Aug 12

 

Full Press Release:

London 12th August: In her latest incarnation the new Lara Croft isn’t just a pretty face - as a former gymnastic representative for Great Britain, she’s now got the all action skills to match.

Athletic and agile, 23 year old Alison Carroll from Croydon is set to be catapulted from her current job as a receptionist to a world of superstardom as she follows in the footsteps of Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie and model Nell McAndrew to become the new face of Lara Croft.

Unlike her predecessors Alison does not come from a modelling background, but with 12 years’ experience as a professional display gymnast, she is completely at ease at the thought of appearing in front of thousands of screaming Lara Croft fans. She certainly had no trouble impressing the judges when she competed against hundreds of other hopefuls in the search to find the live model of the action heroine.

Alison is an elite gymnast who has flown the flag for Great Britain. She has performed across the UK and overseas as part of a team of twenty athletes, wowing Prince Charles when she appeared at a special event at Westminster Abbey. She is also a dedicated coach of younger gymnasts, and recently choreographed the routine for the junior team that won the British National Championships.

Alison already follows a rigorous training regime, visiting the gym six times per week, and will be well prepared as she embarks on the fast and gruelling training programme required to portray sexy heroine Lara Croft. Starting immediately she will undertake a series of courses which will include a SAS survival, combat and semi-automatic weapon firing courses in Eastern Europe, and a crash course in world archaeology, to become the world famous, archaeologist and action heroine.

Once completely trained in the ways of video gaming’s leading lady, Alison will be lining up a host of international modelling assignments, starring in TV commercials, appearing on chat shows and is set to travel the globe over the coming months.

Alison Carroll says; “This is a fantastic opportunity and I am really looking forward to embracing Lara’s world” said Alison Carroll “I still can’t believe they chose me to take on the role of Lara – and I can’t wait to get stuck in. This is my dream job – I have always wanted to be an action hero and hope to be able to use my gymnastic ability to perform all of Lara’s stunts. It is slightly daunting but I am really excited at the same time.”

Sarah Hoeksma, Eidos Group Marketing Director says; “With her tremendous athletic ability, dance training and striking look we feel Alison embodies all the assets required to be the live model of Lara Croft, and we are really looking forward to working with her.”

Alison follows in the footsteps of previous Lara Croft stars, Karima Adebibe, Lucy Clarkson, Rhona Mitra, Nell McAndrew, Lara Weller and of course Angelina Jolie in the Tomb Raider movies.

Tomb Raider: Underworld marks the first game in this popular, recognisable series that is designed specifically for next generation consoles. Lara Croft uncovers proof of the existence of the mythical hammer of the Norse God Thor, a weapon rumored to have the power to smash mountains into valleys and destroy the Gods themselves.

Setting an epic journey around the globe in motion, Lara visits the ruins of ancient civilizations, collecting clues that lead her to a forgotten power that could lay waste to civilization. Exploiting the power and capabilities of next generation consoles, Lara must hunt for clues across massive environments, solving multifaceted puzzles, facing foes both animal and supernatural, this time with the aid of enhanced weapons and abilities.

 

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Aug 11

In an interview with Gamasutra, Simon Jeffery, CEO of Sega of America, let out that Yu Suzuki is no longer with the company. Yu Suzuki was the creator of Virtua Fighter, Outrun, and his bank-breaking project Shenmue, as well as other games.

Virtua Fighter 5 was not directed by Suzuki so that series should be safe to continue, but it adds another nail to Shenmue III’s coffin — the game fans have been clamoring for since the sequel barely made it stateside on Xbox.

This writer dug the first Shenmue on Dreamcast in 2000 which made use of a cheesy soap-opera story and quick-time events that were later used in God of War and Resident Evil 4. It also had probably the best forklift racing, if only, in a video game. What do you guys think of the series? Or is further proof of its “never being released” status meaningless to you?

Via Gamasutra

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Aug 08

Release Date: July 29, 2008
Platform: Xbox 360, PS3
Developer: Project Soul
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Genre: Weapons-based 3D Fighting
Players: 1-2 Players; Local and Online
MSRP: $59.99
ESRB Rating: Teen Adolescents

The soul swords never seem to take a break as Namco Bandai keeps bringing them back into the fold with every iteration of the Soulcalibur series. Fortunately, Soulcalibur IV lives up to its namesake and brings with it an online mode (finally!), tunes up the fighting mechanics a bit, and, of course, takes breast-bouncing technology to a new height.

Gameplay

SCIV enters next-gen systems with the same four-button system as before and, as fans will be surprised to see, slows the action down a bit to create more balanced, strategic fights. Also, some of the characters’ moves list and play styles have been altered. Subtle, but noticeable, and veterans of the series might have some adjusting to do.

