Wednesday, March 23, 2016

New Games

New Games


Battleborn features a TV-style story mode, open beta next month

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 03:30 PM PDT

New details have been revealed about Battleborn's story mode that will take place over eight "TV-style episodes."

According to the official site, "the game's Story Mode is structured just like some of our favorite episodic television shows; from Star Trek and X-Files, to cartoon throwbacks like X-Men and Transformers. Collectively, the 'season' included with the game has one large over-arching story spanning eight episodes (plus a prologue), and each episode tells a self-contained story about the Battleborn's fight to save the last star, Solus." 

Battleborn features a TV-style story mode, open beta next month screenshot

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Slain looks sufficiently intimidating in this launch trailer

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 02:30 PM PDT

After a round of delays, Wolf Brew Games is bringing its brutal hack-and-slash platformer Slain! to Steam tomorrow, March 24. The console versions are still coming, but not until later this year.

The lighting, particle effects, and sometimes eye-melting color palettes in the game look dang cool in motion -- most of our coverage has used gifs, not screenshots, for that reason -- and what's shown in this launch trailer is no exception. I hope it's as engaging to play as it is to look at.

Between this, Salt and Sanctuary, and Dark Souls III, I'm about to die a whole hell of a lot in games.

Slain looks sufficiently intimidating in this launch trailer screenshot

Fans of Nuclear Throne and The Binding of Isaac will love Enter the Gungeon

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 01:30 PM PDT

Since Nuclear Throne and The Binding of Isaac hit Steam, there have been numerous clones. To call Enter the Gungeon one would be unfair. While there are many similarities between them, it has enough variety to stand alongside those titles as a leader, instead of a follower.

If you're the kind of person who loves long sessions across multiple runs of a game, you're going to love entering the Gungeon.

Fans of Nuclear Throne and The Binding of Isaac will love Enter the Gungeon screenshot

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Don't Starve: Shipwrecked leaves Early Access next week

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 01:00 PM PDT

If you were waiting until Don't Starve's latest expansion worked its way through Steam Early Access before giving it any attention, much less paying $4.99 to play it, know that it's almost time to circle back. Shipwrecked launches for real next Thursday, March 31 on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

I've skipped the prior DLC -- I'm just not very good at the game, y'know? -- but I'm so into the tropical setting and the new monsters that I'm willing to give this whole survival thing another serious attempt. I can all but guarantee I'll die young, probably at the hands of something lame.

Remember: don't drink the salt water.

Don't Starve: Shipwrecked leaves Early Access next week screenshot

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Uncharted 4 video extols the power of the PS4

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 12:30 PM PDT

I have to admit I was pretty jazzed about technical powering Uncharted: Drake's Fortune leading up to its PlayStation 3 release. Little details from water physics (and Drake's varying levels of dampness when submerged) to loads of variable cover animations helped Uncharted come alive and sell what was basically Tomb Raider, a long scuttled franchise (that, ironically, Uncharted's success must have had a hand in rebooting).

So copping this second part behind the scenes video of Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is a good bit of fun. I was just rose-tintedly remembering how many games tried to shoehorn in driving sequences and other things to break up monotony (most of the time they were awful!), and here's Naughty Dog talking about the crazy attention to detail paid to A Thief's End driving, down to how the tires interact with different parts of the world, just like how detailed Drake's climbing mechanics are.

Pretty good. Uncharted 4 is done with delays and coming to PS4 May 10. I have a feeling it'll easily top Uncharted 3. Things like organic stealth (and being able to completely sidestep certain enemies, as opposed to stealth only being a different means of murder), the grappling rope, and the insistence on a more movement-focused cover-based shooting (cover degrades and environments are larger, a disincentive to "stop and pop" holing up behind one piece of cover) have me interested.

Uncharted 4 video extols the power of the PS4 screenshot

Review: Fallout 4: Automatron

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 12:00 PM PDT

I played a lot of Fallout 4 last year. Too much, too quickly, in retrospect.

It was one of those games I loved in the moment, but whenever I stopped to think about the bigger picture, I couldn't get away from the nagging feeling that it wasn't the step up that it could have and probably should have been. It was just so similar. So... safe. Then I kept playing anyway.

The first paid DLC, Automatron, attempts to inject new life into Fallout 4 with a short series of quests and a bunch of robots. Crazy, murderous, human-skull-wearing robots. You can even build your own, assuming you've stocked up on wasteland scraps and have the right character build.

Review: Fallout 4: Automatron screenshot

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Why the fuck would you call your service 'boondoggle'?

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 11:30 AM PDT

Here is what Google greets you with when you search "boondoggle:"

"noun. 1. work or activity that is wasteful or pointless but gives the appearance of having value."

Which, I mean, is appropriate for Boondogl, the just-launched monthly subscription service in a long ass line of monthly subscription services billing themselves as "Netflix for video games." 

Oh, but there's a dog in a hat as the site's mascot, you say? Boon-dog-l? Get it? No I don't fucking get it and the elided "Boondogl" text on the official site is colored in such a way that it reads "Boondo-gl," so I especially don't get it.

"For one low monthly fee," you "get unlimited access to every game on Boondogl, which includes indie, AAA, retro, and even VR games" over "any device/cross-platform?" No one has ever tried this. This has never ended badly. This fucking business venture certainly isn't "wasteful or pointless but gives the appearance of having value."

