Namco Bandai have announced that Ace Combat Assault Horizon will be soon be available for digital download on Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC.
Originally launched in 2011, the game was met with generally positive reviews and has sold just over 1 million copies on both Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, while a port for PC had not been on the cards… until now!
Ace Combat Assault Horizon: Enhanced Edition will be available for digital download on PC during the the first quarter of 2013 and will feature a whole new array of PC-specific tweaks, including optimized controls and graphics, and seven additional aircraft.
Ace Combat Assault Horizon is available on the Playstation Network  today, $19.99 for the standalone game and $29.99 for the game and DLC combined. Xbox fans will have to wait until December 18 when the game will go live on Xbox LIVE Games on Demand for $19.99. The PC Enhanced Edition can be purchased from Steam at the beginning of next year for $34.99.
A patch for Playstation and Xbox users who already own the game has been made available as of today, which features minor gameplay adjustments and address multiplayer exploit issues.
Bundle Stars has finally gotten their website up and to kick off they have a pretty sweet launch deal they’re calling the Dynamite Bundle. Â Featuring 8 games total for more than 95% off RRP, with games running a nice selection of action and strategy across genres in the past, present, and future. Â Even better the games are all equipped with Steam keys, so that players can download the games from there.
The games included on this deal are:
Men of War: VietnamÂ
Off-Road Drive Â
Reign: Conflict of Nations Â
Death to Spies: Moment of Truth Â
Death Track: ResurrectionÂ
Star Wolves 2Â
Real Warfare 1242Â
Real Warfare 2: Northern Crusades
Though it should be noted that while that final title, Real Warfare 2: Northern Crusades, is indeed included with the deal purchasers have one of two ways to unlock it, whether the Free Unlock App via Facebook or waiting until December for it to unlock.
Players can see a little bit of each game in the bundle from the trailer embedded below and those interested in downloading the bundle can do so for US$6.68 HERE, but don’t be discouraged if tapped out from Black Friday and Cyber Monday, as this deal is going on until December 19th, 2012.
A new Far Cry 3 trailer from Ubisoft has emerged today, this time showing off the game’s coop mode.
We’re introduced to the 4 characters that will make up the coop team: Callum the Scottish thug, Leonard the crooked cop, Tisha the ex-soldier and Mikhail a Russian hitman.
The coop campaign is set 6 months before the main story campaign and is a story filled with revenge and “crazy shite”. We’re told of a potential antagonist named ‘The Captain’ who has seemingly stolen the groups “stash”.
Not sure how we feel about that Scottish accent yet but the coop campaign looks to be shaping up nicely.
Released just last month, Farming Simulator 2013 boasted an intriguing feature of allowing players to make their own mods for additional farm equipment to use and share. Â Well, looking at the numbers its easy to see it was well worth the fruit of the labor as more than 2 million mods have been officially downloaded by the community so far.
Though to be fair, it isn’t just the community getting in on making these mods as the developers themselves are the purveyors of some of the most popular mods.  With almost 350,000 downloads to itself, Giant Software’s “Lizard ATV” lets farmers get around the new bigger farm area much faster.
But, these are just the numbers for the official Mod Hub that Giants Software has set up for Farming Simulator 2013, as there are many more mods from fan sites that they have no way of tracking. Â With so many mods being made and shared the future of Farming Simulator 2013 looks pretty bright as players can give each other more content to extend its gameplay even farther.
Rise Of The Guardians Studio:Dreamworks Publisher: Paramount Pictures Format:Â Cinema Release Date:December 13
Overview
What do you get when you combine a bunch of characters that you believed in as a child, characters that filled you with a sense of wonder and mystery, and put them all into the same movie? I’ll tell you what you’d get, you’d get Rise of the Guardians. In 3D.
Story
The story in Rise of the Guardians was actually something that I really enjoyed. I went into the cinema believing that this was just going to be another horribly written childrens CG product to bring in some extra dough this christmas period. You can imagine how surprised I was to hear myself practically praising the film on the way out of our screening. Whilst I don’t believe it was the perfect film, it’s far from a bad one.
I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t familiar with a large portion of the Guardian cast in this film. The Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus I was completely familiar with (who wouldn’t be?), but I had no idea who the main character: Jack Frost or a supporting character: Sandman were supposed to be. However, thanks to the movie, I’m pretty sure I know them now. However, are they accurate portrayals of their mythology? Probably; though I’d have assumed Jack Frost was more of a villain going from the name alone…
Anyway, so the general premise of the story is that there are all of these legendary characters that children believe in and that if children were to stop believing in them, they’d lose their powers. This is where the villain, The Boogeyman, comes into the mix. He essentially comes up with a plan to ensure children begin to forget about these entities until they are powerless to stop him from causing maximum despair in an effort to be the only character that anybody believes in.
