Archive for July 1st, 2008
July 1, 2008
Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 is the sequel to 2005’s Under the Knife, which introduced the world to the amazing Dr. Derek Stiles and a deadly infection concocted by a crazed terrorist group hell-bent on destroying humanity. Many puzzle fans couldn’t put the game down despite its outrageous plot and painful difficulty, and the sequel is just as addictive. Though you’ll still spend time fighting fictional diseases spread by bioterrorism, Under the Knife 2 is such an exceptional medical-themed puzzler that you’ll forget the game’s absurdity as you’re sucked in by its consuming gameplay.
Prepare to be astounded by Dr. Derek Stiles and his magical hands.
The game recasts you as Derek Stiles and opens in Costigar, a fictional African state attempting to recover from decades of brutal civil war. It has been three years since the eradication of GUILT, the man-made infection crafted by terrorists, and though it has been successfully treated worldwide, it seems that those who had previously suffered from the disease have developed new symptoms, prompting Derek to return to the United States to contend with new strains.
Gameplay in Under the Knife 2 proceeds in much the same fashion as in the original, and operations play out in chapter episodes after a cutscene provides the appropriate backdrop. Before each operation, you’re given a patient briefing and a surgical objective by your assistant, after which the standard five-minute time limit appears and the patient’s life is in your hopefully very steady hands. You work externally to internally, making incisions with the scalpel, removing foreign objects with the forceps, and coating the patient’s wounds in the strongest antibacterial gel ever created. You complete an operation by fixing whatever ails the patient and are awarded a rank according to how quickly and effectively you work.
Though it sounds simple enough, operations in Under the Knife 2 quickly intensify because the fast-paced procedures require you to tackle multiple tasks simultaneously; the difficulty comes not in any one procedure’s complexity but in the speed with which you need to perform it as you struggle to stabilize a patient’s vitals while feverishly sucking out pools of pus and zapping tumors. This hectic push for speed is the game’s high point and significantly increases an operation’s difficulty–since the slightest slip of the hand damages a patient’s vitals. Fortunately Derek has a healing touch ability, which appears to slow time as he moves faster than an infection can progress. You’ll also receive clear verbal cues about your next procedure from your assistant, which is a blessing when a patient’s condition is spiraling out of control and you’re clueless as to what to do next.
If you’ve spent any time at all with the Trauma Center series, then the game’s standard tool offering won’t surprise you; in fact, most of the tools are identical to those in the original game and function similarly, with the exception of the defibrillator, which comes in handy when patients go into cardiac arrest. You drain disgusting bodily fluids by drawing the stylus up from the target pool, stitch up gaping wounds by zigzagging the stylus across them, and make clean incisions with the scalpel by following the dotted line. Any sloppy suturing isn’t likely to get you chastised, but Under the Knife 2 is more of a fast-paced puzzler than a straight medical simulation, and the mixture of both elements makes the game incredibly fun and addictive. The surprising amount of operation variety is also refreshing considering the plot’s heavy focus on the new GUILT; you’ll do an organ transplant, extract fragmented bones in the dark, inject color-coded serum into bacteria, and even play laser tag with giant moving tumors.
Atlus took Under the Knife’s strongest criticism to heart when designing its sequel, forgoing a single punishing difficulty level for three difficulty modes. You can adjust these for individual chapters, which should make the game accessible to anyone intimidated by the original game’s insane difficulty. You’ll still end up repeating a fair number of operations, even on normal mode, but the additional settings make it possible for you to do so without pulling your hair out, which is a welcome improvement.
The game’s presentation is similar to its predecessor’s; the instructions, time limit, and stage score are displayed on the top screen, and the operation field is on the bottom. Patient models are in 3D and feature comparatively more-realistic organs and wounds, while the game’s 2D anime style has been toned down a bit so that characters look less comical. With that said, their dialogue is still ridiculously melodramatic at times, complete with “I’m a doctor!” and “Pull yourself together!” lines. The music is very quick and upbeat, with great tunes supplied during key operations that are sure to get your blood pumping. Minimal voice work is also provided to emphasize important plot segments.
