Farming Simulator by Giant Software has a well-known presence on the PC platform, with apparently millions of copies sold since the start of the series. Now console players can unleash their inner farmer as it heads to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on September 4.
Rather than a simple port, the game has been optimised with new content: an exclusive American environment and tons of new vehicles. 5 screenshots have been released showcasing this content below.
Farming Simulator will be playable at Gamescom, Cologne, between August 21-25, with a preview to be held on the A-010 stand in Hall 9.
The game is exactly what it says on the box, a simulator that challenges players with everyday farming life. Featuring a career that involves animal husbandry, crops, sales, farming vehicles and machines all faithfully recreated.
Farming Simulator will be available on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on September 4, 2013, in retail stores and download. Check out the trailer that was released last month.
Ubisoft announced today that it is proud to celebrate the 15th anniversary of ANNO, the franchise developed by the folks over at Blue Byte.
First released in 1998, the franchise has had five main games, multiple adaptations, and a highly successful browser game. The franchise has sold more than 5 million copies worldwide with its most recent installment, ANNO 2070, surpassing 1 million in sales. Two thirds of those ANNO 2070 sales came from non-German-speaking territories.
To celebrate the “ANNOversary,” Anno Online will be having a new event where players will help repair the ships of a flotilla and assist the king’s cartographer with several new quests. It also introduces two new currencies: planks and doubloons.
Folks interested in checking out more or trying the game out for themselves can head on over to their official website here.
Fast Cars at Your Fingertips: Premium Deluxe Motorsport Cars; Feltzer, Tailgater and Voltic
Thriving Economy and Commerce: Online trading with the BAWSAQ stock exchange, could lead to significant investments in the volatile Los Santos commercial real estate market
Affordable Healthcare: Self-medication dispensaries (medical marijuana), appointments with accredited therapist, Dr. Friedlander in San Andreas and  if you need patching up, go to Mount Zonah Medical Centres
Vehicular Customisation Shops: Make your ride your own, with customised wheels, paint, body kits and more
Shopping and Glamour: Experience Los Santos, from the well-tailored jet-setter couture in the high-street shops of Rockford Hills to the dishevelled and disaffected drug addict hipster vibe in Hawick
Accessible Air Travel:Â Log onto ElitasTravel.com and purchase luxury aircraft from Luxor and Shamal jetliners to high-end helicopters
Leadership You Can Trust: Vote for former stuntman, Jock Cranley or pro-active liberal, Sue Murry.
Beaches and Watersports: Relax and take a swim at our beaches, or go deep and scuba dive to the ocean floor.
The Great Outdoors: Explore the Blaine County countryside and bring a rifle to hunt for dangerous game, hike to the peak of the majestic Mount Chiliad, or hire a plane and parachute from on high.
Friendly Neighbours: Stop and chat with a member of The Epsilon Program for some enlightenment, or head to Blaine County, where they always extend a helping hand to outsiders.
Check out the official GTAV website, for further updates on the travelogue, more screenshots and new official artwork releases featuring Michael & Franklin’s heist Preparation and Trevor’s acquaintance Nervous Ron.
Remember Hot Wheels? Those little collectable toy cars that came in the small blue packets, well they’re still around and popular as ever it seems. In an announcement today Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Mattel, Inc. have entered into an agreement for the global distribution of the upcoming video game, Hot Wheels World’s Best Driver.
The racing game promises high speed and crazy stunts, with all sorts of crazy ramps and loops. There will be 24 customisable vehicles to race with, including classic designs like the Ripper, the Twin Mill, the Boneshaker and the special edition Hot Wheels Camaro. Players can race in over 70 events that take place across the world in special Hot Wheels Training Facilities.
Hot Wheels World’s Best Driver is based off the web movie of the same name that Hot Wheel’s produced recently. The movie featured a number of skiled racers split into four teams, racing off against each other to be crowned the World’s Best Driver. The game will be launching on September 20 in the UK for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS and PC and will be releasing in other territories around the same time. Check out the launch trailer below to see first hand what Hot Wheels World’s Best Driver will bring to the track.
Ten indie developers will be part of the first ever Indie Arena booth at GamesCom 2013 in Cologne, Germany. The developers will be featuring playable builds of their games in the public exhibition Hall 9, Booth A-045. The following developers will be bringing their games to GamesCom 2013:
IndieArena.de has brought together the ten developers who participate in their community. The booth is supported by Unity Technologies, Headup Games, Application Systems Heidelberg, OUYA, Gioteck and Mediadesign Hochschule Düsseldorf. GamesCom2013 is running from August 21st to 25th
Chillingo and LambdaMu are releasing a major content update for their freemium iOS title Pixel People. The update will bring over 30 new jobs, more achievements, mutants to meet, and new buildings. New lands will be made available to explore and players will be able to visit their friend’s cities.
Pixel People is a freemium game that allows players to build a brand new Utopia from scratch. Players will need to splice the genetics of their existing population of citizens to create new and exciting jobs for incoming clones. The world is full of secrets to discover through experimentation. It can be downloaded from iTunes.
Highly anticipated co-op shooter PayDay 2 launched around the world for Windows PC today through Steam. The game costs $29.99 USD. The PlayStation Network downloadable release for the PlayStation 3 will be released tomorrow for $49.95 AUD. Retail stores will begin selling the physical copies of PayDay 2 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on August 15th for the same price. A Xbox Games on Demand is in the works for a later release.
PayDay 2 is a co-op first person shooter that brings players together through the mysterious Crime.Net to commit heists across Washington D.C. Successful heists will award players with experience to buy new perks and money to buy better equipment, but fail a heist and the meticulously planned robbery can go horribly wrong. Players can suddenly be forced to fight their way through hordes of cops to get out alive.
Mad Catz, one of the top designers of gaming products, has announced some exciting news with shipping of their new TRITTON Pro+ True 5.1 Surround Sound Headset for use with Mac and PC. Announced first back in E3 these headsets offer an array of impressive features including the aforementioned 5.1 surround sound with four separate drivers in each ear to deliver crisp quality sound, the headset also has no need for a separate decoder unit and uses the computers sound card to process audio. Also included is the bonus option of the Selectable Voice Monitoring, a useful option that allows gamers the option of whether they want to hear their own voice in the headsets or not. The headset will also feature light weight and flexible construction for ease of use during long gaming sessions.
When initially unveiled back in June the response was pretty positive. President and CEO of Mad Catz, Darren Richardson, said “The TRITTON Pro+ headset received a warm reception with the passionate gamers at E3 thanks to its advanced feature set and multiple speakers, delivering highly accurate sound separation, ideal for online gaming; We believe the TRITTON Pro+ for Windows PC and Mac will enable us to further diversify our platform base within the high-end audio category.”
For more information on Mad Catz, its other products, and other related information you can visit their official website.
Your dreams of leading a global empire shall lay dormant no longer, as the ultimate grand-strategy game – Europa Universalis IV – has launched today for PC, Mac and Linux users worldwide.
Take control of a nation in the ‘Age of Discovery’ and reshape history (an example of which can be seen in the launch trailer directly below) as you battle ruthless A.I. in an extensive single-player campaign and defeat your friends in 32 player multiplayer. Explore, trade, declare war, preach diplomacy, spread religion and expand your empire. We were just recently given a hands-off preview session with the title, and fans of the series/genre will be satiated, believe us.
‘Empire of Sweden’
The following is a list of Europa Universalis IV‘s main features:
Make your own decisions:Â Nation building is completely flexible and the possibilities are endless.
Bring out your negotiating skills in a deeper diplomatic system:Â Use coalitions, royal marriages and support for rebels and explore the possibilities of the new unilateral opinion system.
Use your Monarch Power:Â Experience the new system of monarch power where your choices are influenced by the caliber of the man you have at the top and will direct the ebb and flow of gameplay.
Experience the all new trade system:Â The trade system adds a new dimension to the great trade empires of the period. Gain control of vital trade routes and make the wealth of the world flow to your coffers.
Experience history coming to life:Â The great personalities of the past are on hand to support you as you make your mark on thousands of historical events
Turn the world into your playground:Â Enjoy hundreds of years of gameplay in a lush topographical map complete with dynamic seasonal effects.
Engage in Cross-platform Multiplayer:Â Battle against your friends or try the co-operative multiplayer mode that allows several players to work together to control a single nation with up to 32 players. Featuring hotjoin, improved chat, new matchmaking servers and support for a standalone servers.
Create your own history & customize your game:Â Europa Universalis IV gives you the chance to customize and mod practically anything your heart may desire and uses Steam Workshop.
You can purchase the game for $39.99 through Steam and other digital distributors, or shell out an extra $5 for the Deluxe Extreme Edition. If you want to try before you buy, a demo is currently available, allowing players to sample 28 years of in-game time. Happy conquering!
Warm Bodies is your typical love story; boy meets girl, boy eats girl’s boyfriend’s brains, boy falls in love with girl. Wait what? Ok so it is a not so typical love story, and it certainly isn’t a typical zombie story. If you are the kind of zombie fan who can only handle the classics, or whose zombies have to be violent, moronic drones then you will hate this movie. This movie is largely targeted at women, or men who have to sit through another boring rom-com with their girlfriend/wife. While it has its share of problems, it provides a nice subtle look at the ridiculousness of romanticising the monster genre, which is becoming ever-popular in this day and age.
Story
Warm Bodies follows the exploits of ‘R.’ R (Nicholas Hoult) is a zombie who can think and feel, but doesn’t have any memories of his life before being turned. He knows the rules of being a zombie, and is forced to live by them but is conflicted and disappointed by the fact that he has to abide by these rules. We learn very early on that by eating brains of a human, zombies gain their thoughts and memories, which is what triggers R falling for our lovely heroine, Julie (Teresa Palmer).
