Review: FIFA 12 (iPad)

Let’s get the usual argument about gaming on the iPad out of the way from the start; FIFA 12 is very comfortable to play with virtual buttons. On top of that, EA has been good enough to provide a way to pair an iPhone with an iPad via Bluetooth and use the iPhone as you would a controller on a TV console. Taking the buttons off the iPad screen makes things even more comfortable (and allows for seamless two player local gaming) and playing that way is even more comfortable. In short – anyone who was worried about a sports game without buttons need not worry, EA has iPad gaming down to a fine art.

Welcome to the new look Digitally Downloaded!

Following on from our sister publications, www.otakugaming.com and www.boardandwargames.com you might have noticed that Digitally Downloaded has a new look.

Opinion: Are graphics better today?

How many polygons in this utterly gorgeous game?

If you’ve been in your local video game store lately (which is unlikely if you only read digitallydownloaded.net. We love you guys), you probably overheard conversation between two guys talking about a new release. If you’re the type to bother to continue listening to this kind of thing, you know that usually it’s them debating the pros and cons of the game they’re clutching in their crooked gamer hands. One point in this aimless argument that always pops up is “YEAH, but the graphics were X”.

Battlefield 3 Beta available now

EA's Battlefield 3 is one of the big boys for the holiday selling season this year and, as a high profile military shooter, it's the game that many believe will finally give the Call of Duty behemoth a run for it's money.

So far, B3 looks like it's a winner in the visual department (at the very least) but the real meat and potatoes is the quality of the campaign and the multiplayer. Of course, neither of those elements were executed all that well in Medal of Honor, the last game to be heralded as the "Call of Duty-killer".

If you'd like to give Battlefield an early spin and see if it just might live up to its billing, you can snag the multiplayer Beta right now on Xbox LIVE, the PSN and the PC. Of course, while you wait for that beefy download to complete, why not click through for some of the latest screens from the game? For a game as pretty as Battlefield 3, you know you want to...

Review: Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (3DS VC)

Mario has had more outings than just about any other character in gaming. Even so, there’s nothing quite like what the latest eShop release, Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, brings to the table. The level of zaniness in this title is unlike just about any other Mario title. Whether you’re a first timer or you’ve been a fan for 20 years, you owe it to yourself to check this one out.

Ubisoft's I Am Alive apocalypse getting ever closer

Ubisoft continues to do all kinds of good things with the digital download platform, with its next big project being a decidedly downbeat experiment.

I Am Alive is a post-apocalyptic action/adventure game, according to the publisher, and is due for release in winter (summer for those of us in the southern hemisphere). It's being developed by Ubisoft Shanghai, and the focus in this game? Making players think.

Review: Mercury Hg (PS3)

Mercury Hg: Fun AND educational. Except not really. Why the developers and publishers decided to use their media releases to tout the “periodic table” structure that serves as Mercury’s branching level it was a very strange marketing decision indeed, as the only thing high school chemistry manages to teach many of us is that the periodic table is a pretty dry subject.

The plus side from going into Mercury expecting a lesson in chemistry is that once you get into the game it utterly blows you away. Dry? Hells no, this is one of the best puzzle games this side of Lumines when it comes to raw energy and excitement.

Review: Celestial Mechanica (PC)

Celestial Mechanica is a side scrolling platformer with a steep difficulty curve and a stylistic 16-bit look. The game is developed by Roger Hicks and Paul Veer, who both should be well known to the indie gaming scene by now.

You play a robot, or rather a celestial being according to the game’s story, who is trying to find a way back home after being cast out. The earth is at the point of destruction and the celestial beings come out of nowhere and save the world.

Zombie Driver coming to PSN and XBLA

Anyone have fond memories of Carmageddon? This is kind of like that.

Zombie Driver started out as a PC project by Polish developer, EXOR Studios. Evidently it went down pretty well, because it's now also coming to XBLA, PSN and Tegra 2 powered mobile devices.

As you'll see in the trailer below, it looks pretty darned good, too

Two Android reviews: Alchemy and Blast Monkeys

Alchemy

If you are the kind of person that loves a game where you can stop playing in the blink of an eye and start up right where you left off them you can sometimes be let down by phone games. Taking the time to finish a level or save a game can be impractical when you are on the go or you could just let the game run in the background and chew through precious battery power unsure of when you might start playing again. Fortunately with Alchemy you won't have any of these troubles since it is as simple as quitting and everything will be right as you left it when you come back.

