T he Dance, Dance Revolution series, which challenges energetic dancers to tap their toes on a dance mat to the beat of popular music, has been solid gold for Konami. Numerous DDR titles exist and a new one with a different array of tunes seems to come out every few months.
Newest on the scene is Hottest Party, the first DDR game to boogie onto the Nintendo Wii's virtual dance floor. Unlike other versions of the game, the Wii waltz requires players to move their hands as well as their feet to match the visual clues that pop up on the screen. But it doesn't add much to the experience because the Wii's motion-sensitive controllers are used to capture only basic left and right movements.
The single-player Groove Circuit mode plops a competitor in a series of discos where they must outperform computer dancers to advance. Workout mode encourages gamers to - horror of horrors - break a sweat by dancing until a certain number of calories are burned.
R acing games typically fall in three camps - arcade, simulation and those like the Project Gotham series that try to straddle the line between the two.
Unlike strict sims, which only reward speed, PG races typically encourage style points (called kudos). Sliding around a corner, for example, can pause the clock during a time trial. Kudos points can also be used to unlock more vehicles and tracks.
The most noticeable addition to PGR4 is motorcycles, which race side-by-side with cars and are tough to beat. Though initially a bit more difficult to control, the combination of instant acceleration and easy kudos from popping wheelies make them feel a bit overpowered, especially since they aren't as easy to send careening into a wall when they go buzzing by.
Also new are four beautifully rendered cities - St Petersburg, Quebec City, Shanghai and Macau. These cities feature more hills than the five locations returning from 2005's PGR3 - London, Las Vegas, Tokyo, New York and Germany's tricky Nurburgring track.
Weather - rain, sleet, snow - can affect traction, forcing a more cautious approach. Fog is particularly nasty when it obscures turns and other drivers. Graphically, there's not a slicker looking racing title. It's not just the fantastic cars - the meticulously crafted cities and adoring roadside fans are equally impressive.
Dungeons & Dragons fans speak in reverent tones when discussing the critically acclaimed role-playing titles Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights.
Mask of the Betrayer, an expansion pack for 2006's Neverwinter Nights 2, is more of the same, and that's a good thing. Instead of beginning the adventure as a combat dummy, players can start a new character at level 18 or import their high-level character from NWN 2.
The level cap has been increased to 30, meaning players will eventually have godlike powers at their disposal as they go toe-to-toe with an evil sect known as the Red Wizards of Thay. This is not a game for the uninitiated as the addition of numerous spells, feats, races and classes have the potential to bewilder anyone unaccustomed to the D&D rule set. Familiar annoyances remain, including the camera angle, which, despite new options, feels awkward. And the graphics, while often glorious, can be so blinding when spells start exploding it's hard to keep track of the action. The darker tone of "Betrayer" is realized through a new game mechanic - a spirit meter, which forces players to choose between suppressing a hunger for souls or feasting on them.
A compilation featuring the three-part Half-Life 2 canon, The Orange Box should be called The Orange Treasure Chest by first-person shooter fans.
Half-Life 2, released in 2004 and named Game of the Year by more than 30 publications, was far enough ahead of its time that it's still one of the better action games available. Also stuffed on the single disc is Episode One, a relatively short sequel; and, for the first time on the Xbox 360, Episode Two, an expansion pack as extensive as many stand-alone games. If that's not enough, The Orange Box also includes Portal, a mind-bending puzzle game that could double as an IQ test, and Team Fortress 2, an online multiplayer fragfest that is the addiction of thousands. For the uninitiated, the award-winning series pits crowbar-wielding research scientist Gordon Freeman against a race of beings from another dimension that has enslaved humanity.- NY Times news service
The canonical shot of an East Asian city is a night skyline studded with towering apartment and office buildings, bright with neon and plastic signage, a landscape of energy and modernity. Another classic image is the same city seen from above, in which identical apartment towers march across the city, spilling out over nearby geography, like stylized soldiers colonizing new territory in a board game. Densely populated dynamic conurbations of money, technological innovation and convenience, it is hard to see the cities of East Asia as what they truly are: necropolises. Why is this? The East Asian development model, with
June 16 to June 22 The following flyer appeared on the streets of Hsinchu on June 12, 1895: “Taipei has already fallen to the Japanese barbarians, who have brought great misery to our land and people. We heard that the Japanese occupiers will tax our gardens, our houses, our bodies, and even our chickens, dogs, cows and pigs. They wear their hair wild, carve their teeth, tattoo their foreheads, wear strange clothes and speak a strange language. How can we be ruled by such people?” Posted by civilian militia leader Wu Tang-hsing (吳湯興), it was a call to arms to retake
This is a deeply unsettling period in Taiwan. Uncertainties are everywhere while everyone waits for a small army of other shoes to drop on nearly every front. During challenging times, interesting political changes can happen, yet all three major political parties are beset with scandals, strife and self-inflicted wounds. As the ruling party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is held accountable for not only the challenges to the party, but also the nation. Taiwan is geopolitically and economically under threat. Domestically, the administration is under siege by the opposition-controlled legislature and growing discontent with what opponents characterize as arrogant, autocratic
When Lisa, 20, laces into her ultra-high heels for her shift at a strip club in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, she knows that aside from dancing, she will have to comfort traumatized soldiers. Since Russia’s 2022 invasion, exhausted troops are the main clientele of the Flash Dancers club in the center of the northeastern city, just 20 kilometers from Russian forces. For some customers, it provides an “escape” from the war, said Valerya Zavatska — a 25-year-old law graduate who runs the club with her mother, an ex-dancer. But many are not there just for the show. They “want to talk about what hurts,” she
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