I can't be the only person out there who has absolutely no interest whatsoever in playing Battlefield 3, or indeed any competitive multiplayer manshooter -- however beautifully it might be rendered (or, err, not).
It's easy to forget that other games release around this time of year amid all the online buzz surrounding the year's biggest launches. So here are five recently released titles that you might have missed -- and that you might particularly enjoy if you don't feel like playing soldiers right now. While none of them have the budget of Battlefield 3, they all have entertainment value in droves. Even better, buy all of them and you'll still have spent less than you would have on a new copy of DICE's shooter. Hooray for frugality!
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Best Video Game Monsters
The GamePro gang calls out their favorite video game monsters from the hulking Big Daddy and exploding babies to regenerating zombies and creepy mannequins. Do you have a favorite video game monster? Let us know on the comments below.
Modern Warfare 3 Leaked, Says Report
VentureBeat reports that a pirated copy of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is already being distributed illegally over the internet.
According to the article, the second disc of the PC version of Modern Warfare 3 was stolen from a shipping warehouse in Fresno California. While the article on VentureBeat doesn't clarify this, there doesn't appear to be a leak of the game on any torrent websites. Instead it seems as though multiple persons are selling illegal copies of the game.
The article says that Activision is aggressively pursuing anyone distributing the game -- as well as anyone caught playing it as one post on Craigslist warns: "Do Not Buy MWF3 Before Release Date...They Will Come Get You...(Everywhere)."
It's worth pointing out that even if one was able to get a hold of this alleged leaked copy, you can't play the game with just the second disc.
According to the article, the second disc of the PC version of Modern Warfare 3 was stolen from a shipping warehouse in Fresno California. While the article on VentureBeat doesn't clarify this, there doesn't appear to be a leak of the game on any torrent websites. Instead it seems as though multiple persons are selling illegal copies of the game.
The article says that Activision is aggressively pursuing anyone distributing the game -- as well as anyone caught playing it as one post on Craigslist warns: "Do Not Buy MWF3 Before Release Date...They Will Come Get You...(Everywhere)."
It's worth pointing out that even if one was able to get a hold of this alleged leaked copy, you can't play the game with just the second disc.
Review: The Book of Unwritten Tales (PC)
One of the best gags from The Secret of Monkey Island placed our scrappy hero behind a wall where he got into a series of preposterous events out of view. All players could see was onomatopoeia describing his exploits while the HUD showed him using bizarre objects until he emerged several seconds later with his pockets full of random, inevitably useful items. The new point-and-click adventure, The Book of Unwritten Tales, recycles this bit. It's still funny today, but far from original. This is endemic of the game as a whole; it's a loving tribute to the genre's heyday that cribs from the best, but fails to build on them.
The story surrounds a handful of characters whose fates intertwine with an elderly archaeologist that holds knowledge of an artifact that could end an ongoing war. Initially you play as a wood elf and a restless gnome looking for adventure, but the playable cast gradually expands. Most of the time you can only control one character at a time, but specific sections later allow you to toggle between characters at will.
Review: The Book of Unwritten Tales (PC)
It's a throwaway plot, but that's only a small part of the story. Characters are well written and exceptionally voice-acted by a European cast. One thing I really appreciated about the dialogue was that the lines you select are slightly different from what comes out the character's mouth (ala Mass Effect). It's subtle, but it makes things slightly more engaging when you've not already heard your next line verbatim.
More often than not the humor is clever with plenty of sharp satire, though there was a bit too much fourth wall breaking for my tastes and it occasionally crosses the line from homage to rip-off. Its numerous pop culture references are more akin to Shrek than The Princess Bride, but it's still nevertheless charming. My only major qualm with the script came in the last two minutes when the subtitles inexplicably reverted back to their native German before the incredibly abrupt, unsatisfying denouement.
The game looks beautiful with a smooth blend of 3D characters merged with 2D backdrops. Animations are lovely, making it especially rewarding when you crack a solution. It's a gorgeous world, too, with varied set-pieces and some creative character designs spread over its dozen-plus hour campaign.
Review: The Book of Unwritten Tales (PC)
In many ways The Book of Forgotten Tales feels like a throwback to vintage point-and-clicks, though its puzzles play things too safe, rarely straying from the "use everything with everything else" formula. Often the best brain teasers from classic games required you to think outside the box, but there's none of that here. Most of the solutions are sensible, but too obvious. That "a-ha!" moment you get from figuring out an unusual way of using a typical household item is lacking.
Making things easier, the streamlined interface allows you to highlight objects you can interact with and all actions are handled by one button. For better or worse, you can't attempt to use inventory objects where they won't work. On one hand this makes trial and error much quicker since you can tell by whether your cursor lights up if you can do anything. Unfortunately, one of the best parts from old-school point-and-clicks was listening to characters chastise your stupider suggestions, which is missed here.
For something called The Book of Unwritten Tales, it treads awfully familiar ground; yet it does so with moxie and high production values. It's generally knowing and polished enough that it can be forgiven for not innovating a great deal. The Book of Unwritten Tales feels like a great cover of what's come before, even if it can't quite capture its forebear's magic.
PROS: Smart, funny script; fantastic voice-acting; splendid presentation, clean interface; puzzles make sense.
CONS: Uninspired puzzles; some jokes over-explain themselves; a few translation issues.
The story surrounds a handful of characters whose fates intertwine with an elderly archaeologist that holds knowledge of an artifact that could end an ongoing war. Initially you play as a wood elf and a restless gnome looking for adventure, but the playable cast gradually expands. Most of the time you can only control one character at a time, but specific sections later allow you to toggle between characters at will.
Review: The Book of Unwritten Tales (PC)
It's a throwaway plot, but that's only a small part of the story. Characters are well written and exceptionally voice-acted by a European cast. One thing I really appreciated about the dialogue was that the lines you select are slightly different from what comes out the character's mouth (ala Mass Effect). It's subtle, but it makes things slightly more engaging when you've not already heard your next line verbatim.
More often than not the humor is clever with plenty of sharp satire, though there was a bit too much fourth wall breaking for my tastes and it occasionally crosses the line from homage to rip-off. Its numerous pop culture references are more akin to Shrek than The Princess Bride, but it's still nevertheless charming. My only major qualm with the script came in the last two minutes when the subtitles inexplicably reverted back to their native German before the incredibly abrupt, unsatisfying denouement.
The game looks beautiful with a smooth blend of 3D characters merged with 2D backdrops. Animations are lovely, making it especially rewarding when you crack a solution. It's a gorgeous world, too, with varied set-pieces and some creative character designs spread over its dozen-plus hour campaign.
Review: The Book of Unwritten Tales (PC)
In many ways The Book of Forgotten Tales feels like a throwback to vintage point-and-clicks, though its puzzles play things too safe, rarely straying from the "use everything with everything else" formula. Often the best brain teasers from classic games required you to think outside the box, but there's none of that here. Most of the solutions are sensible, but too obvious. That "a-ha!" moment you get from figuring out an unusual way of using a typical household item is lacking.
Making things easier, the streamlined interface allows you to highlight objects you can interact with and all actions are handled by one button. For better or worse, you can't attempt to use inventory objects where they won't work. On one hand this makes trial and error much quicker since you can tell by whether your cursor lights up if you can do anything. Unfortunately, one of the best parts from old-school point-and-clicks was listening to characters chastise your stupider suggestions, which is missed here.
For something called The Book of Unwritten Tales, it treads awfully familiar ground; yet it does so with moxie and high production values. It's generally knowing and polished enough that it can be forgiven for not innovating a great deal. The Book of Unwritten Tales feels like a great cover of what's come before, even if it can't quite capture its forebear's magic.
PROS: Smart, funny script; fantastic voice-acting; splendid presentation, clean interface; puzzles make sense.
CONS: Uninspired puzzles; some jokes over-explain themselves; a few translation issues.
First Footage of Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Film
It seems like the film is going to remain very faithful to the game, at least visually. I can appreciate that. It would be just as silly if the adaptation went in a serious, John Grisham type of direction, but boy oh boy does this movie look awful. I think that Phoenix Wright would have worked quite well as an animated series, a kind of Saturday morning cartoon Law & Order, but there are some things that don't translate into live-action. The haircuts should have been the first sign of trouble.
What We're Playing This Week: October 24 - 31
The Tank Commander | Kat
What GamePro Is Playing This Week
In the coming weeks, there will be about a million Battlefield 3 vs. Modern Warfare 3 comparisons on the Internet. But I only need one reason to keep playing Battlefield 3--tanks. Once I get to know these maps, the world will be mine. Mine.
What We're Playing This Week: October 24 - 31
Not shown: his arms ripping off his torso.
How Does Nathan Drake Still Have Arms?!| Chris
What GamePro Is Playing This Week
I've been playing the Uncharted series back to back to back these past few weeks. And this has been a really humbling experience in regards to my own rock climbing prowess. When I see Nathan Drake perform mantels and double dynos whilst being shot at, I wonder why the heck I'm struggling with a 5.11 C in the comfort of my own gym. Maybe it's because I don't have a theme song, I don't know.
What We're Playing This Week: October 24 - 31
What I Was Digging…Until My Xbox Stopped Generating Color | Patrick
What GamePro Is Playing This Week
I’ve never been a particularly huge fan of Batman aside from Rocksteady’s gritty Batman video games, which are among some of my favorite action games of the last few years. But about two hours into the new game, Arkham City, the color was mysteriously sapped out of my Xbox 360 (yeah, I already tried switching out the video cables), leaving me with an entirely monochromatic display. Guess it’s time to upgrade to the Xbox 360 S.
What We're Playing This Week: October 24 - 31
Screw Your Nintendo 3DS, I've Got Mage Gauntlet | McKinley
An awesome storyline, slick animation, cheap price tag, spunky female protagonist -- man, Mage Gauntlet has it all. Honestly, I don't even care about what I could be playing on the Nintendo 3DS or my broken PlayStation Portable right now. With apps like this, I could go all night on $3. BOOSH.
What We're Playing This Week: October 24 - 31
I Prefer the Prone Position | Tom
What GamePro Is Playing This Week
This could probably be my "what I'm playing" entry for the next nine months or so, considering how much time I spent online with the last Battlefield. But BF3 is superior, and the only question for me right now is how much will I level up my support class character before bothering with the others? I may get a few rounds in playing engineer in vehicle-heavy maps, but I just cant stop racking up those support assist points from the prone position.
What We're Playing This Week: October 24 - 31
100 Car Club Members. 100 Floors. 10,000 Zombies. | Julian
What GamePro Is Playing This Week
My Forza 4 Car Club hit the max 100 members this week -- a nice surprise, which has the added benefit of ensuring Rivals mode presents me with a whole bunch of new times to beat every day thanks to the competitive nature of my Car Club chums. Speaking of 100, I also hit the century mark in Tiny Tower -- I've been plugging away for weeks, and was happy to finally reach that milestone 100th floor. The other thing I've been playing is Dead Nation. I've had it for ages, but didn't play it properly until earlier this week, whereupon I went all-out. Brilliant fun, especially in co-op mode which my girlfriend also loves.
What We're Playing This Week: October 24 - 31
God Dammit | Will
What GamePro Is Playing This Week
Because Chris Holt is apparently an inherently awful person, I'm playing Shall We Date?: Heian Love for my OMFG review. Who would've thought that a dating sim based around honor-bound imperial folks in kimonos would be really, really boring? Oh wait, everyone would've thought that.
What We're Playing This Week: October 24 - 31
More Spiky Death Over Here! | Pete
What GamePro Is Playing This Week
I loved the concept of Dungeon Defenders when it launched on iOS -- tower defense plus action RPG sounded like a whole lot of win to me -- but the clunky touchscreen controls marred the experience a little. Now I can play it on my big TV with mouse and keyboard, my suspicions are confirmed: this is, without doubt, one of the most fun co-op multiplayer games I've ever played. Grab some friends and jump in -- you won't be disappointed, especially not for $15.
What We're Playing This Week: October 24 - 31
Finally | Justin
What GamePro Is Playing This Week
Now that Battlefield 3 is out and Modern Warfare and Skyrim are so close, Arkham City almost feels like yesterday's news. No one on my friend's list is playing it anymore, but I'm excited to finally get to try it myself. The game already reminds me (in a good way) of Assassin's Creed 2, but I have no idea how I'll find time to finish the main quest when so many side missions keep calling out to me.
What We're Playing This Week: October 24 - 31
Missile! | Olivia
What GamePro Is Playing This Week
With a quirky, overzealous cast of detectives, innocents, and ghosts, and an adventure story wrought with clever mystery and puzzle mechanics, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is a DS game that comes highly recommended. The game's stand-out character, a spunky, dedicated Pomeranian named Missile, is another highlight. Only the coldest of souls could play Ghost Trick and not be charmed by that little firecracker.
What GamePro Is Playing This Week
In the coming weeks, there will be about a million Battlefield 3 vs. Modern Warfare 3 comparisons on the Internet. But I only need one reason to keep playing Battlefield 3--tanks. Once I get to know these maps, the world will be mine. Mine.
What We're Playing This Week: October 24 - 31
Not shown: his arms ripping off his torso.
How Does Nathan Drake Still Have Arms?!| Chris
What GamePro Is Playing This Week
I've been playing the Uncharted series back to back to back these past few weeks. And this has been a really humbling experience in regards to my own rock climbing prowess. When I see Nathan Drake perform mantels and double dynos whilst being shot at, I wonder why the heck I'm struggling with a 5.11 C in the comfort of my own gym. Maybe it's because I don't have a theme song, I don't know.
What We're Playing This Week: October 24 - 31
What I Was Digging…Until My Xbox Stopped Generating Color | Patrick
What GamePro Is Playing This Week
I’ve never been a particularly huge fan of Batman aside from Rocksteady’s gritty Batman video games, which are among some of my favorite action games of the last few years. But about two hours into the new game, Arkham City, the color was mysteriously sapped out of my Xbox 360 (yeah, I already tried switching out the video cables), leaving me with an entirely monochromatic display. Guess it’s time to upgrade to the Xbox 360 S.
What We're Playing This Week: October 24 - 31
Screw Your Nintendo 3DS, I've Got Mage Gauntlet | McKinley
An awesome storyline, slick animation, cheap price tag, spunky female protagonist -- man, Mage Gauntlet has it all. Honestly, I don't even care about what I could be playing on the Nintendo 3DS or my broken PlayStation Portable right now. With apps like this, I could go all night on $3. BOOSH.
What We're Playing This Week: October 24 - 31
I Prefer the Prone Position | Tom
What GamePro Is Playing This Week
This could probably be my "what I'm playing" entry for the next nine months or so, considering how much time I spent online with the last Battlefield. But BF3 is superior, and the only question for me right now is how much will I level up my support class character before bothering with the others? I may get a few rounds in playing engineer in vehicle-heavy maps, but I just cant stop racking up those support assist points from the prone position.
What We're Playing This Week: October 24 - 31
100 Car Club Members. 100 Floors. 10,000 Zombies. | Julian
What GamePro Is Playing This Week
My Forza 4 Car Club hit the max 100 members this week -- a nice surprise, which has the added benefit of ensuring Rivals mode presents me with a whole bunch of new times to beat every day thanks to the competitive nature of my Car Club chums. Speaking of 100, I also hit the century mark in Tiny Tower -- I've been plugging away for weeks, and was happy to finally reach that milestone 100th floor. The other thing I've been playing is Dead Nation. I've had it for ages, but didn't play it properly until earlier this week, whereupon I went all-out. Brilliant fun, especially in co-op mode which my girlfriend also loves.
What We're Playing This Week: October 24 - 31
God Dammit | Will
What GamePro Is Playing This Week
Because Chris Holt is apparently an inherently awful person, I'm playing Shall We Date?: Heian Love for my OMFG review. Who would've thought that a dating sim based around honor-bound imperial folks in kimonos would be really, really boring? Oh wait, everyone would've thought that.
What We're Playing This Week: October 24 - 31
More Spiky Death Over Here! | Pete
What GamePro Is Playing This Week
I loved the concept of Dungeon Defenders when it launched on iOS -- tower defense plus action RPG sounded like a whole lot of win to me -- but the clunky touchscreen controls marred the experience a little. Now I can play it on my big TV with mouse and keyboard, my suspicions are confirmed: this is, without doubt, one of the most fun co-op multiplayer games I've ever played. Grab some friends and jump in -- you won't be disappointed, especially not for $15.
What We're Playing This Week: October 24 - 31
Finally | Justin
What GamePro Is Playing This Week
Now that Battlefield 3 is out and Modern Warfare and Skyrim are so close, Arkham City almost feels like yesterday's news. No one on my friend's list is playing it anymore, but I'm excited to finally get to try it myself. The game already reminds me (in a good way) of Assassin's Creed 2, but I have no idea how I'll find time to finish the main quest when so many side missions keep calling out to me.
What We're Playing This Week: October 24 - 31
Missile! | Olivia
What GamePro Is Playing This Week
With a quirky, overzealous cast of detectives, innocents, and ghosts, and an adventure story wrought with clever mystery and puzzle mechanics, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is a DS game that comes highly recommended. The game's stand-out character, a spunky, dedicated Pomeranian named Missile, is another highlight. Only the coldest of souls could play Ghost Trick and not be charmed by that little firecracker.
