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This is the first edition of TheGamersHub monthly magazine. Each issue will be bringing you the top reviews of each month about games and technology. The magazine will also include events that will be happening involving TGH. As this is our first attempt at the TGH magazine, please feel free to give us feedback on improvements that could be made, or future topics you would like to see appearing in here, by emailing: dan.h@thegamershub.net
About TGH
Set up on July 27th 2009 to provide news, reviews, articles, previews, blogs with a community aspect. We have taken big steps to get where we are today, which wouldn’t have been possible without you. The sites aim was to create a place for budding game journalists to get some experience in the industry and since then we have helped people all over the place to build a respectable portfolio which has lead to many paid freelance jobs in some big publications. We reach 100,000’s of people each month checking out the site and we help provide them with a unique string of relevant content. We have a team in the UK and the US who report news throughout the year and we have some big plans for the future.
Dynasty Warriors 7 Mario Sports Mix Chime Super Deluxe Warriors: Legends of Troy
Gods Eater Burst Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 Dead Space 2: Severed DLC Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime
Pokemon creator is alive!
Xbox 360 4GB, Why?
Crysis 2 PS3 Demo Going Offline
Fixing the YLOD – Well worth it!
Sony Transfers PSN Account Info
Mass Effect 2 Arrival DLC details
Xperia Play Arrives
3D Televisons & Gaming
Tritton AX Pro Headset Review
3DS “black screen of death” appearing
Coming soon
Dynasty Warriors fans rejoice, because Dynasty Warriors 7 has finally been release in NA and UK. Dynasty Warriors has been a long-running franchise created by the developers over at Omega Force. The game Dynasty Warriors was mostly inspired by the actual historical novel “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” written by Luo Gunazhong. In its seventh installment, Omega Force tends to bring back the classic gameplay style of Dynasty Warriors back, while adding new features and gameplay to the overall package. Will Dynasty Warriors 7 live up to its hype? Or will its crumble like the three kingdoms before it? Find out within this review of Dynasty Warriors 7.
STORY: Veterans of Dynasty Warriors will already know the story by heart from individual officers in previous Dynasty Warriors games. Not this time, Dynasty Warriors 7 story mode (Musou mode) is told by each kingdom. Shu, Wei, Wu, and the newly added Jin Kingdoms are all told as a whole to make things more emotional, compelling, and cinematic. In previous installments of Dynasty Warriors, story mode was character based, which would lead to some conflicting storylines, misspelling of names, and improper pronunciation. This change in story mode in Dynasty Warriors 7 makes it a more engaging, compelling, and historically accurate. Each tale is told how it is from Shu searching for a land to call their own to Wei’s rise to power. Each Kingdom is more or less told accurately, along with each battle and event that takes place. Battles will change from officer to officer. This is more or less focusing on the important officer(s) during that battle. For example, in the battle of Chang Ban players will start playing as Zhao Yun and after his part was finished the battle will continue playing as Zhang Fei defending the bridge Overall, Story mode in Dynasty Warriors 7 has changed completely for the good. It makes the experience of Dynasty Warriors that much greater and enjoyable. Each kingdom’s story will take about 6-8 hours to complete depending on the difficulty setting that the player choose. Overall, each and every kingdom’s story gives a little more insight on what each of them has experience. That experience is an engaging, compelling, cinematic, emotional, and historically accurate ride that everyone will enjoy.
GAMEPLAY: The Dynasty Warriors series hasn’t seen much change till Dynasty Warriors 6.Dynasty Warriors 6 left a bad taste in players mouths with a repetitive combat system, cookie cut characters and move sets, and lack of a good story and battles. Dynasty Warriors 7 is completely opposite and veterans will be happy with a lot of the gameplay mechanics. Let’s start with the basics. Dynasty Warriors 7 removed the repetitive Renbu combat system with the return of the reliable charge system. The charge system would allow players to string an increasingly longer combo which would end in a special move with some type of ranging effect. Players will also be allowed to use two different weapons and switch on the fly between the two. Depending on the character, each of them will have an EX weapon which will be their main weapon for exclusive combos. Weapons come in a great variety from the standard Chinese sword, spear, an arm gun, flying swords and more. Let’s take Zhao Yun for example in which his EX weapon will be his trustworthy spear. Now Zhao Yun can have another weapon which could be any other weapons depending on the officer’s compatibility with that weapon. Low level of compatibility means slower attacks and the likely hood of the combo being easily broken. Higher the level is vise versa. The only thing I noticed with the secondary weapon with each officer is that they all use the same generic move sets and mostly every officer is good with the Chinese sword. Other notable gameplay tweaks include the ability to have more aerial combos, aerial musou attacks, and having two different musou attacks for each character. Swimming and climbing ladders also make a return and the morale bar has been removed but, still there in the form of messages of officers. Players will also get skill points after defeating multiple enemy officers. These skill points can be used to gain more combos, health, musou bars, and more. Finally each weapon has a certain type of seal which can be learned and place on that weapon for added effects and abilities like attack up, health up and gaining more skill points. Now free mode was a great feature in previous Dynasty Warriors games. Players would be able to experience any battle with any officer and have fun on the battlefield without hurting the story progression or timeline. In Dynasty Warriors 7, free mode has been replaced by conquest mode. This mode features free roaming china where players make their own story across the land. Players must move along hex-shaped squares within china. Battling each square, entering cities to gain new weapons, aiding fellow officers, and playing with friends in both online and offline co-operative play are all part of conquest mode. This is an excellent replacement for free mode and the wide variety of mission and online play makes it worth the hours you will spend on this mode alone. Dynasty Warriors 7 does have a few faults. Like I said before, it felt that Omega Force did cut some corner with the secondary weapons, along with some maps being re-used and combined. Another thing would be that the camera can be somewhat of a mess and hard to control. Overall, Dynasty Warriors 7 doesn’t really have many problems and these problems alone don’t hinder any type of gameplay features. Overall, Dynasty Warriors 7 has returned to its old classic gameplay while adding new gameplay mechanics and tweaks here and there. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. It’s a goood thing that Omega Force made the right decision to bring back the old style of gameplay back in Dynasty Warriors 7. Dynasty Warriors 7 also features the newly added conquest mode. This mode gives players the freedom of battling, exploring, and co-operative fun. The overall package of Dynasty Warriors 7 is pretty expansive and enjoyable, with a few cut corners and problems that will not hinder gameplay by any means.
PRESENTATION: Dynasty Warriors 7 hasn’t seen much in graphical enhancements. Dynasty Warriors 7 does look great, detailed and performs better then Dynasty Warriors 6. The amount of enemies of screen can reach around 150+ people screen. That’s a step forward, but Dynasty Warriors 7 does have the fog of war feature where things randomly pop-in. Characters on the other hand are quite detailed and stylish like always. Environments are detailed to a certain point where it becomes plain, empty, and lifeless. The encyclopedia is always a great addition to any of the Dynasty Warriors games. The encyclopedia also adds and revises most of its content and this time around it’s a little more accurate. Voiceovers are also done quite well for each character, but the award here goes to the narrator telling the story of each kingdom. His voice alone stands out the most and just brings the player into the world of ancient Chinese history. The game also pronounces and spells the names correctly this time like. For example Liu Chan was used in two Dynasty Warriors games, now his name has been correctly spelled and pronounced as Liu Shan. The soundtrack on the other hand is decent to say the least. It’s not the best in the series but, there are quite a few notable tracks that are composed really well. Overall, Dynasty Warriors 7 presentation wise has improved from the detail, historical accuracy, voice work, pronunciations, and more.
