If you thought Marvel Vs Capcom 3 couldn’t possibly get any better, well think again, as Capcom and Marvel have announced the release of Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 for PS3 and XBox 360, complete with new characters, a refined upgraded fighting system plus 8 new stages and modes all at a fantastic price. The next instalment in the exceptionally popular series adds 12 new challengers to the Marvel Vs Capcom fighting arena, introducing zombie slayer Frank West taking a break from Dead Rising to show off his strength, as well as Rocket Raccoon, taking a break from saving the cosmos to grace us with his prescence. Also included in the character options are Phoenix Wright, Vergil, Nemesis, Strider and Firebrand representing Capcom, and Nova, Iron Fist, Dr. Strange, Ghost Rider and Hawkeye in the Marvel corner.
There are also a whole host of enhancements and features implemented into Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 to improve the games balance and online functionality. Of particular note is the fan requested Spectator mode which allows fighters to watch online matches together, planning their next moves and exploiting their enemies weaknesses. If all that is not enough, there will also be free DLC available after launch in the form of Heroes and Heralds; a new single and multi-player mode where players can unlock new abilities with upgrade cards, customise characters, and choose whether to be friend or foe to Galactus as he tries to take over Earth and its lands.
Riot Games, the creators of the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena game, League of Legends, announced today that over four million people log in to play the game each and every day. This is a growth of 280% since their last announcement about the size of the community in July.
Beyond the four million who log in every day, there are 11.5 million monthly active players in the game’s expanding community.
This growth can only mean good things as League of Legends prepares for its second competitive eSports Season. Season Two will feature a five million dollar prize pool, the biggest in the history of eSports. The Season will have a grand two million dollar finale where Riot will be able to crown the best team in the world.
Members of the community can expect extensive coverage of the upcoming season with game features such as spectator mode, ranked teams, and a competitive structure that encourages skilled players to form teams t0 go out and try to win.
Brandon Beack, CEO and co-founder of Riot said:
The incredible passion and dedication of our players is positively inspiring. Our community’s boundless enthusiasm is why they are central to every decision we make at Riot.
Since the launch of their debut title, Riot have logged over one billion matches played of League of Legends, and they promise to offer even more in the coming year to their expanding community.
LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 Developer: Traveller’s Tales Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Platform: Xbox 360 (PS3, Wii, PC, 3DS, DS) Release Date: 18th November Price: $59.99 Available Here
Overview: With all the secret areas and hidden Easter eggs of the LEGO games, the magical world of Harry Potter seems like a natural choice for the LEGO treatment. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 ended with Lord Voldemort rising to power again through the story of the Goblet of Fire. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 LEGO-ifies the preparation for the final battle against the Dark Lord before it comes to a head with the final face-off between Harry and the dark wizard who killed his parents. This makes it not only more epic in scale (Hogwarts is vast and you explore many other recognisable locations) but more epic in content.
Story: Don’t get me wrong, although this second half of the saga sees the deaths of many key characters, it isn’t all as grim as it sounds. The LEGO humour is on top form; after seeming to stagnate a little in recent iterations, it’s back to its old, hilarious self, with the laugh out loud moments coming in cut scenes especially. Anyone who has seen the films will appreciate its slapstick re-enactment of events from the films (Order of the Phoenix, Half-blood Prince, Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Deathly Hallows: Part 2). While the jokes wouldn’t be nearly as funny for those who haven’t seen them, given Harry Potter is a bit of a phenomenon and one of the highest-grossing films series in the history of cinema the number of people eyeing the game who haven’t followed the films is negligible.
