UBISOFT® INVITES PLAYERS TO HAVE A “BLOODY GOOD TIME™” ON XBOX LIVE ARCADE AND STEAM®

SAN FRANCISCO— September 2, 2010 — Today, Ubisoft® announced that Bloody Good Time™, a new intellectual property being developed by Outerlight, will be released on Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and on Steam® for Windows PC this Fall.

Bloody Good Time takes a new and irreverent approach to multiplayer shooters and will run on Valve’s Source engine, a well-known specialized 3D game engine for classic multiplayer shooters. Bloody Good Time puts players on a Hollywood set, where they get to choose their thrill. From a spring-break beach house, to a horrifying Vegas hotel, players will discover the merciless world of movie studios where anyone can star in a scary Hollywood blockbuster film. There is an option link up to eight players online in this first-person shooter and to have a multiplayer experience like no other.

In Bloody Good Time, players can be as devious as possible by killing other competitors in nasty and unexpected ways. Players can use an arsenal of wacky weapons including guns, a frying pan and even an exploding remote-controlled rat to transform the movie set into real mayhem. In addition, players will be able to choose from a variety of stereotypical B-movie characters, such as the bikini beach babe, the creepy clown and the super jock.

For more information, please visit http://bloody-good-time.ubi.com/

About Ubisoft:
Ubisoft is a leading producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment products worldwide and has grown considerably through a strong and diversified line-up of products and partnerships. Ubisoft has offices in 26 countries and has sales in more than 55 countries around the globe. It is committed to delivering high-quality, cutting-edge video game titles to consumers. For the 2009-10 fiscal year Ubisoft generated sales of € 871 million.

© 2010 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Bloody Good Time, Ubisoft, Ubi.com and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the U.S. and/or other countries. Developed by Outerlight.

© 2010 Valve Corporation. All rights reserved. All trademarks are property of their respective owners in the US and other countries.

So people understand that flying is fun again, right? So why can’t we get a  Wing Commander reboot? Starcraft II showed us the ship scenario still works great… ah well. Games looks pretty cool. Give it a look!

Press release and video below:

Today Ubisoft has released the launch trailer for Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X 2, an air combat action game developed by Ubisoft Romania. Available in North America for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system on September 7, 2010, H.A.W.X 2 is rated “T” for TEEN.

In H.A.W.X 2, a player’s ability to master every nuance of the world’s finest combat aircraft as a member of the ultra-secret squadron will determine their success. Featuring head-to-head dogfights, target tracking with silent UAV’s, precision night bombing and carrier take-off and landing, players can test their strategic skills with up to eight players at a time.

UBISOFT® ANNOUNCES OUTLAND™

An epic action-adventure game of light and darkness for PlayStation®Network and Xbox LIVE Arcade

SAN FRANCISCO – September 3, 2010 – Today, Ubisoft announces Outland, a new platformer inspired by epic adventures such as the Prince of Persia® series. Outland is developed by Housemarque, the award-winning development team and creators of Super Stardust HD.  The game will be available for Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and PlayStation®Network for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system in early 2011.

Outland puts players in the middle of a world of balance and chaos where their efforts allow them to bridge the ancient divide, or doom the world to destruction. Each player’s adventure will take them between light and darkness and force them to adapt to an ever-changing world. This light versus dark core gameplay is inspired by the arcade classic Ikaruga.

Immersed in a beautiful world doomed by chaos, players will test their swordplay by running, jumping and climbing to dodge the deadly traps of a world on the brink of collapse. Outland will feature unique high-definition graphics and an immersive soundtrack composed by Ari Pulkkinen, acknowledged for his work on the award-winning Trine project.

Outland will be on display for the first time at PAX in Seattle from September 3–5, 2010 at Ubisoft’s booth.

For more information on Outland visit: www.facebook.com/outlandgame

About Ubisoft:

Ubisoft is a leading producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment products worldwide and has grown considerably through a strong and diversified line-up of products and partnerships. Ubisoft has offices in 26 countries and has sales in more than 55 countries around the globe. It is committed to delivering high-quality, cutting-edge video game titles to consumers. For the 2009–10 fiscal year Ubisoft generated sales of 871 million euros. To learn more, please visit www.ubisoftgroup.com.

