There is a huge fight that is happening this weekend in the MMA world. Current UFC Heavyweight Champion, Cain Velasquez, will be defending his belt against one of the hardest strikers in MMA, Junior Dos Santos. The team over at THQ released this video today showing what their game had forecasted in this epic battle, one that I might remind you, is free this Saturday on FOX. While I also see Cain Velasquez coming out on top of Junior Dos Santos, I just can not see the fight happening this way at all. Junior going in for takedowns again Velasquez? And getting one? I’ve tried in the past to sim matches together on UFC Undisputed, and I’m not going to lie, it doesn’t work. The game sims matches as just two regular fighters with different traits, it does not however, take these fighters actual fighting styles or real traits and sim them together. If you watch MMA, you would know what I’m talking about it. I’ve simulated a match with Rampage Jackson, someone who would never go for takedowns, attempt to do them again and again. Undisputed might score or rate the fighters attributes, but it just doesn’t seem to get how each of the fighters would really play out the match. Anyways, enough about that, it’s just a pet peeve of mine. Here is the video for you to enjoy, the game does look great and I can’t wait to get my hands on it early next year.

Treasure Seekers 3 is the third in the popular iOS series. If you haven’t played it before, Treasure Seekers is a puzzle game with a twist. The main gameplay element being searching the level for things to use to progress, whether it be a pair of scissors hiding in a chest in the attic, or looking for gears to get a machine working. The twist comes with level of interactivity, you don’t just search for items on a level, as the level itself is very interactive and requires a little more cunning to complete the objectives.

Treasure Seekers 3 is a very long game, after spending hours completing the first puzzle, I later discovered that there were another five completely different parts of the story to play, all taking place in different locations throughout the world with different objectives. Each level has typically 4 or 5 locations, the first story taking place in a house leads you wandering the house, in the sitting room, the study, the attic and even the dark dreary basement. You aren’t controlling a physical character in the game and as you make your way through the levels you are presented by an extremely well drawn picture of the location with some very good-looking interactive features, such as flickering light bulbs or swinging chains. Treasure Seekers 3′s story is in the title, Follow the Ghosts. You have to help free multiple ghosts trapped by the evil alchemist and although this is the ultimate objective of each location, you’ll find you quickly forget about the ghosts when you’re focusing all your attention of finding a piece of paper hidden in the corner of the basement.

The objectives in each level are extremely varied, an example such as “Grind grain for the bread” isn’t as simple as you’d think, as first you have to find some ropes inside the mill to repair the windmill with, then you have to attempt to get the windmill working. This might sound simple but because I’m searching for a tiny piece of rope a mobile iOS screen it does become quite difficult. I would recommend getting this game on iPad if you have one as the extra screen real estate could make a huge difference in finding what you’re looking for.

The game does feature some subtitled cutscenes and the sound design is average for an iOS game. The visuals definitely make the game fun to look at, and thankfully the game has a Hint button for when you get stuck (which in my case, was fairly often). Every so often to finish the objective you will have to complete a puzzle, and trust me, some of the puzzles are difficult (you have the option to skip these too if need be).

If you have an iOS device and enjoy playing puzzle games, then this is the game for you. I reckon you can expect at least 7-8  hours to complete this game if you don’t use hints. And on top of that, you get a well written overarching story to experience. It’s the kind of game you want to keep coming back to.

Rating: Buy

CCP Games announced today that they will be bringing their upcoming MMOFPS, Dust 514, exclusively to the PlayStation 3. Dust 514 is set in the same world as CCP Games’s Eve Online. In a revolutionary attempt to link console and PC, Dust 514 will be operating in the same digital space as Eve Online, with actions of one game having consequences upon the other. Players of Dust 514 will use strategic decision-making as well as their FPS skills in order to attain dominance in a persistent FPS game. Interestingly enough, the game will also opt out of the subscription fee-based model and transition to a micro-transaction model. While there is still no word of a release date, we eagerly await hearing more from CCP Games regarding the features that this console-based shooter will offer.

DUST 514 has been built from the ground up to take advantage of the unique capabilities of the PlayStation platform. Digitally distributed, the full game download will be available through the PlayStation®Network (PSN). It will feature full support for PlayStation®Move controller and PlayStation®Move Sharp Shooter accessory, and over time will extend the game experience across the full PlayStation ecosystem to PlayStation®Home and PS Vita.

In a departure from the traditional subscription or one-time purchase model, DUST 514 will be supported by revenues from the in-game sale of virtual goods, allowing players to purchase advanced weaponry, battle gear and vehicles using both earned virtual currency and real money from their PlayStation wallet.

What do you hope to see from CCP Games this year?

Learn more at www.dust514.com.

Looking forward to The Darkness II? If so take a look below at the newest trailer and at the end it will give you the release date for The Darkness II.

First here is a little more about the game:

It’s been two years since Jackie Estacado, now the Don of the Estacado crime family, used Darkness to kill the men responsible for his girlfriend’s murder. Jackie continues to have haunting visions of his beloved Jenny since her death. He’s tried to cope by bottling up his supernatural power, and now Darkness wants out. A sudden, unprovoked attack on Jackie’s life heralds the start of a full-scale mob war, which has clearly been orchestrated by some outside force. The botched attempt opens the door for Darkness to reemerge, and sets Jackie on a journey to hell and worse, as he unravels the mystery behind the attack and the motivations of Darkness itself.

For more information on The Darkness II, please visit www.embracethedarkness.com.

The Darkness II will be available for the PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360.

I personally believe that a Fruit Ninja title for Kinect would show off the accuracy of Kinect as gamers attempt to slice fruit in mid-air and it wasn’t so long since we heard of a Doodle Jump Kinect game which has me wondering, what other mobile applications might make the transition from one gaming platform to another? Perhaps this could be the start or a Kinect app store? Maybe not but still, with Microsoft’s E3 press conference drawing ever closer, it will be interesting to see what other Kinect titles there might be.

[Eurogamer]

What is Swarm?

Swarm is an action-platformer from the game creators at Hothead Games. In Swarm you take control of 50 utterly fearless Swarmites and drive them through an intense, entertaining and often suicidal battle of survival. Run, bash, huddle, boost, stack, jump, push and throw your way through gauntlets of death and destruction in an attempt to collect valuable DNA and ensure that at least one Swarmite survives.

For more information about Swarm head over to their website  www.swarmites.com and check them out on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/swarmites or on Twitter at http://twitter.co/swarmites .

The game is rated T for Teen by the ESRB and will be available for on the PSN and XBLA.  No release date has been set as of yet but as soon as we find out we will be sure to let you know.

She's so Raven...

Well, I guess you could have filed this under “TV series least likely to happen”, but it appears that Raven (of Teen Titans fame) is being developed into a live action TV series on The CW.  Looks like this is the latest effort in the attempt to replace Smallville, which is on it’s last season.  Of all the available characters in DCs stable, they’re choosing this C-lister — quite a gamble if you ask me.  Raven, most recently seen on Cartoon Network’s Teen Titans yelling “azarath metrion zinthos” every few minutes has big shoes to fill if she’s going to take over for Clark Kent.  Surely, there are other characters they could be adapting to the small screen…aren’t there?

Source: Variety

At one point, releasing video games in an episodic format appeared to be a good idea, but once it was put into practice it became apparent that wasn’t the case. After the failure of SIN Episodes and the lengthy development time of the Half-Life Episodes, consumers claimed that episodic games would never work. Amidst  all of the failed endeavors, Lionhead Studios had risen to the top with last year’s episodic downloadable release of Fable 2. According to Peter Molyneux the Fable 2 episodes had made $15 Million in revenue 9 months after the game’s retail debut.

Naturally, Lionhead Studios is taking another swing at bat with Fable 3, offering an episodic release of  Fable 3 like its predecessor. The episodes are supposed to hit XBLA “soon after”  the game makes it to retail. Now, Peter wasn’t being very specific and didn’t mention a date  so “soon after” could mean anything. In an attempt to get players hooked, the first episode–which is about an hour long–will be free.

(Source 1up.com)

Everyone nowadays has a Facebook account.  When you turn the ripe old age of 13 with or without parents approval you can have your own coveted account.

Facebook does not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from anyone under the age of 13 or knowingly allow such persons to register. If you are under 13, please do not attempt to register for Facebook or send any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, or email address. No one under age 13 may provide any personal information to or on Facebook. In the event that we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under age 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information as quickly as possible. If you believe that we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact us through the form on our privacy help page.

We recommend that minors 13 years of age or older ask their parents for permission before sending any information about themselves to anyone over the Internet.

So why is it when Microsoft released the much anticipated Facebook, last.fm, Twitter integration today they couldn’t get a patch out in time so parents can give authorization for their of age child permission to use a service they are already using?  Microsoft was aware of this when the preview program was announced and Facebook has not changed their policy as seen above.  Here is what was on Major Nelson’s page November 6th:

As some of you might be aware, those under the age of 18 are not able to access Twitter, Facebook and Last.fm in our public preview. I want to you let you know that this will remain the case when it launches to the world soon. We made this decision because as it stands now, parents aren’t able to use Family Settings to customize which of these applications their children can access. In order to offer an age-appropriate environment for everyone, we decided to turn off these applications for those Gold members under the age of 18. As expected, this has been a hot topic with the preview users. We want to make sure everyone was aware, however, that the development team is working on an update that gives parents the choice of which social applications their children can access. This means that Xbox LIVE members between the ages of 13 and 17 will be able to use Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm as long as their parents approve. The team hope to roll this out several weeks after launch and I will update you on the exact date as it gets closer.

The Xbox 360 has had the parental controls in place for some time and it is up to the parents to make use of them, but why is that Microsoft thought it would be OK to have the controls in place so that parents can allow children to play M (Mature) rated games and accept friend requests, but couldn’t patch the newest update in time with parental controls.

Last.fm and Twitter do not have any age requirement and I do understand Microsoft’s concern, but why release something that is not fully functioning for everyone as of yet.  Did we need this service so bad that we couldn’t wait for it to be completed for everyone?  Well I guess we will have to wait the “several weeks after launch” to see the outcome.  Until then let’s see if Sony will get it right when they release Facebook in their v3.10 update.