2011年12月28日星期三
Ice-T unboxes Gears of War 3 Xbox, Lancer
It's going down. Ice-T yo,福州担保公司, unboxing the limited edition Gears of War 3 Xbox bundle. That's right. Boom. Ahem. Rap star Ice-T voiced the character Griffin in the game,福州担保, which is probably why Epic lobbed him the swanky Xbox almost two weeks ahead of its September 20 launch. It's a 320GB black and red 360 with two custom-designed controllers priced at $399. The bundle also includes a copy of Gears of War 3, a wired headset and a download token for bonus game content, including the Infected Omen Weapon Pack and the Adam Fenix character for use in multiplayer.Also, the power and eject buttons have been customised with unique sounds from the "Gears of War" universe, which is possibly the best perk of all, but Ice doesn't show you that because he probably hasn't the foggiest. But hey, it's Ice-T so that's okay.He also unwraps an awesome full-size Lancer model. Yeah boy. Mike Jackson
PS3-60 Bethesda exec calls for single co
Bethesda Softworks game director Todd Howard has revealed that he's keen for the industry to adopt a one console as standard. Speaking to PSM3, Howard - also executive producer on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - was asked which one thing he would change about working in the games market. He responded by saying he feels it takes a lot of effort to create a game for multiple platforms and would like to see games follow the same path of DVDs and Blu-rays."I'd like there to be only one platform. It's a lot of work to make the games look good on every platform you're on,福州担保公司," said Howard."I often equate it to DVD or Blu-Rays. Once I've bought a DVD I can use it in my TV, in my computer, in my car,福州担保, here,福州贷款, whatever. And I think it would be good for gaming if it was like that," he added.The 'One-console future',福州担保公司, as it has come to be known, was famously put forward by Silicon Knights founder Dennis Dyack, who said it would be a "massive paradigm shift" that would lead to games becoming "better in quality, cheaper, and more widely available".However, while Dyack said it is an inevitability, Howard acknowledges it isn't necessarily a realistic future."They spend billions of dollars selling consoles at a loss for years, but then make the money back with games," he commented. "It's not like the industry is hurting, we're doing really well. But if I had one wish, you know, we would have better games for a single platform."Former SCEE president David Reeves told CVG last year that he could envisage a future in which Sony and Microsoft joined forces to create a single machine. Tamoor Hussain
Japan 3DS still on top, PS3 boost post-p
3DS remained the top-performing console in Japan during the week ended August 21, despite a significant sales decline. Having enjoyed a massive spike following a price cut earlier this month, weekly 3DS sales fell from 196,077 units to 105,639, although it's worth pointing out the total more than doubled second-placed PSP's sales figures.PS3 sales saw a boost following the introduction of a global price cut on August 17,福州贷款, up from 20,239 to 29,666,福州担保, Andriasang reports.Weekly hardware sales (previous week) 3DS: 105,639 (196,福州担保公司,077)PSP: 40,888 (40,福州担保公司,389)PS3: 29,666 (20,239)Wii: 18,256 (19,607)DSi LL: 4,329 (4,213)DSi: 3,585 (3,531)PS2: 1,789 (1,513)X360: 1,427 (1,576)DS Lite: 117 (90)PSP go: 13 (20)On the software chart, Everyone's Rhythm Heaven returned to the No.1 spot ahead of Monster Hunter Diary and Kirby Mass Attack.Weekly software sales (lifetime)01. Everyone's Rhythm Heaven (Wii, Nintendo) 48,190 (374,489) 02. Monster Hunter Diary Poka Poka Felyne Village G (PSP, Capcom) 40,997 (139,265) 03. Kirby Mass Attack (DS, Nintendo) 35,235 (162,323) 04. Super Dimensional Game Neptune mk2 (PS3, Compile Heart) 32,751 (New)05. Super Pokemon Rumble (3DS, Pokemon) 32,144 (118,437) 06. Growlanser IV Over Reloaded (PSP, Atlus) 21,896 (New)07. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of time 3D (3DS, Nintendo) 21,465 (335,540) 08. Wii Sports Resort (Wii, Nintendo): 20,969 (502,326) 09. Let's Make a J.League Pro Soccer Club! 7 Euro Plus (PSP, Sega) 17,727 (149,040) 10. Toriko Gourmet Survival! (PSP, Namco Bandai) 17,521 (108,550) Tom Ivan
2011年12月27日星期二
Minecraft 'Adventure Update' trailers rel
Minecraft players will receive another huge update this week in the form of the version 1.8 'Adventure Update', and we've got two videos of it below. The main premise is, of course, to get players wandering into the wide open world on an adventure to kill sheep and stuff.It'll also add new recipes, the ability to fly in a new Creative mode, a new unlimited item selection screen, new Mobs, new environments, new combat mechanics (charge hits, blocking), new farming options, a food system, new achievements and all manner of other stuff. The update will be out on September 8. The first video is a trailer, and the second a making-of video of sorts. Mike Jackson
