News:: Level-5 promising more weird Britons will ask you to solve riddles before they answer a simple question in 2018

Level-5 has been quiet stateside in 2017. Earlier this year we got Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires' Conspiracy on mobile and it will launch on the 3DS in North America next week. Other than the recent release of Yo-Kai Watch 2: Psychic Specters -- which I'm sure Chris Carter has already 100%ed -- there hasn't been too much from them out west. That's going to change in 2018.

In addition to the nearing launch of Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom, it's been confirmed Level-5 will be releasing a new Professor Layton game in 2018. In an interview with License! Global magazine, Level-5 executive Simon Waldren confirmed a new title in the franchise will release late next summer. Platforms were not specified in the interview though my guess is another 3DS/mobile title.

In the same interview, Waldren confirmed the Inazuma Eleven reboot, Inazuma Eleven: Ares is still coming to "Nintendo platforms" *cough* Switch *cough* which we basically already knew. Waldren also stated there are still plans to bring the popular Snack World series to Europe.

New Professor Layton game and Yo-Kai Watch season 3 coming next year [Toon Barn]

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News:: Review: Jeepers Creepers 3

If you've read any of my posts for Flixist, you know that I approach most sequels not with trepidation, but with outright skepticism. This is because rather than being an earnest or needed continuation to a great story, they're cash grabs. So, you say, aren't all sequels, or movies for that matter, cash grabs, or attempts to be so? Without a doubt, but it's one thing to seek monetary compensation, gain, and success for a quality product, it's quite another to seek the same by phoning it in, or trying to paint by numbers, following 'proven' formulas (franchises) and spitting out celluloid regurgitant for mindless chicks (aka we the audience) to gag down like nature intended.

On the surface, you might expect Jeepers Creepers 3, the third installment in a lesser horror series that had seemed dead and buried since 2003, to fall into this category. But despite the 14-year absence of the Creeper (and really, at this point, they should have waited another 7 to play off the whole 'he returns every 23 years' line famous from the franchise), this is not that movie. It's an honest attempt to flesh out the franchise and give life through resurrection to the titular Creeper by developing his character. The problem is, they only half succeed.

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News:: The Story of The Deep End Games & Perception Documentary - Coming October 5th

Hello everyone! 

In case you missed the announcement post a few weeks ago, my name is Nick Calandra and I'm the site owner over at Gameumentary. We're a team of volunteers that got together to produce video game documentaries and recently ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund a number of upcoming projects...including documentaries on Darksiders, Kingdom Come: Deliverance and more.

We''ll be releasing our upcoming documentaries exclusively through Destructoid and will feature all extended content and side-features through our YouTube channel. 

We released our first documentary back in May of this year covering the story of Runic Games. This Thursday, we'll release our second documentary covering the story of The Deep End Games, the developers of the recently released psychological thriller, Perception.

We're happy to share with you today a trailer for the upcoming documentary, which we think will present you with a much different story than you're used to hearing from the games industry.

We're super proud of this documentary, and we think you'll find something special, unique and inspiring within it. Please enjoy this first look and we look forward to hearing your thoughts on the full documentary this Thursday! 

 

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News:: Add Charizard to your Pokemon Sun and Moon team when you visit Target

Another special Pokémon download code is about to be made available, this time at Target stores. From October 1-14 you can stop into the electronics section of Target and receive a code card to get Charizard for Pokémon Sun and Moon.

The level fifty Charizard comes holding the Red Card item. He also has the Blaze ability and knows the following specially-picked moves, so he might be handy even if you've already got the classic Pokémon in your party:

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News:: The Government Reviews: Splatterhouse 2

[Video games are a tool through which criminal organizations corrupt our youths and destroy the Good American Values we try to instill. Luckily, totally-real government agent Vadicta is here to pass judgment on some of the worst offenders in the medium. The government knows what's best for us, after all. Get your work on the front page by writing about some spooky gaming stuff you dig. We're on a mission to make this October the spookiest yet - so get out there and write a blog! - Wes]

All games are made for children, and most are invented by Satanic evildoers hellbent on the corruption and destruction of our youth. That's why the government is here to decide what is appropriate for your child and what will turn him or her into a devil dick riding biker terrorist. All reviews are the honest and unblemished truth. PARENTS BEWARE.

