EA have officially announced the impressive line-up of athletes that will be a part of the NBA LIVE 14 video-game’s roster. The following players have been confirmed: Kyrie Irving (Cleveland Cavaliers), Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers), Ricky Rubio (Minnesota Timberwolves), John Wall (Washington Wizards), Kemba Walker (Charlotte Bobcats) and Victor Oladipo (Orlando Magic).
Each of these incredible players have contributed a great deal to the NBA LIVE 14 game, including working extensively along side EA for motion-capture and lending their likeness to the game. Kyrie Irving will even be the cover star for NBA LIVE 14.
NBA LIVE 14 will hit the Xbox One on November 22nd and PlayStation 4 on November 28th. Stay tuned for further news on NBA LIVE 14 as it comes to light.
Paramount Pictures Australia have just announced that the entire Global News Network crew will be heading down under for the Australian premiere of Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues at Hoyts, The Entertainment Quarter, Sydney on November 24.
Stars Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd and David Koechner, along with Director Adam McKay, will all be present – and hopefully in character! “Don’t act like you’re not impressed!” The film releases on December 19 nationwide. You’re not yet excited? “Say Whaaat?!” Well then, check out the first official stills from the movie, and its first full trailer. Ron Burgundy also weighed in on our recent election before our votes were placed.
After eleven long years, the character of Jack Ryan – created by the late Tom Clancy – is returning to the silver screen in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. The reboot of the franchise stars Chris Pine (Star Trek Into Darkness) as the title character, with Kenneth Branagh (Director of THOR) directing and also starring.
The Paramount Pictures film is the fifth in the series, after The Hunt for Red October (1990),Patriot Games (1992), Clear and Present Danger (1994) andThe Sum of All Fears (2002). Unlike those films, Shadow Recruit is not based off any one particular novel, but an original idea. Little had been known about the plot, but you can now view the ‘Global Trailer’ embedded below for your first official look at the movie, which also features Keira Knightley (Pride & Prejudice) and Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves).
GAMEVIL, leading publisher in the mobile games department, and developer EnterFly have summoned their new release, Spirit Stones; now free-to-play on android from Google Play. As of next week, Spirit Stones will be available at the App Store for iOS devices.
President of GAMEVIL USA, Kyu Lee declared “We are dedicated to working hand-in-hand with EnterFly to bring consistent events and updates to keep the game fresh and to build a strong community for the game.”
Spirit stones is a puzzle RPG that incorporates elements of a fantasy trading card game; with over 500 stages and 400 heroes for players to assemble the ultimate team to defeat the ancient evil of Hellgate. To test your heroes skills in battle, players simply swipe and match tiles of the same colour; however strategy for deadly combos is essential for completing challenging obstacles in the final stages of Spirit Stones.
Additionally, players can connect with Facebook friends for alliance formation in co-op matches and play competitively in global PvP battles.
Check out the official trailer below and embrace the power of Spirit Stones today, by downloading the free game from Google Play here.
For further insights into Spirit Stones, visit the official Facebook page hereand become acquainted with the unique range of heroes!
Ubisoft has launched the closed beta for Panzer General Online in North America, a free-to-play iteration of the Panzer General WWII tank series. The PC browser game was announced earlier this year with a debut trailer.
Developed by Blue Byte with Funatics Software, Panzer General Online is a turn-based strategy game with a card collecting system playable within the browser. Players collect and trade virtual miniatures of tanks, infantry and artillery in order to create and upgrade a personalised army. Command cards can also be used to call in air strikes and perform maneuvers.
You can check out the official website and sign up for free here.
Stardock, the development studio behind digital card game Dead Man’s Hand, have announced the third installment in their award-winning PC strategy game series, Galactic Civilizations.
Announced as Stardock celebrates its 20th anniversary, Galactic Civilizations III has also had a few bits of information leak on it. Possibly most shockingly, Stardock revealed that GCIII will be coming exclusively to 64-bit PCs. The game will also add new features including multiplayer, political intrigue, upgraded visuals, and much more.
Of the move to 64-bit, Stardock vice president Derek Paxton said:
“The move to 64-bit architecture heralds a new era of game development at Stardock. The technology allows players to experience a level of graphical detail and on-screen activity unprecedented in large-scale strategy PC games. It dramatically increases the size and scope of the maps, and opens the door for modders to add a virtually unlimited amount of new content to the game.”
To check out the GCIII trailer, be sure to check out the video below this article. You can also check out the game’s official website here. To celebrate, Steam is also featuring Stardock games on sale beginning this Thursday!
Along with a handful of other series, Wagnaria!! (Working!!) was one of the first few anime that NIS America started working with when they jumped into the anime industry. When that anime was given a second season back at the end of 2011 many people thought it would be an easy pick up for the company, but two years later no such announcement was ever made.
That all changed today when the company announced that they have picked up the second season and will be calling it Wagnaria!! 2 and they are planning on releasing it in a Blu-ray only premium edition on February 4, 2014 for $64.99. The premium edition will come with a hardcover art book which will include an episode guide, character info for new characters and color illustrations.
While news about Tales of Xillia 2 in the West has been fairly scarce, today Namco Bandai has released a new English trailer for the game which features a combination of both great looking anime cutscenes as well as great looking in-game footage in what appears to be a very dark fantasy story following Ludger and Elle.
The story of the game takes place a year after the events of the first Tales of Xillia game and follows Ludger Will Kresnik as he travels alongside a girl named Elle Mel Marta who is searching for the land of Canaan and when the two are suddenly attacked, Ludger gains mysterious powers from a strange pocket watch held by Elle.
