Yesterday I had a chance to meet up with EA to check out both Battlefield 3 and Mass Effect 3.
When starting the Mass Effect demo you had a choice to be a Soldier, Sentinel or Engineer. I opted for a Soldier for this play through as I really wanted to see the difference in the gun play for this sequel. The mission given puts you in a situation with Liara and Garrus on a lush tropical island protecting a female Krogan, the first shown in the series. It was interesting to note that she was covered in black armour that resembled a burqa, only showing her eyes. Underneath it looked as though she wouldn’t be winning a beauty pageants, but results may vary. I’m admittedly not the best judge of what an alien species finds attractive.
Mordin was giving directions as you had to move the female Krogan out of a holding cell while waves of enemies came in. Before the first wave hit me I found a terminal that allowed me to customise my guns by changing the barrels, stock or any other number of components. This is certainly a welcome addition and will feed my neurosis suitably while playing the full game. The gunplay certainly feels tighter than Mass Effect 2, I was able to shoot guys in the face through a small eye slit in their riot shields, one of my favourite things to do. Moving through cover worked just as well as it did previously with hitting the A button, except now Shepard can bob and weave with a much welcomed dodge roll move which comes in quite handy. Especially when I got to the end of the waves and was starting to finally get the female Krogan out as a huge mech landed and tried drop elbows on us all. It was a slightly smaller space with a slightly larger mech so to maneuver around you really had to take advantage of the dodge roll. After dancing around the mech and poppin’ caps till it exploded in a fiery ball of defeat the demo came to an end leaving me with a void in my soul that won’t be filled till next year. Mass Effect 3 is already looking pretty polished with beautiful graphics, intricate systems and really tight gunplay. If you’ve played the other entries in the series then I’m sure, like me you’ll be there on day one. It looks as though EA and Bioware are not planning to disappoint.
Mass Effect 3 is due for release on March 6, 2012.
This game is what the movie Bring it on would be like if they threw in some zombies, violence and candy. It’s pretty nuts, you slice and dice zombies and then they turn into rainbows, yep I just said that. Lollipop Chainsaw is graphically inspired by pop-art, sparkles fly as you dismember enemies and collect lollipops for health. It’s definitely the most over the top and original game I played at TGS, and the absurdity thankfully doesn’t ruin the fun.
Developed by Grasshopper Manufacture, the game comes from the mind of Goichi Suda whose worked n things like No more heroes and Clock tower, so it’s fairly obvious where the influence comes from. Not only that, Writer and director James Gunn (Dawn of the Dead, Tromeo and Juliet, Slither) penned the script, while Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill) is doing music, however I couldn’t really hear much of what was going on.
The combat is intense, finger bashin’ madness, even including some bitch slap combos on zombies. It’s evident the game is strange as soon as you pick up the control, however it gets weirder once the decapitations and rainbows begin, as well as the power up “star mode”. This looked sort of similar to Mario’s star invincibility, except it only made Juliet Starling (the main character) more powerful.
As I ran my way through the high school, I made small decisions on what doors to go through, I’m pretty sure whichever path you choose dictates what enemies you’ll face. I also fought a mini boss, which had me attempting to save a fellow student from a crazy zombie, the boss had a health bar unlike the normal zombies. I couldn’t exactly interpret a detailed version of the story, I unfortunately don’t speak Japanese and it doesn’t seem like the game is very narrative focused. It’s simple, zombie apocalypse,
Oh yeah and did I mention the boss threw words at me like “F***in’ bitch!” and “C***s***er!”? That gives you an idea of the sort of humour we’re playing with here, I personally enjoyed the bizarre and over the top experience. It’s very Japanese, I had no idea what this game was until I turned around from playing Skyrim and decided I wanted to play Lollipop Chainsaw instead, I get the feeling many people might of felt the same if they saw the game. Lollipop Chainsaw starts its hilarious take on the zombie apocalypse sometime during 2012.
