For the person who has everything, there's this: a nearly 63-inch-tall, half-scale statue of Kojima Productions' Ludens mascot. Sideshow Collectibles has opened pre-orders for the luxury item ahead of an estimated Q1 2018 ship date, and at $2,000 a pop, understandably, only 150 are being produced.
There's a slight burn right now in my flexor pollicis longus. This muscle is unique to humans. It's the one that controls our opposable thumbs, and for the last five days, I've been giving it a workout with Tap Wars: Earth Defense Force 4.1 The Shadow of New Despair. Please do not confuse this with Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair that was released late last year for the PlayStation 4. That game is good. Tap Wars is fucking awful.
Tap Wars EDF is another free-to-play game in the somehow still popular clicker genre. After five seconds with it, I realized this is just a reskin of the equally awful Tap My Katamari that crapped itself onto the App store earlier this year. That game also tested the strength of my flexor pollicis longus but it also tested my patience. Don't trust my opinion? Just read what those in our community thought of it. It's an abomination of a game, and even with its b-movie aesthetic charm, Tap Wars EDF is just as abysmal.
Behind the ongoing public debate on violent video games, a few key titles always stand out -- but before the public was freaking out about Grand Theft Auto, it was reeling in shock from Postal. This ridiculous satirical smorgasbord of violence earned the accolade of "digital poison" from Senator Joe Lieberman at launch, but still gathered a cult following. Earlier this year, the game saw a high definition remaster -- but the original game isn't dead yet. Developer Running With Scissors just announced that its making the 1997 original open source -- publishing the code on Bitbucket under the GPL2 license.
Source: BitBucket, Running With Scissors
Arceus is one of those Pokémon I'd rather not think too hard about, if I'm being frank.
Not because of its design, or its abilities, or whatever other criteria we might use to judge these creatures against each other. Nah. It's the lore! The uncomfortable idea that a child went out and captured a creator deity and is now more than likely holding it hostage in some random PC.
Per the ever-helpful if occasionally browser-melting Bulbapedia:
"Arceus is thought to have created the Sinnoh region and possibly the entire Pokémon world, the lake guardians: Uxie, Azelf, Mesprit, and the creation trio: Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina. Because of this, Arceus is thought to be one of the most long-lived of all Pokémon species. It has the power to recreate the creation trio as well, presumably to guard the dimensions when a Trainer has caught one of them. According to the anime, its power can also bring back things that it once destroyed, make certain things vanish into thin air, or to halt time."
Heavy stuff. That said, I can sympathize with the continued desire to max out your Pokédex, gods be damned. If you fell behind on Game Freak's distribution events this year, consider this your second chance to nab Arceus in Pokémon X, Y, Omega Ruby, and Alpha Sapphire. To claim The Original One, head to the Mystery Gift option in-game and enter the following code for your Arceus gift:
This specific event ends on Saturday, December 31. And then we drink.
Serebii.net [Twitter]
[Here is the story as old as time, of swords and souls, eternally retold. Also, it's about couches. There's only a few days left in the month, no, the year, for our bloggers wanted prompt, special little places! ~ Strider]
I’ve been gaming for most of my life, and I’ve gotten to play on a good variety of systems whether new or old. I recall playing every Donkey Kong Country game on a crappy old TV that had the correct input, playing Crash Bandicoot on a PS1 and continuing on from there via a PS2 and GameCube that my siblings and I played with.
I first played Astroneer at PAX West earlier this year, and it caught my attention immediately. It's near impossible to describe without mentioning No Man's Sky (NMS), as they're both procedurally generated games that revolve around exploration and upgrading your character. Unlike the higher-profile NMS, Astroneer focuses on base building and terrain deformation, with each procedurally generated planet composed of flat-shaded polygons that can be added to or destroyed by your mining tool.
The malleability of the world is one of the strongest features of Astroneer, and it's a lot of fun just playing with the mining tool, making holes or constructing giant sculptures out of dirt. I asked the developers during my PAX demo, and they told me that given enough time, it's theoretically possible to punch a hole through the world and come out the other side. What's more, up to four players can join the same planet simultaneously and work together to upgrade their bases and explore the planets.
