News:: A send-off for The World Ends With You's tenth anniversary

I replayed The World Ends With You for the third time this year. In part because I got a new phone and lost my save file as a result, and in part to celebrate its tenth anniversary. Long story short, I managed to lock myself out of that new phone one drunken night and had to wipe it. I never did finish this third playthrough. But, until this unfortunate accident, the game hooked me once again.

The World Ends With You is a wild, wild game. Fast-paced touchscreen combat, sharp graffiti-like artwork, nonsensical music. Beyblade ripoffs, cross-dressing, angst, shopping. It's flashy. It's loud. It's youth.

Read more...

via destructoid http://ift.tt/2ltopPX

News:: Enter the Gungeon on Switch pops 75k sales in a fortnight

Retro-styled twin-stick shooter Enter the Gungeon has had an amazingly successful launch. Developers Dodge Roll have tweeted that the quirky action title has already accumulated over 75,000 sales in just two weeks.

Enter the Gungeon -- which features awesome music by Doseone and is published by industry bad-boys Devolver Digital -- has one or two players run 'n' gun their way through procedurally generated dungeons taking on swarms of enemies.

Despite the game originally releasing on multiple platform in the Spring of 2016, clearly the title still has legs, given its instant popularity on Nintendo's baby. Gungeon is a game that feels custom-designed for the Switch, to be fair, given teh console's portability and control layout. It also doesn't really break the bank at around $15 in price.

Enter the Gungeon is available now on Switch, PS4, PC, Xbox One and Mac.

Read more...

via destructoid http://ift.tt/2lsMiHD

News:: Trivia hit HQ arrives on Android in time for New Year's Eve event

Intermedia Labs' live trivia game HQ has launched a little earlier than expected -- and just in time to mark the end of the year, too. Anyone willing and able to download an early access app can see whether or not the formerly iOS-only title lives up to its reputation. You won't have long to wait before you can give it a shot. HQ is holding a special New Year's Eve game at 11PM Eastern, and there's a chance to win as much as $18,000 if your knowledge is up to snuff.

Via: 9to5Google

Source: Google Play

via Engadget RSS Feedhttp://ift.tt/2CrtSkc

News:: Axiom Verge Multiverse Edition is my GOTY of 2017

There were a lot of games I loved this year -- Battle Chef Brigade, Cuphead, Ghosts 'N Homunculi, GoNNER, Million Onion Hotel, Puyo Puyo Tetris, River City Ransom: Underground, Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment, Splatoon 2, The End is Nigh, The Mummy Remastered, and TumbleSeed are just a handful. It's almost unfair to compare them to a game release that I'll remember most from 2017, as they are all "just games," where Axiom Verge Multiverse Edition is a multimedia package that's able to share interconnected information with you through totally different avenues at once. Fair or not, it's the data that goes into your brain that determines what you end up loving the most, and this is the data package that had the biggest impact on me this year. 

If a spoiler is information that will make you like a game less if you gain said info beforehand, then my relationship with Axiom Verge has been rife with the opposite of that kind of information from the start. Knowing that the whole game was made by just one person led me to enjoy it far more than I would have if I went in thinking it was made by a team of hundreds. When you know a game came from one personality, hardwired into one set of synaptic connections, everything takes on a different meaning. You know that what you're playing is, for better or worse, a direct download from someone else's mind.

The making of the art book and documentary included in this retail release of the game provides even more inroads into the heart and soul of Axiom Verge creator Tom Happ, and it's not always a comfortable ride. Tom's process, his game, and his personal life are all mutually related and intertwined, bound together by a unified vision, shaded under a dark cloud of tragic irony. 

Read more...

via destructoid http://ift.tt/2C2aS8k

News:: What is your 2018 gaming resolution?

So... 2017 huh? Goddamn, have the last 12 months felt like they lasted six years to anyone else? So much has happened in 2017, too much to bother talking about here, but one of the good things to come out of it for me is I kept my gaming resolution. Last year I said I would pay more attention to mobile games and by God I did it. It wasn't always fun but at times it provided me with some absolutely awesome experiences.