Look, I'm not a businessman (I'm a business, man) and on some level I appreciate you naming your business after what it is: a steaming load of shit. It'd be like if Coke was called "Dank Diabetes Water" or an airline was called "Crashes and Delays" or Sharper Image was called "Toys for Twats." But I'm pretty sure it's bad business to overtly telegraph that your company is highfalutin useless twaddle.

Why the fuck would you call your service 'boondoggle'? screenshot

Starr Mazer DSP was easily the highlight of my GDC

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 11:00 AM PDT

GDC, like most gaming conventions, is a chaotic endeavor where there's virtually no chance that we'll cover every game that we want to. Steven, Brett, and I all walked an average of ten miles a day as we dashed across San Francisco from appointment to appointment. My dumb ass even decided to wear nice, uncomfortable boots so that I could be Maximum Impressive. So, when I was about to take public transit back to Steven's place to rest for a bit and he texted me, telling me to go to a Starr Mazer appointment, I briefly considered blowing it off and throwing one of my stupid boots through Steven's kitchen window.

I'm glad I didn't vandalize Steven's house for a couple of reasons: 1) jail, and 2) because the Starr Mazer DSP appointment ended up being my favorite GDC moment.

Starr Mazer DSP was easily the highlight of my GDC screenshot

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Final Fantasy XV is first in the series with Spanish, Portuguese localization

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 10:30 AM PDT

Two Brazilians I met last week joked about Portuguese being "a dead language," but that's not stopping Final Fantasy XV from doing what it can to win Latin American fans. Square Enix isn't alone here. Namco Bandai has been pushing its weaboo properties hard in South America, the region from which waifu bartending hails. Not unlike France, the region is big on Japanese stuffs.

Director Hajime Tabata issued a statement thanking "all of our Final Fantasy fans in Latin America and Brazil for always supporting us" and reflecting on a trip to Mexico to promote Type-0 HD where, "through the Mexican media I could personally see the passion of the fans in Mexico and neighboring regions."

To "compensate for the passionate fans in all of Latin America and Brazil," Square Enix plans to "release a new version of the game with voice and text localization in Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese." These join Japanese and English, of course, as well as French and German as having fully translated voice and text. Where the fuck is Italian, ya rats? My favorite part of The Division was playing it in Italian.

"We think the story and one of the most important elements of the Final Fantasy games," Tabata said, "and would like players in Latin America and Brazil to be able to enjoy this story in their own language."

I'm sure there will be a bunch of news from the Final Fantasy XV fan event in Los Angeles next week, too. Plus I get to hang out with Zack and play Resident Evil 4 on the projector in his backyard/forest. Who, Zack? Murder me? I'm sure you're being unreasonable.

Final Fantasy XV is first in the series with Spanish, Portuguese localization screenshot

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Pokken, Digimon dethrone The Division in this week's Japanese sales

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 10:00 AM PDT

The PlayStation 3 (three) is outselling the Xbox One (uh, 1?) by 16 times in Japan last week (March 14 through 20). The PS3 sold 18 times as much as the Xbone the prior week. Still funny! Also, the Vita remains steady as heck in Japan. 

But we're here to talk Media Create software sales, by way of Gematsu. And, check it. Sure, last week's king, The Division, got bumped to the third spot by two new, Japanese releases, Pokken Tournament (the Pokemon fighting game) and Digimon World: Next Order, which moved about 69,000 and 64,000 units respectively. That's three times The Division's third-place number of 23,000. But! If you look at last week's sales, when The Division was new, it moved just over 100,000 units. 

And, of course, remember that these numbers are physical (not digital) sales in Japan only. Look at Splatoon keep on trucking, too. Pretty dope. Actually, I wish Pokken exploded out of the gate a bit better. Like Splatoon, it's a fairly original, idiosyncratic take on an existing genre (one-vs-one fighter) and I'd like to see more ingenuity like it in big game releases.

Pokken, Digimon dethrone The Division in this week's Japanese sales screenshot

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Let the inimitable Captain Qwark intro the new-old Ratchet & Clank

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 09:30 AM PDT

Ratchet & Clank is back with a retelling of the original game. And it's coming out April 12, my birthday, or as some of you may affectionately know it: Dark Souls III day. The lovable Captain Qwark has the skinny as unreliable narrator in this new trailer if you can't remember what happened 12 years ago when the first entry in the series released.

The game is going to be accompanied by a feature film on April 29, which I recently learned includes a voice performance by Sly Stallone when I took an ill-advised sojourn to a movie theatre recently and renounced all aspects of humanity, because movie theatres are torture machines that blare the worst advertising in your face for 20 minutes before the picture starts after you've paid $12 to get into a building that reeks of popcorn and surreptitious finger-banging in the back row.

Let the inimitable Captain Qwark intro the new-old Ratchet & Clank screenshot

Dark Souls III on Xbox One has already been put through the performance paces

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 08:30 AM PDT

Dark Souls III is weeks away from a worldwide launch, but it just released in Japan. In fact, the Xbox One version actually hit the Xbox marketplace a little early, meaning that initial impressions are already surfacing.

Digital Foundry, many people's go-to resource on video game performance, has already had a chance to run Dark Souls III through the usual tests. Its findings, which are eloquently laid out in the above-embedded video, aren't optimal but aren't damning either.

