With last weeks announcement of Konami acquiring Hudson Entertainment, we now have the sad reality that Hudson Entertainment will officially be closing for good at the end of this month. This grim news was announced officially by CEO Morgan Haro in a blog post that recently went up. While Morgan specifically stated that it was just Hudson Entertainment that was being effected rather than the eastern based Hudson Soft, the Japan offices are likely to just concentrate on social games. Sadly, this means that all projects have been canceled as of now though for the western branch, leaving the upcoming 3DS titles that were recently announced in limbo.
The whole blog post is an interesting read as Haro was brutally honest about the company itself, even pointing out the flaws with lack of innovation when it came to the Deca Sports series and how she was really pushing to bring a new Bloody Roar title to the XBLA & PSN just for the fanbase that craved it. It takes a lot of money to produce video games, and Hudson was always more of an underdog publisher that many fans really cared about and the feeling was always very mutual as Hudson have been very community driven in the past few years, from holding tournaments for Bomberman Live! to constantly conversing with fans on their twitter and facebook pages.
I hope all of the staff at Hudson find new homes soon, as they are all a talented bunch and we wish them nothing but the best in all their future endeavors. If you have a twitter page and have a memory with any Hudson title, whether it be Bonk, Lost in Shadow, Bomberman, Beyblade, ect., stop and just say “thanks” (@HudsonEnt) as Hudson deserves one last round of applause.
If you are enjoying Breach on the PC you will be glad to here that a patch came through that should fix the LAGG issues that many players were experiencing. The patch also includes the ability to have dedicated servers and also a bunch of other small fixes. I’m sure everyone playing the game on the PC is glad to receive this patch and those of us playing on consoles can only wait while they patch that version.
Enjoy your destruction mayhem, and check out the full list of updates below.
New features added to the Breach Dedicated Server include:
– Dedicated Server no longer requires Steam to be running
– New feature allows configurable ports in Dedicated Server
Fixes included in the patch:
– All known crashes fixed
– Many fixes to reduce lag
– Network performance improved by more than 33%
– Bug that caused Sole Survivor games to end in draw fixed
– Bug that caused invisible canister in Retrieval games fixed
– Bug that caused Vendetta icon to appear incorrectly fixed
– Server Browser can now sort by number of players
– Server Browser can now be manipulated with mouse scroll wheel
– Fixed bugs related to Friendly Fire settings
– Better ability for laggy game to recover when bandwidth improves
– Dedicated Server stability significantly improved
Sick of chocolates? Roses not cutting it anymore? Well, Gameloft has the perfect gift for you this Valentine’s Day.
Gameloft is celebrating Valentine’s Day by releasing fourteen of their iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad games for only $1.19 (AU) – 99c (US). Thirteen are currently available, with the fourteenth to be voted upon by the public. By which I mean, you.
Get to Gameloft’s Facebook page (http://on.fb.me/edPqBs), and vote for the game you’d like to see on sale. The title with the most votes will be available to download for $1.19 for the 24 hours over Valentine’s Day.
Android users have also been promised a similar offer, beginning on Friday. Check Gameloft’s Facebook page later this week for details.
So download them, and consider them a Valentine’s gift from Gameloft. Or gift them to that special someone. But please, make sure your significant other will appreciate the romantic gift of Zombie Infection, before you send it.
Below are the thirteen titles currently on sale, as well as where to get them.
Over the years one of the Playstation 3’s strongest selling points in my opinion is the huge selection of classic titles that can easily be purchased and downloaded straight to the system’s memory. Today, Natsume have made it all the more sweeter with the release of Harvest Moon: Back to Nature & Reel Fishing II on the Playstation Network.
“These are two great PlayStation classics that deliver just as much fun today,” said Hiro Maekawa, President and CEO at Natsume. “Reel Fishing II boasts the gorgeous settings and thrilling, realistic fishing action that have made the series such a long-running favorite. Harvest Moon: Back To Nature is loaded with colorful characters, fun activities, and action-packed minigames!”
Reel Fishing II was released a little late in the Playstation’s life cycle, but it made up for that with it’s beautiful graphics as well as being an enjoyable fishing experience which just about any gamer could easily get into. I have some fond memories of Reel Fishing II without a doubt as at the time, those visuals were groundbreaking.
Harvest Moon: Back to Nature was the very first Harvest Moon on the title on the PSN and is still considered a must have by the hardcore fan-base of the Harvest Moon series. Both titles truly stand on their own though as being two fantastic sendoffs for the PSOne and it is great to finally see them on the PSN.
Twin Blades Developer: Sanuk Games Publisher: Sanuk Games Platform: PS3 (mini), PSP (mini), XBLA, mobile Release Date: February 2nd, 2011 Price: 2.99 (EU)
Twin Blades is a simple, fun game that will help you whittle away your small tidbits of free time. Those who have played Odin Sphere or Grim Grimoire will find that the heroine in this game is very reminiscent of the characters from those games, being highly anime inspired and utilizing what appears to be flash animation for animations. It’s a somewhat unique style that looks pretty appealing.
The premise of the game is simple, if a bit out there. You are a nun charged with protecting the land from the zombie invasion. You have a decently sized selection of weaponry to choose from, ranging from a scythe for melee attacks and a plethora of guns for ranged attacks such as a pistol, machine gun, rocket launcher, flamethrower etc.. The gameplay is simple, choose a level and move left to right while killing zombies. Sometimes you will need to double back to kill any zombies that may have been still underground as you passed over. What sets this game apart is it’s energy mechanic. All ranged weapons require energy to be fired. Hitting zombies with your scythe will replenish your energy, providing a nice balance between melee and ranged. Every zombie you kill drops a heart, heart in this game is synonymous with experience or money. You use these hearts to buy new weapons and upgrade them along with your existing abilities such as scythe damage and health.
There are an adequate amount of things for you to spend your hearts on even accounting for the fact that this is a mini. It will take hours to unlock and upgrade everything to max. This is where the game loses a bit of it’s enjoyability. Grinding, and lots of it. There are only 9 levels (3 of those being bosses). To account for this, the game makes you clear a set amount to unlock the next section. Unlocking the next section will reset the previous levels and increase their difficulty, meaning you are going to be doing the first two levels MANY times before the game is over.
Bosses initially prove pretty tough. Normally you just move left to right killing zombies before they get close enough to grab you, but bosses break that mechanic and act more like a boss from an arcade beat em up. They have attacks that you’ll need to dodge (along with zombies that regularly pop up in an effort to provide you with energy). As their health gets lower and lower their attack style changes and evolves and you will need to adjust. Note that you can’t really take many hits before dying, two or three max. Luckily, zombies have a small chance of dropping a health potion that restores around half your health so you are able scrape if you can manage to dodge the bosses attacks.
Aside from “story mode” there is also a survival mode that just pits you against wave after wave after wave. The game keeps a scoreboard, both for story and survival, to see how long you can go without dying. You keep your score between levels so for the true fanatics you will need to “beat the game” several times over for the ultra high scores.
Overall, for a mini, this game is pretty good. Despite it being a mini (a medium clouded with shovelware) the game mechanics were thoughtfully developed and can provide some enjoyable moments though be warned, the zombies kill you pretty fast so make sure you don’t get careless. While there are a decent amount of guns, they don’t actually count as guns but rather more like upgrades. You only have one gun, your angelic pistol. When you buy the flamethrower or machine gun power, it simply fires whatever it’s supposed to, but no visual change on the actual gun. Upgrading the scythe proves to be initially problematic as well. You would think an upgrade called “scythe damage” would just make you do more damage per hit, but instead it simply adds more attacks to your combo…thus making you spend more time standing in one spot while you perform that combo. The combo is about the same speed of just spamming the regular attack, so it’s more or less a waste of an upgrade.
Gaming mouses have come a long way since Razer stepped up the mark in creating gaming paraphernalia. Razer’s latest Naga Epic is no different, specifically designed for elite massively multiplayer online gaming with its unique, eye-catching 12 button thumb grid located on the mouse’s left hand side. But what makes the Naga Epic “Epic” is the mouse’s level of customisability to fit a player’s need. The Naga Epic is features both duel wired and wireless functionality as well as three interchangeable side panels.
The Naga Epic comes nicely packaged in a stylised box, which Razer fans have come to know and love. If this is your first time opening and ‘experiencing’ Razer then you’re in for a treat. Packaged with the gaming mouse is, a USB cable which can be plugged into both the mouse effectively turning your wireless mouse into a wired mouse, as well as into the wireless transmitter charger dock. Also included are two additional side panels, dubbed the ‘Claw grip’ and the ‘Classic grip’, the third ‘Palm grip’ is already attached to the gaming mouse by default. All three grips are interchangeable, and are surprisingly very easy to swap in and out, you aren’t going to accidently slip and break your mouse by changing grips, these things are easy to pull out and change. The grips themselves fit very compact into the mouse’s side and again won’t fall out accidently either once they’re in place.
What grip you chose to use is dependent on another major feature of the Naga Epic, its unique 12 button thumb grid. As this is a gaming mouse, players will find necessary uses for the 12 button thumb grid in whatever game they choose to play. The ease , accessibility and size of 12 button located on the mouse’s side does provided gamers with entirely new ways to game whether that be MMO, RTS or FPS. Whilst the mouse is specifically targeted to MMO gamers the side buttons are fully compatible and customizable with any game. Much like the interchangeable grips, you won’t be accidently pressing the side buttons with your thumb as they are designed to be actually pressed for them to work, not accidentally “slipped on” to even in the most intense gaming sessions. However, some may find the additional side buttons on the mouse to be quite an annoyance as they don’t really serve a purpose when non-gaming. The Naga Epic’s relocated index finger buttons from just above the thumb grid as seen in the original Naga to now just under the mouse wheel. The buttons are still slightly awkward to press as you either have to ‘palm’ them with the lower part of your finger or quickly move your entire hand and back again to press them.
