There comes a time in every old game’s life when their online servers begin to wane and eventually the publisher or developer decides that it is no longer worth sustaining the online community. Sure when a large company like EA decides to pull the plug on multiple titles, it is a bit disheartening simply due to the size of the company and their unwillingness to spend a little extra money.
But Atlus, a much smaller company than EA has decided that they will be keeping Demon’s Souls online servers up for at least another year despite a sequel to the title being released within the next couple of weeks. Demon’s Souls itself is available as a PS3 only game and is available for the cheap price of $19.99, so if you are looking to play Demon’s Souls before the spiritual sequel Dark Souls is released, now is your chance.
Batman: Arkham City is going to have literally tons of famous Batman villains ranging from rather easy to recognize villains such as Mr. Freeze and The Penguin to more unremarkable villains such as Deadshot. Still there hasn’t been a whole lot said recently about the last game’s central villain, The Joker.
Well today Warner Bros. released a new trailer which is dedicated solely to The Joker and Harley Quinn and letting us see them both in all their glory. Or of course get a close up of Joker’s rather messed up face. It is getting harder and harder to wait until October 18th when Batman: Arkham City is released in North America. Catch the trailer below!
The Elder Scrolls games have always been released on the PC as well as their most recent titles being console releases, but it seems that the team is now more comfortable doing things for consoles, specifically the Xbox 360 than the PC nowadays.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’s director Todd Howard stated in an interview with Edge Magazine that the team is “very comfortable on 360.” Though he also admits that “it will look better on PC. The PC has moved on a lot. With the kinds of things we do where we are streaming a lot, even your average hard drive on your average PC these days is crazy fast at ripping data.”
However he went on to say that “the negative on PC is that there are still a lot of layers of API before you can look at the hardware. So we might be able to get the data faster on PC, but what we do with that data is still easier on 360 and PS3 where we can look directly at the memory registers and do what we want. This is our third go around on these systems, so we are a lot more comfortable than we used to be.”
Practically everything shown at events, given trailers and screenshots have been from the Xbox 360 version of the game, which is a rather good strategy in my opinion as it does not raise hopes for console gamers about insane graphics that will probably be seen on the PC version.
PC gamers may not be getting Diablo 3 this year but it seems that they will be getting Dota 2 much earlier than Valve Software had originally planned. The development team, Icefrog wrote on their blog saying “We’re going to take the current version of Dota 2, which has The International set of heroes, and get it out there as fast as we can.”
Icefrog has originally planned on creating new features and slowly growing the number of heroes to match that of the first Dota before releasing the title, however they have moved up the launch date because fans have been growing angry over the long wait. The company still plans to release post-launch updates, and these will obviously be more plentiful than originally planned.
Those that were looking forward to playing Diablo III before the end of the year are going to be a little disappointed because Blizzard has just admitted that the sequel to the very popular PC title won’t be ready for release in its 2011 release window and has instead bumped the date back to sometime in “early 2012.”
It should be noted however the Blizzard never really admitted that the game would be released on 2011, but they simply set it as a goal. Blizzard president Mike Morhaime said that “While this news might not be a complete surprise, I know that many of you were hopeful that Diablo III would ship this year. We were too.” They plan on delivering the same level as quality as always though as he continued to say that the company “we should take a little more time and add further polish to a few different elements of the game.”
It was revealed a few months ago that Forza Mortorsport 4 will have a little something special inside of its content. Namely, they had a Warthog from Halo 4 sitting in the Auto Vista mode which allows players to sit there and look at the cars in any angle that they want to see it from, which while may not be exciting for some is certainly an interesting feature. Plus you can listen to Cortana tell you all about the vehicle!
Though despite its inclusion in Auto Vista mode, the Warthog won’t be playable in the game and Turn 10’s Dan Greenwalt has spoken to Eurogamer about why that is. He said that the technology used for the Warthog simply isn’t available for other cars, like the four wheel turning and all of that. This means that they will need to build the car from the bottom up with all their little specifications which would be “a big investment” to only bring one vehicle to the game. Plus Forza 4 simulates real driving physics on real world tires for all of their cars, and since the tires from the Warthog sport technology from 2525, that just isn’t possible.
Today, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Snowblind Studios have released another trailer for Lord of the Rings: War in the North, their upcoming game which launches November 25th.
To save Middle-earth… you must survive. The stealth and cunning of the human, the strong and true arrows of the Elf, the might and strength of the warrior dwarf – each must rely on the other during this vital mission or face a most certain defeat.
But some creatures dwell alone, subscribing to neither good nor evil. Their only allegiance is to themselves – an allegiance they fiercely protect. This video reveals a new character in the game emerging from the depths of his cave: Urgost the fire-drake, a fire-breathing dragon.
