New Games

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• The hidden joys of buying used
• Dead Block is finally out for PC
• Rhythm Heaven Fever's orgasmic wood people CONFIRMED
• The Binding of Isaac gets a grotesque retail edition
• Weekend Modder's Guide: Planescape: Torment
• Nudity:TtWaV album gets new tracks a temporary price drop
• Review: Final Fantasy XIII-2
• Pre-order Kid Icarus: Uprising, get 3D Classics original
• Review: Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten
• Live show: Mash Tactics' farewell to Jon Carnage stream
• Best Buy stores getting PS Vita demo units
• Gettysburg is an alt history take on the Civil War
• Vita's Mutant Blobs Attack has a silly credits theme
• Brand-spankin' new homebrew NES game features cats
• The Daily Hotness: Freddie Wong heats things up

The hidden joys of buying used Posted: 28 Jan 2012 12:00 PM PST [Are you a fan or a hater of used game sales? No matter what side of the fence you're on, you have to agree that bbain's take on the subject is probably never discussed in a publisher's boardroom. Interesting stuff. It's also an example of what happens if your blog doesn't have a header image. Hot dogs for everyone! - Kauza] I buy a lot of used games. The act of doing so has become a rather hotly debated issue in the gaming industry lately, but I'm not here to talk about whether buying used games is good or bad for the industry. The point is, it's something that I do.  Throughout my history of used purchases, I've noticed that there are some things that go along with buying used games that you wouldn't get from buying new games. These things come from the simple fact that used games are just what the name implies: they have been used before. They've had previous owners, and sometimes those owners leave something behind on the game when they go to sell it. The most common instance of this can be discovered before you've even purchased the game, while you're holding the case or cartridge in the store. It doesn't seem to happen as often anymore, but kids who owned video game cartridges back in the day used to frequently write their names on all of their games in Sharpie, perhaps so they wouldn't get their games mixed up with someone else's if they were sharing, or perhaps just as a way of showing ownership. Many of these autographed cartridges end up in garage sales and used game stores and find other owners, but the original owner's mark will always remain as a reminder that the game was once cherished by someone else (unless the new owner bothers to remove the name by some means, but I feel like that probably doesn't usually happen).  Here is a sampling from my own collection of games that have been signed by previous owners. The N64 cartridge signed by "Ash" actually happens to be Pokemon Snap. I hope the person's name really was Ash, that would be such a coincidence! I also like to think that the owners of Metroid and River City Ransom, "JM" and "DM," might have been related (Justin and Dustin Mathews, perhaps?). Also included in the picture is the power cable to the used NES console that I bought, which came with a delightful sticker featuring a trio of dancing eggs. It's nice because it makes it easier for me to differentiate between the NES and SNES power cables, and it's also an adorable reminder that it was once loved by someone enough to receive a sticker.  Of course, there are other ways for previous owners to leave their mark which you'll only discover upon taking the game home and actually playing it. For example, many SNES and N64 cartridges came with their own save data, which people usually don't bother to erase before selling the game back. By looking at the save data, you can learn how frequently the game may have been played before, and how far into the game the former owner may have gotten before selling it back. It's also fun to go into the files to see what kind of items they had found or what equipment they had been using, especially in RPGs. Many games also let you name the characters or at least the save file, so you can sometimes learn the names of former owners that way, or find out that they had a sense of humor if they named the characters something crass or ridiculous.  Unfortunately, with the newer generations of games, it's becoming more difficult for owners to leave their mark on a game. We now use memory cards to keep track of all of our save data, which don't come with the games when we buy them. So starting the game up at home, it might appear as if it had never been played before (obviously it has been, but not on your particular console). It also seems to be much more uncommon for kids to write their names on game cases as opposed to cartridges.  There are still ways to learn about the previous owners of your used purchases however, but they are much more infrequent. While it's rather difficult to learn anything about the owners of specific games, if you happen to be in the market for a used console, you'll most likely find some interesting things when you finally boot it up at home. All of the consoles that I currently own happen to be used, so I've come across a few interesting reminders of their pasts. For example, my PlayStation 3 was previously owned by someone who seemed to exclusively play sports games and shooters, as indicated by the leftover save data (which is not at all what I use the console for). Even more exciting was when I turned on my used Wii for the first time, and discovered a lovely family of Miis standing around in the Mii Channel.  Let me introduce you to (from left to right) Tiara, Shontae, Sir Quan, Brandon, Janomi and Lil Wax. Obviously, I've left them all on the Wii so they could mingle with me and my friends and make special appearances in some of our games. Shontae, in particular, really seems to enjoy Wii Baseball, as she somehow always ends up on one of the teams. I also discovered in the settings that the console was named "Mrs. Waters," a name which I've decided to keep. I always hope that one day, I'll be walking down the street and come across one of these people, and instantly recognize them because of their Mii. That would be so strange!  As I said before though, it's much more difficult to come across a game nowadays and be able to learn anything about it's previous owner. However, just last week I came across a wonderful find which inspired me to write this post: a used copy of Animal Crossing for the GameCube which came with the memory card that it was originally packaged with. The save data was still on the memory card, so of course I had to check out the previous owner's town. One of the townspeople greeted me and welcomed me back to the town of Seattle. Then they asked me what my name was, and I was actually surprised to see what my options were. The former residents had been named Cal, Beanz and Adam. "Bean" just so happens to be my own nickname, and the moniker that I use for almost every game that I play. "Adam" also just so happens to be the name of one of my roommates. Unfortunately, my other roommate is named Josh and not Cal, but if all three names had been the same as ours, I don't know what I would have done! Anyway, I selected Beanz (of course) and arrived in Seattle. The first thing I did was check out Beanz's house.  He seemed to have a similar taste in items as I do. His house was filled with many Japanese items and fruit-themed furniture, and he turned his basement into a sort of aquarium/insect zoo. I also took the time to check out the other guys' houses. Cal seemed to have sort of the same taste in things as Beanz, and also had a lot of Nintendo-themed things as well. Adam's house was the smallest with no basement, so apparently he played the least out of the three. Next I looked through some of Beanz's mail. He had a few letters that Cal and Adam had sent him.  Apparently Beanz was rather gassy. Maybe that's where the nickname came from.  Then I took a look around town. The massive amount of weeds indicated that the game must have been sold a long while ago (the cockroaches in the houses were another hint). There were also a lot more flowers around the town than I usually had in my towns, so they apparently enjoyed gardening. They had also put up some signs around town with designs that they had made, so I decided to check out the Able Sisters' shop.  At the tailor, I found several designs that the previous owners had created (every design in the picture is something that they made, I believe). How cool! I had never made too many designs myself, but some of these were actually pretty neat! After that I went to the museum. They had filled out a lot of the fish, insect and fossil sections, but had only donated two paintings (which makes sense, paintings are pretty hard to come by). I wasn't sure what else to check after that, so I decided to head out of Seattle for the time being and finally create my own town. Luckily I had another memory card, so I didn't have to delete Seattle. I also decided to preserve the town the way it had been, so I could explore it again if I ever wanted to.  I enjoy buying used games not just because it's cheaper, but also because of moments like these. Everything you buy has a history, but used things tend to have much more interesting histories than new things. I've learned through buying used games that I'm very interested in the gaming habits of others. It's a lot of fun to see how other people play games and to learn more about those people, even though I've never met them before and most likely never will. It would be amazing if I did though. Maybe someone will happen to read this blog and recognize one of these things as their own former belongings. That would be something! How about some of you? Any interesting stories to tell about some of the used games/consoles that you've bought?

