Author: Thomas Ortsik

Founder and Kinda-Editor-In-Chief at Twinstiq.
Also known as Dr. Strangethumb

Atlus Bringing Legend of Legacy Westward

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FuRyu, illustrator Tomomi Kobayashi and designer Kyoji Koizumi of SaGa fame, Chrono Trigger and Cross story designer Masato Kato, composer of FFXIII Masashi Hamauzu, and director Masataka Matsuura previously of Level 5, have produced a more open ended experience sure to please JRPG fans. In a Shin Megami Tensei Social Link podcast, Atlus PR manager John L. Hardin has let slip that this game is currently being localized.
Legend of Legacy features a SaGa style three character battle system, hand drawn backgrounds on which enemies are present. Characters are chibi style 3D models. With an all star developer cast, this is a JRPG to keep your eye on!

In Addition, Hardin has alluded to other niche titles that may make their way overseas.

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Source: VGChartz

Wild Season, you make my heart….reason?

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Wild Season is an upcoming game in the farming genre. Think Harvest Moon or Animal Crossing and you're getting pretty close. So why am I talking about it? Because it's coming to PS3, PS4, PS Vita, XBox One, and finally PC! In fact, it's on Steam Early Access right now if you just need to try it early. Check after the break for more details on the game.
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If the above image looks an awful lot like Harvest Moon, that's not accidental. 
Wild Season is a farming/life simulator that sees you pick form either a male or female avatar. From there you inherit a farm in a small town, must repair it, plant and harvest crops, and bring the farm to prosperity. Along the way you'll encounter love, heartbreak, politics, dog racing and more. In fact, one of the things I'm very excited about is the developer has stated that the town has a dark undertone that you may discover as you play. They aren't giving too much away yet, but it all sounds very "Old Gods", which excites me.

The Early Access version of course doesn't contain everything that the final build will, but below is a list of features the developers plan to include, with my comments in parenthesis:
- Advanced animal breeding (advanced? Like, horse/human hybrids? Probably not, but I can hope).
- Beer and Wine making (Excellent! Will you grow corn or hops? Or just grow corn and ferment it).
- Real Time Cooking (What does that mean? It's gonna take 2 hours in real time to cook a chicken meal?).
- 85 different crops to grow!
- Full mouse support (YES! Playing with a controller is nice, but I love my mouse and keyboard).
- Character customization.

Author: Billy C
Game: Wild Season
Steam Early Access: Wild Season

Grand Theft Auto: Mods?

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Mods, Mods, even more Mods. Just when we thought all this modding talk had calmed down, it's already starting back up again. People left and right are getting banned from the PC version of GTA:V for using mods in online play. Now, it's not all mods that are causing the current uproar of players; after investigating some of the claims, GAMEPUR reports that most of the bans are being caused by Cosmetic Mods. Though Rockstar in a reply to user 'Manujango25' stated that Cosmetic mods are not a bannable offense. It seems though that there will be no clear reason of the bans until a statement by Rockstar is released.
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On a Reddit Megathread players are reporting anywhere from a 7 to 14 day bans depending on the severity of the mods used. A few players are even stating they have to endure an almost month long ban. Forums are going crazy asking for answers, Rockstar is doing what they can to answer as many questions as they can, but the emails are building up. Hopefully we will see a report in the next few days to clear up the conundrum. But for now here's some angry people!

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There are pages of players spamming these reviews to GTA;V PC steam market review board.


On top of the mod bans Rockstar posted the full patch notes for Patch 350.1 that came out on 5/3/2015. That will help with some of the in-game issues players have been having.

Full GTAV PC Patch 350.1 notes are listed below:

  • Vehicles in your garage can no longer be accidentally replaced with vehicles from the street. For details, see this page.
  • Improved stability and fixed several crashes and hangs while transitioning between Jobs in Online.
  • Fixed an issue where certain players were unable to exit their garages while inside of a personal vehicle.
  • Fixed an issue where the game could freeze if you were robbing a store while someone else was attempting to buy snacks there.
  • A rare issue has been fixed where some players received a “Purchase Failed” error when attempting to buy apartments.
  • Fixed an issue where players would be asked to quit the game while using text chat in Golf and pressing the “E” key.
  • GTA Online characters can now be added to your shortlist in the Rockstar Editor.
  • Fixed several clipping issues that occurred when taking Snap-matic selfies.
  • One-on-One Vehicle Death-matches in Free Roam will now properly spawn all participants in vehicles.
  • Fixed a Steam-only issue where you could not alt-tab back into GTAV if you alt-tabbed out while the Steam overlay was active.
  • Various fixes to bring improved patch download speeds.
  • Improvements to matchmaking so players that have good connections to each other are matched together more frequently.
  • Fixed a Steam-only issue where players could not use Mexican Spanish as a subtitle language.
  • General stability fixes for director mode and video editor.
  • Various crash fixes.
  • Fixes for issues caused by launching the game in offline mode.

