The Australian release date for the upcoming Suda 51 title, Lollipop Chainsaw, has just been confirmed. The game is set to arrive in Australia on 13 June 2012.
Lollipop Chainsaw looks to be an insanely twisted and hilarious action game that only the mind of the great Suda 51 can dream up. Players will take control of the lovely cheerleader, Juliet Starling, and battle hoards of the zombies and meet all sorts of crazy characters.
The game will be released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. You can view the latest gallery of high resolution images below.
More classic skins will be receiving the boot as newer art will be developed for the affected champions. From now until March 12, this may be your last chance to pick up these classic skins of Emerald Taric, Unmasked Kayle, Nightmare Cho’Gath, and Butcher Urgot.
The best part about the retiring the skins is that you will be able to pick them up for 75% off! Oh, you don’t have the required champion? Don’t fret because Riot Games is also docking the price of the affected champions by 20%. Let’s look at the newly adjusted prices:
Champion Skin
Normal Price
Discount Price
Emerald Taric
520 RP
130 RP
Unmasked Kayle
975 RP
244 RP
Nightmare Cho’Gath
520 RP
130 RP
Butcher Urgot
520 RP
130 RP
Champion
Normal Price
Discount Price
Taric
585 RP
468 RP
Kayle
260 RP
208 RP
Cho’Gath
585 RP
468 RP
Urgot
975 RP
780 RP
Don’t miss out on these incredible deals on these legacy skins. Remember March 12 is your deadline, so hop on your summoner and purchase the skins before they get locked away… forever!
Wipeout 2048 Publisher: Sony Developer: SCE Studios Liverpool Platform: PlayStation Vita Release Date: February 23, 2012 Price: $29.95 (available here)
Overview:
Wipeout 2048 marks the return of the series to the handheld world, and whilst 2048 is by no means a weak title, it doesn’t really bring anything new (or anything Wipeout HD beating) to the table, and what changes it does make are actually a bit of a step back. Fans will still have a ball with the game and newcomers won’t find any problems, but it’s not the most outstanding title on the Vita, and will face stiff competition from other titles for a spot in your collection.
Gameplay:
In gameplay terms Wipeout 2048 brings little to no surprises. Apart from moving the setting to 2048 rather than further in the future and thus making this a sort of prologue for the franchise, what you get from Wipeout 2048 is what you’ve got from previous titles in the series. Fast pacing racing powered up with copious boost pads and weapon pick ups, with effective air braking the name of the day and a sideline in smashing up your opponents. The single player campaign offers a slowly unfolding series of challenges, set up with the usual unlocks of more vehicles and teams.
Challenges include straight up races against the AI competition, solo time attacks and everybody’s favourite -zone racing. Things are handled pretty well, with many of the challenges designated as ‘optional’, giving you bonus gear and unlocks, but not necessary to complete the campaign. You’ll need to use different styles of ships to beat certain challenges, hopping between speed freak and fighter vehicles. The track selection is a little on the small side, and despite the fact that the numerous challenges are mixed up with them to give some sense of variety, the fact that all the challenges are familiar too doesn’t do the game any favors in the freshness department. The core gameplay is by all means very strong, speedy and as fun as ever, but if you’ve already got a copy of Wipeout HD there’s little to make 2048 stand out.
One real fault and a massive buzz killer is the time spent waiting for tracks to load. For a game that’s all about speed, waiting up to a minute for a single race to load can take an awful lot of enjoyment out of the game – and players would surely be willing to sacrifice the opening animation stuck on the front of every race in order to get to the action that bit more quickly. A portable racing title should be up and ready to go as quickly as possible, not hanging about for a minute every time you want to get your race on. Thankfully the in game pace is more than up to scratch and keeps up with past Wipeout entries – you just have to wait a little longer to be hit by it in the first place.
One cool feature in the multiplayer is the ability to access all of Wipeout HD’s tracks and play cross platform, allowing a better chance for a match up thanks to that game’s already huge install base. The main multiplayer mode is a little on the odd side though, mainly because it doesn’t allow you to choose what you’ll be playing. Whilst it does streamline the match making process, it’s a more than a tad frustrating to be railroaded into races of a particular type or speed – ad hoc races are also mystifyingly chained by this design decision.
