FROM APPLETELL – It’s a rare moment these days when I get to talk to about Mac games, but a few companies have recently made some major announcements. Do the names Warhammer, Sid Meier, and Star Wars mean anything to you?
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Section: Gaming News, Exclusives, Originals, Features, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Handhelds, PSP, Game-Companies, Developers, Distributors, Publishers, Conventions

Playstation was hands-on at Comic Con this year and Sony brought out a few of its best games for the PS3 and PSP to show off. I attended a media party at the Hard Rock Hotel (across the street from Comic Con) and was able to try out a few of the awesome titles coming out. Here are three I was able to extensively play.

Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time

They showed us two different parts of the game, one with Ratchet and one with Clank. Clank’s was a but hard, basically you had to step on these platforms and by doing so it created a clone of him that would mimic everything he did until you stopped the recording. You would use this to your advantage to open a door that required you to stand on two platforms. You press Go and your clone runs over and stands on the platform like you did, while you stand on the other to open the door and run through. This got harder as the puzzles got more difficult since you had to make multiple clones doing different things. It was actually a bit frustrating.

Ratchet’s was basically him running around in this big open field and trying all his gadgets while killing huge machines. You got to try out his hover boots (which allow you to float quickly across the land and over water) and various weapons to destroy all the huge machines that were walking around. Much simpler, but I still didn’t quite know what I was doing. Either way it gave us a sneak peek about what the game would be like. It’s coming out Fall 2009

Heavy Rain

I was excited to try this out since I read about it a while back. The game starts with you being a detective with futuristic gear that allows you to analyze DNA and other evidence simply by touching it. You walk into a junk yard and talk to a rather tough looking guy operating the forklift. You ask him about a specific car and he basically tells you to go stick it. So you are on your own to look for clues. By hitting your controls you activate your special glasses that allow you to see all the evidence stick out at you. By clicking on specific things like a DNA or tire tracks, you can determine if it belongs to the person or car your looking for.

It took a while to figure all this out. I did a lot of walking around, button mashing, and consulting with people around me to get to this point. After you search around for awhile, the big tough guy gets angry and confronts you, eventually grabbing you and dragging you along with a gun to your head. If you hit certain buttons when the icons pop up, you can knock things in his way, or trip him up long enough to get away or grab the gun. This part requires perfect timing and you may need to start over.

Another feature of the game is to know what is on the characters mind and what he thinks about different things. By clicking a button, you bring up several options including mood, sadness, weather, etc. When you click on these, you get a better sense of how he feels about himself and what’s around him. I think once you get the control schemes down, this could be a very fun game. It reminded me a bit of Indigo Prophecy for the PS2. Available sometime in 2010.

Fat Princess

This was an awesome, fun little title. It is a “Defend the Castle” type game that can be played online. I was playing as a character from the red team, defending my castle from the blue team. You can pick from five classes including mage, archer and gunner. You can change these classes at will and each class has different weapons you can switch from by hitting a button. All you do to switch classes to to pick up the different hats. The hats are found at your base (produced by machines) or by finding them on the field. You can even get a rivals hat.

Not only do you have to defend you castle but you have you have to infiltrate the rivals castle and save your princess who is in the rival castle. This is not easy because people will be shooting at you from all over. The best option is teamwork, which was hard for me since I was playing with people I couldn’t communicate with. In order to stop the rivals from saving their princess, you can feed her cake that you find laying around the field. When you feed them the cake, the princesses get fatter and fatter, and it will take several people to work together to save her, making her harder to rescue.

This was a fast paced, quick moving game that had a lot of fun with. If you get killed, you just start back at your base and try again. And you can play with your friends online to team up against the rivals, or be on separate teams for more competition! This title is available at the end of the month at the Playstation store.

Site [Playstation] Read [IGN] Read [Gamertell]

Full Story ? | Written by Jessica Moen for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article ?

