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MLB Bobblehead Pros Review

J. Bradshaw
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Game: MLB Bobblehead Pros
Publisher/Developer: Konami
Genre: Baseball Simulation/Sports
Price: 800 Microsoft Points – $10
Consoles: Xbox 360
Download the demo here!

MLB Bobblehead Pros is a baseball simulation game published by Konami for the Xbox Live Arcade.  There is one big difference between this game and other baseball sims though.  MLB Bobblehead Pros has character models that are made up of, you guessed it, Bobbleheads.  Every  batter, pitcher, 3rd base coach etc is a bobblehead.  In other words, your favorite pro baseball player, in my case it is Todd Helton, is actually a bobblehead, thereby replicating the experience of bobblehead night at your baseball park (where bobbleheads of a particular player are passed out to the first 1,000 or so fans.)  In this game, you no longer have to show up early to get your grubby hands on a bobblehead though.  Plus, you actually get to be a part of the game, and you can see every player ever in bobblehead form, which is virtually impossible in real life.

Of course, besides collectors (and Dwight Schrute), who really feels that bobbleheads are more than a novelty?  Who really, truly cherishes the bobbleheads they have received?  More than likely, that bobblehead, like the one I got one time when I was lucky enough to show up early to a game, is sitting somewhere unknown (be it a landfill, storage area or shelf) right now.And that is one of the larger problems problems with this game.  The whole bobblehead idea is just a big, fat gimmick.  The game is marketed by the premise that the bobbleheads will be involved in some spectaular fashion, but in reality, the bobbleheads are just the player models and that’s it.  There is no gallery to admire your bobbleheads.  As a matter of fact, there is no way to even collect bobbleheads.  All of them are just given to you at once.  Either bobbleheads are so important to the baseball experience that they are worth creating a game around them, or, they are so worthless (like the one I can’t find.  Where is IT?!) that they can’t even be respected a little more in a game that is based around them.  Either way, bobbleheads are not the reason to get this game, despite the few laughs you’ll get seeing your personal favorite pro bobbing his head and having no legs.

All in all, it all comes down to gameplay. MLB Bobblehead Pros is an undeniable star in this department, although this star has some issues shining sometimes.  MLB Bobblehead Pros, despite its cutesy exterior, is in reality, a very full featured sim.  Plenty of stats, a full 162 game season mode and the ability to create your own teams showcase how serious this game is about adhereing to the true nature of the game.  Once you get onto the field, matters do not change. Pitching and batting all strive to give a true to life experience, although it should be noted that pitching is super difficult and batting takes some serious practice.    In both cases, you’ll have to line up the indicator properly (its harder than it sounds) and work on your timing to the second.  There is no tutorial either, making it all the more taxing to accomplish the tasks of pitching and batting. It is very rewarding when you finally succeed in these matters though.Fielding, rather than being difficult, is nigh impossible.  The bobbling players literally bobble the ball all the time.  And the lack of legs must really slow them down too because unless the batter hits a super high pop up, it is literally impossible to get them under the ball.  On top of that, the controls for jumping and sliding are the same as those used to throw to the various plates.  So if slightly mistimed, your spectacular double play will fail miserably on account of your diving into the dust instead of throwing to first.

Once you have mastered the arts of pitching, batting and fielding, there are plenty of modes to get your play on.  Online and offline coop, season modes, exhibition and online competitive modes are all there to extend the life of the game.  There is DLC as well, coming soon.One feature that is really different in this game than in other baseball sims is the lack of a soundtrack.  On top of that, commentary is thin at best.  At the end of an inning, a voiceover will make jokes about bobbleheads, but other than that, there is no play by play or anything similar.  I personally hate the commentary in most games, but for hardcore enthusiasts, this will undoubtedly make the experience less fun.