Panzer Corps gets two expansion packs

Panzer Corps is a very good strategy game. When we reviewed it not long ago, we scored it an impressive 4/5. It's a great throw back to our fond memories of the old Panzer General days, and developers, The Lordz Games Studio and publisher, Matrix Games, aren't resting on their laurels.

Two additional content packs are on their way for armchair generals to gain some extra mileage out of Panzer Corps. They'll be available for download for $US4.99 a piece, and contain scenarios and campaigns for the various battles of 1939 and 1940.

Last screenshot batch before Game of Thrones launches

One of our most anticipated released for the year in terms of strategy gaming, Game of Thrones launches tomorrow. Focus Home Entertainment has been good enough to provide three more screenshots, just to make us that little bit more excited.

Not much more needs to be said, we'll be getting our hands on the actual game soon enough. In the mean time, check these two shots out and salivate:

Ten guilty pleasures sitting on my PlayStation 3

Everyone has a pile of these games – games that they know are not that great, or even downright bad, and yet the games somehow click with that person, and they end up really enjoying them.

Let’s call these games “guilty pleasures;” games that are fun on some kind of personal level, but as you’re playing them, the thinking part of the body (the brain, folks) is telling you “no, no, NO!”

And with that lovely preamble, here’s my personal 10 PlayStation guilty pleasure games. Are they yours as well? Do you think any of these games are actually superb works of art? Be sure to let us know in the comments!

Irem removing R-Type (and possibly more) from the Virtual Console

Just a few months ago, Irem removed its games from the PlayStation Network. According to Sega's blog, the company is now set to pull R-Type for the Sega Master System from Nintendo's Virtual Console service.

Seeing how Sega reported the news, it would not be illogical to assume that the other games may suffer a similar fate (Sega has no need to report the games unrelated to its console). If you want these games, you should act quickly, since this is probably your last chance to get them - assuming the games do indeed get removed.

See a full list of Irem's VC games after the jump.

It's like Farmville, but hardcore; Farming Simulator 2011 gets Platinum Edition

It's a physical copy-only release, but if you haven't already experienced Farming Simulator 2011 (available for download on Steam), here's some screens and news that might draw you in.

Publisher, Excalibur, is set to release a 'platinum edition' in October. Now, Farming Simulator 2011 is not Farmville. It's not even Harvest Moon. This is a hardcore sim game that tries to accurately recreate life on the farm.

Fallout: New Vegas (sort of) expands

Bethesda today announced the release of a pair of mini-content packs on Steam, Xbox LIVE, and the PSN. Depending on whether or not you pre-ordered the game before it was released, you may already have one of them...

Digitally Downloaded poll results #4: Are there any genres that can't work on iPad/ iPhone?

If this fortnight's poll is anything to go by, iPhone and iPad developers still have a way to go in convincing people that the touch-only devices are capable gaming machines.

When we asked our readers "are there any genres that can't work on iPad/ iPhone?" Here are the following possible answers, as well as percentage of votes that went that way:


FPSers and platformers, especially, need physical buttons: 59%
Only with heavy optimisation: 9%
There is nothing the iPad/ iPhone can't do! 13%
The iPad can handle anything, the iPhone is limited: 18%


So for the most part, people are still convinced that the more input-intensive genres don't really work on those devices. Time will tell if that will change.

So that concludes this week's poll. Let us know your personal thoughts. Make sure you check out our previous polls: #1, #2, and #3, and join in our next poll: "What is a fair price for a good, A-grade, downloadable game?"

And we'll see you here again in a few weeks!

Review: Ubongo (iPad)

The iPad has no shortage of really, really good board game adaptations, and indeed at times board games are now being specifically designed for Apple's tablet without ever seeing a physical version.

With that in mind, a middling board game such as Ubongo has its work cut out for it when it comes time to bring it to the iPad. It was always going to struggle to compete with incredible games such as Samurai, Ticket To Ride or Puerto Rico. The developers have done a decent job here, but at the end of the day it's still a middling board game.

Review: Super Stack Attack HD (iPad)

I must admit, one of the iPhone games that I'm most addicted to is Super Stack Attack. It does for me what the likes of Angry Birds does for a few million people worldwide, it's easy to pick up and play for those minutes of time I need to fill in between meetings and on those short train trips.

So I was pleasantly surprised to see Super Stack Attack HD appear on the App store for iPad, because I do prefer playing my games on iPad to iPhone. And while Super Stack Attack's gameplay is a touch limited for the iPad's bigger screen, this is nonetheless the definitive version.

