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Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Force Unleashed II Features

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Continue the galaxy-altering journey of Starkiller, Darth Vader’s fugitive apprentice, that shapes the key events between Star Wars: Episode III and Episode IV.
Unleash the Force with more power and precision through improved controls and new powers, such as the deceptive Mind Trick, which turns enemies against their allies.
Discover the true power of Starkiller with Force Fury, where his attacks and Force powers are exponentially increased.
Improved targeting system enhances precision use of Force powers and greater interaction with puzzles and the environment.
Take combat to the next level with the ability to wield dual lightsabers and punish enemies with all-new combo attacks.
Experience the most life-like interactions with Pixelux Entertainment’s Digital Molecular Matter (DMM) coupled with euphoria from Natural Motion Ltd and the powerful Havok Physics system.
Expanded customization options such as new costumes and power-enhancing lightsaber crystals.
Fight through all-new challenge levels designed to test and hone your fighting and Force power skills.
Skillfully manage your combat techniques to defeat a variety of brand-new enemies, which will culminate in epic boss battles.
Immerse yourself once again in the story that was honored with awards from the Writer’s Guild of America and the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences.
Challenge your friends to a 4-player Force showdown on Wii in chaotic fighting game-style combat.

New Xbox 360 250GB S hacked with video

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It’s no secret the older version of the Xbox 360 was being exploited as you could look on Craigslist and find hacked consoles and “backup” games, quite frequently. When the new Xbox 360 “Slim” was released, first thoughts I had was that Microsoft was permanently addressing the “Red Ring of Death” (known to MS as the “overheating”) issue. In the back of my head, I also thought, maybe they’re also tackling the piracy concern, as well.

We’ve seen companies go under and piracy plays a huge part in this, as many “backup” games float around. On that note, this video was spotted by a team that is already claiming that they have indeed hacked the new Xbox 360 250GB “Slim” console.

I can’t wait until Microsoft starts their next wave of bans and hopefully permanently ban these gamer tags.

Here is the video of the team claiming to have patched the DVD Rom to allow for the play of backups.

Is Sega Worried About Sonic Colors Stealing Sonic 4s Thunder

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The saga of the latest two Sonic games has to be some of the oddest handling of PR I’ve seen in the industry in a long time. First, Sega made a huge deal of teasing Sonic 4 through its Project Needlemouse hype campaign, with the reveal of a new 2D Sonic game met with renewed hope by longtime series fans. A few months later, without any fanfare or hype build up, Sonic Colors was announced. It was almost as if Sega was embarrassed to mention Sonic Colors. And with the announcement that it would be a 3D platformer with new gimmick characters in the colored alien wisps, many fans were perfectly content to ignore the game and put their full attention on the hedgehog’s return to 2D.

Then E3 came around where we actually got to play both games, and Sonic Colors was freakin’ amazing. At least for me personally, easily a contender for Game of the Show.

But I wasn’t the only one who took notice. Across all manner of gaming blogs and news sites, Sonic Colors was gaining a lot of attention. After all, by all accounts it was the 3D Sonic game fans had been waiting for: fast, fun, only Sonic as a playable character, and without any of the camera issues or sticky geometry of past 3D Sonic games. Sega replied to the excitement by saying that Sonic Colors was actually a kids game, and that Sonic 4 was the game that core gamers will enjoy. Now, in a recent interview with Game, Sonic Colors lead designer Takashi Iizuka has reiterated that distinction between Sonic for kids and Sonic for the core gamer. When asked about how speed and control would be managed in Sonic Colors, to prevent the game from feeling like rollercoaster playing itself, Iizuka replied:

We know there are sometimes opinions about control from core gamers, but we’re intending Sonic Colours to be played by children of probably between six and twelve years-old.So, with Sonic Colours we have aimed more to make a game that everyone can control and have fun in. So, it’s not really a game for the core gamers. If you take the rail grind, it’s something that’s fast, not difficult but is fun to do and looks great. It’s about making a game that’s right for the core audience of the game.
As I’ve said before, the distinction between Sonic games for kids and “core” gamers is an utterly ridiculous one to make. Sonic games on the Genesis were all kids games when they were released, and Sonic 4 models itself after Sonic 1 and 2, so logic would dictate that Sonic 4 would be classified as a kids game as well. The only difference is the nostalgia factor, but from a pure gameplay standpoint Sonic 4 would attract the same age group audience that the original Sonic games did: kids.

But I think the bigger problem is how Sega seems to view Sonic fans, as revealed in later comments from Iizuka in that same interview.

Assassins Creed 2 Lost Money ($54.02 Million)

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No s***. What do you get when you mix a medicore game with tons of DRM crap. A loss. Now watch them blame all the dirty pirates out there for this one, lol, fools. Here is the story from Gamasutra :French Splinter Cell publisher Ubisoft recorded a decrease in sales and a loss for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010, blaming worldwide economic downturn.

