Next April’s Prototype 2 will refine the violence of the original 2009 Prototype. That was expected. Prototype is a game about being ultra-powerful and letting nothing: not the military, not monsters, not anyone or anything stand in your way.
In the new game we can cause even more chaos, ripping the weapons off military vehicles to use them against our enemies. The game was playable at New York Comic-Con 2011, where I tried it and then asked the people who made it take the controls and explain what’s new and cool about the game. You’ll see two demo areas in the video I shot: a time-based destruction trial and then a chunk of a singleplayer mission in which we must stop a church from being destroyed.
Enjoy, unless you hate video game violence. If you do hate it, go to another Kotaku story. All I’ve got for you here is mayhem.
Thứ Tư, 26 tháng 10, 2011
Phoenix Wright’s Legal Attacks Get The Spotlight In This Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 Trailer
If watching Seth Killian play with Phoenix Wright in my previous post didn’t communicate how wacky the counsellor is in the crossover fighting game, then take a look at the trailer shown at New York Comic-Con on Saturday.
You’ll see the reactions of attendees at the Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 panel to Phoenix’s antics and that, combined with the surprisingly intricate structure of his moveset, might make him a secret weapon when the game hits this later this year.
You’ll see the reactions of attendees at the Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 panel to Phoenix’s antics and that, combined with the surprisingly intricate structure of his moveset, might make him a secret weapon when the game hits this later this year.
NYCC 2011 Day 4 Cosplay With Dead Space Kid
The star of our latest batch of cosplay shots is a 12-year-old Dead Space fan who started making his costume earlier this year when his aunt agreed to take him to Comic-Con. He’s got a head lamp on under his helmet to make his visor glow. And he’s got our admiration for making one of the coolest costumes of the show.
Thứ Ba, 25 tháng 10, 2011
Surely The First Console Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Game Wasn’t This Bad
Dorkly’s rewritten the theme song to Konami’s 1989 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game for the NES to reflect the overall quality of the title. Oh come on, it wasn’t that bad, was it?
This was the first game I bought (or had my parents buy) based solely on the licensed property represented, and if I remember correctly I was indeed punished for it. I can’t recall exactly how many hours I wasted driving around town, getting strangled by kelp, or having to resort to Raphael and his lousy sai as a last resort, but back then it felt like days. The game was incredibly difficult, but back then I didn’t care; as long as I was a turtle, I was happy.
Maybe if I went back and played it today I’d change my tune, and it would sound something like this. That’s why I avoid doing such things.
This was the first game I bought (or had my parents buy) based solely on the licensed property represented, and if I remember correctly I was indeed punished for it. I can’t recall exactly how many hours I wasted driving around town, getting strangled by kelp, or having to resort to Raphael and his lousy sai as a last resort, but back then it felt like days. The game was incredibly difficult, but back then I didn’t care; as long as I was a turtle, I was happy.
Maybe if I went back and played it today I’d change my tune, and it would sound something like this. That’s why I avoid doing such things.
New Life+: If Life Were A Game, How Would You Replay It?
You’re lying on your deathbed. Family members of the closest kind test the capacity limit of the hospital room, and finish off what was left of the tissue boxes. The nurse’s shoes squeak on the tile floor from the many fallen teardrops. She checks your monitors one last time. A warm hand clasps yours; you squeeze back.
“How are you doing?” whispers a familiar voice, perhaps a son or daughter.
You ponder this question between irregular breaths. Well, you’re not great-any imbecile could see that. But now isn’t the time for smartass remarks. You think about the question once more. It’s been an interesting life, hasn’t it? You’d love to harbor not a single regret, but you’d only be fooling yourself. There were different paths you wish you would have taken; people you wish you hadn’t hurt. There were moments you’d like to forget and others you’d do anything to relive.
But none of it matters now, you think. All in all, it was quite the adventure.
You close your eyes for the last time. After a few moments of blackness, you open your eyes and find yourself back in a hospital room, gazing up at your mother’s smiling face.
Congratulations! You’ve unlocked your life’s Second Playthrough.
“How are you doing?” whispers a familiar voice, perhaps a son or daughter.
You ponder this question between irregular breaths. Well, you’re not great-any imbecile could see that. But now isn’t the time for smartass remarks. You think about the question once more. It’s been an interesting life, hasn’t it? You’d love to harbor not a single regret, but you’d only be fooling yourself. There were different paths you wish you would have taken; people you wish you hadn’t hurt. There were moments you’d like to forget and others you’d do anything to relive.
But none of it matters now, you think. All in all, it was quite the adventure.
You close your eyes for the last time. After a few moments of blackness, you open your eyes and find yourself back in a hospital room, gazing up at your mother’s smiling face.
Congratulations! You’ve unlocked your life’s Second Playthrough.
Thứ Hai, 24 tháng 10, 2011
This Secret Of Mana Rap Will Make You Wistful
There’s nothing like old-school JRPGs to make you nostalgic, and this rap about the plucky lads from Potos tuugsa at the old heartstrings. But, what this really needs is a video. Can’t be too hard to mock up SNES-era graphics along with this track, right?
Uncharted 3 Fortune Hunters’ Club Is Your Ticket To Discounted DLC
Eschewing the generic Season Pass label many games are using to package together downloadable content, Sony and Naughty Dog opt for the much classier Fortune Hunters’ Club to give Uncharted 3 fans a discounted price on upcoming DLC.
Available now for preorder on the PlayStation Store and at select video game retailers, the Uncharted 3 Fortune Hunters’ Club allows players to drop $US24.99 on more than $US45 worth of downloadable Drake goodness. Drop the cash entitles the player to the first four multiplayer map packs and the first three skin packs, the first of which is due out next month following the game’s November 1 release. Players will also score an exclusive Fortune Hunters’ Club theme, and will be alerted to new DLC releases via messages on the PlayStation 3′s XMB.
That, and they’ll be in a club! Who doesn’t enjoy being in a club?
Available now for preorder on the PlayStation Store and at select video game retailers, the Uncharted 3 Fortune Hunters’ Club allows players to drop $US24.99 on more than $US45 worth of downloadable Drake goodness. Drop the cash entitles the player to the first four multiplayer map packs and the first three skin packs, the first of which is due out next month following the game’s November 1 release. Players will also score an exclusive Fortune Hunters’ Club theme, and will be alerted to new DLC releases via messages on the PlayStation 3′s XMB.
That, and they’ll be in a club! Who doesn’t enjoy being in a club?
Lessons Learned With A New York Comic-Con Press Badge
Thursday
Because today is mostly press, there is no cosplay parade to follow on the way to the Javits. I’m very lucky to not get lost.
The press lounge is exactly like a panel room but with less people, all of whom are Very Important, and more cardboard coasters for our Very Important Drinks. Sidebar: No drinks were actually served.
At the “press and pros” only panels, all of which are about libraries integrating video games into their collections and programming, I learn that somewhere there is a library that uses their computers to host a Minecraft server. Note to self–find that library.
The show floor hasn’t opened yet, which leaves me to wander the lobby and talk to cosplayers. I meet Goku and Kairi (seperate occasions) and sign up for a 5 Gum Newsletter. That’s OK, because Goku has cool hair, and the newsletter entitles me to free gum and a t-shirt. I try using my press badge to get into the show floor early, but no dice.
I have an interview with Michael Grant, who wrote the Animorphs series among other teen/young adult fiction. We talk about his new book, BZRK, which already has a huge online community consisting of a bunch of websites, even though the book doesn’t come out until February. The book is about micro-biological war. Michael tells me there are two and a half pounds of bacteria on a person at any given time. There is even some in our eyelashes.
I skip the after-parties I’ve been getting emails about for weeks, and head home to vigorously wash my eyelashes.
Friday
The first “press event” that I get to attend is the Robot Chicken press hour, where Matt Senrich (executive producer and sometimes writer) talks to a crowd of press people about how much he hates talking to crowds. I’m waiting for someone to figure out I’m just an intern and swiftly kick me out of the room; but even after asking a question directly to Matt, I’m not being escorted out!
After the panel, I introduce myself as “Jen Schiller — entertainment journalist with Kotaku” and tentatively hand both Matt and the PR guy from Adult Swim my incredibly just-printed-out-two-nights-ago business card.
After asserting myself that first time, the second, third, and fifteenth times only got easier as the weekend went on.
As it turns out, a little confidence takes me a long way.
My press badge on its own, however, won’t take me very far. The Robot Chicken panel follows the press hour and the line is already a couple hundred people long. I go right to the front, hold up my badge and flash a smile. All I get from security is a stern “No special privileges for press. Back of the line.”
Can’t knock me for trying.
Saturday
Today I have a meeting with Square Enix, and I’m supposed to have an interview with Sohmer — the writer of the webcomics Least I Could Do, Looking For Group, and Gutters. However, the convention centre is packed, and even with my badge I get hurded into a huge line that literally wraps around the entire building.
Half an hour later, when I find Sohmer for the second time (I met him first Thursday night, just to say hello and give him some red bull…) his table is swamped, just like the rest of the packed show floor. We reschedule for Sunday, and he declares me his “best friend”. The title doesn’t come with a pay raise.
At the Square Enix booth, I get to play Heroes of Ruin which I have been looking forward to for forever. Unlike previous gameplay previews as one of a billion people on a slow-moving, sweaty line, I had a half hour booked to play and talk to a booth rep. I got to enjoy the early gameplay, instead of feeling like I was holding the whole line up. Plus, I had prepared for the meeting with a handful of questions ready to ask, so I didn’t stand there with my jaw hanging open at the end of the preview.
I’m supposed to play FFXIII-2 next, but the overcrowding mixed with a missing booth rep means I’ll have to reschedule. When I assure the PR girl that that’s more than fine, she sighs with relief. In fact, every PR person I’ve talked to has been relieved to hear that I’m available all four days. I can see why this might be an exception rather than a rule–I’m already wiped.
I can imagine why journalists don’t attend all four days, considering even after I’m home there’s work to do–making sure my camera is cleared off for the next day, working on articles to assure I’m not doing everything in one clump at the end of the con, and going over my interviews and meetings for the next day. A journalists work is never done.
Sunday
I sleep in, but not by much. The show floor closes at five today and I’ve still got an interview and a game preview, and that’s in addition to the last minute presents I want to pick up.
At 2pm I finally get to play XIII-2 and honestly I can’t wait for the game, but you can read all about that in Evan’s review. The PR girl thanks me again for being so flexible. Saturday was more crowded than either of us could believe.
I head back over to Sohmer’s booth — at this point it kind of does feel like we’re old friends. I’m surprised by how casual our conversations are, and all of my conversations with everyone have been. I conduct the interview right at the Blind Ferret booth as the steady stream of fans haven’t given up. We talk comics, we talk Archer, and we talk dream Superhero teams. We chat about all sorts of things until I run out of questions and the show floor is about to close again, this time for the whole weekend.
My little press badge was a magical anomaly this weekend–both everything and nothing about NYCC seemed to change with a green bar instead of a red one on my weekend pass. I felt like time not used with my camera or my notebook out was time wasted, but I also sat back and watched things happen to see where the crowds gathered, the cheers soared, and the breaking news was unfolding. And yet, I skipped the Avengers panel, knowing that getting in would mean at least two hours waiting in line, and time was my most precious resource.
Okay, so time was my second most precious after confidence–I had to get used to saying I was a journalist and freelance writer, and started handing out business cards without apologising for the amateurish design quality. It’s the same thing writing teachers have been telling me for years–no one is going to come with a magic wand and declare me a writer if I don’t declare it myself.
Because today is mostly press, there is no cosplay parade to follow on the way to the Javits. I’m very lucky to not get lost.
The press lounge is exactly like a panel room but with less people, all of whom are Very Important, and more cardboard coasters for our Very Important Drinks. Sidebar: No drinks were actually served.
At the “press and pros” only panels, all of which are about libraries integrating video games into their collections and programming, I learn that somewhere there is a library that uses their computers to host a Minecraft server. Note to self–find that library.
The show floor hasn’t opened yet, which leaves me to wander the lobby and talk to cosplayers. I meet Goku and Kairi (seperate occasions) and sign up for a 5 Gum Newsletter. That’s OK, because Goku has cool hair, and the newsletter entitles me to free gum and a t-shirt. I try using my press badge to get into the show floor early, but no dice.
I have an interview with Michael Grant, who wrote the Animorphs series among other teen/young adult fiction. We talk about his new book, BZRK, which already has a huge online community consisting of a bunch of websites, even though the book doesn’t come out until February. The book is about micro-biological war. Michael tells me there are two and a half pounds of bacteria on a person at any given time. There is even some in our eyelashes.
I skip the after-parties I’ve been getting emails about for weeks, and head home to vigorously wash my eyelashes.
Friday
The first “press event” that I get to attend is the Robot Chicken press hour, where Matt Senrich (executive producer and sometimes writer) talks to a crowd of press people about how much he hates talking to crowds. I’m waiting for someone to figure out I’m just an intern and swiftly kick me out of the room; but even after asking a question directly to Matt, I’m not being escorted out!
After the panel, I introduce myself as “Jen Schiller — entertainment journalist with Kotaku” and tentatively hand both Matt and the PR guy from Adult Swim my incredibly just-printed-out-two-nights-ago business card.
After asserting myself that first time, the second, third, and fifteenth times only got easier as the weekend went on.
As it turns out, a little confidence takes me a long way.
My press badge on its own, however, won’t take me very far. The Robot Chicken panel follows the press hour and the line is already a couple hundred people long. I go right to the front, hold up my badge and flash a smile. All I get from security is a stern “No special privileges for press. Back of the line.”
Can’t knock me for trying.
Saturday
Today I have a meeting with Square Enix, and I’m supposed to have an interview with Sohmer — the writer of the webcomics Least I Could Do, Looking For Group, and Gutters. However, the convention centre is packed, and even with my badge I get hurded into a huge line that literally wraps around the entire building.
Half an hour later, when I find Sohmer for the second time (I met him first Thursday night, just to say hello and give him some red bull…) his table is swamped, just like the rest of the packed show floor. We reschedule for Sunday, and he declares me his “best friend”. The title doesn’t come with a pay raise.
At the Square Enix booth, I get to play Heroes of Ruin which I have been looking forward to for forever. Unlike previous gameplay previews as one of a billion people on a slow-moving, sweaty line, I had a half hour booked to play and talk to a booth rep. I got to enjoy the early gameplay, instead of feeling like I was holding the whole line up. Plus, I had prepared for the meeting with a handful of questions ready to ask, so I didn’t stand there with my jaw hanging open at the end of the preview.
I’m supposed to play FFXIII-2 next, but the overcrowding mixed with a missing booth rep means I’ll have to reschedule. When I assure the PR girl that that’s more than fine, she sighs with relief. In fact, every PR person I’ve talked to has been relieved to hear that I’m available all four days. I can see why this might be an exception rather than a rule–I’m already wiped.
I can imagine why journalists don’t attend all four days, considering even after I’m home there’s work to do–making sure my camera is cleared off for the next day, working on articles to assure I’m not doing everything in one clump at the end of the con, and going over my interviews and meetings for the next day. A journalists work is never done.
Sunday
I sleep in, but not by much. The show floor closes at five today and I’ve still got an interview and a game preview, and that’s in addition to the last minute presents I want to pick up.
At 2pm I finally get to play XIII-2 and honestly I can’t wait for the game, but you can read all about that in Evan’s review. The PR girl thanks me again for being so flexible. Saturday was more crowded than either of us could believe.
I head back over to Sohmer’s booth — at this point it kind of does feel like we’re old friends. I’m surprised by how casual our conversations are, and all of my conversations with everyone have been. I conduct the interview right at the Blind Ferret booth as the steady stream of fans haven’t given up. We talk comics, we talk Archer, and we talk dream Superhero teams. We chat about all sorts of things until I run out of questions and the show floor is about to close again, this time for the whole weekend.
My little press badge was a magical anomaly this weekend–both everything and nothing about NYCC seemed to change with a green bar instead of a red one on my weekend pass. I felt like time not used with my camera or my notebook out was time wasted, but I also sat back and watched things happen to see where the crowds gathered, the cheers soared, and the breaking news was unfolding. And yet, I skipped the Avengers panel, knowing that getting in would mean at least two hours waiting in line, and time was my most precious resource.
Okay, so time was my second most precious after confidence–I had to get used to saying I was a journalist and freelance writer, and started handing out business cards without apologising for the amateurish design quality. It’s the same thing writing teachers have been telling me for years–no one is going to come with a magic wand and declare me a writer if I don’t declare it myself.
Thứ Bảy, 22 tháng 10, 2011
DEATH BY GAMES
After watching the heavy rain style GTA episode made by Ezequiel Guerisoli, it got me wondering. Could the gaming industry kill the blockbuster movie industry??
Come next generation and generations after, graphics are gonna be truly "photo realistic" with modder's like Ezequiel being as dedicated as they are, theres gonna be plenty more of these episodes in the years to come. Which in turn could lead to companies not wanting to spend millions to create a movie when people are making movies with any protagonist, backdrop and stunts they like for a fraction of the price.
So the question that needs to be answered is would they be a market for this kind of movie??
My answer is yes, Ezequiel could of so easily added S-3D to this project, meaning people who own 3dtv's would of downloaded it, and with it having familiar graphics and setting i'm pretty sure a lot of gamers would do 2.
We all know that CGI sells just look at what's avaible at the moment and how well it actually does.
All it will take for this kind of stuff to hit mainstream is, better graphics and a strong enough plot to justify sitting through a 2 hour
film.
Come next generation and generations after, graphics are gonna be truly "photo realistic" with modder's like Ezequiel being as dedicated as they are, theres gonna be plenty more of these episodes in the years to come. Which in turn could lead to companies not wanting to spend millions to create a movie when people are making movies with any protagonist, backdrop and stunts they like for a fraction of the price.
So the question that needs to be answered is would they be a market for this kind of movie??
