Have you spent countless hours playing Call of Duty only to have others tell you you’re wasting your time? Well here is a chance to prove them and anyone else in the world who thinks simiarly wrong! Last week it was announced that there will be an inaugural ‘Call of Duty XP’ event in Los Angels on September 1-3 2011. As a result, Activision are holding a qualifying event to send a team of 4 talented Australian gamers to participate in this incredible global event, where countries will battle for the prize pool worth $1million!
Who: Any competitive Call of Duty players over the age of 18 (in teams of 4 people)
Why: To represent Australia in the world’s biggest Call of Duty competition!
What: 32 teams will battle it out in single elimination rounds playing Call of Duty Black Ops in ‘Search and Destroy’ mode (with pre-determined load-out, for details see below) on the maps ‘Havana’ and ‘Summit’. The competition will be held on Xbox 360.
Registration: Register via email to [email protected] in teams of 4 (4 players on one email) including name, address, phone, email, DOB for each team member and most importantly, TEAM NAME. Please note that this event is ‘first in, first served’ and once all 32 teams have been secured no additional players will be accepted. Teams will be notified via return email if they are successful. If there are any teams that forfeit prior to the start of the event, the next teams on the list will be contacted regarding registration.
Prize: As if participating in such a huge event wasn’t enough, the victorious team will win an all expenses paid trip to LA to compete in the COD XP event. The prize includes flights, accommodation, transfers, meals and entry into the tournament. The winning team MUST be available to attend the event between August 31 and September 4.
It wouldn’t be a game without rules. So here is the break down of some important rules for the tournament:
General Rules: The tournament will consist of 32 teams of 4. Competitors will play on independent screens with headphones. The tournament will be held as a single elimiation format.
General Game Settings: Hardcore Mode and Headshots Only will be disabled. Allow Killcam, Allow Sprint, and Friendly Fire will all beenabled. Max Health and Health Regen will be set to normal settings. There will be No Killstreaks and No Perks. Spectating will be team only and custom classes will be used and are outlined below.
Match Settings: The match type will be Search and Destory with a time limit per round of 1.5 minutes. Bomber timer will be 45 seconds, plant time will be 5 seconds and defuse time will be 5 seconds. Multi Bomb is disabled and round switch will occur every round. Players will only be given ONE life and round limit will be 4. The first to win 4 rounds wins the match with overtime at 3 all.
Players will be able to choose from the following 10 primary weapons:
MP5K
Skorpion
Uzi
Spectre
M16
M14
Ak47
Commando
Stakeout
L96A1
The Pre Determined Load out is as follows:
Secondary weapon: M1911;
Grenade: Frag;
Tactical: Smoke/Willy Pete;
Equipment: None;
Perks: None.
Maps: Maps will change per round featuring:
Round 1: Havana
Round 2: Summit
Quarter Finals: Havana
Semi-Finals: Summit
Finals: Both Havana and Summit
Make sure you register and show the world Austrlaian gamers have what it takes.
After much fanfare from Sony about the introduction of comics to the Playstation Store and PSP, it appears that the addition of digital comics did little for Sony’s profit margin. After the digital comic book update of today (which includes Batman Beyond, Transformers, Ender’s Game, B.C. collections and a Suicide Girl comic) there will no longer be any more new comics coming to the store. However, “The Digital Comics Team will continue to work on bringing the comic service to other Sony devices.”
The digital comic book media type has always seemed promising. But, the difficulties associated with reading and looking at artwork on small screens have always been hard to surmount. What are your thoughts on the announcement? Are you disappointed that you can longer build your collection of comics on a portable Playstation device? If your looking for more info, go the Playstation Blog. If you want a different digital comic book distributor, try Graphic.ly.
As of today, Sega’s free-to-play fast-paced adventure game, Spiral Knights, has grown to one million player accounts world wide. With its official launch in April, and joining the Steam distribution service in June, it’s impressive to see so many people joining up in such a short time. I am glad to say that I myself have contribute to the one million fans and look forward to the updated content which Sega and Three Rings have accounced to honour the momentous occasion.
The development team is nothing short of extatic in this huge achievement. “During development, we hoped Spiral Knights’ classic action, handcrafted art, and co-operative nature would appeal to gamers of all stripes, and reaching this milestone is confirmation of our vision for the game,” said Daniel James, CEO of Three Rings. “Seeing a million eager knights forging ahead into the Clockworks, building guilds and our game community, is gratifying for our entire team.” The team at Sega and Three Rings can be sure to see a million more players in the near future.
