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Daily Scoop: April 26, 2016 – Back from PAX East!

Posted on April 26, 2016 by Nicole Kline

Hello, readers! We are finally back from PAX East! It was an exciting adventure full of board games, video games, wonderful friends, and a lot of water and cough drops. This was the fastest and most wonderful PAX East I’ve ever experienced. It flew by! And now I’m home, and I’m ready to bring you today’s best deals.

The Humble Friends of Nintendo Bundle is live at Humble! It’s all games for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. Pay $1 or more to unlock Retro City Rampage: DX, Affordable Space Adventures, and Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse. Beat the average to unlock Freedom Planet, Rhythm Thief and the Emperor’s Treasure, Citizens of Earth, and a Home Menu theme from Retro City Rampage: DX. Pay $13 more to unlock Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition and Darksiders II.

The Midweek Madness at Steam is Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Ultimate Edition, which is on sale for $7.50. The Daily Deal is on Alien Isolation, which is on sale for $12.49, or you can get the collection for $14.99. Add the Season Pass for $7.49.

Not too many shirts today! Hit the jump to see what I found! (more…)

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Dear Diary: Saturday and Sunday at PAX East 2016 I Played…

Posted on April 26, 2016 by John Scalzo

paxeast-deardiary-header

Another PAX East has come to an end, but Mike “Gabe” Krahulik, Jerry “Tycho” Holkins, and game developers from around the world will return to Boston next year for more shenanigans. In the meantime, I’ve got an overflowing notebook and thoughts on more than a dozen titles from the final days of the expo. (more…)

Posted in Features, PC, PS4, Retro, Top Story, Xbox One | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

An open beta for Fallout 4’s modding tools is now available on the PC

Posted on April 26, 2016 by John Scalzo

Fallout 4 is about to get a whole lot crazier on the PC as Bethesda has announced Creation Kit is now available. Using the included modding tools, players will be able to craft new “quests, environments, characters, dialogue, outfits, weapons, and more” for other Fallout 4 players.

Players can search for new mods from within Fallout 4 by selecting “Mods” from the Main Menu. There, they’ll be able to select a mod, download it, offer feedback, and rate it all from the same spot.

Bethesda is still tweaking the Creation Kit tools, so the framework is currently available to download as an open beta through the Bethesda.net launcher. But eventually, Bethesda wants to make the Creation Kit available for the PS4 and Xbox One in June, and cross-platform compatibility for mods looks likely.

Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One | Tagged

King of Fighters XIV will be released on August 23 in a special Day One Edition

Posted on April 26, 2016 by John Scalzo

Two weeks after confirming plans for a North American launch, SNK and Atlus have announced they will release The King of Fighters XIV for the PS4 on August 23.

The two companies also confirmed that a special Day One Edition of The King of Fighters XIV will be available to everyone who pre-orders and for a limited time on store shelves. The Day One Edition will include the game disc packaged in a Steelbook case and… well, that’s it. But a “Classic Kyo” costume will also be available for free through the PlayStation Store for a week after the launch.

An expanded Overview Trailer, embedded above, offers a look at the game’s many modes, including The King of Fighters XIV’s unique 3-on-3 battle system. And a similarly new Character Trailer, available after the break, will introduce players to dozens of the game’s 50 fighters. (more…)

Posted in News, PS4 | Tagged

John Romero and Adrian Carmack return to their FPS roots with Blackroom 

Posted on April 26, 2016 by John Scalzo

John Romero’s about make make you his… sorry, force of habit. The Doom co-creator has done more for the image of the “rock star game developer” than almost anybody, and he’s back with Blackroom, a “visceral, action-packed first person shooter set in a holographic simulation gone rogue.”

Blackroom is in development at Romero’s new studio, Night Work Games, and it’ll follow a near-future engineer as he investigates anomalies in his company’s holographic simulator. Because of the ever-changing nature of the Blackroom, players will be able to visit a variety of locales including “military sims, hellish infernos, and interstellar space” in both single-player and co-op campaigns.

