I have some great news to share with you all today, I just received a shipment of the ultra cool Super Street Fighter IV pre-order iPhone covers !! A total of four iPhone covers will be available in certain countries around the world. As shown above this is what you get when you pre-order Super Street Fighter IV.
I’m really happy to share with you what the iPhone covers look and feel like on my iPhone, plus more !! 😉 watch and see the my true obsession with Capcom. (Yes I think I have major problems.).
For more information on the Pre-Order details click on the link here.
Enjoy the iPhone cover preview video below
Let us know what you think. Which cover will you be getting when you receive your pre-order ? Leave a comment below.
Puzzle Chronicles Publisher: Konami Developer: Infinite Interactive Platforms: Xbox 360 Release Date: April 21st, 2010
Story
“Enter the dark and savage lands of the Ashurin Empire as you battle to avenge the atrocities the Empire brought upon your tribesmen in Puzzle Chronicles. On your heroic quest to topple the Empire, fight fierce beasts and battle-hardened warriors in this new puzzle/role-playing hybrid game. Featuring an active puzzle combat mechanic, deep story, and robust character development, Puzzle Chronicles brings you into the next era of puzzle RPGs.” [Via Xbox.Com]
The game starts off with your village being ransacked by slavers and everyone in your tribe are sold as slaves. You play a barbarian who has been bought by a sorceress and she helps you in exchange for a simple favor. The favor is unknown in the beginning but all you want is revenge on those that took your village folk.
Gameplay
The game itself is pretty straight forward, go to the question mark to start the quest and then complete the quest. Where this game gets complicated is within the puzzles and how equipment and stats change the way the puzzle combat is played. Every block has a specific name, but they are said once during the tutorial and after that you will pretty much just refer to them as: “The star piece”, “skull piece”, and “normal piece”. Destroy skull pieces to collect rage, and collect 5 to attack. The actual concept is pretty complicated to explain, but easy enough to pick up and play once you see it for yourself.
Puzzle Chronicles puzzles are horizontal rather than vertical, and to anyone who has played other puzzle combat games this will come across as odd at first but you will quickly get used to it. Armor, weapons, and warbeasts continue to change the way the puzzles are played. All of your skills and items are kept with your character between online play and and story mode. The persistent hero enables you to get closer to your character as you continually play with him.
There are few small nuisances within the game however. The first and most annoying has to be the walking. When you go from one location to the next you must watch your character walk there, and it takes awhile. There is also no way to alter your course half way through, so if you make a mistake you must sit there and watch your character walk before you can pick somewhere else to go. The second nuisance is the slow pace of the game. Outside of the puzzles the game itself takes a while to get moving, and the developers try so hard to make it feel like a RPG that a lot of the quests are trivial and require a lot of reading that doesn’t actually develop the story at all.
Graphics
The Graphics in Puzzle Chronicles are nothing amazing. Cutscenes comprise of comic book like sequences. Areas are also plain, with a few buildings that you can go between to do quests, fight monsters, train your beast, shop, craft stuff, or play minigames. Although the game isn’t very appealing to the eyes, I found myself enjoying the character models. Though they aren’t top notch they aren’t that bad, though it depends on your point of view. I for one got used to the graphics as I played, my brother on the other hand only hated them more as he progressed. It wouldn’t have been that bad if all the art would have followed a general pattern, but it seemed as if 3 different artists created the game. The cutscenes, levels, and character models were all different and this caused a clash in the art. The clash, from a psychological stand point, could unsettle many players and interrupt your enjoyment of the game.
Achievements
A huge chunk of the achievements are story related or level related. The only two achievements that may take time are the “Conquering Hero” and “Deathbringer” achievements. “Conquering Hero” can be boosted online with a friend by having one of you quit 15 times, it counts as a win for the person who didn’t quit. The “Deathbringer” on the other hand could take time, especially since there is no in game list of awards and could be pretty much anything. If you are good at puzzle games, the full 200 shouldn’t be a big problem.
The Achievement List is:
Humble Beginnings – 5 – Finish the Tutorial map
Zombie Hunter – 10 – Defeat Zulac
Basilisk’s Bane – 10 – Defeat Iriki
Giant Slayer – 15 – Defeat Arokk
Story’s End – 25 – Defeat the Horned Daemon
Conquering Hero – 20 – Win 15 Ranked Xbox LIVE multiplayer games
Skillfully Done – 10 – Raise any one of your Stats to 25
Dungeon Delver – 10 – Unlock 10 Dungeons
Finder of Secrets – 15 – Uncover a secret location
Dog Trainer – 15 – Train your Warbeast to level 25
Craftsman – 15 – Forge 10 items
Deathbringer – 50 – Collect all 60 Awards
Overview
Although the graphics in Puzzle Chronicles harm the game severely, the gameplay itself is extremely fun. The concept of puzzle combat has been used before, but Puzzle Chronicles has many strong points floating around within it. The RPG elements are spot on with tons of customization that lets your character look awesome and enables you to solve the puzzles in your style. Puzzle Chronicles has tons of replay value and if you love this type of game then it is a good purchase. Even though the game concept already exists, Puzzle Chronicles still manages to make it into a fun experience.
