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Top Spin 4 – Developer Diary #6, Online/World Tour Mode

Benjamin Webb
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Jean-Karl Tupin-Bron, Game Designer on Top Spin 4, has recently sent us over a copy of his developer diary #6 which details the World Tour component of the game Top Spin 4.

The World Tour mode is open to any player-created character and is basically a ranked mode, with players scores accumulating over the course of a week with the best being ranked number 1. At the end of each week the scores are reset and the best players are marked as the season champions. As with real tennis, there are separate seasons for each gender. So male characters would have their own season and female characters also have their own season. In the World Tour game mode, players will still be able to accrue XP, unlock new coaches and increase tennis strategy levels.

Each season has Seven Tournaments, 4 Major Tournaments and 2 Master Tournaments and a Grand Slam. Each Season always ends with the Grand Slam event. Each Tournament can only be played through once per season, so make sure you win as losing will yield no extra chances. Tournament matches are also worth the most points for your character, so it is highly advised that you partake in all the tournaments each week in order to maximise your score. Apart from tournaments there are also regular events, such as Sparring Partner Training and Quick Matches.

Tournament Events.

Quick Matches earn you a little bit of points per season but not as much as tournaments would. The upside to these is that you can just keep playing them without any kind of maximum playable restrictions. Quick matches are one set of three games, much shorter than tournament matches.

Event Information.

The Sparring Partner Training is a way to gain XP online without facing any human opponents. You train against AI players to increase your personal skill and your characters XP. It doesn’t look like this mode would increase your overall ranking score though.

Top Spin 4 also features a player lobby of sorts to facilitate in the match finding process. The lobby has a news bar at the bottom of the screen which shows information to all players, information such as: who the current champions are, player scores, how your friends are doing and things like that. There is also a history section that allows you to check the stats of any player on the rankings board. But that’s not all that there is, there is also a chart that shows the amount of each players searching for a game in each gametype. Having a hard time finding an opponent, switch to a gametype with more players.

Match Lobby/Match Starting.

Visit the Official Website for more information.

This Week on the Xbox 360 (3-7-2011)

Dylan Radcliffe
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This Week on the Xbox 360 (3-7-2011)

V8hilux has redeemed over 6,000 cube points and is probably enjoying his prize, or will be if he hasn’t received it yet. As you can see he is no longer on the top of the leaderboards, but I am sure we will see him up there again soon enough. Pity the 6,000 cube points weren’t Microsoft Points because then he could have easily bought Torchlight and every single piece of discounted Lara Croft content out this week. I would like for everyone to now take a moment and congratulate V8hilux before continuing to read what is coming to the Xbox 360 this week.

 

…

I Said Congratulate Him!!!

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I’m still waiting…

…

 

