Brain Hood

U.S. retail video game hardware, software and accessories fell 10 percent last month, U.S. $ 995 million (1.18 billion dollars) over the same month last year.

The second consecutive month of decline in industry sales was due primarily to a list of mediocre game releases.

NPD Group market research, said in its monthly report yesterday that sales of video game hardware fell 9 percent to U.S. $ 366.6 million. These include portable game systems and game consoles like the Wii.

Software sales, the games themselves, fell 12 percent to U.S. $ 469.5 million. When including PC games, total sales of software fell 10 percent to U.S. $ 508.9million.

Doug Creutz, an analyst at Cowen & Co., planned June sales disappoint, although he said several titles for hardcore gamers did worse than expected.

These include Duke Nukem Forever by Take-Two Interactive Software and Red Faction: Armageddon by THQ. Both the negative reviews hurt, he said.

Sales of game accessories, meanwhile, fell 11 percent to U.S. $ 158.9 million.

Month two best-selling game was LA Noire, which is also published by Take-Two, Sony and Duke Nukem Infamous seconds.

Each gamer who has always selecting controller has heard about the exceedingly popular Halo series.  Here are entire discussion group who are still going over whether or not the video game series wen this the right direction

One game that set Halo on its path but is still a little less well know is the game that laid the groundwork.  Shooter games have always been pretty popular.  Shooter games on the console have become so popular that Xbox users are even getting carried away with the controllers such as replacing some of the control buttons with actual bullets.  Of course at some point people need to get a little classier than that and bringing a great shooter game to the iPad is one way to do that.

With the upcoming arrival of the Amazon tablet, the iPad needs to find new ways to make sure they keep the entirety of their popularity and one of the ways to do that is to bring some games that were pretty darn popular even when they were getting played on the old school format such as the personal computer.  The game “Marathon” is getting set to launch on the iPad and is apparently going to bring everything that avid gamers using Macs and PC have fallen in love with.

Marathon is actually well known among those who are avid Halo players because it takes place in the same universe and for that matter is a direct prequel to what happens in that particular story line.  This means that those that feel as though the Halo storyline went off the rails a little bit, or who are looking for another, interesting chapter to the series can find it with Marathon.  Of course the characters won’t be the same, but is that ever really needed when you sink your teeth into a great game?

Of course the really good news is that apparently the game will actually be a free app, something a little surprising when you think about the money making possibilities of another angle to the Halo universe.

With the license to make a game in hand Jurassic Park, Telltale Games had to find the ideal starting point for a story that appears in the canon of the film without disturbing or recreate the events of the first film.

They found it in a can of shaving cream, lost for nearly 20 years.

The Barbasol remember? In 1993, the summer blockbuster, the unfortunate Nedry turned to get the plan embryos of dinosaurs on a shaving cream is false bottom which releases the dinosaurs and highlights the survivors frantically trying to flee the island.

Nedry never made it to the handoff, of course. During a torrential downpour his jeep bogged down and he was devoured by dilophosaurs, whose iconic (if scientifically unsupported) neck fans and poison spit made them about as memorable as the nasty velociraptors. But after Nedry croaks, that’s it. We don’t know what happened to the canister, nor do we know what his handlers did when Nedry didn’t show. For something worth $1.5 million, surely they would have gone looking for it, right?

That loose end provided Telltale the perfect entry to a story contained entirely within the time of the first film—much more memorable and enjoyable than its two underwhelming sequels—without repeating or adapting its events for a game, much less retconning anything.

At E3 2011 last week, Telltale showed off what creative director Dave Grossman called the studio’s “most cinematic game to date.” It’ll arrive later this year on PC/Mac and on the PlayStation Network, in an episodic form similar to the rollout of Back to the Future. The Xbox 360 will see a retail release containing all of the game’s chapters on a single disc.

It’s a Telltale Game, so this isn’t a third-person action game or, heaven forbid, a shooter. It’s very story-driven, focused more on puzzle solving, paying attention and advancing the story than it is action. It does have some faster-paced sequences, navigated entirely by timed button presses within Quicktime events.

In conversations, a Mass Effect-style dialogue wheel allows some role-playing choice, but the discussions don’t truly branch and all arrive at the same conclusion.

Spoiler Alert: As it’s a narrative game, to discuss what Jurassic Park does, we’ve got to talk about the story it’s telling. Fans of the first film looking forward to this new chapter of its story should consider whether they want to read further.

Alright? We’re cool now? Good. Back to what I saw.

In the sequence I was shown, you’ll be playing as one of the two people assigned to meet Nedry. You control Nima, who is a profit-motivated mercenary but certainly not a stooge, nor particularly evil. Miles, her companion, is a backstabber, which is why you don’t control him. While all the characters you play in Jurassic Park will have their own agenda, for some that will mean cooperating with others.

