Nostradamus - The Last Prophecy PC video game out now

GAME SUMMARY

March 1566 - Salon de Provence, France

It has been three years since Catherine de Médicis' rule as regent came to an end, but she still holds the reins of power, making her the target of repeated attacks from the French nobility. One day in March 1566, when she realises that she has fallen victim to a terrible curse, she turns to her doctor and astrologer, Michel de Nostre-Dame, better known as Nostradamus.

Unfortunately, the famous prophet is too old and weak to take on such a mission alone. Refusing to abandon his Queen in her hour of need, he sends his daughter Madeleine in his place. However, there is no such thing as female astrologers, let alone female doctors in medieval times. To be accepted as such, the young woman must go in disguise and assume her younger brother César’s identity.

Alternating between Madeleine the young woman, and Madeleine disguised as César, players are plunged into a thrilling adventure where political scheming and ancestral prophecies are intertwined. The game begins as an initiatory adventure in the footsteps of her father Nostradamus, and transitions into a suspenseful test-riddled forensic investigation as you are faced with one murder after another.

FEATURES

• The first-ever game based on the life and works of Nostradamus
• Defeat the last prophecy of the great astrologer Nostradamus and change the course of history!
• Become a criminal profiler centuries in advance as you investigate a series of murders perilously linked to the royal family
• Play as 2 different characters throughout this thrilling adventure
• Unravel a series of Machiavellian riddles and puzzles based not just on astrology, but also alchemy, apothecary and ancient runes
• Delve into Renaissance Provence and discover rich photorealistic environments faithfully recreated to reflect the time of Nostradamus
• From the creators of best-selling adventure series: Atlantis, Egypt, Versailles and The Secrets of Da Vinci

The Hot Places to Go for Gold in Paradise City

It's Summer in the City, and everyone's fighting over the latest fashions up and down Lambert Parkway. Apparently GOLD is the new black, and since everyone is after a bargain this season, it seems that all the WAGs have sent their men to grab them something sparkly, at any cost!

Auntie Rich is here to rescue you all from mediocrity by filling you in on the places to be on the 'upper' side of town during this fashion Gold Rush!

The first place is where I go to have my spa treatment every Tuesday morning, the Maplemount Country Club. It's also very popular with the Paradise Police Force as it's where they hold their Policemen's Balls every year. I'm told they also use it as a meeting point when there's a big gold heist on!

Read the full list here on the Burnout website...

Resident Evil - The Darkside Chronicles video game

Capcom brings the Resident Evil series back to the Nintendo Wii with the sequel to the highly successful, million-selling title, Resident Evil - The Umbrella Chronicles, Resident Evil - The Darkside Chronicles.

Unlike the evil enemies you fought against in the previous story, in Resident Evil - The Darkside Chronicles, players will fight against the characters' own inner demons. Two of the most popular characters in the series and heroes of the beloved Resident Evil 2, Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield, will be making their return. As unconventional heroes, the two start out the game as ordinary individuals who are thrown into terrorizing situations where their own fear is their biggest enemy. Featuring a brand new storyline that will fill in missing pieces of the "Chronicles" series, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles leads players into a horrific world where the lines between good and evil are blurred and the fight begins with your dark side...

The game's on-rail, arcade shooter gameplay first featured in Resident Evil - The Umbrella Chronicles, has been radically upgraded in Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. One of the major additions is a sub-screen which will allow for weapon configuration and use of recovery items regardless of time progression. A horde of new features including a new system that allows players to modify the difficulty level according to their playing skills will bring accessibility and fun to both the hardcore and casual gamer.

Continuing in the survival horror tradition, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles will increase the thrills and chills with an enhanced two-player co-op mode where players will be able to follow their partners on the same screen. Their conversations and interactions have also been improved to create a more intense co-op experience.

A more terrifying experience than ever before, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles combines a shaky and realistic handheld camera experience with an eerie soundtrack and creepy sound effects utilizing state-of-the-art technology.

In development exclusively for the Nintendo Wii, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles will be available this Winter.

Key features

• Two-Player Co-op Shooting: Invite friends and family to experience the horror alongside you in 2-player co-op mode.

• Fan Favorite Characters Return: Play as Leon S. Kennedy, protagonist of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 4, his partner Claire Redfield, who appeared in Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil: Code Veronica, and others still to be announced.

• New Evade Movements: Utilize the Wii Remote to flank and evade your enemies, creating a more in-depth and intense shooting experience.

• Customizable Weapons: Players can upgrade and customize their weapons for each battle scenario. Each playable character can be specialized for a specific combat style.

• Dynamic Difficulty: In addition to the initial settings of Easy, Normal and Hard, the game’s difficulty level will adjust automatically based on the player’s skill level so that both old and new fans can have a fun and challenging experience.

• Collectibles Galore: For true Resident Evil devotees, archive items such as characters, enemies, old documents and movies can be found throughout the game.

Need For Speed Undercover iPhone video game Review

Need For Speed Undercover (NFSU) might well turn out to be one of those defining games for the iPhone. The whole package here is amazingly slick, the graphics look and feel incredible and the controls are even better (more of that later).

