This new game is a classic platform game as a horizontal scrolling adventure game with a mix of puzzle and combat. The story itself is simple, you follow Buddy, a young earthling who after having been abducted by aliens, him and his entire village, try to escape from the world building a robot out of various junk named B.O.T (Bunch Of Trash).
The player will explore the eight labyrinth-type levels of Octopus world with B.O.T’s help, as well as buddy’s own powers of absorbing materials to created useful items called ‘boxes’. These boxes are elemental in nature (eg. rockboxes, gluboxes, lightboxes) to make the player think creatively to overcome obstacles. It is certainly a game based first and foremost on freedom and experimentation of the player. During his escape, Little Buddy will have the opportunity to unravel the secrets of the Space Octopuses and choices in the game will open up two different endings to the story.
This game shows some really amazing graphics with stunning scenes and colourful environments. The game’s universe plays itself as a parody of the Sci-Fi genre using language and situations, giving the player freedom of imagination. This is also this enhances the experience as while observing some details in discussions and settings, Little Buddy to get a full grasp of the scenario.
The Secret of Space Octopuses combines the old school atmosphere with modern and innovative game play with a high note on the games AI. Players will have to be ingenious and reactive as this game is great puzzle and arcade game for casual gamers.
Incipio DualPro CF Case for iPhone 5 Manufacturer: Incipio Platform: iPhone 5/5s Price: $34.99 USD – Available Here
Incipio’s latest take on their long running DualPro line of cases is the CF model. The case features a silicone core for drop protection and a polycarbonate shell with a classy carbon fibre finish. The case is designed to survive everyday drops and spills without being too bulky. The DualPro CF is compatible with the original iPhone 5 and the new iPhone 5s. It is available in black and gray or silver and black finish.
The box containing the case is very user friendly compared to the dreaded sharp as knives packaging often seen on shelves these days. Incipio uses lots of rounded edges and a tuna can style design to save the fingers. In the package is the silicone core, the Plextonium shell, a screen protector, a cleaning cloth, a screen protector application card, and a plastic kickstand that easily fits in a wallet. The screen protector is of decent quality considering it is a free pack in. Installing the Incipio DualPro CF is extremely easy. Simply install the screen protector first, slip on the silicone core, then snap in the shell. Everything fits perfectly and can be removed quickly. The case will not come apart with use and the silicone core does not stretch out of place when installing the shell.
The silicone core slides over the iPhone 5/5s with just enough give. It would be next to impossible to overstretch the silicone core while installing the phone. It is thick enough to provide good protection against every day drops from counter tops, tables, pockets, and bags. The silicone is cut generously to cover as much of the phone as possible. Beside the space for the screen there is a cut out for the mute switch on the side of the silicone and three holes on the bottom for the speaker, microphone, and headphone port. The buttons are replicated nicely on the silicone core which allows easy manipulation of the button while the phone is in a bag or pocket.
The silicone extends to the front of the phone and provides approximately a centimeter of coverage on the top and bottom of the front face of the phone. The extra coverage will lift the phone clear off tables when resting the iPhone 5 screen down. This should spare screen protectors from unnecessary abuse on dirty tables.
The camera hole is well sized. It is large enough to not interfere with the camera’s flash. For those using iOS 7’s new accessible flashlight button, the case will marginally affect the outer edges of the overspill, the portion of the light away from the main light beam. In actual use, the difference is negligible.
Compared to previous versions of the DualPro for the iPhone 5, the cut out for the headphone port is much smaller. The original iteration was capable of handling all but the largest of audio cables designed for home audio systems. My largest headphone plug, the stock cable that are included with the Shure 215SE, was able to fit in the DualPro CF’s headphone port with a little bit of stretching of the silicone. The generous sizing of the silicone core means the case does have a bit of room to stretch to accommodate larger cables. However, you will run the risk that the stretched silicone will pop the headphone plug out of place. Luckily, the average headphone cable should be able to fit without any stretching.
The polycarbonate portion of the case is advertised as Incipio’s “Plextonium” material. It is a proprietary blend of polycarbonate that advertises better drop and scratch protection compared to regular polycarbonate. Unfortunately, I lack both the technical skills and the laboratory to test this claim in a scientific manner. However, in my experience, the Plextonium shell has held up very well in daily use. The phone has been jostled around in backpacks, unceremoniously dumped into TSA screening bins with keys and other bits of metal, and dropped a few times on accident. There are some faint scuffs and scratches on the sides of the shell, but that is it.
The back of the polycarbonate shell has a carbon fibre finish. I do not believe it is real carbon fibre, but it gives the phone a subtle but classy finish. Surprisingly, the back seems to have held up better against scratches and scuffs compared to the sides of the phone.