Romero launched a Kickstarter campaign and also enlisted fellow id co-founder Adrian Carmack to handle the art design. The developers have already raised $100,000 in pledged funds and they’re seeking a total of only $700,000. After spending millions on the development of Daikatana, Romero has cut way back for Blackroom, but he’s also partnered with an unnamed publisher who will provide addition monetary support if the campaign is fully funded.

Blackroom is still early in development, but Romero already has a vision for how he wants the final game to look and that includes support for online multiplayer, dedicated servers, mods, map creation, and a single-player Challenge Mode. Romero has also promised to spearhead the level design personally and he’s hired guitarist George Lynch to provide a metal-influenced soundtrack.

There is a lot more information about Blackroom’s story and Romero’s plan for the future of the game on the Kickstarter page. And if all goes well, Romero wants to launch Blackroom in Winter 2018 exclusively for the PC. So let’s see if this rock star has one last encore in him.

Posted in News, PC | Tagged

I Am Setsuna will be released for PC, PS4 on July 19

Posted on April 25, 2016 by John Scalzo

Square Enix released a new teaser trailer for I Am Setsuna over the weekend, and they also announced that the Chrono Trigger-inspired RPG will be released for the PC and PS4 on July 19.

Developed by Tokyo RPG Factory, an internal studio at Sqaure Enix tasked with creating new games in classic styles, I Am Setsuna will also explore traditional RPG storytelling techniques:

I Am Setsuna tells the sorrowful story of Setsuna, a young woman of incredible inner strength, and the sacrifice she must undertake to the save the people of her land. Players will be immersed in an emotional and unforgettable story of true bravery as Setsuna leaves her hometown with her bodyguards on a journey to the farthest land.

Square Enix recently released new artwork and screenshots for I Am Setsuna, and they can all be found at the game’s official website.

Posted in News, PC, PS4 | Tagged ,

Mira will join Killer Instinct Season 3 this week… so here’s a trailer

Posted on April 25, 2016 by John Scalzo

After adding a skeleton guy, a fire guy, an ice guy, a mummy, and many more to Killer Instinct, Iron Galaxy has finally reached “vampire” on the Great Wheel of Archetypal Characters. But the vampire in question is Mira, and as Maya’s sister, she’s definitely connected to the fighting game’s overarching story.

PAX East 2016 attendees got the chance to try out Mira this weekend at Iron Galaxy’s booth, and the developer was livestreaming new footage of her all weekend long. They also released a brand new trailer for the character, which has been embedded above.

Mira will be available to download sometime this week as part of Killer Instinct’s “Season 3.” Her appearance will be followed by Gargos next month, and two mystery characters in June and July (though one is heavily rumored to be General RAAM from Gears of War.

Posted in News, PC, Xbox One | Tagged ,

See Higgins Haven from Friday the 13th Part 3 in the new Friday the 13th game

Posted on April 25, 2016 by John Scalzo

Developers from Gun Media and Illfonic were in attendance at PAX East on Friday to give congoers (and the rest of the world) their first real look at Friday the 13th: The Game. So snuggle up in your sleeping bag and sit around the fiery glow of your monitor as you watch Jason knock half a dozen times during a “Door Kill.”

During the one-hour panel, Gun Media’s Randy Greenback said that players should expect this kind of brutality from the slasher icon: “Jason will get stronger as the match progresses… We don’t want this game to be fair at all.”

The trailer also revealed a brand new location for the game… Higgins Haven from Friday the 13th Part 3. If you remember, the Higgins Haven barn is where Jason first became a hockey mask aficionado after replacing his tattered (and rather unfashionable) burlap sack. Because blueprints don’t exist for the farmhouse, the developers rewatched the film “hundreds of times” so they could recreate it exactly for the game.

In development for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One, Friday the 13th: The Game is still on track for an October 2016 release. You can find an extended version of the “Hide and Seek” trailer, which the developers also premiered during the panel, after the break. (more…)

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