A new firmware update has just become available for the Wii users. No extended details have been revealed as to what it actually does except that it will block you Homebrew Channel.
“Because unauthorized channels or firmware may impair game play or the Wii console, updating to Wii Menu version 4.3 will check for and automatically remove such unauthorized files. In addition, there are some behind the scenes enhancements that do not affect any prominently-used features or menus but will improve system performance.”
I don’t know about you but I don’t like this at all. For some reason I feel Nintendo is taking something I have paid for, in a way, and denies my access just because they can’t secure their console well enough? In other words it looks like piracy backfires on us, the common user, and that just isn’t fair!
Well, they were kind of leaked… Bungie has revealed 6 of the achievements and supplied a picture of all the achievement Icons in a recent post on their site.
Above is the picture they supplied, and below is the achievements they have confirmed.
A Monument to All Your Sins – Complete each Campaign Mission on Legendary – alone.
Banshees, Fast and Low – Hijack a Banshee during the Reach Campaign.
Yes, Sensei – Earn a First Strike Medal in a Matchmaking game.
A New Challenger – Complete all of the Daily Challenges in a given day.
Make It Rain – Purchase an item from the Armory that requires the rank of Lt. Colonel.
If They Came to Hear Me Beg – Perform an Assassination against an Elite to survive a fall that would’ve been fatal.
Beating every level on legendary alone is going to be a lot of fun. The firefight achievements are clearly the ones with the green background, and there are also the regular achievements for beating every level.
With Activision’s Call of Duty Black-Ops easily being one of the most anticipated releases this year, we at Capsule Computers figure nothing else could be better than something to hold over those eager gamers than yet another code give-away! So to get in all you need to do is post in a comment below what new features you are most excited about.
To earn an extra entry simply follow Capsule Computers on Twitter and re-tweet this article. Deadline ends this Wednesday, July 13th. Remember, you can comment as many times as you would like, but your first comment will be the only one that counts toward the competition.
This code for is for the Xbox 360 version of Call of Duty Classic. You must be an Xbox Live Silver or Gold member to redeem. Good luck to all of you and we look forward to seeing all of your entries!
Aksys Games has now announced yet another game that will be making the jump out of Japan and straight onto your PSP. “Blazing Souls Accelate” promises to be a epic strategy RPG that will be sure to capture the attention of anyone who enjoys the genre mixed with stunning artwork and music. The story starts years after the Seven Year War took place with now peace sweeping all the land. You take control of an independent contractor named Zero.
One day Zero finds a mysterious stone infused with a powerful magic known as the Core Elemental. The more sites Zero takes jobs at, the more of these mysterious stones seem to appear. On his travels, he starts to encounter the Human Genomes—new creatures created by God to replace mankind.
“One thirsts for power.
One desires only the eradication of mankind.
And one hopes to retrieve what he has lost.
To get what they desire, each one appears before Zero. Through his battles against the Human Genomes, our protagonist begins to learn the truth about the secret of his birth, and before long finds himself at the very place where he was born…
Finally, he will learn the truth of his existence…”
Aksys Game’s are known for quality all the way through, and this title seems no different. Blazing Souls isn’t just a typical run of the mill strategy RPG, as it is shaking up the general concept with all new features that will be sure to get this game on your radar.
The first is the battle map, which is now fused with your adventure map making everything you do in battle effect the terrain you play on, and vice-versa. Another feature is that of choice, allowing you to pick the way you would like to travel throughout the game, whether it be searching for towns and dungeons at the guild, exploring hidden areas, battling enemies you encounter or watch animated events. There are over 200 different items and skills packed into the game, and also an ability to capture monsters and place them within your party.
Adding to the core of any good turn-based strategy RPG is the way the battle works. Listed is the different strategies you can use to defeat you foes.
Actions such as Chain, Charge, Hold, Original Skill, Chain Skill, Special Chain Skill, Break, Break Arts and Overkill are available during the battle!
Position your forces on the battlefield and wait for the right moment to string together massive combo attacks using multiple party members—both in melee and at range!
The word “Choice” is a term that would best describe how this game is looking to play out. You play it the best way you seem fit. With all the new ground-breaking features and magnificent artwork, this will be a title to keep your PSP busy later this year.