Deus Ex Human Revolution Overhyped or wo
You've seen the monster review scores and a week of gold and black advertising has probably left you feeling a little bit queasy. But now that the critically acclaimed Deus Ex: Human Revolution is finally in your disc tray, we want to know what YOU think of the long-awaited and hugely hyped sci-fi reboot.Does Square Enix's RPG justify those 10/10 review scores plastered all over cyberspace? Does it live up the incredibly high expectations set by the original (which has been called 'The Best Game Ever')? Or is it just a bit overhyped?As always let us know in the comments section below and we'll pick out the best reader opinions for a follow-up article next week.Check out our full review round-up to see what everyone thinks of the reboot and our price round-up if you're interested in picking it up on the cheap. Andy Robinson
Fallen Earth F2P Interview
By Bryan King (Bryan), OnRPG JournalistThe competition in the F2P MMO industry just got a little bit hotter (or should I say, deadlier? Haha.. ha… *clears throat*), with the F2P transition of Fallen Earth. Originally developed by a section of the Icarus Studios team (now incorporated under GamersFirst’s Reloaded Productions), Fallen Earth provides players with a post-apocalyptic world with a mass variety of weapons, vehicles, and powers under their control. I had the chance to sit down with Joseph Willmon, associate games director for GamersFirst and Marie Croall, lead designer of Fallen Earth to speak about Fallen Earth’s transition to F2P, upcoming content, and the state of the game past, present, and future. Marie Croall: I’m the Lead Designer for Reloaded Productions, Cary. I’ve been the Lead Designer for Fallen Earth since its days with Icarus, and continue to be in-charge of all game development, features, gameplay, and source materials.Joseph Willmon: I’m the Associate Game Director for GamersFirst, and among many other job duties I’m responsible for the smooth integration of Fallen Earth into our Free2Play game catalogue. I also work very closely Marie and her team on game balance, fair monetization, and community relations.Marie Croall: Sure. Fallen Earth is a post-apocalyptic sandbox MMO. Players take on the role of a clone in the year 2156 struggling to survive in a world ravaged by a global pandemic and nuclear war. The game features a class-free system and a completely open-world environment of more than 1,000 square kilometers. Because the game uses a skills rather than levels, there are near-infinite choices to mix skills, attributes, and mutations. More than 95 percent of the game’s items, armor, weapons and transportation are player-crafted. The game also has a unique FPS/MMO hybrid combat system that is one-of-a-kind in the MMO landscape.Joseph Willmon: The community response was pretty welcoming, actually. True, there was a brief moment of anxiety between the announcement of Free2Play and when we actually revealed the details of how the monetization would be handled, but that’s to be expected with such a large change. Once we put up the details of the new ways Premium Subscriptions would be handled, the conversation sort of moved on past the payment model and just got right back to talking about the game!Regarding how the change in business model came about, we’re always looking for opportunities to find gameplay-rich, community driven games like Fallen Earth. When we started talking to Icarus about a possible partnership to help off-load their overhead costs, we ended up diving deep into the game and really liked what we saw. The talks naturally progressed to acquisition, and evolving the business model to Free2Play, which we have a ton of experience with but which is only now starting to enjoy popularity.Marie Croall: Anyone who’s ever played Fallen Earth can tell you that it’s a unique and fun experience. And while the traditional MMO subscription model did get us a great, small hard-core audience, the facts are that we couldn’t get enough players past the cost of the game to populate the world. The world is so huge that the game really thrives with a large-volume audience. GamersFirst has the experience in the Free2Play market and wanted the title, so here we are!Joseph Willmon: Sure. The details of the Premium Subscriptions can be found at our website (http://www.gamersfirst.com/fallenearth/?q=premium-subscriptions,) but here’s the breakdown: We have one free rank (Scavenger) and three subscription ranks named