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New Strike Vector Trailer Released at Gamescom

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Ragequit Corporation released a brand new gameplay trailer for their upcoming air shooter Strike Vector at Gamescom 2013. The video features some butt clenching dog fights in a midair construction zone full of tight spaces and sharp corners.

Strike Vector was Greeenlit on Steam earlier in the month. It is a air shooter that mixes dog fighting with classic FPS gameplay. Players will pilot Vectors, special ships capable of moving like a jet or hovering like a helicopter. These ships carry two weapons and can be augmented with player selected perks allowing players to fly ships tailored to their personal play style. Ragequit Corporation is focusing on multiplayer gameplay with classic modes like Deathmatch and Capture the Flag.

Strike Vector will be released on Steam for Windows in 2014.

Link the Slug Coming Soon to Mobile Devices

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OX Play and BulkyPix have today announced that their new puzzle game Link the Slug will be coming to iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, on August 29th for the dirt cheap price of $0.99. Players need to help Dr. Steven Schrodinstein get rid of all the slugs he created when a daring experiment went wrong or else his house will be over run by his slimy creations. Player’s will discover new ways to break free from the invasive creatures as they complete over 70 levels in this exciting new puzzle game.

link-the-slug-icon-01Features : 

  • Casual and addictive
  • 3 worlds, 75 levels and more to come…
  • Smooth & charming characters.
  • Unique gameplay set on visual analysis.
  • Fun, brain-squeezing experience suitable for all ages.

Splinter Cell: Blacklist 5th Freedom Edition Unboxing

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I suck at stealth games. There, I said it. Splinter Cell used to really intimidate me, and for good reason, as I proved to myself when I would eventually play and die multiple times over…in one section….

Then, Splinter Cell: Conviction came along. It was easily the most accessible, but on the other side of the coin, that pissed off the true stealth fans who didn’t appreciate its turn towards action. Now Ubisoft‘s Splinter Cell: Blacklist is upon us and has found that happy medium, where everyone is accommodated, and not with any sacrifice. At least, that’s what we’ve heard – our review shall be published within the week. For now though, we wanted to share with you this unboxing of the special 5th Freedom Edition… try to ignore the barking dog!

You can find the video below the following gallery. Although the version spotlighted is for the Xbox 360, it should be noted that our review will be of the PS3 version – this is my personal copy. Enjoy, and keep it locked on Capsule Computers for our imminent verdict.

CC Anime Episode 21 – Cardfight Dandy

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Welcome to another episode of CC: Anime, Capsule Computers Anime Podcast! In our twenty first episode, the CC: Anime crew discuss the latest anime and manga news, our thoughts of SMASH! 2013, J-Stars Victory VS, Attack on Titan the video-game, Pokemon returning to its origins, Space Dandy being pretty dandy, as well as answering your questions and announcing the winner of our Chihayafuru competition.

Cast: Luke Halliday, Travis Bruno, Frank Inglese and Kane Bugeja

We hope you enjoy CC: Anime Episode 21, be sure to let us know what you think.

 

 

• Subscribe to our iTunes Podcast Channel

• Subscribe to Podcast RSS Feed

• Download the Episode directly – (right click and save as)

Episode Guide:

Intro – 00:00:27
News Flash – 00:02:45
Break – 01:13:34
Interaction – 01:14:03
Competition – 01:40:40
Outro – 01:42:10

Stories covered in this podcast:

Thanks for listening. Copyright Capsule Computers Pty Ltd – All Rights Reserved

Brave Extreme Conditions in Lost Planet 3 August 29th

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Australia and New Zealand are set to experience another an ice age when Lost Planet 3 drops nationwide on August 29th for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and as a digital download for PC. A retail version for Windows PC will become available on September 26th.

With this latest addition to one of Capcom’s major franchises, new truths about E.D.N. III and its colonial history will be revealed. With a healthy mix of on-foot and in-rig gameplay, the player as Jim Peyton will need to utilise all the tools at their disposal to survive the onslaught of the Akrid whilst completing their objectives (that T-Energy ain’t gonna extract itself!). Outside of single-player (hands-on impressions here), the game also includes a full set of multiplayer modes – which we sampled – where players assume the role of either the NEVEC forces or the Snow Pirates in up to ten player battles.

