I enjoy a good video game mockup every now and then, and this one is too rich of an idea not to share. Just imagine: John Carpenter's The Thing as a LucasArts-style point-and-click adventure game.
Computer Artworks explored The Thing as a third-person shooter back in 2002, so we're very much overdue another adaptation. As amazing as Paul Conway's mockup here is, I'm not sure a pixel-art adventure would be my top choice over a more modern direction, but any game that tried to weave together the body horror, tension, and paranoia of the 1982 film would be all right with me.
The next game from Velocity 2X maker FuturLab is Tiny Trax, a four-player PlayStation VR slot racing game with lane switching, boosting, and drifting. It's designed in such a way to make players feel as if they are "a child surrounded by a giant toy racing track inside each virtual world." Good idea, right?
I'm consistently terrible at top-down racing games -- always have been, always will be! -- but something tells me it'll be easier here with the sense of depth and presence inherent to virtual reality.
Tiny Trax is said to have six cars and twelve tracks that fall under three themes: Tropical, Fire & Ice, and Outer Space. That might feel too light, something many VR games struggle with. I hope not!
The PC port of Vanquish still has room for improvement, but one of the notable issues -- taking unintentionally high damage when playing at higher frame rates -- has gotten the patch treatment.
A beta update deployed yesterday (despite the fact that it was a holiday!), and it has since been "QA checked and is now officially live" as of today, according to Sega.
"This patch addresses the following:
Fixed an issue with invincibility frame timing (which sometimes allowed the player to get hit more frequently at higher frame rates).
Fixed an issue with health regeneration at higher frame rates.
Fixed an issue when resetting to default on the options menu.
Fixed an issue with video cutscenes skipping early for some players.
Fixed an animation issue when sliding backwards and aiming using keyboard and mouse.
Adjusted cutscene audio volume.
The patch also adds two more command line functions:
-monitor 2 (or any number in a multi-monitor setup)
This will allow users to select which monitor to treat as the primary device, which will allow full screen exclusive to work on that display.
-window
This will force the game to boot into windowed mode (which should help some players if the game is defaulting to an unsupported resolution)."
My main takeaway? This was a substantially faster response than I had expected. That's good news for the future of this port as the developers at Little Stone continue to work out any remaining kinks.
A new update for Prey, version 1.04, will add more PS4 Pro support for the game. The update will also be landing on PC and Xbox One, but the majority of the fixes are for Sony's half-upgrade. The list of fixes are below:
Respawn Entertainment continues to be good to Titanfall 2 players. No surprises there!
Today's free content update adds the multiplayer map Relic (a remaster from the original game) and introduces a new Titan, Monarch, "the IMC's attempt to reverse-engineer the Militia's Vanguard-class Titan with a decided focus on flexibility through survival and support options." Monarch can steal power from other Titans to top up her own shields. Clever girl.
Other miscellaneous stuff in this update: Ronin and Tone Prime, the "Now You See Me [Cloak]" execution, more nose art, camos, and callsigns at the store, and a "clean-up" of Crashsite. You'll be less likely to get snagged as you roam the map, plus there are more wallrunning spots and ziplines.
Its still super crazy, to me, how Adult Swim seamlessly transitioned into video game publishing. I used to watch them with an almost religious devotion when I was a teen and that followed me into college. My roommate freshman year had never seen Futurama before meeting me, but after that first year, he had watched the entire series about four times through.
Anyway, you can get Volgarr the Viking for a dollar in the newest Humble Bundle, based on Adult Swim Games. Some of the other games are pretty good, too, but Volgarr is absolutely worth that low entry price. As a matter of fact, why are you even reading this? Just go buy Volgarr and prepare to get your teeth kicked in for a few hours. It will turn you into a bad ass, guaranteed.
Shadows of the Damneddirector Massimo Guarini has announced his latest game,Last Day of June. The moody puzzle game looks a lot closer to Guarini's most recent directorial effort,the child-dragging Murasaki Baby, than Shadows of the Damned, of course.
"Join Carl and June on what begins as a magical outing to their favorite spot, and try to unlock the sequence of events that could save the day – and June's life – in this cinematic experience," that will compel you to ask yourself: "'What would I do to save the one I love?'"
Last Day of Juneis being developed by Guarini's studio Ovosonico and published by 505 Games. It's coming to PC and PS4 in 2017, but probably not on the last day of June.