Remove pieces of bone and suture wounds to save your patient’s life.
Under the Knife 2’s only flaw is that it feels a bit light on content, offering only 38 operations that take a few minutes each to play through. You won’t necessarily complete them all first time, of course, but even allowing for failed attempts and lengthy cutscenes it shouldn’t take you more 15 hours or so to beat the game. Finishing the game does grant you access to “confidential” operations, but these are set on extreme difficulty, leaving those who shied away from the hard setting woefully unprepared for the challenges ahead. Even with these bonus operations the game still feels padded, containing entire episodes without operations that amount to little more than lengthy dialogue filler. There’s some replay value at least, since the ranking system encourages you to repeat past surgeries to increase your score. All in all, Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 successfully blends a creative medical theme with bizarre but fun puzzle gameplay to create an addictive treat.
July 1, 2008
What cooking essence is to Emeril, Cooking Mama is to Majesco. Putting the bam in the game maker’s first-quarter financial results, the Cooking Mama franchise helped push the game maker to a $2.7 million profit, up from a $900,000 net loss for the same period a year ago.
This slab of meat will soon be made delicious.
It comes as no surprise, then, that Majesco is getting back in the kitchen for another go-around. The company announced this week that Cooking Mama World Kitchen will arrive for the Wii this holiday season. For the latest iteration in the part-simulation, part-puzzle minigame compilation, Majesco is adding a few curves to Mama, given that World Kitchen will feature a graphically overhauled 3D presentation.
Unsurprisingly, the Wii Remote will once again be central to Cooking Mama gameplay, serving as an all-in-one spatula, chopping knife, spoon, rolling pin, grater, and more. Majesco also promises a new mechanic that will make those aforementioned activities “easier and more enjoyable.”
Cooking Mama World Kitchen is in development at Cooking Mama Limited.
July 1, 2008
Beginning with Castlevania on the Nintendo 64, Konami has for the past 10 years rendered Koji Igarashi’s famed vampire-slaying franchise on consoles in 3D, while maintaining the series’ traditional 2D aesthetic on handhelds. Throughout that span, the publisher has maintained a consistent record of winning critical praise for its side-scrolling handheld efforts and receiving a generally tepid reception for its console games.
With Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia slated to arrive on the Nintendo DS this fall, Konami is once again returning with a 3D console game: Castlevania Judgment for the Wii. However, rather than taking another crack of the whip at the action adventure genre, Konami has a mind to reinvigorate the franchise by entering the Belmont clan and its demonic nemeses into a battle-royal fighting arena.
Though Konami has named no specific fighters, the publisher said that it would be pulling its cast from the franchise’s entire 22-year history. Making use of the Wii’s motion-sensing control scheme, Konami notes that players will control their fighters using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk to attack, along with brandishing objects and items strewn around the 3D environments. Players will also be able to set traps as well as enlist monsters to fight for them, though Konami did not expound on the nature of these mechanics.
Castlevania Judgment will feature an online fighting mode, and will also interface with Order of Ecclesia on the DS for added gameplay content. The game is expected to ship for the Wii this fall.
July 1, 2008
Emergency Heroes is Ubisoft’s attempt at an open-world game for young gamers. But with an incredibly sterile city, repetitive missions, and an inconsequential plot, the game manages to make playing as a police officer, a firefighter, and a medic no fun whatsoever. The single-player game is a five-hour slog through dull missions, and the introduction of friends in multiplayer does little to alleviate the boredom. In the end, it’s a game that’s so generic and devoid of fun that it actively sucks the life out of you as you play it.
Emergency Heroes offers up a shocking vision of the future, in which humankind makes cities entirely of highways. And tunnels.
You play as Zach Harper, an emergency hero in the city of San Alto. At the beginning of the game, Zach is recovering from being forced out of the city’s combined services after a training accident killed one of his colleagues. Predictably, though, he’s called back into action when a gang, led by a mysterious figure, starts terrorising the city. You can probably guess the twist from that description alone, but the story is so inconsequential that any spoilers are unlikely to impact your enjoyment. Emergency Heroes features some of the most cliched plotting, one-dimensional characterisation, and laughable dialogue ever to feature in a video game.
