Seeing as how a new Call of Duty is being announced every year, Activision has decided to try something new. If you go to the official Call of Duty website you will be greeted by a mosaic, made up of tiny versions of people’s Facebook and Twitter profile pictures. It appears the mosaic becomes more complete as more people add their photo to the site. At time of reporting it seems to reveal a disturbingly sad version of a Pikachu, a tiger or a creepy clown.
Activision community manager Dan Amrich is promoting the page, telling fans “Something’s up at callofduty.com…you might wanna check it out.”
It has been previously rumoured that the next Call of Duty game in the series will be Call of Duty: Ghosts, which will be developed by Infinity Ward and be running on a next generation engine.
Seven developers have come together to resurrect an old project. Seaven Studio has formed with the intention of going indie by developing and self-publishing a soon to be announced game. The developers have chosen to pool together their savings and self-fund their upcoming title. Seaven Studio promises to stay close to the gaming community and develop their game in response to feedback provided by the community.
The team has released a short teaser trailer on YouTube starring a mouse standing on a boulder at night as glowing green rocks fall from the sky. More information about this game will be released in the coming days.
Some great news for anyone suffering from or who knows a sufferer of Lazy Eye or ‘Amblyopia’, as Tetris is here to save the day again, with the latest research showing much alleviated symptoms through controlled use of the much loved retro classic. Not only has it helped us pack cars with 10 times more than they should be able to hold but Tetris is also here to lend a hand with vision improvement as Dr Ben Thompson along with a team of scientists from McGill University have been busy conducting the worlds first Tetris experiments with the ultimate goal of generating enough funding to fine tune the treatment and start offering it to patients.
“Although amblyopia is often known as ‘lazy eye’ the impairment in vision is due to abnormal development within visual areas of the brain, not a defect of the eye,” says Dr Thompson.
The studies have shown that rather than traditional treatment in which sufferers wore an eye patch over the affected eye, patients are far better off using both eyes, with far higher intensity stimulation on the affected eye, which ultimately forces both eyes to work together. A game like Tetris requires both eyes to work together to distinguish the shapes needed to fit into the spaces below, thus sufferers of lazy eye whose primary affliction lies with the brain receiving different images from each eye in childhood have found much benefit through the treatment thus far. Patients who played for 1 hour a day over 10 days showed vast improvements that lasted up to 3 months.
Hopefully more funding will be provided and the team can fine tune the levels of intensity needed to successfully utilise Tetris as a tool for a structured treatment of visual impairments such as this.
EA is demonstrating how it earned the worst company in the world award by laying off 10% of their workforce. Worse, the rationale behind the redundancies is that Electronic Arts wants to focus on mobile and ‘new technologies.’ Why not work on getting releases right instead of shifting focus entirely?
The announcement is a rather staccato affair. Rumours are circulating about the exact number but the 10% figure is being thrown around at the moment. Given the company has 9000 employees that would be around 900 people now jobless. While this is terrible news for the industry I can’t help feel they’ve added insult to injury by explaining the cuts as a refocusing on mobile. Can we expect to see Battlefield as an iOS exclusive? Oh the horror.
House of the Dead: Overkill – The Lost Reels Developer: Magic Pockets Publisher: SEGA Platforms: iPhone (reviewed), iPad, Android Release Date: April 25th, 2013 Price: $4.99 – Available Here
Overview House of the Dead: Overkill has risen from the dead on mobile devices in the form of The Lost Reels. So how does an arcade shooter translate to a casual mobile gaming experience? Quite well, actually. Magic Pockets manage to find some fresh meat in the all to familiar house of the dead. House of the Dead: Overkill – The Lost Reels brings the legendary franchise to mobile in style.
Gameplay
The task of translating an arcade shooter to the Nintendo Wii was not too difficult of a task as the motion controller seems to lend itself well to this type of gameplay. Magic Pockets had the task of bringing that very Wii game, House of the Dead: Overkill, to mobile platforms and they pull it off, resoundingly so. Interestingly enough House of the Dead: Overkill makes for a great casual game as is evident by this version.
