If you haven’t spent all your monies next year onthat map pack we all know is coming, then you may have enough left over for an entire game. Section 8: Prejudice will be releasing digitally on XBLA, PSN and PC early next year. TimeGate Studio’s goal is to corner the digital distribution market for first person shooters, which is probably a remarkably wise decision.
A 5-hour single-player campaign,online multi-player for 32 players, and a 4-player co-op game mode called Swarm will be included. Even better than this, all game modes and content will be playable offline with full bot support. Section 8: Prejudice will release for $14.99 or 1200 MS Points. PC support includes Steam and Games for Windows- Live on Demand. You can also now sign up for the PC beta: http://beta.timegate.com/
If you like the Gingerbread Man, you will probably love I Must Run!, a new game for the PSP Minis, iPhone, iPad and Android devices. Jump, punch, slide and RUN through a city full of obstacle courses while playing as a Marine trying to get his girlfriend back from kidnappers. According to the developers, it is “simple to learn, hard to master.” Plus, you get cool special effects like rain and wind impeding your abilities by shaking the screen. I Must Run! released today in North America for $3.99 on the PSP. The release date for Europe is next week and the price is €2.99 on the PSP side of things. Get the iPhone version for a buck. Android and iPad support is coming soon.
Tomorrow is going to be another day of great releases for the Apple App Store, like any other Thursday in the past (remembered what came out last week? If you don’t, refer HEREa short list). It’s probably going to be the final Thursday before the rumored-iTunes Connect locked down for Christmas this year. Apple similarly locked down iTunes Connect last year from 23rd to 28th December, which stopped all the developers and publishers from submitting any new games or new updates for the App Store. The same thing is most probably going to happen again later this month, so this week will be the week where the final rush of the new games comes in!
Alright. Let’s look at some of the games which will be in store for you tomorrow! This is by no means the complete list of game releases since there are too many to list. They are now available for purchase in the New Zealand App Store, and should be available in every other App Store few hours later (due to the time zone thingy). And yeah, we are not responsible for any spending-disease outbreak upon reading this article. If you’re well-prepared, then read on!
Altered Beast – SEGA ($2.99)
Aralon: Sword and Shadow HD – Crescent Moon Games/Galoobeth Games ($6.99)
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 – Electronic Arts ($0.99)
CAUSE OF DEATH: Can you catch the killer? – Electronic Arts ($0.99)
Dungeon Defenders – Trendy Entertainment ($2.99)
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light – Square Enix ($6.99)
N.O.V.A. 2 Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance – Gameloft ($6.99)
Real Racing 2 – Firemint ($9.99)
Shadow Guardian – Gameloft ($6.99)
Which one of these games you would purchase tomorrow? Let us know in the comment below!
The stunning Shadow Guardian has received a launch trailer, courtesy of creators Gameloft. It is on its way to iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad very soon, with a release date of December 16th. For now, here’s the trailer showcasing what’s in store, that has come out to mark its release. It gives an overview of the plot and the main character, as well as a nice long look at some of the gameplay aspects.
The game has all kinds of gameplay features such as hand-to-hand combat, shooting, climbing, platforming- the lot. It is really high-speed, adrenaline-fuelled exciting stuff. Check out the latest launch trailer below – it looks absolutely fantastic!
Just a few days after Capcom’s announcement of C. Viper & Storm making the cut into Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, they have now decided to sweeten the deal by releasing a whole bunch of fresh screenshots showing off the ladies duking it out in-game. The screenshots are just another reason why I along with the rest of the world are heavily anticipating the title as it looks awesome.
As well as showing off the two performing their signature moves with the stunning new artwork, the screens also contain a first look at both characters alternate outfits. Marvel vs Capcom 3 doesn’t launch until February, but this is without a doubt building up to be one of the biggest releases for a fighting game in a long time and with the date drawing so close, I would think that more character reveals are just right around the corner. You can check out all 20 of these shots below.
Dance Central Publisher: MTV Games Developer: Harmonix Music Systems Console: Xbox 360 – Kinect (Reviewed) Release Date: November 4 2010 Price: $49.99 US, £39.99 UK, $89.99 AUS
Overview:
Dancing has always been a large part of the human experience. Every culture has their own type of dances and some dances have been passed down from generation to generation. Then again there are also those who have literally no ability to dance and have two left feet.
