Wednesday, December 4, 2013


Pre-order-ps4
The FIFA series is a franchise that’s built its reputation on its gameplay, particularly when it comes to controls.  Unlike many other sports series in the video game realm, EA has really put quite a lot of effort into bringing gamers a football experience like no other.   From increasingly realistic graphics to the way you handle the ball, FIFA 14 is a stunning achievement, particularly on the PS4, which features the all-new Ignite engine.  In short, the next-gen version of this game is perhaps THE title that FIFA fans have been waiting for.
Despite all the recent advancements though, many players might still need some assistance when it comes to improving their game.  The A.I. seems much more organized and creative than ever before, which requires gamers to strike back with their own shifting tactics and approaches.  Likewise, the game provides a challenge in an online context as well, with the competition being as fierce as ever.  The bottom line is that you might need to pick up a few tips and tricks if you’re planning on tackling FIFA 14 and emerging victorious.  Here are a few ways to improve your basic game…

Practice makes perfect

Just like in real-life physical sports, there is essentially one thing which helps to build a better player – familiarity (or experience).  Yes, it might sound extremely tacky to say so, but if you really want to master FIFA 14, you really need to become intimate with its practice mode.  It’s going to be able to help you hone your basic shots and moves within the context of certain setups.  In other words, you aren’t just refining freekicks and passing, you’re also able to work on penalties, crossing and other things as well.  In short, the practice mode will help you to become a well-rounded FIFA player.  Those with a penchant for more difficult maneuvers will find the practice mode infinitely useful when it comes to learning how to bend shots around other players.  It also bears repeating that entering practice mode in loading screens or pre-game is a great way to stay focused and prepare for a big match.

Persistence is the name of the game here

Quite a few critics have lambasted FIFA 14 for its overall level of difficulty, claiming that it sucks the fun out of the game by making something as simple as a drive down the field too thorny.  One could argue that the challenge of ball-handling in FIFA has always been somewhat present, but it’s pretty clear that they’ve upped the ante in 14, it would seem.  Simply put, you can’t expect to drive down the field in a haphazard way and expect to get anywhere near the goal in most instances.  Just like in a real game, you need to learn to utilize your entire team via passing and zoned defense to thwart the other team’s efforts.  Instead of becoming frustrated, just bide your time and wait for the other team to make mistakes (holes in the defense) or tire.  Think of it this way – FIFA 14 isn’t really seeking to provide you with a lighthearted arcade-like experience, it’s more about simulation and developing skills which you can use over the course of your career.

Pay particular attention to your roster and trades

One of the coolest features of the FIFA series is the ability to trade and buy players for your team.  For those gamers who might consider themselves to be hardcore football fans, nothing short of taking a team through an entire season in career mode will suffice.  In fact, it is this type of interlocking match play which really seems to draw a lot of fans into EA’s flagship soccer enterprise.  You still need to make sound decisions when it comes to bringing new players into your fold, of course.  For instance, maybe you can try to create some buzz in the market by offering a great player at a near-discount price?  This sort of tactic tends to elicit a bevy of other offers which you can in turn use to build up a better team.  In any case, you should probably focus on team-building through trading during the early to mid part of the season so that you’re ready for anything by the end.  Remember, it’s not always about the players you have either, but how much money you’re making off of exchanges (as money can always buy better players).  Negotiation should be a main focus.

Penalty shot technique

When it comes to penalty shots there don’t seem to be too many options available, at least at first.  Traditionally, you can either slam the ball toward a corner (high / low) or try to punch it down the center of the goal with the hopes of bending it, perhaps.  In any case, such shots are often tense and your success or failure might actually lead to a win or loss.  If you’re ready to try something different, you can also try to do a dummy run.  In other words, you want to fool the blocker into thinking the ball is going one direction, only to shift at the last moment, sending the ball into an unprotected corner.  To pull this off you simply hold down the shoot button when starting your kick, only to hit it yet again as you near the ball.  If all goes well you’ll be able to completely thwart their defenses and land an easy goal.
There you have it, four different areas of consideration which (assuming you take the time to develop skills in them) will greatly enhance your game.  As previously mentioned, FIFA 14 isn’t your run-of-the-mill sports arcade title; it’s a game that requires your devotion and attention to master.  If you’re the type of player that has a real mind for the game (football / soccer) it will reward you with many hours of enjoyment, but rest assured, you will need to hone your skills to do so.


