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LEGO Star Wars Renewed for Ten More Years

by Salat on February 14, 2012 · 0 comments

Lucas Licensing has renewed its Star Wars deal with The LEGO Group, extending it by another 10 years. Under the renewed deal, LEGO will be able to continue producing Star Wars toys and video games, and is currently working on products based on The Old Republic.

Jill Wilfert, Vice President of Licensing and Entertainment for The LEGO Group said:

Star Wars is a cultural phenomenon that shares many characteristics with the LEGO brand–cross generational appeal, versatile story and character content, creativity and imagination—and we believe that we can continue to grow LEGO Star Wars for many years to come.

Before reading this, I would have scoffed at the notion that LEGO and Star Wars had anything in common, but Wilfert makes a great point. I can’t think of any other toy of movie franchise that has survived for so long, across so many generations.

via MCV

Source: Gaming Today

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Xbox 360 Limited Edition Kinect Star Wars Bundle

by Salat on February 13, 2012 · 0 comments

Xbox 360 Limited Edition Kinect Star Wars Bundle

Xbox 360 Console: Bring the Star Wars characters you know and love into your living room with this custom R2-D2-themed Xbox 360 console with custom sounds.
Kinect Sensor: Includes the first ever custom white sensor. Immerse yourself into the Star Wars universe with full-body gameplay. Xbox 360 Wireless Controller: Includes custom C-3PO-themed Xbox 360 Wireless Controller.
Kinect Star Wars game: Enter the Star Wars universe like never before. Use the Force like a Jedi, become a champion Pod Racer, pilot iconic ships and much more.
Kinect Adventures game: Get off the couch and into the game in a whole new way. You and your friends and family will jump, dodge, and kick your way through 20 pulse-pounding adventures set in exotic locations.
320GB Hard Drive: The largest hard drive available on Xbox 360, Xbox 360 Wired Headset, and Xbox LIVE Token for exclusive downloadable content

Get the Xbox 360 Limited Edition Kinect Star Wars bundle, with the first ever white Kinect Sensor and custom-designed console and controller based on popular Star Wars characters R2-D2 and C-3PO. Use the Force like a Jedi and immerse yourself in the Star Wars experience you’ve always dreamed of, in ways you never imagined possible.

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Star Wars: Battlefront III Might Be In Development, Due This Year

by Salat on February 7, 2012 · 0 comments

It’s been nearly 7 years since Star Wars: Battlefront II underwhelmed us. Highly anticipated, it departed somewhat from the premise of the original Star Wars: Battlefront and though it retains an 84% Metacritic rating, it has not been fondly remembered. Not helping matters were its increasingly dismal ports, like the ghastly PC version and the teribad PSP edition. That, and the fact that developer Pandemic Studios was killed off by Electronic Arts in 2009, (It was supposed to be picked up by Free Radical but that didn’t pan out) guaranteed that the series would not be developed further. Or would it?

Lately, the rumor that Spark Unlimited is taking up the series has persisted, particularly as the developer coyly refused to confirm or deny the rumors. These rumors may have just gained more credibility thanks to a job listing posted to their site. Sparks Unlimited is seeking a Senior Combat Designer to work on “a 3rd Person Action/Adventure sequel in a high-profile science fiction franchise currently greenlit for full production development for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC markets.” This in and of itself isn’t much, but thanks to some digging by Playstation Lifestyle, more clues surface:

* Former Senior Software Engineer for Spark Unlimited, John Lawrie, lists “Unannounced third person sword fighting game (well known IP, Xbox 360, PS3)” on his LinkedIn profile.

* Another developer’s LinkedIn page says “I have been working for three years in a AAA third person shooter using Unreal Engine and Kynapse AI middleware.”

* Spark Unlimited have themselves hinted at this possibility with a recent tweet – “Since we are working on a sequel for a well known sci-fi franchise, all aspects must remain secret.”

