Trolls Note: Call of Duty Endowment is not a new addition to the franchise, so stay under your bridges for now.
Activision announced the sale of limited edition dog tags in supports of its Call of Duty Endowment fund. The Call of Duty Endowment fund in a non-profit that helps war veterans find jobs bu funding organizations that provide training and job placements to veterans. The dog tags will retail for $4.99 with all proceeds from the sale going to the CoD Endowment, and they will go on sale starting November 1st. The dog tags will be available in over 12,000 stores across the US including Gamestop, Target, Walmart, Toys R Us and Best Buy. Customers will be able to locate the dog tags in dedicated counter displays and Call of Duty areas.
Robert Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, and co-founder of the CoD Endowment, said, “Supporting our veterans as they re-enter the workforce is one of the most important priorities we have as citizens. Our youngest veterans — those 18 – 24 years old— currently face an unemployment rate that is almost twice the national average of their non-veteran peer group, and this is unacceptable. With the sale of our limited edition Call of Duty Endowment dog tags, we are urging Americans to join us in the support of our heroes as they attempt to re-join the workforce.”
Activision and Robert (Bobby) Kotick take a lot of flak from time to time, for being perceived as money greedy demons almost, and while I’m not arguing for either side, I think what they are doing with the CoD Endowment can only be positive.
For more information on the organization check out the PSA below.
Croteam and Devolver Digital have taken a break from trying to smack down Medal of Honour: Warfighter, and have instead today launched Steam Workshop support for Serious Sam 3: BFE. This will allow users to browse and subscribe to different mods allowing them to change up the game in anyway they want. Oh and yes, that could potentially include switching out all of the enemies with Jar Jar Binks (my personal hope). There is already over 60 different mods that have been pre-approved and are available to download now. So, if you have a hankering for running around blasting aliens with an auto-shotty then hop to it!
Oh and by the way Croteam and Devolver Digital thought this might be too much awesome, so check out the handy (and somewhat gross) FAQ below.
Q: I love the Rocket Launcher but think it would be great to replace it with a pet Scrapjack that fires cute little rockets from the palm of my hand – is this possible with Steam Workshop support?
A: Already in there boss, don’t forget to check out its precious little idle animation.
Q: The Gnaar enemies scare my little brother, would it be possible to dress them up with fancy top hats and monocles with maybe a distinguished mustache? If so, can we rename them Sir Eisenhower Buttersworth?
A: Yes. So much yes.
Q: The non-stop action of Serious Sam 3: BFE is great and all but I really wish I could replace my multiplayer character with oddly attractive teenage girls from my favorite anime, is that weird?
A: Yes, it is weird but also totally possible with Steam Workshop. By the time you read this I guarantee your request is already available.
Q: I bet my friend $1,000,000 that you will never, ever, ever be able to make your own multiplayer and survival maps for Serious Sam 3: BFE using Steam Workshop. What’s the deal?
A: You owe your friend a million bucks, dude.
Q: I get aroused by the rapid discharge of shotgun shells – is there already an automatic shotgun mod I can download so I don’t have to wait on making my own?
A: Yes. Please go away. Gross.
Serious Sam 3:BFE is already out on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3, and with the addition of Steam Workshop to the PC/Mac edition it is about to get a whole lot less serious.
For those who never bought, or played, the original Crysis, but have had their interest piqued by the upcoming Crysis 3, this pre-order offer is the perfect one for you.
Via press release, EA has announced that through the Origin website, and other participating retailers, pre-ordering Crysis 3 will net you a digital download of the original Crysis, restricted to the console for which you make the pre-order. This offer will expire March 2013, and, as of right now, is seemingly not going to be available to Australian residents. However, if you’re living in Europe or the U.S., you will be able to take advantage of this offer.
Pre-ordering will also upgrade your copy of Crysis 3 to the Hunter Edition, which includes – for multiplayer – immediate access to the Predator bow and it’s attachments, as well as the Hunter Nanosuit module, which will give players additional powers and functionality; namely in the stealth and target acquisition capabilities of the suit. Hunter Edition owners will also receive an instant XP boost up to level 5, a unique skin for your freshly acquired Predator bow and 3 exclusive dog tags, which should raise your intimidation factor.
Pre-order through Origin, or visit the site to find other participating retailers in your country.
Do you want to play a game? Well if so… then you’re in the wrong place.
Do you want to watch Paradox Interactive play a game? Then you’re in the right place, huzzaaahhh!
You’ll be even more in luck if you would like to see a live stream of a strategy management game involving everybody’s favourite vertically challenged mythical creatures dwarves!