The gameplay itself is based entirely around driving, with no on-foot sections at all. You control vehicles either by holding the Wii Remote on its side or by using one of the many Wii Wheel-style peripherals, such as the one bundled with Mario Kart. The control method is functional, but the vehicles suffer from poor turning circles, and it’s a shame that there’s no option to use a Nunchuk. Even worse, all 12 vehicles handle the same, and even the smallest police car can smash a civilian truck right off of the road. There’s also no punishment for crashing into an endless amount of innocent vehicles, which makes the game incredibly easy to play.
The story progresses through 40 preset missions, or “perils,” as they’re called in the game. However, there are only a few different mission types, such as putting out fires, saving civilians, or inflicting enough damage on an enemy car to knock it off of the road. This lack of variety quickly becomes tiresome, and the city itself doesn’t present any of the opportunities usually associated with sandbox games. You might not earn a gold medal for every mission on your first try, but it’s unlikely that you’ll actually fail one.
Given that this is an open-world game, you can spend some time driving around and taking in the sights. The problem is that San Alto lacks the landmarks, pedestrians, and other points of interest that might make you want to do so. All you have to look at is highway after tunnel after roundabout, resulting in a city that’s boring and sterile. Emergency Heroes is perhaps a more shocking dystopian vision of the future than has been created by any number of science-fiction writers in the past. There are also bugs and design issues in abundance. Your car bounces over other vehicles, the GPS often points you in completely the wrong direction, and characters’ heads pop up in the middle of the screen and block your view of the road, for no other reason than to offer up another line of meaningless dialogue.
Emergency Heroes is entirely devoid of artistic merit.
Although the game itself is merely dull and repetitive, the overall presentation is on a whole different level of bad. The futuristic comic-book style is reminiscent of Crackdown on the Xbox 360, but it doesn’t have that game’s style or level of detail. The buildings all look the same, there are only a few different vehicle types, and the character designs look cheaper and more generic than the lowest-budget children’s cartoon series. The music maintains a relentlessly fast tempo, but it fails to add drama to the monotonous pace of the game. Furthermore, the voice work teeters on the so-bad-it’s-good level of amateurism. If you thought the House of the Dead series was laughably bad when it came to acting in video games, then Emergency Heroes makes that series look like a Royal Shakespeare Company production of Hamlet in comparison.
Though multiplayer modes help extend the longevity of the five-hour single-player game, they use the same mission types and are unsurprisingly as repetitive with friends as they are alone. The game supports two players via split-screen mode, and has seven multiplayer game modes in total once you’ve unlocked them by playing through the single-player game. These games aren’t improved in any way by having another person involved, and there’s no way to share your best times or play with other people online.
Emergency Heroes is a bad game. It’s lazy, boring, and repetitive, and won’t even appeal to the younger market that it’s aimed at. The missions are dull, the driving is pedestrian, and the city is restrictive. Although it’s not fundamentally broken, Emergency Heroes is devoid of any artistic merit and should be avoided at all costs.
July 1, 2008
Performance-boosting items have been a staple in mascot racing games for some time, but these arcade experiences usually encompass some sort of racing structure as well. This is not true with Wacky Races. You won’t find a button for acceleration or brakes here–and don’t even think about powersliding. This game requires only slightly more interaction than the 40-year-old cartoon on which it’s based. The presentation will give a nostalgic glow to anyone who remembers the Hanna-Barbera series, but the actual gameplay will only produce aching wrists and elaborate yawns.
Instead of using skill or savvy to make your way to the front of the pack, you need only tilt the analog stick toward the finish line and watch your chosen hero cruise to victory. The majority of races are displayed from a side view, though the camera shifts to a vertical orientation when the track design demands it, and the camera is zoomed out just far enough to fit all 10 racers in a tightly competitive ball. If you happen to run into a tree or fall off a bridge, you are placed at the back. Because the screen scrolls regardless of your progress, this means you’ll never be more than a second out of first place.
Recruiting dragons to help you makes racing even easier.
