Tokyo Game Show is winding down but Konami has revealed another trailer for their upcoming Silent Hill game, Downpour. The trailer was released earlier today and can be seen below, which features three and a half minutes of Silent Hill: Downpour footage, both in-game and cutscene. Plus if you are a fan of Korn then you will be doubly happy as the trailer’s music is a song from Korn.
For those who are forgetful about what Silent Hill: Downpour is about, players will be taking control of Murphy Pendleton, a man who is being transferred from Ryall State Prison to Wayside Maximum Security, but on the way there the bus he is riding on crashes off of the road and into the forest. Stumbling to potential freedom, Pendleton makes his way to Silent Hill where his personal hell comes to life.
Capsule Computers was recently invited to get a sneaky hands-on preview of The Sims 3 Pets – the latest expansion and 2nd console spin off of the very popular and very successful: The Sims 3. We were lucky enough to check out the game in full on both console and PC, both of which are swiftly approaching their release date in October.
The event took place down at Studio 301 in Sydney, a fully functioning recording studio which fitted the extra special surprise that was to come later in the day in the form of an exclusive live performance by up and coming singer/songwriter Kimbra. Her performance was phenomenal to say the least and she even sung her song “Good Intent” part in Simlish, which will feature in The Sims 3 Pets, adding to the already fine looking soundtrack featuring the likes of Plan B,Slipknot and Asher Roth.
“That’s all well and good, but how does The Sims 3 Pets play?” Glad you asked. First we were treated to a walkthrough of the game by The Sims 3 producer Graham Nardone, who took us through the new features and details of the game. And yes I can tell you right now, that being a Sims fans I was excited to see pets finally in this game. The Sims 3 Pets follows in the footsteps of The Sims Unleased and The Sims 2 Pets expansion pack in bringing what Sims fans have wanted the most – Pets of cause. And in this regard, The Sims 3 Pets delivers as it does exactly what it says on the box. But with this said, it also gives players a few of the unexpected.
A major draw card in The Sims 3 Pets for PC is the inclusion of horses and for the first time pets in the game will be fully controllable, yes that’s right players will be able to have full control over their pets, and this works well. Now this is something that fans have been wanting for a long time. Dogs, cats and horses can be created in ‘Create a Pet’ and can be fully customisable with traits, exactly how you would do with your normal Sim.
Once in-game, your pet can taken on a number of quests, learn skills and have their own interactions with the Sim word. I personally like how EA games have incorporated pets and especially horses in to the overall open world nature of The Sims 3. Unlike The Sims 2 Pets where players were limited to their households or community lots to interact with their pets, The Sims 3’s open world means that for the first time you can take your dog for a walk on a leash and even ride your horse downtown.
The inclusion of horse into the game also means that The Sims 3 Pets takes on more of Western theme. This is something that EA Games has been aiming towards with the new town Appaloosa Plains which has a very cowboy feel to it, with its Midwestern American ranches and stables. Whilst pets in a Sims game isn’t really anything new, it’s the way that EA games have approached pets in this new game that makes it feel like it’s not just another expansion pack but a significant addition to The Sims 3 series.
So that was my hands on preview of The Sims 3 Pets for the PC, I then moved over to get my hands of the console version of The Sims 3 pets for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Whilst this is the second time The Sims 3 has made its way on the console, I am still a little shocked on how EA games were able to take a traditionally keyboard and mouse PC game and port it over to consoles and I mean this in a sort of good way.
The port over to the console has been faithful to its PC counterpart as I slowly began to get uses to the controls scheme. And I have to say that EA games should take credit for port such a great game over to the consoles. Once you get the hang of the controls, you’ll find that Sims 3 on consoles is really no different to that on PC but with a few tweaks to the overall design and the control scheme. The Xbox 360 version also has the bonus feature of full voice control thanks to its Kinect integration. Anyone with a Kinect can literally talk to their pets or Sims to fully interact with them. While full voice controlled gameplay might be a bit tiring after a while, playing in conjunction with an actual control and your own voice would definitely seem like a good combination.
Overall I was quite impressed with The Sims 3 Pets on both PC and console. And I left wondering where would we be without our pets? The Sims 3 Pets is set to be released on October 20 in Australia for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Mac/PC and Nintendo 3DS.
Only my second time playing Xbox Kinect, this was, originally sort of sceptical and never really enjoyed these sorts of games, I was. Abit different, star wars was, see the appeal and it plays like an arcade game almost, I can. Very sequence based as you can imagine, it is, the way to go with this, I personally think an interactive movie would be great, yeesssss.
