New Games

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• This Pikachu-themed pimp outfit is pretty darn incredible
• Nintendo restructuring to begin next month
• Have you used any of these weird-ass controllers?
• Valve scheduled to talk about virtual reality at GDC 2013
• Game Boy sex! Parallel Processing by Danimal Cannon & Zef
• Office Chat: Infinite horizons and limited vision
• Brave the winter cold with the Snow Storm bundle
• High Strangeness, a 12-bit romp by our very own AgentMOO
• Splinter Cell: Blacklist pushed back to August
• Army of Two 'Overkill trailer' features a lot of shooting
• Aliens: Colonial Marines is finally finished
• 100% Series Retrospective: Devil May Cry

This Pikachu-themed pimp outfit is pretty darn incredible Posted: 16 Jan 2013 03:00 PM PST The facial expression of this man simultaneously dressed as a pimp and Pikachu says it all, until you notice the woman on the left of the photograph. Oh, but just wait -- if you go look at the full image, you'll then see that he's got a sparkling Poké Ball cane. Classy, original, and even a tad bit subtle, all things considered. I respect the hell out of people who can perfectly capture the essence of a fictional character through hand-made costumes, but this is the kind of creativity I particularly love to see from the cosplay community. [Photo by TheSpeedgrapher via Geekologie]

Nintendo restructuring to begin next month Posted: 16 Jan 2013 02:30 PM PST According to a Nikkei report, Nintendo plans to merge its console and handheld divisions next month. On February 16, the company is prepared to bring 130 console engineers and 150 handheld engineers together under a single roof. Nintendo hopes this move will accelerate development times and make the company's products more competitive with mobile devices.  The first corporate restructuring since Satoru Iwata took the helm in 2002, also includes the construction of a $340 million facility astride its Kyoto headquarters. The new building should be open sometime later this year. 任天堂、革新的ゲーム機開発へ体制一新　９年ぶり  家庭用・携帯型連動など探る [Nikkei via Gamasutra]

Have you used any of these weird-ass controllers? Posted: 16 Jan 2013 02:00 PM PST When it comes to controllers, I try to steer clear of third-party options, as I've never once had a better experience with a knock-off versus the real thing. On the other hand, I gladly welcome any and all limited edition pads or goofy peripherals by the console makers themselves. The NES Advantage? Manna from heaven. Even though playing with unconventional controllers may not always be ideal, some of them simply look damn amazing. Just take a glance at the 29 controllers in this Imgur gallery, stretching all the way back to the NES age. A friggin' Wu-Tang controller bundled with Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style? Hardly practical, but deliciously kitsch. There are some prototypes that never saw the light of day, like the incredible Twilight Princess GameCube pad. Others were fairly progressive for their time, like the NES Hands Free Controller for quadriplegics. And some are still readily available, like the Sonic Screwdriver Wii Remote for an acceptable $20. I've added a few to the gallery below, but you ought to hit the link for the full spread. Do you actually own any of these oddities? Controllers by MarkEasty [Imgur via Dj CUTMAN]

Valve scheduled to talk about virtual reality at GDC 2013 Posted: 16 Jan 2013 01:30 PM PST While talks at the Game Developers Conference can be hit or miss as far as finding specific information that's interesting and relevant to readers such as yourself, the presentations tend to be very insightful and generally worth attending. Valve has got two talks for GDC 2013 regarding virtual reality, and I can already picture how far the lines are going to stretch. Joe Ludwig will be covering the company's experience with porting Team Fortress 2 to run using virtual-reality goggles, including what needs to be tweaked when adapting a game for VR. Valve's Michael Abrash has a separate talk planned in which he describes some of the issues facing virtual and augmented reality as well as a roadmap for the technology. Exciting times, indeed. The Oculus Rift could well be the device that gets a wider consumer audience excited about virtual reality. I swear, every time I hear about the thing, I'm that much more curious, and slightly more sold on the promise. If you didn't catch it, Tested had some rather in-depth video coverage of the headset coming out of CES. Highly recommended, regardless of your familiarity with the Rift. [Thanks, M Gross]

