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Sunday, January 25, 2009

The sexy girls of Command and Conquer - Red Alert 3 - Uprising

Red Alert 3 sexy girl in mini skirt long legs smiling

Older post here...

3-year-olds can Wii get our own games console? Yes, the Smile Motion...

Vtech, a Hong Kong-based toy company, has started selling the Smile Motion console in Britain – a games machine that has motion sensitive gear sticks using similar technology to the Nintendo Wii.

The £60 machine is aimed at three- to seven-year-olds, and claims to be an educational gadget, allowing toddlers to learn about colours, numbers and spelling.

It is the latest sign that the video games market has gone truly mainstream, and become the most popular form of entertainment for many families.

Last week, figures showed there are now 5 million Nintendo Wiis in Britain – a games console that has transformed the gaming market over the last two years, helping to attract ever younger players.

Now VTech has jumped on the bandwagon with the Smile Motion, which allows children to play Thomas the Tank engine, Dora the Explorer and other games. When they move the gear stick in their hand, the characters on the screen move too.
The company insisted it was not introducing gaming to children at too young an age. "There is a time and a place for all aspects of play, but this is very educational and something mums can buy knowing their children will learn from it," said Clive Richardson, the company's marketing director.

The company entered the gaming market five years ago and there are already 1m VTech consoles in the UK. But the latest model is the most sophisticated yet: the first to use motion-sensitive technology and the first to connect the gear stick wirelessly to the machine.

Guy Cocker, a gaming expert at the website GameSpot, said: "I think it's great. Serious gamers like me find the motion sensitive technology on the Wii not quite good enough. But for children it is perfect.

"I am not surprised other companies have looked at Nintendo, seen their success with the Wii and decided to get in on the market."

Source: Telegraph

Trivial Pursuit video game on PlayStation 2, mobile and online

Gather up your pies and wedges, round up friends and family and join in the fun Electronic Arts Inc. as it celebrates the 25th year of Trivial Pursuit by offering new ways and places to play one of America’s favorite board games. Trivial Pursuit will be released on multiple digital platforms including online at Pogo.com, across several consoles and on mobile phones.

Since the official introduction of Trivial Pursuit in 1982, the phenomenally successful board game has been testing millions of game players’ wits with versions ranging from the original Trivial Pursuit to Trivial Pursuit Family, Trivial Pursuit Junior, and Trivial Pursuit 25th Anniversary Edition. The popular board game also got its own television game show in 2008 called Trivial Pursuit America Plays.

Key features

Console – Trivial Pursuit

• With dynamic visuals, new questions and question types, Trivial Pursuit on console brings the party to the living room TV allowing players to customize the experience with several ways to play.
• What do you know? – Challenge your friends with the original fun Trivial Pursuit game.
• Who do you know? – Earn extra points by guessing whether your friends know the answer in the all-new quickly playing Facts & Friends mode.
• Do you know yourself? – Track your best categories over time with your custom Trivial Pursuit profile.
• Players can hone their knowledge with the Clear the Board single player mode.
• Trivial Pursuit will release on Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii in March 2009

Online – Trivial Pursuit Daily 20

• Players will enjoy showcasing their knowledge and skills with a daily dose of interactive online trivia. Answering the questions correctly will earn the player points toward acquiring wedges in pursuit of collecting all the pie pieces by the end of the week.
• Play now for free at Pogo.com.

Mobile

• Trivial Pursuit for mobile lets fans learn fun facts, discover odd answers and experience hours of thrills right on a phone.
• Players can collect wedges and fill your pie in classic mode, or choose to race to the finish line in pursuit mode.
• Play with friends with Pass ‘n Play for up to 4 players in both modes.
• Players will be dazzled by rich visuals, animations and sound effects.

Littlest Pet Shop Spring video game for the Nintendo DS

Latest Nintendo DS Game for Girls Set to Expand Critically-Acclaimed Littlest Pet Shop Digital Collection

Electronic Arts announced that spring fever has arrived early with work underway to launch Littlest Pet Shop Spring for the Nintendo DS in March 2009. Targeting 6-10 year old girls, the game will be the sixth offering in the Littlest Pet Shop interactive gaming lineup following the highly successful Nintendo Wii, PC and three Nintendo DS (Winter, Garden, Jungle) releases in 2008.

