Roadhouse Interactive and InfiniteGame Publishing have released the first in-game screenshots from their upcoming Mechwarrior Tactics – check ’em out!
Archive - 2012
You may recall when we visited the set of the upcoming film, Noobz, a little while ago. For now, however, we have the first official trailer for the flick as well as news that it is coming out this Summer. Enjoy!
Trailer
T3Fun has released the list of March player challenges for its free-to-play online games, Hellgate and Mythos. Checkout the two press announcements below!
LOS ANGELES – March 1, 2012 – After the launch of Hellgate Journals and other Facebook events last February, Hellgate Global is now focusing on in-game events and challenges. Today, T3Fun announced the events line-up for March.
Lucky Challengers
Two players will be randomly picked to risk their lives as they explore and conquer “The Curse of the Dawn.” Rewards will be given as proof of their courage!
The TCOIN PIN
At a random time within the day, a code with a missing digit or letter will be announced in-game. Guess the missing digit or letter to earn a chance to win premium items.
The Wandering Merchant
A Wandering Merchant has appeared mysteriously out of nowhere. At random times, he will show up and make an in-game announcement about an item that he’ll sell for Palladium or Auto Dismantlers. Interested players just need to send the required amount of Palladium or Auto Dismantlers to the said merchant in order for them to buy the item he announced.
Base Defense
Defend the remaining supply bases of mankind against the waves of the demonic horde. Up to five players can join up to master this art and form a party able to participate in the challenge. Parties with the most number of base defense completions within a week will receive special rewards.
Players can expect these challenges to take place this March in Hellgate Global. Whatever preference in play style, dungeon runs, loot hunts, or boss hunts, players will surely be at home with Hellgate Global’s March Challenge Madness!
LOS ANGELES – March 1, 2012 – After one month of successful open beta testing, Hanbitsoft and T3Fun are going to give Mythos Global players a month full of events and challenges with plenty of opportunities to win prizes.
The Opportunity to Defeat a GM!
The “Lamento Fever” gives players the chance to measure their skills up against a GM. Losing in the battle will still yield rewards, but winning the battle will bring you a bigger and better bounty, not to mention the honor of annihilating a GM!
To Our Loyal Players
“Bones on the Run” is an event that will provide bonus items depending on the player’s t-coin purchase. Devoted players help make the Mythos game community active and this is a token of appreciation.
Hardcore Players, Rejoice!
The GMs have decided to take a part-time job of becoming a merchant in the “Random Merchant” event. Once they announce their presence, rush to their locations to get a free stamina potion!
Facebook Events
“Mythos Masterpiece” has players showcasing their artistic prowess or creative minds. The three most creative and popular masterpieces will take home well-deserved prizes!
Start inviting friends to “like” the Mythos Facebook Fan Page! The “Rush For Fortune” event will reward all players with an even higher luck buff and experience bonus buff when the target number of “likes” is achieved before the deadline.
March will surely be a fun-filled month in Mythos Global. For more information about the game, visit the Mythos website.
Like us at the Mythos’ official Facebook Fan Page.
March 1st, 2012 – Delaware, North America – Biart Company, an independent development studio today announced that its science-fiction, third-person PC shooter Deep Black: Reloaded is locked and loaded and now available through digital download platforms. Featuring 40 single player missions across land and water, Deep Black: Reloaded is set in a desolate near future of global terrorism and espionage as players become involved in a desperate fight for world supremacy and the capture of a sophisticated biological weapon.
“Our vision for Deep Black Reloaded, was a desolate near future action game that mixed a complex science-fiction narrative with bio-terror” said Konstantin Popov, CEO of Biart, “After over three long years in the making, self-funded in the spirit of indie through the Biart team, we are pleased to announce the availability of Deep Black: Reloaded and to build the universe for future iterations”.
Set in 2047, in a world where global mega corporations have taken over governments and companies fight it out in a battle for dwindling resources. Syrus Pierce is a retired operative of the mercenary group CHARON (Chief Amphibious Reconnaissance Operational Network). Now, years after his retirement, Pierce is contacted by his commanding officer, General Jack Sterling, who informs him that members of a research team have been taken hostage off the western coast of South America by the Al-Azrad terrorist network.
Pierce takes to the murky depths armed with a wrath of underwater equipment including a futuristic underwater suit complete with jet pack and integrated harpoon in pursuit of terrorists. With the majority of the game play taking place below the water’s surface, action-adventure fans will need to master new skills to fight hostile combatants and infiltrate enemy bases.
Deep Black: Reloaded is a complex science-fiction mystery mixing espionage and bio-terror as players become involved in a desperate fight for world supremacy and possession of a sophisticated dooms day biological weapon.
