Hello everybody, we’re pleased to report back after two eventful days at the Sundance Festival, sponsored by Sony Entertainment Network; here were our main highlights.

Friday 27th

14:00 – Arriving at the exquisite INC Club inside the O2 Arena complex, we found ourselves delighted by the company of Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who you may as well recognise as Mr. Ekko in Lost, reading his script of Farming (now officially confirmed for production). Among the cast presented we were surprised to see one of the most talented actresses of our time, Minnie Driver. The reading was emotional and projected us to the harsh reality that this compelling story will bring to the screen.

17:00 -We head straight to a panel hosted by prominent UK and US directors, called ‘Thinking Independently – UK vs. US’.

Guests included Claire Stewart, Sally El Hosaini, James Marsh and Gurinder Chadha from the UK, along with John Cooper, So Yong Kim, Josh Radnor and Ry Russo- Young from the US. Issues of funding independent films from one side to the other were among the most discussed topics.

19:00 – We went to the screening room to see an independent feature called Filly Brown, starring upcoming talent Gina Rodriguez, co-directed by Michael Olmo and with original music by Reza Safinia. At the end we enjoyed the company of all three in a small Q&A.

Saturday 28th

14:00 -Escaping the gloomy rain that impregnated the huge marquee surrounding the O2 complex, we visited the ‘Cinema/Music Café’ with Terence Nance, director of An Oversimplification of her Beauty, and the talent from Filly Brown. We had the chance to personally meet with Gina Rodriguez and her energy was contagious.

19:00 – Some of you might know Josh Radnor from the TV series How I met your Mother, and he was presenting his already second feature to the Sundance Festival. Radnor presented us with a modern tale of human relationships set around post-university early thirties lifestyle.

The whole experience was very constructive and emotional. We got to have a real taste of what it is to work as an independent filmmaker. It does bring a lot of thought of how a dream can be succeeded with will, evading the traditional barriers.

Score:

• 9 Comments
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook

Last week I was in Rome with some friends from Capcom to attend their Captivate event, an annual showcase of what’s in the pipeline for such game series as Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Devil May Cry and Lost Planet. While I could spend a couple of hundred words on fountains and pizza, there is a lot of game news to cover off so, without further ragout, here’s a handy digest of all the best bits.

(more…)

Score:

• 21 Comments 3 Replies
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook

At last week’s International CES, I had the opportunity to meet the head of Sony Computer Entertainment, President and CEO Andrew House. House ascended to the role after working for Sony in Japan, Europe, and at SCEA over the past two decades.

In this show floor discussion, I ask House about PlayStation Suite, his outlook on the Western launch of PS Vita, and his goals as CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment.

Score:

• 49 Comments 1 Reply
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook

“Who would have thought that playing EA SPORTS FIFA would one day take me to the FIFA Ballon d’Or,” said reigning FIFA Interactive World Cup champion Francisco Cruz, sitting in Zurich, Switzerland just hours after having experienced the FIFA Ballon d’Or 2011 Gala.

With his victory at the FIWC11 Grand Final in Los Angeles, Cruz earned $20,000 in prize money and a priceless invitation to the FIFA Ballon d’Or 2011 Gala. At the Gala, Francisco talked tactics with Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, played FIFA 12 against Wayne Rooney and Gerard Piqué on a nearby PS3 and shook hands with superstars such as Lionel Messi, Xavi, Ronaldo, Neymar and Dani Alves. The morning following Francisco’s incredible night at the Gala, the team at FIFA.com spoke with him as he reflected on the experience.

This must have been an amazing experience for you. Does any specific moment stand out?

Francisco: I can’t really say what my favourite moment was. All of it was incredible. Beating Wayne Rooney at FIFA 12 and talking to Sir Alex Ferguson were certainly highlights. And of course meeting Lionel Messi, my favourite player. There have been so many highlights, I have to watch out that I don’t forget anything!

What did you discuss with Sir Alex?

Francisco: For me he’s a true legend. He’s been with Manchester United for more than twenty years now so I was very happy that I had the opportunity to talk to him. We talked about the best ways to cope with mental pressure in tough games. This was really helpful for me and I’ll definitely try to apply his advice at this year’s Grand Final.

You mentioned your EA SPORTS FIFA 12 match with Wayne Rooney. What was it like to play against one of your idols?

Francisco: It’s a dream playing against one of my favourite players. It’s a new experience and I would like to do it again next year, he is a good player. He kept possession of the ball well with England but he could not transfer that into goal scoring opportunities. He said he was the best FIFA 12 player at Manchester United and I believe him as he was very good. I had some good chances and I scored, but he could have scored one or two goals.

You brought your cousin to the Gala. Why did you choose him to accompany you?