From today, Spiral Knights’ can explore the latest dungeon located deep within the Clockworks, Ironclaw Munitions Factory. Gremlin enginners have recenlt banneded together to develop a weapon of incredible power know only has Project Roarmulus. Uniting together, Spiral Knights will need to set on a harrowing quest through the complex’s destructive devices in order to put an end to this horrible project. To help the Knights on their way there are a number of new weapons, including the Polaris and Supernova guns to help ensure success. Don’t fret if you were not one of the first million, there are sure to be another million members joining in the future, one of which can be you.
Spiral Knights is free to play for both Mac and Windows. You can find more information at the offical website or at Steam. Be sure to check it out.
Or is it? In the latest trailer released from Atlus USA for Catherine we see a few gameplay segments from Catherine, as well as a number of anime cutscenes and in-game dialogue. Also shown is the game’s choice system, where players must choose an answer to a philosophical question that will swing Vincent’s fate one way or another. This trailer comes after the release of information that an English version of the Catherine demo will be available next Tuesday on both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360.
You can catch the trailer itself below. Just think, next week you may have a chance to be making life-changing decisions yourself. Or at least life changing decisions for Vincent. If you have played the Japanese demo already then you will know what to expect however, as it is still the same demo that was released before. With only twenty days left before Catherine comes out, what are your thoughts on the title?
Square Enix is working on a new Final Fantasy game for the 3DS, but before you get too excited about a new RPG being announced, it isn’t exactly what you think. The Square Enix Final Fantasy game that was revealed in this week’s Jump magazine in Japan is called Final Fantasy Theatrhythm. Basically this means that the game is a “theater rhythm action” game according to Jump.
Andriasang has translated the Jump article and it appears that Theatrhythm will have field scenes in towns and dungeons as well as battles that look similar to the older Final Fantasy games, but instead of performing attacks you will have to tap the screen in order of the prompts. The graphics will also be something chibi like and the game music will be from past Final Fantasy games. This is a very interesting title to say the least, hopefully it will see more information next week when Famitsu will most likely reveal more.
Some companies have had games leaked in the past before they were even released as a demo on the consoles or PC, but they usually don’t do anything about it. Square Enix on the other hand is up in arms about the fact that their press-only demo of Deus Ex: Human Revolution was leaked to the public earlier this year. The company is claiming copyright infringement and is seeking damages of $5000 from the group believed to have leaked the Steam demo, fifteen Italians.
The group believed to have leaked the demo, took information from the Italian game magazine GMC and shared the log in information with the internet. Then the internet placed the demo up on torrent sites and it exploded from there. The fifteen people addressed in the lawsuit are being called John Doe and the $5000 in damages is only a small amount of what Square Enix may end up seeking if the lawsuit does go through.
A troubling bit of information was discovered in Europe earlier today when an image of the European version of the Resistance 3 hardware bundle showed the existence of something called the “PSN Pass.” German website Konsolentreff was the first with this image and it seems that SCEE was quick to respond to the rumor,unfortunately confirming the existence of said PSN Pass.
The PSN Pass will work similar to the Project Ten Dollar or Online Pass move that other companies have taken, where online access will require the use of a one time only code that will enable new copies of the game to play online, while used copies will require a separate code purchase. Both SCEE and SCEA released a statement about the code today, saying that it is a “game-specific” program but will be used in the future. I’ve always been an advocate against these annoying online pass measures, but what do you think about this move?
Last night our good friends at Ubisoft invited a few of us over to check out some multilayer builds for Driver: San Francisco and Call of Juarez: The Cartel. They were offering burritos, chips and beer so we couldn’t refuse! After hanging out with our BFFs, Sam Fisher and King Kong, we stopped treating the Ubisoft office like a theme park and picked up some controllers and went head-to-head on Driver: San Francisco for the Playstation 3 and tried out the new co-opetition mode for Call of Juarez: The Cartel on Xbox 360. These are just my impressions on these multiplayer builds, you can see LinkageAx’s impressions here.
(Left to Right) Master Abbott, Matt Vella (thats me!), and LinkageAx up to our usual mischief.
