Famitsu Magazine has announced that Namco Bandai games will be bringing the popular Gundam Extreme Vs. arcade game to the Playstation 3 on December 1st, 2011. The game is set to be an updated version of the ninth installment of the Gundam arcade series and will feature new Mobile Suits such as Crossbone Gundam Full-Cross from the Gundam Crossbone manga series.
This will be the first arcade game in the franchise to make the move to consoles this generation. The last arcade game to move to consoles was for the Playstation 2. So with this being the first title to move to a console this generation it’s pretty big news for fans of the Gundam Vs. series. Please leave a comment below with your thoughts on this news.
It has recently been announced that Takeshi Konomi’s The New Prince of Tennis manga will be adapted into an anime series. The original manga simply titled The Prince of Tennis previously had an anime series based off of it, as well as spawning multiple films. After concluding his original manga, Konomi created The New Prince of Tennis a direct sequel to the original which takes place several months after the conclusion of the original series.
Not much has been revealed about the details of the adaptation or it’s release date for the series. However the latest film in the franchise is set to premiere in Japanese cinemas on September 3rd, 2011.
Leave a comment below with your thoughts on The New Prince of Tennis anime adaptation.
Keen on Dead Rising 2? Well you’re in luck, Capcom has announced that Dead Rising 2 Off the Record is appearing today at PAX (Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle) to show off a brand-spanking new Sandbox Mode developed by Capcom Vancouver.
You get to explore the casinos, restaurants, malls and new Uranus Zone of Fortune City with no pesky time limit. Take all the time you want, collecting things, finishing challenges, and of course massacring zombies. Of course the more you do, the more cash you get, but who needs cash when you get the satisfaction of some good old zombie massacring? As it says in the trailer, this is his vacation. And with some awesome inventive weapons and out-there challenges, this is looking to be a pretty kick ass sandbox.
Check out the trailer below. What do you guys reckon? Keen or what?
Gamevil has released a sequel to their original entertaining app NOM: Billion Year Timequest, called NOM 5. NOM 5 is a zany little game where you play as the gender-flexible NOM, trying to get home. Travel the galaxy with simple one-touch controls in an arcade game-style app in 360-degree rotatable levels.
A huge attraction of NOM 5 is that Gamevil has let it go on iTunes for free (with in-game purchases), meaning that the game and leaderboards will be chock-a-block with eager gamers and a great competitive arena to go show your one-touch skills at.
So go on, head on over to iTunes and download the free app for your iTouch, iPhone or iPad.
A trailer for upcoming next installment in the popular Tales RPG franchise, Tales of Xillia has made it’s way onto the web. The franchise has seen many incarnations some successful others not as much, but it’s without a doubt one of the most influential RPG franchises still going today.
The Tales of Xillia trailer focuses on the storyline for the upcoming Playstation 3 title. The game is being released as part of the franchises 15th anniversary. Namco Bandai has confirmed the title will be released in Japan on the 8th of September, 2011.
You can check out the Tales of Xillia trailer below and leave a comment with your thoughts.
Today, a new anime series based off of the popular Hayate the Combat Butler manga was announced.
Attendees of the Hayate and Negima double feature movie premiere in Japan recieved a special edition manga volume known as Hayate the Combat Butler volume #99 which confirmed that a new Hayate the Combat Butler anime was green-lit for production.
Thus far, no further details on the nature of the anime series have been confirmed. All that is known is that Hayate will be animated once more in some capacity in the future.
Whether it be an OVA or a full length series, this is great news for Hayate fans.
Studio Ghibli has joined forces with Level 5 to create Ni no Kuni: Shiroki Seihai no Joō a role playing adventure game for the Playstation 3 which is a companion title to the Nintendo DS game Ni no Kuni: Shikkoku no Madōshi. Today, Level 5, known for their ever popular Professor Layton series, has confirmed the release date for Ni no Kuni as 21st of November, 2011.
A game trailer has also been released showing off the games clear Studio Ghibli-esque visuals and gameplay. Like it’s Nintendo DS companion the game follows the story of a boy who travels to the world of Ni no Kuni through his magical book. Leave a comment below letting us know what you think of Ni no Kuni.
THQ have followed suit with their WWE title and have left the decision for the cover athlete up to us gamers. Fans can choose from one of the following five UFC athletes:
Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar
Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre
Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva
Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones
Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez
“We are excited to let fans choose the cover athlete for UFC Undisputed 3. Frankie, Georges, Anderson, Jon, and Cain are five of the most popular athletes in our sport and each wants to be on the cover. We love making our fans a part of the process and we’ll leave this one up to them.” Said UFC President Dana White.
