Most Recent: PC

The Sonic-like Freedom Planet will be available on the Wii U this year

Posted on March 10, 2015 by John Scalzo

“It’s what you’d get if Treasure made a Sonic game.”

That’s how creator Stephen DiDuro described Freedom Planet to me as I was playing it this past weekend at the PAX East expo. And it’s obvious that he’s not just blowing smoke. The game’s art style is very reminiscent of Sega’s red-sneakered mascot and the sense of speed will feel very familiar to gamers who grew up with the Genesis. But there is also a heavy focus on platforming and exploration, with a little shooting thrown in for good measure. It’s like Sonic, but it is also it’s own thing.

DiDuro also wanted everyone to know that the game will be out for the Wii U by the end of the year. And in case you couldn’t make it to Boston this year, he shared the good news with the world through Twitter on Sunday:

Freedom Planet was originally released for the PC last year, and currently available through Steam.

Posted in News, PC, Wii U | Tagged ,

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel will get Claptastic Voyage expansion on March 24

Posted on March 10, 2015 by John Scalzo

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At PAX East 2015 this past weekend, Gearbox Software announced that the fourth (and final) downloadable add-on for Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel will be available on March 24. Claptastic Voyage will be a full expansion to the game’s campaign and include a second Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack, which raise the level cap for each character to 70.

Claptastic Voyage is a riff on the classic sci-fi book/film Fantastic Voyage and will finally reveal exactly why Claptrap is the way he is:

In Claptastic Voyage, Handsome Jack has found something ludicrously powerful within Claptrap’s mind. Never one to turn down a chance at more power, Handsome Jack digitizes the vault hunters and sends them inside! Their goal is simple: find the mysterious “H-Source” code and get out of Claptrap’s consciousness without going completely insane. These anti-heroes will have to deal with Claptrap’s personal insecurities, his malware, and digital representations of his crushing loneliness!

In a post on their official website, Gearbox has promised that players will learn “why Claptrap loves dubstep so much” and get to play with a new “glitched weapons system.” We’ll also be able to battle through a new Mutator Arena “that lets you choose your own gravity settings, enemy mixes, and more.”

Claptastic Voyage is part of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel’s Season Pass, but it can be purchased separately for $9.99. The expansion will also be included in Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, a PS4/Xbox One upgrade of Borderlands 2 and The Pre-Sequel which will be released on… wait for it… March 24.

Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Tagged ,

Street Fighter V is “tentatively” scheduled for a Spring 2016 release on the PC and PS4

Posted on March 8, 2015 by John Scalzo

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Were you at PAX East this weekend? If so, I hope you had a great time and that you’re using your immediate post-PAX hours to recover. If you were there, you might have seen Capcom’s booth at the show, which was selling a wide variety of merchandise in addition to hosting demos of several of the company’s newest games. The Capcom-Unity blog cataloged all the sale items, including a Street Fighter V shirt that was tagged with a description that read “Everyone is fired up for Street Fighter V coming to the PS4 and PC next Spring.” The offending text was quickly edited out of the blog post.

So did Capcom just accidentally announce Street Fighter V’s launch windows? Well, not exactly…

According to IGN, a response from Capcom stated that Spring 2016 is the “tentative release time” for the game. The publisher also stressed they have yet to make an official announcement for Street Fighter V’s release.

While we might have to wait a little longer for confirmation from Capcom, Spring 2016 sounds like a reasonable release date for Street Fighter V to me.

Posted in News, PC, PS4 | Tagged ,

New Releases: DMC Definitive Edition, Code Name: STEAM, Atelier Shallie: Dusk Sea, More

Posted on March 8, 2015 by John Scalzo

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The second week of March steps up the number of new releases considerably from last week’s solitary new game. Here’s what gamers will be able to discover on store shelves this week:

A few additional new releases from this week can be found after the break. (more…)

Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Tagged , , ,

Kickstart This! Deadwood: The Forgotten Curse, Glitch Hunter, Sneaky Ninja

Posted on March 5, 2015 by Andrew Rainnie

Recently in the UK, pressure has been building against HSBC Bank after the shoddy dealings and tax evasion tactics of their Swiss subsidiary. The US Government has previously brought the bank to account for its association with Mexican drug cartels, but so far the British government has only charged one person with tax evasion.

What has this to do with gaming? On the surface, nothing. But if all these ultra-rich people were paying their taxes instead of working so hard to avoid them, our fragile economy may have recovered quicker, wages may have risen, and more people would have spare money to spend on things they want, like funding games. It’s hard not to be bitter when developers work so hard to try and get a project off the ground, while some shady businessmen and shadier criminals pay dodgy banks to hide their money.

I digress. This week’s Kickstart This! features a trio of smashing titles, starting with action adventure game Deadwood: The Forgotten Curse, digital cyberpunk collectible card game Glitch Hunter, and stealth 2D platformer Sneaky Ninja.

Let’s sneak right in. (more…)

Posted in Features, PC, Top Story, Wii U |

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor wins “Game of the Year” at 2015 GDC Awards

Posted on March 5, 2015 by John Scalzo

gdcawardsMonolith’s Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor won “Game of the Year” at this year’s Game Developers Choice Awards, but it looks like Monument Valley took home the most hardware. The mobile game, which recently had a memorable cameo in the third season of House of Cards, won all three awards it was nominated for including “Best Handheld/Mobile Game,” “Best Visual Art,” and the “Innovation Award.”

Other winners at night’s ceremony include The Banner Saga (a “Best Debut” award for Stoic Studio), Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (“Best Design”), Kentucky Route Zero: Episode 3 (“Best Narrative”), Alien: Isolation (“Best Audio”), and Destiny (“Best Technology”). The “Audience Award” was given to Elite: Dangerous.

The full list of winners can be found in handy list format after the break. (more…)

Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Tagged , , , , , ,

MS opens up Windows 10 Store to ID@Xbox program with 17 games including Shovel Knight/Battletoads crossover

Posted on March 4, 2015 by John Scalzo

Microsoft wants to make Windows 10 a platform for gaming, and to do that, they plan to open the Windows 10 Store up to independent game developers through their ID@Xbox program. The first batch of ID@Xbox games through the Windows 10 Store will include 17 titles. Some of these games are currently available (or will be available soon) for the PC through Steam or other download services, but many of them will be brand new to the platform when Windows 10 launches later this year.

However, the biggest news to come out of this announcement is that the Battletoads will return in one of these ID@Xbox games. Zitz, Pimple, and Rash won’t be starring in their own adventure (yet), but they will provide assistance to Yacht Club’s Shovel Knight when his eponymous game appears on the Windows 10 Store. The Behemoth confirmed that their next project, Game 4, will also appear on the Windows 10 platform, which makes sense given its previously announced Xbox One exclusivity.

Many ID@Xbox titles on Windows 10 will provide cross-platform multiplayer with their Xbox One counterpart (if they have an Xbox One counterpart) and the developers interviewed in the Microsoft-produced video above seem very happy with the ease of the development environment.

The rest of the games that comprise ID@Xbox’s “tip of the iceberg” on Windows 10 can be found after the break. (more…)

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

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood is a standalone prequel to New Order and it’ll be out this May

Posted on March 4, 2015 by John Scalzo

Wolfenstein: The New Order was one of 2014’s most interesting surprises. MachineGames brought the franchise back from the brink of obscurity and completely knocked it out of the park. So I’m quite pleased that the developer (and publisher Bethesda Softworks) have announced a standalone prequel known as Wolfenstein: The Old Blood.

The Old Blood will take players back to the waning days of World War II and one of B.J. Blazkowicz’s final missions. The famed Nazi fighter will have to venture back to Castle Wolfenstein in search of a missing map in this digital download for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One (which has been priced at $19.99). You can read more about Blazkowicz’s mission here or watch the debut trailer above, which excellently apes the style used by movie trailers in the post-war period.

The year is 1946 and the Nazis are on the brink of winning World War II. In an effort to turn the tide in the Allies’ favor, B.J. Blazkowicz must embark on an epic, two-part mission deep within Bavaria. Part one of Wolfenstein: The Old Blood – “Rudi Jäger and the Den of Wolves” – pits B.J. Blazkowicz against a maniacal prison warden as he breaks into Castle Wolfenstein in an attempt to steal the coordinates to General Deathshead’s compound. In part two – “The Dark Secrets of Helga Von Schabbs” – our hero’s search for the coordinates leads him to the city of Wulfburg where an obsessed Nazi archaeologist is exhuming mysterious artifacts that threaten to unleash a dark and ancient power.

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood will be available on May 5, but if you’re attending PAX East this weekend, Bethesda’s Pete Hines and Matt Grandstaff will host a gameplay walkthrough at the Twitch booth. If you’re not attenting PAX East, you can still view a livestream of the event at Twitch.TV/twitch on both Friday, March 6 and Saturday, March 7 at 10:30 AM (Eastern Time).

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