News:: The PC version of Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap is out June 8

Watching this PC trailer for Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap makes me want to play through the entire thing again. Lizardcube did such a good job on this remaster, knowing just what to update and what to leave alone. I'm thankful the studio introduced me -- and, I'd imagine, plenty of you -- to Wonder Boy III along with all the bells and whistles needed to really make the 1989 game hold up well.

The PC version is due out on June 8, so there's just over two weeks left to go if you've been anxiously waiting on that. I'm hopeful the staggered release means this port will come out of the gate strong.

Still thinking about double dipping with the Switch version.

Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap [Steam]

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News:: The best gaming laptop deals in the Dell and Alienware Memorial Day sale

This week Dell is throwing big savings on laptops in its Memorial Day sale. Its stock from budget machines to expensive Alienware units, especially when it comes to 7th generation Intel hardware, is set at the best prices of the year. 

Most of Dell's laptops with 2017 specs are hitting all-time lows, like the Dell Inspiron 7567 gaming laptop with a GTX 1050 video card. Just today it dropped to $686 at Dell Home, making a new low by $49 and a very reasonable price point for a gaming laptop that's capable of playing modern titles at decent settings.

The Dell-owned Alienware brand is also on sale with the best laptop deals on the New Alienware 15 models. The base model with GTX 1050 Ti is on sale for $1,077 and the model with Radeon RX 470 can be found for $1,177. Both are at historic low price points and hundreds of dollars off their original list price. Note that the GTX model has an G-SYNC enabled IPS panel, a rare addition for gaming laptops at this price range.

Use coupon: 50OFF699 (for laptops priced $699+)

Gaming Laptops

Alienware

• Alienware 15 Core i7-7700HQ, Radeon RX 470, IPS 1080p, 8GB, 1TB HDD — $1,175.99  (list price $1,550)
• Alienware 15 Core i5-7300HQ, GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, IPS GSYNC 1080p, 8GB, 1TB HDD + 128GB SSD — $1,077.99  (list price $1,325)

Inspiron/XPS

• Inspiron 5577 Gaming Laptop Core i5-7300HQ, GeForce GTX 1050, 8GB, 256GB SSD — $734.99  (list price $850)
• Inspiron 15 7567 Gaming Laptop Core i5-7300HQ, GeForce GTX 1050, 8GB, 1TB SSHD — $685.99  (list price $850)
• XPS 15 (2017) Core i7-7700HQ, GeForce GTX 1050, 16GB, 512B SSD — $1,499.39  (list price $1,750)

Non-Gaming Laptops

• Inspiron 15 7000 2-in-1 Laptop Core i7-7200U, 12GB, 512GB SSD, 1080p IPS Touch — $979.99  (list price $1,050)
• Inspiron 5000 Laptop AMD FX-9830P, 16GB, 1TB HDD, Radeon R7 M445 — $685.99  (list price $900)
• Inspiron 17 5000 Laptop Core i5-7200U, 8GB, 1TB HDD — $568.39  (list price $750)
• Inspiron 15 3000 Laptop Core i5-7200U, 8GB, 1TB HDD — $470.39  (list price $550)
• Inspiron 15 3000 Laptop Celeron N3060, 4GB, 500GB HDD — $244.99  (list price $300)
• Inspiron 11 3000 Laptop Celeron N3060, 2GB, 32GB eMMc — $176.39  (list price $200)

Most deals in Dell's sale will run now through Memorial Day. We do expect new offers to surface between now and the actual holiday, so check back throughout the week as we'll be updating this post with fresh laptop deals from Dell.

Deals from Dealzon. Sales help support Destructoid.

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News:: If you want to know more about the Quake Champions characters, this comic series will fill you in

Despite my tepid reaction to the beta of Quake Champions, one has to admit that the characters are pretty bad ass. Seeing Ranger make a return is a nostalgic joy and some of the new characters look pretty awesome. I may not really care about their backstories, but I'm sure someone out there does.