BioShock Infinite: How Occupy Wallstreet Has Actually Influenced it
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Irrational Games Creative Director and Co-Founder Ken Levine reveals that ongoing series of demonstrations have helped him craft certain parts of BioShock: Infinite's story. Levine notes that by observing the real-life demonstrations unfold on the news, he's been able to figure out how to develop the Vox Populi in the upcoming BioShock game.
Here's an excerpt from the interview:
"Ive been spending a lot of time watching Occupy Wall Street..." Levine says. "Leftist groups tend not to like authority; nobody in them tends to listen to it. So Occupy Wall Street has been helping me because I've been struggling to figure out how the Vox Populi get to the point in the demo. Throughout the game, you're actually watching them -- you see in the beginning of the game that they're a dead movement and a movement that really fails, and it picks up steam based upon your actions."
"Hopefully, Occupy Wall Street won't get to the point that the Vox Populi does," Levine continues, "but seeing it spread and taken more seriously, that's been interesting and really helpful."
Of course, this isn't the first time the BioShock series has been impacted by things going on in the real world; the original BioShock's story was also influenced by Russian philosopher Ayn Rand and objectivism.
Here's an excerpt from the interview:
"Ive been spending a lot of time watching Occupy Wall Street..." Levine says. "Leftist groups tend not to like authority; nobody in them tends to listen to it. So Occupy Wall Street has been helping me because I've been struggling to figure out how the Vox Populi get to the point in the demo. Throughout the game, you're actually watching them -- you see in the beginning of the game that they're a dead movement and a movement that really fails, and it picks up steam based upon your actions."
"Hopefully, Occupy Wall Street won't get to the point that the Vox Populi does," Levine continues, "but seeing it spread and taken more seriously, that's been interesting and really helpful."
Of course, this isn't the first time the BioShock series has been impacted by things going on in the real world; the original BioShock's story was also influenced by Russian philosopher Ayn Rand and objectivism.
OMFG You're Making Me Review: Shall We Date?： Heian Love
The iTunes App Store is, in many ways, one of the Information Age's many ghettos -- a rickety wooden flophouse looming over the street corner where "YouTube Comments Section Boulevard" and "Abandoned Social Network Avenue" meet. Despite its diverse variety of mixed media and time-eating apps, there's still a disparate divide in the quality and the promotion of its many, many titles. A good chunk of its releases are rarely given even a passing glance because of this, and they end up doomed to an unknown existence alongside the umpteenth Angry Birds rip-off and its microtransaction-based brethren.
For me, Shall We Date?: Heian Love was one of those apps -- a feudal Japanese dating sim that surreptitiously snuck under my radar, because, quite frankly, I never would've looked for it otherwise. The apps that pepper my iPhone's home screen are generally of the one-touch variety, and easy to pick up and play while trapped on public transit. The Shall We Date? series, which is a very real thing from Japanese iOS and e-book developer NTT Solmare, consistently follows a nameless, faceless heroine as she swoons over a series of wispy pretty-boys, and blah blah blah romance. It's not the kind of thing you usually see on my iTunes receipt, but hey, it was assigned to me as my OMFG review, and I'm all about venturing outside of my comfort zone. Hell, I was even thinking of wearing flip-flops next week, but one adventure at a time.
OMFG You're Making Me Review: Shall We Date?： Heian Love
OR DO I?
Shall We Date?: Heian Love is a very traditional visual novel game, meaning that it's primarily text-based with the occasional dialogue option thrown in for good measure. Cast as a meek maiden of some imperial Japanese court in the country's feudal era, you're asked to pursue one of five kimono-clad dudes to make kimono-clad babies with, including the court's emperor, your childhood friend, and, naturally, your uncle, because incest. As the app costs $4.99 -- already an admittedly high price-point for the App Store -- you're essentially paying a dollar per love interest, with an additional three introduced to you in the game's prologue, but then dangled over you as in-app purchases at the surprisingly nonsensical cost of another $6.99. You're essentially paying $12 to unlock every arguably interesting arc in this period piece, but can you really put a price-tag on love?
(Answer: Yes, especially if it's fake love that you're buying with an iTunes gift card that you could've spent on twelve other, better apps. S'matter with you?)
Because the option's just sitting there like an incestuous samurai elephant in the room (didn't think I'd type that this week), my first playthrough chronicled the romantic conquering of my uncle. Now, the game makes an interesting decision from the get-go in that it makes you select your potential love interest in its prologue, meaning you're stuck with your preferred bachelor until the story's completion, leaving no room for genre staples like love triangles and, god forbid, harems. That, matched with a maximum of two dialogue options per chapter, makes for a game with very little actual interactivity, even for a dating sim. After you choose your mate you're more or less waiting it out until the story's conclusion, and hoping you make the right decision when the next choice menu appears, which is always a 50/50 split. After choosing my uncle, it was more or less a waiting game of "Oh my, how far will this go?" proportions.
OMFG You're Making Me Review: Shall We Date?： Heian Love
Your love interest send you an e-mail after every chapter. You know, via fuedal Japanese wi-fi.
Spoiler alert: All the way, but -- shock, awe, etc. -- they're not blood related, so it's all A-okay. But, you know, still pretty darn creepy.
Honestly, Heian Love isn't a bad game -- it's just an overpriced and boring one. You know where the story's headed the moment you choose your partner in its preliminary chapter, and the characters, bless their melodramatic little hearts, are hardly interesting enough to warrant more than one or two total playthroughs. There's no music, voice acting, or sound effects to speak of, and the text is littered with tiny, but annoying, translation errors that lower the game's overall production values.
It's tough to recommend Heian Love, even as a Shall We Date? game (hell, a cursory glance at the developer's other games reveals Ninja Love, which sounds infinitely more interesting), but hey, if it's your cup of tea, I'm not one to stand in the way of romance. In fact, I prefer to stand pretty far out of romance's line of sight, where I can play Jetpack Joyride in peace, and not have to worry about that cute girl on the bus wondering what the hell I'm doing romancing some Heian era emperor on my goddamn iPhone.
For me, Shall We Date?: Heian Love was one of those apps -- a feudal Japanese dating sim that surreptitiously snuck under my radar, because, quite frankly, I never would've looked for it otherwise. The apps that pepper my iPhone's home screen are generally of the one-touch variety, and easy to pick up and play while trapped on public transit. The Shall We Date? series, which is a very real thing from Japanese iOS and e-book developer NTT Solmare, consistently follows a nameless, faceless heroine as she swoons over a series of wispy pretty-boys, and blah blah blah romance. It's not the kind of thing you usually see on my iTunes receipt, but hey, it was assigned to me as my OMFG review, and I'm all about venturing outside of my comfort zone. Hell, I was even thinking of wearing flip-flops next week, but one adventure at a time.
OMFG You're Making Me Review: Shall We Date?： Heian Love
OR DO I?
Shall We Date?: Heian Love is a very traditional visual novel game, meaning that it's primarily text-based with the occasional dialogue option thrown in for good measure. Cast as a meek maiden of some imperial Japanese court in the country's feudal era, you're asked to pursue one of five kimono-clad dudes to make kimono-clad babies with, including the court's emperor, your childhood friend, and, naturally, your uncle, because incest. As the app costs $4.99 -- already an admittedly high price-point for the App Store -- you're essentially paying a dollar per love interest, with an additional three introduced to you in the game's prologue, but then dangled over you as in-app purchases at the surprisingly nonsensical cost of another $6.99. You're essentially paying $12 to unlock every arguably interesting arc in this period piece, but can you really put a price-tag on love?
(Answer: Yes, especially if it's fake love that you're buying with an iTunes gift card that you could've spent on twelve other, better apps. S'matter with you?)
Because the option's just sitting there like an incestuous samurai elephant in the room (didn't think I'd type that this week), my first playthrough chronicled the romantic conquering of my uncle. Now, the game makes an interesting decision from the get-go in that it makes you select your potential love interest in its prologue, meaning you're stuck with your preferred bachelor until the story's completion, leaving no room for genre staples like love triangles and, god forbid, harems. That, matched with a maximum of two dialogue options per chapter, makes for a game with very little actual interactivity, even for a dating sim. After you choose your mate you're more or less waiting it out until the story's conclusion, and hoping you make the right decision when the next choice menu appears, which is always a 50/50 split. After choosing my uncle, it was more or less a waiting game of "Oh my, how far will this go?" proportions.
OMFG You're Making Me Review: Shall We Date?： Heian Love
Your love interest send you an e-mail after every chapter. You know, via fuedal Japanese wi-fi.
Spoiler alert: All the way, but -- shock, awe, etc. -- they're not blood related, so it's all A-okay. But, you know, still pretty darn creepy.
Honestly, Heian Love isn't a bad game -- it's just an overpriced and boring one. You know where the story's headed the moment you choose your partner in its preliminary chapter, and the characters, bless their melodramatic little hearts, are hardly interesting enough to warrant more than one or two total playthroughs. There's no music, voice acting, or sound effects to speak of, and the text is littered with tiny, but annoying, translation errors that lower the game's overall production values.
It's tough to recommend Heian Love, even as a Shall We Date? game (hell, a cursory glance at the developer's other games reveals Ninja Love, which sounds infinitely more interesting), but hey, if it's your cup of tea, I'm not one to stand in the way of romance. In fact, I prefer to stand pretty far out of romance's line of sight, where I can play Jetpack Joyride in peace, and not have to worry about that cute girl on the bus wondering what the hell I'm doing romancing some Heian era emperor on my goddamn iPhone.
Minecraft Convention MineCon is Sold Out
On his personal blog today and on the the MineCon home page, the event is now completely sold out:
MineCon is now sold out. Thank you to everyone who bought a ticket. We are now working hard to make the best event possible for all Minecraft fans.
The event's a little less than a month away now, so it's an impressive feat but sad news for procrastinators. Mojang hasn't revealed yet exactly how many people it took to sell out the show, but since tickets started at $100, we're guessing they garnered a large group of very faithful fans. Hopefully, if you wanted to go, you've already got your tickets squared away.
MineCon is now sold out. Thank you to everyone who bought a ticket. We are now working hard to make the best event possible for all Minecraft fans.
The event's a little less than a month away now, so it's an impressive feat but sad news for procrastinators. Mojang hasn't revealed yet exactly how many people it took to sell out the show, but since tickets started at $100, we're guessing they garnered a large group of very faithful fans. Hopefully, if you wanted to go, you've already got your tickets squared away.
Review: MSI GT683R
The following is reprinted with permission from PCWorld.com. For more laptop coverage, please visit PC World's lab section.
Review: MSI GT683R
MSI's latest gaming notebook, the MSI GT683R, will catch your eye with its flashy LEDs, but it'll keep you interested with its speedy performance. This gaming powerhouse is one of the first laptops to ship with Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560M graphics card, and it features all sorts of boosts such as MSI's Turbo Drive Engine technology (for overclocking) and Cooler Boost technology (for controlling the fans with a single touch).
Our review model, priced at $1450, came packed with a second-generation Intel Core i7-2630QM processor, a whopping 12GB of RAM (upgradable to 32GB), an Nvidia GeForce GTX 560M graphics card, and 1TB of hard-drive space spread over two drives. The GT683R also features a built-in 720p HD webcam, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, a DVD-RW drive, and 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium.
The GT683R performs quite well, even for the desktop replacement category. This should come as no surprise, considering the GT683R is designed for gamers. In PCWorld's WorldBench 6 benchmark tests, the GT683R scored an impressive 146. This is one of the fastest desktop replacement laptops we’ve tested, though not the fastest (that distinction goes to the Origin EON 17-S). It is perhaps best compared to the Dell XPS 17 3D.
The Nvidia GeForce 560M graphics card gave the GT683R a boost in our graphics tests. In our Far Cry 2 test (high-quality settings, 1920 by 1080 resolution), the GT683R managed a frame rate of 47 frames per second. By comparison, the Dell XPS 17 3D managed only 30.8 frames per second with the same settings.
The GT683R is housed in an average-looking black chassis. The notebook's cover is made of shiny black plastic and features some aerodynamic-looking molding with an MSI logo in the middle. It looks a bit cheap, but it does grow on you. The machine isn't exactly svelte: The system weighs around 7.5 pounds and is 2.16 inches thick.
The inside of the notebook is more attractive. The keyboard is full-size, with a number pad and island-style keys. The deck is shiny and gray, and features a honeycomb texture. Above the keyboard is a shield-shaped power button, along with several touch buttons: Turbo, extra cooling, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi toggles, Eco mode, and LED controls.
Review: MSI GT683R
That’s a pretty typical chassis, right? Until you turn the machine on, that is. The GT683R adds pizzazz with funky orange LED lightstrips--one is on the cover, plus two on either side of the screen and two on the front (below the keyboard) of the machine. The lights are bright, but are thankfully situated out of the way, so they won't bother you while you're working or gaming (though they will look pretty awesome to people sitting around you). MSI includes software for tweaking the lights (choosing different performance modes, say), but when I tried to use it, all I managed to get was an error message stating, "LED light manager not supported."
Port-wise, the GT863R is set up like the gaming machine/desktop-replacement that it is. Several of the key ports, such as ethernet, VGA, eSATA, and HDMI are located on the back of the machine, while the sides are dedicated to USB ports, card slots, and audio jacks. It has only four USB ports, though two are USB3.0, which is nice. There's a multi-in-one card reader (SD/MMC/MS/XD) on the left side, and microphone/headphone/line-in/line-out jacks on the right side.
The GT683R's keyboard is, as mentioned earlier, full-size with a number pad and island-style keys. The keyboard is mostly comfortable to type on--the keys are widely spaced and feature a nice amount of tactile feedback. Still, it's a little flimsier than I usually like, and therefore not ideal for lengthy typing sessions.
Review: MSI GT683R
Below the keyboard and slightly off-center is a medium-sized touchpad with a black matte surface. The touchpad isn't nearly as comfortable as the keyboard. It's ever-so-slightly too small, and the matte surface makes it difficult to move the mouse smoothly across the screen. Add a brushed aluminum rocker bar that's hard to press--instead of discrete mouse buttons--and it's generally not a fun experience.
The GT683R sports a glossy 15.6-inch full HD screen, which has a native resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels. The screen is nice and bright, and throws back surprisingly few reflections despite being glossy. Colors tend to look a little washed out, though--a little more contrast and darker blacks would be good. The screen is also a little too bright, even at the lowest brightness setting.
Because the GT683R is billed as a gaming machine, its speakers are slightly better than what you'll find in most laptops. Only slightly, though. The two HD speakers and the subwoofer make for decently loud and full sound, but it's still not loud enough to compete with regular desktop speakers. However, remember that the GT683R has line-in and line-out jacks, along with microphone/audio jacks, so you're not dependent on the built-in speakers.
MSI's GT683R is definitely a powerful machine, but its peripherals (built-in as they are) leave something to be desired. This is a desktop replacement, so it's likely you'll have an external mouse, keyboard, and even speakers, but it'd be nice if these felt like an option rather than a necessity.
Review: MSI GT683R
MSI's latest gaming notebook, the MSI GT683R, will catch your eye with its flashy LEDs, but it'll keep you interested with its speedy performance. This gaming powerhouse is one of the first laptops to ship with Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560M graphics card, and it features all sorts of boosts such as MSI's Turbo Drive Engine technology (for overclocking) and Cooler Boost technology (for controlling the fans with a single touch).
Our review model, priced at $1450, came packed with a second-generation Intel Core i7-2630QM processor, a whopping 12GB of RAM (upgradable to 32GB), an Nvidia GeForce GTX 560M graphics card, and 1TB of hard-drive space spread over two drives. The GT683R also features a built-in 720p HD webcam, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, a DVD-RW drive, and 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium.
The GT683R performs quite well, even for the desktop replacement category. This should come as no surprise, considering the GT683R is designed for gamers. In PCWorld's WorldBench 6 benchmark tests, the GT683R scored an impressive 146. This is one of the fastest desktop replacement laptops we’ve tested, though not the fastest (that distinction goes to the Origin EON 17-S). It is perhaps best compared to the Dell XPS 17 3D.
The Nvidia GeForce 560M graphics card gave the GT683R a boost in our graphics tests. In our Far Cry 2 test (high-quality settings, 1920 by 1080 resolution), the GT683R managed a frame rate of 47 frames per second. By comparison, the Dell XPS 17 3D managed only 30.8 frames per second with the same settings.
The GT683R is housed in an average-looking black chassis. The notebook's cover is made of shiny black plastic and features some aerodynamic-looking molding with an MSI logo in the middle. It looks a bit cheap, but it does grow on you. The machine isn't exactly svelte: The system weighs around 7.5 pounds and is 2.16 inches thick.
The inside of the notebook is more attractive. The keyboard is full-size, with a number pad and island-style keys. The deck is shiny and gray, and features a honeycomb texture. Above the keyboard is a shield-shaped power button, along with several touch buttons: Turbo, extra cooling, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi toggles, Eco mode, and LED controls.
