Chalk n’ Talk Developer: Gamevil/AP Games Publisher: Gamevil Platform:iPhone(reviewed)/ iPod Touch/ iPad Genre: Guessing/Word Released: 04/04/11 Price:Free – Download Now
Overview
Gamevil’s latest game takes elements of pictionary, making a new mobile and social game called Chalk n’ Talk. Gamevil has tried to recreated the social nature of pictionary by putting the drawing and guessing elements of the game on an online chat room. In integrating such social elements into the gameplay, Chalk n’ Talk is a unique guessing game for iOS devices.
Gameplay
The actual gameplay of Chalk n’ Talk is really simplistic. Players enter a chat room and are given the option to draw or guess. The guessing players are given clues as they progress while the drawer, equipped with a few colours of chalk, tries to draw the word they were given. Both systems of input are easy to use, either typing or drawing on the chalkboard interface. However, there is a bit more to the game than just playing a guessing game with random players.
Chalk n’ Talk also has a social element to it, where you can add friends to lists and verse people in private chat rooms. However I think this artificial form of drawing and guessing kind of takes away from the fun of the game, which is basically based around the idea of random people drawing really crazy things. There are still other social elements in Chalk n’ Talk though. By going into the practice area to develop your hidden artist talents, you can upload your favourite drawings to the gallery. Taking a look through the gallery, it is pretty obvious that some people are rather skilled with chalk, and some of the pictures I have seen so far are pretty good considering they’ve been drawing with a finger on an iPhone (or iPod touch or iPad). Players are given the option to rate these images as they see fit.
There are a few problems I have with Chalk n’ Talk. Firstly you are playing against real people. While this is really what the game is all about, being a socially driven game, it has both its pros and cons. For the pro side, it makes the game less repetitive. The player’s levels can vary, and often some of the drawings and player interpretations are hilarious, which is all part of the fun of traditional pictionary games. However, a con comes out of the anonymity of players. Because these aren’t you’re friends you are playing with in a physical space, I have run across a few players who don’t play by the rules, so to speak. This basically consists of players who draw inappropriate pictures, using the ‘talk’ side of Chalk n’ Talk to ramble and irritate the other players or not making a significant effort and just writing the word instead of drawing. There is always the possibility to ask the other members in the room to kick them out, but sometimes it can be really entertaining. Other times it can be a real annoyance. Despite having these varied playing experiences, the game can still become repetitive though.
Graphics and Audio
Because the graphics are based on what players have drawn, there isn’t all that much to comment on here. Instead it might be better to talk about the tools that are given to players in which to create their own graphics. The colour pallet is rather limited, ranging from white, blue, pink and other typical chalky colours. However, by winning games and earning points you can buy different brushes and canvas to really help uncover the inner chalk-artist deep within. While it is cool that you can buy these, some of them seem a little weird and I can’t imagine them being too helpful in trying to draw an image someone would be able to guess. The ones that seem somewhat helpful often require a lot of points. As for the audio, there isn’t anything really special going on in this department. The music fits with the theme of the game I think, but the sound effects can be annoying at times, most notably the “ready” before each game starts.
Conclusion
Chalk n’ Talk has some value in terms of graphics, interface, sociality and concept, but I don’t know if iOS is the best platform to put all these elements together. Because the game is somewhat repetitive, it is a nice little twice waster, and would work well as something on the side – probably on a social platform like Facebook or something along those lines. It is an ambitious attempt by Gamevil, but just falls short of its full potential as a highly playable game.
Remember that awesome trailer that took the internet by storm last year? Mortal Kombat: Rebirth (watch it here!) was a 8 minute short film directed by Kevin Tancharoen with fight choreography by Larnell Stovall. The idea behind it was simple, give the MK fans what they wanna see: a dark, gritty, evil Mortal Kombat universe with blood and gore. And fans sore live action decapitations and dark, twisted characters in kombat with glee. It also re imagined the kontestants of the Mortal Kombat tournament as how they may be in real life, attempting to make it more beleiveable for live action film. While this would normally anger fans, many appreciated it and saw it as a fair trade off as ‘change some minor details, but still experience the atmosphere we’ve always wanted to see.’ You know, the complete opposite of the hollywood Mortal Kombat motion pictures and tv show which completely sucked.
