News:: Comments of the Week 30: Give 'im a Big Hand

So, I know this submission is a little late.

Trust me, I hate myself more than you hate me.

I decided to be a good housemate and cook a full-blown Sunday Roast dinner for the others living with me. As such, that meant checking the meat was cooked and upon attempting to stick the skewer into the meat, somebody jogged the table, the meat fell, and I accidentally stabbed my hand instead.

Writing this down makes it sound more cartoonish than it already does when stated audibly. That's the last time I decide to be nice.

But I'm back, better than ever and ready to give you all the best comments of the week. Well... last week. Whatever, you get the point.

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News:: The upcoming Catherine remake was made with the competitive community in mind

Competitive Catherine isn't something one generally thinks of as an eSport, but it's had a budding scene for many years, including EVO appearances off the main stage (and some sponsored by Atlus directly). The thing is, it had to be in spurts; shared through streaming or big-time events, as the PS3 original was local-only. That's changing with the PS4 edition, and folks are stoked about it.

Speaking to Kotaku, competitive Catherine player (again I love that this is a thing) David Broweleit explains it best: There’s this phenomenon at tournaments...where people walking by will say, ‘I was watching a couple matches and it was awesome, does it have netplay?’ And I always had to let them down. It’s like, I’m out in Albany, Toronto, whatever, it’s always some place that doesn’t have a local scene. And this is just so empowering that we’re going to have the ability for anyone to jump online. It unites the people that can’t possibly have a local scene. Not everywhere is a mecca, not everywhere is a city that can have a prosperous local scene."

It doesn't just open doors with online play and an updated platform, but Atlus also has the opportunity to make tweaks to the competitive portions of the game on updated hardware. Broweleit hopes that some of the issues with the original are fixed (map balancing, bugs, or the nefarious "pinning" mechanic), but given how receptive Atlus has been to the community, I think he'll get his wish.

David Broweleit [Twitter via Kotaku]

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News:: Level-5 is turning 20 soon, and they're going to celebrate

Level-5, the company known for hits like Professor Layton and Yo-Kai Watch, is turning 20 next year. In October of 2018 to be exact, and its CEO, Akihiro Hino has something planned to celebrate. While we're not exactly sure what that is, he did hint drop that it's going to be a 'major title.'

We do know that Level-5 is currently developing titles for the Switch, and that they're working on a Layton, game, which could tell us all we have to know indirectly right there. Also remember that Inafune's Comcept was taken in by Level-5, so they could be toiling away at something too to make up for Mighty No. 9.

Given Level-5's stable there's a lot of potential things to consider here, but we'll know more in 2018.

Level-5 [Famitsu via Japanese Nintendo]

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News:: Contest: Win a 3-day badge for PAX South!

'Twas the day after Christmas, and all through the South,
Mr. Dtoid had PAX badges to give away, and also never learned how to rhyme

That's our special holiday song we like to sing when we have 15 badges for PAX South to give away. And since we're singing it, that means we have 15 badges for PAX South to give away!

PAX South is going down January 12-14, 2018 in San Antonio, TX. The super special 3-day badges are all sold out, but guess what - we have a bunch to give out as late Christmas/Hanukkah/non-religious-festive-holiday prezzies. Everyone likes a nice prezzie.

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News:: Live trivia hit HQ comes to Android on January 1st

Intermedia Labs is making good on its promise to deliver HQ for Android by the holidays, if only just. The company has revealed that it's planning to make its previously iOS-only live trivia show available to "all" Android users by January 1st. The app arrived in limited beta on Christmas, and Intermedia is "working quickly" to expand availability over the following week. In short, just wait until the new year if you can't jump in right away.

Source: HQ Trivia (Twitter), Google Play

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News:: Monster Hunter: World final live stream planned for January

Capcom's advertising and information feed for their highly-anticipated adventure Monster Hunter: World has been nothing less than extraordinary. By now, many of you will have had the opportunity to get your hands on the open-world title, and may be eagerly awaiting it's launch next month.

Well, Capcom still have one more information burst planned before the big day, and will be broadcasting in Japan on January 5, taking a final look at the game's features and creatures. The stream will be hosted by Monster Hunter: World's director Yuya Tokuda, producer Ryozo Tsujimoto and art director Kaname Fujioka.

The live stream can be watched on YouTube right here. It is scheduled for broadcast on January 5 at 19:30 JST. Monster Hunter: World will be released worldwide on January 26, for PS4 and Xbox One. A PC release is planned for a later date.

Monster Hunter: World Winter live stream [YouTube]

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News:: The PSN Holiday Sale added some excellent games

That monster of a holiday sale on PlayStation Network continues this week with more deals.

