Sega has released a bit of extra information for people who pre-order Valkyria Chronicles II in Europe, and it isn’t any simple material bonus either. if you happen to pre-order Valkyria Chronicles II you will recieve two free downloadable missions you can recieve via the PSN on September 3rd of this year.
The missions are:
• Exercise vs. Class E – An exterminatory war exercise against rival class E using all the areas of Leanbluff Forest. Destroy all enemies in each area to win this challenge.
• Exercise vs. Class F – A defense exercise against rival class F. Break through their stonewalling defense and take over their encampment to win this mission.
For those of you who don’t know, Valkyria Chronicles II is a PSP seqeul to the hit PS3 game of the same name. It will follow the story two years after the first game and a new war has started thanks to a revolutionary army taking over the nation. Expect to see every element of a great RPG packed into your PSPs when this game rolls around.
Sonic is receiving a new voice courtesy of Roger Craig Smith. He has done the various voices of Chris Redfield in RE5 and Ezio from AC2, or even Sigfried from the Soul Caliber series so he has quite the pedigree. Though overall he has also done a variety of voice overs through a bunch of different SEGA games so expect him to fill in the red shoes of Sonic quite well.
In other news Tails is also receiving a new voice from Kate Higgins, who has played the voice of Naruto’s pink haired ninja Sakura character in the English voice dub. She has also done the voices of characters from MADWORLD and Valkyria Chronicles, but it will definitely be interesting to see the voice of Sakura coming from Tails.
Eggman on the other hand will not be having any voice change, keeping Mike Pollock as our antagonist.
What happens if you miss your date for release in the retail world? It’s usually not a big deal and a small push back in days will not be noticed or looked down upon. But in the Xbox Live marketplace it seems, you have to wait nearly half a year to slip your game back into the schedule.
Atomic Game’s destruction filled shooter Breach has been delayed until January 2011, and the reason for the delay they say, is that because they missed their release date in June, they no longer have a viable slot to insert their game release.
However even though the delay is going to be a depressing wait, Peter Tamte the president of Atomic, has announced that they will be adding a few new features to take advantage of the time they now have to develop further.
They will be working on what is called a Hardcore mode that will test Atomic’s full destructive capability and produce a more realistic version of their technology that military simulations have used in the past. Which I must say is a hell of a good feature to be waiting for.
Today Sony has revealed that Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days will be available for demo release on the Playstation Plus service next Monday, July 19th. Though for people who do not have the Plus service, you will only have to wait a day or two as normal members will receive the demo on July 20th in the US and the 21st in Europe.
The demo originally came out on the Xbox 360 on July 1st through a special token process taken care of by Square Enix. So one can assume that the demo will also be available for everyone else around that date as well.
Catch Kane & Lynch 2’s release date on August 17th for the US, and the 20th in the UK. I played the first demo and really got a kick out of the upgraded gameplay, anyone else manage to get a token to access the demo first or will this be a first for you?
If you can’t wait for November to play the Kinect, and don’t feel like trying to make it to one of only two Microsoft Stores in the country, you can look at the list below of all the different dates and places that the Kinect will be available to play during special Microsoft sponsored events.
