nexuiz

Independent developer and publisher, Illfonic, debuted the first-person arena shooter at GDC 2010 last week. The fast, fun addictive gameplay impressed editors and fellow video game designers. Nexuiz was redesigned and ported over on PS3 in two and a half months with a six person team using the Quake engine.

Nexuiz is an Arena First Person shooter coming soon to consoles. It is fast paced with extremely competitive game play. IllFonic brings Alientrap Softwares Nexuiz to next-gen gaming consoles around the world while staying true to the game play refined over the years through open source development.

IllFonic introduces a new Victorian influenced art style that is simultaneously futuristic and sophisticated. Nexuiz uses the latest version of the Dark Places engine ported for the next generation of gaming consoles.

The game will feature a mutator system that allows players to change the rules of the match; as players rank, new mutators become available for them to use. Leader boards are designed for social networking, letting players feel more engaged with the community.

Nexuiz features a heavyweight soundtrack from artists including Flying Lotus, Dam Funk and Trisector. On launch Nexuiz will feature multiplayer modes including Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag. New games modes, models, and maps will be available as downloadable content post release.

For more information and updates visit the Nezuiz website.

Xbox 360

From today all Xbox 360 owners will find new entries on their game consoles as they will have Facebook, Twitter and Last.FM added to them automatically.

There is also to a brand new Zune-branded download portal and what’s more not one of them will need to be downloaded.

It is now expected that the same will also be appearing on the PS3 in the very near future, offering much of what is available via a regular web browser.

As well as being able to update your status, photo sharing and emails, there is also an option to save screen shots from the Xbox 360 games to show on Facebook, with the Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, being the first of the games to support this application.

Wii Sports

According to reports, there is to be no price cut for the Wii hardware in the UK, instead, rumour has it that the manufacturer will be offering a new retail package for the continued retail price of £199.

The package is to include the new Wii MotionPlus peripheral, a nunchuck, the original Wii Sports plus its sequel the Wii Sports Resort.

An announcement is due shortly that the US and Japan will be getting the Wii hardware at a reduced price, while the UK have recently upped their retail prices due to escalating exchange rate.

The package, which has still not been confirmed, is expected to go on release at the beginning of October, but for all those of you only interested in the Wii Sports software, Toys R Us have this offer.

Lempel acknowledges that the Microsoft’s digital distribution platform offered many advantages over PlayStation early on, but insists that Sony have now closed the gap on it’s rival, and is now in ‘great shape’ to take the Xbox on head to head.

Lempel says;

“In some cases, I think we’ve got more. In terms of strengths, of course we’re still free, and we’re giving you a lot for free. It’s not just free online gaming, but we’ve got PlayStation Home, which is a massive community and application that’s totally free to use. Our video download service is also a little bit different from theirs in that we sell movies in addition to renting movies. I think there’s a lot we’re doing that in some cases they’re not doing, and I don’t see a lot of things they’re doing that we’re not.”

Do you agree that PSN has as much to offer as XBLA? What is your preference?

Okay, let’s assume you’re an avid Sega fan for whom the recently released PS3 and 360 Sega Mega Drive: Ultimate Collection didn’t quite cut it either because of the pads or the game selection. Where do you go to get your gaming fix? Blaze International think they have the answer, a re-released region free Sega Mega Drive.

Coming complete with two pads, 15 inbuilt games and an entirely reasonable RRP of just £39.99, it seems like a great package for someone with a whole stack of useless Mega Drive cartridges lying around. Presumably it will have a more modern input than the TV tuner style of old too, though sadly I can’t find any confirmation of what kind of picture quality you’ll be expecting.

Still, with 15 games and a retro system for £15 you can’t really complain. You’ll just need to track down cartridges of Sensible Soccer and Cannon Fodder to go alongside the impressive titles in built in the system, which include Alex Kidd, Golden Axe and Sonic & Knuckles.