I plan to keep that going in 2018 but there is so much more I can do in the next year and that's why I'm making a brand new gaming resolution. I'm ending 2018 with a new Switch, a backlog of Wii U games I still have to get to, a stack of PlayStation 4 titles that's growing by the week and a 3DS catalog that's too legit to quit. I could resolve to whittle down my backlog in 2018 but HAHAHAHAHA that's not going to happen. Instead of beating games... I want to make one.

That's right. My gaming resolution for 2018 is to begin development of my own game using SmileBASIC. If you haven't heard of SmileBASIC, it is a game development program for the Nintendo 3DS that is a more advanced version of Petit Computer for the Nintendo DS. A couple weeks ago, I watched this short video on Yoshiro Kimura who I am officially naming my favorite developer of 2017. He created Dandy Dungeon and Million Onion Hotel and in this video, he talks about rediscovering his love for game development while dicking around with Petit Computer. After watching that clip I immediately downloaded SmileBASIC to my spanking new New Nintendo 2DS XL Pokéball edition.

I don't know if what I make will be any good or if I have to talent to make anything worthwhile, but 2018 will be the year I do what I always say I've wanted to and make a game. That's my resolution, what's yours?

Read more...

via destructoid http://ift.tt/2EkpFwF

News:: Christmas duds: which terrible games have you received for Christmas?

When giving gifts at Christmas, it is the thought that counts. Especially in the time of trophies and achievements, unwrapping a mediocre game from a well-meaning great-aunt who asked the nice shop assistant for recommendations is not a big deal at all. However, it's still possible for a gift to be such a misfire that you wonder why your poor relative didn't just make life easier for themselves and get you a voucher. Or nothing at all.

When it comes to my Christmas duds, I cannot palm the responsibility for past Christmas disappointments off onto anyone else. All of the games that left a bitterer taste in my mouth than mushy Brussel sprouts did so because I did poor research when putting together my Christmas list, and Santa dutifully complied with what I had scribbled down. Now I (mostly) know better than to buy licensed games just because of the franchise they are attached to, or to buy a game because the cover is pretty. But that has been a tough lesson to learn.

So, which shoddy games did I struggle through with a sour face, one childhood Christmas Day? Keep reading, and contribute yours in the comments!

Read more...

via destructoid http://ift.tt/2ElK0lj

News:: Ben Heck's Atari Dragster: Testing the world record

Can the Ben Heck Show team recreate the fabled 5.51 world record with micro-controller hardware? In an effort to find out, the team invites world record holder Todd Rogers into the workshop to help train the simulation. Can Ben's hardware beat the fastest-ever time? Find out, and let us know what you think over on the element14 Community.

via Engadget RSS Feedhttp://ift.tt/2DE6qNo

News:: Peter Glagowski's personal picks for GOTY 2017

2017 may be over, but it won’t be forgotten. While 2016 had a collection of some decent enough titles, everyone brought out their A game this year. While I’m still not quite sure whether these games are as important as years past, in the here and now, 2017 was a total blast.

So for once in a long time, I’m actually able to make a top 10 list! Hooray! The one caveat I have to mention is that I’ll only be including games that originally released in 2017. That sadly means Yakuza 0 won’t be on my list, despite it receiving the highest score from me on Destructoid for the year. It first released in 2015 in Japan, so it gets disqualified for my list. With that being said, definitely play the game because it is amazing.

To me, these ten games represent the best that you can get for your money. If you walk away disappointed, hopefully you’ll learn something about yourself or your interests from checking these titles out. I know more than a few of these games got me to reevaluate what I hold dear about my favorite hobby.

Read more...

via destructoid http://ift.tt/2zPy6ge

News:: Platinum Games to self-publish two 'healthy' sized games

Platinum Games are planning to self-publish two undisclosed titles in the future. These games, though relatively large in budget, won't quite reach the AAA levels of some of the studio's more famous titles, such as Bayonetta or NieR: Automata.

