Platinum Games’ debut title, Bayonetta, is coming out next week in Japan and, according to Japanese game magazine Famitsu, the game is good.

The first looks at the game are getting perfect scores from different reviewers in Famitsu magazine. This honor had been reserved only for games like Metal Gear 4 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time so if this is any indication, this game shows a lot of promise.

Bayonetta is a third-person brawler with a style reminiscent of the Devil May Cry franchise. This comes as no surprise since the game is being directed by Hideki Kamiya, director of the original Devil May Cry.

In the game you play as Bayonetta, a witch that battles hordes of foes using guns, melee attacks, magic spells and, uh, her hair. Apparently Bayonetta uses her hair in different types of attacks ranging from punches and kicks to giant dragons. If you’re thinking, “WTF?!” then you’re not alone but, although the premise may sound odd, the game looks really stylish with intense action sequences and huge bosses.

American players will have to wait until early 2010 to get their hands on Bayonetta. The game is rated “Mature” by the ESRB and it’s coming out on Xbox 360 and PS3.

I’ve always been a fan of the Devil May Cry series and after seeing a few videos of this game I’m really looking forward to it.

Read [GameSpy] Also Read [IGN]

Full Story » | Written by Christian Morlotte for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

This week’s featured downloadable is a cute little game featuring a cute little critter named Biggs titled Critter Crunch for $6.99. In this game players control Biggs and must help the furball eat as many insects hanging out on the vines above him through many levels until he is so full he’s about to hurl - enough to feed smaller critters like himself - in a very disgusting way. The game features a co-op and versus multiplayer mode to quickly nab the flies and move certain insects to create a chain reaction and collect the jewels they drop while eating.

Check it out but fair warning: If you are easily grossed out or squeamish you may want to just continue reading instead of watching trailer.

This week’s PSP downloadable game features NBA 10: The Inside for $29.99 with new quests, new modes and minigames. The game follows the career of Brandon Roy, a guard for the Portland Blazers and an NBA superstar player. Players will have a ton of options to choose from playing four full quarter games using two teams of their choice or play a block party-mini game, NBA themed bowling, an interesting looking game called Cherry Pickin’ and more. Check out NBA 10: The Inside:

Here is what else is new:

Downloadable Games

• Pandemonium! (PS3/$5.99)
• NBA LIVE 10 (PSP/$39.99)

 
Bonus Game Contents:

• LittleBigPlanet Original Music Pack 1 (PS3/$3.99)
• DiRT 2 Trust Fund (PS3/$4.99)
• DiRT 2 Access All Areas (PS3/$4.99)
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour: Riviera Golf Course (PS3/$7.50)
• IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds Of Prey Mission Pack (PS3/$9.99)
• Fallout 3 Mothership Zeta (PS3/$9.99)
• Fallout 3 Point Lookout (PS3/$9.99)

Guitar Hero 5 Packs:

• Billy Squier Track Pack (PS3/$5.49)
Individual Tracks:
• “Everybody Wants You” by Billy Squier (PS3/$1.99)
• “The Stroke” by Billy Squier (PS3/$1.99)
• “When She Comes To Me” by Billy Squier(PS3/$1.99)

Rock Band Pack:

• Electric Six Pack 01 (PS3/$5.49)
Individual Tracks:
• “Dance Epidemic” by Electric Six (PS3/$1.99)
• “Gay Bar” by Electric Six (PS3/$1.99)
• “I Don’t Like You” by Electric Six (PS3/$1.99)

• The Raconteurs Pack 01 (PS3/$5.49)
Individual Tracks:
• “Many Shades of Black” by The Raconteurs (PS3/$1.99)
• “Salute Your Solution” by The Raconteurs (PS3/$1.99)
• “Steady As She Goes” by The Raconteurs (PS3/$1.99)

Individual Tracks:

• “Head Over Feet” by Alanis Morissette (PS3/$1.99)
• “Ironic” by Alanis Morissette (PS3/$1.99)
• “Handlebars” by Flobots (PS3/$1.99)

Rock Band Unplugged bonus content:

• “Know Your Enemy” by Green Day (PSP/$1.99)
• “Red Barchetta” by Rush (PSP/$1.99)

Free Game Videos:

• Pulse 10/8 Edition (PS3/PSP/Free)
• Gran Turismo PSP Launch Trailer (PS3/PSP/Free)
• Gran Turismo PSP Producer Interview 2 (PS3/Free)
• Need For Speed: Shift Driver Film Andrea Bertolini Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Need For Speed: Shift Track Film Willow Springs Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Burn Zombie Burn – In Space Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs Trailer (PS3/Free)
• NBA 2K10 Momentus Trailer (PS3/Free)
• NBA 2K10 Signature Play Trailer (PS3/Free)
• NBA 2K10 Gameplay Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Summer Dew Tour 09 Portland (8 Videos) (PS3/Free)

Wallpapers and Themes:

• Fate/Unlimited Codes Wallpaper 3 (PS3/Free)
• Halloween Vampires Theme 1 (PSP/99 cents)
• Halloween Vampires Theme 2 ((PSP/99 cents)
• Light and Shadows Theme – Light (PSP/99 cents)
• Light and Shadows Theme – Shadows (PSP/99 cents)
• Pirates Booty Theme – Dopey Dick (PSP/99 cents)
• Pirates Booty Theme – Captain Blue Beard (PSP/99 cents)
• Ele’ gals – Green (PSP/99 cents)
• Ele’ gals – Orange (PSP/99 cents)
• Dark Elves Theme 1 (PSP/$1.49)
• Dark Elves Theme 2 (PSP/$1.49)
• Dark Elves Theme (PS3/$1.49)
• Halloween Vampires Theme (PS3/$1.49)
• Creature Creations Theme (PS3/$1.99)

Read [PlayStation Store Blog] Site [PlayStation] Site [NBA Player Stats for Brandon Roy]

Full Story » | Written by Lucy Newman for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

The Dead Space Extraction PR machine continues rolling towards tomorrow’s release (September 29, 2009). EA and developer Visceral Games have announced a live webcast demo will be held at 12:00 p.m. (PST), September 29, 2009, in honor of the launch. The one-hour webcast will feature demonstrations of Dead Space Extraction‘s gameplay (as if we haven’t all been watching them through their dev diary over the past few months).

Fans will also be invited to participate in a Q&A session with the Visceral team.

Dead Space Extraction is a prequel to 2008’s critically acclaimed third-person action horror game for X360, PS3 and PC platforms: Dead Space.

A Wii exclusive, Dead Space Extraction ups the action through a mix of intuitive controls, co-op gameplay, puzzle-solving and branching pathways. Following the growing Wii trend popularized by hardcore games such as Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles and House of the Dead: Overkill, Dead Space Extraction is an on-the-rails shooter that takes full advantage of the WiiMote’s IR capabilities.

I’m often put off by the hyperbole of such events but it’s obvious that Visceral Games is proud of what they’ve created here. Dead Space Extraction looks to be more cinematic than other rail gun games, focusing more on story and terror than on relentless action…although there’s certainly plenty of action to be found.

Site EA.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Just hearing the title Modern Warfare 2 sends signals of excitement to most anyone’s brain. The buzz is so huge around MW2 that my local GameStop’s have countdown timers up over a month before the game even comes out.

As we know how much you love to see or hear absolutely anything new about MW2, we’ve posted below an 8 minute video that features one of the games levels in its entirety.

We’re not sure what event this was taken from but we expect not taking video was one of the first rules on the list. Nonetheless some lucky person went ahead and shared this footage with the world. The quality is a little shaky but is completely watchable. It takes place in a town in Brazil called Favela where something has obviously gone horribly wrong. In true FPS fashion, the only solution is to run through the level guns blazing.

Let’s stop all the chatter and just watch the video below.

Read [MW2 Blog] Also Read [Current]

Full Story » | Written by Jeremy Hill for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Zombies have invaded the PlayStation Network Store for $9.99. If you liked Burn Zombie Burn then you’re going to love surviving this sea of zombies coming from every nook and cranny possible to take a bite out of you. They’re armed with flame throwers, mini-guns, grenade launchers, a chainsaw and an exploding teddy bear. It’s up to you to not only save yourself but defend any survivor you find before they join the hordes of undead rushing towards you. In this game you can enlist the help of three friends to fend off the zombies.

Tip: Use anything around you to help take these zombies for example, light that oil barrel to start the fire and when the zombies are close enough shoot it to make it explode taking out a few and always keep moving.

Also this week, gamers will find a price drop for Brain Challenge and Droplitz for $4.99. The price for Droplitz is only temporary, so if you were thinking about getting the game now is the time to download your copy before it returns to its original price of $9.99. If you download Brain Challenge, you might want to check out the Expansion Pack which is now $1.99. And for this week only 25 Guitar Hero World Tour songs will be on sale for $1.50, check out the PlayStation Network Store for details on which songs will be offered for this price.

Here is what else is new:

Downloadable Games

• Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 Commander’s Challenge (PS3/$9.99)
• Valhalla Knights (PSP/$19.99)
• Power Stone Collection (PSP/$19.99)

Game Demos:

• Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Demo (PS3/Free)
• Zombie Apocalypse Demo (PS3/Free)
• Lost Planet 2 Co-Op Campaign Demo (PS3/Free)
• Wolfenstein Demo (PS3/Free)
• Punisher: No Mercy Demo (PS3/Free)
• UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves Multiplayer Demo (PS3/Free)*
• WET demo (PS3/Free)
• Half-Minute Hero: Evil Lord Demo (PSP/Free)
• NBA 10 The Inside Demo (PSP/Free)

*Note: UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves will be available for download on Tuesday, September 29, 2009.

Bonus Game Contents:

• Batman: Arkham Asylum Prey In The Darkness Map Pack (PS3/Free)
• Midnight Club LA Police Car Pack (PS3/Free)
• Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce Pack 5 DLC (PSP/Free)
• Madden NFL 10 AFL Legacy Pack (PS3/$6.99)
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 Sheshan Golf Course (PS3/$7.50)
• Fallout 3: Broken Steel (PS3/$9.99)

Guitar Hero World Tour Packs:

• Yeah Yeah Yeahs/The Faint/Editors Track Pack (PS3/$5.49)
Individual Tracks:
• “Munich” by Editors (PS3/$1.99)
• “The Geeks Were Right” by The Faint (PS3/$1.99)
• “Dull Life” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs (PS3/$1.99)

Rock Band Pack:

• Backspacer (Album) by Pearl Jam (PS3/$17.99)
Individual Tracks:
• “Amongst the Waves” by Pearl Jam (PS3/$1.99)
• “Force of Nature” by Pearl Jam (PS3/$1.99)
• “Got Some” by Pearl Jam (PS3/$1.99)
• “Johnny Guitar” by Pearl Jam (PS3/$1.99)
• “Just Breathe” by Pearl Jam (PS3/$1.99)
• “Speed of Sound” by Pearl Jam (PS3/$1.99)
• “Gonna See My Friend” by Pearl Jam (PS3/$1.99)
• “The End” by Pearl Jam (PS3/$1.99)
• “The Fixer” by Pearl Jam (PS3/$1.99)
• “Unthought Known” by Pearl Jam (PS3/$1.99)
• “Supersonic” by Pearl Jam (PS3/$1.99)

Rock Band Unplugged bonus content:

• “Flathead” by The Fratellis (PSP/$1.99)
• “Wake Up Dead” by Megadeth (PSP/$1.99)

Free Game Videos:

• Pulse 9/24 Edition (PS3/PSP/Free)
• PS3 TV Spot Desperate Dad (PS3/Free)
• PS3 TV Spot Rumor Monger (PS3/Free)
• Motion Controller Update Part I (PS3/Free)
• NBA 2K10: Draft Combine Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Fallout 3: Broken Steel Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Fallout 3: Operation Anchorage Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Fallout 3: The Pitt Trailer (PS3/Free)
• WET Official Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Shatter Trailer (PS3/Free)
• FIFA Soccer 10 Virtual Pro Tutorial (PS3/Free)
• Demon’s Souls Intense Action Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Shin Megami Tensei: Persona Trailer (PSP/Free)

New Movies to Rent or Own:
This week’s feature movie download is Observe and Report Rated R, for rent in SD Format for $3.99, HD Format for $5.99 or to own in SD Format for $14.99. This film stars Seth Rogen as Ronnie Barnhardt, head of security of the shopping mall who determined to find the flasher and thieves that have been terrorizing the customers in the mall parking lot including a cosmetic counter clerk he has fallen in love with. But when a detective is called into solve the case Ronnie does everything he can to try and solve the crimes first. Check it out:

Here’s what else is playing:

• Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Rated PG-13 (Rent/SD Format/$3.99)
• Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Rated PG-13 (Rent/HD Format/$5.99)
• Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Rated PG-13 (Own/SD Format/$14.99)
• Adventureland. Rated R. (Rent/SD Format/$3.99)
• Adventureland. Rated R. (Rent/HD Format/$5.99)
• Heroes: Season 4. Rated TV-14. (Own/SD Format/$1.99)
• Heroes: Season 4. Rated TV-14. (Own/HD Format/$2.99)
• Modern Family. Rated TV-PG. (Own/HD Format/$1.99)

Wallpapers and Themes:

• Fate/Unlimited Codes Wallpaper 2 (PS3/Free)
• Globulars Themes 1-4 (PSP/99 cents each)
• B17 Flying Fortress (PS3/$1.99)
• Globulars Theme (PS3/$1.99)
• B17 Flying Fortress Themes 1-3 (PSP/$1.99 each)

Read [PlayStation Store Blog] Site [PlayStation]

Full Story » | Written by Lucy Newman for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Atlus and Spike’s Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble may not be in stores until November 10, 2009, but Gamertell’s been given the opportunity to test drive the latest quirky PSP game you never would have expected to see localized. To help get you introduced to banchosity and the badass world of the game, I’ll take you through the first day of Takashi Sakamoto’s class trip to Kyouto, Japan.

The game begins with some character customization. You determine where your character is from 47 different areas in Japan, what school he attends and what his name is. I went with the default name, Takashi Sakamoto, and decided to make him from Osaka.

One thing I want to point out right away are the loading screens. Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble has some really amazing loading screens. Instead of saying the typical “loading” message, each loading screen offers a “Bancho 101” informational term explanation. Like, you could learn the definition of kappa, love hotel, sakura mochi and other terms, people or things that may pop up in the game.

Back to the game. It begins with Takashi on a train heading for the class’ week-long trip to Kyouto with his friend Yohei and his classmates Manami and Reito. Takashi really doesn’t see any point in it all, and only attended because his teacher threatened to expel him if he didn’t come along. Manami decides her mission for the trip is to make sure Takashi learns something. Yohei wants to explore/make friends/etc. Takashi gets tired of hearing them talk and decides to take a nap the rest of the trip, and remember what his father, Ryujiro told him before he left. During this part, and all following story parts, you can press the select button to take screenshots.

We then go to the tutorial, which is basically Takashi daydreaming about what his father said. Apparently the key to being a man and manliness to to be strong and be a bancho. So, of course, his father decided the best thing for Takashi to know before heading on a trip is how to kick ass. Here you learn the basic controls for fighting and such. You use the square button for normal attacks, and hitting it repeatedly unleashes combos. The triangle button unleashes a finisher attack. If you want, you can charge up a square or triangle attack to make it stronger. Holding the X and O buttons allows you to recharge your Yankii Spirit, which allows you to unleash special attacks (Local Specialty).

You also learn to unleash menchi beams and trash talk. Before a fight starts, you can try and subdue your opponent by hitting the R button to unleash your menchi eye beams. After a few minutes, you will start trash talking your opponent. You will be given a phrase, like “Time for male bonding.” Then, you will have to piece together said phrase. The screen will show dialogue balloons with bits of the phrase and similar words. For example, the first part could have balloons that say “time for,” “let’s do” or “lets.” Each dialogue balloon will have a button appear in it. You press the correct button to choose the correct word. Time is limited, so you have to piece the phrase together quickly. If you do it right, you get to unleash the first attack in the fight. Since this first attack can sometimes reduce an opponent’s HP to half, it’s worth winning.

This tutorial part is hilarious. The script here sets the pace for the rest of the game. It is also interesting to note that, as you precede through the tutorial, Takashi’s father becomes more exhausted and beat up.

Here’s a good point to mention something very helpful to know that isn’t mentioned in the tutorial. After thrashing some small time banchos in the field, they may drop stuff like money, consumable items, souvenir items, clothing, accessories or weapons. To pick these up, press the L button. Takashi has limited pocket space though, so you won’t be able to carry everything. However, once you’ve picked up a weapon, it’s permanently added to your inventory section back at the inn. So if you purchased and equipped one of the souvenir swords, and drop it during the day in favor of say, a lead pipe, you could always return to your hotel room and re-equip it. You can also use the L button to talk to non-banchos. (Don’t push it near a cop though! You’ll put them in a headlock or hold!)

After all this, the kids arrive at the Kyouto Station. As Takashi and Yohei are walking out, Yohei runs into some guys. One of them claims be the Osaka-area bancho, the strongest and most badass guy in the Osaka area. No way! How dare he! So you enter your first bancho face-off against the guy. After beating him thusly, Takashi is acknowledged as the Osaka area bancho and the imposter agrees to be his peon for the rest of the week. This means, if you call him up and he’s available, he’ll join you and provide backup in fights.

Apparently, EVERY school in Japan is also on a school trip in Kyouto at the same time. What are the odds, right? Turns out this happens every year, and every year there’s a competition to see who’s the ultimate high school bancho in Japan. Takashi decides he wants in. This means he has to hunt down all 46 banchos from the other schools in a seven day period to be considered the best.

It won’t be that easy though. A few minutes later the head Kyouto detective, Gantetsu, emerges and asks if Takashi’s up to trouble. He gives the whole, “I’m the law, watch it, I catch you, you’re gone” spiel and heads off. Then Manami, Reito and the teachers come up, and it’s off to the hotel.

You get your first free period then, though you only have from 12:00 to 19:00 to start looking around. In the hotel lobby you meet Yoshio Chiba, who pretty much appoints himself your informant. He’ll be sending you text messages throughout the game to help you out. Like, for example, he’ll let you know what areas Gantetsu will be in that day, give helpful gameplay information and so on. You learn right away that all the banchos will be following their schools’ itineraries. The only way to catch up with and fight them all is to get the itineraries to know where they’ll be.

This means, you guessed it, random battles! When you walk through areas of Kyouto, you’ll see other bancho punks roaming around. When you beat them up, they may drop their schools’ itineraries. You can then use these to plan your days. If you want to be a good bancho, you pick a fight by unleashing menchi eye-beams and talking some trash. Then, you beat the other guys senseless. You can use weapons if you want, but a real man uses only his fists.

Since you have so little time Yoshio suggests staying around the City Hall area. Not too far from the inn you’ll discover your first bancho boss fight. It’ll appear as sort of a white ring on the ground, with a guy standing in the center. You beat him up to start your reign of domination. There are three banchos in that initial, immediate area. So if you stick around City Hall, Shinkyogoku and Yasaka, you’ll be off to a good start.

I’ve only just begun playing Kenka Bancho, but once you get your hands on your own copy, I recommend spending your first runthrough exploring and gathering intel. Beat up everyone you can. Explore Kyouto. Collect phone numbers. Try to avoid cops. Collect itineraries. Buy up souvenirs and outfits. Dress Takashi up as Banana Man before he heads out on the streets. Then, use your second playthrough to attempt becoming the ultimate bancho. There are also multiple girls the main character can end up with and a journal full of events to collect and complete.

