Unbound Gamer

Updates in the App Store: February 22nd

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 05:16:10 +0000

NEW:

UPDATES:

PRICE DROPS:

This is How it Looks Like in the iPad Factory

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 05:14:59 +0000

The american tv-channel ABC recently had the chance to take a look at the factory that make the iPad's in China.

We get to know that the workers at Foxconns have extremely low salaries and they work twelve hours per day. They're young and spend almost all their time inside the huge factory.

There's no space for their own room, so instead they sleep in huge areas together with space for 6-8 people. They pay rent for the sleeping place and also for the food.

To put together an iPad there's 325 hands needed and the process takes five days. Regarding the iPhone there's 141 different steps needed, where basically all steps require humans to do it.

To note is that 40% of the worlds electronics are made by Foxconn. With other words, Apple is far from alone to use this criticized supplier/manufacturer.

Fire Emblem Awakening Trailer

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 05:04:44 +0000

During the Nintendo Direct broadcast today, the first Fire Emblem Awakening trailer surfaced.

You'll be able to see a bit of gameplay and also the high quality animation used in the opening movie and also some interesting elements of the story is shown.

Check out the trailer below!

Fire Emblem Awakening

Album: Fire Emblem Awakening

Uploaded Today, 04:56 AM

Playstation Vita Review

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:59:31 +0000

Playstation Vita was released recently in America and even more recently in Europe. It's the sequel to the huge success known as PSP. We're now reviewing Sony's new console to see if it can lure over players from the iPad's, smartphones and casual gaming.

The market for handheld have grown like crazy lately. That who in the past was the focus of a very few consoles and very predictable game releases from big gaming companies have now turned into a flood of games, available to the Pad's and smartphones. iPhone, iPad and App Store is one of the big reasons for this. However, these days there's numerous companies that are hunting potential customers with competition for Apple.

Touch-based game, if we call them like that, are different from traditional handheld games in many ways, first there's the price and availability. Both the App Store and Android Market have made it super easy to purchase games, to prices far below that titles for Nintendo DS and PSP use to cost. One example is GTA: Chinatown Wars. Originally the price for this game was around $67, while the iOS-version (yes, I write iOS and not Ios like journalism is usually suppose to be like, come on we all know what iOS is anyway) cost around $11. This being in the higher tier price-wise in the App Store.

It's against this background that the Playstation Vita is released. The console are tempting us to go back to the little bigger, more expensive and more advanced gaming and some of the biggest 'reasons' given are more powerful hardware and a full-fledged set of controls. Everything from the standard four Playstation-buttons to touch-screen and a "pad" at the back are promising a whole different experience than what a touch-screen alone can offer. And this is probably where Sony would want to find their customers, people that are longing back to the bit more advanced mobile gaming.

The Playstation (PS Vita) is released in two versions: with or without 3G support. We've reviewed the 3G version. There's wi-fi and bluetooth support in both versions and the games are sold both on memorycards in stores as in the online store Sony Entertainment Network (Playstation Network recently changed it's name to this). The games are sold and stored on memorycards, so hopefully all games that are sold in stores can also be bought via the SEN. One drawback would be that the memorycards have been developed exclusively for the Vita console, so you can't use any micro/sd-cards. Available are 4GB to 16GB. Prices range from $30 to $60. Some games even require a memorycard to even start (such as Uncharted: Golden Abyss) it's a good idea that you buy a memorycard along with the console itself.

The console itself is priced fair: the wifi-version for $250 and the 3G version for $300. To make a comparision, the Nintendo 3DS was priced about the game at release, but it also have a lot weaker hardware. However, the priced was lowered a lot on the 3DS due to a slow start. This will make for interesting development to see if people feel that the higher price that the PS Vita is sporting is worth it, for it's much more powerful hardware, that is. And it's also to be seen as a whole new console.

The touch-screen is a big part of using the PS Vita. Program and games are given icons on the homescreen in the same way that they are on iOS devices. When a homescreen is full a new one appears below it and the icons can be moved around with ease, plus as a nice touch you can give each of the different homescreens different background colors. If you're in a program it's easily paused by pressing the Playstation button, where you can chose to either close it or tab between other open programs.

I've enjoyed using the screen that the PS Vita sports so far. It's giving us a fairly good size with the resolution 960x544 pixels and 5". So far we're missing the PS3 graphic that some of the previews claimed it to be. Surely, games such as Uncharted: Golden Abyss look amazing, but they don't have the in-depth details of the PS3.

The user interface are completely different from what we've been used to with the Playstation 3 and Playstation Portable; the XMB (cross media bar) steps aside for something different. Overall the navigation is simple and easy to understand, it's built around icons (hello, iOS) which might be a bit to get used to if you prefer text. There's also space for improvements, such as the error messages you can get if something goes wrong, they're really confusing and gives you a bunch of numbers and letters that tell us nothing, a bit like the old windows days.

I'd prefer to be told what happened that made something go wrong, and give us a way to fix it. How about when you attempt to surf, it tells you that you should turn on wi-fi (if it's off) and it'll ask you if you want wi-fi turned on. This does not exist currently, though. Perhaps in a future update Sony?

With a whole new generation of entertainmentconsoles where the user experience is very vital (see what I did there? almost VITA) there's several things the Vita need to see improvements made in. Especially software-wise. The strange decision of only allowing one account per console will annoy us reviewers who need several accounts more than the usual person, but it's still there annoying is. You can't use your profile on another Vita unless you completely factory restore the console. Not OK.

While I'm ranting a little bit, it's worthwhile to also bring up the issue with the memorycard slots. They're a challenge to open/eject if you've recently cut your nails, and the support of transfering movies to watch on the console are far from ideal. Better codec support is needed and we'll probably see this in a future update. Hopefully! Also, the PS Vita webbrowser can't handle html-5 based movies or YouTube. That's something that must be fixed. It's weird that these things aren't there at release. Especially with the console being out for over 60 days on the Japanese market. Regarding the batterylife we're at around four hours of playing while bluetooth is turned off and wi-fi mainly being unused.

The new way of mobile gaming makes the future of PS Vita unsure. The console have the right attributes to appeal to the PSP generation--however the question is how big part of this generation actually still want to continue playing in the more classical sense of handheld way. It's a must to have a lot of games and programs that also are easily accessible these days for handheld devices. Perhaps also games that are specifically built for the Vita unique controls, instead of just doing PSP updates with HD graphics. Such as the Final Fantasy X HD version currently in development. Prices are all from $50 for Uncharted: Golden Abyss, while Little Deviants is priced at $30. This is a good decision, since it would be quite hard to compete with games on the App Store and Android Market otherwise, due to the difference in price that already exists there--we're now seeing this with the PS Vita, again, good stuff.

So to summarize, hardware-wise the Vita have everything that's necessary to shine and rise to the top, now it's up to the developers to convince the buyers that a 'old' console idea is at least as much worth as the 'new' generation of casual touch-screen games and a 3D updated DS.

Unbound Gamer Score: 86%

The Positive

Price is great for what you get
Controls are innovative and full-fledged
Good battery life
Overall powerful console

The Negative

Software needs a lot more work
One profile per console
Vita only memorycards

'Blockolicious' iOS Review

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:57:39 +0000

We all have our favorite block breaking games. I love Bejeweled, my dad loves Puzzle Quest, and my friends love Pokemon Puzzle Quest. But last week saw the release of a new block breaking game titled Blockolicious. Blockolicious doesn’t really bring anything new to the table for the block breaking genre, but its music, extravagant colors, and cute animals make the game enjoyable.

The main mechanic in Blockolicious revolves around juice blocks. Different colored fruit boxes fall from the top of the screen and when three or more of the same color are next to each other, the player can tap them. After tapping these boxes they will transform into a single juice block. These blocks will slowly lose their juice, and pop when they do. But if the player can create a second juice block that resides on top of, or next to, the first one, then the juice in both blocks will be refilled.

When three juice blocks of the same color are next to one another, players can once again tap the blocks and form a bomb block. Once the bomb block has been popped by tapping it, every block of that color on the screen will also be popped, thus awarding the player lots of points. While you can gain points by forming basic juice blocks, players will want to form bomb blocks if they hope to make the leaderboards.

It is also possible to gain coins while playing. These coins can be spent on new animal powerups. Animal powerups range from wiping out blocks, to adding extra time (You have two minutes every time), and more. The player will need to charge these powerups by gaining points, or by using extra coins to fill a powerup at the start of a game.

The main problem I had with Blockolicious is that only the “Sprint” mode is available right now. This single mode doesn’t provide enough entertainment to make Blockolicious worth the $1.99 price tag. But luckily there is a “Marathon” mode on the way (probably an endless mode).

The music in Blockolicious is very tropical (Jamaican-like) and the graphics are very colorful and look great. The juice blocks even started to make me thirsty after a while.

Blockolicious is a fun game, but without the “Marathon” mode it’s more like half a game right now. The "Sprint" mode simply doesn’t provide enough content to justify the $1.99 price, so if you’re thinking about buying Blockolicious I would hold off for a while. But if you just can’t wait and you're looking for a fun, colorful block breaking game, then you can find Blockolicious (iPad exclusive) over on the App Store for $1.99.