Driver: San Francisco
Unfortunately I missed out on getting a hands-on preview of the single player last time we met up with Ubisoft, but from what hear, it’s pretty awesome. I can’t speak from personal experience with that section of the game, but I can say that multiplayer for Driver: San Francisco is extremely fun. Ubisoft have perfectly captured that chaos and frantic action the original game had when your trying to outrun the cops, and multiplied it by tenfold. In fact much of it feels like a throwback to the debut title. I didn’t see any guns at all and I couldn’t get out my car. Driver is Driver again, so its no longer a Shooter or a Walker, and it’s all for the better! Another new feature included that you may already know of if you’ve been following the game is the ‘Shift’ feature, which allows you to appear in place of another car, kinda like those uber cool agents in that Matrix movie. It’s a really smart idea to include, as if you completely suck and can’t catch up, you can use it to cheat your way ahead, and adds a lot to the chaos and keeps everyone in the game, ensuring everyone is always in the middle of the action and has fun.
Forget boring modes like time trials and that crap, Driver: San Francisco keeps it fresh and fun. We tried out each mode with four players.
Tag: ‘Tag’ is pretty much capture the flag but with cars, where your goal is to be ‘tagged’ for a certain amount of time while other players are trying to ram or hit them so they can steal the ‘flag’ to become the tagged player. The game concludes when a player has been tagged for a certain amount of time. This mode is insanely fun, as the tagged player can’t use the shift feature, so your trying to escape a bunch of dudes who can appear anywhere at anytime. On the other hand its fun simply trying to chase the tagged vehicle, but also a great deal of strategy is needed to predict the other players movements and decision making in order where to shift to intercept your opponent. Strategy in a driving game-I never thought I’d see that, but it works really well!
Trailblazer: In Trailblazer your competing for a high score. An AI controlled car races ahead while leaving behind a short trail of light following it. Players must compete with each other to tail the car closely, racking up points by staying in this ray of light. The car is faster than the other players, so your constantly competing with your opponents to catch up to it. It works out as your basic car chase, but with a twist. While in other modes your often chasing someone with the intention to attack them, your goal here is to simply follow them and get the other players as far away from it as possible. So you want to be closely behind the trailblazer and barging and nudging your enemies off coarse and into the oncoming traffic. Rather than shifting to a car ahead of the lead to intercept, players are encouraged to shift to a car closely behind the lead car that is going in the same direction. Its the only mode we played where all four players had the same goal, and also one of the most different, providing a nice variation in game play.
Takedown:This mode had one player as a criminal, while the other three played as cops. The bad guy got a health bar and the cops had unlimited health, and only the cops could use the shift ability. It pretty much played as a survival mode, as the robber had to survive for a particular amount of time, while the cops had to destroy the robbers’ car within the set time limit. It encouraged a lot of team work and turned out to be quite fun, especially when Ben (LinkageAX), and another player managed to pin down Phil (MasterAbbott) while I constantly reversed and sped up to ram him! This co-operative feel it had really enhanced the experience, and playing as the robber was awesome for the same reasons being tagged in tag was-it felt like the world was after you and the adrenaline rush from the escape was just awesome.
To sum up my experience with Driver: San Francisco’s multiplayer, I have to say it’s big chunks of fun! The blend of destruction-derby styled assaults and high-energy car chases have been used to achieved this, being much more interesting than a standard car race. A nice mix of both co-operative and competitive really keeps players on their toes, and the shift feature guarantees anything can happen, and anyone can win regardless of the situation. The game feels fast and the destruction feels awesome. I imagine the racing aspect of multiplayer that is yet to be revealed will be good, but won’t be as exciting, however this new shift feature may change that. While we played on LAN, I believe online will be extremely rewarding, but most importantly I hear local split-screen will be available, which is PERFECT for a game like this. The ability to tell someone to ‘suck it’ to their face only amplifies the glory, and the laughs are plenty! Driver: San Francisco comes out on September, 1st 2011 and I highly recommend you give the multiplayer a go, because its a blast to play.
Oh yeah, and we had a Driver tournament and the winner got some tequila. Who won? I honestly don’t know or care. I stopped paying attention the second I lost, and jumped onto the Xbox 360 and checked out Call of Juarez: The Cartel!
Call of Juarez: The Cartel
In Call of Juarez: The Cartel plays in a more modern setting than it’s predecessors, however that classic cowboy/western theme has still been kept for the most part, creating an interesting mix of styles that have mashed well together. The game follows a task force with their own personal demons going after a mexican drug cartel, in the typical FPS fashion, and the two levels we played involved mostly hopping into a car, driving to a location to achieve an objective, kill some drug-dealing minorities along the way, and head back into the vehicle where you then head to the next location. Its simple but fun, and was presented nicely with some sweet graphics and very impressive voice acting.