Be sure to keep an eye out at Gamertell in late October, when there’ll be a full Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble review and a Kenka Bancho ultimate itinerary!

Site [Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Death isn’t the end. Instead, it’s an opportunity to try and recoup your losses and regain your life.At least, that’s what I’ve gleaned from my first few hours of playing Atlus’ Demon’s Souls. It’s a game designed for people who take pleasure in challenging hack-and-slash, level grinding goodness.

The game begins with a bit of exposition before you can actually start playing. King Allant XII of Boletaria went to great lengths to not only make his kingdom prosperous, but also bring great glory, success and power to himself as well. Unfortunately, he was also quite greedy. He decided to use Soul Arts to tap the Nexus, a shrine in the mountains near his domain. He did it once successfully, but his own insatiable lust for power drove him to seek its power yet again.

The second time, King Allant XII wasn’t so fortunate. When he attempted to tap the Nexus again, he woke the Old One. The Old One swiftly took residence in Boletaria with its ranks of demonic minions. The land was cursed and many people’s souls became sustenance for the monsters unleashed. Survivors are left in terror, wondering who will get them first - the demons or the souless, insane men.

Countless heroes set out to try and save the engulfed Boletaria, prevent the spread of evil and banish the Old One and his demons. Players are one of these people. You choose a gender and class, then set out to accomplish your mission however you’d like. There are 10 classes available when you first start the game: barbarian, hunter, knight, magician, priest, royal, soldier, temple knight, thief and wanderer.

I spent about 10 minutes just in character creation, tweaking my character to make her perfect. Most of that time was spent customizing her appearance, since you can totally alter your character’s face. For a while, I toyed with the idea of making my character a priest, which I reasoned would come in handy in multiplayer, or a temple knight, who’s healing abilities and strength might make solo play safer. In the end, I chose to start as a royal, which meant I knew a good spell right away (Soul Arrow) and got a ring, but also meant I was at soul level 1 and isn’t as powerful initially as some of the warrior classes. I figured it was worth the trade off.

You begin in the Nexus. If you collect the souls of demons you fight, you may earn the strength to continue your mission to save Boletaria. After that, you’re pretty much free to do what you want. It’s a free-form, action RPG dungeon crawling experience. Your goal is just to get stronger and collect demons’ souls, which can do however you like. The only town area you can visit is the Nexus, but there are five locations you can explore to hunt demons: Boletaria Palace, Tower of Latria, Shrine of Storms, Stonefang Tunnel and Valley of Defilement. I spent quite a bit of time exploring Boletaria Palace and Stonefang Tunnel, myself. I also spent quite a bit of time dying.

Death is a major part of Demon’s Souls, and you shouldn’t be ashamed if you find yourself constantly failing at first. It’s very easy for enemies to surround you and take you by surprise. I found greatest success when I was careful and didn’t try to get to adventurous when exploring. If you do die, it takes a bit of work to return to life. You need to fight a boss, use a Stone of Ephemeral Eyes or go online and go into another as a Black Phantom to hunt down the opposing player.

Earning souls is a great boon. Your character can be customized however you like, no matter what class you initially chose. If you spend the souls you’ve earned the right way, you can create a royal class character who is a formidable physical attacker. Or, you could have a knight who’s a magic user or a priest who’s a fighter.

As you can see from the embedded gallery, there’s a lot of detail in Demon’s Souls. The environments are very intricate and typically interactive, and the assorted demons you’re facing range from smaller minions to hulking behemoths. Everything has a dark, and occasionally otherworldly, look to it. Fans of games with gothic designs or overtones will likely enjoy many of the game’s visual elements. I was especially struck by the use of light and shadow in the game so far.

Initially, I wasn’t able to test out the multiplayer since the PS3 I was using wasn’t connected to the internet, but after having spent quite a bit of time in Soul Form (dead), I decided it must be done. It’s quite beneficial to the player to do so. While you may have to worry about invaders eventually, other players who break into your game to try and hunt you down and kill you, you can also band together with these same players to survive. Strangers may leave soul signs, which are a bit like calling cards. You can use these to team up with two other people at approximately the same level as you to journey through the game. You can also see the remnants of the fallen. Bloodstains will appear on the ground, which are a good indication trouble lies ahead. You can use these to see the last moments of that player’s life when he/she was killed. You can also read or leave hint messages to help others and offer warnings, watch the shadowy actions of other players to possibly find hints as to what to check or investigate or duel to earn a soul level.

While I was connected to the internet, I found another player to go through Boletaria Palace with me. A soul sign showed up in the game, and I invited the other player over. I found I had a much easier time working with someone else, and having another player over didn’t cause any noticeable lag. We were only able to journey together for a short period of time (about 15 minutes), but it was still very entertaining and helpful. I also came across two hint messages, one offering a suggestion for a forthcoming boss and another offering a tip for defeating a certain kind of enemy, and a bloodstain from a fallen player who was killed by a monster that was some kind of beast.

The time I’ve spent so far has made me very interested to continue playing and see what else Demon’s Souls has to offer the player. At the moment, the best advice I can give is to pace yourself and make sure you take advantage of the online co-op multiplayer. Atlus’ Demon’s Souls is a PS3 exclusive and debuts October 6, 2009. It’s rated Mature 17+ and is available in $59.99 standard and $69.99 deluxe additions. Be sure to stop by Gamertell next week, when the review’s available!

Site [Demons’ Souls]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

At Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) 2009, Blizzard was offering hands-on experience of their newest World of Warcraft Expansion, Cataclysm. The demos were strictly limited to the intros to the two new playable races: the Worgen (werewolves who fight on the Alliance side) and Goblins (gadgeteers who battle for the Horde). Here’s a quick run down on the intro for the warrior classes in both races.

The Worgen intro starts in the territory of Gilneas and it doesn’t start well: your character, in wolf-man form, is held in stocks, waiting to find out if he can be cured of lycanthropy or executed. But here’s the thing about the Worgen’s lycanthropy: the player controls it as a special ability on their toolbar. You can switch whenever you like, and it’s completely cosmetic. Unlike class-based shape-shifting, you get no bonuses or penalties as either human or wolf, and you can use all of your weapons, spells, and abilities in either form.

The building and characters of the town—the whole design, really—evoke the Salem Witch Hunts more than the epic High Fantasy of the rest of the human lands. Once your character is “cured” (temporarily) and turned back into a human, you start your quests, which begin almost immediately with an assault by the undead Forsaken on the town, in the scorched earth just to the south. The tone of this race is clearly one of despair and repression of both the beast within, and the monsters just outside the door.

The polar opposite of this is the starting point for the Goblins, which begins in the sunny, tropical Lost Islands. Your character has just saved the lives of the crew of an airship crash, and after a quick resuscitation, you’re swimming around the ocean freeing others from their escape pods and fighting off sharks. It’s all far more lighthearted in tone that the grim Worgen, especially when you consider that one of the weapons at your disposal is a belt that fires rockets. I’ll say that again: a goblin swims around killing sharks with a rocket-belt.

Speaking with one of the demo personnel, he described changes for Azeroth in general: landscapes will be altered to reflect the ongoing effects of the war, but perhaps more importantly, Cataclysm is restructuring the way some quests are laid out, especially at the lower levels, looking to reduce the amount of travel needed between continents. Asked about a release date, he put on a well-worn smile and replied, “when it’s ready.”

Read [Gamertell] Site [World of Warcraft: Cataclysm] Site [PAX 2009]

Full Story » | Written by Bill Stiteler for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Hot off the press of the latest issue of the Weekly Famitsu (Issue no. 1082, September 10, 2009, pp. 25-33), Square Enix breaks its silence regarding information on the much anticipated Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (KHBBS) for the Playstation Portable. The director of this new chapter in the Kingdom Hearts series, Testuya Nomura, confirmed that KHBBS would indeed be playable at the 2009 Tokyo Game Show and also feature a brand new trailer.

KHBBS is an action role-playing game that serves as a prequel set ten years prior to the first Kingdom Hearts game. Its battle system slightly resembles that of Re:Chain of Memories (Playstation 2) and allows players to customize their “deck” by choosing which techniques and abilities are displayed onscreen.

KHBBS‘s story is split into three separate scenarios, each focusing on one of the three characters’ efforts to locate Master Xehanort. Throughout various points in the game, they will cross paths but, for the duration of the game, each will be venturing alone. The three playable characters are Ventus, Terra and Aqua, each with his/her individual style when it comes to battle.

• Ventus: Known as “Ven”, his strongest aspect is his speed. While he’s a definite shoe-in as a doppelganger for KH2‘s Roxas, the resemblance is only skin deep. He shares an unexplained connection to both Roxas and Sora that has yet to be revealed, and like his predecessors, he too wields a keyblade, albeit without a keychain. Ven is apparently the young, bright-eyed one of the group.
• Terra: Specializing in power, Terra also wields keyblade without a keychain. Apparently, he’s somewhat the leader of the group and represents a brother-type figure to Ventus. As his personality is rather cool, he could be described as the strong and silent type.
• Aqua: The lone female of the bunch, Aqua’s specialty lies with magic. Like her companions, she too wields a keyblade without a keychain. She’s the most serious of the three but worries deeply about her friends when they’re in trouble.

Two new locations were revealed in the article: Castle of Dreams and Deep Space.

The Castle of Dreams world is home to the lovely and enchanting story of Cinderella. Screen shots show Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother, Prince Charming, evil Stepmother and stepsisters as well as Lucifer, the demonic fat cat. The resident assistant of this world is Cinderella’s jacket and hat wearing mouse friend, Jaq (Aww, where’s Gus Gus, the chubby mouse?). Apparently, each of the three characters will play an integral and different part to ensure that Cinderella is able to thwart her Stepmother’s evil intentions and be able to live happily ever after with Prince Charming.

Judging from the screens, players will be able to relive certain scenes from the movie including where Cinderella’s Stepmother locks her in her bedroom so that she cannot claim to be the owner of the glass slipper. A shrunken Ven is shown cooperating with Jaq in order to obtain the key that can unlock Cinderella from her bedroom. A battle with Lucifer is also implemented into this world for all of you out there who always wanted to give this pompous cat a piece of your mind.

The Deep Space world is home to Experiment 626, better known as Stitch (from Lilo & Stitch), his creator, Dr. Jumba, Gantu, and Experiment 221 (also known as Sparky). It looks like the main objective of this world is to prevent Stitch from being captured and imprisoned because the screens show characters and Stitch battling together against Gantu as well as an enraged Sparky. However, the events of the story will play out differently depending on whether you choose to experience it with Ventus, Terra, or Aqua.

Kindgom Hearts Birth by Sleep is currently scheduled for a Winter 2009 release in Japan but, while a US release is inevitable, Square Enix hasn’t said anything regarding when it would be released stateside.

Site [Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep]  Photo Gallery [Gamertell]

Full Story » | Written by Janine Dong for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

This week’s PlayStation Store update features a game of destruction called Smash Cars for $14.99 for the PlayStation 3. The game offer real-time physics, stunts and next-gen graphics to make this experience fun with a choice of single or multi-player car racing with twists, turns and don’t forget serious stunts while earning trophies. Check it out:

This week’s PlayStation Portable download features Warriors Orochi for $14.99 for the PSP. In this game the Serpent King Orochi shattered time and space to kidnap the greatest warriors from Dynasty Warriors and Sumari Warriors and brought them together for the biggest showdown in history. Players can choose to play alone or in wireless co-op mode to unleash their powerful moves on nearby enemies. Check it out:

Here’s a list of everything else that’s new:

Downloadable Games - PSOne Classics

• Bloody Roar (PS3/PSP/$5.99)

Game Demos:

• IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds Of Prey Demo (PS3/Free)
• Mini Ninjas Demo (PS3/Free)

Bonus Game Contents:

• Batman: Arkham Asylum Play As The Joker Challenge Map (PS3/Free)
• Cross Edge Service Point Pack (PS3/Free)
• Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce Pack 4 (PSP/Free)
• BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger Unlimited Hakumen (PS3/99 cents)*
• BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger Unlimited Rachel (PS3/99 cents)*
• BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger Unlimited V-13 (PS3/99 cents)*
• BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger Unlimited Ragna (PS3/99 cents)*
*Note: This content can also be unlocked through regular game play.
• Cross Edge Open Voice (PS3/$1.99)
• Cross Edge Open Gallery (PS3/$1.99)
• Cross Edge Beauty & Beast Pack (PS3/$1.99)
• Cross Edge Exotic Pack (PS3/$1.99)
• Cross Edge Thanks for Waiting Pack (PS3/$1.99)
• Cross Edge Strongest (in a Way) Pack (PS3/$1.99)
• Cross Edge Lots of Legends Pack (PS3/$1.99)
• PAIN Celebrity Character Andy Dick (PS3/$1.99)
• Zen Pinball Street Fighter II Tribute Table (PS3/$2.49)
• BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger All Additional Colors (PS3/$4.99)
Individual Color Packs:
• BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger Additional Colors (Type A) (PS3/$1.99)
• BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger Additional Colors (Type B) (PS3/$1.99)
• BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger Additional Colors (Type C) (PS3/$1.99)

Guitar Hero World Tour Packs:

• “Dueling Banjos” by Steve Ouimette (PS3/$1.99)

Rock Band Music Packs:

• Foo Fighters Pack 02 (PS3/$5.49)
Individual Songs:
• “I’ll Stick Around” by Foo Fighters (PS3/$1.99)
• “Lonely As You” by Foo Fighters (PS3/$1.99)
• “All My Life” by Foo Fighters (PS3/$1.99)

Single Songs:

• “There’s No Other Way” by Blur (PS3/$1.99)
• “No Rain” by Blind Melon (PS3/$1.99)
• “Inside Out” by Eve 6 (PS3/$1.99)
• “I’m Shipping up to Boston” by Dropkick Murphy (PS3/$1.99)
• “I Predict a Riot” by Kaiser Chiefs (PS3/$1.99)

Rock Band Unplugged bonus content:

• “Heartbreaker” by Pat Benatar (PSP/$1.99)
• “A Favor House Atlantic” by Coheed and Cambria (PSP/$1.99)

Free Game Videos:

• Gran Turismo PSP interview video (PS3/PSP/Free)
• Red Faction: Guerrilla Demons Of The Bad Lands Trailer (PS3/Free
• Borderlands Premiere Gameplay Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Mini Ninjas Suzume Gameplay Video (PS3/Free)
• Mini Ninjas Suzume Vignette (PS3/Free)
• Tekken 6 GamesCom 2009 Trailer (PS3/Free)
• NHL 2K10 Teaser Video 1 (PS3/Free)
• Eight Dew Tour Summer Videos – Chicago (PS3/Free)

Free Game Music:

• Ten Marvel Vs Capcom 2 tracks

New Movies to Rent or Own:

• Tyson. Rated R (Own/SD Format/$14.99)
• Last House on the Left. Rated R (Rent/SD Format/$3.99)
• Last House on the Left. Rated R (Rent/HD Format/$5.99)
• Last House on the Left. Rated R (Own/SD Format/$14.99)
• The Soloist. Rated PG-13 (Rent/SD Format/$3.99)
• The Soloist. Rated PG-13 (Rent/HD Format/$5.99)
• Race to Witch Mountain. Rated PG-13 (Rent/SD Format/$3.99)
• Race to Witch Mountain. Rated PG-13 (Rent/HD Format/$5.99)


Wallpapers and Themes:

• US Army Best Ranger Competition XMB Theme (PS3/Free)
• Gamer Theme (PS3/Free)
• Bioshock 2 Multiplayer Theme (PS3/Free)
• Savage Moon Grey Theme (PS3/Free)
• Savage Moon Red Theme (PS3/Free)
• Four US Army Wallpapers (PS3/Free)
• Three Gamer Wallpapers (PS3/Free)
• Six Warriors Orochi (PSP/Free)
• Army Of Two: 40th Day Theme (PS3/$1.99)

Read [PlayStation Store Blog] Site [PlayStation]

Full Story » | Written by Lucy Newman for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Gaming News, Features, Collecting, Lists, Nostalgia, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Handhelds, PSP, Gear, Accessories, Displays, Gear-Other, Updates, Playstation-Store 2009-08-24T14:37:17+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/sony-home-update-major-home-overhaul-coming-september-2009/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/sony-home-update-major-home-overhaul-coming-september-2009/ Section: Gaming News, Features, Giveaways, Lists, Keynotes, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Gear, Accessories, Clothing, Displays, Gear-Other, Genres, 3D, Casual, Online, Sim, Game-Genres-Other, Conventions, GamesCom

Recently announced during Gamescon 2009 in Cologne, Germany, and confirmed on the Sony PlayStation blogs, Sony Home will have a major overhaul with the release of version 1.3 in September 2009 with tons of updates and much welcomed additions to make the experience more fun.

Sony PlayStation Home v1.3

Launching Simplified

According to the recent blog post, players will find they will be able to launch into any PS3 games that support launching like Street Fighter IV and MotorStorm: Pacific Rift without having to leave Home to start the game. An icon will appear above the player’s avatar to allow friends to join the game as long as it supports multi-player functions. This will be made easy to set up just by loading the disc into the system while logged into Home and following the directions to get started.

Photo Opportunities

Another new feature, everyone in the community has been begging for in the forums, is the new camera function. When the update takes place in September players will be able to take photos of their favorite areas or pose with friends for a picture they can hang in the personal spaces. The photos can be taken in first person or third person view to make the photos more personal with a few new poses or action emotes to choose from to make the photo interesting. All images will automatically be saved onto your PS3’s XMB.

Improved Experiences on Home

To improve the Home experience there will be a few new portable items much like the irritating bubble machines we find everywhere. But this time, players will now have the option to block another player’s portable items from their screen to avoid the annoyance. Speaking of irritating players you may run into, this same function will also allow players to remove the offending player from their sight by simply blocking the player. So that you can not only mute what they are typing, you don’t even have to look at them, they will be gone completely from your area. Can we say Hallelujah?

A Shop-aholic’s Dream Come True

For those of you who like to shop as much as I do, a new function will be added to the shopping mall that will allow players to try the clothing items on their avatar before making a purchase to avoid downloading an item that will sit in the inventory never to be worn again ... ever. Or even preview how the furniture will look in personal spaces before the final purchase. Because once the item is downloaded all sales are final. But luckily players can always suggest adding that function in the PlayStation blogs where Sony they encourage players to post ideas and suggestions so they can improve the gaming experience everyone wants.

New Spaces Coming Soon

SingStar and Audi Space

Once the new version has been released a new space will open for all SingStar fans. This club-style space will feature a dance floor, video jukebox and a SingStar Music Quiz mini-game.

No further information about the Audi space is available as it was just announced, but you can check out the video below for a glimpse of the SingStar space and a glimpse of all the additional features mentioned and more coming to the Sony Home in September:

Sony Home Update

For now until the updates take place here’s what is new on Home today:

At the Theater

For those who visited the theater for a chance to win more Criss Mindfreak items and be entered for a drawing, this is the last week to claim the coffee table and be entered for the drawing. For the military buffs roaming the Home community stop by Auditorium 2 to watch clips from Army Ranger to unlock an Army Strong t-shirt for your avatar.

