September 12, 2009

X-Play Online Games (X-Play), the joint venture company of IP EGames and GMA New Media (GMA NMI), the digital media arm of GMA Network Inc. announces the release of Operation 7 (OP7), its newest game title.

Developed by Korean game development company Mgame, OP7 is a new MMOFPS (massively multiplayer online first person shooter game), that offers the most action-packed and most realistic first person shooter game available online.

Gil Edeza, COO of X-Play, said that OP7’s pedigree is undeniable and said that this game was developed and built with Counterstrike players in mind. “But OP7 is several notches up in the FPS ladder. It is undeniably the next step in the evolution of the FPS world. The game is geared towards the creative thinkers who know the artistry required in gun modification.”

Steven Choi, director of Mgame’s International Business Department is excited about the partnership with X-Play. “We are thrilled with our partnership with X-Play. With its three-million strong gaming community, the support they give them, and the dedication to their game titles, we believe OP7 will become a great hit for Philippine market.” Choi said.

The weapons building system

Following the tried and tested formula of successful first person shooters, OP7 gives online players a lot of great gaming features, prime of which is the sheer gun customization options. Guns can be modified in the game offering a wide selection of parts such as Dot Sights, Scopes, Kobs, Silencers, Gun Body, Barrels, and more to create a gun unique to each player.  Over 1000 gun customizations can be created letting players create the perfect gun to suit their style.

In addition to gun customization, OP7 also allows players to customize the appearance of their avatar as the game progresses. The progress is dependent on skill level, so thought needs to be put into all aspects of the game.

OP 7 also uses maps based on real locations which offer an interesting insight into how combat unfolds. There is a map for instance of New York City’s Ground Zero that actually corresponds with the real location. Re-enactments of historical escapes and warfare then become possible with OP7. For players hankering for PVP, OP7 gives them just that and more with Clan Vs. Clan PVP.  Sonny Carlos, product manager for OP7 explains the game boasts of specific features not found on any other existing FPO. “The experience of the player is more realistic with screen blurring to mimic dizziness after an explosion, physics in OP7 are just realistic. Games of this caliber obviously had a lot of thought put into its development. We are extremely excited to see how this unfolds once the public tries it out,” Carlos said.

In addition, OP7 imitates reality with gameplay that offers features which require the players to have realistic battle tactics. Although not unique to OP7, the gameplay’s peek feature is much more like real life. This means that players have to think before they even peek. The radar at the bottom left of the screen is an extremely helpful addition for the players that are more alert and able to think on their toes.

Thanks to the out-of-the-box thinking, thrilling missions, and the demands of warfare, OP7 has something for every first person shooter out there looking for a game created to exceed the rest and finally meet their standards.

OP7 recently launched their Open Beta Testing (OBT) with the proper anticipation for such a game. An increase in channel capacity was set prior to the launch.

George Royeca, X-Play VP for Casual Games, claims that OP7 will mark the beginning of a new era of MMOFPS. “”This new game is the sophisticated gaming experience for those who have played other first person shooters. With most others, aside from gaining experience to get to the next level, there is no real reason to keep playing. But with OP7, the thrill is in the artistry of the weapons.”

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty won’t be winging its way to a PC or Mac on schedule. Blizzard Entertainment announced that the eagerly-anticipated game won’t meet its 2009 release date; instead, Blizzard is pushing back the launch until after the new year.

First promised two years ago, StarCraft II is a sequel to the ground-breaking real-time-strategy game set in space. The game was easily one of most anticipated releases of 2009; now, there’s no firm release date from Blizzard, other than a first-half of 2010 target.

The reason for the delay? A longer-than-expected development time for upgrading Blizzard’s Battle.net online multiplayer service, according to the company. Battle.net first launched with the Blizzard title Diablo in 1997 and revolutionized online gaming by providing an in-game multiplayer service that contrasted with external online multiplayer services at the time. Battle.net has since become an extremely popular method for playing online and an integral part of the Blizzard gaming experience.

You’ll have to wait a bit longer to enjoy fiery battles like this one in StarCraft II.

With the news in June that Blizzard had opted to not ship StarCraft II with LAN support, the delay caps a rather tumultuous two months for the game maker. As reported by Joystiq, Blizzard’s Bob Colayco had already suggested that Blizzard killed off LAN in order to move players to an upgraded Battle.net, which he called “the best option to ensure a quality multiplayer experience with StarCraft II and safeguard against piracy.”