My answer is yes, Ezequiel could of so easily added S-3D to this project, meaning people who own 3dtv's would of downloaded it, and with it having familiar graphics and setting i'm pretty sure a lot of gamers would do 2.
We all know that CGI sells just look at what's avaible at the moment and how well it actually does.
All it will take for this kind of stuff to hit mainstream is, better graphics and a strong enough plot to justify sitting through a 2 hour
film.
Official Pokemon Game Coming To Smartphones
The Pokemon Company is set to bring an official Pokemon Online game to smartphone devices, marking the first time that an official Nintendo-copyrighted app will be available on the iOS and Android.
Called Pokemon Iie Tap (rougly Pokemon: Say Tap?), the app appears to be a rhythm game where players “tap on Pokemon indigo trading cards to the beat of a song from the anime,” according to a translation by consumer video game site GamesRadar.
According to the game’s official announcement, it will be available for most iOS devices, as well as Android devices running version 2.1 of the platform.
Though this is the first iOS or Android application to carry an official Nintendo copyright, it is not the first mobile app of any kind: a Pokemon mobile phone game called Pokemate was released in Japan in 2006.
Though it is a rarity, Nintendo does have a history of releasing official games on platforms that are not its own, including a promotional Flash game to promote its Tingle character.
A release outside of Japan has not been announced.
Called Pokemon Iie Tap (rougly Pokemon: Say Tap?), the app appears to be a rhythm game where players “tap on Pokemon indigo trading cards to the beat of a song from the anime,” according to a translation by consumer video game site GamesRadar.
According to the game’s official announcement, it will be available for most iOS devices, as well as Android devices running version 2.1 of the platform.
Though this is the first iOS or Android application to carry an official Nintendo copyright, it is not the first mobile app of any kind: a Pokemon mobile phone game called Pokemate was released in Japan in 2006.
Though it is a rarity, Nintendo does have a history of releasing official games on platforms that are not its own, including a promotional Flash game to promote its Tingle character.
A release outside of Japan has not been announced.
Killzone 3 Interview with Steven ter Heide
While at PAX I got a chance to talk with Steven about Killzone 3, if they're borrowing snow from Naughty Dog, and what it's like designing a control scheme with Move.
CS: What have you guys learned from or since Killzone 2?
StH: Where to start? [laughs] There’s a lot of things becuase, as I’ve mentioned, we’ve got a very vocal fanbase so they’ve thrown suggestions our way of things we need to improve. Obviously, one of the key things that we wanted to improve is controller lag. A lot of people were commenting on the fact that you press a button and there’s no instant action on the screen, that’s something that we wanted to fix. So this game, Killzone 3, that’s exactly what we’re fixing.
At the same time they’re talking about variety. Killzone 2, most of the variety was in the latter half of the game, not so much in the beginning. It all felt like urban settings, there wasn’t that much variety, so in terms of environments we’re adding a lot more variety to the environments this time around. Most of the stuff that you do from minute to minute that’s going to be changing. The level that we’re showing here today has got you flying on an Intruder firing down, it’s got regular on-foot combat, it’s got you fighting against jet pack troopers, you get to put on a jet pack yourself, there’s a big rocket launcher, there’s all these things in the span of one level and we’ll be doing that throughout the game. So variety is one of the key words, we wanted to make sure we get a lot of variety in the game this time around.
Multiplayer, I mean, there’s a very hardcore fanbase playing our multiplayer and we want to cater to those guys as well. So we’ve got multiplayer right now on the stand which apparently is quite popular, and that’s a very good sign. We’re going to introduce new game modes. One of the game modes people have been asking for is Team Deathmatch, because if you look at Killzone 2 the amount of rooms that were created for just Body Count, which is our Team Deathmatch mode, is phenomenal. Everybody wanted to play Body Count, Team Deathmatch, so that’s exactly what we’re doing. We’re giving them a new game mode called Guerrilla Warfare which is Team Deathmatch every day, all day.
That’s one of the key points, another one is adding to the scope of the game. A lot of people have commented on the games that have come after us. As soon as you finish a game, we’re always saying, “We got the most out of the PlayStation 3, we’re firing on all cylinders, all the SPUs are being used, we’re maxing out the memory”, all that kind of stuff - and then as soon as you ship it you’re going, "Well I think there’s still a little bit of room left". Then games come out after you, Uncharted 2, or God of War 3, and they raise the bar yet again, and you’re kind of like “Okay”.
We really like those guys, and we’re good friends with them, and we talk a lot with the other studios but at the same time there’s a bit of friendly competition going on where we really want to outdo them. We take a couple of cues from those guys, where Uncharted 2 really upped the level in terms of storytelling, that was one of the weaker points for Killzone 2, so we said, “Well let’s see what they did really well and see if we can use a couple of those things in Killzone as well."
God of War, obviously scope - bosses on top of bosses on top of bosses on top of bosses, that kind of thing. Let’s try and see if we can get that kind of feeling of scope into Killzone as well. So the levels you’ll see are much more spatious, there will be big vistas, you’ll be able to explore different routes, there will be bigger boss fights, all those kinds of things.
CS: So with that kind of competition between studios, any closely guarded secrets?
StH: I mean everybody’s got their own tricks up their sleeve, obviously, but the thing is they’re all different games. We’re in the first person world, so the tricks that Uncharted does they can do because they’re third person. So some of the things just don’t translate well. At the same time their engine was built for different things, our engine was built for different things, so it’s more about sharing design ideas or inspiration or those kinds of things, or how did they solve this specific problem. I noticed all the fans have been saying, “Oh, they’ve got snow! I’ve seen the snow level from Killzone! They must be using the Uncharted snow!” That’s not exactly how it works. We do not go over to Naughty Dog and say, “Okay, we’d like a barrel of snow please!”, it doesn’t work that way.
CS: Lend me a cup of snow?
StH: Exactly. [gesturing to screen] This is an example of the bigger vistas that we wanted to do.
CS: The water is really nice, you get that snow from Uncharted?
StH: [laughs] Yeah, we borrowed this from Uncharted. The next Uncharted will have that water.
CS: Why were you comparing yourselves to God of War, to Uncharted, since they are such different games?
StH: Well, obviously, they’re games that raise the bar in terms of what is possible on PlayStation. With us being a first party studio also that’s kind of our mission, to say “Okay, we want to show off what the hardware is capable of.”, so we always look to other titles that are leaders in their genre and God of War obviously is a leader in their genre, Uncharted is a leader in their genre but at the same time we’re looking at other games as well. Red Dead Redemption is doing fantastic things as well, so there’s all these games and we look at what we can learn from those games and try and see if we can adopt/adapt some of these things from them.
Of course we’re taking advantage of new technology, Move, 3D. We announced at E3 that we’ll be supporting Move, but the thing is we want to make sure that as soon as we launch and we put it in people’s hands that it feels good. It’s a new controller, whereas with the DualShock there’s kind of a set of rules out there, X is jump in every game, because that’s been established over the course of years. This being a new controller you have to kind of redefine how things work, and that takes a lot of play testing, because I was born and raised on a DualShock and now all of a sudden I have to make a transition, have to figure out where the buttons are, and what works and what doesn’t work. So we have had to do a lot of experimentation before we finally settled on the right control scheme, and the experimentation is still ongoing. We’re still doing a lot of play testing, tweaking all the variables, because there’s so many things we find that people just play it differently.
CS: And vehicles in the game, we’ve got the jet pack, we saw the Intruder -
StH: Yes, you’ll be flying on an Intruder at the very beginning of this level, it’s a fan request basically because a lot of time in Killzone 2 you would be flying in on those Intruders and you get off and then the gameplay started. Everybody was like, “Well, when I’m on these things, I can see the enemies down there, can I take pot shots at them? Can I start the war right there?” and in Killzone 3 you can. We give you a big weapon, and you get to take out rigs as you fly past them, it’s a lot of fun.
CS: Can you talk about any other vehicles, drivable vehicles, that are going to be in the game?
StH: Unfortunately I can only talk about what we’ve got on show here, but I can talk about the vehicles we’ve got in multiplayer as well. We’ve got the Exoskeleton that we had in Killzone 2, the big mech that you could walk around with, that’s going to be a playable vehicle in multiplayer. We’ll have the jet packs also, in multiplayer, and that’s a game changer when all of a sudden death comes from above.
CS: We have an N4G member that wants to know if he can play the whole game with a jet pack?
StH: [laughs] No, that’s not going to be possible. We’re going to introduce a lot of different gameplay experiences, and the jet pack works in certain environments. So in this environment where there’s oil rigs and you can jump on the different levels and those kind of things, it’s contained. A jet pack in the desert with flat terrain wouldn’t make a lot of sense because you would just be hopping along, why would you do that?
CS:What about multiplayer co-op?
StH: No co-op yet.
CS: Can't talk about co-op yet? Got it. There’s a lot of story to catch up on by the third installment, how do you tackle that?
StH: Obviously, we’ve always had these kinds of intros where we explain what has happened before, where you are, we want to make it as accessible as possible. So for people that haven’t played the original Killzone on PlayStation 2, most people have gotten a PlayStation 3 now, my PlayStation 2 is gathering dust. Same with Killzone Liberation on the PSP, we can’t expect people to have played every single installment so at the beginning of Killzone 3 there will be a little bit of catch up, where are we in the story, what are we doing. The setup, the premise of Killzone 3, is really simple. You’re on this hostile planet, your invasion has failed, basically. The Helghast, the enemy, have come in and they’ve wiped out your invasion fleet. You’re now stranded on the planet, you have to get out. Simple story, I’m on a hostile planet, I want to get out.
CS: What have you guys learned from or since Killzone 2?
StH: Where to start? [laughs] There’s a lot of things becuase, as I’ve mentioned, we’ve got a very vocal fanbase so they’ve thrown suggestions our way of things we need to improve. Obviously, one of the key things that we wanted to improve is controller lag. A lot of people were commenting on the fact that you press a button and there’s no instant action on the screen, that’s something that we wanted to fix. So this game, Killzone 3, that’s exactly what we’re fixing.
At the same time they’re talking about variety. Killzone 2, most of the variety was in the latter half of the game, not so much in the beginning. It all felt like urban settings, there wasn’t that much variety, so in terms of environments we’re adding a lot more variety to the environments this time around. Most of the stuff that you do from minute to minute that’s going to be changing. The level that we’re showing here today has got you flying on an Intruder firing down, it’s got regular on-foot combat, it’s got you fighting against jet pack troopers, you get to put on a jet pack yourself, there’s a big rocket launcher, there’s all these things in the span of one level and we’ll be doing that throughout the game. So variety is one of the key words, we wanted to make sure we get a lot of variety in the game this time around.
Multiplayer, I mean, there’s a very hardcore fanbase playing our multiplayer and we want to cater to those guys as well. So we’ve got multiplayer right now on the stand which apparently is quite popular, and that’s a very good sign. We’re going to introduce new game modes. One of the game modes people have been asking for is Team Deathmatch, because if you look at Killzone 2 the amount of rooms that were created for just Body Count, which is our Team Deathmatch mode, is phenomenal. Everybody wanted to play Body Count, Team Deathmatch, so that’s exactly what we’re doing. We’re giving them a new game mode called Guerrilla Warfare which is Team Deathmatch every day, all day.
That’s one of the key points, another one is adding to the scope of the game. A lot of people have commented on the games that have come after us. As soon as you finish a game, we’re always saying, “We got the most out of the PlayStation 3, we’re firing on all cylinders, all the SPUs are being used, we’re maxing out the memory”, all that kind of stuff - and then as soon as you ship it you’re going, "Well I think there’s still a little bit of room left". Then games come out after you, Uncharted 2, or God of War 3, and they raise the bar yet again, and you’re kind of like “Okay”.
We really like those guys, and we’re good friends with them, and we talk a lot with the other studios but at the same time there’s a bit of friendly competition going on where we really want to outdo them. We take a couple of cues from those guys, where Uncharted 2 really upped the level in terms of storytelling, that was one of the weaker points for Killzone 2, so we said, “Well let’s see what they did really well and see if we can use a couple of those things in Killzone as well."
God of War, obviously scope - bosses on top of bosses on top of bosses on top of bosses, that kind of thing. Let’s try and see if we can get that kind of feeling of scope into Killzone as well. So the levels you’ll see are much more spatious, there will be big vistas, you’ll be able to explore different routes, there will be bigger boss fights, all those kinds of things.
CS: So with that kind of competition between studios, any closely guarded secrets?
StH: I mean everybody’s got their own tricks up their sleeve, obviously, but the thing is they’re all different games. We’re in the first person world, so the tricks that Uncharted does they can do because they’re third person. So some of the things just don’t translate well. At the same time their engine was built for different things, our engine was built for different things, so it’s more about sharing design ideas or inspiration or those kinds of things, or how did they solve this specific problem. I noticed all the fans have been saying, “Oh, they’ve got snow! I’ve seen the snow level from Killzone! They must be using the Uncharted snow!” That’s not exactly how it works. We do not go over to Naughty Dog and say, “Okay, we’d like a barrel of snow please!”, it doesn’t work that way.
CS: Lend me a cup of snow?
StH: Exactly. [gesturing to screen] This is an example of the bigger vistas that we wanted to do.
CS: The water is really nice, you get that snow from Uncharted?
StH: [laughs] Yeah, we borrowed this from Uncharted. The next Uncharted will have that water.
CS: Why were you comparing yourselves to God of War, to Uncharted, since they are such different games?
StH: Well, obviously, they’re games that raise the bar in terms of what is possible on PlayStation. With us being a first party studio also that’s kind of our mission, to say “Okay, we want to show off what the hardware is capable of.”, so we always look to other titles that are leaders in their genre and God of War obviously is a leader in their genre, Uncharted is a leader in their genre but at the same time we’re looking at other games as well. Red Dead Redemption is doing fantastic things as well, so there’s all these games and we look at what we can learn from those games and try and see if we can adopt/adapt some of these things from them.
Of course we’re taking advantage of new technology, Move, 3D. We announced at E3 that we’ll be supporting Move, but the thing is we want to make sure that as soon as we launch and we put it in people’s hands that it feels good. It’s a new controller, whereas with the DualShock there’s kind of a set of rules out there, X is jump in every game, because that’s been established over the course of years. This being a new controller you have to kind of redefine how things work, and that takes a lot of play testing, because I was born and raised on a DualShock and now all of a sudden I have to make a transition, have to figure out where the buttons are, and what works and what doesn’t work. So we have had to do a lot of experimentation before we finally settled on the right control scheme, and the experimentation is still ongoing. We’re still doing a lot of play testing, tweaking all the variables, because there’s so many things we find that people just play it differently.
CS: And vehicles in the game, we’ve got the jet pack, we saw the Intruder -
StH: Yes, you’ll be flying on an Intruder at the very beginning of this level, it’s a fan request basically because a lot of time in Killzone 2 you would be flying in on those Intruders and you get off and then the gameplay started. Everybody was like, “Well, when I’m on these things, I can see the enemies down there, can I take pot shots at them? Can I start the war right there?” and in Killzone 3 you can. We give you a big weapon, and you get to take out rigs as you fly past them, it’s a lot of fun.
CS: Can you talk about any other vehicles, drivable vehicles, that are going to be in the game?
StH: Unfortunately I can only talk about what we’ve got on show here, but I can talk about the vehicles we’ve got in multiplayer as well. We’ve got the Exoskeleton that we had in Killzone 2, the big mech that you could walk around with, that’s going to be a playable vehicle in multiplayer. We’ll have the jet packs also, in multiplayer, and that’s a game changer when all of a sudden death comes from above.
CS: We have an N4G member that wants to know if he can play the whole game with a jet pack?
StH: [laughs] No, that’s not going to be possible. We’re going to introduce a lot of different gameplay experiences, and the jet pack works in certain environments. So in this environment where there’s oil rigs and you can jump on the different levels and those kind of things, it’s contained. A jet pack in the desert with flat terrain wouldn’t make a lot of sense because you would just be hopping along, why would you do that?
CS:What about multiplayer co-op?
StH: No co-op yet.
CS: Can't talk about co-op yet? Got it. There’s a lot of story to catch up on by the third installment, how do you tackle that?
StH: Obviously, we’ve always had these kinds of intros where we explain what has happened before, where you are, we want to make it as accessible as possible. So for people that haven’t played the original Killzone on PlayStation 2, most people have gotten a PlayStation 3 now, my PlayStation 2 is gathering dust. Same with Killzone Liberation on the PSP, we can’t expect people to have played every single installment so at the beginning of Killzone 3 there will be a little bit of catch up, where are we in the story, what are we doing. The setup, the premise of Killzone 3, is really simple. You’re on this hostile planet, your invasion has failed, basically. The Helghast, the enemy, have come in and they’ve wiped out your invasion fleet. You’re now stranded on the planet, you have to get out. Simple story, I’m on a hostile planet, I want to get out.
Disney XD News
DISNEY XD TO PREMIERE “FORT BOYARD – ULTIMATE CHALLENGE,” A REALITY ADVENTURE SERIES ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 17
Geno Segers (Disney XD’s “Pair of Kings”) and popular British television presenter Laura Hamilton (“Dancing On Ice”) host an exciting competition requiring brainpower, courage and teamwork, “Fort Boyard – Ultimate Challenge,” a 10-part series premiering MONDAY, OCTOBER 17 (8:30-9:00 p.m., ET/PT), with a thrilling finale MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney XD. Based on the international game show phenomenon “Fort Boyard,” the series is set in a 19th century sea fort off the coast of France. It introduces six teams — 24 teens from the United States and the United Kingdom — who team up for a tournament where only one team will ultimately get the key to unlock the historic fort’s hidden treasures and win the honor of calling themselves “the conquerors of Fort Boyard.”
The reality adventure series marks the first kids’ version of the popular game show which premiered more than 20 years ago and has since been produced in over 38 countries worldwide.