Gameplay: The structure of Harry Potter: Years 5-7 is much more ordered than previous games, following a linear path in keeping with the order of events in the movies. The fact that it’s in chronological order makes it seem more like an adventure than other LEGO games which have you dipping in and out of various instalments of the given saga as you please. However, what this does mean is that a certain degree of accessibility and the ability to ‘pick up and play’ is lost, as you can’t always come and go as you see fit. You have to reach a clear stopping point, as the levels are all chained together with purposeful movement through the world outside the level – in that you follow the events of the films even when outside of proper levels. Free-roaming still has an objective: to get to the next stage in the story an trigger the next fully-fledged level. What this does mean is that it can be unclear where to call it a day and switch off, as you have to wait for the auto-save icon (which, rather amusingly, is a floating LEGO Voldemort head) or risk losing some of your progress.
To guide you through Hogwarts or whatever other part of Harry Potter fantasy world you are exploring, the game gives you a ghost trail of studs to show you the way that furthers the story. This comes on top of various other glimmering and glittering effects which direct you or point out objects that can be interacted with.
However, this doesn’t prevent you occasionally running into problems and getting stuck for a short moment, especially in confined spaces where these directional cues aren’t present. The attention to detail is superb, with even smaller, less important moments from the films captured in LEGO. As with anything that tries to whittle down the subject matter to a more manageable length, though, many moments have been criss-crossed and combined. This can be confusing and lead to the aforementioned instances of getting stuck, as you aren’t sure exactly how closely it’s following events in order to judge what you’re supposed to be doing next. Many areas you will think you have gone over with a fine-toothed comb will reveal something not in the films after several minutes of being unsure what you need to do next.
The gameplay at the centre of it all is very similar to other LEGO games. A mix of platforming, action and puzzles awaits you, and these make inventive use of the Harry Potter universe with a spell wheel housing your gradually expanding knowledge of spells, potions to drink giving you extra abilities for a short time and puzzles referencing the skill sets of the franchises characters. The seamless two-player co-op returns once again, although so does the new split screen feature introduced a few LEGO games ago for multiplayer, which isn’t to my tastes. As the divide between the two players is constantly changing it can be disorientating, plus I think it shifts the emphasis away from teamwork.
Visuals: The likes of Hogwarts, Hogsmeade and the Ministry of Magic are captivating all on their own, so you’ll be pleased to know that Traveller’s Tales have done everything justice in the visuals department, with a world that seems to be, for the majority of the game, bustling with activity. The developers have applied the LEGO effect nicely where needed – such as the way Grimmauld Place builds itself with LEGO before your eyes – but like LEGO Pirates, they seem to have gone overboard with the sheen on the characters. They’ve tried to make it look incredible by having light reflecting off of the polished bits of plastic, but even real LEGO isn’t that shiny. Also, it can be hard to register what and who some locations and characters are supposed to be, particularly in the case of the latter where the one-size-fits-all minifigure proportions make it hard to tell.
Audio: The soundtrack is made up of iconic tracks from the films or music inspired by the films’ musical score. There’s also the other sound effects from your surroundings and grunts from characters. Surprisingly, some of the grunts actually capture the personality of the real thing. Not that it makes a huge difference, others clearly don’t match the real thing, although when combined with the difficulty you can have telling who’s who because of the character models’ proportions, can cause you to have trouble working out who people are supposed to be.
Overall: Having a tighter structure that forces you to follow the order of events accurately works wonders for LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 and, in tandem with the more dramatic nature of events, manages to make the game feel more like an adventure. It’s a return to form for the LEGO games, which I felt were flagging of late; the humour’s well-executed and the gameplay really lends itself well to the fantasy world of witches and wizards, even if the irritating split screen mechanic continues to feature (to the detriment of the co-op experience). The LEGO games may not be as enchanting as they once were, but Traveller’s Tales have delivered a magical adventure nonetheless.
Looking for a Christmas gift but have absolutely no idea what to get? (Yes, this is aimed at parents who aren’t sure what to get their brood.) Well Nintendo have got you covered with their Nintendo Christmas Gift Guide. Also, for those of you who have got your eye on a console or Nintendo game then don’t threat, you can very subtly choose some items from the Nintendo wish list and share the list with your friends.
