Eden Studios’ racing sequel which is set on and around the island of Ibiza has been currently set for a September 24th 2010 release date. This means that fast cars and hot babes aren’t too far away.
This truly is a good year for racing fans, with so many awesome racing games that have been released. Now this one. Anyone buying it?
On a another note having to do with release dates:
Naruto Ultimate Storm 2 and Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom are slated for autumn and winter respectively. Inversion and Knights Contract following up with a 2011 release for both.
The Halo: Reach Legendary Edition includes the following:
* Game disc housed in recovered ONI ”black box”
* An exclusive Elite armor set for use in multiplayer modes
* Artifact bag containing Dr. Halsey’s personal journal and other classified documents and effects that unravel long held secrets from the “Halo” universe
* Halo: Reach game software and manual
* Noble Team statue expertly crafted by the artisans at McFarlane Toys. Individually molded, hand-painted and individually numbered, this statue is a must-have for any serious “Halo” fan
* UNSC-themed custom packaging
* An exclusive multiplayer Spartan armor effect
“Halo: Reach,” developed exclusively for Xbox 360 by acclaimed developer Bungie, is the blockbuster prequel to the best-selling Xbox franchise of all time. It represents the culmination of Bungie’s 10 years of experience crafting groundbreaking “Halo” games that have raised expectations for what can be achieved in a video game.
In “Halo: Reach,” players experience the fateful moments that forged the “Halo” legend. It’s the story of Noble Team, a squad of heroic Spartan soldiers, and their final stand on planet Reach, humanity’s last line of defense between the terrifying Covenant and Earth. This darker story is echoed by grittier visuals amid a backdrop of massive, awe-inspiring environments. Characters, enemies and environments are rendered in amazing detail by an all-new engine designed to deliver epic-scale encounters against the cunning and ruthless Covenant.
Once the campaign is over, the battle continues online with an unparalleled multiplayer experience that expands on the award-winning suite of features that helped define the Xbox LIVE experience.
Features:
* Meet Noble Team. For the first time, players will fight alongside a squad of iconic Spartan soldiers, each with deadly talents as unique as their individual personalities and customized gear.
* An intense campaign. Live the events that set the stage for the “Halo” trilogy as the UNSC and Covenant clash at the height of their military power. New weapons and abilities complement the familiar “Halo” arsenal for the largest-scale battles ever witnessed in the “Halo” universe. Fiercely cunning artificial intelligence (AI) adds depth and complexity to each encounter, helping make every play-through a unique and epic experience.
* Stunning technical advancements. “Halo: Reach” takes a massive leap forward through all-new engine technology designed to take full advantage of next-generation graphics, audio, special effects, AI and animation while continuing to expand on the campaign, cooperative and multiplayer sandbox in a way that only “Halo” can.
* The definitive multiplayer experience. “Halo: Reach” builds on the success of its predecessors, setting a new standard for competitive gameplay, customization, variety and community integration.
* Unparalleled feature suite. “Halo: Reach” expands on the industry-leading suite of features found in “Halo 3,” including four-player cooperative campaign play, split-screen support, saved films & screen-shots.
THQ’s VP of core games Danny Bilson has stated that the launch of Red Faction: Armageddon will be preceded by an Xbox Live Arcade title. He states the the title will help build “buzz” for the upcoming retail title and increase sales.
Bilson further stats that XBLA and PSN games like these are “revenue generators and marketing tools,” Bilson continued by saying that the arcade game will ship three or four months before the release of Red Faction: Armageddon. This will allow plenty of time to generate hype towards the main game. He continues with, “What’s interesting is that we will sell it to the fans, it will have content you can download that is TV show-related, it will build up to the new game and also we can use it to drive pre-orders, too; we can give codes and aspects of it, we can give the whole thing away.”
THQ is strongly affirmed to this type of selling point and Bilson states that “You’ll see it on Red Faction, you’ll see it on Saints Row and a couple of others,” adding “Not only that, we have a comic book coming on it as well. And in December we’ll announce the Saints Row situation, which is the biggest trans-media play anyone has ever done.”