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News:: Toys 'R' Us hopes AR will bring you back to its stores

Let's say you're Toys 'R' Us: you've just declared bankruptcy, and you're looking for something, anything that might convince customers to visit your stores instead of buying all their toys through Amazon. What would you do? If you ask Toys 'R' Us, the answer is simple: make a game out of store visits. The retailer has unveiled Play Chaser, a free augmented reality app for Android and iOS that turns stores into virtual playgrounds. Point the app at star icons in the store and your kids can play basketball (including with others) or take home a digital doll. The brand's mascot, Geoffrey the Giraffe, will even introduce the app and get players started.

Via: USA Today

Source: Toys 'R' Us

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News:: So, is Cuphead tough enough for ya?

Last week was very stressful for me. I had 48-ish hours to play and review Cuphead. Tight deadlines suck, but they extra super duper suck when a game is difficult. Just throwing enough hours at most triple-A titles will usually get you through them; stuff like Cuphead requires that you put in the time in hopes that you'll eventually be skilled enough to get through it. There's a big difference between the two.

Over the weekend, I talked to a lot of people about Cuphead. How far they've gotten, what bosses gave them trouble, what strategies they had worked out, and what secrets they uncovered. The best games are the ones that make us want to talk to each other about our shared experiences.

Like, I had a lot of new Cupheaders tell me about the trouble the flower's giving them. I used to hate that fucking flower! Not anymore though! Now that flower's about as much trouble as a real-life flower (excluding any flowers that are deadly or poisonous, or flour for someone with Celiac's).

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News:: 'Nioh' will bring 4K graphics and punishing difficulty to PC

Developer Team Ninja's comeback story Nioh will make its way from PlayStation 4 to PC next month. It'll take the form of Nioh: The Complete Edition and feature the punishing game's trio of add-on packs, a "stable" 60FPS frame rate, or, what Tecmo calls "Movie Mode." That (probably) doesn't drop the frame rate to 24 frames per-second and add letterbox bars, but it does bump the resolution as high as 4K. As a nod to where the digital-only game almost positively will appear, it also features a special helmet with a valve-like design. So, Steam sounds like a likely place to find the game when it's released on November 7th.

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News:: How Strafe's 'Millennium Edition' overhauls the entire game

When it released in May 2017, Strafe was something of an anomaly. The first-person shooter looked like a game from a bygone era. It was fast and violent, not unlike Quake, with relentless enemies hell-bent on stopping players dead in their tracks. Dying was an integral part of the experience. Unlike most shooters, running out of life didn't just mean that you had to replay the level. Instead, Strafe made players start all over again. Biting the bullet -- or pipe, rocket, or any number of things that can kill you -- meant buckling to randomized level layouts. In Strafe, you never know what's coming next.

Strafe's blend of frenetic first-person gameplay and roguelike design might seem common half-a-year after its release, but at the time it was at the forefront of a modern niche subgenre. 

"We wanted to play this game so bad," developer Thom Glunt said about Strafe's core concept, "we started a studio just to make it."

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News:: What we're listening to: Rayana Jay, 'Destiny 2' and Cobalt

Welcome back to IRL, our series dedicated to the things that Engadget writers play, use, watch and listen to. This week we're focusing on music and podcasts, from Broadway to the Destiny soundtrack, via some black metal. First up, Senior News Editor Richard Lawler talks about Rayana Jay's latest EP.

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News:: I'll never look at Yoshi the same way again

One of my favorite parts of the SNES Classic (aside from the system's all-too-important rewind feature) is that it has Nintendo bringing up old behind-the-scenes tidbits. The mini console gives us a focused opportunity to collectively reminisce and also learn new or little-known details from some of our favorite video games ever. With that in mind, there's something you've got to see.

Nintendo has posted a translated interview covering the production of Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island. If nothing else, make a beeline for the section titled "I Want Mario to Ride a Horse!"

