The Dark Meadow is a great game, so great in fact that our own Dustin Spencer gave the game a 9 when he reviewed it many months ago. It seems that such a great game can’t be held from the masses by something as simple as a price tag however as Phosphor Games has chosen to make the game free on the Android and iOS next week.
Those who bought the game when it was released for $5.99 have no reason to get angry however, as there will be an “exclusive upgrade” to the game when it does end up going free. If you don’t want to wait until next week you can pick The Dark Meadow up at normal price here.
If you haven’t played Deadly Premonition on the Xbox 360 then you probably should go out to the store and pick it up right now. It is at most, $19.99 for the Xbox 360 at the moment. However those who don’t feel like picking it up now or can’t do so due to the fact it is only on the 360 will be interested to hear that Deadly Premonition is in fact coming to the PlayStation 3.
During a talk about the origins of Harvest Moon at GDC, Yasuhiro Wada revealed that an enhanced version of Deadly Premonition with more content and PlayStation Move controls. Marvelous AQL will be releasing the title in North America and Wada plans to demonstrate the game at E3 this year. I can’t wait.
Answer the following question and post it on Capsule Computers Facebook page. : Question : What wish would drive you to fight in a tournament against others?
The competition ends on the 30th of March! We’ll be picking 1 lucky winner to receive both prizes! Keep an eye on the Capsule Computers Facebook Page as we’ll be announcing the lucky winner just after the 30th!
Do not forget that you MUST Like both pages FIRST then post your answer on the Capsule Computers Facebook wall, in order for your entry to be considered. The question once again is:
“What wish would drive you to fight in a tournament against others?”
As the newest member of the Capsule Team; I have yet to experience my fair share of struggles and frustrations which media journalism can bring; but this is unrelated to the fact that they do exist and that they will come. So with a gamer mentality in mind my strategy involves this: no camping, no re-spawns – simply run &gun. This stratagem may suggest that I am bold and daring but this isn’t true; facing an issue directly is a writer’s only course of action, so whether I am writing about an upcoming game or reviewing a new film; I intend to be straightforward and honest as humanly possible.
With this said, for my first contribution to the world of gaming and entertainment, I offer my experiences into what it was like joining Capsule Computers – for lack of better words; my struggle.
My story begins as any other story would; with a premise. Picture this situation. You’re a gamer, you almost always choose the good side/paragon in RPG games and you’re almost always online + add a dash of literacy skill.
Gamer>Goodness >Online>Able to read and write.
This leads us to assume that the magical talking hat of Hogwarts would place this theoretical person into the journalistic equivalent of Gryffindor; the good, the mighty, the just. For those who are amiss to the characters in this tale; the good being the independent, the bad being those tied to commercialism – i.e. the big corporations.
‘Pheww’ and a sigh of relief would be the reaction of a person who undoubtedly had no wish of being Slytherin (Aside: because we all know how that story ends.)
This premise leads to only one conclusion; that this person is actually myself, but spoken about in third person and that Capsule Computers must be one of the good guys *shameless plug*.
I apologise for my use of semiotics to lure you guys into this thread; The title I admit is a little misleading –TBH I haven’t broken into the gaming industry yet, I’ve barely scratched the surface but you’ve gotta start somewhere , right? Hopefully the following recap of my experiences will show that good things happen when you least expect it. I’ll keep it short and sweet.
Gamebook Adventures 7: Temple of the Spider God Developer: Tin Man Games Publisher: Tin Man Games Platforms: iTouch, iPhone, iPad (reviewed) Release Date: 6 Feb, 2012 Price: $4.99 – Available Here
Overview
As a kid I always loved those Choose Your Own Adventure books. Making a decision and flipping through the pages, and if I was killed then I just flipped back to where I was and picked the other option. Unfortunately this cheating option isn’t available in Gamebook Adventures, but that doesn’t mean that the app is any less awesome or evokes any less nostalgia.
Gameplay
I have to admit, having that much reading presented to me in a game required a bit of adapting. But, as someone who more than enjoys a good book, I adjusted quite happily and found myself just as – if not more – sucked into the storyline than with other games. I regard stories very highly in games, it’s the difference between me being invested in a game and putting it aside after a couple hours of gameplay. So, for a game that is pretty much just story, it was like my dream come true. But in a very tentative way. After all, there has to be a very exact balance to master the art of intense storytelling with no real animation without it getting to dry and boring for the player. But I do believe that Gamebook Adventures masters this, so long as you’re cool with reading. I have to admit, even for someone who loves reading, it was a bit of an adjustment.
There are three difficulty settings, novice, bookworm and classic. As always, classic is the most difficult, designed for those who really know what they’re doing, while novice is for beginners who have never played Gamebook Adventures. As someone who hasn’t played the game before, I found novice an easy introduction with it and was easy enough to pick up.
In the start of the game you roll for your character skill, and you better get used to rolling for things because apart from the story line, that’s pretty much all you have going for you. You will encounter several times where you have to roll in order to decide your stance in a fight, your fitness level, and of course the damage you deal and your defense.
The tutorial for how to do things is in the menu, but as one of those people who doesn’t read instructions unless they are right in front of me, or crucial to finishing things decently quickly (hello IKEA), I decided I could probably get away with just jumping in. It took a little while for me to actually understand what was going on with the dice, but it is all fairly easy to derive anyway, as it is logical. And hey, if you don’t wanna know the rules then you can play like that too, and just wait for the little message that pops up to see what’s happened. It’ll add a little more suspense to the game.
There is that little annoyance of not being able to flip back like old school physical Choose Your Own Adventure books would allow. Particularly if you have just died. That’s never fun. I got through to right near the end of the game only to kick it when some giant spider dominated me and found myself staring at the start of the story again.
