Epic Games has revealed that they have launhed a brand new studio in Seattle that will concentrate on developing Unreal Engine 4. The studio will be”initially focused on engineering efforts” for the engine and the company is looking to recruit “exceptional programmers and support staff to collaborate with its engineering group.”
To be a bit more specific, the company has stated they are looking for “senior-level talent specializing in online game services and the infrastructure to support them.” Currently seven positions are listed for the Seattle studio and they all appear to be set towards engine development. Currently the studio has no name though it is said that it will be given one “soon.”
PopCap has a new update for Plants vs. Zombies on iOS out that includes 5 new levels, 3 new achievements, and the Last Stand Endless mode. Free for existing players, other additional include new in-app purchases for special game packs and premium content. Additionally, iPad gets a tweak to give better, crisper graphics.
Last Stand Endless mode works similarly to the normal Endless mode, except for the amount of sunlight available, which has been limited for the mode. The achievements added, Hammer Time, Still Standing, and The Stuff of Legends, bring Plants vs. Zombies on iPad to 48 achievements and iPhone to 47. The Mallet Pack allows players to purchase mallets for use in Survival and Endless mode.
Players can also check out the Plants vs. Zombies merchandise from the PvZ Store, either from the in-game link or by checking out HERE.
As FIFA 13 looms closer to its release, EA has revealed 50 tracks that comprises the FIFA 13 soundtrack. These come from some international superstars such as deadmau5, Bloc Party, Flo Rida with Lil’ Wayne, Matisyahu and Kasabian, as well as some upcoming and indie acts. In tradition of football being the world game, the artists hail from across the globe. Twelves countries are represented by the artists and acts.
Steve Schnur, Worldwide Executive of Music and Marketing at EA, had some comments upon the announcement of teh FIFA 13 soundtrack.
“Our FIFA soundtracks are yearly opportunities to showcase a global roster of breakthrough artists from multiple genres. For FIFA 13, we wanted to take that excitement to the next level by adding major star power, top indie acts, and more songs than ever before.”
FIFA 13 will be released on September 27 for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC, Playstation 2, Playstation Vita and Nintendo 3DS. FIFA 13 will also mark the series’ debut on Nintendo’s newest console with a release on the Wii U later this year. A demo will be available from September 11 on the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.
Fans of the Transformers Universe have probably been wondering where it is exactly that the latest game in the Hasbro franchise, and published by Activision, sits in relation to the rest of the Transformers universe canon. Well now those fans can take a breather as the official timeline has been released, showcasing exactly where this title fits into the canon in relation to the war on Cybertron.
Transformers: Fall Of Cybertron is the latest game in the Transformers franchise. It follows the Autobot and Decepticon war across the planet Cybertron in a Third-Person Shooter styled gameplay experience.
Be sure to check out the Timeline by clicking on the picture above.
We know the Wii U is coming out this year. We know what kind of games will be released for the Wii U. What wasn’t know was whether the Wii U would be making an appearance at the EB Expo. However, if a recent rumour is to be believed, then Nintendo’s newest console will be hitting the shores of Australia in early October as part of the second EB Expo in Sydney.
According to an anonymous tip, an employee promoting the event had told the source “it was a done deal” when asked if “the Wii U was going to be there.” Furthermore, the comments came from someone “wearing an EB Expo shirt” and not one of the regular staff working at this particular EB Games, as this person revealed he is very familiar with the staff. This conversation was done in a soft tone, adding to the speculation of its appearance at the Expo.
Capsule Computers is seeking comment from Nintendo of Australia and EB Games. We will report on their reply as soon as we receive a comment. As for now, we will only treat this as a rumour.
Are you excited for Far Cry 3? Well you should be! The game looks great and could very well be the best Far Cry game to date. In anticipation of the game’s imminent release on November 29th, Ubisoft has begun a video series in order to spread awareness of Far Cry 3 as well as detail what the game’s all about. This video series is simply titled Far Cry 3: Island Survival Guide.
