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Sunday, July 11, 2010

Righ on Track:Unleash that creative side; get all the action with ModNation Racers

ModNation Racers, the latest in the go kart racing genre, has all the fun and excitement of racing games such as the Disney racers, but definitely not the heavy pulse pounding and temple throbbing action of NFS. Featuring cartoon characters and settings, the game, developed by United Front Games and SCE San Diego Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, is fun. It is designed and available for PSP and PS3 platforms.
 
The creative tools available enable one to create karts, racers and even tracks. If you go online, you can share these with the online community. The karts can be made to look like trains, airplanes and cars among others and you can drift and accelerate along the track, collecting power ups and missiles. Scattered along the track are weapons and munitions with different power levels. These are boost, sonic attacks, missiles and lightning strikes and vary in intensity. The sonic attacks at first level create small rockets and rings that knock off nearby opponents. Power up for more intensity to lightning level and you can shower thunder bolts on opponents.
 
The kart also has a turbo boost that helps to put a shield and protect from incoming missiles. What is interesting is that the AI is very smart and this means the other racers are quick and agile and would knock you off or side swipe you at the first chance. The races are usually for three laps and the tracks are filled with short cuts and traps that get you down if you are careless. Races are divided into quick race, story mode, online race, stunts and grudge race. The idea is to master the track and learn hmv best to corner, use the short cuts and use the missiles properly. A first place in the podium requires lots of practice and work. The game plays very well and the controls are quick to respond.
 
I would give the game a 9 for its game play, creativity and handling. It will cost you about Rs 3,000, but is worth the price. Whether you are six or si.,xty, you'll enjoy the game.

Friday, December 11, 2009

How to Find Educational Games For Kids

Image representing iPhone as depicted in Crunc...Image via CrunchBase
When it comes to games for kids, there is a never-ending supply. You go to the grocery store and you see games. You go to the thrift store and you see games. Games for kids even come in $1.99 meals you buy at the drive through. So why is it so hard to find educational games that your kids will want to play?

Friday, July 17, 2009

Sexiest babes of action games

You thought action games are a male forte? All those adrenalin pumping action games have male protagonists? Time you meet these hot action babes.

These hot bods have made many action video games hotsellers by not just their sex appeal, but by their impeccable action skills and heroism.

Here's meeting the sexiest action heroines of the gaming world.

Lara croft is a female Indiana Jones with Daisy Duke shorts, a tight tank top shirt and two pistols. The buxom adventurer has become a cultural icon, appearing in more than 10 games, two feature films and several comic books and novels.

Lara Croft also plays a protagonist in the Eidos Interactive's Tomb Raider video game series. In 2006, Lara was honoured with a star on the Walk of Game and was awarded a Guinness World Record recognising her as the "most successful human video game heroine."

In 2001, Lara was brought to life by actress Angelina Jolie for the film Tomb Raider.

Beautiful, deadly and pigtailed are the words mostly used to describe Cammy, the second female character in the Street Fighter series. Though, still not as widely popular as Chun-Li, the young warrior has left an eternal footprint on the Street Fighter series.

Cammy first appeared in the fighting game Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers, which was released in 1993, as one of the four new characters.

In the game, Cammy is a 19-year-old agent of the fictional Delta Red task force within MI6. In the Japanese version of her ending, she is revealed to have been an agent working for M Bison in the past, who lost her memory during an operation. In the English version of the game, this was changed into revealing that Cammy was Bison's lover.

Cammy is shown as a petite girl with muscles, grown to supplement her thin body. Has long blond hair, which she usually ties in two pigtails. She has blue eyes and a scar on her left cheek. Blue-eyed Cammy is a close-range fighter who often hurls herself at the enemy.

A secondary character in the Resident Evil series, Ada Wong is still a compelling figure as the femme fatale of the popular game series. An utterly seductive temptress, she oozes oomph even in zombie infested wastelands.

A mysterious American woman of Asian descent, Ada plays a cunning secret agent. She is voiced by actress Sally Cahill in Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 4, and has also appeared in The Umbrella Chronicles.

Red-clad, cunning and formidable, she plays a role of secret agent of Chinese heritage.

Former STARS (Special Tactics And Rescue Service) agent, Jill Valentine is one of the most popular characters of the Resident Evil series. Among the original characters of Resident Evil, she is the main heroine of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis and also appears as one of the main characters in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles and in the second Resident Evil movie, Resident Evil: Apocalypse.

Valentine is often jokingly referred to as `the master of unlocking' due to a phrase in the game.

Jill's standard and most well-known outfit is a pair of blue assault pants with a light blue form fitting shirt and shoulder/neck armour, completed with a blue beret on her head.

