If you are thinking about picking up a PlayStation Vita this holiday season then perhaps now is the time to do so because Amazon is offering a rather killer deal at the moment. If you choose to buy any of Amazon’s Vita bundles you will be able to receive a free physical copy of one of the best game’s on the system, Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward.
The bundles available for purchase with this deal are the Assassin’s Creed III Liberation, Black Ops Declassified, and the 3G package with one year of PlayStation Plus. It is worth noting that the promotion will end on December 15th so you only have five days to capitalize on it.
Today Square Enix launched a new teaser site which appears to be for their Theatrhythm Final Fantasy title which was released worldwide this year as a Nintendo 3DS exclusive, which we have the review for here.
Now the site can be seen here and as you can see, it features four different musical note sections which move towards the activation section and below those lines we have been given a basic “Coming Soon” message. It is interesting to note that you can’t actually play anything or interact with the site in any way at the moment. Any guesses as to what this may mean for Theatrhythm Final Fantasy? Perhaps a sequel or an iOS/Android version?
SEGA have made a major announcement regarding the Warhammer 40,000k franchise. That announcement being that they have now become partners with Games Workshop and Creative Assembly which means that they now will be handling the Warhammer series.
The partnership means that we will see new Warhammer video-games in the future by SEGA and Creative Assembly. Jon Gillard, Head of Liscencing at Games Worshop had the following to say on the partnership: “We have enormous respect for SEGA and Creative Assembly and have felt for a long time that the combination of the enormously rich setting of the Warhammer world, and their stunning development talent is a match with huge potential, now that we’ve managed to bring these two giants of gaming together it is safe to say that some truly amazing products are going to be unleashed as a result. We are excited at the possibilities, and are enthusiastically working with the team at Creative Assembly already.”
What do you think of this monumental partnership? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Paramount Pictures have recently let us reveal the latest poster for their upcoming Witch Hunting film, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. The movie follows the story of Hansel and Gretel, but with a new twist. They are now Witch Hunters that must hunt witches and the like. However, thanks to their past, they must now face a new and greater evil. Will they make it out alive? How far do the breadcrumbs go?
The film stars Jeremy Renner, of Hawkeye fame, and Gemma Arterton, from the Prince of Persia film. It will be releasing on the 7th of February, 2013. Be sure to check out the poster below (click the image to view fullsize). Also further down is a video preview of the film.
Naughty Dog’s latest for the PS3 is survival action title The Last of Us which is focused on character driven story, which players can learn a little more about today as they have released a story trailer. With the story trailer players can get to know the main characters Joel and Ellie a little bit as well as what’s left of the world that they happen to live in. Left with only the remaining resources survivors fight over everything from food, to weapons, to anything else that they think is worthwhile.
The trailer however is not the only thing that was announced about The Last of Us though as the game has been given an official release date. Coming out on May 7th, 2013 for all PAL regions exclusively for the PS3, players can check out the trailer embedded below.
Persona 4 Golden Developer:Atlus Publisher: Atlus Platform: PlayStation Vita Release Date:November 20, 2012 Price:$39.99 –Available Here
Overview: JRPGs are often considered a genre of their own RPG fans and out of these JRPGs there is one franchise which is often regarded as one of the best around. That franchise happens to be the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona and it has been many years since a title has been released under the Persona name, in fact it has been four years since the fourth title in the series was released on the PlayStation 2. Now Atlus has taken Persona 4, the game many have heralded as the best game in the series, and added a few new aspects within the title and provide us with an enhanced version in the form of Persona 4 Golden. Does this title shine brighter than ever?
Story: Players take the role of a teenage male (who can be named as player’s wish) as he is forced to live in a small town called Inaba out in the countryside for a year thanks to the fact that his parents have to work abroad. When the player arrives they begin to try to settle into life in this rather simple city as a new student. However that quickly changes when a mysterious murder occurs near the school and rumors of a mysterious television program called the Midnight Channel begin to circulate at the school.