Francisco: My family is very important to me. For the 2009 Grand Final in Barcelona, where I placed third, I invited my sister. Last year, my father came with me to Los Angeles, so now it was my cousin’s turn. He’s just as crazy about football as I am, plus he’s a really good friend of mine.

Did you ever imagine that you would be part of such a special night when you first played the FIFA series?

Francisco: No, not at all. It is still unbelievable. I mean who would have thought that playing EA SPORTS FIFA would one day take me to the FIFA Ballon d’Or! And now, here I am, among stars like Lionel Messi and Wayne Rooney!

Is this day at the FIFA Ballon d’Or a strong motivation for you to defend your title?

Francisco: I’m very competitive and I want to win every game. Of course, this day is very special for me and If I could be part of this once more it would be fantastic. I’ll definitely give my all and try to defend my title!

Score:

• 5 Comments
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook

Hello again, my name is Steve Hunt and I’m the developer of the music driven shooter Beat Hazard Ultra. Now the game is out on PSN here’s some exclusive insider gameplay, tactics and trophy tips. Use this sort-of-secret knowledge to help propel yourself up the leader boards in no time!

Beat Hazard Ultra – The Basics

Beat Hazard Ultra is a twin stick shooter that is powered by your music. The game turns any piece of music in to a level. Everything in the game is powered by the music in some way, from your weapon power to the type and formations of the enemies, and all accompanied with intense visual feedback!

Copying Music to Your PS3

Before I start, here’s a quick tip about copying music to your PS3 using a USB memory stick. On the XMB go to Music->USB Device. Then press TRIANGLE and select ‘Display All’. From there select ‘Copy Multiple’. This will ensue your PS3 will find and copy all the music on the USB stick.

The Bad Guys

Aside from basic fodder, you will come across the following bad guys. And here’s how to deal with them:

Pulsar Pack: These bully boys form a ring and try to close in on you. Not much of a threat though.
Best Defence: Don’t waste powerups on these. Kill with standard weapon

Bulldog: These form a line and chase you down. Medium Threat.
Best Defence: A well aimed Ultra Beam blast can take out 4 or 5 at a time

Miner: Drops homing mines that stop you firing if you hit them. These can be very dangerous if left for too long. You can soon be swamped by mines.
Best Defence: Standard weapon or Micro Missiles if no direct line of fire

Stalker: Use a powerful tractor beam to pull you in. Range proportional to music intensity.
Best Defence: Micro Missiles. Shield will neutralize pull force

Repulsar: Use a powerful repulse beam to push you around. Dangerous in packs.
Best Defence: Micro Missiles. Shield will neutralize push force

Reaper: Releases a hail of homing missiles when destroyed. Number of missiles proportional to music intensity.
Best Defence: An Ultra Beam will kill the ship and most of the missiles. Kill with shield to convert missiles to your side!

Mini-Serpent: Head & Tail are invincible so shoot from the side. Flips between chasing and random movement.
Best Defence: Micro Missiles or Ultra Beam to the flank

Perks

Ultra has 23 unlockable & upgradeable perks. A perk is unlocked each time you level up. Each perk must be purchased and upgraded using in game cash.

To start with you should unlock the ‘POW POW POW’ & ‘Pump Up the Vol’ perks. Enabling these will give you more firepower at the start. And when fully upgraded you will start with maximum firepower and the Beat Hazard weapon activated.

After that I would recommend unlocking Micro Missiles followed by either Ultra Beam or Reflect Shield. These will give you a lot more fire power and allow you to tackle harder difficulty levels.

Once you’re a badass, you can start to focus on the scoring perks. Enabling these in any combination will massively increase your scoring ability – remember Beat Hazard Ultra uses a non-linear scoring system, so you can quickly go from scoring a few thousand per song to a few million! So don’t feel bad if your scores seem low compared to those on the leader boards.

Perk Loadout Tactics

Perks split into two categories, scoring and firepower. Scoring perks increase your ability to score points in various ways, for example ‘Score Booster’ adds a percentage to any points you gain. Firepower perks enhance your ability to kill / survive the onslaught of bad guys.

Choosing the correct loadout can massively change your survivability and potential score. You need to get the balance just right to get the highest score for any particular situation. You can go in armed to the teeth but might not score much, or die a horrible death in the middle of a tune through lack of adequate weaponry.

In general, the longer the song the more weapons and survival perks you will need. With short songs you can sacrifice all this in favour of a complete scoring loadout.

Weapon Tips

There are 3 unlockable weapons, Micro Missiles, Ultra Beam and Reflect Shield.

Micro Missiles: Fires a hail of homing missiles. Each missile will target the highest threat on-screen. Incoming enemy missiles are the highest threat followed by Bosses and then Mini-Serpents, Repulsars and Stalkers.

