Microsoft has finally brought us its version of a portable Xbox. Whats more, they have given us screenshots and release details for their smartphone and video game powerhouse! Lets take a look.
USA -AT&T
HTC Surround – Also available in Canada
Samsung Focus
LG Quantum -Also available in Canada and Mexico under the name LG Optimus and under each countries respective carriers.
USA -Tmobile
HTC HD7
DellVenue Pro
HTC Mozart
USA -Sprint
HTC 7 Pro
No Picture Available 🙁
For a complete list of phones available in Europe and Asia go to this link.
LG Optimus, HTC Mozart and HTC Trophy will be available in Australia under Telestra and Vodafone.
Now lets look at the UI and software for Windows Phone 7. These include Zune, Office and Xbox Live support (with Achievement support). Also included will be Facebook, Netflix (instant streaming), and many other features.
Finally, here is a list of games that has been announced so far:
Brick Breaker Revolution (Digital Chocolate)
Age of Zombies (Halfbrick)
Armor Valley (Protégé Games)
Asphalt 5 (Gameloft)
Assassins Creed (Gameloft)
Bejeweled™ LIVE (PopCap)
Bloons TD (Digital Goldfish)
Brain Challenge (Gameloft)
Bubble Town 2 (i-Play)
Butterfly ( Press Start Studio)
CarneyVale Showtime (MGS)
Crackdown 2: Project Sunburst (MGS)
De Blob Revolution (THQ)
Deal or No Deal 2010 (i-Play)
Earthworm Jim (Gameloft)
Fast & Furious 7 (i-Play)
Fight Game Rivals (Rough Cookie)
Finger Physics (Mobliss Inc.)
Flight Control (Namco Bandai)
Flowerz (Carbonated Games)
Frogger (Konami Digital Entertainment)
Fruit Ninja (Halfbrick)
Game Chest-Board (MGS)
Game Chest-Card (MGS)
Game Chest-Logic (MGS)
Game Chest-Solitaire (MGS)
GeoDefense (Critical Thought)
Ghostscape (Psionic)
Glow Artisan (Powerhead Games)
Glyder 2 (Glu Mobile)
Guitar Hero 5 (Glu Mobile)
Halo Waypoint (MGS)
Hexic Rush (Carbonated Games)
I Dig It (InMotion)
iBlast Moki (Godzilab)
ilomilo (MGS)
Implode XL (IUGO)
Iquarium (Infinite Dreams)
Jet Car Stunts (True Axis)
Let’s Golf 2 (Gameloft)
Little Wheel (One click dog)
Loondon (Flip N Tale)
Max and the Magic Marker (PressPlay)
Mini Squadron (Supermono Limited)
More Brain Exercise (Namco Bandai)
O.M.G. (Arkedo)
Puzzle Quest 2 (Namco Bandai)
Real Soccer 2 (Gameloft)
The Revenants (Chaotic Moon)
Rise of Glory (Revo Solutions)
Rocket Riot (Codeglue)
Splinter Cell Conviction (Gameloft)
Star Wars: Battle for Hoth (THQ)
Star Wars: Cantina (THQ)
The Harvest (MGS)
The Oregon Trail (Gameloft)
Tower Bloxx NY (Digital Chocolate)
Twin Blades (Press Start Studio)
UNO (Gameloft)
Women’s Murder Club: Death in Scarlet (i-Play)
Zombie Attack! (IUGO)
Zombies!!!! (Babaroga)
Electronic Arts has also announced plans to bring Monopoly, The Sims 3, Need for Speed: Undercover and Tetris to the device.
What more do you want to see in the Windows Phone 7? I would like to see a Zune with all the features except the phone. Regardless, I am looking forward to the release. Look for the phone to hit this holiday. Keep it locked here for all the latest Windows Phone 7 news.
EA has announced that players pre-ordering Dead Space 2 will to treated to the downloadable prequel for absolutely nothing. However, it has been revealed that this will only be available in “participating retailers in North America.”
