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Kicking from the Hip with Kung Fu Kickball

WhaleFood Games
Blowfish Studios

Sorry, Carl. Everyone wants to do Kung Fu Kickball, because it’s likely to be fast and fought with expert timing!

This 2D sports platform retro-style fighter features many traditional characters playing ball. From Boxers to Monkey King to Panda and Sifu Masters (to name a few), the look is crazy, and concept engaging. It borrows from many kids anime, especially Dragonball, and how can anyone not want to, in the game, legally knock your opponent down? They’ll stand back up in due time, but in this game, it’s all about ringing the bell to score one for the team.

The music is fun, and the only downside with this game is that while up to four players are supported, there can only be two opposing teams. Even in solo mode, the AI is reasonable enough to let players progress and the game allows you to set the difficulty for the uninitiated.

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Gamdias Powers Forth with PC Products

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

Gamdias-logo1 Gamdias is moreorless a new player in the North American third-party PC accessories scene. The Taiwanese company was founded in 2012, where its products (designer mice, mouse pads and keyboards) were first made available to Asia before branching out to a world-wide market. Had their products been made available for use in a wider spectrum, like for artists (with their mats) and Xbox/ Playstation compatibility (with their headsets), then this company might get a following.

For example, game enthusiasts may well enjoy using this company’s products while playing games like God of War or Halo. With this company’s product line taking their name from the gods of this Mediterranean culture, there’s no denying that there is a coolness factor for fans of classic mythology to take note of.

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Sony’s PS4. On The Bard vs Next Generation Gaming

Sony’s PS4 has some impressive specs and interesting features like using an iPad for a second screen, but that’s not enough to convince me to own a unit yet.

William Shakespeare
“To PS4 or not to Xbox, that is the question:
Whether ’tis better, another console in mind —
Nay a Nintendo. Forsooth a PC?
All be it in gravitas for what
Divine Janus may offer in the New Year.”

— Ed “The Vintage Tempest” Sum

Sony’s PS4 has some impressive specs and interesting features like using an iPad for a second screen, but that’s not enough to convince me to own a unit. Even as they’re planning yet another unit–which is years away–I’m not entirely convinced to buy any new gaming device the first year of its release. When looking at Microsoft’s, Xbox One–which has an improved Kinect–I’m not convinced.

The videos of various games demos for both look great in high-def, but the list of games available during launch week are scant. They are not as wide and varied as I hoped.

The current line of exclusives are not all that interesting, and there will no doubt be some hardware and software kinks that need to be ironed out. There were reports over the weekend about the PS4’s ‘blue light of death,’ an analogy that brings to mind Microsoft’s infamous ‘red ring of death’ back when the Xbox 360 released. At least .4% of the people who bought the system were affected. I suspect the figure is larger but when considering the number of units that flew off the shelves in stores on launch day. That is not a good start.

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