Yes here at Capsule Computers were all about giving !! We want to give one you guys a chance to win a retail game.
Whats the catch you say … Well there isn’t one really. All you have to do is leave a comment below and let us know what you believe will be the GAME OF THE YEAR for 2010 !! (also let us know what part of the world you are from)
Make it a good one .. as you only have 1 chance. No multiple entries are allowed. The competition will end at the end of the week (Friday) and one lucky person will win themselves a random retail game on either XBOX, PS3, Wii, or PC.
Also take a look around the site, leave some comments on the articles we post as we’ll also be spot checking and picking winners that might get AMAZON vouchers, STEAM gift cards, iPhone Games and even Xbox Live Aracade titles !!
Also make sure you check us out on Twitter and also FACEBOOK. We are also giving away games on FACEBOOK too !! So tell your friends share the wealth and help us reach gamers from every part of the world !!
VIDEO GAMES ARE OUR PASSION and want to share it with the rest of the world !!
–
Thanks to everyone that entered .. but there can only be one winner and this time it’s !! …. drum roll !!
Kujen that said :
Super Mario Galaxy 2 I think.
Congratulations to Kujen.
We’ll have another competition coming up in the next day or two and its going to be cool 😉 make sure you check back to see what it is. If your a member of Capsule Computers, You’ll be notified before everyone else. So if you haven’t already done so register now.
Take to the skies with Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X 2. Do you have what it takes to evolve ? I know you do, I’ve seen it in your future. You know the future where your a fighter pilot taking down enemy planes and bombing special enemy military locations, then flying home to a hero’s welcome !! YEAH BABY !!
Now click on the play button below, and brace yourself for some aerial warfare, the like of which you have never seen before !!
Now who wants to be a HERO ?? You all can this Fall 2010.
Like nearly all PopCap Games, Plants vs Zombies was an extremely addicting and entertaining game. Released in 2009, the game was the perfect definition of the Tower Defense genre.
Well, if you want more of that addicting formula, just look at the image below:
The artwork is really suspicious, but we will need to wait until August 2, 2010 for this mystery to be revealed!
2k Games announced a special edition for their strategy game Sid Meier’s Civilization V. Check it out:
This special edition has the following items:
5 metal figurines based on units from Civilization V, manufactured by Reaper Miniatures
2-disc CD soundtrack of game score selections
DVD “Behind-the-Scenes at Firaxis on Civilization V”
176-page hardcover art book
Sid Meier’s Civilization V special edition will be available in North America on September 21st for $99.99 and internationally September 24th for £59.99 / €79.99 / AUS$129.
The game will be shipped with Steamworks, including in all PC versions features such as auto-updates, Steam Achievements, downloadable content, multiplayer matchmaking and more. For Steam you have a Digital Deluxe Edition and some pre-order bonus available right here.
Who said that the adventure genre was dead? Well, it’s not! More and more developers are starting to remaster their old titles, porting them to other consoles or updating the graphics (Monkey Island(TM 🙂 ), King’s Quest) or simply making a new game all-together strictly following the classical point-and-click games recipe.
For a huge adventure fan like myself, I must say this is very pleasing. I think that this genre has great potential and has been way overlooked by gamers and developers over the years .
Overview:
Her Interactive is one of those companies who kept the adventure games spirit alive. Their portfolio includes PC and console games like The Hardy Boys, The Cody Papers and of course the entire Nancy Drew Adventure series.
If you’re new to the Nancy Drew games, you might be surprised to find out that Trail of The Twister is the 22nd (twenty-second!) title of the series! The teenage detective has seen a lot of mysteries for her age and she is ready to start working on her latest case!
Nancy is called to join a team of storm chasers who have entered a competition for $100,000,000 to discover a formula to predict tornado touchdowns. She must investigate the source of a series of strange equipment failures and crew member injuries.
Gameplay:
You start off in Nancy’s bedroom where you get a little background info on Nancy who invites you to check out her previous cases in form of a collage of photos and comments. You’ll also find a tutorial available in form of another book called “How to be A detective” showing you what’s available in the game.
