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PSA: Enslaved, Gothic 4 demos released on Xbox Live Marketplace
As foreseen yesterday by the Enslaved: Odyssey to the West Twitter account, Xbox Live Gold members now have access to the game's previously PSN-exclusive demo. Additionally, Major Nelson points out that Arcania: Gothic 4 also got a demo. That means killing robots with a giant baton in the post-post-post apocalypse and exploring the unknown depths of the Southern Islands are just two downloads away! Click through for each below. Xbox.com: Add the Enslaved: Odyssey to the West demo to your Xbox 360 download queue Xbox.com: Add the Arcania: Gothic 4 demo to your Xbox 360 download queue
Introducing Trackmania Wii's track editor
If you haven't played a TrackMania game before, let us encapsulate the experience for you: you build the craziest, most impractical, most car-destroying track you can imagine, and then you race it. That's TrackMania's whole deal. Now, developer Firebrand Games is bringing that experience to the Wii with TrackMania Wii, allowing you to assemble your ridiculous courses with the Wiimote's pointer interface. It'll make it really simple to design something on which driving is impossible! The trailer above introduces the track editor interface. Trackmania Wii is officially set for a September release in Europe. While nothing has been announced for North America, Amazon currently has a May 26 release listed, via publisher Dreamcatcher.
Oh, hey -- Painkiller: Resurrection released
So here we were, thinking about how odd it was that a demo for Painkiller: Resurrection stealthily released onto the intertron last week after hearing nothing about the game for, oh, like six months, when all of a sudden we noticed that the full game is also now available. In fact, the release was so secretive, even the game's official site doesn't know you can't pre-order it anymore. You can grab it for yourself on Steam for $29.99 right now or if you want to save $10 -- and don't mind a disc case taking up space on your shelf -- you can grab it for $19.99 from Amazon.
DreamCatcher & JoWood bring dedicated Yoga game to Wii
DreamCatcher and JoWood have announced a dedicated Yoga game for the Nintendo Wii, simply named Yoga for Wii. The game, which was built for use with the Wii Balance Board, includes three modes: Training, Routine and Story -- where players must seek revenge for the death of their brother... wait, no. Wrong press release. Oh, here it is, the purpose of the story mode is actually to turn Yoga novices into routine gurus. Also, players can go through a number of preset routines or create their own to fit their daily needs. Using the Wii Balance Board in conjunction with the Wii Remote is said to analyze balance, making suggestions for better routine execution with the help of a Yoga Master that tracks overall progress. Yoga for Wii is set to downward-dog into stores this October.
E308: Finding clues in Sam & Max screens
Not a PC gamer, eh? Don't worry -- one of the best (and funniest) PC adventure games is heading Wii-ward this August. There's not much that Telltale or Dreamcatcher can reveal about Sam & Max: Season One, considering it's a port and all. To make up for it, though, they tossed in some fresh screens for adventure fiends to check out.They're in our gallery below, so hit that up for new pics.%Gallery-23759%
Cracking safes, taking names
Just watch any old thief movie to be infused with a great sense of power. Laugh heartily as a sexy babe or handsome badass steals millions right from under some chump's nose, then boldly exclaim "Ha! I could do that!". Well, probably not, so Safecracker is for those who dream big but don't particularly want to go to prison.You play the role of some safe expert who is hired by a family to search the mansion of their dear old (dead) dad, Duncan Adams. There are 35 safes to crack in total, so you'll need to explore the mansion to find Adams' last will and testament -- then fork it over to the spoiled brats in his family. Fat chance!Safecracker was originally a PC adventure game, much like this, that, And Then There Were None. The Wiimote works perfectly for pointage and clickage, so any puzzle aficianodos can look out for this one in Q3 2008.%Gallery-26007%[Via press release]
Sam & Max to release this August
Adventure game fans, take note: Sam & Max: Season One will be hitting Wii's this August. Those looking forward to solving crimes and revealing conspiracies with a six-foot tall canine and his violence-loving rabbit partner (read: us) are probably champing at the bit right now. Since Telltale was being so coy about Sam & Max coming to the Wii in the first place, we're surprised that the game is hitting retail so soon!Season One and Season Two are already available in full for the PC, but this will be the duo's first console outing. [Via Shacknews]
Bargain Explorer: Sale Unit
If Shiren the Wanderer's turn-based system was too slow-paced to satisfy your dungeon crawling needs, you might want to look into Dungeon Explorer: Warriors of Ancient Arts, Hudson's Diablo-esque hack-and-slash follow-up to the original TurboGrafx-16 game. Amazon has Dungeon Explorer discounted to $19.49, a generous price considering the game includes online support for up to four players and even a bit of voice chat.And if you're neither a fan of dungeon crawling or dungeon exploring -- perhaps you just want to steer clear of dungeons altogether -- Amazon also has LifeSigns: Surgical Unit marked down to $19.49. While the LifeSigns series isn't as popular as that other surgery sim, Trauma Center, apparently a few of our readers are big fans of the game!%Gallery-10382%[Via CAG]Read - Dungeon Explorer: Warrior of Ancient ArtsRead - Lifesigns Surgical Unit
Dreamcatcher takes the DS to driving school
How did multiple companies pick up on the DS's potential utility as a driving education aid? Dreamcatcher Interactive has followed Atari (and D3 Publisher, sort of) in the drivers ed non-game genre with Drivers Ed Portable, a program designed to help teens prepare for the written parts of the driver's license exam.What makes Drivers Ed Portable special? Well, for one thing, it's being released outside of Europe (we think), with data and sample tests on the card for drivers' tests in Spain, Italy, the U.K., Germany, France, all fifty U.S. states, and 13 Canadian provinces. A release in those territories covered seems likely, though it's not explicitly stated. The press release just says it'll be available this fall.