Ultra Beam: Fires a concentrated beam of death and destruction. With a good aim this weapon can do massive damage. You can take out a boss turret or a string of ships in one blast. Good for path clearing.

Reflect Shield: This is the awesome shield of awesomeness. Not only does this shield protect you from all impacts it will deflect any incoming projectile and turn it against the enemy! Used on a swarm of missiles can cause devastation to the enemy hordes.

BIG TIP: One important tactic to remember is that all three weapons are stackable. That is if you fire the shield 5 times quickly the game will stack 5 shields one after the other. Try it, it’s useful!

Trophy Hunter

Ultra has 42 challenges to complete. Each time you complete any 3 challenges you will receive a trophy. Complete all 42 to unlock all the trophies.

Here are a few tips on some of the more difficult challenges:

Don’t Panic: Don’t fire for 60 seconds (Tip: play on Easy)

Boss Slayer: Kill 8 bosses in 1 game (Tip: Easy when you play Boss Rush)

Brutal Boss Kill: Kill a boss before it fires (Tip: Easiest to kill one of the small bosses by flying over it quickly and setting off a lot of super bombs. You can get more super bombs by using the ‘Jamie likes big boom’ perk)

Pwnage: Get a 1,000 kill streak (Tip: Kill 1,000 enemies in a row without dying. Takes about 4-5 mins on Hardcore level. Probably easiest on Survival mode)

A Real Dare Devil: In Standard play get the Dare Devil multiplier 10 times (Tip: Play on Easy and just don’t fire for periods of time until you get 10 Dare Devil bonuses)

Survival Champion: Reach 20 Minutes in Survival Mode (Tip: Best done when you’ve unlocked Extra lives, Extra bombs and the Missiles, Reflect Shield & Ultra Beam Perks)

Perk MAXED: Buy all the upgrades for a Perk (Tip: It’s really cheap to fully upgrade the ‘Goodie Bag’ perk)

Ultra Beam of Death: Kill 150 enemies with 1 Ultra Beam blast (Tip: Ultra Beams can be stacked so you can use all your beams in one go and the time will add up. Also, unlocking the ‘Ultra Ultra Beam’ perk & the ‘Extra Ultra Beam’ perks will make this easier.)

Reflection: Reflect 150 projectiles with 1 Shield burst (Tip: Shields can be stacked so you can use all your power-ups in one go and the time will add up. Also, unlocking the ‘Stay Hidden’ perk & the ‘Extra Reflect Shield’ perks will make this easier.)

A Real Mine Sweeper: Collide with 50 mines in one track without losing a life (Tip: Mines are the round orange spiked balls that come out of the back of the Mine Ship. Just crash into 50 of these over the course of a song and complete the track without dying)

Tug of War: Have a 10 second tug of war with a Stalker (Tip: Play on easy & just hang out near a Stalker for 10s)

Boss Dance: Survive with 4 bosses on the screen in Boss Rush mode (Tip: Play Boss rush and try not to kill the boss completely)

Boss King: Get to Wave 30 in Boss Rush mode (Tip: Best done when you’ve unlocked Extra lives, Extra bombs and the Missiles, Reflect Shield & Ultra Beam Perks)

2 Player Tips

If you’re playing online or local head to head, here are some cool tips:

• Bosses are scored per hit, so don’t go for the kill, get as many hits are you can
• If your opponent dies, grab all his pickups before he re-spawns
• Hang out near the top of the screen to grab bombs and multipliers
• Steal kills with a well timed super bomb. E.g. when a ring of Pulsars are on screen
• Play chicken at the start. Try to build up your dare devil multiplier before the carnage starts
• The yellow Beat Hazard logo will be next to the score that is the highest. Useful for checking if you’re winning with a quick glance.

Lastly, Some Nice Tricks/Tips

• Turn on the Shield and sit over the boss turret. Missiles fired will instantly change sides and go for the boss! (You can also do this with Reapers)
• Play Boss Rush and turn off weapon perks to collect lots of cash
  The Serpent boss will try to coil around you when he’s 70% dead. Watch out!
• The Octo-Boss will coil up when you get close. When coiled he’s invincible. Spread your fire around in a wide arc to kill him quickly.
• The Last Star Fighter Death Blossom looks nice, but it’s not an effective tactic on harder levels.
• Play Chill Out mode if you want to try weapons you’ve not unlocked yet.

Well, that’s it for now. I hope you enjoy the game and that this guide helps you kick some music butt!

I’ll be hanging out here on the blog so if you’ve got any other questions, fire away. You can also email me here, or follow me on Twitter here. Join the Ultra facebook fan page here or check out my website here.

Score:

• 15 Comments 4 Replies
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook