An anonymous reader writes “‘Always bet on Duke.’ It seems he was right about himself, at least. The longest, most storied in-development game in history seems like it’s finally going to be released by Gearbox Software sometime within the next year. ‘According to Pitchford, Gearbox began finishing Duke Nukem Forever in late 2009. “Clearly the game hadn’t been finished at 3D Realms but a lot of content had been created,” he says. “The approach and investment and process at 3D Realms didn’t quite make it, and it cracked at the end. With Gearbox Software we brought all those pieces together. It’s the game it was meant to be.” The game is currently expected to ship in 2010 although given its history Pitchford is understandably reluctant to be more specific.’”
Buffalo55 writes “For the most part, classic games manage to reappear on different systems. Just look at Nintendo. The publisher has done an excellent job bringing NES, SNES, Genesis and even old school Neo Geo titles to the Wii’s Virtual Console, while Microsoft’s Game Room brings the best of Atari’s 2600 into the living room. Of course, not every console was a success. The ’90s, in particular, saw quite a few flops from companies like Panasonic, Sega and Atari. Just because a system is a failure, though, doesn’t mean all of its games suck. On the contrary, most of these machines have a few gems that fell between the cracks once the console croaked.”
What overlooked game on a failed platform would you like to see revived?
If you like playing table tennis also known as ping pong then you should checkout World Cup Table Tennis developed by Skyworks.
It makes great use of iPhone’s multi-touch interface to give you a good gaming experience.
The controls of the iPhone game are quite intuitive if you have played table tennis before but it will take time and practice to perfect the technique to win a tournament.
World Cup Table Tennis features four modes: Practice, Tournament, Head to Head and Arcade mode.
The Practice mode allows you to play the game against the CPU to get comfortable with the controls.
You can move the paddle or table tennis racquet by pressing and holding down anywhere on the lower half of the screen and sliding across the screen. To hit the ball, move the paddle to the ball. The direction and speed that the paddle is moving when it comes in contact with the ball determines the direction and speed of the ball.
You can also spin the ball by moving the paddle quickly in the direction of the desired spin when coming in contact with he ball.
Once you have perfected your technique in practice mode, you can play the Tournament mode where you are pitted against the CPU. The difficulty level of the opponents increases as you move to the next round.
The objective of the Arcade game is completely different. You have to hit the ball at circular targets that randomly pop up on the other side of the table.
The head to head mode allows you to play the game on the same iPhone. But the overhead view of the table unlike the other modes just doesn’t feel right. It would be amazing if Skyworks can introduce a multi-player or head to head feature, which allows you to play with your friends who have iPhone or iPod Touch.
You get to choose from three different paddles ranging in spin and power levels before starting a new game.
You can also choose from two different tracks that play in the background. But I would have preferred the option to choose songs from my iPhone’s music library.
You can compete with players around the world with the Global High Scores board though it doesn’t really make sense when you are collecting points by playing locally on your iPhone.
The in-game sound of the ball hitting the paddle or bouncing on the table is pretty realistic. It is always good to see the developers have also paid attention to some of the finer details.
You can checkout the demo of World Cup Table Tennis below:
Many users seem to have marked the game down due to the lack of online multi-player option, which I felt was a little harsh for a $0.99 game. But it is something that the developers should look at providing via in-app purchase.
Overall, World Cup Table Tennis is the best table tennis game I have played on the App Store and at $0.99, it is a steal. If you have come across a better ping pong game then please do let me know.
You can purchase the iPhone game using this iTunes link or try the lite version of the game before buying it using this iTunes link.
As always, please don’t forget to give us your feedback on the iPhone game in the comments section below.
eldavojohn writes “So, you pay a PR firm like Reverb to generate some positive buzz for your new mobile game, and what do they do? Hire employees to post fake glowing reviews of your game wherever it’s being distributed. The FTC says that’s not okay due to regulations enacted last year requiring that paid reviews disclose they are paid reviews. Originally, the fear was that this regulation would target the small-time blogger, but this news of Reverb settling with the FTC over fake game reviews shows that the FTC is also targeting big PR firms. They said, ‘We hope that this case will show advertisers that they have to be transparent in their practices and help guide other ad agencies.’ The article says fake reviews like those alleged in the complaint (PDF) are pretty much the norm on iTunes. Reverb denies that this settlement is any acknowledgment of wrongdoing; rather, just a timesaver over a costly court battle. Will the FTC continue to make examples of big PR firms? Wait and see.”
Wired is running a feature about how a growing number of game developers are abandoning jobs at major publishers and studios and taking their experience to the indie scene instead. Quoting: “They’re veterans of the triple-A game biz with decades of experience behind them. They’ve worked for the biggest companies and had a hand in some of the industry’s biggest blockbusters. They could work on anything, but they’ve found creative fulfillment splitting off into a tiny crew and doing their own thing. They’re using everything they’ve learned working on big-budget epics and applying it to small, downloadable games. The good news for gamers is that, as the industry’s top talents depart the big studios and go into business for themselves, players are being treated to a new class of indie game. They’re smaller and carry cheaper price tags, but they’re produced by industry veterans instead of thrown together by B teams and interns. Most importantly, unlike big-budget games that need to appeal to the lowest common denominator to turn a profit, these indie gems reveal the undiluted creative vision of their makers.”
Gamasutra reports on comments from Electronic Arts VP David Demartini indicating that the company thinks AAA game development budgets are not going to continue their skyward trend. “If [a developer] happens to make a lot of money based on that budget, great for them. If they come up short and have to cover some of it — y’know, they’ll be smarter the next time they do it. That’s kind of the approach that we take to it.” Certainly this has something to do with a few major economic flops in the games industry lately, such as the cancellation of This Is Vegas after an estimated $50 million had been dumped into the project. Another example is the anemic response to APB, an MMO with a budget rumored to be as high as $100 million. Poor sales and reviews caused developer Realtime Worlds to enter insolvency and lay off a large portion of the development team.
Buffalo55 writes “These days, you don’t have to worry about misleading box art, thanks to sophisticated video game graphics. In the 70s and 80s, though, companies tried to grab a consumer’s attention with fancy artwork that bore no resemblance to the actual game. Atari, in particular, was one of the biggest offenders, particularly with its 2600 console.”
Atari and Cryptic Studios are teaming up to make a new Dungeons & Dragons-based RPG called Neverwinter, planned for Q4 2011. Gameplay will center on five-person groups that can include other players and/or AI allies, and there will be an extensive content generation system. Gamespot spoke with Cryptic CEO Jack Emmert, who explained parts of the game in more depth: “I think there are two very unique gameplay elements in 4th Edition that we’ve done something interesting with: action points and healing surges. In the tabletop game, an action point lets a player perform a reroll or add an additional die to a roll. In our game, action points are earned through combat and spent to power special abilities called ‘boons.’ These boons give players special boosts, but only in certain circumstances. Healing surges represent the amount of times a player can heal himself before resting. In D&D and Neverwinter, various abilities let players use a surge immediately or perhaps replenish the number of surges available. It’s a precious resource that players will need to husband as they adventure in the brave new world. Positioning, flanking, tactics, and using powers with your teammates are also all things that come from the 4th Edition that are interesting. Of course, we’re using power names and trying to keep power behavior consistent with the pen-and-paper counterparts. Neverwinter will definitely feel familiar to anyone who has played the 4th Edition.”
Stoobalou writes “What appears to be the full version of Bungie’s Halo Reach game has turned up on a number of file sharing sites. The hotly-anticipated multi-player shooter had been hosted on a private area of the Microsoft Live site in order for journalists to preview the release, but Microsoft has admitted that a security breach has meant that pirates have been able to bypass personal download codes given to writers. Disk images of the game are now appearing on a number of public torrent and P2P sites as well as on popular NZB aggregators and Usenet binaries newsgroups.”
The game isn’t due to be released until September 14th. Microsoft is said to be “aggressively pursuing” whoever grabbed the files without their permission.
Recent Comments