With regard to resolution, it seems as if Xbox One isn't hitting the 1080p that the PS4 beta version was at. Instead, Xbox One has a native resolution of 900p and upscales. But, Digital Foundry remarks that it "still looks very solid."

As far as frame rate goes, consoles are locked at 30 frames per second on consoles. On Xbox One, it seems to remain mostly constant, but the introduction sees dips to 25 because of volumetric fog. Boss battles can be worse, with drops to around 20 at times. Still, Digital Foundry comments that "it's only in isolated spots where Xbox One struggles, but when it does, it's very noticeable."

These issues aren't ideal, but the game still seems to be plenty playable. Anyone overly concerned with things like this probably isn't playing on an Xbox One anyway, because these are the sort of things that pop up regularly on that platform. No, those folks are more than likely squared away with their PC version, excited that Dark Souls III is supposedly going to run at a solid 60 FPS. We shouldn't have to wait much longer to see if that's the case.

Dark Souls III on Xbox One has already been put through the performance paces screenshot

Destiny's Prison of Elders will be updated to endgame levels

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 08:00 AM PDT

Bungie's latest Twitch stream just ended, and it let loose some key information about the upcoming free spring update to Destiny. Previously hinted with a single screenshot of Guardians in specific gear, the Prison of Elders activity -- first introduced during Year One with the House of Wolves expansion -- will be updated to be a viable endgame activity during Year Two. The horde mode-esque challenge will be able to award gear up to the new Light level cap of 335.

The biggest change to the Prison of Elders is the introduction of a points system and an associated weekly challenge to hit a high score. In the demonstration shown, bonus points were awarded for precision kills this week, putting greater focus on single-shot weapons and less on grenades and super abilities.

Along with the Prison of Elders update, two new story quest lines were shown. One is given by Variks and investigates a new Taken leader Malok (as in Grasp of Malok, I think) trying to curry power in Oryx's absence. The other story line is given by Petra Venj, and it will be a PlayStation exclusive.

The Winter's Run Strike will finally be updated to Year Two with a Taken version, featuring a Taken Archon Priest as the final boss.

There were a few more small details the community will appreciate, like the fact that the old Prison of Elders activities will still be available, and the new one will include checkpointing. For full details, Bungie will probably be posting a recording of the stream on its YouTube channel within a day or so.

Destiny's Prison of Elders will be updated to endgame levels screenshot

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Space 'walking simulator' Adr1ft gets another trailer before lift off

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 07:30 AM PDT

Adr1ft tells the story of an astronaut floating through a destroyed space station with no memory of what happened or how she got there.

Adam Orth conceived the game in 2013 after he resigned from Microsoft, having made controversial comments about the Xbox One's always online DRM, a feature that was eventually dropped thankfully. Orth has compared the game to this moment in his life though I'd have to imagine he knows how he essentially was forced to resign.

The zero gravity experience should last around four hours at the cost of $20, and launches alongside the Oculus Rift on March 28, but will also be playable on PC without VR (how 2000 and late) on the same day. 

I'm excited to be a spaceman, but I'm not sure I'll be able to #dealwithit.

Space 'walking simulator' Adr1ft gets another trailer before lift off screenshot

Dark Souls is now playable on Xbox One

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 07:00 AM PDT

Dark Souls -- the first, not the third -- is the latest game to be added to Microsoft's ever-expanding list of backward compatible titles for the Xbox One. This is no surprise, as we've known for a month that this was the plan. But, the day is here for those who want to play the game that kicked off Souls-mania (Demon's being relatively overlooked) on a newer console.

The main reason for the From Software classic being added to the program is the same reason that many games are being added: They're tools used to drive pre-order campaigns. Namco offers a free copy of Dark Souls for Dark Souls III pre-orders. It's the same with Quantum Break and Alan Wake, or Doom and the older Dooms, or Fallout 4 and Fallout 3.

Ignoring the fact that pre-ordering never has been and still isn't a great idea, this particular practice serves a purpose. It allows newcomers to the franchise to feel as if they have an opportunity to catch up before diving into the next hot video game. In that sense, it's less about driving pre-orders, and more about convincing someone to take the plunge in the first place. Pre-orders are just the necessary means by which that happens.

All that aside, Dark Souls is playable on Xbox One now. (Tekken Tag Tournament 2, too, although less newsworthy.) Go relive what possibly made you bash your head against this series in the first place. I'm still stuck at some spiderlady after Blight Town. I doubt that some new hardware and the Elite controller will make me care enough to try dealing with her again.

@MajorNelson [Twitter]

Dark Souls is now playable on Xbox One screenshot

Impressive! 8-bit Castlevania-inspired Brave Earth looks legit

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 06:30 AM PDT

Brave Earth: Prologue was announced in 2011 and we last wrote about it 4 years ago. The latest game from I Wanna Be The Guy developer Michael "Kayin" O'Reilly' has popped up on Steam Greenlight (where it needs your votes to land on the games portal) and damn does it look hot.

Inspired by the likes of the original Castlevania and Ninja Gaiden (so, hey, not another metroidvania!), Brave Earth boasts a proper 8-bit aesthetic that would leave it looking right at home on the NES. And "a 2016 release is almost assured!"

Brave Earth has four difficulty settings that go as far as fill some pitfalls with blocks on the easiest setting, a nice bit of hand-crafted adjustment. There are "three main playable characrers with diverse abilities," too: Naomi vos Cruz, Sinlen Rothschild, and Trevor vos Cruz. You can catch more details over on its Greenlight page.

