Katamari Damacy has one of the most amazing and instantly recognizable soundtracks I've ever heard and pretty soon you'll be able to own it on vinyl all thanks to Mondo.
The site is going to start taking pre-orders for the LP this coming Wednesday. For the cover art, Mondo has gone with a pretty obvious take on The Creation of Adam featuring the King of All Cosmos and the Prince.
We're in a wonderful time frame that we don't see very often: a time frame between the announcement and release of a new Super Smash Bros. It's a magical time of rampant speculation, character predictions, and people arguing on the internet whether or not Ridely is too big for Smash.
But, Javed L. Sterritt, an Australian YouTuber, proposes something different. He proposes...
"Oh, you actually know the rules of golf? We don't. We don't know anything about golf. Everything is golf." These four sentences -- or some variation of them -- were most of the conversation I had with guys from Triband, the developer behind What the Golf.
Yes, I know golf and Triband has mostly hit its mark in being intentionally not-golf. Swatting a thing toward another thing is about as golf as What the Golf manages to get. Through the early part of my approximately 30-hole demo, it was a lot of miniature golf inspiration -- putting a ball through and around obstacles to reach a cup. Eventually, it turned into soccer. Sometimes a soccer net would go hurtling forward instead of the ball.
And that's the irreverence Triband tries hard for. It's perfectly aloof in its approach. There's nothing serious about any of it, as it makes a mockery of a sport that's traditionally dead serious. This is evidently clear by the time I reach the Superhot-themed levels that have my ball pick up a gun and dodge enemies' bullets.
However, What the Golf can't dodge the weird dissonance between not caring about golf and needing to have some sort of video game objective. Every level that I saw had one goal: Get the ball to the end point. The demo wrapped by telling me exactly how many strokes I took and how that compared to the day's best performance. What the Golf hits the player over the head with the notion that they shouldn't care about golf, and then it evaluates them in the only logical way -- by the rules of golf.
But most people probably won't care much about that disconnect. They'll just be thrilled at the idea of golf by way of Tim and Eric-type flippant attitude. What the Golf seems like it'll accomplish that in a way that's fun enough. But don't believe the "we don't know anything about golf" shtick. Designing a game that is golf at its core requires an understanding of the sport. Maybe Triband doesn't care about eagles and birdies and slices and bunkers. But it wants you to hit something from here to there, and that is golf to a tee.
We're about to hit the 20th anniversary of StarCraft, which in most circles, is a big deal. StarCraft is coming back in a big way, with a full-on remaster on top of a bigger push for StarCraft II, as well as a Blizzard initiative to just give out the original StarCraft and Brood War for free.
Two decades later and its initial shockwave is still felt -- even in other games like Heroes of the Storm.
Folks who nabbed the demo originally were able to play far more of Yakuza 6 than the developers ever intended, and once the publisher got wind of the gaffe, it took the demo off the storefront and revoked access for those who had already managed to download it. It's back up today, and while your save data will carry over to the full game, any Trophies you unlock will need to be earned again.
For those of you who made it far into the original demo build, the fixed demo "should be unable to load save data past that point, but the full game will be able to load it just fine," per Sega.
Yakuza 6 is out April 17. Meanwhile, I'm over here contemplating starting Yakuza Kiwami. (I got the game in a holiday sale along with Yakuza 0, which was my first exposure to the series; I adored it.) With Kiwami 2 confirmed for August in the West, I feel like I'll never catch up with this series.
In the midst of all the neon pixels, gun blasts, stylized narrative adventures and action-packed space romps scattered around the Indie Megabooth at GDC, Skye immediately caught my eye. It was crisp and bright, showcasing a rich fantasy world in a soft, cartoonish 3D style. Something about it was soothing at first sight -- perhaps it was the way the main character, a bright blue dragon, soared around the valley like a serpentine kite. Maybe it was the lush green grass draped over the landscape and its series of floating islands.
Whatever the reason, this is precisely the vibe that Skye developers at Puny Astronaut are going for: Eye-catching calm. And, so far, they're succeeding.
First-person shooter games are dime a dozen, but every now and then there's one that stands out from the pack. That's exactly the case with Gunhead, an open world title from Alientrap, the same indie developer that brought you the gorgeous 2D platformer Apotheon. The game, which quietly debuted at SXSW 2018 last week and is here at GDC 2018, features visuals reminiscent of films like A Scanner Darkly, the animated sci-fi thriller from 2006. Gunhead's artwork feels cartoonish, yet polished, with dark, vibrant colors that pop as you travel between spaceships in your role as a pirate mech with a gun for a head.
Paragon may be on the way out, but Epic Games is making the most of the MOBA's demise.
It's giving away a bunch of game assets for developers to use as they see fit in Unreal Engine 4, including the "base meshes, textures, skins, animations, abilities and character FX, and dialogue" for 20 different Paragon characters. There's also free environmental assets and a sample map.