At the Shopping Mall

Threads 2 (located on the second floor)

Males Only:
• Skullcap Helmet cost 49 cents
• Steam Punk Goggles cost 49 cents
• Grim Bandana cost 49 cents

Costume Shop (located on second floor)

Males Only:
• Motorcross Helmet cost 49 cents
• Motorcross Gloves cost 49 cents
• Motorcross Boots cost 49 cents
• Motorcross Jacket cost 99 cents
• Motorcross Pants cost 99 cents
Females Only:
• Burning Girl Bead Bracelet cost 49 cents
• Burning Girl Work Boots cost 49 cents
• Burning Girl Camo Top cost 99 cents
• Burning Girl Quilted Skirt cost 99 cents

Site [PlayStation Blog] Site [PlayStation]

Full Story » | Written by Lucy Newman for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Gaming News, Features, Giveaways, Lists, Keynotes, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Gear, Accessories, Clothing, Displays, Gear-Other, Genres, 3D, Casual, Online, Sim, Game-Genres-Other, Conventions, GamesCom 2009-08-21T22:54:46+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/gamertell-preview-shin-megami-tensei-persona-for-psp/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/gamertell-preview-shin-megami-tensei-persona-for-psp/ Section: Exclusives, Originals, Features, Previews, Handhelds, PSP, Game-Companies, Developers, Publishers, Genres, 2D, 3D, Role-Playing


It’s been a long time, but finally people in North America are going to get a second chance to experience the first game in the Persona series. True, the opportunity happened once before with the PlayStation release Revelations: Persona, but that was a limited release and the localization was fairly poor. Now, we get a chance to see a remastered and complete version of the game. Gamertell recently got the opportunity to test drive Shin Megami Tensei: Persona.

I decided to go with the beginner difficulty level, though normal and hard were also available. When I played the original PSX version of Persona back in high school, I gave up near the end. I don’t want to spoil anyone, but let’s just say that the incidents happened that caused the “world map” to become maze-like, and that, combined with frequent and sometimes difficult random battles, caused me to ditch the game. I was less patient back then, and heard Atlus had fixed those issues for the rerelease, so I look forward to a more pleasant experience this time. Still, to be safe, I decided to go with the easy mode.

If you’d played the original PSX game, things are going to look very familiar. The game starts the same, with a group of high schoolers playing the “Persona” game in a vacant classroom at St. Hermelin High School. The game seems to have no results, but then half the students present, the main character, Nanjo (Nate), Yukino (Yuki), and Masao (Mark), pass out. (Note: in case you played the original game, I left the PSX names in parenthesis so you can identify the characters.) They all have the same dream, of a strange man called Philemon who offers foreshadowing to future events.

Players awake in the school’s infirmary, where they’re instructed to head to the hospital for check ups, to make sure they’re really okay. Oh, and by the way, make sure you visit Maki (Mary), the girl from their class who’s been in the hospital for a very long time.

At this point, people have a bit of freedom to explore the town. There are no random encounters at this point, so I decided to use this time to figure out how to proceed. I debated going the Snow Queen route for my first playthrough, since that’s the additional story that was left out of the original PSX release. Then, I decided that since it’s been so long since I’d actually played Persona, it’d be best to just go through the main story.

Since I heard the map had been redesign and reworked, I decided that perhaps I could accomplish two things at once, explore the new town and start off on the Chris sidequest. In the original Persona, you have four standard party members and you get to choose a fifth one from some other classmates. For those who don’t bother to talk to everyone and visit everywhere, you can choose from Brown, Elly and Ayase. If you go to a little extra trouble, though, you can unlock a secret, stronger character named Chris. It’s a lot of extra work, and for a while you have to go through some tough dungeons understaffed, but he’s worth it.

Rather, I should call him Reiji, because thats what it turns out his name actually is. So I wandered around the school, talking to a teacher, then encountering Reiji. After that, I left school grounds to see the “world”.

The map should look familiar to Shin Megami Tensei fans, as it’s reminiscent of the town maps used in the Devil Summoner series of games. Your character is represented by a little blue icon, and moves down city streets into various buildings. By pressing the square button, all locations you can visit will have their name appear on top of them. I noticed that, in this incarnation, there are far more save points and doctors offices than there were in the original.

Since I had decided to recruit Reiji, it was time to do a bit of exploring. First, I headed towards Joy Street, a mall district that’s on the east side of town. I stopped at Yin & Yang, a general store with pharmacy products, to talk to Reiji’s mom. I also explored the other mall stores, but found their inventory was all pretty much the same - just medicines. Then I stopped by Judgement 1999 to talk to Masao’s friends from the Tailors. Apparently some guy has been hanging around the abandoned factory - their hideout. Could it be… Reiji? (Dun dun dumm!) Time to check it out. Heading south, there it is, and sure enough, there’s Reiji.

The preliminary portions of the recruit Reiji process done, I headed north towards the hospital at a leisurely pace. Though, if you hold circle while moving, your character will dash either in locations or on the world map. It’s not all that useful at the moment, but when random battles occur it will be helpful to try to race from place to place.

Speaking of hospitals, there’s an interesting perspective shift that occurs in the game. When you’re traversing dungeons, it’s like an old-school RPG or Etrian Odyssey, where everything is presented in the first person view. When you enter a room, you change to a standard RPG 3rd person viewpoint, where you can explore, talk to your party members and talk to other people in the room.

Upon reaching the hospital, first order of business is visiting Maki. She seems to be okay, when suddenly she doubles over in pain. While the hero and his friends wait outside the ICU as the doctors examine her, something goes horribly wrong. The whole hospital shifts and changes, becoming some sort of maze. Zombies are everywhere, along with demons. Starting from here, there are monsters everywhere. Random battles will frequently occur, unless you’re inside of a room.

If you’re familiar with turn based RPGs, the battles will seem familiar. The heroes are on the left, monsters on the right. Characters have a range of attack for both physical and magical attacks. Personas can be equipped on all characters to effect what kind of abilities they can use. Each character can utilize three personas, and switch among them during battle (though it takes a full turn to swap). Personas learn new skills when their abilities are used in battle, and will learn quicker or slower, or be more effective, when they are most compatible with users.

There are two means of attacking, physical attacks and guns. Ammo is unlimited, though you do have to purchase and equip it for every player. You don’t need to take a turn to switch between weapons, you can automatically choose weapons or guns and use them.

Like previous Persona games, all enemies have stengths and weaknesses. So far, it seems like the previous games, where magic is more effective against enemies than weapons or guns.

The auto system is also quite a blessing. You can assign actions to players, replay the same actions you performed the previous turn (or turns) from that battle or prior battles, have all characters attack with guns or all characters attack with weapons. It really helps streamline things for boss battles, or when you’re facing a large number of enemies and you’ve already figured out the best course of action.

If fighting isn’t your style, there’s also the contact option. Selecting contact allows you to choose a party member to talk to the demons. Each demon has a certain kind of personality, and each party member has four possible ways to interact with demons. If you choose correctly, you can make demons happy, interested, angry or scared. Interested demons may give you a spell card you can use to make a persona, happy ones will give you a gift, angry ones will violently attack and scared ones will run away. If you already have the spell card of a demon you’re contacting, that demon will recognize you as a friend, perhaps give you a gift and then leave the battle.

The Shin Megami Tensei: Persona PSP port is sure shaping up to be quite interesting. Be sure to keep an eye out on Gamertell for the forthcoming review!

Site [Shin Megami Tensei: Persona]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Exclusives, Originals, Features, Previews, Handhelds, PSP, Game-Companies, Developers, Publishers, Genres, 2D, 3D, Role-Playing 2009-08-12T12:39:24+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/gamertell-preview-the-clique-diss-and-make-up-aka-queen-teen-the-clique-for/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/gamertell-preview-the-clique-diss-and-make-up-aka-queen-teen-the-clique-for/ Section: Exclusives, Originals, Features, Previews, Handhelds, DS, Gear, Books, Game-Companies, Developers, Publishers, Genres, 2D, 3D, Adventure, Role-Playing, Sim

When a game for girls is released, especially if it has a title that could be considered cute or an attempt to be overly feminine, it is often dismissed by the gaming masses as something for children. Or, even worse, it could be slapped with the “shovelware” moniker.

The Clique: Diss and Make Up, also known as Teen Queen: The Clique in Europe and other regions, isn’t one of those games.

Yes, it does have a cute title designed to attract female players. And true, there is a pastel color scheme used throughout the game. But this title from Gorilla Systems and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment that’s coming out August 25, 2009 in the US isn’t just for kids, and definitely isn’t shaping up to become “shovelware.”

The best thing to do is first go back to the origins of the game. The idea didn’t just appear out of nowhere, after all. The game is based on Lisi Harrison’s series of books known as The Clique. There are 11 novels in the main series (with two more on the way!), and The Clique Summer Collection, five shorter novels released in 2008,, which focuses on the summer vacations of the five main characters Massie, Claire, Dylan, Alicia and Kristen.

The series themselves are designed for young adults, but specifically target female readers between the ages of 12 and 16. They focus on the adventures of a young girl named Claire, who moves to Westchester, New York and is immediately placed into a private school for girls called Octavian Country Day School, where all of the students are primarily rich, and possibly even famous. Claire isn’t either of those things, but she attempts to succeed and find friendship with member’s of the school’s primary clique, The Pretty Committee, whose leader is the daughter of her father’s close friend. They offer a brief glimpse at the life of the rich and famous through the eyes of a girl who hasn’t had the chance or opportunity to experience such things, and also shows the impact Claire has on the group and what clique behavior can be like.

After the first installment in the series, called simply The Clique, the book series goes on to show what Claire’s new life is like among the popular kids, and the struggles that young girls go through in an attempt to reach perfection and stay popular. Typically, Claire acts as a center and voice of reason for the group, which suffers multiple downfalls and triumphs as the group, and each of its members, attempts to find the greatest success. And, while the goal of all the girls in the novel is to maintain this exalted status, it almost appears as though Harrison is using the series to critique cliques and their actions, and possibly show young girls the effect their behavior can have on others.

The Clique: Diss and Make Up is a hybrid game, containing elements of both a simulation and RPG. It is also an original adventure based on the book series. Players create their own unique character, who then joins the ranks of Octavian Country Day School. Players can customize their character’s looks completely, from clothing to hair. Of course to do that, they’ll need money. This is earned by finding a job after school, and based on your success while playing the job mini-game, you’ll earn the money you need to make your character look better and perhaps even improve your character’s reputation.

The overall goal of the game is to build popularity, and then find a way to maintain that popularity and your position. Initially, you’ll be a nobody, much like Claire in the original The Clique books. However, as you talk with other students to aquire gossip, develop your social skills and make friends with other members of the student body, you will gradually become a noted individual. Once you’re smart, savvy and stylish enough, you’ll be able to become a member of the Pretty Committee. That isn’t the end though, if you work hard enough, you could even replace Massie as the head of the Pretty Committee.

An interesting surprise is that a multiplayer feature is going to be included in the title. The thing is, you’ll need to have friends nearby with the game to use it, as it doesn’t make use of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. You can trade your original game avatar with your friends, and when you do you’ll get new gossip in your game that can be used in your quest to become popular.

While it won’t appeal to everyone, it’s looking very likely that The Clique: Diss and Make Up could be shaping up to be the sort of game girl gamers, and maybe even woman gamers, will enjoy. I know I’d be willing to give it a try.

The Clique: Diss and Make Up debuts this month in North America and will cost $29.99. It’ll appear in other regions shortly thereafter.

Read [The Clique Updates] Site [Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Exclusives, Originals, Features, Previews, Handhelds, DS, Gear, Books, Game-Companies, Developers, Publishers, Genres, 2D, 3D, Adventure, Role-Playing, Sim 2009-08-11T12:33:05+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/sony-home-update-criss-angel-mindfreak-exclusives-on-home/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/sony-home-update-criss-angel-mindfreak-exclusives-on-home/ Section: Gaming News, Exclusives, Features, Collecting, Giveaways, Lists, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Gear, Accessories, Audio, Books, Displays, Furniture, Ads & Media, Movies, Other Media, Genres, 3D, Casual, Online, Party, Sim, Game-Genres-Other



Home Theater

Special items and Giveaways

This week members of the Sony Home community are treated to exclusive clips from Criss Angel’s upcoming show and an exclusive limited time free item at the theater now through Aug. 12, 2009. The free item is a coffin-style sofa for their personal spaces, also, while watching the clip players will be entered into a give away for one of two real-life coffins used in Criss Angel: Mindfreak and one of three Criss Angel: Burn DVDs and books. Only five winners will be selected and to participate register and log on to Sony Home and visit Auditorium 1 to watch the video. Players can find the Theater in Central Plaza or by selecting the space from the World Map.

Home Shopping Mall

There really isn’t anything new going on space wise on home but there are a few new items available at the shopping mall located in Central Plaza, check it out:

Threads 1

Males Only:

• Western shirt for 99 cents
• Scenester Street top for 99 cents
• Victorian Vest and Shirt for 99 cents
• Padded Jacket for 99 cents
• Flower Power Button-down Shirt for 99 cents
• Bomber Jacket for 99 cents
• Argyle Ensemble for 99 cents
• Down Vest for 99 cents
• Board Shorts for 99 cents

Females Only

• Buckled Boots for 49 cents
• Ski Parka for 99 cents
• Cheongsam Top for 99 cents
• Jean Shorts for 99 cents

Threads 2

Both Male and Female:

• Animated Smiley Face T-shirt for $1.99
• Animated Revolving Earth T-shirt for $1.99

Males Only:

• Band Jacket for 99 cents
• Animated Growing Vines T-shirt for $1.99

Costume Shop

Males Only:

• Deep Sea Diver Bundle cost $1.99

Individual items:

• Deep Sea Diving Gloves cost 49 cents
• Deep Sea Diving Boots cost 49 cents
• Deep Sea Diving Helmet cost 99 cents
• Deep Sea Diving Suit Top cost 99 cents
• Deep Sea Diving Suit Pants cost 99 cents

Females Only:

• Cave Woman Bundle cost $1.99

Individual items:

• Prehistoric Bracelet cost 49 cents
• Prehistoric Fur Boots cost 49 cents
• Prehistoric Bodice cost 99 cents
• Prehistoric Mini-skirt cost 99 cents

Read [Playstation Blog] Site [PlayStation] Site [Criss Angel’s Official Website]

Full Story » | Written by Lucy Newman for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Gaming News, Exclusives, Features, Collecting, Giveaways, Lists, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Gear, Accessories, Audio, Books, Displays, Furniture, Ads & Media, Movies, Other Media, Genres, 3D, Casual, Online, Party, Sim, Game-Genres-Other 2009-08-10T19:33:24+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/playstation-store-update-trivia-gurus-delight-august-9-to-15-2009/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/playstation-store-update-trivia-gurus-delight-august-9-to-15-2009/ Section: Gaming News, Features, Lists, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Handhelds, PSP, Gear, Accessories, Audio, Ads & Media, Movies, Advertisements, Other Media, Updates, Playstation-Store


This week’s PlayStation Store update features the game TV Show King for $9.99 for the PlayStation 3, in the style of the more popular television game shows like wheel of fortune, weakest link and others this game will challenge you, your friends and family with questions ranging from history to geography, literature to science and sports to entertainment. Check it out:



Also available for download is Crystal Defenders for $9.99. A defensive strategy game in which players deploy popular job classes used in Final Fantasy Tactics A2 like soldiers, monks, black mages and archers to strategically place them on the map to defend your crystals from a stream of enemy creatures that fly or crawl past your army.

Here’s a list of everything else that’s new:

Qore

• Qore Annual Subscription: August 2009 (PS3/$24.99)
• Qore Episode 15: August 2009 (PS3/$2.99)

Downloadable Games:

• Dynasty Warriors (PSP/$14.99)

Game Demos:

• Rag Doll Kung Fu Demo Demo (PS3/Free)
• Batman: Arkham Asylum Demo (PS3/Free)
• Crystal Defenders Demo (PS3/Free)
• Worms Demo (PS3/Free)

Bonus Game Contents:

• Cross Edge Trial Edition Pack (PS3/Free)
• Cross Edge Additional Dungeon 4 (PS3/Free)
• Cross Edge Enigma Synth Pack (PS3/Free)
• Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires Additional Music Set 3 (PS3/Free)
• Hannah Montana: Rock Out The Show Musicians Wardrobe Add-On (PS3/Free)
• Hannah Montana: Rock Out The Show Moment Maker Special Effects Add-On (PS3/Free)
• Hannah Montana: Rock Out The Show Stage Prop Add-On (PS3/Free)
• Hannah Montana: Rock Out The Show Fashions Add-On (PS3/Free)
• Cross Edge Latest Technology Pack (PS3/$1.99)
• Cross Edge Pretty Little Pack (PS3/$1.99)
• LittleBigPlanet: inFamous Costumes Pack (PS3/$1.99)
• GTI Club Plus (PS3/$1.99)
• Savage Moon Waldgeist Add-On (PS3/$4.99)
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010 Cog Hill Golf & CC (PS3/$4.99)
• Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 3 (PS3/$9.99)
• Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood Old West Map Pack (PS3/$9.99)

Guitar Hero World Tour Individual Songs:

• “Camel’s Night Out” by Eric Johnson (PS3/$1.99)

Rock Band Music Packs:

• Spinal Tap’s TAP TEN (PS3/$17.99)
Individual Songs:
• “America” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Big Bottom” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Cups and Cakes” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “(Funky) Sex Farm” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Gimme Some Money” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Heavy Duty” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Hell Hole” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “(Listen to the) Flower People (Reggae Stylee)” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Rock ‘n’ Roll Creation” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Stonehenge” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)

Rock Band Unplugged bonus content:

• “Had a Dad” by Jane’s Addiction (PSP/$1.99)
• “Renegade” by Styx (PSP/$1.99)

Free Game Videos:

• TV Show King Trailer (English, French and Spanish versions) (PS3/Free)
• Unbound Saga Between the Panels Issue 2 (PS3/PSP/Free
• Watchmen The End Is Nigh Part 2 Launch Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Watchmen The End Is Nigh Part 2 The Complete Experience Launch Trailer (PS3/Free)
• G Force The Video Game Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Mini Ninjas Futo Gameplay Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Mini Ninjas Futo Vignette (PS3/Free)
• Mini Ninjas Shun Vignette (PS3/Free)

New Movies to Rent or Own:

• Obsessed. Rated PG-13 (Own/SD Format/$14.99)
• Miss March. Rated R (Rent/SD Format/$3.99)
• Miss March. Rated R (Rent/HD Format/$5.99)
• Miss March. Rated R (Own/SD Format/$14.99)
• Dragonball: Evolution. Rated PG (Rent/SD Format/$3.99)
• Dragonball: Evolution. Rated PG (Rent/HD Format/$5.99)
• Dragonball: Evolution. Rated PG (Own/SD Format/$14.99)
• The T.O. Show Season 1. Rated TV Y-7 (Own/SD Format/$1.99)
• Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs. Rated G (Own/SD Format/$1.99)

Wallpapers and Themes:

• College Football Theme: Arkansas (PS3/$1.99)
• College Football Theme: Clemson (PS3/$1.99)
• College Football Theme: Colorado (PS3/$1.99)
• College Football Theme: Illinois (PS3/$1.99)
• College Football Theme: Missouri (PS3/$1.99)

Read [PlayStation Store Blog] Site [PlayStation]

Full Story » | Written by Lucy Newman for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Gaming News, Features, Lists, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Handhelds, PSP, Gear, Accessories, Audio, Ads & Media, Movies, Advertisements, Other Media, Updates, Playstation-Store 2009-08-10T18:02:55+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/sony-home-update-zombies-spotted-fat-princess-wants-cake/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/sony-home-update-zombies-spotted-fat-princess-wants-cake/ Section: Gaming News, Exclusives, Features, Lists, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Gear, Accessories, Clothing, Furniture, Gear-Other, Genres, Casual, Online, Sim


This week on PlayStation Home there are several new events taking place that will continue to entertain the PS Home community and one very promising upgrade to one of PS Home’s hangouts.