The graphics in the game also fall a little short.  There are plenty of stadiums and each is very well replicated.  The bobbleheads are also finely detailed and you can distinguish who each character is.  However, there are a lot of jagged edges and it just seems to lack that pop and polish that many HD games have.In conclusion, MLB Bobblehead Pros is a hardcore baseball sim.  There are plenty of faults, but in reality, it is one of the better baseball games for the Xbox 360, especially for those who want a challenging, realistic baseball game. It truly has all the features that many of its $60 competitors have. And for a mere $10, there is hardly any fault too big not to recommend this game to someone looking for well stocked baseball video game.

7-5-capsules-out-of-10

Witch Wars for iOS Recruiting Previewers!

Philip Federico
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Com2us are now recruiting previewers for their up and coming title Witch Wars for iOS! (created by the development team of Slice It!)

If you go ahead and make it into the beta you can end up winning iTunes Gift Cards while testing out Com2uS’ new game in beta!

This is how you can enter :

-If you want to participate as a general previewer, follow the directions below.
— Create a Facebook account or use your existing one
— Send to [email protected]:

1. Email address linked to your Facebook account
2. iOS device UDID
3. iOS device type
4. Your name.

Recruiting 200 previewers!

– Applicants will be accepted from July 11th to July 18th, 2011
– Selected applicants will be announced on July 19th and 20th, and will be reached individually
– Testing dates are July 22nd-July 29th, 2011.

Game Features

– Cast spells on other witches with magic blocks
– Match 3 of the same blocks in a row, be part of the ultimate battle by connecting to the Witch Wars network
– Network battle against other witches
– 7 witches with distinct battle skills…collect coins to unlock a new character or upgrade your witch’s attack, defense, and health abilities!

The iControlpad: Physical Controller For Smartphones

Kyle Moore
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The iPod Touch had the right idea. Or at least the right name. It was all about touch. I feel that the more Apple develop, the further they get away from the haptic nature that the technology first utilised ever so well. At least in gaming. Sure, swiping, tilting and whatever else the game might ask you to do is well and good, and I’ve played some really innovative iOS based games that have just blown me away in terms of control and interface design. But there is still something so nostalgic and warming about a button. The multi-purpose nature of iOS devices makes them a key target for casual game developers, but what about those with a little more hardcore blood? Those who long for the warm touch of a button? Sure, there are other portable gaming devices, but as I said, there are some fantastic games developed just for iOS, some which might benefit from a more traditional video game interface. Enter the iControlpad (the developers are fond of the abbreviation iCP). The iCP is a portable extension for iOS devices that brings that traditional gaming interface to iOS. It features: digital D-pad, two analogue nubs, six face buttons and two rear buttons and a side clamp system to lock in phones. In the video shown, there are emulators being run on both the iPhone and iPad, I should note that users can only use these on jail broken iOS devices, but the controls themselves will work with a number of games from the App Store. The iControlpad also works for Android, Maemo, WebOS, Windows Mobile PC and MacOS, as well as iOS and judging from the video can be operated wirelessly. The iCP can be purchased for $56.99USD on its own or as a pack for $69.99 USD. Check out the iControlpad official website for more information on the product, as well as information on how to order it.

Weezer are hosting a festival on a Cruise Ship

Luke Halliday
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Yes it is as epic as it sounds. Weezer, that rock band you sort of know about but never cared enough about, have announced that in January 2012 they will be holding a rock festival on a cruise ship. They have already announced a line-up for the cruise:

  • Dinosaur Jr.
  • Sebadoh
  • Gene Ween
  • Dave Dreiwitz
  • Wavves
  • The Antlers
  • Yuck
  • Free Energy
  • Boom Bip
  • J. Mascis
  • Lou Barlow
  • Keepaway
  • Ozma
  • The Nervous Wreckords
  • Sleeper Agent
  • Yacht Rock Review

That is without a doubt an impressive line-up which of course will be opened and closed by the headlining act themsevles, Weezer. Fans will be able to chill out with the bands between performances and take advantage of all of the luxuries of the cruise ship as it travels from Miami to a Mexican island called Cozumel.

