Saturday, May 13, 2017

News:: Old-school tank shooter 'Battlezone' comes to Oculus and Vive

If you grew up in the age of arcades, you probably played Atari's seminal first-person tank game, Battlezone. In the arcade version, you'd play the game with your face stuck into a set of faux goggles that helped you feel like you were in the sweaty confines of an actual tank. It felt like stepping into a virtual world. When developer Rebellion rebooted the classic for PSVR, that 1980 promise of actual virtual reality was fulfilled. Battlezone is now making the leap from PlayStation to the PC via the VR goggles of the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive.

Via: Rock Paper Shotgun

Source: Rebellion



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News:: Weekend deals: free games, cheap Dark Souls and HItman complete

 

Some pre-Sunday Mother's Day deals abound this weekend. (Quick reminder for those who may have forgot..)

While the PC gamers don't have the option of the $50 Dark Souls III Fire Fades Edition, you can still grab the complete Dark Souls III experience for only $43.79 this weekend thanks to GamersGate's discount (which expires soon). Both the games game and Deluxe (with Season Pass) are on tap, making both deals much cheaper than Steam Store's weekend sale. 

Also on tap is Hitman: The Complete First Season on sale for only $23.99 in GMG's new round of flash sale. Accompanied Hitman is Battlefront for only $9. Both are great deals and while buying Hitman now certainly won't solve IO Interactive's current predicament, an extra fan to keep the Hitman franchise alive certainly won't hurt.

We're also facing quite a few freebie deals this weekend with GameSessions offering a free copy of DiRT 3 Complete, though keep in mind it's the non-Steam version. Twitch Prime members (free with Amazon Prime) can get a free copy of Oxenfree, normally a $20 purchase. Those up for some turn based strategy can pick up Eador: Genesis is free on GOG. All around good deal if you missed out on the freebie Dungeons 2 offered by Humble Store a few days ago.

Besides the hordes of PC and console deals listed below another top pick this week is the Lenovo Legion Gaming Laptop getting major price drops this week. The March 2017 released Legion Y520 laptop with a Quad i5 CPU and GTX 1050 Ti dropped to $717 - a new low by $132. The newly released Legion Y720 laptop with a slightly better GTX 1060 dropped in a similar fashion to $1,029 which is cheapest ever by $90.

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Game deals from Dealzon. Sales help support Destructoid.

Weekend deals: free games, cheap Dark Souls and HItman complete screenshot



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News:: You've got character: Reaper

When it comes to competitive multiplayer games, we all have our favorite characters and classes. In this series, I'm putting some of mine under the microscope to see what makes them tick, how they fit into their games, and ultimately why I like them! See the previous entry, Kotal Kahn.

Watching Blizzard slowly convert the roster of Overwatch into characters for their MOBA sister-title Heroes of the Storm has been a series of surprises for me. Not because I didn’t think they would bring over Overwatch characters, or that they’d do it so quickly (if there is one thing Blizzard understands, it’s brand synergy) but because there are five Overwatch characters in HotS now, and none of them are Reaper.

Reaper might waltz around with an edgy swagger and dual-shotguns like any good Quake-era FPS character, but make no mistake, his kit is pure MOBA-bait. Fortunately, it turns out the same things that make a MOBA character really fun to play can also make a shooter character an absolute blast.

You've got character: Reaper screenshot

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News:: Eagle Island has one of the best demos I've ever played

I've been following Eagle Island for a while after seeing some awesome looking GIFs of it on Twitter. It's a procedurally generated Metroidvania and/or roguelike about a boy and his pet own that he has trained to attack at his will. 

I know some of you just groaned at the buzzwords of Metroidvania and roguelike. I too am getting sick of every indie game under the sun billing themselves as such (add survival to that list). But I actually have faith that Eagle Island can pull it off after playing its demo, which you can grab here.

Eagle Island has one of the best demos I've ever played screenshot

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News:: Prey's personal touches bring a destroyed space station to life

There's no shortage of danger lurking amid the corridors of Talos 1. The massive space station, which makes up the majority of Prey's environment, is in a state of chaos. Shadowy aliens threaten protagonist Morgan Yu's safety at every turn, and rumblings of a conspiracy rattle around every decaying hallway, subtly urging the station's few remaining survivors to question everything they see.

But the biggest threat to Talos 1 is hidden in plain sight. It's been there for a while too, long before the events of Prey even begins. Before mimics and shimmering aliens beset upon TranStar's orbiting offices, a much more human issue existed. High above Earth, on a space station where anything seems possible, it's the slow-burning malaise of corporate boredom that plagues TranStar's employees.

Prey's personal touches bring a destroyed space station to life screenshot

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News:: Review: Lethal League

At first, I loved Lethal League. It has plenty of style, it has a fun central mechanic, and it filled my need for a chaotic yet accessible fighter to bust out at parties – now that I no longer have access to Smash Bros.

But as I made my way through the game's Arcade mode while I waited for the PS4 version to launch, I started having less and less fun as I started going up against computer-controlled opponents with a preternatural ability to tell exactly where the ball was going to land. Single-player Lethal League started to become a chore. "Wait a minute," I said to myself as I went up against Mirror Candyman for the umpteenth time. "This sucks."

I held on as we got closer to release, hoping that the online multiplayer would be better. It was, briefly. I won a decent amount of matches, all before the netcode decided to give up on me. Now I can only connect sporadically, and even the matches I'm able to find can end in a disconnection.

I do not much care for Lethal League anymore. I don't hate it, I'm just disappointed.

Review: Lethal League screenshot

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News:: Recommended Reading: What if there were a PBS of social networks?

The Case for a
Taxpayer-Supported
Version of Facebook

Ethan Zuckerman,
The Atlantic

What if there were a publicly-funded social network open to all that provided a diverse world view rather than an echo chamber catered to one's deeply-held principles? Sounds like a great idea. The Atlantic makes the case for the PBS of social networks, including why it's needed and what it might look like.



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News:: You should buy Alan Wake before it's gone

Videogames are great at providing settings that push the boundaries of the imagination. Underwater cities, ruined space stations, hellscapes and heavens. They're good at bringing large cities to life, the hustle and bustle of great metropolises filled with car chases, danger, and excitement.

What is rare though, are the games replicating the places I've lived. Small towns that are down and out, left behind by the post-industrial economy. Empty streets and rural roads giving way to spooky forests. The uneasy tension of a small community dealing with problems bigger than them.

Alan Wake is one of those rare games. From the first moment to the last, I believed in the town of Bright Falls. I felt the same mixture of amusement and pity looking at their Deerfest floats as I do looking at the small, slightly pathetic parades hosted in my hometown. I know I've had coffee at a diner just like the one in Bright Falls; establishments blurring the line between being purposely anachronistic and poorly maintained. And I've read all the same books as Alan seems to have. I'm sure I can't be the only one who felt an immediate connection to the game's setting, a home-sickness for a place I never lived in but definitely know.

That familiarity is just one of the reasons I think you should go and get Alan Wake before it's gone for good.

You should buy Alan Wake before it's gone screenshot

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News:: Review: LocoRoco Remastered

Remember the PSP? You know, that system that many of us bought just because it was the easiest way to play classic consoles on the go thanks to being hacked near launch to easily allow homebrew? Did you know it actually had a few good exclusive games on it? Not many, but a few.

One of which was LocoRoco and its sequel. Thankfully, Sony remembers and have breathed fresh life into the series in this no frills remaster of the original game.

Review: LocoRoco Remastered screenshot

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News:: The Morning After: Weekend Edition

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

Welcome to the weekend, where we close out Microsoft's Build 2017 event with some big news about Windows... XP? Also, this week we met Amazon's touchscreen-equipped Echo Show and it's time to say RIP to MP3.



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