Just when you thought Sentai were done with their licensing spree, they strike once again. This time they have picked up the license for Phi Brain ~ Kami no Puzzle, the puzzle battle series currently airing in Japan.
Sentai have announced that they will be streaming the series through The Anime Network. A DVD or Blu-Ray release has yet to be confirmed.
Phi Brain, has currently aired 4 episodes in Japan, to critical acclaim. Critics have called it the most inventive young adult “game” series in years, with it’s complex puzzles and emphasis on getting viewers to try and play along with the characters.
What do you think of this announcement? Let us know in the shoutbox and comments section.
THQ and ESPN have been revealing the roster, class by class, over the last two weeks, so I’ve decided to compile a complete list for you guys, as a way of having a one stop shop for the UFC Undisputed 3 roster.
Heavyweights
Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera
Ben Rothwell
Brendan Schaub
Brock Lesnar
Cain Velasquez
Cheick Kongo
Frank Mir
Gabriel Gonzaga
Junior Dos Santos
Mirko Crocop
Pat Barry
Roy Nelson
Sean McCorkle
Shane Carwin
Stefan Struve
Travis Browne
Light Heavyweights
Ryan Bader
Jason Brilz
Cyrille Diabate
Rashad Evans
Rich Franklin
Forest Griffin
Matt Hamill
Dan Henderson
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson
Jon “Bones” Jones
Chuck Liddell
Lyoto Machida
Vladmir Matyushenko
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Tito Ortiz
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
Thiago Silva
Brandon Vera
Middleweights
Alan Belcher
Anderson Silva
Chael Sonnen
Chris Leben
Court McGee
Demian Maia
Jorge Rivera
Kendall Grove
Mark Munoz
Michael Bisping
Nate Marquadt
Rousimar Palhares
Wanderlei Silva
Yoshihiro Akiyama
Yushin Okami
Vitor Belfort
Brian Stann (available via pre-order
Jason Miller (available via pre-order)
Welterweights
Carlos Condit
Chris Lytle
Dan Hardy
Diego Sanchez
Dong Hyun Kim
Georges St. Pierre
Jake Shields
Jon Fitch
Josh Koscheck
Martin Kampmann
Matt Serra
Matt Hughes
Mike Swick
Nate Diaz
Nick Diaz (Gamestop Exclusive)
Paulo Thiago
Thiago Alves
Lightweights
Donald Cerrone
Evan Dunham
Frankie Edgar
Takanori Gomi
Clay Guida
Melvin Guillard
Benson Henderson
Gray Maynard
Jim Miller
Ross Pearson
B.J. Penn
Anthony Pettis
Sean Sherk
Dennis Silver
George Sotiropoulos
Joe Stevenson
Featherweights
Chad Mendes
Cub Swanson
Diego Nunes
Eric Koch
Fredson Paixao
George Roop
Javier Vazquez
Jose Aldo
Josh Grispi
Kenny Florian
Leonard Garcia
Manvel Gamburyan
Mark Horminick
Mike Brown
Raphael Assuncao
Tiequan Zhang
Bantamweights
Antonio Banuelos
Brad Pickett
Brian Bowles
Charlie Valencia
Chris Cariaso
Damacio Page
Demetrious Johnson
Dominick Cruz
Eddie Wineland
Joseph Benavidez
Miguel Angel Torres
Norifumi Yamamoto
Renan Barao
Scott Jorgensen
Takeya Mizugaki
Urijah Faber
UFC Undisputed 3 will be out on the 3rd of January. What do you think of this mega roster? Is it missing any fighters that you hoped to see? Let us know down below.
Developer:EA Play Publisher: EA Games Platform: Xbox 360 (Reviewed)/Playstation 3 Release:October 20, 2011 Price:$99
The Sims games have traditionally been a PC-only affair, with a few console spin-offs here and there over the years. The Sims 3 Pets is the latest and 2nd console spin-off in this latest generation of Sims games and brings with it what players have been bugging the EA forums with the most, pets of cause.
Story
Like all Sims games, The Sims 3 Pets does not contain an actual story mode. But that’s fine, because the joy in The Sims is creating your own story with the Sims and animals you create. There are a few winks to some elements of story in the game. For example, the town of Sugar Maple Coast is filled with plenty situations and scenarios, that range from ghost sightings, hidden treasure and a very, odd if not spooky family.
However the basic storyline of these are little more than just text boxes that appear in the top right-hand side of the screen and nothing else more. Like previous Sims games each premade household is given a mini-brief/back-story, but again overall the game’s story does not extend anymore than this unfortunately. But with that said, The Sims 3 Pets is the type of game that allows for players to create and make up their own story in their own unique way.
Gameplay
I have mix feelings when it comes to The Sims 3 Pets’ gameplay. On one hand, EA Play has created a very solid, almost arcade-like Sims 3 Pets for consoles without totally stripping away the game mechanics from its PC counterpart. The Sims 3 Pets has been modified to fit in on consoles, and the conversion here isn’t that bad. Yet on the other hand, The Sims 3 Pets is plagued by severe glitches which I’ll get to later in the review, but for now the good parts of the game.
Players will get a full Sims experience here, you can fully build and decorate a house from the ground up if you want to (Just be cautious of the fire meter which is quite restrictive) and you can fully customise both your Sims and pet. There are a total of 30 pet traits that can be mixed and matched to suit your pet, along with a wide range of different breeds of cats and dogs. You can modify their traits, looks and clothing to create a sim or pet that is truly unique. And defiantly by going for the more outrageous traits the better the gaming experience becomes, as it’s interesting if not hilarious to see a bunch of counter traits work against each other. I had a Sim that was allergic to fur but was a cat lover, and as you can imagine hilarity ensued.
As stated before, The Sims 3 Pets on consoles feels far more arcade-like than the PC version. Whilst this isn’t exactly a bad thing as I suppose an arcade feel suits this console spin-off, it takes some time to get use to. As you play through The Sims 3 Pets, you are constantly given challenges and mysteries to solve which in turn unlocks Karma Points. These grant players god-like powers that can do a variety of good things like boasting a Sims mood or transforming Sims into pets and visa versa, as well as evil things like dropping a meteor from the sky or releasing a wave of illness around your Sims. And these of cause are fun to use and they really do bring something different and fun into game.
Also adding the game’s overall arcade feel is the inclusion of the new role as ‘Mysteryologist’. As you progress through the game, you can become a Mysteryologist by applying at the Town Hall and thereby are entrusted to find and solve mysteries that plague the town of Sugar Maple Coast. These require you to bring along your furry friend to help out and solve the mysteries that range from finding buried treasure to ghost hunting. These all require your pets to be highly trained in their receptive skills: hunting for cats and digging for dogs.
While the gameplay overall functions quite well, it is unfortunately plagued by some serious technical glitches, awkward controls, loading screens and most annoyingly clusters of menus and text boxes. The worst offender of the bunch is a glitch that seriously lags a Sims’ action (usually occurring during fast-forward mode), leaving Sims frozen for a prolong period of time, staring blank into space before finally executing the task you choose them to do. Not only this, when in fast-forward mode the game suffers a massive choppy slow down.
And on top of this, are the annoying menus and text box screens which the game is too heavily bogged down in. I’m sure down the track EA will release a patch that will fix many of the technical issues that I came across. But at this point in time The Sims 3 Pets is a slow affair, with all these technical issues creating a very rough Sims experience on consoles. Much patience is needed to sit through the various loading screens. If I want to simply switching from live mode into build mode – Loading screen, queue up a few actions for my Sims to take around town – Loading screen, follow my Sim into another location –Loading screen…. I think you get the picture. Installing the game onto your hard drive may be an effective solution to this problem as it will speed up these load times, but it won’t get rid of the fact that your game will still be interrupted by a 3-5 second loading screen.
The Xbox 360 version of The Sims 3 Pets feature Kinect voice controls whilst I was unable to test these out myself as I do not own a Kinect, however the addition of voice controls is a certainly plus for gamers. The simple integration of your voice into the game is a natural progression of the game’s controls. Coming from the PC Sims’ keyboard and mouse to The Sims 3 Pets on console with a control is quite alienating at first. The game has a few awkward controls that will need some time to get use to.
Every time you select a Sim, object or anything, the game automatically pauses so you can select what you want to do with it. This means that you can’t exactly queue up multiple actions for all your Sims and pets to complete like you would on the PC. Hmmm…yes quite awkward at first but you soon get use to it as the game forces you to take a different and more slower approach to playing the game on a console.
Graphics & Audio
The Sims 3 Pets on consoles retains the cartoony stylised visuals from the PC version, if not downgraded just a tad. The overall look and feel of the console version is on part with its PC counterpart, with very little noticeable changes between the two. Audio is in the same boat here, with many if not all sound have been taken from the PC version. Overall graphics and audio are top notice, the game looks and sounds like a Sims game. The Sims game have recently become renowned for their simlish version of real life songs, and The Sims 3 Pets features a few interesting simlish versions of popular songs such as Plan B’s “Stay Too Long“, Kimbra’s “Good Intent” and Erasure’s “When I Start To (Break it all Down)” just to name a few.
Overall
The Sims 3 Pets for consoles is an interesting step for the series. While technical glitches and issues plague the overall strong gameplay foundations, The Sims 3 Pets finds its strengths in its blend of arcade style and sandbox gameplay. A fully-fledged Sims experience complete with pets can be found and played here in this game, but just make sure than your patience enough to wait through the loading screens, menus and annoying text boxes that pop-up more than they should.
