News:: New PS4 Trophies suggest a localized Puyo Puyo Tetris release

When Puyo Puyo met Tetris, magic happened. Sparks flew. At least, that's what I'm led to believe by folks like Steven who have gotten their hands on this Japan-only puzzler with Real Good genes.

While Puyo Puyo Tetris made the rounds on several handheld and console platforms (even the Wii U!), Sega never brought the 2014 title to the West. Given that it's been a couple of years now with no word of a localization, it seemed safe to assume this wasn't on the cards. We'll see yet.

A recent PlayStation 4 Trophy listing for the game potentially heralds an upcoming English version and, with any luck, that clutch Western release. Curiously, there's also a translated logo for the game with a subheading which reads "Frantic Four-Player Puzzle Mashup!" Could it really be happening?

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News:: Diablo is invading Blizzard's other games

It's hard to believe, but the original Diablo came out 20 years ago on December 31. I remember thinking it was strange that such a huge game was coming out after Christmas, even then. My first time playing was at a friend's dorm room as I visited during winter break, and I was hooked immediately. Those big, beautiful health and mana orbs on the heads-up display were what really drew me in, I think. I just never wanted them to be less than full, so I played very cautiously at first.

Anyway, Diablo's turning 20, and to celebrate, Blizzard is letting Big Red cross over with all of their other properties. Everything from Hearthstone to Overwatch is getting in on the action with limited time events and items.Blizzard has said that there may be more than what's listed here, so you may want to log in to every game for yourself, just to check.

DIABLO III

As you might expect, Diablo III is where the biggest tribute to the original Diablo takes place. The Darkening of Tristram event lets players revisit the original game, and will run every January as long as Diablo III stays active. You can read our earlier article for the details on how to access the original cathedral, which will contain some throwback items as well. 

HEROES OF THE STORM

HotS already has several Diablo themed stages and characters, but there's a new Brawl map themed around the battle for the High Heavens, as seen in Diablo III. Players will be able to claim a new Diablo themed portrait.

HEARTHSTONE

Hearthstone added a new Tavern Brawl, a weekly event match that has slightly different rules. The player will face a hooded stranger in the tavern. We're not sure what the reward for defeating them will be, as this one won't go live until next Wednesday. 

OVERWATCH

Not much here, but Diablo themed sprays representing the different classes from Diablo III will be unlockable. It remains to be seen whether they'll be made available in Loot Boxes or will need to be earned, like the snowman sprays you can get from Mei's Snowball fight. There will also be a new player icon available.

STARCRAFT II

Even less here, but you can replace your worker's portrait with Diablo.

WORLD OF WARCRAFT

This one sounds intriguing. The most recent expansion, Legion, already returned demons to the forefront of Blizzard's MMO. The Diablo event looks like it'll bring even more demons to Azeroth, but this time, they'll be from the world of Sanctuary.

BLIZZARD CELEBRATES 20 YEARS OF DIABLO [Battle.net Forums]

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News:: That Metroid Prime Blast Ball demo will be going offline soon

Metroid Prime: Blast Ball, otherwise known as the only part of Federation Force worth a damn, had a demo that included online support. It was basically the entirety of that extra mode which had amiibo support along with allowing you to transfer your save data to the full version. Anyone hoping Nintendo would at least give the demo a full year of service will be saddened to learn that the demo is to be pulled offline on December 31, 2016.

You have a mere three days left to enjoy this demo online, then you'll have to shell out for Federation Force to keep on blast balling away. If you intend to play offline with friends, that will still be an option. While I wasn't so keen on how the game controlled, I did enjoy how much Nintendo seemed to have copied Rocket League. Blast Ball was also relatively inoffensive to the Metroid name, whereas Federation Force kind of misses the entire point of the series.

The Federation Force Blast Ball Demo will be offline-only after 12/31 [NeoGAF]

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News:: 'Mario Kart 64' is the Wii U Virtual Console's latest addition

Sure, Mario Kart 8 is great and all, but if you wanted to see the original version of "Toad's Turnpike" on the Wii U, your options have been pretty limited. Tomorrow changes that, as Mario Kart 64 will release on the system's Virtual Console. Revisiting the Nintendo 64 game will run you $9.99, and for that you'll get off-TV play and dim, washed out graphics -- the latter is a staple for just about everything on Virtual Console.