The story quickly escalates as the young man discovers that not only does this Midnight Channel exist, but he has the power to actually travel inside of TV screens into a whole new world which serves a “shadow world” to our own. Inside of this world the dark side of humanity is collected in the form of dangerous creatures called shadows and when someone is trapped within the shadow world, they are killed within the normal world. With these strange occurrences and the threat of death for his newfound friends, the main character and his friends team up to investigate the Midnight Channel and try to save anyone trapped within the deadly place. However with all signs pointing to someone intentionally trying to kill people with the Midnight Channel, can this investigation group manage to put a stop to these murders?
Plenty of RPGs place a mild emphasis on story but nothing I’ve played before has come close to touching upon the amount of attention and time that is paid to creating a unique experience where players may have the constant threat of death from the Midnight Channel on their minds, but they will be spending more time worrying about their relationships with the various characters in the game instead. You see, while there is a decent murder mystery formed around the Midnight Channel, the various events that tie into the mystery create an intriguing psychological drama cleverly disguised as a teenage boy’s school life.
You see, Persona 4 Golden’s storyline is structured to feel like the year in the life of the main character. While there are trips inside of the television world and battles against strange and powerful shadows, the rest of the game focuses around the life of the main character and his friends as they live their high school lives. This means that between fighting enemies, players will be attending class, going on part-time jobs, hanging out in clubs and more.
In these activities players will form “Social Links” with other characters in the game, including side-characters, which not only help make their own Persona stronger, but also unlock various abilities for party members. Now while party members may have the most focus in Persona 4 Golden thanks to the fact that nearly all of their emotional issues are displayed thanks to the nature of the Shadow World, but side characters are also given plenty of attention. Each of these side characters contain side-stories which can be just as interesting as the main cast and it truly helps make the player feel like they are actually part of the in-game world instead of simply moving through it.
It is also worth noting that one of the improvements with Persona 4 Golden is the addition of a brand new character which has a large number of new Social Link’s to partake in which creates an additional storyline which is quite different from the others as well as a few new story events which place the main characters in new situations that were not found in the original version of the game.
These new additions are simply icing on the cake as far as Persona 4 Golden’s storyline is concerned. Even before these additions were created, the story found within this game is one the best that you will find in gaming today and thanks to the gifted writing staff, Persona 4 Golden’s emotionally charged story will stick with the player long after it has been completed.
Visuals: When Persona 4 was originally released on the PlayStation 2 back in 2008 the title was no slouch as far as graphics are concerned. Now while they may have looked great for their time, they have aged since then, but thankfully with this release of Persona 4 Golden the game has received a nice visual overhaul that brings the title into today’s generation of gaming. The character models and scenery have been updated and so have the character portraits which appear whenever one of characters is speaking.
It also helps that with the Vita’s current generation tech, the colors in Persona 4 Golden are gorgeous and really pop out at you as you play the game. It is also worth noting that there are numerous anime cutscenes scattered throughout the game which are stunning in quality and really help make certain moments within the game special.
Audio: Now while some people may complain about the fact that Persona 4 Golden does not feature an option to listen to the Japanese voice track, the English voice cast has performed an admirable job portraying their characters. P4G features a number of new voiced scenes which were not voiced in the original and it is worth noting that the English voice actress for Chie has been changed, but her new actress still handles the character well and fans of the original should find little to complain about regarding the change.
As far as background music is concerned, Persona 4 Golden is like candy for the ears. The songs that make up the game’s OST are wonderful in more ways than one and while certain tracks may play quite often, you won’t even care thanks to how great these background songs are. Interestingly enough, a large number of these songs also have singers accompanying the orchestra and each of these songs are a treat whenever they begin to play.
Gameplay: As far as gameplay goes, little has been outright changed from the original game and instead a number of improvements and new features have been made to make Persona 4 Golden the shining example of what an RPG should be like in today’s day and age. Now as mentioned in the story section of this review, a large part of Persona 4 Golden involves the social link system that involves the player interacting with other characters in the game and forming bonds with them.