I've been playing most of the major MOBAs since launch, and one of my favorite things about them is seeing how they grow over time. Although people like to dump on the genre wholesale, part of what I love about the genre is that they persist throughout the ages. While [hot game x] is all the rage for a short while, people quickly move on to the next big thing.
But developers like Riot, Blizzard, and Valve have been doing some great lowkey work on League of Legends, DOTA 2, and Heroes of the Storm respectively, adding new characters, reworking old ones, and generally overhauling how the game works mechanically.
You can see how the latter game has progressed for yourself in the below video, which showcases all of 2016's major advancements for Heroes. To recap the recap, we got 16 new heroes, 24 character updates, 49 skins, 26 mounts, two extra levels, one level update (Haunted Mines), and a complete rework of the ranked system.
Zul'jin is the next addition on January 3.
Verizon Wireless is clearing out its stock of the Samsung Gear VR onto the market for only $50. We've seen the Samsung Gear VR for $49.99 before, but only in refurbished condition, while this is brand new and straight from a big retailer. Amazon is currently selling refurbished SM-R322 models like this for about $60. You won't need to be a Verizon customer to take advantage of the 50% price break. Add it to your cart and the discount will be reflected.
Another wireless provider with a hot accessory/tech deal is T-Mobile -- it's slashing the price on the popular Asus RT-AC68U Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router. This was the "Top Dog" router back in late 2013 and is now just something higher end at a good price. You'll need to apply promo code WIFI40 to get the discount during checkout.
Verizon/T-Mobile Clearance:
Note that this is the SM-R322 2015 model of the Gear VR, whereas the latest is the SM-R323 with some minor changes. Shipping is free on the Gear VR.
If you're a deal encyclopedia like us you'll note that T-Mobile offered this same Asus Router at this price during the holiday season, but eventually sold out of its stock. The similar non-T-Mobile-branded Asus router is still selling for about $150 on Amazon and elsewhere. Note that you won't need to be a T-Mobile customer to use this router and you can flash the firmware if you want more features.
2016 has ended on a really rough note with the death of Carrie Fisher, but she was beloved by many, as evidenced by this heartwarming tribute going on currently in The Old Republic.
As of this week thousands of players have been visiting the planet of Alderann, and paying their respects to Fisher at House Organa. One person managed to create a character that looks just like her, and players from all over the galaxy have been attending a remembrance ceremony of sorts for the actress.
A lot of folks are hoping that this can lead to some sort of in-game memorial, like a statue. It's been done before, and MMOs are the perfect place to do it.
I remember renting this for free when I was kid because my dad and uncle were running a video store aptly named "Big Daddy's Video" and actually enjoying it. Of course when you're a kid you have no standards except when it comes to vegetables, and I haven't seen it since. I don't plan to. If you do however, either because you like it, are a masochist, a collector, or all of the above, now's your chance.
You can pre-order or just wait to buy it on its February 13, 2017 release date for £15.99 via Zavvi. Especially focusing on that back cover featuring the Bob-omb, it comes with a pretty sick steel case, regardless of the films quality. Extras from the first Blu-ray release in 2014 return, including an hour long documentary featuring the cast and film maker, a 'making of' video, and "English subtitles for Hard of Hearing," but there are no new extras on this version.
I was tempted to make a joke regarding those subtitles about the movie potentially having poor audio issues or just telling people to turn the volume up, but a lot of times I don't know what the hell people are saying in movies. Especially when they whisper. Having the option to turn subtitles on or off is always better than not having the option at all.
If you've been staring wistfully at the many iOS folks who are playing Super Mario Run on your commute, wondering when your Android gizmo could get in on the action, maybe stop doing that. First up, it's a little creepy and, secondly, soon enough you'll be able to play on your own device. To find out exactly when, you can pre-register for the app via Google Play and be alerted as soon as the download is ready. Precisely when that is isn't clear, but hopefully the gap will be shorter than it was between announcement and availability on Apple's mobile OS -- a month.
Via: Android Police
Source: Google Play
Did you miss shows like Super Mario Super Show and The Legend of Zelda Animated Series? Well they're making a comeback with successful projects like Sonic Boom (Cartoon Network) and Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures (Disney). Nickelodeon wants to jump into the realm of video games like any good competitive company should.
Frederator Studios' founder Fred Seibert revealed on a Nick Animation podcast that "We have a project now that we’re doing that needs to go unnamed, based on one of the most world famous video games of the last 30 years, that we’ve had in our shop for twelve years without being able to get it started. But there were great characters and a great story, and eventually we got it going."
