The proverbial veil has been lifted, everyone. Google+ is finally open to the public, meaning anyone can join Google's social network regardless of whether they've been invited through a friend. More importantly, this means the service, which soft-launched back in August to a controlled amount of users through invites, is open to even more social gamers than before.
Granted, there are only 16 games so far on Google+ Games. But surely the company hopes, that with an influx of potential players, that developers will become even more interested in Google as a social gaming destination. However, there are several arguably basic social features that aren't yet a part of the Google+ developer API, or application programming interface.
Namely, the posts that players can push through to the Games Stream from a Google+ game are not interactive. This means that the viral nature of social gaming is severely hindered on the network--players cannot directly help one another through the Games Stream like the can through the Facebook News Feed. This essentially thwarts what is popularly believed to give social games their name.
At the moment, players can only post general updates such as, "I scored 5 bajillion points in Bejeweled Blitz!" However, Rovio played somewhat of a smarter game with Angry Birds on Google+ Games, and introduced a friend gate to most of its content, meaning players have to add so many friends to access new levels. Luckily, Google has already stated that it's working to introduce more robust features over time.
Regardless, omissions like this serve as proof that Google+ Games, while impressive in its scope, ambition and support, is still a nascent gaming platform when put up against competitors like Facebook. With this news, perhaps the race Google+ is running has changed track to whether Google+ Games can keep up with the demands and needs of its players, rather than its competitors.
[Via Inside Social Games]
Have you tried out Google+ Games yet? Do you think, after what you experienced, that Google has a chance at competing in the social games world? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Thứ Sáu, 30 tháng 9, 2011
Mobile social game taps into 700K player base for children's charity
Parallel Kingdom 700,000K players
What do you do when you're a well-respected mobile game with 700K players worldwide? You design a virtual soup can helmet and sell it to your players for charity! At least, that's what Per Blue's Parallel Kingdom is doing (with Playmob) for the SOS Children relief in North Kenya.
SOS Children's Villages is an independently operated, international organization that's been saving kids since 1949. Currently, funds are needed for emergency food and medical aid due to a severe drought in the area. Soup Can Helmets cost 550 Food each (the virtual currency of Parallel Kingdom), which is the equivalent of $5.50 USD and enough to feed three children. Since the helmet is priced with Food, it's possible for you to not spend any real money on the helmet for it to still count. (In fact, for those of you who haven't liked the game's Facebook page yet, there's a free 100 Food offer that you can use towards a helmet purchase.)
According to Per Blue, this charity drive is at its halfway point with only a week left to go. So far, 550 Soup Can Helmets have been sold, which means 1,650 children have been cared for. If you play the game, you can buy the Soup Can Helmet in the PK Swag section of your local Trade Post until September 29.
Parallel Kingdom Donate Food
If you're new to the game and feeling adventurous, then after the tutorial stage, click on the Food tab on the bottom of your game screen to reach the Get Food menu. You'll see the Donate Food option, but it's really just a notice for the charity drive. Instead, you need to go to Travel, click on a Trade Hub (the one in Madison, WI is one of the two biggest ones), and locate your Local Trade Post, which should be a white building with a red roof buried under a dozen other players who are represented as little heads. Finally, you need to be at Level 2 to be allowed to purchase the helmet. (If you get lost, fire up the in-game chat. Special thanks goes to MisMoon, MoldyBanana, and ZeroGr@vity for their help.)
Parallel Kingdom Trade Post
Parallel Kingdom is best described as FourSquare meets a MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game). It surpassed a half million players in June, was voted 2009 Best Augmented Reality App Second Place (first place went to XMG Studio Inc.'s Pandemica) and 2009 Best MMO Game Third Place (beaten by ngmoco's Eliminate Pro, with Miraphonic's Epic Pet Wars in first place). Although Parallel Kingdom is not a true Facebook game (its Facebook game app simply links you to register on the website), it does possess Facebook Connect and can be played on your PC with a web browser.
Would you try out a game just to donate to charity? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
What do you do when you're a well-respected mobile game with 700K players worldwide? You design a virtual soup can helmet and sell it to your players for charity! At least, that's what Per Blue's Parallel Kingdom is doing (with Playmob) for the SOS Children relief in North Kenya.
SOS Children's Villages is an independently operated, international organization that's been saving kids since 1949. Currently, funds are needed for emergency food and medical aid due to a severe drought in the area. Soup Can Helmets cost 550 Food each (the virtual currency of Parallel Kingdom), which is the equivalent of $5.50 USD and enough to feed three children. Since the helmet is priced with Food, it's possible for you to not spend any real money on the helmet for it to still count. (In fact, for those of you who haven't liked the game's Facebook page yet, there's a free 100 Food offer that you can use towards a helmet purchase.)
According to Per Blue, this charity drive is at its halfway point with only a week left to go. So far, 550 Soup Can Helmets have been sold, which means 1,650 children have been cared for. If you play the game, you can buy the Soup Can Helmet in the PK Swag section of your local Trade Post until September 29.
Parallel Kingdom Donate Food
If you're new to the game and feeling adventurous, then after the tutorial stage, click on the Food tab on the bottom of your game screen to reach the Get Food menu. You'll see the Donate Food option, but it's really just a notice for the charity drive. Instead, you need to go to Travel, click on a Trade Hub (the one in Madison, WI is one of the two biggest ones), and locate your Local Trade Post, which should be a white building with a red roof buried under a dozen other players who are represented as little heads. Finally, you need to be at Level 2 to be allowed to purchase the helmet. (If you get lost, fire up the in-game chat. Special thanks goes to MisMoon, MoldyBanana, and ZeroGr@vity for their help.)
Parallel Kingdom Trade Post
Parallel Kingdom is best described as FourSquare meets a MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game). It surpassed a half million players in June, was voted 2009 Best Augmented Reality App Second Place (first place went to XMG Studio Inc.'s Pandemica) and 2009 Best MMO Game Third Place (beaten by ngmoco's Eliminate Pro, with Miraphonic's Epic Pet Wars in first place). Although Parallel Kingdom is not a true Facebook game (its Facebook game app simply links you to register on the website), it does possess Facebook Connect and can be played on your PC with a web browser.
Would you try out a game just to donate to charity? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Thứ Hai, 26 tháng 9, 2011
Adventure World Cheats and Tips: A Tool Upgrades Guide
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
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
Cafe World High Tea Party Catering Order: Everything you need to know
Last week, we brought you a rundown of the British section of festivities taking place in Cafe World as part of the game's two-year-anniversary event. At the time, something was always missing from that equation (the catering order), but now, the Catering Order has officially been launched. Are you ready for high tea?
The High Tea Party catering order has a three day time limit, and isn't exactly easy. You'll be required to serve Yorkshire Pudding 500 times, Shepherd's Pie 30 times and Bangers and Mash 120 times. Do those recipes look familiar? They should, as they're part of the prize list that can be earned by completing the Winston's Royals goals in the game. However, you'll need to complete these goals multiple times to unlock all of the prizes associated with this event, so I can only imagine just how few chefs actually have all three of these dishes available to cook/serve. Luckily, you can bring 18 of your friends in on this order with you, so hopefully a few of them can take care of most of (if not all of) the cooking for you. Just remember to say thank you with free gifts!
On top of all of this, you'll need to collect 12 Fancy Hats and 12 Food Trays by sending out individual request to friends. If you can complete all of these tasks in under three days' time, you'll receive the three-star rating, 12 Catering Points, 3,200 Cafe Points, 70,000 coins and the 2-Year Anniversary cake recipe.
Unfortunately, you must finish in under three days in order to walk away with this new recipe. If you can't manage to do that, but still finish within five days (I have to admit that still sounds like it would be hard), you'll receive two stars, 8 Catering Points, 2,300 Cafe Points and 50,000 coins. Finally, if you finish at any point after the fifth day, you'll receive just a single star, 4 Catering Points, 1,400 Cafe Points and 30,000 coins.
As an extra bonus (since this catering order goes along with the two-year-anniversary event), if you can finish with three stars, you'll also walk away with 10,000 free Travel Passes, which are used to enter yourself (automatically) into contests for in-game prizes like stoves, but also real world trips around the world! Good luck to all those who enter, along with all those who tackle this High Tea Party catering order itself.
What do you think of this High Tea Party order? Have you unlocked all three of these dishes in your own cookbook, or are you being forced to rely on your friends to finish this one in time? Sound off in the comments.
The High Tea Party catering order has a three day time limit, and isn't exactly easy. You'll be required to serve Yorkshire Pudding 500 times, Shepherd's Pie 30 times and Bangers and Mash 120 times. Do those recipes look familiar? They should, as they're part of the prize list that can be earned by completing the Winston's Royals goals in the game. However, you'll need to complete these goals multiple times to unlock all of the prizes associated with this event, so I can only imagine just how few chefs actually have all three of these dishes available to cook/serve. Luckily, you can bring 18 of your friends in on this order with you, so hopefully a few of them can take care of most of (if not all of) the cooking for you. Just remember to say thank you with free gifts!
On top of all of this, you'll need to collect 12 Fancy Hats and 12 Food Trays by sending out individual request to friends. If you can complete all of these tasks in under three days' time, you'll receive the three-star rating, 12 Catering Points, 3,200 Cafe Points, 70,000 coins and the 2-Year Anniversary cake recipe.
Unfortunately, you must finish in under three days in order to walk away with this new recipe. If you can't manage to do that, but still finish within five days (I have to admit that still sounds like it would be hard), you'll receive two stars, 8 Catering Points, 2,300 Cafe Points and 50,000 coins. Finally, if you finish at any point after the fifth day, you'll receive just a single star, 4 Catering Points, 1,400 Cafe Points and 30,000 coins.
As an extra bonus (since this catering order goes along with the two-year-anniversary event), if you can finish with three stars, you'll also walk away with 10,000 free Travel Passes, which are used to enter yourself (automatically) into contests for in-game prizes like stoves, but also real world trips around the world! Good luck to all those who enter, along with all those who tackle this High Tea Party catering order itself.
What do you think of this High Tea Party order? Have you unlocked all three of these dishes in your own cookbook, or are you being forced to rely on your friends to finish this one in time? Sound off in the comments.
Thứ Sáu, 23 tháng 9, 2011
CityVille Reel World Timed Goal: Everything you need to know
A new timed goal has launched in CityVille this week, taking us back to the great outdoors for some fishing. If you're level 35 or above, you'll have access to this goal, which can be started at any point in your game - it's up to you when exactly you'll begin. Using our guide to the goal, you should be able to prepare yourself as much as possible before actually starting the goal, and that way you'll have a better chance of earning the gold trophy and the prizes that come with it.
The Reel World
* Get 10 Fishing Lures
* Harvest 30 Pumpkins
* Collect 8 Times from a Seafood Restaurant
A Seafood Restaurant costs just 7,500 coins to purchase from the store, and if you're a veteran player in the game, it's highly unlikely that you don't already have at least one sitting in your town. It requires 140 Goods to operate, so your best bet to completing this particular task quickly would be to make it the only business that currently has Goods, so all citizens will flock to it, causing it to sell out much faster than normal. Pumpkins, meanwhile, take 18 hours to harvest, so unless you follow our suggestion of having pumpkins already to harvest before starting this goal, that's some serious time you'll spend (waste), waiting for them to grow.
If you can complete these three tasks within the first 24 hours of starting the goal, you'll receive the Gold Trophy, a Sailboat, 2,300 coins and 1,200 Goods. Unfortunately, you must complete this goal at this top level to receive the Sailboat. If you don't finish within the first day, but can complete the goal before the 72-hour mark has passed, you'll receive the Silver Trophy, 2,600 coins and 1,200 Goods, while finishing at any point after that cutoff gives you the Bronze Trophy and 1,200 Goods.
Luckily, it seems that these timed goals are becoming a bit easier with each one that's released. So long as you plan ahead with the pumpkin task, you should have no real trouble finishing this one off in 24 hours, but we still wish you good luck in your attempt!
What do you think of this latest timed goal? Have you received the Gold Trophy on any timed goals in the past? Sound off in the comments.
