Author Archives: Sharon
Do graphics really matter? Should a game be scrutinized because it runs at a lower resolution on other platforms even though it still looks good? Have we been spoiled to the point where we can’t focus on other aspects of a game unless it’s at max pretty?
I believe that a game’s graphics need to be appropriate. The heaviness of said graphics matter only as far as that. A game doesn’t always have to be super realistic, stylized images work just as well as long as it stays within what is appropriate to the game world.
Lost footage FOUND!
That’s right my friends, in the midst of some very troublesome computer woes, an accidental recovery has been made. I am of course talking about the PAX East 2011 Omegathon Final Round. It’s old news, I know this, but it makes me smile every time I watch it and so I am going to share it with you too.
It is presented in two parts and, trust me, you will want to watch it all.
Forever is Here! Duke Nukem Forever
Originally posted BY MYASHARONA at GamerFitNation.com
Duke Nukem sure has come a long way since the early side scrolling action that captivated the interest of this young DOS explorer. I would rather NOT tell you about the history of the franchise or why Duke Nukem Forever is the most anticipated game of all time. I would rather NOT tell you to mark your calenders for the June 14th launch. And I would rather NOT tell you that this game looks like it is going to meet all of our long building expectations… but I must.
Put on your shades and prepare to step into the boots of Duke Nukem, whose legend has reached epic proportions in the years since his last adventure. The alien hordes are invading again and only Duke can save the world… and more importantly, our women! Pig cops, alien shrink rays and enormous alien bosses can’t stop our hero from accomplishing his one and only goal: to save the world, save the babes and to be a bad-ass while doing it. The King arrives with an arsenal of over-the-top weapons, non-stop action, and unprecedented levels of interactivity. Duke Nukem was and will forever be immortalized – come this June, history will be made.
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Game Features Include:
- Return of the King: He’s back, baby! The King returns in an explosive and action packed shooter that puts pedal to the metal and tongue firmly in cheek, among other places. Kick ass from the Vegas Strip to the Hoover Dam all while serenading your ears with your favorite Duke-isms.
- Interact With the World, the Duke Way: Experience a fully interactive and immersive look into Duke’s world. Shoot hoops, lift weights, read adult magazines, draw crude messages on white boards or ogle one of the many beautiful women that populate Duke’s life; that is if you can pull yourself away long enough from kicking ass and taking names.
- Kick-Ass Arsenal Puts the F-U Into Fun: Obliterate enemies in style while giving them the Duke Nukem one finger salute. Prepare to shoot enemies in the face with a bad-ass assortment of shotguns, RPGs, pipe bombs and other trademark Duke Nukem tools of destruction. That’s going to leave a mess!
- Glorious Return of Frenetic Multiplayer Action: Multiply your pleasure by engaging in four Duke-tastic modes against seven other players. Freeze, shrink, pipebomb and humiliate your friends as you laugh in their face.
Double Fine goes to Sesame Street
Originally posted BY MYASHARONA at GamerFitNation.com
Double Fine goes to Sesame Street
“Are you making a game for me Daddy?” This was one of the most heartwarming questions as retold by Tim Schafer of Double Fine during Microsoft’s E3 Press Conference. He was, of course, talking about Sesame Street: Once upon a Monster. Published by Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment, this new Kinect experience is set to release in Fall of 2011 and you can’t go wrong with DoubleFine.
Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster is an uplifting and funny, family adventure game playable on Kinect for Xbox 360. Players join favorite Sesame Street characters Elmo, Cookie Monster, Oscar, Grover and all new characters as they discover a long lost children’s book titled Once Upon a Monster. As they read, they join the action to become part of a living storybook adventure, helping new monster friends with their problems by exploring the book chapter by chapter, page by page. It features active co-op gameplay that is specially designed for sibling and/or parent-child co-play; and teaches social, emotional, and other important life lessons through its colorful and whimsical gameplay.
Sesame Street: Once upon a Monster will feature:
Fun Cooperative Experiences: Every activity is designed to be fun played by oneself, but even more fun with a family member or friend. Drop in/out co-operative gameplay is ideal for parent-child or child-sibling co-play.
