NuOxygen have released Simple Racing HD (what is with the new fad of outright stating what kind of racing you’re in for?). Simple Racing is, are you ready for this, a simple racing game. At least they didn’t go for the irony points and name it Difficult Racing, some people may have gotten confused.
Kidding aside, Simple Racing is a 2D micro car racing game set on 3D tracks. Confused? Well it’s basically an arcade game with upgraded graphics, which is something I can definitely get behind. It’s got the classic arcade gameplay with a turbo button for overtaking and a touch-to-brake system that you’re going to have to utilise at just the right moment so your car doesn’t rocket off the track. Check out the gameplay in the trailer below.
There are rally championships, quick races, ratings and time scores, customisation, and ten different tracks in five environments. Steering away from the 3D intense racing games that have been coming out lately, Simple Racing may be just the welcome return to some gold old fashioned arcade racing.
Simple Racing is available now on the iTunes store for $1.99 – BUY NOW
Magic Formula has been released on the iTunes store for those of you who love it when your games actually make you feel like you’re thinking. Magic Formula is a game that is focused on problem solving, not a game that hides behind other genres and sneaks a puzzle in every now and again. Magic Formula is obvious with its puzzles, it smacks you in the face with them and deceives you with its apparent simplicity and sneaky difficulty. This is a game that’s going to take you more than the standard hour or so to complete, with a depth that’s bound to surprise you.
There are 140 levels of puzzle fun, with seven evolution stages for you to go through. Watch the gameplay trailer for it below. It definitely looks like one of those games that starts off easy but it’s not too long before it kicks you in the ass.
Magic Formula is available for $1.99 at the iTunes store – BUY NOW
A new trailer for the hotly anticipated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, has made it’s way online. This trailer is dubbed the Modern Warfare 3 launch trailer.
The launch trailer shows off the game as well as builds hype for the game’s release. You can check out the trailer below, which is sure to excite Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 fans, with some footage of the game as well as scenes perhaps from the story of the game, involving World War 3.
What do you think of this launch trailer Modern Warfare 3 fans? Let us know your thoughts in the shoutbox and comments section below.
Turtle Beach have announced their limited edition Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 headsets are shipping now and will be available in retailers in early November.
The limited edition headsets consist of four different models: Bravo, Charlie, Delta and Foxtrot (yes, we’re loving the names too!). They were designed to give gamers the ultimate experience when playing one of this year’s most anticipated titles, Modern Warfare 3. The headsets have unique sets of audio presets designed specifically by the audio teams at Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games.
Of course, the headsets will also work with all other games, and are available across Xbox 360, PS3, PC, and Mac. Delta, Bravo, Charlie and Foxtrot will be available from all major video game retailers around the world. If you want to hear more about these headsets, well…you can. Click here to check out our chat with Chris Eade from Turtle Beach at EB EXPO 2011.
Game: Metal Slug 2 Consoles: PS3 (Reviewed) and PSP via PSN Price: $9.99 or $6.99 Publisher/Developer: SNK Playmore/ NEOGEO Genre: 2D Arcade Shooter
MARCO and TARMA return to the battlefront on NEOGEO Station, this time accompanied by two new recruits FIOLINA GERMI and ERI KASAMOTO, in order to thwart the new coup attempt by General Morden, infamous leader of the Rebel Army and main antagonist of the “METAL SLUG” series. Fight alone or with a buddy, on foot or aboard a tank, and deliver the prisoners for freedom in this masterpiece of run-and-gun action shooting from SNK! (Official Description of Game from SNK Playmore.)
Continuing their streak of releasing classic NEOGEO titles onto the Playstation Network, SNK PLAYMORE has updated Metal Slug 2 for the PS3 and PSP consoles. Are you up to the challenge?
