Electronic Arts and Bioware have released a new trailer for their upcoming Dragon Age: Inquisition titled “Discover the Dragon Age”. Dragon Age: Inquisition is due out later this year current and last-gen consoles as well as the Windows PC platform.
Archive - 2014
Eidos Montreal and Square Enix have resurrected one of my all time favorite PC series with their remake of Thief. When Thief: The Dark Age came out in 1998, I was hooked. I loved the stealth game play, the maps that contained multiple maps to my goal, and the visuals of the game were some of the best in the industry, at that time. When I had heard that Eidos and Enix were going to remake Thief for a 2014 release, I was beside myself. I wanted this game more then Watch Dogs, Titan Fall, and Dark Souls II combined! What I got, was disappointed. Thief just wasn’t the experience that I wanted in my remake.
Story
Thief begins the game by introducing the player to Garrett, This is the same Garrett that appeared in the first three Thief games, but as an older and wiser version. The introductory level also introduces you to Garrett’s young and brash sometimes partner, Erin, who epitomizes everything that Garrett is against in a thief. In this level, you and Erin are charged with stealing a small gem like object from the Baron’s stronghold in The City. As Garrett and Erin reaches the stronghold, they come upon a magical ritual, which causes the building to shake. Garrett and Erin choose this time to have one of their annoying little squabbles, which leads to Erin’s apparent death and Garrett being put into a coma for a year.
One year later, Garrett comes to and is taken back into The City, just to find that The City has fallen victim to plague and brutality. Garrett heads to his hideout to check his belongings, then immediately crosses town to visit his handler to see if he has any jobs available for a thief who needs money.
The story line for Thief works ok for me, not that great but I have seen much, much worse. My issue with the story is that, when looked at as a whole, the story feels disjointed and incomplete. It very well could be the consistent load times that appear during game play, or the score screens after each level, but the story never feels like it is a whole story. I found it much easier and more enjoyable to view each level as a story upon itself in Garrett’s life, much like how Hitman is set up with it’s levels.
The other issue that I had with Thief’s story, was the characters. I’ll talk a little bit more about their design later, but who the characters were and how they acted drove me absolutely nuts. Erin is a brash, arrogant, and loud character, who has no reservation in getting into an argument during a job, while there are guards just ten feet away. Erin also sees guards as objects that needs to be removed and has no objection in killing them. Garrett, on the other hand, is the veteran that hates everything about Erin and how she does it. Garrett chastises Erin every chance he gets, especially over her killing of a guard, and yet as the player you will eventually kill your fair share of guards during the game. Erin is an annoying teenager type character, and Garrett is a know-it-all hypocrite, I never liked either one at all during the game.
Game Play
Thief is, at it’s heart, a stealth game and Eidos has done that right. You are giving a light sensor on your heads up display that shows you how much light is shining on Garrett. This helps keep Garrett in the dark, which is key to completing your levels well. Garrett also has an array of special items and moves that help him maneuver around The City, completing his tasks. Garrett has his trusty bow with him, including his water, fire, rope, and broad tipped arrows that can be used to move around or take out obstacles. Garrett also carries a blackjack and grapple, rolled into one that he stole from Erin during the prologue. Before each mission, Garrett has the chance to buy more equipment using the cash from his last job.
This new Garrett also has some new moves to help him finish his jobs. There is a new dash move that allows Garrett to move quickly between two points, usually from shadow to shadow or to close the gap between you and a guard that is walking away. This dash move is the more helpful of the two new abilities and allows you to get Garrett out of trouble quickly and quietly. The other move, Focus, is a some what cheap feeling ability to me. Focus is context based, and will either slow down time if you are in combat, or show you items in the world that you can interact with by making them glow. When you enter a room and hit focus, everything that can be picked up or interacted with will glow a soft blue, so that hidden safe behind the portrait won’t stay hidden long. This feels cheap to me because it takes away from the exploration and discovery of the first Thief games that I enjoyed so much. It was much more rewarding in finding the merchant’s hidden vault on your own, and not just by clicking Focus to find what items you can interact with.