Important Life Lessons: Players develop a personal and emotional relationship with the monsters in the world and are motivated to help them solve their problems and make their world a better place. Through social and emotional curriculum guided by Sesame Workshop, the non-profit educational organization behind Sesame Street, players discover how to make new friends, learn cooperation and empathy, solve problems, face fears and appreciate similarities and differences…to name a few lessons.
Living Storybook Adventure: The game is a guided exploration of a living storybook where players help their monster friends with problems, all while interacting with enchanting and whimsical environments around them.
New and Familiar Characters: Players can interact with their favorite Sesame Street characters as well as make new monster friends as they progress in their adventures.
Broad Range of Games: A variety of entertaining and intuitive activities enable young kids to play easily with natural controller-free motions using Kinect for Xbox 360.
Active Gameplay: Players can engage in fun and physical activities such as monkey-see-monkey-do, playing instruments, flying, and running obstacle courses.
Ignore the conference acting and take a look at this gameplay demo from E3. This 1 -2 player game is a perfect addition to the family game library.
Bioshock Infinite: E3 Trailer
Bioshock Infinite: E3 Trailer
Originally Posted BY MYASHARONA at GamerFitNation.com
Quite often I like to razz the staff about their various “fandoms”. Let’s face it, we all have those products, titles, or franchises that resonate with us more than others. Well now it is my turn to let out a fan girl *squee* of delight as I share with you the E3 Trailer for the newest iteration of one of my favourite franchises, Bioshock.
Irrational Games is back at it and, boy howdy, have they been hard at work. With an all new environment, a new scenario, and new abilities, this first person shooter utilizes a modified unreal engine 3 and will see release early in 2012. But you already knew that right? So let me cut to the chase and tantalize you with a new trailer and some exciting screens.
Ken Levine, creative director and co-founder of Irrational Games, has been all over E3 this week talking about the new title. In a bombshell announcement at the Sony Conference he disclosed that Irrational would be integrating PSMove functionality and that we should expect to have Irrational on the PSVISTA. So now that I have shared one of my most anticipated titles of E3, what’s yours?
Get Ready to Jump into the Octagon
Get Ready to Jump into the Octagon
Originally posted BY MYASHARONA at GamerFitNation.com
UFC UNDISPUTED 3 RETURNS TO VIRTUAL OCTAGON ACTION IN JANUARY 2012 WITH INTENSE TOE-TO-TOE COMBAT AND INCREASED ACCESSIBILITY
THQ recently announced the new installment in the critically acclaimed and best-selling mixed martial arts (MMA) videogame franchise based on the Ultimate Fighting Championship®. Poised to take players inside the virtual Octagon® with extensive focus on intense toe-to-toe combat, impressive visual presentation and significantly increased accessibility, including the introduction of PRIDE® Mode, two new weight classes and an impressive playable roster of more than 150 UFC fighters, UFC Undisputed 3 is currently in development for the Xbox 360®video game and entertainment system and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, with a scheduled release of January 2012.
“UFC Undisputed 3 is on track to deliver an incredible virtual MMA experience unlike any other,” said Danny Bilson, Executive Vice President, Core Games, THQ. “This product is intense, engaging and highly competitive while still being extremely accessible, making it a must-have for millions of UFC fans, traditional fighting game enthusiasts and more casual sports fans around the world.”
And you know that we, at GamerFitNation, love the level of fitness that the UFC Undisputed franchise is bringing to gamers.
“We are excited to launch UFC Undisputed 3 in January 2012 and expect it to be the best version yet,” UFC President Dana White said. “We’ve added two new weight classes and several new features to the game that will bring UFC fans closer to the Octagon than ever before.”
In a recent press release THQ promised us that UFC Undisputed 3 will mark the debut of PRIDE Mode, enabling players to fight for the first time in the renowned Japanese MMA organization. The mode will include official commentators Bas Rutten and Stephen Quadros, authentic environments and notorious MMA rules, including the ability to execute soccer-style kicks, head stomps and ground knees to the head.
Finishing an opponent will be more important than ever through devastating new moves, responsive striking controls, refined visual presentation and the introduction of a brand new submission system. In addition, players will now enter the Octagon with a choice between traditional and simplified gameplay control options, enabling them, regardless of skill level, to experience the intensity of UFC and nuances of MMA combat while executing simple standing strikes or more complex ground and transition mechanics.
Players will also experience the excitement of a live UFC event through significant visual improvements, including the introduction of much-anticipated fighter entrances, new camera positions, improved facial animations and a gritty, high contrast appearance. They will enter into battle with an unparalleled choice of more than 150 playable UFC fighters, including talent from the newly added featherweight and bantamweight divisions. Rounding out the virtual UFC experience with a significantly revamped online experience, as well as a variety of new and returning gameplay modes, UFC Undisputed 3 lets players have their fights – their way – to deliver the most intense, competitive and engaging experience to date for the franchise.
This sounds like an amazing UFC experience making its way to Xbox 360 and PS3! UFC Undisputed 3 will be available in January 2012, just in time for your new year’s resolutions.
Key Features Include
- PRIDE MODE – Compete for the first time within the legendary PRIDE environment featuring official announcers and renowned Japanese MMA league rules, including soccer-style kicks, head stomps and ground knees to the head.
- FINISH THE FIGHT – With punishing new moves, a brand new submission system and increased focus on presentation, players will have more options than ever to take advantage of a downed opponent.
- FROM BROADCAST TO CAGE-SIDE – Experience the intensity of UFC with new camera positions, compelling fighter entrances, improved facial animations and a gritty, high contrast appearance.
- GAMEPLAY ACCESSIBILITY – Get inside the Octagon with a choice between traditional and simplified gameplay control options, enabling players of all skill levels to experience the intensity of UFC while executing simple standing strikes or more complex ground and transition mechanics.
- EXTRAORDINARY ROSTER – Go head to head with more than 150 prolific UFC fighters, including the addition of Featherweight and Bantamweight divisions.
- EXTENSIVE ONLINE OFFERING – A significantly revamped online experience, including both new and updated features, rounds out the best competitive fighting experience to date for the franchise.
Onlive is doing it, only better!
Onlive is doing it, only better!
“Cloud Gaming is going to bring the future of gaming to 2011. That’s the power of cloud gaming” – Steve Perlman, Founder and CEO of OnLive
Steve Perlman, Founder and CEO of OnLive, demonstrated some amazing cloud gaming features this week at the OnLive E3 booth in Los Angeles. Armed with a tv, a tablet, and some of the top demonstrated games of E3 *cough*Dust*cough*, he showed us just how ‘the cloud’ can help developers and gamers achieve that next level of game integration.
OnLive is now featuring a universal controller designed to work with your TV, tablet, PC or Mac, and during the demonstration he jumped in to a game of Virtua Tennis showing us that eliminating the need for consoles altogether is entirely possible!
But don’t just take my word for it, check out the video and see what innovation OnLive is up to!
So if you watched the video you have seen the newly added ability to browse via cloud. Not only did the new application handle flash based websites but the application did so with ease. Using the same compression technology Netflix was delivered seamlessly and the graphically capabilities are unparalleled because of the use of Mova technology.
In a recent press release OnLive, Inc., the pioneer of cloud gaming, was pleased to report that gamers throughout the world can immediately experience the seamless integration of tablets and HDTVs with high-end gaming. Their current iPad or Android tablet and current HDTV will not only provide this experience in 2011, but will provide it with far higher performance, richer gameplay and deeper social integration than any console announced for 2012, with more than 100 games available today.
OnLive announced the OnLive® Player App for iPad and Android.
“Like the recently announced consoles, the OnLive Player App will enable gameplay of virtually all OnLive games on an iPad and Android tablet with touch or OnLive’s new Universal Wireless Controller. In addition, the OnLive Player App allows the tablet to be used as a touch and motion controller combined with an HDTV (or PC/Mac® if preferred), and allows both synchronized or independent video on the tablet and HDTV screen, enabling combined gameplay with tablet and HDTV, or separate gameplay on tablet and HDTV.” – Steve Perlman, Founder and CEO of OnLive
Full voice chat-enabled multiplayer is supported, both in-room and with others throughout the world, providing a complete multiplayer experience whether at home or on the go with a mobile device.