If you are still confused, this means we will get more Red Faction action in a small arcade game form. Many people are hoping for a port of the first Red Faction game that came out on the PS2, but i doubt this will happen. Using an FPS to hype a TPS won’t work out too well.
So you want to pre-order Namco Bandai’s action packed Enslaved when it comes out October 12th? Well it is always good to know which retailer is offering something that will fit your fancy as the days grow closer and the money starts to burn a hole in your pocket.
First off we have Amazon offering the OST (Original Sound Track) of Enslaved with any pre-order purchase. This will include songs by Nitin Sawhney who created the game’s captivating background music. Plus if you are to pre-order from Target you will be on the reciving end of a 40 page comic book created by Marvel Comics. This comic book will focus on the origins of Monkey and Trip that you will be unable to see anywhere in the game itself.
Though what if you want to receive some in-game rewards instead of physical ones? In this case you have the oppurtunity to pre-order from a few retailers and receive some special outfits for Monkey and Trip. If you happen to pre-order from EB Games Canada or from Gamestop you will be getting the Ninja Monkey outfit which will provide stun and plasma blast staff ammo in an unlimited supply.
Though if you were to pre-order from Walmart, you would instead receive the Classic Monkey outfit. This outfit will be providing double melee damage as well as pay homage to the game’s basis Journey to the West.
Though if you would rather change Trip’s outfit instead of Monkey’s, then you would be more willing to take your money to Best Buy; as they are providing an outfit called the Sexy Robot Trip, which combines Trips technological abilities and her feminine wiles; while also improving the stun ability of her and Monkey together.
As one may expect these various bonuses will provide a nice boost to Monkey and Trip as they attempt to survive in post-apocalyptic America. Especially considering that Trip has enslaved Monkey to her, meaning that if she is to die, he will die. Now forced to work with Trip, Monkey must try to survive the grueling landscape under constant threat of death and the knowledge that he is under Trip’s every command. Not too sure about the rest of you, but Trip’s outfit may be the most beneficial as the stunning element should greatly assist in survival, though unlimited ammo from the Ninja Monkey outfit would also be nice. Which would you prefer?
Yesterday, Australian distributor HES announced the development and release of a new rugby league title through their Tru Blu publishing arm – and unlike the recent Rugby League 3 game that was only released on Nintendo Wii, Rugby League Live will be coming out on PS3 and Xbox 360!
“Rugby League Live brings all the hard hitting action and excitement of the greatest game of all to your lounge room”, said David Robles, Business Development Manager for HES. “The demand for a Rugby League game on Playstation®3 and Xbox 360® has been staggering. We have listened to our fans and we are delighted to make this announcement”, said Robles.
Sidhe, the developer of the previous Rugby League, Rugby League 2, Rugby League WCE and Rugby League 3 will play no part in the development of the game and the reins have been handed over to Big Ant Studios. Sidhe have confirmed that they have made several assets available to Big Ant (such as Andrew Voss’ commentary) but it is unclear to what degree they will be reused, and the game will run on a different engine.
The development of this title follows on from the relatively poor reception given to the Wii game, and it looks like Rugby League Live will address some of the big complaints that gamers had. As the title suggests, Rugby League Live will feature head-to-head and co-operative online play for the first time ever in a rugby league game. Other next-gen console features such as ground and jersey degradation will also be included. Modes that appeared in the previous Sidhe-developed titles will return.
Rugby League Live is scheduled for release on September 2nd 2010 – just in time for the finals!
To see more screenshots of the game as it undergoes development, check out the Tru Blu website.
Game : Mystery P.I. : The Lottery Ticket
Publisher : POPCAP GAMES
Developer : POPCAP GAME
Genre : Puzzle / Hidden Object Game
Format : PC
Buy Now : Online POPCAP Store
Who doesn’t dream of winning the lottery – with the possible exception of past mega jackpot winners of course! That said, even Donald Trump himself might be swayed by the 488 million dollars of virtual prize money at stake in the latest Mystery P.I game from puzzle specialists PopCap, Mystery P.I: The Lottery Ticket.
