Team17 and independent studio Roll7 have today announced that the definitive versions of OlliOlli2 and NOT A HERO will be releasing on Xbox One, on the 24th May. Drop in to Olliwood in OlliOlli2: XL Edition and prepare for finger-flippin’ mayhem in this incredible sequel to the cult smash hit OlliOlli! Featuring 5 worlds, 50 Amateur and Pro Levels and an additional 250 challenges, as well as the local multiplayer split screen mode, Combo Rush. Plus in the definitive XL Edition, gamers will be able to play the all new and most requested fan feature: FreeSkate mode. Try new moves, practice manuals and skate to your hearts content across five unique levels!
If anthropomorphic rabbits and a dynamic mix of run-and-gun gameplay and cover-based shootouts are more to your liking then NOT A HERO: SUPER SNAZZY EDITION is just for you.
Especially as this definitive version allows you to play as the purple mayoral candidate, BunnyLord, for the first time ever in 3 brand new exclusive levels!
OlliOlli2: XL Edition will be available to download for Xbox One from the Xbox Store on the 24th May for £9.99 / $14.99 / €12,99 while NOT A HERO: SUPER SNAZZY EDITION will be available for £9.99 / $12.99 / €12,99.
Those wanting to add both the definitive editions to their Xbox One library will be able to take advantage of the BunnyLord Pro Hater Pack featuring both games which will be available for just £14.99 / $20.99 / €19,49.
BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Europe and Slightly Mad Studios are pleased to announce the release of Project CARS Game Of The Year Edition today on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Project CARS is the most authentic, beautiful, intense, and technically-advanced racing game in the sim racing genre: featuring new technology such as built-in support for 12K and Virtual Reality.
Players are now in the starting grid on their race to discover the best racing game of 2015: with all released DLC, adjustments and other content included in one complete sim experience package.
More than 50 cars, four tracks and over 60 community-created liveries have been added since launch: bringing the grand total to 125 cars and 35 locations over 100 layouts. More than 500 features and improvements have also been added based on community feedback. In addition, the Game Of The Year Edition will feature two special and exclusive items to Project CARS: the Nurburgring Combined Nordschieife + GP circuit and two exclusive Pagani vehicles: the Zonda Revolucion and Huayra BC.
First released on the Wii U; Hyrule Warriors: Legends sees Nintendo’s famous Zelda characters mix it up with the Koei Tecmo’s – Dynasty Warriors gameplay style to create something completely new. Can this unexpected team up impress and work on the smaller screen?
Originally released on the Wii U and then ported over to the Nintendo 3DS, Hyrule Warriors: Legends follows a new tale inspired by the Zelda universe where we see Zelda shaken by a nightmare that continues to haunt her. Her attendant Impa, believing it could be a sign of darker times ahead decides to seek out the legendary hero. This is where the story kicks off and you are given fragments of it while playing through the game. It’s a pretty standard narrative for a Zelda title, so there isn’t much I can say about this.
For fans of the Dynasty Warriors series, you should be able to slide right into the gameplay as it’s pretty similar. Legend Mode is where the narrative plays out where each stage or act takes place in an area with several locations to it. The main goal; to reduce enemy forces in the area and make sure your team mates don’t end up fleeing from the battle.
There will also be objectives to complete as the battle rages on. These are split between main and side quests with the former having more importance. In-between scenarios you are mostly tasked with capturing keeps from the enemy. This involves defeating enough of their numbers and then taking down the keep boss. Once this is done, the spawn point will change to blue and your side will take control of the area.
Apart from the main keeps there are also Outposts that continue to spawn soldiers for the side that controls them. Defeating an outpost captain captures that outpost for your forces, however if an allied captain at an outpost is defeated, then the enemy forces will claim that outpost instead.
Sometimes a battle can be pretty hectic and your side can be completely overwhelmed due to the way the enemy forces are moving. This in turn will cause your playable characters or allied forces to lose a considerable amount of health. Injured allies can be aided by coming in to contact with the rescue area surrounding them. Rescuing an injured ally will restore that warrior’s health and in most cases, increase their morale too.
