Re-Design And Innovate
A Short Observation in The Growth And Design In Game Designs.
Its great that publisher are now really starting to put the great collection of franchises out into the hands of gamers who have great memories from the past ten years. although this collections is complete (silent hill HD cough’ cough’) it still has its black sheep ‘DMC2’.
But you can really notice how game design has changed over a franchise and it shows when moving from DMC3 to DMC1. The first one in the series (by release date) has a more Resident Evil style design, you enter the first area not knowing what the hell your supposed to do or where your supposed to go (I literally spent the first 10 minutes of the game looking for the right door to go through).
When you look at the third game in the series, Capcom have just streamlined and cut all the fat and left the meat and potatoes, Its something that you don’t really notice until you play them back in these collections. Todays games will sometimes actually move in the wrong direction, SSX for example. All the past games had great content and addicting core gameplay, So what did EA do to bring it into this generations? they added the deadly descents.
They act like boss stages for each region and become the most annoying part of the whole experience. It turns a game from style and speed into a frustrating soul draining half an hour of restarting and cheating rewinding using the games newly implemented whoops button.
Other great examples of getting re-invention right can be found in the Dead Space Series and the Mass Effect Games.
Ty’s Recommended Apps List
This Post is to help mainly my friends who have recently got an Android Phone and is written primarily for the Samsung Galaxy S2, This is not the Definite Must have list but a good start for anyone who has recently joined the Android Family for the first time. If anyone would like to see something on the list please forward it on, A must have games List will be up as soon as iv finished trying them all out.
Closes Left opened Apps which consumes your background memory and battery. Adding the widget to a home screen gives you a one button press function.
A great alternative web browser that offers faster speeds and a smoother interface. It also compresses web pages so you view them quicker and save on data usage.
This app tracks your mobile internet usage (4G/3G/Edge/GPRS) and notifies you when your reaching your limit and can even stop the continue of use saving you from going over your monthly allowances. It has lots of options to customise reset dates,allowance limits and notifications.
This is a short cut button to obliviously turn the wifi on and off. Great for lazy people. The market place page also offers buttons for other connectivity short cuts, I personally have the Wifi And 3G buttons on my main screen.
This app allows you to schedule the AirPlane mode of your phone to a start and stop at certain times (e.g during sleep) to save your battery. You can set which day of the week to turn on the mode and what connectivity to turn off when in AirPlane mode.
Go locker replaces the default lock screen with custom ones which can be downloaded from a huge library of many different styles and functions. One downside is that you have to download the Go Launcher Ex App (download here) for it to work, Go Launcher ex is an App that changes the default home screen to custom designs, you don’t have to use it just set the Samsung default home screen when you press the home button next. I personally dont like to use it but you have to have it installed to use Go Locker.
If your like me and still use the stock messaging app, then SMS Popup is a must have. Does Exactly what it says on the tin, And even has a quick reply section so you never have to go into your message list.
A great app for creating ringtones, can use sections of songs and save them to your phone.
Battery widgets are great to have on the home screen, there are many on the marketplace but I am currently using this one. All of them have some kind of % or Accurate Value of you battery life and some come with extra features to save your battery life like auto screen brightness and notifications.
Again, there are many Flash light apps out there and this one is the most popular (although they all do the same thing). A handy thing to have, shame the Samsung doesn’t come with one.
A music recognition app which identifies the song you want to find out more about like the artist,year ect. Great for when you hear a song on the radio and don’t know who sings it.
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By Ty
Image From Spikes Article on The Top 10 Darkest Educational Games. Just Thought The Screen Cap Was Funny!
~Ty
Source: spike.com
HD Remake Pack Madness!
Konami today have said that it will be releasing HD remake collections of Silent Hill ‘But only 2 and 3, and not 4 for some reason’, Metal Gear Solid 2, Snake Eater And peace Walker ‘with duel controls now added which will make the game so much more approachable.’ and finally Z.O.E 1&2 which suggest to me that they might be working on a third game. I say this because the other 2 franchises have squeals coming shortly, And this has been proven with the other Packs they have released for example the sly raccoon collection for Infamous 2, Ico & Shadow of the colossus for The Last Guardian. All with have re-worked assets and trophy’s/achievements and for the PS3 versions a Transferring Option which is yet to be detailed but my guess its for remote play on the NGP. Stay tuned!
By Ty
Steam: 66% Off Singularity (£6.80)
An absolute bargain has appeared on steam today, I had written a review a few months ago on Singularity so check that out Here. Its a great game that fell by the way side in the shadows of Halo and Killzone. Buy it now!
By Ty
Steams EA Sale: Battlefield Series
Something that caught my eye on steam this afternoon, some shocking price drops on all these games! To good to miss if you ask me!
