For anyone that is signed up to Xboxlive, they may have noticed that this message dropped in their inbox today. Well, provided that it didn’t get isolated by your spam filter. Which would be a real shame. Because you wouldn’t know the HUGE opportunity that Xbox is offering to a lucky few Australian and New Zealand gamers! Then again… it’s one less person to compete with…
No. NO. Bad Spike. We here at Capsule Copmputers are all about equal opportunity. No matter how much I want to win this prize for myself… But chances are if you clicked on this article, you know what you’re here to find out about. 🙂
Recently, the following email was sent around to inform Australians and New Zealanders alike that they could potentially win a round trip to Seattle to take part in HALO FEST 2011, being held in Seattle on the 25th of August. Halo Fest is going to be the single biggest celebration of the Halo Universe, commemorating 10 years since the first game’s inception. However, it’s only being held in America. A bit far for us Aussies and Kiwis. However, for a lucky winner, that could well change. The winner will not only win a trip to experience the huge celebration that is Halo Fest, but will also have the chance to rub shoulders with authors, game designers, the fanbase, and the many other people who have contributed to this colossus of a gaming series over the last decade. Also, kind of important, the chance to play Halo Anniversary! As well as that, the winner will receive a brand new Windows 7 Phone pre-loaded with Halo Waypoint! It’s free to sign up, so what have you got to loose?
The 25th is only 3 weeks away! So odds are this competition is going to be drawn out soon for logistical practicality. If you want in on this, what are you waiting for?! Click on your email link, or head to the signup facebook page at:
Here is something that seems out of the ordinary. Some Xbox Live users may have noticed that they obtained a generous amount of Microsoft Points. Some decided to go on an Xbox spending spree. Some decided to notify XboxSupport about the glitch on Twitter.
However, the attitude swung to the other side of the pendulum as another message was released; notifying users that any points received due to the glitch were being retracted from said users. Well isn’t that rude. They reward them for their honesty and then decide that they can’t have them anymore? Strange.
If you plan to buy Battlefield 3 for PC, then make sure you have Origin before putting that disk in the CD tray. It was announced that the PC version of the game will require the EA download service in order for the game to run.
DICE Community Manager Daniel Martos announced that the measure will affect retail versions of the game through BF3Blog. There was no mention of the downloaded version from Origin; however, it is safe to assume that both versions will require the constant Origin connection.
This announcement comes after Battlefield 3 was removed from Steam, thus unavailable for users of the service. It was widely believed that the measure took place after EA disagree with certain rules of the service, most notably that DLC and patches must be provided through Steam.
As millions of NBA fans sit in fear waiting to see how much of the 2011-12 season (if any) will be going ahead, one can find some comfort knowing that at least they’ll be able to simulate the matches through the magic of NBA 2k12.
In short, the lockout is a standoff between the NBA players and the owners. Both sides want a higher cut of the league revenues and neither party is seemingly willing to budge, thereby resulting in a stalemate. That means no trades, no signing of free agents no contract signings. The lack of negotiation and compromise from the two parties means that there is a high chance that the upcoming season will be shortened, if not completely dissolved.
Whilst 2K Sports have been relatively quiet over the issue of the lockout, we can see them really pushing the focus towards the legends of the game. Given the success of 2k11 and the focus on Michael Jordan it seems like a logical and promising move. However no NBA season forces 2k to backtrack on the progress they’ve made through the live player and roster updates for Association mode, and furthermore the removal of NBA Today match ups, which although weren’t overly groundbreaking, still added a bit of replay ability to the game, especially during the playoff time.
Forgetting about the effects on live content, the lack of NBA season will see a decrease in hype around the sport, causing many casual fans to lose interest about the league and consequently lose interest in purchasing the game. It remains to be seen how 2k12 will cope with the supposed start of the season and the release of the game approaching quickly. Of course if the lockout is to be resolved soon then fans of the sport and the game will have nothing to worry about. Unfortunately that seems unlikely, but one can only hope.
Final Fantasy XIII – 2 retains most of the gameplay elements of its predecessor. However, Square Enix might be implementing something new, as this new screenshot shows.
