Pokemon Bank's Launch Delayed Due to Server Problems

It seems like Valve is not the only company to suffer from overestimating their servers' ability to handle the Holidays and the influx of people who want free stuff (Steam's servers where hammered when Valve offered Left 4 Dead 2 for free), as Nintendo has had to remove the Pokemon Bank and its companion app, the Poke Transporter, from the Japanese eShop (both of which were offered for free for a limited time).

Injustice: Gods Among Us Slow Motion Fix

Okay, so Injustice: Gods Among Us was ported to the PC a couple of months ago. I'm not going to bother reviewing the game, as you probably reached this post while looking for a solution to the slow motion gameplay and you already have a copy of the game (if you're not familiar with the game yet, it's basically Mortal Kombat with DC characters like Superman and Batman.)

First thing's first - what exactly is the problem with the game?

Technically, it's a rush porting job, and we're not talking about being unoptimized. It's actually a very light game that will run well even on a low/mid-range rig (to give you an idea on what it takes to run the game: I have an old Core 2 Duo e8400 + nVidia GT 440 that runs it well on 1080p, with settings on what's basically medium.)

The problem with Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition's PC Port, is that whoever is doing the porting didn't bother ensuring that the engine is frame independent. This means unlike majority of PC games these days, when the PC running it struggles to maintain the speed, it doesn't drop frames. Instead, it continues to pump out all 60 frames of the scene, resulting in slow motion instead of frameskips.

Unlike Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst, which was also frame-dependent but had the excuse that the engine was coded to be frame dependent from the start and would require massive rewrites of the code, there's simply no excuse for Injustice Gods Among Us because it's using Unreal Engine 3, which was originally developed on the PC and supports frameskipping.

So yeah, Injustice Gods Among Us: Ultimate Edition suffers from slow motion gameplay even on some high end rigs because it can't skip frames like a PC game should do due to the lack of standardized hardware configuration. What can you do about it?

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst Review

Yep, I've been away for a long time, writing for other places and stuff. But I came back, with news of where I've been. As for the review of Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3, I got one over at Infobarrel. It's like, really lengthy and stuff so you should check it out, especially if you're one of them folks having problems with the PC version's poor performance and slow motion gameplay.

nVidia Penetrates the Handheld Gaming Market with the Shield

I said "penetrate" and "shield." See what I did there?

At the recent CES 2013, graphics titan nVidia has unveiled a new handheld gaming device called the nVidia Shield, which looks somewhat like an xBox 360 controller with a foldable mini-screen. Technically, the d-pad and analog stick arrangement makes it look more like a PS dual shock controller, and the foldable screen makes it look like a DS, but the black/green color scheme and home button really makes the xBox more prominent.

As for the Shield's specs, it's supposed to be powered by nVidia's monster Tegra 4 processor, which means it has enough muscle to run games that rival current gen games. But it also has a couple of unique features:

First is that it runs on a skinless Android, so it could have acess to Google's store and can support Android games up to a point. Next is that it has the ability to stream games directly from your PC, provided that your PC has an nVidia videocard that can run said games. This makes it function more like the Wii U's tablet controller, wherein you can play games away from the PC by using the Shield as a satellite game device. What's more, the device is deeply integrated with the Steam service, so that you can get games directly from the content distribution service.

nVidia clarified during the conference that the Shield is not a mere concept. The name may change once it's released to the market, but you can expect it to arrive by Q2 2013.

Angry Video Game Nerd Taken Down from Youtube

If your default method of watching James Rolfe's Angry Video Game Nerd series of comedy reviews/skits is through Youtube, you may be surprised to see that his Youtube channel is currently down, with the viewer being greeted by a message stating:

This account has been terminated due to repeated or severe violations of our Terms of Service.

There's been a recent spate of videogame-related channel takedowns these past few weeks, as a result of some companies being more aggressive in their copyrights protection campaigns (notably Sega taking down various videos with content from the Shining franchise), but James Rolfe's channel being taken down is a surprise, considering how much money his channel has made Youtube in the past, and the fact that his usage falls under fair use (parody/satire).

This seems to be one of those automated takedowns, instead of Rolfe himself taking down the channel, due to the fact that the videos are still available in other videostreaming sites and Rolfe's own website, cinemassacre.com.

Update: The videos are back online. You can sleep well knowing that Youtube will not let your channel be the victim of automated takedowns if you're making them millions of dollars on yearly ad revenue.

New Trailer: Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix

A new trailer has just been released for the latest installment in the Kingdom Hearts franchise, titled Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix, which is not so much a continuation of the story but just an HD collection containing more polished and enhanced Playstation 3 versions of Kingdom Hearts Final Mix and Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories.

