Archive - 2013

DARK Preview

2013/05/02

News, Previews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Preview, Xbox 360 News, Xbox 360 Preview

Since Kalypso Media and RealmForge got our blood pumping to get our hands on Dark this June, we figured it was a good time to revisit this exciting new title to keep our appetites whet. If somehow you have been in the dark for the last several months, here is one of the new exciting titles we are looking forward to this year.

Storyline:

In the world of DARK, you play as Eric Bane, a newly “born” vampire, must uncover the secrets of this world, and the mysterious GeoForge Corporation by stealthily exploring a variety of modern environments, while using your unique vampire powers to dispatch all those who dare oppose you.

The game starts off as you are trying to find initial answers knowing that you used to be Eric Bane of the M17 Special Forces and now you are a target of that very same group. Also, you are attempting to save yourself from becoming a mindless killing machine by finding one of the master vampires. Without giving more away, Dark is filled with twists and turns and promises to be as interesting to see unfold as it will be to play.

Graphics And Sound:

Dark is a game of dark (no pun intended) themes and dark (again) environments, but the game uses a 3D cel-shaded visual style coupled with some excellent lighting so that it still features great color and rich contrast. The environments vary from office buildings, alleys, and casinos to put the graphics to great use. Kalypso also plans to make advanced graphic settings for the PC version of Dark, giving the greatest visual experience your system can handle. As it turns out deadlines for the Xbox 360 platform requires the games to be done at a certain time for physical production – which allows more time for PC graphic adjustments. Dark’s cutscenes are designed to match the action graphically, which helps maintain the suspension of disbelief and the flow of the experience. As far as I can tell so far, the sound is excellent and the music, amazing.

Gameplay:

The most beautiful game with the best story in the world can still be unplayable if the game mechanics don’t work right. Luckily, even though they are being adjusted every day the current gameplay builds, both mechanics and options, are not just playable but solidly defined. So much so, in fact, that if the game were to release tomorrow based on the last build I played, it would be great fun! This makes it look easy to be optimistic that once the final version is released this summer, hopefully in June, Dark will be a great game in many aspects. The control choices are intuitive to the third person genre and are easily picked up and mastered so that players can concentrate on play rather than on learning to play.

The gameplay style itself is a different take on a well-established formula. This game heavily involves the use of stealth, misdirection, and strategic approach. It is not a “run and gun” experience by any means. As a matter of fact, you don’t use a gun! Many enemies are just better off being avoided completely and the whole area of a level should be considered from a safe spot before moving out. One of the vampiric talents you get is the ability to sense blood around you as well as sensing if you are being observed. This enables you to have an infrared-style look at a level, showing glowing red figures of your enemies and whether or not they already see you. This is a great way to keep you from stepping out from behind some crates into a six man crossfire which I saw plenty of when people weren’t being cautious during hands-on play.

Another vampiric trait that helps is called “Shadow Leap”: A teleporting ability showcased in the teaser trailer that has been released. It is based on line of sight and makes it so that you can teleport to any location you see regardless of obstacles between you and the destination. This can prove great for moving quickly across rooms to escape guards, teleporting past fences to prevent pursuit – heck, this is a great way just to cross a room, period. The best use of this, however, is teleporting right up next to an enemy and feeding on them or dispatching them in some other way. There is a definite feeling of satisfaction when you appear in a puff of black smoke and sink your teeth into an enemy. Remember, this game is a third person stealth/actioner, not a third person shooter – so you have to rely on techniques that let you pass enemies or let you get up close and personal to them fast.

To help with this there is a skill point system with skill trees and experience-gathering. There are multiple trees and multiple traits on them that are at this time designed to make significant improvements to your play. Also, they vary enough to allow player’s customization in how they play the game. Off-hand examples would be trying to complete a level without killing guards or half-vamps, another would be killing everyone in sight, another would be teleporting through as much as possible as fast as possible. There will also always be those who want to just run in and kill like crazy and only retreat to cover when they are about to die. The developers have taken all these styles and more into account and have already built in great replayability with just these trees and traits since you can play through a different style each time. Add to this the variety of environments and replayability should not prove an issue.

Second Round:

The more I get my eyes and hands on Dark, the more I salivate to play it. I want to be playing it so badly that I think I am becoming Renfield-mad! Dark should run about 8-10 hours for each play when it comes out, but with so many options of skills, I know I will be playing it more than once. I just wish I could start tonight! Dark is a nightmare of a game that should be a dream to play.

