Author: Thomas Ortsik

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

Blood for Bloodborne and Downtime Inc.

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While searching for information about the new Bloodborne themed PS4 (for reasons), I stumbled upon something very entertaining. According to Geek.com, GivBlod Denmark is pairing up with Sony, to give away free copies of Bloodborne and other games for those who donate blood on Monday, March 23rd. Not only that, but you can even be entered in a drawing to win a themed PS4. This is all to encourage more people, including gamers, to donate blood in the future, and was brought about by the steady decline in donations over the recent years.

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Bloodborne, for those who haven't heard about the game yet, is the third installment to come from Hidetaka Miyazaki, the creator of Darksouls. The main characters journey leads you on a pilgrimage to Yharmam, because of its history for holding medical remedies for any aliment. Upon reaching the city, you notice much more than just the Gothic feel of each building, but the fact it is crawling with endemic illnesses that have transformed most of the citizens and travelers into bestial creatures. While fighting for your life, you discover a wide variety of weapons that each have hidden abilities in an effort to complement different gaming styles. There is only one major rule to this plot: You must survive, at any means necessary.

Yes, it is a PS4 exclusive, but why not try to win one if you live in Denmark. For those who don't live there (like me), the game is set to be released on March 24th, 2015.  

Along with the release, PSN confirmed that it will be going down on March 23rd, by making a post stating,

'We wanted to take a moment to inform you of a network maintenance, currently scheduled for Monday the 23rd, from 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM Pacific Time (12:00 PM to 2:30 PM Eastern Time). We expect this maintenance to last approximately 2.5 hours. During this time we will deploy a series of back-end improvements to the network.'

Some are claiming this patch is to counter any attempt at DDoS attacks and help stabilize their servers. Over the past few weeks, Sony admitted to a steady increase of attacks and this should help with any issues on the games release.

So let's try to bring this full circle. If you live in Denmark, donate some blood and get a free game, and again: Don't be alarmed when the PSN goes down on the 23rd.

Happy Hunting.


-Tisnight

 

WRUP: FUN

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No, this isn’t about fun. It’s an acronym. For what? Take a guess...

But what’s everybody playing?

  • Greywolfe (@lostwolfe, YouTube): the dig, quest for glory 2 and shovel knight.  i'm not sure if i'll even try hand of fate again for a bit.  that game and i are starting to have relationship issues.
  • Andrew J Amideo (@Andoro36): I'll be enjoying some newly rereleased old-school LucasArts classics, courtesy of GOG.
  • Cody Hall (@Yoda0VGs): I'll be at my significant other's childhood homw this weekend, Im going to be playing some Wii golf with the "In laws" Looking forward to every minute of it!
  • Trisha Baumgartner (twitch): This weekend I decided to start over on a goodie, Red Dead Redemption on my 360 and see if I can speed my way through it. Oh great now I want to watch all the Clint Eastwood movies again, STEVE GET THE POPCORN!
  • John Rausch (@visitzebes): Final Fantasy Type-0, Codename Steam, and I'll hopefully finish The Assignment DLC for The Evil Within

  • Billy Colley (@Amuntoth): LA Cops, 5 Star Wrestling, Warhammer: Orcs and Humans. 
  • Thomas Ortsik (@Dr_Strangethumb): Original plan was to play some more Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate and Inazuma Eleven, but since my C-Stick is broken already… well, I'm planning on doing my Cities: Skylines video finally, so I guess some of that.
  • Jye Cauffle: Hotline Miami 2, 3D Streets of Rage, The Last of Us Remastered
  • Mike Suszek (@mikesuszek): MORE MONSTER HUNTER! Wrapped the low rank offline campaign, on to high rank! I want a Gore Magala set!
  • Richard Mitchell (@TheRichardM): I'm finally digging into Hotline Miami 2. And hopefully I'll wrap up Dark Souls 2 this weekend.
  • Sam Prell (@SamPrell): It is gonna be super relaxing to quest in WoW after the week I've had.
  • Anthony John Agnello (@ajohnagnello, Twitch): I'm playing a whole hell of Axiom Verge, the new Metroidvania for PS4. I want to have actually beaten it before streaming it on Tuesday, 3/24 with the Tom Happ, the designer.

    Update:

  • Jimmy Vegas (@JimmyPhantom17): Fruit Ninja Kinect 2
  • Jonathan: I'll be playing Final Fantasy Type-0, FFXV Demo, Smash Bros, and Dragon Ball Xenoverse primarily.
  • William Sierra: ori and the blind forest

Square Enix Closing Console Versions of FFXI, Announces Spinoffs

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As we previously reported, Square Enix held a discussion about the future of Final Fantasy XI.  We have now learned that they intend to shut down PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 servers in March of 2016.  The PC version will continue to function, though its main story will end in an upcoming update due November.
Square Enix intends to create a new version of the game to mobile platforms, introducing changes that will benefit the new format, but retaining much of the original.  A new free-to-play spinoff for mobile has also been announced, an online RPG titled Final Fantasy Grandmasters, taking place in the world of Vana’diel and borrows many abilities from FFXI.
Source: Siliconera