At least one of those someone's is Titan Comics, an independent British comics publisher. They have teamed up with Bethesda to illustrate the background of the Quake Champions cast. The books will be debuting this summer and Titan has stated that these comics, "will delve into the bloody backgrounds of the Champions of Quake: Ranger, Visor, Nyx, and more."

Artist Alan Quah seems enthralled. "I am super excited to dive into the Quake franchise!" Quah proclaims. "Exciting characters with crazy elaborate techs and environments that I will love drawing—I couldn't have wished for more!"

If the publisher sounds familiar to you, then its probably because they have done various comics over the years based on video games. Just this year, they released books based on Assassin's Creed, Tekken and Dawn of War III.

Quake Champions comics will reveal the characters' 'bloody backgrounds' [PC Gamer]

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News:: Blasphemous is another action-platformer to watch

Having seen a few early gifs here and there, I've been waiting for a good opportunity to talk about Blasphemous. The now-live Kickstarter campaign will do just fine in that respect. This is a brutal-looking 2D action-platformer from The Game Kitchen, creator of horror point-and-click series The Last Door.

The dark-fantasy setting here is "the savage land of Orthodoxia, a place where religion is of the utmost importance in the eyes of the populace, superstition runs amok, and churches outnumber people two to one. You will find yourself in this hellish territory in the wake of the Age of Corruption."

Blasphemous has been in pre-production since November, with the team "working non-stop since then" and "currently prototyping the second layer of gameplay, involving narrative and exploration mechanics. We're in the process of measuring the production scope and testing every required production pipeline. After that, we will confidently enter the production stage!"

If that sounds like the project is a ways off, you'd be correct. The Game Kitchen is targeting a Q1 2019 launch for Blasphemous, which will be preceded by beta/alpha builds and a few prototypes for backers. It's a PC game, but with stretch goals, console ports (PS4, Xbox One, Switch) are a possibility.

Definitely follow through to see some of the enemies in motion (arguably the most impressive aspect of the pitch), to say nothing of that unsettling blind infant boss tearing the protagonist apart.

Blasphemous [Kickstarter]

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News:: Keystone is a new F2P shooter from the Warfame developer

Digital Extremes' Warframe always seemed kinda alright so this excellent art from its newest venture, Keystone, has me piqued.

It comes from a second internal development team at Digital Extremes and is "a competitive first-person shooter with a distinct blend of first-person action and deck-building strategies." Normally I'd be lost and snoring at "deck-building" except that I kind of want to check out Phantom Dust on Xbox One after comparing it with Mega Man Battle Network, if you can follow my mental gymnastics (the chips are like cards!).

Plus the promo art is great. It reminds me of the good Free Fire poster that's just a bunch of arms holding guns.

"With the look and feel of the 1970's retro-pulp era, Keystone will take players on a journey through a multi-verse that begins on the starting square of an intriguing, mystical board game. Players will wield unique decks of cards throughout the match that offer handy benefits, amazing powers, and fearsome weapons. With timing and resourcefulness, personally customized decks give players the upper hand in battle both individually and when strategically coupled with teammates' decks."

You can sign up for the alpha here.

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News:: Review: Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2

As the third iteration of the barely three-year-old Xrd, Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 is a tough sell if you're only halfway invested in the series. I mean, this is an aggressive stance for anyone, and it's clear that developer Arc System Works is still paying off the massive amount of resources that went into crafting that beautiful art style.

But even if you remotely enjoy fighting games, you should play Guilty Gear. Especially now.

Read more...

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News:: Battlefield 1 In the Name of the Tsar DLC adds female soldiers

You're going to have to wait until EA's pre-E3 event for the full details on DICE's latest Battlefield 1 update, but we do have a piece of art for the upcoming Russian DLC, In The Name of the Tsar.

