Archive for the ‘Game Talk’ Category

If you been waiting for something new to add to your imaginative adventures in Scribblenauts Remix you're in luck. To celebrate over 1 million downloads on iOS a free Valentine's Day update has been released featuring some lovey-dovey additions.

The update will stick you with a new Valentine's Day-themed playground along with a matching music track. For those of you not familiar with the quirky puzzler, the franchise began life on Nintendo DS and the goal is to solve puzzles by summoning just about any creature, person or item you can think of (aside from copy-written and vulgar things of course). You're only limited by your imagination and the game is very entertaining.

Sadly it doesn't look like the update brings any new levels to the game. However, if you're new to the title you'll have 50 levels spread across 5 different worlds to play through for the reasonable price of $.99. There are also 20 additional levels you can pick up through an in-app purchase.

Have you ever played Scribblenauts Remix on iOS? Whats the craziest thing you have created in the game? Hit the comments section below and give us some ideas!

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If you're looking to score some virtual Mass Effect 3 swag before the game hits shelves you may want to head over to Facebook. Microsoft and BioWare have created a new Facebook app to market the title called Mission Command that will also give you a shot at some in-game extras.

Mission Command will have you completing missions to unlock various rewards like “Xbox Live Avatar items, DLC and Mass Effect 3 gear.” The site also says “Your decisions determine the rewards” and the more you interact with the app the better your chances will be at winning a custom Xbox 360 console and Kinect.

Obviously the first mission will have you log in to the Facebook app and from their you'll have to do things like “recruit” your friends, submit pick-up or lines for Liara or submit a video of yourself acting like one of Mass Effect 3's in-game characters.

The first prize up for grabs is a Normandy prop for you Xbox Live Avatar, but according to the site if the promotion gets “enough recruits” everyone will be able to pick up the Normandy prop. If you want more info you can check out the official rules.

[Shack News]

Related posts:
New Line of 'Mass Effect' Figures to Include 'Mass Effect 3' DLC
'Mass Effect 3' Demo Coming February 14th

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Nintendo adds new titles to the Nintendo eShop for 3DS, the Nintendo DSi Shop and the WiiShop Channel every week and we grab all info and put it here so you can stay up to speed on all of Nintendo's most recent digital titles.

This week we'll be slicing through sword-wielding henchmen on a mission to save Princess Cherry Blossom in Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword and taking on zombie horde in GO Series: Undead Storm for 3DS. On the Wii we'll once again be hot the heels of a master thief in Carmen Sandiego Adventures in Math: The Great Gateway Grab. Head past the break for more from Nintendo.

Nintendo eShop
Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword - Travel a world rife with beauty and danger to rescue the legendary Princess Cherry Blossom. Her kidnapper has placed dozens of blade-wielding henchmen in your path. (For Nintendo 3DS)

Nintendo eShop and Nintendo DSiWare
GO Series: Undead Storm - Six months after a mysterious meteorite strike, the undead have awoken and are taking over the city. What lies behind this zombie epidemic? Only you can uncover the truth. (For Nintendo 3DS / Nintendo DSi)

Nintendo Video
"Drown in the Now" by The Crystal Method (available Feb. 3 at 3 p.m. PST) - UVPHACTORY created a graphic black, white and red New York neighborhood that has been infested by small robots. The video culminates with Matisyahu's rescue via boat by The Crystal Method. (For Nintendo 3DS)

Iwata Asks
Swapnote - Read the latest edition of Iwata Asks for an inside look at Swapnote, a new application that allows Nintendo 3DS owners to write, decorate and send handwritten 3D notes to people on their friend lists via SpotPass and StreetPass. Swapnote is available to download from the Nintendo eShop at no cost.

Also new this week:
• Carmen Sandiego Adventures in Math: The Great Gateway Grab (WiiWare)

Related posts:
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Discuss this story in our Gaming forums! Follow @MTVGeek on Twitter and be sure to "like" us on Facebook for the best geek news about comics, toys, gaming and more!

Nintendo adds new titles to the Nintendo eShop for 3DS, the Nintendo DSi Shop and the WiiShop Channel every week and we grab all info and put it here so you can stay up to speed on all of Nintendo's most recent digital titles.

This week we'll be slicing through sword-wielding henchmen on a mission to save Princess Cherry Blossom in Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword and taking on zombie horde in GO Series: Undead Storm for 3DS. On the Wii we'll once again be hot the heels of a master thief in Carmen Sandiego Adventures in Math: The Great Gateway Grab. Head past the break for more from Nintendo.

Nintendo eShop
Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword - Travel a world rife with beauty and danger to rescue the legendary Princess Cherry Blossom. Her kidnapper has placed dozens of blade-wielding henchmen in your path. (For Nintendo 3DS)

Nintendo eShop and Nintendo DSiWare
GO Series: Undead Storm - Six months after a mysterious meteorite strike, the undead have awoken and are taking over the city. What lies behind this zombie epidemic? Only you can uncover the truth. (For Nintendo 3DS / Nintendo DSi)

Nintendo Video
"Drown in the Now" by The Crystal Method (available Feb. 3 at 3 p.m. PST) - UVPHACTORY created a graphic black, white and red New York neighborhood that has been infested by small robots. The video culminates with Matisyahu's rescue via boat by The Crystal Method. (For Nintendo 3DS)

Iwata Asks
Swapnote - Read the latest edition of Iwata Asks for an inside look at Swapnote, a new application that allows Nintendo 3DS owners to write, decorate and send handwritten 3D notes to people on their friend lists via SpotPass and StreetPass. Swapnote is available to download from the Nintendo eShop at no cost.

Also new this week:
• Carmen Sandiego Adventures in Math: The Great Gateway Grab (WiiWare)

Related posts:
'Mutant Mudds' Review - Getting Dirty On The 3DS
Nintendo Network Confirmed For Wii U and 3DS!

--

Discuss this story in our Gaming forums! Follow @MTVGeek on Twitter and be sure to "like" us on Facebook for the best geek news about comics, toys, gaming and more!

If you're looking to score some virtual Mass Effect 3 swag before the game hits shelves you may want to head over to Facebook. Microsoft and BioWare have created a new Facebook app to market the title called Mission Command that will also give you a shot at some in-game extras.

Mission Command will have you completing missions to unlock various rewards like “Xbox Live Avatar items, DLC and Mass Effect 3 gear.” The site also says “Your decisions determine the rewards” and the more you interact with the app the better your chances will be at winning a custom Xbox 360 console and Kinect.

Obviously the first mission will have you log in to the Facebook app and from their you'll have to do things like “recruit” your friends, submit pick-up or lines for Liara or submit a video of yourself acting like one of Mass Effect 3's in-game characters.

The first prize up for grabs is a Normandy prop for you Xbox Live Avatar, but according to the site if the promotion gets “enough recruits” everyone will be able to pick up the Normandy prop. If you want more info you can check out the official rules.

[Shack News]

Related posts:
New Line of 'Mass Effect' Figures to Include 'Mass Effect 3' DLC
'Mass Effect 3' Demo Coming February 14th

--

Discuss this story in our Gaming forums! Follow @MTVGeek on Twitter and be sure to "like" us on Facebook for the best geek news about comics, toys, gaming and more!

If you're looking to score some virtual Mass Effect 3 swag before the game hits shelves you may want to head over to Facebook. Microsoft and BioWare have created a new Facebook app to market the title called Mission Command that will also give you a shot at some in-game extras.

Mission Command will have you completing missions to unlock various rewards like “Xbox Live Avatar items, DLC and Mass Effect 3 gear.” The site also says “Your decisions determine the rewards” and the more you interact with the app the better your chances will be at winning a custom Xbox 360 console and Kinect.

Obviously the first mission will have you log in to the Facebook app and from their you'll have to do things like “recruit” your friends, submit pick-up or lines for Liara or submit a video of yourself acting like one of Mass Effect 3's in-game characters.

The first prize up for grabs is a Normandy prop for you Xbox Live Avatar, but according to the site if the promotion gets “enough recruits” everyone will be able to pick up the Normandy prop. If you want more info you can check out the official rules.

[Shack News]

Related posts:
New Line of 'Mass Effect' Figures to Include 'Mass Effect 3' DLC
'Mass Effect 3' Demo Coming February 14th

--

Discuss this story in our Gaming forums! Follow @MTVGeek on Twitter and be sure to "like" us on Facebook for the best geek news about comics, toys, gaming and more!