Dead Block is finally out for PC Posted: 28 Jan 2012 11:00 AM PST It may not seem like that long ago, but way back in July of last year a little zombie-survival game by the name of Dead Block came out on XBLA and PSN. Now, about half a year later, the Call of Duty Zombie mode-esque downloadable title has found a new home on PC. Dead Block can't be found on Steam, but is instead exclusively available to purchase on other online retailers such as Amazon and GameStop for only $9.99. Our very own Maurice Tan didn't have too many positive things to say about the game in his review, but your next chance to play a co-op zombie-survival game won't come until Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City launches in March. So, what are you waiting for? It's only ten bucks.

Rhythm Heaven Fever's orgasmic wood people CONFIRMED Posted: 28 Jan 2012 10:00 AM PST Here's a compilation of some footage of Rhythm Heaven Fever, the English language version of Minna no Rhythm Tengoku. How do you think it sounds? Personally, I like the English voice work here, but I think I'll still prefer the Japanese version in the end. Not knowing what some of these songs are about might make them a little better.  The big news here (for me anyway) is that those little orgasmic wood people flying on a cloud are sounding almost as orgasmic in English as they did in Japanese! It's been my guess for while now that the these two naughty little imps and their magical, rhythmic ride into the sky is supposed to be a metaphor for making sex happen. Some people thought I was crazy for thinking that, but according to this interview with mastermind behind the Rhythm Heaven/Tengoku series, those sounds are indeed intended to be sexy sounds. The game comes out in just a few weeks. I can't wait to see how sexual it's going to get! Iwata Asks: Rhythm Heaven Fever - full summary [GoNintendo]

The Binding of Isaac gets a grotesque retail edition Posted: 28 Jan 2012 09:00 AM PST It was only a few days ago that online retailer, Merge Games, announced they would be selling a retail version of Terraria, a collectors edition no less. Now another of my favorite indie games from last year is getting a retail special edition, The Binding of Isaac. Wee Isaac's battle to escape his mother's basement will be available from Merge Games on March 16th, but only in the UK. This version of the game comes with a Steam gift key, a DRM-free copy of the game, the awesome soundtrack, a grim poster and a 40 page "Devzine." No word on pricing yet. Terraria was around three times more than the Steam version, if that's going to be the case with The Binding of Isaac it's still only a tenner. Not too shabby for a fantastic game and extra swag. While indie games and digital distribution sort of go hand in hand these days, I do yearn for tangible goodies like posters and cloth maps, though the latter would be a bit difficult to make for a game with random dungeons.

