Mass Effect 3 is officially out of this world – publisher’s EA are taking hype to new heights by launching copies of the game into space! An undisclosed number of weather balloons will lift off from New York, London, Berlin, Las Vegas, Paris and San Francisco next week. Each will bear a copy of the game and be fitted with a GPS tracking device, which will report the current location of the balloon to the official Mass Effect website.
Fans in the right area who are desperate to get their hands on the game will be able to track the balloons online and snatch them up from their landing zones, scoring one of the most heavily anticipated titles of the year almost a full week before the rest of the world. So if you’re near one of the starting zones, make sure and watch the skies!
Today also marks the unveiling of the online co-operative multiplayer phase of the Mass Effect 3 demo, so make sure and boot up that demo just one more time (or many many more!) to get a taste of what’s to come when the full title drops on March 6.
A while ago, NamcoBandai announced that they would be unveiling a new updated edition for Tekken Tag Tournament 2 at the AOU 2012 arcade expo. At the time, the title for this update was New Tekken Tag Tournament 2. Thankfully, NamcoBandai has decided to drop this name as the final title chosen for the update is now Tekken Unlimited Tag 2.
Tekken Unlimited Tag 2 essentially adds new modes of play. These new modes include one on one, one on two (i.e. handicap match), and pair play that allows four players to play together in teams of two. There are also several updates to the character moves and balance.
EA Mobile has released some new titles and content. They are Monopoly Hotel, The Sims Free Play, and new content for Theme Park.
Monopoly Hotel is available as a free download on the App Store and the game adds a new twist to the legendary board game as players will take role of a real estate magnate and build incredible hotels.
Next up, the much anticipated The Sims Free Play is now available on the Android Market and as the name suggests, the game is a free download and offers the same addictive gameplay that has made the Sims so popular and more.
Finally, new content is now available for the iOS Theme Park game, which adds 13 new attractions, new quests, and other improvement. This add-on is a free download on the App Strore.
THQ and Machinima have announced and confirmed the release date and price for their upcoming first person shooter title, Nexuiz. Nexuiz is set to release for Xbox 360 on February 29 2012. The game will be released on Xbox Live Arcade as a digital title, and will cost 800 Microsoft Points.
Nexuiz forms a part of Microsoft’s ‘House Party’ season of Xbox Live Arcade titles. That said, the game isn’t exclusive to the Xbox 360 as the game is also set to appear on the PlayStation 3 and PC platforms sometime later in 2012.
Nexuiz is a fast paced first person shooter with a heavy multiplayer focus, and is in similar vein to the classic Quake 3 Arena. The game is powered by CryENGINE 3 and looks pretty impressive.
EA have released a new trailer for the recently released Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. The new trailer goes under the title ‘Visionaries’ and details the people behind the game and the vision they had for the game’s world and characters.
You can check out the trailer with the game’s visionaries below. We recently reviewed Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning to which it received a great deal of praise, you can check out our review here.
Be sure to let us know what you think of the Reckoning ‘Visionaries’ trailer in the shoutbox and comments section below. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is available now in stores across Australia and the U.S.
Gamevil has just shared it’s figures from their financial reports for the financial year ending 2011. The figures indicate that this has been the company’s best performance yet. All reported figures are in South Korean Won (KRW).
2011 annual sales reached 42.6 billion KRW, operating income reached 17.5 billion KRW and net income reached 16.1 billion KRW, each figure having grown by 39, 12 and 9 percent respectively, over 2010 results. The fourth quarter results also topped historic company records, with sales at 16.5 billion KRW, operating income at 6.3 billion KRW and net income at 5.8 billion KRW. This marks growths of 65, 42 and 44 percent over the previous third quarter. Sales from smartphone devices, which accounted for 73 percent of annual revenues, and sales outside of Korea achieved a growth of 106% over the previous year.
Gamevil has also recently released Zenonia 4 and Baseball Superstars 2012, and other titles such as Arel Wars have also enjoyed success in 2011. The company also had success with externally developed titles, such as Air Penguin and Cartoon Wars.
“Having bested our records again, year over year, is especially meaningful as we face changing trends in the market,” said Yong Kuk Lee, Chief Financial Officer. “As smartphone adoption continues to grow worldwide, GAMEVIL will continue to bring entertaining, innovative and more social game experiences to our audience.”
Gamevil expects a 58 percent increase in sales for 2012, and plan to release over 40 new titles during the year.