Game Boy sex! Parallel Processing by Danimal Cannon & Zef Posted: 16 Jan 2013 01:00 PM PST I had a chance to meet the bald and beautiful Danimal Cannon (Roots, Armcannon, Metroid Metal) at MAGFest this year, and I've gotta say, he's one chill dude -- lounging at the merch table in a night robe, what a rebel! Still, for a man as hard-working as him, he deserves to dress however the f*ck he damn well pleases. Speaking of doing as he pleases, Danimal's got a new album, Parallel Processing, on which he collaborated with fellow Game Boy chiptune artist Zef. That means not one but TWO Game Boy maestros mixing it up with different styles for a wholly new combined sound. The eight-track album is a mere $8, but you could spring for a physical release for $10. If you want even more Danimal yogurt in your diet, Fangamer is serving up a $40 combo pack that includes both Roots and Parallel Processing, a Danimal T-shirt, and a Danimal pin. Mmmmm! That's some tasty fermented dairy! Danimal Cannon and Zef - Parallel Processing [Ubiktune]

Office Chat: Infinite horizons and limited vision Posted: 16 Jan 2013 12:30 PM PST Now arriving with an alarming consistency, I bring you the latest installment of Office Chat. In this episode, I'm joined again by Jordan Devore and Brett Zeidler as we address the controversy surrounding Star Wars: The Old Republic's forthcoming, homosexual-friendly planet. Then, speculation over the future as analysts feed the rumor mill surrounding the next wave of consoles and our expectations for the success of Disney Infinity (they're pretty high).

Brave the winter cold with the Snow Storm bundle Posted: 16 Jan 2013 12:00 PM PST It's time again for another Indie Royale bundle to arrive, this time the Snow Storm bundle. It's your usual deal; six quality indie titles are yours for a minimal cost but you'll get some added extras for going over the recommended price. The center piece of the bundle is Resonance, the point-'n'-click adventure game that our own Fraser Brown rated very highly. Also included are retro platformer RobotRiot, real-time strategy game Project Aftermath, puzzler RoboBlitz, fantasy RPG/town builder Hinterland, and the shooter puzzler StarDrone. The current minimum price is just £3.49/$5.49 and to receive a bonus album by chiptune artist Pixeljam, you just need to pay £5.09/$8. Despite Indie Royale bundles coming out every month, they're still great value for money. $8 for six games plus lots of music is a steal.

High Strangeness, a 12-bit romp by our very own AgentMOO Posted: 16 Jan 2013 11:30 AM PST What is the world coming to when Destructoid community members start making their own videogames? The endtimes are near! Repent! Repent! The disarmingly charming and fetchingly fetching Ben "AgentMOO" Shostak already has a game under his belt -- Agent MOO: Maximum Overdeath on XBLIG -- but genius never rests! MOO and his buddy Steve Jenkins have joined forces for High Strangeness, a top-down action-adventure in the vein of SNES classics like Secret of Mana or Zombies Ate My Neighbors. It's been in production since at least 2009, when it was one of the very first successfully funded Kickstarter projects, and ought to land on PC and other unannounced platforms in late 2013. I had a chance to play the demo, which was showcased in public for the first time during MAGFest 11. You run around town whacking specters with a flashlight, but towards the end you gain the ability to shift the environment from an 8-bit look to a 16-bit one (hence the "12-bit" label). You use this skill to solve puzzles and see markings that are invisible in the other view. Unfortunately, the feature was only briefly explored before the demo ended. The art, by Sam Bennett, jumps between striking watercolor paintings and 8- / 16-bit pixel objects -- a marriage of old-school charm and modern sensibilities. Then on chiptune soundtrack duty is Rich "Disasterpeace" Vreeland, best known for his work on FEZ. Sounds like quite the package, don't it? You'll be doing yourself a favor by keeping an eye on High Strangeness either on Facebook or the development blog.

Splinter Cell: Blacklist pushed back to August Posted: 16 Jan 2013 10:30 AM PST Last we heard, Splinter Cell: Blacklist was aiming for a spring 2013 release, though that has since changed. In a dramatic new trailer posted by IGN -- "We're not going to stop this attack. We're going to stop all the attacks." -- a revised August 20, 2013 date was revealed. Due to the way in which this information was announced, it's not clear what specifically is to blame for the delay. Still, we've heard just about every possible reason at this point, so I'm sure you can use your imagination. This continues to look like something fans of Conviction will enjoy. Splinter Cell: Blacklist Release Date Announced [IGN]

Army of Two 'Overkill trailer' features a lot of shooting Posted: 16 Jan 2013 10:00 AM PST In case you needed reminding of what you're going to be doing in the upcoming Army Of Two: The Devil's Cartel, then this trailer makes it totally clear. You're going to be shooting lot of bullets at various bad guys (for some reason, not killing the scary massive dude with the machete) and blowing stuff up. Considering The Devil's Cartel is a kind of quasi-reboot for the series, it'll be interesting to see if EA's upcoming title will change any core mechanics or if it's just a tonal shift. My guess is that there will be less snappy one liners and more blowing stuff up. Any of you guys interested in checking out The Devil's Cartel in March?