Speaking with GameInformer, Platinum's head of development Atsushi Inaba has spoken of the balance the studio is trying to find between Indie-level productions and big-budget, big publisher titles. "We can’t put together a AAA, $10 million-plus game, because we just don’t have that sort of cash as an independent developer," said Inaba. "However, we don’t plan to go the indies route with just a few people on a team making a game, so it’ll be somewhere in the middle, looking at probably about 20 people on the staff making the game, so that’ll still be a healthy (size)".

Inaba also spoke of the studio having an open door policy on game ideas. As such, there are around 70 game concepts submitted by team members, which have been diluted down to the ones Platinum could explore within their own budgetary limitations.

It will be interesting to see what comes from Platinum in this venture. If successful, it could perhaps lead to an increase in smaller-scale titles from developers, hopefully reducing the consistent complaining from publishers that multi-million dollar games didn't make multi-million dollar profits.

Platinum Games' Atsushi Inaba on future projects [GameInformer]

via destructoid http://ift.tt/2pZGR7v

News:: PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds sets another concurrent player milestone

Whether you like it or not, PUBG is a massive hit. The game is such a big hit, in fact, that it just passed three million concurrent players on Steam! While it has been the most played game on the service for a couple of months now, this upward trend of people playing is only widening the gap between the competition. How can anyone catch up?

Read more...

via destructoid http://ift.tt/2CsIzRJ

News:: Mike Sounders's indecisive six best games of 2017

2017 was a great year for video games wasn't it? Yes we've all heard it said dozens of times already, but it's true nevertheless. This has easily been the hardest year in my life where I couldn't decide my absolute favorite game of the year. So as a result, after weeding out at least a dozen other games, I am left with six of them. Six games that I had the greatest time of my life with this year, and am struggling to say 'I'd give this my personal GOTY award' over the other five.

So as a result, I'm just going to list all six of them. I love all of them equally, and they all deserve equal spotlight. If you don't see a game you liked mentioned, it's due to me not getting around to it, such as Final Fantasy XII: Zodiac Age or Gravity Rush 2, or barely got cut, such as Fire Emblem: Shadows of Valentia, or I did not enjoy it, like Breath of the Wild.

So without further delay, here are my six favorite games of 2017.

Read more...

via destructoid http://ift.tt/2DAgbw5

News:: Xbox party chat arrives on iOS in beta

You no longer need an Android phone if you want to join in Xbox party chats when you're away from your console -- Microsoft has introduced party chat to the beta Xbox app for iOS. If you've been accepted into the program (you have to sign up first), you can keep up with your teammates' voice conversations from your iPhone or iPad while you're racing home to join them in a multiplayer match.

Via: OnMSFT, Windows Central

Source: Xbox App Beta signup

via Engadget RSS Feedhttp://ift.tt/2CnIvoI

News:: The Great Retro Quiz Reboot: Games of 2017

Happy holidays, everyone! With the new year coming soon, it's time for a look back at the past 12 months in video games. And what a year it's been! Game of the year contenders released pretty much every month in 2017, and Nintendo's Switch might have had the best launch year I've ever seen. In short, it's been a great time to be a gamer, and I hope everyone found a game or three to enjoy over the holidays.

Just like last year, we're going to take a look back at the most memorable games of 2017. It's been a while since we've done one of these, but I hope everyone remembers how to play. Our grand prize this time is $20 worth of Steam credit, and big thanks to Niero for providing it. This is a worldwide contest, so everyone is eligible!

I'm going to switch up how you provide your answers this time, to make it a little less easy to look at another player's paper. Instead of posting your answers in the comments, please post your Twitter handle below and tweet your answers to @Retroidpodcast with the hashtag #GRQ. If I can't match up a Twitter answer with a comment below, that person will be disqualified and I'll move on to the person with the next most correct answers.

We'll run the contest until 11:59 PM Pacific time on January 3, so the winner should juuuust be able to take advantage of the winter sale. Results will be posted the day after the contest ends, but I'll try and get the code to the winner as soon as possible after I tabulate the results. In the event of a tie, the winner will be the first tweet with the most correct answers. There may be some light spoilers for this year's games, so if you obsess about that sort of thing, maybe don't read the answers or comments below. Official rules for winning the Steam credit are below the quiz. With that out of the way, let's get started!

