The eagerly anticipated Volume 3 of UDON’s Mega Man Gigamix, will be hitting all major comic stores everywhere on November 9, 2011. Mega Man Gigamix Vol.3 – will be the final volume of Hitoshi Ariga’s Megamix/Gigamix saga!
The original blue bomber is back for more action-packed adventures! In Volume 3, the remaining robots of Earth make their last stand against the destructive Stardroids! But an even greater threat looms literally on the horizon… what is the secret of Dark Moon? The most epic Mega Man story ever told comes to it’s thrilling conclusion!
Gearbox has a history of really appreciating their fans. And they have just shown that again. Michael John Mamaril was a Borderlands fan but then he died of cancer last month when he was only 22. One of his friends, named Carlo, asked Gearbox Software to eulogize Mamaril. In addition to having Claptrap perform the eulogy, Gearbox has also added Mamaril as an NPC in Borderlands 2. The heart touching eulogy is available for listening here on Soundcloud. Gearbox is truly one of the most understanding and amazing developers ever. Our sincerest condolences go out to Carlo and Michael John Mamaril’s family.
Want some more Orc killing action? Robot Entertainment has the DLC for you then. Their new extra content will only cost $2.99 and will release on the PC through Steam on November 8.
The DLC, entitled “Lost Adventures,” comes with:
-Five New Fortresses – Repel the orc onslaught in four completely new fortresses plus a reverse version of The Tower where your enemies have the high ground! Each fortress can be played on Apprentice, War Mage, or Nightmare difficulty.
· Two New Enemies – Fear the icy breath of the Frost Bat, and beware the draining magical attack of the Cyclops Mage!
· New Leaderboards – Challenge your friends for the highest score on leaderboards for each of the five new levels.
· New skull rewards – Earn up to fifty additional skulls to further upgrade your arsenal of traps!
· A New Bonus Defense! – Place the Mana Well in strategic locations around a fortress for a burst of magical energy at just the right moment.
This DLC has not yet been announced for the Xbox 360. A patch to add in coop has also not yet been released.
Overview
Have you ever watched a zombie movie and thought…”I wish I could have one of those!”? Thanks to Majesco and 1st Playable Productions, you now can in the newly released Pet Zombies for the Nintendo 3DS. The concept of this title is exactly as it sounds. Players get to customize, care for, and play games with their undead buddy, which is of course done so in full 3D. Yes, it’s obviously a parody of the over-saturated genre, but the question is, are we laughing with or at these re-animated pets? Here is my review for Pet Zombies.
Gameplay
The first thing you should know before going into Pet Zombies is that the entire experience is down-right bizarre…but in a good way. Starting the game up, players must choose a member of the undead to care for, which includes the likes of a jock, waitress, nerd, and several other human stereotypes. Afterwards, it’s now up to you to customize your new undead friend by picking out a skin type, with textures ranging from the classic cold and clammy look to having veins pop out of the zombie’s face. Now as cool as it is to choose how your zombie looks, changes are very subtle. Other than choosing a different colored outfit and adding in those decaying features, there isn’t a lot left in terms of appearance. I would have personally liked to see a bit more in this area, but I highly doubt many are going to have a hard time crafting one of these living corpses to suit their own personality.
Once your zombie is appropriately named and dressed, it’s then time to care for their needs. Instead of love, players must literally torture their zombie to gain their affection. You see, the more you interact with your undead friend, the more they level up. Leveling up is more than just a number in Pet Zombies, as each time your zombie gains a level, a new item or game will become available that furthers the torturing process. This system is actually well made as gives a nice sense of progression throughout the game. Feeding also gives XP points, so players must make sure there are plenty of brains and bones to go around in order to keep their pet pleased.
Pet Zombies features it’s own currency system known as “Zombucks”. Taking care of your zombie is never cheap, so the player will need these Zombucks to purchase nearly every item in the game. Thankfully, this is all done by playing mini-games. For example, the game available from the start is known as “Zombie Slingshot”. In an Angry Birds fashion, players must launch their friend high in the air and have them collect coins in the process. To go higher, a “Glide” meter can be hit on the touchscreen and you can have your zombie whip out a magnet to pull in harder to reach coins during their flight. The longer they stay up in the air, the more Zombucks you receive at the end. It’s a very simple formula, but I rather enjoyed this little romp in particular as it has a rather addictive nature to it. There are four other mini-games that can be unlocked later on, including the very entertaining “Dumpster Dive” and an item-flinging fare where you launch junk at your zombie’s target using the stylus controls. These are not the most innovative mini-games by any means, but each are solid and make collecting Zombucks rather enjoyable.
