project CARS is all about freedom and career mode is no exception. The game gives you a couple of milestones to help shape your career and once you start the way you progress is rather linear, but where you start in this mode is ultimately up to you. The race calendar details past and future events and allows you to race in the scheduled race for that day. Along the way you will be offered contracts, gain social media praise and be talked about in news headlines along side your other racers. There is no currency or unlocks in Project CARS, so having a better contract doesn’t mean much outside of some special race invites, but all the new stories and contracts make the mode feel more tailored towards your own career, even if ultimately it’s superfluous and becomes repetitive quickly.
Welcome to the start of your racing career.
Solo is the games free play mode where you can race or practice with your own settings. Like I mentioned before Project CARS is all about freedom right from the gate and that couldn’t be more true here as solo mode will literally let you race on any track, with any car, right from the outset. People that see unlocking content as a reward may feel this detracts from their experience but for the audience this game is marketed towards I imagine that being a dream come true. With 65 cars and more coming with free updates, players should be able to find a car from one of the games chosen car selection fields including Retro Touring, road cars, Go Karts, Track Cars, Super Cars, GT, F1 and Prototype. The track variety is also impressive with over 30 unique locations that provide over 110 courses to race on. Many are closed circuits but there are also two point to point races that occur on popular stretches of road in California Highway and the Azure Coast in Southern France. There is no shortage of variety in Project CARS.
Online at time of testing was very smooth. Even with my extremely average, Australian connection I experienced no lag and minimal cars bouncing around the track randomly as everyone left me at the back of the pack. Users create a lobby with certain settings and players can either search for a room they like or create their own. It’s simple and it works well which is all you can ask for in an online experience.
Starting from the bottom… Go Karts are a fun place to start though and a good intro to racing.
The final mode is Driver Network which offers specific challenges such as race on a certain track in a certain car. Each event has leader boards so you can see where you place against the worlds top drivers and these events last for a certain period of time before getting replaced with a new event to keep the mode fresh. This mode also contains time trials with ghosts support and is where you can view all your photo and video replay highlights. The photo mode in game is fun to play with and comes with a nice bevy of options for you to take the type of shot you like. The only negative I would say is that you can not take internal photos and for some reason the filters don’t always seem to work.
Gameplay
If you’re an arcade racer only fan or looking for an arcade experience, there are plenty of high quality games to suit that but this game is not it. From it’s inception Project CARS has always been about delivering a highly focused car racing simulation experience and Slightly Mad Studio’s has never wavered from that during the development process. That being said, even a beginner who has no experience with racing sims but wants to get into them can start here thanks to the user friendly options that cater to all levels of racer. Players can set A.I. difficulty on a hundred notch scale, turn damage to visual only, turn on automatic gearing, turn off penalties for bumping and going off-track, turn on the race line, tinker with all the driving assist and more. All these options provide an experience that caters for someone who wants to easily just come first in every race, someone who wants to practice and get better or someone wanting the most hardcore of experiences.
Those looking for an arcade experience should look elsewhere. Project CARS is hardcore.
As for how cars control there is a definite learning curve. Those new to the racing simulator genre will most likely find themselves spinning out or running off the track even with assists on, but should you stick with it you will be rewarded with steady, yet satisfying improvement. At a base level with default settings, the cars feel very responsive and satisfying to drive even with the DualShock 4 controller as opposed to a racing wheel peripheral, but enthusiasts can reset assured there are plenty of control and car adjustment settings to be found in the options menus to get your handling how you like. The physics aren’t quite perfect (I somehow managed to land a car on the front bumper and have it stay like that) but they feel very realistic for the most part. The sense of speed is well implement, with even the low horse power Go Karts having you feel like you’re flying.
I listed all the car types before and it should be noted each car type (and to a lesser extent each car in that type) feels, looks and sounds vastly different from one another. So while 65 cars at launch may be relatively low for a AAA racer in this day and age, rest assured quality over quantity was the mantra here. Tracks also have plenty of variety with some tracks suited to certain vehicle types, but that being said nothing is stopping you taking to the Azure Coast in a Go Kart if you wish.
