A couple months ago, we told you about a competition that involved Resistance 3, props, costumes, prizes and alien horror. The day of reckoning has now come. The Playstation Blog has revealed that Insomniac Games has finished picking the finalists. Of these finalists, two will win big. Then, they will be able to fly to California, have their heads scanned, and then be put into the final game. Check the blog post here: http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2011/03/11/resistance-3-get-in-the-game-competition-finalists/
So, go have a look, laugh a little, examine the finer pieces of art and then plan your revenge for not being picked. After all, the winners will be in a video game, and when you play the game, ANYTHING can happen. Like, say, leaving a man behind to fight for himself against hordes of aliens? Yea, that is cool. 😀
The Behemoth has blessed us with a new trailer for BattleBlock Theater, and it is a doozy of a video. In it, we learn the secrets of the characters we will be playing as. In addition, the cinematic reveals the details of the how the story begins. All this highly interesting information is presented in a fanciful and hilarious way.
The humor in the trailer should hopefully make its way into the game, and that means that this is yet another great project from the guys who brought us Castle Crashers. So sit back, relax and get ready to slap your knees (or whatever else you slap when you laugh.)
Believe it or not, the Wii version of Call of Duty has a pretty decent sized community. I haven’t really had a chance to check this version out myself, but either way there is certainly quite a few people on the servers at this moment throwing down in some serious gunfights. Thankfully Treyach has not forgot about their Nintendo players as the developer has been trying to tend to any problems with numerous patches since release. After nearly two months since Wii users saw the last patch applied, Treyarch have now added a rather large update that Black Ops owners can add today which can now be downloaded through the Wii Shop channel.
Here is what is included in this update (via Treyarch forums):
• Fixed issue where players were taking damage from falls with Light Weight Pro equipped
• Fixed an issue where leader board would go into hang state if the user has 50+ allies
• Enemy turrets now glow when the hacker pro perk is equipped
• Team mates who are in your party will show up as blue on your mini map
• Improvements made in the matchmaking service
• Prevention of exploit that allowed players to keep custom classes and killstreaks after prestige.
• Flak Jacket Pro will now protect against napalm strikes
• Contracts will now reset when a player prestiges
• Melee attack radius has been optimized
• Spawn points have been adjusted in Havana – this should prevent the spawn killing in the Demolition game type
• Player can no longer load the thunder gun manually – Matches PS360 functionality
• Zombies Melee damage has been adjusted to match PS360 behavior
• Fixed issue where the player can complete “The Shortcut” challenge by climbing down a tall ladder
• Improved Zombie pathing. Zombies should no longer switch directions randomly, teleport through floors, walls, etc.
• Fix for the 3 weapon exploit when using the last grenade
• Implemented a way to create a new private party while in a public lobby for when the lobby leader has disbanded the private party.
• Fix to prevent a player from re-rolling the SAM or Sentry drops
• Resolved issues where the player could leave the following maps: Havana, Summit, Hanoi
• Second Chance – players that put an enemy into Second Chance are now credited for a full kill once that enemy dies. If another player kills the enemy while the enemy is in Second Chance, they will get assist credit.
I really applaud Treyarch for correcting so many issues as Wii users still spent their money for the game and deserve this support that we have seen for the much more populated Xbox 360, PS3, and PC versions of the game. By the looks of it, it seems this patch will be a huge help all over and couldn’t come at a better time. As seen in the post in the forums, there still is no clear update when or even if any add-ons will be gracing the console, but honestly I just don’t see it happening with Black Ops for the Wii as the system just isn’t quite made for such large downloadable additions.
Ubisoft have revealed a Collector’s Edition of their upcoming prequel, Might & Magic: Heroes VI, which can be pre-ordered exclusively from EB Games.
The Collector’s Edition will include plenty of goodies, including a 164-page art book and a Haven Ring. There’s also extra in-game content; players who pre-order will receive a 3 hour solo campaign, 4 in-game heroes, and 2 in-game items. All games come with a free one-month subscription to Might & Magic Heroes Kingdom.