The basic idea here is to play as an undercover cop and infiltrate street gangs and take them down all through speed races. It is a little similar to the Fast & Furious franchise but these two latest iPhone games are very different.

NFSU storyline is split across three districts and there are about 8 races in each. From the onset, this feels so much like a big console game. A very high quality video intro sets the scene with Maggie Q and later Christina Milian making an appearance as the plot drags you in. No matter how good the N-Gage might be, very few handsets could seamlessly intermingle video clips with gaming.

The guys at EA have also spent time figuring out how to create some unique controls for the touchscreen. The car auto accelerates and you just need to tilt to steer and braking is a simple touch on the screen. That's all fairly standard. However, the extra gestures are a little different. Swipe upwards to activate the nitro. Swipe downwards with two fingers to pause and a single downward swipe initiates the slow motion. You can even pinch to zoom when you're in the garage. To be fair a pause button could have been placed in the total corner but the double swipe is a cool feature and frees up the screen from virtual buttons.

There is only a single story mode and it is quite linear in its progression. However, there are a bunch of different race types so the variety is always there. Some of the levels will have you delivering a stolen car while being chased by the police. Others are all about crashing into and destroying as much public property as possible.

Every race earns you money (and more can be gained for stylish driving) and you can use this to boost up your garage. There are 20 real cars to choose from and they can all get engine/performance upgrades as well as some new rims and spray.

The only criticism is the long term play. This $9.99/£5.99 game will give a few hours of pleasure but once the story is complete, there's little reason in revisiting. Fast and Furious does not have as good a driving experience as NFSU but the online scores will always have you coming back.

From: Mobile Game FAQs

Is this Duke Nuken Forever trailer for real?

As if to show the Duke's fans what they've been missing out on for years, a video surfaces with gameplay footages from notorious vaporware Duke Nukem Forever. It's a bloody futuristic FPS, featuring the attitude and the nudity - all in Duke Nukem fashion. Check it out.

Age gate trailer...

LittleBigPlanet Judge Dredd Sackboy...

Found this poster over on MediaMolecule announcing the launch of Judge Dredd costumes and stickers coming soon to LittleBigPlanet...


More LBP posts on gamezplay here...

From the Creative Mind that brought Sonic the Hedgehog to Life Comes a Finger Tapping Sensation

SEGA announce Let’s Tap, a game that is blazing new ground in Nintendo Wii control design. Developed by Prope, the studio that Sonic the Hedgehog creator Yuji Naka established in 2006, Let’s Tap is the first product from the new studio to be released to in North America and Europe.

Developed exclusively for Nintendo’s Wii system, Let’s Tap utilizes a ground-breaking control scheme where the Wii controller is placed on a box or flat surface so that the controller can detect minute vibrations. Players of all ages and skill levels then tap the box or flat surface to interact with the game; there’s no need to hold the controller. Let’s Tap is slated for a summer 2009 ship for the Nintendo Wii in North America and Europe.



“Lets Tap offers a new and innovative way of playing on the Wii which only a videogame legend such as Naka-san could have ever possibly imagined” Commented Gary Knight, European Marketing Director SEGA Europe. “It’s such a simple yet genius concept and still easy to pick up and play, everyone will be tapping away before you know it!”

Featuring five separate game modes with multiple levels and allowing up to four players for multiplayer action, Let’s Tap presents an assortment of different finger-tapping challenges for players to master. In Tap Runner players use differing finger tapping pressure to make simple stick figure racers run through an obstacle course. In Visualizer players are allowed to create dazzling fireworks effects, dramatic paint strokes, amongst other effect as they tap out different rhythm patterns that correspond to different effects. Silent Blocks finds players taking turns removing blocks from a large stack, tapping too hard will result in a collapsing stack of blocks. Bubble Voyager allows players to fly through space, blasting obstacles and enemies in order to reach the far stretches of the universe. And finally Rhythm Tap allows players to time the taps of their fingers to high energy music.

Win a NVIDIA GeoForce 9800GTX+ video card with Sacred 2 desktop contest

cdv Software Entertainment USA and GameRigs are inviting gamers to show off their creative skills in the newly launched Sacred 2: Fallen Angel “Mighty Desktop Wallpaper” contest. The contest challenges entrants to design and submit a Sacred 2-themed desktop wallpaper, which will then be judged by cdv USA and GameRigs staff.

The best wallpaper entry will then be converted to a large-sized poster to be given to the winner, along with the following first-place prizes –

• One NVIDIA GeForce 9800GTX+ video card
• A Razer DeathAdder gaming mouse
• A GameRigs “Sacred 2 BattleMat” gaming mouse pad
• Sacred 2 decal set
• A copy of Sacred 2: Fallen Angel for PC or Xbox

There will also be 10 “Honorable Mention” prize packs given out, which include –

• A Sacred 2 “Monster” poster
• A GameRigs “Sacred 2 BattleMat” gaming mouse pad

To enter, please visit the URL for complete instructions –
http://www.game-rigs.com/promos/sacred2wp

Guitar Hero sales pass $2 billion with Guitar Hero 5 confirmed (surprise!)

