Oh yes people, there are some new screenshots and info available for the Nintendo 3DS WWE All Stars game, which for the first time will literally be able to say that it’s in your face. THQ is promising fun arcade style gameplay that will appeal to casual followers and hardcore fans alike – all in spectacular 3D. Every wrestler will have grapples, combos, finshers and signature moves, and the usual create-a-superstar mode is along for the ride as well.
So what about the line up? Well All Stars claims to have the best roster ever, with a total of 43 Superstars and Legends. Current gen superstars like Rey Mysterio and John Cena will be able to battle it out with Andre the Giant, Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart, and for the first time ever in a THQ/WWE game, Macho Man Randy Savage.
“Oooh, yeah!”
There will also be two game modes exclusive to the 3DS: Gauntlet and Score Scramble. A single man at a time style Royal Rumble, Gauntlet sets up the player against every Superstar and Legend in the game, taking them on in consecutive matches with showing off your skills the only way to regenerate health. Score Scramble challenges players to be as over the top as possible, and pull off the most outrageous moves to land the win with the highest score.
Another highlight are the ‘Best of All Time’ match ups, with past and present superstars pitted against each other to determine who’s the champ when it comes to ‘Best Big Man’ and ‘Most Impressive High Flier”, to name a few.
WWE All Stars 3DS will so far be coming to North America (22 November), Australia and New Zealand (24 November) and Europe (25 November).
So can a 3DS WWE title really have the best roster ever? Excited for some 3D brawls? As ever – let us know below…
It’s all lights, camera, action as Driver San Francisco shows up with yet another promo video, this time showcasing the ‘film director’ mode. Racing fans who fancy a sideline in movie making will be able to record their own driving using several different cameras and angles, edit all the footage together, and upload the finished product for the Driver world to see.
It’s difficult to tell how in depth the editor will actually be from the brief flashes of interface on show here, but the premise is a good one – being able to recreate your favourite movie car chase can only be a good thing after all. By the look of the opening few seconds, it’s only a matter of time until we get a Bullitt remake a la Driver San Francisco!
Crazy Machines: Elements
Developer: FAKT Software
Publisher: DTP Entertainment
Platforms: XBLA (reviewed), PSN, PC
Release Date: August 24, 2011
Price: 800 MSP – (Available Here)
Overview
A tennis ball rolls down a tube hitting a lever. Suddenly, the lever flings the tennis ball at a nitrous flask. As the flask falls off the ledge, a box of fireworks rests below. BLAST OFF!! This type of phenomenon can only be reached in the labs of Crazy Machines: Elements. Whether you are using electricity to start a fire or a steam machine to power a treadmill, the game takes machine creation to another level. Time for the nuts and bolts break down!
Gameplay
Each level displays a main objective for the player to achieve. Once the objective is completed, the level will be finished. Then the player may choose to retry, go on to the next, or exit the level. An objective could be anywhere from dropping a ball through a hoop to breaking a jar.
The inventory is the mad professor’s arsenal of tools for each round. Through the main levels the inventory is automatically set. By having limited amount of tools, the difficulty is basically a guessing game to match the developer’s line of thought. Starting off the levels are very simple and easy to figure out – i.e., put plank under basketball tilted towards the hoop. However, levels become increasingly complex and take several hours to complete.
The complexity of the each level is also determined by the number of gears to collect. A set number of gears are placed throughout a stage and must be touched to attain a perfect machine. A player may continue on to the next stage even if all of the gears are not collected. All gears must be collected at the time of objective completion. Even if your machine plays past the completion, any gears attained after will not be calculated. I became enraged after finding this little tidbit out. RAWR!!!! Make yourself accustomed to delaying objects.
My personal favorite aspect of the game is to design your own machine. Integrating this custom option lets the player take the reins. A challenge option also becomes available to players. Other players may pose a greater challenge than the developers at FAKT software. Machines can be uploaded online to prove who is the craziest scientist of them all with leaderboards as proof.
Graphics/Audio
Graphics are usually the main cause of misguidance. Inventory items like gears can only be placed on a solid backdrop such as metal or wood. Tools cannot overlap each other, and boundaries are more than likely a factor in item placement. Items like the punching bag need to be correctly positioned on a surface in order to be locked in place.
The in-game items mesh well with each other and deliver a solid animation performance. When a small toy truck is making its way to a nitrous flask, you know for sure that something is going to blow.
On smaller resolutions the text boxes are very small and hard to read. The objectives are crucial to understand the purpose of each level, and a hardly legible text is an unnecessary flaw. After several seconds the text disappears but can be accessed from a hint tool. Having larger text would make gameplay easier on any resolution.
Level music is not annoying which is a definite plus. The scores are tasteful and somewhat relaxing. Depending on the player’s ability, the levels may not last longer than a few minutes but on the off chance the music may become repetitive.
Audio effects are probably the most detailed in the game. While not every action is given its own *ding* or *swoosh*, Crazy Machines: Elements has quality sound effects that tickle your eardrums. A lightning zap here and a cracking jar there is a necessity to the game’s fruition. Without these effects, the audience would not grasp the entire picture. Fireworks without booms and pops are just pretty colors.
Overall
Crazy Machines: Elements delivers a solid backbone of levels for play. By providing a limited inventory basis, the FAKT software minimized available solutions for each stage. While this aspect can be seen as a negative, the player is challenged with collecting all of the gears with limited tools.
