Ladies and Gentlemen, PopCap Games, announced today plans to release Plants vs. Zombies for Xbox LIVE Arcade (XBLA) this fall. With an anticipated launch in early September, Plants vs. Zombies on XBLA will deliver more game content than any previous iteration of the franchise, boasting seven game modes, including two all-new multiplayer modes, 12 unique achievements and 21 mini-games. Upon its release, Plants vs. Zombies for XBLA will be available for 1200 Microsoft Points (US$15.00).
“With a ton of new features and content exclusive to the XBLA version, we’ve pulled out all the stops to both expand and optimize this adaptation for a hard core gaming audience,” said Ed Allard, head of worldwide studios at PopCap. “The two new multiplayer modes allow gamers to work cooperatively to defeat hordes of invading zombies, or go head-to-head in a true ‘plants vs. zombies’ challenge. We’re also featuring a customized ‘house’ for tracking and sharing progress as well as a total of 21 mini-games and 12 achievements, all designed to enthrall Plants vs. Zombies players once again.”
Plants vs. Zombies for XBLA showcases many standout features, including:
A total of seven game modes, including two new multiplayer modes: Co-Op and Vs. Mode
12 achievements and 21 mini-games – more than any other adaptation, and including the exclusive Heavy Weapon™-inspired mini-game
A goofy new way to track and share progress online, where players create their own custom house and cruise down the street to see their friends’ cribs!
The highest resolution of any Plants vs. Zombies adaptation to date at 1920 x 1080
All 50 levels of the original Adventure mode along with Puzzle, Survival, and Zen Garden
Later this year, PopCap will also release a retail boxed edition of Plants vs. Zombies (including full versions of Zuma and Peggle as well) for the Xbox 360 as well as a new “Game of The Year” boxed edition of the PC/Mac original, a limited number of which will include a zombie figurine. Both are expected to arrive on retail shelves later this fall and carry a suggested retail price of US$19.99 each.
Now make sure you get your gardening gloves ready as those zombies are VERY HUNGRY !! …. BRAINS !!
The Legends and Killers Pack for Red Dead Redemption – coming next month simultaneously for PlayStation Network (AUD$15.95) and Xbox LIVE (800 Microsoft Points) – features 9 new Multiplayer map locations and 8 new Multiplayer characters from Red Dead Revolver, along with the new Tomahawk projectile weapon and more.
Here are the very first screens from the Legends and Killers Pack. You can also check them out in HD at the new DLC section of the Red Dead Redemption website, which also includes information about all the upcoming Red Dead Redemption downloadable content.
Back in 1999, Pokemon was on top of the world. The craze was in full swing and gamers were also being introduced to all sorts of new titles and franchises, on being Monster Rancher or “Monster Farm” as it’s called in Japan. Many people try to compare Monster Hunter to Pokemon, which you can indeed see the similarities, but they both play completely different as Monster Hunter was mainly focused on breeding, battling and discovery.
After a long hiatus from the gaming scene, Monster Rancher is finally back with the new Monster Rancher DS!
New Features are set to include:
Generate Your Own Monster – Draw a picture into the “Magic Field” or speak into the microphone in “Incantation Mode” to generate a unique monster! Unlock a secret method of creating monsters as you play through the game! You can even combine your favorite monsters to create a new, more powerful monster!
Train To Become Legendary – Find the best strategy to raise your monster on a weekly basis by giving proper rest and training. Battle tournaments will test how good you are!
Bring Out The Rivalry – Check out the improved training and management features of monster breeding as well as the ability to fight rival breeders in the game!
Battle Rounds – Using a new battleground system, choose attack techniques that are “short”, “medium” or “long” range, allowing for a variety of strategies. Stay out of your opponent’s range or trick them into pulling back so they trap themselves makes each battle unique!
Nostalgia Fan Service – Favorites such as Monolith, Gali, Moochi and Suezo rejoin the cast of monsters in what can be called a Monster Rancher series compilation!
Monster Rancher DS is a pure fan service for long time followers. I still remember the excitement of looking for random CD’s and using them for “Monster Rancher 2” to see which new monster I would get.
With the Monster Generator taking full advantage of the Nintendo DS’s features, this game is shaping up to be a big release for the handheld this year. For those who are fans of or looking for an alternative to Pokemon, this title would be the choice to check out.
Monster Rancher DS releases on August 3rd for the Nintendo DS. Check out the trailer below or visit the official page at UFO Interactive’s website here.
Have you ever looked at a preview, only to get the feeling of deja vu while looking at some of the screenshots? Perhaps you once bought a new game and found that when you started it up, the main character looked identical to ‘that’ person on the television last night? No doubt some gaming characters are based on real people, how else would developers get them to look so realistic, but to completely copy a person’s image, that’s just lazy! Which is why I am here; to expose these copy-cats.
