Ah, Double Fine, your wacky inspired ideas keep on coming and we keep on loving them. Their next adventure lets you take on the role of a a very small Russian nesting doll named Charlie Blackmore. He has been separated from his family and he needs to reunite. How does one tiny matryoshka make his way across a dangerous world? By hopping into other dolls and taking them over of course. If that sounds strange, it is. It is also very unique and, quite frankly, awesome.
One way that Double Fine plans to change up the game is that puzzles can solved in various ways with different options. In the trailer below, you can woo a guard using a lady doll, or you could sneak past him with a different doll. One other original feature in the game is the ability to keep stacking different dolls on top of yourself. You will only be able to use the outermost doll’s “powers” but you can unstack and restack to get the doll you want. Look for Stacking to hit on XBLA and PSN in 2011.
Martin Good, Executive Vice President, THQ Kids, Family, Casual Games, and Global Online Services said,“Stacking is distinctive in its overall cinematic look as well as its approach to puzzle solving, and we believe the game will appeal to both the casual and hardcore video game player. We are pleased to expand our library of digital download offerings and do so with high-quality games from the wonderfully creative team at Double Fine Productions.”
Double Fine Productions founder and CEO Tim Schafer says, “We’re really excited to be doing another game with THQ, building on the success we had with Costume Quest, and delivering another great adventure told in an entirely new way. What Lee has created with Stacking is something truly awesome – a game with a great story and puzzles, and a completely fresh method for interacting with them both.”
Costume Quest, a Double Fine game that released just last month, will be getting some DLC this winter. The original game focused on Halloween, so it is only reasonable that this one will focus on Christmas. New and old costumes will be available and the game will feature some much needed patches like pausing during cutscenes and saving your game at designated phone posts. The best part of the DLC? It will be around the same length of the actual game.
Look out for the DLC in December on XBLA and PSN. Costume Quest was a very good game that featured a rather intriguing gameplay element. If you want to read our review, go here.
Hey, you remember that one game that released in August? It had this female character that found treasure and fought monsters? Oh yea, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light was the game. The patch and free DLC has already found its path to the Xbox Live Marketplace and Crystal Dynamics recently announced that the patch is ready to download on your Playstation 3 and PC via Steam. So put those magic rabbits working in your ISP to work and hop on over to receive your patch and free downloadable content.
Alright, for those of you who don’t know, Amnesia: Dark Descent is a scary game for the PC. A VERY scary game. You are tasked with traversing a game where as you turn a corner in this dilapidated and run down house you might notice some otherworldly creature running just out of sight. Unsure what to do, you might either try to A) follow it to see what it was so you know to avoid it in the future (unlikely) or B) run away screaming like mad until you find a nice, cozy corner wimper in. Option B is likely your choice because in this game, you have no force with which to fend off these terrifying creatures, making them even scarier because this means you will likely not get to know your enemy very well. If you even THINK you see or hear something that isn’t you slowly creeping around the vicinity, you run away screaming like your life depends on it.
In most other scary games, you generally have SOMETHING to fight back with, meaning you need to figure out how to gird you loins, grow a tremendous beard and go toe to toe with those bastards. In this game, however, you are defenseless, you must get through it by hiding and hoping the enemy doesn’t notice you out of the corner of it’s eye and then comes running at you to bite your nipples off and/or devour your face. As you might imagine, this makes for a moderately traumatic experience. I’ll be the first one to admit that I can’t play scary games alone and even when I have another person with me, THEY need to be the one holding the controller during the scary parts. Don’t know why it matters who’s holding the controller, it just does. IT JUST DOES. The only reason I got through Dead Space is because my friend did most of the work while I directed. And by directed I mean shouting and yelling to go the hell down that corridor and stop trying to coerce another creature to leave its hiding spot and try to kill you.
As awesome as Amnesia looks, I don’t think I’ll ever play it. Maybe one day I’ll be feeling particularly adventurous and purchase the game, but you can bet I won’t get farther than 10 minutes before I dissolve into a bubbling puddle of fear and terror while frantically mashing alt+F4 to get the abomination off my screen. Luckily though! I have found a video of somebody who probably has the same reaction I would have while playing the game, and it is hilarious. Ever see a video showing somebody playing “that game” where after a few seconds a big, scary face pops up on the screen and the victim then proceeds freak the hell out. Anyways, watch this (also embedded) for some laughs at another persons expense. Warning: there is some “language” and might not be for those who are particularly jumpy.
