THQ may not be having a good time on the stock market right now with a stock price still down from where it was before Homefront’s release but apparently sales of their most pre-ordered game ever are good enough for them. THQ is claiming “robust” first day sales in the U.S. and have stated that they have sold around 375,000 units.
While two million units is still far away it is a relatively good start that for the game. THQ VP Danny Bilson stated that “Due to the strong and growing demand for Homefront’s multiplayer, we continue to add dedicated server capacity,” which means that you may be able to find a multiplayer match even easier. Brian Farrell also stated that: “We are delighted with first day sales for Homefront and are already fulfilling re-orders for the game from multiple retailers.” My money is that those retailers are Walmart and Amazon.
Swarm has gone gold and given a definitive release date in both Europe and the US for both the PS3 and Xbox360. Swarm will be coming on March 23 on XBLA and March 22 on PSN in North America. Sadly, Europeans will have to wait until March 30 to get it on PSN. You can take control of the blue swarmites for the cost of 1200 Microsoft Points on Xbox and $14.99 on PSN. If you are a PlayStation Plus member you can get it for the reduced amount of $12.99.
At first glance it may seem like a Pikmin type game where you have to use the Swarm to complete tasks, but it is actually more of a platformer. A platformer where you get bonus points for getting to the next checkpoint with the least amount of Swarmites ALIVE, MUHAHAHAHA!
In the wake of the recent trifecta of disasters Japan has been facing in the last week, several companies and organizations have made attempts to lend a helping hand in one way or another. Bungie, creators of Halo, Marathon, and Myth, have stepped up once again to do their part. Similar to their relief campaigns for the Haitian earthquake and Hurricane Katrina victims, Bungie will be attempting to raise money for the people of Japan.
The Bungie Store will be selling specially designed wristbands for 5 USD, all of the proceeds from which will be donated directly to the Japan relief effort. They will also be donating all of the profits from their online store to the relief effort from now until April 30th of this year. That means that any money you spend on awesome Bungie swag in the next 6 weeks will go straight to helping out those in need in the Land of the Rising Sun.
The bracelets, as shown above, are in light blue and have both English and Japanese embossed letters on the front and back. The Japanese characters on the front read “Ganbare Nippon!”, a popular expression used to cheer someone on or to lift one’s spirit (roughly translated as “Hang in there, Japan”, although very roughly). Bungie has also ensured that these bands can be purchased by international supporters, so no matter where you live, feel free to head on over to the Bungie Store and pick one up.
The popular ABC channel game show Wipeout will be getting a game outside of the Wii this time. Activision has acquired a licensing partnership with ABC and the show’s producer Endemol to bring us Wipeout In the Zone for Kinect. Wipeout is a widely popular obstacle course game show where contestants must navigate the course with the fastest time in order to advance.
The game will feature the “infamous ‘Big Balls'” that the original show is known for and often jokes about as well as 30 different obstacles that make Kinect users have to dive, dip, duck, dodge, and run through every obstacle that they come across. Unfortunately from the looks of the first screenshots released for the game it bears a striking resemblance to the previously released free XBLA game Doritos Crash Course… just with Kinect use added in.
Well this is not good news for THQ considering they have stated previously that Homefront must ship 2 million copies to break even. Just one day after Homefront was released in stores in the United States Walmart has decided to “roll back” prices on the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game. This isn’t a simple $5 or $10 price drop either but a full drop down to $41.96.
In an effort to keep their prices as competitive as they can with the competition Amazon.com has also dropped down copies of the game for those two consoles to the price of only $41.96. The cost has never been cheaper to fight for your homeland. Of course day after release price drops are never a good sign for publishers and THQ’s stock has fallen by nearly 26% at the time of writing this since the game’s release. This news comes as a surprise considering it was also previously said that Homefront was THQ’s most pre-ordered game ever.
