Apparently people are still doing digital crack, who would have thought? I assumed because I stopped playing everyone would follow suit, oh well…. suckers! Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, the third expansion for the critically acclaimed massively multiplayer online role-playing game, sold through more than 3.3 million copies as of its first 24 hours of release. Surprise, Suprise! Blizzard is taking over a small part of the world, and its expansion has become the fast selling PC title of all time, yet again. This record beats previous expansion Wrath of the Lich Kings 2.8 million set in 2008.
It seems the best way to beat records is to release in as many locations as possible, all at the same time. The expansion released simultaneously in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Europe, Russia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand on December 7. Two days later it was available in Asian regions. Over 10,000 stores around the world had midnight launches for the hardcore, blizzard also hosted official launch events where around 15,000 players attended in the US, Canada, France, Germany, Russia, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, and the region of Taiwan.
“We had to bring Azeroth to the brink of destruction in Cataclysm, but the result was our best expansion yet,” Co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment said, commenting on the games much needed overhaul, to keep players from leaving the 6 year old game. “We want to thank all of our new, existing, and returning players throughout the world for their incredible enthusiasm and support, and we look forward to hearing what they think about all the new content.”
Prior to launch, WoW’s subscription base had grown to more than 12 million players globally, further strengthening Blizzard’s hold on the minds and hearts of the young, old and whatever else. To be honest, these sorts of sales were expected; blizzard certainly proved they know their community.
That launch controller you bought with your Playstation 3 might be a little worn out. In fact, the analog nubs are a little loose and when playing Need for Speed, you realize that it is not your bad driving skills, but the controller that is making you get nabbed by the cops.
Or perhaps you bought your controller used and it smells oddly like incense. Maybe it smells good, but it still makes your friends laugh. Hmm, what to do?
Well, you could always buy a new one. And if you are a fine tuned racing freak, then EAGLE3 has got the right product for you. The HKS Racing Controller features:
A precision control steering wheel with full rotational range for left and right turn control and an automatic re-centering racing wheel.
Analog pressure acceleration and brake pedals allow for solid drifts and real world control.
Digital pressure gauge has light up numerical indicators that measure down to the millisecond.
Exotic design. Seriously, feast your eyes on that again. Go on, it is just right up there.
The color red. Red is awesome. And it rhymes with Jed.
Game: Kung-Fu Live Publisher/Developer: Virtual Air Guitar Company Price: $15 USD (Europe 13.99€ / UK £10.99/) Consoles: Playstation 3 (PS Eye required)
Kung-Fu Live aims to give you a comic book experience like no other. Actually kick and punch like a kung-fu master and have your face in each frame. Sounds pretty cool, right? Well, it is… sometimes. Lets start off the story.
Story
The game starts by taking a picture of you. As a result, you are automatically scanned into each comic book frame. This is an undoubtedly awesome approach to making you feel connected to the game. Before each section of story, the game would have you pose in different areas. Copy the pose or not, you will get some interesting results when the action rolls. For example, you may be asked to look as if you are dodging. If, however, you decide to throw a peace gesture in there, it may look as though you are getting hit with a car while throwing said gesture. Overall, this is super neat, and I would love to see more games implement this.
So, there I was in my jeans and Old Navy T-shirt, already late to work on my first day. Obviously though, I was pretty smart, as I had gotten a job at a comic book store. Unfortunately, the old hag running the store was pretty ticked and sent me off to clean and organize stuff. Suddenly though, I am transported into a comic book and I know kung-fu. Sweet!
But misfortune struck once again, as I was unable to finish the game. You may ask, “Why?” I wish I could tell you that the game could simply not keep up with my new-found powers of awesome fighting. In reality, the game could not keep up with itself.
Gameplay
As with any motion control system, and basically any game, maintaining control of your character is key. With standard controls, this is usually fairly easy. The controller is a faithful accessory, always having the same buttons at the same location. Even lag on games like Rock Band can be configured fairly easily. With motion controls though, everybody is different and your actions will also be different. So, developers have resorted to calibrations, body scans and light control to solve the problem. The reason to bring this up is that you will get a very rude introduction to that type of thing when playing Kung-Fu Live. I must have run the background check at least 20 times before my lower arms started showing up. And the conditions for playing the game are very tight. Any time the light changed just slightly due to the sun, I had to redo the whole thing. Admittedly and thankfully, this process did not take too long, but it was still maddening to have to redo it a lot.