Impressive! 8-bit Castlevania-inspired Brave Earth looks legit screenshot

Same tree

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 06:22 AM PDT

Intrigued by the latest round of supposed NX controller leaks? So is everyone else.

Luckily, the NeoGAF sleuths are hot on the trail! User Endless has pinpointed the exact location of the leaker by way of arboreal awareness. According to Endless, this controller is definitely in Sweden, inside the Massive Entertainment offices.

How could they tell? Same tree.

Same tree.

Same tree screenshot

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Hot damn the 3DS has a lot of RPGs this year

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 06:00 AM PDT

Hardcore 3DS fans are no doubt aware of the fact that the portable has a ton of RPGs hitting the platform in 2016, but if you need a refresher, the video below is a good start. The UK Nintendo channel put out a sizzle reel showing off recently released or upcoming RPGs, including Yo-Kai Watch, Monster Hunter Generations, Fire Emblem Fates, Hyrule Warriors Legends, Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold, Bravely Second: End Layer, and Dragon Quest VII.

Out of everything I've played so far Yo-Kai has impacted me the most, and I really hope we see more of it in the west as early as this year.

Hot damn the 3DS has a lot of RPGs this year screenshot

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This supposed NX controller leak looks more believable

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 05:30 AM PDT

Nintendo can't unveil its NX system soon enough.

Another rumored controller leak has surfaced, and it looks much more convincing than the last one. According to perkele37, the person who posted these shots on reddit:

  • Only the upper 'nubs' of the sticks move. The bottom part is static (kind of like the circle pad, but it moves along the bottom 'sphere.'
  • The rollers on the top feel and look pretty much identical to a mouse scroll-wheel. Though I do don't believe this will be the final design.
  • Haptic feedback is feels like Apples 'taptic' engine. Not like regular rumble.
  • 3.5mm headphone jack on the bottom.

The design resembles one of Nintendo's patents closely (too closely?), which has some people skeptical. We also don't know how far along this design is -- it's almost certainly not final -- or how it might fit into the larger context of the NX, which has been described as a console/mobile hybrid.

Real or fake, I've learned from past Nintendo hardware leaks to reserve at least some judgment until we see the thing in action in an official capacity. The lack of physical face buttons is interesting, though, for sure. I'm not strictly opposed to that concept, but I understand why it can be cause for concern.

This supposed NX controller leak looks more believable screenshot

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'The Climb' team muses on their journey to have the game hit 90 frames per second

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 05:00 AM PDT

The Climb looks pretty rad, and I'm particularly jazzed up after reading Zack's recent preview from GDC. It sounds even cooler after watching this developer diary straight from the team, where they talk about the challenge of making a game 90fps for VR, and how they managed to actually create detailed assets.

It's not exactly dense inside baseball per se, but it's still fairly dry.

'The Climb' team muses on their journey to have the game hit 90 frames per second screenshot

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Hitman adds Contracts as Elusive Targets are pushed into April

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 04:30 AM PDT

The new Hitman is a dope slapstick murder comedy and if you need any more proof, just read on the Hitman blog on adding "The Vampire Magician Challenge Pack," which"features ten new challenges inspired by community activity, all requiring you to wear the Vampire Magician disguise while taking down targets using a range of different methods." It's coming to all three systems along with a patch (full details on that later).

As for the delay, the interesting "Elusive Targets" -- targets available for limited real-world time that you only get one chance to kill succesfully -- won't come until "closer to the planned release of the next episode, Sapienza, in April."

To make up for it, IO has, "two Escalation Contracts coming each week until the release of Sapienza," if running through the bougie Paris fashion show is still enough to get you giggling.

Hitman adds Contracts as Elusive Targets are pushed into April screenshot

Fallout 4's enhanced survival mode updates coming to Steam soon in beta form

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 04:00 AM PDT

For those of you who feel like Fallout 4 was lacking, Bethesda is going to up their game in at least one department very soon.  They're planning an enhanced survival mode update, which will reportedly (though not confirmed) allow characters to take and deal more damage, and will disable quicksaves, among other conveniences. It will come to PC sometime next week by way of the Steam beta program -- no word yet on consoles.

In the meantime, you can text out the new Automatron DLC that just dropped. Jordan is actually working on it now, so stay tuned for his take on it!

BethesdaGameStudios [Twitter]

Fallout 4's enhanced survival mode updates coming to Steam soon in beta form screenshot

Nintendo announces impending National StreetPass Weekend

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 03:00 AM PDT

How many of you crazy kids still StreetPass? I haven't done it in quite some time, despite the fact that I love just about every minigame on the plaza. It's mostly due to the fact that my friends kind of fell off with it, but Nintendo has something in mind to drag people back in. This week will host a National StreetPass Weekend, which will queue up six tags per Nintendo Zone visit.

It's a small little thing, but I assume a lot of you fanatics will appreciate it.

National StreetPass Weekend [Nintendo]

Nintendo announces impending National StreetPass Weekend screenshot

This last Dark Souls III trailer brings us closer to launch

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 02:00 AM PDT

I'm not your dad, but you should probably go into Dark Souls III completely blind. Don't watch this launch trailer, which has a ton of in-game footage on completely new areas.