It looks like Square Enix is introducing Moogle throwing into the game. Nothing has been announced by the publisher on this feature. However, as the screenshot suggests, it may be an ability where Noah and Serah can use the Moogle to reach treasure chests that seem impossible to get by foot. A very interesting idea coming out of a company where interesting ideas seem to lack these day, according to the gaming community. The third screenshot shows Serah with her bow, ready for battle.
Although, I wonder if they are Moogle rights activists? They wouldn’t be too happy about this.
Codemasters have announced their plans for F1 Online: The Game, a free-to-play browser game that’s in production at Codemasters Studios and set to launch in Q1 2012 at www.F1OnlineTheGame.com
It will give players the chance to be the driver and the team boss in a game that combines top-down racing gameplay with a management role to shape your team the way you want it, organising the commercial, research, production and race crew functions required for success on track. Gamers can see the first screenshots of the game and register their interest to receive updates about the game by logging into www.F1OnlineTheGame.com
Microsoft have announced that the official game for the Rugby World Cup 2011 will be receiving a limited edition Xbox 360 bundle too, ideal for those who are excited for the Rugby World Cup to the point that they want to pick up the game and see what it’s up to, or those keeping an eye on the game who also feel like upgrading their system to the 4GB slim model.
The package will release on the 25th August in Australia, the same date as the game from 505 Games, for a RRP of $349 AUD. Although it hasn’t been confirmed whether the bundle will release elsewhere, I imagine it would with all the excitement surrounding the Rugby World Cup.
The question is, will you be picking up Rugby World Cup 2011 game or Jonah Lomu’s Rugby Challenge?
May’s Mysteries: the Secret of Dragonville Developer: V5 Play Publisher: Mastertronic Genre: Puzzle/Adventure Platform: Nintendo DS Released: 12th August
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery – in which case, the people over at V5 Play clearly have a lot of admiration for Professor Layton’s various mystery-solving outings. From the overall design and layout of puzzles, to the nature of play, to the colour palette and similarly eccentric cast of characters, everything seems to have been influenced by the self-proclaimed puzzle-solver extraordinaire. Even the sound feels oddly familiar, and you’ll be pleased to hear that May’s Mysteries has comparably enchanting, different musical score, even if some sound effects are almost identical.
Your quest starts with a light-hearted hot air balloon ride which turns nasty when you run into a storm, your guide plummets from the basket and you wake up after crash landing in the town of Dragonville to find Tery, your younger brother, missing. The game has 7 minutes’ worth of cut scenes, with this being one of the longer scenes displayed as an animated sequence, (making this particular scene all the more hilarious), including voice acting which brings to life a story which would have otherwise been completely text-based, as all conversations have to be read and aren’t spoken out. Shorter clips are used to capture the atmosphere and introduce you to a new area, whereas the slightly longer ones are used to depict story events.
Playing as May, you soon realise that Dragonville is a strange place; there are no children on the streets, odd encounters with residents keep you on your toes, and running into a ‘Museum of Ballooning Accident Victims’ early on throws up many questions. You soon meet ex-mayor Arthur Doyle, and learn of the current mayor Uter and his evil exploits, with your journey to find your brother turning into a mission to retrieve him. Twists and turns in the plot keep you on edge and questioning what exactly is going on, and the story is compelling enough for you to want to see it out to its conclusion.
The puzzles link in well with the story, with most people having a problem that they need solving before they can let you pass or provide you with the information you need, and some presenting you with their dilemma after they’ve told you what you need, in the hope you will do it as a favour (although still requiring completion before you can move on). There’s still some Layton-esque “this reminds me of a puzzle” nonsense, although most of the enigmas remain relevant, and over the course of the story you will play through around half of 270+ puzzles on offer.
