Middle East Gamers » Dubai

Gears of War 3 Review

Taimoor Hafeez — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 14:17:26 +0000

The impact Gears of War has had on the video games industry is undeniable; from creating a system seller game that defied all expectations of how good a game can look on a console, to selling an engine that set the industry standard of a generation of consoles, Epic’s Gears of War series has been a huge success story. And today, I’ll be looking at the final chapter in this truly epic (pun not intended) series.

As with any franchise, the developers always seek to improve upon the mistakes of the previous iteration, and Gears 3 is no exception. One of the biggest complaints many Gears’ fans have had is that the single player story, intriguing as it is, is laughable at best in terms of narration, with character development pretty much non-existent. With Gears 3, though, Epic has hired Karen Traviss as the lead writer for the single player campaign; a New York Times bestselling author who’s also penned all four of the Gears of War novels.

While that in itself was enough to inspire confidence in me that Gears 3 will finally get the story treatment that it deserves, the benefits of hiring Traviss can be seen as soon as the game starts. Marcus is in jail (again?!) and recalling his final moments with his father, Adam Fenix; thinking aloud how he always wanted to do right by him, but even in the end he was unable to save his dad. And throughout this bleak scenario the world is breaking apart, enemies come and go, but the crux of this situation shows a depressing moment between father and son.

The rest of the game’s story unfolds in a similar situation, with proper narration; whether it’s through radio communication, or the back and forth banter between squad members, or the obvious cutscene; the story has been given proper treatment this time around. So much so, that I fear many players who just want straight up action from the single player campaign will be irritated by many of the unskippable scenarios where the story is unfolding. Still, anyone who has read the books will truly enjoy all the different characters that come and go, not to mention various places which will have significant meaning for readers because we know its historical relevance (within that universe), whereas the average player will just see these places as another pretty new map.

In all honesty I wasn’t completely satisfied with how the story was played out, but at this point I’m getting overly critical of the “proper” treatment of a story in an action videogame where one of the most satisfying moves is to chainsaw an ugly alien in half, starting from its ass.

So that’s the single player campaign, but I’m not done with it yet. Apart from experiencing the story from Marcus Fenix and Dom’s point of view, you’ll also see things from a slightly different perspective as Baird and Cole form a completely different team, with their parts of the story unfolding simultaneously with Marcus and Dom. That’s not to say that you’ll be doing the same things as Marcus and Dom, while playing Cole and Baird, but you’ll ultimately know where things are headed. Semantics aside, the fun comes in the form of four player co-op as you can play the entire campaign with up to three other buddies.

Gears of War Cosplay in Dubai

Hitesh Uchil — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 11:08:16 +0000

Microsoft is holding a Gears of War Cosplay event at Apres, Mall of the Emirates in Dubai on 19th September 2011.

Gears of War Cosplay

Here are the details:

Event: Gears of War Cosplay
Venue: Apres, Mall of the Emirates (near the the Ski/Cinemas)
Date: 19th September 2011
Time: 5pm to 8pm (Cosplay judging at 6pm)
Theme: Gears of War costumes

Please note that attendance is by invitation only. If you would like to attend this event, please email Rachel.McArthur@edelman.com.

The cosplay event starts 6pm and the venue will be open from 5pm. Amazing prizes from Microsoft will be on offer for the best Cosplayers.

Please note that changing rooms are available next to Apres. The promoters recommend that you bring your costume and change in the changing rooms. The Cosplay competition will be held within Apres only. You’ll end up dealing with mall security if you walk around the mall dressed in costume.

For more details on this event, please contact hitesh@tbreak.com. A list of prizes will be posted shortly.

LG Cinema 3D Gaming Championship Launch Coverage

Hitesh Uchil — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 08:19:13 +0000

LG launched its Cinema 3D Gaming Championship at the Living Rooms Cafe at Dubai Festival City on Saturday, 6th August 2011. The opening ceremony was inaugurated by Mr. Hyung Shik Paik, President of LG Electronics Gulf, who presented a range of LG products and kicked off the gaming tournament which included titles such as Dance Central, Need for Speed: Shift, Call of Duty: Black Ops and FIFA 11.

The Living Rooms Cafe, Dubai’s most popular gaming destination and home to events such as GamesFest, has been transformed to showcase a range of LG products. The magnificent new setup includes four racing pods, a large Kinect area and custom LG-branded mini living rooms. The venue now also has additional living room stations right outside the gaming cafe with 3D TVs and couches.

Mr. Hyung Shik Paik, President of LG Electronics Gulf

Mr. Hyung Shik Paik, President of LG Electronics Gulf said, “3D entertainment is still at an early stage. We’d like people to come and experience it. We’ve got the best 3D TVs in the market and we wanted people to come an experience it themselves. It’s usually the younger generation who are early adopters and we’ve had feedback from gamers saying that if the games were in 3D, they would be more realistic. This event is going to be great for friends to get together and compete in 3D.”

