Electronic Arts states that: “EA WW Customer Experience is available any time of day to provide an immediate solution to any Battlefield 3 players on PSN that are experiencing log-in difficulties with Battlelog.”
One of the most hilarious and probably over the top weapon that we have seen so far for Saints Row: The Third is a giant melee weapon known as the “Penetrator.” The penetrator is as you see above, a giant purple dildo bat that actually has its own set of physics according to the company.
However in Japan, they have an issue with genitalia in all types of forms, meaning they of course are going to have a problem with this. Game Informer reports that Japan will indeed have a censored version of the bat, where the bat will be smooth and stiff like a baseball bat rather than like… well what it is normally. This is of course a bit of strange censorship considering everything else in the title has been left alone, but hey, at least here it will look the same as you see above.
One of the first things most Xbox 360 owners do when they first purchase a title for their console is to install the disc to the console to improve load times and game performance. But Bethesda is currently saying not to do that, as installing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on the Xbox 360 will make the game actually perform worse and have texture issues.
The developer came out to say the following, saying the issue will be fixed in the next patch:
“We’ve seen a few reports of certain textures temporarily scaling down on the Xbox 360, and not scaling back up. We have verified that this issue does not occur when playing off the disc and when the game is fully cached (not installed).
“Skyrim makes heavy use of the Xbox 360 caching system, and caches over the normal course of play while in menus or interiors. This cache can be wiped when other games are played or when the user manually removes it. We’re working on a solution in the next title update for those who have installed the game.”
Activision is certainly rolling in the dough at the moment, because the company has just announced that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has sold 6.5 million units on the first day of sales in the United States and United Kingdom, which means that it has broken the record for the biggest day-one sales ever in the entertainment industry.
They also broke their past records with MW2 and Black Ops. It is estimated that the company made $400 million just with these sales alone, which means it should be interesting to see how many sales are made by next Tuesday at the week after release mark. Anyone venture 10 million or more?
While we heard earlier that THQ would be releasing a season pass for those eager to drop a little bit extra money on Saints Row: The Third DLC ahead of time, we now also know that they will be releasing an online pass for the title. Those who purchase a new copy of the game will find a slip inside with a redeemable one time use code that allows the player to play online co-op as well as a Whored Mode.
This news comes from Joystiq and is in all copies of the game. Of course this means that anyone who buys the game used or rents it won’t be able to enjoy the online co-op section of the game. At least for a Saints Row title, the online isn’t essential to gameplay nor a main focus so many could easily live without it.
The popular new anime series Phi Bain: Kami no Puzzle has proven itself to be one of the most successful series of the Fall 2011 season. So much so that it is now getting a manga adaptation, with it’s first chapter debuting in Newtype Ace magazine.
Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle is a shonen type series but with a difference. Instead of focusing on physical violence, the battles in Phi Brain are focused on the mind, as Kaito and his friends must attempt to solve the Sage Puzzles. If they don’t solve them, they may not live to tell the tale.
The series focuses heavily on the power of the mind and challenges the viewer to solve the puzzles along with the characters. The manga will be drawn by Yoshiki Togawa, the man behind the Cloverfield manga.
What do you think of Phi Brain getting a manga adaptation? Let us know in the shoutbox and comments section.
THQ have announced that there have been 1.2 million unique characters created in the Initiation Station since it’s launch, including a large number of red, green and silver skinned deviants.
The Initiation Station demo was made available through Xbox Live, PSN, Steam, giving users the ability to create, share and upload their disturbing creations onto the Saints Row community site, SaintsRow.com.
“The characters we’ve seen are mostly ridiculous, often hilarious, and always over-the-top. And now there are a million of them,” said Kevin Kraff, Vice President of Global Brand, THQ. “With the crazed creativity we’ve seen in only one week, we can’t wait to see what’s to come. One million is just the beginning.”
Check out the latest Cherished Memory #9 clip as well from Saints Row: The Third down below as we approach the final few days before it’s release!