But hey, if the calibrations do finally work and have you in the game, then that is good, right? Of course it is, unless you actually want any kind of action to happen on the screen. Many times, only about half of my moves were registered. For example, I would be punching and kicking and then I would inexplicably jump. And how do I move my character forward? By motioning, punching and kicking. But wait! I am only moving half an inch at a time although my arms are wildly flailing and my enemy is moving backwards at the same pace. Oh, now he just jumped all the way across the screen and kicked me in the face. The game does paint lines where the enemy will strike, but as I was often so focused on trying to get my character moving properly they were hard to read, interpret and then then fulfill before I was knocked down again.
Speaking of knocking down, you will want to make sure you have plenty of space. Also, pick a room that has high ceilings with no reachable light fixtures. Finally, you may want to check with your doctor to make sure you are healthy enough for strenuous kung fu fighting, as the game will have you exercising like a mad man. If you are into making exercise fun, this may be the game for you.
Although the game has severe problems, it does occasionally make you feel like a superior kung-fu master. For example, kick a guy, somersault over him, turn around and whack him in the face. All kinds of moves are available and whatever you can do with your hands and feet, the game might register.
Audio and Graphics
Audio is fairly underwhelming in the game. Sure, there are some sound and sound effects but nothing special. The voice is pretty funny though and it sounds like it came out out an arcade machine.
Graphics are non-detailed and super boring. Other than the fact that you are actually the main character playing, there is nothing to really say about them.
Overview
Kung-Fu Live had great promise. And, if you want to maybe see what a Kinect is like, you can try this game out for a little less than half of what Kinect costs. Even if you want some excercise without an excercise game or you want to act out your favorite kung-fu scenes from the movies, this game has its high points. But the low points that consist of bad AI, so-so graphics and unreliable motion control nearly take all the fun away.
Better make sure that you have all of your new games, gadgets and toys secured away after the holidays because Dead Rising 2: Case West will be taking up most of your time on December 27th when it is released. The epilogue to Dead Rising 2 will appear only on the Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 MSP ($10). This price point is double that of Case Zero.
Sure the price may be double but it is still under the pricing of other arcade games of it’s type that can easily run 1200 points or in rare cases 1600 points. Case West itself will take place within the Phenotrans Facility and provide co-op gameplay if the play chooses to, as well as the re-introduction of the photography element from the first Dead Rising. So how many people are going to go for the full trifecta and own Case Zero, Dead Rising 2, and Case West? I know I will.
For the first time ever a Mass Effect game will be launching on another console other than one supported by Microsoft. EA announced that Mass Effect 3 will be released on not only the Xbox 360 and PC, but also the PlayStation 3 as well during the 2011 holiday season. This means that the final chapter of the trilogy will be available for practically everyone as long as they have one of those systems.
This is a far different situation from what happened with Mass Effect 2, as that game is just now going to be seeing a release on the PS3 January 18th. This is of course good news because the franchise can be enjoyed by even more people now thanks to the multiplatform release.
Over the past years Bethesda’s games have always been extremely well received and are some of the best open world RPGs that the world has ever seen. However they have all had one nagging problem that continued all the way from The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind all the way up to Fallout: New Vegas and that is the fact they were call created using the Gamebryo engine. The engine that has always had numerous bugs and issues that plagued every single one of those games.
However that is all in the past now as Nick Breckon, community manager at Bethesda, released information on his twitter account the following: “Seeing lots of speculation about #tesv game engine. It’s brand new… and it’s spectacular!” This means that there will not be a reuse of the Gamebryo engine and instead we will be seeing a brand new engine that has yet to be named. We will know more as time goes on but we can guarantee that a new engine will be involved when the game releases on November 11th 2011 for the PS3, 360 and PC.
