New Games |
- Doujin shooter Gigantic Army assaults PC in February
- Instagram is not useful for Pokemon photography
- Why you might play a videogame at your next job interview
- The Elder Scrolls Online receives M rating from ESRB
- Last of Us: Left Behind DLC opening cinematic revealed
- Blade of Darkness looks new again thanks to modding
- Podtoid 279: Troy Baker's Next-Gen Ice Bucket
- Conception II gives birth in North America on April 15
- Angry Birds has been downloaded two billion times
- Dear Infamous: Second Son, please come out already
- Starbreeze's Storm pitched as 'Payday in space'
- Shovel Knight unearths new trailer, coming in late March
- Live show: Crypt of the NecroDancer with Ryan Clark
- Candy Crush dev now trying to block Banner Saga trademark
- Valve games are acting wonky for certain Steam users
- Oculus Rift used for gender swap experience (NSFW)
- Westerado and Risk of Rain are 2014 IGF student winners
- Quadrant takes survival horror to a NASA lab in 1979
- 'Edge-hogging' mechanics of new Smash Bros. are different
- We have a Broken Age playdate with Tim Schafer!
- Hardline: Candy Crush drama, Xbox One ads, Nintendo
- Xbox Live deal: Dark Souls, Tales of Vesperia, D&D
- Hearthstone rip-off being sued by Blizzard
- Capcom announces Dead Rising 3 has shipped one million
- Love candy but hate trademark trolling? Here's Candy Jam
- Deus Ex: The Fall hits Android today
- XSplit Gamecaster makes game streaming so easy
- Tim Schafer muses on return to the world of Brutal Legend
- Pokemon Bank App is back for 'certain Asian countries'
- Every NES title screen in alphabetical order
| Doujin shooter Gigantic Army assaults PC in February Posted: 22 Jan 2014 02:30 PM PST Side-scrolling mech shooter Gigantic Army is set to make its attack run on Windows PC early next month, doujinsoft publisher Nyu Media has announced. Developed by Astro Port, the Japanese indie studio behind the likes of Satazius and Armed Seven, the title harkens back to the 16-bit era with retro arcade action. The story is set against the backdrop of a war between mankind an an alien race bent on halting humanity's spread throughout the universe. Players pilot a manned combat robot in a battle on the alien homeworld across six levels with massive bosses. A customizable arsenal and range of different difficulty settings also await. Gigantic Army will launch on February 5 for $5.99. Nyu Media is also looking to release the title via Steam pending Greenlight. |
| Instagram is not useful for Pokemon photography Posted: 22 Jan 2014 02:00 PM PST You know why there's no Pokemon Snap 2? Because Todd grew up to be a hipster punk. |
| Why you might play a videogame at your next job interview Posted: 22 Jan 2014 01:30 PM PST Let's face it, job interviews suck. Actually getting an interview, for me at least, is a minor miracle so it's just as deflating when you have to go through the whole process of trying to make yourself sound like a great candidate and answer all the inane questions flung at you. Now if somehow job interviews could take into account my love of videogames, I'd feel a lot less nervous about sitting down for one. Thankfully that seems to becoming a reality; in an interview with The New York Times, MIT economist Erik Brynjolfsson talked about advising a company that are making videogames to help aid the recruitment screening process. The developers are called Knack and they're creating games that will test candidates' skills, like multi-tasking, or character attributes -- like how easily distracted or focused they are. Whilst there's a concern that games might disadvantage some applicants who aren't as familiar with games, I'd feel that this might be good way to get some kind of useful data. If you're looking for how someone deals with pressure or a situation where they have to make a snap decision, then a specially tailored game could be a good way to really see that in action, rather than having the straightforward interview where you can just make up any old answer. Hope my next interview has a Spelunky section; I'd be a dead cert for that job no doubt. Your Next Job Application Could Involve a Video Game [The New York Times] |