It’s a shame that this offer isn’t reciprocated in other parts of the world, but Dead Space 2 doesn’t release until January next year, so there could be time for an update in the deal.
Dead Space: Ignition releases tomorrow separately on PSN in US, with a Wednesday release on XBLA and EU PSN.
Does anybody know what the X in X-men means? I don’t know but i would guess extreme. Do you remember when you walked into the arcade, and knew exactly what you were going for? That X-men machine where you and three of your friends could tear up the Brotherhood all on the same big screen. If you do not remember its okay. It was put into the arcades in 1992. It was accliamed as one of the best x-men games to some and more than that to others. This classic is coming straight to your consoles. Cyclops, Colossus, Dazzler, Nightcrawler, Storm and Wolverine are the heoros you can choose from. You take down sentinels and the big boys and girls of the Brotherhood of Evil mutants. Eventually as in the arcade game, you have to take down Magneto, the leader of the Brotherhood. 1-4 player local and 1-6 online player support. Drop in and drop out game play is also implemented. It is coming to XBLA and PSN in autumn. No pricing details yet. The game is going to have a HD makeover of course. Here are a few screens from the 92′ version. Smell the nolstalgia? I can already hear the X-men tv theme playing in my head.
Ok, you know the drill, I’m streaming blah blah might need to take breaks during the day blah blah tell your friends and link it like crazy blah blah. Thanks for watching!
I think the first thing about this new title I need to say is we now have a winner for the best named game of the year. Developed by Stickmen Studios, Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time looks to bring a humorous adventure-puzzler to the WiiWare, Steam, OnLive and WildTangent.
For those scratching their heads trying to figure out what this game is, here is a brief description.
Immerse yourself in the Doc’s world of ingenious inventions with his contemptuous robot backpack Sack, travel through time as you dodge madly misguided techno-phobic hippy robots in a bid to save the Doc’s cat Franklin from being turned into a potted “catcus”.
Put your imagination and skill to the test; build clever contraptions to pilot through the robot-ravaged environments, steer yourself over lava-bubbling rivers, around icicle-toothed pits and once-urban landscapes.
“Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time is a creative quest for all ages, suitable for anyone who enjoys compelling problem-solving challenges and comical encounters,” said Wil McLellan, CEO of Stickmen Studios.
Some of the Features Include:
INFINITE POSSIBILITIES… Invent almost anything from the objects you discover – it all bolts together to work in whichever way you decide;
TAKE CONTROL… You’ve built it, but can you drive it? Skill and co-ordination are required to navigate the challenges ahead;
PLAY WITH TIME… Instantly and easily rewind time to undo your calamitous mishaps using Doc Clock’s amazing Time Slider;
TROPHY COLLECTING… Prove your awesomeness by unlocking achievements such as ‘Headhunter’ and ‘Rocketman’;
BITING BACKCHAT… Sidekick Sack’s wisecracks will keep you smiling throughout your journey. He’s more annoying than your big brother.
I am always up for a title that demands creativity from the player and this title has “sleeper hit” written all over it. You can get an even better look at this game by checking out http://www.docclock.com. Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time releases October 13th, PST through the ‘OnLive’ Platform, followed closely by a release on October 15th via Steam. The game will also be available November 3rd through Wild Tangent. No date has been given for the WiiWare version. Check out “awesomeness” of the trailer below and we will bring you more news on Doc Clock as we hear it.
When a person performs an assassination in any game, the feeling is hard is describe. The emotion of of anticipating an enemy, and then laying down the smack down is extremely addictive. It is no wonder that Ezio wanted to be in another Assassin’s Creed. The newest development diary from Ubisoft explains the enemies Ezio will fight in the campaign portion of the game. Look out for the violent combos that will soon be filling your brain full of endorphins.
