Games Reviews

Grand Theft Auto V gets a new trailer and screenshots

2012-11-14T09:52:00.003-08:00

The second trailer for Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto V has landed.

(Credit: Rockstar Games)

Halo 4 Review

2012-11-01T12:41:00.002-07:00

Halo isn’t allowed to die just because Bungie and Microsoft parted ways. It’s too big, too popular, and too vital to the Xbox brand to simply fade into obscurity. And so 343 Industries was assembled, and handed the keys to one of the most popular gaming franchises of all time. Its task was significant, and expectations were massive. With Halo 4, 343 has proven itself not only proficient in building a Halo game, but capable of building a better Halo franchise in a post-Bungie world.

Halo 4 paints a portrait of a much calmer universe in the years following Halo 3, letting John-117--better known to the world he saved as the Master Chief--spend his years of stasis in a half-destroyed spaceship undisturbed. Outside the Chief’s chamber, his AI companion Cortana acts as a watchdog, though not without a price: She is slowly slipping into a state called Rampancy, a fate akin to dementia that eventually befalls all AI. After four years of silence, she is forced to hesitantly wake John when the ship he’s on is scanned by a mysterious force. Before long, the Chief is involved in another galactic conflict, attempting to prevent an ancient Forerunner from unleashing his Promethean soldiers on an unsuspecting, peaceful Earth.

Watch our Halo 4 review to find out why it's the best Halo in years (yes, it's better than Reach)

Halo 4’s narrative is enthralling, and much better in structure than the series’ predecessors. The characters feel multidimensional and have strong personalities, running in stark contrast to past clichéd heroes and villains. More important is Master Chief, who has had a personality overhaul of sorts to make him more than a generic intergalactic hero. Cortana’s slow deterioration has forced a personality out of him, creating the Chief everyone imagined, but wasn’t really there--the interesting, complex, and (more importantly) broken man he was always said to be. The Spartan program tore him apart and put him back together, and though he didn’t let it show in the original games, this mental scarring is deep, and has grown into fruition in Halo 4, explaining the stoic character completely.

This story is held up on the shoulders of wonderful gameplay, and a campaign that keeps things varied by traveling between interesting locations to make for varied battles. Halo’s combat has always had a certain physicality to it that makes it feel more substantial and tangible. This is something which not only exists in Halo 4, but thrives. Seeing a vehicle in the distance means you can destroy or pilot it, and firefights often take place across sprawling mountain tops or in fields. Personal, intimate encounters with foes exist, but they’re spread between massive battlegrounds where the Chief is tasked with taking on dozens of enemies in vehicles.

These encounters are the bread and butter of Halo, and though other action-packed cinematic elements have been weaved throughout the story, there’s still plenty of classic action, and it’s as good as it has ever been.

Sadly, it’s also a bit shorter than it’s ever been, clocking in at around six hours on Normal and a good deal more as the difficulty is ramped up. Length wouldn’t be an issue if the pacing didn’t also feel a little rushed, as if the campaign was attempting to get the story with as quickly as possible. Chief will often step through glowing portals and land exactly where he needs to be, which, whilepartially explained and given context, still feels like a cop-out to expedite getting from point A to point B. When you step into a portal and land in the middle of a raging battle without anyone addressing the convenience of it all, you’ll start to feel like Halo 4 has some place to be, and it isn’t with you.

The basic gameplay of Halo didn’t need much work, but 343 upgraded features where it made sense. The addition of sprinting is helpful, but you’ll likely wish it was joined by iron sights, at least for some of the awesome new guns you’ll pick up. It's not that it's necessary--far from it--but with so many other elements shifting forward it feels out of place when zooming in on a pistol changes the entire screen. Other elements where it tried to evolve, such as canned assassination animations when you melee enemies from behind, fall flat, as it puts visual flare over gameplay, since you’re still vulnerable to gunfire while Chief throws an enemy down and stabs him.

