Page 4166 – Capsule Computers

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December 7, 2013

EXPERIENCE AMAZING 3D ON IPAD THIS HOLIDAY WITH GOOD NIGHT MOWGLI; COMING SOON TO THE APP STORE

Drift into Peaceful Sleep with a One-Of-A-Kind Interactive E-book for All Ages

Chennai, India – December 6, 2013 – VividhaHMI, an innovative developer of mobile applications and games, announced today that Good Night Mowgli, an interactive e-book for iPad, will be available on December 11 on the App Store. Good Night Mowgli is one-of-a-kind interactive book where children and kids at heart journey through pages of stereoscopic 3D, as they drift into peaceful sleep to bedtime tales and soothing lullabies.

Utilizing the most exciting features of iOS 7, Good Night Mowgli brings eye-catching 3D-like imagery that creates a true sense of depth with each turn of the page and physics-based interactivity to a traditional storybook experience that will delight kids and parents alike. The familiar Jungle background helps tell the tale as it resonates with both kids and adults.

Good Night Mowgli transports one back in time to the golden days of childhood with its plot, storytelling, sound, music, light, color, and voice acting. Voices of well-known voice actors Susie Brann, David Holt and Patrick Cremin make this book stand out.

“Usually interactive story books depend upon narration, but we wanted to bring it up a notch up in Good Night Mowgli. We have used full-fledged voice acting by some of the best talent in the industry to make it come alive,” said Santosh Kumar, CEO, VivihaHMI. “Kids and parents will love the new parallax visuals and interactivity that makes this app a first-of-its-kind. Not only is it beautiful but it also helps parents soothe their children to sleep.”

Good Night Mowgli features bedtime tales told to Mowgli in the Jungle by his friends and family. As the sun goes down and the moon rises, kids are transported to Mowgli’s forest and experience bedtime stories like never before. Readers will love to interact with pictures across pages of the story and animate characters and objects through the use of iOS 7’s physics simulated feedback. Through advanced parallax motion effects and traditional two-dimensional art pieces, the storybook’s pages come to life as readers tilt the iPad to see different viewing perspectives. With beautiful artwork, wonderful narration, and soothing music, kids and parents will rest peacefully this holiday with Good Night Mowgli.

Good Night Mowgli will be available on December 11 on the App Store for iPad download for the suggested price of $3.99. For more information, please ‘like’ us on Facebook.

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ABOUT VividhaHMI:

Vividha HMI Technology Solutions Pvt. Ltd. is a Chennai based company specializing in Mobile App, Game Development, Visual Effects and Animation. They provide full service starting with concept until delivery or anything in between. VividhaHMI binds smart coding and animation into a great program with a love for design, look and user experience.

Owlchemy Lab’s Kickstarter Campaign for Dyscourse Fully Funded

Chris Chu

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December 7, 2013

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The new indie title Dyscourse has been fully funded thanks to Kickstarter. Owlchemy Labs began this campaign in early November, receiving more funding than they set out for. The original goal was for $40,000, but at the end they earned $44,134 from 1,816 backers.

In this psychological survival game, you play as Rita, a full-time coffee barista who unfortunately gets stuck on an island after her plane crashes. Along with other tourists, you (as Rita) have to decide whether or not you want to be a team player and work for the good of the team, or be a lone wolf and look out for your own survival. This game will test every fiber of the human element through interactions, bonds, decisions, and even betrayals between the group. Not only do you need to watch out for the dangers of the island, you have to be careful of the people sleeping in the same camp as you. But as the saying goes, “Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer.”

The beta for Dyscourse on the PC will start in May 2014, and will be on Steam. Everyone that contributed to the Kickstarter fund will receive a Steam key for the game. Check out the Kickstarter page here.

