Ubisoft is having a little mobile iOS sale on the iTunes App Store starting between now and all ending September 18th, so players looking to score some sweet deals on some or all of the games should be sure to check it out.
The sale kicks off today with MotoHeroz going for as cheap as FREE for iPad available HERE or iPhone and iPod Touch HERE.
Next up is Michael Jackson The Experience HD going for just $0.99 on the iPad starting on Spetember 13th, which can be found HERE.
On September 15th, Babel Rising 3D will be available for FREE for iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch, found HERE when the day comes.
Last but not least, Prince of Persia Classic will be available for only $0.99 starting on September 17th on iTunes HERE.
Be sure to check all those links on the right days or you wont be getting the right deals and remember that it all ends September 18th, so don’t miss out.
Players interested in Assassin’s Creed III that haven’t pre-ordered the game yet may be interested in the video just released by Ubisoft. Maybe you haven’t ordered it because you aren’t quite sure which special edition, if any, you want to go with. Well, the video just released shows the unboxing of the Join or Die Edition, so if that one had sparked your interest at all or even if it hadn’t, it should be a good video to check out.
Showing off the different items in the edition up close, the video doesn’t add anything we didn’t already know about, just giving a better look at them. The most detailed aspects being the medallion and the notebook, the video shows off the wear and tear of the medallion giving it a more authentic look, while the video actually flips through the notebook for a few brief glimpses into some of it’s content. Players can still pre-order Assassin’s Creed III, including the Join or Die Edition before its release at the end of October 2012.
Send all your video game or podcast questions, hints, suggestions, answers to questions and feedback to [email protected]
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
NEW PRIZE ANNOUNCED
Each week, thanks to Razer, we will be giving away a prize a week competition held through Capsule Computers Gaming Podcast.
To win, simply listen to the podcast for the weekly question and SPECIAL CODE, once you have it send us an email with your name and address to [email protected], make sure you include the secret code. At the end of the week, a winner will be randomly selected from the pool of entries. The winner will then be announced on the next podcast.
This week, we’ll be giving away the awesome Razer DeathAdder, thanks to our good friends at Razer.
Thanks for listening. Copyright Capsule Computers Pty Ltd – All Rights Reserved.
All Other Samples Are Copyright And Property Of Their Official Copyright Holders.
Avatar 4 will be a prequel. But wait! Avatar 2 hasn’t even hit the theaters! Hang on, let me explain…
Avatar 2 and 3 are being shot back-to-back much like the 2nd and 3rd The Matrix films, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Parts 1 & 2…you get the idea. However creator James Cameron has already begun thinking up ideas for 4th installment stating that he’d like Avatar 4 to be a prequel.
“I haven’t really put pen to paper on it, but basically it goes back to the early expeditions of Pandora, and kind of what went wrong with the humans and the Na’vi and what that was like to be an explorer and living in that world…because when we drop in, even in the first film in ‘Avatar 1,’ as it will be known in the future, we’re dropping into a process that’s 35 years in to a whole colonization. That will complete an arc and if that leads into more, we’ll start, not imitating ‘Star Wars,’ but it’s a logical thing to do because we’ll have completed the thematic arc by the end of three. The only thing left to do is go back to see what it was like on those first expeditions and create some new characters that then become legacy characters in later films. It’s a plan.”
-James Cameron, Writer & Director
Although the story is still being written, Twentieth Century Fox aims to release Avatar 2 in December 2014, and Avatar 3 in December 2015.
RPG specialists Obsidian Entertainment are teasing a new project. The developer, well known for their work on Neverwinter Nights 2, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 and Fallout: New Vegas, is teasing what is being dubbed “Project X” via it’s new landing page.
Visiting the Obsidian website reveals the number 4, which may represent a countdown, inside of an Ouroboros. The Ouroboros is a symbol that originated in ancient Egypt, seen for the first time in a funerary text placed on a shrine in Tutankhamun’s tomb. The symbol, which depicts a snake or dragon eating it’s own tail, can be interpreted as reflecting cyclicality, completion or infinity. The Ouroboros has most recently been used in promotional material for the upcoming MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online.
