News:: Deal: Prey hits new low price on PC with 57% off discount

Nothing to do this Labor Day weekend? How about a little horror FPS exploration gaming action? For those that didn't bother picking Prey up during the Summer Sale price slash of 50% off to $29.99 - by ignoring the hype you have saved an additional 7% off, making you the true winner in the PC Master Race bargain hunting award - if there was such thing.

For this weekend digital retailer Green Man Gaming is slashing Arkane Studio's Prey by 57% off to $25.57. Why 57% instead of 60%? Why not 70%? Hell, Bethesda et al. should just give this awesome game away for free *nudge nudge*.

This is a new historic low price and if you're still not interested at $25.57 - we'd suggest checking back in a little over 3 months as holiday season sale will no doubt bring that extra 3% in savings.

Prey PC Weekend Deal

• Prey (Steam) — $25.57  (list price $60)
• Expires September 4, 2017 at 11am Eastern Time

If you still haven't bother to check out Prey but you have an inkling of the title, check out the review here. Suffice to say, if you enjoyed System Shock - this will tickle your night time gaming fancy.

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News:: In the absence of Half-Life 3, why not play this new Half-Life 1 mod?

With the supposed plot of Half-Life 2: Episode 3 out in the wild and the future of Half-Life 3 being completely unknown, it seems like Valve has washed its hands of any potential sequels for Gordon Freeman. Just because the creator's have given up on the series doesn't mean fans have to.

Cayle George, an ex-Valve employee who worked on Team Fortress 2 and Portal 2, is releasing a new mod for the original Half-Life entitled Half Life: C.A.G.E.D. Coming to Steam for free on September 21, the mod will feature a brand new campaign with unlockable bonus secrets and some developer commentary. This is basically like a fully licensed Valve release, just made by someone who cares about the game!

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News:: An ugly banner will let you know which Switch games require a download

Earlier today we told you about a 400GB microSDXC card from SanDisk that will work on the Nintendo Switch, which as you may remember can handle an SD card up to 2TB for some reason. For as many wonderful eShop titles as the console is getting in the coming months, I think investing in a nice, large memory card is a wise decision. It may also be a decision that is being made for you as Nintendo did announce some upcoming retail games will require an additional download.

One of those titles is NBA 2K18. Nintendo confirmed to IGN that players will be able to enjoy some of the game's content out of the box, but would need to download the rest of the content to experience it all. Limiting your Denatonium Benzoate soaked cartridges to 32gb in an era where games can easily run 100gb will do that to you.

To me, this was only a matter of time. If Nintendo wants that sweet 3rd party support, this is a sacrifice we're all going to have to make. What surprised me was just much they're willing to sacrifice quality box art to let you know which games require a download.

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News:: Destiny lore geeks won't have to worry about Grimoire going away

Back when we heard Grimoire cards wouldn't be making a comeback in Destiny 2, most people breathed a sigh of relief (or kicked some dirt in frustration that one of their talking points about why Destiny is bad is going away). But there was a sect of the community peeved at the decision. Indeed, there are lore archaeologists out there who pore through the volumes of text on Bungie.net, making sense of everything.

This morning at PAX West, Luke Smith might have assuaged some of the discontent around that. While out-of-game Grimoire cards are out, it sounds like all of that rich back story text will still be written; it will just be accessible in-game.

Smith described two ways that back story will make its way into Destiny 2. The first is familiar: certain items around the game world will be scannable, revealing details about the universe for those who take the time to look. The other sounds a bit closer to what Grimoire cards have done in the past, but with a twist. This time around weapons and armor pieces will have their own stories associated with them, and it will be relegated to a special tab on the gear inspection page.

So you can pull up your Midnight Coup, check the perks on it, maybe infuse it to a higher Light level (we still don't know much about the progression), and then check on what "Midnight Coup" refers to in the history of the Destiny universe.

So don't worry! If you bought this video game so you could be able to read a book, you can still do that. You just need to find all the different guns and armor. Or wait for the insatiable community to collect all of the lore text and compile it into a wiki.

