Category listing for

Games

Football Manager 2011 Preview – Release Date Of 5th November Announced!

We absolutely love Football Manager at Zath (even if some of us are still recovering FM addicts!), and every year I look forward to the latest installment of what is most probably the greatest game ever created. You can understand my excitement at the unveiling of Football Manager 2011, then, which promises to add more features to the game including a refreshed training system which gives you more control over the training ground in your team.

Sports Interactive have never been shy in making major changes between different versions of Football Manager, and I suspect that this year will be no different. Last year saw a complete overhaul of the interface, which took quite a bit of getting used to at first, but proved to be just as successful as Football Manager 2009 in making the game as intuitive as it could be after a few hours of gameplay. Looking at early screenshots of FM 2011, it appears that the main user interface remains mostly intact, so hopefully it will be familiar to users who have used Football Manager 2010.

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Virgin Trains Launch Google Street View Zombie Game (UK)

There are many ways to try and boost publicity for your company: advertising, word-of-mouth and offers are all great examples, but Virgin Trains have decided to go for something a little different and use Google Street View. This means that they are offering you the chance to shoot up zombies on your own local street as part of their ‘Don’t Go Zombie’ campaign.

The focal point of this campaign is an innovative Google Street View game which sets you walking through routes across any UK streets armed with a Virgin Trains ticket machine (read gun) where at regular intervals along your journey through the real street-view world you can save (read shoot) the “mindless motorist zombies” and humanise them before transporting them onto a Virgin train (read kill).

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The Other Side of the Story: X-Dream Gyroxus PS3 / Xbox 360 Gaming Chair UK Launch

You may have read one of our articles that went up on this site yesterday, concerning the release of the X-Dream Gyroxus PS3/Xbox 360 Gaming Chair here in the UK, courtesy of BoysStuff.co.uk. In the article, I commented on the large price differential between the USA and UK, questioning the reasons behind the increase in price in bringing it to the UK.

Today, I was called by the C.E.O of BoysStuff.co.uk, who explained to me the reasons behind the price differences between the two markets.

The X-Dream Gyroxus has been available in the States for over two years, and it’s now available in the UK for £399.95 from Boys Stuff, seemingly quite more expensive than the US pricing of $250. However, there are reasons why the product is more expensive over here, as I was told by Gary Beresford, C.E.O of BoysStuff.co.uk…

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Win Transformers: Exodus Book! (Competition)

You may have recently read our Transformers: War For Cybertron review here on Zath – it’s a game that’s based more on the history of the Transformers; the Autobots and Decepticons back on their homeworld before they ever got to Earth. This book; Transformers: Exodus provides a much more in-depth backstory to what happens in the game, so if you’re fan, especially of the original series, then this book could be a great read for you!

For twenty-five years the colossal battle between Megatron and Optimus Prime has captivated Transformers fans around the world. Yet the full story of the conflict between the two most famous Transformers – everything that happened before Optimus and Megatron arrived on planet Earth – has always been a mystery…until now…

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BENQ & ZOWIE Co-Develop High Performance Gaming Monitor

One of the problems that has been facing serious gamers over the last few years has been the introduction of LCD monitors which despite the fact that they are significantly smaller and more visually appealing could not live up to the performance of the old CRTs, and as the latter is slowly being phased out by manufacturers there is a definite gap in the market for top quality gaming monitors.

Or at least that is what the manufacturer BenQ believe as they have set out to develop a LCD monitor that allows the gamer to focus as much on the game as possible by providing maximum performance, and in order to do this they have enlisted the help of ZOWIE GEAR to help them.

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X-Dream Gyroxus PS3 / Xbox 360 Gaming Chair Gets UK Launch, But At What Price?

Sometimes, I can’t help but envy people living in the old US of A… If they aren’t watching the latest and greatest TV shows before us, they are sinking their teeth in to new products before we can, or just getting things cheaper.

Take the X-Dream Gyroxus PS3 Gaming Chair (or the Xbox 360 version) for example. It’s been available on the other side of the pond for a couple of years now, and is only just seeing a release in the UK at the end of this month. That’s ok, though I can deal with that – if I was that bothered I’d just get one shipped over using a third party service – but when it’s available for $250 in America, how is it that we’re expected to cough up £399.95?

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Super Street Fighter 4 Review (Xbox 360)

Last year I reviewed Street fighter 4. Arguably one of my favourite fighting games of the year. I played the game so much, my thumbs would actually hurt. Capcom in typical fashion haven’t made a sequel, but more of an update in the form of Super Street Fighter 4 with more characters, more moves and extra modes.

Without me saying the same comments to last years review, I will simply say, the graphics are the same, the animations are the same, the play style and sound effects are all the same (all of which are still a big step up from the old Street Fighter 2 online game). But that said, they have changed the commentator as last year’s Street Fighter 4 had a very cheesy sounding guy!

