News:: What's on TV: 'Bright,' 'Christopher Nolan 4K Collection'

As the clock ticks down on 2017, we're finally checking out Netflix's $90 million+ movie. Bright stars Will Smith as a cop in a world full of orcs and other mystical creatures, and we'll see if it's enough to pull attention away from flicks currently in the box office. For other home movie options (or last minute gift ideas) viewers can grab many of Christopher Nolan's movies on Ultra HD Blu-ray, either in boxed sets or individually. Movies like The Dark Knight, Interstellar, Inception and of course Dunkirk are available this week in 4K. On HBO, Game of Thrones fans can watch Kit Harington (Jon Snow) in Gunpowder this week, while PC gamers can enjoy v1.0 of PUBG and there's even a new Kinect game for Xbox One. Look after the break to check out each day's highlights, including trailers and let us know what you think (or what we missed).

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News:: Panic Button will be porting Wolfenstein II to the Switch

Panic Button, the developers behind the excellent DOOM port to Switch, will be helming the upcoming Wolfesntein II port to the same console. Bethesda revealed this news to GameReactor today along with mentioning the port will be out in early 2018.

Machine Games' senior game designer, Andreas Öjerfors, stated, "they're [Panic Button] experts at the Switch and now they're experts with the [id Tech 6] engine so we work with them, and the Doom version turned out to be really kick-ass on the Switch so I think Wolfenstein will be the same."

While I wasn't exactly fond of the 30 FPS cap, having DOOM playable on a portable device was a real treat. I never expected to see that kind of technology squeezed down in such a short time frame and without even compromising the level design. We've come a long way from the old, crappy PS2 ports of Xbox exclusive games (I'm looking at you Splinter Cell).

Studio porting Wolfenstein II for the Switch confirmed [Game Reactor]

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News:: Rising Thunder lives on with a free 'Community Edition' release next month

Last year, Riot Games acquired Rising Thunder developer Radiant Entertainment. Following that move, the promising robot fighting game was never finished and the team shifted its resources toward another project. It was a bittersweet note to end on, but the story isn't over just yet.

Radiant plans to release Rising Thunder: Community Edition for free in January. "Our intent here is to give the game back to you guys, the community, and let you run with it," the studio wrote.

This "final" version of Rising Thunder "is basically the same" as the PC build that was playable prior to the server shutdown last year, but with new local play and some unnamed improvements.

"Local play will support keyboard vs. controller only," notes Radiant, "but it should be straightforward to hack in 1p controller support through external scripting."

The team is also putting out the source code for the game's server to help keep online multiplayer alive. "The original [Rising Thunder] server is somewhat of a beast, segmented into a bunch of different services that aren't particularly easy to deploy or maintain. So instead we've whipped up a first pass at a bare-bones server that will allow you to play online with rudimentary matchmaking and limited features. And we're making it open source so that if you're inclined you can tinker and improve it."

It's great to see this game preserved, so props are most definitely in order. As for what comes next, Radiant Entertainment confirmed that it's still working on "something new."

Rising Thunder [Twitter]

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News:: China's most popular game is about to launch in the US

You might not have even heard of Arena of Valor (outside of a Twitch tourney), but it's all-consuming in its native China, with 200 million registered players and over 80 million daily active users. Tencent's mobile-only MOBA game, known as Honor of Kings in its original form, is so popular in its homeland that tournaments are everywhere and the game has time limits to prevent kids from playing too long. And now, Tencent wants it to become a household name in the rest of the world. In a confirmation of some earlier rumors, the tech giant is formally launching Arena of Valor worldwide on December 19th, with users in North and South America getting their first crack at the Android and iOS hit.

Source: The Verge, Twitch

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News:: My Hero Academia: One's Justice coming west, here's the first trailer

Although there isn't a hard release date outside of its 2018 window in Japan, Bandai Namco has confirmed that My Hero Academia: One's Justice is indeed releasing in the West for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Switch (but only PlayStation 4 and Switch in Japan). 

The first trailer for the game doesn't show off any gameplay, but there is some off-camera footage out there from Jump Festa 2018 that confirms a 3D plane, destructible environments, and manga accuracy. 

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News:: How The Last Jedi challenges our notions of what Star Wars can be

Another year, another Star Wars film to over analyze and get all nitpicky about. While I found The Last Jedi to be a weaker film than The Force Awakens, I had a good time with it and was surprised at how many tropes the film subverted. Instead of going for the obvious, we got a Star Wars film that was unafraid of making new choices and taking the story in some interesting directions.