Read more...

via destructoid http://ift.tt/2zPbqwq

News:: The Morning After: Weekend Edition

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

Welcome to the last weekend of 2017. Before we dive into a new year we're checking out all of Friday's plus some highlights from earlier this week. See you in 2018!

via Engadget RSS Feedhttp://ift.tt/2EifoBi

News:: LAPD arrest 25-year-old suspect in Wichita 'swatting' case

Thursday night Wichita police killed Andrew Finch after responding to a call claiming a man at his address had shot someone and was holding others hostage. That call was a hoax, commonly referred to as "swatting," and in this case, it's apparently linked to a Call of Duty match, where one player passed a fake address to another before someone called the police to it. Now NBC News reports that police in Los Angeles have arrested 25-year-old Tyler Barriss, who is believed to have made the call inciting the incident.

Barriss may be the "SWAutistic" who tweeted about making the call and later participated in a phone interview with the DramaAlert show on YouTube. An LAPD spokesperson confirmed to Engadget that Barriss is in custody, no bail has been set, and that they are working with Wichita police on the case. The LA Times reported in 2015 that he had been arrested for calling in a bomb threat to a TV studio, and in the YouTube video, SWAutistic claims to be responsible for bomb threats that interrupted an MLG Call of Duty event in Dallas earlier this month.

Source: NBC News

via Engadget RSS Feedhttp://ift.tt/2zNM2Hj

News:: Nobody should die because of a video game

Andrew Finch, a father of two and 28-year-old resident of Wichita, Kansas, is dead, shot by police who were called to his home with a report of a hostage situation. There was no hostage situation happening, not even a gun inside the house. But Finch was there with his family. He opened the door when he saw flashing police lights and was killed moments later.

Police are now saying the shooting is the result of a Swatting call. Deputy Police Chief Troy Livingston described the act as a 'prank' and the actor as a 'prankster,' words that honestly fail to do this monstrous situation justice. It's a gross tragedy, one that feels particularly disgusting because it may be the end result of a feud between two Call of Duty players.

Read more...

via destructoid http://ift.tt/2Eid4tV

News:: Review: Tiny Metal

It's been almost ten years since the last Advance Wars game (and nearly fifteen since the last really good one). Since Nintendo has all but abandoned the series in favor of its other turn-based tactics series Fire Emblem, it's now up to a few indie developers to pick up what the big N has left behind. It's a daunting task, and it's admirable that Tiny Metal (and others) are taking it on.

Tiny Metal takes that classic formula -- anime characters commanding a battalion, interconnected rock-paper-scissors interactions, and the horrors of war abstracted in an almost whimsical way -- and adds its own twists. The mechanics it brings to the table are enough to change the mental calculations and further the genre, but its roughness around the edges holds it back from achieving greatness.

Read more...

via destructoid http://ift.tt/2zOb7Ss

News:: Alleged swatting hoax ends in the death of a father of two

Yesterday evening, a 28-year-old Kansas man was shot by police after the station received a call about a hostage situation taking place at the man's residence. "It was a shooting call involving hostages," Deputy Police Chief Troy Livingston said during a press conference last night. "The original call, we were told that someone had an argument with their mother and dad was accidentally shot. And that now that person was holding mother, brother and sister hostage. We learned through that call that a father was deceased, and had been shot in the head. That was the information we were working off of." But that information turned out to be wrong and shortly after the incident, reports began to surface online that the call was part of a "swatting" stunt -- a hoax wherein someone makes a false police report in order to fuel a large law enforcement response.

Source: Wichita Police Department, The Wichita Eagle (1), (2)

via Engadget RSS Feedhttp://ift.tt/2CiF4j0

News:: Logging into Overwatch this week will bag you five loot boxes

As was the case with last year's festive week, players logging into Overwatch between December 25 and January 1 will receive five free loot boxes, in conjunction with the Winter Wonderland event.