The game is simple addictive fun at its core. It takes the House of the Dead series is a different yet familiar direction that feels perfectly at home on a mobile device. There are two gameplay modes, the Story mode and the Survival mode. Both of which are relatively self-explanatory.
The Story mode focuses on going through levels and taking out zombies in each level. It’s simple, fun and doesn’t feel demanding of your time, allowing you to jump in and play on when you please. The Survival mode is similar to your horde mode style of gameplay, you must survive for as long as possible while taking out as many enemies as possible.
House of the Dead: Overkill – The Lost Reels is a remarkably simple game, yet it is astonishingly addictive. The control scheme is easy to pick up and is easy to use. The left side of your screen is used to aim your gun and the right side of the screen features on-screen buttons for firing your weapon, switching weapons and of course reloading. It is simple and effective.
All of this combines to create a very addictive casual gaming experience. There is an in-game store but it is never forced upon you, which is for the best considering the game costs $4.99 to begin with. All in all, it is a worthwhile experience that can be enjoyed both on-the-go and in the comfort of your own home.
Visuals and Audio
This is perhaps one of the best looking games on the mobile platform. The visuals are crisp and detailed with a brilliant macabre atmosphere. From the in your face over-the-top zombies to the brutal violence, it is a great looking horror title that looks for the fun in the horror instead of the scares.
Perhaps my favourite part of this game is its soundtrack, an excellent composition of light-hearted gleeful tracks that does all the heavy-lifting in terms of tone setting. The music alone tells you immediately, that this isn’t a game out to scare you, it is a game that wants to entertain you and that it does.
Overall
It is hard to look past House of the Dead: Overkill – The Lost Reels, it is quite simply one of the best games on the crowded mobile gaming platform at the moment and earns every cent spent on it through sensational gameplay that is as addictive as it is fun. This is not a game to miss for your mobile, it is worth the price tag. Whether you are a fan of House of the Dead or just looking for something fun to play, journey into the House of the Dead. If these reels were lost, then this game is one hell of a revelation.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Fresh screenshots have been released for Alternative Software’s and Home Entertainment Supplier’s upcomingRugby Challenge 2 The Lions Tour Edition.
The new entry to the Rugby Challenge franchise adds a whole bunch of new gameplay features with the addition of quick taps, quick lineout’s, mauls from lineout’s, interceptions, contesting the ball at the breakdown, removing players from the ruck, number 8 scrum pickups and changeable team strategies in-game.
Sound and commentary has been rebuilt, with real commentary from Grant Nisbett and former All Black player Justin Marshall, along with French language commentary from Eric Bayle and Thomas Lombard.
To top it off, the game contains 110+ teams and 50+ stadiums from around the globe with official team, competition and special match licenses.
Rugby Challenge 2 The Lions Tour Edition is coming out this summer on 360, PS3 and PC. Visit their Twitter and Facebook pages for more info and check out the new screens below.
Yesterday, a group of talented students (NNNICE Games, Based in Hilversum, Netherlands) at the Utrecht School of Arts & Technology announced their plans to release Starcoon, a browser based arcade space adventure title scheduled for release on 1st May 2013. The game is described, (rather fittingly) as a ‘get as high as you can’ adventure that features well written audio and eye catching cartoon graphics. The player controls Curio, a raccoon with a goal. Specifically, the acquisition of as many stars as possible on his way to the Moon. By looks of things, this game holds the potential to prove popular with a variety of demographics.
Features include but are by no means limited to; A vibrant, colorful and engaging world, fast-paced arcade shooter action, gameplay that is easy to learn, but hard to master, power boosts offering an edge during gameplay and a clear score attack system.
Keen to follow this title’s development? Follow NNNICE Games on Twitter and Facebook.
Kyoto Animation’s Free!, their new effort of cute guys doing cute things rather than the usual girls has been outlined in detail on their official site.