While there is a time limit that affects your score at the end, I never once found myself running out of time and therefore I urge you to go for the side quests also, even though the game makes it sound like you should only do so if you feel brave.
As you progress you will gain access to more characters to use and they all come with their own unique moves and special abilities. Once this option is available to you, you can take this further by customising weapons and increasing their strength. Warriors can be strengthened and further customized at the Bazaar, which offers four markets — the Badge Market, Training Dojo, Apothecary, and the Smithy. Rupees are used to buy upgrades, which are earned in battle by fighting enemies. The Badge Market allows Badges to be crafted using Materials received from battles to strengthen or add new abilities to Warriors. The Training Dojo instantly levels up Warriors in exchange for a determined fee of Rupees. The Apothecary is used to create Mixtures that grants a Warrior one passive ability for the duration of one battle and lastly, the Smithy is used to customize individual Weapons by transferring Skills from one Weapon onto the empty slots of another. However, doing so will sacrifice the source Weapon.
Discovering new items and opening Chests is also present in the game; various chests are scattered across the battlefield, some of which are hidden under boulders or in secret areas. They can contain new items for characters to use, Heart Containers and Pieces of Heart to increase their health, or other various items like Sealed Weapons. Gold Skullutas also make a return and once found, unlocks content in the gallery.
One other thing I adore is the way these iconic characters have been redesigned to fit the Dynasty Warriors style. The most notable clearly being the Princess Zelda as she now looks and plays like a total bad ass, and can totally handle her own.
Adventure Mode is a special mode in which you can acquire Heart Containers and powerful new weapons, power up your warriors, and unlock new Characters. Your goal is to access new areas of the map, modelled after the overworld map in the original Legend of Zelda, by winning battles with various special rules. Where your character can move on the world map depends on the battle rank you have attained in the battles on each map square. Item cards can be used to unlock hidden objects and other secrets on the search screen. You gain item cards by winning battles marked with item card icons, such as the compass or bombs. Item card icons will continue to appear as you win more battles.
The one greatest selling point about Hyrule Warriors: Legends is how all the modes work in conjunction with each other. Apart from characters which are set with the narrative. All rupees, weapons and materials earned can be used across all modes which is great as I don’t have to restart the grind again depending on what I play.
My Fairy Mode is definitely an odd one as here you can nurture and clothe your companion fairies and switch or exchange their various rental skills. Your companion fairies will become stronger as you feed them lots of food and outfit them with fairy clothing. Companion fairies can prove quite helpful in battles due to their unique abilities, so do take advantage of this by collecting food and clothing to strengthen them. Trust me they can come in handy.
Visually the game looks great and is expected for a title on the Nintendo 3DS. I did find it odd that they didn’t make use of the handheld’s 3D function as I believe it could have really added another dimension (no pun intended) to the over the top action.
I enjoyed Hyrule Warriors: Legends quite a lot and glad to have seen this unexpected team up work, so well. There are a huge variety of characters to mess around with and no one feels the same. The narrative surely felt lacklustre, but when you are hacking n slashing away, I doubt that will be the thing you will be focusing on the most. A good variety of game modes and customisation make this a successful entry! Seeing as Zelda has remained pretty stagnant for a long time, it’s refreshing to see Nintendo allow another company to put their own spin on the series and come out with something as cool as this.
2K and Firaxis Games has today announced that the second DLC pack for XCOM 2, Alien Hunters, will be available worldwide on 12th May.
Alien Hunters adds exciting new gameplay content to your campaign, featuring a narrative-driven mission, new weapon and armour types, a new updated Armoury in the Avenger, plus three new “Ruler” aliens to combat.
Alien Hunters will be available on 12th May for £7.99 or as part of the Reinforcement Pack.
In honour of Star Wars Day, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has released the latest LEGO Star Wars : The Force Awakens trailer revealing exclusive new levels exploring adventures set in the time leading up to Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
The LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens New Adventures Trailer delves into untold tales within the Star Wars galaxy all with a LEGO twist, including Han and Chewie’s voyage to capture the ravenous Rathtars, how the mysterious Crimson Corsair foiled the plans of the First Order, secrets behind Lor San Tekka’s journey to the Jakku Village, Poe Dameron’s daring rescue of Admiral Ackbar and more!
LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens will also feature original voice work from key members of the theatrical cast: Daisy Ridley (Rey), John Boyega (Finn), Adam Driver (Kylo Ren), Harrison Ford (Han Solo) and other top stars from the film.
The six New Adventures featured in LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens:
· Rathtar Hunting – Follows Han Solo and Chewbacca’s voyage to capture the ravenous Rathtars.
· Lor San Tekka’s Return – Uncovers secrets behind Lor San Tekka’s journey to the Jakku Village.
· Poe to the Rescue – Details Poe Dameron’s daring rescue mission to save Admiral Ackbar.
· Crimson Corsair– Explores how the notorious Outer Rim pirate, the Crimson Corsair, foiled the plans of the First Order.
· Trouble Over Taul– Follows the events leading up C-3PO’s acquisition of his new red arm.
· Ottegan Assault– Reveals a puzzle piece to how the Resistance and the First Order find Lor San Tekka on Jakku.
Featuring original dialogue from key members of the Star Wars: The Force Awakens theatrical cast, including:
· Adam Driver (Kylo Ren)
· Anthony Daniels (C-3PO)
· Carrie Fisher (Leia Organa)
· Daisy Ridley (Rey)
· Domhall Gleeson (General Hux)
· Gwendoline Christie (Captain Phasma)
· Harrison Ford (Han Solo)
· John Boyega (Finn)
· Lupita Nyong’o (Maz Kanata)
· Max von Sydow (Lor San Tekka)
· Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron)
LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be released on 28th June PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS and Steam (PC).
Phil Tippett & HappyGiant announced the launch of a Kickstarter campaign for HoloGrid: Monster Battle, a new hybrid board game, CCG, and digital augmented reality game, recently named “Best Technology of PAXEast 2016” by http://www.MMOGames.com
“No other tech on the gaming floor combined so many cool, new ideas at once quite like this game. It managed to put together AR, CCG gaming and mobile gaming into a mixture that engages with its personality and depth of play.”, said MMOGames.com “HoloGrid could have easily leaned on its AR tech to make it simply a neat toy, but it has built a very compelling game in the process. It has managed to toe that difficult line between being accessible while also offering a strong level of strategy. In addition, it has a strong base to build on for more variety of cards. If HoloGrid can secure the right attention and make its game affordable, then Happy Giant has possibly caught lightning in a bottle.”
Phil Tippett
Phil Tippett is a 2-time Academy Award winning Visual Effects Supervisor and Director best known for his work on the original Star Wars films, Jurassic Park, Robocop, The Force Awakens, and many more. Tippett also created the “Holo Chess” scene in the original Star Wars, which he recreated for the Force Awakens.
“For years I’ve been making monsters for Directors to play with, and now for the first time, I’m making monsters for YOU to play with,” said Tippett. “We’re excited about the new fields of Augmented and Virtual Reality, and to be working with our friends at HappyGiant to create HoloGrid: Monster Battle.”
HoloGrid: Monster Battle’s gameplay is similar to Collectible Card Games (CCG’s) such as Magic: The Gathering or Hearthstone, but uses physical playing cards to trigger Augmented Reality creatures and a gameboard. Players will be able to play head-to-head, either locally or remotely, and offline, non digital play is possible as well through a physical board that will come with the product. A “Hybrid” Board Game, Collectible Card Game (CCG), and Digital Game in one, it delivers to players a new type of gaming experience.
Creatures battle on your tabletop with AR
HoloGrid: Monster Battle is being built for next gen AR & VR platforms, but will first release for mobile devices, giving players the feeling that the creatures of Phil Tippett are doing battle right in front of them.
