The much hated newly released PC game, “War Z” has had its trade mark name suspended for sounding too similar to the popular zombie franchise “World War Z”.
Earlier this week, War Z was released on Steam at full price despite still being in alpha and promising many in game features that were simply not there. After many gamers expressed their discontent to Steam, refunds were given out and the game was taken down. Many people now believe that The War Z was rushed and pushed to market as a cash grab because of the popularity of the game DayZ.
Now it seems that War Z has hit another wall due to not only trying to ride on the DayZ wagon, but also being too similar to World War Z. On the United States Patent and Trademark Office website, you can see that the status of the game’s trademark has been suspended. The exact document for suspension goes into further detail.
The interesting dance sporting cross-over title, NBA Baller Beats has just landed its extensive demo on Xbox Live. In the demo players can experience the lengthy tutorial commentated and guided by two time NBA Champion Kenny Smith. Within the game itself, players perform different moves commonly and rarely performed in real-life basketball, all within the game to practice and improve their skills as a player on and off the Courts.
Featuring thirty popular songs and twenty different skill moves to practice, the full game of NBA Baller Beats is available now at all major retailers for $39.99 on the Xbox 360. Included with the purchase is an actual real-life Spalding replica Basketball that is required to perform each move and experience all the game has to offer. The demo and Full Game On-Demand digital version ($29.99) both available off Xbox Live, require the player to supply either their own basketball or basketball-shaped object.
Exclusive to the Xbox 360 and requiring both a Kinect and Basketball to play, NBA Baller Beats rhythm style sports action is sure to attract an audience, if only one to figure out how well the game actually works. The demo is available now off Xbox Live and the full game can be bought off either Xbox Live (without a ball) for $29.99 or from stores (with a ball) for $39.99.
UFO interactive have made a major announcement regarding their legendary ‘Johnny’ franchise. The latest installment in the ‘Johnny’ saga is titled Johnny Impossible because as he says “The name’s Johnny, Johnny Impossible.”
The new game Johnny Impossible hits the Nintendo 3DS eShop on December 27th. It is sure to excite fans of this epic gaming series. Johnny Impossible will retail for the price of $5.99, which is of course an absolute steal. After all this does look to be one of the best games on the eShop.
UFO released a trailer for the game which you can see below this article. Be sure to let us know what you think of Johnny Impossible in the comments section.
On the 22nd of December, Darkhorse Comics editor Rachel Edidin proposed to have a cheerful coup of the internet nerd girl meme on the joke’s quickmeme.com page. The movement has quickly spread across the lady bits of the internet, allowing disgruntled female nerds to stand up to the annoyance of being labelled as a fake nerd or gamer.
Rachel’s proposal has been re-blogged, liked, and noted on tumblr faster than one can refresh the page to keep track. It has also spread to some parts of reddit where the reaction to this movement is mixed. Some believe this to be a good thing and nice to laugh at, others think it to be too passive aggressive. And even more respond with a resounding “meh”.
With the gaming and overall nerd culture gaining a stronger female community, things like the “idiot nerd girl” meme might not be received as strongly as it once was. The movement of responding against the feeling of sexism and calling women fake nerds is not entirely new. Many comics have been made to joke about the experience.
On December 19, 2012 Democratic West Verginia Senator, Jay Rockefeller, introduced a bill that would require the National Academy of Sciences to perform a study on the effects of violent video games on young children. This action is done in response to the recent shootings in Newton, Connecticut that left 20 children and 6 adults dead.
The senator is quoted on his website to have said “Recent court decisions demonstrate that some people still do not get it. They believe that violent video games are no more dangerous to young minds than classic literature or Saturday morning cartoons. Parents, pediatricians, and psychologists know better.” He does not state which pediatricians and psychologists he is talking about.
The bill would direct the National Academy of Sciences to submit their report within 18 months from the bill passing to Congress, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Federal Communications Commission.
It is unknown if the Senator is aware of the already existing abundance of studies on this subject, or how he proposes that the long lasting effects of violent video games are to be independently studied in the short time of 18 months and how this study will be different than the many others that have been done in the past.