The plot centres on Haruka Nanase, a guy who has always swum for most of his life. Him and his elementary school’s swimming club members, Makoto Tachibana, Nagisa Hazuki and Rin Matsuoka, won a swimming competition before splitting up as they grew older.
During high school Rin confronts Haruka (they really went for unisex names didn’t they?) to a swimming challenge, suddenly reuniting the two. Before long Makoto and Nagisa are gathered along with a new member, Rei Ryugazaki, to form the Iwatobi High School Swimming Club. The story theme is one of youth and friendship built upon swimming.
Haruka Nanase (voiced by Nobunaga Shimazaki) is in 11th grade who has a powerfully quiet style to his swimming, in particular freestyle.
Makoto Tachibana (voiced by Tatsuhisa Suzuki) is Haruka’s best friend so knows him best while in the same grade. His personality is described as kind but easily frightened, fulfilling that soft character archetype.
Rin Matsuoka (voiced by Mamoru Miyano) is Haruka’s rival in the same grade. He travelled overseas to improve his swimming ability, but returned a changed person often baffling those who knew him.
Nagisa Hazuki(voiced by Tsubasa Yonaga) is a strong 10th grader who is determined and brave. He is a huge fan of Haruka and hopes to swim with him again.
Rei Ryugasaki (voiced by Daisuke Hirakawa) is Nagisa’s classmate and is a former member of the track team but had a change of heart, joining the swimming club instead. He’s described as handsome and intelligent and easily fooled by Rin.
Led by female director Hiroko Utsumi, Free! looks to provide plenty of fan service for the girls. The anime is due to air July this year, in time for the summer season.
Worlds of Magic, a crowd-funded 4X strategy game from Polish developer Wastelands Interactive, has passed its £30,000 goal with now just three days to go. To make the most of the time left, they are now accepting pledges via PayPal on their site if backers wish to pay using a different method.
The Kickstarter project and Steam Greenlight title is currently on £35,881 and promises to add an extra 20 roaming creatures if it reaches £40,000, Linux and Mac versions pushed ahead for January 2014 at £45,000 (still to be released July that year otherwise) and the extra 8th and 9th factions at £50,000.
Inspired by MicroProse’s Master of Magic, Worlds of Magic is promising to revitalise the fantasy 4X genre (explore, expand, exploit and exterminate) with classic D20 combat mechanics, tactical battles, 10 Sorcerer Lords, 80 units, 300 spells, 7 “planes of existence” and even a unique take on the Undead race in a strategy game – no need to pay for food or taxes.
Worlds of Magic boasts no DRM and will be available for PC in January 2014, Mac and Linux in July with iOS and Android set to follow in December that year.
Wastelands Interactive is an independent game developer founded in 2006 and based in Poland, focusing on strategy and tactical war games. Visit the game’s site here for more info, or follow it on its Twitter and Facebookpages to keep up with their success.
Canadian based developers Velvety Couch Games have recently announced the release date for their latest release for the iOS platform, Oddballs; an apparent mixture of popular flash based physics titles such as Crush the Castle and Super Stacker. The game looks like more than just the average puzzle game however, largely on account of its unique take on the traditional physics format.
Each of the player’s three ‘Oddballs’ have an individual characteristic that makes them useful in their own way; one is metal and behaves much like a cannonball, another is incredibly light and floats, and another is, bouncy.
The title started out as a physics experiment in 2009, whilst project creator Graham Davis was getting to grips with the Unity3D engine.
The core features of the title are:
Inventive and imaginative puzzle design.
An endearing visual style.
Optimized for touch controls.
3 different oddballs each with their own unique powerups.
Over 80 immersive stages with obstacles such as fans, moving platforms, magnets, and more.
Game Center Leaderboard compatible.
Plus a full storyline with multiple endings and memorable final battles.
For more stills, videos, and development news head in the direction of the Velvety Couch Games site. Oddballs will be released on iTunes in May 2013.