Core patent-pending exclusive OnLive cloud gaming features such as massive spectating of live gameplay throughout the world, instant no-obsolescence gameplay, Facebook integration with Brag Clip™ videos, etc., will work seamlessly on both tablets and HDTVs and will continue to distinguish OnLive from consoles, both in 2011 and beyond.
“The power of the cloud is definitely the theme this week, displacing what had been assumed to be platforms that could never be displaced,” said Steve Perlman, Founder and CEO of OnLive. “The OnLive Player App for iPad and Android shows how with the power of the cloud, the question is not whether cloud gaming will be able to catch up to consoles, it will be whether consoles will be able to catch up to cloud gaming.”
OnLive is excited to demonstrate the first game from a major publisher supporting both OnLive’s iPad/Android tablet touch and game controller, as well as running seamlessly on an HDTV, PC and Mac, to be released later in 2011.
For gamers preferring a smaller screen, OnLive will provide the exact same functionality on iPhone and Android smartphones, allowing them to be used both as game systems themselves with touch and the OnLive Universal Wireless Controller, or as a controller to an HDTV (or PC/Mac), for simultaneous or independent play.
OnLive is also unveiling as part of this experience the first 10 gigabit cloud-based full-featured browser for iPad, Android and HDTV; bringing the full richness of the Web loading from ultra-fast 10 gigabit/second Web connections to OnLive’s cloud-based servers, including support for full-featured Flash and video sites. Mobile and home devices will no longer be limited to the speed of their local connection for Web browsing or Web plug-in compatibility, opening up access to Flash games and social gaming for tablets and HDTVs.
All OnLive games played using the OnLive Player App will play seamlessly across all OnLive-compatible devices, including iPad, iPhone, Android, on HDTV via the OnLive Game System, on connected HDTV and Blu-ray/media players and on PC and Mac.
Forza4 Races into our Hearts
Forza 4 Races into our Hearts
Top features include the following:
Platform-defining graphics. Forza Motorsport 4 sets a new graphical standard for the racing genre. Featuring dramatic Hollywood-style camera effects and an all new lighting engine, Forza Motorsport 4 creates an unparalleled, dramatically realistic graphical experience — all running at a silky-smooth 60 frames per second.
Xbox LIVE showpiece. Forza Motorsport 4 is making racing more social than ever. Create a Car Club and build the ultimate dream team of drivers, tuners and painters from the Forza community. Share your custom cars and dominate the other clubs. With the all-new Rivals Mode, play against your friends whether they are online or not by challenging them for bragging rights and rewards in a variety of different game types.
Industry-leading innovation with Kinect. Autovista Mode brings the automotive experience comes to life. Walk around the car in a virtual showroom, crouch down to look at the details, or open the doors and hood using the power of Kinect. Immerse yourself with Kinect Head Tracking, which pans the camera view based on how you naturally look into the corners when you’re hard charging. Take the virtual wheel with Kinect as you sit on the couch with your friends and family — no controller required. You can even take advantage of Kinect voice control to easily navigate the game’s menu.
More of what you love. With more than 80 manufacturers, the most in any racing game available today, Forza Motorsport 4 features unrivaled diversity and more of the cars you love. The all new World Tour Mode boasts new tracks, unending choice and hundreds of hours of gameplay as you travel the globe with your favorite car. With the most accurate physics engine, cockpits and damage on every car and assists that allow even the most casual player to race, Forza Motorsport 4 redefines the genre.
Forza Motorsport 4 is piloted by Turn 10 Studio of Microsoft Studios, the creators of the Forza Motorsport franchise.In 2009, Turn 10 released its most recent title, Forza Motorsport 3, garnering “Best Driving Game” from USA Today, SPIKE TV and IGN.
This game looks so delicious I have to share some of the promo pics with you. Take a look.
