I found this video in the course of my regular browsing, and it’s such an awesome idea I thought I’d share it.
As a promotion for a version of Angry Birds being released onto the Google Chrome app store this week, developer Rovio set up a giant, playable real-life Angry Birds set in a city in Spain. It sounds cooler in theory, and doesn’t quite pan out as well as my unrealistic expectations had hoped, but still, it’s awesome.Watching stuff fall over and pigs exploding is still really satisfying, despite the dodginess of real-life physics.And to top it off, there’s a live band playing the theme song.
You have to appreciate the effort that’s gone into this. It makes me think – what other games should have real-life playable models built?
The latest addition to the MMORPG Guild Wars 2 is the engineer profession. This profession is the master of mechanics and gadgets and a swathe of useable devices that will aid them in combat.
The engineer class is only able to use one weapon set at a time, but they overcome this setback by having the ability to set-up turrets, mines and elixer shooters. Each engineer has a range of tools that are used differently, like the backpack and weapons kits, which overtake the primary weapons role and allow them to use different kinds of abilities, like a flamethrower. They can also set up turrets, which are launched throughout the battlefield and can be moved in battle. Lastly, the engineer gets a toolbelt, which grants them extra skill slots and other abilities.
Some big news from EA this week. Firstly, EA have just released a new game, Draw Jump. If this isn’t enough for EA fans, then get your hands on the latest update for Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, now featuring autolog.
While Draw Jump might sound fairly close to Doodle Jump in title, the two are far from the same, apart from the act of jumping. Cosmo the rocket man needs some help reaching new heights, and the only way for this to happen is if you help out by drawing tampolines to launch him higher and higher. Draw Jump features six colourful and imaginative levels to jump through, as well as an environmental undertone. Cosmo doesn’t use any rocket fuel, but rather sunflower fuel cells as a means of boosting jumps. Finally, an eco-friendly form of space travel!
From sunflower fuel cells, to high-speed petrol fueled racing. EA have released a new update for Need for Speed Hot Pursuit. The latest update features: Speedwall, enabling you to compete with friends and compare scores on leaderboards, Autolog recommends to alert you when friends are racing and Autolog friends list that allows you to stay connected to your fellow racers.
Two iconic fighting franchises are on the brink of an epic experience. Street Fighter X Tekken is ready to set the world afire by combining these two character lists and fighting styles. Will it succeed? Will the universe implode? Will it explode?! Who knows. Only time will tell. In the meantime, check out the new trailer for the game. Yes, 34 seconds of generic sword slashing noise and fighting poses is disappointing, but it is a trailer nonetheless. And that is always exciting. When your done watching, let us know what you thought and what your excitement level is for the game.
Where: The Nintendo Experience, EB Games, 67 Swanston St – Melbourne Where: The Nintendo Connection, Myer Sydney, Level 6, 436 George St – Sydney When: 10AM – 5PM 28th May – Melbourne When: 10AM – 5PM 29th May – Sydney What you Will Need: 3DS, Super Street Fighter IV and either yourself or a robot duplicate.
On the 28th and 29th of May, this month actually, Nintendo will be holding a couple of Street Fighter IV tournaments for players to participate in.
This is quite fortunate for players who wish to pick up some more streetpass data as everyone in attendance will require their own 3DS units and a copy of Street Fighter IV in order to participate, should they want to use their own control scheme anyway. For those unwilling to bring their own 3DS’, Nintendo will have a few spare units to borrow, which will utilise the default scheme for SSFIV and the touchscreen LITE control setting.
The tournament is open to 128 participants only and is a first-come-first-served basis; this means that anyone who is late to the events regestration starting at 10AM will likely miss out on a spot if it is too popular. The tournament is not just fighting though, there is also a trivia event and a streetpass battle event, with each winning you a shirt and a hat, depending on which event you win.
It seems cats have moved even further ahead of humans on the evolutionary scale, and now as well as cleaning their litter boxes and providing them with food and shelter, are overtaking our Ipads. Friskies, the well known cat food manufacturer has launched 3 games specifically for your cat on the Ipad and Android platforms. They were written using HTML5/CSS3 and according to gamesforcats.com (yes they exist) the colours, movements and gameplay have been researched and tested for maximum feline enjoyment. Imagine getting hissed at by the cat as it tries to break billy the tomcat down the roads record on Play Cat fishing, Play tasty treasure hunts and Play party mix-up.
The games are essentially the same concept where the cat has to follow various objects on screen ranging from cat biscuits to swimming fish. The games keep individuals scores and owners (or cats depending on how smart they are); can post them online to ascertain the best reaction times. Also gives kids another weapon when trying to con their parents into buying an Ipad. It’s for the cat.
