Category Archives: GAMING

Call of Duty: Ghosts Unveils Multiplayer and Adds a Dash of Eminem

Just when you think that Call of Duty couldn’t get any bigger, you’re reminded that it happens to be one of the most recognizable brands in gaming. So much so that the marketing is out in full force four months before the game is actually released. You know the game is big time when we get an hour-long live stream revealing the multiplayer elements of the game. Not only that, but one of the biggest rappers in the world, Eminem, has graced your game with a never before released song for its trailer. With Call of Duty: Ghosts due out in November, we are starting to get some more details about some new aspects of the game and from the looks of things, smiles are about to materialize on many a gamer’s face.

As you can see from the trailer above for the multiplayer elements, there’s a lot of brand new stuff to dissect. First off, Eminem is providing the music with his new song “Survivor” to pump you up and take down your enemy. It reminds me of his song “Won’t Back Down” with Pink and I’m sure it will be played non-stop once people find the means to download it. One of the big things is seeing the dynamic maps, where you can destroy parts of the map or take out structures to distract someone, or even take out a whole squad. This will add a fun element to the destruction of environments and another thing to account for as you run around on all the maps. Another big part is seeing the fluid movements of your soldier as he (or she, we’ll get to that in a minute) can slide or hop over obstacles while still being able to aim and shoot. Being able to slide and jump back up to avoid a shot and take someone out then hop over a barrier to stab the next enemy in your sights will deliver a lot of multi-kills and satisfying killstreaks.

call of duty ghosts female soldier

There is also a ton more customization when it comes to this new game, probably the most prominently marketed will be the inclusion of female soldiers. Yes, despite the last series that developer Infinity Ward did being subtitled Modern Warfare, Ghosts will mark the first time that female soldiers will be stepping into the Call of Duty multiplayer arena. You’ll also be able to modify more characteristics such as race and body type, plus the standbys like gear, clothing and of course, weapons, in order to make your multiplayer avatar your own. As many as 30 new weapons will enter this iteration of the game so expect to see a lot of new guns lying around waiting to be tried. A new class will accompanying this game called the Marksman Rifle, which is an intended hybrid of the Sniper and Assault Rifle class. This will allow those gamers with the option of using the scope or getting in closer for a semi-auto or one shot kill. There’s also another new, and potentially awesome, game mode is called Cranked. This mode borrows from the Statham movie and gives you 30 seconds to find and kill someone before you die. It’s effectively a game of tag where the clock resets when you take out an enemy. You’ll also get your typical multiplayer modes that have been featured in all the previous games but this one will be something to get excited about.

There’s a lot of stuff to get excited for an that’s just a small bit of what to expect from the new game when it comes to challenging and fighting friends online. The trailer above is from the one hour live stream that they did on Wednesday so check it out, there’s a lot of other great info about the game. Again, Call of Duty: Ghosts comes out on November 5th, 2013 on Xbox One, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Playstation 4 and the Wii U. Also below is a fun trailer for the new collector’s edition. If anything, it’ll make you yell, “BREACH!” every time you walk through a doorway.

Batman: Arkham Origins Reveals ‘Invisible Predator’ Asymmetrical Multiplayer Mode

Today Warner Bros. Montreal revealed their new multiplayer mode for Batman: Arkham Origins, ‘Invisible Predator’. A brand new addition to the series which until now has been a single-player only affair.

Competitive multiplayer sounds like a bad fit for a franchise like Batman, who may be the world’s most famous solitarian. But keep in mind that more recent games like Assassin’s Creed and The Last of Us have, with varying success, managed to tweak the typical online experience with gameplay mechanics unique to their respective series. Check out the trailer below:

http://youtu.be/EYR9plVWNsY

Origins is trying something a little more ambitious than team deathmatch; in the new ‘Invisible Predator’ mode, players are divided into two teams of opposing thugs – three working for Joker, and three working for Bane – who will fight over territory in what is more or less a conventional King of the Hill type of match. However at the same time two players will take the role of Batman and Robin and silently try to pick off members of both teams.