South Park: The Stick of Truth Teases its VGX Trailer

Simon Wolfe

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December 7, 2013

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The Video Game Awards on Spike TV used to be good for one thing, showing off new trailers and videos for the upcoming games of the next year. Now rebranded as VGX, it seems they are still looking to keep up that side of it as Ubisoft and Obsidian Entertainment have put out a new teaser for South Pack: The Stick of Truth.

The new teaser is for the new trailer for South Park: The Stick of Truth that will be airing during VGX and so it doesn’t show off much, but has the depth of humor that South Park is known for. Namely, Cartman showing off his mad fart throwing skills.

Those wanting to check out the teaser in preparation of the full trailer at VGX can find it embedded below. South Park: The Stick of Truth is set to release in 2014 for Xbox 360 and PS3, while VGX will be airing on Saturday, December 7th at 6 EST.

ICEBERG INTERACTIVE LAUNCHES ALL NEW 4X SPACE STRATEGY GAME STAR LORDS, AVAILABLE NOW ON STEAM’S EARLY ACCESS PROGRAM

Press Releases

Philip Federico

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December 7, 2013

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ICEBERG INTERACTIVE LAUNCHES ALL NEW 4X SPACE STRATEGY GAME STAR LORDS, AVAILABLE NOW ON STEAM’S EARLY ACCESS PROGRAM

Arkavi Studios’ Firstborn Offers Rich New Galaxy to Explore, Tough AI, Modding and More

Haarlem, The Netherlands – December 6, 2013 – Veteran game publisher Iceberg Interactive announces today that its latest 4X space strategy game Star Lords is available now on Steam’s Early Access program store.steampowered.com/app/246940/. In development with up-and-coming Portuguese developer Arkavi Studios, Star Lords offers many features that fans of the genre know and love, including a large universe to explore, deep and complex gameplay, customization options, and much more.

Players can purchase the game now in Steam’s Early Access program and be involved in the rest of the development process by providing feedback and suggesting what they would like to see updated, changed or added to the game. Early Access players can then play as the game evolves throughout the entire development process.

“Star Lords is an amazing 4X game, and we are thrilled to be working with the talented Arkavi Studios team,” says Iceberg Interactive CEO, Erik Schreuder. “We are looking forward to players joining early as the game evolves, and hearing what they would like to see improved and implemented in the game. Early Access provides such a unique addition to the development process and we are looking forward to hearing what players and fans have to say.”

Star Lords is a tactical, turn-based space-strategy game showcasing eight major races in an epic-sized complex universe with some new twists to the 4X genre. Star Lords is set in space where players can take command of one race to join the struggle for supremacy in the galaxy. As the leader of an empire, players explore the stars, colonize new worlds, manage their empire and conquer whoever dares to oppose. In the Early Access Alpha, some features are not available yet such as multiplayer, huge galaxies and domestic policies, as these are still very much being tested. They will be opened up further down the line in Early Access.

Star Lords Key Features:

Living, Breathing Universe: in addition to the major powers, independent races and pirate clans also claim the galaxy as their residence – use them to your advantage
Economic and Political Layers: War isn’t the only way to weaken one’s enemies; diplomacy, intelligence and trade are very powerful and effective tools
Eight major races each with their own ship designs, technologies, unique traits and unique abilities
Create and customize your own ship designs
Generals: Unique and powerful units evolve as they battle
Randomly generated universe, tech tree and units – never play the same game twice
Empire shattering: unrest might lead rebels to start a civil war which in turn might lead to the creation of a new, independent empire that might grow to rival your own
Plotting: secretly finance a war against your enemies in order to weaken them or prepare a surprise joint war along with your allies in a bid to destroy that frighteningly fast growing empire
Human-like AI that doesn’t cheat and plays by the same rules as human players, while presenting a constant challenge. Or play with your friends in hotseat mode.
Modding support
LAN, hotseat and online multiplayer (not available yet) with matchmaking

The Alpha version of Star Lords is available for $19.99 on Steam’s Early Access Program. For more information about Star Lords please visit www.starlords-game.com.