I am of course joking, and the majority of these feelings of deja vu will be completely coincidental. Some of the look-alikes are amusing, and some are just down-right strange. Many figures in games are actually supposed to look like the real thing. You only have to glance over to the nearest sports game to tell that the character models are based on real people, as the developers want to make a picture-perfect copy of the person in real life. However, I hope to outline the gaming protagonists which the developers subtly based on famous figures, and thought no one would notice, as well as the highly entertaining coincidental similarities. Here they are:
Owen WilsonKen Masters (Street Fighter)
Retro fighting legend and Hollywood’s Owen Wilson share some similar physical attributes. The shaggy blond locks, the strong jaw… Wilson’s off-kilter nose even suggests he could have been involved in a few brawls, fitting the street fighter persona perfectly.
Dick Dastardly Waluigi
Cartoon villian Dick Dastardly from Wacky Races and Waluigi both look suitibly evil and alike. The clincher is how they both menacingly stroke their absurd moustaches.
Penelope Pitstop Princess Peach
Another gaming look-alike from the Wacky Races cartoon, this time it is the similarity between Princess Peach and Penelope Pitstop. Physically, they actually aren’t totally alike, although they do both wear a lot of pink and have long blond hair, but I felt I had to include them just for their likeness in nature. Both ladies are usually very prissy and girly, and are constantly requiring saving from their respective “good guys”.
The Chuckle Brothers Mario and Luigi
The resemblence between these sets of brothers really is uncanny. The characters Paul and Barry Chuckle from children’s TV show ‘ChuckleVision’ look like real life iterations of these two gaming icons.
Moby Captain Olimar
The techno-ambient musician is a huge fan of Pikmin, that his 2002 album ’18’ features him in full Olimar costume on the cover.
Kryten Dr Kawashima
It is the angular heads built up of flat surfaces that make these two gaming look-alikes. I honestly think that you got out a black marker pen and coloured in the top Kryten’s head (from Cult-TV programme Red Dwarf), as well as drawing in two circles for the glasses, then he would be inseperable from the floating brain training guru.
Uma Thurman Lightning (Final Fantasy XIII)
Perhaps it’s the fact that they are both wielding swords that we can draw likenesses, but I also feel that facially, they look very similar. This is aided by the fact that Final Fantasy XIII is very impressive graphically.
Dave Grohl Ethan Thomas
When I first saw the artwork for Condemned 2, I instantly thought Foo Fighter, Dave Grohl, might be branching out into the gaming industry, or at least doing some modelling for games. The long dark hair, the beard, the facial positions when screaming and yelling… This pair definitely are look-alikes.
So that’s it, these are the gaming look-alikes I’ve noticed and could think of. I’d love for you all to comment, maybe telling me which ones you liked, which ones you perhaps didn’t like so much. Or maybe you’ve noticed some gaming look-alikes yourself that haven’t been featured here. We’d be happy to hear all your suggestions and the similarities you have seen while you have been gaming, and, if we decide to do a second edition of ‘Gaming Look-alikes’ and we like your suggestion, we’ll include it!
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Now lets keep the ball rolling for a chance to win a retail game and other cool stuff we have lying around the office .. Who do else do you thinks looks like a video game character ? Leave a comment below maybe links to images pics etc and tell us where your from. We’ll pick a lucky winner at the end of the week.
Enter as many time as you like the more look alikes we can find the better 🙂 We’ll throw up a follow up article after this competition ends.
Get cracking 🙂
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Oh we had some FANTASTIC entries !! but there can only be 1 winner .. and here it is below :
Congratulations to :
Kisuke Urahara says:
Here’s a third one from me. btw,I live in California, USA
Mattias Nilsson(Mercenaries 1 & 2:
almost exactly like
Techno Viking!:
Congratulations to Kisuke for winning the Gaming look alike competition.. We’ll have another gaming look alike article and competition coming up VERY soon for now keep on checking the site daily for the latest news, reviews, interviews and competitions in the world of gaming 🙂
You may have noticed that Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light has a release date of August 18th for the Xbox 360, but what we just found out is that Microsoft has paid the developers of the game to hold it exclusively on the console for four weeks. This means that the PS3 and PC will not be seeing the newest iteration of the Tomb Raider Series at least until mid September.
The reason for this is that Microsoft apparently desires to have exclusive rights to the game for it to be successful for the Summer of Arcade event that is going to be happening in the upcoming weeks. Might be a good move on Microsoft’s part with how far they are pushing the Summer of Arcade promotion.
