Storming
Quantic Dream's Heavy Rain arrived in early 2010 in a downpour of critical acclaim, its storytelling, graphical quality and sheer audacity a breath of fresh air. Now a free patch has added support for Sony's Move controller (with a disc release landing soon) and although the game's strengths still shine through, its niggling flaws are sadly just as noticeable.
Surprise surprise
Move can become a huge number of in-game items – not shovels or whips though, remember – but that doesn't mean Activision boss Bobby Kotick is worried it spells the end for his company's wide array of plastic gameplay enhancers.
Sports Champions may not feature a golf game – a surprising omission, it must be said – the Move isn't going to miss out when it comes to licensed versions of the sport. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 is already out of course, butsimilarly controversial golfer John Daly is set to launch his own title in the form of John Daly's ProStroke Golf, reaching North America on October 5th and reaching Europe on October 15th.
Get new content just by leaving the machine on
The 3DS's StreetPass feature maximises the console's portability by offering interactive features with no user input required, but Nintendo hasn't ignored the machine's at home functions, creating a system called SpotPass to enable the 3DS to communicate via the Internet whilst in Sleep Mode.
Smart, fast and actually useful
The DS's Tag Mode is an under-used feature of the hardware, with very few games getting the most out of it. That hasn't deterred Nintendo from making it a bigger feature of its upcoming 3DS however, with the StreetPass system taking games social.
Technicolour gaming rainbow
The news that FlingSmash would be bundled with a MotionPlus-packing Remote landed the other day, but Gamestop swiftly removed the game page. Now Nintendo, in amongst all the 3DS news, has officially announced the controller is on the way.
Limited edition console on the way
Yes, it's the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., and even the most ardent plumbing fan might be getting just a little fed-up of the fanfare. Just show that person this upcoming Mario edition DSi XL and watch their face light up again, though.
Resident Evil: Mercenaries, Super Monkey Ball and more
Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition, Final Fantasy: Chocobo Tales, Super Monkey Ball and more all combine to make this 3DS software trailer a pretty tasty affair. Plenty of 3D games make their motion debuts, as well as with Capcom's Resident Evil: Revelations and recently announced Resident Evil: Mercenaries both looking absolutely fantastic.
Six special cards to enjoy AR
Whilst PlayStation Move and Xbox Kinect press on with augmented reality games, Nintendo has a few tricks up its sleeve as well, bringing the genre to 3DS with six specially created cards to interact with 3DS's built-in software.
My name is James Newton, and this is my website - a collection of my writings about
videogames, music and all my other thoughts.