All you need do is boot up the arena-shooter up, and the boxes will be waiting to be opened on the title screen. All I wanted for my Overwatch Christmas were the amazing skins for Sombra and Ana, but instead I got some festive quotes and sprays, which is the digital equivalent of receiving socks.

The clock's ticking, but I can easily go without if need be. I ain't bought a loot box in my life and I'm not about to start now. To be fair, I did get a Highlight Intro for Reinhardt, as well as a couple of funky Epic skins for Tracer and Zenyatta. In fact, I think my algorithm is glitching, as I received Zenyatta content in absolute abundance throughout 2017.

Regardless, I hope the bonus boxes give you Overwatch dudes and dudettes something rad this festive season. The Winter Wonderland event will continue until January 1, 2018.

via destructoid http://ift.tt/2CjVV4V

News:: Ray Porreca's personal picks for Game of the Year 2017

Take a deep breath. If you're reading this, congratulations. The holidays have come and gone, and we're one step closer to leaving 2017 in the dust. It hasn't been an easy year, but here we are: alive, tougher, and desperate for some rest.

The last twelve months were rough. But instead of lamenting all the terrible shit that happened, it's time to talk about video games. I played a ton of great games in 2017, but the digital diversions and pixelated poems below instilled me with feelings of rebellion and exploration in an oddly prescient and much-needed manner. 

Video games are good. Here are my top ten Good Games from 2017.

Read more...

via destructoid http://ift.tt/2pWBqGA

News:: 'PUBG' sets new record with three million simultaneous players

In case you needed further proof that people really, really, really like PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), Steam has your back. Today, the game shattered its previous concurrent-players record by more than double the amount, peaking at 3,106,358 this morning, according to Valve's game-selling platform. As of this month, PUBG had some 25 million players on PC overall. In September, the game peaked at 1,342,857 concurrent players.

Via: Polygon

Source: Steam, PlayerUnknown (Twitter)

via Engadget RSS Feedhttp://ift.tt/2pWyl9l

News:: CyberConnect2 has more to announce in February, and I hope it's an original project

Look, I don't mind the long string of Naruto games that CyberConnect2 has been pumping out for years. There's nothing wrong with paying the bills, and those games are actually pretty good. But given how deeply in love I am with Asura's Wrath, I really like seeing the studio tackle more original works.

We might get just that in February, as CyberConnect2 president Hiroshi Matsuyama just teased a reveal for the "vision of the fuutre" of the studio in February. The president is pretty stoked for the big event, as it notes that it'll explain what they're doing "for the next 10 years" rather than celebrate their past 20.

CyberConnect 2 [Hachima Kikou via Siliconera]

via destructoid http://ift.tt/2CmaKBz

News:: The Darkening of Tristram event returns to Diablo III next week

Blizzard have announced that The Darkening of Tristram event, held this time last year to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Diablo, is set to return to Diablo III in January.

The Darkening of Tristram was a nostalgic event that allowed players to once again explore the grim dungeon from the original Diablo, complete with tweaks that pixelated the graphics, reduced lighting quality and cut animation frames to give the game a more authentic 1996 aesthetic.

Adventurers re-explored the hellish catacombs, encountering classic bosses such as The Butcher, before facing off with Big Red himself. I'll admit it wasn't quite what I was expecting, (I was hoping they'd go full-on and include the original HUD, map graphics, and the like), but it was still a very fun and quirky event.

There has, unfortunately, been no announcement forthcoming on any new content being added but, at the very least, players who failed to bag all the achievements and rewards last time around will have a second shot.

The Darkening of Tristram returns to Diablo III on January 1, 2018 and will remain live until January 30.

Diablo III's Darkening of Tristram returns [PC Gamer]

via destructoid http://ift.tt/2CnSaJh

News:: Flyhigh Works reports high sales for indie Switch titles Kamiko and Voez

The Switch started off with some really great AAA and indie support, namely Voez and Kamiko, a pair of games from Flyhigh Works that were both well received critically (yes, a 74 Metacritic score for the latter is still good!), and as it turns out, commercially.