Compatible with NVIDIA 3D VISION for the ultimate underwater experience, Deep Black: Reloaded can be controlled using the Razer Hydra controller. Developed using Biart Company’s proprietary tech biEngine Deep Black will be coming Microsoft Xbox 360 (XBLA) and Sony PlayStation 3 (PSN) through 505 Games later in 2012. Visit the NVIDIA page at: http://www.geforce.com/GamesandApps/games/deep-black
Deep Black: Reloaded is now available for $29.99, €29.99, £22.99, AU$29.99 and can be ordered direct from the Biart store at:- http://www.deepblackreloaded.
Launch Screenshots
Tecmo Koei has announced that the Japanese launch of its new One Piece: Kaizou Musou, has done very well with over 650,000 units shipped!
Thanks to Gematsu for translating the news!
New York, NY – March 1, 2012 – 2K Games announced today that BioShock® Infinite will be available in North America on October 16, 2012 on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Windows PC. The title will be available internationally on October 19, 2012.
Developed by Irrational Games, BioShock Infinite won more than 75 editorial awards at E3 in 2011, including the Game Critics Awards’ Best of Show. The title has been named one of the most anticipated games of 2012 by more than 50 media outlets, including WIRED, USA Today, TIME, GameSpot, and GameTrailers. The BioShock franchise is one of the interactive entertainment industry’s most successful and critically acclaimed series, which has sold-in over 9 million units worldwide.
“After BioShock, we had a vision for a follow up that dwarfed the original in scope and ambition,” said Ken Levine (@iglevine), Creative Director of Irrational Games (@irrationalgames). “BioShock Infinite has been our sole focus for the last four years, and we can’t wait for fans to get their hands on it.”
BioShock Infinite puts players in the role of Booker DeWitt, a hard-bitten former Pinkerton agent, together with the revolutionary AI companion, Elizabeth. The two struggle to escape the sky-city of Columbia, in a 1912 America that might have been. Armed with an arsenal of new weapons and abilities, they face menacing enemies, in unique expansive environments. Classic BioShock gameplay joins innovations such as aerial combat on high-speed Sky-Lines in the service of an immersive storyline – an Irrational Games signature.
BioShock Infinite is not yet rated by the ESRB. For more information on BioShock Infinite please visit http://www.bioshockinfinite.
I will begin by stating up front that you will not typically find me watching or partaking in Anime as a genre. That being said, I approached this game-slash-episodic-story with an open mind, knowing that I generally enjoy Capcom titles (CyberConnect2 was the developer, of .hack and Naruto fame), and appreciating the art style (reminiscent of the recent Street Fighter remakes). I can honestly say that I was pleasantly surprised by this title, and although a relatively short experience (roughly 6-8 hours depending on actual fighting time), it was satisfying.
The game is set up as short 20-30 minute episodes, much like an anime show might be, and in between each episode the player can review some additional story details via concept art style slides with dialogue. Each episode contains a variety of gameplay bits, surrounded by the actual story for that episode. I say gameplay “bits” because the actual time spent controlling your character is minimal compared to the time spent watching the story unfold or flicking buttons in a variety of quicktime events (you are often asked to press random directions on the control sticks, or time button presses to attacks within the story sequences). While i will say the quicktime events were a bit overdone, the story itself was pretty entertaining, and each episodes conclusion left me wanting to play “just one more episode”.
Visually, the game looks great, and is one of the better looking games I have seen to date using the Unreal 3 engine. Gameplay and story look interchangeable, and you drift in and out of them seamlessly. The art style is eye catching, and the combat animations for the controllable sequences are slick and silky smooth. The sequences that you do get to control Asura are a mix of shooting, fighting (in the vein of God of War or Devil May Cry, but without the character development), and quicktime events. The base move set of Asura is fairly good, and given the lack of character development, it was still fun to combine his moves in elegant strings with little downtime between enemies. If Kratos is the “God of War”, then Asura could be considered the “God of Rage” – indeed, the purpose of each action sequence throughout the story is to fill a rage meter to cap without losing too much health. This rage meter can then be activated to finish the encounter in typically spectacular and over-the-top fashion, and move on to more story.
The story uses fairly standard themes of grand betrayal and amnesia/flashback sequences to draw the player in, with a strong revenge plot that reminded me of the Kill Bill movies in the way you are driven to seek out each of the god figures that wronged you and take them out. Some of the encounters with former betrayers play out in completely ridiculous fashion, and leave you exasperated and somewhat exhausted (I recall heading to bed right after one such encounter tired and satisfied – which I will not spoil but I will mention it involved a giant finger that had become molten from traveling through the planets atmosphere). I do not have much to comment on as far as the audio goes, since it felt fairly standard of today’s games and up-to-par, both in the music and sound effects used throughout the episodes, as well as the voiced dialogue from the various figures encountered.