The major differences are the fact that every character now has two ultra combos. You can select which one you would like to use before you battle. This is really interesting as it can change the way you play your character altogether.

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Limbo Review (XBLA)

Ever since I first saw images of Limbo, I just had to get my hands on the game….and by that I mean get this game downloaded onto my Xbox 360.

I know this game is a puzzle game, but it seemed completely original in every way. The game is all about a boy trying to find what I assume is his sister. The game starts with you waking up in a dream like world with no colour or music. Just complete desolation.

You will meet other living things along the way, but they want to kill you and you have to kill them to progress. For instance, the spider puzzles are some of the best of the game.

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StarCraft Comic/Graphic Novel Review (Book)

About this time a month ago we brought you news of three new gaming-based books that were being released by Titan Books: namely the World of Warcraft Ashbringer graphic novel, Elder Scrolls: The Infernal City novel and another graphic novel entitled StarCraft, and it is the latter that I have been reading over the last few weeks…

Firstly it is worth pointing out that I haven’t played the original StarCraft game which was, when it was released back in 1998, the bestselling game of the year and a game that continues to be incredibly popular across the globe especially in South Korea where games are shown on three television channels!

That is not to say that I know nothing of the StarCraft universe (obviously as a gamer you do pick up a lot, and StarCraft is very well known) but I will be looking at the StarCraft graphic novel more from the perspective of someone new to the world… and you’ll be glad to know that it is still very enjoyable.

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Angry Birds HD iPad Game App Review

Angry Birds HD is yet another iPhone game which has been redesigned and reworked for the iPad’s 9.7″ display, taking full advantage of the large screen estate offered by Apple’s latest and greatest gizmo.

In making the transition from the iPhone, not a lot has changed in terms of gameplay. It’s the same game with the same principle: use the sling shot like contraption to send your birds crashing in to the enemy’s fortifications and send them crashing down. Of course, the principle seems simple enough, right? Fortunately, it’s a little more challenging than that in actual gameplay. Let’s take a closer look, shall we?

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Zombie Infection HD iPad Game App Review

The infection is spreading and fear is everywhere in this non-stop survival shooter. Head to South America as a soldier and reporter try to uncover the origin of another zombie outbreak.

Interested? Yeah, so was I…Zombie Infection HD sets the standards high, following on from Zombie Infection for the iPhone, now available on the Apple iPad as one of the most promising first person shooters on the platform. The name of the application helps set the scene for the game’s storyline; you’re helicoptered in to South America to find zombies crawling out at you left, right and centre.

I always found first person shooters incredibly frustrating on the iPhone, because of the limited screen estate and average graphics (although still considerably better than other mobile devices on the market). But now it’s available on the iPad though, you’re set for better graphics, an easier control system and, of course, lots of zombies.

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Real Tennis HD iPad Game App Review

Real Tennis HD is one of those games that I could never use on my iPhone 3GS, along with all sorts of other sports games that require on screen controls. You would end up with your thumbs on the controls covering half of your 3.5 inch display, and you couldn’t see what the hell was going on!

Now we’ve got the chance to play games on the iPad’s gorgeous 9.7″ display, I could not wait to try out Real Tennis HD for myself, in fact it’s the first game that I came across and really wanted from the App Store.

As the name may suggest, Real Tennis HD is a tennis game, from Gameloft, a UK based development company that makes a lot of great games for the Apple iPad. When designing the game for iPad, the developers clearly thought out of the box to provide the best experience possible with on screen controls. Did they succeed? Let’s find out!

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Super Mario Galaxy 2 Review (Wii)

Super Mario Galaxy 2 is, to simply put it, the best game the Nintendo Wii has to offer. The game is a sequel to the successful Super Mario Galaxy, taking all the best bits about the game and simply adding more. The game was released in North America on May 23, 2010 and in Europe on June 11, 2010.

A spoiler alert, Princess Peach has been kidnapped by Bowser and it’s Mario job to save her, again! If Nintendo just happened to be reading this, why can’t she defend herself with the fighting moves you have given her in the Super Smash Bros series? Super Mario Galaxy 2 doesn’t offer the typical cut-scenes to explain this which seems to be the trend in this generation of gaming, but as soon as you play the game, cut-scenes and story just don’t matter.

Without playing Super Mario Galaxy 2, gamers could easily look at this game and see the same graphics engine, spherical gravity levels and think it simply a money grabbing sequel that Nintendo played ‘safe’ with. If you’re assuming you know what this game will be like, you’ll be falling into the trap of thinking this is just another Mario game. Let me assure you that this game is by far the best platform game ever! Nintendo went out to make a Galaxy sequel as they felt that there was so much more potential in the first one.

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Transformers: War For Cybertron Review (Xbox 360)

The Transformers universe is a rich host of lore and metallic ass-kicking that in recent years has been subjected to a few sub par games which failed to capture the feel and fluidity of Transformers combat, not to mention mimicking Michael Bay’s widely disrespected Transformers movie offerings. But High Moon Studios has been working closely with Hasbro on creating Transformers: War for Cybertron, a game set to explore how the war between the Decepticons and Autobots actually unfolded on their home planet, before they were forced to pay the human race a visit.

