Unfortunately there is some bad news involving the new Slim Xbox 360s, they are still prone to a red light appearing. What is better known now as a Red Dot of Death involves a warning though this time around. The Red Ring of Death is no longer an issue in these new 360’s due to the fact that there no longer are red lights included in the ring. But this issue seems to be less of a problem and more of a cautionary measure.
If the 360 detects that there is not enough ventilation getting to the unit through the fan slots, the message below will appear and warn the user that the 360 will shut down on its own to prevent failure. This means that the system itself will shut down to prevent an overheating reaction, which could help prevent RdoD. Once the red dot stops flashing that means the system is cool enough to play again safely.
But what if your 360 is on the verge of always breaking, if the ventilation becomes a serious problem will the console always be in a state of automated shut down? Plus what type of warning time is there for this shut down? Looks like games that do not have autosave will require much more save time due to the fact your 360 could potentially shut itself down at any moment, such as RPGs or long boss battles.
One must notice though in the first picture, there is a bit of odd dust pattern there. Plus I have a feeling that this could have been a deliberate act, to see if the new slim does have a failure point, and if so then what will happen when it does fail. It’s entirely possible that the system itself was purposely overheated, though it did turn out an interesting result.
Images Courtesy of: Here
John Marston is standing strong in the United Kingdom with another week at the top position in sales. Even with powerhouse titles such as Super Mario Galaxy 2 and FIFA World cup being just as popular, these two titles can hardly compare to Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption. Sales have dropped understandably but have dropped all around for each of these titles, making Red Dead’s stand off at the top of the list all the better.
The top 10 United Kingdom Sales all around are here:
1. Red Dead Redemption
2. Super Mario Galaxy
3. 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa
4. Just Dance
5. Rooms: The Main Building
6. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
7. Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
8. Wii Fit Plus
9. Blur
10. Wii Sports Resort
Venturebeat has managed to get an interview with Nintendo Boss Satoru Iwata and he had a bit of light to shine on the whole 3DS pricing question. He was able to state that it will cost more than any current DS available, this is due to the fact that the 3DS will cost more money to produce. He also stated that the price of the 3DS would not be below production costs and will be slightly above to turn a profit. This is not an actual price release but we have a feeling that it would not be more than $250 when all is said and done.
The original DS was $150 at launch, the DS lite is still running at $130 now, and the DSi XL which is the most expensive of all the DS is running at $190. This could mean that it would only be slightly more than current DS types, but could also be much more. Here is hoping that the price will remain in the $200 range, but then again what would you be willing to pay for this?
Sony have announced that their latest accessory the Playstaion move will get a gun attachment and we now have pictures ……
The plastic gun allows the Playstaion Move controller to be inserted into the gun horizontally, and allows you to hold the motion controller as if you were holding a real gun. The trigger on the attachment allows the motion controller precise button input and control, this will be great for games like Time Crisis razing storm storm or Killzone 3 which will have 3D support.
The Playstation Move gun attachment will be available around Autumn time and you can snap one up from around $19.99 or £19.99
The guys from Doctor Entertainment AB, a Swedish independent game developer, released their first game today, Puzzle Dimension for PC.
Puzzle Dimension is a puzzle game where the player exercises the spatial thinking. The player is invited to 100 unique labyrinth-like structures which become more and more challenging. In Puzzle Dimension gravity is depending on your movements, up and down are relative terms. Classic game play elements such as fire, ice, spikes, buttons and hidden sections give the player a diverse range of problems and satisfying eureka moments.
The abstract game world is visualized by the in-house engine which allows the audiovisuals to blend depending on the player’s progress. The audiovisuals blend between 8-bit chip-tunes and pixel-like visuals to crystal clear music and high end graphics.
The game is already available on Steam for $9.99 / £6.99 / €9.99:
Match Fish
Platform: iPhone/iPod Touch
Developer: iFun4all
Released: June 09, 2010
Price: $2.99 (US) BUY NOW
Match Fish is a simple puzzle game in which you must create groups of at least four, of the same species of fish. Once you have done so, you can then tap that group, removing them from the board, freeing up space for more fish and adding to your total score.
There are three seperate levels of difficulty: easy, medium and hard. This ensures that people of all skill levels are able to play Match Fish, without having any problems. There is a significant jump in the difficulty levels of the game, with ‘easy’ being slow paced and non-taxing, whereas ‘hard’ can present a hurdle for the most hardened of gamers.
Match Fish features two different game modes, the first of which is the aptly named ‘Play’ for those who want instant action and the ability to choose how challenging they want the game to be by selecting the difficulty before they start. The other game mode is named ‘Challanges’ and offers 24 challenges, getting increasingly harder as you progress. Match Fish is also a puzzler in every sense of the word; as you make headway in the ‘Challanges’ mode, this advancement is represented as a jigsaw which is slowly pieced together on the ‘Progress Map’.
Although some of the tasks are challenging (as is playing on the top difficulty),the game doesn’t last very long. Once you have completed all of the tasks, similarly to most puzzle games, there is little incentive to go back. With no multiplayer mode, it is almost inevitable that you will grow weary of Match Fish, and after completion, you will probably find you will only pop back occasionally to try and top your high scores.
Overall, Match Fish is a colorful little puzzle game which suits a pick up and play style due to it’s simplicity. The straight forward nature of the gameplay and the clear layout also support this statement. The range of difficulty, as well as a choice from two control methods (dragging your finger across the screen, or tilting the actual iPhone/iPod Touch itself), makes sure people of all ages and skills can have a go. It is quite short although this is fairly proportional to the inexpensive price tag.