Weekend Modder's Guide: Planescape: Torment Posted: 28 Jan 2012 08:00 AM PST We're introducing a new regular feature here on Dtoid for all of you PC gamers. The Weekend Modder's Guide will take a game, usually an older one, and show you how to breathe new life into it. PC gaming has a strong legacy of great games, and unlike consoles you can usually run older software on your new PC. Unfortunately, time has not been kind to a lot of games. We used to play them at 640x480 with no problem, but now that will make us cringe. Thankfully, good PC titles have a lot of dedicated fans who are willing to keep updating them long after the developers stop. Fan-made patches can add widescreen, add HD textures, fix bugs, finish content that wasn't included originally, and they can even add brand new content. Planescape: Torment is one of the best RPGs ever made. It focuses on its story -- one that is witty, funny, deep, and engaging -- and pulls this off well. Black Isle wanted to make an RPG where death didn’t stop the game; it's actually part of your character's story to die over and over again. You have the power to resurrect your party too, so you never have to worry about being penalized for dying. This doesn’t mean that the game is easy, though. Since Planescape's graphics are hand drawn, they don't suffer from the aging of a 3D game made in the same era. In fact, once you increase the resolution and do some tweaks to speed things up, it looks really good. The animations are smooth and detailed, and all the environments are fleshed out and stylized. I'm going to show you how to install all of the mods you need to play this fantastic game in HD. Before mods: After mods: You can grab Planescape: Torment from GOG.com for $9.99, and it includes a whole bunch of extra goodies like the soundtrack, wallpapers, and a collection of artwork. Even if you have the discs lying around somewhere, I really suggest that you just grab it off of GOG.com since they handle much of the back-end tweaking. You can still use this guide for a different version of the game, but you would have to do a bunch of extra steps to make it work correctly. Trivia: Planescape: Torment was localized for Poland by CD Project, who later went on to make The Witcher. The game’s dialog script is over 800,000 words long, which is about the same length as The Lord of the Rings plus A Game of Thrones. The game was designed by Chris Avellone, who was also designing Fallout 2 at the time. He later went on to work on the Icewind Dale games, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, Champions of Norrath, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, Neverwinter Nights 2, Alpha Protocol, and Fallout: New Vegas. The voice actors include Jennifer Hale (female Commander Shepherd from Mass Effect), Michael T. Weiss (Tarzan, from the Disney animated Tarzan television series), Keith David (Commander Anderson from Mass Effect) and John de Lancie (Q from Star Trek: The Next Generation). The rest of the cast have done voice acting for Marvel, DC, Disney, Pixar, and plenty of other videogames.  All right, let’s get down to business! Time: 1-2 hours Difficulty: Beginner What you need: A copy of Planescape: Torment (preferably from GOG.com) 1. Install Planescape: Torment, but not to the normal Windows program directory. This will help avoid issues with the widescreen mods in Windows 7 or Windows Vista. Just make a folder in the C: drive called “RPGs” or something to that effect. 2. Install the Gibberlings 3 widescreen mod. You can set this to whatever resolution that you want. I recommend that you don’t go too high, or everything in the game will be very tiny. I used 1366x768 and it looks good. Get this mod here. 3. Install Ghost Dog’s UI. This will center all of the UI, fill in black spaces with existing artwork, fix loading screens, and just generally make everything work at higher resolutions. Grab it here. 4. Install Quinn’s Unfinished Business, Fix Pack, and Tweaks. This fixes spelling and grammar issues, bugs, allows you to hear all of your parties banter over the course of the game, and adds back some content that was unfinished and cut from the game. Just install all of the recommended files. You can grab the files and read the instructions here. 5. Look in the directory that you installed the game to for a file called “torment.ini”. Open it up and notepad and change the following: path search nodes=32000 Maximum frame rate=40 This will help characters move around better, and it will make sure that the animation speed is fluid without being too fast. 6. Download and install the DirectX SDK. Once the installation is finished launch the DirectX control panel. Go to the Direct Draw tab and disable hardware acceleration. This will help with slow frame rates and control lag. You can download it here. 7. Launch the game and from the graphics option menu, change all the setting to software rendering -- this will help speed things up and reduce lag. That's it! You should be all set to play Planescape: Torment in glorious HD!

Nudity:TtWaV album gets new tracks a temporary price drop Posted: 28 Jan 2012 07:30 AM PST Well this is exciting! The recently released Talking to Women about Videogames album just got 5 five brand new tracks. Actually, that's not exactly right. The remix heard above by Cartoon Food was secretly added to the album a little over a week ago. It was supposed to be on there from the start, but I flubbed. That means that if you downloaded the album within the past week or so then that song wont be new to you, but the new track by Jim Sterling and Raik Hohendorf will be new to everyone. It is a rock and roll song. For the troops. There are also 2 new bonus tracks (including an alternate take of Jim's song), as well as cover of The Zombies classic The Way I Feel Inside. If you bought the album before, you should be able to redownload it again with all this new content for no additional charge. That said, I wasn't sure if that would actually work, so I dropped the price for the whole 34 track album to $.99 for just this weekend. I figure the 5 new songs are worth at least that. As for the rest of you, you can grab all these songs for the first time for so cheap. It's less than 3 cents per track! C'mon now, people.  C'mon now.  On top of all that, we've got the music videos for Sterling's song and the Podtoid tribute hidden bonus track Muddy Buddy waiting for you below. Buy the album here if you want. Either way, it's a great time to be alive!