Obviously, this post is going to be loaded with spoilers, so if you haven’t seen the film yet, please don’t continue on. I don’t want to be held liable for ruining any surprises for you and there is one moment, in particular, which made me incredibly happy. Anyway, this is your formal warning, so proceed with caution.

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News:: Dragon Ball FighterZ gets open beta in January and Jump Festa trailer with English subs

We got a new trailer for Dragon Ball FighterZ over the Jump Festa 2018 weekend. It showed off new characters Hit, Beerus, and Goku Black as was as the Dramatic Finishes, which activate when certain characters either debut or defeat certain characters. But now we have that trailer with English subtitles! 

Along with this, Bandai Namco announced an open beta for the game running from January 14 at 3AM EST to January 16 at 3AM EST. Players who pre-order the game will get early access to the beta on January 13, but it'll sure be a good chance to get your hand on the game before its release on January 26. 

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News:: Mortal Engines trailer says daft steampunk: harder, better, faster, stronger

Peter Jackson presents? Sold.

No need to watch this trailer beyond the first 10 seconds, but if you do, you may be wondering how she could possibly need binoculars to see something that big, that close. There's no explanation other than it worked as a shot.

Peter Jackson isn't directing this adaptation of Philip Reeve's 2001 novel of the same name, but his good buddy Christian Rivers is--this guy has been managing visual effects and 2nd units for Jackson since the original Lord of the Rings trilogy. He's definitely got the heft to make this tale of mobile steampunk cities work in his directorial debut. As far as teaser trailers go, this one provides plenty to get the juices going.

Excited? Get ready to wait a year. London comes calling on December 14, 2018.

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News:: Sail the seas with Luffy and co. in One Piece Grand Cruise for PlayStation VR

If you ever wanted to be a member of the Straw Hat Pirates, fighting monsters, traveling over yonder, or just feeling awkward around Nami, you'll soon have the chance in the PlayStation VR exclusive One Piece Grand Cruise.

Namco Bandai released a trailer for the virtual-reality adventure this weekend, giving fans a taste of what shenanigans they can expect to get up to with Luffy and his band of scallywags. Embarking on a "One day cruise" aboard the Thousand Sunny. Players can make all their self-insert fan-fiction come true... Well, maybe not all aspects of it.

Grand Cruise is one of two One Piece titles coming to PS4 next year, the other being the open-world adventure World Seeker. It looks like 2018 is shaping up to be a pretty good year for wannabe pirates.

One Piece Grand Cruise launches on PlayStation VR in 2018.

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News:: Destructoid's award for Best VR Game of 2017 goes to...

Modern virtual reality, in earnest, kicked off in March of 2016.

It's hard to believe that it's nearly been two years, but so far the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR have made their own unique impact on the industry. Although the tech isn't widely accepted yet there have been some spectacular experiences, some that are so magical (Superhot VR with Oculus Touch especially) that they've changed the way some of my friends feel about gaming in general. The only problem is, you need to open that $300, $400, or $600 gate on top of whatever hardware you need to run it.

But for those of you that did, you may have snatched up the wildly successful (4.1 million sold to date) Resident Evil 7, which just so happens to be our pick for 2017 VR Game of the Year. To say that its VR component is effective is an understatement -- it's the only VR game in my entire time with the tech that I had to take breaks with. The atmosphere and sound direction were fantastic, so much so that playing it in VR could be considered a vastly different experience that warranted another playthrough.

It remains to be seen if the marriage of VR and Resident Evil was a one-time thing, but as long as you keep your plastic helmet and your copy, you can go back to it whenever you want.

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News:: One Piece: World Seeker looks like a joy to explore

It's an all-too-brief look at next year's open-world adventure, but this trailer for One Piece: World Seeker is telling. They absolutely have to nail the player's traversal options for a game like this to work, and watching Luffy run, vault, stretch, fling, and even hover in this footage has me feeling optimistic.

This game and Insomniac's Spider-Man in 2018? Lucky us. Also, bonus points for that end-of-trailer nod to Metal Gear Solid.