The short film/trailer was a pitch to Warner Brothers for a potential new live action film, and after all the publicity it received, it was pretty successful. Instead however, fans got a 12 part live action web series with the debut episode premiering today, called Mortal Kombat: Legacy! The debut episode while slightly less violent introduces us to this new world of Mortal Kombat, showing fight scenes between Jax Briggs (Michael Jai White) and Kano (Darren Shahlavi), with appearances of Sonya Blade (Jeri Ryan) and Striker (Tamoh Pennikett), as well as breif hints at Cyrax and Sektor. You can watch the action below courtesy of Machinima.com and Warner Brothers.
Earlier this week, fellow editor Chris Cerami posted a news article about Atlus’ latest competition for their upcoming game: Catherine. The main point of this contest? To build a trailer out of fan responses. And so, I actually made a response to this video, just because I could.
Here is the video, which may or may not be my actual views on the topic, that is totally a parody of a very popular anime.
Here is the transcript for everyone to follow (mostly un-edtied, spelling fixed mainly) –
I never wanted to think about the heavy ideas that Catherine brings to the table. I also never wanted to do something different. But here I am, and there you are.
Who am I?
I am L: AX.
Who are you?
You are Atlas, I assume.
I never really believed that I had feelings to express in some way about a woman, that is until I watched through your video anyway. Then it all occurred to me, I do in fact have feelings. And some of them may involve a woman or two.
But first, let me ask you this: what is a woman and what do they represent?
I assume that you won’t be answering this question directly as you have an entire contest to run so instead I’ll just tell everyone my thoughts on the matter and assume that you will agree with my opinion in some way.
Why should you agree? It’s simple, you just will. If not, then, you’ll disagree and go on with your life. You may make a response to my video or you may not, but that is not that important if you do.
So what is a woman? A woman is a member of the human race that has a more interior reproductive organ (as opposed to the external that men possess) and also possess a series of lactative teats for which their young are to suckle in order to gain valuable nutrients early on in life. But above that, I also view women as having a significant role in day to day relationships between people. They provide 50% of the total available genders for humans to be born as and as such are just as varied as their male counterparts, if not, more-so. I also view women as equal members of this society and it is fully possible for them to succeed at whatever it is that they want to undertake, assuming that they work hard at it. Nothing comes for free.
Hearing this back it may just sound like I am viewing women as an object, which for the sake of that opinion is true. I have attempted to dehumanise them as a core subject so that you may hear a less biased opinion on them. You will now hear my biased opinion.
Women are a lot of fun to be around. They make exceptional friends and can be quite funny and observational. It’s kind of hard to talk about this personally as I’d be referencing a particular person or set of people instead of the entire female populace. From my experience however, some of the most fun I’ve had in recent times have been with the ladies. In my opinion there shoudln’t be this weird gender barrier that separates man from woman as their is very little difference socially that I have experienced. Anyway, that is my biased opinion, it should not be regarded to as fact, nor should it be included in any scientific study, unless that study is of biased factoids on women.
So apparently I want to be a part of this Catherine trailer and so I must answer a small amount of questions that I may or may not answer honestly or truthfully.
1) Do you want to get married?
Do I want to get married? Honestly, I am quite indifferent to the idea of marriage. Marriage has been around since pre-recorded time if sources are to be believed and as such are viewed as almost a requirement in the modern society. Over the years, new amendments to the marriage idea have been created (sometimes by church, other times by government) to suit the needs of the time. Some notable inclusions to the idea were actually as recent as 250 years ago, where Lord Hardwick created the marriage act of 1753 which made it so that marriage required some kind of formal ceremony (which is why we have marriage ceremonies now) which requires a priest and two other witnesses to be present as well as a registration of the marriage to be made. A notable amendment to the act was created almost recently in the year 1873, where participants can (if they choose) become married in front of a marriage clerk and is also legally recognised as if they were wed by an affiliate of the church.