As you form bonds with those around you, not only will your party members learn more skills that can be used in combat (such as extra attacks or helping you up from a fall) but you will also be able to create and summon stronger Personas to fight against the shadow. In fact, while players do have weapons, armor and accessories that can be equipped like any standard RPG, the summoning and fusing of Personas is where most of the focus in the game lies. It is worth noting that Fusing has been re-worked so that players can actually choose certain attacks they want to carry over to their fused Persona rather than hoping for a lucky fusion.
Now as the player enters the dungeons of the Shadow world to save those trapped inside, they will find a number of enhancements and additions to the combat system. Players can now find a few new Personas and this is made ever easier thanks to the fact that the post-battle Shuffle Time has been changed so players have an easier time selecting the cards they want and acquiring a “Full Sweep” which guarantees another Shuffle Time after the next battle as well as the option to select more cards to gain further power ups and experience.
Now while Persona 4 Golden does not have any multiplayer features, players will probably be interested in making sure they are able to connect to the internet while playing the game. The reason for this is the fact that two new features have been added in to the game in the form of a Vox Populi system which displays all of the different choices other players made during the same time-frame within the story as well as a special SOS feature which can be activated once between every battle. This SOS is sent out to other players who can provide assistance with a simple tap of the touch-screen and the next time you enter a battle, you may receive a small boost to your HP and SP levels which can be critical to surviving drawn out dungeons.
A number of side features have been added into Persona 4 Golden which provides the player more exploration options and the aforementioned new story Social Link content. The neighboring city of Okina can now be visited and explored and a number of new shops are now available which will allow you to pick up various costumes for the playable characters. These costumes are simply cosmetic changes that only appear whenever you are in a dungeon, but they provide a nice distraction. Among these additions players can now venture out at night occasionally and explore the (sometimes creepy) night-life of Inaba as well as use motor scooters to get around.
Overall: Atlus has done something great with Persona 4 Golden. They have added just enough to make it so that Persona 4 Golden feels like a more advanced version of the classic game by keeping everything that made the original game great and adding on to it with brand new features, stellar visual upgrades and gorgeous cutscenes which is wrapped around an engrossing story that takes place in a world so enthralling it will be hard to walk away from. Persona 4 Golden is easily the best game on the Vita right now and any Vita owner, nay anyone even remotely interested in RPGs, should not pass up Persona 4 Golden.
To all you Kylie fans in the UK. Itching to dance The Loco-motion? Wanna sing Especially For You with your special someone? Dance on a bar top to Spinning Around? Fans young and old will be treated to 25 years’ worth of Kylie Minogue in Kylie Sing & Dance, with official videos and music from 26 of her hits such as I Should Be So Lucky, Spinning Around, Can’t Get You Out of My Head, The Loco-motion and her latest single, Flower, featured in this party game. Published by Tubby Games and distributed by Koch Media, the game includes a career mode, a 2 player singing mode and a 4 player dance mode. Kylie Sing & Dance is available now in the UK exclusively for the Nintendo Wii.
Rockstar Games’ Playstation 2 classic Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is coming to the Playstation Network, if a listing on PlayStation Hong Kong official site is to be believed.
Though Playstation Blog’s The Drop also confirms this with a mention of the game, they too also say the game will be released this week on December 12.
It seems that one of the biggest games of 2004, is getting a rather quite re-release.
Set in the early 90’s Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas followed former Groove Street gang member Carl ‘CJ’ Johnson on his return to his home state of San Andreas.
In an interesting piece of news, Ubisoft have announced the release date to the first Standalone expansion pack for their Might And Magic Heroes VI game in the long line of Might And Magic titles first released by 3DO. The standalone expansion pack is titled Might And Magic Vi: Shades Of Darkness and this could possibly mean that the original Might And Magic VI game is not required to play this story expansion.
The release date for this title is the 28th of February, 2013 and will be releasing alongside the Might And Magic Heroes VI Complete Edition that contains additional quests, maps and the like. Be sure to check out the revamped Might And Magic website for more details.