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SteamWorld Dig PC Review

Jamie Laike Tsui

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December 7, 2013

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SteamWorld Dig
Developer: Image & Form
Publisher: Image & Form
Platform: Linux, Mac, Windows (Reviewed)
Release Date: 5 December 2013
Price: $9.99 – Available Here

Overview

SteamWorld Dig rocked the Nintendo 3DS eShop earlier this year by mixing platforming action with mining and exploration. Now, developers Image & Form has brought the mining platformer to PC through the Steam distribution service. The PC version boasts high resolution textures, new graphics, gamepad support, and Steam Trading Cards.

Story

Rusty the robot visits to the old mining town of Tumbleton where his uncle used to call home. There, he is roped in by the residents to mine the tunnels his uncle once worked in an attempt to bring the town back to its former glory. Since his uncle’s death, the monsters have become active which has turned the tunnels into a dangerous place. Rusty must now unravel the mystery of the monsters and discover the fantastic technologies his uncle has left behind.

SteamWorld Dig’s plot is a classical JRPG tale in a unique and wonderful setting as the steampunk western is a memorable combination. The game is salted liberally with humour and a sad observation on the possible fate of humanity. SteamWorld Dig occurs after humanity has wiped itself out and is now buried underground. All that is left of us are ugly mutated troglodytes that are mere shadows of their former selves. The plot is a little thin, but the world is well crafted.

Gameplay

SteamWorld Dig takes the mining genre that has gained popularity since the successful launch of Minecraft and mixes it with classic platformers like Castlevania and Metroid. The ground beneath Tumbleton is randomly generated, providing a brand new experience with each playthrough. The game is split between three main zones: the town will provide a place for Rusty to sell his spoils and purchase upgrades, the mines underneath Tumbleton is where Rusty will spend the majority of game mining and exploring, and the caves will provide Rusty a place to solve puzzles and find new technologies that will provide him with new abilities.

In the caves are puzzles and platforming challenges. I found most of the puzzles were agility based, requiring the player to traverse deadly traps and hostile enemies to reach the end of the cave. However, there are a few logic puzzles that were surprisingly difficult in some of the caves. Luckily, unlike dying in the mines, there is no financial penalty for dying in a cave. Rusty will simply respawn at the cave entrance and everything will be reset. If a puzzle was done incorrectly, Rusty can simply exit the cave, re-enter, and make another attempt at the puzzle.

About 40% of the caves cannot be skipped as they contain technologies that are necessary to complete the game. The rest are optional caves that will provide bonuses on completion. Within the mandatory caves are tons of secret areas and extra bonuses. There is an achievement for speedrunning SteamWorld Dig, but there is also plenty of content for obsessive completionists.

There is a good balance between the mining/exploration and platforming portions of the game. Most of the mining can be skipped over if players are willing to sacrifice a few of the optional upgrades. The final boss is tons of fun, but it was so well done that it made me wish there were more boss fights in the game.

SteamWorld Dig supports both controllers and keyboards. Personally, I found the keyboard controls were adequate, but the inability to customize key bindings was frustrating as I did not like the default bindings. I highly recommend playing the game with a controller as the experience will definitely be more enjoyable.

Visuals

SteamWorld Dig has a colourful eye catching art style that that melds steampunk with classic westerns. The character designs take traditional western archetypes and reimagines them as steam powered robots. The ground under Tumbleton contains three distinct areas. The first level is a traditional mine under the desert, the second layer is a toxic swampy mess that has entombed the remnants of humanity, while the final level is a grey high tech world full of wiring and robots. Image & Form have done a fantastic job in creating a memorable world.

The PC port has brought significant improvements to the game’s visuals. PC gamers who do not keep up with the Nintendo 3DS could easily forget that the game is actually a port. The graphical customization options are a little thin. The game automatically selects the largest full screen resolution the monitor is capable of, though the windowed mode scales to however large the window is. The system requirements are pretty low to begin with, but sluggish computers will only have the option to remove the bloom effects to improve performance.