So in noting this, should I, myself, be a part of a system that reflects society as it appeared before my time? Should not just loving a woman be enough for us to function as a group? Honestly, I’m not sure. I’d rather just say it the way it would happen, which is if the woman I’m dating wants to get married (and shows this by either hinting at it, proposing to me directly, or says it straight up) then I’m sure that I would. Also, I have no idea as to how I would view this idea in the coming months or years and as such can comment as to whether or not I would propose without being prompted to do so.
2) If so, and you happen to be seeing someone at the moment, to them?
At the moment, I am single. Though, this may change between now and when the contest is aired. I’m not going to say that I have someone in mind or not as it shouldn’t really matter. I’m going to take this hypothetically.
So the question is actually: Would I marry X ?
Would I marry her? If she wanted it, then I would. This is of course assuming that we’ve been dating for a while and we work as perfectly as we possibly can. I’m not the type of person to force my view of ‘I don’t really care about whether we do or don’t’ on them. Look, this is all subject to change, as the human mind can be as fickle about a topic as drunk can be on his booze. I know that I would be ultimately flattered that a woman would want me to be their husband, so there’s no way I’d turn her down. Of course, there will be pre-nuptials, as this is a requirement to what I believe is a legal contract between a man and a woman to spend an eternity together. If this contract is broken, should there not be consequences? Of course, there is natural decay in a relationship and this would account for that. But assuming it was forced should there not be a consequence in relation to the potential emotional damage?
3)If not, why?
She didn’t sign the prenupt. I’m not entering any contract that will leave me helpless and exposed should the worst happen. That is all.
Everybody of the world, I am L: AX and you are all the people of the world. Not you as an individual that is watching this video, but, the collection of all of you individuals that are watching this video. What is a video? Thing that you’re watching and listening to right now, unless you’re not watching and are just listening to, then in that case, are just listening to.
I hope that this response not only finds it’s way into the contest as a possible contender, but also as a form of entertainment for the masses. There are also some tiny bits of information that may be used in reference to other things. I hope that everybody has a great life and that CAPSULE COMPUTERS is an awesome website that you all need to check out frequently as we are awesome.
Nintendo has given Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3DS a European release date of 17th June, and a US release date of 19th June.
In the announcement, Nintendo also confirmed that the 3DS version will include the Master Quest mode from the GameCube re-release, which features re-made puzzles and dungeons. The giant also solidified the notion that the game would feature gyro functionality, which is put to use in this case by physically moving the Nintendo 3DS console to explore and look around with a first person view.
While there’s no confirmation on the game’s release for Australia and New Zealand, hopefully Kiwis and Aussies won’t have to wait too long after everyone else to play through the fantastic adventure again with revamped graphics for the 3DS.
Leading by example, HMV has become the first UK firm to launch a mobile phone app designed specifically to game trade-ins.
The app is available now on iPhone and Android platforms, free of charge. The ‘re/play’ app lets you check the latest trade-in value of games and games consoles, either by entering product details or using a built-in barcode scanner. It also provides details about the latest in-store trade-in offers, as well as a store finder to find your nearest branch.
This app could prove invaluable for gamers who play games and trade them in shortly after completing them, as it saves them a journey to the shops just to see how much they can get for their gear. It looks like we could be seeing apps of a similar nature from rivals in order to challenge this step forward by HMV.