For anyone who has always wanted to release the bio-chemist buried deep within themselves but never had the chance; well your day has finally come. Researchers have developed a fantastic video game called Foldit, that essentially rewards players for solving scientific puzzles related to protein folding. And as well as being immensely challenging and enjoyable, has aided scientists in a very important medical and scientific breakthrough.
Enter the University of Washington and Seth Cooper, who via popular journal Nature explain how “top-ranked Foldit players excel at solving challenging structure refinement problems” in protein folding, even if they aren’t scientists. He says that from their research they have learned that multiplayer games can be a catalyst and “a powerful new approach to solving computationally limited scientific problems.”
Performing in relation to Rosetta which is the protein folding fields standard piece of software, Foldit players came out on top 5 times out of a sample of 10, with 3 draws and 2 wins for Rosetta.
“Foldit gameplay supports both competition and collaboration between players. For collaboration, players can share structures with their group members, and help each other out with strategies and tips through the game’s chat function, or across the wiki. The competition and collaboration create a large social impact to the game, which alters the aggregate search progress of Foldit and heightens player motivation. As groups compete for higher rankings and discover new structures, other groups appear to be motivated to play more, and within groups the exchange of solutions can help other members catch up to the leaders.”
So far, within a small 3 week period, gamers have helped to map out the structure of a specific enzyme that may be used to fight HIV and AIDS. The gamers unlocked the structure of a protein called M-PMV, which is something scientists and number crunching high speed computers have failed at for a decade. After so many failed attempts the scientists challenged Foldit playes who remarkably provided them with sufficiently accurate enough models to be of use.
Whether games like these can actually assist science long term is yet to be seen and not being a micro-biologist or willing to “brush” up my knowledge in the area, can only say i hope so. Many others are highly optimistic as can be seen from the vast array of sponsors including Adobe and Microsoft as well as the US Defense Advanced Research Project Agency and whatever secret weird stuff they are involved in.
Dragon Ball Z Kai Part 6 Studio: Toei Animation Publishing & Localization: FUNimation Versions: Blu-ray, DVD (reviewed) Price: Blu-Ray $34.98 – Purchase Here!, DVD $29.98 – Purchase Here!
Overview:
The Dragon Ball franchise most likely is one of the most recognizable anime in the Western world. Sure recently other anime have become extremely popular but most likely none of these could have been created in Japan, let alone brought over to North American shores if not for the influence that Dragon Ball has had on the world.
Dragon Ball spanned across numerous television series, movies and all of it started from one manga which began in 1984 and ran for eleven years. The franchise has been around for twenty seven years and one of the most popular series in the Dragon Ball world was Dragon Ball Z. To celebrate the 25th anniversary two years ago, work began on Dragon Ball Z Kai, a trimmed down and redrawn collection of the entire series. FUNimation has brought us each part every few months and now we have seen the release of Dragon Ball Z Kai Part Six. How does this section of the epic series fare?
Story:
One of the biggest highlights about Dragon Ball Z Kai is that it has been trimmed down from any extra fluff and filler episodes which may have interrupted the action. When a series can be trimmed from a stellar 291 episodes and brought down to only 98 you know that what is left is only going to be Dragon Ball Z to its fullest potential with action and combat.
Part Six of Dragon Ball Z Kai picks up on Episode 66 of the series and contains plenty of combat which is to be expected but also a rather decent amount of story development. We pick up with our Z fighters being soundly decimated by the force of Android 17 and Android 18 and only some desperate measures by the crew prevent their imminent destruction at their hands. With Goku still unconscious from his sickness and the Androids closing in, Bulma finds a strange time traveling pod similar to what was used by Trunks. Who is this strange creature Cell and why is he seeking out the androids?
If you are a fan of Dragon Ball Z then you of course know the answer to all of those questions, but watching the series never feels old and this remastering and trimming of the series is a great way to introduce DBZ to the younger audiences of today. Cell’s story arc fully takes over the series from the training arc and android arc and Part Six takes us from Cell’s introduction, the mystery of the time travel that was used to bring him to where the Androids are alive and where he can seek his true form.
