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Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Collection 4 Arriving For PC October 10 [Update PS3]

Infinity Ward has just announced via Facebook that the last round of DLC for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will be arriving for PC on the 10th of October.

The DLC titled Final Assault will include five brand new maps gracefully ending the game’s year of DLCs. The maps included in Collection 4 Final Assault for Modern Warfare 3 are: Boardwalk, Gulch, Off Shore, Decommission and Parish. Modern Warfare 3 Collection 4 Final Assault will cost $15. The launch trailer is embedded below:

Should hold you off till Black Ops 2 comes out in November.

Update: PS3 release dates for Collection 4 have also been confirmed. PS3 Elite Premium users will get Gulch, Boardwalk, Parish on October 9th while the rest will be available for everybody on October 10th.

January 31, 2013
iPhone 5 Benchmarked; Faster Than Galaxy S III, Nexus 7 And iPad 3

The iPhone 5 finally got benchmarked today after AnandTech’s analysis of the phone’s A6 chip which we found out contains 1GB of RAM and a Samsung build processor.

The iPhone 5 sporting a 1.02 Ghz processor scored a very impressive Geekbench score of 1601 making it faster than its direct competitor the Galaxy S III, ASUS’s budget tablet the Nexus 7 and even the iPhone 5′s big brother the iPad 3. The benchmark is picture below:

For comparison the iPad 3 which sports a A5X chip scored 790 and the iPhone 4S which has an A5 chip scored a abysmal 630 confirming Apple’s claims of the A6 being twice as fast as its predecessor.

Even leading Android devices can’t beat the A6, the closest device Geekbench scorewise is the ASUS made Nexus 7 sporting a Tegra 3 scoring 1591 followed by the Samsung Galaxy S III and its Exynos 4412 scoring 1560.

Well that outa’ shut them competition up for a while don’t you think? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

January 31, 2013
Top 10 Street Fighter Characters

Street Fighter is undoubtedly one of the best 2D fighting games, and one of the oldest too. It’s been around for a long time, ever since the Arcade cabinets back in the 80s. In the first Street Fighter game, the player could only have Ryu as a playable character (Unless Ryu loses to Ken, in which case you play as the latter for the remainder of the game), but after the premise of Street Fighter II, there have been numerous playable characters that have gained quite a reputation.

Furthermore, the Street Fighter Animated Series have further provided information about the origins of these characters which increase their level of appeal. Being an avid Street Fighter fan, and haven seen the Animated Series, I have gained enough knowledge to determine which characters are the best. Therefore, here is a list of the top 10 Street Fighter characters.

10. M. Bison

Okay, he’s not the best villain out there, but he’s a good character nonetheless. He lacks the evil radiance that every good villain should have. Despite this, his Psycho Power is quite… powerful. And it is for this reason that he is the leader of Shadaloo and has the capability to conquer the world.

9. Zangief

I shudder at his very name. A large, muscular, naked (save for the underwear and the boots), hairy-chested guy. Or, in other words, a stereotypical Russian. We all love Zangief, but we fear him too. His attacks are incredibly powerful and difficult to block and dodge too. He may not have any projectiles, but compared to his brute strength, projectiles are for wimps.

8. Cammy

Cammy is one of the most popular choices amongst fans. But for what reason? Her moves or her skimpy outfit? Everyone has their own reasons. And whatever they may be, most players can use Cammy proficiently and conquer their enemies if they play carefully. She is without mercy.

7. Guile

Cammy and Guile are similar in a number of ways. The best example of their similarity is that they are both very serious about fighting and have a proper, official cause for it, instead of personal reasons. You can see this striking similarity by watching their intros in Street Fighter IV. That being said, Guile is a very powerful character; both in the animated series and the video games. He may not be very popular but it’s not like he cares either. And does anyone else feel that the shape of his hair is unique?

6. Vega

Many would disagree if I said Vega was a fair fighter. His mask and claws upset the balance of the game as they give him an edge. I personally feel that Vega is overpowered, but ultimately, it’s not easy to master him. Since he’s quite different with his moves, many players fall to their knees before him. In the Animated Series, he almost overpowered Ken before the match ended in a draw when both the fighters became unconscious. His lust for blood is interesting and his mask adds to his enigmatic, yet cool personality.

5. Blanka

This green little fighter is crazy. Literally. Blanka has several advantages. One of his moves prevents you from going near him, but when you decide to use your projectiles, he can swiftly dodge them and counter attack. The only way to beat him is to match his speed… or play against a complete newbie.

