General gaming

General gaming

Capcom Pins Its Hopes on Dragon's Dogma

Posted: 11 May 2012 10:17 PM PDT

After Bethesda's open-world fantasy RPG Skyrim sold 10 million units, no one could blame Capcom for hoping there's room for more than just one fantasy RPG title about slaying dragons and saving the world. Dragon's Dogma represents a three year development cycle for the Japanese studio, with more than 150 developers plugging away at its design. With the game representing such a large investment, a lot is riding on how well Dragon's Dogma will fare at retail.

Jetpack Joyride Might Already be Facebook's Best Game

Posted: 11 May 2012 04:28 PM PDT

Jetpack Joyride

As much fun as I have with many of the iOS games I play, there are few which I stick with for very long. In some cases that's because the free or $0.99 entry point for these games have a direct correlation with the amount of depth they contain -- there's one good idea, but it's not necessarily something you'll want to spend more than a few hours with. Jetpack Joyride is a straightforward auto-runner, hardly the sort of thing that I would expect to play for long. And yet it has managed to keep its spot on the front page of my iPhone for months; it's my go-to game when I have a minute to spare. It's simple, easy-to-play, and it's now available in beta on Facebook.

Joyride started out as a $0.99 download on the App Store, during which time it sold about one million units. It was then converted into a free-to-play game and had been downloaded an additional 13 million times as of February. According to a press release issued today, that number has soared to 25 million downloads. It may not be at the level of Angry Birds, but that is a huge figure, particularly if developer Halfbrick's expectation for 5 to 10 percent of customers spending at least a dollar continues as the game expands to Facebook.

Republique's Success Demonstrates How a Kickstarter Can Adapt

Posted: 11 May 2012 02:57 PM PDT

Republique

It may have cut it close, but Camouflaj's debut title, Republique, managed to reach its Kickstarter goal in the final hours before its deadline today. The project kicked off a month ago seeking $500,000 and, after an initial surge of pledges, found itself struggling to attract backers. Rather than accept the fact that there was not half a million dollars out there to fund a hardcore iOS title like this, Camouflaj adapted and now finds itself padding that $500,000 with additional pledges ahead of its 3pm Pacific deadline.

Republique was initially pitched as an iOS game combining stealth and survival horror in the style of a game from the PlayStation era. With an estimated budget of over $1 million, Camouflaj turned to Kickstarter to come up with $500,000 to help ensure it would not have to compromise creative control or hand over ownership of the IP.

Starhawk Review: Laying a Solid Foundation

Posted: 11 May 2012 01:25 PM PDT

Imagine you're surrounded by the enemy in a game of Capture the Flag. A stream of rockets slowly chips away at the walls protecting the flag, and it's only a matter of time before the walls crumble and reveal a path straight through your base. Yet, by some miracle, the walls continue to hold -- at least until a high-flying predator swoops in and drops a massive bomb that eradicates three defensive walls and a nearby beam turret, anyway. With the path now open, the opposing team makes a push. Your team rallies together to hold back the incoming enemies. As they focus on returning fire, you start calling in defensive turrets and other structures; each piece drops down from the stratosphere like a huge, deadly, rectangle-shaped pancake before transforming into a necessary piece of equipment on the battlefield.

In this console generation, multiplayer shooters have become truly explosive and epic affairs: A genre where high quality production values have become standard and similar mechanics continually test players' reaction speed, critical thinking, and resolve on a virtual battlefield. Of course, you're only playing a video game, but as far as graphics and sound technology go, that's an awfully convincing video game; one filled with thundering "booms," smokey terrain, and (typically) a lot of grey and brown hues.

Harley Quinn's Revenge DLC Pulls You Back into Arkham City

Posted: 11 May 2012 12:00 PM PDT

spot

If you're anything like me, time is one of your most precious commodities. It's difficult for me to justify playing a lengthy RPG like Skyrim or Xenoblade Chronicles. It's damn near impossible for me to rationalize spending what little time I have to play games outside of work on something that I just played a few months ago. So why is it that I want to dive right back into Batman: Arkham City when it seems like I devoted an entire week of my life to it just a few months ago? One theory is that Rocksteady, the developer that redefined what a superhero game should be, has been practicing witchcraft. Another is that their game is just that damn good.

When I recently sat down to play through some of Arkham City's newest DLC, I had a short moment of panic -- holding the controller and taking those first few steps as the Caped Crusader was strange. It had only been six months since I combed every inch of Arkham City, but that half-year had been filled with other third person titles like Dark Souls, Assassin's Creed: Revelations, and Max Payne 3. I was wobbly at first, having completely forgotten how to use any of Batman's wonderful toys. But once I became reacquainted with Rocksteady's world, it felt like I was revisiting an old friend. Within a few moments, I was zipping across the skyline and taking down fools without the slightest hint of rust.

Posted by Shri Krishna

Total Pageviews

statcounter

View My Stats