The Reel World
* Get 10 Fishing Lures
* Harvest 30 Pumpkins
* Collect 8 Times from a Seafood Restaurant
A Seafood Restaurant costs just 7,500 coins to purchase from the store, and if you're a veteran player in the game, it's highly unlikely that you don't already have at least one sitting in your town. It requires 140 Goods to operate, so your best bet to completing this particular task quickly would be to make it the only business that currently has Goods, so all citizens will flock to it, causing it to sell out much faster than normal. Pumpkins, meanwhile, take 18 hours to harvest, so unless you follow our suggestion of having pumpkins already to harvest before starting this goal, that's some serious time you'll spend (waste), waiting for them to grow.
If you can complete these three tasks within the first 24 hours of starting the goal, you'll receive the Gold Trophy, a Sailboat, 2,300 coins and 1,200 Goods. Unfortunately, you must complete this goal at this top level to receive the Sailboat. If you don't finish within the first day, but can complete the goal before the 72-hour mark has passed, you'll receive the Silver Trophy, 2,600 coins and 1,200 Goods, while finishing at any point after that cutoff gives you the Bronze Trophy and 1,200 Goods.
Luckily, it seems that these timed goals are becoming a bit easier with each one that's released. So long as you plan ahead with the pumpkin task, you should have no real trouble finishing this one off in 24 hours, but we still wish you good luck in your attempt!
What do you think of this latest timed goal? Have you received the Gold Trophy on any timed goals in the past? Sound off in the comments.
CityVille Campaign Committee Goal: Everything you need to know
If you're looking for a way to earn extra coins, XP and Zoning Permits in CityVille, and you have a lot of friends that are always willing to help you out, you might be interested in the new "Campaign Committee" goal that was launched this week in the game. This feature is open to users that are at least level 15 and have at least one City Hall building in their town. As of right now, this is a one-time only feature, and instead of showing up on the left-hand side of your screen as other goals appear, this one must be activated by you by collecting from your City Hall when it's ready.
The next time you collect your profits from your City Hall, you'll see a new menu, asking you whether or not you'd like to start this new goal. You'll have just 24 hours to collect as much help from your City Hall staff members as you plan your campaign for your run for Governor. There are three levels of prizes associated with this goal, with more upgraded City Halls unlocking better prizes, and the amount of friends that ultimately help you also affecting your rewards. For a Level 2 City Hall, the three level of rewards are 10,000 coins, 40 XP and 3 Zoning Permits.
Once you start the goal (remember, it's a manual start - you can choose to do so whenever you're ready), you'll be able to post wall posts to your friends' walls asking them to come help you out. If you happen to have many spaces filled by Samantha or just blank staff positions, you can fill those by asking friends as well. When a friend responds to your call for help, you'll see a green check mark appear next to their name on the list. After the 24 hour period has passed, you'll receive whatever prizes you've received for your current level (note: you can track your current status on prizes by looking inside the goal's menu, as seen below).
Again, this Campaign Committee goal is a one-time-only activity for your town. Perhaps if it goes over well enough with users, we'll see another opportunity to ask our friends for help with campaign "donations," but for now, just focus all of your efforts on earning the most rewards from this feature while you can.
What do you think of the Campaign Committee feature in CityVille? Would you like to see this be an ongoing feature in your town? Sound off in the comments.
The next time you collect your profits from your City Hall, you'll see a new menu, asking you whether or not you'd like to start this new goal. You'll have just 24 hours to collect as much help from your City Hall staff members as you plan your campaign for your run for Governor. There are three levels of prizes associated with this goal, with more upgraded City Halls unlocking better prizes, and the amount of friends that ultimately help you also affecting your rewards. For a Level 2 City Hall, the three level of rewards are 10,000 coins, 40 XP and 3 Zoning Permits.
Once you start the goal (remember, it's a manual start - you can choose to do so whenever you're ready), you'll be able to post wall posts to your friends' walls asking them to come help you out. If you happen to have many spaces filled by Samantha or just blank staff positions, you can fill those by asking friends as well. When a friend responds to your call for help, you'll see a green check mark appear next to their name on the list. After the 24 hour period has passed, you'll receive whatever prizes you've received for your current level (note: you can track your current status on prizes by looking inside the goal's menu, as seen below).
Again, this Campaign Committee goal is a one-time-only activity for your town. Perhaps if it goes over well enough with users, we'll see another opportunity to ask our friends for help with campaign "donations," but for now, just focus all of your efforts on earning the most rewards from this feature while you can.
What do you think of the Campaign Committee feature in CityVille? Would you like to see this be an ongoing feature in your town? Sound off in the comments.
Clarins looks to beautify Facebook with Spa Life, its first social game
Is it only a matter time now before mom pants get their own Facebook game? Clarins, a well-known French brand of beauty products, recently released its own Facebook game, Spa Life. The game doesn't stray far away from games like Cafe World or Restaurant City, but applies the same principles to managing a spa rather than an eatery. Developed by Freshplanet, Spa Life has players managing an influx of customers looking for everything from a "mani-pedi" to facials and more.
Of course, just like its inspirations, players can decorate, upgrade and add new services to their spa. But players can only do this if they serve their terribly impatient customers in time to make the most cash from them. And in true Facebook game fashion, players can always buy their way out of waiting for the next upgrade with Facebook Credits.
According to Mashable, Clarins's North American CEO Jonathan Zrihen saw Facebook as a golden opportunity to reach its audience. And considering we all know by now that the average Facebook gamer is a middle-aged mother, he's probably right on the money. "I knew about the craziness of Zynga games, but I didn't realize the demographic was so much in line with the demographics of our products," Zrihen told Mashable. "I was also impressed by the level of engagement these games create."
Yes, this is yet another branded game, though it's odd that players aren't inundated with the brand until much later in the game. Another interesting nod is that Spa Life attempts to use your friends' names as customers to add more social awareness to the game. Building off of that, you'll need plenty more friends to run your various services, just like you need them to staff buildings in CityVille.
Spa Life in action
Branded games are exploding on Facebook. In fact, studios like Ecko|Code are focusing all of their efforts on creating games for brands such as Showtime shows like Weeds and Dexter. Facebook game developers like Zynga and Playdom have integrated brands into their games for awhile through promotions, it's only recently that they've begun to build games around a single brand.
For instance, it looks as if Adventure World will become Zynga's first game to completely embrace a brand. In October, the game will become "Adventure World: An Indiana Jones Game" with the help of Lucasfilm. Sure, original games will continue to release, but I wouldn't be surprised if we see less of them moving forward.
Click here to Play Spa Life on Facebook Now >
Are you a Clarins fan--enough to check out this Facebook game? What do you think of branded games on Facebook and the fact that they're growing? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Of course, just like its inspirations, players can decorate, upgrade and add new services to their spa. But players can only do this if they serve their terribly impatient customers in time to make the most cash from them. And in true Facebook game fashion, players can always buy their way out of waiting for the next upgrade with Facebook Credits.
According to Mashable, Clarins's North American CEO Jonathan Zrihen saw Facebook as a golden opportunity to reach its audience. And considering we all know by now that the average Facebook gamer is a middle-aged mother, he's probably right on the money. "I knew about the craziness of Zynga games, but I didn't realize the demographic was so much in line with the demographics of our products," Zrihen told Mashable. "I was also impressed by the level of engagement these games create."
Yes, this is yet another branded game, though it's odd that players aren't inundated with the brand until much later in the game. Another interesting nod is that Spa Life attempts to use your friends' names as customers to add more social awareness to the game. Building off of that, you'll need plenty more friends to run your various services, just like you need them to staff buildings in CityVille.
Spa Life in action
Branded games are exploding on Facebook. In fact, studios like Ecko|Code are focusing all of their efforts on creating games for brands such as Showtime shows like Weeds and Dexter. Facebook game developers like Zynga and Playdom have integrated brands into their games for awhile through promotions, it's only recently that they've begun to build games around a single brand.
For instance, it looks as if Adventure World will become Zynga's first game to completely embrace a brand. In October, the game will become "Adventure World: An Indiana Jones Game" with the help of Lucasfilm. Sure, original games will continue to release, but I wouldn't be surprised if we see less of them moving forward.
Click here to Play Spa Life on Facebook Now >
Are you a Clarins fan--enough to check out this Facebook game? What do you think of branded games on Facebook and the fact that they're growing? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
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 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 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.
[Source and Image Credit: VentureBeat]
Are you on board with the growing trend of branded games on Facebook? Do you think developers will maintain integrity as the focus on branded content in their games intensifies? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
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 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.
[Source and Image Credit: VentureBeat]
Are you on board with the growing trend of branded games on Facebook? Do you think developers will maintain integrity as the focus on branded content in their games intensifies? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
New Pioneer Trail World Map: Are four more expansions on the way?
That's the logical guess, at least. Zynga recently updated The Pioneer Trail with a brand new World Map that hints at four unreleased areas. Instead of showing the four areas on the Pioneer Trail, the "Travel" button now shows a condensed icon representing the recently-released expansion in a larger map. What's more important, however, is what surrounds it.
Considering this is all we have right now, prepare for some wild speculation. The Pioneer Trail icon is surrounded by four grayed out icons. Moving from most left to right, what first appears is either a castle or a fort, with no trail marks leading to it. Perhaps this is a new area for players to tend to much like the Homestead (maybe players claim Fort Courage for themselves.) To the bottom left is a canyon, which is most likely the long-teased Rattlesnake Canyon.
Directly below The Pioneer Trail icon is what appears to be a Gold Mine, likely alluding to the Gold Rush expansion that has been hinted at since almost day one. (You know, way back when this game was still known as FrontierVille?) Finally, a haunted graveyard of sorts is featured. We seriously doubt Zynga would create an entire expansion's worth of content with a Halloween theme, so maybe this will be the home of future season-specific events.
At this point, who knows what the developer is up to. What we do know, however, is that Zynga has big plans for Pioneer Trail well into 2012. And considering the game has lost the majority of its daily players since it was re-branded in August, we're not surprised Zynga would be working hard to keep the major content releases flowing.
What do you make of this brand new World Map in Pioneer Trail? Do you think Zynga can recover its lost fans with a flurry of major expansions in 2012? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Considering this is all we have right now, prepare for some wild speculation. The Pioneer Trail icon is surrounded by four grayed out icons. Moving from most left to right, what first appears is either a castle or a fort, with no trail marks leading to it. Perhaps this is a new area for players to tend to much like the Homestead (maybe players claim Fort Courage for themselves.) To the bottom left is a canyon, which is most likely the long-teased Rattlesnake Canyon.
Directly below The Pioneer Trail icon is what appears to be a Gold Mine, likely alluding to the Gold Rush expansion that has been hinted at since almost day one. (You know, way back when this game was still known as FrontierVille?) Finally, a haunted graveyard of sorts is featured. We seriously doubt Zynga would create an entire expansion's worth of content with a Halloween theme, so maybe this will be the home of future season-specific events.
At this point, who knows what the developer is up to. What we do know, however, is that Zynga has big plans for Pioneer Trail well into 2012. And considering the game has lost the majority of its daily players since it was re-branded in August, we're not surprised Zynga would be working hard to keep the major content releases flowing.
What do you make of this brand new World Map in Pioneer Trail? Do you think Zynga can recover its lost fans with a flurry of major expansions in 2012? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
FarmVille iOS Update: Sail to Lighthouse Cove on iPhone, iPad
We can almost hear the 3 Blokes team in Australia screaming "Fire everything!" as they hit the proverbial "Launch" button on its first Facebook game under publisher RockYou, Galactic Allies. (It would be most appropriate, no?) Real-time strategy fans can jump in on the thrill of space-faring, asynchronous player vs player combat, complete with 3D visuals.
Essentially, Galactic Allies is RockYou and 3 Blokes's answer to the growing trend of hardcore strategy games on Facebook. However, the duo make a point of mentioning that this is a more casual approach to the burgeoning sub genre, and that the game features a heavy focus on an episodic storyline. And in keeping with current trends sparked by developers like Kixeye in War Commander, players can control units individually.
Gallery: Galactic Allies on Facebook
This means you'll likely be able to maneuver your starships around enemy fire, adding another layer of strategy to combat in the game. "Galactic Allies alters expectations for what a Facebook game can be," said 3 Blokes VP and GM George Fidler in a release. "It's a deep and compelling strategy game, but with the accessibility of a browser game." (It also looks like it takes the general idea behind Galactic Trader, one of 3 Blokes's first games, and blows it wide open using some familiar art assets.)