Aliens: Colonial Marines is finally finished Posted: 16 Jan 2013 09:30 AM PST It seems like we've been waiting an eternity for Aliens: Colonial Marines to see release, with the game having been expected as early as 2010. Today, a post on the Gearbox website confirms that the wait will only be a month longer, as the title has been certified gold and shipped to the printers ensuring the game will release on February 12, as scheduled. The game has appeared to have great potential every time we've seen it, so my hopes are running pretty high for the title. Of course, we'll have a review just as soon as is humanly possible.  Why not check out the story trailer for Aliens: Colonial Marines while you wait?

100% Series Retrospective: Devil May Cry Posted: 16 Jan 2013 09:00 AM PST [Read on for a description of every Devil May Cry game ever released in the US, and my completion of them all in 2013.] 2013 is going to be an exciting year. Now that I know you guys enjoy reading my Quests, I'm going to make an effort to do even more of them from here on out. I hope that you have learned a bit about the franchises I've covered so far, as my plan is to inspire others to share their thoughts and feelings with the series of their choice as well (which many of you have done!). In addition to Metroid, Mega Man Classic, the Mega Man spinoffs, Mega Man X, and Splinter Cell, I also have another one ready to go for 2013: Devil May Cry. Why Devil May Cry? All things considered, Devil May Cry is probably my favorite action franchise ever. The series is particularly close to my heart, as I remember when each game came out, and it's one of the only franchises where I rushed to buy every single game day one. I vividly remember the first time I played the original game, the first time I played the standard version of Devil May Cry 3 and struggled on the first boss (because normal mode was secretly hard mode in the original), and the many times I watched the same clip of Devil May Cry 4's first gameplay video. The DMC series does action right, simply put. It's the perfect technical action series, that essentially functions as a fighting game in an action-adventure's body. There's cancelling, split-second timing considerations, a heavy emphasis on combos, and a strong sense of urgency with the game's challenging difficulty levels. It has memorable boss fights, amazingly cool weapons, sick cheesy '90s action cutscenes, tons of unlockables, and solid anime-style voice acting. People are quick to note that the new DmC is more welcoming to newer players. I heavily agree with that, but the secret is, Devil May Cry was always welcoming. In fact, it was one of the only action games ever to put in an "Easy Automatic" mode that allowed you to turn it down a notch if you died too many times. It was a perfect compromise, as it allowed you to execute advanced moves with the press of a button. It's a shame so many people have been turned away by a promise of an "impossible" barrier of entry. I figured with the recent release of DmC: Devil May Cry, it would be a great time to dive into the series again, and see how the new game stacks up directly. For those of you who aren't aware, the series is widely popular, spawning a few novels, manga, an anime series, a US comic series, and a potential feature film. Dante himself as appeared in many other games, including the Viewtiful Joe series, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 (with Vergil), and PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. If you haven't joined me on my Quests before, the way they work is pretty simple. It's kind of like a retrospective, but rather than just give you an overview of a franchise, I'll generally let you know what I thought of the game when it was released, and what I think of it now. If I didn't provide a complete vision of what the game is like before I replay it, I'll provide an "extended thoughts" section below each applicable entry. I'll update my progress in real time through my blog, and after I finish the entire Quest, I'll share it with you guys on the front page. For this particular Quest, I actually finished everything in rapid succession over the course of a few days, so I skipped the c-blog portion and got right into it. Let's go! Devil May Cry - PlayStation 2 [Owned], PlayStation 3 (HD Collection), Xbox 360 (HD Collection) [Owned] COMPLETED At the time, the first Devil May Cry game was extremely fresh and unique. The simple premise of a cocky Devil Hunter engaging in demon hunting was a match made in anime heaven, and it worked. Although the game has started out as Resident Evil 4, it was eventually turned into something else entirely after the fixed camera from previous Resident Evil games was dropped for a more dynamic view. After the development team traveled across Europe in an attempt to inject some gothic influence into the game, the project was changed entirely: the outcome was Devil May Cry. I vividly remember seeing the first screenshots for the game, and getting extremely excited at nearly every picture. I loved the deep reds and purple color schemes of Dante and the Marionette enemies, and the ability to juggle enemies with your twin pistols was pretty unreal. Funnily enough, the concept of air juggling was inspired by a glitch in another Capcom game, Onimusha. Devil May Cry was unique in that it was one of the only games ever to feature a "style" (scoring) system that made you self aware of your gameplay, and always challenged you to play better. But that wasn't the only challenge of mixing attacks up and not getting hit -- it was difficult in general to boot! Starting the series tradition of unlockable difficulties and costumes, Devil May Cry was also one of the first games to offer an "extreme" difficulty mode, in this case, titled "Dante Must Die."  It was very challenging, and naturally, very rewarding to complete -- and unlike many retro games that featured a "fake difficulty" (through bad design or software limitations), this challenge was legitimate, which made it all the more reason to power through it. So how was my replay of the game? Well, the PS2 original is pretty choppy by today's standards, but the HD version feels just fine. While a lot of the elements found in the first game have been eclipsed (either copied, or bested by later games in its own series), it's still an enjoyable action game even to this day. Devil May Cry 2 - PlayStation 2 [Owned], PlayStation 3 (HD Collection), Xbox 360 (HD Collection) [Owned] COMPLETED A common joke I like to make in Devil May Cry posts is "Yes, of course, Devil May Cry 4, the oddly named third Devil May Cry game" -- in reference to the fact that the black sheep of the franchise, 2, is generally shunned by fans into a non-existent state. While I've beaten the other games at least ten times each (DMC 3 a lot more than that), I've only beaten DMC 2 a scant few times. So imagine my excitement going into it, seeing if it was truly as bad as I remembered. And...it basically is. So many changes were made that weren't really necessary. For one, a side character named Lucia is introduced, and...she's not very compelling. Unlike Kat from the new DmC though, she isn't just an ancillary addition -- oh no -- she's basically forced into every facet of the game as a playable character. On top of that, Dante changes into a less interesting, darker version of his previous happy-go-lucky self, and it isn't really fun to watch. The difficulty (a staple of the series) was also lowered, and weapons weren't as nuanced. Everything seemed to sort of blend together -- whether it was the very samey weapon collection or the similar-looking levels (there's far too much open space and not enough memorable environments). The point is, it didn't stand out, which is generally what the Devil May Cry series makes its money on. Boss battles are extremely dull and forgettable. If you're going to brave this, try it on the HD collection. Don't bother hunting it down and paying money for it individually. Besides, the first and third games are worth the price of entry alone for the package. Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening - PlayStation 2 [Owned], PlayStation 2 (Special Edition) [Owned], PC, PlayStation 3 (HD Collection), Xbox 360 (HD Collection) [Owned] COMPLETED Devil May Cry 3 is an interesting and storied release. The very first iteration (the standard edition) featured the Hard difficulty as a standard. Meaning, Hard was actually Very Hard. As a result, I remember dying a number of times on the first sub-boss of the game (which is like five minutes in). That's a challenge, my friends, and one of the many reasons why I was immediately enamored by this game. Some time later, a "Special Edition" was released, with new encounters, tweaked difficulty levels (it shifted every mode down one peg to understandably make it more accessible), and added the ability to play as Vergil. Yep, one of the biggest badasses in all of gaming was finally playable, and it was glorious. In fact, a playable Vergil is so appealing that Capcom opted to include a playable Vergil campaign as DLC in the new DmC. But enough about Vergil; the game itself, even the non-special edition, is my favorite action game ever. The crux is due to two things: swappable weapons, and styles. While the new DmC has the ability to switch weapons mid-combat, it isn't instantaneous -- Devil May Cry 3's system was. Two weapons each were assigned to slots on the left and right, which would be switched using L2 and R2, respectively. As a result, you could utilize combos with *four* weapons in them at once. The kicker? All of the weapons were fine tuned, and fun to use. Styles were another thing entirely that allowed you to play the game the way you wanted to play it. If you preferred a more defensive play-style, Royal Guard was your huckleberry. It allowed you to use split second timing and guard attacks in a traditional manner, in addition to the standard dodge mechanic. There are suitable styles for melee weapons and ranged as well, but my absolute favorite is the Trickster style, which improves your speed, maneuverability, and jumping abilities. All of these styles level up, RPG style, and can be brought across difficulty levels, allowing you to replay the game as many times as you want to max everything out. It was a ton of fun, and there were a few nights where I'd beat the game twice in a row -- it was that enjoyable. Of course, it also contained some of the best boss fights in all of gaming. Which brings us to the final battle -- Dante's epic showdown with Vergil. I mean, what can I say about this fight that hasn't been said a million times over? It truly is worthy of the term "epic." On higher difficulty levels, it's one of the most intense, and mesmerizing fights in all of action games (it might