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Speed Racer races speedily onto iOS next month

March 30, 2012 by
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Are you a fan of Speed Racer for its inane, badly lip-synced audio or its high-profile, octane racing sequences? Personally, I could never get into the series because of its rather off-kilter dub job, and the recent John Goodman-having movie from a few years back didn’t do a whole lot for me either.

If you are down with Speed, Sparky and all their friends, you may be interested to hear about a side-scrolling adaptation of the series. Social Games International, along with official brand manager Speed Racer Enterprises, have blown the lid off in a manner of speaking, handing out a score of screenshots to help illustrate what the game (officially titled Speed Racer: The Beginning, which makes me wonder what exactly is “beginning” here) is all about. It looks like a pretty cut-and-dry iOS release, with touch controls for the different abilities that Speed Racer’s car has and a series of obstacles and other racers to avoid. There are also plans to include clips from the show and lots of obligatory customization thrown in for good measure.

Speed Racer: The Beginning is gonna come out sometime next month. The pictures are all beyond the cut, so feel free to enjoy them!

[Read more...]

Filed Under: iOS, News Tagged With: , , , ,

Preview: Brick-Force

March 30, 2012 by
BackGround05 - Kopie

After getting interested in upcoming Minecraft/FPS hybrid Brick-Force late last year, I was quick on the buzzer when it was time to sign up for the game’s closed beta. Soon enough, I ended up with some free time to kill and received that wonderful email from Infernum Productions informing me that I made it into their closed beta.  Naturally, I took some time to sit down with the free-to-play game and give it a few hours to let loose.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get much time to check out the map editing process, aside from strolling around someone’s map while they were making it.  The good news is that I was able to put in some quality time with their FPS aspect.

If you’re interested in hearing what I thought about Infernum’s debut title, keep on reading!

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Filed Under: FPS, PC, Previews Tagged With: , , , , ,

FireFall dropping NDA next Friday, moving up to 24/7 Beta access on Monday

March 30, 2012 by
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Last year at PAX Prime I got a chance to check out the wicked online-shooty-type FireFall, a game that’s currently having an active NDA-filled closed beta overseen by developer Red 5 studios. It was a pretty neat mish-mash of several excellent game archetypes and I was really excited to see what else was going on with it. Luckily, it looks like we might be finding out a lot more about the very info-light multiplayer hybrid very soon. In an open letter to the current closed beta testers, staff member Phobos went through the history of the game thus far: the exciting reveal at PAX Prime 2010, the subsequent follow-up in 2011 and the success of the closed beta so far.

Interesting tidbits were scattered throughout this letter, including two very important bits of knowledge: first of all, this coming Monday (April 2nd for those of you who keep track of things on calendars) will give lucky invitees access to the game on a 24/7 non-stop basis, so you can constantly have an IV drip delicious third-person shooting into your bloodstream. The second thing concerns that ratty old NDA that keeps people from talking about the game. As of next Friday at 10AM EST, that will be gone as well, so people already in the beta can talk about their experiences without being strung up and harangued by angry Red 5 devs. Another interesting point that is a result of the date is the fact that PAX East attendees will be playing live on the beta servers with people from all around the world. That’s pretty rad.

I was very impressed with my hands-on time with the game at PAX. Hopefully I’ll get a beta key soon and we can talk about the game. The full letter is just below, in case you’re wanting to read the whole thing (it’s a good read!).

[ Source ]

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Filed Under: News, PC Tagged With: , , , ,

Kingdom Hearts 3D (Dream Drop Distance) gets stills from opening video, STILL no release date

March 30, 2012 by
7926mo04

Poor, poor Sora. It seems that while his newest Kingdom Hearts adventure, Dream Drop Distance, now has a handful of fancy screenshots from the game’s opening movie, the game is still without a release date, arriving for our handhelds in the nebulous timeframe of “sometime in 2012″. The stills are pretty fancy-lookin’, offering a glimpse at Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey and some other dudes who are likely super-important to the plot but look exactly the same as nearly every other character. That’s one of the joys of playing a Kingdom Hearts game, after all: schizophrenic, multiple-personality laden main characters.

The pictures are beyond the cut; you may look at them if you wish, but they’ll be here regardless. I would like to say I’m excited for the new Kingdom Hearts game, but to be honest after missing out on the DS and PSP versions it seems very likely that I have no idea at all what’s going on with the story. If anyone could fill me in in a paragraph or two in the comments, that would be rad.

We’ll hopefully have more pictures for ya as time goes on.