Via a presentation of their recent goings-on, the publisher noted that Kamiko has sold 160,000 downloads, and Voez hit 50,000 worldwide. Voez is also available on mobile devices, but the fact that it sold that much as a relative drop in the bucket on the already crowded Nintendo eShop in the face of Zelda is pretty great.

As other studios race to put their games on Switch the marketplace will become a bit more crowded, but so long as the install base is there, they'll still have an opportunity to break out like these two projects did.

Flyhigh Works [YouTube via Siliconera]

via destructoid http://ift.tt/2pXTUGM

News:: ‘Bloodborne’ is still hiding boss battles almost three years later

Bloodborne might be a couple of years old now, but that doesn't mean it's unveiled all of its secrets. Its chalice dungeons give players countless areas to explore and enemies to fight. Now, a group of data miners have found unused bosses, along with the locations players can find them.

Source: YouTube, Kotaku

via Engadget RSS Feedhttp://ift.tt/2BQZBrr

News:: New Undercover Brella coming to Splatoon 2 this weekend

Hot off of last week's Squeezer, Nintendo are adding a second all-new weapon to their arena shooter, Splatoon 2. This weekend's addition to the burgeoning arsenal is the spy-themed Undercover Brella.

The Undercover Brella's design is based around hidden gadgetry, kind of like The Penguin, or that guy in The Avengers (No, not those Avengers). It has lower durability than the average Brella, but can be fired while opened. The canopy also has a semi-transparent design, to aid close-proximity aiming.

An interesting new addition, the Undercover Brella comes equipped with an Ink Mine sub and Splashdown special. It will be available in later this evening in the U.S. with Europe and Japan to follow early tomorrow.

Read more...

via destructoid http://ift.tt/2Ecda6g

News:: The Nintendo Switch's GPU is key to installing unofficial games

Game console manufacturers don't particularly like hackers, but Nintendo's relationship with them has always been particularly tenuous. At a recent hacking conference in Germany a team presented their efforts at getting homebrew games on Nintendo's latest console, the Switch. As spotted by Wololo, bypassing typical safeguards apparently comes down to Nintendo's use of an off-the-shelf NVIDIA Tegra chip, and the backdoor that the silicon-maker left for itself.

Via: Wololo

Source: Media.ccc.de (YouTube)

via Engadget RSS Feedhttp://ift.tt/2BSfVIz

News:: Rumor: Red Dead Redemption 2 release date leaked by European retailer

Rockstar keeps their release dates pretty close to the chest, and fairly far out of reach.

Though based on the record of Danish retailer Coolshop, who did give us the right GTA V date, we may have a firm idea of when Red Dead Redemption 2 will be out. Based on the site, the prequel (which in reality is the third game in the Red Dead series since Red Dead Revolver is a thing), will drop on June 8.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is currently slated for a second quarter release on PS4 and Xbox One. This time it'll focus on an outlaw named Arthur Morgan, and Sony has a timed exclusivity agreement for "some" online content on PS4. That's basically all we know at the moment!

Red Dead Redemption 2 [Coolshop via Game Informer]

via destructoid http://ift.tt/2liG5xB

News:: Layton Mystery anime series coming to Japan in 2018

Level 5 have announced than a new anime series, based on the delightful Professor Layton puzzle games, will air in Japan in 2018.

Layton Mystery Detective Agency: Kat's Mystery Solving Files, is a name that doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, but at least expositions the series' plot. The show will star Prof. Layton's adorable daughter Katrielle, who solves mysteries around foggy London town with the aid of her assistant Ernest and her talking dog, Sherl, LIKE SHERLOCK, Y'SEE?

The arc of the series has Katrielle hoping to track down her top-hat loving dad, who disappeared while on a hot case. It sounds like it could be quite a charming series, given Layton's quaint style and characters. The show will see a Manga adaptation and there's even talk of a toy line.

The Layton Mystery Detective Agency: Kat's Mystery Solving Files anime and manga launch in Japan Spring 2018.

via destructoid http://ift.tt/2pWUvZj