CD Projekt’s The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is quickly approaching its May 17th release date. The developer has begun releasing walkthrough trailers detailing the various aspects of the upcoming RPG. The first of these videos was released recently, showing off the combat of The Witcher 2 and explaining the player’s choices between magical combat and swordsmanship, as well as touching on alchemical combinations Geralt can produce to prepare for battle or enhance his arsenal.
The game certainly looks to have a pretty solid foundation as an action RPG, striking that perfect balance between strategy and reflex. Hopefully more of the game will be detailed in this type of information trailer in the next few weeks leading up to its release, and if so you can bet we’ll post them right here.
If you’ve been following Shadows of the Damned then you will know that it has recently been delayed until June 21st but that isn’t what you are here for right now. What you are here for is a batch of new screenshots that were released a few days ago by EA for Grasshopper Manufacture’s psychological action horror title. Nothing says horror like plenty of deformed creatures that are out for your soul.
The above screenshot contains a half human and half demon monster that is non-violent towards demon hunter Garcia Hotspur and instead will provide him with items if he feeds him enough white gems. Besides that we are also treated to images of the monsters which you will have to face down, including a very odd faced horse rode by a pig monster. Catch the screenshots below and the game itself when it releases on June 21st for the PS3 and Xbox 360.
Developer: Pixel Ammo Publisher: Pixel Ammo Platform: iPhone(reviewed)/iPod Touch Genre: Puzzle Release: 22nd April 2011 Price: $0.99US/$1.99AU (BUY NOW)
Overview
Ever wanted to work in a waxing salon? No, me either. But if you’re like me and are getting sick of monotonous puzzle games then take a look at Crazy Waxing. Pixel Ammo’s second game of the year, Crazy Waxing, is a puzzle game with an odd premise. As the owner of a waxing salon, it’s your job to get through the line of people eagerly waiting to be smoothed out. If the story line doesn’t impress you, read on, Crazy Waxing has many redeemable features.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Crazy Waxing is pretty simple. When you break it down, there is a row of hairy customers who are all in need of a wax. Each customer has five uncannily hairy areas on their body: their face, torso, hands, feet and, how do I put this, bikini zone. Within these levels, are obscurely shaped patches of hair, and Tetris shaped wax strips. Like Tetris, the player can rotate the shapes so they fit into the frame of the puzzle. Strips can be rotated by using two fingers placed on the screen and turning the strip until it is in the desired position. Once the wax strip is in the correct, well hopefully correct place, it can be stuck down to the hairy patch with a tap. You can either place more strips on the hairy areas, or swipe across the screen to rip the hair from its roots. Personally I tend to try and place all the strips at once and then rip them all off in one horrible swipe.
Points are scored by how much hair is removed from the characters section of the body and rated with one, two or three golden razor blades. There is also a reward of a gold, silver or bronze medal if you complete the level quickly enough. The more customers you wax the more customers start to come through your door. There are nineteen customers in total to be unlocked as you gain waxing skills through the game. As you progress the customer list grows, starting with two at first, until you reach the final nineteen.
Graphics and Audio
With such a disgusting concept behind the game, you can expect that the graphics will match the awful imagery that comes to mind when you think of waxing a programmer named Dr. Chin. There is a hilarious change in character design after you’ve waxed the customer smooth. The hairy customers tend to look disgruntled and impatient, I can only assume because they’ve been waiting in line some time and the hair has gotten to that really itchy stage. After the waxing is all over with, the characters stand in a victorious pose, finally content in their smooth skin. There is also a slightly disturbing attention to detail of graphics within levels. Characters have weird cuts, scars, stitches, what looks like boils, and even tattoos. While the graphics are a little gross at times, it really does make the game. With such simplistic gameplay, the narrative of the game is really held together with how well the graphical side of Crazy Waxing as been pulled off.
There are two different musical scores through out Crazy Waxing. The game opens with a little carnival tune that extends into the main level section screen. The characters are lined up and with the music, makes it seem a little bit like a circus side show, which would make sense with all the near-beard women. Once you are in the portion of the game that involves a strategic removal of hair the music changes. The music here is more similar to other casual puzzle games such as Tetris or Bejeweled. I’m pretty fond of this sort of music, it isn’t too alarming and you can just sit back and plan the best way to approach the puzzle. That is until the timer at the top starts to flash and I frantically place strips anywhere and begin to rip them off blindly. That being said, the sound effects of the game add to the overall weird humour of the game. The wax strips cling to the hair with a splat and when you remove the strips with cringe-worthy noise you can almost feel the characters pain, even more so when they actually scream.
