News:: Hearthstone: Knights of the Frozen Throne brings out the Death Knights

As officially announced on-stream at HCT Shanghai, Blizzard's next Hearthstone expansion is Knights of the Frozen Throne, complete with an ascent up Icecrown Citadel, 135 new cards, Death Knights (as you'd hope and expect), and Lifesteal. It's targeting a fast-approaching launch this August.

There are nine new legendary Hero cards that transform Hearthstone heroes into Death Knights, "granting frost-rimed armor and modified powers." As for Lifesteal, it simply heals for damage dealt.

On top of a free prologue mission, all players can also make their way through two wings in the citadel (with bosses like Professor Putricide and Sindragosa), culminating in a confrontation with the Lich King. Clearing the prologue will net you a random legendary Death Knight Hero card, while both of the wings and the throne itself will award a Knights of the Frozen Throne card pack once you do your thing.

As before, Blizzard will have a 50-card bundle priced at $50 available for pre-purchase.

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News:: XCOM 2: War of the Chosen's Skirmishers are my kind of faction

That debut trailer for the new XCOM 2 expansion had a hell of a lot going on. In the weeks since the full reveal for War of the Chosen, Firaxis has been putting out more focused videos including one on the Assassin, one on the Reaper, and now, today, one on the Skirmisher. These are my dudes right here.

They're mobile, grapple-centric characters capable of pulling themselves across the map with ease and yanking foes toward them for a clean shot. Skirmishers can also get to a point where, among other abilities, they're able to take an action after each enemy takes theirs. All that, and they look cool.

War of the Chosen isn't due out until August 29, so there's plenty left to see, too.

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News:: Wireless gamepads available soon for the Retro AVS

Retro USB is a great little company. Specializing mainly in producing homebrew games and accessories for the Nintendo Entertainment System, they are also responsible for the Retro AVS; a simulated NES console using FPGA technology that has 720p HDMI output and plays both NES and Famicom cartridges.

It's a great alternative to the more lofty and expensive Analogue NT and Analogue NT Mini. My wife bought me one for Christmas, and while it came with a power cable and basic documentation, it did not include a controller. The system has an NES Four Score built in, meaning four original controller ports, so it does take the old controllers. But being a modern solution meant to hook up to a new HDTV, people have been clamouring for a decent wireless solution. Analogue NT has the option to use an 8Bitdo NES wireless controller with an NES dongle, but it feels a bit disjointed.

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News:: Researcher uses Game Boy Camera to capture 2-bit photos of space

The Game Boy Camera, released in 1998, wasn't even close to the weirdest peripheral for Nintendo's classic handheld console and even earned a Guinness World Record for the smallest digital camera in the world. Its 2-bit, 128 x 128 pixel CMOS sensor managed very grainy black-and-white shots, making it far more fun than technically impressive. And yet, a Dutch researcher and tinkerer just used one to catch some charmingly blocky photos of the moon and Jupiter.

Via: PetaPixel

Source: Alexander Pietrow

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News:: Fan film Max Payne Retribution is a love letter to the original game

It's been 16 years since Remedy came out with its bullet-time introducing pulp-noir shooter Max Payne and since then the game has turned into a cult-classic, spawning two sequels. The games always wore their noir cinematic influences on their sleeve with all too boastful references to mythological narratives and the main character spouting Chandleresque dialogue like it was all he knew. So it's not surprising to see fan films come out of the series. Enter the fan film Max Payne Retribution.

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News:: It's the one-year anniversary of Pokemon Go, celebrate with this special Pikachu

Remember Pokémon Go? That game that made us all get off our asses and go outside for a summer? Well, they're still doing that, in fact, they have been for about a year. In celebration of the title's one-year anniversary, developer Niantic is letting you catch a special Pikachu.

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News:: Firewatch, or how I dealt with being alone

_{[Usually, I have trouble relating to the troubles of others and having empathy. But hearing how people deal with issues like depression or anxiety can be a fascinating look, especially when a game helps frame their problems. ~Marcel]}

Hi there, everyone! My name is David Jenkins and this is my first blog post on Destructoid in almost seven years! After playing the game Firewatch, I had to come back and share my opinion of it on the internet. What better place than the first (and only) site I've ever used for video game blog posts?! So, if you'll indulge me, here is my piece on Firewatch! (Note: spoilers ahead!!)

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News:: 'Halo 5' will run in 'true 4K' on Xbox One X

Halo 5 is getting the "true 4K" treatment with the Xbox One X. During Halo 5's pre-release hype cycle, Microsoft said that it was so focused on hitting 60 frames per-second with the game that there weren't any sacred cows -- including split-screen co-op, a series staple. Maybe don't expect that to return with the Xbox One X's more powerful innards, though.