Settling upon this point in the timeline was a great choice, allowing them to expand on the lore, as service to hardcore fans and shape gameplay in order to permit an exciting experience. The campaign is split up into ten parts, 5 for the dastardly Decepticons and 5 for the Autobots, loosely intertwining with each other, though some more direct confrontations with the characters you play in the respective campaigns could have made for an interesting dynamic. Nevertheless you get a good choice of any of three famous characters per mission often including Megatron or Optimus Prime each with their own abilities, which are unfortunately not unique.

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LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4 Review (PS3)

It’s too long to wait for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to be released for my Harry Potter fix, so what better way to pass the time than the young wizards step into the LEGO world.

Travellers Tales have again come up with another film franchise to turn into LEGO and I did think that this could be one too many, and it would be too similar to previous games like Lego Indiana Jones, Star Wars and Batman. But I found LEGO Harry Potter to be the best instalment of the LEGO games so far even though it’s still the same formula as previous games.

The game follows the first 4 films which will obviously lead to the final 3 films being released at a later date, possibly near the end of 2011 after Part 2 of the Deathly Hallows movie has been released. As with previous titles, there are some brilliant funny little cutscenes throughout the game and there’s no shortage of them this time around.

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Kinect UK Price & New Xbox 360 Slim 4GB Console Announced

After months of waiting, Microsoft has finally announced the price for their motion sensor controller peripheral for the Xbox 360; ‘Kinect’ and will sell for a rather higher than expected price of £129.99. The unit will also come with a free game, Kinect Adventures and will be released in November 2010.

A few months back we reported that there were rumours going around that Kinect (or Project Natal as it was called back then) would sell for only £50 which I thought would have been a great price for a peripheral. But now the official price has come out, I am a little bit disappointed with how expensive the motion sensing camera actually is.

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How Important Is A Game’s Cover Art?

I remember the first ever game I owned which was Midnight Resistance on the Commodore 64 and I thought it was amazing. It was in a box with 3 other games and I can still remember the box art, but I used to look at how good the graphics were on the back of the box.

The cover and graphics on the back of the cassettes that I got for my C64 had to look good for me to buy them. “Wow! Mum! Can I have £2.50 to buy this game for my new Commodore 64? The graphics look amazing!”

But now I’ve been playing games for a good 20 years, does cover art now sway my opinion on whether to part with my cash for a game? It can’t help for the cover to be aesthetically pleasing as developers/publishers want to show off their game before you even play it.

For some reason, I do like the cover art to bleed round onto the spine of the box as I think it looks nice on my shelf with my other games rather than plain white spines. I don’t know why this is. It’s not like the game will become that much better because it’s got an extra bit of colour on the box.

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Call of Duty Online Multiplayer To Become A Subscription-Based Game?

The more news I hear about the Call of Duty franchise and Activision, the more annoyed I get. From what I’ve read in the last few months, he’s just out to make a quick buck off the back of the huge success that Infinity Ward started with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and with the sequel becoming one of the biggest games of all time. Treyarch have done a great job with their versions of the franchise such as Call of Duty: World at War, but Infinity Ward started the franchise and they’ve done it best so far.

Anyway, back to the point. Analyst Michael Patcher had ‘predicted’ that Activision will start charging gamers for playing Call of Duty online by the end of 2010. The reason is it’s apparently devastating for publishers……and shareholders!! Why? Because sales and profits are declining. Sounds to me like the shareholders have dollar signs for eyes and are wanting to line their own pockets, as well as the publishers.

So what about the developers? Infinity Ward is all but a shell of its former self after the farce that Activision started by firing Jason West and Vince Zampella, (who then created Respawn Entertainment), followed by the mass exodus of IW staff to newly formed Respawn. Could the law suit have something to do with it?

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Skies Of Glory iPhone & Android App Released

With so few games taking advantage of the massive popularity of both the iPhone and Android platforms, it’s great to see that Skies of Glory game app has been released with cross-platform multiplayer capabilities for players on both of these platforms.

Set in World War II, players can test each others flying and combat skills over a 3G connection, meaning that you can play anybody wherever they may be in the world, regardless of whether they’re playing on Android or iOS.

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Non-Stop Gaming World Record Attempt – Watch Live!

A new world record attempt for Non Stop Gaming was started at 1pm today (July 16th) in a Dixons store in the Netherlands. The current record stands at 40 hours and six gamers will be spending the weekend playing Red Dead Redemption on the Playstation 3 to break the record.

The record breaking attempt is also a launch for Vogel’s Playstation 3 TwistDock which is a charging unit for the PS3 controllers. This TwistDock will be used to keep the controllers continually charged through the record attempt with the winner receiving 1,000 Euros and a docking station.

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