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Mad Catz Mojo Android game console, will arrive by the holiday season

noreply@blogger.com (Bharat Raiya) — Sun, 28 Jul 2013 07:02:00 -0700

Mad Catz unveiled their entry into the Android-powered console arena during E3 2013 which is called Mojo. While the console was on display at E3 and subsequent shows for some hands-on loving, the hardware within the console itself was there was more for showing the prototype console then actually being finalized hardware for a production release.

The console, at the time it was being fondled by numerous news outlets, was sporting a Tegra 3 chipset in it. At the time rumors were it would feature a Tegra 4 when it hit store shelves and to us that seems quite likely. So why are we recapping all of this? Well we've been talking with the fine folks over at Mad Catz in regards to the Mojo console and possibly getting some new details to report back with.

We did get some additional details about this upcoming console and while the hardware is still being finalized, and so nothing really new to report there right now, we do have some of information to share. First the Mojo console will be available by the holiday season. Back when it was unveiled, this was more of a general possibility for its release. Now it is a lot more final. Mad Catz has also gone on record to say the Mojo will be the most powerful Android console when it arrives. So in terms of hardware, use your imagination. Tegra 4? 2GB of RAM or more? When the final specs arrive it should be interesting to see what they are.

The other reason we still speculate that the Mojo will pack a Tegra 4 versus a Qualcomm chipset is because Mad Catz and Nvidia came to an agreement which happened back in June regarding Tegra devices and that any peripheral that uses Mad Catz' GameSmart Technology will be automatically compatible with Tegra-based devices.

The Mojo console will have no subscription fees, no limit to the selection of games or where you get those games. The console won't be using its own marketplace and that means you'll be able to access Google Play, TegraZone, Amazon's AppStore or any other app store you might want to use. This is all because the Mojo will be running stock Android and that also means all the games you already own will be playable on this console without having to purchase them again.

Considering Mad Catz has been in the gaming scene for some time now, making peripherals that are used in pretty much every major gaming tournament, Mojo will also come with a modified version of their MLG-licensed C.T.R.L.R. controller which will also have a 'mouse mode' you will be able to turn on. This mode will allow you play games that specifically use touch screen controls but converting those controls into ones that support gamepads isn't feasible, like Angry Birds. This modified C.T.R.L.R will also use (and is the only one on the market to do this) both normal Bluetooth and Bluetooth Smart to minimize lag.

The C.T.R.L.R actually has three built-in modes you can switch between:

- GameSmart Mode implements the standard HID controls for simplified gaming on the Android platform.
- Mouse Mode for touch screen games.
- PC Mode implements standard PC pad controls.

Mad Catz also told us that the Mojo will be completely open. If you want to use another company's controller with it then you can. You'll also be able to use the C.T.R.L.R with your phone or tablet if you want to. The console will also support both mice and keyboards as well. Mojo can also act like a media center as well since it can stream 1080p to your HDTV so you can watch Netflix or do whatever you want with it.

So while we knew some of these details already from the initial unveiling back at E3 2013, Mad Catz expanded a lot on some of those details to us. As for pricing, Mad Catz is still considering what the price tag will be for Mojo. If you have any questions about this upcoming console, let us know over in our forums if you're a member (or in the comments below if you aren't a member) as we will be doing a more formal interview with Mad Catz next week.

Strategy & Tactics: WW II

noreply@blogger.com (Bharat Raiya) — Sun, 28 Jul 2013 06:41:00 -0700

Today's roundup is presented by Strategy & Tactics: WW II from HeroCraft. You could be forgiven for thinking that this turn-based strategy game looks a lot like Risk, but instead of Napoleonic struggles, the digital adaptation takes the battlefield to WWII-era Europe. Players will advance across Italy, France and Germany, using a variety of ground and air units to push back the enemy. You can duke it out in skirmishes, win the war in three campaigns, or get your multiplayer on in WiFi battles or local "hot potato" play on a single device. There's also a free demo of Strategy & Tactics available.

Relive the greatest battles of WWII in this grand strategy masterpiece. Take command of the Axis to conquer Europe - then command the armies of the USSR and Allies to retake it. In Strategy & Tactics: World War II, you battle impressive AI enemies in three campaigns with a classic turn-based battle system and serried ranks of historically-accurate troops. Fight your way through eighteen missions with an exiting storyline and charismatic characters across Europe, Asia and Africa, research new technologies to improve your troops and build industry, and lead your armies to victory.

★ 3 full campaigns with 18 historical missions

★ Play multiplayer across different smartphones and tablets

★ Realistic global strategy with historically-accurate maps

★ A wide array of game modes

★ Juggle military, economic and scientific development

★ Several hardcore scenarios and a endlessly replayable skirmish mode

BioShock Infinite delayed one month

noreply@blogger.com (Bharat Raiya) — Sat, 8 Dec 2012 02:47:00 -0800

BioShock Infinite has been delayed once more. Formerly slated to arrive on PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on February 26, 2013, the game is now scheduled to ship on March 26. We've been informed the delay was made at the behest of Rod Fergusson, who joined Irrational Games as VP of development after leaving Epic Games in August.

Fergusson felt the game needed a bit more time in development--a similar sentiment previously delayed its release from October 16, 2012 to February. Hopefully it's nothing but good news from here on out, and we can stop worrying about BioShock Infinite.

Hitman: Absolution silent assassin guide

noreply@blogger.com (Bharat Raiya) — Sat, 8 Dec 2012 02:43:00 -0800

The Silent Assassin rank is the highest commendation you can earn in Hitman: Absolution. Fully memorizing the control scheme and having situational awareness are just the first steps to reaching this rank. Success not only depends what you do, but also what you don’t do, like getting spotted. We love that Absolution gives you real time score updates, letting you know how you’re progressing or failing. In this Hitman game, scores are tied to ranks and the assassin targets yield the big points. So not only are we providing you with ways to get the Silent Assassin rank, we’re also giving you a partial walkthrough, revealing some of the many ways you can take out the targets.

007 Legends developer Eurocom lays off remaining staff

noreply@blogger.com (Bharat Raiya) — Sat, 8 Dec 2012 02:38:00 -0800

Eurocom, the 007 Legends developer which laid off 75 percent of its workforce in November, has eliminated its remaining positions. The last employees were terminated after the company entered administration.

"As a result, the remaining 42 employees have been made redundant today and the business has ceased to trade after some 25 years, having grown organically to become one of the largest and most prolific independent console games developers worldwide," read a statement from the studio provided to Eurogamer.

"The Directors of Eurocom would like to offer their heartfelt thanks to all their staff that have been made redundant at this difficult time, and show their appreciation of all of their hard work in consistently delivering exceptional games."

Eurocom stood as an independently owned licensed console game contractor since its establishment in 1988. Before entering administration, studio director Hugh Binns said the company planned to begin focusing on mobile games. Its recent titles were largely Activision-licensed Bond games, including GoldenEye 007: Reloaded.

Batman: Arkham City board game coming next year

noreply@blogger.com (Bharat Raiya) — Sun, 2 Dec 2012 08:34:00 -0800

A card-based board game version of Batman: Arkham City (one of the greatest games ever made) has been announced by game company Cryptozoic Entertainment. Batman: Arkham City Escape is for two players – one playing as Batman, the other taking charge of the various villains of Arkham. Here’s the press release description:

“Batman: Arkham City Escape is a two-player game that pits Batman against all of his greatest foes as they try to escape Arkham! In this game, one player represents Batman, and the other player represents the villains that Batman has fought in the past. The player controlling the Arkham inmates earns victory points by helping the villains escape Arkham, while the Batman player gains points by apprehending his rivals before they make it out of the city. The first player to earn 10 Victory Points is the winner!”

HITMAN: ABSOLUTION REVIEW

noreply@blogger.com (Bharat Raiya) — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 09:56:00 -0800

For a game built upon the concept of slipping by unnoticed, Hitman: Absolution is certainly doing the opposite. It’s standing conspicuously amongst today’s fad-driven modern shooters and me-too multiplayer hopefuls, middle fingers extended. A slow-paced, single-player focused sneak ’em up, Absolution looms in stark opposition to many of the most pervading trends in gaming today. It cares not for the overly delicate, their minds rendered dull and flabby after years of being prodded through corridors blasting anything that breathes. Absolution delights in letting players skulk through it expending few bullets at all. It’s a game that wants to let you think for yourself.

A game that wants to remind you that trial and error done right equals satisfaction, not frustration.

For those of you counting at home it’s been 2368 days since Hitman: Blood Money was released, give or take. That’s a long time between drinks. It’s nearly six-and-a-half years. In video game terms that’s somewhere in the Cretaceous Period. In actual fact the besuited Agent 47 and his barcoded dome have spent the vast bulk of this generation on the sideline. Hitman: Absolution has been a long time coming, a fact fans are acutely aware of.

The pressure to deliver, then, is high. Blood Money may be a dinosaur in some respects but it remains a cult favourite adored by its faithful fans. Six-and-a-half years on the team at Io Interactive must ship a successor to it worthy of the wait

The good news is, they have.Above everything, Absolution is a game that wants you to experiment with it. It refuses to be rushed through, rewarding brains over brawn. It wants you to spend time inside it, methodically picking your way around and discovering morbid new ways to snuff out your unfortunate marks. Like Blood Money before it, your targets here can be executed in a host of ever-so-slightly sickeningly different ways. Returning Hitman fans won’t settle for a simple bullet to the back of the head; they’ll immediately be on the lookout for the tell-tale signs of a classic Hitman kill opportunity. Some of them are more subtle than others but, like Blood Money, they’re all there, waiting to be discovered. A couple of the game’s kills are more tightly choreographed for dramatic effect, complete with a brief cutscene of your deserved victim sucking in their last breaths, but most of the game’s kills – two dozen of them at least – are traditional Hitman fare. How you take them out is in your hands. This is a slow-paced, measured experience. This is not Medal of Duty: Modern Warfighter Ops. Impatient action junkies need not apply.

The way Absolution itself plays is very much a refined version of what Io attempted with its previous effort, but gone are most of the quirks Hitman diehards were happy to overlook in Blood Money. 47 feels far more connected to the environment rather than skating about on it, and successfully sneaking up on a target from behind with your signature fibre wire is no longer quite as fickle an exercise. It’s all a lot more organic and a lot less stiff.

Furthermore Absolution adds a host of additional abilities for 47. 47’s limited use sedatives, for instance, are no longer necessary because of his close-quarters combat skills. Sneak up on an enemy or NPC unawares and you can grab them and either subdue or kill them with your bare hands. It’s just like Blood Money, where you could simply take people as a human shield and then knock them cold with the butt of your pistol when your syringes ran dry, only without all that rigmarole (although, of course, you can still do that too).

There’s a cover system that allows you to properly exchange fire with enemies when things go pear-shaped, rather than being stuck out in the open desperately strafing left and right. When you’re playing as you should, stealthily and patiently, the cover system is even more useful, allowing you to spring from behind it as enemies pass by to quietly choke them out, or snap their necks. You can also fake surrender too, disarming your would-be captor and taking him hostage.

There have been tweaks to the shooting system too. Point Shooting, which is a slo-mo power-up that functions not unlike a similar power-up in Splinter Cell Conviction, works fine but Hitman veterans will almost certainly never use it outside the couple of instances it’s required throughout the game. Rabid Hitman fans simply won’t be doing the levels of indiscriminate killing that would warrant the use of Point Shooting. You can’t get Silent Assassin ratings by mowing down scores of henchmen in slow-motion. Better is Precision Shot, which allows you to gently squeeze the trigger to steady your aim before actually firing. It feels very natural; it’s a hugely better solution than the normal “click-here-to-hold-your-breath” malarkey.

Then there’s Instinct Mode, which is basically 47’s intuition represented visually. Instinct Mode remains a true bone of contention for some but at its most fundamental level this replaces the previous, god-like minimap. 47 can sense nearby enemies and you can note where they are in relation to him. How you use it beyond that is really up to you. New Hitman players can use it as a crutch, noting enemy patrol paths or objects of interest. Veterans can simply refer to it sparingly or dial it down entirely. On the higher of the game’s five difficulty settings it’s automatically neutered anyway.

