New Games |
- So, what's going on with Jeklynn Heights?
- Zapper support was planned for the original Zelda
- Mysterious Nintendo film shoot involves Zelda... Williams
- The cast of Resident Evil:Mercenaries really hates clocks
- Let's go swimming! Top 10 underwater levels
- Rumor: Sony NGP to be called PlayStation Vita
- Weekend Mobile roundup: Long weekend edition
- Parts of Asia get short changed on PSN Welcome Back gifts
- The Witcher gets a porny spoof with The Bitcher
- Weekend gaming wallpapers: Who is Ned?
- Square Enix reveals Heroes of Ruin for 3DS, then hides it
| So, what's going on with Jeklynn Heights? Posted: 29 May 2011 01:00 PM PDT It's been a while since we dropped in on Jekklyn Heights, the dark fairytale-esque multiplayer combat game from Vex studios. Curious, I decided to check out their site and see what's going on. The short answer is ... not much! That said, a new character has been revealed, The Inventor. along with a fresh screenshot. It's not much, but it'll do! According to lead designer Ryan Wenke, the team is "really busy buckling down on core content," which is why news has been so quiet recently. In any case, I wanted to keep this one in the minds of the Destructoid readers, because it's really looking like an interesting project. If you're as intrigued as I am and want to help them out, they've got some early merchandise on sale, which will directly fund development. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Zapper support was planned for the original Zelda Posted: 29 May 2011 12:00 PM PDT I've been thinking a lot about Nintendo, and their long history of introducing a new controller, peripheral, or other device, only to completely abandon it a few months later. They've been doing this since the NES days, when the R.O.B. and the NES Zapper hit the scene in a big way at launch and were barely utilized for anything new after that. To hear that Nintendo once considered integrating the Zapper into Legend of Zelda's gameplay gives me some faith that they don't always intend to go about things that way. That's just the start of the behind the scenes info in the interview below. We also find out more about the connections between the early Zelda and Mario games, how A Link to the Past originally had three worlds to travel through instead of two, and how adding "more realistic graphics" to that title "a problem", as it caused "the ambiguity (to) disappear". The men who made Zelda- Staff Interview [Glitterberri.com] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mysterious Nintendo film shoot involves Zelda... Williams Posted: 29 May 2011 11:00 AM PDT Last week, a few mysterious Tweets appeared on Zelda Williams' Twitter page concerning some super secret Nintendo film shoot she was involved in. Who is Zelda Williams, you may ask? Why, she's the daughter of Robin Williams, and yes, she was named after the Nintendo princess. That Robin was such a video game nut isn't news to me, rather that his daughter somehow came out looking that hot when he himself is a hairy ape absolutely is. Anyway, why the secrecy behind this particular shoot? If it was for a television commercial, Nintendo probably would have just said so. Given Zelda's involvement, it safe to assume that it might be related to the Zelda series -- we still have Skyward Sword and Ocarina of Time 3D down the pipeline, after all. On top of that, the series' 25th anniversary is around the corner. Maybe we'll learn what the deal is come E3. In the meantime, I have to go look up photos of a certain aged comedian's daughter on the Internet. Shoo. "Super Secret Nintendo" shoot with Zelda (Williams) [NeoGAF] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The cast of Resident Evil:Mercenaries really hates clocks Posted: 29 May 2011 10:00 AM PDT
I love the way that the classic Resident Evil games offer an equal mix of butchered Hollywood action and horror sensibilities and videogame logic. The last few game in the series skewed much more towards the Hollywood side of that equation, which didn't feel right. That's part of why I'm so excited for Resident Evil:The Mercenaries 3D. It's all videogame from beginning to end, with the Hollywood stuff kept to a minimum. I know a lot of people are bummed that the game has no storyline, but is that really just a bad thing? As long as you have emotional investment in the characters, and a sense of purpose while moving forward against the game's rampaging hordes of mutants and freaks, what do you need a story for? Rebecca Chambers destroying a giant, glowing, translucent clock with her ass? That's all the purpose and emotional investment that I need. New Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D character trailer [Capcom-Unity] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Let's go swimming! Top 10 underwater levels Posted: 29 May 2011 09:00 AM PDT [Enjoying your Memorial Day weekend, U.S. Dtoiders? Thinking about doing some swimming? If not, maybe this top ten underwater levels will get you in the drowning wading mood. Want to see your own writing on the front page? Write something awesome and put it in the C Blogs. -- Kauza] A recent blog post about someone's hatred towards water levels in games got me thinking about my own feelings regarding water levels. The underwater sections of games usually tend to be my favorite part of the game, so I'm sometimes surprised to see such animosity towards those levels when the topic is discussed online. Perhaps I'm a little biased, because I have a rather intense interest in oceans and underwater creatures and environments, but I still find a lot of underwater levels to be fun to play and not just interesting to look at. 10. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - Great Bay Temple This time around, instead of having Link awkwardly walking around underwater in iron boots, with sword and shield in hand, they came up with the brilliant idea of allowing Link to transform into a being more suited to moving around in an underwater environment. As a Zora, Link's underwater movement is made incredibly easier and quicker. He can dash through the water and jump out at high speeds, much like a dolphin. No more sluggish walking across the sea floor. He's also no longer unrealistically equipped with a sword and shield underwater, as the Zora form comes equipped with its own means of attacking with fins and an energy shield. Transforming is also made much less tedious since you can equip the mask to a C button, rather than having to open up the menu. The Great Bay Temple is still a very complex and difficult level, and I often still get lost, but at least movement is no longer the problem. Another plus side to the temple is the gigantic boss, Gyorg. I have a fascination with massive aquatic beasts, so I found Gyorg to be both terrifying and really awesome. Twilight Princess probably wins for my favorite massive aquatic creature, Morpheel, but I didn't really care for the rest of the level -- or the rest of the game for that matter. 9. Mega Man Legends 2 - Nino Ruins Fortunately, they sort of make up for this by giving him the ability to jump very high and go very long distances while jumping, and also providing him with hydrojets which increase your movement speed anyway. You can also drain the ruins or flood them again, so you don't spend the entire time underwater. The main reason I love this place so much is because of the level design. The structure is absolutely beautiful and very large, giving you a lot to explore. My favorite area in the entire series also happens to be in the Nino Ruins: the huge underwater room with the manta ray-like Reaverbot that you can ride on top of. At first, the room seems terrifying, since it's very dark and there's a huge Reaverbot who may or may not be hostile, but once you explore the place a bit it becomes quite beautiful and mysterious. I also love the music in this place, and you get to fight my favorite character, Klaymoor. This level also contains the most original method of replenishing your oxygen than any other game I've played. If your party is ever on the verge of drowning, all you have to do is make out with the nearest lip-sticked merman, who may or may not be a machine and who will refill your lungs for you. I'm still not sure whether I should find this hilarious or very creepy, since the mermen kiss everyone in your party, including a man, a woman, a little boy and a dog. I guess if they really are machines then perhaps it's OK. The boss fight here with Draygon definitely caught me off guard the first time around. I was not expecting to fight a huge, hideous alien monster. I had expected something more serpentine, or something with tentacles or fins. This is the reason I would avoid the ocean abyss at all costs, you never know what could be down there! This wasn't really a problem for me during the first half of the original Tomb Raider, because there were never any enemies in the water until about halfway through the game. Suddenly, you fall into a sewer and are confronted by a large, angry alligator, and you practically shit yourself because you can't shoot it or attack it in any way, even while it's gnawing on your torso! The only thing you can do is swim for your life until you find a place to pull yourself out of the water, and then shoot the bastard from dry land. Ever since that moment, water in the Tomb Raider series has terrified me. The most panic-inducing underwater level, however, has got to be 40 Fathoms from Tomb Raider II. You begin the level stranded in the middle of a vast underwater cavern after the submarine you were riding crashes, with huge sharks swimming around just waiting to sink their teeth into you. You must quickly find a place to surface for oxygen while avoiding the sharks, which you can't attack unless you managed to find the harpoon gun with sufficient ammo in an earlier level. It's definitely a frightening experience, which is exactly why I love it so much. 5. Super Mario 64 - Dire Dire Docks I never beat Donkey Kong Country Returns, but I read somewhere that they didn't include any underwater stages in the revival, which makes me very sad. The underwater stages were hands down my favorite part of the Donkey Kong Country series! The setting of this battle really makes the whole experience quite epic. You swim amongst the broken, mossy ruins of a civilization, in a lake of indeterminate depth, while a monstrous, eel-like Colossus swims beneath you, threatening to attack you with it's electrified appendages and then dragging you down to the watery depths as you try to cling to its back. I would not dare set foot in that water if I were in such a situation, but Wander braves the terrifying circumstances to take down the massive underwater Colossus to save his loved one. It's a truly spectacular scene. Most of Nintendo's side-scrollers use a similar format for underwater levels, including Mario, Kirby and Donkey Kong games. You don't have a breath meter, and swimming is a relatively easy task once you get the hang of it. It mostly involves avoiding enemies and obstacles, and making it to the end of the stage. This is probably the level that most people would immediately think of when being asked about underwater levels, and the theme song would probably also immediately pop into their head! This increased jumping ability could lead to other problems, however, since the ceiling and walls of the level were often lined with spikes that could kill you instantly if your jump was more powerful than you intended, but that's where the difficulty of the level comes in. Without a difficult stage, Bubble Man would have no place in the Mega Man series. Bubble Man used the underwater nature of his stage to his advantage, and gave us one of the finest examples of an underwater level in video gaming. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rumor: Sony NGP to be called PlayStation Vita Posted: 29 May 2011 08:00 AM PDT We're a week out from E3, but that doesn't mean the rumors have to stop just yet. According to a supposed E3 fact sheet, Sony's PSP successor, codenamed NGP, is going to be known as the PS Vita. Yes, it sounds like something you'd call a bottle of overpriced posh water. Sony's E3 press conference is going to happen on June 6, where it's expected we'll get the final look and name of this thing. Sit tight until then! Rumour Time: NGP’s Official Name Revealed [Games Pundit] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weekend Mobile roundup: Long weekend edition Posted: 29 May 2011 07:00 AM PDT Apparently it's Memorial Day weekend in the U.S. or something. A good time to play some Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts and to watch Taegukgi hwinalrimyeo because it's better than Saving Private Ryan. But you want the mobile gamess right? This weekend there is an actual not-crap Android game, a couple of interesting iOS games, another EA iOS sale, and a bunch of free games. Most of my time has been devoted to trying to finish Epic War TD in the past weeks while watching the Phantasm and Hellraiser series. The game can be brutally hard at times, and it also drains my battery in two hours. It's no longer free, but there is a free ad-supported version you can check out if you missed it earlier. Weekend highlights:
Bumpy Road is not just cute, or charming. It's a mix of cute and charming, and at the same time transcends both. It has simple controls that can take a while to master, using a single touch to shape the ground and platforms' angle in order to move a car around. Tap under the car, and it makes it jump. The game has two modes, Evergreen Ride and Sunday Trip. While Sunday Trip is more of an extra, in which you try to collect as many points and speed boosts to reach a finishline in as little time as possible, Evergreen Ride is where the bulk of your playtime will be. In Evergreen Ride, you collect "gizmos" as a form of fuel. Run out, and it's game over. Max the gizmo meter, and you are transported to a bonus level for about 20 seconds to score some extra points. Dying because you run out of gizmos is going to be the last of your concerns though, as gaps in the ground mean instant death. And the further you go, the easier it is to die when you miss a switch to create a platform, or simply didn't have enough momentum to jump the gap. It can also be a bit easy to jump when you are actually trying to raise the terrain behind the car in order to reach momentum. I had a death-by-gap in all but one of the instances I played it, and in almost all cases I simply mis-timed jumped by accident or didn't see a gap coming. Suffice to say I'm terrible at the game, but it's still quite charming and oozes a relaxing atmosphere while you play it. You do get better at it as you play more and more, which is great for replayability. There is even a story in the form of the car-driving couple's lifetime of memories, as told through collectable snapshots that form a comic strip. For $2.99, it might not be an instant-buy kind of game for all people, but it's still worth keeping an eye on if it drops in price. If you own an iPad, the controls are perhaps a bit easier and it makes it more affordable as well. And if you are not a cheap-ass, you do get a great and hard-to-master game with some amazing art and music that will last you a long time. Highly recommended.
At face value, To-Fu might look like just another platform/puzzler. But it's quite good! The gameplay is as simple as it gets: drag To-Fu in a direction and let him go to shoot him away. The levels quickly becomes pretty hard though, as spikes, lasers, and buzz saws mean instant death to the ninja piece of vegetarian food. Add in glass surfaces that make you slide down, moving platforms, and surfaces and teleports that bounce you off or shoot you away at the angle you approach them, and you get an idea of what kind of game this is. In fact, there are a large amount of levels that will take you quite some time to get through. As an added bonus, you can choose to finish a level by just bouncing To-Fu around until you reach the exit, but you get medals for staying under a set amount of shots, and for grabbing all dots that sprawl a level. Because it's near impossible to grab both all the dots and stay under par with the amount of shots, it means you'll be replaying levels a lot when trying to "complete" the game. If you are the type that retries an Angry Birds level over and over until you get three stars, you'll probably get a kick out of To-Fu. And for the $0.99 iPhone price, it's a great game to play in short bursts or longer sessions.
