With only a few more days before Duke Nukem Forever is unleashed upon the world. The Duke Nukem trailer has just been released to whet our appetites and whip us more into a frenzy (like we’re not already frenzied enough) Soon the king will be back to kick ass and chew bubble gum and I’m PUMPED!! So pumped; that I went down the local pole dancing establishment called Titty City, took a front row seat lit up a big fat cuban cigar and watched the Duke babes pole dance whilst stuffing $100 bills down their tops in true Duke Nukem fashion. YEAH BABY!!!
Duke Nukem is back and ready to kick-ass and chew bubblegum! Come get some on June 10th (International) and June 14th (North America)! Hail to the King, Baby!
Warner Bros. have revealed that they will be showcasing the video game, Lord of the Rings: War in the North at e3 this year.
The game introduces a fourth character to the titles fellowship, Belram, which is a great eagle that has the ability to destroy buildings and rip-apart enemy units in the game. Belram is summonable by any member of the fellowship within the game, which is comprised of a human, elf and dwarf that can each be controlled by a human player. To celebrate this announcement, WB have given us a trailer to enjoy which is embedded below for your enjoyment.
Atari announced that Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime, their first digital Ghostbusters release is getting its very first DLC in the form of a Challenge Pack. The Challenge Pack will bring new single player experiences with Lonely Hero and Arcade Challenge, on Xbox Live Arcade, Windows PC and on Steam.
Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime is a four player, ghost-busting adventure that will take players on a brand new paranormal experience. But with Challenge Pack, players will suit up with their proton packs and assume the role of a lone rookie Ghostbuster tasked to save New York City from a disaster of ghoulish proportions, without any help.
Arcade Challenge:
Designed for seasoned gamers, Arcade Challenge gives players a limited number of lives to see how their skills line up on a distinct Global Leaderboard. Players run through 5 of the game’s most challenging levels in single player mode and once the lives are up, the game is over. Player scores are automatically posted to a new real-time Leaderboard.
Lonely Hero:
Players can select any level they have unlocked and start from there but this time you are on your own – no co-op, no friendly teammates- just one player to combat the waves of the paranormally possessed.
Orions 2: The Deckmasters Developer: MoreGames Entertainment Publisher: Chillingo Ltd Genre: Collectable Card, Deck Fighting Platform: iPhone Release: May 19, 2011 Price:$2.99
Overview:
Orions 2: The Deckmasters, sequel to Orions: Legend of Wizards, is a collectable card game for iOS. In-that you use a deck of cards while flying around the map trying to secure land while battling and gaining XP and cards when you win.
The idea is you travel around the over-world map moving one spot at a time while trying to secure locations, while the antagonist is doing the same. There’s a story thrown in there somewhere but it’s mostly just an excuse for some card battlin’ action and is largely superfluous.
Gameplay:
In the interest of full disclosure, I have very little experience with this genre so some of my points may be irrelevant if you’re a seasoned player. That said, this is not the sort of game that I would recommend jumping into if you’re new to the genre. It took a long series of deaths before I eventually got the hang of what you’re suppose to do. The beginning intro does little to explain the depth of how the game should actually be played. Admittedly, I don’t know have a clue as to how you would teach someone to really play this, and once I finally got the hang of it, I certainly found myself enjoying what the genre has to offer.
Fights are laid out in a two row grid with five spaces for cards on each side. You face off against your opponent laying out cards, which will for the most part attack the card directly in-front of it. There are a few cards that vary this to an extent, but the majority of the battles you’ll be doing will be head to head on each card. The cards are all categorised by elemental symbols: earth, fire, air and water. Each category has a mixture of spells, abilities and monsters at your disposal.
Orions 2 controls like you’d imagine, you simply touch the element you want to draw a card from, select the card and drag it where you want it placed. Once you’ve played a card, you can use the abilities of other cards already on the grid. If there isn’t an opposing card, then you attack the caster, whose energy needs to be depleted in order to win the match.
For a collectable card game, I’m actually surprised there aren’t any micro-transactions for further decks. Everything you need, you will collect through the game. I was happy to find that the developer decided not to nickel and dime me to death.
Aside of the main campaign there’s also a verity of quick duels that you can do online, with a friend or against the CPU. Personally, I spent almost all my time in the campaign but these results will, of course, vary depending on your circle of friends and play habits.