At the start of this installment we discover that ol’ grandma Rose has correctly picked the lucky numbers needed to snag a frankly staggering 488 million dollar prize in a lottery draw. All well and good, fantastic in fact until the forgetful senior realises that she has unwittingly lost her ticket. Talk about some serious bad luck! Only grandma Rose will know the sweet pleasure and pain of what must have gone from the elation of this life changing, potential best day ever to the deepest despair in a heartbeat as the reality of her faux pas sets in! Although such a loss is enough to test even the most grounded of people thankfully grandma didn’t lose her faculties along with the winning slip and hires a private investigator to find the lost ticket before time runs out. And here’s where the player steps in, asking for little more than thanks in return for your professional help… okay who am I kidding – your fee for this job, only 20 million dollars! As what must be the most expensive private investigator in history you have just 12 hours to find the missing ticket. Did I mention your reward for doing so is a whopping 20 million dollars? Better get cracking then…
Put simply, the objective of Mystery P.I: The Lottery Ticket is to locate hidden items dispersed throughout the city to progress to each new level. At the end of each level you are also required to seek out the hidden jigsaw pieces, of which there are 20. In doing so you will complete the puzzle to unlock the bonus stage which in turn unlocks the final level where the missing lottery ticket can be found, aka pay dirt!
Mystery P.I goes easy on you at first by giving players a fairly short list of items to find within different locations within the city. The earlier stages each require you to find around 20 different objects per level to progress onwards. This increases to around 80 plus on later stages. Despite the relatively high number of objects to locate down the stretch the game never gets boring and instead compels you to keep hunting as the timer steadily counts down to the twelfth hour. Even at it’s most challenging, this addictive little scavenger hunt never devolves into a needle in the haystack affair and rewards players for quick thinking and accuracy by giving extra points if you find the items quickly.
PopCap certainly aims to challenge even the most seasoned of gamers and puzzle game veterans. Players may initially find success by scanning locations for collectable objects by their individual colours but time is quickly called on that tactic and, as is to be expected from any good puzzler, as the game progresses so do the complexity of the levels. For example, some areas later in the game are based underwater which not only provides objects with a unique new perspective but, as with the lounge levels, means that objects are incredibly well disguised with many being of a similar hue to the background scenery and very difficult to spot at first glance. Furthermore, as players progress more and more random objects appear making it even more of a challenge to find the ones needed. There are hints available to players at any time although these come at a price with 7500 points being deducted for each one used. That said the actual learning curve isn’t too steep and the game does a great job of easing the player in to the action and remains fun throughout it’s 20 levels.
After finding the required amount of items needed to progress to each new level you will be presented with a mini-game in the form of a memory test. This can get a little repetitive but each memory game smartly requires a you to not only group objects that match by colour but also by use. For example, a tennis ball and a tennis racket or a horse and a horse shoe. After finishing each memory based mini-game you will be given a piece of a jigsaw puzzle. PopCap have also included additional mini-games within each of the city’s different locations giving players the option of finding up to 20 cleverly hidden keys which can be used to unlock bonus game modes such as Unlimited Seek and Find. In Unlimited Seek and Find players have no less than 2000 hidden items to find within each of the locations that appear on the game map (including bonus areas) increasing the longevity of the game considerably.
Its fairly commonplace for hidden object games to re-use locations and true to form Mystery P.I: The Lottery Ticket does exactly this. However, I actually found this helpful from time to time as revisiting certain areas enabled me to find keys that I missed upon my first visit. Mystery P.I certainly gets a thumbs up for it’s clever re-use of existing locations in this manner and as repeat play reveals you never seem to find the same item in the same location more then once or twice. This not only introduces a random element into the game but also requires that players continue to rely on skill and not memory, something which has marred other hidden object games in the past.