Gallery:

StarDrive Review

2013/05/02

Ripper71

News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

The “strategy” game category tends towards vagary, covering such a diverse range of play from tower defense titles to micro-managing empire sims. They can be turn based or real time and “real time” can be warped to mean quite a few things too – the only fundamental guarantee on a real time game is that it’s not turn based. With other genres, such as first-person shooters, you generally know what you are getting into. There will be a weapon in your point of view and you will negotiate various maps and levels, shooting bad guys. Even those who argue how good a first-person shooter usually base that argument off the comparisons to other FPS titles – since they all have close similarities. When it comes to “strategy” games, though, you never know how much mental muscle you are going to have to strain to win or simply survive because even winning isn’t necessarily a guarantee in a strategy game. With this in mind, I will try to tell you about StarDrive, a “4X space strategy” game and try to point out what kind of strategist will enjoy it.

Official Description:

StarDrive is a 4X Action-Strategy game where the goal is to build a space empire. Starting with a single planet and a small number of space-worthy vessels, you forge out into the galaxy, exploring new worlds, building new colonies, and discovering the StarDrive universe. Colonize or conquer new planets to expand your interstellar empire. Specialize your colonies and design trade routes to stimulate growth. StarDrive follows a classic 4x model in that Food, Production, Research, and Money are the primary resources to gather. Find special resources by exploring planets and anomalies to unlock bonuses, or to unleash terrors…

The heart of StarDrive is its ship design and combat engine. StarDrive takes a module-based approach to ship design, allowing the player to create custom ship designs where the composition and placement of ship modules really matters to the performance of a ship in combat. In combat, if your portside armor is taking a beating, then rotate around and show them the starboard side! Hide behind a friendly capital ship’s shields, warp into and out of the fray, launch fighters, lay mines, and so much more.

Official Features:

Customize your Race by selecting from a large list of physical traits, socioeconomic traits, and traits relating to your history and tradition
Lead your forces into battle with your own flagship that you control like an arcade shooter; command your fleets like you would in a real time strategy game with simple mouse commands
Tactical ground combat to take over enemy planets
A deep research tree with many dozens of technologies
Rich diplomacy options, allowing you to make and break treaties with alien races; trade technologies and artifacts, sell ships, declare wars, and design joint operations with your allies
StarDrive is easy to modify, and modding will be actively supported by the developers
Design every ship in your empire, or choose from stock configurations
Create platforms and space stations to deploy in deep space
Carefully plan your ship’s power grid, fuel capacity, ammunition storage, thrust, mass, and more
Organize your ships into fleets and give your ships custom fleet behaviors in an easy to use fleet editor
Set your weapon facings on turrets, or line up your fixed guns on spinal or broadside mounted

Gameplay:

Those of you that play a lot of strategy titles know that managing to accomplish and implement all the details above is a massive undertaking and most-likely prone to breakdowns in one place or another. It sounds like they are simply trying to accomplish too much, but StarDrive actually manages to pull it off! StarDrive is a hardcore strategy game, a major mental muscle twister that requires micromanagement skills performed in a real time on a galactic scale. If nothing in that last sentence appealed to you, this is probably not a game you should buy. At one point, I was trying to figure out why a power conduit wasn’t working properly between a reactor and some engines so that my colonists on Mars would stop starving and start biospheres or terraforming Jupiter while also trying to get enough money through industrialization and taxation to fund research without crushing the populace. Fun times!

Oh, then a race of cybernetic insectoids arrive and I had to decide whether or not to declare war with their fleet because our planetary defenses were very weak and they had already detected that the ships we were fielding did not have adequate shielding to take them on, even as I am building up new starships from the hull up – but, my power conduits aren’t set properly… and that was entirely on an easier difficulty setting, with certain management automated, using some pre-made ship designs and allowing the colonies to build by programmed models!

I was just getting a feel for the controls and game systems – and my game which lasted about 5 or 6 hours was a complete “do over”. Simply, the precursor to a galactic, planetary empire that will be measured in weeks and months rather than hours. That is, of course, if I don’t get into the modding aspects first. Both building mods and playing other player mods already in the community. The StarDrive community is not very large but, instead, fiercely dedicated and motivated to see just what this game of details and limitless possibilities can do!

It is currently single player, but I could easily see it sometime in the future getting online play the game’s design seems to lend itself to a persistent world fairly easily. With future modding, there could be countless persistent galaxies – each one unique.