Presentation:
I have to say, I wasn’t in love with the art direction in Orions 2. Collectable card games rely heavily on the art of each card. While there were certainly some stand outs, I mostly felt this to be a bit derivative. It’s certainly serviceable, but ultimately unremarkable. However, I’ve discovered that I’m really not the target audience for this sort of game so maybe that’s just a bias. The music was appropriately ominous and did a good job of setting the mood. It actually reminded me of a PC role playing game from the mid 90’s. I’m not saying that in a negative way either. It reminded me of a game I would have played during my youth. It kind of made me all warm and fuzzy inside.
Conclusion:
While I will admit that Orions 2: The Deckmasters did little to change my mind that collectable card games aren’t for me. And it certainly didn’t play nice when I was trying to learn the ropes, I still had a good time with the game. There are some really solid and deep play mechanics. I wouldn’t recommend this as your first deck fighting game, but I don’t think it’s meant to be. This is a game designed for a seasoned player and if that’s you, there’s certainly a lot of game in there for a measly 3 bones. Especially considering you don’t have to purchase any additional decks with your hard earned cash to stay competitive.
Ahead of E3 in Los Angeles next week, Nordic Games Publishing has unveiled its plans for the We Sing range of games and for a brand new office in the US.
Key announcements being made at E3 include:
The establishment of a brand new Nordic Games US office
Jungle Kartz: a new racing game for Wii, aimed at the younger gamer in both PAL and US territories
“E3 2011 is one of the most exciting and significant E3s in Nordic Games’ history,” said Pelle Lundborg, managing director, Nordic Games. “A new office in America and four new We Sing games, along with additions to our racing portfolio signals a clear message to the market.”
Nordic Games are located in the Concourse Hall, Room 8005 at E3.
Ah E3, you glut of announcements. Fresh off the presses is an announcement of a trailer for everyone’s favorite assassin, Agent 47. Square Enix and Namco Bandai are showing a world premier trailer for Hitman: Absolution on Wednesday, June 8 at 10:47am PDT at E3 in the Square Enix booth 1647 in the South Hall.
And please remember folks, as always, protect your neck.
505 Games have announced their e3 lineup for this year and it appears to be a rather decent looking list of titles. The list ranges from athleticism to racing, and then back to more athleticism. The group are also teasing a secret title and an unannounced title that will be on display with them behind closed doors. What could they be? It’s gotta be awesome if it’s a secret right?
Anyway, here are the announced titles –
Wrecked: Revenge Revisited – This is an XBLA/PSN title which is a sequel/follow up to the popular MASHED, which was released back in 2005 for PS2, Xbox and PC. As a car racing and combat game, it looks like it could be a fair bit of fun.
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Backbreaker Vengeance – This is an XBLA exclusive. This title is supposed to be taking the backbone from the original Backbreaker and combining it with the pick-up-and-play feel of the iPhone versions of the game.
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Michael Phelps: Push the Limit – An X360 Kinect exclusive. Basically features Michael Phelps and you do things that are fun and build fitness while doing the movements of swimming in front of your Kinect Sensor.
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Supremacy MMA – A Mixed Martial Arts game featuring on both the X360 and PS3 consoles. The game is supposed to raise the bar in the genre by bringing “unprecedented level of fast, fluid combat, intuitive controls and true-to-the-sport brutality” within the game.
Back in the middle of May we learned that NIS America would be localizing the next Bleach game to be arriving in North America. The interesting thing about this game, is that it hasn’t even been released in Japan yet. Now Japanese gamers won’t have to wait as long we will have to wait to play the game, as it will be released June 23rd in Japan, but in a very quick localization turn around, NIS America will have Bleach: Soul Resurrección ready for North America in August.
Today NIS America released the box art for the game which will only be available on the PlayStation 3 As you can see in the box art below it features Ichigo Kurosaki with his Bankai activated. Long time followers of the series may notice that Ichigo’s hair is a bit longer than usual in that picture, and I’m sure that we know why that is. But for everyone else, they’ll have to play the game when it arrives this August.
On May 31st, a japanese office worker aged 32 was arrested on suspicion of uploading an episode of the Bakuman anime series to the internet. In what seems to be a continued crack-down by Japanese police on illegal file-sharing, the man was apprehended and is currently being questioned regarding other crimes police believe he has committed, after discovering thousands of other anime stored on his PC.
