In what could only be described as a massive waste of money that has ultimately proved only to fill the pockets of their lawyers, Sony and LG have come to an agreement ending their patent dispute. As mentioned in previous articles, the issues arose last December when Sony accused LG of patent violation regarding its mobile devices, filing a complaint with ITC and launching a federal case. LG consequently retaliated in February with a civil suit regarding Blu ray patents and the PS3 console.
Come March and European customs officials were seizing PS3 shipments after LG won a temporary injunction order halting the consoles shipping across much of Europe. The two electronics giants have come to a cross-licensing agreement and agreed to drop their respective lawsuits. Why they didn’t just do this from the start is anyone’s guess. Pride perhaps, lawyers needed a new boat, who knows? Whatever the reason these companies need to stop whinging when their games don’t sell if they are spending half the franchises budget in a courtroom.
You know after the massive amount of effort Peter Molyneux put into his stance that Fable: The Journey would not be an on-rails game, this is the exact opposite thing to say. In an interview with OXM he stated that there would not be melee or gun usage in the game as there was no feedback provided to the player when they are playing with the Kinect.
Molyneux says that the human brain itself is “encoded to expect recoil from those things” and that he hates melee and guns because of this. Instead he says that when he “swing a sword and I hit something on screen, the visuals and the sound isn’t enough. We could have done what Zelda did well on Twilight Princess, where it doesn’t really matter what you do, what happens on-screen is the best thing. But I wanted people to feel powerful, to feel power, and that’s all about you.”
Instead he says that there is a unique factor when it comes to magic, mostly that “the thing about magic is there’s nothing encoded in your mind about how it should feel. So no guns, and no swords.” I’m not entirely sure what Molyneux is thinking to be honest, as saying this means that The Journey is nothing more than an on-rail shooter with magic instead of bullets…
Activision’s Rezurrection DLC package is for the zombie killing lover in all of us as they said in the latest behind the scenes video for the game. In this behind the scenes look we are given our first gameplay footage of the “Moon” zombie map which sounds quite fun because not only did they take everything that they learned from past zombie maps, but there is really low gravity.
The movement speed and control of the characters the players will be handling will be changed and everything will be floating and honestly Moon is probably the best zombie map ever, simply because of the fact that there are zombies on the moon! You can catch the behind the scenes video below and the Rezurrection DLC later this month on the Xbox 360 first with a PS3 and PC release later.
Despite the best efforts from fans, Xenoblade has yet to be confirmed in North America for a release of any shape and or form. Nintendo of America’s president Reggie Fils-Aime had a bit of an interview with IGN today and he said that despite the fact that Xenoblade has already been translated into English and released in Europe, they are simply going to watch closely.
To be more exact he said that Nintendo of America “will be watching very closely what happens in Europe. Certainly if there are business opportunities and positive consumer uptake from some of those titles, that will be great data for us to consider as we look at what to do with these titles.” You know what the best way to gauge the worth of a game? Look at the massive amount of support and outrage that Wii’s users are displaying for the game and stop hating money.
Despite Walmart and a number of other stores breaking price drop date on Nintendo’s 3DS system, Nintendo doesn’t care. As long as you are a current owner of the Nintendo 3DS, regardless of if you paid $250 or $170 for it, today is the last day to become a 3DS Ambassador by connecting to the 3DS to the Nintendo eShop and registering it online on Nintendo’s website before 11:59PM EST
By becoming a Nintendo 3DS Ambassador you will be able to obtain 10 free NES virtual games on September 1st and 10 GBA virtual games by the end of the year. So if you haven’t opened up or registered your 3DS yet, now is the time because there will be no extension of this date if you are lazy and miss the cut off point.
EA Sports has released plenty of games for most recognized sports, including plenty for Football and Soccer. One game that hasn’t seen a lot of love from EA Sports however is Tennis and this was especially true with the Grand Slam Tennis series. The first title was released on the Wii and was claimed to be the best tennis game on the console at the time.
The HD version of the first title was delayed indefinitely and killed, now however EA Sports has announced that they will be releasing Grand Slam Tennis 2 for both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 some time in 2012. Some features mentioned for the game include Total Racquet Control, Legends of Now and Then as well as all four Grand Slam Championships as well as Wimbledon.