Graphics And Sound:

Graphics are as you need them for a game like this: Simple when you want to see a whole, universal empire at a glance and beautifully detailed when it comes to up-close ship battles. Most of the species you encounter are rendered in a stylized, yet pleasing fashion. The sounds are crisp and follow the action well and the music is great and fits in well with the gameplay.

Last Call:

This game was obviously a labor of love where the developers wanted to see just how much they could do with it. I have seen plenty of excellent, hardcore strategy games over the years but few with such amazing scope of micromanagement combined with real-time macromanagement. Great strategists, this is your new challenge – your new standard to hold other strategy titles to. So sally forth as your empire is depending on you and eventually so will the whole galaxy!
[easyreview title=”StarDrive Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″ ]

Trailer:

Gallery:

Razer StarCraft II: Heart Of The Swarm Peripherals Review

2013/05/02

Ripper71

News, Peripheral Review, Peripherals News, Reviews, seal of excellence

I try not to be biased towards a company when it comes to reviewing their products but it seems like Razer is one of those companies which takes great pride and love in their products that it can’t help but be contagious. I was at one of their new distributors in town getting some work done on my PC when they brought out a NAGA gaming mouse to use as a display model. I must have restated my entire review of the Naga gaming mouse the staffers there and even game some possible suggestions on the best way to display it. During CES, I got several hours of hands-on time to fall in love with their new Edge gaming PC/tablet. I also got to know some of the Razer staff and experience their love and awe of gaming first-hand. Knowing I am a rabid StarCraft II fan, sometime after CES our Editor-in-Chief and Razer got together to gave me the opportunity to experience it at in the best possible way: with the complete StarCraft II: HOTS Peripheral System.

Each part of this system works great as an individual peripherals that improve your gaming experience as well as your gameplay. If you can get the whole set of these peripherals, you will find yourself fully immersed in the game so much so you will feel like you are in the commander’s cockpit. First, I’ll do a quick breakdown of the features of each peripheral then how the “APM system” works with video of yours truly getting his ass handed to him while improving his game.

Official Features:

Volume & Mic Control Buttons on the Headset
APM-Lighting System
10 preset EQ
Detachable Microphone Boom
Dimensions: 183mm(L) * 90mm(W) * 200mm(H)
Inner Ear Cup Diameter: 60 mm / 2.36”
Cable Length: 12.13 m / 7.0 ft
Approximate Weight: 297 g / 0.65 lbs
Frequency Response: 20 – 20,000 Hz
Impedance: 32Ω at 1kHz
Sensitivity (@1kHz, 1V/Pa): >102dB at 1 kHz
Drivers: 50 mm, with neodymium magnets
Frequency Response: 100 – 10,000 Hz
Sensitivity (-42 dB ± 2dB @1kHz, 1V/Pa)
Signal-to-Noise Ratio: >58 dB
Pick-up pattern: Uni-directional

Hands On:

The headset not only provided a great sound experience with sound isolation, comfortable padding all around, and a StarCraft designed feel, but the lighting on the side also helps block your peripheral vision to immerse you in the game. This looks like it could have come right off the bridge of one of the battlecruiser Hyperion (all the peripherals do, for that matter). The lighting not only helps with gameplay with a 48 color palette and 16 custom slots but it also allows you to make your own visual statement, even going as far as lighting each of the three sections differently. I haven’t been able to bring myself to use regular speakers since getting them.

Official Features:

Lightweight, Fingertip-Grip 5 Button Mouse
5600 DPI Laser Sensor
Ultrapolling (1000Hz Polling / 1ms Response)
APM-Lighting System
Button Force Adjustment
Always-On Mode
Ultra-large Non-slip Buttons
16-bit Ultra-wide Data Path
200 Inches per Second and 50g of Acceleration
Zero-acoustic Ultraslick mouse feet
Gold-plated USB Connector
Braided 7 Foot USB Cable

Hands-On:

This is quite possibly the most comfortable mouse I have ever used. It took a little getting used because of the large right and left mouse buttons but, once I did, I felt I could relax my hand on my mouse much more than usual. Tracking is spot on and smooth with no issues whatsoever. Besides the standard buttons there are two thumb buttons all of which can be programmed to your specific needs per game. Working with the APM system, they can even represent macros. When you are playing a game where you are expected to do hundreds of actions per minute, the mouse had better be smooth working and extremely comfortable as one mistake could cost you the match.