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The Lost Planet 3 official soundtrack, featuring all of the in-game music that Jim listens to in his Utility Rig, is also available for purchase digitally on Amazon beginning today, and iTunes very shortly. Stay tuned to Capsule Computers as we’ll have our review up in the coming weeks. Also check out our recent voice interview with Jim Peyton himself, actor Bill Watterson.

Disney Infinity Themed Toyboxes Arrive

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Disney Infinity has been out for a few days now, and players all over the world are ripping open Power Disc packs, putting figures on the Infinity Base, playing through the play sets and spending countless hours in the massive Toy Box. That Toy Box is about to get a whole lot bigger though as users can soon share their own creations online for the community to enjoy.

In preparation for the User-Generated Content (UCG), Disney have prepared five themed toy-boxes for players to download and try out completely free. The Toy Boxes are available on the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii U versions of the game, and include;

Wonderland Maze – Fall down the rabbit hole and fight through this Alice in Wonderland maze. Take on obstacles and enemies at every turn.

Medieval Arena – On guard! Transport to the Middle Ages and joust opponents on horseback — or atop an elephant.

Tron Vs. Sugar Rush – Tron and Wreck-It Ralph collide! Challenge friends on a high speed race through The Grid and Sugar Rush.

Happiest Place – The Happiest Toy Box on Earth! Experience the magic of this Disneyland recreation shown at the D23 Expo.

Floating Castle – Soar high above and take in the view! Rail grind up into a Floating Castle and battle friends for the throne in this royal Toy Box.

Pretty wild hey? If you have already gotten your hands on Disney Infinity then get to downloading these bad boys and trying them out! If you haven’t, because you have been waiting for our review, then don’t worry! Our review will be up in the next few days, including an in-depth look at all of the available Play Sets. So for all the Disney Infinity news as it becomes available, stay tuned to Capsule Computers.

Cloud Spin Review

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Cloud Spin
Developer: Skytrain Studios
Publisher: Skytrain Studios
Platforms: iPad
Release Date: 20th August 2013
Price: $1.99 – Available Here

Overview
Enter a beautiful world high up above the world. Now throw in a rabbit…and a jetpack. Awesome. Soar through the skies and get the highest score you can. Ever wondered how well a a rabbit can fly? Probably not. But let’s find out anyway.

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The land above the clouds

Story
“You play as Lucky, a fearless adrenaline-fueled rabbit trying to etch his name in the pillars of history as the greatest competitor to ever live!”
Pretty much sums it up…

Gameplay
The controls of Cloud Spin are very simple. Simply swipe the screen with one finger to alter course. Placing a second finger on the screen grants a fairly significant speed boost, at the cost of precision.

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It’s a celebration!

The game possesses two game modes: Tournament and Free Flight. In Tournament, the goal is to complete the course with the highest score you can muster. Points are gained primarily by collecting the coins spread across the course, with a score multiplier increasing for each coin collected. Though the coins are placed helpfully in lines, their placement is the source of difficulty, often positioned very close to hazards. Hitting one of these hazards, such as a wall, will result in a deduction of points and, if hit three times, a game over. However, the daring will be rewarded points for a “near miss” which involves flying as close to an object as possible without touching it. Points are also gained from special stars, which appear at certain places during a level. These stars are more difficult to collect than coins, as they move in various ways, but garner more points. At the end of each Tournament level, the player’s score is calculated, taking into account points earned, highest multiplier gained and best time. In order to unlock the next course, players must gain at least a Bronze medal.

In Free Flight mode, the goal is to collect presents. However, unlike Tournament mode, Free Flight does not have a linear course. Presents are scattered across a large map, positioned at various heights. Also unlike Tournament, players do not have a jetpack, instead they must rely only on glider wings. In order to stay flying, players must hit updrafts to gain height. Divebombing from heights also provides a large speed boost, aiding in the collection of moving presents. There is also no timer in Free Flight, allowing players to explore for as long as they desire.

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Enter the Neon Dragon!

Visuals and Audio
Cloud Spin is beautiful. Powered by the Unreal Engine, the game features amazing 3D graphics and beautiful environments. Each level features a unique environment from start to finish, without reusing assets in the same course. The featured environments range from pleasant natural landscapes, to vibrant neon courses.

