Early this month Dekko revealed to the Reddit community that they had just submitted their newest projectDekkoScan to the App Store, and were awaiting approval from Apple. Yesterday Dekko announced that DekkoScan is now available on the App Store. DekkoScanallows users to scan real life objects and place them into Minecraft by using the same 3D technology that powers their Tabletop Speed game.
Some objects are easier to scan than others. Simple shapes with matte textures, bright colors, contrast density and high detail, especially at the top of the object, work best with DekkoScan. Too much plain color, transparency and reflective surfaces make it hard for the app to scan and import the object into Minecraft. In the launch release version, empty spaces are not recognized, so once they have been imported into Minecraft, they are filled with cubes. Compatible objects are ideally sized between one and five feet, or, 30cm to 2m. At this point in time, DekkoScan is not accurate enough to scan smaller objects and larger objects take copious amounts of scanning. The object must remain absolutely still during scanning. Objects like large pictures, beer/coke bottles, sleeping pets, tattoos, and, of course, inflatable owls are ideal for scanning and render well, whereas objects like small action figures, empty transparent bottles, plain colored dress shirts, moving objects and cars won’t render as well. The best way to scan an object is by placing it on a low-glare flat surface, preferably with little to no pattern. As the technology sees in black and white and needs a lot of contrast, reflecting objects won’t render correctly. Click here for more information and tips for DekkoScan.
Dekko is aware that there is room for improvement and are already working on their first update. Excellent things can be expected from DekkoScan, and of course, Dekko, who have introduced into the gaming community new technology that is bound to go far.
Supported devices include the iPad 2, 3, 4, mini, iPhone 4S and 5, provided they are running iOS 6.0+.
Dreamscapes: The Sandman Collector’s Edition Developer: Shaman Games Publisher:G5 Entertainment AB Platforms: iOS (iPhone, iPad) – Reviewed on iPhone Release Date: 24th July 2013 Price: Free – Available Here
Overview Once more it’s time to delve into the world of point and click puzzles. A young violinist has fallen into a bizarre and irreversible sleep. It’s up to you to search her mind, solve the mystery and bring her back to the waking world.
“Trust me, I’m a doctor”
Story Laura Young is a talented violinist, playing solo concerts in front of cheering crowds. Life is good. Until, after a mysterious figure appears, Laura falls into a sudden and irreversible sleep.
Now in a coma, Laura’s only hope is Dr Sanders. With the help of his unique dream science, he hopes to send you, the volunteer, into her subconscious in order to discover what is keeping her locked within her sleep. You must wander around a twisted world of fears and memories in order free her from her eternal dream.
Dream catch me when I fall…
Over the course of the game, the truth behind Laura’s slumber, her importance and the figures lurking in the shadows are hinted at, but the problem is that they are only hinted at. The overall premise of Dreamscapes isn’t a bad one, the story itself has some interesting ideas and characters, but it was all too ambiguous. Who are the Keepers? What exactly can Laura’s power do? Why exactly does the Sandman seek her so intently? Other than the general vibe of evil, the Sandman’s motivations aren’t explained. His goal is presented as something to be stopped, but that’s all.
Stick around and hit play after the credits role for some bonus gameplay. This continues on from the end of the story and concludes one question raised during the game. Unfortunately, it also raises a few more questions and fails to answer some of the more pressing details regarding the plot.
Roll up, roll up. Come and see the terrifying Clownface
Gameplay Point and click. Solve and progress. A classic escape the room style puzzler. You are presented with a series of interconnecting rooms, each containing a number of useful, if not obscure, objects. Collect the items, scan the rooms and figure out where and how to use the items you amass. Spread through out the rooms are puzzles to be solved, ranging from tile spinning to 8-bit side scrollers. These puzzles reveal items and passages for you to delve further into Laura’s mind.
As always, if you ever get stuck, there’s a handy dandy hint button to help you along. The button highlights the next area you should visit along with sometimes providing disorganised sketches for you to decipher, in order to learn which objects to use. A skip option also appears during the puzzle sequences, though it takes time to build up.
When a padlock just isn’t enough
Visuals and Audio Dreamscapes actually features a fair few ‘cutscenes’. Characters are fully animated during the more important moments of the game, given the visual some diversity, beyond different looking rooms. Once a level is completed, a transition animation is played, showing the effects you’ve had on the environment as well as introducing the next area.
During the cutscenes, the characters are also voiced, explaining the situation at hand as simply as they can. Though the vocals were a nice touch, they’re not exactly…good. Laura herself sounds like she is in a state of constant surprise, even though she knows more than you do. In an attempt to sound frightening, the Sandman staggers his words and breathes heavily when he talks. Unfortunately, rather than make him scary, this makes him sound like he is sick and struggling to breathe.