During Batman: Arkham Asylum The Riddler was more of a background villain who only popped in to challenge Batman to find every riddle that he had hidden around the island and if the player managed to do so they were treated to a bit of extra interaction between Batman and The Riddler, unfortunately he was never shown on screen.
But back at GDC Warner Brothers actually had shown off the Riddler in full view of everyone. This time around clues will only be visible by using detective mode and he has hidden trophies around the city similar to Arkham Asylum. At the same time players will be able to interrogate Riddler’s gang members and keep one of them partially concious so he can gather information on clues. This is a much better integration of The Riddler’s unique personality and challenges into a game than simply having questions appear out of thin air.
After the events of the recent disasters in Japan many games from Japanese developers and Japanese based companies have received delays or push backs to unannounced dates. Today Tecmo Koei announced two more games that now are on an indefinite hiatus with no release date given. Dead or Alive Dimensions, originally slated for a release of March 24th, and Warriors: Legends of Troy, originally set for release on March 31st.
The release date for Warriors: Legends of Troy won’t be affected for Western gamers because the game itself is already out, but Dead or Alive Dimensions never had an official release date internationally but considering the delay it will now be even longer before a date is announced. Tecmo Koei only listed various circumstances to the delay and did not officially state that it was due to the recent disasters.
Has it been a while since you’ve stepped foot on the soil of Reach? Are you looking for something to spice up your online Halo playing? Well, you’re in luck! The Defiant map pack has been released for Halo Reach on Xbox Live today for the reasonable price of 800 MS points, including the multiplayer maps Condemned and Highlands and the Firefight map Unearthed.
Condemned, shown in the screenshot above, is a mid-sized map located on the human controlled Orbital Station Gamma in orbit around Reach. Highlands is a massive map great for big team battle and objective based games like capture the flag. It is set in a “Military Wilderness Training Preserve” used by the Spartans, which may sound like a counter-intuitive measure by the conservationists of 2552, but the wooded environment should make for interesting combat scenarios.
Finally, Unearthed is the first downloadable Firefight map to be made available for Reach. It takes place in an abandoned Titanium mine that the humans were forced to retreat from after the Covenant invasion. For this reason it should be obvious why it is necessary to fight off the waves of Covenant attempting to snatch it from the UNSC forces, as it provides valuable resources for military vehicles and armaments.
The Defiant map pack was created in affiliation with Certain Affinity, who are known for their work on the Blastacular map pack for Halo 2, maps for both Call of Duty: World at War and Black Ops, and Halo: Waypoint. For those interested in checking out the new maps before jumping into the fray, the guys over at Rooster Teeth, creators of Red vs. Blue, have posted an awesome walkthrough video of Condemned, Highlands, and Unearthed so either check out the video below or head on over to their website.
Major League Baseball 2K11 PUBLISHER: 2K Games DEVELOPER: 2K Games PLATFORM: XBOX360, PS3 RELEASE DATE: 18th March 2011 PRICE: AUS $99.99, USA $59.99, UK £47.95
OVERVIEW
Fans have been anticipating the much awaited MLB 2K11 after disappointing releases over the last few years. After MLB 2K6 was released, it seemed every predecessor after it failed with a slight change with 2K10. With 2K games’ newly released 2K11, fans are hoping this game will live up to its hype and not fail like the others.
In MLB 2K11, you are at the Major League Baseball playing for the big guns. As your team and player progresses, you find yourself playing at the Big Leagues.
GAMEPLAY
You start off on the pitch with San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers. Amid the commentary by Steve Phillips, Gary Thorne and John Kruk; it feels as though you are actually there. Despite the decent graphics, I found it a little confusing to get started. I had to play around with the controls to work out what was what. You start off as the pitcher with three choices: Circle change, Slurve or Fastball. You get to navigate where the ball will land and by pressing RS, your pitcher will throw the ball.
When first pitching, you find the appropriate button will be highlighted for players to make a better choice. If you need to pitch a circle change, the X button on the screen will be highlighted.