What could it mean?
On the splash page, below the Ouroboros, are two lines of text that read: “What do the words mean? Nothing. The Dirge of Eir Glanfath is sound without form, a lone voice crying out in mourning because it must.” Clicking the image brings you to a Project X forum page. Initial speculation suggested an Elder Scrolls connection, due to the timely use of the Ouroboros symbol, however that is highly unlikely due to Bethesda Softworks owning the rights to that franchise. What do you guys think this game is going to be?
Rev up your engines Formula 1 fans! That’s right the demo for F1 2012 will race into consoles this week and yes racing fans you should be excited. After all this will be the first chance F1 fans get to play the latest instalment in the enduring racing franchise.
The demo for the game is set to launch this week on XBLA and PSN a week ahead of the game’s release on September 20th. To mark this launch they have realeased a new trailer for title which can be seen below.
Be sure to check out the new trailer for F1 2012 and let us know what you think of this news in the comments section.
I think that this is actually a first for this website. We’ve gotten to review many different kinds of PC peripherals in the past, we’ve also reviewed things as strange as iPhone cases. However – I’m reasonably certain that this is the first review we’ve ever put out for a laptop. As such, this may seem a little messy as we don’t really have a preset method of writing for one of these things and if it does become a huge mess; I apologise in advance. Now that we’ve gotten that over and done with, it’s time to move into the review.
The M17x is the current mid-range laptop in the Mnumberx line of laptops from Alienware. This product line contains the following machines: the M13x, M17x and the M18x laptops. Each one of these varies in power, with the M13x being the weakest and the M18x being the strongest and most powerful. The M17x is the unit that we have received and as a mid-range gaming laptop, you -really- can’t ask for anything better.
The first things I want to talk about are the machines gimmicks. The gimmicks in this case would be the things that make the device unique in comparison to other laptops on the market. So obviously, these things might be superficial, but others are a little functional.
I’m going to talk about some of the more superficial features first. As you may already be aware, Alienware machines generally are not very plain computers. In fact, the M17x was actually a really pretty machine. For instance, it came in this really nice reddish carry bag that, when removed, revealed a more pretty maroon-ish laptop within. Upon opening this unique looking lid (with grooves and stuff), you are greeted by a pretty flashing looking keyboard and control panel.
Powering on the machine took a few moments for me to work out, as the Alien face power-button initially looks aesthetic only. However, it is not. Pressing this button lit up the entire control panel and keyboard, as well as the monitor. What was really cool about the powering on, was that it took an incredibly short period of time to go from POST to Windows. By default, the keyboard lights up with the default Alienware theme of blue, purple and some other colours, IIRC. However, you can easily modify this theme by pressing a button on the devices control panel whilst in Windows.
What was also really good about this particular machine is that it has an abundance of ports for your various devices. These were also located on both sides of the device, however I think the side with the Blu-Ray player had slightly less. Have three pairs of headphones? Why not plug them all in at the same time? The only detriment to this, I found, was that at night, it was incredibly difficult to see which jack did what.
The laptop is also running a graphics card and monitor that is 3D compatible. That is, it is running a 120Hz monitor with incredibly fast response times. And a graphics card that is strong enough to render two images together and keep up with the monitor. Gaming in 3D, watching Blu-Rays in 3D – it is all incredibly awesome. Like, really, really, awesome. However, the only negative to having 3D is that you have to wear these bulky-as glasses which sit on your head in an uncomfortable fashion. Why not do some magic like the 3DS does to make the 3D? The laptop should be sitting a similar distance away from your face anyway.
Okay, now moving on to the stuff that is most important to us gamers. How does it handle gaming? Well, I can tell you that I tested a bunch of hardware hitting games under a few different conditions to give you a fairly accurate description of how it is that the laptop performs.
The M17x is a brilliant gaming machine that is capable of playing the latest of games at Max – or near Max – settings. Or at least, it has this capability so long as it is plugged into a wall. Unfortunately, whilst it is unplugged, it does not handle gaming half as well as it does plugged in. As someone who is only mainly technically able, I assume this has to do with the graphics card not feeding enough power out of the battery without the power cord. However, with the cord in, it is a beautiful gaming machine capable of so much awesome.
If you’re the gamer that really can’t play without a power point nearby, you will find that gaming severely drains the laptops batteries. In my play session of a few different games of varying qualities, I only managed to pull out about an hour and a little bit of gameplay before I started noticing a bunch of graphics processing errors. When returning to Windows, it was evident that the laptop was about to run out of battery power. Cunningly, I was able to retreat to a power-socket and find some extra juice.
The laptop also has some pretty decent built-in speakers. These were particularly useful whilst I was partaking in an impromptu LAN-party at a mates place. Having quality speakers on a laptop makes all the difference whilst gaming. While having a pair of gaming headphones will obviously increase your gaming experience whilst playing by yourself, in a LAN situation where annoying the crap out of your mates and opponents is part of the fun, having a good pair of speakers is particularly useful.
In my honest opinion, this laptop is a great supplement to the average gamer that is often out of the home or frequents gaming events such as LANs. This is not just because of the great amounts of graphical performance whilst plugged into a wall, nor is it just because of the pretty cool audio set up. But it’s also because the laptop isn’t really all that heavy to carry. For something as powerful as it is, I was expecting it to weight a hell of a lot more than it does.
From memory (as we’ve since returned the device), the laptop we were given had a whooping 16GB of RAM, 2TB of HDD space, the latest in nVidia graphics technology and a fairly awesome 2.7GHz i7-something or other processor. When you’re purchasing from the Alienware website, you are actually able to add and remove from these components, so individual mileage may vary. It also has an amazingly good wifi device. I can’t remember it’s name off the back of my hand, but it could run in the N range and was able to connect at a much higher speed to my modem than the dongle I’m using for my PC.
Overall the Alienware M17x laptop is an amazing gaming device for the gamer with portability in mind. It handles all current games incredibly well and it has nearly no flaws. The only negative points about the device are quite minor and were probably only encountered because I was adamant about gaming under all conditions. Users will be thrilled to own such a magnificent machine.
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of sitting in a real hockey arena then you know that they play plenty of songs whenever there is a break in the plays, before face-offs or even after a penalty occurs. Well EA Sports is looking to recreate that experience by licensing sixteen tracks from already established and upcoming artists from around the world.
The soundtrack has been selected to enhance the already improved aspects of the game’s appearance and gameplay aspects themselves. Those looking to pick up NHL 13 in Australia will have to wait until September 13th to play it while gamers in North America may already have a copy in their hands at this point.
King of Thorn Studio: Sunrise Publisher:FUNimation Format: Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Release Date: September 18, 2012 Price: $24.98 –Available Here
Overview: The end of the world can come in many different forms, what with global warming becoming a more prominent issue in recent years, a meteor simply hitting the Earth and wiping out all life on the planet or even an unstoppable virus could spread throughout the land. End of the world style media has been around for quite some time, and while most versions of this genre focus on the undead rising up for flesh, there are many other flavors to be explored.
Enter the King of Thorn film which happens to be an adaptation of Yūji Iwahara’s manga of the same name. Originally created back in 2010, FUNimation has since brought this movie to English speaking shores. Does King of Thorn provide a gripping story throughout its length or does it falter in presentation?
Story: The year is 2012 and a strange disease has begun sweeping the globe. The disease is called the Medusa Virus and it is unlike anything the world has ever experienced before. With a 100% mortality rate, anyone infected with the disease will begin incubating the disease within them, infecting everyone near them, before suddenly turning into stone and crumbling away into dust.
Being that no one has ever seen this disease before or even knows where it comes from, the world has absolutely no way to treat the rapidly spreading virus. Entire families become infected and die, cities and social order begin to fall apart as even the President of the United States becomes petrified by the disease. With stone statues slowly beginning to outnumber living humans, it seems that the end of mankind is upon them.
However one company has a plan to try and save a hundred and sixty of these infected people by entering them into a special facility that will allow them to be put into cryogenic sleep, placing their bodies in a dormant state that will not allow the Medusa virus to advance, and only awakening them once they have found a cure for their disease or once a hundred years have passed.
With only a limited number of people accepted, the company has taken a selection of people from all around the world, with an interesting mix of children, teenagers, adults and even the elderly of all different races. Among these 160 people, a young girl named Kasumi has been selected to enter the cryo sleep; however her twin sister Shizuku was not selected. With only an AI system named ALICE monitoring those who have been put to sleep, these 160 lucky individuals go to sleep with the hopes of a cure.
However, once everyone wakes up suddenly, they find the facility overrun with strange thorny vines and dilapidated. As Kasumi and the rest try to figure out what happened to them, strange creatures appear and start killing a number of the survivors. With survivors dying left and right, Kasumi and a small group of survivors must try and make it out of the nightmare filled facility and try to understand what has actually happened to them.
With King of Thorn only being a movie and a little under two hours long, the plot moves ahead at a blistering pace, though it does feel a little bit formulaic with how certain survivors are easily singled out by the fact that they are the only characters who were given any semblance of attention before going into cryo sleep. Thankfully the fast paced survival theme of the movie lends itself well to these shallowly developed characters, as viewers are given just enough information to care about them, such as what they left behind and what they are striving for.
As it stands however, the high-speed developments and survival theme of the movie works well with the plot, which takes a number of unexpected twists and turns which can catch the viewer completely off-guard, though it does feel like there are more than a few things left unanswered by the time the credits roll.
Visuals: Interestingly enough, when Sunrise decided to create King of Thorn they chose to combine a rather appealing blend of CG animation and standard animation. While the majority of the show and the characters themselves are often portrayed in standard animation with usually satisfactory results, all of the creatures in the show and various vehicles are implemented with the use of CGI.
During some action scenes, the characters themselves are also presented in CGI usually with middling results that often stand out, but at least keep the same level of detail. Sunrise did a splendid job weaving together these two styles which often stand out far too much from one another and because of that viewers are given a pure treat for the eyes.
Audio: As one would expect from a FUNimation release, the film has been given both the original Japanese dub as well as the new English voice track. As such viewers can choose to view the anime however they feel like, though it seems that FUNimation paid extra care to the voice actors in King of Thorn as every character feels rather believable with their performance. Remember how earlier I mentioned how the survivors were taken from all over the globe? Many survivors have been given various accents to fit their region and these accents sound as real as one would experience in real life.
As far as background music goes it always feels appropriately used with the tracks matched excellently with the action. This level of quality is retained with the movie’s sound effects as well as all of the creatures and sounds of death, destruction and desperation combine to create a hectic and worrisome atmosphere that works wonders with the fast paced story.
Extras: As far as bonus features go for the King of Thorn movie, those expecting a slew of special features may be a bit disappointed as most of the special features are your standard fair. This includes things such as trailers for past and upcoming FUNimation releases, original Japanese trailers of the movie and a television spot.
To round out those small inclusions we have a talk event with the director and producer of the film as well as an interview with the director himself. These are slightly informative, especially the talk event where the audience is allowed to ask the questions. It is worth noting that these two specials are in Japanese however, so English subtitles are required.
Overall: King of Thorn may hold a few similarities with other apocalypse titles, it provides a fast paced survival story that holds as many twists and turns as the vines wrapping the facility in the movie. Viewers are taken on a roller coaster ride of adrenaline packed survival. Combine this with the fact that the movie is a treat for both the eyes and the ears and you have an excellent anime movie that should not be passed up.
Avengers Initiative is an episodic brawler in the style of the Infinity Blade series. The first episode stars our favourite raging mad green superhero The Hulk. Does Avengers Initiative have enough to be more than just an Infinity Blade clone?
