Ubisoft have proudly announced that The Settlers Online, a free-to-play browser based strategy game set in the Settlers Universe, has reached more than 1.5 million users in Germany, US, France and Russia.
The Settlers Online combines the game-play elements of the Settlers franchise with some brand new gameplay that makes it perfect for a browser based game. Players are able to settle new cities, and join thousands of gamers already online to create or join guilds, trade resources and acquire and exchange bonuses to help each other out along the way to build their own mighty kingdoms.
After all who doesn’t love making their own kingdoms?
“The Settlers is a beloved, enduring franchise which strategy players from all over the world enjoy and it’s exciting to be able to offer those fans a new way to interact with the Settlers Universe,” said Thomas Paincon, Europe, Middle East and Asia FTP Publishing Director. “The success of the free-to-play model is very encouraging and with the rollout of the English language Open Beta beginning, we are very optimistic about the future of the Settlers Brand.”
The English language open beta started this week, allowing players to experience this last part of the Settlers brand for the very first time. For more information, and to join the open beta head on over to their site.
At the moment, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is conducting a Playstation Vita tour where it will visit the major cities of Manchester, Glasgow and London in the UK and allow potential customers to try out the new handheld. According to MCV, this is the beginning of the marketing push. Apparently, this will be the biggest marketing push for Sony gaming hardware that SCEE has conducted. This will include a great presence at retail, in print and on television, in addition to what should be a great online presence.
UK Marketing Manager Mark Bowles spoke with MCV and commented on the massive marketing push:
“The PS Vita launch will be supported by the biggest campaign we’ve ever executed, and this level of activity will continue throughout 2012, reflecting our confidence in, and commitment to the platform long term.
“Our campaign will target gamers primarily, but also the new generation of tech enthusiasts and entertainment consumers who are used to playing games on their smartphones or tablets. What sets Vita apart is its ability to deliver PS3 quality gaming, in addition to the range of globally recognised triple-A software titles, which simply isn’t possible or aren’t available on any other existing portable.
“In terms of media focus, due to the connected nature of the Vita and the behaviour of our target audience, our campaign will have a strong digital backbone, supporting a heavyweight TV, press, outdoor and retail presence.
“Finally, one thing we learnt early on is that the best way to understand PS Vita, is to get hands-on experience with it. This is why we’re investing heavily in an experiential tour.”
Software will be key in this marketing campaign and Bowels comments on the launch line-up and future titles, a lesson learnt from the Playstation Portable:
“Lessons learnt from the PSP ensure that this commitment to delivering triple-A quality titles will continue unabated, with Resistance, LittleBigPlanet, Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty just a few of the big name titles and franchises coming to the PS Vita over the year ahead.”
No matter how much marketing Sony produces, the message must be clear: why the Playstation Vita is worth your time and money. With increasing competition from the iOS and the 3DS, Sony must play to both the hardcore and casual markets. It must show the hardcore gamers that the triple-A titles are going to be portable. It must show the casual market it will support popular casual titles as well as provide their own casual experiences not offered on other devices, like Modnation Racers and Little Big Planet. The hands-on tour will allow the tech and games to be center stage, so this is a positive step (take note SCE Australia).
I could suggest one more thing: package a 4GB memory stick with every Playstation Vita. Considering a lot of games and applications will require a use of the memory stick, there should be no reason or excuse to add a free memory stick. Price is the deciding factor and right now potential customers are shying away due to the fact that there will be a gaping hole in their wallet. Adding a memory stick to each Vita will ease the pain for every new sale it would generate. Yes, the Vita is selling at a loss, but how much of a hit will Sony take if it added a memory stick that will cost at least US$19.99 at retail, considered already expensive in the consumers eyes when there are cheaper alternatives Sony could have went with. If Sony Computer Entertainment does this, they will be thanked by the wider community.
Feeling a bit angry with the world and looking to blow off some steam, then look no further as Capcom have announced the release of the demo for Asura’s Wrath, downloadable from both the Playstation Network and Xbox Live now.
Asura’s Wrath introduces a unique range of brutal techniques within close quarters, calling for players to dig deep into their reserves to escape each hairy situation. Blending a deep narrative storyline with intense action sequences, Asura’s Wrath will please fans of most gaming genres, delivering a brand new feel and take on the action market.
In the demo, players will be introduced to a variety of the distinct enemies within 2 of the games levels, showing off the unique blend of asian mythology blended with sci-fi concepts. Become acquainted with Wyzen, the planetary sized boss, as well as Augus, Asura’s old mentor, as you journey to right the wrongs done 12000 years ago.
Asura’s Wrath demo is available from the Playstation Network and Xbox Live with the full retail version expected on February 23rd 2012 just in time for a spectacular Valentines day present.
You can also pre-order now and receive a free Asura Bobble Budd complete with 6 arms and a head that holds all his limbs, you cant ask for anything cooler could you. For more information visit the Capcom Store.
Who needs the Superbowl? Professor Genki has got the far more entertaining, and awesome, option – Genkibowl. Genkibowl is so awesome, that they’re up to number VII (or seven, for the Roman numerically challenged). Genkibowl is so much more than just some football game, it is the most watched game show event on TV, and who is at the middle of it, but the leader of the Saints. With commentary from Steelport’s Zach and Bobby, along with Tammy Tolliver, its no real surprise that this is the most watched show.
So what can you expect? Well it’s kind of a mix of Japanese game shows, mascot murdering, and a whole lot of Genki. Plus, this show is guaranteed to be a good one with the Genki Girls theming the games after themselves, so you get to sail through the skies with Sad Panda Skyblazing, fight your way through Angry Tiger’s Apocalypse Genki, and snatch up your victory in Sexy Kitten Yarngasm (I’m not even going to try and guess what that involves, it will just get R-rated very quickly).
Genkibowl VII is free for those with Saints Row Season Passes, or available for 560 Microsoft Points or $7 on the PSN and Steam. It’s slated for release on January 17, 2012, so come on guys! Get your Genki on!
Digital Reality provides us with the latest scoop on the Hungarian (Budapest) developed Bang Bang Racing. As time draws near to being released, we are being provided with new screenshots as well as an action packed trailer.
In addition to the assets, the details of car models have been revealed. The following are the different car types that will be available to play:
• N-Dura Class: With strong grip, good control and moderate speed, this intro class will bring you up to speed and deliver your first taste of nitro boosting!
• Evo GT: Faster, greater drift around corners, insane acceleration with even more nitro – mastering these beasts is a bit of challenge.
• Protech: You’re going to need some wicked moves to conquer these racing machines – don’t forget to use those brakes either, as these babies can move!
• Apex: Hope you’re ready for the major leagues as these are the fastest cars on the planet – highly agile but also fragile, requiring the tightest control imaginable.
Ability to customize vehicles has always been a key interest of mine whenever playing a racing game. Mostly I am referring to the Gran Turismo series that provides the chance to upgrade vehicles upon purchase. Bang Bang Racing offers customization through model type and car skins. There are eight unlockable skins for players to earn while they play.
Be sure to check out the screenshots below to see the differences in car types. Additionally, the trailer below shows off the unique mulitplayer experience as well as top-down racing.
Crocodile Entertainment Studios, an European based game studio, has made their debut on the Playstation Store. The game they present is called Zack Zero. It is a platformer set in space with hack and slash combat, treasure hunting and puzzles. Zack Zero is also the name of the protagonist, who must save his love Marlene who is in the clutches of the evil Zulrog. Zulrog wants to use Marlene as currency for a unique material known as kelestinia, which is used for time travel. I wonder why he wants to time travel?
The whole game has been developed with 3D animation and will also feature an online leaderboard. Also, expect the game to be available in five languages: English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish. The game is out now on the European Playstation Store. You can check out a trailer below.
Fortune Street/Boom Street Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Square Enix Platform: Nintendo Wii Release Date: December 5, 2011 Price: $49.99 – Available Here Overview
Last year at E3, it was definitely surprising to hear that Fortune Street would be coming to the Nintendo Wii. This series was born in Japan in 1991 as Itadaki Street and created by none other than Yuji Horii, who also spawned the mammoth RPG franchise, Dragon Quest. Think Monopoly, add in some new rules along with popular faces from both the Mario and DQ titles, and you pretty much have the recipe for this turn based party game. In a way, Fortune Street is a rather risky release for Nintendo to put out, due to the fact that the western audience is completely unfamiliar with such an odd concept. Does this dice-rolling eastern phenomenon cross seas to make a mark, or does it simply blend into the vast amount of oddball party titles already on the platform? Here is my review for Fortune Street.