The first downloadable content pack for Forza Motorsport 4 is now available under the title of the “November Speed Pack”. The new downloadable content pack for Forza Motorsport 4 introduces several new cars for you to tear up some asphalt with. You will now be able to take to the tracks with the following vehicles:
2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4
2012 Aston Martin Virage
2011 #2 Audi Sport Team Joest R15++ TDI
2011 Audi RS3 Sportback
1957 Chevrolet Bel Air
2012 Dodge Charger SRT8
2011 Ferrari #62 Risi Competizione F458 Italia
2013 Ford Focus ST
1992 GMC Typhoon
2011 Volkswagen Scirocco R
Thats a total of 10 new cars ready for you to drive. You can get the “November Speed Pack” now on Xbox Live, or if you would prefer to get each DLC pack as it becomes available for one simple payment, you can get a Forza Motorsport 4 “Season Pass”. This guarantees you 6 DLC packs immediately as they become available for Forza Motorsport 4. If that’s not a great deal, I don’t know what is.
Will you be taking these new cars for a spin? Let us know in the shoutbox and comments section.
That’s right folks, Dave “The Animal” Batista has just been announced as the latest DLC superstar to grace the WWE 12 roster. That leaves only a few spots on the roster for additional wrestlers.
Below is the announcement trailer for Batista, briefly showing off the Batista Bomb and parts of his entrance, however the full videos of those will be released soon no doubt.
Batista will be made available in the first DLC roster, set for release in January 2012. So with just about 2 weeks until the game comes out, who do you still want to see on the roster? Let us know!
Overview
Captain America hit both theaters and consoles alike earlier this year. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the Xbox 360 version of the game, as it went for a more “Arkham Asylum” approach and benefited greatly by doing so. Now months later, yet another version of Super Soldier has hit store shelves for the Nintendo 3DS. Crafted by the same team that worked on the Conduit series, this version sets out to bring our beloved Captain into 3D while keeping that fast and fluid gameplay. The question is, does this Captain aim his sheild above his console kin, or fall powerless like many of the other licensed titles the 3DS has seen so far? Here is my review for Captain America: Super Soldier on the Nintendo 3DS.
Story
Much like all other versions released thus far, Captain America: Super Soldier’s plot loosely ties into the cinematic adaptation. Players take the role of Steve Rogers and must set out to stop the terrorist group known as the HYDRA from building dangerous weapons of mass destruction by infiltrating their secret hide-out. It’s a rather simplistic plot, but is actually quite easy to follow this time around due to the many cutscenes that play throughout each level.
I really have to give some recognition to High Voltage for their efforts here, as it’s obvious they did attempt to make this plot satisfying and true to the Marvel hero’s legacy. With that said though, I felt that the narrative as a whole was a tad generic. Sure, you will want to progress to see what happens next, but the game never truly sucks you in and makes you feel like Captain America as his persona is so bland that many will feel like they could easily complete the game as some random avatar instead. Yes, you are Steve Rogers and the game definitely lets you know that during cutscenes, but the dialogue provided gives little to make the player truly care about this hero’s motives. However, hardcore Marvel fans will probably not have much of a problem with this as fan service is still pushed throughout the game, which redeems some of the Captain’s personal shortcomings.
Gameplay
This game plays about like the other versions with a mixture of combat and puzzle solving. Using the highly responsive control stick to move Captain America, players must go from one area to the next and complete a list of objectives to finish off a stage. Most of these tasks include the likes of taking out all the HYDRA goons, unlocking doors by hitting generators, or destroying certain targets scattered throughout the castle. The “puzzles” I spoke of usually revolve around using your shield to smash switches in a certain succession or guide lasers to blow up generators, which in turn opens up the next location and keeps you progressing along. These methods work fine within the general flow of the game, but never offer enough variation to provide any challenge due to how often the same kind of puzzles are used.