Via: Game Informer

Source: Nintendo

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News:: Oculus now owns an eye-tracking company

Google isn't the only company trying to figure out eye-tracking for virtual reality -- Oculus VR is on the case too. The Facebook-backed VR company has confirmed that it recently acquired Danish startup The Eye Tribe, a firm best known for creating software developer kits that bring gaze-based controls to smartphones, tablets and PCs. Now, that technology belongs to one of the highest profile VR headset makers on the market.

Via: TechCrunch

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News:: Carrie Fisher secretly recorded a few lines for the first Dishonored

Carrie Fisher, who sadly passed away this week, was mostly known for her iconic role in the Star Wars series as Princess Leia. Thing is, she rarely provided voice-over work to any games, including those based on Star Wars. It was a big deal when her lines were provided for Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but that actually wasn't the first time she recorded something for a game. Fisher had a few lines of dialog in Dishonored and finding them requires taking a pretty specific set of steps.

According to a post over on Glixel, in order to hear Fisher's voice in the game, you need to kill the male propaganda officer in Dunwall Tower during the "Return to the Tower" mission. At some point later in the game, you'd then be treated to her voice over the loudspeakers talking about the proper disposal of deceased individuals. Seeing as how I never killed anyone, that more than likely explains why I never encountered this.

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News:: The hunt for the best PlayStation 4 theme is over

Every so often but not nearly often enough, ridiculous PlayStation 4 themes and laughably bad PSN avatars come into my life. Who keeps making these? Better yet, who's buying them?

I don't know, and frankly, I'd prefer to keep it that way. Corn Love and whatever the hell these images are should remain life's great mysteries, always just out of grasp of our understanding no matter how far humankind progresses. What I do know is that on December 22, 2016, a new king was born.

Meet Tropical Skeleton Dance.

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News:: If you somehow watch Hulu on your Japanese 3DS, I have bad news for you

Sometimes, production companies kind of just throw everything at the wall and tries to see what sticks. For the 3DS and Wii U, nothing really "stuck" in the video department. Sure there's always that one guy that goes "I only watch videos on my 3DS!" but the adoption rate has been so low with these apps that many of them are just removing them entirely, rather than spend the effort to develop new software updates for recent firmware changes.

That's what Hulu is doing in Japan for 3DS. As of January 11, the app will be removed from the eShop, and on February 14, the service will cease to operate. Ever since 2012 Hulu has been pushing out US content to Japan, showcasing Mad Men, Sons of Anarchy, and The Sopranos with subtitles.

The US app will keep operating for the foreseeable future, but that could change if they're phasing it out elsewhere.

Daily News Update [Japanese Nintendo]

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News:: Blizzard marks 20 years of 'Diablo' with events across its games

Believe it or not, Diablo is turning 20 years old on December 31st. Yes, the classic clickfest has been around for long enough that some adults weren't even alive when the first game launched. It's a historic moment for gaming -- and Blizzard is marking the occasion by bringing Diablo-themed events and extras to several of its games. Diablo III, unsurprisingly, gets the most lavish treatment. It's going to get a Darkening of Tristram event that lets you visit a "reimagined" version of the original game's cathedral, including some familiar pick-ups.

Source: Battle.net

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News:: Frog Fractions 2 holds a Mass Effect easter egg

Frog Fractions 2 is a game that recently launched after being shrouded in mystery for years. Along with some crazy ARG that revealed the existence of the title, the game also has some outlandish secrets for players to solve. One of the less-hidden extras is the ability to import your Mass Effect 2 save into Frog Fractions 2. I'm sure Commander Shepard has to solve some arithmetic problems while making the jump to warp drive, or something.

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News:: Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 just got its first DLC drop in Japan

Inti Creates is rolling out the DLC for Azure Striker Gunvolt 2, and unfortunately, none of it involves a sequel to Mighty Gunvolt (even if Mighty No. 9 is taken out back and shot, I still want to see a follow-up with Gunvolt and Ekoro).

As for the DLC that you can buy now in Japan (it'll likely come over at some point), you can get a new song, an extra recipe that boosts credits and experience earned, two score attack missions, and a speed run mode that disables the Electromagnetic Barrier as well as the save feature.

