Vampire Saga-Pandora’s Box is a thrilling hidden object game produced by Alawar Entertainment. Originally released for the PC last fall, The game begins as the main character, Matthew Ward, sneaks on a ship, Pandora, to flee the Spanish-American War. After stealing on the ship, he passes out and wakes up to find himself alone with several coffins. After searching Pandora, he finds that there is no crew or captain to be found, and that he and the ship are stranded in the middle of the ocean. Although Matthew is seemingly alone, he feels like he is being watched by something, or someone. The game then sets off as Matthew tries to escape from the ship and find out the secrets of Pandora.
Why is there no crew? Why is Matthew being watched? You will find the answers to these questions and more as you search for over 300 hidden objects over eleven game scenes, play minigames, and immerse yourself in the stunning storyline of Vampire Saga-Pandora’s Box, which will be available on the Apple iPhone/iPad very shortly.
A recent post by a Sega community manager on the game’s forum states that plans for future patches for Aliens vs. Predator have been, for some unknown reason, canceled. The Sega representative by the username Clumsyorchid says, “I apologize, as I know there are many features and updates that you’d like to see. I’ll keep fighting internally for this to happen, but until I hear otherwise, there will not be a console patch for either Xbox or PS3.”
This seems extremely odd, especially with the extremely recent DLC that was just added. Maybe they are planning something else and need the entire team on the new project. Either way, players of AvP will be disapointed, because there were so many fixes that needed to be made.
Everyone has been expecting a newer New Xbox Experience in order to accommodate Kinect, but everyone is still curious as to what it will look like though.
French site Logic-Sunrisehas posted some screenshots of what seems to be newer version of the Xbox 360 Dashboard interface (then again it could just be an awesome fake).
This new dashboard includes an updated appearance. Appearances changes include a more 2d tile setup, a shift in location for a few things, and the removal of the giant gray block that covers up half of the background theme. Custom backgrounds will once again look good! I’m ready to put on my Matrix code background once again!
There are also UI features a “Natal Tuner” application and a “Natal” setup process (which tells people to go to the @xboxsupport Twitter account). Note that the images are from a beta, that makes sense for Kinect to still be called Natal.
While quite a few people are calling fake on these images, they may be true. The two screenshots at the bottom of this xbox page:http://www.xbox.com/en-US/kinect/entertainment.htm seem to have a very similar dashboard setup.
Now this is why, for every 500 followers he has it will increase the multiplier for the weekend. Currently he has about 9000 followers. That comes out to be 18x the normal amount of experience. If you don’t have seriously 2.0 yet, then you are “Seriously” missing out; or you are like me and still haven’t beaten the first gears of war… yeah… I know…. *Hangs Head In Shame*. It isn’t my fault though! I’ve been busy playing games from my genre (which is FPS not TPS).
Anyway, get following the guy, and then join in on the fun for some massive EXP bonuses! Did I mention he also gives away DLC regularly? Yeah, so get following!
Over 18 years ago, Before Resident Evil, before Fear and Silent Hill, Atari released a title called “Haunted House” where players had to travel through the Late Zachary Grave’s mansion and find all three pieces of an urn. It was simple and also one of the first horror games on the market.
Atari has now announced a remake is set to drop in September of this year. You take control of the main character from the original’s grandchildren. Like the first, the player’s main goal will be to recover the pieces of the urn and defend the family legacy. Atari has released this statement about their newest remake:
“The glowing eyes and mysterious urn of Haunted House still resonates with gamers who made the original franchise a blockbuster hit,” says Jim Wilson, President of Atari. “Atari looks forward to introducing a new generation of gamers to the fun and suspense of Graves Mansion and bringing families together with the magic that is Haunted House.”
The arcade style adventure allows players to easily pick up and play through the eerie mansion, in a 3D Rich Environment of basements, towers and catacombs. Gamers will also fight bosses, solve puzzles and explore the spooky mansion until then final showdown with Zachary Graves.
Haunted House is set to release on the PC, Xbox Live Arcade, and Wii this fall. For more information, go to www.atarihauntedhouse.com.