Based on this, we think Playstation Lifestyle is right to identify Star Wars: Battlefront III as the title in question. Will it be good? Trust your feelings. Use the force. And hope they manage to put together a PC version.

Source: Gaming Today

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‘Star Warfare: Alien Invasion’ Review – A Competent Shooter Hampered By Its Upgrade System

by Salat on January 25, 2012 · 0 comments

Star Warfare: Alien Invasion [99¢] is a first-person arena-shooter from Freyr Games, which features wave after wave of relentless attacking alien creatures. The aliens emerge from holes in the wall and from underground, or come flying, bounding or waddling straight towards you from all sides. And once you’ve shot them, the next wave arrives immediately. It’s almost as if you don’t even need to explore, as the aliens will come straight for you.

The single player campaign includes five maps, each with six levels of increasing difficulty to unlock (30 levels in total). A progress bar indicates how many of the enemies have spawned and if you survive to the end, your reward is currency to spend in an in-game store. The sixth level of each map is a “survival” level.

In multiplayer mode, you can team with up to three players online (via Game Center) to engage in a co-op boss battle, or to play co-op on a map you’ve already unlocked. The incentive for fighting bosses is that you earn greater amounts of gold. Unfortunately, these bosses are not accessible in single player mode, although you can set-up a 1 player room online if you want. Playing co-op with teammates makes the boss battles easier, and so does upgrading via single player mode first since the gear you earn in single player mode is also available in multiplayer.

This is a dual stick shooter, with the left stick for movement, the right for aiming and shooting – and there’s no option to change this, although you can tweak sensitivity. The dual sticks are located one third of the way up the screen on each side and can’t be repositioned. To look around, or turn around, you swipe the background with your finger. You can also use the right (fire) stick to turn, but that’s slower and wastes bullets.

There are 26 weapons to unlock and purchase, including assault rifle, shotgun, laser gun and machine guns. The heavier weapons, like grenade launchers, decrease your speed while other powerful weapons like the RPG consume more energy. Each weapon has power, fire-rate and energy attributes and can be upgraded through 8 levels.

The catch is that some items are purchased with money earned in-game, but other weapons and bags (including the cooler ones) are purchased using a raw material named “mytheril” which seems to only be available through in-app purchases or for getting bonuses for playing online regularly. But aside from this premium currency, even the weapons sold for regular in-game currency get very expensive, making the weapon upgrading more difficult than it feels like it should be.

Also, If you run out of bullets, you end up running around the level unable to do anything as there’s currently no melee attack or ammo pick-ups. You just have to die or quit, having wasted the remainder of your bullets, which is frustrating, although the developers advise they may possibly introduce a weapon with no ammo cost. The in-game store also sells space suit parts (helmet, chest, hands and legs) which can improve your hit points, power and speed. Other available items include first aid items, forcefields and the ability to revive after death.

Star Warfare: Alien Invasion is a pretty good first-person shooter for a dollar, despite the expensive weapons, emphasis on IAP and need to buy bullets with in-game money. The developers are planning a minor update with new equipment and maps, and a major update with a brand new game mode. If they can also balance out the in-game currency systems in regards to weapon upgrading and ammunition usage, then Star Warfare might be able to extend beyond just being an average to above average shooter.

App Store Link: Star Warfare:Alien Invasion, $ 0.99 (Universal)

TouchArcade Rating:
Source: Touch Arcade

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Analyst Says Star Wars: The Old Republic Undersold Expectations, EA Stock Drops

by Salat on January 20, 2012 · 0 comments

For some reason, it seems Electronic Arts investors are a fickle bunch (who may not really understand what they’re investing in). Analysts keep up their doomsaying over Star Wars: The Old Republic despite quite a reception and a lot of people playing it, and when those analysts say spooky things, investors sell their shares.