Official Features:

Full Keyboard Layout with integrated number pad keys
Reduced Desktop Footprint
APM-Lighting System
Laser-etched Keys
Optimized Key Travel & Spacing
Ultrapolling (1000Hz Polling / 1ms Response)
Braided 7 Foot USB Cable
Approximate Size : 400 mm / 15.75” (Length) x 182 mm / 7.16” (Width) x 32 mm / 1.26” (Height)

Hands-On:

Of the three peripherals in the system, this is the one that took the most getting used to. Once I did, I found it difficult going back to a normal keyboard (we have three to five computers going in our household at any one time). This keyboard is designed for pure efficiency – possibly redundant keys are removed from it, bringing its size down greatly. This also makes the keyboard more compact for both travel and desk space but also for gameplay. With less space required to cross the keyboard, the hands can hit the necessary keys faster – without compromising key size. So, there are no individual arrow keys or delete button or keys that would normally be assigned their own space around the number pad – those are all gone. They have all been assigned secondary functions on the number pad keys. Most keyboards do this already, particularly laptops, but most have the separate keys as well. Razer understood that when you have to make hundreds of moves a minute the less distance you have to cross the better your play. It Actually kind of makes me wonder why more keyboards, particularly gaming ones, haven’t been designed this way.

Something else I liked, but also took a moment to get used to, was the texture of the keys. They all have a pleasant, rubberized feel to them. I have worked with A LOT of keyboards over the years and I think this might be the first one I felt like this. I can see this being a long term and travel measure, as with smooth keys, the letters and numbers can wear off. If the key label printing is molded into the key itself, the longevity should improve.

All three of the pieces are designed to last with metal-looking shell designs and thick joints, though extremely comfortable they are made to be rugged and travel. The keyboard is less than 16 inches across but comes in at almost two and a half pounds making its claim of “armored assault” feel quite believable.

The APM System:

The StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm peripheral system is not just designed to let you enjoy a game, it actually interacts with StarCraft II to improve it. It does this through its own custom configuration that detects events in the game and signals the player in customizable ways. For instance, maybe a player wants to speed up their gameplay to make sure they remain competitive. The system can detect how many actions-per-minute (APMs) you are making and let you know if you are falling below or exceeding the limits you choose by changing the lighting configuration. If you are new, you may want to make sure you are between 50 to 100 APMs, if you want to be professional tournament competitive, this will help let you know it you are running between the 250-300 APMs necessary.

The Razer APM system doesn’t even come close to being done there. You can also make it so that the system alerts you to when your base or units are under attack, building, training or upgrades are complete, resources are exhausted and many other options. Some might argue that the game already gives you in-game alerts about all these things, so why would you need the headset’s notifications? Because the headset, keyboard, and mouse gives you customized alerts using their lights. So let’s say you are listening to music while you are playing and your base gets under attack or maybe you have the game sound down because you are using a team talking program.

The system, all three pieces, can be designed to flash red 5 times, for example, to let you know that your base is under attack or flash green twice when one of your units gets produced. The lights are bright enough that you can see them flash next to in your peripheral vision and onto your computer and screen in unison – or individually to alert you to different events, each in a customizable way. Also, it shows you your APMs by the color it turns when there are no alerts. These colors can be changed but default set if you have a blue light to you are going less than 50 moves per minute and if you get it going white you are breaking 350 APMs.

So, as you play, you strive to get your system to change a different colors, thereby increasing your actions-per-minute and your game in general. It even can be set to let you know when your ally’s base is under attack so that you have better situational awareness and can come to their aid. All this makes it so that you can speed up your gameplay and improve your situational awareness dramatically. I hope that APM configurations may come out in the future to interact with other games, I would love to be able to tell by the color of the lights how much DPS I am doing or flashes telling me the healer is taking damage.

As promised here is some video of me trying to speed up my gameplay while taking in the system’s alerts. I am purposely clicking hard so you can tell how often you have to click to up your game and I am purposely dropping my defenses so the attack alerts will pop up. If you were watching the gameplay it isn’t pretty but I wanted to show the lighting. This really doesn’t show you how amazing immersive it makes the game, but it does show how easily I can tune out the world.