The second instalment of the Far Cry 3: Island Survival Guide has dropped and focuses in on the dangers of the island such as drugs and psychopaths just to name a few. You can check out what other dangers lurk on this tropical island by watching the second Island Survival Guide below. Be sure to let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Ever feel like you just don’t have enough NBA in your life? Well 2K Sports has revealed that they will be launching a new service that will make it so that you will never be too far away from NBA 2K13 once it is released. It is being titled NBA 2K Everywhere and will be available as a companion app on a slew of mobile devices, a social game on Facebook and even a full version of NBA 2k13 will be released on the iOS and Android as well.
The MyNBA2K app will be available in October for the iOS, Kindle and Android and will contain a number of minigames and allow the player to connect to the main game’s MyTeam and MyCareer features. As for the Facebook game, NBA 2K: MyLife gamers will be able to import their MyCareer avatar into the game to compete for endorsement deals which will unlock rewards in the main versions of the game.
As for the full mobile versions of the game as well as the console versions, NBA 2K13 will be available for purchase in October, meaning you have less than a month until you can become one with the 2K NBA world.
Madden NFL 13 Developer:EA Tiburon Publisher:EA Sports Platforms:Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, PlayStation 3 (Reviewed) Release Date:August 28, 2012 Price:$59.99 – Available Here
Overview: With the heat of summer starting to wind down, it is starting to feel like football weather in the United States, and with the NFL season about to kick off it only makes sense that the next release in EA Sports’ annual Madden franchise hit store shelves. This year’s offering is Madden NFL 13 and it promises a number of new enhancements over the last few years’ releases. Do these changes make Madden NFL 13 worth picking up for those who just can’t get enough football in their lives?
Visuals: Perhaps the biggest improvement over past Madden titles is the fact that Madden NFL 13 is sporting a brand new gameplay engine that delivers some rather impressive realism, making Madden NFL 13 one of the most realistic feeling football games that you will have ever played up to this point. This physics engine, called the Infinity Engine, makes it so that players will rarely experience the same play the exact way as players will stumble, bounce off of each other, shed tackles, fight for more yards and go for the ball in so many different ways.
This means that the hard hitting tackles that some football fans look for will come in many different shapes and sizes, often resulting in spectacularly painful looking hits. To top this off, the whole presentation of the title simply oozes in style. Everything from the main menu, the introduction of the teams to the final seconds of the game feel are genuinely enjoyable to watch and may even trick family members into believing it is the real thing.
It is worth noting that the Infinity Engine does have a few issues of its own. For one, there are a number of times that a seemingly sacked quarterback, about to hit the ground with tacklers taking him down, is able to throw a laser pass with perfect accuracy to a receiver. It also struggles terribly with post-play scenes where players try to stand up and untangle themselves from one another. During these instances players will literally stumble all over each other and players walking past them will trip over them, falling on top of them and look absolutely terrible with some players even falling into bone-shattering positions.
Audio: Madden NFL 13 features a new commentary cast provided by Jim Nantz and Phil Simms who provide some rather believable voice work as they commentate matches. However their commentary is also inaccurate at times which can ruin post-play celebration as they describe the events of the play entirely wrong.
The title does feature some minor background music in the menu screens though this is nothing to really write home about, though the in-game sound effects do sound similar to what one would expect on the field.
Gameplay: Besides the visuals and the physics improving, a number of basic occurrences throughout a standard match have been modified and improved. Some of the biggest changes have occurred in the air game as EA Sports has added in a number of new throwing trajectories which change the way that a ball is thrown depending on the type of play, player thrown to and situation. It is also worth noting that both offensive and defensive players need to actually be aware of the ball before trying to catch it, making it so that receivers’ throw icons can be grayed out until they are ready for the ball (though they can still be thrown to) and defensive backs cannot intercept balls they couldn’t have known they were there.
Besides this, in combination with the Infinity Engine, tackles in Madden NFL 13 have been improved and given a higher chance of failing. Considering the fact that hitting a player doesn’t automatically mean that he is going to be taken down anymore, gamers who choose to use the hit-stick can sometimes be shed easily, allowing the runner to advance. This means that simply taking a wrap-up type of tackle may be the better choice at times compared to steam-rolling hits.