Conclusion
Crazy Waxing is a nice little twist on a traditional casual gaming format: the puzzle. The puzzles themselves get challenging towards the end of client list so the game isn’t at risk of being too simplistic. While the idea behind the game is simple, it is really pushed forward with this weird narrative of a waxing salon, and really hits home with the crazy graphics. It may at times be a bit grotesque, but Crazy Waxing works. If you’re into puzzle games, hairy people or even formally hairy people, check out Crazy Waxing.
It seems every classic fighting game has come out with a sequel this year, or at least in the past few years. We’ve had Tekken 6 released a few years back, the brand new iteration of Mortal Kombat only week ago and Street Fighter IV is sitting pretty on a 3D handheld as well as on home consoles. A fighting series which hasn’t come to the table however is Soul Calibur, but that all may be changing soon.
Sure this isn’t any actual game announcement but Namco Bandai’s Daishi Odashima who is a part of Project SOUL has tweeted on his twitter: “Hopefully, I will be able to announce something mid-May.” With fighting game fans eager for yet another title to add to their collection perhaps this is the best time to do something. Also as Dustin pointed out, Namco has launched a new countdown website with 14 days left. This would place an announcement on May 11th which is quite close to mid-May. Interesting no?
The search for Australia’s representative to lead the countries fight in the World Cyber Games kicks off at Parramatta, specifically this Saturday April 30th, at Parramatta Riverside. Entry is free, there’ll be games everywhere and it sounds like a great way to spend your Saturday. It’s a unique event that doesn’t come around too often in the Land Down Under; The World Cyber Games is the largest e-sports tournament in the world with 90 countries, over 1 million competitors and 9 million spectators across the globe.
It’s an all ages event, so everyone’s welcome, even Grandma who may have no idea what it’s all about like any other non gamers, but that’s okay because tls have catered for everyone. Since it’s located at Riverside the event promises a jetski and fireworks spectacular, live DJ’s, roving entertainment, aswell as food and beverages. What a spoilt culture we are eh? You can also except to see games such as Tekken 6, Fifa 11, StarCraft II, WarCraft III and Counter Strike 1.6 all running on some pretty sweet gaming rigs.
Brad Lee, CEO of World Cyber Games Inc has this to say about the event and it’s organizers tls “We see Australia as a strong emerging market with rigid consuming power in the global gaming community and we needed to set partnership with a company who could really deliver. We are truly glad we have found this in tls”
This event marks the first of several upcoming events and the organizers are hoping we can pull enough crowds to increase the chances of bringing the finals to Australian shores next year. Round one is taking place from 4:30pm Saturday April 30 at Parramatta Riverside. So get out there and support our local Industry! Entry is FREE and competition entrants can simply register on site from kick off.
With the Xbox 360 & PS3 versions of Virtua Tennis 4 just four days away from hitting the U.K. and Ireland, Sega are offering a new contest to celebrate. This contest in only available to residents in the U.K and Ireland and will have quite a prize package for the victor which includes a copy of the game, a Virtua Tennis 4 branded cap, drink bottle, t-shirt, key ring, sweat band, and a stress ball. A nice collection of swag if I do say so myself.
Now how can you get in on this contest? Simply answer a few questions that will be randomly be posted on Sega or Virtua Tennis’ Facebook pages and send in an email to [email protected]or [email protected] depending on which page asks the question. A winner will then be drawn from the correct answers given.
Sega have posted a list of rules and instructions on their blog, so to make this easy, here is a rundown on qualifications, times, and a full list of instructions:
(1) Description of Prize Draws SEGA Europe Limited (the “Sponsor”) is offering a “Prize Giveaway”, (the “Promotion”) and will award prizes via a random selection from eligible entrants. The Promotion is conducted as a question competition (“Competition”) taking place on the following schedule: the Competition begins at [4.00pm] British Summer Time (“BST”) on [Tuesday 26 April 2011] and concludes at [5.00pm] BST on [Thursday 28 April 2011], (“Competition Period”).
(2) Eligibility – The Competition is open to legal residents of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), who are [18] years of age or older. Competitions are void anywhere it is prohibited by law. Any entrants who are not eligible for the Competition can be disqualified at the Sponsor’s discretion. Employees, officers and representatives (and members of their immediate families and those living in the same household of each) of the Sponsor, its parent, subsidiaries, affiliated companies, advertising and promotion agencies, and any other company involved in the design, execution or production of this Promotion are not eligible.
(3) How to Enter – To enter the Virtua Tennis 4 Facebook page Competition [Email your entry to [email protected]]. To enter the SEGA Facebook page Competition [Email your entry to [email protected]]. You can only enter each Competition once in order to be eligible to win a prize from the Sponsor. Entries received for a given Competition are eligible only for that drawing and will not be “rolled forward” for inclusion in any subsequent Competition.