This system is revolutionary and the practical applications once interfaces are developed are outstanding. It is also amazingly immersive in just about any game but particularly StarCraft II. With all the lighting matching and surrounding you it is easy to block out the outside world. When playing SCII it also lights up everything around you in ever changing colors as if you are in a cockpit and the alerts are coming in to your command. This makes me think that a first person mech game using this interface would be absolutely incredible as well, your screen being just a view out the cockpit window while all your peripherals are lighting up together. The only way to get more immersive would be an actual cockpit.

StarCraft II Razer Messenger Bag Zerg Edition:

If you really want to complete your Razer StarCraft II set you need the messenger bag as well! With the perfect size for a laptop or the StarCraft II: HOTS gear this warns other players they mess with you, they risk getting zerged. Inside the fold is additional printing of a zerg base and a zergling on the innermost flap.

Official Features:

Armored with a tear-resistant, weather-proof heavy duty 1680D ballistic nylon outer shell.
Water-resistant Ripstop nylon inner lining for added durability.
Single shoulder sling design for added mobility. Easy one-handed release chest clasp enables quick and convenient access.
Built in compartments for up to 15″ laptops, gaming peripherals and portable gaming devices.
Padded inner lining protects electronic devices and provides ample shock absorbency while on the road

Last Call:

The StarCraft II: Heart Of The Swarm peripheral system is the best and most unified system I have ever seen. It not only improves the game it is designed for but improves and helps with the immersion and it makes you a better player! If used correctly, it could help make you a professional-grade player. There simply isn’t a better system combination on the market right now – especially for StarCraft II. In fact, we at GamingShogun.com feel it deserves our Seal Of Excellence!
[easyreview title=”Razer StarCraft II: Heart Of The Swarm APM System Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”5″ ]

Poker Night 2 Review

2013/05/02

Judgeman

News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

Telltale Games has released their sequel to last year’s poker simulator with Poker Night at the Inventory 2, or just Poker Night 2 as I will be referring to it in this review. Last year’s version had decent game play, great voice acting and fantastic unlocks to get me to buy in for the $5.00 price tag, but after the unlocks were gone I soon found that the repeated jokes, lack of multi-player, and the absences of other game modes would keep me away from the game. With Poker Night 2, Telltale Games brings us another set of four competitors to try to take our buy in, with new unlocks and even a new game mode, but is it enough to keep Poker 2 on our hard drive after all the bounties have been collected?

Story:

The story line for Poker Night 2 is extremely straight forward. You play as the fifth player being recruited for a poker game at the Inventory with four characters from around the world of media. With your $20,000 buy in, the game begins until only one person is left standing with the cash. Since the story is very light, I will focus this section more on the characters of the game and how they interact via dialogue. Poker Night 2 has a few well known characters from the movie, video game, and television worlds. The four other players are Brock Sampson from The Venture Brothers, Sam from Sam and Max, Ash Williams from The Evil Dead movie trilogy, and Claptrap from the Borderlands video games. Poker Night 2 also has a new dealer for this tournament, GLaDOS from Portal brings her lovely wit, charm, and the occasional threat to the game. Other characters such as Capt. Reginald van Winslow, Doug from The Walking Dead, and from Borderlands both Moxxi and Steve make appearances during game play.

What sets Poker Night 2 above your common poker video game, in terms of story, is the dialogue that occurs between the players and other characters involved. With the addition of GLaDOS, we have five active characters this time instead of four from the last game. The dialogue is very well written, for the first couple of times you hear it. After that, like anything else you hear over and over, it will start to get older and older until you just don’t want to hear it anymore. Poker Night at the Inventory knew this would occur, so we had the option of limited dialogue. However, for Poker Night 2, that option no longer exists so you will just have to learn to cope with it. The jokes are really well written and are actually funny, along with the set conversations that the characters have with each other. Even with my extensive play through since the game was released, I am still running into new dialogue every once in a while, but it is hard to have to listen to the same joke over and over again the more I play.

Poker Night 2’s backgrounds and interactions will also change depending on what set of chips, cards, and poker table you are using. These background changes will also change how the characters leave the table after they have lost all their money. For instance, using all of the Borderlands unlocks, the Inventory gets dressed up like Moxxi’s bar, and Steve helps our players leave the table in some of the funniest moments of the game. I really feel that this game did a great job in setting up an atmosphere that is a blast to play in, with some great writing for our players. The only negative I have is how much gets repeated the more you play, but that is hardly surprising considering the type of game Poker Night 2 is.

