Although an Eye Controller isn’t exactly the best form of control for a platformer, I can see this being used in the future for FPS and other games that actually require a lot of looking around.
The video explains how it all works, so you really should check it out. Enjoy the video.
What kind of video game do you think would benefit the best?
Can’t get enough zombie goodness in your life? Then if you are an Xbox Live subscriber than you are in luck as the first three episodes of Zombrex Dead Rising Sun on the Xbox Live marketplace now! Those who happen to love zombies, but don’t own a 360 are unfortunately going to wait an extra week before it can be seen online. We are introduced to the film made from Inafune-san’s mind and are only introduced slightly to the movie so far, but expect to see much more as they are released weekly after next week.
Warner Bros. has, this week, spilled the official title of the highly-anticipated sequel to last year’s Batman: Arkham Asylum. It has been titled Batman: Arkham City and has been slated for release during the fall of 2011 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.
Look out for “a new all-star cast of classic characters and murderous villains from the Batman universe,” and all new gameplay as the Rocksteady Studios developed sequel sees Batman take to the streets of Arkham City, which has been transformed into a new maximum security prison for Gotham City’s criminal element.
It has already been let slip through gaffs committed by the voice actors playing the parts, that Two-Face, Talia al Ghul and Mr. Freeze will be three of the villains appearing in Batman: Arkham City.
In an interview, actor Maurice LaMarche revealed that he will be the voice of Mr. Freeze. Stanta Katic, who plays Det. Kate Beckett in Castle, posted on Twitter that she has recorded the character voice for Talia al Ghul, before quickly removing the tweet. And lastly, Kevin Conroy, voice-actor for Batman in Batman: The Animated Series, was apparently tricked during a panel interview into revealing that Two-Face will be appearing in Batman: Arkham City.
Print magazines are said to soon open the gates on the title, so we can expect to find out more within good time.
Runic Games today announced a sequel to the highly-acclaimed, action-RPG Torchlight, which was the debut game by the team of ex-Diablo staffers, who founded Runic Games in August 2008.
With no surprises, Torchlight won a good number of awards and turned out as one of the best PC games released in 2009, with a huge success on Steam as the main digital platform for it’s distribution.
For Torchlight II we can expect the higly wanted co-op mode, new classes, skills, overworld areas, and many more. The game’s main features are listed below:
Some initial artworks:
Torchlight will be released in Spring 2011. The game is expected to be a huge hit again on digital platforms like Steam, as Runic Games already shared their intention of the same low priced product in mind.
The Art Academy series for the Nintendo DSiWare are known for putting that touch screen to use as you practice creating masterpieces on you DSi. Nintendo is now releasing a brand new version which will be a full game coming to the Nintendo DS this fall. Whether you a beginner or an expert, Art Academy can let you draw or paint whatever you please transforming the system into your very own canvas.
Here is an official Press Release from Nintendo explaining some of the features the game will have:
Whatever your ability, you’ll find the step-by-step approach to lessons easy to follow. Art Academy offers lessons and art materials to get you started on your initial artistic journey, as well as contain more advanced art courses for those more adventurous artists, wanting to take their art to the next level.
The Touch Screen on the range of Nintendo DS consoles enables you to effortlessly paint or draw with realistically behaving paints and pencils. The pencils come in three different grades of lead; 2B, HB, 2H and also enable you to draw in soft or hard lines to blend and layer your pencil mark. Learn to use the eraser function to create interesting effects, such as mark marking and, of course, unlike with a real life painting, should you make any mistakes, it can easily be easily erased without wasting any paper. The paint function behaves similar to acrylic paint and the paintbrush set comes in three round or flat brushes allowing you to paint in thick or thin lines simply using your Nintendo DS stylus.
Ten set of paint tubes make up the game’s basic paint palette and there are 20 empty spaces for you to mix your own original colours. You can also control the amount of paint on your brush to give different effects such as dry brushing, and the level of brush wetness which will affect the transparency of paint to allow for a variety of painting effects in your artwork. Zoom in to your masterpieces to perfect the finer details close up and why not take advantage of the grid function, to help you achieve the right scale and proportions.