Ubisoft have also released their developer diary that reveals the Sanctuary faction, the last of the factions to be revealed in this new game.
Heroes VI is the prequel to 2006’s Heroes V, and tells the story of the revival of an Archangel General who plots to recover his powers and take control of Ashan. Players can play within five different factions: Haven, Inferno, Necropolis, Stronghold and Sanctuary. The game is due to be released sometime in May 2011 and can be pre-ordered at the EB Games website here.
Check out the dev diary video below…who else thinks May is looking even better now?
Nothing like knowing what a box is going to look like on a shelf right? Right? Well regardless of how relevant it may be the box art for the first Resident Evil game to grace the 3DS has been released and made official. The box art itself features Chris Redfield pumping bullets into the giant Executioner that was so prevalent in Resident Evil 5.
Also we see the standard box design that all 3DS games will follow with the logo on the right side as opposed to the left like it was for original DS games. Unfortunately there isn’t much else to report on regarding the title, but if you did not know before then you will be able to get ready for when the game itself comes out in June for the 3DS only.
A federal judge has allowed Sony to subpoena Paypal for any information regarding George Hotz’s funds. Apparently this is all in an effort to find out how much of his current funding is based off of residents in California in the pursuit of trying the PlayStation 3 jailbreaker in the state of California reports Wired. The District Court in San Francisco judge, Judge Spero, also ordered Hotz to consent to Sony gathering every one of his tweets back to January 1st 2009.
Sony is agreeing to pay for any of Hotz’s expenses within a reasonable limit and is also paying half of the $7,000 being charged by The Intelligence Group for analyzing all of Hotz’s equipment to find data relevant to the PS3 circumvention hack.
The reason that Sony is working so hard to have George Hotz tried in California is due to the fact that his home state of New Jersey will find the media giant in a harder position to pursue charges. For this reason Sony alleges that Hotz had received various donations for the PS3 hack from mostly Northern California residents and because of this, it should be tried in California.
It looks like the timed exclusive that was Beyond Good & Evil for the Xbox 360 will be up in a couple of months because Sony revealed today that Ubisoft’s classic title will be coming to the PSN some point in May. Also in an effort to make up for the fact that PSN users will be getting the game later than their XBLA counterparts anyone who buys the game within the first two weeks of its release will pick up two avatars for their PSN cards.
The two avatars of course will be Jade and Pey’j of course, even though since the release window of May is still relativity vague it gives everyone plenty of time to put away $10 if they are looking to pick it up. Catch the PS3 version of the trailer below.
Steam users will be prompted with an update today which will update their Steam client with the latest addition to the widely used service. This update will contain the Steam Guard system which will not only protect your Steam account from hackers but also notify you if anyone has even tried to get into your account. Gabe Newell himself gave his password and username out at GDC in an effort to prove how resilient Steam Guard is.
As long as users have a verified email account attached to the account they will be able to restart Steam and it will be locked down on that computer. Any time someone tries to log in on a separate computer an e-mail will be sent to that verified account to notify you and also provide a code in case it was you yourself trying to access your account on a separate computer. Meaning that if your old computer breaks down and you get a new one, your Steam account is completely recoverable.
I will gladly admit that rhythm games are one of my favorite genres of games. PaRappa the Rapper, Elite Beat Agents, and Taiko Drum Master are permanent parts of my collection, and I just played through the entirety of Gitaroo Man last night. The only way rhythm games can be made even better in my book is by combining them with another genre to create a hybrid of epic proportions like the Bit.Trip series on WiiWare.
That is precisely what Tzai Entertainment has done with their new game SHMUSICUP (Shoot Music Up) by combining rhythm games with bullet hell shmups. SHMUSICUP allows you to play an intense shoot ’em up along with your favorite songs straight from your hard drive, and creates a unique bullet pattern based on the tune. This essentially means that SHMUSICUP, much like Audiosurf before it (a pseudo-racing game with a similar concept), is given unlimited replayability. Just by loading up a new song, a level can be made entirely different.