Media Create Sales is taking at least this week off due to the holidays, but thanks to Famitsu we can get an idea of Japanese game sales for this past week. You'll never guess what's at number one (hint: it starts with a P). The only new releases to crack the top 20 this week are games based on the legend of Momotaro and the Mr. Osomatsu series which won't be coming west.
Not until I started writing here a few months ago did I follow sales at all, so I am still a little bit surprised how strong that Pokémon train is still rolling after all these years. At least in Japan, the handheld gaming has really taken over in the past decade, likely a major reason why Nintendo is trying to make Switch a mobile and home hybrid.
Devil's Third may have had microtransactions crammed into its online mode that could have turned people off of it entirely, but it was damn fun for what it was. "Was" being the operative word here, because it's D-E-D dead now.
We knew that the servers would be going offline at some point this year, but now, several dedicated users have discovered that they're now dead. I went on myself to try to play one last game and found the same "new battles cannot be launched" message.
Well, at least we have Devil's Third Online I guess? And that's free-to-play! Maybe it'll make its way overseas at some point.
theGamerPad [Twitter]
I'm really surprised an APK of Super Mario Run hasn't been crafted out of the iOS version and mass downloaded, but Android users hopefully won't have to wait too much longer to play. That's because you can now pre-register for the game on Google Play. Its release date is still unknown.
It's a given that it won't do as well as it did on iOS, even without the time delay and mediocre reception. I personally got enough from a quick let's play and am satisfied to move on. How do you fellow Android users feel? Are you still interested?
Super Mario Run [Google Play]
It's the holidays, so it's expected to be a light eShop drop, but this is really light. I wonder if anyone is going to try to capitalize on the zero competition going into the Switch's release?
Either way, we have Mario Kart 64 on the Wii U, and Castlevania Dracula X on the 3DS Virtual Console. That's it. There's a pair of Pokemon 3DS themes too if you don't already have enough of those.
Montaro is not a very good game, but had it been released in 1988 it would have been game of the year. Now, before you say this would be true of every disgusting game you own, Montaro is so simplistic that it could have been made on 1988-era hardware. In fact, it's not that different from a half-finished version of T&C Surf Designs. Instead of a skateboarding dude, you have DOGE.
I found Montaro while anally rummaging through the annals of Steam best-sellers, where it has an astonishing 4,000+ overwhelmingly positive reviews. The game retails for less than a dollar and despite that it's on sale right now, and that's already two good reasons why you should check this game out. I'm going to try and list out 23 other reasons to prove that I still have motor functions in my wrists. This is going to be an exercise of madness sprinkled with a very quick strategy guide.
You might want to act now (and call the store to make sure you're not making a trip out near Time's Square for nothing), but according to Nintendo's official Twitter account, they have some NES Classics in stock in their NYC retail location.
It's really stupid that instead of getting stock...you know, anywhere else, it's just here, but the same thing happened with some of the amiibo shortages. I haven't been since the recent remodel, but the store itself is in a nice location, and there's plenty of room to move around in.
Either way, I really hope that Nintendo of America doesn't forget about this thing after the holidays and actually lets people buy it non-scalped.
Nintendo NY [Twitter]
If you missed the gigantic PC games Winter Sale roundup we tossed up last weekend, this post is for you. With competition heating up between digital retailers for the number-two slot after Steam, it's a shopping paradise for gamers.
For those who don't want to dig through multiple retailers to buy the same damn Steam key for less, we've got you covered. Everything listed below is cheaper than Steam's pricing (and other legitimate digital retailers). Note that while most titles are in fact Steam keys, select few deals such as Grand Theft Auto V and The Division are for Rockstar Social and Uplay keys, respectively.
Dirt-cheap stuff includes three bundled Batman Arkham titles for only $9, and Grand Theft Auto V with the Megalodon shark card ($8 mil in-game credits) for only $44.
GMG Winter Sale
Use Code: DEALZON15
GamesPlanet Winter Sale
Bundle Stars Winter Sale
Use Code: WINTERSALE10
It's December 29th and we're looking back on Twitter's rough 2016, Tesla's Autopilot avoiding accidents and another Amazon sale day.