A helpful tutor, Vince, is also on-hand to show you how to use the art materials and what to draw, as well as teaching you art theory and techniques to explore independently. Some lessons are inspired by work from famous artists such as Albrecht Dürer (German), Paul Cézanne (French), Leonardo da Vinci (Italian), Jan van Huysum (Dutch), John Constable (English) and many more will get your creative juices flowing.
Use the Free Paint mode to allow you to freestyle your artwork, letting your imagination run wild and check out the material library for a wide range of stock images to get you inspired. If you are a Nintendo DSi or Nintendo DSi XL owner, why not also use your built-in camera to capture images and redraw them at leisure. With such realistic artist training, you can use your Nintendo DSi & Nintendo DSi XL to help improve painting and drawing skills in real life!
The picture posted above was made with this game by Nintendo of America employee Krysta Yang which shows the depth you can bring to your own pieces of art with this new title. All 10 of the lessons and tools from Art Academy: First Semester and Art Academy: Second Semester will be packed in the game as well as the 10 Mini Lessons and more than 80 motifs that players can choose from to use as reference material when creating their art. Art Academy Releases at a great price of just 19.99 on October 25th of this year. Grab your paintbrush…or stylus and get ready for one of the most impressive art creators to hit a portable!
Continuing the trend of quirky art-style games comes a new top contender to the WiiWare download service. “And Yet it Moves”. Indie developer Broken Rules is now releasing the downloadable PC game experience straight to the WiiWare. The highly anticipated game will now take on the motion control scheme of the Wii for a whole new experience that the fans of the title are sure to enjoy. Along with new controls, players will be introduced to all new levels and environments that are exclusive to the WiiWare version.
And Yet It Moves is a physics-based platform game in which players rotate the world at will to solve challenging puzzles. A tilt of the Wii Remote also tilts the world, turning walls into floors, slides into platforms, and stacks of rocks into dangerous hazards when flipped upside down. Players navigate through a paper collage world created with colorful pieces of cardboard and set to distinctive music. With four different environments and multiple unlockable modes, And Yet It Moves will provide gamers with endless challenges.
Features Include:
I will have this on my list for sure as I love unique games and this is one that has a lot of quirks to draw in about anyone. Just from the trailer alone I was extremely impressed by the music and artistic style and feel “And Yet It Moves” seems to have. The motion controls on the Wii are used often in many games, but the thought of controlling your whole environment just with the tilt of a controller and completely changing up the gameplay is exciting. Check out the awesome trailer for the new game And Yet it Moves below and also don’t forget to check out Broken Rule’s official website on the title at www.andyetitmoves.net for even more information. And Yet it moves is set to release on August 23rd for the WiiWare at 1000 Nintendo Points.
Game Name: HoopWorld
Platforms: Nintendo DS
Publisher(s): Nintendo, Virtual Toys
Developer(s): Streamline Studios
Genre(s): Sports, Arcade
Release Date: July 19, 2010 (U.S.) August 13, 2010 (PAL)
Price: 1,000 Wii Points ($10.00 USD)
Hoopworld is a 3 on 3 arcade basketball game for WiiWare download service.
Story
I didn’t really notice much of a story in Hoopworld and honestly there isn’t really a need for one. The game does have many different teams with their own personalities though, giving each player a choice to pick out their favorite and take it to the court with some b-ball and knock out anyone who gets in your way to the championship.
Gameplay
Using the standard Wii-Mote and Nunchuck set-up, you take your characters up and down the courts. Time really needs to be invested in learning how to play though as the control scheme is more complex than standard basketball games. Besides the standard movement of you character and a few other actions, everything from shooting to using some of your “kung-fu” moves is mainly done with motion control with the Wii-Mote. When I first started playing I was confused a bit on how to shoot properly as it felt awkward going in, but in time this method becomes second nature if you have the patience to learn.
What I really enjoyed was the arcade feel of the game. There are power-up boxes that will appear on the court that you can pick up and activate with the A button. This can truly effect strategy of how to play and win each match. The first time I got a power up which was a bomb that knocked everyone down in my path. There are also many other power-ups in the game such as a shield that will block your opponent from being able to shoot in their goal and some that can effect the ball allowing you to get in a proper shot. The thing is your AI you go against are not stupid and they can get power-ups too so you must use timing and strategy to take full advantage of any item you receive.
