Are one of those players that frequently take the top place in leaderboards within your own country? Then perhaps this competition shall catch your interest.
EBGames and Square-Enix have announced the Hitman: Absolution Sniper Challenge competition here in Australia. Players with the highest scores on the XboxLive, Playstation Network and PC leaderboards will eligible for monthly prizes. However, there is a catch. The catch is that the competition is only open to gamers who pre-order the game at EBGames and registered at the website here and here.
Prizes Include Sennheiser Headphones and Various Hitman merchandise. Check out the Image below for a full list of prizes.
unFed unDead Developer: iParty Mobile Publisher: iParty Mobile Platform: iPhone (reviewed)/iPad Release: 7/7/12 Price: Free (for a limited time) –Available Here
Overview
Casual games are often seen as time wasters. Played while you are waiting for a friend, a bus, or any form of being in transit. This is probably the best time if any, to quote the immortal Homer Simpson on the topic of waiting, “the waiting game sucks, let’s play hungry hungry hippos”. But Hungry Hungry Hippos is a board game, not an iOS game, right? Well okay, that is right, but iParty! Mobile has come pretty damn close to the game with their title unFed unDead.
Gameplay
Okay so, the comparison between Hungry Hungry Hippos is a little over simplified. There is a similar theme however. If you don’t know, Hungry Hungry Hippos is a board game that features four hippos, and a whole bunch of balls in the middle. Slapping the tail extends the animals head and they eat the balls. UnFed unDead follows suit. In the middle of a room there are a bunch of tasty humans. There are four areas to swipe in around the room. Swiping will cause a zombie to burst forth from their hiding place and take a hunk of flesh from the human – thus satisfying their hunger. Of course, swapping hippos for zombies wouldn’t be all too original. So iParty Mobile have added a bit more to the game.
UnFed unDead features both a multiplayer and a single player mode. The two are essentially the same, except that one mode involves more players and a score system for each zombie. That way, you can tell who wins. Single player allows you to use all four arms, giving you a total score. The better the score, the more stars you earn. Although the game is easy to learn how to play – you just swipe at some humans and eat them – it’s incredibly hard to obtain those high scores. Normally I wouldn’t mind, but you need those stars to unlock extra levels. It was some time before I could even unlock the second level. If you aren’t put off by a challenge, by all means, you might enjoy this feature. At first I didn’t mind, but the game rapidly become very same-same. Even after reaching the next level I found myself growing tired of the swiping motion. Luckily there are unique bosses for each level. They need to attack in a specific way for you consume their tasty flesh.
Although single player may grow tiresome after a while – the multi-player side of the game is rather fun. Swiping away with a friend or two as you frantically try and eat the humans who, for some reason, always want to wander around from my zombie, is rather fun. Problem with this is, that the game is for iPhone. The screen is a bit too small, and complications arise when you bump fingers or your vision is blocked. The multi-player mode would work fantastically on an iPad – utilising the large screen so you can play with friends who don’t have the luxury to own such a device. I must admit that it is also funny when friends get struck by a “brain drain” from eating too many humans in a row, but not so funny when it happens to you yourself – ultimately loosing the fight for food!
Visuals and Audio
The game utilises a unique hand drawn visual style, and the dark colours add to the post-apocalyptic theme of zombies. However, it can often look very stark. This is most emphasised by the very minimalistic interfaces. It is interesting to have different themes for each level, and the characters (or food, rather) are always designed in an interesting manner. But still, the game can look a little bland at times. The sound design is very chaotic, with loud yelling/screaming and a lot of heavy guitar riffs. This works pretty well when you are frantically swiping away, especially in the multi-player version
Overall
unFed unDead isn’t a bad little game. It is an interesting take on some simple mechanics that I’m sure most people are familiar with. iParty Mobile’s extension of these mechanics doesn’t hurt the game at all. As a matter of fact, they work well to make it a fun multi-player game. But as much potential to have fun in multi-player as there is, this is still hindered by the screen size of an iPhone. If you aren’t swayed by the lack of high definition graphics when playing it on an iPad, then you are sure to have some fun swiping away with friends. Alternatively, you can wait and see if a specific iPad version comes out in the future.
The Entertainment Software Association welcomed three new members to their trade association today. The new members are GREE, a Japanese mobile games company specializing in social games such as Crime City and Modern War; Mad Catz, a hardware company famous for gaming accessories for a wide range of consumers that has branched into video game publishing and distribution; and NetDragon Websoft, a top Chinese gaming company specializing in online and mobile gaming for the Chinese market. The addition of these three companies expands the ESA to 34 member companies. The ESA represents US computer and video game publishers in lobbying efforts, policy and advocacy issues, and provides multiple services including research and anti-piracy programs. In addition, the ESA owns and operates the annual E3 trade fair.
Dark Vale Games, SuperGenius, and Digital Confectioners have been working together to make a new PvP MMO style game and have released the first gameplay trailer for it. Being designed as a PC exclusive third-person shooter, FORGE pits players against each other on a pure skills basis with no grinding up for levels meaning less time commitment, but more fun playing. The game sees players going at it to kill the other player characters as sacrifice to their god to give them power to escape a grim fate.
In addition, FORGE is currently running a Kick-Finish campaign on Kickstarter. What makes this a Kick-Finish campaign is that the game is pretty well along in production and will be hitting Beta testing and while the game is set to be finished no matter what, the developers are interested in getting funded through those interested looking to pre-order the game, rather than going the investor route. The campaign offers plenty of bonuses from getting greater increments of DLC for free to gaming gear like backpacks and headphones/earbuds.
Players can watch the gameplay trailer below and can check out the Kick-Finish Campaign HERE.
If the zombie apocalypse ever became a reality, I think gamers would know exactly how to deal with. And after seeing the new trailer for Gears & Guts, the new game from developer Glu, strapping on as many guns and weapons on your car would be a viable option.
Gears & Guts puts player behind the wheel of a car armed to the teeth with military gear and experimental weapons as you clear your town of as many zombies as you can.
Gears & Guts is currently free to play on Google Play and Android devices, and an iOS verison of the game is coming out soon.
Before Australia can get their hands on Transformers: Fall of Cybertron on August 22, Activision is giving the public the chance to try it out with a demo now available on the Playstation Network and Xbox Live. The demo will feature two missions from the single player campaign and two modes of competitive mutliplayer. The game will be released for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.
In the two singleplayer missions, players will be able to play as Bumblebee as he protects an Autobot starship under attack from Megatron and the Decepticons. The second mission is an assault mission featuring Vortex. Players can utilise his helicopter, jet and robot form to take on the enemy in an all out assault. For the multiplayer modes, players can choose between Team Deathmatch and Conquest. The demo will also feature the character creation tool for use in multiplayer mode.
For those who play multiplayer, High Moon Studios will be carefully monitoring the multiplayer action for player feedback and balancing data. Fans are invited and strongly encouraged to direct their comments to the team’s Twitter account: @FallofCybertron (https://twitter.com/FallofCybertron).
EA have released a brand new trailer for Medal of Honor: Warfighter. This time focusing on the game’s campaign, which by the looks of it, takes on a far more personal story than previous games.
The new trailer puts the spotlight on the game’s protagonist Preacher as he returns home to find his family torn apart from years of combat deployment. This is definitely a different story than what we’ve come to expect from the Medal of Honor series, or let alone any other military first person shooter.
Medal of Honor: Warfigher sets to goes beyond Afghanistan and into enemy territory with missions inspired by real world events such as rescuing hostages in the Philippines and eliminating the pirate threat on the Somali Coast.
Medal of Honor: Warfigher is set to be released for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC on October 23, 25and 26in North America, Australia and Europe respectively.
The K760 is the latest keyboard from leading peripheral maker Logitech. The keyboard is a specially designed solar powered device for use on the Mac brand computers that are running Mac and the various iOS incarnations. The keyboard has the ability to connect with multiple devices simultaneously with it’s Bluetooth connect-ability.
On the keyboard, Logitech had this to say –
“Laptops, smartphones and tablets are ubiquitous – both at work and at play,” said Denis Pavillard, vice president of experience design at Logitech. “Because Apple devices are central to this trend, Logitech is committed to improving the way people interact with them. With its simple solar charging, familiar Mac layout and comfortable design, the Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K760 will appeal to Apple users worldwide.”
By flicking a switch, the solar-cell powered device is able to switch between a paired device and can be paired with up to three simultaneously. The keyboard retails for $99AUD. Be sure to check out the official site for more info.
We recently posted news that the legendary shonen manga series JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure will be getting a definitive anime adaptation. The first trailer for the upcoming anime adaptation of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has launched and reveals that the series will be beginning all the way back at the very first part of the generation spanning manga, in the Phantom Blood story arc.
After viewing the trailer, one can assume that the anime will ultimately try to cover the entirety of the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure manga, that being all 8 generations that the trailer counts down. The anime itself is set to premiere in October 2012.
You can check out the new trailer below which shows off Jonathan Joestar as he will appear in the anime series. Let us know what you think of in the comments section.
The upcoming DLC for the third Max Payne game, Max Payne 3: Local Justice is coming to PC on the 10th of August. The DLC adds new maps to the Multiplayer experience, a new Faction and a couple of new weapons. For the first week of it’s launch, the DLC will be sold at $8.60 whereupon the end of the first week, it will be sold at $11.45. Both prices are in AUD.
Players of the console versions of the game are able to get the Special Edition Pack for their console of choice at a price of 160MSP or $3.45 on the PSN. This package includes Eight characters from the classic games and some other weapons.