The rest of the puzzles which aren’t integral to the story play their part, too; they are accessible from your backpack at any time (as is a backlog of all story puzzles completed so far should you want to revisit them) and are steadily unlocked as you go along. Completing one of these bonus puzzles earns extra hint points, because much like Professor Layton, each brain-teaser carries two hints to help find the solution, which cost a hint point each. Fortunately, a system has been included to prevent getting completely stuck on a puzzle putting a stop on your progress, as you are also given the option of skipping a puzzle at the cost of 15 hint points. This proves invaluable because while most tasks have logical answers, bringing with them a feeling of satisfaction when you manage to overcome them using your almighty mind, some are overly fiddly and an inconsistent level of difficulty means you could be having trouble on an early stage but breeze through a later stage, or easily complete a simple puzzle only to be completely stumped by the next enigma.
Across your adventure you will meet many different types of puzzle; some involve calculation and logic, whereas some require you to arrange something like piecing together the shards of an object, a sliding puzzle to form a picture, or a picross-inspired hidden picture game. However, not everything about May’s Mysteries: the Secret of Dragonville’s puzzles has been tried and tested by the Layton franchise. It covers some new ground too, in the form of two additions: hidden object searches and rhythm action mini-games. The former won’t be to everyone’s tastes, as the whole idea of searching for a list of objects in a cluttered scene is a fairly mundane task, but as hidden object scenes go, these sections are well presented and adhere to the game’s art-style. The latter, on the other hand, are fantastic, and as well as suiting the game’s musical direction, the rhythm action scenes are great fun to play, making you tap, hold or slide the stylus to the rhythm of the music.
There are a couple of shortcomings in its design, though, namely the fact that despite being entirely touch screen controlled, it doesn’t let you scrawl down any notes or calculations as Professor Layton does; some puzzle that involve drawing a line and physically writing numbers or letters as your answer, but many just involve pressing, and the omission of the option to jot down notes and annotate the puzzle as you work can occasionally hinder your progress as you are forced to retain and consider things purely in your head. Secondly, failing a puzzle can be quite repetitive as you have to skim through the entire conversation again before doing the puzzle. This has probably been done in an attempt to remove any problems with getting back into the game and remembering what you were doing, but it doesn’t fully eliminate the problem anyway, because if you chose to save and stop directly after a puzzle you can have trouble recalling where you need to go next, even if your mission list and the map on the top screen go part of the way to helping you out.
May’s Mysteries: the Secret of Dragonville is one of those rarities: a piece of work that copies another popular creation, but manages to mimic most of the aspects that made the original popular in the first place. It may borrow heavily off of the academic’s antics, but at least it does a good job of it and although some of the new additions and difference don’t work so well, it has ideas and plenty of charm of its own. The story is compelling and brought to life through the cut scenes, exchanges with the quirky characters you meet along the way can be genuinely amusing, and whoever thought to include rhythm action games is a genius as they suit the ambience perfectly. Anyone waiting for Layton’s next adventure could definitely pass the time with this similarly know-it-all puzzle-solver, and could even find themselves a new series worth following.
If you are planning on stopping by Gamescom this year, or visiting Germany for that matter, the folks at PopCap are planning to bring their zombie pals in celebration of Plants vs Zombies coming to the Sony Ericsson Xperia mini and Xperia mini pro devices. This will be the first incarnation of Plants vs Zombies on the droid, so what better way to kick off the event than a battle.
PopCap have promised that the PopCap Zombie will go head to head with the Android robot in a “not-to-be-missed encounter” at Gamescom. I honestly haven’t got a clue of what PopCap actually have planned for this, but if it is anything like what I imagine a zombie fighting a robot would be, this could be quite a show stealer.
Those who are at the Gamescom and want to view this epic battle can do so at the North Entrance of Gamescom venue on Wednesday 17th August at 10.30am. I won’t be in Cologne myself next week, but once we find out the madness that took place we will be sure to bring you an update.
NIS America has previously said that they would be releasing ClaDun x2 sometime in August but they never really said when in August. Not a company to leave their fans in suspense for long, today NIS America announced that they would be releasing ClaDun x2: This is an RPG! exclusively on the PSN just before the end of the month on August 30th.
This dungeon based action RPG will retain the major customization abilities that were there in the first title as well as the ability to even create your own weapons by drawing them. There has been no news on a price tag yet for the download, but given the amount of content and replayability that the first game provided, this may be the title to finally dust off your PlayStation Portable to play.