The two piece design of the DualPro CF makes it resistant to drops. The silicone is especially thick near the bottom and top of the case. Unfortunately, the CF’s silicone core is a little thin on the corners of the case in comparison to the tops and bottoms as the Plextonium shell needs somewhere to latch onto.
Compared to the original DualPro’s slightly rubbery surface, the CF version has a slick finish. The carbon fibre finish does give a little bit of texture, but it is not much. The trade-off compared to the original DualPro is that the DualPro CF will slide out of pockets or across desks easier. The case is thin enough to slip into most pant pockets except the front pocket of tight skinny jeans. On the other hand, the CF version will be a bit harder to grip compared to the original DualPro. The DualPro CF does not add too much bulk to the phone as it adds only 5.1mm of depth and 1.3 ounces to the already light iPhone 5/5s. Based on the case size, I believe the DualPro CF strikes an excellent balance between bulk and protection.
Incipio advertises the materials in the DualPro CF case as radio transparent. Although I cannot properly test this in a scientific manner, I did not notice any loss in reception with the case applied.
The Incipio DualPro CF takes the already excellent DualPro case and provides a new aesthetic for those looking for an extra flair compared to the original case. However, the carbon fibre look will set buyers back an extra $5.00. Personally, I find it a hefty sum for the carbon fibre finish. I feel the price point of the original DualPro is a much better value. However, the DualPro CF is still an excellent option for those looking for a durable and protective case for general use.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
This weekend saw the abundant gathering of magic players at local games stores, including Good Games, Battlecraft Games, Hall of Heroes and The Games Cube for the Theros Prerelease. The brand new addition to Magic The Gathering offers players a truly unique and exciting journey, as they explore one (if not all) of the five pathways (battle, might, ambition, wisdom and honor) of the Theros Hero’s Path.
Having attended the sealed ($40) event on Saturday from 4pm-8pm at Good Games Burwood, I found myself venturing towards the Path of Battle. On Theros, those who choose this path are energised by blood and fire (hence the colour red) and must lead a great army and thrive in combat as a warrior. Accordingly players received The Warrior hero card, Ember Swallower, a powerful elemental creature as the promo card and a red d20 life counter, along with five booster packs and a ‘seeded’ booster pack featuring strategy cards fit for the Path of Battle.
Despite choosing this Hero Pack, I decided to experiment playing with the cards I received from the Path of Might (Green) and Path of Honor (White) for the first two rounds. Surprisingly, I did better in these games against opponents, as opposed to the last two rounds of using my best red and white cards. Based on my results, I received an additional two Theros booster packs (one of which contained the white planeswalker, Elspeth, Sun’s Champion!).
For those of you who missed out on the Theros prerelease, there will be a launch weekend September 27-29 and Game Day from October 19-20, courtesy of Wizards of the Coast. For more information on the release of Theros, check out the official website here.
As you may have noticed Rockstar Games‘ Grand Theft Auto V came into being this week, raking in a billion dollars in the first three days of its release – marking the fastest time that any piece of entertainment has reached the milestone according to Take-Two Interactive. It took Call of Duty: Black Ops fifteen days to make a billion dollars. GTA V is perhaps the biggest deal that gaming has, and I haven’t played it yet.
GTA IV left me cold. I managed to slug out ten hours in the company of Niko Bellic before coming to the conclusion that bowling was as boring as all hell, and that chick that kept calling me should go die in a fire. Couldn’t I just mess around in peace? Why did driving have to be so hard? Can I have a proper mission now? Is this really the shooting mechanic?
My dislike for IV needs some context. During the previous console generation I had ended up on the Gamecube side of the fence, and being a cash poor teenager that was where I had to stay. No GTA for me. No Vice City, no San Andreas, no nostalgia. So when IV came along and bashed me around the head with boring tasks I had no drive to hang on for the good stuff.
That experience led to me being seriously unfazed by the release of GTA V. I was firm in my belief that I wasn’t a GTA person, but it was cool that the vast majority of the gaming world seemed to be. It took over everything, I saw posters everywhere I went, Twitter was bursting with GTA stuff, Facebook became a GTA V progress report network and the sales figures floating around were incredible.
Then it started – that little niggle in my head. Like some sort of gaming Gollum I began to hear little thoughts protesting the lack of GTA V in their life. “Gets it! Play it! We wants it!”. Now in a not so bizarre twist I am no longer a teenager but I am still cash poor, so it’s not possible for me to lay down the best part of $100 for a game and not bat an eyelid. I need to eat.
But should I? Should I forego a significant amount of nutrition and coffee so I can take some selfies, participate in torture and film someone having anal sex? Stephen Fry appears to be playing it, or at least is aware of it to the point of character names – Stephen Fry!
I have to say that Trevor in GTA V is not a very nice man at all… dear me.