Section: Gaming News, Exclusives, Features, Lists, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Handhelds, PSP, Gear, Accessories, Comics-and-Graphic-Novels, Gear-Other, Ads & Media, Movies, TV, Other Media, Home Video, Updates, Playstation-Store

This week’s PlayStation Store is featuring the game Shatter for $7.99 for the PlayStation 3, this game is an interesting twist to the old school classic Super Breakout with each level more challenging than the one before. The game features multiple game play modes, a trophy system, more than 90 minutes of original music and a leader board system so players can challenge friends.

Calling all Final Fantasy fans! This is a must download demo of all time. Dissidia Final Fantasy free at the PSN store for the PSP. In this game you can assume the role of your favorite Final Fantasy hero or villain in this battle of ultimate destiny. Who wouldn’t want a second chance to kick Kefka’s butt or even wipe the smile off Kuja’s face again? Or relive the battle between Sephiroth and Cloud? Fight in various environments every Final Fantasy game deserves.

Also, with Comic-Con 2009 underway the PlayStation Store has created a special category for all things comic related from movies to games and an exclusive sneak peek of an upcoming animated film Green Lantern: First Flight available for download.

PSOne Classics:

• Spec Ops: Covert Assault (PS3/$5.99)
• Wild Arms 2 (PS3/$5.99)

Downloadable Games:
*Free themes are available now until July 31, 2009, with purchase of any of these Tomb Raider downloads.

• Tomb Raider: Legend (PSP/$12.99)
• Tomb Raider: Anniversary (PSP/$12.99)

Game Demos:

• Call of Duty: World at War Demo (PS3/Free)

Bonus Game Contents:

• Cross Edge Fluffy Synth Pack (PS3/Free)
• Cross Edge Chicken Prediction Pack (PS3/Free)
• Cross Edge No Sense of Direction Pack (PS3/Free)
• Cross Edge Fickle Woman Pack (PS3/Free)
• Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires Additional Music Set 2 DLC (PS3/Free)
• Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce Pack 3 (PSP/Free)
• Overlord 2 Battle Rock Pack (PS3/$4.99)
• Killzone 2 Napalm & Cordite Pack (PS3/$5.99)
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010 Banff Springs (PS3/$7.50)
• Wipeout HD? Fury Add-On (PS3/$9.99)
• Killzone 2 DLC Bundle Pack (PS3/$11.99)

Guitar Hero World Tour Music Packs:

• Vagrant Records Track Pack (PS3/$5.49)

Individual Songs:

• “All the World is Mad” by Thrice (PS3/$1.99)
• “The Martyr” by Senses Fail (PS3/$1.99)
• “Young Cardinal” by Alexisonfire (PS3/$1.99)

Rock Band Music Packs:

• Kings of Leon Pack 01 (PS3/$5.49)

Individual Songs:

• “Crawl” by Kings of Leon (PS3/$1.99)
• “Molly’s Chambers” by Kings of Leon (PS3/$1.99)
• “Sex on Fire” by Kings of Leo (PS3/$1.99)

• Rancid Track Pack 01 (PS3/$5.49)

Individual Songs:

• “Last One to Die” by Rancid (PS3/$1.99)
• “Time Bomb” by Rancid (PS3/$1.99)
• “Ruby SoHo” by Rancid (PS3/$1.99)

• Rise Against Track Pack 01 (PS3/$5.49)

Individual Songs:

• “Prayer of the Refugee” by Rise Against (PS3/$1.99)
• “Re-Education (Through Labor)” by Rise Against (PS3/$1.99)
• “Savior” by Rise Against (PS3/$1.99)

Single track:

• “Sweetness and Light” by Lush (PS3/$1.99)

Rock Band Unplugged bonus content:

• “The Boys are Back in Town” by Thin Lizzy (PSP/$1.99)
• “Casey Jones” by Grateful Dead (PSP/$1.99)

Free Game Videos:

• Alpha Protocol CG trailer (E3 Trailer) (PS3/Free)
• Alpha Protocol Developer Diary #4 (PS3/Free
• Battlefield 1943 Launch Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Digger Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Gran Turismo B/W Trailer (PS3/PSP/Free)
• Killzone 2 Boltgun 4400 (PS3/PSP/Free)
• Killzone 2 Napalm & Cordite Pack Video (PS3/PSP/Free)
• The King of Fighters XII Trailer 3 – Be the King (PS3/PSP/Free)

New Movies to Rent or Own:

• Confessions of a Shopaholic. Rated PG (Rent/SD Format/$3.99)
• Confessions of a Shopaholic. Rated PG (Own/SD Format/$14.99)
• Coraline. Rated PG (SD Format/$14.99)
• Fast & Furious. Rated PG-13 (SD Format/$14.99)
• Dragonball: Evolution. Rated PG (Rent/SD Format/$3.99)
• Dragonball: Evolution. Rated PG (Rent/HD Format/$5.99)
• Dragonball: Evolution. Rated PG (Own/SD Format/$14.99)

Wallpapers and Themes:

• Overlord II Minions Theme (PS3/Free)
• Overlord II Overlord Theme (PS3/Free)
• College Football Theme: Miami (PS3/$1.99)
• College Football Theme: North Carolina (PS3/$1.99)
• College Football Theme: Michigan (PS3/$1.99)
• College Football Theme: Tennessee (PS3/$1.99)
• College Football Theme: Utah (PS3/$1.99)

Read [PlayStation Store Blog] Site [PlayStation]

Full Story ? | Written by Lucy Newman for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article ?

Section: Gaming News, Features, Lists, Mashups

Haven’t caught all of the Gamertell news this week?? Here’s your chance to catch up on this week’s top 10 articles!

• Sony Home Update: New spaces, new stores, more items galore
  “The PlayStation Home has been updated with three new spaces to new stores at the mall and more stuff than you can shake a stick at. And like a 3-year-old in the candy isle at WalMart, I’m hopped…” MORE ?
• Open Plea: Sony, please drop the PS3’s price, the industry needs it
  “Contrary to what we were reporting this time a year or so ago, the game industry is not recession proof.? Video games just took their biggest monthly sales drop in nearly a decade. Even GameStop,…” MORE ?
• Comic Con 2009: Kotobukiya’s lineup and schedule (with frickin’ lightsaber chopsticks)
  ” Statue, figure maker and cool stuff creator Kotobukiya has released its full schedule and lineup of offerings for the 2009 San Diego Comic Con taking place July 23 through 26, 2009 (with a…” MORE ?
• Gamertell Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blooded Prince the movie
  “Title: Harry Potter and the Half-Blooded Prince Release Date: July 15, 2009 Company: Warner Bros. Rating: “PG” Length: 153 min (2 hours, 33 minutes) Pros: All of the actors…” MORE ?
• Apple App Store gaming update for the week of July 13 to July 19, 2009
  “The Apple App Store gaming update is Gamertell’s weekly look at the previous week’s Apple App Store game releases. We cover them all – good and not so good – in their respective categories with a breakdown of the great games and the free games right where you want ‘em,…” MORE ?
• iTunes offers free download of Inuyasha’s first episode
  ” I know there were a lot of Inuyasha fans and gamers disappointed by the lackluster DS RPG Inuyasha: Secret of the Divine Jewel. Hopefully, today’s news will make up for it. Apple has a habit of trying to…” MORE ?
• Sam Raimi to direct World of Warcraft film
  ” Ain’t It Cool News let the Corrupted Cat out of the bag and now Blizzard has confirmed it with a release: Sam Raimi will direct the World of Warcraft movie. Raimi is world famous for directing…” MORE ?
• PlayStation Store Update: Namco Essentials, PSN Game Sale (July 19 to July 25, 2009)
  ” This week’s the PlayStation Store is featuring the Namco Museum Essentials collection for $9.99 bringing…” MORE ?
• See Jake Gyllenhaal run, backflip and spin kick as the Prince of Persia
  ” There’s been a bit of controversy about Jake Gyllenhaal playing The Prince of Persia in the upcoming movie, so the above pic from Entertainment Weekly may or may not sway your opinion. Nonetheless,…” MORE ?
• Japanese Imports: Big fat list of J-List updates for July 2009
  “It’s been way too long since I posted an update of the game-related and generally interesting items being offered at Japanese import site J-List and under-18 site J-Box. To help bring everyone back up to speed,…” MORE ?

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FROM APPLETELL – More free apps? Yes, yes, I know. Free apps are the best, or at least it’s fun to get something for free that isn’t complete crap. I hope you find something you like.
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Section: Gaming News, Exclusives, Originals, PCs, Mac, Windows, Game-Companies, Developers, Distributors, Publishers, Genres, 2D, Adventure, Casual, Puzzle, Sim, Strategy

This week there weren’t as many casual game releases as last week, but there was still a fairly adequate amount. It almost seemed like this week’s motto should be “Quality over quantity,” as quite a few anticipated and intriguing games were released.

The two most expected games were undoubtedly Alawar’s Farm Frenzy 3 and Ouat’s Pure Hidden. Which means, naturally, that they’re named as this week’s best bets. One’s your standard time management game, where you manage all sorts of farming tasks and animals. The other is a zen approach to the hidden object and casual genre, with a New Age feel and artsy design.

This week, time management games are the way to go. They dominate this update, so simulation and strategy fans should take note and see if there’s something they’d like.

This week’s best bets are: Pure Hidden (PC, Mac) and Farm Frenzy 3 (PC).

Midnight Mysteries: The Edgar Allen Poe Conspiracy
Genre: Puzzle (Hidden Object)
Availability: Big Fish Games, Harmonic Flow
Retail Price: $6.99
Platform: Windows XP and Vista
Premise: Ghosts guide you through hidden object puzzles as you attempt to not only find important information to help you finish your novel, but also discover the truth behind Edgar Allen Poe’s murder.
Demo Available: Yes

Paradise
Genre: Adventure
Availability: Big Fish Games, Harmonic Flow
Retail Price: $6.99
Platform: Windows XP and Vista
Premise: A young woman named Ann Smith was flying across Africa when an unknown assailant shot down her plane, leaving her stranded with amnesia. If she can reach her father, she can find out the truth, but she faces a long journey before she reaches him.
Demo Available: No

Megaplex Madness: Summer Blockbuster
Genre: Simulation (Time Management)
Availability: Big Fish Games, Harmonic Flow
Retail Price: $6.99
Platform: Windows XP and Vista
Premise: You are the brand new owner and manager of a multiplex. Your goal is to create a successful theature by taking good care of five theaters and making sure your customers are happy. There are also arcade mini-games included.
Demo Available: Yes

Megaplex Madness: Now Playing
Genre: Simulation (Time Management)
Availability: Big Fish Games
Retail Price: $6.99
Platform: Mac 10.4 and 10.5 (also for PCs)
Premise: Get ready to restore classic movie theaters! Do what ever it takes to get the theaters running and keep customers happy. Arcade mini-games also are accessible in the game.
Demo Available: Yes

Pure Hidden
Genre: Puzzle (Hidden Object)
Availability: Harmonic Flow
Retail Price: $9.99
Platform: Windows XP and Vista, Mac 10.4 and 10.5
Premise: There’s no story in Pure Hidden, just artistic little puzzles to solve. There are 66 cream boxes. You choose to open them, playing one of the assorted puzzles within. When you do well, you unlock wallpapers for your desktop relating to the game.
Demo Available: Yes, a web-based trial is available at the Pure Hidden site http://www.purehidden.com/.

My Kingdom for the Princess
Genre: Puzzle
Availability: PlayFirst, Big Fish Games, Harmonic Flow, RealArcade
Retail Price: $19.95
Platform: Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP and Vista
Premise: The sick King Sigmund wants to see his daughter, so it’s up to you to travel across the kingdom to bring her home to the castle. It won’t be an easy task though, since the kingdom’s been assault by natural disasters lately, not to mention a dragon, and you’ll have to use puzzle solving skills to find paths that will lead her home.
Demo Available: Yes