Though the track is littered with character-specific items, you won’t even need to use them to win. It’s certainly more dramatic to call in help from a dragon or transform your vehicle into a rolling rock ball, but because the track design is so easy to navigate, you’ll find it’s possible to snatch the victory crown without ever getting help from the items. If you do choose to use items, your wrist will start to throb in only a few races. Most of the items are activated by rapidly swinging the Wii Remote, an action that proves tiring because results are measured simply by how fast you can flail your arm.
If slowly navigating your way through poorly designed tracks doesn’t excite you, you also have to compete in minigames during certain segments of the race. Dick Dastardly sets up roadblocks that can hinder your progress if you fall asleep midrace. These alternate between insultingly easy and completely unresponsive. On the easy side, you have to dodge slowly falling boulders by tilting the analog stick. On the unresponsive side, you have to paddle down a river using motion controls. Oftentimes, the game will not recognize your downward thrust, which means you will invariably smash into a large water boulder. The penalty for failing a minigame is slight, so there is almost no reason to take part in these mindless diversions.
The only portion of Wacky Races that you’ll have to actually pay attention to is the final sprint to the finish line. Regardless of how well you performed leading up to this point, the racers are all tightly packed as they head to the end of the race. Here, you’ll have to frantically shake the Wii Remote to outpace your competitors. This is an exceptionally awful game mechanic. Not only does it make the proceeding portions completely irrelevant, but it’s also tiring and mindless. Races usually end in a virtual tie, so you’ll need a snapshot to see which character was able to win by a millimeter. It is nice being able to win a race even if you had some bad luck in the early goings, but this design decision makes the vast majority of your racing experience worthless.
Another photo finish!
The visuals, at least, closely mirror the cartoons on which this game is based. The characters aren’t very detailed, but they are full of vibrant colors, and it’s easy to identify your favorite racer. The sound is true to the source material; the music is appropriately happy and the sound effects do justice to the silly items. There is also a commentator who calls out all the important developments in a race. He gets repetitive after a while, but he adds a bit of flair to the dreary gameplay.
Wacky Races is just too simple for its own good. The dearth of skill needed to win races makes this game tiresome, especially when you realize how little your input actually affects the outcome. Even with friends, this becomes boring long before you finish the first track. An accurate representation of the cartoon will only give you a short burst of happy nostalgia before the crushingly dull gameplay squashes your fond memories. There is no reason to play this game.
July 1, 2008
Top Spin has always been one of the more realistic tennis games on the market, and Pam Development has worked hard to keep up that tradition with Top Spin 3. While the game’s challenging style may alienate casual players, it will keep dedicated ones occupied beyond this season and for a long time to come.
Despite being initially unforgiving, the controls feel responsive and straight-forward once you’ve got the hang of them. Face buttons perform flat, top spin, slice, and lob/drop shots, the triggers perform risky or power shots, and the shoulder buttons help you dash to the baseline or net. However, the timing of button presses has been substantially altered, and failing to release the button on time will result in a missed shot. Depending on your position to the ball, you might unleash a weak shot, a wild swing that misses the ball altogether, or an overpowered attempt that sends the ball beyond the baseline. The AI players rarely make clumsy shots either, forcing you to refine your technique–particularly when it comes to volleying–before mastering the game.
You can play as an instantly recognizable pro or create a new player from scratch.
There are plenty of game modes, from the usual exhibition, career, tournament, and tutorial options, to online and offline multiplayer. If you’re new to the Top Spin series, it’s highly advisable to head to the school before taking to the courts, as the AI will punish novices even on medium difficulty settings. Doing so will give you a headstart on hitting those aces and returning every shot that comes your way. The game eschews traditional in-game meters and gauges, and instead requires you to use intuition, reflexes, and good, old-fashioned timing to nail your shots. The only onscreen displays are the score and a heart rate monitor, which gives you an idea of how your stamina is holding up. The higher your heart rate, the tougher it is to hit those hard-to-reach shots between the lines.
