One very under the radar title from a couple of years ago is getting a full fledged sequel, all thanks to Atlus and Ace Team. Zeno Clash first hit the PC and XBLA in 2009, and was quite an interesting game as it was a first person brawler with a beautifully bizarre world and an engrossing story. Zeno Clash II looks to expand upon the first, opening up the land of Zenozoik completely with protagonist Ghat in tow.
This time around, it seems that “Father-Mother” (the hunchback-like creature from the first game) has been incarcerated, and it’s up to you (Ghat) and Rimat to save hi..her? So far, brand new locations, creature designs, and weaponry have been promised, along with a much more refined battle system that has a superior lock-on mechanic. Also included will be a drop in/drop out co-op system, adding a nice dash of multiplayer to an already impressive title.
Yes, it’s quite a surprise to see a sequel to the hidden gem, but fans of the first can celebrate as the much more ambitious Zeno Clash II will hit shelves in 2013 for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. Check out the shiny new teaser trailer below.
Over on IGN, an interesting screenshot has raised some eyebrows in terms of what character may be heading to Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale. In what looks like an official Facebook post (and an accidental at that), Bioshock’s Big Daddy may be heading to the Sony brawler. In a poll, the question “Who will win this Battle Royale?” was asked and listed four characters. Colonel Radec, Kratos and Parappa The Rapper were listed and already confirmed. The four character listed happened to be Big Daddy. Another poll mentions Nathan Drake, but his inclusion is to be expected. The screengrab was done by Sergio Drake.
While Big Daddy’s inclusion is intriguing, if one examines the recent relationship between Irrational Games and Sony Computer Entertainment America, it may not come as a surprise to see Bioshock represented in the game. The original Bioshock will be included with Bioshock Infinite, as well as Move compatibility. The Playstation Vita will also be getting its own Bioshock game, although the game is on the back burner as Infinite is finishing development. While it can only be speculated, Sony should give an answer in their E3 media conference tomorrow, where more members of the roster should be revealed.
On Monday June 4 (or Tuesday June 5 if you live in Australia), Sony will be the last of four media conferences of the day. This won’t deter Capsule Computers from covering the conference. This is the live blog, where you will be kept up to date with the conference. In addition to that, you can have a say while the conference is running in the comment section below. Maybe you have a prediction, or just want to say hi. Speaking of predictions, Capsule Computers have their own predictions with Sony’s E3 conference, which you can check out here. For our coverage of the event itself and other conferences, then follow this link.
The live blog will be conducted by myself and will start 30 minutes before Sony starts their conference. While the conference is running, I will offer my own opinions, hopefully on top of any opinions you may have. The blog will start at:
New Zealand – 12:30pm NZST Tuesday June 5
Australia – 10:30am AEST Tuesday June 5
United Kingdom – 1:30am BST Tuesday June 5
USA East – 8:30pm EDT Monday June 4
USA West – 5:30pm EDT Monday June 4
I do have to note that this will be an old fashion blog, so a refresh every now and again is necessary. Enjoy!
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10:38: Welcome to the Sony E3 Media Conference Live Blog. I am your host, Playstation Editor Joshua Spudic. We have 22 minutes before the start, so start your predictions.
10:44 – After the conference, don’t forget to check out out own reactions in out commentary, which will be posted soon. Only 15 minutes to go.
11:00 – We are about to begin.
11:06 – A massive gameplay montage is followed by Jack Tretton.
11:09 – David Cage of Quantum Dream is on the stage. Beyond is the next project. Ellen Page of Juno fame will be the main character. The story seems to follow this female character. Looks interesting.
11:21 – PS All Stars on stage. Vita version confirmed. Will involve cross play multiplayer.
11:28 – Drake and Big Daddy confirmed for appearance. Moving on, Tretton mentions a Playstation eco-system. Cross Controller LBP 2 DLC coming.
11:39 – Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation officially confirmed. Will feature first female assassin. The game will be sold separately as well as a bundle with Crystal White Wi-Fi Vita, 4GB Memory Cand and game.
11:45 – Assassin’s Creed III will be bundled with a PS3 and exclusive DLC, to be released when the game is released on October 30. Now it’s all about Far Cry 3.
