EA’s Gamescom keynote this year revealed that the company is going to revive one of their most outlandish seeming sports franchises which has stagnated over the years. The franchise is FIFA Street and it will be released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 sometime next year and it is being developed by EA Canada.
The game will contain the same depth as later games in the FIFA series and EA themselves say that the game will have twice as many moves than in FIFA 12. Besides this, the game will use the EA Football Club feature that was announced at E3 and this will also be a game that will make use of EA’s EA Sports Season Ticket so you can of course play it a few days early if you want that thing. So you better keep an eye out if you want to be playing some street soccer next year.
Capsule Computers are proud to announce a NEW reward system for its members, where everybody has an equal chance of winning free video games and other awesome prizes!
WHAT YOU CAN WIN:
We’ve got X-Box 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, P.C., iPhone, X-Box Live Arcade and PlayStation Network games up from grabs, as well Amazon Vouchers and other cool stuff in our lucky dip of awesome prizes!
HOW YOU CAN WIN:
Winning is as easy as just visiting the site! Simply byregistering as a member of Capsule Computers, your in the running for a chance to WIN! All you got to do is sign up here and comment on at least five different articles and reviews within a month. How easy is that? All you got to do is say what you think!
HINTS AND TIPS:
We’ll be keeping our eye out for the most interesting or insightful posts, and who is the most active. So commenting a lot will help, but whatever you do-DON’T SPAM! Also posting insightful comments such as your opinions on upcoming games and feedback on news and reviews will also catch our attention. It’s not just here either: by sharing our articles on Facebook, retweeting us on Twitter, reviewing our Podcast oniTunes and subscribing and commenting on our Youtube channel will also help catch our attention. No matter where you are, we’ll find you!
HOW WILL I KNOW IF I’VE WON?
ON the 15th of each month as of September 2011, we will announce the winner on the front page of the site, and a prize will go out to the member who’s caught our attention that month. We will also contact you via email, where you’ll have 10 working days to reply to claim your prize. So don’t forget!
HOW ELSE CAN I WIN FREE STUFF?
Simply by commenting, not only do you have a chance of winning a Monthly Member reward, but you also get Cube Points as well, which you can redeem for a whole bunch of other cool stuff such as video games! You can learn more about earning Cube Points here, and see all the epic stuff you can get here!
Good luck to everyone! Get commenting and talking about your favorite video games and anime, and don’t forget: Play hard or don’t play at all!
This week, the Capsule Couple cracks out an old gem from their days of childhood gaming long since past. Back when the Pokémon series had only reached the 2nd generation, and back when it was all about the BATTLES. No time wasting Super-Contests, no overly-dramatised Pokéathlons, no over-the-top musicals. Just the players, their Pokémon, and a fight to prove their digital superiority. Truly an epic test of battle skills for the best of hardcore gamers.
And so what did we end up playing?
MINIGAMES!!! 😀
In the newest instalment of the Tappin’ That series, Spike and Aura re-visit Pokémon Stadium 2 on the Nintendo 64. A bit of an old school classic that neither of us had played in quite a while, so our skills were very rusty. Hence why we set the difficulty to “EASY”. We did an earlier take on “NORMAL” and we got f#&%ed up by the A.I.’s. We ended up duking it out in a 3 round set of mini-games, displaying our reaction time skills in Eager Eevee, testing our basic math skills in Streaming Stampede, and prove which of us has the sharpest blades and wits in Clear Cut Challenge. Enjoy!
The Sims 3 Ambitions
Developer: Electronic Arts
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Genre: Simulation
Platform: iPhone (reviewed), iPad
Release: 26 September 2010
Price: $4.99 (Buy Now)
Overview
Ever since the Sims first came out and started stealing away days at a time of my childhood I’ve always had a soft spot for the game. I don’t know if it was the whole playing God thing, or maybe that I was just a control freak, but for chunks at a time all of my waking hours were spent taking care, growing and sometimes purposefully killing these little simulated people. The release of the Sims franchise on iOS could have been a half-baked, barely there game and I would still devote time and effort on it even if it made me hate myself a bit. Fortunately, EA gave me a good game that I am proud to spend hours on.