Gameplay
It only takes one trek through Fortune Street’s tutorial to realize that this title is not like any other party romp on the platform. Set up like a standard board game, the main objective of the game is to buy up as many properties as possible and use currency as a weapon against foes. Players take turns rolling a dice, and then watch their cheerful character waddle to that space, where they will either have the choice to buy the lot, or to participate in a special activity. Yes, as I mentioned, there is a lot of ties that this Street shares with Monopoly, and anyone going in with that mindset will appreciate all of the rather detailed offerings found inside.
Before we get to that though, let’s take a moment to speak about what most would be exited to see, and that is all the Mario and Dragon Quest themes within. As the boxart so prominently displays, the true “it” factor of Fortune Street is the many colorful locales and characters packed inside. As far as the Mario fare goes, the usual cast of contenders can all be found here, with the likes of Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, and several other inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom stepping up to prove their worth. On the Dragon Quest side, several monsters and humans alike are playable, such as a Slime, Platypunk, Stella (from DQIX fame), and Carver (DQVI), just to name a few. Many of the boards also have themes based upon many locations from all of the games as well, which brings a nice level of nostalgia and lore to the otherwise dry rule set required to actually play the game itself. A Mii is also available to be chosen, but using the Mii as a playable character in any video game on the Wii is mainly a thing of preference, and I chose to select actual famous faces for nearly all of the playthroughs I participated in. In my opinion, the sheer thought using a Mii when there is half a cast of characters that rarely see any tributes outside of their own franchises (Dragon Quest) defeats a lot of the purpose for this collaboration as a whole.
At the start of a game, players will begin right alongside their opponents on the bank square. After a quick selection to see who rolls first, everything takes off and all participants are allotted a small sum of cash to make their starting purchases. Each board has a different shape, but most of the squares consist of “Shops” that can be bought and invested in by anybody with the right amount of dough. Once you have ownership, anyone that lands on that space moving forward will have to pay a specific fee that is based on your net value. As players buy up properties in the same area, district, these values will rise, meaning that more “rent” money will go to whoever has ownership of the space. It may sound complicated, but if you have played any type of financial board game based on land domination in the past, it doesn’t take much to quickly catch on as that is really what the main concept of Fortune Street presents itself as.
While the basics are easy enough to learn, stocks can be a whole different story. The board itself can be traversed through in a short amount of turns for the most part, even if you chose to take a forked path or go the long way around. Once the player returns to the bank square, they can choose to buy stock to increase their overall property value or sell off any lots to fatten up their wallets a bit. Stocks can be purchased for any shop on the map that is currently owned (by any player), and allow the investor to receive any extra profits that is made from landing fees. In all honestly, this is the way that you can get rich in Fortune Street, but if used incorrectly, buying inappropriate stocks can be the downfall of an empire. I could best explain this by asking you to think of the impact of houses and hotels on Monopoly, as those are the stakes players are putting on the table. You do have the ability to sell off stocks as well, but that can lead to a decrease in net worth and send all of your real estate’s values plummeting. It’s a very fine tuned system that works well, but if you have a younger gamer at home that only wants Fortune Street due to Mario, they might want to stick to the easy mode where no stocks are in place.
Another important element in Fortune Street is leveling up. Across the board, there are four special spaces that are based on spades, diamonds, clubs, and hearts. If the player passes by all four before they go back to the bank, they then level up and get a bit of extra cash as well an increase in net worth. While a small addition, this does make going around the board over and over have more of a direction other than the usual property consumption and it definitely pays in the end to get leveled as many times as possible. On rare occasions, one of the scarce party squares can be landed on, which starts a quick mini-game such as slime racing or a card flip activity, where all players can compete for a monetary incentive. These small games don’t really change up the pace from the standard fare, but they do give off a miniscule amount of Mario Party flare that many will be craving due to all of the franchises involved.
Fortune Street is a very detailed road to take, and the usual playtime for one game can take up to four hours as you must wait for an opponent to go completely bankrupt. I wouldn’t say that I was bored during any of my match-ups, but this is a game for the patient, first and foremost. Luckily, there is an online mode that works rather well, and players can duke it online in some rather busy servers at a moments notice. This mode alone adds a ton of re-playability and even though there isn’t any special features or well supported communication schemes with the Wii’s online setup as a whole, I still found the real competitors to be much more of a challenge than the usually dumbfounded A.I. in the main game.
