Those eager to see some more gameplay from Alan Wake’s American Nightmare will be willing to check out the developer diary that was released today by Remedy. In the video we see two developers talking about a few parts of the game, as well as how they chose to create a fully fledged XBLA title rather than a simple survival mode.
The video can be seen below and the game itself can be picked up on February 22nd for 1200 Microsoft Points. Also, it is highly recommended that you pay attention to the background as the developers speak. I won’t spoil it for you but it definitely isn’t something that should be missed.
It is interesting how social media can expand the public’s knowledge of upcoming games. Some of this news isn’t exactly ready to be revealed to the public however, so it is kept as secretive as possible. Then again, posting about a project on your LinkedIn profile is a good way to let the cat out of the bag.
Ubisoft Reflections’ Art Lead Joss Scouler, one of the devs behind Driver: San Francisco, updated his profile saying that he is currently working on a “confidential Kinect project,” though no other information was given. Any guesses as to what this title may be? A Driver title for the Kinect or perhaps some other spin-off for the motion control device?
Namco Bandai Games Europe have today revealed two limited special edition versions of Saint Seiya: Sanctuary Battle for the Playstation 3.
The first of which is the Headgear Box Edition (as seen below), which comes with an exclusive Sagittarius headgear model, a Saint Seiya t-shirt, Sagittarius downloadable character costume and of course the game itself.
The second special edition is the Myth Cloth Box Edition (as seen below), which features an exclusive Myth Cloth Box model, a different Saint Seiya t-shirt, the Sagittarius DLC and the Saint Seiya: Sanctuary Battle game.
Will you be picking up one of these special editions upon launch? Let us know in the shoutbox and comments section.
Anyone who follows Hideo Kojima on Twitter should know that he is very active when it comes to using this social media device. Now while nearly all of his tweets may be in Japanese, he is also very eager to post pictures of anything he is doing at any given moment.
Now most of these images are of interesting looking locations he is visiting, food he is about to eat and occasionally a few pictures of things that gamers are eager to hear more about. Today Kojima chose to place a picture of a PlayStation Vita running what appears to be Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, where players are able to pick either MGS2 or MGS3 from the menu screen. He said in the tweet that this was taken during a recording session for the PS Vita version of the game.
While Sentai Filmworks may be busy picking up nearly every anime that has been airing this Winter 2012 anime season, it seems they still have some licensing money to pick up a few older titles. Or in this case, a computer animated movie called Planzet.
Sentai Filmworks revealed today that they will be releasing the movie on DVD and Blu-ray later this year, so fans can expect to see an English dub for the title as well. For those who don’t know the story, it is set in 2053 where mankind must prevent their annihilation from enemies in space… sounds like nearly every mecha themed anime in the last ten years.
Toei Animation have announced that a new Saint Seiya series is in the works and is set to premiere on the 1st of April, 2012 in the Spring 2012 anime season.
The new series is to be called Saint Seiya Omega and will feature an entirely new cast of characters, with the protagonist known as Koga leading the pack.
This new Saint Seiya series is a direct sequel of the original series. It has been more than 25 years since the original series aired in Japan and several years since the spin off series Saint Seiya – The Lost Canvas aired.
Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (iGEA) released the latest data on the state of the games industry today, confirming that Micrososft’s Xbox 360 is still holding strong in the Australian market. In fact, the console is leading the pack, showing a 5% revenue growth over 2011, and even outselling all other consoles over Christmas, making it Xbox’s highest selling month on record!
David McLean, director of Microsoft’s Consumer Channels Group, said: “It’s clear to see that the momentum in this industry is with Microsoft and the Xbox platform. We won at the telling Christmas period, we are standalone in our growth this year and looking at the past five years our consistency is unprecedented. We can attribute this to Xbox’s diversity – we have something truly unique with Kinect, a lineup of blockbuster titles and a complete entertainment offering with movies, music and television on Xbox LIVE.”
Xbox LIVE Arcade subscriptions grew 40% last year, too, with their multimedia offering ever expanding, now including FOXTEL, Zune Movies and Music, SBS On Demand, ninemsn video, YouTube, ABD iView, and Dailymotion.
EA Sports’ Grand Slam Tennis sequel is set for release Febrary 9th on Xbox 360 and PS3 – that’s this Thursday, people! And to big up the hype surrounding the announcement, they’ve even released a new, dramatic trailer focusing on the US Open. The graphics look sweet, and the name drops in the trailer promises all the greats will be in the game!
As well as the US Open, the game will also include Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and Australian Open tournaments. Utilize the new and revolutionary Total Racquet Control and challenge the best of the best, including Federer, Nadal, Borg, and McEnroe.