On the topic of difficulty settings, there are five – and they cover the whole spectrum. Easy is exceedingly so, and Purist is insane. The sweet spot for a first play through is probably Normal or Hard. Enemy reaction times are quite forgiving in Normal and the game will tolerate some sloppiness on your part at the expense of realism, but it’s a good setting to build up an understanding of the levels. Hard ramps things up. It’s interesting to note that enemy NPCs aren’t just sharper on higher difficulties; there are also more of them. Depending on your approach you may well find your undetected route through a level on Normal completely thwarted by an added patrol on Hard.

When things do go sour the adjustments to how enemies react to your presence is also welcome. If you’re spotted and you can contain the situation by subduing or killing all nearby witnesses before they inform others an alert won’t be raised. This is a refreshing change from Blood Money, where one foul up would dispatch every enemy on the map against you like heat-seeking missiles.

Absolution looks good. There’s arguably a bit too much lighting bloom, particularly when harsh light begins to glint off 47’s cue ball bonce, but it’s not going to be something that’ll have you dropkicking the disc down your driveway in disgust. It’s darker and grittier than Hitman titles past but the visuals shouldn’t raise many complaints. It looks its best at its busiest; when you’re threading your way through the game’s thick crowds. It’s these moments when you’re keenly aware you’re playing something a little different. The levels are nicely dressed and the cutscenes are well-produced; it’s a solid effort all around.

It sounds great too. The dynamic score which picks up as the action mounts is well implemented, and there are quite a few moments where the audio design really pops. Approaching and opening a closed door to a loud, bustling bar, for instance, sees the sound launch from a subtle hum of chatter and muffled music to a roar of raised voices and bass. It’s well crafted. Hitman games are all about atmosphere, and Absolution gets it right.

There are 20 levels but many are broken up into a series of stages. The key difference between this and Blood Money is the levels are segmented. Instead of one big level, say, like the Heaven and Hell Club, levels in Absolution are often completed in discrete chunks. For instance, there may be one or more areas that need to be stealthily navigated and passed through before you can reach the area where your target is. Some levels have several targets spread over multiple stages. The Attack of the Saints level, for instance, has you slowly taking out all seven leather-clad nun assassins over the course of three distinct areas. The controversial trailer released featuring 47 taking them out in a tightly-compressed flurry of moves cribbed from several viewings of The Bourne Identity really did this level a disservice. They're nothing alike.

Overall Absolution is a success, although not universally so. The change to the disguise system, for instance, is a good idea not fully-formed. It makes sense that NPCs wearing the same type of clothing are able to recognise you as an imposter; it means you can’t just don a disguise and stroll through the game's levels. It’d be too easy. The system should scale, however. It’s logical a small group of janitors would recognise a stranger in their midst; less so that every Chicago policeman knows the faces of every one of his thousands of fellow officers so well that he can always spot an intruder. Both the cover system and the Blend system, where 47 casually dips his head and obscures his face as he passes threats, are Io’s answers to these.

On normal difficulty it does create a certain degree of absurdity when simply ducking down behind a parked car and breaking line of sight or surreptitiously covering your face with your hand can allay suspicion, but a balance does have to be struck between credibility and playability. If you’re finding things too easy I’d advise you to progress to the game’s incredibly unforgiving Expert and Purist modes, where enemies react far faster.

The nature of Absolution’s story-mode, which features 47 on the run and, for several very early levels, without even his signature Silverballers, is also quite different from Blood Money. It may leave some fans a little wanting considering you no longer select your preferred equipment before missions and such, but Contracts mode is there to fill that gap. Contracts mode is Absolution’s true sandbox, where you can create your own custom hits within the game’s levels with its clever play to create system, choosing whatever NPCs, weapons or disguises you want. Better still, you can challenge your friends to complete your contracts faster and more efficiently than you. Pausing a level in story mode will also present you with an opportunity to play a user-created Contract instead.

Contracts mode will be the lifeblood of Absolution once you’ve clocked the story mode, but that’s not to say Io hasn’t been experimenting with ways of hooking players in hard. Absolution may be steadfastly single-player focused, but Io has embraced the 2012 trend of connectivity. Upon completion of a level Absolution will award you with a score, and that score will be instantly compared to both your friends playing Absolution, the rest of your country, and the rest of the world. You can see how far above or below your score is tracking in relation to your friend average, your country average and the world average.

The score system takes some working out, but basically signature and accident kills for your designated target net you big bonuses. Being spotted and killing civilians and non-targets see significant penalties. You can subdue people for a small score penalty, but you can scrub that penalty by hiding their unconscious bodies. You’ll get an idea for different solutions for levels via the awards at their completion. They’ll give you hints of traps you perhaps didn’t spring, or items, weapons or disguises you didn’t find.

THE VERDICT

Like Dishonored before it, it’s actually a true pleasure to play a game that lets you tackle it from multiple angles. After several years of increasingly totalitarian games where you’re very much following a pre-determined path, it’s nice to have a game that doesn’t just encourage improvisation; it requires it.

18 Great Games You Might Not Have Played in 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Bharat Raiya) — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 09:34:00 -0800

It's finally getting to the time of year where all the big games are out and I can sit down and think for more than five minutes, so my thoughts are naturally turning from 2012's huge releases to the other stuff - the smaller, often more interesting games that have stuck in my mind as the months have gone by. For me it's often these games that give the year personality; where the schedule of big releases is pretty much the same every year (a few in January, a few in April/May, maybe one in summer, and an avalanche from September onwards), these games pop up unexpectedly, brightening a weekend or a lunch break or a cold February afternoon. The evolving nature of game narrative, particularly, has been a theme for me this year - games from The Walking Dead to Dear Esther have been ignoring the conventions of interactive storytelling, often with huge success.

If you’ve got hours to fill as the year putters out, these are 18 games well worth your attention that you might not have heard of before, ranging from 15-minute indie experiments to console games that perhaps came out at the wrong time or slipped by under the radar. Got any more suggestions? Leave them in the comments, and we might have enough for a follow-up.

