South Korea proudly showed off footage of its top-of-the-line Kai KF-X fighter jet in 2015; the culmination of over 14 years of work. Unfortunately, a year and a bit later, Korea Times discovered that footage used to show off the fighter's impressive performance actually came from old video games. Whoops.
Source: Korea Times
[This week's interview is with one of Dtoid's most prolific Qtoid posters and habitual Photoshoppers, ZombZ. Keep it up, OrochiLeona, and shoot him a message if you want to be a part of this outstanding community tradition. ~Strider]
Hello again, Destructoid! The kinkiest interviewer on the block, OrochiLeona, returns with the 2nd of my Community Interviews. Firstly, I'd like to thank you all for your wonderful support and feedback last week. Let's show the good folk of Dtoid how much youse guys care for each other's darkest secrets. Shine your spotlight brighter still.
It's a bit late to the finish line, but it'll get there eventually. Nintendo's Super Mario Run took the mobile world by storm in December when it racked up 40 million downloads in its first four days on iOS devices. Soon enough, the other half will get to see what all the fuss was about.
Nintendo just revealed that Super Mario Run will release on Android devices in March. No hard date was given, just a one-month timeframe. Anyone who wants it as soon as possible can pre-register here on Google Play.
In the end, it seems that Apple's timed-exclusivity agreement was good for three months. By one account (but not necessarily an accurate account), it generated $30 million in revenue as of two weeks ago. Nintendo's surely eager to see how many Android users are willing to shell out to auto-run and jump as Mario on their phones and tablets. If the profits were little Mario right now, releasing on a new platform should have the same effect as picking up a mushroom.
@Nintendo [Twitter]
It's-a me, Android. Nintendo's first fully fledged smartphone game (sorry, Miitomo), Super Mario Run, is scheduled to hit Android devices in March after landing on iOS in December. The news appeared on the official Nintendo Twitter account this afternoon.
Source: @Nintendo
At first glance, the Atelier games may look like cutesy Japanese RPGs and are often dismissed as something creepy for daring to have pretty anime girls, but there is more to them than what is on the box art. For those unfamiliar, the series focuses on deep and involved item synthesis framed by a story that often features an alchemist on a journey to improve their skills in the field along with a larger goal.
Atelier Shallie Plus for the PlayStation Vita is an enhanced edition of the third and final entry in what is referred to as the "Dusk Trilogy" of the Atelier games. It's set in the Land of Dusk, where all three games take place one after another in a world almost covered with vast deserts.
There's no getting around it. We can't finish this post without it happening, so let's just get it out of the way up front. [extremely Brad Pitt in Se7en voice] What's in the box? What's in the fucking box?!
Binding of Isaac is a game that has always been shrouded in mystery -- like the lengthy ARG that sent fans eventually digging holes in California. Why would its debut on the Nintendo Switch be any different? Something awaits the first people to buy the game.
In a recent post on the Binding of Isaac site, it was revealed that there's a surprise for the earliest adopters. "You might want to consider pre-ordering as the first few thousand copies may come backed in with something special," it reads. Of course, there's absolutely no indication as to what it might be. It'll probably be weird, though. What's in the box, indeed.
Anyone keen to try their hand at getting whatever this bonus is -- or who just want Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ -- should know that it's selling for $39.99. It's available for pre-order at retailers like Amazon ($31.99 for Prime subscribers), GameStop, and Best Buy. If you're lucky enough to get the surprise, make sure to let us know what it is! We're always around at tips@destructoid.com.
The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ Megapost 2017 (brought to you by Mega Satan) [Binding of Isaac]
Good news, Fire Emblem fans: Today Nintendo announced that the next major title in its tactical RPG series will be for the Switch -- making it the franchise's first game on home consoles in almost ten years. The bad news? You won't be able to play it until 2018.
Source: Nintendo
Bodies hanging from hooks, a sign that reads "Fuck off and die" -- did you think that The Division would go out any less hostile than it came in? Agents have been trying to restore order to Manhattan for the better part of a year, but things haven't really gotten any better.