The Soul Calibur series enters its 16th year as a franchise, reaching all the way back to the PS One release of Soul Edge, and it's hard to overestimate how groundbreaking the original game was among the then-current crop of fighters.

It was a 3D, weapons-based fighter that seemed to take the rough ideas of something like Battle Arena Toshinden and make them workable on the still-evolving 32-bit platform. Along with Tekken, Namco and Project Soul seemed to understand how to not only take advantage of the hardware at the time (both series were great looking back in their day) but how to translate fighting—and this is the important part—coherently into 3D, allowing the player to use the y-axis strategically, and not simply as a means of exploiting depth of field.

But both Tekken and Soul Calibur as series have seemed to struggle to make an impact on modern consoles, the most recent iterations of each—Tekken 6 and '08's Soul Calibur IV—bringing more of the same to the table, coasting by on improved graphics without any great, vital leaps in the gameplay. And that's kind of been a problem since the 2D fighting games they were once set to supplant like Street Fighter and MK have found ways to reinvent and reinvigorate themselves while still remaining true to what gamers remember about them.

Fighting games aren't like Madden, it's tough to justify simply iterating on the game with some minor tweaks and changes in roster and justifying it as a new purchase because gamers at large might not notice discrete differences. An occasional reinvention is necessary, not only to draw in new and returning players, but to keep a series feeling vital and reflect the new ways gamers are interacting with the game.

Which brings us (at long last—sorry) to Soul Calibur V. Is it the great jolt the series needs to keep the series alive or simply more of the same with a new coat of paint?

THE BASICS

Soul Calibur V returns to the stages of battle across various locations in 17th century Europe as various factions chase after the opposing blades Soul Calibur and Soul Edge—the evil one with the eyball and the glowing, divine one, I forget which is which—and you'll be taking the role of one of the many returning fighters and a few new ones on the stage of combat.

Mechanically, the big changes this time around around are the Guard Impact defensive moves as well as Critical Edge attacks, both tied to a sub meter next to your health bar. Critical Edge moves are essentially canned super attacks replacing Critical Finishes from Soul Calibur IV, and using a double quarter circle plus A B K along with enough juice on your meter you can take away nice chunks of your opponents' health. The Guard Impact requires you to press back and A B K in time with an enemy attack to push back enemy attacks while you can use Just Guard to cut down the time it takes to come back at an enemy with your own attack.

In terms of modes, the game includes short offline campaign that almost seems ready to take a page from Mortal Kombat's lengthy, multi-character driven story/extended training exercise, but it simply introduces three of the game's new characters: Pyrra, Patroklos, and Z.W.E.I. in a fairly perfunctory story told through a mix of prerendered cutscenes and drawn stills. Other offline modes include an Arcade mode and Legendary Souls (like Arcade but a bit tougher) as well as the return of the character customization menu. While I keep harping on advancements in the franchise, I must say something like the Mission Mode from Soul Calibur back in the Dreamcas days along with destructible weapons and equipment effects.

Online, you've got your usual Ranked and Player matches as well as the Global Colesseo, which is an unranked mode that allows you to select territories and pools you with other fighters in large lobbies. In practice, nearly all of my matches maintained pretty stable connections (I had only one stutter and drop out out of my first 30 or so), but connecting still takes a couple of minutes, and you'll find yourself tired of the menu music and static loading screens pretty quickly.

Again, there are some new characters in the lineup, but with the exception of guest character Ezio, along with newbies ZWEI (I refuse to go back in and make that an acronym each time) and Viola, most of the new additions are simply reskinned versions of classic characters from the series. So expect to see a lot of familiar moves crop up in the game.

THE HIGHS

It looks terrific

Visually, Soul Calibur V feels like a leap above IV in terms of both textures and elaboration. That's to say your pre-made roster of characters look great with heavy levels of detail and animation. Likewise, the backgrounds are fairly detailed with all kinds of action going on around and behind you as you fight (you might not notice because you're too busy trying not to, you know, lose).