It is somewhat notable for featuring a woman, a first for the Battlefield series. And, like the Harlem Hellfighters, the addition is grounded in history. In 1917 the Russian Provisional Government formed The 1st Russian Women's Battalion of Death to support the war effort and attempt to boost morale. An estimated couple thousand joined the all-women battalion, which was led by Maria Bochkareva, who'd been serving in the Russian army for the previous three years. The Women's Battalion of Death will reportedly represent the Scout class.

In the Name of the Tsar brings with it four new maps along with Russian vehicles, soldiers, and weapons. We'll probably end up playing it -- or at least getting new info on it -- at E3 next month.

How many of y'all still playing Battlefield 1?

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News:: My one big worry for Destiny 2 after watching the reveal

The Destiny 2 gameplay reveal hit last week, and for the most part I'm pretty high on it. The stronger integration of clans into the game sounds very cool. The fact that it will facilitate mostly solo players getting to play its endgame content is a huge plus. The promise to have more active storytelling than lore reading outside of the game should address one of the most common complaints about the original game.

But there's one big thing I'm worried about. I'm in the minority (I know because I've been downvoted to heck on the Destiny subreddit), but the new direction for Super abilities is a step backward in terms of variety, and I think gameplay could suffer as a result.

Read more...

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News:: Dark Souls mod brings Shovel Knight to Lordran

It's said that the flow of time is convoluted in Lordran. Brave warriors come and go, weaving in and out of one another's worlds to assist in combat or fight one for prizes. Dark Souls, with its strange inhabitants and fallen kingdoms, is no stranger to noble knights. 

But until recently, there's never been an undead hero who fought exclusively with a shovel. Redditor _Abject_ and the "Shovel Souls" mod have changed that, bringing Shovel Knight's blue-clad hero into FromSoftware's acclaimed RPG.

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News:: Check out Tekken 7's opening movie

I hope Tekken 7's story isn't as big of a departure from the fun of previous entries as this opening movie implies, though its gameplay will always be great no matter what. I'm pretty damn excited for its release, and now that it's only few days away the wait is getting more arduous. 

At least now that I've seen the opening movie, I can just jump straight into the action when Tekken 7 hits Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC June 2. 

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News:: Grim shooter Get Even delayed following Manchester bombing

Bandai Namco has delayed the release of Get Even by a month following the detonation of a homemade bomb at Manchester Arena that killed 22 people and injured 59 others.

"Given recent events and out of respect we have decided to postpone the commercial release of Get Even to June 23rd," Bandai Namco said in a statement. "We would like to express our deepest condolences to everyone concerned."

Get Even was meant to come to PC, PS4, and Xbox One on May 26. The grimy first-person thriller from The Farm 51 (Painkiller: Hell & Damnation) revolves around an amnesiac using technology to travel within his own mind. The central driving motivator is, via its Steam description, "the rescue attempt of a teenage girl with a bomb strapped to her chest."

The bombing in Manchester, perpetrated by a 22-year-old British man who died in the blast, targeted one of the exits of the Manchester Arena following a concert from American pop star Ariana Grande.

Salman Abedi, 22, Is Identified as Manchester Arena Bomber [New York Times]

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News:: Telltale talks about human drama and choices in this trailer for The Walking Dead: A New Frontier's finale

I guess Telltale wasn't keen on waiting until next week to show off some of The Walking Dead's third season finale. With the episode releasing next Tuesday, now would be the opportune time to reveal anything before players get their hands on the game. Thankfully, this sidesteps being a pure gameplay trailer and talks mostly about the drama that Telltale's writers tried to concoct.

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News:: GOG weekly sale brings RPG titles and the cheapest Witcher 3 GOTY

Now through this weekend, the best RPG series built on Polish sweat and vodka is hitting its all-time low at GOG in a surprise RPG Week sale. The discounts began Monday and will run through the early hours of Sunday, slashing several RPG PC games, most notably the Witcher series, to summer sale pricing.