The New York Comic Con is officially over, and now I’m going to give you a recap of the last two days from my own personal point of view. Saturday was an exciting day, I worked my real job during the day with hopes of getting to the city in time to enjoy the fruits of the rest of the day at Comic Con. All day friends were calling me telling me cool things that were happening, and finally, at 3:00 I shouted “yabba-dabba-doo!” and ran out the door. I got to the bus stop and waited.
And waited. And waited. I got to the bus stop at 3:20, the bus runs every 15 minutes, and guess what. It never showed up. Finally around 4:30 I decided that it wasn’t worth it, I was tired from work, if the bus had come at that moment I wouldn’t be at the Javitz center until 5:30, leaving only an hour and a half of time to check things out. I decided to cut my losses and go home and set up my new iPhone this way come Sunday I’d be able to take more pictures. Afterwards, I went out drinking with my friends.
The next morning…
I awoke around 7:47 AM to find that my head feels ten times it’s normal size, I get up, took a shower, loaded my iPhone with great tunes, and hit the bus which was actually there on time today. I got to the Javitz center around 10 and started my day.
First stop, Red Dead Redemption’s Undead Nightmare DLC. I got to test out this new addition to the original Red Dead Redemption, but not without asking a few questions of the guy at the booth. My question: “Why?!??!?” His response: “Well, why not!” My rebuttal: “:|”
I was then led to one of the demo stations and the girl instructed me on what to do: I had to burn some coffins, and then some zombies showed up, and then I had to protect myself from them by shooting them down while still burning coffins. I’m really not into the whole zombie thing, I feel like it’s overdone, but this DLC was actually pretty fun. I like the concept of having a normal known game being taken over by zombies, it was pretty cool. I had fun with it, and I walked away with a shirt!
Across from Rockstar’s booth was the Funimation booth, which had a demo of the upcoming Dragon Ball Raging Blast 2. I didn’t get to check it out much, but I watched my older brother play it, and he said it was an improved version of the first game. We didn’t get to see any of the anime, which is what I’m most looking forward to, but that’s okay because the game’ll be out in a month anyways.
Next stop, Capcom to check out Mega Man Universe! I get to the booth, the demo was open, so I start playing and let me tell you this is true old-school Mega Man with it’s own new 2.5D charm. Like I said yesterday, it seems like a mixture of old school Mega Man with Little Big Planet. You create your character, you create your stages, and you can share them with others. What I played was a standard Mega Man level that had a little New York Comic Con banner floating around, which was pretty cool. There’s not much more I can say about it, it’s a solid entry in the Mega Man series that’s bound to keep fans happy. One thing we didn’t get to see and that’s how other non-Mega Man characters like Ryu and Arthur play. Let’s hope they show us some of that soon!
While I was at the Capcom booth, I caught wind of the World of Capcom panel where they would be discussing new games. So, like the reasonable Capcom fan I am, I ran to the panel and waited on line for an hour to get a good spot. Needless to say, I uncomfortably waited between two fat, sweaty slobs.
Before I could suffocate, they opened the doors and let us in! We took our seats, they talked a little about some upcoming games from Capcom like Okami-Den and Bionic Commando ReArmed 2, which looked cool, then they talked about Mega Man Universe and Marvel vs. Capcom 3, which was alright I guess, but then they got to the meat and potatoes.
Mega Man Legends 3. More specifically, Mega Man Legends 3: Project. Now they started discussing what the “Project” part of the title meant. They want the fans involved in this project more than ever. Keiji Inafune himself explained what they meant. He said that the Mega Man Legends series was never the most successful series as far as units sold goes, but as far as the fans were concerned the games were great, and they were fantastic games. I’m a huge fan of the series myself, so it was a huge treat hearing that they wanted the fans to be involved in it. They’re taking requests from fans for boss battle concepts, voice actor suggestions, basically anything you can think of, they want to hear from you. Their main sell to this is that it’s truly a game made by the fans for the fans. They showed us a contest they’re holding among Mega Man developers who’ve worked on numerous different Mega Man games which was to design a new female protagonist, there were 9 designs and they were pretty cool, that was to show us how the rest of the game’s development will probably go about. Mega Man Legends 3 will be released for the 3DS, and I’m secretly hoping they release Mega Man Legends 1 and 2 on the PlayStation Network and then follow that with Legends 3 being released on PS3 too (a guy can dream can’t he?).