Thirty Flights of Loving:
Thirty Flights of Loving is about 15 minutes long, as minimalist in its visuals as it is in its storytelling, and drops you straight into a linear, first-person narrative about love, betrayal and grand heists. It progresses at breakneck pace, bombarding you with imagery and incidental detail that might fly straight over your head the first time through. It tells a story almost entirely without words, written or spoken; this is the videogame equivalent of punchy, avant-garde short fiction. You can buy it for $5 on Steam, or direct from creator Brendan Chung. You won't regret it.

Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward:
This one came out right in the middle of big-game frenzy in the US and is out this week in Europe, and so almost nobody has played it yet - which is madness, as it's apparently very good indeed. It's a visual novel (an interactive story with puzzles, excellent voice work and lovely 3D animation) about a prisoner's dilemma: give up your accomplice and reduce your own time, or keep quiet and risk betrayal. It's a complex maze of intersecting timelines, actions and consequences. It's a hell of an interesting alternative to a holiday novel.

Dear Esther:
Yet another fascinating experiment in interactive storytelling, Dear Esther is a stunningly beautiful four-hour tale told through a combination of desolate, Scottish-island imagery and florid, ambiguous prose read out by an invisible narrator. It is exactly as pretentious as it sounds, but also really very good if you like this sort of thing, and even if you don't, you should give it a try. It's usually about $10/£7 on Steam, but it's in the sale until November 26th.

Slender:
Slender properly messed up my mind (and my sleep pattern) for a good few weeks earlier this year. It's the most deeply frightening game I've ever played. You' are alone in a very creepy, dark forest full of mysterious, abandoned structures with just a torch for company, and as you walk around and find increasingly disturbed pages of scribbled notes lying around, you become aware of a menacing presence following you. Sometimes you'll see him out of the corner of your eye, sometimes you won't be able to shake the feeling that he's right behind you. It's perfect example of economy in game design. Winter's drawing in, so now it's dark enough outside to play it at its scariest. It's free, and you can download it from slendergame.com.

Hotline Miami:
Hotline Miami is a stylish, subtly disturbing neon murderfest that assaults your eyes with extreme pixellated violence and your ears with mind-scrambling, fantastic 8-bit tunes. The premise: you turn up at a building and kill everything in it whilst wearing an animal mask. It's one of the most challenging twitch-games of recent times; you succeed or fail in an instant. But it's challenging in other ways, too - its story is dense and cynical, and as well as being an arrestingly excellent video game, it's also a brutal parody of the nature of games and what they express. It's pretty stunning. It's $10 from Steam or Good Old Games.

Okami HD:
The only game ever to out-Zelda the Zelda series - in my estimation, anyway - Okami is a gorgeous artefact steeped in rich, intricate Japanese mythology. It is one of the most jaw-droppingly beautiful games ever made, and where the original PS2 game employed an the ink-on-papyrus filter that was both a visual signature and a way to compensate for the console's limitations, in HD the game's art is crisp and gorgeous. It's not a great time for the Japanese games industry, but this extraordinary game reminds us of what the country's best developers have achieved.

Tokyo Jungle:
Tokyo Jungle is superbly bonkers. You can, if you're good, kill a raptor with a Pomeranian. You can breed a litter of beagles and attack a lion with them. There are several different types of cat. The most surprising thing about this PSN game isn't how unexpectedly original it is, though, or how comfortingly, Japanese-ly mad it is, but how much depth it offers; unlocking all the animals and completing the story isn't the work of an afternoon.

Binary Domain:
It didn't exactly rocket up the charts, but listen to Binary Domain's proponents and they'll tell you it's one of the most interesting games of the year. It's a cover shooter, yeah, but one with unconventional enemies and characters who slowly develop from generic soldierdudes into actually quite interesting sorts. This isn't one I've played myself, but because so many people have told me there's more to it than first appears, it's in my holiday game pile.

Spelunky:
Spelunky, released in HD this year on Xbox Live Arcade and available for free on PC, stole entire weekends of my life this year. Playing a brave little explorer, you descend through progressively deadlier caves to uncover their secrets below-ground. It's randomly generated, so no two games are the same, and it's also *incredibly* difficult. Many players won't even see more than the first few caves, never mind its more obscure secrets. You don't get many games like this any more, with this kind of figurative and literal depth and so many hidden secrets; you genuinely feel like an explorer. It's even better in co-op.

Frog Fractions:
I'm not giving you a video of Frog Fractions because I don't want to spoil it for you, but I will say this: you will do many things in Frog Fractions, but you will almost certainly not learn anything about fractions. It is hilarious, deranged and totally unexpected, takes about 30-45 minutes to play through, and will leave you a subtly changed person. It’s completely free and you can play it on creators Twinbeard Studios’ website. One tip to unlock its secrets: go down.

Spec Ops: The Line:
It's not necessarily an amazing shooter, but Spec Ops: The Line is a fantastic game nonetheless, because it does what no other military shooter with lofty ambitions has ever actually pulled off: it makes you think about war, and about how it's treated in games, and why we approach them the way we do. It's interesting enough for someone to have written a book-length close reading of the game and its themes called "Killing is Harmless". It's a game you can finish in one Sunday if you play straight through, but it remains in the mind for much longer. I very much hope it turns out to be an inspiration for the genre rather than a flash in the pan.

Sine Mora:
This is one I've missed, and it looks amazing. A "dieselpunk" old-school arcade shooter with shades of The Matrix's grim cybernetic future and the ability to control time? And animal pilots? Sign me up, I'm there.

Sleeping Dogs:
If you're really looking forward to GTA V, Sleeping Dogs is especially worth playing over the holidays. It's a very violent, very polished, very enjoyable open-world crime game whose central kung-fu crime movie story is, for once, as interesting as all the optional chaos you can take part in. It's quite directed for an open-world game, but it's also very slick and consistent, with very little superfluous fluff. And it's got lots of achingly cool costumes, which is always a plus.

Velocity:
Velocity is a combination of puzzler and vertical shooter, out on the PlayStation Store - it's a Mini, so it's only £4. It's a wonderful homage to retro score-attack shooters, but one that's bursting with original ideas as well. It appropriates the aesthetic and cheerful, futuristic chiptune of the past and grafts it onto sprawling, inventive levels that are more reminiscent of Metroid than Ikaruga. It's especially well-suited to Vita, but can be played on PSP and PS3 too.

Super Hexagon:
Terry Cavanagh's brain-melting twitch-puzzler is gaming at its most elemental. Rotating a tiny triangle around a central point as flashing, deadly patterns come rushing towards the centre of the screen, you become one with your primal gaming nature, responding with nano-second precision to incoming hazards. Awesome music pulls you further into the zone. Last more than five seconds on your first try and you're quite possibly a prodigy. It's $3 on the App Store. I'm still waiting on an Android version.

Project Zero 2/Fatal Frame 2:
Re-released on Wii this year, bizarrely, Project Zero 2 (or Fatal Frame in America) is "an enduring classic that every horror fan should have in their collection", according to our reviewer. Wii controls enhance rather than ruin the experience, and the lack of progress and innovation in the horror genre becomes disappointingly apparent as you play through and realise that nobody's really done anything as ambitious as this in the nine years since it came out on PS2.

Mark of the Ninja:
We've had two great stealth games this year: Dishonored, which is really only a stealth game if you're enormously restrained, and Mark of the Ninja, which is what Shinobi would be if it were 2D and made by the guys who did Shank. Its art and animation draw you in, but you stay for the hardcore stealth.

The Last Story:
I think we can safely say now that this was the Wii's last great game. It's not the JRPG revolution that Xenoblade Chronicles was, but it's a heartfelt story that moves along at a compelling pace, and the combat system is a great innovation. Great characterisation and localisation work together with Nobuo Uematsu's musical score to elevate the presentation, too.

Nintendo Land Review

noreply@blogger.com (Bharat Raiya) — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 01:44:00 -0800

Nintendo Land's varied attractions offer plenty of family-friendly fun and make great use of the Wii U's capabilities.

The Good:

Fun single-player attractions make good use of the Wii U tablet Plenty of enjoyable ways to play with friends cooperatively and competitively Mario Chase is a terrific twist on hide-and-seek Nintendo themes give the attractions some charm.

The Bad:

A few attractions are too difficult or too shallow.
Nintendo knows a thing or two about crafting worlds that have memorable, immediately recognizable characteristics. Perhaps, for you, the five-note theme that often accompanies Samus' appearance in Metroid games always conjures memories of many happy hours spent exploring alien landscapes. Maybe a glimpse of the Triforce is enough to stir the heart of the legendary hero residing in you. In Nintendo Land, the storied developer leverages the fondness many players feel for some of its most enduring series, while also employing some properties you probably haven't thought about in decades, or you never even knew existed. But while the window dressing at this amusement park of Nintendo-based attractions lends the game a good deal of personality, the real attraction is the gameplay.

There are 12 attractions accessible from the plaza that serves as Nintendo Land's hub. Six of them are for one player, three allow for both solo players or groups, and three are multiplayer only. The most serene attraction is the single-player Yoshi's Fruit Cart. Here, your Mii is placed in a cart modeled on the titular lovable dinosaur. The screen on the tablet and the screen on the television both show a green environment from a top-down view. On the TV, however, you can see fruits to collect and sometimes hazards to avoid, while the screen on the tablet shows only your starting position, the exits, and any patterns or shadows that might be on the stage's surface. You must draw a line on the tablet that takes the cart from its starting point to the exit, eating all the available fruit and winding your way around hazards.

It's a pleasantly absorbing exercise, trying to draw a safe path on the tablet using the information on the TV, sometimes relying on the shadows of clouds or other environmental features for reference. Completing stages is quite easy at first, but the challenge ramps up steadily as fruit starts to move in circular patterns and pitfalls become more prevalent. On these harder stages, it's a bit nerve-racking to hit the Go! button after drawing your line, and then watch the cart follow your path and hope it safely navigates its way through the hazards surrounding it.

The solo attraction Octopus Dance picks up the pace a bit. (Who is Octopus, you ask? Why, he's the star of the Game and Watch game Octopus, of course!) In this attraction, your Mii becomes a deep-sea-diving dancer who tries to keep up with the moves demonstrated by an instructor. (Octopus is content to watch from the background, and occasionally squirt some ink that obscures your view on the tablet but leaves the TV unaffected.) The left and right thumbsticks on the tablet move your left and right arms; you can tilt the tablet to lean, and shake it to jump. That's all you need to do to perform all of the dance moves.

The moves come in sets of three and sometimes come at you very quickly, so just taking note of what you need to do and then doing it along with the rhythm gets tricky. Making matters trickier still is the fact that your Mii sometimes gets spun around by the dance instructor, which encourages you to shift your gaze between the tablet and the TV. It's easier to mimic dance moves when you're viewing your Mii from behind; if he or she is facing you, you have to flip everything around in your brain, which is difficult when things are moving quickly. Octopus Dance is rather simple, but it's nonetheless a fast-paced and fun test of skill that makes interesting use of the Wii U's capacity to show you different things on the tablet and the television.

In Donkey Kong's Crash Course, your Mii is creepily morphed into a roller (a vehicle with springy wheels and the face of your Mii) and placed into an obstacle course whose color scheme and chalk artwork recall the original Donkey Kong. The object is to get your roller safely to the end of each obstacle course by tilting the tablet to roll left or right. Navigating the courses is quite difficult and requires finesse. It's satisfying to guide the roller safely to the goal at the end of the course, but the extreme fragility of the roller, as well as the bothersome need to blow on the microphone occasionally to move platforms, makes Crash Course one of the lesser attractions at Nintendo Land.

Takamaru's Ninja Castle takes its name from a 1986 Famicom game that never saw release outside of Japan. In this first-person on-rails attraction, you infiltrate a ninja fortress to rescue a kidnapped princess. You hold the tablet with the screen pointed at the television lengthwise, and slide your finger along the screen to toss throwing stars at the cute cardboard ninjas who stand in your way. The action is fast, the star-throwing motion feels natural, and the environments have an endearing handcrafted look.

Captain Falcon's Twister Race tosses you into the futuristic purple racer of Captain Falcon. The television displays a traditional behind-the-vehicle view common to many racing games, which is great for any spectating friends. In the driver's seat, however, you're usually better served by the top-down perspective provided on the tablet, which gives you a much better view of upcoming turns, speed-boosting arrows, and obstacles. Your racer always heads straight up on the tablet; tilting the tablet to steer, you try to find the speediest route along the twisty track. The controls are terrifically responsive; if you go careening off the track or speed straight into a hazard, it's your fault, not the game's. The course starts out simple but gets progressively more treacherous, and it's fun to return to Twister Race to improve your best times and compete with those established by other players.

Balloon Trip Breeze is a side-scrolling attraction in which you watch the television while moving the stylus on the tablet, which creates breezes that carry your balloon-wearing Mii along. The indirect control method makes avoiding floating spikes and avian adversaries pleasantly tricky, and the presentation, in which curtains of various colors hang in the background to suggest different times of day, is charming.

Fight for Your Loot in Borderlands 2’s Torgue DLC

noreply@blogger.com (Bharat Raiya) — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 08:31:00 -0800

Borderlands 2’s second expansion -- Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage -- will launch on November 20th. Like Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate’s Booty before it, Campaign of Carnage offers new areas for players to explore, three new achievements, a new currency and plenty of new missions for players level 15 or higher, with enemies scaled to your level.

The basic story of Campaign of Carnage revolves around a new vault discovered in Pandora, buried in the center of a large crater that will only open “once the champion of Pandora feeds it the blood of the ultimate coward.” Your introduction to Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage comes via Mr. Torgue himself, screaming at you like a terrifying mix of Hulk Hogan and Macho Man Randy Savage with a deep love for explosions.

As Mr. Torgue describes the new vault, “we at the Torgue Corporation sincerely believe this is f**king awesome -- so awesome that we're going to set up a tournament to find this number one badass.” That tournament takes place in an arena that will serve as the centerpiece of the expansion, built around the Badass Crater of Badassitude where the vault is buried. You’ll need a sponsor to participate, and one of the first new characters you’ll meet is Piston, a scarily-large brawler with engine pistons for hands.

Sitting down to play the Campaign of Carnage, it’s obvious that Gearbox intends this expansion to be played by its most hardcore players. Torgue’s campaign mixes Borderlands 2’s typical mission structure with the Circles of Slaughter seen in the main game, using horde mode-style battles to punctuate story missions throughout its running time, which is roughly the same as the previous expansion.

Like in Pirate’s Booty, enemies have been replaced by new versions related to the theme -- Marauders become bikers, Goliaths become Enforcers -- but Campaign of Carnage has plenty of new enemies to offer as well. The expansion includes multiple bosses, like Pyro Pete (a surprisingly lassez-faire flamethrowing psychopath), Motor Mama (a “rather buxom lady on a motorcycle with twin sidecars” according to concept designer Scott Kester), and Badassaurus Rex (a “big crazy Torgue-themed robotic dinosaur breathing fire”).

According to Kester, the expansion is built around “the culture of combat,” and it’s not shy about exploring it. Playing the first hour, it’s clear that you’ll be fighting. A lot. The only ones fighting more than you are your various enemies, who are just as likely to hurt each other as they are to attack you. Combat doesn’t become too repetitive, though. Aside from the story missions and arena bouts, you’ll come across an additional Circle of Slaughter in a bar brawl early on, and even when you do revisit the main arena you’ll encounter different combat scenarios each time.

As for that new currency, unique vending machines spread throughout the Campaign of Carnage’s new areas will only accept Torgue Tokens, which you’ll have to scavenge from killed enemies. Each machine features a selection of badass Torgue guns and always offers a legendary weapon in the Item of the Day slot. Campaign of Carnage will also feature some familiar faces, including Tannis, Moxxi and even Tiny Tina, who Kester says has “her own thoughts about sponsorship.” Tina will also offer a new subset of weapons, and based on her affinity for explosions it’s not hard to guess what they’ll do.

Looking ahead, Gearbox says it’s already thinking about the next downloadable content. Eventually, the developer has plans to raise Borderlands 2’s level cap, but not in the way you might expect. “We’re discussing trying to do it in a more interesting way,” Gearbox vice president of marketing Steve Gibson told IGN. “We think people are going to be really happy when we do get to it. It’s a little bit different way of doing it. Yes, the number will go up, but there are some other things associated with it that we’re trying to do an even better job of.”

Like Pirate’s Booty, Campaign of Carnage will be available for $9.99, or as part of the $29.99 Season Pass that includes access to four Borderlands 2 expansions through June 2013. Stay tuned to IGN for a full review of Campaign of Carnage in the coming week, but until then find everything you need to know about Pandora in our Borderlands 2 wiki.

Mass Effect 3 details come from Game Informer cover story- Gamezone

noreply@blogger.com (Bharat Raiya) — Sat, 9 Apr 2011 07:34:00 -0700

This month's issue of Game Informer magazine has Mass Effect 3 on the cover and there's also the first detailed preview of developer BioWare's third game in its planned trilogy of sci-fi RPG titles. Someone at the NeoGAF message boards has already posted up some details of what's in the article.

We won't go into much of what's been revealed but two big things are that the RPG system will be deeper than Mass Effect 2. The other is that there will be no multiplayer in Mass Effect 3, despite lots of rumors to the contrary. There might be multiplayer features in future games and/or spin-offs but the core Mass Effect trilogy will remain single player only. The game still due out this winter.

Disclaimer: All information on this blog has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct.

Torchlight 2 reveals new monsters to slaughter

noreply@blogger.com (Bharat Raiya) — Sat, 9 Apr 2011 07:32:00 -0700

One of the most important parts of any good action RPG are the monsters you slaughter. After all, if you fight the same old skeletons and oozes and imps, all that loot grinding can get a bit tedious! Runic has revealed some of the new monster designs for Torchlight 2 on the game's site, and they are rather impressive. The one to the left is one of our person favorites: dwarven automata.

They have also promised to reveal more information about the game every other week until E3 as well, meaning that we will soon get more than just monster pictures and backstories. We personally hope that they reveal the history of the world soon, since Torchlight got us quite interested!

Rumor: Call of Duty Black Ops Escalation Pack DLC revealed

noreply@blogger.com (Bharat Raiya) — Wed, 6 Apr 2011 08:33:00 -0700

A retailer in Australia may have revealed the title, maps and release date for the next Call of Duty Black Ops DLC map pack. VG247.com reports that the GAME Australia web site posted a flyer (since taken down) for the Escalation Pack.

According to the flyer the map pack will contain five new maps for Treyarch's hit first person shooter, including one more new zombie themed map. The flyer hints that one of the maps takes place in a zoo. It says the map pack will be released on May 3 for the Xbox 360. It's likely the PC version will be released about a month or so later.

StarCraft II releases official versions of three custom mod maps- Gamezone

noreply@blogger.com (Bharat Raiya) — Wed, 6 Apr 2011 08:31:00 -0700

StarCraft II players now have access to the final and official versions of the custom mod maps that were first announced last October at BlizzCon. The maps, (the cooking themed Aiur Chef, the horror themed Left 2 Die, and the puzzle themed StarJeweled), each have their own special gameplay modes and rules. You can get info on all three maps at the official Maps and Mods web page.

All three maps have been able to be played in beta form for some time but today they are available to all players with a number of improvements and more importantly new official achievements to unlock for players. A fourth custom map that was shown at BlizzCon, Blizzard DOTA, has not yet been released.

The Rock talks Doom movie again and Call of Duty Black Ops?

noreply@blogger.com (Bharat Raiya) — Tue, 5 Apr 2011 04:58:00 -0700

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has had a rocky (hehe) relationship with making movies based on games. In a new chat with MTV.com he admitted that the 2005 movie adaptation of Doom (where he basically played the good guy that turned into the bad monster) "... didn't work out the way we wanted it to, creatively." And remember when he was supposed to play the driver in the Spy Hunter movie? We do.

But that doesn't mean Johnson is scared of making another game-to-movie project. He also admitted that his dream project would be to make a movie based on " mind: "'[Call of Duty] Black Ops,' that'd be bad ass. Let's make it happen, let's do it," He might be right.

Need For Speed Hot Pursuit Patch 4 : Download

noreply@blogger.com (Bharat Raiya) — Tue, 5 Apr 2011 04:55:00 -0700

PC owners of Need For Speed Hot Pursuit can down download a new patch, the fourth, for the recent arcade racing game from Electronic Arts. The patch doesn't add any new content to the game but the patch notes claim that it does fix another 30 percent of the known crash bugs on the PC version. That just leaves another 23 percent of the crash bugs to be fixed.

The fixes in this patch include dealing with crashes when a controller is unexpectedly disconnected from the PC along with crashes when the game loads some invalid controller configuration files.

Download the Need For Speed Hot Pursuit PC Update 4

Crysis 2 PC 1.2.0 patch :Download

noreply@blogger.com (Bharat Raiya) — Tue, 5 Apr 2011 04:52:00 -0700

If you have been waiting for a new PC patch for Crysis 2 your wait is over. Crytek's official message boards for the game have revealed the patch notes for the just released 1.2.0.0 PC patch. The notes reveal that the patch contains some more anti-cheating measures along with the option for crouch toggle in both single player and multiplayer.

There's also some login issues that are fixed as well as one that caused some players to lose Nano Catalyst points after restarting the game. Steam users who have already downloaded the patch are apparently getting some long loading times but the Steam version should have that fixed in a few days.

Download the Crysis 2 PC 1.2.0 patch

Rumor: IGN to launch StarCraft II professional gaming league

noreply@blogger.com (Bharat Raiya) — Mon, 4 Apr 2011 08:16:00 -0700

Rumors with a little bit of evidence have hit the internet that seem to indicate that gaming media company IGN may be planning to launch its own professional gaming league, with Blizzard's sci-fi RTS game StarCraft II at the center of it.

Starcraft-themed web site TeamLiquid.net reports via Korean-based web sites that IGN will launch such a league with a prize pool of between $150,000 to $200,000. In addition there is a IGN Pro League web site already set up that seems to be counting down towards a launch around midnight Eastern time on Tuesday.

If true this would be the latest attempt to launch a US-based pro gaming league. At the moment only Major League Gaming has been successful at staying afloat with other ventures like the Cyberathlete Professional League, the Championship Gaming Series and the World Series of Video Games all closing up shop in the past few years.

Planetside Next to get more resources despite Sony Online layoffs

noreply@blogger.com (Bharat Raiya) — Mon, 4 Apr 2011 08:14:00 -0700

Sony Online got hit earlier this week with mass layoffs and the total shutdown of three of its five studios, along with the cancelation of The Agency. Prior to the layoffs Sony Online head man John Smedley had been stating that the upcoming revivial of the sci-fi FPS MMO Planetside would launch a beta at the end of the first quarter or the beginning of the second quarter.

The bad news? Smedley told fan site Planetside Universe that the launch of PlanetSide Next "will be out a little later in the year." The good news is that Smedley also said that more resources would be put into the game and "we are pulling out all the stops to make it great." There are also hints that more info on this move will be revealed sometime next week.

What would a female version of Duke Nukem be like?

noreply@blogger.com (Bharat Raiya) — Mon, 4 Apr 2011 08:12:00 -0700

Recently there was a bit of controversy over the Capture the Babe multiplayer mode that will be in the upcoming Duke Nukem Forever game. The mode will have players hold the babe in question and if she started becoming antsy, the player is suppose to slap them (gently) on her behind. That caused some to be critical of the mode, saying any kind of physical force on a female was sending the wrong message.

In a new chat with Computer and Video Games, Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford defends Duke's behavior towards women, saying, " ... he actually loves women and will put himself to great risk to make sure that they're safe. That's the whole premise of the game." He added, "I think it'd be really interesting some day to see what a female version of Duke would be like. Maybe that's a game." Indeed that would be a game; anyone want to make it?

This Week In PC Games: April 4-10

noreply@blogger.com (Bharat Raiya) — Mon, 4 Apr 2011 08:09:00 -0700

After a very busy March for major PC game releases, things slow down a bit for the first full week of April with several smaller downloadable PC games due to be released.

Dino D-Day: This game, which first started life as a Half-Life 2 mod, has one of the more colorful premises we have ever seen. The multiplayer shooter's back story has the Nazi's in WWII creating weapon-based dinosaurs which the Allies have to fight off. The game's developers at 800 North have already promised that this game will get lots of free content after its release on April 8.

Anomaly: Warzone Earth: This debut title from 11 Bit Studios is a top down tower defense game that has you trying to defend Earth against an alien invasion.

Horde: This downloadable top down action game, originally released for the PC, has you controlling a dragon that wrecks havoc on the fantasy world below.

Shadow Harvest: Phantom Ops: This combo of first person shooter and RTS games takes place in the near future with a special ops team fighting to stop a war in Mogadishu.

Battlefield Play4Free - Electronic Arts's latest free-to-play game is a first person shooter with a more realistic look than the previously launched Battlefield Heroes.

Darkest Hour: A Hearts of Iron Game - Paradox releases this stand alone strategy game based on Hearts of Iron 2 but with lots of changes and additions.

Men of War: Assault Squad review

noreply@blogger.com (Bharat Raiya) — Sun, 3 Apr 2011 08:25:00 -0700

If Assault Squad was an MG 42 it would need a barrel change about every three minutes. ‘Ferocious’ doesn’t begin to describe the bloody bullet ballets served-up by this semimarvellous semi-sequel.

Instead of sending our favourite WWII tactics title in years back to the front with a conventional campaign in its kit bag, Digitalmindsoft have equipped it with something called ‘Skirmish’. There’s still a heap of singleplayer missions (16), but now all scenarios rely on the same push-push-PUSH! play mechanism.

You start at one end of a long battlefield with a knot of infantry under your wing. By pushing forward and seizing the control flags that dot the terrain, reinforcement points are earned, and new force types unlocked. A gain might release a new armoured car or infantry flavour. It may also trigger a brutal counter-attack. These retaliatory thrusts, combined with the fact the AI is usually dug-in deeper than an agoraphobic tin miner, mean victories sometimes take hours to secure. Even on ‘easy’ you’ll need stamina and skill to prevail.

What lovely war
Though the enemy never stops trying to regain lost flags, there are usually sufficient lulls in the lead storm to enjoy MoW’s trademark intricacy. A click here sends a sergeant scampering across a lane to pick up an abandoned anti-tank rifle. A click there sends a sniper slithering surreptitiously down the flank. Behind the church, two unhorsed tankers jog forward to begin repairs on a knocked out StuG. By the bridge, engineers start stringing barbed wire and laying mines, and grenadiers clamber back into a halftrack in readiness for the next nerve-shredding, pulse-propelling phase of the assault.

Whether it’s Normandy or North Africa, Singapore or Smolensk, battlefields don’t have to be conquered alone. You can share the burden of command with up to seven friends or strangers. More COs means more chance to focus on single units or particular area of the fronts. It means the smirks generated by the overblown physics and eyebrow-singeing pyrotechnics are mutual smirks. Thanks to the clever ‘reinforcements go to the most under-strength player’ rule, nobody gets excluded from the action for long. Inexperienced? Worry not. As long as you keep your men behind walls and hedges, and don’t get too cocky with armour, you’ll make a valuable contribution.

In a genre where communal play is often technical and cut-throat, Assault Squad stands out like a skylined Sherman. Though the three competitive MP modes are played by some wily veterans, defeats are almost always flecked with fun, and opponents and team-mates rarely triumph-at-all-costs tosspots. Whether you’re battling for control of flags (Assault Zones), taking turns attacking and defending (Frontlines) or just out to grab as many scalps as possible (Combat) laughs and largesse are seldom far away.

I can only think of three decent reasons not to buy Assault Squad. (1) You fancy a break from the series. (2) You are a sucker for a story. Even with five factions, superbly wrought maps, and an absurd range of units, the Skirmish missions can feel a tad monotone: it might be worth hanging on for Men of War: Vietnam previewed here. (3) Between you and your local games shop is an emplaced MG 42, two PaK 40s, and a dug-in Tiger tank.

Dawn of War 2: Retribution getting Dark Angels DLC next week

noreply@blogger.com (Bharat Raiya) — Sun, 3 Apr 2011 08:19:00 -0700

One of the moodiest Space Marine chapters, the Dark Angels are known for their awesome robes and brooding, Roman look. THQ announce that they will be making their way to Dawn of War 2: Retribution next week, in a DLC pack that will add new models, paint jobs and emblems to the Space Marine chapter, letting you play as the Dark Angels in mutiplayer. You’ll find four new screens of the chapter below.

Bluesnews report that the DLC is due out next Wednesday April 6, and will include eight new models. You’ll find more information on THQ Insider.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim screens show new landscapes and massive maces

noreply@blogger.com (Bharat Raiya) — Sun, 3 Apr 2011 08:11:00 -0700

Bethesda have released six more screens of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, showing some more Oblivion-esque landscapes, dungeon interiors, angry ghosts and a huge freakin’ mace. You’ll find the new screens below. Click to enlarge them.

Minecraft creator Notch schmoozed by Napster founder Sean Parker

noreply@blogger.com (Bharat Raiya) — Sun, 3 Apr 2011 08:05:00 -0700

This is not strictly news, but it made us laugh.

This week Markus Persson, the guy behind indie hit Minecraft, mentioned he had two meetings coming up: one with a prospective employee, another with someone who “has a great business idea”. Later, he wrote on his blog that a “rather spontaneous rich guy” met with the team, then invited them to fly to a party in London on his private jet. Which they did.

When fans pestered him for the identity of the mysterious rich guy on Twitter, Notch confirmed that Majestic XII’s guess was correct: Napster founder and influential Facebook investor Sean Parker. Which makes the whole thing amusingly close to the flashy behaviour of the Sean Parker character in The Social Network, the movie about the founding of Facebook that Parker himself called “a complete work of fiction”.

So if you were wondering, yes: it is possible to make an indie game so good that rich people show up and fly you to parties. The interesting part is, assuming Parker wasn’t the prospective employee, what was his “great business idea” for Notch and his team?