Lionel Messi ads boosts WeChat to 100 million users outside of China

Messaging app WeChat moved from 70 millions users outside of China to 100 million, according to Tech in Asia.

China’s largest web company Tencent, the makers of WeChat, tapped football star Lionel Messi in July as its new global ambassador and TV ad star. Billboards and TV spots featuring Messi appeared in numerous countries, which seem to have accelerated WeChat’s registered user base outside of China. WeChat went from 50 million users to 70 million in six weeks and from 50 million to 100 million in three months.

WeChat’s last reported total registered user base was 400 million. Tencent revealed yesterday in its Q2 2013 earnings report that 236 million of its 400 million registered users are monthly active users.

World’s fastest Tetris player shames your gaming skills

 

So, you think you’re a bad dude at a particular video game? Well, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll ever be as talented as this cat at Tetris.

Itagaki to be playable in upcoming Saints Row

As if Saints Row: The Third wasn’t crazy enough, it just got crazier. Well-known Japanese video game designer Tomonobu Itagaki will be featured as a playable character in THQ’s open-world adventure game.

GameSpot reported the feature during a demo at the Tokyo Game Show. Using the title’s customization options, the developers were able to create an in-game version of Itagaki.

Microsoft’s slim Xbox 360 compared to an original

Scott picked up a new 360 today and we thought we’d share its glossy paint job with some moving pictures, enjoy.

Check back in a few days for Scott’s shakedown of the system.

Microsoft’s Kinect priced by online retailers at $150

If you haven’t heard yet then here it is: Amazon.com, GameStop, Best Buy along with other retailers have priced the new accessory for the 360 at 150 stones along with the first round of Kinect games, which GameStop has priced at the usual $60.

Ubisoft E3 2010 news conference: Ghost Recon Future Soldier, Rayman Origins and Michael Jackson

Child of Eden: The creator of Rez and Lumines, Tetsuya Mizuguchi started the show off with his new game Child of Eden. Like the other games, Child of Eden throws a barrage of psychedelic colors and electronic music at the player while their actions change the beat, rhythm and colors. The kicker is Child of Eden is played with gestures thanks to Project Nat … Kinect.

Opinion: I’m not a big fan of motion controls, especially on the Wii and my brief experience with Sony’s Move controller at GDC tells me the same story, but this game may have sold me on buying a Kinetic. And if it’s as good as the original Lumines was on the PSP then it may be worth all the blood I’ll need to sell to buy it.

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood: Ezio returns to this new installment of Assassin’s Creed story as a leader of an posse of white-hooded assassins against the Knights Templar in 1500’s Rome. This will also be the fist Assassin’s Creed game to feature multiplayer.

Opinion: I think this is a case of the rumors being more interesting than the truth. A couple of months ago I heard that the new Assassin’s Creed was going take place in World War II and, at the time, I was finishing up that god-awful game The Saboteur and it game me a glimmer of hope that there could be a decent sandbox game in World War II. Other than that it’s good to see that they’re adding multiplayer to the mix and the animation, especially in the combat, looks good.

Shaun White Skateboarding: According to Ubisoft the premise behind Shaun White Skateboarding is having everything be an opportunity to skate on. The game is also taking a page out of The Saboteur because the world starts out in black and white and as you skate around the world color and life pops into the world. Another feature of the game is being able to build rails and lines that are built in real time which can open up new areas in the game and replacing the drab buildings with quarter pipes and rails. It’s also in 3D.

Opinion: Honestly, this looks like another adaptation to the old Tony-Hawk system. I appreciate the steps they’re taking with the color scheme and the custom lines, but after games such as the Skate series I’m underwhelmed by the flying tomato’s new game.

Battle Tag: Laser tag that syncs with your computer.

Opinion: If I was nine-years-old or my name was Barney Stinson then this idea would be legen — wait for it — dary.

Innergy: This is a game that’s supposed to help you relax by reading your heart rate via a sensor that attaches to your finger. Think of it as Brain Age for stress management.

Opinion: Innergy: The Wii Vitality Sensor Strikes Back

Motion Sports: Wii Sports from Ubisoft with Kinect.

Opinion: Yay …

Raving Rabbids Travel in Time: The rabbids are back and are traveling around in a time-traveling washing machine on the Wii.

Opinion: These stupid things are one of the best new icons in gaming, yeah I said it, but I’m not sure how much longer Ubisoft can keep going with these games before they become another obsolete annoyance.

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier: Killing terrorists with robots, exoskeletons, smart bullets and cloaking devices in a future coming soon. Ubisoft has taken the prototypes of the near future and applied them to their game. The most notable is the active camouflage which lets players walk around unseen by the enemy. In the demo the Ubisoft team played as the Ghosts who were infiltrating an Northern European town to kidnap a VIP. The game will be available to be played in four-player co-op and in 3D.

