News:: Deal: 20% off Conan Exiles as Early Access goes live

Stop us if you've heard of this before... Early Access; open-world; survival... and of course there's online multiplayer to boot. Now toss in the lore and setting of Conan the Barbarian and you've got yourself a recipe for some potential goodies.

If you're interested in an MMO where your character's "endowment" can be set, this may be exactly what you're looking for, Johnson.

Select digital retailers are now offering the game, with Steam being the obvious main place to purchase (it's on the Steam platform, duh). But if you pick up Conan Exiles at Green Man Gaming, you can use our coupon code DEALZON to take 20% off. Not a bad deal all things considered, but of course you're getting an Early Access title, so uh read the reviews and see if you can live with the issues in return for early action, Johnson.

• Conan Exiles (Steam) — $23.99  (list price $30)
• Use coupon: DEALZON

Note: Thumbnail pictured is not the endowment slider. Get your head out of the gutter, Johnson.

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News:: Game developers take a stand against Trump's immigration ban

The opposition to the Trump administration's immigration ban has spread far and wide. Video game developers are joining the chorus against what some see as an unconstitutional policy put forth with no thought or consideration of the outcome. For a number of studios, that means making donations to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the non-profit organization that successfully challenged the ban in court over this past weekend.

Source: Ars Technica, Mashable

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News:: Bandai Namco is back with another Humble Bundle

This list will probably look awfully familiar if you've kept up with your regularly scheduled Humble Bundles, but Bandai Namco has put together another group of wide-ranging games. Pac-Man, Warhammer 40,000, Naruto, Project CARS? I've got to wonder what else might show up.

Pay $1 or more:

• Pac-Man 256
• Ace Combat: Assault Horizon (Enhanced Edition)
• Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (Premium Edition)

Pay more than the average:

• Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade
  
• Project CARS
• Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst
• More games to come

Pay $15 or more:

• Tales of Zestiria
• Project CARS "On-Demand" Pack

Pay $35 or more:

• Little Nightmares (pre-order)

I could and really should go for another Enslaved playthrough one of these days. Been a while! Other than that, I'll add that while it's nowhere near the arcade bliss of Pac-Man Championship Edition (or its direct follow-ups), Pac-Man 256 is a ton of fun specifically in co-op. As for Little Nightmares, the game looks spooky-good and all, but you aren't saving any money on that pre-order by bundling it.

Humble Namco Bundle 2 [Humble Bundle]

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News:: Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns half-off again as new season arrives

With a brand new season releasing next week (re: lots more content), ArenaNet's Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns is having another week-long sale to draw in new players.

Both editions of the game are on sale for 50% off, with the Standard Edition priced at $24.99, and the Deluxe Edition coming in at $37.49. The game is on sale from today until February 8 at 11:59pm Pacific.

A max-level boost to level 80 is included in both editions so you won't have to start from zero to get in on the action. The new episode/season arrives on February 7.

Guild Wars 2 Sale

• Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns — $24.99  (list price $50)
• Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns Deluxe Edition — $37.49  (list price $75)

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News:: Banner Saga 3 already met its funding goal

I don't know that any of us were expecting Stoic to not bring in $200,000 to help fund development on The Banner Saga 3, but here's confirmation, about a week later: the studio has in fact done it.

With that funding threshold out of the way, it's onto stretch goals for the turn-based strategy title. First up, at $250,000 raised, is playable Dredge heroes -- the Stoneguard, Hurler, and Stonesinger.

Read more...

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News:: Sticks and stones may break your bones but in Haimrik words will hurt you

I didn't know much about Haimrik before getting my hands on it during PAX South. Other than its eye-catching art direction, not much has been said about the title. Glancing at its sepia-toned world, I had a slight worry that I wouldn't enjoy it thinking I'd be bored. 

But then I saw the titular Haimrik cut his hand open and -- with blood covering his face -- leap into a magical book.

Read more...

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News:: Animal Crossing mobile delayed by Nintendo

With Super Mario Run data coming back at roughly half of what they wanted, it's possible Nintendo is currently rethinking their mobile strategy. Fire Emblem Heroes is coming soon and is expected to have the most microtransaction-led model yet, but part of that regrouping involves the delay of the Animal Crossing project, which was slated to arrive in "early 2017."

As disclosed in their recent financial statement; "For smart devices, we plan to release the game application Fire Emblem Heroes on February 2. We will also follow last December’s release of Super Mario Run for iOS with an Android version in March. To accommodate the releases and operation of these applications, we have revised the release schedule for Animal Crossing, which we had originally planned to release during this period. This title will be released during the next fiscal year."

As a note, Nintendo's fiscal year ends on March 31, 2017. So, anytime after that is fair game.

Consolidated Financial Highlights [Nintendo]

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News:: BioWare's new IP will 'bring players together in exciting new ways'

As discussed during Electronic Arts' earnings call today, BioWare is planning to put out a new intellectual property before the end of March 2018. The project sounds like an action-adventure title with an emphasis on online and the sort of RPG character development you'd expect from the studio.

In a follow-up blog post, BioWare general manager Aaryn Flynn described it as "a unique IP that will bring players together in exciting new ways," and noted that details will follow in the "coming months."

"In 2012, we began crafting a new universe full of new characters, stories, and gameplay. Our ambition is simple: Draw upon 20+ years of development knowledge and lessons to create something fun and new for you to enjoy with your friends. There's nothing quite as exciting as building a new IP from scratch, and it will be even more thrilling for us to share more with you in the future."

I'm not expecting much since there's so little to go on, but in the tired words of Brett, "fool me once..." BioWare previously spoke about the game in very general terms back at E3 2014:

Read more...

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News:: Disney's kid-friendly Club Penguin will shut down in March

After 11 years online, Disney's kid-friendly social network Club Penguin will shut down at the end of March, to be replaced by a new mobile-only version called Club Penguin Island. The site originally launched in 2005 before Disney bought it up two years later and devoted considerable resources towards making the platform a safe space for kids to play games and chat online. When it launches on March 29th, Club Penguin Island will carry over the same philosophy to a new standalone mobile with an updated look plus new features, games and quests to engage with.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Club Penguin, Club Penguin Island Pre-registration

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News:: What does the community think of Nioh?

Nioh is shaping up to be my first big purchase for 2017. Even though I didn't play the first alpha demo, getting to try the last-chance demo shot me from no interest to pre-order in an instant. It was also interesting to me that I could never get into Dark Souls or Bloodborne, despite those getting endless recommendations from my peers. But that sort of statement is the kind that will draw out endless arguments and discussions.

Read more...

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News:: Horizon Zero Dawn has gone gold

The beautiful-looking Horizon: Zero Dawn has just gone gold and will be launching on February 28 for PS4. Herman Hulst, the managing director over at Guerrilla Games, made the announcement on Twitter along with some words of encouragement and support for the staff involved.

 

Read more...

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News:: Check out this Dtoid community t-shirt!

[Meanderbot made a t-shirt for Destructoid, and I get to make Steven Universe references; everybody wins. I guarantee it'll be the coolest thing you'll ever get hit in the head with! ~Strider]

You may have heard. I made a t-shirt. But first, some history.

Some time ago I made a print for a little podcast called Destructoid Radio (RIP). They had a saying there: "Be Better People." A simple plea for people to seek improvement, and make life better for everyone by not being a knob. I liked it and made a print based on it.

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News:: Next up for The Elder Scrolls Online? Morrowind!

Okay, okay -- you got me! I'm not one to typically follow along with the latest Elder Scrolls Online happenings, but when ZeniMax is floating around words like "Morrowind," I'm bound to take a look.