You can pre-order it from Play.com for £37.99 – and the company also does a handheld version with 20 games for £27.99. Personally, I’m willing to wait another 20 years for a Dreamcast version. In the meantime will someone just port Chu Chu Rocket to WiiWare or Live Arcade already?

With the success of the Lego Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Batman games, speculation has been rife as to what Traveller’s Tales will do next. So far they’ve been tight lipped, waiting for the right time to launch in a blaze of press release hyperbolic glory, but they may have been beaten to the punch with a wimper. According to Kotaku, the CV of an animator working for the company has let slip that they’re currently working on two games: another Indiana Jones one and a Lego Harry Potter title.

Most people saw this coming several miles off, what with the Harry Potter licence and Traveller’s Tales being owned by Warner Brothers, and it’s a release that sounds like an excellent combination which is sure to sell millions. Though personally having never read a Potter book or seen one of the films, I was hoping for something a little more off the wall. Like Lego Goodfellas, or Lego Platoon.

The other release is sadly a lot more predictable, and adds Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to the list of titles worked on. Given it’s only one film, I reckon there’s a good chance this could be added as DLC for Xbox and PS3, but there will probably be a “Complete Saga” tie in as well.

There’s one more juicy bit of gossip to be gleaned from the CV – apparently the animator was also involved in putting together a demo pitch based on the upcoming Hobbit films, which is another licence I’m completely unfamiliar with. That said, a well loved fantasy universe with plenty of combat sounds very familiar to the things which made Lego Star Wars such a breath of fresh air so fingers crossed this comes to fruition.

Update: The animator has now removed the details of the games from her CV. Talk about closing the doors after the horse has bolted.

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars brings newgraphics technology to the PS3 & Xbox 360 for the first time. The game allows you to choose to whether to play off or online and choose to play as the humans or the Strogg in one of five characters.

There are three ways to play Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. You can play the game by using a single map, three maps in one continent or play a two-round fight on a single map where teams compete to see who can finish the assault first.

Using a wide range of weapons, vehicles and armaments, gamers are tested for their skill and coordinated teamwork through a series of combat objectives.

The setting:
The year is 2065 and the Strogg race has attacked Planet Earth to strip it of its raw materials to create a fuel known as stroynet. If you are familiar with any of the highly successful Quake games then you will have much more background information to this story. But don’t worry, you can jump straight in.too.

As Game say in their review:

“[Enemy Territory: Quake Wars] is the ultimate online team and objective-based experience, delivering a new depth of multiplayer action to next generation consoles. […] The game pits the Allied troops of the Global Defense Force (GDF) against a sinister new Axis – the marauding, technologically advanced Strogg – during their initial invasion of Earth.”

I’ve lost several days already on this game. Quake War games are great fun and because of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, they just got even better!

Play.com is currently offering FREE subscription to TM magazine when you buy Enemy Territory: Quake Wars for the PS3 or Xbox 360. Click on the Buy Now button below.

Greenpeace states that although the games consoles comply with EU law, they  contain harmful materials that “needed to be replaced”.
Of the three games companies, Greenpeace singled out Nintendo as having a “non-existent” environmental policy, and are ranked at the bottom of Greenpeace’s global assessment of “green” technology companies.

The report states that the games consoles dangerous chemicals used to soften flexible materials like wires and cable coatings.

Oddly enough, these chemicals are banned by the EU for use in toys.  But as games consoles are not classified as toys.

As far as I am aware, the report doesn’t state the chemicals are in anyway harmful while playing games, but are more a concern to Greenpeace in the way in which old games consoles are recycled.

So, how does it make you feel to know that while you are making companies like Sony, Nintendo & Microsoft rich, they are apparently harming the planet?  Surely these companies can afford to put some of their vast profits back into looking after the planet and keeping our environment safe.

Gamers of the world Unite!

The full report, Playing Dirty can be downloaded from the Greenpeace website.