Paradox Interactive will be live streaming A Game of Dwarves from 7pm GMT/5am EST for your enjoyment. You will be able to adress your dwarf related questions at Fred Wester, CEO of Paradox Interactive, and Jörgen Björklund, Senior Producer at Paradox Interactive during the stream. Personally I want to know how many dwarves it takes to unscrew a mithril encrusted lightbulb, but then maybe i’m just being pedantic. The stream may also be great for anyone who has thought about buying the game, but hasn’t decided either way yet.
You can view the broadcast on the official Paradox Interactive TwitchTV channel here.
Turbine Games announced the launch today of its hit MMORPG The Lord Of The Rings Online Mac Beta Client. This allows Mac users to finally join in the hobbit related free-to-play fun that has up until now been exclusive to PC users.
“We are really excited to open up the world of Middle-earth to Mac,” said Kate Paiz, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Online. “We’ve just launched our biggest expansion yet and we’re happy to welcome gamers to play the game natively on Mac OS X for the first time ever.”
The Lord Of The Rings Online allows players to play as a hero from one of the classic races (Men, Elves, Dwarves, or Hobbits), and then allows them to level up their character while journeying across a land that is rife with memorable scenes from the books and movies. Especially considering that the game is now free-to-play, and Mac user who passes up a chance at this game would be a fool… of a took.
The client is now available for Mac users to download here.
Some exciting news this Halloween as Square Enix and Bigpoint have announced that Gameglobe, a new unique and inventive community driven gaming experience has entered its Beta stages and with it comes the Halloween Pack, chock full of terrifying surprises. Players are invited to join and either play one of the many levels created by other users or come up with something themselves to challenge other players. Hapti. co are the team behind Gameglobes development and have gone above and beyond to give the community a whole range of Halloween inspired props from Skeletons and Pumpkin pie health through to coffins filled to the brim with mysterious evil.
Take a look at some of the levels users have created so far on the Gameglobe website and let us know what you think, or send us some screenshots of some of your own creative efforts. For more information and to sign up please visit Gameglobe.com
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams Developer: Black Forest Games Publisher: Black Forest Games Platform : PC (reviewed) Release Date: 23rd October 2012 Price: $14.99
Overview
Kickstarter has become something of a breeding ground for passion project games. Whilst everything doesn’t go to plan 100% of the time, some projects do find their way through the minefield of development and land on their feet. Giana Sisters is one such title which has made it’s way through both Kickstarter and Steam’s Greenlight system. Originating from a 1987 Commodore 64 title called The Great Giana Sisters, this colorful platformer for the PC is also set for future release on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The first game was famous primarily for it’s great soundtrack and tricky platforming, but was also removed from sale for it’s unashamed copying of Super Mario Bros – the first level of the game was a near on perfect clone of the first level of Nintendos headliner.
Gameplay
Platforming remains the name of the game in Twisted Dreams , although things have moved on since the copy-cat fiasco of the original game. The brief introductory sequence sees two sisters sucked into a portal that leads to another world, with players stepping into the shoes of Giana to track down other sibling Maria. the story is very much secondary to the gameplay, leaving the game with a very arcade/retro feel.
The game strikes up some individuality in the form of the theme of two. Giana can switch between two different forms – each of which has a different special move, and the entire world changes along with the character sprite. ‘Punk’ and ‘cute’ are the easiest ways to define the two, with cute Giana able to spin and float for long distances, whilst the punk version has a handy firebomb attack that feels a lot like something from Sonic. There are some puzzles within the platforming that mainly involve some box pushing and good timing, and despite the fact that there’s nothing overly new in the tight mechanics, the difficulty ensures that you’ll be swiftly hooked into the game.
Things start off easy, but quickly ratchet up to a point where you’ll be having some strong words with your PC. The controls and mechanics are crucially very strong, meaning that any frustration felt is 99% of the time down to your own abject failure as a gamer. Twisted Dreams can get a little to close to crossing the line into the territory of ridiculous precision, but the challenge is a welcome one and something to be expected from truly quality platformers these days.
The main unique selling point here is the flicking between worlds, which allows for some creativity with platforms that only move or exist in one layer but not the other, and collectible gems that follow the same rule. These elements become all the more fun to master if you choose to go beyond story mode and dive into time attack, which easily adds a dose of longeivity to a game that is a little average in length.