Unbound Gamer Score: 70%

The Positive:

It’s colorful
The gameplay is addictive
Online leaderboards with Facebook integration
Games are quick

The Negative:

It feels like half a game without “Marathon” mode
There are other, cheaper alternatives

3DS Sales Break Through the Roof

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:47:31 +0000

After the release of New Love Plus last week, 3DS sales are once again through the roof. PS Vita sales are still below PSP sales, and the PS3 is still in second place. The full list of sales ranking can be seen below.

Last weeks sales numbers (previous week in parentheses):

1. 3DS: 94,667 (67,558)
2. PS3: 21,993 (22,002)
3. PSP: 14,824 (15,860)
4. PSV: 12,309 (13,939)
5. Wii: 7,874 (8,206)
6. PS2: 1,433 (1,239)
7. X360: 983 (1,139)
8. DSi LL: 901 (957)
9. DSi: 656 (651)

How many people can honestly still be buying a PS2?!?

Rune Factory 4 Debut Trailer

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:32:27 +0000

The first trailer for the upcoming title Rune Factory 4 was shown during today's Nintendo Broadcast. It doesn't give us many details, but it certainly looks good! You can check out the full trailer below.

Rune Factory 4 has a July 2012 release date.

'Toy Factory' iOS Review

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:27:43 +0000

If you ever have the opportunity and find yourself smack dab in the middle of in New York City one of the stops you have got to make is to FAO Schwarz Toy Store. It is like taking a step back into your childhood, to a time when your biggest concern was whether or not to play with your LEGO or your GI Joe. There is something about seeing all the different displays, from GI Joe to Barbie or life-sized replicas or R2-D2 made entirely out of LEGO, that makes us grin just a little as we allow the child inside of us to seek out for just a second.

Chillingo’s toy making iOS adventure, Toy Factory, tries to capture this same kind of joy and wonder through the building, maintaining and selling of a virtual toys. With an interesting mix of gathering, crafting and interior decorating, Toy Factory presents itself as a fun mix of project management and sweet crafting goodness.

The premise of the game is quite simple; discarded toys from around the world band together to create a toy factory that will produce toys that will not become worn with use. All of this is done in the hopes of keeping the children of the world happy indefinitely. As the factory Foreman, your job is two fold; first you must construct and manage the toy factory. This process is accomplished by building machines that produce materials that can be fed into the toy-making machine.

The second part is to manage the store that sells your toys. You must create a welcoming environment and build tables to display your newly crafted toys in the hopes that customers will purchase them. As you sell toys you receive money that is then poured back into the factory. Rinse, lather, repeat and you can create a fairly successful business.

The visuals in in Toy Factory are childish by nature. This is not a complaint by any means as it works well with the theme of the game. With lots of pastels and patterns Toy factory feels like a whimsical toy land. The cartoonish animations and sounds also add to the experience creating a light hearted, enjoyable play though.

Gameplay was simple, effective and layered. On the surface your primary task is to create toys and sell them. This is done through a series of menus and one tap commands. It was a simple control scheme but it smooth and efficient and it allowed for quick access to all of the information you needed at any one time. The gameplay did become more robust as you progressed, with the added ability of customizing the look of both your factory and store. This extra layer of play added a nice touch and helped fend off against boredom for a while.

Another layer of gameplay that I enjoyed had to do with the selling of the toys. There are different levels of toy creating difficulty and with each level comes more cost but also more reward. This was an interesting feature, as you really needed to plan out how best to spend the resources you had, weighing out long term investment over short-term profit. It was a nice touch to gameplay and brought additional depth to gameplay.

However it did lead to the one issue I had during my play though that I would like to make note of. As the game progresses crafting becomes much slower. When I first ran into the issue I figured I could simply set up some materials to produce and come back later when these things were completed. I was quite surprised and frustrated when I came back hours later to find out that the materials that had taken over an hour to complete had gone bad in my absence (moths perhaps…). Either way it left me a bit taken aback and frustrated.

This issue can be avoided if you have no problem shelling out real money to by crystals, another in-game currency, that gives you some great boosts. With crystals you can instantly complete materials gathering, buy deluxe editions of factory machines (allowing you to produce five of a material at a time) and purchase specialty items for both your shop and factory. You do collect a crystal for each level you progress through which was a nice gesture on the part of Chillingo.

Another nice feature was the inclusion of a friend’s list. This allows you to visit other friends toy stores any time you would like. You can even go so far as to order toys from them and receive prizes for visiting. It creates an inviting experience for players who want to show off their creations.

Overall Toy Factory was an enjoyable experience and I can see how people would get hooked. It offers a lot for the crafters and project manager type gamers among us. It does have its drawbacks with progressively slower crafting and micro transactions but for a free to play title I cannot blame them for wanting to create an avenue for revenue. It won’t fit everyone’s play style but if you give it a change you might find yourself building teddy bears and baby dolls all in the name of joy for virtual children everywhere. Now if you will excuse me I have some teddy bears to stitch together.

Unbound Gamer Score: 88%

Pros:

Great twist to the genre
Smart design of user interface makes for easy playing
Ability to visit friend’s toy stores was a nice touch
Bringing joy to virtual children everywhere

Cons:

The quick change of pace in crafting
Micro Transactions will be a turn off to some
Materials with a ‘best before date’

Sega, Capcom, and Namco Bandai Join Forces for...

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:01:58 +0000

One of the biggest surprises from today's Nintendo Direct broadcast brings together three of the most prominent names in gaming. Capcom, Namcom Bandai, and Sega are joining together for a 3DS crossover mystery project.

Namco Bandai, the publisher of the new title, opened a teaser site after the broadcast. The site gives no information as of right now and assures us we won't be able to figure out the identity of the new title.

Any guesses?

Sega Game Gear Coming to the 3DS Virtual Console

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:53:58 +0000

Famitsu reported today that the 3DS Virtual Console will be getting a new system on March 14th. Sega Game Gear games are coming, and that means a host of awesome titles. The games will be priced at ¥300 a pop (about $4).

The March 14th launch will see three titles including:

The GG Shinobi
Sonic & Tales 2
Dragon Crystal Shirani's Maze

So Game Gear fans, what games are you hoping to see?

Ubisoft and GREE to Make New Assassin's Cre...

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 03:08:26 +0000

GREE and Ubisoft are partnering up to produce a new Assassin’s Creed game for mobile devices. The untitled entry into the Assassin’s Creed series will be released in December 2012 and available on both iOS and Android devices in addition to GREE’s social gaming platform.

No other details were revealed at this time.

GREE is a popular social networking service in Japan and the largest based on total users, revenues and profitability.

*Source: Destructoid

'Street Fighter x Tekken' Due in Fall W...

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 01:33:46 +0000

Today, Capcom made a few major announcements about the PS Vita version of Street Fighter X Tekken. The first of which stated that the Vita version would not be released on March 8th alongside the PS3 and Xbox versions, but instead later this fall.

But because of the wait, Vita players have an extended roster to look forward to. The Vita version will add twelve new characters to the two casts including Elena, Guy, Cody, Sakura, Dudley, and Blanka on the Street Fighter team. The Tekken team will include Alisa, Christie, Jack, Bryan, Lars, and Lei.

You can check out the full post over at Capcom's Blog.

Head of Game Freak Hints at a New Pokemon Title

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:10:26 +0000

Game Freak head Junichi Masuda suggests that Pokemon fans check out next weeks episode of Pokemon Smash. Or as Masuda puts it, "Definitely watch next week's Pokemon Smash live!!! Those who can't watch, keep an eye on my Twitter."

This tweet comes from a Q&A session that Masuda held last week. When a fan asked if a new successor to Pokemon Black and White was coming, he responded saying, "Well... it's not like I don't know. I can't answer. However... I wonder if I can say this? Watch Pokemon Smash. That's all I can say."

Do you think the next title will be a combination of the two? Or a whole new game all together? We'll know for sure when Pokemon Smash airs this Sunday.

Updates in the App Store: February 21st

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:02:21 +0000

NEW:

UPDATES:

PRICE DROPS:

Over 10 Million Hours Spent on Disgaea 3: Absen...

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:10:58 +0000

Holy numbers dood! Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention on the PS Vita has only been out for two months and Nippon Ichi says that players have already accumulated over 10 million hours of playtime! And here I thought the ability to ramp up to the hundreds of billions in damage was insane!

In celebration, Nippon Ichi is releasing a patch that adds seven characters as save icons.

Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention was released as a launch title for the PS Vita in Japan, but we won’t be seeing it here until this spring.

*Source: Siliconera

Borderlands 2 Coming to Tegra 3 Android Devices

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:23:11 +0000

Gearbox Software announced today that Borderlands 2, the sequel to the hit game Borderlands, will be available in a Tegra 3 form for Android Devices.

Borderlands 2 is set for release this summer on Xbox 360, PS3, PC, and now Terga 3 Android devices. We don't have very many details as of right now, heck, we don't even know if it will be the full game or a shorter version. But if the Android version releases alongside the console version, that would be a first in mobile gaming history.