Audio

SteamWorld Dig has a great western themed soundtrack that reminds me of cheesy spaghetti westerns. Though the number of songs are a bit on the short side, I found that I did not tire of listening to the same few songs for extended periods of time. The sound effects are top notch as they match the world perfectly.

Overall

SteamWorld Dig is a great buy at $9.99. The gameplay is a fun mix of platforming and exploration, the difficulty is at the right level, the visual and audio experience is well crafted, and the replayability factor is very high. Although there are some room for small improvements in the quality of the porting, Image & Form have created an excellent game.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

4X Space Strategy ‘Star Lords’ Available Via Steam Early Access

Joe Morgan

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December 7, 2013

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Game publisher Iceberg Interactive have announced today that Star Lords, the latest title from indie developer Arkavi Studios, is available on Steam Early Access now.

Star Lords is a 4X space strategy game in the vein of Galactic Civilizations or Sins of a Solar Empire. The game will offer a large universe to explore, deep and complex gameplay, customization options, and more.

Features include:

Living, Breathing Universe: in addition to the major powers, independent races and pirate clans also claim the galaxy as their residence – use them to your advantage
Economic and Political Layers: War isn’t the only way to weaken one’s enemies; diplomacy, intelligence and trade are very powerful and effective tools
Eight major races each with their own ship designs, technologies, unique traits and unique abilities.
Create and customize your own ship designs
Generals: Unique and powerful units evolve as they battle
Randomly generated universe, tech tree and units – never play the same game twice
Empire shattering: unrest might lead rebels to start a civil war which in turn might lead to the creation of a new, independent empire that might grow to rival your own
Plotting: secretly finance a war against your enemies in order to weaken them or prepare a surprise joint war along with your allies in a bid to destroy that frighteningly fast growing empire
Human-like AI that doesn’t cheat and plays by the same rules as human players, while presenting a constant challenge
Modding support
LAN, hot seat and online multiplayer with matchmaking

For $19.99 you can get access to the game via Steam and be involved in the rest of the development process by providing feedback and offering suggestions for updates.

Disney Infinity Toy Box Challenge Week 16

Andrew Day

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December 6, 2013

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Disney Infinity Toy Box Challenge Week 16

A week has gone past us already, and it is time for the awesome folks over at Disney to shower us with free Disney Infinity maps in this week’s Toy Box Challenge. As with previous weeks, there are five free maps for Disney Infinity owners to download, as well as a new Toy Box Submission Challenge, and a video that showcases the winners of the previous challenge. Without further adieu, lets get into it!

TOY BOX SUBMISSION CHALLENGE

This week’s Toy Box Submission challenge will be a tricky one. The theme for this week is the North Pole Challenge! Which is quite fitting considering Disney’s Frozen is about to hit theaters, and it is of course the holiday season. I will let you in on a little secret – If you have the figurine for Elsa, she unlocks a special giant snowball that would go PERFECTLY in this challenge!

As always, you can create and share your Toy Box creations though, using these instructions:

Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U

Bring up the Pause Menu and select “Online/Multiplayer.”
Then select “Toy Box Share” > “Disney’s Toy Boxes” > “Submit to Disney.”
Follow the prompts. You’ll be asked to give your Toy Box an original name and description. Choose carefully – they will be shown to everybody if your Toy Box is featured.

iPad

Bring up the Pause Menu and select “Toy Box Share.”
Then select “Disney’s Toy Boxes” > “Submit to Disney.”
Follow the prompts. You’ll be asked to give your Toy Box an original name and description. Choose carefully – they will be shown to everybody if your Toy Box is featured

TOY BOX COUNTDOWN

This week’s Toy Box Countdown features the top 5 user generated maps that were submitted to Disney for the previous DuckTales Challenge Check out the video below to see the top 5 entrants in the challenge. All of which you can download right now!