Enjoy Here http://store.steampowered.com/sale/eaweek
By Ty - 9/05/2011
Humble Bundle 3: Out Now!
just recieved an email from them and the newest Bundle pack is out now, if you dont know what it is all about read this:
“Pay what you want for three awesome DRM-free games on Mac, Windows, and Linux: Trine, Shadowgrounds: Survivor, and Shadowgrounds. Additionally, your Frozenbyte bundle includes a preorder for Splot and a prototype with source code for Jack Claw. Choose to support the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Child’s Play Charity at the same time.”
Ty
Killing The Kids Of Video Games
After the emotional trailer to the upcoming Dead Island game was shown, A storm of controvosy was triggered in the media last month about the youngt girl who not only dies and once but dies as a zombie….well zombies dont die,but, you get what i mean.(Trailer At The Bottom Of Page) now the devolopers have stated there will be no zombie children in the game yet this has still sparked up old ideas and thoughts on children being harmed in video games zombies or not. So i sat here at my recently ressurected computer and thought about all of the zombie games with children in them….and came to the conclusion that there arnt many! Alough in other media especially movies, there are numeras films involving the slaughter of what we all fear more than adult zombies. So i made a top 5 list but included zombie like/ demon children.
Review: Dead Space Extraction HD
- Developer: Visceral
- Publisher: EA
- Platforms: PS3
- Genre: Survival Horror/On-Rails Shooter
- Multiplayer: Single Screen Co-Op
Dead Space extraction first came out for the Wii in 2009 and was greatly overlooked and only sold 9,200 copies in its first week, it was praised by all the major review magazines and internet sites but the public failed to recognize it as quite possibly the best looking game on Nintendo’s little white box, The team at Visceral had made an impressive dead space experience within the Wii’s Limited Capabilities, But now we have the HD, Up scaled version to dissect, Dismember and burn on the PS3.
I was very interested how the sound and visuals would compare to the original and i was not disappointed at all, the sound has been uncompressed to its full potentials which makes the already believable voice acting sound clean and crisp, The visuals are the same story as the sound, upscaled and increased polygon count making the game world even more believable. One thing of note is the animation of all the characters in the game, the body movement and facial expressions are some of the best iv seen and makes each character real and believable but this not the same for the franchises enemies. Most all animate the same and behave with the same characteristics, with only a few enemy types it gets dull fighting each battle rather quickly.
Its not very often you find a Wii title being ported to the bigger machines but when you do, you can expect some very odd results like “No More Heroes” For example, A fantastic Wii game but on a bigger system it fails to bring over the fun controls and does a terrible job of upscaling, But this time Extraction has done everything possible to improve on what was already a great looking game.
You have alot of options with what method of control to use but it is obviously best played with the move as with most on-rails shooters you need the speed and accuracy to play the game as the developers intended. The one thing i am disappointed about with the controls is the mapping of certain buttons on the move, with the face buttons spread out around the main move button ‘~’ i found it difficult to reach my thumb up over the controller to initiate a reload with the [] button or change weapon, because as i did i was finding i was pointing away from where i was aiming which can be hugely annoying in frantic situations where the screen is literally filed with necromophs of all shapes and sizes.
As for the games set up its much like the other dead space games with long moments of atmospheric scenes building up tension to short panic filled shoot outs where waves of different types of enemies rush at you giving you a limited amount of time to think strategically about tackling each one which is a huge part about all the dead space franchise. Prioritizing and ammo management are you main concerns when finding yourself in these situations, with crazy weapons thrown in the mix along with solving puzzles simultaneously makes it very satisfying and breathless when you manage to just scrape by with little health and ammo.
I can honestly say iv never played a game like this before (apart from the wii version), it does everything right for a dead space game and everything better for a shooter that uses all the elements to create a real world with terrifying results.
You can either buy this from the PSN (£9.99) or get it with Dead Space 2 which has dropped in price to about £23.99
- + Impressive Port
- + Great Edition to the franchise
- + Believable Characters and Interesting Plot Lines
- - Controls mapping a bit of an issue
- - Few Enemy Types
- - Long sections without save points
By Ty
Rumor: Ubisoft releasing Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia trilogies on PS3
‘According to Amazon France listings spotted by The Sixth Axis, both Splinter Cell and Prince of Persiafranchises could be getting the Blu-ray treatment in the coming months. Unfortunately, other than a 39.95 Euro ($54) price tag and a November 2 release date, neither listing provides any real detail on what the trilogies might contain.
If Ubisoft is planning to re-release these games as compilations, it’s possible that they might feature updated graphics, much like last year’s God of War Collection. With a Sly Cooper collection on the way — and rumors of a Team Ico Collection refusing to go away — we’d hardly be surprised to see third-party publishers giving their own classics another spin.’
Source: pixelsandwich
Free Game Of The Month - ‘Alien Swarm’
- Platform: Steam
- Developer: Vavle
- Genre: Action
Download Here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/630/
For my second free game of the month it’s going to be the newly released top down shooter from steam. This is probably the best fully free complete game that will be featured on the blog as it’s a well polished fully released game that comprises elements of survival horror and team based strategies. The game itself is a remake of an old mod for unreal tournament 2004 and was developed by the original team after they were hired by valve. The game is a 4 player online coop shooter (with offline practise) where players have to work together to complete various objectives in an alien infested colony which as it sounds takes a lot of references from the film aliens like the infamous motion tracker, smart gun and oh shit moments.