Farm Frenzy 3
Genre: Strategy (Time Management)
Availability: Alawar Games
Retail Price: $19.95
Platform: Windows
Premise: Scarlett wants to be president of the Farmers’ Union, and the best way to do so is show what a fantastic farmer she is. In an effort to win votes, she does a massive campaign tour across five countries where she helps farmers in order to gain their respect and their vote.
Demo Available: Yes

Passport to Perfume
Genre: Simulation (Time Management)
Availability: PlayFirst, Harmonic Flow
Retail Price: $19.95
Platform: Windows XP and Vista, Mac 10.4 and 10.5
Premise: Following along the lines of Chocolatier and Wine Maker Extraordinaire, Passport to Perfume lets players see what it’s like to become a perfume mogul in the 1940’s. You follow Sophia, who starts out a beginner and is working her way towards becoming a premier perfume artisan. The ultimate goal is to recreate Marie Antoinette’s perfume.
Demo Available: Yes

Editor’s Note: Due to so many casual games sites offering game plans or preferred member prices, which can cause a game to have multiple price-points, the games’ average retail prices is mentioned in Casual Friday.

Site [Big Fish Games] Site [PlayFirst] Site [GameHouse] Site [eGames] Site [Alawar Games] Site [Amazon] Site [Reflexive Arcade]

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Section: Gaming News, Consoles, PS3, Game-Companies, Developers, Publishers, Genres, 3D, Action, Shooter, Updates, Game-Content

By now PS3 Killzone 2 players have probably gotten a bit tired of the “Steel & Titanium” and “Flash & Thunder” downloadable content map packs. After all, the first was released April 30, 2009 and the second June 11, 2009. Well, the PlayStation.Blog has just announced that “Napalm & Cordite,” the third add-on, will be released July 23, 2009.

Like the previous Killzone 2 dlc, “Napalm & Cordite” is going to contain two maps to be used in the multiplayer mode. The first is the mining village environment Suljeva Cliffside. The second is situated in Blood Meridian’s defense post area and is called Arctower Landing.

“Napalm & Cordite” also contains a bit of a surprise. The previous add-ons simply contained new maps and trophys. “Napalm & Cordite” also allows players to use two single player mode weapons in multiplayer. The VC1 Flamethrower appears in Suljeva Cliffside and the Boltgun 4400 appears in Arctower Landing.

So if you own the game and you’ve been searching for an excuse to pick it up and play again, “Napalm & Cordite’s” as good a reason as any.

Read [PlayStation.Blog] Site [Killzone]

Full Story ? | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article ?

Section: Gaming News, Consoles, PS3, Game-Companies, Developers, Publishers, Genres, 3D, Action, Shooter, Role-Playing, Updates, Game-Content

Bad news for PlayStation 3 owners of Fallout 3. That downloadable content that you thought was going to be available in June, 2009, isn’t. Of course, you probably already realized that by now, given that it’s July already. The thing is, you’re going to have to wait quite a bit longer to play “Operation: Anchorage,” “The Pitt,” “Broken Steel,” “Point Lookout” and “Mothership Zeta.” Think September, 2009. Well, technically October, 2009, since the official PlayStation.Blog says the first DLC will be out at September’s end.

In order to make up for the massive delay, the release schedule is going to be altered. “Broken Steel”, which continues the main story, raises the level cap and adds in new enemies, will be released first. (It was the third add-on for the Xbox 360 and PC versions.) “Operation: Anchorage” and “The Pitt” will be released next, and Bethesda teases that they may be out at the same time. “Point Lookout” and “Mothership Zeta” will be released last.

Originally, the Fallout 3 DLC wasn’t going to be released for the PS3, but Bethesda changed its mind and, in May 2009, announced that the PS3 would also receive all of the add-ons available to Xbox 360 and PC owners. So while this delay is a crushing blow to PS3 owners’ spirits, be happy that you’re getting the downloadable content to begin with.

By the way, that chuckling you hear? That’s the Xbox 360 and PC owners gloating over the fact that they already can own and have all of the add-on DLC with the exception of “Mothership Zeta”, which comes out July 28, 2009.

Read [PlayStation.Blog] Via [Joystiq]

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