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Fans decide to give Steam Awards to Doom 2016, GTA5, Portal 2, and many more

With just hours to go before we celebrate the end of 2016, Valve has announced the winners of the first-ever Steam Awards.

Rather than ask Steam shoppers to select a traditional “Best of 2016” slate, Valve offered up a rather unique class of categories and let community members nominate any game from the digital storefront’s catalog. This freeform approach even gave voters the chance to create a few additional categories out of thin air.

After casting votes for the past two weeks (and browsing bargains during the digital storefront’s Winter Sale, which continues through January 2), the winners of the first-ever Steam Awards include Doom (“The “Boom Boom” Award”), Portal 2 (“The “Villain Most In Need Of A Hug” Award”), Grand Theft Auto V (“The “Game Within A Game” Award” and “The “Whoooaaaaaaa, Dude” Award”), and many more.

You can find the complete list of winners after the break, and let’s hope Valve does this again next year. (more…)

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GalaxyTrail will bring Freedom Planet 2 demo to PAX South; Demo will also be released as a free download after the show

GalaxyTrail got dressed up in a big red coat and a bushy white beard and played Santa on Christmas as they delivered a series of tweets about their upcoming plans for Freedom Planet 2.

According to the developer, they’re going to make an appearance at PAX South in January with a playable demo of the side-scrolling homage to Sonic the Hedgehog. But if you can’t make it to the first major gaming convention of the year, GalaxyTrail also revealed that they plan to make the demo available as a free download (presumably for the PC) after the show:

But wait, there’s more… GalaxyTrail also released a brand new trailer for the game, and it’s been embedded above. More trailers will be uploaded over the next few weeks.

Freedom Planet 2 will be released for the PC this Summer. It’ll also be available for “Nintendo Platforms” (probably the 3DS and/or Switch) sometime later.

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PC/Xbox One owners will be able to purchase Halo Wars: Definitive Edition as a standalone game in 2017

Microsoft sent out codes for an “Xbox Game Preview” version of Halo Wars: Definitive Edition to everyone who pre-ordered Halo Wars 2 last week. The remaster will continue to be tweaked and enhanced ahead of its “final” release, but the consolemaker had yet to announce if it would ever be available to PC and Xbox One owners who weren’t interested in the sequel… until now.

Buried deep within an Xbox Support page for Halo Wars 2 is a single paragraph confirming that Halo Wars: Definitive Edition will indeed receive a standalone release sometime in 2017:

When you pre-order Halo Wars 2, you’ll receive a code for Halo Wars: Definitive Edition when the game is made available early on December 20, 2016. The game won’t be available to purchase separately until later in 2017.

Halo Wars 2 will be available for the PC and Xbox One on February 21, so there’s still time to pre-order it to receive early access to Halo Wars: Definitive Edition.

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Arc System Works will release NES-styled Double Dragon IV on January 30

Well this is a surprise. After acquiring the rights to the Double Dragon franchise in 2015, Arc System Works has announced that Double Dragon IV will be released for the PC and PS4 on January 30, 2017.

To help create an authentic sequel, Arc System Works recruited several members of the Technos team that originally worked on the franchise back in the 1980s including Producer Takaomi Kaneko, Director Yoshihisa Kishimoto, Character Designer Koji Ogata, Composer Kazunaka Yamane, and Programmer Kei Oyama.

The last game in the series, 2012’s Double Dragon Neon, was an affectionate parody designed by WayForward. But for Double Dragon IV, Arc System Works will employ NES-style graphics in a game that’ll also serve as a direct sequel to the storyline found in the NES adaptations of Double Dragon, Double Dragon II: The Revenge, and Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones.

Interestingly enough, this won’t be the first game to be thought of as “Double Dragon IV.” Super Double Dragon, developed by Technos and originally released for the Super NES in 1992, was often informally referred to as the fourth Double Dragon game. It was followed by Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls, a one-on-one fighting game based on the Double Dragon animated series, in 1994.

Fans can get their first look at the new Double Dragon IV in the game’s first teaser trailer, which has been embedded above.