This may be the wierdest Weezer news in a long time, but they are certainly no stranger to the wierd (check out the cover art of their past two albums). If you want to set sail with Weezer and friends this January, prices start at $799 USD for double cabins or four people can travel togethor for $599 each. Pre-sale tickets go on sale here on the 21st of July and tickets for the general public go on sale on the 11th of August.

Get in quick, this is probably the wierdest thing Weezer has done thus far and probably will continue to be until they purchase the mexican island at the end of the cruise and force everyone to become part of their own sick recreation of the television series Lost. Oh and they will probably throw Hurley onto the island against his will as well.

If you want to be a part of this, get in quick, tickets will go fast and be sure to check out the Weezer Cruise promo below.

Bruce Campbell May Have Confirmed Evil Dead 4 or a Remake of the Original

Benjamin Webb
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In a conversation over twitter, renowned nerd icon and actor, Bruce Campbell may have confirmed the existence of the Evil Dead 4 movie. This movie is likely under production, should the rumour be true and this will surely make all fans of both/either Bruce Campbell and/or Evil Dead.

In the responsible twitter post, Bruce Campbell expels his excitement over the project –

@TheMike31 Believe in the remake, dawg! The project is real. In the works. Cool as hell. Scary as hell.

Though, if you follow Bruce Campbells official twitter, it also brings up the possiblility that it could, infact, be a remake of the original movie.

@mondojay @reddit Good people. My tweet was about remaking Evil Dead – not Evil Dead 4.

If this is to be true, this is exciting news for all fans everywhere!

Be sure to check out Bruce Campbells official twitter or his official website for more info.

Props to Topless Robot for pointing this out. More Props to First Showing for finding this gem.

Bleach Collection 9 Review

Luke Halliday
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Bleach Collection 9
Tag Line: Goodbye, Halcyon Days
Produced by: Viz Media (US) Madman (AU)
Run time: 325 minutes in 13 episodes
Language: English, Japanese
Genre: Action, Adventure, Shounen, Supernatural
Release Date: 15/6/2011
Available for purchase at Madman Online Store ($49.95)

Overview:
Bleach is by no means, a perfect series. In fact it’s so very far from it, that I have come to enjoy it simply for what it is: a fun action series. There is a stigma attached to Bleach that is by and large unwarranted or at the very least unnecessary. So often the series is put down for it’s minor problems or issues, however if it were in any other series, those problems would be ignored. The stigma attached is that Tite Kubo, the creator of Bleach is put simply, a troll. A creator who does not care for his fans and simply wants to troll them. I don’t believe this is the case at all, in fact it’s more a case of Kubo being a better artist than a writer.

Sure he can write, but more than anything he is an artist. By and large he does his art better than his writing, which is known for several plot-holes or an inconsistent pacing. But is there a way to enjoy Bleach on a more simpler level than applying such hounding expectations upon it? Why yes, yes there is. Bleach when it hits it’s stride can do great things and in some cases, astonishing things.

Story:
The overarching storyline of the chapter can be summed up by the arc phrase “Goodbye, Halcyon Days” which roughly means “Goodbye, Peaceful Days”, or more literally “Goodbye, Peaceful Days Before the Winter”. All of those phrases sum up the storyline of this collection which is all about saying goodbye to peaceful days.

Things in the world of Bleach have become rather heavy, with mounting revelations and new character introductions, it’s hard not to think Kubo has layed things on a little thick here. Which he has, there is little explaination, but plenty of questions raised.

The arrancar arc in general is comprised of new revlations and a large slew of new characters introduced. How many characters does Bleach have by now? We have hundreds of Human and Soul Society characters and now we have all these Hueco Mundo inhabitants? More doesn’t always mean better. Think of it like this, Kubo has created hundreds of characters. How many of them actually matter? Less than 10? That is a serious problem with the story-telling of Bleach and something that bogs it down from the flashes of greatness that it is capable of.

