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Daily Scoop: August 9, 2013 – Otter edition

Posted on August 9, 2013 by Nicole Kline

It’s finally Friday! And I can’t wait to start my weekend. It’s going to be full of games (video and board) and a book club meeting about the latest Neil Gaiman novel. Oh, and hopefully doing some laundry, and maybe sleeping. Fun times!

Amazon’s got an interesting pre-order bonus with The Bureau: XCOM Declassified. If you buy the game, you get $10 off a select 2K title. Check out the list.

Nothing else for deals – sorry! Have this gif of an otter to satiate your cuteness.

A boatload of t-shirts today:

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Posted in Daily Scoop |

5 Games That Failed Miserably Despite Themselves

Posted on August 9, 2013 by Zackery Cote

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Over the long course of gaming history, there have been a lot of bad games; titles like Too Human and E.T. for the Atari 2600 have had notoriously negative receptions and connotations over the years. But bad games are easy to find, especially in today’s age. With platforms like Steam and programs like Kickstarter, ambitious games that would otherwise never have seen the light of day are being released on a regular basis. And for every great indie project like Limbo and Braid, there are literally hundreds of indie games that many of us have never played because they just don’t measure up. However, this list isn’t just going to be covering bad games, because plenty of games fail. Games that fail miserably are games that had nothing but potential going into their development, either because of the companies behind them or the names associated with them, games that would seemingly have to literally try to fail. Here are five games that failed miserably despite themselves. (more…)

Posted in Features, PC, PS3, Top Story, Xbox 360 | Tagged , ,

Deep Silver Creative Director doesn’t expect Dead Island series to stop

Posted on August 8, 2013 by John Scalzo

deadislandboxGuido Eickmeyer, the Creative Director at Deep Silver, answered questions from fans during a Reddit AMA session earlier today and, naturally, the topic of Dead Island came up. The future of Deep Silver’s most popular franchise was touched on a few times during the Q&A and Eickmeyer wasn’t exactly coy about talking about Dead Island 3. While Eickmeyer would never admit that Dead Island 3 is currently in development, he did say (multiple times) that the series would continue…

jaedekdee: Will there be a Dead Island Part 3?

Eickmeyer: [I] would not expect the series to stop at this point :)

caseyst: Hi Guido! Love Dead Island (and Riptide)! Thanks for doing the AMA. My question is, what’s coming up for Dead Island and Riptide, any new DLC’s on the horizon, possibly a third installment? How about hitting Hawaii? :)

Eickmeyer: [H]awaii would be awesome, right? :D [F]or now, i can only ask you to wait a bit further, then some really nice things will be revealed about the future of [D]ead [I]sland :)

So there you have it. The Dead Island series will definitely continue, but Eickmeyer specifically avoided questions related to bringing the franchise to the PS4 or Xbox One. So we might be in for a long wait.

Another new game in the series, Dead Island: Epidemic, a free-to-play MOBA for the PC, was announced yesterday.

Posted in News |

MLG Columbus won’t include StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm

Posted on August 8, 2013 by Zackery Cote

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Anyone who is a serious gamer knows a thing or two about eSports, and anyone who knows a thing or two about eSports knows that StarCraft has been a staple of the competitive scene for over a decade. We’re talking about a game that almost single-handedly saved an entire nation from economic collapse. The release of the sequel was such a big deal in South Korea that CNN wondered if it would “shake up” the country. Before MOBAs like Defense of the Ancients (DOTA) and League of Legends dominated the competitive eSports scene, StarCraft was the largest draw, with the 2013 Major League Gaming Dallas event featuring a $75,000 prize pool for the StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm competition.

And yet, according to a tweet by the co-founder of MLG, Sundance DiGiovanni, StarCraft II will not be featured at the upcoming MLG event in Columbus, Ohio.

Despite being dropped from MLG Columbus, all hope is not lost for StarCraft II fans. Blizzard’s World Championship Series will continue as scheduled, and the North American Star League is consistently running the game as well. However, as of yet there has been no explanation as to why the game was dropped from the MLG lineup, or whether or not it will be coming back in the future. As a staple of competitive gaming and with an incredibly large fan base, it’s hard to imagine a world where StarCraft II isn’t an eSport. Of course, MLG Columbus is still a few months away, so things could possibly change between now and then. Regardless, as of now, MLG intends to move forward without plans to run StarCraft II.

