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Little Dreamer released for iOS

Out now on iOS systems, is Little Dreamer from Althi Inc. A platforming adventure game that takes you into the world of dreams on a quest to recover a little girl’s Teddy Bear.

You play as a little girl named Amy, who whilst sleeping notices that her beloved Teddy Bear has been bearnapped! Amy grabs her trusty magical pillow and floats off to the dream world skies, chasing down a nasty bearnapping Cyclops Bat.

Althi Inc. are a japanese game developer, known also for their game Ninja Rescue. You can purchase Little Dreamer on iTunes here. Also be sure to check out the Little Dreamer facebook page here.

So what are you waiting for? You’ve got a Teddy to reclaim! Ride your magic pillow to the dream world, with Little Dreamer now.

King of Fighters XIII pre-order bonus is a 4 CD soundtrack

If you thought that receiving only one music CD with your purchase of a video game then you are definitely going to be happy when you hear this news. King of Fighters XIII will contain a 4 CD set simply for pre-ordering the title. This news comes from Atlus as they say it is their biggest pre-order offer in their history.

Anyone who reserves KOF XIII will receive 4 CDs containing not only the game’s soundtrack but also music from all fifteen years of the franchise’s history. This pre-order is available at any participating retailers but you may need to act quickly because these are only “while supplies last.” If the CDs have the same artwork as shown in the picture then that certainly is enough reason to want to pre-order the title before its release on October 27th in North America.

Ocarina of Time 3D reaches 1 million sales; second 3DS game to reach milestone

There has been some mixed news lately for Nintendo regarding their Nintendo 3DS handheld. First they had poor sales out of the gate and just a short while ago they had to announce that they would be dropping the price significantly. But not everything is going bad for the company and its handheld, because The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D has sold 1.08 million units worldwide.

Siliconera reports that the game has sold 810,000 copies in the West and 270,000 locally in Japan which means it is currently the second game to ever reach the mark of one million units on the 3DS. The sales period began on June 16th and ended on June 30th which means the sales have most likely went up from this mark. This milestone means that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D joins Nintendogs + Cats on the one million seller shelf.

Madden NFL 12 demo containing Bears vs Packers hits consoles on August 9th

Good news everyone in North America, the NFL lockout is over which means football will be continuing as usual this year in the United States and what better way to commemorate this announcement than having EA Sports say that they will be releasing the demo for Madden NFL 12 on August 9th for the Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Network.

The demo will be a recreation of the NFC Championship game of last season between the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers. Players will get five minute quarters to play and can even change history by having the Bears not choke and lose to the Packers this time around. Madden NFL 12 the full game will be out August 30th on the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Athena Review

Game: Athena
Consoles: PS3 (Reviewed), PSP
Publisher/Developer: SNK Playmore
Price: $2.99

SNK has been releasing quite a few of their classic games on Playstation. Athena is one of them. Published in 1986, it has found a new life on the PSN by being released as a Mini. Available on the PS3 and PSP, Athena doesn’t appear to have too many changes from the original version of the game. There is no high definition graphics, enhanced gameplay mechanics or other improvements.

The gameplay centers around basic platforming, combat and collecting. As Athena falls from the heavens to the earth below, she loses all her clothes (yea, don’t get too excited. Its still 1986 graphics.) After you reach solid ground, Athena must kick the enemies that try to kill her. After awhile, you’ll find some weapons, and then you will begin finding her armor that bestow different abilities to her. If you get hit, her armor begins to shed in addition to her health bar.

Platforming is quite fun, and there are multiple floors of the environment that you can explore. Each floor has different enemies and requires different strategies to beat, very much like Sonic or other games in the platforming genre.

The biggest problem with this game is that the mechanics and difficulty are, to put it kindly, outdated. Fans of retro games will have a blast with this game, and they will love being able to take it with them on the PSP or play it at home on on the PS3, especially for such a low price. Most gamers will have more fun reliving their memories of playing the game though, as the controls and basic gameplay are floaty and unreliable. For example, hit detection is awful. When I would swing my sword multiple times, it was about a 50/50 chance that I would actually take down the enemy. No matter how many times I tried, I was only able to get about ½ way through the 1st level, even after I turned the difficulty to easy and put CONTINUES on. Part of that may be that old school games are not my forte, but a lot of the reason I had trouble with this game comes down to one simple fact: This game was designed to be a quarter eater, and nothing has changed about that in this port of the game, even though there are no quarters involved. That being said, I was very impressed with the level of detail in the game, especially given that this was a game that was produced before I was born. It was very interesting to see where modern games have come from and how game design has evolved. For instance, collecting pieces of armor and the like reminded me of collecting different armor add-ons in Shadow Complex.