Game Play:

Poker Night 2 this year offers two game play modes, Texas Hold ‘Em and Omaha Hold ‘Em. Both of these modes are no limit, so bet whatever you feel like. For those of you that don’t know, the difference between the two modes is the amount of hole cards you have in your hand. In Texas Hold ‘Em you get two cards while in Omaha Hold ‘Em, you get four, but only get to choose two of them to make your hand. Both of these modes are presented well and play even better, but then again it is poker so it isn’t that hard to get right.

During game play, the player has a chance to buy the other characters drinks using tokens that you win in-game. These drinks will eventually get the characters to reveal their tells, making it easier for the player to catch a character in a bluff. I didn’t use this system as often as I probably should have, since the same tokens you use to buy these drinks are the ones you use to unlock new decks, tables and chips. I also didn’t see to much of a increase in my winning probability using the drink system, but it was fun to make Moxxi actually do something, instead of just hanging out in the background behind the bar.

Now, let’s get to the other major reason why many of you are eyeing this game, the unlocks. Like Poker Night at the Inventory, Poker Night 2 has a series of unlocks that you can win when you win the bounty items from each character. These items vary from character to character, from Ash’s Necronomicon to Claptrap’s Spike VG award. In order to get the character to place the bounty on the table, you must first satisfy three random requirements, such as “win a showdown” or “go all in against two other players and win”. This time, you will receive an unlock for two games, Team Fortress 2 and Borderlands 2. These items are all cosmetic changes to your characters for each game, such as the “Necronomicrown” for the Pyro in Team Fortress 2 or the “Man with a Gun” head for the Commando in Borderlands 2. These items help extend the game play of Poker Night 2 and makes the repeatable dialogue that much more tolerable. However, once you have played the game for hours on end and have unlocked everything there is to offer, Poker Night 2 will no longer have any appeal.

This appeal could have lasted much longer if there was online, or even local, multi-player. But there isn’t, this game can only be played solo. I understand why the developers don’t want to have the players play online with the characters, that would create way to large of a table and take to long to play, but why the developers still haven’t added in an online mode where players can just play poker with each other is beyond me. This would help Poker 2 keep it’s freshness long after the last unlock has been dealt with.

Aesthetics:

Voice acting is fantastic for this game, mostly because Telltale Games went out and grabbed the original voice talent for most of the characters. Sam, Brock Sampson, GLaDOS, and Claptrap are all voiced by their original actors from the original sources. David Nowlin, Patrick Warburton, David Eddings and Ellen McLain all lend their talents to the game in roles that they are very familiar with. Max and Ash Williams are not voiced by their original actors, which was disappointing for Ash. Truthfully, I could not tell that Max was being voiced by a new actor, which is a great thing for this game. Not having Bruce Campbell available to voice Ash Williams was disappointing to me, but not a deal breaker. Danny Weber does a good job in trying his best to sound like Bruce Campbell, but fans of the Evil Dead series will hear the difference, and that is enough to take you out of the experience if you are a huge Evil Dead fan.

The visual aesthetics of Poker Night 2 are also fantastic for the most part. The backgrounds change depending on what unlocks you are using, and the interactions the characters have with these backgrounds are great additions to the game. The game does suffer from some graphical hitches here and there, like missing animations and random freezes. I thought maybe it was just my PC having some issues with the game, but these same problems showed up on my Xbox 360 version as well. It’s a shame that this occurs, but it is a $5 game, so how loud am I going to complain.

Final Thoughts:

Poker Night 2 is a great game, it really is. I enjoyed the character interactions more this time around it seems, and I really enjoyed the changing of the visuals using the unlock system. The game plays better then it did in the first version, simply by adding one more choice in game modes with Omaha Hold ‘Em, but still not having any type of multi-player modes severely limits the amount that you will play this game. The unlocks are a great incentive to keep returning to Poker Night 2, but once they are all gone, this game has nothing more to offer it’s players. Even with that, I still recommend this game to anyone that enjoys a good poker game with great writing. Poker Night at the Inventory 2 is available now through Steam for $5.

[easyreview title=”Product Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″ ] Our Rating Scores Explained

NHL 14 Collision Physics Gameplay Trailer

2013/05/02

Jerry Paxton

News, PlayStation 3 News, Trailers / Videos, Xbox 360 News

May 2, 2013 – EA SPORTS^TM released today the first of three gameplay developer diaries for NHL 14. This NHL 14 Gameplay Developer Diary features a first look at NHL^® Collision Physics, including behind-the-scenes footage of the EA SPORTS technology used in its development.