Ubisoft has announced that they will be bringing out DLC to Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood for the first time and it is coming at the price of free. Yep you heard it right the upcoming DLC will be entirely free. But what will said DLC come with? Well unfortunately nothing new for the single player mode but it does bring with it a couple of add-ons for the game’s multiplayer mode.
Being called the Animus Project Update 1.0 and with a December 14th release date on the 360 and PSN it will include a brand new game mode that is called Advanced Alliance. Unfortunately it isn’t exactly brand new as it is more or less Alliance Mode but given a harder difficulty. The reason that it is harder is because rather than two teams, it will consist of three teams of two assassins competing.
Another addition is the incorporation of a brand new map to do your assassinations on. The new map will be called Mont Saint-Michel and is “located on a rocky tidal island of Normandy in France.” The map will feature narrow streets with tall bell towers and a multi-leveled design which means plenty of assassinations will be of the aerial variety.
Sebastien Puel the executive producer of Ubisoft Montreal had this to say about the DLC:
“We are very thrilled to be able to offer the first Multiplayer DLC for Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood for absolutely free. We wanted to say thank you to our fans for making Brotherhood such a huge success its opening week. We are very proud of the unique and innovative Multiplayer mode it offers, and hope the fans enjoy the new content.”
Nothing shows how tough a guy is like walking in the rain with no umbrella while everyone else is hiding under those little bits of plastic and cloth to not get wet. But that isn’t just what signifies the power of a Yakuza man, what does though? Well you will have to watch and find out!
One thing we know about Yakuza 4 is that it will contain the same Japanese voice work that the Yakuza series is known for keeping, that means that fans of the series won’t have to worry about Sega providing any English dubbing ruining what fans of the series love. But then again I wouldn’t mind having the same voiceover guy from the trailer working on Yakuza 4 for voiceover work.
Also released from Sega is the news that there will be only a small amount of cuts to the game when it reaches Western shores, though what exactly has been cut hasn’t been listed. From the trailer below though it looks like they kept most of these things in, such as the hostess hangouts, sake hangouts, and even minigames with girls.
In the future your mind is not your own as technology has been developed that can allow anyone skilled enough to be a hacker slip into your mind and take control of your entire body. That is exactly what has happened in the world of MindJack which is being developed by Square Enix for the Xbox 360 and the PS3. Today they have announced worldwide release dates for their upcoming futuristic third person shooter.
Everyone in the United States will have the chance to purchase the game on January 18th while those in Europe and Australia will have to wait a couple more days for their release date on January 20th. In MindJack players will be taking control of a mind hacker and have the ability to enter the minds of both allies and enemies and use them for your benefit. But in a world where anyone can be not who they appear to be, who can you trust?
Assume the role of a Mind Hacker hacking into and controlling the minds of enemies to turn the tide of battle.
Acquire XP to expand your hacker’s Arts abilities. Increase a character’s strength or improve your hit-rate – players can strategize according to their combat style.
Hack or be hacked! Players can slowly alter their gaming universe – or have it altered by other online players – one hack at a time.
Utilize futuristic weapons and real fighting techniques, like Krav Maga, in your virtual playground.
Upon the success of Real Racing, the developer has announced the sequel of its popular car racing game on the 11th of November, 2010. The peoples at Firemint’s office are working as hard as they can to release the game as they have promised to bring this out by Christmas this year. The game will be available for iPhone and iPod Touch, and the game will grant one of the most wanted requests by real racing fans around the world. The sequel will feature real cars, starring 2010 Chevrolet Corvette C6.R, 2006 BMW Z4 M Coupe Race Car, 2010 Ford Shelby Mustang GT5000, 2010 #33 Jaguar RSR XKR GT, and 2010 Nissan GT-R (R35). They are not done yet though, so more cars will be announced later. Also, there will be at least 10 hours of gameplay, with some very extensive career mode and car customization.
Now, sit back and enjoy the preview video that was just released hours ago.