Audio & Visual
Platformers are the last bastion of toon style graphics, and Twisted Dreams is no exception. Bright colours and bold design are both at play, and even if there is nothing particularly startling on show it is all at least pulled off with a high level of technical polish. Of course the two dreams have very distinct styles, with the ‘cute’ Giana experiencing the horrors of goblin enemies, skeletons and the like, whereas the ‘punk’ Giana finds her nightmare/dream in traveling through a picturesque fantasy land with slightly obese owls. It’s cute, bright, and doesn’t get in the way of gameplay.
Whilst Twisted Dreams has a colorful and appealing style, the main highlight for the game graphically is the smoothness with which it switches between the two styles of dream. Not a single hiccup was experienced flicking between the two, and the creativity that has gone into these dual levels is fantastic. The push of a button warps the entire stage so smoothly that you’ll quickly forget what a great trick it is. And it’s not just the visuals, the music too, changes at the push of a button. The soundtrack on a whole is excellent, with music provided by composer Chris Hulsbeck and heavy metal band Machinae Prophecy. The tunes certainly provide a change from the norm, and they too change seamlessly with the changing levels.
Overall
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams is certainly a quality effort. It has challenge, personality and tight mechanics to make it an addictive little platformer, and the dual world design gives it a point of difference to help it stand out from the crowd. The difficulty curve may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but to those seeking a decent dose of old school platforming with a twist of heavy metal music, then this is a good place to start, and a fairly unique one to boot.
Today Tecmo Koei launched the official website for the previously announced Dynasty Warriors 8. As you may know, the game is currently a PlayStation 3 exclusive and set for release sometime in Japan in 2013 with no Western release confirmed at this point.
Now the site itself is only in Japanese however it does feature some character information, various features as well as a page full of screenshots. We’ve gathered the screenshots below and as you can see Dynasty Warriors 8 looks like it is going to take a significant jump in visual quality, at least as far as playable characters go. Expect more information over the next few weeks.
Castlevania: Lord of Shadows – Mirror of Fate, the first Nintendo 3DS title in the franchise, has a new trailer to celebrate the spirit of Halloween. The new trailer shows off some new gameplay features and in game footage, showcasing the two playable characters, both of whom are part of the legendary Belmont bloodline: Simon and Trevor Belmont. Mirror of Fate is part of the reboot of the franchise.
Castlevania: Lord of Shadows – Mirror of Fate tells the story of Simon and Trevor Belmont (voiced by Alec Newman and Richard Madden respectively), both descendants of Gabriel Belmont (voiced by Robert Carlyle). Gabriel has returned as a powerful vampire called Dracula, threatening to destroy the brotherhood and anyone who stands against him. Gabriel was also revealed to be the prince of darkness in the original Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, and an all-new prologue level allows users to control Gabriel once again before his transformation.
Castlevania: Lord of Shadows – Mirror of Fate takes place 25 years after Lord of Shadows and is a precursor to the highly anticipated Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 for the PlayStation3 , Xbox 360 and PC. Expect Mirror of Fate to hit stores in early 2013. The trailer can be seen below.
If you enjoy singing along with your games and have a Wii, you are in luck as Konami have now released Karaoke Joysound to the masses. Made famous in Japan, this title lets players not only have access to a huge song library, but customize their avatars and play mini-games.
Here is a bit more information from the publisher themselves:
Karaoke Joysound brings out the inner crooner, boasting over 30 songs across all genres available on the disc. From there, players maximize their karaoke experience by accessing Karaoke Joysound ‘s music streaming service online via their Wii internet connection. Users can “rent” the entire music library for a day, three days or even a month at a time. With over 1,000 songs in the music library, Karaoke Joysound is perfect for parties, family get-togethers or the aspiring singer to hone in on their skills.
Karaoke Joysound ‘s on-disc music list includes chart-topping songs of today and hits from the past, including song renditions such as:
SONGS – MADE FAMOUS BY: Material Girl – Madonna Womanizer – Britney Spears It’s Raining Men – The Weather Girls One Less Lonely Girl – Justin Bieber Get Back – Demi Lovato All Star – Smash Mouth Celebration – Kool & The Gang
In addition to one of the largest song libraries on Wii, Karaoke Joysound also allows players to enjoy extensive customizations across the game. These features give players an additional level of individuality as in-game points are awarded as currency, so the better the performance, the more points players accumulate to spend on customizing everything from personal aesthetics (hair, outfits, etc) to stages and backgrounds.
I don’t know how I feel about “renting” a song for a game, but this concept is certainly unique and should attract that casual music loving audience quite quickly. You can find Karaoke Joysound on the Wii as of today.
