Today is July 1st in the states, and if you are a Club Nintendo member, this of course means it is now time to redeem a Gold or Platinum reward, depending on the number of points earned throughout the year. Last year, Platinum members were treated to a statue featuring the cast of Mario that honestly looked quite stunning while the Gold members got their usual Nintendo calender.
This year Gold members still will receive a calender, but those who achieved over 600 points are to be rewarded with a Mario & Friends Pin Set. When I first heard the term “pin set”, I was expecting to see the limited Mario pins we seen last year. However, this set is made up of 25 small pins, each bearing 8-bit characters,enemies, and power-ups from the Mario universe. The set is broken up into 5 “puzzle like” boxes that make up quite a display piece when put together (as you see in the picture above).
If you are not yet a member of Club Nintendo, you can get registered over at club.nintendo.com. To earn points, all you need to do is simply enter in codes from your First Party Nintendo products (including systems), then simply do surveys for each item in which points automatically apply to your account. With those points, users can purchase Nintendo swag in the shop. Gold status is rewarded at 300 Nintendo points while Platinum is rewarded at 600. Every year on June 30th, if either status is reached, users can redeem their yearly reward. Since this is a new year, any codes entered as of today will apply to next year’s rewards.
That about sums it up. Now get to redeeming and enjoying free stuff!
Not too long ago, Namco revealed they would be releasing the 3DS version of Tales of the Abyss worldwide. Today, a release date was given to the highly anticipated title…at least for Australia anyway. On November 10th of this year, Tales of the Abyss will see a release down under and fans will finally get to experience the cult-favorite RPG in beautiful 3D with dual-screen support.
Now that we know that Tales of the Abyss will be releasing this year on the 3DS in Australia, the only question that remains is an official date for North America. Hopefully Namco will enlighten us on that news soon enough and if I had to guess now, I would say late October, early November might be a close assumption for that date. For now though, Aussies can breathe easy as Tales of the Abyss is now just 5 months away from touching down on the 3DS.
Over the past few years, Gamevil’s Zenonia series has set a bar for other Action-RPGs that enter the mobile market due to it’s simple yet in depth battle system to the epic tales told within the games. Today is a big day for Gamevil though as Zenonia 3 has been released on the Android Marketplace at absolutely no cost. which is quite a bold move to make for such an established series.
Zenonia 3 will have players guide Chael as he looks for answers to his family’s history across over 200 maps across Midgard and with 100 quests that can be executed during his expansive journey. As well as having four “distinct” melee and ranged character classes to choose from (with each holding 13 active skills as well as 9 passive), a new “Fairy helper-system” has been added to add a new layer of strategy to the process of leveling up your character. A new Execution Room Mode is another first for the series, letting players loot alone or with a friend in co-op play. The online PvP arena will also be making it’s return in this sequel.
“ZENONIA 3 is packed to the brim with an expansive story, exciting combat and RPG action, extended online play,” said Kyu Lee, Head of GAMEVIL USA. “We’re very proud to share this next chapter of our flagship RPG series with Android fans, and welcome everyone as we offer it for free
All of these features combined certainly makes for a huge game and yet another ambitious release from Gamevil, and at the price of free, it would be criminal not to at least give the latest entry into the Zenonia series a download. You can find Zenonia 3 in the android market or simply at http://market.android.com/. Check out the new screens released today for yourself below and get to downloading!
In an Australian exclusive The Darkness II will be available to play at Mana Bar Melbourne, coinciding with the cocktail bar and video game lounge’s opening weekend on July 16th and 17th. If you’re lucky enough to be there, you will be able to get a firsthand look and a hands-on preview on one of the more unique games to come out this year.
The Darkness II continues the chronicles of Jackie Estacado, Mafia hitman turned Mafia boss, who possesses a dark and powerful demonic force knows as ‘The Darkness’. At this year’s E3, The Darkness II showed off some impressive new gameplay features “quad wilding”, along with an eye catching comic book style art direction that impressed many gamers and fans alike. If you’re in Melbourne definitely go cheek it out, but get in quick because it’s only going to be there for two days – July 16th and 17th!
