New Games |
- The Mega Man D-Arts figure is now available in the US
- Hi-Chew sugars kids up, and tricks them into hygiene
- Five great Xbox Live Arcade games on Steam, one low price
- Review: DJMAX Technika Tune
- Japan: Revelations 'Unveiled Edition' sports BSAA watch
- Sup Holmes feels futile with The Stanley Parable's Dave W
- Free Bundle #2 is out with more free games
- Asking what Street Fighter means to you
- Not-review: DmC: Devil May Cry on PC
- Fee-to-Pay, a new name for a hot new business model!
| The Mega Man D-Arts figure is now available in the US Posted: 27 Jan 2013 10:45 AM PST Remember that awesome D-Arts Bass figure we told you about recently? That's not confirmed yet for folks outside of Japan, but his arch nemesis is! Starting today, you can grab the D-Arts Mega Man figure at select outlets in the US, which comes with accompanying Met and Rush figurines. If you're interested, you can grab him now Toy Arena, Big Bad Toystore, and Amazon.com. Zero is still available in many outlets as well, if the X series floats your boat. D-Arts Mega Man Now Available in North America [Rockman Corner] |
| Hi-Chew sugars kids up, and tricks them into hygiene Posted: 27 Jan 2013 10:00 AM PST
Soft, fruity, chewy. Man, what isn't there to love about Morinaga's delicious candy treat, Hi-Chew? For those of you who haven't had a chance to indulge in a pack of this sugary snack, it's probably best described as something like a Mamba or Starbust fruit chew, but catered to a Japanese palette, and is slightly gummier. Oh yeah, they are also more addictive than your average pusher's street crack. All this adds up to a potential nightmare for kids' teeth. Morinaga Japan is in the testing stages of a toothbrushing videogame, complete with Hi-Chew-branded toothbrush controller. The above video shows kids getting hyped up on some delicious High-Chew, then burning off those calories in a frenzied rhythm type toothbrushing game, targeting nasty microbes. Is this a smart way to encourage kids? I'm just worried about that one kid who wants the top score, earning bloodied and battered gums on his way to their achievement! Toothbrush Hero! Candy Maker Plans to Fight Cavities through Video Games [RocketNews24] |
| Five great Xbox Live Arcade games on Steam, one low price Posted: 27 Jan 2013 09:00 AM PST If you happen to find yourself with nary a game to play, you may want to check out Amazon's "Microsoft 5-Game Arcade Pack" for Steam. For the lovely price of $9.99, you'll receive: Deadlight, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, Iron Brigade, Mark of the Ninja, and Toy Soldiers, all of which have been linked to our review. Each game sells for $3.75 on Amazon if bought individually, except for Toy Soldiers, which goes for $2.49. [Thanks, T3HM0RR0W!] |
| Posted: 27 Jan 2013 08:00 AM PST Prior to playing DJMAX Technika Tune for this review, I could count the number of times I had listened to K-Pop music on one hand, one of those being PSY's "Gangnam Style." To some, that would make me only slightly more qualified to review this Korean-born rhythm game than say, a chimpanzee, or a person without hands, or even someone who is vision- or hearing-impaired. Whether or not that's true, however, I did have quite a lot of fun playing a great rhythm game, and perhaps the first title yet to make the PS Vita's primary gimmicks fun to use. DJMAX Technika Tune (PlayStation Vita) As implied by the title, DJMAX Technika Tune is an extension of the DJMAX Technika line, an arcade series known for using a massive 22-inch touch screen as its main interface. That makes the Vita a natural (if smaller) fit for the series, and Pentavision has fully committed to making their touch-based game work with the Vita's own touch wizardry. In fact, the game is almost exclusively touch-based. Besides pushing the Start button to skip the opening movie, nearly every game action from tapping notes to navigating menus is done on the touch screen. Smudge-averse players should keep a cloth handy to clean up every so often. The mechanics are as might be expected for a rhythm game (the relative novelty of a touch screen aside). Players will tap notes as a sync bar passes over them. The closer to the bar they hit, the better the score. The screen is split into two horizontal halves, and the sync bar crosses them in turn, first left-to-right on the top half, then in the opposite direction on the bottom half. The notes themselves are either to be tapped on cue or dragged along a specific path. Successful hits feed into a "Fever" gauge. When full, the Fever power can be triggered to grant maximum score to every note hit so long as it's not