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  • Project Crystallis: A Fan-based movement for Final Fantasy

    Remember Operation Rainfall? The movement that aimed to persuade Nintendo of America to localize Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story and Pandora’s Tower? Well, here’s something similar.

    Project Crystallis is a fan based movement on the Gamefaq Boards that aims to gain information about Final Fantasy Versus XIII and the Type-0 localization process. It will do this by making a statement to the Square Enix PR Department. The movement also hopes to get information on other titles such as Final Fantasy X HD. This movement originated due to feelings of frustration amongst fans as they have not been provided with proper information about Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Type-0.

    final fantasy type 0 Project Crystallis: A Fan based movement for Final Fantasy

    What’s distinctive about this group is that it hopes to carry out peaceful negotiations. Unlike the fans on other boards complaining about how ‘Lightning Saga sucks’ and ‘Square is crap for not giving us Versus’, Project Crystallis understands that this is not the way to do things. The movement will have their voices heard through YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, message boards and contacts to Square Enix, hoping for Square to notice and provide information.

    So spread the word, join the cause and sign the petition if you’re one of the frustrated fans who believe that it’s about time Square listened to what the fans want.

    I believe that this is a great way to demand news for Versus and Type-0. With the absence of Versus at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, and no update on Type-0′s localization, this is just what Final Fantasy fans needed. Let’s admit it, the people who thought of this were geniuses. All these years, fans have simply written hateful comments on various websites about the Lightning Saga while asking for Versus at the same time. This is obviously not the way to ask a company for what you want. We should have had a movement like this years ago. Project Crystallis has a lot of potential. If it’s base improves, it will gain a lot of influence as well. Lets hope this group grows fast. Who knows, Square might just change their line-up for TGS if we ask nicely.

  • Assassin’s Creed 3 – An Inside Look At Combat, Weapons And Tactics

    If Ubisoft hasn’t already hyped the game enough by showcasing its AnvilNext engine, naval warfare in AC3, American Revolution setting with a new protagonist etc, Ubisoft decided to keep us in the loop by releasing a series of videos titled “Inside Assassin’s Creed 3″, which as the title clearly states, takes us on an in-depth trip behind the scenes showcasing how the developers are creating Assassin’s Creed 3 and give us more detail on certain aspects of the game like combat mechanics and tactics. The video series is going to be 4 videos long. If you never loved watching The History Channel, this is something you might not want to miss.

    This week’s video touches upon combat, weapons and tactics in-depth to be found in Assassin’s Creed 3. As the historians stated that the combat during the American Revolution was brutal, the development team had to recreate that brutality for Assassin’s Creed 3. It doesn’t end there, part of the brutality included the type of weapons used ranging from hatchets and muskets to bayonets. There’s also a rope dart present which Connor can use to grab the enemies afar and bring them close for a personal inspection. GET OVER HERE! (Sorry couldn’t help resist but to put the Mortal Kombat’s Scorpion reference there)

    The combat system is fast, fluid and phenomenal. You won’t miss a beat when transferring from enemy to enemy. Also you can use human shields or ‘meatshields’ as the team likes to call, to defend yourself if you find yourself in a tough spot.

    Why not check out all of it in action below

    If you missed the previous episode, it touched upon the key pillars of Assassin’s Creed 3 like the American Revolution and Colonial America setting, about the new protagonist Connor and the showing of the AnvilNext Engine.

  • Where is Final Fantasy Versus XIII!?

    The Final Fantasy franchise is considered by many to be the king of the JRPG genre. The franchise reached it’s peak with Final Fantasy VI and VII, which captured the hearts of gamers everywhere. VII, in particular, set the standard for JRPGs and is a highly revered game overall, spawning several prequels and sequels that are collectively known as the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.

    From there onwards, Final Fantasy slowly crumbled. Although Final Fantasy X and XII were adored by many fans, there is no doubt that VII ruled over them all. No Final Fantasy game has been able to surpass VII. In fact, the standard of Final Fantasy games fell so low with the release of XIII and it’s sequel, XIII-2, that people began to believe that there would never be a better Final Fantasy.

