Would it be weird to buy some but not all of the Zelda: Breath of the Wildchampion amiibo set?
That's how I roll (Duck Hunt, King Dedede, and Green Yarn Yoshi round out my "collection"), and I don't want Daruk watching over me while I sleep or while I do literally anything, for that matter.
Nintendo of Japan is taking online pre-orders for a bundle with Urbosa, Revali, Mipha, and Daruk for 6,480 yen. It's unclear when exactly these will ship, but they'll be out sometime this year.
For now, let's have a good chuckle at where these figures' stands are positioned.
This is the cutest thing since alpaca babies: in the early days of the Nintendo NX, developers were presented with these use cases for how busy people and families would incorporate a living room console into their mobile lives. Most of the drawings resemble stuff from the DS playbook, which has never ceased to print money. (You can follow Ko Takeuchi's art on Twitter)
I love that all of the illustrations are in the most soothing shade of blue possible, which some psychologists recommend you wear to job interviews and when meeting people you want to get naked with. Think Nintendo was a little nervous to present this to devs? Nah.
For all we know these might have also been used internally to build the damn thing. Why can't Nvidia figure this out?
Blizzard has opened pre-orders for StarCraft Remastered and you know what that means: it's not far off! The iconic real-time strategy game (and its Brood War expansion) will be back in our lives on August 14, 2017 looking and sounding better than ever. The remaster is priced reasonably, too -- it's just $15.
Here's a live-action trailer to set the mood.
In terms of what's different in Remastered:
Full graphical upgrade of the original StarCraft and the StarCraft: Brood War expansion
Widescreen UHD support for up to 4K resolution
New matchmaking and leaderboards
Player profiles that track individual statistics
Cloud saving for campaign progress, hotkeys, and replays
Higher fidelity music and sound
Switch between Remastered and the original StarCraft with the click of a button!
I'm not the biggest StarCraft dude, but this will still be fun to relive come August.
Pre-purchases include a few bonuses like the Char Hive, Korhal Command Center, and Aiur Nexus building skins, plus Alexei Stukov as a co-op commander in StarCraft II and three player portraits.
Right after we reported on one blatantly obvious satire, here is some news of another one. From the developers behind Screencheat comes the VR extravaganza The American Dream. In the trailer below, you'll see that your hands have been replaced with guns and that you perform everyday actions by shooting at them.
Want a beer? Shoot that shit! Burgers ready to be flipped? Bust a cap in their asses! The trailer is pretty funny, if a bit on the nose, but I'm curious to see how this concept gets expanded into a full game. The trailer description reads:
Welp, my weekend plans are made. Motion Twin has a new update for Dead Cells that adds content (monsters, weapons, another area) and shuffles some of the existing stuff. These are the highlights:
A new biome: Some say it will get you nowhere but six feet under… But IF you know your way around like a dog knows its bone, you shouldn't have too much trouble finding it!
The Island has changed quite a bit. Connections between levels aren't necessarily the same, have fun figuring all that out again (... until the next update).
Two news monsters: kill first, ask questions later.
New weapons!
Many changes to the economy system: you can't buy ALL the things now.
Automatic installation of a language mod in your language if one exists. You can still choose to play in English via the options.
If you haven't played Dead Cells yet and you're longing for a snappy new vania, you should strongly consider following Ray's lead and giving this a chance. I prefer to wait on Steam Early Access games until they're in the home stretch, but I caved, and what's here already feels wonderful.
Robert Yang is known for making free homoerotic games such as Succulent, a game about deep-throating corn dogs, and Stick Shift, a game about jacking off a car's stick shift. While Yang's previous titles took a more comical twist on gay sex, this latest release is a lot more serious, sort of.
The Tearoomis based on a hidden surveillance camera sting carried out in 1962 by the police in Mansfield, Ohio (a city I've frequently been in my entire life). The police set up a two-way mirror and filmed local gay men having sexual contact with each other, then used said footage to put them behind bars for a year or more under the now-defunct sodomy laws the state had at the time. The game's name comes from the slang term used to designate bathrooms used for cruising (hooking up with strangers in public), tearooms.