Occasionally the game can get a little testing when it comes to finding certain smaller objects especially as there is a tendency for them not always register on your first mouse click, particularly if they are surrounded by other items. Sometimes it can take several attempts to collect an object with each previous click costing you the valuable points needed to amass a high score or purchase clues. PopCap have come up with some pretty ingenious items for you to find over the course of the game and have really gone out of their way to try and fool players and keep them guessing throughout. During one of the levels for example you have to find five spots which I incorrectly assumed would be five different spots… In another location you are required to find two bats, turns out only one is a mammal! Mystery P.I definitely encourages out of the box thinking with some fairly wild resolutions.
Overall The Lottery Ticket is a highly enjoyable entry into the Mystery P.I series. The locations are varied and visually great and there are even some catchy tunes that help immerse you in the action without being overtly cheesy or becoming grating, surely a rarity amongst puzzlers! Whilst personally I felt the game could have benefited from a few additional levels this is predominantly because I was enjoying the experience and was sad to see it over so soon. Although the object placement appears random in the main game the replay value after the ticket is found really hinges on whether the player has been able to find all twenty hidden keys to unlock the bonus Unlimited Seek and Find game mode and most importantly whether the player is having fun. With unexpected twists and turns, an engaging storyline which keeps you guessing and fun and quirky mini-games, Mystery P.I: The Lottery Ticket proves to be great fun and a solid addition to the series from PopCap. I’d certainly encourage puzzle fans to give it a spin to see if poor ol’ grandma Rose ever becomes filthy rich ol’ grandma Rose! Hopefully the 20 million dollar reward for finding the missing lottery ticket won’t see this particular Private Investigator go into premature retirement…
Story
“Duke Nukem is back in Duke Nukem Manhattan Project™! New York City is being overrun by a mutant menace and it’s time to de-worm the Big Apple. This explosive 3-D action game features the politically incorrect action hero defending the city that never sleeps, and its babes, from the evil Mech Morphix across 24 levels from Chinatown to Space. A super-sized collection of weapons, enemies and bosses await. As Duke would say, “Babes, bullets, bombs. Man, I love this job!”” [Via Xbox.com]
Take control of Duke Nukem as you fight against Mech Morphix and his evil mutated forces. Mech Morphix is placing GLOPP bombs throughout New York city on scantily dressed girls. It is your job to save the girls and in turn save the world from Mech Morphix. The game does indeed take place in New York city, even it isn’t noticeable due to a lack of any noticeable landmarks.
Gameplay
The side scrolling gameplay for this game is quite fun. There are multiple dimensions in each level and by pressing up you can either go deeper into the levels background or closer to the camera at certain locations. While this mechanic is pretty good at creating much bigger and more complicated levels, it tends to make the player lost and confused. I found myself lost a few times in some levels, just to find out there is one location in the background that I could go into.
A majority of the game is focused on shooting and jumping through the levels. It would’ve been nice if there was more focus put onto these roles, since such a large majority of the game has to do with it. Sadly double jumping is awkward and annoying at times, and many of the guns are hard to aim. You can either shoot forward, or up. Pipe Bombs are even more annoying to use since they have a certain range and they are hard to aim. The game still succeeds successfully in both fields and you get used to the style pretty quickly.
Every level contains a multitude of secret areas as well as collectable “Nukes”. By collecting all 10 within a level you gain a stat increase that will help you later in the game. The stat increase sadly isn’t that noticeable. The “Nukes” do provide something to collect for those people that enjoy collecting things. As for the achievement, you only need to collect half of them and on most levels you will easily get 5 of the 10 without even trying.
There are 8 levels in total, and each level consists of 3 zones. In order to progress through each zone you have to find the key card and rescue the babe. This progress gets repetitive after a while, but by the time it gets really annoying the game comes to a close. At the end of each level you have to fight a boss. These bosses aren’t challenging and only require you to pump them full bullets. The last boss is pretty epic though, and kind of challenging but I’ll let you see his awesomeness for yourself.