The career mode takes you through five stages: amateur, challenger, junior, pro, and legend. Throughout your career, winning matches will earn you experience points and unlock other points which you can use to increase your skills and buy new merchandise such as outfits, shoes, accessories and racquets. They’re a nice addition to have, but will have no bearing on your performance. New skills include forehand, backhand, service, return, volley, power, speed, and stamina, and you can purchase dozens of different outfits, racquets, and accessories. The career mode matches Top Spin’s serious approach to tennis, but it does mean the game lacks the variety and mini-games of other tennis games.
Beating three opponents in the game’s career mode will advance you from amateur to challenger rank. Winning a tournament in this mode will then propel you to the lofty rank of junior. Junior–and the subsequent pro rank–lets you play through a regular season, choosing tournaments as you see fit with the aim of finishing the season with the highest rank. Do all that and you’ll get a crack at the grand slams, and eternal tennis glory in the legend rank. Needless to say the competitors get harder as you progress, but as long as you keep earning experience points and using them to increase your skills you should have a fighting chance of making it at the highest level.
The roster of licensed players in Top Spin 3 is sizable with 40-odd players available, including Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova, Justine Henin, Andy Roddick, Amelie Mauresmo, James Blake, Andy Murray, and Gael Monfils. There’s also a roster of classic players for good measure, including Boris Becker, Bjorn Borg, and Monica Seles, as well as a number of ficticious players. It’s pretty cool to be able to face off current champions against those of yesteryear in a “what if” scenario. Recent French Open winner Rafael Nadal appears exclusively in the PlayStation 3 version (the only major difference between the two versions), so if you want a player even vaguely resembling him on the Xbox 360 you’ll have to master the comprehensive create-a-player feature. This will no doubt come as a big disappointment for Xbox 360 tennis fans who can’t play as the current world number two simply due to contractual obligations.
Top Spin 3’s solid player-creation tool lets you make your mark on the tennis world without relying on licensed players. You can tweak dozens of settings for your chosen model including a range of settings for your face, body, outfit, and more, including tattoos, headwear, and even a desired grunt style and frequency. Some of the settings are a bit arcane, however, with eye colour being set via a numerical range rather than being labelled as something that actually makes sense–like, say, the actual colour of the eyes.
Top Spin 3 includes a wide range of famous licensed tournaments, including the French Open, the US Open, and the Australian Open. Wimbledon is an unfortunate exception, but the game does present you with the chance to play in more exotic and far-flung locations such as Seoul, Casablanca, and Buenos Aires, with more than 40 in total on offer. It will take you a long time to get sick of the variety of courts on offer, which are all recreated in fine detail including crowds that almost look life-like–normally unheard of in sports games and something other developers should take note of.
The game’s player animations and stadiums look great.
The game’s multiplayer mode allows singles and doubles matches between human and AI opponents both locally and online. You can play a quick match, or compete in the World Tour mode’s ranked matches either in individual matches or nine different pre-selected tournaments. We found the overall online experience to be lag free and there weren’t any problems finding players to face off against in individual matches, or tournaments, and was much the same as playing against a friend sitting next to you. Online leaderboards will help you track your skill against the rest of the world.
Top Spin 3 is a great-looking game, and is technically and artistically the best example of the genre. The re-creation of famous stadiums looks spot-on, even down to detailed crowd shots and authentic tournament advertising. On the technical side, we didn’t experience any issues with chuggy framerates except for when the camera was introducing us to venues while loading–for some reason every one suffered from this. Characters have realistic movements, their clothes move and sway as you’d expect, and their faces have detailed expressions and animations. Winning a grand slam feels that much better when your character looks and sounds like the real deal.
Top Spin 3 is a serious tennis game for serious tennis fans, and it’s incredibly true to the series’ simulation roots. If you’re looking for a deep, challenging experience, this should keep you busy for some time to come; but if you prefer the occasional arcade match, or like the variety of minigames that some of Top Spin’s competitors offer, you’ll want to look elsewhere. Despite a few minor complaints the game looks and sounds great, and it feels almost as authentic as having front-row seats to a real-life grand slam.
