With Borderlands 2’s first piece of DLC “Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate’s Booty” just released, it seems that 2K Games is already hard at work on the next piece of downloadable content for the game. So hard at work in fact that they forgot to hide the trophies for the game on the PlayStation 3.
A tipster sent the above image to Joystiq revealing that the new piece of downloadable content for Borderlands 2 will apparently be called “Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage.” No details about this DLC have been revealed yet, and since this is not an announcement from 2K or Gearbox, this should be seen as a likely rumor at the moment, though it is worth noting that Torgue is the weapon manufacturer in Borderlands 2 that creates mini-rocket bullets.
In some rather shocking news, Tadatoshi Fujimaki the mangaka behind the popular sports manga Kuroko’s Basketball has received death threats from an anonymous hater. A variety of different places connected to Fujimaki, such as his University he attended, the publishing company of Kuroko’s Basketball and his studio received the death threats in the form a letter along with a mysterious powder and liquid.
Tokyo Metropolitan Police reported that at each location of the threat a container was found which contain hydrogen-sulfide like powder and liquid along with a letter attached. The letter mentioned things like “I don’t like Tadatoshi Fujimaki” and “Stop the manga.” The letter concluded by saying “If you don’t stop the parody manga, hydrogen sulfide will be boiled.” Police have begun a full investigation into these death threats and believe they have a lead, however no more information on the case has been revealed at this point in time.
Are you a bit down that BioShock Infinite’s release has been pushed back a few times? Well now that you’ve had some time to save up your money for the game, Irrational and 2K Games have a special treat for you. A more expensive version of the game with some neat goodies!
Today the company revealed that BioShock Infinite will have a Ultimate Songbird Edition released for $149.99. This version of the game will come with a special box, a keychain modeled after an item in the game, a 5 x 7 lithograph, a resin-cast miniature from the BioShock Infinite board game, an art book and various digital goods like a soundtrack, in-game upgrades and some DLC bonuses. Perhaps the biggest bonus however is a 9.5″ statue of Bioshock Infinite’s Songbird.
Those who don’t feel like dropping that much money, can still pick up the Premium Edition of the game for only $79.99 which includes everything above minus the Songbird Statue. Gamers in North America can pre-order this special version now while Europeans and Australians can do so on October 22nd.
If you enjoy dressing your favorite Dead or Alive 5 fighters in various costumes then Tecmo Koei certainly has you covered. Today it was discovered on the Japanese PlayStation Store that the third costume pack for the game is expected to be released in that country on October 30th.
There is no mention of what these costumes may be nor if they will be released in other regions on the same day. on the other hand, it is very likely that these costumes will be released worldwide on the same date. Considering the date, any guesses as to what these costumes could be? Perhaps some cosplay costumes or Halloween outfits for some of our favorite fighters?
After a short break of new champions, Riot Games created a new combatant that has been in the works for quite some time. Elise, the Spider Queen will cross over to the Fields of Justice in the upcoming League of Legends patch. Not likely to be crushed by any boot, Elise is a transform champion that can shift between a human mage and spider form. Let’s take a look at her abilities and lore.
Abilities (Human Form)
Spider Swarm (Passive): Elise’s Human Form spells will ready a spiderling when cast on an enemy.
Neurotoxin: Elise damages a target based on its current Health.
Volatile Spiderling: Elise releases a venom-gorged spiderling that explodes when it nears a target.
Cocoon: Elise fires a skillshot that stuns the first enemy struck.
Spider Form: Elise transforms into a menacing spider with new abilities. While in Spider Form, Elise deals magic bonus damage on attack and has increased Movement Speed, Armor, and Magic Resistance. Each level of her ultimate allows Elise to summon an additional spiderling.
Abilities (Spider Form)
Spider Swarm (Passive): Elise summons her spiderlings to fight by her side. Spiderlings deal physical damage and take reduced damage from multi-target abilities.