© 2010 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Outland, Ubisoft, and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the U.S. and/or other countries.”PlayStation” is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies and are used under license from Microsoft

Telltale Games has released info about their teased new game, Poker Night at the Inventory.

Looks interesting – leave it to Telltale to make awesome changes to the wold of poker.

This is from the latest Telltale Interloper:

Poker Night at the Inventory

New Game Features Tycho, the Heavy, Strong Bad and Max; Taking Pre-Orders Now; Exclusive Offer for PAX Show-Goers

We bet you didn’t see this one coming! The Gang’s been hard at work on our upcoming Poker Night at the Inventory, after-hours poker gaming with some of your favorite video game characters, including the Heavy from Team Fortress, Penny Arcade’s own Tycho, and a few familiar Telltale faces: Strong Bad and Max. The game is expected to be ready soon; you can pre-order it now for only $4.95 PLUS get 25% off additional purchases in the Telltale Store (certain restrictions apply; see store page for details). PAX Special: Going to the show? Pre-order Poker Night at the Inventory at the Telltale Games booth 3509 and receive an exclusive poster. Offer good only at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) in Seattle, Washington, Sept. 3-5, 2010.

Pre-Order Poker Night at the Inventory for only $4.95 and receive 25% off additional purchases in the Telltale Store

FYI – The following conditions apply:
- 25% off coupon code will appear in your cart when you pre-order the game; it must be used immediately
- Cannot be combined with other special offers and promotions. Exclusions apply.
- Not good with the following promotional offers: Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse, Sam & Max: The Complete Collection and The Great Adventure Bundle.

As I have said before, it is sad when a game is better than the movie it is based on. Needless to say, that Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues is better than the core story that it is based on, the story in question being that of 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I went into this game with much trepidation. The reason being that Traveler’s Tales has gotten away with the same thing too many times now with their repetition of in their Lego titles, with the possible exception of Lego Rock Band. I enjoyed it with the Lego Star Wars game and I loved it with Lego Indy 1. Then came Lego Batman which, yes, was a rehash of the same controls and game play but was able to incorporate its own original story to the proceedings, which was the saving grace to that game. Lego Indy 2 however, attempts to make a game out of an already paper thin plot that was in the fourth Indiana Jones movie.
Don’t get me wrong, I am one of the biggest Indiana Jones fans out there but Lego Indy 2 feels like we have already covered this ground.
The Good: The graphics as usual are really nice. The game play is really easy to learn and the levels are fun to look at. There are plenty or neat little surprises to find and out of all of them, flying a fighter jet is a really nice surprise. The music is good as it is the score by John Williams for the most part. The levels for Crystal Skull are fun and the humor that is a signature in the Lego games is, as always excellent. The level builder is interesting to say the least.
The Bad: Repetition is not a good thing and unfortunately this is the games’ big weakness. Did we really need to retread what had already been brilliantly handled in the first Lego Indy game? I get that one movie was not enough to make a game out of but honestly, something more original than revisiting the first three movies could have been done. It all feels too much like every other game in the Lego series. No new ground is covered here in terms of something new and challenging game play and unfortunately, that’s a huge shortcoming of this game.
I don’t blame Lucasarts. Traveler’s Tales is the one that should be taking the blame and while I am eagerly anticipating Lego Harry Potter, I fear that it too will be the same in regards to the puzzles and the game play and that kind of novelty can only last so long before things begin to stagnate and unfortunately these Lego games are starting to get a little stale.

Final Verdict (Out of 10): 6

PopCap Games brings us the latest craze of pestilence and plague comes in the form of brain-munching zombies. This time, it’s not up to you and your trusty twelve-gauge to stop them – you’ve enlisted the zombies’ mortal enemy to defend your home. Garden Plants!!! You’d better hope you have a green thumb if you’re going to make it through this zombie apocalypse…

The idea of Plants vs. Zombies is more than a little hilarious. Basically, by collecting sunshine (via the sun, or SUN-flowers) and planting awesomely destructive green vegetation in your steadily expanding lawn, you can hold back wave after wave of zombie invasion. With each success, you’re awarded some new pack of seeds or other important tool that aid you in your quest to end the un-dead plague.