We gave the new co-opetition mode a play, which works as your typical co-operative campaign for three players, but with a competitive twist- every now-and-then somebody will randomly get a phone call with a secret mission objective, and it kept things interesting and fresh, and it worked well. Helping out your team mates had a strong impact on the gameplay, so your encouraged to work as a team, and thus teamwork feels really rewarding. For example, players can preform a ‘Team Entry‘. When approaching a closed door, two players can stand either side and one can stand in the middle, and on command all three will barge into the room full of enemies, entering concentrate mode and allowing you to kill them all in glorious slow-motion. Epic! Also reviving a fallen player has a big part of gameplay, and it is done simply and swiftly so it doesn’t feel like a hassle, so helping your fallen ally doesn’t feel like a chore which is nice.
One particular level we played was based in some kind of forest, and I must say I really enjoyed the level design. The terrain was uneven and filled with slopes, trees and rocks which provided great cover. I found it helpful in flanking targets as well which was nice. Controls will seem very familiar to most gamers, so naturally they feel comfortable. Melee attacks feel particularly rewarding. Yeah sure its the usual ‘click the analogue stick and you hit a guy’ kind of thing, but a nice stream of blood flies from your victim accompanied by some sweet sound effects which make you feel like a total bad-ass. One of the biggest highlights in my opinion was the voice acting, it really sounds like this title has a high cost production going on, and the dialogue is mostly great, especially from your Mexican gangster enemies, showing how surprisingly fun it is to be threatened in a foreign language by a dude with a gun.
We were informed that the build we were playing was actually a ‘delicate’ and ‘fragile’ one, but for the most part the game ran pretty smoothly to me. Some graphics would flicker or seem out here and there, but that stuff is to be expected in a multiplayer build for incomplete game, and I’m sure this won’t be the case in the final product. On that note, the graphics do look really pretty and the world Ubisoft have show us here is full of character, and character design looks really superb as well. One of the ‘little things’ I appreciated was the compass directing you to your locations as this little white dot showing you where to go next. I found it really helpful, especially since it was easy at times to stray off the path and away from your mission. I heard in the final product the white dot will look like something else but still maintain the same job though.
I can’t really judge the entire game based on my short experience with Call of Juarez: The Cartel, but I can say it is shaping up very nicely. I’m sure it’s design and presentation will help separate it from the rest of the cliche FPS pack, and it being accompanied with good voice acting and dialogue shows much promise for the single-player campaign. Furthermore, the idea of co-opitition is pretty cleaver and works well and is a blast to play. I look forward to seeing more of this game soon! Call of Juarez: The Cartel hits stores July 21 in all of it’s modernized western cowboy FPS glory.
I’d like to take the chance to thank Ubisoft again for inviting us for the night and giving us a hands on sneak peak of what we can expect from these titles. Both games are shaping up nicely and are both looking and feeling great! Keep an eye on our website their reviews in the near future!
I am honestly surprised we haven’t seen anything from Gex in quite some time, but thankfully, Crystal Dynamics are bringing over Gex: Deep Cover Gecko as of today on the Playstation Network in Europe. Now if you lived under a rock in the 90’s, Gex was the equivalent of Mario for the 3DO and was later ported to the Sega Saturn and the original Playstaion. In this third entry in the series which was released on the Nintendo 64, Playstation, and the Game Boy Color, and players take control of the gecko as he set off on a mission to save Agent Xtra who has been kidnapped by Gex’s arch nemesis, Rez.
The Gex series is also known for it’s many pokes at pop-culture as well as the lizard’s many one-liners, which may or may not be a bit dated by today’s standards, but still should prove to be a blast of nostalgia for those who have fond memories of the original. Gex: Deep Cover Gecko is now available in the PSN for £7.99 / €9.99. Now if we can just get a sequel (looking at you, Crystal Dynamics ;))
Dead Block, a zombie tower defense game from Digital Reality and Candygun games has hit the Xbox LIVE arcade today. The game set in 1950’s USA, places you into the throes of a zombie apocalypse. Let’s not forget the apocalypse was caused by that dang rock n’ roll music, which evidently has the ability the raise the dead and make them hungry for some juicy brains.
The game feature’s 3 heroes; Mike, Jack and Foxy as they defend themselves from the brain-dead rotting corpses lusting to devour their brains, by hiding in shelters and boarding up windows as they attempt to fortify their town from the zombie invasion.
Featuring a total of 10 levels of single-player mode and a 4-player split-screen local co-op mode, the game provides you with many opportunities to take on some deadmen with or without friends.
Dead Block is available on the Xbox LIVE Arcade for 800 Microsoft Points and is also available on the Playstation Network for $9.99. For more information about Dead Block check out the official website and watch the launch trailer below.
