Take a good look at that brand new Pokémon themed Nintendo 3DS XL because that will be the only way you will ever see this version fo the handheld, even if you are lucky enough to be a Japanese resident. Today it was announced by the Pokémon Company that this special Charizard themed 3DS XL will be sold at special Pokémon Centers in Japan.
However you will not be able to simply purchase this 3DS XL as you please. Instead you must reserve a right to purchase it, then be placed in a lottery which will be held from November 3rd to November 26th. If your reservation is picked in the lottery then you will be able to purchase the special Charizard 3DS XL for 18,900 yen between December 15th and January 14th. Nothing says rare like Pokémon eh?
Capcom has kicked of an interesting contest for fans that are looking forward to playing next year’s Remember Me, which is a futuristic action title being developed by Dontnod Entertainment. The story of Remember Me is based around the idea that memories are a commodity in the future which can be sold, traded, stolen and even modified.
This contest they are holding involves creating a fake product advertisement for a fake brand in an attempt to have them featured in Remember Me when it is released. There are five different categories for creations, which are: an alcoholic drink, fast food, a sport/sports event, a dating service, and a children’s toy company.
For those of you who are artistically challenged, there is a second contest being held where you can send Capcom photographs of your chereished memories as well as a description of why they are important to you. Capcom will then select photos at random and use them as a part of the special effects that will be used during Remember Me’s Memory Overload sequences that will occur whenever the main character Nilin performs a signature attack. Details about the contest can be found here and it will end on November 29th.
Indie Royale has released a blockbuster bundle to celebrate Halloween this year in a frightening horror themed manner. As usual, the bundle is pay what you want with a moving minimum price. As more people pay the minimum, the the minimum price rises, those who pay more drive the price down for other buyers.
The bundle is headlined with Telltale Games third season of hit adventure game Sam & Max, Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse for Steam. Next up is 2d horror game by Benjamin Rivers called Home for Steam and Desura, Ice-Pick Lodge’s first person adventure game Pathalogic, Brawesome’s comedy adventure game MacGuffin’s Curse for Steam and Desura, and finally Chaosoft Games’ retro action RPG EvilQuest. Those who pay more than $8.00 USD will receive the customary chiptune album. This bundle’s album is by C-jeff, Preschtale.
As a bonus, the highest contributor will receive the sold out HOME: Old SChool Collect’rs edition. The physical bundle contains a printed town map, mapping tools, a classic game manual, exclusive game artifacts, and a digital download code. Check out the Halloween Bundle here.
If you were still tuning into G4TV then you will probably stop doing so by the end of the year because today the company announced that they are planning on dropping the last two video game related shows on the channel as Attack of the Show! and X-Play will be ending at the end of 2012.
G4 said in a statement that “Both shows will include original episodes through the end of the year, and will look back at their most memorable moments as we lead up to their final episodes.” Both of these shows were very memorable in the past, with X-Play starting back in 2003 and Attack of the Show in 2005. However in recent years the favorite hosts for these shows had chosen to leave their respective shows and the quality of both has been on a downward spiral since then.
By the Power of Grayskull, iHave the Power! He-Man: The Most Powerful Game in the Universe was released to the iTunes App Store. Chillingo and Mattel teamed up together to bring this classic cartoon to the mobile arena. The game is a 2d platformer with 27 levels across 7 areas of Eternia. Players will play He-Man as he slashes his way through big boss fights featuring classic enemies such as Skeletor and Beast Man. He-Man is fully upgradeable.
He Man: The Most Powerful Game In the Universe is available as a universal download for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch and costs $0.99 on the iTunes App Store here.
All the big names were out at Woolloomoolloo Wharf to lend a hand to Sony Foundations annual Wharf4Ward fundraising charity lunch where 850 of the countries stars enjoyed a water front treat of fine food , wine and entertainment, raising over half a million dollars in the process for Sony’s charity campaign ‘You Can’ which through a combined campaign effort setup by Sony and Canteen helps to raise funds and awareness for specialised youth cancer care and services Australia wide. Some of the Sony Artists aiding the appeal included Timomatic and Justice Crew as well as a special appearance from Jessica Mauboy as well as performances from the X-Factor finalists.
Each major network also helped support the event with such household names as Channel Sevens Natalie Bassingthwaite, Nines Georgie Gardner and Channel Tens Natarsha Belling amongst many others all hosting the event. Peter Garrett made a surprise appearance and many other celebrities all helped to achieve such an amazing amount which will give so much to many who have so little.