    However, there is one game that could break VII’s monopoly. This game is Final Fantasy Versus XIII.

    FF Versus XIII Job Listing 360 Where is Final Fantasy Versus XIII!?

    Unlike Final Fantasy games of the past decade, Final Fantasy Versus XIII stays true to the roots of the franchise. Where X and XIII were linear, Versus XIII is open-world; where XIII-2 had a drab story, Versus XIII seems to have an interesting tale. It is quite obvious that Versus XIII will be a good game. But maybe it’ll be something more than that. Maybe it’ll be dominant over VII.

    Of course, one can never be sure of this. We cannot know whether Versus will be the best Final Fantasy game. But when a game has an open world, vehicles (including airships), real time battles (like in the Kingdom Hearts series) and a protagonist with great hair and a silent personality, you can’t go wrong.

    No doubt this seems like an exhilarating game. One that will not be forgotten easily. But the question is…

    Where is Final Fantasy Versus XIII?

    The game was announced back in 2006 at E3, along with Final Fantasy XIII. Since then, it has remained in the dark, save for the occasional bit of news or that trailer we got back in 2011.

    So much has happened since the initial announcement. Bioware managed to release all three of it’s Mass Effect games, revolutionizing the Science Fiction RPG genre. The Mass Effect games were, without a doubt, loaded with a lot of content, yet Bioware managed to create all three of them in the past few years. Not only that, but all three of Naughty Dog’s Uncharted games were released too. These three games were, once again, not easy to create especially due to their fantastic visual quality.

    Even Diablo 3 and Duke Nukem Forever, two games which fans had been anticipating for years, were also released. Furthermore, Sony and Microsoft introduced their own motion controllers; Call of Duty 3, World at War, Black Ops and all three Modern Warfare titles were released; all the Assassins Creed games were released, with the third one coming out soon. And to top it all off, Sony’s PlayStation 3 reached it’s peak and is now coming to a close.

    During this time, what has Square Enix delivered? Final Fantasy XII, XIII, a failed MMO (XIV) and a sequel that no one cared about (XIII-2).

    6 years, and there is still no Final Fantasy Versus XIII. What’s worse is that there is no sign of the game at the upcoming Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Event. This is simply outrageous. What were the guys over at Square Enix thinking?!

    I think this wait is just too much. Fans of Final Fantasy deserve to see more of this game and get a release date. It is very likely that the game will make an appearance at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, but nothing is for certain. After all, this is Square Enix we’re talking about. With the life of the PlayStation 3 slowly ending, a delay is not feasible. This game needs to get a release date, and fast.

    Do you think that Final Fantasy Versus XIII will be getting a release date soon?

  • Ubisoft Going Free-To-Play, Says 95% PC Gamers Are Pirates

    A sad news indeed for pirates when Ubisoft’s CEO Yves Guillemot talked about why the company is now turning all its focus on free-to-play titles for PC, blaming PC piracy for it. He then states that how only five to seven percent of free-to-play users pay for the product via online shop, which is the same for the amount of people who pay for hard copies of their games.

    The advantage of F2P is that we can get revenue from countries where we couldn’t previously – places where our products were played but not bought. Now with F2P we gain revenue, which helps brands last longer.

    It’s a way to get closer to your customers, to make sure you have a revenue. On PC it’s only around five to seven per cent of the players who pay for F2P, but normally on PC it’s only about five to seven per cent who pay anyway, the rest is pirated. It’s around a 93-95 per cent piracy rate, so it ends up at about the same percentage. The revenue we get from the people who play is more long term, so we can continue to bring content.

    They also released a PC client recently to compete with Steam and Origin.

    assassins creed 2header 640x480 Ubisoft Going Free To Play, Says 95% PC Gamers Are Pirates

    With Ubisoft also joining the Free-To-Play wagon, who knows what the future might bring for PC gamers. Piracy is like a double-edged sword, where it can hurt the revenue of a company whereas it can also promote and bring light to the company’s hardwork which means more recognition of the developer, can also lead to legit purchasing in the future etc.