missed completely. So far, so standard...until Technika Tune starts involving its party piece: the Vita's rear touchpad. The rear touchpad is used to bring yet more note types into play, tapping or holding. The touchpad notes are thankfully simpler, requiring only proper timing rather than precision aim as with the front-screen notes, but having them in play ups the level of concentration and coordination required considerably. The touchpad antics can actually be turned off via the menu (simply turning the rear notes to normal front-screen ones), but once past the initial learning curve, the additional challenge is thoroughly enjoyable, especially as tougher songs tend to cluster mixed note types from both inputs, making for a level of physical involvement just short of a dancing- or plastic-instrument-based rhythm game. Just don't try to play it in a moving vehicle, or while standing up. The kind of grip needed to keep one hand free to tap the front screen while maintaining a finger on the other hand to tap the touchpad makes the Vita vulnerable to being dropped to the floor or even grabbed by an opportunistic thief. DJMAX Technika Tune boasts four game modes derived from the arcade original, though the "Star Mixing" and "Pop Mixing" modes are really just the "Easy" and "Medium" difficulty settings, respectively (Star Mixing nixes rear touchpad notes entirely). In those two, players will go through three songs of their selection (the available songs change each time), and their the final score grade is averaged from the scores of the individual performances. "Club Mixing" mode has players pre-selecting a disc set (some of them with names like "Popping-Like" and "LOVE-A-ROUND"), then picking three songs from that set to make their run. A fourth "Boss" song is selected automatically based on performance in the first three songs. "Free Style" is a simple free-play mode, allowing any song to be played without restrictions. Character progression elements make an appearance, too, as players can gain experience and level up their profiles, unlocking different appearances for notes, more difficult Club Mixing sets, and "DJ Icons" that confer various benefits, like faster Fever gains or bonus experience. Besides the DJ Icons and note skins, players will gradually unlock pictures, art, and bonus movies for the game's Collection mode. They'll also be able to view the videos and listen to any of the songs without gameplay in Album mode. All these words and not a one about the game's actual music selection! Each song is accompanied by an elaborate visualization that players will be far too busy playing to pay much attention to. Thankfully, they're viewable in Album mode, and look great on the Vita's OLED screen. The videos themselves run the spectrum of motifs, from straightforward music videos for most of the KARA songs to CG sequences featuring spacefighter battles to anime-style characters acting out the lyrics to more abstract kaleidoscopic displays. While the the novelty of the touch interface lends the game a physicality absent from pretty much any rhythm game not tied to a peripheral (à la Rock Band), a number of smaller twists also distinguish it from its peers. Tapping a note plays a sound effect that also serves as part of the song, instantly letting players know if their timing is off. In a nice touch, tapping any region of the play area produces a different effect, so one can work off frustration simply by flicking away and producing a stress-relieving cacophony. Optional settings can also be toggled to change the direction of the meter bar, have notes blink in and out, or even not render notes at all for a truly insane test of memory. The experience isn't free of hangups, though. The button to trigger Fever mode is inconveniently placed, sequestered in a tiny corner of the screen. During tough songs, it's almost impossible to hit without risking a broken combo, undermining its usefulness as a score-booster. The notes also seem somewhat small in size. Players with thick fingers or long nails may find their own hands messing with the accuracy of their taps. Minor quibbles aside, DJMAX Technika Tune manages to pull off that feat most essential to the success of any good rhythm game, by fostering the competitive, score-obsessed perfectionism that lies at the heart of arcade thrills. It harnesses the same urges that compel one to restart a song at a single missed note or to play over and over again in pursuit of a perfect combo. DJMAX Technika Tune offers a smooth, enjoyably frustrating experience rooted in precisely-tuned gameplay fundamentals. It's presented attractively, with a level of engagement that relies on mechanics rather than sentiment and effectively transcends one's taste in music, which in the case of the arguably exotic track listing would present the highest initial barrier to entry. It may not be especially generous with the extras and fluff, but gets it all right where it counts the most, with the added bonus of making the PS Vita's touch gimmicks useful and relevant to play. |
