Archive - 2011/09/19

The Thing Red Band Trailer

Here is the “red band” trailer for Universal’s upcoming prequel to John Carpenter’s The Thing, also titled The Thing. The movie is due out on October 14, 2011.

Trailer

VUZIX Launches Wrap 1200VR Eyewear

VUZIX has announced the launch of their latest video eyewear, the Wrap 1200VR. The Wrap 1200VR features two small 1280×720 displays situated just inches from your eyes – simulating a 75-inch virtual display as seen from 10 feet away. Additionally, this model features head-tracking as well as the ability to display 3D using the side-by-side format.

“The Wrap 1200VR allows our customers to step into another world, creating an immersive gaming or movie watching experience“, said Paul Travers, CEO Vuzix Corporation. “With new tracking sensor technology and improved WVGA displays that support resolutions of up to 1280×720 (720p), the Wrap 1200VR provides the best consumer level VR solution available today.”

The Wrap 1200VR retails for $599.99 and is available now.

Wasteland Angel Review (PC)

Wasteland Angel is a top-down, isometric arcade shooter developed by Meridian 4 & Octane Games. Wasteland Angel takes place after World War III, which has turned the planet into a wasteland full of hostile gangs and mutants. The game focuses around the heroine known as “Wasteland Angel”, who is determined to fight oppression and protect the innocent with her armed and armored muscle car. The primary objective is to protect innocent towns and their occupants from being kidnapped and enslaved by hostile factions. Game play consists of fending off waves of enemies, some of which are hell bent on your destruction, while others are focused on kidnapping the poor residents of the local town(s). Of course, a game would not be complete without over the top boss fights, and Wasteland Angel does not disappoint.

Wasteland Angel features power-ups, which are available by destroying as many enemies as possible. These power-ups can grant the Wasteland Angel extra health, armor, weapon upgrades, and secondary weapons. Like most arcade shooters the Wasteland Angel start off with a slightly weak primary weapon. This can easily be remedied by power-ups that can give you different ammunition types such as armor piercing, incendiary rounds, or an upgrade to your light machine guns that can be converted into a different weapon, for example the mini-gun. Secondary weapons such as land mines and napalm are also available, but unlike your primary weapon, the secondary weapons have limited ammunition.

Wasteland Angel features two different gameplay modes and four difficulty settings. One gameplay mode is Story Mode, and the other is Level Play. Story Mode allows the player to play the game from start to finish, chasing the ultimate score. Level Play allows the player to play single levels to hit the level specific scoreboards. The four difficulty levels included in Wasteland Angel are easy, medium, hard, and nightmare. Medium has a nice balance between challenge and fun; nightmare, however, is a lesson in pain. A very nice competitive feature is the inclusion of a scoreboard. The scoreboard shows the high scores of the top Wasteland Angel players on all four difficulty levels.

Wasteland Angel does offer enjoyable features as well as frustrating ones. Though most levels are a top-down isometric view, some levels put you into a first person behind the wheel view. The levels that allow you to be in first person mode were by far the most enjoyable and frantic moments of Wasteland Angel. There was a bit of sadness after the first person level was over and the top-down isometric view returned. The game controls are clunky via the keyboard and mouse, and one can speculate the game was made to play on a controller. This can be said because of the fact the game shows you the control select screen and the first option is the X-box 360 controller followed by the keyboard. One could speculate Wasteland Angel would be more enjoyable with a controller versus the keyboard and mouse.

The dialog for the heroine is fully voiced and very high quality, often sounding as she is speaking through a CB radio. Her inflections and accent are realistic and both make the game more enjoyable. The music is well done, and should be very pleasing to anybody who loves a rocking guitar. The only two complaints this reviewer can note is the lack of a native windowed mode and enemies can often drive off the screen while the heroine cannot. This leaves the player waiting for the enemy to return to the play field before carnage can continue. Wasteland Angel is fun as long as you keep in mind the game is simply a casual arcade shooter. The lack of depth or bells and whistles offered in Wasteland Angel is not terrible, as long as you are in the mood for mindless destruction and a low price.

Screenshots

New Dance Central Tracks for September 20th

Harmonix has announced three new tracks for their dancing title, Dance Central, due out tomorrow (September 20). The three tracks include Don’t Cha from the Pussy Cat Dolls as well as Tempted to Touch by Rupee.

Available on Xbox 360 (September 20th):

  • The Pussycat Dolls ft. Busta Rhymes – “Don’t Cha”
  • Rupee – “Tempted to Touch”
  • Timbaland ft. Keri Hilson and D.O.E. – “The Way I Are”

Each track will cost 240 Microsoft Points.

DC Universe Online Going Free to Play

In not-so-unexpected news, Sony Online Entertainment has announced that its super-hero MMO, DC Universe Online, will be going free-too-play in October.

“When we launched DC Universe Online, we introduced a very different brand of massive online game driven by fast action combat to PC and PS3™ gamers and with that, we discovered a new type of online gamer,” said John Smedley, President, Sony Online Entertainment. “We’ve listened to our community, and we’ve determined that the free-to-play model is the best fit for DC Universe Online.”

User accounts will be available in three levels, allowing differing tiers of convenience and flexibility. The levels are:

  • Free: New players will now have access to the current gameplay in DC Universe Online (including Gotham City, Metropolis, and all current raids and alerts), with the ability to create two characters, join a league and many other benefits. Free level players will be able to purchase downloadable game packs/updates, additional character slots, powers and more through microtransactions.
  • Premium: Any player who has spent at least $5 USD (including former paid subscribers and new players who have purchased $5 of in-game items) will qualify for the Premium access level. Premium level players will have more benefits available to them than the Free level player, including additional character slots, additional inventory slots, and higher cash limits. Downloadable adventure packs, additional character slots, and more can be purchased in-game.
  • Legendary: Maximum features and benefits are included at this level. Loaded with enhanced additional features, Legendary access will be available for a $14.99 USD monthly fee and includes all DLC packs at no cost, more than 15 character slots, more than 80 inventory slots, the ability to form unrestricted-sized leagues, and many other benefits.

Starbreeze Working on New IP


In another bit of good news for developer Starbreeze Studios (recently it was announced they are working on the new Syndicate game), it looks like they are teaming up with film director Josef Farres and The Lab AB to work on a brand-new IP.

“I love games, and I have been working on a games concept for quite some time. The more I worked with the concept, the more convinced I felt that this is a solid game idea” says Josef Fares. “Together with Story Lab we created a prototype that we presented to Starbreeze, and they instantly liked the concept.”

Not much is known on the video game, but we will keep you posted as more is released.