Ok, if you haven’t congratulated him yet then you are one sad little person; enjoy the list of stuff coming to the Xbox 360 you big meanie!

~~~~

 

Continuing the Xbox Live house party, Torchlight will be available this Wednesday the 9th of March for 1200 Microsoft Points. This Diablo type game looks like tons of fun, and I will definitely be trying out the Demo and possibly even buying it.

A plethora of Lara Croft content is also going on sale. Check out the half-price deals available for Gold subscribers until March 13th:

 

Additional DLC is also coming out for a few games, one of which isn’t even out yet. You can pick the DLC up when they are released on Tuesday March 8th.

  • Dragon Age 2: Exiled Prince – 560MSP / $7 (USD)
  • Dragon Age 2 The Black Emporium – 800MSP / $10 (USD)
  • Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Porsche Unleashed – 560MSP / $7 (USD)

 

We finally wrap up this week with every game coming out, and this time I have as many of them as I can find around the world; so it doesn’t matter where you live!

North America

  • Dragon Age II
  • Yoostar 2: In the Movies
  • Major League Baseball 2K11
  • Warriors: Legends of Troy

Australia

  • Dragon Age II
  • Yoostar 2: In the Movies
  • Grey Matter

Europe

  • Dragon Age II
  • Yoostar 2: In the Movies
  • Warriors: Legends of Troy

Asia

  • Cross Channel: In Memory of All People

 

Dragon Age 2: Exiled Prince[USA]$7.00TUE
Dragon Age 2 The Black Emporium[USA]$10.00TUE
Lips – Add-on songs [XBL Marektplace][USA]$2.00 ea.FRI
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Porsche Unleashed

The 3rd Birthday gets a huge screenshot present

Travis Bruno
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What more could you ask for when it comes to The 3rd Birthday than a very large amount of screenshots showing everything from cutscenes to the Over Energy chip system. All of the screenshots have also been completely translated into English which means that you will be able to finally understand the menu screens and the conversations that the characters are having via the subtitles.

These screenshots also show how Aya Brea isn’t the last hope against the Twisted, but it is the only one that will avoid a tactical nuclear strike to avoid complete annihilation of the Human race. Players will make use of the over dive system and take their fight to the Twisted on March 29th when The 3rd Birthday comes out on the PSP in the United States. Check out all of the screenshots below.

[nggallery id=229]

Mobile Suit Gundam UC’s 3rd episode available on PSN and Xbox Live

Travis Bruno
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The latest installment to the Mobile Suit Gundam UC (Unicorn) series is now available on the PSN and Xbox Live in the form of Zune. The third episode to the series is called The Ghost of Laplace and is an hour long, featuring the Federation as it attacks the Palau stronghold. Also as Banagher encounters the Cyber-Newtype Marida the Unicorn Gundamn reveals a power hidden deep within itself.

The Blu-ray of the episode will be available on April 7th and for those who do not know what the Mobile Suit Gundam UC series is, then you need to go back and learn about your giant robot series. Mobile Suit Gundam UC is a series of high-quality hour long episodes that continues the pedigree of the Mobile Suit Gundam series with its action packed giant robot battles and intricate storyline.

No Online Pass use for Crysis 2

Travis Bruno
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It sounds like at least some developers are willing to stand up for the rights of consumers, even if these consumers buy their games used. EA has confirmed today that Crysis 2 will not be coming with an Online Pass to access online multiplayer. The Online Pass system has become quite a nuisance to the gaming community due to the fact that it requires used game purchasers to buy a $10 access code to even play multiplayer for an extended period of time.

Though EA hasn’t released an official reason for the removal of the Online Pass in Crysis 2 it is thought that Crytek did not want to have a barrier put up between people who want to play their game. According to CVG the reason for Crytek’s ability to refuse the Online Pass is due to the fact that the company is having their game published under the EA Partnership program instead of being owned outright by EA.

Modern Warfare 2 on PS3 to be patched yet again to fix hacking

Travis Bruno
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It seems that with the amount of hacking that happens to the PlayStation 3, the games that are most popular often suffer the same effects. Modern Warfare 2 has been under siege from hackers and modders for long time. So much so that the PS3 version of the game has previously been stated to be “unplayable” due the amount of cheating that is happening.

The patch will be arriving tomorrow on the PS3 and with it will fix a number of holes in the game’s security and will also patch a geometry exploit that allowed players on the map “Fuel” to be able to hide inside of a rock on the map, unable to be hit by anyone but able to shoot everyone. The patch is also being proposed for the Xbox 360 version of the game and the PC, but anyone who has played MW2 on the PS3 knows that the game is in dire need of a patch.

PSP Go price raised back to $200 for unknown reasons

Travis Bruno
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It has been hard to understand Sony lately as far as their handheld division is concerned. First they dropped their PSP-3000 to a price of only $130 for the brand new handheld and then they release a sales line saying that the PSP Go would also be dropped to a $150 price so it would only be a $20 difference between the two versions of their portable game player.

However this is no longer the case because the PSP Go has went back to it’s $200 price range and Sony’s website no longer has the line that stated the double price drop of both systems. Either it was an error in marketing or a pre-mature update but regardless of that, I foresee the sales of the PSP Go to be even worse than they were now that there is a significant price difference between the PSP-3000 and itself.

Be cast as a survivor in Resistance 3

Travis Bruno
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Feel like your face should be in movies? Well what if you think your face is only good enough for a video game cameo? If so then you should spend some time getting ready for Sony and Insomniac Games’ current contest which will allow you to be a survivor in the upcoming Resistance 3 game. You can enter the contest here but before you do you should do some prep work.

The way you enter the contest is to submit a photo of yourself either in the middle of a Resistance styled battle or make yourself look like you had just survived a battle and are a simple survivor trying to stay alive and props are encouraged. If you do happen to win you will be given a private tour of Insomniac Games and a facial scan so they can turn your face into a survivor in game. I can guarantee that over half of the people who submit will cover themselves in dirt and call that their submission.

Alice: Madness Returns trailer shows in-game combat and twisted Wonderland

Travis Bruno
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With a release date announced EA is getting the hype machine going by finally showing off some in-game footage of Alice: Madness Returns. In the latest trailer we see a variety of footage from the game including combat, the twisted monsters that you will be encountering and the horror that is Alice’s twisted Wonderland.

Now Alice: Madness Returns will be released on June 14th for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC and this also places it within a week of another horror game’s release also from EA Shadows of the Damned. Also with Catherine slated to drop some point in the summer we can guess that June will be a great month for fans of the horror genre.

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fjnTxXO8bA[/pro-player]

FIFA Interactive World Cup to Kick off in Sydney this April…

Dustin Spencer
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We all know that Aussies indeed love their Soccer and their Fifa games, but if you are a resident near Sydney, you can now get pumped up as the FIFA Interactive World Cup is coming to town starting April 7th. Organized by FIFA and presenting partners EA Sports and Playstation, the event will gather players from all over the world and put their Soccer skills to the test, competing over four days in four heats in knockout rounds with 8 players coming out of each heat to compete for all of the glory as well as $20,000 in the finals. There will also be many celebrity guests, live appearances by Sydney FC players and a live DJ in tow for the final showdown on Sunday.

Locations for each heat include:

Castle Hill RSL (Thursday April 7)
Club Marconi (Friday April 8)
Dee Why RSL Club (Saturday April 9)
Rooty Hill RSL (Sunday April 10)

Those wanting to participate need to head to http://au.playstation.com/fiwcregistration/, or simply just walk into the event for a chance to show off your soccer skills and aim for the cash. Who knows, you might even see one of us there as well so stay tunes, as there is sure to be more to come on the FIFA Interactive World Cup in the future..

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