The aforementioned changes definitely makes things feel more advanced, and help the multiplayer side of Halo--which has always been among the best when it comes to online shooters--catch up with the competition. Sprinting is joined by Ordinance Drops (similar to kill streak rewards), weapon and item loadouts, and deeper customization to allow you to create the Spartan that’s right for you. These definitely help modernize the Halo experience, even if they only have it falling in line with the modern era of shooters, instead of actually speeding past them. Multiplayer has also been given context, tying into the lore that the United Nations Security Council has partially revived the Spartan project in Master Chief’s absence. All multiplayer now falls after the “Infinity” moniker, a part of the game where squads of soldiers compete in wargames to up their skill, fighting in typical Halo multiplayer battles.

The area where Halo 4 truly revolutionizes is with Spartan Ops, a new cooperative story mode that’ll be rolled out weekly following release. Spartan Ops follows a squad of Spartans as they take on different operations around the galaxy. Built for co-op play, these free mini-missions are absolutely thrilling, providing classic Halo campaign battles in an episodic, easy-to-digest nature. The idea that five new missions will be available each week for ten weeks--adding around four or five hours of gameplay a month--nearly makes up for the abridged campaign, and we’re excited to see how it changes in the months following release, providing a glimpse into what may truly be the future of gaming. Or at least the future of post-release support for a game.

While 343 builds on the world, expands on characters, and adds to the lore of the Halo universe, its greatest focus in Halo 4 was investing in Master Chief--and a wise investment it was. By doing this, 343 Industries’ Halo 4 establishes itself not as “the next” Halo game, or “another sequel,” but instead opts to be a new beginning for the franchise--one with more commitment to its characters. It’s refreshing to see the series admit its shortcomings and catch up with its contemporaries without sacrificing what makes it unique, and that’s just what Halo 4 does, creating a name for itself without relying on its popularity, and getting us excited to start, continue, and one day finish the fight all over again.

This game was reviewed for the Xbox 360 at a review event.

source via gameradar

Halo franchise sells 46 million games for Microsoft

2012-10-31T09:29:00.003-07:00

Microsoft has a lot riding on Halo 4, the next game in the gaming franchise that helped to also launch its Xbox game console business over 10 years ago. Today, the company offered up some statistics on the entire Halo series, and they are quite impressive.

Joystiq reports that since the first Halo game was released in 2001, the Halo franchise has sold a total of 46 million units, generating a whopping $3 billion in revenue. The Halo franchise has almost exclusively been developed by Bungie, who created Halo and Halo 2 for the original Xbox console, and Halo 3, Halo 3 ODST and Halo Reach for the Xbox 360.

Halo 1 and 2 were also ported to the PC, although not directly by Bungie. Halo Wars, the only Halo game that's not a FPS (it was a RTS game) was the last game to be made by Ensemble Studios before Microsoft shut down the team in 2009.

Microsoft also said today that 5 billion hours of game time have been put into Halo games by players on Xbox Live. That will likely increase with the launch of Halo 4 next week. It will be the first game developed by Microsoft's own 343 Industries team.

source

Halo 4 leaked to the internet

2012-10-12T22:01:00.004-07:00

Well this could be a problem. Microsoft Game Studios upcoming blockbuster Xbox 360 exclusive game Halo 4 has been not only spotted in the wild, but fully leaked to certain websites. Postings appeared on Reddit and NeoGAF showing retail disc copies of Halo 4, as well as an image of the Xbox Dashboard showing Halo 4 ready to be played.
After some sleuthing around on popular sources for pirated games, we discovered that a full disc image of Halo 4 Disc 1 - the disc containing the single-player campaign - is available to download and burn to a dual-layer DVD, enabling you to play it on your Xbox 360 provided the DVD drive has received certain modifications. The image is approximately 8 GB, and the description states Disc 2 containing the multiplayer portion of the game will be uploaded later.

Microsoft responded to The Examiner on the claims of a Halo 4 leak:

We have seen the reports of Halo 4 content being propped on the Web and are working closely with our security teams and law enforcement to address the situation.