Sadly a large portion of this collection is dedicated to the series spinning its wheels. We have limp filler episodes that simply take any random character that I’d hazard a guess was simply drawn out of a hat and throws them into a random storyline that may very well also be drawn out of a hat. I mean, a random soul reaper from the research squad is sent to the human world for no other reason then to help a chef make a cake?

On top of these simply pathetic filler episodes we have the series spin its wheels even further with more random Arrancars come to the human world for a few episodes to fight and to slow things down even further. However, thankfully after this is all said and done, the story kicks into hyper speed and finally gets to the good stuff.

The heartbreaking interaction between Orihime Inoue and Ichigo Kurosaki is without a doubt the series best moment thus far. That moment right there is proof that Kubo isn’t entirely without writing talent. Also the invasion upon Hueco Mundo was well done and absolutely overdue. The ending of this collection more than made up for the beginning which was dreadful. Thank god for that.

Characters:
Bleach has too many characters, its that simple. It’s so difficult to focus on what everyone is doing at one time, that eventually you decide to just focus on whomever you care most for and more than likely there is only 1 character you can truly identify with here and if they don’t get much screen time then all of this may seem somewhat monotonous to you.

This collection however took leaps and bounds with a few characters development, particularly ones who desperately have needed it for a long time (Orihime, Chad and Uryu). With the series defining moment in Orihime’s “Goodbye, Halcyon Days” scene and Chad and Uryu’s decimation of some lowly Arrancar in Hueco Mundo, Kubo has taken great steps towards better futures for these characters. However everyone else takes a back-seat to the action, as is the case in nearly every episode of Bleach since the Soul Society arc. Which is really a shame.

The fact that Kubo has accumulated hundreds of junk characters is more than anything the greatest flaw in the entire series, thankfully the characters who aren’t junk get time to shine this collection.

Artwork:
As usual the art and animation is particularly good, with fluid fighting scenes and great character designs. We got to see all of the Espada this time around and I have to say a lot of their designs were hit or miss. Thankfully though, they all looked interesting at the very least.

It is interesting to note the similarities between Hueco Mundo and the Shinigami world of Death Note, which are nearly identical. I’m unsure whether this is simply a common form of imagery for this type of world in Japanese culture, but it was hard not to make comparisons. Both worlds are suitably baron and desolate, however the physics behind the Los Noches fortress in the distance was completely illogical, but its nothing that bad.

Bleach has always had an interesting style, which is very distinctive and that has not changes in this collection. That is nothing but good.

Audio:
The music was great in this collection. I loved the incidental music in both the Orihime/Ichigo goodbye scene and the invading Hueco Mundo scene. Both fit the scene perfectly and raised it to the next level, from average into epic. Both scenes have resonated with me and I believe that the incidental music is a large part of that.

We also had a new opening and ending theme introduced in this collection both of a which were great and will be a great theme for the Hueco Mundo invasion and beyond.

The voice work was all on par, minus a few dodgy one off character voices (that Chef in the filler episode was terrible). As usual Johnny Yong Bosch owns the screen as Ichigo, but this time around Stephanie Sheh stole the collection with the series defining moment from Orihime. “Goodbye, Halcyon Days” indeed.

Special Features:
This time around we nothing new besides the regular Production art, textless songs and trailers. I personally wish that Viz would give us commentary on these Bleach collections. Imagine Johnny Yong Bosch and Stephanie Sheh doing commentary on the Goodbye, Halcyon Days episode? That would have been amazing, unfortunately that isn’t what Viz has in mind it appears.

Thankfully the production art gallery is rather nice and features some interesting concept art and sketches of characters and locations. Other than that we have Madman’s trailers for their other releases which are nothing too interesting.

Conclusion:
Bleach Collection 9 features the series defining moment, but it also features some pretty terrible filler episode. Regardless of the filler, that defining moment helped to raise this collection to the greatest heights the series has thus far reached and for that..