You can check out last week’s winning Toy Box maps here.

That’s another week of Disney Infinity updates for you passionate Disney fans out there. Were you happy with the Toy Box Countdown winners? Will you be downloading any of the maps (wither from the winners, or from Disney)? Let us know in the comments below, and remember that for all the Disney Infinity news as it becomes available, stay tuned to Capsule Computers.

New Lot of Dark Souls II Screenshots

Andrew Day

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December 6, 2013

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Dark Souls II will soon be here. In just a few short months, gamers around the worlds will be gripping their controllers, trying not to throw them through their TV screens as they die again and again and again. Well until then, to tie us over, Namco Bandai have been providing us with a bunches of screenshots from the upcoming game that tease certain aspects, and today that time has come again.

The latest screenshots, which you can check out below give a little hint as to how the Covenant (see: PVP) element of the game will work, including things like the blue and red phantoms. Check out the screens and let us know in the comments whether or not you were big on the PVP element of Dark Souls/Demon Souls and if you will be participating in it for Dark Souls II. As always, be sure to stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the Dark Souls II news as it becomes available.

Darklings Review

Matthew Vella

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December 6, 2013

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Darklings Review
Publisher: Mild Mania
Developer: Mild Mania
Platforms: iPhone (reviewed), iPad
Release Date: 18/11/2013
Price: $0.99 (Available Here)

Overview

A big complaint I often hear people crying about video games is a huge lack of creativity these days – everything is a clone of something. Ironically, the titles that attempt to do something truly unique these days often don’t get that much exposure and don’t get much praise outside indie circles. Perhaps it all comes down to what the player is used to and what they expect. Meet Darklings, a creative and unique title delivering intense arcade action to mobile devices. I need to be honest – Darklings is certainly worth checking out for those looking for something fresh and it’s getting praise left and right, but this reviewer can’t get his head around it. Perhaps it all comes down to a matter of taste.

Gameplay

When you strip Darklings down to it’s core, it basically comes down to the childhood game of Simon Says. Players step into the shoes/Casper-ghost-tail-thingy of Lum, the game’s hero defending against various forms of beasts. The catch is Lum can’t move and must fight back by teleporting in the enemies’ position which kills them…or something. It doesn’t make much sense, but just go with it. To do this, players must use their finger to draw patterns which appear above the enemies heads. Waves of villains increase and the numbers quickly grow larger and larger and the swift, arcade-styled action can get pretty intense. Think Typing of the Dead, but drawing patterns instead of typing and you’re pretty much there. Power ups can also be collected and improved upon through a shop, where a currency can be earned by dragging stars towards Lum from fallen foes. Boss battles are also a nice touch where players must draw the patterns quick enough to avoid certain death. The theme for Darklings (besides spooky darkness and stuff) is to think simple. Simple concept, simple controls, simple gameplay. But personally I’ve found everything comes across as tricky. The difficulty can be a little much, the learning curve will have you stumbling for a bit and sometimes the game won’t register your drawing as the correct pattern, leading you to certain death. That’s the biggest problem with Darklings – it can be frustrating and not in the good way. If you suck at a game that’s fine, but if you’re doing something and the game isn’t responding to that you have a huge problem on your hands. It’s not that the game is broken, it just has a very small margin of error. Also the game is a little difficult, which doesn’t help much either. That being said after a while if you get good at it, it gets enjoyable and sometimes addictive, you just got to give it a chance. Ok, maybe a couple chances.

Audio & Visual

Filled with artistic shadows and lots of black and white, Darklings is a very aesthetically pleasing game very reminiscent of titles such as Limbo in some degree. Animations are nice and assist in making the gameplay feeling smooth as well. Swipes are also accompanied with colourful, fluent animations reminiscent of Fruit Ninja as well which really pop amongst all the black and white. As for audio, sound from Lum and the other creatures have unique screeches that burst with personality and the creepy yet cartoonish soundtrack help the gamer to engage with the game as well. When it comes to presentation, it’s a no brainer that the audio & visual aspects of Darklings are the biggest highlights of the game as they make everything much, much more enjoyable.

