Toronto Thumbs

OVERVIEW
Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals

About a month ago I had a one-on-one demonstration of Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals, the sequel to the only third-party Nintendo DS game to break the top ten sales chart last year. Ross Purnell, Associate Manager, Public Relations at Disney Interactive Studios and I sat down to go through some of the highlights of the game, in particular what new features were added to the gameplay.

Among the most noticeable of the new features is that the world is now a 3D environment with a wide degree of camera control. The game’s developer, Jupiter Corp. did have a 3D environment in the original title but found that the ¾ overhead view restricted the player’s view of what was happening around them; and enemy could be around the corner and the player wouldn’t know till it was nearly too late. The new camera is positioned behind Rallen (one of the main protagonists) and allows the player to scope out the environment to plan movements a little more strategically.

This time around, Rallen can also participate in field battles using a blaster, sword, or gauntlet. This doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of Spectrobes battles to be had, however. These fights take place in real time and the Spectrobe types (red, green, and blue) function as a rock, paper, scissors balancing device.

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Posted in DS, News, Overviews | No Comments »

LOL ZANGIEF

Capcom released a statement today regarding the still-upcoming Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix which started off with “Do you remember Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix?” and then went on to promise that the game is in fact on its way “very soon.”

They also provided a bunch of screenshots and character art of Blanka, Cammy, and Zangief. I’ve decided to not show them all here because I’m sure another game site has posted them with giant ugly watermarks already (cough*IGN*cough) but I did find this one particularly funny because Zangief is, well, funny!

Posted in Awesome, News, Pics, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | 4 Comments »

Bungie keeps achievements up their sleeves

The developer behind the massively successful Halo series has always been good at wooing gamers into their fold and keeping them there. And that hasn’t changed with Halo 3.

To ensure its title stays at the top of Xbox Live’s most played list, Bungie released Title Update 2 Tuesday for Halo 3. The update adds 10 new achievements for a total of 250 points. All can be earned through online multiplayer.

However, leave it to Bungie to keep secrets.

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Posted in Awesome, News, Xbox 360 | No Comments »

Excellent Deal On Xbox 360 This Week

Future Shop has an excellent deal on Xbox 360 this week. You can grab a 60 GB model with Gears of War and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for $299.99. Not only do you get a pretty cool console, but those are both very enjoyable games.

Hey, and if you’re one of the people who keeps writing us complaining about our public displays of Xbox affection, maybe you can buy one so you can see why we love it so much (seriously, we like all consoles). At $299.99 (a price which includes two games and a giant hard drive) it makes the 360 the cheapest of the current-generation consoles.

Posted in News, Xbox 360 | 5 Comments »

Get in the Hockey Hall of Fame with NHL 2K9

Say there, have you ever wanted to be in the Hockey Hall of Fame but can’t play hockey, or even skate? Well you might be in luck if you can at least play video game hockey. Canadian gamers have been given the chance to be honoured in the 2K Sports NHL 2K9 Zone at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto! By competing in matches over Xbox Live over the next three months, players will vie for their turn in the spotlight.

Here’s how it works – register by downloading the official tournament entry gamer pic from the LIVE Arcade Marketplace. Then, play NHL 2K9 as much as possible starting October 7 because only the top 256 players will be placed into the single-elimination tournament, which starts in November.

From xbox.com:

Participants will have a number of opportunities to get into the Hockey Hall of Fame through three different individual awards designed after their real NHL counterparts including the 2K Sports HHOF Championship Award, 2K Sports All-Around Offense Award, & 2K Sports All-Around Defense Award. All the trophies will live at the Hockey Hall of Fame in the exclusive NHL 2K Sports interactive area, and each winner will have their name engraved on their respective individual trophy, along with the honor of also getting their names on virtual versions of the above trophies in next year’s NHL 2K10.

Yes, looks like there will be an NHL 2K10. They’re saving no characters with that “K” from here till 3K.

Posted in Canada, News, Xbox 360 | 1 Comment »

HADOKEN! It’s beta time
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix

The Toronto Thumbs staffers are certified fighting game aficionados, and have a particular fascination and appreciated for all things Street Fighter.

Tomorrow we’ll be playing the crap out of the BETA release of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, which will be available to anyone who has previously purchased Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 on LIVE Arcade. Commando 3 is an awesome game on its own, but the fact that players will now be able to test out this much-awaited Street Fighter title is the icing on the cake.

The only downside to all this is that the Xbox 360 controller is likely the worst controller ever to play a 2D fighting game with. The directional pad is so horrible that one has to wonder if its engineers actually set out to design the most useless D-pad ever. If so, they’ve succeeded. Your best bet is to pick up the HORI fighting stick for the Xbox 360. It’s well worth the price and offers good, old-fashioned arcade controller clicky goodness.

Posted in LIVE, News, Xbox 360 | No Comments »

WiiWare Finally Launches

Check out the Wii Shop Channel today because WiiWare has gone live in North America. Right now the service features six different games that were developed just for the Wii. Here’s a list of the titles available today:

• FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: My Life as a King
• LostWinds
• Defend your Castle
• Pop
• V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack
• TV Show King

Posted in Download Updates, News, Wii | No Comments »

PlayStation Store Price Adjustments

It looks like Sony is finally showing some love to us up here in the Great White North. Changes that have already taken effect as of May 1st will see Canadian prices for downloadable content at the PlayStation Store align more closely with the US pricing model. The reasoning stated in an earlier press release by Sony was due to the ongoing strength of the Canadian dollar.

This price adjustment is most welcome as I never really understood why I had to pay a few dollars more for a download than someone over the border, especially when the Canadian dollar has been consistantly on par or better with US currency. So what does everyone think? Will this adjustment be persuading you PS3 and PSP owners to purchase more off the PlayStation store, or did it really never bother you?

Posted in Download Updates, News, PlayStation 3, PSP | 2 Comments »

Guitar Hero IV to feature additional instruments

If you’ve been worried about the likes of Banjo Hero, Accordian Hero and (my personal favourite) Ukulele Hero coming out in response to the success of rhythm music games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, have no fear. It appears like the next version of Guitar Hero is going to include support for additional instruments and even vocals. At first, this might sound like it’s going to be more like Rock Band. However, a statement from Activision CEO Bobby Kotick indicates that the new features will improve international sales which seems to indicate something more than just drums.

It’s a natural evolution of the series but an interesting choice to continue with the Guitar Hero brand name even when the instruments potentially are not guitars. Activision obviously feels like the brand name recognition is so high that the need to move the series into a more generic name like Rock Band is not only unnecessary but could also be seen as conceding a point to the rivals at EA.

One thing is for sure: these music games are just in their infancy, and there is definitely more to come. It’s definitely music to my ears.

Posted in News | 1 Comment »

Get Ready to Own Another Fake Guitar!

I’ve got three video game guitar controllers right now. One for PS2, one Guitar Hero controller for Xbox 360, and one Rock Band controller for Xbox 360.

And now it looks like the upcoming Guitar Hero: Aerosmith will be shipping with this beauty up top. Right now, US retailers are offering a pre-order promotion which includes guitar bundles for PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii. There’s even a two-guitar bundle available for PS2.

Since we last reported on this game, it’s been revealed that Guitar Hero: Aerosmith will also feature songs from some of the band’s favourite acts including Cheap Trick, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and the Clash.

Posted in Music, News, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360 | 4 Comments »