The company on Tuesday recorded a 17.7 percent drop in annual sales to €871 million ($1.08 billion), and posted a loss of €43.7 million ($54.02 million).

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said in a statement, “The global economic crisis had a pronounced impact on the video game industry in 2009, which contracted by nearly 10 percent year-on-year.”

“Ubisoft’s sales were hit particularly hard, falling 18 percent over the full year despite a stabilization in the second half of the year, when figures came in on a par with the corresponding period of 2008-09,” he added.

Fourth quarter sales were €200 million ($247.32 million), slightly higher than guidance but lower than the €206 million ($254.76 million) recorded for the same quarter a year ago.

During Q4, Ubisoft said that it had strong sales ofJust Dance for Wii, which has seen 3 million units sold-in. The publisher also said that November’s Assassin’s Creed II has reached nearly 9 million units sold-in during the fiscal year.

Ubisoft noted the strong reviews of Red Steel 2 for Wii, and said the game’s performance was in line with recently-revised forecasts. In addition, sales of Avatar exceeded forecasts, “notably on Wii,” Ubisoft said.

Guillemot said during a conference call that Ubisoft will continue to support Nintendo’s platform, but with a focus on family-friendly titles.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

IVG: Developer: Medal of Honor

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Being a franchise reboot, how drastically different from the past games will this Medal of Honor game be?

For this game, we’ve gone back to our roots and the core tenets that the franchise was founded on. We’ve focused on the soldier and telling their story with authenticity and respect.

With so much emphasis on multiplayer these days, single player campaigns in games – shooters in particular – tend to get ignored and we end up with 5-6 hour campaigns. With DICE handling the multiplayer aspect of MOH, can we expect a beefier single player experience than we’ve grown used to?

Absolutely. This is one of the reasons we made the decision to utilise the core strengths of two separate studios. It is a crowded genre and our competitors are very good at what they do. So for this reboot, we wanted to do everything we could to give the Medal of Honor fans a great experience on both sides of the coin.

What were the challenges and advantages of using Afghanistan as a setting for the game in terms of level design and mission structure?

The setting allowed us a great deal of diversity. Afghanistan has a visual cascade of differing environments. From lush green river valleys and dry, arid desert terrains to squalid inner city slums and snowy mountain peaks.

Dragon Quest IX Review

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Charm and classic gameplay abound in this rollicking role-playing adventure.

You are a Celestrian, a blessed being with wings and a halo who dwells high above the mortal realm. After completing an apprenticeship under your master, you become the guardian of a small village. It is the duty of Celestrians to look out for their fragile charges, keeping them free from harm and answering their fervent prayers while remaining invisible to human eyes. A calamity causes you to be thrown from your lofty home and strips you of your angel-like trappings. Now you are visible and vulnerable–mortal in appearance if not in truth–and it falls to you to explore the world below and hopefully find a way to restore your divine powers.

The character creation process allows you to choose your gender and then your overall build and appearance from a selection of options. Once you’re ready to add three companions to your party roster, you can apply the same selection process to recruitment to personalize them somewhat as well. All the character art has that Dragonball flavor, but your group is truly defined by its gear. There’s a wealth of different types of armor to equip that goes well beyond the tired territory of chain mail and leather boots. Fishnet stockings and high heels, T-shirts and jeans, boxers and briefs are only the beginning of a wardrobe filled with all sorts of madness. You’ll have characters in full-plate armor next to compatriots with equally powerful gear that look like they should be going swimming instead. It keeps equipment gathering interesting in a way that goes beyond increasing your stats and allows you to indulge in some truly horrible and hysterical fashion sense.

Real Football 2010 for Android and Iphone

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Real Football has been involved in a real ding-dong battle with the likes of FIFA for footy supremacy in recent years on both iPhone and mobile. Gameloft’s footy franchise always plays a fast, fluid game, encouraging swift tippy-tappy passing triangles and surging runs into the box.

Unfortunately, the franchise’s Android debut doesn’t make the statement of intent Gameloft might have hoped for.

The issue – as with many of Gameloft’s recent iPhone to Android conversions – is one of control. The trouble is, nothing shows up sloppy controls better (or worse) than football sims, which demand instant and pinpoint changes in direction.

Real Football on Android (or at least the Nexus One) really suffers in this regard, your players continuing to run in a direction a whole second after you’ve pushed the virtual stick in another. What’s more, the ‘A’ and ‘B’ buttons (which control your kicks) simply don’t work at times. It’s maddening.

The game suffers on the visual front, too, with a noticeable drop in texture detail on the players and pitch.