Japan Kicks Off 3DS Fever

MAN VS WILD : The GAME

You have seen him doing all extraordinary; high on life deadly stunts. Now get ready for some more Bear Grylls because, the popular show Man vs. Wild is getting a special treatment in the form of video game. The action packed game offers some grueling survival techniques based on the backdrop of the show.

Gameplay:

The main task of a player is to “How to go through each edgy situation”. Basically, gamers get a chance to use their survival strategies to accomplish given situations. The game is a mix of a role –play & puzzle solving technique.

Genre- Action

Publisher- Crave Entertainment

Developer- Scientifically Proven

Release Date- Q1 2011

Platform- Xbox 360, PS3, Wii

NINTENDO 3DS: Let the fun begins...

Credit- Nintendo Japan 

Just 4 days from now, Japan will going to witness the biggest ever launch of a gaming console. The Company is leaving no stone unturned to make 3DS launch a memorable affair.   From Amsterdam to Tokyo, the whole world is praising Nintendo’s upcoming glass free 3D wonder. Recently, the Londoner’s got a chance to witness 3DS in a special pre-launch event called “Believe Your Eyes”. US retailer Gamestop pegged 3DS as the best selling console, if we go by its pre-orders.  Looks like, the Kyoto based firm wants to repeat the same magic done by Microsoft’s Kinect.

NEED FOR SPEED: SHIFT 2 UNLEASHED

Credit- EA Games 

Shift 2: Unleashed is the 17^th title in the Need for speed franchise. The game is a modified version of last year's super hit Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. EA has promise that it will “redefine the racing simulator genre" and has been called as "the most realistic racer ever". Need for Speed is one of the best selling racing franchise in the world .The original Need for speed was launched in 1994 for 3DO (3DO Interactive Multiplayer). More than 100 million games have been sold by EA games.

What’s so special about Shift2: Unleashed

·        145 cars from world’s leading manufacturers

·        35 different tracks

·        Multiplayer included

·        In-helmet cam

·        Night-time racing

·        Autolog feature

·        New Physics Engine

·        New Elite Handling Model

Update- Shift 2:  Unleashed is set to release on the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC platforms. The release date for Europe will be April 1, 2011

          

Give us your opinion about Shift 2: Unleashed 

  

Lady Gaga -The Saviour Queen



We Call her Queen of POP.

We Call her Queen of Gay Rights.

We Call her Queen of "Weird Fashionista".

Will she ever going to appear in a Video Game?

We all know that our gaming industry is going through a rough phase; sales are (down 8% as compared to January 2010). If we think logically, Ladygaga can give flagging gaming industry a new lease of life. We all know that her tryst with gaming was seen in her previous music videos such as Bad Romance video (remember nintendo nunchuk). Her association with Polaroid gives us enough evidence that she managed to get dead companies back in shape. Hey, she could rival Mario of famed Super Mario Galaxy in coming years.

Mixing GAMING with MUSIC is now not new. Last year Ubisoft launched it’s much hyped “MICHAEL JACKSON: The Experience” inspired by the legendary musician of all time, Michael Jackson. According to the NPD Groups monthly statistics, the late King of Pop helps the game to secure 9^th spot in best selling games (software) of January, 2011. .This shows massive popularity of MJ not only in music industry but also in gaming arena. Another music star which is very much into Gaming circles is Beyonce. Though no video game is dedicated to her, but she promotes a game called “Rhythm Heaven” exclusively available on Nintendo DS.

All in all, we need LadyGaga’s magic to transform our ailing gaming industry back on track, the way she did for pop industry way back in 2008.



1971 : Uncoded

They left gaming industry long back, but still alive in people’s mind.

Any one remembers Computer Space, the big daddy of Gamingrevolution?

Let’s re-visit 1971, when world got an opportunity to see a true gaming device of its time in the form of Computer Space. The device claimed to be world’s 1^st commercially sold video gaming device.

Developed by Nolan Bushnell (considered to be founding father of gaming industry) &  Ted Debney, later both co-founded Atari. Initially started as a pilot project in campuses across United States, it didn’t get mass market acceptance neither from the critics & nor from consumer. Although, it was an innovative step in establishing arcade style of gaming but shunned by critics saying that, it lacked the simple Gameplay.The Company was hoping to sell around 1,500 of Computer Space devices but managed to shift between 500-1000 devices. This made Nutting Associates to stop manufacturing Computer Space ,as it failed miserably ,later shutting down the firm in 1973.



Ad featuring Computer Space





Credit- Nutting Associates ,Inc





Credit- Nutting Associates ,Inc

Gameplay:

Computer Space was meant to work well with single & double players.The rocket ship controlled by the player can be manipulated through space using rotational buttons and a thrust button. The object of the game is for the player to have the rocket ship to destroy the flying saucers more times than the flying saucers can destroy the rocket ship, the player must also try to have the rocket ship outscore the flying saucers in order to get extended play in hyperspace.The game will end if the flying saucers outscore the player's rocket ship and time has expired.