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News:: Monster Hunter World is supposedly 40-50 hours long, with much more grinding to do afterward

I was sufficiently impressed by the Monster Hunter World beta, and I'm looking forward to playing a Monster Hunter experience that isn't some sequel, spinoff, or new "EX" iteration again. It'll be a lengthy romp too, as game director Yuya Tokuda informed Mein-MMO that World will sport a campaign that's roughly 40 to 50 hours long.

Tokuda explains that the real length will "depend on the player," but there will still be a huge post-game to partake in, as well as weekly event quests and free updates, which have already been confirmed.

Monster Hunter World will arrive on PS4 and Xbox One on January 26, 2018. A PC release is set to follow but does not even have a window at this time. My ideal window is "whenever Capcom can get it right."

Monster Hunter World [Mein MMO via Gematsu]

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News:: 'Brawlout' wants to beat ‘Super Smash Bros.’ at its own game

The first Super Smash Bros. game launched on the N64 almost 20 years ago and became an instant classic. Every main Nintendo console since has brought a new entry to the series, but the inevitable iteration on the Switch hasn't been announced. Tomorrow, gamers will get the next best thing: Brawlout, the 2D fighter heavily inspired by the Smash Bros. franchise. But will reaching Nintendo's console first let Brawlout win fans' hearts?

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News:: Humble is giving out Layers of Fear for free

Bloober Team's psychological horror adventure Layers of Fear is currently free through the Humble Store as part of a 48-hour giveaway. Along with a free Steam copy of the game (Windows, Mac, Linux), you'll also score the soundtrack from composer Arkadiusz Reikowski. Here's a refresher:

It feels like Layers of Fear came out a long time ago, but it actually released in February 2016 (although it was available on Steam Early Access prior to that point). In my review of the finished version, I said the game "wasn't as frightening as I thought it would be based on early impressions, but I was still entertained by its mind-bending haunted house even when the jump-scares fell flat."

Worth checking out for free, I'd wager.

Layers of Fear + Soundtrack [Humble Store]

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News:: The final boss from Zelda: Breath of the Wild's latest DLC has a silly weakness

Zelda: Breath of the Wild: The Champions’ Ballad, the second DLC for Breath of the Wild, seems to be just as polarizing as the first, as far as players are concerned anyway. While the general buzz seems to be in the positive direction (including my mostly positive review), fans wanted more story, especially after Nintendo had been teasing a campaign-heavy DLC for months on end.

What we got instead was a collective of challenge rooms and quests, as well as a new final dungeon and boss. A boss, mind, that has a really silly weakness, much in line with other games in the series. I won't spoil the surprise here, so just check the video out for yourself.

Just to be sure, even the title of the video is a spoiler as it gives away the name of the encounter, so you can find it at the link here rather than via an embed.

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News:: Destructoid's award for Best Xbox One Game of 2017 goes to...

"Good things come to those who wait" is a saying that gets said sometimes. It's supposed to extol the virtue of patience, as though it isn't always best to enthusiastically leap toward everything. That's probably true! It's important to be discerning.

The adage doesn't quit fit our extremely specific situation of waiting for a video game to release, though. Only the developer has control over how long it'll take to make a video game. I've never made a video game, but I bet it's hard as hell. I only kind of know what frustum culling is. So, instead, a more suitable saying (that's still pretty similar) would be "Some things are worth waiting for."

Cuphead was worth waiting for. My lord was Cuphead ever worth waiting for.

Cuphead had been in production since 2010, as new developer StudioMDHR spent seven years perfecting nearly every aspect. Its hand-drawn animations are absolutely stunning. Its multi-phase boss fights are usually nothing short of incredible. Its 1930s jazz music is the ultimate complement to everything that's happening on the screen. And, not to relegate it to an afterthought, the platforming and shooting is superbly tight.

Honestly, Cuphead is nearly bulletproof. It's tough to come up with sincere criticisms of a game that does everything so well. This is the best I can come up with: I bet a lot of people bought Cuphead because of its awesome aesthetic and bounced right off of it when they realized how goddamn hard it is. That is not a very good criticism. (Personally, that difficulty only fueled my need to best it.)

Admittedly, this category didn't have the stiffest competition this year. That doesn't diminish Cuphead's accomplishment. It's easy to imagine this game winning its respective year no matter when it released. It really is that excellent.

We spent a lot of time navigating Cuphead and Mugman around as mystery liquids sloshed about in their, uhh, heads. StudioMDHR has been coy about what that liquid is -- never really pinning it down to a specific substance, rather dodging the topic with answers like "it's their essence." Not tonight. Tonight those cups are filled with champagne in celebration of Cuphead earning Destructoid's Best Xbox One Game of 2017.

