Sure we have all seen this video before, but now it has English voicework to go along with it. If you haven’t seen the video before then now is your chance to catch nearly eight minutes of footage from the game and can imagine what it would be like if you were seeing it in 3D yourself.
Though the video as you will see is not 3D, but it does appear that they are putting quite a few different elements that will exploit the 3D ability with things jumping out or moving towards the screen that otherwise wouldn’t have. Sort of gives the feeling of a movie that was shot entirely with normal film, and then had 3D added in later as an afterthought. What do you think?
Nintendo may have released the different bundles for other parts of the world, but the United States did not have any special edition announced though the date was growing closer and closer. that is until now. Nintendo of America has announced that they will be bringing us two special edition bundles for the upcoming 25th anniversary.
As you can see above we have the 25th anniversary edition Mario red Wii that will cost $199.99. With this bundle there will be your standard Wii Sports, a Wiimote with a motion plus, and the true bonus New Super Mario Brothers Wii.
There has also been the red DSIXL bundle that will cost $179.99. This bundle includes a Mario Kart DS cartridge, and DSiWare games Brain Age Express: Math, Brain Age Express: Arts & Letters, and Photo Clock.
Seems like a pretty good deal if you haven’t purchased a Wii or a DSi yet, I know that I don’t have the DSiXL, so may take this offer up myself to get all the bonus games without the additional costs when it hits shelves on November 7th.
Yesterday we reported that EA had purchased Chillingo for $20 million. Chillingo has published some of the most popular games that are on the App Store to date, such as Angry Birds and Cut the Rope. I also posed the question as to whether or not the developing companies would remain with Chillingo now that it has been purchased by EA.
Turns out now that they won’t. As one would imagine, Chillingo is just the publisher of these games, and not the developer. This means that Chillingo, and therefore EA, only had the publishing ability. In an interview with TechCrunch, Rovio’s Peter Vesterbacka, has stated the following:
”We only did the first iPad/iPhone integration with Chillingo and aside from that we’ve published everything ourselves. We will not use Chillingo again.”
He continued to add that “You don’t need publishers,” in relation to the modern gaming world. This is a small blow to EA’s purchase, as the popular developing company Rovio has moved beyond using publishers for their needs. Angry Birds will end up being under publishing rights by Chillingo until their contract is up, and then it will be interesting to see what will happen afterwords.
The first series of Kinect ads have finally bubbled to the surface. As expected, it as advertises using your body as the controller. All 4 ads seem to have one underlining purpose, to cater to the casual players and families that don’t normally play games. Non the less, the full motion detection as you play games turns out to be a lot of fun; albeit tiring.
When you pick up Fable 3 next week, October 26, you will find a little something extra inside of your game case when you unwrap that plastic. The extra you will be receiving is a Xbox Live redemption code that can be used one time and give a handful of items to the player. You will be receiving the following:
Raise Dead potion
Slow Time Potion
Scot Male Hero Outfit or the Scot Female Hero Outfit
Highlander Tattoo Set
Red Setter Dog Skin
There hasn’t been any additional information as to whether these items will be exclusive to new purchases only, or if the players will be able to download these different items for a few Microsoft points at a later date. The dog skin would be interesting and the whole pack itself definitely has a Scottish feel to it all thanks to the outfit and the Highlander tattoo.
Bejeweled LIVE has been released to the new Marketplace on the block: Windows Phone 7. It is an all new game for the phone, and it includes 20 achievements plus leader board support. The game has been specifically tailored to fit the Windows Phone with portrait & landscape mode. Another feature is the optimized touch screen and on demand hints. Endless and Classic mode are playable, as well as Action mode, a.k.a. the time trial. With the high quality support of publishers like POPCAP , Windows Phone 7 might just have a chance. If you have the Windows Phone 7 (released in Europe and Asia today- USA version Nov. 8), please try out Bejeweled LIVE and tell us what you think of the game or the phone.