Venomous Bite: Elise lunges forward and bites her target, slowing them and dealing bonus damage based on how low its Health is.
Skittering Frenzy: Elise and her spiderlings gain Attack Speed and heal her on each attack.
Rappel:
On enemy cast: Elise and her spiderlings ascend high into the air and descend upon an enemy target.
On ground cast: Elise and her spiderlings ascend high into the air, becoming untargetable for two seconds. Casting Rappel on a nearby enemy during this time will descend upon your target.
Human Form: Elise transforms into a human form with new abilities. Each level of her ultimate allows Elise to summon an additional spiderling.
Lore
Before becoming the Spider Queen, Elise was a charismatic and deceitfully evil leader of a spider god cult. One day in the halls of her dark community, she emerged with a band of her loyal subjects to embark on a journey to find the shrine of their spider god. A long journey took its toll on the group, but finally the Shadow Isles came into focus. Up reaching the shores of the shrouded Shadow Isles, the group came to find a cavern – not a shrine – covered in large webs. As Elise raised her arms in triumph, her loyal subjects drew a gasp in fear as spider-like legs appeared out of her flesh. Terrified her subjects began running away from the cavern, but Elise stopped them with magical webbing. Elise let out a deafening screech calling out an ancient evil that lurched inside the cave. An undead spider slowly crept out into the clearing with its massive body on sharp, pointed legs. Soon screams could be heard amongst all of the Shadow Isles as the spider slowly devoured Elise’s subjects. The undead creature had became sated of its hunger of flesh and allowed Elise to take from it the spider’s deadly toxin.
Elise then drank from the vile toxin and experienced a rejuvenation through her cursed veins. Escaping mortality’s aging once again, she rejoined her congregation. Elise was deceitful in telling the story of the transpired events and spoke of her subjects staying to praise the spider god. She reassured her subjects there would be another journey, and that the spider god would be awaiting their return…
Some good news for all those Australian and New Zealand gamers as Mindscape Asia Pacific has announced a retail distribution partnership with leading casual games developer and publisher Alawar Entertainment. This will see Mindscape start to release Alawar’s popular titles and franchises across its many distribution networks. Expect to see the following titles this October with many more to come. Firstly Farm Frenzy 3: American Pie complete with 90 new levels, characters and challenges. If tending to the land on earth isnt enough for you then perhaps Smash Frenzy 4 is more your style as players struggle to save as many humans they can from the clutches of the evil kidnapping aliens. The last of the October releases is Sky Taxi 4: Top Secret where you take on the role of Mitch as he journeys through action packed levels to save a beautiful spy.
All three titles are available from leading retailers for $19.95
Jack the Giant Killer will now be Jack the Giant Slayer. Waner Bros have modified the title of its upcoming fantasy flick. One possible reason may be because “slaying” sounds a lot classier than “killing”, but no official reason has been released as yet.
As the official synopsis reads:
“Jack the Giant Slayer tells the story of an ancient war that is reignited when a young farmhand unwittingly opens a gateway between our world and a fearsome race of giants. Unleashed on the Earth for the first time in centuries, the giants strive to reclaim the land they once lost, forcing the young man, Jack, into the battle of his life to stop them.”
It is also directed by Brian Singer of X-men fame, so it will be one to watch out for, regardless of the title. Jack the Giant Slayer opens on March 21, 2013.
It appears the undead just wont die. With the release date of Breaking Dawn Pt. 2 on the horizon (Nov 15, 2012), those of us who are not teenage girls rejoiced. There was light at the end of the tunnel. The Twilight phenomenon was coming to an end. Well, the dream of living in a Twilight-free world has come crashing down around us as rumours fly of a continuation of the franchise.