The game uses the same stick controls for pitching and hitting. Rotating the right stick performs the various pitches, from simple up down flicks, to more complicated rotation moves. The pitching works well but it can get hard. The AI batters seem to read the pitches better than actual baseball players do.
Hitting is still very difficult, but that’s the sport. The sense of accomplishment when I actually got the batter hit a ball was exciting. 2K’s automatic use of batter’s eye to predict the pitch is more preferable to me than The Show’s guessing the pitch mechanic, and it can make all the difference when you’re down in the count.
You have the option of skipping the commentary/cut scenes which I found handy but be careful not to miss out on valuable player information and scores. Improved AI, throwing metres and landing indicators give you more control.
It has a specific My Player mode where you can guide your player through the minor leagues and into the history books with an improved My Player mode from other MLBs.
Like all baseball games, the player’s info and stats pop up on the screen occasionally to give the little clues on their playing ability and how they can grow.
MLB 2K11 is a hard core sport gamer’s dream game. Simulation stats look very true to life on the league leading home run totals, which only go into the 30s. There is no doubt that simulated seasons will look different depending on what version of MLB Today’s constantly updating rosters you download and bring into your franchise. Also, for anyone interested in playing MLB Today games, the dynamic statistics based on real-world player performances promises to inject some life into the Quick Play game mode.
There are a large variety of options to alter the difficulty in the game, and nearly all aspects of it can be changed, allowing you to fine tune your baseball experience. Thankfully most the Achievements are no longer locked to Pro mode, so you can still increase your gamer score even if you’re not good enough for the big leagues.
There is a pretty solid but basic online component to MLB 2K11. You can join leagues and play full games online in either a season or tournament setting. The experience is a very smooth one that seems to be free of any major server problems.
However, the lack of any type of in-game presentation beyond the commentary is frustrating, especially when you even have to pause the game to see who’s currently batting. A flaw lies with the game when you indefinitely compare it to other sports titles. It would have been good to see the ability to create and join quick pickup games or online homerun derbies. It can be fun however depending on your opponent. Online play is lag free and if you can bare the skeleton appearance with presentation, it can be quite enjoyable.
GRAPHICS
The graphics are realistic but lacking, with the developers investing in the details of the player’s faces and even the crowd sitting in the grand stand. It’s not too the standard of other sport games but the player will enjoy the little subtleties. When you press the start button to pause the game, a little grid will pop up with your current progress. For first time players, the grid actually made sense and I could follow it easily.
The success of the game lies in its colours, lighting, player AI and even the commentary that gives you the impression you are there on the pitch. The developers did make a good effort in capturing the baseball environment.
For a company like 2K Games that prides itself on integrating “signature style” into its sports games, they should be disappointed with how some of these players look. Veteran players such as Miquel Tejada and Ramon Santiago are not graphically represented like they should be.
Even more disappointing is how bad some of the game’s batting stances look, and just the amount of players with substantial service time who were given generic player photos and models.
OVERALL
For someone who has never played sport games before, let alone baseball I actually enjoyed it. Despite the first hiccup with trying to work out what button to press, I did like playing it. However, I found that MLB and its sister games like NBA 2K need seasoned players. These games aren’t really designed for first time players like myself. It took a long time for me to get used to the controls and understand what was going on.
According to other players, 2K Games ironed out many bugs and flaws since 2K10 and the game doesn’t appear to lag as many others believe.