The reason that this is important is because nobody can see the Boogeyman due to a lack of belief in his character. Throughout the film, you can see the effects that not being able to interact with other people through the protagonist Jack Frosts eyes. This is what makes the Boogeymans plight so personable in the first place. I’d imagine that as an entity that has existed since the Dark Ages and that has been unable to interact with any kind of humanity, that you’d be a little iffy too.
Jack is important as a device to convey this concept because he is a character that audience can watch grow from being in the same place as the main villain but he learns how to create relationships with those around him in a positive manner. And as a result of this, not only are people who believe in him able to see him, but so is the rest of the world. By building and maintaining these relationships, he is able to create a himself in the hearts of all and is thus included within the realm of people. Not only is this all literal for the film, but it also a metaphor for reality.
This, I believe, is the true meaning behind the film. What I mean here is that what the film is trying to tell us is that it is better to believe in not only yourself, but to believe in those around you too. because without the contact of other people, without the positive reinforcement that it brings, you too might just end up in a very dark place.
The one thing that I didn’t enjoy about the film was its ending. I don’t see why the main villain had to be killed off (spoilers!) when the main cast not only could have helped him down a better path, but they should have helped him down a better path. I feel like the message of the film died when the villain died. Sad, but true.
Visuals
Generally speaking, I really dislike movies that are shot entirely in CGI and even more especially, those with anthropomorphised animals in them. However, with Rise of the Guardians, I really just could not dislike it, even though it was visually not something that I’d usually enjoy.
What I particularly enjoyed about this film visually was the way each of the characters were represented within the film. Of all of these characters, I must say that I enjoyed the designs of both Santa and Jack the most. Does anyone out there have a particular badass version of these characters in their mind? Well, picture Santa dual weilding swords whilst wearing some Russian clothing. This is the Santa in this universe.
One of the things I really liked in this film were the visual effects for magic spells and the like. For instance, all of Jacks ice attacks looked not only cool, but also believable. The winner in the effects department though was Sandman. His golden glowy dream-dust was simply amazing. God-Tier particle effects for that guy.
Audio
Generally speaking, I really don’t like it when non-professional voice actors are used in animated works. And in this case, I feel that while the voice work could have been done better by pros, it was serviceable in this film. There were some instances where it felt like some of the voice work was a little off, but I doubt your average viewer will notice them.
Of course, the film is filled with a tonne of sound effects, but I can remember one instance very early on where a rather frequent(ly played in other films, shows and games) canned sound effect was used. When you hear this sound, you immediately associate it with whatever it was that you heard it first in and as such, it only serves to pull you out of the film rather than its original intent. I wish that this film would have used its own sounds rather than relying on canned stuff.
The musical score is pretty excellent. I really liked it when I heard Santa replicating a piece that I particularly enjoy. Other than that, not much to comment on with the audio.
Overall
Overall Rise of the Guardians was a much more enjoyable experience than I was expecting. It takes fully known and recognisable characters, makes them cool and then puts them into a pretty decent story. At it’s core, I believe the film to be a metaphor for human interaction and its message is one that should be taught to children. Would watch a second time.
If you have been following Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus and happen to be a PlayStation 3 gamer then you have unfortunately been out in the cold for over a month now as the game has had no release date for your console of choice. That is until today.
Today it was revealed by Arc System Works’ Takeshi Yamanaka on Twitter that Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus will be released onto the PlayStation Network in North America for $14.99 on December 4th so fans PS3 fans will soon have a chance to pick up the game that made Arc System Works a popular name long before Blazblue was even thought of.
We have already reviewed the Xbox 360 version of the game, which can be seen here.
Now that Black Friday has ended, Xbox Live’s Larry Hryb, also known as Major Nelson, has quickly touted the fact that Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console did extremely well over the weekend. In facthe announcedthat the 360 sold 750,000 consoles in the United States alone during the Black Friday weekend.
Interestingly enough, he went on to say describe how the 360’s sales managed to surpass the combined sales of Nintendo’s 3DS handheld and brand new Wii U console as well as the Wii and the DS sales combined. He also mentioned that Xbox Live subscriptions went up 50% over last year’s Black Friday so this has obviously been a great week for Microsoft.
Originally Darkstalkers Resurrection, the digital re-release of Night Warriors: Darkstalkers Revenge and Darkstalkers 3 with a new crisp HD filter, was meant to be released on February 7th in Japan but it turns out that the game has been delayed a month and a week and will now be released in Japan on March 14th.
Now it is worth noting that Capcom has not made an announcement regarding an exact release date for the Western version of the game yet, so fans in the West can likely expect the game at the same time thanks to the fact that the company has delayed the game so they can improve the netcode and balancing. As for the image above, it is a sample of some of the artwork that will be unlockable once the game is released.
Tales of Graces f Developer:Â Namco Tales Studio Publisher:Â Namco Bandai Games Platform:Â Playstation 3 Release Date:Â 31st August, 2012 Price:$57.60 – Available HereÂ
Overview:
The Tales series is a long and enduring one. It has over the course of more than 15 years, the Tales franchise has went through many stages of evolution but it has never forgotten what made it Tales. So here we are now with Tales of Graces f, a Playstation 3 port of the Wii Tales of Graces game, the next evolution of Tales. The question is though, is it a mistake or does it evolve gracefully?
Story:
As has come to be known as a staple of the series, the game features a fantasy setting with a very anime-esque plot that plays out over the course of many many hours. Tales of Graces f follows Asbel Lhant a noble’s son as he forges a friendship with a prince and a mysterious girl, one that they swear shall last forever. But of course being that this is an RPG game things get in the way of that.
Without going into too much detail I must say that Tales of Graces f features one of the series’ finest story-telling efforts, with a lot of unexpected twists and turns along the way. The world of Graces is vast and well concieved much like it’s characters that inhabit it. I found the character of Asbel to be the most well defined and easily relatable. He has a very likable personality and it is easy to want him to succeed. Much like other entries in the Tales series there is a of course many emotional moments to be seen and some are truly powerful moments at that. Without a doubt this is one of the most interesting stories the series has pulled off in years.
Gameplay:
Tales of Graces f does feature a decidedly different gameplay style to previous Tales games, most specifically with it’s combat system. Previously Tales games implemented a much more chaotic combat system, comparatively Tales of Graces f features much more refined and simplified combat mechanics.
In combat players are locked in a line with enemies with the ability to switch to another enemy at the tap of a button. You move backwards and forwards and also dodge side-ways. It’s simple and while a little restricting compared to previous Tales games, it gives a feel much similar to Tales of Phantasia but in a 3-dimensional plane.
Interestingly enough the new combat system which arguably is just a variation of previous systems, does allow for some interesting strategy with the ability to set party actions prior to battles. They are of course controlled in combat by AI but the player themselves can determine how they will fight, defensively, offensively, be the teams healer etc. It works great and adds a greater level of depth to how your team plays without having the worry about controlling them in combat.
Of course like other RPG games, Tales of Graces f features a leveling system and there is a bit of a necessity for grinding at times usually in order to take on strong opponents and bosses that are almost impossible unless you are a certain level. Thankfully though the leveling is done in a way that is far from obtrusive and works incredibly well in providing the player with a simple and effective way to track their party’s progress without becoming a game about numbers like a lot of RPGs tend to do.
Characters can earn Titles and level that by 5 variations throughout the story as they progress and on top of that upgrade their attributes and gain new skills.
All in all there is a distinctive old-school RPG vibe to Tales of Graces f in terms of gameplay, it hearkens back the feeling of classic RPGs such as Guardian’s Crusade and of course the timeless Tales of Phantasia, the game that began it all for Tales. Despite that though there is enough freshness that it stands well in the modern gaming environment.
Visuals and Audio:
Aesthetically Tales of Graces f continues on with the anime-esque art style that the series has become known for. Much like previous iterations of the franchise it is brightly coloured and looks simply gorgeous because of it. The vibrant and lively landscapes are incredibly memorable and make for a world worth exploring. Character designs are also well done with a vast array of unique looking characters within the game of all shapes, sizes and styles.
The game’s soundtrack is pretty much your standard fantasy RPG score but it does the job effectively enough although it doesn’t make any major strides to do anything new or innovative. The game’s theme song is quite good though and rather noteworthy. I found myself looking it up afterwards just to listen to it again. It’s a shame that the rest of the game’s soundtrack is rather bog-standard. In terms of voice acting however the English voice actors and actresses have done an excellent job at portraying these characters and making for memorable performances. Asbel in particular was performed phenomenally by Bryce Papenbrooke in his adult form, a tour de force of voice acting to say the very least.
Overall:
Tales of Graces f is another solid entry into the long list of game’s in the Tales series. It may not do a whole lot different to it’s predecessors but it doesn’t need to. The formula is solid and the story takes the foreground in RPGs such as this and I must say this is one of the best stories Namco have told with Tales in years even rivaling the legendary Tales of Symphonia.
There is enough on offer here to please any Tales fan as well as those new to the series. In fact it makes for an excellent entry point for those unfamiliar with the series. Asbel is an admirable hero and the story of Graces will surely engage even the most wayward RPG fans. Tales of Graces f is a classy game that lives up to it’s title, this is a game made of pure grace.
Today Tecmo Koei revealed another set of costume DLC for Dead or Alive 5. In fact, this is the fifth round of costumes they have released so far which means if you’ve purchased every pack so far, you have upwards of ten to fifteen costumes for some of the female characters.
This set contains the China Pack, Formal Wear Pack and Special Set 3 and each one costs 400 MSP or $5 each or if you buy them in a bundle they will only cost 1040 MPS or $12.99. The costumes can be seen below and we see some rather standard outfits alongside some very sultry outfits for Kasumi and Mila and a some risque leather for Christie.