There are no confirmed plans as yet, but everything from a movie reboot (yes, you read that right) to a spin-off tv series are being considered. Stephanie Meyer will have the final say in what will happen next in the world of Twilight. So Twihards, rejoice! As for the rest of us, these are dark days indeed…
Paranormal Activity seems to have taken on a life of it’s own, the franchise now stretching to a fourth film, and it showing no sign of stopping. At first, I was cool with the extra installments – it added a bit more story to what was at first a fairly shallow storyline. There was backstory, interesting interconnectedness, and a slow reveal of the overall story in a way that was interesting. So, does the fourth continue to unfurl an interesting story, or does it show signs of wearing thin?
Story
Paranormal Activity 4 starts by wrapping up all the previous three movies, so if you have yet to see the previous ones then don’t worry – all the important stuff is put into one concise montage (the fact that the first has no bearing on the overall story says something). So if you’re a first time Paranormal-er then this might help you, however if you haven’t seen any of the other Paranormal films then I do not suggest you cut your teeth on this film.
In contrast to the other Paranormal films, the adults of the family play basically no role. While the first had only adults, and the second and third had at least one who knew something was up, this installment has the adults continually brushing things off and only believing it moments before they meet their demise (as in all Paranormal films, the characters don’t fare well).
The fact that the adults play no part, and that the main character is a fifteen year old girl, causes this fourth film to have even less believability than the first three. Not to mention that she fails to use the footage to prove it to them, and also fails to look over it. A staple of Paranormal films is that the characters set up cameras because of odd night time activities, then look over the footage and get freaked out because their fears are legitimate. Alex fails to do this, instead being unable to follow simple instructions in order to obtain said footage.
So many of the family members remain clueless for so long that you end up rooting for the demon, because these damn stupid fools deserve what’s coming to them if they don’t see what’s going on around them. I’m sorry, but if you’re going to go to so much effort to set up the ridiculous amount of laptops you have in your family to constantly monitor your house, and don’t actually put it to any use, then it’s just a really obvious that it’s a plot point used to get ‘realistic’ camera angles.
The movie takes a while to get going, but at the same time the suspense is started too soon. That might not make sense, but the thing is that because the suspenseful moments are started early the tension grows slack, and it is too spread out. In the past, and in most horror/suspense films, it grows to an epic climactic scene where you feel like you’re going to die because the suspense is too much.
The end scene is a climax, but not enough of one. It feels like the build up to one, but with no pay off. The movie leaves you with no sense of catharsis, no moment at the end where you feel like everything has come together in one big bang. Instead, there is a half-hearted twist in the middle that is of no real surprise, and an ending that is reminiscent of the third movie, but without the adrenaline-pumping intensity.
There is some honesty in the film, in the conversation between Alex and her boyfriend Ben about her parents’ relationship. It’s something that a lot of people can relate to, and was a nice conversation that gave a little back story, but for the most part you don’t get a real chance to connect to the family as a whole. It’s just concentrated on Alex and her younger brother, Wyatt. The parents are non-characters for such a large portion of the film that you really just don’t care about them. This is in contrast to previous Paranormal films where you do care about the whole family, and get a chance to know all of them as well.
Visuals
The use of laptops (while showing just how ridiculously well off the family is – I mean, a laptop just to look up recipes? Come on) is actually something I found pretty ingenious. It allowed them to have close ups of faces, made the cameras mobile, and is a realistic reason for having people carry them around. It built up the suspense a lot, especially when you have a person blocking most of the camera’s view, and worked really well in general.
Another cool visual thing was the use of the Kinect sensor. Having the tracking dots show up on camera, which allowed the camera to track the ‘entities’, was quite effective and allowed for a lot of interesting and suspenseful moments. Perhaps a little more could have been done with this, but it was a really good idea.
Audio
The soundtrack to Paranormal Activity 4 is the same as the previous three films, ominous white noise that gets louder as the demon starts doing his business. As with the rest of the franchise, it does a good job at building the suspense and lets you know when stuff is going to go down.