I give Bleach Collection 9:

8-0-capsules-out-of-10

Ubisoft Acquires Owlient Studio And Their MMO Howrse Brand

Benjamin Webb
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Ubisoft Acquires Owlient Studio And Their MMO Howrse Brand

Today Ubisoft announced it’s acquisition of Parisian developers Owlient, and with them, their incredibly large Howrse Brand and it’s 2million+ playerbase. The devloper has been around since 2005 and is largely focused on MMORPG development.

On the Merger, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot had this to say –

“We are thrilled to welcome the talented team at Owlient to Ubisoft.  Over the last five years they have developed an architecture dedicated to delivering and monetising games as a service, as well as the skills of attracting and retaining online communities,” said Yves Guillemot, chief executive officer at Ubisoft.  “This acquisition is the next step in the acceleration of Ubisoft’s free-to-play strategy following last year’s launch of Settlers Online, CSI Crime City and heroes Kingdoms, as well as the recent beta launch of our ambitious title Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Online.”

Owlient seem to be quite pleased with the merger, with their own CEO, Oliver Issaly responding to the event thus –

“Joining the Ubisoft team will allow us to accelerate our international business and to expand our expertise and our games to new platforms.  It also lets us integrate our proven online services architecture with Ubisoft’s so that we can help grow their brands online,” affirmed Olivier Issaly, chief executive officer of Owlient. “We are proud of what our team has accomplished and confident that joining Ubisoft will allow us to continue that success.  We’d also like to thank our shareholder Innovacom, who has accompanied the Owlient team over the years as we developed.”

The Owlient merger is the latest in a series of mergers by the Publisher.

Konami at Comic-Con 2011 Fan Events Detailed Hideo Kojima Signing

Benjamin Webb
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During Comic-Con 2011, Konami will be holding a signing for esteemed video game creator Hideo Kojima. You may know his works, as they are incredibly popular. Titles such as Metal Gear Solid and Zone of The Enders are attrributed to this legend in game design. The Signing will take place between 1:30PM and 3:30PM, on Thursday the 21st of July, and will be located in meeting rooms 16AB. Hideo Kojima will not be alone however, as he will be joined by Yoji Shikawa, head of the Art Department at Kojima Productions, as well as Yumi Kikuchi, a talented Japanese actress and voice of Raging Raven.

Konami will also be hosting a Cosplay competition, which arte always popular at any convention, which is likely to bring out the best and most attractive of cosplays. The Cosplay contest will be held on the Saturday between the times of 11AM and 2PM. Judging will be held from 12PM to 2PM. So be sure to check this event out, or if you’re cosplaying, take a chance and enter!

Far Cry 3 E3 Alternative Walk Through

Kyle Moore
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Far Cry 3 E3 Alternative Walk Through


Showcasing some rather remarkable gameplay, Ubisoft have released a new alternative E3 walk through demo of Far Cry 3. Far Cry 3 takes place on a lawless island, beyond the limits of civilisation. A place ruled by piracy and misery. The walk through demonstrates a variety of weapons, such as pistols, machine guns and snipers, and shows you how to navigate your way through the dangerous terrain of the game. While only showing a glimpse of the gameplay and the capabilities you have at your fingertips, the game itself looks rather impressive; from exploding bridges to firing wildly while using a zip line. Far Cry 3 will be out in 2012 for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC. Check out the video below and let us know what you think.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution Conspiracy Trailer

Kyle Moore
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The year 2027 is slowly creeping up on us. What is even closer is the date August 25, which is the official release date of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. To give you a little peak at what the game will have in store, a new trailer has been released with an emphasis on the storyline, and the conspiracies surrounding Sarif Industries, the company at the centre of much debate. Check out the trailer; become immersed in the compelling narrative and amazed by the spectacular graphics. The year 2027 is closer than it seems.

If this isn’t enough for you, and you want to see behind the scenes of the richly detailed game world, check out the accompanying video. The previously exclusive, ‘Cities’ video in the series ‘Behind 2027’ is now available for public viewing. Cities: Behind 2027 can be found here.

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