Six camera angles helps offer the right experience for everyone.
Visuals
In terms of modelling this game is pretty much perfect. Cars look absolutely incredible with true to life models and only a rare slightly sharp edge to speak of. Interiors are equally impressive, especially the accurate dash displays and gauges. Mirrors reflect what they should (although if you watch them closely you can see objects constantly disappearing) and damage models also look fantastic and have great variety from light scrapes to bumpers, hoods and even tires becoming dislodged. The only negative with the interiors that detracts slightly from the realism is when you look back and only see a camera view from behind your car as opposed to the backseat. While falling slightly short of the standard of the cars, the locations are very well modeled with lots of small details hidden within them. Even the crowds look great in Project CARS. All this shines through at 1080p on the PlayStation 4.
This is how good Project CARS can look. You can tell I had fun with the photo mode option.
It’s not just the models that are terrific though. Lighting and shadows are very realistically represented to create a fantastic looking image on your screen and textures are sharp and of a high resolution. Weather effects are another highlight, from rain droplets building up on your windscreen until you have to use your wipers to clean it, to the harsh glow of sunrise coming up from over a mountain. Seeing small puddles build up on the ground and lighting reflect off them realistically just goes to show the amount of effort and care that was taken with the visuals to create one of the best looking racers ever created. Time of day and the aforementioned weather can all be adjusted to your liking in solo race as can the speed of time, allowing you to create days that look like they occur over multiple days, night time races during a storm or a race that begins on a foggy sunrise and turns into a beautifully clear day. Once again freedom is king here.
Dynamic weather and time of day gives great variety to every track in the game. It also looks awesome.
With all these fantastic effects and models there is bound to be some negatives however. The game aims for a 60 frames per second framerate and it does hit that peak in optimal conditions. But start throwing in heavy weather effects or become surrounded by opposition vehicles and the frame rate can drop to the mid 30’s. Screen tearing seems to happen though luckily in my experience is retained to the California Highway track which is populated by lots of foliage. Pop in is another issue that occurs rarely, again on heavily detailed tracks. Image ghosting is an issue that is being reported to only affect the PS4 version. It is most noticeable during Go Kart races and your eyes will get used to it, however its a very jarring experience at first as the screen turns into a blurry mess. The devs are aware of this issue and are hopefully going to patch in an option to remove the odd effect in the near future.
Ghosts are welcome in Time Trial but the ghosting effect here takes some time to adjust to.
The user interface for menus is another issue. Clearly designed for those sitting closely to a PC monitor, users will struggle to read a lot of the tiny text from a comfortable distance away from their TV’s. Strange colour choices such as fluorescent pink on Dark Grey look cool, but you can not read the current menu option while it is highlighted which is a pretty poor design choice. Another U.I. problem is that control settings can not be adjusted mid-race, meaning you will have to exit a race, play with the options and hope it works better in your next race if you don’t like how your car is handling.
Audio
I would say the most important audio in a game such as this is the car sounds and no one will be dissapointed here. I’m no car buff but each car has it’s own unique sound that I imagine is tailored to sound just like it does in real life. I liked the touch of the engine noises sounding different depending on your camera choice. Ambient crowd and weather all sound accurate and the pit crew voice overs sound good and are completely functional. All this sound is delivered with crystal clear quality with 5.1 channel support.
Even hearing your car pointlessly accelerating sounds good.
The menu music has an epic tone to it and accompanies menus nicely along with voice recordings from races. While there is no in race music there are several official Project CARS playlist up on Spotify you can listen to on your PS4 while playing including house, drum and bass, rock, epic and one prepared by famous DJ Deadmau5. I found the drum and bass one particularly fun to race to. There’s not much else to say about the audio except that it matches the highs of the visuals to deliver a truly engrossing experience.
Overall
Project CARS is a racing simulator fans dream come true. An extremely solid and accessible core racing experience delivered through one of the most polished audio-visual experiences this generation has seen. Four great game modes including a well implemented online structure ensure you can enjoy the racing the way you want to. There might be a few minor performance issues that stop this game from being truly perfect and maybe your favourite car isn’t in the relatively small but impressively unique roster, but Project CARS just stepped up to the plate in a big way for king of the racing sim genre, both for the hardcore and newcomers alike.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
After suffering a minor delay from the initial April release window in order to increase the quality of the game, Lupiesoft’s The Reject Demon: Toko Chapter 0 – Prelude is now available for purchase from Steam. This first chapter is a kinetic visual novel which means there are no choices but the developer does say that future chapters may have routes/options.
Those who wish to purchase The Reject Demon: Toko Chapter 0 can do so on Steam for $4.99. Lupiesoft is also planning on releasing a handful of upgrades for Chapter 0 in the coming weeks as they are planning on releasing a set of Steam trading cards and a patch to bump the default resolution from 720p to a scalable 1440p.
There is also some discussion about bringing voice acting to the PC visual novel in a future patch but it is noted that there is no ETA at the moment and that auditions will be held “very soon.”
While fans of Triage X have been able to enjoy the manga in North America for quite some time, they will soon be able to enjoy a home video release of the anime sometime in the future as well. Recently Sentai Filmworks announced the licensing of the Triage X anime and they plan on releasing the series “soon” through digital outlets as well as giving the series a home video release sometime in the future.
Triage X debuted last April in Japan and is being handled by Xebec and follows the story of a group of mercenary assassins as they rid the world of the “cancers” plaguing society through a precision, emotionless battlefield practice known as triage.
Sentai Filmworks has announced that they have acquired the rights to the anime series Ore Monogatari!!, also known as My Love Story!!. With this license the company stated that they are planning on releasing the series through digital outlets soon and are planning a home video release sometime in the future as per standard. The series follows the story of the loveable Takeo Gouda, a giant guy with a giant heart who’s love life is about to take an incredible turn.
Adapted from the manga of the same name which is being released in the West by Viz Media and animated by Madhouse, My Love Story started airing last month and is available for streaming on Crunchyroll.
Razer made a huge wave with the announcement of their Nabu Smartband at CES 2014. It sported all the usual features in a wearable, but also boasted deep social functions and an open SDK. At CES 2015, Razer announced the Razer Nabu X would serve as a cheaper entry level sibling of the Razer Nabu, shedding the OLED screen in favour of three LEDs to cut the cost in half. Surprisingly, Razer has managed to get the Nabu X out the door before its older brother, which is still in limited testing through small batch sales.
The Razer Nabu X is humbly packaged in clear plastic, with the Smartband prominently displayed on the top half of the box. Underneath is a smaller box that contains the small USB charge cable and usual Razer pack-ins of a small manual, a message from Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan, and a Razer sticker. The Nabu X itself comes in two parts. The brain itself is a small module measuring a little over 4 cm long and 1 cm wide. It fits into an adjustable silicone band. The Razer Nabu X will eventually be available in black, white/gold, and Razer green, but as of publishing, you can have it in any colour as long as it’s black.
The silicone band is very soft feeling and slightly ribbed. It is a tad sticky and has a habit of collecting lint when stuck in a pocket. The band can be adjusted by snapping the clip into two holes in the band. The band is extremely flexible in sizing, with the smallest setting probably enough to fit a ten year old’s wrist. I was a little leery about the clasp, as bands using a similar closure system have a tendency to come apart rather easily. In my testing, I only managed to accidentally undo the clasp twice. There is a plastic cap at the end of the silicone band that does a great job of preventing the band from catching on things and coming undone. In the two times I managed to unclasp the band, something got caught in between the clasp to pull the band apart.