Survivalist, Wastelander and Commander. As with all GamersFirst titles, free players are not restricted on content or levels; they can go everywhere and do everything, including joining and creating clans, trading, using the auction house and mail system, travel the whole map, do all quests, and run all instances. There is a limit on how much in-game currency (chips) a player who has never paid can amass (to limit gold farming; this goes away if you ever pay), and an eight hour per-day crafting limit. All three levels of the subscriptions open these up and provide quality of life upgrades, such as more character slots, faster experience gains, faster crafting, faster harvesting, more Veteran Reward Points, faction reputation gains and the like. The top subscription tier, the Commander, also comes with a cool feature call the Commander Aura.We’re also planning on mirroring items found in the marketplace on in-game Reward Merchants as well, so if you have a subscription you can pick some of these items up in the game without having to spend additional money.Marie Croall: Yeah, the Commander Aura is really cool. It extends some of the Commander’s in-game benefits to everyone in the Commander’s group, including free players. The Aura stacks with other Commanders in the group, so if you have, say, three Commanders in a group, then you’ll see a 15 percent increase on all the stats a Premium Subscription increases (EXP gain, faction gain, etc). This is especially beneficial to groups of players who have friends who can’t afford a subscription, since they can effectively subsidize their free friends’ experience.Joseph Willmon: Paying players support the game for everyone, and we wanted to find a literal way to project this into the game. The players that go for Commander are the ones who are going out of their way to take care of their friends and allies; these are the same players that pay for Vent servers, host websites, or rent clan-servers in FPSes. As we work to make the game successful and further development without resorting to selling things that trade on the gameplay value, it seemed obvious to allow these players the opportunity to help us and their friends out at the same time.Marie Croall: Kind of a lot, now that I think about it! We’ve updated the new player experience to reduce the sort of dizzying-confusion that can result in starting out in a sandbox MMO, guiding new players to important questlines and learning valuable skills to survive in the wasteland. With July’s Alpha County expansion we raised the level cap to 55, introduced new skill-lines and abilities, new enemies, quests, and added a whole new section for players to quest and discover. Then there’s Fast Travel – a way to unlock travel waypoints to help navigate Fallen Earth’s massive world—unlockable Wardrobe slots that let players customize their appearance, and Progress Towns, which are towns that players must capture and hold from waves of hostile NPCs, building up defenses and extending the passive benefits the towns offer. It’s sort of like bringing the raid to the player, rather than sending the player to the raid. Of course there’s the new Chopper and the upcoming World Event system.Marie Croall: More supportive than not! We are doing some pretty extensive updates to fundamental gameplay systems players have gotten used to, so there’s some apprehension, but they’re updates that ultimately make the game more awesome by several orders of magnitude. It’s fantastic watching the realization set in that these changes help make Fallen Earth more of a virtual world than a standard linear MMO, and seeing how excited players are getting about that.Marie Croall: The World Event system is us making good on our goal of making Fallen Earth the premiere Free2Play sandbox MMO. World Events are dynamically generated events that happen at random all around the world, offering players who participate the opportunity to not only experience more of the world of Fallen Earth, but learn helpful skills, earn chips, and gain valuable, rare resources. World Events come in all sorts of different flavors, so there’s stuff there for PvP players, PvE players, crafters, and roleplayers. We’re keeping sort of quiet about what the actual events are because we want everyone to feel that rush of exploring something new, but as they happen you’ll definitely start to hear about them! Joseph Willmon: I also want to point out that this system is not just for higher levels. By making the game more sandboxy, we’re adding in new systems that everyone can enjoy rather than just layering content onto the end of the game. There’s a lot of great stuff here, and when you see your first World Event pop up on the map, you should definitely go check it out!Marie Croall: The short answer is yes, absolutely; our core focus with the transition to Free2Play is introducing more reasons for players to both compete and cooperate. We are currently working on Faction Territory Control, geared specifically toward letting PvP players capture and hold territory, paving the way for PvE players to exploit the controlled territory. There’s more coming, of course, but this is a huge step in that direction.Marie Croall: We’re always looking for way to draw the RP fan base into every feature we do. We want every player to feel the same immersion that the RPers bring to the community. Part of the incentive behind releasing the new unlockable Wardrobe Slots was to allow players to customize their appearance to be in accord with the character they want to roleplay as, extending that feeling to everyone in the wasteland.Joseph Willmon: Like I mentioned before, we’re not segregating our free players from Premium subscribers, and we’re not limiting them with level caps. We looked carefully at what options we had available to us when creating the subscriptions, and ended-up focusing on things like crafting, leveling – things that make life easier for subscribers rather than just giving direct combat advantages. We’re not offering weapons, armor, resources, or crafted goods on our cash shop, so that’s the main pillar of our paid vs. unpaid balance. Additionally, as mentioned above, since players who opt for the Commander Premium Subscription route can project some of their benefits onto others, it’s still possible to get a leg up without having to pay anything.Marie Croall: Joe pretty much nailed it. We’ve worked every heard of the last two years to create a game where almost everything is put in the hands of the player, and we’re extremely careful not to mess that up with the change to Free2Play.Marie Croall: Rather than one or two single features, I think what separates fallen earth is how everything is put together. We have a large open world for players to truly find their niche in. Joseph Willmon: Man, so much! What other Free2Play game has twitch-based third-person combat in a massive seamless world with the ability to craft everything while giving you the opportunity to really define your character from stats to appearance? That was a mouthful, but you get the point!Marie Croall: It would be impossible for me to pick one! Although in game I do find myself harvesting and crafting more than anything else. I love being able to make everything I need to get by, from food to ammo. Joseph Willmon: As someone who has always been into the post-apocalypse setting, for all of Fallen Earth’s awesome systems, I’m a huge fan of the world and the writing. Marie’s team really nailed it here, and I get a huge kick out of making my way through the various settlements and towns, meeting these new personalities and getting caught up in their unique storylines. My favorite NPC is this military guy with a crew cut and armor who gives out Enforcer missions. When you talk to him he says out loud “I give out more missions before 9 am than most people do all day.” Then there was the time I accidentally ran into the Chupacabras…Joseph Willmon: If you’re a vet, definitely come back and check out your Chopper! The world feels so much more alive now than it ever has before, and if you, like me, appreciate Fallen Earth for the opportunity to participate in this living, breathing post-apocalypse, well…we’re waiting to welcome you home!Marie Croall: The chopper is really cool, but new players have so much to experience that you just don’t find in other games. Ever had a cockroach for a pet? Put an ATV together with your bare hands? Tested dangerous new medications on unwitting specimens? Protected a town from raiders with your group? Explored a junk castle? Strapped a bomb to an ATV and driven into the heart of the Hoover dam just to make a statement? All of this is and more is waiting for you to check it out!Marie Croall: Beyond Faction Territory Control, I can’t really get into specifics. I can say that we’ll look to make the crafting and harvesting of materials more interesting or…. industrial I guess. We also are planning more PvP content and continue on our idea of making PvP and factions affect the world in more dramatic ways. I really can’t get into details because PR has installed kill-switches into our collars if we say too much!Marie Croall: I suggest you try it out; it’s free after all! Joseph Willmon: What she said!OnRPG: Thank you so much for your time! If you want to find other players to join you in your wasteland trials, be sure to check out OnRPG's active forum thread to share your IGN and meet up with other members of our community.
2011年12月26日星期一
Rambo The Video Game coming to PS3, 360
"God didn't make Rambo. I made him." That might be true, Trautman. But now a video game developer's getting in on the act. According to trade bible MCV, a Rambo game will be coming to Xbox 360, PC and PS3 next year from UK publisher Reef Entertainment.The firm has secured the rights from movie company StudioCanal, and includes the option to develop and release a series of titles based on the Sly Stallone films.The first game, Rambo - which will be based on the first Rambo trilogy - is scheduled for release in the fourth quarter of 2012. A long wait for a hero."With the success of the most recent Rambo film, and an international appetite for action movies with Expendables 2 scheduled for release next summer, we felt now was a good time to do something special with this licence," said Reef Entertainment CEO Peter Rezon.Craig Lewis, commercial director at Reef added: "We have big ambitions for Reef and the Rambo IP is the first step in establishing us as a worldwide player."Rambo will be a triple-A title on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC and will capture the gritty atmosphere and full-on action which made the Rambo movies so successful." Tim Ingham
Harvest Moon Grand Bazaar screenshots tr
Rising Star Games has released a new batch of screenshots from Harvest Moon DS: Grand Bazaar. Our US readers might be thinking, "Why would they do that for a game released over a year ago?" If you're Japan that would be over two-and-a-half years ago. It's because the game's only just preparing for its UK release. Rising Star Games finally picked up UK publishing rights in March 2011 - more than two years after the game's Japanese debut. In the game, players raise animals, harvest crops, craft rare delicacies, and then sell their wares at their shop in an effort to revitalise a once thriving but now desolate town bazaar.It'll be out in UK, at long last, on September 30. Mike Jackson
Kevin Butler's first new campaign Resist
Kevin Butler's released his first promo video since his fictional return to his fictional role as fictional Sony VP of Whatever.In the video, which lacks somewhat in funnies, sees him leading the resistance as gamers prepare to take on the Chimera in Insomniac Games' latest shooter, Resistance 3.For a more substantial look at the game check out this recent trailer showing off enemy weaponry.Resistance 3 is out in UK this Friday, and tomorrow in US. Mike Jackson
PS3 CHART LA Noire rises up the ranks
Call of Juarez: The Cartel is numero uno on the official UK PlayStation 3 sales chart for the second week in a row. Dirt 3 moves up two places to No.2 ahead of LA Noire, which climbs an impressive nine spots from No.12 to No.3.Call of Duty: Black Ops is at No.4, LittleBigPlanet 2 at No.5 and InFamous 2 at No.6.Movie tie-in Cars 2 makes its top ten debut at No.7, Sniper: Ghost Warrior is at No.8, while Fight Night Champion and Harry Potter: The Deathly Hallows Part 2 round off the top ten.GfK/Chart-Track PS3 Top 10 (week ending July 30):01. Call of Juarez: The Cartel (Ubisoft)02. Dirt 3 (Codemasters) 03. LA Noire (Take 2)04. Call of Duty: Black Ops (Activision)05. LittleBigPlanet 2 (Sony)06. InFamous 2 (Sony)07. Cars 2 (Disney)08. Sniper: Ghost Warrior (City Interactive)09. Fight Night Champion (EA)10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (EA)Check out the official UK All Formats games chart here.Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2011 UKIE Ltd
PSN to be Fully Restored by the End of
Sony just sent out a quick update letting customers know that "all PlayStation Network services" should be back up and running by the end of today, June 2. That's for everywhere except Japan, Hong Kong and Korea, that is. [Sony]
Video Watch real-life Call of Duty map g
As you might've noticed by the abundance of army men holding guns on the site this weekend,防近视笔, Activision held a rather large Modern Warfare-themed event last week called Call of Duty XP.As part of the treasure trove of attractions at the event,防近视眼笔, the publisher gave fans - and video game writers - the opportunity to take on a real-life version of Modern Warfare 2 Spec-Ops mission The Pit.In the video below, you can watch a man Veteran it. While the paintball gun he uses can't be found in-game, he clearly smashes the 35 second challenge time required to earn three stars. Watch in HD No comments yet, be the first! In case you missed the Call of Duty XP madness, stick your eyes on the first official Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer details, plus our Modern Warfare 3 hands-on from Los Angeles. For the word-shy, we've also posted video interviews on Call of Duty Elite and Modern Warfare 3 itself. Andy Robinson
2011年12月22日星期四
Heroes of Newerth F2P ReReview