Inspired by the Hasbro, blockbuster toy line, Littlest Pet Shop Spring for the Nintendo DS will feature a festive and colorful spring environment for girls to explore alongside their favorite sidekicks, including six new, exclusive pets. The fun also gets turned up with all-new playsets as well as four new mini-games for a total of 20 including those from previous Nintendo DS versions. Accessory choices will also expand allowing pets to step into spring in high style. With the addition of 20 new accessories, girls will be able to select from well over 100 hats, glasses, scarves and other fun items.

“The response to our Littlest Pet Shop video games has been overwhelmingly positive and shown that girls want quality games, too,” said Chip Lange, Vice President and General Manager of EA Hasbro. “The team has been barraged with fan mail and girls are already clamoring for the next version so they can keep expanding their Littlest Pet Shop digital collection. We think they’ll be really excited about the Spring theme and it is scheduled to land at retail just in time to hop into Easter baskets.”

“EA has done a tremendous job of taking one of the most popular toy brands among young girls and bringing it to life on digital platforms,” said Mark Blecher, General Manager of Digital Media and Gaming at Hasbro. “The performance of the first wave of Littlest Pet Shop games launched in 2008 was amazing and we don’t expect the momentum behind this property to slow down anytime soon.”

Henry Hatsworth Puzzle Adventure on Nintendo DS

Love puzzle games, but also love an adventure?

Now you can have both in one game with Henry Hatsworth (name may change), an exclusive Nintendo DS adventure-puzzle game that adds a new element of fun by combining the action of an adventure game with the challenge of a puzzle game with all in one.

Meet Henry Hatsworth, a quirky, light-hearted character who players will guide on their journey through a new style of gaming adventure on their DS. In this two-in-one adventure, players will explore five exotic worlds, fight a variety of opponents, and venture through more than 30 levels, including nearly a dozen hidden levels while taking on outrageous world-ending bosses.

The separate worlds on the two DS screens have a cause and effect inter-relationship, and players choose when to switch between conquering the action-platform realm and mastering the increasingly challenging puzzle world. A wide variety of power-ups will help Hatsworth in both the action game and the puzzle world. Players will complete puzzle combinations and defeat puzzle enemies in order to gain power ups, health, and energy to supercharge Hatsworth in his adventure.

Key features

• Two games in one – Keep on your toes! Make quick switches between the intense action-adventure gameplay and an increasingly challenging puzzle world.

• Non-stop action - Jump, fight, and shoot your way through more than 30 levels, including nearly a dozen of hidden levels and take on outrageous world-ending bosses.

• Everyone needs an adventure! - Explore 5 exotic worlds in a mad hunt for artifacts, each of which grants new abilities for Hatsworth and ultimately unlocks a massively powerful golden mech suit.

• Puzzles galore – Solve challenging combo-puzzles in order to gain more health and energy. The more puzzle combos you complete, the more you can enhance your melee and ranged weapons and transform Hatsworth into multiple powerful forms.

• Power up! – Activate puzzle power-ups to help Hatsworth in the puzzle world and the action game.

• Collect along the way – Keep an eye out for gems and treasure to purchase your favorite weapons and abilities along your way.

Details of The Godfather II video game sequel to Godfather multi-platinum hit

Electronic Arts and Paramount Digital Entertainment today revealed the first details of The Godfather II videogame, the sequel to the 2007 multi-platinum hit. Inspired by the film and Mario Puzo’s Corleone family drama, The Godfather II game goes beyond the film’s story by setting players in the world of organized crime in 1960’s Florida, Cuba and New York.

After being promoted by Michael Corleone to Don of New York, players expand to new cities, as they build up their families through extorting businesses, monopolizing illegal crime rings and defeating new families in an effort to become the most powerful mob family in America. To help players manage their empire, The Godfather II introduces “The Don’s View” – an innovative strategy meta-game that allows players to oversee the entire world as they grow the family business. Using the Don’s View, players will be able to build, defend and expand their crime rings, while keeping an eye on the movements and plans of the rival families. Players will also learn to master the business of organized crime by building a family of Made Men, hiring crew, handing out orders, and promoting their best men up the ranks.

