Captain America: Super Soldier is a third person action adventure set during World War II.
Captain America: Super Soldier is a third person action adventure set during World War II.
Valve president and cofounder Gabe Newell tells Games for Change Festival audience that the recently released platformer has already gone triple platinum.
Earlier this week, the
Games for Change Festival kicked off with
a keynote address from former Vice President Al Gore. Today, the New York-based event was the scene of a speech from another executive–Gabe Newell, president and cofounder of Valve Corporation.
According to gaming blog Joystiq, Newell used his speech to announce a major sales milestone for the critical darling Portal 2. Since its launch on April 19, the game has “sold” 3 million units, Newell reportedly said. He did not specify whether that figure referred to sold-in (that is, shipped) copies or represented games sold through to consumers.
Newell didn’t say whether the figure included sales on Steam, Valve’s online distribution platform for the PC and Mac. He also declined to clarify whether that figure included cumulative sales on all the platforms Portal 2 was released on–the PC, Mac, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.
As of press time, Valve reps had offered no official confirmation of Newell’s comments.
Portal 2 has reached its sales milestone far faster than its predecessor, Portal. On the day its sequel launched,
Valve confirmed to GameSpot that the original game had sold over 4 million units since its launch in October 2007. That figure did not include Steam sales of Portal, but it did include sales of the compilation The Orange Box, which included Portal, Team Fortress 2, Half-Life 2, and the latter shooter’s first two expansions.
Lucha Fury is a beat-’em-up that combines the worlds of comics and Mexican wrestling.
Annihilation is a new downloadable content pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a short and shallow shooter that fails to deliver on the potential of its beloved license.
Another Transformers movie means another Transformers game. For many longtime fans, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and the other robots in disguise are special characters, and hope endures that someday, a Transformers game will come along that does them justice. Unfortunately, Dark of the Moon is not that game.
The action in this third-person shooter isn’t bad, but it also isn’t anything remarkable. There aren’t any surprises or standout moments during its brief campaign, and the shallow multiplayer isn’t likely to keep you coming back for very long.
Score: 5.5 / mediocre
F.E.A.R. 3 is a First-Person Shooter that combines classic single and multiplayer combat with the unforgettable Horror and Survival gameplay that the franchise is known for.
F.E.A.R. 3 continues the intricate storyline tying together the psychically dangerous mother Alma with her two sons Point Man and Paxton Fettel, as well as the F.E.A.R. Operations team. Players take control of both “Point Man” and Paxton Fettel at different times in the game, utilizing each characters unique abilities and powers in a dark adventure that will test the player’s loyalties, combat skills and sense of duty. Point man is a super soldier with expertise in a wide range of weaponry.
Whereas, Paxton will be relying more on his telekinetic powers, which include the ability to possess bodies of the living in order to perform physical tasks. Additional features include: co-op and multiplayer modes, cinematic and story input by John Carpenter and Steve Niles.
The divergent co-op provides deep, social gameplay that gives players distinct abilities that differ from one another.
New release slate championed by premiere of Gearbox’s long-in-development action game; Wii Play: Motion, Child of Eden, Alice: Madness Returns, Transformers: Dark of the Moon also out.
Duke Nukem can be called a lot of things, but vaporware is no longer one of them. Gearbox Software’s much anticipated first-person action game Duke Nukem Forever finally arrives tomorrow for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, following an international market release last week.
Initially announced in 1997, Duke Nukem Forever was synonymous with vaporware for over a decade. While at original studio 3D Realms, it went through at least two engine changes, with its protracted development reportedly costing $20 million to $30 million.
Duke Nukem Forever will be available in both a standard edition, as well as a Balls of Steel Collector’s Edition for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. This top-tier bundle includes a bust of the titular hero, a set of playing cards, dice, and two casino chips. A comic and hardcover art book are also included in the collection, along with a numbered certificate of authenticity.
Konami unveils a host of AI improvements for its football sim PES 12.