Metal Slug 2 was originally designed as a simple quarter muncher complete with frustratingly hard boss battles and unfair artificial intelligence. Luckily, this release of the game fixes all those problems. First off, your PS3 does not have a slot that accepts coins (we haven’t found one anyway) so you will only be paying one flat upfront cost of $8.99 ($6.99 for the PSP version), which is way cheaper than feeding an arcade bucketfuls of quarters. By our calculations, once you have used up 18 continues you’ll have definitely saved money by playing this updated port of the game. And that is if the arcade game costs only $.50 a pop! Trust us, you will use up the lives fast too, especially if you set the difficulty to MVS, the original arcade’s difficulty setting. Fortunately, there are options for EASY and Normal difficulties in this adaption so you won’t be getting too frustrated at the intense gameplay present.
Speaking of gameplay, Metal Slug 2 features extreme action with plenty of humorous circumstances and some great explosive weapons. At its core, Metal Slug 2 is a 2D shooting game with some unique elements that help it stand out from the rest of games in the same genre. Starting off, you will receive a single shot gun. By collecting items and mowing down the bad guys, this gun can eventually get upgraded to a machine gun, flame thrower or laser shot. There are plenty of other options available too. However, the best weapons are the ones you can mount. Tanks, jets and camels are all present in the game. Yes, there are camels with uber-powerful chain guns mounted on them and they deliver a wallop.
Overall, the gameplay is solid and addicting. The controls are not as finely tuned as I would like them to be and the game is firmly rooted in an older game design, but this game offers some great fun, especially because of its unique personality. In addition to being able to ride a camel, you can also turn into a mummy, a fat guy (where your weapon turns into a fork) and other hilarious cameos. This game doesn’t take itself seriously, at all. That is a good thing too, because although the difficulty IS rough, it isn’t one of those games that punishes the player just for the heck and the funny moments keep everything humming along just fine.
The story in Metal Slug 2 is nearly nonexistent. After playing the game for awhile I still had no idea who anybody was why soldiers were attacking me or why huge boss battles would take place. Even searching through the menus and in-game booklets did nothing to help me out in this department. Only after I looked it up on the official website and Wikipedia did I get a clue as to what was going on. Sure, this game was made back in the day, but there should at least be a paragraph in the instruction manual or menus explaining the background. Even a bare bones explanation would have sufficed.
Undoubtedly the weakest part of Metal Slug 2 is the graphics. SNK did hardly anything to make them different than the ones that were already a part of the game. Although retro game fans may rejoice at being able to replay the game in its original pixelated form, modern HD fans will feel like tearing their eyes out. For $9.00, it would seem like maybe this game could be at least be remastered.
One feature that SNK did implement well was the coop. Metal Slug 2 can now be played in online or offline coop. Playing with others is always more fun and being able take down baddies with a buddy almost makes you feel like you are in an actual arcade.
If you have a spare few dollars in your PSN account or this game is on sale, it is a a good buy. There is lots of replay value in this game and the coop is awesome. Arcade gamers will love the tough difficulty and true to form nature of the game. However, the lack of updated graphics and the lack of any other features makes this game a little disappointing. That being said, you could buy much worse on the PSN than Metal Slug 2.
Event: Armageddon Expo 2011 Melbourne
Date: 22/23 October 2011
Location: Melbourne Exhibition Centre
Time: 9am – 6pm
It was an exciting couple of days as we played human Tetris through the exited crowd at the Armageddon Expo at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre this weekend. The Costumes, the variety of memorabilia and the special guests would make any sci-fi nerds dream.
A lot of well-known companies and products had booths set up such as Madman Entertainment, Ubisoft, Kings Comics, Rooster Teeth’s Red Vs. Blue, Batman Arkham City and wide variety of local businesses who cater to the video game, anime and comic markets. There was funny t-shirts, plush characters, hats, posters and of course light sabres and there was the DeLorean time machine that was based on the Back to the Future movies, with items from the movie itself.