But if you don't watch it, you'll miss that thing at 1:13! Ok sorry, I won't tempt you.

But really, that thing! These environments look great, I just hope they can keep things fresh after hitting nearly every theme since Demon's. Expect our review early in April. No chicken wings were harmed in our review process.

This last Dark Souls III trailer brings us closer to launch screenshot

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Transformers and Tamagotchi designer takes on Skylanders with Infinite Arms

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 01:00 AM PDT

I can't say for certain Activision knew it was stumbling onto a multi-billion dollar idea when it decided, "hey, let's do something with Spyro the Dragon." The 10th Spyro hit DS in 2005. In 2011, Activision introduced Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure, which was the purple dragon's end and the start of amiibo, Disney Infinity, Lego Dimensions et al. It created an entire genre, "toys-to-life," where real world hunks of plastic interact with your games. People spend hundreds of dollars on these things, in an instance where 1 super fan trumps 10 others. Or where children fill Christmas lists with the things.

Unlike Nintendo's amiibo or Disney Infinity, newly formed Jumo's toy-to-life game Infinite Arms doesn't trade on nostalgia-rich existing properties. There is a lot of familiar pedigree here, though.

Jumo was founded by Keiichi Yano (Gitaroo Man, Elite Beat Agents, Lips), whom I met earlier this month to talk about Infinite Arms. In tow were Jumo's Chris Esaki (Gears of War, Mass Effect), formerly of Microsoft Studios, and writer Tom Abernathy (League of Legends, Halo: Reach, The Division). It's an eclectic mix that reminds you just how small the video game industry can be. The trio, with a combined near-lifetime of experience in the industry, are friends aiming to create the kind of toys they would've dug as kids.

Making them, from design to manufacturing, is Yasuo Takahama, the toy industry veteran who helped bring us Tamagotchi and Transformers.

Transformers and Tamagotchi designer takes on Skylanders with Infinite Arms screenshot

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Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens has three improvements to the Lego formula

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 01:00 AM PDT

It's easy to forget that a fair amount of iteration has come to the Lego video game series over the past decade. All the titles -- there are upward of 20 now -- are similar in that they're whimsical, lighthearted takes on popular subject matter. In that sense, they're all alike.

But, the franchise has grown considerably. For instance, the earliest games had moderately-sized yet functional hubs; now, the overworlds are massive and contain hours' worth of content on their own. Another good example is that Lego characters talk now, whereas they used to rely on exaggerated nonverbal movements to emote.

Some sort of small improvement has come with almost every new game. In the case of Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it's actually three small improvements: Blaster battles, multi-builds, and new flight gameplay.

Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens has three improvements to the Lego formula screenshot

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Smite to receive 'life changing console change' soon

Posted: 22 Mar 2016 11:00 PM PDT

Like Smite? Care about framerate stuff? Then hold onto your hats, friends, ‘cos it seems the MOBA will shortly be available in 60fps.

Right now, Smite is locked in at 30fps on both PlayStation 4 beta and Xbox One. However, designer Scott Lussier dropped a Twitter tease stating that he had looked up the forecast and it “looks like 60 and breezy”. 

 

Apparently people didn’t quite get the hint, so he later added that a “life-changing Smite console change” is “coming soon”. 

The video he points to is embedded below for your viewing pleasure. It sure does look purty.  

I'm not sure my life will be changed by 60fps, but it ain't a bad thing, right?

Smite dev teases 60fps for PS4 and Xbox One [VG24/7]

Smite to receive 'life changing console change' soon screenshot

Capcom celebrations continue with big Resident Evil discounts

Posted: 22 Mar 2016 10:00 PM PDT

To celebrate Resident Evil’s 20th anniversary, Capcom has discounted a buttload of new and classic Resi games across a range of platforms that aren’t owned by Sony (nope, I have no idea why, either, but I'll keep you posted if that changes). 

Tempted? You should be. But then I'm the only person on the planet who liked Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City, so don't listen to me. 

Here’s the list in full, courtesy of our friends in Capcom. 

Capcom celebrations continue with big Resident Evil discounts screenshot

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Tekken 7 could be heading to PC

Posted: 22 Mar 2016 09:00 PM PDT

In the last few years, PC’s become a pretty great platform for fighting games. Sure there’s your Mortal Kombat X trainwrecks, but then there’s also Skullgirls, Street Fighter V and BlazBlue to make up for it.

If a survey being sent out by Bandai Namco is anything to go by, Tekken 7 could be joining that list too. The survey appears to be gaguing player interest on the platform, which, judging by the comments on every Tekken 7 article ever, is pretty high.

While Tekken 7 was released in arcades in Japan last year, it still hasn’t been released on any platform in the West. That means there’s still totally enough time for Namco to get to work on a PC Port if players want it.

Namco hasn’t released its main fighting games on PC before, so Tekken 7 could pave the way for future games in both the Tekken and Soul Calibur series on the platform. Here’s hoping!

Tekken 7 survey hints at PC version [GameWatcher]

Tekken 7 could be heading to PC screenshot

Acquisitions Inc. is coming to Neverwinter's newest event

Posted: 22 Mar 2016 08:00 PM PDT

Neverwinter’s newest event is uh… a tad strange.

Portobello’s Campaign is a series of missions inspired by Acquisition Inc.’s live Dungeons & Dragons sessions at PAX Prime 2015.

If you’ve never heard of Acquisition Inc. before today, it’s a live, annual one-shot D&D campaign run by Dungeons & Dragons story designer Chris Perkins at each PAX Prime event. You can watch last year’s game on YouTube, and it’s pretty dang entertaining.

Portobello’s Campaign sees Perkins and his alter ego Portobello DaVinci rope players in for an incredibly meta series of missions set in the actual table-top game. Your characters, enemies, maps, and bosses all become pieces on a huge table, with a behemoth Portobello looming over you like something from Attack on Titan.

As much as I love Neverwinter, it still took me a few watches of this trailer to get on board. The writing in the trailer isn’t exactly stellar, but it is incredibly camp, and reminiscent of what your average person thinks of when they hear ‘Dungeons & Dragons.' Neverwinter’s always been self-aware of how daft a lot of D&D stuff can sound, so seeing it delve completely into cheesy territory should be entertaining.

While there is, unfortunately, no word of it coming to the Xbox One version, Portobello’s Campaign is a month-long event that will be starting on March 31 for PC.

Acquisitions Inc. is coming to Neverwinter's newest event screenshot

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ARK: Survival of the Fittest (F2P) – First Look

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 03:15 PM PDT

ARK: Survival of the Fittest (F2P) – First Look

Studio Wildcard unveiled a completely new way to survive the dinosaur-filled landscape of the wildly successful game ARK: Survival Evolved. This "Survival of the Fittest" mode introduces a brand new last man standing, fight-to-the-permadeath contest, designed to create a completely new dynamic in the world of ARK. The best part is its FREE!

As the first ever MOSA (Multiplayer Online Survival Arena), ARK: Survival of the Fittest pits up to 100 combatants in an action-packed struggle for survival where players are ultimately pushed into an epic final showdown where only one "Tribe" will make it out alive. Players can take control of over 30+ creatures to tame and ride, with many more being planned for the future. With multiple game modes tailored for dueling, team competition and more, ARK: Survival Of The Fittest is a new kind of eSport that prides itself on balanced competition.

ARK: Survival of the Fittest is free to play, however the original base game ARK: Survival Evolved is a one time buy to play game to learn more about it, check out the game profile and First Look here: http://mmohuts.com/game/ark-survival-evolved
http://mmohuts.com/video/ark-survival-evolved-first-look-free-weekend

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SMITE K-9 Anubis Skin

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 03:02 PM PDT

SMITE previews the police-force inspired K-9 Anubis Skin, available now.

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League of Legends Aurelion Sol Champion Spotlight

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 02:14 PM PDT

League of Legends introduces its new dragon champion, Aurelion Sol, with a full champion spotlight.

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Rift 5th Anniversary Celebration Continues

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 01:50 PM PDT

Today, the third week of the month-long celebration of RIFT‘s 5 Year Anniversary kicks off. Trion is offering more prizes and focusing on Warfronts, the cross-server PvP battlegrounds, for increased rewards.

Players can earn 5th anniversary tickets through Instant Adventure, solo/duo Chronicles, dungeons, zone events, and more. While the Top 100 players earn guaranteed rewards, prizes are also given out at random to the Top 1,000 players each week, plus again at the end of the event.

Catch up on the event info here.

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Shadowverse

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 01:39 PM PDT

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League of Angels II

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 01:20 PM PDT

The post League of Angels II appeared first on MMOHuts.

ARK: Survival Of The Fittest

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 01:09 PM PDT

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Orcs Must Die! Unchained Open Beta Launches March 29th

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 12:48 PM PDT

After last weekend’s successful closed beta stress test, Robot Entertainment today announced that Orcs Must Die! Unchained will be moving into open beta on March 29th. Players should Sharpen their spike traps and warm up their brimstone, because in just six days gamers everywhere will be able to download and play the latest installment of the acclaimed action tower defense series for free.

This weekend, the closed beta servers will not be coming online for their usual Thursday-to-Sunday window. Instead, Robot Entertainment will be hard at work making final preparations for the rollout of open beta next Tuesday. Part of that preparation will include the wiping of all closed beta accounts, giving all players a fresh starting point for the open beta. Robot Entertainment also recently announced that all in-game gold purchases made during the closed beta period will be honored and adjusted to the new open beta gold rates, and all Alpha Founder Pack content will be applied to accounts when they roll over.

To access the Orcs Must Die! Unchained open beta, players just need to download the game from Steam or from OrcsMustDie.com on March 29th and create a free account. As the remaining few days count down, players can follow Orcs Must Die! on Facebook and Twitter for more news about what to expect from the launch of open beta.

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Blade & Soul Silverfrost Mountains Expansion Now Live

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 12:17 PM PDT

NCSOFT West announced today that Blade & Soul's first expansion, Silverfrost Mountains, is live for all players. The expansion unlocks a never-before-seen continent full of new zones, quests and challenging endgame content. It increases the character level cap to 50 and the Hongmoon level to 10.

Silverfrost Mountains is the biggest leap forward thus far in the Blade & Soul story, further unraveling the mysterious and dynamic tale of revenge. It will incorporate additional zones as well as unveil a brand-new capital city and eight exciting new dungeons. With zones like the verdant Primeval Forests to the icy peaks of Shiverstone Range, the narrative reaches new heights as players must protect Zaiwei, the capital of Silverfrost Mountains. The danger awaiting players in the Awakened Necropolis, Avalanche Den, and Lair of the Frozen Fang Heroic dungeons will present players with new challenging content in their quests to exact revenge against Jinsoyun.