Don’t settle for a pair of socks this Christmas or some random no frills copy of what you truly want. Go to the Nintendo site here and register and share your wish list. Or just go browse what comes up under each category and take a look at the popular games to scope out what might be the perfect gift for your son/daughter/niece/nephew/neighbour/me.
It seems that the debate of whether dedicated handhelds can survive the changing portable market will continue after a survey by analysts Cowen and Company has revealed that more casual gamers continue to flock to smartphones for their portable needs, with less casual gamers looking at the Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS and Sony PSP to tend to their portable needs.
“Over the last five years, the penetration of dedicated handheld platforms into survey respondents self-identifying as casual gamers has declined by 29 per cent, with the vast majority of that decline occurring in the last two years,” their report states. “We believe cellphone and smartphone gaming is significantly impacting demand for dedicated handheld devices.”
The survey revealed that They believe that US publishers will not be affected of this decline, using EA as an example of a publisher who has significantly invest in this emerging market. However, they believe that the news on the casual decline would hurt Sony and Nintendo, quoting, “However, we do view this trend as a negative one for Sony and especially Nintendo.” Sony and Nintendo are in the dedicated handheld market.
I do have to note that there are a few problems with this survey. Firstly, the survey relies on two handhelds that have been on the market for over five years and both companies have moved onto new handhelds. Second, the Nintendo 3DS has only been on the market for nine months, which is not a reasonable amount of time to assess how it has impacted on the market on a long term scale. Third, the Sony PSP main demographic was never the casual market. With exception of a few titles, most of the PSP games focused on the other side of the coin, or hardcore gamers. The Vita will also be targeting the same market, with a few casual titles no doubt.
Which leads me to another point. What these surveys by analysts seem to forget is that there will be a market for dedicated gaming handhelds. Why? Simply put, there are a group of people who don’t want over-simplistic, short experiences on the go. This may be a shock to all of these analysts, but there are a number of people who want a deeper experience when they travel on the train or bus. Hopefully we see a co-existence of both markets rather than a complete abandonment of the dedicated market.
Country Dance 2 Platform(s): Nintendo Wii (Reviewed), Publisher(s):GameMill Entertainment Developer(s): High Voltage Software Genre(s): Dance Release Date: November 8, 2011 (US) Price: $59.99 – AVAILABLE HERE
Overview
If one thing can be said about the Nintendo Wii, it’s that developers have had great success in bringing new life to the dance genre. Ubisoft have brought in huge numbers with the Just Dance series, and many other companies have also seen great success by just copying that simple formula in products of their own. One of these said companies is GameMill, who found a hit in Country Dance last year by simply offering up modern country music instead of the usual pop offerings. Just one year later, Country Dance 2 has hit the Nintendo Wii and includes new modes, music, and dance moves to master for those who crave all things country. How does this sequel fare? Here is my review for Country Dance 2.
Gameplay
If your expecting Country Dance 2 to revolutionize everything we know about the genre, you might go in a bit disappointed as this title plays exactly like any other dancing game on the Wii. Using one WiiMote, players must copy techniques performed by an on-screen persona and try to rack up as high of score as possible. If the avatar on screen moves their hands up, down, spins, ect., it’s then your job to execute the same move accurately. Now, over the years the Just Dance series has added a ton of new mechanics into this formula, but Country Dance 2 offers a more raw experience as simply dancing along is all that is needed of the player throughout the entire game.
Even though we didn’t see more innovation this time around, I can easily say that matching the moves can be mastered in just a few minutes time as I never once had a problem in getting GREAT or GOOD while following along with the western-styled gestures provided. The WiiMote control is very responsive and whether you love country music or not, it’s really hard not to enjoy yourself while mocking every wacky movement displayed. As great as the concept still is, Country Dance 2 is a bit too easy for it’s own good. You see, the controller picks up every bit of movement you make and while that is a merit in itself, the game really can’t tell one gesture from the next. For example, there was one tune that wanted me to pop my arms up quickly, raise them in the air, and then put my hands on my hips (I’m very thankful no one was filming). Instead of doing all of that, I just waggled the controller and still got GREAT or GOOD for each gesture I performed. Does this take away from wanting to dance along? Not at all. It does however make dancing correctly a mere option rather than the mandatory event it should be. This is a bit of a flaw and some hardcore dance fanatics might even consider it gamebreaking, but one could also see this as a plus as even a toddler could easily play along and get rewarded for their meager efforts in the process.
There are a few modes to be found aside from the standard “Play Now” Function. The first is pretty much standard fare, letting the player select a set number of rounds and dance to a specific track with an increased level of difficulty. Due to the simplicity of the control scheme, I didn’t find much difference between the normal game and this harder mode but perfection is certainly needed to succeed either way, which in turn gives a bit more incentive for the hardcore fans of the genre to stick around. The next mode up is “Freeze” mode. Much like it sounds, this side-game takes each track and randomly cuts the music, with the player having to literally freeze in place for a brief period of time. This addition was actually my personal favorite of everything offered as while it has a simple premise, the random timing of the freezes made for some frantic gameplay that definitely kept the whole experience much more entertaining overall.
Due to the motion control, there really isn’t any way around getting some kind of workout while you dance along to the songs in the game. High Voltage took that concept a step further and added in an Exercise mode into this sequel. While you dance up a sweat, a calorie counter can be found located up at the top and as motions are detected, the game literally counts how many calories you burn. I don’t know how accurate this is, but I do know the soreness one can feel after dancing non-stop for ten tracks so there really isn’t any doubt that Country Dance 2 definitely can be quite a workout.
Hands down, the true meat of Country Dance 2 comes in it’s hefty track-list. Country music fans should be very happy to know that there is large variety of modern artists, including the likes of George Straight, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley and Lady Antebellum…just to name a few. Each one of the 30 songs provided also feature their own backdrop, performers, and scrolling lyrics for players sing and follow along with, helping every tune feel different from the next. With this motley assortment, players can also take advantage of yet another new feature to this growing series known as “Duet Dancing”, where up to four players can dance at once, with each participant getting their own unique moves to dance to. Not every track has this little addition, but the extra multiplayer support was definitely welcome to the series and gives off the same “party” vibe found in the Just Dance games.
Visuals/Audio
As far as visuals go, Country Dance 2 is a bit of a mixed bag. The varied backdrops are fully animated and add a ton of life and charm to each song, but the performers themselves look a bit out of place. Each model looks stretched and resembles something of a background character we would have seen in a Playstation 2 western game. Unless your a fan of a bright, stale purple, you may also be a bit put off by the presentation value found in all of the menus as that color is really all there is to see aside from a few stars plastered about. It’s not very welcoming or appealing to be honest and just a little more variety would have went miles to prevent the main screens from looking so generic.
The full song list is definitely done well in this sequel. Each licensed track sounds exactly as fans would expect and are performed by all of the original artists. I have never been the biggest country music fan, but this well rounded selection provides something for everyone and stays true to each routine performed on screen. Honestly, it’s kind of hard not to start singing along with the lyrics after just a short time as these tracks are all upbeat and fun to follow along with. Other than the obvious track list that you can select songs from, there really isn’t much music to speak of except a looping, bland country beat played at the title screen.
Overall
From a technical standpoint, Country Dance 2 leaves a lot to be desired. The controls are nearly on auto-pilot and provide little challenge, the menus are bland and generic, and the performers we are supposed to dance with look a bit distorted. With that said, I feel this is how nearly all the dance titles on the Wii actually play (and look) for the most part. Yes, there are some obvious faults to this country dancing romp and it pushes no limits with innovation, but I found myself actually having fun dancing along with a genre of music I knew nothing about up until popping this disc in my Wii. That quality and the large and varied track list makes it hard not to recommend Country Dance 2 to any cowboy (or cowgirl) who are looking to just have fun dancing with their favorite western beats.
We previously revealed that a Fairy Tail feature-length film would be released in 2012. It has now been confirmed that said film is to be released on the 18th of August, 2012 across Japan.
No other details of the film have currently been revealed, however a promotional poster has made it’s way online and can be viewed above. Judging from the image it seems that the film may tell a story related to Lucy as she appears to be crying in Natsu’s arms. But that is all speculations for now.
What do you think of the upcoming Fairy Tail movie? What do you think it will be about? Let us know in the shoutbox and comments section.
SEGA has continued a form of expansion as they announce the acquisition of the US studio Three Rings Design, Inc. Three Rings joins the likes of Sports Interactive, who have developed the Football Manager series and The Creative Assembly, creators of the Total War franchise.
Here’s a little bit about the studio for those who who don’t know who they are. Founded in 2001, Three Rings has over ten years of experience with creating online worlds, including Puzzle Pirates, a puzzle-MMORPG and Spiral Knights, which as won the most recent Game Developers Choice Online Award. Spiral Knights is a MMO based in the world of the very popular BBC show Doctor Who.
Haruki Satomi, Senior Vice President of Digital Business for SEGA of America, expressed his delight on teh acquisition:
“We knew from the first time we saw Spiral Knights that the team at Three Rings was not simply talented but truly unique, and the close bond we have formed with them over the past year has only solidified that impression. We are proud to welcome them as the newest member of the SEGA family, and look forward to seeing what great things we can create together over the coming years.”
Daniel James, CEO of Three Rings Design. Inc, hoped that the deal can help the independent studio further flourish in the current climate:
“Three Rings has always been a studio that prides itself on the depth and creativity of our games, we are very fortunate to have found a company like SEGA that both respects our identity and shares our passion for developing engaging and quality games. We are honored to be joining such a legendary team and look forward to collaborating on amazing ideas together.”
Usually, an acquisition of a smaller studio can be a good thing, but also lead to problems. I hope that the partnership heads into the right direction, unlike some acquisitions made by the bigger publishers. Australia has certainty seen its fair share.
Bullet Time HD has made its debut on iTunes, kicking off the epic action adventure app. With an awesome storyline already in place and two more campaigns promised this app is sure to be a great get, especially since it’s free!
Play as John Irish as he braves the post-apocalyptic world to try and save his family from the mutants who are rabid and hungry for human flesh. Take on a range of different mutants, from the grunts to the big bosses, and do so with awesome customisable gear and dual-stick action.
With GameCenter capabilities, you can compare your mutant slaying scores and try to reach the top of the leaderboard with your unique John Irish. I know I’ll be giving him some interesting gear choices, what about you guys?
Bullet Time HD is available NOW on the iPhone, iPad and iTouch for FREE – Available Here
Keep an eye on the site for a review, coming soon!
THQ had release the uDraw tablet for the Wii back in November 2010. It is basically a gaming tablet with a pressurized stylus and, in combination with the Wii Remote, can be used for motion control. Instead of keeping it a Wii exclusive, however, THQ has announced that the tablet will be heading for both the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360, due out sometime in 2011.
Vice President of THQ Asia Pacific, Rodney Block, had this to say about the expansion of the uDraw tablet on other consoles:
“Xbox 360 and PS3 fans have been asking for uDraw and after such an overwhelming response from Wii players, it’s with great excitement that we launch uDraw HD. There’s no console based artistic tool like it, uDraw can be used to create pieces of art, keep minds active and play games. Fostering creative expression, the uDraw for HD consoles can be enjoyed by the whole family, encouraging them to spend quality time together”.
Alongside the bundled software uDraw Studio Instant Artist, THQ has revealed two more games for the tablet that will be released this year: Pictionary: Ultimate Edition and Marvel Super Hero Squad: Comic Combat. THQ promises more games for the tablet in 2012.
I guess those who wanted this tablet and didn’t have or want a Wii would be excited about this announcement, but I do seriously doubt that it was in high demand from all types of gamers, especially one group of gamers. At least they decided to expand.