Review: MSI GT683R
That’s a pretty typical chassis, right? Until you turn the machine on, that is. The GT683R adds pizzazz with funky orange LED lightstrips--one is on the cover, plus two on either side of the screen and two on the front (below the keyboard) of the machine. The lights are bright, but are thankfully situated out of the way, so they won't bother you while you're working or gaming (though they will look pretty awesome to people sitting around you). MSI includes software for tweaking the lights (choosing different performance modes, say), but when I tried to use it, all I managed to get was an error message stating, "LED light manager not supported."
Port-wise, the GT863R is set up like the gaming machine/desktop-replacement that it is. Several of the key ports, such as ethernet, VGA, eSATA, and HDMI are located on the back of the machine, while the sides are dedicated to USB ports, card slots, and audio jacks. It has only four USB ports, though two are USB3.0, which is nice. There's a multi-in-one card reader (SD/MMC/MS/XD) on the left side, and microphone/headphone/line-in/line-out jacks on the right side.
The GT683R's keyboard is, as mentioned earlier, full-size with a number pad and island-style keys. The keyboard is mostly comfortable to type on--the keys are widely spaced and feature a nice amount of tactile feedback. Still, it's a little flimsier than I usually like, and therefore not ideal for lengthy typing sessions.
Review: MSI GT683R
Below the keyboard and slightly off-center is a medium-sized touchpad with a black matte surface. The touchpad isn't nearly as comfortable as the keyboard. It's ever-so-slightly too small, and the matte surface makes it difficult to move the mouse smoothly across the screen. Add a brushed aluminum rocker bar that's hard to press--instead of discrete mouse buttons--and it's generally not a fun experience.
The GT683R sports a glossy 15.6-inch full HD screen, which has a native resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels. The screen is nice and bright, and throws back surprisingly few reflections despite being glossy. Colors tend to look a little washed out, though--a little more contrast and darker blacks would be good. The screen is also a little too bright, even at the lowest brightness setting.
Because the GT683R is billed as a gaming machine, its speakers are slightly better than what you'll find in most laptops. Only slightly, though. The two HD speakers and the subwoofer make for decently loud and full sound, but it's still not loud enough to compete with regular desktop speakers. However, remember that the GT683R has line-in and line-out jacks, along with microphone/audio jacks, so you're not dependent on the built-in speakers.
MSI's GT683R is definitely a powerful machine, but its peripherals (built-in as they are) leave something to be desired. This is a desktop replacement, so it's likely you'll have an external mouse, keyboard, and even speakers, but it'd be nice if these felt like an option rather than a necessity.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Rumour: Is Assassin’s Creed’s Ezio Coming To Soul Calibur?
Joystiq has just received a photo from an ‘anonymous tipster’, claiming that Ezio Auditore de Firenze from Assassin’s Creed is featured in Namco Bandai’s upcoming Soul Calibur 5.
If you click through the link, you’ll see a photograph, taken at a recent tournament, where a Beta version of Soul Calibur V was being shown.
We’re inclined to believe the rumour. Far, far stranger things have happened in the series, which has become known for its guest fighters. Both Yoda and Darth Vader featured in Soul Calibur IV, and I remember Link being incredibly overpowered in the Gamecube version of Soul Calibur II.
We’ve reached out to Ubisoft for confirmation and will update if we hear anything further.
If you click through the link, you’ll see a photograph, taken at a recent tournament, where a Beta version of Soul Calibur V was being shown.
We’re inclined to believe the rumour. Far, far stranger things have happened in the series, which has become known for its guest fighters. Both Yoda and Darth Vader featured in Soul Calibur IV, and I remember Link being incredibly overpowered in the Gamecube version of Soul Calibur II.
We’ve reached out to Ubisoft for confirmation and will update if we hear anything further.
Behold: A New Rubik’s Cube World Champion
Last weekend, a new Rubik’s cube world champion was crowned in Bangkok. Polish speedcuber Michal Pleskowicz won the event by completing a Rubik’s Cube in 8.65 seconds, almost a second faster than the first runner-up, American Rowe Hessler, who clocked in at 9.56 seconds.
Good gravy. That is some fast ‘cubing. The event was held at the Baiyoke Sky Hotel in Bangkok, and hosted over 350 competitors from over 40 countries. The championship took place over a number of different events with a number of different cubes, with timed events, number of moves, and more. The full list of events can be found on the championship webpage.
I’m surprised that there wasn’t a category for solving Rubik’s cubes one-handed while playing Guitar Hero. I bet these guys could hack it. And while we’re talking Rubik’s Cubes, check out this video of Yumu Tabuchi solving 5 Rubik’s Cubes in 1:52.
Good gravy. That is some fast ‘cubing. The event was held at the Baiyoke Sky Hotel in Bangkok, and hosted over 350 competitors from over 40 countries. The championship took place over a number of different events with a number of different cubes, with timed events, number of moves, and more. The full list of events can be found on the championship webpage.
I’m surprised that there wasn’t a category for solving Rubik’s cubes one-handed while playing Guitar Hero. I bet these guys could hack it. And while we’re talking Rubik’s Cubes, check out this video of Yumu Tabuchi solving 5 Rubik’s Cubes in 1:52.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
First Screens Of World Of Warcraft’s Mists Of Pandaria
I honestly was not expecting Mists of Pandaria to really be the next expansion pack for World of Warcraft, but here we are, showing off the first official screenshots. Where the female pandas at?
I’m guessing the female pandas aren’t quite ready for prime time, hence the total panda sausage fest going on in these screenshots. If you look closely you’ll see some of the moves the new Monk class will be kicking when the expansion pack sets them fee.
I’m guessing the female pandas aren’t quite ready for prime time, hence the total panda sausage fest going on in these screenshots. If you look closely you’ll see some of the moves the new Monk class will be kicking when the expansion pack sets them fee.
Next Portal 2 Update Coming Out Early Next Year, Includes Better Map Editor
The second big update to Portal 2 will feature “an easy to use in-game map editor that will let users design, build and share their own single-player and co-op test chambers with the community, who will be able to view, play and vote on them with a simple click,” Valve revealed today. It will be out in early 2012
This Is Blizzard DOTA’s Character-Packed Trailer
It’s a Blizzfan’s wet dream come true as iconic characters from various universes take armies into battle against each other in Blizzard DOTA. While it’s known that Blizzard’s working on a MOBA-style game, no one would’ve predicted that it was going to look anything like this. Watch the trailer that accompanied the announcement here.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West PS3 Demo Impressions
Enslaved has received a fair few of positive previews in the last couple of weeks, so I decided to check it out for myself when they released a demo onto the PSN the other week. The download is a bit over 1GB.
The demo is pretty short, but I believe it does provides an overall representation of what te full game will be like when it releases next week. First up, I didn't enjoy it.
The demo is, I believe, the first level in the game. You're not set up with any back story, and have no idea who the hell you are, it just jumps right in there. The game has received a lot of praise for its use of colour. I strongly disagree with every one of those people. Sure, everything is bright, but when it's all tinted green, it may as well be brown.
You are introduced to the basic enemies, some simple mech warriors of some sort. These provide absolutely no challenge whatsoever, which is, I have to admit what let me down about the demo. Sure, it's the first level, but they should still be able to land a few hits on me. The game teaches you how to pull of some cool moves, but let’s be honest; button mashing is just as effective, which is a bit frustrating.
Enslaved is seemingly as much about platforming as it is about combat though. Unfortunately, this is a bit of a letdown as well. In the demo you really need to get to an escape pod, or you're dead. So it's not surprising the sort of risks you have to take to get to one, such as climbing on the wings of the plane you are on.
The developer has tried to make everything feel very cinematic; the comparisons to Uncharted have already begun en masse. But they just haven't nailed it. In the demo I felt completely detached from the action. Now, I didn't like Uncharted 2 that much, but one thing that Naughty Dog did really well was making the player feel like it was them pulling of the on-screen moves. However, Ninja Theory have failed big time at this, perhaps the reason for this is that everything lacks polish.
The character models for example are quite blocky, the red headed chick who they cloned from Heavenly Sword looks pretty good, but her locks do tend to go through her back on occasion. Apart from the overly green environment and blocky character models, the graphics are fairly sharp everywhere else. However, every time something explosive happened on screen, the frame rate would drop noticeably, and frame tearing came into play far more often than is acceptable this late in a consoles life cycle.
Other complaints would be that the camera is set too close to your character during combat. When I played GOW 3 early this year, I generally felt that the camera was positioned too far back. However, after playing enslaved, I see that I was wrong, it was perfect.
One last thing, there was an interview with one of the Ninja Theory developers the other day in which they claimed that Uncharted 2 had over the top animation. One of the things they mentioned in particular was facial animation. I have to say this, and I feel I am not exaggerating; I have not played a game with worse facial animation than Enslaved on PS3. At the start of the demo it's OK, but the very last thing you see before it cuts to a promo video is simply appalling.
All in all, the demo does not do a good job of convincing me to purchase the game. Its received some good previews/reviews so far from people who have played more than just the demo, so maybe it gets better. But from what I've played, I honestly wouldn't give it more than a 6/10.
Graphics: 7/10 - Overly green, frame drops, frame tearing, poor facial animation
Sound: ?/10 - Can't really comment on sound from the Demo, voice acting is decent, will reserve judgement for now
The demo is pretty short, but I believe it does provides an overall representation of what te full game will be like when it releases next week. First up, I didn't enjoy it.
The demo is, I believe, the first level in the game. You're not set up with any back story, and have no idea who the hell you are, it just jumps right in there. The game has received a lot of praise for its use of colour. I strongly disagree with every one of those people. Sure, everything is bright, but when it's all tinted green, it may as well be brown.
You are introduced to the basic enemies, some simple mech warriors of some sort. These provide absolutely no challenge whatsoever, which is, I have to admit what let me down about the demo. Sure, it's the first level, but they should still be able to land a few hits on me. The game teaches you how to pull of some cool moves, but let’s be honest; button mashing is just as effective, which is a bit frustrating.
Enslaved is seemingly as much about platforming as it is about combat though. Unfortunately, this is a bit of a letdown as well. In the demo you really need to get to an escape pod, or you're dead. So it's not surprising the sort of risks you have to take to get to one, such as climbing on the wings of the plane you are on.
The developer has tried to make everything feel very cinematic; the comparisons to Uncharted have already begun en masse. But they just haven't nailed it. In the demo I felt completely detached from the action. Now, I didn't like Uncharted 2 that much, but one thing that Naughty Dog did really well was making the player feel like it was them pulling of the on-screen moves. However, Ninja Theory have failed big time at this, perhaps the reason for this is that everything lacks polish.
The character models for example are quite blocky, the red headed chick who they cloned from Heavenly Sword looks pretty good, but her locks do tend to go through her back on occasion. Apart from the overly green environment and blocky character models, the graphics are fairly sharp everywhere else. However, every time something explosive happened on screen, the frame rate would drop noticeably, and frame tearing came into play far more often than is acceptable this late in a consoles life cycle.
Other complaints would be that the camera is set too close to your character during combat. When I played GOW 3 early this year, I generally felt that the camera was positioned too far back. However, after playing enslaved, I see that I was wrong, it was perfect.
One last thing, there was an interview with one of the Ninja Theory developers the other day in which they claimed that Uncharted 2 had over the top animation. One of the things they mentioned in particular was facial animation. I have to say this, and I feel I am not exaggerating; I have not played a game with worse facial animation than Enslaved on PS3. At the start of the demo it's OK, but the very last thing you see before it cuts to a promo video is simply appalling.
All in all, the demo does not do a good job of convincing me to purchase the game. Its received some good previews/reviews so far from people who have played more than just the demo, so maybe it gets better. But from what I've played, I honestly wouldn't give it more than a 6/10.
Graphics: 7/10 - Overly green, frame drops, frame tearing, poor facial animation
Sound: ?/10 - Can't really comment on sound from the Demo, voice acting is decent, will reserve judgement for now
Double Standards: The Taliban Controversy
WARNING: This post may contain material that can be considered fanboyish, mature language, and common sense. You have been warned.
With the recent backlash about a single name - Taliban, the media is giving much unneeded flack to the game industry. We as gamers should be appalled by the media, especially when they basically force a change in a video game that affects us all. Yeah its just a name, but forcing the change is a violation of our rights and freedoms to say what we want. We should be fighting the media, supporting our love of gaming and the proud men and women who make those games.
Now, looking back at other games there are many other nationalities that are labeled as the 'bad guy' in the game, Germans, Russians, Japanese, Religions, Gods, you name it. What makes the Taliban any different? Because they are killing Americans, thats why, the only reason why the media and moms who have nothing better to do, is complain about a game that you can kill Americans. Whoop-Dee-Fuckin'-Doo. But it is ok for Americans to kill every other nation. I see a double standard here, dont you my fellow gamers?
What should we do about the name change, you ask - I think we should rise up, and speak our mind to the media, contact EA and tell them we want the Taliban in the game, it is their right to have it and they should not listen to the controversy, or the media about the matter, it is us, the gamers, the ones who support them financially that should have the final say, not some news source that just wants ratings, it should not be some woman who has never picked up a controller in her life, it should be the gamers, no one else. WHOS WITH ME?
From this point on, I want every one of you to help bring this game back to the way the devs wanted it, whether it be contacting the devs, or contacting the media and express the right the devs have to freedom of speech, the freedom to do as they want. This is OUR territory, we will not let them take it from us.
With the recent backlash about a single name - Taliban, the media is giving much unneeded flack to the game industry. We as gamers should be appalled by the media, especially when they basically force a change in a video game that affects us all. Yeah its just a name, but forcing the change is a violation of our rights and freedoms to say what we want. We should be fighting the media, supporting our love of gaming and the proud men and women who make those games.
Now, looking back at other games there are many other nationalities that are labeled as the 'bad guy' in the game, Germans, Russians, Japanese, Religions, Gods, you name it. What makes the Taliban any different? Because they are killing Americans, thats why, the only reason why the media and moms who have nothing better to do, is complain about a game that you can kill Americans. Whoop-Dee-Fuckin'-Doo. But it is ok for Americans to kill every other nation. I see a double standard here, dont you my fellow gamers?
What should we do about the name change, you ask - I think we should rise up, and speak our mind to the media, contact EA and tell them we want the Taliban in the game, it is their right to have it and they should not listen to the controversy, or the media about the matter, it is us, the gamers, the ones who support them financially that should have the final say, not some news source that just wants ratings, it should not be some woman who has never picked up a controller in her life, it should be the gamers, no one else. WHOS WITH ME?
From this point on, I want every one of you to help bring this game back to the way the devs wanted it, whether it be contacting the devs, or contacting the media and express the right the devs have to freedom of speech, the freedom to do as they want. This is OUR territory, we will not let them take it from us.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Lack of Variety in Modern gaming.
Take a look at todays games. Not much variety is there? Back when I was younger there were lot's of variety. Now it seems like all developers are making First person shooters. I don't understand why, they have so many options. So why so many shooters? To me it seems like the same experience over and over its like having the same thing for dinner every day.
Developers need to change it up, just think back in the PS2 era, how many different games they were. You had Action, RPG'S, Action RPG's, Strategy, Strategy RPG'S, Platformers, Fighting games, as well as first person shooters. Sure you have some today but no ware near the amounts that we had back then, now all the big name games are shooters. I think it's the gamers faults. I would like to really know what happen? Did people suddenly just lose interest in variety? This is one of the reasons why my main gaming system is the Nintendo Wii because to me it has the right amount of everything. when you look at whats on the other two system you get a crap load of first person shooters.
I miss the old days, I only wish things will go back to the way they used to be. Developers need to fix this major problem, gamers want variety, different games need to be made, not just the first person shooter gamers. Gamers like me want to have a different experience with every game. What does the future hold? More variety? Or will the reign of the First Person Shooter last forever? Only time will tell.
Developers need to change it up, just think back in the PS2 era, how many different games they were. You had Action, RPG'S, Action RPG's, Strategy, Strategy RPG'S, Platformers, Fighting games, as well as first person shooters. Sure you have some today but no ware near the amounts that we had back then, now all the big name games are shooters. I think it's the gamers faults. I would like to really know what happen? Did people suddenly just lose interest in variety? This is one of the reasons why my main gaming system is the Nintendo Wii because to me it has the right amount of everything. when you look at whats on the other two system you get a crap load of first person shooters.
I miss the old days, I only wish things will go back to the way they used to be. Developers need to fix this major problem, gamers want variety, different games need to be made, not just the first person shooter gamers. Gamers like me want to have a different experience with every game. What does the future hold? More variety? Or will the reign of the First Person Shooter last forever? Only time will tell.
young7yang (User) Member 5 bubbles 5 in CRank Score: 23430 "" PM Add as friend Track Ignore Report Catherine Demo Playthrough
This game is a work of art. imagine if you will for those who can remember a mix between Inteligent Cube
(I-CUBE), Sakura Wars Taisen, Nightmare on Elm Street and Lain for those of you who can remember this anime.. put all that into a blender and you get Catherine. This is an edited Version of the demo Play through to give you an idea of why this game is worth importing if they don't bring it state side.
In any case i'd like to know what you guys think of this future gem? for me its a must have as soon as funds permit!
(I-CUBE), Sakura Wars Taisen, Nightmare on Elm Street and Lain for those of you who can remember this anime.. put all that into a blender and you get Catherine. This is an edited Version of the demo Play through to give you an idea of why this game is worth importing if they don't bring it state side.
In any case i'd like to know what you guys think of this future gem? for me its a must have as soon as funds permit!
NGP no 3D-no worry.
When thinking about Sony's NGP everyone seems to be somewhat concerned about the lack of announced 3D support, however, this decision not to include a 3d capable screen on Sony's new portable is not a mistake on Sony's part. Think about it for a second please, Sony must have made the decision not to include 3D within the NGP hardware itself along with all of the other features included in the console in order to keep the cost down. Besides that Sony has a new 3D head mounted display on the horizon that they showcased at this years CES, although it has yet to be released is not a worry to Sony, being that the NGP is not scheduled to be released till later this year. By the time the NGP is released the 3D head-mounted display should be available. also depending on the refresh rate of the NGP's screen (see link) www.trioviz.com you could purchase a pair of passive 3D glasses and still get a 3D experience without 3D being a part of the hardware itself. Even more so, if you opted to go with Sony's 3d head-mounted display, which I think is great, then you would have a virtual reality experience like no other given the innovations of Sony's NGP's technology to look around in the game world from the perspective of the on screen avatar just by moving around the NGP unit itself. so all of those concerned should not throw in the towel where Sony is concerned they are not out of this race yet.
Console Disappointments: PS3 Home
This isn’t the usual expressions of negativity made by people who have either never tried it, only dismissed it after a few visits as it was just starting up or refuse to even go near it because of, “broken promises” such as the trophy room. No, this is just some general complaining and criticisms from someone who does use it often.
First up is scale and quality of virtual items. The pleasant surprise of getting a model of the knight in White Knight Chronicles which turned out to be eight feet tall, to the disappointment of paying for a model of a Resistance Goliath that didn’t come up to my avatar’s ankle. In-between there’s monsters from Lost Planet scaled to around knee height. Another more recent example is a set of hover bikes used in a mini-game for the Xi online event done last year with the various spaces brought back as a “museum.” The bikes 1-1 scale virtual world models when they cold have been smaller, yet presented on wooden bases and supported, the holographic one aside, on metal poles. There’s also a planets of our solar system that are baseless globes of various sizes which just sit on the ground where they could and should have been floating. Much like earlier offered Earth and Sun models which also light up which together are more expensive than the other eight or nine worlds combined.
Don’t know if Pluto’s included, but that’s besides the point.
There’s also an equal quaintly of inequality with Home personal spaces. Though most share the same baseline price, the amount of room you get, general setting and features such as mini-games or background animations is often up in the air. And where you get something like the London Pub or the Waterfall Terrance, you also find places like the Dragon’s Lair or Lucas Art’s Pirate ship space, the last which managed to be both bland and unlivable with constant annoying sounds. The Ratchet and Clank space has multi-stories, but comes off as cramped and confused, where the FFXIII seems a half thought out and confined thought. Another exploitation of the franchise’s name.
And then there are instances like the Hollywood and new Loot Yacht spaces. Both offering media streaming, yet where the more recently introduced yacht space has had regular content updates and even hosted live streaming events, videos offered in the Hollywood space are exactly what they were when it was first sold.
The point I’m trying to get across with all this is, despite Home still being a work in progress even after all this time, its in sore need of a set of standards and fully thought out ideas before final implementation. Much like Nintendo use to do in the NES/SNES days if only because the whole of Home represents the Playstaion’s brand name.
I know that’s very much a mixed bag, but still, just saying.
And as for what they should be doing to set the bar, the Yacht space is a good example. As well as a working wall screen monitor it offers a sundial that literally sets the time of day, active light switches, as well as unlockables which are activated by certain conditions. Getting seagulls after so many visitors are invited. Buying certain items, a dolphin or whale statue, and placing them in the space. And while this last may sound like a grab for extra cash, its actually an opportunity to further open aspects of a virtual world which currently has a very mundane reputation.
Again looking at the Xi hover bikes, full scale ornaments, its pretty obvious that with just a bit more effort they could have been made into interactive items. Either as a sidesaddle avatar chair or one which is straddled in typical bike ridding manner. Given a six-axis tilt option or made into a cheap dodge-em mini-game with each model having its own. Or more extravagantly, it could be even be a full race game with a track set in the theme of the personal space its in. Given that different companies make different Home spaces and items – my guess for the differences for the Hollywood and Yacht spaces media content – this is where standardization from Sony would fit in.
First up is scale and quality of virtual items. The pleasant surprise of getting a model of the knight in White Knight Chronicles which turned out to be eight feet tall, to the disappointment of paying for a model of a Resistance Goliath that didn’t come up to my avatar’s ankle. In-between there’s monsters from Lost Planet scaled to around knee height. Another more recent example is a set of hover bikes used in a mini-game for the Xi online event done last year with the various spaces brought back as a “museum.” The bikes 1-1 scale virtual world models when they cold have been smaller, yet presented on wooden bases and supported, the holographic one aside, on metal poles. There’s also a planets of our solar system that are baseless globes of various sizes which just sit on the ground where they could and should have been floating. Much like earlier offered Earth and Sun models which also light up which together are more expensive than the other eight or nine worlds combined.
Don’t know if Pluto’s included, but that’s besides the point.
There’s also an equal quaintly of inequality with Home personal spaces. Though most share the same baseline price, the amount of room you get, general setting and features such as mini-games or background animations is often up in the air. And where you get something like the London Pub or the Waterfall Terrance, you also find places like the Dragon’s Lair or Lucas Art’s Pirate ship space, the last which managed to be both bland and unlivable with constant annoying sounds. The Ratchet and Clank space has multi-stories, but comes off as cramped and confused, where the FFXIII seems a half thought out and confined thought. Another exploitation of the franchise’s name.
And then there are instances like the Hollywood and new Loot Yacht spaces. Both offering media streaming, yet where the more recently introduced yacht space has had regular content updates and even hosted live streaming events, videos offered in the Hollywood space are exactly what they were when it was first sold.
The point I’m trying to get across with all this is, despite Home still being a work in progress even after all this time, its in sore need of a set of standards and fully thought out ideas before final implementation. Much like Nintendo use to do in the NES/SNES days if only because the whole of Home represents the Playstaion’s brand name.
I know that’s very much a mixed bag, but still, just saying.
And as for what they should be doing to set the bar, the Yacht space is a good example. As well as a working wall screen monitor it offers a sundial that literally sets the time of day, active light switches, as well as unlockables which are activated by certain conditions. Getting seagulls after so many visitors are invited. Buying certain items, a dolphin or whale statue, and placing them in the space. And while this last may sound like a grab for extra cash, its actually an opportunity to further open aspects of a virtual world which currently has a very mundane reputation.
Again looking at the Xi hover bikes, full scale ornaments, its pretty obvious that with just a bit more effort they could have been made into interactive items. Either as a sidesaddle avatar chair or one which is straddled in typical bike ridding manner. Given a six-axis tilt option or made into a cheap dodge-em mini-game with each model having its own. Or more extravagantly, it could be even be a full race game with a track set in the theme of the personal space its in. Given that different companies make different Home spaces and items – my guess for the differences for the Hollywood and Yacht spaces media content – this is where standardization from Sony would fit in.
The broken submission system of N4G
Following the submission of this post, I received any number of reports based on it. Some of them your standard "Lame" or "Spam" reports given. Based on the actual content of the story, I can understand those reports.
But then I get to the next few. First was a "Bad Editing" report because I had Youtube as the main source URL. Admittedly that was my error as that's NOT where I first discovered the video, it was actually on Facebook. So I switched the URL's.
Then received another Bad Editing report citing that Facebook wasn't allowed. So, I read up on the guidelines and in fact it doesn't say anywhere that sites like Facebook are not allowed, which I stated in my disagree vote. These votes aren't really that big a deal, this kind of thing happens all the time and is nothing really to complain about.
But the next reports kind of irked a bit. I received about 3 "Duplicate story" reports, with url links to a story posted almost 25 minutes AFTER my posting. How is it a duplicate story if I posted mine first? And in one of the reports, some said I didn't use an official image. What? Official image? So the stories where the submitter uses stock photos of random women with large breasts for a story that vaguely references women is somehow official? Where in the guidelines is the requirement "must use an official image?"
Now that I've gone on my roundabout rant, the focus of this blog is simply that the report or approve system is terribly broken. I'm sure there have been many blogs on this, and mine isn't any different than them, but it's just the truth. It's akin to the User Rating system of Metacritic. It really needs an overhaul.
You get people thinking they're N4G's editors or something and yet they don't even know the basic rules laid out in the guidelines about submissions. The post I made was purely for the hilarity of the content, so it's no surprise that individuals that have a jaded opinion about the source of the content wouldn't like it, but should not the submission of anything be approved or unapproved based on an objective process and not a subjective one? That's just my 2 cents. Everyone knows that N4G is not a perfect website, that doesn't make a bad one though.
But then I get to the next few. First was a "Bad Editing" report because I had Youtube as the main source URL. Admittedly that was my error as that's NOT where I first discovered the video, it was actually on Facebook. So I switched the URL's.
Then received another Bad Editing report citing that Facebook wasn't allowed. So, I read up on the guidelines and in fact it doesn't say anywhere that sites like Facebook are not allowed, which I stated in my disagree vote. These votes aren't really that big a deal, this kind of thing happens all the time and is nothing really to complain about.
But the next reports kind of irked a bit. I received about 3 "Duplicate story" reports, with url links to a story posted almost 25 minutes AFTER my posting. How is it a duplicate story if I posted mine first? And in one of the reports, some said I didn't use an official image. What? Official image? So the stories where the submitter uses stock photos of random women with large breasts for a story that vaguely references women is somehow official? Where in the guidelines is the requirement "must use an official image?"
Now that I've gone on my roundabout rant, the focus of this blog is simply that the report or approve system is terribly broken. I'm sure there have been many blogs on this, and mine isn't any different than them, but it's just the truth. It's akin to the User Rating system of Metacritic. It really needs an overhaul.
You get people thinking they're N4G's editors or something and yet they don't even know the basic rules laid out in the guidelines about submissions. The post I made was purely for the hilarity of the content, so it's no surprise that individuals that have a jaded opinion about the source of the content wouldn't like it, but should not the submission of anything be approved or unapproved based on an objective process and not a subjective one? That's just my 2 cents. Everyone knows that N4G is not a perfect website, that doesn't make a bad one though.
Disney-branded Facebook games coming in 2012, Playdom head says
Can we all just say, “finally?” During a panel named “The Rise of Social Games” at the f8 Facebook Developers Conference in San Francisco, Disney Interactive and Playdom head John Pleasants revealed that two to four Facebook games surrounding Disney xd brands will hit Facebook in 2012. The general topic of the panel was the fact that branded social games are taking off.
Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.
Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we’ve come to love.
Honestly, we’re surprised this didn’t happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn’t get into why it’s taken this long for disney channel games to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.
Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer–and we enjoyed quite a bit–peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company’s name, according to Pleasants. “We think it’s an advantage, if you put game play first,” Pleasants said.
It’s comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam’s Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.
Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.
Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we’ve come to love.
Honestly, we’re surprised this didn’t happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn’t get into why it’s taken this long for disney channel games to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.
Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer–and we enjoyed quite a bit–peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company’s name, according to Pleasants. “We think it’s an advantage, if you put game play first,” Pleasants said.
It’s comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam’s Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Angry Birds for PC
Finally, those birds that everybody likes has arrived on PC. After iPhone, iPad, Android and other mobile versions, also iPhone cases and toys, Angry Birds has finally arrived on the PC thanks to the Intel App Up store. It’ll work fine and dandy on laptops and netbooks and will cost you only $4.99 to download. Nice price for this lovely game.
Angry Birds is a global phenomenon in mobile gaming and the top grossing iPhone app of 2010. So if you’re not a smart-phone wielding hipster, you no longer have an excuse not to be part of this franchise.
Overall it’s pretty much an identical game play experience to the iPhone app, with some minor differences. It’s snappy, gorgeous, and it sounds amazing. On the netbook version you use a mouse or trackpad instead of touch. There is an open hand icon when the mouse is in hover state, and a closed hand icon when you are clicking or dragging. This visible clue when pulling the slingshot is a nice aid. It allows you to fine tune shots more than just observing the angle of the slingshot band.
Angry Birds for PC
Larger screen means more visibility in the game. On many levels you can see the target that can’t be seen on the iPhone. The previous shot trail is more easily seen, allowing fine tuning of your next shot. Overall the animations and physics seem to have more fluidity.
In terms of features, options, menu etc it’s pretty close to the original. On the netbook the replay level icon has been added to the game space. So you don’t need to pause first then replay. If you start off with bad shot, just click the replay icon, then you can start over. Saving a click is nice. There is a Menu button in the Pause menu that gets you back to the Start screen. There are some things not in play on the netbook version. The leader board and achievements are not available in the main menu. The Golden Eggs are there.
Angry Birds strikes an interesting balance of repetitive, simple tasks and challenging game play working for the many scenarios. So, if you liked this game on your iPhone or Android phone, you’ll sure like it on your big PC screen. If you are new player, don’t hesitate and join the fun now.
You must know and recognize the game from the Rovio, Angry Birds.
This game consists of seven birds with super abilities are different. By using slingshots, you can control the jump and the height of ill-tempered birds to tear down the building where the collection of green pork fat is shelter.
Where is a funny collection of birds swelled, turned into a grumpy group of birds which destroy the kingdom of lustful pigs these cunning thieves.
Angry Birds now not only for the iPhone, Android OS, PS3 and PSP. even Angry Birds has been available in Ovi Store for Nokia. And now Angry Birds have been available for Windows XP and Windows 7
Free Angry Birds for PC
Plenty of dodgy website owners want to rip off Google and push traffic towards their sites on the bogus promise of the free version of Angry Birds for PC. This is only a scam but in fact there exists a download free Angry Birds for PC nevertheless, you will need to move quickly to take advantage of that offer
Finland games producer Rovio Mobile has produced their very 1st version of Angry Birds Game for the Apple iPhone. This particular game was immediately caught by the iPhonesters, and Rovio understood that they will become successful. That has been fine. However, Rovio needed to get going by recoding Angry Birds Games for several programs, which become easier for small companies to get done.
Several weeks went by and finally, the Nokia and Android users could get themselves the Angry Birds Game. After that, the RovioMobile switched their attentions to the huge users of the PSP or the Play Station Portable and the PS3. That has been an additional huge porting project for Rovio operations.
During that time, the PC users have been reading and hearing rumors regarding Angry Birds for PC. Ultimately, in January, Angry Birds for PC was released, and downloading is not for free. However, not everybody is willing to pay for $5 for just a game, even if they will enjoy playing with it. These days, several users have grown to be familiar of getting some thing for free, so there are many who are on the lookout for a totally free Angry Birds for PC download. It can be downloaded via Windows 7 and Windows XP and Vista, or Mac support. But downloading can only be downloaded if you have an internet connection for the process to activate successfully.
Angry Birds pc is one of the well-known games that have taken the popularity with over 200 million downloads. The availability of this game is taking place in almost all of the popular platforms. In addition to playing the game online in the browser you can now download it on your laptop and take it wherever you may go to enjoy the amazing games, enabling you to play whenever, wherever you go. Take it to your workplace or even in the park, while resting and basting under the sun. Probably launching the Angry Birds for PC the wisest and the best move the game maker ever made. This availability made for the millions of platform owners, even made the popularity of Angry Birds known to more video-gaming enthusiasts more than over.
Incoming search terms:
* angry birds for pc
* activate free angry birds for pc
* angry birds FLASH SCAM
* angry-birds-online scam
* free angry birds games full version for window xp
*
- Angry Birds PC Updated
The PC version was updated last week which we talked about in this post. This update will finally include all episodes of Ham ‘Em High and the two chapters of Mine and Dine. I’m sure this is welcome news for all the PC players who have been feeling left out. It shouldn’t have taken this long to get all the episodes out but that’s in the past now so lets just get to playing. Since all the chapters are available you also have access to all of the golden eggs. You can finally complete your collection!
As a side note because I didn’t want to do an entire post about the subject, have you all seen the Angry Birds bra? It’s available over on etsy you should go check it out. I personally don’t know anyone who would wear it but i’m sure there is someone out there who would. I don’t recommend buying this for you girlfriend or wife unless she really loves angry birds.
Angry Birds is a global phenomenon in mobile gaming and the top grossing iPhone app of 2010. So if you’re not a smart-phone wielding hipster, you no longer have an excuse not to be part of this franchise.
Overall it’s pretty much an identical game play experience to the iPhone app, with some minor differences. It’s snappy, gorgeous, and it sounds amazing. On the netbook version you use a mouse or trackpad instead of touch. There is an open hand icon when the mouse is in hover state, and a closed hand icon when you are clicking or dragging. This visible clue when pulling the slingshot is a nice aid. It allows you to fine tune shots more than just observing the angle of the slingshot band.
Angry Birds for PC
Larger screen means more visibility in the game. On many levels you can see the target that can’t be seen on the iPhone. The previous shot trail is more easily seen, allowing fine tuning of your next shot. Overall the animations and physics seem to have more fluidity.
