Rovio teases first new IP since Angry Birds

Yesterday the creator of Angry Birds, Rovio released a teaser trailer for their newest IP Amazing Alex. The trailer for this game shows no game play but the website has lots of information about the game. From what the website says the basis of this game is to build your own levels that have  creative solutions for your friends to solve.


When building these levels, you have the choice of 35 different interactive objects to use to make it as challenging as you like. Within the main game there is 100 challenging levels, that you must complete solutions for that being said Rovio encourages you to do really creative solutions. Rovio has not yet set a release date for their latest IP but on the trailer it say's "soon". This game will be launching on iPhone, Android and iPad.

Anime Spotlight: Hiiro No Kakera

Continuing on with my Springtime Anime Spotlights, with the season finale having just premiered I thought I'd share my thoughts thus far, on this series - Hiiro No Kakera.

Brief Summary
Based on a Japanese Visual Novel of the same name, released exclusively on the Playstation 2, this series follows a girl by the name of Tamaki Kasuga who after coming to stay at her grandmas realizes she's descended from the Tamayori princess blood line. Since she has this blood in her she becomes responsible, along side her five guardians that are sworn to protect her, for keeping the Onikimaru sealed. The Onikimaru being an extremely powerful sword. At the same time there is a group called the Logos that are trying to unleash the Onikimaru, which if accomplished would destroy the world.

Pros
The biggest pro of Hiiro No Kakera that I've found, is that its got an extremely wide range of content. There's lots of fighting scenes, there's a lot of mystery, a lot of supernatural elements, and there's even some mild romance. Being set in Rural Japan, there's also plenty of nice landscape shots, and the animation in general is quite nice. Nothing special, but nice nonetheless.

Cons
To me the biggest con would be the lack of character development and romance especially in the early episodes. Although this could be seen as a benefit because it makes way for more fighting, without the proper development of characters the fighting seems hollow. In the series defence the amount of character and romantic development does pick up around episode 10, but that doesn't help the first nine. There's also a number of background characters who seem to be important, but who don't get any air time, like Tamaki's highschool friend Kiyono. They could be saving the development of these characters for season 2 though.

Bottom Line
Even though there could have been more character development in the early episodes, near the end of the season it does step it up, and hopefully the second season continues in the same way. Besides this minor flaw, Hiiro No Kakera is a very good show, with lots of entertaining fight scenes and interestingly mysterious content. There's even a few laughs (pic Related).

Company of Heroes 2 First trailer

Today Relic Entertainment released the first trailer for their upcoming game Company of Heroes 2. This game is set to be released in 2013. The trailer features no footage of game play. All it features is CGI effects the lack of game play is disappointing. Along with this trailer they also released two new screenshot's of the game which you can see down below.





Pokémon Black 2 White 2: The Shiny Situation

As many of you know the Black 2 and White 2 games have released in Japan, now we all get to see what these games entail.  We are bombarded by new changes that are both quite interesting or even revolting.  What we take away from the new additions will transfer over to new games, new generations and shape the way we view the series.

Something of interest are the nature of shiny Pokémon in these two new games.  These certain Pokémon have always been a rarity since their inclusion in Gen 2, a prestigious achievement for any player that caught one legitimately.

Now there are two items that will influence the amount of shinies people have.  The first item is the Shining Charm, directly influencing the the encounter rate of Shiny Pokémon.  While we don't know the mathematics behind the odd increase it is obviously safe to assume that this item will decrease the value of a shiny since there is the possibility of flooding the market with them.  The second one, while not directly ties to shinies will still help increase the rate at which people acquire such Pokémon.  This item is called the Round Charm and it increases the amount of eggs which the daycare man finds.  This coupled with the Musada method will no doubt help people get their favorite shiny.

Maybe I'm being to traditional in my thinking that shinies should be a large rarity but I'm not excited for the influx of people on the Wi-Fi trade service showing off their shinies asking for lvl 1 Zekroms.  Stay tuned for more news and opinions regarding these two games.

Darksiders 2 Wii U Box art Leaked

Hello there folks, Atzunew here with some small news.  Recently Amazon Germany put up the following image up for pre order of Darksider 2.  It looks nice but the news comes from the fact that this is the first look at Wii U box art.  Overall the design looks very similar to the Wii's, something that I wish they changed up just like how they changed the box art style with the DS and 3DS boxes.

This could just be a very nice mock-up but it would be quite a bit to do given the quality of it, as well as the official "Licenced by Nintendo" symbol, something they can't legally put on mock-ups.


