News:: Playable boss mode coming to Gundam Versus, witness the debut trailer for Phantom Gundam

When we last reported on the most recent news for Gundam Versus, we were going off of early reports about what Bandai Namco revealed as a recent tournament. As it turns out, a bit more was announced at the tournament, although it didn't necessarily cater to the interest of those present. Specifically, a brand new mode for the game, as well as the debut trailer for the previously announced Phantom Gundam.

You can catch the trailer in the upload of the tournament below, at the 55:28 mark.

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News:: Zeiss VR One Connect puts PC games on mobile VR headsets

PC-powered VR gaming requires a minimum $500 investment just for the headset, but Zeiss and Steam have introduced a cheaper way to do it. The Zeiss VR One Connect runs SteamVR games powered by a PC, but sends a pre-rendered display signal to a smartphone installed in a mobile VR headset. You can then game using a pair of Zeiss wireless controllers, connected by Bluetooth to your iOS or Android smartphone with a screen between 4.7 and 5.5 inches.

Source: Zeiss (1), (2)

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News:: The Homestuck Adventure Game Hiveswap is finally being released

The Kickstarter that launched for Hiveswap back in 2012 was as popular as the webcomic it's based on. Homestuck creator Andrew Hussie raised an astounding $2.5 million to turn everybody's favorite comic about a computer game into an actual computer game.

Hiveswap was originally a joint project between Hussie and The Odd Gentlemen, but the latter left to focus on a new King's Quest game, and Hussie's production company What Pumpkin doubled as a game studio to take over its development. It was initially slated for a 2014 release, but as you can imagine, switching hands caused some delays. Fast forward a few years with few updates, and here we are with a Homestuck game on the horizon and monsters everywhere!

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News:: XCOM 2: War of the Chosen release day deals roundup

XCOM 2's expansion War of the Chosen is now released. If all the reviews thus far have you nodding your head in approval, we've rounded up the various deals available online for the Steam copy of the game. If you were hoping for deep eye-popping discounts, you may be a bit disappointed as release-week deals on XCOM 2: War of the Chosen have been rather timid. Having said that, at the very least you will have your pick of retailer.

As of writing, five digital retailers are offering discounts from 12% to 16%. If you were hoping for 20% or more, those discounts have disappeared into the void along with the expansion's pre-order status.

XCOM 2: War of the Chosen Release Week Deals

• Green Man Gaming (Steam) — $33.99  (list price $40)
• Bundle Stars (Steam) — $33.99  (list price $40) <- US/CA only
• GamersGate (Steam) — $33.75  (list price $40)
• DLGamer (Steam) — $35.19  (list price $40)
• GamesPlanet (Steam) — £29.74  (list price £35) <- UK/EU only

User reviews are very positive on Steam, with 78% in the thumbs up camp. 

Big fat warning note: many of the incoming negative reviews are from Mac/Linux gamers who have a different release date later this September (similar to console gamers who aren't getting the game until September 12). These are of course reasonable negative reviews in our opinion, given Firaxis and Feral Interactive haven't exactly done a good job communicating this on the Steam page.

Game deals from Dealzon. Sales help support Destructoid.

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News:: PC players can try the next 'Overwatch' map early

Hot on the heels of the deathmatch modes added to the main game today, Overwatch is allowing players to try out the game's next map, Junkertown, on the PTR servers. While only PC owners get to play on the test servers, they'll get some time to explore the hero shooter's payload map before it hits the game proper.

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News:: Review: Sparc

I feel like I've typed the phrase "VR has potential" a million times, but it's true.

When I'm presented with perfect conditions in a perfect setting, where two people can have VR headsets and engage in a multiplayer sporting event, VR is unlike anything I've ever experienced. On my own, I get a very similar feeling of awe, but I've talked at length before of the isolating tendencies of VR -- it's a tough thing to balance when both players need tons of space, and roughly twice the budget of a normal gaming setup.

Sparc doesn't solve any of those problems, but it doesn't have to.

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News:: These Chinese posters for Spider-Man: Homecoming are absolutely delightful

Spider-Man: Homecoming was a critical hit and has performed quite well at the box office. As of this writing, the movie has earned more than $737 million worldwide. The latest MCU entry is opening up in China soon, where it will surely make more ducats. (I don't know how many yuan is in a ducat.)

Several Chinese posters for Spider-Man: Homecoming have surfaced online, and they are delightful. They feature your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man in various Chinese locales. It's like what Spidey did on his summer vacation abroad. There he is hanging out by the Great Wall of China. Oh, and there he is daintily touching the point of the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai. And with pandas. And on horseback? And wearing a rice hat on a fishing boat in the middle of nowhere?

Legit, guys: These are goofy and so much fun, and arguably better than the American posters for Spider-Man: Homecoming. Or, you know, maybe just one of them. Check out all of the posters in the gallery.

If memory serves, the last time Spider-Man was in China (well, Hong Kong, not mainland China) was in an episode of the 1979 Spider-Man TV show titled "The Chinese Web." You can check out a clip of that below. (The action starts at 1:07.) Spider-Man: Homecoming hits Chinese theaters on September 8.

Spider-Man: Homecoming's Chinese Posters Are... Interesting [Small Screen]

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News:: Let's all laugh at this truly awful GameStop commercial for Destiny 2

Destiny 2 has the attention of most of the video game industry right now. The console release is a mere week away. The PC beta shows signs that the port isn't lacking (and that itself is important and semi-surprising news). Everything's shaping up for one of the biggest titles of 2017.

There's a bit of a botch job in the last-minute pre-order push, though. GameStop released a 30-second commercial (embedded above) and it is not being well-received. The weird and out-of-place polygonal animation, the "You don't know how to count" punchline that it's eventually working toward -- it adds up to a lame effort that finds a way to kind of overshadow the game it's promoting.

The audience has noticed too. Although the video doesn't have all that many views, it's currently sitting at 91% disliked. It's not going well, even though the actual pre-order bonus is perfectly okay as far as pre-order bonuses go. Producing ads is difficult for many people.

(Thanks for the tip, mr_raccoon!)

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News:: Game Boy-style platformer Save me Mr Tako coming to Switch and Steam

Nicalis has another retro-style platformer coming up for Nintendo Switch (and also PC), but this one has an aesthetic you don't see quite so often. It's made to look, sound, and play like a Game Boy title.

Save me Mr Tako: Tasukete Tako-San is a mouthful. It's also the story of a "pacifist octopus" who, after saving a woman from drowning, is blessed the ability to survive out of water. He can spit ink to turn enemies into platforms and wear special hats that grant new abilities. Looks cute all around.

The game is planned for PC and Switch in Q4 2017 from designer Christophe Galati.

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News:: Target cancels Canadian SNES Classic pre-orders

Just what everyone wants, another installment in the ever-unfolding debacle that is the SNES Classic rollout. While rumored on Reddit earlier this week that Canadian SNES Classic pre-orders would be cancelled if details about the order were changed, today multiple customers received cancellations on their pre-orders citing that the item was not allowed to be sold due to customs. This came as a surprise to most as the item was being sold through BorderFree, a service that allows international customers to order through US retailers that are not in their country.

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News:: Desert map for PUBG will be 8x8 km in size

In an interview with Eurogamer at this year's Gamescom, the player that isn't known (Brendan Greene) himself confirmed that the size of the upcoming desert map will be 8x8 km in size. The map was originally announced to be 4 x4 km in size, for context.

But in the interview Greene gave an update regarding that and had this to say: "For 100 players an 8x8 just makes more sense and it gives more flexibility when we move onto custom games and things like that."

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News:: The Inpatient takes us back to Until Dawn's sanatorium this November

Supermassive Games announced two more PlayStation VR titles back at E3, and even if you follow the platform, you might've missed hearing much about them during the sleepless news cycle.

One is Bravo Team, a cover-based FPS "built for teamwork" that supports online co-op and the good but hard-to-find PS VR Aim controller. It's confirmed for a December 5, 2017 launch.

The other project, The Inpatient, is much more enticing -- especially for Until Dawn fans. Remember that creepy-ass sanatorium with a lot of you-know-whats running around? Welp, we're going back!

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News:: Hit me (with your Podtoid questions)

It's the most wonderful time of the week. Podtoid's recording tonight, baby. That means Steven, Brett, and I will be gathered around our microphones to talk about all the stupid, silly, and weird things that cross our minds. We'll probably chat about video games, too.

And as always, we're looking to answer some of your questions. What's on your mind? Curious about conspiracy theories? Keen to know our opinions on ketchup? No question is too off limits for the daring Podtoid cast members. Just ask away in the comment section or email us at podtoid@destructoid.com and we'll whittle away at the best of the bunch.

If you happened to miss the most recent episode of Podtoid, I suggest you catch up. We had a four-way with Darren, and it was an absolute blast.

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News:: Luigi, a Real Cool Dude, dabs now

If there's one thing I know about Luigi, it's that he's a man of the people. He's one of us. Just a normal dude who's stuck in his brother's short, rotund shadow.

But in Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, Luigi finally has a chance to step into the limelight for the first time since Nintendo's Year of Luigi in 2013.

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News:: inFamous: Second Son, Child of Light rumored for PS Plus

Games destined for PlayStation Plus sometimes make themselves known ahead of schedule, whether it's through a tweet, a video, or in this case, a Facebook advertisement. As spotted by HotUKDeals, it appears as if inFamous: Second Son and Child of Light are on the docket for September.

These certainly seem like games that'd make the rounds for PS Plus subscribers.

Second Son was my first real attempt at playing the series (despite getting an inFamous pack-in with my late-to-the-party PS3 console purchase), and while I never finished it, I liked zipping around Seattle. Seattle's good. As for Child of Light, never got around to it! Here's my chance.

inFAMOUS Second Son and Child of Light. Free with PlayStation Plus September 2017 [HotUKDeals via NeoGAF]

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News:: Deathmatch is live in Overwatch with hero changes

Deathmatch has come to Overwatch. With today's update, you'll be able to find free-for-all and Team Deathmatch in the Arcade along with a new map, Château Guillard, designed just for Deathmatch.

In Deathmatch, eight players go head-to-head until one player scores 20 points. Players will earn 1 point whenever they land the final blow on an opponent and will lose 1 point whenever they die to environmental damage (ex: falling off a cliff) or self-inflicted damage. This scoring will be tracked in a brand-new scoreboard. The first player to 20 points wins!

In Team Deathmatch, two teams of four players face off until one team scores 30 points. Players will earn 1 point for their team whenever they land the final blow on an opponent and will lose 1 point for their team whenever they die to environmental damage (ex: falling off a cliff) or self-inflicted damage. If players are resurrected before they respawn, the corresponding point for their death will be deducted from the enemy team’s score. This scoring will be tracked in our default scoreboard. The first team to 30 points wins!

I hope I like these as much as I think I will. Worst case, I'll use them to (hopefully quickly) earn the weekly Arcade loot boxes and then shift back to Overwatch's standard setup.

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News:: Fight zombies on your street with 'Walking Dead' AR mobile game

How long would you last during a zombie apocalypse? Because let's be honest, the chances are you'd be shuffling among the living dead in next to no time, no matter how good your baseball swing. But instead of waiting for the end of all humanity to prove us wrong, you can soon test your mettle against the zombie swarm in almost real life, with augmented reality mobile game The Walking Dead: Our World.

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News:: South Park: The Fractured But Whole escapes censorship in Australia

Australia is known for a lot of things; deadly animals, intense heat, Crocodile Dundee, AC/DC and extreme censorship laws. That last bit has ruined a bunch of game releases in the land down under (just ask our resident Aussie, Dennis). Through the grace of god, the upcoming South Park: The Fractured But Whole will be releasing in Australia completely uncensored.

For those unfamiliar, the first South Park RPG, Stick of Truth, had a couple of scenes cut from the game due to Australian censorship laws. In their place came an image of a crying koala bear and a slightly humorous explanation of what was happening. I suppose if you can't include the scene, you might as well make fun of the powers that demanded you remove it.

Whatever the reason, now everyone can experience South Park's twisted sense of humor in its full glory. I feel like cursing just to cheer. GOD DAMN!

South Park: The Fractured But Whole won't be censored in Australia [PC Gamer]

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News:: GTA Online adds battle royale mode in latest update

It seems Rockstar Games have caught wind of the success of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and added their own take on it in the form of “Motor Wars” in the latest "Smuggler's Run" update for Grand Theft Auto Online (which is available now). This new game mode they've introduced essentially mimics the mechanics of other battle royale games and will most likely continue to secure GTA V's weekly top 10 sales ranks across the world for years to come.

The players are broken up into four teams, parachute out of a plane, and a giant kill box periodically shrinks as the game goes on. Players will be able to find various weapons strewn about, as well as explosives, and weaponized vehicles to spice things up.

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News:: Watch the Twitch Starcade marathon right here

The Shout! Factory Twitch channel has begun its six-day marathon of '80s arcade game show Starcade, featuring hapless contestants competing on the biggest games of the initial arcade boom for some amusingly repetitive prizes.

The Starcade show, which ran from 1982 to 1983, was hosted by the disinterested Mark Richards and then the much-more welcoming Geoff Edwards. It features players, or teams of players, score-attack games such as Mappy, Pole Position, Star Wars and Donkey Kong Jr. with the ultimate aim of winning their very own arcade cab.

It is a bit clunky, but delightfully quaint, featuring a cool neon set, some great (and not-so-great,) games, hilariously mismatched opponents, occasional '80s saltiness, and more metal detector prizes than you can handle. It's definitely worth tuning in for a look at a bygone age, a more innocent time just before the Video Game Crash put everyone out of business.

The Starcade marathon will run until September 3. If you need any more reason to check it out, they sometimes screen MST3K clips between episodes!

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News:: 'Overwatch' Deathmatch modes are live

For over a year since it launched in May 2016, Blizzard's Overwatch only let teams of players compete against each other in completing objectives -- none of that kill-more-than-the-other-team hogwash. Then the studio about-faced early this month when it announced that those Deathmatch modes would really be coming to the hero shooter. Today, both team-based and free-for-all modes go live -- along with a few balance tweaks to some heroes.

Source: Overwatch (Twitter), Overwatch (Patch Notes)

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News:: Ridiculous Fishing receives 64-bit compatibility update

Ridiculous Fishing is one of the few mobile games that I consider to be a “classic.” It takes the simple mechanic of tilting your phone side to side and evolves it in ways that keep the experience continuously charming as hell.

As explained by Jim Crawford recently, iOS games are at particular risk of becoming unplayable in the near future due to compatibility issues on the App Store. Luckily, Ridiculous Fishing just received an update for 64-bit support along with two new speedrun leaderboards.

You may be familiar with the developer, Vlambeer, from their more recent games Nuclear Throne and Luftrausers, but this silly adventure about fishing is what really put them on the map for me. Even though it’s still available on Android devices, it warms my heart to know that others will have the opportunity to experience this thing, in all its glory, for the foreseeable future.

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News:: ‘Until Dawn’ studio has two PSVR games for this year

Thank goodness Sony has finally started to bundle required cameras and controllers with its PlayStation VR hardware, but the system still needs more games to compete with the likes the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. Games like Sparc and Arizona Sunshine are out already, of course, and Skyrim is apparently on its way, but the PlayStation's library still has fewer games than its competitors. Luckily, Supermassive Games is bringing two new titles to the PSVR experience soon, with psychological horror game The Inpatient launching November 21st and team military shooter Bravo Team releasing December 5th.

Source: PlayStation Blog

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News:: What we're using: Qapital, Mighty and the Switch Pro controller

This month's In Real Life focuses on self-improvement: taking your Spotify playlists to the gym minus your phone, getting some app-powered help on your savings and, er, being a better gamer on the Nintendo Switch.

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News:: Chloe Frazer steps up and slaps down Crash Bandicoot in UK Chart usurping

It is done. After nearly two months of tyrannical dominance, Crash Bandicoot has been knocked from the throne he clutched to with his blood-stained claws.

As predicted, despite fending off mid-range releases and even a few heavy-hitters, (such as Nintendo's Splatoon 2), the release of Naughty Dog's Uncharted: The Lost Legacy was a little too much to bear, as Chloe and Nadine have debuted straight into the number one spot. Codemasters' F1 2017 burned into second place, and Crash Bandicoot rests in third, FOR NOW.

It was a very impressive streak for N.Sane Trilogy, which is officially the best-selling single platform release of the year thus far, beating titles such as Yakuza 0 and Horizon: Zero Dawn. Clearly, nostalgia will forever be a tool to rake in the bucks, er, pounds.

In other chart news, Madden 18 launched straight into the top five, whilst Agents of Mayhem has already dropped out of the top ten. The Escapists 2 just missed a spot, debuting at number 12. Nintendo's arena-shooter Splatoon 2 bottomed right out, now sitting at number 17.

U.K. video game sales chart w/e: August 26 2017
(Chart reflects in-store sales only)

1. Uncharted: The Lost Legacy - Sony Entertainment
2. F1 2017 - Codemasters
3. Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy - Activision Blizzard
4. Madden NFL 18 - Electronic Arts
5. Grand Theft Auto V - Take 2
6. Fallout 4 - Bethesda
7. Dishonored 2 - Bethesda
8. Forza Horizon 3 - Microsoft
9. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege - Ubisoft
10. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Edition - Nintendo

U.K. video game charts [GFK Chart-Track]

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News:: Kel'Thuzad was worth the wait for his Heroes of the Storm debut

Kel'Thuzad is a massive part of Warcraft's history. Not even including his two featured WoW raids, Kel'Thuzad set Arthas on his path to become the Lich King, and is one of the original Undead heroic units in Warcraft III.

The wait for him to enter Heroes of the Storm's Nexus has been lengthy, but I'm just glad the team got him right.

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News:: Pokemon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon Veteran Dual Pack coming to U.S.

Nintendo have announced at the Las Vegas Gamestop expo (that's a thing?) that the United States will a see a dual pack of Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, this November on 3DS.

The Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon Veteran Trainer's Dual Pack, previously rumoured in July, will feature both versions of the game, along with a set of 16 art cards and a download code nabbing you 200 Pokeballs. As an added incentive, anyone picking up any editions of Ultra Sun or Moon before Janurary 10 will receive Rockruff as an in-game gift.

Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon Veteran Trainer's Dual Pack launches on Nintendo 3DS November 17, the same day as the game's standard editions, and is priced at $80.

Pokemon Ultra dual pack [Nintendo twitter]

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News:: Gungrave is back from the dead, is getting a PS4 VR game this year

As soon as Trigun ended, I wanted more. Manga-wise we got Trigun Maximum, and eventually the series was host to a movie, but for a more immediate fix, there was Gungrave. 

From the mind of Trigun creator Yasuhiro Nightow, Gungrave dealt with a resurrected killer out for revenge, and was host to two video games and an anime. Both titles were met with a sort of mixed reception, but each had their charms -- now, the modern world is going to be reintroduced to Gungrave with a PSVR game. Oddly enough this is described as an "optimized" version of the original 2002 ediiton, but will expand the narrative past the second game. Nightow and original composer Ysuneo Imahori are involved, and development is being handled by studio Iggymob.

Well, this is a blast from the past! This is most definitely a "reviews first" situation, but I may go in blind just to see how it worked out.

Gungrave VR [4Gamer via Siliconera]

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