In terms of features, options, menu etc it’s pretty close to the original. On the netbook the replay level icon has been added to the game space. So you don’t need to pause first then replay. If you start off with bad shot, just click the replay icon, then you can start over. Saving a click is nice. There is a Menu button in the Pause menu that gets you back to the Start screen. There are some things not in play on the netbook version. The leader board and achievements are not available in the main menu. The Golden Eggs are there.
Angry Birds strikes an interesting balance of repetitive, simple tasks and challenging game play working for the many scenarios. So, if you liked this game on your iPhone or Android phone, you’ll sure like it on your big PC screen. If you are new player, don’t hesitate and join the fun now.
You must know and recognize the game from the Rovio, Angry Birds.
This game consists of seven birds with super abilities are different. By using slingshots, you can control the jump and the height of ill-tempered birds to tear down the building where the collection of green pork fat is shelter.
Where is a funny collection of birds swelled, turned into a grumpy group of birds which destroy the kingdom of lustful pigs these cunning thieves.
Angry Birds now not only for the iPhone, Android OS, PS3 and PSP. even Angry Birds has been available in Ovi Store for Nokia. And now Angry Birds have been available for Windows XP and Windows 7
Free Angry Birds for PC
Plenty of dodgy website owners want to rip off Google and push traffic towards their sites on the bogus promise of the free version of Angry Birds for PC. This is only a scam but in fact there exists a download free Angry Birds for PC nevertheless, you will need to move quickly to take advantage of that offer
Finland games producer Rovio Mobile has produced their very 1st version of Angry Birds Game for the Apple iPhone. This particular game was immediately caught by the iPhonesters, and Rovio understood that they will become successful. That has been fine. However, Rovio needed to get going by recoding Angry Birds Games for several programs, which become easier for small companies to get done.
Several weeks went by and finally, the Nokia and Android users could get themselves the Angry Birds Game. After that, the RovioMobile switched their attentions to the huge users of the PSP or the Play Station Portable and the PS3. That has been an additional huge porting project for Rovio operations.
During that time, the PC users have been reading and hearing rumors regarding Angry Birds for PC. Ultimately, in January, Angry Birds for PC was released, and downloading is not for free. However, not everybody is willing to pay for $5 for just a game, even if they will enjoy playing with it. These days, several users have grown to be familiar of getting some thing for free, so there are many who are on the lookout for a totally free Angry Birds for PC download. It can be downloaded via Windows 7 and Windows XP and Vista, or Mac support. But downloading can only be downloaded if you have an internet connection for the process to activate successfully.
Angry Birds pc is one of the well-known games that have taken the popularity with over 200 million downloads. The availability of this game is taking place in almost all of the popular platforms. In addition to playing the game online in the browser you can now download it on your laptop and take it wherever you may go to enjoy the amazing games, enabling you to play whenever, wherever you go. Take it to your workplace or even in the park, while resting and basting under the sun. Probably launching the Angry Birds for PC the wisest and the best move the game maker ever made. This availability made for the millions of platform owners, even made the popularity of Angry Birds known to more video-gaming enthusiasts more than over.
Incoming search terms:
* angry birds for pc
* activate free angry birds for pc
* angry birds FLASH SCAM
* angry-birds-online scam
* free angry birds games full version for window xp
*
- Angry Birds PC Updated
The PC version was updated last week which we talked about in this post. This update will finally include all episodes of Ham ‘Em High and the two chapters of Mine and Dine. I’m sure this is welcome news for all the PC players who have been feeling left out. It shouldn’t have taken this long to get all the episodes out but that’s in the past now so lets just get to playing. Since all the chapters are available you also have access to all of the golden eggs. You can finally complete your collection!
As a side note because I didn’t want to do an entire post about the subject, have you all seen the Angry Birds bra? It’s available over on etsy you should go check it out. I personally don’t know anyone who would wear it but i’m sure there is someone out there who would. I don’t recommend buying this for you girlfriend or wife unless she really loves angry birds.
Expansions: When is it an actual expansion, and when is it just hyped DLC?
With the news of Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 being announced, and it being consider a "re-release" of MvC3 (or basically a release of the FINISHED MvC3), a lot of news about how Capcom and other devs like to leave out content for future release has been popping up.
Many gamers are continuing to show disdain and anger, and rightly so, to companies like Capcom for pulling stunts like this, and many are giving them a pass and actually funding these bad moves. I recently had a small discussion about Assassin's Creed Brotherhood and how I view it as being different than this kind of move from Capcom, as Ubisoft created an entirely new locale, new story, additional content, and gave Desmond more of a role in the game. I would view AC Brotherhood as more of an expansion, possibly its own game, than "DLC" to AC2, but there would be merit in calling it such for reasons I won't go into here.
But it got me thinking about games like Halo ODST, Super Street Fighter IV, and SSFIV Arcade Edition, and other such games.
And because of this, I wanted to ask you all, what do you consider an expansion, or just "hyped DLC."
Hyped DLC is a term I use to define a game that doesn't offer enough "additional content" to a game to be called an expansion, yet it gets its own "game disc" and is marketed as an expansion. It's also used to define content that could have easily been added to the original game without significant time or resources to warrant a delay or extension of the release date of the original game.
In my personal opinion, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 is hyped DLC. 12 characters with their stories and some probably tweaks to old characters and modes could have easily been added to the original MvC3 and made it a complete game. But as Crapcom are fond of doing, they release unfinished games so that they can gouge naive, gullible, ignorant, and foolish gamers into buying their "on disc" DLC or their "hyped DLC" expansion packs.
When Super Street Fighter 4 was announced, I had a friend who went "ape-sh*t" over it and couldn't stop talking about how he was going to spend the $40 for a few extra characters, and some online modes and tweaks. $40. Can you imagine? For what SSFIV offered, it could have easily been DLC priced at half that. But Crapcom got away with it because there are those who don't care and just need their fix. Then the Arcade Edition came out and I'm sure I'm not the only one who facepalmed disappointingly at that.
You look at games like the GOTY edition of Oblvion, which added all the expansion packs to the original game and priced it the same as the original game and you can see how that is reasonable. That's a lot of content added to an already large game. Same with LittleBigPlanet GOTY edition. A lot of content added to a game that's already packed with content.
Then you look at Capcom, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who can't help but just give a disappointed sigh at people who shovel up their crap and empty their wallets for unfinished products.
The ironic thing is that Capcom is old enough to have been around during the era of "unlockables" in the old-school gaming days. Days where if you met certain criteria in a game, certain content would be unlocked. Like "beat X in under X minutes and unlock him as a bonus character." And yet now they pull stunts like this.
So, is UMvC3 a legitimate expansion, or just overpriced and over-glorified DLC? What are your thoughts?
Many gamers are continuing to show disdain and anger, and rightly so, to companies like Capcom for pulling stunts like this, and many are giving them a pass and actually funding these bad moves. I recently had a small discussion about Assassin's Creed Brotherhood and how I view it as being different than this kind of move from Capcom, as Ubisoft created an entirely new locale, new story, additional content, and gave Desmond more of a role in the game. I would view AC Brotherhood as more of an expansion, possibly its own game, than "DLC" to AC2, but there would be merit in calling it such for reasons I won't go into here.
But it got me thinking about games like Halo ODST, Super Street Fighter IV, and SSFIV Arcade Edition, and other such games.
And because of this, I wanted to ask you all, what do you consider an expansion, or just "hyped DLC."
Hyped DLC is a term I use to define a game that doesn't offer enough "additional content" to a game to be called an expansion, yet it gets its own "game disc" and is marketed as an expansion. It's also used to define content that could have easily been added to the original game without significant time or resources to warrant a delay or extension of the release date of the original game.
In my personal opinion, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 is hyped DLC. 12 characters with their stories and some probably tweaks to old characters and modes could have easily been added to the original MvC3 and made it a complete game. But as Crapcom are fond of doing, they release unfinished games so that they can gouge naive, gullible, ignorant, and foolish gamers into buying their "on disc" DLC or their "hyped DLC" expansion packs.
When Super Street Fighter 4 was announced, I had a friend who went "ape-sh*t" over it and couldn't stop talking about how he was going to spend the $40 for a few extra characters, and some online modes and tweaks. $40. Can you imagine? For what SSFIV offered, it could have easily been DLC priced at half that. But Crapcom got away with it because there are those who don't care and just need their fix. Then the Arcade Edition came out and I'm sure I'm not the only one who facepalmed disappointingly at that.
You look at games like the GOTY edition of Oblvion, which added all the expansion packs to the original game and priced it the same as the original game and you can see how that is reasonable. That's a lot of content added to an already large game. Same with LittleBigPlanet GOTY edition. A lot of content added to a game that's already packed with content.
Then you look at Capcom, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who can't help but just give a disappointed sigh at people who shovel up their crap and empty their wallets for unfinished products.
The ironic thing is that Capcom is old enough to have been around during the era of "unlockables" in the old-school gaming days. Days where if you met certain criteria in a game, certain content would be unlocked. Like "beat X in under X minutes and unlock him as a bonus character." And yet now they pull stunts like this.
So, is UMvC3 a legitimate expansion, or just overpriced and over-glorified DLC? What are your thoughts?
"The Cloud" scares me...
Call me crazy, call me an idiot, call me paranoid, call me whatever the heck you want. The Cloud scares the living crap out of me. No not "The Cloud" the feature, "The Cloud" the evil beast.
See I'm for "The Cloud" as a feature, you know like the PSN storage for saves. This use of "The Cloud" is great. Seriously I think the theory of an option for backup stored on the web is the best idea for PC's and online enabled consoles.
The part of "The Cloud" that scares me is the future that's coming for it. See if you've even seen that Google Chrome OS computer that is a cloud computing system you may have a vague idea why I'm scared. See what you may not know is that "The Cloud" can and will be the future of computing and here's what's going to happen. The PC will eventually be nothing but iPads and everyone's version as well as netbooks "Cloud Books" if you prefer that have no storage for anything except the glorified web browser OS but that's not the bad part, let me get to that.
You see if "The Cloud" evolves the way I predict, you know hard drives and flash drives? GONE! No physical back ups of data, which also means that if the server dies, your data dies. Not scared? Well if you have no back up and they have no back up you wasted money, lost important data and chances are there will be no compensation.
Then there's the fact that everything will be subscription run. Your OS, subscription. Your editing program, subscription. Your drawing program(eg Corel), subscription. You get the drift right? Essentially no credit or debit card or no money, no Cloud PC and since you paid for the unit itself that's unfair right? Yeah, see paying for a monthly subscription for a game is one thing but paying just to turn on a PC is just wrong but it WILL happen and considering your bill are emailed to you and will probably only be able to be paid online you can't use electricity, gas, water, food, etc. Also it will become way more expensive in under this model they will choose.
You know the videos, the music and and games you enjoy on PC? Well you know how we have region locking at the moment with DVDs, Blurays and video games? Yeah they'll be worse because VPNs will no longer be an option and people like me will be screwed. Sure piracy and hacking will die but you'll miss out one games you want to play, the music will be restricted to whatever crap is chosen to be released and you can't watch say, True Blood unless you live in the US. Speaking of games, no more mods for games.
What about privacy? Think of that? Well if "The Cloud" come privacy is no more because everything will be public. See the thing is security will actually suffer greatly due to full internet integration. Thing well get harder to block and viruses will roam more free then ever.
Then there's the internet connection. See until the internet runs like water at a steady flow for all instead of laggy like it is today, we'll never be able to make the most of "The Cloud" in the future form it will take. Think about playing say Fallout 5 via "The Cloud and the net drops before a 2 hour run could be saved or even worse... in the middle of saving and corrupts you save.
Also what about the OS of Cloud PC's? You see since it will be just a web browser with apps, you can't use say Firefox(my personal favourite browser) to browse the web and then there's the fact that certain apps won't work on Mac Cloud OS that work on Windows Cloud OS or Google Chrome and so on. Sure we have that already but we can't patch it to work.
This is just a sample of what can happen and what I fear most. I'm sure there a boat load of possibilities that are positive but I'm not seeing them. "The Cloud" should just be a feature or an option, not the only thing. There's a high chance what I predict is coming but hey, if I'm wrong then I'll except the ridicule. The big question is when will it come? I guess between 10 and 15 years personally.
See I'm for "The Cloud" as a feature, you know like the PSN storage for saves. This use of "The Cloud" is great. Seriously I think the theory of an option for backup stored on the web is the best idea for PC's and online enabled consoles.
The part of "The Cloud" that scares me is the future that's coming for it. See if you've even seen that Google Chrome OS computer that is a cloud computing system you may have a vague idea why I'm scared. See what you may not know is that "The Cloud" can and will be the future of computing and here's what's going to happen. The PC will eventually be nothing but iPads and everyone's version as well as netbooks "Cloud Books" if you prefer that have no storage for anything except the glorified web browser OS but that's not the bad part, let me get to that.
You see if "The Cloud" evolves the way I predict, you know hard drives and flash drives? GONE! No physical back ups of data, which also means that if the server dies, your data dies. Not scared? Well if you have no back up and they have no back up you wasted money, lost important data and chances are there will be no compensation.
Then there's the fact that everything will be subscription run. Your OS, subscription. Your editing program, subscription. Your drawing program(eg Corel), subscription. You get the drift right? Essentially no credit or debit card or no money, no Cloud PC and since you paid for the unit itself that's unfair right? Yeah, see paying for a monthly subscription for a game is one thing but paying just to turn on a PC is just wrong but it WILL happen and considering your bill are emailed to you and will probably only be able to be paid online you can't use electricity, gas, water, food, etc. Also it will become way more expensive in under this model they will choose.
You know the videos, the music and and games you enjoy on PC? Well you know how we have region locking at the moment with DVDs, Blurays and video games? Yeah they'll be worse because VPNs will no longer be an option and people like me will be screwed. Sure piracy and hacking will die but you'll miss out one games you want to play, the music will be restricted to whatever crap is chosen to be released and you can't watch say, True Blood unless you live in the US. Speaking of games, no more mods for games.
What about privacy? Think of that? Well if "The Cloud" come privacy is no more because everything will be public. See the thing is security will actually suffer greatly due to full internet integration. Thing well get harder to block and viruses will roam more free then ever.
Then there's the internet connection. See until the internet runs like water at a steady flow for all instead of laggy like it is today, we'll never be able to make the most of "The Cloud" in the future form it will take. Think about playing say Fallout 5 via "The Cloud and the net drops before a 2 hour run could be saved or even worse... in the middle of saving and corrupts you save.
Also what about the OS of Cloud PC's? You see since it will be just a web browser with apps, you can't use say Firefox(my personal favourite browser) to browse the web and then there's the fact that certain apps won't work on Mac Cloud OS that work on Windows Cloud OS or Google Chrome and so on. Sure we have that already but we can't patch it to work.
This is just a sample of what can happen and what I fear most. I'm sure there a boat load of possibilities that are positive but I'm not seeing them. "The Cloud" should just be a feature or an option, not the only thing. There's a high chance what I predict is coming but hey, if I'm wrong then I'll except the ridicule. The big question is when will it come? I guess between 10 and 15 years personally.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Angry Birds for PC
Finally, those birds that everybody likes has arrived on PC. After iPhone, iPad, Android and other mobile versions, also iPhone cases and toys, Angry Birds has finally arrived on the PC thanks to the Intel App Up store. It’ll work fine and dandy on laptops and netbooks and will cost you only $4.99 to download. Nice price for this lovely game.
Angry Birds is a global phenomenon in mobile gaming and the top grossing iPhone app of 2010. So if you’re not a smart-phone wielding hipster, you no longer have an excuse not to be part of this franchise.
Overall it’s pretty much an identical game play experience to the iPhone app, with some minor differences. It’s snappy, gorgeous, and it sounds amazing. On the netbook version you use a mouse or trackpad instead of touch. There is an open hand icon when the mouse is in hover state, and a closed hand icon when you are clicking or dragging. This visible clue when pulling the slingshot is a nice aid. It allows you to fine tune shots more than just observing the angle of the slingshot band.
Angry Birds for PC
Larger screen means more visibility in the game. On many levels you can see the target that can’t be seen on the iPhone. The previous shot trail is more easily seen, allowing fine tuning of your next shot. Overall the animations and physics seem to have more fluidity.
In terms of features, options, menu etc it’s pretty close to the original. On the netbook the replay level icon has been added to the game space. So you don’t need to pause first then replay. If you start off with bad shot, just click the replay icon, then you can start over. Saving a click is nice. There is a Menu button in the Pause menu that gets you back to the Start screen. There are some things not in play on the netbook version. The leader board and achievements are not available in the main menu. The Golden Eggs are there.
Angry Birds strikes an interesting balance of repetitive, simple tasks and challenging game play working for the many scenarios. So, if you liked this game on your iPhone or Android phone, you’ll sure like it on your big PC screen. If you are new player, don’t hesitate and join the fun now.
You must know and recognize the game from the Rovio, Angry Birds.
This game consists of seven birds with super abilities are different. By using slingshots, you can control the jump and the height of ill-tempered birds to tear down the building where the collection of green pork fat is shelter.
Where is a funny collection of birds swelled, turned into a grumpy group of birds which destroy the kingdom of lustful pigs these cunning thieves.