July 1, 2008
Overlord and its mischievous minions fought their way onto the Xbox 360 in mid 2007. Almost 12 months and a downloadable content pack later, the game has finally arrived on the PlayStation 3. The question is, have the flaws that shipped the first time around been addressed in the meantime? Unfortunately, the answer is no. While the original game’s premium downloadable content has been rolled into the single-player campaign and a couple of minor new features, such as an in-game minimap, have been included, Overlord for the PS3 is a frustrating experience with dated visuals and awkward controls.
Those halflings never stood a chance.
For anyone who missed Overlord in its original incarnation, it’s a third-person action adventure game with a liberal sprinkling of puzzle-solving set against a fantasy backdrop. After waking up and finding your tower and your reputation as the overlord in shambles, you set about rebuilding your empire. To regain your former glory, you’ll need to take control of a group of acquiescent gremlin-like minions as you roam the countryside helping or hindering the locals. You’ll also accumulate gold and life-force energy–the game’s minion-creation currency. Along the way you’ll battle halflings, unicorns, and a generally inhospitable environment filled with challenges waiting to be overcome by selecting the appropriate minion unit for the job.
You have four different-coloured units at your disposal in Overlord. Brown minions–the most common–are pure brawlers. Red minions aren’t very useful at melee range and instead rely on ranged damage with fire spells. Setting up flanking manoeuvres with your browns as you keep enemies at bay with your reds can be a great tactic. Reds can also absorb environmental fires and in turn allow you to explore otherwise inaccessible areas. Blue minions are the swimmers in the group and are able to traverse water obstacles. These jolly little fellows deal magical damage and can also resurrect fallen comrades. Green minions play the role of stealthy rogues, and while they can’t take the same kind of beating as browns, they can deal hefty damage if you’re able to sweep them into a position at the rear of your target. Given the clearly defined roles of your minions, you shouldn’t ever find yourself wondering what to do with a particular unit.
As great as the concept behind Overlord is, the experience is hampered by a clunky control system and a fickle camera. For a game that extols the value of evil and uses evil jokes at every turn, you’re rather limited in the evil you can perform. Sure, you can massacre livestock to steal their sweet soul innards, invade the homes of halflings, and rough up the local farmers, but you’re left wanting for a way to really put your evil mark on the Overlord world.
As the overlord, your strength lies not in your own melee attacks–although these can be used to deal additional damage–but in your team of ragtag subordinates. Born of the earth and spewing out of coloured craters, your minions like nothing better than completing your unspoken orders and returning to you with gold, with flasks to replenish your health and mana, and with a range of weapons and outfits from vanquished foes. They’re an entertaining bunch, and for the most part they function well with general “go smash that” orders, which you issue by aiming and pressing the right trigger. More complex pattern holding and sweeping moves are possible using the right analog stick. Left to their own devices, your minions will gladly defend you by assaulting attackers, and the AI is smart enough to automatically upgrade minion weapons when they’re found in crates and chests.
Controlling the four different minion types during battles requires a lot of micromanagement, and it’s here that the control system (as well as the free-floating camera) comes unstuck. The camera perspective can be set higher over the battlefield by clicking R3, but even in this view it can be tough to make precise movements. While the minions are acrobatic fellows, the overlord himself isn’t anywhere near as nimble. The overlord’s slow speed and truck-like turning circle become even more of an issue in split-screen multiplayer modes as you try to negotiate obstacles.
Control minions by sweeping them to their target with the right analog stick.
Overlord’s visuals are pleasing enough, though they definitely look dated. Colour plays a huge role both aesthetically and functionally. The lush green outdoor areas and fiery-red hell zones are represented well, and shader effects like mist and fire indicate the appropriate minion for each situation. Minions look good and are at their best when pilfering and when equipping items such as chef hats and pumpkins as makeshift helmets.
Overlord: Raising Hell has rolled in the seven multiplayer maps and three modes (Slaughter, Pillage, and Survival) that were previously sold as downloads for the Xbox 360 game, as well as new single-player levels, legendary difficulty mode, and two-player split-screen cooperative play. Split-screen multiplayer on the PS3 is at times almost unplayable as a result of the poor frame rate. With both players loaded up with minions and meeting to complete a mutual objective in Survival mode, the controls become sluggish, the camera becomes even more unmanageable, and the visuals approach something nearing a slide-show performance.