Hellokids Vol. 1: Coloring and Painting (BiP media, 200 Nintendo DSi Points)
Successfully Learning: English Year 2 (DSiWare: Tivola, 500 Nintendo DSi Points)
Adventure Island II (Virtual Console: Hudson Soft, 500 Wii Points)
That’s it for this week. We’ve managed to bring this week’s releases to you a little earlier than usual before they are released, meaning you can plan ahead if there’s something on the list that interests you. Will you be picking any of these up? The main game of interest this week is probably Adventure Island II, which from my experience from the game, was an enjoyable platformer which sees you collect a number of cool power-ups, such as beasts to ride on, weapons to use, or a skateboard if you want to look like a picture of cool.
Madman and Skybound Strike Graphic Novels have announced a distribution partnership which will see popular comic book titles appear in Australia this year.
Skybound is an all new imprint of Image Comics which was established by Kirkman in 2010. It aims to provide a new generation of hand-picked comic book creators the opportunity to publish their work, and has so far released titles such as the popular series, The Walking Dead, Invincible, Witch Doctor and Battle Pope.
Madman’s distribution of Skybound’s comic books and graphic novels will begin this April, 2011. This looks to be an exciting development for Australia’s comic book market, and even more exciting for the creators at Skybound to share their work with the folks Down Under.
From the makers of ‘We Sing’ comes ‘We Dance’, adapting the tried and tested formula to suit a dance game. Nordic Games today revealed the features that will be appearing in the game when it releases this May.
Features include four-player multiplayer, 40 dance tracks to choose from, warm up sessions, ‘Dance School’ tutorials, leaderboards and three party modes – ‘Jump’, ‘Step’ and ‘Pose’.
The 40 licensed tracks span four decades of music and incorporate a range of genres like rock, pop, disco, rap, drum ‘n’ bass, and hip hop. The Wii-exclusive will also be compatible with Nordic Games’ Star Mat dancing peripheral.
Game Name:Super Monkey Ball 3D Platform(s): Nintendo 3DS Publisher(s):Sega Developer(s):Dimps Genre(s): Party/Racing/Fighting Release Date: March 25, 2011 (EU) March 27, 2011 (US) Price: $39.99 BUY NOW!
For nearly ten years now, the Super Monkey Ball series has graced many different platforms with it’s simple, balance driven gameplay and made AiAi and his monkey crew a household name in the gaming world. Launching with the Nintendo 3DS, Super Monkey Ball 3D looks to not only put the core gameplay elements to use with the 3DS’ gyroscope control scheme, but also broaden the series with two other modes that should be a bit familiar to any Nintendo fan out there. So how do AiAi & company roll in this new 3D realm? Here is my review for Super Monkey Ball 3D.
Gameplay
Start up this Monkey Ball adventure and you are taken to a rather simplistic screen with three modes. While we have seen many titles in the series with more activities in the past, these three are a bit more meatier as a whole and certainly host some entertainment, but one certainly outweighs the other two by miles.
Monkey Ball
After spending quite a bit of time with all three modes in Monkey Ball 3D, I can easily say that there is no beating out the classic formula of Super Monkey Ball. If you are new to the series, the main objective is to simply roll your monkey through a maze-like stage while avoiding various obstacles to make it to the finish line in a set number of time. There are four different and very familiar monkeys to choose from, but they possess the same feel mostly so your monkey of choice really comes down to favoritism or personal preference.
Super Monkey Ball 3D also now boasts two different control schemes, each playing dramatically different from the other. The first method of control is to use the circle pad to guide your monkey around the maze as you tilt the land back and forth. While this method is extremely precise, it also suffers a bit due to lack of challenge. The main objective is to simply hit each finish line and unless you are dying to reach every single banana or collectible, breezing through the 80 stages comes with not much of a problem due to railing which blocks you from falling off in many areas and obstacles that provide more of a minor pit-stop or slow down than a true challenge. I finished the entire game in a small sitdown that lasted around two hours with this control method, and while yes, it is still fun to actually play, the lack of a true challenge prevents it from reaching it’s full potential.
