It’s Tuesday and Christmas is just a few short days away but that doesn’t mean that some people aren’t sitting around bored still. But thankfully two great ways to occupy your time between now and Christmas just landed right on the XBLM. First of all we have the release of the Dead Space 2 demo by EA that hit not only the XBLM but the PSN as well. Fans of the first game should be ready to be terrified as they wet their appetite for Dead Space 2’s release next month. To add Dead Space 2’s demo to your downloads take a look here.
Also arriving on the XBLM is the first installment of Fallout: New Vegas DLC. Unfortunately PS3 users are being left in the dark for Dead Money is currently only available on the Xbox 360. Dead Money will place players in a life or death situation where they must obey certain commands or suffer quite the headache. Dead Money is available right now for 800 MSP ($10) and you can find it here.
No don’t let that picture up there fool you, that is the bundle you would get if you happened to live in Korea. Korean purchasers will be able to get Hyperdimension Neptunia with a beach towel, sound track, and an art book even. Unfortunately since the majority of us don’t live in Korea that means that the above bundle isn’t worth much to us, but it is still interesting to note the quantity of things that happened to be bundled in that package.
For those of us that live in the United States though we are not forgotten. NIS America also released the first English trailer for Hyperdimension Neptunia which features some of the game’s different features as well as letting us hear the new English voicework that the characters will be sporting. Also revealed at the end of said trailer is the premium set that anyone who purchases the game will receive. They will be getting a special 36 page art book along with special packaging. Not sure if NIS America will be offering any incentives to purchase the game from their own online store however, but we will find out more as the release date of February 2011 grows closer.
Good things come to those who wait. Although Splinter Cell Conviction never shot/stabbed/punched its way onto Playstation 3, three of the older Splinter Cell titles, namely the original Splinter Cell, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory will be getting a new release on the Playstation 3. According to Ubisoft, the games will have high definition graphics. Other details such as multi-player and trophy support have not been confirmed. Also unannounced is how they will make their debut. Will it be on PSN or disc based? Finally, the only other thing left to wait for is when these remakes will ever land on Xbox 360 (if ever.)
“In Bungie news, the Covenant war rages on. Here with the story is Jed.”
Jed: “So far on the home-front, over 33 billion kills have occurred. In this ongoing war of attrition of over 24,000 years, just over 1.3 billion occurrences of violence have broken out. Probably one of the most amazing things to note is over 200 thousand soldiers have registered a killionare. Plus, over 900 trillion credits have been earned. And you thought the national debt was bad! Oh wait, it is still worse. Back to you.”
“Thank you. Now, in other news, the Grunt genocide rages on in parts of the Graph System. Here with the story is Cortana.”
Cortana, ” Freakin’ suicide grunts musta killed John-117 a couple dozen times. THEY MUST DIE! Plus, I love how their heads pop into confetti.”
“So do we, Cortana, so do we. For Capsule Computers, this is (Censored) signing off.”
Asphalt 6: Adrenaline Developer: Gameloft Publisher: Gameloft Genre: Racing Platform: iPhone (iPad) Released: 21 October Price: $8.99(AUS), $6.99(US) BUY NOW
Asphalt 6: Adrenaline, developed and published by Gameloft isn’t your typical racing game. Although at first glance it may appear to have gone down the realism route, in actual fact it deviates from the classic formula in a way that many other racing games before it. It is kind of hinted to in the game title, but this game introduces the aspect of boost in the form of Nitro to rocket propel your car to super speeds.
It is a route many other games have taken; the Need for Speed series and the Burnout series just to name a couple, but with Burnout out of the picture on the iPhone, it seems that Asphalt 6: Adrenaline’s main rival is the recently released Need for Speed game. But how does it fare in comparison? It overtakes its opposition racer, leaving Need for Speed in the dust.
Asphalt 6: Adrenaline has a hugely in-depth and detailed career mode. It offers 11 different leagues and 55 events in the game with numerous tuning options to speed up your ride. The single-player mode is excellent and offers a colossal amount of individual races, taking you through and introducing you to the 4 different race modes as you progress through the career. As you move the levels, opponents get harder, but this matches the skill progression because as they get more difficult, you become a better driver.
You earn money in each of the races which can then be used to utilise the decent customisation options on offer. Money is earned through a number of methods. Performing stunts and tricks considered dangerous and/or risky results in a monetary reward, such as driving on the wrong side of the road and getting a near miss with a item of oncoming traffic, or one of my personal favourites, ramming an ordinary car which is just a part of the traffic on the road, only to get a cash bonus under the name of ‘Traffic Control’. Other factors as to how much money you get include final position in the race, a bonus for drifting in-game, collecting money icons denoted by green and orange dollar signs (orange icons gives a larger bonus, and not only in the case of cash icons), number of enemies eliminated (forced off the road to crash, but they respawn and are still in the race) as well as other minor factors like rewards for damage of public property. As you can infer, there is an emphasis on carnage, although the game doesn’t go as far to provide you with weapons, so in a lot of ways, the aims of taking down your rivals and finishing in 1st place make it a lot like a portable version of Burnout, albeit from a different developer.
As well as the cash symbols, you will encounter a number of other symbols during the course of each track. And, as I said, the orange signifies a larger bonus, but not all the things available to acquire by driving through are about bonuses to your bank balance. The other items available to pick up are mainly regarding boost. Orange boos pads give a one-off powerful boost, but blue and orange pick-ups in shape of flames actually add to your boost meter which you can activate by touching the right side of the screen. When this boost meter is maxed out you get something known as ‘Adrenaline’ in reference to the title, and this, for lack of a better expression, is basically a super-boost which carries on for longer than normal and allows you to go faster.
Customisation options are also very good and this is where money earned from races can be spent. This includes buying new decals and designs for your car, tuning it to improve it’s performance in competition, or even buying an entirely new car. The cars are even from real car manufacturers and really are the real deal. The graphics of the cars are also very nice, and impressive given some of the shoddy and visually uninspiring games released on the platform. Unfortunately, the in-game scenery and backgrounds aren’t quite up to the same standards, with some grainy and blurry objects dotted around, but you have to commend them for making significant changes between the different real-world countries. If you are in Tokoyo, the game clearly reflects this.
On top of the enjoyable Career there is a multiplayer mode too. However this feels a little bit tagged on, although to be quite honest, the iPhone isn’t the greatest system for online play anyway. It is advised you stick to single-player as the multiplayer side of things leaves a lot to be desired.
Overall, Asphalt 6: Adrenaline uses formula that is known to work well: the combination of realistic cars with some boosting added in for good measure. The control scheme of tilting your iPhone to steer is intuitive meaning you can quickly get the hang of it, even if it can be slightly dizzying trying to watch the screen as it is moved all over the place. Similarly, the other controls are just as simple, with the right side of the screen reserved for boost, and the left for braking, and the car being set to accelerate of it’s own accord. In the single-player you’ve got a lengthy and substantial Career mode that should keep you busy for ages, then there’s Freeplay races to keep you busy after you’ve finished that. You could even trial the underwhelming multiplayer if you got bored! It’s a solid racer with a few issues, but on the whole, it is an entertaining experience.
Mix Superstar (WiiWare: Digital Leisure Inc., 500 Wii Points)
Hydroventure (Nintendo: WiiWare, 1200 Points)
Mario Party 2 (Nintendo: Nintendo 64, 1,000 Wii Points)
Zenonia (DSiWare: GAMEVIL Inc., 800 Nintendo DSi Points)
Music on: Drums (DSiWare: Abylight, 500 DSi Points)
GO Series: Dark Spirits (DSiWare: Gamebridge, 200 Nintendo DSi Points)
As promised, Nintendo’s Christmas Eve gift on their download services is a real cracker. Not only their unique new platformer, but also N64 classic Mario Party 2 is being released. Personally, I had the original Mario party on Nintendo 64 but missed out on the immediate sequel so I might have to pick it up. Are you going to treat you or your loved ones to any of these this Christmas?
I have great news. Square Enix has just made all their games on the App Store on sale to celebrate the release of Secret of Mana for the iOS devices (read about it HERE). Yes, you heard that right. Chart-topping RPGs like Chaos Rings, Song Summoner and Final Fantasy I/II are all on sale up to 50% off! If this isn’t a great sale, I don’t know what is. Square Enix is one of the few developers that rarely put their games on sale; I don’t remember when the last time they did this is. This means, you should get them all while they are still cheap! It will only last until the 5th of January. Have fun!
Chaos Rings ($12.99→ $5.99 )
Chaos Rings for iPad ($15.99→ $7.99 )
Vanguard Storm ($3.99→ $1.99 )
Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes – Encore ($9.99→ $4.99 )
Have you been following Gameloft’s twitter for their advent calendar? I hope you do, because the very generous peoples at Gameloft has just made twenty-one of their games on the App Store on sale as part of their 20th giveaway! A total of TWENTY-ONE games at $0.99 each! I’ll suggest you to get them if you don’t have them, because they are all great games at their original price, and it’s a steal at 1 buck each! The sale will only last until the 22nd (which is tomorrow) and we don’t know when Gameloft is going to put them on sale again. Enjoy and happy holidays!
Hyperdimension Neptunia is already a play on the real world gaming industry as the main characters mostly reflect the current generation of consoles. There are even different gaming industries which are represented as characters within the game. But that isn’t enough now is it? Now you can dress up the main girl Neptune in a Santa outfit just in time for the holidays.
Also a few other characters will be getting new clothing as well, as Compa is receiving a nurse outfit and IF is getting a classic Japanese gym uniform. Of course as the game hasn’t been released in the United States yet these costumes are will only available on the Japanese PSN Store when they are released tomorrow but we have contacted NIS America to see if they will also be making these outfits available for download once Hyperdimension Neptunia makes its way to American shores early next year.
Hey everyone guess what? Perhaps one of the greatest RPGs to ever grace the SNES will now be available on your iDevices tonight. Yep that is right, Square Enix has revealed that Secret of Mana will be able to be released within its 2010 window, and even better it is tonight. The proof of this fact is already available as the Secret of Mana is already available in the New Zealand App Store for $12.99NZ. What this means is that within a couple of hours we can expect a release in the US App Store as well for an expected price of $8.99.
Above you can see a screenshot for the game itself which looks like it will retain its original graphics with a few additions of course to go along with the new touch screen controls that have been obviously implemented into the series. These controls already look quite similar to your standard RPG touch controls but we cannot guess yet as to how they will handle.
