Overcooked, the game from publisher Team17 and developer Ghost Town Games that has players chaotically cooking recipes and serving dishes is now available for Nintendo Switch. The game has been well received with nominations for multiple Independent Games Festival awards earlier this year and two BAFTA award wins.
Source: Nintendo
Bandai Namco is bringing the Dark Souls series' OSTs together with a limited-edition vinyl set.
The Age of Fire arrives to your turntable this Fall with an exclusive 9-vinyl collector box DARK SOULS, THE VINYL TRILOGY! (EMEA Only) http://pic.twitter.com/xSlBmSUCkb
— Dark Souls (@DarkSoulsGame) July 27, 2017
What a lovely collector's item. Unfortunately, there's only going to be 2,000 copies. And the set is limited to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (and Australia) "for logistic reasons." We also don't know how much it'll cost (probably a lot) or when it'll be available (it's just "fall 2017" for now).
For its part, Namco did say that it "hope[s]" to do a run for other regions.
Dark Souls [Twitter]
Off the top of my head (i.e. without Googling it), I can't think of any major China-made video games despite being the largest video game market on Earth. I keep thinking it's only a matter of time before giants like Tencent, NetEase, and Changyou come out with regular AAA games, but then again why make those sorts of games when they're making bank on mobile and browser games.
Well, looks like we might get at least one, as Oasis Games is teaming up with October Media and Sony Interactive Entertainment to develop a game based on the hit 2015 animated film Monkey King: Hero is Back. The film, like the Jackie Chan movie I always get it mixed up with, Forbidden Kingdom, is based on the 16th century Ming Dynasty classic Journey to the West.
IT is finally here. Or the remake of it is finally here. Stephen King's classic horror story already had a TV version that made us all insanely afraid of clowns (or at least Tim Curry dressed up as a clown), but now we get to be scared of them all over again. Along with creepy children, old houses and red balloons. Seriously, IT just basically makes everything scary, and with Andrés Muschietti directing we at least know we'll get something as atmospheric as Mama, and hopefully a bit more consistent.
Look, I'm a jaded old film critic who has had to sit through so many movie trailers almost nothing gets to me anymore, but damn, did I get goosebumps once the "you'll float too" stuff started. I haven't read the book in years, but I was getting flashbacks to teenage me being petrified late at night. That's just some creepy shit. Hopefully this isn't one of those cases where a well cut trailer leads to a lackluster movie.
Hello my little nuts and bolts! It is I, FakePlasticTree, back again to bring you this week's highlight of noteworthy comments! You might have taken note of Comments of the Week being absent last week. We've been having some management issues, and we knew this could happen. We were all prepared for it, but I shall ride this ship straight into a black hole and snatch the only escape pod left for myself before I let it die. We are all still going strong! And to prove it, here's this week's treasures
Let's get to it!
In time for Splatoon's release, GameStop has once again crafted a few "special" GameStop-exclusive Nintendo Switch bundles.
So yes, if you're familiar with GameStop's tried-and-true method, they are bundling in games, accessories, and other "goodies" to an in-demand product. Earlier this week, GameStop had four $399.99 Nintendo Switch bundles available for pre-order online (with delivery to store an option) - as of writing, these bundle counts have ballooned to five offerings, with three at $359.99 and two at $399.99.
Before you scoff at these overpriced bundles, they are quite good if you factor in how rare a Switch can still be in select regions across the country. If you want to secure a Nintendo Switch console this summer and you want to avoid scalper pricing, GameStop's $360 and $400 bundle looks to be the surefire way to go.
Here's what's included in each of the bundles mentioned above:
At first, we thought the bundle with the Monopoly Gamer board game was ridiculous but turns out this is a hard-to-find item that is often sold for over its list price elsewhere online. Conversely, the Zelda Clue board game can be found on sale for $10 off list price... so if you have to choose between these two board game infused bundles, we'll go with the Monopoly Gamer CE bundled one.
All of the bundles listed above will be shipping by August 1 and depending on where you live, should arrive in time for some Switch action as early as next week. No expiration date exists for these bundles, but we assume supplies are limited based on what we've seen in the past. If you want a Switch and you still can't find it at your local retailer, this seems like the best bet.
Game deals from Dealzon. Sales help support Destructoid.
For Honor hasn't been the biggest hit for Ubisoft. While the game launched to some decent reception and sales, the game has been in rapid decline ever since. The last we heard about it, For Honor lost around 90-95% of its player base on PC, which basically means close to no one is still playing this.