It takes some guts to announce that a game that was announced 48 hours ago will be developed into a trilogy. It looks like THQ has these guts as they have just announced via press release that the inSANE series will consist of three different games. Also it was announced that there will be something that they call transmedia projects that could happen involving the inSANE games. This means that there either will be books, comics, or movies involving the story if it just so happens that the game does well.
Not much is known about the game other than that it will involve the horror genre and be co-created by Guillermo del Toro. Oh and we also know the exact capitalization of the title as you can see. Since it’s announcement at the VGA last Saturday the first news that we receive about the game is that there will be three of them. Perhaps the saying of not counting your chickens before they hatch comes to mind as the first inSANE title has a release date currently of 2013…
**THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE**Launch Sale, $4.99 FOR A LIMITED TIME**Next update iPad will compatible. Please Note: Dead Rising will only run on iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod touch 4th, iPod touch 3rd 16GB and 32GB, or better. NOT COMPATIBLE to iPhone 3G, iPod touch 1st, 2nd, 3rd 8GB, iPad
Ever wanted to face a zombie-apocalypse on the move? The Xbox 360 games of Dead Rising were all well and good, but for all intensive purposes, they were a little unrealistic. You would be very fortunate for an army on the undead to come knocking at your home, allowing you to fend them off from the comfort of your living room. But in real-life, it wouldn’t be like this. A horde of zombies is more liklely to attack when you’re at your most vunerable, such as waiting for a bus or relaxing in a café, which is why Capcom have brought Dead Rising to the portable platform of the iPhone: for a more “real” experience.
Dead Rising Mobile shares likenesses with the original Dead Rising that started it all off in that the game takes place in a shopping mall. In fact, the opening cutscene is so good, it wouldn’t look out of place in an Xbox 360 game. The sound and visuals are great, and for those brief few moments the storyline is enthralling, evoking feelings of curiosity as you try to decipher exactly what is happening before you are cast into the game-world. As those of you who have played the Xbox 360 versions will be aware, this initial cutscene is usually the last hint of any kind of plot because from here on out, it’s just a whole load of arcade-style zombie killing.
Essentially, it is just a toned down version of the original. Both the setting and the objectives are similar, albeit adapted to suit the iPhone’s capabilities. Some of these adaptations are for the better, whereas others detract from the overall experience, although it has to be said, most of these negative changes are as a result of the limitations of the iPhone as opposed to sloppy development work.
An example of a positive change is the adaptation of the menus, missions and save points. You save the game by going into ‘S-points’ which are located at regular intervals around the map. These are much more frequent in this version, which matches the fact that it is running on a portable machine meaning you can quickly jump in and out for short play sessions. From these ‘S-points’ you access the latest missions and select one to focus on. This can also be done from the pause menu which can be used to select which of the current missions the directional arrow will guide you to. Sadly, this directional arrow is very misleading and more of a hindrance than a help. It is so confusing that it is actually better to use it as an aid to your intuition, rather than relying on it as a full-on guide to take you directly there.
However, as I said, some of the changes do detract from your enjoyment of the game, but to be honest, they are hardly the fault of the development team, but rather the iPhone’s processing limitations. The standout difference is the number of enemies that can be on the screen at any given time is a lot lower on this game. Consequently, it never quite feels like an army of the undead- more like a small swarm followed by another small swarm and so on. Another factor that relates to this point is the poor draw distance. As a sacrifice for graphically sound visuals (at least for the iPhone’s standards anyway), enemies only appear once you are close enough by a specific distance.
Overall, Dead Rising Mobile on the iPhone is a good realisation of the console games. At times it suffers as a result of the iPhone’s limitations but on the whole, the developers have done well to bring the series to the handheld device. There are the same cheap thrills of the console version, allowing you to destroy the zombies with a variety of weaponry, including guns, knives and your bare hands, as well as other items you find along the way. There are even some interesting social networking features, giving you the option of issuing a Rescue Call as your statuses, although you really do need a friend with the game to make the most out of these. I can’t help but recommend the console versions of Dead Rising over this. However, if you are a very mobile gamer who is always on the move, or if you don’t have an Xbox 360, then this is ideal.
