Well it was only a matter of time. A handheld console is being released and the best way THQ sees themselves to get their foot wet on the 3DS is to do it with a cartoon character. Sure some people may not like him, or some people really loathe him, but then again kids really love him. So that means that SpongeBob SquarePants will be coming to the 3DS this May in his own game called SpongeBob SquigglePants.
The game itself will come with a 100 of what they are calling nanogames. This most likely means bits of minigames that have been chopped down even more in an effort to optimize the character’s world and characters. The game will also feature hand-drawn input much like the soon to be released Wii counterpart that uses the uDraw GameTablet.
Dead or Alive has always been a franchise that has either had fans clamoring for a new release, or shaking their heads when a spinoff game is announced. Now with the 3DS coming out fans were certainly excited about the fact that Dead or Alive Dimensions would be getting the 3D treatment and a United States release date.
Unfortunately it seems that not everyone was too happy with the announcement. Least of all the ESRB apparently because Aussie Nintendo has found that the boxart for the game has been slightly modified for release in the U.S. Because apparently it must be too offending to see a bit of inner thigh. Wait a second… isn’t this the same group that made all of those Beach Volleyball games… didn’t look like the ESRB had any complaints there.
Just yesterday we reported that a Resident Evil: Revival Selection was being developed for a Japanese release and now Capcom here in the U.S. has released information involving this project. And thankfully it contains good news because Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil: Code Veronica X will both receive remastered, upgraded visuals when they arrive on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
The scheduled release window is currently for the fall season and both games will be released via the PSN and the XBLM respectively. Capcom stated that the games would be released seperately instead of being bundled together for one price. Along with this announcement they also released a handful of new comparison screenshots which show off the old graphics compared to the newer remastered look. After taking a look at these it is very obvious that a major change has occurred, but I still don’t remember RE4 looking quite so fuzzy.
Kalypso Media’s upcoming medieval adventure, The First Templar, has been given a new video showing off some gameplay. Supposedly, the action-adventure game will feature co-op multiplayer options, as well as the obvious single player alternative.
This trailer is still keeping everything under wraps and not giving a lot away in terms of story, setting, or exactly how gameplay will play out. One thing is for certain: battling is going to be a brutal, blood-thirsty affair, with ruthless attacks represented by the visual results onscreen. Be sure to check out the trailer below if you’re interested:
The First Templar is slated for a release date this May on Xbox 360 and PC.
Longtime fans of the Final Fantasy series have had to deal with a lot over the years. Between games not being released outside of Japan to games being released with the wrong numbers, the chronology of Final Fantasy can be a bit confusing if you live in the Western Hemisphere (and Australia!). The game we thought was Final Fantasy III turned out to be the sixth in the series, and the real 3rd game didn’t see release in America, Europe, and Australia until it was ported to the DS 16 years later.
Well, fans who never got around to picking up the DS version (or don’t have a DS) now have another option available to them for playing this classic RPG as Square Enix has just announced the worldwide release of Final Fantasy III for iPhone, iPod touch, and soon iPad. The iOS version features brand new 3D graphics and touch controls. In order to celebrate this release of the long-neglected 3rd Final Fantasy, Square Enix has also announced a sale on many of their previously released iOS games, so if you’ve been waiting for an excuse to try out Song Summoner, the wait is over!
Final Fantasy III is available now on any iPhone or iPod touch with iOS 3.0 or higher and sells for $15.99, €12.99, or £9.49 on iTunes.
Codemasters have announced that they are hard at work on the sequel to their successful formula 1 game released last year, specifying a release date for F1 2011 on 23rd September.
F1 2010 was both Codemasters’ most successful game to date, and the fastest-selling Formula 1 game of all time. After receiving a BAFTA award for F1 2010, I’m sure Codemasters have high hopes for F1 2011 when they put it out on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.
This time round, they are also making a version for NGP and 3DS, although a date for these two versions hasn’t been confirmed. It’s good to see them taking on the new systems, so fingers crossed the make good use of the new hardware and all their new features.
SouthPeak Interactive and Firefly Studios, publisher/developer duo behind Stronghold 3, have announced that upcoming castle-building strategy game will be arriving on PC a little later than expected. The release window has been pushed back to later this summer to give them more time to include a host of great new features that will ensure Stronghold 3 rules the roost.