But don’t worry about that at all because we have a brand new bit of technology that allows you to dance your heart out to some of the latest music. Using the Kinect’s motion sensing ability Dance Central looks to set the new standard for dancing games in today’s market by recognizing full body movements and providing a brand new experience to gamers of all kinds.
Graphics & Interface:
As far as graphics go there aren’t many bells and whistles to the experience as the core of the game revolves around mimicking the dancers on the screen. This means that the camera angle is fixed in position during gameplay to avoid any confusion as to what the player should be doing. The dancers themselves look good and their motions are very easy to follow and fluid, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t need skill to dance as they do.
The user interface is designed to be very easily navigated with swishes of the hand to the left and right to select each time you want to select, and then moving your arm up or down to scroll through the menus themselves. This part is a bit frustrating due to the fact it is easy to scroll past something initially and select the wrong song, but this is just a minor issue that usually comes with inexperience and is later handled without trouble.
Sound:
Of course the best dancing game in the world won’t mean anything unless it has some great songs to dance to. But no need to worry as far as Dance Central is concerned. There is a large variety of songs that are provided to the player right off the bat. All 32 songs are available at launch which means that players will not have to worry about unlocking their favorite songs and can instead jump immediately in.
The songs range from older songs like “Brick House” and “Bust a Move” to newer songs like “Poker Face” and “Evacuate the Dancefloor” that provide a wide range of eras to choose from. There are hip-hop songs, electronic, R&B, and even just plain pop songs that one can dance to so whatever your preference they will have it in the game. Keep in mind however that some of the longer songs have been cut down slightly due to their length.
Another interesting feature that was launched alongside the game is a plethora of different songs available for download. These songs when downloaded go straight in with the rest of the 32 songs. It may feel a little cheap that songs were available for DLC at launch, but it at least provides the option to download new songs instantly.
Gameplay:
Of course the best part of Dance Central is the dancing itself. You will begin with selecting a song through the menu and proceeding to choose the easy difficulty. This reason for this is because you have to finish a song on easy before unlocking medium and so on. The difficulty is then stacked with the original difficulty of the song list. But that is just the way you manage to get into each song, what about the dancing itself?
As you begin dancing you will first notice that the majority of where your eyes will be focusing is on the right side of the screen. The reason for this is because there are cards along that side of the screen which show you the name of the move you will be performing as well as highlighting the parts of your body you will be using and showing you where they should be as you dance. Also you should pay attention to your dancer as you can also mimic the movements that they are performing.
Another thing that you will notice, unless you have a really great dancing background originally, that you will do quite bad to begin with. I myself had a ton of trouble even trying the first song on the easiest difficulty. The best way to avoid multiple failures and frustration is to take advantage of Dance Central’s Break It Down mode. This mode will introduce each move in the dance routine for the song and allow you to practice them at your own pace. Each dance move has its own special name for easy identification too. The Break It Down mode is extremely helpful and allows you to easily transition yourself into the actual song once you are feeling brave enough. Then again there is also the option to skip this mode entirely if you are brave.
Inside of the performance you will be shown how well or bad you will be doing by looking at your dancer. This is handled by displaying a red outline along the part of the body that is incorrect on the dancer’s body. So this means if you’re legs are out of place for a certain step that it will show you exactly what you did wrong. This helps immensely as it allows the player to immediately correct their mistake opposed to just saying that they made a mistake but not saying where.
Your score is multiplied by the number of perfect techniques that you perform up until a multiple of x4 and you are rated via a five star system. But that isn’t where the fun is in Dance Central. Instead the fun is right there in the dancing itself. Dance Central features a multiplayer dance off mode where each player takes an individual turn dancing a routine, and then the person with the best score wins. Unfortunately there isn’t an option for two player dance routines or anything similar to that which is a downside as you will have to take turns dancing to beat one another. Another small mode of gameplay to take note of is the workout mode. This mode simply adds a calorie counter and a workout timer to normal play to show roughly how many calories all of your dancing has burned off. The mode itself doesn’t do much to expand the game itself but is a nice touch.
The Kinect itself reads the players movements extremely well and there are many instances that you will play through without a single mistake on the technologies part. That isn’t to say that the Kinect is flawless with Dance Central as it does make a mistake every now and again. There are certain times that the Kinect will not recognize a certain dance movement and this will cause a missed step even if it isn’t your fault. This isn’t a very common problem but it does happen nonetheless so prepare for an occasional hiccup.
Overall:
Dance Central is perhaps the best dancing game to grace the Kinect so far. There isn’t much to the actual gameplay besides dancing your heart out. There isn’t a story mode nor many multiplayer modes but it does bring with it a pure dancing experience. Dance Central will be a must have for party gamers and will definitely be a hit for friends to play against one another in the dance off mode. The song library is very large considering the amount of effort that players will expend in their dancing, but it would have been nice to not see launch day DLC as well.
Looks like the box art for Two Worlds II just got an upgrade. Rather than a red background with the title simply splayed across the middle we now have the hero staring over what looks like a beachfront with ships unloading troops. There is also a castle spire and a dragon in the air. But what is even more interesting is the evil lord and woman staring back at the hero. Definitely a major upgrade.
Also you can find below a form that you can fill out so that if you happen to pre-order Two Worlds II that you can fill out said form and receive a bit of a bonus. The bonuses will be a $10 rebate right back to you, as well as a t-shirt that says “Yeah, I like to kill” on it. Don’t know how much we’d see people walking around with those but a nice bonus nonetheless.
With a release date on January 25th for the US and UK excitement levels are definitely reaching their high point to see this completely redone sequel. You may click the form below to expand it’s full size and print it out if you wish.
Fans of Final Fantasy VIII will be really happy to hear about the newest character to be revealed as a playable character in Dissidia 012[duodecim]: Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy VIII’s Laguna Loire will be joining the roster of fighters and be able to do battle with his machine gun and sniper rifle to take out the rest of the fighters. Along with this announcement a couple of screenshots were released that show off Laguna inside of the game, including some battle scenes.
Also seen is the world map screen that shows Lightning standing in the open world map. Not much else is noticeable but one can expect that battles will take place as enemies are encountered on this world map screen. Plus we also see a localized screenshot that has english subtitles to go along with the conversation that Laguna is having with Vaan from FFXII and Tifa from FFVII. This could mean that with subtitles already in the main game, that there could be a Western release date shortly after the Japanese release sometime in Spring 2011.
So… a bunch of secret documents leaked, and *cough* coincidentally the North Koreans also decided to invade the United States. But look at all those happy waving people. They are so happy. Hmm… why is that guy hanging in such an odd manner? Oh. Oh, I see. Well, uh, that is not very nice North Korea. Not very nice at all. I guess we shall have to form a resistance!
With this trailer, THQ showcases the amazing lengths that they have gone to to create a cinematic and gripping campaign. Just watching the trailer got me emotionally involved. With this caliber of grit shown in the trailers, one can only imagine what the full game will have.
If you haven’t seen it today, the first official content update for Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is available. The DLC is titled “The Animus Project Update 1.0” and it popped up today on XBOX LIVE and the PSN for free. Ubisoft also announced that the next update, the Animus Project Update 2.0 kicks off in January 2011 and once again, it’s free to download.
The 1.0 Update includes a brand-new game mode and brand new map for Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood Multi-player. The game mode is called Advanced Alliance; it’s basically the original Alliance Mode with target identification and engagement more difficult than in original, in a bid to provide more challenge. Three teams of two players each will now become tougher and rewards team work and stealth, which is just what we needed.
The new map is located on a rocky tidal island of Normandy in France and is said to have high-rise architecture, amongst other obstacles for your surprise assassination needs. The update in January for 2.0 will offer the same thing, another game mode and map. The Pienza Map is set to be more open for free running death matches. As for the new mode, its called Chest Capture, which are two teams comprised of three players. You basically defend or capture chests, something similar to a lot of FPS multi-player modes. One other update will be the new Templar Score feature, which rewards work done by Abstergo recruits.
So has anyone played through the game enough already and is looking forward to this? It’s good to see new content come so quickly. You can check out a video of the content below.