As Always


~Tisnight

(Photos from Gamepur and Reddit)

Weekly Webcomic Wrapup Is Back

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Last week’s Weekly Webcomic Wrapup was so amazing that we weren’t able to publish it without the internet exploding. Very sorry about that. (Translation: I screwed up) But we’re back and brought a new Castle Vidcons with us.

And now for something completely different: Did we miss some cool news? You can now do our “job” for us! Just go to the Forum, look for the News category and start posting. If the news post is well made, I will totally “steal” it and put it on the main site. And who knows, you might even get invited into the team.
There is also a category for reviews, same caveat.

Time for WEBCOMICS!


Life in Aggro (Temple of the Mind)
Awkward Zombie (Manifest Dalestiny)
Castle Vidcons (Corrupters of the Earth)
Dark Legacy Comics (For the Children)
Gameboylands (Doctor Mario)
Penny Arcade (Ethically Sourced)

D4 will get a Windows Version

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Hidetaka Suehiro, better known as SWERY, masterminded the Kinect showpiece D4 for the Xbox One. The adventure game achieved a million downloads in January 2015, when it went up for free on Microsoft's Games with Gold program. Awarded as Best Adventure Game of 2014 and Fan Favorite Game of the Year of 2014 at Gameheadquarters, the cult hit is now headed to Windows PCs via Access Games. Thanks Obama.
Some additions and enhancements are coming to the PC version, such as a 60 frame per second mode, mouse gestures, and all Xbox One DLC will be included in the base package. Unfortunately, the Kinect support has been removed, including voice input. A Steam version will support the usual cloud saves, Steam achievements, trading cards, badges, etc.

You can view the recommended hardware specifications on the official site.

Source: D4-Game.com

China: PlayStation Pulls Ahead of Xbox in One Month

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Image courtesy of K73.com

After its Chinese debut in March, the PlayStation 4 has rushed to meet and exceed the sales of its competitor, the Xbox One. Combined with the PlayStation Vita, Sony has quickly made a deep impact that has quickly overtaken almost eight months of Microsoft's marketing efforts.
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K73 suspects that the lead is due to the availability of Dynasty Warriors on the PS4, perhaps due to the familiarity of Chinese writer Luo Guanzhong's historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, on which the story is based.

The numbers reported in the chart specify online and retail units that are in the hands of end users, and although Microsoft has shipped 100k Xbox One consoles in its first month, these have not yet been sold through.

Please note that details of this story have been attained through a web translation of a Chinese news site, and we will update as soon as possible when a localized source is available.

Source: N4G

Xbox Founder Ed Frieds Admits PS4 Will Stay Ahead

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Ed Fries, Microsoft's former vice president of game publishing, says the Xbox company won't be able to close the gap. Partially blaming this on the bungling of the Xbox One launch and marketing, he believes the winner of the console wars to already be evident: "I think it’s PS4 by a nose."
He is quick to point out that there are a lot of changes going on for the Xbox, slashing prices and an emphasis on core games as opposed to the general audience to which they originally focused their products and services.
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Fries says that the market could see a shake up with the launch of VR and AR accessories, although it's difficult to see a peripheral making a difference, considering the history of attach rates, as well as the additional expense after a large initial investment.
Source: BizJournals

Yooka-Laylee Funded Quicker than a Blink

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A mere 40 minutes after going live, Yooka-Laylee's Kickstarter reached its goal of £175,000. Already at £1,054,702 with 45 days to go, the stretch goals are being met almost as quickly as they're posted. Check out what goodies are being added to Playtonic's platformer.
In addition to the basic game's five distinct worlds full of burping and farting oddballs, and secret hidden arcade machines that reveal retro styled challenges, Yooka-Laylee will now include unique boss battles on every level, a quiz show challenge level, character transformations, mine cart sections (oh no, what have we done?), local co-op and versus with several modes, non-English translations, and simultaneous releases for Mac, Linux, Windows, PS4, Wii U, and Xbox One!