Review: Final Fantasy XIII-2 Posted: 28 Jan 2012 07:00 AM PST Final Fantasy XIII was not a "4" for me, but I wouldn't have given it much more credit. The story was, at times, confusing and very hard to follow, the proper nouns it used made my ears hurt, and the summoned, transforming Eidolons were so silly that I was embarrassed for Square Enix and videogames in general. The biggest issue with the game was the lack of player choice, as the story literally pushed you forward through a one-way corridor into mindless, repetitive battles for the first 20 hours of gameplay. It's as if Square Enix forgot about all the charm and complexity that made us fall in love with the series' earlier games. The end result was a game that mostly played itself for a long time before it opened up. I still enjoyed it to some extent, but I probably would only recommend it to diehard Final Fantasy fans. With this second direct sequel Square Enix has ever made for a Final Fantasy game, there was a chance to go back to the original design and fix many of the issues fans had with Final Fantasy XIII. I'm happy to tell you that Square Enix took this second chance and made the best of what they had to work with for Final Fantasy XIII-2. Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PS3 [Reviewed], Xbox 360) Developer: Square Enix Publisher: Square Enix Released: January 31, 2012 MSRP: $59.99 Final Fantasy XIII's story kicked off with the surly, pink-haired, ex-soldier named Lightning fighting against her former military mates while dodging a civilian evacuation of her home planet, the floating planet named Cocoon. The evacuation and ongoing war between the citizens of Cocoon and the military faded into the background for Lightning, as she was solely focused on saving her sister, Serah, a girl considered to be an enemy of the military. Final Fantasy XIII-2 sort of flips the story around to tell the next chapter; a story that picks up a few years after the ending of XIII. Serah finds herself having strange dreams of her sister, lost in a dark world and stuck fighting against an unknown warrior for eternity. She also sees a young man in these dreams, and later comes to meet him. He is Noel, a traveler from 700 years in the future where he lives as the last human born, and he has been tasked by Lightning to help Serah save the future.  In a role switch, Serah is now out to save Lightning. Final Fantasy XIII-2's story centers around time travel. Somehow the whole timeline of history has been altered, resulting in multiple paradoxes. Serah and Noel work to hop through history to resolve these paradoxes with the hopes of setting the future straight so that humanity does not come to an end in 700 years. I was worried when I first heard about XIII-2's story, as a sequel that uses a time travel gimmick could easily go very wrong. I imagined revisiting old locales, running through unimaginative missions in an attempt to get more mileage out of XIII's visual assets, with some nonsensical story strung throughout. Although some assets are reused and some previous locales are revisited, there are plenty of new locations, characters, and enemies, while the time travel element actually ties nicely into the game's story. While this could have been a time travel turd, Square Enix was smart about how they handled old assets and quite crafty with how they laced this story through it. Instead of creating a sense of déjà vu, it ends up being quite fun hopping around time to check in on the last game's characters, or see how a city has changed over the years. Thankfully you're never lost in time, as there's strong structure and plenty of less-than-subtle dialogue cues to guide you to the next era. There's a lot to see and do, and it's all open for you to freely explore at your leisure, but I never once found myself lost in time. At least you can't call this one linear! As smart as the aspect of time travel has been handled, I don't want to give the story too much credit. It's certainly stronger than Final Fantasy XIII's story, but since it was built on its predecessor's uneven foundation, it never feels completely whole or in any way less nonsensical than before. The overarching storyline does its best to work with what there was to work with and continue on with something that's entertaining and sometimes surprising, but the smaller bits of story that center around unresolved time paradoxes rarely makes sense. I suppose some might say that these sections are intentionally strange, as they deal with a warping of time, but I feel like the time spent developing these segments could have been better spent on the background characters. Unlike its predecessor, XIII-2 does a really good job of fleshing out its protagonists Serah and Noel, and you eventually grow to understand the antagonist and his motivations. However, the rest of the game's cast are left there to dangle with little in the way of character development or backstory. While it's nice to see old friends like Hope and Snow, they just sort of appear in the timeline and there are huge gaps of unfilled story that you're left hanging on. Another returning character whom I won't name to protect you from spoilers has no story development whatsoever, making me kind of mad that this character was even included. If you want to get the most out of this game's story, you're going to have to dig, getting into the optional quests, hidden paradox endings, and in-menu log reading. Even then I suspect that most won't be fully satisfied. It's a shame, as Square Enix has packed some really strong ideas and character possibilities into the story. Be warned that the game's ending is easily spoiled. You won't find spoilers in this review, but know that they're out there, and they will come to find you once this game is released in the West. Get in, keep your head down, and see it for yourself! It's a strong ending, though, and a real visual treat. I thought the game's conclusion was thrilling and very surprising, but I'm sure others are going to take issue with how this one is wrapped up. While the story didn't turn out to be as strong, Square Enix has made major improvements in storytelling over the last game. The dialogue is a major high point in XIII-2; it actually makes sense now, and the writing is much more accessible and lighthearted. New Live Trigger events momentarily stop the story and ask you how you would respond to a question to steer the dialogue, taking a page from Western RPGs. Noel and Serah are very strong characters, supported by exemplary voice work that highlights the motivations and emotions of the title's protagonists at all times. Laura Bailey surprises as Serah and Liam O'Brien brings the badass to character Caius, but Jason Marsden absolutely knocks it out of the park with Noel, bringing a great balance of strength and humor. Even the NPC voicing is good and compared to Final Fantasy XIII, the contrast is surprising. Even if you don't fully understand all of what the story throws at you, you will likely be entertained by the dialogue and voice work. Final Fantasy XIII-2's gameplay positively shines when compared to its predecessor. Gone are the narrow corridors that run you into forced battles with faceless soldiers. XIII-2's time traveling nature leaves you wide open to explore, bouncing from era to era to take on missions and quests at your own pace. There is a solid story structure with navigable timeline called the Historia Crux, but you're mostly free to conquer it in any order. Time gates open up in each locale, and when you've found the proper Artefact in each era, you're free to use them at gates to open up new locales. Most of these places are open, expansive worlds packed with hidden items, fighting challenges, NPC quests, and lots of extra story bits. Once you find all the Artefacts and open all the Time Gates, the entire game's timeline is at your fingertips, as a simple press of the start button pulls you back to the Historia Crux, letting you jump to any time and place you wish. You're also free to stop anywhere you'd like as Final Fantasy XIII-2 breaks new ground for the series with a save anywhere option, assigned to the Start  button.   