Category: News

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.

Huge Patch Incoming For the Witcher 3

Why is a new patch for an already amazing game worthy of its own news piece? Because this particular patch may very well change how the game functions. With community suggested changes being implemented such as inventory organization, tabs for books, new character controllers, and a stash for storing items (thank frizzing chips!) Seriously, this list of changes is worth checking out if you have the game, and if you don't look below anyway and then go buy the damn game!
"As some of you may know, we are finishing up work on our next big patch, Patch 1.07. It’s a very large update introducing some key changes, including:

  • A new, alternative (optional) movement response mode for Geralt.
  • A player stash for storing items, available in various locations throughout the game. Stash locations are marked on the player's map.
  • Crafting and alchemy components no longer add to the overall inventory weight.
  • Books are now placed in a dedicated tab in the Inventory and books that have already been read are properly grayed out.
  • Multiple sorting options are now available in the Inventory.
  • Alchemy formulas and crafting diagrams can be "pinned", meaning all components and ingredients required to make them will be conveniently marked in the Shop panel.
  • Dozens of fixes for quest related issues, both major and minor.
  • A few performance enhancements, including the optimization of FX, scenes and general gameplay.
  • Various improvements to horse behavior.

Since it's been all hands on deck working to finish and release this patch on time, we won’t be publishing a free DLC this week (don’t worry - free content comes back next week). We hope you understand our decision. We’ve gathered so much feedback from you over the past couple of weeks and we want to implement as much of it as possible. The full change list for the patch 1.07 will be coming later this week. Stay tuned for info about the release of the update itself." - Marcin Momot

Patch 1.07 will be hitting all platforms by the end of this week.

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]

Comcept tease Red Ash which bears more than a slight resemblance to Mega Man Legends…

Don't You Dare, Comcept! Don't Mess With Me Like This!

Gah! I've no words. Prediction: KickStarter later this year. It seems like everything dead is now alive and new. Or it's a new anime and I can dig back into my hole.
In the above teaser is a logo for Studio 4°C, a Japanese animation company. I smell another transmedia property coming along. To be fair though, Mega Man Legends was little more than a playable anime.I hate to say it but as a big fan of Mega Man Legends, this didn't really hit me the way I imagined it. I could have sworn I predicted this some time around Bloodstained's debut but I never imagined I'd see the concept emerge so soon. I'm not enamored with Comcept's track record either. They seem to work much in the same fashion as Mistwalker, acting more as consultants and not purely as developers. To that end, I'm not even sure I'd consider them a "developer". Guess their name Comcept really fits them. I've never played Soul Sacrifice (no Vita) or Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, and their Zak and Wiki-ish game, Kaio, never made it to fruition. So, whatever this is might never see the light of day either. I guess Fallout 4 really spoiled me but I don't want to know about things until they are a bit more viable. Console or ridicule me below. Also, Bugs vs. Tanks was kinda weak.

Picture

Source: The YouTubes

New PlayStation Store Releases: BlazBlue Comes To PS4

This week, BlazBlue has come to the PlayStation 4 with the release of Chrono Phantasma Extend. No word yet on whether or not the game is compatible with PlayStation 3 arcade sticks (so, I'm guessing not), but it seems that Japanese peripheral maker Hori was nice enough to create a limited edition Chrono Phantasma stick that works with both systems. Could be a good investment, if you've got the scratch (and are able to find one). Also new this week, an ancient Konami arcade shmup, a Shonen Jump fighting game mash-up, and a Kickstarter horror/adventure game that just happens to have a file size of 666 megabytes. Crazy, right? Acquire a compatible fight stick, select your character, then jump past the break to see more of this week's new releases.
PlayStation 4

[Image: Arc System Works]

Andrew J Amideo

Warhammer Rising? Or Getting Watered Down?

Warhammer: Storm of Magic has been announced, and it looks extremely similar to Hearthstone. Granted, the actual card gameplay could be very different, but you're still talking about a card game on the PC with great looking animations. Still, as a lover of all things Warhammer I can't help but be excited about it. I think they should have gone with Warhammer 40,000 in order to help differentiate the game from Hearthstone, but I still like Warhammer Fantasy so for me it's not a total loss. Continue past the break for the video and my thoughts.

This has got to be at least the fifth Games Workshop game announced this year if I recall correctly, which is really a double edged sword. When Relic had the license I really enjoyed Dawn of War 1 and 2, and I couldn't get enough of Space Marine as well. There's something about killing Orks in the far future that really gets my gears going. Still, Relic was relatively reserved with the license, only putting out of a few games in the years that they had the rights to it.Now there are dozens of Warhammer Fantasy and 40,000 games that have recently come out or are coming out soon, and it's starting to worry me. The overall quality has gone down a bit to be sure, more like triple B quality games than the triple A that I felt the Dawn of War games were. That doesn't mean the games are bad, but they are focusing on smaller games with shorter development times and this begs the question:  are they flooding the market?

Picture

Not Total Warhammer? Seriously?
That's the worry isn't it? It's great that I'm getting more games in my favorite settings, but if they continue to focus on more simple games will I ever see a Dawn of War 3 or equivalent? I know we're getting Total War: Warhammer sometime in the near future, but Creative Assembly don't exactly have the greatest track record and adding all of the fantasy stuff could mean that the first Total War of this type could be a buggy mess. I think most of us still remember the disaster that was Empire: Total War.  Combine that with lackluster games like Space Hulk (which I still enjoyed), and the horribly ported Kill Team (a game that could have been amazing but was so poorly ported as to be nearly unplayable), and you have to start worrying that people will begin associating Warhammer with mediocre, buggy and unfun games.

Still, with games like Total War: Warhammer, Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide, and Mordheim: City of the Damned on the way with the potential to really be amazing, things aren't entirely hopeless yet.

If Games Workshop can continue to walk this tightrope of allowing smaller developers to develop more simple, cheaper games, while also allowing more experienced devs to build larger and more intriguing games, then things could work out very well for me and the other Warhammer fans out there.

What do you think? Are you already a fan of Warhammer Fantasy or 40,000? Are you excited about all of these games coming out, or the ones which recently came out? Are you just as worried as I am that they might be watering down the brand with less than stellar games? Let us know in the comments down below.