Remember when the Expendables 2 being a video game became a thing? Well, it’s quite an interesting thing, as new details have proved Ubi have dealt some love in what could be a highly enjoyable digital release this summer. Instead of going for some big budget fare that licensed titles usually flounder under, this romp will be an arcadey one, packing in online and local multiplayer that features Barney Ross, Gunner Jensen, Hale Caesar and Yin Yang from the flick.
Here is a bit more insight on the narrative involved as well, for those of you who are stroking their whiskers in curiosity:
Building on the universe created in the high-octane, star-studded movies, The Expendables 2 Videogame invites gamers on an adventure to rescue an extremely valuable, kidnapped billionaire. It’s all business, until all hell breaks loose and the explosive mix of testosterone and kerosene detonates in a massive fireball that never lets up. The adventure concludes right where the new movie begins, creating a continuous story experience for fans of the Expendables’ hard-boiled brand of action.
New screenshots have also been released, and aside from the exotic locales, the first thing you will notice is that this title will include a generous amount of explosions and vehicles, with the more multiplayer tuned camera angles in tow. As of now, there is no official release date for the game, but you can expect it out sometime near August 17th, which is when Expendables 2 lands in theaters. Glare at those awesome screens below, and we will keep you updated as more news comes in for this kick-ass title that will blow up on the XBLA, PSN, and PC.
If you’ve ever been curious about what Japanese companies pay their employees the most well it seems that Square Enix employees make the most money according to a survey done by Income Analysis company Nensyu-Labo. Square Enix employees make an average of $279,242.71 a year while Sony Computer Entertainment Japan takes the number 2 spot at an average of $118,883.26. Nintendo Japan employees average at $117,695.36.
The rest of the top 10 employee’s salary average in Japan can be seen below:
4. Sega $105,783.94 (Sonic the Hedgehog, Panzer Dragoon)
At this point, there isn’t much more to say about the Testament of Sherlock Holmes that hasn’t been said before. The screenshots just keep pouring out of this game, showcasing more drips and drabs of London a la Sherlock. The game is due for release in September of this year, and marks the first time that one of the Sherlock games will appear on an HD console.
The images that have just been released feature what seems to be an opium den and Holmes posing in a graveyard with a shovel (remember the tombstone in the trailer, is he digging his own grave?). Watson gets in to some amateur dramatics with an angry stranger and a gun, and then forgoes the use of a good old blanket rope in order to creep his way across some strategically placed planks. Click on the thumbnails above to see the full images.
For PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 in Australia and New Zealand. Spec Ops: The Line is a third person shooter developer by Yager and follows a narrative set in the country of Dubai during a massive sandstorm that has city off the city form the rest of the world.
In Spec-Ops: The Line, players are tasked with finding a lost battalion called The Damned 33rd which is under the command of Colonel John Konrad. Players will enjoy the high action and gripping narrative of Spec-Ops: The Line, which is out today.
Be sure to check out the official trailer, embedded below for more info.
Tecmo Koei revealed today that, at least in Japan so far, that first run copies of Dead or Alive 5 would contain a code that will allow players to unlock two “sexy costumes” for Ayane and Kasumi. As you can see in the image above, this means that both of these girls will be receiving a sexy bunny outfit to fight one another in.
Interestingly enough however, Tecmo Koei also revealed that they will be adding a third sexy costume to the list. The girl who will receive the third costume is up to the players however, as the company has launched a voting system which can be found here. Now you will need to make an account to vote unfortunately, but with a little bit of guessing and translating, it isn’t very difficult. We’ve included the three bonus wallpapers that voters receive below in case you are too lazy to go vote for Hitomi.
If you haven’t been living under a rock, you’d probably know that Rafa Nadal made a shock exit last night at Wimbledon and that the 3rd round starts today with favourites like Federer, Djokovic, Sharapova and Serena Williams still in the running for the title of the 2012 king/queen of grass. If all this tennis buzz hasn’t been able to get you off your bum and actually play tennis, why not play on your couch with Stick Tennis!
Heard of Martina Shankitova, Horan Ivanitchisac or Moanica Shrieker? Probably not, as these are just some of the player caricatures, perhaps of Martina Navratilova, Goran Ivanisevic and Monica Seles, that you can play against in this tennis game for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Players can even choose to play against the 90s Mullet Andre or the 2000s Bald Andre. From the makers of Stick games including Stick Cricket, Stick Football and StickBaseball, players use simple fingered swipe motions to control the direction and timing of the ball to try and push their way to victory. Also, players are able to play competitively with the use of a daily world ranking table. Additionally, over 64 customised opponents are available, from current tennis stars to the legends of tennis past, in the World Domination and The Slam game modes.
The success of Valve’s first person puzzler series, Portal, is, no doubt, what led to a new release in the expanding, genre-mashing market first envisioned on the Source engine. Developed by Airtight Games, Quantum Conundrum puts a quirky, child-like twist on the Portal formula. Does the downloadable initiate manage to surpass the charm of its predecessors, or does it force players into a new dimension of agonizing frustration?
Gameplay
The story of Quantum Conundrum is notable through its absence. You are your crazy genius uncle’s nephew, and as your mother dumps you off at his mansion a dimensional rift tears through the expensive piece of real estate and your Uncle disappears into a mysterious pocket dimension, with memory loss impeding him from remembering just how it happened. As such, it’s up to you to travel through the progressively collapsing mansion to turn on generators that will allow him to return to our world. The mystery of it all is dragged out over the seven to eight hour game, and therefore much of the enigma vanishes – there’s none of the depth here that you would find while exploring the shattered halls of Aperture Science. The basic story is merely there as an excuse to put you through the rooms upon rooms of dimension-twisting puzzles.
That’s excusable though because, for the most part, the puzzles are clever challenges that will involve your brain just as much as a quick reaction time. You see, Uncle’s been working on a dimension shifting glove, and you’re going to need it if you plan on getting through the mansion in one piece. The glove keeps the wearer within his own dimension, so while everything around you changes, you will stay the same.
The first two dimensional-shifts you’ll get achieve are access to the fluffy dimension, wherein everything is as light as a feather, allowing you to lift heavy objects, and the heavy dimension, in which everything’s density becomes far greater, making the lightest of objects heavier than a baby elephant (yes, I managed to fit a baby elephant simile into a game review, be impressed). Using these shifts you’ll flip levers, jump on springboards, make cardboard boxes heavy enough to push down on weight-sensitive buttons, use fans to blow light objects into walls to create stairs, and so on.
You’ll eventually gain the ability to slow down time, which will allow you to jump onto flying objects to traverse chasms, play catch with yourself (it’s lonely being a child with a crazy uncle), and slow down closing doors, hatches, etcetera. Lastly, you’ll be able to reverse gravity, which carries momentum, thus allowing you to surf on a chosen piece of furniture over long distances, and hitting switches which have been placed on the ceiling for some odd reason. All in all, Uncle’s house is not the most child-safe or accessible location, but it makes for creative puzzling.
Levels will usually use the excuse of “limited battery power” to deprive you of one or two of the dimensional-shifting abilities, and so though you’ll feel like an all-powerful God when using all four powers in tandem, those opportunities are rare. But the limits provide challenges that actually require you to think, something I like very much. In fact, the game’s greatest weakness is that as it wears on, particularly on levels which involve using reverse gravity and slow motion together, it relies more and more on twitchy platforming and much less on planning. While the excellent checkpointing alleviates most of the frustration this might cause (that and the game over screens feature humorous quips about life experiences you’ll never get to do), it is annoying.
Regardless, the puzzles remain challenging and clever throughout the game and though the overall experience had less character than its cousins over in the Portal universe, Quantum Conundrum involved far less frustration and as many “aHA!” moments. It manages to carve its own cutesy niche within the first person puzzler marketplace, and as such, that’s the last time you’ll hear a Portal comparison in this review. Quantum Conundrum stands on its own, and it stands up quite well.
Audio & Visual
In the looks department, the game uses the Unreal engine to good effect, enhancing the cutesy nature of a child exploring his/her uncle’s mansion… with science. Even the safes look cuddly, and trust me, when you see one of those violently break through glass, you’ll be constantly wary of the massive amount of power in your hands as you carry one through a level. There’s also a furry cross between a Furby and a koala (Uncle’s assistant) that stalks you throughout the game, and who’s shady characteristics cutely escalate as the game progresses.
The only qualm I have with the visuals is that as the mansion is meant to be progressively falling apart throughout the game, the individual levels never really showcase that until the final run to the end game. It’s usually just sterile, carpeted mansion-y set dressing with the occasional broken beams or flood of chemical science goo (think lava, but yellow… and for science).
The sound design for the game is nothing spectacular, though that’s not to say it’s bad. It’s just simply there, doing what it’s supposed to without ever really blowing you away. The exception being one of the tunes that doesn’t play nearly as often as it should in-game. It’s catchy, and I found myself humming it in the shower.
Overall
Quantum Conundrum is a solid first person puzzle game that will keep you coming back with a plethora of collectables, achievements, and leaderboards for individual levels. The challenges will make you think first, and then execute, making you feel like a genius whenever you pull off a feat of safe surfing, dodge lasers using slow motion, or just push that button that looked really far away five minutes before. While it strays too much to the platformer side of puzzle-platformer on occasion, the gameplay, if not the story, will keep you coming back for more, even if it just a half-hour at a time.
Not so long ago Avernum: Escape from the Pit was released for Windows as well as Mac and iOS devices. Ever since Spiderweb Software has been working hard to provide bug fixes and balance improvements for the game’s core design. Anyone that has purchased the game prior to the update will be able to access the update (here) that will not corrupt any preexisting saved games. This is a “Windows Only” update, so Mac users and iPad gamers may have to wait for any of the improvements.
Haven’t heard of Avernum: Escape from the Pit? Well, try out Spiderweb Software’s extremely large demo at www.spiderwebsoftware.com.
Sega has announced today that it has closed offices in Australia and Europe as part of its restructuring efforts. Sega had recently reported a loss of 86 million dollars, so as a result of that loss the company is now going through a global restructuring. Sega has partnered with 3 companies to handle distribution in Europe and Australia, though Sega UK will remain open as Sega’s acting European headquarters.
The three companies covering distribution for Sega are Koch Media, who will cover all European releases with the exception of games developed by Benelux which will be handled by Level03 Distribution and Australian distribution will be handled by a company named 5 Star. It is unfortunate that Sega has had to close its European and Australian offices, however Sega says that it will take them in a better direction, but what do you think?
Nearly all of the gaming community is unable to attend E3 each year and usually the best they can hope for is to read about various snippets of gameplay footage us journalists were shown during the event. Now while you can still go and read our E3 preview of Dishonored here, Bethesda has chosen to release both their stealthy and aggressive Dishonored playthroughs below.
In these videos you can either watch the main character stealthily infiltrate the bath house and take out his targets without being noticed by the guards or try and kill everyone in sight in a giant massacre. Then again, it seems that playing stealthily seems not only more effective, but much more badass. It is also worth noting that the first video, the stealth playthrough, goes over a number of abilities that will be in the game while the second video is less informative.