    Ubisoft is a French global video game publisher and developer with titles and series like Prince Of Persia, Assassin’s Creed, Tom Clancy brand etc under its belt.

  • Full Halo 4 Achievements List Outed

    Halo 4 developers 343 Industries have released the game’s full achievements list for our viewing pleasure. The list was released as part of a scheduled bulliten on Halo Waypoint.

    Check them out below (beware of spoilers):

    • Dawn – Complete Mission 1 on any difficulty (10G)
    • Requiem – Complete Mission 2 on any difficulty (10G)
    • Forerunner – Complete Mission 3 on any difficulty (10G)
    • Infinity – Complete Mission 4 on any difficulty (10G)
    • Reclaimer – Complete Mission 5 on any difficulty (10G)
    • Shutdown – Complete Mission 6 on any difficulty (10G)
    • Composer – Complete Mission 7 on any difficulty (10G)
    • Midnight – Complete Mission 8 on any difficulty (10G)
    • Wake up John – Complete the Campaign on Normal or harder (20G)
    • I Need a Hero – Complete the Campaign on Heroic or harder (40G)
    • The Legend of 117 – Complete the Campaign on Legendary difficulty (70G)
    • Lone Wolf Legend – Complete the Campaign solo on Legendary difficulty (90G)
    • Skullduggery – Complete any Campaign mission with 3 or more Skulls on Heroic or harder (15G)
    • Bropocalypse – Complete any Campaign mission co-operatively on Heroic or harder (10G)
    • Bromageddon – Complete the Campaign co-operatively on Heroic or harder (40G)
    • Contact the Domain – Find a Terminal in the Campaign (10G)
    • Terminus – Find all of the Terminals in the Campaign (50G)
    • Digging up the Past – In Mission 1, find and access Chief’s record (20G)
    • Midnight Launch – In Mission 2, get significant air in the Warthog at midnight (20G)
    • This is my Rifle, this is my Gun – In Mission 3, carry a UNSC weapon all the way through on Heroic or harder (20G)
    • Bros to the Close – Make it through Mission 4 without one preventable Marine death on Heroic or harder (20G)
    • Mortardom – In Mission 5, hijack a Wraith and use it to kill at least four enemy Wraiths on Heroic or harder (20G)
    • Explore the Floor – In Mission 6, trick or force a Hunter to fall to his demise (20G)
    • Give Him the Stick – In Mission 7 in solo Campaign, take out both Hunters using only the Sticky Detonator (20G)
    • Chief, Smash! – In Mission 8, kill 3 Crawlers in one hit with the Gravity Hammer (20G)
    • Not Some Recruit Anymore – Rank up your Spartan-IV to SR-5 (15G)
    • Movin’ on Up – Rank up your Spartan-IV to SR-20 (30G)
    • I ♥ Red vs Blue – Win 5 War Games matchmaking matches (10G)
    • The Dongblainer – Win 20 War Games matchmaking matches (30G)
    • Operation Completion – Complete a Spartan Ops Mission on any difficulty (15G)
    • A Legendary Episode – Complete all chapters in Spartan Ops Episode 1 on Legendary difficulty (40G)
    • Dedicated to Crimson – Complete all chapters in the first 5 episodes of Spartan Ops on any difficulty (80G)
    • Crimson Alone – Complete a Spartan Ops chapter solo on Legendary (20G)
    • Roses vs Violets – Find one of the RvB Easter Eggs in Spartan Ops (20G)
    • Rescue Ranger – Save at least one Marine in Chapter 3 of Episode 2 of Spartan Ops on Heroic or harder (20G)
    • Knight in White Assassination – Assassinate a Knight in any Spartan Ops mission (20G)
    • What Power Outage? – Complete Chapter 4, Episode 5 of Spartan Ops without losing a generator on Heroic or harder (20G)
    • No Easy Way Out – In Ch 1, Ep 5 of Spartan Ops survive all enemy waves during the defense on Normal or harder (20G)
    • The Challenged – Complete a Challenge (10G)
    • The Challenger – Complete 25 Challenges (20G)
    • Armorer – Change your Spartan’s armor in the Spartan Armor card (5G)
    • Badge – Change your Emblem in the Spartan ID card (5G)
    • PWND – Change your Service Tag in the Spartan ID card (5G)
    • What a Poser! – Change your Spartan’s pose in the Spartan ID card (5G)
    • The Cartographer – Create and save a Custom Map in Forge (5G)
    • Game Changer – Create and save a Custom Game type in War Games (5G)
    • Snapshot! – Save a Screenshot from the Theater (5G)
    • The Director – Save a Film Clip from the Theater (5G)
    • Sharing is Caring – Upload a File to your File Share (5G)