FIFA 12 wasn’t the only football game on show at this year’s E3 expo, with Konami unveiling a bunch of new features for Pro Evolution soccer 2012. As yearly updates go, PES 12 is looking like a big one, with improved animation, visuals, and AI updates that attempt to make it a more realistic experience. With FIFA currently taking the football crown, Konami’s certainly got its work cut out to return the series to its glory days, and back to the top of table.
Of all the new features, PES 12′s AI improvements are the biggest, with changes being made to almost all aspects of the game. Our first look started with Active AI Overlap, a new feature that’s designed to improve the performance of players off the ball. In PES 11, if you passed the ball forward to an open area on the pitch, more often than not supporting players wouldn’t chase the ball down. Players will now run forward to receive passes, letting you make better use of open space.
This is enhanced by improvements to Dummy Runs and Diagonal Runs, which see players drawing out defenders to give you space to play the ball, and make runs across the whole length of the pitch, rather than just along one side of it. The next new feature we were shown was Zonal Defence. It attempts to improve defensive lines, so players now stay in formation. We were shown a clip from PES 11, which showed defensive players in a zigzag formation outside of the box. In PES 12, that line has been straightened up, more accurately mimicking real-world players.
The final AI improvement we were shown was called Zonal Marking, which attempts to improve the defensive play of your teammates. Players will automatically pick up on attacking players’ runs, chasing them down and launching tackles. As well as AI improvements, we were shown one tweak to the controls, which allows you control players off the ball. For example, if you’ve got a throw in or a free kick, you can move other players around the pitch, as well as line up your throw or shot.
The AI improvements are substantial, and if they work as promised, they’ll go some way towards making PES 12 a more realistic experience and a better alternative to FIFA. With the game currently only 60 per cent complete, there’s still a lot of new features Konami have yet to implement, including new personal update data, animation improvements, and more responsive button presses. Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 is due for release in Q3 of this year. Look out for more on GameSpot soon.
Rage is a first-person shooter from Bethesda set in the not-too-distant future after an asteroid has hit Earth, leaving a ravaged world behind.
You emerge into this vast wasteland to discover humanity working to rebuild itself against such forces as bandit gangs, mutants, and The Authority–an oppressive government regime that has a special interest in you, in particular. Rage features first-person shooter action, third-person vehicular combat, an expansive world to explore, and graphics powered by id Tech 5 technology.
In addition to the story-driven single-player experience, there are exclusive co-op modes you can play with friends and an online rally race car combat mode available.
Rage is playable on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.
E3 2011: Activision gives us an exclusive look at its Silicon Knights developed action-RPG starring the X-Men.
X-Men Destiny is the upcoming Silicon Knights developed game from Activision featuring Marvel’s famous mutants. Whereas the previous X-Men games let you play as some of the notable members of the iconic team, X-Men Destiny casts you as a freshly minted mutant whose future is shaped by some quality time spent with the gang. We had the chance to get a hands-off look at the upcoming game, guided by Activision reps who demoed a few sections of the unique title.
X-Men Destiny’s story is being penned by Mike Carey, writer of the X-Men Legacy book, and revolves around three new mutants–Aimi Yoshida, Grant Alexander, and a third as yet unrevealed character. The tale begins at a San Francisco peace rally in memory of Professor X who, in the game’s timeline, is dead. The rally goes poorly, which is pretty much the norm for any mutant related gathering, and the character you’ve chosen to play as becomes involved in a conflict between the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. The events at the rally cause a chain of events that send your character on a journey of self-discovery and evolution that will tip the balance in the conflict between the two factions. How that all plays out is entirely up to you and the choices that you make over the course of the game.
We got a taste of how this is going to work in our demo which showcased combat, exploration, power customization, choice, and a boss fight. The demo featured Aimi–the pig tail sporting fifteen-year-old wielding energy attacks which are one of the three core powers you’ll choose when starting the game–fighting her way through Chinatown in search of Gambit. This portion of the demo focused on showcasing the power mechanics as Aimi dealt with waves of thugs on her trip through Chinatown. Each character will have several options in battle. The combat fundamentals are light and heavy attacks that can be chained together into different combos to dole out damage that the game tracks.