“This is the first 3D gaming competition in the UAE. It’s about experiencing the best 3D TV there is — it’s great for family entertainment and it brings you a new world of 3D gaming. The competition is on for the next six months and all you have to do is register on our website and you’re in,” he added.

Winners on the first day of the tournament were Ramveer Rai- FIFA 11, Shaikh Imad – Need For Speed, Moamel Mohammad – Dance Central & Ali Zghaibi – Call of Duty. Competitions are held daily. To register, please head to http://www.facebook.com/LGGulfFanClub?sk=app_224712050903168.

12 Reasons to attend GamesFest

Hitesh Uchil — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 09:03:13 +0000

GamesFest, UAE’s hottest gaming event series which aims to bring together gamers to participate in tournaments, win prizes and discover the latest releases from the video games industry is back on 24th June at The Living Rooms Café, Dubai Festival City.

Organized by Middle East Gamers, GamesFest will give gamers the opportunity to play the latest games, participate in tournaments on both consoles and PC, as well as try out the latest gaming gear. Highlights of the event include:

“Hundreds of gamers have already registered for the event and we’re excited to offer a great day of gaming and activities at The Living Rooms Café, Dubai Festival City,” said Abbas Jaffar Ali, publisher of Middle East Gamers.

Presented by Nahel.com, GamesFest will be held at The Living Rooms Cafe at Dubai Festival City on Friday, 24th June 2011 from 12pm to 10pm.

GamesFest is sponsored by Nahel.com, ASUS, Eidos, Gigabyte, Golden Systems, Linksys, Memorex, Nvidia, Razer, Roccat, Prince Computers, Thrustmaster, THQ and Viva Entertainement.

Gamers can register for the event at www.megamers.com/gamesfest. Here’s 10 reasons why Gamesfest is going to be awesome.

Interview with Phil Ring, TT Games

Hitesh Uchil — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 11:05:12 +0000

Middle East Gamers was invited to a press event at the newly opened Zabeel Saray Hotel at Palm Jumeirah in Dubai, where TT Games along with distribution partners Pluto Games were showcasing the upcoming LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean video game. The event started off with a quick look at the game and we were impressed by what we saw.

The game includes content from the first three Pirates of the Caribbean movie and also the upcoming fourth movie. In the game, you play LEGO versions of various characters as you run, jump and solve puzzles as you make your way through various levels. Even though it’s a LEGO game, it’s a lot of fun and if you’re a fan of the game, you’ll enjoy re-living moments from the movie as well as the quirky sense of humor that’s a part of the game.

Having looked through a few stages and puzzles in the game, we sat down with Phil Ring, Producer at TT Games to talk to him about the game.

Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds Challenge

Hitesh Uchil — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 07:47:42 +0000

Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds Challenge will be held at Geekay Games, The Dubai Mall on 25th and 26th Feb 2011. Registrations start at 2pm on 25th February 2011. The competition is open to a limited number of players on a first come first served basis. Matches will be played with a PS3 Hori Wireless Arcade Stick.

1st Prize includes AED 2000 Cash + “Marvel vs Capcom 3″ Champion Tag + Photograph in all Geekay outlets for a period of one month + HORI Wireless Arcade Joystick + Marvel vs Capcom 3 PS3 Game + Exclusive Official Marvel vs Capcom 3 T-Shirt.

2nd Prize includes HORI Wireless Arcade Joystick + Marvel vs Capcom 3 PS3 Game + Exclusive Official Marvel vs Capcom 3 T-Shirt.

3nd Prize includes HORI Wireless Arcade Joystick + Marvel vs Capcom 3 PS3 Game.

4th Prize is an Exclusive Official Marvel vs Capcom 3 T-Shirt.

Top 16 qualifiers will get a Marvel vs Capcom 3 T-Shirt

Special Prize for Best Marvel vs Capcom 3 Costume

10 Reasons to attend GamesFest

Hitesh Uchil — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 14:19:46 +0000

Organized by Middle East Gamers, GamesFest is a gaming community event aimed at bringing together gamers from around the UAE to participate in various tournaments and check out the latest offering from the video games industry.

Gamers will have the opportunity to try out new games that have not yet been released, participate in tournaments on both consoles and PC, as well as try out the latest gaming gear.

Presented by Sony PlayStation, GamesFest will be held at The Living Rooms Cafe at Dubai Festival City on 28th January 2011.

Event details:

Date and Time: 12pm to 10pm, Friday, 28th January 2011
Venue: The Living Rooms Cafe, Dubai Festival City
Entrance: Free entry for all. Space is limited and priority will be given to those who register.

Here are ten reasons why you should attend this event.