Pros
3-D game-world
Zombie-bashing on the move
Adapted to suit the iPhone’s and the player’s needs
Cons
Limitations of the iPhone mean only small groups of enemies, and only when up close
U-Sing 2 – Australian Edition
Publisher: Mindscape Inc.
Developer: Mindscape Inc.
Format : Nintendo Wii
Genre: Music / Singing
Release Date: 3rd Dec 2010
Rating : PG
Price : $59.95 AU (Game Only) : $109.95 (Two Mic Bundle)
Are you ready to sing the hit songs from your favourite Aussie and international artists ? Well what are you waiting for, get your mates together turn on your Nintendo Wii grab the microphones and sing along to some of the biggest hits from Universal Music including such Aussies artists as :
Wolfmother – Far Away
Bernard Fanning – Wish You Well
Empire of the Sun – Walking On a Dream
The Temper Trap – Sweet Disposition
Vanessa Amorosi and Seany B – Mr Mysterious
Alex Lloyd – Amazing
Short Stack – Sway Sway Baby
Orianthi – According To You
Brian McFadden feat. Kevin Rudolf – Just Say So
If you’re not fan of the Aussie artist, don’t worry as Mindscape have you covered as well. There’s a fine mix of international hits such as :
Bloc Party – Banquet
Florence & The Machine – Dog Days Are Over
Lady Gaga – Bad Romance
Owl City – Fireflies
Rihanna – Disturbia
Spice Girls – Wannabe
Blur – County House
Extreme – More Than Words
Shania Twain – That Don’t Impress Me Much
Coldplay – Violet Hill
Plus many more, there should be something for everyone in U-Sing 2 and if there isn’t, then you can jump straight into the U-Sing DLC Store and download (at this moment) another 49 more international hit songs straight to your Wii console.
Straight to the point U-Sing 2 is a singing / Karaoke game. There are a total of 8 single and multiplayer game modes which include the initial training/practice (which appears as soon as you power up the game for the first time) where you get to learn the basics of singing and using the USB attached Microphone. Get stuck into the Solo mode where you can scroll through, select and sing from all the 40 songs plus any others you’ve purchased from the U-Store. There’s also a neat little filter option that will allow you to list songs in alphabetical order, by year, by difficulty level, by artist or by music style. If you can’t decide you can also pick the medley option where you’ll get to sing five short versions of songs selected at random.
Once you’ve selected your song the next menu that appears will allow you to choose your difficulty level from easy, medium or hard. You also have the option to choose between singing a short or long version of the song. Just before you start the game on the left you can see the high scores obtained by yourself or others that have played in order of long or short and difficulty so you know how much you need to beat their score and claim your spot on the top of the leaderboard.
Then it’s off to the singing part, before the song starts you’re prompted to activate the microphone by singing into it till it fills up a gauge meter. If you’re playing multiplayer this is good as it allows you to see which colour you are (blue or green player). The aim of U-Sing 2 is to sing in the correct pitch and correct rhythm to increase your score as the lyrics appear down the bottom of the screen they change colour to indicate which words need to be sung. Just underneath, the next set of lyrics are also displayed to prepare you for what is about to come next. Now I’m not the best singer in the world (I did try and audition for Australian Idol one year but they took one look at me and told me to take a hike) but get the best scores in this game you’re going to sing by adjusting your pitch to accurately fill up the gauges. Just like other singing games after you complete a page of lyrics, comments will appear on the right of the screen ranging from “Good” to MASTERABBOTT … ehhmm sorry “Unbelievable”. Another cool feature while you’re singing is the countdown timer that displays how much time is left before the song ends.
One last feature that appears while your singing solo or in multiplayer is the Golden Notes. What are they you ask ? Well read on and I’ll tell you. During a song, golden notes appear in the lyrics if you sing that section / word and fill up that specific meter where the golden note is residing on it will trigger a bonus sequence during which the notes that follow in the music score become golden. For the next two pages or so every golden note meter filled completely will give you bonus points which are then added to your score at the end of the sequence. At the end of your song your score is tallied up your given a rating according to your performance, some of the grades are : Atrocious, Beginner, Pretty Good, Professional and Legend (did someone say my name once again) Most of my results had me sitting between Beginner and Pretty good, but don’t worry I’ll make it to LEGEND one of these days !!
