News:: You can now register for a possible chance at the Dissidia Final Fantasy NT closed beta

If you're dying to try out Dissidia Final Fantasy NT before it officially releases, then you better head on over to Square Enix's website to sign-up for the closed beta. Commencing sometime this summer, the website is only offering a chance at potentially joining the beta.

Participation is limited to North America and Latin America, with a link for PAL regions that leads to a 404 error. You also need to have a Square Enix account to register, though that doesn't take very long to create. I know I have one from the Steam version of Final Fantasy VII, so I'm all good to go.

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News:: Abigail and his freaky muscles coming to Street Fighter V July 25

There was a leak a while back purporting that Street Fighter V's Season 2 DLC would consist of brand new characters, and one of those characters was Abigail, one of the bosses from the Final Fight series. 

While I wish we would've gotten Haggar (a guy's gotta dream, you know), I'm not mad at unique additions either. I'm already interested in Abigail given his massive size, and I'm definitely curious how to manage his footsie game given how little room he has to move around. But to make up for it, he seems to have a ton of armor on his moves. I can't wait to try him out. 

Abigail, and his stage Metro City Bay Area, will be available July 25. 

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News:: This Kamen Rider figure is an interesting take on simulation games

Back in the days, we were treated to a Power Rangers spin-off called Masked Rider. My memories of the show are its hero using a beam sword to slay his opponents, along with the creepy Furby-like mascot. While it wasn't an amazing series, I heard good things about the source material, Kamen Rider Black RX. Also, the annoying furball wasn't in the original program.

In Japan, the series is part of an ongoing franchise, with the latest show, Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, revolving around video games and the medical field. To an extent, its early parts feel like Dr. Mario as a live-action superhero title. While we're on the topic of bug-like heroes, Bandai showed off their S.H. Figuarts figure of Kamen Rider Snipe Level 50 Simulation Gamer, one of the program's supporting/rival Riders, at the Akihabara Tamashii Nations showroom.

One of the things I love about Bandai's action figure line is how their tokusatsu characters are close to the show's design. For a prototype, they managed to capture the character's Splatoon-inspired colors, along with its reference to games like World of Warships and Kantai Collection/Kancolle. All in all, it's a nice genre to go with Snipe's first-person/third-person shooters motif. This is coming from someone who finds a majority of Ex-Aid's suits to be odd, except for Brave, the show's RPG-themed Rider.

While the figure didn't get a price or release date, I'm interested in seeing how it'll change with its final design. Until then, I'll try to catch up with Kamen Rider Ex-Aid so I can see how Snipe's Level 50 Form came into existence.

S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Snipe Level 50 Simulation Gamer Revealed [Tokunation via Orends: Range]

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News:: Jubei, the kitty cat swordsman, coming to BlazBlue: Central Fiction as DLC later this Summer

Arc System Works, a company that's potentially looking at an unbelievable 2018, also announced during EVO 2017 that they're adding Jubei, Ragna's teacher and character thought to be forever stuck in the background, to the BlazBlue: Central Fiction roster as DLC. 

I know some folks have been waiting on a playable Jubei for a long time, and this reveal trailer definitely makes it seem worth the wait. His movements are animated beautifully, his rushdown game looks monstrous, and he's just a cute kitty. I'm a total sucker for this type of character design. 

BlazBlue: Central Fiction is currently available for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PC. 

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News:: The new game from members of the Super Smash Bros. Project M mod sure looks familiar

A new free-to-play "platform fighter" (read: Smash Bros. clone) by members of the Project M mod for Super Smash Bros. Brawl -- the mod that aimed to make the game more like Melee because the competitive community seems to like that game better -- has finally been revealed. 

Boy, it sure does look like Smash Bros. outside of the character and level textures. From the moves, to the level layouts, to the bubbles appearing around characters when blocking. Everything here seems awfully familiar. This begs the question: Why not just play Super Smash Bros. Melee instead apart from the difficulty of online play, need for a CRT and other aging hardware? Okay, so there are a few reasons, but is that enough to tempt the fan base from Nintendo's popular franchise? 

Currently, the community's reaction seems split down the middle. At the time of writing, the trailer has about as many thumbs down as it does up.

