New Games |
- New Mario keychains got me feelin' all 'fuzzy'
- Xbox Indies: Ninja, birds and magic floating puzzles
- WWE: Brawl steps out of the ring and into the streets
- Review: Half-Minute Hero Super Mega Neo Climax
- Why do the kids love Call of Duty?
- Preview: Contre Jour
- Is Project Zomboid coming to Steam?
- Preview: Need For Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed iPad
- Preview: NHL 12
- Preview: The Sims 3 Pets
- Transformers producer to co-develop Space Invaders film
- NCAA 12 blitzes Gamestop with launch events
| New Mario keychains got me feelin' all 'fuzzy' Posted: 10 Jul 2011 02:00 PM PDT Later this month, Takara Tomy will be releasing a second set of New Super Mario Bros. Wii enemy character keychains. Like the first enemy set, as well as every other set of anything, these doodads are exclusive to Japan. However, at only 100 yen (about $1.24) apiece, you won't break the bank if you want to import. Mario trinkets typically feature the same rotating gallery of faces -- Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Toad, and maybe Goomba or Koopa Troopa. However, this particular collection features a few baddies that don't get enough fresh air, such as Mecha-Koopa and Para-Beetle. Then there's my favorite of the bunch, Fuzzy! God, I want about fifty Fuzzies so that I could hang 'em up everywhere and freak the hell out of everyone! I want a Fuzzy army! Enemy Character Collection Part 2 [New Super Mario Bros. Wii Goods Page] |
| Xbox Indies: Ninja, birds and magic floating puzzles Posted: 10 Jul 2011 12:00 PM PDT Every week, PC Editor Jordan Devore and I play through the demos of the latest Xbox Live Indie Games releases as part of our live streaming show, Saturday Morning Hangover. But what if you missed the show? How will you benefit from our deep well of insight and startling wit as we show you the good, bad and ugly? Here's one way: a quick look at the games which turned our head and deserve your attention.
BEYOND is a very simple game of stacking and timing. The goal is to use crates to clear a height line in each stage. Crates are carried across the screen by a bird which releases its cargo when the player presses a button. Some elements of the ground below react to having crates dropped on them and learning to use the terrain and blocks effectively is as important as employing excellent timing to account for wind effects. A strange and fun little game that I had fun with in the demo but can see becoming damned frustrating after a few sets of levels.
I frequently have to resist the urge to utterly dismiss games which feature Avatars as a primary feature. Avatar Ninja 2 is a perfect example of why it's important to resist that inclination. While there's no shortage on the market for simple, forced-scrolling reflex games, Avatar Ninja 2 proves itself more than merely competent by successfully making the Avatars feel at home in the environments. Polished and offering an enjoyable challenge, it's a good buy for a buck.
This unique puzzle game has a lot going for it. In Vizati, you must clear all of the colored blocks in the floating box by grouping three or more together. What's interesting about this game is the way pieces are moved. You cannot move them individually, rather you move the entire playfield at once by nudging, rotating or flipping and affect every piece at the same time. In the story mode, the tale plays out in the lower portion of the screen with lovely animations. It's a visual treat of a brainteaser at a bargain price. [Make sure to tune in to Saturday Morning Hangover every Saturday at 10am Pacific on Destructoid's Justin.tv channel to see the full range of the week's Xbox Indies and join Jordan and I as we play them for your amusement.] |
| WWE: Brawl steps out of the ring and into the streets Posted: 10 Jul 2011 10:30 AM PDT WWE games, such as their most recent WWE All-Stars, are the type of game that probably come to mind when you think of the wrestling franchise. The corporate brain behind this old entertainment past-time is trying something new, removing the ring, the audience and the realistic style, with their newest venture. WWE Brawl will feature cartoony characters set in destructible environments, and seems to take its cues from more traditional fighting games with things like super powers and finishing combos. As the name of the game implies, the type of combat will be brawler style fighting. I didn't see a single ladder or folded chair in the preview and I can't say I am sad about that. I have never picked up a wrestling game before, but I would be willing to give this one a chance, which is the point. By changing the look and feel of the game, the franchise heads are hoping to entice players who normally wouldn't give a WWE game the time of day. It's still too soon to say for sure but hopefully this new spin on an old style will prove a to be a good one. Right now WWE Brawl has an expected release window of some time in 2012. New WWE game WWE Brawl trailer 720p HD [BreakingPointGraphix] |