Back when I first heard of Pet Zombies, my first worry was how the AI would perform as we have seen a ton of pet simulation titles released where the animal (or dead human in this case) just sits there and does nothing unless provoked. Luckily, 1st Playable put a lot of work into making this an engaging experience and these pets are quite the charmers because of it. Most of the time, your zombie will wander around and interact with whatever object you have laid out in the environment. You can also add in an item to spice up the affair, which is where the torturing and interactive elements come in. My favorite tool was the laser pointer, as just like a cat, your zombie will go nuts chasing the light wherever you drag it. Watching a brain-hungry beast slap at a punching bag is also something you must see for yourself, as I watched my dear Bertha (a waitress) get in serious altercations with the inflatable before she eventually gave up and declared the bag the winner. Pet Zombies shines the brightest for it’s moments of humorous interaction, and there is such a large number of items to be unlocked that anyone could easily spend hours just trying to see it all.
Visuals/Audio
I have played the likes of Ocarina of Time, Star Fox 64 3D, and just about everything that the 3DS had to offer, and oddly enough, I feel that Pet Zombies has the best 3D effect I have seen on the platform thus far. This may sound like a strong statement, but the presentation value offered is just that good as it feels that the game was built for the 3D gimmick and not just tacked on later. As I mentioned, this title is a parody. Instead of running up and licking the screen like a Nintendog, your zombie will run to the screen and beat their head on it repeatedly to gain your attention. Every animation offered is just what you would expect to see from a zombie, and that attention to detail shines through with the stunning visuals in the game. There are quite a few well detailed settings to have your undead pal play in as well, and that variation assists in keeping the scenery from getting stale.
Each zombie make the groans and howls that you would expect, and all of which blend well with their pre-set personalities. Hearing your poor, living impaired friend scream when they are on fire doesn’t ever get old and the voice actors who provided these effects did a great job in making everything sound as realistic as possible. The music within however is a bit bland and usually just loops the same eerie tune, so those who are wanting an ear-pleasing soundtrack are best to find the nearest radio. I honestly don’t think that many who pick up Pet Zombies are going to hunger for a orchestrated experience, so this flaw of sorts could be easily overlooked.
Overall
At first glance, Pet Zombies looks like a quick cash-in on two over-saturated markets. Whenever you take a closer look however, all of this parody’s quirky charms and offerings soon shine through. Yes, this isn’t game of the year contender by any means, but that isn’t it’s intention. Everything is simply a jab at the genre as a whole and Pet Zombies thrives at offering a ton of laughs and “brainless” entertainment. The 3D effect works and looks both polished and eye-pleasing as no undead have ever looked this good on a portable. If you are looking to adopt a pet on the 3DS, put down the leash and grab a shovel as these Pet Zombies are worth digging up.
As people have been made aware, a giant asteroid is hurtling towards the Earth at a tremendous speed. This asteroid has been designated YUS55, for You are (not) Unpackaged Skyrim 5.05, and as such is waving a giant middle finger at gamers everwhere.
Colliding with the Earth on the 8th of November (here in Australia anyway), it will strike with a tremendous force of ~50,000 tonnes ((400 x t) x (9.6 x very fast) = ~50,000). Readers will be able to watch their impeding doom with a 15cm telescope equipped with 6″ mirrors at around 10:30AM AEST.
Once the collision occurs, it is a safe bet that any and all copies of Skyrim will be removed from circulation due to the poor visible conditions of the Earth as there would be way too much dust for anyone to actively hold their eyes open. Though, missing the launch of the game will be the least of anyones problems as they will slowly starve to death due to vegetational decay thanks to the lack of sunlight for the next 100 years or so.
Hopefully we survive the impact and the impeding invasion of extraterrestrials or other-dimensional beings. Proof!
If this live action trailer promoting the soon to be released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is a preview of how Activision will handle a movie adaption of the game, I would say we have nothing to fear. The action and humor blend perfectly in this trailer. Hopefully we will get some news on the Call of Duty Movie soon.