Once the panel was over I left and looked for my intern who said he was gonna be there at 10, it was now 1, he hadn’t even gotten to the convention. The first day my cousin Joey was my intern, this time it was a friend from a summer program I did in high school, he’s in college now and I felt this would be a good experience for him. He never showed up, so I wound up carrying everything and trying to do everything myself. Done complaining about that, where was I? Oh yes, once I was out of the panel, I started shaking hands with various people in the industry, making personal connections and what not. Definitely didn’t slack off today! But at the same time there wasn’t as much pressure as there was on Friday due to me knowing where everything was and how it worked now.
All in all, this was a good Comic Con. Met a bunch of awesome people like Brentalfloss and the boys from Powerglove, took a lot of pictures with my new iPhone, and got some swag! Hope you all dug my articles on it, and within the next few days I’ll be posting my exclusive interview with video game parody sensation Brentalfloss including some details on a new project he’s working on that’s really cool!
Check out the gallery of pictures I’ve taken while attending the con, there’s some pretty cool stuff I saw like those Mega Man figures, and what’s up with the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 logo inbetween M. Bison and Zangief, two characters not yet announced for the game? Did someone leak something? Whoops!
Well, for those of you who caught my stream yesterday, awesome! Unfortunately, I was only able to keep it up for about 3-4 hours. I was going to stream earlier today but I’ve been busy on and off all day so I wasn’t able to, but now I have some free time so catch it while you can! Once again,tell your friends, spread the word, link it like crazy! The more watching the better.
Cut The Rope HD
Publisher:Chillingo Developed : Zeptolab Platform:iPad (Reviewed), iPhone Released:7th October, 2010 Price:$1.99 BUY NOW
A mysterious package has arrived, and the creature inside has only one request…CANDY! Help get the candy to Om Nom, the adorable monster, in this highly innovative and addictive puzzle game. Combining outstanding physics, devilishly tricky levels, and bright colorful High Definition visuals, Cut the Rope is one of the most original and fun-filled games on the App Store.
The fine people over at Zeptolab have provided us with another amazing puzzle / physics game that will keep you busy for hours. If you’re a fan of Angry Birds then step right up. A little monster with a HUGE appetite called Om Nom has arrived on your door step and he needs your help. The object of Cut The Rope is quite simple, all you need to do is cut the rope that’s holding the candy and make sure it lands right into little Om Nom’s mouth and collecting stars along the way (this is the challenging part). You do this by slicing across the screen with your finger. It sounds simple right ? Well in the first few levels it is. But believe me the deeper you delve into this great game the harder it will become, but that’s what you want right ?? A challenge …
Cut The Rope has a fantastic physics engine behind it that is simple and works very accurately with the touch controls for the iPad. It’s simple but most of the time you’re going to have to plan your cuts to avoid obstacles, such as spikes and enemies. Each level has a different challenge to feeding Om Nom and getting all the stars, this will certainly keep you thinking and hooked and entertained. The Golden stars in Cut The Rope are also what you need to unlock further boxes and also to obtain maximum points. Some are easy to collect and some will have you pulling your hair out. In the end it all comes down to quick reflexes and using your head as the levels get harder obtaining the stars become even more difficult as some don’t stay on the level forever.
To help in your quest to feed Om Nom you wont just use ropes. Other useful items will be available to use at your disposal on specific levels. For starters you’ll have Bubbles that float upward hopefully towards Om Nom’s mouth, air pumps that can blow the bubbles in the right direction, hidden ropes, pulleys, tension ropes and a whole lot of other stuff that will help you get CANDY to OM NOM’s mouth and hopefully the stars along the way.