iPhone video recorder with audio support debuts
Aaron Besson of MyTriniPhone posted this morning about a new iPhone video recorder. Unlike previous entries into this realm, this updated version from DreamCatcher records both sound and video. I download a copy and gave it a try. The interface is a little on the prototype side but it recorded without a hitch. I was able to copy the resulting mp4 video onto my Mac and play it back. It was grainy (as expected, given the low quality of the iPhone camera) but the audio was clear. Playback on the iPhone itself simply did not work for me. Apparently this code is based on ffmpeg and there's a lively little discussion about this over at the Hackint0sh forums, if you care to check that out. You must pay to register if you'd like to record more than 30 seconds at a time or if you simply like the program and want to support the developer. Deets are in the program. Just tap Settings > About > Buynow.
Sam & Max coming to Wii after all
Remember when Telltale said they had a WiiWare game on the way that wasn't Sam & Max? The part that they didn't say was that this was in addition to a game that was Sam & Max. Telltale has announced that they'll release the collected first season of the episodic Sam & Max game on Wii, published by Dreamcatcher in the U.S. and JoWood in Europe. Sam & Max: Season One comprises six episodes, originally released in 2006-2007. A similar collection on the PC retails for $29.99. Will the Wii pricing be in line with the PC box? No idea! We'll find out as the fall release approaches.[Via NeoGAF]
LifeSigns: Surgical Unit has a nicely timed sale
If you're itching to unleash your inner surgeon onto your DS after all this Trauma Center brouhaha, you might want to consider picking up LifeSigns: Surgical Unit in the meantime. Since we haven't played it, we can't recommend it ourselves (although some of our readers seem to be fond of this title), but it happens to be on sale this week at GameQuest Direct. The sale will last until April 8th, giving you plenty of time to consider whether or not you need another surgery-sim-meets-soap-opera in your life, but an $11 markdown is a pretty nice deal. Also, thanks to CAG, you can use the code CAG1SHIP in the bottom left corner for free shipping.Yet, the game did end up on some worst lists of 2007, so caveat emptor.[Via CAG]
Hollywood experiments with Painkiller
Have you heard this one before: Guy Walks Into a Bar acquires Painkiller...? No, it's not a joke. Well, sorta ... it's Hollywood.Production company Guy Walks Into a Bar has purchased the feature film rights to DreamCatcher Interactive's 2004 throwback FPS Painkiller. Most celebrated for its multiplayer (becoming an official CPL tour game in 2005), Painkiller pairs well with Hollwood's penchant for whimsical adaptation -- the game is lite on plot. Guy Walks head Jon Berg was actually inspired to pursue the franchise after catching a 60 Minutes segment about competitive gaming. Does Berg envision a flick based on frag matches? How the film will ultimately manage Painkiller's disparate environments and thin storyline is up to Ben McCaw, who has been hired by Guy Walks to script the adaptation. McCaw's credits include "Gideon's Vault," a finalist in the Austin Film Festival screenwriting competition, and "Class of the Living Dead." While early news has the film looking like a DOOM'd project, perhaps the forthcoming game sequel Painkiller: Overdose will stir interest.
Lifesigns schedules operations for June
We hadn't heard anything about the US localizations of the two Tendo Dokuta games since November. Siliconera is reporting today that the two games, called Lifesigns: Hospital Affairs and Lifesigns: Surgical Unit are being published by Dreamcatcher Interactive and released on May 15 and June 28 respectively. A quick jaunt over to EBGames' webpage confirms this information for Surgical Unit (if EB is to be trusted), but Hospital Affairs is nowhere to be seen.Tendo Dokuta was a launch title for the DS in Japan. It's amazing that someone's just now getting around to localizing it!
