As well as being half price as part of this week’s Deal of the Week on the Xbox Live Marketplace (Xbox Live Gold members can buy Hydrophobia Pure for just 400 Microsoft points HERE), there will also be a special competition running this week surrounding the game.
This sweepstakes giveaway states that anyone over the the age of 18 who downloads Hydrophobia Pure this week will be entered into a draw with a first prize worth $4500. The winner of the grand prize will be able to choose a cruise vacation (including spending money) worth $4500 (US residents only). UK residents can select a beach vacation to a value of $3,000 with a further $1500 for applicable prize taxes and fees.
On top of the grand prize, a further 5 winners will be able to bag themselves a cool 4000 Microsoft Points. So, is anyone downloading Hydrophobia at its reduced prize this week? As if it wasn’t enough of a good deal at 400 Microsoft Points, there’s this sweepstake as an extra incentive to get the game. Check out our review of the game when it released in September 2010, although bear in mind it has undergone significant changes through the recent ‘Hydrophobia Pure’ update.
Hydro Thunder Hurricane – 800 MSP (33% off) BUY NOW
As you have probably noticed from the list of games on sale (and if you somehow managed to overlook the title), this week’s deals have a water-theme. These three titles offer wet and wild thrills for a fraction of the price. Hydrophobia is actually for a third of its original price tag which was 1200 MSP: it was reduced to 800 MSP in late December coinciding with a massive update to the game, Hydropobia Pure, and now the price has been slashed again, making this in particular a real bargain.
These offers will run until next Monday, where they will be replaced by next week’s Deal of the Week, so make sure if there’s something you’re interested in, you act before these deals are gone!
After a long wait, one of the best titles of 2010 is finally ready to come down under as Kirby’s Epic Yarn now has a release date of February 24th in Australia. Now, if you haven’t had the chance to try Kirby’s Epic Yarn, it is a bit similar to your standard Kirby title, except in a world made of fabric and yarn with all new powers and a new adventure for our pink hero. In my opinion, this title also packs a punch with one of the best soundtracks of last year as well as each level’s score is memorable and stays true to the Kirby franchise. It is a title that really must be tried by any fan of platformers out there and is bursting at the seems with charm.
We also awarded Kirby’s Epic Yarn a golden capsule under the Wii category and loved the game so much, it received a perfect 10/10! So now that all of the Wii owners have been put on notice for a release date, it is now time to prepare for Kirby’s Epic Yarn to finally come to Australia.
Publishing giant, Konami, has recently released their line-up and pricing for titles to be released in 2011.
Currently the titles released under their label are – *please note prices are in AU$
Publisher
Release Date
Game Title
Console
Price
Konami
Out now
Karaoke Revolution Glee (stand alone)
Wii
$59.95
Konami
Out now
Dance Dance Evolution
Kinect
$89.95
Konami
Out now
Crossboards7
Kinect
$89.95
Konami
Out now
Sports Island Freedom
Kinect
$79.95
Konami
Out now
Beyblade- Metal Fight
Wii
$69.95
Konami
Out now
Beyblade- Metal Fight
DS
$69.95
Konami
Out now
Yugioh! Master of the Cards (bundle with card reader)
Wii
$59.95
Konami
Out now
Yu-Gi-Oh Tag Force 5
PSP
$59.95
The titles currently planned to be released are –
Publisher
Release Date
Game Title
Console
Price
Konami
10-Feb
Def Jam Rapstar
PS3
$89.95
Konami
10-Feb
Def Jam Rapstar
X360
$89.95
Konami
March
Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championships 2011- Over the Nexus
DS
$59.95
Fighter Collection
TBA
DCS A10C
PC
TBA
Konami
Autumn
No More Heroes: Heroes’ Paradise
PS3
TBA
Konami
Autumn
PES 2011 3D
3DS
TBA
Konami
Autumn
Dr.Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights
3DS
TBA
Konami
Spring
Silent Hill Downpour
PS3/X360
TBA
This is a great looking lineup and it looks like a good year from Konami with many great titles (some of which I’m personally interested in getting; No More Heroes Paradise! :D).
