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.
If you feel like your line up of games in Kinect Sports is feeling a little thin already, then you are in luck because Microsoft has just released a completely free bundle, courtesy of Samsung it seems, today for the XBLM. The DLC pack itself is called the Party Pack and includes a new Challenge feature that will track the scores of your minigames and compare them with your friends, so more or less a leaderboard.
That isn’t all however as the pack will also include six new minigames that are added into the existing sport categories. You can catch all of the minigame add-ons below. You will also be able to play with three new Party Play mascots such as Zippy Zombie, Champion Chicken, and Sportastico. This is a great little add on and considering the fact that it is free, there is no reason to pick it up; even if you don’t have the game yourself. You can download the Party Pack here.
The full description of the add-ons can be seen below:
SuperStriker for Soccer lets you score as many goals as you can and avoid the boots.
Pinvaders for Bowling lets you stop the pins before they reach the hazard zone.
Rapid Runner for Track & Field lets you run the furthest distance before you run out of time.
Target Smash for Table Tennis lets you smash the targets to grab the score.
Fruit Splatter for Volleyball lets you hit the fruits while dodging the bombs.
King of the Ring for Boxing lets you knockout as many opponents as you can.
Also announced was a bit of news for Kinect Joy Ride as that game will too be getting free DLC. On January 4th the Chevrolet Car Pack will be able to be downloaded completely free as long as you take a look at a Chevy ad which will eventually show up on the Xbox Live dashboard. This car pack will add in the Camaro, Corvette and Cruze.
Right now you can head over to the second annual Humble Indie Bundle and pay however much you want to for five of the best indie games of the past years all for charity. That is right you can name your own price, anywhere from $1 to $1000 which somebody has already donated for. The donation amount is entirely up to you, though you should think of the children.
This year those who donate will be able to choose how much of their donation will go to each of the four possible charities. The charities themselves are the developers of the games on the bundle, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Child’s Play Charity, and the Humble Indie Bundle organizers. This means that you can choose to have the entirety of your donation go straight into the Child’s Play fund if you wish.
The games that you will be donating for if you purchase the bundle are Braid, Machinarium, Osmos, Cortex Command, and Revenge of the Titans. All of these titles will be able to run on PC, Mac, and Linux so that means whatever your operating system of choice is, you have no excuse not to take a look. You can view the bundle itself and also buy the bundle at the Humble Indie Bundle’s website.
Last night the co-presidents of Naughty Dog, Evan Wells and Cristophe Balestra appeared on the Jimmy Fallon show to debut the first ever demo footage of Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. The developers were treated to a bit of Jimmy’s jokes at first which included making some fun of Balestra’s French accent before they actually began to show the game itself being played.
Initially Drake was in the hands of Evan Wells and played through parts of the demo that show both Nathan Drake and Sully trying to escape from a burning and falling apart chateau while there are enemies trying to shoot at them. Evan takes out a few bad guys using melee kills after missing mostly with his gun before handing the controller off to Jimmy, whereas Jimmy nearly dies within seconds of having the controller. The demo footage doesn’t show off very much but it’s good to see an already workable demo for a game with 11 months more of polish to be applied.
When you sign in to Xbox Live or the PSN today for your daily dose of shooting other people in Call of Duty: Black Ops you will find a little patch waiting for be applied to the game. The multiplayer patch v.1.04 has been released for each of the two consoles. Most major fixes of note are the fact that Hardline Pro has been nerfed due to the fact of it no longer working on SAM Turrets, the fact that the Gunship, Valkyrie rockets, and Chopper Gunner are nerfed so that the red diamonds will not appear on newly spawned enemies, and also the addition of better quickscope accuracy.
A full list of the patch features had been discussed previously but just to refresh your memory you can check out the largely similar lists below of the fixes.
Xbox 360 Fixes:
Issues Addressed:
Resolved several issues with parties getting disbanded unexpectedly.