In this sale The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Game of the Year Edition returns to its best price ever of $24.99 -- a price not seen since March of this year and as good as we expect it to get during the PC Gaming summer sales. At $25, it's only $1 more than the Witcher 3 base game at GOG, meaning you really should pony up that extra dollar to get the game + DLC.

Witcher Series

• The Witcher III: Wild Hunt Game of the Year (DRM-Free) — $24.99  (list price $50)
• The Witcher III: Wild Hunt (DRM-Free) — $23.99  (list price $40)
• The Witcher III: Wild Hunt Expansion Pass (DRM-Free) — $12.49  (list price $25)
• The Witcher III: Blood and Wine (DRM-Free) — $9.99  (list price $20)
• The Witcher III: Hearts Of Stone (DRM-Free) — $4.99  (list price $10)
• The Witcher II: Assassins of Kings Enhanced (DRM-Free) — $2.99  (list price $20)
• The Witcher: Enhanced Edition (DRM-Free) — $1.49  (list price $10)

More RPGs on Sale

• Tyranny: Overlord Edition (DRM-Free) — $47.99  (list price $80)
• Tyranny: Commander Edition (DRM-Free) — $29.99  (list price $45)
• Legend of Grimrock 2 (DRM-Free) — $11.99  (list price $24)
• The Age Of Decadence (DRM-Free) — $7.49  (list price $30)
• Legend Of Grimrock (DRM-Free) — $7.49  (list price $15)
• Dex (DRM-Free) — $3.74  (list price $15)

The sale at GOG expires Sunday, May 28 at 5:00am Pacific. Less than a week to pick up cheap Witcher or other DRM-free RPG titles.

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News:: Dad replaces son's cardboard Nintendo Switch with real one

It's not hard to understand why @mohikan1974 has such a large following on Twitter. He always seems to be doing fun and creative things, usually with his son, Kazutoyo, like role-playing police in a crime scene. The creative spirit has flowed into his son, who likes to make things he can't afford such as a  PC and laptop with cardboard, paper, and markers. He even draws a new entry of his imaginary game series "The Adventures of Prince Poop" on each one.

Dreaming of playing Nintendo Switch, Kazutoyo naturally made his own console out of cardboard and even ported a version of "The Adventures of Prince Poop 3." This time, dad thought he'd reward his son with a big surprise. While his son was bathing, @mohikan1974 cut out the imaginary buttons and screen to make it into a shell which he then placed over an actual Nintendo Switch he had bought. 

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News:: Game releases for Wii U

BREAKING: Reports are coming in that a video game has released for Nintendo's long-forgotten "Wii U" console today.

Darksiders: Warmastered Edition, which released on PC, PS4, and Xbox One last year, has reportedly released for Wii U today. The "Wii U" is not an add-on or scam degree mill, but was actually a brand-new video game console from Nintendo following the successful Wii console. 

Darksiders: Warmastered Edition is a remake of 2010's Darksiders, an "edgy" (#Darksiders2) metal homage to The Legend of Zelda that released before the Wii U, and thus is making its way to Nintendo consoles for the first time, where it will join its own sequel, Darksiders 2. Because of the difficulty of the Wii U port, Warmastered Edition was pushed back and long rumored canceled, but, alas, it is here.

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News:: Nintendo announces 'Summer of Play' tour with demos of upcoming games

In previous years, Nintendo has held a "Play Nintendo" event to showcase upcoming games in a public setting. In addition to being like an E3 that most people can actually visit, the kiosks are full of Nintendo charm and glee while also offering demos for upcoming games. I'm not sure if that is really needed (the internet is great for downloading things!), but maybe some people aren't sold on a console; an event like this will give them the chance to experience that device to its fullest potential.

