The mobile phone and video gaming magazine www.phonicamagazine.co.uk
Issue 22
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THREE UK LAUNCHES FACEBOOK FOR EVERY PHONE NEW FACEBOOK APPLICATION BRINGS A SMARTPHONE EXPERIENCE TO JAVA FEATURE PHONES; NO DATA CHARGES FOR THE FIRST SIX MONTHS. Three and Facebook recently announced that Three has begun offering their customers a new Facebook mobile applica on for Java-based feature phones. Three is also sponsoring the launch by enabling their customers to download and use this applica on for six months without incurring any data charges. The Facebook for Every Phone applica on provides a be er and faster Facebook experience for feature phones than other similar applica ons and mobile sites. It brings Facebook’s most popular features and user experience to a wide range of Java handsets, and is op mised for speed and performance on Three’s network. This applica on includes several new and unique features that enable people to stay connected and easily share through Facebook including: Faster browsing of News Feed stories and Photos Easy photo uploads from your phone Synchronize local address book contacts with Facebook friends One- me download of applica on Facebook for Every Phone is op mised to use minimal data while providing people with a fast and engaging user experience on feature phones. The applica on uses less data than other Java applica ons or mobile sites, enabling it to be much more affordable for people to use when the trial period ends. With the UK’s biggest 3G network, Three gives its customers the ability to stay connected while on the go in more places than any other 3G network across the UK. The Three network has also been op mised
for high speed mobile internet access, so customers can stay in touch with their Facebook friends, and share their experiences, quickly and conveniently.
“THE APPLICATION USES LESS DATA THAN OTHER JAVA APPLICATIONS OR MOBILE SITES, ENABLING IT TO BE MUCH MORE AFFORDABLE.” Charlo e Spencer, Three’s Director of Products and Services, said: “Our customers love Facebook, which is why we are delighted to be able to offer them a new way to stay in touch and why we are extending the free offer to six-months rather than just 90-days. “Three is all about giving people high-speed mobile internet access, and although more and more of our customers are now using smartphones, this deal ensures that those on older handsets can s ll have a great Facebook experience on their phone – and can begin to see what the benefits would be of having All-you-can-eat data.” “At Facebook, we strive to not only provide a great experience on the website, but to also provide a great Facebook experience from any mobile device they choose,” said Javier Olivan, Head of Interna onal Growth, Facebook. “Through our collabora on with Three we’re thrilled we can offer yet another way for people to stay connected through Facebook and bring a high quality and high speed mobile applica on experience to feature phones in an affordable way.”
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INVERSION PUBLISHER: NAMCO BANDAI DEVELOPER: SABER INTERACTIVE FORMAT: PS3, XBOX 360 GENRE: THIRD-PERSON SHOOTER AVAILABLE: FEBRUARY 2012
GEARS OF WAR MEETS INCEPTION...OR SO I’M TOLD
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When I first heard about Inversion, billed by some as ‘Gears of War meets Incep on,’ I was a li le scep cal to say the least. Gears is a great game, and Incep on was one of last year’s best movies, but how similar can this game be to either, given how genre-defining both were, and more importantly, how good can this game be?
You play David Russel, a cop who finds himself thrust into the very heart of inter-galac c warfare when gravity-controlling aliens invade Earth, resul ng in the death of his wife and kidnap of his young daughter. David has to stand up against the invading enemies, with the help of his partner, Leo Delgado, and embrace the very essence of what he’s figh ng against to emerge victorious.
Well, in answer to the first ques on, Inversion doesn’t really conform to any stereotype, but does borrow elements from Gears of War, given that it’s a third-person semi-on-the-rails shooter, and Incep on, with the gravity element, or lack of therein, but to describe it as either one would be an insult to the game. As for the second ques on, well, by the looks of it, very good indeed!
“YOU CAN CHANGE THE EFFECTS OF GRAVITY ON THE ENEMIES YOU’RE FIGHTING.” Early on in the game, you realise that normal bullets do nothing against a race of creatures that can
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manipulate physics, and you manage to obtain one of their weapons that helps you also change the effects of gravity. Now without going into too much detail, and spoiling the plot for those of you that enjoy a good plot-based game, let me just say that here is where the real fun starts. You can change the effects of gravity on the enemies you’re figh ng, or their surroundings for that ma er, and the game includes good use of environmental destruc on. There are also some parts of the game that are completely zero-gravity, and the best part is that the game is coop as well, though this is only online and not split-screen. The release date that we have been given is February 10th, 2012. This may change, but Namco Bandai suggested that it was concrete. Either way, circle the date in your diary, as this is going to be a great game! Ma Foley PHONICA MAGAZINE UK
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SOUL CALIBUR V PUBLISHER: NAMCO BANDAI DEVELOPER: PROJECT SOUL FORMAT: PS3, XBOX 360 GENRE: BEAT-EM-UP AVAILABLE: 2012 Soul Calibur is probably the first thing that comes to mind when ‘weapons-based fighting games’ is men oned, and 2008’s Soul Calibur IV is largely considered one of the best figh ng games of all me. Loved by fans and cri cs alike, it was meant to be the swansong of the Soul series, ending the franchise on the biggest of highs, a huge success, allowing Hiroaki Yotoriyama, who is the series’ creator, for those of you who don’t know, to wander off into the sunset. But the fans didn’t like this, they had other ideas! When they heard that Soul Calibur IV was to be the last, they pe oned in their thousands to stop this award-winning series from ending. The developers heard this, spoke to the fans about where they thought the game should go from there, how they could progress if, and only if, Soul Calibur V was made. They took all of their feedback, both posi ve and what li le nega ve there was, on board and started on the sequel, which, though s ll very much in development, looks like it could be even be er! This game is set 17 years a er the events of IV, with a new storyline and mostly new characters, in fact only a few favourites return. The gameplay of the previous tles has been renewed, with an innova ve 8-way run system allowing for full 3D-movement when figh ng, and an increased level of strategy which will mean that experienced players will s ll feel that the game offers them a test, but novices of the game will s ll be able to simply pick up and play. Soul Calibur fans have always been a tough bunch. With so many of the games in the series being so very good, disappointment doesn’t come easily, and luckily, I don’t think they’ll be disappointed with V. It’s just the agonising wait! S ll, Soul fans, 2012 is the year for you! Ma Foley PHONICA MAGAZINE UK
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RARITIES A RUMMAGE THROUGH THE RAREST OF VIDEOGAMES; DO YOU OWN ANY? You may have heard the news that a super-rare copy of Tetris is on sale on eBay for a super-expensive $1million. The Mega Drive copy of Tetris, already valued in the tens of thousands for this factor alone (a er a legal dispute, Nintendo obtained exclusive rights to the Tetris series, meaning that Sega could not put their version on sale – as of now, only 10 copies are known to exist) is adorned with a signature from Tetris’ creator, Alexey Pajitnovm making it a truly unique, even iconic item. So, if you have a cool million lying around, now’s your chance to buy a slice of gaming history. In rela on to this slice of extravagance, now seems as good a me as any to have a trawl through the pages of the interweb, and in a vain hope of discovering that anything in our gaming collec on is worth more than rusty pennies, lets have a look at some of the rarest videogames in the world. Do you own any of these?