In the premiere episode, team members from the Red Vipers and Yellow Scorpions compete in the first round of challenges to find out which team has what it takes to move on to become the conquerors of the fort.
“Fort Boyard – Ultimate Challenge” is produced by Zodiak Media Group’s production companies The Foundation and Adventure Line Productions, who created the concept for the original “Fort Boyard” and have been producing the series for 22 years.
The executive producers are Nigel Pickard and Ged Allen for The Foundation, Pierre Godde for Adventure Line Productions and Jamila Metran for CiTV. The producer is Steve Pinhay.
The series will be televised on Disney XD cable and satellite channels around the world (excluding France and the Nordics) and CiTV in the UK.
About “Fort Boyard”
“Fort Boyard” is the most successful adventure game show in the world, having sold to over 30 territories, while dominating France 2′s primetime summer schedule every year since 1990. The action takes place in an imposing fortress built in the middle of the ocean. This provides the perfect backdrop for strenuous, against-the-clock physical challenges and mind-boggling riddles, featuring strange characters and fearsome animals. All this and more awaits those attempting to reach the Treasure Room! Only the fittest and most intelligent contestants can hope to conquer Fort Boyard.
About Disney XD:
Disney XD is a basic cable channel and multi-platform brand showcasing a compelling mix of live-action and animated programming for Kids age 6-14, hyper-targeting boys and their quest for discovery, accomplishment, sports, adventure and humor. Disney XD branded content spans television, online, mobile and VOD platforms. The programming includes series, movies and short-form, as well as sports-themed programming developed with ESPN. In the U.S., Disney XD is seen on a 24-hour, advertiser supported network that reaches over 78 million households via its basic cable and satellite affiliates. There are 22 other Disney XD Games channels around the world.
Geno Segers (Disney XD’s “Pair of Kings”) and popular British television presenter Laura Hamilton (“Dancing On Ice”) host an exciting competition requiring brainpower, courage and teamwork, “Fort Boyard – Ultimate Challenge,” a 10-part series premiering MONDAY, OCTOBER 17 (8:30-9:00 p.m., ET/PT), with a thrilling finale MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney XD. Based on the international game show phenomenon “Fort Boyard,” the series is set in a 19th century sea fort off the coast of France. It introduces six teams — 24 teens from the United States and the United Kingdom — who team up for a tournament where only one team will ultimately get the key to unlock the historic fort’s hidden treasures and win the honor of calling themselves “the conquerors of Fort Boyard.”
The reality adventure series marks the first kids’ version of the popular game show which premiered more than 20 years ago and has since been produced in over 38 countries worldwide.
In the premiere episode, team members from the Red Vipers and Yellow Scorpions compete in the first round of challenges to find out which team has what it takes to move on to become the conquerors of the fort.
“Fort Boyard – Ultimate Challenge” is produced by Zodiak Media Group’s production companies The Foundation and Adventure Line Productions, who created the concept for the original “Fort Boyard” and have been producing the series for 22 years.
The executive producers are Nigel Pickard and Ged Allen for The Foundation, Pierre Godde for Adventure Line Productions and Jamila Metran for CiTV. The producer is Steve Pinhay.
The series will be televised on Disney XD cable and satellite channels around the world (excluding France and the Nordics) and CiTV in the UK.
About “Fort Boyard”
“Fort Boyard” is the most successful adventure game show in the world, having sold to over 30 territories, while dominating France 2′s primetime summer schedule every year since 1990. The action takes place in an imposing fortress built in the middle of the ocean. This provides the perfect backdrop for strenuous, against-the-clock physical challenges and mind-boggling riddles, featuring strange characters and fearsome animals. All this and more awaits those attempting to reach the Treasure Room! Only the fittest and most intelligent contestants can hope to conquer Fort Boyard.
About Disney XD:
Disney XD is a basic cable channel and multi-platform brand showcasing a compelling mix of live-action and animated programming for Kids age 6-14, hyper-targeting boys and their quest for discovery, accomplishment, sports, adventure and humor. Disney XD branded content spans television, online, mobile and VOD platforms. The programming includes series, movies and short-form, as well as sports-themed programming developed with ESPN. In the U.S., Disney XD is seen on a 24-hour, advertiser supported network that reaches over 78 million households via its basic cable and satellite affiliates. There are 22 other Disney XD Games channels around the world.
When did we throw ourselves away?
I joined this site a year ago, a youngling fresh on the gaming scene, intrigued by the growing world of social online gaming. What I failed to realize is that I had walked onto a battlefield in which a war is being fought, a war without sense or purpose. but a war that will continue for the foreseeable future. So I have a simple question to pose to you, the denizens of N4G.
When did you throw yourselves away?
When I was 14, my best friend got a new PS2 and gave me his old one, which was in great condition. I was ecstatic because I'd grown up playing great games like Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, SOCOM, Sly Cooper, and others with my friend on the PS1 and 2 and now he was giving me my very own. Also, because my parents never saw the worth in buying me a console, so I was left to drool after the neighbors.
Prior to my emergence on the online gaming scene, I was unaware that people fought over things like games. Was it too much to assume that people had different tastes and that they'd play that which pleased them?
But boy, have I come to several revelations while on N4G. Never before have I seen people go after each other so aggressively for preferring a specific thing on the internet. On this site particularly, there's been a vicious brawl for the past few years between rival "factions" over which console is the "best" which game is the "best". Things like Graphics are now in some people's eyes what decides if they'll buy a title or not.
What bothers me the most is the fact that these disturbing mindsets aren't just influencing the rank and file gamers that frequent this site and others, but also the journalists that we go to for news. Things have now gotten to the point where Reviewers and so called Journalists will mark down games simply because they are popular or well loved on a particular console.
Why is this happening? Are we not all brethren, united under one banner, which is gaming? Don't we all find pleasure in this our hobby? Why have we fallen to disparaging one another based on inevitably varying tastes?
This site seems to be the seat of corruption, but this can only be expected as it's the largest if not the only gaming news aggregation on the web. Fanboys spoiling games for other people, trolls spewing useless caustic remarks about a game that they don't care for, and possibly can't even play, and Moderators doing absolutely NOTHING about keeping the peace.
It seems this issue has come to an especially fierce boiling point in the advent of the long awaited Gran Turismo 5. And it has finally hit close to home to some people that their actions are like a never ending cycle.
360 Fanboys approving ridiculous reviews, PS3 Fanboys denouncing those who would comment on a game which they do not own and vowing revenge for Gears of War 3, and on, and on, and on.
Is it that you all are devoid of common sense? Why is it that before this, PS3 trolls were content to troll games they didn't own, yet they didn't anticipate that the same thing might be done to a game in the future? Has this not happened in the past?
I've heard things from members I won't name akin to "They hit us first! So we're going to hit back!"
Are you three year olds? Are you not aware that an eye for an eye means everybody loses? Where's the mature leadership that says, "Looks guys f*ck what anyone says, this is what we want to play, and we'll be damned if we let what anybody thinks about it affect us".
Instead, what I see is a tit-for-tat attitude. I hear folk all the time salivating for the day when the PS3 will surpass the Xbox 360 in worldwide sales. They say, that then the 360 fans will be put in their places and will finally shut up.
HA! Fat chance. You think for a moment that this constant fighting is going to let up just because of a small change in sales leadership? Hell no. They'll keep on trolling, and you'll keep on feeding them, and you'll keep on trolling and they'll keep on feeding you, and so a never-ending cycle will continue.
Do you throw gasoline on a fire?
When did you throw yourselves away?
When I was 14, my best friend got a new PS2 and gave me his old one, which was in great condition. I was ecstatic because I'd grown up playing great games like Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, SOCOM, Sly Cooper, and others with my friend on the PS1 and 2 and now he was giving me my very own. Also, because my parents never saw the worth in buying me a console, so I was left to drool after the neighbors.
Prior to my emergence on the online gaming scene, I was unaware that people fought over things like games. Was it too much to assume that people had different tastes and that they'd play that which pleased them?
But boy, have I come to several revelations while on N4G. Never before have I seen people go after each other so aggressively for preferring a specific thing on the internet. On this site particularly, there's been a vicious brawl for the past few years between rival "factions" over which console is the "best" which game is the "best". Things like Graphics are now in some people's eyes what decides if they'll buy a title or not.
What bothers me the most is the fact that these disturbing mindsets aren't just influencing the rank and file gamers that frequent this site and others, but also the journalists that we go to for news. Things have now gotten to the point where Reviewers and so called Journalists will mark down games simply because they are popular or well loved on a particular console.
Why is this happening? Are we not all brethren, united under one banner, which is gaming? Don't we all find pleasure in this our hobby? Why have we fallen to disparaging one another based on inevitably varying tastes?
This site seems to be the seat of corruption, but this can only be expected as it's the largest if not the only gaming news aggregation on the web. Fanboys spoiling games for other people, trolls spewing useless caustic remarks about a game that they don't care for, and possibly can't even play, and Moderators doing absolutely NOTHING about keeping the peace.
It seems this issue has come to an especially fierce boiling point in the advent of the long awaited Gran Turismo 5. And it has finally hit close to home to some people that their actions are like a never ending cycle.
360 Fanboys approving ridiculous reviews, PS3 Fanboys denouncing those who would comment on a game which they do not own and vowing revenge for Gears of War 3, and on, and on, and on.
Is it that you all are devoid of common sense? Why is it that before this, PS3 trolls were content to troll games they didn't own, yet they didn't anticipate that the same thing might be done to a game in the future? Has this not happened in the past?
I've heard things from members I won't name akin to "They hit us first! So we're going to hit back!"
Are you three year olds? Are you not aware that an eye for an eye means everybody loses? Where's the mature leadership that says, "Looks guys f*ck what anyone says, this is what we want to play, and we'll be damned if we let what anybody thinks about it affect us".
Instead, what I see is a tit-for-tat attitude. I hear folk all the time salivating for the day when the PS3 will surpass the Xbox 360 in worldwide sales. They say, that then the 360 fans will be put in their places and will finally shut up.
HA! Fat chance. You think for a moment that this constant fighting is going to let up just because of a small change in sales leadership? Hell no. They'll keep on trolling, and you'll keep on feeding them, and you'll keep on trolling and they'll keep on feeding you, and so a never-ending cycle will continue.
Do you throw gasoline on a fire?
Do review scores determine which games are good, and which are not?
As an avid gamer, I'm also an avid reader of gaming media. I regularly check N4G for material to satisfy my insatiable hunger for gaming media. I also regularly visit sites like IGN, Gamespot, Kotaku and more.
This lends itself to being a game review junkie. I love reading game reviews and finding out which games are worth my money, and which games aren't. I regularly base purchasing decisions on reading reviews. Some people might say 'how retarded- game reviews don't mean squat'. Believe me, I know. I often purchase games only to find out this point. I've been slowly learning this lesson too. For example, some major gripes a reviewer has won't annoy me too much or some elements they consider a weakness I consider a strength, and so on.
So naturally with the release of GT5 recently, I was a little perturbed at the scores it was getting. This was one of the most hyped games of the decade, with one of the longest production schedules and it got mostly 8's. In context, that seems like a let down. I have to admit here, that I have what I consider to be a fair sized PS3 library at 23 games (most of my friends don't have close to 10 games), and most of them I've purchased based on reading reviews.
Gran Turismo 5 I purchased without reading its review, as I pre-oredered it- not something I do often. A pre-order locks in your decision to purchase a game, and once it arrives at your door there's no turning back. So a game I figured I'd hold out on, I ended up getting. Reviews I read the night previous had me believing I'd be more than a little disappointed with GT5. But how wrong I've been.
I personally am loving GT5 right now. I'm really into just about every aspect of the game. The standard/premium car divide isn't bothering me that much at all (one of my favourite cars to drive right now is a 'standard' Mugen/Motul Honda Civic), I think the graphics are stunning and the driving experience is just unrivalled. I personally like the course editor and the way it creates tracks, I really dig photo mode and I think the way online is set out is actually a good thing. I can see where a lot of the criticisms lie, but the point is- I really don't care about them. I'm not bothered by loading screens, jagged shadows. In a day and age where every big release game seems centered around killing or maiming people, aliens or monsters in some way or another, GT5 has been a breath of fresh air for me.
Then it got me thinking. Those review scores. Did they matter? Not in the slightest. What matters is how much I like the game. Not how much some guy does, who is paid to play games and write good and bad things about it.
Then how about all the other games I own? Well many that have had great review scores didn't turn out so good. Heavy Rain for example. The reviews I read labeled it as revolutionary and a great game. I played it and found it was just poorly executed and I never finished it. I just didn't like it. One day I might try at it again- but that's just my opinion of it.
Another game I previously owned, NBA2K10, was reviewed very highly at the time. But I found it to be horrible, and wished I had not traded NBA2K9 for it (sports games are the only ones I trade). It was full of glitches and issues and really pissed me off. Luckily 2K11 saved the franchise.
Black Ops is another classic example. Gamespot's review in particular is that it's a tremendous game worth every accolade, and many sites gave this game a glowing endorsement. Yet to me its the most disappointing release of the year. It's buggy, it has worse graphics than its predecessors and its campaign is confusing and at times very boring. This isn't to mention its near unplayable (on PS3 at least) multiplayer, which is plagued with issues, glitches and bugs. I loved Modern Warfare 2 (online at least, I didn't touch the campaign), and in comparison Black Ops is just a let down to me.
The point is, reviews in many cases don't matter. For someone who bases a lot of decisions on reviews, I often come to a different conclusion to the reviewers. It's not to say I don't agree with all reviews either. Many encapsulate exactly how I feel about a game too. Yet what needs to be remembered is they're just opinions, and opinions will always differ.
So the lessons learned? Review scores don't determine what a good game is- you do. If you think GT5 sucks and was a major disappointment, then it is, because your the one that matters. If you love Black Ops to death, then it's the best game ever- to you at least. But just don't be too peeved to find out that someone thinks differently to you and writes it down in a review,. There may not be another Zynga game in which Energy is more important than in Adventure World. Every switch thrown, every puzzle solved and beastie whacked costs you the Facebook game juice. Players often find themselves without Energy minutes into an Expedition. But this isn't the time for whining--it's time to show you the value of upgrading your Tools and how to do it.
Tools: The Game Changer
If you noticed, each piece of debris and monster has a life bar, and normally take multiple hits with your Whip or Machete to whittle down. This, of course, quickly becomes a waste in later Expeditions purely due to the amount of obstacles in your path. But increasing the amount of damage your various Tools inflict against said baddies could considerably reduce the Energy spend in-game.
For instance, say a Snake has three hit points and is Level 5. Since monsters can hit back in this game, it could take three to five Energy before an enemy goes down. Now, imagine if you had upgraded your Whip to Level 2. Offing that Snake would take just two to four Energy with a beefier Whip. The same situation applies to Tools like the Machete.
Adventure World Tool Shop inside
And Now For Your How-To
Adventure World Tool Shop outsideUpgrading your Tools in Adventure World is simple. All you need to do is head back to Base Camp from an Expedition, and look for a makeshift hut that should already be in place in your headquarters. When you click on the Tool Shop, a window will appear featuring all the Tools you've found thus far on your journeys. Click on the Tool you wish to upgrade.
Once you click on a Tool to upgrade, you'll notice that each Tool costs Coins to upgrade. That's it--no asking friends to help you out with materials or farming certain crops for special items. Just the goods you find during your travels in search of El Dorado. However, Coins are actually quite rare in this game, so you'll need to save and spend wisely.
When you have enough Coins for an upgrade, just click on the appropriate icon to pay up. Tool upgrades are also level-locked, meaning you must reach a certain level for most Tools before being able to upgrade them using Coins. If you're feeling impatient, you could always unlock access to those higher level Tools early using Adventure Cash.
Just One Small Catch...
However, some Tool upgrades do require an extra boost: your Tool Shop. Yes, the building itself can be upgraded, too. And this time, you will need items from your friends. (Just think of how things work in CityVille.) Luckily, you only have to do this about twice to unlock access to all of the game's Tools. Then, it's back onto leveling up to access new upgrades for Coins.
Adventure World Tool Shop Upgrade
Upgraded Tools are hands-down the way to go, if you want to save precious Energy for the good stuff, that is. You know, exploring ... uncovering the secrets of El Dorado? That kind of stuff. Your wallet might thank us later.
Click here to find all of our Adventure World Tips in one spot >
[Source: Zynga]
Have you upgraded your Tools in Adventure World yet? What other Energy-saving tips might you have for your fellow adventurers? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
This lends itself to being a game review junkie. I love reading game reviews and finding out which games are worth my money, and which games aren't. I regularly base purchasing decisions on reading reviews. Some people might say 'how retarded- game reviews don't mean squat'. Believe me, I know. I often purchase games only to find out this point. I've been slowly learning this lesson too. For example, some major gripes a reviewer has won't annoy me too much or some elements they consider a weakness I consider a strength, and so on.
So naturally with the release of GT5 recently, I was a little perturbed at the scores it was getting. This was one of the most hyped games of the decade, with one of the longest production schedules and it got mostly 8's. In context, that seems like a let down. I have to admit here, that I have what I consider to be a fair sized PS3 library at 23 games (most of my friends don't have close to 10 games), and most of them I've purchased based on reading reviews.
Gran Turismo 5 I purchased without reading its review, as I pre-oredered it- not something I do often. A pre-order locks in your decision to purchase a game, and once it arrives at your door there's no turning back. So a game I figured I'd hold out on, I ended up getting. Reviews I read the night previous had me believing I'd be more than a little disappointed with GT5. But how wrong I've been.