4. Chun Li

The first female fighter, making her premise in Street Fighter 2, where she was the only female fighter. When I first played the game, I thought it was not fair for the guys to beat up a single Chinese girl with a cute face. But as it turned out, she was a tough cookie. She may seem all cute and cheery on the outside, but she’s a ruthless fighter when the time comes. Chun Li is a widely recognized character and continues to be considered one of the best and prominent Street Fighter characters.

3. Ryu

Who didn’t see him coming? Ryu has been the face of Street Fighter since the first game. Without him, there would be no Street Fighter and I wouldn’t be writing this opinion piece. He’s a lone warrior, with only one objective: To improve upon his skills and become stronger.

2. Ken

Both Ken and Ryu were trained under the same master, Gouken, and so their moves are identical. But Ken takes the cake here due to his better style. His spinning kick is better and faster, and his Shoryuken is fiery. Not to mention he’s rich and good with the ladies.

1. Akuma

To sum up Akuma, take Ken or Ryu, make them twice as strong and add a touch of evil along with some attitude. Akuma is the upgraded and enhanced version of Ken and Ryu. He is twice as strong and very evil. I personally believe him to be more evil than M. Bison. Ha, Akuma was even selected to be the final boss in Street Fighter x Tekken if the player selects characters from Tekken’s side. The only problem with Akuma is that he can appear to be slow at times. Ultimately, his amazing strength makes up for his weakness and his attacks can easily be chained together to destroy the enemy.

Well, that’s it for my opinion. Who are your favorite Street Fighter characters?

January 31, 2013
Google Made YouTube App For iPhone And iPod Touch Now Available

After Apple announced that it won’t be bundling its in-house made YouTube app in iOS 6 it was up to Google to come up with their own. Today Google released the new and improved YouTube app for the iPhone and iPod Touch with an iPad app coming sometime later.

The new iOS YouTube app is completely native and not a port of the Android version although they book look very similar.

New enhancements in the iOS YouTube app include vastly superior load times, integrated sharing function, Closed Caption usability and improved search among others. Google is also allowing iOS users to gain access to Google Play TV, Movies and Music Videos.

Download the YouTube for iPhone and iPod Touch app from here or search for it directly on your iDevice.

January 31, 2013
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Multiplayer Reveal Developers Commentary Trailer Released

Publishers Activision and developers Treyarch have re-released the Black Ops 2 multiplayer reveal trailer but this time with Game designer director David Vonderhaar explaining what’s going on.

This time you’ll get first hand and legit information about what’s going on and not just guessing (I’m looking at you COD commentators). The trailer is embedded below:

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 hit stores on November 13th 2012 for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. What do you think of Black Ops 2 so far? Let us know in the comments below.

January 31, 2013
Why Max Payne 3 doesn’t feel like Max Payne

Max Payne 3 is a game franchise that first originated in 2001 on the PC, back when it was the best platform for shooters. Remedy Entertainment developed the game, and what a game it was! It set a standard for all future third person shooters and introduced the bullet time mechanic, which has not been used in any other game franchise. It is solely the property of the developers and the franchise itself. This is what distinguishes Max Payne from all other third person shooter games.

Recently, the third installment in the series was released. A wonderful game, without a doubt, but quite different from the previous parts. Max Payne 3 feels different and plays different. It’s the same basic formula, but a new form of execution. Or rather, the wrong form of execution in this case.

Perhaps the changes in the franchise can be blamed on Rockstar Games, who have developed this new installment instead of Remedy Entertainment. Perhaps Rockstar failed to understand what a Max Payne game feels like. Because this didn’t feel like the same Max Payne at all.

There’s no place like home

I could not understand why the setting of the game had to be changed from New York to Sau Paulo. The first two Max Payne games had been set in the grand city of New York in America, where it should have remained. Yet, the developers decided to move Max to Sau Paulo. To be honest, the sun doesn’t suit Max as the moonlight and white snow did. The first two Max Payne games gave a particular ‘feel’ to the game because of the setting. The effect of the story was also increased due to this enigmatic setting. Large buildings, snowfall and the dark knight were the things that Max Payne players loved. Murdering hundreds of people is fun at night, not during the day. The dramatic settings of city buildings in the snow, which have by now become a trademark of the Max Payne franchise, are lost.