I was very happy to find out Nancy has a cell phone! You’ll be able to use that to communicate with different people throughout the game and it will also be very useful as a camera! Also you will have the possibility to use a car to move around town which is a definite plus and also a GPS system will also be available. Unfortunately the latter is pretty annoying to use and what’s more you almost get killed because of it! That’s all I will reveal as I don’t want to spoil the fun!
The game has two difficulty settings: Junior Detective and Senior Detective, the difference between them being the puzzles and also some aiding items like Nancy’s task list in which she writes down all her TO-DOs for that day. She has a Journal to keep track of her progress throughout the game.
As soon as you arrive in town you start meeting the locals, each with different attitudes which will shortly make you think everybody is a suspect, a feeling which will not go away and you will be left guessing until the end of the game, thus no dull moments will occur!
As in all good adventure games you will be everyone’s favourite errand-boy…(err…sorry)…girl. I would even go a little further and say everybody wanted something from me! Where’s the generosity people? I felt exploited and I couldn’t fight back in any way! If you want something in this game you have to work for it, which I guess is OK as nothing is free these days :).
The errands come in form of puzzles which will vary from repairing circuits, TVs and sprinklers to catching mice or photographing clouds. The puzzles are all very logical and keep you hooked, without getting frustrating though! There’s even a small economic system built in the game as for some tasks you will have to buy objects from the store, using the local currency, Pa’s Pennies , Pa being the owner of the store.
There are three ways of getting these Pennies. You can complete main plot quests, search for coins throughout the game as they will be lying around in some places or by playing mini-games. Mini-games are a lot of fun and will be very rewarding!
You will be controlling Nancy from a first-person perspective. You’ll be able to do 360 degrees turns in most of the scenarios and you will navigate throughout the game by point and clicking, which I must say at times can get a little annoying as you have to search for the directional arrows on the screen.
Graphics and sound:
Except for the characters that are pretty dynamic and have great facial expressions, the graphics are pretty primitive; I mean the Nintendo 3DS is coming out, nVidia also launched 3D graphic cards and TVs and Trail of the Twister is stuck on still-scenes and some animation…I guess they could have put more effort into the graphics part.
But what the game lacks in graphics makes up in the sound section. ALL the game has good voice-over which is really helpful and you don’t find in all games plus the soundtrack changes according to the scene and the action.
Feeling:
Trail of the Twister has some elements designed to immerse yourself into the game’s atmosphere. I like that you are told when to- and eventually have to- go to bed, it gives a more real-life feeling to the game and also opportunities like late-night-detective-snooping around the house and early-morning errands show themselves.
You will also notice that a lot of useful educational information can be found throughout the game in the form of puzzles, newspaper articles or and characters’ comments.
Upon finishing the game you will notice that the developers inserted game achievements for you to complete. This is a great thing and also gives the game great replayability potential.
The game is a lot of fun and is accessible for both genre fans and newcomers! Leaving the graphics part aside it can be seen that great attention to detail has been given in the making of this game through clever logical puzzles and great plot turns.
In my opinion the game has everything a good adventure game should and for that I award it 9/10 Capsules!
Story
“Fight the past to save the future. Stop the SINGULARITY.
Learn the truth behind a massive cover-up of the catastrophic SINGULARITY™, an event that fractured time and threatens the world as we know it. Armed with powerful, advanced weaponry and the experimental Time Manipulation Device, fight enemies from the past, the present, and abominations caught somewhere in between.” [Via Xbox.com]
The game takes place on an island by the name of Katorga-12. The Russians have discovered a special element that they call E99. This element has the ability to control time and the Russians have been busy trying to manipulate this element for their own use.
You are an American who has been sent to the island to look into an odd radiation disturbance that a satellite picked up. You thought the island was abandoned, but that turns out untrue. As you explore the island you will stumble upon time rifts, these time rifts let you travel between the 1950s and the present. After changing the past you discover that the present isn’t the same and set out to fix your mistakes through more time traveling and the help of the TMD (Time Manipulation Device).