I noticed the plastic cap seems to be some sort of coated plastic. Within a few days, I could see the edges of the clasp had started to wear away, revealing a grey plastic underneath. Small black flakes are definitely chipping off when I rub it with a fingernail. It’s not a huge problem when the plastic clasp is black, but I expect the chipped parts to be a lot more obvious with the white/gold band.
The Razer Nabu X unit comes packed with a cylindrical vibration motor, an accelerometer, and three LEDs capable of displaying red, blue, and green lights. The bottom of the band has a small proprietary plug to charge the band. I’m not really a huge fan of proprietary cables as losing or breaking a standard USB cable means a quick trip to the local computer store, instead of a lengthy wait for a proprietary cable to be sent out. The battery is rated to last 5-7 days. In my experience, it’s an accurate, if not slightly conservative estimation. The unit recharges very quickly. I charged the Nabu X at around 50% and when I came back a half hour later, the unit was fully charged. The Razer Nabu X is rated at IP67 water resistance, which means it can take a dip in up to 1 meter of water without issues. I had no problem hopping into the shower with the Nabu X, which I found to be a great way to clean off the accumulated lint on the band.
The installation process is pretty painless. The device is shipped in some sort of hibernation mode. To boot up the Razer Nabu X for the first time, I just needed to plug it into a powered USB port. I had to install the Razer Nabu X utility from the iTunes App Store, though Android users can get theirs from the Google Play Store. The big draw with the Razer Nabu ecosystem compared to other Smartbands on the market is Razer’s open software and the Nabu’s social features. As part of this multi-app design, the Razer Nabu X utility strictly manages the band and provides a small app marketplace. Fitness data is handled in a separate app. As of publishing, the iOS marketplace is extremely bare. Things are looking a lot better on the Android side, with a decent number of third party apps already populating the maketplace. Razer is attempting to incentivize developers with discounted developer units and store credit for apps, so with hope, the iOS app store will start to grow soon.
Razer’s fitness app currently tracks calories burnt, steps taken, distance travelled, and hours slept. It isn’t really clear how the calories are calculated, but it is probably safe to say the distance is calculated based on steps taken. Like most wrist based pedometers, the Razer Nabu X is genereous in its pace count. I compared the data against a more accurate pedometer clipped to my belt and the Nabu X would be off by anywhere between 300-1000 steps. I noticed car rides usually were the cause of the insanely high step counts.
The sleep tracking has an automatic tracker. The user needs to set a period of time they normally sleep and the band will automatically set itself to sleep mode when it detects no movement and then turn it off once it detects excessive movement. Those who have erratic sleep schedules will need to manually enable and disable sleep mode in the app. The band has an alarm that will trigger vibrations in the band at a set time. The user can set a repeating alarm, but I was quite surprised to find there is no smart alarm option in the app that wakes the wearer while they are sleeping lightly within a certain time window. Many of its competitors provide that function, but it looks like I am stuck hoping a third party developer will pick up the slack.
The Nabu X uses three LEDs to show what type of alerts are being received on the paired phone. Alarms, phone calls, and notifications can be set to blue, green, and red LEDs. Unfortunately it is not possible to choose combinations of those colours, so the choices are pretty limited. Double tapping the unit will trigger the LEDs to display either the battery level or the progress for the day’s fitness goals. I found double tapping was a hit or miss, as tapping too lightly or too quickly would not trigger the display. Out of the box, the band can share Facebook and Twitter information with other bands when the Razer Nabu X Utility application is open in the foreground. It’s a bit of a pain and little socially awkward to open an app and then shake a person’s hand you’ve just met to trade Facebook and Twitter information, but it is faster than having to search a person out on each app.
In my testing, the Razer Nabu X experienced occasional signal drops where the band would lose connection for a second, vibrate, and then reconnect. The manual states that Bluetooth and WiFi signals can interfere with the signal and recommends that the user avoids other signals whenever possible. A firmware update that was issued part way through my testing did improve the disconnection problems a bit, but I was still experiencing a drop every three to four hours or more, depending on the environment.