I have a little piece of advice for those of you who are reluctant to buy the new X-Box Slim, fearing that a new model might follow shortly: DON’T WORRY!
Microsoft has announced that the soon-to-be-released X-Box Slim and Kinect will be their main attractions for at least 5 years!
“I think 2010 will be a very big year for us, it is in many ways for us mid-lifecycle.
What you’ve seen is with this new sleek design and Kinect for Xbox 360 we’ve got at least another five years of this generation where we continue to offer great experiences for people.
We continue to attach more games than competitive platforms and we have the healthiest ecosystem with 25 million people connected through Xbox Live. So we are uniquely placed to continue to do really, really well in this business and enjoy ongoing momentum.” said Chris Lewis, VP of the Interactive Entertainment Business for Microsoft EMEA.
The Crackdown 2 demo is now up for download on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Some were lucky enough to land a code for early access to the demo but for those of you who weren’t, it’s available for everyone else now.
Check out our preview, from the demo, of Crackdown 2 HERE
Who’s picking this up, and if you already have, what are your thoughts and initial impressions?
Utakata: The Ephemeral Sky Developer:Althi Inc. Genre: Adventure, Visual Novel, Mild Horror, Mystery Platforms:iPhone (Reviewed)/iTouch Released: Jun 03, 2010 Price: $4.99 – Buy Now!
Story:
I truly must hinder myself from revealing the storyline for Utakata: The Ephemeral Sky, due to the fact that it is something which must be experienced for yourself. In a small run down however, you play as Ayumi Nishina, a high school student who ends up traveling back to where he used to spend time as a child.
On the way however, a terrible accident occurs which throws Nishina into a whole new world of trouble, the alien world. There are many things that people wish to keep secret, and the darkness of the past can be overwhelming. Believe me when I say that these two phrases fit the storyline perfectly.
Utakata is quite a long game, but with it’s engaging storyline you will be hard pressed to put your iPhone/iTouch down. This is perhaps one of the best games you can pick to receive a full visual novel treatment instead of reading simply out of a book.
Graphics:
Ukataka plays similar to any Japanese visual novel if you may have experienced those. For those who haven’t the graphics are displayed through standing still backgrounds and the main character is rarely ever pictured. However the characters that are talking will be displayed via a floating image of their upper body. This is intentional though and the character’s expressions change to fit the proper mood of what they are saying.
There are also special scenes which are shown individually that expand upon either a flashback currently being talked about, or an important event at the time. These scenes are beautifully rendered and expand upon our knowledge of the current characters due to a new perspective.
The backdrop for the story contains a variety of still imagery that stays the same throughout text unless the character travels to a different area. The backdrops are designed well with some containing extreme detail. Some are even a bit spooky when it comes to the puzzle areas. Many of the puzzles have a spooky feel and the graphics portray this perfectly.
The puzzles are also well designed with little given away. The first puzzles the player comes across will be simply pressing three things in the proper order. However the environment that Althi has designed where the puzzles occur are very atmospheric and provide an eerie feeling as you advance through the alien world.
Sound:
Every word you see on the screen is just that, words. Unfortunately this very long story does not have voice acting for any of its characters. Not even specific phrases are said aloud for emphasis or character reaction to an event.
However the game does sport a nice sized album of background music that is available to listen to at any time if you so wish. This is accessible from the Albums option on the main menu. They have information on the background music including who originally composed it. There are no lyrics and some of them sound like elevator music. Bear in mind that the music itself is designed to be unobtrusive to the story itself.
Gameplay:
As you play through the story of Ukataka: The Ephemeral Sky you will advance by reading the storyline text as it is presented to you. There is no option to speed up the text display which is unfortunate for fast readers due to the original display speed being quite slow.
On the other hand, full text can be shown by tapping your finger on the screen. Bear in mind that this will occasionally cause you to skip a certain bit of dialogue. But if this were to happen there is a Log of all the previously said text right next to the text window.
Navigating through the menu’s is occasionally a pain as well, due to the fact that you can not simply tap which selection you want, but instead must slide your finger up or down to reach your desired selection. Then with a tap of your finger you are there, this is not a major cause for concern but does take getting used to.
The puzzles designed for Ukataka are very challenging, and have quite a large variety. There are puzzles which involve finding a secret code earlier before, those who require a certain combination of things done, and even a sliding block puzzle to solve as well. Each of these puzzles are navigated using your finger as the pointer guide, and then selected with a tap of said finger.
These puzzles only occur in the alien world which happens during specific parts of the story and tend to be quite freaky. There are noticeably odd things which occur during these sections of the game and many of the puzzles are spooky in good way.
Considering the amount of text you will be witnessing, and the fact that the game was translated from Japanese to English leads to some unfortunate translation errors. Many of them are barely noticeable, with only a small hint of mis-translation. There are times however that you will not know exactly what was meant due to the fact that certain words have been used completely out of context from what their meaning truly is. These are not game ending flaws by any means, but does cause for some mis-communication as certain phrases are lost in translation.
Overall:
Utakata: The Ephemeral Sky has one of the best stories you can find on your iPhone/iTouch and with the ability to always have it on hand, you will have this engaging storyline always with you. There are small issues with the control system, and the translation is not perfect either. Though these issues are barely detrimental when matched to the storyline.