Batman and Robin in Arkham Origins

This 3-v-3-v-2 style competition should change things up nicely. It sounds like the result will be something like a mash-up of conventional CoD style run-and-gun fare and The Last of Us‘s constant, on-your-toes tension. That is, only if it works of course, and Destructoid‘s Casey Baker has played a few minutes of ‘Invisible Predator’ and says it works quite well:

[box_dark]”…it only took a short matter of time before I was leaping from ledge to ledge, observing rival gangs at war, and swooping down to pick off members before their buddies were alerted. Even though I didn’t get nearly as much time with the multiplayer in general as I would have liked, the time I did have with it was thoroughly enthralling and I could already imagine the intense matches with players who have had enough practice playing both sides […] My overall impressions of the Invisible Predator mode for Batman: Arkham Origins are quite high after only a couple hours of hands-on time, and it’s something I’m looking forward to now.”[/box_dark]

Bane and thugs in Arkham Origins

I’m not much of a multiplayer guy. I prefer to play video games the way Batman does everything: Alone and in the dark. But this may be an interesting spin on things to try for a week or two. Hopefully it’s replacing the Challenge Mode from the previous Arkham games, which I found incredibly frustrating and monotonous. I only have two concerns about this new feature:

1. Dying as Batman has got to be the worst: The World’s Greatest Detective was taken out by a nameless grunt with a shotgun? What a n00b!

2. Voice chat: The only way this will work is if player mics get muted as soon as Bats or Robin takes down an enemy. Otherwise the downed player will just immediately reveal their position. But it wouldn’t just even out the playing field – It would also be one of the most immersive ways to feel like Batman. Imagine a squad of teammates talking over chat and all of a sudden mid-sentence a guy gets cut off – OH NO. THE BATMAN. Makes me giddy just thinking about it.

Joker and thugs in Arkham Origin

How do you feel about multiplayer in a Batman game? Sound off in the comments section below!

‘The Walking Dead’ to Be Shoehorned into Risk and Monopoly…

Here’s a question — do you really like The Walking Dead?

Do you really like Risk (the board game)? How about Monopoly?

If you would enjoy a classic board game injected with mindless, brain-sucking sensibilities, you’re in luck. Diamond, USAopoly and Skybound are joining together for Walking Dead-branded versions of Risk and Monopoly.

Continue reading ‘The Walking Dead’ to Be Shoehorned into Risk and Monopoly…

‘Batman: Arkham Origins’ Reveals Another Villain – The Mad Hatter!

Hot on the heels of the SDCC’s announcement that Copperhead will be one of the assassins hunting Batman in Arkham Origins, we’ve just heard of another addition. Jervis Tech, AKA the Mad Hatter, will be joining the rest of the Arkham Origins rogues gallery. Jervis has a penchant for dressing in the get up of the Mad Hatter from the Alice in Wonderland stories, and underneath his various caps are mind control devices that Tech uses to his evil ends, which have varied over the years from the disturbing to downright ridiculous.

As many players of the previous game Arkham City already know, The Mad Hatter had a brief appearance in the entry. I thought his portion was a pretty fun time and helped bring me back to the trippy fun that Scarecrow’s fear toxin brought in Arkham Asylum. According to IGN that’s what we’ll be treated to in the prequel, a longer variation of the Mad Hatter level from Arkham City. So be on the lookout for Bats wearing one of good ole’ Jervis’ mind control hats to fight out of!

The Mad Hatter

The number of rogues in this game is certainly building every few weeks. In the line-up so far we have The Joker, Penguin, Mad Hatter, Black Mask, Bane, Copperhead, Deathstroke, and Deadshot. And unless they are counting the first four on that list as the eight assassins after Batman, then that means we have about four assassins left to be announced.

Who else will we see in Arkham Origins? The game is looking fantastic at this point and comes out October 25th 2013! Let us know your predictions below!

SDCC 2013: New ‘Batman: Arkham Origins’ Trailer Reveals Copperhead!

