News:: Rhythm game Voez gets 18 new songs on Nintendo Switch

Today's free update for Voez on Nintendo Switch serves as a nice reminder that hey, I should get this game soon -- definitely before I'm swept up in Arms and Cave Story+ and Splatoon 2. The touch-based rhythm title has gained 18 new songs on top of its existing 100-track-plus set list.

Voez Switch(ver1.1) free update with 18 new songs, out today! (Plz note that EU and US regions has time difference) http://pic.twitter.com/R32LipMeMs

— CIRCLE Ent. (@CIRCLE_Ent) May 31, 2017

I've grown so accustomed to music-based DLC costing a not-insignificant chunk of change that seeing this many songs grouped together in an on-the-house update is kind of a shock to my system.

As for the game itself, and specifically this Switch port (it's also on mobile), I haven't heard much noise other than what Chris covered in his positive review. "Voez is a diamond in the rough, at least as far as the Nintendo Switch eShop is concerned. The system's launch went from zero (or just Zelda) to hero in seconds flat, and as long as you're okay with a lack of a TV mode, Voez is a worthy pickup."

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News:: Bohemia's new tactical shooter Argo launches for free in June

Arma studio Bohemia Interactive is cooking up a tactical five-on-five first-person shooter called Argo. In and of itself, that isn't unexpected or even all that noteworthy, but the fact that it's free-to-play without microtransations or "any other form of payment to play the game" compels me to bring it up.

Here's a look at one of the three competitive modes, Clash:

The extras sound nice, too. Combat Patrol mode "enables up to 10 players to team up and fight against AI in an open-world setting. Due to its randomized objectives and procedural generation of enemy forces, combined with Malden's 62 km² sandbox terrain, each session of Combat Patrol presents new challenges. To round out the package, Argo also includes a trimmed down version of the 3D Scenario Editor found in Arma 3, which makes it possible to create your own scenarios in just a few simple steps."

The game has been playable in prototype form under the "Project Argo" moniker since last year, and after a round of updates, it'll see a final release on June 22, 2017 through Steam and the Bohemia Store. It strikes me as a slightly easier way to get into the harsh world of Arma and its ilk.

While Argo is free, there will of course be an option to give a little somethin' back with the Argo Supporter's Pack. "As the development team's way of saying thanks, the Supporter's Pack comes with a few special rewards: 14 exclusive animations for the MVP screen at the end of each match, a bundle of 22 unique apparel items, the ability to use vehicles in the 3D Scenario Editor, access to premium Argo Supporter servers, and the names of supporters will be highlighted on the leaderboards."

If you're aren't busy messing with Battlegrounds, this might be worth looking into next month.

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News:: The 'Wipeout' sequel you've wanted isn't coming from Sony

It's not a great time to be a Wipeout fan. Unless you're eager to re-play Wipeout HD through the Omega Collection, you don't exactly have many choices when it comes to hyper-stylized sci-fi racing. Take heart, however -- R8 Studios has released the finished version of Formula Fusion, a spiritual sequel to Wipeout in everything but its name. It even has a strong pedigree from the classic franchise. Former Wipeout 3 developer Andrew Walker is in charge of the project, and the company even tapped The Designers Republic (known for the iconic look of the first few Wipeout games) for both visuals and backstory.

Source: Steam

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News:: SoundCloud is the latest music streaming option on Xbox One

The music streaming service SoundCloud has come to Xbox One with a dedicated app.

This might not be the coveted Spotify announcement you've been waiting for, but the app is free to use, with Cortana voice control, the ability to create playlists, and above all else, support for background audio playback. You can listen to some jams or podcasts while you play games. Good stuff.

SoundCloud is also available on Windows 10 PCs and tablets today with a beta app.

SoundCloud [Twitter]

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News:: STOP THE PRESSES: Ubisoft has a new swirl

Ubisoft, a company that is still occasionally ridiculed for calling Watch Dogs protagonist Aiden Pearce's baseball hat "iconic," actually has an iconic symbol of its own. For nearly 15 years, Ubisoft's purple swirl logo has been synonymous with a lot of video game trends -- from the wealth of big budget triple-A action titles (like Assassin's Creed) to the incessant dilution of the open-world format (like Assassin's Creed). It kind of just depends on who you ask.