For more information on Mana Bar visit their Facebook andwebsite. The Darkness II is set to be released on Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC on October 9th in Australia.
Okay, as anybody who frequents this site knows, I am a huge fan of the online shooter QuakeLive. I have put a tonne of time and effort into the game whilst mainly playing for fun. Yes, this has made kind of good at the game, and yes, this means that my ranking and tier will naturally increase. But, with the increased tier comes a downside. While I will be generally facing tougher opponents (thus increasing my fun), I’ll also generally be looking at a screen that looks a lot like this.
Hey look an active match! Oh it’s a private game (not that I wouldn’t be able to join, I prefer not to join private duels unless invited).
While it says that the view has been customised, it’s just set to filter only to Australian severs. So while I could play against US players with a 250+ ping, that wouldn’t be very fun. I’ve tried finding a match for a game for a few days now and I have been welcomed by a screen similar to this each time. Now, I could sit in a server and hope that someone comes along, which I have done, but it is rare that anyone actually does. I can also try and join a game that’s lower than my own skill (also known as slumming) but the game is built against that. Observe what happens when I try to join a game against a friend that is only one tier lower than myself.
This is a guy that routinely kicks my backside too.
Now, if I was a non-paying member of this game, I’d probably not really care as much. However, it turns out that I actually pay to play this game (because I like it tonnes) and not being able to play is really hurting my investment. While I understand that it’s not id’s fault that not many players meet my skill (or that there is a large portion that do but only have enough players to fully fill a few servers exaclty) thereby reducing my chances of finding a game, I would still actually like to be able to play this game at some point this week. Even if it’s to get owned by actual players with actual tier 4 skills so I can get dropped back down to tier 3.
You’re probably wondering what the point of this post is, and well, it doesn’t have a point. I’m just venting my frustration of not being able to find a game in a creative manner, rather than a destructive one. Take from this what you will.
Left to right – CTF (Tier 3), CA (Tier 4), Duel (Tier 3), FFA (Tier 4), Freezetag (Tier 2), TDM (Tier 3)
Note: While duels are common, I rarely see an active one whilst I am looking for matches.
I recommend this game to anyone, be sure to try it!
And be sure to add me (LinkageAX) to your friends list 😀
The complete list of Madman and Siren Visual releases for the month of July 2011 is out. We got one hell of a month coming our way with great releases from both companies such as K-On! from Madman and Clannad After Story from Siren Visual. Check below for the complete list of releases.
And that’s it for this month, anime and manga. We have some keepers here, so get buying everybody! You don’t wanna miss out on some of these. Bank on it!
So on a Monday night the 27th of this month, a few of our game-loving family ventured into the Sydney CBD for a chance to play the newest and yet to be released titles from Gameloft. For those who have not heard of them before, Gameloft is an absolute powerhouse company in the IOS gaming market, developing a very wide range of games for use on Apple Macs, IPods, Iphones and Ipads as Apps. However, they have also ventured into the realm of console gaming, with releases such as ‘Asphalt 3D’ on the 3DS, and a large catalogue of downloadable games available on networks such as Steam and the PSN. MasterAbbot, Alexis and I were fortunate enough to meet some of the Australian based team members of Gameloft in person for a few drinks, some snacks and a HEAVY dosage of playing the newest release titles they have on offer.
While Alexis had the chance to get stuck into a majority of the IOS titles on display, I got stuck mostly into the console and Macbook games. There were four console based titles on display: Modern Combat: Domination, Dungeon Hunter, Blokus and Asphalt 3D. Having already reviewed Asphalt in the past, I got stuck into the remaining three, all of which were displayed on PS3. I was informed that all three of the games that I trialled were only available as downloadable items from the PSN network, so don’t expect to see these little numbers pop up as physical media.
