Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Creative Assembly’s Total War series has reserved a special place in the hearts of RTS aficionados across the world. Empire: Total War (ETW), the latest in the series till now, was breathtaking in its scope. No wonder that it is on the must-play list of all RTS gamers. Maybe that is what prompted Creative Assembly to go for a sort of stand-alone expansion in form of Napoleon: Total War (NTW) instead of a full-fledged new game in the Total War series. So instead of a free-flowing game style that most Total War fanatics would be accustomed to, you will instead be stepping into the shoes Napoleon Bonaparte.
Veterans of ETW will feel immediately at ease with NTW as they happen to share the same code. There have been tweaks and new features being added into the game so gamers hopefully should be able to see some of the niggles from ETW being addressed in NTW. So at the end of the day, you still have the good old turn-based game which transforms into a real-time war game when the need arises. The only thing different would be that you would be following the exploits of Napoleon over a course of four campaigns, namely, Egyptian, Italian, European and the infamous Waterloo.
If there is one thing that the PlayStation 3 excels at, it is playing host to games that have exactly what is needed to jumpstart the hype-train. Last time around, we had Killzone 2 as fodder for intense console wars fought over a multitude of forums. This time it was supposed to be God of War III but what we are seeing now is the emergence of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves as a strong contender. The original Uncharted: Drakes Fortune was one of the biggest hits on the PS3 platform. From what we have been seen till now, Uncharted 2 is all set to blow right past what Uncharted 1 managed to do. With jaw dropping graphics, a promising single player campaign and multiplayer component to boot, Uncharted 2 is promising to be a treat to fans as well as those new to the series. Thanks to Milestone Interactive, we got our hands upon the recently concluded Uncharted 2: Among Thieves multiplayer beta. As expected, we came away impressed.
Lost your Biohazard aka Resident Evil 5 demo leached off that fake Japanese GT once Microsoft caught on? Well, fret not because soon you will be getting your very own shiny new demo for Resident Evil 5 without any worries about Microsoft corrupting it any time soon.
In a news release, Capcom says that a two-level demo will be releasing exclusively on the Xbox 360 on January 26th along with a new trailer on Jan 16th. Check out the press release after the jump.
Looks like things for December just got real.
This past November saw some nice, well-rounded events (both launch-related and for the public) – whether we were churning EPIC’s Gears (twice!), going Undercover before you made that trip to Metacritic, and least we forget Big Bose and his pals paying a visit to Mumbai, Bangalore, and Delhi for some Battle of the SingStars. This December, however, will go back to whats most chaotic of them all: the LAN parties.
Hygienists, beware! More after the jump.
On Tuesday afternoon, EA India unleashed the icky-galacticness that is SPORE upon unsuspecting press attendees at the game’s official launch event held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Delhi. General Manager Ajay Khanna was armed to the teeth with PowerPoint presentations that could apparently freeze time itself, as he went on and on trying to convince the mainstream news representatives that they were staring at something that was sheer “fantastic” incarnate (one of Mr. Khanna’s favorite words). But much like the evolutionary process itself, these things can take time. Which is exactly why you’ve got to bait these groups of 20-something-year-olds with a free lunch, a fancy press kit (nice job with that one, PR dudes), review copies, and a limited edition EA 2GB pendrive! Well played, indeed.
It wasn’t all that boring. In fact, with Bollywood actor Kunal Kapoor and MTV’s Nikhil Chinapa around, tearing the shrink-wrap off a brand-new SPORE box (which ended up being one of our review copies) and giving a live-demo of the Creature Creator to the press, things were only somewhat boring. Also, it appears nigh impossible to have a discussion about SPORE without having to point out weirdo references about someone’s (or something’s) anatomy sticking out in the wrong way. It’s amusingly easy to tell how Nikhil is a lot of older than he tries to seem, what with him blurting stuff about his wife and bringing up people like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Michael Jackson as means of comparison to SPORE’s customization features but with a dash of comedic relevance (seriously). Was rather keen about doing a podcast, though, but he’s “busy.” (Le Sigh.)
Long story short: SPORE is out. You go buy, yes?
Forget the fact that game censorship in India is as necessary as dialogues in a porno flick, this latest development is wrong in so many ways that it makes FX Labs’ Agni seem playable.
Every gamer’s mortal enemy, Jack Thompson will be heading the Indian Censorship Board from next week. Not content with having been sanctioned in his own state, he’s decided to spread his game hating propaganda across India. We managed to catch up with the veteran attorney in Mumbai and heard what he had to say about this stunning development.
Distraught with being unable to buy off Yahoo, it appears that the house that Bill built have set their sights a tad lower. Earlier today Microsoft India have ensured total control over the popular gaming network, theAngryPixel.com – for a slice of cheesecake.
Speaking to the media on the occasion, TAP representative Abhinav Pattanayak had said, “We tried our best to stall this from happening but the lure of money, inflatable dolls…err babes and free lifetime RRoD warranty ended up being too tempting… but the most tempting offer of it all was this slice of cake, so delicious and moist.”, after which he proceeded to cozy up to life-size standees of Cortana and GlaDos.
“I don’t see how this is a problem. From now on, TAP will function as an integral part of MS, replacing the Xbox India forums as the official hub for every Indian gamer’s queries. And when I mean integral, i mean it won’t function at all. Just like MS’s forums. Mmmm… caaaake!”, said Vijay Sinha while sitting in a jacuzzi filled with fully-functional Sega Dreamcast consoles.
While most TAP members applauded the move, there were some outside the community who felt abandoned and let down.
“Who will critique my writing style?! Where will I get an unbiased opinion about how bad I am? Who will own my ass in Halo 3?! We offered our site to Microsoft at half the price they got TAP for, but they still refused!”, bawled Neelesh Mukherjee of GameGuru.in as he proceeded towards the MS office located in Delhi – shotgun, explosives and an inflatable Mohit Anand doll in tow.
No word on this, however, has been heard from the Keeper of the TAP Gates, Krishnan Rajagopal, who was last seen purchasing a copy of Windows ME for the price of half a soul and two fudge brownies.