For more information about the Silverfrost expansion check out the official patch notes here.

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Chronicle: RuneScape Legends Review

Posted: 23 Mar 2016 12:11 PM PDT

Introduction

Chronicle: RuneScape Legends is Jagex’s take on the growing online-card game genre. By mixing mechanics typically found in board games and card games, throwing a tiny dash of RPG in, and presenting it on a light-weight client, they’ve managed to create something rather unique in a saturated market. Of course, RuneScape is also a much-loved and well-known setting, so instant popularity for the game is almost assured. If you’re a fan of strategy with a bit of chance thrown in, you may find yourself enjoying Chronicle: RuneScape Legends. It certainly has both in spades.

Customization

As Chronicle is a card game, you can bet that a majority – if not all – of the customization in the game centers around your deck. And you would win that bet, at least at the moment as your Legend customization is still a work in progress. You choose your Legend, your hero that themes your deck style, and you build your deck around him or her, choosing from the cards you’ve collected from booster packs or completing tasks. Of course, what modern online card game would be complete without the ability to customize the back of your cards? So Chronicle has this option. Currently the selection is small, but I have a feeling we’ll see it grow in the future.

Chronicle: RuneScape Legends Review

The selection is small, but interesting.

Perhaps it’s just a perspective thing, but I felt like building my deck was a lot more fun in Chronicle than I’ve experienced in most other card games. Knowing that your selections will both conflict with and benefit you has an odd psychological effect. Sure, the same is true with other card games, but with Chronicle it feels more… personal. Simply because you’re ‘building your own quests’ rather than building a deck to ‘destroy your opponent.’ Like I said, it’s similar with other titles, but the way Chronicle presents the concept makes it an entirely new way of looking at the genre.

Similar to other card games you can recycle cards to gain resources to craft new cards. This is a great way to get rid of cards you’re never going to use and get your hands on the ones you need to make your strategy come to life. It’s not a huge part of the game – I almost completely missed it. But it is there and offers another layer to the game. That’s about all I have to say about that.

Chronicle: RuneScape Legends Review

As a dashing rogue, gaining gold is pretty important to the strategy of this deck.

Graphics

The game makes use of 2.5D graphics, making for some interesting visuals while playing. Each chapter within a match, a new play area is raised from ‘the Book’ and you get to see it grow before your eyes. The art style is reminiscent of the art style used in RuneScape, though a bit more detailed (at least until RuneScape pushes their NXT update). The developers could have gone full-tilt with the graphics, but it seems they purposefully limited themselves by retaining an art style that both RuneScape players and even those who haven’t played RuneScape in years (or at all) will find nostalgic. This means the game doesn't look as amazing as it could, and textures and models aren’t incredible when it comes to quality. Don’t mistake that to mean that Chronicle doesn’t look good; it certainly does. It just means the developers are purposefully using a stylistic art style that fits the story, setting, and history of the franchise.

Chronicle: RuneScape Legends Review

The art style is fun and helps add character to the Legends.

Card design is quite nice. Sure, it’s something that would never work in reality. That’s the magic of online card games, however. You can create card effects and battles that are just over-the-top ridiculous and never before done in table top versions. The overall design concept is similar to that of lots of other card games, especially Hearthstone. Whether that was intentional or not, I couldn’t tell you. It is a bit more simplistic and easy-on-the-eyes than a lot of other card games, however, meaning you can get all the relevant information on a card with a quick glance.

Chronicle: RuneScape Legends Review

I love the design of these cards.

Controls

Chronicle is primarily played with the mouse. There are some minor key bindings, but you can literally do everything with the mouse. I didn’t notice any issues with the controls while playing. In fact, I didn’t even think about them at all until I began writing the review. That’s how things should be when it comes to controls; be intuitive enough that people can play it without thinking and keep things working as intended so players don’t have to be annoyed while trying to play.

Community

The community that plays RuneScape will probably be the bulk of the community that plays Chronicle. The community I remember from playing RuneScape when I was younger was much more immature than the community I’ve encounter on Chronicles forum and sub-reddit. It actually seems pleasant, which is two concepts you usually don’t mix when it comes to MMOs. Community and pleasant. So, in general, Chronicle seems to have a great community to start it off. Now let's hope that great community survives the open beta release today!

Gameplay

Unlike in most card games, the players are not always battling each other. In fact, most of the battling you do will be inflicted upon yourself by your own choosing. In most card games, you and your opponent take turns playing and battling monsters against one another. In Chronicle, you play monster cards against yourself. Well, against your Legend, anyways.

Chronicle: RuneScape Legends Review

For most of the game, your opponent will likely assault you with nothing more than suggestive knowing smirks.

Unlike most card games, direct conflict with the enemy doesn’t happen that much, unless you specifically build a deck around rushing your opponent down before they can unfold their master plans.

As a result 90% of your matches feel like the PvE edition of the CCG genre. You’re building your own adventure and your opponent is just a minor part of it – a hassle is a better description. Sure, in reality, you ARE competing for victory against your opponent. But the developer’s have managed – intentionally or unintentionally – to create a competitive game that feels more personal than you would think it could be. I felt like I was competing more with myself than my opponent, and that added a new twist to the overall strategies that I usually employ while playing card games. It’s refreshing and fascinating.