The Androids and Cell provide extremely interesting enemies for the most part and Goku’s reentry to the fight later on is something that fans of course will be waiting to see. Goku’s absence for the first half of Part Six provides plenty of action for the rest of the characters which are usually overshadowed by everyone’s favorite Super Saiyan, even though some of them are soundly beaten many times.
Part six ends rather abruptly after Trunks and Vegeta leave their power-up training. Meaning of course that those eager to see Cell in his true form have to wait until part seven as the episodes contained in part six only introduce his character all the way up until he is nearly perfect. Still part six will be a welcome addition to anyone who has been collecting all of the parts so far or a great jumping point for those who loved the Cell Saga in the original Dragon Ball Z series.
Artwork:
Besides being trimmed down, Dragon Ball Z Kai has also received a fresh treatment from Toei Animation. The company has went back to the original drawing and animation to redo much of the series which means the series will have a crisp and clean look drawn with modern technology but will retain the same style and appearance that fans will remember from the original. This may make the series look a bit aged despite new techniques used, especially when you take a look at the opening animation which has been completely redone and makes me wish that the whole series was given as HD of a treatment as that was.
The series’ colors and environments look as great as one would remember and they are very detailed. Combat looks perhaps even better than ever, perhaps due to the crisp detail and line art that has been redrawn since the past series or simply thanks to the DVD format. Regardless Dragon Ball Z Kai’s fighting is some of the best you’ll see in an action anime, especially since the nostalgia for the series will be so extremely high for many viewers.
Audio:
Many anime have been remade in the past or given a bit of an HD treatment but usually their soundtrack or voice cast are simply upgraded in quality. However that isn’t the case with Dragon Ball Z Kai, in fact the original English voice cast has been brought back in to re-record their parts in the series to provide a completely fresh but extremely similar experience.
FUNimation does provide both the original Japanese track as well as the English track which means that you can pick whichever version you wish to listen to. The English voice cast does a stellar job and nostalgia will most likely draw you into listening to the English dub, though the Japanese version is also rather well done. Neither version is truly superior in the end, but most will prefer hearing the nostalgic voices of characters they listened to in the original version.
Overall:
Dragon Ball Z Kai: Part Six provides us with the beginning of the end. The DBZ Kai series concludes after the end of the Cell Saga and with Part Six we see the introduction of that finish to an amazingly remastered and trimmed series. Unfortunately the extra features in this release are extremely weak, with only a clean opening and ending song and trailers for other shows. Still the DVDs do come in a slip case with two slim dvd cases that is of good quality and will look great on your shelf.DBZ fans will need no convincing to purchase this part of the series and new comers could pick a worse time to join in than now.
Not long ago we brought you news on Starbreeze studios in relation to their HD remake of Bullfrog’s classic retro title “Syndicate”, and now the studio is back in the lime light with the announcement of brand new IP to be developed in conjunction with award winning director and write Joseph Fares as well as Swedish company The Story Lab.
Starbreeze are responsible for bringing us such titles as the Darkness and the Chronicles of Riddick, and although they have not revealed many details in terms of storyline or plot, they say the director came to them with an idea they could not refuse.
“Just minutes into Josef’s presentation we knew that this was a game that we wanted to develop, and we started to work on the concept the very same day” says Mikael Nermark, Starbreeze CEO.
“I love games, and I have been working on a games concept for quite some time,” added Fares. “The more I worked with the concept, the more convinced I felt that this is a solid game idea. Together with Story Lab we created a prototype that we presented to Starbreeze, and they instantly liked the concept.”
All i can say is yay for new IP, who knows this could be the next ICO or Metal Gear Solid of its era, only time will tell, so keep posted to capsulecomputers.com for more news.