When the MMO's Morrowind expansion lands on June 6 for PC, Mac, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, new players can bypass the current Elder Scrolls Online content and head straight for Vvardenfell if they so choose. Similarly, folks with an existing game account can upgrade and start playing new level-appropriate content from day one. The standard pricing for the expansion (lord knows there's pricier options and pre-order bonuses galore) is $60 for new players, who will get access to both Morrowind and ESO: Tamriel Unlimited. Exiting players who are merely upgrading will need to pay $40.

ZeniMax is promising 30 hours of "main story content," a 4v4v4 Battlegrounds mode for PvP, and the bear-commanding Warden class. The story setup: "Morrowind is in dire peril and it's up to player heroes to help Vivec, the legendary warrior-poet and Guardian of Vvardenfell, solve the mystery of his mysterious illness, regain his strength – and save the world from ultimate destruction."

If nothing else, non-ESO players, you can probably enjoy this cinematic trailer for what it is.

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News:: You can grab For Honor or Ghost Recon Wildlands with the purchase of select Nvidia cards

If you're looking to upgrade some of your PC hardware, now might be a great time to jump on one of Nvidia's newer graphics cards. Included with the purchase of a GTX 1070 or 1080 (or a system/notebook containing those cards), you can redeem a Uplay code for Ghost Recon Wildlands or For Honor (not both). Neither game is actually out yet, so all purchases will be granted a pre-order code for the select title.

You'll also need to go through Nvidia's horrible GeForce Experience software, but you could always uninstall that after receiving your game. The deal will be running from today (January 31) until March 28, which should give you plenty of time to decide on whether or not you want to make use of this. It will also give you time to wait for reviews on either game, which is always a plus.

Prepare for Battle [Nvidia]

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News:: This PSN sale is for Rockstar games, anime, and PlayStation VR

The PlayStation Store is running three sales concurrently, none of them really thematically attached to one another. That's perfectly fine because it means there are three chances that something's going to appeal to your sense of style. Those trio of themes are: anime, Rockstar-published games, and PlayStation VR. 

The anime stuff is actually a Namco sale, even though it's not explicitly labeled as such. That has the likes of Dragonball Xenoverse 2, One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3, and Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization. Strangely, it also has Pac-Man, which is most certainly not anime.

Rockstar's offerings are most of its games for $9.89, except for Grand Theft Auto V which is more expensive. The VR front includes notable titles like Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, Harmonix Music VR, and Robinson: The Journey.

Below is a list of all games included in this PSN sale (props to folks on NeoGAF for rounding them up):

Read more...

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News:: Did Square goof Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5+2.5 Remix's box art?

Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5+2.5 Remix's box art has been released. It lines up the two cover portraits from 1.5 and 2.5 side by side, with the traditional Kingdom Hearts logo sitting above. On each individual game, this logo would be at the top center, so naturally it would cover some of the art. As an artist you may take that into account and maybe not complete your art.

So yeah...if you haven't caught it yourself by now, look at Xion (the girl with short black hair in a black robe). Her hand is missing on the cover for 1.5 to the left. It would normally be hidden behind the Kingdom Hearts logo on KH 1.5's box. Maybe not as big a deal as when Okami shipped with box art that featured IGN's watermark, but I do wonder if they'll add that or ignore it. If you're unfamiliar with Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days or the overall series, at no point does she lose an arm or hand.

Read more...

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News:: Review: Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare: Sabotage

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare was one of the most uneven releases yet from the studio trifecta of Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer, which both worked for and against it. The campaign felt so by-the-numbers in spite of flashes of greatness, hitting all the same Hollywood action notes that we've seen before...in space.

But the multiplayer core was still just as strong as ever, and the zombies mode rocked it with one of the best concepts to date. It's good thing that any future DLC will only expand upon the latter two elements and bolster Infinite Warfare into a more appealing shooter, albeit with an extra $50 price tag strapped on -- starting with Sabotage's four new maps and one new zombie level.