I give Puzzle Chronicles 7.5 Capsules out of 10.
Pros
Character customization, usable items, companions and sidequests for tons of replay value.
Whatever mode you play in, Single Player, Versus, Quick Battle, or Mini-Games, your hero continues to acquire skills and experience.
Online play that incorporates your character and gives you experience and money while you are at it.
Cons
The graphics are lacking and the art clashes.
The game concept is already around.
Between puzzle sequences, the traveling gets boring and tedious.
A game that is adapted from a movie is usually not the best of games. Many gamers instantly throw them off their radar and look towards other grounds, but i must admit that the recent trailer showing off the customizable toy box has intrigued me. The ability to created your own levels and missions sounds fun, but it’s still a Toy Story game adaptation. Also, I’m 100% sure they misspelled “Customize”.
“The Passing” DLC’s mutation mode is definitely one of it’s stronger points. Ever since release the steam forums have been buzzing with news, and the code monkeys have found the names of some of the mutations within the Left 4 Dead 2 code. Some of them look quite fun. None of the modes from the list below are confirmed yet. Any guesses on what the mode names could mean?
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Chainsaws
First Man Out
Four Swords Men
Hardcore
Head Shots Only
Last Man One Earth
Linear Scavenge
M60s
Max Specials
Mutations 1
Mutations 2
Mutations 3
Mutations 4
Mutations 5
Mutations 6
Mutations 7
Mutations 8
Mutations 9
No Health Versus
Realism Versus
Temporary Health
Ultra Realism
Versus Survival
Vip Target
Guard the Gnome: Mutation9
-Coop
-Gnome spawns at the beginning, you need to to make it through the levels.
-Zombies go after the person carrying the gnome.
Bleeding Out: Mutation3
-Coop
-No Medkits, only pills.
-You start with temporary health that goes down fast.
-Lots of pills.
-Lots of random panic events.
In the latest trailer released by Capcom for Lost Planet 2, they have shown a brand new playable character, and that is the female pirate. Though ironically it seems her own flesh is stronger than any type of armor provided, because it seems that they are wearing quite skimpy clothing to be battling the elements and the monsters of Lost Planet. Though there may not be anything wrong with that eh? Nothing makes an enemy feel bad about itself worse than being defeated by a girl in short shorts.
Lost Planet 2 is set for release next month on May 11th.
Breath of Death VII: The Beginning Publisher: Zeboyd Games Developer: Zeboyd Games Platforms: Xbox 360 (Reviewed) Release Date: April 5th, 2010
Overview:
Remember the good old days? Before everything became extremely complicated and it took five presses of a button to even swing your sword at the enemy? I sure do and so does Zeboyd Games the makers of Breath of Death VII: The Beginning. Gone are the complicated procedures and back is the pure enjoyment of battling monsters and discovering the truth behind the darkness.
Story:
War never changes, but the ways in which we wage war can change the face of the globe entirely, including those who reside upon it’s surface. During the last great war, an unknown country had detonated a devastating weapon laying waste to the entire globe. Now only one thing could have survived the chaos, and I use the world survived lightly. This is due to the fact that everything in the game consists of the undead and mutated.
The undead have adapted to their lifestyles as well as can be expected, and sometimes better in most cases as they have much longer lifespans. However darkness has started to rise and many hostile creatures have started encroaching upon the undead, planning on making them permanently dead.
Enter a heroic skeleton named DEM, who is the strong silent time. Though this is because he lacks a tongue. He was traveling alone as all such heroes do, until he is forced into the party of three others. SARA a ghost witch who can read minds, and therefor speaks for DEM, much to his discomfort. LITA a tech-vampire who’s love for machinery only rivals her love of blood. Finally there is ERIK, a noble prince. The only problem is that he is also a zombie.
This unique party of heroes must travel the land in search of the secrets of the past, to unearth what they must do to change the future and prevent the evil from wiping out all un-life as they know it. Their journeys will take them from the dankest of caves, to the ruined cities of years gone by.