New and Upcoming Spaces

Burn Zombie Burn

First, don’t panic. Zombies have been spotted in a new world on the map called Burn Zombie Burn, a cartoon-like grave yard with zombies roaming about, two open tombs and one mysterious one that you can only enter after completing the maze game found in the first tomb all the way to the left. The maze game is crawling with zombies, much like the Ward of Despair on the Siren map you have only a few minutes to make through the maze to the tomb at the end safely without being touched by the zombies roaming randomly through the maze.

If you are captured you are thrown out of the game to start over but if you manage to escape the zombies unharmed enter the mystery tomb and dance to the beat of Thriller and other spooky songs to earn a free Double Six t-shirt. If you want a different shirt there’s a zombie in the graveyard selling other styles of Double Six t-shirts for $1.99 each. You can only find Double Six t-shirts at the graveyard at the moment. If the area is too dark for your liking there are a few gravestones with torches you can light by approaching them to light your path and oh, don’t worry about the zombie roaming this area. He’s harmless.

New and improved 10-screen Theater

Next we look at the new and improved movie theater. Prior to the upgrade players were often bored waiting for the trailer or movie preview they wanted to see to cycle through the video feed on one single screen. Now in the newly improved theater, players can choose the video they want to see by entering one of 10 auditoriums, each showing a different video or hang out in the spacious lobby with one screen showing a preview of the latest film out in theaters.

But check the theaters often, because now depending on the feature being played in one of the ten rooms, players can unlock an exclusive item for simply watching the video. The theater will also feature exclusive sneak peeks, music videos and even full-length television shows in the near future. Not sure what’s showing inside? There are posters next to the doors that show what you can expect to watch inside the theater room.

Fat Princess wants Cake

Next space to open, is a Fat Princess event space where players can check out videos about the new game now available at the PlayStation Store and go on a virtual quest to feed the princess for an exclusive Home item - a throne for your living space.

This event space is only open for a very short time so if you want a cute little throne for your personal space enter this space and visit the gallery to see the princess. (Tip: Before visiting the princess look at all the item displays from the game and read the notes. These are clues to the questions you have to answer to unlock a piece of cake.) Once you collect all eight pieces, feed it to the princess and watch her grow wider to get your throne. Here’s what you can expect when you enter this space:

MotorStorm: Pacific Rift game space

No exact dates are available but Sony has announced a new space for fans of MotorStorm: Pacific Rift is on its way and offers images of the new space for fans to enjoy while they are in the process of working on this space. But from what I’ve read, those who have the game will be able to launch straight into their game from this area. Here’s a few screen shots of the upcoming space:




At the Shopping Mall

There really isn’t anything new to report at the mall except for a free t-shirt at Threads located on the first floor of the mall.

Threads

Free Katamari Forever Ichigo T-shirt for both male and female avatars available:

• Green shirt for males featuring a green Katamari Forever character riding on the left shoulder
• Pink shirt for females featuring a pink Katamari Forever character riding on the left shoulder

Read [Playstation Blog] Site [PlayStation] Site [Burn Zombie Burn]  Read [Gamertell]

Full Story » | Written by Lucy Newman for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Gaming News, Exclusives, Features, Lists, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Gear, Accessories, Clothing, Furniture, Gear-Other, Genres, Casual, Online, Sim 2009-08-03T15:11:17+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/comic-con-2009-a-closer-look-at-ace-attorney-investigations-miles-edgeworth/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/comic-con-2009-a-closer-look-at-ace-attorney-investigations-miles-edgeworth/ Section: Gaming News, Exclusives, Features, Previews, Handhelds, DS
Capcom’s Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth is the newest in the Ace Attorney series. You will recognize Edgeworth from the first game, as the rival (and friend) of Phoenix Wright. This time he is the main character and you control him through out the game. I was lucky enough to give the game a go at Comic Con 2009.


I noticed right away that this game was different than its predecessors. You still click on items to view them more closely and you can still talk to people about the case but, instead of the first-person view we are use to, this one is all third-person and you can move Edgeworth around the screen.

The game starts with a man lying dead of a bullet wound in, of all places, Edgeworth’s office. Edgy is as confused as everyone else as to how the body got there and the investigation begins. The first person I was able to talk to was a rather familiar face, Detective Gumshoe! As always, Edgy and him but heads but are still forced to work together. Gumshoe follows you around in the game and you can consult with him about various findings.

Another new element to the game is the ability to combine logic to form ideas. When you find a piece of evidence, or find out something about the event (such as that the dead man was actually a detective), the ideas go into the “logic” space. You have to combine logics that fit together to come up with a better idea of what happened. Of course, if you incorrectly piece together logic, you lose points via a green bar at the top of the screen. You should remember the green bar from the other Ace Attorney games.

Unfortunately, you no longer go to court to try the case in this game. However, you do still interrogate suspects and witnesses to find out what happened. (Of course, the game I played was not the full build.) Despite the fact that there are no court room interactions, he game was still a lot of fun, and any fan of the series will want to try it out.

The game still has the quirky feel, and the characters are a funny as ever. Capcom is hoping for a February 2010 release on the DS. It has been released in Japan for some time now where it is already a huge hit.

Read [Joystiq] Also Read [Gamespot] Also Read [Gamertell]

Full Story » | Written by Jessica Moen for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Gaming News, Exclusives, Features, Previews, Handhelds, DS 2009-07-31T14:04:45+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/comic-con-2009-a-closer-look-at-three-new-playstation-games/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/comic-con-2009-a-closer-look-at-three-new-playstation-games/ Section: Gaming News, Exclusives, Originals, Features, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Handhelds, PSP, Game-Companies, Developers, Distributors, Publishers, Conventions


Playstation was hands-on at Comic Con this year and Sony brought out a few of its best games for the PS3 and PSP to show off. I attended a media party at the Hard Rock Hotel (across the street from Comic Con) and was able to try out a few of the awesome titles coming out. Here are three I was able to extensively play.



Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time


They showed us two different parts of the game, one with Ratchet and one with Clank. Clank’s was a but hard, basically you had to step on these platforms and by doing so it created a clone of him that would mimic everything he did until you stopped the recording. You would use this to your advantage to open a door that required you to stand on two platforms. You press Go and your clone runs over and stands on the platform like you did, while you stand on the other to open the door and run through. This got harder as the puzzles got more difficult since you had to make multiple clones doing different things. It was actually a bit frustrating.




Ratchet’s was basically him running around in this big open field and trying all his gadgets while killing huge machines. You got to try out his hover boots (which allow you to float quickly across the land and over water) and various weapons to destroy all the huge machines that were walking around. Much simpler, but I still didn’t quite know what I was doing. Either way it gave us a sneak peek about what the game would be like. It’s coming out Fall 2009






Heavy Rain


I was excited to try this out since I read about it a while back. The game starts with you being a detective with futuristic gear that allows you to analyze DNA and other evidence simply by touching it. You walk into a junk yard and talk to a rather tough looking guy operating the forklift. You ask him about a specific car and he basically tells you to go stick it. So you are on your own to look for clues. By hitting your controls you activate your special glasses that allow you to see all the evidence stick out at you. By clicking on specific things like a DNA or tire tracks, you can determine if it belongs to the person or car your looking for.

It took a while to figure all this out. I did a lot of walking around, button mashing, and consulting with people around me to get to this point. After you search around for awhile, the big tough guy gets angry and confronts you, eventually grabbing you and dragging you along with a gun to your head. If you hit certain buttons when the icons pop up, you can knock things in his way, or trip him up long enough to get away or grab the gun. This part requires perfect timing and you may need to start over.





Another feature of the game is to know what is on the characters mind and what he thinks about different things. By clicking a button, you bring up several options including mood, sadness, weather, etc. When you click on these, you get a better sense of how he feels about himself and what’s around him. I think once you get the control schemes down, this could be a very fun game. It reminded me a bit of Indigo Prophecy for the PS2. Available sometime in 2010.






Fat Princess


This was an awesome, fun little title. It is a “Defend the Castle” type game that can be played online. I was playing as a character from the red team, defending my castle from the blue team. You can pick from five classes including mage, archer and gunner. You can change these classes at will and each class has different weapons you can switch from by hitting a button. All you do to switch classes to to pick up the different hats. The hats are found at your base (produced by machines) or by finding them on the field. You can even get a rivals hat.

Not only do you have to defend you castle but you have you have to infiltrate the rivals castle and save your princess who is in the rival castle. This is not easy because people will be shooting at you from all over. The best option is teamwork, which was hard for me since I was playing with people I couldn’t communicate with. In order to stop the rivals from saving their princess, you can feed her cake that you find laying around the field. When you feed them the cake, the princesses get fatter and fatter, and it will take several people to work together to save her, making her harder to rescue.





This was a fast paced, quick moving game that had a lot of fun with. If you get killed, you just start back at your base and try again. And you can play with your friends online to team up against the rivals, or be on separate teams for more competition! This title is available at the end of the month at the Playstation store.

Site [Playstation] Read [IGN] Read [Gamertell]

Full Story » | Written by Jessica Moen for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Gaming News, Exclusives, Originals, Features, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Handhelds, PSP, Game-Companies, Developers, Distributors, Publishers, Conventions 2009-07-30T19:04:49+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/comic-con-2009-ea-games-showcase/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/comic-con-2009-ea-games-showcase/ Section: Gaming News, Exclusives, Features, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Wii, Xbox-360, Game-Companies, Developers, Distributors, Publishers, Conventions



Comic Con 2009 was chock full of new games and demos. I was lucky enough to get invited to an exclusive EA showcase of new games coming out. The showcase took place inside the Onyx nightclub in San Diego, CA (USA). As I mingled with EA reps, other media people, and I snacked on rather fancy free food and cocktails, I was able to try out all these games hands-on.

There were a bunch of games showcased at this event and here is a quick look at each game.






Nerf N-Strike for the Wii


This game was rather fun for a kids' game. The object is to escape from a warehouse you and your friends are trapped in. You attach a special gun hookup to the WiiMote and shoot Nerf darts at various enemies and objects. There is also a red visor that you look through every once in awhile to get a secret message in the game. These messages are either used to solve in game puzzles or to unlock things later. The gun attachment even comes with a special shooter for shooting real Nerf darts around your house. Fun concept, great for kids and adults even if it is on rails. Comes out October 2009.






Need For Speed Nitro for Wii
I had a lot of fun with this title. You use either the WiiMote or the wheel for this one. As with all NFS games, the object is to win the race. This game had more an arcade feel than the others and dies not rely on a storyline. You can fully customize your car with decals, features and paint. As you are racing you collect wrenches to fix your car if it gets busted up and, if you collect shields, it will send the police who are chasing you to instead chase the first place car. If the police do catch you, you lose all your speed and have to start again. The controls were easy and the car had a nice smooth ride to it and very nice maneuvering.








Dragon Age Origins for Xbox


This RPG title reminded me a lot of World of Warcraft (WOW). You can choose between different starting characters and everything you do in the game effects what will happen later. It’s very open-ended and allows you to choose your own path. Fighting is much like WOW too, by hitting the X button, the player will target the next enemy and attack him on his own (you don’t have to hit buttons to attack). You can also play multiplayer online with other people. And sometimes you have a dog Every RPG game is better with a dog.



Brutal Legend for PS3 and Xbox


I really can’t say enough awesome things about this game. First, it was created by Tim Shaffer, writer of awesome games including Psychonauts and Day of the Tentacle. You play as Eddie (voiced by Jack Black), the ultimate roadie, who gets sucked into an alternate dimension and must now defeat the evil demons and save the humans. You use weapons including hammers and guitars to defeat the demons. There are also cool moves like shredding your guitar to send a shock wave to knock down enemies. The backgrounds and levels really remind you of those Heavy Metal music videos. There is also online multiplayer. Comes out Fall 2009.



Dead Space Extraction for Wii


This title is another on-rails shooter and is also the prequel to Dead Space. Basically you are trying to escape from a horrific infection on the Aegis VII mining colony deep in the furthest regions of space. You use the WiiMote to shoot at the aliens and avoid having them grab you, which sucks. When they grab you, you have to shake the controller until you finally break free and hope you have some hit points left. You can also hit B to pull items into you and send them flying at the aliens, or just to collect items. Co-op mode is also available with this title. I had trouble with one, I mainly got killed a bunch of times. It helps to stand back from the TV as far as you can so that you can hit the sensor better. If you are a fan of House of the Dead, then this is your title Comes out Fall 2009.



G.I. Joe The Rise of Cobra for DS and Wii


The DS title takes place about 10 years after the movie but still has some very loose ties to the movie, including characters. You play as a G.I. Joe who is out to stop the Cobra who are always up to no good. You can do two player co-op and choose between 12 different characters. The game mode is third-person with an aerial view. It reminded me a lot of those old arcade games where you around in a dungeon and shoot at everything that moves. Very fun. The console version is much different in story line but still a shooter.

Site [EA games] Read [Gamespot] Also Read [Gamertell]

Full Story » | Written by Jessica Moen for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Gaming News, Exclusives, Features, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Wii, Xbox-360, Game-Companies, Developers, Distributors, Publishers, Conventions 2009-07-30T17:56:40+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/gamertell-interview-madden-nfl-10-wii-art-director-tim-spangler/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/gamertell-interview-madden-nfl-10-wii-art-director-tim-spangler/ Section: Gaming News, Exclusives, Originals, Features, Interviews, Previews, Consoles, Wii, Genres, Sports, Conventions





I was able to meet the art director of the Madden NFL 10 for the Wii, Tim Spangler, at this year's San Diego Comic Con (2009). Tim has worked on pretty much every EA sports title but this is the first title he worked on from start to finish.

According to Spangler , the game has undergone drastic changes. "The visuals changed across the board, we have an all new interface, all new character models, stadium and game modes."

This is also the first year where the characters will have different body types. In the past all the characters looked about the same but, in reality, players in different positions look different. Spangler explained that they made the different characters bodies look different so that a quarterback would look different from a fullback and such. "Defining body types was the hardest to do graphically but it was something we really wanted for this game."







He also explained that crowds in previous titles the audience would be wearing primary colors but, this year, depending on the team you pick, the audience will be wearing that team's jerseys and have merchandise from the team shops.

"Last year they were only wearing basic colors, we wanted more depth with the audience and a more personalized feel," Spangler said. There will also be a mix of women and men, and they will be visibly clapping and cheering for their teams, or jeering if necessary.

When asked about how, as an artist, you try the top the games each year, he said that he keeps a running list of what they want to improve but couldn’t do this year. "When it comes to graphics, it’s all about depth. Each year you want to expand it just a little and make it better each time around."







When it comes to players who have retired or are on suspension, Spangler explained, "[T]ypically when players are under suspension, such as Michael Vick, or retiring, such as Brett Favre, who can’t make up his mind, usually don’t make the final draft when it comes to players to include in the game. So, though you might still want to play with these characters in your team, you have to hope they hold off suspension and retirement till the game is made."

Because this game is on the Wii, new features are included like the ability to actually throw a pass using the WiiMote, rather then hitting a button to do so. The game also features co-op huddle-up mode where the second player can help out the first buy throwing out a block trip up the receiver with the WiiMote. Plus play with your friends to help you complete seasons and individual games, and bring your team to the Super bowl.

Madden looks great again this year and we can thank Tim Spangler and his art team for a job well done.

Site [EA sports] Read [IGN] Read [Gamertell]

Full Story » | Written by Jessica Moen for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Gaming News, Exclusives, Originals, Features, Interviews, Previews, Consoles, Wii, Genres, Sports, Conventions 2009-07-29T19:35:12+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/comic-con-09-a-peek-at-dc-universe/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/comic-con-09-a-peek-at-dc-universe/ Section: Gaming News, Exclusives, Features, Previews, Consoles, PS3, PCs, Conventions





DC Comics fans are surely anxious for the release of Sony Online’s newest MMO, DC Universe, to come out on the PC and PS3. I was able to get a look at this awesome title at Comic Con 2009. The game is nowhere near ready to come out yet but here are some specs of the game that were confirmed to give you an idea what to expect.

DC Universe is a Online MMO where you can create your own superhero and fight along side your favorite heroes from DC comics. You can’t play are real super heroes like Batman or the Flash, mainly because this is a massive online game. If you could, then you would see 800 Green Lantern’s running around.







Instead, you can customize your own character including costume and powers. Also, if you find more armor or weapons as you play, you can attach them to your character and it will change the look of the character. You can pick from bottoms and tops and match them up to get the right look you want to make, rather then a super hero with mismatched attire.

Like all MMO’s you can team up with your friends online and complete quests, or just go all out and take out as many villains as you can. Sony is working on allowing the PC and PS3 to work together for online play, which would be nice for those who have friends that don’t own one or the other. You acquire quests by either approaching super hero’s and asking them if they need help, or sometimes they will call you up and ask for you help.

If you are like a lot of MMO players, you probably enjoy being bad once in awhile. So DC Universe also allows you also play the role of the villain. So instead of working alongside Batman, you would work along side the Joker! For instance, in the good role, Batman would call you up and say that Joker is robbing the bank and he needs your help. If you were playing a villain, then instead the Joker would call you up and ask you help him rob the bank.

You can interact with the scenery in game as well. For instance if you are fighting an enemy, you could use your powers to send cars and other debris flying at them or to corner them so you can get a better shot at them.







Every scene in the game is taken directly from a DC comic book and is approved by Jim Lee himself, so you know you will be getting nothing but DC graphics and animation.

Unfortunately, the game still has a lot of kinks to work out, and they still have some things to approve and scenes to create, so they game won’t be coming out anytime soon. Sony Online is shooting for late next year, but again, it is too early to give any sort of release date. I am excited about this title, and I think it will definitely be worth the long wait.

Site [Sony Style] Read [Sony]

Full Story » | Written by Jessica Moen for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Gaming News, Exclusives, Features, Previews, Consoles, PS3, PCs, Conventions 2009-07-29T16:51:04+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/playstation-store-update-shattered-july-26-to-aug.-1-2009/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/playstation-store-update-shattered-july-26-to-aug.-1-2009/ Section: Gaming News, Exclusives, Features, Lists, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Handhelds, PSP, Gear, Accessories, Comics-and-Graphic-Novels, Gear-Other, Ads & Media, Movies, TV, Other Media, Home Video, Updates, Playstation-Store



This week’s PlayStation Store is featuring the game Shatter for $7.99 for the PlayStation 3, this game is an interesting twist to the old school classic Super Breakout with each level more challenging than the one before. The game features multiple game play modes, a trophy system, more than 90 minutes of original music and a leader board system so players can challenge friends.