But creating a custom machine is exactly the freedom a mad geek needs. Creating a machine and having others try to master your creation can only extend the game’s life. The challenge mode will certainly entertain those who have completed the original levels and give players a chance to rank higher on the leaderboards.
What would Crazy Machines: Elements be without sound? Boring. Explosions, zaps, and crashes make more amusement as well as common sense. With a mellow background music and neat sound effects, this nutty game makes for quite a ride.
With a super tight marketing period, Hard Reset was announced only a month ago and it will release on the 13 of September. This game is aiming to create a new breed of videogame marketing, one where it doesn’t take countless hours of hopeful waiting on your part for the game to release. So far, it appears to be working out well for the team behind the game.
Hard Reset will launch with a price point of $30, although by pre-ordering on Steam, you can get 10% off. The operating specs for the game and the official website are below. It certainly looks like a game to keep an eye on.
MINIMUM:
OS: Windows XP/Vista/7
Processor: 2.5 GHz Intel Pentium 4 / AMD Athlon 64
RAM: 2 GB
Graphics card: 512 MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GS / ATI Radeon HD 3870 or better
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
DirectX: DirectX 9.0c
Hard Drive: 4 GB free hard drive space
RECOMMENDED:
OS: Windows XP/Vista/7
Processor: Intel Quad Core 2.3 GHz / AMD Phenom II x4 2.5 GHz
RAM: 3 GB
Graphics card: 512 MB NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT / ATI Radeon HD 4870 or better
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
DirectX: DirectX 9.0c
Hard Drive: 4 GB free hard drive space
Back at E3, Sony announced a Playstation branded 3DTV, which is to retail at USD $500. There was a vague late 2011 release date attached to it until now, as Sony has announced that the TV shall land in stores in November. Now that’s a little less vague.
The TV features SimulView technology, using the 3D effect to display each player a separate screen, which rids of the half screens of the split screen. The TV will also come with an HDMI cable, one pair of 3D glasses (extra pairs come at a price of $70) and Motorstorm: Apocalypse. Pre-order the TV before September 30, however, and receive an extra game, Resistance 3, on top of the already sweet deal.
Although not an early adopter of 3D, having a full screen for local multiplayer is actually a good idea. I guess, though, the feature will be limited to two players, if you have the extra pair. Have you say below. Are you guys going to pick it up or give it a miss?
Amazing Lego Artist, Bowkenken, has recreated several popular Mecha anime series opening theme songs – in Lego Stop-Motion. He recreates some amazing sequences, such as the opening for Getter Robo, Gundam Victory and my personal favourite Eureka Seven.
Bowkenken has a website in which he explains how to create Lego version Mecha and how he made the opening theme recreations. You check out his website here and several of his other videos here.
Also check below for what is without a doubt my favourite of his videos – side by side with the anime version – Eureka Seven’s opening theme. Please leave a comment below letting us know what you think.
The year is 1962, and weird things are happening. It is your duty to find out what is going on and to put a stop to it. Luckily, you have access to some alien weapons to help you out on your journey. That is the premise of XCOM, the upcoming game from 2K.
Although this video demo was originally shown off at E3, it has just been declassified and made available for public viewing. With commentary from the developers, this demo shows off a lot of the features, gamplay and other things you’ll come across in XCOM. The game is scheduled for a March 6, 2012 release date. Are you ready to investigate and survive the 60s?
Following in the footsteps of many other massive titles such as Skyrim and Deus Ex, Valve has announced that Activisions upcoming title Modern Warfare 3 will incorporate Steamworks integration on PC. Already able to enjoy games in higher resolution graphics, PC players will also now enjoy specific features such as auto-updates and Steam achievements. Activision have also confirmed that at lauch the game will be provided with dedicated servers.
With all the boxing style words of love lately between Activision and EA, its no surprise that EA are not even considering using Valves Steam platform for Battlefield 3. Citing Valves terms and conditions as the reason behind the move, retail buyers of the title will have to use EA’s own origin platform.
Although the Mass Effect franchise will continue after Mass Effect 3, the person known as Commander Shepard will no longer be playable in games afterward, according to an interview with Bioware from PC Gamer:
“After this, Commander Shepard’s story is complete,” said BioWare’s Dr. Ray Muzyka, after confirming that yes, the Mass Effect series will definitely continue after his story is done.
How do you feel about this transistion? Are you ready to break away from this character or would you still like to see him around?
Wow, sassy grammies have become a little bit of a thing in movies and TV shows, but Sega takes it to a whole new level in this trailer for Rise of Nightmares. With plenty of bleeped out curse words, straight marketing talk, and teasing of the casual motion control genre, this game certainly looks like it will be a great hardcore title on Microsoft’s Kinect. After all, who would POSSIBLY choose dancing over zombie slaying. You would have to find a crazy person, because if Grandma can do it, you can do it. Will you and your granny be chilling with this game?
So what about the line up? Well All Stars claims to have the best roster ever, with a total of 43 Superstars and Legends. Current gen superstars like Rey Mysterio and John Cena will be able to battle it out with Andre the Giant, Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart, and for the first time ever in a THQ/WWE game, Macho Man Randy Savage.
Another highlight are the ‘Best of All Time’ match ups, with past and present superstars pitted against each other to determine who’s the champ when it comes to ‘Best Big Man’ and ‘Most Impressive High Flier”, to name a few.
