There has been rumors circulating around the internet that Batman: Arkham City would have a multiplayer option of some sort but in a recent interview with IGN Rocksteady Studios stated definitively that there would not be any multiplayer aspect in Arkham City and that the internet rumors were false, which I suppose they usually are.
Game Director Sefton Hill stated that “the game now coming to the final stages, I can honestly say it would not have been possible to deliver Arkham City the way we wanted to if we’d have added multiplayer” This is good news because regardless of how they would have added it in, not every game really needs a multiplayer aspect and if it isn’t implemented well it only causes the game to receive a worse score.
He also said that “it might not be the fashionable choice, it might not get us an extra tick on the box, but we are convinced, and we hope that gamers will agree when they get to play the finished game, that we have made the right decision.” Trust me Mr. Hill, they will agree with you.
For all those heavily anticipating the return of Mortal Kombat when the newest title hits consoles in April, you will be happy to know a new soundtrack is also scheduled to release this Spring under the title “Mortal Kombat: Songs Inspired by the Warriors”. This new soundtrack which is being released by WaterTower Music and Teenage Riot Records will bring together the collection of music from the upcoming video game.
JFK (Executive Producer on the record) has hand selected songs by some of electronic music’s most resonant names to have a track based on each character’s persona. Last month, we had a sample of the album as the much demanded “Mileena’s Theme” by noted DJ and Producer Tokimonsta, was released on iTunes, and now you can download “Helado (Sub-Zero’s Theme)” by celebrated producer Harvard Bass and “Liu Kang’s Theme” by Italian DJ and producer Congorock as both have also been added to Amazon MP3 & iTunes.
The full soundtrack is scheduled for release on April 5th, and after hearing these tracks I was quite impressed on how it is turning out. Honestly though, Mortal Kombat has always set a pretty high bar for video game tunes, so this is sure to be another must have for all MK fans out there.
Nothing says online multiplayer like releasing a more map packs to get into peoples pocketbooks. Microsoft has announced today that Halo: Reach will be getting a brand new map pack, the second one so far, and it will be titled the Defiant Map Pack. The pack will contain three maps and will be available next month for the price of 800 MSP ($10) which brings the average cost for each map to about $3.33.
The maps included with this map pack are Condemned and Highlands which are going to be primarily used for team based combat and team objective maps while the third map, Unearthed, will be a brand new Firefight map that will take place inside of a titanium mine. There will be new achievements to go along with the map pack which will bring up the total score of the game by 150 GS. Catch the trailer for the map pack below.
So today is the big day. You bought your special someone a bouquet of roses, a box of chocolate and even decided to spring for some diamond jewelry (or knock offs, they might not realize it). But little do you know some important facts about all of your choices in gifts. Well don’t worry Valve isn’t going to let you go into that meeting unprepared.
In a humorous way to market Portal 2 they have released a brand new video just for Valentines Day to make sure that you know exactly what could happen if you decide to give your sweetheart all of those gifts you just bought them. It’s always a safe bet to go with a portal gun. No one ever got hurt when one of those was involved when dealing with things of affection….
One of the most classic and noticeable songs from Rick James is his song “Super Freak” which has so far not shown up in any music or rhythm games so far, will finally be making its way to Dance Central along with a few other less notable songs. Of course it is going to be just a day shy of Valentines Day. But then again dancing to Super Freak may just cause your girl to run away anyways.
Selling for 240 MSP each the songs that will be added to Dance Central’s DLC repertoire will be Chic’s “Le Freak,” Missy Elliot’s “We Run This,” Amerie’s “Heard ‘Em All” and of course Rick James’ “Super Freak.”
Anyone who has watched an anime before may have noticed that most of these anime feature either an alien girl showing up out of the blue and liking the main character (To-Love-Ru) or a girl who will stay by their side regardless of what they do that makes them angry (Inukami). These character types may seem original at first, but for the most part they draw upon the classic anime Urusei Yatsura which began and ended back in the 1980s.
Lum is perhaps one of the most iconic figures in anime and one of the most recognizable creations of Mamoru Oshii. Considering the fact that the anime has been out for twenty years, American anime publisher AnimEigo has had the license to bring all of the DVDs over for US residents to enjoy. Unfortunately on September 30th of this year they will let their license expire and no longer sell any copies of Urusei Yatsura. Meaning if you want to buy your share of Urusei Yatsura, then your time is running out. Personally however I have a feeling that some other company will pick up the license eventually for the iconic series.
Running, jumping and shooting to release, Pix’n Love Rush is nearly ready to be downloaded on the Playstation Store. Originally released on the iPhone, the game is finally finding its rightful place on the Minis side of the PSP and PS3 .
One of the most appealing parts of the game is that if you can spare 5 minutes, then you will have time to play the game’s main mode. Packed with 10 different vintage environments, this game will test your reflexes and tenacity.
The PlayStation Mini version of Pix’n Love Rush also features the Cursed mode. In this mode, all you have to do is to press one button to jump platform to platform and get as far as possible. The 5 levels of Cursed mode include: Hard, Harder, Hardcore, Hardcorer and Hardcorest. Hardcore!
On-Off Rush mode is also included in the Playstation edition of the game. This mode tasks you to go through each level forward and backward. Going forward, the game will be set in daytime and you have to catch the suns and avoid the moons. On the way back, it will night time. Hence, the experience goes to the opposite end of the spectrum; you must catch the moons and avoid the suns.
Pix’n Love Rush will be coming on March 2nd for PlayStation Plus subscribers, for free for a limited time. And on March 16th, everybody will get a chance to play this game for €1.99 / £1.74. Check out our review, coming soon!
A cacophony of accents bring you this weeks podcast. From Texas to Australia and Chicago to Colorado, Dustin, Phil, Travis, Jed and Link (aka Ben) bring you the latest gaming news and reviews in the video game world. The other voice on the podcast belongs to Dylan. Since we don’t really know where he comes from, his special accent is all his own.
Listen in as we talk about the “worst game in the world.” Also discussed is the sublime Nintendo 3DS and the amazing Little Big Planet 2. Stick around for the entire show. You never know what sur-Prizes might happen.
As always, please send your comments, tips, suggestions and feedback to [email protected]. We love it when you do that.
Game Name: Test Drive Unlimited 2 Platforms: Xbox 360 Publisher(s): Atari Developer(s): Eden Games Genre(s): Racing & Flying Release Date: 2/8/2010 ESRB Rating: T (Teen) Price: $60 (USD) BUY NOW
Story
“Chase glory from behind the wheel of the most exclusive performance cars and take the race online to challenge rivals around the world. Customise your life as you tear through the streets and kick up dust off – road on the sun – kissed islands of Ibiza and Hawaii.” [Via Xbox.com]
Start off poor and work your way up the social ladder as you meet new people, buy new cars, and move into larger and more luxurious houses. The streets are your playground and what you do on them is up to you. Race off road or down long stretches of asphalt, the possibilities are limitless in this vast open world racing game.
Gameplay The entire game has to do with racing, but how you race is completely up to you. There are classic cars, performance cars, and even off road cars. Each react to the environment in different ways and each require a different way of driving in order to be successful with them. For instance, while off road vehicles tend to be slower than performance vehicles they aren’t restricted to the roads and can create shortcuts through fields. While a majority of the single player races are restricted to a specific car, online races aren’t and these variations and how well you use them will determine the winner from the losers.
A majority of the game will be taken up by getting licenses that are required to enter races. The rest of the game will consist of completing the races, making money, buying more cars and houses, and making more money. If you enjoy racing games, a majority of the game will be enjoyable and the multiple different kinds of races keep the variety up; however, getting the licenses is boring and incredibly dull. Having to go back for specific licenses in order to partake in certain races is a headache that would’ve been better left out. You can also get out of your car and walk around when you enter buildings, this mechanic is cool at first but you tend to walk incredibly slow and it takes a while to get anywhere while walking within the buildings.