Opinion: As cool as this game looks with all it’s new toys of destruction I’m a worried about the gameplay. Why? Because if I can walk around the battlefield invisible while capping dumb-ass Russian soldiers who are too stupid to hear a pair of combat boots sneak up behind them then it sounds too easy and broken. Granted they didn’t go into any detail about how it camo system will work, but I didn’t see any indication on the HUD of a timer or a meter.

Driver: San Francisco: Players take up the wheel as John Tanner an detective aiming to take down a convict, Charles Jericho. Ubisoft says this plays into the plot of the game and as the two have been rivals since the second Driver game. Ubisoft boasts that there will be over 100 cars, all of which will be taking damage if players get sloppy and decide raise their imaginary insurance rates. The game also features the ability for Tanner to jump from car to car on the fly in the middle of a chase allowing for gamers to change directions and set up crashes instantly.

Opinion: Big fan of chase movies, not a big fan of chase games because they’re too repetitive. Also the idea of jumping from car to car seems a bit stupid. First impression of this game is I wouldn’t pay full price for it.

Rayman Origins: He’s back and was built by five people.

Opinion: Big fan, release date plz.

Mania Planet: A user generated computer game that allows gamers to make their own content. The three mania — trackmania 2, shootmania and questmania — will be coming out starting in the fourth quarter or 2010 with the Trackmania 2 beta test.

Micheal Jackson: Not even death can keep the King of Pop from getting another video game. This time with 90 percent more dancing and 10 percent less side-scrolling. According to the Micheal Jackson website, the game is an interactive performance game, so dancing, that will highlight Jackson’s musical career.The website says the game will teach user to emulate some of Jackson’s more iconic moves.

Microsoft E3 2010 news conference highlights

Metal Gear Solid: Rising trailer

The first game play footage of Rising was shown and it was remarkably different than any other Metal Gear game to date. Don’t expect a stealth game here; it looks to be an action game through and through.

Opinion: Tomonobu Itagaki, eat your heart, because producer, not director, Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid Rising: Watermelon Cutting Action starring Raiden has come for watermelon juice, I mean, blood.

Gears of War 3 four-player co-op

Step aside Halo. There is a new four-player co-op juggernaut for the Xbox 360. Cliff Bleszinski’s brainchild game series, Gears of War, received an overhaul to its co-op, doubling from two-player to four-players. The new foes called the Lambents looks like creatures straight out o the film Tremors.

Opinion: For the past couple of years I tend to enjoy games more playing co-op with one of my friends on Xbox Live.

360 Exclusive Crytek game: Codename Kingdoms

From the creators of the Crysis and FarCry franchises, Crytek, comes an exclusive console game for the Xbox 360. All that was shown at the conference was a live-action teaser trailer of what looked to be warrior-like characters walking through a desolate battlefield.

Opinion: Codename Kingdoms felt like watching a commercial for Deadliest Warrior on SpikeTV. If this game is anything like the TV show pitting gladiators vs. apaches or pirates vs. knights, then cue my internal excitement.

Fable III has a ship date

Fable III will be landing on store shelves October 26th approximately two years from the date when Fable II was released.

Opinion: Oh, Peter Molyneux, for the one of the rare times, he didn’t come on stage and blow my mind setting off thinking grenades in my head with his grandiose ideas to revolutionize gaming. He kept his appearance on stage to announcing the release date and showing a new trailer.

Sony E3 2010 news conference highlights

Killzone 3 in 3D

Although the Killzone 3 trailer had all ready come out, Guerrila Games had plenty of announcements for their gritty fps. The game will have complete 3D integration as it was built from the ground up to support 3D. To take advantage of 3D, the player needs 3D glasses. Killzone 3 is also fully compatible with PlayStation Move. A hybrid jetpack and mech suit was featured in the live demo allowing the player to fly around and shower full metal jackets from above on the Helghan. Killzone 3 drops February 2011.

Opinion: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Killzone 2 was the best looking console game to date until Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, but Guerrilla Games have out done themselves again with Killzone 3.

PlayStation Move

Sony’s answer to the Wii Remote got a ship date and pricing. Move will be available on September 19th in the US and A. The motion controller will be $49.99 and the navigation controller for $29.99. A bundle with the PlayStation Eye, motion controller and Sports Champions for $99.99 was also announced. For people who don’t have a PS3, a bundle with PS3 system, PlayStion Eye, motion controller and Sports Champions will retail for $399. On day one, 15-20 Move games are slated for release.