Audio & Visual:
The game opens with a gorgeous cinematic chronicling the evolution of racing vehicles, from the most primitive of cars to the sleek and powerful machines of the Wipeout universe. It’s a gorgeous and sleek sequence that provokes the same sort of feeling as the opening movies from the Gran Turismo series, and for a handheld title that’s a particularly impressive thing to conjure up. The in game graphics are also a feast for the eyes, although the 2048 setting does mean that the colour and style are sadly toned down compared to previous entries, with only the zone style races and a small number of tracks still bringing a vibrant neon glow to the races. It’s a bit of a shame to lose one of Wipeout’s most defining features – it by no means looks bad, but I would rather see the track style of Wipeout HD anyday. The music is by far pretty awesome, matched perfectly to the action with the usual dance and dub step numbers.
Overall:
Wipeout 2048 is a solid entry into the series, but unfortunately one that’s spoiled slightly by the restricted multiplayer and lengthy loading times. It has some neat features and the general racing gameplay is still great, but there’s not a whole lot of unique selling points to set it apart from it’s bigger console brother. If you’re a fan of the series it’ll be a nice title to add to your collection for some on the go racing, but even in the early launch days of the system there are other more interesting titles, that whilst also based on console counterparts, offer a more solid, comprehensive experience.
That’s right people, Gamersgate is offering the latest installment of the Deus Ex Saga for the cost of a regular meal from McDonalds. Even better is that you can buy the complete Deus Ex experience for just $12, this is an amazing offer from Gamersgate.
Be quick though, this deal is only going to last this weekend. Luckily I had already taken advantage of this just before I got this article up and now have the expansion pack to this great game and it only cost me $3. So be sure to pick up on this amazing deal from here.
It was previously revealed the Nobuhiro Watsuki’s classic samurai manga Rurouni Kenshin would be getting live-action treament. Through a Japanese variety show, we now get some new footage of the live-action adaptation of the Rurouni Kenshin manga.
The trailer features Himura Kenshin and company both in battle and out of battle as well as some brief close up shots of each actor in character in the trailer. Fans of the manga are sure to be delighted to see their favourite characters brought to life in this live-action adaption.
Be sure to check out the trailer for the live-action Rurouni Kenshin below and let us know what you think in the shoutbox and comments section. Stay tuned for more live-action Rurouni Kenshin news.
Tonight, at 8pm Tokyo time (10pm AEDT), Sony Computer Entertainment Japan will be hosting a web broadcast called ‘Playstation Vita Game Heaven.” Here, Sony Computer Entertainment will be announcing new games for the Playstation Vita as well as provide update on yet to be released games. The webcast will focus on the Japanese market, so the probability of any new Western oriented games will be low. For those who want to watch it, here is the official site.
A few game creators have been announced to appear on the broadcast. These include:
Satoshi Sakai (Phantasy Star series)
Katsura Hashino (Persona series)
Toshihiro Kondo, Ken Nakanko (from Falcom, developers of Legend of Heroes)
Takanobu Terada (Super Robot Wars series)
This blog will start at 9:55pm AEDT. This will be an old fashion live blog, which means that you will have to hit F5 for updates. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure that you won’t have to spam the button.
The live blog follows…
9:52 – Hello and welcome to Capsule Computer’s live blog on the “Playstation Vita Game Heaven” webcast. It will be interesting to see what is announced tonight. Should be a good show.
9:56 – If you want to make any predictions or comment during the blog, you can below. It will be interesting to hear what you think will be revealed tonight.
10.07 – So, there seems to be an intro video showcasing what “Game Heaven” will show. Phantasy Star, Persona 4, Super Robot Taisen, Gundam, Legend of Heroes and Metal Gear Solid will be shown, alongside their respective designers.
10:11 – It looks like “Game Heaven” may be a series of video posted on the official Youtube channel (which is right here). So sit tight as I go through the different announcements.
UPDATE: you may notice that I do not have the time next to the game announcements. That is because of the nature of the announcements being a series of video rather than one streamline webcast like Nintendo Direct. So, on with the announcements.
UPDATE 2: I will post the videos in a separate article after the completion of this article.
First up, we get to visit the offices of Sega as they reveal that Phantasy Star Online 2 will be heading to the Playstation Vita. Vita players will get to team up with the PC players as they will be on the same server. You can also use the same character on both versions. Neat.