I didn't get to try this one out myself, but it looks fun enough. You trash eight of the world's cities by running through things, destroying them, and collecting thingies in the air. It looks like mindless fun, and also like something you might finish once and don't go back to unless there are very competitive leaderboards that haven't been hacked yet.
This is a bit of a simple game really, and it doesn't look like the best-looking iOS game out there (although it's a Unity-powered game). But Bruce has music that sounds like it came right out of Kingdom of Keflings, so there's that. You're a turtle that falls down and tries to collect stuff withing a set amount of time, using some platforms to gain speed and other (rounded) platforms to move in other directions. I had a lot of fun with it while it lasted, especially because of the soothing music. But it's probably more fun for kids or a casual audience than most of you, as it's easy to shut down the game after a couple of tries and then not feel like starting it up again. It's still not a bad game, just not something I'd recommend if you only have $1 to spend and a million games to choose from. If you ever see it for free though, it's enjoyable enough.
If there's one thing I couldn't care less about, it's match-3 games and slide puzzlers. So when I saw this game pop up that seemed to include both, my first thought was "really?" But as it's from a Swedish developer and I have a soft spot for the Euros, I decided to check it out anyway. Lo and behold, it's actually a great little game! It's a bit hard to gauge from the video, but the puzzles are what make it good. The goal is to match three star-blocks in a row or column to clear a level. It starts easy enough, simply sliding some blocks around and restarting a couple of times because you were being a dumbass. However, you quickly get to brain-crunching puzzles with teleport hats, bombs, and other elements that make you think hard and plan ahead before you "get" it. Another aspect that make it interesting is that two similar blocks can stick together and slide as a two-block item. This sometimes obstructs a path you needed to take, and sometimes it's key to moving blocks around without letting them drop in a pit you'll never get them out of. The puzzle design is great, especially compared to what's out there on the market, so if you are a fan of this type of game it's a no-brainer to give it a go.
Icarus-X has made the jump to Android, and is being hailed as one of the best shmups on the platform. I don't really know what else to add about this one, it's a shmup on a phone and it has bullet hell. What more do you want? Deals and free games:
The trailer for geoDefense is awful, but thankfully Touch Arcade has a great video that show you exactly what it is. geoDefense mixes traditional tower defense with Geometry Wars style graphics, which is great. It's also free for a limited time, and one of the best tower defense games I've played on iOS, so go grab it. Now!
From the makers of Canabalt, Gravity Hook HD is interesting enough. I suck at it and initially dismissed it, but it's not a bad game. You grab orbs iwth your hook to propel yourself ever upwards, with mines and other obstacles hindering your journey and often leading to frustrating deaths. I'm going to stick with Mechanic Panic myself, but it's a free game and some of you might like it. You can also play the Flash version on the game's website. See the above video for someone who is infinitely better at it than I am.
This "game" runs like crap on my iPod Touch 4G (2-3 fps in-game) and is missing part of the screen, so I have no idea if it's actually any good. It is, however, an interactive storybook that bridges the story between American McGee's Alice and Alice: Madness Returns. Written and illustrated by the Spicy Horse folks that made both of the Alice games, it apparently it also includes a $10 discount voucher for Madness Returns on the EA Store.
Found this on Touch Arcade (pretty much the best mobile gaming dedicated website out there). EA has lots of games on sale, just like the Easter deals they had before. That one put a lot of EA titles in the Top 10 paid apps, so it makes sense they'd do this again. No Dead Space for $0.99 this time around, but it has some other titles like R-Type and Mass Effect Galaxy for a buck. Also, no Android deals for some reason.
I hear the Sims games are terrible on iOS, so you might want to steer away from those. Some of these game deals might also be U.S. only, but if you look them up manually the price is probably the same in most cases.
