Katarina is a deadly assassin in League of Legends. She wields giant daggers that take down all in her path. This cosplayer looks like she embodies the character to a tee: the costume looks perfect and her poses look fierce.
JamesBl0nde starts of the first look of the year with Warframe which is among the games that were highly anticipated for 2013. This game looks like a mix of Mass Effect and Dead Space that lets players join together cooperatively or solo through mission style gameplay.
Much news are haerd about the Defiance TV show series from Syfy, and finally Trion Worlds also released a new co-op trailer for its upcoming open world shooter MMO - Defiance. The trailer previews the bad-ass bosses, ultra-modern alien-tech weaponry, insanely large battles, and cool vehicles. Check it out right now!
DragonSaga SEA starts OBT on Jan. 11, 2013. Before playing, you may be interested in the interview with the community manager,Bessie, talking about the features and special system of the game.
While the game itself has yet to even enter Closed Beta in China, the new drama series will apparently start airing in March. Although both works are based on the classic novel penned by Louis Cha (Jin Yong), information is lacking if Perfect World invested in the drama's production.
ArcheAge is drawing more and more attention as its open beta going on smoothly in Korea. According to the Korean netbar ranking list, ArcheAge grabs the fifth seat in the list and becomes the focus of the game industry. What's more, after announcing the pre-order pricing plan, ArcheAge debuted at No.9 of the Korean virtual item trading list in less than 7 days of launch.
Redbana, a publisher of free-to-play online games, today announced the launch of Granado Espada (formerly Sword 2) the free-to-play, massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) through the T3Fun.com gaming portal.
League of Legends developer Riot Games has announced details of its third championship season, marking the start of another serious eSports push for the immensely popular MOBA title.
Have you read the news, Blade and Soul(CN) Stress Test Stats on January 14th? Now you still have time to grab an activation code. But, at the very beginning, you should sign up in Blade and Soul CN official site. Please check out the guide below.
Digital Extremes is partnering with FREE MMORPG and MMOReviews to give away 2000 Closed Beta keys for Warframe. The game is a third-person, co-op focused action game which situates players as members of the Tenno race, newly awoken after years of cryo-sleep into a solar system at war. Reborn into a corrupt era, the Tenno are [...]
Navyfield 2 has revealed the beginning of its public evaluation test which comes in 3 different languages. Interested players may request an invitation on the pre-register website which will go live on the 16th January 2013. Throughout the Public Evaluation Test, the Nexon Team will continuously invite more test players who pre-registered and has planned a [...]
Perfect World Entertainment an Cryptic have unveiled the fourth class of Neverwinter, the Great Weapon Fighter. This class is a Damage Dealer, which can be converted promptly to a Defender if the situation requires it. This class is capable of confronting multiple enemies at once, and finish them with powerful and precise attacks. Great Weapon [...]
A new demigod, Hercules, the champion of Rome has arrived to SMITE.The video below give you the first detailed overview on how to play this powerful new god that is available after today's patch. In addition to adding a new God, the game has received several improvements to help balance the game even more including [...]
Capcom is, yet again, producing a collection of their old arcade games. The publisher announced today Capcom Arcade Cabinet, a package of 30 arcade titles coming as a downloadable release for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, along with a teaser image to help fans guess at which games will be included in the release. They promise more information will be forthcoming on February 7th.
Nobody knows how to repackage content like Capcom does. They had the Capcom Classics Collection in the last console generation. The one before that saw the release of Capcom Generations. And that's ignoring other standalone re-hashes like Final Fight: Double Impact. I'm probably done buying them unless they come up with a few really tantalizing games which haven't seen western release, but my money's on there not being much of anything you couldn't grab in the exceptional two volumes comprising the Capcom Classics Collection (should you still have a device capable of running it).
Crowdfunded action-RPG Path of Exileis about to finish up its closed beta phase. Come January 23, it will be in open beta. On top of this, the third act of the game will also be unveiled, and will see players explore the docks, markets, sewers and other abandoned places in the city of Sarn.
The free-to-play title boasts "ethical microtransactions," a gigantic and flexible skill tree, and one of those dark and gritty worlds that people seem to lap up these days.
I must confess to being rather impressed with the huge scope of the skill tree -- one could easily lose themselves in it for quite some time. I'm always up for another action-RPG, so I'll no doubt be taking a peek myself, later this month.
When Hitman HD: Trilogyappeared on Amazon prior to being officially announced by Square Enix, we got a glimpse of the art book that's being included in first-run copies of the game. Today, the publisher confirmed this limited edition which features 22 artist reinterpretations of scenes from the Hitman series at no extra cost.
Additionally, a website has been set up to sell autographed lithographs of this artwork and also host a contest for a custom Xbox 360, shown below in the gallery. Square Enix is looking for fans to submit their own art (e.g., a drawing, painting, or model) from Contracts, Hitman 2, or Blood Money, the titles featured in this compilation.
Nintendo World Report has gotten their hands on a canceled Crash Bandicoot game for the DS. Crash Landed, as it was called, was in development by Mutant Muddsdeveloper Renegade Kid sometime in 2008/2009 for Activision.
The video shows off Crash in a full-3D world as he explores a beach. I spoke with with Jools Watsham, co-founder & director at Renegade Kid and he informed me the demo video you're seeing was made in two weeks. Pretty impressive all things considered.
Not sure how I feel about Crash Bandicoot these days. The games were fun to play growing up, but I can't imagine they've stood the test of time.
I often find myself so short on cash that I end up smashing the bottom of whiskey bottles and licking the insides. My scarred and scabby tongue is a testament to both my dedication and poverty. So where does that leave me when it comes to buying new games? Normally in a bit of bother, to be honest, but that changes today.
The Free Bundle does exactly what is says on the tin. Free games, people! Devour them at your leisure. This wondrous bundle contains Nitronic Rush, Ascension,Celestial Mechanica, Imscared, and Abobo's Big Adventurefor bugger all. That's quite the deal for a rather excellent selection of titles. If you already own them, tell less fortunate souls and revel in their joy.
As promised, Blue Core Studios held the world premier of director Eddie Lebron's Sonic at MAGFest this past weekend. The viewing wasn't without a hitch, however. The final cut of the film was lost as a result of a Trojan, so instead we were treated to a production cut with several effects still not added (man, was that good for a few laughs!). After MAGFest ended, the team spent the next few days putting the movie back in a watchable state, and here we are. I'm still not too happy with the audio mixing, but whatevs.
The nearly 20-minute short stars Jaleel White, reprising his role as the Blue Blur from the three DIC Entertainment Sonic cartoons. Allfather Niero believes that Jaleel really phoned in his performance, but I think he adds a warm element of familiarity in a film that is otherwise very... off. Eddie says that Sonic is a mere spec film, but I would have rather he fleshed out and made a standalone tale that actually went somewhere, like his Mega Man film.
But I'll give credit where credit is due: The Robotnik actor is AMAZING! I also like the surprise cameos from various Internet personalities like brentalfloss, James "AVGN" Rolfe, ScrewAttack's Stuttering Craig, That Guy With the Glasses' Doug Walker, and Egoraptor. So there's that.
Let me know what you think, especially of Sonic's freakishly hairy character model.
This year's PAX East keynote (or "Storytime" as Penny Arcade is referring to it as now) will be hosted by Cliff Bleszinski. The charismatic man is always a pleasure to listen to, and I'm really looking forward to hearing what he has to say. Who knows, maybe he'll make an announcement about his future in the gaming industry!
Additionally, the concert lineup has been announced. Friday night's concerts will see VGO, Those Who Fight, and The Protomen. Saturday concerts will feature Sam Hart, Frontalot, Jonathan Coulton, and Paul and Storm.
If you're anything like me, you come to Destructoid for the community just as much as the gaming news and reviews and whatnot. So why not take the plunge and join in on one of the longest-standing community traditions we have here at Dtoid: Friday Night Fights!
Not familiar? Basically, we just get together every week and play videogames online! Fun, right? The way it works is simple:
Head on over to our Forums any time during the week and sign up to host a match, or express interest in someone else's match. The important thing to remember here is that anyone can host FNF. This is a community-run event -- that means you people!
Then, on Friday morning, check out the Community Blogs section to find the "official" posts from each of your hard-working FNF czars: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, and PC. Use these blogs for additional planning if need be!
Finally, check out the front page at 1:30 PM Pacific every Friday for a complete listing of what everyone's playing! And if you forgot to sign up earlier in the week, there's no need to facepalm; just use the comments section to post your match!
Like I said: it's simple! So does this sound like your cup of tea? Great! Then why not sign up to host something right now?! Below is a list of everything being hosted so far. There's still time to add your game to the schedule before tomorrow's matches!
Last month, Alessandro Fillari brought you a preview of The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct. I attended the event with Alessandro and we both thought there were some good ideas behind the project. A lot of work still needed to be done, though -- especially with the visuals. Developer Terminal Reality may have been able to make things work out alright if the game was releasing towards the end of this year.
As we found out today, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct will be coming out March 26, 2013 in North America for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii U. Oh boy.
Remember that fan-made trailer we all thought was real? While it wasn't an official trailer, it was in fact put together using gameplay footage. It's the same exact gameplay we saw at our preview session less than a month ago. It's hard to have any hope at this stage when Survival Instinct is due out in less than three months.
Terminal Reality's principle effects artist Glenn Gamble took to Eurogamer asking fans to not judge Survival Instinct based on "old footage." He states that the team has "made big strides" since the footage that was released.
If that's the case, this is the point where I have to say prove it. Unfortunately, it seems like they've only gone ahead and affirmed my concerns that the game is going to be super rushed; the second trailer released for Survival Instinctis a 19-second video featuring actors Michael Rooker and Norman Reedus quickly promoting the game. Sigh.
Let's actually recap the history of The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct for a second. On July 6, 2012, Activision announced its plans to make a Walking Dead game based on AMC's version of the story. A week later, Activsion went to San Diego Comic-Con where a small part of the publisher's booth featured the teaser trailer that didn't have any gameplay footage at all. Then, in August, I was given a PowerPoint presentation for the game at gamescom.
Towards the end of December 2012 is when we finally got to see real gameplay footage in-person at a hands-off preview. Several days later, that fan trailer was released, comprised of gameplay footage that was publicly shown in an interview with IGN Start.
And that brings us to the present, where Activision is just now announcing the Wii U version, with a second trailer featuring nothing but two actors talking about their roles, all three months before release.
I think I'm stating the obvious here when I say that none of this sounds good at all. Survival Instinct would have had a chance given several more months of development time. Given the state of how things are playing out, I'm getting nothing but feelings of déjà vu here.
You know what the real stinker is? Survival Instinct is most likely going to sell really well. The majority of the videogame-buying market doesn't pay attention to the online gaming scene. You people reading this are in the minority (still). AMC's The Walking Dead is one of the most-viewed shows on television right now, and it's that popularity that's going to get people to make impulse purchases once they see the game on store shelves.
Not to mention that Terminal Reality's version will be riding on the wave of success from Telltale's amazing efforts. Your average consumer won't know that there's two totally different Walking Dead games out on the market (three if you count the other iOS exclusive game). They're just going to hear that the Walking Dead game is great, unaware of the difference, and will end up being disappointed.
[Dtoid community blogger ChillyBilly shares his personal story of how he became a videogame collector, and why he's decided to stop. Want to see your own words appear on the front page? Go write something! --Mr Andy Dixon]
One thousand, five hundred sixty two games. Thirty three consoles. Forty seven handhelds. Hundreds of pre-order goodies, posters, toys and little tchotchkes.
The culmination of over five years of hardcore collecting.
And you know what?
I'm done.
I've come to a realization recently; I have too much stuff and not enough room. I've been collecting videogames, consoles, handhelds, tabletop videogames, toys, pre-order items, and more for over five years now. I've been part of some massive trades with other collectors, bought stuff from friends I've made on Destructoid, and have had people from all over the world send me games. I went from having a small CD shelf with 10 games on it to enough stuff to completely fill two master bedrooms.
I can't do it anymore. I've lost the "drive", that spark that kept me wanting more, more, more. I can't say that it has to do with age; sure, I'm almost 40 now, but I didn't start really collecting until I was just about in my mid-30s. It's not because I have a family now; hell I've had a family for the past eight years and they've always been supportive (to a crazy degree) of my hobby.
So what is it then? Why now? Why quit? Why not keep going? Sure I'm technically out of room, but I could always get a storage unit. That's what I tell myself, anyway. To be totally honest, that's what my wife tells me as well. You see, my collecting has been sort of a family thing for the past five years. It's not unusual for all of us (my wife, my daughter, and myself) to pile in to the car and hit up all the local Goodwill stores and other various thrift stores in the area.
This is when it hits; when you know you have a problem.
I'm getting ahead of myself, let me start at the beginning.
I had quit gaming for a long time. Before the Wii was released, that last console I actually owned was a Nintendo 64. I had an original PlayStation for about a month, but traded it for a guitar. I went through a phase in my life where videogames just didn't seem important to me. I was starting my professional career and found myself doing other things that took up any free time that I would have had for games. I tried to keep up with the whole gaming scene for a while, flipping through gaming magazines at various stores, glancing at games when I would go to Target or Walmart, but I just didn't have that urge to play, to get back in to gaming. I just didn’t care.
Fast forward to November 2006, and there was a new buzz on the playground. A new "hit" was sweeping the videogame nation. Nintendo had apparently released a machine that was blowing people's minds; so much so that you had to stand in line for hours -- days even -- just to try to get one. This piqued my interest. I had been thinking about possibly getting back in to gaming (after a brief stint with some PC gaming), and this seemed like just the thing I needed, or at least wanted. At least I thought I wanted it. I mean, hell, who wouldn't have wanted it when all you would hear about is how Nintendo was changing the way we thought about playing games? How they were changing the landscape of gaming forever with their new-fangled motion controls?
After a little research I started to feel that itch again. It was familiar; I wanted to play a videogame. More to the point, I wanted to play a videogame on the Wii. So out I went, into the cold, November breeze, on a mission to get a Nintendo Wii. As luck would have it I didn't have to wait long. (Well, not that long.) A local Toys “R” Us was “getting a shipment in” (according to the store manager); all I had to do was show up at 6:00 a.m. and patiently stand in line. I showed up, stood in line, froze my ass off, almost left from frostbite, and then eventually left with a brand new Wii and a couple games. All it took was three hours.
After a week or so of playing the Wii pretty much non-stop I wanted more. If gaming had come this far, at least in my mind, what else was out there? What was I missing?
I had to know.
I made a trip to my local GameStop, and after talking with a few associates I decided that the next step in my return to gaming would be a brand new Xbox 360. I was told that Halo and Gears of War were games that I absolutely had to play, and who was I to argue? These guys worked at GameStop for crying out loud; they knew everything about games! (Oh how naive I was.) So I plunked down a few coin and headed home with my new toy. This is pretty much when it all happened. I found myself plowing through games; I'd finish them as fast as I bought them. I went from owning two games to ten. From ten to thirty. Next thing I knew I was buying a new shelf to hold all of my games. I was going out of my way to look for deals, games on sale, clearance items; hell, I was even stopping by flea markets and yard sales, whatever I could do to find good deals on games that looked interesting, or interesting enough to pick up.
Next thing I knew I was bidding on older consoles on eBay and shopgoodwill.com. Super Nintendo, the original NES, and the Sega Genesis... hell, I didn't care. I wanted to relive my childhood; I wanted to play some of the classics that I loved as a kid. I went from owning one console (the Wii) to almost ten within the first six months. I couldn't tell you how many games I had -- a hundred at least, maybe more. No, I'm sure it was more.
One of my first "haul pictures". I was so excited to be collecting and gaming again.
Eventually my love for playing and collecting games had turned in to a hobby; no, it turned in to an obsession. It didn't help that my wife (girlfriend at the time) encouraged me every chance she could to "bid on this", "stop at this store here", "check out this clearance rack over here". To be totally honest, my collection wouldn't be half as big as it is now if it wasn't for her and her unrelenting drive to help me find and get everything I could. This went on for a couple years. Eventually, I started meeting people on Destructoid who shared my passion for collecting (I'm looking at you, Funktastic). I started trading with them, buying games from others, asking people in different countries to pick this up for me in return for something else. My collecting had gone from a literal handful of games to an entire master bedroom full of junk. It never really hit me though, just how much stuff I had amassed over the years until one day, about six months ago.
My family was getting ready to make the move from Chicago back to Orlando. We (my wife and I) were both from Orlando and thought that we had been away long enough (almost eight years). It was time to pick the family up and make the move. We had a good reason for this; we were in Chicago so that my wife could finish her PhD. Once she was done -- or at least done enough for us to not be there anymore -- we started packing for the big move. This is when it hit; and let me tell you, it hit like a ton of bricks. Seeing as we were moving ourselves, it fell on me to pack up my collection to get it ready for the move.
I couldn't believe what I was staring at.
Boxes, Tupperware bins, storage containers; you name it, I had games in it. And not just games, but toys, posters, clothes, hats, buttons, stickers -- AHHHHH! So much stuff! I had a small panic attack. Had I really collected this much stuff over the years? Did I really spend god-knows-how-much getting all of this? How the hell was my wife still with me?! Better yet, how the hell did I let my collecting get so out of control?! When did I hit that point where it all became spend, spend, spend and not moderation, moderation, moderation? It took me a couple of days to actually get around to going through everything. I didn't want to look at the pile of stuff there, in the corner. I didn't want to think about how many boxes and poster tubes it would take to get it all in to a moving truck. To be totally honest, I wanted it all gone. I wanted to take it all to the dumpster and just leave it there. And you know what? Some of it I did.
One corner of our master bedroom before we moved.
Before I took on the challenge of packing everything away I started going through the posters and pre-order items that I had amassed over the years. I was giving stuff away to kids in my apartment building, and some of the bigger stuff like standees from GameStop I threw in the dumpster -- and I did so when it was raining out, so that I knew there was no going back. Yes, I got to the point to where I was purposefully throwing stuff out that would pretty much be instantly ruined because I knew that I would have second thoughts. Once I felt I had whittled the pile away enough I started the task of packing everything away. I have to give so much credit to my wife for helping me with this; she sat there through the whole thing and helped me inventory everything that went into a box. It took us two weeks to get everything sorted, inventoried and packed.
From that point forward I knew I was done.
Just starting to load the moving truck.
Once we made it to Orlando and to our new place I unloaded my entire collection in to the garage. It stayed there for a week or so. I didn't really feel like going through it, and I sure as hell didn't want it in the house; it was nice living clutter free for once. Eventually, though, I broke down and moved some stuff in; I didn't want certain things to get damaged by the Florida heat and humidity. We had a small closet that no one was using so I turned it in to my "Game Closet". I put all my consoles, handhelds and Xbox 360 games in there. The rest is still in the garage.
My "Game Closet".
Honestly, that’s where I want it all to stay -- for now, anyway. I do have other reason for “slowing down” though; it’s not all because of space (although that’s a pretty big part). You see, it looks like we may be moving again (I say “may” like there’s still a chance we won’t). In a few days my wife leaves for the Czech Republic. She has accepted a Post Doc position with a school in Brno. This is a three year deal and in August my daughter and I will be following. I can’t take all of this stuff with me, and I don’t want to have to shell out for a large storage unit to keep it safe until we return.
I’m not going to stop completely, however, I have no intentions on quitting gaming or buying games -- not at all -- I’m just going to go about it in a more responsible way. My love for videogames has never been stronger. I was excited for the Wii U and bought one on launch day; hell, I even have a handful of games for it. The one thing I am done with, though, is the need to always have everything. Since I've been back in Florida (since late August) I've purchased less than a dozen games. This may still seem like a lot to some but for me it is a major step back, especially when you're averaging 20 to 30 games a month.
I still plan on picking up the games that I really want, but I'm no longer going to buy every game just because everyone else is playing it. I've also decided to stop buying collector's editions just for the sake of having the collector’s editions. Right now, every collector’s edition of a game I have is in a box, in the garage. It doesn't make sense to me anymore to spend that much money on something that's just going to be packed away.
So I guess that's it. I'm done. It's over. My collector’s hat has been officially hung up. It's been a hell of a run; I've made some amazing friendships along the way, found some pretty sweet games and old consoles. I want to give a special thanks to the Destructoid community for putting up with my haul blogs over the years. I appreciate all the feedback and comments that have been left.
Thanks to Funktastic for being my bestest collecting buddy, Occams electric toothbrush for being my gaming dealer, Gareth, Lenigod, SuperMonk4Ever, LawofThermalDynamics, and everyone else who has helped me grow my collection.
As a side note, I'd like to apologize profusely for my audio, which sounds pretty awful. Without going into specifics, a huge amount of credit for this episode even being listenable at all goes to Christopher Rumore, Office Chat's new regular video editor, who managed to save it from the pit. Cheers!
Speaking to CNET at CES 2013, Sony Network Entertainment COO Shawn Layden shared the company's plan to launch a web version of the U.S. PlayStation Store later this month, something that probably should have been available in the region long, long ago.
Being able to see and buy what's on the store without booting up your PlayStation 3 might not necessarily seem like a high priority, but it has become an expected feature of digital marketplaces and will frankly be a good business decision for Sony. The easier it is for us to spend our money, the better it is for them.
Also worth noting is that, according to Layden, the redesigned PlayStation Store resulted in double-digit growth in both the U.S. and Europe. Perhaps we'll see more steady updates to the user interface as a result.
Redbana today announced the launch of Granado Espada (formerly Sword 2) the free-to-play, massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) through the T3Fun.com gaming portal.
Redbana will take over publishing of the popular MMO, Sword 2, into its newest chapter of Granada Espada with major content updates throughout the title beginning today. The Granado Espada storyline leverages the 17th century Age of Exploration in Europe as the backdrop for explorers to embark in their conquest of the New World.
Players migrating from Sword 2 will be able to continue with existing characters and benefit from a Loyalty gift as a welcome from Redbana, including:
Master Explorer Pack : 40 percent speed up of experience speed and drop rate for 30 days, User can also enter forgotten dungeon 3 Master Cards : Enables users to level up to the master level immediately Unique Medal : Special decoration on user’s account for loyal users that have stuck by Sword 2
Granado Espada’s multi-character control adds a layer of game play depth, challenging player strategy techniques by mixing and matching a party of three, choosing from several character class archetypes. This launch will also introduce some new features to the game, including:
New Characters: 14 Brand NEW Recruit NPCs New Weapons: The most powerful “Strata Devil,” also has five accessories that can only be worn by masters and other weapons and stances New Costumes and Armor: Including six types of Strata Devil Armor and RARE weapon costumes New Maps and Missions: include the Secret Garden, Lucifer’s Castle, the Banquet Hall and Death Corridor in Lucifer’s Castle
A product of famed game developer, Hak Kyu Kim, creator of Ragnarok Online, Granado Espada’s dramatic visuals are complemented with dynamic and fast paced action and unique player vs. player battles, including a dueling system and the treacherous Baron Mode.
“Granado Espada is a re-birth of an incredibly immersive game,” said Jun Hyun Kim, CEO of Redbana. “Like all games to come under the Redbana banner, we are fully-committed to adding major content updates on a monthly basis. Our recipe for success in this market is to continue to give players rich and new content. This is a key element for a free-to-play game to not only survive, but to keep players happy and engaged.”
Granado Espada will be the flagship game for North America publisher Redbana. With an established office in Los Angeles, Redbana is committed to producing free-to-play games with updates based on subscriber feedback, analytics and business intelligence.
JamesBl0nde starts of the first look of the year with Warframe which is among the games that were highly anticipated for 2013. This game looks like a mix of Mass Effect and Dead Space that lets players join together cooperatively or solo through mission style gameplay. The game is setup so that it always randomizes the missions and levels from pre-made creations and every component of the game has its own upgrade/skill tree. Check out the video to see more, check out the game profile to learn more, and to get into the game yourself head over to the giveaway and snag a closed beta key.