Video featuring Computer Space Game Play

PR Special: A yellow Computer Space device can be seen in various movies & music videos such as Jaws, Soylent Green & Brimful of Asha   

                   

Still from movie Soylent Green

                    

Any takers for $2500 device , as listed by Ebay in year 2009

Ebay listing showing accessory for Computer Space in year 2011( I am still a hot property)

 

Credit- Nutting Associates



You talk about iPhone 5, I am not even PSP compatible :)

Credit- Sony Ericsson 

Finally, Sony Ericsson raised curtains from its mysterious   PlayStation phone. So, what’s the big deal?  Is it a PlayStation phone?  We give you the all the necessary details in this post, as we proceed you will get to know whether Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is really a phone with PlayStation capabilities or it’s just a big brother of NOKIA  N-Gage( it used to be a king of gaming phones of 2003).

Xperia Play offers simple gaming for those people, who just want an average gaming on the go. Play (Please Sony don’t sue us for using short form) comes with 50 games at launch (Do u think, gamers will digest this thing easily). Xperia play will be the 1^st play station certified phone, when it launches in spring exclusively on Verizon in states. Tetris, The Sims 3, Asphalt Adrenaline 6, FIFA, Bruce Lee, Star Battalion are some of the games which comes pre-loaded.  Will you be satisfied with  such an anemic line up?

According to Sony, more than 20 industries leading game publishers are making games for play. The worst part of this phone is that it only able to run Ps1 titles. Its pity that, the company behind iconic play station brand unable to make play run PSP games. The company recently announced, that its new software platform Playstation Suit will be used to run playstation downloadable content for handsets that are playstation certified.

The Play is identical to PSP GO, as it uses the same slider - form factor. The difference between the two devices is that the play uses the dual touch pad instead of analog stick. Don’t worry gamers; Sony will do the need full in XPERIA PLAY 5.0   

With mere 5.0 mega pixel camera, 4 .0 inch multi –touch screen & android’s latest version (2.3) makes this baby not so happening. Now, a day’s most of the smart-phones comes with monstrous dual –core processor but this phone lets us down with just single core processor. We believe that a gaming phone should be more power full than an average smart –phones. In that case play sounds like 2010 . 

Conclusion – The Xperia play offers nothing spectacular but it managed to come closer to PSP  

Meet World’s 1st Playstation Certified Phone : Sony Ericsson Xperia Play

Credit- Sony Erisson 

JAPAN MAIL

Credit- SONY JAPAN 

It's seems that Japan is in love with Playstation family. According to Famitsu, the Japanese magazine recently came to the conclusion that PS3 had the best games in 2010.The magazine included 516 best rated games of 2010; Sony took the 1^st position in home consoles race i.e. 77 of 103 titles (75%) that rated silver or better. Compare that to Xbox 360, which only saw 65 of 97(67%) and the Wii, who had 27 of 43 (63%) rate silver or better. In handheld front Nintendo DS pimps PSP with 8 of 117 titles rated ‘silver’ or better. The PSP by contrast only had 56 of its 130. But these figures doesn't reflect Industry numbers, it’s an individual research done by Japanese magazine Famitsu. If we go by sales no, than PSP had a best year, at least in Japan. All credit goes to Monster Hunter series for making PSP the undisputed King in the land of rising Sun.

Credit- Microsoft 

 The only console which never takes Japan by storm is Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Is there any rivalry between Microsoft & Japanese people?  We believe that it’s a part of their culture. Japanese usually buy MADE IN JAPAN products, so it applies with Xbox 360 as well. Please exclude APPLE in this discussion. The company sold millions of its i range of products in Japan alone.

  

Credit- Nintendo JAPAN

Now, We turn our attention to world’s largest manufacturer of gaming consoles i.e. Nintendo. The company had a rough year through out 2010 not only in Japan but also across all leading gaming markets. After roaring for 4 years, Wii crashed miserably in 2010. For the 1^st time in Nintendo’s history their profits drops in 6 years. All blame to rise of PS3 & Xbox 360, as both launched their motion controller attachments in late last year. Nintendo DS, planets most popular handheld console suffered the most. Now, the company is pinning their hope on 3DS. The company will launch its glass free 3D marvel on February 26^th in Japan.

KILLZONE NOW IN 3D

Credit- SCEA

Killzone 3 (PS3) Rated M

Publisher - Sony Computer Entertainment

Developer - Guerrilla Games

Genre- Shooter

Release Date- February 22, 2011(USA)

Monster Hunter's NEVER ENDING Quest Continues .........

