Any concerns over the release date of Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch can be put to rest because earlier today Namco Bandai revealed over Twitter that the Western localization for the title has “gone gold” which means that it has been completed 100% and is ready to be printed to disc.
This means that the release date for the PlayStation 3 exclusive will remain January 22nd and January 25th next year for North America and Europe respectively. Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch will feature both the English voice cast, Japanese voices with English subtitles and for those of you who speak French, Italian, German, or Spanish there are subtitles for you as well.
Remember how Sega and Gearbox’s Aliens: Colonial Marines was going to have some multiplayer aspects? Well today Sega released a number of screenshots for Aliens: Colonial Marines which focus on that mode exactly. These screenshots, which can be seen below, focus on the various Xenomorph classes that players will be able to play once the game is released, such as Warriors, Drones and Spitters.
Currently Aliens: Colonial Marines has finally managed to obtain a solid release window sometime in February 2013 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 while the Wii U version of the game currently does not have a release window.
Studio:Â C2 Game Studio Publisher:Â Chillingo Ltd Platform:Â iPhone (reviewed), iPad Release Date:Â December 6, 2012 Price:Â $0.99Â BUY NOW!
Overview
Since the incredible success of last year’s Temple Run, mobile devices have been filled with generic endless runner genere titles hoping to cash in on the craze with little to no ambition or creativity. However Nitro Chimp from Chillingo breaks the trend, with a different take on the genre, inspired by titles such as Joe Danger and Excite Bike. Nitro Chimp is an casual title packed with style and fun that can be enjoyed by people of all ages.
Gameplay
Nitro Chimp puts players behind the wheel of a motorcycle as a chimp in an epic race against a coin-stealing opponent. The catch is the race is filled with deadly obstacles and the race doesn’t end, ever. Those familiar with endless runner titles should feel right at home with the controls. You can play either by titling your device or using on screen buttons to avoid obstacles and collect coins, and you can press the screen to jump as well. There is only one level, which goes on endlessly, By saving up coins you can buy power ups, costumes and upgrades…you know the drill! The biggest standout feature that separates is the focus on preforming tricks to rack up extra points. This adds a new element to the gameplay, as players are encouraged to take risks – if they succeed they rack up more points, but if they fail it’s game over.
You could just play it safe and just dodge obstacles and try and get as far as possible, but then you’d miss out on a lot of points. Also, with an opposing chimp stealing all the coins, it’s in the player’s best interest to try and stay ahead to get more coins. It’s a unique and fun twist that adds an extra layer of depth to the genre which can be really refreshing. With a camera button that works in the same fashion as the much loved one from Super Smash Bros, objectives, Facebook & Twitter integration and the ability to make in-game purchases for more coins, Nitro Chimp has it all! With that being said however, Nitro Chimp can be a little repetitive and simple for some but hey it’s a casual title, what’d you expect?
Audio & Visual
Nitro Chimp is filled with eye candy with it’s adorable character design and it’s range of outfits. While textures may be basic, they get the job done with vibrant colours that capture the atmosphere with cartoonish charm. The soundtrack is a beautiful highlight, filled with a high-energy rock soundtrack. In fact, the developers thought this so much that the entire 11-track OST is available on iTunes, which you can gethere! If that isn’t enough for you, check out the track Chains of Goldhere!
OverallÂ
Nitro Chimp is a refreshing take on a familiar style of play. While there isn’t much new stuff to bring to the table, it clearly stands out. It looks great, sounds great, easy to play and is addictive enough to fall in love with, but it’s not going to be for everyone. Nitro Chimp does tick all the boxes in making a good iOS title, but that’s about it. While it is charming, creative and fun, it also gets repetitive and does a lot of things we’ve all seen before. For only 99 cents but, it’s worth picking up if your a casual gamer and love the endless runner genere as it is a nice twist on things, but really that’s about it. But I’m sure for many it is a must buy – I mean, come on, It’s a chimp on a motorbike that’s freaking cool!
How many of us out there are looking forward to some hot, sticky, mech-on-mech action today? How many of us were hoping to get our taste of that five or six hours ago? Well it turns out that HAWKEN still has not quite launched it’s Open Beta due to some account issues with the game.
However, the development team are assuring us that the game will be launching soon and that everyone should be keeping their eyes peeled on the main site. Of course, the forums are quite abuzz right now over the game not being released as planned.
UPDATE: THE GAME IS NOW LIVE; SEE YOU ALL IN THE METAL HELL! BWUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
If you are still waiting on your first Christmas present of the year then fear no longer – there’s a gaming freebie on the loose! Black Forest Games have announced the release of a special festive level for platforming delight Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams. The level will be automatically added to the game for those who already have it – just check under the extras tab after updating – but handily for those who have yet to try the title, the level also functions as a stand alone game.
It’s an ideal opportunity to test out a quality game for free, so those seeking some well designed and often tricky platforming can grab the level for free from Steam or GOG.COM.
In case you happened to miss it, Bioshock Infinite’s cover has already been revealed and can be found here. However after the cover was revealed there was quite a bit of backlash from the gaming community, complaining it was the most generic cover ever and many even photoshopped the male character into a number of other covers to show how generic it was.
Well Irrational Games has already said that they won’t change the display cover for Bioshock Infinite but they are planning on providing a reversible cover and you can help select which one. Irrational currently has six different cover arts that gamers can vote on and the winner will be printed on the back of the cover art. You can see the covers below and vote for your choice (#1 or #5 right?) here.
It looks like someone should probably have monitored the European version of the Dead or Alive 5 website a little bit better because it seems that that version of the site has revealed that Dead or Alive 5 Plus will be released in Europe and Australia on March 22nd next year, though France seems to be getting the title on March 21st.
As for a North American release, Tecmo Koei US has already said the game will be released there in Q1 2013 so it seems that the release date may be similar, if not a few days before, the European release of the game.
If you’re dying for some classic games then Good Old Games has a special gift just for you. Today the company revealed that they are going to be giving the 1996 classic title, Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition, out to anyone who wants it via their website. In another little twist, this is also the first time that Duke Nukem 3D will be playable on a Mac system!
The game is currently free at the time of this writing and will be free all the way through December 14th 9:30AM EST. The company is also holding a holiday sale at the moment where nearly 500 games have been put on sale. You can find out what is on sale here.
While anyone who picked up the Hardened Edition or Care Package of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 has been able to play Nuketown Zombies since the game was released, everyone else has unfortunately been unable to access this very popular map in the extremely popular zombie mode.
However that has changed today thanks to the fact that Treyarch and Activision have now made Nuketown Zombies available for download for anyone who is a Season Pass holder on the Xbox 360. Currently it is unknown whether Nuketown Zombies will be released for non-season pass holders for a fee nor when it will arrive on the PC and PlayStation 3, but you can check out the trailer below to see the map in action.
More information concerning Namco Bandai’s Project Versus J was revealed in the latest issue of Weekly Shonen Jump this week. The key piece of information revealed is the fact that the title is being developed for the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 3 (Import friendly systems) and the title will be a “team battle action” style game.
It is also worth noting that gamers will have a chance to vote on any three characters from the Shonen Jump lineup to join the game’s final roster. The magazine lists that any characters will be acceptable regardless of their position in the manga. However Western fans will not be able to submit their votes, considering the only way to let Namco Bandai hear your voice is to male in a vote via a postcard to an address listed in the magazine.
Interestingly enough, there are multiple screenshots of the game in action in this issue so expect some scans to be revealed in the next few hours showing the game in action.
In case you happened to miss it, Bioshock Infinite’s cover has already been revealed and can be found 
