New Games |
- Pikachu, I choo-OH GOD WHY
- Blizzard talks about dueling in Diablo III patch 1.0.7
- See what new Dante thinks of the whole white hair issue
- Watch this and your childhood will be destroyed
- Street Fighter X Mega Man update dropping on Friday
- The Network Roundup: Sorry, no Death Star
- CCP will roll out the Dust 514 open beta next week
- Confused? It's not 'Pac-Man,' it's 'Not Pacman'
- Review: Kinect Party
- NRA launchs iOS game for children aged four and up
- Gas Powered Games turns to Kickstarter for Wildman
- Game critics collective top 10 games of 2012
| Posted: 14 Jan 2013 03:00 PM PST Jhonen Vasquez of Invader Zim and Johnny the Homicidal Maniac fame is the master of the weird and disgusting. His wonderfully grotesque take on the "normal" is no more apparent than with Creepachu! This warped take on Pikachu features the now obese mascot of Pokemon doing horrible, horrible things to so many Jigglypuffs. And it can be yours for $30! It's even signed by Jhonen. Creepachu! is part of a little series between Jhonen and Cunch. Yes, there's some more warped takes out there you can purchase. Cunch's Creepachu is also going for $30 signed, or you can purchase both signed for $50. WHAT A DEAL!
Art by Jhonen Vasquez
Art by Cunch |
| Blizzard talks about dueling in Diablo III patch 1.0.7 Posted: 14 Jan 2013 02:00 PM PST After recently announcing that Team Deathmatch would not be making the cut for Diablo III in its current form, Blizzard did mention that another aspect of player-versus-player, dueling, would move forward. Scheduled to arrive via patch 1.0.7, dueling will be accessible at a new in-game zone with up to four players supported, free-for-all style. A few notes, as described by Blizzard's Wyatt Cheng: dying results in a respawn within the dueling zone; death isn't permanent (this includes Hardcore characters); and players won't take durability damage. "The game doesn't keep score and there are no objectives. We wanted dueling to be as simple and straightforward as possible, so we created a minimalist system -- we know that even without rewards and objectives, some players just want to beat each other up." While dueling is one of the bigger additions to Diablo III in this patch, 1.0.7 also contains a number of tweaks to gameplay systems, like experience bonuses from Monster Power and a new gem tier. Additionally, Blizzard will be introducing Rare crafting recipes for some account-bound items. Patch 1.0.7 Preview [Battle.net] |
| See what new Dante thinks of the whole white hair issue Posted: 14 Jan 2013 01:00 PM PST In the first level of DmC: Devil May Cry, Dante gets a little surprise while taking on the game's first boss. The video is below the fold as the thumbnail is a a bit spoilerish. [Thanks, Zak!]
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| Watch this and your childhood will be destroyed Posted: 14 Jan 2013 12:00 PM PST
I've got two words for you: "Human Caterpie." If you are wondering if you should watch this Pokémon animation by Mosama, first check out his webcomic Satan's Excrement. If that floats your boat, then by all means, carry on! The Pokemon Hoarder [YouTube] |
| Street Fighter X Mega Man update dropping on Friday Posted: 14 Jan 2013 11:30 AM PST Though Street Fighter X Mega Man was a fairly decent romp, there were quite a few issues that held it back from being as good as it could be. The free "Version 2" update mentioned a couple weeks back will be ready for distribution on Capcom-Unity's Mega Man group page on Friday, and though it doesn't sound like it'll fix all the problems, it ought to address the biggest offenders. I never bought the logic -- that the game was too short -- behind not including a password function in Street Fighter X Mega Man. With the exception of the very first Mega Man, every single game in the grand overarching franchise has either used passwords or a save feature. Even the short-as-hell, six-stage Dr. Wily's Revenge on Game Boy used friggin' passwords. This oversight has been corrected as of V2. There is now a confirmation prompt before quitting or resetting the game. I intended to discuss this in my review, but I cut it out and forgot to re-add it later. For those unaware, pressing the ESC or F12 key used to immediately boot you out of the game without warning. Other tweaks include bug-fixing, improved controller support (we won't know by how much until Friday), and buffs to make the M. Bison fight a bit tougher. Does that sound satisfactory? |
| The Network Roundup: Sorry, no Death Star Posted: 14 Jan 2013 11:00 AM PST Leave it to the government to stomp on the American dream. The dream of our very own fully operational Death Star. The people of America took their voice to the Obama administration, about the need for a $850,000,000,000,000,000 space station by 2016. White House officials made an official response to a petition on the We the People website, stating,