| Review: Half-Minute Hero Super Mega Neo Climax Posted: 10 Jul 2011 10:00 AM PDT The original Half-Minute Hero is quite possibly my favorite game released for the PlayStation Portable. Its inventive take on role-playing games was refreshing, while its self-referential humor regarding the conventions of that genre charmed the hell out of me. The news that the game would be finding a new home on Xbox Live Arcade was wonderful to hear, and I looked forward to revisiting the high-pressure adventure. Sadly, despite new content and the addition of a hand-drawn art style, this release also omits nearly all of the variety found in the PSP version. Nevertheless, Half-Minute Hero Super Mega Neo Climax is still a good deal of fun. Half Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax (Xbox Live Arcade) Half-Minute Hero's gameplay is best summarized as a compression of the elements found in classic, 8-bit role-playing games. With only thirty seconds to save the world from destruction at the hands of a Dark Lord, the Hero (appropriately named, "Hero") must fight monsters, earn levels, buy equipment and even help villagers with sidequests. All of this is made possible with help from the Time Goddess, to whom Hero can pray (and make a donation of cash) in order to rewind time and reset the clock. Each rewind is more expensive than the last, putting a ceiling on how long you can actually spend on any given stage as you will eventually be unable to earn enough cash in 30 seconds to pay a high rewind price. Additionally, the game scores you based on how quickly you can finish each stage, both on time and your experience level, making it a worthy goal to save the world quickly. The core of the game, "Hero 30" mode, consists of over 30 of these quests, which can take anywhere from one to five minutes. Some of these feature multiple solutions which create branching paths and most have special awards that may require several attempts to earn giving the title considerable replay value. Features new to the game include a hand-drawn art style which is, for lack of a better word, hideous. It looks like paper dolls on a storybook drawn by an eight year-old. The original sprite-based graphics are still available but, if you don't want to see the new graphics, you'll have to change back every time as the game doesn't save the setting. An online multiplayer mode has also been added to the mix, allowing up to four players to compete to be the hero who ultimately defeats the Dark Lord in ten different quests. Players race to collect unique pieces of equipment to give them an edge over the competition while keeping the clock ticking by making donations to the Time Goddess. Or, if you want a more relaxed game, you can turn off the countdown timer entirely. The multiplayer works from a technical perspective and it's admittedly fun to run in to an opponent's fight right as they're killing the guardian of a treasure, then steal their reward right out from under them. But the multiplayer experience isn't any deeper than occasionally inconveniencing a player with theft and bantering about who's going to pay the Time Goddess when the limit is almost up. You can't fight each other, after all, since you're all going towards the same goal, so there isn't much in the way of actual interaction with other players. You might as well be playing alone. It's also worth noting that Half-Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax contains considerably less variety of content than its PSP predecessor. The original release contained modes like "Princess 30" and "Dark Lord 30" which applied the 30 second time limit to a variety of other gameplay styles such as shoot-em-ups and tower defense. Unlocking these modes in Super Mega Neo Climax reveals that they are simply new, generally lengthier quests in the mold of Hero 30 featuring a different lead character. The absence of these modes is a huge disappointment if you were looking forward to the breadth and scope of the PSP game on Xbox Live Arcade because it's simply not there. While it's possible that such modes may be released piecemeal as downloadable content in the future, the game as it stands now fails to live up to precedent. Which isn't to say that Half-Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax is a poor game. Far from it. It's still an inventive and fun experience that Xbox 360 users are sure to enjoy. But if you happen to also own a PSP, you would be far better served seeking out the original Half-Minute Hero instead. |