My biggest complaint with the game play of Thief is how you move around The City. The City allows for multiple paths to complete your jobs, which is great, but Garrett cannot utilize many of the sections that you see around you, and must stick to your chosen path until you are given the option to choose another path. Playing games like Assassin’s Creed have absolutely ruined how I see the way Garrett should move around The City. Some ledges you can drop down, others you can’t and you won’t be able to tell this unless you try to. Movement does nothing to make Garrett feel like the master thief he is. If Eidos wanted a great example of how Garrett should feel in movement, they should have just taken a look at Dishonored, that would have worked fantastically.
Aesthetics
The visual design of The City is great, and it looks just fantastic on the PC. If you have a machine that is beefy enough, the PC version is the only place that will get you 60 frames per second at the highest graphics level. I, unfortunately, do not own one of those types of PCs, but the game looked great and ran great at the setting I choose. The look of The City is one of medieval Europe meets Industrial Age Europe, in a similar vein to the original games. The world is appropriately dark and dreary, and the lighting effects look great and give you a sense of where not to be.
Character sound and visuals are a completely separate matter. Garrett’s design is all over the place, and I have no idea why the man is wearing a corset. I truly believe the reason Garrett stays in the shadows is due to the fear of being seen and dying from embarrassment. Original voice actor Stephen Russell has been replaced as the voice of Garrett by Romano Orzari, and this moved had caused a huge stirring of disapproval from the Thief faithful. Russell, as I remember, was fantastic as the voice of Garrett, while Orzari seems bored and flat in his delivery. Ultimately, what this feels like is a different Garrett than we had years ago, and Eidos may have been better served in making the main character Garrett’s son, rather than Garrett.
Final Thoughts
Thief by Eidos Montreal and Square Enix is a mediocre game at best. While The City looks fantastic and the game play, at times, makes you feel like a master thief, ultimately the story and character design just isn’t enough to make me care enough about this reboot. If you take each chapter as a separate game and focus on that section, then the game seems to get better – especially when you can change the difficulty per each chapter and try again with harder artificial intelligence. It’s when the game is taken as a whole that my feeling of joy for Thief seems to fall apart. It just doesn’t live up to the original game, and maybe that’s my issue. It is almost impossible to view a remake of one of your favorite games objectively, and truth be told I am not going to try. My advice to you is, if you played the original and loved it, you may be in for a big disappointment with this new reboot. Overall, the game just comes of as “okay”. Thief is available now for the PC via Steam.
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CARLSBAD, Calif. – Razer™, the world leader in entertainment devices and software, today announced the launch of the world’s first mechanical switch designed by Razer specifically for gaming – the Razer Mechanical Switch.
While traditional mechanical switches were originally designed for typing, the all-new Razer Mechanical Switches have been designed and engineered from the ground up for gaming. In order to achieve that, Razer decided to go back to the drawing board to completely re-engineer the traditional mechanical switch.
After extensive research, Razer’s multi-award winning engineers identified the optimal actuation distance for a gaming switch to a fraction of a millimeter and reduced the distance between the actuation and reset point by almost half to allow for faster, more precise gaming commands when compared to standard mechanical switches. Furthermore, the all-new Razer Mechanical Switches are made using an ultra-precise manufacturing technique that, along with gold plated contact points, result in a lifespan of up to 60 million key strokes.
While Razer scientists and engineers designed the new Razer Mechanical Switch from ground up, mass production was done by a third party manufacturer. However, to ensure that each switch met to its demanding specifications, Razer placed its own quality assurance experts on the production floor to make sure each switch meticulously follows the design blueprint and specifications defined by Razer.
Finally, these switches were tested extensively by the world’s most demanding eSports athletes who validated the new Razer Mechanical Switch in some of the most intense professional gaming tournaments.