East Coast
July 17–18 Manhattan, NY Macy’s
July 20–22 East Falmouth, MA Barnstable County Fair
July 24–25 Manhattan, NY Seaport-Lower Manhattan Entertainment Area
July 28–Aug. 1 Washington, DC Six Flags America
Aug. 4–6 Canton, OH Football Hall of Fame – Rib Burnoff
Aug. 7–8 Canton, OH Football Hall of Fame Festival Weekend
Aug. 11–15 Chicago, IL Air Show/Navy Pier
Aug. 19–21 Detroit, MI Woodward Dream Cruise – Auto Festival
Aug. 26–30 St. Paul, MN Minnesota State Fair
Aug. 30–Oct. 24 Tampa, FL Westfield Citrus Park Shopping Mall
Sept. 3–6 Indianapolis, IN Rib America Festival
Sept. 10–13 Nashville, TN Tennessee State Fair
Sept. 15–16 Atlanta, GA Atlantic Station – Entertainment Plaza
Sept. 18–19 Atlanta, GA Atlanta Arts Festival
Sept. 23–26 Charlotte, NC Festival in the Park
Oct. 1–2 Orlando, FL Disney Wine and Dine Marathon
Oct. 8–10 Valdosta, GA Wild Adventures Theme Park
Oct. 14–17 Dallas, TX Texas State Fair
Oct. 21–24 Shreveport, LA Louisiana State Fair
West Coast
July 15–Aug. 22 Minneapolis, MN Mall of America
July 25–26 San Diego, CA Youth Surf Cup – Soccer
July 28–Aug. 1 Sacramento, CA California State Fair
Aug. 6–8 Portland, OR Bite of Oregon Food Festival
Aug.10–11 Seattle, WA Woodland Park Zoo
Aug. 13–15 Seattle, WA Taste of Edmonds – Food Festival
Aug. 19–22 Vancouver, BC Summerfest
Aug. 27–Sept. 1 Pueblo, CO Colorado State Fair
Sept. 3–6 Denver, CO Elitch Gardens
Sept. 9–12 Albuquerque, NM New Mexico State Fair
Sept. 16–19 Salt Lake City, UT Utah State Fair
Sept. 24–26 Los Angeles, CA Universal City Walk
Oct. 1–3 San Diego, CA Miramar Air Fest
Oct. 7–11 San Francisco, CA Fleet Week – Military Ship and Air Festival
Oct. 15–17 Phoenix, AZ Arizona State Fair
Oct. 20–24 Las Vegas, NV PBR World Finals
I know I’m going to definitely try to make it down to Navy Pier between August 11-15th so I can get a bit of action with the Kinect to see if it will actually be worth it. Anyone else going to try to make it to these events? Or is this just a taunting visual for people who have to wait until November to even get their hands on the Kinect.
Green Jump Company: Baboonix LTD Release Date: June 21, 2010 Price: $0.99 Buy NOW
Purpose: Baboonix LTD. and Greenpeace collaborated to create Green Jump, aDoodle Jump-esque game where you play as Greenie, who tries to escape the rising air pollution by jumping on clouds. Both companies are dedicated to helping the environment, and include nifty facts and tips at the end of each session of jumping.
Graphics and Sound: Green Jump is a very clean looking game. Its crisp animation style includes vibrant, bright colors that seem to pop off of the screen. Baboonix LTD. also does well in its usage of color, making the ever-rising smog look ominous, while portraying the bright clouds and sky as very happy things. The soundtrack, although being around a thirty-second loop, remains fresh and uplifting, like something you would hear from an early Kirby game.
Gameplay: The basic purpose of Green Jump is to jump as high as you can away from the rising smog without falling off the clouds. You control Greenie like you would any other “Jump” game, by using the accelerometer to move left and right. There is a slew of the regular powerups to use like a platform that boosts you high up into the air, and a bird and a cape Greenie can hang onto to fly higher into the sky. You can also earn achievements, post your scores on Facebook, and access global leaderboards to compete against other people. There are also, however, a few twists that separate Green Jump from the average jumping game. One is the smog. The smog is ever-rising, meaning, if you jump on the same platform too long, it will eventually engulf you and you will lose. There are also tar clouds where, if you jump on them, Greenie will stick to them for a second or two. There are also scattered letters of GREENPEACE to collect that will give you an extra life when you collect all of them.
There were, however, two major flaws I found while playing the game. The first flaw is the consistency of the clouds while jumping. Often I thought I had jumped high enough to reach the next cloud, when I suddenly fell through it and lost. The second flaw was with the achievements. When I first booted up the app, i was prompted to accept the use of their system to record achievements. I accidentally pressed no. I soon after realized my mistake, but after searching vigorously for a way to change it back, I found none.
Overall: I found this game to be a good educational substitute for Doodle Jump, but, with a few changes and updates, this could end up being a great game. I give this game an AVERAGE rating of 6 capsules out of 10.