Living in Australia I had never heard of this game before but was introduced to it by a friend who ordered it from Amazon in the US. Apparently it has a huge online following amongst trivia playing PC users and right from the beginning it is clear why. While having a very simple concept the game is made much more interactive through the use of clever sound effects, catchy music and bonus rounds as well as an almost cryptic and often confusing(in a good way) way of asking the questions. Commentated by Cookie Masterson who has a dry, crass and often crude sense of humour, I found myself looking forward to the next question if only to see which celebrity he was going to write off next or what embarrassing life story he had to tell. (Apparently he likes to dance around naked covered in cream.) Everyone from Mel Gibson to the Octomom gets the Cookie treatment, even the player themselves will find themselves at the brunt of his jibes should they be performing below par
Gameplay
You are a player in a very high paced, interactive game show where the speed of your answers determines how many points you get. The principle of the game is very simple. The disc comes with 73 pre-programmed rounds of 10 questions each. Every round has 10 questions and is divided into 2 halves with the second round being double points. Each round has a different hilarious and sometimes morally wrong sponsor such as Insincere Greeting Card Co. who provide the prizes for each round. The prizes are awarded to players for answering a specific question WRONG not right. Its really not worth answering every question wrong though in the hope you will win a prize they are well hidden and hard to find. An example of a prize i remember winning was a his-n-hers double toenail clipper. Each round also has 2 extra bonus rounds for players to accumulate more money.
The first is called “disordat” where the host gives the players a list of words or phrases and they have to put them into one of two categories or maybe both. I found myself laughing too much to play when i had to decide whether ….. was the name of a Nevada brothel or a style of ranch sauce. While standard questions are scored based on how fast the player answers the disordat round gives a standard $250 for correct answers and deducts the same if incorrect. The second bonus round is after the last question and is called Jack Attack where all of the clues have a common theme. Correct answers are given $4000 and again incorrect answers lose that amount. The only semi-annoying thing is that players can guess as many times as they want on each clue losing $4000 with each incorrect guess. The advantage is you get to hear the snide remarks from the commentator for doing so abysmally such as “Let me guess, a squirrel jumped through your window, knocking over things and randomly pressing buttons choosing answers for you, as that’s really the only possible explanation for why you did so badly”.
Every so often Cookie, the commentator will employ the help of his ventriloquist dummy. Thus the question is asked in such a way that certain letters are muffled and the player has to decipher the question as well as the answer. Cookie also from time to time brings on a friend of his who was supposed to write down the question but always forgets and has to ask it as best he remembers. All of these added features are what add up to set this trivia game apart from the rest.
The game has single player, multiplayer and online modes and i can testify that it is still loads of fun when playing by yourself. The commentator is so engrossing you forget its designed as a competition for more than one player.
Graphics and Audio
One would assume that being a trivia game the visuals and audio would be quite plain. Sure games like Buzz have a cartoony fun feel to them but You don’t know Jack is bordering on manic. It made me feel like i was part of some twisted game show that i couldn’t escape from more akin to a mad circus than a boring quiz show. The audio in this game is non stop, even on loading screens which are minimal and very quick there is constant banter between the commentator and various pseudo directors and producers. I would liken its content to some of the more bizarre radio stations from the Grand Theft Auto series which always brought a laugh when i was driving around the streets with nothing to do. Each question number has its own musical score which you will find yourself singing along to by round 4 or 5.
Even though today’s young(er) gamers are wielding javelin and ripper games and dismembering entire alien civilizations there are many adult (specifically sexual) references that some people may find offensive and crude.
Overall
This is probably the most enjoyable game of its genre i have played so far. Saying that it possesses a few attributes that some gamers may find annoying. It only has a limited release as the content is 70% US trivia and those not familiar with US celebrities and especially sporting teams must become quite frustrated with many of the questions. Also it hasn’t got a randomizer in the sense that the questions are in the same order and in the same round every time the game is played. This limits the game to being played only once or well, possibly be enjoyed more than once by someone with a bad memory. In regards to online play, the rooms will be full of players who already know the answers to the majority of the questions making for a pointless competition. These are only minor pitfalls and as the questions are cryptic in nature most are still answerable, its just nice to understand the joke and not be left with a bewildered look on your face as the commentator giggles and cackles. All in all a superbly written game that takes a rather dull and simple concept that makes the player wish they actually had a friend there to play with them. On a final note it is also very cheap, so it packs that extra bang for your buck.