By making Battle.net the only show in town, the pressure on the service to deliver a compelling and new experience has only mounted. Colayco already said that Battle.net will offer new features like “advanced communication options, achievements, stat-tracking, and more.” These new features are seemingly taking more time to upgrade than they had previously anticipated, and fans of the series will have to wait a bit longer for what now looks to be the most anticipated gaming title of 2010.

Pack your flip-flops and water purifying tablets, The Sims are off to party with the geographic glitterati in The Sims 3 World Adventures, the first expansion to EA’s June-released “life simulation” game (PCW Score: 90%). Treleip around the world to “famous real-world inspired destinations” in China, France, and Egypt without leaving the cushy security of your comfy chair, or paying for expensive massages in strange places to minimize pain incurred by tourist’s neck.

I’m not sure how they’ll handle game flow as you make plans to leave. Small town travel agency? Can you use a multi-billions discount aggregator that’s secretly more expensive than booking directly? Will Sims under your tutelage back home auto-manage efficiently in your absence? Do you have to bring the whole family, or can your married forty-something Sim have a proper mid-life crisis and go hotel-hopping in “Sim Lanka” with a barely twenty-year-old Nabokov-obsessed artiste?

Just getting to-from your exotic destination could be interesting. Will your plane stall on the runway and make your Sims’s stress level redline? Hang for hours in a landing pattern waiting for traffic to clear? Can you strip naked and flash the attendant staff if they lose your luggage? Can you torment foreigners by blaring Ladytron’s “Ghosts” from a portable boom box? Can your Sim go in a cup if he/she gets lost in some dingy Egyptian pyramidal nether passage after tossing back a few too many mocha-lattes?

Okay, mic over to EA.

“We’re thrilled with the global success of The Sims 3 over these last few months and are looking forward to expanding on the gameplay experience with one of the most robust expansion packs to The Sims yet,” said Scott Evans, General Manager of The Sims at EA. “Players will be able to take their Sims on the adventure of a lifetime and explore lands outside of Sunset Valley and Riverview, pursue thrilling new life destinies in locations around the world inspired by famous destinations, and immerse themselves in the open-ended gameplay where they’ll discover new cities in China, France, and Egypt, and share new stories.”

Did I mention the game has ninjas? Not necessarily Ninjas, capital-N, but yep, you can actually “master martial arts” in Shang Simla, China. Don’t bother Google-mapping it–or Champs Les Sims, France and Al Simhara, Egypt either. It’s not just about visiting places you can’t afford to in reality, it’s as much about going where no one’s gone before–or ever will–too.

New challenges: Search for secret treasure, learn new skills, chase down new personal opportunities, meet new Sims and share their culture, even bring them home (word up, Madonna and Angelina Jolie!). Also: Discover new styles and share your experiences with the world (the Real World, that is) via photos, movies, and stories.

If you’re a budding virtual internationalist, it’ll be on your hard drive (and you’ll be 1,000 SimPoints richer, to spend on all the new online content) when it launches November 16, 2009.

#4 LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Batman and Lego Indiana Jones

For: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2, DS, PSP and PC

Physical Effort Required: Medium

Mental Energy Required: Not much

While there are a number of straightforward puzzles featured in these tongue-in-cheek movie tie-ins, all of the LEGO games essentially demand only two things from the player: shoot/slash/punch through waves of enemies and press the continue button whenever you drop dead. The reason the slew of LEGO video games make it onto this list is because it’s literally impossible to die in them as they supply you with infinite lives.

Having infinite continues is something that’s been featured in other arcade-style sidescrolling action games like the Metal Slug games, but the surprising thing is that this takes nothing away from your experience. No one likes dying in games and the LEGO games are well aware of that as you can blast through levels as The Dark Knight, Luke Skywalker, or Dr. Jones with no regard for your own life.

#1 New Super Mario Bros. Wii (With Demo Play Activated)

For: Nintendo Wii

Physical Effort Required: ZERO!

Mental Energy Required: Fall asleep, take your cat for a walk, or make a sandwich, you don’t have to be thinking about the game at all with Demo Play.