"When we were making Super Mario Bros. 3, [Shigeru Miyamoto] had drawn a picture of Mario on a horse, and hung it on a wall near where he used to sit. I would look at that and think, 'I think he wants Mario to ride something.' When we started making Super Mario World, we were working with the concept of a dinosaur land, so I had [character designer Shigefumi Hino] do art for a kind of reptile," recalls director Takashi Tezuka. "It was like a crocodile," which ended up feeling "out of place."

"Tezuka had done a rough sketch and it was cute and pretty good, so I polished up Yoshi into his current form based on that," Hino explained, before dropping this bombshell of an image:

I don't know where to look, folks. There's so much going on!

But Yoshi. Dear, sweet Yoshi... I've seen too much.

Twitter user @Programancer ran with this concept and did what needed to be done: 

Oh yeah I updated that pic of Yoshi http://pic.twitter.com/eAausueWTE

— Programancer (@Programancer) October 2, 2017

The interview also notes that Yoshi has a "shell," not a saddle, and yeah, Mario's punching him.

Super Mario World & Yoshi's Island Developer Interview [Nintendo]

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News:: Boy, Enix sure did make some weird games

Japan and weird games isn't particular news to anyone, but the other day I was perusing the list of games published and/or developed by Enix before they merged with Square and found a lot of them to be quite odd.

Some games like Mischief Makers and Ten Made Jack are certainly odd, but not so removed from the typical oddities we find in everyday video games. Here are the some of the oddest I found, whether Enix developed or merely published them, and no I'm not the first to point these out but it's hard to ignore them. In no particular order:

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News:: Hawken's PC version is shutting down

Free-to-play mech shooter Hawken is calling it a day, at least as far as the PC version goes. Developer Reloaded Games is pulling it from Steam early next year.

The announcement was made on the Hawken Facebook page. On January 2, 2018, the game's PC servers will be shut down. Starting today, players can no longer purchase any sort of DLC or in-game items.

The reason Reloaded gives for the closure is so that it can "refocus [its] development efforts." More realistically, it probably has to do with the game's ever-dwindling player base. A look at Steam Charts (which isn't official but should give decent ballpark figures) shows that Hawken has averaged fewer than 100 concurrent players in recent months; it hasn't had more than 1,000 concurrents since 2015.

This doesn't signal the end for Hawken, however. It's still free-to-play on both PS4 and Xbox One, and it doesn't seem as if the Steam situation will impact the console versions in any way. The PC community will have to migrate if it wants its fill of Hawken in 2018 and beyond.

Hawken [Facebook]

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News:: Recall how the original Tomb Raider was a timed Saturn exclusive, as well as other tidbits

Seeing as that I originally played Tomb Raider on the PlayStation, it completely slipped my mind that it was actually a slight timed exclusive for the Saturn. This episode of Did You Know Gaming does a great job of putting factoids like that to the forefront, and the revelation that the PlayStation edition fixed several major bugs from the Saturn rendition shortly after its launch -- almost superseding the exclusivity.

It's also nice to revisit the various Indiana Jones references, even if they were so blindingly obvious that most of my peers recognized them as kids, as well as the changing of the guard from Core Design to Crystal Dynamics after Angel of Darkness.

Lara has been through a lot since 1996, and has walked over a lot of bumpy roads to get to the place she is now. After several developer and publisher changes I'm glad that she's still around, and on a particularly good run for the past four years.

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News:: HTC Vive is throwing in a free copy of Fallout 4 VR

As of today, folks who buy an HTC Vive will get a copy of Fallout 4 VR at no extra charge.

As part of a new promo, Bethesda and HTC are including a pre-order code "while supplies last." The game itself -- which is Fallout 4 with "all-new combat, crafting, and building systems fully reimagined for virtual reality," according to the developer -- doesn't launch until December 12, 2017.

This is the point at which I remind y'all that Fallout 4 VR is a $60 game. Yeah.

Of Bethesda's upcoming VR projects, I'm more interested in Fallout than Skyrim VR or Doom VFR -- not because it's my favorite, but because I think exploration will better suit virtual reality.

At this time, the company has only announced a Vive version of Fallout 4 VR.

Fallout 4 VR pre-order included with Vive purchase [HTC Vive]

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News:: Goodbye free time, Stardew Valley comes to the Switch on October 5

Farming enthusiasts, gem collectors, lovers of depressed chicken-men - your time has finally come! Stardew Valley's Switch release is almost upon you, now officially slated at October 5, at a price point of $14.99.