“We want to make sure fans get the game they want and deserve,” said Stronghold 3’s designer Simon Bradbury. “Although some may be disappointed the game isn’t coming out as soon as they expected, we’re sure they won’t be disappointed with the new elements we’re adding to the franchise, to make this the best Stronghold yet.”
I very very rarely use the word “beautiful” to describe much in this world. To date, there are only 3 things that I can consider to describe that way. First and foremost, is my loving girlfriend: Grace. (Who I know reads this <3) Secondly, the charitable spirit of humanity when some huge disaster shakes the foundations of our society and planet. And third, media that is able to deliver visuals that are so stunning, so breath taking, they leave a lasting impression on you for a long time to come. There is no other way I can really describe the visual spectacle that is ‘Child of Eden’, besides beautiful. But then again, what else would you expect from Leader Director Tetsuya Mizuguchi, the same creative mind behind Sega Rally, Space Channel 5, and most significantly: Lumines.The premise of the game is remarkably simple, and yet complex. The “system” that holds and dictates all of Earth’s natural beauty is corrupted. As you play through each stage, your goal is to cleanse the system of the corruption and restore beauty to the world. Using only your hands, your objective to neutralise the corrupted “data” within a system. As players do so, they are offered a visual feast of digital shapes bending, moving, reshaping into visually stunning effects and beings, whilst accompanied by a cacophony of music that can really drive the emotional response of the player. This is especially true due to the use of the Kinect system, where the player feels like they are at one with the world they are playing in.
Basically, gameplay involved using our hands to aim and lock-on to targets that represented the corrupted data in the Matrix system. Up to eight targets could be targetted at once, with the game letting us know we’ve reached the lock-on limit by chaning the opacity of the targetting crosshair. Once targets were lock-on to, a quick forwards thrust of the hand sends blue bolts of energy flying out to purify the targetted bits and bytes. At the point where targets have been acquired, the player may also feel the sudden urge to yell out a particular catchphrase they’ve learned from popular culture. For me, it had to be “Targetted and Firing” -Lockon Stratos of Gundam 00. But I digress… In addition to the lock-on targetting system, a quick clap of your hands will change your armament to the tracer beam. This weapon would primarily be used defensively to shred apart any corruption attacks any enemies may fling at you. Just as with any shooter stlye game, yes, you do have a health bar. Finally, you are also able to utilise the power of power-ups that you can find in the feild. The most significant of which are the “happy bomb” and “healing sphere” which can both destroy and create at the same time. All the while, playing through this, the player is treated to a wild, and yet calming experience, made all the more satifying through movement control.
Essentially, the game is an on-the-rails shooter that has a very cyber punk feels to it. I couldn’t help but make the combination in my mind of this game being a combined product of Starfox, Geometry wars, Just Dance and a little bit of Star Wars. The game will also be available for compatibility with the Playsation Move for PS3. Additionally, it should be noted that Child of Eden CAN be played without motion sensors, and is completely playable with the use of a controller. However, from my experience with it, every gamer should take the opportunity to experience the movement flow for yourself. Described as a Rhythm Action game for the Kinect, regardless of what sort of gamer you are, I can only say that you will be missing on a something truly amazing if you don’t give this a try.
With the impending release of the Nintendo 3DS looming ever closer, gamers of every calibre have been turning their attention to the myriad of launch titles scheduled to be available for release. After all, having a new console is no fun if you don’t have anything to play with it… And with gaming now moving into the realm of 3D play innovations, you may want to get in on some of these launch titles while you can. And those of keen eye, deduction or counting skills, many will have noticed that a large percentage of the 3DS launch titles are from a single developer: Ubisoft.
Ubisoft is no stranger to the mass release of launch titles. Take a look at the Kinect. More than half of the launch titles were Ubisoft branded, and the system had quite the successful launch worldwide. Now however, their sights are turned on the portable handheld market. Upon release of the 3DS on the 31st of March (Australian Release), Ubisoft will be releasing their own flood of products for gamers to sink their teeth into. And from what MasterAbbott, LinkageAX and I saw at an invitational trial, it must be said, we were highly impressed. While the three of us are already used to going to check out the 3DS trials to check out the new technology, we felt it was time to give some feedback on the games themselves. We were shown quite a few titles intended for launch with the 3DS including Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell 3D, Rabbids Travel in Time, Battle of Giants: Dinosaurs, Asphalt 3D, Rayman 3D, Tom Clancy’s Shadow Wars and James Noir’s Hollywood Crimes. Having had the opportunity to play a few of these games in a bit more depth than a standard Nintendo trail permits time wise, I’ve had a better opportunity to reflect on what features and softwares my fellow gamers should look out for.