Urgost is one such magnificent creature and the Fellowship of three must face him; his power of fire is paired with a cunning mind, and his thirst for wealth is matched only by his instinct for self-preservation.
The trailer misses the commentary from Ian McKellen that usually gives it a true Lord of the Rings flavour, but nevertheless, it shows more of what to expect gameplay-wise, bringing together many aspects seen in other trailers like the great eagles. Some of the new assets released are spectacular, featuring the powerful Urgost.
That’s right boys and girls, F1 2011 is now out for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. You can now take the track and compete with the world’s best such as Vettel, Alonso and Webber.
F1 2011 succeeds the BAFTA award-winning 2010 game, bringing in new features such as KERS, DRS as well as fully updated circuits including the Buddh International circuit.
The portable versions of the game will be released at a later date which is still to be confirmed.
Our review will be up in a few days, we just needed to get a proper feel for the online sections of the game which is a massive part of F1 2011.
So…what else is there left to do? Go out, grab a copy and start your engines! (Yes, I had to go there…)
With FIFA 12 getting released via EA Sports’ Season Ticket in Europe tomorrow for Xbox 360 subscribers, we have some information for all of you before the critics start digging into the game.
One big announcement if you click on the link you can actually head over to the Creation Centre right now and start experimenting.
Fresh from EA Sports, we have some reassuring news. Most of us have probably seen the numerous videos which have surfaced on YouTube and other sites showcasing the biggest glitches and flops of the Player Impact Engine for the FIFA 12 demo. If you had any doubts, EA Sports have eased our minds, stating that these problems were known by the staff and have been fixed. The demo of course is handled by the Microsoft and Sony teams and the build is over a month behind the final copy. So not only will teams be updated but apparently we will not see players floating magically after a tackle.
We also got some confirmed ratings of the best player for each position on the ground (two of which we knew already):
Goalkeeper: Real Madrid’s Iker Casillas (89)
Defender: Manchester United’s Nemanja Vidic (89)
Midfielder: Barcelona’s Xavi (92)
Forwards: None other than Mr. Lionel Messi (94), highest overall in the game.
With FIFA 12 coming out oh so soon, some of the real-life superstars, Jack Wilshere and Wayne Rooney, have got their hands on a copy of FIFA 12 already and are tweeting rave reviews about the game so far.
Jack Wilshere:
“#FIFA12 has not been turned off yet haha I am getting good! Arsenal are deeecent! Arteta is my top goal scorer! #gooner4life”
Wayne Rooney:
“Played #FIFA12 last night. Brilliant. Defending is completely different and takes time to master. More realistic and better FIFA12”
For some more extensive details on player ratings and the creation centre, go download the EA Sports FIFA 12 podcast off iTunes. Don’t forget to keep an eye out for our review of FIFA 12 next week!
Nintendo has all but mastered the art of same-room multiplayer, and at the top of that list is Mario Kart. The manic, half-skill half-luck madness keeps its racers close together, ensuring exciting races almost every time.
So why would you mess with that formula? In short – you wouldn’t. And besides a few minor changes in each, Nintendo haven’t. They’ve persisted to give us a Mario Kart title on each of their consoles and handhelds, with each tweaked to suit the needs and abilities of the particular machine.
With that in mind, I expected a samey but solid game for the 3DS version, titled Mario Kart 7, with the most obvious new feature being the 3D effects. But it looks like it will almost act as a “best of”, a selection of the best features from the various iterations of the series, as well as some new additions that will drastically affect the game.
As we’ve seen in trailers, Mario Kart 7 introduces underwater racing and the ability to glide with the use of a kite-like attachment. It’s easy to dismiss these as shallow gimmicks, but in play they do make a difference. Kinda.
During my hands-on time, I got to play a full Cup of four races, and although I didn’t get to try out all the features I’ve seen in gameplay videos, what I did play was the type of fun you’d expect from the series, with some slight variations. Firstly, the game handles well, essentially using the same control setup as the DS version, with steering made easier by the thumbpad.
As expected, the 3D looks great, and its influence in your depth perception and distance judgement is stronger than you would think. It definitely makes it easier to dodge that banana or line up that green koopa shell. And when you fly over a jump and see your first 3D vista, remember to keep driving. Enjoy the view as you go, but try not to let it overwhelm you into crashing. I may be slightly exaggerating, but it’s still damn pretty.
