spawn622

Eric Ruth games has just released their de-make of one of the most popular Valve games to date, in Left 4 Dead. This 8-bit de-make is available for download over at Eric Ruth Games. Here's the description from Eric: Weighing in at only 21MB, this one is a quick download and looks like a lot of fun. If you check it out, be sure to leave some comments on your thoughts. Check out the trailer after the break.

The list is a little light on releases this week. Bayonetta has been getting great buzz though, so all may not be lost. Take a look and let us know what you are looking forward to in upcoming weeks or if I may have missed something for this week that you are looking forward to. Divinity II - Ego Draconis Darksiders Bayonetta My Fitness Coach 2: Workout and Nutrition Fast Food Panic

With EA shutting down servers for older games in early February, the guys over at Xbox360Achievements.org are trying to organize 1,000 users online at once yet again on 1/31. If anyone is interested, check out the info below for the scheduled time for your time zone: 7PM: Central Europe (GMT +1) 6PM: UK (GMT) 1PM: US Eastern (GMT -5) Noon: US Central (GMT -6) 11AM : US Mountain (GMT -7) 10AM : US Western (GMT -8) Via Xbox360Achievements.org

Jan 04, 2010 – A Connecticut man has become the first person in video gaming history to top the fictional "Costanza Score" made famous in a classic episode of Seinfeld. According to Twin Galaxies International, the official organization for scorekeeping on all eras of video gaming since 1981, the fictional 860,630 points held by Seinfeld character George Costanza (played by Jason Alexander) has been broken on an original Frogger machine for the first time in history by Pat Laffaye of Westport, CT.Mr. Laffaye's new World Record mark of 896,980 points was verified by Twin Galaxies referee Eric Akeson and announced by Twin Galaxies at the stroke of midnight on New Years as the ball dropped in Times Square. "Even though it was imagined by television writers, Pat has broken one of the most famous scores in pop culture," Twin Galaxies Division Manager Patrick Scott Patterson said. "Pat's amazing score will now forever be attached to not only Twin Galaxies history, but pop culture trivia as well." Pat Laffaye, also a record holder on the classic game Paperboy, has been in a long-running duel with gaming champion Donald Hayes for the top Frogger ranking. Twin Galaxies offered a cash prize to any gamer who could top the Seinfeld score in 2005 that no gamer was able to claim before the deadline or since until Laffaye's score. Twin Galaxies, established in Iowa in 1981, tracks record scores and times for video games going as far back as the 1970s to current day hits for the Nintendo Wii, XBox 360, and PlayStation 3 via it's website at: http://www.TwinGalaxies.com

MIDLOTHIAN, VA - December 29, 2009 – Leading videogame publisher, SouthPeak Games, today announced Blood Bowl® for Windows PC, the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system coming in 2010. The hard-hitting fantasy football title previously available exclusively as a Windows PC downloadable game is lobbing a ‘Hail Mary’ pass straight onto retail shelves in 2010. Just in time for the human football season’s end, SouthPeak is here to offer a less than traditional spin on classic football. With a rich heritage of table-top gaming, Blood Bowl is poised to tear your Windows PC, Xbox 360 and PSP system a new end zone. With turn-based gameplay and each play teetering on the roll of the dice, Blood Bowl will keep you on the edge of your seat from kickoff to final score. Inspired by the infamous Warhammer® series, Blood Bowl brings some of the most vicious gameplay, dirty tricks and lest we forget – secret weapons – to the field in an all new way. “We’re thrilled to have a part in bringing a proper retail version of Blood Bowl to North American gamers on Windows PC, Xbox 360 and PSP.” said Aubrey Norris, Manager of Human-Orc Relations at SouthPeak. “It’s never easy to get all these races to agree on something – but if there’s one thing they love its good competition with a lot of bloodshed!” Blood Bowl’s retail Windows PC and Xbox 360 packages will kick-off in January 2010 with the PSP system version taking the field in Spring of 2010. If you’ve never seen a goblin thrown into the end zone by a troll to score a touchdown, then prepare to be amazed! More details are sure to pop up as the teams get themselves in order and the pre-season action begins. For more information, please visit www.southpeakgames.com

From all of us here at Gamercide I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

A new Wii game is coming from Zoink Games, where you jam the Wii-mote down a stuffed animals throat and move the stuffed animal around to play the game. Interesting idea for kids if it works well. Take a look at the promo video below and see what you think.