There are plenty of other new gameplay additions that help make this game much more entertaining than XIII. Final Fantasy's cutest monster, the Moogle, makes a triumphant return to the series in XIII-2. A Moogle named Mog comes to Serah as a gift from Lightning, and he serves many purposes. By default, he's a flying companion that can help find hidden items with his glowing bobble, or work as an item retriever when thrown. Yes, you can throw your Moogle! Right before battle, Mog gives you a sort of clock meter that lets you preemptively attack to get the jump on random encounters, a sort of replacement for the series' time-based battle spells. Strangely, in battle, Mog transforms into Serah's primary weapon. Item hunters will be obsessed with finding the game's 160 Fragments. Some are tied to the story, but most are optional hunts. Tracking them down is definitely worth your time as they can be plugged into the game's Fragment Skill system. This serves as a sort of limited God Mode for Final Fantasy XIII-2, letting you tweak things like how much your items sell for in shops, or how high/long your character can jump. Everything from options to tweak the encounter rate to a switch that opens up hidden story bits can be found among the Fragment Skills. Some of the story-required item questing missions do get close to getting out of hand, though. One in particular requires way too much traveling and fetching, and it smells slightly of filler. When you want a break from item hunting and time traveling, XIII-2's Serendipity zone should serve as a nice distraction. Anyone that enjoyed Final Fantasy VII's Golden Saucer will find a lot to like here. This lost-in-time casino is packed with scantily clad bunny girls, slot machines, casino table games, and even chocobo racing. The latter diversion is so deep that it almost could be turned into its own game, with options for leveling, betting and training. Gambling and race winnings can be traded in for rare game items. As welcome as many of the gameplay changes are, I'm not as thrilled about the addition of puzzles to the mix. Hopping from era to era, the game sometimes throws you into a puzzle world with little to no explanation. The story calls them Temporal Rifts, and they're supposed to be voids in the timeline that reach out into alternate dimensions -- only by solving their puzzles can the timeline be set straight. Unfortunately, many of these puzzles are dull, with many of them having you walk between jewels to sort of connect the dots. They seem to serve no purpose, and have no connection to the storyline. Thankfully, there are only a few instances of Temporal Rifts throughout the game. Final Fantasy XIII-2 takes its predecessor's battle system and runs with it, which is great because the battle system was easily the best part of that game. The Paradigm Shift system is still in place this time around, and with it comes its wonderful mix menus and fast-paced action. Again, the key battles make excellent use of lesser used Final Fantasy spells and effects. For instance, Poison is actually effective on bosses. Likewise, casting defense altering spells, like Deshell and Deprotect, is a valid strategy now. Paradigm Shift is faster this time around, with almost direct switching from one paradigm to the next, letting you shift tactcs on the fly without waiting for change animations. There's one new damage type in XIII-2 called Wound, and receiving this type of damage subtracts from your total maximum available hit points in a battle. But, at its core, the battle system here is largely the same as that of Final Fantasy XIII's, so if you hated that one you're not going to like this one much more.   One of the best additions to the game play this time around is the ability to recruit monsters to your party. This works a lot like the demon collecting system in Atlus' Shin Megami Tensei games, and it's every bit as open to customization. This monster party member system lets you take in an enemy, level it up, tweak its abilities, and then use it to maximize your battle strategies. Your chosen monster becomes your third party member, and up to three different monsters can be plugged into your paradigms to be used at any time. Each monster has its own special attack, which becomes available after filling an attack meter. Collected monsters also have their own Crystarium, letting you level them up, change their abilities and even transfer abilities from one monster to another. This incredibly deep system lets you create your dream party. I took in a Chocobo early on in a battle, trained him, leveled him up to a ridiculous level, and liked him so much that he dealt what looked to be the final blow in the very last battle. He was a beast, and his special screaming "Kweh" attack never stopped being funny. Cinematic Action sequences are also new to the Final Fantasy series, making their debut in this game. These are prompted battle inputs that give players some control of interactive cutscenes -- quick time events, if you will. Most of these take place during battles, where standard fighting seamlessly transitions into a scene that, if timed correctly, will let players avoid attacks, stagger an enemy or deliver flashy final hits. Most of these sequences are flat-out awesome, with all the dynamic camera work and flashy lighting you'd expect from a Final Fantasy cutscene. There isn't a penalty for missing prompted button and stick inputs during these sequences, but there's often a benefit that could make your battle easier, and perfect performance brings about an item reward. Even those that didn't care for Final Fantasy XIII had to admit that it was a beautiful game, and in some ways XIII-2 is even more impressive. Realtime cutscenes replace pre-rendered ones in this game, and the animation and attention to detail are outstanding in them. You'll see how a gentle wind catches a character's hair and clothing, and you'll really connect with character's expressive faces and gestures. The lip synchronization is the best I've ever seen, to point where I wonder why the rest of the game industry isn't borrowing Square Enix's technology. The game's scenery is, as always, imaginative and often beautiful, and the lighting and weather effects are stunning. There's a rare odd background texture, and a couple of the early cutscenes seemed to take a framerate hit, but these are just nitpicks in what is otherwise a visual powerhouse. Trust me, you've never seen this much pink and purple in a videogame. Shopping in Final Fantasy XIII-2 is really weird; you won't find the traditional RPG town store here. Instead you'll find a being that looks to be part human female, part Chocobo, with plenty of exposed skin, but feathers covering her crotch, breasts and arms. Oh, and her hat appears to be a dead chocobo head. She calls herself Chobolina and she travels through time to be right where you need her when you need her most. She sells typical healing items as well as weapons and upgrades. Her prices never change and the selection rarely does either, but what she has to say to you every time you encounter her does, and it's almost always hilarious. Sometimes she screams "Choco-boco-lina" when you see her. Other times she becomes philosophical and talks about how she's not quite human. It's almost as if Square Enix is using Chobolina to apologize for how terrible shopping was in Final Fantasy XIII. The real gift from Square Enix comes when the inevitable Chobolina cosplay trend begins this year. I suspect that fans will be divided on Final Fantasy XIII-2's musical score. I thought it was wonderfully varied and lots of fun, but traditionalists will likely take issue with some of the stranger selections. Square Enix let three composers team up and go absolutely nuts on this soundtrack, and from the sound of it, they had a great time. In the mix you'll find many different musical genres, ranging from standard orchestral to metal. Battle songs with rapping or overworld themes with J-pop style vocals are mildly surprising when they first appear, but nothing can prepare you for the screaming vocals of one of the key battle songs. The soundtrack has multiple Chocobo themes, but the heavy metal one is my favorite. Even if you're not sold on some of the more alternative tracks, just about all should be able to appreciate how map themes smartly morph into battle songs when an enemy is encountered. Among the oddball tracks you'll find some outstanding work. Overall, I think the idea with the music was to have fun and go nuts. I've heard the same question many times in the last few months: Will those disappointed by Final Fantasy XIII enjoy this sequel? I think so. In fact, it seems like Final Fantasy XIII-2 was made with these people in mind as it seems to address many of the criticisms of its predecessor. Many of the best aspects of this game seem to be direct responses to concerns raised on the last game, so now the combat is deeper, the customization options are wide open, and the pacing is sensible and anything but linear. Lack of substance? Not here, I'm glad to say. The story, while still  a bit stunted in the character development department, is vast, and now offers a lot in the way of player choice. There's better writing for better characters, and the performances for these characters are outstanding. But, overall, for me, what really made Final Fantasy XIII-2 an enjoyable game was that Square Enix brought the fun back. They brought back some the inventiveness, creativity, humor and uniqueness that we sorely missed in Final Fantasy XIII. Maybe this game tries to do a bit too much, and it's probably too late to dig this story out of the hole that it's in, but it was made with a heaping dollop of that undeniable charm that we loved in the older series games, and that goes a long way towards making it enjoyable. Nice comeback, Square Enix.