On her desk is a picture which looks like of a young man, and it is widely speculated that he possibly is her boyfriend. However, this is one of the biggest mysteries in the series, as so far there is no mention of her having any kind of romantic relationship.

Mona Sax is the key character of the game series Max Payne. She is the tragic love interest of Max in Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne.

Sax has been modeled after Kathy Tong a Hollywood model. She plays a contract killer and fits in perfectly in the dark world of Max Payne. In Max Payne, Mona is thought to have been killed by mobsters while she was trying to kill Angello Punchinello who she calls a “sadistic wife beater” in Max Payne, but she apparently survived.

Mona is introduced in Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne as a suspect the murder of a Senator. Kitana is a lead character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. Aged over 10,000 years old, she is the step daughter of Shao Kahn, later his enemy. Her main weapon includes fan that can rip up her enemies apart.

Through the years, she first portrays the character of a loyal step daughter of Shao Kahn; then his enemy, freeing herself away from his grasp and freeing her home realm of Edenia. Later she leads an army into Outworld to combat any chance of Shao Kahn rising to power again.

Her character is driven by a search for justice, redemption, and peace. Later in the game she falls in love with Earthrealm champion Liu Kang until he was murdered by the Deadly Alliance.


Rayne is half human, half vampire and red-headed. She spends her days sleeping and nights slaughtering Nazi occult groups, evil vampires and other supernatural forces.

She has appeared in a music video, a comic book series and a feature film played by Kristanna Loken of “Terminator 3” fame. Rayne has made a cameo appearance in Majesco's PSP game, Infected.

Rayne is a bloodthirsty American Dhampir with the ability to jump more than 20 feet in the air. She runs unnaturally fast and can also fire one gun in each hand at different targets.

Rayne's character design is highly sexual in nature and she is the first video game character that has appeared in the Playboy Magazine. She has also made appearance in MTV's "Video Mods", a music video on song "Everybody's Fool".

Samus Aran is lead player in the Metroid video game series. Called Hunter by her arch enemies and Hatchling by Chozo, who brought her up after her parents were killed in a Space Pirate raid, Samus is regarded as one of the earliest and most significant female protagonists in the history of video games.

Samus hunts aliens called the Space Pirates and energy-draining alien parasites called Metroids. Wearing a Power Suit in some part of the Metroid series to protect herself from adverse environments and enemy fire, Samus also sports revealing bikini in some scenes.

Some recent games replace Samus bikini by a less revealing and more functional blue bodysuit, dubbed the Zero Suit. The original Metroid which was released in 1986 shows a pixilated Samus in a pink leotard and boots. The attire was considered extremely revealing during that time.

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Monday, June 15, 2009

Big Budget Blockbusters

A round-up of the biggest, most eagerly awaited video game titles to watch out for in the coming year

Microsoft’s Natal, Sony’s Wand, Paul Mc Cartney and Ringo Starr – this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo had video game consoles and celebrities hogging most of the limelight. Now that the event is over, it’s time to draw attention to the real crowdpullers.

Gamers often moan that the gaming industry is very risk averse, preferring to stick to big name titles and safe sequels. This year’s E3 pulls no surprises, dispensing innovation in small, incremental doses.

All the games mentioned below have big studio backing, franchised characters and rehashed game play. However, that doesn’t mean we aren’t eagerly waiting to spend hours playing them.


New Super Mario Bros (Wii)
Release Date: December 2009

The latest addition to the Super Mario series promises blue skies, upbeat music, and multiplayer gameplay. Up to four players will be able to play simultaneously as Mario or Luigi in the side-scrolling worlds of the new Super Mario Bros, which now adds motion sensitive controller driven action, new items and abilities.

BioShock 2 (PC, PS3, X360)
Release Date: Nov 2009 for the PS3 and the X360

Winner of more than 50 Game of the Year awards in 2007, Bioshock 2 picks off 10 years after the events of the original single player story, blending a novel storyline with first person shooter action and role-playing elements. The sequel brings multiplayer action and the ability to wield multiple weapons at the same time.

Modern Warfare 2 (PC, PS3, X360)
Release Date: November 2009

This sequel from bestselling Call of Duty series, is for fans of first person gunplay. The single player campaign will take you through snow-capped mountains in Russia, a desert in Afghanistan, and a favela in Rio de Janeiro. Expect high production values, carefully scripted single player missions, top notch graphics, and downloadable content that will add to the life of the game.

God of War 3 (PS3)
Release Date: March 2010

For many, it’s been the reason to buy a PlayStation console. In our previous encounters, Kratos, the god of war, battled with the celebrity A-list of Greek mythology – Athena, Zeus, Atlas, Poseidon, Ares, Medusa, doing more for Greek mythology than a thousand books. The third instalment has the chainblade-wielding warrior in a world that’s four times larger than the original, as he scales the depths of Hades and the heights of Mount Olympus. Expect wondrous imaginary worlds, dazzling graphics, engaging puzzles and brutal combat from this modern epic.

Rock Band: Beatles (Wii, PS3, X360)
Release Date: September 2009

Fans of the Beatles wouldn’t want to miss this one. The Beatles edition lets players track the rise and growing legend of the band, sampling from a catalogue of 45 songs. Additional music from The Beatles’s catalogue will be made available for purchase as well. Gamers will have to match upto three-part vocal harmonies of the Beatles, and can accessorise with replicas of musical instruments used by the fab four.

DJ Hero (PS2, PS3, Wii, X360)
Release Date: September 2009

This title promises to do for wannabe DJs what the Guitar Hero series did for air guitarists. With a new turntable controller and a catalogue of over 100 club hits, DJ Hero promises to be the life of the house party. The turntable brings techniques like scratching, blending, and sampling, and can be used in multiplayer mode where DJs battle against each other.

Bayonetta (PS3, X360)
Release Date: September 2009

From the makers of the Devil May Cry series, this action adventure title has you play Beyonetta, a witch who can use magic attacks, handguns, shotguns and katanas. She can defy gravity by sprouting wings, run on walls, and do bullet time attacks as well. This game promises fast-paced action and plenty of replay value.
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Monday, June 1, 2009

Bionic Commando

In the 1988 classic, Radd, our hero was a a few square pixels wide. Now he’s back – in a sparkling 3D version of the swing-and-shoot action game.


Publisher:
Capcom
Developer: Grin
Platform: PC, Xbox 360, PS3
Price: Rs 3,499 for the Xbox and PS3 version
Rating: * * * * *


Nathan Radd Spencer, is pissed off. Why shouldn’t he be, our appendaged hero in the 1988 classic stopped the resurrection of the nefarious Master-D, a clone of Hitler, saving Ascension city. In return he got his bionic arm confiscated, and his bionic butt thrown into a cell because the public got scared of the whole bionic thing.

Fresh and rebooted from the 80’s into sparkling 3D in Bionic Commando, Nathan, sporting dreads and a bad ‘tude gets sprung out 10 years later by the enigmatic commando Super Joe. He’s been reincarnated in the wake of the Bionic Purge, when an electromagnetic device is detonated, leaving Ascension city in ruins. Capcom’s signature campy dialogue is not gripping, but charming and funny nonetheless.

The bulk of the game is built around Radd’s Bionic arm, equipped with a grappling hook, which he uses to swing around like Spiderman.

Being brutally honest here, you need time to get used to the game – it’s not easy by any yardstick. Even after playing the tutorial, the first 10 minutes will make you just give up or smash your controller. Once you get used to the swinging, the gameplay shines forth. As you play the game you ‘remember’ powers, which unlock different abilities, like ripping wreckage from the walls, or punching debris into enemies.

The gunplay is weak; while you do get an occasional big gun, most of the time you have nothing but your standard pistol. You must rely on grapple attacks, where you latch on to an enemy, reel him in, and dismantle with a satisfying kick.

Another frustrating annoyance is the sheer number of ways you can die. Even though it seems like an open ended world, any exploration beyond the usual boundaries results in death by radiation. Sometimes you wonder why you died. You die with a few bullets, you drown with the weight of the arm in flooded areas, you die when you touch fire, you die when you fall. Not only that, you probably have to restart at one of the very ill positioned checkpoints, which if you’re lucky, won’t have you re-watching the cut-scenes.

While all of this may seem monotonous, one must credit the developers for having lovingly crafted a brilliant looking post-apocalyptic wasteland. Bionic Commando gets better as you play on. Especially towards the end levels, is where everything ramps up to an epic ending. The boss battles are satisfying, one of the hallmarks of the game. They are refreshingly challenging, it takes lots of skill and strategy to bring them down.

Bottom line is, you either will love or hate this game. If you do decide to go in for this, you are in for a frustrating time at first with the controls.

Persevere, and you will be rewarded with a very satisfying experience.



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Friday, November 7, 2008

Nancy Drew -- "The Haunting Of Castle Malloy" (Her Interactive)


 

The amateur sleuth might best be known as one of literature's greatest detectives, but over the past decade, she's built an iron-clad case as gaming's most accomplished mystery-solver. Her games sell like hotcakes, routinely joining the likes of The Sims and World of Warcraft atop the PC game sales chart. Look for her latest conundrum, The Haunting of Castle Malloy, to confound store shelves on October 17th.