While testing the mouse out, I found that each grip greatly effects how your hand is placed on the mouse. Whilst each provides a comfortable and solid gaming experience, which grip you choose to game with depends on how you much will use the mouse’s side buttons. The Palm, Claw and Classic grips each gets ‘thinner’ respectively, to allow for more dynamic movement for a players thumb to reach and press the mouse’s side buttons. Depending on what game you choose to play I would suggest to MMO and RTS players use the classic grip as you require the most uses out of the thumb grid buttons and for FPS players, the palm grip as it provides the widest possible grip for your hand as well as access to the vital buttons on the thumb grid. Regardless of what grip you choose to play with, playing with the thumb grid takes some time to get use to. That’s not a bad thing at all considering all the potential benefits, once you get the hang of it the Naga Epic is a breeze to use.
‘That’s all and good but how does it perform?’ you ask, well in short great. Coming from Razer you know that the mouse is going to be top notch. The Naga Epic is very responsive thanks to its 5600dpi Razer Precision 3.5G Laser Sensor which enables great movement speeds 7x that of a standard 800dpi optical sensor. Combined that with the mouse’s 1000Hz Ultrapolling / 1ms response time, meaning that the Naga Epic has a response time of 1 millisecond, a vast improvement over other conventional gaming mice which have that of 125Hz / 8 millisecond. This all means that the Naga Epic provides the user the optimum gaming experience. The mouse itself is very light, ergonomically designed to fit player’s hands and as well as their expectations as great mouse from Razer. But that’s not all, not only does it perform great it looks fantastic as well sporting a 16 million color backlight illumination. Not only this, the Naga Epic’s battery life is amazing, wireless the mouse can be used 12 hours continuously and up to 72 hours in normal gaming sessions. Of cause if you do run out of power in an extremely long marathon gaming session no worries just plug the mouse in, and you’ve got yourself a wired mouse.
I’m not exactly sure how Razer got the Naga Epic right but they somehow did it. The Naga Epic is a mouse for any gamer not just the targeted MMO audience, but with that said MMO gamers will get the most kick out of the mouse. The three interchangeable side panes provide gamers with a level of choice and customisability to suit their specific style of gaming. This level of choice is also extended in the mouse’s ability for wired or wireless gaming and switching between the two is incredibly easy. The mouse itself is presented very nicely with a slick design and backlighting which can emit 16 million different colors. The Naga Epic is what you’ve have come to expect from Razer in its long line of gaming mice, the mouse is absolutely one of top quality and performs extremely well, hands down one of the best gaming mouses out there today.
Namco Bandai has given everyone a chance to take a look behind the scenes of Knights Contract. Of course it isn’t a major look considering it is mostly only the developers talking about the game and giving details about the storyline and where the game will be taking place, but that isn’t the most important part of the video.
Instead what is important is the fact that you can take a nice long look at plenty of gameplay sequences that are shown off which show bits of combat and finishing moves that the characters can perform when working together. Also we learn a little bit about the backstory of the game, but mostly we get to see the designers pretend sword fight with one another. Also, hope you like subtitles. Catch the video below.
Remember when we mentioned that when Yakuza 4 comes out in Europe and other PAL regions that it would be released with a special edition called the Kuro or Shiro Edition (black and white respectively)? Well there was also news that United States residents would not be able to pick up these special editions which game with a bunch of DLC and a steel game case.
Sega revealed today that, although there won’t be a steel case, those who buy the game new will also get a bunch of codes for the DLC which is available in the special edition; including survival mode, underground car racing, fighting arena, and even the extra outfits for the main characters. Now also if you are able to reserve the game at your local GameStop there will be a PS3 dynamic theme to show off the ten hostesses that will be in Yakuza 4. Yep, the hostess dating part of the game will be available in Western releases of the game as you can see in the trailer below. Fans of the series will remember that the Japanese version of Yakuza 3 included the hostess dating part of the game, while Western versions had this entire section removed.
Eager to see what character classes will be returning in Dragon Age II? Then you are in luck because the latest trailer released by EA and Bioware shows off the fighting skills and abilities of the three classes which you will be able to choose between in Dragon Age II when it hits shelves on March 8th.
The classes that return are the Warrior class which looks to use huge swords (of course) and his shield to his advantage, while the mage class definitely makes magic use look like it will kick major darkspawn butt this time around, even tearing an enemy apart with his mind. Though personally I am going to go for the rogue class, because I’ve always been a fan of using two weapons at the same time. What will your Hawke fight as?
Hey guys we finally have managed to get a hold of a bunch of different screenshots that show some early footage of the game’s characters and monsters. These screenshots show off a bunch of different environments that players will be traversing, including what looks like a character about to get some venison for himself. Also we see a few monsters that players will most likely encounter and a barmaid that shows just how much better the character designs are going to look this time around.
You can check out all of the screenshots below and get yourself excited about The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim which comes out on 11/11/11. But don’t get too excited…. we wouldn’t want this to happen to you.