This however isn’t the first time someone has been charged for such a crime as the Japanese police have previously arrested and charged several other offenders in recent history such as the 51 year old man who uploaded music videos for Japanese boy band “Arashi” to youtube, without permission of the copyright holders.
It just goes to show, illegal distribution crimes don’t pay. They seriously don’t pay. So the question now is, how are these blokes gonna foot the fine? They should have picked a more profitable crime it seems.
For all of you L.A. Noire fans who have already finished the entire game, Rockstar hasn’t forgotten you yet! Introducing the Rockstar Pass, Rockstar’s new way to pre-order DLC for their latest game.
The Rockstar Pass is priced at $14.45 on the Playstation Network, or 800 points on XboxLIVE until June 13, and grants gamers access to seven pieces of DLC. While the DLC isn’t all available yet, purchasing the pass means you won’t have to pay per case, and instead can access all content for free as soon as it’s released.
Rockstar have announced a great lineup for L.A. Noire’s DLC, and players will be able to purchase the DLC that was initially only included as a pre-order bonus. We’ve included the list of DLC which is available with the Rockstar Pass, and also check out the video below released to demonstrate the L.A. Noire Rockstar Pass.
The Chicago Piano Machine Gun (Free)
The Chicago Piano, used by both law enforcement officers and criminals, was favored for its reliability, ergonomics, compact size, large 45-round cartridge, and high rate of automatic fire. This bonus weapon will be stored in the trunk of Detective Cole Phelps’ car throughout L.A. Noire, ensuring that extra firepower is always close at hand.
The Broderick Detective Suit ($1.75 PSN / 80 MS Points / Free with Rockstar Pass)
The Broderick unlockable suit boosts Cole Phelps’ fist-fighting abilities and resilience to damage. Throughout L.A. Noire, Phelps will inevitably encounter suspects or persons of interest who prove resistant to arrest. Phelps’ hand-to-hand fighting skills could be called into action in these cases and the Broderick suit, which enhances his fighting abilities, will help give Cole the edge in making that collar.
The Sharpshooter Detective Suit ($1.75 PSN / 80 MS Points / Free with Rockstar Pass)
The Sharpshooter unlockable suit enhances your aim with rifles and pistols. Always a worst case scenario for any Detective working a case, there are inevitably occasions when pursuing or confronting a suspect escalates to gunfire. In these shootout situations, the Sharpshooter suit gives Cole extra aiming precision to take criminals down.
The Badge Pursuit Challenge ($3.45 PSN / 160 MS Points / Free with Rockstar Pass)
Hidden around L.A. Noire’s beautiful recreation of 1947 Los Angeles are 20 police badges to find and collect. Find all 20 of these badges to unlock the dapper Button Man Detective suit which provides extra ammo for all weapons. Each badge also provides 5 additional XP which will help further unlock Intuition Points – special credits that can be used to give Phelps a key investigative insight when he needs it most.
The Naked City Vice Case ($6.95 PSN / 320 MS Points / Free with Rockstar Pass)
Julia Randall, a stunning young fashion model with the world at her feet, is found dead, floating in her own bathtub. To the Homicide Squad it looks like a textbook society suicide – a glamorous life come to a nasty end – but coroner Malcolm Carruthers remains unconvinced. It falls to Detectives Phelps and Earle to work the scene, and determine which of Miss Randall’s many vices finally killed her.
A Slip of the Tongue Traffic Case ($6.95 PSN / 320 MS Points / Free with Rockstar Pass)
When a suspect caught behind the wheel of a stolen car claims to have bought the vehicle fair and square, Detectives Phelps and Bekowsky are unimpressed. When he produces a pink slip and bill of sale as proof, they sit up and take notice. There follows an investigation that will throw up bumbling car thieves, double talking auto dealers, and a theft racket that stretches across Los Angeles and the state line.
** Available June 21, 2011**
Nicholson Electroplating Arson Case($6.95 PSN / 320 MS Points / Free with purchase of the Rockstar Pass)
**Available July 12, 2011**
Reefer Madness Vice Case($6.95 PSN / 320 MS Points / Free with purchase of the Rockstar Pass)