Nintendo E3 Conference: A Summary
Originally posted by Sharon at GamerFitNation.com
Nintendo E3 Conference: A Summary
What a kick off to E3’s official day 1! Nintendo started the day with an early morning conference that had been clad with more rumors and speculation than almost any other major player at E3 this year. During the press event Nintendo talked about some things we expected and some that we didn’t. Let’s summarize just what the conference looked like.
As the Nintendo Conference began guests were treated to a full orchestra with adorning the Nokia theatre with music and video montage from various Zelda games. The tribute to Zelda continues in celebration of the 25thanniversary of The Legend of Zelda. The entire theater was transformed into a large scale projection show. Miyamoto was introduced and spoke in English to greet the audience before calling upon the assistance of a translator.
Miyamoto shared his joy and excitement with childlike glee as we spoke about Zelda’s evolution and talked about the importance of the music in the Zelda franchise. With the use of the orchestra Miyamoto demonstrated various uses of music in the games, for example; opening a chest, help from fairies, and getting an item, etc.
In honor of the anniversary Nintendo announced the release of a Zelda game for each of the hardwares. Link’s awakening is available today from the eshop. The legend of Zelda 3d will launch next weekend around the world with revamped graphics and a new sense of scenery (and including hint movies and a boss challenge mode). Nintendo DSi will see the, 4 Swords, 4 player cooperative and Skyward Sword will be worldwide this holiday for Wii. Skyward Sword will include use of wii motion plus for accurate handling of the bow and arrow.
With the Zelda title announcements came the news that Nintendo would also be releasing a special gold wii remote as part of the 25th anniversary promotion. But the Zelda related news didn’t end there!
A series of Legend of Zelda symphony concerts will take place in major regions around the world. More details about the specific dates and cities will be released in the future. Additionally 2 music CDs will be released. The Ocarina of time official sound track will be gifted to the first users to register the game with club Nintendo as a thanks. The second CD will be released in conjunction with Skyward Sword.
Nintendo then went on to recognize some of the more than 200 talented workers who have contributed to the success of the Zelda franchise over the last 25 years by inviting them on stage to be introduced and receive recognition for their success.
Nintendo then interjected with a small teaser, stating “we have seen changes in who plays, where we play, and how we play”. Alluding to the new console that many had anticipated seeing in today’s conference Iwata then claimed that their new system, which would be “announced later this morning”, will unite all gamers.
It was then time for the 3DS portion of the presentation and the audience was shown a montage of Mario&kid Icarus&other 3ds games.
Reggie Fils-Aime, the head of Nintendo America, then took to the stage to talk 3DS. Reggie focused on a five 3DS titles:
- MarioKart “a kart game you haven’t driven before” is due out this holiday
- StarFox use buttons or turn and tilt to control. The game will offer group play (multiplayer) and the 3ds camera will record all the action, allowing you to see reactions of friends. StarFox is set for release this September.
- Mario on 3DS which we should see “before the end of this year”.
- Kid Icarus: Uprising. Game appeared to have a lot of depth and good graphis. The inclusing of a trading card component is coming soon to accompany the game. Kid Icarus will also be multiplayer.
- Luigi’s Mansion 2. Nintendo showed the trailer before explaining that this all new 3D game would include several new mansions.
3rd party development for the 3DS was then discussed and included names like: Resident Evil, Mario and Sonic Olympics, Ace Combat 3d, Tetris, Cave Story 3D, Driver: Renegade, Pacman and Galaga, Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D. Virtual console service just for 3ds was also discussed. Allowing for downloads of classic Gameboy titles and classic Nintendo titles, the virtual console was promised to be easy to use. A Free 3D version of Excitbike, which is now a 27 year old title, was promised to the audience. Pokemon for the 3DS will offer an enhanced pokedex. Pokedex 3D showed some hilarious photoshops of you with your pokemon.
Then it was time. Nintendo Café is now known as Wii U. Wii U confused us a little bit. Everyone came into this conference expecting to see a new console but instead we were shown the Wii U controller. The Wii U controller is being released to work in conjunction with your Wii, Wiimotes, and other current Nintendo paraphernalia. But there is a console… just not yet.