| The Elder Scrolls Online receives M rating from ESRB Posted: 22 Jan 2014 01:00 PM PST Bethesda announced on their Facebook page that The Elder Scrolls Online will be rated M for Mature. The statement from Bethesda stated the company disagree with the ESRB's rating, but they also "do not plan to challenge" it. They have no plans on changing anything to get down to the T rating they were hoping for either, but did note they have to start age gating stuff online so kids will never be able to look at anything ESO related as kids have to tell the truth about their age online. That's not all! Bethesda released this new eight-minute long look detailing group play. Here we see a couple of players take on a rock monster, find other players, and a whole bunch of other cool things you Elder Scrolls nerds will dig. The Elder Scrolls Online will be out on April 4 for Windows and OS X, and in June for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. |
| Last of Us: Left Behind DLC opening cinematic revealed Posted: 22 Jan 2014 12:30 PM PST Today the PlayStation Blog dropped two videos in promotion of the upcoming DLC, The Last of Us: Left Behind, and I'm already shaking in anticipation of playing it. The first video above is the opening cinematic of the game, showing Ellie and a clearly younger Riley at the military camp where they met. Riley is back after being missing for 46 days and...well, I won't spoil it for you. The second video below is a quick behind-the-scenes video with the voice actors of Ellie and Riley, as well as a quick look at the new mechanics of the single-player content. It's not quite clear whether or not the DLC mirrors the events of the American Dreams comic by Dark Horse, or takes place after it -- though it doesn't start like the first issue, which is sadly the only issue I've read -- but the new feature of being able to turn enemies against each other is a tactic I am eagerly looking forward to exploiting. The Last of Us: Left Behind DLC hits the PlayStation Network on February 14, for $14.99. |
| Blade of Darkness looks new again thanks to modding Posted: 22 Jan 2014 12:00 PM PST Last year, I found out about Severance: Blade of Darkness, a hack-and-slash PC game from 2001. What a gem. While its combat -- the sort of calculated action we adore in From Software's Souls games -- continues to hold up all these years later, the same cannot be said for the dated graphics. Nothing mods can't fix, apparently, and here's an impressive one called Blade of Light. Building on the work of ENB, modders have added a whole mess of lighting effects that completely transform the look of the game. Watch the trailer above -- words can't do this justice. "Now the light itself is a factor to account for in the player strategies. An archer standing against the sun will be hard to see. Circle your enemies so the light doesn't hit you in the eyes or you'll be fighting silhouettes. Fog is really dense so watch your step, it's a long way down... The intention is to create a strong contrast between light and Darkness." I need to reinstall Blade of Darkness ASAP. Blade of Light - Blade of Darkness Enhanced [ModDB via Kotaku] |
| Podtoid 279: Troy Baker's Next-Gen Ice Bucket Posted: 22 Jan 2014 11:45 AM PST An outbreak of evil fungus resulted in the untimely deaths (and scheduling conflicts) of Jonathan Holmes and Andy Dixon, so this week's gritty post-apocalyptic Podtoid is only Max Scoville, Conrad Zimmerman, and Caitlin Cooke as they discuss The Last Of Us, BioShock Infinite, beards, how Troy Baker doesn't have a beard, the Metal Gear Solid 2 ice bucket, and Max's limited edition Jazz Punk vacuum cleaner. Here's your direct download, here's the RSS feed and here's the iTunes page. Go subscribe and review! |
| Conception II gives birth in North America on April 15 Posted: 22 Jan 2014 11:30 AM PST Conception II, the game where you do it to make baby armies (basically) is coming to 3DS and Vita in North America on April 15, 2014. Along with the new date is the first teaser trailer in English, which also gives you some hints at the songs that will be in the bonus CD. Atlus paid us a recent visit to show off Conception II, and we'll have more on that for you next week. |
| Angry Birds has been downloaded two billion times Posted: 22 Jan 2014 11:00 AM PST Speaking at the Pocket Gamer Connects conference in London, Rovio chief marketing officer Peter Vesterbacka announced Angry Birds has achieved two billion downloads, reports Mobile Entertainment. "We started as a mobile games company ten years ago and created 51 games before Angry Birds -- it's not easy to stand out and say something like, 'I'm going to take on Coke and make a soft drink company.' Nobody in their right mind would." But Rovio did and, according to Vesterbacka, "45 percent of our business comes from physical products, including drinks." And then there's this staggering data: nine out of ten people in the US know Angry Birds, while 93 percent of the Chinese population recognizes the brand. "Download figures tell you nothing about engagement, but we still have 200 million people playing Angry Birds every month, the size of the Twitter audience," he said. "What started as a little game is a major brand and franchise. Our friends at Disney are still a bit ahead but our trajectory looks good. We're just getting started." PG Connects: Rovio's Vesterbacka: They called me crazy - now Angry Birds rivals Coke [Mobile Entertainment] |
| Dear Infamous: Second Son, please come out already Posted: 22 Jan 2014 10:30 AM PST I got a PlayStation 4 and I really like it. I've played some fun games on there like Resogun and, uh, well okay that's about it. I mean I've played other games on the console like Assassin's Creed IV, but I'm specifically referring to the first party titles. I'm still waiting for that major Sony exclusive to suck all my free time away. And I know for sure that's going to be Infamous: Second Son. It comes out on March 21, 2014, but I just want it now. That said, Sucker Punch needs to start showing off more of the power-ups you can get. Just another tease won't hurt, right? |
| Starbreeze's Storm pitched as 'Payday in space' Posted: 22 Jan 2014 10:00 AM PST Little is known about Starbreeze Studios' upcoming game Cold Mercury other than that it is (or was, as of 2012) going to be free to play. According to one of the company's investor reports, the game was eventually merged with a similar project that Payday developer Overkill Software was working on before the studio was acquired called Storm. That working title is being used for the combined game which was mentioned in a more recent report as being essentially "Payday in space" -- a cooperative sci-fi shooter that "takes advantage of the design we have created in Payday games." Quite the elevator pitch there. I know I'm always in the mood for a good space heist. While Starbreeze has a page dedicated to Storm, it's about as bare bones as can be. Those reports aren't new by any stretch of the imagination, so I suspect we'll hear more before too long. They can only put out so much Payday 2 DLC before it's time to talk about what's next. [Via superannuation] |
| Shovel Knight unearths new trailer, coming in late March Posted: 22 Jan 2014 09:45 AM PST The team at Yacht Club Games, bless'em, are planning to make this March a little more magical with the release of Shovel Knight. Today, the developer announced the groundbreaking new title is nearing the final stretch of development, as the indie studio heads towards beta and puts the finishing touches on the game. That process involves everything from localization to playtesting and certification. In case you're curious as to why the development process is taking so long, Yacht Club says Shovel Knight turned out to be much more extensive than originally planned. Based off the latest trailer, I'd say that's pretty accurate. It's come a long way since I first got my hands on the PAX East demo nearly a year ago. Shovel Knight is slated to release on March 31. Can you dig it? |
| Live show: Crypt of the NecroDancer with Ryan Clark Posted: 22 Jan 2014 09:30 AM PST [Mash Tactics airs Monday through Friday at 4p.m. Pacific on Dtoid.TV. Watch Rick 'King Foom' Olson 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.] If you can only watch one episode of Mash Tactics this week, trust me when I tell you to make sure it's this one. I have a feeling this evening is going to be something truly special. Tonight, I'll be rocking the amazing rhythm-game/rogue-like hybrid Crypt of the NecroDancer, which has yet to be released to the public, all while chatting with one of the games lead designers, Ryan Clark. What's that you say, an awesome interview, and a crazy good, genre-bending game isn't enough to get you excited? Well fine, because there's more than just that to tonight's show. In addition to what I think is an already awesome lineup, I'll be joined by the games composer, and all around entertaining bad-ass, Danny Baranowsky as well. Still not sold? Ok, I got this. How about if I said that during the interview, I wouldn't be playing the game on a controller, or on a keyboard, but on a DDR dance-pad? Gotcha yet? No? Ok, what if some friends join in on the action with me, we grab some beers, and I sport a pair of short-shorts? If that still hasn't grabbed you, then my apologies, but if that seems like something you might be interested in watching, get over to Dtoid.TV early, and don't miss any of the insanity that is about to go down. QotD: What games have you played with peripherals that they were not designed for? |
| Candy Crush dev now trying to block Banner Saga trademark Posted: 22 Jan 2014 09:00 AM PST Candy Crush Saga developer King is playing hardball. Early this week we learned King successfully trademarked the word "Candy" in the US as it pertains to videogames (and clothing!). It already owns the "Candy" trademark in Europe. It proceeded to strong arm developers with "Candy" in their app name to change titles. Now it is going after games that use the word "Saga," including the lovely, recently released The Banner Saga, Venture Beat reports. When independent Banner Saga developer Stoic went to file a trademark for its game, King filed an opposition. King's response, below, was to basically admit the opposition makes no sense, instead looking to future boogeymen. |
| Valve games are acting wonky for certain Steam users Posted: 22 Jan 2014 08:30 AM PST There are reports of some Steam users experiencing weirdness with their libraries today. Specifically, Valve games appear to be swapped for some players so, for example, Left 4 Dead 2 might show up as Team Fortress 2. I haven't seen any of these issues first hand, but if you have encountered them, Valve has instructions on what to do next:
Library Insanity [reddit] |
| Oculus Rift used for gender swap experience (NSFW) Posted: 22 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST The Oculus Rift is impressive technology, and it has sparked interest in virtual reality at levels not seen since the 1990s. Still, despite the improved latency in head tracking and the improved field of view, one thing that is still holding virtual reality back from truly transporting a mind to another place is proprioception, or the ability to sense the position, orientation, and movement of one's own body parts. The team behind The Machine to Be Another tackles that in a clever way. By giving two subjects each a modified Oculus Rift headset that captures video, then sending those video signals to the other headset's screen, the illusion is set up. By instructing the subjects to use slow, methodical movements and "agree" with one another on the positioning of their bodies, the illusion is completed and the brain believes more strongly that it has been transported to another body. The video above pairs one male with one female at a time, allowing each to briefly feel as if he or she were gender swapped. It is a really interesting display, though it might have been made more interesting if the video included post-experience interviews with the subjects describing how it felt. [Editor's note: the video below contains non-pornographic nudity. NSFW] |
| Westerado and Risk of Rain are 2014 IGF student winners Posted: 22 Jan 2014 07:30 AM PST The Student Showcase winners have been announced for the 2014 Independent Games Festival and a few of the names are surprising to see. I had no idea Westerado, for instance, was a student project. Wow. Risk of Rain similarly caught me off guard. All eight winners are receiving $1,000 in prize money and passes to attend the 2014 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco this March, which is where the IGF's Main Competition winners as well as the Best Student Game will be named. One of the following titles will receive that title as well as an extra $2,000 prize:
Something tells me Museum of Simulation Technology is going to take top honors. You saw the demonstration, right? Powerful stuff. Honorable mentions for the Student Showcase include: Ladylike, UN EP, Rabbit Rush, Flying Fish, and Bokida. |
| Quadrant takes survival horror to a NASA lab in 1979 Posted: 22 Jan 2014 06:30 AM PST I quite like the premise of Quadrant, a survival horror title in which something has come back from a manned mission to the moon in 1979. You're a member of a biohazard waste removal and clean-up crew at a NASA facility that's gone into lockdown with you stuck inside. *Cue a blurry creature running around in the background* Quadrant is planned for release in August and it's in development at HKFiftyOne Games, whose prior releases include Cold Fusion and Imbalance, the sorts of free PC horror games that YouTube personalities like to record themselves playing. I can't say I'm expecting a whole lot here, but again, I'm a fan of the setup. The teaser trailer is embedded above. [Via Polygon] |