Source: Halo Waypoint

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News:: THQ Nordic lead says 'it's a bit sad' that the Switch isn't more powerful

I'm sure THQ director Reinhard Pollice is going to be thrown under the bus for this, but he recently mused on the state of the Nintendo Switch, and took a more wistful approach than some other studios.

Speaking to Gamesindustry.biz, Pollice stated, "We've been in touch with Nintendo about Switch for more than a year, so we've been looking at it for our current line-up and... we look wherever it's possible. It's a bit sad that they haven't gone out with a more beefy hardware but it is what it is, so we just have to work our way around it." He follows this up by saying that it's "tough" to get Battle Chasers: Nightwar working on the console, which lines up with the woes of a few other studios like Saber Interactive with NBA Playgrounds and Team Shifty with Mr. Shifty.

I'm just glad that he even spoke about the Switch at all in honest terms. You have publishers like EA who will barely even utter its name, sitting on the fence with ports and such. THQ has already tried to make it work on the system and will likely try some more, just not with graphically intensive projects.

How THQ Nordic will build a successful brand out of a failed one [Gamesindustry.biz]

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News:: The Sonic Forces theme is called 'Fist Bump' and is sung by the Hoobastank guy

After thinking about it for a while, this is the worst lede I could come up with for this story: "I''m not a perfect person, there's many things I wish I didn't do. But I continue learning, I never meant to do those things to you." Hoobastank sings this to kick off 2003's mega-hit "The Reason," but the lyrics apply to Sega's efforts with Sonic in recent years too.

This parallel isn't as forced as it may seem because Hoobstank's lead singer provided the vocals for the theme track to Sonic Forces. Douglas Robb (that's Hoobastank guy's name) wrote and sang the lyrics for "Fist Bump" (that's the theme song's name).

The lyrics are below, as transcribed by a commenter on the YouTube video. I'll trust that they're more or less accurate. I gotta go think about high school for a while.

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News:: These are the first PS4 games you can stream on PC and PS4

I haven't seen much love for Sony's PlayStation Now streaming-games service around these parts, but with PlayStation 4 games now a part of it as previously promised, maybe it'll get more curious glances.

Well, maybe not...

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News:: The Tomorrow Children will become yesterday's children when the game shuts down this November

The Tomorrow Children, the free-to-play online game that features Minecraft-style city building combined with Soviet-era dystopian action will be shutting down its servers in Japan on November 1. A post the on title's Japanese website confirmed as much.

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News:: NIS president talks Disgaea in AMA, teases next game for Switch

Sohei Niikawa, president of Nippon Ichi Software and the creator of Disgaea, recently took to Reddit to perform an Ask Me Anything. In addition, Toshihiro Beppu, the localization director for NIS America, was there to assist him. During the AMA, he talked more about the franchise, the localization for it in the West, and other topics.

When asked about more Disgaea on the Nintendo Switch, in particular the next game, president Niikama responded with "Most likely..." While not necessarily a confirmation, the further comments suggest that Disgaea 5 Complete did fairly well, which is no surprise given the number of pre-orders outside of Japan, and that the company would launch the new game on Switch day one alongside other console versions. Interest was also shown in making a Disgaea amiibo, however what character Sohei wished for was not mentioned. That being said, if it's not Prinny, you've made the wrong choice.

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News:: eBay is trying, and failing, to beat out SNES Mini scalpers

Did you know eBay has an anti-scalper policy? Probably not, because it can't really enforce it given how tenacious scalpers are.

The SNES Mini has been up for pre-order in the UK, and it instantly sold out. Naturally desperate folks are turning to eBay, but their marked-up prospects haven't been good with the site removing listings when they can. As per official policy they'll remove items that "are not for sale within 30 days" (which is September 29 for the SNES Mini), but they're getting re-listed instantly. Plus, this whole policy is just strange because when that limitation is over, it's scalp-city again.

Of course eBay could implement a script that detects a SKU and automatically flags a posting for removal, but people can probably get around that by listing it as "SNES micro" or something.

SNES Mini [Ebay via Eurogamer]

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News:: Halo 5 is getting the 4K treatment, lots of Halo classics being made backward compatible

July 7 used to be Halo Day. Well, it was technically Bungie Day, but with Bungie at the helm of the entire Halo series, it effectively meant that it was also Halo Day. That's dashed now that Bungie has moved onto Destiny. But, this year, July 6 has some announcements that would be fitting for a Halo Day under 343's leadership.

Called the "Summer Celebration," 343 Industries has some fairly big news pertaining to past Halo installments. The most major development is that Halo 5: Guardians will be getting a true 4K update on Xbox One X later this fall. The studio says that this reveal wasn't made during E3 last month because "[it wasn't] quite ready to make the announcement" then.

The other important news looks even further to the past. Later this year, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo 4, and Halo CE: Anniversary will all be added to Xbox One's backward compatibility program. Additionally, they all support multiplayer and LAN play, including LAN cross-play from Xbox 360 to Xbox One. A lot of folks already have access to these titles on Xbox One through the Master Chief Collection, but this is still a fine way to play the original versions.

Not a bad one-day haul for Halo fans. This is about as good as anyone could hope for, short of concrete news about future games.

Halo Summer Celebration: 4K, Backward Compatibility, Epic Events & More [Xbox Wire]

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News:: Take a look at Destiny 2's social hub 'The Farm'

The folks over at IGN got to take a gander at Destiny 2's first/main hub, dubbed "The Farm." It's basically a staging area for humanity to regain a foothold against the Cabal and other such evil entities.

There's a Cryptarch, ships taking off and landing, a soccer mini-game with interactive goal posts, and most importantly, chickens -- now you can make the "nobody here but us chickens" joke when your friends ask where you are in Destiny 2 (fun facts: my Bungie icon is a chicken, a relic of my Halo account, and I want to own chickens some day). The hub supports up to 26 players in total (previously it was 16) and will "expand" as time goes on with new characters and areas.

Once they added more functionality to the Tower in the original Destiny I started to get on board with it, and I doubt they'll regress with the sequel. It's shaping up to be an upgrade so far!

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News:: Tekken collides with bowling once more when Ultimate Tekken Bowl comes to Tekken 7

Tekken Tag Tournament was the first game in the fighting series to introduce the bowling mini-game back in 2000. We haven't been able to experience the joy of bowling with your favorite fighters on a console in a while but all of that is about to change.

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News:: Review: Spider-Man: Homecoming

Spider-Man films have been through all sorts of ups and downs. What was once the biggest comic book property on film has since been the victim of studio craziness, failed attempts, and just an overall bad reception by the time The Amazing Spider-Man 2 rolled around. It got so out of hand (Sony almost produced an Aunt May origin film), Sony eventually agreed to work with Marvel in an unprecedented licensing deal which'll hopefully help both companies in the long run. 

As the third iteration of the Spider-Man franchise in just 15 years, Spider-Man: Homecoming has a lot riding on its shoulders. It may have a gotten a good lead-in from Captain America: Civil War, but there were just so many ways it could have failed. Luckily, it didn't.

Spider-Man: Homecoming feels like the most natural Spider-Man story put to film, and somehow wasn't swallowed by the Marvel Cinematic Universe juggernaut. I know it's a cliche, but the third time really is the charm.

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News:: Your Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor progress will carry over into Shadow of War

After months of speculation, Warner Bros. and Monolith confirmed what we already suspected: Key Nemesis figures from the Shadow of Mordor will carry over to the sequel.

There's a newly-added "Nemesis Forge" mode in Shadow of Mordor that will automatically detect both your highest ranked orc foe and your highest ranked orc follower. Then, those will import to Shadow of War when that releases this fall. The video that's embedded above explains how it all works.

This particular feature has been all but confirmed for months. Upon Shadow of War's reveal in March, GamesRadar asked Monolith's creative vice president about save imports and he responded by saying "Oh, I don't remember what we're allowed to say about that." Then, last month, Shadow of Mordor received a mysterious patch that seemed to do nothing. We asked Warner Bros. representatives about it but received no response. It was clearly being saved for a marketing beat later in the summer.

For anyone who has no nemesis because they never played Shadow of Mordor, now is the perfect time to jump in. The Game of the Year Edition is available on Steam, PS4, and Xbox One for $4 (but probably slightly more expensive if you aren't a subscriber to either PS Plus or Xbox Live Gold). That's an absolute steal, even if the game is three years old.

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News:: Review: Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare: Absolution

We're almost at the home stretch for this year's deluge of Call of Duty DLC.

A riveting tale, I'm sure, for those of you who never picked up Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.

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News:: Sony streams PS4 games on PlayStation Now for the first time

Sony's game-streaming service, PlayStation Now, is getting a huge boost today thanks to the addition of 20 PS4 titles. The company announced that, for the first time, subscribers can use its offering to play games like God of War III Remastered, Killzone Shadow Fall, Saints Row IV: Re-Elected, Resogun, Ultimate Street Fighter IV and WWE 2K16, to mention a few. With the newly included PlayStation 4 games, Sony's PS Now digital library has reached more than 500 total. That means if you have a PS4 or Windows PC, now may be a good time to sign up for that seven-day trial and see if the service is worth it.

Source: Sony

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News:: Vive puzzler Fantastic Contraption hits PlayStation VR next week

The weird and whimsical Fantastic Contraption releases next Tuesday, July 11 for $20 on PlayStation VR, and as someone who missed out on the Vive version, I'm still curious to try it. You kind of need to see it in motion, but surface level, it's a game about building toy-like machines to solve puzzles.

"We redesigned the gameplay experience especially for PS VR, taking advantage of the likelihood that you have a favorite place to relax in front of your PlayStation 4," explains Radial Games' Chris Floyd. "We've included special PS VR-only features that allow you to resize and position your gameworld at the press of a button, which we're sure you'll find slick and amazing."

There will also be exclusive new levels and, for folks with PlayStation 4 Pro, you'll see enhancements:

• 8xAA – We averaged out all those sharp corners for smoother looking curves!
• Higher-resolution textures – you can almost smell that wood-grain!
• Improved backdrops and scenery
• Additional special-effects and visual flairs
• Extra island decorations
• 125% resolution oversampling – A fancy way of saying that things look real sharp in there.

It's nice to see everything laid out so clearly. A few times now, I've advised people on whether or not they should spring for a Pro when buying their first PS4 with the intent to get into VR, and I could've used concise notes like this to point to as an example. This port of Fantastic Contraption seems like a best-case scenario, though I am a tad worried about the hardware's finicky PlayStation Move tracking.

Fantastic Contraption Launches July 11th for PS VR [PlayStation Blog]

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News:: Samsung's Smart TVs stream your Steam games with no extra hardware

You can now play PC games on your 4K Samsung Smart TV without having to buy a Steam Link device. Instead, just install the Steam Link app from the Samsung App Store and you're good to go.

Via: Liliputing

Source: Steam

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News:: City Shrouded in Shadow is about surviving Godzilla attacks and I need it now

Growing up my dad and I watched a ton of Godzilla movies. Before Godzilla's huge fights with his foes gave into the tokusatsu (basically the person in a rubber suit genre) genre trope of fighting in open fields and quarries, I had always wondered what it'd be like for someone living in the city Godzilla runs rampant in. 

According to City Shrouded in Shadow, it's a miserable experience. The Japanese debut trailer for the title follows a man and woman as they try and survive attacks from fighting Ultramen, Godzilla, King Ghidorah, friggin' Eva 01, Gamera, and I think even a character from Patlabor? 

Either way, this looks like a terrible place to live but a super cool idea for a game. I haven't played developer Granzella's previous work, Disaster Report, so I don't know if this cool idea is in good hands. It looks neat, so hopefully it gets a Western release some time down the line. 

City Shrouded in Shadow releases in Japan on October 19 for PlayStation 4. 

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News:: Gundam Versus gets European release date and a handy game mode trailer

The news keeps getting better for Gundam Versus. Hot off the North American release date announcement just a few days ago, Bandai Namco has confirmed that the game will launch simultaneously in Europe on September 29.

Bandai Namco has also put together a rather comprehensive game mode trailer looking at the various types of robot brawls mech fans can look forward to. Clocking in at over six minutes, the trailer is basically a small class presentation on all the ways teenagers in giant robot suits can blow each other up. The trailer shows off a bit of the solo story mode and runs down the various 1v1, 2v2, and 3v3 online match formats, including ranked battles.

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News:: Sony says trophies will sync faster now, but where's our PSN name change option?

For those of you who pray to the altar of the almighty Platinum, Sony has announced a new development n the trophy saga -- you can now sync your trophies "much more quickly."

Why, for literal years, it took this long, no one will know. I always found it odd that Achievements unlocked instantly and posted at the very start of their run, and trophies had to manually be synced (which sometimes took upward of a minute for me).

But based on the responses to the official tweet, everyone still really wants the ability to change their PSN name -- another feature Microsoft has had for years. This whole situation is really funny to me because Sony is probably really proud of this development and possibly spent tons of R&D on it, and everyone is just asking for another feature.

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News:: Thimbleweed Park looks double-dip worthy on Nintendo Switch

The Nintendo Switch is getting a lot of double-dip love as of late and we've got another contender on ours hands. The point-and-click adventure Thimbleweed Park is being ported over as confirmed by co-creator Ron Gilbert, who shared a first look at the game running on a Switch in handheld mode.

Vague, cryptic, puzzling clue about our multiple Thimbleweed Park console announcements next week: https://t.co/gpmFwfMlKX

— Ron Gilbert® (@grumpygamer) July 6, 2017

Gilbert also added that the port is being handled internally. Even better.

In our review, Kevin wrote that it was "a rare pleasure to get to play a game like this again. I had a blast exploring Thimbleweed Park, and if you've ever enjoyed telling Bernard Bernoulli or Guybrush Threepwood what to do, you will too."

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