Some nice variety with the trio if new fighters

The trio of new characters doesn't play at all like anyone else in the roster, which is always welcome. While I still haven't gotten the hang of, well, any of them, they're at least visually and mechanically distinct from the same old same old. Viola, in particular, seems like one of those pro characters that's easy to skip because her move set involving a crystal ball seems a little opaque, but I suspect with enough time she becomes pretty formidable. Likewise, I had reservations of Assassin's Creed's Ezio whose fighting style seemed to require being very, very close, but he has a very solid medium game to make him a contender.

Oh, and ZWEI is a werewolf.

The Coloseo makes finding matches easier

While I wish this was a Ranked mode, by creating the player pools as Project Soul has done, it seems to increase the opportunity for finding a match—a welcome addition to the notoriously tricky process of fighting game matchmaking.

More customization options

Besides allowing you to modify the existing characters, you can also create you own based on fighting style of the SCV lineup and there are plenty of additions and tweaks you can make to the height, voice, and body shape of your character and tons of little unlockables and presets from the Soul Calibur and Tekken universes.

THE LOWS

So, it's more of the same

Depending on who you are, this might be either a good or bad thing. I'll elaborate more on this in the Verdict section, but this is essentially the same game you've been playing for nearly two decades. The Critical Edge attacks in particular seem to have about the same impact as a well-timed combo (which is the point, I suppose) but don't really feel like a game-changer in terms of dramatically shifting the fight one way or the other.

Story Mode was a a missed opportunity

Even if SCV didn't take the Mortal Kombat approach with the sprawling, multi-character epic, it still would have been nice for the game to at least show off all of the new characters and give you a little bit of a primer on their use. As it stands, it feels like the soul has been stripped out of the game a bit, with very little of the cast showing up in the story. And again, I keep coming back to MK, but that game has kind of set the benchmark for fighting games in terms using its story mode to teach you how to play the game while also having some fun with the fiction. There's no so luck here in an alternating dry and overwrought adventure featuring awkward sibling relationships.

THE VERDICT

I talked a lot at the top about how a fighting game series needs to reinvent itself but that's not entirely accurate, of course: if you're a huge Soul Calibur fan and/or simply missed IV, then this game will feel essential, like the first true next-gen entry in the series. However, on the other side of the coin, if you are a longtime fan, you might also be wondering "is this it?" The fighting is still engaging, but the thrill has worn off a little and it's time for Project Soul to start thinking about the series from the ground up if there's a Soul Calibur VI on the horizon.

Soul Calibur V is available now for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

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iPhone board game fans will get an unexpected surprise when they visit the App Store this morning: Ticket to Ride Pocket has received an update adding an online multiplayer mode, supporting up to 5 players in asynchronous play. For those not familiar with the term, it means you'll be able to take turns at your leisure, deciding whether to play over the course of several minutes or several days.

This is a change of pace for digital versions of Ticket to Ride, which had previously supported live online play. Ticket to Ride Pocket does not, but it is the first to offer the frequently-requested asynchronous mode. Even so, CEO Eric Hautemont had previously led fans to believe they would never see an asynchronous version, hence the surprise upon its release.

In an interview with Wired GeekDad's Jonathan Liu back in November 2011, Hautemont stated:

Some people ask, well, why can’t you add asynchronous play to Ticket to Ride? That would solve all of that. But have you ever played the game? Many turns you’re just collecting cards, drawing two cards. So you take your turn, and you draw two cards, and then we wait for Bob to play, and he draws two cards, and then you do this for five or six rounds, but it takes you two days and nobody has done anything but draw cards. It really doesn’t work as an asynchronous game; you have to play it live.

I reached out to Hautemont for some clarification, and he explained the company's change of heart:

We coded an asynchronous version internally and discovered to our delight that Apple's asynchronous game servers were fast enough to provide an acceptable "quasi-real time" experience for Game Center players logged in the same game at the same time - it's not as smooth and responsive as our own (real-time) Online service in Ticket to Ride for iPad, but still...

It's very interesting to see that Game Center integration is working so efficiently that companies can forgo setting up their own real-time services. There was much speculation as to what Apple intended when they announced improved asynchronous play with iOS 5, but few expected that it would provide a comparable experience to real-time play.