Overall

Darklings is far from being a perfect game, but it is a refreshing one. The concept is engaging although it’s execution can be hit and miss at times. While the gameplay is simple it’s learning curve is far from it. It looks and sounds beautiful but the gameplay won’t hook in some gamers straight away as many of it’s flaws are evident from the start. If you stick around, you’ll find something special. But it’s one of those titles you’ll need to give time before realising it’s true potential.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

What’s Upcoming at NIDA Parade Theatres

Zac Elawar

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December 6, 2013

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In the coming months, the NIDA Parade Theatres are going to be very busy. Here’s a breakdown of all the events you can expect.

The NIDA Independent Program provides emerging artists and theatre companies with access to the outstanding facilities of the NIDA Parade Theatres to assist in the development of new work and the production of innovative theatre. The program offers two opportunities for artists and companies to explore new work and theatrical creativity:
The Production Program, offering access to the Parade Studio to present a season of work.
Creative Development Residency, offering access to the Parade Studio to develop a new idea, work, script or performance concept.
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to join the NIDA Independent Program in 2014. Click here for more information and to apply today.

Oprah is a household name, and the richest, most successful African-American woman of our time. She’s also extremely influential, especially with the female demographic… to them, she’s basically a God! Now, fans in Australia can experience a hilarious portrayal of the icon in Oprahfication.

Throughout her illustrious career as actor, news anchor, and host of her own TV talk-show, Oprah has delivered to us the most interesting celebrities, politicians, royals, medical specialists, spiritualists and some of the greatest thinkers of our time. Her ability to never shy away from the tough questions and controversial topics led the Wall St. Journal to coin the term ‘OPRAHFICATION’ – a public confession used as a form of therapy.
This side-splitting, multi-award winning piece is brought to you by Rachel Dunham (Rock of Ages) whose extraordinary portrayal of the fading talk-show queen coupled with an unforgettable original score by Shanon Whitelock, guarantees to have you screaming for more.

Runs from the 25th of February to the 2nd of March. Click here to book your tickets.

Truman Capote was one of the United States’ most controversial authors, and the new one-man show entitled TRU – presented and directed by Vel Subra and performed by Jay Presson Allen from the words and works of the titular author – takes a confessional look into the man himself.

Set in 1975 at his New York apartment, Capote has fallen out with his elite socialite gadabouts after he published their most intimate secrets through fictionalised characters in Esquire magazine. Soothing himself with pills and booze, Truman muses over his checkered life, novels and friends. A gutsy, confessional one-man show plentiful with wit, comedy and turns, TRU will have you laughing in bouts and moved to tears by the end of the show.

Runs from December 9-10. Click here to book your tickets.

And finally, the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) is hosting Limits to Growth: Beyond the Point of Inflexion at 9am on December 11.

Is economic growth forever sustainable? What impact would a stagnant or declining population have on GDP? Can mathematical models guide policy makers in answering these questions? What is the strategic plan for planet Earth?
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to see some of the world’s leading thinkers address these questions next week.
Graciela Chichilnisky (Professor of Economics, Columbia University),
Ross Gittins AM (Economics Editor, Sydney Morning Herald)
Clive Hamilton AM FRSA (Professor of Public Ethics, Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics)
Peter Harper (Deputy Australian Statistician for the Population, Labour and Social Statistics Group at the Australian Bureau of Statistics)
Ken Henry AC (Economist, Former Secretary of the Department of Treasury)
Graeme Maxton (Economist, Fellow of the International Club of Rome)
Jørgen Randers (Professor of Climate Strategy, BI Norwegian Business School)
Peter Victor (Professor in Environmental Studies, York University).

Tickets are $50 (transaction fee may apply). Click here to book.

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