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OK Smash fans, you can breathe a sigh of relief – Meta Knight has been officially announced as a playable character for Super Smash Bros. For Wii U and Super Smash Bros. For 3DS. The Kirby anti-hero tops Super Smash Bros. Brawl‘s tier list, and is a favorite among many fans of the Wii outing. Let’s just hope he’s a bit nerfed this time around – he was an absolute beast in the last game.
Super Smash Bros. For 3DS will be released on October 3 with the Wii U version following later in the year.
Following up on their Aladdin and Jasmine trailer, Disney Interactive announced yet another character to add to the already impressive Toy Box roster for Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes: Donald Duck. Donald will be available for purchase this fall, presumably shortly after the game releases.
Now we just need Panchito Pistoles and Jose Carioca and we can get a real Three Caballaros game going. September 23rd can’t come soon enough.
NetherRealm Studios has an ambitious plan for Mortal Kombat X‘s Story Mode. After recreating the first three entries in the long-running franchise for 2011’s Mortal Kombat, Ed Boon and company want to visit the far-flung future in next year’s sequel. Ultimately, the campaign will send the player 25 years into the future, but Mortal Kombat X will begin by examining the direct aftermath of Shao Khan’s defeat in the previous game. From there, NetherRealm will check in on characters both old and new in five-year intervals. So after this epic bit of storytelling, what do you do for an encore?
IGN asked Ed Boon this question at Gamescom today and the answer is that this could be the end of the Mortal Kombat saga:
“One thing that’s certainly on my mind after jumping ahead 25 years, is I don’t know where we’d go from here,” Boon tentatively begins. “We wanted to do something bold, and this is a bold new story, despite the fact it’s the tenth game. But when you jump ahead 25 years it’s like… what do you do now? Do you jump in time again? Do you go back 25 years? Do you introduce a whole new cast? We’ll worry about it when we reach it, but I do think it could be hard to continue, if we do another one.”
While Boon might be willing to walk away from the franchise, the hard reality of financial success may force the developer to reconsider. The 2011 reboot became the best-selling game in the entire franchise and if Mortal Kombat X lives up to the early hype, it may sell just as well. If Boon really is out of ideas, WB Games might “persuade” him to think harder.
But that’s all far in the future. Check out the IGN interview and read up on some of the neat ideas Boon has for Mortal Kombat X.
Risen 3: Titan Lords is today’s lone addition to the Xbox Live Games Store. Developed by Piranha Bytes and published by Deep Silver, the game is a traditional RPG in the medieval mold that is sure is sure to make some gamers out there happy.
It has been priced at $49.99 and is available to download now. And in case Risen 3: Titan Lords is brand new to you, here’s a description of the game straight from the Xbox Live Dashboard:
The world has been abandoned by its gods and is scarred from the rampage of the Titans. Humanity is struggling to regain strength and rally its forces. You, however, have more pressing concerns: your own life has been shattered and you must set off to reclaim what is lost amidst the darkness that is spreading throughout the world. Step into a classic hand-crafted role-playing world – full of rugged charm, colorful characters and demonic dangers. From quaint medieval-style towns to delving deep into the dank dark of mines, to the supernatural shadow world, there is a wealth of possibilities waiting to be explored.
I think it’s safe to say that if you’ve played Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 for any length of time, finding out that Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions is in the works is like Christmas, Hanukkah, and Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day all rolled into one. But what do Sierra and Lucid Games have planned for the threequel? Thankfully, IGN is on the ground in Cologne, Germany with the first preview.
According to the report, Geometry Wars 3 will expand the horizons of the series in new ways. Instead of a flat plane, Dimensions will warp the playing field into 3D shapes such as spheres, cubes, and cylinders. Players will be able to completely circumnavigate the shape and fire bullets all the way around:
Right from the very first stage, Dimensions was as hectic and maddening as the Geometry Wars I fell in love with back on the 360. Additions such as a customizable drone ally, landscapes that morph throughout the round, and bullets that fire all the way around the circumference of a level make each round even more chaotic, but the smart design, easily-digestible color pallette, and UI make sure that the action never becomes truly disorientating.
Wow. Each level in Dimensions will also include its very own leaderboard and a variety of special objectives that players will have to complete to earn Stars. Like many games nowadays, Stars are the currency required to open up new levels and modes in Dimensions. Finally, IGN was able to confirm that the game will appear on the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One before the end of the year.
If you’d prefer to see it for yourself, you can find Geometry Wars 3’s first screenshots after the break. And by the way, Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day is January 27.
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OK, try not to get confused… Starbreeze and Overkill have announced that they have partnered with Robert Kirkman’s Skybound Interactive to create a new co-op shooter based on Kirkman’s The Walking Dead comic. Rather than mess around with a subtitle, the three teams have decided to use Overkill’s The Walking Dead as the title.
Overkill’s The Walking Dead is a co-op first person shooter with elements of action, role-playing, survival horror and stealth, that invites players to explore the hugely popular The Walking Dead universe, where they will play the role of survivors fending for themselves in a post-apocalyptic world dominated by flesh-eating walkers. In 2016 Washington will fall – what will you do?
To celebrate their new partnership, Overkill has also announced that “Lucille,” the barbed wire-wrapped baseball bat beloved by The Walking Dead‘s Negan, will be added to Payday 2 as a new melee weapon.
Overkill’s The Walking Dead will be released sometime in 2016. You can check out the teaser trailer after the break.
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After a stealth Silent Hill announcement and Rise of the Tomb Raider‘s Xbox exclusivity, yesterday was a big day for Gamescom surprises. But, as we all expected, that exclusivity won’t be permanent and Rise of the Tomb Raider will be free to appear on other platforms someday.
The news was confirmed by Eurogamer, who tracked down Microsoft’s Phil Spencer and got him to admit that their deal with Square Enix “has a duration.” He couldn’t say what Square Enix plans to do with the game after this deal expires, but he could confirm that the game will also launch on the Xbox 360 next year:
Spencer: “I have Tomb Raider shipping next holiday exclusively on Xbox. It is Xbox 360 and Xbox One. I’m not trying to fake anybody out in terms of where this thing is. What they do with the franchise in the long run is not mine. I don’t control it. So all I can talk about is the deal I have. I don’t know where else Tomb Raider goes.”
Eurogamer: “Is there a time limit on the exclusivity period?”
Spencer: “Yes, the deal has a duration. I didn’t buy it. I don’t own the franchise.”
If history is any guide, Square Enix will likely announce Rise of the Tomb Raider’s future destinations (cough PC, PS3, PS4 cough) sometime after the game’s 2015 release.
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