Last we'd heard of the next game from Bastion and Transistor studio Supergiant Games, Pyre, there wasn't much to report in terms of concrete info. Today we have a bit more information, including when you'll finally be able to play it: July 25th exclusively on PlayStation 4 and you can pre-order it right now for $20. The party-based role-playing game has some lofty narrative ambitions, too. Creative director Greg Kasavin writes on the PlayStation Blog that failure won't stop your progress through the game's story.
Ys Net has released its latest monthly update on Shenmue III, introducing a new character model. That's about it, outside of confirming the $6.3 million crowd-funded sequel to the Dreamcast cult classic will not be shown off at E3 next month. The project was revealed for PC and PS4 at Sony's E3 presser in 2015.
At that point -- and, purportedly, still -- it had a planned December 2017 release. In December of 2016, Shenmue III entered into the "final stage, towards full-scale production." The Kickstarter update doesn't comment on the release date, just that, "we will be devoting June to game development and as a result, will unfortunately not be participating in any game shows."
Still, given how little we've seen of it, I would be surprised if Shenmue III comes out in six months.
I've been working on a project for the last month or so, and I think we're just about ready to get started with it. Old-timers might remember that Destructoid once had a retro gaming podcast called RetroForce GO! I think it'd be fun to have something like that again, so I've been working on putting one together, and we're recording the initial episode tonight.
The new show will be called "Retroid." I've spoken with some of the members of RFGO, and I'm pleased to announce Topher Cantler and Alex Ryan have both agreed to guest on the first episode. Our own Jonathan Holmes will round out the cast for the first show. The topics I'd like to discuss are how we define what is "Retro," and the recent flood of remasters and collections such as Full Throttle Remastered, Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap, and the Disney Afternoon Collection. We might discuss the flustercluck that was the NES mini as well, if there's time.
You can follow the show @RetroidPodcast and send us questions that we may read on the air, and I'll check the comments below before we start recording. I'd also like to involve the community, so if there's a topic you'd like a show about or think you'd like to be a guest, let us know! I don't know about you guys, but I'm excited about this. See you on the other side...
For some of you (myself certainly included), just knowing that Bastion and Transistor studio Supergiant Games is behind Pyre is reason enough to expect good things. It's a role-playing game about exiles bound to a "mystical purgatory," for starters. How cool is that? The potential is all there.
"Characters in Pyre come in all shapes and sizes, from hulking demons grown strong from their struggle to survive, to the winged Harps, who plot against their enemies from their mountain nests," writes creative director Greg Kasavin. "Everyone in Pyre has a unique story behind their exile, and what might be in store for them if only they could return."
The game has an atypical, three-on-three battle system in which you're trying to extinguish your foes' flame and prevent them from putting out yours. "You'll have to outsmart and outmaneuver your opponents to succeed -- or you can banish them outright with a powerful aura blast." These "Rites" are also playable against CPU and human players in a separate Versus Mode.
One tidbit I hadn't heard yet is that there aren't traditional game-overs in Pyre. It keeps going! "We wanted to make a game that had plenty of challenge and exciting action, but where the fear and frustration of getting stuck was not a factor," says Kasavin. "Picking yourself up after being defeated could be part of the journey, rather than something that took place in your head while looking at a Game Over screen. So, one of the unique aspects of Pyre is how you are never forced to lose progress."
I'm thinking this one might be more my style than Transistor, actually. I can't quite put my finger on the art direction, but it speaks to me, as does the purgatory setting and these character designs:
The latest horny anime game from the Senran Kagura creators, Valkyrie Drive: Bhikkhuni, is coming to PC (Steam, specifically) on June 20. CJ originally reviewed the PS Vita version, which he found to be an alright, if kind of tired action game. The PC version is "fully remastered" at 1080p and 60fps.
Valkyrie Drive: Bhikkhuni ($30 normally) will be 10% off during the first week. You can also drop $40 to get the game plus all the DLC.
After Square Enix decided to sell off IO Interactive, the future of Hitman lingered in purgatory. Square Enix owns the intellectual property and would continue to do so even without the developer, IO Interactive, around to develop it. If Square Enix chose to do this both Hitman: Season Two and future Hitman titles would seem unlikely.
Square is still "negotiating with prospective external investors," but also said it would be willing to give up the Hitman license in order to let IO Interactive continue working on the franchise.
Uzbekistan has banned these 34 games, meaning it's, "illegal to import and distribute the games across the central Asian country," according BBC.
The list is kind of haphazard, spanning over 20 years (1995's Phantasmagoria and 1997's Carmageddon make the list). Fallout: New Vegas is banned, but Fallout 3 and 4 are not. Resident Evil 4 and Silent Hill make the cut, along with Until Down (sic) and Kane and Leanch 2:Dog days (sic). Call of Duty: Black Ops and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas are the only two to make it from those popular series, while The Sims 3 and 4 might be the least violent on the list.
Also banned are Bone Town, Lula 3D, and 3D Sex Villa 2, all of which I now want to play.
Authorities say these games can be "used to propagate violence, pornography, threaten security and social and political stability" and can adversely affect "civil peace and inter-ethnic and inter-religious harmony." Also cited was the potential, "distribution of false information about Uzbekistan and the distortion of its historic, cultural and spiritual values."
Seated in a Krakow convention center last week to watch Remedy Entertainment's creative director Sam Lake give a presentation on unifying themes, the audience was treated to something it certainly didn't expect: A partial striptease. Lake got down to his undershirt to cosplay as Max Payne while talking about that game; he did the same thing while discussing Alan Wake.
There's a reason Lake does this, more than for sheer entertainment value (although that definitely plays a role too). He's about to dissect each of Remedy's past titles, minus Death Rally, in a way that explains how they all have character-centric stories; how all these video games take another medium's structure; and how they all blur the in-game realities. These wardrobe changes are a meta play on that last one. Lake's blurring the lines of his presentation by dressing up as the characters he's discussing.
It's a fascinating talk, one that we'll probably post when the Digital Dragons organizers upload it to YouTube. It's particularly interesting because it points out all the ways that Remedy's games have the exact same pillars every single time. Lake starts with the big one: "We want to create iconic characters. Our bar has always been in as high-quality characters and stories as we can make. Because we make action games, the motifs and conflicts of these characters are the springboard for action. Heightened, exaggerated and we always bring a layer of genre elements as we allow to explore different genres -- pulp fiction or supernatural elements or science fiction," he says.
After over a year of silence, City Shrouded in Shadow has risen from the depths of potential cancellation to reveal new details and a release date in this week's issue of Famitsu.
When the game was last heard from, it was in development for both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita. Since then, for various reasons that were not detailed, development went to PS4 only. However, since the change to PlayStation 4, development is now sitting at 75 percent complete, and the team is aiming for launch this fall in Japan.
Square Enix announced that NieR: Automata has eclipsed 1.5 million sales worldwide, including both digital downloads and physical shipments.
Impressive numbers for series that was once quite niche. That PlatinumGames magic at work perhaps? I still need to play this game once I finally beat Breath of the Wild. Along with 20 other games released in the past eight months.
Killer Instinct is officially out of EVO as of this year. It's a shame as it often produced some of the most exciting matches, and even with a studio change Microsoft continued to support the game, expanding its roster to nearly include every character in the entire history of the series, plus guests like Rash from Battletoads, RAAM from Gears of War, and the Arbiter from Halo.
Thankfully the fighting game community is keeping it alive with local tournaments, include Combo Breaker in St. Charles Illinois. Wheels (US) and Valoraxe (UK) just had some heated matches that can be viewed on the TeamSp00ky Twitch channel, using Cinder, Gargos, and Sabrewulf.
The entire matches are worth catching if you're into the game, but the series was full of intense moments like the clip below. In other news Killer Instinct isn't dead -- Thunder's younger brother "Eagle" is arriving next month.
About half a year away from its 11th birthday, the PlayStation 3 will no longer be produced in Japan. The 500 GB model was the last remaining version, but now its production has ended as well.
Doesn't seem that long ago that it released. The PS2 seemed to live on forever, so perhaps the PS3 will continue to be produced in the U.S. and Europe for some time as well. I unfortunately was never able to get my hands on the backward compatible OG version featuring Spider-Man font. Oh well.
If you didn't think Devolver Digital's Genital Jousting's phallic gameplay was ridiculous enough, you're in for a treat. The studio has released a Wet Hot Summer Update (what else would they call it?) for the title that adds season-appropriate modes and outfits to the penile party game, including surfing and a sexy car wash. You'll have to watch the trailer to see exactly what we mean -- let's just say that you'll never look at volleyball the same way again.
Amid the droves of Advance Wars clones, Nintendo and Intelligent Systems have remained dormant on the issue for nearly a decade. Now the silence has been broken, at least as it pertains to the development studio's recent issues with continuing with the series, and it strangely has to do with relationship troubles.
Speaking to Eurogamer, Nintendo producer Hitoshi Yamagami notes, "Personally, I'd love to do Advance Wars, but since it's harder to create relationships between its characters compared to Fire Emblem, I don't have a clear idea of what kind of setting it could have."
Given that a lot of recent fans dislike the relationship systems and how over-the-top they've become in the last few games, I'd say to many, that's a positive. Just look at the reception to Shadows of Valentia, which downplayed many of those mechanics. Or you can allow the tanks to get married. Your call Nintendo.
Yamagami isn't giving up entirely though, as others have echoed the same sentiment (minus the tank shipping): "I hear some of the staff here saying that they want to make one too, so if we have a chance it's something I'd like to do!"
Sega has announced that Sonic Mania will be releasing August 15 for PC, Switch, PS4 and Xbox One. If you're already down with what has been shown, you can now pre-order the game. Thankfully, there are no bonuses or special DLC; the only edition of the game is the one that will launch later this year.
To commemorate the announcement, Sega has also unleashed a trailer with some really cool artwork. I love the stencil art style and the animation reminds me a lot of Sonic CD (my favorite Sonic game).
If you’ve been on the fence about picking up a VR headset and also happen to be a giant Trekkie, HTC has some good news from you. Going forward, HTC says that every Vive headset it sells will come bundled with a copy of the multiplayer stress simulator, Star Trek: Bridge Crew.
As its name would imply, Bridge Crew puts you and three other players in critical roles on the bridge of a starship in the midst of a deep space exploration mission. The game itself has been hit with a number of delays, so at the very least a bundle like this is a nice little treat for anyone that was waiting on this specific game to pick up a VR headset.
Soon-to-be Vive owners can pick upStar Trek: Bridge Crew, a Vive, two controllers, and the other bells and whistles packaged along with the headset for $799.99. For the rest of us, Star Trek: Bridge Crew releases today on Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR for $49.99.
I've always been interested in compiling a list of petitions in the gaming sphere.
Seeing which ones worked, which ones didn't, and nail down a success rate. Many like Project Rainfall have gotten what they wanted, and others spawned unity like 100,000 Strong for Bringing Back Mega Man Legends 3 even if they didn't ultimately get their wish. Some have no chance -- like this Far Cry 5 petition.
Tired of "multicultural lectures and preachy games," this petition "draws a line in the sand," and demands that Ubisoft cancel the game. It should only take you two paragraphs (if that) to see that it's likely fake. My favorite part is the requested alteration of the villains to "misguided patriots."
The reaction Far Cry 5 has been getting is more entertaining than any clip, tease, or gameplay announcement.
[Spoilers for the previous four episodes of A New Frontier]
From the Gallows is this past season of The Walking Dead distilled into a single episode. Every save glitch, every charming line of dialogue, every fully-realized character, every thinly sketched character, every well-blocked scene, every workmanlike visual, it's all here. These elements have been present across A New Frontier – some of them more dominant than others – so it's clear Telltale understands exactly what this game is.
Good for them. From my perspective, the credits have rolled, my time with A New Frontier is done, and I don't know that I can give it the hearty recommendation I assumed I would be delivering back in December. The gulf in quality between how well the season opened and how middling this finale turned out to be is a lot to surmount. It's not a terrible capper, but it's certainly not what I hoped for.
I thought we'd be seeing a legitimate contender to the Telltale throne, one that looked to tell a character-driven story about family of blood versus family of circumstance. I don't think I've ever seen a video game obstinately refuse to address themes it previously introduced, but I suppose there's a first time for everything. Although the characters get a decent send-off, the finale really lets the whole season down – which doesn't bode well for Season Four.
I'm somewhat concerned about the Super Nintendo World and Universal theme park partnership, if only because they're splitting their efforts between Japan, Orlando, and Hollywood (so far they've hinted that not every location will get the same attractions) -- but as someone who dreamed of going to a video game park as a kid, I'm interested in seeing what they come up with.
Now we have some semblance of an idea beyond "themed worlds," as a trademark filed by Nintendo sheds some light on the sort of concepts they want to bring to Universal. Most notably is the "management or arrangement of kart racing," as well as "hotel accommodation services."
Given that Universal just built new hotel properties in Orlando the latter is probably limited to Hollywood or Japan only, but then again Super Nintendo World is only slated to drop in 2020 in Japan, with an undisclosed date for the US.
