Category: New Releases

New Steam Store Releases: Gunbird

Gunbird has come to Steam. A bastardized version of it, anyway. The original Gunbird was a 1994 vertically scrolling Arcade shoot 'em up created by Japanese developer Psikyo. This Steam release, unfortunately, is the cut-down Americanized version, retitled as Mobile Light Force (for some bizarre reason). In spite of that, it still manages to be a really good shooter. During the '90s, Psikyo was one of the best shoot 'em up developers around. And this week actually features a double dose from them, as their 1997 side-scrolling Arcade game, Sol Divide, is also newly available.Also, also newly available, a fantasy strategy game from Stardock, a pretty cool looking space strategy indie game, and the first non-management football game I've seen on Steam. Take one great Arcade shoot 'em up, hack it up and repackage it nonsensically, then jump past the break to see more of this week's new releases.

  • Gunbird (Mobile Light Force) (Psikyo, Single-player, $4.99) (Controller Support, Steam Achievements)
  • Sol Divide (Psikyo, Single-player, $4.99) (Controller Support, Steam Achievements)
  • Sorcerer King (Stardock, Single-player, $39.99) (Steam Achievements)
  • Interstellaria (Chucklefish, Single-player, $9.99) (Steam Achievements)
  • Axis Football 2015 (Axis Games, Single & Multi-player, $19.99) (Controller Support, Steam Achievements)
  • Odallus (JoyMasher, Single-player, $14.99) (Controller Support, Steam Achievements)
  • Luckslinger (Duckbridge, Single-player, $12.99) (Controller Support, Steam Achievements)
  • Card Hunter (Blue Manchu, Single & Multi-player, Free to Play) (Steam Achievements)
  • Executive Assault (Hesketh Studios, Single & Multi-player, $12.99)
[Image: Psikyo]

Andrew J Amideo

Farewell, Mr Iwata (New Nintendo eShop Releases)

This past Sunday, Nintendo was the unfortunate bearer of some very disheartening news. Satoru Iwata, Nintendo's charismatic and widely-respected CEO, had unexpectedly passed away due to cancer-related complications. You can say what you want about Mr Iwata's particular successes and failures during his thirteen year tenure as President, but all that really matters is that he was a kind, humorous, and visionary leader, who's untimely departure from this world has surely been felt by many. This is a sad time for Nintendo and it is an uncertain time as well. Let us hope that they can find a worthy replacement sometime in the near future. Until then, we will continue to remember Mr Iwata as the great man that he was.In terms of new games this week, there is really only one worth mentioning, so I won't even put it beyond a page break. It is a curious oddity from my youth. A fun and challenging little title that I spent many hours playing at various friend's houses. Blaster Master. You probably won't enjoy it as much if you don't have that same sense of nostalgia, but I would invite you to give it a try anyway. It's one of those games that has a little bit of something for everybody. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go relive some of my youth.

Wii U

[Original Image: Nintendo]

Andrew J Amideo

New PlayStation Store Releases: God of War PS4

God of War has come to the PlayStation 4 this week with the release of a remastered version of the PlayStation 3 classic, God of War III. I'm not exactly sure why Sony decided to port over III, and not Ascension, but I'm sure the fans will gladly take whatever they can get. Also out this week, the first EA PGA golf game in over 15 years not to feature Tiger Woods in the title. To give you an idea of how long it's been, PGA Tour 98 was released on the PlayStation 1 and Sega Saturn! Also, also out this week, a Prototype collection, a Godzilla game, and a pair of decent indie games. Murder the gods in an unspeakable fashion, then jump past the break to see more of this week's new releases.
PlayStation 4

[Image: Sony]

Andrew J Amideo

New Steam Store Releases: Battle Fantasia (GTFO F1 2015)

This week, Battle Fantasia, a 2007 Arc System Works (Guilty Gear, BlazBlue) Arcade game has arrived on Steam. Battle Fantasia is yet another competent fighter from the renowned Japanese developer. What sets this one apart is the unique and interesting fantasy setting. If you're a fan of fantasy action or well-crafted fighting games, you really can't go wrong with it.Also released this week was the new Codemasters Formula 1 game, F1 2015. You won't find it listed below, however, because similar to the recent Batman: Arkham Knight release, this game is also broken beyond all reasonable playability. In fact, the only real difference between Arkham Knight and F1 2015 is that Warner Bros was kind enough to pull their game shortly after release, while F1 2015 still remains available for purchase. This, despite the fact that it currently has received over 70% negative user reviews! Bang up job, Codemasters! That's quite an achievement. I hope you are proud of yourselves.