Audio & Graphics
Classic Duke Nukem music is back to tantalize the player’s ears. There are also regular comments made by Duke Nukem as you play through the levels. Each level has a specific music track and some even have unique ‘Duke’ sayings specifically for that level. The music is only audible if you are actually trying to listen for it, at all other times you just hears Duke Nukem jumping around, shooting, and spitting out one liners.
Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project is a 2D sidescroller with 3D models. The game is actually really dark, and I suggest increasing the brightness to the max. With it at a normal darkness it is almost impossible to even see anything. The most memorable graphical thing in the game are the explosions, but it is Duke Nukem after all.
Achievements
The achievements in Duke Nukem are easy. There is nothing more to say about it. You will get pretty much all the achievements just by beating the game on easy. You have to pick up nukes and squish a few enemies that you demutate, but overall you can get every achievement in one playthrough on easy. The hardest achievement is literally beating the first level in less than 3 minutes, and even that one only takes a few attempts to memorize exactly where everything is. Some people may like these easy achievements because they either want an easy 200g or they have OCD and like a game that they can complete. Other people won’t like these easy achievements because there is literally nothing to go back to after you beat the game.
The Achievement List is:
Deworming the Big Apple– 20 – Finish ‘Rooftop Rebellion’
Max Pain on the A-Train– 20 – Finish ‘Metro Mayhem’
I Love the Smell of Sewer Scum – 20 – Finish ‘Unholy Underworld’
Worker Safety, Last – 20 – Finish ‘Fearsome Factory’
This Ain’t the Love Boat– 20 – Finish ‘Tanker Trouble’
Going Down Faster Than Enron– 20 – Finish ‘Deviant Drilling’
Space, the Final Frontier– 20 – Finish ‘Orbital Oblivion’
My Boots Are Made For Stompin’– 10 – Stomp on 20 enemies.
Pig Out – 10 – Kill 75 enemies.
Glow Like Dr. Manhattan – 10 – Collect 120 Nuke symbols.
New York Minute– 10 – Finish the first level in under 3 minutes.
There are also two Avatar Awards in Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project. See the video below for what they look like.
Jetpack :: Complete the game.
Male/Female T-Shirt :: Save one Babe.
Overview
Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project is a sweet and fun game featuring the ultimate antihero, Duke Nukem. This game is an awesome Action Sidescroller. Duke’s one liners are funny and witty but tend to get annoying and not everyone will like them. Some camera angles are kind of awkward and the multi dimensional levels can make you lost at times, but the game is still a fun experience. For only 800MSP, Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project is a fun package that also has avatar awards. Some people may not like the sidescrolling Duke Nukem, but download the trial and give it a try.
I give Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project
Pros
Save the New York as Duke Nukem and hear his witty Remarks.
Leaderboards
Perfect Length
Cons
Awkward camera angles.
Once you beat it there isn’t much reason to continue playing.
Hard to tell where to go sometimes
Optional
Easy Achievements could be a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it.
We have new details about Namco-Bandai’s future action-adventure title, Knights Contract.
This time it’s a cinematic trailer depicting what appears to be a woman being chased by some human-looking atrocities. She is saved at the last moment by a warrior wielding a sword-like weapon.
The game will come out sometime in 2011 and will be available for the X-Box 360 and the PS3.
New game info has been released for the upcoming title in the NFS series!
It seems that as a driver we will make use of the, now common, Nitrous Boost which will be upgradable to Overdrive. We will also have a cloaking device and a decoy.
Police will use road blocks and spike strips, they will also be able to call air support (which in turn will have the ability to deploy spike strips) and use an Electro-Magnetic Pulse Device (EMP) which will reverse the drivers’ controlls.
The game, which is being developed by Criterion Games and published by EA, is set to be released on November 16th and will be available for the PC, X-Box, PS3 and Wii.
