A piece of gaming history is about to be distinguished. I’m talking of course about GamePro, the gaming magazine publisher and website have been struggling over the past few years and had even shifted to a quarterly publication schedule in a way to save some money. However it appears that that won’t be the case at all, as the very first issue of the quarterly releases has stated that the company is going to be closing down and that that issue is the last one ever.
GamePro first began as a monthly magazine back in 1989 and used to be one of the largest in the business. The website itself is only going to be up until December 5th and will redirect to PC World after it is shut down. IndustryGamers reports that layoffs are already underway, and we wish these workers the best in their future endeavors.
Its finally that time of the consoles lifetime, when they reached their update that will round out the version of firmware users are using at the moment. Maybe it’ll last a couple days before they release 4.01? Regardless, Sony has released the next firmware update for the PlayStation 3 which will place it on firmware 4.00 and is, of course, mandatory.
The update will help set up your PlayStation 3 to interface with the PlayStation Vita, including the ability to copy games, save data and other media back and forth between the PS Vita and PS3. Too bad no one in most parts of the world will even have a chance to make use of the update until the Vita is released next year, but at least it is being done now not a few months after the Vita is released.
Game Tongue Software has released their anticipated Western-Themed FPS app Legendary Outlaw! Legendary Outlaw is compatible with iPhone, iTouch and iPad, giving us standard iOS users the chance to have some awesome gunslinging fun times.
Legendary Outlaw lets you take on the role of an outlaw seeking only fame and fourtune. As Colt Kaufman you get to become the ultimate legendary outlaw, going around guns-blazing and also using environments to lure and assassinate enemies by stealth. Plus, instead of only relying on rampaging in with your guns blazing you can also utilize the environment around you to sneak up on enemies, creep around corners, and take full advantage of shadows to take out the bad guys.
Legendary Outlaw features 12 highly detailed environments, dual-weapon ability, ninja-like gameplay, stealth assassinations, revolvers, shotguns, double-barreled shotguns, dynamite, Molotov cocktails, and even gatling guns. With such an enormous range of guns it’s sure to be an interesting and involving shooter.
Legendary Outlaw is available on the iPhone, iTouch and iPad for $2.99 – get it HERE
Who says you need extra technology to make a fool of yourself by doing funny things by yourself? Crimson Apps have released a new game, Fuego’s River Adventures, which doesn’t rely in touch controls. Nope, instead it uses real-time smart detection and processing technology to connect players to the game using the front camera of the iPad. Players motions control the adventurer Fuego by jumping, mobbing and running side-to-side.
Not only does it analyse captured images and recognizing movement change, it also saves some candid shots, displaying them at the end of levels, letting players look back on what fools they’ve made of themselves in the game.
Players control Fuego after his plane crashes and he tries to make his way home. They move him along the river, avoiding crocodiles and other obstacles, while collecting food and gold.
Fuego’s River Adventures is certain to be an interesting app, and one that will lead the way in terms of iPad technology. It is definitely worth a look at, even if it isn’t perhaps as sensitive as preferred.
Check out the trailer below!
Fuego’s River Adventures is available on the iPad for the launch sale price of $1.99 – get it HERE
I’m not sure whether it is the damaged fan blowing an irritating gust of air at me at inconsistent intervals, or if it’s the fact that my Wii is covered in a fine layer of dust that makes my allergies flare up everything I approach it, or if it’s just the fact that I’m fed up with thing’s just plain ‘sucking’. It’s just the irritations of being surrounded by ever present ‘suckage’.
The internet has shaped itself into the world’s largest shouting contest. With millions of people all scratching at the walls of this big old digital universe we call ‘the net’, just to have their opinion heard. ‘Opinions’ – now there is something thats sucks. Am I right internet inhabitants?
There are those of you who have put up a tent inside of cyberspace and make it your goal to express the hate and anger you feel within you. Your entitled to that, so why am I rambling? Why am I even writing this?