Now I don't know what's cooler. The fact that 34,435 people have signed the petition since November, or that the government has officially responded to this awesome request to put military defense spending up to the vote? Make sure you do drop by the site, as chief of Science and Space Branch, Paul Shawcross has some pretty awesome answers, and gives out a bit of nerd love. Japanator
Flixist
Tomopop
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| CCP will roll out the Dust 514 open beta next week Posted: 14 Jan 2013 10:30 AM PST After being available in closed beta for some time now on PlayStation 3, Dust 514 will be entering open beta on January 22, 2013, CCP Games announced today. And the timing couldn't be better. Arguably the most interesting aspect of Dust 514 is the direct, real-time connection it shares with developer CCP's long-running MMO EVE Online, despite the two games being on different platforms. Last week, the studio united the titles on its Tranquility server, setting up the potential for some rather neat cross-community functionality. With the arrival of this open beta, there will be no more character resets. Closed-beta players who take part in a match before the big day will get a 100,000 Skill Point bonus, which can be done by grabbing the Dust 514 Mercenary Pack (40,000 Aurum, items, and beta access) for $19.99 on the PlayStation Store. |
| Confused? It's not 'Pac-Man,' it's 'Not Pacman' Posted: 14 Jan 2013 10:00 AM PST Let the headline swirl in your head a bit, then come back. Indie studio Stabyourself.net has a knack for recreating classic 80s games pixel for pixel but with the application of modern physics for a wild new take on an old favorite. You might have played Not Tetris, an otherwise faithful copy of the Game Boy original except that now the bricks literally fall like bricks. Of course, you are probably more familiar with Mari0, in which the mustache man cheats his way through the Mushroom Kingdom with the aid of a portal gun. Not Pacman (no hyphen) is likewise just like Pac-Man (see the hyphen?) only totally different. Instead of controlling Pac directly, you tilt the entire board with either a keyboard, mouse, gamepad, or steering wheel (dead serious!). In this version, the ghosts don't move voluntarily -- as you tilt your way to victory, you have to carefully avoid rolling one of the wayward specters into your yellow friend. It definitely changes the way you play, even if it's than a little frustrating and will probably give you bouts of nausea. But it's free, so... yeah! Not Pacman [Stabyourself.net via IndieGames] |
| Posted: 14 Jan 2013 09:00 AM PST Hey, Television! Check out Double Fine’s latest game for Xbox Live Arcade: Kinect Party. In fun-loving Double Fine fashion, it was released for free upon launch in mid-December until the New Year. For those of you who didn’t snag the game in time, it can now be purchased for 800 Microsoft Points ($10). Kinect Party is a direct sequel to Double Fine Happy Action Theater, which was released earlier in 2012. A virtual “sandbox” of sorts in which players can interact with 18 different virtual environments, Happy action Theater included a number of mini-games. Kinect Party adds onto the fun with 18 additional modes and a few new features as well.
Kinect Party (Xbox Live Arcade) Building off of its predecessor, Kinect Party continues the “just play” mentality of the series. There is no start, end, or goal -- the point is to have fun! When starting Kinect Party, it launches straight into the Television, the gateway to playing these quirky yet entertaining games. Players interact with the environment around them for a few minutes until the Television changes the “channel” and moves onto a new game. The menu can be accessed by shouting “Hey Television!” which will allow the player to choose the game they want to play next, or to take/view/share pictures. Kinect Party has a total of 36 mini-games, a few being more “involved” than others. For example, some of the interactions are basic -- the player walks around an environment like a forest or a beach and has to feed pigeons or look for treasure. Other modes are more intense and mimic games like Space Invaders, Tempest, and Breakout. At random points, the game will capture photos of you (with warning, so you can pose) and save them for you to look at later. Unfortunately, those pictures will eventually be overwritten by new ones and will not be saved permanently unless you share them to Facebook. This is my one major gripe with Kinect Party, as I’m not really partial to sharing rainbows coming out of my butt for my coworkers, friends, and family to see.
Like its predecessor, Kinect Party can support up to six people simultaneously. To my delight, this included my dog Tali, who was obviously not aware of her projected surroundings. At one point, she leapt in front of the Kinect to destroy one of her toys, but on-screen, she was immersed in sand. The device instantly picked up every second of her movement and as a result, sand was being kicked up all around me. I was impressed by this, and by the abilities of the game and of the Kinect to work hand-in-hand to create an authentic environment based on my furniture and movements. I specifically mention this because when playing other games for Kinect, I've noticed that my environment is rarely analyzed properly. Kinect Party seems to nail it down correctly.
Kinect Party is a fantastic game in the right scenario. If you often have guests over your house, especially family or children, then this is definitely something to check out. It’s hard for anyone to dislike a game in which you build a castle and promptly turn into a dragon to destroy it. However, I find that this isn’t the best thing to suit lone gamers like myself. I do love pretending to be trapped inside a jello mold with my dog every once in a while, but that can get old. That’s not to say that it isn’t a good game -- it certainly is for what it aims to achieve -- but Kinect Party is best played with others! Folks who own Happy Action Theater will already know what Kinect Party has in store for them, and will delight in knowing that the game is only 400 Microsoft Points. If you are one of the lucky to have snagged Kinect Party while it was free over the holidays, you can’t go wrong. Fun to be had at no cost is nothing to complain about. If you missed out on the free promotion, don’t kick yourself. It’s certainly worth the $10 if you’re willing to let your imagination fly! |
| NRA launchs iOS game for children aged four and up Posted: 14 Jan 2013 08:45 AM PST Despite slamming the videogame industry -- and the nature of free expression -- for promoting gun violence, the National Rifle Association isn't afraid to double down on its hypocrisy. The gun advocacy group has released a shooting game for iOS, aimed at kids aged four and above. NRA: Practice Range allows you to select and shoot a number of firearms at virtual targets, and provides safety and education tips alongside an overwhelming sense that the NRA is doing this on purpose to get a rise out of people. Up to nine guns can be taken out and fired, using either gyroscopic or analog controls. "NRA: Practice Range puts the NRA’s broad scope of resources in the palm of your hand," boasts the game summary, "with 2nd Amendment newsfeeds, gun law information centers and educational materials that you can access anywhere, anytime." It's totally free, so there's absolutely no excuse not to introduce your child to the alluring world of lethal firearms! God bless America! |
| Gas Powered Games turns to Kickstarter for Wildman Posted: 14 Jan 2013 08:30 AM PST Teased last month by Gas Powered Games as "Project W," the studio's next game has now been unveiled as Wildman. This PC-only title will draw from the team's prior experience working on Dungeon Siege, Supreme Commander, and Demigod. Given this blend of elements and the fact that it's a single-player game with cooperative modes, Wildman seems ideal for people who want to play MOBAs competitively but aren't skilled enough to do so. "Wildman takes the elements that we've crafted over the years with our action role-playing games and combines them with the things we love about real-time strategy," said GPG founder Chris Taylor. "It's original, it's unique and we think our fans will embrace this new approach." Now all they need is $1.1 million in funding on Kickstarter. This is surely going to be a stressful, exciting month for Gas Powered. While there hasn't been too much shown yet, I do really like the gameplay concept as described on the Kickstarter page. Give it a look! |
| Game critics collective top 10 games of 2012 Posted: 14 Jan 2013 08:00 AM PST This insatiable hunger for tracking and displaying the most revered games of the year will not end. I blame Metacritic. I also blame Metacritic for noting doing a proper job in aggregating the best games of the year. While the site does an impeccable job of putting together film, tv and music critics best of the year lists, the site ignores videogames -- offering up only a very confused list containing the highest scoring games, which contains maligned ports and games with only ~5 reviews. The Process Each site’s game of the year receives 3 points. In the rare case that there were two winners (ugh), those 3 points were split (i.e. 1.5 points each). I split 4 points among nominees, cutting off nominees to four entries where possible. In the cases where nominees were unranked, I included all nine (or whatever number) and split four points between them (rounded to .4 points each). If a site had more than nine nominees, I didn’t include them at all because having 20 nominees is just silly. In the case that two games had the same number of points, I favored the one with more votes (i.e. those that appeared on the most lists). The List 15. Black Ops 2: 2.4 (3 votes)
"Can you remember when you first found out that the game was going to be set during the American Revolution? There was a good chance that sales of adult diapers skyrocketed as a result. Ubisoft, we salute you." - Complex
"It's a perfect, wordless sci-fi parable - and an elegant comment on the development of video games themselves, expressed in a way only a game could articulate." - Eurogamer
"Halo 4 showed that a fresh set of hands couldn’t hurt a franchise so strong and so loved." - GameRevolution
"In a medium where narrative threads commonly go unresolved, BioWare should be commended for concluding most of the major sub-plots that were introduced in earlier games in the series." - Polygon
"If you are up for a good laugh while shooting things in the face, Borderlands 2 is a worthy game to add to your collection. Soon enough, you'll see numbers popping above people's heads in real life and will feel compelled to search every Porta Potty on the street for cash." - Destructoid
"Every part of Dishonored works in exquisite concert, every system complementing the others with a graceful cohesion that speaks of Corvo himself, and of the generosity in freedom and participation Dishonored extends to its players. Few games burst as fully formed from the ether – perhaps Dunwall’s most remarkable achievement is that it feels so inevitable." - Edge
"A multiplicity of tactics and paths provide the player with a sense of true psychosomatic and terrestrial exploration. Far Cry 3 is a intrepid sequel that eschews the series's previous mistakes and leans on its strengths with the relish of a practiced hunter." - Slant Magazine
"I could accuse developer thatgamecompany of obvious manipulation, warping the environment and the very light to instill emotions within me, but isn't that the point? To master the language of the medium, to be evocative and to make us walk a steep path and then let us savor the views from its peak? In Journey, world building, writing, and design feel like they're the same thing." - Joystiq
"The game is deep but intuitive. It rewards planning and focus, it penalizes failure. It requires patience but can still be exciting. It's an easy game to start playing and a tough one to stop. Plus, that music when you're going into battle, always gets us pumped." - Kotaku
"I want back the hour of my life I wasted on this game. The Rest FTL: 2.4 (3 votes) The Oddballs Xenoblade Chronicles received rave reviews, accumulating to a Metacritic score of 92. Yet, it only appeared on one list: Slant Magazine's, which gave it game of the year. Likewise, Mark of the Ninja and Trials Evolution have 90+ Metacritic scores but only managed to appear on 3 lists. The biggest shock is our #10 and #9 entries. Assassin's Creed III divided critics almost as much as Resident Evil 6, but still managed to make this list (mostly due to receiving top honors on at least one list). Fez, on the other hand, is one of the most well received games in 2012 in terms of reviews and social media buzz (I can't think of many other games discussed so fervently on Twitter.) The Sites Kotaku: XCOM Game Informer: Mass Effect 3 XPlay: Borderlands 2 Gamesradar: Walking Dead |
10) 6.7 (5 votes)
9) 7 (5 votes)
8) 11.1 (9 votes)
7) 13.5 (13 votes)
6) 16.7 (14 votes)
5) 19.6 (16 votes)
4) 20.6 (15 votes)
3) 28.7 (17 votes)
2) 29.9 (19 votes)
1) 38.9 (23 votes)
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