(4) Prize – The Competition will have, [an overall winner] winner will be randomly selected from eligible entrants to receive [–a copy of the game, a Virtua Tennis 4 branded cap, drinks bottle, t-shirt, key ring, sweat band, stress ball]. The odds of winning depend upon the number of eligible entries received for any given Competition.
(5) General:
(i) Winners will be selected in a random drawing conducted approximately three (3) business days after the ending date of each Competition Period. Potential winners will be contacted within two (2) business days of the drawing by the e-mail address associated with their Registered User account to confirm prize acceptance and determine a mailing address for the prize. Potential winners will have five (5) business days to respond to the prize notification e-mail with the requested information. Failure to respond within this time frame will result in disqualification and the selection of an alternate winner. Return of prize notification e-mail as undeliverable will result in disqualification and the selection of an alternate winner.
I know we have plenty of readers from the U.K. and it would be awesome to see one of you take the whole thing so be sure to “Like” both pages on facebook and get ready for this competition to begin!
Call of Duty Black Ops publisher, Activision in conjunction with Treyarch Studios have announced an all star cast to feature in their second DLC pack, Escalation. Famed horror/zombie stars Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger), and Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy), will join Michael Rooker, best known for his work on the massively popular Walking Dead tv series, as well as Danny Trejo of Machete notoriety. Escalation will be made up of the Call of the Dead level plus 4 new multiplayer maps which will launch first on XBox Live on May 3rd.
The companies have stressed their dedication to producing a zombie experience unlike that ever seen before, with the storyline inspired by the legendary George. A. Romero who inbetween making such horror films as Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Land of the Dead, took some time out to also star in the game. Mark Lamia Head of Treyarch studio describes Call of the Dead as “unreal and…taking zombies to an insane new level”, adding that this is a tribute to George A Romero and his efforts in revolutionising the zombie genre.
COD Black Ops is rated MA15+ and Escalation DLC will be available from May 3rd on the XBox Live network. Whether slaying vampires or zombies Sarah Michelle Gellar has a place on my consoles whenever she wants.
Lets face it, not everyone is good at video games. Myself excluded of course. But for those that do have difficulties in games there has lately been a few additions to the gaming universe that allow players to still advance despite their inability to perform the tasks necessary to do so. It appears that Rockstar and Team Bondi have created a way to allow players to skip through any of the game’s action sequences.
MTV Multiplayer states that Rob Nelson, Rockstar’s art director, told them that at the Tribeca Film Festival that if a player is unable to make it past an action sequence two or three times they will be given the choice to skip that section of the game. Literally saying that players “can skip those action elements and still experience the bulk of the narrative.” Sure it is good for everyone to have access to the end of a game but it still feels like if you skipped that part, you’d miss out on the whole experience.
Goverment and video games have always had problems going together. Most of the time politicians seem to care about protecting “our children” from these games that will turn them from sweet innocent little kids to morally depraved bloodthirsty savages. Out of the most unlikely of places it seems one politician cares about what is going on with your personal information on PSN.
Democratic US Senator from Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal has sent a letter to SCEA President Jack Tretton demanding answers on the security breach and why they haven’t been so forthcoming about this information. The senator has said in his post “Compounding this concern is the troubling lack of notification from Sony about the nature of the data breach. Although the breach occurred nearly a week ago, Sony has not notified customers of the intrusion, or provided information that is vital to allowing individuals to protect themselves from identity theft, such as informing users whether their personal or financial information may have been compromised.”
Sony has been very slow about giving out any real details on what information has been or hasn’t been accessed. Hopefully we can get some answers on this soon but for now if your one of the many PSN users with a credit or debit card tied to your account, best to check with your bank or the issuing company of the card to make sure there hasn’t been any fraudulent activity on your card. If you want to read the full post and the letter sent by the senator please click the link.
Well maybe the PSN, you never really know at the moment. Hopefully it will be up on May 3rd but if not then don’t expect the demo to be available then. Moving on. THQ has announced today that they will be placing a demo for their upcoming title Red Faction: Armageddon on the XBLM and PSN on May 3rd but unfortunately those hoping for a PC demo will be left out in the cold as no PC demo is planned at the time.
The demo will allow players to take control of Darius Mason and fight through some Martian sewers and aliens. He will do this through the Nano Forge which deals massive damage and is even able to restore things it destroyed and the Magnet Gun which will allow you to throw entire buildings at your enemies. Nothing says you want to kill something like a house in the face right?