In the meantime, check out the live action video featuring Sam Worthington, Jonah Hill and Dwight Howard as Veterans and noobs playing the game. It proves that there is a soldier in all of us. What character is your favorite? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!
The guys over at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe have revealed that they will host a very exclusive event which will allow several people to have access to the handheld, the launch apps and the launch games. Being held at a secret location in London, the winners will be allowed to take a friend with them to enjoy the features of the handheld. Flights and accommodation will be paid by SCEE. There is a catch though: signing up to Inside Vita is a requirement to enter this competition.
Of course, there are terms and conditions that have to be met. First, the entrants must be over 18 years of age. This makes sense, as some games may contain content only suitable for those over 18. The second requirement is that one must be residing in the following countries: Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, UAE and the United Kingdom.
Anyone notice that one particular country is missing from that list? That’s right, residents in Australia are NOT permitted to enter the competition, yet residents of New Zealand are. Very surprising, considering that there is a SCE Australia and New Zealand office. It could be that it is difficult to run a national competition or there is one in the works via the local offices. I hope we see something like this for Oz residents nonetheless, as they should not miss out on an opportunity like this one.
Interested? A Inside PSVita member over 18 and a resident from one of the listed countries? Follow this link.
Square Enix is planning to release a couple of titles for the Playstation Vita. Lord of Apocalypse, a sequel to Lord of Arcana, will be released at launch, alongside a version that will grace the Playstation Portable. As it has been iterated, both the Vita and PSP will be able to talk to each other through some games. However, Lord of Apocalypse will not feature cross platform multiplayer.
A follower on the official Twitter account had asked about the feature. The response that was given was a simple no, meaning that owners of the Vita version will only have access to other Vita owners and vice versa. A little disappointing, considering that the Vita does have the capabilities to conduct such a feature. Hopefully it can be an updated feature in the near future.
Lord of Apocalypse will be released on December 17, the launch day of the Playstation Vita, for both platforms.
In a Pre-TGS conference, Sony has announced that the Playstation Vita will tour the Land of the Rising Sun, allowing potential buyers to try out the plethora of games that will be released in the coming months. The Vita will visit five cities starting November 19. The cities that the handheld will visit are Sapporo (Nov.19-20), Nagoya (Nov.26-27), Osaka (Dec. 3-4), Tokyo (Dec. 10-18) and Fukuoka (Dec. 19-20), with Tokyo having eight days of the handheld and during the launch day of December 17. Tokyo will also have several points of interest: Roppongi Hills, Parco department store in Shibuya, Takeshimaya plaza in Shinjuku, Yokohama station and the Sony Building in Ginza.
Of course, the tour would not be complete with games to play with. Games that will be featured in all cities include Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Dynasty Warriors Next, New Little King Story, Army Corps of Hell, Virtua Tennis 4, Shinobido 2, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Gravity Daze, Hot Shots Golf 6, Shin Kamaitachi no Yoru and Ridge Racer.
Roppongi Hills in Tokyo will be the biggest site of the tour with additional games playable, including Sumioni, Ragnarok Odyssey, Blazblue: Continuum Shift Extend, F1 2011, Asphalt Injection, Mahjong Fight Club, Lord of Apocalypse, Super Monkey Ball, Sawari Ma Kuru, Starstrike Delta, Reality Fighter, LittleBigPlanet, WipEout 2048, Monster Raider, Dream Club Zero Portable, Disgaea 3 Return, Katamari Damacy Novita, Tales of Innocence R, Dark Quest Alliance, and Michael Jackson: The Experience HD. I would suggest going to Roppongi Hills just for that collection of games that will be playable.
The Playstation Vita will also be released on December 23 for Hong Kong and Tawian, February 22, 2012 for North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa and December 23, 2012 for Australia and New Zealand.
Today at their Supanova Brisbane panel, Madman have announced the acquisition of multiple licenses. For those of you who did not have the pleasure of attending the event, the following titles have now been acquired by Madman Entertainment:
Squid Girl
The World God Only Knows
Broken Blade
.Hack//Quantum
Mardock Scramble
It is currently unknown as to what capacity Madman will be releasing the series, but considering that if Madman license something it usually gets a physical release, they will all probably make their way onto shelves in some form in the future.
What do you think of these announcements? Is there any series you’d like Madman to license? Let us know in the shoutbox and comments section.
