Though we hinted at a possible release date internationally previously, it has now been confirmed by Namco Bandai that they will be releasing Knights Contract in 2011 across the seas and in America for both the PS3 and the Xbox 360. There is also a tad bit more of information as well. Remember the witch who seemed to be just a partner character that was unplayable? It turns out that she is actually the one who holds the strings to Heinrich, the brutal warrior. Heinrich had killed Gretchen for the crime of being the witch she was, but now she is alive again and has wrapped her cursed hands around Heinrich’s life and made him immortal and her slave. For he is forced to protect her against monsters straight out of the worst possible nightmares and does so in a gruesome fashion. See the trailer and more information at our previous post.
Electronic Arts announced today a new partnership for their brand EA Partners, they will be publishing a new title developed by the famous Insomniac Games, which worked previously on Sony consoles.
This all-new franchise is in development for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, it will be the first multiplatform release by Insomniac Games after 16 years working exclusively with Sony. Insomniac Games is famous for many games, like the highly acclaimed series Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet & Clank and Resistance.
We can expect a really amazing game from this new partnership. Below are some comments made by Insomniac Games and EA Partners (Electronic Arts).
“Working with EA Partners allows us to extend the reach of our games to a multiplatform audience while retaining ownership of the intellectual property. We are excited and eager to introduce Insomniac to a new group of gamers while reinforcing to our loyal fans what makes our games special.” – Ted Price, founder and CEO of Insomniac Games
“This is an exciting day for all of us at EA Partners and for gamers everywhere. Insomniac is renowned for their commitment to quality and their ability to create unique, exciting worlds for gamers to explore. We look forward to help them bring their next blockbuster franchise to the millions of diehard Insomniac fans on PlayStation and the soon to be millions of diehard Insomniac fans on Xbox 360.” – David DeMartini, Senior Vice President and General Manager of EA Partners
Namco Bandai has presented Gamespot with information that Splatterhouse will be released in time for Halloween this year. This makes a whole lot of sense due to the graphic nature of the game and the fact that the anti-hero you play as has the appearance of Jason from the Friday the 13th movies.
Splatterhouse is the extremely bloody remake of a game with the same name developed back in 1988. It was developed by Namco which is of course now a part of Namco Bandai. Splatterhouse is going to feature extreme violence and is essentially a beat ’em up style game with horror elements mixed in. I never have played the original game, but I do know that it also had two sequels. Brings up the question that if this first game does well enough, will Namco Bandai remake the sequels as well?
Sure, Zynga games on facebook are pretty popular among a certain demographic and they make a lot of money off of a mostly free game through micro transactions.
Zynga has partnered up with 7-11 to give your Zynga game branded slurpee, big gulp, and ice cream. With every purchase you get a code to unlock an exclusive in game item. Sure the item is pointless but seeing a hardcore gangster walk out of 7-11 with a Yoville branded Big Gulp cup is priceless!
Below is the full list of exclusive items and how to get them.
The Witcher started from the idea of CD Projekt RED in adapting the series of books, with the same name, created by Andrzej Sapkowski.
Utilizing the famous Bioware’s Aurora Engine, the developers saw themselves with a powerful tool, which has been heavily modified for The Witcher.
The Witcher tells the story of Geralt, one of the last Witchers, who are people that have been genetically modified, and because of that they are normally ignored by society, which remembers them only for specific evil jobs, like hunters back in the day. Our story starts when the witcher’s hideout is invaded by bandits, who are looking for something valuable plunder. The Witcher’s story is really centered in a dark, impressive world, giving the players differents choices and paths, so you never really know who to trust, who is right or wrong.
NOTE ** “Enhanced Edition” is the name given to a huge update which The Witcher received by the end of 2008. It’s a free update with huge changes, like better performance, new animations, dialogues, models, inventory, and other many things. The review will be based on this.
Graphics:
After doing some huge changes on the Aurora Engine, mainly with the third person camera, we can see the grandiosity of The Witcher. Even for a 2007 release, the game still holds well with todays graphics.
Witcher’s world is represented with a realistic environment, there is huge attention to detail, walls, objects, animals, sunsets,things like that really helps with immersing the player into the game.
The cutscenes happen in real time using the game engine, and are very impressive, even if they are in small numbers during quests, mainly they happen during the start and end of chapters.
Projeckt Red have really taken the engine to it’s limits, and created an impressive world to explore.
Gameplay:
Gameplay in The Witcher works around an innovative rpg formula, another great idea idea focuses on the creation of a battle system that uses attack combos stringed together with perfect timing when hitting your opponents. The player needs some time to adapt to this system, since it can be a little intimidating in the beginning. Another interesting feature is the variation of attacks, which must be used based on different types of enemies, some of them are strong, others are weak, there are group of enemies, each of them needs a different strategy. But even with the good animations and variations, the battle system itself is not really special, it’s just average. The alchemy system is really important on higher difficulty levels.
The Witcher provides the player with two different camera choices, a classic isometric camera, and one over-the-shoulder third person camera, which is the one I recommend, as it helps with providing the player a lot more immersion.
There is also a slight bit of nudity in the game, in which is represented in a funny way, Players collect a series of cards (that are censured in some countries) once when they meet or have been contact with the opposite sex. The cards are classed like a notch on the belt if you catch my drift 😉
Audio/Sound
The soundtrack to the game is impressive but also a little bit of a let down. The voice acting not the best and there isn’t enough variation of music. The Witcher is quite a large game, and having to listen to the same music repeating itself even though its of expectional quality can become a little annoying after a while.
Initially the voice acting was really bad when the game was first released, but with the enhanced version/update of the game this has been somewhat fixed with new re-recordings for nearly every character . The main character of the game, Geralt’s voice is really deep, expressing his style and feelings really well.
Sound effects are fine, there’s some attention to details in them as well.
Conclusion
CD Projekt RED did well with the original Witcher, and they really fixed everything with an “Enhanced Version”. The Witcher has always been a good game that could easily compete with other bigger and famous western rpgs. It’s a game without a big name, big budget, or a big marketing push, but none of that matters, since the the game proves this without all of that.
There’s so much inspiration and dedication behind The Witcher, so it’s impossible to not hype about it’s sequel. I’m really curious to see where they will take Witcher’s universe and gameplay this time around.
Play The Witcher, become a new fan, and be prepared for the sequel. I’m sure it will be worth!
Sony has recently announced that programming from HBO will be made available through the PlayStation Network video service in North America. According to the network the initial selection includes the first two seasons of True Blood as well as, select seasons of Big Love, Entourage, Eastbound and Down, The Sopranos, Sex and the City, The Wire, Rome, Da Ali G Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Flight of the Conchords. They further stated that “more titles and additional seasons to be added each week.”
There are no set prices for these shows yet, but judging on the prices you can get them for else where, such as Itunes, the episodes will probably cost you about $2.99 each.
HBO fans, pull out your wallets and grab the popcorn. It TV show watching time!
Sure it isn’t as in depth as final fantasy, or as fancy as our modern day games but it is still the Doctor. If you are having trouble waiting for The adventure game to hit the web the enjoy the video below, showing some of the creation. According the the developers the game is being created more as an interactive episode rather then an actual game. As stated, “It is like 4 additional episodes of the show and it is like a computer game but with quite a lot more cutscenes.”
The most recent trailer for the upcoming Naruto game looks pretty epic! I stopped watching the anime quite some time before the Shippuden series even started, but my brother loves it and the game is looking really good.
It seems to follow suite with the rest of the Naruto games, where you travel around town doing missions and run into bad guys which commence the battles … or those parts could simply be cutscenes, but I hope not.
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 launches this fall.
Digital Legends and India Games has just released their award winning game; Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior and Dragon Warrior HD! Each game has been designed from the bottom up for the iPhone and the iPad respectively(iPad pictures above, iPhone below). This means that no matter which version you play the graphics are optimized and the control system will handle fluidly. Not only that but you have the ability to customize your own fighting style and become the martial arts legend that Bruce Lee is destined to become.
The characters themselves have been developed using motion capture technology accompanied with martial arts practitioners who have trained in Bruce Lee’s philosophy and fighting styles. This means that each character will display life like actions and interactions which could never have been found if they were simply programmed from nothing.
Both versions of the game include the following features and options:
Play in 5 modes: Story, Arcade, Time Attack, Versus and Survival
Guide Bruce Lee through 5 intense chapters in Story Mode: BRUCE FIGHTS IN THE STREETS, TRAINS WITH A KUNG FU MASTER, DEFENDS THE HELPLESS, ENTERS TOURNAMENTS AND FACES HIS WORST ENEMIES
Customizable fighting styles: Create your own method of combat
Play 4 unique fighting styles with a total of 10 fighters: Bruce Lee and 9 opponents
Play 5 locations in day and night: Hong-Kong Market Streets, The Docks, Roof Tops, Temple Yards and Tournament Halls
To see the moves, press “Pause” anytime during the combat and go to “COMMAND LIST” to see the unlocked moves or check the current ones
To purchase the winner People’s Choice Award of the 2010 International Mobile Games Awards for theiPhone click Here! for the iPad click Here! Both will cost the exact same price at $4.99 each.
There has been an extreme media blitz for Backbreaker as the release date has been growing closer and closer. The demo itself is even out now on both the Xbox Live Marketplace and the Playstation Network. It’s understandable however due to the fact that it is a brand new type of football game and has some extremely large and extremely well backed franchises such as Madden. In the video below you can learn all about how to play defense and how to take out the ball carrier to the best of your ability. Wouldn’t mind seeing a few other games using this type of advertising method; a good tutorial can provide more information about a game than any teaser.