Set in a stunning open-world environment, The Godfather II expands on the popular gameplay mechanics of the first game and doubles down on the series’ signature BlackHand control scheme, which now features even more visceral hand-to-hand brutality at your fingertips, introducing a new combo system, pressure tactics and executions. In The Godfather II, players will fight alongside their hand-picked crew, who have their own skills and expertise. Each family member specializes in a specific field such as demolitions, arson, engineering, first-aid and more. As The Don you control the family, sending some of your men on missions while heading off into action with others. The combination of strategic organized crime gameplay and brutal BlackHand action sets The Godfather II apart from other open-world games.

“In the 1960’s, a mafia Don was only as strong as his family,” said Hunter Smith, Executive Producer of The Godfather II. “We found the hierarchical culture of organized crime intriguing. Running an organized crime family in a world defined by family loyalty is something that we felt could introduce a new strategic element to the genre. That is what the Don’s View is all about - laying out a strategy to pick off the competition one by one. The Don’s View is so unique, it could fundamentally change the rules of open-world games by blending action and strategy to create something entirely new.”

“The Godfather has become an exceptional gaming franchise for the Studio,” states Sandi Isaacs, Senior Vice President of Interactive & Mobile for Paramount Digital Entertainment. “The videogame takes the story and gameplay to the next level with an innovative open-world action strategy that is both compelling and intriguing for gamers.”

Command and Conquer - Red Alert 3 - Uprising PC video game

Epic Campaign Expansion for Award-Winning Real-Time Strategy Favorite Hits PCs in March 2009

Electronic Arts announced that the third iteration of the Command & Conquer franchise’s beloved Red Alert series is returning with Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 - Uprising exclusively for the PC.

An epic single-player campaign expansion, the standalone title catapults players deeper into the Red Alert universe, giving them more of the action-packed gameplay they have been clamoring for, while offering a gauntlet of new and compelling challenges with the new Commander’s Challenge mode. Command & Conquer Red Alert 3: Uprising will be available for digital download this March.

”Uprising is a game that in many ways reflects the feedback we have gotten from the Command & Conquer community,” said Amer Ajami, Senior Producer at EA Los Angeles. “We’re giving gamers more of what they want – more of the fast, fluid and fun gameplay, more of the story we began to tell in Red Alert 3 and more cutscenes featuring top-notch Hollywood talent. At the same time, we’re excited we’re going to be able to bring new things to the mix, including new units and the Commander’s Challenge, which is a great way for players to hone their skills and get deeper into the combat.”

Command & Conquer Red Alert 3: Uprising takes players into the aftermath of the epic battles in Red Alert 3, with the Soviets still reeling from a crushing defeat, the Empire of the Rising Sun desperately trying to regain both honor and identity and the seemingly victorious Allies finding themselves in the midst of corruption and deceit within their own ranks. In addition to four mini-campaigns, one for each faction and one bonus campaign centered on the origins of the Empire of the Rising Sun’s commando Yuriko, Command & Conquer Red Alert 3: Uprising will also introduce the new Commander’s Challenge, enabling the players to test their skills against a set of nine commanders from different territories and difficulty levels in 50 unique challenges with their own special rules and unique conditions.

In true Command & Conquer fashion, top Hollywood talent will be delivering the gripping story in full HD live-action cinematics. Fan favorites Gemma Atkinson and Ivana Milicevic will make their stunning return to the high ranks of the Allied and Soviet leaderships and will be joined by an all new set of stars, who will be announced soon.

Command & Conquer Red Alert 3: Uprising is a standalone game and does not require Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 to play. This product has not yet been rated by the ESRB, PEGI or USK.

Fans of Command & Conquer can continue to get their fix 24 hours a day, seven days a week at Command & Conquer TV, EA’s dedicated online Command & Conquer network that goes beyond the game and brings players all the latest news, tips and strategies.

Undertow - Xbox Live Arcade video game review

In Undertow you navigate the stormy seas as one of four unique, upgradeable unit types, earning points by killing enemies, completing objectives, and taking checkpoints. Undertow includes two multiplayer modes for up to 16 players, and a robust 15-level single player and co-op campaign.

For this generation of consoles, one game engine has proven to be the most prevalent: the Unreal engine. Designed by Epic Games, the Unreal engine has been used by almost every developer out there to create just about every type of game. From shooting games to RPGs to wrestling titles, this game engine somehow gets involved. One common factor that the games share, however, is that almost all of them are disc-based titles because most developers believed that the engine could only be used properly if it had plenty of hard drive space to work with. In 2006, that belief was shattered when RoboBlitz became the first downloadable title to use the Unreal engine as its primary game engine. Further proving that the engine is viable enough for both disc-based and downloadable titles, Chair Entertainment released Undertow, an Xbox Live Arcade title that also uses this technology. The game proves to contain some fun, but only if the right conditions are met.