Unfortunately its sold piecemeal, ranging from 150 Yen (roughly $1) to 300 Yen (roughly $2) per bit.  If it ever came over here I'd buy the missions for sure, but I can probably govern my own speed run, thank you.

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News:: Mario Kart 64 headed to Wii U in North America tomorrow

Mario Kart 64 is one of those games to make me go, "Wait, that wasn't already on Wii U? How?!"

It's true! European players have had access to the classic friendship-ruining racer since January, but over here, nothing. Nada. Zilch. Well, until this week, that is. You'll be able to buy and play the Nintendo 64 game for $9.99 through the North American Wii U Virtual Console as of tomorrow, December 29.

This version of Mario Kart 64 does not support ghost data, but that might not matter much if you prefer convenience above all else. I'm mostly in for Battle Mode, which was the one and only facet of this game I could ever hope to win. I was the embarrassingly bad driver among my group.

Mario Kart 64 [Nintendo via Go Nintendo]

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News:: Fire Emblem Fates manga on hold, possibly dead

In case you haven't heard, a Fire Emblem Fates manga was in the works -- anything that gets Fire Emblem into the hands of more people is a good thing in my book. Sadly, like several other video game themed pieces of literature lately, it might be going the way of the dodo.

Yuusuke Kozaki, the character designer for the games, was set to lend his talents to the project (as was the Fates writer), but nothing has materialized as of yet. This recent tweet from Koazki doesn't give us much hope though, because a year and a half later, he has announced that the project is suspended -- and given that he also adds he is "deeply sorry," it might just be canceled.

No reason is given for the decision, but at this point it would be weird to put out a Fates adaptation since we're so far removed from the game (it made more sense to strike while the iron was hot). Since Kozaki seems so deeply dedicated to the series, maybe we'll get a manga for the next iteration. How they're going to top Fates though, is yet to be seen.

Yusuke Kozaki [Twitter via Perfectly Nintendo]

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News:: Amazon plans a big digital-only sale for December 30th

You can call Amazon's Prime Day an excuse to clear out slow-moving products, but there's no question that it was a success -- and now, the internet retailer is hoping to replicate that success for online-only sales. It's launching a Digital Day sale on December 30th at 3AM Eastern that will offer discounts of up to 50 percent on apps, e-books, games, movies and music. The extent of the bargains isn't clear, but it's already teasing a few of the items on sale. You'll get breaks on games like Destiny: Rise of Iron, Rocket League and Titanfall 2, multiple Amazon music and video titles, comic books at Comixology, numerous productivity apps and some mobile titles.

Source: Amazon

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News:: PlayStation Plus is starting 2017 off right

No, Sony isn't kicking off the new year with crazy first-party picks for PlayStation Plus members, but January's game lineup does have a few notable inclusions. What really makes this a solid month, I think, is the well-rounded Cross-Buy support. PlayStation Vita owners in particular should feel the love as they decide between playing Titan Souls, The Swindle, and Day of the Tentacle Remastered.

PS4

• Classic point-and-click adventure Day of the Tentacle Remastered (also on PS Vita)
• Harrowing war-survival game This War of Mine: The Little Ones

PS3

• Top-down vehicular combat title BlazeRush
• Hack 'n' heist The Swindle (also on PS4 and PS Vita)
  

PS Vita

• Surprisingly intriguing match-three puzzler Azkend 2: The World Beneath
• Boss-fight gauntlet Titan Souls (also on PS4)
  

PS Plus: Free Games for January 2017 [PlayStation Plus]

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News:: Destructoid's hottest game tracks of 2016

Burned out on Christmas music? We've got you covered! Music and sound design are very important yet underappreciated aspects of game design. I mean, we can't touch, taste, or smell games (yet), so the auditory feedback is half our of experience playing games. We'll save the more intricate discussion of sound design for a rainy day. For now let's just enjoy the music.

Music is used for a variety of purposes in games. In some cases like with racers, it doesn't have much use beyond giving us something nice to listen to while we smash into walls, but when implementing effectively it serves to communicate the emotion we should feel. Joy, sadness, panic, anger, and feeling like a badass are all emotions we feel while playing games, and while we don't need to entirely rely on music to tell us that it certainly helps. 