That purple swirl is no more. Ubisoft revealed that it has retired its old logo in favor of a new, yet extremely similar one. Here's Ubi's take on the updated logo:

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News:: Review: Block'hood

I wasn't sure what to expect when first booting up Block'hood. The screenshots are gorgeous and it looked like a city-building game, but I had no real understanding of the mechanics or details. Now that I'm familiar with it, I'm confident in saying that this won't necessarily appeal to the hardcore city-building crowd.

That being said, it is a delightful puzzle game of intense resource management. Its focus on verticality allows the creation of things I've never quite seen before in anything similar. It's definitely not for everybody, but it has a certain charm that cannot be denied.

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News:: Here is a look at Marth and Chrom in Fire Emblem Warriors

While the initial reveal for Fire Emblem Warriors was hardly even a real preview, Famitsu was lucky enough to get more information about the game and its roster just yesterday. Along with confirming the dual protagonists, it looks like Warriors won't be doing much to celebrate the years in between major Fire Emblem titles. That is kind of a shame.

Either way, Famitsu has uploaded some screenshots from the game that show off Marth, Chrom, and both Sion and Lian. I'm not sure why the quality is so low, but this certainly looks like a game with Fire Emblem characters.

Either way, I'm pretty excited for the idea of another Nintendo themed Warriors game. I loved Hyrule Warriors and I'm sure that typical Nintendo polish will be all over this new game.

Fire Emblem Warriors Gets Its First Screenshots Of Twin Protagonists, Plus Marth, And Chrom [Siliconera]

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News:: Ulala from Space Channel 5 gets two groovy figmas

Just when you thought your figure collection couldn't get any funkier, Good Smile Company comes to prove you wrong. The company announced this week that Ulala, the funky reporter from the Sega classic Space Channel 5, would receive not one, but two figmas.

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News:: Kerbal Space Program finds a new home at Take-Two

Kerbal Space Program is now a part of Take-Two Interactive, which is one of those sentences I never envisioned writing. The popular space-exploration sim will still be supported by Squad, and the acquisition doesn't change the team's plans for future updates and the Making History expansion.

The timing for this years-old game might seem odd -- particularly given that we just heard about some former Squad staff moving over to Valve -- but the publisher had been "persistently knocking on our door trying to work with us for a long time," according to the studio. In its own announcement post, Squad noted that "this big news doesn't change much for the KSP community."

"We view Kerbal Space Program as a new, long-term franchise that adds a well-respected and beloved IP to Take-Two's portfolio as we continue to explore opportunities across the independent development landscape," said Michael Worosz, SVP, Head of Corporate Development and Independent Publishing at Take-Two. And with that, the purchase makes total sense.

KSP Acquired by Take-Two Interactive [Steam]

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News:: Review: Wonder Woman

DC Comics and Warner Bros have been, well, let's say misguided in their attempts at launching a series of films comparable to Marvel's success. Deciding to push through critical failure (thanks to overall box office success), the conglomerate has been fumbling around hoping to accidentally create something worth all of their efforts. Who could've guessed (sigh) the answer to all of their problems was to finally let someone else have a go at it? 

Wonder Woman, unfortunately, has a lot riding on it to succeed. DC and WB need a win, it's the first major, solo appearance of the character on the big screen, it's one of the few superhero films helmed by a woman, and it's the first film focused on a superheroine. But there's no need to worry.

Like its titular character, Wonder Woman is proud, strong, and far better put together than its predecessors. 

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News:: PS Plus June's game selection is strange

It looks like the leak from last week was correct; June's PS Plus free games will include Life is Strange and Killing Floor 2 on PS4. Finally, a good month for titles, even if I wasn't too keen on how Life is Strange ended. That final chapter was pretty bad.

As for the other systems, I'm not sure I've actually heard of any of these. I know of WRC from past titles, but WRC 5 wasn't supposed to be that good. The Vita games (which are also cross-buy on PS4) are total unknowns to me. I guess this is going to be an exploratory month, although I don't know if I care enough.

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News:: Take-Two nabs the rights to 'Kerbal Space Program'

The news about ex-Squad members leaving for Valve was ultimately overblown, but there's still plenty of drama in the indie developer's life: Take-Two Interactive has bought the rights to Kerbal Space Program. The move will turn the spaceship building hit into a "long-term franchise." In other words, you can expect to see spinoffs set in the Kerbals' universe. Take-Two tells Engadget that it's currently "focused on the existing game," though, so don't expect it to rush out a game right away.

