Archive for January, 2007
Interview with Turbine president on Lord of the Rings: Online
The MMO market nowadays is huge. And it seems to only be growing bigger and bigger. These games feature hundreds, thousands, and sometimes millions (as in popular games like World of Warcraft and EverQuest) of players all playing the game simultaneously. MMO stands for Massively Multiplayer Online and these games come in various varieties, the most popular being RPGs (Role-Playing Games).
People who are familiar with MMORPGs will know all about Player-versus-Player (PvP) and Player-versus-Environment (PvE) play-styles. The former has players fighting each other (for fun, bragging rights or other things). And the latter has you and your friends adventuring together in the MMO-world, battling CPU controlled monsters for money and items, and doing quests which advance the storyline for the game.
With The Lord of the Rings Online, the Article continues »
1 comment »Pogo Island from EA joins the growing list of casual DS games
Electronic Arts is, and has been, the giant of the video game industry. They publish for every platform in nearly every territory where video games are sold, and they seem to dominate wherever they are. EA has even expanded into the web-game territory with their successful casual-gaming web-site hub pogo.com.
Now EA is set to release a new Nintendo DS game that is a compilation of those web-games into one well-fitting DS cart. The game is called Pogo Island. And it features five easy-to-play games that anyone who frequents pogo.com will recognize. Many people may have already played them.
The five games featured in Pogo Island are:
* Word Whomp: This game presents you with a jumble of letters from which you have to form as many words as you can in a preset amount of time.
* Poppit: Which is a Bejeweled-style game with balloons instead of gems.
* Tri-Peake Solitaire: As the name suggests, this is a variation on standard solitaire.
* Squelchies: Where a bunch of colored aquatic creatures are advancing downward and you have to use the touch screen to move the bottom-most creatures from one column to the next to match up three colors and clear those creatures away.
* Phlinx: This is quite similar to the classic puzzle game Puzzle Bobble, where you fire colored balls from a cannon at the bottom of the screen to match up three balls on the top screen and clear those away. The difference here is that you can move the cannon between three preset locations.
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Capcom speaks out after being left out of the AIAS Awards
The last two years of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences video game awards show, the Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, has seen Capcom titles, big ones at that, left out in the cold (pun regarding Lost Planet intended).
Capcom you see has not paid to be a part of the organization, which is a must for that publisher’s games to be up for awards. This has meant that games that truly deserved to win awards, games like Resident Evil 4 two years ago, and Okami and Dead Rising last year (as well as Lost Planet no doubt this year) were completely absent. There was a write-in option, and Resident Evil 4 was wrote-in, but the rules of the Academy say that only games of publishers who are members can actually be nominated. So either way it was a lose-lose situation for Capcom . . . unless they pay up (like everyone else).
Speaking to GS both the AIAS & Capcom weighed in on the situation after many an outcry by fans, especially over the absence of the artistic masterpiece Okami.
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Game Intro: Soul Calibur
Soul Calibur for the Dreamcast was one of the system’s biggest hits. Considered by many to be one of the best fighting games ever made (even receiving perfect scores in several game magazines at the time). Soul Calibur was a fighter that was accessible newbies yet took much skill to master, and the graphics at the time were ultra realistic and stunning to anyone that happened to see the game running.
Thankfully the Soul Calibur series itself didn’t die with the death of the lil’ Sega engine that could, but carried on and spawned two successful sequels (so far). Soul Calibur 2, which hit PS2, Xbox and GameCube with an exclusive character on each system, and Soul Calibur 3, which went back to exclusivity and was released only on the Playstation 2.
So enjoy the opening intro for Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast below. It doesn’t hold up extremely well today, but it doesn’t look too bad either, just a bit simplistic.
New video game releases week 5, 2007
Here’s a list of this weeks US game releases. Rogue Galaxy for PS2 and Battlestations Midway for Xbox 360 seem to be the favorites this week, aside from the awesome Wii download releases. No word on this week’s PS3, PSP or Xbox 360 download games yet.
Monday:
Blitzkrieg 2: Fall of the Reich (PC)
Bonanza Bros. - $8 (Wii Virtual Console)
City Life World Edition (PC)
Comix Zone - $8 (Wii Virtual Console)
Contra III: The Alien Wars - $8 (Wii Virtual Console)
Mario Kart 64 - $10 (Wii Virtual Console)
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes (PC)
Tuesday:
Battlestations: Midway (PC, Xbox 360)
Fuzion Frenzy 2 (Xbox 360)
Monopoly Here and Now (PC)
Rogue Galaxy (PS2)
Sonic The Hedgehog (PS3)
Take a look at Europe’s releases this week:
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Mario Kart 64, Contra III, and two Sega games are the new Wii Virtual Console downloads
Today Nintendo adds four new classics to the U.S. Wii Shop Channel. The games go live at 9AM Pacific time. Nintendo adds new games to the channel every Monday. Europe got these earlier this month, mostly everyone’s happy to just see another N64 game. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week’s new Virtual Console games are:
Mario Kart 64 (Nintendo 64, 1-4 players, 1,000 Wii Points - $10): Put the pedal to the metal in this worthy successor to the Super NES classic, Super Mario Kart. Mario Kart 64 boasts great graphics, tons of unique power-ups and a stunning 3-D version of the legendary Battle Mode. With improved courses and a revolutionary head-to-head four-player mode, Mario Kart 64 is sure to win the heart of any race-driving fan. The game includes 20 different courses filled with dips, valleys, jumps, tunnels and bridges. Smooth, precise control – a trademark of all games from Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto – will bring players back time and time again for freewheeling fun.