On one hand, a game that literally plays itself sounds pretty progressive. On the other hand, it more or less eliminates all the challenge. What’s the point of even spending fifty dollars on a game if you’re just going to hit a button that does everything for you? GamePro’s Sean Mirkovich made a remark the other day that ‘it’s sort of like paying someone to eat your icecream for you.’

New Super Mario Bros. Wii is no Splinter Cell in terms of how focused you need to be in order advance in the game, but it still involves a certain amount of skill (jumping over chasms, avoiding hazards, etc.). But now that Nintendo has spilled the beans on their new “Demo Mode” feature, you can just have the game’s AI think for you. If only real life had a Demo Mode for times where you just want to turn off your brain.

#5 LocoRoco / LocoRoco 2

For: PSP

Physical Effort Required: Not much

Mental Energy Required: Medium

Similarly to the way several video games for the iPhone are played, in the LocoRoco games, tilting is really the only thing you do to get through levels.

But instead of using the iPhone’s accelerometer to tilt the phone itself, you move your LocoRocos by pressing buttons on the PSP to tip the world, which causes gravity to propel those cute gelatinous singing balls through levels. The only other thing you have to worry about while playing the game is jumping. If you’ve never played LocoRoco or its sequel, you’re missing out on some of the best simple pleasures the PSP has to offer.

#6 Any Light Gun Game Ever Created

For: Everything from Arcades to the PS3

Physical Effort Required:Not Much

Mental Energy Required: Not Much

It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about Time Crisis, House of the Dead, or Duck Hunt, light gun games as a whole take a lot of the exertion out of playing video games. All you need is one functioning arm and decent vision for you to partake and excel in them.

Most light gun games also restrict your movement completely, which is why they’re referred to as “on-rails shooters,” because it’s as though you’re on a track going through a fun house filled with video game enemies. But I’m not knocking light gun games. Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles and The House of the Dead games, are some of my favourite titles that are devoid of many of the frustrations of more involved titles, including having to worry about where you’re supposed to go next.

#2 Let’s Tap

For: Nintendo Wii

Physical Effort Required: Virtually None

Mental Energy Required: Minimal

What’s lazier than a video game where you don’t even have to pick up the damn controller? In order to get your little translucent jelly man to run around a track, knock blocks off of a tower, or engage in any of Let’s Tap’s other mini-games, all you do is set the Wii Remote down on a surface such as an empty pizza box on your granny’s coffin and tap near the controller, which then senses your vibrations–that’s it!

You could be half dead, lying down on the couch with your face turned towards the television screen and you should still be able to muster up the strength to lift your index finger up and down. People slam Wii games for being too simplistic, but sometimes a game that allows you to play it with zero effort like Let’s Tap is what you’re in the mood for.

Have A Lazy Summer All Year ‘Round!

Let’s face it–for the most part, video games are only demanding less and less from the player, especially with beginner difficulty settings and tutorials coming standard with most new games.

Several days ago, Nintendo took this to a new level when they revealed that in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, you will have an option where you can actually have the game play itself. If you can’t get past an obstacle in the upcoming platformer, you can simply press a button and the game will not only show you what to do, it will do it for you.

But that’s not necessarily a “bad” thing, is it? Not every game has to be uber-grueling. Hell, I remember the days when some games only supplied you with one life and once your health bar was depleted you were forced to start from the very beginning of the game. We take a look at several great games that don’t feel like a chore to play.

#3 Dead Space

For: Xbox 360, PS3

Physical Effort Required: Medium

Mental Energy Required: Little… if you press R3

Okay, hear me out before you scoff at this entry. While it is possible to play EA’s Resident Evil-slaying horror masterpiece Dead Space without using the game’s built-in “never get lost option,” for some gamers like myself it’s just too hard to resist abusing this GPS. Besides, I don’t care who you are, wasting a lot of time struggling to figure out what you’re supposed to do in game is never fun on any level.

To activate Dead Space’s objective finder, you click in the right analog stick (R3) and a glowing blue line will appear that shows you exactly where you need to go. The point of the feature is to have a little help during those times where you’re really stumped and are becoming increasingly more frustrated. Of course, if you’re like me and love linear games, you can just hit this every two seconds to radically transform Dead Space from a fairly difficult survival horror game into a non-stop Necromorph slaughter fest.