New Games |
- Civilization: Beyond Earth update live, makes all my strategies obsolete
- New Album "2AD14 - II" - Always Free!
- The Gift of Gaming: Down with the language barrier
- PS4 and PS Vita Bundles round up Green Monday game deals
- 343's released yet another patch to try to fix Halo
- Europe gets Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire on Wii U this week
- Far Cry 4 almost made me vomit at one point
- Joylancer is better than Jed's corny uncle at Thanksgiving
- Nya! Good god, Tekken 7's Lucky Chloe is anime as hell
- I don't know what 'Green Monday' is, but Amazon has videogame deals for it
- Prehistoric god game Before looks magnificent
- Uncharted 4 trailer analysis: Hints at improvements over Uncharted 3
- Our own Jonathan Holmes was on the Russian news to talk about Australia's GTA V
- LIVE! Absinthe vs. The Talos Principle: A Most Distinguished Stream
- Best Buy runs Buy 2 Games, Get 1 Free as Xmas nears
- The Witness is coming 'not that late in 2015, hopefully' and looks great
- Two new characters revealed for indie brawler Rivals of Aether
- CD Projekt moves The Witcher 3 to May 19, 2015
- Review: Ultraworld
- Disney Infinity 2.0 is coming to the Vita, will have Black Suit Spider-Man
- Driveclub is getting an extreme weather patch today
- This Tekken 20th anniversary video brings me back
- This Lucina figure is looking pretty damn great
- The Banner Saga 2 picks up on PS4, Xbox One, PC
- Toys"R"Us' exclusive Lucario amiibo is sold out online
- LittleBigPlanet 3 celebrates the PlayStation Anniversary
- Review: The Talos Principle
| Civilization: Beyond Earth update live, makes all my strategies obsolete Posted: 08 Dec 2014 02:00 PM PST A pretty substantial update rolled out for Civilization: Beyond Earth earlier today, addressing some of the issues that the more hardcore Civ fans have had with the title. I took a read through the extensive patch notes and... damn. I am going to have to come up with some new strategies. I previously found a lot of value in the trade routes, but it seems like those are getting a bit of a nerf, and additionally the maximum number of trade routes a city can have is decreasing due to a change to the Autoplant building. Another bummer for me is that Artists no longer contribute positive Health but instead are worth only Culture. One of the most obvious changes is a decrease in power to a good number of unupgraded units. In a way, it sort of bums me out that a lot of my favorite stuff was scaled back a bit, but on the other hand, it brings me back to the learning phase where I was trying new things and figuring out what works best. I'd say that's probably a net positive. |
| New Album "2AD14 - II" - Always Free! Posted: 08 Dec 2014 12:00 PM PST [Dtoid community blogger Alphadeus is back with another lovely album! From his brain space to the tips of his fingers to your ears, this is a journey worth taking. Want to see your own stuff appear on the front page? Go write something! --Occams Electric Toothbrush] I released another album, 2AD14 - II. As you can tell, I'm not really a good digital artist when it comes to album art, but I do the music so I guess that works! I'm not going to just drop an embed and call it a day, I'm going to write about each song. |
| The Gift of Gaming: Down with the language barrier Posted: 08 Dec 2014 11:00 AM PST [Dtoid community member ashamasha used a love of video games to learn English. If that isn't badass, then I don't know what is. Want to see your own stuff appear on the front page? Go write something! --Occams Electric Toothbrush] In the early '90s I realized that video games were my thing and back then it was pretty easy for me to get into them. I, like many others here, am not from an English speaking country which never really bothered me when I was young. Video games were simple affairs of PUSH START - INSERT COIN - PAUSE - OPTIONS - HIGH SCORE. These were among the only phrases and words I needed to know from the English language. I didn't even care about those tidbits of words inserted on the endings of the games (if there was an ending). |
| PS4 and PS Vita Bundles round up Green Monday game deals Posted: 08 Dec 2014 10:45 AM PST For those unaware, Green Monday is an actual thing these days. The marketing term was coined by eBay for a do-over of Cyber Monday for many retailers. The good news is you essentially get a second shot at many more deals before the holiday season. Perhaps the best deal of you'll find this week is the new PlayStation 4 with one free game bundle and a $50 gift card offered at Walmart. This new $399 bundle was announced by Sony just yesterday and it includes a copy of Destiny, LittleBigPlanet 3, Far Cry 4, or NBA 2K15. The extra $50 gift card from Walmart makes it an even juicier deal. Along with Walmart, there are also savings from Best Buy, GameStop, and even Dell (yep). Best Buy is running a "Buy 2 Get 1 Game Free" sale on 880 titles. GameStop has a PS Vita and Borderlands 2 unit $30 cheaper than most retailers charge for the Vita alone. Dell has a $10 discount and a $25 bonus eGift card on select Xbox One games. Don't forget to also check out this post on all Amazon deals for Green Monday too. |
| 343's released yet another patch to try to fix Halo Posted: 08 Dec 2014 10:00 AM PST 343 Industries is caught in a tough place when it comes to trying to fix Halo: The Master Chief Collection's broken multiplayer component. It obviously wants to roll out updates as quickly as possible. But, it also wants every patch it issues to encompass as much as it possibly can. That's why, despite the last update releasing only a few days ago, there's already another one. The notes were posted on Halo Waypoint, and it focuses on "matchmaking, parties, custom games, achievements, stability, and more." Some of the more notable topics it touches on are team balance, matchmaking search times and success rates, and unintentional rank resets. Hopefully this is the patch that finally gets players consistently into games. We're three days shy of a month since Master Chief Collection's release. It's about time it starts to work. 12.7.14 Halo: The Master Chief Collection Content Update Notes [Halo Waypoint] |
| Europe gets Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire on Wii U this week Posted: 08 Dec 2014 09:30 AM PST A new pinball game out of Nintendo sure would be delightful. The time is right (because the time is always right for well-made pinball spinoff games). I don't see that happening anytime soon, granted, but there's always Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire. The Game Boy Advance title will re-release on the Wii U Virtual Console on December 11 in Europe, reports Siliconera. Presumably, it'll arrive on the eShop in North America not long after unless this is another one of those Fire Emblem situations in which case goodbye, see you in a few months. While we wait, Pokémon Puzzle Challenge is on Virtual Console right now and it's so damn good. I do wish Nintendo had chosen the original Game Boy Color Pokémon Pinball over Ruby & Sapphire (or would just re-release both), but it makes sense given the recent Pokémon 3DS remakes. Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire Headed To Wii U Virtual Console In Europe [Siliconera] [Image] |
| Far Cry 4 almost made me vomit at one point Posted: 08 Dec 2014 09:00 AM PST Far Cry 4 is a lot of fun, but it can leave you feeling pretty sick to your stomach at times. I distinctly remember happening on a family of monkeys in the Himalayan foothills. Pulling out my camera, I marveled at their cherubic faces and adorable squeals. Then I mowed the little guys down in a hail of gunfire, skinned their corpses, and turned 'em into a wallet. Monkey wallets, disgusting as they are, aren't the reason why I'm here today, though. No, it was something else entirely that had me nearly puking all over my floor. As it turns out, Far Cry 4 can be nauseating in a wide variety of ways. One piece of advice: should you ever find yourself stuck in a Kyrati tree, just shout for help and wait until a hunky firefighter comes to rescue you. |
| Joylancer is better than Jed's corny uncle at Thanksgiving Posted: 08 Dec 2014 08:30 AM PST Jed's back with more of his ride through Joylancer: Legendary Motor Knight. Jed relates a story of his uncle's lame, perv-y jokes at Thanksgiving, admits he's lost his passion for collectibles, and just straight up forgets everything that's happened so far. |
| Nya! Good god, Tekken 7's Lucky Chloe is anime as hell Posted: 08 Dec 2014 08:00 AM PST I have a strong urge to get very, very good at Tekken 7 and just piss off (mostly western) players by beating them endlessly with this stupid cat girl. |
