Tomb Raider Underworld: Laraʼs Shadow DLC Review

JadeWalsh

Spooky expansion will leave you feeling cold. For all the wrong reasons

Ah, the difficult second DLC. As a dev, do you play it safe, farming out another slice of fan-pleasing content? Or you do play a wild card and shoot for something a little more off-the-wall? This question faces Crystal Dynamics with Lara’s Shadow – and it’s one that seems to have gone unanswered.

Set during, and after, the events of the main game, you play as the goth-styled clone of Lara Croft – the Doppleganger. Being a brand new-ish character you’d assume this is a wild card DLC package? Alas, you’d be wrong.

The Doppleganger manages to sum up the whole DLC in one painful statement – a brief glimpse of a good idea that doesn’t work. Rather than realise the potential of a supernatural Lara Croft, the devs do nothing more than casually add a few effects to an already existing set of moves. So that 800MS …

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PlayStation 4 will instantly allow you to play games as you download them

JadeWalsh

Download and update games while the power is switched off

During the Sony presentation for PlayStation 4, lead system architect Mark Cerny announced that DLC and software updates will work in the background or even when the machine is switched off. Witchcraft? Not quite, it’s the secondary custom chip inside PS4 that allows background downloads to take place.

Mr Cerny explains it better…

‘PlayStation 4 also has a secondary custom chip that manages uploads and downloads. As a result it’s possible to download or update games in the background, or with the main power off. One step further – on PlayStation 4 digital titles are playable while being downloaded. When you purchase a title you download just a fraction of the data and the rest of the data is downloaded in the background as you play the game’

In layman’s terms, when you, for example, select to download Grand Theft Auto V you’ll be able to jump straight into the …

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Hand Shadows of the Colossus

JadeWalsh

A recent survey revealed that almost 80% of gamers consider hand shadows to be more important than renewable energy and would like to see shadowgraphy given more coverage by the gaming media. To show we are listening and that we care, here is an article titled ‘Hand Shadows of the Colossus’, which combines hand shadows and PlayStation 2 classic Shadow of the Colossus.

Valus (Colossi #01)

 

While the physical form of Valus is great for beginners to tackle as it’s a simple enough hand shadow to pull off, his club weapon can present a significant challenge. However, carefully positioning a piece of broccoli between your outermost phalanges can help create a strikingly accurate hand shadow (like the one in the picture above) of this awe-inspiring creature.

Quadratus (Colossi #02)

 

This is another basic configuration for veteran shadowologists. In silhouette this four-legged giant is indistinct from other quadrupeds except for one defining feature – its protruding horn. Here we’ve …

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Tomb Raider Underworld: Beneath the Ashes DLC Review

JadeWalsh

A new adventure for Lady Croft that feels like a fitting tribute

Poor old Lara’s had a rocky old trip through gaming history. She’s gone from being the iconic face of a console generation, to just one of many gun-wielding heroines gracing our disk drives. And while Tomb Raider Underworld almost took the original tomb raider to new fabled heights, its first DLC, Beneath the Ashes, does just that – and makes Lara Croft as relevant as anything this generation has to offer.

Serving as an epilogue to the main games’ supernatural shenanigans, Lady Croft discovers a whole labyrinth of medieval dungeons beneath her ancestral home. And despite its ties to the main story, BTA manages to hark back to the principles of old that made the franchise so influential.

The usually pointless cut-scenes are thankfully kept to a minimum, and there’s not an over-powered shadow-sword in sight. Ladies and gentlemen, this is old school Tomb Raider (with a modern …

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Weekly DLC updates for Rock Band will stop on April 2nd

JadeWalsh

Five years worth of songs is a bloody mighty effort from Harmonix

After 275 consecutive weeks and more than 4000 songs, Harmonix has announced that their weekly Rock Band DLC updates will stop on April 2nd. Via the Rock Band blog, Alex Trites, Manager of Community Development, delivered the news that the final drum solo will be played soon.

Trites also mentions that Harmonix are now at work on ‘new projects’, which we’re going to go right ahead and say is Rock Band 2 on next-gen consoles. But as far as commitment to DLC goes, Harmonix deserve a standing ovation for their unwavering support towards it. Bravo!…

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First PlayStation, 4 Images

JadeWalsh

Here are 4 images of the first PlayStation.

The first PlayStation was released in grey with grey controllers and grey cables. Despite being grey, the carpet shown in this picture was not included with the first PlayStation.

This birds-eye-view (BEV) of the first PlayStation focuses on the top area of the console, which features the power, reset, and open buttons. The central circular area is actually a hinge-sprung lid which opens when the open button is pressed, giving access to the disc area.

Here we see three different models of the original PlayStation stacked on one another. What’s interesting is the changing configuration of the rear-sided input and port connections of the different models.

This PlayStation was being sold on eBay. It has a mark on the lid but otherwise looks to be in good condition. A PSone – the smaller redesign of the first PlayStation – can be seen in the background. It’s unlikely either of these items would …

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Mr Iwata Standing in Water

JadeWalsh

Satoru Iwata is the president of Nintendo, which means he’s in charge of making sure everyone uses a wrist-strap. In his spare time, Mr Iwata enjoys bananas. Here are 9 pictures of Mr Iwata standing in water.

The Caspian Sea

The Caspian Sea is such a large lake it is called a sea. It became landlocked due to tectonic uplift and a fall in sea level. This change occurred millions of years before Mr Iwata was born.

Lake Baikal

This impressive body of water is located somewhere around the area of Russia. It is the most voluminous freshwater lake in the world and could contain over a trillion Mr Iwatas and there would still be room for a few million Shigeru Miyamotos.

Yangtze River

The Yangtze River is the longest river in Asia. Mr Iwata is the fourth Nintendo president.

Lake Kussharo

Like Mr Iwata, Lake Kussharo is Japanese. It is said that a monster – called ‘Kussie’ – lives …

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