The game uses a variety of instruments in its soundtrack, in order to give off that creepy feeling. Piano, cello, violin, even chimes are combined to provide a full soundtrack to inspire a sense of mystery. Ominous chanting is also present amongst the instruments, again creating a scary vibe. The game also provides the classic spooky sound effects, such as the creaking doors and rusty gates that litter the areas.
Come for the rescue mission, stay for the picturesque landcapes
Overall Dreamscapes is an alright game. The storyline itself isn’t bad, but the execution was lacking. The characters were flat and plot details were left ambiguous. That being said, if you’re a fan of the point and click genre, you’ll enjoy the puzzles and pressing forward throughout the environments.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Aarklash: Legacy, the upcoming strategyrpg from Cyanide Studios, has finally launched it’s official website. They’re doing a few things to drum up interest in the game on the website as well.
Each week they will be unveiling a new character introduction. The first character they’re unveiling is Nella, a mage of the guild. Nella is the leader of the Wheelsword band players will get to know so well.
Along with the unveiling of the new site and Nella’s character profile, Cyanide has also released the first of their Developer Walkthrough videos. In the video, they show off the basics of combat, giving folks a good feel for what to expect when they get their hands on it.
You can check out the developer walkthrough video in the player below this video. You can also check out our first impressions of the game. If you want to see their newly unveiled website, you can check it out here.
Ubisoft have just released a brand new trailer for The Mighty Quest For Epic Loot, this time detailing the game’s story. Specifically the trailer explores the relationship between the three main characters of the game and the special connection between them.
The Mighty Quest For Epic Loot is a AAA free-to-play PC game with a killer sense of humour. Set in a floating medieval world, the aim of the game is get some epic loot and show-off like you know you should. You can check out the story trailer for The Mighty Quest For Epic Loot below. Don’t forget to register for the closed-beta at the official website for the game here.
Yes! Yes! We have another awesome trailer of the Captain Harlock CG Film and it is looking just as awesome as the others, if not, even more awesome! The official site for the upcoming remake posted the three minute trailer only today. This new trailer features a character that ISN’T Harlock, that’s outrageous, but the character shown is a new one by the name of Yama who was ordered to assassinate the Space Pirate by the Government. This movie is getting crowds in a frenzy and you can definitely see why, the classes tale of Captain Harlock is going to be thrown into the new age in a kick-arse way and it all starts with these action-packed trailers.
The Captain Harlock film hits Japanese theaters on the 7th of September this year in both 2D and 3D. Look, enough out of me, go and watch the fantastic trailer in the Featured Video Section below and don’t forget to head down to our comments section below that to drop us a line!
Here we have the next FIFA 14 Trailer which is labelled as the “FIFA 14 Ultimate Team Trailer”, basically within the trailer you’ll see Marcel Kuhn, who is the producer or the game, talk about the new and different aspects of the game like item layout and chemistry style which is the way players react with each other, it also determines how a player actually plays and it is also there to help you customise and determine your favourite style of play by giving certain players different attributes to, in end, help out the entire team. Mr Kuhn says in the video that a fair few of the things that have been changed in the game are based on what the playing community had to say about it, he mentions that the team listens to the community and makes changes based on that in an attempt to please almost every player.
The full FIFA 14 Ultimate Team Trailer is located in our Featured Video Section below so go ahead and watch, also don’t forget to head down just below that to our comments section and drop us a line, tell us what you think. Gear up, sports fans!
Now I’m a massive Masashi Kishimoto fan which means not only do I love his biggest hit Naruto it also means I love his art-style, his storytelling, his characters and his other works like Mario which was shown only a few months ago. If you too are a big Kishimoto fan you’ll know that for many years he has loved baseball and, in fact, played baseball as a kid. Not only that but he spoke about creating a Baseball-themed Manga, I would now like to introduce you to his next One-Shot, sports Manga: Bench.
We may be a little late to the part though because Mr. Kishimoto made and finished Bench in 2010 and only now is it hitting the English side of Weekly Shonen Jump but I say “better late than never” because this One-Shot is sure to be a home-run! Sorry, everybody, I had to do that. The last issue of the digital Weekly Shonen Jump announced that this would all be happening in the very next issue and is, really, a replacement for One Piece and Bleach which will not be shown in the next issue. I think that’s a pretty good trade off, even for just just one week. Get on it!
Dead On Sight Developer: Bombhead Publisher: Bombhead Platforms: iPhone (Reviewed), iPad, iPod Touch Release Date: 16th July 2013 Price: $1.99 – Available Here
Overview
The Zombie Genre is taking over the world much like a real Zombie plague. Games like Dead Rising and movies like World War Z (check out the World War Z iOS game review here) are both key players in the “Zombies are awesome” society we’re living in so it’s only natural that when something is cool you’ll be seeing a whole lot more of it. Dead On Sight is the next zombie game to be released on the iOS but it will be nowhere near the last, it’s a cool little arcade, action, shooter that I feel a lot of people will like.