Calling all Final Fantasy fans! This is a must download demo of all time. Dissidia Final Fantasy free at the PSN store for the PSP. In this game you can assume the role of your favorite Final Fantasy hero or villain in this battle of ultimate destiny. Who wouldn’t want a second chance to kick Kefka’s butt or even wipe the smile off Kuja’s face again? Or relive the battle between Sephiroth and Cloud? Fight in various environments every Final Fantasy game deserves.

Also, with Comic-Con 2009 underway the PlayStation Store has created a special category for all things comic related from movies to games and an exclusive sneak peek of an upcoming animated film Green Lantern: First Flight available for download.

PSOne Classics:

• Spec Ops: Covert Assault (PS3/$5.99)
• Wild Arms 2 (PS3/$5.99)

Downloadable Games:
*Free themes are available now until July 31, 2009, with purchase of any of these Tomb Raider downloads.

• Tomb Raider: Legend (PSP/$12.99)
• Tomb Raider: Anniversary (PSP/$12.99)

Game Demos:

• Call of Duty: World at War Demo (PS3/Free)

Bonus Game Contents:

• Cross Edge Fluffy Synth Pack (PS3/Free)
• Cross Edge Chicken Prediction Pack (PS3/Free)
• Cross Edge No Sense of Direction Pack (PS3/Free)
• Cross Edge Fickle Woman Pack (PS3/Free)
• Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires Additional Music Set 2 DLC (PS3/Free)
• Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce Pack 3 (PSP/Free)
• Overlord 2 Battle Rock Pack (PS3/$4.99)
• Killzone 2 Napalm & Cordite Pack (PS3/$5.99)
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010 Banff Springs (PS3/$7.50)
• Wipeout HD  Fury Add-On (PS3/$9.99)
• Killzone 2 DLC Bundle Pack (PS3/$11.99)

Guitar Hero World Tour Music Packs:

• Vagrant Records Track Pack (PS3/$5.49)
Individual Songs:
• “All the World is Mad” by Thrice (PS3/$1.99)
• “The Martyr” by Senses Fail (PS3/$1.99)
• “Young Cardinal” by Alexisonfire (PS3/$1.99)

Rock Band Music Packs:

• Kings of Leon Pack 01 (PS3/$5.49)
Individual Songs:
• “Crawl” by Kings of Leon (PS3/$1.99)
• “Molly’s Chambers” by Kings of Leon (PS3/$1.99)
• “Sex on Fire” by Kings of Leo (PS3/$1.99)

• Rancid Track Pack 01 (PS3/$5.49)
Individual Songs:
• “Last One to Die” by Rancid (PS3/$1.99)
• “Time Bomb” by Rancid (PS3/$1.99)
• “Ruby SoHo” by Rancid (PS3/$1.99)

• Rise Against Track Pack 01 (PS3/$5.49)
Individual Songs:
• “Prayer of the Refugee” by Rise Against (PS3/$1.99)
• “Re-Education (Through Labor)” by Rise Against (PS3/$1.99)
• “Savior” by Rise Against (PS3/$1.99)
Single track:
• “Sweetness and Light” by Lush (PS3/$1.99)

Rock Band Unplugged bonus content:

• “The Boys are Back in Town” by Thin Lizzy (PSP/$1.99)
• “Casey Jones” by Grateful Dead (PSP/$1.99)

Free Game Videos:

• Alpha Protocol CG trailer (E3 Trailer) (PS3/Free)
• Alpha Protocol Developer Diary #4 (PS3/Free
• Battlefield 1943 Launch Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Digger Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Gran Turismo B/W Trailer (PS3/PSP/Free)
• Killzone 2 Boltgun 4400 (PS3/PSP/Free)
• Killzone 2 Napalm & Cordite Pack Video (PS3/PSP/Free)
• The King of Fighters XII Trailer 3 – Be the King (PS3/PSP/Free)

New Movies to Rent or Own:

• Confessions of a Shopaholic. Rated PG (Rent/SD Format/$3.99)
• Confessions of a Shopaholic. Rated PG (Own/SD Format/$14.99)
• Coraline. Rated PG (SD Format/$14.99)
• Fast & Furious. Rated PG-13 (SD Format/$14.99)
• Dragonball: Evolution. Rated PG (Rent/SD Format/$3.99)
• Dragonball: Evolution. Rated PG (Rent/HD Format/$5.99)
• Dragonball: Evolution. Rated PG (Own/SD Format/$14.99)

Wallpapers and Themes:

• Overlord II Minions Theme (PS3/Free)
• Overlord II Overlord Theme (PS3/Free)
• College Football Theme: Miami (PS3/$1.99)
• College Football Theme: North Carolina (PS3/$1.99)
• College Football Theme: Michigan (PS3/$1.99)
• College Football Theme: Tennessee (PS3/$1.99)
• College Football Theme: Utah (PS3/$1.99)

Read [PlayStation Store Blog] Site [PlayStation]

Full Story » | Written by Lucy Newman for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Gaming News, Exclusives, Features, Lists, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Handhelds, PSP, Gear, Accessories, Comics-and-Graphic-Novels, Gear-Other, Ads & Media, Movies, TV, Other Media, Home Video, Updates, Playstation-Store 2009-07-27T13:39:43+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/comic-con-2009-left-4-dead-2-on-display/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/comic-con-2009-left-4-dead-2-on-display/ Section: Gaming News, Features, Previews, Consoles, Xbox-360, PCs, Windows, Game-Companies, Publishers, Genres, Action, Conventions

Valve Software sent out a press release announcing that Left 4 Dead 2 is playable at Comic Com 2009 in San Diego, CA (USA).

The game will be from 2 to 9 p.m., Thursday through Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, July 26, 2009, at the at the EA Gaming Lounge in the Hilton San Diego Gaslamp Quarter Hotel. It will also be playable at the and the Xbox 360 booth (booth 5225 Hall G) all day on Saturday July 25, 2009.

Valve promises that the second of the game’s five campaigns will be playable (called “Swamp Fever”) and a new female “Boss infected monster” called “The Spitter” will be unveiled along with 20+ items and “Mudmen.”

L4D2 will be release November 17, 2009, for Xbox 360 and PC. Don’t miss the Photo Gallery of creepy screen shots and “The Spitter” below.

Read [Gamertell] Site [Left 4 Dead 2] Photo Gallery [Gamertell]

Full Story » | Written by PJ Hruschak for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Gaming News, Features, Previews, Consoles, Xbox-360, PCs, Windows, Game-Companies, Publishers, Genres, Action, Conventions 2009-07-23T18:03:19+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/comic-con-2009-kotobukiyas-lineup-and-schedule-with-frickin-lightsaber-chop/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/comic-con-2009-kotobukiyas-lineup-and-schedule-with-frickin-lightsaber-chop/ Section: Gaming News, Features, Collecting, Japanese Imports, Previews, Gear, Comics-and-Graphic-Novels, Figures & Toys, Gear-Other, Genres, Bishoujo, Hentai, Conventions



Statue, figure maker and cool stuff creator Kotobukiya has released its full schedule and lineup of offerings for the 2009 San Diego Comic Con taking place July 23 through 26, 2009 (with a preview night on June 22) at the San Diego Convention Center. The company promises hourly prizes as well as several exclusive items at its booth (#2601).

Some of the company’s announcements and event exclusives include:

• Free Shunya Yamashita poster - An original illustration of Marvel comics heroines has been created by master illustrator Shunya Yamashita
• X-Force Wolverine Fine Art Bust - Limited to 300 piecescs for Wednesday, July 22, 2009 (preview night), 150 for Thursday, July 23 and 50 for Friday July 24. Purchases will be limited to only 2 busts per person,and is priced at only $80
Black Widow Bishoujo Statue - 250 pieces for Wednesday, July 22 (preview night), 150 for Thursday, July 23, 50 for Friday July 24. Purchases will be limited to only 2 per person and priced at only $60.
• $25,000 in prizes
• Star Wars Lightsaber Chopsticks - To be released in stores in 2010, complete with R2D2 and C3PO glasses and Star Wars logo chopstick holders.
• Live sculpting demonstration - Master sculptor Mr. Junnosuke Abe will perform a live sculpting demonstration beginning on Thursday July 23, 2009, with raw materials. By the end of the show on Sunday (July 26, 2009) he will have the first draft of a brand new sculpture completed. Abe-san’s sculpture will be a full figure rendition of Wolverine as a 1/6th scale Fine Art Statue in his current yellow & blue costume, as designed by Astonishing X-Men’s John Cassaday

Here the big ol’ schedule of events at Kotobukiya’s booth.

THURSDAY JULY 23, 2009

• 11am - TRIVIA CHALLENGE
• Noon - STAR WARS PRESENTATION - Special Guest:  Lucasfilm’s Chris Spitale takes you behind the scenes and a sneak peek at future goods!  Presentation security provided by the 501st Legion.
• 1 pm - EVANGELION PRESENTATION - Special guests:  Funimation’s Adam Sheehan provides EVA 1:0 info, toy line overview, and contests hosted by EVA cosplayers
• 2 pm - DESTROY ALL PODCASTS DX - Live show recording!  Jeremy & Star bring you con updates and Anime reviews
• 3 pm - STAR WARS CHOP SABER DUEL - Compete with lightsaber chopsticks against members of the 501st Legion!
• 4 pm - STAR WARS ACTION NEWS - Live show recording!  Arnie & Marjorie present all the Star Wars collectibles reporting you can handle, including a report on the SW events from the hectic Preview Night.
• 5 pm - *TBD*
• 6 pm - GRAND PRIZE DRAWING: IRON MAN MOVIE: MARK II FINE ART STATUE PROTOTYPE - Drawing conducted by Marvel Bishoujo Cosplay Characters!

FRIDAY EVENTS

• 11am - TRIVIA CHALLENGE - Test your wits and win prizes!  Special Marvel Bishoujo Cosplay Characters in attendance!
• Noon - STATUEFORUM.com Q&A with KOTO - Special Guest: Statue Forum’s Drew “Galactus” Cheskin
• 1 pm - MARVEL PRESENTATION - Behind the scenes and a sneak peek at future goods!  Comic, film, and Bishoujo will be discussed! Special Guest: Marvel’s Jesse Falcon and Marvel Bishoujo Cosplay Characters
• 2 pm - DESTROY ALL PODCASTS DX - Live show recording!  Daily con updates and Anime reviews!
• 3 pm - STAR WARS CHOP SABER DUEL - Compete with lightsaber chopsticks against members of the 501st Legion!
• 4 pm - MAJOR LICENSING ANNOUNCEMENT - The mystery revealed!
• 5 pm - INTRODUCTION TO BUILDING PLASTIC MODEL KITS - Kotobukiya staff members will instruct new kit builders how to get started!
• 6 pm - GRAND PRIZE DRAWING: ROGUE BISHOUJO STATUE PROTOTYPE - Drawing conducted by Marvel Bishoujo Cosplay Characters!

SATURDAY EVENTS

• 11 am - TRIVIA CHALLENGE - Test your wits and win prizes! 
• Noon - KOTO COLLECTORS DOT COM ANNOUNCEMENT - New fan run website announcement, as well as details on how you can win a one-of-a-kind Clone Wars: Anakin Skywalker ARTFX+ Statue Prototype!
• 1 pm - AFI ARTFX OLYMPICS - Special Guest: ActionFigureInsider’s Daniel “Julius Marx” Pickett hosts competitions in ARTFX building. 
• 2 pm - DESTROY ALL PODCASTS DX - Live show recording!  Daily con updates and Anime reviews!
• 3 pm - STAR WARS JUMBO MACHINDER PRESENTATION - Special Guest: Super 7’s Brian Flynn will reveal the genesis of making the Stormtrooper Jumbo Machinder.  Presentation security provided by the 501st Legion.
• 4 pm - STAR WARS CHOP SABER DUEL - Compete with lightsaber chopsticks against members of the 501st Legion!
• 5 pm - COMICS AND COMICS - STANDUP COMEDY HOUR - Fanboy themed comedy with Special Guests: Tom Franck, Asterios Kokkinos, Ed Greer, Jackie Kashian – hosted by Sax Carr.
• 6 pm - GRAND PRIZE DRAWING: STAR WARS COMMANDER REX ARTFX+ STATUE PROTOTYPE - Drawing conducted by the voice of YODA himself:  Tom Kane!  Presentation security provided by the 501st Legion.

SUNDAY EVENTS

• 11 am - TRIVIA CHALLENGE -Test your wits and win prizes! 
• Noon - STAR WARS CHOP SABER DUEL - Compete with lightsaber chopsticks against members of the 501st Legion!
• 1 pm - WOLVERINE SCULPTURE OFFICIAL UNVEILING - Special Guest:  Kotobukiya’s Master Sculptor Junnosuke Abe will be sculpting a new work of art every day of the show, with this being the official unveiling of the finished piece!
• 2 pm - DESTROY ALL PODCASTS DX - Live show recording!  Daily con updates and Anime reviews!
• 3 pm - GRAND PRIZE DRAWING: MARVEL WOLVERINE BROWN COSTUME FINE ART BUST PROTOTYPE - Drawing conducted by Marvel Bishoujo Cosplay Characters!

Site [Comic Con] Read [Kotobukiya USA]

Full Story » | Written by PJ Hruschak for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Gaming News, Features, Collecting, Japanese Imports, Previews, Gear, Comics-and-Graphic-Novels, Figures & Toys, Gear-Other, Genres, Bishoujo, Hentai, Conventions 2009-07-20T20:05:28+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/sony-home-update-new-spaces-new-stores-more-items-galore/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/sony-home-update-new-spaces-new-stores-more-items-galore/ Section: Gaming News, Features, Collecting, Giveaways, Lists, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Gear, Accessories, Clothing, Figures & Toys, Gear-Other, Genres, 2D, 3D, Arcade, Casual, Online, Game-Genres-Other

The PlayStation Home has been updated with three new spaces to new stores at the mall and more stuff than you can shake a stick at. And like a 3-year-old in the candy isle at WalMart, I’m hopped up on digital eye candy and screaming my head off for a bag of flavored treats!

New Spaces

Namco Bandai Game Space and Namco Game Theatre

There are three new spaces available on Home , each just as exciting as the next. The first space is the Namco Bandai Game Space. If you download the Namco Museum Essentials which is now available at the PlayStation Network Store for $9.99 and a demo for free, players can unlock virtual items for their personal spaces such as their own arcade, trophies and even clothing for their avatars for beating high scores or accomplishing certain tasks like collecting all the fruits from each level in Dig Dug. Downloading the game also allows players to launch into the game using the arcade center or the personal arcade in their spaces. Those who do not have the game downloaded can still enjoy mini-games all over the center such as the vending machine games where players can receive items such as soda cans with cute little anime pictures on them or clothing items like boots, shirt, skirt and a girl mask. What? The costume is cute, in a creepy animated way.

The vending machine game is roulette-style so the results are completely random. If you think that’s all there is, don’t forget to check out the money exchange machine for a free stack of game coins to toss on your table in your personal space. Want to see how compatible you are with your friends? Take a seat on the heart shaped love-seats to be ranked and get a free t-shirt. Walk down the hall and enter the Namco theater where you will find life-sized figures of a Tekken or Soul Calibur character standing guard over another set of vending machines and a race car from Namco’s Ridge Racer 7 game in the center. There are screens hanging above teasing the related games above the figures.

Buzz! HQ

After months of waiting to play Buzz! HQ only to have it removed for technical issues, the game space has returned. The game allows players to work together with others to answer the multiple choice questions. The space is huge! From the moment you enter the lobby to the moment you enter the studio to play the game. Up to 64 players can work together to answer the trivia questions fed directly to the space from MyBuzzQuiz.com. Questions ranging from movie series to scientific brain busters to cartoon knowledge and musical tidbits. The winning group wins the prize item for their avatar or home space and are encouraged to create quizzes of their own by visiting and registering on MyBuzzQuiz.com if they like. Check out this video to see the space:

EA Sports Complex: Fight Night 4

The gloves are pulled on in this space with plenty to do. Just like Buzz! HQ, this space is huge to explore and two games players can enjoy from boxing with two Rock-em-Sock-em style robots in the center ring or try their hand at mixing the music at the turn tables. Check it out in this video clip:

Sony Home Mall

The mall has been completely renovated with new stores and items for purchase using your virtual PSN account. It’s like Christmas in July on Sony Home right now because there are also new virtual items available for every avatar. Check out the new look in this video:

Threads

The original threads now located on the first floor of the mall in the central plaza now have Namco Bandai and SOCOM gear available. Some items are for both male and female avatars and a few are gender specific items.

Namco items for both female and male avatars:

• Flag Cap is free
• Pac-Man collection t-shirt for 25 cents
• Dig Dug Pooka t-shirt for 25 cents
• Galaga bug t-shirt for 25 cents
• Xevious Solvalou t-shirt for 25 cents
• Mappy Jailtime Goro t-shirt for 25 cents
• Libble Rabbler t-shirt for 25 cents
• Pac-Man pin smock for 49 cents

Gender specific namco items:

• Lucky Flag Cap for female for 25 cents
• Special Flag Cap for male for 25 cents

SOCOM items (male only):

• Top Rim glasses cost 49 cents
• Tactical goggles cost 49 cents
• Aviator glasses cost 49 cents
• Urban Camouflage Boonie Hat for 49 cents
• Wood Camouflage Boonie Hat for 49 cents
• Urban Camouflage Combat Helmet for 49 cents
• Wood Camouflage Combat Helmet for 49 cents
• Urban Camouflage Shirt for 99 cents
• Wood Camouflage Shirt for 99 cents
• Urban Camouflage Bandolier shirt 99 cents
• Wood Camouflage Bandolier shirt 99 cents
• Desert Camouflage Bandolier shirt 99 cents
• Wood Camouflage pants 99 cents
• Desert Camouflage pants 99 cents

Threads 2

Located on the second floor of the mall just up the stairs have new animated t-shirts that flash and light up and a few fun items.

Items for both male and female avatars:

• Skull Bullet Bundle shirts cost $1.99
Individual skull bullet shirts:
• Blue Skull Bullet t-shirt for 49 cents
• Green Skull Bullet shirt for 49 cents
• Red Skull Bullet t-shirt for 49 cents
• Orange Skull Bullet t-shirt for 49 cents
• White Skull Bullet t-shirt for 49 cents

• Animated Shirt Bundle cost $1.99
Individual animated shirts:
• 4th of July t-shirt cost 49 cents
• Flashing battery icon t-shirt for 49 cents
• Pulsing headphones t-shirt for 49 cents
• Beating heart t-shirt for 49 cents
• Equalizer t-shirt for 49 cents

Items for male only avatars:

• T-Rex Head for 49 cents
• Thai Boxing Wraps for 49 cents
• Chainmail Shirt for 99 cents
• Police Shirt for 99 cents

Items for female only avatars:

• Venitian Carnvial Mask for 49 cents
• Fruit Hat cost 49 cents

Costume Shop

A brand new costume store located on the second floor have items for all those who like to dress up their avatars as their favorite game character or just for fun.
Costumes for both male and female avatars:

• Luchadora Bundle cost $1.99
Individual Items:
• Mask, Top, Skirt (female), Bottoms (male), gloves and boots are 49 cents each.