There’s a total of 4 levels (boxes) in Cut The Rope to progress to each level you will need to collect a specific number of stars to unlock that level/box. For example, the final level, The Gift Box will need 190 stars before it opens up.
Accompanying this review is a full 10 mins video review for Cut The Rope. Click on the play button below and watch how the game works along with other feature and options.
If your a fan of puzzle and physics style games then look no further. Cut The Rope HD has amazing graphics, accurate and precise touch controls and will keep you busy and challenged for hours. To start with the levels are quite easy and collecting the first box’s 75/75 stars will be simple. But moving forward that’s where the real challenge awaits. Do you have what it takes to feed that hungry monster in the box ?? I know you do. Pick this up now from Apple iTunes store before someone else does and takes that adorable Om Nom home with them and leaves you with nothing.
Billabong Surf Trip
Publisher:Chillingo Platform:iPhone/iPod Touch Released:7th October Price:$2.99 BUY NOW
Story
As you can imagine, there can only be so much story behind a surf game, or for that matter any sports game or extreme sports game. After all, if there was any hint of a serious plot, players would complain in their masses as generally speaking, people want to jump straight into the action, whether that be running out onto the field, kitting up and charging into the fray, or in this case, grabbing your board and paddling out to sea to ride the next wave.
As a result, the game is lacking when it comes to story, which is in no way a bad thing. It’s just your typical underdog story of a surfer working his way up the surfing scene, travelling the world and pulling some ‘gnarly’ moves out on the waves.
Sound and Graphics
The sound and graphics of Billabong Surf Trip by no means excell your expections after you’ve seen the screens; the grainy visuals are ambitious to put it nicely, and while the game wouldn’t work without the three-dimensional game world, you can’t help but wonder whether the developers could have put the technology to better use, rather than creating an experience a little rough on the eyes. It’s by no means a problem, and considering it’s on the iPhone, the graphics aren’t bad, although there are times when the camera goes funny and you can see through certain textures.
Then there’s the sound, which is good music wise. It’s got a small but quality playlist of surfer tracks that play in the background as you navigate the various menus. On the other hand the sound effects aren’t quite up to this standard. Lets just say you’d be surprised how irritating the sound of splashing water gets as you paddle through the ocean. Consequently, most will prefer down during actual gameplay.
Gameplay and Controls In Billabong Surf Trip, you are quite literally dropped in at the deep end. Some things are touched on briefly, although for the most part you are left to figure the controls out for yourself. Adding to the discomfort when starting out, a lot of the characters offering guidance will often use surf-speak, especially when referring to tricks, which can leave those not down with the lingo feeling swept away.
You control your surfer using two analog sticks placed on the touch screen, and while the learning curve is steep, moves are laid out logically in general. For example, in order to perform a 360 spin, simply rotate the stick in a circular motion. If you’re preared to put in the time to learn the controls, and then in turn, master them, it’s a rewarding experience, but it will take a long time, with lots of frustration-inducing practice involved. But if you are willing to figure everything out, there’s a god deal of fun to be had.
Conclusion There are a number of benefits of being associated with one of the biggest Surf distributors, which the game takes advantage of in the form of customization options. The ability to shop around and equip your character with a selection of billibong surfboards and surf-wear gives the game an authentic feel, which is topped off by real-life surfers making an appearance as your mentors. The set of 11 famous real-world surf locations further contributes to this realism. However, in search of a true surf experience, I fear the developers may have left non-surfers behind. Much like real surfing, it’s hard to learn, takes a lot of practice and you mainly have to figure out the appropriate techniques for yourself. As a result, the inaccessibility of the controls and gameplay may deter some people, which is a shame as it’s a decent handheld extreme sports game when it gets going. Also washed-up visuals -I’m just on fire with the puns- and repetitive sound effects, while minor, hardly help the games case. But,with all this taken into account, I can still say that it’s worth a blast, with a reasonable price tag with all the content on offer. Some may hate it, finding it overly challenging, whereas some may just love it if the controls happen to just click.