Heroes of Newerth: F2P ReReview By Mohammad Abubakr, OnRPG JournalistHeroes of Newerth is a multiplayer online battle arena by S2Games for Windows, Mac and Linux. It aims to provide an improved version of the Warcraft III mod Defence of the Ancients by allowing the game to run on its own engine. Since the game is not just a mod anymore the developers can tweak it to their liking and not have to worry about the restrictions placed upon the modding community.The game does not try to innovate and change how DotA was played. In simplest terms, HoN is DotA with improved graphics and the addition of many needed features. This means that DotA players will not have a hard time getting into the game and will only need to relearn names of items and heroes. S2Games does a good job providing the HoN equivalents on their wiki page. Although most of the game is exactly like DotA some of the features, heroes and items are unique to HoN. Since DotA was just a mod for Warcraft III, the developers were unable to add in features such as the ability to reconnect and improved graphics. HoN has solved these issues by allowing user reconnection and providing improved graphics. The graphics are not amazing compared to today's standards but are a big improvement from DotA graphics.It also offers a ranking and matchmaking system that players can use to join matches and compete. Your match making rating either increases or decreases depending on the result of the match. It is not affected by your individual performance and only relies on final team outcome. The rating does not change by a set amount but depends on your opponents. A rookie against a top player will receive more points than if the rookie was against another rookie.All your stats such as kills, deaths and assists are recorded and displayed on your player profile. This allows players to track their progress but also allows S2Games to keep track of leavers. DotA players could easily get away with leaving matches midway but in HoN users are punished for leaving. If your leave percentage gets too high you are only able to play in matches allowing leavers until you lower your percentage. I really love this system because just one disconnected player can ruin the entire game.Free players do have some restrictions placed upon them. A free player cannot play all of the game modes unless they have tokens which may be purchased from the shop. S2Games claims that this token system was put into place to ensure teams, which include free to play players, do not provide disadvantages to the team just because they do not have the counter-pick hero available. Tokens allow the player to choose any hero even if they do not own it. A token is consumed every game unless you are playing the all pick mode. Legacy players, players which previously bought the game, have unlimited tokens.Free to play players may become verified upon hitting level five or purchasing gold coins. The verified system lets players decide if they want to be matched up with newer players or not. It reduces the complaints from veteran players about new F2P noobs. Once you become verified you also receive three free tokens.The concept of HoN is very simple: control your chosen hero to destroy the opposing team's main building. Each team can be formed of up to five players and no team is allowed to select duplicate heroes. Each hero gains experience by killing creeps or heroes. The creeps of each faction, Hellbourne and Legion, continuously battle to try and take down towers and award gold to the player landing the last hit on them. You may attack your own team to deny experience and gold from the enemy or to control how the lane is pushed. Buildings may only be attacked if they are under 10% health to prevent abuse of the denying system. Some heroes can deny kills by using self damaging spells.While it seems very simple on paper, the game can be quite overwhelming with its large variety of heroes, items and game play mechanics. The community does not help solve this problem as it can be quite hard to find nice and helpful players in the MOBA genre. You will get yelled at for your mistakes to the point where you really do not want to play. Do not give up as this genre is very rewarding once you get past the steep learning curve.As of today there are 88 heroes split between the two factions Hellbourne and Legion. No player is allowed to select duplicate heroes but may pick from either faction in the all pick mode. There are various modes available such as random picks and draft mode which allows hero bans. Each mode has a casual mode available that makes the game easier to play by offering changes such as no loss of gold on death.The selection of free heroes rotates weekly and offers fifteen new choices for players. The in game shop allows players to purchase their favourite heroes with either silver or gold coins. Silver coins can be obtained simply by playing while gold coins can only be obtained with cash. The prices of heroes range between 100-400 silver coins on average and may take a while to get as you receive 4-10 coins per game which usually lasts around 40 minutes. Players that purchased HoN before it went F2P receive all current and upcoming heroes for free but must purchase early access to new heroes unless they want to wait. This early access feature is not liked by the B2P community of HoN because it may give players with money an advantage over other players.The shop also offers other items such as alternate hero skins and