The blazing sun of Sau Paulo along with it’s poorly constructed houses and trash on the streets is hardly a place for an ex-cop to stylishly kill his enemies. Furthermore, due to this change of environment, there came the existence of language barriers. Most of the time, I had no idea what the people in the game were saying. It was in Brazilian, a language which I’m sure not all of us are proficient in. What’s worse is that the subtitles didn’t help either. There was no translation, something that was not expected. Basically, I had to sit there listening to gibberish in almost every cutscene. If the change of the environment had not taken place, this problem would never had originated.

What are you wearing?!

A major part of the game is the character’s appearance. Who would like to play with a character who looks horrible? Take the new Dante for example; some fans don’t feel like playing Devil May Cry any more because of his looks. And quite frankly, I was about to quit Max Payne when I saw his green shirt with the parrots and palm trees. I mean, who would wear that? Not trying to be a fashionista here, but what happened to Max’s black jacket? Yes, the same one he wears in the first two games? It is only in the reminiscence chapters that Max is seen with that jacket (and in America too, which is why these chapters were my favorites). During the rest of the game, it is gone. And that is not a welcome change. I don’t want to control a guy who wears ridiculous clothes such as an Aloha shirt, a dirty vest and a white suit that ruins his image completely.

A little too drunk maybe

In Part 2 of the game, Max shaves off his hair. The reason? He realized he was too drunk and needed to get serious. But tell me, what does that have to do with shaving your head off? Now, with his clothes as mentioned above, he looks a lot like Bruce Willis from Die Hard 4.0. What’s worse is his beard, which makes him look like a homeless guy. And to top it all off, he’s obese, the reason to which I fail to understand (He doesn’t eat much, yet he works tirelessly, but is still fat?). I mean, what was Rockstar thinking?

No Mona Sax

This is pretty much self-explanatory. Mona was one of the best characters in the Max Payne universe. Without her seductive nature and looks, the game feels lacking and dry. And I’m sure Max himself feels the same way. If she were still here, the story could have gone off into a better direction and would have been more appealing. And Max wouldn’t have been drunk and useless either.

Don’t get me wrong, Max Payne 3 is a great shooter. But it had flaws, which I mentioned above. And due to these flaws, I did not enjoy the game as I should have. The Max Payne that I enjoyed in the last decade, does not exist anymore.

January 31, 2013
Borderlands 2 Soundtrack Album Revealed
The upcoming ‘whacky’ space-western first-person shooter with Role-playing elements, Borderlands 2 now has its own soundtrack album. Sumthing Else Music Works revealed that the album will feature 23-track compilation which contains music from Jesper Kyd and songs by Gearbox Software composer Raison Varner.

Following the unexpected success of its predecessor, Borderlands which sold nearly 4 and a half million copies, Creative Director Mike Neumann stated that there will be a chance that a sequel will see the light of day. It was no surprise seeing how well Borderlands did commercially. The sequel was officially confirmed and announced on 2nd August 2011 with the expected release date to be 18th September 2012. Like its predecessor, Borderlands 2 is being developed by Gearbox Software and will be published by 2K Games. It will run on Epic’s Unreal Engine 3.

Here’s the full track list for you to look forward to:
- Ascent (Cris Velasco and Sascha Dikiciyan)
- Ash (Jesper Kyd)
- Caverns (Jesper Kyd)
- Glacial (Jesper Kyd)
- Crater Lake (Cris Velasco and Sascha Dikiciyan)
- Dam Interior (Cris Velasco and Sascha Dikiciyan)
- Dam Top (Jesper Kyd)
- Fyrestone (Jesper Kyd)
- Hyperion (Cris Velasco and Sascha Dikiciyan)
- Ice (Jesper Kyd)
- Interlude Combat (Jesper Kyd)
- Interlude Ambient (Jesper Kyd)
- Lynchwood (Cris Velasco and Sascha Dikiciyan)
- Lynchwood Sheriff Combat (Cris Velasco and Sascha Dikiciyan)
- Main Menu (Jesper Kyd)
- Jack Final Boss (Cris Velasco and Sascha Dikiciyan)
- Pandora Park (Jesper Kyd)
- Sanctuary (Jesper Kyd)
- Bandit Slaughter (Raison Varner)
- The Fridge (Jesper Kyd)
- Tundra Express (Cris Velasco and Sascha Dikiciyan)
- Warrior Boss (Cris Velasco and Sascha Dikiciyan)
- Vog Fight (Cris Velasco and Sascha Dikiciyan)
You’ll be able to get your hands on the album when it gets released alongside Borderlands 2 in September this year. You can also pre-order the album from Amazon.
January 31, 2013
Halo 4 Soundtrack Details Revealed

Along with the game’s full achievements list developers 343 Industries have revealed information about Halo 4‘s soundtrack. The soundtrack will be available in two flavors, a standard $14 edition with 15 soundtracks by Neil Davidge in both digital and disc formats. The other Special Edition 2 disc box set will retail for a whooping $75 and come with the original soundtrack, a 14 track remix disc, a behind the scenes video, a book with notes and photos, 12″ art print, a shirt for your Xbox Live avatar and lastly a Master Chief pictured vinyl disc of remixes.