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Filed Under: 3DS, News Tagged With: , , ,

Preview: Gas Guzzlers: Combat Carnage

March 29, 2012 by
GasGuzzlers03

Every now and then, I get an aching in my bones for a taste of something that will make me pine for the “glory days of gaming”. While I usually rectify this natural impulse by loading up something like Planescape: Torment or even Super Meat Boy,  occasionally a guy just needs to blow some stuff up. Croatian developers Gamepires have been hard at work with their upcoming racing/car combat title Gas Guzzlers: Combat Carnage, and I got a chance to sit down with an early version of the game a little while ago. It’s an interesting little title and I’m pretty stoked to see where it ends up. Hit the jump and find out just what is goin’ on with this gorgeous display of explosions that Michael Bay would be proud of.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Previews Tagged With: , , ,

Assassin’s Creed III has videos, screenshots, the whole kit and kaboodle

March 26, 2012 by
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Considering the fact that we kinda blew the cap off of this whole Assassin’s Creed III business, I thought it was high time we got some real, bona fide screenshots to feast our eyes upon. Luckily enough, we just happened to receive a decent smattering of screenshots and concept art, along with a fancy video that allows a quick look at each of the basic weapons the game’s protagonist Connor will have to work with. Some of these pictures are a little old and I’m fairly certain the one in the header leaked out a few days ago, but there are a few here that seem new. The one in Boston in particular looks beautiful, with lots of people and a thick coat of snow over the whole scene.

The video and the screenshots are beyond the cut. Let us know what ya think!

[Read more...]

Filed Under: News Tagged With: , , , , ,

Review: SSX

March 16, 2012 by
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Reviving a great title such as this is always viewed with both excitement, and scrutiny.  When I heard EA was releasing a new SSX title I immediately asked myself the big question; is this resurrection for the player or the profit?  It’s becoming increasingly more popular amongst developers to cash in on their previous success by releasing sub-par re-releases to coax old fans into an obligatory purchase.  With that being said, EA has brought a fresh new look on this once casually fun title.  This “tricky” plethora of environments and new challenges not only test one’s ability, but patience as well.

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Filed Under: PS3, Reviews, X360 Tagged With: , , , , ,

Review: Mass Effect 3 – A guilty galaxy’s last stand

March 13, 2012 by
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When the credits roll on the 8-to-12 hour game you’ve been waiting all year for, your story, your adventure with whatever character you have just saved the world for the umpteenth time with is over. Before the intervention and widespread acceptance of DLC as a story-extender, this was simply a fact that people had to accept. As BioWare announced the Mass Effect trilogy – not just one game, but three separate titles interwoven with another through the choices the player makes along the way – they were attempting to chip away at this long-standing facet of the medium. They claimed they would bring deep and meaningful interactions with characters you would grow to know and care for over the course of three separate storylines.

With Mass Effect 3, the story of Commander Shepard and the brave crew of the Normandy finally draws to a satisfying, if somewhat technically frustrating conclusion. BioWare’s promise of crafting this world of strong characters, however, is the real star of the show. [Read more...]

Filed Under: PC, PS3, Reviews, X360

Toastercast 3- Massive, Multiplayer and Online… No, not Chatroulette.

March 11, 2012 by
That. Just. Happened.

The guys of Toastercast return to talk about what makes an MMO, their favorite MMO, and all things relating to the letters M and O. Once again you can find them in the wonderfully easy and somewhat imperialistic Apple iTunes format, and the mp3 format for those of you still using a Zune.

 

[iTunes Link]

[Direct Link]

Filed Under: Podcasts Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

The Toastercast returns: Episode 2 – News Bites, Long Words & Guild Wanks

March 6, 2012 by
toastercast2real

Hello out there, Internet Folk! We’ve decided that now is just about the right time to get the Toastercast back up and running, after our whirlwind success with the first episode. This is the first of two formats we’re trying out, and it’s more news-y: we talk about some of the recent events that have been going on in the industry, as well as getting into more than a little bit of fan-wankery concerning Guild Wars 2. The iTunes link and a direct link for those of you who don’t approve of Apple’s music delivery system.

[iTunes Link]

[Direct Link]

Dylan Sabin is Toastervision’s Editor-in-Chief and has often been described as “manic”, “slightly eccentric”, and “a fan of fine cheese”. He decided to give the site-running business a chance with Toastervision, and so far it’s been a pretty rad experience. He can be reached at dylan@toastervision.com or on Twitter @DylanSabin.

Filed Under: Podcasts Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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