Game Name:Lil’ Pirates Platform(s): iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad (iOS 3.0 or later) Publisher(s): Capcom Interactive, Inc. Developer(s): IUGO Mobile Entertainment, Inc. Genre(s): Simulation, Freemium Release Date:4th November, 2010 Price: FREE (GET IT NOW!)
Overview
Yo-ho-ho! Ahoy matey!! Welcome to the land of pirates and treasures! Capcom Mobile and IUGO Mobile Entertainment have worked together for the first time ever to bring you their latest freemium game. They are both great publishers and developers of games for the Apple handheld devices, with many great titles at their disposal. To name a few, Smurf’s Village, Capcom Arcade, Cliffed XL, Toy Bot Chronicles, and so on.
Gameplay
As the name suggest, you are a pirate in the land of no-where. You are now the captain of your ship (which is tiny to begin with), and you are to develop your crew and expand your ship crew to dominate the beautiful blue sea. There are a total of 12 maps and literally hundreds of locations for you to explore at the moment. More locations are accessible as you become higher level. Also, there are objectives available to set your goals and directions in the game so you are not lost in the sea of information. These objectives are of four categories, namely the basic, short-term, long-term and special objectives.
When you first started, you will be greeted by Captain Admiral. He will be the person-in-charge to guide you through the basics of the game. Simply said, the main thing to do as a pirate captain is to find treasures. Aye? Apart from that, there are plenty of mini games to keep you busy while you are waiting for your crew to come back from their exploration. You can catch the rats on your ship when you sent all your crews to look for treasures, do ship battles, play with your crew members, etc. These mini-games might be fun to begin, but it tends to get a bit boring later on as it is repetitive and easy once you get the hang of it. Other than that, you can also enjoy the beautiful scenery surrounding your ship. If you are lucky, you might even spot a pretty mermaid waving at you!
One of the thing that annoys me a lot is the turtle walking speed of *myself* on the ship. It is very irritating when I have to walk from one end to another, especially when I have a big ship. I’m pretty sure i can walk faster than that.
Furthermore, the social aspect is a bit lacking in my opinion. Twitter is not integrated, only Facebook. At the beginning, you will need to set up your Lil’ Pirates’s account to link with Facebook and add more friends from there. There is also an alternative for non-Facebook users where you add friends with their email (Seriously, how many of them don’t use Facebook?). But this is much more tedious as you can only add one email at a time. Besides, you can only accept one gift at a time. I could not imagine if I have 20+ friends to add or 200+ gifts to accept. Perhaps integration of Twitter and Game Center in future updates to improve the social aspect of the game.
On the upside, they have included a great feature to exchange titles with your friends. Earning a title from your friends could give you some very nice reward to help you throughout your pirate-ty journey. You can invite your friend to join your crew too!
Titles available for exchange with your friends
First mate – get a chance to gain 25% more fame when completing a job
Quatermaster – get a chance to get 25% silver when completing a job.
Sailin master – increased the chance of getting extra treasure after a job
Appraiser – get more silver when selling any treasures
Graphics/Sound
The graphical presentation of Lil’ Pirates is very well done. I especially enjoy the loading screens; it’s so pretty that I’d love to have them as my iPhone’s wallpaper. Not to mention that it also gives you a preview of what to expect later in game, such as the different themes of your ship, premium items available to decorate your ship, etc. In addition, I also like the fact that the different type of clothing are reflected on the avatar itself. (Such as the pirate-ized clothing or the cowboy hat!) These little touches are things that made this a great game.
As for the audio, it complements the game well. It comes with a nice and cute background music that will keeps you happy while you play. The sound effects of the surrounding is also well designed, it feels like what you will really hear when you are in the middle of an ocean. There is also voice-over for some simple phrases when you tap each of your crew. Nothing fascinating, but it does the job.
Conclusion
All in all, I like the idea of being a pirate and explore the land. There are plenty of things to do and look forward to, which is very important in these genres of games. I’m sure that fans of Farmville or Restaurant City on Facebook would love to have this on their Apple mobile devices. Like the other freemium games, in-app purchases in this game are optional and available for peoples who want to speed through the game. With a free price tag, this one will worth your precious time and space on your iDevices.