Every man and his dog is playing this game – is that good enough reason for me to? If you never try you never know, but is it me that cares or is the media super-saturation fuddling my brain?
This disconnect I’m having seems to be a common theme – Capsule Computer’s Joe Morgan has already spoken about his experience with the franchise in Grand Theft Abstinence, and I share a similar world view when it comes to crime drama – for the most part it just leaves me cold.
There’s also been a lot of drama around reviewers for a handful of websites who haven’t rated GTA V quite as highly as everyone else – or maybe a better way to express it is that they haven’t rated it as highly as the public think they should have. That’s a stupid avenue to start travelling down internet dwellers – free press remember?
But with my Gollum moment I began to understand why there had been such a backlash against these reviewers. If someone with little previous experience of the franchise and a firm disinterest in it can suddenly want to play it for reasons purely stemming from media exposure and peer pressure – how are the people who are huge fans affected by this stuff? If I can feel the cultural effect of this game release, what’s it like for those in deep already?
What’s it like for the guy who lined up at midnight, got his copy of GTA V and was then stabbed and mugged on his way home? His attackers may have mugged him regardless of the game being involved, but the story certainly plays into the cultural cocoon that is forming around GTA. I’m willing to bet that the mugging wouldn’t have hit the media the way it did if the guy had been walking home with a copy of any other game.
The strength of the Grand Theft Auto phenomenon is undeniable – it is one of the few games that can break out of the gamer world and take it’s billion dollar haul stomping around the grounds of mainstream pop culture. People, not just gamers, pay attention when GTA is around. It’s a financial and critical success, has a pop culture impact and social media presence to die for, and it’ll most likely walk away with numerous game of the year awards.
If you haven’t heard, Aksys Games is going to be publishing a certain digital game created by ORiGO Games and Extend Studios called A.R.E.S. Extinction Agenda EX on the XBLA, but at the time of the game’s announcement gamers had no idea when the game would be released.
Well today Aksys Games has announced that A.R.E.S. Extinction Agenda EX is going to be released on the XBLA on October 2nd around the world. A.R.E.S. Extinction Agenda EX is an action side-scrolling platformer where players take control of Ares, an alien cyborg tasked with ending Zytron’s reign of terror and saving Minos Station.
With Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl‘s release date growing ever closer, Atlus USA has continued its trend of releasing trailers to introduce gamers to the various characters that will be featured in the series’ first ever established storyline.
The latest class to be introduced happens to be the Highlander. The Highlander is a strong warrior that wields a spear to deal out damage to any enemies he may come across in his mission. The Highlander is the team leader and you can check him out in action in the trailer below as well as a handful of new English screens for Etrian Odyssey Untold which is set to be released in North America on October 1.
The second day of the Tokyo Game Show saw Konami show off a new gameplay demo of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, set during daytime and running on the PlayStation 4 in real time. Hideo Kojima once again personally showed it off at Sony’s booth. The game was also shown running on the Xbox One.
The previous gameplay demonstration was played during the game’s nighttime cycle, where Snake would be much harder to spot. One thing to notice is the silky smooth framerate running at 60FPS. Check out the video below.
Today Ubisoft released a new trailer for the latest Assassin’s Creed’s multiplayer mode. Anyone who happens to be familiar with the series will likely know what to expect from this mode, but anyways you can check out the trailer below to see what type of characters will be available for use in this latest pirate themed game in the series.
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is set to be released on the 360, PS3, Wii U, and the PC at the end of October and beginning of November and as a launch title when the Xbox One and PS4 are released.
Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures is a platformer based on the animated show of the same name, and is currently in development for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U and 3DS. Check out the screenshots below.
Pac-Man Championship Edition DX+ is a free update to the original Championship Edition DX from 2010. It will include new modes, improved leaderboards and more DLC. It will also be available to buy on Steam from September 25. Have a look at the trailer below.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment have announced that Hot Wheels World’s Best Driver is now available in the UK on Xbox 360 and PS3 for a standard retail price of $51.10 AUD (£29.99 GBP). The highly anticipated racing and action-packed game, Hot Wheels World’s Best Driver is suitable for players of all ages; brave enough to enter the front seat and take on the greatest driving challenge yet.
With tons of outrageous stunts to perform and the chance to compete in dozens of unique, fast-paced, replayable challenges, players join the ranks of Team Hot Wheels and experience the driving styles of the four different coloured teams; Red, Blue, Yellow and Green. As shown in the official launch trailer below, the thrilling race will test the competitive limits of players and their ability to take on 24 iconic Hot Wheels vehicles and set in four under-the-radar test facilities around the world.
Don’t want to miss out on your shot at becoming the World’s Best Driver? Stay tuned with Capsule Computers for more information on the release of Hot Wheels across other territories and platforms.