Of course the decision to drop StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm also begs the question of what other changes may or may not be coming for the future of MLG. Will MLG Columbus even include League of Legends or Call of Duty? Only time will tell.

Posted in News, PC | Tagged

Interview: Dakko Dakko’s Dan Croucher Discusses Scram Kitty and His Buddy On Rails

Posted on August 8, 2013 by Andrew Rainnie

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Hidden amongst the big games announced during Nintendo’s E3 2013 Nintendo Direct video presentation were some gorgeous looking indie titles. One that really shone bright during its brief showing was Scram Kitty and His Buddy On Rails, a top-down, on-rails (but not in that way) shooter/platformer hybrid. It is currently being developed by Welsh studio Dakko Dakko, best known for their previous PSN Mini hit Floating Cloud God Saves the Pilgrims. Scram Kitty’s Producer, Dan Croucher, was kind enough to answer some questions about tax breaks, octopus hats, and favourite gaming titles. (more…)

Posted in Features, Interviews, Previews, Top Story, Wii U | Tagged

Daily Scoop: August 8, 2013 – New Humble deals

Posted on August 8, 2013 by Nicole Kline

Oh man, it’s Thursday! Normally that means heading to Cipher Prime for Dev Night, but tonight is the only night our new Dark Sun campaign group can get together. I’m pretty excited! Then afterwards I hope to have enough time to rock out to some video games all night. Woo!

There’s a brand new Humble Weekly deal up right now! They’re featuring Introversion Software, and the deal includes Uplink, Darwinia, Multiwinia, and Defcon. As usual, the soundtracks are also included. You should check it out!

That’s it for the deals! But hey, I’ve still got some great shirts for you! (more…)

Posted in Daily Scoop |

Nintendo Download: Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, DuckTales Remastered, more

Posted on August 8, 2013 by John Scalzo

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Welcome to another Nintendo Download! This week, 3DS owners will be able to download the latest Mario RPG, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, on Sunday, August 11. Two days later, on August 13, Wii U owners will be able to relieve the hurricane of fun that is DuckTales Remastered.

But what if you want to download something new today?

3DS owners will have a choice of three games: the steampunk-styled platforming of SteamWorld Dig, the 3D bowling of Smash Bowling 3D, and the tangram puzzles of Tangram Style. Wii U owners only get two new games today: the Virtual Console-bound Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire and the Wii U GamePad party game Spin the Bottle: Bumpie’s Party.

You can find more information about all of this week’s new releases after the break. (more…)

Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U | Tagged , ,

CoD: Black Ops II “Apocalypse” DLC coming to XBLM on August 27

Posted on August 8, 2013 by John Scalzo

callofdutyblackopsii-apocalypseA day after Treyarch released a new Call of Duty: Black Ops II teaser with a giant mecha, Activision has announced “Apocalypse,” the game’s final downloadable map pack. The Apocalypse Pack will be available for the Xbox 360 on August 27. A PC and PS3 release will presumably follow a month after that.

Like the game’s previous DLC, the Apocalypse Pack will include four new multiplayer maps:

  • Pod: A failed utopian community from the 70’s has left stacks of dilapidated residential pods nestled into an abandoned cliff side in Taiwan. Its residents long gone, the modernist compound now hosts frenetic combat as players must run atop the pods, as well as navigate their multi-tiered interiors for a strategic edge.
  • Frost: Fresh snow meets explosive gunpowder in this snow-capped European city, where the bridge over a frozen canal separates it into two sides, requiring players to employ multi-level traversal strategies to outsmart and ultimately outshoot their enemies.
  • Takeoff: Fans of Stadium from the original Call of Duty: Black Ops First Strike DLC will find themselves at home on Takeoff. Marooned in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, this remote launch site is all about close-quarters combat, combining tight corners with open spaces for intense encounters.
  • Dig: An adaptation of the fan-favorite Courtyard from Call of Duty: World at War, where two archeological dig sites in Afghanistan become the perfect playground for combatants eager for hectic, unceasing confrontations. Treyarch, has retained the spirit of Courtyard with two major chokepoints, a wide open layout and raised platforms, but has provided fans with a fresh take on the multitude of paths.

Oh, and about yesterday’s teaser. The Apocalypse Pack will also include a new Zombies Mode scenario known as “Origins.” In “Origins,” players will be able to play as the four original Zombies characters during a “Dieselpunk-themed First World War.” The scenario will also come complete with a new Avenged Sevenfold song (“Shepherd of Fire”) and original art by Alex Ross.

Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360 |