Via: Polygon

Source: Take-Two, Kerbal Space Program

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News:: Overwatch's new map will fly us to the moon

The next content update for Overwatch is a new Assault map, Horizon Lunar Colony, and it's playable starting today on the PC version's Public Test Realm. This Winston-narrated trailer will fill you in.

"Built as a first step towards humanity's renewed exploration of space, the colony’s goal was to examine the effects of prolonged extraterrestrial habitation—on human and ape alike. The scientists’ research proved incredibly promising...until, suddenly, all contact and communications with the base were lost.

Now, many years later, attacking and defending teams must return to the moon and battle for control of the colony's facilities, all while they discover clues as to the fate of its previous inhabitants."

I'm dying to see what Hammond, the other missing specimen, looks like. I hope he's cute.

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News:: CD Projekt Red designer breaks down The Witcher 3's best quest

At Digital Dragons this past week, Pawel Sasko, Lead Technical Quest Designer at CD Projekt Red, took apart several quests in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and its expansions. Since most of the quests Sasko discussed were fairly late-game and spoiler-heavy, and the rest of the talk followed the same formula, we'll be focusing on Family Matters, the Bloody Baron quest. We've also attached many of the pertinent slides, and we'll be speaking in some detail about the questline.

Family Matters continues Geralt's quest to find Ciri, as the veteran Witcher crosses paths with the infamous Bloody Baron. The Baron met Ciri some time earlier, and will give Geralt information on her location in exchange for Geralt's help with a Botchling – a creature born from an improperly buried stillborn fetus. Once Geralt deals with the creature and helps the Baron with his family, the Baron will put Geralt on Ciri's path once again.

Sasko broke down the questline on a pacing graph, which "shows the curve between tension and time" – essentially mapping the level of tension the player is supposed to feel to specific moments in the quest. "The most important parts in the story are when the tension is the lowest and when the tension is the highest," Sasko said. "That is when you want to show the important stuff in your story, when there's something interesting, or something that you want the player to memorize."

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News:: Fight on the moon in new ‘Overwatch’ Lunar Base map

Last week, Overwatch celebrated its one-year anniversary by dropping scores of new event-themed character skins and extras to the game. But it also added three new maps for the game's small-team and 1v1 Arena modes. It seems the title's team wasn't done expanding its playable zones: After releasing some mysterious lore about the Overwatch universe's Horizon Lunar Base days ago, the game has launched it as a full map on the PC's test realm.

Source: Overwatch

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News:: A standalone Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered could be released right after E3

We've seen listings before for a standalone Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered (which is now only available packed-in with Infinite Warfare), but another one has popped up on another reputable retailer -- Amazon.

According to a listing from Amazon Japan, the individual release of Remastered will arrive on June 20 on PS4, followed by July 20 on Xbox One. That lines up with the 30-day exclusivity from Sony for the game's beta, and given that Sony can probably announce it at their press conference with a "coming soon!" proviso, it looks likely.

Hopefully this full release (if it's real) will come with all of the DLC. Remastered was a great bonus at launch, but the add-on situation afterward has been poorly handled.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered [Amazon via Charlie Intel]

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News:: Oculus: We want more Superhots

Addressing a room full of Polish developers, Oculus' Paul Jastrzebski said "We want to see more Superhots out there." It'd be easy to dismiss this as pandering to the crowd, as the Superhot developer is from Łódź, approximately 165 miles north of Kraków where this presentation is taking place. But it feels more sincere than that, due mostly to the fact that Superhot is a standout hit on a platform that doesn't yet have many of them.

Jastrzebski is here at Digital Dragons to teach how to develop for virtual reality, a scientific side of the art that no one has really perfected yet. If anyone knows with any degree of certainty, it'd be Oculus; the platform-holder has enough data to see what works and what doesn't. But, things move quickly and the best practices a few months ago may not be the best practices now. The platform is always evolving.

Case in point: Oculus released its Touch controllers in late 2016. It was a literal game-changer for people who were developing for the Rift. Now, their video games that used a conventional gamepad controller felt obsolete. Players would largely want to experience motion controls for their immersive hardware. (In the same conversation, Jastrzebski cited extremely high adoption rates of the Touch controls for consumers who were just buying a Rift.)

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News:: SNK continues world Neo-Geo domination with GOG releases

There are nearly more Neo-Geo Switch ports than actual Switch games -- that's how aggressively SNK and Hamster have been pushing on that platform. Now SNK is looking to another outlet in PC, by way of GOG.