"The assets, built at a cost of over $12,000,000, encompasses 20 triple-A characters and over 1,500 environment components from Paragon," says Epic. "Download the Paragon packs for free and use them in your own UE4 projects, with no strings attached!" That even goes for commercial projects.
The company plans to release more characters later this spring and summer. If you've ever tinkered with game development, you'll know how helpful stuff like this can be. Smart move on Epic's part.
I'm pretty sure I'm not alone when I say that Rick and Morty is one of the best shows that is currently airing on Adult Swim. Between its pitch black sense of humor and its wild adventures, the show hit a sweet spot for a lot of people and it's developed a pretty ravenous fanbase. Granted, this fanbase is pretty extreme and will be quick to kill a man over dipping sauce, but at least the show is good!
Well for those of you waiting with baited breath for season 4 to come out, I have some bad news for you. No, not the fact that it's going to take until 2019 to be released. Actually, the next season isn't even in production yet. No scripts have been written, no animation has been done, nothing. Rick and Morty has entered production limbo.
According to Dan Harmon, who opened up on Twitter recently about the next season, he flat out states that the show has not been ordered by Adult Swim for a fourth season, which is pretty strange given how the show averaged more viewers in its third season than the second. I'm sure this is only a temporary stopgap and Rick and Morty fans will get their fix eventually. Hell, just look at how long Venture Bros. fans have to wait between seasons for just a single new episode. It's been over two years since a new episode Adult Swim! Give us Venture Bros. season 7 dammit!
At the GDC 2018 Indie Megabooth on Monday, Silver Dollar Games showed off One Finger Death Punch 2, the sequel to its popular 2013 brawler. Fans of the original -- and fans of smash-em-ups in general -- are not going to be disappointed.
There's a lot of anniversary celebrations this year, and lumping Mega Man X in with its 25th annual existence is something that completely slipped my mind.
The unfathomably ahead of its time Mega Man X was released on December 17, 1993 on the SNES, and it seems like Capcom is acknowledging this with a special logo and some gear. As spotted by folks in Japan, the re-release of a collectible card set (Rockman X: Mega Missions) heralded in a special logo, the first of its kind for a non-"core" Mega Man series.
All we have to go on beyond some merch is that Capcom is re-releasing the Mega Man X series by way of its "Collection" line, but there might be something more in the works if they're going through the effort of crafting its own logo. While I doubt we'll see the announcement of Mega Man X at E3 or even this year (they really should see how Mega Man 11 goes first), I have a gut feeling that there's more than just merch printing in X's future.
Two weeks ago, Epic announced that its super popular Battle Royale mode for Fortnite will be coming to phones and tablets. While players debated how using touchscreens could ever be competitive against mouse-and-keyboard players, the game that made the genre a household name snuck up and dropped its own mobile version in the US. Right now, American players can download PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds for iOS or Android -- and both versions are free to play.
A range of squishy plush toys, based on the fantabulous creatures from mega-selling title Monster Hunter: World, has been revealed by Capcom. Also on the way is a Ghille Mantel-themed hoodie, for your own real-life camouflage needs.
The four super-cute plushies are of monsters Paolumu, Pukei-Pukei, Legiana and Zorah-Magdoras. Each plushie costs ¥2,000 (around $20) not including shipping or any customs charges. They will be available on the official Monster Hunter shop, as well as Capcom's official merch site, and at various stores throughout Japan from March 22. Adorable.
The Internet Archive has been saving gaming history for a while now. It's archived Amiga games (and apps), Macintosh stuff from the '80s (including Space Invaders) and a ton of other retro games you can play for free. Now the group has started collecting handheld games like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and Space Jam while also making them available to play in your web browser via MAME emulation.
It's hard to believe God of War is coming out on April 20. I mean at this point the marketing has been kind of a blur, and I have half a mind to believe that it's already out and I've completed it. But no it's still set for April 20, and this recent commercial from Sony sort of cements its final marketing cycle.
It also does a decent job of showcasing Kratos' son's growth, from a boy who refuses to hurt animals to a lightning arrow slinging daredevil. My one hope is that the relationship between the two is done in some sort of meaningful way -- and that Kratos doesn't pass the torch to his son just yet by its conclusion.
Another day, another tech conference. Now that SXSW is behind us, it's time for GDC 2018. We've arrived in San Francisco to cover the latest edition of the Game Developers Conference, where you can expect to see plenty of new indie titles, AR and VR projects and even films about the gaming industry. Oh, and Fortnite -- you know, we're definitely going to hear from Epic Games about its smash-hit.
Amazon and Facebook, meanwhile, have already made announcements of their own, and this week we'll speak to execs from both companies about their overall gaming strategies. To make sure you don't miss any news that come out of GDC, bookmark this page here.
Click here to catch up on the latest news from GDC 2018!
Atari's retro Ataribox console has been more sizzle than steak since it was first unveiled last summer, with delays and a distinct lack of game announcements dampening the enthusiasm. And unfortunately, that trend is mostly continuing today. The company has announced that it's rebranding the Ataribox as the Atari VCS in a nod to the 2600's little-used full name, and plans to show prototypes of the system, the Classic Joystick and the Modern Controller at the Game Developers Conference this week. However, that's about all it's showing.
Nintendo have tweeted a mysterious silhouette featuring roster members headed to mobile-battler Fire Emblem Heroes. The new characters are expected to arrive just a few days from now.
March 22 will see these new Special Heroes arrive in-game, alongside a login bonus. These additions may possibly coincide with the launch of a new Spring/Easter event. An extra map was also made available this weekend in Blessed Gardens: Grotto of Wind, and can be explored by teams of four Heroes who have wind blessings bestowed upon them.
Any idea who is hidden in the above image? It apparently features two characters, which put paid to my own theory of of it being one terrifying amalgamation of three warriors, body-horrored together like in Brian Yuzna's Society.
Fire Emblem Heroes is available now on iOS and Android devices.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance has built up a polarizing reputation for its obtuse systems, which are now made even more obtuse by a lovely mod called "Ultimate Realism Overhaul."
Billed as a sort of survival mode that's found in many other open world games, this player-created project basically boosts all of the stat requirements for items, takes away of lot of avenues to earn money (vendors pay you less), makes blocks tougher to pull off, and makes the leveling process slower. It's the sort of thing you don't want to even start until you've finished the game at least once.
The most amazing and immediate implication is that you'll be forced into sleeping on the street because inns are so expensive, which provides a whole new feel to the early game. I might mess with this mod soon enough to get that perfect feel down, as you can toggle which aspects you want to punish yourself with.
I can't wait for someone to beat it with a Guitar Hero controller.
Primo, known to his fans as Patobox, coulda been a contender. One of the best pugilists in history, and the pride of sponsors Deathflock, Patobox climbed to the beak peak of his profession, dropping challengers again and again, ultimately becoming the greatest of all-time...
And he did it all whilst having a duck's head.
But things have gotten rough for our boy Primo who, after falling in a controversial bout with up-and-comer Kilpatrick, was left dying, in an alley, in a pool of his own blood. Rescued by a smoky, guilt-riddled nurse, and having lost everything, Patobox makes his way to Deathflock's headquarters, vengeance burning in his beady little eyes.
So all through January and February we were all stunned at how long Jumanji was sitting pretty at number one and then number two, and then Black Panther walked up next to us smirked and said, "Hold my beer." Five weeks straight at number one, and it's not like the movie hasn't had some competition. Jumanji pulled off its roll by having almost no competition, while Black Panther has now gone up againstA Wrinkle in Time and Tomb Raider, the latter of which should have easily grabbed a number one slot from a five week old movie.
My initial question for this post was going to be about if you liked Tomb Raider or not, but I'm not certain all that many people saw it. Tomb Raider's opening wasn't all that great for a movie that reportedly cost upward of $100 million. The movie opened at $23.5 million, about 51 percent off what Angelina Jolie's Tomb Raider did, and that was in 2001. Overseas was a lot friendlier to the franchise, and it's not in danger of not making its costs back, but one has to assume that WB and MGM were hoping for a bit more cash domestically off of the name alone.
In an interview with GameSpot, Ubisoft revealed a few more details about dark shooter Far Cry 5, which is coming to consoles and PC a little over a week from now.
Executive Producer Dan Hay stated that the game's single-player campaign, which sees a small group of rag-tag civilians team with the player to take on terrifying doomsday cult Eden's Gate, will be playable offline. As long as your war against Joseph Seed and his monstrous kin consists of you alone, then you will not need an internet connection. Playing in co-op, or jumping on multiplayer will obviously require you to hook up to the information superhighway.
Also in the interview, Hay confirmed the presence of microtransactions, stressing that the game was designed to be "generous" with its unlocks, and that all items are cosmetic only. Ubisoft appears to be taking the industry-standard "Time-Saving" line, depicting such paid unlocks as favours for those who are too busy to grind. Recent hit Assassin's Creed Origins features similar "Time Saver Packs" in its DLC.
In related news, a new live action trailer was released for the open-world shooter just before the weekend, which sees a young man, with nowhere else to turn, given to falling under the influence of The Project and its leader, Joseph Seed. You can check it out below.
Far Cry 5 launches March 27 on PS4, Xbox One and PC.
If you were thinking of holding out for the HTC Vive Pro, you might want to reconsider after hearing the price. Pre-orders have opened for the new model, which packs built-in headphones and brings an increased resolution of 2880 x 1600. The headset is due out April 5 for a whopping $800.