Konami Announces Intent to Develop New Metal Gear Title

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Hot on the heels of rumors surrounding the fate of Hideo Kojima's position at Konami, intent to develop a new Metal Gear title is announced, as well as confirmation of Kojima's involvement with MGSV.
A new notice on Konami's web site announces that auditions for a project leader on a new Metal Gear title will open up. This could mean that Kojima will indeed not be involved in future titles in the series, however their statement reaffirms that the series will continue: "Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. will continue to develop and distribute top-quality content in the METAL GEAR series following "MGSV: TPP.""
Source: Konami

Take-Two CEO Also Chairman of ESRB

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Gamesindustry.biz raises a question about the legitimacy of the ESRB's ratings, as they submit that the fact he's also CEO of Take-Two poses a conflict of interest.
Citing the fact that ratings for The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and GTA: San Andreas were suspect based on content that went undisclosed to the ratings board, the Gamesindustry article raises an important issue that could draw more scrutiny to the situation.  Another Take-Two game Manhunt 2 have also received lower ratings after content was edited, however the article itself cites that Zelnick, the Take Two CEO, only became chairman last year.  This is well after these events took place.  Prior to that, other game company CEOs Jack Tretton and John Riccitiello were also at the helm.

Does this come as a surprise to you?  Will you be placing less faith in the ESRB, or believe they remain objective?  Please let us know!

Official Conker Game Incoming (still made with Project Spark though)

There was me, that is Conker, and my three games, that is Pocket Tales, Bad Fur Day and Live & Reloaded and we were part of Rare trying to make up our rassoodocks what to do with the franchise. Rare was sold to Microsoft, who made the Xbox or Xbox 360 or Xbox One which is what we are on now. You might think, that this would sharpen you up (to 1080p) and make you ready for a bit of the old ultra-violence.
Our pockets were full of money so there was no need on selling out, but, as they say, money isn't everything.

Crying cockless and mussels alive,
Alive O...
Alive, alive O... Alive, alive O...
Crying cockless and mussels alive,
Alive O...

One thing I could never stand is to see a filthy, dirty old drunkie, howling away at the filthy songs of his fathers and going blerp, blerp in between as it might be a filthy old orchestra in his stinking rotten guts. I could never stand to see anyone like that, whatever his age might be, but more especially when he was real old like this one was.

Oh-hhh!!! Go on, do me in you bastard cowards. I don't want to live anyway, not in a stinking world like this.

Oh ó and what's so stinking about it?

It's a stinking world because there's no law and order any more. It's a stinking world because it lets a great IP like Conker be treated like it’s Raving Rabbids. It’s a stinking world because it lets Microsoft shit on the fans of the franchise, charging them for a game they have to assemble themself.

Ho Ho Ho, you are talking about the Project Spark Add-on that allows you to build your own Conker game (“with 300 game assets”), you eunuch jelly thou? It turns out, Microsoft isn’t actually practicing the old in-out, in-out on thou ass and has a real horrorshow offer in the shape of a premade game called “Conker’s Big Reunion’ included.

Dah, set 10 years after the events of Bad Fur Day, Conker has to find some of his old friends. It will be released on April 23rd, and also it’s episodic, so thou better kupet (buy) this, or I’ll oobivat thou pan-handle and nosh thou yarbles!

Here is the reveal trailer:

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Source: Rare

People Are Paying Up To £40/$60 For Final Fantasy XV Demo

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Released earlier this week, Final Fantasy Type-0 HD hit shelves. If you pre-ordered it, you got Final Fantasy XV Episode Duscae Demo bundled with it. As it turns out, some of these people who have the code are selling them on eBay for up to £40 (which is about $60).

The average asking price right now is around £20 (or $30). As crazy as it seems, some demo codes are selling for more than what the original game was bought for. Some places were taking pre-orders for £39.99 ($50).

It is ridiculous to think a demo of a game is worth that much. Did you get it?

Rumors Surround Kojima and Metal Gear Franchise

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Kojima Productions has been renamed to "Konami Los Angeles Studios." Hideo Kojima is no longer listed as an executive of Konami in this year's restructuring announcement, and has been instead designated a contractor. Kojima Productions' Twitter accounts have been renamed. What is going on here?
Konami's official statement is as follows: "As we have already announced, we are shifting our production structure to a headquarters-controlled system, in order to establish a steadfast operating base capable of responding to the rapid market changes that surround our digital entertainment business. Konami Digital Entertainment (including Mr. Kojima), will continue to develop and support Metal Gear products. Please look forward to future announcements."

The wording here is suspect, as they separately point out Hideo Kojima's name. They could either be mentioning him to confirm his involvement, or because he is now considered somehow independent from Konami. An unnamed source that spoke to GameSpot makes allegations that "After we finish MGSV, Mr. Kojima and upper management will leave Konami. They said their contract ends in December. At a team meeting, Mr Kojima explained that team have to be one and make a good game for fans."

Gematsu points out that the Kojima Productions logo and mentions of Hideo Kojima's name have been stripped from various promotional materials on the Konami web page, and are reporting that a power struggle is occurring, leaving uncertain the future of the franchise and Kojima's involvement.

We will have to wait and see how this shakes out, but for now MGSV: The Phantom Pain is on track for release in September.