There has been relatively little new information on Tecmo Koei’s Zelda/Dynasty Warriors mashup since the initial announcement some months ago. That changed with the release of Famitsu this week, as the magazine has revealed new images and details.

Titled Zelda Musou in Japan, Hyrule warriors is being developed by Omega Force and Team Ninja with some supervision from Eiji Aonuma, the Zelda series producer. Link will be cast as a soldier in-training that must resuce Princess Zelda from the witch Shia. There will also be several playable characters, including Impa who will be cast as the captain of the Royal Army and will wield a giant long sword. In addition, it will be possible to equip different weapons that will change the way characters fight, and the game will feature a weapon upgrade system. The gameplay is being described as Dynasty Warriors style action combined with Zelda’s Z-targeting, allowing players to avoid attacks and focus on enemy weak spots. Bombs also make an appearance, but are not a combat item.

Hyrule Warriors will include a two-player mode that will use the Wii U GamePad as a separate screen. Reportedly 70% complete, the game will be playable at E3 2014. and is slated to be released in Japan on August 14.  The Japanese version will also be available in a premium set that comes with a Triforce shaped clock and codes for 6 special character costumes. As yet, Nintendo has not announced a western release date for the game.

The Indie Game Show with DJs Digmbot and PredictedCyborg
Sunday night, 6pm til 9pm GMT, 1pm til 4pm EST.

On the Indie Game Show this Sunday…

Dead Shark TriplePunch!

Currently working on Epigenesis, a game they describe as an ‘FPS Ball/Domination Game’ on their Twitter and takes place in a future where two teams work their way across platforms high above to score goals against their opponents.

We’ll be joined by Calle Boström (@deadsharkcalle) to talk about the game, field the questions from the IRC and talk about the usual Inide Gaming topics.

Dead Shark TriplePunch Website: [x]

The Game: [x]

Click the link for your player to tune in:

Join us both on the website and in IRC @ irc.sanitarium.fm 6667 for indie gaming discussion and your chance to ask our guests questions!

Peter Parker runs the gauntlet as the mysterious company Oscorp sends up a slew of super villains against him, impacting his life.

Ok, a couple of weeks late on this review (so sue me, I’ve moved and still setting up my new office…), but here we go with The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Now I enjoyed the first film (For my Amazing Spider-Man review, please click here), but like Sam Raimi’s last trilogy, Amazing Spider-Man 2 falls over in the second installment and actually in a worse way to how Spider-Man 2 did…

Just like the Tobey Maguire films, this one went off the rails with too much going on, now the web swinging and butt kicking of NORMAL crooks was cool, the special effects looked amazing, but the real enemies left me meh.

Peter Parkers (Andrew Garfield) childhood friend Harry Osborne (Dane DeHaan) returns as his father, Norman Osborne (Chris Cooper) is on his death bed, to find out he is afflicted by the same genetic condition as his father that will likely kill him and is handed the research his father was close to finding a cure with.

At least Norman Osborne rightly got his time as the Goblin in the last trilogy, but this time, Chris Cooper doesn’t get any screen time beyond a death bed confession and accusation that Harry is useless and a disappointment…   I was literally wondering WTF when I saw that, and would have said it, had there not been a group of 8yr old’s two rows ahead of me…  (I go to the cinema in the day to get away from bloody kids, grr…) and to add insult to injury here, Chris Cooper isn’t even credited at the end of the film for his part, it was THAT small!

Now it was cool that the genetic illness killing him made him look goblin like, but c’mon, it looked shit…

And Dane DeHaan…  I thought he was exceptional in Chronicle in 2012, but his portrayal of Harry Osborne was awful. I hated the character and just thought he was a whiny lil’ bitch, don’t get me started as him as the Goblin…   I preferred James Franco back in Spider-Man 3…

Ok, lets move on to Electro…

/facepalm

I hated Electro (Jamie Foxx), he looks awful and even if he just wanted to be recognised by people, again, I just wanted to slap him and tell him to man up…

Can I also just say, I hate the CGI on his skin, yes, some of the effect on him fighting spidey was cool, but standing there?   he looked bloody awful and that’s all I’m gonna say there…  (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

Now, I guess we should talk about Spidey (Andrew Garfield) and Gwen Stacey (Emma Stone) huh?  Peter is still haunted by the death of Gwens father in the first film and his dying words (he told Peter to leave her to keep her safe) and Peter can’t reconcile it.

Now we all know the actors are together in real life and this comes across on screen and somewhat redeems the movie.  Peter and Gwen are really sweet to watch on screen, especially on their date.

Peter and Aunt May (Sally Field) are also a joy to watch aswell and sally Field nails Aunt May much better than Rosemary Harris did in the last triilogy.

Then there’s the side story of Peter finding out more about why his parents did their midnight run for the border, leaving him with Aunt May and Uncle Ben and just HOW MUCH they were involved in the troubles at OSCORP.  Now in the comics, this surfaced that they were SHIELD Agents, undercover at OSCORP to expose Norman Osborne’s genetics work.  In this, the story of them leaving could have been totally left out of the film and him finding his dad’s secret lab would still have worked (and saved a not so great action scene on a plane)

Anyway…   So did I like the movie?   Yes, it was ok, the action scenes, for the most part, gave me a buzz and showed just HOW lythe and agile Spidey can be, but like the last trilogy, it’s trying to do too much, too quickly and shows that they really want to be part of the Avengers line, when clearly there’s nothing from Marvel to make this a thing…

On that note, would i like to see Andrew Garfields Spidey in Avengers 3?   Yup!   Fuck Yes in fact!