I personally am loving GT5 right now. I'm really into just about every aspect of the game. The standard/premium car divide isn't bothering me that much at all (one of my favourite cars to drive right now is a 'standard' Mugen/Motul Honda Civic), I think the graphics are stunning and the driving experience is just unrivalled. I personally like the course editor and the way it creates tracks, I really dig photo mode and I think the way online is set out is actually a good thing. I can see where a lot of the criticisms lie, but the point is- I really don't care about them. I'm not bothered by loading screens, jagged shadows. In a day and age where every big release game seems centered around killing or maiming people, aliens or monsters in some way or another, GT5 has been a breath of fresh air for me.
Then it got me thinking. Those review scores. Did they matter? Not in the slightest. What matters is how much I like the game. Not how much some guy does, who is paid to play games and write good and bad things about it.
Then how about all the other games I own? Well many that have had great review scores didn't turn out so good. Heavy Rain for example. The reviews I read labeled it as revolutionary and a great game. I played it and found it was just poorly executed and I never finished it. I just didn't like it. One day I might try at it again- but that's just my opinion of it.
Another game I previously owned, NBA2K10, was reviewed very highly at the time. But I found it to be horrible, and wished I had not traded NBA2K9 for it (sports games are the only ones I trade). It was full of glitches and issues and really pissed me off. Luckily 2K11 saved the franchise.
Black Ops is another classic example. Gamespot's review in particular is that it's a tremendous game worth every accolade, and many sites gave this game a glowing endorsement. Yet to me its the most disappointing release of the year. It's buggy, it has worse graphics than its predecessors and its campaign is confusing and at times very boring. This isn't to mention its near unplayable (on PS3 at least) multiplayer, which is plagued with issues, glitches and bugs. I loved Modern Warfare 2 (online at least, I didn't touch the campaign), and in comparison Black Ops is just a let down to me.
The point is, reviews in many cases don't matter. For someone who bases a lot of decisions on reviews, I often come to a different conclusion to the reviewers. It's not to say I don't agree with all reviews either. Many encapsulate exactly how I feel about a game too. Yet what needs to be remembered is they're just opinions, and opinions will always differ.
So the lessons learned? Review scores don't determine what a good game is- you do. If you think GT5 sucks and was a major disappointment, then it is, because your the one that matters. If you love Black Ops to death, then it's the best game ever- to you at least. But just don't be too peeved to find out that someone thinks differently to you and writes it down in a review,. There may not be another Zynga game in which Energy is more important than in Adventure World. Every switch thrown, every puzzle solved and beastie whacked costs you the Facebook game juice. Players often find themselves without Energy minutes into an Expedition. But this isn't the time for whining--it's time to show you the value of upgrading your Tools and how to do it.
Tools: The Game Changer
If you noticed, each piece of debris and monster has a life bar, and normally take multiple hits with your Whip or Machete to whittle down. This, of course, quickly becomes a waste in later Expeditions purely due to the amount of obstacles in your path. But increasing the amount of damage your various Tools inflict against said baddies could considerably reduce the Energy spend in-game.
For instance, say a Snake has three hit points and is Level 5. Since monsters can hit back in this game, it could take three to five Energy before an enemy goes down. Now, imagine if you had upgraded your Whip to Level 2. Offing that Snake would take just two to four Energy with a beefier Whip. The same situation applies to Tools like the Machete.
Adventure World Tool Shop inside
And Now For Your How-To
Adventure World Tool Shop outsideUpgrading your Tools in Adventure World is simple. All you need to do is head back to Base Camp from an Expedition, and look for a makeshift hut that should already be in place in your headquarters. When you click on the Tool Shop, a window will appear featuring all the Tools you've found thus far on your journeys. Click on the Tool you wish to upgrade.
Once you click on a Tool to upgrade, you'll notice that each Tool costs Coins to upgrade. That's it--no asking friends to help you out with materials or farming certain crops for special items. Just the goods you find during your travels in search of El Dorado. However, Coins are actually quite rare in this game, so you'll need to save and spend wisely.
When you have enough Coins for an upgrade, just click on the appropriate icon to pay up. Tool upgrades are also level-locked, meaning you must reach a certain level for most Tools before being able to upgrade them using Coins. If you're feeling impatient, you could always unlock access to those higher level Tools early using Adventure Cash.
Just One Small Catch...
However, some Tool upgrades do require an extra boost: your Tool Shop. Yes, the building itself can be upgraded, too. And this time, you will need items from your friends. (Just think of how things work in CityVille.) Luckily, you only have to do this about twice to unlock access to all of the game's Tools. Then, it's back onto leveling up to access new upgrades for Coins.
Adventure World Tool Shop Upgrade
Upgraded Tools are hands-down the way to go, if you want to save precious Energy for the good stuff, that is. You know, exploring ... uncovering the secrets of El Dorado? That kind of stuff. Your wallet might thank us later.
Click here to find all of our Adventure World Tips in one spot >
[Source: Zynga]
Have you upgraded your Tools in Adventure World yet? What other Energy-saving tips might you have for your fellow adventurers? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
Thứ Năm, 20 tháng 10, 2011
Disney-branded Facebook games coming in 2012, Playdom head says
Can we all just say, “finally?” During a panel named “The Rise of Social Games” at the f8 Facebook Developers Conference in San Francisco, Disney Interactive and Playdom head John Pleasants revealed that two to four Facebook games surrounding Disney xd brands will hit Facebook in 2012. The general topic of the panel was the fact that branded social games are taking off.
Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.
Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we’ve come to love.
Honestly, we’re surprised this didn’t happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn’t get into why it’s taken this long for disney channel games to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.
Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer–and we enjoyed quite a bit–peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company’s name, according to Pleasants. “We think it’s an advantage, if you put game play first,” Pleasants said.
It’s comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam’s Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.
Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.
Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we’ve come to love.
Honestly, we’re surprised this didn’t happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn’t get into why it’s taken this long for disney channel games to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.
Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer–and we enjoyed quite a bit–peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company’s name, according to Pleasants. “We think it’s an advantage, if you put game play first,” Pleasants said.
It’s comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam’s Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.
Phineas And Ferb 3D Game – Disney XD Games 63
New Disney Game – Phineas and Ferb
Disney released a new game. Phineas and Ferb 3D online game. Klick here to read the complete review.
The new game is available at the Disney XD discovery channel. Get ahead of the game before its officially released next week!
Disney is introducing the brand new DisneyXD game. Phineas and Ferb in: The Transport inators of Doooom!
Doofenschmitz is up to his old tricks again, and who has gone missing? Phineas! Help Ferb find his brother and try to help Agent P thwarth Doofenschmitz evil plans!
Check out this new exciting Disney XD online game before all others do at the Disney Cartoon network games website!
Check out Disney’s cartoon network to find a lot of amazing games and news. Disney offers a lot of cartoon games on their site. So head over to the Disney XD site and play the new Phineas and Ferb – The Transport-inators of Doooom! game!
Disney released a new game. Phineas and Ferb 3D online game. Klick here to read the complete review.
The new game is available at the Disney XD discovery channel. Get ahead of the game before its officially released next week!
Disney is introducing the brand new DisneyXD game. Phineas and Ferb in: The Transport inators of Doooom!
Doofenschmitz is up to his old tricks again, and who has gone missing? Phineas! Help Ferb find his brother and try to help Agent P thwarth Doofenschmitz evil plans!
Check out this new exciting Disney XD online game before all others do at the Disney Cartoon network games website!
Check out Disney’s cartoon network to find a lot of amazing games and news. Disney offers a lot of cartoon games on their site. So head over to the Disney XD site and play the new Phineas and Ferb – The Transport-inators of Doooom! game!
Thứ Bảy, 15 tháng 10, 2011
Captain Obvious vs the of Death of Consoles
It occurs to me that as originally conceived console gaming is dead. That it died years ago during the PS2/Xbox1 era, and unlike the gap between the Atari 2600 and NES, it wont be coming back.
Now, many of you choosing to read this will have to bear with me. You came into gaming as this death occurred and as it was a subtle event, its gone on largely unnoticed. It may even be better to call it an evolution than a death since in a fundamental sense its still going on. That it was replaced by something which is still using its name like if the first Homo Sapiens kept calling themselves cavemen even after bashing in the last Neanderthal’s skull. Still, I feel a sense of loss having only recently realized that its gone.
In attempt to better explain myself lets look back at the first time consoles died: the Arati 2600 era. Post a period of standalone systems – and I feel the need to write it as “systems” – based on and around pong and pong based games offering utterly amazing and incredible pong level graphics, the 2600 became the most successful development of this pong evolution if only because a smart five year old could play it.
As in turn it on/off and pull out or plug in a specific game to work the joystick and push the big red button, rather than banging the joystick on the system, the floor, at the family cat or stuffing a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the game slot. Please note I did say smart five year old.
Unfortunately being something designed for a group of people I can’t name here because our culture has become to retardedly politically correct, game publishers of the age began putting more and more limiting/hurried demands on game makers for which to fuel the drugs hookers and booze orgy phase all young entertainment related industries seem to go through.
After one particularly good party everyone came out of their hangovers realizing they’d made ET, then compounded on that error by forgetting their market as they tried to make a platform which would take pong gaming to a place pong had never been before. The computer nerds making systems which required tape readers, floppy drives and came with keypads on their joysticks. Where surprised when the at the time general non-nerd public stopped providing for their rocker-like lifestyles as their Ford Pintos were repossessed and the hookers went back to the recording and movie industries where they belonged. Here Lies Gaming – R.I.P.
Now take things forward a bit and across the pond – no, the other pond – and you’ll find a – the other – recovering war torn island nation with something to prove. A former playing card company by the soon to be world household name of Leave Luck to Haven has not only made pong unrecognizable – renaming it “spites” – but created a game system that your better grade of five year old could enjoy sans complaints from PETA or a hose down. It is in effect the Atari 2600 reborn only without the fake wood paneling which was literally everywhere in the 70’s.
Dear god, don’t even get me freakin’ started!
Regardless, the point I’m trying to make and which you’ve likely missed is that at its heart the overall mechanics of console gaming were simplistic. It was plug and play in the simplest use of a term which came from PC making which is often anything but. To say console gaming was plug and forget would be more accurate. Being in a time when computer gaming was either unheard of, involved improper use of something weighing tons and filling rooms, or a cabinet often seen in bars or something called bowling alleys and required one – only one – quarter to play when one freakin’ quarter also bought you one comic book or a wealth of honest sugar laced candy.
As you’ve likely noticed, times have changed but they’ve also remained the same. Atari 2600 wasn’t the only thing around as the gaming industry crashed, but because it was the most popular yet simplest thing out at the time the industry fell because it couldn’t recreate that basic simplicity. Not until the NES. When CDs came around there were many contenders but only Sony managed to successfully find a balanced controller scheme while only requiring you to put a disc in a drive tray.
All that ended the day online became available. With that option plug and forget slowly became plug and wait, plug and update needed or plug and SOL. It became plug and you have to think before you can actually play a game. In short, it became PC gaming. Something closer to PC gaming anyway.
Hm, much like an old shaman who’s been screaming most the night about the death of the Sun as a young astrologer points out a giant superheated ball of gas coming over the horizon, I think I’ve lost my audience. Never had it to begin with. Please, go back to playing your Xboxes, Playstations and Nintendo devices for the one if not two console generations you might have them. If there isn't another industry crash and everything ends up as a smartphone app. Justforget about this sadly not short enough rant.
EDIT:
Starting to realize that I should have gone along the lines of Invasion of the Body Snatchers since this about something that has changed and remained the same and yet something, possibly very important, has been lost. So I changed the pic.
Now, many of you choosing to read this will have to bear with me. You came into gaming as this death occurred and as it was a subtle event, its gone on largely unnoticed. It may even be better to call it an evolution than a death since in a fundamental sense its still going on. That it was replaced by something which is still using its name like if the first Homo Sapiens kept calling themselves cavemen even after bashing in the last Neanderthal’s skull. Still, I feel a sense of loss having only recently realized that its gone.
In attempt to better explain myself lets look back at the first time consoles died: the Arati 2600 era. Post a period of standalone systems – and I feel the need to write it as “systems” – based on and around pong and pong based games offering utterly amazing and incredible pong level graphics, the 2600 became the most successful development of this pong evolution if only because a smart five year old could play it.
As in turn it on/off and pull out or plug in a specific game to work the joystick and push the big red button, rather than banging the joystick on the system, the floor, at the family cat or stuffing a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the game slot. Please note I did say smart five year old.
Unfortunately being something designed for a group of people I can’t name here because our culture has become to retardedly politically correct, game publishers of the age began putting more and more limiting/hurried demands on game makers for which to fuel the drugs hookers and booze orgy phase all young entertainment related industries seem to go through.
After one particularly good party everyone came out of their hangovers realizing they’d made ET, then compounded on that error by forgetting their market as they tried to make a platform which would take pong gaming to a place pong had never been before. The computer nerds making systems which required tape readers, floppy drives and came with keypads on their joysticks. Where surprised when the at the time general non-nerd public stopped providing for their rocker-like lifestyles as their Ford Pintos were repossessed and the hookers went back to the recording and movie industries where they belonged. Here Lies Gaming – R.I.P.
Now take things forward a bit and across the pond – no, the other pond – and you’ll find a – the other – recovering war torn island nation with something to prove. A former playing card company by the soon to be world household name of Leave Luck to Haven has not only made pong unrecognizable – renaming it “spites” – but created a game system that your better grade of five year old could enjoy sans complaints from PETA or a hose down. It is in effect the Atari 2600 reborn only without the fake wood paneling which was literally everywhere in the 70’s.
Dear god, don’t even get me freakin’ started!
Regardless, the point I’m trying to make and which you’ve likely missed is that at its heart the overall mechanics of console gaming were simplistic. It was plug and play in the simplest use of a term which came from PC making which is often anything but. To say console gaming was plug and forget would be more accurate. Being in a time when computer gaming was either unheard of, involved improper use of something weighing tons and filling rooms, or a cabinet often seen in bars or something called bowling alleys and required one – only one – quarter to play when one freakin’ quarter also bought you one comic book or a wealth of honest sugar laced candy.
As you’ve likely noticed, times have changed but they’ve also remained the same. Atari 2600 wasn’t the only thing around as the gaming industry crashed, but because it was the most popular yet simplest thing out at the time the industry fell because it couldn’t recreate that basic simplicity. Not until the NES. When CDs came around there were many contenders but only Sony managed to successfully find a balanced controller scheme while only requiring you to put a disc in a drive tray.
All that ended the day online became available. With that option plug and forget slowly became plug and wait, plug and update needed or plug and SOL. It became plug and you have to think before you can actually play a game. In short, it became PC gaming. Something closer to PC gaming anyway.
Hm, much like an old shaman who’s been screaming most the night about the death of the Sun as a young astrologer points out a giant superheated ball of gas coming over the horizon, I think I’ve lost my audience. Never had it to begin with. Please, go back to playing your Xboxes, Playstations and Nintendo devices for the one if not two console generations you might have them. If there isn't another industry crash and everything ends up as a smartphone app. Justforget about this sadly not short enough rant.
EDIT:
Starting to realize that I should have gone along the lines of Invasion of the Body Snatchers since this about something that has changed and remained the same and yet something, possibly very important, has been lost. So I changed the pic.
Disney-branded Facebook games coming in 2012, Playdom head says
Can we all just say, “finally?” During a panel named “The Rise of Social Games” at the f8 Facebook Developers Conference in San Francisco, Disney Interactive and Playdom head John Pleasants revealed that two to four Facebook games surrounding Disney xd brands will hit Facebook in 2012. The general topic of the panel was the fact that branded social games are taking off.
Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.
Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we’ve come to love.
Honestly, we’re surprised this didn’t happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn’t get into why it’s taken this long for disney channel games to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.
Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer–and we enjoyed quite a bit–peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company’s name, according to Pleasants. “We think it’s an advantage, if you put game play first,” Pleasants said.
It’s comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam’s Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.
Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.
Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we’ve come to love.
Honestly, we’re surprised this didn’t happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn’t get into why it’s taken this long for disney channel games to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.
Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer–and we enjoyed quite a bit–peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company’s name, according to Pleasants. “We think it’s an advantage, if you put game play first,” Pleasants said.
It’s comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam’s Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.
Just to clarify about the 'Welcome Back' gift
Sweet goodness, PSN is finally returning this week! A date hasn't been set but I have been reading here and there that it'll be returning by 3rd May. Hopefully. Seeing as the sooner it comes, the better. So, what do PS owners expect to see in the newly rebuilt PSN? Nothing much but a 'Welcome Back' package.
Sony, respectfully has decided to reimburse PSN users with a goodwill prize in the form of a one month subscription of PS+ and Qrioucity music services. For those new to these names, playstation plus is basically a paid-for service that lets subscribers get bonuses that ordinary PSN folks dont get. Qrioucity from my lazy assed research is some sort of music service that lets you download music to your ps3. For me, as a gamer, I'm personally interested in PS+ than a music service.
Now, before PSN users jump to joy of these free services, let me clarify some things. For those already subscribed, they are going to get a month extension, which I find peculiar seeing as 2 weeks offline do not mean 4 weeks online. For us cheapskate PSN users, this might a good thing but it isnt and it is.
First off, everyone will finally be able to try this service if they have been wondering about it. A trial you could say. Secondly, loads of free stuff are available to download and keep. Mostly in the form of normal and dynamic themes, costumes for PS home avatars, mini games, demos and DLCs. And of course, discounts for games and the feature of cloud saving and auto download. As great as these thing I mentioned sound, there is always a negative to the positive.
As soon as this 30 day 'trial' is over, games and I think DLCs will deactivate, meaning basic PSN users wont be able to play their downloaded games. To reactivate the downloaded games, PSN users will have to subscribe like other PS+ members. Cloud saves wont also be able to be accessed. Anything non game related are still accessible and forever to keep. Another negative thing about this package is, from my wild speculation, is that as soon as you are able to access PSN, the 'trial' starts but seeing as PSN services like PS store are being rebuilt slowly, basic users wont be able to fully enjoy this one month PS+ service.