There’s allot of persistent player levelling and stat tracking which is allot more interesting than just a score board showing player movements, kills and all sorts on a mini map at the end of a level which gets played out to you while the next map loads. The levelling and experience point system is what you would expect from a shooter these days ‘thanks to infinity ward!’, levelling up your class and gaining bigger better weapons and special items like machine gun turrets and homing missiles. Although the game is short there is allot of replay value and from what it looks like they are going to release new episodes which I’m sure they will charge for but knowing valve they will promote them with yet another crazy sale. If you liked left 4 dead or another survival coop game, you will get tons of satisfaction from this, but if you’re not into these kind of games and you have a steam account why not try it, it is free!
Download Here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/630/
22/07/10 - By Tyron
Steam Sale Ends Today!
If you Haven’t already visited or been on steam I recommend you do so now, there are some amazing games to pick up for only a few quid! for instance, today you can get Left 4 Dead 2 for only £6.70 that’s about 3 pints! I’m guna go get me some zombies and pills!
http://store.steampowered.com/
05/07/10 - By Ty
Kane And Lynch 2 - 360 Demo Preview
So for you lucky few out there like me who registered early on the official website, will be enjoying this much much earlier than the rest of the world. The Exclusive demo was available to the first 100 people who registered and once done so you were sent a token code to redeem. The demo consists of a single player level, 3 multiplayer modes and an arcade mode. The level available looks like an early scene set in the shanghai street where Kane and lynch are being chased down by the local law enforcements and swat teams, You first start off in a tea house, out numbered and you guessed it…out gunned. You have to fight you way out into the streets and through the alley ways while exchanging fire with the swat teams that intelligently flank and use all available cover, all the while the Shanghai civilians scream and panic amongst the hail of bullets. Playing as Lynch is allot like lynch from the split screen coop from the first game. while pinned down lynch will mutter craziness to himself while Kane will try to calm him, I didn’t see any crazy moments like in the bank level from the first game, (if you didn’t play the slip screen your really missing out on lynches ‘episodes’) but i expect they will play on this later in the game. 
The engine from the first game and all the Hitman games has been improved significantly along with the shooting mechanics which was a huge let down in the first game, now the gun play feels more tighter and more accurate. Another thing that I think needs mentioning is the internet streaming effect, when I heard the idea of Youtube style distortion and pixels spots I wasn’t sure how it would benefit the game or even feel the need to include such a style but i was surprised to find it looks and feels allot better than I imagined. The style re-enforces the gritty dark nature of the Kane and lynches world while some how making it feel more realistic. I think its a feature that has to be seen to get the feel and impact of the effects, Especially when at one point I got a head shot on one unrelenting bastard of a swat member and then realising that his head had been pixel’ed out like something from a cops episode on tv which gave me a more horrific feeling that I couldn’t see the damage than say just shooting an npc model in the face and seeing a red smudge on it. 
My experience with the multi player was brief but fun, Iv only played the undercover cops mode at the time of writing this and I felt I needed more playtime with it before I can post a preview on it. I Thought the demo was a great slice of the game and look forward on getting my grubby murderous hands on the full copy, I’m really excited with the current generation of games that have been released and being currently being developed, the last two years was all about developers starting new franchises while 2010/11 is about refining and improving on their original concepts and ideas for those games like Dead Space, Infamous and Assassins Creed.
03/07/10 - By Ty
Singularity Review
Bioshock did it, System Shock did it and Fallout did it too. All these games pull off what most cannot and thats create a world with story and a sence of presence, and singularity doesn’t fail to do so. From the very begining your drawn into the world with set peices that mach that of Bioshocks intro, Fire and awe exploding all around you. The story is slowly reviled to you via notes and tape recordings lying around the level and short audio transmissions from your partner.
The gun play feels very basic when you start but once you gain the ability to use the singularity powers it all gets very interesting an creative, Further into the game you acquire various upgrades which opens up allot of options for combat. Whether it be using a gravity type power to throw objects at your enemies much like the gravity gun in half life 2) or using your force push power to send waves of soldiers off platforms and cliffs. There are also gun and power up dispensers which you can use to buy ammo and modifications to you weapons using an element called E99 found throughout the world as various tech objects. This gives the player to set up his/her own play style where as i spent my points into the assault rifle and health upgrades, Other might invest in singularity powers to go for a more tech class.
Singularity Pull off some impressive lighting, sound and some very amazing physics which all adds to the immersion of the world and i only encountered one loading point for a huge boss battle on a falling train! , I would definitely recommend this to any shooter fan despite its cheesy box cover and lack of promotional material. Although i have yet to try outs its multilayer features so I cannot comment on that at this time. This could be lost within the hypes of E3 like Red Faction Last year!
Score: 8/10
01/07/10 - By Ty