The most touted new gameplay additions are the sky and water sections of tracks, but their input varies. In one of the tracks I played, the race dives into a lake for a small section, and the difference it made was next to nothing. Yeah, the physics make it a little heavier, but really, there’s not much point to it, for the amount of promotion Nintendo have been giving it. If there are certain karts that handle better underwater, or certain weapons that are more effective underwater, then maybe it’s worth it, but I didn’t see anything to that effect.
Gliding on the other hand is a game-changer. Drive over a jump of sufficient height and your kart will sprout a hang glider attachment and take off. There’s strategic value in deciding whether to maintain a glide or just drop to the ground. Push up and down alternately to continue a glide, and you can effectively fly for ages. It can make for a very handy shortcut, as you glide over any obstacles on the ground, but steering takes you on a wider turn circle, so you can’t exactly make sharp turns, and you probably won’t hit many item boxes. Not to mention that it will take a bit of foresight to predict where you’ll land – a mistake I once made, descending straight down a cliff in the middle of an S-bend in the road. And if an opponent hits you with a weapon midair, prepare for an immediate crash-landing. In some cases, it might be better to stick to the low road. With tracks designed around the trade-off of “to glide or not to glide”, the usefulness of this new mechanic remains to be seen, but the potential is there.
Customisation has been offered in a small way in the past, but it’s something that hasn’t really been explored in Mario Kart. Now players can choose between different sets of tyres, frames and gliders to best suit their racing style. Certain tyres may have stronger traction, improving grip off-road but weakening your sliding. A light frame means longer glides, but more vulnerability to bumps from other racers. Mixing and matching kart parts will let players figure out what works for them.
The 3DS’ gyroscopic controls are also available to use in a fashion similar to the Wii Wheel, which everyone tried once and abandoned. Personally, I stuck with it and mastered it, so the possibility of using the 3DS itself as a steering wheel is sort of intriguing. But of course, to do so famously messes up the 3D effect and can make you look like a tool on the train, so maybe it won’t be all that useful. I’ll give it a go, anyway.
While my demo session was single player only, multiplayer is where the franchise is at its most fun, and the online functionality of the 3DS doesn’t go to waste here. Players can race online with up to eight players, via a Wireless Internet connection or local download or multicard play. Streetpass will allow players to exchange ghost data directly, or Spotpass can download them automatically from anywhere in the world, if you happen to pass through a Wireless Hotspot.
As for returning features, the Tricks system from Mario Kart Wii is back, whereby performing aerial maneoveurs off a jump will give you a speed boost upon landing. And an oldie that has been mysteriously absent for the vast majority of the series – coins. The iconic collectable coins were scattered around tracks in the original Super Mario Kart, increasing your defensive power against weapons and your overall speed the more you pick up. They provide an incentive to tackle the riskier path, or to attack another player to steal theirs. Their return should allow for some new strategies, as many younger fans may not have played the original.
I didn’t encounter them with my limited time playing, but several new characters and weapons have been announced. Metal Mario, the powerup from Super Mario 64 and antagonist in Smash Bros Melee, can be seen driving his shinymobile in the video below. Also playable for the first time in anything is Lakitu, the koopa that throws spiky guys at you from a cloud in the platform games, and who’s often seen in other Mario Kart games carrying the “ready-set-go” lights and rescuing players who fall off the track. While it’s unclear who will fill in for him in his lights duties, Lakitu can be seen driving his cloud around in the video below. We’ve also been promised others, but the devs are keeping tight-lipped about them for now.
Weapon-wise, only one newbie has been announced, and it’s an oldie – the Fire Flower. Never before seen in a Mario Kart game but present in most other Mario branches, the Fire Flower will, as expected, allow players to shoot fireballs forwards and backwards. but unclear to me from the video is how it works exactly. So far it seems to act like a green shell, going in a straight line and spinning out any karts it comes into contact with. I’m not sure what the difference is, but the player in the video seems to use an awful lot of them from a single pick up. How many do you get? Does it last until you get hit by something? Can you fire as many as you want within a certain time limit? I’m not sure, but unless the answer sets it apart from the green shell, its inclusion is questionable.
More new weapons are implied, but again, they aren’t telling. But hey, we need some surprises for launch day.
With a franchise as reliable as Mario Kart, Nintendo could quite easily have just slapped 3D graphics into it and called it finished, then sat back and watched the money pour in. Thankfully, they’ve at least tried to make the game stand up on its own merits, meaning that the “gimmick” of 3D actually takes a backseat to the other exciting features on offer. With all those features listed above, as well as the generous promise once again of 32 tracks (sixteen new ones, with an additional sixteen classic tracks from previous games), this looks to be the most complete Mario Kart experience yet.
Mario Kart 7 will be playable at the upcoming Nintendo Connection Tour and will be released early December. Have a look at the video below for some more details on the game.
