New Games |
- PlayStation 4 is going for $329 at Walmart
- Dtoid on Twitch returns with a Splatterhouse champ playing Bayonetta 2
- Kyle MacGregor's sexy picks for Game of the Year 2014
- Conduit developer High Voltage opening new studio
- Shark vs. diver game Depth adds Megalodon Mode
- Playstation Vita, Death and rising from the ashes with Luc Bernard
- Dropsy's Jay Tholen presents Atomic Santa: Christmas Omega
- Steam sale: Shadow Warrior, Five Nights at Freddy's 2, Alien: Isolation
- Darren Nakamura's personal picks for Game of the Year 2014
- Nominees for Destructoid's Overall Best Game of 2014
- Iconoclasts creator imagines a Daisy focused 2D action game
- Brett Makedonski's personal picks for Game of the Year 2014
- The friendly gaming master list
| PlayStation 4 is going for $329 at Walmart Posted: 21 Dec 2014 11:00 AM PST For this Sunday, Sony's PlayStation 4 received a price drop to an all-time-low of $329.00 at Walmart. While not available for shipping, grabbing a unit at this price is more than feasible if you live in a major metropolitan area given how widespread the big box retailer is. The caveat of course is if it's available or in stock at your local Walmart (and visiting a Walmart during holiday season). If in stock, you can order online to pick up in store. You can even get a rain check of sort as the pick up time limit stretches to about 14 days before the order gets cancelled. Perfect if you're off vacationing in the French Polynesian islands like I am (I'm actually not). |
| Dtoid on Twitch returns with a Splatterhouse champ playing Bayonetta 2 Posted: 21 Dec 2014 09:00 AM PST I'm proud to have been a part of Destructoid's Twitch channel back when Jon Carnage got it started in 2010. Kicking off the Super Meat Boy charity stream with DannyB was one of the highlights of my whole darn life. For a variety of reasons, Dtoid's Twitch presence died out a few years after that. Even my show, Sup Holmes, wasn't safe, though thankfully we were able to keep it going through the support of the fans. One of the first things I wanted to do with Destructoid when I became EiC was get the Twitch channel up and running again. We're still in the midst of that process, so if you have any ideas for what we should do with the channel, let me know. And yes, each and every prior steaming personality who has been on the channel in the past is welcome back whenever they want. A lot of them have moved on to bigger things. I heard Carnage streams with Fred Durst now. We won't hold that against him though. He and every other Dtoid Twitch alumni will always have a home at Destructoid. We're kicking off the return of regular Dtoid Twitch content today at 8pm EST with Caitlin Oliver, Spatterhouse world record holder, as she plays Bayonetta 2 for the first time live. We're hoping Caitlin becomes a regular on the channel, so please give us feedback and help spread the word. We'll see you in the chat. |
| Kyle MacGregor's sexy picks for Game of the Year 2014 Posted: 21 Dec 2014 08:00 AM PST And, suddenly, another year passed us by. It seems like 2014 had only just arrived, and already it's being hauled away, kicking and screaming, never to be seen or heard from ever again. It's important that we take this time to reflect on the previous twelve months, to remember the good times and repress the bad. Soon we will be looking to the future, or anywhere else really, so long as we can stave off the here and now. So breathe deep, my friend. Take in those plummy aromas. Savor their toasty bouquets. And espy the subtle hints of oak and herb. It was a good year. Hot and dry, Feast your eyes on this here list of the most wonderful games of 2014, according to yours truly. |
| Conduit developer High Voltage opening new studio Posted: 21 Dec 2014 07:00 AM PST High Voltage Software, the studio behind The Conduit, is opening a new office in New Orleans. The company has been looking to expand for some time, and considered new locations in both Georgia and Florida before setting on New Orleans. The move is largely driven by tax incentives and the state's low cost of doing business, but The Big Easy's local culture reportedly played a role as well. It's a fun town. In return for bringing 80 jobs to Louisiana next year, High Voltage will also receive a $150,000 grant to reimburse relocation costs and workforce training programs. "This is not about me getting a free back scratch. This is about me being able to reinvest," said HVS founder and CEO Kerry Ganofsky. "When you're doing something creative, you take risks to create something and sometimes those risks don't pan out. A tax credit like this gives you a little more buffer to take those risks and move on to the next level." HVS plans to reinvest savings in the fledgling studio so it can build a local team capable of producing its own games, as opposed to merely serving in a support role for HVS' Illinois headquarters. The company is also working with the University of New Orleans to help foster the school's computer science program and videogame curriculum. HVS was founded in 1993 and caught our attention with Wii shooter The Conduit and its promising shelved project The Grinder. In more recent years, the developer has worked alongside Volition on the Saints Row series and Warner Bros. on Mortal Kombat and Injustice: Gods Among Us. Illinois video game developer to open New Orleans studio, hailed as economic development win [Nola via GamesIndustry] |