Opinion: The pricing seems a little steep for both controllers. During the presentation when they showed the price of the first controller people cheered because it was only $49.99, but slowly became depressed when the next slide of the presentation showed the accompanying navigation controller for $29.99. Compared to the price of a full set of a Wii controller, the Move does come to the same price if the Wii Remote ($39.99), Wii Nunchuk ($19.99) and Wii Motion Plus ($19.99) are all considered.

Sorcery

Sorcery is a new PlayStation Move game debuting for the first time at the conference. Players take control of a sorcerer armed with a wand, controlled with the motion controller, to cast magical spells. Other game play features include concocting potions, summoning fire and moving objects with the wand.

Opinion: The Harry Potter game I’ve been waiting for can be found in Sorcery. Now I can have a legitimate reason to yell Expelliarmus and Stupefy in the house while not looking like a fool. Well maybe not.

Tiger woods controlled with PlayStation Move

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 sported a new control option thanks to Move. PGA Tour 11 looks to control even better than last year’s PGA Tour 10 for Wii that utilized Motion Plus for the first time.

Option: I legitimately want to buy this game even though I’m not that into golf. The one-to-one precision Move provides is the closest thing you can get to golf aside from going to an actual club and hitting the links.

Kevin Butler from the PlayStation commercials

He was rumored to make an appearance and rumored to not make one at all. Kevin Butler, PlayStation commercial extraordinaire, did make an appearance for the conference and he did not disappoint with the jokes.

Opinion: I love the Butler commercials and I thought his act might not play well live and in-person but he really delivered. Butler’s pot shots at Microsoft and Nintendo were far cleverer than the campy jabs by Reggie Fils-Aime.

Bobb’e J. Thompson PSP market campaign

Butler has a new side kick now to crack jokes with and it’s Bobb’e J. Thompson from the film Role Models.

Opinion: “Let’s dance, Ben Affleck!”

LittleBigPlanet 2

The new feature in LittleBigPlanet 2 allows players to make game play types. Players can create racers, RPGs, rts games, and many more.

Opinion: What made the first LittlBigPlanet great was the user created levels that implemented some sort of game play mode or mechanic. I played recreations of Donkey Kong Country levels, a side scrolling shooter and Duck Hunt. Media Molecule recognized this and did the right thing by implementing game play types into the game itself so users don’t have to try and crack the game to do so.

PlayStation Plus

A new subscription service for the PlayStation Network called PlayStation Plus will be available this September for $49.99 a year. Exclusive content and free content will be available to those who upgrade to Plus.

Opinion: PlayStation finally caved in and created a subscription service to compete with Xbox Live. I will have to wait and see whether it is worth it or not. It could take months. Although all I really want is a more improved messaging and communication system. The PlayStation Network still does not have a communication functionality that compares to Xbox Live Parties.

Medal of Honor

Based in war torn Afghanistan, Medal of Honor is leaving its historic war roots to a modern war setting. The game is being developed by two different studios. The single player is being developed in EA Los Angeles while the multiplayer is being developed by DICE, creators of the Battlefield franchise. Releases October 12th.

Opinion: Not to be a Debby Downer, but Medal of Honor just seems like a Modern Warfare rip off. I was hoping it would be something different, but what can EA do? I’m no game developer by any means, but what else can they do but have the player move in the first person, hold a gun and shoot people in the face?

Portal 2

In an unexpected appearance, Gabe Newell of Valve introduced Portal 2 for the PS3 along with the first ever trailer for the game. Newell said Portal 2 on PS3 will be the best version of the game with the help of Steamworks and Steam Cloud coming to a console for the first time.

Opinion: Will the Steam client finally come to a console too? Let’s hope so.

Gran Turismo 5 release date

Gran Turismo 5 will drop the checkered flag on November 2nd.

Opinion: … Finally.

Twisted Metal

Exclusively for the PS3 and coming in 2011, Twisted Metal returns after almost a decade long hiatus. Vehicles can now be played in co-op with one player driving and the partner arming another weapon of the player’s vehicle. Online players can duke it out in a faction vs. faction manner where one team plays the Clowns and the other team plays the Dolls. Other factions will be announced at a later date.

Opinion: The Mad Max dream of mine can finally be fulfilled with the help of Twisted Metal. Twisted Metal 2 was my favorite multiplayer game for PS1 and to see Twisted Metal make its triumphant return makes me giddy inside.

Nintendo E3 2010 news conference highlights

Shigeru Miyamoto once again brought his replica Master Sword and Hylian Shield out of the closet to announce the latest Legend of Zelda game. Dubbed Skyward Sword, it’s the first Zelda game built from the ground up for the Wii. The only buttons used in the game are the A, B, C and Z buttons, and the rest of the game is controlled with motion. The sword follows the Wii Remote using Wii Motion Plus at one-to-one movement and the shield is controlled with the movement of the Wii Numchuk.