While I can talk about the game all day, it’s probably best if you experience it for yourself. There is a trailer below for you to behold, but I would recommend heading over to Tzai’s website to play the game for yourself. They currently have a beta version available which you can try out, and if you like it they are offering a limited time price of $9.99 for those who pre-order now. While the techno-inspired tunes they offer for you to use all sound excellent, I found I had the most fun when playing along to “Donuts, Go Nuts” from the Splosion Man soundtrack. How can you not enjoy that ukulele?
Liqua Pop Platform(s): iPhone(reviewed)/iPod Touch Publisher(s):Electronic Arts Developer(s):iChromo Genre(s): Puzzle Release Date: 10/03/2011 Price: $2.49 AU $1.99US (Buy Now)
Overview
Hop on board the latest match-3 puzzle game from EA and help Toadie the frog reach the very top of the stem. The only way he can reach the top though, is if the player helps by popping as many bubbles as possible. The game operates the same as many other “match up colours” puzzle games work, much the same as Bejewled or Tetris (without the cult followings of course). However, unlike the former mentioned games, Liqua Pop gives the player a little background story to help in persuading the player to keep playing. In my opinion the game would work just the same without the existence of Toadie – who I often forget is even crawling his way up the side. Nonetheless he is a nice little touch.
Gameplay
The goal of this game is to drag matching coloured bubbles towards each other, forming a bigger bubble. When four of the same colours are joined a timer begins and the bubble is set to burst. Each burst brings Toadie the frog closer to his goal – all coveted shiny bubble at the top of the stem! By dragging more than four matching colours together, it’s possible to gain more points. The player also has the ability to join multiple groups of colours to get a multiplied score if they are all popped at once (done by shaking the iOS device). But if they’re not quick enough, the screen will flash red, which causes a game over very quickly.
While this game doesn’t have highly complex gameplay, EA and iChromo have mixed the mundane match-em-up puzzler formula up by introducing some variables in the form of bugs. Bugs are released when the bubbles they are contained in are popped, with different bubbles causing different effects. The bug’s abilities range from obstacles like removing bubbles colours, creating black bubbles that can’t be joined, or spinning all the bubbles around in a chaotic tornado. While it can be pretty frustrating dealing with these obstacles (personally I really enjoyed freeing the tornado bug!), Liqua Pop also offers bonus bugs, who either give the player more points, send out a wave of spikes to pop surrounding bubbles, or convert all the surrounding bubbles colours to whatever colour contained the bug.
While the game has different levels, they don’t vary all that much, apart from a slightly different background or the appearance of more bugs. While this does make playing the game slightly more difficult as you progress, it doesn’t really provide much in terms of variety in gameplay. But then again, this is generally the same for most casual puzzle games.
Graphics and Audio
The high point of this game really is the graphics. By utilising a liquid simulation feature, the game really captures the movement and look of water droplets. This is most notable when dragging bubbles around and they way either bounce off each other or morph together. With the rules of the game particularly easy to grasp, not a particularly strong background story, and the means of play being incredibly easy, the graphics seem to be the real driving force behind the game. In terms of audio, the game doesn’t have much to offer. Liqua Pop boasts an ambient marsh-themed audio track, with appropriate popping sound effects and a little victory chime when the level is complete. While these all suit the game well, the audio doesn’t stand out as a notable feature of the game.
Conclusion
If you’re a fan of games like Bewjewled, and looking for a little time killer, then “hop” on you’re iPhone or iPod Touch and have a play of Liqua Pop. However, for those of you who are looking for a little more story, and a little more interactivity and complexity, this game is probably not be up your alley. While the game might be fun when playing, but doesn’t really have that hook that’ll get you wanting to come back and play more for extended periods of time.
