Turtle Beach has long been known in the gaming industry as a brand for reliable and quality gaming headsets. This year at EB EXPO, when we saw Turtle Beach had a stand, we couldn’t wait to get over there and speak to the team and see the latest products slated for release.
The absolute highlight of the Turtlebeach stand was the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 gaming headsets. These headsets are designed for closed-ear gaming for hours and hours on end without your ears getting hot or uncomfortable.
With the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 coming up in November, it’s no wonder that gamers will want to prepare themselves for a long haul of gaming (no sleep and no social life, anyone?). Chris Eade said the headsets were made with these COD gamers in mind, and there are different options to suit the needs of individual. The headsets were officially released to the public at EB EXPO.
It’s safe to say that when many people saw the schedule for EB EXPO 2011, one of the events that immediately leaped out from the page was the EA Special Presentation with Chief Operating Officer, Peter Moore, and Lars Gustavsson and Daniel Matros from DICE. The team from EA didn’t disappoint, with a spectacular show that covered EA’s upcoming titles, the direction of the company, and an extensive segment on Battlefield 3.
Peter Moore took the stage first, and talked about EA’s incorporation of the gaming community’s opinions and feedback into their future titles. He showed comparisons of current games and games from the ‘90s and noughties, and outlined how franchises like Need for Speed, FIFA and Battlefield have developed and improved over time. Moore said for EA, the titles are always being made with the gamer in mind, and because of that EA has constantly improved and transformed their franchises to rise to prominence within their respected genres.
Following Moore, the team from DICE took the stage and spoke about Battlefield 3. They looked at the new Frostbite engine and the title’s improvements over its predecessor (including the multiplayer experience).
We did get to chat to Lars Gustavsson later on during the event to hear about Battlefield 3, which releases on October 27. Check out the video down below.
Ten thousand square feet. Thousands and thousands of fans. Developers and publishers showcasing the latest and upcoming titles.
Welcome to EB EXPO, 2011: Australia’s biggest video game exhibition, which kicked off on October 15. Hosted in the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre in sunny Queensland (yes, there was sun despite the terrible weather reports), EB EXPO is an Australian first and gives gamers a local opportunity to view all the big titles slated for release later on this year.
With playable demos for games such as Batman: Arkham City, The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, EB EXPO’s stalls place gaming for the rest of this year (and some of next year) on a silver platter for the public.
The first day kicked off with BMX riders, sparklers, and a look at the past, present, and future of video game history. The arena filled out with gamers, cosplayers, and members of the games industry. Queues formed for The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, Batman: Arkham City, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, and Halo: Combat Evolved, and the atmosphere was absolutely contagious.
The exhibitors who had stalls included Activision Blizzard, Warner Bros., Ubisoft, Bluemouth, EA, Namco Bandai, Xbxo 360 Kinect, Razer, Bethesda, Konami, THQ, Sega, Turtlebeach, Nintendo, and the Parrot AR Drone. The stalls were definitely crowded for the duration of each session (although what do you expect?), and there was plenty of positive feedback for the titles and products gamers got a chance to try their hands at.
EB EXPO also had live presentations for gamers to hear – from the developer and publisher’s mouths – what was planned for these upcoming games, consoles, and accessories. The EB Live sessions consisted of an introduction of the PS Vita from Sony, presentations from the big game releases (including an Australian first of Saints Row: The Third. The first day also saw a keynote from Peter Moore, EA’s Chief Operating Officer, and the DICE team, and the final of the World Cyber Games Australia (the winner gets to go to Korea for the world finals!). Day two was the Just ‘Cos Cosplay Competition, where an insane amount of people showed off their costumes and rocked their characters with flair.
We got to chat to some guys at the Bluemouth, Turtlebeach, Nintendo, and EA booths, and they gave us a fantastic rundown on the products we can be expecting to see on shelves later this year. Some highlights include the Turtlebeach Modern Warfare 3 headsets, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, and Bluemouth’s Batman controllers to celebrate the upcoming release of Arkham City.
Sometimes, it’s hard for us sites to remember the Australian public doesn’t get to see these upcoming playable titles at events like E3 and Tokyo Games Show. The EB EXPO 2011 was a wonderful opportunity for the gaming community to try their hand at what will be gracing their consoles in late 2011/early 2012.