Official Pokedex iOS App Released for NA and EU

The Pokemon Company has just released their official Pokedex iOS app for the North American and European markets via the iTunes app store. This app is probably the reason why they pulled the 3DS pokedex out of the 3DS store.

Unfortunately, it seems like the 3DS one is still the better portable pokedex in terms of price. The 3DS Pokedex Pro is only worth $16 complete, but the iOS version will run you around $30 if you want the complete library; the base app, which only contains pokemon from the unova region, is worth $1.99 on the app store, while the four other expansions, which contain the rest of the pokemon from other regions, will cost $5.99 each.

Street Fighter X Mega Man

If you thought all the cross-brand games (Marvel, SNK, Street Fighter, Tekken, X-Men, etc) Capcom has been doing is weird, check out their latest one: it's the world warriors from the Street Fighter being pitted against the blue bomber, Mega Man.

Street Fighter x Mega Man, unlike Capcom's previous cross-brand games, is not a 1 on 1 fighter. Rather, it's your standard fare action platformer typical of a Mega Man game, only instead of fighting rogue robots and Dr. Wily, Mega Man has to fight the characters from Street Fighter as stage bosses. Additionally, the graphics are rendered in 8-bit, pixelated format reminiscent of the Nintendo days:

New Video For Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn

Square Enix has been inundating us with various promo videos of Final Fantasy XXIV: A Realm Reborn, which only contain idle exploration. Which is nice and all if you just want to see how it looks like and how expansive the environments are, but it gets old pretty fast. Square Enix knows it too, so their most recent clip jumps straight into questing and combat in the city-state of Gridania:

Prototype 3D Streets of Rage Game Leaked Video

A footage has been making the rounds, showing a remake Crackdown 2 developer Ruffian Games was working on, which shows what could have been a 3D remake of the hit 16 bit Beat Em Up, Streets of Rage. Check out the clever little intro, where the camera pans out to show a bunch of Bare Knuckle II arcade cabinets.

Free Flash Game: Batman - Rooftop Caper

I haven't posted any free flash games in a while, so I hope this one makes up for it. It's an official Warner Bros Flash Game made as a tie-in to the Batman: The Brave and The Bold cartoon show. It fits in well with the Batman posts these past few days, even though the source material is a way lighter interpretation of the caped crusader.

Play Batman: Rooftop Caper straight from your browser, after the cut:

New Darksiders II Spot

A new TV spot has been released for the upcoming sequel to the hack and slash actioner, Darksiders, this time featuring one of the horsemen of apocalypse, Death, riding his horse and smacking a couple of huge demons along the way (the demons kind of look like the Ogres in Dragons Age, don't they?)

 Darksiders II will be set years before and after the events in Darksiders, and based on the trailers, will also feature the original protagonist, War. The game will  be released for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on August 14.

Hit the jump for the trailer:

Last Dragonball Z Game in the Budokai Tenkaichi Series Announced

Japanese mag V-Jump has recently announced that Namco Bandai has the last game in the Dragonball Z Budokai Tenkaichi Series in the pipeline. Tentatively titled “Dragonball Z Sparking! Omega”, the game will be a direct follow-up to the PS2/Wii’s Dragonball Z Sparking! Meteor (which was released as Dragonball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3 in the US).

V-Jump reports that Sparking! Omega will exceed the amount of playable characters in the previous games, and will include some returning characters. Dragonball Z Sparking! Omega is scheduled for release this winter on the PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles.

Watch this Movie: Ryu in Asura's Wrath Lost Episode DLC

I don't have a PS3 nor an Xbox360, so I have no way of playing Asura's Wrath, but this video of the newest DLC is fun even if you're just watching. The DLC, entitled Lost Episode 1, features Ryu from Street Fighter being transported to the past (spoilers: Asura's Wrath actually happened way, way, way back in the past) and meets the demigod Asura. Of course, this is Ryu we're talking about, so his first request from the stranger is a sparring match . I mean, holy crap. I can imagine Ryu's Facebook account is just full of pictures of fists and fireballs. And Avengers Alliance Invites.

Watch the video, after the cut:

Fresh New Teaser Images From Prometheus

A new batch of teaser images has just been released for Ridley Scott's Alien sorta-prequel, Prometheus. This time, the images show the crew in their badass spacesuits, with Noomi Rapace looking apprehensive, about to enter the mysterious temple. Another one of the images features Rapace in front of what looks like the add-on controller for xBox's Steel Battalion. There's no doubt that the highlight of the bunch is the image of Rapace, Theron, and Fassbender goofing around.

Diablo III Animated Short: Wrath

Peter Chung of Aeon Flux and The Animatrix fame has recently teamed up with Titmouse Studios (of Metalocalypse) and Studio Goindol for an animated short that provides a little bit of backstory behind the most recent installment in their Diablo franchise, entitled Diablo III.

The animated short shows a battle between Angels and Demons, which has been going on even before The Sanctuary was built. The Demons are of course led by Diablo, the Prince of Terror. The Angels are led by a cadre of Archangels, which includes familiar faces Tyrael and Aureal, and also includes their overly aggressive brother, Imperius, who seems to be the main cause of problems that will resurface in the future.



For more information, additional exclusive interviews, artwork, and more, visit the Diablo III "Darkness Falls, Heroes Rise." website: http://reveal.diablo3.com. The game itself is set to be released on May 15.

Street Fighter X Tekken's Sales Figures a Disappointment to Capcom

It's probably proof of how bloated the industry has become, when selling 1.4 million units of a $40 dollar videogame is considered a failure (bear in mind that the materials used to make a videogame are not as exhaustible or hard to come by as, say, automobiles. And that marketing in the age of social media shouldn't cost thousands of dollars. Proof? how about some professional looking indie games being made by one or two people, on a budget that is theoretically close to zero dollars? How much did minecraft spend on marketing?).

As for the news itself, Capcom has recently marked Street Fighter X Tekken a loss after its 1.4 million sales figures fell way below the company's target 2 million. This is especially bad for Capcom as they have already had a failure in Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, which only sold 600,000 units across all systems.

People tend to blame the poor sales on Street Fighter X Tekken's poor balance, buggy netcode, and the gimped 360 version. There's also the controversial deal between Sony and Capcom (in which 12 additional characters were locked away on the disc until the release of the PS Vita version) earning the spite of many gamers.

...of course, this being released on the PC as well, you can bet your ass they're going to try and blame it on piracy again, pushing for a move towards console exclusive games and/or stronger, more draconian DRMs (doesn't explain why Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3 bombed, though, as that wasn't released on the PC).

Via: Shoryuken.com

New Elder Scrolls MMO from Bethesda

It seems it's not enough that the Elder Scrolls games like Skyrim and Oblivion eating way too much of people's lives, now Bethesda has just announced a Massively Multiplayer Online Game based on their Elder Scrolls Franchise.

Aptly named The Elder Scrolls Online, Bethesda's new MMO will be developed by Zenimax Online Studios for both the PC and Mac, and will give players the chance to explore the continent of Tamriel a thousand years prior to the events of Elder Scrolls V. According to an IGN report, the MMO will let players choose between 3 different factions, fight against other players in the province of Cyrodiil, and even fight each other for the Emperor's throne.

Bethesda is targeting a 2013 launch for both platforms, there is currently no announcement on whether it's going to be free to play or subscription-based. More details will be revealed as developments occur.

Via: IGN

Call of Duty Black Ops 2 is Set in the Future, Wait, it's set in the 80s! No, Wait...

I guess all the people who are complaining about the overused settings in FPSes these days will finally shut up, now that the sequel to Call of Duty Black Ops 2 is neither set in WW2 nor present day Middle-East.

Treyarch's direct sequel to the hit First Person Shooter is set in the year 2024 AND Cold War 80s, via two interconnecting story arcs featuring Alex Mason and his son David. Seriously, we're talking futuristic walking tanks and drones, as well as cowboy shootouts in horseback. Just watch the trailer below to see what I'm getting at:


Watch the Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Reveal Trailer, after the cut:

Free Flash Game: Ben 10 - Savage Pursuit

Today's free flash game is another quality tie-in that you can play straight from your browser, for free. I'm a big fan of these things, in case you haven't noticed yet. Comes with not having access to a PC that has hundreds of megabees of video memory and gigahurts of processing power - I like me some cool looking games that you can play without worrying about hardware and stuff like that.

Anyways, Ben 10: Savage Pursuit is a platforming beat em up that lets you control Ben Tennyson - the 10 year old one from the original series, not the crappily drawn 10 year old from the upcoming Ben 10: Omniverse series. OMGThatLooksLikePoop!!! I hope they change the art style after seeing what the Intarweb fans think.

Back to the game, don't think Savage Pursuit is boring just because you only control Ben in his human form, because that is not the case. You have the ability to transform into four of his alien forms, each with specific abilities that will help you traverse the dangerous landscape and defeat Dr. Animo's evil mutants.

Four may be a little thin, and a disservice to the title of the cartoon (perhaps the game should be entitled Ben 4: Savage Pursuit?), but hey, what little we've got is pretty good already. Also, game engine limitations and all that. At least it's not one of those crappy flash game knock-offs that make you control Ben in a Tetris game.

Play Ben 10: Savage Pursuit, straight from your browser, after the cut: