Tomorrow is the launch of Bluepoint's Shadow of the Colossus remake. To get people up to speed on what is new, Sony is holding a live stream event in roughly 30 minutes. This will show off some gameplay from the remake along with having staff reflections on the original title and some other fun stuff. It should make for a suitable way to get yourself hyped for tomorrow.
Now that football is done, it's time for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics to take center stage. NBC will make all the programming available for live viewing this year, which should be easy since so much of it will occur during prime time viewing hours. Check out the streaming schedule to find out when your favorite events will be on. For gamers, the big release this week is a throwback as Shadow of the Colossus debuts in rebuilt form on the PS4. On streaming, Netflix caught us all by surprise with The Cloverfield Paradox, but this weekend we'll check out the scheduled season finale of Star Trek: Discovery on CBS All Access. Look after the break to check out each day's highlights, including trailers and let us know what you think (or what we missed).
That MLB The Show 18's first gameplay trailer released today is no coincidence. Baseball junkies use the end of the Super Bowl as their official designation to start counting down the days until pitchers and catchers report to spring training. The crack of the bat and the smell of leather ain't far away.
Days before the regular season starts, MLB The Show '18 will release on March 27. Although Yankee wonder boy Aaron Judge is the cover athlete, his spotlight is somewhat stolen today. Yankee legend Babe Ruth has been confirmed as a playable character in The Show 18. As Polygon notes, this is his first video game appearance since MVP Baseball 2005 (which is also the best baseball game ever made).
Babe Ruth, Ken Griffey Jr., and Pee Wee Reese are the three Legends team players shown in the video (let me know if I missed any!), but there will be plenty more revealed in the seven weeks weeks before The Show launches. There were nearly 100 legends in last year's game, and that number seems set to go up again this year. Over on the PlayStation Blog, developer SIE San Diego Studio details its rigorous schedule of reveals and live streams that go through the end of March.
Subnautica is a lonesome and oftentimes harrowing underwater survival game, so the rare moments of levity you might come across on the game's hostile alien planet are worth cherishing while they last. Here's one such unexpected moment that also doubles as a chance to talk up a neat mechanic.
While Subnautica is a solo adventure through and through, players do get the opportunity to prepare and drop a time capsule for others to discover in their game world. You can place several items inside the capsule along with a personalized note and a screenshot. That's the setup. Now, here's the tragedy.
One player, Indoor Snowman, found a time capsule full of fish and ate them without hesitation. It's a survival game -- food is food! Except when it isn't. It turns out they weren't just any fish.
in subnautica, when players leave the planet, they can leave a time capsule of items for other players. i found one full of fish and i just thought "lame" and ate them all. going through my pda i realized the capsules come with messages and i discovered this. pic.twitter.com/PGQxFDNJYQ
— Indoor Snowman (@indoorsnowman) February 4, 2018
Funnily enough, the creator of the pet-filled capsule found this Twitter thread and responded.
"IT'S ABSOLUTELY OKAY," said Tikara (R.C). "I'm actually loving all these reactions and seeing what people do with these fish, accidental or not lmao. You're good."
"That's such a relief," replied Indoor Snowman. "I felt so guilty knowing I accidentally ate someone's beloved pets lmao. If I come across the capsule in another playthrough I will definitely take good care of them and redeem myself."
Lesson learned. Read before you eat!
Indoor Snowman [Twitter via PCGamesN]
Three more 3DS titles have joined the Nintendo Selects library. As of this weekend, you'll be able to find Super Mario 3D Land, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, and Ultimate NES Remix for $20 a piece. That reduced pricing covers retail copies and digital versions on the 3DS eShop.
Super Mario 3D Land, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, and Ultimate NES Remix for Nintendo #3DS are available now for only $19.99 each! https://t.co/xmOjrWiTmL pic.twitter.com/bNlVe1CCIX
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 5, 2018
"The Nintendo 3DS characteristics, price points, and play styles differ from Nintendo Switch, and we intend to continue the Nintendo 3DS business separately and in parallel," the company recently told investors. "We will continue to use its installed base and rich software library in our business."
When Nintendo does finally move on from the 3DS for good, the system will be fondly remembered.
Nintendo Selects 2018 [Nintendo]
Mobile eSports are becoming a big deal. Last year, mobile MOBA Vainglory's big eSports tournament was backed by Amazon. Supercell put on a Clash Royale $1 million tournament last summer, too. Now China's Tencent Games is getting in on the action with plans for a series of eSport tournaments, beginning with the Arena of Valor World Cup in July of this year. The contest will take place in Los Angeles and offer a prize pool of more than $500,000, according to the press release.
Source: Tencent
A lot of you probably know about Risk of Rain, which is wonderful. It's a gem of an action-platformer roguelike and we're getting another one. How about Deadbolt? Hopoo Games' tricky grim reaper stealth title didn't resonate the same way, but it's also good! And it's getting a revival of sorts.
Code Mystics is porting Deadbolt to PlayStation 4 and Vita (with cross-buy) on February 20.