Well, as I promised, I will be streaming what I play today, possibly taking intermittent breaks here or there as life rears its ugly and inevitable head. Admittedly, there was but one comment for a stream request, though as I said, I wasn’t expecting much. I will be streaming Katamari Forever for a bit, switching up the game every now and then as one can only play so much Katamari until repetition beats you into submission, though I will constantly come back to Katamari for a jaunt or two. Again, if the concept of being able to see a game of your choice played by a person who is fairly skilled and knowledgeable intrigues you in any way for whatever reason, click on over to this article to take a look at what I have to offer and comment accordingly. Until then, enjoy what I do if it pleases you. If it doesn’t, then what are you doing still reading this? Off with you sir or madam!
A brand new game from Ubisoft has hit the hugely popular social networking site, Facebook. Like all Crime Scene Investigation games it has you solving mysteries, but seeing as it’s on Facebook, it offers a casual spin on things. It aims to be accessable for all and like most games on Facebook, promises to swallow up a lot of your free time as you get engrossed in it’s simplicity.
In CSI: Crime City the player is a CSI dropped in the middle of a teeming metropolis and is challenged to solve difficult murders to bring criminals to justice. Players can explore crime scenes, earn virtual currency and build their very own CSI Lab. They can play alongside their favourite characters while exploring cool Las Vegas locations such as casinos, nightclubs, hotel suites, the desert and the Las Vegas strip. It was developed in conjunction with the television series, so expect events and cases cropping up which have some link with the show.
Oh, what’s that you say? A fan made sonic game? Why yes, this is. What attracted you to this page? The title of this article or the gorgeous screenshot? If it was the screenshot, click this to see it in it’s full res glory. If it was the title that attracted you, read on.
Any sonic fans out there? I’m sure there are a few of you. With the recent release of Sonic 4, you should be quite pleased. Though some of you may have been expecting a bit more. After all, it has been over a decade since the last, honest-to-goodness, classic sonic game. This isn’t to say the series hasn’t had a few hits since that time, I genuinely enjoy the Sonic Adventure series to varying degrees, but you know that’s not what I mean. I’m talking about how the series has fallen into almost unforgivable disrepair, going so far as to give Sonic a sword, have him have a romantic moment with a human girl and even giving Shadow guns, all in an attempt to pander to the franchise’s “intended” demographic, that which consists of 8-13 year olds.
But enough about stupid decisions! Sonic 4 was made as a response to the “hardcore” gamer’s plea to have Sonic return to form, return to what made it so great and beloved in the first place. Some of you may be happy with that, though some may find it a bit lacking. After all, as the premiere reboot of the franchise, you would expect nothing less than absolute perfection. If you find yourself in this position, look no further than here. This is a truly amazing fan made sonic game, with better graphics and physics than that of Sonic 4. Only a demo is available currently, but I urge you to try it out. The level of care and detail that has gone into this is staggering for a fan made endeavor. Sega, take note. This is how you reboot a franchise.
Game Name: Medal of Honor Platform(s): Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC Publisher(s):Electronic Arts Developer(s): Danger Close Genre(s): Action, Shooter Release Date: Oct 12, 2010 (US) October 14, 2010 (AU) October 15, 2010 (EU) Price: $59.99
In a flooded market of war-based shooters, Medal of Honor makes it’s return to consoles with an updated control scheme and a brand new campaign putting players in the war in Afghanistan. It has been a while since the Medal of Honor series has reared it’s head and there is a lot to cover how the series has change with this new title for better and worse. Here is my review for Medal of Honor.
Story
The year is 2002. Fresh off the heels of September 11th, You take control of some of the top special operations soldiers in Afghanistan. Placed in the view of the specific soldier you are controlling at the time, the story feels and plays very realistic through various missions. My only problem was that there really was no backstory and I felt like even after the campaign was complete, I never felt any true depth to any of the characters.
I guess you can kind of sum that statement up comparing Medal of Honor to a really intense war movie but without the beginning scenes where you see the true personalities of the soldiers. There was personality in the cast though, some characters were spitting out lines that were funny and made the different teams and partners likeable, yet there just isn’t enough on yourself. This might be done to make the player immerse themselves in the main role, but it just wasn’t executed properly. Overall the campaign’s story was intriguing enough to push forward and remained easy to follow so it still gets by with a pass.
Gameplay
The first thing I wanted to do when I sat down and played Medal of Honor was rid myself of my previous experiences with other war-shooters like Modern Warfare 2. Those were great but if you are expecting a CoD type game, you really will be in for a somewhat different experience.
The campaign keeps you moving taking out various targets through each area. From terrorists, to tanks, and many other enemies, Medal of Honor is packed full of obstacles you must take out to complete each mission. Controlling the game runs extremely smooth so anyone can pick up and play without much prior experience. Campaign mode is set up a bit linear and freedom is not much of an option as the game has you focus on your mission objective rather than fooling around. This method works well, but sometimes you will be waiting to pass the next invisible wall due to your team members who have not quite made it to the current checkpoint.
Guns and all weapons down to the knife are fast and control great for the most part. It is easy to switch through your arsenal on the fly and the auto-aiming system ensures that bullets stay accurate and hit their mark for brutal results. Some may find the auto-aim to make things a bit oversimplified, but I thought it added to the pace of the game and kept the combat constantly moving forward.
One thing I loved about campaign is that every mission felt different from the next leaving the whole mode feeling fresh throughout the game. Traveling from different vehicles across the mountainous regions and calling the shots for gunships is rewarding and some of the funnest parts in the campaign mode.
Tier 1 mode is probably the best feature with Medal of Honor as a whole. Many gamers love speed running through games as it is, and this mode let’s you compete by going through the campaign missions without checkpoints as fast as possible while accumulating a top score. This mode reeks of replay value and is a way to truly test your skills in the game.
Multiplayer is made up of four modes being Team Assault, Sector Control, Objective Raid, and Combat Mission. The only problem I had with multiplayer was spawn points. The 8 maps are a bit small so spawning in front of enemies does happen quite a bit but this could be simply fixed by a patch so that will not effect my score on this mode whatsoever. Kill Streaks are very rewarding with both defensive and offensive rewards for accomplish a feat of so many kills within the match.
Leveling up effects not only your arsenal, but your appearance as well. This is judged by your facial hair within the game as it grows the more you rank up. The matches seemed to all run smoothly on my end as well with no lag or cut-outs so servers really were not an issue. Overall, the Multiplayer is a solid experience and while simple is fun and can keep you going for hours on end.
Graphics/Audio
Starting with the graphics I will say that each character model is detailed nicely are very realistic. The terrorists can sometimes blend in with the environment at times due to choice of colors but that actually provides more of a realistic challenge than hurt the game. The lighting used is stunning and captures shadows perfectly making buildings and cover stand out a bit more. Some of the textures in buildings can be a bit average looking but the outdoor environments look so sharp this is literally just a small nitpick in a beautifully crafted graphical system.
The soundtrack used provides high paced music to intensify every battle until the end with perfect timing of placement making the atmosphere come alive. The sounds of the weapons and environments are realistic and with decent voice acting the sound definitely has grade A presentation value that stand on par, if not better than other established franchises on the market.
Overall
Medal of Honor is a great game overall. The story is a bit lacking but for the most part, but the gameplay makes up for that with intense and realistic action around every corner. Multiplayer should keep you coming back for more and the Tier 1 mode is a fantastic addition that adds a heavy amount of replay value. The best way I can say it is to think of this title as a blueprint. While not going above and beyond in every aspect of a shooter, it still feels solid and lays down a lot of room for a the franchise to grow on. Medal of Honor might have trouble blending in with the mass market of shooters, but it retains what makes these titles so great to start with, a solid foundation with a wonderful presentation value.