While I didn’t really get into the circle-pad scheme of things, the gyroscope motion control method actually was a much more rewarding experience. This method allows for players to roll through the same stages, but instead of using the circle pad to control your stage, players get to tilt their system in different directions to guide their monkey to each finish. Since you are actually moving the system constantly, it is almost a requirement to turn off the 3D or else the visuals become a bit blurred and harder to actually see but the level design does not really call for 3D to be on to start with, so flipping the switch should cause no problem whatsoever. I played through the game first with the circle pad, but the gyro method actually made each level feel brand new with more of a challenge as the game now added strategy to each maze. Now when you run up ramps, you simply don’t just move your ball up a ramp, you must precisely tilt back your system and move it forward quickly to gain a bit of speed. With everything controlling rather smoothly, this certainly made each level much more enjoyable overall.
The environments in the levels look amazing and feel alive with each world having it’s own theme players must roll through. What holds the game back though is that the themes are not fully utilized to their full potential in gameplay. Take the Banana Nightmare levels for example, where you have stage after stage that is full of life with ghosts wandering about and a world that looks straight out of an animated feature. Instead of having any interaction with this environment, sand of all things is about the only obstacle that blocks your path. Some stages do offer a bit more themed interaction rather that just standard background scenery, but moments like the one I mentioned made me hit the finish line feeling a bit cheated. As a whole though, the Monkey Ball mode is by far the best in the game and is a lot of fun to go through, even if it mainly to see the impressive sights and tackle the innovative use of the gyroscope controls.
Monkey Race
I really wanted to enjoy Monkey Race more than any other mode as I really enjoyed Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing which released last year and was hoping for a similar experience. This mode however is a lot more like Mario Kart and plays rather similar, with modes such as Grand Prix, Time Trial, and standard singles races. You simply race against seven other racers to the finish in a set number of tracks, using power-ups along the way. Of course not everything is reminiscent of Mario Kart though as many of the power-ups feel off balanced an lead to quick stops to the action that can completely take you out of the experience. Some power-ups however are clever such as a dizzying disco ball and help balance out the more over-the-top ones which definitely keeps things a bit more enjoyable overall. After you unlock the 16 different racers in the game, there are many different vehicles to choose from which does make this feel much bigger than it’s add on feel. Controls are done rather well and as I mentioned, if you have played just about any Kart Racer, you should feel at home as the feel is nearly the same, even if this racer is not quite as polished.
Monkey Fight
Much like Monkey Race feels like a smaller version of Mario Kart, Monkey Fight feels like a smaller version of Super Smash Bros.. Now of course it isn’t a bad thing to copy from such a fantastic series so that is certainly what this fighter does right as it feels nearly the same in many areas. The main objective for most the variants of fights usually has you beat the bananas out of other monkeys, quite literally actually. The monkey with the most bananas when the time runs out is the victor. Power-ups can also be acquired through golden barrels and each character offers up a different move to tip the advantage to their side. The only problem with this mode is that each monkey feel and play the same, with the main attack being a generic melee so there really isn’t a whole lot of strategy behind this and as a result, things can get a bit stale just a few rounds in.
Multiplayer
For all of these modes that practically scream for multiplayer options, local wireless is the most that is offered throughout the game. I really felt like online mode would have added a bit more replay value in the long-run, even if it were just a simple leaderboard. Local wireless is something though and if you have a friend with a 3DS, Monkey Fight & Racing are much more enjoyable over just competing against the standard AI.
Graphics/3D Effect
While the 3D in Super Monkey Ball 3D doesn’t truly do much for the actual gameplay, it is still really nice to look at. In the standard monkey ball stages, everything pops out of the screen and animations send things like bubbles and ghosts right out of the screen. The graphics in general are still worth the price of admission as well as every location is bursting with color and life, but this also makes it a shame that more interaction wasn’t included that would have added a lot more depth to the overall experience. The racing does indeed look great in 3D, but I felt for Monkey Fight it was nearly unnecessary as the camera angle used just does not fare well to see someone like AiAi punching GonGon from what appears to be a mile away to begin with. Menus and the small interlude scenes give off a Paper Mario effect which to myself were the most charming sequences in the game.