As far as the defense moves, the game is advertised as a “basketbrawl game”, which is true, but some of the attacks seemed a little generic and stiff which was really my only minor gripe as I think I went in expecting to see more special attacks you can deliver.
There are 3 different modes to play on. Quick Play, Tournament, and Survival. Quick Play is pretty much a standard match with you vs the computer or another player. Tournament mode lets you go for a championship trophy and take on many other teams in a set number of rounds. My favorite mode, Survival mode is where you just keep playing until the opponent get’s the best of you. This is a challenge but is a lot of fun.
I mentioned the controls being complex earlier for a reason. There are many ways you can play based on how good you are at the game. A better player who is more experienced in HoopWorld will have the upper hand. I say this because certain skills in the game, such as making a precise shot come with experience in playing and can be learned with practice. This does feel rewarding later on as it feels the game wants you to have more than a shallow control scheme and learning techniques and strategy will really help you in some of the games harder difficulties later on.
Graphics/Audio
The audio is upbeat and seems to go with every playing area smoothly. The sound effects also really make me feel like I am playing a game of arcade basketball as well from the ball shots to the sounds of the special items that will give the player the full arcade experience.
Graphics are a strong point in HoopWorld. The game all of the way through feels 90’s to me. The logos, the characters, everything feels retro. For this reason I think anyone who grew up in the period would love this game. I also liked some of the small touches added during gameplay such as the awesome slam dunks that leave the net on fire and many other of the animations added to the characters. The models are detailed and colored well which makes this game visually appealing and give its a bit of personality. The courts are very well detailed and lively as well which makes unlocking more later down the line motivating as I felt the need to press forward to get more.
Overview
When playing HoopWorld I though of games like Mario Hoops 3 on 3 and NBA Jam, but HoopWorld is a bit different as it makes the player learn to get better and it feels more rewarding when you learn to pull of several abilities in the game. As I mentioned, I do however feel that the defense attacks could use some work and the controls may leave some players chucking their Wii-Mote across the room in frustration. Overall, with it’s unique control scheme, smart AI, and the well done arcade take on a basketball game HoopWorld is a nice addition for the WiiWare and I recommend it to anyone that is looking for a mondern yet retro experience on their Wii.
I give HoopWorld:
A new automatic title update (version 1.03) is now available for Red Dead Redemption on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. You will be prompted to download the title update as soon as you sign into PSN or Xbox LIVE.
This update contains the following new anti-griefing measures for Multiplayer Free Roam:
This new title update also addresses the following issues:
Lionhead Studios revealed the opening cinematic of their upcoming game, Fable 3.
A chicken leading the revolution will be awesome…right? Oh, just joking. As we’re drawing near to the release date, Lionhead spoils us with this gorgeous cinematic, depicting the whole idea of the game…will you be the leader that everybody is looking for? Will you make a difference?
In my opinion, Fable 3 is looking better and better with each passing day. Without further ado, enjoy the trailer:
The countdown is on to the release of Civilization V! Of course with this comes some of the first images of the boxart and the newly announced limited edition the title will be receiving. PC Gaming is booming right now with the release of Starcraft II, and this new addition to the classic series is sure to make a huge dent on sales for the market as well.
In Civilization V, players strive to become Ruler of the World by establishing and leading a civilization from the dawn of man into the space age, waging war, conducting diplomacy, discovering new technologies, going head-to-head with some of history’s greatest leaders and building the most powerful empire the world has ever known.
The game promises more of the content fans would expect and some new additions to keep the series fresh such as improved diplomacy, an in-game community hub and even the ability to modify your copy of Civilization V any way they like. Get a look at the awesome new Limited Edition version as well that will be launched upon release.
What will it include?
This Edition seems completely loaded and will be a great treat for all of the fans who have spent hours diving into the strategic and deep environments of Sid Meier’s Civilization or for any first timer just trying to find a solid PC title to pick up. Keep in mind the limited edition’s appearance could change as the artwork is not final. Developed by Firaxis, Civilization V will release on the 24th September.