Contra III: The Alien Wars (Super NES, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points - $8): In the year 2636, the Alien War continues, and it’s up to two soldiers, Jimbo and Scully, to put a stop to the alien invasion. The aliens have ravaged Article continues »
Interview on Stranglehold reveals new Tequila-bomb techniques
One of my most anticipated upcoming games is the incredibly awesome looking Stranglehold, a 3rd-person shooter that is a video game sequel to director John Woo’s legendary film Hardboiled, and once again it stars martial arts superstar Chow Yun-Fat, who reprises his role as Inspector Tequila.
As you would expect from a gun-loving director like John Woo, Stranglehold plays much like you’d imagine by taking the whole “Matrix Lobby Scene” theme to the next level. Environments are completely destructible and as you blast the living hell out of everything you see, objects will shatter, break, bust, and explode in realistic ways.
Stranglehold is set for release on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 sometime this summer.
In a recent interview with the director of the game, Brian Eddy, he discussed how development is going, the input of John Woo, and Chow Yun-Fat on the game’s direction, and some of the special butt-kicking moves that will be featured in the game.
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Mortal Kombat comes to DS, Virtual Console, PS3 Store, and new Wii details
On Midway’s annual Winter Gamers Day event in Las Vegas last week, announcing that Nintendo DS owners will soon get their own version of Mortal Kombat. Details on the Nintendo DS version of the game are scarce, although it has been revealed that Shaun Himmerick will assume the role of the game’s producer. This is welcome news because he also was the producer of the excellent Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks.
Midway reportedly said that should Nintendo Wii’s new Virtual Console continue to gain popularity, more Mortal Kombat games will be brought to it. This makes perfect sence after they released Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 on Xbox Live Arcade last year, but everyone pretty much agrees Midway should be porting over Mortal Kombat I & II to Microsoft’s and Nintendo’s download services. Let’s hope that hint was subtle enough, considering Mortal Kombat II was announced for the Playstation Network (PS3).
When we showed a video of Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon showing off Armageddon’s Wii controls for the first time, that newsitem got out-of-hand popular, so we figured you’d want to know more about the changes in the Wii version compared to the PS2, PSP & Xbox versions. Mortal Kombat fans will be happy to find out that:
* Khameleon will make an appearance in Mortal Kombat: Armegeddon;
* The “Endurance Mode” from the PSP version will be brought to the Wii as well;
* Motor Kombat will be playable with the Wii Remote, which controls like Nintendo’s Wii racing game Excite Truck.
Tenchu Z puts a ninja in your Xbox 360
Microsoft announced that localization has begun for From Software’s, stealth assassin’s action game, Tenchu Z. The title was previously known as Tenchu 360, because of its Xbox 360 exclusivity. The developer has said they will keep the franchise in the shadows of its predecessors. No release date was given yet for 2007.
Tenchu Z offers more than 50 stealth ninja missions set in ancient Japan. Slash up unsuspecting guards with a wide array of ninja weaponry including explosives and a grappling hook on your way to slaying the big boss. True Ninja mastery only comes with keen use of sound, sight and smell detection as you learn new moves and obtain new weapons. Patience and strategic thinking with use of the stealth kill system is rewarded over a run and gun style of hand to hand combat.
See some gameplay from the Japanese version:
New Fire Emblem Wii screenshots, storyline and controller info
The latest issue of Nintendo Power revealed more about Intelligent Systems’ first game in the strategy RPG series for Wii. Fire Emblem: The Goddess of Dawn is only the Japanese name, the US name will be changed. Sadly no release date is set outside of the Japanese release on February 22nd. They did give new details about the story:
The game is a direct sequel to Path of Radiance, as the story takes place three years after the fierce war between Crimea and Daein. Game begins in Daein, and follows a small band of freedom fighters who oppose the nation of Begnion. The cast are different than Path of Radiance, except Sothe, who along with his sister will journey across Tellius and beyond recruiting new party members from the Beorc and Laguz. New obstacles include “multilevel battlefieldsâ€.
Last week’s Japanese Famitsu magazine writes the new Fire Emblem will feature a total of 44 chapters (Path of Radiance for GameCube had 28) with three new weapon and magic types. In addition, character height differences and geography will affect gameplay. Goddess of Dawn will utilize the Path of Radiance engine with more cinematic scenes and improved character models.
While it’s not yet known how the game will use the Wii Remote, Famitsu did confirmed that it can be played with the Wii Remote and Nunchuck combination, Classic controller or GameCube controller. — Quotes from CRev & Wiire.