Down-on-your-luck chicken fans not your style? Worry not, for there are many other eligible townsfolk for your impending wooing! Fabio-lookalike writers! Musicians who can't do kickflips! Adventuring goths! But really, why would you want them, when you can have this?

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News:: Play Pocket Mortys today, and the proceeds will go to Puerto Rican hurricane relief

Pocket Mortys is a fun little, if grindy Pokemon clone for mobile devices -- one that I gladly played for a bit before I put it out to pasture in my "legacy" iOS folder. But it's getting back in the limelight this week compliments of the creators of Rick and Morty, who are partnering up with the developer to help with hurricane relief for Puerto Rico.

All you have to do is buy any IAP within the (base free) game, and the proceeds will go to a relief fund. We've reached out to the parties involved for more information, but there's very little to be jaded about here. Puerto Rico is in a pretty tight spot at the moment, so any attention or help is a good thing.

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News:: Destiny 2 is down yet again this week during primetime UK hours

Oh hey, it's another Destiny 2 downtime during peak UK hours after everyone is getting off work. Brilliant!

Like clockwork, Bungie has announced a new downtime period for Tuesday, October 3, which will take place from 8AM PT until 12PM PT -- during this time you won't be able to log in or play the game. In case you were wondering you have roughly equal chances of this maintenance getting extended or ending early based on prior experiences.

One of the big fixes in version 1.0.3.1, set to be deployed during this downtime, involves the broken raid exotic questline (you only need 10 Emperor's Seals now instead of 100, and the quest objectives will still just give you one seal). The raid milestone will now also properly show up (though you always got the rewards), and a continuous death loop that select players have encountered should be fixed.

Nice bug fixes, but the timeline for these things is awful given the large European audience. Hopefully Bungie will wind down these huge outages or shift the downtime to last through the night/early morning.

Destiny Server and Update Status [Bungie.net]

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News:: GOG's bringing multiplayer back for 2005's Star Wars Battlefront II

There's an extremely high-profile Star Wars Battlefront II launching later this year, and it's going to sell 11 billion copies (all numbers approximate). But, a long time ago, another game by the same name released and it's still beloved by many. It's set to make something of a resurgence.

GOG has worked with Disney to relaunch 2005's Star Wars Battlefront II's multiplayer component for Steam and GOG. This originally ended in 2014 when matchmaking middleware GameSpy shut down. Since then, people have used third-party tools to keep the game alive.

It's back now, though. GOG says that multiplayer will automatically work. All players have to do is launch the game through GOG or Steam. Go play some of this Star Wars Battlefront II before that other Star Wars Battlefront II starts commanding everyone's attention.

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News:: PlayStation credit card gives extra money back for gaming purchases

If you're a PlayStation fan, you probably use your credit card for a lot: games, add-ons, the virtually obligatory Plus subscription and the occasional accessory. Wouldn't it be good if you could at least get some compensation for pouring so much money into Sony's coffers? If you live in the US, you can. Sony has launched a Visa-based PlayStation credit card from Capital One that gives you discounts and redeemable points if you shop for Sony gear or PlayStation services.

Source: PlayStation Blog

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News:: Final Fantasy XIV 4.1 trailer shows off Ivalice, new EX fight, mech PVP

Square Enix is giving us a brief showcase of Final Fantasy XIV: The Legend Returns (Patch 4.1) before its October 10 debut, and it looks pretty damn sweet. While most of these patch trailers are main questline focused, we do get a good look at more long term content, like the new dungeon, EX battle, the 24-person Ivalice raid, and even a brief glimpse at the Ultimate Savage encounter.

Square Enix has been slowly upping their game when it comes to dungeon design, and the  new Shinryu EX fight looks even more impressive than the original. The same goes for the new mech-centric PVP mode, and the lovely Shirogane housing zone that I'll be visiting as soon as the servers open (though I'll be keeping my small home in Mist near the beach!).

Swimming has been mostly underutilized in XIV, but perhaps it'll have its time to shine in future updates -- dungeon integration and housing zone frolicking is a nice start.

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News:: Nonny de la Peña, Eugene Chung illuminate the Engadget Experience

Virtual reality captured the mainstream's imagination in the 1990s, but ultimately failed to deliver on the the medium's potential. Fast forward more than two decades and VR is once again the next big thing. With far more advanced hardware and billions in investment, virtual reality is on the cusp of upending storytelling but the future is still unclear.

On November 14th, VR luminaries Eugene Chung and Nonny de la Peña will take the stage at the historic United Artists Theatre at the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles to help shed some light on how virtual reality and augmented reality are changing the way that we see the world.

Source: The Engadget Experience

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News:: F-Zero director explains that Captain Falcon was almost the ambassador of the SNES

Oh what may have been. What if Bubsy was the winner of the mascot wars and Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft were competing with an Accolade Box One? It sounds absurd, but almost as crazy as Captain Falcon representing the entire SNES brand.

Based on an interview with a designer for F-Zero, Takaya Imamura, it's come to light that Captain Falcon, future racer extraordinaiire, could have been the mascot of the Super Nintendo. Evidently the entire plan was based on the idea that some character named "Captain something" should be employed for their new system, one that would "match the colors of the Super Famicom controller."

Over time, Captain Falcon was molded into what became F-Zero, a flagship character for the franchise. Given his clout early on in the prototype process, it's easy to see how he ended up getting a coveted spot in the Super Smash Bros. roster on the Nintendo 64.

F-Zero Developer Interview [Nintendo]

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News:: Even Nioh is coming to PC

The PC bandwagon grows ever larger. More and more Japanese role-playing games, typically exclusive to PlayStation consoles, are getting Steam releases. This time is Koei Tecmo's Nioh, whose complete edition will launch on Steam November 7, 2017--the same day as the PS4 release. The following DLC are included: “Dragon of the North, “Defiant Honor,” and “Bloodshed’s End.”

Also, that image down there with the valve sticking out of a helmet isn't just a fun image; it's a new item that'll appear in the PC release. It's description reads:

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News:: Japan gets updated model of Sony's PSVR headset this month

Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan have announced that they will be releasing a tweaked version of the Playstation's VR headset on October 14.

The slightly-redesigned unit, model no. CUH-ZVR 2, features a new processor that will support HDR pass-through, allowing for HDR images to be viewed on-screen even when the headset is connected.

The redesign also features a stereo headphone socket now incorporated into the band on the back of the unit, and the main processor cable has been streamlined to a thinner design. These latter two tweaks hope to reduce the presence of unruly wires dangling about during your otherworldy 3D experiences.

Although currently dated for release in Japan only, a Western date for CUH-ZVR 2 is expected to be announced shortly. The new units are not expected to increase in price over the currently available model.

New PSVR headset announced [Playstation Blog]

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News:: Review: DropMix

When I found out that Harmonix was making a music-themed board game, I was all in. I am a gigantic fan of the Rock Band series (I bought an Xbox One specifically for Rock Band 4), and eat up as many music-heavy games that I can. After seeing DropMix in action, I knew I wanted to get my hands on it.

If you're a fan of music and music games, you'll want to do the same.

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News:: Is there any actor that you'll show up to the theater for?

Time was if you shoved Tom Cruise into a movie and emblazoned all the marketing with his name bigger than the name of the movie you'd pretty much have a guaranteed number one opening weekend, and most likely a box office hit. That time has passed, as this weekend's second place finish behind a nearly month old movie, and near tie with last week's opener, shows.

Now to be fair American Made was an enjoyable movie, but it was never going to be cultural phenomenon like IT, and it's box office is respectable. This wasn't a bomb for and R-rated Cruise film, but it's a far cry from his heyday. The Hollywood superstar is clearly dead. 

I think there's plenty of things at work here. The rise of the comic book movie, and adaptations of other properties mean that people are headed to theaters to see characters, not actors. The younger generation of actors can still pull a big crowd, but they usually have to be playing an established character. Wolverine is the sell, not Hugh Jackman. I think audiences have smartened up too, probably after being burned one too many times when a star they "followed" made bad films. Whatever the reasoning it seems that the days of a single actor guaranteeing success are gone. 

Is there anyone you'll show up to a movie for because that person is in it?

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