On Gear Live: Samsung S95C: The OLED TV You Can’t Afford (to Ignore!)

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Da Vinci CodeFor all you Da Vinci fans out there, here’s a reason to smile - well, maybe. This spring, a Da Vinci Code video game will be released. The big question is whether the game will be any good. We’re skeptical only because of how poorly games based on movies/books usually turn out. This game’s being developed by The Collective - the guys who made Indiana Jones & The Emperor’s Tomb and Ecko’s Getting Up: Content Under Pressure. At any rate, we’ll keep our eyes peeled for this one, although we’re not expecting much.


Read More | Kikizo


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Yeah, you read that right. The developer Super Fighting Team is going to release Beggar Prince, a new RPG, for Sega’s old machine this spring!

Beggar Prince tells the story of Steven, a bored prince who decides to escape his castle dressed as a beggar to experience life among the commoners. Of course with the prince gone the evil Minister usurps control of the throne and now Steven is barred from re-entering his own castle. Thus begins Steven’s adventure of who must prove his identity and retake the throne.

The game sounds worth a look, but unfortunately it’s going to retail for $46. Yowzers!


Read More | Gaming Steve


King Kong Environment

Played the new King Kong game? It’s surprisingly good, even if it’s a little bit on the shorter side.

Considering that games based on movies usually don’t turn out this good, it’s interesting to take a look inside Ubisoft and see what made the game’s development special. GameDaily recently posted an interview with some members of the Kong development team that’s definitely worth checking out. In fact, here’s a Q&A excerpt:

BIZ: Obviously creating the official game for the movie is a huge undertaking. What steps were needed to ensure that production stayed on course?

Xavier: The main challenge is to work in parallel with a movie and a universe that is created as you are developing the game. You have to anticipate, to wait for assets to be delivered, and make sure you validate on a regular basis the different choices you make to make sure you are on the right track… while making sure everything still fits in your planning.

Peter J made us feel comfortable because he really did not want the game to be a simple adaptation of the movie but he sees the game as a sister or a brother to the movie and an expansion to his universe. That means he accepted (and was suggesting) differences between the movie and the game in order to meet our constraints and make the best game possible. We also worked with Philippa Boyens (co scenarist) to make sure we were respecting characters and tone.

You need a lot of exchanges, and we were lucky to go to New Zealand five times to breathe some of Kong’s air!

Five times to New Zealand?? If only we were so lucky…but then again, we could just boot up a copy of the game and find ourselves in a remote jungle without having to sit on a plane for hours on end.


Read More | GameDaily


Latest Gear Live Videos

Kameo Elements of Power

Kameo: Elements of Power is one of the first party launch titles available on the Xbox 360, courtesy of Rare. This is the one that has been in development since the Nintendo 64 days, so we were expecting excellent presentation and gameplay. The opening cinematic alone was visually breathtaking.

The beginning of the game explains that Kameo’f family is being held hostage at the top of the castle, as the elves and trolls are now at battle. You need to morph into different life forms in order to make it there to save them, and the game shows you the strengths of each form Kameo can take on. To make it through the first level, Thorn’s Castle, you are required to use the three different elemental warriors to get through the different situations layed out before you.

Floating hints guide you through the level, showing you new ways to use the powers that are at your disposal. We took about thirty minutes to get through the level, as we neglected to read a few of the hints. When we finally made it to the first boss fight, the game was intuitive enough that we had him down within two minutes. Unfortunately, it was all a teaser to whet your appetite! At the end of the level, Kameo loses all of her elemental warrior powers, and begins her journey to regain those powers, along with saving her family.

As a side note, this game is absolutely gorgeous. We loved how spider blood splashed onto the screen whenever we killed one.

After regaining one of the elemental warriors, Kameo is sent to rescue Halis. In this stage, you get a great look at just what the Xbox 360 can do, as hundreds of trolls appear on screen, with Kameo and a newfound friend running them down on their horses. If you remember the 128 Marios demonstration that was used a few years ago, it is similar to that, but amped up many levels. Seeing that many characters onscreen was a joy.


Ultimate Spider-Man

Ultimate Spider-Man has been out for a few weeks now and I finally got a chance to sit down and play through it.  This latest adaptation to the wonderful world of Spidey is cell shaded, which is an automatic plus because it just makes things look better.  What’s more, it’s done by the same people who actually make the Ultimate Spider-Man comic book.  The gameplay for Ultimate Spider-Man will seem very familiar if you’ve played Spider-Man 2 (The Movie).  The game adapts the Grand Theft Auto free roam feature, and the city is quite large.  To move on through the story you have to swing around the city completing “City Goals” which consist of helping out the good folks of New York all the way to racing Johnny Storm (Human Torch) of the Fantastic Four. A really fun thing about this game is that you switch characters to get all sides of the story.  After completing certain goals the story moves on and you then take over Venom and play through his side of things.  The controls in this game are fairly simple: Jump, Kick, Punch, Grab, Swing, Web Shot, etc. so you shouldn’t have a hard time adapting.  The game consists of several different Spider-Man baddies like Rhino, Carnage, and Green Goblin.  One thing we didn’t like is that the story is shorter than a kids pop-up book.  I was able to play through the whole story in less than 10 hours. One glimmer of hope is that once you complete the story mode the game turns into complete free roam and you can pick which character you want to be.  I mostly played as Venom at this point in time and it started to remind me of Grand Theft Auto.  The more damage/harm you do as Venom the more points you get, and the higher your points go the more calvary gets sent out on you.  All in all the game is fun, but semi repetitive if you’ve played through Spider-Man 2.


Sly 3 GiveawayOkay, so we believed G4TV when they said that the Xbox 360 faceplates handed out to the press at E3 would not fit on the final 360 unit. So to make it right, we are giving away a brand new copy of Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves for the PlayStation 2. In order to win, just head on over to our forums and post an image of what you consider to be the coolest Xbox 360 faceplate design - whether it is official or a mockup. Next week we will choose the one that we thought was the best. Contest is open to US residents, and if a winning image is posted more than once, the first person who posted it gets the game. Now will you forgive us?


Read More | Enter Here


Super Mario Bros. CartoonBoy, did this take me back to my childhood.  Some of you may be too young to remember, but the Super Mario cartoon aired in the late 80’s/early 90’s and was terribly wonderful.  The worst part has to be the live action Mario sitcom in between cartoons.  I also recall that every Friday, which I highly anticipated, the Zelda cartoon would air. Is this enough to hold you us over until Twilight Princess is released? Sadly, no.


Read More | Yahooligans TV Player via Kotaku


Broken Sword

A fourth installment of the Broken Sword series has been announced byTHQ for those of you seeking an adventure title with a good reputation. The previous release in the series, Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon (PC,XBOX, PS2, GC) was intended to be the last in a trilogy. According to the Revolution Software, the developers of the Broken Sword, the demand from the fans have been overwhelming and they are planning to answer their pleas.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with the series, the first two Broken Sword games put you in a point and click adventure where your character gets involved in a lot of “what happens next” situations. He just seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time - or right place for the gamer. The third title in the series was for multiple consoles, ergo, THQ threw out the point and click aspect. The game has always maintained great voice acting and lots of puzzle solving and action in the adventure genre.

Read More | IGN


Twilight Princess DelayAccording to a press email sent by Perrin Kaplan, VP of Marketing and Corporate Affairs at Nintendo of America, Twilight Princess for the Gamecube will be pushed back past the end of the current fiscal year, which ends March 31st, 2006.  The delay is brought on by the request of the development team, which wants more time to deepen the length and the quality of what may now be Gamecube’s last great title.  The announcement was paired with reminders of all the positive things being released by Nintendo this fall, such as the DS wi-fi network, the Gameboy Micro, and lots of Mario-themed sports titles for the Gamecube.  Despite these offerings, though, it will be hard to ignore the huge hole that Zelda leaves in Nintendo’s holiday 2005 line-up.


Read More | 1Up


Richard Simmons TingleOne of the most anticipated games in history will beexcruiatingly horrible if this is true.  This rumor comes from the usually reliable IMDB where I usually solve argument’s about who was in what movie/tv show. The rumor being that Richard Simmons will voice the already slightly annoying Mr. Tingle. Honestly, everyone will be starting the web petition atwww.dontputrichardsimmonsinzeldaorwewillboycott.org . Jerry Springer’s final thought: WTF?

Read More | IMDB via Kotaku


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