The physics are a little odd in this game. While it is cool how there is a huge difference between asphalt racing and off road racing, the collision seems to be random and a little dull. When you collide with something you will either come to a complete stop instantly, or you will ricochet in some random direction for no apparent reason. Another odd thing about the game, is that a few things that many of us would assume would break upon collision such as wire fences don’t and these things may take a while to get used too during races.
Multiplayer is a big focus in Test Drive Unlimited 2. As you play the game and enjoy the single player narrative you will always be connected to the internet (if you have xbox live) and regularly run into other players. If you do, you can challenge them in a quick race and bet money or just ride around chatting with absolutely no goal in mind. What you do with your friends while online is endless and leads to a lot of fun racing for wealth and glory.
Audio & Graphics The audio in the game is standard in every aspect except the sound effects which are great. Most of the audio that is noticeable is pretty subpar, the voice acting doesn’t seem to fit and the selection of music is pretty low. On the other hand, each car sounds unique with separate engine noises and a variety of collision noises. The rest of the audio is fine, it could’ve been better but it doesn’t remove from the experience.
The graphics are beautiful, with large open worlds that are shiny. Heavy customisation is also abundant in the game and you can customise everything from your body, or your car, or even your house. There is a lot of detail in the world and it all pretty much loads in real time; however, this causes objects to pop up in the distance and sometimes it is a little unsettling to see a large forest just appear in the distance or cars come out of nowhere. These small sacrifices may have been necessary for the experience, but they are still a bit disappointing.
Achievements The achievements in Test Drive Unlimited 2 consist of a whole bunch of collect X amount of an item, or do a certain task a whole bunch of times. If you enjoy the game they will come naturally after playing for a very long time, but it isn’t a list you can just sit down and work on. There are a few quick achievements that are easy to get, but once those are completed you will be stuck grinding out the rest. Luckily the game is enjoyable enough to make it feel less like a chore, but not everyone will appreciate having to find every single location or drive for over 5000 miles to get a single achievement. This is definitely not an achievement list that you go in expecting to complete, you need a lot of time and a lot of friends to assist you in the full 1000 and not many people have that these days.
Overview Test Drive Unlimited 2 is a massive game with tons to do. There is a lot of driving and tons of racing, but you should probably already know that and even expect this if you are picking up a racing game in the first place. Tons of cars, tons of customisation, and massive landscapes to explore. Play with friends, play alone, or meet new people to play with; it is all here. Test Drive Unlimited 2 is a fun game, but it can get repetitive and not every single thing in the game is streamlined. You can waste tons of time just driving around aimlessly, but this isn’t always a good thing specially if you want to jump into a race immediately.
The reboot for Mortal Kombat, which is soon to be released, is going to be released with a special ‘Tournament Edition’. Warner Bros. Games acquired the Mortal Kombat license a few years ago when the series creators Midway went bankrupt. The Tournament edition is going to be released with the Xbox360 and Playstation 3 versions of the game and looks to be quite the deal. It is going to be available on the 20/04/2011, at a price point of $198.00 AU for each separate version.
The Tournament Edition comes with –
PS3 –
Mortal Kombat The Game
Mortal Kombat Fight Stick
Retro-Ninja costume Exclusive alternate in-game costume inspired by the classic Mortal Kombat character designs.
Mortal Kombat inspired costumes to decorate your avatar on PSN.
Xbox 360 –
Mortal Kombat The Game
Mortal Kombat Fight Stick
Retro-Ninja costume Exclusive alternate in-game costume inspired by the classic Mortal Kombat character designs.
Customize your Xbox LIVE avatar with Mortal Kombat costumes and challenge your friends in our new King of the Hill online mode.
These look like a must-have item for not just any Mortal Kombat fan, but for fighting game enthusiasts everywhere.
Be sure to check out Mortal Kombat for PS3 and Xbox360 at EBGAMES.