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News:: Geese Howard, GEESE HOWARD is coming to Tekken 7

Producer Katsuhiro Harada, speaking live after the heart-in-mouth Tekken 7 grand finals, has revealed that SNK's Geese Howard will be joining the Tekken roster soon.

Geese is the feared crime boss and fight promoter of South Town, and arch-rival to Fatal Fury hero Terry Bogard. Having recently shaken off his brawling rust in the excellent KOF XIV, Mr. Howard is clearly ready to throwdown with Heihachi and family.

To be fair, his corporate background and love of punching folk would make him an apt successor to run the Mishima Zaibatsu, he'd probably do a better job than Kuma at any rate.

Geese will be arriving to crack some Tekken skulls come Winter.

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News:: Future Trunks looks like a beast in Dragon Ball FighterZ

Although confirmed to join the Dragon Ball FighterZ roster a few weeks back, we haven't seen Future Trunks in action until now. How does he look? Like a friggin' beast. Remember when Future Trunks first debuted in the anime, chopped Frieza to pieces, and it was the coolest thing ever? This trailer feels exactly like that. 

The post Tekken EVO finals announcement also confirmed a closed beta, coming July 26, which will feature nine characters. Meaning we still have two more reveals to go. Who do you think they'll be? I had a few ideas myself. 

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News:: Splatoon 2's first Splatfest crowns ice cream as the best dessert

I may have missed out on the original Splatoon, but I enjoyed seeing Destructoid's people and my friends express their love of the series. As Splatoon 2's first Splatfest comes to an end, the people of the North America and Europe made ice cream the winner of the first debate.

Aside from the results being an official Splatfest law, the idea that it happened during National Ice Cream Day shows that the cake had a field disadvantage. As a lover of frozen dairy desserts, I'm happy with the way how things turned out.

In terms of the score, ice cream ended up with a 76 percent in votes, 51 percent in Solo, and 47 percent in Team. The cake received 24 percent in Votes, 49 percent in Solo, and 53 percent in Team. All in all, both sides put up a good fight for their cause since both sides were tied in the actual matches.

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News:: The Adaptation: Pokemon cards for pornography (NSFW)

_{[DaddyZ takes us on a perverted journey through the eyes of his nine-year-old self as he falls in and out of love with everyone’s favorite pocket monsters!  -  DeadMoon]}

Pokémon cards made me a man. I don't mean to overstate this, but the card adaptation of the game formed me into a grizzled nine-year-old boy with a hunger for titties. The government, newscasters, and grandmothers who live in constant states of agitation and panic were always right. Video games corrupt the youth. They're a dangerous influence. They turn us into maniacs and degenerates.

And it all starts with Pokémon.

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News:: Ye old video game oddities & opinions of yesteryear

[You know what's even better than making bold predictions and talking shit about future occurrences? Looking back on them twenty years later to make fun of them! That's exactly what 16-Bit Blast Processing does with this doozy of a blog. Join him as he regales of us tales of doomed consoles, wrong opinions, and creepy love letters to fictional characters in this latest offering from the Community Blogs. "But Wes, how can I get featured on the Front Page?" you may be asking yourself. Easy - write a cool blog! - Wes]

Today I'll be sharing with you all oddities and spicy opinions from yesteryear! From angry rants on Usenet, bold predictions on 4chan, to bizarre letters to EGM! Let's put on our internet archaeology hats and dig deep!

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News:: BlazBlue Crosstag Battle combines BlazBlue, Persona 4 Arena, and RWBY

Arc System Works is just pouring salt in all sorts of wounds right now. Not only do they have Dragon Ball FighterZ on the horizon, they've also got their own dream crossover in the works. BlazBlue Crosstag Battle, which was announced right after the BlazBlue: Central Fiction EVO finals, is a 2-on-2 fighter featuring characters from BlazBlue: Central Fiction, Persona 4 Arena, Under Night In-Birth, and...RWBY?

I didn't see this coming at all, and I'm sure it's going to make a lot of fighting game fans happy. I know RWBY fans have been wanting a fighting game for awhile, so this seems like the perfect place to slip one in.

BlazBlue Crosstag Battle releases sometime next year. We'll update you with more info as it arrives. 

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News:: Skullomania is back in Arika's new fighter, which is releasing next year

Arika's April Fool's project, which came out of absolutely nowhere, is now confirmed a real fighter and is releasing next year. It'll have a simultaneous release in North America, Europe, and Japan (which is amazing) for PlayStation 4. 

The most exciting thing? Skullomania and Darunmister from the Street Fighter EX series will be joining the already announced characters. There'll be a beta toward the end of 2017, too. 

This project still looks to be in the early stages (and it doesn't even have a title!), but I'm crazy excited. 

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News:: What's one lesson you wish developers and publishers would learn?

Video gaming as an industry has been around for a few decades now. It’s older than I am, probably older than anyone who will read this. For 40+ years we’ve been gaming, and in that time I’ve seen, and probably you’ve seen, the same mistakes and errors repeated again and again. I’m not talking about bugs, bugs are a part of development. I’m talking about the problematic pillars of a game, those fundamentally flawed design choices that find their way into final products.

Last month was E3 and during that week the world got hyped to hell over all the new games seeing release over the next year. In the trailers and demos they look spectacular, but we all know most of them will probably fall short of their true potential because of some odd decision that was made too early in development to weed out.

While playing through Tokyo Xanadu for my review, I couldn’t help but notice how at-the-ready every NPC in the game was to tell me their life story. I get the reasoning behind that. This is a 50-hour game and these people need to say something, but it’s always one of those game tropes I have to suspend reality to get behind. I work in a big city and I can tell you right now ain’t nobody gonna tell a motherfucking stranger like me all their hopes and fears if I stop them on the street. I understand video games aren’t supposed to be completely realistic, but I also believe not every NPC in a game has to have a purpose or a personality. Sometimes, they’re just there to be props, to make a city or town seem as though they're brimming with life.

This is what was on my mind when I thought up this week’s Destructoid Discusses topic. Everyone on this site has played a game or two in their life and we all have opinions on how things are done, designs that are copied and driven into the ground. So I wanted to know what our staff members would want to tell a developer or publisher – or all developers and publishers – if they had the opportunity to. This isn’t to say we know better than the people who make the products we love, but I just think this is an opportunity to civilly discuss game design and marketing/promotional choices.

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News:: The frantic swordfighting of 'Nidhogg 2' arrives on August 15th

If you're a fan of in-person two-player games, there's a good chance you've heard of Nidhogg. Its frenetic swordfighting is easy to pick up, difficult to master and oozing with Atari 2600-style visual charm. There's only been so much you could do with its handful of levels and single-weapon gameplay, though, so it's a good thing that a sequel is right around the corner. Messhof has revealed that Nidhogg 2 will reach the PS4, Mac and PC on August 15th, with PS4 pre-orders starting on July 18th. The title preserves the core mechanics -- you're still trying to slash through (or around) an opponent and make it to a screen on the far end of the map -- but a lot has changed in the 3 years since the original.

Source: PlayStation Blog

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News:: Darkstalkers' Jedah confirmed for Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite

Sending off Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3's final year at the Evolution Championship Series was a Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite exhibition match featuring two new characters. On the Marvel side is Gamora, who we've only seen in trailers, and from Capcom? Jedah from the Darkstalkers series.

Not only do these picks make a certain roster leak less salty (as the exhibition also features the Monster Hunter/Black Panther stage from the E3 build), they're actually good examples of where Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite could've gone if it had a little more new blood. 

Although it's only a brief look, Jedah seems to move like his Darkstalkers iteration with a spinning super and scythe attacks. Gamora, surprisingly, looks to be the more interesting of the two with sword attacks that can be both short and medium range, and a laser pistol for a keep away game. Hopefully an official trailer showing them off fully pops up soon. 

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News:: PREPARE TO FRIENDSHIP: Dtoid's Master Gaming Contact List

_{[Destructoid's Master Gaming List is now one year old! I would never have thought that I'd still be adding names after all this time. Thank you, everyone, for making this arbitrary experiment such a lasting success. I'll keep updating the list for as long as people want me to. -Panda]}

Good morning/afteroon/tomorrow, my friends/robots/Gardevoir

It has been made aware to me that, just perhaps, you all enjoy video games. It might even be said that you... like to game with others? Now now, don't be that way, I don't mean to lump you into some sort of box. You're all just such lovely folks, it pains me to watch you, struggling in vain to connect with each other, striving to engage in...

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News:: Kingdom Hearts III director says a Switch version is possible

Kingdom Hearts III director, Tetsuya Nomura says that a Nintendo Switch version of the title along with Xbox One versions of both collections and Kingdom Hearts HD II.8 Final Chapter Prologue are possible in the future, once versions of Kingdom Hearts III that are currently in development are complete. 

Nomura spoke with IGN at the D23 expo, telling them he isn't ruling out the possibility of Kingdom Hearts III coming to the Switch, but wants his team to focus on completing the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions first.

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News:: Early Access Review: Fire Pro Wrestling World

In Steam Workshop there are, as of this writing, 3,538 characters available for Spike Chunsoft's Fire Pro Wrestling World. It has been available on Early Access for four days.

This isn't surprising. The Fire Pro community have always been a dedicated bunch. You have to be when your favourite games are in Japanese text, and downloading new wrestlers requires tedious use of hacks, USB sticks, FAQs, and Max Drive converters. Now, with Fire Pro making its PC debut, those long-suffering hardcore fans just have to click a button or two to have thousands of custom wrestlers ready to rumble.

This is just the tip of what makes the long-awaited Fire Pro W the holy grail to its audience.

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News:: Watch out, Splatoon 2 may punish excessive disconnecting

Now that I own a Nintendo Switch (I literally JUST cracked my screen protector putting it into the dock), I'm as excited as the next guy to try out Splatoon 2. That said, new developments have me a little bit worried, given my comparatively slow, crappy internet service. 

Various reports have surfaced noting that the game will, upon detection of repeated disconnecting, pop up warnings telling players who might be ragequitting to knock it off. This all well and good in theory, but it could put players with unreliable connections at risk of an undeserved temporary ban from play. Hopefully, Nintendo's systems will be able to effectively discern bad sportsmanship (sports-squid-ship?) from mere internet troubles by the time the game goes live.

omg http://pic.twitter.com/IwBvToe89T

— Zy (@hypwnotic) July 15, 2017

@hypwnotic [Twitter]

 

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News:: See the 'true ending' to Kamen Rider Ex-Aid on PS VR today

Japan's tokusatsu superhero shows are a must-watch for anyone interested in the antics of trained professionals smacking each other around while wearing elaborate plastic-and-spandex getups. That much is a given, but if Kamen Rider has anything to say about it, the target demographic will be expanded to PlayStation VR owners as well. 

Toei, the production company behind both Kamen Rider and Super Sentai, has just released Kamen Rider Ex-Aid: True Ending, a free 360 video production teasing the new Kamen Rider Ex-Aid feature film, which opens in Japanese theaters this August. VR is especially relevant to Ex-Aid, as this particular installment of the Kamen Rider franchise runs on a unifying retro game motif. The hero and his foes derive their appearances and powers from old video games. Ex-Aid's default appearance is based on "Mighty Action X" a 2D platformer not unlike Mega Man. Sal had more to say about the first few episodes here. VR gaming itself may not be very "retro", but its advent will be informing the plot of the True Ending film.

PS VR owners with a Japanese PSN account can pop onto the PSN store to grab the film right now, if they're into it. I find it slightly amusing that they're choosing to release this promo as a VR-exclusive, considering that while Kamen Rider's typical audience is pre-tween, most VR tech warns against allowing children below 13 years of age to use it.

Kamen Rider Ex-Aid: True Ending free PlayStation VR movie now available in Japan [Gematsu]

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News:: Hit indie FMV game 'Her Story' gets a spiritual sequel

Did you enjoy Her Story, the indie title that revived the use of full-motion video in games? You're not alone: Sam Barlow's game sold over 100,000 copies, a lot for a small-budget release, and won its share of acclaim, including multiple awards. And apparently, that's enough to help fuel a sequel. Barlow and Annapurna Interactive (the publishers of What Remains of Edith Finch) are producing Telling Lies, a "spiritual follow-up" to Her Story. While they're tight-lipped as to the narrative, the new game will rely on video to unfurl a plot "in the vein of a political thriller" with three or four key characters. Barlow likens it to a cross between Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation and Steve McQueen's Shame -- it'll look at the "intersection of government, society and individuals."

Source: Variety

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