Outside of the field a number of adjustments have been made to the gameplay modes. Besides your standard play-now options, gamers will find that the online Franchise, offline Franchise and Superstar modes have been combined into one mode that is now called Connected Careers. In Connected Careers players will be able to start a league of their own, pick whether or not they want it to be offline or online and then whether they want to play as a coach or an individual player. Gamers who select an online league have the option of selecting a coach only league, players only league or anything goes.
In both Player mode and Coach gamers can choose to start a fresh player or coach or choose from a current player and even select a legend in the NFL if they feel like. Now if you choose to play as a normal player you will be forced to play as only that player, (like Superstar Mode) and will be given a chance to even create your own backstory by choosing whether you went undrafted, signed as a low draft player or a high draft pick. These selections can slightly affect your starting statistics as well as the team’s expectations of you.
As a single player, gamers will be able to advance their players by meeting certain goals set to them on a weekly, monthly and seasonal basis as well as participating in practice drills to gain XP. This XP then transfers into various stat upgrades which will boost the performance of your player. It is worth noting that players can spend a long time playing as a second or third-string member of the team and see little actual gametime in a normal match which can be a bit frustrating at times until you have advanced your character enough. You can continue to play as your character as long as you want, possibly even making him one of the best players ever in his position or retire whenever you feel like and switch to a different player in the same league.
As far as playing as a coach goes, players have the chance to take advantage of everything previous franchise modes have allowed, such as playing as any player on the team on both offense and defense, managing the team, hiring players, issuing trades and more. The coach will also receive various XP which can be put towards different perks that can help your team and your coaching abilities. Some of the managerial option have been improved and may take a bit of getting used to, though once you do get the hang of everything, most tasks can be handled simply enough.
The Madden Ultimate Team game mode has returned once again in its trading card style and players may find themselves spending hours trying to literally create an ultimate team to take on their friends with and also play against other MUTs online. However gamers can also choose to play against the CPU with their MUT for the first time, allowing them to test them out on the CPU or simply enjoy a basic match against the computer. As far as the online mode itself, gameplay has never been smoother and finding matches have never been easier, as I was always easily able to find a match and play through a game without having any significant lag or questionable connections.
Overall: Madden NFL 13 does a lot of things right and improves upon an already excellent formula by offering a number of changes to the passing game as well as the overall physics of each play. It is a bit strange to see the Infinity Engine cause players to fall all over each other after each play or bend in absolutely horrific ways, but during the running of each play it looks wonderful. Plus with the newly compacted Connected Careers mode, players can find themselves spending hours making their draftee into a superstar ready for the Hall of Fame or become the best coach the league has ever seen and find themselves enjoying almost every minute of it.
Within the last year that crazy guy with no limbs that we have come to know as Rayman has made somewhat of a comeback in the video game world with the incredibly well-received Rayman Origins, which took the franchise back to it’s 2D platforming roots whilst also bringing something fresh and new to the genre.
With a sequel already announced for the Wii U titled Rayman Legends, it was only a matter of time before the franchise branched out even further and now it has with Rayman Jungle Run for the iOS and Android. This new title has been announced just today by Ubisoft and is set to hit the iTunes store and Android marketplace on September 20th.
Rayman Jungle Run is an endless running game, which has proven to be a popular genre on mobile platforms. It will also feature the same visuals and Rayman Origins which was released on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. You can check out a trailer for the game below.
The latest expansion to the ever growing The Sims franchise, The Sims 3 Supernatural Expansion Pack, releases on the 7th of September, 2012. This means that those who have long awaited the opportunity to create magical Sims in this latest iteration of the The Sims franchise now can.
On The Sims 3 Supernatural, EA had this to say –
“This expansion pack adds a new, magical dimension to The Sims experience, opening up a world of storytelling possibilities,” said Kari St. John, Senior Producer for The Sims Studio . “We’re excited to put creative tools in the hands of our players, giving them the ability to tell contemporary stories inspired by this supernatural theme.”
This expansion sees the inclusion of several new classes of magical Sims for players to choose from. This list includes Vampires, Werewolves, fairies and more. This is definitely the expansion pack for fans of supernatural themes.
