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Feral Interactive recently announced Stunts & Effects, an expansion for the movie making sim, The Movies. Stunts & Effects integrates into the original game adding new sets, costumes, props, vehicles, and backdrops for players to include in their virtual productions. The expansion also includes a new employee type, the stuntman, and a variety of new special effects and camera options.

Directors! Do you long for your hero to swan dive from a helicopter onto the roof of a speeding car, hop from the car onto a sidewalk where he comes face-to-face with a giant Alien? Well The Movies: Stunts and Effects Expansion Pack is designed to let you do just that.

Stunts and Effects invites you to add alot more excitement to your films. Generous amounts of gun-play, fistfights, explosions and general military mayhem have been added to the cinematic arsenal - you may not win any art-house awards, but you will be able to blow plenty of stuff up.

Feral Interactive

Lionhead Studios

The Movies: Stunts & Effects

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Apple Games recently posted a new feature examining one of the latest games for iPod, Brain Challenge. The game is a collection of mini games designed to challenge and train a player's abilities in categories like logic, math, and memory. The feature reviews Brain Challenge's gameplay and includes a brief description of each challenge.

Each time you launch Brain Challenge, you can take another Daily Brain Test or head into the Training Room and work on a specific area. Before each daily exam, your coach introduces a question, typically one involving a science subject, and gives you the answer at the end of the session. When your workout ends, your coach lets you know what percentage of your brain is in use now and details your total scores in all areas of the game.

Your coach also notes your strengths and weaknesses, giving you tips for working out in the Training Room, where you give your noggin a more robust challenge. While the Daily Brain Test offers varying difficulty levels, the Training Room lets you choose easy, medium, or hard activities, with 90 seconds for each one, rather than the 50-second limit used in the shorter daily sessions. It’s a good way to focus on a specific area and push yourself as hard as possible.

At the end of each Daily Brain Test, you unlock more games that are accessible in the Training Room. Over time, Brain Challenge keeps track of your historical scores, including overall play time, your daily progress in each area, which categories you tend to favor, and what percentage of questions you’ve answered correctly, as well as the percentage of answers that came faster or slower than expected. Your coach wants you to choose the right answers as fast as possible, so pay attention to your reaction times.

Apple Games: Brain Challenge

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Blizzard Entertaiment has released another update to its series of answers to fan questions about the upcoming StarCraft II. The 24th Q&A batch is now available on Blizzard's StarCraft forums. The sequel to the still popular original StarCraft, SC II will introduce new multiplayer action and pick up the Zerg, Terran, and Protoss storylines a few years after the end of BroodWar.

Chat with Devs: The Thor has been the unit that just hasn't quite fit in, in terms of role, but it might have found its own little place it can call home. After the Devs tried out several things with the Thor, including making it a super unit, they have now decided to have it replace the Cobra, as the heavy and air unit counter. Additionally, they may be adding a new mechanic, in which the Thor will need to be killed twice, once to make it immobilized, due to its large size, and then the second time to kill it for good. When immobilized, the Thor will still be able to fire at ground and air units. Additionally, while the Thor is immobilized, a SCV can repair it back to full health, having it regain mobility.

2. The Soul Hunter was considered a good counter unit against the Zerg; why did you remove the Soul Hunter from StarCraft II?
There were a couple of reasons, but one of the more important ones is that it was difficult to make it easily readable in big battles when the Soul Hunter had upgraded. Another reason is that this unit was way too targeted against the Zerg, since they have so many low hit point units, as opposed to other factions.

3. Has the Merc Haven been removed since the Reaper is built from the Barracks? If so, whats replacing it (if anything)? (www.Starcraft-Source.com)
The Merc Haven has been brought back in for the current build. It currently needs a Factory as a prerequisite, and is a prerequisite building to build Reapers from the Barracks.

4. Will "Unlockable Content" be included with the game, such as Art Packs, Secret Maps and Missions, Extra Units, and Special Sounds and Movies? (www.starcraftzone.com)
We are exploring the possibility of having various types of art unlockables, which may include some in-game decals.

StarCraft Forums: SC 2 Q&A Batch 24

StarCraft Forums: Ask Your SC2 Questions Here

Blizzard Entertainment

StarCraft II: Wings Of Liberty

Buy StarCraft II: Wings Of Liberty

Mac|Life recently posted a brief new review of Peanuts: It's The Big Game Charlie Brown, a cartoon adventure game featuring the famous comic strip characters. In The Big Game players take the role of Charlie Brown as he attempts to convince his friends to play baseball by completing a series of mini games. Mac|Life gave Peanuts a score of 5 out of 5.

If you’re expecting a Shultz-like experience with It’s the Big Game Charlie Brown, you’ll be in for a surprise. This game isn’t like a Peanuts comic strip or cartoon at all, but that’s not a bad thing. It is what it is: a kids’ game in which you, as Charlie Brown, need to gather the Peanuts gang together to form a baseball team. Your friends need some convincing, however, and that’s done by successfully completing each character’s challenge. For example, Schroeder’s challenge is a Simon-like musical playback game, while Lucy dons her psychiatrist cap and quizzes you on Peanuts trivia. Each challenge has a easy, medium, and hard setting, and most kids can get through them, though they might need your help with Lucy’s trivia questions if they’re not up on their Peanuts history.

Older kids who have started adding fact-paced action titles to their gaming slate will find The Big Game’s pace far too slow, but once you get the team together and get down to playing baseball, the game picks up…a little bit. (The recommended age is 7 and up.) The basic baseball game in The Big Game is nothing like a full-featured baseball video game, but it’s certainly age appropriate. Kids will have to have some patience as they learn the timing needed to hit the baseball. The cut scenes between innings are a nice way to break up the pacing.

Mac|Life: Peanuts It's The Big Game Charlie Brown Review

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Spiderweb Software continues the release of patches for its popular RPGs with an update for Blades of Avernum. As with the other recent updates, the patch fixes graphical issues for those using Apple's Leopard OS.

This v1.2.1 update fixes problems with the graphics in the new Leopard operating system. Getting the new version is strongly recommended if you are using Leopard.

Spiderweb Software

Blades of Avernum

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