You can order both these soundtracks here. So which version are you getting?

January 31, 2013
Persona 4 Arena Review
Gruesome monsters, highly detailed character sprites the latest fighter from developer Arc System Works and Atlus, Persona 4 arena brings life characters from highly applauded Persona 3 and 4 games, while using high definition 2D animated style fighters. Assisted by an original, hardcore fighting engine from one of the most respected 2D fighting game developers in the industry, Persona 4 Arena represents the biggest, most manifest expansion of the venerated series to date. It is the kind of fast-paced frantic combat title that every JRPG fan would definitely love to play.

The game allows you to use two combatants in battle which might lead you to believe that its a tag team fighter, well its not. Persona 4 Arena combines both single and tag team styles, entreating you to control two fighters in conformity. This includes your main character and his/her persona which are the title creatures of the game aiding you in battle. Although having few setbacks, its mechanics are easy to grasp as it is too friendly to fighting game newbie’s like for example each character has an auto-combo. That means just pressing the attack button will result in a impressive full on assault or a special attack if one has enough juice in their SP meter. Followed by this, the game has a highly detailed tutorial mode perfect for beginners to start smashing buttons and enjoy the 2D fighter.

The game although being simple to new comers has plenty of advanced tactics waiting to be castigated by seasoned fighting pros, hence the game should not be accused of lacking elaboration. There is a very sleek and smooth addition drawn straight from the game’s universe apart from regular attacks and special assault moves. Allowing every player to use their Persona, awful nightmare creatures that can called upon for devastating attacks. The game also implements many of the status conditions from the RPG series, with poisoned characters taking inconsiderable damage over time. There are also plenty of different features to master like: short hops, air dashing, and even hasty kills, which lets you bash your opponent within a cartoonist ball of dust and sound effects, before launching them into the air for further combo rendering them potentially dormant.

The strongest element of the game is its long story mode, offering a uniquely prosaic plotline for every character. You usually don’t play fighting games for the story but neither do you often get a fighting game based on a long running JRPG franchise based so heavily on its story. Although the story is full of cliche dialogue and blabbering about friendship and what not, fans of the Persona series will feel right at home. Voice acting is top notch, which is surprising to see from a Japanese game (I’m looking at your Resident Evil). The story mode however feels a lot like a visual novel, filling the screen with paragraphs at a time, although you can always skip it with a press of a button. For those who aren’t willing to endure the plot and pre-battle cutscenes which are often longer than the battle itself there’s always the Arcade Mode.. The Arcade Mode offers a thankfully abbreviated version of game’s events and lets you smash through the competition while still getting to experience some of Persona 4 Arena’s fantastic voice acting.

Overall, Persona 4 Arena is excellently presented with all inclusive story mode enclosed by the original creators of Persona 4. Consisting of plenty of modes and solid online experience, its one of the most entertaining fighting games this gen. Choosing between both English and Japanese voice acting allows you to play the game as you want. Graphics are perfect as razor sharp hand drawn sprites and animations meet an amazing array of effects in this 2D animated fighter. It blends many mechanics from the JRPG series into a highly paced fighter that anyone can enjoy. In short, whether you’re a diehard fan of 2D fighters or just a fighting game beginner who likes Persona, you really owe it to yourself to pick up this fantastic game.

TechDeville awards Persona 4 Arena 4/5 stars.
January 31, 2013
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance Review
The Kingdom Hearts series is a series very close to my heart, I loved watching Disney cartoons as a kid while my favorite games have always been of the JRPG genre namely the Final Fantasy series. So when I heard about the game about a decade ago, I just couldn’t pass it up, I begged my Mom for a whole week before she finally bought me the game and as soon as I put the game in I was hooked. Kingdom Hearts is the ultimate nostalgia trip for gamers like me which make it one of my favorite series of all time.