Now here are two ways you can take this. Either you have a little spaz attack, throw aside your mobile device, and hate the game forever. Or you take it as a way to re-explore some of the other parts of the story. Sure, it’d be nice to be able to skip ahead and start from a certain point, but hey you can’t have everything.
Visuals
There isn’t a whole lot to Gamebook Adventures visually. There’s the book pages and the occasional picture – which are beautifully drawn and totally match the old school book visual. Apart from those two elements, there isn’t really much else to be said about the visuals.
Audio
The soundtrack sounds like it belongs to Lord of the Rings, or some other epic fantasy film. Especially during fights, the suspense and the pacing of the track made me feel like I was totally ready to take down an ogre or whatever. Of course this feeling doesn’t last that long, since the soundtrack isn’t super varied, and after a few rounds of epic battles you may feel it’s time to quieten the background music.
Overall
Gamebook Adventures 7: Temple of the Spider God is a great adventure story, which makes you feel like you’re halfway between reading an e-book and playing a game. As someone who loves a good story, it was a great experience for me, but for those who prefer their games to have action and animation, and all that, then perhaps look elsewhere.
EA Games have announced three new downloadable content packs for their smash hit shooter Battlefield 3. The new DLC packs will bring new maps, weapons, vehicles, types of environments and even gameplay modes.
The first of the three downloadable content packs will be titled ‘Close Quarters’ and as you can imagine features much tighter close combat type battles in some new maps. The second pack is called ‘Armoured Kill’ and focuses on new vehicles. The final DLC pack is called ‘End Game’ which unfortunately nothing is really known about because EA are deciding to keep that under wraps for the mean time.
What do you think of these new DLC packs? Let us know in the shoutbox and comments section.
Namco Bandai Games of Europe have confirmed that Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations has now officially gone gold. It has been officially approved for manufacturing and is now currently going to the presses in preparation for the title to hit stores across Europe, Australia and New Zealand at the end of the month on the 29th.
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations is the most definitive Naruto fighting game to date, featuring an impressive roster of over 70 characters from both the first and second part of the Naruto series.
You can pick up Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 on the 29th of March, 2012.
The latest EA Mobile update has some information on Mass Effect apps, the sequel to the popular Flight Control, and an important milestone for Tetris Free.
First off, fans of the Mass Effect series can download two new Mass Effect apps from the iOS store this week, Mass Effect Infiltrator and Mass Effect Datapad. Infiltrator and Datapad will allow players to enhance their weapons and also influence the ending in Mass Effect 3.
Flight Control Rocket is the sequel to the popular Flight Control game by Firemint, and will offer an interesting intergalactic twist, and it will be released in the iOS store sometime in March. In the meantime you can view the trailer below.
Finally, an important milestone update as Tetris Free has achieved for 10 million downloads on the Android market.
While I have no intention of looking up the individual members of the Australian Classification Board responsible for deeming what you and I as adults are allowed to view and play, this is directed at them nonetheless. Firstly, do you actually play the games you are classifying? I only ask, as your rulings denote that the answer is a clear no, or that you are playing them in total disregard to other titles you have allowed in with no issues. First Mortal Kombat, which is so far removed from reality and would actually be deemed tame by most movie and even anime cartoon standards, and now EA’s Syndicate. While I understand the need to keep certain delicate sexual material out of circulation, you have no moral right or place telling Australian adults that they cannot experience legal material simply because you find it objectionable. I find many things in life objectionable but they are all socially accepted and basically my opinion on those matters don’t count. Just like yours shouldn’t.
Syndicate has been banned on the grounds that enemies can be dismembered, decapitated and generally massacred by the sheer force of gunshots. It was also found offensive that enemies could continue to be trashed even after they had been killed, which the board says exceeds acceptable levels of violence in the industry. If this is to be believed one must wonder how much the developers and publishers of Dead Island which is a culprit in all of those categories had to hand over to get is passed. Syndicate has some aspects that conceptually could be construed as unnecessary violence such as making enemies kill those around them and then themselves, something that cool as it is in a game I would have thought was much more questionable. Anyway, my point is it is no more offensive than any war or combat game that has been released. In truth I find games like Modern Warfare and Battlefield more offensive as they glorify real life war against human opponents.
At least games like Syndicate, Binary Domain and Mortal Kombat have an element of fantasy that should allow them leniency in classification. They are set in space for heavens sake, and a nation of gamers should not be denied the chance to play these games that are readily available in EVERY other country even New Zealand (sorry kiwis no harm meant), just because some unstable soul who has been living in his parents basement watching torture films his whole life decides to go on a murder spree which is clearly a result of the copy of Syndicate he has left in his Xbox 360 before he went out.
Anyway, long and winded this is not meant to be, but pull your heads in Australian Classification Board and have a good look at the archaic system you rely on. The main result of all this is increased overseas sales from other countries, loss of sales for Australian retailers, annoyed publishers that give up on that market, annoyed gamers who are tired of being treated like children, and pirates who have a legitimate excuse to download the game since its not available to buy.
Sports Interactive have announced the release of an update for Football Manager 12, ensuring all the players are in the correct teams after the January transfers.
The patch update is available through Steam now and also includes a number of fixes for the game such as some crash issues and player decisions. The patch may automatically download through Steam depending on your settings otherwise you will need to install t manually.
One of the staff members of the Sports Interactive for FM12, Jeremy Brock, answered some questions about concerns with downloading the patch, stating that you will not lose your saved games however you will obviously need to start a new file if you want the effects in your manager mode.