| I don't know what 'Green Monday' is, but Amazon has videogame deals for it Posted: 08 Dec 2014 07:45 AM PST I'm not sure why we need to keep designating official titles for different days to spur consumerism around the holidays. I mean, people need (and want) to buy stuff; they'll spend money regardless. Black Friday's fine. It's been here the longest. Cyber Monday? Ehhh. "Green Monday?" That's just ridiculous. But, it's Green Monday anyway (I guess), so Amazon has some obligatory deals. There are some recent games that, if you had the self-restraint to just wait a month or two, are discounted fairly decently. In the case of games like DriveClub, maybe you'll want to wait a few more months. |
| Prehistoric god game Before looks magnificent Posted: 08 Dec 2014 07:30 AM PST Rust isn't the only survival game in development at Facepunch Studios. During the Game Awards on Friday, we were reacquainted with Bill Lowe's Before, a pleasant-looking title in which players guide a prehistoric tribe, "shaping their culture and defining their history." I'm curious to see how exactly Before plays -- "[it] controls much like a real-time strategy or 'god' game," says Lowe -- but until then I have already fallen in love with its striking world. |
| Uncharted 4 trailer analysis: Hints at improvements over Uncharted 3 Posted: 08 Dec 2014 07:00 AM PST "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa" - Nathan Drake. As Chris mentioned when the trailer debuted at PlayStation Experience, Uncharted 4 looks, "very Uncharted." There are Nolan North quips at everything you see. The dark and dingy cave gives way to a sun-washed, cinematic vista as three birds fly by right as your eyes adjust to the sun. The climbing, too, looks same as it ever was, save for the addition of a centuries-old, apparently indestructible soft-rock-climbing dagger. And a grappling hook, which was at least used once. But while the base mechanics are familiar, the layout, at least as it appears in this trailer, is different, and that's why I'm a bit more excited for A Thief's End after being less impressed with Uncharted 3. |
| Our own Jonathan Holmes was on the Russian news to talk about Australia's GTA V Posted: 08 Dec 2014 06:30 AM PST Just last week, Target of Australia announced that it would no longer carry copies of Grand Theft Auto V due to the game's violent content. No big surprise there; Australia, after all. But, some don't think that the move was purely altruistic. Our huggable editor-in-chief Jonathan Holmes is one of those. Speaking with RT International (formerly Russia Today), Holmes is of the opinion that pulling the game was nothing more than a PR-savvy action, and that Target had already made plenty of money off GTA V in the past year. Further, when the next Grand Theft Auto releases, there's a fair chance it'll be right on that store shelf where it can make Target millions again. |
| LIVE! Absinthe vs. The Talos Principle: A Most Distinguished Stream Posted: 08 Dec 2014 06:00 AM PST You guys might recall (we sure as hell don't) a month or so ago, Devolver Digital sent me and Bill an early build of Titan Souls and a couple large bottles of some sort of ale made by wizards or monks or something. Bill and I somehow managed to beat a couple of the extremely difficult bosses, and then uhh. I think I put on Hotline Miami and died repeatedly in the tutorial mission. Today, we're about to embark on a similar and equally stupid mission: we're going to drink some Pernod (Absinthe Supérieure!) the way it's meant to be served: with a golden spatula and some sugar cubes and little cups that look like bells, and we're gonna be wearing neckties and playing The Talos Principle while we do it. The Talos Principle, if you're unfamiliar, is a philosophical first-person puzzle game from Croteam, the creators of the very stupid (but fun) Serious Sam series, and presumably, they got all the idiotic smashing of things out of their system, because Talos looks like a lot like Portal, but way more surreal, and with lots of pretty trees and stuff. This'll be happening LIVE at 2 PM Pacific (that's two hours from now) on Twitch.TV/Destructoid |
| Best Buy runs Buy 2 Games, Get 1 Free as Xmas nears Posted: 08 Dec 2014 06:00 AM PST Deals brought to you by the crew at Dealzon. FYI: sales from certain retailers go toward supporting Destructoid. Christmas is just around the corner, marking the return of the BOGO game deals. If you didn't grab anything from the Target promotion last month, you now have a second chance at Best Buy. For this week only, Best Buy is running a Buy 2 Games, Get 1 Free promotion for most major platforms. Strangely missing are Wii U, 3DS, and PS Vita games. We're not sure why retailers rarely discount Wii U titles, but that's how the dice have rolled as of late. Pre-order titles are excluded too, so forget about adding next summer's Batman: Arkham Knight into the mix. (Do people even pre-order that far ahead?) |
| The Witness is coming 'not that late in 2015, hopefully' and looks great Posted: 08 Dec 2014 05:30 AM PST Playing a puzzle game in front of a developer is a nerve-racking experience, let me tell you. At some point, your brain will betray you. You'll get stuck. And since the game is still being made, the developer won't want to provide any hints. None. You're on your own looking like a complete fool. Playing a puzzle game in front of a developer -- in this case, Braid and The Witness designer Jonathan Blow -- and an audience, both in-person and online is ... I can't even fathom. That out of the way, The Witness looks fantastic in this gameplay demonstration out of PlayStation Experience. Keep forgetting this is a 700-puzzle, 30- to 40-hour game. |
| Two new characters revealed for indie brawler Rivals of Aether Posted: 08 Dec 2014 05:00 AM PST I am a little surprised that we have not yet properly talked about Rivals of Aether on Destructoid. Aside from a brief mention among dozens of other games, we have not looked at the 2D pixel art Smash Bros.-like fighting game. Every time a piece of content would hit the tips inbox, I would think, "This looks cool. Surely somebody will write about it." And then it gets buried in piles of new emails forever. Shame on me. So we have some catching up to do. Rivals of Aether is an upcoming fighting game built by Dan Fornace, whose work we have seen in the Game Boy style Super Smash Bros. demake Super Smash Land. Wanting to work on a game that could actually be marketed and sold, he began creating Rivals, which features similar mechanics to those found in Smash Bros. but included original characters and environments. Previously, we had only seen two characters: the fire elemental lion Zetterburn and water elemental mammal Orcane (seen in the video below). Today Fornace revealed two more: wind elemental bird Wrastor and earth elemental beetle Kragg. The character bio page has another square for additional fighter(s), with the message "Who's next?" Considering the connection of each fighter to a particular element, I think we can expect the usual light/holy and dark/evil to show up, but I am half-hoping this goes Captain Planet-style and the fifth character represents heart. Rivals of Aether is expecting to release in 2015 for PC and Xbox One. |
| CD Projekt moves The Witcher 3 to May 19, 2015 Posted: 08 Dec 2014 04:30 AM PST CD Projekt RED already pushed The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt back to 2015, but the studio needs an extra few more months still. The massive action-RPG is now scheduled for May 19, 2015. The delay announcement is refreshing in that "We set the release date too hastily" isn't something you often hear in a press release. CD Projekt also calls The Witcher 3 "the most important game in our studio's history," noting that "we must be absolutely sure that we did everything we could to limit any bugs to a level that will allow you to enjoy the game thoroughly." While I'm not expecting perfection by any means, I am expecting greatness. Here's hoping for a smooth launch, rare a thing as that's become. And, back to that point about release dates, the studio should stealth release Cyberpunk 2077 when the game is done like four years from now. |
| Posted: 08 Dec 2014 04:00 AM PST During the first fifteen minutes of Ultraworld, I was blown away by how bad it was. It was "you have got to be kidding me; this must be a joke; one out of ten" bad. The gameplay was trite, and it was matched with some of the most inane, pseudo-intellectual drivel in recent memory. Fortunately, it gets better. After a fourth wall-breaking twist, the game opens up and becomes more enjoyable as a relaxed exploration game through its sharply colored world. However, better than terrible can still be pretty bad. |
| Disney Infinity 2.0 is coming to the Vita, will have Black Suit Spider-Man Posted: 08 Dec 2014 03:30 AM PST Disney Interactive has announced a Vita version for Disney Infinity 2.0, and it'll be getting some exclusive swag with it. According to the publisher, buyers of the Vita edition will get a Black Suit Spider-Man figure when it arrives in May. Apparently you'll get a Bluetooth base as well, and it'll work with the PlayStation TV. All good news for sure, and a wireless base is a neat convenience. Disney Infinity [Twitter] |