This is easily the most difficult thing to review that I have ever done in my entire career as a gaming media type. Computer RAM, every PC needs it and the more you have, generally speaking, the more you can do. So logically, you’d need as much RAM as possible to make sure your PC is always running the best that it can.
The RAM itself is a very nice looking piece of electronic componentry. Remember the old days where RAM was just a green stick of Silicone and all of the circuitry was exposed? Well gone are those days. Now we have this rather fetching looking shell not only protecting the RAM, but making it easier to insert and remove from your computers motherboard. When looking at the shell surrounding the RAM unit, you’ll netice it has a striking blue hue to it while being brandished by the familiar looking HyperX logos and other assorted Kingston branding.
Of course, installing RAM used to be pretty tedious. You’d have to make sure you’re not holding the RAM stick in a complicated position or you’d feel like you’re about to snap it. Thanks to the oversized protective casing surrounding the actual RAM unit, you never actually feel like you’re going to damage the components thus giving you an increase in confidence whilst upgrading your PC. The RAM also looks quite impressive in place on the motherboard and if you have an exposed machine, will probably look cool to anyone looking inside.
I’m assuming the packaging I received the RAM in is the retail packaging. This packaging is also covered in Kingston branding and through the clear plastic cover, you are able to see the magnificence of the RAM. My one issue with this case is that you either have to pop the RAM out by pressing in on the back, or you have to dislodge it by pushing against a piece of green silicone on one side of the packaging. I don’t like either of these methods because it feels like I might accidentally break a piece of the component, or drop it on the floor and damage it internally.
Now, to be completely honest, I feel that 16GB of RAM is completely overkill for most users at this point in time. The average gamer is probably not going to be running a Blu Ray film, rendering large images, running a VM Server farm and playing 2-3 copies of Battlefield 3 at the same time on the one computer. However, for the user that is, this package from Kingston is the one for you. Heck man, I have an 8GB machine and have never used all of that. And yes, I do run a VM farm and play games together. However, just because the package contains two 8GB sticks, it does not mean you need to have both installed to your computer. You could just run 8GB and keep the other as a spare. But hey, if you’ve got them both there, why not use them both?
As an average user myself, any speed increases by running these sticks of RAM was lost on me. Although, I’m pretty sure that my PC is bottlenecking somewhere along the line where RAM speed is irrelevant anyway. The only people that are going to be interested in this are the guys that care about every millisecond in processing time. Are you running a scaled model of the universes growth on your home machine? Then you probably have a specialised PC built for that. This RAM will give you those few extra milliseconds time, but for someone like me who just cares about how pretty his games look without it running like ass, I couldn’t tell you how significant a change in speed I had was.
After removing the RAM from the packaging I found that it included a quick installation guide and warranty information booklet. Now, this booklet was quite easy to unfold, but when I tried to return it to it’s original state, it ended up folding into a triangular prism. This was a nightmare trying to work out. However, I think I got it in the end, even if it now feels thicker.
What was most curious about this quick installation guide was that it didn’t appear to be talking about the RAM that was included in the packaging. It looked nothing like the included product and some of the instructions were a little odd. Don’t point at the RAM stick? Why not? Am I like Zeus and I can static it to death from a distance? I wouldn’t know, there was no symbols telling me why there. Here’s something else, did you know that this RAM can be fitted into laptops (it can’t)? Apparently it can according to the quick installation guide. Ignore the brown booklet, it is useless.
One thing that you’ll have to remember about having RAM is that it needs to be compatible with your motherboard. If you have an older PC, you might find that this RAM is incompatible. You may also need to fiddle with your BIOS settings if your previous RAM was of a different speed.
Overall, if you find yourself in need of additional volatile storage in your PC, the Kingston HyperX 16GB kit is a fairly good package that you’d probably want to have in your PC. It looks good, doesn’t really give you a reason to complain; and in two sticks as opposed to four, is sure to fit within your PC. While I personally don’t see a reason for having 16GB of RAM at the moment outside of a few specialised instances, future-proofing your machine is always a good idea.