even be my number-one choice). If you haven't experienced Devil May Cry 3 yet, you need to. If I had to summarize the third game into one word, it would be "gunchucks." Devil May Cry 4 - PlayStation 3, PC, iOS [Owned], Xbox 360 [Owned] COMPLETED The fourth Devil May Cry game had one of the best core action engines of all time -- but you wouldn't know it, because the actual campaign had a heap of problems. Backtracking, pacing issues, and an all around lack of a compelling narrative hurt this game. The chief complaint for me was backtracking, so much in that it basically expected you to beat the same game twice (and even fight many of the same exact bosses) with two different characters. Like Devil May Cry 2, DMC 4 featured two characters. This time around I actually liked the newcomer (Nero), and enjoyed his different play-style, but the fact remains that the campaign itself is very uninteresting at points. It's a shame, because it's one of the best-looking games on the PS3/360. Despite those issues though, Devil May Cry 4 shines brightest when you're playing as Dante, and switching between all four styles at will in the game's Bloody Palace mode. It's combat bliss, despite its fleeting nature. Don't let anyone tell you Devil May Cry 4 is a bad game. It's not. It also sold very well, which makes the decision to go with a completely new studio all the more puzzling for fans. DmC: Devil May Cry - PlayStation 3, PC, Xbox 360 [Owned] COMPLETED So we've come full circle now. We're past the fully Capcom developed titles and we're onto Ninja Theory. As everyone knows, I'm not the biggest NT fan. Back when they were known as Just Add Monsters, they made a game called Kung Fu Chaos, which was basically an uninspired (and very racially charged) Smash Bros. clone for the Xbox. Surprisingly, I found out four years later that they developed Heavenly Sword for the PS3, and went to check it out. While it had the machinations of a cool-looking game, I thought it was a pretty basic and uninspired God of War tech demo. But still, Ninja Theory trucked on, and released Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, which was probably their most successful game to date from a critical standpoint. Even then, I still wasn't impressed. Although Enslaved contains some of the best imagery I've ever seen in a videogame, the combat system was probably one of the worst I've ever experienced, and platforming basically consisted of "hold forward, press a button occasionally." So naturally, I was a little skeptical of DmC: Devil May Cry. But even as Ninja Theory had hundreds of insults thrown their way, I remained steadfast, and always said I would give it a shot, because at the end of the day, I'll give anything a chance. I'm glad I did. As Jim stated in his review, the game has many redeeming qualities. Although it isn't as innovative as the first game was for the time, and isn't up to snuff combat-wise like 3 and 4 were, I enjoyed DmC for what it was. The platforming was actually pretty good (and probably the best in the entire series), and the premise transcended a '90s action movie to the point where it would be (somewhat) universally appealing. Despite the fact that I really didn't like the new characters for the most part, including Dante (no, not because of his hair -- I just felt like he was almost painfully generic), the world was something I could get into. Plus the combat wasn't bad at all, and is Ninja Theory's best effort to date in terms of straight gameplay mechanics. In terms of difficulty, DmC was a bit of a letdown (like 2), and you really need to play it on the game's Son of Sparda mode (Very Hard) to get a true Devil May Cry experience -- you just have to beat the game once to unlock it. While I wouldn't recommend the game to absolutely everyone, I would recommend it to most action fans. You might not be as wowed by it as some people, but you'll most likely enjoy it more than the average action-adventure. Collection Photo: Final thoughts: Devil May Cry is a pretty weird series. It starts off with a bang, regresses, peaks, regresses a bit again, and reinvents itself over five short games. Honestly, not a lot of series have that storied a history with this kind of reputation. Although the collection of games is far from what I'd call a "troubled" past (every game but the second has universal acclaim from fans of the genre), it is an interesting one, and one I enjoyed reliving on this Quest. Devil May Cry 3's brilliance was no surprise discovery here, but rediscovering why Devil May Cry 4 was such a shame was a bit jarring, and disappointing. I was expecting the first game to not hold up well, but if you play the HD collection, it's just fine. DmC impressed me more than I thought it would, but there's a lot of issues that hold it back from greatness -- kind of like Devil May Cry 4. As for recommendations, I'd probably tell newcomers to give the HD Collection a try and test out easy automatic if Normal is too troubling, and the new game, with a price cut. So now we're in an odd spot. Capcom has a franchise that upped its presentation, but regressed a bit gameplay-wise. It's a give and take for fans, and something not all fans were willing to give. The good news is, Capcom hasn't closed the door on an internally developed Devil May Cry 5. I mean, these two sub-franchises can coexist, right? Right?

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