| Driveclub is getting an extreme weather patch today Posted: 08 Dec 2014 03:00 AM PST Driveclub is still having quite a few issues, and Sony is still not giving us any concrete details on the PlayStation Plus program status. Today it's getting a 1.4GB patch that adds a ton of dynamic weather improvements, most of which are extremely impressive. You'll also get two new tracks, more control options, more offline mechanics, and some bug fixes. Hopefully it will be fixed enough to get the Plus version out of the door eventually -- Sony has been disappointingly silent on the issue for weeks. |
| This Tekken 20th anniversary video brings me back Posted: 08 Dec 2014 02:30 AM PST I still remember the first time I played Tekken. I never really got into Virtua Fighter until the fourth iteration, but as soon as Tekken was available on the first PlayStation, I was obsessed. Over the years I enjoyed all of the wacky extras in tow, like Tekken Ball and the beat 'em ups, and I still dabble in the series on occasion. Now you can relive some of those moments with the above video, which is a 20th anniversary celebration of sorts, with brief bits of each game's intros. I love seeing the cheesy CG evolve in better looking but still cheesy CG. |
| This Lucina figure is looking pretty damn great Posted: 08 Dec 2014 02:00 AM PST Japan is getting an amazing Figma figure next year -- Lucina from Fire Emblem: Awakening. It's up for pre-order now from retailers like AmiAmi, and it'll drop in April 2015. I think I'm going to have the mask on permanently -- it looks too cool. Of course, this figure makes me lament the fact that Lucina doesn't have a mask-variant costume in Smash Bros. |
| The Banner Saga 2 picks up on PS4, Xbox One, PC Posted: 08 Dec 2014 01:30 AM PST The Banner Saga 2, which was just revealed at the Game Awards over the weekend, is coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in 2015, Stoic Studio and Versus Evil announced today. The strategy role-playing game will resume where its predecessor left off, which was on quite the cliffhanger, if memory serves. It will be fascinating to see how Stoic forges ahead with this bleak tale. Expect more details on that sometime shortly after the New Year. The Banner Saga released on PC and mobile devices earlier this year, and ports are currently in the works for home consoles and PlayStation Vita. Be on the lookout for those as well! |
| Toys"R"Us' exclusive Lucario amiibo is sold out online Posted: 08 Dec 2014 12:30 AM PST I really like covering toys on Destructoid. I get to talk to a ton of like-minded collectors, share shopping strategies, and the community in general always comes together to help one another. It's a feel-good experience even with scalpers on the loose. Just so you're aware, the Lucario amiibo is now sold out on Toys"R"Us' website, and many stores as a result are no longer taking pre-orders. Now, this doesn't mean that there will be no more stock in the future, as Nintendo could up the pre-order count with the retailer or stock them after it actually comes out in February. But as it stands, I would add Lucario to your wishlist and sign up for notifications for when it's available. Also, think about pre-ordering Shulk and Meta Knight now at GameStop and Best Buy respectively if you want them. Lucario amiibo [Toys"R"Us] |
| LittleBigPlanet 3 celebrates the PlayStation Anniversary Posted: 08 Dec 2014 12:00 AM PST LittleBigPlanet is a pretty special franchise to me, and I'm glad Sony has allowed it to stay around for so long. Compliments of LittleBigPlanet 3's new engine, you can get a quick look at some other Sony franchises like Twisted Metal, Shadow of the Colossus, and God of War in the form of a 20th anniversary celebration. There's a lot of good stuff in there, and I'm hoping that more than a few of the franchises seen here aren't done -- like PaRappa. |
| Posted: 07 Dec 2014 10:00 PM PST While playing The Talos Principle, much of my time was spent sitting at my desk, chin in hand, deep in thought. I can only imagine the puzzled look on my face as I considered options, ran scenarios in my head, and generally did a lot more thinking than most games ask of players. The Talos Principle consists of two largely separate interactions: physics-based puzzles and philosophical discussion. The real strength of the title is that while each could reasonably exist without the other, both elicit the above response in equal measure. The demand that the player really think is the thread that ties the whole game together. |
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