Hopefully, my post has clarified a couple of things for you PSN basic users or gamers new to PSN. So before you like or dislike this gift, just remember that the best thing, if you are an online PSN addict like me, is the fact that PSN is returning. You gotta respect Sony, for giving us cheapskate PSN users a free gift when most patient PS folk never even asked for such a present. Thank Ya very much Sony ;) and good work trying to stop those nasty hacking fellers.
Sony, respectfully has decided to reimburse PSN users with a goodwill prize in the form of a one month subscription of PS+ and Qrioucity music services. For those new to these names, playstation plus is basically a paid-for service that lets subscribers get bonuses that ordinary PSN folks dont get. Qrioucity from my lazy assed research is some sort of music service that lets you download music to your ps3. For me, as a gamer, I'm personally interested in PS+ than a music service.
Now, before PSN users jump to joy of these free services, let me clarify some things. For those already subscribed, they are going to get a month extension, which I find peculiar seeing as 2 weeks offline do not mean 4 weeks online. For us cheapskate PSN users, this might a good thing but it isnt and it is.
First off, everyone will finally be able to try this service if they have been wondering about it. A trial you could say. Secondly, loads of free stuff are available to download and keep. Mostly in the form of normal and dynamic themes, costumes for PS home avatars, mini games, demos and DLCs. And of course, discounts for games and the feature of cloud saving and auto download. As great as these thing I mentioned sound, there is always a negative to the positive.
As soon as this 30 day 'trial' is over, games and I think DLCs will deactivate, meaning basic PSN users wont be able to play their downloaded games. To reactivate the downloaded games, PSN users will have to subscribe like other PS+ members. Cloud saves wont also be able to be accessed. Anything non game related are still accessible and forever to keep. Another negative thing about this package is, from my wild speculation, is that as soon as you are able to access PSN, the 'trial' starts but seeing as PSN services like PS store are being rebuilt slowly, basic users wont be able to fully enjoy this one month PS+ service.
Hopefully, my post has clarified a couple of things for you PSN basic users or gamers new to PSN. So before you like or dislike this gift, just remember that the best thing, if you are an online PSN addict like me, is the fact that PSN is returning. You gotta respect Sony, for giving us cheapskate PSN users a free gift when most patient PS folk never even asked for such a present. Thank Ya very much Sony ;) and good work trying to stop those nasty hacking fellers.
Thứ Sáu, 14 tháng 10, 2011
ICO & Shadow of the Colossus: Fairytale worlds built of careful attention
Ten years, two games: Team Ico knows how to leave you wanting more. While it has been fun to replay God of War and Sly Cooper, few series are more deserving of a re-release in HD than ICO and Shadow of the Colossus. Maybe you were never able to snag one of the relatively rare copies of ICO, maybe your PS2 struggled with framerate during SotC, whether this is your first experience with ICO and SotC or you're returning to well for more awesome you won't be disappointed. It's hard to believe the games were made a generation ago, they're just so stinking good - and good-looking.
The fairy-tale worlds of ICO and SotC suspend disbelief and are the two finest examples of gameplay centered storytelling. With relatively few cutscenes and even less dialog/voiceover, this is a story you play through, and the experience is richer for it. If you've already played Ico and SotC, this next time with Ico is that much more poignant. Ico is young boy with a pair of horns, and a sacrifice. Locked in a chamber by a group of men and left in the strange castle, he escapes his stone prison and in trying to leave finds and frees a young girl, Yorda, from a cage. They may not speak the same language, but they're the only living thing they've seen (aside from some wily pigeons) and that makes for a strong bond.
As you direct Ico and Yorda through the puzzle-riddled castle, you will notice something strange: Team Ico has made an entire game around everyone's least favorite mission type. Yes, a game - an exceptional game - that boils down to an escort mission stretched over a framework of really cool puzzles and platforming. Yorda needs help up ledges, across chasms, and most of all protection from shadow creatures. As Ico, you don't have much in your arsenal: jumping, pulling, pushing and whacking the shadows with a big stick (later, a sword) are your staple moves. The puzzles are very integrated, with ledges, ladders, doorways, and relatively few traditional Zelda-like moments of pressure plates and switches. Occasionally Yorda pulls her own weight by opening Idol Doors, and when you rest on a couch together you get to save your game. The rest of the time she tries to be as helpful as possible, sticking by your side and eschewing the traditional damsel role of wandering off with the words "kidnap me, shadow monsters" stamped on her forehead.
There isn't a lot of direct confrontation in ICO, it all comes down to those persistent shadows as they spill up out of swirling smoke-monster blackness at the most inopportune times. Some can walk, some can fly, and some can only scuttle across the ground, and they all want to drag Yorda into an inky black pit. Only able to knock Ico back, if they successfully pull Yorda down with them it's Game Over. There are no combos, special moves or advanced weaponry, you are a little boy with a stick and you wield it accordingly: in desperate, flailing motions. At some point you realize you're rescuing Yorda not as a mission-objective or game chore, but because your heart is beating in your throat while the shadow monsters try to take her away, your Yorda. At some point you realize that you care.
Similarly themed, in Shadow of the Colossus you play as a young man named Wander who must slay sixteen colossi to rescue a girl. A barren, open world, this is not a game for agoraphobes. Wander is alone with his horse (and some lizards and birds), as he seeks out the colossi which are, tautological as it may be, enormous. These are the bosses of all other bosses, and the experience of SotC is searching the world for epic boss battles - truly "epic": each colossi is so massive, so powerful, and each battle so challenging that they're the stuff poems are sung about, Homer style.
Wander must find ways to scale each colossus and seek out weaknesses in their hard skin (marked by sigils) that his sword can pierce. Oftentimes you will have to find a spot low on the body to stun the colossus, giving you time to scramble to a better spot - and scramble you will. Like Ico, Wander isn't really anything other than determined. He doesn't free-run up a colossus, he doesn't leap nimbly from point to point, he climbs slowly - sometimes painfully so - as the colossus shakes him loose. His grip depletes, he can't hang on forever, so latching on and scaling the monster forthwith is not an option. No, this is a measured attack of finding places to balance, regain stamina, and progress. The colossus isn't going to just let you climb up and start stabbing him, either, and it will try to dislodge you throughout your attempt; you are little more than a tiny buzzing bee with little jabs of your eensy sword. As frantic as a colossus battle can be, it's equal parts patience and puzzle solving as you navigate their unique architecture and the world below you gets further and further away.
Fortunately, Wander has his trusty steed that always comes when you whistle and is helpful in catching speedy colossi - and getting away from others. Then there's that pointy sword that's good for, well, swording and reflecting the sun's light to point you toward the next colossus, and their vulnerable point. Also, there's a bow, which is best for shooting lizards. OK, it has infinite ammo and can stun a colossus if you hit them on a raw patch, but otherwise it's like throwing feathers at a wall. When going up against things called "colossi" it's not much, and you will feel very, very, very small - and even more alone. With each majestic colossus you slay you'll wonder, "Why?".
The fairy-tale worlds of ICO and SotC suspend disbelief and are the two finest examples of gameplay centered storytelling. With relatively few cutscenes and even less dialog/voiceover, this is a story you play through, and the experience is richer for it. If you've already played Ico and SotC, this next time with Ico is that much more poignant. Ico is young boy with a pair of horns, and a sacrifice. Locked in a chamber by a group of men and left in the strange castle, he escapes his stone prison and in trying to leave finds and frees a young girl, Yorda, from a cage. They may not speak the same language, but they're the only living thing they've seen (aside from some wily pigeons) and that makes for a strong bond.
As you direct Ico and Yorda through the puzzle-riddled castle, you will notice something strange: Team Ico has made an entire game around everyone's least favorite mission type. Yes, a game - an exceptional game - that boils down to an escort mission stretched over a framework of really cool puzzles and platforming. Yorda needs help up ledges, across chasms, and most of all protection from shadow creatures. As Ico, you don't have much in your arsenal: jumping, pulling, pushing and whacking the shadows with a big stick (later, a sword) are your staple moves. The puzzles are very integrated, with ledges, ladders, doorways, and relatively few traditional Zelda-like moments of pressure plates and switches. Occasionally Yorda pulls her own weight by opening Idol Doors, and when you rest on a couch together you get to save your game. The rest of the time she tries to be as helpful as possible, sticking by your side and eschewing the traditional damsel role of wandering off with the words "kidnap me, shadow monsters" stamped on her forehead.
There isn't a lot of direct confrontation in ICO, it all comes down to those persistent shadows as they spill up out of swirling smoke-monster blackness at the most inopportune times. Some can walk, some can fly, and some can only scuttle across the ground, and they all want to drag Yorda into an inky black pit. Only able to knock Ico back, if they successfully pull Yorda down with them it's Game Over. There are no combos, special moves or advanced weaponry, you are a little boy with a stick and you wield it accordingly: in desperate, flailing motions. At some point you realize you're rescuing Yorda not as a mission-objective or game chore, but because your heart is beating in your throat while the shadow monsters try to take her away, your Yorda. At some point you realize that you care.
Similarly themed, in Shadow of the Colossus you play as a young man named Wander who must slay sixteen colossi to rescue a girl. A barren, open world, this is not a game for agoraphobes. Wander is alone with his horse (and some lizards and birds), as he seeks out the colossi which are, tautological as it may be, enormous. These are the bosses of all other bosses, and the experience of SotC is searching the world for epic boss battles - truly "epic": each colossi is so massive, so powerful, and each battle so challenging that they're the stuff poems are sung about, Homer style.
Wander must find ways to scale each colossus and seek out weaknesses in their hard skin (marked by sigils) that his sword can pierce. Oftentimes you will have to find a spot low on the body to stun the colossus, giving you time to scramble to a better spot - and scramble you will. Like Ico, Wander isn't really anything other than determined. He doesn't free-run up a colossus, he doesn't leap nimbly from point to point, he climbs slowly - sometimes painfully so - as the colossus shakes him loose. His grip depletes, he can't hang on forever, so latching on and scaling the monster forthwith is not an option. No, this is a measured attack of finding places to balance, regain stamina, and progress. The colossus isn't going to just let you climb up and start stabbing him, either, and it will try to dislodge you throughout your attempt; you are little more than a tiny buzzing bee with little jabs of your eensy sword. As frantic as a colossus battle can be, it's equal parts patience and puzzle solving as you navigate their unique architecture and the world below you gets further and further away.
Fortunately, Wander has his trusty steed that always comes when you whistle and is helpful in catching speedy colossi - and getting away from others. Then there's that pointy sword that's good for, well, swording and reflecting the sun's light to point you toward the next colossus, and their vulnerable point. Also, there's a bow, which is best for shooting lizards. OK, it has infinite ammo and can stun a colossus if you hit them on a raw patch, but otherwise it's like throwing feathers at a wall. When going up against things called "colossi" it's not much, and you will feel very, very, very small - and even more alone. With each majestic colossus you slay you'll wonder, "Why?".
May I Please Share My Grief With You?
Disclaimer: the following is not an opinion therefore, I shall state one right now in order to amend such regulations: the PS3 sucks. Take note that that was sarcasm, with a tinge of regret.
It all happened yesterday, when my friend and I were playing a serious level of Dead Nation, and suddenly, the PS3 froze and shut down; only to stare at us with a flashing red light. I quickly read online and discovered that it was an overheating issue, which was strange because we had only been playing the game for approximately 40 minutes (trust me, it was only one level and don't say I'm bad at this game because I already know that).
So, I decided to reboot it while holding down the power button in order to attain the reset option. The PS3 shut down and gave me the blinking red light. I attempted to start it in Safe Mode, but that too failed. It provided me with the screen; however, as soon as I began pressing the D-pad on my DS3, the system shut down. After a couple of hours of just leaving the system alone, I attempted again, and instead it gave me a yellow light for less than a second before going back to the flashing red light. Also, the fan doesn't seem to be working which perhaps is the biggest issue.
Oh, it's probably smart to say that this baby was a 60 GB launch model, right from day 1. It's a system I absolutely cherish, but now I'm afraid that if I send it in, they will give me a different model. Which is fine, but the real crunch pertains to all my save data, which I refuse to do all over again!
I contemplated on purchasing a newer, slim model, but the lady at Sony Customer Service told me that if I swap the HDD that is in my broken PS3 and insert it into the new PS3, the new PS3 would automatically reformat the Harddrive, literally effacing all that invested time.
In essence, I'm rather confused or hesitant about which course of action to take. Have any of you guys faced such situations and what did you do? From now on, I will regularly back-up my hard drive. Learning sucks!
It all happened yesterday, when my friend and I were playing a serious level of Dead Nation, and suddenly, the PS3 froze and shut down; only to stare at us with a flashing red light. I quickly read online and discovered that it was an overheating issue, which was strange because we had only been playing the game for approximately 40 minutes (trust me, it was only one level and don't say I'm bad at this game because I already know that).
So, I decided to reboot it while holding down the power button in order to attain the reset option. The PS3 shut down and gave me the blinking red light. I attempted to start it in Safe Mode, but that too failed. It provided me with the screen; however, as soon as I began pressing the D-pad on my DS3, the system shut down. After a couple of hours of just leaving the system alone, I attempted again, and instead it gave me a yellow light for less than a second before going back to the flashing red light. Also, the fan doesn't seem to be working which perhaps is the biggest issue.
Oh, it's probably smart to say that this baby was a 60 GB launch model, right from day 1. It's a system I absolutely cherish, but now I'm afraid that if I send it in, they will give me a different model. Which is fine, but the real crunch pertains to all my save data, which I refuse to do all over again!
I contemplated on purchasing a newer, slim model, but the lady at Sony Customer Service told me that if I swap the HDD that is in my broken PS3 and insert it into the new PS3, the new PS3 would automatically reformat the Harddrive, literally effacing all that invested time.
In essence, I'm rather confused or hesitant about which course of action to take. Have any of you guys faced such situations and what did you do? From now on, I will regularly back-up my hard drive. Learning sucks!
Angry Birds for PC
Finally, those birds that everybody likes has arrived on PC. After iPhone, iPad, Android and other mobile versions, also iPhone cases and toys, Angry Birds has finally arrived on the PC thanks to the Intel App Up store. It’ll work fine and dandy on laptops and netbooks and will cost you only $4.99 to download. Nice price for this lovely game.
Angry Birds is a global phenomenon in mobile gaming and the top grossing iPhone app of 2010. So if you’re not a smart-phone wielding hipster, you no longer have an excuse not to be part of this franchise.
Overall it’s pretty much an identical game play experience to the iPhone app, with some minor differences. It’s snappy, gorgeous, and it sounds amazing. On the netbook version you use a mouse or trackpad instead of touch. There is an open hand icon when the mouse is in hover state, and a closed hand icon when you are clicking or dragging. This visible clue when pulling the slingshot is a nice aid. It allows you to fine tune shots more than just observing the angle of the slingshot band.
Angry Birds for PC
Larger screen means more visibility in the game. On many levels you can see the target that can’t be seen on the iPhone. The previous shot trail is more easily seen, allowing fine tuning of your next shot. Overall the animations and physics seem to have more fluidity.
In terms of features, options, menu etc it’s pretty close to the original. On the netbook the replay level icon has been added to the game space. So you don’t need to pause first then replay. If you start off with bad shot, just click the replay icon, then you can start over. Saving a click is nice. There is a Menu button in the Pause menu that gets you back to the Start screen. There are some things not in play on the netbook version. The leader board and achievements are not available in the main menu. The Golden Eggs are there.
Angry Birds strikes an interesting balance of repetitive, simple tasks and challenging game play working for the many scenarios. So, if you liked this game on your iPhone or Android phone, you’ll sure like it on your big PC screen. If you are new player, don’t hesitate and join the fun now.
You must know and recognize the game from the Rovio, Angry Birds.
This game consists of seven birds with super abilities are different. By using slingshots, you can control the jump and the height of ill-tempered birds to tear down the building where the collection of green pork fat is shelter.
Where is a funny collection of birds swelled, turned into a grumpy group of birds which destroy the kingdom of lustful pigs these cunning thieves.
Angry Birds now not only for the iPhone, Android OS, PS3 and PSP. even Angry Birds has been available in Ovi Store for Nokia. And now Angry Birds have been available for Windows XP and Windows 7
Free Angry Birds for PC
Plenty of dodgy website owners want to rip off Google and push traffic towards their sites on the bogus promise of the free version of Angry Birds for PC. This is only a scam but in fact there exists a download free Angry Birds for PC nevertheless, you will need to move quickly to take advantage of that offer
Finland games producer Rovio Mobile has produced their very 1st version of Angry Birds Game for the Apple iPhone. This particular game was immediately caught by the iPhonesters, and Rovio understood that they will become successful. That has been fine. However, Rovio needed to get going by recoding Angry Birds Games for several programs, which become easier for small companies to get done.
Several weeks went by and finally, the Nokia and Android users could get themselves the Angry Birds Game. After that, the RovioMobile switched their attentions to the huge users of the PSP or the Play Station Portable and the PS3. That has been an additional huge porting project for Rovio operations.
During that time, the PC users have been reading and hearing rumors regarding Angry Birds for PC. Ultimately, in January, Angry Birds for PC was released, and downloading is not for free. However, not everybody is willing to pay for $5 for just a game, even if they will enjoy playing with it. These days, several users have grown to be familiar of getting some thing for free, so there are many who are on the lookout for a totally free Angry Birds for PC download. It can be downloaded via Windows 7 and Windows XP and Vista, or Mac support. But downloading can only be downloaded if you have an internet connection for the process to activate successfully.
Angry Birds pc is one of the well-known games that have taken the popularity with over 200 million downloads. The availability of this game is taking place in almost all of the popular platforms. In addition to playing the game online in the browser you can now download it on your laptop and take it wherever you may go to enjoy the amazing games, enabling you to play whenever, wherever you go. Take it to your workplace or even in the park, while resting and basting under the sun. Probably launching the Angry Birds for PC the wisest and the best move the game maker ever made. This availability made for the millions of platform owners, even made the popularity of Angry Birds known to more video-gaming enthusiasts more than over.