Bite-sized games for PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) and PlayStation®3 (PS3™) prove a hit with gamers
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) has announced that the minis range has passed the one million download milestone across the PAL, Asia and US territories. Launched in October 2009 and purpose built for PSP® (PlayStation®Portable), and PlayStation®3 (PS3™), minis offers a huge selection of bite-size games; all at tiny prices and all quick and easy to download from PlayStation®Store.
With 80 minis currently available on the Australian store, from over 50 developers including favourites like Pinball Fantasies and new classics like Monster (Probably) Stole My Princess from the independent games developer Mediatonic – and with more coming on board every day, including Pacman CE from Namco Bandai Networks, gamers are set to have more choice than ever in the coming months.
Who Loves their MINI’s ?? Whats your Favourite of the bunch ?
Sony has revealed on their blog that there will be two different bundles to get your Move on when they come out. So lets get down to business. The full package with everything you will need for the Move will set you back $400 USD, and it will include a PS3, the Sports Champions game, a PS Eye, and a Dualshock 3 Controller.
The second bundle as you can see above doesn’t come with the PS3 and instead comes with everything else, so shaves off the $300 price addition to only cost $100 USD. Though if you already have the Eye and don’t care about Sports Champions, then you can buy the Move controller itself for only $50 USD.
Bear in mind though that in all of these packages the navigational controller will cost an additional $30 to have, so expect to be paying about that much if you wish to have it too.
Unfortunately these different packages don’t essentially save any money between them and the fact that the navigational controller doesn’t come with any of the packages is a bit of a low blow as well. What do you guys think about these different packs?
Small bit of information for everyone here but don’t good things sometimes come in small packages? That is the case today with Official Nintendo Magazine hearing from Eoji Aonuma, the game’s producer, that Zelda: Skyward Sword is being aimed for a release date of early 2011. Which is better than the previously announced release date we heard at E3 of sometime in 2011; and even better as the date is closer than we may have thought.
Capcom has announced today that their Sengoku era fantasy, called “Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes” is going to be arriving in North America on October 12th and Europe and Australia on the 15th. Devil May Cry 4’s developer Hiroyuki Kabayashi was the head of the project in Japan and in bringing it overseas.
We will be seeing a launch on both the PS3 and the Wii on the same exact day, where there are over a dozen different samurai heroes to choose from and they each have their own different type of weapon and way to use them. Which means you have the chance to fight with any style of your choice to go with your characters. The player will take control over their hero as they battle through thousands of soldiers on famous battlefields of 16th century Japan.
Blacklight Tango Down Developer: Zombie Studios Publisher: Ignition Entertainment Platform: Xbox 360 (Reviewed), PlayStation 3 Genre: Shooter Price: 1200 MSP – Buy Now!
Overview:
We’ve all played Online FPSs, so many in fact that there are becoming nearly dime a dozen. What sets a good FPS apart is the way that you can customize your own weapons and your experience to fit how you want to play. Plus a good hook is always good to put a little bit of your own flavor. A major advantage that Blacklight Tango Down has over it’s competition, is it only costs $15 to own. So will Ignition’s futuristic Blacklight Tango Down stand above your average FPS? Partially.
Graphics & Design:
There are a number of different stages in which you can do battle on, however the way that the maps are designed are unfortunately a failing point for the game. Each of the maps you will play on will have static spawn zones, which means you will always spawn in a certain area in the same exact spot. This is a major error in level design due to the fact that spawn camping can become a heavy issue during the game, and can make new players simply give up and quit the match.
Weapon effects and digital grenade effects are interesting to see, especially during an EMP grenade attack. The overall appearance of the levels is well done, if not a bit smooth around the edges with no textures. You have your standard gray and brown environment with little to distract from the battle, minus the advertisements that is. Because for being set in a futuristic environment, seeing a billboard or a poster with an advertisement that you can get on shelves now, is a bit of a stretch.
Gameplay:
The abundance of the time spent playing Blacklight Tango Down will be the online multiplayer. However there is an initial flaw to this mode, which is the fact the game does not have dedicated servers for the matches. This means that not only does it occasionally take upwards of five minutes to enter a match, but at times there will be a heavy amount of lag that will only result in your players death through means unknown until you hear the explosion later.
The problem with the lag is that your own character only has 175 hit points in his health bar, and though the health does recharge if you happen to survive a fire fight, it won’t be often. The game plays through as a more realistic type shooter, where a few bullets from nearly any weapon can drop your gunner to the cold ground.
As for the firearms you can use there are a your standard variety of weapons, from SMGs, Sniper Rifles, Assault Rifles, Light Machine Guns, etc. They each have a very large amount of customization available; anywhere from changing the barrel on the gun to attaching something akin to a cell phone accessory to it. Each of these various customization options, and there are a lot mind you, affect the stats of the weapon in either positive or negative effects.
The way you access these new custom weapons however, is the painful level grinding as you advance through fight after fight. Each kill or assist in the game will provide experience points and when you level up you will gain new accessories, guns, or equipment. Though you will have to search the customization menu to see exactly what you unlocked as the message saying what you have unlocked is nigh unintelligible to read on most TVs. Take it as you will but the eventual level difference can make your gun seem like it is doing barely anything compared to the other guns used by higher levels.
The problem here arises that the way that the gear is unlocked, you will have a tough time starting out due to the basic weaponry provided and practically zero customization. Put this together with the fact that the matchmaking is not very balanced and there is a problem. When a team of five level 30 players faces off a team of four level 5 players then the distinct advantage is with the higher leveled characters.
Since this is the future though, you would expect to see some fancy new technology right? Right, well that is one thing that Blacklight provides. The essential player combat has the feeling of playing in a fully armored soldier such as in Halo. The neat feature here though is that your visor can be used for a number of different things, most impressive of which is the HRV, or the Hyper Reality Visor. The HRV will allow you to see through walls and identify where your allies are and where the enemies are. It will also show where your objective may be if you are playing one of those game types. A balancing issue with the HRV is that your weapon is not useable in this mode; so if an enemy catches you using it the chances of your death are very high.
Your visor is a hindrance as well, in the way that there are two special grenades; essentially they are flashbang and smoke grenades but with different effects which create more of a futuristic feel. The EMP grenade will shut down the visor in a blue screen of death and cause temporary blindness. With the DIGI grenade exploding into a digital disturbance in the air making everything in the area appear in a jumble of pixels. When coupled with the HRV it turns into a deadly weapon to pick enemies off that are confused with the digitized environment.
With a minor note there is a single player aspect of the game, but the game recommends that it is played co-operatively. This is more of a forced recommendation than a suggestion though. As the game does not adjust it’s difficulty for a single fighter as you will face wave after wave of enemies and one death meaning the end. Plus the co-op mode is only accessible to your own friends that have the game, there is no co-op lobby to join random games. In this mode we are introduced slightly to the story, that the Black Ops team is attempting to destroy the Order; but overall the story is paper thin.
Overall:
If you are looking for an adequate first person shooter with a few interesting features and a cheap price tag then Blacklight Tango Down is your game. It has it’s flaws and the graphics are not the best you would find in a retail title, but they are some of the best you will find in an XBLA game. Ignition made a great attempt to step into a genre already occupied with stiff competition, and has cut out a little niche for itself.
I give Blacklight Tango Down
Overview:
We’ve all played Online FPSs, so many in fact that there are becoming nearly dime a dozen. What sets a good FPS apart is the way that you can customize your own weapons and your experience to fit how you want to play. Plus a good hook is always good to put a little bit of your own flavor. A major advantage that Blacklight Tango Down has over it’s competition, is it only costs $15 to own. So will Ignition’s futuristic Blacklight Tango Down stand above your average FPS? Partially.