There were many titles announced for the PlayStation Vita during Tokyo Game Show, so many it may have convinced some people to actually purchase a Vita when it is released in North America. But many eyes were turned towards one of the most unique looking games currently in development for the handheld, Gravity Rush.
Originally called Gravity Daze in Japan, it is being developed by SCEJ. Today they released a plethora of screenshots which you can see below, and you can even see a past trailer for the game here. Speaking for myself, I’d have to say that this game would be a day one purchase for me if it is released in North America simply because of its concept and the art style.
Things were a bit confusing as far as the release date went for Metal Gear Solid 3D: Snake Eater. At first Kojima mentioned that the game would be released this Winter season, which meant to some that it could indeed make its initial goal of being released in 2011.
However Andrisang reports that, during an event at TGS Kojima expanded his previous words to mention that the game would actually be released in the latter half of winter in 2012. This is poor news for those eager to play the remake of the PlayStation 2 title in 3D but perhaps a good thing as a rushed title would do nothing but put a sour memory in people’s minds about the Metal Gear series.
Let’s face it, November is going to be a blockbuster month for gaming. There are so many AAA titles being released in the first 15 days that most gamers are only going to be able to purchase a couple of titles during that time period, maybe not even that. So when your game is coming out amongst the biggest competition all year long, your going to need a bit of an edge.
Of course you can also only give that edge to one console if that is what floats your boat. Ubisoft has just announced that first runs of Assassin’s Creed: Revelations will contain the original Assassin’s Creed title as well. Whether or not it will be physical media or a download code was not mentioned at this time, but considering the massive amount of backstory that the whole series requires, this is a nice little addition to help sway gamer’s decisions. Too bad about the Xbox 360 version huh?
When DC Universe Online was first announced my first thought was some fangirl reaction to superhero playability. Then the reality that it was a MMORPG set in. In a post-WOW land MMORPGs can only hope for a tepid welcome to the market with a steady income but nothing of the likes that Blizzard make in a day. The game just wasn’t mindblowingly different enough to ensure a decent market share. However, Sony Online Entertainment have gathered their hopes and dreams and set themselves a realistic and good strategy.
Beginning in late October, DC Universe will have a free-to-play mode on both PS3 and PC. There will be three modes in total, Free, Premium and Legendary. Each mode has the same sandbox gameplay, missions, and the general updates and fixes, but obviously the benefits and options will become more varied the higher you go up. To upgrade to Premium you need to make a $5 USD in-game purchase (or have made in the past), and for Legendary it is a $14.99 monthly fee. For more specific details go to their website.
What do you guys reckon? Will this provide the push needed to get DC Universe Online really flying high?
As a self-dubbed Jewsian (half Jewish, half Asian, all cheapass) I love me some discounted stuff and if its free, well, I can’t even begin to contain my glee. So if there are any of you out there like me – and I know there are some of you, especially students – then you’ll benefit from this website.
Daily App Dream is a website that is partnered with various iOS developers to offer up free daily apps. It’s a great way to not only get some free games but be exposed to some great indie developers who you may have not experienced otherwise. And hey, if you don’t like the app all that much, well it was free!
There is also a request service, so you can suggest or ask for apps. They don’t state the exact process but I’m guessing they then sell themselves as hard as possible to the developers to try and make your dream come true. It’s a great way of doing things, and really shows and interest in both the gaming community as well as the developers.
Daily App Dream also have their own app which allows you to get free apps without the use of a computer, which they update on a regular basis. The app is free, however there is also an ad-free version of the app for $1.99 if advertising makes you really angry. The cost is to cover themselves, since their advertising money is their only revenue stream, which is fair enough. Perhaps I just think that because I’m willing to go through ads to get to the free stuff, that’s why I don’t own cable.
Grab the free app here or the $1.99 ad-free version here. Or, if you’d rather, you can sign up for an email newsletter, or follow them on Twitter.
Come on guys, what are you waiting for? Go grab your free apps!