Spelunker HD Platform:PSN Developer:Tozai Games Publisher:Tozai Games Price: $9.99
Overview:
Spelunker HD is a refresh of a 1983 cave exploration game that sees you cast as a nameless, plotless hero who decides to explore a huge set of cave systems – presumably in search of a mystical, shiny treasure.
Gameplay consists of collecting the keys needed to open old and mystical doors that take you to the next level of the cave. There are a myriad of deadly obstacles to avoid, along with bizarre looking oxygen supplies , score boosting points and hidden gems. You are armed only with bombs, flares, and your oxygen tank, which comes in handy to clear out the ghosts you’ll run into occasionally.
A DISCLAIMER!
Spelunker HD is so hard that I died 24 times in the first five minutes. That’s pretty much once every six seconds. So if you don’t enjoy truly difficult platformers, stay well clear. It’s tempting to review the game in a Gollum and Smeagol like fashion, one calm and considerate, one ranting and raving. But with more time spent playing the game I chose to give it a fair trial.
Gameplay:
The control system is picky to the point of insanity, and could easily be interpreted as badly designed for any less than patient gamers. Still holding the direction button when you land on a rope? Dead. Clip the side of platform? Dead. Fall an infinitesimally small distance? Dead. I could go on. It demands 100% concentration and really is tough, you have to learn the system, which at least is consistent in it’s eagerness to kill you.
But despite this, I stuck with it – not everybody will want to. The game rewards patience and practice, and when you get the hang of the controls and know what to avoid, the gameplay becomes pretty addictive. The difficulty involved means that when you do succeed there is a big sense of achievement, but this is often balanced out by bouts of sheer frustration. There can be moments during Spelunker HD, when you’re standing looking at the spot where you’ve died about 20 times in ten minutes, that you want to embed the controller in the wall. Hard.
The levels com in sets of 10, each with its own theme and dangers. The game begins in a fairly standard mine setting, with Indiana Jones style rolling boulders, pooping bats (yes, the bat guano is deadly), spiders, snakes, pitfalls and jets of fire. Spelunking your way to level ten unlocks a more watery set of graves for you to die in, and the platforming also becomes more complex as the game goes on.
Aside from the difficulty, the games other weak point is the way level progression and game overs are handled. The game dutifully records all your play data, slotting you in to the global rankings every time you hit game over. The total death tally and your worldwide ranking is fun to keep an eye on, but the process slows down the game restarts, which in a game of normal difficulty wouldn’t be a problem, but here it is. You have to go through the rankings screens, the home screen, hit continue, load up the level, and you have to do it a lot.
And this is where the save system adds to the party. The game autosaves, but only after you complete each block of ten levels, which to any normal human being is next to useless unless you want to replay every level over and over again. The only solution is to save and quit every time you make a bit of progress, which slows the game down even more.
When you complete a block of ten it enables you to start a new game in retro or HD mode from level 10, 20 etc, useful if you find yourself saved at a difficult point with no lives left to get you anywhere.
Audio & Visual:
The up to date graphics of the HD mode are fine, but lack the charm of the brightly colored retro mode. Your spelunker in particular is a bit bland, but some of the death animations more than make up for it – as well as showing off the games sense of humor. Little flashes of it crop up here and there, and do a lot to help you stick with the game.
The music is an update of the original theme – which can of course be found in retro mode. It’s an upbeat, electro dance number, with a constant backbeat. If the games going well and you’re flying through the stages, it’s great – cheery stuff. If your falling to your death constantly, not so much. There’s little variation to it throughout, only changing for a spooky theme that plays to let you know when there’s a ghost on the prowl.
Multiplayer:
Multiplayer is available in two styles, wisely divided into competition and co-op modes. Both online options support anything from two to six players, whom you can find in public or friend rooms, or if you’re playing offline, up to four people.
It’s well set up, with the screen mostly given over to the exploits of your own adventurer. Other players if close enough will be in your own view of the action, but otherwise take up smaller snippets of the screen so you can get an idea of what everybody’s up to.
In the group excursions there’s a true element of co-operation needed. Every key can only be picked up once, so if you want to get through a set of doors, all keys and their grabbers have to live long enough to get to get there. Multiplayer is quickly paced, and holds up well with the melee caused by throwing 6 players into a death prone world. Sadly I never found anyone in the competitive play rooms, so can make no call on that particular mode.