Asphalt 3D
Anyone that’s been to a 3DS trial already will have likely already seen or played this particular title. For fans of the racing and sports genre, this is probably the must have title for the 3DS launch. It’s only one of two racing titles to hit the launch besides Ridge Racer, but it must be said that this game is graphically amazing, and it’s pure fun. The gameplay itself is fluid, and the difficultly curve appropriate for a launch title. That said, it is definitely one of those games that is easy to learn, but hard to master. While learning to use the nitrous and drift functionalities are simple enough, and probably enough to put you in a top 4 place, you really need to push yourself and learn a few of the more difficult tricks and shortcuts if you want to earn yourself the number 1 spot on the leader board. I must say it’s refreshing to see a sports game that doesn’t take the “designed-for-the-player-to-win” road that many racers suffer from these days.
James Noir’s Hollywood Crimes
This little number was a title I was not expecting to see. This particular release is point and click mystery game of similar calibre to the professor Layton Series. However, the main difference is that this game takes on a far darker feel than the light hearted Layton mysteries. The game features a mix of puzzles, and intellectual challenges that can, at times really stretch your brain muscle. The game makes a very clever use of the 3D graphics capability of the 3DS, by making the player utilise certain 3D features and angles to uncover the answers to some of the brain teasers provided. I personally thought it was very clever how in one puzzle, you are forced to adjust the 3D slider to correctly make out what the answer to the puzzler was after rotating an object to find the hidden message. Set in the “Film Noir” period of the rough 1960’s this is definitely one for both the “intellectual gamer” and fans of noir period crime novels by the likes of Raymond Chandler, Agatha Christie and Dashiell Hammett.
Splinter Cell 3D
Having already been used to playing Chaos Theory on the Xbox, I went into playing this expecting a general ported over version of the old Xbox classic, utilising the control pad in place of a console controller thumb stick. It turns out there was more to playing this game than I had initially perceived. The 3DS makes a fluid use of the touch screen to dictate Sam Fisher’s actions in the game, such as climbing, using stealth tools and other gadgetry. Additionally, the added 3D perspective, believe it or not, actually helps the player discern depth and distance from enemies and objects better than it’s predecessor, therefore providing a more genuine feel for the in-game world, as well as a stronger heart pumping experience when trying to remain hidden from the view of several heavily armed bank guards. If you loved Chaos Theory before, or missed out on it in the Splinter Cell series, don’t miss this one!
Rabbids Travel in Time
OK, now THIS one was the one that REALLY surprised me. My previous experiences with the Rabbids games have been mixed. While I enjoy their general silliness and wacky sense of humour in cut scenes and gameplay, I tended to find that the mini-game style structure of the previous games made it difficult to take seriously. Additionally, the constant changing of play styles made it hard to play for a long period of time, having to constantly re-adjust to new control styles. It’s not hard to tell that the previous games were more catered towards a “group” demographic, by providing fun and wacky mini games to play when you have a few mates around, and a few too many beers. Mini-game, multiplayer oriented. That’s the perspective I went into this thinking it would be.
HOLY CRAP, was I wrong.
This particular title seems to be a complete 180 for the series. Rather than focusing on party type multiplayer functionality, the game seemed to operate primarily as a single player oriented adventure. And secondly, it’s a SIDE-SCROLLER. That’s right. A side scroller adventure to complement the likes of Super Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, Megaman and Donkey Kong. In fact, on the note, it very much felt like the whole time I was playing Donkey Kong Country. Right down to the shiny yellow collectibles. However, the Rabbids themselves put a unique spin on this style of side scroller by adding their infamous wacky sense of humour. C’mon, how many video game heroes dispatch enemies with their BUTTS? …
No, Mario does a “hip-drop”. Completely different… What? It is.
Add in the 3D player perspective, and you’ve got a recipe for hilarious 3-dimensional goodness! I have to admit, it was quite surprising the first time my character died and he was flung directly at the screen. It looked like the little white bugger was going to come flying out! My final verdict? If you love side scrollers, GET THIS. If you love the rabbids, get THIS. If you don’t love rabbids, GET THIS ANYWAY.