While Arc System Works has mostly been focusing on their excellent BlazBlue franchise in this console generation, they still haven’t forgotten about the original fighting franchise that made them big, the Guilty Gear series. As Arc System Works has just unveiled a HD remake of their last Guilty Gear game, Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus.
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus was originally released in 2008 for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable, and then later on the Nintendo Wii in 2009. The game is essentially the final version of Guilty Gear XX: The Midnight Carnival, and the upcoming HD remake will not only feature HD resolution but also online play for the console versions.
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus is confirmed for an arcade and console release, and while there is no solid release date at this stage, it will certainly happen sometime in 2012. The game is confirmed for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 as a digital download and will feature a network mode.
Arc System Works will be sharing more information on the console version soon. In the meantime, check out the images below.
UFC Undisputed 3 has now hit retail shelves worldwide for both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The game boasts a huge roster of over 150 fighters as well as the addition of Pride mode.
The game has substantially improved various areas of the game including Career Mode, online as well as the general match engine and gameplay.
“UFC Undisputed 3 delivers a best of class experience certain to resonate with MMA fans, sports enthusiasts and fighting gamers around the world,” said Danny Bilson, Executive Vice President, Core Games, THQ. “The game also demonstrates THQ’s commitment to quality and digital ecosystem development, including a robust downloadable content offering, attractive Season Pass Program and popular Facebook initiative featuring UFC heavyweight fighter Alistair Overeem.”
To read our review of UFC Undisputed 3 click here, and also check out the launch trailer down below!
Recently Viz Media forced the hand of wildly popular manga scanlation site Mangastream into submission after what the owner of Mangastream calls “agressive and escalating” threats of legal action made by Viz Media.
As per the demands of Viz Media, Mangastream has dropped the following Viz licensed titles from their rotation: One Piece, Hunter x Hunter, Bleach, Naruto, Reborn!, Claymore and D. Gray Man.
Viz have claimed that Mangastream are hurting the authors of the manga through their illegal actions, however the majority of the titles pulled from Mangastream are no longer being released by Viz or are not planned to get any releases any time soon (Hunter x Hunter, Reborn!)
This had led many fans to fight back against Viz Media for what they are calling unfair and unjust actions (Mangastream did not archive manga, only hosting the past 2 or so weeks worth before removing old content). Many took the Viz Media’s facebook page, which as of posting is still flooded with messages of hate.
Viz Media have urged fans to support their digital Shonen Jump Alpha magazine for iOS devices. Many have expressed hatred for the app which is not only incredibly buggy, 3 weeks behind the Japanese releases and lacking many popular manga series, but also not available in many countries. Perhaps the most hard hit are the international fans who no longer have any way to read their favourite manga series due to Viz Media’s actions and lack of solution to the piracy problem.
Shueisha, the Japanese company that publishers the manga originally as a matter of fact owns Viz Media, which is leaving more fans puzzled as to why a better solution can not be reached when it comes to releasing content faster and with more accurate translations.
Viz Media unfortunately have not announced any plans to release the series that are not being shown in Shonen Jump Alpha in any capacity and do not have any plans to speed up the releases in Alpha. It is a sad day when an American company believes that they have the right to remove content and lock it away from the rest of the world and then not plan to match that content’s release in even the slightest manner, leaving fans worldwide unable to access the manga they love.
You can visit Viz Media’s facebook page to witness the fan outcry surrounding this very controversial decision made by a company that is clearly very out of touch with their own consumers. Let us know what you think of this situation in the shoutbox and comments section below.
Razer, one of the most renowned gaming hardware manufacturers, and BioWare, the development house behind Mass Effect and Dragon Age, have partnered to bring forth to the world a new series of Mass Effect-themed gaming peripherals.
PC fans of the series can deck out their gaming rigs with the Mass Effect 3 editions of the Razer Imperator gaming mouse, Razer Black Widow Ultimate gaming keyboard, and the Razer Vespula double-sided mouse mat. Xbox 360 players will be able to purchase Mass Effect-embellished Razer Onza Tournament Edition controllers and the Razer Chimaera gaming headset. The line of products are said to give players “a competitive advantage” in their fight against the galaxy-destroying Reapers.
The new product line also features Mass Effect-themed iPhone protective cases and messenger bags. Each of the products is emblazoned with Commander Shepard’s classic N7 logo and they can all be preordered on the Razerstore right this very moment.
Mass Effect 3 hits store shelves on March 6th, and a singleplayer and multiplayer demo is available now.