KIZUNA ENCOUNTER For a rela vely unimpressive beat-um-up, 1996’s Kizuna Encounter has amassed one hell of a reputa on for its remarkable rarity. If you own the Japanese version of this Neo Geo puncher, you’ll do well to make enough of a sale to afford a night out.
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But, if you happen to own one of the only fi een copies produced for the European market, you’re looking at a price tag of at least £10,000. As we said, this tle packs a punch!
AIR RAID Air Raid for the Atari 2600 is a bit of an enigma, a mystery, as despite being enormously sought-a er by gaming collectors, no one really knows the full story of it’s crea on. To be honest, no one even knows Air Raid’s actual name: there’s no official tle on the box or cartridge, and Air Raid was only used as an explana on to the Missile Command-style gameplay. No one really knows who made the game (Menovision is o en men oned, but never confirmed); no one fully understands why the cartridge is a funny shape and made of bright blue plas c; no one can even claim to own an original copy. It’s all of a bit of a puzzle, but one thing has been clarified: the price - £1000 minimum.
STADIUM EVENTS Why can one version of this later eigh es NES tle be worth less than a Ginsters pasty, but another copy as much as 20,000 of the petrol sta on pastries? In 1987, Bandai released Stadium Events along with
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their newest contrap on, the Family Fun Fitness mat: a Wii Balance Board for 1987. In 1988, Nintendo brought the rights to both the game and the mat, re-branding them as World Class Track Meet and the Power Pad controller. To capitalise on this purchase, Nintendo amassed all 200 of the original copies of Stadium Events, and like videogame Nazis, had them all destroyed. Now, only 10 or so copies exist, and if you have a factory sealed version, you could be coun ng £20,000+ into your bank account. And bear this in mind: even if you have just the box, that’ll get you up to £5000...pesky Nazis.
DARXIDE Despite Sega’s 32X churning out some truly excellent tles (Blackthorne, Knuckles Chao x) in its rela vely short lifespan, it was never a major – or even minor – commercial success. As such, the majority of its tles are now rather rare, with 1995’s Darxide being one of the most treasured. A visually impressive 3D shooter, Darxide was one of the last 32X tles, and was also des ned to become a launch tle for the Sega Neptune, before the ill-fated console vanished into the history books. A clean copy will set you back around £600.
1990 NINTENDO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS In the early 90s, gaming was growing worldwide. To publicize this, Nintendo held an event across 30 American ci es, sta ng that they wanted to find the best gamer in the world (or America...). The challenge was simple: score as many points as you can within six minutes, on three demo versions of Super Mario Bros., Rad Racer, and Tetris. If you made it into the final three in your city, you were awarded a grey copy of World Championships, which can now be sold for around £2000. Along with this, Nintendo Power magazine ran a compe on with the prize being one of 26 copies of a special Gold edi on of the cartridge. For one of these, there’s a price tag reaching the thick end of £12,000. Who said gaming doesn’t pay? A few years later Nintendo ran a similar compe on: Nintendo Campus Challenge. Same rules as the Worlds: six minutes to score as many points as possible on Super Mario Bros. 3, PinBot, and Dr. Mario. A er the event, all but one of the cartridges was destroyed, with it going on sale several mes over the years for $20,000.
ATLANTIS II Atlan s is a bit of an unsung tle, which despite packing the arcades out in the early 80s, is rarely revered alongside the other top tles of the me, such as Pac-Man, Missile Command and Donkey Kong. If you happen to own a copy of Atlan s, don’t start splashing out just yet, as they sell for as li le as a single £1. But, if you own a copy of Atlan s II – a special, tougher version which was sent to only a few world-class players of the original game, featuring faster enemies as a truer test of skill – you could be looking at £3000+. But how do you tell Atlan s from Atlan s II? The only iden fying mark is a white “Atlan s II” s cker on the front of the cartridge, and if this has been removed, you’ll have to contact an expert to provide details of authen ca on.
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Sco Tierney
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