    Halo 4 will hit stores exclusively for the Xbox 360 on 6th of November 2012.

  • Splinter Cell: Blacklist – A New 10 mins Gameplay Footage From Gamescom

    Splinter Cell: Blacklist, the newest addition to the widely known Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell series, gets a new gameplay video released by publisher Ubisoft featuring tortures and moral choices. Maxime Béland, Creative Director for the game, takes the role of narrator for the video.

    The footage, which is an expansion of a trailer shown at E3, showed the return of the “Mark and Execute” feature from Conviction, where you can mark multiple targets and execute them all at once at the touch of a single button. Also introducing is a new ability to perform “Kill and Drag” melee takedowns.

    The footage also became the center of controversy due to a scene in which Sam Fisher thrusts a knife into a man’s clavicle and the players are to ‘rotate the analog stick’ to interrogate him to get information.

    “Sam will do whatever it takes to retrieve crucial information before it’s too late,” Beland explained during the scene.

    After the torture, players are left with a moral choice, whether to kill the enemy or knock him out.

    Sam Fisher, as the head of Fourth Echelon, will have access to some serious firepower in the field. He can call on airstrikes for heavy targets and also can control a UAV to wipe out enemies with its machine gun. All these moves may not exactly be stealthy but should give players some tactical edge in the game.

    Beland noted during the video that they wanted to offer the player “tons of choices”. Which means the player can either take the stealth approach or dive straight into the action. Pretty much like Metal Gear Solid 4, no?

    Check the footage below:

    Splinter Cell: Blacklist is all set to ‘invade our privacy’ sometime next year for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 platforms.

  • Box Art and Pre-Order Bonus revealed for DMC

    Ninja Theory’s DMC (Devil May Cry) has a cover art now. Revealed by Capcom on it’s Unity Blog, the cover shows the new Dante wielding his dual pistols with his sword on his back. Deserves a S for Stylish, doesn’t it?

    Check out the covers below, both for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360.

    46e3dd17f386ec35f8fc03d3241aa33b Box Art and Pre Order Bonus revealed for DMC

    745dda9f0ea3ddb3a9888cdb351b1976 Box Art and Pre Order Bonus revealed for DMC

    Three dimensional photos of the box have also been put up. Check them out below:

    cb9b5a92725cdcbfc7f789faee208b3e Box Art and Pre Order Bonus revealed for DMC

    7669a2e59e6f71e21242854cd7d9012a Box Art and Pre Order Bonus revealed for DMC

    And, lastly, just for fun, there’s a picture of the art for the Sega Genesis.

    93ef9aab0e6f629f21dcd51017882b60 Box Art and Pre Order Bonus revealed for DMC

    Pre-order bonuses for Amazon have also been revealed. Players who pro-order the game from Amazon will receive Dante’s Bone-irific Shotgun, Scythe, and Axe. Sorry to crush your hopes, but these will be in-game.

    The Official Capcom Store will have it’s own pre-order bonus which will be announced later. While you wait, why not watch the new Gamescom trailer for the game?

  • Ubisoft Launches Uplay – A PC Gaming Client Alongside Steam And Origin

    Ubisoft decided that it doesn’t want to be left out in this era of delivering games and game content through PC clients, so it decided to launch its very own PC Client service known as Uplay alongside the reigning champion “Steam”, a PC client by Valve and still-getting-there “Origin”, a PC client service by EA.

