New Games |
- Rayman Legends goes on a 'Toad Story'
- Groupees' Bundle of the Damned has Cryostasis and more
- Pinball Arcade adding Elvira table in time for Halloween
- Valve is seeking beta testers for Steam on Linux
- Chrono Trigger now available on Google Play
- Sleeping Dogs developer has six months of DLC planned
- Here is your Assassin's Creed III launch trailer
- The DTOID Show: GTA V, Assassin's Creed III, & Cliffy B!
- Natural Selection 2 is releasing ahead of schedule
- The Network Roundup: Ride the storm
- Communitoid 002: Snog
- Nintendo Land: Last three attractions detailed
- Live show: RaiderZ gameplay and Logitech giveaways
- Airtight Games' first mobile title, Pixld, is out now
- From a bag of Doritos to a bag of dirty laundry
- How the Assassin's Creed series completely grew on me
| Rayman Legends goes on a 'Toad Story' Posted: 29 Oct 2012 04:00 PM PDT
Ubisoft has released a new video featuring gameplay from Rayman Legends in a level called "Toad Story." Observe the footage of five-player platform grooving above and try to resist cracking a smile. As the sequel to what I consider to be one of the finest platform games in recent memory, Rayman Origins, the content shown here is doing dark work in the corners of my mind, compelling me to consider grabbing a Wii U as soon as possible so that I might take in the full majesty without delay. Those sons of bitches are going to take all my money. |
| Groupees' Bundle of the Damned has Cryostasis and more Posted: 29 Oct 2012 03:30 PM PDT It wouldn't be the week of a holiday without indie game bundles themed around the big day in question. Groupees has put together The Bundle of the Damned, a pay-what-you-want collection of horror games and other assorted digital items including music and a movie. The most notable title here is 2009's Cryostasis, which was deemed flawed but worth playing for its chilly scares by most of the people I know who gave it a chance. At the time, some of us couldn't run the game well, so hopefully we're in a better spot now. The base offer for the bundle also includes action-RPG Manor of the Damned, while paying $4 or more adds in audio-only BlindSide, first-person adventure Anna, and Post Mortem. It's worth pointing out that 20% of sales are going to UNICEF, if that makes a difference in your buying decision. |
| Pinball Arcade adding Elvira table in time for Halloween Posted: 29 Oct 2012 03:00 PM PDT
I love Pinball, as I'm sure readers of this blog are well aware. I'm also deeply affectionate for the Mistress of the Dark, Elvira, late-night spookshow queen of the eighties and nineties. So, it's no surprise that I'm highly interested in picking up the latest release to The Pinball Arcade on PS3, as it brings the 1989 classic, Elvira and the Party Monsters table to their library of original machine simulations today as part of "Table Pack 6." Better still, the gang at FarSight Studios also secured the rights to release the second Elvira-themed table, Scared Stiff, which will be arriving in the next DLC release, "Table Pack 7." I had resisted buying in to Pinball Arcade simply on the basis that I have plenty of pinball on my plate already, but this is the last straw. These Elvira tables are incredibly fun to play, particularly Scared Stiff. I can't get enough of that shaking crate. Consider me sold. |
| Valve is seeking beta testers for Steam on Linux Posted: 29 Oct 2012 02:30 PM PDT About a month ago, Valve mentioned its intention to launch a private external beta for the Linux version of Steam in October. Right on cue, the company has begun taking applications for the 1,000-person beta which will focus mainly on "experienced" operating system users. What about the supported games? Developer Croteam posted on Facebook that Serious Sam 3: BFE, Portal, and Team Fortress 2 will be included. It might not be much, especially for those of us who have made far too many Steam purchases over the years, but it's a start of hopefully very good things to come. Valve wants you for Steam for Linux test [Eurogamer] |
| Chrono Trigger now available on Google Play Posted: 29 Oct 2012 02:00 PM PDT Square Enix has released Chrono Trigger for the Android platform to the Google Play store today, pretty much ensuring that anybody who has ever wanted to play the game can now do so. It is available for $9.99, which seems like a pretty good deal, and includes the "Dimensional Vortex" and "Lost Sanctum" areas added in prior handheld releases. And, yet, I still know that I'll never get around to finishing it. I must have five different copies of the game now in various states of completion. But maybe this time, now that I can play it on my phone, it'll be different! Yeah, that's the ticket! |
| Sleeping Dogs developer has six months of DLC planned Posted: 29 Oct 2012 01:30 PM PDT Ahead of this week's Nightmare in North Point downloadable content for Sleeping Dogs, producer Dan Sochan has spoken with Official PlayStation Magazine about what's next on the post-release front. Namely, United Front Games has more where that came from. He says that "Square [Enix], from the very beginning, were showing that they believed in us and believed in this game as a potential franchise." This of course brings add-on content into the equation (to a greater extent, anyway). Sochan says they have "six months total DLC planned" right now and to expect packs which "explore other aspects of Hong Kong cinema and ones that are a little more serious." At this point, Sleeping Dogs has got to be one of the most prominent games in my backlog. If nothing else, this talk of a possible franchise should put more pressure on me to prevent that from slowly slipping through the cracks. Or maybe they'll finally get me to buy a "game of the year" edition should one get published. Sleeping Dogs producer says Square “believed in this game as a potential franchise”, 6 months DLC planned [Official PlayStation Magazine -- Thanks, de5gravity] |
| Here is your Assassin's Creed III launch trailer Posted: 29 Oct 2012 01:00 PM PDT
Assassin's Creed III releases in stores tomorrow and, as you might expect, Ubisoft is celebrating with a promotional trailer. That's how publishers get down, you know, and this one is full of fire, violence and one really pissed-off Native American. We'll have our review of Assassin's Creed III tomorrow morning! Are you hyped? |
| The DTOID Show: GTA V, Assassin's Creed III, & Cliffy B! Posted: 29 Oct 2012 12:45 PM PDT
Well hello there, jewels. How are you doing this fine evening? Staying dry, I hope? Wha-OKAY ENOUGH SMALL TALK. On today's Destructoid Show, we're treated to a launch trailer for Assassin's Creed III, a live-action trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and a leaked release window for GTA V! And in other news, Cliffy B. thinks he can fix the Resident Evil franchise because he's like Jesus or something. |
| Natural Selection 2 is releasing ahead of schedule Posted: 29 Oct 2012 12:30 PM PDT Although Halloween was a fitting release day for Natural Selection 2, Unknown Worlds has bumped up the game's launch. This mash-up of first-person shooting and real-time strategy is now scheduled to unlock at 5:00pm Pacific on October 30, giving us more time to play without interruption from those pesky neighborhood kids. Technically, this is only seven hours early (the original goal was to release at 12:01am Pacific on Oct. 31), but it's rare we get to see games come out ahead of schedule, so I'll gladly take it, as I'm sure many of you will too. We have a review coming, though the East Coast storm will likely impact when that goes up. |
| The Network Roundup: Ride the storm Posted: 29 Oct 2012 12:00 PM PDT Today's Network Roundup is dedicated to our East Coast friends and family, currently dealing with varying degrees of Hurricane Sandy's wrath. We're even getting effects all the way in Chicago right now, I can't imagine how it is all the way on coast. I bet it's wet, windy, and cold. More than that, I bet you aren't playing video games or able to play on the internet. Seems like a good time to stay indoors or catch a movie. Was Bond a bomb, or was returning to Silent Hill a mistake? What ever your film choices are, I'm sure they weren't as scary as what's going on with nature lately. In all seriousness, please do be careful out there, and do what you can to help out. Japanator
Flixist
Tomopop
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| Posted: 29 Oct 2012 11:30 AM PDT On this week's extra sexy episode of Communitoid, Aaron says silly words from The South, Conor drinks too much and spoils Serenity, Jo entertains us all with another dramatic spam reading, I say inappropriate things about my unborn son, and Beccy sleeps through the whole thing. Just another day in the life of your community management team! Click here for the direct download link! You can also subscribe to us on iTunes, RSS, Twitter, and the cblogs, and talk about us in our forums! Wanna know more? Click here for full show notes, including links to everything on Dtoid we discussed! Thanks for listening! Hope you don't hate it! |
| Nintendo Land: Last three attractions detailed Posted: 29 Oct 2012 11:00 AM PDT Nintendo has decided to fully detail the last three Nintendo Land attractions that we told you about earlier this month. These last three round out the list of 12 attractions coming to the Wii U launch title, both of which drop on November 18. Yoshi's Fruit Cart, Captain Falcon's Twister Race, and Octopus Dance join the previously announced attractions. I'm still pretty jazzed about the Octopus dance. You can find Nintendo's full descriptions of the three attractions below. I've given up hope on a Nintendogs-themed corgi petting zoo attraction. Nintendo Land is a pack-in with the Wii U Deluxe set ($349.99), or it can be purchased separately for $59.99 in store or from the Wii U eShop.
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| Live show: RaiderZ gameplay and Logitech giveaways Posted: 29 Oct 2012 10:30 AM PDT [Mash Tactics airs Monday through Friday at 4p.m. Pacific on Dtoid.TV. Watch King Foom play a variety of games, each day with its own theme. With a heavy focus on community and viewer interaction, you can be as much a part of the show as anything else.] Oh Perfect World, how you spoil us! It would have been enough for me that once again we get to jump back into RaiderZ tonight on Mash Tactics, but oh hell no, we're not stopping there. Join us tonight over at Dtoid.TV, as we hop on our mounts, slay hordes of giant monsters, and giveaway some sexified Logitech keyboards to a few lucky viewers! In addition to all of that goodness (yup, there's more) we have a special, and very rare item -- well, fifty or so of them in fact -- to give away to some of our in-game crew. Tune in to find out exactly what it is, get you some, and of course, get your moa dance on! QotD: What are your thoughts on F2P games, good, bad, or ugly? |
| Airtight Games' first mobile title, Pixld, is out now Posted: 29 Oct 2012 10:00 AM PDT Airtight Games, the folks behind recent the fantastic first-person puzzle-fest, Quantum Conundrum, recently announced the launch of a mobile games studio. And now they've just released their first mobile game, called Pixld. It's a matching-style puzzle game with a pixely design where you'll work to clear as many blocks as you can before time runs out. When you tap a block you'll change its color, but this will also change the color of the other blocks around it. There's a gameplay trailer out there, but I'm not embedding it into the story as it's absolutely useless in showing how the game works. Hhmph. Pixld is up on the App Store for iOS devices, and is being offered at a introductory price of $0.99, which cuts the original cost by 50 percent.
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| From a bag of Doritos to a bag of dirty laundry Posted: 29 Oct 2012 09:30 AM PDT Who knew that a picture of a man sat next to a bag of Doritos could snowball into anger, humiliation, and intrigue? The most startling thing about this industry is that the biggest of avalanches can erupt from the humblest of places, and so it is that an image of Geoff Keighley sparked a massive controversy. After viewing the above image, which was earning many laughs as it spread across the usual social networking sites, British writer and comedian Robert Florence penned a piece for Eurogamer, using it as the launch pad for an earnest critique of the videogame press. He particularly assaulted the Game Media Awards, a PR-sponsored event that praised and rewarded the sponsor's favorite videogame "journalists." In particular, he mentioned Lauren Wainwright, a writer for MCV and a Destructoid graduate. From hashtags to harshtags Florence's criticism of Wainwright stemmed from her defense of a suspicious contest being held at the GMAs, where media folks were encouraged to Tweet a marketing department's hashtag for a chance to win a PS3. Lauren's insistence that there was nothing wrong with such a practice rang alarm bells in Rab's ears. "Now, a few tweets earlier, she also tweeted this: ‘Lara header, two TR pix in the gallery and a very subtle TR background. #obsessed @tombraider pic.twitter.com/VOWDSavZ'," he wrote. "And instantly I am suspicious. I am suspicious of this journalist’s apparent love for Tomb Raider. I am asking myself whether she’s in the pocket of the Tomb Raider PR team. I’m sure she isn’t, but the doubt is there. After all, she sees nothing wrong with journalists promoting a game to win a PS3, right?" Wainwright took umbrage with Florence's words, and her response was to accuse him of libel. Her employer, MCV, backed her 100%, and after a day of back-and-forth between Rab's supporters and hers, Eurogamer eventually capitulated to the implied threat of legal action and amended the offending article. That is when everything went truly south. The Internet will CUT you Various communities, most notably NeoGAF, began talking in earnest about the situation, with many of them reposting and immortalizing Rab's redacted words. Rab, meanwhile, stepped down as a writer for Eurogamer, feeling his position was untenable at an outlet that would censor him (that said, he did not bear his former employers any ill will). In no time at all, Lauren was revealed to have listed Square Enix as an employer, at the same time as she was reviewing and covering Square Enix games. She claimed she had not reviewed any of the publisher's games while working for it as a consultant, but an image of her Deus Ex: Human Revolution review for The Sun was quickly shared online. Meanwhile, she locked her Twitter account to escape a torrent of abuse, and also set about deleting references to her Square Enix connections. This all added fuel to the fire, as a public found such behavior all the more suspect. Lauren and MCV deny any sort of legal threats being made, but even that has been called into question, with Lauren having been found to have Tweeted that her media law qualifications were finally paying off. Eurogamer's Tom Bramwell said that Lauren had made it quite clear to them that lawyers would be involved if nothing was done. Such a threat cannot be taken lightly in the UK, where libel suits are costly, risky, and can prove destructive to the losing party. Neither Lauren nor MCV have made further comment on the matter, and are more or less attempting business as usual. Media uncoverage The story gained traction at many outlets, with articles from Penny Arcade, Forbes, and myself via GameFront pouring in. At this time, the hardcore gamer community demanded other outlets cover the ongoing controversy, with some publications such as Kotaku brushing it off as not important. This was seen as a position of cowardice by the likes of GAF, who felt the story shone too bright a light on the dodgy dealings of the gaming press at large. Meanwhile, Stephen Totilo's argument that good games journalism was what mattered only seemed to amuse the accusatory GAF, who wasted no time in juxtaposing the statement against Kotaku's Halo 4 unboxing video. It didn't end there. As the GAF thread goes on, everything is scrutinized from free review copies to press kits to writers and game marketers being far too friendly to provide a useful service to readers. All of it's worthy of scrutiny, all of it's worth thinking about. It is tempting to cover each subject individually, and that may indeed happen here if enough people would like a series on the subject. Are there any writers who deserve to be called game journalists? Does calling yourself a blogger really give you the right to be lax on journalistic ethics? Should reviewers buy all their own review copies? The story throws up a plethora of questions, so many that no single article could cover them all. Most importantly, people have been asking, "Why is nobody covering this?" In a few ways, Totilo isn't incorrect. Many gamers do just want to hear about the games, and they don't really care for journalism or controversy. Maybe a site that talks about Japanese food isn't the right environment in which to say it, but it's not untrue. Then again, the size of the GAF thread alone proves there's a huge audience for these kinds of stories, so there is definitely something to gain from writing about it. As for having something to lose from doing so ... maybe. There's no doubt that this is an uncomfortable story, and I don't think there are many writers at all who could claim to not be on friendly terms with at least somebody on the other side of the fence. Trust between a writer and a reader is crucial, and perhaps it is true that this story makes every writer just that little bit less trustworthy. I will quite happily admit that I have repartee with several members of the industry-side of things, and it's up to the readers whether or not that makes me unworthy of trust. It's not for me to say. It's not for any games media to claim it's trustworthy. That's a decision for the readers. The ongoing discussion Many writers have decided to shrug this whole thing off as nothing but, a week later, it's still being talked about and, as Ben Kuchera says, it doesn't look like it's going away. Everybody covering games professionally is currently being viewed under a microscope, but not by publishers looking to see who they should favor -- it's by the people who ultimately matter. The readers are the ones taking a long and dirty look. That's a good thing. Ultimately, it's the readers we are meant to serve. It's not our job to look after a developer's Metacritic bonus, or ensure that Ubisoft is happy with the way we phrase a particular thing. As a guy who got himself blacklisted at Konami in the name of entertaining and informing gamers, and who writes for a site that gained its popularity back when no publisher gave a damn about us, I can confidently say that it all begins and ends with the audience. We can live without the blessing of a game manufacturer, but we're dead without you. I'm glad the audience is judging our worth to them and I'm glad we're all getting a chance to reflect on what's going on. I invite you to look at what Destructoid does. Read our reviews, check out the pictures of plastic tat that publishers send us, and by all means examine the games that our mascot, Mr. Destructoid, has appeared in. Take a good, long look at every site you enjoy. I can only speak for myself, but I welcome the scrutiny, and your decision as to whether or not we're worthy of your readership. If you decide we're too friendly with the games industry to do you a service, then it's a consequence I embrace. If you decide we are capable of giving you honest analysis of the game industry, then I can only be grateful for you allowing us to do that. In any case, it's given me and others a lot to think about, and those of us who did not simply close ranks on this issue will likely continue to think about what we've done and how we can improve. Maybe Destructoid is doing something wrong. Maybe I'm failing you as reviews editor somewhere. I like to think about this, because I believe we can always get better. And if you don't care about any of this stuff, and just want to talk about videogames? That's fine too. Unless you're a professional writer, doing this for a living. I don't think we get to not care. None of us have earned that kind of privilege. |
| How the Assassin's Creed series completely grew on me Posted: 29 Oct 2012 09:00 AM PDT It took me a while to play the original Assassin’s Creed after the game released. The good-but-not-great reviews coupled with gameplay that didn’t look interesting to my Super Mario Galaxy-obsessed self just made me not want to even try the game. It wasn’t until Assassin’s Creed II came out that I finally decided to play the series. (Although that was due mostly to the fact that I worked for this very website and wanted to see what all the fuss was about.) Sadly, I didn’t like what I played. I thought the first game was one of the most repetitive videogames I had ever played in my entire life. Sure, the game looked nice, but I couldn’t get over the fact that it was an absolute chore to get through. That was several years ago. Now, I love the Assassin’s Creed games. What the ... ?!
Where it all started As I mentioned, I was not a fan of the original Assassin’s Creed. Outside of being ridiculously repetitive -- seriously, you perform the same missions over and over again -- there was something about the game that just didn’t click with me. It was ambitious, but I wasn’t invested in anything I was doing. The first time I climbed a tall tower and looked over the city was exciting, but after doing this more than a dozen times I lost interest. I liked the story of Assassin’s Creed and was intrigued about the parallel Desmond story, but even that confused me. It got to the point where I was questioning small details about the game instead of just enjoying it. How the heck does the Animus even work? When Altair assassinates someone, what strange world do he and his victim travel to? And why does time stop? And why does it take the targets minutes (and minutes of dramatic dialogue) to die? THEY JUST GOT STABBED IN THE NECK! I love world history, though, so was invested enough in the time period and architecture that I forced myself to play through the entire experience. It was tough to get through the repetitive missions, but I wanted to see what would happen and what places Altair and Desmond would go. Sadly, when the game finally ended, I didn’t describe my experience as “fun.” And, even worse, I had no idea what was going on. Who is Abstergo again? Do they have something to do with the Templars? Someone help me understand!
The sequel By the time my experience with the original game was over, Assassin’s Creed II was already out. Although we gave it a harsh review on Destructoid, I heard better things about the sequel and was curious to see how different the game was. Because I am one of those people that always has to finish what he starts, I begrudgingly decided to give Assassin’s Creed II a chance. Before the tutorial was even over something funny happened: I was really enjoying what I was playing. Okay, I thought to myself: maybe this was just because I really love the Renaissance. Maybe I was so excited to play a game during such an influential and beautiful time period that I was looking past the gameplay and focusing on the art direction and basic aesthetics. But that wasn’t it. I was actually enjoying the game, gameplay and all. And I liked it a lot!
Improvements To this day, I still consider Assassin’s Creed II one of the most improved sequels in videogame history. Technically, it shouldn’t really feel that improved at all. The game is still oddly broken up into alternating Desmond and assassin sequences, the main character is still tasked with going on various missions, and the locations -- while geographically different -- are similar to the ones found in the first game (cities with tall buildings, hooray!). But everything is just so much better in Assassin’s Creed II. Controlling main character Ezio is more fluid. The missions have so much more variety. The collectibles are more enticing. The story has better pacing. The Desmond sequences are more involving. The voice acting is improved. And, most importantly, the entire game just feels more robust and polished. The list truly goes on and on. Ubisoft set an interesting stage with the original Assassin’s Creed, but, for me, it was more of a test run. With Assassin’s Creed II, things started to fall into place. Everything the designers wanted to accomplish in the first game really came together in the sequel. I was going to be the first person to write the game off, but ended up falling in love! A surprising turn of events.
The saga continues ... and continues ... and continues ... After the high of Assassin’s Creed II, two more sequels were released, both continuing the story of Ezio and Desmond (with a little Altair thrown in). While entertaining, these sequels felt exactly like Assassin’s Creed II, with some new locations and gameplay elements thrown in. At this point -- especially after not being a fan of the repetition of the first game -- I should have walked away. But I didn’t. And I haven’t! In fact, I loved Brotherhood and Revelations just as much as I loved Assassin’s Creed II. I loved the new locations, but that was a given -- again, I love world history and geography. Even though the mini-sequels were modeled exactly like Assassin’s Creed II, the games still felt fresh and new to me. True, I may have been tricked by all the pretty colors and period garb, but I guess I didn’t care. I was having fun! In Brotherhood, I loved the assassin side-missions you could partake in (sending your assassin army to perform tasks in faraway locations). In Revelations, I even loved the unjustly hated tower defense sections. No matter what the series tried, I was onboard.
I SHOULDN’T LOVE THESE GAMES! The more I think about it, the more I realize that I really shouldn’t love these games as much as I do. Despite their flashy appearances and addictive gameplay, there are some pretty major problems. The game glitches on occasion, the story is still super confusing to me (after four games!), and, my God, I don’t think I have ever cursed more than when I accidentally jump off the top of a building and die when I just wanted to jump down a couple of feet to a new platform. (Ugh.) On the surface, these are games that I can understand liking, but not loving. But there is something special about these Assassin’s Creed games. The unique premise combined with the genuinely interesting locales and time periods just tickle my fancy. Yes, they tickle my fancy! I still love hearing that eagle’s cry when I synchronize a new location from the top of a high tower. I love upgrading all of Ezio’s weapons and armors. I love buying new buildings and making money every 20 minutes. (No joke, I get really excited when that deposit sound effect plays and I know a huge chunk of change is waiting for me in the bank.) Heck, I love just sitting back and watching the beautifully animated in-game cutscenes unfold in front me. I may not be able to pinpoint exactly why I now love the series so much, but I do. I really do. There is a reason I was giddy with excitement when they announced the setting for Assassin’s Creed III. I am now emotionally invested in a series that I never thought would ever win me over.
----- What do you think? Do you have a similar feeling about the Assassin’s Creed series? Have you always loved it since the beginning? Always disliked it? If not the Assassin’s Creed games, are there any other videogame series that you did not like at first but then learned to love? Are you excited about tomorrow’s release of Assassin’s Creed III? |
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