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News:: Star Wars: Empire at War gets a surprise new patch to re-enable multiplayer

The closure of GameSpy in 2014 was a very unfortunate loss for the games industry. While the website had declined in quality over the years, their servers provided the foundation for a pretty large batch of PC multiplayer titles. Seeing all of those games lose online support was devastating, especially when it impacted big franchises like Battlefield and Star Wars.

In a move that is basically out of the ordinary for the modern games industry, Disney and Petroglyph have released a surprise patch today for the 2006 RTS game, Star Wars: Empire at War (and its expansion pack). In addition to re-enabling multiplayer support, the game also now has mod and Steam workshop support, giving the title a new lease on life.

On the Steam community forums, developer Petroglyph had this to say; "We have continued to watch the EAW community closely over the years and appreciate all the excellent support you have given us and the game. Our thanks to all of you for the great feedback, awesome mod packs, and overwhelmingly positive reviews and Disney for facilitating the release of this work. We hope you enjoy this special update."

To celebrate this new update, the game is also on sale for 50% off. You can nab the game on Steam in its "Gold Edition" variant, which includes the base game and expansion pack in one package. Really, if you've ever had an interest in the title, now is probably the best time to jump in. With the game going for a tenner and receiving brand new features, how could you resist?

New Multiplayer Update! [Steam Community]

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News:: Sony’s new ‘Crystal’ DualShock 4s are red, white and blue

DualShock controllers for PlayStation 3 and 4 have both had a translucent option as far back as 2013. The top case of the "crystal" controller lets you see through to the inner workings of the wireless gaming device, which for some reason is pretty darn cool. Sony is making a play for that nostalgia with three new crystal colors — red, blue and clear — for its DualShock 4 wireless controllers.

Source: PlayStation Blog

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News:: Harvey Relief Done Quick weekend begins now

Games Done Quick is doing a short weekend marathon of speed-runnning in typical GDQ fashion to raise money for those affected by the devastating Hurricane Harvey that hit Texas this week.  Harvey Relief Done Quick is kicking off with Mega Man X and includes speed-runs of games such as Prey (2017), Super Mario Galaxy 2, Star Wars Jedi Knight Jedi Academy, Chrono Trigger, Viewtiful Joe, and of course Super Metroid.

Donations will be going to the Houston Food Bank, which will "provide food and supplies in the short term and for many months to come to residents in southeast Texas who will struggle to rebuild their lives. The Food Bank will work closely with their network of partner agencies to ensure food is getting to those who need it most. They also find ways to connect offers of help with those who are providing help."

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News:: That one time Super Mario gave me Stockholm Syndrome

[Have you ever felt as though you were held captive by a game? A Luigi Fan has. Join him as he comes to be imprisoned by his one true love - beating overly-difficult games - and experiences the mixed emotions that go along with his self-diagnosed Stockholm Syndrome. Wanna see your work on Dtoid's Front Page? It's easy: Write a blog! - Wes]

Gather 'round my dudes, it's time for Bootleg Luigi [now A Luigi Fan] to tell y'all a story from his childhood.

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News:: Classic board game ‘Catan’ is coming to VR, of all places

If you've ever thrilled to a hot game of Catan on your table before, you'll love that you'll be able to experience the classic territory-building board game in virtual reality. Created by VR developer Experiment 7, with the collaboration of the Catan company and publisher Asmodee Digital, Catan VR is set to release on Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear this holiday season.

Source: Experiment 7

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News:: Sunless Sea creative director launches first solo Kickstarter

Sunless Sea and its predecessor Fallen London were very niche games that fit right into all my little nooks and crannies so nicely. The world was creepy, the writing dark but humorous, and most of all for me it was immensely original. So when Failbetter announced their next game would be Sunless Sea in spaaaaaaaaccccccceeeee I felt that they played it a bit too safe.

I wanted to see something new, some new world to dig my bloodied teeth into as the cries of a thousand years of pain echoed off the walls. Then as if it were a beast that heard the magical incantations recited three times, Cultist Simulator reared its head after nearly a year of slumber in the form of a new Kickstarter.

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News:: Bloggers Wanted: Schooled

Gather round boys and girls! School may be back in session, but you should still have a bit of time left to skirt your responsibilities and write some damn blogs!

In the true spirit of the classroom, this month’s Bloggers Wanted prompt is all about “things that video games have taught you.” Whether you want to write about a specific skillset you’ve acquired, love (or hate…) for a genre, game design, music composition, edutainment games, general life lessons, or even delve into more abstract territory…. As long as you’ve learned something, even if you didn’t realize it at the time, I want to fucking hear about it!

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News:: Online open world... basketball? NBA 2K18 has my attention

Well I was just talking in my Madden 18 review about the lackluster story of NBA 2K18, and now 2K shows an ambitious new mode called The Neighborhood. In an open world spanning several urban residential blocks, players can team up for pick-up games, hit the arcade, workout at the gym, change your hairstyle, and even ride bikes to earn prizes, customization options, and stat points.

Mixing elements from previous modes like MyPARK and Pro-Am, the Neighborhood expands on them with many ways to progress and customize your player. No wonder they were keeping quiet. 

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News:: Get a load of Frank's Big Package when Dead Rising 4 hits PlayStation 4 this December

In a surprise announcement, Capcom has announced that the latest entry in the Dead Rising franchise will be making its way to the PlayStation 4 on December 5. Titled Dead Rising 4: Frank's Big Package, the new release will effectively become the definitive version of the game to buy. All previously released DLC will be included, along with exclusive new content.

You can check out the trailer below.

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News:: FIFA 18 does its best Mass Effect impression in career mode

In an ongoing bid to continue to homogenize the industry even more by pushing story modes into sports game, EA Sports has revealed that FIFA 18 will have not one but two modes that utilize a conversation wheel mechanic. The conversation wheel was seen last year in The Journey mode where you went from a small town footballer all the way up to the Premier League. The impression it made on players last year must have been pretty good because this year it's going to be in both The Journey mode and in career mode.

For career mode, the conversation wheel will be utilized in contract and transfer negotiations between the player and motion captured head coaches. The scenes will not have any voice acting but it will utilize the frostbite engine to give it that wonderful uncanny valley feeling as you look into Jose Mourinho's soulless eyes as he signed you a contract with the Red Devils of Manchester United.

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News:: New DualShock 4 controllers announced

Sony Interactive Entertainment announced today that a new line of DualShock 4 color variants will be rolling out this fall. In particular, the fan-favorite translucent variants will be returning once again, showing off the internals of the lovely controller. However, the availability of each will vary from region to region.

For North America, each of these will be exclusive to a single retailer. For Europe, it may depend on where you live.

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News:: Japan getting vinyl OSTs of NieR & NieR: Automata

Japan will see stunning vinyl releases for the soundtracks to Cavia's sombre action-RPG NieR and its PlatinumGames sequel NieR: Automata.

Each game gets a double vinyl set. The NieR Automata set features 15 tracks, while the NieR (or NieR Gestalt & RepliCant, to give its Japanese title) features 20 tracks. All the tracks were selected by series composer Keiichi Okabe.

The vinyls are stored within classy sleeves featuring beautiful, watercolour-style artwork by Tokyo Ghoul illustrator Sui Ishida. A box set of both releases will also be available, featuring the ever-grinning face of Emil, staring back at you.

These look like really classy collector's pieces for die-hard NieR fans. They are scheduled for release in Japan this December at ¥3,600 each, or ¥7,200 for the box set. Pre-orders will go live on September 25.

Alternately, the vinyl sets will also be available to purchase direct from the Square Enix booth at the Tokyo Game Show later this month.

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News:: Play as Mega Man and Ghost Trick in 'Dead Rising 4' on PS4

Patience is paying off for Dead Rising fans on PlayStation 4. Last year's (formerly) Xbox One exclusive Dead Rising 4 is making its way to the PS4 with a few extras in Dead Rising 4: Frank's Big Package. Yup, Capcom's marketing department thought that name was a good idea. Anywho, the "complete" edition has a couple of noteworthy additions.

Source: Capcom Unity

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News:: Elise joins the battle in Fire Emblem Warriors

Koei Tecmo has debuted a new trailer for the upcoming Fire Emblem Warriors, one that reveals that Elise from Fire Emblem Fates will be a playable character in the upcoming game.

Much like Lissa from Fire Emblem Awakening, since Elise doesn't have an offensive weapon for her base class, she uses one from a later promotion. In this case, she'll be using a tome, which brings her rather close to her older brother Leo, who was previously confirmed and also uses a tome while mounted. What mechanics the two will have to seperate each other besides animations remains to be seen.

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News:: Splattershot Pro and new Special hit Splatoon 2 tonight

It's Friday, and that means another classic weapon with which to decorate walls, floors and faces in Nintendo's Splatoon 2. This week sees the Forge Splattershot Pro join the expanding arsenal.

Accompanying the weapon is a Suction Bomb Sub and an all-new Special: Bubble Blower. This device allows players to fire three large bubbles, which float around until burst with a well-timed blast of your team's ink. Think throwing a gas can and then shotgunning it out of the air, but with less fatalities.

The Splattershot Pro is going live just ahead of the start of the new Splatfest, scheduled for 9pm PT/12am ET. The following 24 hours will see players battle it out to over which is the best superpower, Flight or Invisibility. Let's go, Pearl!

Forge Splattershot Pro returns [Splatoon twitter]

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News:: Oh yeah, another God of War is on the way: Here's some concept art

Although it got a lot of buzz at E3 2016, I completely forgot the new soft reboot yet continuation God of War (yes, it's titled "God of War") is still coming. The narrative of Kratos and his son taking on Nordic mythology has a lot of potential, and these great bits of concept art that were recently released by Sony prove it.

It's crazy to think that this series has had seven original games, including 2013's Ascension, a prequel that many found to be underwhelming. It's understandable if you forgot that little tidbit though, as one was a mobile game before smartphones were popular, and two were released on PSP.

Oddly, Sony is being very coy about this new PS4 iteration, stating that it's "not Kratos' last game," and it's not a full reboot after a (what will be) five year hiatus. The art is pretty, but I need a little more before I start to get to the stage where I'm pumped for it.

PlayStation [Twitter]

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News:: Splatoon's SplatNet services closing at the end of the month

The SplatNet service, used by the original Splatoon on Wii U, will be closing its servers come the end of September.

The service, which is used to gather player statistics and friend's online status, will shut down on September 30, just a month ahead of the closure of all Miiverse services. Whilst SplatNet will cease to be, the match servers will obviously remain up and running for all your multiplayer inking needs.

In a message was posted on Splatoon's official Tumblr page, Nintendo said that they "Sincerely thank all players for using this companion site for the original Splatoon game."

SplatNet closing in September [Tumblr]

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News:: Fire Emblem Heroes gets a ridiculous live action trailer

Fire Emblem Heroes has done well for Nintendo. I mean, it's kind of funny that Mario for all intents and purposes failed on the mobile platform as a premium game, but a gashapon gambling free-to-play Fire Emblem game became a hit, but that's how the cookie crumbled.

As the success of getting whales to spend hundreds of dollars trying to get a 5-Star Marth roll (coincidentally you can get a free five star now), Nintendo has released a live action commercial on their mobile channel, asking players to "choose their legends." Except you don't get to choose, you gamble and hope that RNG-Jesus chooses them.

Like blind boxes, I try to stay away from gashapon as much as possible. I know it's some people's thing, but the stress involved with hoping you get a perfect party is too much! I'll stick with cosmetic loot boxes.

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News:: A Quickpost challenge from Kerrik52

[Kerrik52 greatly underestimates our collective power. Think you have a situation to stump his image folder? Do your best, Dtoid! This challenge came from Qtoid, our very own shitposting/social media platform. Make the site your own - Kerrik sure has! - Wes]

Two things. Suddenly getting only 4 1/2 hours of of sleep in the middle of the week sucks and will haunt you for days. My shitpost collection of 3000 images is now properly named and sorted. I can share some if you name a situation. Challenge me!

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News:: '90s UK magazine Super Play getting SNES Classic revival issue

To celebrate the release of the SNES Classic console, UK magazine Retro Gamer have announced that there will be a single-issue revival of dedicated magazine Super Play.

The magazine was a standard for UK Super Nintendo owners in the '90s. Featuring a wealth of news, reviews and previews. It also had a love of Japan, and would feature reviews of import titles and RPGs that many readers would longingly drool over, knowing they'd likely never see sight of them on UK shores. The final issue was released in September of 1996.

Super Play was instantly recognisable thanks to its glossy cover, always emblazoned with anime art by Wil Overton, who has thankfully returned (along with the original editorial team) for this one-off issue. StarFox 2 is the star of what will likely be the last issue of Super Play ever released.

You'll forgive this old fool his deep-sighing, misty-eyed, nostalgia burst.

Super Play 48 will come bundled with Retro Gamer 172, which is released on UK news stands September 7.

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News:: Some beautiful bastard preserved the Die Hard Nintendo 64 game

I know what you're thinking -- there was a Die Hard Nintendo 64 game? Well yes. It might not look as fun as the arcade edition, or even the wonky Die Hard Trilogy for PS1, but it exists.

Assembler Games user 10ahu managed to secure and release the prototype editions for Die Hard 64, which were set to ape GoldenEye and was to be published by Fox Interactive, and developed by Bits Studios. 10ahu actually worked at Bits, and across all three prototypes, there's 24 levels in all with nine of them in playable form. As they explain in their post, this canceled game eventually became Die Hard: Vendetta on the GameCube (and several other systems).

Hooray for game preservation! I doubt I'll ever boot these puppies up, but I'm glad they exist and are documented for posterity.

Die Hard 64 ROM [Assembler Games]

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News:: Monster Hunter XX on Switch only moves around 49% of its stock

The Monster Hunter series is a powerhouse over in Japan. The game routinely sells out of stock and tends to shift console units with each new launch. With the announcement of Monster Hunter XX for Switch, many of us just assumed that the series would continue to be a juggernaut on a new platform. Turns out, even Monster Hunter isn't impeccable.

While the initial sales numbers for the game aren't too shabby, shifting around 84,277 units, Monster Hunter XX  for Switch debuted as one of the weakest launches for the series to date. In terms of how many units Capcom sent out to retail, the game managed to sell through about 49% of its stock (48.95% to be exact).

For comparison, the last time a Monster Hunter launched on two platforms was with Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate on 3DS and Wii U. While that game sold better than XX on Switch, 3 Ultimate also came out a year after the original Monster Hunter Tri. As far as XX is concerned, its only been half a year since the 3DS version launched. XX also doesn't include anything new on Switch, so the only real conclusion one can draw is that fans already own the game on one platform and don't want another.

There is also the upcoming Monster Hunter World that is looking to revamp the series and bring it to more than just handheld platforms. Oddly, Nintendo isn't getting a version of that game, so it will be interesting to see how well World does compared to this somewhat lackluster launch of XX. Will Japanese gamer's really care about a Monster Hunter that isn't portable? Maybe the wider audience will compensate for the lack of interest from previous fans.

Whatever the case is, even Monster Hunter can't remain intensely popular. I guess there is only so long you can churn out a formula before you need a revamp.

Monster Hunter XX On Switch Sold Through 48.95% Of Its Initial Shipment In Japan [Siliconera]

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News:: New Shovel Knight amiibos sensually introduced by Egoraptor

Arin Hanson aka Egoraptor is in Nintendo's official reveal trailer for the new Shovel Knight amiibos in a Game Grumps-produced video. No, he doesn't beat-box, make fart noises, or reference dicks in any way, but he is quite steamy when admiring his new Specter Knight, Plague Knight, and King Knight amiibos.

The amiibo are "coming soon" and will "unlock exclusive armor sets, new challenge stages and the ability to summon fairy companions to help players on quests" in Shovel Knight.

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