Read more...

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News:: With Zodiac Age on the horizon, FF12's Balthier will pop into World of Final Fantasy

To celebrate the release date announcement of Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, Square Enix announced that Balthier will be joining the World of Final Fantasy roster for free with the 1.03 patch which does not yet have a release date. We can only assume it'll operate just like the Sora DLC, which is now free for a limited time.

The more I look at these chibi World of FF characters, the more they resemble Funko Pop! toys.

Read more...

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News:: Return to Vvardenfell in 'The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind'

Have you ever been caught up in an Elder Scrolls Online adventure only to look around, yearning for more scrolls of an elderly variety? Well, it looks like your prayers have just been answered as Bethesda just announced that Morrowind is coming to Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) on June 6th.

Imaginatively titled ESO: Morrowind, this expansion takes players back to the island of Vvardenfell, the setting for the seminal Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Existing players can upgrade to the Morrowind edition for $39.99, while new players can get access to both the expansion and existing ESO content for $59.99.

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News:: 'Witcher' developer forum hack exposed 1.8 million gamers

If you're a big enough The Witcher fan to have joined CD Projekt Red's official forums, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise. Members signed up to Have I Been Pwned have received emails warning them of a reported hack in March 2016 that compromised over 1.8 million forum accounts. Passwords were encrypted, thankfully, but you're encouraged to change your login just in case. The issue isn't so much the actual threat as the lack of notifications -- for many, this is the first sign that something went horribly wrong.

Via: ITPro

Source: CD Projekt Red (1), (2), Have I Been Pwned

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News:: Resident Evil 7's first DLC hits PS4

Resident Evil 7 is a verified hit and Capcom is intent on keeping the good times rolling. While we already knew about the season pass for the game and additional free chapter, the release date was never mentioned. You won't be playing that free chapter yet, but Banned Footage Vol 1. is now available on PS4. The Xbox One and PC versions will be launching with Vol 2. on February 21, while the PS4 will get that second pack on the 14th.

Included in this first pack is an extra mode with exclusive content, a small chapter featuring the camera man from the intro (Clancy), and a horde mode. Oh, joy; I really was clamoring for a horde mode in Resident Evil.

Read more...

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News:: Nintendo kills the Wii U, at least in Japan

Nintendo has quietly updated its Japanese website to say that production of the Wii U, at least domestically, has ended. As spotted by Kotaku, the listings for the console now include the phrase "Production End (Within Japan.)" We've known since last November that executives were sharpening the axe, but not when they'd actually swing it. Either way, if you've been holding out on buying a Wii U, it's probably worth getting a wriggle on.

Via: Kotaku

Source: Nintendo Japan

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News:: The buffs for Overwatch's Bastion sound exciting

As I was just saying the other day, Overwatch's Bastion is woefully underrpresented at the pro level. He just isn't up to snuff given how easy he is to counter, and only really sees play on Watchpoint: Gibraltar. Blizzard is seeking to change that though, and they've just detailed what exactly is going to change about Bastion's playstyle in a new forum post.

For one, they're buffing his recon mode (read: the mobile playstyle) with a lower spread and an increased magazine size so people actually want to play it. This is coupled with a better self-repair skill, which could possibly be used while moving and not have an interupt proviso tacked on -- it'll work just like D.VA's defense matrix shield with a meter. That'll help his surviavility for sure.

On the Sentry side (read: the turret mode casual players hate so much), things are getting a little more specialized. He's going to fall more into a tank/shield-buster niche than he did before, with an increased spread and removal of headshots, but with the caveat that he can take more damage while transformed.

All these sound nice on paper, but until he hits the PTR we have no real idea how this plays out. Either way I'm looking forward to seeing him in ranked again if this rework takes.