| Why do the kids love Call of Duty? Posted: 10 Jul 2011 09:00 AM PDT I was at GameStop the other day, and there was a family in front of me in line -- a man, a woman, a baby, and what looked like a six-year-old girl. The little girl was wearing a bright green dress and seemed happy about everything. As the family got to the front of the line, the little girl noticed the store's DSi XL display unit, which was running the DS version of Call of Duty: Black Ops. "Call of Duty! Call of Duty! Call of Duty! Weeee!" she squealed, jumping up and down while spinning with her arms outstretched. "No," said the one I presume was the mom, "We're getting a family game today." "But I want Call of Duty!" barked the little girl, punctuated with a pout and a "harumph!" This isn't the first time this month I've seen a little kid proclaim their love for Call of Duty. Last week, I was shopping at Best Buy with a friend and his two nephews, ages six and eight. As we were looking at videogames, the kids were overjoyed to tell me all about how much they knew about Pokemon, Bakugan, and Kirby's Epic Yarn, but it wasn't until we saw the store's Call of Duty: Black Ops display that they really flipped out. "I love that game! I LOVE IT SO MUCH," said the eight-year-old. I asked him what he liked about it. "The killing..." he said, in a sing-song, matter-of-fact tone. From there, I asked all my parent friends if their children were into Call of Duty. With the exception of the few who have a total ban on videogames and television, they were unanimous. Their kids thought Call of Duty was cool, regardless of whether they've played it or not. Even the kids that weren't into the series reported that everyone knows that Call of Duty is either "cool" or "super cool." Not quite as cool as Harry Potter or Justin Bieber, but still pretty cool. So why is it that kids love -- or at least respect -- Call of Duty? How is it that they've even played these games? Aren't they rated M for mature? Here are a few theories. It's M for mature Ever since the ESRB came into effect, I've noticed an inverse relationship between a game's rating and a game's target audience. Everyone I know who's over 40 only plays games that are rated E (assuming they play videogames at all), those under 40 are willing to play games that are either E, T, or M, and those under 20 tend to be particularly attracted to M-rated games. This seems to be particularly true of kids under ten. It's the same old paradigm -- kids want to be grown ups, and grown ups want to be kids again. That's pretty much common knowledge when it comes to lightweight sociology. Even still, it's surprising to me how much younger kids are attracted specifically to videogames that are supposedly made for adults, while they are content with "age appropriate" books and music. These kids have no interest in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo or the music of Tom Waits. They're totally content with kid-friendly fair, like the previously mentioned Harry Potter and Justin Bieber. So what do Bieber, Call of Duty, and Harry Potter all have in common? A childlike simplicity Today's kids have grown up under the shadow of 9/11 and the wars that followed. All they've ever known is a world in which some strange men from a strange country may end up killing innocent Americans. Wrapping your head around the religious, political, geo-financial, and cultural dynamics of the War on Terror is hard enough for adults, let alone kids. The Call of Duty series takes war and terrorism and turns it into a game. You've got a gun, and you and your team have to shoot the bad guys. That's really all there is to it, at least on the surface. While Activision definitely makes a token effort to present the series as more complex than that, it's arguable that the majority of Call of Duty fans couldn't care less about the series' narrative. You don't need to pay attention to the story to know what to do in a Call of Duty game. All you need to know is that you're one of the good guys, the other guys are bad, and that the path to awesomeness is paved with the dead bodies of your enemies. If I were a little kid today, terrified and confused by the concepts of war and terrorism, I'd be all about Call of Duty. On one hand, the games makes the player feel empowered and turns war into a just another game, where death is no big deal and killing is fun. That's a much easier pill to swallow than the reality of modern warfare and the death that accompanies it. Speaking of reality... It looks so real One of the biggest selling points for the Call of Duty series is its graphics. The explosions, the backgrounds, and the characters look more real than most games. Personally, it's been a long time since I've been impressed with a game for just its realistic graphics. Sure, if a game uses a realistic look to show us something interesting or imaginative, I wouldn't be opposed to it, but realism for realism's sake does nothing for me. It's like a magic trick -- when you're kid, seeing a guy pull a quarter out of your ear can transport your brain to a truly amazing place. Part of you knows it must be sleight of hand, but another part of you believes that maybe the impossible is reality. When those two parts of the brain meet, magic