CLOSING NOTE: Dynasty Warriors 7 is a big improvement over Dynasty Warriors 6. Story mode is told from each Kingdom’s stand point. Battles are more cinematic which gives the story and gameplay a seamless flow. Gameplay returns to its original charge system with new gameplay mechanics and tweaks that improve upon the original gameplay. The newly added conquest mode replaces free mode, where players have the freedom to explore and conquer china as they see fit. Presentation wise Dynasty Warriors has greatly improved in variety of areas. Overall, Dynasty Warriors 7 is the best and most improved of the entire series. If you’re a fan of Dynasty W arriors 7, this game is a must buy. Get ready to enjoy hours upon hours of hack n’ slash gamplay like never before.
Rating: 4/5 Written by Chris C To rate, comment or view this article on site follow the link below. http://thegamershub.net/2011/03/dynasty-warriors-7-review/
Monster Hunter has been with us for quite some time now. There have been many developers trying to take this monster out. Namco Bandai Games might have finally created the game to rival CAPCOM’s Monster Hunter series. Gods Eater Burst shows a lot of potential and uniqueness to rival that of the Monster Hunter series. It features much of the same mechanics and gameplay, but there is more to Gods Eater Burst that meets the eye. Is Gods Eater Burst ready to take on its mission? Or will it fail just like the rest before it? Find out in this review of Gods Eater Burst.
STORY: Gods Eater Burst setting is a post-apocalyptic Earth, not like any other. Earth is now ravaged by beasts known as Aragami. It’s up to an organization called Fenrir to wipe out and understand the Aragami. Within that organization is you and a bunch of stereotypical cast of characters. These characters are basically teenagers who either has problems, sulks too much, overly eager, and mysterious. (Typical anime venue more or less) You and these teenagers are “Gods Eaters.” These God Eaters are the only line of defense against these creatures, armed with weapons called “God Arcs” created from the DNA of those creatures you hunt. Gods Eater Burst story might drag for a few hours in, but starts to get more interesting and answers quite a few question later on. The characters on the other hand may or may not grow on you, but each of them does hold a key part within the story. Overall, Gods Eater Burst has a story that is quite interesting to say the least and will keep the player till the very end of this post-apocalyptic adventure.
GAMEPLAY: If you played any of the Monster Hunter games, you will be in familiar territory. When starting the game, the player will be given the chance to create their own persona within the game. Players can choose male or female, along with customizing his/her hair style, hair color, face, skin, clothing, and voice from quite of few plentiful options. Now for the weapon of choice is, the “God Arc.” This “God Arc” will be your weapon though the entire game. This all-powerful “God Arc” can transform into a Blade for melee attacks, Gun for ranged attacks, and a Shield to protect you from attacks. There is a wide variety of “God Arcs” to choose from either if you buy or create them. Another customization feature is bullets. Bullets are ammunition for the gun part of the God Arc. Bullets can be mixed and created to change the effects of them. These effects may vary from the different bullets that can be brought and made. Some effects would include; mines, balls of flame that fire at the enemy, healing waves and more. This feature is pretty satisfying to experiment with all the variety of bullets that Gods Eater Burst holds. Players will have the option of playing the single-player story mode or multiplayer adhoc mode. Multiplayer mode is playable with you and three others. There are nearly over 100+ missions (More with upcoming DLC) for you and your friends to conquer and complete. Single-player mode is basically the story mode and free missions. All of these missions will help players collecting material to create your weapons, armor, clothing, bullets, and more. Once on the field of battle, the main objective is mostly killing a set number of monsters or killing a gigantic monster(s). Players can switch between the three weapons above during mid-battle. Now bashing the monster’s face in with your giant sword might be good and all, but want about devouring your prey with that said sword. Devouring will turn your character into Burst mode, where stats are upgraded for a limited time. Devouring will also grant you material from dead Aragami. Player will also have a HP, OP(Oracle), and ST(Stamina) bars. The HP bar is self-explanatory. On the other hand oracle points are used for bullets. If your oracle bar is empty then you will be unable to fire. The stamina bar is of course for sprinting, jumping, and dodging. Gods Eater Burst does have a few problems here and there. Most of the problems are the camera and controls. The camera might be frustrating for many because it will be all over the place and the lock system will not respond unless the camera is on the monster. The controls on the other hand might take some time getting used to and learning what each button does. Gods Eater Burst also suffers from repetitive missions and monsters variety. Overall, Gods Eater Burst has most of the gameplay down to rival monster hunter. It does suffer from a few problems here and there, but it’s an enjoyable experience no matter what. Gameplay is fast-paced, exciting, difficult, fun and unique. It does show that this game can really live up to its name and the amount of content that this game holds within it.
PRESENTATION: When starting up Gods Eater Burst, players will experience a stylish yet, anime type of opening. That will be the set piece and tone of the whole entire game. The world of Gods Eater Burst is quite unique. It may not be as vibrate, but really sets the whole game apart from other games. In-game graphics were quite pleasing with the amount of detail that certain characters had. Everyone was different and unique. On the other hand, the monsters lacked variety. There were about 35 total monsters to kill and devour, but these 35 Aragami got old pretty quickly. They are well-detailed monsters but, after killing them and knowing their weakness got quite old. Environments also suffer from variety, but are unique and fit perfectly within the world of Gods Eater Burst. Music wise, God Eaters Burst has a well-composed soundtrack. The opening theme “Over the Clouds” sung by Alan Dawa Dolma (or Alan for short and yes, it’s a women.) fits perfectly for Gods Eater Burst. Overall, Gods Eater Burst presentation has pretty high-value and detail to almost everything. Only problem is that the game needs more monster and environment variety.
CLOSING NOTE: Gods Eater Burst is quite an interesting game. It’s fun, unique, difficult, exciting, fast-paced, well-detail game. The story might start out slow but, will get better after a few hours in. Another thing would be the support characters may or may not be appealing to some, but each hold something key within the story. Gameplay wise, Gods Eater Burst is fast-paced adventure across a massive amount of content within. It basically got everything right expect for the unstable camera, minor control problems, and repetitive issues. Presentation wise, it’s a well-detailed game overall. There are certain faults with limited amounts monsters and environments but, the amount of detail makes up for that. Graphics are pretty much stylish with an anime feel to it. The soundtrack is great to listen to from the opening theme to the very end theme. Overall, Gods Eater Burst is the game that can actually rival that of the monster hunter series. Gods Eater Burst will consume a massive amount of your life and it’s worth every penny to experience it.
Rating: 4/5 Written by Chris C To rate, comment or view this article on site follow the link below. http://thegamershub.net/2011/03/gods-eater-burst-review/
Mario has been in many sports titles throughout the years, tennis, golf, more recently in titles featuring soccer, and baseball. Mario Sports Mix was developed in partnership with Square-Enix so the title will take influences from past sports titles like Mario Hoops 3 on 3 for the DS which was also developed by Square-Enix. The real question is with the number of games set to four can Mario Sports Mix out party games like Wii Party and Wii Sports? Does Mario and company have enough juice in the tank to keep the stadium filled or does the game get called off early? Sports Mixing Mario Sports mix is just that, a mixing of four different sports headlined by Nintendo characters. You start the game, like many other sports compilation titles by picking which sport to partake in first. Dodgeball (yeah, it’s a sport what of it?), Volleyball, Basketball and Hockey round out the choices for Mario Sports Mix. Each plays differently but they all have the same options when it comes to game modes, Exhibition which is just a simple one game affair and then Tournament which brings you on a ladder based tournament bracket and you face off against your foes to gain the championship, you can choose 2 on 2 tournament or 3 on 3, you then choose your partners from a roster of twelve (12) default characters who each have unique stats and as well as Mii’s saved on your system which are all medium stats across the board. There are three main tournament cups, Mushroom, Flower and Star cups. As your play the game more and more you will unlock more stages and characters from the Square-Enix universe. Through beating the game on normal with all three cups you will unlock a hard mode, this is separate for each sport. There are also secrets to unlock such as a boss like character that you must face and the ultimate mode, Sports Mix mode which mixes all four sports in tournaments and only has one mode, expert. Of course few players will have the drive to reach these unlockables, but it’s still nice to know they are there though. Controlling The Sport Each sport has its own control scheme but the easiest way to play is using the Wii-Mote horizontally. Dodgeball has you and your teammate/s take on the opposing team and there is a Mario style circular health bar, if you manage to hit them their health will deplete and when they have none, they will be called out. When all players are out you win the round, the rounds are a best of three. Basketball has you play the sport without fouls or free throws. You slam into your opponent and take the ball from them and shoot to score, based on distance score from 2-3 points. You can also collect coins to increase your basket score and games usually last for two minutes and thirty seconds and consisting of two periods. Hockey is more of the same two periods and you simply shoot and use the d-pad to direct where the puck goes, simply moving back and forth will open up a spot in the goal box. Finally, volleyball has the players play three sets to a score of 15.
Online & Parties Players can take the sport online via the Wi-Fi Connection feature and can compete in the tournaments with two players on one end and two players on the other, or regular versus matches online, before you connect to the online component you are asked how many players on your side 1 or 2. As you play you gain points which are marked as WFC Skill points. You start off with none for each sport and you can rack up points in each sport individually. It’s a cool feature to keep players coming back but with no real major unlockables it feels sadly lacking. Party mode is a quick pick up and play game mode for up to four players. The first of four mini-games is Feed Petey which takes a spin on the basketball game in which you have to grab fruit and throw it into his mouth for points. Harmony Hustle a fun version of volleyball has the player return volleys from a machine, where the player has to match the balls with their player color. Work in cohesion with other players to clear the stage faster and for higher score. Bob-omb Dodge is simply dodgeball with a deadly twist, players must avoid the Bob-omb’s which if hit will decrease the players life. The person with the most life gauge at the end wins. Finally there is Smash Skate where the object is to knock your opponents off the stage with super shots or checking. The player with the most points wins. The mini-games are innovative and cute but I wish there was more or that they were online.
Simply Smash Up Mario Sports Mix is a great title but is lacking in its amount of sports and the different aspects that it could have included. Why wasn’t tennis or golf included? Two famous Mario sports. The game leaves players with a hollow feeling inside for the most part unless you are a young child at which this game can keep you occupied for quite a while, but for hardcore gamers this is simply worth a rental at best.
Rating: 3/5 Written by AnthonyD To rate, comment or view this article on site follow the link below. http://thegamershub.net/2011/03/mario-sports-mix-review/
EA’s Tiger Woods fronted PGA Tour series has a history of top notch games. The controls, sound, and broadcast style presentation have always set it apart from not just other golf games, but all other sports games. With such a solid track record and the inclusion of the Masters Tournament, there are a lot of expectations for this year’s version. They’ve got the shot lined up, but did they follow through? “A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock…” One of the big additions this year is the new caddy feature. In its most basic form, the caddy mode gives you safe and risky options for each shot. For your drive, the caddy will generally offer a safe shorter shot and a riskier power shot. In the beginning, these shots don’t seem to take advantage of your player’s or clubs’ full potential and, at first, I found myself thinking “Wow, that’s a lame shot…I can do better.” The mentality for many players is “longer is better”. Then I started paying attention to the options being presented, and they rather than opt for full out power, they all utilize different degrees of loft, spin, power, and draw/fade to make the most appropriate shot. Purists may write it off as a cheap way to play—taking pre decided shots—but it really is a great tool for one who is trying to learn the intricacies of the game. The beauty of the feature (and the reason that it is such a good learning tool) is that it improves and develops over time through the course mastery system. Each course comes with a list of objectives that, if completed, give you “Course Mastery.” With each of the 3 stages of mastery—bronze, silver, and gold—your caddy becomes more and more adept and offers increasingly better options. By the time I reached the second course mastery level on a particular course, my caddy was presenting options that I hadn’t thought of. While it’s most definitely a tool for beginners, the caddy will teach you something regardless of skill. If you’re good, then you’ll advance through the course masteries with no problem. But eventually, you’ll reach the point where you’ve begun to pay attention to these choices because, frankly, the AI is a lot smarter than you. One of the driving factors behind the caddy system is the improved AI. Opponents this time around will really push to you perfection as they take the same shots that your caddy is offering you. They’ll take risks, and they’ll lay up on occasion, but they will beat you, or make you push yourself to improve… whichever comes first. Of course, this can be changed with the difficulty slider. On the Pro (medium difficulty) though, I was definitely feeling the pressure. Luckily, I can just press Triangle (on PS3) to use some ofmy built up focus to relieve that pressure and make a better shot. (See what I did there?) The Tiger games have always had a bit of cinematic flair when it you get ready for a big shot, but this year it’s been brought to the forefront. Certain moments will but your golfer under varying levels of pressure which, if left unchecked, will remove your HUD and substantially increase the difficulty. This is one of the many facets of the games focus system which isn’t entirely new, but takes on an increased importance this year.
Solo Round For the single player, EA has switched things up a little bit with the inclusion of the Master’s Tournament. When this was first announced, many probably shrugged it off as “just another tournament”, but it truly does affect every aspect of the single player experience. The campaign mode has been restructured to feature the legendary Augusta National tournament. Your golfer starts at a small 9-hole amateur event, then moves up through a few other tiers until receiving his/her PGA Tour card. For some, this trek is nothing; just a few rounds of easy golf. For the beginner however, this is an irreplaceable learning tool. It is structured so that if you’re really good, you only have to place first in 1 or 2 tournaments. If, on the other hand, you’re not so experienced, this can be achieved by simply participating or placing in a set number of the same tournaments. By the end of this, any player should be prepared for the heavy hitters. As usual, it all comes down to defeating the great Tiger Woods. After working your way up through the tournaments, defeating countless great players, and possibly mastering the legendary moments your final task is defeat Tiger. I find this odd being that I beat him in the first PGA tournament I played. It’s the unavoidable side effect of requiring the player to be the absolute best while still maintaining that Tiger Woods is the best. The solo play is really structured in a way that should keep players coming back for quite some time. The Road to the Master’s really gives you the feeling of fighting for the honor to play. The Tiger series has always had top notch presentation, but it’s never made me feel like a real golfer to this extent. Playing for Keeps The online play has remained relatively unaltered. EA’s gamernet has made its return allowing players to upload challenges for nearly every shot they take. Long drive, closest to the pin, etc… Completing the challenges earns Gamernet points but, from what I can tell, that means nothing. I like the feeling of destroying someone’s pathetic long drive record, or coolly rolling past their marker on my way to the cup for a closest to the pinchallenge, but the point have no real meaning. The same applies for money earned in online tournaments. There is no currency use in the game. At no point are you ever required to purchase equipment (a feature that is sorely missed here, I assure you). So I can’t say that I understand the purpose of the earnings. Or, I guess I should say that I don’t understand why there is no purpose attached, I understandwhy the money exists; what good is a tournament without a grand prize. But what good is a grand prize without anywhere to spend it? As I said, these games have a long history of stellar production and presentation quality. They’ve always had an air of nostalgia and managed to stay relevant in a sport that, honestly, doesn’t change a whole lot from year to year. In the early stages, the player worked their up a ladder of champions both real and fictional until they reached tiger, then there was the move to a PGA tour tournament circuit with leader boards and whatnot. Now, we’ve got the masters. Once again, nostalgia and authenticity plays a huge part. To gain entry to the Master’s, your golfer must be raked within the top 100 on EA’s leaderboard. Obviously, this is most easily achieved by just golfing. Or, if you’re feeling particularly skilled, you can take on the game’s new Master’s Moments. These are a collection of legendary golf moments from the Master’s Tournament over the years; iconic shots that, if executed and perfected will earn your spot in the big show.
Get Moving This year, EA has included support for Playstation Move from launch after a trial run via patch on the last game. All personal preference aside, it is well executed and it does what it does quite well. Lining up shots and gauging power are easily accomplished and do quite a bit to increase the games already notable immersion. When aiming a custom shot, a quick trigger pull in any direction will move the cursor and, to be honest, I never thought that would be easier than using the D-pad. As much as I love the Move, I’m still surprised by the little things that are done right with it. One glaring issue I experienced though was in the menus. Often the game wouldn’t register button presses on the Move controller and, for some reason, you’re required to have a Dualshock 3 or Navigation controller connected at all times…even though the game doesn’t require you to use it. I guess it’s good to have the other controller at the ready when the game decides not to take my other input, but it shouldn’t be required. That’s twice the battery consumption for no reason at all that I can surmise. Overall though, the functionality was undeniably well thought out and executed; it’s just a matter of personal preference when it comes to playing with it. Short of the fact that there are more DLC courses on the disc than free ones, and the level of ugly presented by the fans, there isn’t a whole lot to gripe about here. The gameplay is solid, as always. The Masters adds a whole new layer of incentive to the already self-sustaining series. The caddy and course mastery are great both great tools for beginners and experts alike to improve their game. And the presentation is, yet again, top notch. If it’s been a while since you’ve picked up a digital club or if you’re a Tiger Woods faithful, PGA Tour 12 is a great buy.
Rating: 4.5/5 Written by lpfisher To rate, comment or view this article on site follow the link below. http://thegamershub.net/2011/03/tiger-woods-pga-tour-12-review/
Music-based puzzler Chime achieved a good deal of success on PC via Steam; particularly during their Summer Scavenger Hunt sales last year. A year later, we’ve got Chime Super Deluxe on PSN: A spiffy new version that includes some new tracks and multiplayer modes. All signs point to this being the definitive version of the game, but is that the case? The concept is fairly basic in that your goal is to build quads from the standard array of Tetris blocks. After your initial quad is formed, you must cover one side of it with more blocks to expand it. Bigger quads earn more points, more quads earn more points, both earn higher multiplayers, etc… After you fail to expand the quad in time (and you will fail), the spaces fades into the background allowing you to build there once more. Every time you build a quad, you leave an imprint on the board that adds to your coverage percentage. Finally, unused pieces will eventually blink out and eliminate your multiplier. While all of this is going on, there is a constantly running beatline that dictates the timing of the game. Rather than levels, you pick a song to play along with; and each song is set to a unique shaped game space with different corners, borders, cut-outs, etc… Much like other rhythm/puzzle games, the placement of blocks affects the song directly; different pitches are added in time. When I say the beatline dictates the timing of the game, I mean that multipliers and quads don’t fade out of existence until the beatline crosses them. This gives you a relative frame of time to save your score. All of this, is a pretty good time. Rotating and placing blocks to keep your quads alive is fast and frantic which is contrasted against the usually chill soundtrack. The music is almost always relaxing and it creates a very peaceful atmosphere, then the gameplay shatters that which is. Despite how it may sound, this is a great feeling. It’s similar to classical music in a horror movie; the relaxing music increases the tension. In Super Deluxe, they’ve added a multiplayer mode. Essentially, multiplayer is no different from single player other than allowing you to share the addiction with your friends…like sharing needles, but safer. The cooperative mode lets you and 3 friends quad it up together for a high score which is fun, but no more fun that single player. The gem, for me, was in competitive mode. Completing levels can be hard enough solo, but fighting other players for territory can be a real challenge if your competition knows what they’re doing. The ability to steal your opponents coverage adds a new layer of depth to the single player gameplay. Downside? There’s no online function. As with other downloadable titles of a similar puzzle solving caliber, the lack of online multiplayer is a disappointment. I love the game, but I want to be able to play more of it. I don’t know why exactly it wasn’t included, but it’s nothing but a missed opportunity. On the whole, Chime is a lot of fun; I love it on Steam, and it’s just as addicting, if not more so, on PS3. The addition of multiplayer, albeit offline only, is a great change, and the new songs add a good amount of content. So to answer my previous question: Yes, Chime Super Deluxe is, without a doubt, THE version of Chime to buy. Rating: 4.5/5 Written by lpfisher To rate, comment or view this article on site follow the link below. http://thegamershub.net/2011/04/chime-super-deluxe-review/
Anyone who has previously played through rail shooter Dead Space: Extraction on either Wii or PS3 will already be familiar with the plight of Gabe Weller and his spouse Lexine Murdoch. The pair encountered a horrific experience on the Ishimura on a par with those experienced by Isaac Clarke. It seems as though they’re troubles have followed them on the Sprawl, but is this couple worth saving? Or are they destined to die? let’s find out! Story: Severed puts players in the suit of Gabe Weller, a security officer who is on the Sprawl during the events of Dead Space 2. The DLC starts off with Gabe in what appears to be a set of mines that run the length of the Sprawl as he awakens in the necromorph nightmare, taking place three years after the events of Dead Space: Extraction. Gabe attempts to contact his wife, Lexine, in order for the both of them to escape the outbreak safely. During the two-chapter add-on players find out that Lexine is actually a primary target in a series of experiments taking place on the Sprawl, just as Isaac Clarke was. Her death is ordered by the Station Director, Hans Tiedemann, and Gabe sets off to rescue her before it’s too late. I personally really enjoyed the story for Severed, although much of it felt crammed in to fit the two chapter limit, it helped to keep the game feeling fast paced and the great voice acting help to deliver the sense of dread and fear from Gabe Weller.
Gameplay: Overall, Severed plays out the same as Dead space 2. the initial gameplay mechanics remain intact and the overall experience is the same as Dead Space 2. This of course is not a bad thing by any means, the core elements of Dead Space 2 are what made Severed such a fun DLC to play. From the un-nerving sounds of the Necromorphs, to the frantic, heart stopping action as you fight for your life against this new breed of horror. If you enjoyed the gameplay of Dead Space 2, there is no reason why you wouldn’t enjoy Severed. Every weapon is pretty much available to you to purchase from the store from the get-go, along with 50,000 credits. This may cause people to think that this DLC is too easy since you pretty much have everything unlocked from the start. But I think that it works perfectly since Severed will take you roughly two hours to finish, depending on what difficulty setting you play on. I have two issues with Severed, both of which tie into the length of the DLC. The first issue of course being the length of Severed. With my first playthrough being on Survivalist difficulty, Severed took me 1:39:46 to finish. Although the DLC only costs 560 MS Points on Xbox LIVE and £5.49 on Playstation Network, it felt like it could have been just a little longer. My last issue with Severed is the story. It felt like there were a few things missing from it, like there was a chapter that was removed. Because of this, the story for the Severed DLC felt rushed.