“We’re excited to be launching this Kickstarter with Phil Tippett and his studio, and bringing to life a game so many of us have always wanted to play” said Mike Levine, President of HappyGiant. “This is our first step into a new world of AR gaming, and while we are launching it on mobile initially so everyone can play it, our long term vision is to bring it to emerging AR and VR platforms.”
Photogrammetry
Another exciting aspect of the project is the use of Photogrammetry to scan Tippett’s real life physical monsters into 3D digital assets for the game, giving them a level of detail and character unlike any other.
“We’d been doing experiments with Photogrammetry, but more on museum level artifacts,” said Levine. “At the same time we began exploring doing projects with Tippett, we had the idea, ‘What if we tried this on some creatures?’ The results blew us away. That’s really where this idea was born.” “And it’s the exact same technique we used on The Force Awakens,” added Tippett.
Turtle Beach has announced the Turtle Beach Elite Pro Tournament Gaming Headset, Elite Pro Tactical Audio Controller (T.A.C.) and Elite Pro accessories designed for competitive gamers, which establishes a new standard for eSports gaming audio performance and comfort. Turtle Beach’s “Elite” series products represent the highest level in audio and build quality, and the all-new Elite Pro Headset, T.A.C. and Elite Pro accessories are the Company’s all-new line of competitive gaming audio gear created to meet the demands of today’s professional and aspiring pro teams and players.
The Elite Pro Headset’s journey began in 2013. Seeing the consistent growth and popularity of eSports, Turtle Beach launched a comprehensive scientific research program to deeply examine the needs of professional and hardcore gamers as it pertained to game audio, communicating with teammates, and overall comfort. The result is the all-new Elite Pro Tournament Gaming Headset – a ground-up redesign of the competitive gaming headset that brings to market multiple first-and-only innovations in the core mechanics of headset design, weight and fit. Not only does the Elite Pro Headset provide Turtle Beach’s best-in-class game audio and chat performance, but also delivers groundbreaking comfort-driven technologies, including the ComforTec Fit System with multiple adjustment points for a truly personalized headset fit and feel, Aerofit Ear Cushions that stay cool in the heat of battle, and Turtle Beach’s all-new patented ProSpecs Glasses Relief System that finally makes wearing a gaming headset comfortable for players who wear glasses.
Additionally, the Elite Pro T.A.C. is the most powerful audio controller ever designed for eSports, combining cutting-edge audio technology like DTS Headphone:X 7.1 Surround Sound and Superhuman Hearing™ with incredibly powerful chat and microphone tuning tools, giving eSports athletes everything they need to win. The Elite Pro Headset, T.A.C. and accessories are planned to launch globally this summer, and are currently available for pre-order starting today at participating retail outlets worldwide.
“Part of Turtle Beach’s core DNA is driving innovation that benefits gamers. Given that we invented the console gaming headset space many years ago, we felt it was only natural for us to reinvent the gaming headset for the current era of eSports to meet the expectations of today’s competitive gamers,” said Juergen Stark, CEO, Turtle Beach Corporation.
Stark continued, “There are plenty of great gaming headsets and audio gear out there, but we saw the need to drive fundamental innovation to make it better for eSports.
We spent the past three years developing the Elite Pro Headset, T.A.C. and accessories, working with industry experts and eSports aficionados to ensure we thought of everything. And once we felt like we had it right, we spent months refining every detail to make it perfect. The fact that OpTic Gaming – one of the best pro gaming organizations in the world – chose to partner with us because of the Elite Pro just goes to show this is another game-changing line of products from #TeamTurtleBeach that brings true innovation to the market.”
Fully supporting this step-change in competitive gaming audio accessories, OpTic Gaming – one of the most prolific eSports organizations in the world – selected Turtle Beach and the all-new Elite Pro line as their official gaming audio gear of choice. Through this new partnership, OpTic’s Championship Call of Duty, Halo and Counter Strike: Global Offensive teams will begin using the Elite Pro Headset, T.A.C. and other accessories as they continue to dominate the competitive gaming circuit.
OpTic Gaming’s first event using the new Elite Pro setup will be as the defending Call of Duty champions at this year’s eSports World Convention which takes place later this week, May 6th-8th, 2016 in Paris, France.