happens. That magic is ruined once you've looked behind the curtain. When you know how a trick is done, your childlike sense of wonder gets turned off, and your cynical "adult" brain turns on. The same goes for graphics. When all you think of when you see a "realistic"-looking game is photographs of real objects applied as texture maps, motion capture actors, particle effects, a millions of dollars worth of rendering software, the magic is gone. For most kids, none of that applies. Suspension of disbelief is a much easier feat to achieve for a young mind. When they see a realistic-looking game, they don't think about how it was made, or how much it cost to produce. They just think about how awesome it looks, and how fun it is to be in the game's world. The Call of Duty series feels more real to a kid than it ever will for me, and in that way, I envy the children. And finally... Competition is everything There isn't too much to say about this one. Call of Duty multiplayer is highly competitive; just as a kid is more likely to get deeply invested emotionally in a game of dodgeball or Pokemon cards, they're also more likely to get invested in competing in an online shooter. Adults are usually too caught up in real-life pursuits like making money, finding love, and keeping from getting too fat or otherwise shortening their lifespan. Kids don't have to worry about that stuff, so by comparison, games like Call of Duty and others feels like a much bigger deal to them. In their world, ranking yourself and your peers based on stuff like your skill and dedication to gaming makes perfect sense. This really hit home for me when I overheard my video producer Andy talking to his twelve-year-old nephew about Call of Duty: Black Ops. Growing up, Andy was his nephew's idol. Apparently, things have changed now that Call of Duty: Black Ops has entered their lives. The nephew wanted to know how many times Andy had "prestiged" in the game. Andy said, "Once, then I quit playing because I'd seen everything the game had to show me." The nephew looked appalled. "Only one prestige? I thought you were cool..." he said, his voice descending into a pit of genuine disappointment. "I've prestiged four times, and I'm still not as cool at my friend Lawrence. He's prestiged six times, and he's just eleven-years-old." Andy tried to defend himself with the old "Sorry dude, I was busy making money and going on dates with beautiful women," response, which apparently didn't do much for his rep. "I don't even want to know what your highest kill streak is," his nephew muttered. "If it's below 20, I'm going to be so disappointed." Conclusion If you walk into a room full of adults and ask them if they want to run around outside and play with some squirt guns, chances are they'll either laugh in your face, or awkwardly look away, hoping that you're just making a weird joke. Do the same thing with a group of eight- to twelve-year-olds, and they'll immediately start dividing themselves into teams, Super Soakers in hand. Call of Duty is just the videogame adaptation of squirt guns. It makes sense that kids would be drawn to it more so than many adults. The simplicity and sense of empowerment that come from taking a gun and shooting at something or someone knows no age restrictions. However, it does demand a child-like sensibility to take such pursuits seriously enough to prioritize them over other activities. That's why I'm guessing kids love Call of Duty so much. Now it's just time to wait and see how long it takes for teenagers to catch on to the fact that eight-year-olds love Call of Duty before they start hating it. I wonder what they'll start playing instead? Probably something with guns and boobs. There's nothing like boobs to keep the kids away. |
| Posted: 10 Jul 2011 08:30 AM PDT After making a splash at E3, what was once a fairly unknown indie iOS title attracted a ton of attention from press and gamers alike. Nominated for several handheld awards, Contre Jour is steadily approaching release. Contre Jour (iOS) Developed by Mokus, consisting of only one member (Maksym Hryniv), Contre Jour is described as a “hauntingly beautiful” puzzle platformer. Using physics to manipulate the environment and other creatures, you must navigate across 60 different stages, spread across three vastly different worlds, while facing many twisted challenges and deceptive puzzles along the way. There are several ways to manipulate the environments. Initially, you’ll start with creating hills and ditches on the ground beneath your character. This is done to create movement when your eyeball character is stuck on flat surface. Eventually, tentacles are introduced which can latch onto the eyeball character and function as a swing. Latching two tentacles can act as a bridge and help him get across large gaps. With the tentacles, momentum is key and letting go of them at the right time will fling your character great distances.
