Saturday, May 31, 2014

News::Mighty No. 9 is looking solid but uninspired (and very blue)

The first proper bout of footage for Keiji Inafune's Mighty No. 9 shows that, yes, it looks a lot like a certain Capcom series, but let's put the obvious comparisons to Dino Crisis aside for a moment and focus on the Mega Man creator's latest game. After a wildly successful Kickstarter last year - people really like to put their money behind familiar concepts, huh? - we've been afforded our first non-prototypey glimpse of the platformer in action, and while it's a video that holds few surprises, Mighty No. 9 does look like the sort of safe, largely unambitious game I might enjoy on a rainy day.



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News::Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar Out Now In Stores

Historical strategy title is now available via both retail and digital.



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News::Let's Play Minecraft - Episode 105 - Enter the Negatower Part 2

The AH crew is back with the second installment of "Enter the Negatower."



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News::PSXE Watch Dogs Review: Shooting For The Stars, Coming Up Just Shy

It's massive, epic, and wildly ambitious. It doesn't succeed in everything that it tries, but it DID try, and that has resulted in a captivating experience.



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News::1985FM Podcast 84: Bit Miners of the Mushroom Kingdom

June Xbox One PS Now Watch_Dogs Bit-Mining Reviews of Watch_dogs: What's the critical consensus? Mario Kart 8: Wii U's Killer-App? Wolfenstein: The New Order Transistor Topic of the Week: Are embargoes good for games, consumers, and the industry as a whole? We consider both schools of thought.



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News::Indie Graphics Builder A SteamFirst Look

SteamFirst: I wanted to get that totally out of the way as many people are still in the assumption that this is a program used to create graphics for games. It is not. At one time it was named Indie Graphics Builder, and this name led many to assume it allowed you to create graphics for video games. It is a huge file pack of pre-created images that can be used for new, or experienced, developers of games without having to pay the costs of custom made graphics.



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News::Microtransactions in Console Games: Does a Dark Future Await?

With the just-announced price drop of the Xbox One, the removal of the Kinect, and the recent hiring of the games-focused Phil Spencer as new head of the Xbox division, Microsoft is backing off extremely hard from their initial branding as an always-on living room service and joining the Playstation 4s price as more of a classic console. This might be good news for the future of consoles, but its also indicative of how perilous the console market is right now.



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News::Watch 10 Minutes of Hilarity in Watch Dogs Online Free Roam

GameVerb Writes: Check out 10 minutes of multiplayer madness in Watch Dogs and enjoy a citywide blackout from a boat, plus some stunt jumps and racing action.



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News::Wolfenstein: The New Order review | PCGamesN

Wolfenstein is a masterpiece of its genre. It does good shooting men. But it's more than that, it's an effortlessly melancholy adventure that doesn't drown in its own bombast. It's like finding out that a superstar footballer is a poet, or finding your dog pressing flowers. It's a game with hidden depths that you're invited to explore, but ones that never overshadow the thing it's best at. Which is shooting all the men so that all their blood comes out.



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News::Wasteland 2 Preview - Mouse n Joypad

Gale writes - "Im pretty sure everybody knows about the Fallout franchise at this point, or at least about its newest, Bethesdian iteration. Now, Fallout had to get inspired by something, right? What weve got here is a direct successor to the first persistent post-apocalyptic RPG ever created Wasteland 2. Theres a certain itch this game tries to scratch among the veterans of gaming the people who played the first Wasteland, as well as the two older Fallout games. Since newer post-apocalyptic RPGs seemingly prefer action over strategy, Inxile Entertainment will try to satisfy those who would like a modern, yet tactical take on the post-apocalypse."



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News::Fallout 4: 10 Core Lessons It Must Learn From Skyrim

With the next numbered entry in the Fallout series now strongly rumoured to be in its early stages of development, its pretty much the right time for fans of the series to start getting excited to speculate on what this new game could provide. After all; Fallout 3 was an excellent game, but it certainly wasnt without its flaws. Given that it has been the best part of six years since the release of Fallout 3, fans of the series can surely expect Fallout 4 to take the series to the next level, right?