Hector Rodrigues, Team Manager for OpTic Gaming commented, “Everybody knows Turtle Beach. They’ve been around forever and have some great gaming headsets, so they definitely piqued our curiosity when they told us they were working on a top-secret eSports headset we’d be interested in seeing. So we invited Turtle Beach to the OpTic Gaming house here in Chicago to see what they had in store for us, and the moment they brought out the Elite Pro Headset, T.A.C. and other gear we knew simply by looking at everything that this was a vast departure from what we were expecting. The more we explored and played with the Elite Pro Headset’s features – like the cooling ear cushions, the adjustment you can make to the ear-cups for players who wear glasses, or how you can adjust the overall fit on your head – the more we knew it was revolutionary, and something that the OpTic teams would absolutely want to use. Turtle Beach brought their A-game with the Elite Pro, no questions asked.”
Turtle Beach’s all-new Elite Pro line defines the future of eSports gaming audio equipment, delivering best-in-class audio performance for game sound and team chat, plus innovative comfort-driven technologies to ensure players stay comfortable and cool under fire.
With London Spy released this week on DVD, we have some Q&A’s with stars Ben Wisham and Jim Broadbent.
LONDON SPY begins with a chance romance between two people from two very different walks of life; one from the high-powered ranks of investment banking and the other from a world of clubbing and youthful excess. Their love story quickly unravels, however, when the reclusive banker disappears under suspicious circumstances, exposing his real identity as a spy and forcing his lover down a dark path in order to reveal the truth.
A: Danny’s the central character and we follow him, he falls in love at the beginning of the story with a man called Alex and they have a very intense, deep connection.
Q: How does that relationship contribute to the plot of the story?
The relationship mysteriously ends abruptly and Danny doesn’t really understand why. And anyway it transpires that Alex has been murdered and Danny discovers his body in an attic in Alex’s flat. And from there the story follows Danny’s journey to try and understand what happened to his lover.
Q: What’s the importance of character in London Spy?
A: It’s very anchored in character and I’m amazed by how well Tom has written every single character who features, there are many characters that Danny encounters along this journey. And it’s also very unique and exciting I think because it happens so much in one character’s head. It’s a very subjective story, and all the more exciting for that I think.
Q: Is Danny aware of the situation he’s in or who Alex really was?
A: Danny doesn’t know he’s in a spy story, he doesn’t know he’s in love with a spy, he doesn’t understand the world of spying, he’s in a world that’s quite alien to him, the rules of which he does not understand at all. I also think though that Danny has a few surprises up his sleeve. He’s a complicated person and there are parts of him that are revealed only slowly over the course of the five hours. So it’s all part of the world that this series creates where you’re not certain quite of everything.
Q: Can you talk about the friendship between Danny and Scottie?
A: Danny and Scottie have been friends for a very long time and in a way it’s the central relationship of the series and that’s another thing I really love about this series is that it features this friendship between two gay men, one who’s in his sixties and one who’s in his twenties, so two very different generations in terms of attitudes towards sexuality.
Q: Do you think there are any other underlying feelings between Danny and Scottie besides friendship?
A: There are unspoken or unexplored feelings probably from Scottie towards Danny, but over the course of the story we realise that Danny really does in his own way reciprocate those feelings. There’s great love and tenderness towards Scottie, who is a wonderful, wise, humane person with a sort of core of sadness in him I suppose.
Q: What did you think of the script when you first read it?
A: It felt incredibly fresh and I didn’t know what on earth was going to happen next or what kind of a story I was in. It felt like anything could happen.
Q: What made the story stand out to you?
A: I think it’s a fascinating story, a fascinating series because although I think it is a thriller, it doesn’t really conform exactly to what you expect a thriller to do. It sort of has its own version of that genre.
Q: What have you liked most about working on London Spy?
It’s been wonderful to work on a really fantastic piece of writing, of new writing, that’s not based on anything else, which is contemporary and challenging.
Q: How has it been working with Jim Broadbent?
A: Jim is an incredible actor and it’s impossible to say how he does what he does.
Q: What do you think it is about his acting style that makes him so incredible?
A: He’s got an incredible range as an actor so he can inhabit vastly different people very lightly, very easily as you say with almost no effort, no force. It’s amazing.
Q: What it’s been like working with director Jakob Verbruggen? What has he brought to London Spy?
A: It’s also been really wonderful to work with Jakob Verbruggen, who is as much a part of the series as Tom Rob Smith the writer. The vision that Jakob has brought to it, the visual style, and the kind of energy I think that he’s brought, I think is a defining quality of the series.
Q: What kind of experience do you hope the audience will have when watching the series?
A: I really hope that it’s as exciting and moving and layered an experience as I’ve found it to be to read.
Q: What aspect of the series will have a powerful impact on the audience?
A: I think that there’s something powerful about watching a character go to its sort of limits of an experience, to get dragged over the coals, to plunge into something very dark and painful and come through that experience. I think that’s really powerful for an audience to watch.
Jim Broadbent
Q: What does the story of London Spy focus on?
The central character is Danny who falls in love with a young man and this is clearly the love of his life. And quite early on this young man dies under mysterious circumstances and the arc of the five-part series is the implications and ramifications of that on Danny’s life.
Q: What makes Danny’s story unique?
What’s exciting is the whole story is such a strong story and it’s an unusual story and the fact that the central characters are gay is sort of peripheral to the arc of the thriller. There’s a great sort of ethical idea and dilemma at the heart of the story which makes it gripping and totally original.
Q: Can you tell us more about the character you play?
I play Scottie who’s an old friend of Danny’s and Scottie has had some experience in the secret services and he is able to help Danny in his quest to sort out the after effects of this murder.
Q: What role does Scottie play in Danny’s life?
Initially he’s advising or concerned about Danny falling head over heels in love with this guy and he wants to check him out and see that he’s not going to be a bad egg in terms of Danny’s life and so a meeting is arranged and Alex passes Scottie’s test as it were.
Q: How does Scottie help Danny after Alex dies?
When Alex disappears and is found to have died, Danny comes to Scottie for advice and help and Scottie agrees reluctantly or positively and gets engaged with the ongoing narrative.
Q: What did you think of the script when you first read it?
Getting the script was a treat, I knew Tom Rob Smith’s writing anywhere, I’d read his three Russian spy novels or secret service-KGB novels before, long before the script came my way so I knew I was in for a good thriller really and it’s absolutely proved true. It’s a really good read so I’d leapt through the five episodes very quickly and I always love a good strong thriller narrative myself anyway, so that was great to be part of that.
Q: How was it working with Ben Whishaw?
Ben’s a wonderful actor and I’m completely in awe of the ease and the subtlety and the reality that Ben brings to his characters, it’s really brilliant.
Q: How was Jakob Verbruggen as a director?
Jakob is a very engaging and engaged director who is very communicative and positive. And he’s clearly got a great relationship with the director of photography, Laurie, and they have a good, positive approach which infects the whole production.
Q: How do you think audiences will react to the series?
It’s a very provocative series, there will be lots of questions asked that people will be fascinated by and there will be a lot of discussion I think after the series and it will be a gripping and engaging series anyway. All the time people will want to know what’s happened and what’s going to happen and why it’s happened and I think in an entirely original way it is going to engage the audience incredibly.
LONDON SPY COMES TO DVD FROM 2ND MAY 2016 COURTESY OF UNIVERSAL PICTURES (UK)
You’re never too old to pimp your ride, Coffin Dodgers is a darkly comedic kart racer which has launched on PlayStation 4 for £9.49, $11.99, €11.99.
Milky Tea Studios and Wales Interactive are also delighted to announce that PlayStation Plus members will receive a 10% discount to celebrate the launch of Coffin Dodgers!
Coffin Dodgers sees life in the slow lane become a fast and furious race for your soul! Take on the role of one of seven quirky retirement village residents, each racing on their very own pimped-up mobility scooters, armed with a variety of upgradable homemade weapons and gadgets to take on anything the Grim Reaper and his army of zombies throw at them.
With a 2-4 local multiplayer mode you can actively battle and knock your friends from their mobility scooters, get tangled up in epic crashes and cause mayhem! What’s more, experience the 3D open-world “Crazy Granddad” mode where you race against the clock in the entire Sunny Pines district.
Coffin Dodgers is coming to Xbox One on the 6th May.
The “Road Rash” style player-to-player combat features wacky weapons and collectable destructive power-ups to stop your mates in their tracks. Watch your frail backs though as you’re never too far away from an EMP powered defibrillator!
Game Features
“Road Rash” style player-to-player combat with wacky weapons and geriatric gadgets.
Character ragdoll physics!
Upgradable mobility scooters with modifications to suit your driving style.
Select from 7 old, quirky but full of life retirement village residents.
Unlock and play as the Grim Reaper himself!
Game Modes
Invite your friends to the 2-4 Split-Screen Multiplayer Mode!
Battle your way through a Single-Player Story Mode with races and challenges set around the beautifully crafted Sunny Pines retirement village.
Challenge yourself with the 3D open world “Crazy Granddad” Mode.
Carmageddon: Max Damage will be released on July 8th 2016 (and July 5th in the US) on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, Stainless Games and Sold Out Sales & Marketing announced today.
The latest instalment of the popular cult racing series will give players an adrenaline shot of pure vehicular carnage and power-up fuelled destruction, with a side order of pedestrian pummelling. Bystanders had better run for their lives as the crazed collection of speed freaks go head to head competing in a range of high-octane events. With insane PowerUps, surreal environments and a variety of ways to win, it all adds up to endless hours of violent and hilarious fun.
Carmageddon: Max Damage_20160413143747
The console release date had previously been pencilled for 3rdJune. The new date is July 8th, (July 5th in the US), which allows the development team extra time to give the game a final polish before delivery and ensure it’s the best it can be for a new audience of console gamers.
Sold Out also announced their pre-order offer for the boxed retail edition of Carmageddon: Max Damage. Customers who pre-order the game will receive the following bonus items:
· Two extra player cars: The “Tez Eagle” and the “Iron Hawk”.
· Four skins: Two additional paint schemes for each of the cars.
· Digital comic: An exclusive digital download for pre-order customers, entitled, “Where Eagles Die”.
Carmageddon: Max Damage_20160413143747
Max Damage, homicidal star of the Carmageddon series and driver of the Eagle R, had the final word: “Hang on to yer helmets people… I’m comin’ to getcha!”
The third and final episode off Telltale’s The Walking Dead: Michonne has finally released, bringing this miniseries to an end. Titled ‘What we Deserve’ , this finale looks to wrap up this spin-off story focusing on the machete wielding badass character Michonne in a big way. But can it rescue a series that for me so far has been disappointing and far too formulaic?
Sadly the first moments with Episode 3 highlighted so much that has annoyed me about this mini series as a ‘Previously on’ montage stuttered around reminding me of the big choices I had made along the way. As the clips took a few seconds to load the correct scene for my various decisions it failed to bring me back into the story in a way that made me look forward to seeing how the story would end but instead highlighted the issues that have plagued my time with it. I have simply just not connected with the Michonne character at all, or any of the other characters in the story so has left the experience all too flat to enjoy.
The episode opens with yet another opportunity to give Michonne a light hearted moment during a flashback to two weeks before the events in episode 1. Conversation choices for the player allow you to steer Michonne’s responses to Oak, which can either see Michonne being friendly or stern and distant. It was a nice moment to jump into the final part of the series and how you choose to respond will no doubt come from how you will Michonne would answer. It all feels a little forced though to try and give the machete wielding Walker killing bad ass Michonne some level of humanity and compassion when talking to the people around her.
Soon the story brings Michonne back to the situation at hand, still reeling from the attack of Randall which has led to a stand off and threat of retaliation from his sister Norma, and the theme of consequences that is threaded throughout the story finally comes to the surface as you decide how to try and find a solution. Just as Episode 2 was a baffling short episode as just 50 minutes long, “What We deserve” just about hits the one hour mark, and with achievements popping every few minutes with doing very little other than making some conversation choices not interacting with scenes enough to move them forward, the feeling that I was simply along for the ride instead of shaping the story sucked the last hope of this episode redeeming itself.
The very simple formula of The Walking Dead games has really been stretched too far now and Michonne suffers from the lack of trying to refresh that formula. The world is terrible, Walkers are dangerous, human survivors are struggling everyday and there are good survivors and bad survivors. Telling a story that just has the survivors fighting each other as the player is asked to make decisions that will make one character die instead of another and having conversations that always end up with the onscreen message that someone “will remember that” is all too stale now. For it to work the player has to connect with the main character(s) to care what happens but with Michonne it just failed to do that. It failed because I am no longer shocked or impacted by a gruesome death at the hands of the Walkers or surprised when the bad survivors betray you leading to a fight where characters die.
Michonne being haunted by her past became a tedious story mechanic by episode 2, so having it resolving itself as the big emotional ending for her was signposted from the very start. At this point every character has a troubled and horrible survivor story of loss and regret, we have had two full seasons and one DLC in 400 Days that have told many of them. This spinoff series focused on one of the more iconic and fan favourite characters in Michonne and tried to tell an untold story of her but it was lost in its delivery and lack of actually doing more than a few quick time event mini games and interacting with characters as forgettable as this series will be.
The Walking Dead: Michonne spin off miniseries in my opinion should never have been cut up into three episodes. The short length of episodes 2 and 3 were detrimental to the story telling and having completed three chapters in 15 minutes just snapped me right out of the story with doing little more than pressing a few buttons to serve as gameplay. The Walking Dead world has now seen three games and it is time TellTale tell a new story or at least try to refresh the now tired style of game set in it. Michonne’s story was dull, obvious and lacked any real big moments to make it stand out. If you are a fan of The Walking Dead games you will simply get more of the same but less puzzles and more impossible to mess up action scenes that even with the extra brutality fails to be memorable.
Really disappointed by this game experience, it felt as though TellTale simply did not try to do something new or different and with the framerates issues, stuttering in cutscenes, it needed more polish than simply cutting it into three parts and releasing in a fast track release schedule. Not sure I want to return to the Walking Dead universe another time, it has given all the game experiences it has to give and should be put to rest now.
2K and Gearbox Software today announced that Battleborn, the new first-person hero-shooter from the creators of Borderlands, is now available for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows PC.
Set in the distant future, Battleborn is a first-person shooter featuring 25 unique playable heroes who form an unlikely alliance to save the last star in the universe from a mysterious enemy hell-bent on its destruction.
The game combines highly-stylized visuals with Gearbox’s industry-leading co-operative combat, and offers a wealth of content in which to play its expansive collection of 25 diverse heroes, including a narrative-driven story mode and three different competitive multiplayer modes.
Regardless of the mode being played, players will experience deep and customizable character growth for all 25 playable heroes, each with their own unique weapons, powers and personality.
“Gearbox Software has done it again, inventing an exciting new subgenre and ushering in the dawn of the hero-shooter,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “Like the beloved Borderlands franchise, Battleborn is packed-full of Gearbox’s signature humor, deep and fun gameplay, an engaging episodic story, and tons of replayability.”
“Battleborn is the result of five years of passionate, driven creativity and inventiveness from a team of the best group of game developers I could ever hope to have the pleasure of working with,” said Randy Pitchford, President of Gearbox Software. “The fact that the team cannot stop playing Battleborn after the countless hours we’ve put into honing the experience with beta testers, is a testament to the quality and fun of the game. Everyone at Gearbox Software is so excited to begin playing the game with everyone around the world.”
It’s not often that a rhythm game comes out and even less if it attempts to achieve anything outside of its comfort zone. Well, that is exactly what Inside My Radio tries to do with its rhythm based platform antics.