Video of me attempting to be a jedi, below is, about half way through I start failing and the microsoft girl just jumps in and helps. The interesting part that is, I was sure kinect could do that not, she just jumps in no questions asked and it works. Other than that, overly great and its the same demo from e3 the game is not, maybe, been tweaked a little, is it. Apparently once it is released, need to say, you will “Lightsaber on” To start fighting, which sounds cool, but too bad it works not in Australia yet! For kinect star release date: TBA 2012, wars is. With you may the force be… Yeesssssss.
My light saber skills, leet they are, the video below showcases.
At this years Tokyo Game show, Sega allowed for hands on previews of a huge number of titles for the Nintendo 3DS. One of the best games over at the Sega booth was Shinobi 3D. Shinobi 3D takes Sega’s ninja themed franchise into the third dimension, but also integrates some stunning 2D animations that contrast to the 3D game play. At first I was concerned about the lack of 3D, on a title made for a device that specially pushes 3D technology, but seeing as they are just cut scenes, it works really well to set up the story of the game before allowing you the chance to perform stealthy ninja attacks.
I only had the chance to play through two levels, the first being a 2D based ninja platform level. Enemies litter the streets and you need to cross a number of obstacles before reaching your goal. There is a really high number of attacks you can perform, my favourite being the ability to launch a barrage of ninja stars mid air.
The second level was a break from this style of game play, and features your ninja avatar riding a horse. Enemies ride along side you, and can be cut down with a slash from his sword. There are also a number of coins to collect along the way, and the path is filled with trees which need to be dodged or jump to make it safely.
Overall, the game play was pretty responsive and complex but really easy to pick up. The different types of levels could prove to be a bonus by breaking up game play into different styles, with both level types being great fun to play. The graphics are amazing, and 2D animated cut scenes are highly detailed and impressive. In fact, all of the Sega games have utilised the 3D technology very well. Shinobi 3D will be released for the Nintendo 3DS on the 17th of November 2011.
Capsule Computers had the chance to speak with producer and co-ordinator from The Behemoth, Ian Morend about the latest build of their upcoming title, Battleblock Theatre at this years Tokyo Game Show. Ian takes us through the third title from The Behemoth, giving us a look at the game play of this 2D action puzzle platform with a hand drawn style. He gives us a run down of the basic story of the game, revealing the games antagonists as a group of technologically evolved cats, as well as goes into some detail about the co-operatively elements of the game. Players can play together to collect gems and release the prisoners who have been captured by the evil cats. There will be several hundred prisoners, who can be played once liberated, with different weapons also able to be collected. The title will be launched on Xbox Live, with the possibility for a PSN launch down the track, with no official release date just yet. Check out the interview and get a look at the game play and a lot more detail about the upcoming title, Battleblock Theatre for the Xbox 360.
Metro: Last Light isn’t a game or franchise I’m very familar with, so I was going into this expecting nothing, but by the end I was really impressed with the game and the concepts behind it. It’s not your typical first person shooter, it’s not kill.kill.explore-repeat, Metro is more about the atmosphere mixed with abit of survival horror and FPS. In addition, it’s the prettiest game I’ve seen at TGS, by the time it comes out the developers are keen on it being the best looking game around.
You can expect highly detailed environments; weather FX, stunning lighting and a consistent framerate. What more could you want? Well, how about more destructible things! The developers have improved the destruction in Metro: Last Light, more objects can now be destroyed and it’s not as intense as something like Red Faction, but it still looked pretty fun. Unfortunatley I wasn’t able to play the game, but the demonstrations were enough to gauge some of the new gameplay features.
The developers are promising improved AI, a soundtrack that’s more dynamic to the environment, revisions of the stealth system and the possibility of multi-player. It wasn’t confirmed, but they alluded to the fact that they were working on it. More choice within the game was hinted as well, I know that the alternate endings in the previous game were abit disappointing, but ultimatley more interesting. Choices like that is something Metro: Last light looks to offer for longevity purposes, such as alternate paths to complete a sequence and similar open-ended paths that couldn’t be discussed.
