|
Posted by Bob Muir on Jun 19, 2014 in Animation, Videogames 
Team Fortress 2 has been out forever, at least in internet time. But Valve is still supporting it with new updates, even after the game became free-to-play a few years back. Their latest, the Love & War update, promises several additions, such as new taunts. But more importantly, Valve released another short starring the various playable classes, made in Source Filmmaker. “Expiration Date” has the red team confronting their imminent death only three days later, as well as Scout pursuing his crush with the help of Spy. It’s a whopping 15 minutes long, making it the longest TF2 short Valve has ever done. I just enjoy watching the characters bounce off each other, so keep making them Valve! Read more…
Tags: Team Fortress, Valve
Posted by Bob Muir on Jun 18, 2014 in Videogames 
Another World (or Out of This World as it was originally known in the US) is one of those unique, highly creative games that retro gamers look back on fondly. The adventure-platformer has you exploring a strange world that you accidentally teleported to, with many cinematic effects and just a generally high level of craftsmanship, thanks to French designer Eric Chahi. Another World has received various ports and upgrades over the years, but the latest 20th Anniversary Edition is the best looking yet, with a bevy of options depending on how you want it to look. This version is coming to every recent platform this year, but it’s debuting on Sony’s platforms — PS3, PS4, and PS Vita — next week on June 25. I’ll certainly be downloading a copy, and any fan of well-made, atmospheric adventure games should consider doing so as well. Read more…
Tags: Playstation Vita, PS3, PS4
Posted by Bob Muir on Jun 17, 2014 in Videogames 
The PS4 and Xbox One are lacking in must-have games right now due to publishers believing they’d sell worse than they did last fall. Now, they’re scrambling to catch up, but still need to release something in the meantime. The solution? Taking visually-impressive games from last-gen and remastering them with slightly better tech and a higher resolution for current-gen. 2012’s Hong Kong crime game, Sleeping Dogs, may be next up for a rerelease. Read more…
Tags: PS4, Sleeping Dogs, Xbox One
Posted by Bob Muir on Jun 12, 2014 in Videogames 
Nintendo promised one more big 3DS announcement at E3, and it’s Code Name: STEAM. It’s an original IP with elements from comic books, steampunk, Abraham Lincoln, aliens, and more. Hitoshi Yagami (Fire Emblem, Xenoblade Chronicles) is working with Intelligent Systems (Fire Emblem, Advance Wars) to make a turn-based strategy game with action elements from shooters for movement and attacking. As expected from such a mix of influences, the game’s concept is pretty wild too. Read more…
Tags: 3DS, Nintendo, steampunk
Posted by Bob Muir on Jun 12, 2014 in Videogames 
An English release for Final Fantasy Type-0 and Final Fantasy Agito was already announced at this year’s E3, but that’s not the only Final Fantasy announcement Square Enix has for RPG players. The latest Japanese issue of Shonen Jump revealed Final Fantasy Explorers, a new multiplayer RPG for 3DS. You can pick different jobs you’re likely familiar with like black mage or monk. You can team up with three other players to fight various summons from previous FF games. Basically, it seems that Square Enix is doing their own take on Monster Hunter. Since the 3DS doesn’t have as many MH-style games as the Vita, the only big game this needs to compete with is Monster Hunter itself! Read more…
Tags: 3DS, Final Fantasy, square enix
Posted by Bob Muir on Jun 11, 2014 in Videogames 
Bandai Namco is co-developing Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U, so many were wondering whether or not any Namco characters would appear in the game. With Mario, Sonic, and Mega Man all in the game, it only made sense for Pac-Man to enter the fray, and luckily he was just confirmed. While he mostly retains his modern 3D look, it seems that for some attacks he’ll transform back into a 2D form to munch things up. He also can attack with ghosts, pellets, Galaga, Dig Dug, and other old school summons. The video also confirms the return of Mr. Game & Watch, as it is humorously pointed out that both characters originated in 1980, while Mario and Donkey Kong debuted in 1981’s Donkey Kong. Read more…
Tags: Namco Bandai, Nintendo, Pac-Man, Super Smash Bros.