Angry Birds now not only for the iPhone, Android OS, PS3 and PSP. even Angry Birds has been available in Ovi Store for Nokia. And now Angry Birds have been available for Windows XP and Windows 7
Free Angry Birds for PC
Plenty of dodgy website owners want to rip off Google and push traffic towards their sites on the bogus promise of the free version of Angry Birds for PC. This is only a scam but in fact there exists a download free Angry Birds for PC nevertheless, you will need to move quickly to take advantage of that offer
Finland games producer Rovio Mobile has produced their very 1st version of Angry Birds Game for the Apple iPhone. This particular game was immediately caught by the iPhonesters, and Rovio understood that they will become successful. That has been fine. However, Rovio needed to get going by recoding Angry Birds Games for several programs, which become easier for small companies to get done.
Several weeks went by and finally, the Nokia and Android users could get themselves the Angry Birds Game. After that, the RovioMobile switched their attentions to the huge users of the PSP or the Play Station Portable and the PS3. That has been an additional huge porting project for Rovio operations.
During that time, the PC users have been reading and hearing rumors regarding Angry Birds for PC. Ultimately, in January, Angry Birds for PC was released, and downloading is not for free. However, not everybody is willing to pay for $5 for just a game, even if they will enjoy playing with it. These days, several users have grown to be familiar of getting some thing for free, so there are many who are on the lookout for a totally free Angry Birds for PC download. It can be downloaded via Windows 7 and Windows XP and Vista, or Mac support. But downloading can only be downloaded if you have an internet connection for the process to activate successfully.
Angry Birds pc is one of the well-known games that have taken the popularity with over 200 million downloads. The availability of this game is taking place in almost all of the popular platforms. In addition to playing the game online in the browser you can now download it on your laptop and take it wherever you may go to enjoy the amazing games, enabling you to play whenever, wherever you go. Take it to your workplace or even in the park, while resting and basting under the sun. Probably launching the Angry Birds for PC the wisest and the best move the game maker ever made. This availability made for the millions of platform owners, even made the popularity of Angry Birds known to more video-gaming enthusiasts more than over.
Incoming search terms:
* angry birds for pc
* activate free angry birds for pc
* angry birds FLASH SCAM
* angry-birds-online scam
* free angry birds games full version for window xp
*
- Angry Birds PC Updated
The PC version was updated last week which we talked about in this post. This update will finally include all episodes of Ham ‘Em High and the two chapters of Mine and Dine. I’m sure this is welcome news for all the PC players who have been feeling left out. It shouldn’t have taken this long to get all the episodes out but that’s in the past now so lets just get to playing. Since all the chapters are available you also have access to all of the golden eggs. You can finally complete your collection!
As a side note because I didn’t want to do an entire post about the subject, have you all seen the Angry Birds bra? It’s available over on etsy you should go check it out. I personally don’t know anyone who would wear it but i’m sure there is someone out there who would. I don’t recommend buying this for you girlfriend or wife unless she really loves angry birds.
Angry Birds is a global phenomenon in mobile gaming and the top grossing iPhone app of 2010. So if you’re not a smart-phone wielding hipster, you no longer have an excuse not to be part of this franchise.
Overall it’s pretty much an identical game play experience to the iPhone app, with some minor differences. It’s snappy, gorgeous, and it sounds amazing. On the netbook version you use a mouse or trackpad instead of touch. There is an open hand icon when the mouse is in hover state, and a closed hand icon when you are clicking or dragging. This visible clue when pulling the slingshot is a nice aid. It allows you to fine tune shots more than just observing the angle of the slingshot band.
Angry Birds for PC
Larger screen means more visibility in the game. On many levels you can see the target that can’t be seen on the iPhone. The previous shot trail is more easily seen, allowing fine tuning of your next shot. Overall the animations and physics seem to have more fluidity.
In terms of features, options, menu etc it’s pretty close to the original. On the netbook the replay level icon has been added to the game space. So you don’t need to pause first then replay. If you start off with bad shot, just click the replay icon, then you can start over. Saving a click is nice. There is a Menu button in the Pause menu that gets you back to the Start screen. There are some things not in play on the netbook version. The leader board and achievements are not available in the main menu. The Golden Eggs are there.
Angry Birds strikes an interesting balance of repetitive, simple tasks and challenging game play working for the many scenarios. So, if you liked this game on your iPhone or Android phone, you’ll sure like it on your big PC screen. If you are new player, don’t hesitate and join the fun now.
You must know and recognize the game from the Rovio, Angry Birds.
This game consists of seven birds with super abilities are different. By using slingshots, you can control the jump and the height of ill-tempered birds to tear down the building where the collection of green pork fat is shelter.
Where is a funny collection of birds swelled, turned into a grumpy group of birds which destroy the kingdom of lustful pigs these cunning thieves.
Angry Birds now not only for the iPhone, Android OS, PS3 and PSP. even Angry Birds has been available in Ovi Store for Nokia. And now Angry Birds have been available for Windows XP and Windows 7
Free Angry Birds for PC
Plenty of dodgy website owners want to rip off Google and push traffic towards their sites on the bogus promise of the free version of Angry Birds for PC. This is only a scam but in fact there exists a download free Angry Birds for PC nevertheless, you will need to move quickly to take advantage of that offer
Finland games producer Rovio Mobile has produced their very 1st version of Angry Birds Game for the Apple iPhone. This particular game was immediately caught by the iPhonesters, and Rovio understood that they will become successful. That has been fine. However, Rovio needed to get going by recoding Angry Birds Games for several programs, which become easier for small companies to get done.
Several weeks went by and finally, the Nokia and Android users could get themselves the Angry Birds Game. After that, the RovioMobile switched their attentions to the huge users of the PSP or the Play Station Portable and the PS3. That has been an additional huge porting project for Rovio operations.
During that time, the PC users have been reading and hearing rumors regarding Angry Birds for PC. Ultimately, in January, Angry Birds for PC was released, and downloading is not for free. However, not everybody is willing to pay for $5 for just a game, even if they will enjoy playing with it. These days, several users have grown to be familiar of getting some thing for free, so there are many who are on the lookout for a totally free Angry Birds for PC download. It can be downloaded via Windows 7 and Windows XP and Vista, or Mac support. But downloading can only be downloaded if you have an internet connection for the process to activate successfully.
Angry Birds pc is one of the well-known games that have taken the popularity with over 200 million downloads. The availability of this game is taking place in almost all of the popular platforms. In addition to playing the game online in the browser you can now download it on your laptop and take it wherever you may go to enjoy the amazing games, enabling you to play whenever, wherever you go. Take it to your workplace or even in the park, while resting and basting under the sun. Probably launching the Angry Birds for PC the wisest and the best move the game maker ever made. This availability made for the millions of platform owners, even made the popularity of Angry Birds known to more video-gaming enthusiasts more than over.
Incoming search terms:
* angry birds for pc
* activate free angry birds for pc
* angry birds FLASH SCAM
* angry-birds-online scam
* free angry birds games full version for window xp
*
- Angry Birds PC Updated
The PC version was updated last week which we talked about in this post. This update will finally include all episodes of Ham ‘Em High and the two chapters of Mine and Dine. I’m sure this is welcome news for all the PC players who have been feeling left out. It shouldn’t have taken this long to get all the episodes out but that’s in the past now so lets just get to playing. Since all the chapters are available you also have access to all of the golden eggs. You can finally complete your collection!
As a side note because I didn’t want to do an entire post about the subject, have you all seen the Angry Birds bra? It’s available over on etsy you should go check it out. I personally don’t know anyone who would wear it but i’m sure there is someone out there who would. I don’t recommend buying this for you girlfriend or wife unless she really loves angry birds.
BBCW launches CBeebies games app
Games based on popular CBeebies Games series Charlie & Lola, Teletubbies, 3rd & Bird and Numberjacks are available through a new app launched by BBC Worldwide.
CBeebies On The Go is available for free on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad to pre-school children in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and South Korea.
Developed by Tag Apps, it includes matching pairs picture games for the Teletubbies and Charlie & Lola, a Kerwhizz jigsaw game and a 3rd & Bird tap-the-fruit challenge. It also holds a number of short video clips from popular shows.
Director of CBeebies investment at BBCW, Henrietta Hurford-Jones, said the team had “worked hard to build a product that upholds the core values of learning through play”.
She added: “This new kids’ app is a first for the Channels business, so the learnings from this pilot phase will help shape any future plans to roll CBeebies Games On The Go out to new territories and different devices.”
More than 53m homes have access to the CBeebies channel worldwide.
CBeebies On The Go is available for free on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad to pre-school children in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and South Korea.
Developed by Tag Apps, it includes matching pairs picture games for the Teletubbies and Charlie & Lola, a Kerwhizz jigsaw game and a 3rd & Bird tap-the-fruit challenge. It also holds a number of short video clips from popular shows.
Director of CBeebies investment at BBCW, Henrietta Hurford-Jones, said the team had “worked hard to build a product that upholds the core values of learning through play”.
She added: “This new kids’ app is a first for the Channels business, so the learnings from this pilot phase will help shape any future plans to roll CBeebies Games On The Go out to new territories and different devices.”
More than 53m homes have access to the CBeebies channel worldwide.
Disney-branded Facebook games coming in 2012, Playdom head says
Can we all just say, “finally?” During a panel named “The Rise of Social Games” at the f8 Facebook Developers Conference in San Francisco, Disney Interactive and Playdom head John Pleasants revealed that two to four Facebook games surrounding Disney xd brands will hit Facebook in 2012. The general topic of the panel was the fact that branded social games are taking off.
Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.
Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we’ve come to love.
Honestly, we’re surprised this didn’t happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn’t get into why it’s taken this long for disney channel games to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.
Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer–and we enjoyed quite a bit–peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company’s name, according to Pleasants. “We think it’s an advantage, if you put game play first,” Pleasants said.
It’s comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam’s Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.
Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.
Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we’ve come to love.
Honestly, we’re surprised this didn’t happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn’t get into why it’s taken this long for disney channel games to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.
Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer–and we enjoyed quite a bit–peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company’s name, according to Pleasants. “We think it’s an advantage, if you put game play first,” Pleasants said.
It’s comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam’s Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.
Phineas And Ferb 3D Game – Disney XD Games 63
New Disney Game – Phineas and Ferb
Disney released a new game. Phineas and Ferb 3D online game. Klick here to read the complete review.
The new game is available at the Disney XD discovery channel. Get ahead of the game before its officially released next week!
Disney is introducing the brand new DisneyXD game. Phineas and Ferb in: The Transport inators of Doooom!
Doofenschmitz is up to his old tricks again, and who has gone missing? Phineas! Help Ferb find his brother and try to help Agent P thwarth Doofenschmitz evil plans!
Check out this new exciting Disney XD online game before all others do at the Disney Cartoon network games website!
Check out Disney’s cartoon network to find a lot of amazing games and news. Disney offers a lot of cartoon games on their site. So head over to the Disney XD site and play the new Phineas and Ferb – The Transport-inators of Doooom! game!
Have Fun!
Disney released a new game. Phineas and Ferb 3D online game. Klick here to read the complete review.
The new game is available at the Disney XD discovery channel. Get ahead of the game before its officially released next week!
Disney is introducing the brand new DisneyXD game. Phineas and Ferb in: The Transport inators of Doooom!
Doofenschmitz is up to his old tricks again, and who has gone missing? Phineas! Help Ferb find his brother and try to help Agent P thwarth Doofenschmitz evil plans!
Check out this new exciting Disney XD online game before all others do at the Disney Cartoon network games website!
Check out Disney’s cartoon network to find a lot of amazing games and news. Disney offers a lot of cartoon games on their site. So head over to the Disney XD site and play the new Phineas and Ferb – The Transport-inators of Doooom! game!
Have Fun!
Play the Scary Maze Game With Your Friends!
Have you ever played the Scary Maze Game 8 now? If not, brotha you haven’t lived!!! This maze game is the most awesome game on earth! But in order to play it you MUST have a partner in the room with you. So go find a friend, co-hort, or even an enemy – it doesn’t matter! Then match your wits and your mouse skills with the game and see if you’re awesome enough to win the BIG prize at the end!
Chinese Couple Sells All Three Kids to Play Online Games
A young Chinese couple has sold all three of their children in exchange for money to play online Nick jr games at Internet cafes, reports a southern Chinese newspaper.
According to Sanxiang City News, the couple met in an Internet cafe back in 2007 and bonded over their obsession with online video games. A year later, the parents — who are both under 21 — welcomed their first child, a son. Days after his birth, they left him home alone while they went to play online agame at an Internet cafe 30 km away.
In 2009, Li Lin and Li Juan welcomed their second child, a baby girl, and came up with the idea to sell her for money to fund their online game obsession. They did so, receiving RMB 3,000 (less than $500), which they spent entirely shortly after. The couple then proceeded to sell their first child and got 10 times as much for him — RMB 30,000, or about $4600.
Upon having their third child — another boy — the parents followed in their previous footsteps and also got RMB 30,000 for him.
They were finally turned into authorities when Li Lin’s mother found out what her son and his girlfriend had done.
When asked if they missed their children, the parents answered, “We don’t want to raise them, we just want to sell them for some money.”
Sanxiang City Newsreports the couple didn’t know they were breaking the law.
According to Sanxiang City News, the couple met in an Internet cafe back in 2007 and bonded over their obsession with online video games. A year later, the parents — who are both under 21 — welcomed their first child, a son. Days after his birth, they left him home alone while they went to play online agame at an Internet cafe 30 km away.
In 2009, Li Lin and Li Juan welcomed their second child, a baby girl, and came up with the idea to sell her for money to fund their online game obsession. They did so, receiving RMB 3,000 (less than $500), which they spent entirely shortly after. The couple then proceeded to sell their first child and got 10 times as much for him — RMB 30,000, or about $4600.
Upon having their third child — another boy — the parents followed in their previous footsteps and also got RMB 30,000 for him.
They were finally turned into authorities when Li Lin’s mother found out what her son and his girlfriend had done.
When asked if they missed their children, the parents answered, “We don’t want to raise them, we just want to sell them for some money.”
Sanxiang City Newsreports the couple didn’t know they were breaking the law.
Official Pokemon Game Coming To Smartphones
The Pokemon Company is set to bring an official Pokemon Online game to smartphone devices, marking the first time that an official Nintendo-copyrighted app will be available on the iOS and Android.
Called Pokemon Iie Tap (rougly Pokemon: Say Tap?), the app appears to be a rhythm game where players “tap on Pokemon indigo trading cards to the beat of a song from the anime,” according to a translation by consumer video game site GamesRadar.
According to the game’s official announcement, it will be available for most iOS devices, as well as Android devices running version 2.1 of the platform.
Though this is the first iOS or Android application to carry an official Nintendo copyright, it is not the first mobile app of any kind: a Pokemon mobile phone game called Pokemate was released in Japan in 2006.
Though it is a rarity, Nintendo does have a history of releasing official games on platforms that are not its own, including a promotional Flash game to promote its Tingle character.
A release outside of Japan has not been announced.
Called Pokemon Iie Tap (rougly Pokemon: Say Tap?), the app appears to be a rhythm game where players “tap on Pokemon indigo trading cards to the beat of a song from the anime,” according to a translation by consumer video game site GamesRadar.
According to the game’s official announcement, it will be available for most iOS devices, as well as Android devices running version 2.1 of the platform.
Though this is the first iOS or Android application to carry an official Nintendo copyright, it is not the first mobile app of any kind: a Pokemon mobile phone game called Pokemate was released in Japan in 2006.
Though it is a rarity, Nintendo does have a history of releasing official games on platforms that are not its own, including a promotional Flash game to promote its Tingle character.
A release outside of Japan has not been announced.
Nick Jr., MTVN expand in Asia
Rugrats and music fans in Singapore and Malaysia will be able to tune in to “Dora the Explorer” and 24-hour music videos, docus and concerts with the launch of Viacom’s Nick Jr. and MTVN HD in the territories in coming weeks.
Nick Jr Games. will bow on Singapore’s Starhub from May 18, while MTVN HD will air on Telekom Malaysia Berhad’s HyppTV in Malaysia from June 1.
Nick Jr. will be available on the StarHub TV’s Kids Basic Upsize Group, while MTVNHD will be available to existing StarHub TV’s Entertainment Basic Group customers who are subscribed to the Basic HD Upsize group.
TM will offer the two channels a la carte to its subscribers on HyppTV, Malaysia’s newest pay TV service.
The services will roll out to the rest of the region at a date to be announced.
Nick Jr Games. will bow on Singapore’s Starhub from May 18, while MTVN HD will air on Telekom Malaysia Berhad’s HyppTV in Malaysia from June 1.
Nick Jr. will be available on the StarHub TV’s Kids Basic Upsize Group, while MTVNHD will be available to existing StarHub TV’s Entertainment Basic Group customers who are subscribed to the Basic HD Upsize group.
TM will offer the two channels a la carte to its subscribers on HyppTV, Malaysia’s newest pay TV service.