For many of us it would be hard to choose between a gaming system and a PC that can take care of all that we need. Wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t have to pick if some how, in some magical way we could get both without going broke? Dream no more if you are a student as Microsoft and certain retailers are giving one sweet deal. If you purchase a PC from one of the selected retailers for $699 or above you will get a 4GB Xbox 360 for free.
All that is required is that you present them with your .edu email address or go to a participating store and show your student ID. The offer starts the 23rd of this month and will run till September 3rd. So plenty of time to play some 360 before you have to put the system away to do your homework. Ok who am I kidding that 360 won’t be collecting dust.
In their quest to conquer the current social gaming market, PopCap have now partnered up with Taito to introduce the world to Pop Tower, a new meta-game that will launch thanks to Japanese networking provider GREE. Pop Tower is a brand new step for the company to further their monopoly on the social gaming scene, with the classic Bejeweled set to launch on the service. Chuzzle and Zuma are also coming soon to Pop Tower, allowing for users to play many of newly customized PopCap favorites, featuring all-new game modes that allow for more socialization and multi-player interactivity.
Pop Tower itself is a meta-game which will utilize the networking service GREE, full of RPG elements that sees players rescue PopCap’s beloved game characters to restore beauty to the land.
James Gwertzman, PopCap’s Vice President for Asia/Pacific, had this to say on the partnered launch of Pop Tower:
Many of us grew up playing Taito games, so we’re especially delighted to partner with Taito to launch Pop Tower. The results of the collaboration are everything we expect from a PopCap game – it’s innovative, creative, and a bit quirky too. Pop Tower is undoubtedly one of the most exciting projects we’ve worked on to date, and I’m particularly proud that our Japanese team managed to bring it to market on schedule despite the devastating effects of the recent earthquake.
PopCap are expanding at quite a rapid pace, but you have to admit that the whole concept behind Pop Tower is certainly an interesting one and I would love to see someone like Facebook eventually adapt this new service, as it is filled with potential. With the way things are going I would say soon, PopCap could very well launch their own console or gaming device, another concept I would be all for.
With all the goings on or I should say down with the Playstation Network people maybe more leery to use their credit or debit cards with any of the online gaming services. With this new update from Microsoft Xbox Live users can have a much safer alternative when buying stuff on the marketplace. On Major Nelson’s blog today he states that in the new update users in certain countries will have the ability to use their PayPal accounts to purchase Microsoft Points, Xbox Live subscriptions, and even on demand titles. All you will need to do is to link it to your account by accessing it in the billing options menu.
Paypal support is not the only feature in this update as there will be a feature where the system will go to standby mode if left idle for more than an hour and support for the new disk format that Microsoft recently had been testing. The updates will start releasing today however the update will take a couple of weeks before the whole world can have access to it. PayPal has been regarded as one of the safest and most reliable payment methods on the web and I for one hope the Playstation Store does this so that way I don’t have to pull my card out and type in all those numbers with a controller.
As has happened before with the coinciding release of big titles and new system FW or updates, there are inevitably some users who experience difficulties. In this case the game happens to be Rockstar games masterpiece LA Noire, with latest reports indicating overheating and freezing issues originally only on the PS3 but now spreading to the Xbox 360. Via a post on their official website, Rockstar games originally laid the blame on Sony’s shoulders stating that responsibility for the issue was directly related to the new FW 3.61 rolled out with the re-launch of PSN. According to their own tests, both LA Noire and other titles were experiencing difficulties with freezing and overheating on the new firmware, a statement which has since been retracted by the company.
Sony have confirmed zero issues with their new FW and state “As with the release of any System Update, we will invariably see a very small number of users whose console has failed following updating their console, which is an unfortunate coincidence,” Sony said. “Rockstar have now updated their FAQ on the matter, have admitted that it is a fault with their latest title L.A. Noire and have offered a workaround.” There seems to much talk of a patch ready for the PS3 release.
Sony are also very quick to clear up that it is not isolated to the PS3 and Rockstar games have added a troubleshooting guide for Xbox360 owners as well as PS3 users. Both systems have recently received mandatory updates to address security issues and implement user features like PayPal. Microsoft are apparently also offering its European users a free 250Gb replacement console plus 1 years free Live subscription should their consoles be bricked by the new dashboard.
Despite being able to contact Rockstar games regarding the issue, both companies are denying responsibility via a joint statement. As with most of these issues it’s probably a very small number of users who in this case seem like they will be well compensated for any bricked consoles.