Incoming search terms:
* angry birds for pc
* activate free angry birds for pc
* angry birds FLASH SCAM
* angry-birds-online scam
* free angry birds games full version for window xp
*
- Angry Birds PC Updated
The PC version was updated last week which we talked about in this post. This update will finally include all episodes of Ham ‘Em High and the two chapters of Mine and Dine. I’m sure this is welcome news for all the PC players who have been feeling left out. It shouldn’t have taken this long to get all the episodes out but that’s in the past now so lets just get to playing. Since all the chapters are available you also have access to all of the golden eggs. You can finally complete your collection!
As a side note because I didn’t want to do an entire post about the subject, have you all seen the Angry Birds bra? It’s available over on etsy you should go check it out. I personally don’t know anyone who would wear it but i’m sure there is someone out there who would. I don’t recommend buying this for you girlfriend or wife unless she really loves angry birds.
Angry Birds is a global phenomenon in mobile gaming and the top grossing iPhone app of 2010. So if you’re not a smart-phone wielding hipster, you no longer have an excuse not to be part of this franchise.
Overall it’s pretty much an identical game play experience to the iPhone app, with some minor differences. It’s snappy, gorgeous, and it sounds amazing. On the netbook version you use a mouse or trackpad instead of touch. There is an open hand icon when the mouse is in hover state, and a closed hand icon when you are clicking or dragging. This visible clue when pulling the slingshot is a nice aid. It allows you to fine tune shots more than just observing the angle of the slingshot band.
Angry Birds for PC
Larger screen means more visibility in the game. On many levels you can see the target that can’t be seen on the iPhone. The previous shot trail is more easily seen, allowing fine tuning of your next shot. Overall the animations and physics seem to have more fluidity.
In terms of features, options, menu etc it’s pretty close to the original. On the netbook the replay level icon has been added to the game space. So you don’t need to pause first then replay. If you start off with bad shot, just click the replay icon, then you can start over. Saving a click is nice. There is a Menu button in the Pause menu that gets you back to the Start screen. There are some things not in play on the netbook version. The leader board and achievements are not available in the main menu. The Golden Eggs are there.
Angry Birds strikes an interesting balance of repetitive, simple tasks and challenging game play working for the many scenarios. So, if you liked this game on your iPhone or Android phone, you’ll sure like it on your big PC screen. If you are new player, don’t hesitate and join the fun now.
You must know and recognize the game from the Rovio, Angry Birds.
This game consists of seven birds with super abilities are different. By using slingshots, you can control the jump and the height of ill-tempered birds to tear down the building where the collection of green pork fat is shelter.
Where is a funny collection of birds swelled, turned into a grumpy group of birds which destroy the kingdom of lustful pigs these cunning thieves.
Angry Birds now not only for the iPhone, Android OS, PS3 and PSP. even Angry Birds has been available in Ovi Store for Nokia. And now Angry Birds have been available for Windows XP and Windows 7
Free Angry Birds for PC
Plenty of dodgy website owners want to rip off Google and push traffic towards their sites on the bogus promise of the free version of Angry Birds for PC. This is only a scam but in fact there exists a download free Angry Birds for PC nevertheless, you will need to move quickly to take advantage of that offer
Finland games producer Rovio Mobile has produced their very 1st version of Angry Birds Game for the Apple iPhone. This particular game was immediately caught by the iPhonesters, and Rovio understood that they will become successful. That has been fine. However, Rovio needed to get going by recoding Angry Birds Games for several programs, which become easier for small companies to get done.
Several weeks went by and finally, the Nokia and Android users could get themselves the Angry Birds Game. After that, the RovioMobile switched their attentions to the huge users of the PSP or the Play Station Portable and the PS3. That has been an additional huge porting project for Rovio operations.
During that time, the PC users have been reading and hearing rumors regarding Angry Birds for PC. Ultimately, in January, Angry Birds for PC was released, and downloading is not for free. However, not everybody is willing to pay for $5 for just a game, even if they will enjoy playing with it. These days, several users have grown to be familiar of getting some thing for free, so there are many who are on the lookout for a totally free Angry Birds for PC download. It can be downloaded via Windows 7 and Windows XP and Vista, or Mac support. But downloading can only be downloaded if you have an internet connection for the process to activate successfully.
Angry Birds pc is one of the well-known games that have taken the popularity with over 200 million downloads. The availability of this game is taking place in almost all of the popular platforms. In addition to playing the game online in the browser you can now download it on your laptop and take it wherever you may go to enjoy the amazing games, enabling you to play whenever, wherever you go. Take it to your workplace or even in the park, while resting and basting under the sun. Probably launching the Angry Birds for PC the wisest and the best move the game maker ever made. This availability made for the millions of platform owners, even made the popularity of Angry Birds known to more video-gaming enthusiasts more than over.
Incoming search terms:
* angry birds for pc
* activate free angry birds for pc
* angry birds FLASH SCAM
* angry-birds-online scam
* free angry birds games full version for window xp
*
- Angry Birds PC Updated
The PC version was updated last week which we talked about in this post. This update will finally include all episodes of Ham ‘Em High and the two chapters of Mine and Dine. I’m sure this is welcome news for all the PC players who have been feeling left out. It shouldn’t have taken this long to get all the episodes out but that’s in the past now so lets just get to playing. Since all the chapters are available you also have access to all of the golden eggs. You can finally complete your collection!
As a side note because I didn’t want to do an entire post about the subject, have you all seen the Angry Birds bra? It’s available over on etsy you should go check it out. I personally don’t know anyone who would wear it but i’m sure there is someone out there who would. I don’t recommend buying this for you girlfriend or wife unless she really loves angry birds.
BBCW launches CBeebies games app
Games based on popular CBeebies Games series Charlie & Lola, Teletubbies, 3rd & Bird and Numberjacks are available through a new app launched by BBC Worldwide.
CBeebies On The Go is available for free on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad to pre-school children in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and South Korea.
Developed by Tag Apps, it includes matching pairs picture games for the Teletubbies and Charlie & Lola, a Kerwhizz jigsaw game and a 3rd & Bird tap-the-fruit challenge. It also holds a number of short video clips from popular shows.
Director of CBeebies investment at BBCW, Henrietta Hurford-Jones, said the team had “worked hard to build a product that upholds the core values of learning through play”.
She added: “This new kids’ app is a first for the Channels business, so the learnings from this pilot phase will help shape any future plans to roll CBeebies Games On The Go out to new territories and different devices.”
More than 53m homes have access to the CBeebies channel worldwide.
CBeebies On The Go is available for free on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad to pre-school children in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and South Korea.
Developed by Tag Apps, it includes matching pairs picture games for the Teletubbies and Charlie & Lola, a Kerwhizz jigsaw game and a 3rd & Bird tap-the-fruit challenge. It also holds a number of short video clips from popular shows.
Director of CBeebies investment at BBCW, Henrietta Hurford-Jones, said the team had “worked hard to build a product that upholds the core values of learning through play”.
She added: “This new kids’ app is a first for the Channels business, so the learnings from this pilot phase will help shape any future plans to roll CBeebies Games On The Go out to new territories and different devices.”
More than 53m homes have access to the CBeebies channel worldwide.
Thứ Tư, 12 tháng 10, 2011
Activision Blizzard 'methodically investing in mobile and social gaming'
Can this love-hate relationship between veteran games publisher Activision Blizzard and Facebook games end now? VentureBeat reports that, during an analyst meeting, Activision CFO Thomas Tippl said that the company is "methodically investing in mobile and social gaming projects." Tippl also went into how the publisher could make a whopping $1.25 billion from new projects that seek new, non-traditional sources of revenue like micro-transactions and in-game purchases. You know, like Facebook and mobile social games?
However, there seems to be a major disconnect in the company's overall ideology between executives, unless Activision is simply telling the right folks what they want to hear. Recently, Activision Publishing boss Eric Hirshberg said, "Valuations of some of the companies in that space are out of whack," to Bloomberg at this year's Gamescom event in Cologne, Germany. In the very same interview, Hirshberg hinted that the Call of Duty (pictured) pusher is looking into social games.
And before then, Hirshberg said during the 13th Annual Pacific Crest Global Technology Leadership Forum that, "Call of Duty has more players who pay-to-play online than any Facebook game, and our players pay more per player on average than any Facebook game."
What's even better is that before Hirshberg came to hardcore gaming's defense, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick outright revealed that "a lot of work is being done on Facebook games" within the company. Now, it's completely fine for traditional publishers to get into new distribution models than your tried, true and tired retail stores--just look at, well, everybody else.
However, it seems that at least some Activision Blizzard folks are entering Facebook and mobile games kicking and screaming, based on what Hirshberg has been saying compared to his colleagues. (Though, neither Kotick nor Tippl sound particularly thrilled about the whole ordeal, either.)
That said, the publisher would definitely benefit from a more unified--and a little more chipper, eh?--message if it wants to convince Facebook and mobile gamers to hop on board. And based on the way Activision Blizzard has been talking about its social game efforts, we just can't wait to see these games.
Are you excited or worried to hear that Activision Blizzard is getting into social games "officially?" How do you think the company will fare with the likes of EA and Zynga. Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
However, there seems to be a major disconnect in the company's overall ideology between executives, unless Activision is simply telling the right folks what they want to hear. Recently, Activision Publishing boss Eric Hirshberg said, "Valuations of some of the companies in that space are out of whack," to Bloomberg at this year's Gamescom event in Cologne, Germany. In the very same interview, Hirshberg hinted that the Call of Duty (pictured) pusher is looking into social games.
And before then, Hirshberg said during the 13th Annual Pacific Crest Global Technology Leadership Forum that, "Call of Duty has more players who pay-to-play online than any Facebook game, and our players pay more per player on average than any Facebook game."
What's even better is that before Hirshberg came to hardcore gaming's defense, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick outright revealed that "a lot of work is being done on Facebook games" within the company. Now, it's completely fine for traditional publishers to get into new distribution models than your tried, true and tired retail stores--just look at, well, everybody else.
However, it seems that at least some Activision Blizzard folks are entering Facebook and mobile games kicking and screaming, based on what Hirshberg has been saying compared to his colleagues. (Though, neither Kotick nor Tippl sound particularly thrilled about the whole ordeal, either.)
That said, the publisher would definitely benefit from a more unified--and a little more chipper, eh?--message if it wants to convince Facebook and mobile gamers to hop on board. And based on the way Activision Blizzard has been talking about its social game efforts, we just can't wait to see these games.
Are you excited or worried to hear that Activision Blizzard is getting into social games "officially?" How do you think the company will fare with the likes of EA and Zynga. Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Zynga Mobile Chief: Mobile is a 'new social gaming frontier'
Everyone else is right there with ya, big red. During an interview with The Guardian, Zynga Mobile SVP David Ko said, "We believe that mobile represents a new social gaming frontier. We've always said we want Zynga to be the best content creators in the world, and we are platform agnostic." More and more Zynga fans expect to play its games on their phones and tablets, which wasn't exactly where CEO Mark Pincus's heart was many moons ago.
Regardless of whether Zynga has been creating mobile games since Zynga Poker hit iOS devices in 2008, it was only the advent of Facebook Connect that motivated the company to dig deeper into the platform. From that we got games like FarmVille and CityVille Hometown, neither of which are feature-complete versions of their Facebook counterparts. (The latter of which is a different game entirely.)
Now, The Guardian reports that Zynga is looking to take advantage of mobile devices' key features like cameras and accelerometers in future games. And tablets appear to be a big deal in Zynga HQ--Ko told The Guardian the company was "very bullish" on the idea. And HTML5, the emergent web coding language that's been touted as the proverbial messiah for cross-platform social gaming, is something Ko admits the company is interested in.
"HTML5 is interesting, although I do feel it is early," Ko told The Guardian. "With those acquisitions, you can see into our thinking in this area a little bit." (Ko there is referring to companies like Newtoy and Dextrose.) Zynga already released one game through HTML5: Mafia Wars Atlantic City.
However, HTML5 games have yet to achieve the complexity of, say, Hanging With Friends, which Zynga just released on Android devices. Regardless, all eyes--including Zynga's--are on those 4-inch screens that rarely leave your side. And with companies as unlikely as Capcom making buku bucks on mobile games, you can bet Zynga is a' hustlin'.
Are you waiting for more mobile games from Zynga? What would you like to see the developer do next on smartphones? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
Regardless of whether Zynga has been creating mobile games since Zynga Poker hit iOS devices in 2008, it was only the advent of Facebook Connect that motivated the company to dig deeper into the platform. From that we got games like FarmVille and CityVille Hometown, neither of which are feature-complete versions of their Facebook counterparts. (The latter of which is a different game entirely.)
Now, The Guardian reports that Zynga is looking to take advantage of mobile devices' key features like cameras and accelerometers in future games. And tablets appear to be a big deal in Zynga HQ--Ko told The Guardian the company was "very bullish" on the idea. And HTML5, the emergent web coding language that's been touted as the proverbial messiah for cross-platform social gaming, is something Ko admits the company is interested in.
"HTML5 is interesting, although I do feel it is early," Ko told The Guardian. "With those acquisitions, you can see into our thinking in this area a little bit." (Ko there is referring to companies like Newtoy and Dextrose.) Zynga already released one game through HTML5: Mafia Wars Atlantic City.
However, HTML5 games have yet to achieve the complexity of, say, Hanging With Friends, which Zynga just released on Android devices. Regardless, all eyes--including Zynga's--are on those 4-inch screens that rarely leave your side. And with companies as unlikely as Capcom making buku bucks on mobile games, you can bet Zynga is a' hustlin'.
Are you waiting for more mobile games from Zynga? What would you like to see the developer do next on smartphones? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
Thứ Tư, 5 tháng 10, 2011
CrowdStar CEO: We want to create a game that reaches a billion people
The question is, however, can it be done? Speaking at this week's HTML5 Dev Conference in San Francisco, YouWeb chairman and CrowdStar--It Girl, anyone?--CEO Peter Relan (obviously not pictured) said, "We want to create the game that reaches a billion people." VentureBeat reports that the general consensus of the event was that HTML5 is the future of social and mobile gaming.
HTML5 is a web-based coding language that, in theory, will allow game creators to develop a single game that could be played across multiple devices through web browsers without a change in the experience. Currently, however, HTML5 isn't looking so hot as a gaming platform--HTML5 games aren't as sophisticated yet as even FarmVille on iPhone--but it's gaining steam.
"We sense that web 3.0 is here," Relan said during a panel at the conference. "Mobile devices will get to six billion people. They will become pervasive. We greatly overestimate what we can do with a technology in two years, and greatly underestimate what we can do in 10 years." Relan is confident that, from arcade-style games, HTML5 games will evolve into more complex experiences, citing games on the iPhone as an example.
And Relan shares this sentiment with a number of folks in the space. Rovio marketing exec Peter Vesterbacka has already mentioned his company's goals of reaching 1 billion players with the Angry Birds franchise. Even EA CEO John Riccitiello sees his company topping 1 billion players worldwide. And the mighty Zynga, despite being less than bullish on this whole dang-fangled HTML5 thing, is rumored to be working with Facebook on its not-so-secret Project Spartan.
But wait a tick--we're talking 1 billion players of a single game, no? To do that, it's going to take not only the right technology, but a game with enough widespread appeal to hit critical mass. If anything, the number one challenge game creators will face in this effort isn't whether it is possible, but whether they can craft characters that folks of any background can fall in love with.
Do you think any of these companies could create a game that will reach 1 billion players or downloads? What do you think it will take to accomplish such a feat. Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
HTML5 is a web-based coding language that, in theory, will allow game creators to develop a single game that could be played across multiple devices through web browsers without a change in the experience. Currently, however, HTML5 isn't looking so hot as a gaming platform--HTML5 games aren't as sophisticated yet as even FarmVille on iPhone--but it's gaining steam.
"We sense that web 3.0 is here," Relan said during a panel at the conference. "Mobile devices will get to six billion people. They will become pervasive. We greatly overestimate what we can do with a technology in two years, and greatly underestimate what we can do in 10 years." Relan is confident that, from arcade-style games, HTML5 games will evolve into more complex experiences, citing games on the iPhone as an example.
And Relan shares this sentiment with a number of folks in the space. Rovio marketing exec Peter Vesterbacka has already mentioned his company's goals of reaching 1 billion players with the Angry Birds franchise. Even EA CEO John Riccitiello sees his company topping 1 billion players worldwide. And the mighty Zynga, despite being less than bullish on this whole dang-fangled HTML5 thing, is rumored to be working with Facebook on its not-so-secret Project Spartan.
But wait a tick--we're talking 1 billion players of a single game, no? To do that, it's going to take not only the right technology, but a game with enough widespread appeal to hit critical mass. If anything, the number one challenge game creators will face in this effort isn't whether it is possible, but whether they can craft characters that folks of any background can fall in love with.
Do you think any of these companies could create a game that will reach 1 billion players or downloads? What do you think it will take to accomplish such a feat. Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
FarmVille Pic of the Day: FeketeV's towering oak
Folks, just a few more hours and we'll be smooth sailing on weekend waves; it's a beautiful thing. But perhaps just as beautiful is today's featured farm, designed by the one and only FeketeV. This splendid FarmVille design takes a simple concept and makes it wonderful.
FeketeV clearly set out to make their farm into a tree. Simple. But folks, I'm sure you'll agree with me when I say that if one of us had attempted to design a tree farm, it definitely would not have looked this good. The detail is incredible, you almost forget there is a FarmVille farm plot underneath it all. From the shading on the trunk to the azure hay bale skies of deepest summer in the background, this farm is a masterpiece. The overlapping and cascading trees create a natural, organic effect that really makes this farm special.
What do you guys think of FeketeV's tree farm?