11:53 – Andrew House takes the stage. Introduces Wonderbook, an interactive AR series of books brought to life via the Eye. One of the first books will be Book of Spells from J.K Rowling, It is an interactive spellbook. Coming Fall 2012.
12:08 – Playstation Suite renamed Playstation Mobile. HTC phones and tablets to be first non-Sony devices to be Playstation Certified. Now, God of War: Ascension is on stage.
12:17 – God of War: Ascensi0n is coming March 12, 2013.
12:20 – The Last of Us is now being shown. Great section of gameplay. Mix of action and survival horror.
Here at Capsule Computers, we recently reported on how video game journalists were receiving weird phone calls & postcards prior to E3 about a game called medium, and this has led us to do some investigation.
Naturally, the first thing we did was send off an email, to which we got this strange reply:
Remember, Follow the signs! Your Medium
8+8
We wern’t alone in this either. Go Nintendo emailed the Medum website as well, only to get this bizarre message:
Enjoy your game! You have only seen half so far. This is all what I can tell you at this time. Something big is coming 🙂
Originally many reporters (including us) have been swept up in the confusion and mystery of all this viral marketing, mainly because in the faint voice mail many reporters received, it was difficult to distinguish if the word “Medium” was in fact “Medium” or rather “Wii U”. Some people have claimed this was sent out exclusively to Nintendo journalists only, but that is to be confirmed. Regardless, Medium has now been confirmed as a unique multi-platform experience unlike we’ve ever witnessed before, as revealed by an E3 email sent out to the press stating:
Medium
Completely new model of gameplay. New gender. The game is coming for WiiU or PSvita/PS3 and also for X360, iOS, Android and PC.
As you can see, even when being clear this title is still confusing.
The game’s developer has also been established, as the website for Medium appears to be owned by the developer Blooper Team, which primarily consists of members from the former development team Nibris, who focused on Nintendo DS and Wii titles. So it’d make sense if this was a Nintendo exclusive title if it wasn’t for this E3 email.
At the end of the day, this still sounds confusing as hell. How can a title being coming got WiiU or PSvita/PS3? And also for X360, iOS, Android and PC? That doesn’t make sense at all.
One thing is for certain: whatever Blooper reveals at E3 is certainly going to have my attention!
With Sony’s pre-E3 conference less than 24 hours away, and the big event only two days away there are hopefully going to be quite a lot of games announced for the PlayStation Vita. Now, interestingly enough, some retailers may have spilled the beans on at least two of Sony’s big announcements.
PlayAsia has placed a listing on their website for a Metal Gear Solid title on the Vita, which is not the HD Collection meant to be released next week, while Play.com has placed a listing on their site for a game called Resident Evil Portable. Now obviously these are both simply rumors at the moment, as neither listing provides any information about these titles, but we will likely know for sure in about 16 hours, so stay tuned!
ETHER VAPOR Remaster is the upcoming 2.75D action shooter for PC from developer edelweiss and publisher Nyu Media. The game promises arcade action while providing leading graphics and effects that will carry the genre of arcade shooters forward.
ETHER VAPOR Remaster follows the war of two nations, Caldea and Lydia, with an unknown pilot who pilots an unknown fighter aircraft that is able to slice through each nations forces. The story is centered around this pilot and learning about his secret firepower and mysterious agenda, all the while he cuts through enemy forces and massive bosses.
ETHER VAPOR Remaster is set for a June 29th launch for this year and will be available on Steam, Gamersgate, Gamestop and Gametap, as well as the Official Website. The game will be retailing for $7.99US and be sure to check out the Gameplay Trailer, embedded below. I’d recommend checking out the demo for more info.
Trion has released their new E3 2012 trailer that promotes End of Nations. Plenty of in-game battles and features are detailed in the video, courtesy of 2 over the top commentators.
Australia and New Zealand, your wait is finally over. We know you have been waiting patiently, drooling over ASTRO A40s while you wait for the day you could order a pair for yourselves with out paying an arm and a leg on custom fees. ASTRO Gaming has announced their partnership with Bluemouth Interactive for distribution in Australian and New Zealand. Thanks to this partnership, ASTRO products will be making their way to shelves in Australia and New Zealand. ASTRO A40 Audio Systems, A30 Cross-Gaming Headsets and the Transport series of gaming gear bags will soon be available at your favourite Australian or New Zealander gaming retailer.