So how is Ubisoft going to fix this problem? With a host of new features, maps and modes to entice people back onto the battlefield. The most significant of these scheduled updates is the implementation of dedicated servers, something that has been desired since the open beta for the game commenced earlier this year. That is, sadly, further down the line then the rest of the updates coming.
Doomfist is here. Overwatch's 25th character went live across PC and consoles today, finally making the game's most famed, punch-drunk villain playable for everyone. Doomfist is a damage-dealing offense character with a transhumanist twist: He has a cybernetic arm that deals incredible punching power, plus a small hand cannon that fires in bursts of four, no manual reload required.
Fans have been waiting for Doomfist to hit Overwatch since the game's announcement video, which teased him as the most war-hungry menace the world had ever seen. Now that he's out in the wild, we (finally) went hands-on with Doomfist on Facebook Live. Here are our initial thoughts:
It's no secret that including the remastered version of the first Call of Duty: Modern Warfare helped sell copies of the latest in the series, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Unfortunately, you could only get the revival in an $80 bundle with the new game -- until Activision bowed to demand and planned a standalone version of the remastered 2007 classic, which came out exclusively for PS4 last month. After a grace period, the game is now out on Steam, and Xbox One for $40.
Source: Windows Central, Steam
The Destiny 2 beta on consoles was nice enough, but if you're anything like me, you're really just waiting for that PC beta to hurry up and get here. I got a taste of the PC version back at E3 and it was so smooth that I've actually struggled to re-adjust to the look and feel of the game on PlayStation 4.
"All told, this was the biggest Bungie Beta ever, and we're not even done running eager test subjects through the obstacle course," noted the studio. "We learned a lot about how we can improve the launch of Destiny 2 – on consoles, at least. There will come a time for a public analysis of our findings. Before we dare take a victory lap or share statistics for how many shots were fired in the new version of Control, we have preparations to make for the final phase of pre-launch sparring."
The public PC beta will run from August 29 through August 31, and early access kicks off a day earlier for folks who pre-order Destiny 2. As for the system specs (at least for the beta), look no further:
Recommended Spec
CPU
Intel - Core i5-2400
AMD - Ryzen R5 1600X
GPU
Nvidia - GeForce GTX 970
AMD - Radeon R9 390
RAM
8GB
Minimum Spec
CPU
Intel - Core i3-3250
AMD - FX-4350
GPU
Nvidia - GeForce GTX 660 2GB
AMD - Radeon HD 7850 2GB
RAM
6GB
If you're upgrading, here is hardware that's available today and runs the game well:
Recommended
CPU - Intel Core i5-7400
GPU - Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
Minimum
CPU - Intel Pentium G4560
GPU - Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 2GB
Bungie's Event Machine
CPU – Intel i7-7700k
GPU – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080Ti 11GB
I'm hopeful the beta will be extended beyond August 31. That's not much time!
This Week At Bungie – 07/27/2017 [Bungie]
Hello comrades. Hopefully you've already listened to the latest show, Podtoid 376: Ugly Baby Poo Colored Balls, where we filled the video games hole in our life that is the month of July with talk of ugly baby beer, the tennis bourgeoisie, yelling at people online, and the inappropriate pictures of oversized animal testicles I text Brett in the middle of the night. All fun stuff.
And we're at it again today. I can finally talk about Wolfenstein II, but undoubtedly we will want to kill some time answering all your most pressing questions. Drop them in the comments or write in to podtoid[at]destructoid.com.
Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles is a game that I've been highly interested in ever since it was first announced. It looked like something that was right up my alley, given its utterly adorable art style and the fact that it quite clearly took liberal cues from franchises such as The Legend of Zelda and Harvest Moon.
When I got a chance to preview the game back in May, I noted that while my initial impressions were highly positive, I couldn't help but wonder how it'd fare in the long-run. Now that I've had plenty of time with the finished retail version of the game, I'm pleased to say that I'm still just as fond of it as I was back then.
The Night Trap re-release is going to be one of those late-night, boozed-up impulse purchases, I just know it. I knew it as soon as I saw the trailers for 25th Anniversary Edition. It's due out digitally for PlayStation 4 and Steam on August 15, with an Xbox One version arriving a little later.
It's all so wonderfully stupid. I love it! Well... maybe not love, but like. Definitely like.
For the full nostalgic effect, Limited Run Games is putting out physical copies of Night Trap, and they'll be available slightly ahead of the digital release. Both the $30 standard edition and the $55 collector's edition with a cassette tape and S.C.A.T. patch are going on sale at 10:00am Eastern on August 11.
As for the deleted scenes, Screaming Villains has a preview of that stuff right here.
Limited Run Games [Twitter]
Monster Hunter is a series that has always prided itself on providing different options for players. You never have to stick to one weapon and there really isn't a penalty for trying out things on the fly. The game eschews traditional leveling systems by having you upgrade equipment rather than stats.
So naturally, Monster Hunter: World, the multi-platform hit from E3, has a ton of options for you to seek the hunt with. 14 choices, to be exact. Here is a trailer for each weapon, because why not have 14 trailers instead of one? You can choose which ones to watch, or watch them all!
It's another big day for Overwatch as Doomfist finally joins the live game. Blizzard has an update out now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One that introduces the offense hero and tweaks existing characters.
If you've kept up with Overwatch chatter these past few weeks, a good portion of today's patch notes will seem familiar. Notably, Loot Boxes won't give out as many duplicates as before and the highlight system is more robust, allowing you to create your own 12-second clips at the press of a button.
A few other nuggets stood out to me: Blizzard has reduced Reaper's Shadow Step sound effect and VO distance by 50%, Zarya's Graviton Surge disables mobility on all affected heroes (where ya going, Mercy?), and Roadhog is no longer selectable in Limited 1v1 matches. We're free!
Now, if I can just tear myself away from Splatoon 2...
Hopefully you are already following my quest to eat Brett out of house and home by making him spend a maximum of $3 per day in Rocket League microtransactions. The first video is up here. We went 2-1. How did we do this time!? Find out on the next Red Rocket League. God I still love that name.
I'm a little too mean to Brett in this one. Sorry, Brett! I guess this is what people talk about when they talk about "toxic" communities. What a save! What a save! What a save!
If you haven't yet, make sure to subscribe on YouTube to the new Dtoid Fight! channel for more Rocket League and Battlegrounds shenanigans, for the time being, and a whole lot of other stuff as we grow. You can also follow on Twitter to stay apprised.
Last month, a Senate committee created a proposal to allow autonomous vehicles onto the roads under specific safety and "tech neutral" requirements. Now that the bill has hit House of Representatives, the bipartisan Energy and Commerce Committee voted to send it along to the full chamber. The Safely Ensuring Lives Future Deployment and Research In Vehicle Evolution Act, or SELF DRIVE, is aimed at allowing companies like Uber and Google to test up to 100,000 autonomous vehicles across the country. While we're far from an actual bill, this seems like good forward movement.
Via: ReCode
Source: US House of Representatives
Although Xbox Game Pass is a relatively new service (only two months old at this point), it has already fallen into a comfortable cadence. Much like its Games with Gold kin, we get an announcement toward the end of the month about the program's plans for when the calendar flips.
August is doing its best impression of July, at least with regard to quantity. Just like last month, Xbox Game Pass will add seven more titles for August. They are: Dead Rising 3, Dirt Rally, Limbo, Metal Slug XX, Pharaonic, So Many Me, and Ultraton. Of those, Dead Rising 3 is probably the standout, especially considering most folks have already played Limbo by now. Don't sleep on So Many Me, though.
Microsoft is in the fortuitous position of only growing Xbox Game Pass right now, so the service will only get bigger in the coming months. By my count, this latest round brings the tally up to 126 games. Not until November will any games disappear from the library. (And, when that happens, Microsoft told us that subscribers will get a heads-up a few weeks in advance.) There's time to savor the additions without worrying about finishing something that's soon getting pulled.
Xbox Game Pass: Dead Rising 3, Limbo, DiRT Rally and More Available August 1 [Xbox Wire]
As summer begins, it's time for all the kids to stay in doors and shoot gunk all over virtual battlefields. Kids fortunate enough to have been able to obtain a Switch and Splatoon 2 that is, as there continues to be more demand than Nintendo can supply.
Despite raffles, the launch was successful enough to cause the eShop to temporarily go down. Splatoon 2 Nintendo Switch bundles likely make up a large portion of the 98,000 weekly console sales which is more than triple its weekly average of 23,000 - 30,000. Splatoon 2 week helped push the Switch to over 4.7 lifetime sales.
Some video game premises can grab my attention in just a few simple words.
As a mythological action-adventure title, Theseus is one such example. That's all I needed, but maybe you need more to go on. How's this? It's a game about working your way toward the heart of a decrepit labyrinth and facing hellish spider creatures and a particularly fearsome Minotaur along the way.
Blizzard has revealed the full kit for Garrosh Hellscream, the newest World of Warcraft Warrior to enter Heroes of the Storm's Nexus.
Garrosh is a full-on damage sponge (which the game needed more of), backed by his trait that gives him more armor the lower his health pool is. He's going to have some hard counters with percent-damage spells, but he'll need to be bursted down and caught as a general rule, given his trait and his low mobility.
I'm not big on his animations (nothing really screams "Garrosh" to me), but his abilities look really fun in any context. I feel like there's going to be endless opportunities for flashy plays with his flip power, especially if he takes the flip ally talent. At that point he'll be a formidable walking literal tank with some support abilities to boot.
We'll see when he hits PTR soon enough.
Quality arcade control manufacturers HORI have announced a new controller for the Nintendo Switch, designed for the platform's upcoming port of Namco Bandai's Pokken Tournament.
The "Pokken Tournament DX Pro Pad Wired Controller" is directly based on the design used for the Pokken arcade. This is an aesthetic variant on the WiiU version of the pad, which released for the game last year. Whilst it is black and features the new logo, it is functionally the same device.
It should be noted that the WiiU Pokken pad will be compatible with the Switch port of the game, and also that either version of the controller "may not function correctly" with other games. Hopefully this is not the case, considering the gathering library of classic fighters on Nintendo's new baby.
The Pokken Tournament DX Pro Pad is available to pre-order now, priced at $25. The controller, along with the game itself, will release September 22.
Pokken Tournament DX Pro Pad [Amazon]
You'll be playing as more than just the broken-schmeckled B.J. Blazkowicz in Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. That's because the game's three expansions will feature a different protagonist fighting for America by punching and murdering the Nazis standing in their way.
Source: Bethesda
Hot off the heels of the Nendoroid for the annoying Morgana comes a figma of Joker, the cool protagonist of Persona 5. The fearless leader is the first character from Persona 5 to be converted to figma form, and he's here to steal your shelf space along with your heart.
However, the limitations of the included Morgana accessory prevent the figma from achieving greatness.
Tomodachi Life is one of the strangest games to come out of Nintendo and, when it launched, it became a lightning rod for stupid controversy over the supposed removal of same-sex relationships from the game. A misunderstanding as to what was actually happening led to plenty of misinformed commentators, this thing from Ellen, this thing from John Oliver, and a truly heartfelt petition from one fan simply asking for equality.
Nintendo's response to the petition was well received, and the company said if it were to create another entry in the Tomodachi Life franchise, it would "strive to design a game-play experience from the ground up that is more inclusive, and better represents all players." Last year, we got our first big Nintendo game to include gay characters and gay relationship options in Fire Emblem Fates, though it was limited in who you could fall in love with and which version of the game they would be available in. Also, Niles sucked.
Going through Miitopia over the last three weeks, I had this controversy in mind. If you've played the demo, you know it has a relationship aspect where you can level up bonds between Miis. It all starts out innocent enough, with relationship labels like "acquainted" and "likes a little bit," but as they grow closer, the wording becomes more intimate. I wondered how far and how deep these relationships would get, finding my answer on YouTube.
It's a big day for the 3DS, and a port kind of day for the Switch. Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star is out for the latter, as well as Qbics Paint, Ultra Hyperball, Overcooked! Special Edition, Namco Museum, and NeoGeo: Super Sidekicks. Air Zonk, Cubeshift, Victory Run, and Ninja Spirit are out on Wii U.
As for the 3DS, Hey! Pikmin and Miitopia headline and we have reviews for both, but there's also Kid Tripp and Swipe to peruse through.
Folks are finding all sorts of obscure ways to break Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Thankfully it's mostly in ways that involve manipulating loading screens or save files (remember that old school Link's Awakening teleport bug?) so you won't come across it naturally, but this is what happens when millions of people have access to your game.
This new one involves getting out of the initial area without the Sheikah Slate. To initiate the glitch you'll save a new file at the start of the game, then load an old one. Head to a cliff, and pause the game as soon as you drop from any ledge (including an ice block) -- then reload the first save and you'll "die," forcing Link outside of the intro shrine.
Congrats! You're now completely naked in the world, with no ability to teleport, use the Hyrule Compendium, or scout items with the sensor. You can however activate Shrines.
