Microsoft have announced a new 250gb hard drive which will allow you to store more cool stuff on your Xbo 360. With everything moving slowly to digital downloads, and games giving you the option to install on the hard drive for better performance, a bigger hard drive is always welcome. I’m on a 120 gb and I only have 60gb left !! I think it’s time for an upgrade !!
Check out the official release below.
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – 10th May, 2010 – Available in stores today, Xbox 360 introduces the 250GB Hard Drive which offers more space to store your favourite games and entertainment content. Available for $199.99*, the 250GB Hard Drive offers more freedom to download the latest demos, Xbox LIVE Arcade games, the latest titles from Xbox Movies on Demand and more straight to your Xbox 360 console.
Xbox LIVE is the premier destination to download the best games and entertainment at the touch of a button. Xbox 360’s online service features a growing library of movies available to download or stream instantly, Facebook and Twitter – you’re bound to find something you love. With more than 525,000 Xbox LIVE subscribers across the ANZ region, it is one of the largest online communities anywhere in ANZ.
Want to express your personality and style on Xbox LIVE? With the added storage space of the 250GB Hard Drive, it makes it easy to download and save new Avatar clothes and props from your favourite clothing brands and games, including Roxy, Quiksilver, Adidas, “Halo”, “Gears of War” and more.
Game Name: Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake Platforms: Sony PSP Publisher(s):Sony Computer Entertainment Developer(s):Titan Studios Genre(s): Team Action Release Date: 4/27/2010 (US) ESRB Rating:T (Teen) Blood & Cartoon Violence Price: $39.99 (USD)
Overview
Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake is finally out on the PSP and this was made possible by the hard work put in by the people at SuperVillain Studios. It also looks much the same as the PS3 version which is a good thing. But do read on as there are some major limitations which exist in the PSP version that simply makes it “no where near as good” as the PS3 version.
– This page tell you everything about the game. Well, sorta.
There are 4 main changes made to the PSP version:
Six new levels for PSP® plus all of the original
Extended Single Player campaign
Online Multiplayer via Adhoc
New Multiplayer game modes
The basic outline of the story is simple enough. Two princesses were out in the woods, finds a HUGE cake, they eat and eat until they become the size of sumo players then gets kidnapped by the bad people and now you have to save them. Story aside, the main gameplay is no different to the capture the flag between the red and the blue team. Except that the flag is now a fat princess that the opposition team can throw pieces of cake at to make her fatter. This in turn making it more difficult for your players to transport her to the other side. It’s a non-stop killing action mayhem and that’s what this game is all about. Cute but deadly.
– Loading times can be a bit annoying.
Graphics Simply put, it looks great on the PSP. Faithful to the original, it’s colorful and still has all of that cute factor while running with no slowdowns. It obviously doesn’t look as sharp as the 1080p resolution of the PS3 version but it’s still good enough to not notice too much difference other than the size of the screen that you are playing on. Menu interface is also the same as the original and is a very easy to use interface. So I have no complaints about the graphics whatsoever.
– That’s me on the right standing next to the hat machines.
Audio/Sound
The audio part of the original is untouched from what I can hear and that’s a good thing as the sound effects and the musical score of Fat Princess really suits the game well and is not in anyway distracting or annoying. Every chapter of the single player campaign also has fully spoken story readings and little gestures and sounds that the characters make while playing definitely makes the game more lively and vibrant.
– You will be playing with yourself mostly…
Gameplay
Gameplay is what Fat Princess is all about. Class-based team play where you can be any one of 5 classes such as a Mage, Ranger, Priest, Warrior and Worker. Each class plays a key role so you need to be good at all of them to help out the team when needed. I personally like playing the Ranger as I can shoot from far away with auto-lock on the enemy using the L trigger. But sometimes, I do also help out my peers by becoming a Priest and be a healing medic. All in all, the essense of the game has moved across very well from the PS3 to the PSP. It looks, plays and feels very much the same as its bigger brother.
But on the PSP version, it is missing a very important ingredient that made the PS3 version so fun! PS3 supports 32 players online in a single map. with voice chat. PSP version however only supports 8 online players and has no voice chat support. Yes, only 4 humans per side. However, you do also get 8 computer AI players. (4 per side) So all up, there are 16 characters running around and as the maps are slightly smaller than the PS3 version, it doesn’t detract too much of the gameplay away although it definitely isn’t as fun and crazy.
– That’s a lot of blood. My blood. Doh.