The Wii U controller looks a little like like a PSVita. As a 6 point controller with built in screen, the Wii U controller includes a touch pad screen as well. Nintendo says the controller includes “new controls for experienced players”.
With two analog sticks, digital direction pad, and DL- DR plus rumble feature, most of the specs of this system were kept vague. The touch screen, microphone, camera, and gyroscope were all eluded to but Nintendo was clear to report that the WiiU controller was “not designed to be a portable gaming device” but that it “just shares some characteristics.” Games can use two screens at the same time and this ability was shown in a video montage that included baseball, golf, and ninja star throwing. The device will also have vcideo chat capabilities. This will be “a new structure for home entertainment” says Nintendo
Other notable announcements included:
Smash Brothers for wii u and 3ds and swap ability between the two.
HD video graphics – showed video clip “the garden” including a swimming fish. No word on who made the clip or for what application it was created.
Put your mii in Mario kart, race with your mii.
New shooter with wii mote as a prototype.
New title in development – Lego City Stories by Tt games, a division of Warner Brothers, being made just for WiiU.
Nintendo then showed a video of developers reactions to the new ‘system’ which gave us an insight into which titles would find home on the new WiiU
- Darksiders II on the new console at launch
- Batman arkham city on the new console
- Ghost Recon Online with the new console.
- EA Sports to Nintendo new console
- Dirt, Aliens Colonial Marines.
- Metro last light (by thq)
- Tekken – showed character customization
- Ninja gaiden 3 razers edge
“WiiU can satisfy all tastes” said Nintendo. They invited EA to join them onstage. CEO John Riccitiello came onstage and spoke : We have reached a “breakthrough in our relationship based on a stunning breakthrough in game technology” he said of the partnership with WiiU.
Reggie, in interview with Adam Sessler on G4 and with Geoff Keighly on GameTrailers talked a little bit more about the specs of the new system.
- 1080p no price yet
- being launched after march 31st
- will have Internet browser – no release of other network capabilities
- optical disc – no blue ray
- “driven by gaming content and non gaming content”
- “next holiday will be about the WiiU”
- “We fully expect those [wii users] to come on board with the WiiU”
- “Price point launch date launch line up is a topic for another day.”
Be sure to check back at GamerFitNation, all this week, for more news from the E3 floor about these and other stories.
PS VITA Tech Specs
Originally posted by Sharon at GamerFitNation.com
PLAYSTATION®VITA (PS VITA) Technical Specifications direct from Sony.
OVERVIEW:
PlayStation®Vita (PS Vita) from Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE) offers an unparalleledcombination of rich gaming and social connectivity within a real world context, made possible by leveragingSCE’s experience from its acclaimed console and handheld entertainment systems.
Blurring the linesbetween interactive entertainment and reality, PS Vita enables revolutionary gaming experiences with dualanalog sticks, front and rear cameras, front multi-touch display, multi-touch rear pad, GPS, six-axis motionsensors, and three-axis electronic compass. This next generation portable entertainment system enables a revolutionary combination of rich gaming and social connectivity within a real world context.
Among the titles in development for PS Vita are offeringsfrom some of the biggest franchises as well as a myriad of original titles.
KEY FEATURES:
- Multi-touch 5-inch organic light emitting diode (OLED) front display
- Multi-touch pad on the rear of the device• Dual analog sticks
- Front and rear facing cameras
- A new game medium, a small flash memory based card, dedicated for PS Vita software titles
- Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer), Three-axiselectronic compass.
- Wi-Fi and 3G network connectivity
- PlayStation®Network access, including “LiveArea™” (a space for sharing with others), “near” (letsusers identify what friends in the vicinity are or were recently playing), “Party” (enables users toenjoy voice chat or text chat not only during online gaming, but also when they are playing differentgames or using different applications such as the internet browser), and “Activity” (it logs the latestaccomplishments from people playing the same games)
- Full PlayStation® Trophy Support
- Able to play PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) titles, minis and video from PlayStation®Store
And what else is great? The price point. $249.99 for Wifi systems and $299.00 for Wifi and 3G enabled systems.
MyaSharona.com 