Gameplay
The Sims is always a very personal journey depending on how much of a masochist or narcissist you are (seriously, did anyone else make themselves and their house or am I just crazy?). So, I offer you my personal journey and what I came up against in the game.
First of all, creating a new character. There is far, far less customisation than usual but given that in the PC version you can control pretty much every single aspect there is, this is to be expected. There are nine different facial combinations you can choose from, although what annoyed me was most of them had unsightly freckles. I got over this by making my character wear the thickest eyeliner ever applied that must have been done with a small paintbrush.
Then you choose your outfit with a few different colour themes, your outfit pretty much goes with the career you want to take up. My outfit choice? Classy stripper! Tiny jacket, fishnet stockings and all.
Then you pick your Sims ambition in life, there’s a range of them from the standard Jack-of-all-Trades, to Music Genius, to my choice – Sleaze. As a sleaze my Sim gets a kick out of having ‘generous amounts of Woohoo’. Classy quickly turned to sleazy.
After that come traits, which again are a slimmer selection than usual but all the usuals are there, sense of humour, friendly, vain, brave, etc. There was no ‘slutty’ or ‘seductive’ trait so I had to settle for some sociable traits which would help me bag a few sims in the sack and raise my points for the amount of Woohoo I was getting.
Then of course you choose a name and I decided to give my Sim the perfect stripper name – Sunshine.
The Sims 3 Ambitions app ‘Create a Sim’ section definitely cut a lot of the usual corners that EA likes to brag about, but I kind of liked it. I usually just like to get into the game, but for someone who really loves to spend hours creating the perfect Sim (or perfectly difficult), this will disappoint.
Unfortunately none of the available careers came under the heading of ‘Stripper’ so I had to choose the next best thing out of the four available careers – musician.
You need to attend a job interview, which is far more realistic than past Sim installments where you decide to get a job and then get it. Perhaps the GFC is hitting Sim City.
The controls are fairly good considering they’ve been made far more concise. They’re quite user friendly and I didn’t run into much trouble, most things were self explanatory or required some exploratory swiping around the screen. The screen is well set out, with needs easily displayed along the bottom and wishes along the side, everything is easy to get to and good for a quick glance at their stats. You can also edit their appearance when they’re at home, which is new. I guess if you want to change careers and decide that a chef’s uniform isn’t suitable for a firefighter this would come quite in handy.
In terms of travelling into town they have certainly shrunk it down, but I actually kind of like it. It doesn’t cause lag and it’s easy to navigate. Your Sim is a tiny coloured person-shaped figure which glides around the map from afar but once you decide to interact with someone it zooms in to show the two Sims. As my Sim was Slutty McSlutface I had to do a lot of this meet and greeting. In terms of making friends it takes a shorter time than usual and is far less annoying. There are bars down the bottom of the screen showing your friend metre and it fills up quickly, within hours I had a partner and got him back to my place for some Woohoo! And a woman was shortly thereafter. It’s a good thing Sims don’t get STIs. Or WTIs, as it were.
Of course there are still the Sims who will shake their heads and gesture wildly if they dislike a certain social thing you are doing but I like that they’ve kept that personal aspect to the NPCs.
They’ve kept the wishes system in place, your Sims are driven by wants determined by their traits or ambition and you can fulfill them and keep your Sims happy or ignore them cos they’re stupid and no you are not buying them a new fridge, the old one works perfectly well.
You do have to spend some Simoleons buying a repair kit or recipes if you want to do stuff yourself or eat more than a quick meal. One surprising inclusion in the game was that when you repair stuff it takes you into a mini-game to do it yourself. Plus, this way it’s on you if you stuff it up instead of your possibly incompetent or far-more-competent-than-you Sim.
Audio
They’ve kept the Sims soundtrack, which I think was a great choice. After all, they’re aiming it for the Sims-established market and the people in that market probably get gooey warm feelings when they hear that music. I know I do. The voice clips of Simlish are limited and you tend to want to switch it off when they’re conversing because if you’re doing a series of different things from the same submenu you will go insane.