We're hoping to find out more details come GDC 2012 this March.

PS Vita 1.61 Update Adds Maps, Video Recordings...

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:03:39 +0000

Wednesday is the PS Vita’s mainstream release and to prepare for it Sony is launching firmware update 1.61, which includes the following:

• A map app.
• The ability to take videos via the Photo app.
• The products you rate in the PlayStation Store can now be published on Facebook.
• The Discoveries screen now displays players’ information like the list of online IDs (up to 100 players) and the encounter rate of each player.
• Mac OS support of Content Manager Assistant released while the Windows version has been updated.
• Overall improvements on the PS Vita’s software.

*Source: PlayStation Blog

UPDATE: Naughty Dog Not Working on PS Vita

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:20:08 +0000

Yesterday we reported that Sony’s Guy Longsworth told GameTrailers TV that Naughty Dog and other first-party developers are developing for the PS Vita. Now Naughty Dog is denying that they are making a game for the handheld.

“We’re not working on anything for PS Vita,” said Arne Meyer, Naughty Dog’s community manager. “I won’t say never, ever, but there’s no plans for it right now – we’ve always felt that consoles play to our strengths as a studio the best.”

Meyer went on to say that Longsworth never called out a particular studio and his clarification “shouldn’t be some earth shattering surprise” because Naughty Dog never made a handheld game before.

“That can change with the right handheld,” continued Meyer, “as why I said I won’t ever say “never” but we hadn’t encountered that yet – that’s why Jak TLF wasn’t an internal project for us.”

*Source: NeoGAF

'Little Acorns' iOS Review

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:05:20 +0000

Squirrels are probably one of the most well know small wildlife mammals. They can be red, grey, fat, or fly, but did you know they can also be good at platformers? Apparently the folks over at Chillingo did, and thus Little Acorns was born! I haven’t played a platformer in a while and Little Acorns really rekindled my passion for classic platforming titles. It’s a simple, yet intuitive game that will have you shooting for 100% completion on every level.

The story in Little Acorns is simple: A group of evil raccoons has stolen all of your family’s acorns. And since we all know that raccoons can’t simply get away with this type of thievery, you (the father squirrel) must go out and obtain the acorns that have been stolen. You will accomplish this task by swinging, jumping, and running through multiple seasons over the course of three years.

Each level in the campaign takes only a few minutes to complete which makes it a great “waiting for the bus” game. You have a set time (usually about 2 minutes) to complete each level and collect all the acorns and get to the exit door. But if you have a good extra minute after collecting all the acorns, you can go back and grab all five pieces of fruit as well. Grabbing all the extra fruit will give you some bonus acorns, but more importantly some cool clothes for your squirrel. Who doesn’t love a squirrel in a Bowler hat with a mustache?

The controls for Little Acorns are about as simple as they can be. There are two buttons to move left or right on the left side of the screen, and a jump button on the right side of the screen. A few levels in you’ll also be introduced to ropes which let you swing around the level. As well as swinging, powerups are introduced including super speed, a super jump, and an invincibility helmet. But even if you don't have the invincibility helmet, you can never die. Who could kill a squirrel anyways? Hitting an enemy will cause you to turn green and be momentarily slowed. This removes the frustration of death and makes Little Acorns a great platformer for casual gamers.

The music is Little Acorns is, well, funky. And I mean funky in a good way, like get-down-and-dance- Saturday-Night-Fever funky. And the graphics tie in perfectly with the game’s style. They’re fun, cartoony, and colorful.

Little Acorns is a great family-friendly title and is a great way to introduce younger gamers to the world of platforming. But because I enjoyed it so much, I’m sure older gamers will love it just as much as younger gamers. It’s a simple, yet fun platformer that will keep you entertained for at least a few hours. And with more content on the way, why not give Little Acorns a try?

Little Acorns is available now on the App Store for $0.99.

Unbound Gamer Score: 90%

The Positive:

Awesome platformer
Great for kids and adults
Plenty of levels
More content coming
Funky music

The Negative:

Since you can’t die, the game can be pretty easy
Level design is repetitive sometimes

Pokémon App Store Scam Finally Gone

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:18:12 +0000

We warned readers yesterday about a bogus Pokémon app on Apple’s App Store that was scamming thousands of people. After reaching the number two slot on Apple’s Paid Apps chart, we are pleased to announce the offending app is finally gone.

The app was supposedly a port on Pokémon Yellow, but according to reviewers the app would crash immediately after opening.

One day a true Pokémon title may grace the mobile scene— it’s just not this one!