New details about the game were revealed by Deep Silver; once players finish Lost Horizon, they will unlock additional content, including a “Surprise Puzzle,” and the ability to play portions of the original prototype game. Players who are missing that quality in point and click adventure games should be sure to keep their eyes out for Lost Horizon. The game is set in the 1930’s and tells the story of Fenton, a former soldier turned rogue smuggler. When a band of explorers goes missing in the highest reaches of Tibet, he is tasked with finding them and bringing them home. Along the way, he crosses the path of a Nazi expeditionary force tracking down powerful occult weapons for use in their conquest of the world. It’s up to Fenton to find the lost expedition and stop the Nazis from finding the greatest treasure of all, the mysterious city of Shambala!
Lost Horizon will be available for digital download through several top online PC game retailers for $19.99 on September 24, 2010.
The guys over at Bethesda have come up with a new approach to their newsletter, now aptly titled “In The Works”. On the last Thursday of each month they’ll be providing new and exciting information on our games, events and much more. The first newsletter, that focuses on QuakeCon news is now available at Bethesda’s Website.
Do you feel like living through a full-fledged Metroid experience, but can’t be bothered to do all that item-hunting? No, you couldn’t care less about those stray E-Tanks and absent missile expansions. Do you care about the deep, rich lore of Samus’ Zebesian struggle. Metroid: Other M will have the option of watching game’s cut scenes into a streamlined, two-hour, non-interactive story through Theater Mode.
The series’ godfather, Yoshio Sakamoto, explained that the mode, which unlocks after completing the game, would allow returning players to soak in all the dialogue and events of the story without having to replay the whole thing over again. Why, that sounds a heck of a lot like the full-length Shenmue movie which accompanied the game’s sequel.
Our squishy head, muscular bodied friend is coming back to Playstation 3, and in HD! Earthworm Jim HD has been confirmed by Gameloft, to be released as a downloadable on August 3rd. Lucky enough if you live in Europe you already have this game available for download. The new game will feature three new levels, as well as local and online cooperative play for up to four players across 15 new multiplayer levels, so I think this game finally has more cowbell and for only $9.99.
Capcom has reported “sluggish” results, with a 90% decrease in profit down from the same time last year, though the company still managed a profit; admittedly a mere 213 million yen, or roughly 2.4 million dollars.
Capcom blamed an unfavorable exchange rate, particularly as a result of “US and European markets shrinking under the stagnating economy.” However, the poor results may have some wide-ranging results for Capcom’s future release schedule. The company recently announced that they intend to increase the output of releases in their most popular franchises, and their financial report squarely places the “drastic decline” in profitability on the “increase of new flagship titles release from the same term of the previous year, when most sales were made of repeat titles.” This “resulted in higher game development costs.”
Lost Planet 2 and Ghost Trick (although the latter is yet to be released outside of Japan) were highlighted as poor performers in the face of steady sales from more established franchises such as Super Street Fighter IV, Monster Hunter Frontier Online and iPhone/iPod touch titles including Street Fighter IV and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.
It seems likely that Capcom will indeed be going forward with a reliance on established franchises rather than new or riskier IP in the face of these results — expect the company to be watching the sales of the upcoming Dead Rising 2 very closely.
It’s hard not to get excited over the sequel to one of 2007’s biggest sleeper hits. Crackdown brought you a world full of crime and corruption, your job was to clean the mean streets and do it in style. A new studio by Ruffian Games under its belt and two years of development time plan to make this game bigger and badder then the last. However immediately when into the world of the newest game you’ll notice not much has changed aside new modes to play with. So does this game justify your attention and purchase?
The game is set 10 years after the first, there is now only one criminal organization by the name of Cell and the newly infestation called the freaks. The freaks are mutated people and creatures that try to beat you by shear numbers over anything else. Aside this there’s not much beyond what you’ll get from the beginning of the game. Not to say we expected a real story line since the games focus is on all the antics you can get into, while running around in the city. We’ve gotta say that nothing feels better then mowing down a bunch of the infected with a car, explosive, guns or brute strength. Players can become the ultimate bad ass in this game with some new abilities as well.
Of course one of the things more imminent is the return of orbs and this time have made some fun ways in collecting them with Renegade Orbs. There are still regular orbs to collect throughout the entire city. Gaining skills for driving and strength are still earned by taking down criminals, stunts or mowing enemies down. With Renegade Orbs however, they will simply do everything they can to run from you, so you have to be diligent when trying to catch them. The return of the agencies voice work is back as well, telling you everything you want and don’t want to here which is nice.