Cherry Bombs and Potato Mines are certainly fun to use for a bit of fireworks, but Peashooters and their evolutions are the basic artilery for the early stages Sunflowers are crucial for increasing your sun intake, and defensive Walnuts run interference while you build up more defenses. You also improve your chances for survival by collecting coins throughout the level. Your “penny-pinching” will come in handy at the shop, where you can buy a few tricks to have up your sleeve such as a rake to trip up the gangly ghouls, or a machine gun upgrade to pump up your Peashooters.

As your garden grows, later including a pool, your plants develop ever-more-interesting abilities, but these feisty greens aren’t the only things that get tougher as the war over your lawn wages. Some zombies get faster, some can swim, and some even drive vehicles. A handy Almanac records your encounter with each new zombie and plant, including their game plan and tips to beat it. Good strategy can decide your fate from the very beginning; once you have enough seeds, you can only take a few types into battle. If you choose incorrectly, those brain-munchers might just plow right over you. Going into battle prepared is one of the few advantages you have in the war against the undead, so select your weapons carefully. If you get overwhelmed, each lane in your garden has one last line of defense against the zombies, so if they get the better of you all is not lost.As tempting as it is to celebrate once a wave of the undead is negated, your garden doesn’t reset until the end of that level, so be warned.

Even so, the game is pretty fast-paced, as you race to salvage enough sun for that one plant that just might save your house. The rush of adrenaline received from trying to keep your line of offensive defense intact is addicting, if a tad stressful. Of course, if you needed a break from the surviving the undead plague mid-level, there’s absolutely no problem. The game will save itself, so there’s no loss of progress, and then you have time to go play one of the mini games which are just as fun and just as challenging, if not more so, than the levels in the game itself.

The graphics, might I add, are excellent and easy on just about any PC on the market. Those adorably destructive plants and the ridiculously silly infected, not to mention the charming music, with its hint of haunted that adds just the right spice of terror, the game looks as fun as it really is. Every level was thoroughly different from the last, not because of the level design itself, but because of the challenges that come from confronting new enemies every level while at the same time trying to maximize your seed inventory. Exciting action and challenging levels work hand-in-hand to create a really great game.

Plants vs. Zombies: 8 out of 10

Fallout 3 is in it’s own right a fantastic game. Highly addicting and fun to play, seeing the little character nuances that you can bring out of your hero, whoever that may be. The game is epic in it’s own right. As I was reaching the end of the main story, I found myself wanting more. This certainly could not be it for the Capital Wasteland could it? Well, imagine my surprise when I realized that XBOX Live has several bits of downloadable content that not only enhance your character with incredible weapons, but take you to new locales and even have you fight new baddies.

That said, I would like to say that Mothership Zeta was at least a little more interesting.

Sure, you know about the crashed spaceship in the wasteland. Well, you get to see what happens when you get to close too it aside from some radiation poisoning. You end up beamed aboard a ship that is orbiting Earth. You get to fight aliens, and you can get such weapons like the super awesome Alien Disintegrator. There is nothing more satisfying than watching your enemies be reduced into a minuscule pile of goo before your eyes. You also get the chance to unlock some interesting costumes in this particular add on, including a cowboy outfit, and even a Samurai suit!

How can this be? That would be spoiling but the surprise is rather nice.

The action is intense in Mothership Zeta. Fights erupt between you and the aliens at any point and when they do, expect some fierce resistance. Especially from the aliens that are in adaptive force fields.

As far as what I didn’t like, the chapters were too short. Also the corridors of the ship can get a little too repetetive to the point that you end up going in circles quite a bit. Also, for some inexplicable reason, the alien scientists are good. What I mean is that if you kill them, you lose karma. Apparently in this case, the only good alien is an alien that doesn’t shoot at you.

Ultimately, I enjoyed Mothership Zeta but not as much as the other two expansions that I also downloaded which were Point Lookout, and Broken Steel but more on those soon.

Is Mothership Zeta worth your while? Sure. You get some killer weapons and some neat upgrades but be warned, you can expect it to end before you really start enjoying it.

Final Rating out of 10: 7.5

When I fired up Dark Void I had no real notion of what the game was about. I knew there was flying and that the game was a cover-based shooter. With the birth of my son in December, I was glad of an excuse to really sit down and play through a game. The list of unfinished games for both 360 and PC is growing ever so steadily.