Posted by Bob Muir on Jun 11, 2014 in Videogames 
Because Atlus doesn’t have a European branch, releasing their games is always iffy because it relies on other companies publishing the games. As a result, some games don’t come out or are hard to get. (Persona 4 Arena was just taken off the European PSN store.) Atlus is fixing this somewhat with Shin Megami Tensei IV, which is finally getting released in Europe. Sadly, there is no physical release, as the game is only available as a digital download from the eShop. The game is also only in English, reusing the localization for America. Still, this is good news for hardcore RPG fans. The price hasn’t been set yet, but we do know the game is coming out in Q3 later this year. Read more…
Tags: 3DS, Atlus, shin megami tensei
Posted by Bob Muir on Jun 10, 2014 in Videogames 
When Final Fantasy XIII was announced, it was done so as part of the “Fabula Nova Crystalis” project that also included Final Fantasy Versus XIII (just for PS3) and Final Fantasy Agito XIII (for mobile). The former game was delayed, being reannounced as Final Fantasy XV in 2013, while the latter game was reworked for PSP as Final Fantasy Type-0. FFXIII got two direct sequels, FFXV isn’t finished yet, and Type-0 was never released outside of Japan due to the declining demand for the PSP. But suddenly, we’re going to be getting it — just not for PSP! Read more…
Tags: Final Fantasy, PS4, PSP, square enix, Xbox One
Posted by Bob Muir on Jun 10, 2014 in Videogames 
While Microsoft and Sony had solid press conferences yesterday, Nintendo’s E3 Digital Event on the first day of E3 was much more impressive to me because it captured the self-awareness mixed with new hype of E3s past. Robot Chicken produced the opening (and various interstitial skits) in which Nintendo of America CEO Reggie Fils-Amie definitely ate a fire flower and lit a press member on fire. Then, Reggie and Nintendo of Japan CEO Satoru Iwata began fighting each other. Read more…
Tags: 3DS, E3 2014, Nintendo, Nintendo Direct, Wii U
Posted by Bob Muir on Jun 10, 2014 in Videogames 
We close out E3 2014’s “Day 0” with Sony’s press conference. Last year, this was the conference that helped propel the PS4 ahead of the Xbox One in terms of consumer excitement. With Cross-Buy, the ability to buy a game on one platform and get any other version for free (like buying on PS4 and getting the PS3 and Vita versions for free), Sony gives gamers a big incentive to play on all their systems. And this press conference was filled with a ton of game footage — nothing too in-depth, which allowed them to fit in even more game coverage and reveals. Read more…
Tags: Playstation Vita, PS3, PS4, Sony
Posted by Bob Muir on Jun 9, 2014 in Videogames 
Following EA’s disappointing press conference, Ubisoft attempted to pick up the excitement by showing something cool right from the start. Instead of beating around the bush, they went right into showing their biggest recently-announced game: Far Cry 4. Read more…
Tags: E3 2014, PS4, Ubisoft, Xbox One
Posted by Bob Muir on Jun 9, 2014 in Videogames 
The second press conference of E3’s “Day 0” was Electronic Arts, and while there was new stuff shown off, it is unlikely to get you into a frothing mess of anticipation. They began with their studio DICE, who showed some early in-engine footage of Star Wars: Battlefront, coming Spring 2015, and the environments looked gorgeous. The Star Wars license looks like it’s in good hands. Read more…
Tags: E3 2014, Electronic Arts, PS4, Xbox One
Posted by Bob Muir on Jun 9, 2014 in Videogames 
It’s time for highlights from E3, the biggest game expo of the year! Microsoft got a lot of flack for not talking about games enough as they revealed the Xbox One last year. Thankfully, Microsoft kicked off E3 with a conference devoted entirely to games. (How refreshing!) Read more…
Tags: E3 2014, Microsoft, Xbox One
Posted by Ben Huber on Jun 9, 2014 in Videogames 