Sophie Ryan, Chief Executive Officer, Sony Foundation Australia, said: “800 guests, six restaurants, 200m of wharf, five live music acts and 11 hosts – the recipe for an amazing day. It was also a great example of how people can come together to raise more than half a million dollars for a much-needed cause. This money goes to Sony Foundation’s ‘You Can’ campaign to help young Australians survive cancer and we’re ecstatic with the result. This money will make a measurable difference to the lives of young Australians with cancer”.
The guests enjoyed the food of some of Sydneys finest dining establishments along the wharf including Akis, China Doll, Mantra, Otto Ristorante, Cristinis and Kingsleys Steak and Crabhouse.
Ghost Recon Online is a free-to-play tactical shooter for the PC. Delivering hardcore team based combat, players can choose between three unique classes to dominate the battlefield. Update 0.9.0 adds an entirely new slew of features to the game for players in Europe and North America.
Players new to the game will be able to access the Beginner’s Playlist. This means that gamers can take it slow and learn the ropes with other newcomers before jumping in the deep end with Ghost Recon’s more experienced sharks.
Along with these changes, 6 new and exclusive Halloween weapon skins and stat differences will be available in the update. These are sure to bring a spooky edge to the game’s Elite Ghosts.
Clans have been highly requested by fans of the game and Patch 0.9.0 is certainly set to satisfy. With the new ability to create and join alliances with other players, fans can form bonds and create friendships. Clan tags and clan crests further help to personalise each squad and competitive clan battles will come into effect on January 13th 2013.
Ghost Recon Online’s Halloween update has been released as of today and Ubisoft seem to be planning much more support post-launch; great news for fans of the game.
The Best Red Vs. Blue DVD Ever. Of All Time. Studio: Roosterteeth Publisher: Hanabee Format: DVD Release Date:Out Now Price:$9.95 (Buy Here)
Overview
Red Vs. Blue is one of the longest running Machinima series of all time. What started out as a group of guys just playing Halo and recording some hilarious clips of the game has turned into a phenomena of its own. As far as I know, the series is currently on its tenth season and is still going strong. In fact the series has maintained a comedic quality throughout most of its tenure and this best of DVD reflects that.
Story
Red Vs. Blue follows the story of the Red team versus the Blue team of characters set in the Halo video games. The series is generally quite funny, but as you’ll see from this best of, it gets more and more serious and less and less entertaining as the series numbers increase.
So in this best of DVD, we have what appears to be some kind of award show where the fans of the series have voted for their favourite scenes in various categories online. The winners of these have been selected for showing in this feature.
So whilst the DVD itself doesn’t really have a story, it doesn’t really need one. I mean, like, this is really something that only the fans of the series would be picking up anyway. For someone new to the franchise though, I don’t see this being the best way to being introduced to it. It requires a lot of foreknowledge to get the jokes and references within the show considering that they only sparsely show entire episodes on the disc.
I have to admit that I have seen a fair few entire seasons of Red Vs. Blue in the past (I stopped when Monty Oum started doing the well choreographed CGI scenes) and even I couldn’t recall some of the scenes that had won awards. I’m not the die-hardest of fan with this show, so this has impacted my viewing experience a little bit. For example, the clips from the earlier episodes were absolutely hilarious and I can absolutely agree with them being in the best of show-reel. However, as we get more and more into this CGI misrepresentation of the core concept of Red Vs. Blue, it becomes abundantly clear the series has suffered a massive decline in quality from a storyline and writing perspective.
Visuals
How do you rate a show like this visually? I mean, from a gaming perspective, it looks just like Halo does only you have to account for when each generation of game was originally released. You could look at it from an animation perspective, in which case it isn’t very fluid and it is a bit jerky at times. And obviously speaking, a lot of the earlier effect work was very stuck over the top, so to speak.
I’d say that visually, the Red Vs. Blue series has transferred on to the DVD format quite well. There didn’t seem to be any kind of hitching or stuttering or any kinds of negative aspects to the overall quality of the show.
What I actually liked about the visuals though, was how they’ve re-purposed one of the more straightforward maps from Halo 3 into the setting of the award show. It worked really well for this award ceremony and I never would have linked that map with this kind of thing until the guys over at Roosterteeth had thought of it. I also really enjoyed how this ceremony brought back a lot of old characters from the show, and seeing them represented visually once again was quite enjoyable to watch.
The one thing I didn’t like about this show visually was that they showed segments of the incredibly well choreographed fight scenes done up by Monty Oum. Now this guy is a genius, I love his work, but does his stuff fit Red Vs. Blue? No. No it does not. As a once off gag for a season, it would have been tolerable, but for them to still be using more and more in-house footage it really feels like they’re killing what made the franchise great, which was a bunch of jokes spoken through some poorly puppeted Master Chief clones.