Toki Tori, everyone’s favourite cutesy mind-bendingly puzzling downloadable title, has a sequel moving swiftly towards release date. And the game’s developer, Two Tribes, have been releasing tidbits of info regarding the new game. Their latest reveal is regarding what they’ve dubbed “Knowledge Unlocks”.
Instead of making a mental note to backtrack through the game to unreachable areas once a new item/ability has unlocked, Two Tribes have done away with unlocks of any sort in their up-coming title. Instead of choosing between a selection of available items and abilities to solve puzzles, you’ll be using your knowledge of the flora and fauna of the world to help you out. So when you reach a puzzle that requires you to manipulate a plant or animal to complete a puzzle, you’ll be taught about that particular ability the plant/animal in question has.
But those same things will be dotted around earlier levels, and can be used to reach those hidden areas and hard-to-reach places. So by simply experimenting with these plants and animals, you can figure out how they work early, and so use them to reach those secret areas before you’re “meant” to.
Sounds like a great way of doing things; I can’t wait to play around with this idea!
You can find out more about Toki Tori 2 and Two Tribes’ other games on their site.
M.U.S.E. Developer: Lab Rats Studio Publisher: Ayopa Games Platform: iPhone/iPad (reviewed)/Android Release: 23/12/11 Price: $6.49 – Available Here
Overview
Let’s face it. IOS isn’t just for the group of players who’ve unfairly been deemed casual – amongst the tap based puzzle games and excessive amounts of shovel wear lay a variety of different RPG’s, fighters, racers and even shooters. One of the latest shooter based titles to burst onto the App Store is M.U.S.E – the latest title developed by Lab Rats Studio and published by Ayopa Games.
Story
Player’s are given the chance to play as Sid Tripp, the hard-boiled agent for a government organisation known as M.U.S.E. As a representative for M.U.S.E. Sid is the only thing that stands between the super villain Psychosis and world domination. The story is fairly straight forward, but it’s still enough to get you going. Cut scenes are infrequently used to push the narrative forward and frame the movements through out the game. Even though it is a fairly typical story of authority verses villainy, it’s nice to see some original stories emerging in the App Store – coupled with some nice gameplay and high quality graphics.
Gameplay
Mechanically, M.U.S.E has everything down. The dual thumb control that has become standard in iOS shooters is better than average, I particularly like the lack of a virtual joy stick, giving you a bit more freedom. The shooting button and option to throw grenades are all positioned well, however when it comes to reloading or swapping weapons your thumb may be a bit out of touch, at least on the iPad. The reloading is a little slow, and the fact that I am warned of it’s speed, or lack there of, doesn’t take the sting away when in battle. Being on the receiving end of a barrage of bullets attempting to reload my machine gun is never fun. As time progresses, more and more weapons become available, and gradually its possible to come accustomed to swapping instead of reloading – making the game a little easier and more enjoyable – but it does take time. Standard buttons have also been added in for crouching and for rolling – giving you a little boost in action, mobility and strategic movement. There is no doubt that this is a great effort making a shooting game for the iPad – it just doesn’t seem to have anything highly innovative in regards to the mechanics. However, there is the interesting element of RPG style upgrades. As you progress you can upgrade gun clip sizes and loading time – which is a nifty little element that I don’t see too often in games.
Visuals
A year a ago, M.U.S.E would’ve been a visual knock out, but unfortunately time has ravished it’s once youthful looks. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still pleasing to the eye. It’s just that within the past year iOS graphics have launched from rendered 3D akin to the PlayStation 2 into near-contemporary console/PC worthy works of beauty. The world and characters instead take on a more gritty science fiction dystopia theme, which fits with the story of the game, which visually isn’t as amazingly vivid as an iOS title could be. That being said, for an independently developed and published title, M.U.S.E is on the high end of graphics, and there is extensive detail and an obvious amount of care that has been given to the world, in terms of design and functionality.
Audio
There seems to be a rather severe lack of music through out M.U.S.E., but that’s not to say there isn’t any audio design at all. On the contrary, there is a cacophony of gun shots, explosions, wailing alarms and laser cannons blasting from my iPad’s feeble speakers. If you decide to play this title with ear phones plugged in, be sure to turn the volume down, it’s going to get loud!
Overall
M.U.S.E performs well mechanically, has some great graphics and a unique visual style. While the audio may feel a bit drained and the story a little thin, the game itself performs well. I’d recommend this title to any iOS shooter fans who are looking to branch out perhaps away from the console clones such as Call of Duty or the long list of Gameloft titles, and ease their way over to M.U.S.E. With very few quality, original titles popping up in the App Store, M.U.S.E just may be that breath of fresh air you need to keep on playing games on your iOS device.