“The new switches on the Razer BlackWidow have a lighter and smoother feel, allowing me to play at a faster pace than before,” says Jens “Snute” Aasgaard, Team Liquid StarCraft player. “It’s comfortable and solid – perfect for long practice sessions and tournaments.”
“Instead of focusing solely on typing comfort, as traditional mechanical switches have done, we had to completely rethink the conventional approach behind the actuation and reset points of mechanical switches in order to fine-tune them for gaming,” says Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder, CEO and creative director. “Our engineers’ focus for the specification was on speed, accuracy and durability to bring the unfair advantage to gamers worldwide. The new switch makes the most popular gaming keyboard in the world even better.”
The Razer Mechanical switch is available on the new Razer BlackWidow family of mechanical gaming keyboards, and is open to other gaming peripheral makers who wish to manufacture the highest quality gaming-grade mechanical keyboards.
The all new Razer Mechanical Switch comes in two types: The Razer Green switch that is tactile and clicky, requiring a force of 50 g to actuate; and the Razer Orange switch that is tactile yet silent, requiring a force of 45 g to actuate.
For more information about the Razer Mechanical Switches along with the Razer BlackWidow range of gaming keyboards, please visit http://www.razerzone.com/razer-mechanical-switches
Eschborn, March 6, 2014: Hardcore strategists and hobbyists alike are in for a real tactical fireworks display, as bitComposer Games and Sproing announced today that Panzer Tactics HD, the popular hex map strategy classic from 2007, is coming to PC and iOS in Q2 of this year. Featuring a full graphical makeover with the familiar tactical depth that made the 2007 version so popular. For more information, please visit: http://www.panzertactics.com/
In 2008, Panzer Tactics for the Nintendo DS won the German Developer Award for the best console game.
Panzer Tactics HD offers all the tactical depth and the hard-hitting gameplay of the original with progressive levels of difficulty and three single-player campaigns with over 60 hours of gameplay to provide a real challenge.
“The strengths of the game clearly lie in the almost limitless variety of tactical possibilities and its demanding level of difficulty”, said Harald Riegler, CEO of Sproing. “Nevertheless, the changes will be more than visible. All maps and units have been completely remodeled, and weather and terrain significantly affect the battlefields, thus strategy for the next move. In short, with Panzer Tactics HD, we are taking the game to a new level.”
Screenshots
SAN FRANCISCO, March 6, 2014 – Indiegogo, the world’s largest crowdfunding platform, today announces that basketball legend and notable Renaissance man Shaquille O’Neal has launched his campaign for Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn on Indiegogo. Often labeled as one of the worst games of all time, with websites dedicated to destroying it, Shaq Fu has reached a cult status in the game industry. Considered a blight on Shaq’s career, he is setting out to right the wrongs of Shaq Fu and is reaching out directly to fans through Indiegogo to get their support.
“I’ll admit it, Shaq Fu was a horrible game. I’m a huge fan of videogames and want to have my name associated with a Shaq Fu game that I’m proud of and would like to play,” said Shaquille O’Neal. “This is my second chance and it’s even better this time since I’m able to partner with the fans to make this happen.”
In order to make the fighting game that fans deserve, Shaq has partnered with Big Deez Productions, a team of video game industry veterans that have deep experience making quality games with titles such as the Halo series, Street Fighter, Max Payne, Duke Nukem, Madden Football and dozens of others under their belt. The game’s soundtrack will be created by Steve Molitz, a world-renowned musician and composer. He will be creating a soundtrack that remixes and modernizes classic Shaq songs from his collection of Platinum and Gold albums including the remake of “Don’t Stop the Reign”.
The game is a modern day twist on the classic beat ‘em up. Play as Shaquille O’Neal as he kicks butt and take names on his quest to defeat the mysterious and deadly Black Star Ninja and his immeasurable horde of deadly ninja assassins. Players will be able to learn and unlock hundreds of classic and unique moves, strategic battle techniques and brutal finishing moves to keep the game rooted in traditional brawlers while also providing an over the top, in-your-face, slam dunk experience fans have come to know and love with Shaq.
The game will feature combo and character skill progression systems that allow players to hone a variety of fighting styles and tactics to create the ultimate bad ass warrior. Players can pimp out their character with modifiers that will allow players to change their appearance as well as enhance their skills. Power-ups littered throughout the levels will feature every nickname Shaq has ever had with a few new ones added for good measure.
Players will battle it out in detailed, deadly and destructible locations such as the slums of Asian cities, rooftops of skyscrapers, seedy nightclubs and in crowded markets. Gamers will be able to use the environment to their advantage as they pick up the nearest manhole cover or car door to throw, smash an enemy through the floor to leap down to lower levels, or collapse structures with earthquakes of unprecedented power to silence the enemy.
“Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn is a great example of how developers and celebrities can directly reach and partner with the fans to create something that otherwise wouldn’t get made,” said John Vaskis, Gaming Lead, Indiegogo. “We are thrilled to be able to be part of Shaq’s videogame redemption story.”
Through the Indiegogo rewards, as a thank you for supporting him in his quest, Shaq is providing unprecedented access to him and his life with several unique rewards based on the amount of money that funders contribute. A few of these rewards include: playing basketball with Shaq on his own court at this house, signed original size 22 Shaq Attack sneakers, a personalized voicemail recorded by Shaq, lunch or dinner with Shaq, the ability to participate in the taping of a TNT NBA show and much more.
Find out more information about the game and fund it here:
www.igg.me/at/shaqfu
March 6th, 2014, Ridgewood, NJ – El Presidente invites you to take a historical tour around the beautiful island paradise of Tropico in the first gameplay trailer for Tropico 5. Bask in the Caribbean sun and watch Tropico develop through the ages from a small colonial state of the Crown to a sprawling metropolis of the future. See how small farming communities evolve into thriving industrial powerhouses under the glorious leadership of El Presidente and his new family dynasty. Tropico 5 will be available in early summer for Windows PC, Mac, Linux and Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft – followed by PlayStation®4 later this year.
Trailer
Packed with a whole host of new gameplay features and all new artwork designed from scratch, Tropico 5 takes the series into a new and exciting direction – dynasties!
You, as El Presidente, will first take control of the infamous island of Tropico during early colonial times and then guide it through the centuries as the world changes and moves ever forward. You must tackle the changing needs of your people, as well as opposing governments and factions, and thus lay the foundations for your own dynasty. As you move through your years in office you can promote members of your extended family on the island to positions of power: such as ambassador, commanding general or even Supreme Ruler, to ensure your legacy thrives through the eras.
As well as a wealth of other new features, including advanced trading mechanics, technology, scientific research trees and island exploration, Tropico 5 will add cooperative and competitive multiplayer for up to four players for the first time in the series’ history! Viva El Presidente!
Download the Tropico 5 box art here
Download the latest Tropico 5 screenshots and press kit here
Sign up the Tropico 5 Beta test here
For more information on Tropico 5 please visit the Kalypso Media website atwww.kalypsomedia.com or the official Tropico 5 website at www.tropico5.com.
New York, NY and Helsinki, Finland – March 6, 2014 –Next Games and AMC today announced that the Finnish games company is in production of a mobile game based on AMC’s incredibly successful TV seriesThe Walking Dead. The Walking Dead is, for the second season in a row, the #1 show on U.S. television among adults 18-49, and incredibly popular around the world. The mobile game will be the first time players see this iconic and enormously popular TV series come to life through gameplay exclusively developed for smartphones and tablet devices.
AMC and Next Games will join forces on the marketing of the title as the game launch coincides with season 5 of The Walking Dead TV series. The project will be global at scale with distribution and marketing across continents in collaboration with the best local partners.
“We chose to team up with Next Games because of their outstanding creative and technical talent, as well as a willingness to re-imagine the unique and compelling world of The Walking Dead, which has built a significant and passionate global fan community,” said Charlie Collier, AMC president. “We’re thrilled to be part of this next wave of games innovation and participating in a project that – like the show itself – is in service of the fans.”
“Our take on the undead survival franchise will match the against-all-odds action and moment-to-moment tension of the TV series. We want to find that sweet spot where gameplay and narrative inform and reinforce one another,” said Teemu Huuhtanen, CEO at Next Games. “Like AMC’s The Walking Dead itself, we’re not giving away too many details right out the gate, but I can confidently state it’s unlike anything we’ve seen fromThe Walking Dead franchise on home or mobile gaming hardware before.”
Founded by design veterans from Rovio, Supercell and Disney, Next Games has assembled a team with a profound love for games and a burning desire to develop lasting global entertainment. The studio is focused on crafting majestic narrative-driven games with engaging free-to-play mechanics.
The companies will announce additional details related to The Walking Dead game in the coming months.
Website: www.NextGames.com
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/NxtGms
Twitter: @NxtGms, www.twitter.com/NxtGms
March 6, 2014 — Team NINJA today released a new batch images which finds Yaiba healing himself after some serious slaying and then following a river of blood to the most unusual of locations. In preparation of the Steam® (PC) of YAIBA: NINJA GAIDEN Z on March 21, 2014 the game will be available for pre-order at a special discounted price of $49.99 for two weeks prior to launch, beginning March 7. The PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft versions will launch on March 18, 2014.
In YAIBA: NINJA GAIDEN Z, players will battle fierce zombies as Yaiba, a cyborg ninja who will do anything to get revenge and stay alive. Cleaved in two, he is brought back to life with cyber-technology. Brandishing his ninja sword and the mecha weapons in his cyber arm, he slaughters zombies with brutal, over-the-top abandon. Step into a stylized living comic book where stunning graphics depict a world gone mad. Hordes of undead can only be stopped by Yaiba’s willingness to use any means necessary to get the job done. Will he kill by turning his cyber arm into a razor chainsaw for slicing up undead—or just rip off an opponent’s arms to use as zombie nunchucks? Both possibilities fill Yaiba’s heart with twisted laughter in this upcoming collaboration between famed developers Team NINJA and concept’s Keiji Inafune.
YAIBA: NINJA GAIDEN Z for the PlayStation®3 and Xbox 360® will launch on March 18, 2014 for a suggested retail price of $59.99 in North America. The Steam® (PC) version will follow and launch on March 21, 2014 and is available for pre-order at a special discounted price of $49.99, beginning March 7. This title been rated M (Mature) by the ESRB.
Screenshots
SAN DIEGO, CALIF. & SANTA MONICA, CALIF. – March 6, 2014 – Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. (“Mad Catz”) (NYSE MKT/ TSX: MCZ) and OUYA announced today a content agreement to bring OUYA® to the Mad Catz M.O.J.O.™Micro-Console™ for Android™. In addition, the price of M.O.J.O. will be reduced to an MSRP of $199.99 in the United States with similar price adjustments taking place in all major territories.
Announced earlier this week, the OUYA Everywhere initiative aims to bring OUYA to a wide variety of devices, with the M.O.J.O. Micro-Console being the first. OUYA on M.O.J.O. is expected to debut later this spring with all existing and upcoming OUYA content available on the Mad Catz Micro-Console.
“Up until now, the game console experience has been locked inside a box,” said Julie Uhrman, CEO and founder of OUYA. “Together with the hardware veterans at Mad Catz, we end that. Today’s announcement signifies the inception of a truly open platform where independent developers can bring their creations to the platforms where gamers actually play: everywhere.”