With a slight name alteration, the Nintendo "Summer of Play" tour will be kicking off next month with dates around the US for the entirety of the season. Starting in Irvine, CA and ending in Baltimore, MD, the tour will have demos for a bunch of Switch and 3DS games (that, by the end of the tour, will already be out in stores). If you missed the Splatoon 2 Global Testfire or really just want to play Arms a few weeks before launch, this is your chance!

The games included for this tour are Splatoon 2, Arms, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Snipperclips, 1 - 2 Switch, Ultra Street Fighter II, Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Bomberman R and Minecraft: Switch Edition on the Switch while 3DS titles will feature Hey! Pikmin, Super Smash Bros. for 3DS, Miitopia, Pokemon Sun and Moon, and Super Mario Maker for 3DS. The dates are below.

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News:: So this is Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, huh?

Is this what you pictured when you heard rumors of a Mario and Rabbids crossover RPG?

I'd say yes, but that'd be a half-truth. I couldn't in my darkest of nightmares have come up with that selfie-taking Princess Peach Rabbid. Oh boy. Just weeks ahead of E3, this real-enough-looking artwork for Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle has surfaced over at WWG.

I'm curious to hear what's up with those arm cannons (and see the game in-engine).

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle Confirmed, Key Art [WWG]

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News:: June's Games with Gold Xbox line-up is another shrugtastic selection

Look, I'm going to be honest with you guys. I hate Assassin's Creed III. I understand some people feel it is a great game and it does have a very interesting setting, but it was easily one of the worst titles of 2012. I didn't even play it until years later (2014) and on PC, but the game still had a bunch of issues. That final chase scene was one of the worst bits of gameplay I've ever dealt with; I don't know why Connor likes running up invisible walls or can't jump over fire, but I guess Ubisoft wants me to experience their grand finale in a highly scripted manner.

Regardless, I wouldn't consider next month's line-up of Games with Gold bad if Assassin's Creed III was the only questionable title. For whatever reason, Microsoft has deemed Xbox One owners should get Watch_Dogs, so now I really have to wonder if Ubisoft made some kind of deal to ruin Xbox Gamers' June. At least the other two games are good, even if Dragon Age is eight years old.

For Xbox One users, you'll be able to grab Speedrunners (finally) from June 1 to the 30th and pass over Watch Dogs from June 16 - July 15. Xbox 360 users can forget Assassin's Creed III from June 1 - June 15 and nab Dragon Age: Origins from June 16 - June 30. Microsoft is also throwing in a freebie of some Phantom Dust DLC, which should work on Xbox One and PC (the game is an Xbox Play Anywhere title).

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News:: ‘Overwatch’ turns one with more skins for your arsenal

Last week, Blizzard answered the susurrous rising from Overwatch fans wondering whether the studio would celebrate the game's one-year anniversary: Yes, an event was in the works. (And there was much rejoicing.) To commemorate the game's arrival exactly a year ago, and in recognition of its wild critical and commercial success, Overwatch is launching a new event and releasing a Game of the Year edition for $40. But if you need convincing, the game will be free to play this weekend.

Source: Blizzard

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News:: Hitman developer IO Interactive is laying off employees

Not even two weeks have passed since Square Enix decided to drop IO Interactive, but people are already losing jobs while the company continues searching for a new parent. The Hitman developer posted an update on Twitter, stating it had to make "some changes...which will allow us to be better equipped for future adventures."

Despite Hitman being one of the best, if not the best game of 2016, it apparently didn't sell well enough to convince Square Enix that keeping IO Interactive would be profitable. The future of the highly-anticipated second season of Hitman looks rather bleak now, but hopefully "better equipped for future adventures" translates to "we're trying to make season two happen one way or another." Business is business as they say.

If you want to shame anyone, don't shame Square Enix; shame those who didn't buy the best game last year. Shame on you! 

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News:: PSN deal: Get $15 back when you spend $100

While I am bummed I just wasted a header image of Chow Yun-fat burning a hundred dollar bill to light a cigarette, nevertheless I have good news for you big spenders on the PlayStation Network. Though you might want to hold some purchases off for the next couple weeks.

If you manage to spend $100 on the PlayStation Network between June 9 and June 20 (E3 is tucked in the middle of that range somewhere), you'll be credited with a gratis $15. The deal is open to the USA, Canada, and Mexico.

Two things to note: 1) You can only get one $15 credit, so don't go and spend $200, $300, or even $400, and 2) the $15 credit expires July 18, so don't go and sit on that piggy bank for too long. Buy yourself something nice. Or buy me Nier: Automata. It's crazy (and a huge missed opportunity) that you can't straight gift games over PSN still.

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News:: Destiny 2 isn't 60FPS on consoles because the PS4 Pro can't even run it

When it was revealed that Destiny 2 wouldn't be 60FPS on the PlayStation Pro, it made perfect sense. I mean, with the series leaning so heavily into PVP, how bad would it be if Pro owners could benefit from an enhanced framerate while normal PS4 users were locked at 30FPS? But as it turns out, the PS4 Pro can't even run Destiny 2 at 60FPS, period.

Speaking to Digital Foundry, Destiny 2 bosses Luke Smith and Mark Noseworthy mused on the possibility, but stated that they just couldn't get it to work: "The console, the PS4 Pro is super powerful, but it couldn’t run our game at 60. Our game’s this rich physics simulation where collision of players, networking, etc, and like, it wouldn’t run… [there’s] not enough horsepower there."

While Noseworthy does explain that the GPU is powerful enough to push 4K upscaling, the CPU side is the one that's lacking. He explains, "Destiny’s simulation, like we have more AI, more monsters in an environment with physically simulated vehicles and characters and projectiles, and it’s part of the Destiny magic, like that, like 30 seconds of fun, like coming around a corner and throwing a grenade, popping a guy in the head, and then you add like five, six, seven other players in a public event; that is incredibly intensive for hardware."

As someone who played Destiny since 2014, 60FPS was on pretty much every player's wishlist. When the Pro came out folks speculated that there would be an update that would allow a better framerate for just PVE, but now we know that is not happening for the sequel, full stop. Maybe the Scorpio will have some sort of PVE proviso? Probably not, given the partnership between Bungie/Activision and Sony.

Why can't Destiny 2 run at 60fps on PS4 Pro? [Digital Foundry]

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News:: Take-Two planning huge game from major franchise next year

At the fiscal year results reporting today, Take-Two games backed-up it's profit estimations for the 2019 fiscal year (April 1, 2018 - March 31, 2019), citing Red Dead Redemption 2 and a "highly-anticipated new title from one of 2K’s biggest franchises." The company also stated it will not be showing any products at E3.

The release of Red Dead Redemption 2 makes it unlikely for it to be Grand Theft Auto 6 or Max Payne 4, and I doubt a new Battleborn or Mafia would be highly anticipated. But what about a new Civilization or Borderlands? I'm going to put my money on a new Bioshock game.

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News:: Twitch adds video speed controls to slow down that amazing play

Now that Twitch is making a bigger deal out of pre-recorded videos, it's competing more directly with services like YouTube -- and that means adding the kind of playback controls you take for granted elsewhere. Accordingly, the service has introduced a reworked video settings menu that adds speed controls. You can slow all the way down to 0.25X to relive a game-winning moment, or ramp up to 2X if you're skipping through the slow parts.

Source: Twitch (Medium)

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News:: Microsoft adds five more Xbox One backward compatible games

Have you had an urge to play Assassin's Creed III on your Xbox--wait, wait, come back.

Xbox's Larry Hryb has announced five new backward compatible games for Xbox One, including the aforementioned Assassin's Creed III, Shadow Assault/Tenchu, ilomilo, Shinobi, and Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond.

Did you know they made a sequel to the "ironic" Duke Nukem knock-off, Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard? I didn't! Still, at least ilomilo is cool.

Major Nelson [Twitter]

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