Split/Second is one of those games I have been itching to play since the first gameplay shots were revealed back in March last year. Explosive Burnout-esque gameplay with boobytraps! To be honest, I’m surprised it’s a game from Disney Interactive Studios.
It kinda feels like a gritty Wacky Races, with an aim to send your enemies barrelling towards oil tankards, collapsing buildings and burning cars to knock them back in their race times. You destroy not only the other cars, but the world around you. Video after the jump.
Steam is offering over-specced dictatorship simulator Tropico 3 at 75% off this week complete with two additional maps and avatar costumes exclusive to the download service.
The game received praise from the likes of Kotaku for its great simulation of cold war politics and strategy in a tinpot Caribbean island. Damn, it actually makes history fun (apparently).
Now the expansive Absolute Power expansion has been released, it might be worth splashing out the £5 for a flavour of Cuban-style politics.
Details on the expansion are listed after the jump (credit to Kotaku).
Over a year on from its launch, the DSiWare store is now starting to look like a decent-sized collection of downloadable titles – more so than it’s PSP counterpart, PSN.
However, as the number of DSiWare titles increases, it’s becoming harder and harder to navigate the store so, to give you a helping hand, ButtonMash has compiled the best five for your downloading pleasure.
So what’s new at the Big N’s online European store today? Plenty if you have a DSi, it seems. Highlights include a re-release of Chronos Twins, after losing its publisher back when it was initially released in physical DS-cartridge form a few years’ back.
Also of interest is Wii game Bit. Trip Runner – a retro-styled game which follows as the fourth in a series by developer Gaijin Games.
Star Wars: The Old Republic‘s developer Bioware doesn’t believe sticking to one class is enough for an MMORPG, oh no! So it’s decided to treat us, the gamer public to not one but two classes per character.
Despite being named the Advanced Class system, the premise is actually quite simple – start out with a primary class then once players reach a certain level, they will be able to choose between a further two advanced classes to specialise their character further.
At ButtonMash we’re hungry for brand-spanking new games and May is set to be an exciting month with the release of a clutch of high profile and intriguing games which are set to leave us with a month of sore thumbs.
Yes, I know – this is kinda old now, but as the blog is new I thought the game needed a special shout out for its fantastic style, immersive gameplay and great use of anime/manga story elements.
The World Ends With You – or for the Japanese title, It’s a Wonderful Life (すばらしきこのせかい) – is an action-RPG set in modern-day Tokyo released for DS back in 2007/2008 by Square Enix.
From the image and video at top and bottom of this blog post, you can see how it’s art style is very much influenced by manga, with cutscenes played out like you are reading an actual manga strip as the story unfolds. It’s all very involving and an absolute joy to play.
Story-wise, it takes a few story elements from manga such as Bleach – with Soul Reaper and Hollow-like characters filling out the game’s cast. Also like Bleach’s Ichigo, the main character Neku sports strawberry-blond hair and receives assignments via text messages sent to his mobile.
The game’s soundtrack is also ace – very unmistakably Japanese, composed and produced by Takeharu Ishimoto. The game’s music encompasses many genres, combining rock,hip hop, and electronica, designed to fit the various moods of Shibuya, where the game is set.
Overall, a great game and well worth a buy, especially since it is now so cheap at £4.98 from Game (very limited stocks, so hurry). ★
So far, Nintendo’s trusty DS handheld has changed, changed, changed and changed again, but hasn’t really evolved as a platform since its release in 2004.
Today, Nintendo announced via a press release on its website that the first full platform upgrade, the 3DS, will allegedly feature 3D-native screens (no need for those beautiful red-and-teal glasses), two digital cameras, a motion detector and have backward compatibility for Nintendo DS and DSi games. The full details of the new handheld will be confirmed at E3 this Summer.
Nintendo describes the portable as allowing games to be “enjoyed with 3D effects without the need for any special glasses”. According to Nintendo, the product will go on sale between April 2010 and March 2011 – our guess is that the Japanese release will be way ahead of the international launch, with Japan receiving the handheld late April, followed by US/EU probably by Christmas this year.
Below is the official statement from the Big N:
Nintendo Co., Ltd.(Minami-ward of Kyoto-city, President Satoru Iwata) will launch “Nintendo 3D S”(temp) during the fiscal year ending March 2011, on which games can be enjoyed with 3D effects without the need for any special glasses.
“Nintendo 3DS”(temp) is going to be the new portable game machine to succeed “Nintendo DS series”, whose cumulative consolidated sales from Nintendo amounted to 125million units as of the end of December 2009, and will include backward compatibility so that the software for Nintendo DS series, including the ones for Nintendo DSi, can also be enjoyed.
We are planning to announce additional details at E3 show, which is scheduled to be held from June 15, 2010 at Los Angeles in the U.S.
After a seemingly endless range of prototype names, Sony has announced PlayStation Move as the official name for its upcoming Wii-esque PS3 motion controller.
The new peripheral was unveiled during GDC in San Francisco, and Sony has now confirmed it will be available in the autumn. It doesn’t look too pricey, setting gamers back $100 (£66) in the US and come in a variety of bundles, including a package deal comprising the PlayStation Eye camera and a game.
Civilization 2 was probably one of my favourite games of all time, I spent a good few years of my life taking over the world via various means and the experience keep my megalomania at bay. I’ve since lost interest in the franchise, I found 3 a bit blah and 4 a highly specced yet poor man’s cop-out of Total War. After all, grid based warfare is so 1990′s, isn’t it?