| 'Edge-hogging' mechanics of new Smash Bros. are different Posted: 22 Jan 2014 05:30 AM PST In both Super Smash Bros. Melee and Brawl, there's a popular mechanic commonly referred to as "edge-hogging." Since only one character can be on an edge at a time, when a character is knocked off of the stage, their opponent will often grab the edge, forcing the victim to recover by going up and over them, instead of simply grabbing the edge. Here's a low-quality 16-second video to demonstrate what I mean. It happens all the time in competitive play, and is common practice by now. However, in Sakurai's "Pic of the day" on Miiverse, he has stated that "There are many changes being made to attack and defense options for grabbing edges. In this picture, Link is actually trumping Mario's grab." The details are obviously sparse, but Sakurai also mentions that "air time and accumulated damage will determine your period of invincibility while hanging on an edge" and "grab controls will no longer be affected by whether you have above or below 100% damage." There is a small window of invincibility when grabbing on to an edge, but now it looks like a player jumping off just to edge-hog will have little to no invincibility, while someone who is actually recovering will have more. Plus, word on the street is that if someone has used up their invincibility frames while on an edge and another recovering character comes to grab it, the recovering character will knock them off and grab the ledge. If this is indeed a nerf to edge-hogging, consider me a huge fan, as I view the tactic as lame and uninteresting. Perhaps now more battles will occur away from the ledges for once. |
| We have a Broken Age playdate with Tim Schafer! Posted: 22 Jan 2014 04:45 AM PST Hey gang! Today is a very special day, as we are being paid a visit by Double Fine's Tim Schafer, infamous Kickstarter robber-baron. Tim's going to be showing off Broken Age, the game formerly known as Double Fine Adventure, and you can come watch us play it LIVE on our Twitch channel at 2:00 PM Pacific time. That's about three hours from this post going up. After Tim leaves, I will be tearing off my tasteful V-neck Merino wool sweater to reveal a kickass Iron Maiden T-Shirt, and I will commence playing Double Fine's Brütal Legend for the remaining 90 minutes or so. |
| Hardline: Candy Crush drama, Xbox One ads, Nintendo Posted: 22 Jan 2014 04:45 AM PST My regular crew has abandoned me for this week's Hardline, but no matter -- I've got Max and Conrad filling in while everyone else is traveling. A few stories have blown up over the past several days and we'll be discussing those live on Twitch.tv at 11:00am Pacific. We'd love to have you stop by and participate in this little podcast of ours. Most notably, there's the Xbox One promotion with Machinima that's really gone over poorly; Candy Crush maker King.com trademarking the word "Candy," which, again, people sure aren't happy about; and Nintendo's lower-than-expected sales forecast causing lots of speculation about how the company might change its business structure. Let's do this thing. |
| Xbox Live deal: Dark Souls, Tales of Vesperia, D&D Posted: 22 Jan 2014 04:30 AM PST The Xbox Live deal of the week features a strange group of games, but strange can be good. These discounts are valid until Monday, January 27 for Gold subscribers:
Chronicles of Mystara is excellent if you're in the mood for classic beat-'em-ups. Otherwise, same old story: get Dark Souls. |
| Hearthstone rip-off being sued by Blizzard Posted: 22 Jan 2014 04:00 AM PST Blizzard and NetEase are, according to MMOCulture, suing Chinese company Unico for $1.65 million (¥10 million) for their blatant rip-off of Hearthstone, which they've called Legend of Crouching Dragon. Legend of Crouching Dragon has been in beta for several months on Android and iOS devices in China, and is the epitome of a clone; everything from the game's logo to the user interface to the card design has been shamelessly copied from Blizzard's card game, which is now in open beta. Legend of Crouching Dragon. Why does this name cause my mind to picture a red dragon relieving itself somewhere on a cliff? Legend of Crouching Dragon – Blizzard and NetEase files court case [MMOCulture] |