That's it for this weekend. If you know of a ridiculous or cool new Android or iOS game, hit up Jim Sterling or myself on Twitter. Or post it in the comments! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Parts of Asia get short changed on PSN Welcome Back gifts Posted: 29 May 2011 06:00 AM PDT When Sony unveiled its PSN "Welcome Back" gift package to the world, some were impressed to see a few full retail PS3 and PSP games on the list. What's a few weeks of down time and potential identify theft if you can score a free download of LittleBigPlanet or inFAMOUS in the deal? Well, it looks like the “Welcome Back" package for Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia isn't quite as generous. There are a few games that overlap, but there are definitely some big changes. Instead of big-budget, retail titles like LittleBigPlanet and inFAMOUS, you get launch-era PSN games like The Last Guy and Come on, LocoRoco!! BuuBuu Cocoreccho. I'm actually happy to see The Last Guy on the list, as it's one of my favorite PSN games to date, but it's still a little weird that these countries aren't being offered games of the same value as the rest of the world. Are boys made of sacks and men who shoot electricity out of their hands taboo in Indonesia, or is there something else I'm missing to explain why Sony is offering these countries cheaper gifts? Check out the full list of games after the jump. [Thanks, Chong Hiu Fung!] Welcome Back Package for Hong Kong Singapore Malaysia Thailand and Indonesia[Asia.Playstation.com]
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| The Witcher gets a porny spoof with The Bitcher Posted: 29 May 2011 05:00 AM PDT If you didn't think that watching a naked Geralt thrash about like a mechanical donkey in The Witcher 2 was sexy enough for you, then perhaps you'll wanting this racier retelling of the videogame. Yes, it's called The Bitcher, and it's tagline is The Dildo of Destiny Has Two Ends. The always charming Sasha Grey stars alongside the real reason I wanted to post this -- that guy on the cover, trying to look like Geralt as cheaply as possible. I burst out laughing when I first saw that cover. He looks like a mutant cross between Peter Stomare and Christopher Lambert in Mortal Kombat. On that basis alone, this is a video that has become required watching. I can't wait to get a look at his hammerhead. The Bitcher - Wiedźmin w wersji porno?! [Chip.pl] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weekend gaming wallpapers: Who is Ned? Posted: 29 May 2011 03:30 AM PDT Have you ever woken up at 7am on a Sunday to play a game you were crack-binging on the previous night, then find a whole bunch of work in your inbox and before you know it your Sunday gaming will be totally gone? Yeah, I'm totally having that kind of Sunday. For some reason our cblogs looked like a christmas tree when I woke up. I'm on it. After that's fixed I'm going to complete the most hardcore game ever: Airport Mania. This month in gaming wallpapers we bring you original artwork from NED, Infamous 2, Asphalt 3D, Hellbreed 2, Transformers, Hunted, and some classics like Devil May Cry, Final Fantasy X2, Heavenly Sword, Ninja Gaiden, and Street Fighter. Our archives also include wallpapers from Uncharted 3, Dirt 3, Ridge Racer 3D, The Settlers Online, Homefront, Shogun 2, Lord of the Rings: War in the North, Might and Magic Heroes, Motorstorm Apocalypse, Armored Core, and Duke Nukem. Our archive also includes Operation Flashpoint, Test Drive Unlimited, Splinter Cell, Shogun 2, Magicka, Homefront, a few others. Enjoy!
Want more or to upload yours? There's a Destructoid forum thread with high res video game wallpapers. Do it.
This gallery was provided to us by the sleepless people at Gamewallpapers.com, as well as some CG art by our friends at Flamy Frog Interactive. Hundreds more are available on their site, which also feature variants for dual-screen downloads. Want some Destructoid-flavored ones? Go steal them from Hamza.
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| Square Enix reveals Heroes of Ruin for 3DS, then hides it Posted: 29 May 2011 03:00 AM PDT Late last week, Square Enix pulled a bait and switch in the form of a 3DS game tease. The publisher posted some pretty cool artwork to Facebook, then sneakily removed it. This is the Internet, however, so naturally everybody's found out about it regardless. From what's known, the game is called Heroes of Ruin and it's a joint effort between Square Enix and n-Space. The phrase, "Join the fun. More soon," accompanied the art, but of course that tells us bugger-all. A few details are apparently found within Nintendo Power. The game's four characters are mercenaries, and Ruin is a four-player game full of customizable weapons, armor and abilities. Drop in/drop out co-op play and voice chat are all supported. The image is all we have to go on, and I like the style. Looks like a sci-fi/fantasy RPG mash-up, which I'd happily take. Hopefully this is something cool. More 3DS games are very welcome. n-Space's Facebook [via Videogamer]
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Bumpy Road (iPhone & iPad, 
To-Fu: The Trials of Chi (iPhone, 
Demolition Dash (iPhone, 
Bruce (iPhone & iPad, 
The Amazing Mr. Loco (iPhone, 
Icarus-X (Android, 
geoDefence (
Gravity Hook HD (
Alice: Madness Returns (
EA Memorial Day sale
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