Manufacturer: Skullcandy Platforms: Playstation 3, PC, Xbox 360 Price: $129.99 Get it Here
The Skullcandy PLYR2 Wireless Headset is a stereo headset that utilizes 2.4ghz technology to transmit the signal to the headset. It is the middle child from the corporate marriage of Astro Gaming and Skullcandy, the lowest tier being the SLYRs and the top of the line being the 7.1 surround sound wireless PLYR1 headset. The PLYR2 accepts audio input through USB and red and white RCA cables. The headset accepts a mini-USB cable to charge the battery. The SLYR was an extremely pleasant surprise and the PLYR2 comes close in matching the SLYRs quality with a few catches.
The PLYR2 is a relatively light headset considering a wireless receiver and battery is crammed in the housing. I found it to be about the same weight as the Astro A40 2011 edition headset. However, it is an extremely small headset. Compared to the already small SLYR, I found the PLYR2 to be slightly smaller. Those with large ears will be stuck using the PLYR2 as an on ear headset. While the SLYR was slightly deceptive in the amount of room inside the padding where a larger earlobe could fit in, the PLYR2 has very little wiggle room. Padding used on the PLYR2 is extremely soft especially compared to the SLYR headset, so wearing the PLYR2 on or over the ears for extended period of time should be no issue for the ears. The top of the headset has similar padding. I personally found it to be comfortable to wear for long periods of time, but one of the people I asked to try on the headphone complained that the PLYR2 put an uncomfortable amount of pressure on the top of the head. I suspect this is most likely due to the heavier weight on the headset’s ear cups from the battery and wireless receiver.
The build quality of the PLYR2 is solid for the most part. It is light and the headband and ear cups feel strong. USB and Xbox 360 chat cable jacks are sturdy without any wiggle. The big problem is the EQ switch and volume stick feels loose. The EQ switch at the bottom is extremely loose, although the actual switch mechanism requires the right amount of force to engage, the switch rattles around easily. The power button is very good, clicking with a solid feedback without being too hard to use. Unfortunately the thumb stick used for volume control and voice/game balance feels a bit cheap. The stick lacks good physical feedback and because it is an analog thumb stick for four different directions, I sometimes found myself messing around with the voice/game balance when I was trying to adjust the volume. I would have preferred to see some sort of physical button for these controls or something to remove the ability to move the thumb stick diagonally.
The PLYR2 is charged with a USB cable to the rear of the right ear cup. The headset can be used while charging, turning it into a wired headset. I initially found the placement of the USB cable to be a little awkward to wear while charging; I became used to it quickly. I would have preferred to see it located closer to the chat cable jack as I believe the awkward feeling came from the fact all wired headphones tend to have a cable dangling straight down versus at an almost 90 degree angle straight out to relieve strain on the cable. The PLYR2’s battery life is around 15 hours of use out of the box before it hits to the 15% recharge warning light. The headphones emit a tone when turned off and on and make another tone to warn the user about low batteries. 15 hours is enough battery life to be used all day then charged overnight.
The wireless transmitter performed extremely well in my tests. I tested it by placing the transmitter in the basement and climbed up to the top of my two storey house and had no signal loss. I found my Xbox 360 controller lost connection long before the PLYR2. I did not have any problems with signal interference in my testing.
The audio quality is a mixed bag depending on your platform of choice. I initially tested the PLYR2 the same way as I normally do by plugging it into my computer via the provided USB cable and listening to music right away. I was shocked by the poor sound quality compared to the SLYRs, a pair of headphones I consider to be nearly unbeatable for gaming at its price point. The PLYR2 had strong and clear bass but the mids and highs were recessed and sounded terrible. No amount of fiddling around with the headphone’s EQ switch would improve the situation. I then switched to the Xbox 360 and saw a marked improvement in sound quality. I realized that the PLYR2 is capable of excellent sound for the price that matches the SLYR in quality. The highs and mids are clear and well balanced with the bass. Unfortunately the USB soundcard in the PLYR2’s is extremely poor. Although it is good enough for regular voice chat, it does the headset a grave injustice. Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 users are not affected by this because their game audio comes through the RCA cables. PC gamers however get the short end of the stick. They are much better off purchasing a male 3.5mm audio jack to 2x female RCA connectors to connect to their computer’s sound card to get the best sound quality possible. Doing it this way also allows PC players to route their voice chat through the USB sound card and get the game audio through the analog connection which will allow them to adjust the voice/game balance similar to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. These adapters can easily be purchased for a few dollars online, but it is an unnecessary hassle for PC gamers to get the best performance out of the PLYR2. I would have preferred to see such an adapter come bundled with the headset.