However, no law enforcement team will be able to stop the force of the internet now that the game has leaked, as it will surely spread like wildfire. To make matters worse this leak has occurred a full three weeks before its launch on November 6, so naturally spoilers are going to be available soon for the entire campaign which can't be accessed by legitimate paying customers.

It is common for Xbox 360 games to be leaked before their release, although a leak this far before is rare. Keep in mind, for those people attempting to pirate a copy of the leaked Halo 4, that playing leaked games before their release can result in your console being permanently banned from Xbox Live.

source via neowin

Two new Halo 4 videos from Joystiq put our franchise fears to rest

2012-09-23T10:11:00.000-07:00

The good folks over at Joystiq have taken it upon themselves to answer a question that's been on the minds of shooter fans since the announcement of a new entry in the Halo franchise: do we need a new Halo, or is Microsoft just milking the franchise? With a new studio at the reigns of their flagship series, Microsoft was taking a risky gamble with 343 Studios. It's looking like everyone can just stop worrying, though, because it appears that the studio understands the subtle balancing act creating a true sequel to Halo 3 represents.

In the first video, Executive Producer Kiki Wolfkill and Creative Designer Josh Holmes discuss striking that balance between innovation and too much change.

In the next, Joystiq Editor in Chief Ludwig Kietzmann gives us four reasons not to worry about Halo 4.

source

FIFA 13 | DOWNLOAD THE DEMO

2012-09-11T06:53:00.002-07:00

EA SPORTS™ is delighted to announce that a free FIFA 13 demo is available around the world for download beginning today for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, XBOX 360® videogame and entertainment system, and PC. The FIFA 13 demo is available through Origin, XBOX LIVE® and PlayStation Network®. Football fans in Europe and Japan will be able to download theFIFA 13 PlayStation 3 version of the demo beginning from September 12.

Download the Demo!

Click here to download the demo for PlayStation 3.

Click here to download the demo for XBOX 360.

Click here to download the demo for PC via Origin.

Play as Manchester City, Arsenal, Juventus, AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund in the demo, and experience EA SPORTS Football Club Match Day, a new feature that will drive the deepest and most meaningful connection yet between a videogame and the real world of sport ever achieved.

FIFA 13 and the football season will be completely connected for the world’s top leagues.

source

More GTA V Screens: Taking Care of Business

2012-08-25T14:43:00.000-07:00

Another day, more Grand Theft Auto V screenshots. This time, Rockstar has released four screens with the theme of 'Business' on its Newswire.

A biplane: when a regular plane just isn't enough.

Police sniper lines up a shot from a helicopter.

On the run from the police? A car transporter is probably not the most inconspicuous form of escape.

The Infernus makes a return.

This is the third album released by Rockstar this week. On Monday we got a glimpse at the vehicles available in San Andreas, and on Wednesday we gazed at the leisure activities on offer in the game.

Today's post ends with the statement: "Hope you enjoyed this week’s 10 screenshot special from Grand Theft Auto V".

via ign

3 Hot Games You Should Play This Weekend

2012-08-19T00:01:00.001-07:00

As autumn approaches, game publishers are gearing up for their busiest time of the year. We’re already seeing the start of that now, with this week’s healthy stream of game releases.

For console and PC gamers, there were two big-name titles to look forward to: Sleeping Dogs and Darksiders II. Sleeping Dogs is an open-world game set in Hong Kong. You play as undercover cop Wei Shin as he tries to break into the most dangerous gangs in Hong Kong. Wei must toe the line of being a hardened street criminal while still remaining a police officer.

Darksiders II has you playing one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Death, and takes place around the same time as the original game. This action-adventure title promises to be fun, with an aggregate score of 84/100 on Metacritic.

Other releases this week include DLC for the popular shooter Team Fortress 2, by Valve. The expansion, calledMann vs. Machine allows the red and blue teams to cooperate like never before to fight an army of robots. The co-op mode is a first for the game, which focused on player-versus-player combat.