Opinion: First, Nintendo should just change the name of the game to The Legend of Zelda: Wii Bowling (a bomb). All jokes aside, the graphics of the game are in the happy medium between the cartoony Wind Waker and the realism of Twilight Princess. Zelda just looked more frustrating than ever with motion controls, a lot more so than Twilight Princess. Maybe the game didn’t demo very well on stage with a lot of control hitches, but that just could have been wireless interference or Miyamoto at the wheel. Skyward Sword is scheduled to release in 2011.

Side note: This year’s gaming trend: A run button. Case in point: Halo: Reach and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Look what you’ve done Modern Warfare … Goddamnit.

Mario Sports Mix

Nintendo are suiting up Mario and the rest of the Mushroom Kingdom gang to play in a plethora of new sports that have never been done before with Mario characters such as hockey, dodge ball, volleyball and more. The game is slated for touchdown in 2011.

Opinion: Why couldn’t have Nintendo done this before and bundle a bunch of sports into one game instead of charging $50 a pop for one sport at time such as Mario Super Sluggers and Mario Strikers Charged?

Wii Party

The newest game in the Wii line of games along with Wii Sports, Wii Fit, Wii Music and others is Wii Party. The game will have 13 different party game modes and a bunch of mini games to boot.

Opinion: Well … Nintendo has another automatic 5 million copy seller on their hands with Wii Party.

[Insert Zoolander Orange Mocha Frappuccino GIF]

GoldenEye 007 Remake

Nintendo and Activision, not Rare, are reviving the 1997 fps classic, GoldenEye 007. The game will be different in some ways, most notably the absence of Pierce Brosnan.

Opinion: Get that cardboard out because it’s time to tape that sucker back to the TV for some four-player split screen Bond action. On a side not, I loved the intro to the trailer showing a young video game focus groups. I’ve done many of these over the years and this group was far too enthusiastic to be a real one.

Metroid: Other M Trailer

Another trailer was shown for the soon to be released Samus adventure, Metroid: Other M. Other M dials M for retailers on August 31st.

Opinion: I couldn’t really get into the Prime series of Metroid games, so here’s hope that Other M will reinvigorate my interest for the seductress, Samus Aran.

Donkey Kong Returns by Retro Studios

Retro Studios has now moved on to another fabled franchise of Nintendo’s from Metroid to Donkey Kong, more specifically, the Donkey Kong Country series. Eloquently named Donkey Kong Country Returns, Returns is a side-scrolling platformer that stays true to the original Donkey Kong Country games for Super NES.

Opinion: It hurts me to say this, Zelda, but we are breaking up because this was my favorite game from the Nintendo conference because I loved the original Donkey Kong Country games and Returns looks to be a return to form.

Nintendo 3DS

Nintendo unveiled the hotly rumored and anticipated successor to the Nintendo DS, the Nintendo 3DS. The 3DS is the first hand-held gaming device on the market with 3D capabilities. The 3D aspect of the machine can actually be adjusted and even turned off to a completely 2D mode for people who choose so. A 3D depth slider changes that depth of the 3D effect. Along with the standard D-pad featured on any Nintendo DS, the 3DS implements a new slide pad akin to the PSP nub. The 3DS also has a motion sensor and gyro sensor inside.  Playable 3D films will also find their way onto the system. Nintendo continually stressed that no glasses are required. A full list of blockbuster games for the 3DS is all ready in development such as Metal Gear Solid, Kingdom Hearts and others, but only the titles were announced, no screenshots or footage.

Opinion:  One of the few times I agree with Reggie about anything was the stress of no use of glasses. Nintendo are getting it right, once again, by easing the user into a new experience through simplification.

P.S. I would like to take home one of the girls chained together with a 3DS…

Kid Icarus Uprising

1987 was the last time America got their hands on a game starring Pit of Kid Icarus. Kid Icarus Uprising for the 3DS will be the first return of Pit since Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

The 3DS graphics look remarkably better than a DS, almost at the level of the Nintendo home console, Wii.

Opinion: The 3DS looks like the real deal so far. Time to step off, Apple.

Lastly, Nintendo did not show anything about the bomb shell from last year’s press conference, the Wii Vitality Sensor.

For a feed from Nintendo at the E3 show. Click here

Star Wars: The Old Republic “Hope” trailer

In case you missed it, here is the new trailer for Bioware’s upcoming MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic.

I really hope Troopers have a move where I can wrestle with a guy while holding a thermal detonator.

video courtesy of Bioware.