Guild Wars 2 Launch Date August 28th 2012

Great news readers, today on the ArenaNet official blog they announced that Guild Wars 2 will be launching on August 28th 2012! If you pre-purchased you get access to the game August 25th 2012!

The community's reaction to this event is insane players have been waiting  for ~ 5 years for this game to get a release date! This blog post on ArenaNet's site they released the latest trailer for Guild Wars 2 that looks amazing!


Earlier this year I told you that 2012 would be the Year of the Dragon, and that the next few betas would help us nail down our actual launch date. Well, after the results of our latest stress test, I’m happy to announce that we’re ready to nail down that date.

Guild Wars 2 will officially launch on Tuesday, August 28th.

This is an incredibly momentous day for the studio and for me personally. This journey began in 2007 when we first announced that we were beginning work on Guild Wars 2 and that you wouldn’t be hearing from us for a while. Then in 2010 we unveiled our manifesto for Guild Wars 2: a living breathing online world that challenges convention, that’s designed for fun instead of grind, and that brings social interaction to a new level in an online world.

Through all the long hours and hard decisions, we were bolstered by the knowledge that we were not in this alone. All along you’ve been there for us, cheering us on, supporting us when we needed it, testing early versions of the game, and above all, giving us your honest feedback every step of the way. Guild Wars 2 is a better game for all of the work that our community has put in.

Now that we’re just two months away from launch, we’ll spend our remaining time optimizing, polishing, and balancing the game, to ensure that we provide you with the best launch-day experience we possibly can.

To this end, I’m excited to announce that our next and final Beta Weekend Event is planned for July 20-22.

These are exciting times; we’re on the cusp of a new era in online roleplaying games, and we’re glad you’re on this journey with us.

We’ll see you in-game.

Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut Coming June 26th

Now that most of us have played through Mass Effect 3 and have either been busy with multiplayer, sobbing over the ending, or completely raging over how Bioware and EA screwed up - both companies are now completing their promise of an extended cut that players will be able to enjoy on June 26th on Xbox Live, PSN, and Origin for free.

Here are some of the important points that Bioware has discussed regarding this DLC:

How large is the Extended Cut?
The Extended Cut requires roughly 1.9 gigabytes of storage.

How do I get the Extended Cut?
The Extended Cut can be downloaded from Xbox LIVE, Origin on PC, and PlayStation Network at no additional cost.

What is included in the Extended Cut?
The Extended Cut expands on the endings of Mass Effect 3 through additional scenes and epilogue sequences. It provides more of the answers and closure that players have been asking for. It gives a sense of what the future holds as a result of the decisions made throughout the series. And it shows greater detail in the successes or failures based on how players achieved their endings.

Does the Extended Cut change the endings?
The Extended Cut is an expansion of the original endings to Mass Effect 3. It does not fundamentally change the endings, but rather it expands on the meaning of the original endings, and reveals greater detail on the impact of player decisions.

What save game should I load to play the Extended Cut?
[SPOILERS] To experience the Extended Cut, load a save game from before the attack on the Cerberus Base and play through to the end of the game. The Extended Cut endings will differ depending on choices made throughout the Mass Effect series, so multiple playthroughs with a variety of different decisions will be required to experience the variety of possibilities offered by the new content.

What do you think of this new content so far?  I'll probably just catch it on Youtube as I don't want to replay through Kai Leng and Banshee hell again. Stay tuned for more information regarding this DLC pack.

Nintendo 3DS XL and More Shown off on Nintendo Direct

Last night was surely a late one for many Nintendo fans, with a new Nintendo Direct streaming live at midnight eastern time. It was full of great information and videos. And while much of it has been seen before there were some 'surprises' including of course, the Nintendo 3DS XL:

Nintendo 3DS XL
90% larger screen than original 3DS
Updated form factor (rounded)
Better battery life
Will launch in red and blue colors
Bundled with a 4GB SD card
MSRP of $199.99, releasing August 19th
The 4GB SD card (compared to the 3DS' 2GB will allow Nintendo to push downloading full games from the eShop even more, starting with New Super Mario Bros. 2 on the eShop August 19th, the same day as the 3DS XL's launch.

Pics
Nintendo also showed off a long line-up of games coming to the 3DS before the year is over, including:
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
Skylander Giants
Adventure Time
Lego The lord of the Rings
Scribblenauts Unlimited
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
Kingdom Hearts has a demo available right now in the eShop, so be sure to check it out!

Some other games were given new details including release dates:

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask (3DS)
Will be coming to North America November 1st
Downloadable puzzles available every day for a year (FREE)
Super Smash Bros. 3D
Will be a partnered effort between Nintendo and Namco Bandai, including Sakurai
Started development after the completion of Kid Icarus: Uprising
Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition (Wii)
6 classic Kirby games
Includes soundtrack and collectible book
New Super Mario Bros 2
Releasing August 19th
Coin rush mode: 1 life, compete with friends over StreetPass
Full local co-op though enitre game
Many new items to get you more coins!
Fire Emblem
Coming in 2013

Nintendo will also begin to move into more DLC, including paid add-on content. Coin rush stages will be available for purchase for NSMB2 and Fire Emblem will also have paid DLC available.

Also announced were what 3DS users are to expect as to specific features while playing the DS games Pokemon Black 2/White 2. Players who have bought the upcoming eShop game Pokemon Dream Radar will be able to transfer their caught Pokemon to Black/White 2. Also to look forward to are many new and reduced price Virtual Console games coming to the eShop, starting today with Super Mario Land for $2.99.

Finally, in Japan the Nintedo Direct also seems to have shown off the latest Animal crossing game coming to the 3DS. You can check out that footage here, and the entire North Amierca Nintendo Direct below:

What was your favorite announcement? What did I miss? Let us know in the comments below!

Nintendo Direct June 21st Live Blog

AnythingGeek's very first live blog is below. We will follow the Nintendo Direct event as it is streamed live at 12AM EST, while taking your comments! Expect more info on the future of the Wii, DS, and 3DS.

Nintendo Direct Tonight: Wii U Release Date, New Zelda Remake?

Today we got word of a new Nintendo Direct conference coming soon to our monitors. This conference will start at 12:00 AM EST, quite late considering past Nintendo Directs. If you want to know when it will be on for you, use the following time zone converter to find out.

No word on what the conference will pertain to but I hope it is either the Wii U's Price and release date or information on the rumored Zelda remakes of Majora's Mask or Link to the Past. We will have a round-up of the announcement right after it concludes so be sure to check out our coverage. To watch live head over to the Nintendo Direct website tonight.

Pokémon Black 2 White 2: Early Copies Give New Info

Hey there folks, Atzunew back on the track of BW2 news. Recently some lucky ducks got their copies of Black/White 2 early. These users from the Japanese forum 2ch have been busily posting new information. Obviously there are spoilers so don't look if you're saving your surprise for the release. However, here are some of the highlights that we thought were interesting.
  • The rival’s default name is Hugh/Hue/Hyuu (ヒュウ), the female player is named Mei (メイ) by default, the male character’s default name is Kyouhei.
  • Video below shows off the player getting their starter Pokémon in a cool CG cut-scene.
  • Repel can now be used again without going into the menu. After one runs out, it asks you “Repel’s effect ran out. Use another one? Y/N?”.
  • The World Tournament is based in Driftveil City where the Cold Storage used to be.
  • Iris is now the champion, no longer a mere gym leader. Drayden is now the Opelucid City gym leader for both versions.
  • After clearing the game, you will be given a Key. This key allows for changing the game’s mode between Normal Mode (standard levels), Assist Mode (Trainers’ level will go down), and Challenge Mode (levels will go up). The Key also allows for the changing of Black City to White Forest and vice versa.

This is just a taste of the amount of content within Black & White 2. Continue to follow our coverage of these games to find out more of what to expect when it releases to Japan June 23rd and to us in North America this fall.

Battlefield 3 Premium E3

In EA's conference they discussed with DICE on the nature of their new premium service, Battlefield Premium. This is essentially BF's answer for CoD Elite.  Like CoD Elite it will feature content that would enrich a fan's experience in a number of ways.

Members will get access to unique camo, dogtags and knifes, mostly vanity items.  What you would really pay the price of $49.99 for is the 2 week early access of DLC packs.  Back to Karkand, Close Quarters, Armoured Kill, Aftermath and End Game will be available in this service and separately.  Below is the trailer that they showed, the same trailer that was leaked recently.

 

Ubisoft Shows Commitment for Wii U

In their recent press conference Ubisoft has shown some great games as well as ones to come.  While this is great for support for the system it does go against what Nintendo is trying to do, win back the "hardcore" market.  Games and series such as Your Shape, Sports Connection, Just Dance 4 and Rabids Land do offer players a nice variety of genres to pick from.  These are definitely not what "hardcore" gamers would be looking for but Nintendo is trying to reach the largest market possible.

Watch_Dogs Steals the Conference

One of the few announcements that wowed fans was the new IP, Watch_Dogs.  This game is made by the same people as Assassin's Creed so we can expect a great story with good gameplay.  At first look it seems similar in feel to AC since you seem to hunt down people that are corrupt, like how you hunt Templars.