Now onto the game I’ll be reviewing today, Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance – boy that’s a mouthful. Kingdom Hearts 3D is the seventh game in the series and by the looks of what I’ve played is going to be the last game before Kingdom Hearts 3 although Nomura-san and his team are really unpredictable at this point.

Kingdom Hearts 3D takes place after the events of Coded or after RE: Coded if you’ve played the remake. Sora and Riku make a visit to Yen Sid who informs them about the return of Master Xehanort, and they only stand a chance of defeating him if they become Keyblade masters. Our heroes are then sent to take the Mark of Mastery exam where they have to visit seven sleeping worlds and awake them using their Keyblades like previous games. The game has two protagonists (Sora and Riku) like Birth by Sleep had three (Aqua, Ventus and Terra) with each of their campaigns being parallel to each other. Storywise the game satisfied me a lot, it even had a few cameos from the The World Ends With You so fans of that game are in for a treat.

Lets get one thing out of the way first, Kingdom Hearts 3D looks and sounds great. The graphics are undoubtedly the best I’ve seen on the 3DS, the environments and character models are highly detailed although sometimes the frame rate did tend to drop a bit in high traffic areas. For KH 3D, series music producer Yoko Shimomura are joined by Takeharu Ishimoto (The World Ends With You) and Tsuyoshi Sekito (Brave Fencer Musashi) to compose the score. I know I’m not the only one who thinks the Kingdom Hearts series has one of the best OSTs of all time and Kingdom Hearts 3D proves my point.

The gameplay at its core is just like any other Kingdom Hearts game. You have to hack and slash your way to victory in quick seamless battles and if you succeed you’ll be awarded with experience, money, health and even items. Just like any other RPG you have to level up to gain new abilities and upgrade your stats. The fights are a bit faster though thanks to the brand new Flowmotion system. The Flowmotion system basically allows you to jump off walls and rails and parkour your way to a stylish flurry of combos. Some enemies can be really weak to Flowmotion attacks and the attack can help quickly dispatch enemies, but that’s all its really good for. Although I liked using Flowmotion you can complete avoid it if you want, its completely optional.

Another addition to the battle system is the inclusion of Reality Shifts. Reality Shifts are special attacks which can be triggered when you’ve applied enough damage to your enemy. These attacks change depending on the world you’re in and are pivotal to boss fights who can only be defeated by using a Reality Shift.

Another addition to Kingdom Hearts 3D is the inclusion of Dream Eaters which will serve as both the primary enemies and party members. There are two different kind of Dream Eaters, the good kind called Spirits who will join you in battle as party members while the evil ones are called Nightmares and will serve as the main enemies like Shadows, Nobodys and Unversed did in the previous games. So no, Goofy or Donald won’t be present to help you out when the going gets tough, these Pokemon-ish creatures are all you’ve got.

Unlike Pokemon though these Dream Eaters are created with parts dropped from defeated enemies. You can have up to two Dream Eaters in your party and one in stand by if anything goes wrong. Square Enix has introduced a Nintendogs-esque system for the Dream Eaters where you have to give regular attention to your neon colored friends to make them perform better in battle. Just like in real life these pets too are effected by morale and require you to play with them (via the touch screen of course). You can level up your Dream Eaters in a variety of ways namely by giving them treats, playing minigames and the standard XP gaining.

The most annoying part of the game are the boss battles, they are just so frickin’ hard. After a few hours into the game each boss starts taking quite some time to defeat, they aren’t even that difficult but their life bars seem to go on for days. Towards the end you’ll start facing bosses with 7-9 health bars which require some grinding to get through.

The other although less annoying part of the game is the Drop system. Unlike Birth By Sleep which allowed you to play all three campaigns one at a time, Dream Drop Distance’s campaigns run in parallel motion. The Drop system basically switches you back and forth between Sora and Riku as the Drop gauge or meter runs out. This can be really rage inducing during lengthy boss battles as if you drop between a boss battle you’ll have to start it all over again when you drop back.

This also makes completing challenges harder which if completed award you Dream Points which are used to gain buffs and earn the Drop Decelerators which as the name suggests slows down the Drop Meter.

You may have been wondering before reading the review if 3D is just a cash-in side story or a game really worth your time. Luckily it falls in to the latter category. 3D is one of the best games I’ve played generation and is a must buy for all 3DS owners. So go out and get it!

TechDeville awards Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance 4.5/5 stars.
January 31, 2013