I greatly enjoy the story for the fact that there is a main twist in it the whole time. The entire world is already dead, and everything in the world is either undead, or a mutant. Even your own party. This spices up an otherwise standard storyline that most RPGs share and puts it’s own little spin on things.
Graphics & Design:
It is literally impossible to judge the graphics of the game by today’s standards. However the game is intended to be in retro style and it pulls that off perfectly. The levels and dungeons in which you fight are well designed splendidly with intricate details and mazes placed within the design.
These mazes are both cleverly done and sometimes quite hidden. There are times you will be traversing through an abandoned city only to find yourself surrounded by unpassable foliage. Thus begins a hedge maze of it’s own design. Sometimes you may find your way out, other times you will find yourself back where you started simply because of the design of the levels.
The monsters you will be battling themselves are well designed and only slightly suffer from palette swapping. Even then there are slight differences between the similar appearing monsters. Unlike other games which will swap palettes indiscriminately, BoDVII features monsters that are changed ever so slightly on top of their color. A looter may appear normal one moment, and appear as a devil looter the next with the color changed to red on the skin, however the devil will also have horns and a tail to go along with the standard appearance.
There is one small problem with the blocking of certain areas. In areas that you are approaching a hole or a pit that is inaccessible, the tiles on the floor closest to the hole will shade into darkness near the bottom. This is to provide the appearance that the hole is extremely deep and that the floor disappears down into it. However you are able to walk on these pieces of tile which are the walls of the hole.
By the way, if you noticed that the characters in the game look vaguely similar to those from another game, don’t worry. It was entirely intentional by the developers to have certain characters appear similar to heroes from other retro RPGs, up to you to decide who is who though.
Gameplay:
To start with, the gameplay features random battles. Don’t worry too much though because BoDVII has an entirely new feature that I wish many RPGs had thought of a long time ago. This feature is the limited amount of random battles that can happen in any one area. This feature makes complete sense and in the long run really helps the gameplay. Because if you think about it, there are only so many orcs that can live in a small village, or so many wolves in a forest. Once the battles remaining has reached None! you will not have to worry any further about random battles occurring.
However there is another feature that has been added that is quite nice. That feature is the Fight option in the menu, which triggers a battle immediately in any area where random battles can happen. This is useful for not only grinding levels. But also is useful for if you wish to take out all random battles in an area as soon as you enter, thus making the rest of the dungeon and exploration nice and enjoyable.
Battles themselves are fast paced and include a combo system. Certain skills usable by your party members will do much more damage depending on how large the combo counter is. When these skills are used however the combo gauge resets to zero. There is also the feature of Unite attacks which combine the abilities of two party members together to unleash a devastating attack on one or all the enemies that stand in your path to the truth.
Level advancement is quite unique as well and this is how the game offers true re-playability. This is due to the fact that after any character in your party gains a level, you have the option of selecting two different skills or stat boosts that your character will receive upon level up. This choice comes with your standard level up stats, and is considered a bonus. You can make your party members full single target destroyers, or have their skills focus more upon an entire group of monsters, it is all up to you to decide.
Characters can equip two different items, a weapon and a piece of armor. The weapons vary slightly depending on how many hits they deal out, increasing the combo counter. Or they also may hit a single target, various targets, or all targets on a map. This requires some thought on how you wish to also develop your characters and supply the equipment to benefit the abilities you have given them.
There is one problem here however, when you are purchasing weaponry and armor from stores in town, there is no option to sell back anything that is weaker or that you have double of, or simply will not need. This forces players to carry weaponry that they started with all the way to the end of the game. This is not a very large issue, however it does waste the potential to purchase better equipment that would have been obtainable if you could have sold your older equipment.
Last but not least, the humor in the game is top notch. Occasionally you will see something that appears to be familiar from another video game, but set up entirely to be the butt of a joke. During chats with your own team mates you will discover bits of dialogue which will mimic those from other video games and parody them. There are also situations and map designs themselves that will parody other games. One small example is the fact that there is a treasure chest behind a door at the beginning of the game, however there is no way to obtain the treasure chest and the game itself even tells you so.
Overall: Breath of Death VII: The Beginning is a great retro styled RPG and truly stands for what it believes in. Which is bringing back the feel of a retro game, as well as include many parodies and jokes relating towards other video games. There are a few small problems here and there but literally nothing that should steer you away from purchasing this game. Especially not when it only costs 80 MSP ($1).
You can have the best gaming consoles in town but you also need a good TV to play it on. Well, it’s coming. Real soon.