Singleplayer Gameplay
Singularity starts you off wrecked on an island and trying to meet up with your partner who got separated from you during the crash. At first the island seems deserted but after falling through a giant time explosion and changing the past you start to run into mutated beings. Further investigation of the island reveals that some weird experiments were being done with the E99 that is harvested on the island. Notes and audio logs scattered throughout the game reveal more backstory, but they aren’t required. The audio logs require you to sit by them and listen to them which pretty much halt your gameplay if you want to hear them all.
Singularity is an FPS that lets you manipulate time, it takes a little while before you get the TMD (Time Manipulation Device) but once you get it the game becomes much more interesting. The TMD can do a lot of stuff and isn’t hard to use. With the click of a button you can either age items or renew them. You also have this impulse ability that lets you push enemies away from you, the impulse ability is actually pretty annoying though. The reason Impulse is annoying is because it requires power to use but replaces your melee attack. If you have no power and you have to reload your gun while surrounded by enemies, you become a sitting duck. It would have been nice to have a separate melee button as well as the impulse ability. Other abilities that you can do include pulling things out of phase, picking up items with an antigravity attachment, and creating deadlock spheres. Deadlock spheres slow down everything that enters them. Enemies come to a standstill while bullets slow down. The game uses all these time abilities to create puzzles for you as you progress through the game. The puzzles aren’t difficult at all and with the linear gameplay it isn’t very hard progression through the game.
The game literally makes it impossible to get lost. Even with the linear gameplay, there is a ping ability which shows you where to go. If you manage to get lost, one simple button press will tell you exactly where to go. It is a nice way to help new players but it feels like having someone hold your hand as you play the game. You don’t actually have to use it, but the knowledge of it always being there ruins a bit of the game.
Combat situations in the game are a lot of fun. With the ability to alter time mid combat, multiple tactics will arise. You could freeze all of the opponents in a deadlock and then put bullets in front of them so that when the deadlock shuts down the bullets kill everyone. You could use a sniper rifle and slow down time with the sniper rifle’s slow down ability. Sniping in Singularity is extremely satisfying; with the ability to slow down time you can shoot 5 guys in the head within seconds. Even terrible snipers will enjoy sniping in Singularity. Gibbing lets you shoot off arms, legs or even heads leaving a bloody fountain and a puddle of blood on the floor.
There is a slight RPG element present in the game as well. Throughout the levels you will find new abilities which you can then buy using E99 tech. You won’t run into enough tech to upgrade everything, so you must pick what to upgrade as you progress through the game. You can also upgrade guns by using weapon tech at a weapons locker. The same applies to guns, because it isn’t possible to upgrade every single one. You have to choose to either make your favorite gun really powerful, or make a few simply stronger. Weapon lockers are located throughout the game and they allow you to switch out weapons and upgrade them. Since you can only carry 2 weapons at a time it helps to strategize what weapons you are going to need to take out the following enemies. While every enemy is weak against certain weapons it isn’t that noticeable and they can all be taken out pretty easily with the shotgun or minigun. Throughout the levels you will collect ammo for all the guns, if you run out of ammo for your primary gun you can always switch it out for another until you restock its ammo.
Multiplayer Gameplay
Unlike most games, Singularities multiplayer is definitely not an afterthought. Sadly it still falls short of being incredible. I admit that it is fun, but the connection issues and the balancing problems are horrible and take away a huge chunk of the fun.
I should probably rephrase the balancing bit, but I couldn’t think of a better way to put it. When I say balancing I don’t mean the things you can use or people you can play as are overpowered, they are actually quite well rounded and each has a specific use. The characters all cater to a different play style and you can switch out at anytime without having to upgrade anything. When I say balancing, I mean the games themselves. When you are losing there is no possible way to come back. This is particularly noticeable in extermination. One team will be dominating while the other is giving up all hope. Every game is like that. I have played it a lot and you either win greatly, or lose horribly.
Multiplayer gameplay consists of soldiers and creatures. Each side has 4 character types. The character you pick is based on the ability you want. As a human you then pick your weapon and a perk. As a creature you don’t pick a weapon but rather another perk that changes the creatures play style a bit. Every character has a specific way to use them with different tactics and not everyone will be good with all the characters.