Many of the games that showed up last week are still on sale, and as far as what's newly discounted today, well, we've got some real winners. Here are some that caught my eye:

• Bloodborne Complete Edition ($17.49) ($13.99 w/ PS Plus)
• Gravity Rush 2 ($23.99) ($19.99 w/ PS Plus)
• Gravity Rush Remastered ($14.99) ($11.99 w/ PS Plus)
• Oxenfree ($6.99) ($4.99 w/ PS Plus)
• Pyre ($11.99) ($9.99 w/ PS Plus)
• The Last Guardian ($23.99) ($19.99 w/ PS Plus)
• Uncharted 4: A Thief's End ($23.99) ($19.99 w/ PS Plus)
• Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection ($9.99) ($7.99 w/ PS Plus)
• Yakuza 0 ($35.99) ($29.99 w/ PS Plus)

If it were up to me, everybody would spend the rest of the year with Bloodborne and/or Yakuza 0.

Also, if you're looking for a local co-op game (I spent an absurd amount of time trying to find something new for my family to play over the holiday weekend), I'd recommend Human: Fall Flat. We put it down shortly after starting because we couldn't make sense of the climbing controls, but then we gave it another shot and did the rest of it in one sitting. Like Overcooked, I desperately want a sequel.

Holiday Sale Week 3 [PlayStation Store]

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News:: Rime developers still unsure on how they're going to fix the Switch version

Rime was a pretty decent game. I dug what the team was going for, and although the puzzles weren't nearly as impressive as its aesthetics, it was worth playing through. That sentiment doesn't include the Switch edition sadly, as Tantalus Media, the studio involved with the port, have been having myriad issues with it, begging the question as to why it was released in the first place.

Even a full month after the fact, there are issues with the port that will likely never get fixed. Take it straight from the community manager: "Last month we shared that our teams were aware of the FPS, resolution and hitches players were facing on the Switch version of RiME. We committed to investigate these issues further, and to explore what our next steps might be. We wanted to let you know our teams have been continuing to research potential solutions for some of these issues. To be clear, some aspects of the game are beyond a patch-level fix, but there are changes that can be made to improve some elements."

They call the whole situation a "balancing act," and are "still investigating" fixes, with more information to come in January. "Yikes" is pretty much my only response for this.

Rime [Greybox]

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News:: Persona Dancing titles have no Story Mode but will feature 'Character Interactions'

The latest issue of Famitsu features some minor new details on upcoming rhythm-action games Persona 5: Dancing Moon Night and Persona 3: Dancing Star Night, which recently unveiled a ton of info via Atlus' Christmas Eve live stream.

According to the Japanese magazine, the game's development teams are busting their asses to produce both games in alignment with each other, ahead of their Spring 2018 release. All the characters have been assigned specific dancer models in order to best reflect the character's personalities. This will also be apparent in the Duo Dances, where the two dancers will interact with amusing choreography.

As well as all the abundance of costumes planned, (probably through the also-confirmed DLC), players will be able to customise the hair and eye-colours of their favourite characters. Though anyone changing Makoto's from their bewitching red will have me to answer to.

Neither Star nor Moon will feature a Story Mode. However, a replacement mode is planned, which will feature "character interactions" We'll have to hang on a little longer for more info on this intriguing new addition, however.

Persona 3: Dancing Moon Night and Persona 5: Dancing Star Night are set for release in Japan May 24, 2018 on PS4 and PS Vita. A box set including Persona 4: Dancing All Night will also be available.

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News:: Playing Arika's Fighting EX Layer is fun when everything falls into place

Arika, as part of an April Fool's Day joke, showed off a new fighting game that looked a lot like its formerly-developed Street Fighter EX series. To make matters weirder in an already weird 2017, Arika announced that it was pursuing development of this fighting game, but had yet to even give it a title. 

Months had passed as Arika's "Mysterious Fighting Game" added characters, a Gougi system, yet still no name. But, here we are, playing an open beta of the now-titled Fighting EX Layer, but while the frame is there, there's still much more work to be done. 

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News:: Destiny 2 ads are popping up on PS4 Dashboards

Christmas has come and gone, and with it a lot of shiny new game systems have been brought into homes all around the world. Sony and Activision have thus seized the opportunity to push a sneaky, sneaky ad on your PS4 dashboard (similar to the "Gift" system on 3DS).

After turning my PS4 on today, I was greeted with a Destiny 2 icon on my game list. I do not own Destiny 2. This isn't a new feature, as a similar stunt was pulled with the first Destiny. Still, knowing how to get rid of the ad -- and future deceptive content of the same nature -- might be relevant to you today, so here's how you do it:

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News:: Xenoblade Chronicles 2's Pyra is getting her own figurine

Like all JRPGs Xenoblade Chronicles 2 had its issues that turned off some folks, but as a whole I think it's been just as successful as its predecessors. As people continue to play through this behemoth Nintendo is keen to churn out more promotions and DLC hints, including this newly announced Pyra statue from Good Smile Company.

It's a 1/7th scale rendition due out in April of 2018. This thing is 19,800 yen, which translates to roughly $175. Without spoiling too much I kind of wish it was a double-pack with another Aegis-related character, but this one looks nice all the same.

Pyra [Amazon.jp]

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News:: New Shenmue III video interview with Yu Suzuki

Although the very, very, very long-awaited sequel Shenmue III is currently on track to see a release toward the end of next year, details on the game's progress are still cloudy. Fortunately for fans, Ys Net have released a new video interview with project lead Yu Suzuki to talk a little about the current state of play.

The interview -- titled "Then, Now and Tomorrow" -- is conducted by lead animator Hiroaki Takeuchi and features Suzuki, creator of Sega classics such as OutRun and Space Harrier, briefly discussing the challenges faced in development so far.

Suzuki touches upon the process used to readapt the game's fight scenes (though clearly they aren't moving away from being QTE-based), as well as the difficulties in selecting appropriate voice actors for the fork-lift loving Ryo and his chums. Mention is also made of the consistent improvement of the game's visuals, which received some mockery earlier this year.

You can check out the "Then, Now and Tomorrow" interview below. Shenmue III is currently scheduled for release on PS4 and PC late in 2018.

Then, Now and Tomorrow interview with Yu Suzuki [Ys Net]

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News:: New Devil May Cry announced for smartphones in China

Well, I didn't want to qualify a new mainline Devil May Cry release like that, but this is happening.

According to MMO Culture, Chinese developer Yunchang Game has acquired the rights from Capcom directly to create a Devil May Cry mobile game that will focus on the combat system. It's appropriately called Devil May Cry: Pinnacle of Combat, will be powered by Unity 3D, and will feature online play as well as real-time PVP and "team battles." No specific platforms have been confirmed yet but these days most things get an Android and iOS release.

I generally don't write anything off (including mobile games), but I'm foreseeing lots of "daily login bonus" pop-ups and multiple currencies based on the series' multi-colored jewels. Given the hiatus that the Real Dante has been through, this only gives more fuel for the "Devil May Cry 5" rumor fire.

Devil May Cry [MMO Culture]

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News:: Dr. Robotnik's Christmas party triggers me

If you're spending this Boxing Day morning picking up after friends, family, or perhaps yourselves, then take heart in the fact that gaming's greatest tyrants are suffering alongside you.

In a new skit released by Sega to celebrate the festive season, Dr. Robotnik nee Eggman is feeling pretty dang lonely Christmas day, yearning for the company of that hedgehog he hates and his pals.

Surprise! The gang shows up to bring festive cheer and glad tidings Robotnik's way, which is pretty kind of the anthropomorphic posse... but maybe they could take their damn shoes off indoors? Like, I know it's a party, but it's still someone else's house. And I'm pretty sure drinks coasters are a thing...

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News:: Buried ‘Destiny’ soundtrack ‘Music of the Spheres’ leaks

An epic game deserves an epic soundtrack, and Music of the Spheres, an eight-part musical work by Bungie composer Marty O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori and Paul McCartney (yes, of Beatles fame), was exactly that, designed to complement Bungie's ambitious Destiny. But, thanks to quarrels with publisher Activision and various other legal battles, it was never released. Now, nearly five years later, it's been leaked and can be enjoyed by fans of Destiny and sweeping soundscapes alike. Until Activision bursts in with copyright law, that is.

Via: Kotaku

Source: Soundcloud

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News:: 'Star Trek: Bridge Crew' drops its VR headset requirement

There's no question that Star Trek: Bridge Crew benefits from VR -- it helps fulfill that fantasy of helming a starship. Most people don't have the VR headset you need to play the game, however, which makes gathering a crew rather difficult. Red Storm and Ubisoft's solution? Make the game playable for everyone. It just released a "non-VR" update that makes the game playable for anyone with a PS4 or sufficiently capable PC. You can play with others whether or not they have headsets, and there are even graphical enhancements for non-VR players to take advantage of the lighter processing requirements.

Via: Rock Paper Shotgun

Source: Ubisoft

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