We're coming up close to the N64 shader graphics mode, rap video, and developer walkthrough and commentary video.

There will be digital and physical releases with goodies like an artbook, soundtrack CD, t-shirt, and signed posters!

Source: Playtonic Games

WRUP: TGC

The Twinstiq Game Club is still underway, so if you are into (re)playing classics, why not take part. Our first talk about Deus Ex's Liberty Island level should be coming up shortly. If you want to join us, let me know in the forum.
-Dr. S

What's everyone playing over the weekend?

  • Andrew J Amideo (@Andoro36): Super Smash Bros Woo, Deus Ex, and Assassin's Creed Unity
  • Billy Colley (@Amuntoth): It's a bit of a weird week for me, I've been very busy. Still, I'm going to play some Kaiju A Gogo, GTAV, and hopefully pick up Chroma Squad.
  • Cody Hall (@Yoda0VGs): Going to sit on the couch with my SO and play some Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars! Also some more Triad Wars, attempt to deal with Sqaure's Thief, and get caught up with the Twinstiq Game Club in Dues Ex!
  • Greywolfe (@lostwolfe, YouTube): quest for glory 2, the dig, hearthstone [final week] and limbo.  limbo is exactly as depressing to experience as it was in 2012 when i played it for the first time, but it's so, so good for what it is.
  • Jimmy Vegas (@JimmyPhantom17): Started Thief this week so that's the plan
  • John Rausch (@visitzebes): Unfortunately, nothing for me this weekend.
  • Jonathan: Final exam simulator 2015 and finishing up The Witcher 2...for the third time.  Maybe some Killing Floor 2 if I finish it quickly.
  • Jye Cauffle:Far Cry 4 and Axiom Verge
  • Thomas Ortsik (@Dr_Strangethumb): Ridge Racer 7 3D all the way. Besides that: Deus Ex. Still not hyped for Witcher 3, so the 2nd one can stay in my Backlog, but maybe I’ll join Mike in Thedas
  • Trisha Baumgartner (twitch): Got this weekend off. My ass is streaming GTA as we fail at more heists!
  • Mike Suszek (@mikesuszek): Debating a return to DAI, but I've been back into Madden lately.
  • Richard Mitchell (@TheRichardM): Fiddling around with Korg DSN-12, I think. Maybe more OG Phantasy Star.
  • Sam Prell (@SamPrell): Witcher 2 to prep for Wild Hunt. Can I beat it in two weeks? Let's find out!
  • Anthony John Agnello (@ajohnagnello, Twitch): Having finally fallen in love with Bloodborne, it's back to Yahrnam. 
  • Susan Arendt (@SusanArendt): Lifeline, Story of Seasons and maybe back to Dying Light.

The New Directx12 is here!

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Square Enix and Microsoft revealed yesterday to millions of viewers a Tech Demo of the new Final Fantasy XV that will be featuring the new DirectX 12. Before the video, audiences saw an introduction from Hajime Tabata, who works within Square Enix's Business Division 2; and is currently focused on the new Final Fantasy XV.

The new Tech Demo entitled ' Witch Chapter 0 [Cry]' was reported to have almost 63 million polygons used per scene in the video. You are also able to see a manual and automatic transition of control with different lighting effects along with other aspects of the new graphics. Hajime reports that Microsoft ( Windows 10 and DirectX 12) along with NVIDIA(GTX) helped produce the Tech demo using the new state of the art hardware and software.

Currently Square Enix is focused primarily on a new demo version of Episode Duscae version 2.0, the original Duscae was included with Day One editions of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD.

Hajime Tabata, released some of the plans for Episode Duscae 2.0. Several improvements, including AXB enhancements, camera and targeting system adjustments, combat system upgrades including new joint attacks, fixes on the range of all the weapons used by Noctis, as well as a ton of other possible improvements. 

The full interview can be found here.

Following is the Tech Demo. Give it a watch!

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As Always

~Tisnight

P.S. It's gorgeous and I can not wait!