Pre-order-ps4
The Call of Duty series has certainly come a long way.  Activision and an assorted list of developers have worked hard to both expand and refine their FPS formula in order to open fans up to new possibilities.  In their latest effort, “Ghosts” we find an entirely new platform, if you will – sort of an amalgamation of the tropes developed by Modern Warfare and Black Ops, if you will.
Needless to say, this game has a lot going for it; not only are there an incredible number of in-game features and multiplayer modes to keep you busy, there’s also the single player campaign (which is said to be divergent; i.e. – based off of an alternate timeline).  Simply put, some people really seem to love this game while others are apt to turn away from it in favor of new IP’s.  Regardless of how you might perceive the game politically speaking, you have to admit that it’s jam-packed with enough goodies to keep you occupied for months on end.
No one ever said that mastering Call of Duty: Ghosts was going to be a complete cakewalk though.   You’ll need to use your wits and hone your reflexes a bit if you’re going to take home top honors when it comes to online play.   Moreover, tackling the single player story mode on the hardest difficultly setting (for the purposes of getting trophies / achievements) will also require you to apply your newly developed skills.  Here are some basic tips and tricks which will help you become a better “Ghost”…

Calm down and focus

Admit it – when you load up Ghosts’ multiplayer and jump headlong into the action your heart rate becomes elevated, right?  After landing a series of kills and finding yourself near the top of the board you immediately begin to feel extremely anxious and exciting, which tends to influence your performance.  This type of emotion-based play isn’t necessarily a bad thing, of course; in some instances it can actually improve your presentation.  But let’s be honest, how many times have you missed a shot in a multiplayer situation due to heightened nerves?
In order to become a truly world-class FPS assassin you’re going to need to become more disciplined when it comes to your mental fortitude.  Not only will this help you land more accurate shots, but it will also push you to make more sound decisions as far as general tactics are concerned.  The last thing you want to do is get yourself all hyped up running around the map, potentially advertising your location.  Instead, take a more measured approach – slow things down and familiarize yourself with all the fundamentals before attempting to go commando.

Memorize the maps

Hands down, the best thing you can do with any online-centric FPS is to memorize the various maps (preferably backwards and forwards).  In other words, in each area you find yourself parking in, either temporarily or as a camper, you should have two or more escape routes.  At the same time, you need to be able to backpedal your way across the terrain so that you can learn to effectively take out opponents while moving yourself out of the line of fire.  Sure, this might be more of an old-school tactic (from the days when circle-strafing was all the rage), but it comes in handy more often than you’d expect, especially when you’re lodged in a room or warehouse and cannot move forward against several enemies.
Moreover, because CoD: Ghosts features destructive levels, you really need to spend some time figuring out what changes when these maps are altered, as well as all of their “moving parts” (like elevators, doors, etc.).  Ideally, you want to try and bottleneck your opponents so that they’re left exposed while you and your team remain protected.  In other words, learn to use the environment to your advantage, because if you don’t, your opponents surely will.

Stick to one class (and two or three categories of unlockables)

In the same way that you might want to build a strong character in an RPG, you’ll want to enhance a single class first before trying to expand in too many different directions in Ghosts’ multiplayer.  In short, don’t spend your resources on things which don’t enhance the abilities of your character; instead, start off by building on your strengths.  For instance, if you’re deadly with a certain type of weapon, focus on upgrading there, the same goes for any and all perks.
Players with a penchant for using the knife will want to create a strong player who is absolutely deadly at close range, yet advancing quickly in terms of their medium to long-range capabilities.  In other words, you start off with your strongest suit and build upon your weaknesses over time.  Speed is obviously important, as is reloading times, particularly if you’re using a weapon that’s “slower”.  At the same time, you’ll need a plan concerning what you’re going to unlock with your squad points.  For instance, campers will probably get more mileage out of increasing their stealth and awareness, while more active players might be better served by focusing on speed or resistance.

Try to unlock the sentry gun and focus on completing field orders

Having a heavily fortified position is better than not, and the sentry gun is perhaps one of the best tools for securing any location.  Of course actually getting to use this weapon requires a killstreak bonus, but when it happens it’s like a breath of fresh air.  Moreover, if you’re tricky about where you place a sentry gun, you can really rack up some impressive streaks while limiting your opponents’ ability to locate it or even fight back.
Similarly, you can also find “field orders” on downed soldiers which require you to complete certain mini objectives such as secondary weapon double kills.  The big benefit here is that it offers you a way to increase your chances of receiving a killstreak bonus, you know – the sort that might allow you to devastate an entire map with a nuclear assault.