Well it’s quite simple. I’m going to give you pathetic internet trolls a crash course in how to hate everything, become a hermit and then die.
1. The first thing you need to do in order to start hating everything, is to register an account on a website with a username that shows other hatemates that they can not even comapre to your level of badass hatred of all that sucks, such as “SuckingSUCKS69er”.
2. Find out what ‘normal people’ like, then make it your personal mission to stalk every page on the entire internet related to that thing, making sure that anyone who reads said pages knows exactly how much the things they like ‘sucks balls’. Now that is hating like a professional.
3. Begin de-evolution into a being that lives under the bridge known as 4chan, some refer to these creatures as ‘trolls’. Your de-evolution is complete once you have made several dubstep remixes of gay porn and uploaded them to youtube.
4. Isolate yourself from all forms of social encounters in the physical world, because they ‘suck’ and you hate your Uncle Reg.
Congratulations you are now a professional hater, be free my hatemates, there are people out their with opinions just waiting for you to tell them they are wrong and should die a painful death.
This brings me to my point – why all the hate? It seems every time a game comes out that achieves any level of popularity, there is the incredibly vocal trolls with the only goal of derailing and deconstructing the world around them. Does Call of Duty suck? Maybe. But why push hate on those who enjoy the things you do not? Why not allow them to enjoy what they enjoy?
Well it all boils down to the fact that these people need a sense of clarity that a game ‘sucks’. They need to feel as though someone agrees with them. They need to feel important, like they can taint people’s positive opinions. These are the sad majority who need to hate everything. They have to hate the popular games, the indie games and even themselves. Because it’s their way of expressing their distain for the world they live in.
Should we hate the haters? No they don’t deserve that. Should we ignore them? No they don’t deserve that either. Should we coexist with them. Yes we should. Because we need the balance of love and hate. Games aren’t just about buying something then playing it anymore. The internet has spawned a whole other part of the gaming experience. The part in which you shout out to the masses words of love or words of hate.
And honestly in this modern gaming environment, where we are all connected by the internet, everything just wouldn’t be in it’s right place without a little bit of hate here and there. Express yourself kids, it’s good for you.
Just when you think the Wii might be done, Nintendo throw yet another curveball and announce yet another release. Well, sort of this time. Back at E3, Rhythm Heaven for the Wii was quietly announced. After quite some time, Nintendo have finally set a release window for the game, which is now titled Rhythm Heaven Fever.
If you played Rhythm Heaven on the DS, you should know what to expect as this title involves the same frantic, rhythm/action styled mini-games where players must use their ears to be successful. It’s honestly a bit sad that Rhythm Heaven fills so many bargain bins these days, and I really hope this new Wii release will get the series the respect it deserves. Either way though, Wii owners can rest easy knowing that Rhythm Heaven Fever will hit stores sometime in February.
We further our decent into Skyrim, play The Old Republic, we talk about the upcoming PS Vita launch and Sony’s crazy advertising, Microsoft is about to launch it’s new dashboard update and we have Spike hosting gameshow with diabolical trickery.
Cast: Alexis Ayala, Matt Vella, Michael Marr and Jessica Barabas-Bui
If anyone has a right to celebrate about sales from Black Friday, it’s Microsoft. Last week alone, 960,000 Xbox 360 systems were sold in the U.S., with 800,000 being sold in a 24 hour period. As many of you were probably aware, you couldn’t go anywhere last week without seeing some kind of sale on the system or the Kinect bundles, which definitely played a large role in these record breaking sales.
With nearly one million in one week alone, we should now start expecting to see even more coming from Microsoft in the next year as they will be sure to treat those new-found Xbox 360 owners with even more new features and titles over the next year to keep their 360s at the forefront of their gaming setups…or so we hope. Either way, congrats Microsoft, you win this one.