Kart Stewart, the brand manager for Lara Croft was quoted saying:
“The agreement with Microsoft is, in order to participate in their hugely successful Summer of Arcade promotion, there is a window of exclusivity. That window of exclusivity is a set four weeks. As with all arcade titles, irrespective of platform, you have to go through your submissions before they agree and approve a date. Unlike a disc-based title where we can pick our window, you have to go by what the first parties approve and give you a date, to make sure you’re not coming out on the same day as five other titles. They like to manage the release window accordingly. We have requested a specific date and hopefully we’ll get that and it’s not too long after the 360 SKU.”
Through 1980-1999, adventure games were probably the most appreciated in the gaming industry, all of them bringing something unique in terms of storytelling. Sierra was one of the biggest players in this genre, releasing hit games such as Space Quest, Leisure Suite Larry, Police Quest, Gabriel Knight, Quest for Glory and, of course, the beloved King’s Quest.
The King’s Quest series dates back from the 1980s all the way through 1998, with it’s last official installment, Mask of Eternity. After that, no other plans have been made for a new King’s Quest game. The fans couldn’t let the series die, so Phoenix Online Studios, a fan-based company, decided to create a game inspired from Sierra’s King’s Quest.
The Silver Lining is a five-episode adventure, the first one ambiguously named What is Decreed Must Be. I have to note that The Silver Lining has been a little over-hyped for a free fan-made game, and that isn’t a good thing at all. First it was announced around 2002, then a demo came out in 2005, promising the full release soon…and after 5 years it has arrived. After so much time spent developing the game, the fans were probably expecting something very special. So let’s see how this worked out…
The storyopens with a cut scene depicting Rosella’s wedding with Edgar. All seems to be well, but suddenly a strange hooded figure pops out of nowhere, sending Rosella and her brother, Alexander, into a deep sleep. Then, the hooded man takes his leave in a puff of smoke, leaving behind his cloak…(guess the spell didn’t work out as he had planned). After that, Graham of Daventry (Rosella’s and Alexander’s father) sets out on a quest to find a cure for his children, and to discover the stranger’s identity.
First of all,the gameplay. I’ll just be straight: there isn’t any. Throughout the whole episode, you control Graham for about 20 minutes (if you inspect everything and look everywhere), then have to watch about 30 minutes of cut-scenes, which could have been playable with a little effort. If going on a speed-run, you can finish this in 10 minutes, skipping the cut-scenes. And I understand this is a fan-based effort but “the puzzles” could have involved a little bit more than picking up some items and giving them to other characters.
You control Graham using the classic point and click style and change the action which you want to perform using the right mouse button. The main character’s movement seems a little bit slow and sluggish, and the load times are pretty long when entering a new screen.
The graphics are just right for this type of game, although the animations are a little silly sometimes and Graham seems to walk like he’s a robot. But taking into consideration the fact that it is made by a band of fans, it is a good effort.
In terms of audio, the voice acting can be great for some characters (Graham, Hassan, woman narrator), but for others, it would have been better if there was no voice acting at all. They sound…BAD…with no emotion and feeling, just like acting in a B-grade movie. And even worse is that some of the narrator’s jokes are written in such a way that they won’t even make you giggle.
But there is one aspect which makes the game enjoyable: the music. It’s very well made and it is clear that a lot of effort has been put into it. Thumbs up for that and keep it that way!
Taking everything into account, i think it would have been better if they called this first episode a prologue. There just isn’t enough content to help it boost the last mark.Exploring a castle and one straight road for 10-15 minutes, then watching cut-scenes for another 25 isn’t enough. It is retro in every way (it even kept the F5 saving style). True fans of the series will see the little charm it has to offer…or they won’t. It depends what you expect from a fan-made game. I hope they will do a better job in the future episodes, and maybe we’ll spend more time actually playing them.
Developer: Double Tap Released: July 1, 2010
Genre: Fighting/Sports
Platform: NDS
I am not a fan of professional wrestling. Because I would like to assume that you people have some semblance of respect for me, I’ll just go ahead and pretend that you already knew that. So when I was approached to review TNA Impact: Cross the Line I was a bit hesitant. Then I recalled that I owe Capsule Computers a favor, and grudgingly began playing. As it turns out, I was right to do so only grudgingly, because the game was heinous to play. Perhaps to a die-hard TNA fan the game would be entertaining, but to someone with no interest in or knowledge of the back-stories, feuds, and tribulations of any of these muscle-bound Neanderthals, the game is simply tedious and mind-numbing.
Imagine, if you will, a decent fighting game, to the tune of Soul Calibur or Mortal Kombat. Now forget the fancy weapons and spectacular decapitations, you don’t need them in a good fighting game. Now you’re down to a bare-bones “punch the other dude a bunch of times until he begins to hemorrhage,” kind of game. Still, decent. Now remove any and all variation in the moves. Now when you punch, you look like a Rock ’em Sock ’em Robot, performing the same exact motions over and over again. Now remove decent character modeling. Now remove even okay script writing. Now apply several hours worth of blunt-force trauma to your cranium. You have now have an accurate understanding of this game.