Much of the video game news this week is coming out of Cologne, Germany, as the third annual Gamescom is underway. The convention attracts 275,000 people to celebrate video games and their culture. Several new titles have been announced at the convention. One of the most unique is Capcom’s Remember Me, a title set in a far future where our memories can be captured, traded, sold and even stolen. The main character must figure out who stole her memories and how to get them back.

What other games are you looking forward to playing this weekend? Let us know in the comments.
source via mashable

NHL 13

2012-08-18T23:36:00.002-07:00

EA Sports NHL 13 provides a modern new game play experience, perfectly taking the rate, creativeness and strategy of today's NHL action. Promising some of the biggest changes to the series since the release of the Skill Stick in NHL 07, NHL 13 smashes away with new Actual Performance Skating. Driven by real-world science and more than 1,000 new game play animated graphics, NHL 13's Actual Performance Skate boarding legitimately copies the explosiveness, strength, and top-end rate of NHL players. Supported by an innovative new A.I. system dubbed EA Sports Hockey I.Q., the game provides a completely renewed game play encounter in keeping with what players see on the ice during real games. In addition, NHL 13 provides new encounters that connect hockey lovers to their friends and the actual life of hockey with the all-new GM Connected and NHL Moments Live ways.

Presentation Overhaul Trailer

True Performance Skating Tutorial

source via ign

E3 Trailer: The Amazing Spider-Man Game

2012-07-22T00:03:00.001-07:00

Spidey uses his new web rush ability to dispatch some of his most famous enemies in this game that takes place shortly after the feature-length film of the same name.
Release date: 6/25/2012

Go Behind the Scenes of Black Ops 2

2012-07-20T05:04:00.003-07:00

The big names behind Treyarch's upcoming shooter discuss the relationship between movies, music and games, as well as the creative process.

Halo 4 live action movie budget rumored to be $5-10 million

2012-07-11T08:42:00.002-07:00

In April, Microsoft announced plans to release Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, a live action movie project designed to help promote their upcoming Halo 4 first person shooter game for the Xbox 360 console. Today, more details were revealed about those plans, along with a rumor about the movie's budget.

The Los Angeles Times claims that information gathered from unnamed "insiders" says that Microsoft is spending between $5 million and $10 million to produce Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn. The movie will be released as a series of short films in October, and then re-released, with new footage, as a 90 minute movie, as part of the Halo 4 Limited Edition version on November 6th.

That's a relatively tiny budget for a sci-fi live action film based on one of the most well known properties in all of entertainment. An attempt to release a big budget Hollywood Halo feature film was cancelled several years ago.

The film has already been shot in Vancouver with a relatively unknown cast. It will tell the tale of a young UNSC cadet who has been inspired in some way by Halo's lead character, Master Chief. That character will also appear in the Halo 4 game. More information about the film is expected to be announced at the San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday.

source via neowin
images via latimes

E3 2012: Need for Speed Most Wanted Revealed

2012-07-09T14:44:00.001-07:00

EA confirmed last week that Need for Speed Most Wanted is next Need for Speed games. During its press conference today EA revealed that game will let players race against others to become no.1 on their personal Most Wanted List.

Most Wanted take place in a open world where people can drive anywhere race against rivals challenge friend or mess with crops. Players will compete of jump furthest have the most pursuits etc to earn speed points. Speed Points let players move up and the most wanted list. The game will use EA’s social service for leader boards.

see more on technoro

Upcoming Angry Birds; Before Christmas

2012-07-08T03:29:00.002-07:00

Angry Birds makers Rovio is set to launch a new game later this season that will see you perform from the viewpoint of the pigs, rather than the Angry Birds, Pocket-lint has discovered.

The concept of the new game will see you trying to secure the egg you’ve got from the birds, but still feature a launch and the now popular wood made and stone structures..