Hopefully this accessible approach will apply to the litany of upgrades players will accumulate across various missions and episodes. Judging from these early screen shots, it looks like Galactic Allies will focus heavily on dialog, but more importantly: Battles will take place both on the surface of alien planets and far above them in the infinite void. In other words, there will be plenty of things high and low to make go boom in Galactic Allies.
Click here to learn more about Galactic Allies on Facebook >
Are you a fan of strategy games on Facebook? How do you think Galactic Allies might size up against its competition? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
To go along with the Animal Mastery feature released in Pioneer Trail this weekend, you can now also complete one of three new collections in the game. Two of these collections go with the new animals that have also been released: the Badger and Moose, while the third goes with the 4F Mastery Club itself.
4F Collection
* Rewards Spring Water and 80 XP
Badger Collection
* Rewards Free Critter Milk and 120 XP
Moose Collection
* Free Carrot Juice and 100 XP
As you might expect, you can earn each of these collections' items by tending to the appropriate animals (that is, you'll earn Badger Collection items for tending Badgers, and Moose Collection items for tending Moose), or by collecting the 4F Mastery Club's daily bonus. You'll also have a chance to earn these specific collectibles during the construction of the Mastery Club itself, although I wouldn't expect to receive the full set unless you're really lucky. By the way, if you're that lucky, would you mind letting some of that luck rub off on me?
Are you a fan of the collections in Pioneer Trail and actively try to complete them, or do you just let yourself complete these Collections casually? Let us know in the comments.
Essentially, Galactic Allies is RockYou and 3 Blokes's answer to the growing trend of hardcore strategy games on Facebook. However, the duo make a point of mentioning that this is a more casual approach to the burgeoning sub genre, and that the game features a heavy focus on an episodic storyline. And in keeping with current trends sparked by developers like Kixeye in War Commander, players can control units individually.
Gallery: Galactic Allies on Facebook
This means you'll likely be able to maneuver your starships around enemy fire, adding another layer of strategy to combat in the game. "Galactic Allies alters expectations for what a Facebook game can be," said 3 Blokes VP and GM George Fidler in a release. "It's a deep and compelling strategy game, but with the accessibility of a browser game." (It also looks like it takes the general idea behind Galactic Trader, one of 3 Blokes's first games, and blows it wide open using some familiar art assets.)
Hopefully this accessible approach will apply to the litany of upgrades players will accumulate across various missions and episodes. Judging from these early screen shots, it looks like Galactic Allies will focus heavily on dialog, but more importantly: Battles will take place both on the surface of alien planets and far above them in the infinite void. In other words, there will be plenty of things high and low to make go boom in Galactic Allies.
Click here to learn more about Galactic Allies on Facebook >
Are you a fan of strategy games on Facebook? How do you think Galactic Allies might size up against its competition? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
To go along with the Animal Mastery feature released in Pioneer Trail this weekend, you can now also complete one of three new collections in the game. Two of these collections go with the new animals that have also been released: the Badger and Moose, while the third goes with the 4F Mastery Club itself.
4F Collection
* Rewards Spring Water and 80 XP
Badger Collection
* Rewards Free Critter Milk and 120 XP
Moose Collection
* Free Carrot Juice and 100 XP
As you might expect, you can earn each of these collections' items by tending to the appropriate animals (that is, you'll earn Badger Collection items for tending Badgers, and Moose Collection items for tending Moose), or by collecting the 4F Mastery Club's daily bonus. You'll also have a chance to earn these specific collectibles during the construction of the Mastery Club itself, although I wouldn't expect to receive the full set unless you're really lucky. By the way, if you're that lucky, would you mind letting some of that luck rub off on me?
Are you a fan of the collections in Pioneer Trail and actively try to complete them, or do you just let yourself complete these Collections casually? Let us know in the comments.
Thứ Tư, 21 tháng 9, 2011
Go on a Buddy Rush between Facebook, iPhone and now Android
Now, that's what I call cross-platform. Budang, South Korea-based Team Sollmo announced that Buddy Rush, its RPG (role-playing game) in which players can use the same adventurer between Facebook and iOS devices, has hit Android devices. What this means is that now, you can access the very same game with your very same character across all three platforms.
"We've been truly honored by the reception Buddy Rush has received thus far, reaching hundreds of thousands of users on Facebook and the Apple App Store," said Company100 (the game's publisher) President Jin Cheon Kim in a release. "With the launch on Android, we're proud to offer Buddy Rush to the vast majority of smartphone owners and establish ourselves as the first to offer an RPG with true cross-platform capabilities across these popular gaming channels."
If Buddy Rush for Android is anything like it is on both Facebook and iOS devices, which we assume it is given Kim's wording, then this is essentially the same game offered across all three modes of play.
Players can take the character they're used to dungeon crawling with on Facebook, play with it a bit on their Android phone, conquer some more monsters on, say, their iPod Touch and proceed to enter yet another battle with the baddies back on Facebook.
Gallery: Buddy Rush
While it's largely a single player experience, Buddy Rush allows players to take their friends' characters asynchronously on adventures like in most Facebook games of its kind. (The main draw, of course, being that you can do so across three platforms with the same character, and arguably whenever.) So, it pays to have lots of friends in this game that I likened to a saccharine take on Blizzard's popular if terribly dark Diablo RPGs. And now that it's on yet another gaming platform, you have no excuse.
Click here to download Buddy Rush for Android Now >
Have you tried Buddy Rush on either Facebook or iOS? What do you think of Sollmo's take on asynchronous, cross-platform gameplay? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
"We've been truly honored by the reception Buddy Rush has received thus far, reaching hundreds of thousands of users on Facebook and the Apple App Store," said Company100 (the game's publisher) President Jin Cheon Kim in a release. "With the launch on Android, we're proud to offer Buddy Rush to the vast majority of smartphone owners and establish ourselves as the first to offer an RPG with true cross-platform capabilities across these popular gaming channels."
If Buddy Rush for Android is anything like it is on both Facebook and iOS devices, which we assume it is given Kim's wording, then this is essentially the same game offered across all three modes of play.
Players can take the character they're used to dungeon crawling with on Facebook, play with it a bit on their Android phone, conquer some more monsters on, say, their iPod Touch and proceed to enter yet another battle with the baddies back on Facebook.
Gallery: Buddy Rush
While it's largely a single player experience, Buddy Rush allows players to take their friends' characters asynchronously on adventures like in most Facebook games of its kind. (The main draw, of course, being that you can do so across three platforms with the same character, and arguably whenever.) So, it pays to have lots of friends in this game that I likened to a saccharine take on Blizzard's popular if terribly dark Diablo RPGs. And now that it's on yet another gaming platform, you have no excuse.
Click here to download Buddy Rush for Android Now >
Have you tried Buddy Rush on either Facebook or iOS? What do you think of Sollmo's take on asynchronous, cross-platform gameplay? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
6waves Lolapps puts up $10 million for indie social game developers
Is 6waves Lolapps looking to find the next FarmVille? It's possible, but what's more important is that the new found publisher-meets-developer duo is looking to give the little guy a chance. The company just announced that it has raised $10 million in what it calls the 6L Fund. With it, the publisher will grant independent social and mobile game creators the financial resources and support they need to (hopefully) create the next big thing on Facebook or elsewhere.
"There are game teams at all stages in the creative process that have fresh and potentially groundbreaking ideas," said SVP of Publishing at 6waves Lolapps Jim Ying in a statement. "With the capital and the resources that only 6waves Lolapps can deliver, they could help shape the future of social gaming."
The resources Ying referred to include cross promotion, funded user acquisition (essentially paying for more players through advertising), product management, localization, hosting, and the FLISO Game Engine. The latter is enhanced Flash--software game developers commonly use to create Facebook games--technology acquired by 6waves earlier this year.
Independent developers might want to bite, considering that 6waves Lolapps reaches about 38 million collective monthly players, according to AppData--that technically puts the company just under Diamond Dash maker wooga's over 41 million monthly players. Most importantly, this potentially gives indie social game makers a chance on Facebook, which some argue has otherwise all but dried up.
Starting Sept. 27, developers can submit their applications for the 6L Fund, and hopefully we'll see the fruits of their labor sometime next year. Who knows, maybe it's time for another indie developer to enjoy wild success. Just think, what was Rovio before Angry Birds?
What do you think of 6waves Lolapps looking to indie game creators for the next social or mobile hit? Do you think this strategy could result in the next big Facebook game? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
"There are game teams at all stages in the creative process that have fresh and potentially groundbreaking ideas," said SVP of Publishing at 6waves Lolapps Jim Ying in a statement. "With the capital and the resources that only 6waves Lolapps can deliver, they could help shape the future of social gaming."
The resources Ying referred to include cross promotion, funded user acquisition (essentially paying for more players through advertising), product management, localization, hosting, and the FLISO Game Engine. The latter is enhanced Flash--software game developers commonly use to create Facebook games--technology acquired by 6waves earlier this year.
Independent developers might want to bite, considering that 6waves Lolapps reaches about 38 million collective monthly players, according to AppData--that technically puts the company just under Diamond Dash maker wooga's over 41 million monthly players. Most importantly, this potentially gives indie social game makers a chance on Facebook, which some argue has otherwise all but dried up.
Starting Sept. 27, developers can submit their applications for the 6L Fund, and hopefully we'll see the fruits of their labor sometime next year. Who knows, maybe it's time for another indie developer to enjoy wild success. Just think, what was Rovio before Angry Birds?
What do you think of 6waves Lolapps looking to indie game creators for the next social or mobile hit? Do you think this strategy could result in the next big Facebook game? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Angry Birds creator wants to publish indie games, Rovio exec says
It makes you wonder: Could Rovio be just a little bit scared that it might not strike gold again? Chief marketing officer for the creator of Angry Birds Peter Vesterbacka (pictured) said to Develop in an interview that the developer is planning to open a publishing label.
"We have some plans for this area, but not ready to announce yet," Vesterbacka told Develop. "If we do something in the publishing area, you can expect it to be a bit different."
However, it seems as if the maker of your favorite annoyed avians wants to keep things 1.) indie (independently developed) and 2.) mobile. According to Develop, Rovio has already approached several mobile game studios to form a foundation for the new business. While the Finnish company's other ventures have arguably been leaps of faith--cookbooks ... seriously?--it certainly has experience in the publishing business.
Well, at least from the other end. Angry Birds made it to the US in 2009 though Chillingo, a mobile games publisher that is now owned by EA. Of course, Rovio was able to back out of deal once the acquisition occurred, but the company is currently in another publisher relationship with Twentieth Century Fox, through which it nabbed the rights to create Angry Birds Rio.
And honestly, it would be a no-brainer for an indie game developer to team up with Rovio. For one, if the company claims to be worth at least as much as Zynga, it at least has considerable resources to offer. And seriously, could you go wrong with a team that has somehow successfully hyped up slingshotting birds into pigs for two years running? I think not.
[Via TouchArcade]
What do you think of Rovio potentially becoming an indie games publisher? Would you try a new iPhone game just knowing it was published by the creator of Angry Birds? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
"We have some plans for this area, but not ready to announce yet," Vesterbacka told Develop. "If we do something in the publishing area, you can expect it to be a bit different."
However, it seems as if the maker of your favorite annoyed avians wants to keep things 1.) indie (independently developed) and 2.) mobile. According to Develop, Rovio has already approached several mobile game studios to form a foundation for the new business. While the Finnish company's other ventures have arguably been leaps of faith--cookbooks ... seriously?--it certainly has experience in the publishing business.
Well, at least from the other end. Angry Birds made it to the US in 2009 though Chillingo, a mobile games publisher that is now owned by EA. Of course, Rovio was able to back out of deal once the acquisition occurred, but the company is currently in another publisher relationship with Twentieth Century Fox, through which it nabbed the rights to create Angry Birds Rio.
And honestly, it would be a no-brainer for an indie game developer to team up with Rovio. For one, if the company claims to be worth at least as much as Zynga, it at least has considerable resources to offer. And seriously, could you go wrong with a team that has somehow successfully hyped up slingshotting birds into pigs for two years running? I think not.
[Via TouchArcade]
What do you think of Rovio potentially becoming an indie games publisher? Would you try a new iPhone game just knowing it was published by the creator of Angry Birds? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
FarmVille Pic of the Day: Myhomefarm23's angular English countryside
Today's featured farm was created by FarmVille Forums member, Myhomefarm23. This FarmVille English Countryside plot is a great example of intelligent farm design. Sure it's a farm art masterpiece, but it's also functional!