Batman: Arkham Origins might be the first prequel concept to hook me in a very long time: Two years into his career as the Dark Knight, Batman is a far more brutish and unrefined crime fighter than the hero we know from the previous games. His reputation as an ominous threat to Gotham’s underbelly inspires Black Mask to put a $50 million bounty on Bats’s head one Christmas Eve, attracting the attention of eight deadly assassins. Like Arkham AsylumOrigins sounds like it could play as a self-contained comic arc, but Origins will be even larger a game than Arkham City.

Developer Warner Bros. Games Montreal has been fairly tight-lipped with its cast of characters so far, but today at their Comic-Con panel they revealed Copperhead as one of the eight main villains in the game. Copperhead is a minor character in the Batman universe who in previous iterations either wore a super-powered snake costume or inherited snake-like powers a la Spider-Man. WB Montreal decided to revitalize the character as a woman (!) who, in line with the video game series, is much more realistic in design (Thank God). Arkham Origins‘s Copperhead doesn’t appear to have any supernatural abilities, but as a contortionist she can slink around and strike quickly with what seem to be poison-coated gauntlets. Take a look at the trailer:

http://www.springboardplatform.com/js/overlayhttp://cms.springboardplatform.com/embed_iframe/71/video/xnxx-92/758941/su005/comingsoon.net/10/1/

According to SuperHeroHype, DC’s Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns liked Copperhead’s re-imagining so much they’ve decided to use the likeness in their comics, sort of like how Harley Quinn became canon following her creation in Batman: The Animated Series. It’s always nice to see more women in games and comics; I just wish they hadn’t sexualized her in the process.

Batman: Arkham Origins will be released October 25th, 2013. For a full run-down of the game’s Comic-Con panel, click here. For more of our coverage from SDCC 2013, click here!

‘Mad Max’ Drops A New Gameplay Trailer!

Oddly enough, Mad Max was one of the biggest surprises of E3 2013 – not so much in terms of impact, but just because so much of E3 was content we’d already known about. When Avalanche introduced the reveal trailer on the Sony stage back in early June, no one had any idea what they were watching until the iconic shoulder pads and sawed-off shotgun entered the frame.

As soon as the novelty wore off though (which was almost immediately), there wasn’t much to be excited about. The premise of Mad Max is one that games have explored over and over and over again: A post-apocalyptic desert wasteland where bandits and lawless savages fight for the last supplies. Hell, you could have replace the reveal trailer’s title card with Rage and no one would have batted an eye. However Avalanche are promising a pretty huge scope with this next-gen title. Here’s the breakdown from SuperHeroHype:

[box_dark]”Become the legendary lone warrior as you craft and upgrade his equipment and weapons in order to survive in a brutal post-apocalyptic world. Fight with savage moves and combos to brutalize the deranged bandits of the Wasteland. Engage in dynamic, physics-based vehicular combat, taking down enemy vehicles with a slew of deadly weapons and customizable parts. Choose from different car bodies and construct the ultimate war vehicle with dozens of upgrade combinations. Explore an immense post-apocalyptic open world full of unique missions and side quests. Scavenge every scrap you can find to build upgrades for your equipment and vehicles. Take down eccentric bandits & gangs that roam the Wasteland.“[/box_dark]

Avalanche released a gameplay trailer which offers another peek at the world of Mad Max:

I think the trailer makes a serious mistake by focusing on the story rather than the scope and mechanics involved in the game. Like I said, we all know what these dystopian-future settings are like, even if the current generation of gamers has mostly likely never heard of Mad Max until a month or two ago. By focusing on the premise (and vaguely, at that), all newcomers see is a re-hashed concept and all of us who know the films are just thinking “movie-game”, a term that often goes hand in hand with “shovel ware”.

It’s too bad, because Avalanche have had major success with Just Cause and they might be able to turn the old IP into something really fun and interesting. We will have to wait and see more of what Mad Max looks like as the game develops.

Mad Max Banner