With the huge list of special guests who held panels for the fans who could finally get their questions asked. We dropped by a few and was lucky to get into the over-crowed (they needed to add an extra session just to fit everyone in) Red vs. Blue panel with the amazing guys from Rooster Teeth. Allowing an insight to their processes and getting a sneak peak at the release of Season 9. Other special guest panels include Amanda Tapping from the hit series Stargate SG-1 and Sanctuary.
Also the comic and anime fans were appeased with guests including Steve Blum, Paul Eiding, Fred Van Lente and Frank Cho, just to name a few. There was also an array of independent comics who were able to get the attention they deserved. For the music fans, the band Technodrome was also there to do covers of our favourite video game themes.
The newly released Batman: Arkham City had their own booth for people to try the fantastic game. As well as his DC Comic Pal the Green Lantern, for his game to try! Check out the review for Arkham City by Travis Bruno here!
As well the Ubisoft booth had games to try that have not been released yet, including the Adventures of Tin Tin and Rayman Origins. These games look really fun, so look out for the reviews.
Then there were the costumes… Ah the costumes. It is wonderful that people are dedicated enough to their passion of video games and anime to dress up in thick cloaks and skin tight leather even when the weather was a little sweaty and people continually stop you for
photos (Like I did, sorry guys!).
With the live events as well as the fantastic booths, this weekend was so exciting and exactly what us die hard sci-fi fans need from time to time. Look out for interviews that will be coming up from some of the guests that attending the event.
The Hunter Exam arc, kicked itself into gear last week with Hunter x Hunter’s third episode. Several of the voice actors for the Hunter Exam story arc have been revealed. Now two more roles have been filled, Menchi and Gittarackur.
It has been confirmed that Aya Hirano, known for her role as Lucy Heartfilia on Fairy Tail, will play the Hunter Examiner Menchi. She will debuting the role in the next few weeks.
The other confirmed is Masaya Matsukaze, known for his role as August 7 on Darker Than Black: Gemini of the Meteor, will be playing one of the examinees Gittarackur. Which he will debut this week.
What do you think of this? Let us know in the shoutbox and comments section?
Yesterday the first piece of game play footage was released for the new Nintendo 3DS Harvest Moon game being developed by Marvelous AQL. Harvest Moon Hajimari no Daichi also known as Harvest Moon: The Land of Origin is the first Harvest Moon title that is being developed specifically for the 3D handheld.
The video footage can be seen below and it was revealed during the Nintendo Direct presentation earlier today and is available for Japanese 3DS owners to view on their 3DS through the e-Shop today. Unfortunately for everyone else, you will need to see it normally below and watch a ride-able panda, some animals and of course some harvesting.
Recently, Nintendo announced both Hulu Plus and a boat load of new features that the 3DS will be receiving in a future firmware update. If you kind of shrugged off this news, you may want to pay closer attention as Reggie Fils-Aime himself has now made a new video to share these exciting updates and detail just how they will fit into the 3DS as a whole.
Even though most of the information Reggie talks about is already known, he still has such a “way with words” that I almost feel like running out and buying a second unit. It’s rare when you see such a comforting marketing quality, but then again it’s easy to see why Reggie is Nintendo of America’s president. Watch the clip below and get excited about the new features and holiday line-up, as it seems the 3DS is just starting to clutch onto it’s true potential.
Viz Media, have officially announced that they will be taking the plunge into territory most thought they would never plunge to, that being the entire Yaoi/Boys-Love genre.
Now while this may seem a little confusing for most who know about Viz Media, considering that their Shojo Beat line-up was rather stagnant in comparison to their far more popular Shonen Jump range. It seems that Viz Media will be trying to grab back the teen-female market who seem to be obsessed with guy on guy romance (seemingly even more so than gay men themselves).
The current plan is to launch the line-up mostly in digital format under the title SuBLime (the capitalised B and L stand for Boys-Love). THey will be kicking off the digital launch with the popular Yaoi manga series Sex Pistols which Viz will be renaming Love Pistols. The SuBLime range will be launched this December.
What do you think of Viz Media’s new Yaoi manga range? Let us know in the shoutbox and comments section.
