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New Retail Releases: Spider-Man, Dragon Quest XI, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, More

Posted on September 3, 2018 by John Scalzo

Summer is (unofficially) over and we’ve reached the fine month of September. But this calendar flip is also wrapped up in the very official start to the “Holiday Shopping Season” and game publishers have begun stocking store shelves with a bumper crop of new games this week. Ready? Because here we go…

Sony and Insomniac Games are starting things off in a big way with the long-anticipated release of Spider-Man. The PS4-exclusive aims to take the wallcrawler’s video game adventures in a new direction, and Sony is giving non-PS4 owners an easy in with the Limited Edition Spider-Man PS4 Pro 1TB bundle.

Another staltwart video game franchise will get a new lease on life this week, as Square Enix is gearing up to launch Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age for the PS4 (and digitally for the PC). The massive turn-based RPG will include (as always) dozens of hours of gameplay and artwork by Akira Toriyama.

Over on the Xbox One, Microsoft has teamed up with PUBG Corp to launch the “Full Product Release Edition” of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. Unlike the earlier retail package for the battle royale game, this version includes a fully-updated copy of the game on a disc.

This Fall’s NBA season won’t tip off until the end of October, but 2K Games and EA Sports don’t want to wait. Both publishers will release their new basketball simulations, NBA 2K19: 20th Anniversary Edition for the PC (download-only), PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and NBA Live 19 for the PS4 and Xbox One, later this week.

A decidedly different kind of competition will take place in SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy, but the one-on-one fighting game will launch for the Switch this week (and on the PS4 as a PS Store-exclusive). And Bungie will crank up the action in Destiny 2 with the game’s first major expansion for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One, Destiny 2: Forsaken.

Finally this week, a slew of other titles will also be added to store shelves, including Hinterland’s The Long Dark (PS4, Xbox One), 704 Games’s NASCAR Heat 3 (PS4, Xbox One), Konami’s Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner – Mars (PS4), Monomi Park’s Slime Rancher (PS4, Xbox One), and Nicalis’s Blade Strangers (PS4, Switch). NASCAR Heat 3 and Blade Strangers will both also be available to download for the PC.

A full rundown of this week’s new retail release can be found after the break.

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Shovel Knight: King of Cards will be released on April 9, 2019

Posted on August 30, 2018 by John Scalzo

Yacht Club Games originally wanted to release Shovel Knight: King of Cards a few years ago, but the expansion kept getting pushed back as they dug deeper into Shovel Knight’s world. Today, the developer is finally ready to confirm that Shovel Knight: King of Cards will be released for the 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Vita, Wii U, and Xbox One on April 9, 2019.

The developer is also bundling together the original Shovel Knight and all of its expansions (including Plague of Shadows, Specter of Torment, King of Cards, and the recently-announced Shovel Knight Showdown) in a new retail release for the PS4 and Switch. This Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove will also launch on April 9.

But wait, there’s more. The Amiibo 3-Pack featuring King Knight, Specter Knight, and Plague Knight will also make its debut in stores on April 9. The figures will unlock “exclusive armor sets, new Challenge stages, and the ability to summon fairy companions to accompany players on quests” in the games for the 3DS, Switch, and Wii U.

Finally, attendees at this weekend’s PAX West show in Seattle will get the chance to try out a playable demo of Shovel Knight: King of Cards at Yacht Club’s booth.

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Shovel Knight’s Battle Mode will be known as Shovel Knight Showdown

Posted on August 30, 2018 by John Scalzo

All the way back in 2013, Yacht Club Games closed out Shovel Knight‘s Kickstarter campaign with the promise of three additional story expansions and a Battle Mode. More than five years later, we’ve almost reached the end of this bounty of post-launch content, and the developer has confirmed that Battle Mode will actually be known as Shovel Knight Showdown.

Like the previous expansions, Shovel Knight Showdown will be available as a free update to the Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, as well as a standalone download. Players will be able to choose from more than 16 characters (including Shovel Knight, Shield Knight, Black Knight, The Enchantress, and every member of the Order of No Quarter) as they battle it out in four-player modes like Gem Clash and Showdown. A single-player Story Mode for every character is also in the works.

Those attending PAX West 2018 this weekend will be able to meet the developers and try out Shovel Knight Showdown at Yacht Club’s booth.

Shovel Knight Showdown will launch for the PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii U, and Xbox One on April 9, 2019, and a few more details about the game can be found at Yacht Club’s official website. The developer also produced an extended gameplay trailer for IGN, and it’s been embedded after the break. (more…)

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Sega is bringing demos of Team Sonic Racing, Total War: Three Kingdoms, Valkyria Chronicles 4, and more to PAX West 2018

Posted on August 27, 2018 by John Scalzo

Like a lot of publishers, Sega’s presence at PAX West 2018 will look very similar to the slate of playable demos they brought to last week’s Gamescom show. This year, the prolific publisher is going all-in with Sonic’s latest racing adventure, two dance-heavy Persona spinoffs, and the latest entry in the Valkyria Chronicles franchise.

Here’s a sneak peek at the full lineup of games scheduled to appear in their PAX West booth (#2513):

Placing First: Team Sonic Racing
First off the blocks as always is the blue blur himself. Team Sonic Racing, developed by the award-winning studio Sumo Digital, combines the best elements of arcade and fast-paced competitive style racing experience, featuring your favorite characters from across the Sonic Universe. Visitors at PAX will have the opportunity to race on the newly revealed track Ice Mountain, and play as Team Sonic, Team Dark, Team Rose, or Team Vector.

Get Ready for Total War
The latest in Creative Assembly’s legendary Total War series, Total War: Three Kingdoms is set to showcase some exciting content of its own. The hands-on demo will give players the opportunity to explore the exotic lands of ancient China in a campaign map flythrough before being thrust into the midst of a night-time ambush battle. Sun Jian’s army, led by Sun Ren and Sun Quan, face either a desperate defence against waves of incoming heroes and warriors or a gruelling fight to escape with what remains of their forces, and live to fight another day.

Japanese Games Galore
As if that wasn’t enough, Sega is bringing a whopping four games to the show floor! With tactical RPG Valkyria Chronicles 4, frantic action/adventure Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, and the hugely anticipated rhythm games Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, they will be hosting a collection of some of the hottest Japanese IP on the planet. Make sure you leave yourself enough time to play everything!

Last but by no means least is Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2 which after a successful initial release in Japan, has just launched worldwide in English so that all fans of the Shin Megami Tensei series from Atlus can finally play the renowned post-apocalyptic RPG on their mobile devices. Swing by the Sega booth’s presentation stage for a chance to see one of the daily appearances by Producer Norio Furuichi, who also previously worked on Virtua Tennis series and Cyber Troopers Virtual-On Force.

Sega is also inviting fans to learn about “previously untold secrets and nuanced details about how Japanese games are localized and published for the western audience” in the a panel (“A Sega Perspective: Bringing Japanese Games to the West”) scheduled for Saturday, September 1, at 4:30 (Pacific Time).

If you can’t make it to Seattle for this year’s PAX West, you can view the full panel at home through Twitch.

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Play Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (and 8 other Switch games) at Nintendo’s PAX West 2018 booth

Posted on August 27, 2018 by John Scalzo

Nintendo is putting most of their eggs in a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate-shaped basket this Fall, though the consolemaker is also planning to release a few other big titles for the Switch before the end of the year. But if you’re attending PAX West later this week, don’t worry, they’ll have playable demos of all of them on the show floor, along with several eagerly-anticipated third-party games.

In addition to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, fans will be able to stop by Nintendo’s booth (#1939) to try out Super Mario Party, Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu!, and Pokemon: Let’s Go Eevee!. Playable demos for Ubisoft’s Starlink: Battle For Atlas, Bandai Namco’s Dragon Ball FighterZ, Blizzard’s Diablo III: Eternal Collection, Grasshopper Manufacture’s No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Again, and NIS America’s SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy will also be available.

“Many of our biggest fans descend on Seattle every year to celebrate video games at PAX West,” said Doug Bowser, Nintendo of America’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “It’s the perfect venue for us to interact directly with our fans with fun activities and engaging hands-on demos with some of our upcoming games.”

Nintendo will also host a handful of special events at PAX West 2018, and you can learn more about them after the break. (more…)

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Capcom will bring playable demos of Devil May Cry 5, Resident Evil 2, Mega Man 11, and Street Fighter V to PAX West 2018

Posted on August 27, 2018 by John Scalzo

The annual PAX West expo kicks off in Seattle later this week, and game publishers have begun to talk about what they’ll have on display at the big show.

Capcom has shown off a quartet of upcoming titles at E3 and Gamescom, and a similar set of demo kiosks have will be lined up at their PAX West booth (#2109)… Devil May Cry 5, Resident Evil 2, Mega Man 11, and Street Fighter V.

According to the Capcom-Unity blog, the publisher will also host “The SSStylish Gameplay of Devil May Cry 5,” a panel with Director Hideaki Itsuno, Producer Michiteru Okabe, and Producer Matthew Walker.

You can learn more about all of Capcom’s playable demos at PAX West 2018 after the break. (more…)

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Dean Dodrill’s Dust: An Elysian Tail will be released for Switch on September 10

Posted on August 27, 2018 by John Scalzo

Dean Dodrill first launched Dust: An Elysian Tail on the Xbox 360 in 2012. Since then, the developer has brought his side-scrolling action RPG to the PC, PS4, and iOS-based mobile devices.

And on September 10th, it’ll become the latest indie darling to make its downloadable debut on the Nintendo Switch:

A physical version of Dust: An Elysian Tail is also in the works at Limited Run Games, and pre-orders will open on August 31st.

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New Retail Releases: Divinity: Original Sin II, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, Yakuza Kiwami 2, More

Posted on August 27, 2018 by John Scalzo

Publishers usually wait until September to get going on the Fall gaming avalanche, but it looks like the last week of August gets that honor this year. More than a dozen new game releases will make their way to store shelves over the next seven days, and gamers are excited about almost all of them.

Larian Studios will start things off with the release of their latest RPG, Divinity: Original Sin II – Definitive Edition, for the PS4 and Xbox One. After that, we move on to a ton of old games in new places, including Sega’s Yakuza Kiwami 2 for the PS4, and three new-old games for the Switch (Capcom’s Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, THQ Nordic’s De Blob 2, and Haemimont’s Victor Vran: Overkill Edition).

Fans of the beautiful game get another shot at the goal with the launch of Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 for the PS4 and Xbox One.

And fighting games push their way to the forefront with Blade Strangers (PS4, Switch), Nicalis’s crazy crossover brawler; Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker (PS4, Xbox One), Bandai Namco’s latest adaptation of the popular anime series; and Fire Pro Wrestling World (PS4), Spike Chunsoft’s latest wrestling opus.

Finally this wekk, a few critically-acclaimed games are being re-released in new editions with extra features including Rocket League: Ultimate Edition (PS4, Switch, Xbox One) and Middle-Earth: Shadow of War – Definitive Edition (PS4, Xbox One).

You can find the complete list of this week’s new retail releases after the break. (more…)

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