Graphics & Design:
There are a number of different stages in which you can do battle on, however the way that the maps are designed are unfortunately a failing point for the game. Each of the maps you will play on will have static spawn zones, which means you will always spawn in a certain area in the same exact spot. This is a major error in level design due to the fact that spawn camping can become a heavy issue during the game, and can make new players simply give up and quit the match.
Weapon effects and digital grenade effects are interesting to see, especially during an EMP grenade attack. The overall appearance of the levels is well done, if not a bit smooth around the edges with no textures. You have your standard gray and brown environment with little to distract from the battle, minus the advertisements that is. Because for being set in a futuristic environment, seeing a billboard or a poster with an advertisement that you can get on shelves now, is a bit of a stretch.
Gameplay:
The abundance of the time spent playing Blacklight Tango Down will be the online multiplayer. However there is an initial flaw to this mode, which is the fact the game does not have dedicated servers for the matches. This means that not only does it occasionally take upwards of five minutes to enter a match, but at times there will be a heavy amount of lag that will only result in your players death through means unknown until you hear the explosion later.
The problem with the lag is that your own character only has 175 hit points in his health bar, and though the health does recharge if you happen to survive a fire fight, it won’t be often. The game plays through as a more realistic type shooter, where a few bullets from nearly any weapon can drop your gunner to the cold ground.
As for the firearms you can use there are a your standard variety of weapons, from SMGs, Sniper Rifles, Assault Rifles, Light Machine Guns, etc. They each have a very large amount of customization available; anywhere from changing the barrel on the gun to attaching something akin to a cell phone accessory to it. Each of these various customization options, and there are a lot mind you, affect the stats of the weapon in either positive or negative effects.
The way you access these new custom weapons however, is the painful level grinding as you advance through fight after fight. Each kill or assist in the game will provide experience points and when you level up you will gain new accessories, guns, or equipment. Though you will have to search the customization menu to see exactly what you unlocked as the message saying what you have unlocked is nigh unintelligible to read on most TVs. Take it as you will but the eventual level difference can make your gun seem like it is doing barely anything compared to the other guns used by higher levels.
The problem here arises that the way that the gear is unlocked, you will have a tough time starting out due to the basic weaponry provided and practically zero customization. Put this together with the fact that the matchmaking is not very balanced and there is a problem. When a team of five level 30 players faces off a team of four level 5 players then the distinct advantage is with the higher leveled characters.
Since this is the future though, you would expect to see some fancy new technology right? Right, well that is one thing that Blacklight provides. The essential player combat has the feeling of playing in a fully armored soldier such as in Halo. The neat feature here though is that your visor can be used for a number of different things, most impressive of which is the HRV, or the Hyper Reality Visor. The HRV will allow you to see through walls and identify where your allies are and where the enemies are. It will also show where your objective may be if you are playing one of those game types. A balancing issue with the HRV is that your weapon is not useable in this mode; so if an enemy catches you using it the chances of your death are very high.
Your visor is a hindrance as well, in the way that there are two special grenades; essentially they are flashbang and smoke grenades but with different effects which create more of a futuristic feel. The EMP grenade will shut down the visor in a blue screen of death and cause temporary blindness. With the DIGI grenade exploding into a digital disturbance in the air making everything in the area appear in a jumble of pixels. When coupled with the HRV it turns into a deadly weapon to pick enemies off that are confused with the digitized enviroment.
With a minor note there is a single player aspect of the game, but the game recommends that it is played co-operatively. This is more of a forced recommendation than a suggestion though. As the game does not adjust it’s difficulty for a single fighter as you will face wave after wave of enemies and one death meaning the end. Plus the co-op mode is only accessible to your own friends that have the game, there is no co-op lobby to join random games. In this mode we are introduced slightly to the story, that the Black Ops team is attempting to destroy the Order; but overall the story is paper thin.
Overall:
If you are looking for an adequate first person shooter with a few interesting features and a cheap price tag then Blacklight Tango Down is your game. It has it’s flaws and the graphics are not the best you would find in a retail title, but they are some of the best you will find in an XBLA game. Ignition made a great attempt to step into a genre already occupied with stiff competition, and has cut out a little niche for itself.