Myhomefarm23 went about creating this absurd tree design without a single orchard, laughing at anyone who squishes their beautiful trees into storage bins. Breathtaking rows of fruit trees line the path leading up to the Eiffel Tower located at the center of the farm, creating a truly spectacular effect. Not only that, but if you look closely, where there isn't trees, the farm is full of animals! This, folks, is an exceptional sheep and pig breeding design. If harvested consistantly, this farm could turn a huge profit! Just looking at this excellent farm makes me wish I was Myhomefarm23's neighbor, just so I could reap some of the rewards :)
I just hope Myhomefarm23 has plenty of Farm Hands and Arborists saved up or they're in for a lot of clicking!
What do you think of this great English Countryside design?
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!
We can almost hear the 3 Blokes team in Australia screaming "Fire everything!" as they hit the proverbial "Launch" button on its first Facebook game under publisher RockYou, Galactic Allies. (It would be most appropriate, no?) Real-time strategy fans can jump in on the thrill of space-faring, asynchronous player vs player combat, complete with 3D visuals.
Essentially, Galactic Allies is RockYou and 3 Blokes's answer to the growing trend of hardcore strategy games on Facebook. However, the duo make a point of mentioning that this is a more casual approach to the burgeoning sub genre, and that the game features a heavy focus on an episodic storyline. And in keeping with current trends sparked by developers like Kixeye in War Commander, players can control units individually.
Gallery: Galactic Allies on Facebook
This means you'll likely be able to maneuver your starships around enemy fire, adding another layer of strategy to combat in the game. "Galactic Allies alters expectations for what a Facebook game can be," said 3 Blokes VP and GM George Fidler in a release. "It's a deep and compelling strategy game, but with the accessibility of a browser game." (It also looks like it takes the general idea behind Galactic Trader, one of 3 Blokes's first games, and blows it wide open using some familiar art assets.)
Hopefully this accessible approach will apply to the litany of upgrades players will accumulate across various missions and episodes. Judging from these early screen shots, it looks like Galactic Allies will focus heavily on dialog, but more importantly: Battles will take place both on the surface of alien planets and far above them in the infinite void. In other words, there will be plenty of things high and low to make go boom in Galactic Allies.
Click here to learn more about Galactic Allies on Facebook >
Are you a fan of strategy games on Facebook? How do you think Galactic Allies might size up against its competition? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
To go along with the Animal Mastery feature released in Pioneer Trail this weekend, you can now also complete one of three new collections in the game. Two of these collections go with the new animals that have also been released: the Badger and Moose, while the third goes with the 4F Mastery Club itself.
4F Collection
* Rewards Spring Water and 80 XP
Badger Collection
* Rewards Free Critter Milk and 120 XP
Moose Collection
* Free Carrot Juice and 100 XP
As you might expect, you can earn each of these collections' items by tending to the appropriate animals (that is, you'll earn Badger Collection items for tending Badgers, and Moose Collection items for tending Moose), or by collecting the 4F Mastery Club's daily bonus. You'll also have a chance to earn these specific collectibles during the construction of the Mastery Club itself, although I wouldn't expect to receive the full set unless you're really lucky. By the way, if you're that lucky, would you mind letting some of that luck rub off on me?
Are you a fan of the collections in Pioneer Trail and actively try to complete them, or do you just let yourself complete these Collections casually? Let us know in the comments.
Myhomefarm23 went about creating this absurd tree design without a single orchard, laughing at anyone who squishes their beautiful trees into storage bins. Breathtaking rows of fruit trees line the path leading up to the Eiffel Tower located at the center of the farm, creating a truly spectacular effect. Not only that, but if you look closely, where there isn't trees, the farm is full of animals! This, folks, is an exceptional sheep and pig breeding design. If harvested consistantly, this farm could turn a huge profit! Just looking at this excellent farm makes me wish I was Myhomefarm23's neighbor, just so I could reap some of the rewards :)
I just hope Myhomefarm23 has plenty of Farm Hands and Arborists saved up or they're in for a lot of clicking!
What do you think of this great English Countryside design?
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!
We can almost hear the 3 Blokes team in Australia screaming "Fire everything!" as they hit the proverbial "Launch" button on its first Facebook game under publisher RockYou, Galactic Allies. (It would be most appropriate, no?) Real-time strategy fans can jump in on the thrill of space-faring, asynchronous player vs player combat, complete with 3D visuals.
Essentially, Galactic Allies is RockYou and 3 Blokes's answer to the growing trend of hardcore strategy games on Facebook. However, the duo make a point of mentioning that this is a more casual approach to the burgeoning sub genre, and that the game features a heavy focus on an episodic storyline. And in keeping with current trends sparked by developers like Kixeye in War Commander, players can control units individually.
Gallery: Galactic Allies on Facebook
This means you'll likely be able to maneuver your starships around enemy fire, adding another layer of strategy to combat in the game. "Galactic Allies alters expectations for what a Facebook game can be," said 3 Blokes VP and GM George Fidler in a release. "It's a deep and compelling strategy game, but with the accessibility of a browser game." (It also looks like it takes the general idea behind Galactic Trader, one of 3 Blokes's first games, and blows it wide open using some familiar art assets.)
Hopefully this accessible approach will apply to the litany of upgrades players will accumulate across various missions and episodes. Judging from these early screen shots, it looks like Galactic Allies will focus heavily on dialog, but more importantly: Battles will take place both on the surface of alien planets and far above them in the infinite void. In other words, there will be plenty of things high and low to make go boom in Galactic Allies.
Click here to learn more about Galactic Allies on Facebook >
Are you a fan of strategy games on Facebook? How do you think Galactic Allies might size up against its competition? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
To go along with the Animal Mastery feature released in Pioneer Trail this weekend, you can now also complete one of three new collections in the game. Two of these collections go with the new animals that have also been released: the Badger and Moose, while the third goes with the 4F Mastery Club itself.
4F Collection
* Rewards Spring Water and 80 XP
Badger Collection
* Rewards Free Critter Milk and 120 XP
Moose Collection
* Free Carrot Juice and 100 XP
As you might expect, you can earn each of these collections' items by tending to the appropriate animals (that is, you'll earn Badger Collection items for tending Badgers, and Moose Collection items for tending Moose), or by collecting the 4F Mastery Club's daily bonus. You'll also have a chance to earn these specific collectibles during the construction of the Mastery Club itself, although I wouldn't expect to receive the full set unless you're really lucky. By the way, if you're that lucky, would you mind letting some of that luck rub off on me?
Are you a fan of the collections in Pioneer Trail and actively try to complete them, or do you just let yourself complete these Collections casually? Let us know in the comments.
Finally, hang out with your Android buddies in Hanging With Friends
It looks like Tuesday is unofficially Zynga Game Day, as the company just announced that Hanging With Friends is now available for free on the Android Market. Keep in mind, this comes just minutes after the company revealed Mafia Wars 2. Even better news than the fact that Android players can get in on Zynga With Friends's second mobile game is that it's now cross-platform ready.
Yes, now you can play both your iPhone-toting friends and your best Android-owning enemies buds in this crazy take on the classic pen and paper game of Hangman. In case you're unfamiliar, Hanging With Friends takes the popular turn-based exchange of the wildly popular Words With Friends and applies that to a wacky game of Hangman, but with some twists.
For one, players who choose their word for an opponent are limited by the letters provided to them. Then, that challenge is sent to a player who must guess the word with a limited amount of guesses. This exchange of posing challenges and guesses continues asynchronously until one player loses all of their balloons and falls into a pit of lava or other various deathtraps.
Luckily, you have a series of power-ups at your disposal that can restore some of your guesses or reveal letters that may or may not be part of the word your friend chose in secret. Of course, these boosts cost Coins, which you can accumulate over time by winning Hanging With Friends matches or purchasing them outright in-game.
Gallery: Hanging With Friends on Android
Of course, the Android version contains all of the features that its iOS counterpart sports, like the ability to play up to 20 games at a time, in-game chat and push notifications. Finally, you can add friends via your existing With Friends account, or just connect to Facebook (like everyone else) to find more folks to crush with your wordsmithery. Have at thee, Fandroids.
Click here to download Hanging With Friends on the Android Market Now >
Are you psyched that Hanging With Friends has finally come to Android? What other Zynga games do you hope to see on Android phones on the future? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Yes, now you can play both your iPhone-toting friends and your best Android-owning enemies buds in this crazy take on the classic pen and paper game of Hangman. In case you're unfamiliar, Hanging With Friends takes the popular turn-based exchange of the wildly popular Words With Friends and applies that to a wacky game of Hangman, but with some twists.
For one, players who choose their word for an opponent are limited by the letters provided to them. Then, that challenge is sent to a player who must guess the word with a limited amount of guesses. This exchange of posing challenges and guesses continues asynchronously until one player loses all of their balloons and falls into a pit of lava or other various deathtraps.
Luckily, you have a series of power-ups at your disposal that can restore some of your guesses or reveal letters that may or may not be part of the word your friend chose in secret. Of course, these boosts cost Coins, which you can accumulate over time by winning Hanging With Friends matches or purchasing them outright in-game.
Gallery: Hanging With Friends on Android
Of course, the Android version contains all of the features that its iOS counterpart sports, like the ability to play up to 20 games at a time, in-game chat and push notifications. Finally, you can add friends via your existing With Friends account, or just connect to Facebook (like everyone else) to find more folks to crush with your wordsmithery. Have at thee, Fandroids.
Click here to download Hanging With Friends on the Android Market Now >
Are you psyched that Hanging With Friends has finally come to Android? What other Zynga games do you hope to see on Android phones on the future? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Chuck star Yvonne Strahovski is awfully addicted to Angry Birds
Another falls to the power of casual games. Just as actress Emma Stone had to go cold turkey on FarmVille, Chuck star Yvonne Strahovski has admitted to Collider an acute Angry Birds addiction. The actress (and voice of Miranda Lawson in Bioware's Mass Effect series) told the website she's not just hopelessly addicted to the game, but has some serious bird-slinging game.
"I don't know if this classifies as a video game, but I have a terrible obsession with Angry Birds," Strahovski admitted to Collider. "I have 3 stared every single level that has ever come out ever except for this one in this moon thing that just came out." Well, she already has me beat, it seems, and likely many of you.
When asked whether she used YouTube or something else to cheat, the Australian starlet replied, "No. I am legitimate. The only thing I looked up is that I could't find the last two golden watermelons in the Rio version. I could't find them. I was like, 'Where are the watermelons?!' So I had to go online and find out where they were." Alright, we get it, so you know your stuff.
Her next mission? Clear every level in the game with 100 percent using the Mighty Eagle. Well, I guess that's about the only challenge she has left, considering she's obliterated every last level. After that, maybe she might consider voice over work for the upcoming Angry Birds movie when it goes into production in oh, I don't know, two years? And who knows, maybe you'll catch her in a Starbucks, flicking away to destroy your high score sometime soon.
[Via Kotaku]
[Image Credit: Collider]
Are you still addicted to Angry Birds after all this time? Have you accomplished more in the game than lovely Yvonne? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
"I don't know if this classifies as a video game, but I have a terrible obsession with Angry Birds," Strahovski admitted to Collider. "I have 3 stared every single level that has ever come out ever except for this one in this moon thing that just came out." Well, she already has me beat, it seems, and likely many of you.
When asked whether she used YouTube or something else to cheat, the Australian starlet replied, "No. I am legitimate. The only thing I looked up is that I could't find the last two golden watermelons in the Rio version. I could't find them. I was like, 'Where are the watermelons?!' So I had to go online and find out where they were." Alright, we get it, so you know your stuff.
Her next mission? Clear every level in the game with 100 percent using the Mighty Eagle. Well, I guess that's about the only challenge she has left, considering she's obliterated every last level. After that, maybe she might consider voice over work for the upcoming Angry Birds movie when it goes into production in oh, I don't know, two years? And who knows, maybe you'll catch her in a Starbucks, flicking away to destroy your high score sometime soon.
[Via Kotaku]
[Image Credit: Collider]
Are you still addicted to Angry Birds after all this time? Have you accomplished more in the game than lovely Yvonne? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Kabam on Edgeworld's release and what battles lie ahead [Interview]
Even at first glance of its war-torn landscape filled with futuristic buildings blasted to bits by the laser weapons of alien and mechanized armies, it's clear that Edgeworld is San Francisco-based developer Kabam's most ambitious project yet. Formerly known as Watercooler, the studio and publisher is filled with fans of traditional strategy PC games. Even CEO Kevin Chou was a world-ranked StarCraft player back in the day.
Inspired by sci-fi staples like Star Wars, Star Trek and even the Halo series of shooter games, Edgeworld is the culmination of Kabam's ongoing mission to bring a true 4X (explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate) game experience to Facebook. Since the game's "open beta" release in August, the team is hard at work to make that vision a reality as it claims to have in previous games. (As of this writing, the game enjoys over 858,000 monthly players, according to AppData.)
We sat down with Edgeworld Producer James Holloway recently to hear his thoughts on the game post-release, and what plans he and the rest of the Kabam team have for the strategy game in the future.
Edgeworld in action
Now that Edgeworld has released, what are your knee-jerk reactions? What do you love about the game at release, and what would you like to fix most?
We're really pleased with the release so far. We're seeing a lot of people come back to play the game--it has a really high retention. A lot of people are joining Alliances and engaging with each other. In every sector, I see chat is very active. But this is just the beginning.
The biggest thing that I think we're missing is that our Alliance feature is pretty lean right now. The thing that we would like to emphasize more is a cooperative play of the game. I think we have just the basics right now. The new Maps feature is going to integrate very tightly with alliances--you work together [with Alliances] to conquer territory.
We have about four unique turrets and nine units, and that's just the beginning. We're working on a new unit and a new turret that we're really excited about, and those are going to launch in the next month. We'll be introducing higher levels of our buildings. So, there's a lot more content that we need to create, and we're just getting started.
What's the most interesting thing you've seen players do in the game since release--something that never happened during testing?
One thing that we sort of didn't anticipate was that some Alliances and players are attacking each other for resources. At one point we didn't have inter-Alliance resource sharing, so right now you can actually send resources to other players to help them out. So, we didn't have that feature [originally].
But what people were doing was working around that by setting up their Command Centers, which are what contain your resources, outside the perimeter of their turrets. [Players would then] leave their Alliance, cook it, and then attack them and take their resources. So, they were doing resource transfers before the feature was even allowed.
Do you have any interesting or helpful gameplay tips for the players to get ahead in Edgeworld?
Certainly! If you're just starting out, we give every player two days of starter protection wherein no other player can attack you. That's a free few days of protection, and use that time wisely to build up your base and experiment with different configurations. Allow the Factions to attack your base. There's a lot of experimentation with the units.
Players are posting on the forums, talking with each other and also within their Alliances about the best combinations of units to deploy when attacking a base. There are a lot of combinations of tanks and DPS [damage per second] units you can deploy. Rhinos, or other types that have a lot of hit points, can take a lot of fire, and then you can deploy units with longer range or higher DPS behind them.
Edgeworld blast
Depending on what your goals are--like, you might want as many resources as possible--you might want to deploy the Raiders. The Rhinos draw fire from the turrets, while the Spectres sit outside and fire away at the turrets. You really want to upgrade your Spectres to give them a longer range.
We have two different types of units in the game right now: infantry units and mechanized units. It's not necessarily that the mechs are more powerful than the infantry--we're still constantly balancing the game to make sure every unit has its role.
Another thing is that the Warp Gates are really important as far as attacking goes. As you upgrade those, you increase their capacity so that you can actually deploy more units on the ground [at once]. As you unlock more units, the more powerful units will start to consume more of the [Warp Gates'] bandwidth, so you want to upgrade those to deploy the biggest army that you can.
Thanks for talking with us (and for the tips), James.
Territories Could Blow Alliance Play Wide Open
During our chat, Holloway had something brand new to show coming soon to Edgeworld. (Though, it's still in the concept phase, so weren't provided images.) It's a feature tentatively known as "Territories," and the game's producer hopes that it will expand Alliance play into something even more meaningful.
"We haven't seen a past feature like this that I can think of, and we all play a lot of games," Holloway gushes about what he's about to show me. "We're trying to make this a deeper, more robust 4X or empires building game."
As it relates to the game's story, many of the Galactic Union's outposts have been abandoned during the war for Cerulea IV, and they're ripe for the taking. The Territories feature will provide you with a map of the entire planet Cerulea IV, with your home base appearing in the center as a star. Your home base will be surrounded by either hostile, Alliance or neutral territories marked in red, green or simply displayed as abandoned outposts, respectively.
Edgeworld concept art
It's up to you to work with your Alliance to invade either hostile (controlled by enemy Alliances) or neutral outposts, and keep them under your control for as long as possible to reap their benefits, which weren't revealed to us. (Our best guess is additional resources to keep your home bases going.) Players will individually attack outposts just as they would enemy bases, and can call on their Alliance for help asynchronously.
However, players cannot build on these outposts, only bolster their existing defense turrets with their own resources to maintain control of the benefits they provide. This will make it more difficult for enemies to invade. Speaking of invading, players can only enter outposts that are adjacent to their own base or controlled outposts. Eventually, we see the Territories feature becoming a constant struggle between opposing Alliances, and hopefully something for us to work toward.
"This is very different from our other strategy games," Holloway says. "In most cases you individually own tiles on the map, but in this case you kind of need an Alliance to own territory. This is something we're really excited about. We're still working on it and prototyping it, but hopefully we'll have something out in the next four weeks."
[Image Credit: Kabam]
What are you impressions of Edgeworld so far? Are you excited about the upcoming Territories feature coming to the game, and what else do you hope to see from developers like Kabam? Sound off in the comments. 2 Comments
Inspired by sci-fi staples like Star Wars, Star Trek and even the Halo series of shooter games, Edgeworld is the culmination of Kabam's ongoing mission to bring a true 4X (explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate) game experience to Facebook. Since the game's "open beta" release in August, the team is hard at work to make that vision a reality as it claims to have in previous games. (As of this writing, the game enjoys over 858,000 monthly players, according to AppData.)
We sat down with Edgeworld Producer James Holloway recently to hear his thoughts on the game post-release, and what plans he and the rest of the Kabam team have for the strategy game in the future.
Edgeworld in action
Now that Edgeworld has released, what are your knee-jerk reactions? What do you love about the game at release, and what would you like to fix most?
We're really pleased with the release so far. We're seeing a lot of people come back to play the game--it has a really high retention. A lot of people are joining Alliances and engaging with each other. In every sector, I see chat is very active. But this is just the beginning.
The biggest thing that I think we're missing is that our Alliance feature is pretty lean right now. The thing that we would like to emphasize more is a cooperative play of the game. I think we have just the basics right now. The new Maps feature is going to integrate very tightly with alliances--you work together [with Alliances] to conquer territory.
We have about four unique turrets and nine units, and that's just the beginning. We're working on a new unit and a new turret that we're really excited about, and those are going to launch in the next month. We'll be introducing higher levels of our buildings. So, there's a lot more content that we need to create, and we're just getting started.
What's the most interesting thing you've seen players do in the game since release--something that never happened during testing?
One thing that we sort of didn't anticipate was that some Alliances and players are attacking each other for resources. At one point we didn't have inter-Alliance resource sharing, so right now you can actually send resources to other players to help them out. So, we didn't have that feature [originally].
But what people were doing was working around that by setting up their Command Centers, which are what contain your resources, outside the perimeter of their turrets. [Players would then] leave their Alliance, cook it, and then attack them and take their resources. So, they were doing resource transfers before the feature was even allowed.
Do you have any interesting or helpful gameplay tips for the players to get ahead in Edgeworld?
Certainly! If you're just starting out, we give every player two days of starter protection wherein no other player can attack you. That's a free few days of protection, and use that time wisely to build up your base and experiment with different configurations. Allow the Factions to attack your base. There's a lot of experimentation with the units.
Players are posting on the forums, talking with each other and also within their Alliances about the best combinations of units to deploy when attacking a base. There are a lot of combinations of tanks and DPS [damage per second] units you can deploy. Rhinos, or other types that have a lot of hit points, can take a lot of fire, and then you can deploy units with longer range or higher DPS behind them.
Edgeworld blast
Depending on what your goals are--like, you might want as many resources as possible--you might want to deploy the Raiders. The Rhinos draw fire from the turrets, while the Spectres sit outside and fire away at the turrets. You really want to upgrade your Spectres to give them a longer range.
We have two different types of units in the game right now: infantry units and mechanized units. It's not necessarily that the mechs are more powerful than the infantry--we're still constantly balancing the game to make sure every unit has its role.
Another thing is that the Warp Gates are really important as far as attacking goes. As you upgrade those, you increase their capacity so that you can actually deploy more units on the ground [at once]. As you unlock more units, the more powerful units will start to consume more of the [Warp Gates'] bandwidth, so you want to upgrade those to deploy the biggest army that you can.
Thanks for talking with us (and for the tips), James.
Territories Could Blow Alliance Play Wide Open
During our chat, Holloway had something brand new to show coming soon to Edgeworld. (Though, it's still in the concept phase, so weren't provided images.) It's a feature tentatively known as "Territories," and the game's producer hopes that it will expand Alliance play into something even more meaningful.
"We haven't seen a past feature like this that I can think of, and we all play a lot of games," Holloway gushes about what he's about to show me. "We're trying to make this a deeper, more robust 4X or empires building game."
As it relates to the game's story, many of the Galactic Union's outposts have been abandoned during the war for Cerulea IV, and they're ripe for the taking. The Territories feature will provide you with a map of the entire planet Cerulea IV, with your home base appearing in the center as a star. Your home base will be surrounded by either hostile, Alliance or neutral territories marked in red, green or simply displayed as abandoned outposts, respectively.
Edgeworld concept art
It's up to you to work with your Alliance to invade either hostile (controlled by enemy Alliances) or neutral outposts, and keep them under your control for as long as possible to reap their benefits, which weren't revealed to us. (Our best guess is additional resources to keep your home bases going.) Players will individually attack outposts just as they would enemy bases, and can call on their Alliance for help asynchronously.
However, players cannot build on these outposts, only bolster their existing defense turrets with their own resources to maintain control of the benefits they provide. This will make it more difficult for enemies to invade. Speaking of invading, players can only enter outposts that are adjacent to their own base or controlled outposts. Eventually, we see the Territories feature becoming a constant struggle between opposing Alliances, and hopefully something for us to work toward.
"This is very different from our other strategy games," Holloway says. "In most cases you individually own tiles on the map, but in this case you kind of need an Alliance to own territory. This is something we're really excited about. We're still working on it and prototyping it, but hopefully we'll have something out in the next four weeks."
[Image Credit: Kabam]
What are you impressions of Edgeworld so far? Are you excited about the upcoming Territories feature coming to the game, and what else do you hope to see from developers like Kabam? Sound off in the comments. 2 Comments
Thứ Hai, 19 tháng 9, 2011
TGS 2011: Kingdom Hearts 3D hands-on preview
Have a care for the poor Kingdom Hearts fan. All they want is a true third entry in the series and all they get is a series of spin-offs and half-sequels on portable systems. That seems again to be the case with 3DS title Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, which takes place after KHII and stars Sora and Riku teaming up on a quest from wise mage Yen Sid to prepare for battle with returning Hearts baddie Xehahort. The demo build at TGS 2011 had one level each for the two leads of the game, and while the stages were brief, this felt more like a fuller KH experience than some side game.
Above: Sadly, Square-Enix has been very stingy with new screens, so you'll have to make due with older stuff like this trailer We started with Sora in a stage that seemed early in the game as he awakes in Traverse Town in some new clothes thanks to Yen Sid’s magic. Just as he’s wondering how he returned to the famous hub city and was shouting for his missing pal Riku, the most surprising moment of the demo happens as Neku from the DS RPG World Ends With You appears. It’s a pretty funny meeting, as Neku’s dour, fatalistic ennui can’t defeat Sora’s helpful nature. As Neku talks of “The Game,” meaning the life or death challenge he faced in WEWY, Sora immediately offers to help him and tries to start a friendship with the emo headphones wearer, though Neku tells him he’s odd for wanting to help total strangers. Neku then disappeared as fast as he showed up, leaving Sora to explore Traverse on his own.