Overall
Paranormal Activity 4 is a movie that you’ll watch if you liked the previous three, but you will probably walk away a bit disappointed. While I’m not rallying that the first three were awesome quality, they were still a good watch and managed to get your blood pumping. The fourth does have the suspense, but it isn’t quite as well carried out as it was in the first three, and the story line feels like it spends too long on some things and not enough time on others. By the time the story really starts, the movie is practically over.
The shocks and jump moments are often, and most feel somewhat forced or out of place. Unfortunately it just doesn’t live up to the previous installments of the franchise, and would be best watched only if you have seen the previous films or you might get a bad impression of the franchise as a whole.
Earlier today at the Sydney International Motorshow, Microsoft brought together a group of gaming media from a vast variety of different outlets for their Forza Horizon launch event. I was amongst the invited and got to get behind the wheel again with Forza Horizon after having previously having gotten my hands on the game at the EB Games Expo.
Upon arriving at the Sydney Convention Centre at which the Motorshow was being held, I took a stroll through the show hall and enticed my car-loving side with a variety of vehicles on display. I had a particular affection for Lamborghini’s showing. Interestingly enough once I got to the Forza Horizon booth I discovered that I’d be driving a Lamborghini in the game itself. So win-win for me.
Along with an array of other media folks, I took Forza Horizon for a test drive in some competitive online races. We competed against one another in your standard race, which I honestly couldn’t put down until they told me to. This game is flat-out addictive. After playing a few races we were all asked to stand for a speech from Microsoft in which they announced that we would all engage in a little competition amongst ourselves. The prize being a bottle of champagne and a brand new Xbox 360.
They informed us that there would be two heats, with the people coming top 3 in their heats moving on to the finals, with 2 wildcards to be selected to fill the final 2 spots in the finals. So quicker than a whip I hopped into the drivers seat yet again and engaged in a hard fought race in which I barely scraped in at 3rd place to secure a spot in the finals.
Once we got into the finals, the tension in the air was thick, many of us wanted that bottle of champagne. We raced our hearts out and unfortunately for me disaster struck on my 3rd lap. Suddenly my Xbox disconnected from Xbox Live thus eliminating me from the competition, Microsoft staff apologised, but I didn’t mind, I was playing simply for the fun that this game brings and that bottle of champagne.
Regardless of all that, the real star of the launch event wasn’t the competition or the booth babes that Microsoft had pose for pictures with us all, but it was the game itself and might I say, what a game it is. Forza Horizon is arguably a contender for Game of the Year. Turn10 Studios have done incredible things with the franchise that had honestly grown somewhat stagnant by completely flipping it on it’s head and drawing inspiration from classic racing games like Burnout and Outrun. But it’s not just a game that draws from other series, it has stamped out it’s own unique personality and style that will not soon be replicated.
The game’s open world has a grand feel that begs you to explore it and races are slick and infectious. You’ll do one race and find yourself dashing for the next dose of rubber-burning excitement at the Horizon Festival. When a racing game has that addictive arcade quality that has grown more and more difficult to find in recent times you know that you’ve got your hands on something that is sadly a rarity in the modern gaming landscape, but always a pleasure no matter how few and far between these types of experiences may be. From top to bottom, Forza Horizon is an rare experience that takes the franchise in a radical and exciting new direction. This one is a must buy, without a doubt.
Forza Horizon launches throughout Australia on October 23rd, exclusively on the Xbox 360. If you are interested in purchasing the special collector’s edition of Forza Horizon you do so only at EB Games and JB HIFI. For more information of Forza Horizon be sure to check out it’s official website here. Be sure to check out the launch trailer for Forza Horizon below as well as the images from the Motorshow and let us know your thoughts on the launch event and the game itself in the comments section.
In some rather shocking news, Tadatoshi Fujimaki the mangaka behind the popular sports manga Kuroko’s Basketball has received death threats from an anonymous hater. A variety of different places connected to Fujimaki, such as his University he attended, the publishing company of Kuroko’s Basketball and his studio received the death threats in the form a letter along with a mysterious powder and liquid.