Activision has officially confirmed earlier reports that it will expand its 2009 rhythm game line-up this Fall with Guitar Hero 5, DJ Hero, and Band Hero. Additionally, the publisher has announced that the franchise has reached a USD 2 billion milestone, and is only the third gaming franchise to do so.

According to a press release issued today, Guitar Hero 5 "gives players an unprecedented level of control over the way they play the game with the ability to drop in and out of songs and change band members, instruments and difficulty levels on the fly." Band Hero meanwhile is an attempt to expand the franchise to a younger audience, and DJ Hero, which has seen some court attention recently, introduces a brand new turntable peripheral. All three titles are slated for fall of this year.

During a conference call discussing the publisher's quarterly financial results, Activision expanded on its music genre strategy, revealing that the Guitar Hero franchise has now generated USD 2 billion in sales.

In response to a question by Deutsche Bank analyst Jeetil Patel, Activision CEO Robert Kotick said "We feel very good about our holiday slate."

"The Guitar Hero franchise in fact, this quarter, surpassed the USD 2 billion dollar mark, and was only the third franchise in the history of gaming, besides Super Mario and Madden, to ever achieve that milestone," he continued. "So, it's got a strong foundation."

In regards to music titles from other publishers, Kotick said "We're much more focused on our own business than the overall market, because we can't really control what happens with the other titles, such as Rock Band, where we've seen a rather precipitous fall-off of that franchise."

Kotick also said that Guitar Hero Metallica is "off to a good start," and that the publisher will be sponsoring the band's European tour next month - just in time for the game's European launch. "We think that's going to be a very positive addition," he said.

"And then the triad that we've got in the holiday, between Guitar Hero 5, DJ Hero and Band Hero, we think will not only serve the current user base, but also provide significant additional expansion opportunities to new genres, so that we can start tapping into the significant number of households that are a part of the 170 million install base of hardware, but haven't yet engaged with Guitar Hero."

"So, I think we're feeling that we've got a very strong programme in the year ahead, and we're bullish on the music category."

In response to an additional question from Piper-Jaffray analyst Anthony Gikas, Activision CFO Thomas Tippl spoke briefly on the profit margins for the Guitar Hero franchise, saying that "margins have been compressed as a result of the hardware cost related particularly to the band products," but that the publisher expects profit margins on the franchise to improve later this year.

"What we expect to see is that margins will improve as we get into the latter part of the year, where we will have new hardware out that is not only better and innovative, but also cost-optimised," he continued, also adding that another factor for higher margins will be a heightened focus on software over hardware, which has significantly lower manufacturing and freight costs.

Wii Sports sells 45.7m games, Wii Play 22.9m, Wii Fit 18.2 million...

Following full year financial results Nintendo has released internal sales figures for its top-selling first party titles on the Wii and Nintendo DS.

The results suggest that Wii Sports has become the best-selling bundled videogame of all time, beating NES classic Super Mario Bros. In turn Wii Play is now the best-selling non-bundled game, with Nintendogs taking its place if its status as a hardware bundle with the Wii remote is discounted.

In total Wii Sports has sold 45.7 million units worldwide, which is only slightly below the current 50 million total for the Wii itself, since the game is not bundled with the console in Japan.

Wii Play sales are currently on 22.9 million, followed by Wii Fit on 18.2 million and Mario Kart Wii on 15.4 million. The best-selling Wii title not to be bundled with additional hardware is Super Smash Bros Brawl on 8.4 million units.

The critically acclaimed Super Mario Galaxy is the Wii's sixth strongest seller on 8 million units, followed by Mario Party 8 on 6.7 million and Wii Zapper bundle Link's Crossbow Training on 3.76 million.

Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City (aka City Folk) is the best-seller from Nintendo's 2008 Christmas line-up on 3.76 million units, followed by Wii Music on 2.65 million. Super Mario Stadium Baseball (aka Mario Super Sluggers) is the last of the million-selling titles on the list at 1.2 million units.

On the DS the top-selling title is Nintendogs and all its many near-identical SKUs, with sales of 22.2 million units. This is followed by New Super Mario Bros which stands at 18.4 million.

Brain Training (aka Brain Age) has sold 17.4 million units worldwide, with Pokemon Diamond/Pearl on 16.8 million, Mario Kart DS on 14.6 million and More Brain Training (aka Brain Age 2) on 13.7 million.

Animal Crossing: Wild World stands at 10 million, followed by launch title Super Mario 64 DS on 7.5 million, Mario Party DS on 5.8 million and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon on 4.5 million. Pokemon Platinum is on 3.7 million and Kirby Super Star Ultra is on 2.3 million - with neither title yet having been released in Europe.

Pokemon Ranger has sold 2 million units worldwide, while Rhythm Paradise (aka Rhythm Heaven) is on 1.9 million. Professor Layton and the Curious Village has sold 1.6 million units in the West, although this figure does not include Japan where the game is self-published by developer Level-5.

Source: GamesIndustry