“With more than 680 games and 33,000 developers signed up, OUYA features an impressive catalogue of content from AAA developers and independent publishers, all of which are designed to replicate the core gaming experience, taking advantage of the TV and controller,” said Darren Richardson, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. “This agreement with OUYA encapsulates our vision of an open software platform powered by M.O.J.O.’shigh-performance hardware, and supported by the entire ecosystem of GameSmart™ gaming accessories. We believe today’s announcements will widen the appeal of M.O.J.O. introducing it to a greater number of passionate gamers.”
For additional information and to order, please visit: www.madcatz.com/mojo/
For more information on OUYA, please visit: www.ouya.tv
Growing up on “The A-Team” and, in more recent years, having discovered great graphic novels called “The Boys”, I like the rough rabble – the misfits that do right in their own way. That was often how I felt as a young lad, I would generally fit in with small groups of folks, I was a geek from the age of six when I got my first Atari but I always tried to do the right thing. So when I hear about a game that has these general themes I am always quick to want to give it a play, add to it that the game is under five bucks and I was really excited to get my hands on AntiSquad.
Description:
Widely known in small circles as AntiSquad, they are a military tactical response unit. These hardened military professionals, tired of bureaucracy, politics and serving the armed forces, have established a private paramilitary formation located in south United States. Being true military professionals, they periodically execute contracts for jobs that may not be considered “clean”.
The Team consists of many complex individuals with their own back story, but they do not shun mercenary applicants. Members of the team are idealists; they dwell on moral issues, as well as question blind nationalism, etc. AntiSquad strongly differ from military units. They truly are a bunch of contradictions put together – heartfelt cynics, gregarious egoists, aggressive pacifists, and phlegmatic rebels all under one banner.
Features:
• Turn-based tactics… The game is yours to command
• Stunning visuals… It pleases the eyes
• Fascinating story… To tell before bedtime
• Memorable characters… It’s hard to pass by without noticing them
• Character specialization… Choose your path
• A wide variety of gears and weapons… For each taste and colour
• Challenges and Achievements… Making it hard for you
• Atmospheric soundtrack… Hear the sound of awesomeness?
Hands On:
So, first off it is important to let you know that this is a turn-based action point game, also often referred to as a hexagonal game. These are great for pick up and play because after your turn you can set it down and come back to it easy enough and you don’t have to worry about clicks per second or a fast AI. Once you get the hang of this type of gameplay it is always relatively the same with just differing environments and interfaces. You get a certain number of action points which are divided up by your movements and your attacks. Generally, the less you move the more you can attack and if you do maximum movements you have no points left to attack. Special abilities use higher action points than standard abilities and attacks.
Once you know and get used to all of that it comes down to a game of strategy where you try to make better use of your action points than your opponent. Everything else is technically just setting and stage, but it is in the fun involved with the setting and stage that can make one turn-based strategy better than another. I have played some that were a decent challenge and enjoyable but got a bit boring after a while. That’s where games like AntiSquad shine, the fun characters and the cool looking cartoon/comic graphics keep you playing because you want to get these charismatic characters through the mission and onto the next one. It is easy to lose track of time as you set up one of the characters for their special attack or try to get the whole team past some big nasties with bigger guns.
Each character represents a different character class, which they personify with their attributes. Rose is a scout, with a high movement per action ratio – she is less of a fighter and more of a runner. Cactus is a sniper, he barely gets any movements per action at all but his attack range is huge. You also have machine gunners, explosive experts and balanced action and attack characters all of which have their own personalities to match abilities. It’s the personalities that really separate this game from others of the same genre so that you feel like you are playing a turn based “A-Team”.
Last Call:
AntiSquad is a solid game with fun characters that keep you coming back for more. These kind of games make you think without realizing it because the only way to win is by strategy but you just feel like you are trying to get Teddy, Rose, Cactus and the others past the Cartel. This is not only a great example of turn based strategy done right but at $3.99 it is a virtual steal. AntiSquad is available now on Steam Early Access, and I can’t wait to see how it turns out in its final, retail version.