Today, a small group of Capsule Computers staff got the opportunity to hang out at the UBISOFT office in Sydney. These staff members were Phil (MasterABBOTT), Michael and Myself (LinkageAX). The Ubisoft offices were a sight to behold, as upon our entry we were greeted not only by Owen, but also Sam Fischer and King Kong. They have several office cubicles and a whole room dedicated to gaming. There were also beers and cola. We were presented with dev-kit 3DS devices by Owen at Ubisoft, and a decent selection of launch titles to preview. These titles are the ones I had the honour of previewing.
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars
Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars is a game that keeps the feel of previous Ghost Recon games while also altering the core mechanics of the game. In this edition of Ghost Recon, players control their squad in a type of turn based system that is reminiscent of more classic titles like Advanced Wars or Fire Emblem. In this game, units are placed in an area are move about on a grid in order to line up enemies and then attack. Each unit has his own weapons and skills to utilise on the field. The 3D works well with this game, though it is almost completely unnecessary – that doesn’t mean that it’s a bad thing. Somehow, the 3D enhances the game even though it adds no gameplay benefit. I found myself playing the game with it on at full power throughout my entire sitting, except for when I was messing with it just to see the difference in 3D perspective.
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory
Splinter Cell plays very much like a Splinter Cell game would; Stealthing, grabbing corpses, assassinations, lock picking and etc. In the build of the game that I got to play, we were tasked with breaking into a bank to steal something, or something (spoilers). It took a few minutes to become acquainted with the controls, as there were no instruction manuals to reference, but it didn’t take too long. Within a minute or so, I had taken out a guard with my pistol and was looking for a way to break into this bank. I happened across a security camera, which the game was begging me to avoid, but, me being me, I went back to where I had killed that dude earlier, picked up his corpse and then dumped in front of the camera. Security is going to have a field day with that one, heh heh. The controls on Splinter Cell were a little unweildy at first, considering the slide-pad is to move and a,b,x,y are to aim, but become quite natural. My session ended with me being killed by a guard whom I assumed would remain asleep as I tripped an alarm. What kind of bank has guards equipped with assault rifles?
Rayman 3DS
Rayman is back! And this time, in 3DS form. If I remember correctly, Rayman 3D is a port of the classic Rayman 2 that was released on the Nintendo 64 (though this version of the game is a port of the Dreamcast version). During my playthrough I found that the game controlled and played very similarly to the more classic titles on the N64, titles such as Banjo Kazooie and Conker’s Bad Fur Day. In my session I was tasked with finding a Frogs father or somesuch, which I took to immediately. After collecting a few Lums and traversing a few platforming bits my time with the game was at an end. It’s definitely a game to look out for.
Raving Rabbids 3DS
Yes, the Rabbids are starring in their own platformer and is quite an entertaining game. With level designs similar to Donkey Kong Country, the game feels right at home on a Nintendo system. The platforming is cool, the controls are responsive, the 3D is awesome, etc. The Rabbids themselves have a few things they can do during the game, such as jump, attack enemies and pick up objects to use as projectiles. The fun in this game lies in its great level design and entertaining cutscenes.
Battle of Giants: Dinosaurs 3DS
This title involves players taking on the role of a dinosaur, doing RPG-like quests and battles in order to level-up and equipping your dinosaur to make it stronger. The battles are quite entertaining and require you to counter an opponents moves with a certain other type of move. It’s very scissors-paper-rock, but doesn’t feel as though it is. Take one of our battles as an example. An Ankylosaur would attack our incredibly-long-named-dinosaur and we would have to move out of the way. After we moved, the Ankylosaur became paralysed enabling us to start attacking it and doing massive amounts of damage. For some reason with this game, I could not get the 3D to focus properly at maximum… This may have been a bug in the test version or my eyes being unfocused. More likely the latter. It looked fine at 50% though.
All up, the day was incredibly fun. The Crew had a great time previewing all of Ubisofts 3DS titles and we’re thankful for having to opportunity to play all these games early, on a dev-kit 3DS too! They’re so pretty! The 3D is also a very interesting piece of technology and I look forward to seeing how Ubisoft utilises the technology in all of their future titles. The 3D is a very interesting piece of technology. Ubisoft have the largest launch line-up for the 3DS and their games are worth checking out. We look forward to seeing how Ubisoft utilises the technology in future 3DS titles.