Next, Namco Bandai reveals that they will be bringing a Super Robot Taisen game to the Vita. There is gameplay footage in the video (this turns out to be the PSP game Super Robot Taisen Z2 running on the Vita. Apologies).
Our third video will be looking at Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, introduced by Hideo Kojima. Of course, there is talk of the Transfarring feature, which is done over Wi-Fi. The save files are saved on cloud storage, so you can play wherever you are. There is gameplay footage and a release date: June 27.
Now it is time for some Persona 4: The Golden, due out June 14. Katsura Hashino, the producer of the game, shows off some of the gameplay. He also talks about the game’s development. No real news from Atlus, more behind-the -scenes stuff. Still, worth watching for gameplay and some artwork.
The Legend of Heroes: Zero no Keisei Evolution is the next video. Some of the mini-games are being talked about, as well as the amount of voice work done with the game. There is also some game footage. Also being reported is the fact that Evolution was meant to be a PSP game, but UMD space was a factor for the project to be moved to the Vita. Interesting.
Gundam is next from Namco Bandai, who are now working on two PS Vita games. It will be titled Gundam SEED: Battle Destiny. The representatives are very happy with the addition of the dual sticks, as is everyone else. They also have a release date: June 7. Gameplay is also shown.
The next video is Keiji Inafune teasing a title for the Playstation Vita. He did slip that he was working on a Vita title at the GDC, so this video confirms it. No specifics were revealed, however.
The second last video is all about the UMD Passport Program. It shows how to use the program, developers who are supporting it and a new addition of games and they are major ones. It also gives info on the 1,000 yen PSN voucher Sony is giving away. Here are the notable games that will be added to the UMD Passport Program:
Monster Hunter Portable 3rd
Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G
Last Ranker
Rockman Dash 2
Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker
Tokimeki Memorial 4
Tactics Ogre
Final Fantasy Tactics
Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy IV Complete Collection
Final Fantasy II
Dissidia Final Fantasy
Dissidia Final Fantasy 012
3rd Birthday
Final Fantasy Type-0
Ys I & II Chronicle
Ys 7
Legend of Heroes Sora no Kiseki
Little Battler eXperience Boost
The last video reveals a project called Project Discovery, a collaborative project between Kadokawa Games and Sony. Watching the trailer, it could involve Vita owners and content creation. It will be coming soon.
So, that’s it for Playstation Vita Game Heaven. I hope you enjoyed this article bringing news of various Playstation Vita projects that are underway or near completion over in the Land of the Rising Sun. Some may be disappointed that there was no mention of a certain portable giant of a game. I’m sure it will be out soon.
Music Unlimited, Sony’s music on-demand service, has made its way to the Playstation Vita. With a global library of 15 million licensed songsfrom all of the major labels, leading independent labels, and major publishers worldwide, the Music Unlimited service offers users convenient access to the entire music catalogue and millions of other tracks on a wide range of mobile and in-home devices, anytime they want. This is no surprise as both the Playstation 3 and Playstation Portable also supports the service.
The application is free to download, however, consumers will need to subscribe to the service in order to use it. There are two subscription plans available: Basic and Premium. The Music Unlimited Basic plan provides ultimate convenience to enjoy your own music and ad-free radio Channels at a great price. Users can use Music Sync to match songs and playlists from a PC to your personal cloud library and access across all supported devices, including other Playstation devices. The music channels are categorized by genre, era and mood. The Music Unlimited Premium plan is ideal for music lovers who want full control of the entire Music Unlimited collection, including premium channels and on demand access to millions of songs in the catalogue. New subscribers are welcome to try the Premium plan for free in a 30 day trial period.
The application is now available on the Playstation Store on your Playstation Vita and is supported in the following territories: Australia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States.
An independent developer by the name of Superplay Games has just released a new game onto the App Store. Sky Defenders will allow gamers to experience “nostalgic, ’80s arcade-era gameplay, modernized by the iOS motion controls and contemporary cartoon-style graphics.”
