If you can’t get enough horror in your life then we have a little bit of bad news for you first. The Silent Hill HD Collection which was originally meant to be released sometime this Fall season is instead going to be released on January 24 2012 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. But don’t let that get you down, in fact the first three months of 2012 will contain so much Silent Hill you most likely won’t know what to do with yourself.
Silent Hill Book of Memories is planned to be release sometime in February 2012, which puts it right there with the Vita release on February 22nd, likely meaning that PS Vita exclusive will be a launch title for the handheld. Those waiting for a brand new console scarefest will need to wait until sometime in March when Silent Hill Downpour is expected to be released on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Best save some of your holiday money if you are a Silent Hill fan because those three months will come quick!
Already put down your pre-order money on Skyrim but just can’t wait another week to have at least something Skyrim related to your name? Well then Bethesda has some good news for you, if you have an Xbox 360 you can drop some Microsoft Points to deck out your little Avatar with a whole bunch of new Skyrim avatar gear. You can pick up either full suits of armor, an elder scroll itself or even a pet dragon that easily looks like the best pet/prop available on the marketplace. Or if decorating an avatar isn’t for you, you can also pick up a Skyrim premium theme as well.
Check out the full list of avatar items below along with how much they will run you:
Dragonborn Armor – 400 MSP
Dragon Bone Armor – 400 MSP
Dark Brotherhood Armor – 400 MSP
Mage Robe – 320 MSP
Dragon Bone Helm – 240 MSP
Dragon Prop – 240 MSP
Elder Scroll Prop – 240 MSP
Magelight Prop – 240 MSP
Stormcloak Helm – 240 MSP
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Premium Theme – 240 MSP
Check out all of the various downloads or add these items to your download queuehere.
The often forgotten brother of more famous Masashi Kishimoto, Seishi has never truly made an impact in the manga world. His lack of popularity is largely due to fans considering him to be a mere copy of his brother Masashi. Oddly enough, Seishi has actually had more manga serialized than his older brother, however the only one that even leaft a blip on the radar was O-Parts Hunter, which was poorly recieved and criticised for being a Naruto-clone.
Seishi Kishimoto sadly has spent most of his career living in his older brother’s very large shadow, in what his fans call unfair. Seishi’s fans are right, it isn’t fair for him to live in his brothers ominous shadow. He has produced an impressive body of work and one must wonder whether had he used a different pen name, would he have been more popular?
Well regardless, Seishi is not giving up on his dream and is releasing a new manga in the aptly named Shonen Rival magazine. His new manga is to be titled The Crimson Wolf and the Trapped Sheep. It is unknown what the manga itself will be about, however it is known that the first chapter will weigh in at 69 pages, included several coloured pages.
What do you think about Seishi Kishimoto’s new manga? Should people stop comparing him to his older brother Masashi? Let us know what you think in the shoutbox and comments section.
It appears that XSEED is going to bring the terror in just three short weeks, because earlier today they announced that they would be bringing Corpse Party to the PlayStation Network on November 22nd. The title will cost $19.99 and is absolutely terrifying sounding from what we have seen so far in various trailers.
For those who haven’t been keeping up, Corpse Party follows a group of students who have become trapped in a school that they are unable to escape from. In this school there are the corpses and souls of those who have died there in brutal ways. The player must try and survive as they make their way through the game and avoid an bad endings which could result in the very brutal death of a student. You can find out more at the game’s official website.
Bethesda announced some good news for everyone who prefers a different type of music than everyone else. Especially people who enjoy listening to video game soundtracks. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’s soundtrack is going to be available a week after the game is released. The title has massive four disc soundtrack and it can be pre-ordered through Directsong now for $29.99. If you happen to pre-order the soundtrack before December 23rd you will also get your copy of the soundtrack autographed by Jeremy Soule.
Those interested in hearing how some of the songs were recorded, especially the amazing sounding main theme can check out the newly released video below which explains how they orchestrated such an amazing song. Also those worried about a lack of voice actor variety have no need to worry, as Skyrim will have over seventy different voice actors performing over 110 roles in the game. Everything we hear about Skyrim just makes it sound vastly superior to other games released this year, especially when it comes to music.
