Wargaming has announced that a special edition of their online combat game, World of Tanks, will launch on the Xbox 360 on February 12. Entitled “World of Tanks: Xbox 360 Edition,” the game will bring the trademark 15 vs. 15 tactical team-based action gameplay to Xbox Live gamers around the world.
Developed by Wargaming West and published by Microsoft Studios, Xbox 360 Edition will be digitally downloadable and free-to-play for Xbox Live Gold members. It will feature intuitive controls and full Xbox Live features. It will also have in-game purchases such as premium tanks, experience boosts, and more.
For more information on the upcoming World of Tanks game, check out their official website here.
Phosphor Games is introducing a crafting system, a tribe system, and creature mode as part of Nether‘s February updates. The tribe system will allow players to form tribes. Tribes will build bases, progress through a skill tree, and complete objectives as a team. The crafting system and basic tribe functions will be implemented over the next few days. Players who join a tribe before February 15th will receive in game cash, loot, and a tribe uniform for free. Tribe bases, skill trees, and objectives will be added to the game later this month along with creature mode. The new mode will allow players to take control of the nethers that inhabit the world.
Nether is available now on Steam. It is currently part of the Steam Early Access program and can be purchased for $14.99. Nether only supports 64-bit versions of Windows.
Any Pokemon Trainers located in PAL regions that have been waiting with baited breath for the day they can start amassing their collection into the new Pokemon Bank can finally let out a sigh of relief. It was announced today by Nintendo that the Pokemon Bank has finally become available on the Nintendo 3DS eShop.
The Pokemon Bank was previously released for Japan back in December, but ran into a little trouble and was forced to come off until it was finally put back up in Japan near the end of January. Now however, PAL players outside of Japan can finally download the application themselves, as well as receive the special legendary Pokemon Celebi! Unfortunately, North American players have to wait a little longer. *sad face*
Forza Motorsport 5 announced back in November that they would be getting regular DLC it mentioned some of the DLC cars that fans of the series would be able to look forward too, but a new DLC just announced will be coming completely free of charge. Honda and Forza have teamed up again this year to provide players will a three car pack that won’t cost a thing.
The three cars player will be able to take out for a spin in Forza 5 are some of Honda’s Legends, making this DLC the Honda Legends Car Pack. Featuring the 2014 Honda Civic Si, 1984 Honda Civic CRX Mugen, and 1994 Honda Prelude Si, players will have a chance to take these legends, old and new out onto the tracks.
Fans wanting to check out these new cars can find them for download on Xbox One, but those wanting just a bit more information ahead of time can see the Honda cars in the images above and below. For even more info though players can check out the trailer showing off the cars embedded below. The Honda Legends Car Pack is available now in Forza Motorsport 5 exclusively on Xbox One.
THE WORLD OF MOSHI MONSTERS™ COMES TO MOBILE AND TABLET
Moshi Monsters Village™ Launches Globally
London, 3 February 2014: Mind Candy today announces the global launch of Moshi Monsters Village™ now available on the App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Having launched in the UK on iOS before Christmas, this fun and imaginative game has already proved it’s a hit with fans by reaching number two in the iTunes app charts during December and achieving over 250k downloads with no marketing spend within the first two weeks of the UK launch alone. So far there have been over 12,500 reviews in the app store averaging at 4.6 out of 5.
Moshi Monsters Village™ is the latest offering from Mind Candy as the company continues to develop its mobile strategy to create amazing family entertainment. The game will be launching in over 100 countries to expand the brand’s global reach. With a number of new and exciting mobile games set for launch in the near future, Moshi fans, young and old, will have a range of fun to choose from.
Players can let their imagination run wild as they build and personalise their very own Moshi Monsters™ Village while caring for all of their rescued Moshlings. When the dastardly Dr Strangeglove starts catching innocent Moshlings and turning them into naughty Glumps, players embark on fun-filled quests in stunning 3D to rescue captured Moshlings and defeat Glumps in wacky mini games. Featuring Facebook social connectivity and friend code shares, players will be able to interact with their friend’s villages and see how they compare.
Commenting on the launch, CEO and founder of Mind Candy, Michael Acton Smith said: “We wanted to create a game that sparked people’s imaginations and gave them the chance to create a Moshi Village exactly as they want. This is the first of many new mobile games we’re developing and we’re excited about launching them this year!”
Moshi Monsters Village™ was developed by Mind Candy in collaboration with Tag Games inScotland andcan be downloaded for free, however some game items can also be purchased for real money. Parents or players who do not want to use this feature are able to disable in-app purchases in their device’s settings. Mind Candy has created an easy to use infographic specifically to explain how to do this which can be found at http://mindcandy.com/parents/. In the coming months, Mind Candy will offer content updates and enhancements to the already feature-rich game.
During the NAMCO BANDAI New Years Kick-Off Event (where I got to try out Darks Soul II as well), I was fortunate enough to have a few minutes to talk to Kazutoki Kono, the lead producer of Ace Combat Infinity, in addition to contributing to Ace Combat 04, Ace Combat 5, and R4: Ridge Racer Type 4. Despite being jet-lagged and slightly tired, he took the time to conduct interviews with the rest of us there at the event, and it was nice to talk to him about his plans for the PS3 exclusive.
There’s a lot of talk about it [Ace Combat Infinity] right now, and a lot of people are looking forward to what it has to offer. As I understand it, it’s the 17th or 18th title in the series?