Capcom have just announced today that Mega Man Universe is coming to Xbox LIVE online entertainment network and PlayStation Store. Mega Man Universe, the latest entry in Capcom’s long-running Mega Man series, will be a revolutionary take on the seminal classic, setting course for a new chapter in classic gaming.Mega Man games are beloved by fans all over the world. Since their debut in 1987, Mega Man has remained a videogame icon, having starred in more than 140 titles over the last 22 years. The connection he’s made with pop culture at large has extended beyond games and into cartoons, toys, clothing, comics, kid’s meals, and more. Part of that popularity is driven by the series’ ability to evolve over time yet consistently retain the addictive gameplay experience that sets Mega Man games apart.We’ll keep you posted once we get more information from Capcom .. but for now just get excited 😉
With the cover of Call of Duty: Black Ops revealed, players can see that it seems more plain than the usual explosion filled, helicopter raided box covers of the Call of Duty series. Many players will be relieved, not being absolutely dominated by an AC-130 or a Chopper Gunner with this new cover not showing any signs of that being in the game.
It’s official…well, not actually OFFICIAL, because PopCap hasn’t announced anything yet. It seems that the achievements for the new XBLA title and port Plants vs Zombies have just popped up out of nowhere.
This piece of news comes just after a couple of days PopCap Games sent out invites to an event that is going to take place in San Francisco on August 2nd.
Is this what they are planning to announce, or are there even bigger plans? Let’s not forget that the XBLA version of Plants vs Zombies has been confirmed nearly 1 year ago. We’ll just have to wait and see…
Here’s the achievements list:
Home Lawn Security – 25G – Complete adventure mode
Master of Morticulture – 25G – Collect all 49 plants in the game
Smarty Branches – 15G – Grow the Tree of Wisdom to at least 100 feet
Crash of the Titan – 10G –Defeat your first Gargantuar
ZFF’s 4 Evr – 20G – Bowl a winner with a friend in Co-Op Wall-Nut Bowling
Alive and Planting – 25G – Survive 40 waves of pure zombie ferocity
Soil Your Plants – 10G – Plant your first 10 peashooters
Versus vs Versus – 15G –Go on a 5 game winning streak in VS. mode
Explodonator – 20G –Blast 10 zombies at once with a Cherry Bomb!
Close Shave – 15G –Win any level after all 5 lawnmowers have been used
Shopaholic – 10G – Go trunk diving and spend at least $25,000 on Crazy Dave’s
Twiddydinkies
Nom Nom Nom – 10G – Stop the horde using only the Sunflower, Wallnut, and Chomper on any level
If there is one thing that goes with the James Bond video game series, it’s music. With big names of the past such as Mya and Natasha Bedingfield, Activision’s newest title “James Bond 007: Blood Stone” now will feature artist Joss Stone taking on the role of the newest Bond Girl. As well as being cast in this fast-paced new title, Joss Stone will also provide an original musical track to the game, titled “I’ll Take it All” written and performed by her and Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics exclusively in James Bond 007: Blood Stone.
James Bond 007: Blood Stone also features the likeness and voice talent of Daniel Craig, Joss Stone, and Jundy Dench. Players will travel through exotic locations to unravel an international conspiracy, using the trademark high-tech gadgetry the 007 series is known for.
“James Bond 007: Blood Stone captures the cinematic intensity of a Bond film by immersing players in an intriguing conspiracy that will require them to think and act like James Bond,” said David Pokress, Head of Marketing for Licensed Properties, Activision Publishing. “In addition, the game will feature a diverse array of multi-player modes and debut strategic objective-based gameplay that will allow Xbox 360, PS3 and PC players to battle as teams of spies and mercenaries through authentic Bond locales.”
A brand new original story written by famed screenwriter Bruce Feirstein will put gamers in full control of cover-based firefights, hand to hand combat and adrenaline-fuelled driving sequences as they embark on a global chase leading to action on land and sea through Athens, Istanbul, Monaco and Bangkok. Gamers can also feel what it is like to be a 00 agent, as they take the battle online in several robust 16-person multi-player modes that require skill, teamwork and strategy as players compete in matches that will have spies battling mercenaries.
Developer Bizarre Creations are bringing out James 007: Blood Stone this holiday season for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Windows PC. Additionally, a Nintendo DS version will release developed by EON Productions Ltd. Eager gamers can go to www.007.com for more information about this hot new title.