Samsung’s new 3DTV flat plasma’s and LCD’s are now due for release here in Australia and will hit the retail shops gradually starting April 26th 2010. Avaliable in sizes up to 55″ for LED baclit Series 7 LCDs, whopping 60″ for CCFL backlit Series 6 LCDs up to a monster 63″ for the Series 7 plasma.
Many other brands such as Panasonic, Sony, LG etc are also bringing 3D capable TV’s this year but currently, Samsung and Toshiba are the only ones that are capable of 2D to 3D conversion on the fly. This means that you don’t need special 3D blu-rays to get a taste of three dimensional experience. Yes, you can even watch Home and Away in 3D now. Effect won’t be as great and some sources might look worse or make you real dizzy. If so, just turn the function off and watch in regular 2D. Simple.
Active shutter glasses are needed to enjoy the 3D effect and 2 glasses come bundled as well as a full 3D version of Monsters vs Aliens Blu-ray title. But there is a catch with these 3D Blu-ray titles and it’s going to cost you as you will need to also purchase a 3D capable Blu-ray player to watch it in 3D. (It will properly display as a 2D movie in normal players however) If you have a bigger family, you can buy more glasses in various shapes and sizes also.
It would be very interesting to hook up the Wii, XBOX360 or the PS3 and try out the 2D to 3D feature with the games. Umm, Samsung, could you send us a review sample? Please…? Now I’m starting to regret my TV purchase last year…
Backbreaker isn’t our run of the mill football game. Sure you won’t be seeing some of your favorite teams in the roster line-up, nor even your favorite players. You will however see some outrageous hits and tackles. Because Backbreaker, the first game by Natural Motion uses a new engine called the Euphoria engine, which unlike modern day football games, calculates all the physical interactions occurring in the game, right then and there. There are no pre-set motions and captures for tackles and everything else in the game. Which means that nearly every single tackle and push will be unique.
Not only that but now the game has been pushed forward to a release date on June 1st. I don’t know about you but this could be a contender for one of the best football games of the year, rivaling the old standard of Madden.
Split/Second: Velocity has another video, this time showing off the game’s Power Plays, which are triggered and can destroy strategic pieces of scenery up ahead.
You can earn a Power Play by simply filling the bar on your HUD by performing certain tasks. You can then pick the optimum moment and then BOOM! Watch the video for more information
Below is a Microsoft press release that details the information on the Live Action Prequel to Alan Wake, Bright Falls.
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Turn down the lights but keep your flashlight and batteries handy, as Xbox 360 unveils “Bright Falls,” a six-part live action series that serves as a thrilling prequel to the mystery unfolding in “Alan Wake.” Each episode will bring you to the edge of your seat and spur your curiosity with the same eerie and suspenseful cliffhangers as in the game. TV fans will find that the series evokes the same ghostly chills as “Twin Peaks” did when it premiered 20 years ago this month.
The first two episodes of “Bright Falls” will be available for viewing exclusively on Xbox LIVE for Gold members starting April 25 and for all Xbox LIVE members on April 26, before debuting at BrightFalls.com on April 27. A new episode will be released each week thereafter, leading up to the shocking conclusion with the final two episodes on May 17.
Shot on location in Oregon, “Bright Falls” is directed by Phillip Van, whose short films have won over a dozen awards in festivals including the Sundance Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival and more. “Bright Falls” also features notable actors such as Tom Noonan who recently appeared on FX’s “Damages,” and Cooper Huckabee who joins the cast of HBO’s “True Blood” this season.
Fans of the highly anticipated psychological action thriller are invited to check-in for this thrill ride before Alan Wake’s search to unravel the mystery officially begins on May 14 in Europe, May 18 in the Americas, and May 27 in Japan. For those who can’t wait, you can secure your Bright Falls Bonus Pack by pre-ordering the game now from participating retailers. A must-have for anyone intrigued by the game, the pack includes Avatar gear like the “I Am Awake” T-shirt and an Xbox LIVE “Bright Falls” theme based on the game. For the ultimate “Alan Wake” collection, the Limited Collector’s Edition, designed to resemble a hardcover novel and packed with special bonus content, is the perfect addition to your bookshelf.
Bringing a new style of storytelling in this dynamic new title exclusively for Xbox 360, “Alan Wake” is developed by Remedy Entertainment, the renowned original developers of the successful “Max Payne” series. “Alan Wake” immerses players in an intense and expansive cinematic world that enables players to explore the hyper-realistic and interactive environments. “Alan Wake” is episodic-based with a deeply engaging and suspenseful storyline unveiling new twists and profound character revelations at every turn, rated T for Teen. For more information and a trailer for “Bright Falls,” please visit xbox.com/alanwake.