Overall, if your desperately bored and need a cheap game, you could do worse than this game. However, I would recommend Castle Crashers or Shadow Complex to those gamers looking for a 2-D adventure game. Those games capture the feelings of retro platformers, but they add in modern gameplay mechanics and HD graphics. Perhaps if SNK releases a HD remake of Athena, I would be be more impressed, but as it stands, this game will likely only appeal to those gamers old enough to remember playing the original in the arcade or those who like an extreme video game challenge.

6-0-capsules-out-of-10

Gears of War board game releasing next month (Updated with video)

I know a certain member of the staff that is going to probably run out and spend as much money as he has to to acquire this piece of merchandise when it releases next month. I’m talking of course about Gears of War: The Board Game. Esdevium Games has created this little oddity that takes the action of Xbox Live and transfers it onto a kitchen table.

Destructoid found some extra information about this board game. Players can team up to complete randomly created missions with over 200 cards, 75 tokens and 30 plastic figures that can be used as little avatars. Cards are used to perform actions like chainsawing an enemy and more. Unfortunately there has been no news as to how much this game will cost when it actually is ready to ship out.

Australian version of Batman: Arkham City ‘Steelbook Edition’ comes with classic Batman costume

Despite what nearly all media shows Batman dressed like now, he wasn’t always a black and grey wearing dark knight of Gotham. He used to wear at least a little bit more color than that. Those of us in Australia will be happy to know that they can dress as the ’70s styled Batman when they venture around Arkham City because EB Games has the exclusive skin that shows Batman with a blue cape and cowl.

Besides this awesome skin, buyers of this “Steelbook Edition” will receive a fancy metal game box, acess to the Joker Carnival Challenge Map DLC as well as a copy of the “Batman: Under the Red Hood” animated film on DVD or Blu-Ray if you buy the PS3 copy. The package will cost $98 AUD, which is the same price listed as other basic versions of the title.

Brink ‘Agents of Change’ DLC available on August 3rd; free for two weeks

In case you’ve been paying attention, you may have remembered the Brink was supposed to have received a piece of downloadable content sometime earlier this month. But despite missing this release window Bethesda and Splash Damage haven’t forgotten about the package. The DLC “Agents of Change” will be available on August 3rd and it will be completely free to download for the first two weeks its out. After that it will cost $10 or 800 MSP.

The content will be available across all platforms and will add five new abilities, two new outfits, two weapon attachments and two new maps to play on. Also players will be able to level up to 25 compared to the previous level of 20. Those two pristine maps won’t be new for too long with all the shoe scuffs from free running.

EA Mobile Game News

EA have recently released some new iPhone games by the title of Pet Society Vacation and Tranformers 3. They also spoke of Monopoly Here & Now: World Edition.

Pet Society Vacation is a game where players are out on a tropical island with a houseboat of their own decoration. While on the island, players can interact with their own pets or pets of other players, as well as go shopping or scooba-diving for treasure.

Transformers follow through the story of Transformers: Fall of the Moon and players take on the roles of The Autobots or The Decepticons in what could be their final battle. Fall of the Moon should be out now.

As well as these two titles, EA have also reminded us of their top sellers, which are as follows –

  1. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
  2. Need for Speed Hot Pursuit
  3. Dead Space

 

 

Avernum: Escape from the pit Announced

Today, independant game developers Spiderweb Software announced ‘Avernum: Escape from the Pit’ for the Windows, iPad and Macintosh operating systems. The game is a top-down RPG, reminiscent of more classic titles, such as Baldurs gate.

In Avernum, the overworld is ruled by a Tyrant and anyone who acts out of line is banished to Avernum, which is a small locale at the bottom of a volcano. Of course, not everyone has been broken by this system and some are taking up arms against this tyrant.

Avernum: Escape From the Pit is an epic fantasy role-playing adventure in a unique and deadly world. Fight to complete up to three game-winning quests. Explore a massive nation of tunnels and caverns, seeking out eighty towns and dungeons. Master over 50 spells and battle disciplines and hunt for hundreds of magical artifacts. Avernum: Escape From the Pit is a total, ground-up rewrite of the last century’s Indie hit Avernum. It will be ready for adventurers in Q4, 2011.

Be sure to visit the official website for more information.