Glaring issues with the game would really only be the length of the content provided, considering the full 60 dollar sticker price, and the fact that it is more of a story and less of a game play experience than the average game. I personally support developers trying new things with games, and this was certainly an unusual and different experience in that sense. I also think that if you take into account a second play through on hard (which I imagine would be quite challenging in some of the boss encounter sequences), as well as unlocking achievements and extras, that gameplay time could be extended. All in all, I enjoyed the experience and would recommend this purchase to fans of Anime that also enjoy action games in the vein of Devil May Cry / God of War. I don’t think you will be disappointed.
I am a huge fan of Alan Wake. With its near perfect narrative structure and tightly constructed Lynchian story, Alan Wake quickly became my favorite game of 2010, a go-to recommendation for anybody with an X-Box 360, and arguably one of the most unique games of this generation. With all that said, naturally I became very excited at the prospect of a sequel and have been following Alan Wake’s American Nightmare through every step of its production.
American Nightmare is not a straight up sequel to the original. It is also not a throwaway downloadable cash in. American Nightmare exists in a rarely touched space, not quite a full franchise entry but not an experience to be shied away from either.
Beware: Spoilers ahead!
When we last saw Alan Wake he was trapped beneath the waters of Cauldron Lake. Locked away in the Bird Leg Cabin, he had managed to overcome Mr. Scratch, his dark doppelganger, and break free from the confines of his own mind. As American Nightmare begins, Alan has been missing for two years. Trapped in the Dark Place at the bottom of the lake he is believed to be dead, yet haunting the town of Bright Falls. The urban legend of Wake has given power to Mr. Scratch, who has been cutting a blood trail towards Alice, Wake’s wife. Alan finds himself in the Arizona town of Night Springs where he must stop Mr. Scratch before he can do any more damage.
Those with keen eyes will recognize Night Springs as the fictional, Twilight Zone-esque setting of the TV series that started Wake’s career as a writer. As the first game found Wake living out a novel he doesn’t remember writing, American Nightmare finds Wake trapped in an episode of Night Springs he wrote in his youth.
The gameplay of American Nightmare fares better than in the first game. Alan controls much smoother than he did in the past and the focus is much heavier on action than survival. Alan no longer has to scrounge for supplies as he is almost constantly armed to the teeth. Ammo respawns in emergency boxes throughout the game and it all helps lead to a much quicker pace this time around. The Taken, enemies from the first game, are back with new types including Taken who split and multiply upon being hit with light and a Taken who can disperse into a flock of birds at any time. The enemies are much more aggressive and quick to surround you but the benefit of weapons like assault rifles and combat shotguns make enemy encounters much more fun and exciting.
The story moves at a decent pace, save for some odd writing and voice acting. New game mechanics are introduced with the manuscript pages to be found this time around. The amount of pages you’ve found allow you access to new and more powerful weapons. Manuscript pages also lead to Alan’s newfound ability to rewrite reality. By matching environmental conditions to what is found on the page, Alan trial and errors his way towards success. You’ll find yourself revisiting the same locations to get things perfect. American Nightmare, being a downloadable title, only has so much space to fill and it shows. Alan finds himself caught in a time loop and it allows for much more value to be squeezed out of what amounts to only three locations. What could get stale doesn’t, however, as the game moves quickly and you often respawn into new loops closer to objectives, preventing you from getting bored.
Newly added to American Nightmare is an online leaderboard based horde mode called “Fight Till Dawn.” Showcasing the refined combat of the single player campaign, Fight Till Dawn tasks you with staying alive through ten minutes of relentless onslaught while you wait for the sun to rise and vanquish the Taken. Weapons unlocked in the campaign can be used in any of the five maps of Fight Till Dawn and to succeed you must night only survive, but fight your enemies. Combat multipliers quickly rack up points and the only way to earn these mulitpliers is to seek out a fight.
Alan Wake’s American Nightmare isn’t a straight sequel. It’s a diversion that wraps up some of the loose story elements introduced in the two DLC chapters of the first game. While its writing may lack in some spots and its story may get a little hard to follow, all you need to do is collect pages. They help to clear up the story a bit and give you access to some heavy duty firepower for Fight Till Dawn, some of the most fun I’ve had in this series yet. While it may be a confusing entry point for those new to the series, American Nightmare is a rewarding experience for fans of the first game.
Some genres of video games get a bad reputation because of some really bad examples, and I feel that the stealth game genre is the prime example of this. If done right, the stealth game is a fun and exciting way to go through many hours of game play, but if done wrong, it’s just a frustrating mess that most people just don’t have the patience for. Splinter Cell and Tenchu Stealth Assassins are some examples of great stealth games while Velvet Assassin being a good example of a bad stealth game. So that brings me to my review of Warp from developer Trapdoor, a science fiction stealth game that puts you in the role of a captured alien trying to sneak out of a underwater science facility. Where does Warp fit into my hierarchy of stealth games? Let’s take a deeper look at Warp and find out.