The Verdict: Overall, i found Severed to be a great entry into the first of many DLC expansions for Dead Space 2…. Hopefully. While I do feel that Severed was rather short, and that there was a few tings missing from the story, making it feel rushed, it was still a lot of fun to play and anyone who enjoyed Dead Space 2 should definitely purchase Severed. Rating: 4/5 Written by Joe Tyler To rate, comment or view this article on site follow the link below. http://thegamershub.net/2011/03/dead-space-2-severed-dlc-review/
The famed publishers of the Dynasty Warriors series Koei has brought a new spin on the action hack & slash genre that made the company world famous. Instead of having Omega Force, who develops the majority of their Dynasty Warriors titles they pushed the development over to Koei Canada for a title based on the ten year Trojan Wars against the Greeks and is loosely based on the Illiad. Can this title live up to the legend of the wars and Troy itself or does it simply act as a Trojan horse for a bad game? Swords & Spears The story as mentioned is based off of the Illiad, an epic poem set during the Trojan War, a ten year war consisting of many famous warriors of Greece and Troy alike. The presentation is great with paintings and artwork of the period shown during loading screens and during some cutscenes. The real story plays out in the full CGI cutscenes that are fairly pleasing to look at but nothing groundbreaking. Throughout the story which is presented to you in chapter format, you will be able to play as one of the many warriors from Greek and Trojan legend. There are roughly six in total ranging from Hektor, Penthesilea, and Paris of Troy to Odysseus, Ajax, and the most famous Greek, Achilles. Each tell the story from their perspective for the chaptersthat they are in and each have different finishing moves as well as weapons. Fight Like The Rest Of Them The combat system is very fluid but in trade for the ease of use, the development team decided to make every character play the exact same no matter the weapon or anything. They all have the same basic fighting style and you kill people all the same in a sweet stylized serenade of blood. However this is all in trade again for a completely repetitive fight system that has square as your quick attack, triangle as your focused(see: strong) attack, X as your stun which either throws the person aloof or staggers them and has a giant triangle pop up where you can do a finisher, and circle which you will only use to initiate your fury gauge which has everything go in slow motion and causes your attacks to become stronger and give off a lot more blood than they should, all in the name of historical accuracy. Every character has some form of shield and you can hit R1 to block and time it right with attacks can leave opponents flailing for their life and open for a parry move. This is especially helpful against bosses as well as the dodge-roll ability by tapping the R2 trigger especially used in tandem with L1 to lock onto your target. Tapping the L2 trigger lets you pick up weapons that are dropped by your fallen enemies, this can range from spears, to all sorts of swords and is only really in handy if you want to throw it at a fleeing enemy or you want to pick up a spear and take out a group around you easier. The game essentially boils down to a button smashing brawl with the controller and the AI that sometimes doesn’t have a lot up there but can be insanely unforgiving on harder difficulties.
Beyond The Story Beyond the single player story mode the game has coins you collect by getting higher combos or killing streaks and this with weapons, this goes as long as you keep killing and attacking as long as you don’t get hit first and it acts as your money (Kleos) as well. You get bonuses for completing secondary objectives and multiplier end of chapter bonus for your difficulty. The money can be used to outfit your character with various trinkets that fit in their bag, which starts off as a small item grid but can be upgraded to larger sizes and filled with various gems and rings to raise your attributes such as attack and health as well as unlock new combos. There are also hidden Kleos around the chapters. At set times during the story you will unlock Challenges that you can participate in, for instance two are Bloodlust where your health is constantly depleting and you must defeat enemies and gain Kleos to regain health and survive as long as possible. Then there is Arena where you join in one on one battle with your selected warrior in battle to the death , only able to regain a small amount of health. Tactics and approach are important as far as knowing when to dodge and counter. Each of the challenges also has criteria to meet for additional unlockables like artwork and the like.
Simply, A Dull Blade Warriors: Legends Of Troy started out with a lot of potential with a great story based on an even greater piece of literature and a time period that just begs to be amazing. In the end we are left with a title that has some great graphical moments, a decent but far from compelling narrative that is torn to pieces by some pretty bad voice acting. An extremely repetitive combat system and the lack of an online arena type mode. The content is there though with more than twelve chapters and multiple challenge arenas and difficulties. The presentation for the most part is great but they left out key elements that would have really made this game pop. It is very hard to warrant a purchase especially with Dynasty Warriors 7 around the corner. Sadly this title is a rental at best but hopefully Koei will not give up hope on a title of this nature as the time period is an inspiring one.
Rating: 2.5/5 Written by AnthonyD To rate, comment or view this article on site follow the link below. http://thegamershub.net/2011/03/warriors-legends-of-troy-review/
Ghostbusters may be a fantastic movie series, but it has never really made the transition to critical success in the video game world. In the years since the two movies, the last major attempt to resurrect the brand had players take the role of a single new recruit and managed to do fairly well but it was nothing special and definitely not enough to put the name back on the map. This time Atari got some help from Behaviour Interactive, creators of both Naughty Bear and Wet, to create a downloadable title featuring a whole new group of characters for a new story and enticing four player co-op. Does the title lay the trap and catch its audience or does it inadvertently cross streams?
Sanctum of Slime puts you and up to three friends (if you happen to have friends) in the boots of some new Ghostbusters recruits. Venkman, Stantz, and Spengler (the series’ original cast) have decided that they need some help with the city’s recent burst in paranormal activity so they send their new crew of four out to investigate the source of the disturbance. Behaviour Interactive has done a great job of recreating the movies’ style and humor. The dialogue present throughout the game is hilarious and the new characters really do feel natural in the universe.
There are four environments in the game: The Hotel, Asylum, Sewer, and Graveyard. These four are cycled twice with different paths taken each times as well as new enemies and bosses. It really seems like a cheap way to extend the game’s length. In the grand scheme of things it makes sense as everything ends where it began, but I can’t shake the feeling that a little bit of restructuring could have greatly changed the game.
The gameplay centers on the characters’ weapons. They start with the standard red Proton Stream seen in the movies, then are given a yellow shotgun style beam, and a blue rifle-ish one. Each beam color corresponds to an enemy color. The real challenge in the game is in managing your weapon type to do maximum damage. It seems simple enough, and it’s nothing that hasn’t been done before, but in the heat of battle with hordes of each color crawling down your proton pack, it can feel like you’re fighting a losing battle but it never stops being fun.
The online co-op consists of the game’s single player campaign sans the story elements. At first I was a little put off by the lack of new content online, but by the end of the campaign I was pretty impressed. They’ve managed to create a different experience without doing anything different. In single player, the levels are punctuated with story sequences that pace the game. Online though, there are no story elements and it is transformed into a marathon session of occasionally brutal proportions. Seriously, at times I was ready to chuck my controller. But, at one of these times, I encountered what is easily the best glitch I’ve ever seen. While playing online with our own Anthony D, I essentially entered a sort of god mode where I couldn’t take damage or see enemies, but I could revive teammates and do damage. This glitch got us through a level. Normally, I’m not a fan of glitches but this was a pretty welcome one and after we changed levels it never happened again.
Sanctum of Slime is really a good game. Sure it has its short comings and some seriously annoying design decisions, but it’s a lot of fun. The Co-op is a blast (if you play with the right people) and the boss design is often some of the best I’ve seen (yet laughable at the same time). Ghostbusters fans have absolutely no reason to skip this one, but I don’t know that I can recommend it to those who aren’t accustomed to the series.