The choices present in the game are staggering as it seems that you can preform missions in a variety of ways.  Then something unique and exciting was the fact that it looks like multiplayer affects singleplayer.  It is hard to know what Ubisoft has in store for this game so check back in the coming months for more news about this game.





Assassin's Creed 3 Ubisoft's Offering

In the following trailer and gameplay footage we see that the British are mostly the enemy, something I wish the game was more on the aspect that the natives were neutral in the conflict and didn't support either side more than the other.  Apparently our assassin, Connor is assisted by George Washington, Ben Franklin and other founding fathers.

In the gameplay we saw the soundtrack was great and the tree movement was fluid and natural.  This game focuses on fast combat rather than quick time button mashes like some other games since firearms are more common here.  It is said that the game will not only cover the revolution but a 30 year period around it, going from New England forests to European metropolises.



ZombiU shows Ubisoft's Commitment

In commitment of Nintendo's new console, the WiiU, they have developed an exclusive for this console, ZombiU.  This game was the same shown during the Nintendo Direct on Sunday as well.  It definitely seems to have a London setting where this game takes place.  Little gameplay has been shown yet but this seems to be on Nintendo road to win back "hardcore" gamers.


Rayman Legends is Heavy Contender for Wii U

Earlier we saw leaked footage of the game, Rayman Legends.  E3 cemented that this game is coming to the Wii U platform and will really enhance what the system is capable of.  This gameplay was made on a developer kit so they had things like a wired gamepad and other things that will be different when the system is released.  They have a new character named Murphy, who is the green guy on screen.  With up to five players playing it allows players infinite gameplay options.  The soundtrack is superb and they showed off a music mode where Murphy hit notes to gain score for the other players.


Marvel Avengers: Battle of Earth Assembles

For Marvel fans there is a new game announced, Marvel Avengers: Battle of Earth.  Judging by the trailer there will be multiple heroes and villains to play as.  The trailer didn't have gameplay to define it, so people are worried that it will fall into the trap of "movie related games".  It could be anything from a fighter game to action RPG, right now we don't know but stay tuned for more details in the coming months.

 

Forza Horizon E3 Footage

Some real nice footage was shown at E3 this year in regards to an upcoming racing game, Forza Horizon.  This game takes you from the tracks and pits you onto the open highways and trails of the world.  It has been confirmed by other sources to run at at least 30 fps and turn10 will be sure to deliver the amazing reality we know fron the series.

Far Cry 3 Shows the Goods

The trailer starts off with a nice shot and then jumps right into plot as well as action.  With the playable demo they showed it looks like Far Cry will allow players numerous ways to complete missions as well as how to kill people.  The island chain will contain may secrets, will you be able to unlock them and to save yourself from madness?


AnythingGeek Reviews: The BlackBerry PlayBook

A few months ago I posted an article on AnythingGeek.net "Why I Ditched my Android Tablet and went to PlayBook". It quickly became one of the site's most controversial posts but I stand by my comments. This video will give you an example of why I love my BlackBerry PlayBook, but be sure to check out the full review in the link above as well as watching the video below!
 

Tomb Raider E3 Gameplay Demo

The newest Tomb Raider gameplay demo came out at E3 during the Microsoft conference and it looks dissapointing! The game is nothing like how they said it would be in interviews and magazines like everyone had asked for. The game looks just like an Uncharted clone now (is that a bad thing). This game is very different then the traditional Tomb Raider games but hopefully it can pull through. Check out the video below:

Halo 4 Campaign Gameplay Demo

Some Halo 4 gameplay was shown off at E3 today, and with that we also have some screenshots as well. This post is more of a directory for pictures and the video of the trailer as not much real information was actually announced. This game is being developed by 343 Studios and is set to release later this year!

Screenshots

Hooray for GIFs

Gears of War: Judgment Debut Trailer

The latest game in the Gears of War franchise was showcased at Microsoft's E3 conference today. This game comes out in 2013 and while the trailer is short is does give you an idea of the the time and the story of the game. Check out the trailer below:

Resident Evil 6 E3 Gameplay Demo

The newest footage for Resident Evil was shown today. Leon is here and the gameplay is shown down below. Some players are already complaining about this game though, here is what user Xpliskin on NeoGAF is saying:

To keep things short:
  • Animation/Player programming is rough
  • What is the point of having 3 different campaigns and promising "survival-horror" gameplay if they're all action packed ?
  • Co-op: It seems the co-op NPC only appears in cutscenes (in-game and non-interactive ones)
  • QTE everywhere
This game is very disappointing for what was promised with the game since the series began. I am not interested in this game because it doesn't even seem scary anymore!