Not pre-ordered a PlayStation 4 and still want one at midnight? 150 Tesco Extra stores will stock Sony's next-gen console across the UK tonight. 

You can use Tesco's handy PS4 midnight launch store checker to find your nearest branches which will stock the console. 

No pre-order is necessary, which means that you might want to get there in good time - you probably won't be the only one. 

The retailer is going head-to-head with Asda, which will also sell the PlayStation 4 from tonight in 155 of its stores (although not all are open at midnight). 

We listed all the relevant Asda branches earlier this week. Be aware that consoles will be sold on a first come, first served basis and be limited to one per customer. 

Best of luck!
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What could be worse than being trapped in a shopping mall full of Zombies? How about an entire city? The Xbox One's first Dead Rising game takes everything we love about the undead action series and turns it up to 11, with bigger locations, crazier makeshift weapons and more zombies on one screen than was ever possible on the Xbox 360.
Los Perdidos is bigger than both Dead Rising's Willamette mall and Dead Rising 2's Fortune City; yet beyond the initial loading screen you can get across the entire map without interruption. Clearly taking inspiration from Los Angeles, Dead Rising 3's city looks positively tiny compared to Grand Theft Auto 5's interpretation of the same location, which is running on previous generation hardware.
It's still so big that you won't be able to traverse it safely on foot; there are plenty of abandoned vehicles strewn throughout the city streets, but these won't last long when driven head first into a crowd of hungry flesh eaters. Luckily you play as greasemonkey Nick Ramos, who can combine cars, bikes and trucks to create Mad Max-inspired vehicles more suited to a zombie apocalypse than the average family sedan.

GET TO THE CHOPPA
Aside from the larger map and new ways to cross it, developers Capcom Vancouver haven't changed the series formula too drastically. You still have a set number of days to escape the city before a military strike wipes out the zombie threat, as well as any survivors unlucky enough to be caught in the blast. The game clock is always ticking, so you only have a limited time to complete the story and get the good ending, but there are hundreds of side missions along the way. These include helping survivors, who then join your posse to be called on from any safe house when you need some backup, and defeating psychopaths.


Dead Rising 3

New zombie types pose an additional challenge - these ex-firemen carry axes

These optional boss fights provide a much greater challenge than the average zombie and can unlock more powerful weapons or shortcuts across the map once defeated. Each one takes the series' trademark black humour to new levels as the larger than life characters lose track of their sanity amidst the zombie apocalypse. They make a welcome break from the main plot, which takes itself a little too seriously, although you can of course still turn up to every story-advancing cut-scene in a woman's summer dress and go-go boots to add your own fun.

WE CAN REBUILD HIM
Being a mechanic by trade has other benefits. Nick can combine everyday objects to create deadly combination weapons that increase your zombie-killing prowess. This can be done at any time, as long as you have the relevant blueprints and the objects themselves; this is much better than the workbench system of the previous game, as it saves you from backtracking across the expansive map quite so frequently.

Further into the game some of the fun is lost as you can simply take any previously picked up weapon from a locker in each safe house, but it will still take a long time until you've tried every weapon. The list of potential combinations is expansive, starting with the basics and getting increasingly wacky as you find more blueprints. Throwing some nails and a baseball bat together may sound like common sense, but why bother when a car battery and a traffic light create a lightning staff that Gandalf himself would be jealous of?

Dead Rising 3

The Roller Hawg combines a bike with a steamroller, and is one of the most effective vehicles in the game

You'll need everything you can get your hands on, as the sheer number of zombies that stand between you and escape is simply staggering. According to the developers, the Xbox One is able to display three times more zombies at once than was possible on the Xbox 360; turning a corner to find an entire horde baring down on you for the first time is quite an experience. In other respects though, Dead Rising isn't the technical marvel we were hoping for. The game runs at 720p before being upscaled by the console, leaving a lot of jagged edges and lines. There's an awful lot of texture and object pop-in, and the frame rate occasionally drops into choppy sub-30fps territory. 