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News::Stick It To The Man Review I Play Legit

"This is a unique title to add in your library, and a fun take on Point and Click games. Stick it to the mans score is raised due to its undeniable charm and affordable price." KJ of Play Legit Writes



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News::Octodad: Dadliest Catch Review - Made For Gaming

Although it drops the ball near the end, Dadliest Catch manages to be endearingly bonkers, full of laughs and strikingly unique.



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News::Top 10 Fixes for The Stomping Land Crashes, Stuck launcher, Change resolution, UDK.exe, Slow FPS

Here is a Crash Wiki guide of the most common issues in latest Dino-era MMO "The Stomping Land" and the best ways of troubleshooting them.



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News::Northern Shadow, Skyrim meets Banished in a new open world RPG

I do so love indie game development. One second Im minding my own business, sipping coffee and wondering if trees dream, and the next I stumble across what may well be the next Skyrim, the next colossal, gorgeous first-person fantasy RPG bonanza. Northern Shadow, however, comes with a twist: its also a city builder ala Banished. You have a living world to both explore and build a kingdom in. My kingdom for this game. Trailer below. Watch it, because its crazy impressive.



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News::Kotaku: An Indie Game That Nails The Joy of Swinging

Story About My Uncle gets a few things very right. Jumping, swinging, not throwing a gun in your face and forcing you to murder aliens. In the video above, I give my impressions of the game, of a game that's lineage is squarely in the vein of games like Portal and Jumping Flash. A Story About My Uncle is available for PC.



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News::Does The Public Know Who Develops Call of Duty?

GameInformer- "With our June cover story on Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, we introduced you to the new primary developer for the Call of Duty series Sledgehammer Games. With the expanding roster of studios and new three-year development cycle between Treyarch, Infinity Ward, and Sledgehammer Games, we started to wonder if the average Call of Duty player would recognize the names of the developers. To close things out for our month of coverage, we roped in Game Informer's Ben Reeves to hit the streets of Minneapolis to talk to the public about the Call of Duty series and how much they know about game development."



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News::World of Speed - New Stunning Screenshots Show Sunny Azure Coast Track

Slightly Mad Studios has released a new batch of screenshots, showing the sunny Azure Coast track that will be featured in its upcoming triple-A free racing game, World of Speed.



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News::Five Worst Game Launches

Kevin from Denkiphile: "Im going to go ahead and assume that everyone reading this has already heard of the buggy, overhyped mess of a launch that Ubisofts Watch_Dogs just had. For anyone who has played games for the past, oh, I dont know, three-four years, youll know that this is just the latest in a tradition developers seem to have of having terrible, terrible releases. Here are some of the worst."



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News::The Wolf Among Us: Episode 4 - In Sheep's Clothing Review | WGTC

We Got This Covered writes: Sheriff Bigby's investigation -- which is chronicled in Telltale Games' The Wolf Among Us -- begins to reach a head in its latest episode, In Sheep's Clothing. And that's appropriate, considering that there's merely one more instalment to go after this one. As much as In Sheep's Clothing does right in terms of continuing to develop an intriguing cast and story and delivering choices with no easy answer, as a whole, it may be my least favorite episode of the series so far...



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News::Kotaku 'Shop Contest: Let's Mario Kart Everywhere: The Winners!

Kotaku 'Shop Contest: Let's Mario Kart Everywhere: The Winners!


We know where Mario Kart 8 is right now — on the television set of nearly everyone with a Wii U — but last week the game was all over the place, thanks to the magic of our weekly 'Shop Contest. Too bad we had to hide the real winner.


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News::Indie Spotlight: Shadowcrypt

KaboomShark's Jake features Shadowcrypt in this week's Indie Spotlight.



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News::ViewSonic Launching New Full HD 1080p Gaming Monitors For PS4, Xbox One, PC

Gaming Blend "ViewSonic has taken the viewing experience a step further by actually offering specialized enthusiast monitors specifically designed for gamers. Yes, we're about to get into mouth-drooling territory."



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News::The Forest: First Impressions (Early Access)

Jacqueline from Gamers Sphere shares her (scary) experiences with the indie survival horror game The Forest.



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News::What Gamers Want: Anticipated Releases from June 1 to June 7, 2014

Here are the most anticipated games for release this week, broken down according to the Platforms, Release Date and Genre for each game as well as a brief description for anticipated releases.



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News::Why Valve's Steam Controller Still Has Potential

Khurram writes why the Steam Controller still has potential, and also why it has to work.



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News::A Gaming Headset With Bass You Can Really Feel

A Gaming Headset With Bass You Can Really Feel


There's having sound reach your ears, and then there's having sound touch your ears. Outfitted with haptic technology, the Mad Catz F.R.E.Q. 4D Stereo Gaming Headset licks the inside of your ear canal with bass. It's more pleasant than it sounds.


Having stepped on the unit more than once over the course of the past three weeks (you're welcome, Mad Catz), I can attest to its durability. That doesn't preclude it from feeling slightly cheap. There are metal bands connecting the ear cups to the head piece, but beyond that it's fancy plastic with excessive detailing I've come to expect from Mad Catz. The company wants to be sleek and futuristic, but these random flourishes give the product more of a toy feel. If you plan on picking up a Mad Catz F.R.E.Q. 4D Stereo Gaming Headset, prepare to be just a tiny bit disappointed every time you use another headset and your ears aren't filled with pleasant vibrations. It's an addictive aural sensation — I've found myself making excuses to use the headset more often than I normally would. If it weren't for that ever-present extremely mild discomfort, I'd never go anywhere without it.

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News::Call of Duty: Ghosts Invasion DLC Mutiny Map Preview

Todays Call of Duty: Ghosts Invasion DLC preview revolves around Mutiny, that the studio calls a remote Caribbean island harboring an eerie pirate hideout complete with abandoned trading posts and prison cells.



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News::Watch Dogs Early Impressions

From Vault of the Gameverse: "After nearly twenty hours, the first thing I want to say is that Watch Dogs is my new most absolute favorite game ever. I have a lot of favorites but this one is my newest #1. Bumped up the list topping Tomb Raider, Sleeping Dogs, Alan Wake, Alice: Madness Returns, the Batman: Arkham games, even Beyond: Two Souls and more."



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News::The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Review | ENE3

ENE3: "The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a sequel to the 2012 title, The Amazing Spider-Man, and based on the 2014 film of the same name. The game was produced by Beenox, known to have worked in other titles of Spiderman, for example, Shattered Dimensions, Edge of Time and The Amazing Spider-Man".



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News::The Top Five New Games Launching This June

A look at the top five new games launching this June.



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News::Dumb Idiot Ideas: Sonic Boom's Sticks vs Mario Kart's Mercedes


Max and I have a chat about some interesting new characters coming to the Wii U. However, Max has an ulterior curiosity that may just ruin everything forever. Which would you choose: Sticks the Badger, or the Mario Kart Mercedes?


Dumb Idiot Ideas: Sonic Boom's Sticks vs Mario Kart's Mercedes screenshot






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News::If Anything Will Sell Me On The Oculus Rift, It's Virtual Totoro

News::Max: The Curse of Brotherhood Review | 3rd-strike.com

Max: The Curse of Brotherhood is a 2.5D side-scrolling adventure platformer that servers as a remake and a sequel to Press Plays previous title from 2010, Max & the Magic Marker. Armed with the Magic Marker, you are going on an adventure in a dangerous land, solving puzzles as you go.



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News::Week-End Digital Fest May 30th Edition Featuring WildStar, Watch Dogs, Wolfenstein TNO and more

Who loves great deals? Everybody does! This week is full of it since there is a lot of newly released titles and we've got you covered! Here is a special review of every bargain to be found on the internet on the major releases of the past month. Also, there is special offers on Watch Dogs, WildStar, Wolfenstein : The New Order, Tropico 5 and Murdered : Soul Suspect just to name a few. All of the listed offers are available in North America and Europe.



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News::Retrospective: Metroid Prime


Format: GameCube Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Retro Studios Review: E119



Ignore the cheery red and yellow Space Quarterback trappings: Metroid has always been a restless and difficult series, an introvert among the pixies and plumbers of the Nintendo catalogue. Serious, complex and unfriendly to newcomers, Samus Aran’s adventures trade in elegant dread rather than clear-cut heroics, replacing the smiling clouds and summer skies with slimy rocks and echoing catacombs.


The difference is visible on every level: Mario goes left to right, a breezy sightseer on a predictable journey. Metroid, however, has always been about heading downwards, boring deeper into increasingly remote locations. And rather than the chummy ever-expanding cast of the Mushroom Kingdom or Hyrule, Metroid’s lineup is tiny and largely static. This isn’t about being part of the gang, it’s about quiet, lonely toil on the frontiers of space.


It’s strange, then, that this ageing franchise, away from screens for almost a decade, should beat Mario and Link to become what some would argue is the standout title on the GameCube. But the reason for its triumph turns out to be very simple: Metroid Prime is all about atmosphere and detail.


And the clues were there from the outset. That controversial shift to firstperson, seen as a sign that Retro, an untested developer, was accidentally backing over one of 2D platforming’s most cherished rose gardens, turned out to be a canny move. Rather than suggesting a new focus on gunplay, the change of perspective is there to put you not only into Aran’s helmet, but straight into her world too. Metroid had always been about immersion in an alien environment, so the new viewpoint simply feels like coming home. Maybe, for once, the series just needed technology to catch up with its own best interests.



Our Metroid Prime review: “After Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64, this is possibly the most accomplished three dimensional update of a 2D title Edge has witnessed.”



And from the orbiting Space Pirate laboratory through to the decaying and corrupted planet interior of Tallon IV, it’s the world of Metroid Prime that truly makes it a classic. Like Half-Life 2, the game would rather tell its tale in stone and moss than cutscenes, speaking most coherently through the places that ancient calamity has left behind. Prime deals in archaeology as much as narrative. The caverns you travel through, the long-dead world you explore with its crumbled buildings and forgotten purposes, its ancient security systems and dormant switches, are far more than just the setting for a wider story – they are the story. And it’s a surprisingly downbeat one at that: a tale of consequences and failures, of decaying remains, pollution, and the terrible aching loneliness that follows disaster.


What’s surprising, then, is that the environments themselves at first seem oddly generic. Why get excited about another ice level, another world of lava and fire? These have been the stock set-dressings of videogames since their birth, the props designers reach for when they’re half-asleep or facing a deadline. But with Prime it’s the treatment, the way the game uses tiny details to create a sense of isolation, of oppressive weight above and around you, that makes such tired ideas fresh again. It’s the smashed computer panels, the tumble-down walls, and the terrifying prospect of an empty specimen case. Instead of levels, Metroid Prime has locations that feel real. Instead of enemies, it has developed a believable ecosystem – the creatures you fight emerging from the same environment that powers the story.


But, as ever with Metroid, that perfectly gloomy tale is just one of two narratives at work. The other one is told in the slow but steady accumulation of new weapons and powers, the legacy of a series that understands much more about rewards than Xbox 360’s Achievement system ever could. In Metroid, weapon upgrades are more than just bigger, better toys: they provide an elegant solution to the problem of pacing, opening up new areas and new possibilities, turning the constant backtracking into a deliriously exciting treasure quest. Gamerpoints are one thing, but a morph ball is something else: where will you use it? And how? This is a game that needs you to pay attention, to sit up straight and take notes, a game that asks you to remember whereabouts you saw that tempting gap that you may now be able to pass through.


None of this was new to Metroid Prime, of course, but whereas some iterations of Zelda and Mario feel weighed down by their cumulative history of mechanics and traditions, Prime uses old tricks not because it has to, but because it can make them work; those it can’t use, it ditches with little ceremony. On paper, drip-feeding and backtracking don’t seem to make for a particularly thrilling game. But the results, when they’re as well-judged and unsentimental as this, are both classically traditional and utterly revolutionary. Devastation has never been so colourful, lonely exploration has seldom been so exhilarating, and a game that rates patience and concentration above almost any other virtue has never been so endlessly gripping.


The post Retrospective: Metroid Prime appeared first on Edge Online.






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News::Watch Dogs SongSneak Songs Locations Guide

Guide4GameS: Watch Dogs allow you to find all 23 songs like other collectibles. Find them all and unlock an achievement/trophy (Disk Spade Full Unlock every song with the SongSneak app) and you will be awarded 30 Gamerscore Points or a silver trophy. All picked songs can be playable on the car radio.



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News::Best of Kotaku, The Week of May 26

Best of Kotaku, The Week of May 26


Is E3 seriously only a week away? Kill me now. Or just go catch up on our best stuff from this week over at Kotaku Selects.


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News::Possible Prey 2 Details Leaked, Arkane Studios Developing

OnlySP: It looks like some details on Prey 2 have finally leaked.



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News::GRiD Autosport Now Available For Pre-Order - GRiD 2 Owners Get 10% Off

Hardcore Gamer: GRiD Autosport is less than a month away, and is now available to pre-order on Steam.



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News::Rebellion teases huge news for Sniper Elite franchise coming next week

Gamers might be surprised to hear that the upcoming announcement is not about its forthcoming title, while the teaser artwork released only features the series iconic eagle motif.



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News::Premium Beta Launches For Elite: Dangerous

Earlier today Frontier Developments announced the immediate release of the Premium Beta for the highly anticipated sandbox style science-fiction MMO game, Elite: Dangerous.



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News::Cross-Server PvP And The City Of Steam: Arkadia 2.6.1 Update

Mechanist Games recently posted an update article including some incredibly exciting features for the upcoming 2.6.1 update for the increasingly popular steampunk free-to-play MMO, City of Steam: Arkadia.



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News::Dev's forget to add Save Feature to The Forest

The Forest game launched earlier today on Steam but it seems that the devs forgot to add a save progress option.



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News::Watch Dogs - walkthrough and game guide

John Bedford (Eurogamer): Watch Dogs, Ubisoft's much-hyped sandbox game of cyber-subterfuge, has finally hit the shelves nearly two years after its E43 reveal. Set in a Chicago of the not-too-distant future, you assume the role of Aiden Pearce, a hacker-supreme hot on the heels of justice following the sinister death of his niece. There are stories and systems galore to get stuck into, and we'll be expanding our guide as we make our way through the game. To get things started, we're putting together a complete walkthrough for the game's single-player campaign, with a guide to Watch Dogs' online multiplayer and side-mission content to follow.



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News::Call of Duty: Ghosts Invasion DLC Pharaoh Map Preview and Gameplay

Todays Call of Duty: Ghosts Invasion DLC preview is all about Pharaoh, an abandoned archeological site of an ancient Egyptian palace.



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News::Deadlight Review | TechRaptor

Deadlight was one of the May Games with Gold for the Xbox 360. Its a very frustrating game. That doesnt mean its not a good game. It just seems rough. Take a look below and see what we mean.



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News::Dragon Age: Inquisition: A Possible Breach In The Veil

Bioware releases a post regarding the Veil's role in Dragon Age: Inquisition.



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News::6 Things You Need To Know To Beat Watch Dogs

Watch Dogs pits a lone hacker against criminals, mercenaries and SWAT teams. The odds are stacked against Aiden Pearce but there are plenty of things that players can do to level the playing field.



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News::Exclusive Interview: Sniper Elite III

In this exclusive interview, 505 Games' Kevin Kraffand and Michael Greening talk about the new stealth mechanics, weapon customizing, and other additions to Sniper Elite III.



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News::IndieCade Reveals Full E3 Lineup

Twinfinite writes: With E3 just around the corner, IndieCade has revealed their full lineup of games for this year's event. There's something for everyone in this hefty list.



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News::Max The Curse of Brotherhood Review - GamesReviews

From GamesReviews: "Im sure weve all had moments where weve wished getting rid of someone was as easy as reading from a book. Months of minor annoyances add up to the point where youd do anything to have them just disappear. For Max hero of Max and the Magic Marker the dream is for his obnoxious little brother to disappear into a wisp of smoke and then it happens. A monster magically appears in Maxs mirror and drags his brother into another world. Like all good brothers, Max follows."



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