Story:
The story of Warp is fairly basic and straightforward, but really helps explain the game play choices that the developers made during production. Your space ship crashes on Earth and you are captured by a secret scientific research group and taken to their underwater laboratory. Your equipment has been taken away and you are kept in a weakened state while the scientists run tests on you, including the dreaded “maze” test that all scientists seem to love. By eating grubs that the scientists feed you, you slowly gain your strength back enough to earn your first power up, teleport. This allows you to escape the laboratory and begin making your trek to the surface and to freedom.
As stories go, Warp’s story is a great example on how story writing can make the game play choices that was made for the game make sense. The alien is weak at first and must find more power ups in order to escape the lab, all due to the tests that the scientists ran on him (or her, it’s not all that clear). The story even takes place in an underwater facility, which helps explain why the alien just doesn’t teleport himself outside to escape.
Game play:
Warp’s game play is a combination of top down classic stealth, like the original Metal Gear, with puzzle solving and a sly sense of humor. You use your gained abilities to escape the laboratory by solving the puzzle obstacles in your way and by not being caught by the lab’s security force.
The puzzles and obstacles that you face in Warp can be overcome by many different solutions, which really allow the player the choice and flexibility to play the game as they see fit. For example, the player can choose to hide in canisters and teleport from canister to canister to avoid a security force, or they can choose to teleport into a security officer and erupt their insides, or can even cause the other officer’s to kill their own comrade. Warp also has a talent system, like most role-playing games out on the market, that allows you to boost certain abilities to make solving the puzzles much easier.
One knock on stealth games is the constant restarting of an area if you are caught. Warp does have a steep penalty for mistakes, your alien creature is not very durable and will be killed in one shot if seen, but the checkpoints for Warp are conveniently placed so that death feels much more like a small bother then a catastrophe.
The games play flows through Warp without many issues, though some of the boss fights I found terribly annoying, especially the last one. These issues aside, I felt that Warp was a very solid and good example of what the stealth genre can be.
Aesthetics:
This is where developer Trapdoor cut some corners, in the area of aesthetics. The graphics won’t win any awards, but help make the game moody and gives it that underwater claustrophobic feel, which is much needed. However, the scientists all run around with masks on, saving the developers money in actually having to create separate models for each person. The one person that does not wear a mask isn’t animated to speak at all, so that his mouth stays still while he is speaking.
The developers also hired only one voice actor for every person in the game, and that is fairly obvious from the beginning. It isn’t a game breaker, but it does become annoying hearing the same guy over and over again throughout the game. I understand that this is an Xbox Live title and not a production with a huge budget, but these items are what keep Warp from being truly great, instead it’s just good.
Final Thoughts:
Warp is a good game that would have been great if it had much more money for production. The story makes perfect sense when combined with game play elements, and has that sense of humor, which is needed in games like this. The game play allows the player to solve the obstacles and puzzles their own way and allows you to build up your alien according to the way you want to play the game. Warp auto saves your progress in the right places, so that you never feel like death is a massive punishment that makes you redo an entire section of the game over again. The downside to Warp is that the developers did not have a lot of production money to create this game and it shows in the aesthetics. None of the models show their faces and the one character that does is not animated in the mouth area, so that he speaks without moving his lips. There is only one voice actor for every human in the game, which did save the developers money, but makes the enemies feel flat and have no character to me.
Overall, Warp is a very good stealth game, definitely the best stealth game out right now for the Xbox Live Arcade, but it’s low production costs prevent it from being truly great by giving us some questionable aesthetic choices.
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – February 29, 2012 – Konami Digital Entertainment Inc. today announced the upcoming Zone of the Enders HD Collection, coming this Fall. Zone of the Enders HD Collection will feature the two main Zone of the Enders games in a special, fully remastered series. The collection will be playable for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft.
Developed by Kojima Productions, Zone of the Enders HD Collection will include fan favorites Zone of the Enders and its sequel Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner. This will be the first time the games are featured on platforms other than the PlayStation®2 system.
“We are looking forward to bringing the legendary Zone of the Enders series to fans old and new in a high definition format with the Zone of Enders HD Collection,” said Tomoyuki Tsuboi, President of Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
The essential Zone of the Enders series features the engrossing storytelling of Hideo Kojima, paired with thrilling robot fights in a futuristic interplanetary setting. Players control fast and powerful mechs (robots) known as Orbital Frames to blast their enemies into oblivion.