Nima and Miles encounter Nedry’s jeep and his chewed-up remains during a clue-finding investigative sequence. At this point they’re not aware of the bizarre danger surrounding them; the writing and the acting in Jurassic Park the game portrays the dinosaurs the way the film did: not as monsters but as animals, albeit extremely threatening ones.

Nima, in a sequence initiated by the player, figures out that Nedry must have dropped the Barbasol can and uses an object of similar weight to simulate where it may have rolled. She and Miles are then set upon by dilophosaurs. Miles sacrifices Nima as bait to make his own escape, but he meets the requisite grisly end. Nima avoids the creatures (entirely by Quicktime event) and makes it into the jeep and ultimately to safety, ending the scene.

Telltale said this will be the first game it’s done where a player can fail in a way that gets his character killed, and we saw Nima buy the farm once, just to prove that point. Dinosaur types will appear and reappear throughout the game, rather than turning the entire tale into a case of “Here’s the dilophosaurus level; here’s the velociraptor level,” etc.

The way the film foreshadowed the threat before losing the dinosaurs is something Telltale wants to honor, too, Grossman said, and Jurassic Park will offer its own prehistoric adversaries. “There is also a mysterious new threat that even the chief veterinarian doesn’t know about,” Grossman said.

The pre-alpha version of the game we saw had yet to refine the facial movements in the dialogue scenes and some details, like gunfire muzzle flashes, needed to be added. Environmentally, it was richly illustrated and the visual style is realistic, not cartoony.

Reveal believe with some reason, it did not contain the best of all games maker, and most importantly, there will be reason to pick up the game. It is much more interactive than a story, but it will not be rapid contraction of entertainment by any stretch. Jurassic Park is the target audience will be those who liked the first movie and want to explore the island, not to visit old haunts in another environment.

Nanosuit Crytek is for the second time in Crysis 2. With a new parameter, fidelity graphics and sophisticated mechanical, definitely impressed Crysis 2 – but is it enough?

Crytek is defined as a studio that pushes the technical limits of the equipment.

With a game engine that brought the high-end PC to its knees, not too many people have had the privilege to experience Crysis the way the studio had originally planned.

So much so that the game has been slandered with the meme “can run Crysis.” To remedy this, Crytek Crysis 2 be available on all major platforms, but not without a few sacrifices.

Crysis 2 abandons the jungles of the South Pacific for the concrete and glass canyons of New York City.

Assuming the role of a US marine named Alcatraz, the player inherits a bioweapon called the nanosuit from the first game’s protagonist.

The nanosuit allows the player three core abilities: strength, armor, and stealth. The unique suit powers are the center mechanic of Crysis 2′s gameplay and level design.  The urban landscape of New York City lends itself well to Crytek’s design philosophies and mechanics. Combat encounters are designed within sandbox-like arenas.

The level design and enemy patrol patterns are wide enough that it allows the player certain tactical options that take advantage of the nanosuit abilities.

An encounter can be carefully planned and scouted with the use of the game’s tactical visor.

When equipped, intel about enemy and ammo locations are highlighted, as well as possible tactical areas of interest.

While the visor recon is a part of the game’s overall lore and fiction, it ultimately made the sandbox combat encounters feel less dynamic and spontaneous – almost as if Crytek were being whispered in the player’s ear, “You can play this part in 3 different ways&”

The nanosuit powers, in practice, work well in encounters. What becomes the main issue in combat, however, is the inconsistent enemy AI.

Since the fiction places the player in-between a corporate army and an alien invading force, Crysis exhibits two distinct kinds of AI patterns – only one of which proved to be of any fun.

The alien counterparts feel predatory in their movement and grouping patterns.

What makes their encounters feel special is that they present the player a sense of parity.

Alien enemies each have nanosuit counter measures that can offset the player’s tactical advantages, making for a more dynamic and interesting encounter.

For instance, I tried to cloak and sneak past a large alien patrol through a wet ditch in an attempt to reach the other side.

Upon hearing the wet pitter-patter of my footsteps, the patrol started to hunt me down and was setting off area-of-effect electric magnetic pulses that, if I were to be hit, would drain the suit’s power automatically.

In comparison, the human AI is stationary in nature and offers no real tactical counter-measures to your core abilities.

What is troubling, however, is that the structure of the narrative alternates between enemy types – creating an awkward experience that is inconsistent in its pace.

The disappointing AI feels like the game’s compromise – as if it had to cut corners in order to render the graphical showcase of Crytek’s game engine.

To that end, Crysis 2 does not disappoint. Quite simply, Crysis 2 is amongst the best looking games to date. What sets Crysis 2 apart from the original, other than evolutionary steps in rendering technologies, is a visual sensibility.