The shining feature in Super Soldier is the hand-to-hand combat. Most of the time, you will come face to face with many armed enemies and must use your own athleticism and fighting skills to defeat everyone around you. Using the standard face buttons, it’s pretty much the button-mashing beat-em up fare you would expect. Even though the control rarely changes, Captain America still has quite a few techniques in his arsenal and can perform a satisfying final blow to finish off an opponent or toss lightweight goons across a room. To add a bit of depth to this system, the block button counters any enemy attack instantly while delivering a new form of offense, much like Arkham Asylum. This countering system works to near perfection as many times I found myself just executing counters and still ending a fight victorious once the battle was all said and done.
With such a well built, fluid combat system in place, I expected even more for the platforming sections of the game. Sadly, platforming is literally done for the player as even jumping up to a small beam is a pre-set affair. When you come to a heavy platforming section, simply hitting the jump button at the appropriate time will launch the Captain to his destination. Yeah, it usually works without error, but having the player manually perform this form of parkour would have given a greater sense of control and made for a richer experience as a whole.
The shield in this game is in a category all to itself. Captain America’s shield can be launched at anytime to hit any foe that blocks your path. This is done in a quick fashion and would be useful, but most of the time the shield just stuns even the weakest of foes. At one point I had to hit a goon six times before he finally fell. A stun attack is fine, but considering that this is Steve Roger’s definitive weapon, the lack of damage it leaves it as being one of the most useless techniques in the game. There is however a clever mechanic where you can lock on to several enemies at once and launch the shield to ricochet around the room and due to the leveling system in place, more substantial attacks can be unlocked over time, which do add to the incentive to use the shield later on. High Voltage also offered up a bit of innovation with this attack, as players hold the L button and use the shield icon on the touchscreen to deliver a more accurate throw. This would have worked fine, but the reticule at times has a mind of it’s own and makes what should be an easy lock-on an absolute chore. When the player has to stand on a switch and use this touch-screen mechanic to hit a generator, the camera often goes crazy and you will then have to completely set up the shot all over again. I appreciate the idea behind this gimmick, but when you go from fast-paced combat to jerking around a reticule, you completely lose any immersion you had in the game due to the tedious mechanics provided.
For completionists, there are non-mandatory challenges that offer new objectives to be performed at will, which in turn open up art and other goodies at the main menu. Save every prisoner, complete every task, you know the drill. It’s not a whole lot of reason to go back in, but whats offered can certainly add a bit more life into the six hours found in the main campaign.
Visuals/Audio
When it comes to the 3D effect Captain America offers, most will be a bit disappointed as everything is rather subtle and I eventually played the game through it’s entirety with the slider off. The 3D isn’t bad by any means, there just isn’t any factors that make it feel truly necessary. Graphically however, the models are well made. Steve Rogers does appear a bit dis-proportioned, but I forgave that as this version seems to be going for a more cartoony look. Environments however do not mesh well with the models as they are dark and bland for the most part. Even though the game is set in a castle, not much detail can be found in any of the textures which in turn makes exploration a bit un-fulfilling. Animations also miss their mark, with Captain America performing awkward yet hilarious gestures while crossing beams or galloping about the stage.
As far as the audio goes, there isn’t a whole lot to say. The voice actors do a decent job in bringing out some personality to their roles, but Steve Roger’s own emotions just sound mildly generic at best. I can say that the sound effects used while pulverizing the hydra were well done and make battles feel nice and satisfying, even though the shield’s famous “whoosh” was only a minor “whisp”. Soundtrack wise, Super Soldier plays a few forgettable tracks that blend well with the pacing of the game and in turn makes everything feel like a true “Marvel” romp.
Overall
Captain America: Super Soldier is a solid licensed title that has a lot of great ideas, but never can quite execute them properly. It’s a lot of fun just to bash HYDRA goons though, and the combat system is both polished and easily accessible. With that said though, the rest of the game feels average and the in-game world doesn’t do much to keep players immersed in the iconic role of the star-spangled hero. Hardcore fans of the Marvel great are sure to find reason to pick up this portable version due to the fan service packed in, but others looking for a more enjoyable and deep action experience will more than likely want to pass on snagging up this shield.