I give The Sims 3: Pets for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3:
It wouldn’t be a new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare game if they didn’t at least add in a few new weapons right? Well don’t worry because Activision has certainly got your back in Modern Warfare 3. Not only have they added in a handful of new weapons that you can use to kill other people online with, but you will also have a new way to customize them as well.
In the latest behind the scenes video for Modern Warfare 3, we are given some details about the way that weapons will now level up in this title, eventually unlocking proficiencies which can be used to customize your weapon to fit multiple situations. Check out the video below and prepare to purchase another time-sink, just be prepared for people quick-knifing again…
EA has decided that the best way to win fans over with the new multiplayer mode that has been added into Mass Effect 3 is just simply to ignore complaints and release some screenshots for the new gameplay mode. Now the multiplayer isn’t anything competitive and is more focused on multiplayer co-op fun so it shouldn’t bother most people.
Plus think of all the fun you can have using various biotic powers and throwing enemies all over the place. Check out the screenshots below, which show us a little bit of what battles may look like with two human players in a squad rather than the standard one.
Today Square Enix decided to release a small handful of screenshots to try and keep people satisfied until Final Fantasy XIII-2 is released next year. Now there are only four images which you can see below, but two of them focus on the now much older and less whiny Hope. Below you can see his full character artwork as well as some cutscene footage.
Besides this we are also treated to an image of a city of sorts, as well as a slot machine which means you can spend all of your hard earned money in a casino just like in real life! Final Fantasy XIII-2 is still set for release on January 31st in North America and February 3rd elsewhere.
It appears that EA’s Origin service is going to get a bit of a boost as EA has announced that they have entered into a partnership with three companies which will bring in some third party support to their anti-Steam service. The companies added may not be many, but they certainly have a lot of weight to throw around, especially THQ and Capcom. Of course with Warner Bros. Interactive recent release of Batman: Arkham City, this is a good move for EA.
This is the first time any non-EA titles will show up on Origin, but thankfully those who don’t want to have anything to do with the service can still pick up these titles on Steam. Perhaps there will be some exclusive content announced between the two soon to create some competition.
On Wednesday October 26, Riot Games celebrated two years of their tower defense game League of Legends. As a surprise to the all of the summoners in the vast online community, Riot created a new skin for the champion Fiddlesticks to celebrate this joyous memory. Named appropriately, Surprise Party Fiddlesticks is now available for purchase for 975 Riot Points.
As with most of the custom skins, Riot adds a little humor into the abilities of any new champion skin. Fiddlestick’s Drain ability changed to rainbow spirals emitting from his body to the targeted enemy while confetti is falling to the ground. Dark Wind now looks like balloon animals being tossed at opponents. You have been killed by Fiddlestick’s balloon animal! And finally his ultimate Crowstorm changed to a happy face spin-wheel aura. The pictures below will help explain the insanity that is Surprise Party Fiddlesticks.
Capcom’s latest trailer for Steel Battalion details the control system that will be implemented in the game. Requiring the use you use both a standard controller and a Kinect system, the game places you in a war torn world of the future.
According to Capcom, “movement of the Vertical Tank, aiming and firing of the main guns, are undertaken using the Xbox 360 controller. A wide variety of other combat-crucial actions are done through Kinect for Xbox 360 with upper body gestures – from starting the engine to operating the scope or manning the turret-mounted machine gun. Kinect for Xbox 360 also provides a means of interacting with your fellow crew members, from ensuring a panicked crew member stays focused, to a high five for successfully completing a mission. Set in 2082, Steel Battalion Heavy Armor depicts a world devoid of semiconductors, where war is waged with rudimentary weapons as new superpowers struggle for dominance. ”
If Capcom can pull it off, Steel Battalion looks like it may be a good reason to own a Kinect.
SEGA has revealed 4 new titles that will be coming to the Nintendo 3DS system.
First up is Shinobi. In addition to including the original game, this 3DS version will include Street Pass and achievements. It will release in Europe on November 11th 2011 and on November 15th in North America.
Next, “Sonic Generations allows fans to play as both Classic and Modern Sonic across a range of iconic and memorable levels – all re-imagined for a completely new experience.” Sonic Generations flaunches on November 22nd in North America and November 25th in Europe.
CRUSH 3D is also coming to the 3DS. Featuring the the brain teasing puzzles common in the series, CRUSH 3D has been redesigned for the system and will launch in the USA on January 10 and in Europe on the 13. You must “help Danny solve brain-teasing puzzles by ‘crushing’ your way from a 2-dimensional to a 3-dimensional world and back again with the touch of a button.”
Finally, Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games will be launching February 10 in Europe and on February 14 in the USA for the 3DS console. Over 50 events will be playable in the game.
Just when you thought Sentai were done with their licensing spree, they strike once again. This time they have picked up the license for Phi Brain ~ Kami no Puzzle, the puzzle battle series currently airing in Japan.