• Medieval Armor Bundle cost $1.99
Individual items:
• Helmet, Gauntlet and Sabatons cost 49 cents each
• Armor top, Armor bottoms (female), Grievers (male) are 99 cents each

Killzone Helghast Soldier costume:

• Gloves and Boots cost 49 cents
• Helmet, Flack Jacket and Trousers cost 99 cents

Gender specific costumes for male avatars:

• Spartan Bundle cost $1.99
Individual items:
• Helmet and boots cost 49 cents each
• Armor top and bottom cost 99 cents each

• Samurai Bundle cost $1.99
Individual items:
• Helmet and Gauntlet cost 49 cents each
• Top Armor, Leg Armor and Shoes cost 99 cents each

• Cardboard Robot bundle cost $2.99
Individual items:
• Robot legs cost 49 cents
• Robot head, torso, claws and feet cost 99 cents each

Gender specific costumes for female avatars:

• Geisha Bundle cost $1.49
Individual items:
• Geisha wig cost 49 cents
• Komono top, bottom, and shoes cost 99 cents each

• Roman Toga Bundle cost $1.49
Individual items:
• Leather sandals cost 49 cents
• Toga top and bottom cost 99 cents

Read [Playstation Blog] Also [Playstation Blog] Site [PlayStation] Site [Namco Bandai] Site [My Buzz Quizz]

Full Story » | Written by Lucy Newman for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Gaming News, Features, Collecting, Giveaways, Lists, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Gear, Accessories, Clothing, Figures & Toys, Gear-Other, Genres, 2D, 3D, Arcade, Casual, Online, Game-Genres-Other 2009-07-20T14:04:41+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/playstation-store-update-an-addictive-new-puzzle-playing-the-big-leagues-ju/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/playstation-store-update-an-addictive-new-puzzle-playing-the-big-leagues-ju/ Section: Features, Lists, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Handhelds, PSP, Gear, Audio, Gear-Other, Updates, Playstation-Store



This week’s newest PS3 download is Droplitz by Altus for $9.99. In this game, players must solve puzzles by twisting and connecting mismatched dials to combine or link pipes together to guide the droplets of water down towards the drain. Can we say pipes on acid? Players must work quickly to turn the pipes to safely move the droplets and the more you move, the trickier the pipe combination you must twist and turn to score on various board sizes, different play modes and maps.

This week’s newest movie download will have viewers following the trail of the clumsy French Inspector Jacques Clouseau in The Pink Panther 2 for $14.99 (in SD Format). Starring Steve Martin and John Cleese, this comedy is rated PG for mild language and action.

PlayStation One Classics:

• Mobile Light Force (PS3/PSP/$5.99)

Downloadable Games:

• Brothers in Arms D-Day (PSP/$14.99)
• Chessmaster: The Art of Learning (PSP/$19.99)
• Driver 76 (PSP/$19.99)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (PSP/$19.99)

Featured Demos:

• The BIGS 2 Demo (PS3/Free)

Bonus Game Contents:

• Little Big Planet Summer Solstice Costume (PS3/Free)
• MotorStorm Pacific Rift Wombat Signature Livery Pack (PS3/Free)
• Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce Pack 2 (PSP/Free)
• Cross Edge Mystery Synth Pack (PS3/Free)
• Cross Edge Mighty Rare Pack (PS3/Free)
• Cross Edge Additional Dungeon 1 (PS3/Free)
• High Velocity Bowling 60’s Surf Ball Pack (PS3/99 cents)
• High Velocity Bowling Tiki Polynesian Ball Pack (PS3/99 cents)
• Little Big Planet Artist Sticker Pack - Jon Burgerman (PS3/$1.99)
• Cuboid Booster Pack (PS3/2.99)
• Cuboid Level Editor (PS3/3.99)
• Disgaea 3: Absence Of Justice Class World Command Attack Mode (PS3/$3.99)
• Cuboid Bundle Pack (PS3/4.99)

Guitar Hero World Tour Music Packs:

• Phish Live Track Pack (PS3/$5.49)

Individual Songs:

• “Chalk Dust Torture (Live)” by Phish (PS3/$1.99)
• “Down With Disease (Live)” by Phish (PS3/$1.99)
• “Sample in a Jar” by Phish (PS3/$1.99)

Rock Band Music Packs:

• Pearl Jam “Ten” Bonus Pack (PS3/$5.49)

Individual Songs:

• “Alive” by Pearl Jam (PS3/$1.99)
• “Brother” by Pearl Jam (PS3/$1.99)
• “State of Love and Trust” by Pearl Jam (PS3/$1.99)

• Maroon 5 Pack 1 (PS3/$5.49)

Individual Songs:

• “Little of Your Time” by Maroon 5 (PS3/$1.99)
• “Makes Me Wonder” by Maroon 5 (PS3/$1.99)
• “Wake Up Call” by Maroon 5 (PS3/$1.99)

• Warped Tour 2009 Pack 1 (PS3/$8.49)

Individual Songs:

• “21st Century (Digital Boy)” by Bad Religion (PS3/$1.99)
• “The Downfall of Us All” by A Day to Remember (PS3/$1.99)
• “The Flood” by Escape the Fate (PS3/$1.99)
• “I Didn’t Say I Was Powerful, I Said I Was a Wizard” by Chiodos (PS3/$1.99)
• “Reinventing Your Exit” by Underoath (PS3/$1.99)

Rock Band Unplugged bonus content:

• “Afterlife” by Avenged Sevenfold (PSP/$1.99)
• “Dr. Feelgood” by Motley Crue (PSP/$1.99)

Free Game Trailers:

• inFAMOUS Commercial (PS3/Free)
• Mini Ninjas Gameplay Trailer (PS3/Free
• Mini Ninjas Hiro Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Monster Hunter: Freedom Unite Handover Video (PS3/Free)
• Monster Hunter: Freedom Unite Hunt Video (PS3/Free)
• The Saboteur E3 Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Darksiders Story Trailer (PS3/Free)
• The BIGS 2 Legendary Catches & Big Slams (PS3/Free)
• The BIGS 2 Teaser Trailer (PS3/Free)

New Movies to Rent or Own:

• Burn Notice, Six Pack - Spy Tricks of the Trade. Rated TV-PG (SD Format/$1.99)
• Weeds: Season 4. Rated TV-MA (SD Format/$1.99)
• Taken. Rated PG-13 (Rent/SD Format/$3.99)
• Taken. Rated PG-13 (Rent/HD Format/$5.99)
• Taken. Rated PG-13 (Own/SD Format/$14.99)
• He’s Just Not That Into You. Rated PG-13 (Rent/SD Format/$3.99)
• He’s Just Not That Into You. Rated PG-13 (Rent/HD Format/$5.99)
• He’s Just Not That Into You. Rated PG-13 (Own/SD Format/$14.99)
• Waltz With Bashir. Rated R (SD Format/$14.99)

Wallpapers and Themes:

• Battlefield 1943 Theme (PS3/Free)
• Elven X Theme 5 (PSP/99 cents)
• Elven X Theme 6 (PSP/99 cents)
• Elven X III Theme (PS3/$1.49)

Read [PlayStation Store Blog] Site [PlayStation]

Full Story » | Written by Lucy Newman for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Features, Lists, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Handhelds, PSP, Gear, Audio, Gear-Other, Updates, Playstation-Store 2009-07-01T00:29:47+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/playstation-store-update-another-ps1-classic-new-movies-available-june-21-t/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/playstation-store-update-another-ps1-classic-new-movies-available-june-21-t/ Section: Gaming News, Features, Lists, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Handhelds, PSP, Updates, Playstation-Store




This week an old PS One classic comes to the PlayStation Portable, the game that started it all on the PlayStation, Metal Gear Solid. Players can re-live the defining mission for Solid Snake at Shadow Moses for $9.99. Save Meryl and rescue Otacon all over again while sneaking into the complex and infiltrating the compound to find and destroy Metal Gear. Play the missions that were only referenced in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

Also new this week, with Gran Turismo 5 Prologue recently becoming a PS3 Greatest Hits title, the price of the game has been reduced from $39.99 to $29.99 permanently and is available for download now.

Downloadable Games:

• Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (PSP/$19.99)

Featured Demos:

• NCAA Football 10 Demo (PS3/Free)

Bonus Game Contents:

• MotorStorm Pacific Rift Jester Signature Livery Pack (PS3/Free)
• Cross Edge Wanderer Pack (PS3/Free)
• Cross Edge Power-Up Pack (PS3/Free)
• Cross Edge Departure Pack (PS3/Free)

Guitar Hero World Tour Music Packs:

• “Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits Theme” by S.U.P.R.A.H.U.M.A.N (PS3/Free)
• Ben Harper and Relentless7 Track Pack(PS3/$5.49)

Individual Songs:

• “Fly One Time” by Ben Harper and Relentless7 (PS3/$1.99)
• “Number With No Name” by Ben Harper and Relentless7 (PS3/$1.99)
• “Shimmer & Shine” by Ben Harper and Relentless7 (PS3/$1.99)

Rock Band Music Packs:

• Evanescence Pack 1 (PS3/$5.49)

Individual Songs:

• “Bring Me to Life” by Evanescence (PS3/$1.99)
• “Call Me When You’re Sober” by Evanescence (PS3/$1.99)
• “Weight of the World” by Evanescence (PS3/$1.99)

• Spinal Tap Pack 1 (PS3/$6.99)

Individual Songs:

• “Back From the Dead” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Rock ‘n’ Roll Nightmare” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Saucy Jack” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Warmer Than Hell” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)

Qore episodes:

• Qore Episode 13 - June 2009 (PS3/$2.99)
• Qore annual subscription (PS3/PSP/$24.99)

Free Game Trailers:

• Mini Ninjas E3 Trailer (PS3/Free)

New Movies to Rent or Own:

• Homer Knows Best. Rated TV-7 (SD Format/$1.99)
• Man vs Wild. Rated TV-PG (SD Format/$1.99)
• Sports Science Season 2. Rated TV-14 (SD Format/$1.99)
• Tatoo Highway Season 1. Rated TV-14 (SD Format/$1.99)
• TNA Impact Season 1. Rated TV-14 (SD Format/$1.99)
• Friday the 13th: Killer Cut (Extended). Rated R (SD Format/$14.99)

Wallpapers and Themes:

• American Pride Theme (PS3/PSP/$1.49)
• Jungle Jane Theme (PS3/$1.99)
• Jungle Jane Themes (PSP/$1.49)
• Warrior Girls Theme (PS3/PSP/$1.49)
• Azmodeus Dark Angels Theme 3 (PS3/$1.49)
• Azmodeus Dark Angels Theme 5 (PSP/99 cents)
• Azmodeus Dark Angels Theme 6 (PSP/99 cents)
• 4th of July Pinups Theme (PS3/$1.49)

Read [PlayStation Store Blog] Site [PlayStation]

Full Story » | Written by Lucy Newman for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Gaming News, Features, Lists, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Handhelds, PSP, Updates, Playstation-Store 2009-06-22T18:37:01+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/gamertell-preview-steambot-chronicles-battle-tournament-for-psp/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/gamertell-preview-steambot-chronicles-battle-tournament-for-psp/ Section: Exclusives, Originals, Features, Previews, Handhelds, PSP, Game-Companies, Developers, Publishers, Genres, 3D, Action, Fighting, Role-Playing



I’d never had the opportunity to play Irem and Atlus’ PS2 Steambot Chronicles, but had heard good things. So when given the chance to test drive the portable Steambot Chronicles: Battle Tournament, I looked forward to an interesting experience.

Adventures in Orion City began after I’d named my character and Trotmobile. (I went with Jenni for me and Shiva for my Trotmobile.) The game begins dark, with a sailor telling you to wake up and arrive. Immediately I was given the opportunity to choose how to react to the announcement. After asking for a few more minutes to sleep, I was informed that we’re in Orion City and it’s time to get off the ship!

Right away, familiar voices greeted me. Laura Bailey (Rise from Persona 4) voices the female heroine, and Tracey Rooney (Chie from Persona 4) provides the voice for your personal mechanic Venus. After helping Venus deal with an arrogant Trotmobile driver, she took an interest in my Trotmobile. She offered to fix it up for free at her Pola Motors repair shop. After that, we decided to team up to work towards competing in Trotmobile championships.



Since I then was given freedom to do what I liked, I decided to take a closer look at the Trotmobile customization options. First, I decided that the Trotmobile emblem needed some customizing. I decided to draw a blue fairy character on there. There were four open custom emblem spots, and it really didn’t take all that long to complete a design. There are only four palette options, but there is an image preview and lots of brush and copying options to make things easier. I also customized my Trotmobile’s color scheme to shades of pastel blue, picked up a better grill, a roll bar windshield and an attachment for carrying liquids. Since I didn’t really have much extra money, I decided to put off upgrading or adding elements to my Trotmobile’s existing parts.

Then, I decided to take the advice of Venus and head to the Employment Agency to pick up some assignments designed to help Orion City citizens, earn some extra cash and make me famous. After all, the city itself features a pretty straightforward layout and I’d already walked around and talked to everyone. Only one job’s available initially, and it acts as a tutorial to get introduce players to fetch quests throughout the game Basically, you help out Jupiter Construction by retrieving some wood from the local forest. You can use the Trotmobile’s arms and basic attacks to take down trees, and the lumber will automatically be loaded onto the flatbed.

I had invested in a better grill with headlights before heading off on the assignment, which was good because the sky had suddenly darkened and night had fallen. I don’t think the headlights made any impact on what I could or couldn’t see, but it was kind of neat to see the lights on the front of my Trotmobile. It added a sense of realism.



As I entered the Maffei Woods, Venus alerted me to the presence of many bandits. Fortunately, all said bandits’ Trotmobiles were equipped with long distance guns. So they’d shoot slow moving bullets at me that were easy to dodge. The tree I needed to cut down was in a small clearing in the first area. So that meant I had to take out three bandits, then attack the tree to complete the mission. I also found that, if I desired, I could pick up a smaller tree in each arm and wield it as a weapon against the bandits. The mission took all of five minutes to complete, and once I was done I had to report back to Zeus at Jupiter Construction to deliver the wood, then report back to Galatea at the Agency to claim my reward.

After I reported in and received my reward, I saw new jobs were available. I decided just to peek at them, to get an idea of what’s next. One sounded interesting. It was an Interview Request from the Orion Sun Times, and it stated that no Trotmobile was necessary. I decided to take on one more mission that day, just to see how the ones that didn’t require any kind of battling worked.

When I reported in to the Orion Sun Times’ Ceres, she told me that she needed me to interview Chef Sol at Flavor Nebula. I had to ask him about his cooking A-Z’s. Or something like that. I kind of have the bad habit of occasionally skipping over dialogue very quickly, and didn’t realize I would be receiving an actual assignment. Thankfully, I caught the A-Z part and hoped there wouldn’t be two options that mentioned it. I quickly ran over to Flavor Nebula. Once I began talking with Sol, three dialogue options came up and (lucky me) only one mentioned A-Z. Sol talked about his cooking and such, and once his tirade was done I had received Sol Notes. I ran back to Ceres, delivered them, was praised for my hard work and told I could pick up my reward with Galatea.

So far, it seems like Steambot Chronicles: Battle Tournament has quite a bit of customization to it. Whenever NPCs consulted with my character, I’d be presented with at least three options to choice. Depending on how you answer, the characters you’re talking to respond differently. There’s also been quite a bit of voice acting so far, which I didn’t expect. I’m looking forward to playing it over the next few weeks.

Steambot Chronicles: Battle Tournament will be in stores on June 30, 2009. It’ll cost $39.99 and carry a rating of Everyone 10+. Be sure to keep an eye on Gamertell for the forthcoming Steambot Chronicles: Battle Tournament review!

Site [Steambot Chronicles: Battle Tournament] Read [Gamertell]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Exclusives, Originals, Features, Previews, Handhelds, PSP, Game-Companies, Developers, Publishers, Genres, 3D, Action, Fighting, Role-Playing 2009-06-22T12:02:26+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/gamertell-preview-uncharted-2-multiplayer-beta-impressions/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/gamertell-preview-uncharted-2-multiplayer-beta-impressions/ Section: Gaming News, Originals, Features, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Game-Companies, Developers, Genres, 3D, Action, Adventure, Shooter, Online



Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is one the most highly anticipated games for 2009. It came as a bit of a surprise when we learned Uncharted 2 will have online multiplayer modes and couldn’t wait to try it out.

For the past several days we’ve been shooting, jumping and dying our way through the multiplayer beta and thought it would be nice to share some of our thoughts about it. The good news is we are very impressed so far with what’s being offered, the bad news is we have to wait to play the full version.

The Uncharted 2 beta comes with three game types. First is the standard Team Deathmatch between the heroes and villains. There are four different characters to play as from both sides and they all carry the same abilities. The goal of Team Deathmatch is to reach 50 kills before time runs out. The matches don’t last too long as the kill total from four human players adds up pretty quickly.

Each kill rewards the player with money that acts as experience points. We can’t do anything with these points nor do they provide anything more than adding on to your rank at the moment. In the final build these experience points will probably go towards earning more boosters.

The second competitive mode is a variation of Capture the Flag called Plunder. Once again four heroes and villains face off in order to retrieve a golden idol and return it to their bases. The idol is pretty heavy so anyone who picks it up will move a little slower and is limited to only using their sidearm for defense. One strategy we’ve seem used involves hurling the idol through the air so other teammates can come closer to capturing it. This mode really does require actual teamwork or the match will end very quickly.

The third mode is cooperative and needs three players to start. In this mode Drake, Sullivan and a new character Chloe need to reach a treasure located on the far end of the level. The enemy that your encounter is controlled by the computer and plays like a mission right out of the single player game. The enemies spawn in the same areas every time so it can become repetitive after playing a few times. There are scripted moments where the characters must help each other by moving debris or boosting each other up to progress. Like any mode in Uncharted 2, damage to your character is shown by the screen progressively turning black and white. Downed characters can be revived by a teammate before the red circular meter surrounding their bodies runs out. If they are not revived in time they will stay in spectator mode until all the enemy waves in that area have been eliminated.

Cooperative mode also introduces new enemy type that wears a mask similar to the guys in Army of Two. He wields a very powerful shotgun and can take a massive amount of damage before dying. It’s our hope that there will be several mission types just like this because it’s so much fun. However, it’s strange that you cannot complete this cooperative level. You get so far and suddenly it’s all over.

One final aspect of cooperative mode that we liked was the lack of a map on screen. This encourages players to watch each others back and keep the communication going. Naughty Dog could make the map optional just to please everyone.

As for weapons, Uncharted 2 has a few to choose from including the standard AK-47 assault rifle, the M4, Dragunov sniper rifle, grenade launcher, FAL rifle, Uzi, minigun and grenades. By default everyone starts with the AK-47, a handgun and one grenade. The AK-47 becomes inaccurate after the first few shots and is best used in short bursts. The M4 is vastly superior by providing steady accuracy but it’s also a bit tough to find. Uncharted 2‘s grenades produces a mixed bag of feelings. On one hand it’s fairly easy to blow someone up with little effort while on the other hand, the grenades explode very quickly and has a large blast radius. It’s almost impossible to escape from a thrown grenade and it becomes frustrating to keep dying from one. Naughty Dog also has to work out a problem with spawn campers and the ability for the enemy to sometimes have a direct line of sight into your base from far away.