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News:: 'Final Fantasy' celebrates 30 years of not being very final

On December 18, 1987, developer Square released its first Final Fantasy title to the Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicon console. While Hironobu Sakaguchi thought it would be his last video game, the title was a financial success, leading to a continuous stream of sequels released on every gaming platform since then, including a surprising recent foray onto iOS with Final Fantasy XV Pocket. The first Final Fantasy was included on the recent NES Classic, too, if you were lucky enough to grab one before Nintendo discontinued making them.

Source: Square Enix

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News:: Dragon Quest Builders will be hitting the Switch in February

The Minecraft-like Dragon Quest Builders will build its way over to the Nintendo Switch on February 9, 2018 for both the US and Europe. Both the physical and digital version will launch on the same day. Nintendo let the news out on both Twitter accounts along with a composite screenshot of the game running on a Switch.

I haven't dug into this game, but having it on a portable device seems like the perfect fit. While it does kind of suck that the first title doesn't have multiplayer, the sequel will at least remedy that.

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News:: New King of Fighters XIV character will be playable at EVO Japan

SNK have announced that visitors to the EVO Japan tournament, being held late next month, will be able to to get their hands on a new character, coming to King of Fighters XIV next year.

No information was given as to the challenger's identity, but the announcement did feature the image of a playing card, which strongly hints at the the return of KOF XI entrant Oswald. Oswald fought with a peculiar stance and used playing cards as weapons, (including a move literally called "Joker"). An original partner of former series protagonist Ash Crimson, Oswald has yet to return since his initial appearance.

Those wishing to try out the new character, whoever it may be, need only visit the studio's booth at the event, where you'll also be able to pick up a bunch of KOF and SNK-branded merch.

EVO Japan is being held in Akihabra, Tokyo on January 26-27. King of Fighters XIV is available now on PS4 and PC.

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News:: Take a deep dive into Cuphead's lengthy and arduous development process

Cuphead took the world by storm fairly quickly, selling like gangbusters and winning several awards before the year is even over -- but even if you've already 1000/1000-ed it this new video from Did You Know Gaming is worth a watch. This clip is probably one of their best, going over various homages in the game and a rundown of development.

There are some really cool tidbits in there, like how one of the developers identified with Luigi so heavily that he wanted to bring co-op into the mix with a different character, and how spouses and friends were involved in the creation process.  Another aspect of Cuphead that should be talked about more often is its soundtrack, which has various improvisations from its recording artists baked in.

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News:: Mega Man turns 30 this week, and finally has a lot to celebrate

For years we've been wondering if Mega Man would ever come back. Some people thought it was only a matter of time, and others saw the endless loop of compliations and merchandise paraded around while Capcom further placed an emphasis on remakes and remasters. Now that could still be the case if Mega Man 11 doesn't take off, but given that this has been seven years in the making I don't see the Blue Bomber's return crashing and burning out of the gate.

All of this excitement came right before the actual 30th anniversary of Mega Man, which actually arrived this week, on December 17. That's when the first Mega Man game on NES was released in both Japan and the US in 1987, which catapulted the character into stardom and allowed Capcom to pump out myriad sequels and spinoffs for over two decades.

Although City Connection was the first platformer I ever played, followed by Super Mario Bros., Mega Man was when I realized I was truly into gaming as a hobby, and not just as a way to pass the time. Over the years I experienced a relationship with the series, creating my first website dedicated to it with a friend (creating guides and providing news), developing a passion for games writing in the process.

It seems like Capcom got the message, but I really hope that they handle this new entry with care -- and if it's a hit, please take some time to handle the next entry with care.

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News:: Shantae's pal Rottytops wins vote to become next CharaGumin figurine

Rottytops has been selected as next Half-Genie Hero character to get the CharaGumin figure treatment, having been chosen by fans to receive her very own resin model.

Rottytops, the goofy, zombified gal-pal of Shantae, won a poll on held Twitter to decide which character would be next to be immortalised (no pun intended) in the Volks range. Rotty beat out pirate queen Risky Boots by a mere 2%. Damn, there's gonna be some Tinkerbats getting screamed at tonight.