I don’t know about most of you reading this, but I typically play my PSP while I’m on a train / bus to work. This means I have no online access. (in Australia at least) So online play is only possible while I’m at home. But I have my PS3 at home… So, let’s talk about single player side of things as this is where most of my time was spent with the PSP version of Fat Princess. There are 3 main types of single player gaming. Story, Offline and Survival. Story is called ‘Legend of the Fat Princess’ and consists of 15 chapters (missions). It’s basically an extended tutorial and has no replay value but is still enjoyable the first time around. The Offline type called “Mess About” is simply the main game pitting you against 23 other computer AI bots. It’s as close as you’ll get to the PS3 experience and is sometimes more fun than playing online due to having an extra 8 players on the map. Finally, the Gladiator survival game is what you expect. You are alone in a gladiator oval dome and you need to survive as many waves of enemies as possible for as long as you can. It’s a great place to level up your fighting skills on each different classes.
– This is before they got fat…
All in all, the single player experience is quite good. I don’t think they could have made it much better. However, the heart of the game lies in the online multiplayer experience and I have to say, it is not one of its highlights for the Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake on the PSP.
Pros
+ Vibrant detailed graphics
+ Smooth framerate throughout
+ Great soundtrack and effects
+ Fun, fast gameplay.
Cons – Limited to 8 online players per game
– Not enough replay value for single player campaign
– Long load times
Conclusion
Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake on the PSP is great fun and especially more so if you have not played it on the PS3. But if you have the PS3, play it on the PS3 instead. It’s a great game but just wasn’t meant to be for the PSP platform it seems.
After humble beginnings in 2001, Fullmetal Alchemist has become the third highest selling Manga of this past decade. Now after nine years of print, Yasuhiro Irie, the director of the recently rebooted anime Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood has, announced on histwitter pagethat the original creator of Fullmetal Alchemist and his crew are planning to wrap up the series within the next two monthly releases.
This is extremely unfortunate news, though followers of the Manga must have known that the end was coming shortly. Still however, once the Anime catches back up to the Manga it will also end using the exact same ending in Anime format. This series has grown so large over the years, that the fact it is finally coming to a close is going to leave a massive hole in the Manga/Anime world.
There has been issues lately of brand new Manga having a difficult time of grasping a foothold in the current market, and with the loss of Fullmetal either we will see a bunch of new stories spring up and hopefully one will turn out as great as Fullmetal did.
All I can say is, after what looks to be 109 chapters and months of work all I can say is thank you Hiromu Arakawa for the great story and thank you Square-Enix for sponsoring them. I can’t wait to see how it is going to end in July. Does anyone here follow Fullmetal? Or have seen the new Anime which has just started being shown in English on television?
If you are having a fixing for some vampire enjoyment, but don’t feel like watching what vampires have become in Twilight, then you may want to take a look at this Anime called Vampire Knight. Now is especially the time to do it because Viz Media is streaming the anime for free at their website.
At the moment of this writing there are currently only the first five episodes that are available for streaming, but more are expected to be released over time. As well as the full DVD release of the entire season in the summer.
A small summary of the plot is that a young girl named Yuki Cross has the earliest memory of being attacked by a vampire and then saved by another vampire. Ten years later Yuki is now the adopted daughter of the headmaster for a school strictly for the preservation of vampires. Not only that but Yuki’s savior is also attending the school and under her protection. What will happen when new enemies approach bent on destroying the vampires? Lemme know what you all think if you so happen to watch a few episodes.
Those of you waiting for the release of Final Fantasy IX on the PSN may still have to wait awhile longer, but at least the end may be in sight. The reason for this hope is that FFIX is going to be released on the Japanese PSN on May 20th. This news comes via a tweet from Square Enix producer Shinji Hashimoto. As well as video of the game being played via a PSP.
There still has been no official release date set yet for the rest of the world, however with a Japanese version coming within a few weeks then it is safe to say that the time for an American and European release will be following shortly after.
If you have about 90 minutes of free time, check out this fan made Mega Man movie. Wiley is superbly creepy, and remember it’s only a fan film so don’t expect anything overly fancy. Enjoy the video.
Written and Directed by Eddie Lebron. For more info on the director, visit: www.eddielebron.com and visit www.megamanfilm.com.
First off, the realism versus mode was such a big success that it is going to become a permanent game type soon.
The Realism Versus game mode, which adds the realism mode to versus mode, will be added to the game permanently after a public vote voted in favor of it being added to the roster – 68% of voters said yes, 21% of people said no and 11% said nothing – er – were undecided. Why in the world would you vote no to it becoming permanent?
Hopefully this pattern continues for all of the mutations, and if they are popular enough they will become permanent. Fingers crossed!
Don’t forget to check out this week’s mutation. This week’s game mode is “Follow the Litter,” which is basically just Scavenge mode but with only one gas can spawning at a time. sounds impossible if you ask me. How in the world do you get a gas can with all four specials focused on it?
