New Games |
- 25 Days: Win a pile of rare shirts, posters and more
- Brawl in the Family is back with a new Xmas musical comic
- Video: Happy Holidays from Destructoid
- 25 Days: Win ten PlayArts Kai videogame figures!
- The Second Annual Destructoid Christmas Album
- Review: Mighty Switch Force
- Cave Story+ gets a Holiday Overhaul
- This is what MAGFest is all about
- 25 Days: Win Xenogears and Legend of Mana on PSN!
- The Daily Hotness: Oh Nikki...
| 25 Days: Win a pile of rare shirts, posters and more Posted: 24 Dec 2011 04:00 PM PST Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and salutations December 25! Today marks the last of the 25 Days of Giving. We've given thousands of dollars worth of stuff over the course of the month thanks to so many awesome gaming companies that wanted to brighten up the holidays. Today, I'm giving away a pile of swag that I've been hording all year long from the many videogame events I attend for Destructoid. The majority of the swag is made up of shirts, ranging from small to XXL sizes. You can see every shirt in the gallery but here are some of the rarer ones from the pile:
Plus there's a bunch of random items thrown in too. The Lollipop Chainsaw foam chainsaw, a Duke Nukem belt buckle, Dead Space art book, Super Meat Boy comic, Bulletstorm nutcracker and so much more. All this will be going to one lucky person and to enter, leave a comment below with your highlight of 2011. Doesn't have to be gaming related, just tell me something from 2011 that made your year special. You have until 11:59PM CST to enter and contest is open to anyone with a US based address we can ship the prize to. Note that this isn't a random giveaway either, so put some thought into your entries. Good luck! |
| Brawl in the Family is back with a new Xmas musical comic Posted: 24 Dec 2011 10:00 AM PST One of the niftiest things that Brawl in the Family's Matthew Taranto whips up every year is at least one longer-than-usual Christmas-themed comic set to music. This year, the strip is a parody of "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" that expresses frustration at the token "ice stage" in just about every single videogame ever made. It's sweet, but that's to be expected with BitF. It certainly isn't the mind-blowing trio of holiday jingles from 2010, but Matt's musical numbers are never unwelcome. Visit the link below to check the full strip and enjoy the song. Go spread some holiday cheer, dammit! 388 – Ice World [Brawl in the Family] |
| Video: Happy Holidays from Destructoid Posted: 24 Dec 2011 08:30 AM PST Our holiday video hit over a million views! Thanks for watching ... now go punk someone this Christmas :) Huge thanks to our friends at Denizen Company. |
| 25 Days: Win ten PlayArts Kai videogame figures! Posted: 24 Dec 2011 07:45 AM PST We're at the home stretch for our 25 Days of Giving and this week is all about Square Enix! We'll be giving away a bunch of game codes everyday but starting today it's all about Square Enix's PlayArts Kai videogame toy line! One lucky winner will be getting themselves TEN of the PlayArts figures which will consist of Deus Ex: Human Revolution's Lawrence Barrett, Adam Jensen and Yelena Fedorova, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker's Snake and Kazuhira Miller, Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition's Chun-Li and Ryu and Dissidia Final Fantasy's Cloud, Squall and Gabranth. In order to win this set, just leave a comment below telling us your favorite moment from either Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Metal Gear Solid, Street Fighter or Final Fantasy series. That's it! We'll be picking one person at random after the contest closes on December 24 at 11:59PM CST. Limit one entry per person and contest is open to anyone with a US based shipping address the prizes can be shipped to. Good luck! |
| The Second Annual Destructoid Christmas Album Posted: 24 Dec 2011 07:00 AM PST [Update: The whole album is now available on Bandcamp! Download the whole thing (and get a special bonus track), pick it song by song, or just press play and listen to it in-browser. You can also download the split-apart album with all the bonuses on MediaFire. It's up to you, mate!] When we put together the Destructoid Christmas Album last year, we never could have predicted how it would turn out. We created it because we thought it would be an amazingly fun thing to do -- the Destructoid editors singing Christmas songs! -- but we had no idea the thing would end up being filled with all kinds of awesome holiday spirit. I mean, there was just so much goddamn holiday spirit, I think we even brought a snowman to life after recording it. With so much of that holiday spirit left over from last year, we thought we would do it again! So, just in time for the holidays, we present to you The Second Annual Destructoid Christmas Album. This one is bigger, badder, and merrier than ever before! Click here to listen, or check it out here on Bandcamp. The track list and links for individual songs lie below. HAPPY HOLIDAYS, EVERYONE! We love you all more than words. 0:00 - "What's This?" - Chad Concelmo Thanks for listening to everyone! Like a great man once said, be good to yourselves, and each other. |
| Posted: 24 Dec 2011 06:00 AM PST I believe that WayForward is in the same position that Nintendo finds itself with every new console. All these other developers look at their dev kits and throw their hands in the air in confusion, so Nintendo has to ever so gently go, "This is how you make videogames, guys." Similarly, WayForward has become the company that's leading the software charge on Nintendo's portable digital stores. Have any of you actually purchased an original eShop title -- not Virtual Console or DSiWare -- since the service's launch? I'm guessing a lot of you were waiting for Mighty Switch Force as I have been. While that has meant that other solid games may have flown under my radar -- I've heard good things about Pushmo, for instance -- I have the most faith in WayForward to deliver the experience I've been craving. That's because WayForward continually demonstrates a commitment to fun, polish, and atmosphere. Besides, in what other game on the 3DS will you find robots, hot tubs, 90s-style dance jams, neurotic checkpoint dogs, and an all-blonde car wash squad? Mighty Switch Force (Nintendo eShop) Mighty Switch Force is the third in the Mighty series after Mighty Flip Champs and Mighty Milky Way. In the past, is has been described as Metroid-like in gameplay, but that's not accurate at all. The only Metroid reference I could find was the heroine Patricia Wagon's death animation, in which her armor falls off as she explodes in a bright light not unlike Samus in Super Metroid. This game actually reminds me of Mischief Makers more than anything else. Both are puzzle platformers starring gynoid protagonists, require manipulation of blocks strewn about the level (Clancer blocks in Mischief, switch blocks in Mighty) to reach the goal in satisfactory time, and mix a healthy amount of action in with the puzzle-solving. Even one of Patricia's spoken lines ("Justice served!") is reminiscent of a similar line in Mischief. I've mentioned this before, but more than pretty much any other developer, WayForward truly cares about creating loveable, memorable female characters. They are at times adorable and playful, other times hardcore and cool, and still other times sexy and dangerous -- they are never just one thing. And despite a little bit of cheesecake, like the car wash scene in the header, it never feels like the girls are being exploited like they would be in, say, Senran Kagura. The art is so simple and pleasant that at worst you'll just chuckle and say, "Oh, those wily scamps are at it again!" So, who are the bubbly starlets of Mighty Switch Force? I've briefly mentioned Patricia, the space robocop armed with a pea shooter and a siren on her helmet. Her mission is apprehend the criminal family known as the Hooligan Sisters, who are basically the Beagle Boys from DuckTales if the Beagle Boys were female and not butt-ugly. To clear a level, you must find all five Sisters hidden throughout the stage. Though the Sisters' robot minions attempt to slow you down, your true enemies are the switch blocks. By activating your siren, blocks that are recessed move to foreground and vice versa. Crossing spike pits often involves switching the blocks in mid-jump so that you can land on a solid platform. As you progress, you discover new blocks, such as ones that launch you or an enemy like a cannon or others that lock in place as long as you remain standing upon them. The 3D functionality is most effective in helping to distinguish which blocks are recessed, typically indicated by a slight level of transparency compared to foreground blocks. Unfortunately, the 3D spoils everything else. Polygon-based games benefit the most from added visual depth, whereas sprite-based games tend to look like cardboard cutouts arranged on separate planes. This isn't much of an issue in games with simpler sprites, such as the 3D Classics lines. However, the sprites in Mighty Switch Force are so rich in detail that they don't feel like "flat" objects at all. Turn on the 3D and that illusion is shattered. It's the same disconnect I felt on the N64 when I noticed the trees and bushes were paper-thin. You might feel differently than I do. As for me, I'd much rather fully enjoy the phenomenal sprite work, adorable sound bites, and incredible Jake Kaufman-composed soundtrack than have to worry about how far in the distance the city skyline is. The game is packed to brim with so much panache that, even though the enemies and scenery aren't all that varied, you never get tired of drinking it all in. You better not get tired, because you'll be constantly replaying levels in order to clear the par time. Curiously, there is no "retry" option in the pause menu. If you want to start a level over, you have to exit to the stage select screen and reenter from there. It's an unfortunate oversight that begins to gnaw away at you if you happen to be a stickler for making that "perfect run." Even if you are aiming for the par times, the game is over all too quickly. There are 16 levels in total, a much smaller count than the 41 in each of its predecessors. It's not as though the individual levels in Switch Force are significantly longer; the game as a whole is also a much simpler romp than the often infuriatingly difficult Milky Way. I've been lenient on the short length of the predecessors, but I was hoping that the jump to 3DS would be accompanied by a longer, more robust campaign. WayForward