| Shark vs. diver game Depth adds Megalodon Mode Posted: 21 Dec 2014 06:00 AM PST I've never been much for official "best of" lists for any given year, but if you pinned me down and asked me what my favorite multiplayer experience was in 2014, I'd have to reply that it was had in Digital Confectioner's shark vs. scuba diver title Depth. While I knew the asymmetrical PvP title would most likely be something I would enjoy, it wasn't until I laid my hands on it that I realized how good it actually was in practice. With no disrespect to the developers intended, I honestly didn't think the game would manage to live up to the hype produced by the gameplay trailers. Sometimes, it's a very good thing to be wrong. Now, here we are nearly two months later and the game is doing quite well review-wise on Steam. It's even managed to earn an enviable spot on former Destructoid reviews editor Jim Sterling's Curator page. The question to the developers now might be: How do you intend on improving upon an already winning formula of playing as a lethal Great White shark? Easily enough, I guess, by allowing players to assume the role of a shark capable of consuming that shark. That's right, Digital Confectioners are bringing out the big gun its latest update titled The Big Catch: the legendary Megalodon shark. "Megalodon Hunt is an all-new game mode for Depth. Five divers face off against the greatest and most ferocious shark conceivable - the powerful Megalodon. The Megalodon Hunt mode is void of S.T.E.V.E. and instead of focusing on room-to-room combat concentrates on map-wide chaos. Divers scramble for treasure as the Megalodon puts up a relentless fight, however, as divers get stronger the tables turn and the hunter becomes hunted." The update also includes new shark species Mako and Tiger for regular modes in the game as well as new diver equipment, a new arena titled The Devil's Head, and an included level editor that allows players to create their own maps and mods for the game. It's been a while since I've taken the plunge, but I think the new Megalodon mode is the perfect incentive for me to get back into the game. If you're interested in trying the title out for yourself, it's currently 40 percent off now on Steam. |
| Playstation Vita, Death and rising from the ashes with Luc Bernard Posted: 21 Dec 2014 05:05 AM PST Today on Sup Holmes, we welcome Luc Bernard back to the program. Luc was one of our original guests on the show, back when he was working on Imagination is the Only Escape and Mass Effect's sex options were still a hot topic of discussion. Luc has been through a lot since then, though lately he's been riding high in the horse with Steam titles like Desert Ashes and the free-to-play Playstation Vita exclusive Death Tales (formerly known as Reaper). We'll be talking to Luc about his highs, lows, our games of the year, ambitions for Playstation TV,and whatever else comes up along the way. Join us at 4pm EST and maybe something good will happen to you. |
| Dropsy's Jay Tholen presents Atomic Santa: Christmas Omega Posted: 21 Dec 2014 05:00 AM PST From the strange and fertile imagination of Jay Tholen (Dropsy the Clown) comes a very special holiday treat this Christmas season. A harrowing tale of two brave individuals willing to stand tall against the malignant status quo that is America's insidious Modern Left and its shadowy Illuminati controllers. Atomic Santa: Christmas Omega is described by Tholen as a "short-but-sweet festive shmup/platformer experience" in which dear old Saint Nicholas and his preternaturally radiant companion Rudolph risk it all to preserve the sanctity of Jesus Christ's name in our beloved, but ceaselessly persecuted Christmas. "With their nefarious scheme to remove Christ from Christmas in full swing, the Illuminati requests an alliance with the Jolly Old Elf. Santa is hearing none of it, so phone calls are made, drones are dispatched, and the North Pole is nuked. Upon finding Santa and Rudolph's remains, the surviving elves whisk their old friends down to a submerged facility for medical attention. With science, elf magic, and plot armor at their disposal, they successfully restore Santa and Rudolph to a stable condition. Also, Rudolph is now a nose-laser-wielding cyborg, and Santa has atomic powers." If you like your satire biting and your videogames silly, there's a lot to love about Jay's latest pixel art composition. While it's only three levels long, it's still a noteworthy collage of American paranoia culture in game form; and, in my humble opinion, well worth the trifling $0.99 minimum price of admission simply for the chuckles alone. Being the delightfully Good Son that he is, all proceeds from the sales of Atomic Santa: Christmas Omega will go towards purchasing Christmas gifts for his lovely family this holiday season. Keep an eye on your PMs later this afternoon. I'll be making a purchase of the game at an undisclosed amount above the minimum on your behalf. To win, share with us your best and/or hilarious examples of being either naughty or nice this year and Jay's most recent game and soundtrack will be all yours! Good luck! |
| Steam sale: Shadow Warrior, Five Nights at Freddy's 2, Alien: Isolation Posted: 21 Dec 2014 04:15 AM PST Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. Church, football, monster truck rallies. That's what popular convention says the back-half of the weekend's all about, right? No one thinks there's any room for Steam sales. That's why you should probably disregard all these videogames that are discounted -- because none of them are simulators of you buying overpriced t-shirts and waiting for Grave Digger to do something totally sweet. |
| Darren Nakamura's personal picks for Game of the Year 2014 Posted: 21 Dec 2014 04:00 AM PST This has been an unusual year for me. In previous years, coming up with my favorite games has amounted to listing the ten games I played and then ranking them. In 2014 I took on many more reviews than I have in the past, so now I have some actual trimming to do. For the first time, there are games I enjoyed that did not make the cut. A more striking aspect I noticed after building my list is that my preferred platform has shifted. Where my favorite games in previous years mostly released on major consoles, this year it is almost all PC and 3DS. Heck, I moved across the country in September, and while my PC was the first thing I set up in the new place, I still have not hooked my Xbox 360 up. Here are my favorite games of 2014. |
| Nominees for Destructoid's Overall Best Game of 2014 Posted: 21 Dec 2014 03:00 AM PST [Image credit: Mike Lambert] I've long been of the opinion that the relationship between a person and a videogame is similar to the relationship between a person and another living being. It's part of why you see people fiercely defend their favorite games, like they would their friends or family. It's undeniable -- we form two way relationships with these things. I first picked up on that back when Little Computer People launched on the Commadore 64, though the idea didn't really solidify in my mind until Nintendogs was released on the Nintendo DS. The idea of reviewing a videogame like it is a static, concrete product is similar to the idea of reviewing a person via some testing method or other wholly "objective" assessment tool. It can't ever be totally accurate. There will always be some subjectivity in there. More so, trying to diminish the importance of the personal relationship between two things, be they a game and person or a person and a person, causes you to bypass the most interesting stuff. We can't ever completely separate our unique perspectives from out assessment of videogames, so why not embrace them? That's what we did with this year's Game of the Year Awards. While we worked to do a some analysis on why the world design, multiplayer design, mechanics, and narrative design of various games were particularly impressive in 2014, the truth is we don't really understand why we love certain games, just like we don't always understand why we love certain people. We just do. They fit with our brains and make us feel right. Here are some of the games we loved the most in 2014. Don't forget to vote for yours! |
| Iconoclasts creator imagines a Daisy focused 2D action game Posted: 21 Dec 2014 02:00 AM PST My first waking thought this morning was "What if the next Wii U Mario game stars Peach, Daisy, Rosalina and Toadette as they giant sentient broccoli people who reluctantly eat children because they are nutritious?" The idea was clearly inspired by my brain's partial submersion into dream land, but there is some foundations of reality behind it. Nintendo has made a point to focus on playable women characters in their Wii U games over the past few years. The latest Smash Bros. has a lot of new women on the roster (including Wendy O. Koopa, my spirit animal), Pikmin 3 has Brittany, Super Mario 3D World has Peach and Rosalina, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker has Toadette, Bayonetta 2 has Bayo and Jeanne, the list goes on. Factor that in with the news that the next core Mario title may not happen until the Wii U's successor is ready to launch, and it's easier to imagine how an all-woman Mario spin-off title may be in our near future. Iconoclasts and Noitu Love creator Joakim "Konjak" Sandberg had a similar notion, though his vision is decidedly more Daisy focused. Inspired by Snakepixel's Wario Land reboot proposition from a little while back, Konjak has conceived of a game where Daisy dukes it out with"...sports gimmicks. Trick shots, hat tricks, dunks to unlock, boss fights that are about scoring points over the boss more than beating up on it, and so on. But much more action focus in general. I have more ideas, but I'm hungry." |
| Brett Makedonski's personal picks for Game of the Year 2014 Posted: 21 Dec 2014 12:00 AM PST 2014 was the most hectic twelve months of my life. Up until late September, I'm fairly certain I spent more of the year on the road than at home. I did so much travelling that I honestly considered eschewing a top five games of the year list in favor of the top five conventions. While I definitely love the jet-set life, it unfortunately meant that I played fewer games than ever before. I previewed way more titles than I ever saw the final build of. That's why you only get five games from me, because I didn't get a chance to play all that many in 2014. Still, I believe each of the titles on this list is incredibly important in its own right. |
| The friendly gaming master list Posted: 19 Dec 2014 10:00 AM PST [Dtoid community member The Scholarly Gamer had the brilliant idea to create a master list of Dtoider's console and Steam IDs. Add your name to the list in the comments so we an all game together. It's the perfect time, too, what with Friday Night Fights being a thing. Want to see your own stuff appear on the front page? Go write something! --Occams Electric Toothbrush] Dear Destructoid Community, It has come to my attention lately that you are all amazing. Well, maybe not lately, but I’ve been thinking about it more lately as I’ve been trying to link up with more Dtoiders to game with. Building off an earlier blog that I had quickly posted in October entitled Play With Me, I want to attempt a little community project and see how well it works. My goal is to create a master list of everyone’s gamer IDs, so that there is a place for people to come and beef up their friend lists with all of the amazing people in the community. I've reached out to people myself to link up before, but I think it would be something nice for everyone to have access to. Upon doing some research on this to ensure that I was not duplicating anything, I came across a Forum post started back in May by the wonderful Firion to gather up 3DS IDs in a convenient venue. There are 15 gamers who have volunteered their various IDs on there, but I know there are so many more of you out in the Destructoid community! |
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