announcer packs which are all purchasable with silver or gold coins. Some premium items feature ridiculous prices for silver coins and must be purchased with gold coins unless you save up coins for a long time.The standard map is split into three lanes with three towers for each faction. Behind the third tower lies the melee and ranged barracks. Once these have been destroyed the creeps in that lane will grow stronger for the faction that killed the barracks. All of the lanes lead towards the main building which is protected by two more turrets.In between the three lanes there is the jungle. The jungle is split into two areas for both factions which spawn either neutral creeps which are easier to kill or legendary creeps which are harder to kill but provide greater EXP and gold. The normal setup for a team is two champions for top and bottom lane and a solo champion in the middle but a tri-lane or jungling setup is very viable.A river divides the two jungles and spawns a rune after a set time interval at either the top or bottom of the river. These runes offer heroes buffs such as double damage or invisibility. In DotA the runes spawn at the same time as the creeps but it has been changed in HoN to discourage level one rune fights.The bottom of the river is also the location of the boss monster Kongor. Kongor provides teams with gold, experience and an item drop. The item can be looted by any hero and gives the holder the ability to instantly revive upon death. The item does disappear after some time so it is wise to put it to good use.The secret shops have been replaced with observatories which only sell wards. All items can be bought from the main shop from your base. The shop was not very user friendly for new players but the HoN 2.0 patch has fixed this issue. Now the shop is organized into nice categories and even features built in guides. The guides are submitted by the community and provide newer players with suggestions for items, skill builds and tips for their selected hero.HoN has done a good job offering DotA with new features, engine and graphics. Due to the addition of unique heroes the metagame is different from DotA and can provide more viable play styles for players.Although the game can be very overwhelming for newer players, I advise you to continue learning about the game because once you get past the steep learning the game can be a lot of fun.Graphics: 3/5Controls: 4/5Features: 3/5Customization: 5/5Community: 2/5
Deus Ex Human Revolution dev diary shows
Square Enix has released a new developer diary for Eidos Montreal's Deus Ex: Human Revolution focusing on stealth gameplay. As lovers of all things Metal Gear Solid and Splinter Cell this style of combat is definitely piquing our interest. As you'll see in the developer diary below, hero Adam Jensen can be kitted up to the teeth with augmentations that increase his prowess when out of sight. If you want more Deus Ex footage, check out another of the 'Four Pillars of gameplay' movies.
Dead Island A Zombie Getaway
By Jackson Leung (Mepath), OnRPG Tech WizardIt was Sunday night. My brother and I decided to go to our usual gaming stop; a cyber-cafe on the outskirts of town. It seems like those are the only places you can find them anymore. We were brimming with excitement over this new zombie game called Dead Island. It wasn't long before we fired the game up and assumed our digital identities.I became Xian Mei, the daughter of a Hong Kong inspector, smart, lethal, and deadly. Who, due to the unfortunate circumstance of being a female in a male dominated society, had her talents squandered by being sent to this island resort to observe for criminal activity. Curses.My brother assumed the identity of Sam B. An African American rap star (yes, he's American, the game said he grew up in New Orleans).It was business as usual, I was partying it up at the resort. After a hard night of partying, I washed down some pills with my liquor and passed out on my bed.I woke up the next morning, did my routine, and on the way out, there was something definitely wrong. The hotel's halls were littered with suitcases. Some of these suitcases were randomly dispersed across the floor. Some of these suitcases were piled on top of each other, and some of these suitcases were made into a wall, but for what? I pondered this question as I emptied the suitcases of their contents into my pockets-of-infinite-storage.It was weird, there were hotel rooms left open, blood stains everywhere, and even dead bodies. It must have been some wild party. It was weird, but I was late for work. I took the elevators down, when suddenly; it came to an abrupt stop. The power went out. A sound. The elevator started plummeting down. The doors flew open, and I saw, a person lying on the floor. He was surrounded by people with gray, ashy skin, their bodies showing wounds that by any medical standards were lethal. Seconds later, I noticed that they had said man's intestines in their hands, and in their mouths. At the same moment, these cannibals took great interest to me, and started running towards me. Not a weapon in hand, stuck inside an elevator, and seeing these hoards of blood-thirsty gray people running towards me. I thought it was the end, I'm too young and beautiful to die; tear.The elevator door slammed shut, another sudden drop, and the lights came back on. A voice from the camera offered help. They said I had to run into some maintenance room and obtain a weapon. It's the only way I'm going to live. Shortly afterwards, the elevator opened, and I was at the lobby.I don't know where the maintenance room was, but I'm going to get there quick. Right after I empty these suitcases I found of their contents. But I didn't have enough time for that. It wasn't long until these gray people, which I'll call zombies, took notice of me. I ran as fast as I could, I saw a door leading to a room that didn't look like a hotel room. I made a beeline for it. I ran in front of the door, and then I dove inside.When I came to, I was surrounded by people who were about to knock my head off with a bat. It wasn't until I proved to them that I was capable of coherent thinking that they left me alone. Apparently, I am one of the few people who are immune to the virus, and one of the few people that can be bitten, and not show the same symptoms as everyone else. Sam B is another person with this mixed blessing. The once tropical paradise is now a living zombie nightmare.Together Sam and I took our first steps out into the world of Dead Island. Taking on requests by the islanders in hopes that we can help obtain and accomplish whatever they need to help us get off the island. It wasn't long before Sam and I were bashing in zombie skulls with whatever we could get our hands on. We had to resort to the oars from a boat, a shovel stabbed into the sand, and a kitchen knife pulled fresh from a downed zombie just to name a few of our odd ball weapons. Of course the zombie waves were endless and these primitive weapons wore out to a state of uselessness quickly.We've recovered access cards, rescued wives, recovered medicine, salvaged car parts, and whenever we had a moment of rest, we'd improve our weapons. Whenever we came across some tools left out on some table, we'd use them to strengthen our weapons. Anything even resembling a weapon would quickly fall into our infinite-pockets!We were on the way to restore the lighthouse power generator so that ships out at see can come to our rescue when we heard the sound we both dreaded the most. "Sorry guys, we're now closing. Please log out. I hope guys had fun." We grudgingly logged off the computers and proceeded home, excitedly sharing our thoughts of the game. We will definitely be playing this game again, in fact, I already bought two copies for our home PCs!I am a huge zombie genre fan. So this review reflects mainly my opinion, and will be biased. I have a strong preference for George A. Romero zombie films and Dead Island sucked me into a world just like Romero would have imagined.This game is like a mix of Dead Rising, Dead Rising 2, Left 4 Dead, Resident Evil, and Grand Theft Auto. It had the need to obtain weapons, these weapons also get worn down and break, just like Dead Rising. It had the ability to mess with your weapons, just like Dead Rising 2. It had the zombies chasing you like Left 4 Dead, but unlike left 4 dead, avoided the campy unrealistic occurrence of sudden hordes of zombies arriving. You kind of have venture into areas where zombies are located for them to take notice of you, and then the chasing starts. Finally, there's the atmosphere of Resident Evil. You don't feel like you're going to die any time soon, but you're always concerned that something might kill you. There might be something around the corner, behind that bush, behind you! At the same time, not only are you scared of being killed, you're scared of wasting your precious weapon's durability on killing the damn thing. Finally it resembles GTA in that you can steal and take whatever you need to survive with little worry of legal repercussions.I loved everything about this game, and in my book, this is a must play game for any zombie fan. It's a good single player game, but to get the full experience you MUST play it with friends. Some people say that this game brings nothing special to the table, but really, I'm not sure if there has been another zombie-genre game that has fulfilled this zombie-fan-gamer's desires any better. Dead Rising was great when it came out, Left 4 Dead was intense, and Resident Evil kept me awake at night, but this game has a whole different feel altogether! I feel like I've been on that island, and I've slain those zombies, and I desperately need to get back to the game so that Xian and Sam can leave that island! They need me!The Verdict: Play me now (10/10)* zombies* visuals* sound*zombie bros* atmosphere* realism* open-world environment*zombie room service* their first trailer* the list goes on...* I can't really think of any. Perhaps if the graphics were more realistic, then when that day comes where I finally bash my computer screen in after losing a match of Starcraft, I could use Dead Island as a reactionary excuse.I'm always lurking the forums and redesigning OnRPG. Feel free to say hi.