The services will roll out to the rest of the region at a date to be announced.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Eurogamer 2011: PS Vita, Getting a Feel For It
I was not only lucky enough to catch the last group of the day to go hands on with Sony’s Playstation Vita but it was also a lightly extended session since the queue had closed behind us. Still, not enough time was given to ask ALL the questions and try EVERYTHING out but I did manage to get that all important ‘feel’ for the device. What I mean is, even in the relatively short time we were allotted, I got comfortable with all of the physical features of the hardware. This is what I’m going to try and describe to you now in hope that those of you interested in the powerful handheld can get an imaginative insight into what it’s like to use. I will use Little Big Planet as the reference game as it was the first thing I tried and it uses most of the PSVs features very nicely. Most of you may have read about all of this beforehand but I’d just like to share my personal experience with you anyway.
The first thing you notice about holding the device is also the thing with the most ambiguous future I’m afraid, the weight. I was shocked at just how light it was, when the girl handed me the PSV I held my hands out underneath expecting something as ‘stuffed’ with hardware features as this to give my wrists a slight need to adjust to counterweight. However it feels almost effortless to grasp but not so lightweight that it threatens to break or fly out of your hand. I immediately found myself trying to hold the device in one had then the other with surprising success. I asked if the model I was holding would be the same weight as the final build and was disappointed to hear that there would be a slight change with no indication as to whether it would be heavier or lighter. The demo model did in fact have the battery inside, according to the rep, and the weight change would probably be so slight as to be unnoticeable.
Now to find the buttons! Having owned a PSP, I was relatively aware of the basic button setup however I soon discovered that this may be more of a problem than an advantage. The inclusion of dual analogue sticks, while probably the greatest feature to hit handhelds ever, has forced the usual face buttons to shrink. It took me a few attempts to jump a small gap in LBP because I kept pushing the second analogue stick, thinking that it was the ‘X’ button. Once I got used to this though everything else snapped into place, the D-pad even seems to improve on the PSPs already good one, and it was now time to try out the touch screen.
My first touch evoked a mild feeling of disgust after realising just how grubby the screen had become. We can’t really blame the Vita for falling victim to the touch screen weakness though; you’d feel dirty too if 1000+ strangers queued up to fondle you all day. Returning, after a quick wipe, to the very first room in LBP which contained some of the ‘touchable’ blue material I had learned about just hours before in Sony’s PSV developer conference; I moved the object around just like I had done countless time before on various smart phones, it’s as intuitive here as it was then. There’s a certain small awe that comes with moving an object in a world as detailed as LBP using your own touch. The rear touchpad also came into use during the demo, where I was challenged with building a staircase for Sackboy by pushing ‘Tetris-like’ blocks out from ‘behind’. It’s a strange but immersive experience, which left me, optimistically, wondering about the possibilities of such input. Both front and rear touch screens are multi-touch and feel incredibly responsive, easily on par with top level smart phones.
The next challenge to put the PSV through its paces involved the six-axis function. I needed to tilt the device in order to bring a bridge across for Sackboy to jump onto; it works exactly how you would expect, after using both Move and DS3, you should feel very comfortable with this.
The dual analogue sticks seemed tiny at first, I worried that their decreased size would affect the range of control you had over manipulating the camera or minute aiming adjustments. However my concerns were put to rest after only a few short minutes of use I felt a common connection between the PSV sticks and the DS3. It might sound silly but it really did feel like I was playing a mini PS3 in my hands; which, in my opinion, is no bad thing, especially when you consider all the extra input and features available on the Playstation Vita.
I left the expo confident that Vita would be usable for me after being worried that my large hands (I’m 6’4” and can hold a basketball upside-down with arm outstretched) would be a problem. From build quality to responsiveness, Vita FEELS like a winner.
The first thing you notice about holding the device is also the thing with the most ambiguous future I’m afraid, the weight. I was shocked at just how light it was, when the girl handed me the PSV I held my hands out underneath expecting something as ‘stuffed’ with hardware features as this to give my wrists a slight need to adjust to counterweight. However it feels almost effortless to grasp but not so lightweight that it threatens to break or fly out of your hand. I immediately found myself trying to hold the device in one had then the other with surprising success. I asked if the model I was holding would be the same weight as the final build and was disappointed to hear that there would be a slight change with no indication as to whether it would be heavier or lighter. The demo model did in fact have the battery inside, according to the rep, and the weight change would probably be so slight as to be unnoticeable.
Now to find the buttons! Having owned a PSP, I was relatively aware of the basic button setup however I soon discovered that this may be more of a problem than an advantage. The inclusion of dual analogue sticks, while probably the greatest feature to hit handhelds ever, has forced the usual face buttons to shrink. It took me a few attempts to jump a small gap in LBP because I kept pushing the second analogue stick, thinking that it was the ‘X’ button. Once I got used to this though everything else snapped into place, the D-pad even seems to improve on the PSPs already good one, and it was now time to try out the touch screen.
My first touch evoked a mild feeling of disgust after realising just how grubby the screen had become. We can’t really blame the Vita for falling victim to the touch screen weakness though; you’d feel dirty too if 1000+ strangers queued up to fondle you all day. Returning, after a quick wipe, to the very first room in LBP which contained some of the ‘touchable’ blue material I had learned about just hours before in Sony’s PSV developer conference; I moved the object around just like I had done countless time before on various smart phones, it’s as intuitive here as it was then. There’s a certain small awe that comes with moving an object in a world as detailed as LBP using your own touch. The rear touchpad also came into use during the demo, where I was challenged with building a staircase for Sackboy by pushing ‘Tetris-like’ blocks out from ‘behind’. It’s a strange but immersive experience, which left me, optimistically, wondering about the possibilities of such input. Both front and rear touch screens are multi-touch and feel incredibly responsive, easily on par with top level smart phones.
The next challenge to put the PSV through its paces involved the six-axis function. I needed to tilt the device in order to bring a bridge across for Sackboy to jump onto; it works exactly how you would expect, after using both Move and DS3, you should feel very comfortable with this.
The dual analogue sticks seemed tiny at first, I worried that their decreased size would affect the range of control you had over manipulating the camera or minute aiming adjustments. However my concerns were put to rest after only a few short minutes of use I felt a common connection between the PSV sticks and the DS3. It might sound silly but it really did feel like I was playing a mini PS3 in my hands; which, in my opinion, is no bad thing, especially when you consider all the extra input and features available on the Playstation Vita.
I left the expo confident that Vita would be usable for me after being worried that my large hands (I’m 6’4” and can hold a basketball upside-down with arm outstretched) would be a problem. From build quality to responsiveness, Vita FEELS like a winner.
Eurogamer 2011: Starhawk, TPS/RTS?
Space, the final frontier... or is it? No it’s not, according to Lightbox Interactive’s follow-up to Warhawk, a multi-player only TPS released in 2007 on PS3. The new frontier involves some kind of space gold rush, in which the very substance you’re fighting for can mutate you into some kind of boney, glowing tribal warrior. The space-western theme is very reminiscent of cult fave TV show Firefly, who’s cancellation was a tragedy equalled only by Warhawk’s unappreciative public reception. Warhawk was never the best looking game, nor the most innovative but its gameplay was both deep and incredibly well-balanced. As a gamer who prefers the single player experience to competitive online it was surprising for me to find such satisfaction in a game designed entirely to play online. Still, when Lightbox revealed that Starhawk would have a single player campaign I couldn’t help but be overjoyed. At the Eurogamer Expo in London I recently got to play the entire demo through to the end, twice, here are my thoughts.
The games intro follows Sony’s first party trend (see Resistance and infamous) of animated comic book style, it’s a very artistic and efficient way to tell a story but it’s starting to seem overused. It melds seamlessly back into gameplay, in which you are shot onto a planet’s surface in a pod to secure a source of rift energy. I found the controls familiar but there was a definite sense of ‘weightiness’ that wasn’t present in Warhawk; although it could just be that it’s been a while since my last Warhawk escapade. Within the first 30 seconds I found myself in a fire fight; shooting felt solid and enemies explode satisfyingly into a flurry of glowing rift energy balls. I believe this energy is then used to purchase the ‘build in battle’ structures, which became available after capturing my first rift source.
The build in battle system is the feature that has raised my title question. At first it feels like a gimmick, just dropping turrets into the battlefield to support you isn’t exactly innovative. However, when you start collecting new buildings it becomes clear that Lightbox is onto something and has thrown a lot of weight behind it. In fact it seems to have completely transformed the game to the point that, at times, it borders on real time strategy. Enemy drop locations are announced in advance with timers and symbols, so you can prepare strategically. The tide of battle can shift with just one construction, where enemy types are countered with various turrets or NPC vehicles/mechs/warhawks. The whole concept allows for a depth of choice rarely seen in shooter games without taking away any of the fun derived from using a giant robot to hunt down and shoot a solitary enemy soldier with a salvo of overkill.
It’s this combination of genres that has solidified Starhawk as one of my most anticipated games of 2012 and could be exactly what the somewhat crowded and stale shooter market needs to get it out of its rut. Unless you believe MW3 will bring some kind of surprising innovation, in which case I commend your optimism.
UPDATE: Added a very nice video with Dylan Jobe, President of Lightbox Interactive, describing the build in battle system. It also contains some footage of it working in MP as well as the upgrade system for structures.
The games intro follows Sony’s first party trend (see Resistance and infamous) of animated comic book style, it’s a very artistic and efficient way to tell a story but it’s starting to seem overused. It melds seamlessly back into gameplay, in which you are shot onto a planet’s surface in a pod to secure a source of rift energy. I found the controls familiar but there was a definite sense of ‘weightiness’ that wasn’t present in Warhawk; although it could just be that it’s been a while since my last Warhawk escapade. Within the first 30 seconds I found myself in a fire fight; shooting felt solid and enemies explode satisfyingly into a flurry of glowing rift energy balls. I believe this energy is then used to purchase the ‘build in battle’ structures, which became available after capturing my first rift source.
The build in battle system is the feature that has raised my title question. At first it feels like a gimmick, just dropping turrets into the battlefield to support you isn’t exactly innovative. However, when you start collecting new buildings it becomes clear that Lightbox is onto something and has thrown a lot of weight behind it. In fact it seems to have completely transformed the game to the point that, at times, it borders on real time strategy. Enemy drop locations are announced in advance with timers and symbols, so you can prepare strategically. The tide of battle can shift with just one construction, where enemy types are countered with various turrets or NPC vehicles/mechs/warhawks. The whole concept allows for a depth of choice rarely seen in shooter games without taking away any of the fun derived from using a giant robot to hunt down and shoot a solitary enemy soldier with a salvo of overkill.
It’s this combination of genres that has solidified Starhawk as one of my most anticipated games of 2012 and could be exactly what the somewhat crowded and stale shooter market needs to get it out of its rut. Unless you believe MW3 will bring some kind of surprising innovation, in which case I commend your optimism.
UPDATE: Added a very nice video with Dylan Jobe, President of Lightbox Interactive, describing the build in battle system. It also contains some footage of it working in MP as well as the upgrade system for structures.
Which Zelda Should Be Remade?
Ocarina of Time was remade earlier this year, but which Zelda will be brought back to life next? Join me as I meander through some of the possibilities.
Majora's Mask- Since OoT looked so dang good on the 3DS, one might think that Nintendo would just remake the other Nintendo 64 Zelda as well. While this game wasn't really my favorite Zelda (probably one of my least favorite), it still deserves a make over sooner or later. Possible improvements could be a better save system, more masks, and of course, beautiful graphics.
A Link to the Past- Probably the one I want to see redone the most. The original Legend of Zelda often steals the glory from this game, which is a real shame. The game hasn't really seen many retail releases on newer consoles since the GBA, so I haven't gotten the chance to play it. But the third entry in this epic franchise could make for an amazing experience on the 3DS. Especially if it came with a graphical upgrade and 3D!
The Legend of Zelda- It was the first, so shouldn't it have been the first to be remade? Just picture a game with Phantom Hourglass type graphics, with the map of the original and the dungeons of the original. Doesn't the man in that cave deserve to give away that sword one more time? (Maybe in 3D?).
Wind Waker- This one would probably be better represented on the Wii U. What better way to get the new console started than with a remake of the most underrated (and over hated) Zeldas? With a more full sea and some HD graphics, this would be a winner for sure. Even if you hate the artsy graphics, this would be one of the most epic 3D Zelda experiences ever.
Twilight Princess- Oh, it makes me sad when I hear so many people hating on this game. It did so much right, but people seem to get stuck on the small things it did wrong. If anyone else read the latest Game Informer (a magazine that I usuallyhate, but hey, they did like a 20 page section on Zelda, so I figured I would cut them some slack.), one writers haled Twilight Princess as the best entry in the Zelda franchise. I might not call it that, but I have to admit that it is the best looking Link has ever looked. And if you thought the Wii game looked good, just picture what it would look like in HD. The game would play silky smooth, and look simply amazing. Hyrule Field would be as beautiful as it ever has, and the Fairy Springs would look astonishing. The Wii did the game justice, but the Wii U could do more than that. Possible improvements could be better sword controls, more fluid horse riding, and maybe more extras such as fish, bugs, and armor. And for those of you that are sitting their thinking the game would be no fun without motion controls, don't forget that the Wii U can use the Wii Remote and Motion Plus. Even just the game in HD with Motion Plus compatibility would be enough to make me pay 50 dollars for the game.
Well, you have heard my opinion, but what do you want? We all have our own unique opinions and views about Zelda, so share yours in the comment section below
Majora's Mask- Since OoT looked so dang good on the 3DS, one might think that Nintendo would just remake the other Nintendo 64 Zelda as well. While this game wasn't really my favorite Zelda (probably one of my least favorite), it still deserves a make over sooner or later. Possible improvements could be a better save system, more masks, and of course, beautiful graphics.
A Link to the Past- Probably the one I want to see redone the most. The original Legend of Zelda often steals the glory from this game, which is a real shame. The game hasn't really seen many retail releases on newer consoles since the GBA, so I haven't gotten the chance to play it. But the third entry in this epic franchise could make for an amazing experience on the 3DS. Especially if it came with a graphical upgrade and 3D!
The Legend of Zelda- It was the first, so shouldn't it have been the first to be remade? Just picture a game with Phantom Hourglass type graphics, with the map of the original and the dungeons of the original. Doesn't the man in that cave deserve to give away that sword one more time? (Maybe in 3D?).
Wind Waker- This one would probably be better represented on the Wii U. What better way to get the new console started than with a remake of the most underrated (and over hated) Zeldas? With a more full sea and some HD graphics, this would be a winner for sure. Even if you hate the artsy graphics, this would be one of the most epic 3D Zelda experiences ever.
Twilight Princess- Oh, it makes me sad when I hear so many people hating on this game. It did so much right, but people seem to get stuck on the small things it did wrong. If anyone else read the latest Game Informer (a magazine that I usuallyhate, but hey, they did like a 20 page section on Zelda, so I figured I would cut them some slack.), one writers haled Twilight Princess as the best entry in the Zelda franchise. I might not call it that, but I have to admit that it is the best looking Link has ever looked. And if you thought the Wii game looked good, just picture what it would look like in HD. The game would play silky smooth, and look simply amazing. Hyrule Field would be as beautiful as it ever has, and the Fairy Springs would look astonishing. The Wii did the game justice, but the Wii U could do more than that. Possible improvements could be better sword controls, more fluid horse riding, and maybe more extras such as fish, bugs, and armor. And for those of you that are sitting their thinking the game would be no fun without motion controls, don't forget that the Wii U can use the Wii Remote and Motion Plus. Even just the game in HD with Motion Plus compatibility would be enough to make me pay 50 dollars for the game.
Well, you have heard my opinion, but what do you want? We all have our own unique opinions and views about Zelda, so share yours in the comment section below
Join N4G as We Game for the Children's Miracle Network
N4G Moderators Odion, JL, cgoodno and I are leading the N4G team to charity victory - want in? As gamers in Extra Life's annual 24-hour video game marathon you can join the N4G team and get some play time in or you can donate and help us reach our fundraising goal!
All contributions will benefit local Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. Any contribution will help and all donations are tax deductible.
Our team fundraising goal is $5000 - which is huge for our first year, but c'mon...we can so do this!
If you would like to be part of the N4G team by playing just go here: http://www.extra-life.org/i... All gaming counts - PC, console, mobile, board...just game!
If you want to be part of the N4G team by donating choose any of our participant profiles on that page and donate!
Some other stuff: Want to play 24 hours but not for 24 hours straight? That's cool, just clock 24 hours in the time frame you choose! This is about the kids, after all - any Achievements/Trophies/etc. earned is just icing on the very real cake.
BONUS: If you join the team OR donate $24 or more to one of the N4G team's participants you'll be entered to win a swag bundle from our swag closet. This is a grab bag of posters, t-shirts, buttons, bags, and dog tags to name a few from GDC, E3, PAX...or stuff that showed up in the mail.
1. Swag bundle is open to all except for employees of HAVAmedia and immediate relatives. You do not have to be a registered N4G user to win.
2. Closing date is 15th October 2011
3. The winner will be chosen by random.org and notified via email or N4G ticket on or after October 16, 2011.
4. Failure to reply to notification within fourteen (14) days results in forfeiture of prize.
All contributions will benefit local Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. Any contribution will help and all donations are tax deductible.
Our team fundraising goal is $5000 - which is huge for our first year, but c'mon...we can so do this!
If you would like to be part of the N4G team by playing just go here: http://www.extra-life.org/i... All gaming counts - PC, console, mobile, board...just game!
If you want to be part of the N4G team by donating choose any of our participant profiles on that page and donate!
Some other stuff: Want to play 24 hours but not for 24 hours straight? That's cool, just clock 24 hours in the time frame you choose! This is about the kids, after all - any Achievements/Trophies/etc. earned is just icing on the very real cake.
BONUS: If you join the team OR donate $24 or more to one of the N4G team's participants you'll be entered to win a swag bundle from our swag closet. This is a grab bag of posters, t-shirts, buttons, bags, and dog tags to name a few from GDC, E3, PAX...or stuff that showed up in the mail.
1. Swag bundle is open to all except for employees of HAVAmedia and immediate relatives. You do not have to be a registered N4G user to win.
2. Closing date is 15th October 2011
3. The winner will be chosen by random.org and notified via email or N4G ticket on or after October 16, 2011.
4. Failure to reply to notification within fourteen (14) days results in forfeiture of prize.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Adventure World rockets to over 9 million players, thanks to promotions
And it did so in just under five days. According to Appdata, Zynga's newest release, Adventure World, has finally found its second wind, gaining over 8 million players in almost five days. If you remember, Zynga Boston's debut game sat stagnant at under 500,000 players for over a week after its release. This wild growth is likely thanks to one thing: cross promotions.
Zynga has finally taken advantage of (some of) its 267 million players to give Adventure World some much needed exposure. During its first week on Facebook, the game enjoyed little to no cross promotion between the company's existing games aside from banner ads and the like. But now, Adventure World can be found in games like Mafia Wars through special promotions.
In this particular case, Mafia Wars players have until Sept. 30 to reach Level 5 in Adventure World and receive a special item for their digital mafia don, an Ancient Hammer. While the item won't exactly wow veteran Mafia Wars players, it at least has value to collectors. Before that, we saw hints of Adventure World being advertised within FarmVille, which has yet to happen.
So, you can only imagine how far Adventure World would go if such involved promotions were featured in FarmVille, CityVille, Pioneer Trail and Empires & Allies. However, we were under the impression that this type of cross promotion was through with the release of RewardVille, Zynga's cross-game achievement system that rewards players for using all of its games daily.
Unfortunately, it seems as if the developer can't avoid such arguably invasive practices if it wants all of its games to succeed. And that could ultimately rekindle the ire of its players, many of which are already fed up with resurgent demands to enter new games for items within their favorite games. (Hence the creation of RewardVille.)
Zynga looks like it's more dependent than ever on its swath of existing players, but the developer might want to cook up a more elegant solution of getting those players to play its new games. If not, Zynga might run the risk of losing its most powerful method of growth: the players it already has.
What do you think of Adventure World so far? Do you think players would up and leave if Zynga turned up the heat on its in-game cross promotions once again? Sound off in the comments. 3 Comments
Zynga has finally taken advantage of (some of) its 267 million players to give Adventure World some much needed exposure. During its first week on Facebook, the game enjoyed little to no cross promotion between the company's existing games aside from banner ads and the like. But now, Adventure World can be found in games like Mafia Wars through special promotions.
In this particular case, Mafia Wars players have until Sept. 30 to reach Level 5 in Adventure World and receive a special item for their digital mafia don, an Ancient Hammer. While the item won't exactly wow veteran Mafia Wars players, it at least has value to collectors. Before that, we saw hints of Adventure World being advertised within FarmVille, which has yet to happen.
So, you can only imagine how far Adventure World would go if such involved promotions were featured in FarmVille, CityVille, Pioneer Trail and Empires & Allies. However, we were under the impression that this type of cross promotion was through with the release of RewardVille, Zynga's cross-game achievement system that rewards players for using all of its games daily.
Unfortunately, it seems as if the developer can't avoid such arguably invasive practices if it wants all of its games to succeed. And that could ultimately rekindle the ire of its players, many of which are already fed up with resurgent demands to enter new games for items within their favorite games. (Hence the creation of RewardVille.)
Zynga looks like it's more dependent than ever on its swath of existing players, but the developer might want to cook up a more elegant solution of getting those players to play its new games. If not, Zynga might run the risk of losing its most powerful method of growth: the players it already has.
What do you think of Adventure World so far? Do you think players would up and leave if Zynga turned up the heat on its in-game cross promotions once again? Sound off in the comments. 3 Comments
f8 Developers Conference: Facebook game shares move to the Ticker
You know those annoying pop-ups Facebook displays whenever you try to share something in FarmVille or what have you? Soon, those might be a thing of the past, according to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The Facebook boss announced the change in brief during the f8 Facebook Developers Conference, referring to a particularly hilarious Internet meme.
This change applies to Facebook apps across the board, but, of course, we're concerned with the games. According to Zuckerberg, sharing activity will be directly and automatically published to the News Feed or the Games Ticker, depending on what exactly it is you're sharing. And with that comes the privacy concerns.
Judging from Zuckerberg's brief mention of the change, this would cause apps to inform users upon installation exactly what activity they will automatically share. This information is extremely early, but we imagine that, if developers like Zynga were to implement this change, that players would have the be informed of those changes.
Later in the presentation, Zuckerberg mentioned that games will take even more advantage of the Games Ticker, which launched earlier this summer. The Facebook chief showed an instance in which a friend played the word "TEXT" against another in Words With Friends, which was displayed on the Games Ticker. He then proceeded to mouse over that Ticker notification, and it displayed a snapshot of the game board.
Words with Friends Share
Of course, you could then jump into the game and start a match with either player. In short, the day of the game-stopping share notification will soon be over. In its place, much of the viral sharing in Facebook games seems as if it will take place in the Games Ticker. It appears that these changes have already taken place in Words With Friends.
When these specific changes will take place has yet to be announced, though we imagine much of them will be up to the developers. And if FarmVille players' reactions to when Zynga made similar changes to its flagship game is any indication, we're opinons will be ... mixed. We'll keep you posted.
What do you think of Facebook doing away with the game share notifications, automating them and moving them into the Games Ticker? Share with us in the comments. 1 Comment
This change applies to Facebook apps across the board, but, of course, we're concerned with the games. According to Zuckerberg, sharing activity will be directly and automatically published to the News Feed or the Games Ticker, depending on what exactly it is you're sharing. And with that comes the privacy concerns.
Judging from Zuckerberg's brief mention of the change, this would cause apps to inform users upon installation exactly what activity they will automatically share. This information is extremely early, but we imagine that, if developers like Zynga were to implement this change, that players would have the be informed of those changes.
Later in the presentation, Zuckerberg mentioned that games will take even more advantage of the Games Ticker, which launched earlier this summer. The Facebook chief showed an instance in which a friend played the word "TEXT" against another in Words With Friends, which was displayed on the Games Ticker. He then proceeded to mouse over that Ticker notification, and it displayed a snapshot of the game board.
Words with Friends Share
Of course, you could then jump into the game and start a match with either player. In short, the day of the game-stopping share notification will soon be over. In its place, much of the viral sharing in Facebook games seems as if it will take place in the Games Ticker. It appears that these changes have already taken place in Words With Friends.
When these specific changes will take place has yet to be announced, though we imagine much of them will be up to the developers. And if FarmVille players' reactions to when Zynga made similar changes to its flagship game is any indication, we're opinons will be ... mixed. We'll keep you posted.
What do you think of Facebook doing away with the game share notifications, automating them and moving them into the Games Ticker? Share with us in the comments. 1 Comment
Stadiums full of people become Angry Birds players with Uplause
Could the Angry Birds replace the proverbial demands of "Make Some Noise" at your next baseball game? Maybe not your next one, but soon you could be cheering to fling the irate winged beasts into their plump green enemies. Pocket Gamer reports that Uplause, a Finnish developer of crowd-based games, has rebuilt Angry Birds with its creator, Rovio, into a version controlled by noise.
The self-proclaimed "social game maker for big crowds" has created similar games for use in stadiums for ice hockey games, soccer matches and even music festivals. Over the past summer, Uplause worked with Rovio to create a version of Angry Birds that is controlled using noise as an input device. (Namely, cheering, clapping, stomping and perhaps even booing, we assume.)
"As in the original, there's about a four second period before firing," Uplause CEO Veli-Pekka Marin explained to Pocket Gamer. "For live events, we'd expect each gaming session to take a few minutes." But in that time, thousands of folks will play at the same time. If anything, it's terribly efficient.
While all we know about this seriously social version of Angry Birds is that noise generates power for the game's slingshot, Pocket Gamer guesses that aiming is done automatically. Rovio and Uplause will first test this massive version of Angry Birds at a Formula 1 race taking place in Singapore this weekend, and the company's CMO Peter Vesterbacka sounds excited for its imminent global expansion.
"Through social participation, our fans will get to interact with the Angry Birds in an entirely new way," Vesterbacka said to Pocket Gamer. "We think this new form of gaming will give fans a great opportunity to form a strong emotional connection with the characters." I think Vesterbacka is confusing "emotional connection" with "drunken, crowd-fueled stupor." Check out the video below to get an idea of how it might work. Who knows you might be doing the same thing at the next World Series.
What do you imagine a noise-controlled version of Angry Birds would be like? What other games come to mind when you think of this approach? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
The self-proclaimed "social game maker for big crowds" has created similar games for use in stadiums for ice hockey games, soccer matches and even music festivals. Over the past summer, Uplause worked with Rovio to create a version of Angry Birds that is controlled using noise as an input device. (Namely, cheering, clapping, stomping and perhaps even booing, we assume.)
"As in the original, there's about a four second period before firing," Uplause CEO Veli-Pekka Marin explained to Pocket Gamer. "For live events, we'd expect each gaming session to take a few minutes." But in that time, thousands of folks will play at the same time. If anything, it's terribly efficient.
While all we know about this seriously social version of Angry Birds is that noise generates power for the game's slingshot, Pocket Gamer guesses that aiming is done automatically. Rovio and Uplause will first test this massive version of Angry Birds at a Formula 1 race taking place in Singapore this weekend, and the company's CMO Peter Vesterbacka sounds excited for its imminent global expansion.
"Through social participation, our fans will get to interact with the Angry Birds in an entirely new way," Vesterbacka said to Pocket Gamer. "We think this new form of gaming will give fans a great opportunity to form a strong emotional connection with the characters." I think Vesterbacka is confusing "emotional connection" with "drunken, crowd-fueled stupor." Check out the video below to get an idea of how it might work. Who knows you might be doing the same thing at the next World Series.
What do you imagine a noise-controlled version of Angry Birds would be like? What other games come to mind when you think of this approach? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Bravo gifts turtle with instant cable TV fame and a Facebook game
Just when we thought we've seen everything, US cable TV network Bravo is launching a Facebook game where you get to dress up their latest celebrity -- she's a turtle. I don't mean she's reclusive or anything. I mean that literally: She is a turtle, but she's not just any turtle. This is a turtle that caught the eye of Bravo's Executive Vice President of Original Programming, also known as Andy Cohen, and host of Bravo TV's Watch What Happens: Live.
The turle has been selected as the show's new mascot and will make her first appearance on Sept. 25. Her Facebook game will be called "Turtle Time", named after a TV episode of Bravo's The Real Housewives of New York, where one of the drunk stars made a toast at "Fat Turtle", a bar and dance club in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.
The Facebook game's objective is to design the turtle's tank and dress her up each week. There will be options to gift decorations to friends in the game, or to use Facebook Credits to buy special items. Results will be posted online, voting will commence, winners will be chosen and live versions of these designs will then be used on the show. Finally, when the season ends in December, Cohen will choose a past winner to fly to New York for a live taping and chance to meet the turtle.
What does the turtle have to say about all this? Here's a quote from Bravo's cheeky press release:
"Ever since I landed on the shores of Sag Harbor, I have been searching for my big break in show biz. When Andy Cohen came walking down those golden sands, I knew my dreams were coming true," Divulged Yet-To-Be-Named Turtle. "I can't wait to move into the Bravo Clubhouse and to be dressed in the latest fashions."
Oh, and before anyone runs to the nearest phone to alert PETA, Bravo has contacted the American Humane Association for an animal safety monitor who'll oversee the tapings according to the Guidelines for the Safe Use of Animals In Filmed Media. There's no word if there's someone to monitor the turtle's dignity, but I think that's irretrievable at this point.
[Hat-tip: The Hollywood Reporter]
Is this cruel and/or unusual treatment of animals? Or just some harmless and wacky fun? Have you lost your faith in humanity yet? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
The turle has been selected as the show's new mascot and will make her first appearance on Sept. 25. Her Facebook game will be called "Turtle Time", named after a TV episode of Bravo's The Real Housewives of New York, where one of the drunk stars made a toast at "Fat Turtle", a bar and dance club in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.
The Facebook game's objective is to design the turtle's tank and dress her up each week. There will be options to gift decorations to friends in the game, or to use Facebook Credits to buy special items. Results will be posted online, voting will commence, winners will be chosen and live versions of these designs will then be used on the show. Finally, when the season ends in December, Cohen will choose a past winner to fly to New York for a live taping and chance to meet the turtle.
What does the turtle have to say about all this? Here's a quote from Bravo's cheeky press release:
"Ever since I landed on the shores of Sag Harbor, I have been searching for my big break in show biz. When Andy Cohen came walking down those golden sands, I knew my dreams were coming true," Divulged Yet-To-Be-Named Turtle. "I can't wait to move into the Bravo Clubhouse and to be dressed in the latest fashions."
Oh, and before anyone runs to the nearest phone to alert PETA, Bravo has contacted the American Humane Association for an animal safety monitor who'll oversee the tapings according to the Guidelines for the Safe Use of Animals In Filmed Media. There's no word if there's someone to monitor the turtle's dignity, but I think that's irretrievable at this point.
[Hat-tip: The Hollywood Reporter]
Is this cruel and/or unusual treatment of animals? Or just some harmless and wacky fun? Have you lost your faith in humanity yet? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Zynga profits plummet 90 percent, raises questions about imminent IPO
Will the big show still go on? That's what many wonder, as Zynga just revealed in an updated regulatory filing that its profits dipped by 90 percent in the June quarter, thanks to increased spending and a lack of major game releases earlier this year, Reuters reports. According to the news service, this raises questions as to whether the company can sustain growth ahead of its long-awaited IPO (initial public offering).
Zynga's net income took a nose dive to $1.4 million from $14 million a year earlier, and its net profit plummeted over 90 percent in three months from $16.8 million in March of this year. Reuters chalks this up to the fact that the filing shows that the FarmVille maker's expenses rose $149 million compared to a year earlier, and $59 million alone from the previous financial quarter.
We'd imagine a major chunk of those expenses are thanks to the 14 companies Zynga gobbled up in the past year. It's also worth noting that the developer didn't really release any major Facebook games in 2011 prior to Empires & Allies. (And no, we're not counting FarmVille English Countryside.) Since then, however, the company has been on a frenzy, launching three more Facebook games this summer: Words With Friends, Pioneer Trail and recently Adventure World.
This news speaks volumes to the fact that Zynga has reached a point where it constantly needs to produce in order to sustain its meteoric growth, and more importantly for them right now, the faith of investors. Since the company's last filing, Zynga conducted a third-party analysis that estimated the probability of an IPO at 75 percent. This is down from the 80 percent probability reported in Zynga's previous filing.
In other words, it looks like the anticipated Zynga IPO could be delayed, just as previous reports suggested, to wait for improved market conditions. However, EA is gaining on the company with The Sims Social, and fast. According to AppData, EA and Playfish's game has just about 1.6 million fewer daily players than CityVille's 12.9 million.
Do you think Zynga has anything to worry about, given the news? Would you ever invest in Zynga if given the chance? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
Zynga's net income took a nose dive to $1.4 million from $14 million a year earlier, and its net profit plummeted over 90 percent in three months from $16.8 million in March of this year. Reuters chalks this up to the fact that the filing shows that the FarmVille maker's expenses rose $149 million compared to a year earlier, and $59 million alone from the previous financial quarter.
We'd imagine a major chunk of those expenses are thanks to the 14 companies Zynga gobbled up in the past year. It's also worth noting that the developer didn't really release any major Facebook games in 2011 prior to Empires & Allies. (And no, we're not counting FarmVille English Countryside.) Since then, however, the company has been on a frenzy, launching three more Facebook games this summer: Words With Friends, Pioneer Trail and recently Adventure World.
This news speaks volumes to the fact that Zynga has reached a point where it constantly needs to produce in order to sustain its meteoric growth, and more importantly for them right now, the faith of investors. Since the company's last filing, Zynga conducted a third-party analysis that estimated the probability of an IPO at 75 percent. This is down from the 80 percent probability reported in Zynga's previous filing.
In other words, it looks like the anticipated Zynga IPO could be delayed, just as previous reports suggested, to wait for improved market conditions. However, EA is gaining on the company with The Sims Social, and fast. According to AppData, EA and Playfish's game has just about 1.6 million fewer daily players than CityVille's 12.9 million.
Do you think Zynga has anything to worry about, given the news? Would you ever invest in Zynga if given the chance? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
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