Credit- CAPCOM

Credit- CAPCOM 

Credit- CAPCOM

Capcom, the publisher behind Monster Hunter series has reason to rejoice.  The company’s latest sales figure indicates that the game sold a whooping 4.1 million copies in Japan alone. According to the game's publisher, Monster Hunter Portable 3rd is “now the fastest selling PSP title ever in Japan” and “the fastest selling game in Capcom's history. The original franchise started with PS2, which was the 1^st game in the Monster Hunter series. Its Wii version, popularly known as Monster Hunter tri was also an instant hit among masses. 

Is Cloud- Gaming the next big thing?

HTC's recent stake in OnLive(cloud –computing based gaming on demand platform) for $40 million sparked rumors that Cloud -computing could rival console gaming in near future. According to HTC’s Maggie Cheung, deal will strengthen its gaming capabilities & and help to tap into increasing demand for games on Smartphones. If HTC is betting big on cloud –computing, our very own Apple is also not behind. Recently, the Cupertino based company released the third version of its iOS 4.3 beta last week, which indicates that gaming is coming to Apple TV. If we go by ios 4.3 beta number three a string of code with the heading ATVGames, while another indicates ATVThunder. This could rival OnLive Inc for sure. If go by the pricing of OnLive, the whole set up will cost you somewhere around $99 which makes it as par with Apple TV. Are we going to see a kind of gaming in future? Will Cloud-Gaming proved to be a savior for gaming industry? With the coming of heavy industry titans like Apple Inc & HTC , the debate on the future of Cloud –gaming gets hotter. 

Credit- Apple Inc

Credit- HTC

Credit- OnLive 

            

Amazon Kindle: Just for fun Continues

Sudoku:  This game used to be our sole pass time in our school/college days. But now Kindle owners have a privileged to own one. Sudoku is a logic-based combinatorial (sounds heavy) number based –puzzle. The objective is to fill a 9x9 grid with digits so that each column, row & each of the 3x3 sub –grids that compose the grid contains all of the digits from 1-9. Kindle version comes with 20 different boards(all playable).Users also get ability to check hints & answers.

Credit- Amazon .com

Tic Tac Toe- They say a classic never dies perfectly fits with this game. Kindle edition comes with 16 different games; each has their own difficulty level. There is nothing special about this game, as the experience becomes tad boring at times . Tic Tac Toe is best suited for ios devices such as iphone & ipads , where users can take advantage of touch screen. 

Credit- Amazon .com 

 Our special feature on Amazon Kindle finally comes to an end. We assume quality games will be made for Kindle in near future. As for now developers have to utilize CG (current generation) kindle to the fullest, so that users gets maximum benefit from this device.

  

Amazon Kindle: Just for fun

In the era of consoles, we often tend to believe that gaming is possible only on high –end devices .Whether you are a teenager or investment-banker, we love to play light games such as scrabble or minesweeper; after all we gamers want an excuse to play games

Amazon Kindle which is known for reading e-books , now trying to re- invent itself by adding games such as hugely popular Scrabble or instant hit Sudoku . As far as gaming library is concerned, the platform is still new & developers such as EA games are committed to deliver unique content on kindle . Here we are not discussing “Who will be the winner or looser “as we often do in case of Sony & Nintendo.

Credit-Amazon.com

Today, we are  going to discuss some of the popular games available on Amazon Kindle

Scrabble – First on the list is scrabble, one of the popular seductive games we ever played on Amazon Kindle. It’s the same old scrabble but playing on kindle has its own charm. The best thing about scrabble  is its simplicity; the controls are simple which makes player glued to the game for hours. 

Credit- Amazon .com

Simple Word Find: The game consists of 16 word search puzzles. Each is broken down into 3. Simple word find retails for $2.99

Credit- Amazon.com

Mine Sweeper- This is the 3^rd best game available on Amazon Kindle , the idea behind the game is to uncover all the mines hidden in a grid .Whenever you click on a square , the number of mines immediately adjacent to it is revealed. Use this information to clear the minefield marking the position of suspect mines as you go. Keep going until you find all the mines get blown up . The games comes in three different version . The best part is that its free of cost

Credit- Amazon.com

We will continue to discuss our special feature on Amazon Kindle in our next post as well , so stay tuned.

Sony's fight to re-gain lost ground

If rumors are to be believed, Sony is looking to expand the value of its upcoming (NGP) console by simultaneous retail and digital videogame releases. According to popular site Eurogamer, “NGP is a developer’s dream—Sony is finally doing the things developers have been crying out for for years. Sony is also planning to unveil more details about NGP at Gamescom , Europe's largest Gaming expo. It's true to say that NGP a.k.a psp2 has ps3 level graphics, but will consumers buy NGP(Next Generation Portable) as handheld gaming market is bleeding at the moment . According to leading market research , Apple iOS devices such as iphone & ipads has become a challenger to  market leader  DS followed by PSP. If Sony wants to succeed over 3DS (Nintendo's upcoming glass free 3D handheld console), they must price NGP as par with 3DS .One of the biggest worries for Sony is to retain third-party developer support for NGP, as they had a bad experience with last generation PSP. 

                                                                  Credit- Sony Japan