It's a tough game on PC as is and I have to imagine it'll be even tougher without mouse aiming, but if you're up for cracking some tense puzzle-like stealth scenarios, it's most definitely worth a look.
Stealth Action Game Deadbolt Launches February 20 on PS4, PS Vita [PlayStation Blog]
Toward the end of last year, a strangely thought-provoking question surfaced in the Nintendo community: is Toad wearing a hat? Or is that whole mushroom top his head? Dorkly raised the question, presented some convincing evidence, and Team Head and Team Hat have been going at it since.
Nintendo officially addressed this Important Matter today, among others.
"So that, as it turns out, is actually Toad's head," says Super Mario Odyssey producer Yoshiaki Koizumi, confirming our deepest fears. "I'm going to have to leave it to all of you to figure out exactly how that works out. Maybe there's something inside..."
He also covered another pressing question: Why does Mario have nipples, but no belly button?
"I didn't really expect that to be a topic among fans," Koizumi admits. "Once I heard that people were talking so much about Mario's belly button, it made me start to think about whether we should revisit the topic on the design side."
Not exactly a proper answer, but given this Toad development, that's probably for the best.
The next time Nintendo does a Q&A, I want to hear about the Great Ape War.
With the release of DUSK onto Steam Early Access last month, old-school first-person shooter fans have been in heaven. The game captures the glory of games like Quake and Doom while providing modern compatibility and startling creativity. What more could you possibly want? How else will this game expand?
To figure out where this modern classic is going, I chatted with New Blood Games producer Dave Oshry and DUSK designer David Szymanski and asked about the upcoming Episode Three, mod support, and the creative process behind building the levels we already have. It turns out that Quake wasn’t the only thing on David’s mind.
Early last year, we reported that Donnie Yen was set to star in a film based on the game Sleeping Dogs. He would honestly be perfect for the role, seeing as how Sleeping Dogs is basically a hodgepodge of a bunch of Yen's previous films. Without even announcing the film was shooting, Donnie Yen took to Instagram to confirm that production has stated on the project.
A significant number of employees have been laid off from Capcom Vancouver today. Capcom confirmed the news to us shortly after Kotaku first reported it.
In a statement to Destructoid, a Capcom representative said "Capcom Vancouver has undergone a restructure which has impacted approximately 30 percent of the studio, as part of its regular periodic assessment of upcoming projects and overall studio goals. The team is continuing to work hard to support the recent release of Puzzle Fighter for mobile and is dedicated to its flagship Dead Rising series."
The Kotaku story estimates that 50 employees were let go, and LinkedIn puts the studio size at 250 people. The "approximately 30 percent" figure seems to be more or less in line with a 50-person estimate.
Although Capcom officially says it's a restructure as a result of a "regular periodic assessment," Kotaku's sources have more specific information. It seems that Capcom wants to "cut scope" on the next Dead Rising title, presumably to make it smaller and more focused. It's a plausible shift after Dead Rising 4 mostly failed to gain much traction.
As always, our best wishes go out to the former Capcom Vancouver employees who were affected by today's layoffs.
Source: Capcom Lays Off Staff, Cuts Scope On Next Dead Rising [Kotaku]
The PlayStation 4 version of Shadow of the Colossus will release tomorrow, and we've already told you it's a fantastic remake of an incredible game. For some people, it will represent their third opportunity to happily play through this all-time classic. For others (like me for example), it's their first chance to see what all the fuss is about.
This article is not for that latter group. We're going to revisit our personal favorite colossi. If you've never played this game, do yourself a favor and close this tab. Come back after you've experienced them all first-hand.
There are 16 colossi in Shadow of the Colossus and they're all capable of burning special memories into the minds of everyone who encounters them. For creatures that are all lumped under the nondescript banner of "colossus," there's a staggering degree of variance. Big and small; water, sea, and land; aggressive and docile -- no two of these are alike and that's why there's no clear best colossus.
Raise your hand if you saw this one coming? Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is now Dwayne Johnson's biggest domestic box office success, and that means it's grossed more than any of his Fast and Furious films. It's just been a perfect storm for the movie. There's been no competition, it's got strong word of mouth, and its biggest holiday competitors were front loaded with massive box offices so everyone already saw them.
This is the reality we live in.
Not that claiming number one this weekend was anything that impressive. No one goes to movies on Super Bowl weekend, and even less people go when nothing new is opening. It only took $11 million to top the box office this weekend, which was paltry even for this time of year. 50 Shades Freed should kick this slump slightly, but nothing is going to move real money until Black Panther lands.
Monster Hunter has made the jump to modern consoles, and with it comes a brand new audience. I love seeing more and more people experience the series for the first time, just as I did not too long ago.
Where do I even begin? There is a lot to take in while playing Monster Hunter in any capacity, and there can seem to be an endless string of tutorials thrown at you early on. Many of those things will eventually seep into your brain, but for now, here are some tips to help you along the way.