Of course, a picture says a thousand words, so here’s a look at the photos from the weekend. Yes, there are a ton of booth babes – but come on, who doesn’t love ‘em? My favourite person at the expo still has to be Commander Shephard from the Mass Effect franchise, though.
Great job, EB Games. Australia’s largest video game exhibition certainly began and ended with a bang, and it can only get better and better from here.
There are a certain group of gamers who love to see whenever a game’s achievements end up being revealed, especially this early. Assassin’s Creed Revelations achievements have been revealed on Xbox360Achievements and you can see them here. Of course looking at these achievements can always result in spoiling something so read them at your own risk.
Also if you take a look at them, you will notice that there are a few multiplayer achievements to go along with the title, as well as story specific ones and collectibles which Assassin’s Creed has been known for. Plus it appears a few achievements have been recycled from Brotherhood, such as raising a trainee up to a master assassin. What do you think of these achievements?
Althi Inc, the creators of critically acclaimed iOS title Little Dreamer, have announced plans to release a new game for the iOS next month. The new title will be called Zombie Swing and is set to swing to iOS decvices on the 4th of November, 2011.
Althi will be taking on the Zombie genre with their unique Althi Inc. style that they have become known for. The game challenges players to swing a zombie around, in what Althi have called “stress release” gaming.
You can check out the official facebook page for Zombie Swing here and like them. What do you think of Zombie Swing? Let us know in the shoutbox and comments section.
Last time I played golf, the only obstacles I encountered were trees, a persistent torrential downpour and my own lack of co-ordination.
The new gameplay trailer for Worms: Crazy Golf shows off the kind of obstacles you might expect from playing golf as a worm across a pirate-themed course – namely, cannons, bats, treasure chests, and explosive barrels.
It also demonstrates the functions of some of the mechanics we’ve been told about in our interviews with Team 17 design staff. Players can call upon anti-gravity powers to bounce their ball across wider gaps, hit switches to toggle troublesome magnets on or off, and collect coins. Oh yeah, and try to get the ball into the hole.
You know what? Just watch the video. Worms: Crazy Golf is due out this Wednesday, October 19.
Ready for some shocking, jaw-dropping news? Well, you won’t find any here. As expected, EA will be sticking their lovely online pass into new copies of Battlefield 3. This of course means that if you buy the game pre-owned to save a few bucks, you will then have to dish out extra funds for the online pass seperately.
DICE’s Alan Kertz confirmed this with this statement:
“You can also purchase an online pass for a used copy.”, which was quickly followed up with “Because servers cost money, and used games don’t make developers any money” to give a bit of reasoning to the decision.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe Battlefield: Bad Company 2 did quite well for EA, and Battlefield 3 will no doubt benefit from those huge numbers if we judge by the high number of pre-orders the game has already taken. If you were to factor in all of the gamers that bought the game at a discounted price with pre-owned sales, you would think that those users will end up buying Battlefield 3 new anyway. I know nearly everyone is adding online passes these days, but you would think that some developers would eventually understand that a high number of used sales can equal a high number of pre-orders for your next follow-up.
Maybe I am just blabbering on about the unchangeable and I am still in “the entire experience should be on the disc” mindset, but if more companies would reward gamers for purchasing new with extra content rather than taking away half the experience in this punishing process, their future sales for sequels would be even greater.
Well looks like a couple of video game retailers in Australia have broken the street date for the highly anticipated Batman: Arkham City. October 19th was the official Australian release date for the game, but now it seems that this is no longer the case. EB Games announced that they were selling the game earlier via their twitter and facebook page, with other video game retailers following suit.
The retailers in question are JB Hi-FI,EB Games and GAME are all now selling the game two days earlier than planned. So I guess if you’re lucky enough to be in Australia and can’t wait a few days to play Batman: Arkham City you can now go ahead and buy it right now for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC.
Eager to see how Prototype 2’s new hero is going to kick some butt in Prototype 2? Well Activision has released a new theatrical trailer for the title this weekend and in it we see him doing just that. While we may not actually be seeing any gameplay, we are introduced to the Red Zone of New York.
You can catch the video below and check out some of the new creatures and see just how determined our new main character is in his hunt for Alex Mercer. Radical Entertainment’s title is released next year in April across both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 platforms.