But I digress – Dark Void, developed by Airtight Games and published by the good people at Capcom is an experience that has a distinct feel. And that feel is unfinished.Riddled with small annoyances and loose controls, and a story that has more holes than Star Wars (I say that with love), I would have loved to see this game in 6 months or more when it would have been finished. With no singular direction, the game suffers but still manages to pull off a passable 8-10 hour single player experience that has some satisfying moments. However, with a distinct lack of multiplayer

Read on to know the whole story…

Dark Void starts off with a taste of what’s to come by getting you used to the flying mechanic. Now, for those playing on PC as I am, you should be warned that this is a joystick-shooter. If you don’t already have your favorite console controller for PC then you will find the mouse/keyboard controls frustrating. The game was meant to be played with a controller. Anyways, it goes through a short flight tutorial, and then drops you into the shoes of Will (voiced by Nolan North), the game’s main protagonist and introduces Ava (voiced by Polly Walker), the inevitable love interest who has a complicated past and relationship with our hero. A short cut-scene later, you’re in the Void, and robots are trying to kill you.

You pick up a gun and the game shows you how to shoot and survive by hiding behind cover. The ruins of an old civilization provide ample coverage for a soft-skin such as yourself. It was heavily inspired by the likes of Gear of War, but never achieved the satisfying feel of it. Most of the time, I saved ammo by running and shooting in bursts, then just mashing the melee button until the bad guy died. There are only a few ground enemies that this cannot be done to and I took full advantage of it. The shooting was alright, if a little loose. I never felt fully in control of my aiming reticule, even near the end of the game when I was “used to it.” The heavier the action got, the more squirrelly the controls felt. Headshots seemed to be at random, which was frustrating because I am big on saving ammo when I can. The gun upgrade mechanic seemed almost like a throwaway. Each gun only had two upgrades, and you get far fewer points than you have options for upgrading guns. I just upgraded the main rifle (most ammo) and the disintegration gun to max which gave them more ammo and blew stuff up better.

With the annoyances of the ground combat and control, the air battles were fun and crazy. Unlimited ammo and the ability to upgrade your jetpack to shoot missiles was a nice touch that made the combat satisfying. It was at this point of the game that I realized that I didn’t see any options for multiplayer. Playing 8 or 16 person aerial deathmatch or aerial firefight/horde mode would be an incredible amount of fun, taking me back to the days of Starfox 64. The controls were tight and the physics were not too game-y to be ridiculous. This was the best part of the game by far. The lack of multiplayer is an enormous oversight and a downright shame for a game so short. I am hard pressed to say the game merits the $60 price tag for consoles, but the $40 price for PC is much more reasonable. Airtight and Capcom missed a huge opportunity to capitalize on the lack of aerial combat shooters.

With a strong performance by Nolan North (Will, the protagonist) you feel like you’re playing something of a Nathan Drake spin-off. With competent one-liners and an overall interesting take on the anti-hero Will is not really endearing but likable. Ava, voiced by Polly Walker is mostly good but Tesla and the rest of the voice acting crew were greatly overshadowed by North’s work – sometimes to the game’s detriment. The performances were so far apart in quality sometimes that it made you cringe.

The story was somewhat contrived and lacked finesse. There’s only a tiny bit of backstory for Will and Ava, but the rest of the game’s characters are, essentially, red shirts. Tesla seems like he was thrown in just to explain their technology (the jetpack, ships, etc) and there was almost no explanation of how anyone else came to be there. It makes a small effort to explain the “bermuda triangle” disappearances as saying ships and planes fell into the Void.

To get a bit mushy, the game is very pretty for the most part. The character models and scenery were done very well and I think the PhysX were a nice touch. This game, more than others I’ve played, looks better with the extra particles and such that it adds. It adds a bit of grime and dirt to the scenery which makes it look at feel more genuine and real. I actually like the character animations and facial expressions better than certain current games. *coughAssassin’s Creed 2cough*

To top it off, there were times during the game that the music made me stop, reload an earlier save and play through the section again just to hear some of the best music in a video game I’ve heard in a long time. Its no wonder, because Battlestar Galactica composer Bear McCreary was the composer – his liberal use of heavy drums and exciting passages add an almost immesurable ammount of joy to the flying parts. The last battle in particular is one of my favorite musical moments in the game. Also, for those who are patient enough to sit through the credits there is a nice musical treat near the end. McCreary has some interesting things to say about his involvement in Dark Void on his blog. Warning – there are some plot spoilers ahead – Bear McCreary’s Blog.