Story
Avengers Initiative starts off its first episode with Hulk. The Pulse has broken up The Vault that held many super villains in prison and Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. has assigned Hulk to capture as many of the escapees as possible while Fury tracks down the rest of The Avengers. Eventually, the rest of The Avengers will be rounded up to solve the mystery of The Pulse and the breakout at The Vault. But for now, the first episode focuses on the Hulk beating down on villains such as Zzzax and the many nameless henchmen that put themselves between Hulk and his target.
The story is told through cut scenes and audio logs found scattered around the game. The audio logs can be accessed through signing up with the Marvel XP program. As a person not particularly familiar with the comic books, I felt a little lost on the plot. I strongly recommend at least watching The Avengers movie for some background before playing the game. The dossiers accessed through the Marvel XP program are rather extensive and provide an interesting read.
Gameplay
Avengers Initiative is a touch screen based brawler. Players have the ability to side step, block, or deflect attacks by either tapping the correct buttons on the UI or swiping in the correct directions to stop incoming damage. Once the enemy is stunned, players can slash the enemy to deal out damage. There is a combo system in place for players to dish out extra damage. As their rage meter builds, players can unleash a variety of special rage attacks to do extra damage. In between combat rounds players will travel from place to place by tapping on highlighted areas in the environment while seeking out hidden bonuses scattered throughout the area. Players can also play a mini game to acquire ISO-8 currency and equip-able augmentation shards.
The combat is well done. I found that learning the directions to sidestep and was rather challenging as you could not automatically sidestep into an attack to guarantee a dodge. Instead, I had to watch the attack and see where the attack did not strike so I could dodge into that safe area. I found the timing for deflecting was a little off to me. Personally I would assume seeing the enemy about to hit Hulk was the right time to swipe to deflect. Instead I discovered the correct time to swipe is the beginning of the attack animation. The combo is simple enough that players do not need to remember twenty or so different combos. Instead, they simply need to know a certain amount of swipes in the same direction followed by a certain amount of swipes in a different direction. This allows for a fewer amount of specific combinations to memorize yet still provide enough of a variety that players do not fall into using the same four combinations over and over. The rage attacks are varied; players must choose three rage attacks from a variety of purchasable skills to equip. These rage attacks can also be used at specific fights to cause environmental damage. These help bring more variety to the combat portion of the game.
Stats are player distributed as the characters level up. Players are also able to equip different augmentation shards and costumes for their character that modifies skill points. These can be purchased with the in-game ISO-8 currency and provides a great amount of flexibility for play style. In addition, bonuses are given to players for completing fights in a certain way. Additional bonuses are given for joining the Marvel XP program. This program seems to be strongly recommended as the in game audio logs can only be accessed through this program. This program also links players to the Marvel: Avengers Alliance Facebook game. This is advertised as linking multiple games that will span across an epic storyline, starting with the Avengers Alliance Facebook game. This is a strong sign that Hulk’s story is the first episode of many for the Avengers Initiative game.
Visuals
The visuals in Avengers Initiative are top notch. The visuals mix a realistic style with a touch of comic book looks. The game looked great on the new iPad’s Retina display with zero slowdowns or FPS drops. I found animations to be smooth and realistic for the most part. I found Hulk’s walking animation to feel a little awkward and unnatural, but that was made up for by excellent combat animations. The UI is a good size on the iPad, although I would have preferred to see customizable button sizes as I tend to prefer my dodge buttons to be on the larger side on the iPad.
Audio
Avengers Initiative is fully voice acted by an excellent cast. I do not think it is voiced by the original movie cast, but the acting is some of the best on the iOS platform. The music is moody and great the listen to and the sound effects are bone crunching. I strongly recommend playing this game with the sound on simply for the voice acting. Players do not have to use headphones, but it will improve the audio experience.
Overall
Avengers Initiative is a great game. Although currently a little short, there seems to be an extensive episodic content plan in place. Right now, $6.99 may be much for a game of its current length, but if the content drops continue as planned, it will make the $6.99 price look like a great deal. The game mixes strong audio and visual experience with a great combat system and an epic plotline that is supposed to span multiple games.