    Uplay will not only serve as just a store for Ubisoft’s games but also as a universal launcher for them too. It will also link a player’s Ubi profile across all platforms (facebook, mobile, consoles and PC) into a single organized app. Which means that all Uplay’s currency and rewards features will also be tied-in together. If you’ve played any Ubisoft games in the current-gen era, you would be familiar with how Uplay rewards its players by giving them ‘reward points’ which one can spend at their store to obtain special items or unlock special features. Seeing how Uplay’s rewards accumulate across games, this feature may be quite useful and easy to use for the players.

    uplay816 Ubisoft Launches Uplay A PC Gaming Client Alongside Steam And Origin

    Ubisoft doesn’t stop here, to motivate gamers to give their new and improved client a go, Ubisoft is offering cheap games for you to try out.  This week, they’re offering $1 deals through the service’s store: From Dust today, Silent Hunter 5 on Saturday, and Driver: San Francisco on Sunday. There are also great discounts on a wide selection of other games. If you didn’t get a chance to be in a prince’s shoes or relive the moments as an assassin, now would be a time no great than other to experience and catch up to them.

    We guess that the reason behind the delay of Assassin’s Creed 3 for PC may have something to do with the launch of their new service.

    You can download the Uplay client for free from their website. Why not give it a go and let us know how you feel about this new move by Ubisoft.

  • Assassin’s Creed 3 Gives Players Total Control Over Naval Warfare

    It wasn’t long when Ubisoft demonstrated the power of their new ‘AnvilNext’ engine by showcasing Assassin’s Creed 3 which contained a glimpse of ‘watery’ sequences, which in turn led us to think about whether we will be able to control the ships on the high seas or whether it will just be another scripted sequence.

    This doubt of ours turned into reality when Ubisoft showcased their latest trailer confirming the details that we will, in fact, play a fair share of our part in naval warfare.

    Check out the announcement trailer below

    So this gives us a chance to become swashbuckling pirates on the high seas with our main character Connor Kenway at the helm of the ship. Sounds great so far. Ubisoft confirmed that the players will be able to own ships and navigate the waters complete with cannons and other naval weaponry. Players can enter these battles however they please. The whole theme of Assassin’s Creed 3 revolves around the concept of freedom and by introducing Naval Warfare, Ubisoft is staying true to the word.

    The trailer showcases the impact of the surrounding environment that will play a role in these battles, as Connor is seen fighting in the midst of a storm at sea.

    Assassin’s Creed 3 is slated for an October 30th 2012 release in North America for the XBOX 360 and PS3 platforms and later on November 23rd 2012 for PC.

  • Epic Games Acquires ‘BulletStorm’ Creators People Can Fly

    Just past week we got the news of three senior employees leaving Poland-based studio People Can Fly, co-developers for the upcoming XBOX 360 title Gears Of War: Judgment, Epic Games has apparently purchased the rest of the development studio.

    While Epic Games, owner of the Gears Of War series and Unreal Engine, had a majority of stake on the studio since 2007, now proceeds to fully own the Poland-based People Can Fly.

    According to Mark Rein, VP of Epic Games: “One of the things that got missed with that story was that we bought the rest of People Can Fly that we didn’t own. We didn’t announce that, so that was also part of it.” he stated at Game Developers Conference being held in Europe.

    “But now we own it all. We had a controlling stake, but the owner still owned a fairly large piece of it.” he said. The “owners” he mentioned refers to the people who left the development team last week to do something different despite being in the middle of the development of Judgment. ”They left, they’re gonna do their own thing. They have something cool they’re gonna do, and we’ll be very supportive of it.” Rein said.

    It’s uncertain at this point that how much Epic Games paid for the acquisition of People Can Fly. With this latest acquisition, Epic Games now wholly owns five subsidiaries: Chair, Impossible Games, People Can Fly, Epic Japan and Epic Korea.

    Some are speculating that the real reason behind the departure of the three senior employees; Adrian Chmielarz, Andrzej Poznanski and Michal Kosieradzki, was the acquisition of People Can Fly by Epic.

    Despite the departures, including the departure of Epic Games, now former, director of production, Rod Fergusson, Rein assures that it won’t have any negative impact on the development of Judgment.