The game, which is predicted to be available sometime before 25 December 2012, will feature a number of different pigs and -like the birds in Angry Birds, they will come with different strong points and skills.

Although it is not certain, from what we’ve seen, we would threat a think that it looks like the concept will be to secure the egg against incoming birds by shooting pigs at them.

Rovio has had large achievements with the Angry Birds series so far with Angry Birds Space, the latest game from the organization, selling millions in its opening weekend

source via TechNoro.Games

Recently announced SPLINTER CELL: BLACKLIST gets a new cinematic trailer

2012-06-14T06:39:00.000-07:00

Following last week’s globe expose of SPLINTER CELL: BLACKLIST at the E3 Micorosoft media meeting, Ubisoft has launched these days a product new movie trailer for the future activity. This latest movie trailer is just Half a minute and is a mix of moments from thegameplay trial created available during E3.

Splinter Cell: Blacklist is the 6th name in Tom Clancy’s Splinter Mobile series and happens following the activities of Indictment. The Xbox 360 edition will moreover function kinect orders that allow gamers to vocally problem orders.

The activity is due to release in the springtime of 2013 for PS3, Console 360 and PC.

Latest Action Games for iOS

2012-06-10T03:28:00.000-07:00

This week's collection of iOS games are all high-quality titles I've been playing recently.

I've been tracking some latest iOS games recently that are all very first-class, and though they don't actually fit an idea, I highly recommend all three following games that would modernize your mood. I look through the new iOS releases and popular apps several times a day to find hidden gems to talk about here at the end of the week. Usually I try to come up with a topic to tie them all together, but I've been tracking some games over the past couple of weeks that are all good, but can't be wrapped up smartly in a nice little package. Still, though the games are from different varieties, each one has something distinctive to offer and I hope you'll be able to pick a game from the variety you like best --

I promise you won't be dissatisfied. This week's collection of iOS games are all high-quality titles I've been playing recently.

Slingshot Racing:- The first is a racing game of a sort, where you use grab hooks to fling your car around a racetrack. The game also offers a local multiplayer option so you can challenge three other friends to races. Slingshot Racing is a exceptional racing title with outstanding graphics, tremendous physics as you slide around the track and ample of racing modes to keep you coming back for more. If you're looking for something different in the racing variety, Slingshot is a very ingenious racing game.

Extreme Skater:- The second game is the sequel to one of my favorite iOS snowboarding games, except in this one, you're skateboarding. Extreme Skater makes for an outstanding outcome to iStunt 2. If you were a fan of the earlier title or just want to try a very well-polished 2D skating game, I highly suggest Extreme Skater.

Catapult King Catapult King is an Angry Birds type of game where you'll need to launch giant stones at structures, but it's all done in beautiful 3D with inspiring physics. Catapult King comes with 64 levels of 3D-catapulting fun and plenty of additional disputes to give the game replay value. Even if you weren't an Angry

Birds fan, this 3D version of the slingshot gaming mechanic is a sight to view, with striking graphics, remarkable physics, and plenty of replay ability.

Microsoft E3 2012 Press Conference

2012-06-08T12:42:00.000-07:00

Check out our replay of the Microsoft press conference for demos of Halo 4, Splinter Cell Blacklist, Tomb Raider, Call of Duty: Black Ops II and more!

Call of Duty Black Ops 2

2012-05-26T00:08:00.000-07:00

While Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 won't hit store shelves for more than six months, it's already setting records.

Amazon reports the game, which was just announced this week, is on track to become the most per-ordered game in its history, outpacing Modern Warfare 2, Black Ops and…um, well, a bunch of other Call of Duty games.
Black Ops 1 star Alex Mason also returns to battle Melendez in the 1980s, with the game spanning the entire four decades.

This week's revelation introduced a world 25 years into the future, where David Mason the son of the original protagonist, will battle a new foe in terrorist Raul Melendez.Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, developed by the Treyarch studio, was revealed this week along with the first trailer (below) and details of the plot, game play, weapons and more.Those are numbers for Amazon's US branch, but the appeal looks to be global. Amazon UK says per-orders for Black Ops 2 were three times higher than the original game.