Star Citizen continues to grow and change impressively. For being entirely crowd-funded, they’re doing a great job making the whole process look professional and open. Their latest release is the reveal of a new ship, the Freelancer, in a faux commercial, just like their previous ship reveals. This one is a trucker vessel though, so it has all the trappings of a truck commercial, complete with rough-and-tough voiceover and gritty kinetic typography. It’s pretty neat. Also neat is the release of their dogfighting module to all backers, so if you’ve supported Star Citizen at one point or another, check out the news page here and get to downloading! Read more…
Tags: Star Citizen
Posted by Ben Huber on Jun 7, 2014 in Videogames 
Tom Francis, the creative mind behind Gunpoint (one of my favorite indie games from last year), has released a new game: Floating Point. For free. Yes, the whole game. For totally free. He says it’s a ‘thank you’ to all the people who supported Gunpoint and him over the last year, and he wanted to give something back. It’s not a large game, but it is incredibly cool and relaxing. You swing about from shape to shape, collecting objects and listening to some cool tunes. It’s really unique and and be played entirely with your mouse. Oh yeah, and it’s free! Who can argue with that? Check out a trailer below. Read more…
Tags: Gunpoint, Indie Games, Tom Francis
Posted by Bob Muir on Jun 5, 2014 in Videogames 
Since their reinvention with Persona 3, the Persona games have been known for their striking, colorful openings, showing off the characters and setting the tone of the game. I know I’m not the only person to have rewatched them too many times to count. Well, it seems that Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, the upcoming 3DS dungeon crawler, isn’t too much of a spin-off to get its own fancy opening number. It shows the characters from Persona 3 and 4 looking cool and interacting with each other, since this is a crossover game. I’ve already watched this a few times, because the music is as catchy as usual. Alas: this game won’t be out in North America until Fall 2014. Read more…
Tags: 3DS, Atlus, Persona 3, Persona 4
Posted by Bob Muir on Jun 4, 2014 in Comic Books, Videogames 
After the somewhat disappointing Batman: Arkham Origins, most fans are pretty excited about Batman: Arkham Knight, the third and supposedly final entry in Rocksteady’s series. While the game was originally supposed to be released by the end of 2014, that seems to no longer be the case. Now Rocksteady says the game has been pushed back to 2015, to allow more time to deliver “the awesome level of quality that Batman fans and gamers expect.” I’d imagine some of this is prompted not only by working with newer hardware — the game will release only on current-gen platforms: PC, PS4, and Xbox One — but also to make sure it’s much more impressive than Arkham Origins, which Rocksteady didn’t develop. I’ve always got a lot of games on my plate, so I don’t mind waiting. But still, it would be nice if most of the big games for these new platforms weren’t all coming in 2015 or later. Hopefully E3 next week has some good news for that issue. Read more…
Tags: Batman, Batman: Arkham Knight, DC Comics, Warner Brothers
Posted by Bob Muir on Jun 4, 2014 in Videogames 
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy was one of the early reasons to own a 3DS, offering a fun musical romp through the history of past Final Fantasy games. The sequel, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call, is coming out in North America on September 16, 2014, and it’s especially enticing for those who skipped the first entry. With 221 songs, you’ve got access to every previous song, every previously-released DLC song, and new songs, plus the option to buy more DLC songs in the future. That’s a lot of songs! But if you’re really excited for the game, you might consider preordering the collector’s edition. Only 5,000 copies are available on Square Enix’s online store. If you pony up the $70, you get a big box (similar to Kingdom Hearts 3D‘s collector’s edition), a collector’s pouch for your 3DS, a 20-song soundtrack CD, an additional CD with 5 remixed songs, and 5 premium cards based on CollectaCards seen in the game (with passwords to unlock the card in-game). If you don’t have the scratch for all that, you can still preorder and get the 5-song remix CD. Read more…