EA Mobile’s latest Freemium app has hit the store, Fantasy Safari. Fantasy Safari allows players to create and customise a park full of fantasy creatures with 40 different types to choose from such as dragons, unicorns and phoenixes. It’s kind of like the animal side of Farmville has been hit with the magic stick.
If you treat your park well it can be grown, increasing the earnings you make from it. Plus, there’s also a whole bunch of decorations you can use to make it all snazzy, so if you’re into the fantasy and like the Farmville, grow-your-own-business type games then this will be perfect for you!
Fantasy Safari is available on iPhone, iTouch and iPad. Grab it HERE for FREE!
We all knew that it was only going to be a matter of time until Fallout: New Vegas would receive some sort of special edition, but thankfully for those who purchased all of the content separately, the wait has been a long one. Today Bethesda revealed that they will be releasing a Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition in North America and Europe on February 7 and 10 respectively.
This Ultimate Edition will include all of the past DLC packs, which means you will receive Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World Blues and Lonesome Road as well as the weapon packs Courier’s Stash and Gun Runners’ Arsenal. This ultimate edition will cost $49.99 for the Xbox 360 and PS3, and $39.99 for PC. This is quite literally a massive amount of content added to what is already a massive game.
Those who have been keeping an ear to the ground in case of a Dead Island sequel have finally heard a few rumbles. Siliconera reports that the developer of the zombie filled Dead Island, Techland has recently trademarked a new title called Dead World. The company has not announced anything at this time and has declined to comment on any possible sequel.
Dead Island did quite well at retail which means that a bigger and larger scoped game such as a Dead World rather than and Island would provide fans with a much more massive experience. Of course at the moment this is all speculation, but perhaps this will turn out to be a reality.
It has been a long three years since the last full Grand Theft Auto game (not including Grand Theft Auto IV’s episodic expansion packs) was released back in 2008. Having played and finished almost every single Grand Theft Auto game ever (yes even the original top-down Grand Theft Auto 1 and 2, and the handheld ones as well Grand Theft Auto Advance for Gameboy Advance and Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories), it is safe to say that I was quite eagerly excited for the big unveil of Grand Theft Auto V’s debut trailer on Rockstar Games’ official website – and it certainly did not disappoint.
For those of you who have not seen it yet, the next instalment of the Grand Theft Auto series is set in a familiar location – Los Santos, San Andreas aka Los Angeles, California its real world counterpart. So just what can we expect from Grand Theft Auto V? Well if its predecessors are anything to go by, a pretty damn good game! But let’s look at it more closely. Throughout the years, each instalment of the Grand Theft Auto series has pushed the limits of player’s expectations on what a game and consoles are capable of.
Grand Theft Auto III gave us an entire city to wreck havoc in and subsequently its sequel Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, showed us how a period setting and colourful location could make an already great concept even better. Two years later, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas again exceeded our expectations, showing us what ‘scale’ could do to a game. Players were given not one, not two but three city and the entire state of San Andreas to explore. This truly gave players an open-world to experience, one that was remarkable without any load screens between each city.
Grand Theft Auto’s jump to the current generation of gaming brought with it a serious tone, and ‘serious’ isn’t usually a word I would use to describe Grand Theft Auto. Grand Theft Auto IV saw a rebooting of the video game series. From the closing lines of Grand Theft Auto IV’s debut trailer, Niko Bellic memorably state “…Perhaps here things will be different” and yes, yes they were. Gone were all links to previous Grand Theft Auto games and gone was the excessive ridiculousness that highlighted Grand Theft Auto over-the-topness.
Grand Theft Auto IV ushered in a new era seeing in a return to a revamped and far more realistic Liberty City, with a storyline considerably more mature and serious than ever before. All humour was not lost however, there were of course the occasional dick and 69 jokes but considering that in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, you could jetpack across a city, base-jump out of a building and shoot up a place with a mini-gun dressed in a gimp suit; Grand Theft Auto IV felt lacking and somewhat disappointing in my option.