Audio
Another redeeming factor for this title lies in the soundtrack. Each theme perfectly fits with the level you may be rolling through and adds a lot of atmosphere which helps bring the stunning scenery to life. I mentioned the Banana Nightmare stage for good reason earlier, as the level looks amazing to start with, but the score used to go along with it has to be one of my top tunes for a game this year as it truly sets the mood for the theme of the stage and much of the other music in the game completes that task successfully as well. The monkeys all have their own sounds and voices which add a nice feeling of character and also keeps everything feeling like a Monkey Ball title, no matter what mode you may be playing.
Overall
For a game with such great presentation value, Super Monkey Ball 3D comes up a bit short in other areas. While the main game is a short, yet fun filled adventure while using the gyroscope controls, Monkey Race & Monkey Fight feel simply like last minute add-ons to stretch the life of the game out. That doesn’t quite mean they are bad by any means as I enjoyed each for what they were, but the gameplay just felt a bit uninspired and rushed for each mode. To sum that up best, it is kind of like you are purchasing one full game with two bonus add-ons. Some may love having the extra two titles, but I was just a bit saddened to see this extra content not reach it’s full potential. Either way though, Super Monkey Ball 3D is definitely offers quite a bit of fun and variety for any fan of the series and still manages to keep the same Monkey Ball charm that has kept the franchise rolling along for the past decade.
From its immediate release date the national paper of the UK the Sun seems to have something against Nintendo’s new handheld 3DS console. Their reports that ‘hundreds of furious users have slammed Nintendo’s new handheld 3DS device – for making them feel ill’, seem slightly dubious and without reliable source, with both the developer, GAME and HMV refuting claims of mass returns from irate customers, resulting in the Sun having to amend its stories. The speed at which information moves on the internet can often blow issues out of proportion and it seems this has been the case in this situation.
3D technology has been in the news since its introduction with many reports of headaches and dizziness when watching large 3D flat screen monitors and Nintendo have advised against children under 6 playing the device and for users to take regular breaks. Rob Saunders, the PR boss for the UK, acknowledges that some people may experience discomfort from any kind of 3D device and that the effects are not harmful and don’t last long.
New reports from the same paper claim many users are getting returns but are not being fully refunded which to me sounds a little odd and contradictory, especially since they mention GAME who have disputed such claims, and report literally a handful of complaints of this nature. HMV have also reported no refunds on the unit with Nintendo saying they have had fewer complaints than they experienced with other product launches. The 3D sliding scale built in to the machine allows users to adjust the level of 3D they experience and need to play with the settings for optimal use.
The Sun has conducted their own tests on the 3DS which are actually quite comical and nothing short of a joke. They tested its use across 4 different scenarios, sitting, standing, sitting in car and walking whilst playing, measuring a test subject (who looks like he eats fast food all day), blood pressure and pulse. Some people get sick merely being in or reading on a moving vehicle so that arguments null and void, and how many people honestly walk down a busy street fixated on a gaming console, not many.
Over the top, scandalous stories have always sold papers and I’m sure this is no different, it’s just a shame it came off the back of misguided and blatantly incorrect information. Maybe there’s more to it than it looks but I doubt it’s any more than over-sensationalised hype.
Screen Digest, a leading media and analysis firm have predicted sales of 11.6 million units by the end of the year with 70 million expected to be in households by 2015. In comparison the DS sold around 14 million units in its release year and roughly 140 million by the end of 2010. It must be noted that when the DS was launched there was much less competition, and the 3DS has to compete with such mighty foes as Iphones, Ipads, XPeria, PSP and a plethora of other game ready hand held devices which will affect its impact and sales figures.