Also, also released this week, the popular sequel to a PlayStation-only soccer game with cars, a very cool-looking and original Japanese fighting game that was supposedly inspired by Street Fighter III, and a pair of classic, futuristic real-time tactics games. Bring a sword to an arcade fight, then jump past the break to see more of this week's new releases.

  • Battle Fantasia (Arc System Works, Single & Multi-player, $14.99) (Controller Support, Steam Achievements)
  • Rocket League (Psyonix, Single & Multi-player, $19.99) (Controller Support, Steam Achievements)
  • Yatagarasu (Nyu Media, Single & Multi-player, $14.99) (Controller Support)
  • Ground Control (Massive Entertainment, Single & Multi-player, $4.99)
  • Ground Control II (Massive Entertainment, Single & Multi-player, $4.99)
  • The Red Solstice (Ironward, Single & Multi-player, $24.99) (Steam Achievements)
  • Coffin Dodgers (Milky Tea Studio, Single & Multi-player, $10.99) (Controller Support, Steam Achievements)
  • The Amber Throne (Joshua Missile, Single-player, $14.99) (Controller Support)
  • Knee Deep (Prologue Games, Single-player, $29.99) (Controller Support, Steam Achievements)
  • Timeframe (Random Seed Games, Single-player, $7.99) (Controller Support, Steam Achievements)
  • Gunpowder (Rogue Rocket Games, Single-player, $9.99) (Steam Achievements)
[Image: Arc System Works]

Andrew J Amideo

New Nintendo eShop Releases: Mario Tennis (64)!

Just in time for the Wimbledon finals, this week's big new eShop release is Mario Tennis (64)! Wii U fans can fire up their Virtual Consoles and stage their very own tennis tournaments with Mario and Waluigi standing in for Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic. Also released this week, a new twist on Pong, a new twist on Asteroids, and a new twist on Lunar Lander. "I'm takin' it back to the old school, 'cause I'm an old fool who's so cool. If you wanna get down, I'm gonna show you the way." Jump past the break. "I'm done."
Wii U

[Image: Nintendo, Lyrics: Tag Team]

Andrew J Amideo
[Source: Business Wire]


Magic Duels Origins Out Now For iDevices

If you've ever wanted to be on a plane, fireballing your friends to death, well, now you can.

iDevice + Magic = Fireballing your friends wherever you go.
Looking for a game like Hearthstone with a little more substance?  Then you might be interested in Magic:  The Gathering, the grand-daddy of all trading card games.  But what’s that?  You don’t have friends that you can rope into trying a new collectible card game?  And they’re so expensive?  Well fear not, because Wizards of the Coast have brought this venerable game to iDevices.Read on past the cut to find out how the new free-to-play system works.

As of this morning, Magic Duels:  Origins became available on the Apple App store for the low, low price of Free.

Wizards of the Coast are trying much the same monetization formula as Hearthstone using daily and weekly quests to gate how much in-game currency you can get out of the system.  This means that every day, if you do the daily quest, you will get a little amount of gold that you can eventually use to purchase six-card booster packs.

These six cards are – obviously – slanted to the more common side of the card pool.  However, unlike Hearthstone, there is no crafting, instead, once you’ve hit the maximum of four [for a common] you will simply no longer see that card ever again if you open a booster.

Naturally, as per their free to play offering, you can also earn coin through PVP – each win netting you some gold.  If you don’t want to battle against live players, you can always turn to the AI which generates decks on the fly and has three modes:  Easy, Normal and Hard.  Each tier offers slightly better gold rewards and you can play as many games as you like, eking out as many wins as you like [for coin] in a day – unlike the Hearthstone model.

The final piece of this puzzle is that there are little stories interwoven into the game that also offer a small amount of gold for completion.

Packs in the store can be acquired by using the gold that you’ve gotten in-game or can be bought through actual money.

So, now that you know the monetization model – possibly the most important thing to know about a game like this – how can you get your hands on it?

Well, for the moment [in a move I find somewhat bizarre from Wizards] the game is only available for iDevices.  You’ll need 1.02GB free on your device of choice, running iOS 7 or later and any more-or-less modern Apple tablet or phone.

You can snag the game from here if you’re so inclined.