Crytek’s visualization of an infected and war-torn New York City is surprisingly inspired, if not disturbing – especially as it borrows a lot of 9/11 imagery and mise-en-scene.

Crytek swung for the fences with Crysis 2, which offers the most beautiful games current platforms have yet seen. But Crisis 2 is the candidate that beauty contests – even though it is arguably more beautiful than its competitors – or do anything smart things to say when give the microphone.

Another military controversy is brewing, not on the battlefield, but on the television screen.
A brand new video game has been banned from military base shelves.
The new version of Medal of Honor allows you to play as Taliban fighters, and kill American soldiers.
That’s prompted the Army, Navy, and Air Force to take the game off their website and store shelves on base.

In a statement, Army and Air Force Commander Major General Bruce Casella said while he knows it’s an inconvienence to authorized shoppers, “We are optimistic that they will understand the sensitivity to the life and death scenarios this product presents as entertainment.”

That’s the Army’s version, but what about the soldiers themselves, are they offended?

“I was actually excited to play the game,” said Robert Lucente.

Robert Lucente is a soldier and an avid gamer. He spent time in Iraq, and now that’s he’s home, spends time in front of the TV. Taking on whatever foes he can find in the virtual military world. A world that he says includes shooting as the enemy.

“It’s like when you were a kid playing cowboys and indians,” said Lucente. “Sometimes you just want to be the bad guy. Experience that point of view. Its not about being a Taliban and killing American soldiers. Just to possibly experience what our soldiers ”

“He’s like, who cares,” explained Elizabeth Smith. “The company is making money”

That was Elizabeth Smith’s husband reaction. He’s deployed right now and plays military video games during his downtime.

“People are too sensitive,” said Smith. “It’s been 10 years and a lot of good things have happened over there. It’s a game. They are not out there in their gear, they are playing somebody. It’s all in the controls, it’s not something that will haunt them at night.”

“Soldiers are the ones who are buying and playing this game. Half the time I am online playing with soldiers,” said Lucente. “Someone with my point of view to where I’ve been overseas, I can differentiate between reality of a video game and reality of being over there and actually doing it.”

and if you don’t like the “reality of the situation? Lucente has some advice.

“It’s a video game. If you don’t like the game or what it entails, don’t play it don’t buy it.”

So far the Navy and Army say they haven’t heard any complaints about the ban.

Any reserve or preorders placed through shopmyexchange.com will be cancelled.

Preorders originally placed through GameStops on Army and Air Force installations will be transferred to the nearest GameStop off the Base or Post.

Recently, on my homeward bound Tube commute, I let out a spontaneous cry of triumph which caused all the other passengers in the carriage to stare at me disconcertingly. I grinned at them sheepishly and did my best to turn invisible for the remainder of the journey. Inwardly, I gave myself a massive high-five. Finally, after about two weeks of toiling away, I would now be able to start reading books again on my daily trip into work. The reason for this is that I’d completed the final gaming achievement from the new list which was loaded onto my Plants Vs Zombies iPhone app in the last update. The game would now have to relax its Rasputin-like grip on me – at least, until the next achievement update arrives (if, indeed, there is one on the way).

Such is the genius of PopCap’s game that the Seattle-based developer could probably ensure its longevity simply by releasing ten or so new achievements every other month. Easily one of the most addictive and delightful games in PopCap’s canon, PVZ has seduced gamers the world over. Originally released for the PC last year, PVZ has jumped onto both the iPhone to the iPad, smashing sales records along the way. The game has been an unqualified success so far, and spurred on by this, PopCap recently announced plans for a port for the Nintendo DS for next year. In the meantime, PVZ has landed on the Xbox Live Arcade, boasting extra content to entice PVZ veterans and newcomers alike to part with their points.

For those who have never heard of it, PVZ is a tower defence game in which players use an assortment of zany foliage to ward off an undead horde lurching across their lawn. They start off planting Sunflowers, which generate sunbeams – the currency of the game – they can then spend on more plants which fire projectiles at the zombies, blow them up, squash them or in some instances, eat them whole. As the game progresses, different types of zombies start emerging – some wearing protective gear, others armed with items which help them vault over your defences – and at the end of each level, the player is awarded with a new plant to add to their leafy arsenal. The game offers a 50-level adventure mode which offers a couple of new environments and battle conditions to mix things up a little, as well as a collection of mini-games. On top of that there’s a list of achievements to complete, an almanac containing a description of every plant and zombie in the game and a store in which players can buy attacking flora and other items. Like both the PC and Apple ports, the XBLA download boasts adorable graphics, a charming soundtrack and the best end credits song since Portal.