The EQ switch on the PLYR2 works well. There are three modes available. The precision mode increases the treble making it easier to pick out gunfire and footsteps in FPS games. Bass mode is self-explanatory and works great for bass heavy dance music and action films. I personally preferred the default Supreme mode as it is the perfect balance for everyday use.
The microphone quality on the PLYR2 is respectable. I did notice that the internal pop filter was ok, but an external foam piece would have been helpful to cut down on the popping as the microphone boom reaches close to the mouth. I liked the fact the microphone mutes itself automatically when it is flipped up. I always knew when the microphone was lowered down to mouth level that it was ready to go and if I wanted to have a private conversation with the room, I simply needed to raise the microphone. It is an extremely natural way of handling the muting and I wish more headsets did this.
Overall the PLYR2 is a solid headset. It is priced at a very reasonable price point compared to similar products on the market at $129.99 USD. It is a comfortable headset, though those with larger ears may be forced to use them as on ear headphones due to the small size of the ear cups. Considering a wireless transmitter and battery is jammed inside the headset, it is rather light weight and comfortable to wear for extended periods of time. The headset sounds excellent with a good mix of strong bass balanced with clear highs and mids. However the USB soundcard in the wireless transmitter is of poor quality leading to unclear highs and mids that are overpowered by the bass. Once an analog signal is fed to the transmitter, the PLYR2 shines. Unfortunately this means PC gamers are left with needing to purchase a converter to feed an analog signal to the transmitter while Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 gamers can enjoy the full potential of the PLYR2 without any additional costs. If you do not require a wireless headset, I strongly recommend saving some money and purchasing the SLYRs instead as they are $50.00 USD cheaper. I would recommend the PLYR2 to an Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 gamer in a heartbeat, but PC gamers should be aware they will need to spend a few extra dollars to get the best out of their headset.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
On December 22nd, 2012 Peter Molyneux released a video on Youtube supporting the team who wants to remake Dungeon Keeper. Mr. Molyneux is not involved in the creation of the remake of this game, but simply supports the people doing so.
In the video, Peter Molyneux states that the team is “super passionate” and “super talented”, along with saying that in order to get Dungeon Keeper remade the Kickstarter for War for the Overworld must be supported. He goes onto state that the team will “look at the mistakes I and our team made” and “take out those bad bits and put in good bits”.
War for the Overworld is currently in alpha and you can download the alpha build if you support the Kickstarter. The Kickstarter page describes it to be “A mix of real time strategy and god game”. As of right now, the pledges towards this game seem to be heading towards fulfilling the Kickstarter goal of $150,000.
As some of you may know, Jump Festa has kicked off in Chiba today and in commemoration of the event, Namco Bandai has released the third gameplay trailer for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle.
The trailer is four minutes long and features nearly all, if not all, of the characters that have been announced for the game so far, including Hermes Costello, Giorno Giovanna, Jolyne Kujo, Guido Mista, Josuke Higashikata, Dio Brando, Okuyasu Nijimura, Muhammad Avdol, Horiaki Kakyoin, Jean Pierre Polnareff and Hol Horse.
Check out the trailer below and praise just how crazy and over the top this game is looking so far.
If you thought that there wasn’t going to be another Naruto movie since there hasn’t been a movie announced for 2013 yet then you don’t know the Naruto franchise well enough. Considering how popular the series is in Japan, it should really come as no surprise that another Naruto movie is on the way and at Jump Festa this year such a movie was announced.
However rather than airing sometime in 2013, the movie is set to be launched sometime in 2014 and there are practically zero details about the movie so far outside of the above announcement image. Any guesses as to what this movie could be about?
Fans of the underrated Deadly Premonition are probably still celebrating the fact that the game is going to be re-released in the West as Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut exclusively for the PlayStation 3. However they can stop partying for at least a few minutes to check out the video below.
Want to know why? Well Rising Star Games, the company publishing Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut, are asking fans to submit question’s to the game’s director Hidetaka ‘Swery’ Suehiro. In the video you can see Swery walking around a bit as well as a number of ways you can reach out to him and ask your question. Anyone have something specific they may want to know about?
On the 22nd of December, Darkhorse Comics editor Rachel Edidin proposed to have a 