In honor of Cinco de Mayo this week, Rockstar present “Revolution” – an all-new Red Dead Redemption video highlighting the rebel Mexican uprising that John Marston finds himself caught up in during his journey to
Nuevo Paraiso. (personally he kinda looks like a whacked out Niko with an even crazier looking side-kick… let’s just call him Roman)
In his search for the former friends and outlaws who left him to die all those years ago, Marston finds himself traveling through the border territories of northern Mexico in the midst of the region’s brewing Civil War – caught between the revolutionary aspirations of the rebel leader Abraham Reyes, and the brutal Federal Army led by Colonel Allende.
Enjoy the video. Not long now till Red Dead Redemption hits stores .. are you excited ???
Publisher: POPCAP Genre: Puzzle Console: PC (Reviewed) Price:$19.95 Buy Now!
Gameplay:
The basics are still the same as you would find in any other bejeweled game. By making sets of three of the same color jewel, you will eliminate those three jewels. However in your normal Bejweled game, you can continue until you decide to either quit or until you can not make any moves.
This isn’t your normal Bejeweled and shouldn’t be treated as such. Because the added on Blitz to the name isn’t just for show, the games are fast and if you are only moving one crystal without looking what to do next quickly then time will run out. Each game of Bejeweled Blitz only lasts for one minute. There are add-ons which will extend the gameplay, but only for five extra seconds.
As you play through Bejeweled Blitz, you will receive coins that can be used to buy power ups for the next three games. Also, if you sync the game up with your Facebook account, they will automatically provide a free 1 million coins which is quite helpful. The power ups are; scrambler which mixes up the board pieces, +5 seconds which is self explanatory, detonator which explodes any special gems on the board, a free multiplier which spawns a multiplier jewel at the beginning of the game, and finally mystery gem which spawns a special gem at the beginning. Three can be chosen for each match.
The special gems really add a lot of spice to the game and when one comes into play it can create a huge speed and point boost. There are a variety of special gems starting with the fire gem which detonates and explodes any gems around it when matched. A star gem which will annihilate every gem in a giant cross with electricity. Then there is the multiplier gem that will 2x, 3x, 4x, etc. your score after activating the gem. And finally the grand gem of them all the Hyper Cube, which will eliminate every gem of the same color you swap it with. These are obtained through matching 4 of the same color, a cross of the same color, and 5 of the same color respectively.
There are badges that can be awarded for certain conditions being met. These are something like achievements, as they are only unlocked when the condition is met. They start from bronze, all the way up to ruby and beyond. They aren’t much but they are a small reward for your game playing prowess and the time you’ve put into Bejeweled.
I greatly enjoyed the fast paced and short games. Many times there will look like there is literally no move available, and you could spend five to ten seconds peering at the screen. However once a match is found you can build on the match and start putting together amazing combinations and explosions using the special gems. With the multiplier special gem, scores can sometimes reach well over 500k+. With being hooked up to Facebook, you can compare your scores with all of your friends as well which is a handy little feature.
Graphics:
The high point of BB is the explosions and electric shocks produced by the special gems. Other than that the other gems and the transitions are what you’d come to expect. Everything is very crisp and well detailed but that is about all there is to say for that. The colors are bright and enjoyable, though some option to modify the colors of each gem could be a nice little edition.
There are a small number of backgrounds available during the game. They are not selectable however and are completely random. There will be many times that the same background will appear multiple times without any change. This is an unfortunate issue but only a small complaint over an otherwise great looking puzzle game.
Sound:
The music is very soothing when you play the game, at least that is until your time begins to run out. The instrumental music slowly grows more fast paced and urgent sounding as the time counts down. This can sometimes cause a rush of confusion as you hurry to quickly gather points or help as you match to the faster beat of the song.
Then there is the announcer who will constantly be announcing your times and giving you compliments if you combo together a large amount of jewel combinations. The voice they used sounds a bit out of place, like something one would expect to hear in a Mortal Kombat game. Might be a bit out of place for a game that is more for the casual crowd.
Overall:
This is a great game for a time waster, and is definitely good enough to take your attention away from important things(like writing this review for instance). Bejeweled Blitz’s fast gameplay and insistance on speed will constantly have you trying to beat your latest high score and rank further among your friends. Despite some graphical lacking and a brutal sounding announcer Bejeweled Blitz is a great puzzler.
Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition Publisher: Atlus USA Developer: ACE Team Platforms: Xbox 360 Release Date: May 5th, 2010
Story
“In the land of Zenozoik, the city of Halstedom is ruled by a powerful clan, one which Ghat has betrayed by killing Father-Mother, the clan’s leader. As Ghat, fight your way through your former brothers and sisters, crazed individualists, and worse in order to escape in the unique first-person puncher Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition. The bare-knuckled brawl to reach the truth has just begun.” [Via Xbox.com]
The story found in Zeno Clash is extremely confusing, and after beating the game I can’t say that there even was one. The game starts off with you being exiled from your clan because you killed Father-Mother. The levels consist of flashbacks and present day scenes that converge to explain what exactly happened, and by the end you will figure out why you killed Father-Mother. The entire story builds up to explain why you killed Father-Mother and in the end it is pretty disappointing but oddly funny. Getting to the reason; however, is fun and extremely disappointing when it is over. The entire game is odd and meeting the characters both sane and insane is a lot of fun even if you just meet them to beat them up. In fact there are only 3 people in the game you don’t beat up, excluding yourself. My favorite is definitely the insane guy whose obsession is to walk in a straight line. You’ll run into him a few times and it is always funny when you do because he’ll be just walking across the battle field slowly and in a straight line.
Gameplay
Zeno Clash is a first person brawler and throughout the game you will fight numerous groups people. Almost everyone in the game wants to kill you; either your own clan for killing Father-Mother, the northern geta clan for killing Father-Mother, or the corwid of the free because they are crazy. Corwids are definitely the most interesting characters in the game. Every corwid has a single obsession that they fulfill. There is one guy who walks in a straight line because that is what he does. Another corwid eats people because that is just what he does and there are people that get eaten because that is what they do. Another one is invisible but he can’t actually be invisible so he plucks out people’s eyes because he doesn’t want them to see him.
Through a series of flashbacks and present day levels, the truth behind the reason you killed Father-Mother unveils. Throughout every level you will face many enemies that you have to beat up. There are only about 15 unique character models, but you will run into them numerous times and in large groups so it isn’t really a big deal because you will be too busy fighting and smashing their faces into the dirt to notice or even care.
The gameplay is extremely fun especially with melee weapons and guns thrown among the battles. Melee weapons break after so many uses, while guns have infinite ammo but your defenses are reduced while holding one. There is also a semi complicated control scheme that takes a while to get used to but becomes second nature shortly into the game. Guarding, dodging and countering become useless and a lot of your tactics will involve going in for a strike and then backing away only to repeat the process a few more times.
The Ultimate Edition adds a lot more to the game that was not present in the PC version. Online cooperative pit and tower challenges lets you and a friend brawl against hordes of enemies together, either on the same screen or over the internet. A new zeno rush mode that is basically a time trial of any level you pick from the story. New weapons, moves, and a shiny new user interface have all also been added. Any fan of the game will enjoy the new additions while new players won’t be dragged down by a difficult aiming system which was present in the PC version.
Audio & Graphics
The soundtrack in Zeno Clash is good and fits the fast pace mood when you are up against a bunch of people at once. The music is extremely well done and memorable. It isn’t catchy music, but rather music that is recognizable and helps create the pace of the fights. The graphics are also very nice for an arcade game with characters and animals that are oddly fascinating. The prehistoric punk design of the weapons and clothing is also very fascinating. Even though there are only 20 or so character models each one is very unique.
Achievements
The achievements found in Zeno Clash are extremely easy. The challenges can all be achieved in co-op online or splitscreen. It doesn’t add more enemies, so having a friend only makes it easier. The most annoying ones are “flame master” and “body launcher”. They will take time and there is no way to track how much you have already done, so just keep at it. Overall, Zeno Clash is a very easy 200 achievement points.
Almost Number One – 10g – Bring the hunter down to 1 health point in melee combat at the coast.
Flame Master – 10g – Capture 30 Fireballs with the torch.
Body Launcher – 10g – Throw an enemy into another 30 times.
Easter Egg – 10g – Find the secret easter egg.
Overview
Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition is a very fun game that has some extra co-op modes that weren’t present in the original PC version. Although the game is on the short side and the story isn’t that good, the gameplay and intriguing characters makes up for that. The added modes in this Ultimate Edition also increase the length and fun of the game. Overall, the length of the game is the only thing that hurts this title, it is fairly short even if you enjoy every minute of it. If you played the game on the PC the added modes don’t constitute the purchase, but if you haven’t played Zeno Clash before this game is a real treat; a short treat that can be gobbled up in about 4 to 6 hours depending on your skill and starting difficulty.
I give Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition
Pros
Fun gameplay
Extra co-op modes no present in the original
Intriguing world with interesting characters
Cons
The story isn’t that good
Singular focus during battles, you fight big groups but can only take them on 1 at a time even if 4 are attacking you at once. This leads to some frustration on harder difficulties.
Short and it seems to go by too fast, leaving you no time to soak up the game.