AnythingGeek Plays: Minecraft - Ant Farm Ep. 1

This post marks the beginning of our new series AnythingGeek Plays: Minecraft, the Ant Farm edition. For the next while we will be uploading footage of the custom Minecraft map Ant Farm every week. Will we be able to escape and unlock all the achievements? Watch below and find out!

The Springtime Anime Spotlight: Mysterious Girlfriend X

Having marathoned the first seven episodes of this series last night, I just watched the eighth which premiered not too long ago, and thought I'd give my thoughts on the series thus far.

Brief Summary
Mysterious Girlfriend X, based on a Manga series of the same name (surprise, surprise) follows high school student Akira Tsubaki, who after tasting class mate Mikoto Urabe's drool that she had left on the desk falls in love with her. Mikoto Urabe, who is aware of the effect drool can have on people who are extremely close, realizes her and Tsubaki are meant to be together and agrees to go out with him. The series then follows their relationship and its evolution.

Pros
Although it may sound a little bizarre because of the whole drool thing, the series is so well done that you hardly notice or even think about  how weird it is. Being relationship centric there is little to no fighting in the series, but the characters are all so interesting - especially Urabe - that it's never boring. There is also a great deal of comedy and the series has actually made me laugh out loud a couple of times. The main pro though is the relationship between Tsubaki and Urabe, which is so well written and orchestrated that even if no words are said there's still something interesting going on.

Cons
The only real con is that since the series only focuses on four characters extensively, it can get a little stale. But even then, the four characters that get the spotlight are so interesting you don't really notice. It could also be said that the actual romance is a little slow paced, for example eight episodes have already aired and Urabe and Tsubaki haven't kissed yet.

Bottom Line
Unless you have an erational fear of drool, or need action in your animes, Mysterious Girl freind X is a fantastic anime full of comedy, romance, and mild mild ecchi. Theres also some mystery, I mean this whole drool business isn't a normal thing so there's got to be something else going on. Maybe even something supernatural.

Nintendo Brings E3 Early with Nintendo Direct

Just as I'm writing this, Nintendo has now finished streaming a new Nintendo Direct show on their official website. This stream focuses on three major parts of their upcoming console even before their E3 press conference scheduled for this Tuesday. These include the Wii U Gamepad, the Miiverse online network, and the Wii U Pro controller.

Wii U GamePad
As was previously known, the Wii U controller has undergone many changes since the original prototype was shown off. It will now use traditional joysticks instead of the Nintendo 3DS Circle Pads, and has been redesigned to be as comfortable as possible. It has now also been officially named the "Wii U GamePad".
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata also pointed out some the the already known features of the controller: a motion sensor and gyro sensor, and also pointed out the small rectangle on the bottom-left of the controller that is the NFC reader/writer. Also discussed was the ability to play games on the Wii U controller while the TV is doing something else.
Miiverse
The Miiverse seems to be a major part, if not the only part, of the online system that will be accessed by the Nintendo Wii U. It is a social network for your Miis where you can interact with other Miis on your console, your friends, and other Miis that are playing the same games as you.
Some features of the Miiverse online network include a social network where you can send an receive messages and drawings (using the controller's touch screen), as well as video chat with your friends and the ability to share screenshots from games. The Miiverse social network will at first only be available from the Wii U console but is said to come to the 3DS, PC, and any web enabled mobile device such as the iPhone.

Wii U Pro Controller
Another thing that I think surprised many people was the short tease of the upcoming Wii U Pro Controller. As a console that is intended to step into the 'hardcore' market as much as possible, a controller like this is a necessity to those who don't see themselves playing the latest Call of Duty games with a giant tablet in their laps.
Some of us at AnythingGeek.net worry about the possible comfort issues that may arise with this pro controller. Jake from the site points out that the left side of the controller is similar to Xbox while the right side is like the PS3 controller reversed. This layout could make it more difficult to use the joysticks. Another complaint from some is the small size of the centre buttons and the inclusion of a power button. One may ask why it is necessary to have a home button and a power button when you could simply hold it down to turn the controller on and off. I however am excited to try out this controller just as much as the tablet alternative.

Stay tuned for our E3 coverage next week, where we will see much more from Nintendo and all the other major game companies. Expect to see more to do with the games coming at the launch as well as possibly a more in depth look at the hardware. If you want to check out the original Nintendo Direct video, head over here. Until next time, Together Wii U.