has clearly mastered the "short and sweet" formula, but it's about time the company gives its fans a massive puzzle platforming extravaganza. My complaints aside, the game is damn beautiful. It's a much more lenient game than the previous two, and there are copious checkpoints should you find yourself impaled on a bed of spikes or crushed by a block that you switched while you were still standing in front of it. Even the simple addition of a weapon makes for a livelier, more fun pace. Mighty Switch Force is the best Mighty installment yet, even if it still feels like a tease. It's a game of cops and robbers, the sexy future edition, that blends light running-and-gunning with crazy platform manipulation. Once again, WayForward proves that it knows what its doing when it comes to downloadable titles on a Nintendo service. Other developers need to step up their game. |
| Cave Story+ gets a Holiday Overhaul Posted: 24 Dec 2011 05:00 AM PST I love talking about Cave Story, but with so many versions of the game out today, it's hard to know which one to recommend. The new backgrounds, soundtrack remixes, hidden areas, and 3D graphics of the 3DS version make that rendition of the game an easy recommendation, but can I really say that it's better than Cave Story+ on Steam? That version of the game has even more bonus content, the beautiful 2D sprites from the WiiWare version displayed in HD, and now... Christmas. I think this pushes Cave Story+ into front runner territory. The WiiWare version had a special Holiday surprise as well, but it wasn't as big as this. Actually, I wont know exactly how big this update is until I play through the whole game again, but I know for sure that that the game's protagonist is currently a Santa suit-clad reindeer, and the familiar Mimiga village is now covered in snow and decorative lights. It all makes me want a Cave Story animated Christmas Special to come on TV immediately. Since that's probably not going to happen, I guess I'll just imagine one in my mind. It features Balrog getting kisses from Monster X underneath the mistletoe while that fat Mimiga eats some of those little mushroom guys. If you have Cave Story+ and a little time today, please explore the game and get back to us in the comments about what Holiday changes you've found. And be sure to check back on the game on other Holidays. I'd bet dollars to donuts that there will be a special Halloween surprise as well. Thanks Daryl Noir! |
| This is what MAGFest is all about Posted: 24 Dec 2011 04:00 AM PST [Editor's note: Community member Nekobun interviewed MAGFest's Nick Marinelli to get the lowdown on what MAGFest is all about. -- Hamza CTZ Aziz] MAGFest X looms nigh on the horizon, and with only less than a month left, I made the discovery that a certain Nick Marinelli, with whom I was acquainted with already, and who's served at several MAGFests to date, was actually their PR guy. Seeing as how ten years is usually a notable anniversary for anything, I interviewed Nick to find out what MAGFest is all about and some of the highlights from the past years of the festival. Nekobun: What was the seed that was planted that ended up growing into MAGFest? In other words, why start a music and games festival in the first place? If I could name one tradition that encapsulates how amazing our atmosphere is, it would be Jon St. John, the voice of Duke Nukem, and how he's the perfect example of how friendly and approachable our guests are, since they're there to have a good time just like the rest of our attendees. At MAGFest 8, he literally went door to door looking for room parties in the hotel, and ended up visiting 25 of them over the course of the weekend. Always the man to outdo himself, the following year he found 31 different room parties, and looked like hell on Sunday morning. Can't wait to see everyone there, and remember, if Jon St. John knocks on your door, you may as well answer! |
| 25 Days: Win Xenogears and Legend of Mana on PSN! Posted: 23 Dec 2011 04:00 PM PST Not only is it the 25 Days of Giving on Destructoid, but it's also the Winter of RPGs for Square Enix! Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI have all finally made their way to the PlayStation Network and we're doing a giveaway for each game all this week. Today you can nab Xenogears and Legend of Mana by writing a haiku about either game. Three lucky winners will get both games after the contest closes at 11:59PM CST tonight. Contest open to everyone! Be sure to check out our Square Enix PlayArts Kai figure giveaway where we're giving out ten figures based on Deus Ex, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and Super Street Fighter IV all this week for more Square goodies. |
| The Daily Hotness: Oh Nikki... Posted: 23 Dec 2011 03:59 PM PST The 3DS finally got its messaging app today and, if you've spent any amount of time with it, you've likely grown fond of Nikki, the delightfully helpful tour guide. It seems a GAF user has taken a liking to her and, well... yeah. It was a bit of a slow day, but we'e got some prices for the Vita's memory cards, there's going to be a new .hack// game (YES!), The Legend of Zelda has an official timeline, Gamestop says "sorry," and more happened on 12/23. Destructoid Original: Contests: News: |
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