Aside from the zombie element, the movie plays out like any typical teen romantic comedy would; the girl’s father (played amazingly by John Malkovich) disapproves of R, although in this instance it is a little more justified than in many rom coms. The pair also have to overcome a difficult hardship and save lives, all while growing together and falling in love.
After eating Julie’s boyfriends brains, R develops his memories and this in conjunction with his initial reaction to seeing her starts to create a change in him, both physically and mentally so that he starts to become human. He immediately tries to protect Julie, and keep her safe from the other zombies, as well as their more vicious counterparts, the Bonies. He does this by making sure she stays locked in an airplane, and not leaving unless accompanied by him.
When watching the movie, I was really hoping that the pay off at the end would be that Julie wasn’t actually in-love with R, but instead was suffering from stockholm syndrome from him keeping her locked up. However this didn’t seem the case, and instead we end up with the typical, sappy “love conquers all” element that we see time and time again.
To enjoy Warm Bodies you effectively have to convince yourself to buy into the premise. If you have heard or seen anything about zombies in any media then you will be hard-pressed to suspend your disbelief enough for the movie to not make you angry. However if you can do that, you will find a film that although nonsensical at times, does a fine job of poking fun at how we humanise monsters so often in media today.
As I started to watch, I was trying to determine whether Warm Bodies is actively making a mockery of books/films like Twilight, or if it is a happy coincidence. It didn’t take me long to realise it was definitely the latter, as although there are no distinct jabs (at least I don’t think there was… I haven’t read or seen Twilight so I can’t be sure), the whole tone of the movie is reminiscent of a parody without ever crossing that line. Also there is one scene in particular where R is matched up against a picture of a traditional-looking zombie, and the differences are compared.
As a blend of the zombie and rom-com genres, it does allow for guys and girls to watch it together without either side being too repulsed, but saying that, neither side will be particularly thrilled either. The people who would probably get the most out of the plot would be those that are analysing it for an English or film-review class, as there is a lot to delve into here.
Visuals
It is difficult to make a post-apocalyptic movie setting look fresh and unique, and while Warm Bodies doesn’t quite go that far, it does accomplish a lot with the standard crumbling buildings and shanty towns. Most of this is accomplished by the fact that a good portion of the movie is set in an airport, which is not usually an area visited in most post-apocalyptic film/video games.
Aside from locale, costuming and makeup are done so well in this movie. Each zombie looks unique, and you can get a sense for their (undisclosed) backstory just from looking at them. Everything from the janitor, through to the two children in matching school uniforms. A lot of the colours are the same drab, grey-washed look that you would expect, but there are enough splashes of colour through the movie to break it up, and these rare instances of colour really do stand out and grab your attention (a perfect example would be R’s hoodie, which is a vibrant red colour even though it is tattered, torn and dirty).
The zombie makeup is vastly different from what many zombie-fans would expect. Instead of huge open wounds and oozing scabs, the zombies in Warm Bodies look dirty, slightly scared, and pale. This helps to make you forget that these creatures are meant to be nothing more than mindless eating machines who only want to feed. The lack of intensely violent makeup would also mean that the movie is more bearable for women, which is undoubtedly its target audience.
Audio
For a movie about interacting with zombies, Warm Bodies is a surprisingly dialogue heavy film. This would be alright, if half the dialogue wasn’t mumbles, grunts or groans. Even as R starts to develop his verbal skills, he can be difficult to understand and during my first viewing of the movie I had to switch on subtitles just so I could understand what was happening.
Aside from the dialogue, the movie suffers from a bit of audio inconsistency. One scene will be barely audible, while the next will be blowing your ears off. This isn’t only true for the action moments of the movie, as many of the touching moments suffer from the same problem.
While the movie’s dialogue and audio in general can suffer, one aspect where it really shines is the soundtrack. Warm Bodies compiles a bunch of great songs that are punctuated by some all-time rock and roll classics. Expecially during the earlier parts of the film, when R doesn’t have the ability to speak fluently, these musical tracks serve as a way for him to communicate what he is feeling, and as soon as a song starts to play the audience is made aware of the exact tone that is being conveyed.
Extras
The wealth of extras that come on-disc for Warm Bodies is incredible. Aside from nine deleted scenes, there are bunch of special featurettes and behind the scenes footage for fans to enjoy. Everything from how the make-up was applied for the zombies on the show, to home movies of actress Teresa Palmer, and even a look at the zombie-school the actors had to attend. There is definitely enough here to keep you entertained for hours after the movie finishes.
Overall
I think the best way I can describe Warm Bodies is “watchable.” While it has its problems, and it likely won’t be remembered fondly in years to come for any kind of cult appeal, it does manage to raise some interesting points about how the monster genre have become romanticised in film and TV. A mostly likable cast, help round out this film into something that won’t sit well with horror fans or zombie-purists, but adequately serves as a conversational piece. Due to its nature, I wouldn’t be surprised in a few years to hear it being added to the curriculum of some university film-analysis class.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