Well not totally alone, as Sora is accompanied by two animal companions that are nearly as helpful, though not half as fun to be around as Donald and Goofy. One was a bouncy dog-like creature, the other a large panda-esque animal, and throughout the stage we found enemy versions of those guys, which tells us that there must be some system for making enemies team members, though our Square-Enix US representatives had few details on just how that system would work. Though your cute friends didn’t seem as deep as some of your previous partners, once you tapped their icon on the touchscreen they unleashed powerful co-op attacks with Sora, as Sora rode the dog as it bounced off the ground, hitting enemies in waves with each drop, while the panda swung Sora by his legs in a spin attack before launching him head first at enemies.
As we hopped around Traverse Town we ran into new KH baddies the Dream Eaters, beating the crap out of them for the green orbs KH fans hunger for. The combat used A to attack, B to jump, and X for magic, while the Y button unleashed flashier attacks dependent on where the character is in the stage. We saw Sora do a mid-air combo, bounce of walls to hit multiple enemies, and even swing around a light post when we used this command. Additionally, most areas had a special box that when you pressed X and A at the same time nearby, Sora jumped inside, initiating the Sling Shot attack as you directed where in the immediate area you wanted to fling Sora using the touchscreen.
After a short exploration of the world, we quickly ran into Sora’s lead enemy of the demo, a giant wolf creature. We had an involved battle on the glass roof of one of Traverse Town’s bigger buildings, as we put our team attacks to good use against the big bad. After crashing through the roof and with one last helpful toss from our panda pal, the villain was no more. In a flash of light that portion of the demo was over and it was time to explore with Riku.
Above: Japanese magazine Famitsu got to record their time with the Sora half of the demo Things start off a bit worse for Riku, as the white-haired youngster arrives in the troubled world based on Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame film from the mid-90s. The normally populated area in front of the famous structure is in disarray, with several buildings on fire, and a distraught Quasimodo holding a barely conscious Esmerelda (think they’ll get Demi Moore to reprise that role for the US localization?). They were just attacked by a giant, flying, demonic creature, one Riku intends to stop. The Hunchback world is hopefully the first of many new Disney-themed areas to be introduced in Kingdom Hearts 3D, though we’re a little surprised they chose one of the darker and less popular films of Disney’s 90s releases.
As Riku explored the famous cathedral to face the boss at the top, we noticed that his combat was a little more visceral than Sora’s, with his special Y attacks a tad fiercer. Riku’s two sidekicks were a bat monster and something akin to a deer, and their team-up moves were less playful, as both just seemed to enhance Riku’s Keyblade attacks instead of him working directly with the creatures. Also, Riku’s X+A attack on the touchscreen, Holy Rope, was more serious, as you drew a line between different points as Riku unleashed an attack when flying between them.
Once we began our boss battle at the top of the cathedral, we thought we’d had trouble as the enemy mostly just flew in the air and sent projectiles our way, though we soon found out Riku could fly with ease, so we engaged the baddie in a floaty airborne battle. It was fun, though at times we were wishing we had the new Slide Pad for the 3DS which is compatible with KH3D, as continually resituating the camera with the shoulder buttons to chase after the enemy wasn’t all that awesome.
Just as with the other half of the demo, once Riku’s boss was dispatched the gameplay slice was complete and we were left wanting more. Though the game has yet to be officially made official for a US release, we would be VERY surprised if we didn’t see it sometime next year after its Spring 2012 Japanese release. Though we aren’t sure just how long it will be, it certainly felt like a fuller KH experience, and one we can’t wait to see more of.
Above: Sadly, Square-Enix has been very stingy with new screens, so you'll have to make due with older stuff like this trailer We started with Sora in a stage that seemed early in the game as he awakes in Traverse Town in some new clothes thanks to Yen Sid’s magic. Just as he’s wondering how he returned to the famous hub city and was shouting for his missing pal Riku, the most surprising moment of the demo happens as Neku from the DS RPG World Ends With You appears. It’s a pretty funny meeting, as Neku’s dour, fatalistic ennui can’t defeat Sora’s helpful nature. As Neku talks of “The Game,” meaning the life or death challenge he faced in WEWY, Sora immediately offers to help him and tries to start a friendship with the emo headphones wearer, though Neku tells him he’s odd for wanting to help total strangers. Neku then disappeared as fast as he showed up, leaving Sora to explore Traverse on his own.
Well not totally alone, as Sora is accompanied by two animal companions that are nearly as helpful, though not half as fun to be around as Donald and Goofy. One was a bouncy dog-like creature, the other a large panda-esque animal, and throughout the stage we found enemy versions of those guys, which tells us that there must be some system for making enemies team members, though our Square-Enix US representatives had few details on just how that system would work. Though your cute friends didn’t seem as deep as some of your previous partners, once you tapped their icon on the touchscreen they unleashed powerful co-op attacks with Sora, as Sora rode the dog as it bounced off the ground, hitting enemies in waves with each drop, while the panda swung Sora by his legs in a spin attack before launching him head first at enemies.
As we hopped around Traverse Town we ran into new KH baddies the Dream Eaters, beating the crap out of them for the green orbs KH fans hunger for. The combat used A to attack, B to jump, and X for magic, while the Y button unleashed flashier attacks dependent on where the character is in the stage. We saw Sora do a mid-air combo, bounce of walls to hit multiple enemies, and even swing around a light post when we used this command. Additionally, most areas had a special box that when you pressed X and A at the same time nearby, Sora jumped inside, initiating the Sling Shot attack as you directed where in the immediate area you wanted to fling Sora using the touchscreen.
After a short exploration of the world, we quickly ran into Sora’s lead enemy of the demo, a giant wolf creature. We had an involved battle on the glass roof of one of Traverse Town’s bigger buildings, as we put our team attacks to good use against the big bad. After crashing through the roof and with one last helpful toss from our panda pal, the villain was no more. In a flash of light that portion of the demo was over and it was time to explore with Riku.
Above: Japanese magazine Famitsu got to record their time with the Sora half of the demo Things start off a bit worse for Riku, as the white-haired youngster arrives in the troubled world based on Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame film from the mid-90s. The normally populated area in front of the famous structure is in disarray, with several buildings on fire, and a distraught Quasimodo holding a barely conscious Esmerelda (think they’ll get Demi Moore to reprise that role for the US localization?). They were just attacked by a giant, flying, demonic creature, one Riku intends to stop. The Hunchback world is hopefully the first of many new Disney-themed areas to be introduced in Kingdom Hearts 3D, though we’re a little surprised they chose one of the darker and less popular films of Disney’s 90s releases.
As Riku explored the famous cathedral to face the boss at the top, we noticed that his combat was a little more visceral than Sora’s, with his special Y attacks a tad fiercer. Riku’s two sidekicks were a bat monster and something akin to a deer, and their team-up moves were less playful, as both just seemed to enhance Riku’s Keyblade attacks instead of him working directly with the creatures. Also, Riku’s X+A attack on the touchscreen, Holy Rope, was more serious, as you drew a line between different points as Riku unleashed an attack when flying between them.
Once we began our boss battle at the top of the cathedral, we thought we’d had trouble as the enemy mostly just flew in the air and sent projectiles our way, though we soon found out Riku could fly with ease, so we engaged the baddie in a floaty airborne battle. It was fun, though at times we were wishing we had the new Slide Pad for the 3DS which is compatible with KH3D, as continually resituating the camera with the shoulder buttons to chase after the enemy wasn’t all that awesome.
Just as with the other half of the demo, once Riku’s boss was dispatched the gameplay slice was complete and we were left wanting more. Though the game has yet to be officially made official for a US release, we would be VERY surprised if we didn’t see it sometime next year after its Spring 2012 Japanese release. Though we aren’t sure just how long it will be, it certainly felt like a fuller KH experience, and one we can’t wait to see more of.
TGS 2011: Lumines Electronic Symphony hands-on preview
With PS Vitas in short supply at this year's TGS, we were pleased to be able to sit down in a quiet spot off the show floor and play the TGS demo of Lumines: Electronic Symphony. From our brief time with the game, it looks like Electronic Symphony is poised to be the puzzle game for Vita as the original Lumines was for PSP.
Creating a follow-up to such a simple, well-designed, well-balanced block puzzle is tough. Besides updating the visuals and sound, what do you do? Well, Electronic Symphony obviously has upped the ante on the overall presentation, but it adds a few elements to the gameplay without disrupting the core mechanics or the flow of the game.
A quick primer on Lumines: it's a falling block puzzle where squares of four blocks fall one at a time from the top of the screen, and you must match same-colored squares of four or more (there are only two colors of blocks on any given level). Blocks clear each time the sweeper line passes over them, and you get more points the more blocks you can clear in a single sweep. It's from Rez creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi though, so you know it's more than just a falling block puzzle – there's a music and rhythm element too. The sweeper line, called the timeline, moves to the tempo of the music in each level (so it moves slower during a slow song), and of course the visuals also pulsate and change in rhythm with the music too, the intensity of which escalates as your score climbs higher and higher.
So what's new in Electronic Symphony? For starters, it adds two new special blocks, called the chain block and the shuffle block. The chain block clears all blocks of the same color that it touches and any other blocks that are adjacent to those blocks within the same cluster. So if you have a long snaking line of blocks that touch but don't form any squares, it will clear them all. The shuffle block does exactly what it sounds like it does – it randomly shuffles all the blocks within a cluster (clusters are any group of blocks that all touch each other on the field). This might sound bad, but in a pinch it can actually be a lifesaver. If your screen is almost full and you're in danger of a game over, a shuffle can potentially create a bunch of matches and clear more room on the screen.
Avatars also play a bigger role this time too, and the avatar you choose determines what kind of special power-up you get. As you play, a meter fills that allows you to use an avatar power by tapping the icon in the lower left corner – in the demo, using the avatar power gave us a random special block. You can fill up the meter faster by tapping your fingers against the Vita's back touch pad, which totally works, but feels a bit silly and seems like an unnecessary use of the hardware's features. At the very least, you can ignore it if you'd like.
From the brief demo alone, it's clear that Electronic Symphony takes full advantage of the new hardware, and the newly 3D visuals look absolutely amazing on the Vita screen. As our score grew and the visuals got more and more intense, it was impossible not to slow down and admire how gorgeous it looks in motion. Like Mizuguchi's other works, it really plays with different visual aspects creatively, like opacities and textures, dynamic lighting, and particle effects (we're told there's a skin with a popcorn popping theme, which sounds like a satisfying visual). And with over 50 skins confirmed for the game, there's a lot more to look forward to. Expect tons of great music too, with licensed tracks "Hey Boy Hey Girl" by The Chemical Brothers and "4 AM" by Kaskade.
Lumines: Electronic Symphony is planned as a launch title for North America and Europe, so look for more info in the coming months.
Creating a follow-up to such a simple, well-designed, well-balanced block puzzle is tough. Besides updating the visuals and sound, what do you do? Well, Electronic Symphony obviously has upped the ante on the overall presentation, but it adds a few elements to the gameplay without disrupting the core mechanics or the flow of the game.
A quick primer on Lumines: it's a falling block puzzle where squares of four blocks fall one at a time from the top of the screen, and you must match same-colored squares of four or more (there are only two colors of blocks on any given level). Blocks clear each time the sweeper line passes over them, and you get more points the more blocks you can clear in a single sweep. It's from Rez creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi though, so you know it's more than just a falling block puzzle – there's a music and rhythm element too. The sweeper line, called the timeline, moves to the tempo of the music in each level (so it moves slower during a slow song), and of course the visuals also pulsate and change in rhythm with the music too, the intensity of which escalates as your score climbs higher and higher.
So what's new in Electronic Symphony? For starters, it adds two new special blocks, called the chain block and the shuffle block. The chain block clears all blocks of the same color that it touches and any other blocks that are adjacent to those blocks within the same cluster. So if you have a long snaking line of blocks that touch but don't form any squares, it will clear them all. The shuffle block does exactly what it sounds like it does – it randomly shuffles all the blocks within a cluster (clusters are any group of blocks that all touch each other on the field). This might sound bad, but in a pinch it can actually be a lifesaver. If your screen is almost full and you're in danger of a game over, a shuffle can potentially create a bunch of matches and clear more room on the screen.
Avatars also play a bigger role this time too, and the avatar you choose determines what kind of special power-up you get. As you play, a meter fills that allows you to use an avatar power by tapping the icon in the lower left corner – in the demo, using the avatar power gave us a random special block. You can fill up the meter faster by tapping your fingers against the Vita's back touch pad, which totally works, but feels a bit silly and seems like an unnecessary use of the hardware's features. At the very least, you can ignore it if you'd like.