Updated handling for UPnP-enabled routers to improve matchmaking conditions where users had strict or moderate NAT types. Also added in-game communications so that all players are aware of their NAT type in the Player Match party lobby.
Addressed issue that prevented the “Load MP by Default” option from saving when other specific option combinations were set.
Prevention of exploit that allowed players to keep custom classes and killstreaks after prestige.
Addressed an issue where Flak Jacket Pro would not always protect against ground fires left by Napalm Strikes.
Prevention of users losing their killstreak reward when switching classes at the start of a new round in round-based game modes.
Addressed an issue where the incorrect perks would appear when spectating another player under certain circumstances.
Added round start explosive delay to China Lake grenade launcher to give it the same round start limitations as other explosives.
Contracts will now reset when the player Prestiges.
Prevention of Valkyrie rocket exploding upon release under rare conditions.
Prevention of Gunship failing to give player full control under rare conditions.
Prevention of an issue where a player will get teleported outside the map boundaries under very specific circumstances.
Additional security measures to enhance detection and banning capabilities.
Gameplay Tuning:
Limit the ability to re-roll supply drops using Hardline Pro to Care Packages only, no other killstreak drops.
Added a negative influencer to all spawn points to decrease the chances of spawning near an enemy. This will further improve spawning protection on top of previous updates.
Additional sound mix tuning for Ninja Pro users – increased ranges and volume of enemy footsteps, and removed player footstep sounds on concrete material types.
Increased headshot multipliers for sniper rifles. Sniper rifles with suppressors equipped will now always be ensured one-shot kill headshots.
Subtle increase in sniper rifle accuracy when scoping in.
Added a render delay to the red diamond player indicators that appear when controlling the Gunship, Valkyrie Rocket and Chopper Gunner. When a player first spawns, this will not appear for a period of time.
Additional minor reductions in knife lunge.
PlayStation 3 Fixes:
Issues Addressed:
Resolved several issues with parties getting disbanded unexpectedly.
Additional measures to prevent the “Transmission error” and other disconnects. This was most likely to occur with large parties where party members had mixed NAT types.
Updated handling for UPnP-enabled routers to improve matchmaking conditions where users had strict or moderate NAT types. Also added in-game communications so that all players are aware of their NAT type in the Player Match party lobby.
Addressed an issue with VOIP icons not appearing when USB headsets were plugged in prior to game launch.
Prevention of exploit that allowed players to keep custom classes and killstreaks after prestige.
Addressed an issue where Flak Jacket Pro would not always protect against ground fires left by Napalm Strikes.
Prevention of users losing their killstreak reward when switching classes at the start of a new round in round-based game modes.
Addressed an issue where the incorrect perks would appear when spectating another player under certain circumstances.
Added round start explosive delay to China Lake grenade launcher to give it the same round start limitations as other explosives.
Contracts will now reset when the player Prestiges.
Prevention of Valkyrie rocket exploding upon release under rare conditions.
Prevention of Gunship failing to give player full control under rare conditions.
Prevention of an issue where a player will get teleported outside the map boundaries under very specific circumstances.
Additional security measures to enhance detection and banning capabilities.
Gameplay Tuning:
Limit the ability to re-roll supply drops using Hardline Pro to Care Packages only, no other killstreak drops.
Added a negative influencer to all spawn points to decrease the chances of spawning near an enemy. This will further improve spawning protection on top of previous updates.
Additional sound mix tuning for Ninja Pro users – increased ranges and volume of enemy footsteps, and removed player footstep sounds on concrete material types.
Increased headshot multipliers for sniper rifles. Sniper rifles with suppressors equipped will now always be ensured one-shot kill headshots.
Subtle increase in sniper rifle accuracy when scoping in.
Added a render delay to the red diamond player indicators that appear when controlling the Gunship, Valkyrie Rocket and Chopper Gunner. When a player first spawns, this will not appear for a period of time.