There is a silver lining, though. If you're open to the original Vive, that has dropped down to $500. You'll get everything you need -- the HMD, the controllers, the base stations -- as well as Fallout 4 VR.
Clearly, they're going for the high-end market with the Pro. That's not surprising in and of itself, but $800 for just the head-mounted display (the existing controllers and base stations are compatible) is higher than I was expecting. If I had gotten the Vive at launch, I'd be sitting this one out for sure.
Just in time for Bloodborne becoming a free PlayStation Plus title earlier this month, artist Michael Ildmirkin showcases his early work-in-progress of a PS4 stand featuring the creepy messengers from the game itself!
For those curious, you can check out more angles and the different stages of development over at his Instagram account, or the Eject studio Facebook page. Michael also did say he plans on selling the stand once it's finished, although the legality in that is pretty much up in the air. Regardless, the stand looks absolutely incredible.
Google doesn't really make games on its own, but with Android it supports one of the biggest developer communities out there. As such, the company is sharing some news at the Game Developers Conference that'll be of interest to both players and devs alike: The "Instant App" technology that Google added to Android last year can now be used on games, as well.
It's been exactly five years since NVIDIA announced Volta, its next-generation GPU architecture. The closest thing to a Volta consumer graphics card we've seen since is the Titan V, a $3,000 offering targeted at scientists that was announced three months ago. Well, today at GDC, NVIDIA is... still not announcing a new GeForce card based on Volta. What it's doing instead is teasing that Volta cards will have some exclusive GameWorks features.
The new features are part of "RTX," a "highly scalable" solution that, according to the company, will "usher in a new era" of real-time ray tracing. Keeping with the acronyms, RTX is compatible with DXR, Microsoft's new ray tracing API for DirectX. To be clear, DXR and RTX will support older graphics cards; it's only the special GameWorks features that will be locked to "Volta and future generation GPU architectures."
Bandai Namco has been pushing Summer Lesson, a PSVR game in which you can interact with students as a tutor, pretty hard.
So hard in fact that it's crossing over into more big franchises, including Tekken 7. Announced earlier this morning, three costumes are coming, spread across 11 characters (Lili, Lucky Chloe, Alisa, Xiaoyu, Katarina, Master Raven, Nina, Asuka, Kazumi, Josie, and Eliza), a swell as several items. Right now they're just confirmed for Japan.
To get a better idea of what the costumes are all about, there's a 60FPS video below that shows off not only the Summer Lesson stuff, but the previous Taiko Drum Master collaboration.
Ha! This was jokingly teased roughly a week ago but just started making the rounds.
Following the recent Nintendo Direct where the bombshell of a Super Smash Bros. project on Switch was announced, Funimation tweeted out a little jab, asking Nintendo of America to allow "their boy Goku" to join in -- providing an appropriately official looking silhouette.
Goku has technically made one appearance on the Switch already with Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2's release on the system late last year, so it's not too big of a stretch! His moveset would also translate pretty damn well, to the point where fans have been making mock command lists for him for years on top of many, many mods.
Yeah, I'd definitely support Goku in Smash even if it was a pipe dream. It would probably catapult Smash further into the stratosphere of competitive gaming if it happened, especially if it was coupled with an announcement of Dragon Ball FighterZ on Switch.
The one thing that always sticks in my mind about Delphine's awesome 1992 adventure title Flashback was how it was one of the few games where the Sega Mega Drive version trounced the SNES port in multiple ways. That didn't happen too often. Still, it at least looks like Nintendo are finally ready to give the '90s classic another try.
Amazon Germany have a listing for Flashback 25th Anniversary Edition for Nintendo Switch. The listing comes complete with box-art and even a specific street date of June 25th. For those less inclined, Flashback is a stroy-driven platform-adventure title where a young man, Conrad Hart, is forced to piece together his shattered memory, uncovering a far-reaching intergalactic conspiracy in the process. It's pretty damn good, with crisp animation, a great soundtrack and a smart narrative.
The Amazon listing also depicts a cool little Collector's Edition, which includes the game's soundtrack, an old-school style instruction book and a case which replicates a SNES cartridge - although (straightens tie) it is a U.S. style cart but ACSHUALLY features the game's European artwork. What a blunder! *snort*.
There has been no official confirmation of release from publisher Microids, but given all the info available in this listing, it's a pretty snug bet that it's happening.
Over the weekend, the Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube channel uploaded a new trailer announcing a collaboration with Puma for a new and upcoming Sonic-themed shoe.
The shoe design itself hasn't been fully revealed as of yet, as the trailer displays the shoe with a blue pixelated, blurring effect over it. However, the full design will be likely shown as we get closer to the release window of June 2018.