On the human side the four character types are Blitzer, Lurker, Bruiser, and Healer. Humans play in a first person point of view. The Blitzer has the ability to teleport, which makes for quick escapes and gives you the ability to teleport through solid objects and walls. The Lurker’s ability is a shield that reflects damage back on the person attacking you. Bruisers have an impulse ability that lets you push enemies back while causing damage. Healers have the ability to heal themselves and other players. Healers are a pretty self explanatory support class.
On the creature side there are Zeks, Reverts, Phase Ticks, and Radions. Creatures play in a third person point of view. The creatures’ abilities are much more varied and not always immediately clear as to how helpful they are. Zeks have the ability to become translucent and invincible for short periods of time. They can also produce explosive barrels and throw them. Zeks are very good attackers and good for the first line of attack. Reverts can set proximity mines and puke on people, which blinds, slows down, and hurts the enemy. Reverts are a good support class and are difficult to directly attack people with because of how slow they are. Phase Ticks have the ability to climb on everything and take over an enemy’s body. These guys have very weak attacks and absolutely no defense, but when they take over an enemy they are able to control that player’s character and use his abilities. The Radion is the last creature class and these guys are pretty much giant tanks. They have strong attacks and high defense. They aren’t the most agile, but they do a very good job at stopping enemy progression for a while.
There are two gametypes for multiplayer: Creatures Vs. Soldiers and Extermination Mode. Creatures Vs. Soldiers is simply team deathmatch with creatures going against soldiers. After every round the teams switch sides. In extermination mode, the soldiers are tasked with activating a beacon and protecting it until it goes off, while the creatures have to keep that beacon from being activated and destroy it before it goes off. Extermination games take a while because once you activate one beacon and beat an area it will open up a new area. Each level has 3 areas that require beacon activation. Once the round is up, teams switch sides and the team with the fastest time or most beacons activated wins.
Audio & Graphics
The audio is paced perfectly with the game, certain moments require you to get moving and pick up the pace. The music will speed up to signify this, and helps you move faster. There is also a creepy elements and the music backs these moments up perfectly. The audio was used very well and it highlights moments in the game superbly.
The graphics are also well done and quite crisp. There are a few parts of the game where the textures weren’t there and it seemed dull and flat. I am assuming this was my Xbox being lazy about loading the textures, but I am not sure and it could possibly be lacking them in those parts of the game. The surroundings also change when you change the past. At first it you may not notice it, but it becomes pretty clear around certain major alterations in the time line.
Achievements
The achievements in singularity are very nice. They push the player to become well rounded and use everything at least for a little while. None of them are that difficult and a majority of them just require you to keep an eye out for possible opportunities to do the achievements at. The achievements are distributed between the singleplayer campaign and the multiplayer. The singleplayer achievements are straight forward and require you to either do everything available to you or progress through the story. The collecting achievements are very nice because there are many more than just the amount you are told to find. Since there are more objects than the amount you need you can play the game regularly without being too distracted looking for stuff, just keep an eye out and you will run into most of them as you play. The multiplayer achievements are also not that difficult. The hardest part is finding games and keeping them running. The next task is to become well rounded with all the characters you can play as because you will need to use each one for their specific achievements. The achievements that require a certain amount of games will take the longest, particularly since most games last 20-30 minutes. Luckily the developers have supplied an area in the main menu that lets you keep track of all the cumulative achievements. This feature lets you know how much longer you have to do a certain task before you complete it.
Overview
Singularity has an amazing story and the time control aspects are superb. Many of the puzzles are too easy though and don’t require much thinking, but there are a few that may get you thinking for a little while. The TMD has multiple uses and an easy button layout lets you manipulate time without much hassle. Sadly the game is a tad short and there isn’t much to compel the player into playing the story again since the multiple endings are only affected by the choice at the very end and you can just reload that checkpoint after each ending. There is a multiplayer, but connection issues make getting games difficult and the community is also not that large. Overall Singularity is a very good game and is a lot of fun the first time through it.
I give Singularity
Pros
Amazing Story
Sweet time travel elements
Additional Multiplayer
Cons
Short
Not Much Replay Value
Multiplayer connection issues and small community.