Tags: 3DS, Final Fantasy, square enix
Posted by Bob Muir on Jun 3, 2014 in Videogames 
After many years of mediocre fighters, Midway finally made a comeback with 2011’s Mortal Kombat, sometimes called Mortal Kombat 9, and kept that success going into the DC fighter Injustice: Gods Among Us. So it’s not surprising, but still a nice surprise, to see a trailer for Mortal Kombat X, the newly-announced next game in the series. It doesn’t show any actual gameplay, consisting of a prerendered fight scene of Scorpion fighting Sub-Zero. But with some traditional 2D camera angles, you get a sense for what they want the final product to look like. Maybe we’ll see something at E3 next week? Read more…
Tags: Mortal Kombat
Posted by Ben Huber on Jun 2, 2014 in Fandom, Videogames 
Smash Bros. is a great game because Nintendo has such a huge catalog of iconic characters to pull from, but not many other companies could pull off a similar feat. YouTube user crazyhalo definitely thinks Valve could do it, as they have created a video that remakes the intro film from Super Smash Bros. Melee with all of Valve’s characters. Gordon Freeman, the Heavy, Dog, every Dota character, Chell, and more are featured in this. If you’ve played Melee, this video will probably bring up a lot of memories, as it’s a pitch-perfect reproduction. Check out the video below! Read more…
Tags: Dota 2, Half-Life, Portal 2, Super Smash Bros., Team Fortress, Valve
Posted by Ben Huber on May 31, 2014 in Videogames 
Nintendo has finally sold out — Mario is hawking Mercedes-Benz now. As part of Nintendo’s pledge to be more free with their precious licenses, Mario is now starring in a Mercedes-Benz commercial advertising their new GLA. Not only that, when he emerges from the car, he’s strangely handsome. There’s also free DLC coming to Mario Kart 8 (which released yesterday) which will feature the GLA as a playable vehicle. Product-placement galore! (At least it’s optional.) I wonder if we’ll see more weird product crossovers from Nintendo in the future? The ad is embedded below for your viewing pleasure. Read more…
Tags: Mario Kart
Posted by Bob Muir on May 28, 2014 in Videogames 
If you’re not going to be at this year’s E3 in Los Angeles — i.e. most of you reading this — you’ll be happy to know you can test out the next Super Smash Bros. game on Wii U at over 100 Best Buy locations across the US. Nintendo’s Smash-Fest will be running on Wednesday, June 11 from 4PM to 9PM and Saturday, June 14 from 12PM to 5PM. As a bonus, if you’re one of the first 70 people to preorder the game at the event, you’ll get a promotional gold coin. Everyone preordering also gets a $5 Best Buy certificate. So look and see if there’s a store in your area holding the event, and good luck! Read more…
Tags: Super Smash Bros., Wii U
Posted by Bob Muir on May 28, 2014 in Comic Books, Videogames 
It’s good that the disappointing Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes didn’t kill the series. After the much more enjoyable Lego Marvel Super Heroes, it’d be nice to see a Lego game that incorporates all of DC well. That’s what Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham promises when it releases this fall on pretty much every platform you’d imagine: PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, and 3DS. 150 unlockable characters must work together to stop Braniac from destroying Earth. Expect to collect lots of Lego studs along the way. Read more…
Tags: Batman, Lego
Posted by Ben Huber on May 26, 2014 in Videogames 
Bigby is back, he’s brooding, and he’s angry about… stuff! I don’t want to spoil anything. Things are going poorly Fabletown, and given that this is the penultimate episode, a lot of stuff is going to be happening. This new trailer has spoilers for the previous three episodes, so only watch if you’ve played the game thus far. If you haven’t, The Wolf Among Us is a great take on the Fables comic book series that features reimaginings of your favorite fairy tale characters in a darker, grittier setting. And yes, for the uninitiated, Bigby is the big bad wolf. Check out the trailer below, but again — spoilers! Read more…
Tags: Telltale Games, The Wolf Among Us
|
|