Bastion [Battle.net]

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News:: The Nintendo Switch doesn't come with anything, even demos, pre-installed

Lest you thought the Nintendo Switch would come with something pre-installed when it hit in March, think again. While we've already heard the reasoning for why 1-2 Switch wasn't bundled as a pack-in game, now we've learned, by way of Wall Street Journal's Takashi Mochizuki, that the Switch won't have anything at all pre-installed.

That includes demos or trials -- nope and nope. While this isn't anything surprising, at the very least modern systems like the PS4 and Xbox One came with media apps or DVD/Blu-Ray functionality: two things the Switch won't have. Now, far be it from me to crucify a gaming system for focusing on gaming -- the sky isn't falling and I'll still get a Switch. This isn't a major deal for me given that I grew up with multiple generations of "getting nothing" with your console purchase.

But still, with how badly the Wii U race went, you'd think Nintendo would do something to sweeten the deal. This is anecdotal to the max, but several people decided to pass on the Switch after I told them that it didn't have a pack-in.

Takashi Mochizuki [Twitter]

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News:: We finally have a release date for Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age

Sitting awkwardly between the Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy XIII series (and that online game I guess), Final Fantasy XII kind of slipped me by. The announcement of the remaster, which now seems like forever ago, was a little surprising but welcome to those who want to try out the full game. The remaster features gameplay content previously exclusive to the Japanese International Zodiac Job System version along with improved visuals and audio.

So long ago was Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age's announcement that I started wonder if it was out or not. Well, it's not, and won't be until July 11, 2017 in America and Europe, Square announced today at their Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary event in Tokyo.

Read more...

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News:: 'Super Mario Run' made Nintendo $53 million

How well has Nintendo's first experiment in mobile gaming fared so far? Quite well... though it's not enough for the company's tastes. The gaming giant has revealed that Super Mario Run has pulled in more than ¥6 billion ($53 million) in revenue since its December launch. That isn't a whole lot for a company used to selling far more expensive games, but it's very healthy for a mobile title that's less than two months old. And Nintendo is better than most at turning users into paying customers. Out of 78 million total downloads, more than 5 percent forked over the money to unlock everything. Games consultant Serkan Toto tells the Wall Street Journal that this is "amazing" for a game with one $10 in-app purchase. Most rivals can't hit 5 percent even with $1 or $2 purchases.

Via: The Verge

Source: Wall Street Journal

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News:: Fire Emblem Heroes has a limited play energy system, requires constant internet connection

Nintendo isn't going to shy away from the "always on" connection style of Super Mario Run anytime soon, it seems.

As a lot of folks expected, Fire Emblem Heroes will require a constant internet connection, and the game will check servers intermittendlty to ensure as much.

But the real contention is likely to lie in the microtransactions. While there's no permadeath, it will have an energy meter (called stamina), which starts at 50, expends at least one point per mission (later campaigns cost more), and recharges at roughly one point per hour. Then there's "Orbs," which recharge stamina and can be used to purchase randomized heroes similar to a capsule toy (gashapon) machine. Three orbs cost $1.99, and you can earn them through regular play.

Since there are "hundreds" of characters to collect, the idea is to prey on people's sense of completion and get to them to constantly buy into new randomized party members. Yuck. While some folks are reporting that they didn't feel pressured to spend money, we'll find out soon enough when the real thing drops in a few days.

Seeing Nintendo go freemium (in a bad way) and shift to a paid online model is weird, to say the least.

Nintendo’s Fire Emblem Heroes is a complex strategy game with a free-to-play twist [The Verge]

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News:: Review: Double Dragon IV

Double Dragon II NES was a staple in my household. I convinced just about every person I knew to take at least one run at it, and depending on their prowess, they'd either get bored after the first stage or rage at the final boss into the night.

That's partially because the series is so contentious among fans, with two distinct camps -- those who prefer the arcade version, and those who prefer NES. Going into the sudden release of Double Dragon IV this debate raged on, with folks questioning the staunch commitment to the retro aesthetic.

After actually playing it, I fall somewhere in the middle.

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