Ubisoft have just confirmed their line up for the European launch of the PlayStation Vita. Sitting alongside Sony’s new handheld from day one will be Rayman Origins, Lumines, Michael Jackson: The Experience, Dungeon Hunter Alliance and Asphalt Injection. These titles have already been confirmed for the North American launch.
Rayman Origins : Already released on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, Rayman Origins is a fantastic return to form for the series – an imaginative, gorgeous platformer that netted 9.5/10 here at Capsule Computers.
Lumines : Also a launch title for the PSP, Lumines is a block drop puzzle game with a high emphasis on soundtrack and effects.
Michael Jackson: The Experience : A rhythm game featuring the most famous tracks of the late King of Pop.
Dungeon Hunter Alliance : An RPG featuring lots of hacking, slashing and dungeon crawling, complete with online multiplayer. The iOS version received 8.5/10 in it’s CC Review
AsphaltInjection: An arcade racer with plenty of licensed cars (including Ferraris and Aston Martins),online multiplayer and a career mode to master.
Ubisoft have also scheduled the release of the brand new Assassin’s Creed game for the Vita, previously announced at Gamescom. The title will feature an all new storyline set apart from the main plotline, make use of the Vita’s new control options, and introduce new original characters. The release has now been confirmed for 2012.
The ever controversial live action adaptation of Akira has ground to a halt. Not for the first time in it’s history, the film that nobody needs or wants has run into production problems. According to The Hollywood Reporter:
The project, which has been through several incarnations, is being shut down in the face of casting, script and budget issues. The production offices in Vancouver are being closed, with below-the-line talent and crew told to stop working. “Everybody is being sent home,” according to an insider.
The biggest issue? The money of course. Whilst the film has not been canned completely, Warner Bros are unlikely to let the production continue if the budget of $90 million cannot be slashed. The script is undergoing a two week life support session and the production offices in Vancouver are now officially closed.
The lack of confirmed star power has contributed to budget worries, with only Garrett Hedlund of minor Tron Legacy fame signed on to the project as Kaneda. Other actors including Ken Watanabe, Kristen Stewart and Helena Bonham Carter had been rumored to be considering roles, but have made no official commitment.
The adaptation has attracted scorn from fans of the original film and manga (including Star Trek’s George Takei) for being highly Americanised (set in Neo Manhattan rather than Neo Tokyo), so it’s not a project likely to be missed out of anything more than a kind of morbid curiosity.
Have you ever needed advice on what’s cool to pick up from the Apple iTunes store for your iPhone or iPad. Well if you’re that person and you’re reading this, you’ve come to the right place. There are literally thousands and thousands of iOS Games released on the iTunes store, some are absolutely amazing, some are dead set rubbish. To make matters worse it’s like a full time job keeping up with what new games are released each and everyday. Honestly on certain days between 100-200 are released, you seriously need to dedicate a good hour or two just sifting through the piles and piles of games via the App Store each day to find yourself something worthwhile to play.
As I do this everyday I thought I’d save you all that hard work and come up with my iOS Game Suggestions. Now before I go any further, I want to come out and announce that these games are personal suggestions on what I believe are worth picking up and playing, some of them might be from well known developers, some of them might be from a one person developer that’s just made their first game. Please bear in mind that these suggestions are influenced by anyone nor have I been asked to push or promote these games. I am also fully aware that not everyone can afford to purchase games so there will be games suggestions that are free to download and play (not demos) but full quality FREE games for the casual gamer or children. Then of course I’ll also have top quality premium titles that will require you to spend a little more than 99c.
So with the little disclaimer out of the way, lets move on to Part 1 of MasterAbbott’s iOS Game Suggestions.
This weeks suggestions will be a mixture of both old and new titles, moving forward I’ll be focusing on what’s new and noteworthy to spend your hard earned iTunes cash / time on.