Story
There really isn’t a great deal of story, there’s just enough to get you on your way and I suppose there’s just enough to justify why you’ll play the game. Basically you’re a guy called Irwin who seems as though he’s part of the local Police Force, you start off shooting cans off of a fence with your high-powered, combat sniper while taking bets from your police buddies, all of a sudden an alarm rings and Irwin is alerted to the fact that the dead has risen out of their graves and are now eating the others. The sheriff tells you, Irwin, to position yourself on a roof or some sort of high ground and basically leaves you to pick off the zombies one by one. Very basic, very simple and really it’s all you need for a game like this. The one little thing I liked was that the zombies actually rose from the dead and were not just some effect of a worldwide plague, that’s kind of new and fresh for something so old and rotten.
Visuals
This game went in and out of greatness when it came to the visual side of things. The actual game play graphics were as basic as it gets, I would say that’s fine considering it’s on iOS devices but I’ve seen far better graphics on iOS games so I have to take a couple points away there but that’s not to say the graphics were super terrible, they were more than bearable I just think they could’ve been a little better. The actual scope of the sniper, when you look through, is nice and clean and looks the way it’s supposed to. The one thing that blew me away was the little 8 or 9 panel comic strips between levels that, pretty much, explain where you’re headed to and what you have to do next; they were drawn extremely well in a hardcore gritty style that really inspired me to bust some zombie heads.
Audio
The music was great but repetitive. There was only ever music during those Comic Panel “cutscenes” and while that music was real hardcore it was the only piece of music, apart from the title screen, in the game. There’s a lot of guitar riffs and chord strums when you kill a zombie in a certain way which is really good because it pumps you up but there was one in-game sound that killed me everytime; the “Alert” siren. Everytime a zombie is somewhere it shouldn’t be, like a door or ladder, this great, honking, alert sound is played which annoyed the hell out of me yet it did make me jump on occasion which adds to the all around gameplay style.
Gameplay
Basically Dead on Sight as like a low-end sniper simulator, you tap the screen to look down your scope, you pinch the screen to zoom in, you press the trigger button to fire, that’s pretty much it. Your character is stationary so there’s no running or moving to better sniping spots. Now in this game only headshots count, you can hit a zombie in the leg, in the arm, in the chest and some limbs will blow off but the zombie will NOT be dead, no sir! This made the game both hard and interesting, it kind of forces you to actually be good with a rifle instead of just spraying bullets wherever you could. The one thing I hated was the fact that if you fail a mission you return to the start of the game no matter how many areas you’ve been too, that was the one big thing for me because it only takes one misfire to reset the whole game and while some people may like the difficulty I wasn’t really a fan of it. There are also a bunch of achievements that you can unlock and a few little mini-games that you unlock through completing the achievements so there IS lasting gameplay, you just have to be good enough to complete the achievements first.
Overall
This game is great if you just want to have a quick play while you’re waiting for something or while you’re on a break from work, it doesn’t take much thinking because, once you get good at it, it’s all about the reaction and anticipation of an enemy. If you love the zombie genre or even if you just love shooting and are a big fan of Sniper Rifles, it does a good job of emulating one so go ahead and pick up the game, for $1.99 you really have nothing to loose by trying out this game you may love it.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Saints Row IV keeps keeping on with their Hail to the Chief series this week with a look at the Abduction gun perfect for getting all sorts of pesky things out of the way. But, it seems that the new video isn’t the only piece of news developer Volition and publisher Deep Silver have for today as they used the release of this video as the perfect time to announce that Saints Row IV is now gold.
Now that Saints Row IV is set to start being manufactured and is all but ensured to make its release date, true fans of the series that don’t want to miss out on any DLC will be interested to hear that the Season Pass is now available for purchase. Priced at a mere $9.99, the Season Pass will include two mission packs (the first being a director’s cut of “Enter the Dominatrix”) and one exclusive weapon, the “Rectifier” anal probe.
So, be sure to watch the newest Hail to the Chief video embedded below and those wanting to purchase the Saints Row IV Season Pass can find it in retailers now. Saints Row IV is set to release August 20th in North America and August 23rd worldwide for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.
For those that weren’t aware there is a special competition going on right now to win a chance to experience GT Academy 2013 and learn real racing skills. For fans of racing games like the Gran Turismo series this might be a dream come true and as it would seem this is exactly the kind of people the competition is for as to qualify, players must download the GT Academy 2013 demo from the PlayStation Store on the PS3 and then race their hearts outs to meet the qualifying time.
Now the competition is currently on its final week of qualifying, so players that are just starting are going to need all the help they can get, which may be why a new video was released with first winner of GT Academy, Lucas Ordonez, offering up some pro tips. So, anyone wanting to cash in on these tips can view the video embedded below.
Those wanting to win a chance to get advance access to Gran Turismo 6 from developer Polyphony Digital as well as the full GT Academy 2013 experience can download the demo for PS3 today and get racing. Those wanting more information on the competition can find it on their website.