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| Is Project Zomboid coming to Steam? Posted: 10 Jul 2011 08:00 AM PDT Maybe? Kinda? Earlier today, the guys over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun reported that some of their forum users had done digging and found an option to redeem a Steam user key for Project Zomboid. Is this proof the zombie sandbox game is coming to Steam? Not quite. In a forum post, one of the game's developers commented on the speculation. "Valve have done us a massive favour in allowing Project Zomboid to use their servers and auto-updating and whatnot," posted Chris Simpson (aka lemmy101). "We won't appear on the store and Steam accounts will only be via redeem codes, so purchases will still be through our site." So whilst the game isn't able to be bought just yet via the Steam store, it seems likely that you might be able to buy the game on Steam, once Project Zomboid is actually completed. I hope the guys at The Indie Stone get the game finished soon and up on Steam, especially after the recent piracy woes. Stumbling on: Project Zomboid coming to Steam [Rock, Paper, Shotgun] |
| Preview: Need For Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed iPad Posted: 10 Jul 2011 07:00 AM PDT The Need For Speed: Shift series has been about capturing the adrenaline pumping speed and finesse of hardcore style racing. Now, the Shift series is making a return to the iOS with a port of Shift 2: Unleashed. Need For Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed (iOS) After playing a few races on the iPad version of the game, I noticed how sharp the game looks overall. The frame rate is rock solid and the detail of the city streets and race tracks are impressive. While I only played through the urban locations, the game will also feature races through rain forests, deserts, and oceanfronts. I was actually quite surprised at the level of visuals the iPad could churn out; it looks great within the palm of your hands. Just don’t play it on your television, the visuals don’t look as great stretched at larger resolution. The controls and movement of your vehicle take advantage of the iPad's motion capabilities. Tilting steers the car, acceleration is done automatically, and the brake and camera are activate with the touch interface. The motion controls work pretty well for the steering, and being able to successfully make drifts at high speed is very satisfying. One of the biggest features of the game is the customization of your vehicle. By collecting credits from completing races and events, you’ll be able to spend them on new equipment, paint jobs, tires, spoilers, rims, and various other parts to build your perfect race car. With over 40 different cars to unlock and 20 unique quick races and circuits to play through, the game is packed pack with content and will keep you playing for some time. |
| Posted: 10 Jul 2011 06:00 AM PDT Admittedly, it has been a while -- like, a couple of years -- since I last sat down with EA’s NHL series, so I was a bit nervous that I might make a fool of myself when I got my hands on NHL 12 at EA’s Summer Showcase. After getting into a game, however, I was rather surprised to find a lot of the core tenets from EA’s critically well-received series were still in place, and the game felt rather familiar. While that may read as an indictment on the game, the series hasn’t been almost universally praised for several years now without reason, and the reason is that the core gameplay is strong, allowing the team to work on more minor tweaks between iterations, with the aim of delivering a more realistic NHL experience. NHL 12 (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 [previewed])
Dynamic Goalies represents the removal of goalies as stalwart, immovable forces. Goalies are now fair game to be knocked around -- you can even knock their masks off -- and the net can be dislodged. So, knock the mask off Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas’s face and don’t like the look of it? Well, go shove him around. More importantly, goalies will defend the net more realistically, which should include covering angles better and making desperation flails on shots they don’t have a chance at, which could lead to some exhilarating, close saves.
“So this year the whole concept is ‘earn your ice time.’ So, basically, you’re given tasks and the better your play, the more ice time you get.” Additionally, if you’re not playing particularly well, you can now fast-forward to your next shift, at which point the game will update you with the current situation of the game and then put you back on the ice, eliminating time spent watching AI play. |
| Posted: 10 Jul 2011 05:15 AM PDT It's the Summer of the Sims and at the EA Summer Showcase, there were disc (Frisbee) catching dogs on hand to excite the crowd about Sims 3 Pets. Just like the title implies, this expansion adds pets to the core game that people have been clamoring for a while about. In this expansion, you will get to play with a bunch of furry creatures and probably be able to build a room with no escape around them to watch them die. You'll be able to choose from a cat, dog, and something exclusive on the PC version: horses. The Sims 3 Pets The PC version was not playable at the event but the creature creator was available to toy around with. In the creator, I was able to pick a breed of horse and then tweak how I wanted it to behave, whether it was mean spirited or just plain goofy. You are also able to design the coloring of the animal. One dude next to me made his horse coat resemble a bowl of fruity pebbles. My horse was just black with blood around its mouth because every pet I have ever owned has gained a taste for raw meat.
In the demonstration, the presenter was able to have the pet play with the other sims and then, by using voice commands, have the dog cause chaos on a nearby chair. Voice commands can be a great adaptation to this game and let's just hope that it adds to the overall experience instead of subtracting from it. |
| Transformers producer to co-develop Space Invaders film Posted: 10 Jul 2011 02:00 AM PDT A big-screen adaptation of-- WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!? 'Space Invaders' Video Game Headed to Big Screen (Exclusive) [The Hollywood Reporter] |
| NCAA 12 blitzes Gamestop with launch events Posted: 09 Jul 2011 07:00 PM PDT NCAA Football 12 is due for release in just a few days, but Gamestop can't wait to let you get your hands on the title. Starting today you can stop by your local participating store for some quality time with the game every day until its Tuesday release. That's nice, but that's what downloadable demos are for. Real fans know the action is set to go down on launch night. Show up for your local midnight release party and you can jump in on the "ultimate fan contests," tournaments and requisite trash talking starting at 10pm on Monday. These things only come around once a year so don't miss this opportunity.
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