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Sony's PlayStation 4 is the fastest-selling console in UK history, according to official sales figures.
Chart-Track said PS4 beat the eight-year record held by Sony's PlayStation Portable, which launched in 2005 to the tune of 185,000 sales. PS4 beat Xbox One, which launched on 22nd November, and its predecessor PlayStation 3.
Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Ghosts returns to the top of the software chart. FIFA 14 drops to second "despite strong sales on PS4", Chart-Track said.
Battlefield 4 is in at third. The best-selling PS4 exclusive was Killzone Shadow Fall, which debuted in fourth place - a position boosted by Guerrilla Games' shooter's place in official bundles.
Assassin's Creed 4 drops one place to five. Lego Marvel Super Heroes holds fast in sixth. GTA 5 jumps to seventh. Sales of the PS4 version of Need for Speed: Rivals help Ghost Games' racer speed into eighth. Just Dance 2014 is ninth, and rounding out the top 10 is Batman: Arkham Oranges.
PS4 exclusive Knack debuts at 13 ahead of Super Mario 3D World on Wii U at 14. Yes, Knack sold more 
than Mario.
related to  :   PS4 fastest-selling console in UK history                           

The PS4 will be released in the UK tomorrow at midnight finally bringing to an end a long journey of pre-launch speculation and hype going back many years. So for one last time, we’ll go through everything we know about the PS4 and why it ended up being the console it is. We’ll compare it to the competition and look at where a PS4-dominated future might take console gaming.
Speaking of the competition, you can read our full Xbox One review now, with all the nitty-gritty detail you need to judge Microsoft's next-gen effort.
Coming back to the PS4, there’s quite a lot to get through here, so we’ve broken it down into key sections, with the more recent developments towards the top.

PS4 RELEASE DATE AND STOCK


The PS4 will be released in the UK on the 29th of November. Pre-order stock has sold out, but some retailers, most notably the supermarkets, have said that they will have stock to sell on the day of release. Your best bet for getting a console tomorrow isn't a specialist retailer but instead call up your local Tesco, Sainsburys and Asda and see what the situation is.
If you pre-order a basic console online today you're very unlikely to see it before Christmas, however if you're happy to blow a big roll of cash you can still get a console asap by ordering a huge PS4 and six game bundle from GAME - a snip at just £605.

PS4 PRICE


PS4 UK Price
The PS4 costs £349 in the UK, EUR399 in mainland europe and $399 dollars in the US. We were hoping for a price closer to £300 over here, but even considering the lack of a bundled camera peripheral, the price is far easier to swallow than the £429 for the Xbox One.
That's only the start though, with games retailing for around £45-50, plus additional controllers and the PlayStation camera costing around the same, you can easily ratchet up that bill without even trying. Put a PS+ subscription on top of all that and you've spent around £540 in one fell swoop. Then again the PS4 came out seven years ago now and you'll get a lot of playing time if the PS4 lasts that long.
It does seem that we’ve got the short end of the stick again when it comes to exchange rates, with the PS4 costing approximately £42 more here than it should. For more details on this read our PS4 Price - We lose out in exchange rate calculation.

PS4 GAMES AND PRICES


There are a whopping 26 games available for the PS4 at launch - including exclusive games, big franchise multi-platform releases, free-to-play titles and lots of lovely download-only treats too. You can get a full line-up with prices by heading over to our PS4 price list for launch titles.
If you need a little guidance on what's hot and what's not then try our PS4 best launch games - exclusives, downloads and Free to play.

PS4 BUNDLES


To save some money, you could opt for a bundle deal. Sony has now announced its official bundle deals, so you can get such additions for a little less, but these are now either sold out or in very short supply.
The first pack simply bundles a copy of Killzone Shadow Fall with the basic console pack (which includes a single controller). Amazon were selling this for £389, a saving of £10 off the company's price for the separate items. It's hard to such a deal, but it's now awfully hard to come by too.
PS4 Bundle
A second pack bundles the console with two controllers, PS4 Camera and a copy of Killzone Shadow Fall. At Amazon's own prices these would cost £508 but are discounted down to £449, a considerable saving of £59. However, to date Sony has done little to talk-up the capabilities of the camera, unlike Microsoft with the Kinect. Killzone itself doesn't support the PS4 Camera in any game-specific ways, and it doesn't have split-screen multiplayer, so your accessories will need other games to play with. In short, unless you're really 
keen we'd give this larger pack a miss and simply buy more games. 

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  1. PS4 launch, price, bundles, release date & specs news

Monday, December 2, 2013

  PS4 - Watch Dogs Gameplay Demo (14 Minutes)