For The Cheapskates – FREE GAMES
Power Rangers Samurai Steel – Price : FREE – Publisher – Saban Digital Studios ( Go Go Power Rangers! Power up your favorite ranger to take on the evil Rofer and his army of Moogers in this 3D title very similar to Infinity Blade.) runs on both iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Adventure Of Monkey King– Price : FREE – Publisher – EGLS Technology (Beijing) ( An Online Massively Multiplayer Role-Playing Game MMRPG set in the Chinese Fantasy world of the Tang Dynasty, go on missions and challenge other player and hone your skills to be the best Monkey King in the land.) runs on both iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Battle Legend Infinity XL– Price : FREE – Publisher –GameSalad Inc. ( The RPG Battles of the 80’s & 90’s are back with a vengence! Select from a team of 5 mock heroes such as Super Mario, Samus and Ryu and take on the forces of EVIL. ) runs on both iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
DragonVale– Price : FREE – Publisher –Backflip Studios ( Have you ever wantd to raise your own Dragon? Well nows your chance, DragonVale is an online Free Sim game where you can breed,feed, build and decorate the magical world they live in and also invite other others to come and visit.) runs on both iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
For The Bargain Hunters – 99c Games
Where’s My Water – Price : $0.99 – Publisher – Walt Disney ( Casual Physics-based puzzle game – great for kids and grown-up. ) – runs on both iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
For The Millionaires – All games over $0,99
MASTERABBOTT’S PICK OF THE WEEK
FINISHED IT AND LOVED IT!
The Bards Tale – Price : $5.49 (Pubisher – inXile Entertainment (Bards Tale hands down is one of the most entertaining and funniest titles you could ever ask for on the iOS – an action RPG similar to DIABLO but without the hassle of inventory micro-management, Bards’s tale has over 30+ hours of gameplay, a vast world to explore, and has more song and dance than any other game.) – run on both iPhone and iPad. BUY NOW
Shadowgun – Price : $5.49 – Pubisher – MADFINGER Games ( 3rd Person Shooter with awesome rendered environments, voice acting and featuring the most advanced A.I to date on the iOS.) runs on both iPhone and iPad. BUY NOW
Frogatto – Price : $4.99 Pubisher – Benjamin Anderson(Frogatto is a classic 2D side-on platform/adventure game, you play as, yep you guessed it a cute little frog Frogatto can do many things, jump,swim, eat bugs with his sticky tongue and in true Yoshi fashion spit them out with deadly force Frogatto has it all, with with characters to talk, things to buy and puzzles to solve and not to mention a complex world to explore.) – run on both iPhone and iPad. BUY NOW
Fara HD – Price : $2.49 (iPhone version also available for $0.99) Pubisher – Pixel and Texel (A Retro inspired Action/RPG that combines full physics intergration with simple and intuitive touch controls.) – run on both iPhone and iPad. BUY NOW
Pizza Boy – Price : $1.99 Pubisher – ACNE Digital AB (Someone’s stolen the pizza present! And it’s your job to find out who did it and get it back, If you’re after a fun and challenging 2D side scrolling platform game similar to Mario World look no further, Pizza Boy has it all toppings including the achovies.) – run on both iPhone and iPad. BUY NOW
There you have it folks, these games should keep you busy for quite some time. I’ll be back next week for another dose of iOS goodness, in the meantime if anyone would also like to suggest their own suggestions, please feel free to share them in the comments section below, and on the 17th of January 2012 the Capsule Computers forums will be launching so can all share your suggestions in there as well.
The Lego series is expanding once again with Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes. The sequel to the 2008 title, players will be controlling the Dynamic Duo of Batman and Robin as they save Gotham City once again. This may all sound pretty familiar, but this time round they’ll be joined by the likes of Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern to stop Lex Luthor and the Joker. As a sequel, the game will expand into all new areas of Gotham City and include a variety of vehicles including the Batmobile and Batwing.
Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes is set to be released later this year, summer 2012 for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii, PC, DS and Playstation Vita.
In case you haven’t heard of it, EVO is the Evolution Championship Series: the world’s biggest and longest-running fighting game tournament and it’s pretty much a big deal! 2012 marks EVO’s 10th anniversary, and like all EVO tournaments intense and exciting competition is guaranteed! This years game roster as recently been revealed via Shoryuken, and as usual it does not disappoint!
The EVO 2012 line up is:
Street Fighter X Tekken
Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition (ver. 2012)
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
SoulCalibur V
The King of Fighters XIII
Mortal Kombat (2011)
This year has a nice variation of gameplay styles, with a nice mix of 3D and 2D fighters, from solo-based to tag-based fighter and even throws in a weapon-based fighter as well! This line up is one hell of a way to celebrate EVO’s tenth anniversary! Sadly Blazblue has been dropped this year, and the upcoming Skullgirls and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 are no where to be seen. Maybe next year?