Music also serves as a cue to how to play. The drowning music in Sonic gets you to hurry the hell up and sends you into a panic. The safe room music in Resident Evil lets you know you are no longer in danger. Game music is at its best not only when it sounds good and is used to these ends, but when it also is in harmony with the look and feel of the games aesthetics and (if applicable) animation. The music in Mario never outpaces the speed at which you run, and music in Banjo Kazooie seems as though it made to go to the beat of Banjo's running animation.

In picking our favorite tracks of 2016, we chose only original songs created for the game; no licensed songs. I decided to do individual songs rather than full soundtracks this year considering some games have one or a few great songs, but perhaps not all-around fantastic soundtracks. Here's our picks, and please do share your favorites as well!

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News:: Pokemon Go gets a quick off-screen cameo in Doctor Who

I love UK Christmas specials. They're usually high quality episodes on a production budget, and have the ability to be standalone films in a way built off of the success of an established TV series. If needed, they can also provide closure, like the UK Office. But there won't be any closure for Doctor Who for a while, at least, as long as they can keep finding actors to play The Doctor.

That includes the recent well received special The Return of Doctor Mysterio that aired just several days ago in the UK on BBC One on Christmas, which has a cute little Pokemon Go reference. Now, it doesn't specifically say "Go," but the idea is obvious, as The Doctor "floods the downstairs with Pokemon" as a distraction, causing people to run with their phones in the other direction.

Finally, an excuse to post about this show! The Fourth Doctor is the best one by the way.

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News:: Review: Space Hulk: Deathwing

Despite being a big tabletop gamer, I don't have any particular affinity for Warhammer 40K. Like most people, I found Space Marine to be an entertaining (if shallow) dalliance with the universe, but I never was able to shake the fact that I was playing as a murderous Buzz Lightyear, stomping Orks with my big silly spaceboots. 

I do however have an affinity for the idea of suiting up with some friends and blasting some Tyranids -- the 40K equivalent to Xenomorphs -- in a Space Hulk, amalgamous collections of various ships and debris. Running through monolithic stone cathedrals embedded in the bowels of huge spaceships, lit only by the muzzle flashes of my Assault Cannon as I defend my fellow Space Marines? Sounds like a dream game.

Unfortunately, the dreams will remain just that for now, unless Streum On Studio does some major reworking on the sadly flawed Space Hulk: Deathwing.

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News:: FCC filing hints that the Nintendo Switch won't support 3G or LTE

FCC filing documents have shed a little more light on the Nintendo Switch before its early January reveal event. Right now we basically know nothing about it for sure besides the fact that it's a new Nintendo console that can be taken on the go, but there are plenty of rumblings like the strength of the chipset, inputs, and so on.

But these documents reveal that there will be Bluetooth available, but will not support 3G or LTE for on the go play (this makes sense for a Nintendo system, and the feature failed on the Vita, so why repeat history). The battery is also supposedly not removable or swappable, and the Switch will support 5Ghz Wi-Fi.

It's about what we expected and what was leaked so far, but it's nice to have some sort of concrete info while Nintendo waits for that perfect marketing moment to dump everything on us.

Switch [FCC via Reddit]

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News:: Rumor: Crashmo sequel cancelled for Wii U

All over the world, the series that started with Pushmo on 3DS is known by several names and sequel variations (Crashmo, Fallblox, Pullblox), but it might be at the end of its rope.

According to a rumor from Liam Robertson, famed Nintendo leaker who has obtained assets in the past from proven projects, claims that Intelligent Systems has shifted over to other projects. There was even going to be a Wii U Crashmo sequel, but that's done for now -- no doubt partially inspired by the death of the Wii U console.

If we never see another game in this franchise again, I'll be really disappointed. This is easily one of Nintendo's best new IPs of the past decade, and it deserves cameos in things like the Smash series. But if it falls by the wayside like this, it will be forgotten.

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News:: The Morning After: Wednesday, December 28 2016

It's Wednesday and we're talking about an Amazon Echo speaker that's involved in a murder case, artificial intelligence making smarter game opponents (and Samsung phones, oh, and a giant robot that you can get inside and pilot. My christmas presents suddenly don't look so hot. Yes, I'm an ungrateful swine.

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