During my first fight (I, of course, chose Hulk Hogan to play as), I discovered that the only thing required to beat the opponent was to knock them over and repeatedly stomp on them while they were down. After I beat him, I thought, “Wow. That was simple. Of course, the fights won’t stay this easy.”
I was wrong. It did indeed stay that easy. I retained my ability to simply power-stomp my opponents until I won. I didn’t make it all the way through the campaign, but I don’t think that’s really a surprise. I was getting really bored with stomping. Then I discovered that the “Exhibition Matches” were just one-offs; they didn’t have any so-called “plot” in between the fights. This was a vast improvement, because the dialogue between the opponents before each bout that took the place of narrative was about as well written as a Stephenie Meyer novel.
Eventually, the boredom of winning became overwhelming, and I forced myself to take other routes to success than simply curb-stomping my opponents. I tried out the grapple system, just to see how it was. Like the rest of the game, it was rather poorly made, to say the least. In order to perform a grapple, you hit the button, and your character moves in for the choke, or whatever hold he happens to be performing. Then, to complete the move, you tap numbers in sequential order on the touch screen. Now here’s the problem with this: The using the stylus and playing the actual game are pretty much mutually exclusive. In fact, it’s damn irritating to try and move quickly from a two-handed gaming position, to a stylus gaming position, all in the space of about half a second. After several attempts, I quit trying.
All in all, I can’t find any redeeming qualities for this game. Honestly. Not a single one. It is one of the most boring, un-fun, and just plain awful games it has ever been my displeasure to play.
How about a short summery of what makes this game… what it is.
Cons:
The graphics
It’s “story”
The control scheme
The dialogue
Everything else
Pros:
Um… it… technically fits the description of a game?
I can’t give it the lowest score possible, because as much as I dislike this game, it’s still not the worst game I ever played.
I hope you all remember when I stated that Rod Fergusson was going to do a Massive EXP event on Gears of War 2 based on how many people followed him. Well the results are in and the ammount of EXP you will get will be 20 times the normal amount.They actually capped it off because the outcome was so massive.
So if you wanna get to rank 100, mark this date. On Twitter , the Exec Producer dated the 20 times XP event, “So 20x XP SDCC Event is going to run exactly SDCC hours, July 22nd, 12:30 PM EDT till July 25th, 8 PM EDT. Get your wings!”
Get on gaming, it only lasts 3 days but if you have been playing for 100 you should easily be able to get the rest of the levels now.
UTV Ignition Entertainment is now going through a complete rebrand to focus more on digital distribution. This announcement comes not as a huge shock to some, but being a huge fan of the small but full of character “Deadly Premonition” and the fast paced “Muramasa The Demon Blade” I was a bit saddened to hear I might not get to a hold a copy of another disc-based title from the developer.
Here is an official statement released this week:
UTV Ignition Entertainment will focus on development and publishing of a new benchmark of quality games content for current and emerging direct-to-user platforms including Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Steam, Facebook, Google Games, and Apple touch devices.
“To begin, we’ll be investing to work with the industry’s best talent to create outstanding games at mass market new price-points,” said Hassan Sadiq, chairman of UTV Ignition Entertainment.
“The industry is moving to a place where gamers want more for their buck. There is a demand to market and publish games at more inclusive price points that maintain the same level of quality as their boxed counterparts, and we will invest directly in our own gaming communities to drive this.”
“With gaming across new platforms, such as social networking and mobile devices, becoming ever more popular, it’s important we can engage users directly to foster two-way dialogue and offer the best gaming experiences for them.”
UTV Ignition Entertainment recognises a huge opportunity in digital publishing and is committed to be at its forefront. Sadiq concluded: “With dedicated offices in London (HQ), Los Angeles, Florida and Japan, we are choosing to invest in an uncompromising dedication to content, and community engagement for our users.
The good news is that Arc Rise Fantasia is still slated for release later this month, and you can now look forward to getting some great titles at a great price for your digital devices as Ignition is known for putting character and charm into each title and I am sure that will not change anytime soon. I still hold hope for a sequel to Deadly Premonition, but I am happy to see the company headed into more growth and success.
Easter Eggs are awesome! Chocolate ones, plastic ones, bunny laid ones… Even game related Easter eggs are awesome! Below is a video about an easter egg located in Modern Warfare 2 On underpass (I think he says Underpants). Check out the video below.
Yes it is fake, Robert Bowlinghas even stated that it’s fake, but it is still a very cool video and you should watch it anyway.