Trailer: The Dark Meadow, the new best-looking iPhone/ iPad game

The Dark Meadow is a horror/ hack and slash game designed to creep you out on the Unreal 3 Engine. It launches on October 6, and you can check out the trailer below:

Review: Arkedo Series - 02 Swap (PSN)

Arkedo Series – 02 Swap is less obviously retro than its predecessor, Arkedo Series – 01 Jump, which we reviewed not so long ago. But this is more rounded, better realised package, and as such it’s an easy recommend.

It's worth noting from the outset though, that this isn't a new game. It's been available on the Xbox 360 since 2009, but at least PlayStation owners can experience what is actually a really fun game.

Of course, the developers were working with an even more basic concept this time around than the 2D retro platformer that formed the basis of 01 Jump. 02 Swap is a match-4 puzzle game in the vein of Nintendo’s Puzzle League games. A grid of coloured cubes slowly makes its way up a screen, and by pulling four in a row, vertically or horizontally, the player can keep the grid from hitting the top (game over) of the field.

Trailer: Mercury Hg coming to PSN and XBLA shortly

Mercury is one of those puzzle games that has been around for a few years now, and largely flown under the radar. Designed by Archer Maclean in those early days, it looks like the franchise is soon to hit its ideal state as a downloadable title.

Mercury Hg launches September 27 for the PSN, and September 28 for XBLA, and in anticipation of the day, UTV Ignition has released the first trailer for the game.

Review: Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition (PSN/XBLA)

If you were a fan of fighting games in the nineties, $10 says you had played Street Fighter II at some point. With more than five different versions on multiple consoles and in the arcades, Street Fighter II was everywhere. All of these rereleases only made us wonder when the true sequel, Street Fighter III was coming. When it finally came, six years after Street Fighter II, it seemed as if Capcom had waited too long. The popularity of the Street Fighter series was beginning to wane and as a result, many missed out on the much anticipated follow-up.

What is it like to finally play the third game, injected with online play and new modes? 

Donkey Kong appears on iOS App stores!

I took a quick look at the Apple App Store on my iPad today, and what did I find sitting there for free download?

“Donkey Kong 2.” How the heck this got through Apple’s copyright checking processes I have no idea, (I suspect because Apple rather likes the idea, and will wait for the inevitable Nintendo takedown notice). The game is surely not going to be there long, so if you have an iPad (and possibly an iPhone), quickly jump on and grab it, because it's free, and actually plays pretty well.

It might not be official, but this kind of thing just proves that Nintendo should put up some of its IPs on the iOS App stores. Playing old school Game and Watch games on the crystal clear HD iPad screen is an awesome, nostalgic experience.

Ghostlight looking to expand Australian PSN support

If you're an avid user of the PlayStation Store, you may have noticed that Ghostlight's support for Aussies has been somewhat lacking. It might not be that way for long, though. According to a recent blog post on Ghostlight's website, the company plans to bring all of its published games to the Australian store, with Persona 3: Portable being the big kahuna.

Hardcore strategy gamers rejoice! GMT is entering the digital age

GMT Games is a board game publisher you might not have heard about, but it's one that produces some of the finest hardcore military board games you'll ever play.

We've got a review of one of GMT's games, Samurai, over at sister publication Board and War Games, to give you an idea of what they're (usually) about. The really exciting news is that GMT Games, through partnerships with various developers, has a large range of games due for PC, Android and iOS platforms.

White Knight Chronicles 2 requires additional online passes for additional players

All new copies of White Knight Chronicles 2 will require that players use the online pass included with the game in order to access all of the features. Players with used copies of the game will need to purchase the GeoNet License priced at $9.99 USD off of the PlayStation Store, should they want the full experience. Access to the online features will also be restricted to one PlayStation Network account, so families with multiple users on their PS3s will need to purchase additional GeoNet Licenses for each player.

EA holding a sale on iOS games

Until the end of this weekend, EA has marked down the price of no less than 21 of its titles on the App Store. There are some rather drastic discounts on here, such as Dead Space and Tetris, so there couldn't possibly be a better time to pick these up - if you can grab them in time. You can see the full list after the jump.

Microsoft bringing Xbox games to smartphones

Microsoft's tentatively named Windows 8 online service will feature plenty of new games and other downloadable content, but that's not all. There are currently plans to bring over games from the original Xbox library.

In addition, Microsoft will allow players to swap save data between their console and phone versions of the game. You'll be able to take your Xbox games with you on the go, and then come home to play them on the big screen. The phones will functions as controllers for the Xbox 360 itself.