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See the first gameplay trailer for Super Mega Baseball 2

Today’s the second day of Winter, so it seems like the perfect time for Metalhead Software’s Scott Drader to stoke the Hot Stove with the first gameplay trailer for Super Mega Baseball 2. The development team has big plans for the upcoming sequel, starting with a brand new art style. New customizable features and the addition of online multiplayer are also on the docket for Super Mega Baseball 2.

The gameplay trailer is embedded above, and Super Mega Baseball 2 will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One in Summer 2017.

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Kickstart This! Super Red-Hot Hero

In what will be the final Kickstart This of 2016, a year many of us would like to forget, I thought it would be prudent to end the year on a “Red-Hot” high. For this edition, I have chosen Super Red-Hot Hero, a game from an exciting team of developers based in Barcelona. (more…)

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

CoD: Infinite Warfare’s Sabotage DLC Pack will be available for PS4 on January 31

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare will receive its first downloadable expansion from Activision and Infinity Ward on January 31. The Sabotage DLC Pack will be available first for PS4 players, and as expected, it’ll include four new multiplayer maps and a new Zombies chapter.

For Zombies fans, “Rave in the Redwoods” will give players the chance to dance with the dead in an “abandoned lakeside summer camp”:

“Rave in the Redwoods,” the next thrilling chapter of the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare zombies experience, continues the macabre narrative while transporting players into a new decade: the 1990s. Willard Wyler, the enigmatic movie director villain, returns and has trapped the protagonists inside another one of his twisted horror films. The four playable characters from the original story also return, but with fresh, over-the-top roles, as they learn more about Wyler’s evil plot while fighting all-new varieties of the undead in an abandoned, lakeside summer camp where zombie ravers have taken over and turned the grounds into a techno-fueled illusion. “Rave in the Redwoods” is a tense, spooky thrill ride with shocking twists, surprises, and a slew of new Easter eggs for players to discover.

And the new multiplayer maps will include several futuristic options, including a re-imagining of the “Afghan” map from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2:

Multiplayer Maps in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare’s Sabotage DLC Pack

  • Noir – A dark, grimy city map inspired by futuristic Brooklyn at night, Noir is a classic three-lane map set against a backdrop of a dystopian future, filled with cafes and parks surrounding a brutal downtown warzone.
  • Neon – A virtual training center designed for urban warfare, Neon is a unique, digitized battle arena where cars and other structures spawn out of thin air and enemies dissolve into hundreds of pixels when defeated. Middle lane sightlines will cater to long-range players while the outsides of the map allow for quick counter-attacks in close-quarter action.
  • Renaissance – Set in Northern Italy, Renaissance pits players against each other on the narrow streets of Venice surrounded by classic architecture and buildings that promote continuous action through the canals and neighborhoods of this iconic city.
  • Dominion – A re-imagining of the classic Afghan map from Modern Warfare 2, now set on Mars, Dominion retains all the memorable landmarks and gameplay of the original, anchored by the crashed ship in the center, with a few enhancements designed to take advantage of the new movement system.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare’s Sabotage DLC Pack is priced at $49.99, though PS4 players will also have the option to purchase each expansion as a standalone download for $15 apiece. If history repeats itself, PC and Xbox One players will likely be able to download the Sabotage DLC Pack sometime in early March.

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Finalists for The Steam Awards announced; Voting begins on December 22

The bean counters at Steam have tabulated your nominations and announced the finalists for the first-ever Steam Awards. We don’t know if this is something the game retailer plans to do every year, but we’ll all be able to cast our votes later this week.

Voting for the Steam Awards will begin on Thursday, December 22, at 1:00 PM (Eastern Time) with “The ‘Villain Most In Need Of A Hug’ Award.” Fans will have 24 hours to choose between Borderlands 2, Dead by Daylight, Far Cry 3, Far Cry 4, and Portal 2. Voting for a new category will open up once a day until Friday, December 30, which is when Steam will open up voting for the fan-created categories.

The winners will be announced on New Year’s Eve, and the complete list of finalists can be found after the break. (more…)

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