Single player is never the main focus in fighting games, but Namco Bandai has always done well with their games’ console renditions and SCIV is no different by giving you a story mode, “Tower of Lost Souls,” a deep and varied “Character Creation,” and online play.

Gold is the main currency which can be easily obtained to unlock characters and other bonuses. Kudos to Project Soul for making it possible to unlock most of the characters within the first hour of playtime with the game.

Continue reading »

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Aug 07

Those of you waiting for the upcoming SOCOM: Confrontation should be glad to know that you can take part in the beta starting September 1, according to the game’s official website. A pre-order at GameStop (only a five-er is needed) will get you in and “Qore” subscribers can head into the trenches on September 8 through the 30th.

The series was once helmed by developer Zipper, but they have sinced moved on to create the epic-scale 256-person shooter, Massive Action Game (MAG for short), revealed at Sony’s E3 2008 press conference. From what we’ve seen, though, Confrontation seems to be in able hands. And if it turns out to be a dud, just cancel the pre-order. Keep your receipt! Those Gamestop employees can be quite sensitive when dealing with cancellations…

Via SOCOM website

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Aug 05

Yuck. This week is yet another stinker for games, but luckily downloadable games are all the rage and we’ll finally get what looks to be a platforming winner with Braid on XBLA for $15 (or 1200 Microsoft space bucks). You only get one life but you get a rewind button — a la Prince of Persia — to help you along your quest.

Surprisingly, critics seem to love the DS version of GRID which is a system that hasn’t been too kind on hosting good racers. Here’s hoping the trend continues…besides that, there’s some definite stinkers you should stay away from below.

(The following scores were “aggregated-tive-ized” as of August 5, 2008 via Metacritic)

The Good…

  • GRID (DS) - Metascore: 84

The Bad…

  • B-Boy (PS2) - Metascore: 58
  • Crash Time (360) - Metascore: 45
  • King of Clubs (Wii) - Metascore: 36

The Unrated…

Xbox 360

  • Braid

PS3

  • Monster Madness: Grave Danger

Wii

  • Little League World Series 2008

PC

  • Beijing 2008 - The Official Video Game of the Olympic Games
  • Ford Racing: Off Road
  • Fate: Undiscovered Realms

DS

  • Little League World Series 2008
  • Puzzler Collection
  • The Cheetah Girls: Passport to Stardom
  • Quick Yoga Training

PS2

  • Hannah Montana: Spotlight World Tour

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jul 31

Nine new screenshots have been released by EA for NBA Live 09.  This game series has come a long way since ‘Lakers vs. Celtics’ was released in 1989.  09 features Tony Parker on the cover and is set for an October 7, 2008 release.  Some of the new features include “pick and roll control”, “signature playcalling”, “NBA Academy”, “lockdown control” and “Quickstrike AnkleBreakers”.  According to EA, the AI has also been upgraded.  I haven’t actually played the game yet, but from what I’ve seen, it looks like it is a considerable improvement over NBA Live 08.

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jul 30

Batman’s New arch-LEGO-nemesis makes his way into LEGO Batman coming this Fall 2008.

PLATFORMS: Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the Wii™ and Nintendo DS™, PlayStation®2 and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment systems, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system and Windows PC.
RELEASE DATE: Fall 2008
PUBLISHER: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
DEVELOPER: Traveller’s Tales
ESRB RATING: Expected - Everyone 10+
GENRE: Action-Adventure

Although many characters are appearing in the game, expect to see ‘The Dark Knight’s Batmobile to make an appearance in LEGO Batman: The Video Game.  You’ll also see Batman is his old school light grey suit, same goes for Robin’s suit.  The Dark Knight’s release will help the popularity of the LEGO series, but at this point the LEGO Series has done quite well making games after very succesful movies.

List of Characters

Heroes

  • Batman
  • Bruce Wayne
  • Robin
  • Nightwing
  • Alfred Pennyworth
  • Commissioner James Gordon
  • Nighthawk

Villains

  • The Joker
  • Catwoman
  • The Penguin
  • The Riddler
  • Two-Face
  • Mr. Freeze
  • Harley Quinn
  • The Scarecrow
  • Poison Ivy
  • Bane
  • Killer Croc
  • The Mad Hatter
  • Clayface
  • Man-Bat
  • Killer Moth

written by Juan Perez \\ tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jul 29

Comic Con has never been a place to make new announcements or unveil any big surprises, but its still a nice little convention that gives the public (along with the press) access to early builds of games usually presented at E3 first.

I was fortunate enough to meet up with the 1up crew (thanks for the invite, Tina!) on Saturday and they got me into the sold-out event to try out a few upcoming titles:

Street Fighter 4

Capcom’s latest in the Street Fighter series seems a bit confused: it updates the visuals to a beautiful cel-shaded look but scales back the complexity introduced in the Street Fighter III games. Regardless, I sat down with with the arcade version of the fighter and won a match against 1up’s Tina Sanchez…which she claims happened because she answered a phone call. By “claims,” I mean she actually received a call.