Dr. Disrespect, one of Twitch's most popular streamers, is making his return today after a seven-week hiatus. In mid-December, shortly after winning the Trending Gamer award at The Game Awards, Dr. Disrespect announced he would be taking a break from streaming to focus on marital and family issues. Now he's back but not without some hangups.
When trying to launch his stream at 11am Pacific, Dr. Disrespect's influx of viewers accidentally torpedoed Twitch's servers. The Doc tweeted that he broke Twitch. Even though he wasn't yet live, the subscriptions kept rolling in.
It's a problem that Twitch probably should've been able to anticipate given that this same thing happened in January. When League of Legends antihero Tyler1 made his return at the beginning of 2018, Twitch also crashed under the strain of his viewership. That was the same stream where Tyler1 smashed Twitch's concurrent viewers record with an audience of more than 400,000.
Twenty-some minutes later, it was resolved and The Doc's stream went live. Predictably, he's going to play some PUBG. Tyler1 should be on notice, though. A few minutes into the show and Dr. Disrespect's sitting around 335,000 concurrents. The servers might not be the only thing that gets broken today.
DrDisrespectLive [Twitch]
Responding to a fan on twitter, developers of open-world survival title DayZ have announced that the game will finally be arriving on Xbox One this year, as part of the console's Game Preview range of work-in-progress titles.
DayZ has been in Early Access on Steam since 2013, where it has attracted a large fanbase due to its tense action and morally ambiguous adventures, selling over 3 million copies just in its first few years. Bohemia Interactive are hoping to finally push the PC edition into its Beta stage in 2018, some five years since the game first swung open its blood-spattered doors.
Once PC DayZ reaches Beta, then plans are to launch the title on Xbox One. Although there is still a PS4 version of the game planned, according to this tweet, it is yet to be given even a roughly-estimated time of arrival.
DayZ is now available on PC via Steam Early Access.
This past weekend on the PC version of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, the "Nuclear Disarmament" event was triggered. For those unaware, this is one of the "hidden" events in the game that was to be unveiled once users online disarmed all of their nuclear weapons. It was supposed to be a moment where gamers could come together and realize that violence isn't the answer. Obviously that hasn't occurred, so why did the event trigger?
Konami, surprising no one, doesn't know. Taking to Twitter, the company has confirmed that the event triggered prematurely. The global nuke count for the PC version is not at zero, so this event shouldn't even be happening. They are still looking into what happened so that they can prevent this kind of thing from happening again.
You've probably seen a DJMax setup at a convention or an arcade, but the series has rarely been released on home consoles or portables in the west. It's mostly stuck to South Korea with very few exceptions since 2004, which is insane given that the import scene is so active (I was given a figure of 100,000 in sales in the US without localizations for select titles).
That's why it's so crazy that DJMax Respect is hitting the PS4 worldwide, in one of the biggest marketing pushes in the history of the series. I caught up with Seung-shul Baek, Director of Development at Neowiz, to see how this herculean task even came about.
The "Stick vs Pad" debate when it comes to fighting games rages on, despite its utter irrelevance. It ultimately comes down to personal comfort, and can even change between games. For example, I use a stick for all Street Fighter titles, but never for Mortal Kombat games.
For Dragon Ball FighterZ, I'm training on a Fightpad, due to the emphasis on dashes and air-dashes, and I double-tap far better on a D-Pad than on a stick. I also like having spare fingers resting permanently on the Tag buttons. However, all my sweet tech has been blown out of the water, by Canadian gamer Gregory Chow.
Chow turned up to Ontario's "Revenge of the 6ix" tournament this weekend armed not with a stick, nor a pad, or even one of those chunky Hitboxes, but with a keyboard controller from Harmonix' rhythm-action game Rock Band. Chow proceeded to tinkle the ivories all over his opponents, with his sonatas ultimately taking his team of Trunks, Cell and Goku through five matches and into the top eight.
A video of Gregory in concert can be seen below, along with a photo, courtesy of Even Matchup Gaming's TorontoJoe. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a date with Android 21 and a PS1 dance mat.
Dragon Ball FighterZ player makes top eight with Rock Band keyboard [Event Hubs]
Some people aren't happy about change. While I find the new Miramar map in PUBG to be a breath of fresh air after playing Erangel fifty billion times, others have been going to extreme measures to avoid playing it.
Hilariously, avoiding the new map is as easy as deleting the file in your PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds directory. Once the file is gone the game's lobby system automatically boots you out of the session and takes you back to the main menu. At that point you can keep queuing until you get the original map.
PUBG Corp is combating this by announcing their own anti-cheat measures that not only block third-party programs, but also flags players and possibly bans them for altering or deleting files -- a clear response to the Miramar situation.
Players don't seem to be happy with the changes within the official post, saying they're "not enough," and that the real solution is to region lock China, where they claim a lot of the cheaters reside. We've reached out to PUBG Corp to see if we can get a handle on their long term plans to combat cheating beyond these initial measures.
Anti-Cheat Update [Steam]