Don’t Fall Off Developer: Inlogic Software Publisher: EA Mobile Platforms: iPhone, iTouch, iPad (reviewed) Release Date: September 29, 2011 Price: $0.99 – Available Here
Overview
Don’t Fall Off is a game based on a little roly-poly animal, called Rollie funnily enough, who decides that he wants to take a trip around the world in a paper boat. Putting aside the kind of ridiculous context of the game, it seems like one of those incredibly addictive apps, so does it have the makings of one of those popular casual games that keep you coming back for more?
Gameplay
Don’t Fall Off makes use of the gyroscope function of the iPhone and iPad and that’s pretty much the only control you’re going to need to worry about, apart from every so often tapping the screen. There’s a small paper boat that you have to keep Rollie on, by tilting your device from side to side.
But that isn’t the only thing that you’ve got to deal with. Clouds come along every so often, and the raindrops are so strong that they make Rollie fall off the side of the boat. Poor guy, he’s like the Wicked Witch of the West. In a somewhat less Wicked Witch move, coconuts and lava also throw him off, which is quite understandable.
There are bonuses that help you out with protecting your Wicked Witch Rollie from those terrifying raindrops, such as the power to vaporize raindrops, sunshine and umbrellas. These pop up randomly on the screen, to activate them you touch them and then the sunshine gives you a short reprieve from those dang raindrops, and the umbrella protects his poor little head.
You are scored depending on how long you can stay on the boat, which is why there are no checkpoints in the game so you better get used to the first couple of levels.
In the beginning you are given little paperclips on the edges of your boat which stop Rollie from rolling off, which gradually lower in angle until he loses the training wheels completely and is allowed to roll around the boat at will. Not that you spend a lot of time taking advantage of the paperclips anyway, because after your first go around you shouldn’t need to use that crutch at all.
In regards to whether or not this is one of those apps that don’t need a complex storyline or gameplay to get you obsessed with it? Well, for me it fell a little short. The bonuses weren’t super interesting or that incredibly useful, I didn’t really care about getting them or not they were just something that turned up every so often. The controls were so easy that most people will be able to grasp them quite easily, but they’re almost too easy. There’s nothing with an interesting challenge there. I mean, sure, there’s the idea of beating people’s times, but the game needs more than just the competitive nature of people to bring you coming back again and again. There’s just that little missing element which leaves it falling short.
Visuals
Visually there really isn’t much to Don’t Fall Off. Rollie is a simply designed little circle animal of sorts and the only thing that changes is the background. And the backgrounds aren’t incredibly detailed either. If you’re looking for a visually stunning app you’ll really have to look elsewhere, although the stylised nature isn’t necessarily a bad thing,
Audio
The soundtrack sounds like something out of the Beach Boys, because you’re surfing the waves on a boat, get it? The soundtrack isn’t annoying or super in your face, it’s something that you can listen to pretty easily. Which is more than I can say for some apps. Unfortunately this seems to be one of the better aspects of the app at the moment.
Overall
Don’t Fall Off seems to have the ideas and feel of one of those popular casual apps that keep you coming back time and time again. However, it just doesn’t make the cut in terms of bringing the addictive nature that makes casual apps so damn popular. Don’t Fall Off still remains a game that you will give a few goes, but ultimately lose interest in because there just isn’t that much progression in the game.
But if you’re looking for an app which is easy to get going and can be done in short bursts (although you’ll be wanting for the short bursts to be long, since that’s the whole point of the game) and you enjoy tilt games then you may enjoy this game.
While many of you hardcore Mario fans in North America have to wait until December 7th to get your hands on Mario Kart 7, those in Australia and New Zealand will be able to get it a few days early on December 3rd. As many of you are aware, this Mario Kart lets players take to the streets of Mushroom Kingdom and race through several different tracks with many new inclusions to the series.
Also featured in Mario Kart 7 is the ability to take to the skies with a glider attachment or dive underwater to continue the race in the seas. Yes, this is yet another big 3DS release we have been waiting for and in barely under a week, Mario and all of his campy pals will hit stores worldwide.