From the brief demo alone, it's clear that Electronic Symphony takes full advantage of the new hardware, and the newly 3D visuals look absolutely amazing on the Vita screen. As our score grew and the visuals got more and more intense, it was impossible not to slow down and admire how gorgeous it looks in motion. Like Mizuguchi's other works, it really plays with different visual aspects creatively, like opacities and textures, dynamic lighting, and particle effects (we're told there's a skin with a popcorn popping theme, which sounds like a satisfying visual). And with over 50 skins confirmed for the game, there's a lot more to look forward to. Expect tons of great music too, with licensed tracks "Hey Boy Hey Girl" by The Chemical Brothers and "4 AM" by Kaskade.
Lumines: Electronic Symphony is planned as a launch title for North America and Europe, so look for more info in the coming months.
iPad reviews of the week: VidRhythm, Radballs, DrawRace 2, Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack!
We're checking out the latest offerings from a couple recognizable names in the world of console gaming this week: VidRhythm, the wacky video creation from Rock Band developer Harmonix, as well as DrawRace 2 HD, a touchscreen-oriented racer from Trials HD creator RedLynx. Elsewhere, we're tackling an alluring music-addled puzzle game called Radballs, as well as checking out the second in the series of Serious Sam-inspired indie games, Kamikaze Attack! Most of these are universal apps – aside from DrawRace 2, which has separate iPad and iPhone apps – so one download will let you play on any compatible iOS device. Check 'em out!
Game: VidRhythm
Price: $1.99/£1.49
Size: 12.8MB
Buy it now from the iTunes store: US / UK
VidRhythm is not a game, which makes it a curious anomaly in the history of this weekly feature, as well as the long and impressive background of creator Harmonix – you know, the studio that spawned Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Dance Central, and Karaoke Revolution. Harmonix has an amazing knack for creating innovative and exciting music-related products, and VidRhythm continues that theme on the much smaller scale of a two-dollar universal iPad and iPhone app. Is the developer's first commercial non-game as notable as those aforementioned experiences? Not in the slightest. But for all that the studio has served up over the years, we'll happily check out their other ventures if it'll keep 'em rocking out for years to come.
Depending on how you choose to wield VidRhythm’s abilities, it's either a force for amusement or annoyance. The app grabs quick video clips of whatever's in view – your face, a pet, etc. – along with a brief voice clip as detailed, whether it's a drum-like sound or a hummed note. You'll choose one of 20 featured songs, including sped-up classical tunes and original compositions from within Harmonix, as well as a visual theme, with options inspired by past studio releases and other general themes like cats and colorful icons. Then simply press a button and watch the app transform your various choices into one goofy video that can be uploaded and shared online.
If you'd like to see some nightmarish examples of what happens when you mix the feline theme with human facial reactions, don't hesitate to search for "VidRhythm" on YouTube. It's hard not to admire the app’s ability to immediately translate bite-sized recordings into something lightly amusing you'll want inflict upon friends and family. Before iPhones (and later iPads) were so widely owned, it was easier to be wowed by the things these touchscreen wonders could do. VidRhythm is a welcome throwback to that time, so don't overthink its long-term worth; just drop a couple bucks and get weird with us already.
Game: Radballs
Price: $2.99/£1.99
Size: 165MB
Buy it now from the iTunes store: US / UK
"Radballs" is an awesome term, and Radballs also happens to be a neat iOS puzzle game. The game is all about matching like-colored balls and clearing them from the screen, but this superbly presented app takes its cues from a variety of sources, especially Bejeweled and Lumines. The latter favorite comes to mind due to the inclusion of a moving line (set to the beat of the music) that clears bunched-up balls – but it's also a notable influence on how damn slick the audio and visuals are in this iPad and iPhone offering.
This hodgepodge of familiar elements from top genre entries may not feel quite as polished, balanced, or addictive as its influences, it's definitely intriguing. Colored balls drop onto the playing field, where you shift balls around (one at a time) to pair up four or more like colors into squares or rectangles. Such blocks are cleared when the moving line passes through, which earns you points to fill your Radness meter and clear the stage, but Radballs adds in a fresh mechanic where you can grab the line and scratch it like a record to earn extra points. With power-ups that detonate or electrically clear large chunks of balls, you'll encounter several ways to earn enough Radness to clear each stage.
Born from '80s-inspired design flash, Radballs looks like a million bucks thanks to its eight distinct skins which toss up uniquely styled and colored balls, as well as themed iconography like palm trees and shutter shades. The soundtrack includes some fabulously thumping remixes of recent OK Go singles and other original electronic tracks from Neil Voss, who composed the Tetrisphere and The New Tetris OSTs way back when. Better yet, you can use your own DRM-free music to propel the puzzle action, which adds a new twist to the on-screen antics. Radballs may be like a Frankenstein's monster of existing puzzle ideas, but we can't help but be hooked by the excellent aesthetics.
Game: VidRhythm
Price: $1.99/£1.49
Size: 12.8MB
Buy it now from the iTunes store: US / UK
VidRhythm is not a game, which makes it a curious anomaly in the history of this weekly feature, as well as the long and impressive background of creator Harmonix – you know, the studio that spawned Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Dance Central, and Karaoke Revolution. Harmonix has an amazing knack for creating innovative and exciting music-related products, and VidRhythm continues that theme on the much smaller scale of a two-dollar universal iPad and iPhone app. Is the developer's first commercial non-game as notable as those aforementioned experiences? Not in the slightest. But for all that the studio has served up over the years, we'll happily check out their other ventures if it'll keep 'em rocking out for years to come.
Depending on how you choose to wield VidRhythm’s abilities, it's either a force for amusement or annoyance. The app grabs quick video clips of whatever's in view – your face, a pet, etc. – along with a brief voice clip as detailed, whether it's a drum-like sound or a hummed note. You'll choose one of 20 featured songs, including sped-up classical tunes and original compositions from within Harmonix, as well as a visual theme, with options inspired by past studio releases and other general themes like cats and colorful icons. Then simply press a button and watch the app transform your various choices into one goofy video that can be uploaded and shared online.
If you'd like to see some nightmarish examples of what happens when you mix the feline theme with human facial reactions, don't hesitate to search for "VidRhythm" on YouTube. It's hard not to admire the app’s ability to immediately translate bite-sized recordings into something lightly amusing you'll want inflict upon friends and family. Before iPhones (and later iPads) were so widely owned, it was easier to be wowed by the things these touchscreen wonders could do. VidRhythm is a welcome throwback to that time, so don't overthink its long-term worth; just drop a couple bucks and get weird with us already.
Game: Radballs
Price: $2.99/£1.99
Size: 165MB
Buy it now from the iTunes store: US / UK
"Radballs" is an awesome term, and Radballs also happens to be a neat iOS puzzle game. The game is all about matching like-colored balls and clearing them from the screen, but this superbly presented app takes its cues from a variety of sources, especially Bejeweled and Lumines. The latter favorite comes to mind due to the inclusion of a moving line (set to the beat of the music) that clears bunched-up balls – but it's also a notable influence on how damn slick the audio and visuals are in this iPad and iPhone offering.
This hodgepodge of familiar elements from top genre entries may not feel quite as polished, balanced, or addictive as its influences, it's definitely intriguing. Colored balls drop onto the playing field, where you shift balls around (one at a time) to pair up four or more like colors into squares or rectangles. Such blocks are cleared when the moving line passes through, which earns you points to fill your Radness meter and clear the stage, but Radballs adds in a fresh mechanic where you can grab the line and scratch it like a record to earn extra points. With power-ups that detonate or electrically clear large chunks of balls, you'll encounter several ways to earn enough Radness to clear each stage.
Born from '80s-inspired design flash, Radballs looks like a million bucks thanks to its eight distinct skins which toss up uniquely styled and colored balls, as well as themed iconography like palm trees and shutter shades. The soundtrack includes some fabulously thumping remixes of recent OK Go singles and other original electronic tracks from Neil Voss, who composed the Tetrisphere and The New Tetris OSTs way back when. Better yet, you can use your own DRM-free music to propel the puzzle action, which adds a new twist to the on-screen antics. Radballs may be like a Frankenstein's monster of existing puzzle ideas, but we can't help but be hooked by the excellent aesthetics.
TGS 2011: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy hands-on preview
The Final Fantasy series as whole has one of the best music catalogs in all of gaming, so the idea to make a rhythm game featuring all the classics from the franchise's history is about as solid as it gets. With awesome rhythm games on the DS like Elite Beat Agents and Rhythm Heaven already setting a strong standard, our expectations were high as we picked up Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy for the very first time. After playing through all the tracks available on the TGS demo, it looks like the Final Fantasy rhythm game is right on track.
First, let's talk about the basic mechanics. Like many rhythm games, Theatrhythm features several kinds of notes that you must hit in time to the music in a specific way. Basic notes require a simple tap, arrow notes require a quick flick in the indicated direction, and hold notes require you to hold the stylus to the screen for the indicated duration. Accuracy is graded on each note, with "critical" appropriately being the highest grade possible. Similar to DDR, your character has a life bar and you HP goes up and down depending on how many notes you hit/miss, failing you out of the song if it hits zero.
From the start, it's clear that Theatrhythm isn't just a generic rhythm game with a Final Fantasy skin. First, there are three types of levels that correspond with the three major sections of an FF game – battles, exploration, and cutscenes. Battles are quite similar in format to DDR, where notes move in a straight line across the screen. The set-up looks like an FF battle, with a monster on the left and four party members on the right. As the notes scroll across the top screen, you can tap anywhere on the bottom screen to hit them. Once we got a good streak going on our first battle (the battle theme for the original FF), we automatically triggered a summon, which felt a lot like activating star power in rock band.
Field exploration levels switch things up a bit. Whereas the hold notes in battles are all just a straight line where you don't have to move the stylus at all, the field sections we played had lots of hold notes with wavy lines where we had to move our stylus on the bottom screen to keep it lined up with each note's twisting path. And whereas the battle and exploration levels are side-scrolling, the cutscenes present a fixed screen where the scene plays in the background and the notes circle around in place.
While the highly stylized, over-the-top chibi-size adorableness of the art won't appeal to everyone, we absolutely love it. It fits well for this type of game too – it's a spinoff, not a serious Final Fantasy game, and as such it shouldn't look like one (and if the sprites look familiar, it's because they're from the Japan-only Kingdom Hearts Mobile game). Plus, there's just something fun about seeing characters we've known and loved for so long in a completely different light than we're used to.
The music too, is obviously fantastic. The final game will have over 50 tracks, with three songs each for each game in the numbered series, from the first Final Fantasy through FFXIII (our favorite track from the demo was probably Tina's theme from FFVI, but it's tough to choose).
We're eagerly anticipating an official announcement that Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy will be localized outside of Japan, so look for more news as soon as that happens.
First, let's talk about the basic mechanics. Like many rhythm games, Theatrhythm features several kinds of notes that you must hit in time to the music in a specific way. Basic notes require a simple tap, arrow notes require a quick flick in the indicated direction, and hold notes require you to hold the stylus to the screen for the indicated duration. Accuracy is graded on each note, with "critical" appropriately being the highest grade possible. Similar to DDR, your character has a life bar and you HP goes up and down depending on how many notes you hit/miss, failing you out of the song if it hits zero.
From the start, it's clear that Theatrhythm isn't just a generic rhythm game with a Final Fantasy skin. First, there are three types of levels that correspond with the three major sections of an FF game – battles, exploration, and cutscenes. Battles are quite similar in format to DDR, where notes move in a straight line across the screen. The set-up looks like an FF battle, with a monster on the left and four party members on the right. As the notes scroll across the top screen, you can tap anywhere on the bottom screen to hit them. Once we got a good streak going on our first battle (the battle theme for the original FF), we automatically triggered a summon, which felt a lot like activating star power in rock band.
Field exploration levels switch things up a bit. Whereas the hold notes in battles are all just a straight line where you don't have to move the stylus at all, the field sections we played had lots of hold notes with wavy lines where we had to move our stylus on the bottom screen to keep it lined up with each note's twisting path. And whereas the battle and exploration levels are side-scrolling, the cutscenes present a fixed screen where the scene plays in the background and the notes circle around in place.