Pre-order Kid Icarus: Uprising, get 3D Classics original Posted: 28 Jan 2012 07:00 AM PST Still on the fence on whether or not you'll be getting Kid Icarus: Uprising for 3DS when it's released this March? The fact that it comes with a stand not enough for you? How about a free download of the original NES classic, all gussied up in three dimensions? Gamers who pre-order at GameStop, Best Buy, or Amazon will receive a bonus download code for the 3D Classics Kid Icarus. The download code will be delivered with the purchase of Kid Icarus: Uprising, and the offer is only good in the US only. It's nice to see another NES title getting the 3D Classics treatment (and one that's actually worthy of the title "classic"). Will this sway you to pre-order the title? What other NES games are you hoping will eventually hit the 3DS eShop? SPECULATE! Nintendo Unveils Kid Icarus: Uprising Pre-Order Details [Nintendo World Report]

Review: Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten Posted: 28 Jan 2012 06:00 AM PST Certain genres more than others can be forgiven when skimping on narrative. I would argue that tower defense games can readily get away this without receiving many complaints, since the act of massacring enemy troops tends to keep us distracted. Independent tower-defense/RPG mash-up Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten does an admirable job of telling a story worth caring about. And if you're in it purely for the strategy and game mechanics, hey, that's fine too. Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten (Windows [reviewed], Mac, Linux) Developer: Level Up Labs Publisher: Level Up Labs Released: January 19, 2012 MSRP: $6.99 Having been left for dead in a land overrun by a terrible plague, you awaken to find yourself in the Pit. Fittingly, this is where the afflicted are sent. Those not immune to the sickness eventually turn into savage creatures who hunt down the living together as a hive mind led by a powerful being. These plagued beasts aren't so easily fought, but thankfully, you have the ability to bring yourself and allies into a world halfway between this and the next where the infected can be killed. That's the gist of the story in Defender's Quest, which is told through dialogue in and outside of skirmishes. It's a solid setup -- one that helps to rationalize many of this genre's oddities. Rather than have "towers," you have party members that you place on the map. They act like you'd expect -- there's a certain attack range, you can spend dropped energy to upgrade them, etc. -- but outside of battles, it's as if you're playing an RPG. Characters gain permanent experience which can be put toward skill trees. When recruiting more of them from towns, you can customize their appearances, and there's weapons and armor to buy as well. This is about as deep it goes, which was fine by me. The end result is a cast you're somewhat attached to and an incentive to replay levels for the sake of grinding. Surprisingly, the level-to-level difficulty is quite balanced despite all of these extra moving parts. On top of your crew, which is made up of six distinct archetypes, you're able to stop onward-marching foes with spells. One serves as a bomb, another sets foes ablaze, and a third temporarily increases the damage your defenses can dish out. I specifically bring this up because spells help to get you, the player, more directly involved with what's happening on screen. No time to doze off! On that note, you're also given a tremendous amount of control when it comes to the game's speed. You can pause everything -- while miraculously still being able to place units and upgrade them -- or pump the speed all the way up to 4x. Defender's Quest is very respectful of the player in this and a number of other aspects. Controls and hotkeys are configurable, cut scenes and conversations can be skipped (and rewatched later if you so choose), and the rate at which experience is earned can be increased. The developers put thought into the little touches and it makes all the difference. There are around 30 levels to survive, but in practice, it's actually much more than that. You can go back and try to beat maps on harder difficulties. (The range is Casual, Normal, Advanced, and Extreme.) Doing so throws a tougher, more varied group of enemies at you and offers greater XP and loot. Between this and the bonuses for beating levels without taking damage, Defender's Quest is deceptively long. That said, you can get to the end on Normal in a good five hours or less. Personally, I've spent more than 12 hours going back to complete perfect runs on every stage. There's plenty of optional content if you're looking to get the most out of your money. The difficulty never really gets frustrating, though it can be challenging until you figure out the ideal unit placements for individual maps. Again, if you get stuck, you can always go back to an earlier level on a higher difficulty to earn experience. I strongly dislike grinding in most games, but since you can easily speed up battles here, it's relatively painless. Defender's Quest looks like an independent game, but don't let that be the reason you pass it by. The art, particularly that of the cut scenes, is easily the worst part of the experience. Trust me, the mechanics and even the soundtrack, which is at the very least fitting for the old-school aesthetic, more than make up for it. I have very few complaints outside of this area. It would have been nice to have greater variety in terms of locations and enemies. More meaningful items and the option to rewind time so you don't have to start over and set everything back up again would've also been appreciated. But really, these are minor complaints. It's no accident that Defender's Quest is incredibly fun to play. The team behind it clearly had an appreciation for the genre and knew how to offer something familiar yet fresh. The promise of free content updates has me excited to continue playing. You should strongly consider joining me.