Audio
Much like the visuals, this is a hard one to judge. This is because of the nature of this particular DVD. You see, some of the really early episodes of the series were very obviously recorded with a low quality set up whilst the later episodes are very recognisably recorded with higher end gear. This creates a kind of unbalance in the overall audio quality simply because of the nature of the series.
As for the disc itself, there are no audio mistakes or errors present from what I could tell. The audio plays in sync with whats happening on the screen which is to be expected of this kind of product.
I really liked the way that the award show was scripted. The voice overs really brought the script to life and it added that classic Red Vs. Blue feel to the ceremony. This is important because the show needs to feel authentically Red Vs. Blue for it to have worked. And it does, so that’s good.
Extras
I was a little saddened by a lack of any real bonus features with this package. The stuff included on the disc were nothing more than previews to other Roosterteeth shows that are currently available online. Whilst not having a prolonged bonus feature section doesn’t damage the value of the disc, it also does nothing to enhance it.
Overall
Overall The Best Red Vs. Blue DVD Ever. Of All Time. is a great purchase for any Red Vs. Blue fan. However, if you’re a newcomer to the franchise you may not get all of the jokes and references made within the show which may cause your viewing experience to be dampened. Fortunately, Roosterteeth air all of their Red Vs. Blue episodes online and you can catch up on those if you’re really interested in checking this series out.
To celebrate the upcoming November release of Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, Disney have given us all two new video vignettes, in which the game’s designer – Warren Spector – leads us through an introduction and overview of the Paint and Thinner mechanic, and the second playable character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
The following is the Paint and Thinner vignette. For those who are familiar with Epic Mickey, they will recognise these core abilities.
And this is the Oswald vignette. Though he was not playable in the first game, Oswald will be available for a second player to take control of in drop-in, drop-out co-op. When playing in single-player, Oswald will be controlled by the CPU.
Beyond showing you these new vignettes, we’d also like to let you know about a couple Australia-exclusive pre-order offers. If you pre-order the game at EB Games, you will receive a 40cm tall Oswald the Lucky Rabbit plush toy, which is otherwise not for sale anywhere! If that doesn’t paint your canvas, pre-ordering at JB Hi-Fi will get you a bonus 260 page hardback comic collection – the 1st volume in Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse Classic Comic Collection!! Releasing on PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, Wii U, PC and Mac; pre-order now!
Silent Hill: Book of Memories Developer: WayForward Publisher: Konami Platform:PlayStation Vita Release:October 16, 2012 Price: $39.99 –Available Here
Overview: There are a number of franchises out there that gamers hold close to their hearts. As such, anytime someone wants to make a change to such a beloved franchise, some of these gamers will lash out with venom and rage at these changes. Such was the case with Konami’s latest spin-off game in the Silent Hill franchise, Silent Hill: Book of Memories. Konami has described the title as a “co-operative multiplayer action RPG” which is quite a departure from what most fans are used to. Now is this departure successful for the company? Let’s find out.
Story: When you begin your game you are given a choice of creating a male or female character. After creation, you find your character living in a rather standard apartment just before they receive a package from Silent Hill Downpours’ Howard the Mailman. In this package you find a strange looking book that appears to be very old.
As you read through this book, your character realizes that many events from your life are detailed in the book in great detail. Now what would happen if you were to go back and change what is written in the book? Well it turns out doing so pulls the player into a nightmarish realm where actions made within the realm can affect the real world.
The storyline for Silent Hill: Book of Memories is rather intriguing at first, but ultimately a bit bland as far as development or even twists go. There are a few different endings which can be obtained though, so there is a decent amount of replay value within the many stages of the Book of Memories, though you may not want to venture down the rabbit hole many times as I will mention momentarily.
Visuals: Surprisingly, Silent Hill: Book of Memories is a gorgeous title on the PlayStation Vita, especially during the game’s few cutscenes. The characters you play as can be customized enough that you will be hard pressed to find another player using the same exact design as yours, while the environments fit the Silent Hill theme nicely with there being a decent amount of variety in the appearance of the dungeons you explore.
One thing worth noting, especially for fans of the Silent Hill franchise, is how gorgeous the monsters are presented in the game. While the camera angle may not provide the best look at some of these creatures, fans will be able to pick out the numerous monsters used from the Silent Hill franchise as they take them on. That being said, the game has some absolutely terrible load times for a portable game, with a few load times being as long as a minute.