However with all this said, all of Grand Theft Auto IV’s short comings in its single player could easily be made up for in its multiplayer offerings. Multiplayer was a major selling point for Grand Theft Auto IV and the next big thing in gamers’ minds. Whilst multiplayer wasn’t entirely new for the series as it did appear in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories for the PSP, it was bogged down in a logistical nightmare.
You need at least five other players with their own copy of the game and their own PSP just to play a full match in multiplayer, and good luck trying to find that. Grand Theft Auto IV was the first time that gamers could easily access Grand Theft Auto multiplayer. And it was here that the most fun could be had, as players were given a sandbox for them to make up their own rules and scenarios to play in. Everyone vs. the police, yes please! See who could last the longest with a six star wanted rating, check! Fortified a hospital and fight off police, yeah we will!
So with all this in mind, just what can Grand Theft Auto V give to us that we haven’t already seen and done before? Baring in mind that this game has only recently been announced and the first footage of the game has only just been released, the following will is only going to be wild speculation. But nonetheless, judging by Grand Theft Auto V’s debut trailer the game is looking fantastic, with top notch graphics no less. And it appears that Rockstar may even be returning to the ‘classic’ Grand Theft Auto of yesteryears going by a few hints in the trailer.
So far Rockstar Games have only shown us Los Santos, and as well all know this means that the game will be set in San Andreas. But does that mean that the will only take place in Los Santos and what about San Fierro and Las Venturas, the other two major cities in San Andreas? Grand Theft Auto V’s trailer does hint to other locations. A small bit of the countryside is shown and if you look close in one of the outdoor scenes I’m pretty sure Mount Chiliad is shown in the trailer. Planes are also shown which also hints towards multiple cities. Perhaps Grand Theft Auto V will take a bold move and include the two other cities along with two new playable protagonists, much like Grand Theft Auto IV did with its episodic content: The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony.
Buyable properties are also hinted in the trailer, with a ‘For Sale’ sign being hammered in front of a house. Buyable properties were a major gameplay feature in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and were available in Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. In Vice City, player had to purchase properties to expand their criminal empire and these assist properties provided the game with extra missions and were some were even vital to game’s overall storyline. Perhaps we will see a similar interrogation of this system in Grand Theft Auto V.
The Grand Theft Auto games have always been a mix of an above average shooter and an above average driving gaming that has been put in a sandbox world. This formula has lead to pretty decent gameplay and overall has from some pretty damn good game over the years. However, Grand Theft Auto V needs a good overhaul of both its shooting and driving mechanics to really stand out again. Case and point – Try playing Grand Theft Auto IV on consoles with auto-aim turned off…it is frustrating, the game wasn’t not designed for tight one-on-one combat.
The inclusion of a cover system in Grand Theft Auto IV was something new and different to experiment with. And while it had its single player highlights, Gears of War this was not. Grand Theft Auto IV multiplayer exposed the flaws of the cover system, it was simply a hassle and impractical to use in open environments. And where to began with driving…just take a look at the next time you’re racing in Grand Theft Auto IV’s multiplayer, chances are that 85% of players will overturn, spinout or crash within the first turn of the race. Grand Theft Auto V will certainly need to have tighter and more focused controls.
But with all this said, I’m glad to see that Grand Theft Auto V has been finally unveiled and that we will be returning to Los Santos. With no release date announced, it may in fact be another long wait till we actually get our hands on this one. But all in all, a new Grand Theft Auto game is defiantly good news and I look forward to spending another 40+ hours in San Andreas.
Stay tuned for more Grand Theft Auto V news as it comes
Released just over a week ago and already receiving much praise for its original art direction and unique take on survival shooter gameplay, “The Haunted: Hell’s Reach” is stirring things up for the whole zombie game genre. The project and its team are a force to be reckoned with. Excited to get an insight into The Haunted’s growth from humble beginnings to critical acclaim, I caught up with the game’s original creator, game and art director, and programmer, Michael “Hegi” Hegemann, and here’s what he had to tell me;
Capsule: The Haunted started out as an excellent total conversion for the already rich and fertile Unreal Tournament modification scene, but earned high praise and status (congratulations by the way) when it won the 2009 Make Something Unreal contest. What was that like for you guys?