Live show: Mash Tactics' farewell to Jon Carnage stream Posted: 28 Jan 2012 05:45 AM PST [Header created by community member and Dtoid Twitch channel moderator Gigabyte Bandito] Today at 12p.m. Pacific, there will be a very special edition of Mash Tactics. This will be Jon Carnage's last planned appearance on Destructoid's Twitch TV channel. Carnage will be joined by former co-host Pico Mause to give their appreciation to the community, and celebrate the end of an amazing chapter in Dtoid's history. For over a year, Mash Tactics has been the flagship show on Destructoid's live channel on Twitch TV and has entertained thousands of viewers for at least 3 hours a day, 5 days a week. The show has had many names; P.A.D. Live, Destructoid Live, Chill Bros Super Show and finally Mash Tactics. Even the co-hosts have alternated over the months, but Jon Carnage has always been at the center of it. 55 million views later, Jon Carnage is stepping down. During this farewell special, Carnage and Pico intend to entertain the masses one more time. Knowing the spirit of the show, the stakes of craziness will surely be raised one last time. Additionally, Jon Carnage will finally be announcing his new position live during the program. Tune in to get your last laughs, and to pay your respects to the "King and Queen of the Stream."

Best Buy stores getting PS Vita demo units Posted: 28 Jan 2012 05:00 AM PST Sony's done a good job of getting the Vita into fans' hands with their multi-city social clubs, but a lot of us can't make the drive to the nearest event. I could take a 3 hour trip to Atlanta just to play a Vita or, apparently, I could just wait until my local Best Buy gets a demo unit. A reader in Connecticut has reported that his store has received a pair of Vita systems - complete with a 4gb memory card and Little Deviants - for their staff to show off. Rather than be relegated to a lowly display stand, the units will be strapped to an employee. So if you're on the fence, you may want to take a minute to find out if you can get your filthy mitts o the handheld at your nearest store.