So far there are only a couple maps to play on called Village and Plaza. One looks like a war torn city and the other takes place in a rainy, more wooden environment. They both supply a number of vertical positions to choose from and aren’t too large for their own good.

All in all we are impressed with this beta. We can’t wait to see what the final product is going to look like.

Site [Uncharted 2: Among Thieves]

Full Story » | Written by Jeremy Hill for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Gaming News, Originals, Features, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Game-Companies, Developers, Genres, 3D, Action, Adventure, Shooter, Online 2009-06-15T14:09:06+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/appletell-preview-firemints-realracing-for-iphone-ipod-touch/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/appletell-preview-firemints-realracing-for-iphone-ipod-touch/ FROM APPLETELL - Racing games; there sure are a lot of them, and the iPhone is no exception. But Firemint’s Real Racing could be different. It’s a beautiful racing game with controls that are spot on. This game shows a lot of promise for its debut on the App Store.
MORE »

Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Reviews, Features, Previews, Handhelds, iPhone & iPod Touch, Genres, Racing, Updates, Apple App Store 2009-06-10T01:08:02+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/sony-home-update-the-universe-is-expanding-again-a-spy-xi/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/sony-home-update-the-universe-is-expanding-again-a-spy-xi/ Section: Gaming News, Features, Collecting, Lists, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Gear, Accessories, Clothing, Displays, Figures & Toys, Furniture, Gear-Other

Click your heals three times and repeat after me… “There’s no place like HOME! There’s no place like HOME!”

Spaces

And I’m not joking, since Home opened its virtual doors it has been expanding into its own little universe. Like the new upcoming space I mentioned last week for a space called BUZZ! HQ which has actually been delayed because of a few minor issues, but will open very soon once all the kinks are worked out. Until then, a new space is on its way soon for the game inFamous. No confirmed date as to when it will be available yet but, according to Sony, players will be able to explore the Empire City and play the new inFamous themed mini-game that will test players reflex and aiming skills. And I can’t wait to take that test.

Speaking of inFamous, the Cole costumes are now unlockable for Sony Home. Some gamers were given a glimpse of this upcoming Home space during E32009, check out a video a player recorded at the Sony Home booth:

Another space on its way to Sony Home will be a Ghostbusters-themed space by LOOT Gear who have already created the Studio Set Apartment available at the Real Estate store in the mall and now teasing the space as well as fun gear available to players on PlayStation Home. With a silly infomercial on YouTube and tweets on their twitter page about their upcoming “Ghostbusters” space, check it out:

No dates have been confirmed for the new Ghostbusters space but at the mall you can purchase complete Ghostbusters uniforms for $1.99 (Male and Female costumes) while you wait or you can purchase individual items for:

Stuff

Males

• Uniform top for 99 cents
• Pants for 49 cents
• Boots for 25 cents
• Ecto goggles for 49 cents
• Chemical gloves for 25 cents

Females

• Uniform top for 99 cents
• Uniform shorts for 49 cents
• Boots for 25 cents
• Ghostbusters hat for 49 cents
• Chemical gloves for 25 cents

More Street Fighter 4 outfits are now available for male avatars:

• Balrog wig, shirt, shorts, boxing gloves and boots for 99 cents each.
• Vega wig, mask, body top, pants, claw bracelets and shoes for 99 cents each.
• Sagat body top, trunks, hand wraps, foot wraps and eye patch for 99 cents each.
• M. Bison wig, suit top, suit bottom and boots for 99 cents each.

Also new at the mall furniture store, players can display their favorite works of art, posters or photos on the walls of their personal spaces with picture frames now available for $2.99. Users can their favorite pictures by uploading the images to your photo gallery playlist located on the PlayStation menu and then importing them into the frames after placing them on the wall. The sleek grayish frames are pretty neat, players can turn them horizontally or vertically or just rotate the image within the frame and either stretch, fill or crop them into place. Note you can only hang as many frames as your wall space allows for example, if you own the Harbor Studio Apartment the most you can hang is four where as if you plan wisely you can hang up to six in your chamber apartment. There are default images available for use until you upload the images you want into your photo gallery playlist. As a reminder Sony suggests using only images that are owned by you to avoid copyright issues and other legal stuff.

Xi: The Hub

Over at Xi: The Hub, correspondence between the team leader Thom and a Veilcorps operative has been discovered by volunteers and the AFK hackers. With the spy found the testers are not speaking with each other in disappointment and fear of revealing any new valuable information to Veilcorps. In an email sent by Jachal informing players that Jess has dropped another clue on her home computer, players who have read the message will find mathematical problems to solve by exploring the different worlds on Home to answer the questions. A new maze has opened in Alpha Zone 3 which is similar to the riddle maze, except now you have faster ghosts chasing you not to mention tougher questions to answer to get to the goal before the ghosts find you. The only hint I can offer here is pay attention to where the ghost is moving and when he’s not looking, run. Fast. Good luck.

Read [Playstation Blog] Site [PlayStation] Site [Loot Gear] Site [LOOT’s Twitter page]

Full Story » | Written by Lucy Newman for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Gaming News, Features, Collecting, Lists, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Gear, Accessories, Clothing, Displays, Figures & Toys, Furniture, Gear-Other 2009-06-09T18:44:47+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/e3-2009-final-fantasy-chronicles-the-crystal-bearers-impressions/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/e3-2009-final-fantasy-chronicles-the-crystal-bearers-impressions/ Section: Gaming News, Exclusives, Originals, Features, Previews, Consoles, Wii, Genres, 3D, Adventure, Role-Playing, Conventions, E3



At the 2009 Electronics Entertainment Expo, Square Enix debuted a playable demo of the latest chapter in its Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles series titled The Crystal Bearers for Wii.

Staying true to the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles series, FFCC:TCB features real-time combat in place of turn-based tactics. The game stars a rambunctious young mercenary named Layle who wields the unique magical ability of telekinesis that has earned him the name of crystal bearer. FFCC:TCB takes place thousands of years after the events of the original Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles and the destruction of the Yuke Crystal during the Great War resulted in the victorious prosperity of the Lilty tribe. With Yuke tribe being unfortunately and seemingly annihilated, a new age of science and reason began to flourish in the world. Thus, beings with any magical powers have been branded ‘crystal bearers’ and their abilities cause them to be feared and scorned by the public.

One of the main reasons I was drawn to Square Enix’s Final Fantasy Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers (FFCC:TCB) demo station was due in part to the fairly attractive young blonde main character, Layle, that graced the banner. Not only is he one fine looking specimen but he also packs quite a punch, literally.

The Breakdown

In the demo, I was able to experience Layle’s mysterious abilities in an assortment of different environments. During battles, players will utilize the WiiMote by moving it to collaborate with the onscreen targeting point and pushing the B button to commence its appropriate action. This could be anything from telekinetically controlling a Gatling gun to Swiss cheese oncoming avian enemies, to targeting chasing enemy Chocobo knights and tossing them from their steeds in an attempt to flee.

In city andtown areas, Layle is able to interact with different objects and people. This is especially interesting since in order to progress through further locations in the town, certain quests must be completed. Another interesting aspect of the game is the fact that the NPC’s are affected by Layle’s movements an actions. If Layle is running through a crowd, each person he runs past is either knocked back or caused to fall on all fours. Not only can Layle bum rush helpless crowds of people, he can also manhandle him whith his telekinetic powers. Players will be able to target any of the townsfolk like they do with enemies, elevate them in the air, and then drop them. Besides contributing to the delinquencies of youth, Layle can pick up any gold coins that these poor persons may drop. Certain victims may also retaliate by running over to Layle and hitting him.

Many members of the community also have symbols that appear over their heads which display their level of affinity for Layle. Unfortunately, since this was an early demo of the game, all NPC dialogue was missing. However, it seems as though Layle’s actions may affect this.

The Play-by-Play

The demo begins with our young hero sloughing off on the job only to be scolded by his partner Keiss. They have been hired to escort the new passenger airship Alexis, a symbol of the pinnacle of current Lilty technology and a symbol of its dominance. As to make sure that Layle doesn’t fall asleep on the job, an attack by strange flying beasts commences on the Alexis. Here’s where Layle first gets to display his powers as a crystal bearer.

The main objective in this portion of the game is to gun down as many avian enemies as you can without taking too much damage. The WiiMote is the primary controller in this portion of the game and players must point at the screen and once the avian enemies have been targeted, the B button must be pushed commence Swiss cheesing. All the while, Layle is in a free fall amidst a vast blue sky while hordes of bird beasts fly toward him in attempts to clip off his pretty little head.

At one point in the game, Layle collides with one of the monsters and he loses hold of his weapon. However, there’s no need to worry because the player is quickly instructed to aim the target point at the lost weapon and Layle is able to once again take hold of it telekinetically. From this point on, Layle continues to attack the onslaught while remotely controlling the firearm. At the end of the segment, the results of the player’s accuracy is tallied and it’s too early to say but I speculate that acquiring better results will probably achieve better rewards.



Soon after, a cut scene is triggered which introduces the captain of the Alexis who looks to be a rather disgruntled Lilty considering his ship is currently being attacked. While on the ship’s outer deck, he disapprovingly watches the chaos while caught in his own thoughts considering the situation. He is interrupted by a young female photographer who stumbles out onto the deck taking pictures of the mess. Then, a mysterious female Yuke appears on board the deck. Everyone is taken aback because Yukes were supposedly to have become non-existent since the Great War. However, Layle is unphased and attempts to attack the Yuke, but only manages to extract an enigmatic crystal from the being who soon disappears into the thin air from whence she came.



Something happens that results in Layle taking control of the massive airship and in this portion of the demo, players must use the Wii Nunchuck to skillfully steer the Alexis through impending crevices. During this demo, there didn’t seem to be any consequences for causing the ship to collide numerous times with the jagged sides of the chasm except the incessant screams Keiss and the young female photographer which went something along the line of ” Aggghhh! Get me off of this ship now!’.

The Alexis is quickly reaching its destination at an incredible speed and Layle’s idea of breaking hard is to collide with an unfortunate statue. Even though Layle’s method is destructive and brash, it proves to be rather effective since the airship crash lands just short of a huge city structure.



The crew disembark and Layle is left to his own accord. The city’s main gate is shrouded by a huge tapestry and, therefore, players must target it and flick the WiiMote upwards. Doing so causes this massive carpet to fall away and reveals the game’s primary title for the first time.

Whilst roaming through the town, players will notice a poor person trapped under a massive rock. The idea is to be a good Samaritan by removing the overbearing piece from this persons back with the Layle’s magical abilties. Of course, since the NPC dialogue was not included in this demo, I’m not exactly sure what this triggers. But, I’m hoping it’s good assuming by the laws of the greater karmic wheel of life. Shortly after this area, Layle will find himself in another city square where the gate no longer works due to a malfunctioning clock. In order to release this gate that bars further exploration of the bustling communal area, Layle find the shoddy time keeper and by once again flicking the WiiMote in an upward motion, he magically makes everything right in the world again.

This new area leads to a transportation terminal where Layle can board a train to reach another part of the city. Once aboard, Layle is free to do what he wishes while awaiting arrival at the destination, be it conversing with or harassing fellow passengers.

Once Layle exits the train, he descends short flights of stairs where a small white thing quickly scurries by. At first, you wouldn’t think much of this rodent, but after the next cut scene, players will suddenly feel the urge to want to strangle this little bugger. There’s a scene where the little white ferret playfully pilfers the stone that Layle had acquired earlierand it quickly jets off in another direction. Apparently, the rodent is a ferret who belongs to a young Lilty female wearing glasses, Althea. She asks for Layle’s assistance in capturing her renegade pet and control of Layle is once again returned to players as they must navigate the noisy area to try and nab the furry little thief. It seems as though depending on the size of the object, Layle is forced to come into close proximity of it in order to be able to grasp it with his crystal bearer powers. Since the ferret is small and quick, I had a rather difficult time ensnaring it. Now, I’m not sure if this was intentionally programmed into the game, but after about 3 minutes of me running back and forth with unsuccessful avails, the ferret ran itself into the corner where I was able to easily capture it.

Upon doing so, Althea runs over and both apologizes and thanks Layle for the situation. Althea takes a sudden shine to Layle after finding out about his magical abilities and she insists on treating him to tea. They are soon interrupted by the young female photographer from earlier as she’s being chased by the town’s guards for some unknown reason. Having spotted Layle in amongst the crowd, she runs over to hide behind him. The guards charge after her but are halted in motion thanks to Layle’s powers. This causes an outcry from the townsfolk causing Layle and the photographer to flee the city. However, close on their heels are the much more mobile Chocobo sentries. The two fugitives hijack a chocobo-drawn cart in order to outrun the ensuing followers with Layle’s female friend at the reigns and Layle stuck at the back of the cart charged with the responsibility to take care of the enemies.

At this point in the game, Layle must thwart the Chocobo sentries in order to successfully get away. During this segment, a gauge appears at the top left of the screen which lessens if enemies successfully land an attack on the two. In order to prevent this, players must take out each soldier one by one for the duration of this portion of the game by either tossing the riders off their chocobo or reacting quickly to environmental cues that pop up rather unexpectedly. Layle is only able to grab the enemy chocobo riders in order to throw them from their ride at a certain proximity and if he doesn’t do this in time and allows the enemy to get too close, the two enter into a deadlock where players must move the Wiimote frantically back and forth in order to break it. Unfortunately, I can’t comment about how the environment can aid Layle in his escape because my reflexes are apparently about as quick as a snail.

I had a particularly difficult time targeting the moving enemies however. I’m not sure if it was because I was panicking or if it was because I kept holding the B button down. I guess you aren’t able to target any new enemies so long as you hold the B button. Thanks to my ineptitude, my life meter had depleted completely. Thankfully, when that happened, the demo did not immediately end, but it did give me a choice as to whether I wanted to repeat the whole scenario again. I promptly selected the “no” option which triggered the next movie clip.

One of the Chocobo riders catches up to Layle’s female companion and happens to knock her unconscious with a strike from his spear. Layle unfortunately doesn’t notice until it’s too late as the two, the chocobo, and the cart continue to run over a cliff. Literally leaving you at a cliffhanger, the demo ends.

The Conclusion

After having played the rather lengthy demo of FFCC:TCB, I can happily say that I am anticipating its release. Based on the demo, it features just the right amount of action and I was simply itching to see more. I’m very interested into just how much of the environment Layle will actually be able to manipulate when he’s on a bigger field map.

One thing I would like to see improved is the variation in motions when utilizing the WiiMote to interact with objects. While playing the demo, all I was doing was simply flicking the controller in an upward motion as instructed by the onscreen instructions. However, it would be nice to see a little more creativity be put into this action since it starts to not make sense and get quite boring after a while. For example, after Layle picks something up and wants to throw something, the player could actually use a tossing motion instead of using the upward movement trend so prevalent in the demo game already.

Regardless of that point, though, as to be expected, Square Enix delivers another worthy addition to the Final Fantasy series that sports unique and gorgeous character models (that for some reason remind me of those found in Kingdom Hearts) and environments (at least the town was pretty intricately detailed since that was the only area I was able to explore). Not only do the graphics push the Wii to its limits, but Square Enix introduces you to another set of unforgettable personalities as well as an intriguing storyline that draws you in at the start of the game.

I don’t normally play RPGs on the Wii, but I’m definitely ready to change my current gaming habits when The Crystal Bearers is finally released.

Read [GameSpot] Read [Gamertell: E3 2009] Site [Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers]

Full Story » | Written by Janine Dong for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Gaming News, Exclusives, Originals, Features, Previews, Consoles, Wii, Genres, 3D, Adventure, Role-Playing, Conventions, E3 2009-06-07T14:24:22+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/e3-2009-hands-on-with-wii-sports-resort/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/e3-2009-hands-on-with-wii-sports-resort/ Section: Gaming News, Originals, Features, Opinions, Previews, Consoles, Wii, Conventions, E3



Nintendo’s booth was a happening place at this year’s E3 (well, it usually is) with tons of showgoers looking to get their hands on games like New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Wii Fit Plus, Sin and Punishment 2, Zelda: Spirit Tracks and the big N’s awesome sequel to Wii pack-in, Wii Sports.

Wii Sports Resort was truly like the original game on steroids, using WiiMotionPlus, the new games are infinitely more accurate and skill-based, without sacrificing that essential Wii Sports accessibility.

I was able to try out three of the games: Archery, Basketball and Sword fighting. Archery was incredibly fun. you actually aim with the Wii-mote and pull back on the nunchuck to nock your arrow. It’s incredibly immersive and intuitive and I felt like an archery pro after loosing a few rounds. Basketball was tougher to master, requiring picture-perfect rhythm but I could easily see myself losing a few hours in the interface.

The most explosively fun new game was definitely the sword fighting. You do need technique. You block and look for openings in your opponent’s defense but, my lord, is it ever fun to swing your WiiMote like a sword.

There will be 12 activities in total (ten are all new) when the game ships on July 26, 2009. If my time with the game is any indication, this will be one to sign up for. I can only imagine having a few awesome summer barbecues extended well into the night with inebriated sword fighting matches.

Read [San Francisco Gate]

Full Story » | Written by Danielle Riendeau for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Gaming News, Originals, Features, Opinions, Previews, Consoles, Wii, Conventions, E3 2009-06-06T20:44:03+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/e3-2009-hands-on-with-new-super-mario-bros.-wii/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/e3-2009-hands-on-with-new-super-mario-bros.-wii/ Section: Gaming News, Originals, Features, Previews, Consoles, Wii, Genres, 2D, Conventions, E3



By far and away, the game I had the most fun with at this year’s E3 was Nintendo’s surprise sidescroller, New Super Mario Bros. Wii. It’s an insanely fun multiplayer co-op experience that really combines old school Mario sensibilities with an almost Four Swords-ish approach to multiplayer.

After waiting in a modest line (intelligently, Nintendo had a dozen machines running the game, keeping lines nice and short), I was handed a sideways WiiMote and jumped right into a wacky underground world straight out of Super Mario World. The action was pure New Super Mario Bros..

You’re running and jumping, bopping koopas and goombas, etc. but with an awesome multiplayer twist. You are running around the stages with four little dudes: Mario, Luigi, and two different colors of Toad characters. You can jump on each other’s heads (gaining higher ground), bump into one another and save each other post-death (felled players come back in little bubbles, which surviving players can pop).

The controls are pure, sweet Mario. You can spin jump and butt stomp (just as in NSMB), but otherwise its straight-outta-1991 2D platforming. My only qualm was the brief stop in the action when another player dies which messed me up mid-jump a few times. Other than that, everything works perfectly with ultra-responsive hopping and bopping.

There were ten stages on offer in the E3 2009 demo offering impressive variety. I saw lava, giant cogs, clouds and trippy pipe-plowing goodness of all kinds. My Nintendo booth guide assured me that the finished game will have more than 80 stages, a number that compares favorably to the DS NSMB.

Needless to say, I’m really looking forward to this one (which is releasing Holiday 2009). I kept creeping back to Nintendo’s booth all E3 long, just to snatch a few extra levels. It’s that good. Now if only I could get that damned song out of my head!

Read [E3 Nintendo]

Full Story » | Written by Danielle Riendeau for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Gaming News, Originals, Features, Previews, Consoles, Wii, Genres, 2D, Conventions, E3 2009-06-06T19:30:05+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/e3-2009-hands-on-with-the-conduit-multiplayer/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/e3-2009-hands-on-with-the-conduit-multiplayer/ Section: Gaming News, Originals, Features, Previews, Consoles, Wii, Ads & Media, Genres, FPS, Conventions, E3



One of the coolest games at E3 this year was The Conduit, a Wii first-person shooter that could easily pass as a first-gen Xbox 360 title. I was able to get my little paws on the multiplayer mode (which was showing in a very cool sci-fi looking booth tucked right next to Bethesda’s giant tent-thing). The bottom line: This game is looking hot. It’s fast, fun, and an ultra-smooth multiplayer experience.

We tried out two modes: ASE football (where players all scramble to find and hold the ASE orb for as long as possible in order to score major points) and the more traditional deathmatch mode.

The controls were silky-smooth and quick, a must for this type of gameplay. You aim and shoot with the WiiMote and move and chuck grenades with the nunchuck. Switching weapons is as easy as hitting the D-pad, and since all shooting and grenade-hurling is gestural, the experience is truly immersive. Another cool thing about the control scheme is that everything is very adjustable. When I was having an issue with the super-loose default setting, I was quickly able to re-adjust from an in-game menu screen.

This really is a Halo-esque multiplayer shooter working perfectly on Wii, something that doesn’t even seem possible, given the system’s anemic online offerings.

While I was sitting there fragging fools (and honestly, getting my butt whupped as well), someone came over and left a “Best of E3” award on one of the booth’s monitors. Sounds about right to me.

Read [Go Nintendo]

Full Story » | Written by Danielle Riendeau for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Gaming News, Originals, Features, Previews, Consoles, Wii, Ads & Media, Genres, FPS, Conventions, E3 2009-06-06T18:11:34+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/e3-2009-bayonetta-hands-on-impressions-1/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/e3-2009-bayonetta-hands-on-impressions-1/ Section: Gaming News, Exclusives, Originals, Features, Previews, Consoles, GameCube, PS3, Xbox-360, Genres, 3D, Action, Adventure, Conventions, E3



I first caught a glimpse of Bayonetta at the 2008 Tokyo Game Show so when I found out that Sega would be debuting a playable demo of this game, I made sure I held my place in line. The demo offered two different stages: A tutorial (easy mode) and actual levels (normal mode).

Bayonetta is a third-person action adventure game set in a fully 3D environment with game play that closely resembles Capcom’s Devil May Cry. It includes an intact combo system as well as a scoring meter that tallies everything at the end of the level and awards the player with different trophies representative of skill level displayed. Bayonetta was being demoed on the Xbox 360 and is scheduled for a multi-platform release in late 2009 (Xbox 360, Playstation 3). From the early looks of this game and the demo, it looks like the latter part of 2009 is heating up to be be one extremely sexy adrenaline rush.

The main protagonist is a tantalizing young woman named Bayonetta. Not only is she a witch but she has a fashion sense to literally die for. Her skintight bodysuit isn’t just black because that’s her favorite color. It’s black because it consists completely of her own ebony hair. She also sports some pretty death-defying stiletto boots whose heels are the actual barrels of handguns. These avant garde fashion stylings aren’t just for show though.

Throughout the game, Bayonetta will always retain the use of her default weapons: the pair of handguns, a katana, and her magical attacks she performs with the assistance of her Rapunzel-esque hair. As players progress through the game mincing enemies left and right, they will occasionally drop weapons which Bayonetta is able to pick up and use herself.

There are two sets of enemy weapons available to her and can be instantly switched between during game play. Apparently, the first set are primary secondary weapons featuring long arms such as spears and axes while the other are secondary weapons such as the trumpet which is used liked a bazooka. The demo only featured only a limited number of enemy weapons for usage but each of these came with a limited move set and a signature special attack. An example of a special attack utilizing an enemy weapon is when the spear is actively in use and the correct command is properly input, Bayonetta will perform an attack that will remind most people of a stripper lithely dancing around a stripper pole. However, enemy weapons are temporary and once its gauge depletes, it will disappear from her inventory. Performing a special attack with any enemy weapon exacerbates this gauge and halves its life expectancy.

Quite contrary to these types of games, players will be able to input a string of button combinations to perform long-winded combos on enemies. Bayonetta is also able to perform double-jumps and when done, lavishly colored butterfly wings sprout from her back that enable her reach higher areas as well as perform mid-air combos. During a certain time called ‘with-mode’, Bayonetta will be able to walk on walls and ceilings, making combat even more hectic and diversified. There’s also a mode called ‘witch time’ which is triggered during combat when the player is able to successfully dodge an enemy attack just before it hits her. During ‘witch time’ the screen changes colors and all actions except for Bayonetta’s enter into slow motion which allow the player to execute an additional string of combos.



In addition to the health gauge visible at all times in the upper left-hand corner, beneath it is a magical bar that increases the more you strike an enemy entity. Once this gauge becomes full, Bayonetta is able to enlist the help of her hair to perform quick summons known as ‘wicked weave attacks’ at the end of successful combos that include a stiletto-ed foot coming from the sky to stomp on the afflicted enemy. Another interesting aspect of combat is called the ‘torture attack’. This is a finishing attack that comes in all sorts and sizes and can only be done when the magical bar is maxed. An example of a torture move is when an enemy becomes encased in an iron maiden and is brutally and mercilessly ripped to shreds by our lovely little vixen.

Apparently, torture moves aren’t that easily performed and I was told that for demo purposes only, onscreen hints signaled you when to input the right combination of buttons in order to achieve the affect. Players are able to correctly determine when to push the dodge button because there will be indicators that appear over enemies that begin to flash red dependent upon the ensuing attack.



There was one die-hard boss that made an a couple of appearances at several points in this game. It was a massive statue-esque being that sported a look to parallel the fashion sense of a Greek statue complete with unruly yet silken beard, toga, and some sort of heavenly halo. It was easy enough to beat and dodge thanks to the onscreen warnings and once it was weakened, there was an indicator that told the player to input a button set which resulted in a massive summon called a ‘climax attack’. Bayonetta’s hair flows from her body (leaving her quite naked) and into a portal from which a grand horned dragon monster head comes forth to take the boss into its jaws and fling it back and forth like a puppy’s chew toy.

During the final battle with this boss, Bayonetta’s summoned beast finally engulfed the creature whole leaving not a speck in site. During these calamitous summon attacks, players are able to rack up more hits by rapidly pressing an indicated button to achieve the most amount of damage points.



Bayonetta will also be able to invoke something called “Beast Within” and this is where she “calls upon primal forces, transforming into various beasts (Panthers, etc.) according to the situation.” Unfortunately, this wasn’t present in the demo.

Site [Bayonetta] Photo Gallery [Gamertell]

Full Story » | Written by Janine Dong for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Gaming News, Exclusives, Originals, Features, Previews, Consoles, GameCube, PS3, Xbox-360, Genres, 3D, Action, Adventure, Conventions, E3 2009-06-06T15:16:05+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/gamertell-preview-class-of-heroes-for-psp/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/gamertell-preview-class-of-heroes-for-psp/ Section: Exclusives, Originals, Features, Previews, Handhelds, PSP, Game-Companies, Developers, Publishers, Genres, 2D, Role-Playing



Gamertell recently received the opportunity to take part in early registration at Class of Heroes’ Particus Academy, and eagerly dove back into the school experience. Atlus’ forthcoming PSP dungeon crawler takes place in a school setting, where players go through classes and take assignments exploring a labyrinth as adventurer training.

As I began my new school career, I decided to chronicle my first impressions of life at Particus Academy.

Class of Heroes starts with players being inducted into Particus Academy. You meet your homeroom teacher, Ms. Yuno, and listen to Principal Feinman’s brief welcome announcement. After that, you are sent to the Faculty Office to register your students.

Upon arriving at the Faculty Office, I saw that a nice selection of 10 premade students, four with advanced majors, were available to choose from. As a bonus, each of them were level two characters and came with 100 gold in pocket money.

However, when a game touts having 500 character combinations and lets you have 100 characters waiting in the wings, you don’t want to go with premade. I wanted to make my own! So, I decided to begin with a neutral, human female named Jenni. To keep things from getting confusing, I’ll refer to her as CoH Jenni.



Part of the creation process is deciding on a major for the character. I decided I’d go with a Ranger major. Stick her in the back row as an attacker. Once the Major screen came up, I saw that the game wanted me to divide eight additional bonus points to CoH Jenni’s six stats. I dumped them all into Strength, vitality, agility and luck, and pressed X.

Nothing happened. No majors lit up, and an annoying beep repeatedly chastised me.

I cancelled, and re-entered the major menu. “Something must be wrong with the game.” I thought to myself, as the chastizing beep returned.

It was then that I looked to the instruction book.

I then learned that Class of Heroes is one of those somewhat complicated games that requires you to read the instructions.

It turns out that each major has requirements to pick it. The Ranger major needed 12 strength, 10 vitality, 10 agility and 12 luck, as well as a neutral or evil alignment. There was no way CoH Jenni could become a Ranger with her starting stats and bonus points. I then decided to make her into a Devout, an attacker and white magic user.

I then realized that, during character creation, the “Choosing a Major That’s Right For You” and “Fundamentals of Affinity” sections of the instruction manual are required reading.

There are 10 different races in Class of Heroes, and they don’t all initially get along. As you attend classes or dungeon crawl together, the races can learn to get along, but initially there are racial conflicts. If everyone’s affinity is high and gets along, they’ll be stronger and better fighters. If it’s low, their abilities drop. For example, the Erdgeist earth spirit race gets along with everyone. On the other hand, the Diablos demon race only gets along with Erdgeists. Diablos don’t even get along well with other Diablos!

I wanted a wide variety of races in my party. Since CoH Jenni was a human, that meant that she’d get along well with Humans, Erdgeists, Halflings, Sprites, Felpiers and Celestians. I definitely wanted an Erdgeist monk in my party sometime in the future, as well as a Felpier kunoichi and a Celestian spell caster, so I immediately signed them up. So Yasu the good Erdgeist cleric, Reira the good Celestian wizard and Nana the evil Felpier thief joined the party. Even though Humans don’t get along with the Drakes, I wanted a dragon man in my party. Drakes get along with everyone except Diabolos, Humans and Sprites, so I figured it’d be fine if Takumi the neutral Drake warrior joined the group. To round things out, I decided that Ren the good Sprite wizard would also join the group.

I then (foolishly) thought it would be a good time to explore the Novice’s Road labyrinth area. It didn’t go well, to say the least. a group of about nine batsy monsters killed CoH Jenni. I didn’t know they were batsy monsters initially. When I first encountered them, they showed up as black shadowy figures. It wasn’t until two rounds later that they revealed themselves. My front row attackers Jenni, Takumi and Nana were the only ones who could perform melee attacks, since all characters come equipped with short range weapons. Yasu sat uselessly, defending, in the back row while Reira and Ren contributed fire spells to the battle.

Upon returning to the Infirmary, I found that it would cost too much money to revive CoH Jenni at the moment. So, I left her to rot and created another Jenni character (a thief this time) to replace her.



At this point, I realized the best thing to do was to go to the Library and take some classes/quests. Luckily, the first few one star assignments are designed to teach you about the different areas in Class of Heroes, how race affinity works, useful information concerning magic and skills and how to survive labyrinth exploration.

The most useful of the introductory classes was undoubtedly the Alchemy classes. In the Campus Store, weapons, armor, accessories, etc can get very expensive. Since most of the monsters I’d been facing in the novice dungeon only dropped one or two gold after being defeated, there’s no way I’d be able to afford 800 slingshots and 600 slingshot stones for my backrow characters, or swords to replace my front row fighters’ daggers. It turns out that, after a battle, monsters can drop materials or junk. If you have a cleric appraise these items (or pay the Campus Store clerk to), you may end up gathering the materials necessary to make the same weapons. So far, making the cheap weapons and armor usually costs about 20 gold, along with the items. It’s a great deal and encourages you to keep dungeon crawling.

So far, I’ve learned that Class of Heroes is the kind of game where you can’t just dive into character creating and dungeon crawling. You have to be smart about things. Read the instruction manual, take in-game classes, make quick initial trips into labyrinths, save often and pay close attention to your characters. I’ve gotten to the point where I can actually take a party into a labyrinth for a few battles without any characters dying, and even earned enough money to resurrect the devout CoH Jenni character.

Be sure to check back next week, when Gamertell reviews Class of Heroes!

Site [Class of Heroes]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Exclusives, Originals, Features, Previews, Handhelds, PSP, Game-Companies, Developers, Publishers, Genres, 2D, Role-Playing 2009-06-03T12:20:05+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/e3-2009-more-details-about-mass-effect-2/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/e3-2009-more-details-about-mass-effect-2/ Section: Gaming News, Features, Previews, Consoles, Xbox-360, Game-Companies, Developers, Publishers, Genres, 3D, Action, Adventure, Shooter, Role-Playing, Conventions, E3



During E3, BioWare ended up bringing out more details in this highly-anticipated sequel. It’ll take place sometime after the original game, obviously. Many of the surviving characters from the original are also returning. How this will be handled for characters that have their deaths are based more off of your choices rather than defined scripting will be hard to say but either way. Yes, you’re still playing Shepard. He’s not dead yet. Though he might be after this game.

BioWare officials revealed that the mission he’s sent on in this game will essentially be a suicide mission for Shepard. But for those of us who are used to thinks like 24, the hero even has to survive a suicide mission somehow. Due to the fact that it’s supposed to be a suicide mission, the game’s pitcher said that it is going to be an emotional game. It’s going to be even more thoroughly grounded than the original was and that’ll be a feat in itself.

Yes, there are those that think Shepard is dead as the new trailer (included below) reveals with an Asarii saying she thought Shepard was dead. The reasoning on why really isn’t brought up. Then again, some secrets have to be kept to pull in the audience. Part of the game, much like the first game, will be spent recruiting. The enemy isn’t really revealed. They say it’s not Geth but they show Geth-like zombies going around. It’s mysterious. It really pulls you in and makes you want to play.

They also said that they’d be working on the gameplay in terms of exploration and combat.

Mass Effect is one of those games that really sets itself up well for a sequel. However, it’s also one of those games that really sets itself up for defeat because it’s hard to follow up the quality of a game like that. Then there was that teaser trailer with a Geth trooper wearing Captain Shepard’s uniform while announcing Shepard is dead. Different, yes. Interesting also puts it as a complete understatement.

From what we can see and what was pitched, it seems like something that would be well worth the time to develop it and the time it would take to play. We’ll be finding out sometime in early 2010 when the game is released for Xbox 360, PC and PS3. Prove us right about the quality, BioWare.

Site [Mass Effect 2]  Read [Gamertell: E3 2009]

Full Story » | Written by Jonathan Gronli for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Gaming News, Features, Previews, Consoles, Xbox-360, Game-Companies, Developers, Publishers, Genres, 3D, Action, Adventure, Shooter, Role-Playing, Conventions, E3 2009-06-03T01:38:51+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/e3-2009-more-rockin-brutal-legend-details/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/e3-2009-more-rockin-brutal-legend-details/ Section: Gaming News, Features, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Xbox-360, Genres, 3D, Action, Adventure, Role-Playing, Conventions, E3



If you like RPGs and heavy metal, Brutal Legend from Double Fine and EA seems like it would be the game for you. A preview trailer and some information was given at E3 for this humorous game that tries to prove that metal is not only gameworthy but is also not a young man’s game anymore.

Probably the youngest person in the cast for the game is Jack Black, actor, musician and goofball extraordinaire. Premise for the game is that a roadie is pretty much sucked into a fantasy realm that is ruled by metal. For some reason, this lush metal world is in danger and it is up to the roadie and a group of metal gods to save this world. So, to quote one of the lines from trailer, “Time for a mosh pit.”

So you’re probably wondering whether or not I was exaggerating when I said a group of metal gods. Judge for yourself. The rest of the main characters that aren’t villains are voiced by some of heavy metal’s leading players. It features the voices of Rob Halford of Judas Priest, Lemmy Kilmeister of Motorhead, Lita Ford and Ozzy Osbourne. Just that alone would give the game credibility in the metal world.

One of the members of the development that pitched the game to the waiting public spoke about how when he was 14 years old all the stars of the game were on the list of people he wanted to meet. He joked that the reason why he helped make the game was to meet the people on that list.

So we know that parts of the metal pantheon are there. We also know that there’s going to be a lot of humor behind it. From what they’ve shown it’s looks pretty good in a cartoony way. Now we just need to worry about whether or not it’s playable. We’ll be finding out as soon as the game is sent off to the public for the Xbox 360 and PS3 on October 13, 2009, in the United States and October 16, 2009, in Europe.

Hopefully you enjoy the trailer as much as we do.

Site [Brutal Legend]

Full Story » | Written by Jonathan Gronli for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Gaming News, Features, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Xbox-360, Genres, 3D, Action, Adventure, Role-Playing, Conventions, E3 2009-06-02T22:26:37+00:00 http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/e3-2009-more-about-star-wars-the-old-republic/ http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/e3-2009-more-about-star-wars-the-old-republic/ Section: Gaming News, Features, Previews, PCs, Windows, Game-Companies, Developers, Publishers, Genres, 3D, Action, Adventure, MMO, Role-Playing, Conventions, E3



Last E3 (2008) we reported that the rumors for a new Star Wars MMO were finally confirmed. This E3 (2009), convention goers were treated to a lovely surprise consisting actual details on the upcoming MMO (release date yet to be announced) that’s being developed by BioWare titled Star Wars: The Old Republic.

BioWare was the company behind Neverwinter Nights, a great D&D-based game. It was also behind the better half of the Knights of the Old Republic story for Star Wars. The company has a history of trying to make deep games that make you care about the universe of the game as well as the characters.

With incredible theatrical flair, they definitely knew how to grab people’s attention without making them wonder what was going to be shown at EA’s press conference. The memorable Star Wars music sounded over the speakers as a group of “Jedi” entered from stage left, stage right and two from within the audience. The two who entered from the audience revealed their faces and let the world know about The Old Republic.

One of the first details that was brought up was how massive the undertaking would be. The game has thousands of spoken roles and a lot of different possibilities to follow through the game. Just in terms of the different classes, it sounds like it’s following the class list for the Star Wars pen-and-paper RPG. However, that isn’t going to be the thing that is really interesting.

Each class apparently has its own storyline. There is a lot that will be going into each aspect of the game and since it’s backed by a better development company it looks to be an incredible and worthwhile endeavor. Then again, people thought the same thing about Star Wars Galaxies, which fell apart on arrival so we’ll have to hold back on judgment until it’s actually released.

One of the biggest things that they revealed though, is the trailer (see below). It is, in a word, beautiful and gives a fairly good feel for how epic they’ll be trying to make the game in terms of look, action and feeling. I, for one, can’t wait to for this to come out.


Site [Star Wars: The Old Republic]

image from Last Shepard Independent Game Reviews

Full Story » | Written by Jonathan Gronli for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

---

]]> Gaming News, Features, Previews, PCs, Windows, Game-Companies, Developers, Publishers, Genres, 3D, Action, Adventure, MMO, Role-Playing, Conventions, E3 2009-06-02T20:29:41+00:00