The soundtrack is…majestic. Featuring trumpets, piano, drums and cymbals, the music adds to the whimsical nature of the game. The audio creates an overall feeling of wonder, amplifying the entire experience. The only downside to the soundtrack would be a lack of variety in the music. This only becomes an issue if a player were to fail constantly, being forced to restart a level over and over.

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He’s late! He’s late!

Overall
Cloud spin is a great game. The visuals are excellent and the soundtrack is triumphant. With simple gameplay, it’s easy to pick up and play (as seen in the video below). The requirements for unlocking new content increase as you play, through a fairly reasonable difficulty curve. In order to unlock the final level, players require a near perfect run through of each course. This can add an element of frustration, but the length of the levels mitigates this somewhat. Hopefully the game will add some more courses in the future and keep this rabbit flying.  All in all, Cloud Spin is fun, simple and beautiful.

9-0-capsules-out-of-10

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar Interview

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Here at Capsule Computers, we recently sat down with Carrie Gouskos, Senior Producer at Mythic Studios, to discuss MMO RPG Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar published by EA Mobile currently available on iOS platforms (iPAD and iPhone) via the iTunes Store for free. Available here.


Q1) What made you bring Ultima Forever out onto iOS platform?

Ultima Forever was originally developed on PC, but always with cross-platform in mind so that players could explore together from different devices. After getting it up and running on PC, our next step was to put in on a tablet. We had some previous experience developing on iOS, so that’s why we chose that first. And when we got that initial build running on an iPad – something happened, like a lightbulb. It felt really good at that size, at that perspective, so we decided to release mobile first instead of PC. This had the added benefit of being able to bring this type of multiplayer online game to a whole new batch of gamers, while still being able to offer it to loyal Ultima fans. Our original goal is still intact, to expand to other platforms – beginning with Android. Of course, it will always depend on the needs and desires on each device, but we would like to make it available to as many people as possible.

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Q2) Most MMORPGs have a wide range of classes to choose from. At the moment we have the Fighter and Mage classes available, and the Paladin and Druid to come, but what other classes can we expect to see in the future?

We’ve actually switched the order around a number of times. Our initial plans were to launch with the Fighter, Mage, and Druid. Then we started looking at the Paladin and Ranger. We’ve made a lot of progress on those classes, but it’s always a challenge to make them both interesting and balanced, not to mention all the armor sets and weapons. And since we’ve launched with two, we’re actually considering ways to introduce the other classes without making players have to roll eight different characters from scratch, but we haven’t finalized how we’re going to do that yet.

Q3) There’s room for improvement for combat, it’s fairly mundane at the moment. Is there any chance we can expect to see more exciting combat and a change to the control system any time soon?

We’re constantly evaluating how ‘fun’ the game is.  However a question like this is a bit hard to answer, because some people like the combat and controls, while other prefer other alternatives.  We wanted to make a game that gave players just enough action, with a balance of strategy required in different battles, that also works well on the platform.  Some of the benefits of being higher level is getting access to special abilities, like the advanced abilities which can really vary the way the character plays, and the Ultimate ability, which you get for free at level 10 is just badass all around.

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Q4) The graphics in Ultima Forever are amazing, hand painted and filled with intricate detail, but many people/players have reported that their games/sessions keep crashing, even on newer devices. Is this caused by the graphics? And Is there a patch coming out soon to fix this?

We have a number of ways to address these concerns and we are using all of them to our advantage. However, a game of this size with this many players playing across all these different devices has a lot of complexities.  We’re learning a lot from the players in the live environment and have been able to react very quickly as a result. For example, we have made quite a few server changes and client data changes since launch to address the top issues as they came in.  We also fast-tracked a new build into our deployment schedule with nothing but client code changes to address our biggest concern, even though we addressed many of them with an in-game patch last weekend. That version is out now in all areas.  We still have some issues we are fixing and we will continue to push them up by whatever means is most expedient without creating additional risks to your play experience. So thank you for your crash logs and your forum posts, they help a lot.

Q5) Ultima Forever is free to play but does have a lot of focus on micro transactions/in app purchases, will players be able to fully enjoy the game without having to spend money?

Yes. The goal of the game was never to charge for content, or restrict a player’s ability to play. That’s why the game doesn’t use more typical purchases like energy mechanics that force you to wait, ask friends, or straight out purchase to keep playing. None of the in-game content is restricted in that way, and all of it can be played absolutely for free. In fact, the entire development team played the game all the way through soft launch for free because we didn’t have Canadian credit cards. I’m halfway to level 15, working on leveling up some reputation, and having finally bought currency, it just feels like a convenience. That was always the intent, make it make things more convenient. You don’t need all the ability slots, but it does make things easier and more fun. It’s your choice!

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Q6) Is it possible, in future updates, to have the gear dropped by enemies, as well as being able to find them in chests without having to spend keys?

We actually have something sort of like that coming in our next major update which we are finishing up soon for submission to Apple.

Q7) What can we expect to see in future updates?

More content, more levels, more features and more bug fixes as needed. J Also, leaderboards!

Q8) Will there be more quests and missions available later on down the track?

There will be quests to go with new content or new levels to give players more stuff to enjoy in the world of Britannia. We’re very much looking forward to continuing the story of the Avatar, as well as show some of the coolest dungeons we’ve built to date.

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Q9) What’s your main goal for this game for players that new to the Ultima series? What do you want to achieve with this game?

We want them to enjoy themselves first and foremost.  We also want them to get a glimpse into Ultima’s rich backstory and world, one that has stood up to multiple iterations over the years.  We hope they will fall in love with the lore as much as we have, but at the end of the day, if they just enjoy the game, either solo or with friends, that’s fine too. As a side goal, we really hope that we’ve been able to unlock a new game experience on mobile devices. For those of us that remember the first time we played in a vast open world, interacting with so many other players, grouping and going into dungeons – we want to bring that enjoyment and excitement to new people.

Q10) Can we expect to see more from the Ultima Forever series on iOS further on down the track?

We want to continue to support the game and obviously we want to give people more of what they want.  Who knows what the future holds, but I’m pretty sure Ultima is truly forever.


We would like to thank Carrier and great guys over at Mythic for taking the time to speak to us and wish them and Ultima Forever all the best moving forward.

Paid and Free DLC Planned For Rome II Post-Launch

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With little over a week to go until Total War’s latest grand daddy lands, it should come as no surprise that Creative Assembly are already planning additional content for Rome II post-launch.

“Rome II will be the biggest game we’ve ever released, in terms of scope, gameplay features and sheer weight of content,” said James Russell, Lead Designer, “but even then we’re just scratching the surface of the Roman period, an era so rich in diversity that it’s easy to foresee releasing relevant content for years after Rome II has shipped.”

If Shogun 2 is anything to go by, it’s clear Rome II will have both paid DLC along with free feature updates and regular optimisation such as AI balancing. Specifically, Russell mentions Culture Packs (units and factions), Feature Packs (gameplay or aesthetic changes) and Campaign Packs (story-based expansions).

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On day one players that pre-order the game will receive the otherwise paid-for Greek States Culture Pack and the free Pontus faction update. By October the free Selecuid Empire will be available to download while the Nomadic Tribes Culture Pack featuring the Royal Scythians, Roxolani and Massagetae will be available to buy as DLC.

Total War: Rome II will available on September 3, 2013 for the PC.

Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa’s First Poster

Bad-Grandpa-Poster-01Paramount‘s recently announced comedy spin-off, Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa, has its first official poster (visible to the right).

If you haven’t seen the announcement trailer, you can check it out here. Going by the raucous reaction to the video – which played before our Pain & Gain screening earlier this month (review here) – Bad Grandpa may just be a worthy excursion for the Johnny Knoxville character.

Here is the official synopsis for the film, which releases nationwide November 14th this year:

86 year-old Irving Zisman is on a journey across America with the most unlikely companion, his 8 year-old Grandson Billy in “Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa”. This October, the signature Jackass character Irving Zisman (Johnny Knoxville) and Billy (Jackson Nicholl) will take movie audiences along for the most insane hidden camera road trip ever captured on camera. 

Along the way Irving will introduce the young and impressionable Billy to people, places and situations that give new meaning to the term child-rearing  The duo will encounter male strippers, disgruntled child beauty pageant contestants (and their equally disgruntled mothers), funeral home mourners, biker bar patrons and a whole lot of unsuspecting citizens.

Real people in unreal situations, making for one really messed up comedy.