Gettysburg is an alt history take on the Civil War Posted: 28 Jan 2012 03:00 AM PST Think back to the American Civil War. Now think how the war would have been had there been tanks, mini-guns, and even zeppelins! That's what developer Radioactive Software is doing with its alternative historical take on the Civil War. Gettysburg: Armored Warfare is a multiplayer only title exclusive to Steam that lets up to 64 players battle it out in Deathmatch. There are 14 controllable units, everything from simple ground soldiers, tanks, ships, zeppelins and more. It's quite the sight to see a steampunk solider walking around with a mini-gun attached to his arm! Gettysburg also features a real time strategy mode with Army Skirmish. Here, up to four players will take control of 192 units each as they try to capture the various control points on the map. There will be four maps at launch, each measuring 9x9 kilometers in size. There's going to be a world editor too so you can change any number of things such as the terrain to where the spawn points are located. You can then upload your custom maps to share with the Steam community.  You can expect an experience system tied to the units, but at the moment it's just a cosmetic feature as it only earns you different ranks. Radioactive Software is open to the idea of the XP system actually affecting your characters skills and such, but as the team is small they're only focusing on getting the core game out there first. Radioactive wants to be very open to the community and is looking for all sorts of ideas and feedback that can be added to the game post-release. Gettysburg: Armored Warfare will be out sometime this March for just $9.99. Check out the video preview above for a ton more info and to see how Gettysburg looks in action. System requirement: OS: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 Processor: Core 2 Duo @ 2.0GHz Memory: 2GB Hard disk space: 6 GB Video card: 256MB Sound: DirectX Compatible Controller support: None DirectX 9.0c [Special credit to Angry Joe Show and Steve Butts of The Escapist whom you can hear asking questions throughout the video.]

Vita's Mutant Blobs Attack has a silly credits theme Posted: 28 Jan 2012 02:00 AM PST The tilt controls in DrinkBox Studios's Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack certainly have me intrigued, and chances are looking good that the title will make the PlayStation Vita launch window as one of the handheld's first downloadable titles.  On the game's music front we've been told that multi-talented musician and journalist Shaun "MEGASHAUN" Hatton will be providing a rather tongue-in-cheek credits theme. As DrinkBox Studios describes it, "The song gives an often overlooked human side of the events that unfold in Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack. Told from the perspective of a remorseful scientist, the song describes his feelings as he watches the Mutant Blob go on a destructive rampage." I think it's downright funky.  "Mutant Blobs Attack!" can be heard after the jump as well as on Bandcamp where a number of alternate versions are also available. Are you impressed with what you've seen and now heard from Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack thus far?

Brand-spankin' new homebrew NES game features cats Posted: 28 Jan 2012 12:00 AM PST Being an indie game developer can be tough, so it's no surprise that few wish to add to their difficulties by developing homebrew software for legacy hardware. Sure, almost every other week, we hear of some dudes making a new Dreamcast shmup, but now and then, we hear about a new Atari 2600 or NES project. I still want to grab myself a copy of Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril and tear the f*ck out of it one of these days. Here is another team, Gradual Games, with a fresh NES homebrew straight from the coffee pot. It's called Nomolos: Storming the Catsle (that isn't a typo), and it's a blend of Castlevania, Super Mario Bros., Ghosts'n Goblins, and quite possibly a bit of Cheetahmen. From the trailer, gameplay consists of dashin from left to right through waves of enemies while swinging a short sword. It looks easy, but hands-on previews insist that it is hard as balls. I'm not totally sold on the game just yet from what little I've seen; I'm definitely not sold on the music. Still, I respect the challenge of mucking about in NES Assembly, and I would like to give the finished game a spin. First Impressions: Nomolos: Storming the Catsle (NES) (Yes, that NES) [RoboAwesome] (Thanks, Donnie!)

The Daily Hotness: Freddie Wong heats things up Posted: 27 Jan 2012 03:59 PM PST Freddie Wong's videos don't always do it for me, but his latest was pretty special. It's more than just the story of a man on a quest for fire-based flora, it's a critical look at man's constant quest for power and the (often) unintended destruction that follows. The cycle th... Nevermind.  Kingdom's of Amalur has an online pass that people aren't happy with, Samit reviewed NFL Blitz, PC players are getting an upgrade on their Witcher 2, and more happened on 1/27/2012. Destructoid Original:  BritToid Ep. 22: Keep Calm and Look Back At 2011 Dat DLC: Orcs Must Die! 'Lost Adventures' With Vita I am the greatest UMvC3 player alive! DTOID Extra: I am in lava with Happy Action Theater See how the MLG Pro Circuit Controller can swap sticks Art Juice: The Mega Man Exclusive: Meet Final Fantasy XIII-2's sound team This weekend on Twitch TV: Passing the torch Friday Night Fights: Resistance is futile The DTOID Show: Wii-U madness and Pokémon Photoshops Community:  Community blogs of 1/27 Forum thread of the day: Doomsday Chimes Reviews:  Review: NFL Blitz Review: Mecho Wars Review: The Blackwell series Previews: War of the Roses is like Battlefield, but with swords A little more on A Game of Dwarves Preview: Collisions are a glorious thing in DiRT Showdown Preview: 5 things to know about Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD Events: David Jaffe invites YOU to a Twisted Metal Tournament! News:  SteelSeries' eSports teams win big; ready for 2012 Kingdoms of Amalur hides seven quests behind online pass Sweet Tooth is gonna take you for a ride on January 31 Prototype 2 getting 'Hardened Steel' Best Buy bonus Nintendo Network: DLC, digital distribution, more PC users will get The Witcher 2 Enhanced Edition for free PixelJunk debuts on Steam with Eden Indie developer redesigns UI specifically for one player 38 Studios explains Kingdoms of Amalur online pass Resident Evil: Revelations will be sold for $39.99 Fan project Renegade X: Black Dawn available tomorrow Offbeat:  Watch this dude play (Street Fighter 3) with himself Egoraptor turns a critical eye towards Castlevania IV How awesome is Capcom's Yoshinori Ono? Media: The special forces of Mass Effect 3's co-op Have a very classy Aliens: Colonial Marines trailer

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