Audio: Konami has tried to do a decent job with voicing the few characters present in the Book of Memories, though the voice work is hit and miss at best, with in-game dialogue usually sounding alright and considering the only way to communicate with each other is through canned expressions you may hear these a lot during multiplayer, while anything presented in a cut-scene is usually of lower quality.
That being said, Book of Memories does a great job presenting a spooky atmosphere through creepy noises and sound effects. As you battle against nightmarish creatures they’ll cry out when killed and make other noises as you fight against them, making battles against larger groups of enemies an interesting affair.
Gameplay: Interestingly enough, Silent Hill: Book of Memories is at its heart a dungeon crawling hack and slash title. Every stage that a player enters is made up of a number of rooms that are connected to one another in a maze-like design. There are various rooms in each stage which serve as a shop, a save room, a treasure room, Karma rooms which have vague puzzles in them and more.
However you will mostly encounter rooms full of monsters or various “challenge orbs” which will provide a challenge against enemies that appear. These challenges must be completed as they will provide a puzzle piece, of which there can be up to six pieces or more, that have to be collected and then used to solve a puzzle that will allow them to exit and finish a stage. These ending puzzles are usually very basic, involving arranging items in a certain order that players can find a hint for in the stage itself.
Killing various enemies of course requires combat and in Book of Memories fighting is a rather standard thing. Players need to simply push the attack button for either their left or right hand and it will use the weapon in the chosen hand. In the case of two-handed weaponry, either attack button will suffice. Players can block or dodge in combat, but the animations for doing so are rather rigid and slow to activate, meaning you will take damage more often than not.
Book of Memories features a weapon durability system which serves to make combat more difficult as you will need to monitor the quality of your weapon to avoid it shattering in a desperate battle. These weapons can be repaired by using a wrench, one of a few consumable items in the game, but they still become damaged very quickly. Even rarer weapons can become useless very fast thanks to the low durability of every weapon in the game.
It is worth noting that thanks to the PlayStation Vita’s touch control scheme, players will be able to pick up things, switch weapons, use items and more perform various other things with a simple touch of the screen. This system works quite well and in fact, the player can also use special “Karma” powers via the rear touch pad.
Now Karma is a meter that slides towards either “Blood” or “Light” and picking up the ashes of defeated enemies will swing your Karma meter in one way or the other. There are a number of different benefits from having a Karma bar closer to one end of the spectrum; such as dealing more damage to enemies on the other side as well as performing various spells. Light magic drains the health from enemies, applying it to either the player and at higher levels, the whole team, while Blood magic unleashes high damaging attacks on enemies, all through the use of the rear touch pad.
Now earlier I mentioned that players may be hesitant to enter the game more than once and there is a good reason for that. The level design in Book of Memories is absolutely terrible. While it is nice how each place is similar to a maze and each level has a different layout, there are absolutely no shortcuts or rooms connected to more than two other doors. This means that you will be doing a ridiculous amount of backtracking and the only way to save is to find one of the randomly placed save levels. If you were to die without reaching the save room, you will have to start the entire level over again and in later stages that can take up to forty-five minutes to complete, mostly thanks to constant backtracking, this is absolutely brutal.
It is worth noting that at earlier levels Book of Memories may appear relatively easy, however the difficulty quickly ramps up, forcing players to return to older stages and grind for money that can be used on storage upgrades or stronger weapons and grind XP for level ups. This wouldn’t be too much of an issue if it wasn’t for the numerous traps hidden in later stages, such as a slowdown trap which cripples every action the player makes, leaving them a prime target for murder. This is only one of the many ways that Konami appears to have added instant-kill areas, padding the game’s length on-top of the incessant backtracking.
Now a few of these issues are relived in the game’s multiplayer mode. In Book of Memories players can venture into a stage with three other people and fighting enemies always seems easier with a team of four. It also helps that the immediate failure upon death is removed when playing with multiple people, as a death will simply result in the player dropping all held items. The multiplayer worked quite well and I actually experienced almost no lag with the various teams I fought with.
Overall: Despite its drawbacks, Silent Hill: Book of Memories is an absolute joy to play. Whenever you are with a large group of people or experiencing one of the better designed levels, there are signs of a brilliant game here. In fact, the game is Silent Hill fan service at its best as it features multiple enemies throughout the series, buffing items which used to be collected for puzzles in past games and more. However it is held back by some by terribly high levels of backtracking and cheap artificial difficulty.
So just like many things in the Silent Hill world, Book of Memories is a great dungeon crawling experience, twisted by questionable design into something that may infuriate more players than make them enjoy their time with it.