Kickstarter seems to be the place to go if you want to develop games based on emerging sports. There aren’t many sports games that can generate as much hype as titanic franchises like FIFA or Madden, so for more niche sports like lacrosse, the crowdfunding possibilities of Kickstarter are a godsend to devout fans.
Crosse Studios are partnering up with Big Ant Studios in order to develop Lacrosse 14, coined as, “A video game that captures the authenticity and realism of lacrosse like never before.” The Pittsburgh based studio, developers of three College Lacrosse games, promised that this title will feature online multiplayer, high fidelity graphics, character customization,and a dynasty mode that spans multiple years. An extra cool feature of the Kickstarter means that fans who preorder the game will be able to have their name and face put into the game, allowing them to play as themselves when the game is released.
Lacrosse 14 will be funded by a Kickstarter campaign and should be available for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC in Spring 2014.
In the 90s, arcades were packed out with guys crowding Street Fighter II, waiting for Chun-Li to do her “spinning bird kick”, hoping to see that pixelated panty shot. In 2013, the mentality of fighting game fans has changed very little. From the outfit of King of Fighters‘ Mai Shiranui to pretty much everything in Dead or Alive, female characters in fighting games have always been fan favourites. It was only a matter of time until an all female roster like Skullgirlstook us all by storm. Now meet Girl Fight, another fighting game hoping to capitalise on a similar ideal. But with an experience that’s mediocre at best, Girl Fight stands as a reminder that you need more than just boobs to make a fighting game good.
Story
With a name as creative as Girl Fight, it’s surprising this game even has a story to tell. Regardless, Girl Fight does have a minor plot linking it all together, which seems to have as little creativity as it’s title. An evil corporation called The Foundation has discovered that women possess powers that men don’t have for some unexplained reason. If this game wasn’t so aggressively sexualised, you’d may mistake this for a feminist view. The Foundation then takes a bunch of chicks and puts then into a computer simulation (which is also unexplained) and they are forced to fight so the computer can gather data on them. Each battle in the usual arcade mode starts with a sentence about your character to give a hint to their backstory, with a voice that sounds like the iPhone’s Siri. However, while these motivations are used to break up combat, there is basically no ending to any of the characters worth paying attention to. Also with no voice acting from any of the actual fighters and no cut scenes, this story is so paper thin there may as well be no story at all.
Gameplay
Girl Fight is painfully generic, however it’s core mechanics are solid. This 3D fighter takes heavy inspiration from games like Tekken and Dead or Alive and is more or less a 4 button fighter. You have one button to kick, one to punch, one to block Mortal Kombat style and one to grab/throw. The two triggers are used for specials, but we’ll get into that later. There is no real variety in characters as they all seem to have very similar combos, height and weight, so while there is a decent sized roster they all essentially play the same. While 3D movement is present, combat still takes place mostly on a 2D scale, and with no projectiles or flashy special moves besides a throw, there’s not really much present to keep players interested after a few rounds. All this pretty much boils down to the fact that with such minor variations in both the roster and combat, little strategy is involved and it all comes down to simple button mashing for the most part. Heck on my first try of the “inhuman” difficulty with a character I never used before I got a perfect in the first round….and I didn’t even know any moves!
In all fairness, it should be noted that the basics are done well for a cheap XBLA title. Girl Fight also makes a couple attempts to be innovative as well with a large focus on character customisation. Before a battle players can pick two specials to assign to their two shoulder triggers. These can range from powerful attacks, power ups and even health recovery. These burn meter so they are used sparingly. While this is a nice touch and may seem to add a little depth, it’s also the only specials characters can do since they don’t have any themselves. This means every character is able to use the same meter burning special attacks. Furthermore, with online play it’s almost impossible to find a competitor online, so the multiplayer’s wager system for in-game currency is seldom seen in action. This currency is earned in both single player and multiplayer combat and can be used to purchase more costumes, moves and more in an attempt to expand the game’s life. So it is nice to see Girl Fight has tried to go beyond the bare minimum of a fighting game, even if it isn’t by much.
Audio & Visual
For a game that relies so heavily on good looking women, you’d think it’d look better. 3D models are of an Xbox/Playstation 2/GameCube standard, but you shouldn’t expect much more from a digital download title anyways. Textures are ok, not great and animation can be a little stiff. Character design is incredibly generic and boring as well. The asian warrior’s name is Shogun, the military chick’s name is Warchild, you get the idea. It’s just female versions of typical clichés, rinse and repeat with no charisma at all. Upon winning arcade mode and other challenges players can unlock sexy artwork of the fighters and see similar styled pics during loading screens. These are nicely penciled but do little to add to the experience. The soundtrack consists of electronic music which suit the tone of the game, but the production of a couple of the more dubstep-influenced tracks seem slightly subpar in terms of quality. No voice acting is present for any of the playable characters, and instead we only get the announcer who also is the only voice talent for the story. Note I use the word “talent” loosely as it’s basically just a boring robotic voice that sounds pretty much exactly like the iPhone’s Siri.
Overall
Girl Fight is the most basic, stripped down version of a generic 3D fighting game. The core mechanics are present and are quite solid, but there are no bells and whistles to actually draw you in. Uncreative character design, the roster has little to no variety, no proper voice acting, stiff animations and lacklustre gameplay results in a game with nothing to offer. It seems the developers know how to make a fighter that feels solid and responsive, but haven’t put much effort in surprising the player or providing much…well, fun. Ultimately, it’s major flaws all lie in fields of design and polish. Like I said earlier, it takes more than just boobs to make a good fighting game.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Along with a handful of other series, 