Need to prepare your shopping list? Check out ASTRO Gaming’s line of products here.
Ben 10: Alien Force – Fuel Duel Developer: Cartoon Network Publisher: Cartoon Network Price: FREE – Play Game Online Here
Overview
Ben 10 is a huge franchise, with a few different versions existing. Alien Force is one of them, set five years after the original series with an older Ben, a darker tone and more serious story line. The point of all of Fuel Duel? To save Kevin, who seems to have gotten himself trapped in a not so friendly facility with a tonne of bombs.
So, how does Fuel Duel rank as a Ben 10 game and does it represent the way that Alien Force departs from the original series?
Gameplay
Fuel Duel is a fairly simple platforming game. You are put in a map with six bombs to defuse, and six lives to do it with. Although, if you die the bombs are all reset and you are sent back to the beginning, so dying is more of an inconvenience than anything else, given the many lives you are given.
Gwen is also helping you out, with her awesome glowy pink powers. Whenever she comes into contact with a pink light she creates platforms that help you cross previously impossible gaps. You can transform to Echo, a cool little robot dude, and when you come into contact with green light he can shout, which stops the acid waterfall obstacles. The combination of these two make the map far easier to traverse than it seems at first. It’s just a matter of using a little problem solving skills to know when and how to use them successfully.
The countdown on the bombs is fairly generous, although the fact that there are quite a few, and they’re scattered means that they are a bit of a pain. The bombs lower to the ground also have less time for you to reach them, so if you miss one of the lower ones then you’ll generally end up running out of time and failing the mission. For this reason keeping an eye out in the beginning of the game when the camera pans over the location of each bomb is useful, and not something to impatiently ignore.
There are also ducts that shoot out bursts of air that apparently kills Ben. I guess they aren’t just your standard air-con ducts, which isn’t something that gets explained, so this was a bit of a frustrating lesson to learn, but they’re easy enough to dodge and avoid.
There are a couple of lag issues, which get frustrating since the game is time based. These usually correct themselves if you’re patient and just keep playing, but given that the game is preloaded and the gameplay doesn’t rely on the internet connection, it is worrying that lag is experienced.
I also managed to accidentally hack the game and save Kevin by doing nothing at all, by pressing a few keys on my keyboard. This was a little disorientating, and given that it was only three keys, more than a little weird. Which either means I have the genius touch, or there is something wrong with the game’s script. Then I had to reload the page, because it simply skipped right to my victory page every time I tried to restart the game.
Still, despite these issues with the game, it is fun and an interesting game that provides a bit more of a challenge than most flash games based on a cartoon series. There isn’t a lot of replay ability, but while it lasts it is enjoyable.
Visuals
Fuel Duel has fairly simple two-dimensional graphics, but they work well for the platforming style of the game. It isn’t anything too flash, but all the characters and art style matches that of the cartoon so it looks fairly good.
The layout of the different features of the game such as bombs left to defuse, lives, and your energy gauge are all well set out and easy to glance at quickly while you’re trying to beat the clock. While it doesn’t let you know the countdown of the clocks, this can either play in your favour in that you don’t get freaked out, or screw you over by meaning that you relax more than you should.
Audio
The soundtrack itself is pretty cool; it’s all dramatic action music that matches your struggle to make it to the top and save Kevin. This is complemented by sound effects for the various things around the map. However, the sound gets randomly buggy and you’ll find that some of the sound effects will start piling on top repeatedly and it’ll end up being one annoying mess.
Overall
Ben 10: Alien Force – Fuel Duel is a fairly easy game to learn, but one that will give you a decent enough challenge, however there isn’t much replay ability. There are also quite a few technical issues with the game, however if you are patient enough to last them out and turn off the sound, then it is enjoyable. It’s just a matter of getting to the point where you can ignore the issues and find ways around them.
If you missed Nintendo’s pre-E3 conference on the Wii U, you can check it out below in the embedded video. If you want the short version though, just keep reading.
On the WiiPad controller, rounded grips have been added, and the buttons and direction pad have been tweaked. They have been moved towards the screen “to maximize comfort even if you are playing for a long period of time,” Iwata stated during the show.
The Wii U will use NFC technology so that you can scan real-life items into your games.
Finally, there will be a TV button that enables you to turn the Wii U into an infared TV remote.