Visual
The game looks great, the Sims translates well onto iOS and the developers have managed to strike a great balance between detail and short loading times. And for you pervs out there, they wear their underwear to shower. But you know someone’s going to develop a patch to fix that.
Conclusion
A must-have for any Sims addicts out there, or anyone who has really long public transport commutes and wouldn’t mind getting crazy obsessed with a game. EA has done a great job staying true to the Sims franchise and delivering an above board title for iOS.
Leading video game retailer GAME, in accordance with leading gaming headset makers Turtle Beach, comes one of the biggest tournaments in gaming. Battle of the Clans pits clans of players against each other in the popular first person titles Call of Duty: Black Ops and Halo: Reach. The tournament will be held on the Xbox 360 platform at an undisclosed Sydney location.
How to enter: There are 2 ways to enter for Battle of the Clans – either through a written response, or with a video entry. If you enter with a video entry and are selected, you’ll also get a bonus exclusive prize pack at the tournament showdown.
To enter with a written entry: Simply tell us in 50 words why you and your clan should be selected to compete to become the official clan of Game and Turtle Beach. Submit your entry to [email protected]
To enter with a video entry: Simply gather up your clan and make a short video (2 mins or less) convincing us why you should qualify for the chance to become the official clan of Game and Turtle Beach. Just make sure you mention game somewhere in your video entry. For example, you could put a Game logo in your video, or say, ‘Game On’. Then, upload your video entry and send it as a downloadable link (no youtube submissions will be accepted).
A panel of judges will choose the finalists, who will be contacted after the 24th August. The finalists will then get to compete in a knock-out style tournament on the 27th August.
The winnders of the Tournament look like they’ll be recieving some really awesome equipment, courtesy of GAME and Turtle Beach.
$10,000 to cover travel & incidentals for up to 10 appearances
Each Team member receives:
1x NEW Xbox 360 Console
2x NEW AFTER GLOW Xbox 360 Controllers
1x NEW Turtle Beach headset
1x Team Uniform consisting of Polo shirt and hoodie.
Specialist Call of Duty: Black Ops – Winning Clan receives:
$10,000 to cover travel & incidentals for up to 10 appearances
Each Team member receives:
1x NEW Xbox 360 Console
2x NEW AFTER GLOW Xbox 360 Controllers
1x NEW Turtle Beach headset
1x Team Uniform consisting of Polo shirt and hoodie.
Entries for the tournament end on August 24th, with the Tournament taking place on the 27th of August. Players must make their own travel arrangements to Sydney.
The tournament looks like it will be a lot of fun to everyone who enters in the knockout tournament for each title. To all combatants – Remember to keep your wits about you, and also, it’s just a game, so have fun. Oh, and goodluck.
The new SSX game was spoken about today during the EA Gamescom press conference. Creative director Todd Batty annouced that SSX will have quite a few features that are similar to the recent Need for Speed titles. For example, using the Autolog engine, “Ridernet” will allow gamers to “like” certain drop points and recommend new drops to others. In addition, the service tracks your friends, and will let you vote them up or down based on their performance. Finally, every time a player records a personal best on a track, a ghost of that run can be uploaded for their friends to race against. Plus, you can set up customized events, which can be global and have up tp 100,000 other players competing simultaneously in real time in them.
The preorder bonus items for SSX were also revealed.
At GameStop, you’ll get legendary SSX character Eddie Wachowski, his Elite snowboard, and a bonus boost.
Preorder on Origin and receive Elise’s Elite snowboard and a bonus boost.
If you go with Amazon, you get Mac’s Elite snowboard and a bonus boost.
From Best Buy, receive Zoe’s Elite snowboard and a bonus boost.
If you use Walmart, Kaori’s Elite snowboard and a bonus boost will be included in your preorder.
The price of games, something that affects pretty much all of us gamers, be it the latest Call of Duty instalment at more than a day’s wages, or a curious indie title at just a few bob, pricing is something that all publishers and studios have to decide on. Sometimes the price is based on prestige or brand, sometimes it is low enough to be an impulse purchase, and sometimes it appears to be nothing more than a reflection of a publisher’s greediness, but this variation does little to answer the big question; what should a game actually cost?