15 games (Blazing Star, Fatal Fury Special, King of the Monsters, Samurai Showdown II & Samurai Showdown V Special, and The King of Fighters 2000 & 2002) are available now, by way of three bundles or individually wrapped. For now you can grab them for 50% off, or 75% if you opt for a bundle.

My recommendation? Individual Metal Slug games for $2.99 each (or four for $6) is alright with me. Same goes for $2.99 for Last Blade, Twinkle Star Sprites, and King of the Monsters. You have roughly five days (and some change) to nab the discounts.

Neo Geo [GOG]

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News:: Twitch’s Stock Stream gives you real money to invest

Ever since the start of Twitch Plays Pokemon, we've seen gamers collectively play everything from Dark Souls to a claw machine, beat every Pokemon generation and create modern art. And now with Stock Stream, Twitch viewers can play the stock market in the best way possible -- with someone else's money.

Via: PC Gamer

Source: Stock Stream

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News:: A fistful of Tekken 7 deals for release week

June 2 marks the worldwide release of Tekken 7 for all platforms, but the price you pay depends on what platform you play on. PC gamers will start at a lower list price of $49.99 while PS4 and Xbox One gamers are looking at $59.99. On top of that, PC players are getting further price breaks. That said, all platforms have some sort of discount that may be worth you attention before Friday's launch.

Even with a lower starting price than console, several competing PC game retailers have bigger pre-order discounts on Tekken 7. GamersGate is the best price with an 18% off drop to $40.99 -- or $9 off the $50 list price. Bundle Stars is an alternative at $44, while GamesPlanet is a good choice for customers in the UK with a discount to £33.99.

Tekken 7 PC Deals

• GamersGate (Steam) — $40.99  (list price $50)
• Bundle Stars (Steam) — $43.99  (list price $50)
• GamesPlanet (Steam) — £33.99 (~$43.62)  (list price £40)

• GamersGate Deluxe (Steam) — $61.49  (list price $75)

Tekken 7 Console Deals

• Tekken 7 Day One Edition (PS4, Xbox One - Requires GCU) — $47.99  (list price $60)
• Tekken 7 Day One Edition (PS4, Xbox One - Requires Prime) — $47.99  (list price $60)

Console deals on Tekken 7 have an asterisk, as they will require membership to secure the savings. You'll need to be either an Amazon Prime Member to get a 20% discount at Amazon or a Gamers Club Unlocked member to get the same discount at Best Buy. Best Buy's membership is $30 for two years while Prime is $100 for one year. We would recommend these programs if you buy at least three newly-released or pre-ordered games a year, but not just for Tekken 7.

Pre-load went live today for PC. All the above retailers are shipping Steam keys immediately after purchase so you can partake in the ~36GB download. After installation Steam indicates you may need as much as 60GB of free space.

Pre-order bonus on the PC includes early access to Eliza the vampire. The pricey Deluxe Edition comes with two additional playable character, new game mode, and tons of additional skins/costumes for your fighters.

Game deals from Dealzon. Sales help support Destructoid.

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News:: The first UK eSports degree is event management in disguise

eSports are bigger than they've ever been, but we can't exactly allow teenagers to pursue a job in their chosen industry without demanding a formal qualification of them now, can we? Cease your fretting, because come September 2018, Staffordshire University will take charge of quality control by running the UK's first eSports degree programme. If you're thinking it's all combo practice, mainlining Red Bull and week-long LAN parties, sorry to burst your bubble. The three-year BA (Hons) course is more geared towards setting students up for the business and event management side of eSports.

Via: Business Insider

Source: Staffordshire University (1), (2)

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News:: Review: Tokyo 42

There's a neon heart at the center of Tokyo 42's cyberpunk playground. The isometric, open-world action game feels as though it could fit in your hands; a diorama of sleek architecture meant to be spun and examined from every angle. Its mix of winding pathways and floating islands evokes an inviting vision of life in the future. 

But there's danger amid Tokyo's bustling cityscape. Street gangs wander underneath the electric glow of floating billboards. Assassins take contracts from vending machine-like terminals and no one bats an eye. Shadowy organizations pull the strings of industry from behind the protection of locked corporate boardrooms. In Tokyo 42's world, everyone's looking to take advantage of someone else. Death and double-dealings are a part of everyday life because death is only a minor inconvenience. Through the use of a simple pill, biting the bullet just means respawning a few moments later.

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News:: Have you done anything cool in Battlegrounds?

Steven has been playing it a bit, and he has found his best success in Battlegrounds while just driving a motorcycle off some jumps. At least, until he jumped into a bombing area.