The story line for Undertow is fairly good. Set in an alternate Victorian era, the Earth has been flooded, forcing mankind to the ocean depths in order to survive. As the tutorial level begins, you are part of the Royal British Navy and have been sent on a routine maintenance mission when pirates attack your base. After defeating them, you capture one of them and make him part of your squad against his will. As the adventure unfolds, you spark a war against Captain Nemo himself, who has somehow prolonged his life through machinery.

Through the single-player mode, your job is to bring peace to the waters once again. The campaign consists of 15 levels where the objective is the same: control different territories in the map and reduce your enemy's points. These points deplete whenever you die or when you begin to lose territories; the number of times you can respawn also depends on the points you have left. When you return to the game, you can do so as one of four unit types that vary in armor and ammo strength. As you take over control points and kill enemy units, you earn points that can be used to upgrade your units to gain more strength and firepower.

The single-player mode is actually fairly engaging. The enemy AI is fairly relentless, providing for a tough experience through each level. It can be argued that the ally AI accidentally increases that difficulty by not helping as much as it should, but they end up putting in a good fight at the end. While most of the levels deal with territory control, some of them have boss fights, giving the experience the diversity it needs to prevent it from becoming boring. There's also split-screen co-op, which lets you tackle missions with a friend, a good addition that helps breathe longevity into this game mode.

The multiplayer is pretty much the same as the single-player modes, with the same rules in place. All nine maps are designed well with support for 16 players split into two eight-man teams. When playing online, the game plays smoothly with no hint of lag at all, even when all 16 players are speaking. Bots are also available to fill in any empty slots, helping you make a big game even if you don't have the manpower to do so. Aside from the Control Points mode, there are also your standard deathmatch and online co-op for the single-player mode, both of which work out well here.

Controls for Undertow are easy to pick up for those who are familiar with games such as Mutant Storm Reloaded and Geometry Wars. The left thumbstick moves your character while the right thumbstick fires shots in any direction. The right trigger initiates a speed boost while the Y button calls up the upgrade menu whenever you get enough points to do so. Overall, the scheme is responsive enough and gives people little to complain about in this area.

The graphics look good for an Xbox Live Arcade game. Admittedly, the environments are a bit sparse since every level has a few buildings, plenty of rocks and a deep ocean, but the texture work on them is rather good. The textures are much more basic and less detailed on the character models and the vehicles they occupy. The lighting, however, does a great job at masking low-detailed textures. Bloom lighting from explosions and the power-up aura make Undertow beautiful to look at. All of this is achieved if you're playing the game on a high-definition TV. If you have a standard-definition set, this title becomes hard on the eyes due to the small size of the players. There is no middle ground here since getting things up close not only exposes the average texture work but hides the rest of the environment, while moving further away makes everything too tiny to see. Again, if you have a standard TV set, this game becomes too hard to play due to the graphics alone.

The sound has a few issues but is good overall. The voices come out compressed and in mono sound. It can initially be argued that the underwater setting makes this an intentional choice, but there are sound clips where the compressed nature is unmistakable. Aside from this, the effects are clear and give off some richness when needed. Get into an intense firefight with plenty of explosions, for example, and you'll feel the bass rush through your system. The music is only played through cut scenes and menus, but it helps put you in the mood for epic battles, which is all that you can really ask from the game.
Undertow is a good fit for the Xbox Live Arcade. The action is fast and uncomplicated, it has plenty of options for the single-player and multiplayer experiences, and the tight controls do a good job of making the player want to partake in the action. It isn't a perfect game and, as mentioned before, standard-definition TV players will find nothing but misery with this title. As long as you have a high-definition TV set and an itch for some action in quick fixes, Undertow is a game that you should try.

Source: WorthPlaying

Best Mac games ever - The Colony, Dark Castle, Escape Velocity, Marathon and Crystal Quest

A “Mac game” is a game that’s some combination of first, best, or only on the Mac.

Such games are rare these days.

Many of the classics required dexterity and dedication well beyond that demanded by today’s crop of mass-market video games.

Here are the best of a bygone era...

Full list on Macworld post here...

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