Rating: 3.5/5 Written by lpfisher To rate, comment or view this article on site follow the link below. http://thegamershub.net/2011/03/ghostbusters-sanctum-of-slime-review-get-slimed/
Pokemon creator Satoshi Tajiri is alive! With the devastating news of the earthquake and tsunami hitting Japan in the past two days, rumors have popped up on the internet that Satoshi Tajiri, who is the creator of Pokemon, was killed in the quake. Reports of him passing away first hit the internet via twitter and facebook, with one user tweeting:
The creator of Pokemon died today in the #tsunami, #Japan. RIP: Satoshi Tajiri. #prayforjapan This is supposedly the tweet that is fueling the rumors but since all the different stories have hit the web Nintendo have denied the story with an official tweet being sent out on their twitter page saying: During the earthquake, no one at Nintendo in Japan was injured and there was no apparent structural damage. I for one am very glad to hear this news, when I heard the rumor I imedietly tried to find an official source to either confirm or denie the reports of his death and I am glad it was not true because his death would have been a great loss to the video games industry.
Written by dylan365v To rate, comment or view this article on site follow the link below. http://thegamershub.net/2011/03/pokemon-creatorsatoshi-tajiri-is-alive/
Microsoft recently announced the price of Kinect and a 4GB model of their popular new Xbox (slim) model. The model itself is very sleek looking like its big brother counterpart but why such the small internal hard drive? So again I ask, why would Microsoft choose such a small internal memory where every good downloadable title is about a half a gig (500+ MB). For Casuals Maybe they are doing it for the casual audience, but even the casual audience will need more than 4 gigs if they have a few downloadable Kinect titles (it’s bound to happen) and a few disc based Kinect games and maybe one or two hardcore games thrown in like Halo Reach or Gears 3. It will force the gamer to go out and buy another one or look for an external solution to the problem. Maybe they are trying to put a console on every TV. A 4GB model would be great for your bedroom or casual living room, while you have a main 120/250 for hardcore gaming elsewhere. That sounds plausible but how many families can afford that in this economy? For Gain Simply put, they are in the business to make money. $199 USD for a 4GB model is pretty bad in my opinion. The fact there is a HDD ability is great but there is no official Hard drive released or announced by Microsoft. Yet it seems to be having great sales so far. I think Microsoft is preparing themselves to make even more money in the future by putting this console out for $199. I believe they will announce an Official Microsoft Hard-Drive internal or external. They could go two ways, the safe bet of 250 GB HDD or go for the big profit and do a 300+ or even the Terrabyte which would annihilate the competition. Does Microsoft have it up their sleeves to do so? Yes. As for why‌ To Prolong The LifeSpan Of The 360 They would simply go through all this trouble just to prolong the life of the 360. Of course, why not? Why introduce another system when EVERY time they release a new system SKU it sells like hotcakes. Lets remember they just announced a SKU roughly a month ago..and already they announce another one, just to mess with consumers. RAGE looks amazing, we can all agree to this. However, the power it is getting out of the 360 looks tapped. Gears 3 looks like Gears 2 with women, Halo Reach so far looks like Halo 3.5. RAGE is the only great thing coming to their console that is eyepopping. However must we forget it is multiplatform? It will be interesting to see the comparison screens/video to that.
Think Before You Buy So in the end, think about why you want to purchase a 4GB Xbox before you go ahead and do so. Just be prepared to purchase a HDD in the fu ture. If you want Kinect, its cheaper to go alone than the holiday bundle. As for the additionall HDD, we shall see when and if that comes to fruition. They key of that is the price. Written by AnthonyD To rate, comment or view this article on site follow the link below. http://thegamershub.net/2010/07/xbox-360-4gb-why/
Crysis 2 PS3 Demo Going Offline
EA has just announced that it will be pulling the plug on the currently live Crysis 2 demo on PSN:“Thank you for your interest in the PlayStation 3 version of the Crysis 2 multiplayer demo. Though many gamers have had a great experience playing the demo, we are aware that others have been experiencing server connection delays. We’ve identified the root cause and have decided to close the PS3 demo in the next 24 hours to ensure all issues are resolved when the game launches next week. Our priority is to ensure that the final product is flawless at launch.”
Written by lpfisher To rate, comment or view this article on site follow the link below. http://thegamershub.net/2011/03/crysis-2-ps3-demo-going-offline/
Y On the weekend just gone, one of the Playstation consoles in the house seemed to have a problem, the so called ‘Yellow light of death’. Luckily for me it was not my console, but my brothers. It was his fat 40GB. Now we thought about sending it off or finding the receipt to get it repaired or a refurbished version. However, I could not find the receipt and after research I found Playstation charge a little beyond reasonable to get a repair compared to doing it yourself. So, using the trustworthy source called the internet, I looked at methods on how to fix the Ps3. One of the ways was blowing a hair dryer through the fans? To me that seemed a little stupid, so I ignored it and looked for other ways. I settled on taking the Ps3 apart, cleaning the dust off and putting it back together.. hoping this would be the issue. But it wasn’t. I had a look at what else could be done, which lead to me buying thermal paste that was needed to be applied to the CPU and GPU. The paste cost £9.99 and had silver mixed in with the paste, as I am guessing silver must conduct heat better. Before applying the new thermal paste, I had to carefully scrape off the old stuff, from the heat sink and the top of the processors. Of course, before doing that I had to take apart the Ps3. Out of doing this i would say the hardest bit is the first screw, due to you needing a Torx security screw driver which I didn’t have laying around the house. I eventually got one though and started taking the insides apart, which needed a normal cross headed screw driver. Back to applying the thermal paste Now before I could lay it on, I had to get Acetone (Nail varnish remover) and a lint free cloth, where I then wiped the processor tops and the heat sink to ensure the old thermal paste was removed. A lint free cloth can be found in someones glasses case, and nail varnish remover probably in your mums or sisters perfume draw, well unless you yourself turn that way.. After doing this, I then had to get a heat gun and melt the solder on the processors as it ‘apparently’ fixes the small cracks that could be there due to the system overheating. So for a few minutes I was blasting the Playstation with the heat gun, hoping it wasn’t going to destroy the system. I then left it for about 30minutes for it to cool down and set. I could now apply the thermal paste and made sure it was an even thin lay across the processors and also on the heat sink. By this point I was sure it probably wasn’t going to work, and now had to re-assemble the system. A good few minutes later I had put it all back, with a screw or two spare.. I have no idea where they came from. The moment of truth came where I switched it on and guess what.. It worked! It cost me £9.99 to fix the playstation and an hour or two of my time. It was broken saturday and fixed sunday, much more efficient then sending it to be repaired anywhere.. including Sony. After taking the playstation apart, the cost of the console has dropped a little for me. Now I am not being cocky but now that I think about it, its relatively easy to do, though takes time. Seems to me like a bit of a con if you pay someone more then £20 to do it as all it really takes is time. Also I did not release how easily the hard-drive could be changed? It just a slot on the side of the system! So he wants to upgrade the hard-drive now. Something to bare in mind though, I am not sure if this will be a permanent fix or a short lived fix. My brother will soon find out. Written by Dan To rate, comment or view this article on site follow the link below. http://thegamershub.net/2011/03/fixing-the-ylod/
We’ve just gotten word that SCEA has created a new division: Sony Network Entertainment America. This new branch will assumedly be handling all network related functions, including all account info. Just a heads up, they’re transfering your account info, wallet, and billing information assuming you agree to the new TOS Version 9
On April 1, 2011, Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC (“SCEA”) will transfer its online services operations, including your wallet and the funds in it, to Sony Network Entertainment America Inc. (“SNEA”). The first time you sign in to your Sony Online Services account on or after April 1, you will be asked to enter into a new Terms of Service and User Agreement with SNEA. If you do not wish to enter into a contract with SNEA, you may decline the terms of service and we will close your account(s) and return your funds. You can preview the new Terms of Service and User Agreement with SNEA at: http://playstation.innovyx.net/r?xncJcvvEcWlHHqEHWHTPJcvTlJv
PlayStation(R)Network will continue to provide you with the highest standard of interactive entertainment. Your access to the best games, movies, TV shows, music and friends will remain intact. Thank you very much for being part
Written by lpfisher To rate, comment or view this article on site follow the link below. http://thegamershub.net/2011/03/sony-transfers-psn-account-info-to-snea-new-network-division/
Mass Effect Arrival the upcoming DLC for the highly successful game Mass Effect 2 from Bioware has been teased all week on various sites. The DLC has a March 29th release date and some details have been released for the DLC. Arrival tasks Commander Shepard with traveling to the edge of the galaxy in order to recover an important asset – an operative that has information on the imminent Reaper invasion. “All year, we have been extremely honored and humbled by the reception we have received for Mass Effect 2 from players around the world, including our post release DLC”, said Casey Hudson, executive producer of the Mass Effect series. “Mass Effect: Arrival is an exciting extension to Mass Effect 2 and will show players just how close the Reapers are to returning and completing their deadly harvest.” The DLC is the last DLC for Mass Effect 2 and will be available for 560 Microsoft points on Xbox 360 or $6.99 on the Playstation 3. The downloadable pack also features 3 new acheivements/trophies. Source: Game Informer
Sony Ericsson’s ‘Playstation Phone’ Xperia Play finally launches in the UK tomorrow – but only one of the four major mobile operators will be stocking it. This morning Vodafone confirmed that stock problems meant that it would not be able to offer the handset as planned tomorrow morning. O2 had confirmed the same last week, though it blamed unspecific software bugs for the decision. “We can confirm that Orange will be offering the Xperia Play from tomorrow,” a spokesperson for Everything Everywhere, the company born last year out of the merger of Orange and T-Mobile, told VG247. Rival network 3 has also confirmed to the site that it has delayed the launch until next week because of stock problems. Sony Ericsson this morning confirmed that tomorrow remained the target launch date, though it did admit that it had “experienced a freight issue that may impact the number of Xperia Plays arriving at some retail outlets”.
O2 will be the only mobile provider offering a white version of Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Play when the handset launches in the UK. The firm said on Twitter: “Great news: not only will we be selling Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, we’ll have an exclusive white version.” The phone is expected to launch in the US in March before hitting the UK in April. It’ll be on network providers Orange – T-Mobile and Vodafone which will also be stocking the handset on this side of the pond. The price was rumored around the interweb for about £400, still not confirmed, mind.
The TV itself, and pricing. I have recently had a go on a Samsung UE46C7000 3D LED TV to experience 3D vision, in both television and gaming. I think the TV is middle range in the market and more towards the high end with the experience I had- it seems well worth the price. The television itself is very slick looking, which I suppose you would expect with such a hefty price mark of around £3500 – £4000. It has touch sensitive buttons and a well made remote, with an easy-to-use interface for switching on 3D or 2D. You also get 1 pair of 3D glasses inclusive with the price, which retail at around £50£60 each. The thing I have realised is that 3D glasses have not been standardised which I guess is annoying as you are bound to buy the Tele’s brand of glasses, meaning there is little or no choice of variation and you have to accept the price, which change from each brand. Samsung sell some from around £50 – £60 compared to Panasonic which sell for £100. Certainly quite a difference if you are going to buy a few pairs for everyone in the family. The Samsung glasses used with the TV I had been watching were more comfortable then I thought, and surprisingly light compared to others. They run on one small battery and turns on by the press of a button on the frame of the glasses. They also have a nice feature of turning off when you close and put the glasses down, which saves the battery incase you forget to switch them off. For me there wouldn’t be anything more annoying then accidentally running the battery dead, and then going to use them and finding out you can’t. 3D TV Now before I went into 3D gaming, I decided to have a look at Sky 3D and watch a few films. Sky 3D was, for me, a fantastic experience and watched Toy story and Fast and Furious so I could try and see how much of a difference there was from animation films to what you would call ‘real-type’ films. From what I could see, Toy Story kept a much more constant feel of keeping it 3D meaning the experience was overall much better. I guess this would be most likely as its easier (I’m guessing) for an animation to be rendered into 3D as its all computerised anyway. Fast and Furious was still however a nice experience, but I think it doesn’t add anything impressive when watching the film and could be fine with just HD. Then again, I guess some people might argue that point on everything 3D saying its not needed, which I guess it isn’t. 3D Films Now to watch 3D films you need a 3D Blu-ray player or a Ps3. The 3D Blu-ray players I think start from about just over the £100 mark, and the Ps3 is around the £200 mark. I used the Ps3 to watch a couple of 3D Blu-rays, the first to be a documentary called WildOcean, and the second to be Alice and Wonderland. Now comparing them both, it appeared to me that he quality of video was not that good in WildOcean compared to the big title Alice and Wonderland, so thats certainly a key point that effects the feel of it and how good the 3D experience is. I think personally comparing it to the cinema, its still a great experience, if not better as you are watching them on a TV and not from a projector that isn’t quite as crisp. However the screen size is obviously something that helps, but the 46″ Samsung seemed to do a brilliant job. I was hoping to watch Avatar in 3D on the TV, as it was one of the best 3D experiences I have had at the cinema and wanted to see if it still gave the same feel when watching it on a 3D TV.
3D Games Onto 3D gaming, something I was keen to see and play. Something I was not aware of was, turning non-3D games into 3D which I tend to call ‘false 3D’ compared to Gran Turismo 5 which has been made to support 3D gaming, which should mean it gives a much more 3D effect compared to the ‘false 3D’. I started with the game Call of Duty Black ops, which I am sure most of you are familiar with. The first thing I noticed was how much more I started to enjoy the experience, whether this would keep through time I am not too sure. It certainly felt much more immersive with the different types of focus and the depth it gave when playing the game, though i’m not sure if it enhances your ability to play the game better as I was still rather bad. Gran Turismo was the next game I played, but after playing Black ops, the 3D seemed to lack. Going through the menus felt nice and obviously it was crisp and clear, but the feeling of being immersed in the 3D experience was no where close. The only time you see the 3D effects is when obstacles or other races go past you, but if your out in front, then it doesn’t really keep any constant feel of 3D.
The last game I played was Shaun White, which used the ‘false 3D’ capability. I found out it was extremely effective and definitely makes it immersive, better the what GT5 seemed to have given. I think the reason for that is whilst snow-boarding, you have trees, hills and obstacles coming at you all the time, meaning your focusing a lot harder and recognising the 3D especially when doing jumps and falling off. So overall from these three games I think the 3D is most effective on Shaun White, due to the fast moving pace and obstacles in the game.
Overall 3D From this experience it has definitely made me realise the fun that 3D brings into both gaming and films, though I think its more effective in films compared to games. I think this because in games you focus, play and usually achieve objectives. The 3D is just there, because you can do it. It does add fun, but in films (depending on the quality) I think it immerses you more as your only focusing on the picture, which is what turns 3D. They both give a good experience, but I don’t think it is a necessity. If I was rich of course, I would have it as it makes things a lot more fun. I certainly think Xbox need to snap up a gear technology wise to be made 3D capable People say it hurts your eyes if you use it for too long, however I felt that it hurt your eyes to begin with when you first put them on, as your not use to it. I had them on for about 3 hours, taking them off for about 5minutes in between. Though I suppose we are all different. It made me wonder how the 3DS was going to work as there is no need for glasses, and personally I think thats more likely to hurt your eyes, rather then 3D TV’s. Anyway, I just thought I would share my views with you guys and ask you what your thoughts are on it? Maybe if you think one day everyone will have a 3D TV in their house, or whether it will just be left behind T when a new technology is created.. maybe like holograms? Yeh I know thats probably a thought too soon.
Written by Dan To rate, comment or view this article on site follow the link below. http://thegamershub.net/2011/03/3d-televisions-gaming/
Tritton AX Pro Headset Review
The Tritton AX Pro is an elite gaming headset from global accessories giant MadCatz. The technology behind the product is simple, smack four speakers into each of your ears for a total of eight and hope the gamer doesn’t go deaf. The speakers make for an authentic surround experience as each represents a section, front, left, right and back speaker for a complete surrounding experience. Does the experience live up to the hype or does it leave a faint whisper in your ear? Mic Check The Tritton AX Pro headset is a big mother. It comes in a neatly packaged box that when you take it all out really requires you to go through it to make sure you don’t end up throwing anything away. Below the review is a list of what is included out of the box. The great thing about Tritton is that they know that stuff just happens sometimes or maybe a piece is missing. You can either call or just simply go online to their official website and order replacement parts from there. It is rather hassle free and easy compared to other headsets that you buy and break easily for the PS3 or the Xbox 360. I myself have gone through two different headsets on the PS3 alone. They break, they wear or simply you have bad luck and maybe your daughter chews on it and gnaws a hunk off or the piece that hooks around your ear breaks off and you create a makeshift one out of a metal hanger, yep I did that. The headset comes with a detachable microphone piece for easy storage and multiple attachments to hook up to your 360, PS3, PC, directly to your TV or even, your iPod. I was simply amazed when I hooked it into my iTouch and listened to the smoothest music I have ever heard. The AX Pro is not your ordinary ‘headset’ it also doubles as what I would call a hub for audio nuts or connoisseurs. The included decoder box allows you to customize your sound in a few ways for the technical out there, it allows you to compensate for audio lag, manage Dynamic Range Control and choose between Pro Logic or Dolby 5.1 surround. What makes the AX Pro amazing is that in the speakers there are four sets of speakers, two for Front, Rear, Subwoofers and Center speakers which creates a full surround experience for the user unlike anything I have seen in any headset.
Gaming Hardcore The primary use that a lot of people will purchase this headset for is for gaming. The microphone is a bendable plastic material and on several forums there is mention of it dying six months to a year into its life out of box. I have only had the headset for roughly two weeks so I cannot account for what may or may not happen. Maybe that is why they decided to make the microphone detachable and replaceable online. Once everything is hooked up to your PS3 or Xbox 360 (requires newer models for game audio due to lack of an optical port in the back) or PC and you have changed your settings to account for the new sound system you are ready to play. I tried this title out on a few games Marvel VS Capcom 3 was the first. It had great sound on the low setting for the headset and the microphone was great, but there will always be connection issues in a game like MVC3. For ambiance the second title I tested it out on was MLB 11: The Show. The sound in the ballparks echoed and while up at bat you could hear every subtle sound of the stadium from the crows to faint conversations and as I stood there in awe as a pitch blew by me, I could hear the whoosh of the pitch into the catcher’s mitt. The game itself is very detailed but the headset just made everything ‘pop’. The final title I tested the headset on was none other than Call of Duty: Black Ops. I couldn’t think of a better way to test out the game audio and the microphone audio at the same time. The microphones were clear as expected but the thing that caught me was the subtleties of sounds you would hear. If you played on the map ‘Dust’ or stood still long enough you could hear the wind blowing, something that is just relaxing to hear in game sometimes. One major thing that really blew my mind was on ‘Nuketown’ next to one of the houses is a sprinkler on an inaccessible side of the fence. If you stand by the fence you will hear the sprinkler in front of you and as you rotate your character the sprinkler will rotate around you as well and combined with the surround sound headset it truly shows the capabilities of the true 5.1 surround sound in the headphones. You can hear the sprinkler behind you. The headset is equipped with independent game and voice volume controls, what this mean is when you are in game you can turn up either one or the other or completely drown one out. There are also buttons on the In-Line Controller that allow you to raise each of the four speaker sets separately on five different levels and around four to five sub levels in between each main level ranging from minimum, low, medium, high or max.
Entertainment Headphones Earlier I mentioned that I loved the ability to hook up my iPod Touch to the headset and it was a great experience. I also experimented with various other mediums like Netflix streaming which came out quite well with the sound at MAX I could easily sit the headset on the coffee table and watch Netflix with everyone in the room being able to hear. The quality of sound is impeccable, especially when it comes to Blu-Rays. I watched Resident Evil: Apocalypse and scenes from Beauty & The Beast on Blu-Ray and the sound was quite good, the only problem I had was that I had to into the options and set the audio to PCM, but it is only a minor annoyance as the headsets pick up the most minuet sound such as characters walking or even bullet shells hitting the ground. These are headsets so if you live alone or live with anyone who doesn’t want to watch TV or play games or listen to them this is perfect for that situation, it is also good if you simply just want to listen to music. There is a slight amount of leaking of sound from the headphones especially if you use the default ears that are included, I recommend switching them off with the leather ones that are also packed in to reduce the sound leak as well as trap in the sound for your own pleasure.
Can You Hear Me Now? Yes, with this headset you can hear just about anyone. It is the most versatile headset I have ever had the pleasure of using. The ability to hook it into many devices and deliver the most amazing sound that I have simply ever heard is great. If you love sound, love gaming, love hearing the best audio in games or even if you just want to hear that guy coming at you in Call of Duty from a mile away (you can hear someone planting a claymore from quite a significant distance) than this is for you. Just as long as you don’t mind a little clutter around your gaming/entertainment area as it has a lot of cords connected to it sadly. However it is understandable as wireless doesn’t always give the best quality and the plug is to power not only the headset but the decoder box as well. Everything that is offered is worth significantly more than what the price of the headset is going for considering other headsets by other companies are more than twice the price of the AX Pro. The proof is in the sound, simply pure, amazing sound. If you buy one headset for your gaming needs the AX Pro is the one to get.
Whats in the box, and for how much? AX Pro Headset In-Line Volume Control w/ Breakaway & Braided Cabling Removable, Flexible Microphone Decoder Box Xbox Live Communications Cable Optical Cable USB Cable Analog Adapter (Color Coded Inputs) Extra Earpad & Headrail w/ Cap Removal Tool MSRP: $169.99 (Approx £105) Rating 5/5 Written by AnthonyD To rate, comment or view this article on site follow the link below. http://thegamershub.net/2011/03/ax_proreview/
Reports are flooding in about the 3DS’s BSOD. Posts on NeoGaf, AVForums, and DigitalSpy are reporting instances of the a “black screen of death” error requiring a hard reset of the system. Super Monkey Ball, Street Fighter IV 3D, Pilotwings, Ghost Recon, Lego Star Wars, and Mii applications have all been mentioned in connection to the error. Some users have found the issue is resolved by the reset suggested on-screen, while others have reformatted their SD cards to FAT-32 format and eliminated the problem. Others have had more ongoing crashes which has resulted in them getting a replacement. Go Nintendo. Written by Ryan.p To rate, comment or view this article on site follow the link below. http://thegamershub.net/2011/03/3ds-%E2%80%9Cblack-screen-ofdeath%E2%80%9D-appearing/
Coming Soon
When is the next issue of TheGamersHub Magazine? The next issue of TGH magazine will be released 9th May 2011. This will be our second edition of the magazine and hopefully with all the feedback we recieve from you, it will be improved and we should then get a feel of what our audience would like to read. As TheGamersHub Magazine is a new introduction for the site, please bare in mind we are still getting on our feet with it. If there is anything you would like to see appearing in this magazine or just want to give us feedback please email Dan at: dan.h@thegamershub.net For advertising in the magazine please contact Henry at: henry.m@thegamershub.net