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Castlevania Anniversary Collection’s Launch Trailer is here to whip your retro gaming memories into shape

Posted on May 16, 2019 by John Scalzo

Konami has released more than 30 titles in the sprawling Castlevania franchise beginning with the Akumajo Dracula in Japan in 1986, and fans will get the chance to relive some of the earliest adventures of the Belmonts (and their allies) in the newly-launched Castlevania Anniversary Collection.

Available to download now for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One, the Castlevania Anniversary Collection includes eight games from the first eight years of the franchise. That lineup includes three games that originally appeared on the NES (1987’s Castlevania, 1988’s Castlevania: Simon’s Quest, and 1990’s Castlevania: Dracula’s Curse), two Game Boy spinoffs (1989’s Castlevania: The Adventure and 1991’s Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge), the first two 16-bit adventures (1991’s Super Castlevania IV and 1994’s Castlevania: Bloodlines), and Kid Dracula, a comedic reworking of the franchise that had never been released outside of Japan until now.

If those titles are stirring up a few nostalgic memories of pixelated vampire hunting, then you’ll definitely want to take a look at Castlevania Anniversary Collection’s Launch Trailer, which has been embedded above.

The Castlevania Anniversary Collection is part of Konami’s 50th Anniversary Celebration. An Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection was released back in April and the publisher will continue their retro rewind with the Contra Anniversary Collection later this Summer.

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Ubisoft has three unannounced games coming in Early 2020 but they’ve delayed Skull and Bones yet again

Posted on May 15, 2019 by John Scalzo

Is Ubisoft hard at work on Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell 7? Nobody’s entirely sure, but the publisher has confirmed that they’ve got three unannounced “AAA” games in the hopper, all set to launch sometime between January 1 and March 31 in 2020.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot spoke a bit about these games, calling them “very distinct gaming experiences,” during the company’s most recent quarterly financial report:

We are coming with three very distinct gaming experiences. We wanted to give those games the development they needed because we know they’re long-term sellers, so it’s important that they come with the best opportunity.

We won’t say anything more today. You’ll know more soon.

Sadly, the publisher also said that players hoping to sail the high seas in Skull and Bones will have to wait a bit longer. The pirate-themed multiplayer was penciled in to launch this year, but now it won’t be released until sometime after April 1, 2020. This is the second major delay for the game (it was originally scheduled to be out in 2018), but the development team provided a short update via Twitter, promising that “[their] focus remains on quality”:

Skull and Bones will not be on display during Ubisoft’s presentation at E3 2019, but presumably the three unannounced games will be.

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Konami will add Japanese variants to Castlevania Anniversary Collection in a free update after launch

Posted on May 15, 2019 by John Scalzo

Konami will make the Castlevania Anniversary Collection available to download for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One beginning tomorrow, May 16, for $19.99. The compilation will include the North American versions of eight games from the early days of the franchise, as well as The History of Castlevania: Book of the Crescent Moon, a behind-the-scenes look at the franchise in an ebook-styled format.

The publisher famously released different variants of their games in each region during the NES era, and they typically offered different difficulty options (Japanese gamers often got an easier version to play) and graphical styles. Though sometimes the changes were made to comply with Nintendo’s discomfort for religious imagery and references at the time.

Fans hoping to test out these different versions with the Castlevania Anniversary Collection were originally out of luck, but Konami has apparently had a change of heart. Writing on the PlayStation Blog, Brand Manager Benjamin Kinney said that these Japanese will be available in a free update “shortly after launch”:

Lastly, important news: we heard your calls and Konami will add Japanese title variants as a free update shortly after launch. Keep your eyes peeled for more details!

The Castlevania Anniversary Collection will include Castlevania, Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, Super Castlevania IV, Castlevania: The Adventure, Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge, Castlevania: Bloodlines, and the never-before-released-in-the-US Kid Dracula. It’s currently unknown which games in the compilation will receive Japanese variants in the future.

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Take-Two executives discuss big sales for GTA5 and Red Dead 2 while looking ahead to 2019 lineup

Posted on May 14, 2019 by John Scalzo

Take-Two Interactive delivered another celebratory quarterly financial report last night as the publisher’s latest releases have proven very popular with players.

Leading the charge is Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2. More than 24 million copies of the game have been shipped to stores since its launch last October. Take-Two executives also revealed that they’ve shipped more than nine million copies of NBA 2K19 in a similar timeframe.

But the most surprising reveal from yesterday’s report might be the news that Take-Two shipped more than ten million copies of Grand Theft Auto V during the quarter, bringing its lifetime total to 110 million copies after six years on the market.

While the company was happy with their retail performance in 2018, they’re also looking ahead to 2019 with gusto.

According to CEO Strauss Zelnick, 2K Games has already committed to launching NBA 2K20 and WWE 2K20 this Fall:

Also this Fall, 2K will launch new installments of our highly successful annual sports franchises with the releases of NBA 2K20 and WWE 2K20. As always, the development teams behind these games are hard at work to deliver our trademark array of exciting new features and innovations that keep players coming back year after year. 2K will have more to share about these titles in the coming months.

Zelnick later confirmed that Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds and Patrice Desilets’s Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey will be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One sometime this year through their Private Division label:

Developed by Obsidian Entertainment, the Outer Worlds marks the reunion of Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky, the original creators of Fallout, who are introducing an entirely new single player sci-fi RPG experience. The Outer Worlds will be showcased behind closed doors at E3 to select media and influencers, and more details about the game will be revealed over time. Last month, Private Division hosted press events for Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, where attendees got to play the game and meet its creators at Panache Digital Games, including the studio’s co-founder, Patrice Desilets, who was the original creative director of Assassin’s Creed.

More information about Take-Two Interactive’s full lineup for 2019 (including the previously-announced Borderlands 3) will be announced at this year’s E3 Expo in June.

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Bithell Games announces the “fight-choreographed chess” of John Wick Hex

Posted on May 8, 2019 by John Scalzo

John Wick will return to theaters on May 17th in the highly-anticipated John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, but Keanu Reeves’s third most-popular character is also thinking of coming back to the world of video games in the not-too-distant future as well.

Mike Bithell, the creator of Thomas Was Alone and Subsurface Circular, will bring John Wick Hex to the PC/Mac (exclusively via the Epic Games Store) and consoles. No release date was announced, but the developer describes the game as “fight-choreographed chess,” and players will need to tap into their strategic side if they hope to survive each encounter:

Created in close cooperation with the creative teams behind the films, John Wick Hex is fight-choreographed chess brought to life as a video game, capturing the series’ signature gun fu style while expanding its story universe. Players must choose every action and attack they make, while considering their immediate cost and consequences. Every move in John Wick Hex feels like a scene from the movies, and every fight contributes to your progress on the job and requires precise strategic thinking.

Perform well and progress in the main story mode (which features an original story created for the game) to unlock new weapons, suit options, and locations. Each weapon changes up the tactics you’ll use and the manner in which you’ll play. Ammo is finite and realistically simulated, so time your reloads and make the most of weapons you scavenge on the job.

Ian McShane and Lance Reddick will reprise their roles from the film series in the game, and publisher Good Shepherd Entertainment plans to show off a playable version of John Wick Hex at this year’s E3 Expo.

Employing a “unique graphic noir art design,” the first trailer for John Wick Hex has been embedded above.

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Bruce Campbell says Evil Dead’s Ash won’t come to Mortal Kombat 11 as DLC fighter

Posted on May 7, 2019 by John Scalzo

The latest game in the long-running Mortal Kombat franchise, Mortal Kombat 11, made its way onto store shelves in late April, but we got a possible peak at the game’s upcoming downloadable characters shortly after it launched thanks to dataminers over at Reddit. At the time, the game’s code pointed towards the addition of series stalwarts Fujin, Nightwolf, Shang Tsung, Sheeva, and Sindel down the road, as well as guest characters The Joker, The Terminator, Spawn, and Evil Dead‘s Ash.

However, Bruce Campbell creatively debunked the rumor on Twitter earlier this week. According to the actor (who has starred in three Evil Dead movies and the recently-concluded Ash Vs Evil Dead cable series), he won’t be appearing in the game as Ash:

This is disappointing news (and it throws the rest of the DLC slate into question), but I guess Evil Dead fans will just have to be content with the character’s recent addition to Dead By Daylight.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to dig out my copy of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon and perform a few Fatalities with my Kreate-A-Fighter version of Ash.

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Platinum Games plans to self-publish two unannounced games so they can control the sequel rights

Posted on May 6, 2019 by John Scalzo

Platinum Games rose from the ashes of Capcom’s beloved Clover Studio, and the developer has gained quite the large following over the years thanks to a game catalog built on unique ideas and wild concepts. But the vast majority of those titles were produced in collaboration with larger publishers, and even though Platinum has been interested in revisiting those worlds in sequels and spinoffs, the contracts they signed have prevented them from doing so on their own.

This conundrum was on Executive Director Atsushi Inaba’s mind when he recently sat down for an interview with Video Games Chronicle. According to Inaba, Platinum Games has decided to begin self-publishing some of their future projects so they retain control over the sequel rights:

“It’s absolutely the truth that there are cases where you want to do a sequel but if you don’t own the IP, you can’t do it,” Inaba explained.

“It’s that simple, and quite frankly in the case of Bayonetta it took a lot of time and energy to get it to the point where sequels could be made. It wasn’t as simple as picking up the phone and asking, ‘hey, can we do this?’ There were a lot of pieces that needed to fall into place and a lot of negotiating that had to occur.

“That’s a pain. That’s a hassle. For us as creators, we want to get to the point where self-publishing allows us to own our IP and do what we want with it, including making sequels. So the faster we can have that freedom, the better if will be for all the creators here.”

Platinum Games is currently developing Astral Chain for Nintendo as a Switch exclusive, but Inaba confirmed that the company also plans to self-publish two unannounced games at some point in the future. The veteran developer later said that one of these titles goes beyond the typical Platinum weirdness and is “unlike anything else”:

“Right now we’re in the middle of designing something that has never been done before. I know a lot of people say that, but the game we’re working on truly is unlike anything else,” he said.

“Even for our varied history of veteran game developers, this is something that has never been designed before. So from a game design perspective, we’re very excited right now.”

Hopefully we’ll learn more about Platinum’s upcoming projects very soon.

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New Retail Releases: Saints Row: The Third for Switch, Xbox One S All-Digital Edition, More

Posted on May 6, 2019 by John Scalzo

As we inch ever closer to the Summer sun, there’s just a small smattering of new releases heading to your local game shop this week.

Deep Silver and Volition will bring Saints Row: The Third – The Full Package to the Switch, making it the first game in the franchise to land on a Nintendo console. The Full Package will include the entire Saints Row: The Third experience, including the main game and all three expansions.

Also this week, PS4 owners will be able to give Ghost Giant a look. The puzzle adventure is a PlayStation VR title where players take control of the titular Ghost Giant and help a little boy named Louis feel less lonely.

Finally this week, Microsoft will take their first step into a discless “all-digital future” with the release of the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition. The console will feature a 1TB hard drive and it’ll come packaged with full-game download codes for Minecraft, Sea of Thieves, and Forza Horizon 3.

That’s it for this week’s retail releases, but you’ll find plenty of other new games on the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop later this week.

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