Interview with Ahmed Sari, Living Rooms Cafe

Hitesh Uchil — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 09:49:03 +0000

When we heard about The Living Rooms Cafe, we were excited to say the least. A new concept gaming cafe that merges a traditional gaming cafe experience with the comfort of your living room is a first for Dubai. Located at Dubai Festival City right next to Fitness First, The Living Rooms Cafe is divided into lots of gaming stations, each following the theme of a living room filled with sofas, bean bags, a large LCD TV and all the video games and gaming consoles you can desire. You can walk in, select a console of choice (PS3, Xbox 360 or Wii) and the game you want, get comfy on the sofa and start playing your game of choice with your friends. If gaming is not your theme (and let’s face it, if you’re on this site, it probably is), you can also watch a movie instead or just sit around and have a chat. What makes this place a lot cooler than your living room is that you get a choice of three consoles and a massive sized TV to play it on. You can also order in food and beverages while you play.

We caught up with Ahmed Sari, Managing Partner of The Living Rooms Cafe to talk to him about this unique gaming cafe concept.

1. What’s the concept behind the Living Rooms Café?

Well, Living Rooms is a unique and exclusive video game café. It is the first and the only place of its kind. Living Rooms offers in-shop video gaming services and café. It provides the state-of-the-art video game systems equipped with the most exclusive gears and games; Sony Playstation, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox. It also furnishes a relaxing living room experience in the heart of the mall as a unique experience to video games lovers and guests. Besides its primary function as a video game store, Living Rooms is a social, fun, and relaxing café for families and friends to meet and challenge their skills over a drink. Customers can also play board games; Monopoly, Cludu, Risk, Dominos, …, they can play Billiard, Baby Foot and many others.

2. What are the most popular games at the café right now?

The most popular games, now and almost always, are mainly the followings:

• FIFA 11, the newly released soccer game.
• PES 2010 – Pro Evolution Soccer.
• Call of Duty – Modern Warfare 2.
• Guitar Hero, Band Hero, and DJ Hero.
• Takken 6 and Super Street Fighter.
• Wii Sport, Wii Resort, and Wii Cart.

3. Of all the consoles, which one gets played the most – PlayStation, Xbox 360 or Wii?

Well, most of our customers are PS3 players, however Wii and X-Box have their own customers.

4. What kinds of gaming accessories are available?

In line with Living Rooms concept, providing the latest games and accessories is one of our main priorities. Living Rooms recognizes the speedy evolution of gaming industry that makes individual unable to cope up.

Therefore Living Rooms make available the followings:

• Obviously all type of standard controllers of PS3, X-Box and Wii.
• Various types & sizes of fighting sticks (joysticks) that works perfectly for fighting games; Street Fighter & Takken.
• Steering wheels for car racing.
• Music kits; guitars, drums, Turntables, and for sure microphones.
• All wii standard and non-standard controllers, arcade controllers, wii fit, and motion sensors.
• The lately released Play Station Move controllers, motion sensors, cameras, …
• It is not to be forgotten, Living Rooms is fully equipped with a high speed internet connection and in-house network makes possible to costumers playing online games and challenge their next neighbor.

5. What are the charges for playing at the Living Rooms Café? Do you have a loyalty scheme?

Living Rooms adopts a time-based tariff system. Consumer is simply billed according to number of hours he/she uses the service in addition to the price of order (if any). An AED 50/hour/2 players is the basic rate, whereas discounted rates is applicable when costumer is using Golden or Silver Living Rooms Loyal Card.

6. Are you planning on running any special offers or promotions?
It is very regular Living Rooms to have special offers and promotions. Currently we offer free soft drinks and snacks with every purchase of loyalty card. We also offer very discounted rates with Birthday Packages and many more.

We advise our customers to regularly check our website and Facebook page for update on latest offers www.livingroomscafe.com

Call of Duty: Black Ops Midnight Launch in Dubai

Hitesh Uchil — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 11:11:26 +0000

Emax and RED Entertainment Distribution are holding a midnight launch for the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops. The launch will be held at Emax, Oasis Centre, Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai on from 10pm onwards on 8th November 2010.

To guarantee yourself a copy, you can pre-register for the launch at www.megamers.com/callofduty.

Call of Duty: Black Ops will be available in the Regular Edition, Hardened Edition and Prestige Edition. Retail price (PS3 and Xbox 360) is AED269 for Regular Edition, AED 399 for Hardened Edition and AED619 for Prestige Edition. Retail price (PC) is AED219 (available in Regular Edition only).

Limited amount of stocks are available for the Hardened Edition and Prestige Edition, so make sure you register to avoid disappointment.

Interview with Falafel Games at GITEX

Hitesh Uchil — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 08:52:05 +0000

With a name like Falafel Games, it’s hard not to stand out from the crowd. When we came across their stand at the TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) area at GITEX Technology Week at the Dubai World Trade Centre, we just had to know what it was all about.

Vince Ghossoub from Falafel Games fills us in on their upcoming turn-based strategy MMO game codenamed Mutanabbi. Check out the video interview.