At $49.99 USD, the Razer Nabu X is inhabiting a rather interesting price point. It is half as expensive as its similarly featured Western-designed competitors, but twice as expensive as its Chinese-designed competitors. The social functions and open ecosystem does quite a bit to add value over its Chinese competitors, while the price point completely smokes most of its Western competitors. However, it is obvious that Razer is still ironing out the kinks in the software and has ways to go to grow its app marketplace. The utility of the three LED system is extremely limited, especially when considering the multitude of possibilities the open SDK holds. There is only so much information three LEDs and three colours can convey in an understandable manner. It makes me wonder how serious Razer is about maintaining the Nabu X’s current design as the entry level band in the long run, especially with the OLED-equipped Nabu’s release looming in the imminent future. I honestly spent a lot of time with the Nabu X thinking “this is pretty handy, but having the OLED screen would be so much better…”
The Razer Nabu X is a decent first showing for Razer. The software is still in its infancy and the app store is sparse. Razer will need to pour more development into the software before it is ready for prime time. The hardware is a bit simple, especially with the three LED notification system. If you are looking for an affordable and simple smart band to track your metrics and to alert you of notifications on your phone and are willing to take a gamble on being an early adopter, the Nabu X is an extremely intriguing choice.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
These shows will be only be available in the United States of America and Canada. The first episodes of The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan and Triage X will premiere on May 11, 2015 at 11:00 JST, with episodes from both series following every other Monday. People who are interested in either of these series and are living in the aforementioned regions can watch them on Daisuki with English subtitles, and in 1080p HD for anyone with a Daisuki ID.
Daisuki provided a synopsis for The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki chan:
The heroine this time is the “disappeared” Nagato!?
Nagato…falls in love for the first time.
The heroine this time is the “disappeared” Nagato!?
The popular manga by Puyo (The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi-chan) is at last an anime!!
Nagato…falls in love for the first time.
This is…. a story about Yuki Nagato, a rather shy but ordinary girl.
Yuki Nagato, an ordinary high school student belonging to the literature club at North High, is a shy girl who has secret feelings for Kyon, also a member of the club. With the help of her best friend, Ryoko Asakura, she scrambles to hold a Christmas party at the clubroom, but…..!?
They also provided a synopsis for Triage X:
There is a secret organization whose purpose is to sort or “triage” the evils in the world that cannot be brought to justice! The evils are classified as malignant tumors and are removed from this world and shrouded in darkness.
That secret organization is called “Black Label”.
Arashi Mikami, a 17-year old high school student, rises against great evil as a member of Black Label.
The story is an account of the selections, determination and battle of a killer who’s only a high school boy.
Just under three weeks ago, at the Supanova Expo Gold Coast, Madman Entertainmentannounced that they acquired the theatrical rights to the latest film in the Dragon Ball Z franchise, Resurrection ‘F’. Recently, they stated via press release that they have uploaded an English-subtitled trailer for the film to their YouTube channel. The trailer is featured below.
The film, written by series creator Akira Toriyama, will be coming to cinemas across Australia and New Zealand later this year. Dates, locations and details about which cinemas will be showing the dubbed version and the subtitled version will be revealed in the near future.
While PC gamers have had a chance to enjoy The Elder Scrolls Online for over a year now, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 gamers are still anxiously awaiting The Elder Scrolls MMO. But fear not, console brethren, for Bethesda will soon fill that MMORPG hole in your heart with the release of The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited next month.
Until that time, the development team has kicked off a new video series that they are calling This is The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited and the first video in the series — “Freedom and Choice in Tamriel” — was released earlier today.
Check it out below:
The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited is out now for Windows PC and Mac, coming to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on June 9, 2015. Until then, you’ll probably have a few more of these videos to bide your time.