In addition, players can “take on the role of a superhero defending the city from invading hordes. Flying high above the streets, gamers use tilt controls to navigate the skies and destroy enemies in order to protect the city below. Each superhero features its own unique power-ups, offering players multiple ways to chain together combos and rack up huge point scores in their quest to survive and wipe out the opposing forces. Sky Defenders also features an online leaderboard so players can post their high-scores and challenge their friends to try and beat them.”
“Our first mobile title, Cosmonauts, was a huge hit with fans and the nostalgic gameplay seemed to really resonate with a lot of players,” said Paul Della Bitta, president and co-founder of Superplay Games. “We modeled it after some of our favorite, old-school arcade games, and then updated it with great, cartoon-inspired graphics and motion controls to add a modern twist.”
Some key features of the game are:
Top-down Survival Gameplay: To dodge and defeat waves of enemies, superheroes and heroines must maneuver the skies, collect power-ups, and chain together combos in order to rack up points and survive as long as possible
Motion Controls: Players control their superhero by tilting the iOS device. With precise acceleration and movement, players must hone their flying skill in order to boost their score and top the leaderboards
Collectible Power-ups: Players can gain an extra edge in combat by collecting power-ups, which are unlockable by racking up big point totals or through in-game purchases
Facebook Integration:Sky Defenders syncs with Facebook so players will be able to compete head to head with their friends on the game’s leaderboards.
Sky Defenders can be bought for $0.99 on the App Store for any iOS device that has been upgraded to 4.0 or above.
Vessel Publisher:indiePub Developer:Strange Loop Games Platforms: PC (coming soon to consoles) Release Date: March 1st, 2012 Price: $13.49 (BUY NOW – 10% off during launch week!)
Overview
Vessel is a puzzle platformer, featuring the heavy use of various forms of liquid, as well as the AI of creatures made up of these liquids. The first game by Strange Loop Games, Vessel features 4 experienced creators, some previously from EA, brought together by this single project, and working together to make one original, beautiful game.
Story
You are M. Arkwright, inventor of the liquid automaton, Fluro. With this new technology you have changed the world, and Fluros are used as labour from factories and orchards, to mines. Over time, however, the Fluros have begun to change; their behavior and even shape evolving and branching out unpredictably. This has caused problems for the industries that use them, Fluros wreaking havoc and generally not doing as they’re told. So you’ve taken it upon yourself to get these places working again, while investigating and harnessing these new forms.
In between clearing up the mess the rogue Fluros have made, you are also working hard back at your workshop to use what you’ve learned about their evolution to create an even more powerful, and stable, form of Fluro. And, when you have time, upgrade the equipment you’ve invented to control the fluid these creatures are made up of.
These developments and new understanding of how the different Fluros behave are told to you in a Journal, with brief but descriptive entries, along with sketches explaining how you might be able to use these new behaviors to your advantage.
Gameplay
The main thing you’ll be doing throughout this title will be solving puzzles. Using your knowledge of the behavior of the Fluros you encounter as well as manipulating the liquids they are made out of will allow you to progress to a series of machines in each area that have stopped due to the errant Fluros. Once you’ve fixed all of the machines in the stage, you’ll need to defeat a boss, or otherwise disable some big machine that was causing all the trouble in the first place.
At the beginning of the game, you invest a backpack and hose which you’ll carry around with you. This allows you to suck up and shoot out a variety of liquids, helping you out in the puzzles. You’ll also be able to “Sample” a Fluro, letting you create a completely new Fluro of varying kinds from a sample you’ve already collected.
If you are playing on the PC, and using the keyboard and mouse, you’ll be fine for the first few hours of this game. But once you start relying on the hose more and more, the controls get really fiddly to use. You effectively have to move, jump, grab, and deploy Fluro “Seeds” with one hand, and use the mouse to suck of shoot liquid.
For me, that wasn’t very practical; it took so much thinking about just to do simple tasks, so I gave up on the keyboard and mouse entirely, opting for a gamepad instead. Once I’d made this change everything was infinitely easier to control, so I’d recommend using a controller from the start.
That said, playing this game, while frustrating on some of the more taxing puzzles, was a great experience. The fluid simulation is really smooth, and is a great change from the usual boxes found in most physics puzzlers. The way the Fluros behave and react to their environment is wonderful, and figuring out how to properly harness their unique behaviors gives you a great sense of satisfaction.