| Japan: Revelations 'Unveiled Edition' sports BSAA watch Posted: 27 Jan 2013 06:00 AM PST A number of special editions for Resident Evil: Revelations have been revealed for Japan, one of which will include a nifty BSAA wristwatch. The "Unveiled Edition," coming in at 42,000 yen (roughly $467), includes the aforementioned BSAA wristwatch manufactured by US Agency that has glow in the dark numbers and a deluxe case. Other goodies featured in this set are a soundtrack CD and a BSAA card case. Another edition, priced at 39,900 yen (roughly $443), will include only the game and the watch. The cheapest edition is priced at 7,490 yen (roughly $83), which includes the game, soundtrack, and card case. Revelations launches for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii U on May 21 in North America, and May 24 for Europe. Unfortunately, it won't see a Vita release. See Jill's Watch? That's One of Resident Evil Revelations' Limited Edition Items [Siliconera] |
| Sup Holmes feels futile with The Stanley Parable's Dave W Posted: 27 Jan 2013 05:20 AM PST
[Destructoid's Director of Communications Hamza Aziz asked Jonathan Holmes to make a show called 'Sup, Holmes?' so that Destructoid could later sell a t-shirt that says 'Sup, Holmes?' on it. This is that show. Subscribe to the podcast feed and find more episodes here.] This week on Sup Holmes, we'll meet Davey Wreden, creator of The Stanley Parable -- a videogame about jobs, life, and videogames. What started as a Half Life 2 mod transformed into a successful Kickstarter project, resulting in the forthcoming stand-alone HD remake. Davey is part of a new generation of game developers who are making games like you'd have never seen ten years ago, and getting them produced in ways that prove that anyone with an idea and the drive to share it can be a success. Davey's also got a new Twine game called Pleasurable You and a outdoor indie game festival called Indiecade: Annex (featuring games by past Sup Holmes pals Damian Sommer and Beau Blyth) to talk about. We'll be touching on all that, plus Dark Souls, anger, the IGF, and whatever else comes up! Join us at 1pm PST/4pm EST for a period piece romantic drama tragedy that'll put Downton Abbey to shame. Watch live video from Destructoid.com Live Shows! on www.twitch.tv |
| Free Bundle #2 is out with more free games Posted: 27 Jan 2013 05:00 AM PST Less than a month after the release of the first Free Bundle, there is already another one out. Totally free. They won't let you give them money even if you wanted to. Just go to the Free Bundle #2 page to download these sweet indies. This bundle includes Under the Garden, Zineth, Blitz Meet, A Nation of the Wind, and Mod Father. These games will all work on Windows, but Zineth will also work on a Mac. If you somehow missed the last Free Bundle, you can still get it. There will be another Free Bundle will be out in ten days, so keep an eye out for that. |
| Asking what Street Fighter means to you Posted: 27 Jan 2013 04:00 AM PST
Street Fighter celebrated its 25th anniversary this year so it's safe to say that people have grown attached to the franchise. To celebrate this occasion Capcom hosted a massive global tournament for the game that ended in San Francisco. My team and I were on-site to ask the competitors what 25 years of Street Fighter meant to them. Check it out. |
| Not-review: DmC: Devil May Cry on PC Posted: 27 Jan 2013 02:00 AM PST DmC: Devil May Cry has been out for a while, and I think everybody's said what they need to say about it. Whether you're a supporter of the game, a hater of the game, or you were busy making up stories about human babies being shot in the game to have an opinion, it's out now, and everybody's had their say. As is so often the case, the PC version of the game has not received quite so much press, despite being, in several ways, the version most worth checking out. Fortunately, we gave this forgotten, recently released alternative a try, and can confirm it's definitely got a few things over on its more widely marketed console brethren. DmC: Devil May Cry (PC) DmC: Devil May Cry initially suffers from the same thing so many major PC releases seem to suffer from these days -- a visually repugnant opening cutscene. Cutscenes are poorly compressed and afflicted with an offputing overabundance of screen tearing, as seems to be the way with most big PC titles (Note: Enabling VSync also applies to cutscenes and will stop the screen tearing -- thanks readers!). I really wish they'd sort that out, especially given the PC's reputation as the home of superior visual quality. It's always a terrible first impression for any game to give off. Fortunately, the cutscenes are anomalous to the overall package, which looks absolutely stellar and sits comfortably above the console releases in terms of raw graphical splendor. The PC version boasts a greater draw distance and high definition shadows to craft a world that's far easier to get absorbed into. With enhanced textures thrown into the mix, this game is an eye-popping revelation to anybody who's just got done playing through the console alternative. Of course, the most significant attraction is the framerate. While the 30 frames-per-second found on Xbox 360 and PS3 were a huge sticking point in the minds of concerned Devil May Cry fans, such a problem is non-existent on this 60fps option. Those lamenting the lost of half the framerate will get exactly what they want here -- a game with silky fluidity and a greater level of precision. These factors combine give us a game that just feels much more tangible. I've played a fair few PC versions of games after originally taking them for a spin on consoles, and DmC is definitely at the higher end of the noticeable improvement scale. The game really "pops" off the screen in a way the Xbox 360 version simply can't. Of course, if you're a PC gamer, you knew that already and are just here looking for validation -- consider it done! The biggest caveat has to be that you're likely going to want an actual controller, as opposed to mouse-and-keyboard. I'm not a fan of third-person action titles with traditional PC controls at the best of times, but DmC's reliance on multiple button presses during the heat of combat makes it almost unplayable in my experience. When you're holding down multiple keys to switch Dante's weapons, hitting Shift to dodge, and trying to keep Dante pointed in the right direction, all with one hand, it's an exercise in total frustration. Not to mention, an analog stick is always going to be better than keys for nailing direction-based combos. One other complaint, also linked to mouse-and-keyboard, is the menu system, which is not at all optimized for PC controls. You can't use your mouse in menus, which isn't a problem if you take my advice and use a controller, but is an annoyance for anybody forging ahead with the usual input method. The game has most certainly been designed with controllers in mind, and the PC version is not prepared to make allowances for anything else. In my humble opinion, the game's still a great time no matter what system you acquire it for, but if you want the best visuals and a framerate worthy of the franchise, DmC on PC is the way to go. Its cutscenes are as bad as can be expected, and keyboard input is a dog's mess of an experience, but if you've got a controller and an eye that demands the best visuals possible, this is the DmC you need. |
| Fee-to-Pay, a new name for a hot new business model! Posted: 27 Jan 2013 12:00 AM PST In the wake of Dead Space 3 getting microtransactions, one thing that's been lingering in the minds of gamers is the question of what we call this new and growing business model. Dead Space 3 is one of several retail games adopting a free-to-play model, except it's not free. Final Fantasy: All the Bravest is built entirely on the idea of freemium content, but again costs $3.99 to get into before charging you cash at every single turn. It's become clear that "free-to-play" just doesn't work in games that cost cash, especially now that $60 are having the audacity to do it. So, what snappy business name do we have? It's simple -- Fee-to-Pay. While free-to-play games let you get into the core game for nothing and then attempt to coax you into purchasing additional content, games from the likes of Electronic Arts and Ubisoft instead make you pay for the privilege of getting into a position where you're tempted to pay more. Hence, you're charged a fee now to pay later. The model likely isn't going to go away soon, since it appears to be working for now. Eventually, consumers will grow tired of it and the market will evaporate, as happens whenever publisher swarm in on an idea and exploit it to breaking point. Until then, fee-to-pay seems to be the perfect name for their enterprise. Use it in good health! |
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