Michael Hegemann: That was a really great success for us and without the contest it would not have been possible to make this game. Something like that will probably never happen again. It was great to see former team members getting more recognition and being hired for their work on The Haunted. The contest times are unforgettable and everyone who has been part of the project can be proud.
Capsule: The survival shooter is something of a crowded genre as of late, and many other titles also feature our good friends the undead. What personally do you guys think you brought to the table with Hell’s Reach?
Michael Hegemann: I think the unique combination of weapon combat, melee attacks and movement along with the unique style is what sets us apart from the other action games out there. We are not a big IP and therefore can take more risks and try out new things. Then we have cool game modes like Demonizer where each dead human player is turned into a demon and can spawn and play the monsters by himself.
Capsule: The use of colons in the title makes me think you guys want to make more games in the universe of “The Haunted”, is there a real possibility of this or is this just wishful thinking on my part?
Michael Hegemann: Of course there is a possibility, I don’t think we will ever turn this into a epic franchise like Uncharted and others, but who knows what the future will bring. Let’s finish Hells Reach first and bring it to console players around the world on Xbox360 and PS3. Then we can talk about The Haunted: Social Slaughterhouse for Facebook!
Capsule: I don’t doubt that the project has been something of a journey for you guys, so I’m dying to know; what was it like developing The Haunted, both as a mod and then an indie game, and what were the biggest challenges and victories along the road?
Michael Hegemann: It was really one hell of a journey with a lot of ups and downs. For me, things have become a bit quieter as the foundation of the game is done and it’s much more about the details of Game Design wich is Gerhard’s territory. I weighed in on all art and game world things. Overall I’m still happy about the consistency of everything after all these years and despite it being a real arcade game. The mod times were pretty cool, it was amazing how this project grew from a small and personal game to something this big. I’am thankful that I could experience the development time together with such a great team of people and with all the creative peak-states especially during the mod years where the style was defined and new features or weapons came to life on a daily basis. It was extremely hard work but the reward of seeing it evolve is just unexplainable. The biggest challenge is always finishing something, the last 20% takes 80% of the time. Great victories were winning big in every contest phase including the grand finals and then getting a publishing deal in 2011 and then finally releasing the game. Thanks to the founders of KTX Software and THQ who made that possible. The coolest thing however is when people really love the game and give us feedback.
Capsule: One of the very best aspects of Hell’s Reach is its art and graphics. Staggeringly detailed environments, wonderful particle effects and fantastic use of colour grading all make it as great to look at as it is to play. Who in your team is behind the magic and where do they get their inspiration from?
Michael Hegemann: Thanks, it’s all about style and gameplay. I have done the Art Direction and laid all the groundwork. The small and highly talented team of artists then made the idea a reality and here we are. Quite a few people said it’s influenced by the Dark Tower universe, especially the first book, and it is. The style that is so perfectly described is so distinct and memorable that it sticks with you, but it kinda feels like drawing an image through 50 sheets of paper when people get a Dark Tower vibe from the game.
The locations are seperated into gothic style and western/modern style environments. This allows us to have a lot of consistency but also allows us to be very varied. The music also has been specifically composed to fit these scenarios, wich adds another layer of individualism. The goal was that the style is somehow remarkable and unique, rather than trying to be realistic at all costs. Once you see it, you know exactly what game it is.
The scenario is also heavily influenced by the horror and action films aswell as tv shows that most gamers of our generation watched as kids. It’s like “Evil Dead meets the A-Team in Mid-World”. Heavy metal and rock music also had it’s influence on the style.
Despite the influence of past decades on Hell’s Reach, the game looks modern, but hand-crafted and unique for it’s genre.
Capsule: Last, but certainly not least, the Steam store page for Hell’s Reach promises “free future updates and DLC”, without giving away too much, what upcoming stuff can you tell us about?
Michael Hegemann: We dont know yet what that DLC will be, but most likely an extra map or two.
We at Capsule Computers would like to thank Michael for taking the time to answer our questions, and we wish him and the rest of the team all the best.
If you want to track updates and DLC for The Haunted: Hell’s Reach, you can do so on Twitter.