Newcomers shouldn’t hesitate to snap up a copy; if this is your first exposure to PVZ then you’re in for a treat. Unlike many other strategy games, PVZ doesn’t suffer too badly from the introduction of a control pad interface, even though it isn’t as intuitive as a mouse and keyboard, and it’s nowhere near as good as a touch-screen. Players select plants using the left and right bumpers, pick a section to plant them on with the right stick and use the face buttons to both plant them and dig them up. The controls require a little finesse – lazily weaving around map can lead to planting your deadly foliage in the wrong place – but mapping the Dig function to the b-button is a stroke of genius (anyone who’s ever accidentally dug up the wrong plant on the PC or Apple device versions will rejoice).

Beyond Puzzle, Zen Garden and Survival mode which make a return from the PC version, the XBLA download comes packaged with some fun new content. The game’s Leader Boards are a nice little addition; all the player’s achievements are visually represented by a house with a series of trophies around it, and they can check the progress of their friends by scrolling through their friend-list. There are also a ton of mini-games which can be unlocked including Beghouled (a PVZ version of PopCap’s biggest selling game, Bejeweled) and Heavy Weapon (a cross between Space Invaders and PVZ)

The biggest reason for veterans to buy the game is that it comes armed with a brand new multiplayer mode. Both the main adventure and the mini-games can be played in co-op, and since two players are involved in the action, there’s the option to toggle the difficulty for this mode, making it significantly higher than that for solo play. There’s no jump-in/jump-out option offered, and no online co-op. But it’s a lot of fun (aside from the odd argument about the use of sunbeam resources) and in bowling mini-game on offer, it adds to the enjoyment. For Vs mode, one player controls the plants while the other controls the zombies. The latter’s objective is to shuffle through their opponent’s defences, enter the house and eat their brains while the former has to take out three targets on the undead’s side of the garden. Both players have access to all the plants and zombies that have been unlocked in the Adventure mode, as well as a couple of new ones – such as the Trashcan zombie, a slower, tougher version of the Screen-door zombie. The mode offers a new way to play PVZ which feels both fresh and inventive. The only downside to the Vs mode is that it requires at least one player to finish the Adventure mode an unlock all of the plants first, otherwise the zombie side can feel slightly overpowered.

It’s a little annoying that, at least for Vs mode, the plants aren’t all unlocked to begin with. Another aspect which may irk fans is that the Michael Jackson-inspired dancing zombie is a thing of the past; it has been replaced here with the Disco Zombie. The only thing lacking from the whole package is a lengthy list of achievements; players only have a paltry 12 to shoot for, so one can’t help but feel a little underwhelmed. It also doesn’t help that some of the new achievements are also laughably easy.

Aside from this minor quibble, the only conceivable aspect standing in the way PVZ selling well on XBLA is its hefty price tag. The game certainly offers a lot of content for the 1200 MS points players have to shell out for it, but anyone who owns the game on PC or iPhone will have already played through most of it. PC Veterans in particular may find paying £10 for a co-op mode (and little besides) a little steep for their liking. However, if you’ve never played PVZ before on any platform, then purchasing it is a no-brainer because it’s hands down one of the best video games ever made for any platform

Unless there’s some chronal chicanery involved, we’re never going to see more BACK TO THE FUTURE movies. But that doesn’t mean we’ve seen the last of Doc Brown and Marty McFly.

Telltale Games is bringing the beloved characters and their decade-jumping exploits to your local console, and USA Today premiered some artwork showing how the game’s exaggerated versions of Doc and Marty might look.

The games will unfold in five “episodes”, and the original trilogy’s screenwriter Bob Gale is working on the story with the game developers. Steven Spielberg is among the producers, and Christopher Lloyd is back to provide Doc’s voice as only he (well, and Dan Castellaneta) can.

The episodes will feature the familiar DeLorean, Hill Valley circa 1985, and additional characters from the movie series. Versions of the games are expected on all major game platforms.

The computer and video game industry added nearly $5 billion to the U.S. economy in 2009, according to a new study released today by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). The study also found that the entertainment software industry’s real annual growth rate from 2005 to 2009 exceeded 10 percent, more than seven times the growth rate of the U.S. economy as a whole. The computer and video game industry directly employs more than 32,000 individuals, a number that has increased by nearly nine percent annually since 2005. Industry employees earn an average annual compensation of $89,781.

California remains the largest employer of computer and video game personnel in the nation, providing more than $2.6 billion in direct and indirect compensation to Californians last year. Entertainment software companies in the Golden State added approximately $2.1 billion to the state’s economy and grew by a real annual rate of 11.4 percent from 2005 to 2009, compared to a period of negative growth for California’s overall economy.