I’ll tell you what I want, what I really really want !! .. (yes I forced myself to sing a spice girls song, lucky no one else was around when I was doing it otherwise it would have been recorded and posted on youtube) U-Sing 2 lacks a Solo Career Mode, the singing part of the game is pretty solid with the speech technology picking up your pitch and rhythm pretty nicely. The sad part is there is no real point in playing the game on your own as you don’t have anything to achieve or accomplish. Having some sort of Career mode would of extended the life of the game outside the group party aspect, but alas it looks like U-Sing real focus was aimed for social butterflies with lots of friends who also enjoy singing and having a great time.
Which takes me to the multipayer modes : There are a total of three modes, they are : Duo – which lets you sing a song with a partner. In this mode you and your partner are both singing at the same time with the game screen split into two sections, blue down the bottom and green up the top. At the end of the song both the players scores are added together and combined with a grade. Next mode is Versus : This mode will allow you to sing the same song against another player, the player with the best score at the end of the song wins. Finally we have Battle Mode : As with previous modes the screen is split into two sections with each player having their own words appear on the screen, points etc. The way Battle mode works is both players sing alternately, one taking the role of the “attacker” The attacker job is to disrupt the singers performance by singing and holding notes at specific points in the song. If they do so they unlock penalties for the opposing player. The type of penalties you can unlock are : Trembling, Break in the Sound, Lyrics moving further away, Reversal of Lyrics on the screen and my favourite Lyrics disappear off the screen. The roles of attack and singer swap regularly during the song, so you got to be on your toes and be prepare to take as much as you can dish out.
Other options within the game is the Jukebox, which is accessible from the main menu. Here you can listen to and watch your favourite clips from the game without having to stress out singing everything in the right pitch or tone to gain high scores. The great function of Jukebox mode is you can enjoy Karaoke style singing with the press of the button the lyrics will appear on the screen and you can sing along on your own or with your friends. This is great for parties !!
As previously mentioned if you can’t find a song that appeals to you from the 40 songs, you can login to the U-Sing Store and purchase / download new songs straight to your Wii console. You’ll need to be connected to the internet so make sure that’s setup first before attempting to access the store. Once you’re in you can check out approx. 49 songs (more are added weekly) new songs priced at 300 Wii points each. To buy simply select, confirm and download the song, once its completed it will appear in your solo, multiplayer and jukebox.
As Shania Twain would say in her song “That don’t impress me much” is how I feel about U-Sing 2 Australia Edition. Even though it’s jam packed with great songs, impressive voice recognition technology, fun multiplayer and a great jukebox mode for entertaining your friends when throwing a party, plus a DLC store to download more songs at a price. The only thing lacking in the game was some sort of career in solo mode. If you’re a loner U-Sing 2 is not going to cut it for you as the best you can do is sing songs and beat your high score. On the other hand, if you’ve got lots of friends and like hosting sing-a-long parties over at your house then U-Sing 2 will be straight up your alley as you’ll be able to entertain them for hours.
Who wants to win a trip to Japan ? I DO !! Gameloft are giving one lucky person a chance to Win a trip for 2 to Japan and also an iPad in their Eternal Legacy “Haiku” Contest !!
All you have to do is simply submit a Haiku (3 lines poem made of 5, 7, 5 syllables) including the words “Eternal” and “Legacy”, Gameloft’s favorite will win the trip for 2 to Japan!
But that’s not all, the Haiku with the more “likes” will win an iPad! So what are you waiting for, write up a Haiku now !! then tell your friends to vote for you!
To enter click here or on the image above !! Good Luck to you all 🙂 May the best Haiku win.
If you haven’t check out Eternal Legacy have a read of our hands on preview here. Full review of the game will be released shortly. Stay tuned.