During the PS2 days, the Culdcept franchise was one those things that caught my eye, since the idea of having a board game with creature cards sounded interesting. Unfortunately, other titles grabbed my attention so I missed out on playing this series.
Thanks to NIS bringing the series' latest game, Culdcept Revolt, to the West, I might get to fix this little problem of mine. Speaking of which, it turns out that the title has been delayed to Oct. 3 for North America and Oct. 6 in Europe. Luckily, this situation isn't too bad since Aug. 29 and Sept. 1 were the original launch dates for the two regions.
According to Siliconera, NIS' reasoning for the delay was because they wanted "to accommodate the manufacturing and production of the game." On the bright side, we received a new trailer that talks about the board game's cards. Based on the stuff I heard about the 3DS title, Culdcept Revolt is giving me a bit of a Dokapon Kingdom vibe; however, I doubt that it will turn your best friends into your worst enemies.
In awesome, equestrian-based '80s toy news, My Little Pony: The Movie just released its first official trailer, and boy oh boy, did it deliver! I know I speak for the entire Flixist staff when I say this two-and-a-half minute marketing gem is just delightful and truly represents the brand we’ve all come to hold dear to our hearts.
For the uninitiated (and let me apologize now, because you are missing out!), My Little Pony: The Movie, is the feature film adaptation of the long-running television series sweetness My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic which first aired in October of 2010. The series already spans 169 episodes, but as any real Brony (again, for the uninitiated, Bro-Pony; my personal handle being Ja Brony) knows, you simply cannot have enough of a good thing. And if that’s true for good things, it must be true for great ones! Hasbro has made good on promises and is delivering what is quickly shaping up to be the sleeper hit of the year—it wouldn’t surprise me to see Ponies at all the big award shows next year.
All of our favorites are back! Twilight Sparkle (Tara Strong); Applejack and Rainbow Dash (Ashleigh Bell); Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie (Andrea Libman); and Rarity (Tabitha St. Germain) are all back and better than ever, digitally remastered for their dazzling debut on the big screen. IMHO, I would have been OK with Applejack sitting this one out. She’s just such a know-it-all and frankly, I don’t think that attitude has any home in Equestria (the magic land the Mane 6 live in!). It just doesn’t speak to the values embraced by the show: honesty, generosity, loyalty, and kindness. Not to mention friendship! Obviously! I told you the movie’s based off a show called Friendship is Magic.
But on to the trailer … it has everything! Bears. Roided-out bro ponies. Balloon animals. Karate. Dramatic waterfall plunges. Underwater dubstep clubs. Sword fights—it has sword fights! Fist (hoof) bumps. Cake-splosions and cupcake fights, friends! And did I mention the soundtrack? Did they hire One Direction, or what? I’m so excited right now I can barely contain myself—which may be a problem, as I’m a 34-year-old man waiting in the middle of a Mavis Discount Tire watching My Little Pony videos on my laptop while giggling uncontrollably.
Take a look at this sparkling example of cinematic bliss and let us know what your thoughts in the comments below! I’d also be curious to know which of the Ponies is your favorite! And if not one of the Mane 6, don’t be shy! There are over 200 characters to choose from in the Ponyverse, after all.
If this is all new to you, it's one of those games that's much better experienced than explained. You'll glide around a funky low-poly world, collect some crap, and visit an art museum. Then things get weird.
For returning players, Bubsy 3D now has an epilogue, which you can play right from the start.
Lastly, cheat codes -- don't you dare forget about cheat codes.
There aren't too many similarities between Bloodborne and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. They play wildly different from one another. The dimly lit gothic architecture of Yharnam is a far cry from Skyrim's snow-capped mountains. One has a thing for aliens and menstrual blood. The other, well, it's more concerned with arrows and knees.
But a talented modder by the name of Vicn managed to blend both worlds together. Vicn's transported Bloodborne's hunters, trick weapons and all, to Skyrim in the Glenmoril mod.
At the end of its 2017 content roadmap for Watch Dogs 2, Ubisoft promised a Party mode in which four players would be able to tear up San Francisco together and also team up for activities. It's almost ready. The mode will be available on Tuesday, July 4 as part of a free update.
"The cops will be there. You could try to take down the Red Zones. Everything that's in the city of San Francisco will be there, so you can immediately have some fun exploring San Francisco with four people," said producer Kris Young. "Then, at any time, you can launch the activities that support the 4-player Party – Bounties, Invasions, Loot Trucks, Races, Showd0wn, Man VS Machine Robot Fights, and the DedSec Virus events are all available for you to have fun with."
This free-play format speaks to me more than some of the competitive stuff. On that note, Ubisoft says Party mode is meant to be "more about cooperation than competition, so anything that happens in this mode will not affect leaderboard standings." It's gonna be chaotic.
The update also brings the ability to skip the cinematic when you're using the 3D printer, fixes for the shuffler takedown and outfits not unlocking as intended, and stability improvements.
Fan games are always just a cease and desist away from being dashed into oblivion. We see it all the time. Companies have a legal interest in protecting their properties, and unilaterally shutting down fan games is often the only plausible course of action. Nintendo is the most notorious example, and it has garnered some ill will over the years because of it.
These scenarios don't always end negatively, though. A Halo fan game is set to live on because it got the explicit approval to proceed from 343 Industries and Microsoft Studios. The team behind Installation 01recently wrote that it had a productive conference call with 343 executives who gave the blessing to eventually release the game.
There are, however, a few conditions. In order to retain proper legal separation, the Installation 01 creators can't profit in any direct way. That means that it has to release the game for free, it can't accept donations, and it can't sell any merchandise that's based on the game; selling merchandise that's based on the studio is permitted.
As long as it stays non-commercial, Installation 01 has the green light. All things considered, that's a pretty fantastic turnout -- especially since many fan games only live on through torrent sites. Installation 01 won't be an official Halo product, but at least the Halo gatekeepers recognize and respect that it's coming from a place of love and passion.
It's been long enough since I last bought a game compilation that I'm one-hundred percent on board with Namco Museum. It also helps that 1) it's coming to Nintendo Switch, which is where most of my local multiplayer currently happens, and 2) it contains Pac-Man Vs., a true party-game legend.
Bandai Namco has confirmed a July 28, 2017 release for Namco Museum on the Switch, along with a couple other details. For instance: you can play vertically "for a taller, slimmer screen that replicates the original arcade experience." That's something I always wished more titles supported.
There's one other key point to mention. In order to play Pac-Man Vs. as it was intended, you'll need to have two separate Switch units -- one for the three ghost players, and one for the Pac-Man player. That's a road block if you don't know anyone else with a Switch, but it's understandable given how the game was designed. That said, there is a "Single Console (1-3 Players)" option in which you "catch Pac-Man as many times as you can to reach the target score" but don't get to play as him.
As a reminder, along with Pac-Man Vs., this collection includes Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Galaga, Galaga '88, The Tower of Druaga, Rolling Thunder, Rolling Thunder 2, Sky Kid, Splatterhouse, and Tank Force.
Yooka-Layleejust got a big ol’ patch for the PC and in the near future this will be applied to the console versions later. Yooka-Laylee was well received overall, but a little divisive among the Banjo fans who were really clamouring for its release, with jarring reviews drastically swinging from extreme negatives to gushing positives. People complained the game felt empty, was buggy, and had several irritating components including a divisive quiz component, and the Rextro mini-game elements that people criticized as poorly conceived and tossed in haphazardly in order to pad out the overall content. Others say it felt like a true follow-up to Banjo-Kazooie and that it lived up to their high expectations. But here we are: it came, a lot of people seemed generally satisfied with it, and although the initial hype has worn off the game isn't finish its run yet with an impending release on the Nintendo Switch coming that could bring in a whole new slew of fans and critics alike in the coming months.
Bungie has finally given us some dates and times for Destiny 2's beta, and if it's anything like the first, it'll be particularly meaty. It's also confirmed that it'll contain at least one story mission, a Strike (dungeon) and a little PVP.
By way of pre-orders you'll be able to play it on PS4 first on July 18 at 10AM PT, followed by July 21 access at that same time in an open format. The Xbox One beta kicks off a day later on July 19 at 10AM PT, and will also open up on July 21. PC access unfortunately is scheduled for "late August," which is right before the game is even out on consoles in September (the full PC edition will hit a month later in October).
I'm cautiously optimistic for how this will work on PC, especially given the staggered release date. Given how fast my group tears into Destiny we'll likely be raid-ready within a week (if that), and by the time the PC version does get here I'll already be knee deep in raid gear.
Xbox Game Pass is set to enter its second month of existence, and the program came out swingin'. The Netflix-like (but not really) subscription service launched with more than 100 games and it added to that tally yesterday. Microsoft has said that it'll add a minimum of five titles every month.
But, Xbox Game Pass isn't going to grow indefinitely. Eventually games will leave the service as new ones are swapped in. When that happens, players will want to know so that they can try to finish something before it disappears. Fortunately, Microsoft has a reasonable plan in place.
We asked Microsoft how it intends to handle this inevitable scenario, and we were told that people will get a heads-up before it happens. "When a game rotates out of Xbox Game Pass, fans will be notified a few weeks in advance before it is removed from a catalog," a representative said.
We also inquired as to when the first delisting is scheduled. We were told that "Current games in the Xbox Game Pass catalog won't leave until November." That means the shortest lease Microsoft has right now is five months long. That's subject to change as new contracts are negotiated with publishers, but it seems like anything less than three months wouldn't be worth adding to the program.
When November rolls around and games are delisted, it's probably safe to assume that it won't be too many at once. Microsoft's main marketing push around Xbox Game Pass is that it features more than 100 titles. It can't really ever drop below that number. But, some stuff will go away because that's the nature of the beast. At least we'll get fair warning before it happens.
Mobile games can make a ton of money, with titles like Clash of Clans making billions of dollars for their respective developers. Square Enix has been active in mobile gaming with titles based on its own popular role-playing games, with original free-to-play titles like Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius and premium ports of older titles like Final Fantasy IX. Now, the veteran publisher has just released another free-to-play game to Android and iOS, titled Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire. Square Enix may hope to bring new fans to the series it's based on while also encouraging fans of the console game to give it a go. It's just too bad the game is (so far) kind of an inscrutable mess.
Nickelodeon and a handful of other investors -- including professional sports-team owners -- have just thrown $15 million at Super League Gaming, an organization that holds amateur eSports tournaments in movie theaters across the US for kids, teens and adults. Super League is best known for its national Minecraft championship, which last year paid out $15,000 to a winning team of kids age 10 to 14, though it also regularly holds nationwide League of Legends tournaments for players of any age.
Koei Tecmo has revealed today that Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon will be heading to North America on October 24 and Europe on October 27. The game will be releasing on the PlayStation 4, PC, and will be the company's first title on the Nintendo Switch. Unfortunately, much like with the first Nights of Azure, the Vita version will not be receiving an international release.
We've been keeping you abreast of just about every amiibo happening since the "Holy Trinity" debacle, and it feels good. I've met so many great people as a result of this wretched hobby, and it still isn't over yet. While I initially thought that Nintendo had cooled down on amiibo several months ago, they went and announced six exclusives (a practice they hadn't done in over a year) and 13 more figures were revealed at E3. So what's next now that the Zelda trio just dropped at Best Buy, Amazon and GameStop?
Well, we have the two variations each of Cloud, Corrin and Bayonetta coming up on July 21, which have one exclusive each called the "Player 2" version (Cloud = GameStop, Corrin = Amazon, Bayonetta = Best Buy). That same day a new Splatoon trio will arrive that includes the Inkling Girl, Boy and Squid. On July 28 a single figure that houses five Pikmin will hit that interfaces with both Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and the upcoming Hey! Pikmin 3DS game.
Fast-forwarding to September 15 there's a Metroid (the creature, which can't crawl by the way)/Samus two-pack. On October 27 Wedding Mario, Peach and Bowser will hit for Super Mario Odyssey, and sometime in the undisclosed future (presumably for the launch of Fire Emblem Warriors) Chrom and Tiki. Finally, there's four more Breath of the Wild amiibo with a mystery 2017 window (likely alongside of the second DLC for Breath) and the Koopa and Goomba figures that are compatible with Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions, the remake announced at E3.
As soon as new amiibo are announce I add them to this list, so feel free to keep it bookmarked!
A movie rental for a buck might be the only way I can justify watching the new Power Rangers reboot. Luckily, the Google Play store that will let me do just that, with substantive discounts on movies, television shows, apps, games, books and music all wrapped up in a massive summer-themed sale.
In a few months time, Targets, Best Buys, Wal-Marts and GameStops around the country will transform into Thunderdomes for the launch of the SNES Classic. When it was announced this week, the jokes started to fly. The poor handling of the NES Classic left a sour taste in many mouths. We all learned a lesson with that one and now we know going in Nintendo won't be making many SNES systems. But oh, what a system it is.
With just 21 games, including one that’s never been publicly released, the SNES Classic is a wonderful hodgepodge of some of the best games to hit the 16-bit wunderkind. There are many, many more that could and should be included, but for whatever reason failed to make the cut. From our list of the 30 best SNES games, I would most want to find room for the splendid TMNT: Turtles in Time. I mean the SNES was a beat ‘em up machine, a genre the Classic is missing.
Looking at the list, I asked myself what game I would take out of its line-up if, hypothetically, I were to add in Turtles in Time. No question, I would remove Super Mario Kart. Look, I get the game is groundbreaking, the first entry in one of the most beloved franchises in history, a series with no equal. I understand, but I also know should I ever get my hands on one of these, I will never play it. Why would I? I have Mario Kart 8 and it’s better than the original in every possible way.
I brought this up in the staff chat and got some interesting responses. Occams said he could do without the Kirby games while Joel Peterson, whoever the fuck that is, said his least exciting title is Super Punch Out. Now I want to know what you think. If Nintendo magically gave us the ability to add in that one game we wanted at the expense of one of the included titles, which game would you take out of the SNES Classic to make room for your favorite?
Being a Brit, I've never really seen baseball outside of video games and movies, so I can only assume it's exactly like A League of Their Own, Field of Dreams, and Neo-Geo classic Super Baseball 2020, which is returning on the PS4 and Xbox One, courtesy of Hamster.
Originally released in 1991, the game optimistically predicted referee-bots, teleporters, mixed-gender ballgames, and an outfield littered with landmines. More like Field of Screams. To be fair, it's only 2017, the MBA still has time to implement these ideas, so SNK's crystal ball is yet to be proven wrong. In the meantime, Super Baseball 2020 will have to suffice, and is available for download today priced $7.99.
Now get out there and umm.. score a touchdown, or something.
Online game key marketplace G2A is taking another stab at making its site more secure for developers by implementing changes that will impact both resellers and customers. The company announced on Thursday that key sellers on its site will be required to reveal their name and address, having previously been allowed to operate anonymously.
It's an absolutely packed Nintendo Download for smaller releases, capped off by RPG Maker FES, 6180 the moon, and Mighty Gunvolt Burst on 3DS. The Switch is hosting De Mambo and Gonner (finally) and the Master Trials DLC for Zelda: Breath of the Wild (tomorrow), as well as NeoGeo: Magical Drop II. The Wii U is even getting some love with Bonk 3, Preston Sterling, and Devil's Crush.