Developed from the same core technology that powers the EA SPORTS FIFA critically-acclaimed Player Impact Engine, NHL^®Collision Physics introduces bigger, more thrilling hits, and truer-to-life collisions. A new left-stick control scheme makes delivering a game-changing hit simpler and more rewarding than ever.

· NHL 14 Gameplay Developer Diary Blog: More information on NHL^® Collision Physics can be found here.

NHL 14 will be available for the Xbox 360^® video game and entertainment system, and the PlayStation^®3 computer entertainment system. NHL 14 releases on September 10, 2013 in North America and September 13, 2013 in Europe.

Trailer

New Guncraft Gameplay Video Released

2013/05/02

Jerry Paxton

News, Trailers / Videos, Windows PC News

May 2nd, 2013 — Exato Game Studios and Reverb Publishing are “blocked and loaded” with a new video for Guncraft, showing how players can build in the heat of battle to gain the upper hand. Unlike similar games, Guncraft enables players to build during multiplayer matches, crafting structures and walls block-by-block to use as immediate cover. Alternatively, players can create any prefab structure to drop immediately in-game using Guncraft’s prefabrication system.

Video

Remember Me Memories Video

2013/05/02

Jerry Paxton

News, PlayStation 3 News, Trailers / Videos, Windows PC News, Xbox 360 News

Here is a new video for Capcom’s upcoming Remember Me, where Jean Maxime-Moris, Creative Director at developer DONTNOD Entertainment, discusses the game’s Memory mechanics. Remember Me is set to release on June 4, 2013.

Video

Thrustmaster Unveils Ferrari GTE Wheel Add-On Ferrari 458 Challenge Edition

2013/05/02

Jerry Paxton

News, Peripherals News

Rennes, May 2, 2013 — Thrustmaster is pleased to unveil its new add-on for the base of the famous T500RS* and the Ferrari F1 Wheel Integral T500*: the Ferrari GTE Wheel Add-On Ferrari 458 Challenge Edition, a detachable replica wheel of the world renowned car.

The Thrustmaster Racing ecosystem continues to expand:

The launch of this brand-new wheel is directly related to Thrustmaster’s initiative for developing a genuine racing ecosystem for hardcore fans: the heart of this unique environment revolves around the T500RS. The product range that Thrustmaster has consistently built up over time is composed of the Ferrari F1 Wheel Add-On, the TH8 RS and now the Ferrari GTE Wheel Add-On Ferrari 458 Challenge Edition.

Choosing the Ferrari 458 Challenge Edition didn’t happen by accident: it was important to Thrustmaster’s development team to offer a realistic Ferrari GT wheel. With the 458 Challenge, equipped with a mid-rear V8 engine, Ferrari provides its sports-oriented, professional and “Sophisticated Driver” customers with an exhilarating combination of extreme performance, maximum driving enjoyment and powerful driving sensation. In creating this replica, Thrustmaster not only offers its drivers a new wheel, but also provides them with access to a truly versatile style of driving.

For Maximum Driving Realism:

This add-on is detachable and features the “Thrustmaster Quick Release” system, allowing users to quickly switch from one wheel to another* (between the “Ferrari F1” wheel, the “Ferrari 458 Challenge” wheel and the “GT” wheel). The wheel measures 28 cm in diameter, and features reinforced textured rubber over its entire circumference. In the middle of the wheel are 2 mm-thick central spokes crafted of brushed metal and clad in metallic paint. The wheel weighs in at more than 2.6 lbs / 1.2 kg, allowing it to faithfully reproduce ultra-realistic inertia and Force Feedback sensations.

The Ferrari GTE Wheel Add-On Ferrari 458 Challenge Edition also features 2 large wheel-mounted sequential paddle shifters, which move along with the wheel: they are 13 cm tall and made of 2 mm-thick, metallic paint-clad brushed metal. The paddle shifters’ tact switches are of high-quality construction, with a guaranteed lifespan of more than 10 million activations.
In addition, the wheel also features 6 action buttons which are easy to access and clearly identified, a 3-position Manettino® dial with a “push” function in the center, and a multidirectional D-pad.

(*) Sold separately.

The Ferrari GTE Wheel Add-On Ferrari 458 Challenge Edition will be available from early May 2013, at a suggested retail price of $129.99.