That's just one of the many things discussed on this episode of Podtoid. Other topics include Dead Cells, Brett's trip to Poland, and Prey user reviews. Aside from video games, the crew touched on fidget spinners and just how good the city of Phoenix is (editor's note: it's very good).

The episode caps off with listener questions asked by you, the people, and ridiculous questions asked by Steven, not the people. Give it a listen!

Subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or download it here.

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News:: A 3D printer gave my Nintendo Switch a real D-pad

Nintendo has a long history of building innovative game controllers -- the company put shoulder buttons on the SNES gamepad, added force feedback to the N64's bizarre controller and made a fad out of motion controls with the Wii. Its most enduring innovation, however, has always been the humble D-Pad: a simple plastic cross that lets players input eight different direction inputs with precision and ease. Strangely, however, this iconic control pad was left out of the Nintendo Switch's default controller design, and I miss it every time I play the system. So, I did what any reasonable tech blogger would do: I used a 3D printer to make my own Nintendo Switch D-pad.

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News:: SoundCloud beats Spotify to Xbox One music streaming

SoundCloud keeps expanding its influence to stay competitive with the likes of Spotify and Pandora. It borrowed $70 million last March to enhance its push into new markets, added new tiers to its subscription service, brought Chromecast streaming to iOS and continues to update its offerings with listener-friendly updates like "The Upload." Now, the audio service is coming to Xbox One with a new app for subscribers to SoundCloud Free, Go, or Go+. A beta version of the app should also be available on Windows 10 PCs and tablets by the end of the week.

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News:: Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite roster allegedly leaked from the same person who leaked the game

NeoGAF's Ryce, who partially leaked the existence of Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite before it was a thing, has another round of rumors for us.

Supposedly they have the full launch roster, which consists of 13 Capcom fighters and 14 Marvel fighters, with an unknown for the former (said to likely be Frank West). Highlights include Jedah from Darkstalkers and a character from Monster Hunter (perhaps an avatar with Felyne assists?) on the Capcom side, and Thanos (who will be making a triumphant return to the Vs. series) on the Marvel side. Six DLC characters are planned, the first of which is Sigma, who is said to be followed by Venom.

I can get down with this (safe) roster, especially if Jedah is real. There aren't a whole lot of newcomers, but all you really need is a few strong characters to work with, and the templates for past characters in the series are a great foundation (even if a lot of people will be pissed that say, Zero or another Marvel 3 favorite isn't in). Though if this list is correct, it's a bummer that as rumored, there aren't any X-Men in the equation.

It isn't Marvel until Wolverine yells "Berserker Barrage."

Ryce [NeoGAF]

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News:: Review in Progress: Hover Revolt of Gamers

As a gigantic fan of Jet Set Radio, I had to get my hands on Hover: Revolt of Gamers (hereafter Hover because, god, that title is lame). After hearing that Hideki Naganuma was on board for the music, I almost didn't care how the game ended up because I knew the soundtrack would be slammin'. 

Luckily, the game seems to have a lot of promise after a couple of hours in!

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News:: Rumor: Super Mario Odyssey arriving in November as Nintendo increases Switch production

3D Mario platformers tend to have a sterling reputation (outside of maybe the contentious Sunshine), so folks are understandably excited for Super Mario Odyssey. The thing is it doesn't have a release date outside of the fourth quarter of 2017 -- but a recent report might hint at what's to come.

By way of the same sources that spoke to the Financial Times regarding Nintendo's efforts to sell 18 million units by the end of March 2018, they also noted that Super Mario Odyssey is set for a November release. Given that Nintendo has confirmed that they're dedicated a major amount of time to Odyssey at E3, we'll probably get the date then anyway.

That date does make perfect sense though. If Nintendo is really going to ensure that they meet demand later this year, what better game (besides Zelda) could help them peddle units? I'm mostly just curious to see if it'll top Galaxy 2 -- which is probably the best Mario since 64.

Nintendo [Financial Times via Shack News]

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News:: Acer’s Nitro 5 is a flashy but forgettable gaming laptop

Acer's Nitro 5 is the company's attempt to reach out to those folks who don't game often, but still want to have fun once in a while. The result is a laptop with a variety of middle-of-the-road configurations that you can take all the way up to a Core i7 CPU and NVIDIA's GeForce 150Ti. In addition, you can throw in up to 32GB of RAM, with prices starting at $799 when it launches in July.

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