There’s tons of gameplay to be had here; the amount of puzzles and content is simply amazing. There are many indie physics puzzle games out there that simply don’t have the mileage and variance to keep you going for more than a couple of hours, but Vessel is sure to tie you up for a few days at least!
Audio & Visual
The music in this game is absolutely wonderful. The soundtrack was created by Jon Hopkins, a big name in the music industry; and it shows. The music is atmospheric, pumping, moving, and above all else, beautiful. The music reacts to gameplay in such a way as to reward you with crescendos when you solve a puzzle, and giving one synergistic experience to the player.
The tone of the music goes perfectly hand-in-hand with the game itself. With a sense of heightened 3D realism to the world, each area has it’s own unique and colourful glimpse at the universe of Vessel. Everything is beautifully rendered and animated, with each object having it’s own physical presence, letting you interact with and manipulate them in easy and obvious ways.
The machinery you use, with a little tinkering here and there, is very easy to understand and utilize, leaving you to worry about solving the puzzles rather than figuring out where the buttons and levers are. The lighting is dynamic, keeping the world varied and interesting, as well as affecting the behavior of certain Fluros.
Whilst this game can be said to be a 2D platformer, the level of depth and detail within the areas is astounding; everything having it’s own 3D, stunningly realised model, even well into the distance. It’s a joy simply to exist in the world of Vessel.
Overall
This game is great. The soundtrack, art, fluid simulation, and overall attention to detail, makes Vessel a wonderful game to play, start to finish. And as the game crescendos and intensifies as you near then end, you’ll be left on a high note that will leave an impression and stay with you well after you’ve finished the last puzzle. Do yourself a favour; GET THIS GAME!
Are we long past the point of physical media on the gaming medium? Do we still need a form of data transfer between disc and machine, considering that we have a system of direct delivery from studios to consumers? Do games even need to be created as one large product, shipped and packaged to be consumed whole? What if you didn’t want the entirety of a package?
Video games these days are almost always shipped on a physical disc, inside of a case of some-kind and offering a complete experience to warrant a hefty price-tag on a purchase. But really? Do you honestly want the entire game 100% of the time? Look at all the gamers who only play the multiplayer aspect of some games (Battlefield, Call of Duty) and look at all the gamers who will ever only touch the single player aspect of others. Should they have to pay the full price for an item that they are only using 50% of?
The answer should be no, but the way games, neigh, most products are designed makes it so that the entire package needs to be purchased in order to enjoy that one component that you desire. So to combat this, I have come up with a better solution to all of our problems. Digital distribution of playable game engines for free or a minimal cost, and players simply pay for the experiences they want to access on that system. For example, somebody really loves Call of Duties multiplayer but has absolutely no desire to even touch the single player portion. Why not just sell them the multiplayer aspect of the game at ~50% of the price of the full package? With the advent of digital distribution platforms, such as Steam, this kind of delivery is possible, but it is not utilised at all by the major publishers.
Consider a University student who cannot afford the full price of a video game, also doesn’t have the time for a single player campaign, but also doesn’t like the current multiplayer offerings on the market. He then hears about this mod or independent addon for a particular engine. Under this new system, he could just purchase the game on the developers website, add the module to the engine and start playing. I think that this kind of system would do wonders for the independent game developers around the world.
To make this clear, this is how the system would work –
First the developer makes a game engine or distribution service, lets use Epic as an example and call it Unreal Engine Epic Drop.
Bioware comes along and says “Hey, I like this engine and system, I’m going to make Mass Effect 4 for it and distribute the single player and multiplayer aspects of the game across this”
Epic then says “Yeah, sure”
Bioware then sells the entire package for $50, but also separates it for how much value each component represents, so like $30 for single player and $20 for multiplayer.
Epic finished Unreal Tournament 4 and it has multiple game types.
Epic sell UT4 DM for $5, UT4 CTF for $5, etc. etc.
They also release Tournament Mode (single player) for $10 which only includes the components that players have purchased.
Everyone has a cheaper gaming experience and an experience that they actually like. No use paying for components that you’ll never touch (VCTF, augh…).
Of course, there would need to be a united distribution system, like Steam, for this to work 100% perfectly, or else peoples computers would jam up with all those different distribution platforms. Though, this is just one solution to this problem.
What does everyone else think, leave us a comment below with your opinions.