If you have an AWESOME FarmVille farm that you want to see featured on Games.com, please email a picture to editors@games.com, Include a few words about the inspiration for your design and maybe a few tips for people who need an assist!
FeketeV clearly set out to make their farm into a tree. Simple. But folks, I'm sure you'll agree with me when I say that if one of us had attempted to design a tree farm, it definitely would not have looked this good. The detail is incredible, you almost forget there is a FarmVille farm plot underneath it all. From the shading on the trunk to the azure hay bale skies of deepest summer in the background, this farm is a masterpiece. The overlapping and cascading trees create a natural, organic effect that really makes this farm special.
What do you guys think of FeketeV's tree farm?
If you have an AWESOME FarmVille farm that you want to see featured on Games.com, please email a picture to editors@games.com, Include a few words about the inspiration for your design and maybe a few tips for people who need an assist!
Empires & Allies: Play Adventure World, score a Red Vampire Jet
The cross promotions for Adventure World, Zynga's brand new giant Facebook game from Zynga Boston, have officially exploded. After taking tours through both CityVille and Mafia Wars, Empires & Allies players can now score their own limited edition item, the Red Vampire Jet, for giving the new game a ride. All you need to do is long into E&A and click on an icon of a red plane on the right of your game screen.
Once you click this, click on the button to jump into Adventure World. You have until Oct. 6 to reach Level 6 in the massive game to score the item. Since the item won't be given to players until that date, we're unsure as to what it does. But our best guess is that it will be an aerial military unit. And it looks quite interesting with a very "seaplane" look to it.
Before the bevy of cross promotions, Adventure World wasn't doing so hot. But now, after diligent in-game advertisements like these, Zynga Boston's debut has reached over 29.5 million monthly players, and it looks to soon topple E&A, according to AppData. Oh, and the fact that the game will soon be thoroughly branded with Indiana Jones will certainly help that growth. Things are on the up and up for Adventure World, and the team already looks to capitalize on this critical mass.
Are you going to play Adventure World for this new item? What do you think of the cross promotions in Zynga's games overall? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Once you click this, click on the button to jump into Adventure World. You have until Oct. 6 to reach Level 6 in the massive game to score the item. Since the item won't be given to players until that date, we're unsure as to what it does. But our best guess is that it will be an aerial military unit. And it looks quite interesting with a very "seaplane" look to it.
Before the bevy of cross promotions, Adventure World wasn't doing so hot. But now, after diligent in-game advertisements like these, Zynga Boston's debut has reached over 29.5 million monthly players, and it looks to soon topple E&A, according to AppData. Oh, and the fact that the game will soon be thoroughly branded with Indiana Jones will certainly help that growth. Things are on the up and up for Adventure World, and the team already looks to capitalize on this critical mass.
Are you going to play Adventure World for this new item? What do you think of the cross promotions in Zynga's games overall? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Adventure World Mountain Chase Expedition: Everything you need to know
As we told you yesterday, a trio of new Expeditions have launched in Adventure World, being triggered by the upcoming appearance of Indiana Jones in the game. First came the Great River Expedition, and now, we'll take a look at the second of two: The Mountain Chase. This particular Expedition requires you to have 400 Supplies and two each of Foods, Fuel and Water. You'll have a period of three days to finish this entire Expedition, which contains three quests to complete.
The story of this Expedition sees you gathering a rubbing from a second Standing Stone. However, you'll have competition for this stone, as a group of thieves have taken it, and you'll need to get it back. Let's get started!
Let the Chase Begin!
* Collect the First Stone Piece
* Collect Second Stone Piece
* Use the Stone Base
* Take a Rubbing of the Standing Stone
This quest is the main, overall quest for this particular Expedition, and it requires you to collect the various pieces of the stone, which has been broken up. You'll go through the thieves' campsites searching through boxes that may contain stone pieces, but not all of them do. There's no skill involved in this setup, but there will be some trial and error, so keep that in mind. While the first piece is held in a box, the second is held by a snake at the end of the path. The Stone Base is back at the beginning of the map.
Sweethearts and Sweet Tooths
* Collect 3 Cocoa
* Collect 12 Sugar
* Use Cooking Fires to Bake 3 Brownies
* Collect 3 Brownies
If anything, your research teammate Emily is definitely demanding. Just like in the Great River Expedition, you're sent on what might as well be a while goose chase by Emily in this Expedition as well, as she asks you to gather cooking ingredients for brownies that she can use to "woo her beau." Cocoa is found growing from large trees, while you can ask your friends to send you the sugar. The Cooking Fires are found inside the thieves campsites, and you'll just need to click on them when you have the proper ingredients to make the brownies.
Take Their Stuff
* Collect 7 Backpacks
* Collect 4 Maps
In this Expedition, you can think of Backpacks and Maps as though they were Red and Jade Vases. That is, they're scattered throughout the map, often blocked by pieces of debris, and by collecting them, you'll apparently learn more about the identity of these thieves.
When you've finally retrieved the pieces of the Standing Stone and have finished these other two goals, you will have completely finished the Mountain Chase Expedition. Indy still has one more job for you though, before he makes a true appearance, so keep checking back with us for more guides on completing that Expedition and more in the future!
Check out the rest of our Adventure World Cheats & Tips right here.
What do you think of the Mountain Chase Expedition? Do you think these "Emily-based" quests have any point of being in the game, or do you like the variety they add? Sound off in the comments.
The story of this Expedition sees you gathering a rubbing from a second Standing Stone. However, you'll have competition for this stone, as a group of thieves have taken it, and you'll need to get it back. Let's get started!
Let the Chase Begin!
* Collect the First Stone Piece
* Collect Second Stone Piece
* Use the Stone Base
* Take a Rubbing of the Standing Stone
This quest is the main, overall quest for this particular Expedition, and it requires you to collect the various pieces of the stone, which has been broken up. You'll go through the thieves' campsites searching through boxes that may contain stone pieces, but not all of them do. There's no skill involved in this setup, but there will be some trial and error, so keep that in mind. While the first piece is held in a box, the second is held by a snake at the end of the path. The Stone Base is back at the beginning of the map.
Sweethearts and Sweet Tooths
* Collect 3 Cocoa
* Collect 12 Sugar
* Use Cooking Fires to Bake 3 Brownies
* Collect 3 Brownies
If anything, your research teammate Emily is definitely demanding. Just like in the Great River Expedition, you're sent on what might as well be a while goose chase by Emily in this Expedition as well, as she asks you to gather cooking ingredients for brownies that she can use to "woo her beau." Cocoa is found growing from large trees, while you can ask your friends to send you the sugar. The Cooking Fires are found inside the thieves campsites, and you'll just need to click on them when you have the proper ingredients to make the brownies.
Take Their Stuff
* Collect 7 Backpacks
* Collect 4 Maps
In this Expedition, you can think of Backpacks and Maps as though they were Red and Jade Vases. That is, they're scattered throughout the map, often blocked by pieces of debris, and by collecting them, you'll apparently learn more about the identity of these thieves.
When you've finally retrieved the pieces of the Standing Stone and have finished these other two goals, you will have completely finished the Mountain Chase Expedition. Indy still has one more job for you though, before he makes a true appearance, so keep checking back with us for more guides on completing that Expedition and more in the future!
Check out the rest of our Adventure World Cheats & Tips right here.
What do you think of the Mountain Chase Expedition? Do you think these "Emily-based" quests have any point of being in the game, or do you like the variety they add? Sound off in the comments.
CityVille Pet Show Timed Goal: Everything you need to know
If there's one thing we know about the character Ruth in CityVille, it's that this woman loves her pigeons. That's true to such an extent that she's decided to enter her pigeons into the local pet show. This is done through a new timed goal called "Pet Show" (or, just "Best in Show," if you prefer), and it must be completed in just 24 hours to receive the best prizes. Here's a look at what you'll need to do:
* Get 12 Pet Shampoos
* Collect 12 Times from any Zoo enclosure
* Collect 12 Dubai Shipments
If you have multiple Zoo habitats in your city, just make sure you collect from all of them at once to maximize your points. You can collect from them every few hours, so if you have four habitats (for example), you'll only need to collect from each one three times. While you're waiting, you can send off for Dubai Shipments which take 12 hours to return, and can also gather the bottles of Pet Shampoo, which is accomplished via a general news item posted to your wall.
If you can finish this goal within the first 24 hours, you'll receive the Gold Trophy, 10,000 coins, 3,000 Goods and a Poodle Statue decorative item for your town. If you can't finish within the first day, but finish within 72 hours, you won't receive the Poodle Statue, but you will earn a Silver Tophy, 2,300 coins and 1,200 Goods. Finally, if you finish the goal at any point after the first 72 hours, you'll receive a Bronze Trophy and 1,200 Goods.
Remember, while you are timed once you start the goal, there doesn't appear to be any time limit for when you need to start it. That is, you are only placed on a time limit once you manually start the countdown in your game. Feel free to ignore it entirely until you're truly ready before beginning and you'll still have the full time available to you to finish (and a better chance of actually doing so).
What do you think of the Pet Show Timed Goal? Have you already started it in your game, or are you waiting for a better time before you take on a time-sensitive goal? Sound off in the comments.
* Get 12 Pet Shampoos
* Collect 12 Times from any Zoo enclosure
* Collect 12 Dubai Shipments
If you have multiple Zoo habitats in your city, just make sure you collect from all of them at once to maximize your points. You can collect from them every few hours, so if you have four habitats (for example), you'll only need to collect from each one three times. While you're waiting, you can send off for Dubai Shipments which take 12 hours to return, and can also gather the bottles of Pet Shampoo, which is accomplished via a general news item posted to your wall.
If you can finish this goal within the first 24 hours, you'll receive the Gold Trophy, 10,000 coins, 3,000 Goods and a Poodle Statue decorative item for your town. If you can't finish within the first day, but finish within 72 hours, you won't receive the Poodle Statue, but you will earn a Silver Tophy, 2,300 coins and 1,200 Goods. Finally, if you finish the goal at any point after the first 72 hours, you'll receive a Bronze Trophy and 1,200 Goods.
Remember, while you are timed once you start the goal, there doesn't appear to be any time limit for when you need to start it. That is, you are only placed on a time limit once you manually start the countdown in your game. Feel free to ignore it entirely until you're truly ready before beginning and you'll still have the full time available to you to finish (and a better chance of actually doing so).
What do you think of the Pet Show Timed Goal? Have you already started it in your game, or are you waiting for a better time before you take on a time-sensitive goal? Sound off in the comments.
Thứ Ba, 4 tháng 10, 2011
Google+ Games Stream now real time, updates mimic Facebook
Google+ Games just got a little bit better ... or just more like Facebook games. (Zing!) Google+ Product Manager Satyajeet Salgar just announced that the Google+ Games Stream has gone real time. This means that, rather than having to refresh the Stream to see gaming updates from your friends, they'll appear before you as they happen. For speedier reading, keyboard shortcuts work when perusing the Games Stream, too.
Frankly, this sounds an awful lot like the recent Games Ticker addition to the Facebook games Canvas. The second update to Google+ Games is the brand new ability to add your own personalized comments to updates you share with friends. Again, this is something players could in Facebook games for awhile now.
Finally, game notifications will appear in the Google+ Bar lining the top of users' web pages just below the address bar. Bonus: If they're annoying, you can just mute them. (Double Bonus: Google added Kabam's Global Warfare to Google+ Games in addition to Zynga's CityVille earlier this week.)
Granted, these changes are likely welcome by Google+ gamers with open arms, but their Facebook counterparts either have existed for quite some time or were recently added. In defense of Google+, however, Facebook arguably made a lot of its recent changes to the games Canvas in response to its new arch nemesis. And something tell us this slap battle is far from over. Check out Salgar detail the changes below.
[Via The Next Web]
What do you think of the recent changes to Google+ Games? Where do you see the fight between Facebook and Google in the games space going? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Frankly, this sounds an awful lot like the recent Games Ticker addition to the Facebook games Canvas. The second update to Google+ Games is the brand new ability to add your own personalized comments to updates you share with friends. Again, this is something players could in Facebook games for awhile now.
Finally, game notifications will appear in the Google+ Bar lining the top of users' web pages just below the address bar. Bonus: If they're annoying, you can just mute them. (Double Bonus: Google added Kabam's Global Warfare to Google+ Games in addition to Zynga's CityVille earlier this week.)
Granted, these changes are likely welcome by Google+ gamers with open arms, but their Facebook counterparts either have existed for quite some time or were recently added. In defense of Google+, however, Facebook arguably made a lot of its recent changes to the games Canvas in response to its new arch nemesis. And something tell us this slap battle is far from over. Check out Salgar detail the changes below.
[Via The Next Web]
What do you think of the recent changes to Google+ Games? Where do you see the fight between Facebook and Google in the games space going? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
FarmVille Halloween items: Candy Corn Tree, Halloween Cottage, Jack-O'-Lantern and more
With tonight's FarmVille update, we see the game switch to Halloween-mode, as the first set of Halloween related items has been released in the store. This particular update sees the launch of both new items and old, so if you happen to regret not purchasing some items from last year's Halloween theme, take a look at our overview of these items to see if they've come back around.
Crops
Jack O Lantern - 10 Farm Cash
To be specific, the Jack O Lantern crop comes as an exclusive, permit-only crop that can be unlocked for 10 Farm Cash. For that price, you'll gain access to planting the crop as many times as you'd like for a seven day period. Once purchased and planted, you'll be able to harvest the Jack O Lanterns after 12 hours, and will gain three experience points for each and every square planted. The crop is masterable, with the first star coming at 400 harvests.
Trees
Candy Corn Tree - 8 Farm Cash
Giant Candy Corn Tree - 14 Farm Cash
Halloween Candy Tree - 8 Farm Cash
Big Halloween Candy Tree - 14 Farm Cash
If you're like me, the thought of bright and whimsical trees will likely have you ready to whip out your credit card. These trees are no exception, as the Halloween Candy trees keep their purple color constantly, while the Candy Corn trees start out in different shades of green, only to mature into the classic white, yellow and orange trio of colors we're familiar with from the candy. As usual, the Level 1 (cheaper) trees are the only ones you really need to worry about purchasing outright for your collection, as you'll likely earn the larger trees in each pair for free via Mystery Seedlings.
Animals
Candy Corn Cat - 12 Farm Cash
Candy Corn Pony - 24 Farm Cash
Candy Corn Unicorn - 30 Farm Cash
Candy Corn Stallion - 35 Farm Cash
For these animals, the Candy Corn Pony was released last year (also for 24 Farm Cash), so you might already have one on your farm. If you'd like to purchase these items for your new Lighthouse Cove farm, however, you will have to purchase multiples (duplicates) as there is no way to transfer storage to your new farm as of this writing.
Buildings
Halloween Cottage - 30 Farm Cash
Candy Corn Home - 18 Farm Cash
The Halloween Cottage has to be one of the most intricately detailed buildings I've seen released in FarmVille in quite some time, if not ever. The building is covered in various spiderwebs and has candy, pumpkins and what appear to be twigs resting in the windowsills, around the front "porch" and the sides. Even the weather vane on the roof is in the design of the bat - how neat! As for the Candy Corn Home, it takes on a cuter appearance, with smaller candy corn pieces branching off from the main home as separate rooms. It's just a shame that both of these items cost Farm Cash, rather than going for coins.
Decorations
Candy Corn Gate - 10,000 coins
Candy Corn (Fountain) - 15 Farm Cash
Jack-O'-Lantern - 3,000 coins
Candy Corn Gnome - 15 Farm Cash
Candy Corn Fence - 5,000 coins
If this Jack-O'-Lantern trio looks familiar, it's because this is one item that has been a stable in FarmVille's Halloween events for the last few years, first appearing in 2009. The price has increased somewhat, but at 3,000 coins, it's still a bargain (especially considering that they glow as though lit with a candle).
Avatar Clothing
Banana Costume - 5 Farm Cash
Candy Corn Costume - 7 Farm Cash
While I'm fairly confident additional costumes will be launched in the game's store between now and Halloween proper, if you're looking to get into the spirit early, or just really like Bananas or Candy Corn, you can spend a few Farm Cash to dress your avatar up appropriately. Remember, you can try on items to see if you like the way your avatar looks in them before purchasing.
All of these items (with the exception of the crop) will be available in the game for the next 13 days. To top all of this off, however, if you happen to purchase seven items in this theme so far within the next seven days, you'll receive a free Nightmare Rider: a Halloween-themed sheep with a pumpkin hat and an orange and black flame motorcycle. We'll make sure to let you know when additional Halloween items and features launch in the game in the coming weeks, so keep checking back with us!
Are you excited to see FarmVille transition into Halloween-themed mode this year? Which of these items is your favorite so far? Sound off in the comments.
Crops
Jack O Lantern - 10 Farm Cash
To be specific, the Jack O Lantern crop comes as an exclusive, permit-only crop that can be unlocked for 10 Farm Cash. For that price, you'll gain access to planting the crop as many times as you'd like for a seven day period. Once purchased and planted, you'll be able to harvest the Jack O Lanterns after 12 hours, and will gain three experience points for each and every square planted. The crop is masterable, with the first star coming at 400 harvests.
Trees
Candy Corn Tree - 8 Farm Cash
Giant Candy Corn Tree - 14 Farm Cash
Halloween Candy Tree - 8 Farm Cash
Big Halloween Candy Tree - 14 Farm Cash
If you're like me, the thought of bright and whimsical trees will likely have you ready to whip out your credit card. These trees are no exception, as the Halloween Candy trees keep their purple color constantly, while the Candy Corn trees start out in different shades of green, only to mature into the classic white, yellow and orange trio of colors we're familiar with from the candy. As usual, the Level 1 (cheaper) trees are the only ones you really need to worry about purchasing outright for your collection, as you'll likely earn the larger trees in each pair for free via Mystery Seedlings.
Animals
Candy Corn Cat - 12 Farm Cash
Candy Corn Pony - 24 Farm Cash
Candy Corn Unicorn - 30 Farm Cash
Candy Corn Stallion - 35 Farm Cash
For these animals, the Candy Corn Pony was released last year (also for 24 Farm Cash), so you might already have one on your farm. If you'd like to purchase these items for your new Lighthouse Cove farm, however, you will have to purchase multiples (duplicates) as there is no way to transfer storage to your new farm as of this writing.
Buildings
Halloween Cottage - 30 Farm Cash
Candy Corn Home - 18 Farm Cash
The Halloween Cottage has to be one of the most intricately detailed buildings I've seen released in FarmVille in quite some time, if not ever. The building is covered in various spiderwebs and has candy, pumpkins and what appear to be twigs resting in the windowsills, around the front "porch" and the sides. Even the weather vane on the roof is in the design of the bat - how neat! As for the Candy Corn Home, it takes on a cuter appearance, with smaller candy corn pieces branching off from the main home as separate rooms. It's just a shame that both of these items cost Farm Cash, rather than going for coins.
Decorations
Candy Corn Gate - 10,000 coins
Candy Corn (Fountain) - 15 Farm Cash
Jack-O'-Lantern - 3,000 coins
Candy Corn Gnome - 15 Farm Cash
Candy Corn Fence - 5,000 coins
If this Jack-O'-Lantern trio looks familiar, it's because this is one item that has been a stable in FarmVille's Halloween events for the last few years, first appearing in 2009. The price has increased somewhat, but at 3,000 coins, it's still a bargain (especially considering that they glow as though lit with a candle).
Avatar Clothing
Banana Costume - 5 Farm Cash
Candy Corn Costume - 7 Farm Cash
While I'm fairly confident additional costumes will be launched in the game's store between now and Halloween proper, if you're looking to get into the spirit early, or just really like Bananas or Candy Corn, you can spend a few Farm Cash to dress your avatar up appropriately. Remember, you can try on items to see if you like the way your avatar looks in them before purchasing.
All of these items (with the exception of the crop) will be available in the game for the next 13 days. To top all of this off, however, if you happen to purchase seven items in this theme so far within the next seven days, you'll receive a free Nightmare Rider: a Halloween-themed sheep with a pumpkin hat and an orange and black flame motorcycle. We'll make sure to let you know when additional Halloween items and features launch in the game in the coming weeks, so keep checking back with us!
Are you excited to see FarmVille transition into Halloween-themed mode this year? Which of these items is your favorite so far? Sound off in the comments.
FarmVille: Horses return to the store in celebration of Horse Paddock
As has become a new (but temporary) ritual in FarmVille, every time another animal breeding building releases in the game, a set of matching animals are re-released in the game's store allowing you to fill it with a variety of limited edition animals. Such is the case with this final breeding habitat - the Horse Paddock - as you can now purchase a variety of Horses to fill it from the store for a limited time. Remember, you don't need a Stallion inside your Horse Paddock to trigger breeding; you just need a single kind of a particular Horse to produce a Foal at random you harvest from the Paddock. Here's a look at the animals you can now purchase.
Disco Pony - 24 Farm Cash
Pinto Pony - 26 Farm Cash
Clydesdale Stallion - 40 Farm Cash
Mini Appaloosa - 26 Farm Cash
Palouse Horse - 28 Farm Cash
Haflinger - 24 Farm Cash
E-QUESTR10N - 24 Farm Cash
Mini Purple Unicorn - 35 Farm Cash
White Pegasus - 35 Farm Cash
Andalusian Horse - 26 Farm Cash
King Horse - 26 Farm Cash
Pink Ponytail Horse - 26 Farm Cash
Pinto Mini Horse - 26 Farm Cash
Fairy Horse - 26 Farm Cash
Comtois Horse - 26 Farm Cash
There are plenty of Horse collectors in FarmVille, and it shows here, with a whopping 15 horses/ponies being released once again for players to add to their collections. If you joined the game later than other farmers, or just started your collection recently, this is a fantastic (albeit incredibly expensive) way to flesh out your collection into something that's definitely worth showing off. Just remember, these Horses will only be available in the store for the next week. After that point, they'll go into retirement, with no guarantee of when (if ever) they'll come back again.
Will you purchase any of these re-released Horses, or is your collection of Horses already large enough to fill plenty of Horse Paddocks? Sound off in the comments.
Disco Pony - 24 Farm Cash
Pinto Pony - 26 Farm Cash
Clydesdale Stallion - 40 Farm Cash
Mini Appaloosa - 26 Farm Cash
Palouse Horse - 28 Farm Cash
Haflinger - 24 Farm Cash
E-QUESTR10N - 24 Farm Cash
Mini Purple Unicorn - 35 Farm Cash
White Pegasus - 35 Farm Cash
Andalusian Horse - 26 Farm Cash
King Horse - 26 Farm Cash
Pink Ponytail Horse - 26 Farm Cash
Pinto Mini Horse - 26 Farm Cash
Fairy Horse - 26 Farm Cash
Comtois Horse - 26 Farm Cash
There are plenty of Horse collectors in FarmVille, and it shows here, with a whopping 15 horses/ponies being released once again for players to add to their collections. If you joined the game later than other farmers, or just started your collection recently, this is a fantastic (albeit incredibly expensive) way to flesh out your collection into something that's definitely worth showing off. Just remember, these Horses will only be available in the store for the next week. After that point, they'll go into retirement, with no guarantee of when (if ever) they'll come back again.
Will you purchase any of these re-released Horses, or is your collection of Horses already large enough to fill plenty of Horse Paddocks? Sound off in the comments.
FarmVille Horse Mystery Box: What's inside?
If the recently re-released set of Horses available in the FarmVille marketplace aren't enough to satisfy your Horse-collecting needs, why not look into purchasing one of the new Horse Mystery Boxes that have also been released in the game's store? Remember, these Mystery Boxes are found under the Decorations tab of the store, even if they contain animals, so don't worry if you don't see them where they likely should be.
As for this particular box, it comes stocked with six Horses, but remember - you'll have no way of knowing which Horse you'll receive when opening a single box up. They come with the expected Horse price tag of 24 Farm Cash per box, and for that price, you're guaranteed to receive one of the following:
Black Shire Horse
Chrome Pegasus
Rainbow Mini Horse
Rainbow Pony
Rainbow Stallion
White Unicorn
Unfortunately, another problem inherent with these Mystery Boxes is that they also don't guarantee you to not receive duplicates if you decide to open more than one. Depending on how many of these Horses you already have on your farms from previous releases, that fact alone could actually make this box too much of a risk to purchase. Either way, you'll need to make up your mind about a purchase fairly quickly, as the box (and its contents) will expire from the store in a week's time.
Will you purchase a Horse Mystery Box for your game? Which Horse are you hoping to find inside? Which one did you actually receive? Let us know in the comments!
As for this particular box, it comes stocked with six Horses, but remember - you'll have no way of knowing which Horse you'll receive when opening a single box up. They come with the expected Horse price tag of 24 Farm Cash per box, and for that price, you're guaranteed to receive one of the following:
Black Shire Horse
Chrome Pegasus
Rainbow Mini Horse
Rainbow Pony
Rainbow Stallion
White Unicorn
Unfortunately, another problem inherent with these Mystery Boxes is that they also don't guarantee you to not receive duplicates if you decide to open more than one. Depending on how many of these Horses you already have on your farms from previous releases, that fact alone could actually make this box too much of a risk to purchase. Either way, you'll need to make up your mind about a purchase fairly quickly, as the box (and its contents) will expire from the store in a week's time.
Will you purchase a Horse Mystery Box for your game? Which Horse are you hoping to find inside? Which one did you actually receive? Let us know in the comments!
FarmVille Halloween Model Farm offers free Arborists and more
While I know I've expressed my problems with the Model Farm in FarmVille in the past, with the new Halloween Model Farm that launched this evening, I might have to eat my words. Not only is it great to see Halloween-themed items (from one of my favorite holidays) in all of their "life-size glory," but this particular Model Farm also combines these Halloween items with Lighthouse Cove items so that we can see how that looks without spending our own money beforehand.
To add to this, you're even given free prizes just for visiting, giving us even more incentive to do so. Tonight's free prize, for example, is an Arborist. While it's unclear as to whether or not that prize is static just for today's date on the calendar or for each user's first visit to the Model Farm, but either way, it doesn't hurt to just spend a few seconds allowing the farm to load each day to receive your free prize. It could be anything from functional items to coins and beyond so isn't the mystery alone enough reason to check it out?
No? Well, also remember that you can purchase items directly from the farm if you happen to see something you like but that the store never gave you enough detail to before. I suppose that's the real purpose of the Model Farm, after all, so feel free to put it to good use.
What prizes have you received from the new Halloween Model Farm? Do you find the Model Farm feature useful, or is it just wasted space in your eyes? Let us know in the comments!
To add to this, you're even given free prizes just for visiting, giving us even more incentive to do so. Tonight's free prize, for example, is an Arborist. While it's unclear as to whether or not that prize is static just for today's date on the calendar or for each user's first visit to the Model Farm, but either way, it doesn't hurt to just spend a few seconds allowing the farm to load each day to receive your free prize. It could be anything from functional items to coins and beyond so isn't the mystery alone enough reason to check it out?
No? Well, also remember that you can purchase items directly from the farm if you happen to see something you like but that the store never gave you enough detail to before. I suppose that's the real purpose of the Model Farm, after all, so feel free to put it to good use.
What prizes have you received from the new Halloween Model Farm? Do you find the Model Farm feature useful, or is it just wasted space in your eyes? Let us know in the comments!
Thứ Bảy, 1 tháng 10, 2011
CityVille: Earn a free Tunnel decoration for playing Adventure World
While Adventure World has finally started seeing a push in its user base (to a current total of around 26 million players), that doesn't mean Zynga wants the growth to slow down. To help users discover its newest game, the developer has launched a cross-promotion between Adventure World and its largest game: CityVille. This promotion, like the FarmVille promotion that came before it, will give users some incentive to play AW by rewarding them with a prize back in CityVille at the end.
To be specific, a free Tunnel decoration (pictured at right) is up for grabs for all CityVille players that take the time to reach at least Level 7 in Adventure World. This is unfortunately two levels more than that required for the FarmVille cross-promotion, so you will need to keep chugging along until you level up two more times. To help you do that, we have guides on the game's starting Expeditions, along with the game's main story quests, so make sure to check out our guides to those events to help yourself level up as quickly as possible.
While you shouldn't have to, you should also remember to click on the "Play Now" button in the pop-up that appears in CityVille to activate this cross-promotion in your game. It's possible that Zynga will automatically track the players that have met both requirements (that is, those that play CityVille and are at least Level 7 in Adventure World), but clicking on this link should eliminate all doubt. Oh yeah, you'll need to do all of the above fairly quickly - your time limit for receiving your free Tunnel Decoration is October 6. On that date, all qualifying users will receive their prize, so don't worry if you don't receive it beforehand. Just make sure you meet the deadline if you want this free Tunnel in your town.
Will you play Adventure World to at least Level 7 to qualify for a free CityVille Tunnel? Sound off in the comments.
To be specific, a free Tunnel decoration (pictured at right) is up for grabs for all CityVille players that take the time to reach at least Level 7 in Adventure World. This is unfortunately two levels more than that required for the FarmVille cross-promotion, so you will need to keep chugging along until you level up two more times. To help you do that, we have guides on the game's starting Expeditions, along with the game's main story quests, so make sure to check out our guides to those events to help yourself level up as quickly as possible.
While you shouldn't have to, you should also remember to click on the "Play Now" button in the pop-up that appears in CityVille to activate this cross-promotion in your game. It's possible that Zynga will automatically track the players that have met both requirements (that is, those that play CityVille and are at least Level 7 in Adventure World), but clicking on this link should eliminate all doubt. Oh yeah, you'll need to do all of the above fairly quickly - your time limit for receiving your free Tunnel Decoration is October 6. On that date, all qualifying users will receive their prize, so don't worry if you don't receive it beforehand. Just make sure you meet the deadline if you want this free Tunnel in your town.
Will you play Adventure World to at least Level 7 to qualify for a free CityVille Tunnel? Sound off in the comments.
Adventure World Cave of Montezuma Expedition: Everything you need to know
If you've already made your way through Adventure World's "starter" Expeditions, you might be surprised when scrolling through the list today to find a new entry has been added. While we know that Expeditions are already available all of the way to Level 40, this entirely new Expedition sits in between Jungle Run and Mountain Pass, making it now the fourth Expedition on the list. If you're thorough and wish to complete all Expeditions at least once, we've got a guide to help you do just that.
This particular Expedition requires 175 Supplies and two each of Food, Fuel and Water. Your overall goal is to defeat a spider infestation and find Montezuma's Headdress, and you only have two days to accomplish it all. Let's get started!
Montezuma's Headdress
* Recover the Blue Feather
* Recover the Green Feather
* Recover the Red Feather
* Recover the Headdress
While the Professor has successfully located Montezuma's Headdress, you'll quickly learn that it's in pieces and must be gathered bit by bit before this Expedition can be completed. The pieces of the headdress are scattered throughout this fairly complex map, with some of the feathers being perched high atop pillars that must be lowered by activating statues, not entirely unlike the ending of the Treasure Trail Expedition.
Outsmarting Spiders
* Defeat 5 Spiders
* Clear 5 Spider Webs
* Ask friends for 10 Bat Houses
* Place Bat Houses on Gnarled Trees
Unfortunately, while a few Bat Houses can be found on this map, you won't be able to find all 10, so you do need to ask for your friends' help, and quickly! As for the Spiders, these guys may not immediately be visible on the map, as they fall down from the "ceiling" using lines of web. Spider Webs themselves can be found around the map like a normal piece of debris. As for the Gnarled Trees, these are also found on the map, which put your Bat Houses to good use. In the second picture below, you'll see a Gnarled Tree highlighted in red. By clicking on it when you have a Bat House in your inventory, the Bat House will be hung from the tree.
Montezuma Says
* Solve the First Puzzle
* Solve the Second Puzzle
* Solve the Third Puzzle
As I said above, two of the feathers to the headdress are blocked by puzzles, while a Ruby Vase sits at the end of the third. Even if you'd rather not, you will need to spend some energy going after this Ruby Vase to complete this particular quest, as you must complete all three puzzles. These puzzles give you a series of pillars that animate in order. You must then repeat the animation by clicking on the appropriate statues like in a game of "Simon Says." You'll be able to push a nearby button to see the puzzle repeatedly, if you can't remember the exact order to activate the statues in, so don't worry if you forget to pay attention. Once you complete each puzzle appropriate, its prize will lower so that you can collect it (note: you may not be able to walk directly up to it, but might have to go around, or even use a Grappling Hook to get there).
By finishing these three quests, you will have successfully complete the Cave of Montezuma Expedition. Remember though - even though this is a new addition to the game, it can still be mastered like all others, requiring multiple runs through the Expedition in its entirety. The more you master an Expedition, the higher the rewards become, so feel free to master them all for the best rewards in the end.
Check out the rest of our Adventure World Cheats & Tips right here.
What do you think of this Cave of Montezuma Expedition? Do you think it's too difficult to be placed this early in the Expedition "timeline?" Sound off in the comments.
This particular Expedition requires 175 Supplies and two each of Food, Fuel and Water. Your overall goal is to defeat a spider infestation and find Montezuma's Headdress, and you only have two days to accomplish it all. Let's get started!
Montezuma's Headdress
* Recover the Blue Feather
* Recover the Green Feather
* Recover the Red Feather
* Recover the Headdress
While the Professor has successfully located Montezuma's Headdress, you'll quickly learn that it's in pieces and must be gathered bit by bit before this Expedition can be completed. The pieces of the headdress are scattered throughout this fairly complex map, with some of the feathers being perched high atop pillars that must be lowered by activating statues, not entirely unlike the ending of the Treasure Trail Expedition.
Outsmarting Spiders
* Defeat 5 Spiders
* Clear 5 Spider Webs
* Ask friends for 10 Bat Houses
* Place Bat Houses on Gnarled Trees
Unfortunately, while a few Bat Houses can be found on this map, you won't be able to find all 10, so you do need to ask for your friends' help, and quickly! As for the Spiders, these guys may not immediately be visible on the map, as they fall down from the "ceiling" using lines of web. Spider Webs themselves can be found around the map like a normal piece of debris. As for the Gnarled Trees, these are also found on the map, which put your Bat Houses to good use. In the second picture below, you'll see a Gnarled Tree highlighted in red. By clicking on it when you have a Bat House in your inventory, the Bat House will be hung from the tree.
Montezuma Says
* Solve the First Puzzle
* Solve the Second Puzzle
* Solve the Third Puzzle
As I said above, two of the feathers to the headdress are blocked by puzzles, while a Ruby Vase sits at the end of the third. Even if you'd rather not, you will need to spend some energy going after this Ruby Vase to complete this particular quest, as you must complete all three puzzles. These puzzles give you a series of pillars that animate in order. You must then repeat the animation by clicking on the appropriate statues like in a game of "Simon Says." You'll be able to push a nearby button to see the puzzle repeatedly, if you can't remember the exact order to activate the statues in, so don't worry if you forget to pay attention. Once you complete each puzzle appropriate, its prize will lower so that you can collect it (note: you may not be able to walk directly up to it, but might have to go around, or even use a Grappling Hook to get there).
By finishing these three quests, you will have successfully complete the Cave of Montezuma Expedition. Remember though - even though this is a new addition to the game, it can still be mastered like all others, requiring multiple runs through the Expedition in its entirety. The more you master an Expedition, the higher the rewards become, so feel free to master them all for the best rewards in the end.
Check out the rest of our Adventure World Cheats & Tips right here.
What do you think of this Cave of Montezuma Expedition? Do you think it's too difficult to be placed this early in the Expedition "timeline?" Sound off in the comments.
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