Yeah, someone else was actually counting it, and we were like “Whoa, it’s 18?”
Yeah, that’s amazing. So what’s one of the things that players can look forward to that really differentiates itself from prior titles?
At first, casual users usually think that jet fighter games and simulators are too difficult, but you can download it for free, so he [Kono-San] wants people to have a try on it and just take a swing at it.
As you were saying, it’s the first free to play Ace Combat game in the series. So Namco has been going into the free to play model, and what spurred that on?
It was one of the paths that we could take, since there’s so many smartphone businesses that are going on that are becoming really big. You know, we have new consoles like Xbox One and Playstation 4, and all the things are very complex these days, so the free-to-play model was one of the directions we decided to take.
So since Ace Combat Infinity will be free, what are some features that might have differed if you went a pay-to-play route, and will there be in-game purchases?
As for the quality itself, it’s still a very high quality package. In making the entrance free, we want users to only pay what they feel the game is worth, quality-wise. We’re still adjusting on how to get players to pay, when they want to.
Okay, that sounds great. I’m really excited for it! So for the free-to-play model, what can hardcore players expect from it that will really push it towards popularity, because I know that a lot of Ace Combat games have a lot of different features that players enjoy, so will we see any of those reoccurring themes in this newer title?
Actually for the core gameplay aspects and mechanisms, everything is based on what the hardcore Ace Combat fans enjoy, like being able to fly 360 degrees, or choosing what strategy you want to use to attack your enemies. The fans enjoy this, and we’re not changing it. Since now it’s free-to-play, and more newcomers will be able to play the series, it’s probably fun for the hardcore users to see how the newer players are entering the series. More experienced pilots in the Ace Combat series will also feel like veterans who can help out the newer players.
Will there be any multiplayer functions that are unique?
So on the online multiplayer, there’s actually a mode where you go 4 on 4, and the other team is who you are competing with, though you guys are on the same team. It’s a co-op based mode where you defeat the same NPC, but you compete to see who scores more. There’s a lot of patterns that you can take on the mission and you can decide whether you want to beat out the rival team or you can maybe decide to team up with the opposing team to take out the boss faster.
Awesome. So the general player base for Ace Combat Infinity will be newer, so what’s the learning curve that can be expected?
It’s a difficult question to answer. We do have a certain paths we want new players to go towards. We have a new mode called Test Flight where new users can test out the controls. In the Test Flight mode, you’ll be playing more campaign modes, so we do have a certain path that we highly encourage. We’re trying to make a learning curve where players can learn the control and feel joy from learning how to fly and target enemies. The sense of accomplishment gained from learning how to fly is one of the main things we want.
Cool. So last but not least, which Ace Combat game in the series was your favorite?
He [Kono-San] never thought of it. 04 is probably his most favorite, in his opinion, and the most difficult one to make was 05. The most difficult to move forward with was Ace Combat Infinity though for sure.
Thanks to NAMCO BANDAI and Kazutoki Kono for both hosting the event and taking the time to do the interview with us. Ace Combat Infinity is anticipated to be released this year. The beta actually started today so if you want, make sure to download it on the PlayStation Network. The beta will last from today, February 4th till February 11th, and all premium in-game items will be available for testing!
Namco Bandai Games has today released several screenshots highlighting a brand new single player mode for their latest entry in the now long running Ultimate Ninja series. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution will be the first game in the series to have four player ninja-melee battles by way of the new Ninja World Tournament Mode. Players win these battles by collecting the most Battle Orbs, which are gained upon attacking your opponents. The Ninja World Tournament takes place on Festival Island where all breeds of ninja have garthered from around the world seeking victory in a variety of melee brawls against multiple opponents. Tournament entrants will be able to compete in tiered battles, working their way across the island to reach the S-ranked battles to be crowned the ultimate Ninja. It seems this new mode will have a story to go along with it, with Mecha Naruto being important to the plot somehow.
While it would be awesome to see this new mode adapted online it looks like for now this may only be single player option, meaning it will be you taking on three CPU opponents. None the less it is still a cool addition and it is good to see the series experiment with new modes. You can check out all the screenshots below.
Ever since The Witch and the Hundred Knight was announced and suffered a few delays, gamers who have been following the title have been treated to a few gameplay clips here and there as well as a number of screenshots, but there has yet to be a full English trailer for the game.
Well that changed today when NIS America released a new trailer for The Witch and the Hundred Knight which can be found below. In the video we get a preview of some of the English voice work for Metallia and Arlecchino as well as a lot of gameplay footage and an introduction to some of the game’s side characters.
Remember those three “Inside the Square” videos released over the last few months? Well since Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is set to be released next week, Square Enix has decided to combine all three of these videos into one half hour long director’s cut which not only features the three episodes of Inside the Square, but also some additional footage showing what it took to create the game.
You can check out the video below while the game itself is set to be released on February 11th in North America and February 13th in PAL regions for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Square Enix has released a new trailer for Thief, but it is a disservice to call it a simple trailer since it clocks in at over six minutes in length. Though when you consider the fact that Thief has just “gone gold” then perhaps it makes sense to teach potential players about how to become a master thief.
As you will see if you check out the video, the trailer focuses on teaching players how to move through the shadows and become a master thief by using the numerous tools at their disposal. Currently Thief is set to be released on the PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. We recently had a chance to check out the first few hours of the game and you can find our impressions of that gameplay session here.
