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.
However, we all know that apps are the way to go for a simplified experience. And thus, Dragon Shout has arrived. Coming to iOS as soon as it passes certification, this app will allow you to do a plethora of awesome stuff.
“The first version of the app contains an interactive map where you can drop annotated markers / journal entries down,” the developer told Touch Arcade. “For example, yesterday I played Skyrim and left a bunch of dragon scales and bones on the side of a mountain because they were too heavy.”
In the next update, the developer also promised social networkincorporation, with “marker sharing, party or app-wide chats, pictures, and more.”
Oh man, I always get excited when I see an indie game with cool ideas, a great soundtrack and some nice artwork. And that is precisely what the new game from Techtonic features. Titled Bust-n-Rush, this game has you running through procedurallly generated levels as you “Bust to Rush.” Coming soon to the PC and Mac, this is one game to watch.
Check out the trailer below and then let us know what you think.
People play video games on phones other than the Droid and the iPhone. Yes, we know its crazy, but ’tis truth! And those are the games that will now be rated by the ESRB. AT&T Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular and Verizon Wireless have all agreed to use the ESRB rating system for their mobile games. In addition, Microsoft has also signed off on the agreement, thus meaning that all their gaming apps on the WP7 will be rated in a similar way to the way their Xbox 360 games are. Developers will be required to fill out a survey that asks them to rate their games and then an ESRB score will be assigned. The ESRB score for mobile apps will account for privacy and location based concerns.
However, Apple and Google have declined to go with the ESRB, as they already have an app rating system, albeit less recognizable than the ESRB ratings.
Overall, I strongly applaud this move and think it is a great move by the ESRB and phone companies alike.
Zumba is a craze sweeping the nation! Or that’s what my television tells me at 2 in the morning. Well, Zumba certainly swept the fitness game titles, selling more than 4 million copies and being the number one on the wish list of fitness gamers (and they just might happen to be females… so what?).
Zumba Fitness 2 builds on the foundation of the first one, with all new routines, music, customization features and 24 dance styles, more than any other game out there. The Zumba presenters Beto, Tanya Beardsley and Gina Grant are there to egg you on through all the new styles and venues. There is single song, full clas and multiplayer mode, with support for up to four dancers.
So get those hips swaying and those abs defining, cos that’s what Zumba is all about!
Zumba Fitness 2 is available on the Wii at the RRP of $69.95 or HERE for $40.32
We’ve seen a few screenshots of Tecmo Koei’s Dynasty Warriors Next for the PlayStation Vita but we have yet to see how the game is actually going to look in motion. Or that is until now when Tecmo Koei of Japan released the two videos you can see below which cover plenty of the action that we will be seeing when the title is released.
Unfortunately the title has yet to actually see a North American release date yet, but it is slated as a launch title on December 17th for the PlayStation Vita in Japan. You can see the two videos below and also see how the motion controls and touch pad will factor into gameplay once it is released.
It appears that being banned in Iran didn’t affect the developers of Battlefield 3 much as they are hard at work releasing the next client update (read: Patch) for Battlefield 3 on consoles. Those who own the PlayStation 3 version will retain their first dibs on everything Battlefield 3 as they are even getting the patch first, as in tomorrow.
The Xbox 360 owners will need to wait a little longer for the patch, as the Battlelog states it will “follow shortly.” Be sure to check out all of the updates below and be ready to complain about how things are either now nerfed, broken or too powerful.
General fixes
Significant improvements to the Squad Join interface, full details in this earlier blog post
Removed FIND ME A SQUAD option
Allow players to join empty Squads alone, thus having 1/4 Squad members
Change order of options to LEAVE SQUAD, INV A FRIEND, SWITCH TEAM
Disable Privacy flag when 1 man Squad
Reset Privacy flag from Private to Public when Squad drops to 1 player
All occupied Squads will now show up colored blue on the Squad selection screen
Players who choose not to join Squads will also show up as Blue in the “Not in a Squad” line
Squads that are currently empty will display as white — if you wish to join an empty Squad, you can choose the first one marked with white text
Added round duration and ticket summary at end of round screen
Fixed sound for when climbing ladders
Fixed and issue with some weapons’ sounds in first person view
Fixed a swim sound loop error
You should no longer be able to damage a friendly vehicle when sitting in an open position
Grenades now drop to ground if you get killed while attempting to throw it
Spawn protection now should work in Conquest so you no longer should spawn too close to enemies
You should no longer spawn too close to enemies in TDM and SQDM
Fix for missing input restriction during intro movie, causing players to potentially fall and die while watching movie if moving controller (or having a controller with a bad stick zone)
Combat areas on Kharg Island in Rush mode tweaked in order to disallow defenders to access the carrier ship after first base is taken and being able to enter the AA gun
Fixed a problem with revived players not being able to get suppressed
Fixed a problem with the camera when being revived in co-op
Spotting VO now plays when spotting from MAV/EOD bot
Fixed several issues regarding the kill card, including showing wrong weapons used for the kill
Fixed that sometimes you would be stuck on a black screen when kicked from server
Fixed so when a team captures two flags at the same time, the UI does not show wrong owner of the flag
Fixed a problem where the capture progress bar was shown as friendly when the enemy was capturing
Fixed a problem with the bipod deploy sound
Fixed a problem that you could be spawned in with no weapons after being killed while using the EOD bot
Fixed problems with health bars not displaying health properly when using EOD bots
Fixed a problem with flickering name tags
Fixed a problem where you could damage friendly helicopters
Fixed a problem where you could get stuck in the co-op menu when attempting to join the session twice
You should now be able to spot explosives
You should no longer spawn in home base if your selected spawn point is disabled while waiting to spawn (e.g. if your teammate dies right before you are about to spawn)
Damage from bullets will now continue to cause damage even after the firing user is dead
Fixed several client crashes
Fixed a problem where players could get stuck in the join queue
Fixed the repair icon on the minimap
Fixed a problem with changing camera on certain vehicles
Fixed a problem with the grenade indicator when in guided missile mode
Fixed a problem where the machine could hard lock when joining a public coop game
Fixed a problem where the headset attached icon would not show up in the UI
Fixed a problem with the falling antenna on Caspian Border. It should now more instantly kill anyone in its falling path
Fixed a problem where tank turrets would turn too slow
Fixed a bug on co-op mission “Exfiltration” where you could end up outside the vehicle and not being able to enter it again, thus blocking the mission
Fixed a problem where a user can become invulnerable after being resurrected
Fixed a problem with the M60 reload sound
Fixed a hang in terrain streaming, causing the user to get stuck on black screen under special circumstances in single player
Fixed a problem where the enemy would not be able to get a road kill on a user that was using the SOFLAM
Fixed soldiers disappearing in the mortar kill cam
Fix for Type88 and MG36 zoom in animation offset when in supported shooting mode (using bipods)
Balance changes
Increased the damage of helicopter miniguns, AA guns, and jet cannons against infantry
Increased the damage of helicopter miniguns against jeeps
Reduced the physics impact of AA guns and jet cannons so players under attack from these weapons no longer should lose control
Increased the damage of the 44 Magnum slightly
Increased the range and minimum damage of the .357 Round from the MP412 Rex
Increased the range of all .45cal and 9mm weapons
Slightly increased the range of the P90 and MP7 and PDW-R
Slightly increased the range of the 5.56mm PDW-R and decreased the minimum damage at long range
Slightly increased the minimum range of the Mk11, SVD, and M39 EMR 7.62mm rifles
Decreased the maximum damage and maximum range of the G3 and SCAR-H 7.62mm weapons
Reduced the damage from FIM-92 and SA-18 IGLA missiles against aircraft
Increased the damage and range of the 40mm BUCK rounds
Reduced the damage .50cal weapons do against helicopters
Updated T90 canister shell tweaks to match Abrams canister shells
Restaurant City: Gourmet Edition has been given an update thanks to the guys over at EA’s Playfish. The update includes a Thanksgiving Theme and new challenges, so for those new to the game you can experience a fuller game, and for those who already have it, you can revisit the game and discover new things.
The Thanksgiving theme includes forty new items including turkey, pilgrims and honey baked ham for those of you who really want to have that genuine Thanksgiving. Even for those of us who have never had a genuine Thanksgiving. The new challenges will also allow you to complete new challenges to earn tokens, coins and gourmet points for people who have already finished off the challenges.
Restaurant City: Gourmet Edition is available on iPhone, iTouch and iPad for FREE – get it HERE