After much downtime, a few behind-the-scenes changes, and much heartache for some of the staff, Gamercide is on its way back. Things may look a little different than you're used to, but this will be the same place as before, except we'll have a proper site to visit and soon a forum to post in. Keep coming back to see the progress!!

The Important Stuff This game plays very similar to Bejeweled or even Hexic, but allows for a TON more freedom in movement than those games. You can not only move your nus (pearls) up, down, left, or right by one space, you can pretty much move them anywhere on the board. This freedom of movement gives you the chance to setup strategies for how the pearls fall and disappear when matched. This simple change also brings more challenges. In classic mode, there is a time limit for each level, so you can’t sit and ponder too long. There is also an “auto-pop” feature that once you match 3 or more pearls, they automatically pop. In survival mode, certain pearls turn in to bombs and you must get rid of them as quickly as possible before they explode. If they explode it’s game over. There are also puzzle modes where you get a task to complete, such as get a certain combo chain or score certain point totals. Tips and Tricks - Be sure to watch the clock. You can get caught up in setting up your pearls that you lose track of time. - Bombs are bad. Get rid of them quickly, leave strategy at the door. Reaction I’m a huge fan of the match 3 games. Bejeweled and Hexic have been two of my favorite games for a long time. Now, Popnus has been added to my short list of puzzle games as well. I really enjoy the new freedom of movement in the game. It makes you think even more than any of the other games in this category. Setting up a domino type effect of chain combos is REALLY rewarding when it works the way you plan and oh so frustrating when it doesn’t work out quite right. When the clock starts winding down and you’re setting things up, a feeling of frantic pressure washes over you as you try and finish setting up your scenario. Even more frantic is the survival mode. I played one game that I had more than 6 bombs on-screen at once and I was pulling my hair out trying to figure out which ones to get rid of first. I really didn’t think there was much more that could be done in this genre, but I am pleasantly surprised by how wrong I have been about that. I can highly recommend this to any puzzle game addict, like myself. Spawn gives this one an 8 out of 10

With each and every “Gabbin’ with Gamercide” we will look to bring you many interviews with members of the gaming world, from not only the console world, but the mobile gaming market as well. We try to give a “behind the scenes” look at what makes each company do the things that they do. In this interview, we get to know the CEO and Founder of one of the premier mobile gaming developers in the market today Kiloo. Teaming with Manomio, Kiloo worked to release one of the very first retro gaming emulators for the iPhone, C64. C64 as I’m sure you can guess is a Commodore 64 emulator that lets you relive those awesome 80s games on the go. This did not come without its hiccups, but they guys powered on and continue to work out the kinks of the Apple App Store submission process. Kiloo has also worked with some of the most well known IPs among various industries in the LEGO and Happy Tree Friends brands. Please help me give a very warm welcome to Jacob Møller from Kiloo. Q: Let's get things kicked off with a quick introduction. Tell us who you are and give us a little background about what you guys do at Kiloo. Jacob: Hi Shawn! The whole idea of Kiloo started out more than 10 years ago, when a few of us was fiddling with computer graphics and games in our sparetime. Like a lot of other startups, this story began in my apartment with long nights, lack of funding and learning by doing. Luckily, we’ve improved a lot on those points since! With a strong foundation in developing for Java-enabled phones for a number of years, we’re right now looking to publish on the newer markets with iPhone, Android and Nintendo DS development. But we certainly won’t rule out other platforms as long as digital publishing is possible. Q: What sparked your interested in working in the mobile gaming market? Jacob: It came quite natural – we were keen gamers and we loved our mobile phones. When we saw that the phones started providing more datapower than the computers we had when we were kids, that was really the Heureka moment for us, and we’ve never looked back since. Q: Most people working in any field in the games industry have a story as to how their love affair with games evolved. What games or type of games do you play most often and how long have you been in to gaming? If you can, throw out a couple of games that inspired you to get where you are today. Jacob: We play alot of games at the office. From the newest iPhone titles over Wii Tennis and Geometry Wars to Metal Gear Solid. Even the fussball table is used quite often. But we’ve always been very passionate about retrotitles, you know all the games we played as kids. There’s something wonderful about the simplicity of these games. The value of quality gameplay at its core. Q: What was the driving force behind choosing the Commodore 64 as the basis for one of, if not THE first officialy released iPhone emulators? Jacob: It might sound like a terrible cliché, but there’s just so much emotion connected to the C64 that we instantly fell in love with the idea when presented to us. Just the thought of combining a really state-of-the-art machine like the iPhone with something as cool as the most popular personal computer of all times was too fantastic to let pass. Q: Kiloo and the team over at Manomio seemed to have some trouble getting the app through Apple's app review process. How did you guys work with Apple to finally overcome these problems? Jacob: We’ve been very happy working with Apple along the way. We have the biggest respect for the hard work guys at Apple put into this whole project to make it overcome the bumps on the road we’ve encountered. Q: Any idea as to when we might expect the add-ons for the C64 emulator? Jacob: We’re not quite ready to reveal that yet – but I can assure you that everyone are working hard on making sure that we get as many titles as possible for that platform. We are going to be releasing new content quite frequently though. Q: The LEGO franchise seems like it would be a blast to work with. Did you play with LEGO bricks as a kid? If so, does this help in creating games for them? Jacob: Oh yeah – our house was full of LEGO when I grew up. It’s only natural to be inspired by that when we had the good fortune to work with that great brand. Q: The guys over at Mondo Media seem like really great guys, with a HUGE imagination. What's it like working with those guys and their Happy Tree Friends? Jacob: Yeah what can I say? They’re great guys and girls, never afraid of pushing the limits. Everyone at Kiloo love their shows. It’s just so whacky that you have to laugh even though cute animals die in horrible ways. Q: The one thing I haven't seen is a Happy Tree Friends game for the iPhone. Anything going on we can expect from the Happy Tree Friends for Apple's platform? Jacob: I’m afraid we can’t say anything about that at this point. Q: With some of the more edgy content, is there any series or type of game that you would absolutely refuse to work on? Jacob: Yeah speaking of Happy Tree Friends - we’re very open minded people, but I’d say that Happy Tree Friends is a good example of that edgy content. We probably wouldn’t go much further in terms of gore and blood and those things – but given that it’s cartoon violence with animals for a mature audience that was just one of the most fun projects to work with for me personally. We set a very high standard of integrity in everything we do, and if something feels like it would threaten that integrity we wouldn’t pursue those projects. Q: Every company has those "super secret" projects. Can you give me a little nugget of something you may have upcoming that you may not have announced yet? Jacob: If we started chatting around about our secrets, it wouldn’t be secrets anymore would it Shawn? I’d like to extend a huge thanks to Jacob for taking time out of his busy schedule to work with me on bringing this interview to everyone. With mobile gaming’s skyrocketing popularity due to the likes of the iPhone and the Palm Pre, I’m sure we will be hearing more and more from Kiloo and Jacob in the future. The release of their latest game, Mattel’s Whac-a-Mole, just really goes to show how big of a player these guys are. You really should go check it out if you have an iPhone. Also, keep an eye out for even more from them in the future. I’m sure they have TONS of stuff in the pipeline, even if they wouldn’t tell me about it first.

Harmonix took a definite “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach in the game. The basic structure of Rock Band is still intact here. The only major addition is the 3 part harmonies on the vocals. You can have up to 3 people on one microphone or 3 separate mics. Each person can sing the same part or choose a harmony to sing for maximum points. The lead guitar, bass guitar, and drums are still here and for the most part unchanged. The only difference here is really with the drums. Instead of playing whatever you want on the drum fills, you will actually be playing Ringo’s drum fills. In drum trainer mode you will also learn Ringo’s drum beats. The track list in the game is outstanding for fans as well. You get 45 songs on the disc and 1 downloadable song available right out of the gate. “All You Need Is Love” is available as a timed exclusive for download on the Xbox 360 day one and all proceeds are donated to charity. In career mode the tracks coincide with The Beatles’ actual career and every minute is a joy to play. Graphically, the game shows off the love for the property. As you get to the Abbey Road studio tracks, the game seamlessly goes in to what I refer to as the “Dream Sequences”. Instead of the Fab Four just sitting around the studio playing, these dream sequences coincide with the songs. In “Yellow Submarine” you get an underwater sequence that is akin to the actual video for the song. In “Here Comes the Sun” you get to see the guys in a hot air balloon as certain lyrics float through the clouds. The character models are true to life and as you progress through the career, their appearances change accordingly. This is a far cry from Guitar Hero 5’s terrible renditions of artists passed. With each star you collect in career mode you can gain pictures of some behind the scenes looks at The Beatles. Each picture has a description to accompany it and as you gain more pictures you will gain prizes. These prizes can be behind the scenes videos or audio, as well as some really nice exclusives, such as a look at one of the Christmas cards that the band sent to its fan club members. The card was also accompanied by a recording of the band singing Christmas songs and you get a reproduction of that audio as well. The extras in the game are truly a fans dream come true and will provide replay value to try and get everything there is to gain. Reaction As I said at the beginning of the review, I am a huge Beatles fan. I’m sure if you’ve read this far in, you can pretty much tell what my reaction to the game has been. Sure I know this is just Rock Band with a different soundtrack, but it is THE soundtrack to me. The Beatles play the music that I can listen to any time and love it. Harmonix did such a great job and showed so much love to the property. Graphically the game couldn’t be any more of a joy to look at. The character models, the backgrounds, the dream sequences, and even the extras in the background are all detailed and look exactly like they should. The lip syncing to the music is spot on and looks totally natural. The location graphics are recognizable for the most part. From the Ed Sullivan stage to the Abbey Road Studio rooftop, it’s all here and it all looks great. The songs chosen for the soundtrack truly do show off The Beatles catalog. Playing Paperback Writer, Yellow Submarine, St. Pepper…The list just goes on and on. I never ran in to a song that I didn’t like to play. Almost all the classic favorites that everyone knows are here, or will be available soon through DLC. There are some more obscure songs that bigger fans will easily recognize, but may draw in a new audience for those songs from people that may not know them. Knowing that Abbey Road, Rubber Soul, and Sgt. Pepper are all coming soon as well as more albums of DLC is also a huge draw. DLC is something that Harmonix has always done well with Rock Band, so I’m sure we’ll see more albums and songs announced fairly soon. If I am forced to nitpick something in the game, it would have to be the difficulty level. I normally play on Hard. Carpal tunnel syndrome keeps me from playing on Expert for more than one or two songs, so I play Rock Band and Guitar Hero games on Hard and I am normally challenged enough to not get 5 stars on every song. In this case, I was able to 5 star every song on Hard the very first time I played through them. I never had to play a song more than once. I can only deduce that Harmonix did this so you could feel comfortable playing guitar (Lead or Bass) and still play vocals as well. This did give me a sense of actually being a member of the band. Doing both was quite fun and did offer more of a challenge, so I can forgive the rather low difficulty on guitar. Drums, as always, are a challenge for me and I only did a few songs. That said, I did have a blast playing as Ringo. Knowing that I was playing his actual drum beats was pretty awesome. Overall, I absolutely loved every aspect of the game. The opening video had me grinning from ear to ear and as I played through the game, I found myself wanting to watch the background videos and missing some notes. The tracks chosen are amazing and I immediately purchased “All You Need Is Love”. I look forward to filling up my Xbox hard drive with every album offered for the game. The difficulty will be a turn off for some more advanced players, but playing the game with a mix of people is really awesome and it makes for a great addition to your music game fueled parties. As a Beatles fan, all the extras were a joy to read, watch, and listen through. I can’t say enough how much I loved this game. Due to the difficulty, I can’t give it a perfect score but it is as close as possible for a music game in today’s saturated market. Ladies and gentlemen….The Beatles!!! I give them a 9 out of 10!!! Photos via Gamespy http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee135/spawn622/Beatles/Beatles1.jpg

The Important Stuff This game plays a lot like most management style games, but the added twist of playing as the lion pride is quite refreshing to see. The prey types of warthogs, antelope, zebra, and cape buffalo all require different strategies to take down. As your intended prey come on screen you must draw a line to each animal. Draw the line slowly and your lion will slowly creep up to the intended prey. Draw the line quickly and the lion will sprint towards the animal and pounce. This may seem like a simple premise, but the different animals all seem fairly smart and some of the animals will require multiple lions to take down. As you traverse the 8 stages and advance through the survival mode more and more elements are introduced, whether it is different prey, more lions (male and female), or the dreaded enemy of the lions, the hyena. Hyenas will either take your prey or scare them off, leaving you with no food for your pride. Tips and Tricks - Be sure to sneak up on your prey and pounce when you’re close - Make use of the “stun” feature while your lions are feeding - Cape buffalo require 3 lions to take down Reaction Now, I’m not a huge fan of management style games. They just aren’t my thing. That being said, I did enjoy this game quite a bit. Better score tracking and maybe a little more prey and more varied enemy types would be a definite plus, but aren’t a huge detriment to the game. The graphics bring a fun and cartoony look that everyone will enjoy. Overall this game was much better than I expected and has earned a place on the “Games” page on my phone, instead of being relegated to the “Reviews” section. Spawn gives this one a 7 out of 10