Sound is a high point for this game, especially the voice-over work that brings the game’s macabre dialogue to life. Explosions from fireballs are chunky, and there’s something enjoyable about igniting a dry grass field full of halflings and listening to them scream as they writhe in agony. Gnarl–your minion master and occasional Yoda stunt double–does a great job as your guide to evildoing, and he offers some comedic relief with snappy one-liners. Impressive 7.1 surround sound is supported, and while it’s not a deal maker on its own, it’s a nice extra inclusion for those who like the idea of evil firing from all directions.
The major differences between the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games amount to the new onscreen minimap and 7.1 surround sound support. Given that the Xbox 360 downloadable content is thrown in for nil, the PS3 version of Overlord is the best value for those who have yet to give the game a try. However, considering the unpredictable frame rate, sluggish controls, and fickle camera in the PS3 version, if you’re after a serious crack at ruling the peasants, you may want to wait until the game hits the bargain bin. Alternatively you could pick up the technically superior Xbox 360 version and spend a little extra to get the downloadable content.
July 1, 2008
Along with pool, the jukebox, and a pint, darts is an integral part of the British pub experience. Of course, some people take it more seriously and play the game professionally in a variety of tournaments.
One of these is the PDC World Darts Championship, which takes place every year through December and January. Winners stand to pocket £100,000, with a total of £600,000 in prize money divvied out. This is expected to rise even further in 2010 to £1 million, and this year the event had to move to a new, bigger venue.
For those who fancy a few virtual rounds, the championship was made into PDC World Championship Darts on the PC and PlayStation 2 in 2006, and a 2008 version came out earlier this year on the PC, PS2, and Wii. Now two more versions of the 2008 iteration are coming: one for the Xbox 360 and one for the PlayStation Portable.
The 360 version of the game will offer a new online multiplayer mode so gamers will be able to compete against other players in exhibition matches. There will also be the obligatory leaderboards, along with viewable statistics.
The PSP version of the game will have wireless multiplayer and game sharing. Owners of the handheld version of the game will be able to import custom photos to put on their profiles. They’ll also be able to choose the MP3s that they want to use as the soundtrack to the game from a memory stick.
Both of the new formats are due to hit UK shelves in the third quarter of this year.
July 1, 2008
TechWeb - InformationWeek - Microsoft is looking to maintain recent Xbox sales’ momentum in the face of stiff competition from Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii unit.
July 1, 2008
The hackers at Wasabi have confirmed that their method already works on the newly released D2E drives found in the latest Nintendo Wii\’s. After dumping the firmware, they found the D2E firmware was created on 12th February 2008 while the Diagrams for Wasabi were released on 19th February - Wii and GC backups are confirmed to be running.
July 1, 2008
Lexicon Entertainment, a leading publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment software for video game console systems and personal computers world-wide, is pleased to announce the signing of CustomPlay Golf 2009 for release in October 2008 on PC and Q1 2009 on Nintendo Wii.
July 1, 2008
GoLive2, the independent gaming division of Playhut, Inc., today introduced Stix, a new line of wireless, motion-sensing gaming controllers for the PC and Internet. Redefining the PC and online gaming experience, Stix are wireless, touch-screen controllers that allow users to play thousands of free Web-based games as well as Games For Windows titles with an active, motion-sensing play pattern.
July 1, 2008
Nintendo has posted up a message over at Nintendo-Europe.com concerning how some Wii consoles may not be able to read large data off of the SSBB disc if there is contamination on the lense of the disc drive. They say you should not try to clean things up yourselves and you should organize for your system to be sent back to Nintendo to get it cleaned for free.
July 1, 2008
EA Sports has detailed the unique features of FIFA 09 ALL PLAY for the Nintendo Wii. there is a new 8 versus 8 arcade Mii mode, table football, ONLINE play and a whole lot more. Check out all the details inside…
July 1, 2008
Fire gemstones and make groups of matching colors disappear before they reach the end of the line.
;)