While the highly stylized, over-the-top chibi-size adorableness of the art won't appeal to everyone, we absolutely love it. It fits well for this type of game too – it's a spinoff, not a serious Final Fantasy game, and as such it shouldn't look like one (and if the sprites look familiar, it's because they're from the Japan-only Kingdom Hearts Mobile game). Plus, there's just something fun about seeing characters we've known and loved for so long in a completely different light than we're used to.
The music too, is obviously fantastic. The final game will have over 50 tracks, with three songs each for each game in the numbered series, from the first Final Fantasy through FFXIII (our favorite track from the demo was probably Tina's theme from FFVI, but it's tough to choose).
We're eagerly anticipating an official announcement that Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy will be localized outside of Japan, so look for more news as soon as that happens.
TGS 2011: Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor (Kinect) preview
Announced last year at Tokyo Game Show before Kinect hit stores, the idea of a new Steel Battalion game for a controller-free hardware d-on seemed almost comical. The original Steel Battalion is remembered by hardcore collectors for being packed in with one of the most complicated console controllers of all time. Now the series is back with Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor as Capcom gives development responsibilities to From Software, and in the place of two control sticks, three pedals, and 40 buttons, you’re left with motion controls to fill the gap. Could that possibly work? After seeing it in action, we think it just might.
During our hands-off, developer controlled demo, we quickly understood that Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor’s greatest strength is its use of Kinect and the standard controller in unison. The fact that a controller is involved came as a relief to us, since a mech combat game like this one demands precision that waving your arms about can’t really do on its own. For the core mechanic of pointing you weapons at stuff and blowing it to smithereens, it’s all on the controller, but there’s a myriad of things happening around that central experience that can only be done with Kinect.
Taking place in a future where a virus caused technology to basically be set back to the 1920s, humanity has had to to quickly get back in the swing of things now that computers are gone. In that turmoil America was invaded by a country that sounds like some sort of Communist conglomeration, and in 2082 America is slowly taking back their states, one bloody, mech-filled battle at a time. In this war you pilot a VT or Vertical Tank, the walking war machines central to the conflict.
From inside the VT a team of soldiers run the contraption, with you manning the main controls. In the background your support team is reloading the canons, checking diagnostics, and talking plainly yet poetically about the nature of war. From standard view inside the cockpit, which is seen when sitting and having the controller in a resting position on your lap, you can turn around and check on your squad mates with a quick sweep of your hand in the direction of the corner of the tank you want to check.
As we were introduced to the motion controls they came off as a mix of useful and gimmicky. Pratical tricks included turning a knob to switch your main weapon, pulling down your camera array to view the battlefield from different angles, and standing up to exit the top of the tank to get an unobstructed view of the battlefield. The more gimmicky uses included shaking a squad member’s hand, putting your hands up to your eyes to use binoculars while standing, and in one of the funnier moments of the demo, punching a hysterical teammate. As the battle gets too intense for one member of the support team, he tries to run out of the tank and, after pulling him back in with a quick overhead grab with your right hand, you then punch him in the face multiple times to get him to calm down, which works for some reason.
That brief exchange of therapeutic punches was peppered with obscenities highlights another important thing about the game: it seems heavily aimed at the western, mature market. The battles are incredibly bloody, with VT machinegun fire hitting human infantry and exploding them into bloody messes on impact. Additionally, the soldiers have swear-heavy conversations about how effed up a particular battle is, and how they don’t need this shit. The overall look also seems more Western, with character designs and settings taking a much more American flavor.
Though the start of the demo was frontloaded with Kinect-based actions, the deeper we got in, the more the controller took center stage. With a quick push forward of both hands and the controller, the pilot enters the standard action view, as the VT slowly walked forward, blasting enemies both human and mech to bits. While standard munitions just bounce off the exterior, heavy blasts from opposing VTs cast about the cockpit and its inhabitants violently. After taking down a particularly heavily armored VT and some guard towers, the day was won and the soldiers had taken back Manhattan.
After the brief demo we were impressed with how the controller and Kinect were able to work together for a richer-looking experience that could be something special when its 2012 release rolls around. Though we don’t think all the Kinect uses we saw were wholly necessary, Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor could be the first Kinect game that successfully caters to hardcore players instead of dancing grandmas and excitable children. However, with all the different ways you use Kinect controls in the cockpit, we bet this will have one hell of a tutorial.
During our hands-off, developer controlled demo, we quickly understood that Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor’s greatest strength is its use of Kinect and the standard controller in unison. The fact that a controller is involved came as a relief to us, since a mech combat game like this one demands precision that waving your arms about can’t really do on its own. For the core mechanic of pointing you weapons at stuff and blowing it to smithereens, it’s all on the controller, but there’s a myriad of things happening around that central experience that can only be done with Kinect.
Taking place in a future where a virus caused technology to basically be set back to the 1920s, humanity has had to to quickly get back in the swing of things now that computers are gone. In that turmoil America was invaded by a country that sounds like some sort of Communist conglomeration, and in 2082 America is slowly taking back their states, one bloody, mech-filled battle at a time. In this war you pilot a VT or Vertical Tank, the walking war machines central to the conflict.
From inside the VT a team of soldiers run the contraption, with you manning the main controls. In the background your support team is reloading the canons, checking diagnostics, and talking plainly yet poetically about the nature of war. From standard view inside the cockpit, which is seen when sitting and having the controller in a resting position on your lap, you can turn around and check on your squad mates with a quick sweep of your hand in the direction of the corner of the tank you want to check.
As we were introduced to the motion controls they came off as a mix of useful and gimmicky. Pratical tricks included turning a knob to switch your main weapon, pulling down your camera array to view the battlefield from different angles, and standing up to exit the top of the tank to get an unobstructed view of the battlefield. The more gimmicky uses included shaking a squad member’s hand, putting your hands up to your eyes to use binoculars while standing, and in one of the funnier moments of the demo, punching a hysterical teammate. As the battle gets too intense for one member of the support team, he tries to run out of the tank and, after pulling him back in with a quick overhead grab with your right hand, you then punch him in the face multiple times to get him to calm down, which works for some reason.
That brief exchange of therapeutic punches was peppered with obscenities highlights another important thing about the game: it seems heavily aimed at the western, mature market. The battles are incredibly bloody, with VT machinegun fire hitting human infantry and exploding them into bloody messes on impact. Additionally, the soldiers have swear-heavy conversations about how effed up a particular battle is, and how they don’t need this shit. The overall look also seems more Western, with character designs and settings taking a much more American flavor.
Though the start of the demo was frontloaded with Kinect-based actions, the deeper we got in, the more the controller took center stage. With a quick push forward of both hands and the controller, the pilot enters the standard action view, as the VT slowly walked forward, blasting enemies both human and mech to bits. While standard munitions just bounce off the exterior, heavy blasts from opposing VTs cast about the cockpit and its inhabitants violently. After taking down a particularly heavily armored VT and some guard towers, the day was won and the soldiers had taken back Manhattan.
After the brief demo we were impressed with how the controller and Kinect were able to work together for a richer-looking experience that could be something special when its 2012 release rolls around. Though we don’t think all the Kinect uses we saw were wholly necessary, Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor could be the first Kinect game that successfully caters to hardcore players instead of dancing grandmas and excitable children. However, with all the different ways you use Kinect controls in the cockpit, we bet this will have one hell of a tutorial.
TGS 2011: Clan of Champions announced for PS3, 360 and PC
NIS America recently announced at TGS that it plans to publish the fantasy action game Clan of Champions in North America and Europe for PS3, 360 and PC. The multi-platform title is quite a departure for the publisher, best known for niche Japanese titles like the hardcore tactical RPG series Disgaea and lovely Ar Tonelico JRPGs.
Clan of Champions is being developed by Acquire, best known for the Tenchu series. The developer has also worked with NIS before on the PSP titles What Did I Do To Deserve This, My Lord? and Class of Heroes, but this type of multi-platform project is new territory. Multiplayer will be a huge component too, with both three player co-op and three-on-three competitive modes. Character customization will allow players to choose among human, elf or orc, and although it's primarily an action game, it appears to have some RPG elements like weapon leveling.
Set for a Spring 2012 release in both North America and Europe, Clan of Champions is definitely one we'll be keeping our eye on in the coming months.
Set for a Spring 2012 release in both North America and Europe, Clan of Champions is definitely one we'll be keeping our eye on in the coming months.
TGS 2011: Comical Tekken 3D Prime Edition trailer fires new shot in the Street Fighter/Tekken war
Since the announcement of Street Fighter X Tekken the heads of their respective franchises, Yoshinori Ono of Street Fighter and Katsuhiro Harada of Tekken, have appeared in a series of silly videos for that game. Still, most of them have been for the Capcom side of things, as SFXT is being developed by Capcom and Tekken X Street Fighter has yet to be shown in any real capacity, but that changed with the new trailer for Tekken 3D Prime Edition for 3DS. Despite this being a Namco title, this awesome video starts at Capcom’s offices and features a scene-stealing turn by Ono. Watch!
We love this trailer for so many reasons, most of which involve Ono’s theatrical laughter, and it was cool to see Namco use this comical developer rivalry to hype their new game. And you have to give credit to Capcom for participating in an ad for something they aren’t involved in at all. Though we suppose it’s possible that this indirectly advertises SFXT, so Capcom gets some bonus.
Tekken has been all over the place lately, with a new CG film, a Tekken Tag HD remake and the planned Tekken Tag 2 on top of all the Street Fighter crossover talk, so seeing it spread to the 3DS isn’t much of a shock. When we briefly saw the game in action we thought, “Yup, that’s totally Tekken in 3D,” as it seems like a capable, no frills version of the series for the new handheld. And the fact that you get the 3D CG film Tekken Blood Vengeance with your standard Tekken fix of 40 playable characters on the 3DS sounds like a pretty good deal. Now if they could just make Ono and Harada playable characters…
We love this trailer for so many reasons, most of which involve Ono’s theatrical laughter, and it was cool to see Namco use this comical developer rivalry to hype their new game. And you have to give credit to Capcom for participating in an ad for something they aren’t involved in at all. Though we suppose it’s possible that this indirectly advertises SFXT, so Capcom gets some bonus.
TGS 2011: The console war parody rages on with Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2
Just like in real life, the console war continues on in Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2, just announced for release in the US and Europe at NIS America's recent TGS event. If you're unfamiliar with the series, you can check out our FAP of the first game, but all you really need to know is that it's a JRPG about the console wars. Each console is personified as an adorable girl with looks and personality befitting of her console, and they all duke it out Highlander style, basically.
The same cast of characters will return in Mk2, but the battle system has been totally revamped. We're told battles will be more strategic this time, the combo system will be streamlined to be faster, and the overmap and exploration are receiving overhauls as well. We're eager to see what improvements the sequel will make over its predecessor, so look for more details before Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2 releases next Spring.
The same cast of characters will return in Mk2, but the battle system has been totally revamped. We're told battles will be more strategic this time, the combo system will be streamlined to be faster, and the overmap and exploration are receiving overhauls as well. We're eager to see what improvements the sequel will make over its predecessor, so look for more details before Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2 releases next Spring.
Thứ Tư, 14 tháng 9, 2011
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.
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
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.
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 Rovio
Mobile 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 Game 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.
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 Rovio
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 Game 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.
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- 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 Game Online
Angry Birds Game Online
Angry Birds Online is produced by Rovio Mobiles which is a puzzle game in which the gamers can launch the wingless birds while using Physics-based demolition ways of destroying every obstacle that comes in between the Angry Birds flight of taking back what was taken from them, their eggs. They have to fight for them, the eggs are their last chance of continuing their line of species. Choosing the only weapon and the best there is for them to use, the sling shot using their own self as ammunition for striking the green pigs and also the structures that shelters the evil Green Pigs.
The structures from every level are created from materials such as rocks, ice, bricks and woods. The goal of the Angry Birds Game Online would be to get rid of the pigs and the structures, using direct hit and inflect as much damage as you can to the structure with just a single blow or with the allotted number of birds in each level. Saving as much firepower as you can, they will be adding to your score at 10,000 points a piece Establishing of a high scoring game will help you get through the level with an award of three stars.
In every level of the game, the special objects like explosive crates are going to be found that you could take advantage to eliminate the structures and also the pigs. The very first event of Angry Birds Game Online will be the Poached Eggs in which the birds began their mission to chase the evil Green Pigs which have stolen their valuable eggs. Help the Angry Birds fight for their survival, play now!
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