Overall, the game does a great job of bringing us some good air combat and an incredible music score, however the ground combat and story leave much to be desired. If you have a chance, at least rent the game to hear some decent Nolan North and have a lot of fun flying around shooting things. The game lays the potential for a sequel, however I don’t know if that project will ever get the green light.

Dark Void (PC) Final Score: 6.5

COSMO2389!!

Thanks everyone for entering our contest! Happy holidays and keep reading Kennedy New Media in 2010 for more contests, reviews, and general game awesomeness! Here’s a pic of a happy Cosmo2389 who is now playing Batman: Arkham Asylum free of charge thanks to Kennedy New Media. Here’s our winner sporting a rogue-ish smile with his new game. Congrats!

A Happy Comso2389 with his FREE copy of Batman: Arkham Asylum from KNM!

X-Men Origins: Wolverine was one of the many box office hits from last summer that was an ultimately hollow movie, deviod of any nuance, a good plot, and, with the exception of Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber, just generally awful acting.  So how is the video game based on the movie?

I am quite pleased to say that the game is way better than the movie.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Uncaged Edition is easily the best Wolverine video game ever made.  This game has everything you want out of a game starring our favorite bezerker raging mutant.  You follow the events from the movie with additional material from RAVEN, linking specific events from the film seamlessly to an overarching storyline that involves several flashbacks to Africa, as well as a visit to Project Wideawake, which for your non comic geeks, is the project that unleashed these three story tall robots that hunt mutants on the X-Men.  You play as Wolverine, as you hack, stab, maim, slash, and kill anything and everything in your path. I think it’s safe to say that  this is by far the goriest game that has come out with an X-men character.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a good thing.   A really good thing.

I was surprised at just how much gore there is specifically from the amount of damage that you take as Wolverine.  That said, because Wolverine is a mutant, one of his abilities includes a healing factor where essentially your life bar restores itself slowly and you get the treat of seeing Wolverine’s wounds heal themselves.  You can get stripped down to a near skeleton and still recover from that thanks to the two life bars that you have if your first life bar is depleted, then that means Wolverine’s vitals are exposed, therefore renderng you vulnerable.  At this point, it’s best to take some cover from your opponents or expect to be killed.  The kills that you get to deliver on the bad guys are incredible.  One of my favorites is where Wolverine stabs the victim in the stomach, and pulls up, thereby decapitating and leaving the poor bastard so shredded up that he won’t be getting up even if he could.

The boss battles are epic.  One battle has you going up against a Sentinel and that one alone is worth making the game worthy of a play through.  The fight with Gambit spans an entire hour of game play, taking place all over a casino, and even outside.  That fight is one of my favorite parts of this game.  The final fight with Weapon 11 is interesting and it actually challenges you to vary your moves against the enemy more than you have up to this point.

If I have any complaints with the game, it will be about the repetition.  The gameplay is as follows, lunge, hack, slash, rinse, repeat.  The repetition in this game is a major issue especially when you return to areas that introduce one new villain to fight.  When I say new, I mean in looks only.  The boss fight with The Blob is also a disappointment in that you have already fought big guys like him and the strategy for fighting him is nothing new by the time you get around to him.   (Spoiler) Also the fact that the idea of the magical memory erasing adamantium bullet is in the game just infuriates me to no end.  I hated that aspect of the movie and I hate it here as well. (Spoiler end)

The extras are minimal but neat.  You are able to find Wolverine action figures in different costumes from every aspect of the character’s history in the various stages of the game and when you get three of the same one, you unlock a challenge.  The challenge involves you fighting the Wolverine in that costume.  If you defeat him, then you unlock that costume and it’s instantly a selectable costume in the game.  Otherwise, you are playing ad Hugh Jackman in a  wife beater and jeans and let’s face it, it’s not the most interesting costume in the game.

My final verdict: If you want a good, solid action game that won’t take too long to finish, then X-Men Origins: Wolverine is not a bad choice.  I might even say it’s one of the best comic book based video games out this year after Batman: Arkham Asylum.  There’s nothing more satisfying than being able to cut loose with Wolverine and finally give some much needed gore to this already violent character.  While the repetition can get a little tedious, it’s definitely a guilty pleasure of a game and worth your time.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Uncaged Edition: 7 out of 10