To an independent developer, who may have spent years and years slaving away on their creation, this can be a very tough decision indeed. Should the price be high enough to reflect the effort they put into the project, but raise the risk of a flop? Or low enough to guarantee sales, and in doing so undermine the passion that went into actually making it?
Two things made me think about this, for one, I have spent the last twelve days in Switzerland, a country with a comparatively stable economy and wealthy populace, and resultantly a place where everything is expensive, and I mean really expensive. A can of coca-cola costs you three or four times what it would at home, and the prices of games are mad! For example while wandering around in Bern today, I saw a used copy of Modern Warfare 2 priced at one-hundred pounds! One-hundred pounds! That’s insane! I know that prices on games in the UK aren’t exactly the lowest in the world, but I could buy at least three AAA titles for that much! And double that again if I bought them on Steam!
The second reason I was thinking about this was the news of the new “Resurrection” map pack for Call of Duty, in which the original Nazi Zombies maps can be played in Call of Duty: Black Ops. Now, as a franchise COD is already known for milking its fans rather relentlessly as far as prices are concerned, but fifteen pounds for maps that fans have already bought once just strikes me as immoral, and even more so given they know for certain it will sell.
Now, despite this rather foul play on the part of Activision and Treyarch, I think this actually says less about them and more about the Call of Duty fans. I know I’ll make no friends by saying this, but COD fans, if you truly are prepared to happily buy this content you already own (and not for the first time I might add), just because the publishers have decided it’s once again time to relieve you of your hard earned cash, then you are essentially labelling yourselves sheep, and I guarantee you will continue to be exploited as such.
On the other hand, this does actually give one answer to the dilemma of pricing, albeit a woolly (no pun intended) and somewhat tricky one to apply. Simply put; a game is worth whatever people are willing to pay. Just as the people of Switzerland continue to fork out (what I consider to be) far too much for their games, so too will your own customers, as long as you can somehow convince them that they should, be it through marketing, customer loyalty, or some other method; if you convince them, they’ll pay gladly.
You could also do it the easy way, and stick the words “Call of Duty” on the box, since we already know that works.
One Mr. Ken Rolston has informed the gaming community at Gamescom that 38 Studios will be releasing Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning on February 7, 2012. In Europe, the launch date is on the 10th. So, you’ll have about 9 months to play it before there are no video games left upon this Earth. Well, there may be video games, but no humans left to play them… Or something like that. 2012 is still a thing, right? Regardless, the action-RPG that EA is publishing certainly looks like it has some awesome elements to it, and we can’t wait to play it. How about you?
A man who was allegedly charged twice for one year of membership to Xbox Live Gold (GASP!) has recently filed a class action lawsuit against Microsoft. Ryan Graves says that although his credit card was expired and his subscription was null, Microsoft charged him twice on a new debit card.
“Microsoft cannot just charge a consumer’s credit or debit card whenever it wants without authorization. Mr. Graves signed up to play games on his Xbox, not to allow Microsoft to play games with his debit card,” stated E. Michelle Drake, Mr. Grave’s attorney.
Graves said that many Live Gold members have “similarly experienced Microsoft’s unauthorized charges.” In addition, his suit against Microsoft claims that they disobeyed the federal Electronic Funds Transfer Act, and that the Terms of Service, which allows for “the right for Microsoft to decline to refund users,” is “onerous and unfair.” Mr. Graves expects that “hundreds, if not thousands, of Defendant’s subscribers satisfy the definition of the Putative Class.”
As the title suggests, the latest horse racer from Tecmo Koei, Champion Jockey, has had a new selection of screenshots released for it. These screenshots feature events, breeding and night time racing.
Champion Jockey is set to be appearing on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Wii later this year.
Champion Jockey is the spiritual successor to the G1 Jockey series, recreating the horseracing world through a variety of immersive races, intuitive gameplay with simple controls. Utilising the latest motion controllers, being a jockey is no longer just a dream. The new standard in horseracing is here.