The poll pushed for European and Japanese fans to vote too, which is a bit rich considering they made the last figurine completely unavailable for shipping outside of the U.S. and Canada. This left many fans, such as myself, pretty bummed. Hopefully that won't be the case in regards to distribution this time around, but I'd personally rather have all of these figurines, or none at all.

There is no further info about Rotty's release, but we'll keep you up to date as new details surface.

Rottytops wins CharaGumin figurine vote [Twitter]

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News:: Review: Burgle Bros. (PC)

Co-op games make me happy. Although I'm always down for a good competitive experience, there's something about teaming up with people, whether it's dear friends or strangers, and putting your heads together to solve a common problem.

Burgle Bros. is one of my favorite realizations of that concept, even if the digital conversion is a little rough around the edges.

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News:: PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds storms into the Top Five of the UK Charts

Last week saw the Xbox One release of open-world shooter, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, parachute straight into the number four position of the UK Charts, breaking a Top Five ranking that has been fairly concrete for a few weeks.

It wasn't enough, however, to shake Call of Duty: WWII from its firm hold at the top, where it seems a shoe-in to be Christmas number one next week. FIFA 18, Star Wars Battlefront II, Assassin's Creed: Origins and the awful WWE2K18 all retained their previous week's positions, with Super Mario Odyssey still performing very well at number six, and the unstoppable Crash Bandicoot: N.Sane Trilogy re-entering the Top Ten.

Elsewhere in the charts, Football Manager 2018 made a huge leap from number thirty to number fifteen, the franchise being a UK staple for generations. Zelda: Breath of the Wild, maintained its steady number seventeen slot, while Pokemon Ultras: Sun and Moon, continue their descent down the ranks.

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News:: Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle now has video capture capabilities

Nintendo and select third parties came out of the gate swinging with the Switch, as it's not even a year old and there's a ton of different experiences for it. One such oddball includes Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, a clever take on the turn-based grid strategy formula (commonly referred to as an SRPG).

Since its launch in August it's hosted all sorts of DLC, both paid and free, including a recent versus mode and video sharing. I've said many times that every Switch game should include video capture standard via Nintendo, but if that's not going to happen, having third parties like Ubisoft and Yacht Club Games implement it as quickly as possible is the next best thing.

As a reminder, Nintendo currently allows up to 30 seconds of capture time.

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News:: Black Clover: Quartet Knights trailer brings 4-on-4 anime warfare

This weekend, at both Jump Festa 2018 and their LEVEL UP event, Bandai Namco unveiled a trailer for their upcoming anime-action title Black Clover: Quartet Knights. The "third-person fantasy shooter", originally known as BC Project, will release sometime next year.

The new game, based on the recent manga and anime, will see characters from the series square off against each other in frantic 4-on-4 battles. Fights will take place on maps designed specifically to encourage tactical play, allowing for clever strategies, sneaky ambushes and high-ground advantage.

Smart team-builds, co-operative attacks and a keen aim will be needed to ensure victory for your gurning posse of warriors. Black Clover: Quartet Knights launches in 2018 on PS4, PC and Xbox One. Japan will only be getting the PS4 release of the game.

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News:: Did you like Star Wars: The Last Jedi?

When I posted my pretty glowing review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi the response was not quite what I was expecting. People seemed pretty grumpy and skeptical of the movie, which I thought did some wonderful things subverting the series staples and becoming a more meta conversation on the franchise as a whole. As the weekend went on my informal polling (read: Facebook and Twitter posts) showed that there was a bit of a split amongst those who had seen it, which, as we all know, is against the rules of the Internet. We all must have the same opinion and those that do not should be shunned and banished from saying words.

Considering the film now holds the record for the second best box office opening ever, sitting behind only its predecessor, The Force Awakens, I can safely assume everyone has seen it and as such would like to ask what you thought and why? It's been very interesting seeing folks come out of it with really negative responses while others enjoyed the heck out of it. For the most part people seem to at least like it, with a high score on RT from critics and a CinemaScore of A, but there is definitely a section of folks for whom it did not jive. Of course those people went to see the film too so it still pulled in $450 million world wide.

So let it all out and tell us what ruled or sucked. And listen, I know other people's opinion of Star Wars deeply affects your ability to live your life and continue to use normal bodily functions, but try to be civil when talking about this. If you haven't seen it you probably don't want to read below, I'm guessing folks will say things.

By the way, there were some people who saw other movies this weekend so there is actually a box office below. 

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