Developer: Sports Interactive Publisher: SEGA Platform: PC, Mac (both must be accessed via Steam) Release Date: 21st October 2011
There’s a reason why previous versions of Football Manager have been so successful. After having had my life taken over by FIFA 12 the last few weeks, I came into Football Manager 12 thinking there was no way it could pull me away for long enough; why would I want to just manage and watch simulations when I could be playing the actual matches? I wish I knew the answer to that, it would really help explain why I’ve become addicted to this game.
Display wise, the new “adaptive layout” is very useful if you have a big screen, expanding the number of panels you can see at one time. If you’re new to Football Manager, the interface may be a bit confusing at first, but there are plenty of tips and help available in the game to show you around. At times it still feels a bit messy but after a while you get used to it easily enough. The only real change that has been made in regards to the setup is the ability to add/detract leagues which definitely comes in handy, (meaning you can actually control more than one team in different leagues in one save file) there are however countless additions scattered throughout the game, each improving the experience to different extents.
Where Football Manager 12 really earns its points is the sheer level of detail and complexity included in the game. The series has been renowned for its use in real life by some clubs such as Everton as a player database, and it’s not really difficult to see why. From scouting reports to player attitudes, you really get swept up in trying to build and sustain a formidable team. There is very little to find fault about in the off-the-pitch parts of the game, the amount of control and and options you have in all aspects of managing is really amazing.
It’s the little additions such as loyalty bonuses, youth contracts, and player talks which boost the off-field activities and make them more engaging and much more controlled. Contract negotiations now have even more detail which you can integrate in order to get your players, allowing you to set a maximum wage offer to the agent at which you can adjust other areas of the contract such as bonuses to make it more appealing for the player. I felt that pricing for players seems a bit off, with young stars such as Mario Götze available at a more than reasonable cost, not to mention Dortmund giving him up a bit too easily.
Scouting has also been improved quite a lot, in terms of both player scouting and team reports before a match. You can get reports on almost everything about a team bar what they ate for dinner last night. Average ages, heights, wages and caps can be viewed and squad comparisons between your team and an opposition can be done assessing players in each position and giving you a rundown of which areas you have the advantage or lack thereof one in.
Where I think Football Manager falls down a bit is the actual matches themselves. One addition I do quite like is the ability to choose the tone of the team/individual player talks. Certain tones seem to have more effect then others, although unless you consistently are yelling at your team it doesn’t seem to do too much to their morale.
The 3D graphics for matches, although slightly improved mainly thanks to the director’s cut view, are still average at best and not particularly enjoyable to watch. I prefer the 2D view, although very simplistic it still makes watching them a bit more bearable. I think it comes down to personal preference really, but I just don’t find it fun to watch poorly controlled AI players. This year SEGA boasted improved AI for goalkeepers, and whilst they have improved a bit the overall AI is still pretty frustrating. Sure you can add tactics and change your players around in an attempt to change the outcome of the match but it’s just not particularly enjoyable to watch.
In terms of sound, well, there really isn’t much to say. As with last year there is very limited sound, so you’ll basically be sitting in silence or listening to the radio/iTunes in the background. Whilst the lack of a soundtrack doesn’t bother me too much, some match commentary would be great. I’m sure it would get very repetitive very quickly but it would still be a really nice addition and make the simulated matches much more enjoyable.
Finally just a small note to add about the increased effort to utilise social media has the potential to make FM12 become a much more competitive community game. Facebook and YouTube tools have been added and improved to allow clip posting and updates to be done with much more ease and effectiveness. It’s nothing that’s going to change the gameplay really but it definitely is a nice addition to encourage a more social way of playing the game.
Conclusion:
Football Manager 12 is one of those games that you get what you give. If you have the patience to go through all the off-field managing, scouting new players and negotiating contract, not to mention sitting through the simulated matches, then you will absolutely love this game. It’s lasting appeal is limited only by the release of the next release in the series, and it’s detail and depth is second to none in the realm of football manager games. As I mentioned earlier, the main flaws I found with this game are more of a personal preference thing, but I still think there is a fair way to go for match presentation to make this game perfect.
If you’re a fan of the series, you won’t be disappointed with this game at all. If you’ve never played any previous versions but you’re a big fan of football, then it’s definitely worth giving it a go. It’s not a game that will appeal to all, but it’s a very solid, well constructed game which is very easy to get addicted to.