But again, the goals, card effects, etc… are the same or very similar to other card games. It’s the presentation which is different. And the presentation is probably one of (if not THE) most important thing when it comes to a card game, because there really is only so much you can do with it before you find yourself in a completely different genre. Chronicle treads the line between genres very carefully and it’s paid off in the form of an exciting concept and an interesting game. Both a solo-RPG and a competitive card game, set in a well-known world with a history that’s grown for over fifteen years.

Chronicle: RuneScape Legends Review

Nearly every card in the game is some obscure RuneScape reference.

And that history is very important to Jagex when it comes to Chronicle. When building your deck, you select a Legend. These are characters from RuneScape lore that are well-known to the community and have a reputation from the game. The developers have an interesting blog post on the subject where they discuss how they go about making a character from RuneScape into a Legend in Chronicle. Honestly, I haven’t played RuneScape since I was a kid, so I was way out of touch with the Legends. Playing Chronicle has gotten me to read up on a few of them, though, and that has gotten me more interested in RuneScape lore than I have been in a long time.

Chronicle: RuneScape Legends

Certain Legends seem to do quite well while facing certain other Legends. In general, though, everyone has a chance. For example, I always struggle against The Raptor whenever I play Ozan (my favorite Legend). It just seems like the strategies I usually employ while using my Ozan decks just don’t work well against the armor-heavy Raptor. Honestly, I think I’ve only won once while playing Ozan against Raptor, and that was in practice mode. This isn’t a bad thing, but it is an important insight into how the game is designed that I think a lot of card gamers will appreciate.

I mentioned the ‘armor-heavy Raptor.’ Each Legend has an attack and health stat by default. However, by defeating monsters that have an armor drop-effect or making use of purchase cards that give armor, you can gain damage-absorbing armor. Some monsters will drop gold (most, really), weapons, even health. Some monsters have effects that come into play when you defeat them, too. Such as "deal 4 damage to rival." You’ll want to stock your deck with enemy cards that benefit the strategies possible with your Legend, or at least mitigate gains to keep your foe from snowballing into an impossible lead.

Chronicle: RuneScape Legends Review

I've used this as a clutch to win more than once.

I mentioned Purchase Cards. These are cards that can be activated by paying a price in gold (which can sometimes be zero). These cards range from weapons which boost your damage capability, give you health, exchange weapons or cards for more gold, allow you to strike or battle your opponent, etc… In most of my decks, these cards make up a bit more than half of the thirty you can have. I couldn’t tell you if that’s a good composition to have or not, but it’s just how things tend to end up whenever I’m building my decks. Chronicle is extremely punishing to decks that lack monster cards, as forcing you to battle and take damage against your own cards seems a vital part of the game balance.

Chronicle: RuneScape Legends Review

This is one of my favorite cards to use with Ozan.

Matches are separated into five chapters. Each chapter allows you to place four cards into play. You and your Rival go down a linear path through the map, defeating or activating cards in the order you both selected. Your goal is to cause your enemy's health to drop to zero while keeping your own health as close to thirty as you can manage. At the start of the match, you draw a hand and are given a chance to re-draw any cards you don’t think will benefit you soon enough to warrant keeping. If both you and your rival are still alive at the end of the fifth chapter, the winner is determined via an epic battle between the two of you.

Each chapter is represented by a randomly chosen map. You get to see this map "pop-up" from the book that is also the game board. These maps are based off of iconic locations from RuneScape, so that’s a nice touch. Other than being satisfying visually, I couldn’t really discern a purpose for the different maps. At least it keeps things interesting and changing, though it is possible to have the same map drawn multiple times in an adventure. But even that is fine, as it helps portray the fact that you’re on a quest while playing. As the game is still technically in open beta, I imagine we may eventually see tactical cards interacting with these maps.

Chronicle: RuneScape Legends Review

Matches that conclude in the final battle are so satisfying.

As I’ve said a few times, this set up really lends itself to the idea that you’re playing by yourself and your Rival isn’t the most important factor in the match. You are. You feel like you’re taking part in an adventure or completing a set of quests rather than playing a competitive card game against someone else. It’s a very unique way to play a card game and it does a fantastic job of blending elements from various genres. RPG, Online, and card – all wrapped into one package that is Chronicle: RuneScape Legends.

Conclusion: Great (4/5)

Of course, RuneScape is also a much-loved and well-known setting, so instant popularity for the game is almost assured. Perhaps not on the scale of World of Warcraft’s Hearthstone, but only time will tell. If you’re a fan of strategy with a bit of chance thrown in, you may find yourself enjoying Chronicle: RuneScape Legends. It certainly has both in spades. Personally, I found the game to be a fantastic source of fun and the light-weight client allowed me to play it alongside my current addiction, Black Desert Online. Now if only they’d release a mobile version (which is confirmed to be in the works), I’d have trouble putting it down.

Features: 4/5 – A nice selection of features for an online card game.

Customization: 3/5 – I would like some more customization options. They’re in the works, but withholding judgement until Jagex delivers.

Graphics: 3/5 – I enjoyed the stylistic choice of art style, but felt that perhaps more could be done.

Controls: 5/5 – Perfect.

Community: 4/5 – More mature than I remember the RuneScape community. It seems it’s grown with the game.

Full Gameplay Image Gallery

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