For those who played Crackdown 1 this sounds familiar and this alone can probably hold you over but there are a few new things beyond this. 16 player multiplayer makes it in with three modes which are deathmatch, team deathmatch, and Rocket Tag. While we’re glad to see multiplayer in a game like this its often really chaotic and guns tear you down pretty fast. What’s the point of being a Super Hero if you can get killed with a couple of shots or by one fist to the face? A big new feature and is pretty much the game changer, is the four player co-op for the single player campaign. It’s so much fun playing with four people preferably friends that you can get lost for hours doing mindless activities.
Some of the big issues in Crackdown 2 are what have plagued the first game. Targeting doesn’t work correctly, unclimbable buildings, camera issues, etc. The fighting mechanic and driving have gotten better though. Single player campaign only lends itself to a set of missions and side missions repeated throughout the city, with nothing really boasting a challenge. Graphically and sound wise the game hasn’t changed, everything looks the way you’d expect it too, except that its aged 10 years so some structures are torn down a bit.
We can’t help but feel disappointed with all the desolate area’s, glitches and essentially a city thats already been built but hasn’t seen much changes. However if your a collecting freak that would love getting all the orbs, enjoyed the first Crackdown or for sure have four friends to get in on the action then this is your game. Crackdown 2 will provide fun and a fresher experience for those who haven’t played the first one but for those expecting a true sequel, you probably won’t find it here.
Deep Silver, the games label of Koch Media, announced that Lost Horizon has now gone into production. This means that nothing stands in the way of an September 17 release this year of the eagerly anticipated PC game from developer Animation Arts. Also, the publisher revealed that, after playing Lost Horizon, adventurers will get to enjoy additional bonus contents, including a surprise puzzle and an opportunity to play parts of the original prototype.Lost Horizon is the third title issued by Animation Arts, the developer of the award-winning Secret Files series. With its classic 1930s setting, fascinating locations such as Hong Kong, Tibet, Berlin, and Morocco, and the eventful search for one of humankind’s greatest secrets, Lost Horizon is bound to have adventure fans glued to their PCs.
The story:
1936: Fenton Paddock, a former British soldier and hapless smuggler, is asked to find a lost expedition in Tibet. On his journey, he encounters Nazi henchmen who are following a trail through the Himalayas as they search for occult weapons to help with plans for further conquests, hoping to track down one of mankind’s greatest secrets – the legendary Shambala.
Activision announced the official name of the upcoming Monster Jam videogame – Monster Jam: Path of Destruction. The video game will be available at retail on November 9, 2010 on Wii, Nintendo DS, the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PSP. Monster Jam: Path of Destruction is the ultimate, authentic monster truck experience complete with unprecedented realism, customization, truck handling and all-out destruction. Fan-favorites Grave Digger, Maximum Destruction, and Grinder are all in the mix, and players can also create and customize their own trucks with thousands of options, unlocking new parts and upgrades as they progress through the game with the ultimate goal of reaching of reaching the Monster Jam World Finals.
Monster Jam: Path of Destruction is being developed with the most advanced vehicle handling ever. Gamers will be able to compete in the most popular Monster Jam stadiums, and will be blown away by the overall gaming experience and realism. More information on the game’s features will be revealed over the summer and fall.
When InFamous 2 was shown off at E3 back in June, it again featured superpower-wielding Cole as the main character, but not as fans remembered him: Whereas the original Cole had a shaved head and sporty yellow jacket, the new Cole had hair and arm tattoos.
Before their Comic-Con panel, developer Sucker Punch confirmed that due to overwhelmingly negative fan reaction, they’ve decided to change Cole’s look back to the original design for InFamous 2. Images of Cole’s new (and by new we mean old) look haven’t been released yet, although IGN describes him as looking “more like the person we played as in the original InFamous.”
It’s not a big surprise to see Sucker Punch revert Cole to his old look, as even back at E3 we got the feeling from game director Nate Fox’s almost apologetic tone that they would consider a redesign if fans weren’t happy. Turns out, fans weren’t happy.
We’ll have plenty of time to get acquainted with the new-old Cole, though, as InFamous 2 isn’t due for release until next year.