Last Stand, The Division's swan song, is an add-on that we don't know much about yet. Our collective knowledge mostly comes from this teaser trailer (as much as meat hooks and crass signs can tell us). The objective seems to still be a mystery, though.
That should change tomorrow. Ubisoft's hosting a livestream at 8am Pacific to reveal what exactly Last Stand is all about. And, most likely, we'll get a release date too. We'll have the details for you sometime after the stream ends; until then, just watch this teaser for reassurance that Last Stand will certainly be aggressive.
Freestyle Games, known for its work on Guitar Hero Live and DJ Hero under publisher Activision, has a new home. The team has joined Ubisoft and will be renamed to Ubisoft Leamington -- based on its location in the UK. A post on UbiBlog says that the studio will collaborate with Ubisoft Reflections, whose past projects include Assassin's Creed: Syndicate and last year's Watch Dogs 2, in addition to Ubisoft's worldwide teams on their AAA projects.
Source: UbiBlog
A big focus of Nintendo's Fire Emblem direct was the series' first mobile entry, Fire Emblem Heroes, which is coming out first for Android devices February 2 and "available soon" on iPad and iPhone. It will be free, with additional in-app purchases.
The "tactical RPG" boasts a "brand-new, original story"...between two warring kingdoms. Ahem. "As a Summoner, you must call upon Fire Emblem heroes throughout history to unite as one army." Some series mainstays may end up against you as enemy generals as well.
The Heroes portion starts at 8:45 and covers a lot of minutia about how the game works, including the in-game currency (Orbs!) you buy with real money. It's very mobile game-y, though it has some nice portrait art to go with the chibi style of the game at large.
Nintendo didn't really show much of anything for Fire Emblem Warriors during its Switch event last week, but at least we didn't have to wait long to see more. Is this "extended" footage exactly what you imagined of a game from the team behind Hyrule Warriors? I'd say so! And I'm so down.
Aside from this bare-minimum look at the Switch game in motion, Nintendo announced a New Nintendo 3DS version of Fire Emblem Warriors. Both versions are coming in fall 2017.
If you've been yearning for a Fire Emblem game to play on the go that isn't relegated to a portable gaming system, maybe the upcoming Fire Emblem Heroes will do the trick. It's a tactical role-playing game (think Final Fantasy Tactics) where "fate has brought two warring kingdoms together in a bitter clash." Naturally. During today's Fire Emblem Direct stream, it was announced that you'll battle it out on an 8x6 grid.Nintendo's Fire Emblem Direct brought some new information about the upcoming 3DS game, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. It was also announced that alongside the game, new amiibo representing the two playable hero characters will be released on the same day the game comes out.
Alm and Celica will be available as a two pack. No word on a price or whether the amiibo will be available separately just yet.
Nintendo is flying through its fast-paced Fire Emblem presentation today with multiple game announcements. One of them is a new, unnamed Fire Emblem for Nintendo Switch.
It's a "mainline" entry with a planned 2018 release, and that's all we have to go on for now.
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, a re-imagining of the series second entry, the Japan-exclusive Fire Emblem Gaiden, is coming to 3DS eShop on May 19, 2017.
Shadows of Valentia tells the story of two kingdoms split up ages ago by the gods Duma (the hawkish, strength-focused ruler of the north) and Mila (the peaceful, comfortable rule of the south) and subsequently forged into polar kingdoms (Zofia in the south, Rigel in the north).
It breaks from the recent 3DS revivals -- though it looks exactly like them -- by including some of the aspects of Fire Emblem Gaiden, including dungeons you can walk through, thwacking enemies in real-time to start battles.
I've had The Sexy Brutale in my periphery for a while, because the name has "sexy" in it, and sex sells, but now that there's a gameplay trailer, there's finally something to go on. And it looks neat. Cool art, nice music; kind of reminds me of the casino in Grim Fandango mixed with Vita oddball Escape Plan.
You play as, "elderly priest Lafcadio Boone, who is attempting to prevent a recurring series of murders that are taking place over the course of a single,endlessly-looping day within The Sexy Brutale casino mansion." See, my headline was spot on, yeah? The mystery puzzler is coming to PC, Xbox One, and PS4 on April 12.
Y'all ready for this? It feels like we only just stayed up for the Switch stream, and now Nintendo is back today with a Direct presentation for "upcoming Fire Emblem titles."
One of the featured games will be Fire Emblem Warriors which, heck yes, and the other should be the as-yet-unnamed mobile Fire Emblem title. If that's all this stream covers, I'll be perfectly happy, but maybe we'll get a little more than that. Wishful thinking? Could be! Let's find out together.
Microsoft said it was about to supercharge Beam, and it's quickly following through on that promise. After a few weeks of beta testing, the livestreaming service's big 2.0 overhaul is now available to everyone. The most conspicuous change is what you'll see the moment you hop in. There's a revamped home page that can feature multiple streams and show more info about a broadcaster's communities. Also, you'll notice a revamped, HTML5-only player that touts better video-on-demand controls, playback at higher bitrates (up to 10Mbps) and higher resolutions (1440p at 60 frames per second, anyone?). However, some of the biggest improvements are under the hood.
Source: Matt Salsamendi (Twitter)
If you buy a digital copy of Resident Evil 7 for Xbox One, you'll also get the horror game for Windows 10 PC at no extra cost, and vice-versa. Surprisingly, this is the latest "Xbox Play Anywhere" title.
The cross-buy offer extends to existing Resident Evil 7 pre-orders, and should you decide to go this route (again, Microsoft's Play Anywhere initiative means the Windows Store, not Steam!), your save progress, Achievements, and DLC will carry over between the two versions of the game.
Pretty nice bonus, especially if you were already on board with RE7 for Xbox One.
Phil Spencer [Twitter]
Sony today confirmed that there will be no more DLC coming to multiplayer PSVR launch title Rigs. Following the recent closure of developer Guerilla Cambridge, it seems Sony has opted to cut short its initial plan for additional Rigs content.
While the ambitious mech-based multiplayer shooter won itself a loyal fan base amongst early PSVR adopters, Sony's decision to close Guerilla Cambridge suggests that the game's sales weren't quite up to expectations. Despite the closure, Sony told Eurogamer that Rigs' online servers will be unaffected, with the game still scheduled to receive patches and other "community support".
Source: Eurogamer
I actually had to whittle this list down, can you believe it? I guess I didn't have to, since 42 is already an arbitrary choice, but I really liked the reference to Hitchhiker's Guide so I settled on 42. Plus, as I approach 50, I feel as if the number is simply too large and it lessens the impact. I don't want this to become a "here's every dopey indie game I've ever heard of coming out next year maybe."
These choice 42 are games that I am thoroughly looking forward to. Judging from my past posts, chances are that many of these will not come out this year, but 2017 is the year to put them on your radar if they aren't already.
I'm half writing this so I'll have something to jog my memory of the many Warhammer 40,000 video games in production, but yep, there's another adaptation in the works. This one, the turn-based tactical RPG Necromunda: Underhive Wars, is based on the tabletop skirmish game Necromunda.
It could be cool given the genre and also the premise, in which gangs vie for control of the Underhive, a collective of "derelict factories, rusted metal husks, and forgotten technologies."
We have some idea of what to generally expect considering Rogue Factor's previous title with Focus Home Interactive was Mordheim: City of the Damned, but as far as specifics, those will have to wait. This artwork is about it for now. Focus Home says it'll have more details about Necromunda on February 1.
I should have been turned off by the commercial advertising casually strewn throughout Final Fantasy XV. Coleman logos are plainly visible when the game's heroes set up camp for the night. Billboards for Nissin Cup Noodles line the highways of Eos. It's product placement so obvious it's almost laughable -- and yet, I now have an 8-pack of instant ramen on my kitchen counter. What happened? A beautiful, devious combination of empathy and nostalgia.
While you'd be hard pressed to find someone who works at Nintendo and says they hate their job on camera, Charles Martinet, the voice of Mario (and many more like Luigi) seems to genuinely love his job.