Visuals/Audio
Even by Wii standards, there isn’t a whole lot to see in Fortune Street. There are plenty of familiar characters and backdrops that are sure to set fans of both series into their happy place, but the models themselves appear a bit dated and pixelated on top of the blandly colored board. This normally wouldn’t be a big deal, but considering you have to stare at the same game for hours on end, it definitely can become a bit easy to spot graphical flaws. I know this series has been around in Japan for a long time and has never been too stunning in the visual department, but a little more incorporation of Dragon Quest and Mario into the actual game itself would have made this title much more charming overall. There are some fine backdrops and environments to represent both franchises’ inclusions, but for the most part, everything feels like template swaps and no true detail was put into the well oiled core product that begs for some character.
Music on the other hand is a different story. Out of the Mario tunes included, Square seemed to have went with a selection that rarely gets placed in Mario styled-party games. This obscureness works well into Fortune Street’s offbeat nature and brings out a humbleness that a Mario title almost never receives. I am a huge Dragon Quest/Warrior fan, and the first time I was treated to the classic melodies within, I felt urged to blast them over my television and take a break from all the brainwork involved. Sadly, most consumers out there are not going to be overly familiar with the beats from Yuji Horii’s other grand creation, which may make these tracks come off as generic RPG tunes. As far as sound goes, none of these characters have any true voicework. Much like the rather stale graphical design, this robs the entire game of a lot of character and yet again leaves a lot to be desired from such prominent faces.
Overall
At the core of Fortune Street, there is a fantastic board game that is both addictive and fun. It’s honestly quite easy to see why Itadaki Street has grew as a franchise over the years in Japan, as there is a lot of strategy involved that can keep you entertained for a good amount of hours at a time. Sadly, I feel like Fortune Street’s biggest problem is that is involves such heavy hitters, and manages to give a backseat to all the charms that made the cast so relevant to start with. Will the average Wii gamer enjoy Fortune Street just because Mario graces the cover? Very doubtfully. However, this is one series that has potential to grow in the west and as it stands, any fan of Dragon Quest can get a slight fix by seeing their favorite characters finally get some much loved attention in what is at least an enjoyable outing with some fine tunes to match. Love it or hate it, Fortune Street has rolled out of the east is definitely one IP that is worth at least a look by anyone with a love of cold, hard cash.
Directed by Martin Scorsese, Hugo is slated to be the most imaginative, amazing movie set for Summer release. Exploring magic, the suspension of belief, and a world full of wonder, Hugo is set around an orphan who lives in the walls of a train station (the best environment for a young boy to grow up in) who gets wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton.
Starring Sacha Baron Cohen, Jude Law and introducing the young Asa Butterfield as Hugo, this film is sure to be one worth giving a go. Hugo has already experienced a huge amount of praise, topping the Critics Choice Movie Awards Nominations, with The Artist, and is bound for greater things as awards season comes on. A simply beautifully presented film, this is one that will take you back to times when you experienced endless wonder as a child.
Check out the clips below, if they’re an accurate representation for the film then it is certain to be all sorts of heart-warming, and brilliantly crafted. What do you guys reckon? Is this on your list of Summer movies to watch?
Hugo is currently out in the US and UK, with Australian Cinematic release set for January 12, 2012.
Next week on the 17th of January, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning will finally be available in demo form on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC. That’s not the end of it though. 38 Studios, have teamed up with Bioware for a special cross-promotion between game demos, for unlockable content for the full game of Reckoning and the full game of Mass Effect 3.
Not only will simply playing the Reckoning demo unlock new content for players once they get their hands on the full game, but if they play the Mass Effect 3 demo, they can unlock Mass Effect inspired armour for Reckoning. Likewise playing the Reckoning demo unlocks Reckoning inspired armour for Mass Effect 3.
So if you want to get in on some exclusive content for Reckoning or Mass Effect 3, be sure to download and play both demos on January 17th.
Sit up, Charlize Theron fans, here is another movie from the critically acclaimed and damn gorgeous actress. In a not-so-typical comedy, Theron takes on the role of the unlikeable protagonist who heads back to her home town, making waves as she does and not everyone (in fact, pretty much no one) is happy to see her return.
Written by Juno’s Diablo Cody and directed by Up In The Air’s Jason Reitman, this was always destined to be different from the usual and break the boundaries usually set by comedies. From afar it might seem like just another typical ‘go home, learn a lesson, grow as a person’ movie, but with this creative team and the talented Theron at the helm, this guaranteed to be anything but typical.
Check out some clips from the movie below! Is this a movie you guys would be interested in seeing? Is it a bit too different for you? Or not different enough? Or, if you’re from another, luckier country, have you already seen it and what did you think of it? Let us know in the comment section below!
Young Adult is set for cinema release in Australia on January 19, 2012.