Additionally, I also had the chance to play a few of the iPod touch based titles. Now I will admit, I’m not exactly an expert on IOS based gaming, but what I did get to play through seemed like a pretty thorough attempt to appeal to the hardcore gaming market, as opposed to the casual market often associated with IOS titles. In particular, I had the chance to play through BackStab and the new HD Avatar game.
Modern Combat: Domination
This game was displayed on both the Macbook and the Playstation 3. Available as a downloadable title, Modern Combat: Domination is essentially a multiplayer oriented FPS title. The game itself features an objective based style of gameplay, similar in calibre to that of the Counter-Strike series. I liked to think of it as a CS for the modern day. Because let’s face it, CS is sort of redundant nowadays. The game itself flowed exceptionally well on the Macbook port, but required a little control adjustment on the console port. However, the unique thing revealed about this game, is that gameplay-wise it is, in fact, multi-platformed. In other words, when playing online, a PS3 player can connect and play a multiplayer match with someone using a Macbook. This is a very cool little feature that is likely to win over many followers who own both Macs and PS3’s.
The gameplay itself is pretty stock standard for an FPS title. Similar to the Call of Duty or Medal of Honour series, the gameplay follows a simple run-aim-shoot flow. The game does also feature AI bots to make up additional players for when one can’t make up an entire party. It also allows for decently scaled single player gameplay.
Dungeon Hunter Alliance
This is the one game at the night I spent the most time on. For fans of games such as Diablo, Sacred or Gauntlet, this series will seem like familiar territory. This game is a third-person action-RPG that takes place in a pretty standard Fantasy style setting. The players will take on the role of the formerly deceased King, brought back to life by some mysterious magical force. The players soon discover that the kingdom that once belonged to the player has been usurped and chaos now reigns far and wide. It is up to the player to adventure through this torn kingdom and restore the lost order.
\From the get go, players are given a choice of 1 of 3 character archetypes to use: the warrior, the rogue and the mage. Just as with other fantasy games, the warrior is the standard weapon master, the rogue, bows and knives, and magic for the mage. Along the journey, players will meet a variety of characters to add to their party, so no character niche is left unfulfilled. However, the best defining feature of this game is undoubtedly the multiplayer aspect. The game supports multiplayer functionality so that multiple players on the same console, or on separate consoles can adventure together. This game is relatively simple in terms of art style and gameplay, but is bolstered more by the premise of multiplayer possibilities. Due to the limited skill sets of each character type, and the large variety of situations players are likely to encounter, the game very much promotes co-operative play so that other player characters may fulfil the roles that are missing from the party. It should also be noted that a player character seems to be a far more capable ally than the AI partners. If you like adventure-RPG type games, similar to Gauntlet and Diablo, then this one is worth a purchase.
Blokus
Blokus was the third and last game that was displayed on the PS3. This particular title is a competitive puzzle game. The premise behind this game is to place down as many blocks as possible on the game board. The player who places the most blocks down at the end of the game wins. Sounds simple, right? Wrong. As I discovered for myself, this game is a VERY tricky one. Blocks can only be placed down if corners of the blocks are touching, which highly limits the options for areas that players can make a play. Additionally, each time you play through, you will be facing 3 computer controlled AI’s who have a rather merciless nature in terms of competition. The purpose of the game is to place down as many blocks as possible, but at the same time, use your blocks to “block off” the movement of other players. It’s a rather tricky little number that requires both puzzle solving ability and a degree of strategy. For those looking for an intellectual, try this one out.
BackStab
Do you like pirates? Of course you do. Why else do you think we all sat through 4 Pirates of the Caribbean movies? But what if the pirates were also ninjas? The universe would implode, right? All kidding aside, BackStab is probably the closest I’ve ever seen to the two arch nemesis factions being mixed. The game is essentially about pirates, but features a VERY heavy emphasis on parkour-like elements. The best comparison to make would be to say: “Assassins Creed, but with Pirates.” The demo I had the chance to play through featured a pirate protagonist that was battling against what I assumed was the royal navy from the colonial era. The game featured some pretty fluid combat and environment scaling mechanics. If you’re a fan of the Assassins Creed series, this one is worth looking out for.
