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Maxis releases third Spore patch, includes 24 new limbs

Zach Lott — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:40:31 -0600

Over at the official Spore website there's news that the third patch for the game is now available, offering twenty-four new limbs for your creatures. The limbs are intended to be used with the Creepy & Cute Parts Pack, which was released today. Imagine how much freakier your creatures will be now.

There's also a few patch fixes:

Fix for esc key not bringing up Options in Galaxy Game Entry
Fix for creator backgrounds appearing on small sporepedia cards
Update to help keep achievements on the server in sync with achievements in the game

The patch is available for both PC and Mac.

Spore Release Date Announced: 9/07/2008

Aaron Dunlap — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 13:37:54 -0600

After something like a 42-year development cycle and 100 gameplay presentations from Will Wright, Spore finally has a release date.

Via a very brief teaser video posted on the Spore website, EA has announced a confirmed release date of September 7th, 2008 for the PC, Mac, and Nintendo DS.

"The wait is almost over," Chief Designer Will Wright said in a press release. "We're in our final stages of testing and polish with Spore, and the team at Maxis can't wait to see the cosmos of content created by the community later this year."

The seven months until release gives plenty of time for conservative, religious, and parents groups to get up in arms about the "pro-evolution" content of the game.

Elder Scrolls Online Rumor Resurfaces

Shiva Stella — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 10:00:00 -0600

Remember that Elder Scrolls Online rumor that recently surfaced? It's back, now that ZeniMax Online (a development studio created by ZeniMax Media Inc, which is the parent company of Bethesda Softworks) has announced that it has acquired the rights to use Simutronics' HeroEngine, which is designed specifically for crafting MMO titles.

ZeniMax Online was launched on August 1 of this year with the intention of focusing on the MMO market, so the company's use of the HeroEngine definitely makes sense. As for what MMO the team is working on, if it's going to compete with the likes of World of Warcraft it had either better be a bloody good, original franchise or an Elder Scrolls game. I will take either at this point.

Mark Walhberg IS Max Payne

Aaron Dunlap — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 11:51:12 -0600

Remember back in 2001 when Max Payne came out and you said, "Man, they should make a movie out of this!" but they never did. Apparently, they were waiting for the game to come tired, old news that very few remember.

"It was that game with the bullet time and melodramatic dialog and not much else, right?"

Right. Well, they're finally making a movie about it. Mark Wahlberg's playing Max, John Moore (Behind Enemy Lines, Flight of the Phoenix [Remake],The Omen [Remake]) is directing.

I'm assuming pre-production can't start until the writers' strike is over.

Since the only thing that made Max Payne relevant was its then-new, now-overdone use of bullet-time, and since bullet-time in movies is officially a cliche now, will the only thing this movie has going for it be a Vice cop whining on and on about his dead family and seeking bloody, bloody revenge by taking down a gang? Because we already had that movie. Vin Diesel was in it. It was called A Man Apart. It was bad.

New Street Fighter PSP Screenshots

Tim Grube — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 12:09:00 -0600

This article was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Certain formatting, imaged, and embedded content may have been lost in the transition process.

Take a look at these brand spanking new screenshots of Street Fighter running on the PSP. Enjoy!

KOF: Maximum Impact Maniax Announced

The Gaming Horizon Archive — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 12:48:00 -0600

SNK Playmore has announced King of Fighters: Maximum Impact - Maniax for the Xbox.

The game is the first original King of Fighters to come out for the Microsoft console. Maniax will include Xbox Live support including head-to-head, tournament and re-match modes. The game will also include an interesting new feature where you can pause the game and take a picture of your favorite fighters in game and you can choose between English and Japanese language in game.

King of Fighters: Maximum Impact - Maniax is scheduled to release for the Microsoft Xbox June 2005.

Originally written by Brian Mohr

DDR Is Headed To School

The Gaming Horizon Archive — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 22:25:00 -0600

Konami has announced that they have signed on to a three-year deal with the State of West Virginia by bringing Dance Dance Revolution to physical education courses to all 765 schools.

The entire phasing will take two years. The first to see the change is the 103 middle and junior high schools which should feature the program in the next few months.

Bringing the health benefits and enjoyment that DDR provides to school children is a great way to combat childhood obesity that is caused by the sedentary lifestyle of todays kids, said Clara Gilbert, Director of Business Partnerships at Konami. DDR has been a proven success in schools. This first-of-its-kind partnership will help us continue to demonstrate the benefits of DDR to consumers around the country.

Originally written by Brian Mohr

GH Preview: King of Fighters: Maximum Impact - Maniax (Xbox)

The Gaming Horizon Archive — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 12:18:12 -0500

This preview was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content. It was written by Eric Dayday.

Last year, SNK Playmore delivered the first-ever 3D King of Fighters onto the PlayStation 2 in the form of King of Fighters: Maximum Impact. Unfortunately, the fans reception to that attempt at modernizing the franchise by bringing it into the third dimension like Soul Calibur and Tekken was lukewarm at best. Fast forward eight months later and we see SNK gearing up to release King of Fighters: Maximum Impact Maniax, a remixed and retooled version for the Xbox that includes Live support.

Not much has changed from the PS2 version, but for those who didnt pick that up, well fill you in here. The roster is exactly the same as in the previous Maximum Impact, a list of 19 featuring classic fan favorites and a handful of fighters new to the KOF family like Maxima. With this being the first (or second, depending on how you look at it) iteration of the KOF series in 3D, all the characters fans have grown to love, like Terry and Mai, have a new refreshing look thanks to the leap from simple 2D sprites to beautifully rendered 3D models. While the characters look more real in a relative sense in comparison to their old animated sprites, they manage to maintain their looks and personalities that many have become familiar with. And is it just me, or did the graphics department manage to make Mai even more well-endowed?

The gameplay, however, feels very familiar. You still have two punch buttons, two kicks, and a series of combos that are activated with a particular series of button presses. Theres also the super meter that can build up to three levels, allowing you to unleash the usual multi-hit super moves. SNK even managed to leave a quick lateral dodge that the 2D versions had. However, the biggest change in the control is the addition of the sidestep, which is a logical step and would seem very restricting if this wasnt included in its 3D transition. An all-new knock back attack feature has also been added. This new move knocks opponents up in the air, opening them up for some serious air combos.

Another familiar gameplay element is the team-based fighting. Though not available in its primary mode, thus making it a rather boring standard one-on-one brawler, the team fights are really what make this game appeal. Players choose a team of three and fight on until one entire team is defeated. There isnt any mid-fight switch-outs like the Vs. series. Instead, fighters will switch in sequential order when one is defeated, adding a bit of strategy when selecting your team - should you go with your strongest fighter first, or backload your team?

Maniax offers the same game modes that the PS2 version had. In story mode youll take a character and lead him though a story that was definitely written with a lot of thought and effort, but thats not saying a lot considering that well-written stories in fighting games just dont seem to go together. In versus mode you can take on a friend or the CPU in both one-on-one and team battles. Challenge mode sends a series of battles, each with its own unique set of goals that must be met to pass the challenge. Practice mode serves its purpose. Lastly, there is a character profile mode that allows you to check out individual profiles and to ahem drool over some of the character models.

The most appealing part of this package, however, is the Xbox Live support. On Live, gamers can fight one-on-one, but I think most will partake in the three-on-three team battles. SNK has also included a rematch option allowing players to continually face the same person over and over again without having to reload and setup the entire match. Tournament brackets should be set up soon after the game releases.

Two other Xbox Live features in Maniax are a stop action camera, with which you can pause a fight and take pictures in full 360 views, and the ability to save a fight replay on the hard drive for viewing at a later time.

Without Xbox Live, King of Fighters: Maximum Impact Maniax would be nothing more than a solid fighter that would have found a niche market with the die-hard KOF fans. However, it does have Xbox Live, and so should appeal to a much wider market, i.e. all the fighting game fans with the itch for online brawling. I guess you could add also all those pubescent boys with a thing for scantily-clad women in 3D and exceptional physics.

GH Preview: Greg Hasting's Tournament Paintball Max'D (Xbox)

Brian Mohr — Sun, 22 May 2005 12:49:16 -0500

This preview was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content.

With the surprise success of the original Greg Hastings Paintball by being one of the top 25 Xbox Live titles, Activision is hoping lightning strikes twice as they plan to release Greg Hastings Paintball Max'D. Instead of just releasing for the Xbox the game is also going to see releases for all current and handheld systems. The game will feature three game modes including elimination, capture the flag and center flag. It will also have approximately 30 locations to play in.

The graphics for the new Greg Hastings title looks pretty, it's still a first-person shooter and has the same look and feel as the original. Although we didn't get our hands on the project, the controls look very simple and easy to pick up and I've been told they haven't changed too much from the earlier version.

More important to the title is some of the added content including four-player split screen. In this mode you can play two on two or four players against the computer, but if you don't want to play split screen hook the paintball title online for up to seven on seven action. Online is also looking to support downloadable content and missions in the future. Something important to note is that if you have the computer fill in as your teammates, you can map out exactly where you want them to be before the game even starts.

Another key feature added to the title is the field editor. The game will approximately 12 standard bunkers along with 15 to 20 other items to put in your map, you can also create skins to put on them as well. The best feature of all for this though is the option to put your created maps online and play in them.

The single player aspect of the game will feature a career mode that has you win tournaments to gain experience, skills and money. These can all be used to better yourself later in thae game and even if you continue gaining experience, the designers have plans for unlockables as well. Finally, there will be custom soundtracks in the latest title.

Overall, Greg Hastings Paintball Max'D is looking to be a pretty solid title for consoles upon its release this fall. Key additions like a field editor and split screen will certainly add to the fun and the game looks and feels great in the early addition we saw. Consider that with the online mode and Max'D definitely will again be a top online title for the Xbox and perhaps the PlayStation 2.