Will it happen in this humble journalists opinion?   Nope…

So, Rating time…

6/10

Let’s hope the Sinister Six don’t over shadow Spidey completely in The Amazing Spider-Man 3 in 2016

The Microsoft Surface tablets live a troubled existence. Ostensibly tablet devices designed by Microsoft to show how Windows 8 (and later 8.1) are designed to work on a Tablet, the devices originally came with; then later made optional a series of Covers (such as the Touch Cover and Type Cover) that added physical keyboards to the mix. Combined with the tablets featuring a kickstand to keep the screen upright, it often felt more like Microsoft were actually aiming to build hybrid devices – laptops with a removable screen that just HAPPENED to be usable as a tablet – rather than tablet devices in their own right.

The Surface Pro 3 takes it even further.

Microsoft’s belief is that up until now, tablets and laptops have been mutually exclusive devices, suiting different use cases. Unveiled today at a purpose-built event at New York City, Microsoft say their next entry to their Surface line of tablets is designed with one particular purpose in mind – to bridge that gap. So no longer is it enough to sell tablets with enough optional accessories to be usable as laptops – Microsoft’s new goal is to have their tablet replace your laptop entirely.

In order to achieve that goal, Microsoft first started by upping the 10.6-inch screen – as seen on the Surface Pro 2 – to 12-inches, or one whole foot wide. The display also comes with a 2,160 x 1,440 resolution, topping traditional 1080p HD displays on the market. The combination leads to a 4:3 viewing ratio – the same as a typical TV before Widescreen became commonplace – which Microsoft says is “critical” to compete with a typical laptop screen.

Despite the enlarged screen, Microsoft also seems to be committed to making the overall device smaller and lighter to use. At 9.1mm thick, the Surface Pro 3 shaves a millimetre-and-a-half of thickness from the Pro 2; while it weighs just 800g. The lightness of the tablet was demonstrated by placing it on a pair of scales with a MacBook Air on the other side, demonstrating it to be lighter than Apple’s famously ultra-thin laptop in a thinly-veiled dig towards one of the biggest players in the Tablet Computing market.

But if Microsoft really want to make this a laptop-killer, it needs the power to match. For this, Microsoft is equipping all the Surface Pro 3 tablets with Intel Core processors (more on that later), not only improving the power of the tablets beyond that of previous Surfaces, but also pushing it into the realm of – yes, you guessed it – your typical medium- to high-end laptop. Microsoft ran a number of high-end apps; and even a 3D-rendering app on-stage during the presentation to prove its capabilities. Adobe also came on-stage to show off a new version of Photoshop, “specifically optimised” for the Surface Pro 3, which even has 200% bigger icons to make it work equally well when touched with a stylus or with fingers. Adobe claim that the updated app also contains an enhanced feature set that has been made possible with the power of the new device.

Microsoft will release the Surface Pro 3 in three flavours, offering different Intel Core processors – the i3, i5 and i7 in order of power – to allow users to compromise between performance and price. All of them will sport a number of USB 3.0 ports and a redesigned kickstand, which rotates between angles starting at the standard 22 degrees up to 150 degrees – a departure from the fixed viewing angles of the previous two iterations. They will also come with Microsoft’s popular Type Covers in multiple colours.

While the devices hit stores in America on Wednesday, global release plans and price points are not yet known. Taking the American prices, however, the entry level i3 device – with minimum storage and RAM included – will cost $799; the equivalent of £480 here in the UK. Customers who want an Intel Core i5 will need to dish out $999 to $1,299 (roughly £590 – £770) depending on Storage and RAM, and the most priciest i7 model – with the full 512GB of storage and 8GB of on-board RAM – will set you back over a grand in our money, with the US price of $1,949 equating to over £1100 this side of the pond. We hope to have news on the European launch dates and price points as soon as they become available.

Space Hulk is a game that involves a team of Terminators being pitted against a species of alien called Genestealers and is set inside spaceships. It’s dark, it’s multiplayer compatible and now it has a co-op mode.

The new campaign called Harbringer of Torment is set for four players to take part in a single match, co-ordinating three teams of Terminators against a forth player controlling all of the Genestealers and taking place over 5 levels. The story behind the campaign is simple: a derelict is on a collision course with a populated planet and because its path cannot be altered the Terminator teams have been sent in to deal with the infestation of Genestealers on the ship. What’s more, it comes with bug fixes and is a free update to the game.

The new campaign has been in the works now for several months according to Full Control, owing to the fact that the new option to play co-operatively meant a major overhaul of the multiplayer system, including a multiplayer lobby so gamers can see matches that still require people to join them to complete the 4-player line-up. And each of the 5 stages have been designed with multiplayer gaming in mind.

As Space Hulk is currently one of the games on sale over at the Humble Store in their Spring Sales for only £3.99/$4.99, now could be the time to pick it up cheaply if you and your friends want a game that involves turn-based gameplay and shooting evil aliens/murdering human invaders.