Hautemont went on to say that Days of Wonder was responding to the requests of their fans with this move, and that the company wanted to provide the option of online play for those with no access to live online versions of Ticket to Ride or no friends available for local wi-fi play.

Overall, Days of Wonder is very interested to see how the usage of Ticket to Ride online modes will evolve. Much can be learned about app development from measuring and comparing the use of these online, asynchronous, and local wi-fi play options. I can only speak for myself, but I know I'll be starting up several matches as soon as this app finished downloading.

Ticket to Ride Pocket is available in the iPhone App Store for $1.99. It's sister app, the full version of Ticket to Ride for the iPad, also received an update worth mentioning. The app is now compatible with the local wi-fi multiplayer mode previously included in Ticket to Ride Pocket, meaning that a group can play in one live game across a mixed assortment of iOS devices.

Early reception of the update has seen many player decrying the lack of async play in the iPad app, but Hautemont responded at BoardGameGeek, providing the following explanation:

The issue is that Apple's current API implementation does not allow two different Apps (e.g. Ticket to Ride Pocket and Ticket to Ride for iPad) to connect together for Asynchronous play (even though it does for Local play). We will keep an eye on this and see how things evolve, however.

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Oklahoma House Democrat Will Fourkiller introduces a 1% surcharge on all Teen-rated and up games sold in his state to combat childhood obesity and bullying.

Fourkiller's bill, HB 2696, singles out what Fourkiller classifies as "violent" video games to deal with those issues of obesity and youth violence which the State Representative indirectly attributes to video games based on his time as a teacher, coach, and registered nurse. In an interview with news station KFOR, Fourkiller cites an incident where an unnamed assailant shot an officer while in the process of stealing a car after having played Grand Theft Auto, elaborating that hours of time with games can cause desensitization in the player.

The bill follows the model of tobacco taxes in many states that place and additional surcharge on cigarette sales in order to pay for anti-smoking campaigns in their states. Fourkiller's proposed legislation would apply 50% of the income from the tax to the Childhood Outdoor Education Revolving Fund as well as the Bullying Prevention Revolving Fund.

Fourkiller says that he's not singling out the game industry, but the tax does omit any other sort of "violent" media. Also, given the nebulous definition of violence in the bill, the surcharge would include titles with T ratings and above, i.e. Rock Band 3 would be taxed in the same way as Modern Warfare 3 under the proposed legislation.

Fourkiller's bill will be read before the House on February 6th.

[Source: KFOR via Gamespot]

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Ubisoft's first gameplay trailer for their latest tactical shooter shows off a healthy amount of equipment and action.

Trailer sound people love that digital hum thing for big action military stuff now, don't they. I kind of dig it, but I can imagine it's going to wear out its welcome very soon.

The fine art of trailer audio design aside, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Future Soldier has a new gameplay trailer and Ubisoft wasn't shy about showing off a handful of the futuristic tools you'll be using in the April release for the PS3 and 360 (the PC version is on the way somewhere down the line).

Below I've tried to single out a few notable elements from the trailer to look out for:

• Active camouflage: Among the tools at your ground forces' disposal is the ability to go all Predator on the enemies, really giving the shooter a Metal Gear vibe.
• Rail shooting sequence: Every shooter needs one, even a door-to-door, inch-by-inch tactical shooter.
• Orbital Strikes? Calling down airstrikes on in-game enemies is pretty much a staple in modern shooters, but it's interesting that we see what appears to be an astronaut coordinating the attack. Could your ordnance be extra-orbital?
• Drones: Not at all new to the series, it looks like the current iteration of the series drones might be a little smaller than previous versions.
• Rolling out of cover: I'm not sure if this is a biggie or not, by the way the character rolls out of cover on his belly seems new to the series and looks like an opportunity to stay low to avoid enemy fire and line of sight.
• Sensor Grenades: Another new piece of equipment to paint your in-game targets, it looks like it functions with some kind of sonar.
• Mechs! Are you going to be fighting them, piloting them, or both? Either way, that Metal Gear vibe is now officially complete.

Ghost Recon Future Soldier is getting an open beta on the 360 in April, with a retail release on May 22nd for the PS3 and 360. The PC version will be available at a later date.

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