Source:  Apple Store Release PageImages courtesy of Pixabay:  Pixabay

New PlayStation Store Releases: Skullgirls 2nd Encore

Skullgirls has finally come to the PlayStation 4 this week with the release of 2nd Encore. This newly updated version of Skullgirls is loaded with lots of extra goodies, including all of the previous downloadable content, plus the new character Robo-Fortune, a new stage, online crossplay with the PlayStation 3 (and eventually Vita) version, compatibility with PS3 arcade sticks, and a few dozen other features, fixes, and updates. Also new this week, an old, yet somewhat unique, arcade shoot 'em up, a soccer game with cars, and a game about bullfighting, oddly enough. Take a great fighting game, cram it full of cool new stuff, and then jump past the break to see more of this week's new releases.
PlayStation 4

[Image: Autumn Games]

Andrew J Amideo

TF2 Releases New Update

A new update for the still popular game Team Fortress 2 has been released. The Gun Mettle update brings with it a campaign you can buy for the price of $5.99, consisting of two weekly missions for three months. These missions are being called contracts to give them a dramatic feel. Each one of those has a few sub-missions that you can complete for contract points (cp), which then allow you to unlock random skins for your weapons or locked cases.
The free update also includes 4 new maps, a new game mode, new taunts and a lot of balancing changes. The new maps include 1 made by Valve and 3 fan favorites by the community. Also, you'll be able to pick up weapons from defeated players and use them as if they were yours until you die in the game. You can read more about the changes here.

Not everyone is happy

There have been some people who claim they are not happy with this update. They say that they're turning TF2 into CS:GO. Some others just don't feel like paying $6 and are very vocal about it. In my opinion they're just overreacting. TF2 and CS:GO are both made by Valve so they have the right to copy themselves. About the $6 campaign, if you don't want to buy it, you don't have to. The game is still free to play and the rest of the update is completely free.

New Steam Store Releases: Ronin

This week, the new release highlight on the Steam store appears to be Ronin. An indie game that just came out of Early Access, Ronin is, by designer Tomasz Waclawek's own admission, a "rip-off" of the 2013 indie hit Gunpoint (though it seems to be a slight improvement, in my opinion). Also new this week, a single-player only, third person perspective remake of How To Survive, a party game from the creators of You Don't Know Jack that incorporates the use of your phone, and a pretty cool-looking space combat sim. Now just go follow this list of three easy steps:

  1. Rip off a popular indie game on Steam.
  2. Profit.
  3. Jump past the break to see more of this week's new releases.
  • Ronin (Devolver Digital, Single-player, $12.99) (Controller Support, Steam Achievements)
  • How To Survive: Third Person Standalone (505 Games, Single-player, $9.99) (Controller Support, Steam Achievements)
  • Quiplash (Jackbox Games, Multi-player, $9.99) (Controller Support, Steam Achievements)
  • The Battle of Sol (Bit Planet Games, Single-player, $14.99) (Controller Support, Steam Achievements)
  • Divide By Sheep (tinyBuild, Single-player, $4.99) (Steam Achievements)
  • Infinifactory (Zachtronics, Single-player, $24.99) (Steam Achievements)
  • Legends of Eisenwald (Aterdux Entertainment, Single-player, $29.99) (Steam Achievements)
  • Scarab Tales (Playito, Single-player, $6.99) (Steam Achievements)
  • Anna's Quest (Daedalic Entertainment, Single-player, $19.99) (Steam Achievements)
  • Devouring Stars (BulkyPix, Single & Multi-player, $9.99) (Steam Achievements)
[Image: Devolver Digital]

Andrew J Amideo

New Nintendo eShop Releases: Ocarina of Time!

Aww, yeah! Ocarina of Time is now available on the Wii U! (Via the Nintendo 64 Virtual Console.) I may already own it on GameCube and 3DS, but now I can finally play it the way God intended...on Nintendo 64! (Virtually, that is.) Whatever, close enough. I can't wait to finish this post so I can go get to downloading!Also new this week, another Samurai Warriors game for the 3DS (yawn), an intriguing multiplayer platform game where you start at the end and have to backtrack to the beginning, and an interesting looking Japanese strategy RPG. Dust off your virtual cartridge, fire up your virtual console, then jump past the break to see this list of new releases.

Wii U

3DS

[Image: Nintendo]

Andrew J Amideo
[Source: Business Wire]