James Cameron’s Avatar HD
The final title that I had the chance to have a go at was James Cameron’s Avatar HD. This IOS title attempts to construct the world of Pandora in greater detail by showing off more of the environments and creatures that we may not have necessarily seen in the movies. The game does not STRICTLY follow the movie flow of events, but it does so enough to the extent that players will be already familiar with what to expect from their player character, and the world around them. The game combines 3D adventure platforming and 2D side scroller sections of gameplay. For fans of the Avatar universe, you might want to consider giving this title a close look.
Today, Trionworlds has launched the new E-Card app based on their MMORPG Rift on the Facebook platform. The Application allows players to superimpose up to three images of faces, pets and/or other items into a series of pre-designed images based on the Rift universe. These themes include Dwarves, Elves, Bahmi and notable NPC’s such as Asha Catari and Cyril.
Feel free to try out the application at the Facebook page.
About RIFT
Adventure in the world of Telara as either a noble Guardian or technomagical Defiant and enter a dynamic fantasy where 8 primal forces battle for control in an ever-changing landscape. Build your own class using the Ascended Soul system, embark on epic conflicts that bring you into the story, battle others in exhilarating Player vs. Player combat, achieve new heights of power by tackling epic raids, and so much more. See www.RIFTgame.com for more information.
Bungie said that they would wait until Bungie Day, July 7th, to share details on Bungie Aerospace, but it turns out they were too excited. And they have reason to be too. Bungie Aerospace is Bungie’s way of helping make even more great games for the future, besides their own. They will give indie developers the “creative freedom and the resources they need, like access to the Bungie.net platform and an audience with the incredible Bungie community, to launch their entertainment experiences into orbit.”
The first lucky recipient of such help is Harebrained Schemes and their game, Crimson, will launch on iPhone and Android this year. Hopefully, more studios will support the other mobile and tablet devices soon.
“Bungie has always been passionate about making and playing great games, regardless of platform,” said Pete Parsons, Bungie COO. “Bungie Aerospace will allow us to explore game creation in multiple formats with some amazingly talented teams. Now that we’ve returned to our roots as an independent studio, we are in a position to launch Bungie Aerospace to support, foster, and elevate like-minded, independent developers.”
Bungie has said that they will continue to work on their own projects in-house, like their new game and its mobile support. They will also continue to work on Bungie.net and its mobile support in-house. Basically, Aerospace and Bungie will not be developing gaming experiences together, but they they will work together. If that sounds confusing, you should just check the spiffy PR linked here.
In news that might seem a little over the top for video game standards. Activision has announced ‘Call of Duty XP 2011‘, a two day long Call of Duty fan fest dedicated solely to the multimillion dollar video game franchise. The convention will take place in Los Angeles on September 2nd and 3rd across the Labor Day Weekend. Details of what will take place over these two days sounds pretty epic with a $1 million dollar Call of Duty tournament, a real-life recreation of “The Pit” map from Modern Warfare 2 as well as paintball competitions on real-life recreations of life size Call of Duty multiplayer’s maps (Nuketown anyone?).
To top it all off there will of cause be plenty of news on the highly anticipated ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3‘, with exclusive first looks on the game’s multiplayer. Tickets for the event will go on sale on July 19th for $150, with all proceeded going to Activision’s non-profit charity The Call of Duty Endowment. An organisation that seeks to helps war veterans to return back to normal civilian life. More information about Call of Duty XP 2011 is still to be announced, yet already is sound pretty damn epic.
All the action is set to kick off on September 2nd, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is set to be released on November 8th for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC. For more information on Call of Duty XP visit www.callofduty.com/xp.