In addition to the main gameplay there’s a simple emoticon system that lets player communicate with each other in multiplayer, sporting helpful stuff such as ‘wait’ or ‘come here’ and the ever essential mockery options, although my personal favorite is ‘timeout’ complete with a picture of a toilet. It shows off the wry sense of humor that runs through the game.
Overall:
Whether you love or hate Spelunker HD is down to how you interpret the games difficulty. Embrace it and the platforming is a fun experience, the sensitive controls a challenge to be beaten; reject it and you’ll abandon the game within minutes. The humour that occassionally pops up helps a lot if you decide to give the game a chance, and the music combined with the constant dying can actually become quite funny, especially in multiplayer.
With 100 levels and plenty of promising multiplayer on offer, there’s a lot of value to Spelunker HD if tough platforming’s your thing. But I cannot emphasize it enough, if you don’t like difficulty, don’t do it!
If you do complete this game, let me know, and I’ll call the Pope to get you that sainthood.
If you have any questions in your mind if you should be buying Saints Row: The Third or not then all you need to do is watch the newly released video for the game to answer that question. THQ released the below video for Saints Row: The Third which takes viewers through the game’s second level which is named Freefalling. The video itself shows a little bit of cutscene but also a lot of gunfire.
Of course the free falling comes in to play as the player has to literally free fall out of the back of the airplane and shoot enemies as they are falling through the air. Volition has made a lot of improvements to the game and it is obviously going to be everything Saints Row fans want and more.
Today Funimation has announced through their FUNi Blogs the entire cast of the first 12 episodes of their English version dub of hit shonen anime Fairy Tail. The following have finished up recording parts for the first 12 episodes of the series:
Alzack played by Austin Tindle
Angelica played by Heather Walker
Aquarius played by Jessica Canvagh
Belno played by Wendy Powell
Bisca played by Angela Chase
Bob played by Antimere Robinson
Bobo played by Elias Taylorson
Bora played by Ian Sinclair
Byard played by Tyson Rinehart
Cana played by Jamie Marchi
Elfman played by Christopher R. Sabat
Erigor played by Jonathan Brooks
Erza Scarlet played by Colleen Clinkenbeard
Duke Everlue played by Christopher Ayres
Gray Fullbuster played by Newton Pittman
Happy played by Tia Ballard
Horologium played by Ben Bryant
Jet played by Michael Chinnici
Kaby played by Dave Trosko
Kageyama played by Chad Cox
Karacka played by Chris Cason
Kemu played by Jerry Russell
Laki played by Apphia Yu
Laxus played by Patrick Seitz
Levy played by Kristi Bingham
Loke played by Eric Vale
Lucy Heartfilia played by Cherami Leigh
Lyon played by Jerry Jewell
Lyra played by Kristin Sutton
Macao played by Brian Mathis
Makarov played by R. Bruce Elliot
Mirajane played by Monica Rial
Moka played by Kenny Green
Mystogan played by Rob McCollum
Nab played by Mike McFarland
Narrator played by Bob Magruder
Natsu Dragneel played by Todd Haberkorn
Rayule played by Will Christoferson
Reedus played by Sonny Strait
Romeo played by Kayla Carlyle
Siegrain played by Rob McCollum
Sherry played by Trina Nishimura
Toby played by Chad Halbrook
Ur played by Kira Vincent Davis
Ultear played by Lydia Mackay
Vijeeter played by Tyler Walker
Wakaba played by Charlie Campbell
Yuka played by Anthony Bowling
Zarti played by Mark Stoddard
With such a great cast the upcoming Fairy Tail dub looks to be amazing. The first Fairy Tail Collection is set to be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on November 23rd, 2011. So mark your calanders or and get those dollars ready otherwise you might just end up a Fairy Fail!
Leave a comment below letting us know what you think of the cast for the Fairy Tail dub.
Since the announcement of Kirby Mass Attack, we have only had a few brief snippets and screenshots to show just how this new adventure will play. Nintendo released a new trailer for the game today, showing us just what kind of game Mass Attack will actually be.
Think of your classic Kirby title, add in a dash of Pikmin, and then multiply the result times 10. This new clip shows off an interesting formula that has the player use the stylus to assign attacks or moves to multiple Kirbys in a Dream-landy platform experience. If you also didn’t notice, some of the usual faces such as Whispy Woods will be returning to cause Kirby and his Mass Attack pack trouble in his new DS adventure. Check out the new trailer below to watch Kirby in all his pink glory.