EVO 2012 is being held on July 6-8, 2012 at the Caesar’s Palace Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. For more information see the video below or check out the official site. I wonder who’ll be crowned The King of Fighters this year?
Sega has today announced that its classic arcade shooters The House of the Dead 3 and The House of the Dead 4 will be coming to the Playstation Network. Originally released into arcades back in 2002 and 2005 respectively, both games will be reworked with updated HD graphics, trophies and Playstation Move support for that classic light gun arcade experience. This isn’t the first time that House of the Dead has made an appearance on the Playstation 3. House of the Dead Overkill was previously onto the system last year.
The House of the Dead 3 will be released exclusively on the Playstation Network on February 7, with its sequel The House of the Dead 4 expected to be released later this year in spring.
4Kids Entertainment, famous for destroying all good anime, particularly One Piece, have won their court case over allegations made against them by TV Tokyo and NAS regarding illegal use of Yu-Gi-Oh royalties which robbed them of millions of dollars. But wait, 4Kids activate their trap card!
So how did 4Kids win the case? Well, even though they did withhold profits from their original rights owners, 4Kids Entertainment have been ruled victorious in their bankruptcy case with TV Tokyo and NAS, as the lawsuit was filed under invalid circumstances which also seem to have breached some kind of rule in the license that 4Kids themselves made sure to utilise in the event that they would be sued by the people who give them something to make money off of.
Long story short, the bane of the anime industry will continue their villainous ways and the Japanese are once again left on the losing side to the Americans. Life really isn’t fair is it, TV Tokyo? Oh and Yu-Gi-Oh fans, 4Kids’ license is still in effect as a result of the court’s ruling in case you were wondering. But you probably weren’t.
Bright Shadow has been given a new expansion, entitled Curse of Hera. Curse of Hera will include a huge amount of new content, including 8 new classes, 30 new maps, and a raise of the level cap from 69 to 99! You can expect even more dungeon raiding and monster card collecting in this new expansion.
So if you play it now but were itching for some new content, haven’t played it in a while because you got bored, or have never played it – this would be a great time to head on back over and see if you can take on Hera and her minions! You can also challenge yourself with over 40 bosses, and more than 2000 extra quests to complete! There’s no chance of you getting bored with this much to do, you’ll surely be kept busy for a while – for at least the remains of your holidays.
To learn some more about Bright Shadow and play the game for FREE head on over to their SITE.
MMORPG Conquer Online has been announced to receive a new expansion, called Invasion of Pirates, which is set to be released on January 11, 2012. In this new expansion you get to have a whole bunch of new skills, all of which (surprise, surprise) have to do with piracy. You get to play around with skills such as Blackbeard’s Rage and Kraken’s Revenge, and I’m assuming something to do with rum. But that’s just speculation.
What could be more awesome? Now you can settle the argument of whether Priates or Ninjas would win as the Western mongrels come up against the deadly Easterners.
The new Pirate class comes with combat of both rapiers and pistols, and you can channel power and precision as well as the most explosive combat in the game. Pirates can take down enemies on land or sea, and they can easily become the most deadly in PvP battles.
Check out the trailer for the expansion pack below! Go HERE to check out the new skill list for pirates and start planning!
Vancouver’s cheekily titled games studio Rude Boy Games has released their new addictive social collecting game, Zwonks, which uses friend-to-friend messaging as part of its gameplay. You collect virtual toys, called Zwonks, which can be customized, accesorised and shared with friends through Kik Messenger and email.
You unlock Zwonks by collecting Zwag sets (yes, as you can tell, parents everywhere will be utterly confused and mispronouncing things in this game, look forward to it). Players can gift, receive or buy Piñatas then whack them for a chance to win rare Zwag or Gemz that they can use to purchase Zwag.
So you can unlock more Zwonks through interacting with friends, as well as help others in the game, but you can also use it to share and boast about your awesome collection.
Kik Messenger is already quite a popular app on its own, with over two million users in the first three weeks. So for those looking for a way to spice up their Kik Messenger, this might just be the way to do it. You know, if you’re into Moshi Monsters and Neopets and all that.
Zwonks is available NOW on iPhone, iTouch and iPad for FREE – Get it HERE
And if you don’t already have it, grab Kik Messenger HERE