Keep an eye out for when the polls open and go forth and vote for your favourite fighter! UFC Undisputed 3 will be out early January next year and hopefully we’ll have the full roster of athletes for you in the next few weeks.
Name: Puzzle 26 – The 7th Day Developer: Jerry Lee Publisher: j2sighte Genre: Puzzle Platform: iPhone (reviewed), iPad Release: 23 August 2011 Price: $0.99
Overview
If there’s one thing that iOS games do well, it’s puzzles. They were the first big genre for apps, and for good reason. They’re portable, quick, and give you a great sense of accomplishment every two to ten minutes, which suits the short attention span of some iOS players (I’m looking at you, 7 year olds whose parents have bought them iTouches). I appreciate a good puzzle game, it’s a great way to get the brain juices flowing and feel like you’re doing something semi-intellectual while still having fun. Puzzle 26 gives you that, the game is all about the puzzles and it delivers some doozies.
Gameplay
Its described as Minesweeper with a twist and that is pretty much the best description for it. There are four differently coloured puzzle pieces and you have to place them on the board in the correct blank tiles. These are found according to a few numbered tiles on the board that tell you how many of those coloured tiles the numbered tile is touching, so using this you can figure out what goes where.
The puzzles start off fairly easy and get harder as you go on. There are 50 levels in each ‘day’, and four days in total so the learning curve is fairly evenly graded as it goes on. The first day is pretty easy to breeze through, but once you start nearing the end of the days it becomes a big headache. At first you can depend on the answers coming easily, but it starts to be more based on guessing and a frustrating trial and error which means clearing the board a few times and trying not to hit the same puzzle roadblock again and again. It takes patience and a good memory to come up with different solutions or see a solution that might be sitting right in front of you.
The controls are easy to grasp, although there is a tutorial that you have to go through before playing the game to make sure you understand what’s going on. While the controls may have been able to be picked up quite easily, the rules are somewhat more difficult (particularly if the person playing hasn’t spent as much time on MSN Minesweeper as I did in high school), so it was a good idea to put that in an easy to find place. In terms of controls it’s a simple select colour, click blank spot, have the game flash at you warningly and make a bad noise if that tile can’t go there.
One issue of the game, which a lot of puzzle games have, is that if you get stuck on one level you’re screwed in terms of progressing. This is unbelievably annoying, given that as you get to the later stages some of these puzzles get ridiculous. There is a ‘unblock all levels’ button but it doesn’t really seem to do anything.
Every level you finish gives you a piece of a missing tile slide puzzle, which you can have a go at completing when you finish the day. I’m not a huge fan of the slide puzzle, but it was cool that there was an added feature to the game. Plus, it was cool to have something other than the congratulations to show for finishing a day.
Apart from that there really isn’t anything else to the game. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that’s a negative. I prefer a game with a simple concept that they’ve done well over one with a completely crazy concept that they haven’t managed to pull off. And the developer has certainly delivered his concept well.
Audio/Visual
The soundtrack is the sort of music you’d expect to find blaring in a stereotypical Arabian bazaar. The in-game music is a bit more chilled, twanging guitars and percussion instruments. Its kind of funky but you’ll probably go a bit crazy if you listen to it for too long. The sound effects are crashing cymbals and maybe not the best to have on if you’re planning on playing it for an extended period of time. In terms of graphics, they’re pretty simple and standard. The graphics are simple and pretty standard. They insert a few Egyptian symbols here and there to make it feel all authentic.
Conclusion
Overall, it’s a good puzzle game with a fair learning curve – the developer had his fingers on the pulse in making it accessible and easy for people to adjust to. There are aspects that could be improved in terms of gameplay but for an indie game it’s a good creation. With 200 puzzles plus the awards, it’s sure to keep you entertained for a while.
Ankama Games known for their strategic MMORPG Dofus, have announced a beta release date for their upcoming strategic sports title Gobbowl. The game is set to be a mash-up of Rugby and American Football set in the Ankama-Universe.
The interesting thing about Gobbowl is that it will be getting an international beta release between the 8th and 18th of September, 2011. Gobbowl is going to be a free-to-play game which is said to feature simple gameplay that is accesible to all gamers. So if you are interested in Gobbowl you can check out some more information at the official site here. Also check out Ankama’s official website here.
Leave a comment below letting us know what you think of Gobbowl.