That could give a nice boost to the series, which some feared had shown early signs of reaching a sales peak.It was, after all, the decision to move Call of Duty out of the World War II era and into modern times that kicked the series into overdrive and helped it become the phenomenon it is today.

The new installment in the franchise will send players into future.While one-third of the game takes place in the 80s, the rest is set in 2025, with a focus on advanced robotic warfare. Activations, though, notes that the game remains firmly rooted in real military research and technology.
To keep the franchise going strong, Activations also plans to offer a branching storyline based on player actions and to tweak the game's popular multilayer components, though it's keeping details about those changes under wraps right now.

"Instead of just extending multilayer from Black Ops, we thought critically about what cows are sacred. Do we keep something just because it worked last time?" said Game Design Director David Underhanded. "Some people play to become pro, others only load it up casually once or twice a week. Our multilayer won't be 'one game mode' anymore."

We hope u like our Blog and have gained the info u need.We will keep u update for more information.

Halo 4

2012-05-22T22:11:00.001-07:00

Halo 4 is an upcoming video game and the eight installments in the Halo franchise being developed for the Xbox 360.Halo 4 is intended to be the first of a new trilogy of Halo series games, names the "Reclaimed trilogy”. Whereas the previous Halo games were developed by Bungee. Halo 4 will be developed by 343 Industries. The game continues some time after the ending of Halo 3, and marks the return of the Master Chief as the main protagonist. Cortina will also appear in the game.

Halo 4 is the next blockbuster installment in the iconic franchise that's shaped entertainment history and defined a decade of gaming.

Set in the aftermath of Halo 3, Master Chief returns to confront his own destiny and face ancient evil that threatens the fate of the entire universe. Halo 4 reach focused on new characters and playing styles

The info continues to slowly trickle out for Halo 4.While the May issue of Game informer is still far from its release, someone close to the company has made sure that gamers get the information they're looking for a little early. The game is a set for a world wide release on November 4, 2012

We hope u enjoyed this blog and got the info u were looking for. Thank you for reading, we will keep u updated. So keep us self visiting for new information.

GTa 5

2012-04-23T14:29:00.000-07:00

Hello! everyone and welcome to techflux news about technology . Now here is a new information about gaming , the Grand Theft Auto 5th leaked . According to Doug Creutz , the campany owner the grand theft auto 5 won't realease before march of 2012 . If you are intreased in new and fresh news for grand theft auto 5 . More and more it’s the most expected video game ever and it’s important to remind that the last major Take Two’s video game has been released 3 years ago . After the popularity of grand auto theft 4 (vice city) and sandandreas , it is aslo very expected to be a world famous . grand theft auto v is coming in 2012 rockstar is putting the final touches on it and it is coming in 2012 . It is one of the most famous gaming network , which has spanned 14 years and 14 different gaming systems (PS1, PS2, PS3, PSP, MS-DOS, Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, Game Boy colour, Game boy advance, DS, Dreamcast, MAC OS X and iOS) . In the dying days of the PS2 and Xbox there was little point investing money in developing GTA IV . Every few years a major release comes out and is followed by a series of ‘stories’ titles which allow Rockstar to eek the full revenue potential out of each game engine that they develop .

GTA 5 – is Grand Theft Auto 5 set for a 2011 release?

Since its inception in 1997, Grand Theft Auto releases have followed the below schedule:

- 1997: the original GTA launches

- 1999: GTA London and GTA 2 release

- 2001: The breakthrough game, GTA III launches

- 2002: Vice City launches

- 2004: San Andreas launches

- 2005: Liberty city stories launches

- 2006: Vice city stories

- 2008: Grand Theft Auto IV launches, the most recent major release

- 2009: The lost and dammed, Chinatown wars and the Ballad of gay Tony launch

- 2011: GT5