As far as the story goes, it’s not based on the novels and it’s about a year after the original game. It also picks up after the “bad” ending from Metro 2033, the one alot of people didn’t like apparently. I saw the game running on PC, Xbox 360 and was supposed to see it on the PS3, but it’s hard drive had died for some reason. Maybe Metro: Last light is just way too intense? Who knows! But obviously the game looked alot better on PC, but it was still impressive on 360 regardless. The Xbox 360 and PS3 versions are fairly equal I was told, with both being better than the other in some areas. Overall I came out of there quite interested in a franchise I never have been before, that’s not something that happens often. Metro: Last light Releases 2012 TBA
I’ve grown up through a number of generations of Sonic The Hedgehog, seeing him move from the 2D platforming style of games I grew to love into speed based 3D games. Needless to say, Sonic Generations is one of the titles soon to be release that really has me excited. Being a big fan of the original series, and having been disappointed by a few of my favourite hedgehog’s recent metamorphoses, I was very excited to hear about Sonic getting back to his roots. At this years Tokyo Game Show, I was lucky enough to have a hands on play through of the Nintendo 3DS demo for Sonic Generations.
I’ve always felt a bit of the charm behind Sonic has been his pixilated form, and haven’t really enjoyed any attempts to bring him into the third dimension. However, Sonic generations, within the short span of 10 minutes changed this. The graphics are clean and crisp, with some of the most impressive 3D I have seen on the 3DS to date.
The demo only had four levels, two with the older sonic, and two with the newer. Time only permitted me to play through one of each, which was enough to impress me. The older side of Sonic Generations stays rather true to the original games, in terms of character design, game play and level design. While I must have played through countless Green Hill-esque levels in my time, it was refreshing to see some of my favourite Sonic memories so beautifully crafted using the latest gaming technology. Sonic himself was still very much the same: he can spin, jump and collect rings. Just the way I like him.
The newer side of Generations brings a few features of more recent Sonic games into the level design of older Sonic. High speed boosts and automatic targeting for enemies are so pretty handy features that make it really easy to just burst through a level. As you might have seen through the art design that has been released, the playable Sonic in these levels is a little taller and thinner than he used to be. Never the less, it’s pretty interesting to see these new game play elements come to life in older levels.
After playing the demo, Sega let me have a second hands on play of a level Emerald Coast as it’ll be in the finished game. In each level you can play as either ‘new’ or ‘old’ bringing two very distinct feels to the same level. As some may know, Emerald Coast is a level from the Dreamcast version of Sonic, Sonic Adventure, which has now been redesigned into a 2D platform based level. After playing through the game twice, It’s apparent that there is an emphasis on the game as a platformer, rather than just a speed based game where you race through. A few other features included in the game will be the use of Shadow as a rival, and exclusive environments for two player verses mode. Sonic Generations will be released for the 3DS, PS3 and Xbox360
During Nintendo’s press conference, we finally got a solid launch window of “2012” for Paper Mario. Other than that though, we didn’t get fed a whole lot of information about the game aside from a very short clip. Nintendo have changed that though and released a new trailer that shows off the gameplay side of things for Mario’s next RPG adventure at Tokyo Game Show.
Now if you have ever played the Nintendo 64 version of Paper Mario, the 3DS version should feel right at home as things have returned to their turn-based and non-stage roots. There also appears to be plenty of exploration this time around as in the clip, Mario can be seen walking in and out of houses and interacting with the various environments. Honestly, 2012 can’t come soon enough as this is just one title that Nintendo have up their sleeve for the 3DS, but while you wait you can at least feast your eyes on the new trailer below.
Capsule Computers had the opportunity to chat to the Producer of Super Monkey Ball, Jun Tokuhara（じゅん とくはら）, we also got a quick hands on experience with the game. It looks like it’s shaping up to be a pretty solid launch title, it takes advantage of the PSVITA’s motion controls, augmented reality and online capabilities. It’s a fully featured game and it was good to see a developer trying to use all the features on a new platform, rather than just pushing out a quick launch title.
It’s scheduled to release in PSVITA’s launch window, early 2012. Check out the interview below where we talk about the new features, including my favourite, taking photos of shapes and generating levels based on them!
After first appearing in both Europe and North America’s eShop, WayForward have now brought their first trailer for Mighty Switch Force to the internet. For those not familiar with the upcoming DSiWare title, Mighty Switch Force is a platformer where players take the role of Patricia Wagon and use puzzle elements to traverse several stages.
Now this clip doesn’t show us a whole lot, but we do get a first look at how the puzzle elements work in the game as Patricia can switch platforms on and off to jump through each level, hence the name Mighty Switch Force. Check out the trailer below and once we receive word on a date for this platformer, we will be sure to bring you an update.