| Capcom announces Dead Rising 3 has shipped one million Posted: 22 Jan 2014 03:00 AM PST Fresh off of the release of its first DLC pack, Capcom has announced that Dead Rising 3 has shipped over one million units. Remember, that's "shipped" not "sold," so it's not really a full indication of how the game is doing out in the wild -- but still, Capcom seems happy enough with the results, which is perfectly reasonable for the launch of a brand new console. They also report that the series has shipped over seven million in total, and that Dead Rising 3 is their 62nd game to reach the "million" mark. Stay tuned for our thoughts on the recently released DLC, Operation Broken Eagle. Shipments of "Dead Rising 3" for Microsoft's New-generation Xbox One Surpass One Million Units [Capcom] |
| Love candy but hate trademark trolling? Here's Candy Jam Posted: 22 Jan 2014 02:30 AM PST Just the other day we heard that King, developer of the why-are-all-of-my-friends-playing-this behemoth Candy Crush Saga, successfully trademarked the word "candy" as it relates to games. In an effort to fight trademark trolling, the Candy Jam has surfaced, encouraging the creation of games involving candy as a central theme. Bonus points may be awarded for use of other common words that have been trademarked, including scroll, saga, and edge. The deadline for candy themed games is February 3. |
| Deus Ex: The Fall hits Android today Posted: 22 Jan 2014 02:00 AM PST Last year, Square Enix released a mobile iteration of Deus Ex called "The Fall," starring soldier Ben Saxon. It was actually a pretty decent game, and one that would strongly benefit from real controls and a Vita port. But we'll have to wait a bit longer for that, as The Fall is only hitting another mobile platform today -- Android. It's been a long wait for Android users as the platform was promised a port of The Fall early last year with no updates whatsoever, but you'll be able to grab it on Google Play later today for $6.99. |
| XSplit Gamecaster makes game streaming so easy Posted: 22 Jan 2014 01:30 AM PST Are you streaming gameplay? Well, forget cables, configurations, multiple PCs, software hacks, and confusion. That's all gone when it comes to streaming and capturing gameplay on your PC, starting today. XSplit Gamecaster is a simple software program that lets you send your PC or console gameplay to Twitch, Ustream, YouTube, and other sites without the hassles of previous solutions. We've known about it since last year, and have played with it a bit more recently, but the good news is that you won't have to wait long before you can try it out for yourself as it will be available on February 18. |
| Tim Schafer muses on return to the world of Brutal Legend Posted: 22 Jan 2014 01:00 AM PST Brutal Legend's development was marred by a series of unfortunate incidents involving IP rights, but eventually, it hit the market. Sadly, we haven't seen anything indicating that we'd ever get to return to the world, outside of the occasional comment by Tim Schafer, who recently spoke up again regarding his creation. Schafer states, "I love that world and I would love to go back there. And I think [actor Jack Black] might be up for it, too. I would love to...even just do a DLC pack. We're always trying to get Lionwhyte in there, [as] a playable Lionwhyte army. Maybe that would happen some day." I would definitely be up for it as well -- if all of the RTS elements were eliminated. Brutal Legend 2 [GameSpot via OXM] |
| Pokemon Bank App is back for 'certain Asian countries' Posted: 22 Jan 2014 12:00 AM PST Remember that Pokemon Bank and Transfer App that was supposed to launch late last year worldwide? Well, due to a number of eShop issues Nintendo delayed it, and now, "certain Asian countries" will have access this week. The App allows you to not only transfer Pokemon from prior generations into X & Y, but store creatures via cloud boxes. Nintendo of America has confirmed that the App is still on track for North America, but no timeline has been given. If you access the App before September 20th, 2014, you'll get a free Celebi. Nintendo of America [Twitter] |
| Every NES title screen in alphabetical order Posted: 21 Jan 2014 03:00 PM PST Here's something you needed that you never thought of before: Nearly three hours worth of title screens from every Nintendo Entertainment System game ever. In alphabetical order too! (Via GoNintendo) |
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