That’s what happened on Jan. 19, as CVG reports, when EA shares dropped 3.8 percent after Brean Murray Curret & Co. analyst Todd Mitchell speculated that SWTOR sales would come in “below expectations.” Mitchell cut his price on EA stock from $ 28 to $ 22, saying, “Specifically, initial sales appear to be below expectations, and casual observation of early play is causing us to rethink our churn assumptions.”

Another analyst, on the other hand, calls the outcries over SWTOR’s sales figures “overdone.” As Gamasutra reports, Macquarie Securities’ Ben Schachter says that it’s outside speculation that’s knocking down EA’s stock price, which has dropped 30 percent since Nov. 4 last year, and while he acknowledges that sales for SWTOR might have been under expectations, EA still maintains that it’s among the fastest-growing MMOs ever in its first month.

Earlier this week, another analyst speculated that EA invested some $ 500 million to make SWTOR (a number that seems…inflated), but EA has said it only needs about 500,000 subscribers for the game to turn a profit.

Sounds like a lot of negative attention for SWTOR when the game is barely a month old and still seems to be performing admirably. Guess we’ll see next month after the first month’s subscription numbers are in.

Source: Gaming Today

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New Dead Island DLC Will Star A Villain

by Salat on January 16, 2012 · 0 comments

Who is Dead Island‘s Ryder White I wouldn’t know, because I stopped playing before he showed up in the game. But I’m told he’s a villain, and that he’s kind of not a nice guy. That’s what I hear, anyway.

The next batch of Dead Island DLC will give you several hours in Ryder White’s shoes, which will presumably tell you all about why he’s such a dick. Hooray for backstory!

This new DLC will arrive in the States on January 31 for a mere $ 10. $ 10 for “several hours.” That’s pretty good, right? Right, if you like Dead Island, anyway.

Source: Gaming Today

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Star Wars: The Old Republic — GameFront Impressions (Part 3)

by Salat on January 15, 2012 · 0 comments

Table of Contents
Ron Whitaker
Ben Richardson
C.J. Miozzi

The holiday season no doubt has you wondering whether or not to pick up the latest Star Wars MMORPG. To help you with that decision, we’ve publishing a three-part Impressions series that offers the opinions of a few GameFront writers on Star Wars: The Old Republic.

The article that follows continues to explore the TOR’s mid-level experience. Each writer will present his take on Flashpoints, Warzones, and conclude with a final assessment of the game. Keep reading to find out what we thought!

Ron Whitaker

Full disclosure: Played a Sith Warrior (Marauder) to Level 30

Previous MMO experience: WoW, RIFT, LotRO, DDO, WAR, and more.

Star Wars: The Old Republic is a game that has, quite honestly, surprised me. I played in the beta, and came away thinking that it would be a competent game, but a relatively uninspiring one. When the release date rolled around, I pulled on my reviewer’s hat and dove in, expecting much of the same. To my surprise, I found myself drawn into the game in a way that the beta didn’t prepare me for. Why? Well, let’s come back to that.

The first thing you should understand about The Old Republic is that it’s a Bioware RPG at heart. If you’ve played their games through the years, you’ll feel right at home here. In fact, the game feels like it could be a stellar singleplayer game much of the time. Sure, you can’t do the Heroic quests, Flashpoints, or PvP by yourself, but the vast majority of the game feels like you could strike out on your own and be just fine.

I’m not sure that’s entirely a good thing, though. After all, MMOs are all about community and groups. The main reason I played World of Warcraft as long as I did was that I was playing with an amazingly fun group of people along the way, and they kept the game exciting for me far longer than WoW itself did. Hopefully, the higher level content in ToR will bring people together in the same way.

Graphically, ToR captures a great aesthetic “feel” of Star Wars. Dromann Kaas just feels like a Sith planet. It’s somehow “right.” I don’t know exactly how to enunciate it except to say that you’ll know when you see it. Unfortunately, there are a ton of questions right now about just what Bioware’s doing with the high-res textures. To be honest, I’m not even sure they know at this point. They need to return a high-res option to players, as being able to bring your rig to its knees is a time-honored rite of PC passage.

Gameplay in ToR is about what you would expect. You activate skills with the click of a button, and chain multiple skills together to take out enemies. One thing that may catch MMO veterans off guard is the lack of an auto-attack. This is important to note, especially early on when not pressing buttons leads to your character standing still and getting pummeled. The combat is actually fun, with lightsaber attacks intermingling with Force powers to create a wide array of options to utilize. Plus, you don’t have to make the lightsaber sounds with your mouth anymore.

One thing I really appreciated was the way leveling zones were broken into planets. The break to return to your ship, do a couple of space missions (more on these later), and then head off to the next planet was a welcome one. It makes much more sense than the dramatically different terrains of the zones in other MMOs being separated by an imaginary line on an in-game map. However, Tatooine is a place you will want off of before you’re done there. My Sith Warrior wanted off there so badly that he felt like Luke Skywalker.

Space missions. I’m actually kind of torn here. The space missions were a blast at first, even though they’re basically just third-person rail shooters. Unfortunately, it seems that the number of missions is extremely limited, and you end up doing them over and over if you want to amass fleet commendations. You’ll also want to spend some time and credits upgrading your ship if you want to be successful in space. The missions still kind of neat, but only if you limit them to just breaking up the time between planets.

I’m not a big PvPer in MMOs, but the PvP in ToR was actually enjoyable. Partly that’s because it was just generally fun, but it’s also partly due to the fact that it’s very rewarding. Even if you’re stuck on a bad team or just unlucky, you’ll still earn rewards and experience for your efforts.

Crafting is one of my favorite new systems in ToR, mostly because you don’t have to deal with any of the tedium involved in it. No longer will you spend hours standing at a workbench to craft items. That’s what your companions are for! Need a bunch of crafting materials? Send a companion on a run! The fact that crafted gear is actually quite good is a bonus, but removing the feeling of tedious grinding from crafting is a masterstroke for Bioware.

All of these things are a part of what makes up ToR, but we haven’t touched on the biggest element of the game just yet: Story. It’s the story that makes come alive, and that’s what’s drawn me further into it than I would have thought possible. Why? I can’t really put a finger on it. It could be the voice acting. Having every quest interaction voice acted puts a value on that time that you almost feel compelled to respect. It could be watching my character slowly morph into the powerful, Dark Side weilding Sith Lord that he’s becoming. It could be that I’m just a huge Star Wars fan.

Any of these could be the reason, but I’m going to go with this: the story is compelling. Chasing around the galaxy to eliminate threats to my Sith Master? It meshes so well with what we expect from the Star Wars universe that it’s almost frightening. Bioware has given all the Star Wars fans out there (and there are a lot of them) a chance to live and take part in one of their favorite fictional experiences. That’s a powerful thing, and not one that you should scoff at.

Overall, ToR does a lot of things right. Sure, there are bugs, glitches and the like. Every MMO has them at launch. The high-res texture issue and the responses to it are also big issues. However, these issues shouldn’t keep you from playing SWToR, especially if you’re a Star Wars fan. It’s a technically competent game that runs pretty darn well on even older systems, and more importantly, it’s a lot of fun. It’s not going to re-imagine the way MMOs are played (except for the crafting changes, every MMO needs those), but it’s a great entry into the genre. It’s certainly going to be around for years to come, and will only get better as Bioware refines its systems. If you’re an MMO fan, or just a fan of Star Wars, odds are you’ll enjoy giving The Old Republic a try.

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Source: Gaming Today

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Star Marine: Infinite Ammo Review

by Salat on January 14, 2012 · 0 comments

Despite being a battle hardened elite soldier from the future, Arc exhibits many of the same innate flaws of most men. One in particular is the allure of the shortcut! That drive that all men have to prove to that we know best. Sure, it may not be on the map, but we know this [...]
Star Marine: Infinite Ammo Review is a post from: TouchGen

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