He kind of has to if he's been doing it for 26 years, and this short interview from Great Big Story encapsulates why he loves it so much. Again, it's brief, but you get a quick look at Martinet's theater and performance career before he starting working for Nintendo, as well as a fun little tidbit about his audition process.
His experience seems very similar to Ellen McLain, who I just recently witnessed on a panel at this past MAGFest. She, just like Martinet, explains that she happened upon the gig not really knowing about the world of video games, but slowly grew to appreciate them over time.
With each new console generation comes the expected boost in hardware power, but Nintendo has never been a typical console manufacturer. For all intents and purposes, the Nintendo Switch just looks like a portable Wii U, which may be why The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will only output at 900p while in docked mode. Yes, we won't be getting a full 1080p presentation for the newest Zelda game (which both Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD provided).
Some other details about the differences between the two versions of Breath of the Wild were also discussed with IGN. According to Nintendo, the Wii U version will be locked at 720p and the Switch version will contain "higher quality environmental sounds." While the latter really shouldn't be the case, I'm guessing that comes down to a RAM issue, since the Wii U doesn't have much in the way of available memory.
Both versions are also targeting a 30 FPS framerate, which should put a lot of Wii U owners at ease. I know the E3 demo from last year struggled to maintain a consistent framerate, but Nintendo rarely releases games in a shoddy state. If anything, some of the graphical quality may be lowered on the Wii U, but I doubt even that will happen.
Nintendo Explains Differences Between Switch, Wii U Versions of Zelda: Breath of the Wild [IGN]
In an unusual move, Ubisoft has announced a free three-hour 'trial' of Watch Dogs 2 for console players. As of today, PS4 owners can hack their way through San Fransisco for free, before the trial comes to Xbox One on January 24th. PC gamers, however, get no such luxury. This extended demo will allow players to experience a range of solo missions as well as three of the game's online modes: Hacking Invasion, Bounty Hunter and two player co-op.
Source: Ubisoft
Goodbye! BoxBoy!, the third and as of now final entry in the BoxBoy series is no longer shrouded in mystery, as Nintendo flipped the switch on the website and moved it out of teaser mode.
Now we know that Goodbye! will have full amiibo support, will span 150 stages (and 40 challenge levels), and will support the Miiverse (RIP). As for the former feature if you opt to use the bundled Qbby amiibo, you'll morph the game into a monochrome Game Boy style color scheme. Right now only Kirby amiibo are supported beyond the main character.
It sounds like the most fully-packed version yet, so hopefully people will actually notice this series this time around.
Goodbye! BoxBoy! [Nintendo]
Starting this weekend, you'll have the opportunty to play a "Last Chance" demo of Nioh. The catch? It's only live for this weekend -- they weren't kidding with a tagline like that!
Nioh is set to launch on February 7, but if you still haven't gotten a chance to give it a go or want to see how much it's changed since the first beta, you'll have your shot. It'll run from January 21 to the end of January 22 (you can pre-load later today), and like the demos in the past, it'll expire after that time and provide extra in-game rewards in the full version if you complete it.
As Team Ninja notes in the PlayStation blog post, you also have one final final chance at earning the alpha and beta demo items. I have to give it to Koei Tecmo, they really pushed this one hard and gave the team a real shot at getting it out there. If you haven't tried it yet go do so -- it's a great free way to spend the weekend as this collective demo build is pretty robust!
Nioh: Last Chance Trial Begins January 21 [PlayStation Blog]
It's still weird to me that something called Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls is now part of the zeitgeist, popular enough for Spike Chunsoft and NIS to localize and promote like it was almost a AAA game, but here we are in this delightfully brave new world.
While it's been confirmed for the west for quite sometime, we now know that this spinoff that's set between the first and second games is coming in June in Europe and the US (June 23 and 27 respectively). It'll also come with a physical edition, and is currently still slated for PS4, as a port of the Vita version. As a note, this one is more shooter oriented than visual novel, and involves a "Hacking Gun," as well as the return of a few iconic characters.
I'm mostly excited for Danganronpa V3 (which doesn't have a western release date yet and launched in Japan last week), but this will do until then.