Gameloft originally created Assassin’s Creed: Altaïr’s Chronicles for the Nintendo DS and have now ported the game to suit iOS operating system. However, if you were expecting an Assassin’s creed experience for the iPad and iPhone then I’d have to say that Assassin’s Creed: Altaïr’s Chronicles is an entirely different game from its console counterpart and that’s saying something. Considering the limitations of the iPad and iPhone, just don’t go in expecting an open-world action adventure.
Story
Set supposably as a prequel to the first Assassin’s Creed, the story (on paper at least) puts players in the shoes of Altaïr in his quest to find the ‘Chalice’, a mysterious object that will aid the Assassin against the Templers. A slight improvement over the DS version, the iOS version features voice acting to aid cutscenes, rather than just scrolling through plain text as seen in the DS version. Whilst it is a nice addition to have in the game, unfortunately both do little to improve them as they are very bland and dull, voice acting especially.
The story itself doesn’t really add much to the overall Assassin’s Creed storyline mainly because it is told solely from Altaïr’s perspective. There are no crossovers to Desmond Miles, very little references to the Animus machine except for the menu screen and the story doesn’t lead onto the main game or give any insight on the overall Assassin-Templar struggle. The Assassin’s Creed series is fundamentally built around these vital story plot points, and leaving them out in this game feels very sloppy and rushed.
Gameplay
Players are set down a linear path through checkpoints, collecting blue orbs to upgrade their weapons and health bar. The game is split between combat and platfroming sections which are more along the lines of ‘Prince of Persia’ rather than its stealth gameplay as seen in its console counterpart. However both combat and platfroming are crippled with awful control issues which hinder the game’s overall gameplay.
Combat with Altaïr’s two light and heavy attacks usually fall down to ‘button mashing’ with the occasional finishing-move combo. However, enemies within the game provide virtually little to no challenge or difficulty and are a breeze to pass. Platfroming on the other hand is unintentionally difficult thanks to the game’s unresponsive and difficult controls. Whilst neither combat nor platforming are standouts, the latter does provides some challenge and is genuinely fun at later stages of the game when they work that is… Expect to see the “your dead” screen a lot.
There are some mini-games thrown in to the game and they do help to mix up the bland action, occasionally. In pick pocketing, you need to find and move a key to the exit without touching any other object and in interrogation you need to tap a number of targets in time. However both do very little overall except for giving players a brief break, as they are both extremely easy and again provide little to no challenge at all.
Graphics and Audio
Overall, the game looks ok for an iPhone/iPad game. Combat animations look pretty smooth and perform well especially in the games few boss fights. However character models in this game look extremely blocky and dull. The cities themselves look the same, as if the same backdrop had been reused for each one, but with that said the environments do look alright and there are some variations between them.
Some may be glad to know that there is battle music, combat sound and audio is included within the game, unlike the DS version. But again, these don’t really add much nor detract from the overall gaming experience as they are quite generic and bland. But it is nice to know that they have been included even though you will be hearing the same battle music, enemy grunts and sword swings over and over.
Overall
Assassin’s Creed: Altaïr’s Chronicles for the iPhone/iPad is a generic action-adventure game with the ‘Assassin’s Creed title’ slapped on to the back. Awful unresponsive controls mixed with a story that bears little resemblance to ‘Assassin’s Creed’ at is downright poor form, decent combat and platforming animations are the only highlights in this game. It’s not all bad just don’t expect an authentic Assassin’s creed experience.
I give Assassin’s Creed: Altaïr’s Chronicles for the iPhone and iPad:
Hey, do you remember when an update on the Playstation 3 wasn’t security related? Yea, me neither. But, those days may be behind us. Sony might be putting a really sweet tech feature in the 3.60 update on the PS3. Saving games on “the cloud,” a server based saving system that would allow people to access their game saves wherever they are, could be in the new update.
This rumor seems very likely. During the Next Generation Portable (NGP) reveal, Hideo Kojima mentioned that you would be able to save a game on the PS3 and then resume it on your NGP (PSP 2). It appears that you will have to be a Playstation Plus subscriber to use this feature though.
The Xbox 360 has had one game that implements this feature. In Magic: The Gathering on the XBLA, your game saves are attached to your Gamertag. Hopefully, they will put cloud saving into more games too.
In addition to reducing productivity at work, retro game developer Q42 looks to change the quality of games we play with browsers using HTML5 and their site Sarien.net. Starting as a simple retro chat environment then evolving into a full-scale Ipad game using HTML5 without the need for the App Store, surprisingly this little start up didn’t concern Apple as much as it did Activision. This was due to the fact that the games being ported into Browser Based experiences were Sierra games, which Activision owns the license to. The Co-Owner of Q42 Martin Kool had been developing this technology since 2003 and was only recently brought into the limelight due to the success of their Sierra Ipad Game, which effectively shows what the Ipad can do without the App Store.
This is when Activision came knocking with a Cease and Desist Letter.
But this was a blessing in disguise, Activision proposed to officially authorize Sarien.net to publish the first game of any series in its multi-player HTML5 form. One of the requirements is that the site links to steam, which is a pretty big deal for a little start up like this. This site will allow games like Space Quest, Police Quest and King’s Quest to be played in your browser at no cost, and eventually other games on the Ipad, which cuts out the middle man (Apple). Coincidentally the Ipad version of Sarien.net released around the same time Apple decided to start collecting subscription fees for App Store distributed services such as national newspapers, as such Q42 looks to provide an alternative that can cut out Apple, effectively deterring subscription fees. Either Apple will work with Q42 or see them as a threat, but it’s an interesting time for Browser based gaming and it’s future.
Are you ready for one of the year’s biggest events in gaming? Well start making plans now, as Bethesda & id Software have now set the date and location for QuakeCon 2011. QuakeCon is once again offering gamers the chance to bring their gaming rigs for America’s biggest Lan party of the year & will also provide a whole lot of entertainment for other guests just there to see the show. Bethesda will of course be on hand to show off their upcoming titles along with some of the biggest software companies showing off their brand new products. Of course it wouldn’t be QuakeCon without the awesome contests, entertainment, announcements, panel discussions, and parties so it is going be be one event not to miss.
QuakeCon will take place in August from the 4th until the 7th, and will be located The Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas, Texas. This years event will surely be interesting as Skyrim will surely be shown as well as some new announcements on upcoming Bethesda titles. For more information visit www.quakecon.org.
If you are a fan of TimeSplitters you should probably read this post.
If you are anticipating the release of Crysis 2 then your anticipation is probably going to increase even more with this latest bit of news from Crytek. Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli has responded to a query about the possibility of a new entry in the TimeSplitters franchise by saying, “Yeah, we have been discussing it, but nothing has been confirmed yet, so let’s see after Crysis 2.” The developers of the TimeSplitters series, Free Radical, were purchased by Crytek back in 2009, and now have been busy with developing Crysis 2’s multiplayer. Maybe they will start again on another TimeSplitters sequel once they are finished tweaking the multiplayer component of Crysis 2.
While there isn’t really any confirmation that they will start developing a fourth in the TimeSplitter’s series once free radical has been freed up to do other things within Crytek; it is still a mighty fine incentive to buy Crysis 2. Don’t get me wrong, Crysis 2 is looking like a mighty fine game; however, even the slightest possibility of a TimeSplitters sequel will get me to buy that game ten times faster.
I recently stumbled across this nifty little program that aims to help alleviate sore eyes from staring at a bright screen into the wee hours of the night and/or morning. The program, called F.lux, is very minimalist. There aren’t tons of options or settings you need to toggle, simply input your zip code/longitude+latitude (google will tell you) and what kind of lights you have on at certain times of the day and voila, you’re done fiddling with the program. From there it will automatically dim and brighten your computer screen based on how you dictate. At first it might seem like a noticeable change but after a while you won’t even notice it. Pretty nifty as I know my eyes sometimes get sore late at night due to my laptop screen.
Try it out, takes a second to install and it might actually help you.