Judging by the one match I played, fans will be happy with the game as the characters animate well and and the graphics add a welcoming sheen to the experience. It might feel like a nod to Street Fighter II, but I came away impressed with the brief demonstration.

Soulcalibur 4

I tried the game out on Saturday (and beat Tina with the maybe-cheap Yoda), but it’s already out so its kind of meaningless to give impressions of a game available now. So go ahead, buy the game and stay tuned to Kezins’s review of the game shortly.

Mega Man 9

The theme with the upcoming Mega Man game seems to be “retro devolved” in that the title is presented in graphics reminiscent of the 8-bit era. Yes, they didn’t even go with the just-as-retro 16-bit visuals. Regardless, trying out the two levels at Comic Con reminded me just how fun the gameplay still is for the revered series.

Makes me want to bust out my copy of Mega Man: Powered Up and Mega Man Collection to play and ready up for the incoming DLC game. It might have ancient 8-bit stylings, but the game appears to be just as hard and fun as you remember it to be.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

The line to this game seriously tested my patience but it was all worth it. I played what seemed like the first level of the game as Darth Vader knights his “Secret Apprentice,” and sends him out on his first mission.

From my playthrough, the force powers were well-implemented and could be used freely until your “force meter” winds down. Enemies, doors, hinges, barrels, etc. can all be manipulated and flung around at will. I had tons of fun pulling out bars where X-Wing fighters were zooming past and exploding right into my little “speed bump.”

Afro Samurai

This game based on the popular Spike TV show, Afro Samurai, which features the foul-mouth Samuel L. Jackson follows the American-anime’s art style perfectly. Plenty of dark colors and Japanese huts abound while you take down enemies in the streets.

While the controls made use of simple commands such as a slow-down, kick, and punch button the number of enemies forced me to vary up my combos a bit. The gameplay is said to be influenced by the soundtrack, but Comic Con’s noisy setting wasn’t ideal for experiencing this. So far, so good, though.

Dark Void

I got to play this game only briefly, but judging by that I noticed that the framerate wasn’t too good. Which isn’t a big deal, because the framerate is the final thing to get optimized in a game’s development.

Other than that, it played a bit like Gears of War with less gruesome kills and animations. I’ll be taking a wait-and-see approach with this game.

Castle Crashers

The full extent of how much I played the game can be wrapped up with this: I got my hands on the demo’s Xbox 360 controller and…that was it. The demo had been crowded up by 3 other players already and their wayward friend came up to me and ask “If I’d mind.”

I did mind, but decided to not be a jerk and gave up the controller, letting him experience the game with his friends. Eww. The game’s out August 27 on XBLA, though, so no biggie.

Well, that’s about all I played. Everything else was either really crowded or comic book-related; sadly, I had very little knowledge on them “graphic novels” to appreciate that aspect of the convention. I might just read up for next year’s show.

I blogged. Tina blogged. Check out the posts and comment, if you will.

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jul 22

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The NCAA Football franchise never sells the way Madden does, but it’s still a huge series.  I have always been partial to the little brother of Madden considering my love for college football.  We expected big things with the 2009 installment, but it seems there’s really not a lot to write home about.  Online Dynasty mode was surely welcomed and the ability to share custom roster files was a nice bonus.  Other than that, the game really doesn’t offer many improvements over NCAA 08. There are a few minor changes to the game that I’ll try to break down below.

Gameplay

Gameplay hasn’t changed a lot, but the offensive game is definitely more wide-open than ever.  This is great if you love offense and a step backward if you are a defensively minded player.  An unfortunate addition to the game is the ability of the home team to “ice” kickers.  This ability works entirely too well and really dilutes the realism of the game.  I suggest turning this option off in any game you play.  Another problem I noticed with the game is the fact that the AI simply does not work well at all, particularly on the defensive side of the ball.  AI controlled players will run the wrong direction and frequently miss easy tackles.  While the game certainly is slightly better than 08 in most areas, I expected more.  If you currently have NCAA 08, you may want to simply wait until NCAA 10 hits shelves to upgrade.

Continue reading »

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jul 21

I was actually burnt out on Tomb Raider a long time ago, but ‘Underworld’ may be enough to bring me back to the franchise.  The above video is the latest “teaser” for the upcoming game.  If you are looking for something new in the series, they have certainly tried to add many new aspects to gameplay including environments that are more interactive and more intelligent than anything we’ve seen from past installments of Tomb Raider.  You’d think they’d run out of ideas by the time they got to the 8th game, but it looks like this fall, we’ll be enjoying a new Tomb Raider.

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,