New Releases: Tomodachi Life, Murdered: Soul Suspect, WildStar, More

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The new releases have begun to dry up as we roll towards the Summer and (in eight days time) the 2014 E3 Expo. Thankfully, Nintendo, Square Enix, NCSoft, and NIS America are here to give us a quartet of new games this week.

Nintendo’s 3DS life simulator, Tomodachi Life, will be available on June 6. Whether you’ve followed the debate over the game’s exclusion of same-sex relationships or not, Tomodachi Life looks like a skewed take on Nintendo’s already-established Animal Crossing franchise. Plus, it features Shaquille O’Neal as himself. If you’re looking for something a little less lighthearted, Square Enix and Airtight Games will release Murdered: Soul Suspect on Tuesday for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. The game follows Ronan O’Connor, a detective who has been murdered by The Bell Killer. As a ghost, Ronan has to deal with demonic spectres and solve the mystery of his own death. So like Ghost, but with less Whoopi Goldberg (Unless…).

Also available this week is WildStar, a new MMO from NCSoft that eschews the dark and gritty aesthetic of most MMOs and replaces it with colorful locales and anthropomorphized animals. And speaking of colorful, NIS America will release Hyperdimension Neptunia Producing Perfection, a diva simulator for the Vita.

Finally, Microsoft will roll out the $399 Kinect-less Xbox One this week. So if you’ve been thinking about adding a new-generation console to your entertainment center, perhaps now is the time.

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E.T. games recovered from landfill will be curated, sold

etatarilandfillWhat was once a rumor became truth last month, when copies of the infamous Atari 2600 games, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, were recovered from a landfill in New Mexico. According to Polygon (who also posted that awesome image above in another article), 100 copies were given to Lightbox and Fuel Entertainment (the production companies producing a documentary on the dig); 700 copies will be appraised, certified, and put up for sale; and the rest will be distributed to local museums. About 1,300 copies in total were removed from the site, and not all of them were E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.

Susie Galea, the mayor of Alamogordo, said that the New Mexico Museum of Space History is going to help prepare the games for sale, which will include registering them and giving them a certificate of authenticity. The method of sale has not yet been determined. Galea also said this has been a boon for the small town, and that she hopes the city commission will turn the site of the dig into a tourist attraction.

There are still over 700,000 cartridges in the landfill, but those will not be recovered as Galea said they were too difficult to get to. Original estimates put the cartridges at 18 feet down, but instead, the dig team had to go to 30 feet. “We’re going to leave the remaining games as-is,” Galea told Polygon. “The hole has already been filled back in.”

What would you pay for a piece of video game history – living proof of the bungles of the great video game crash?

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Meet Sticks, the newest character addition to Sonic Boom

Sticks is a brand-new character for the Sonic the Hedgehog spin-off, Sonic Boom. As you can see from the video, she’s a wild animal, and it seems like she’s going to be a total badass. She’s best friends with Amy, and is appreciative of having a crew she can run with instead of being on her own.

Sonic Boom will be available for the Wii U and 3DS this Fall along with an accompanying television series, which will air on Cartoon Network.

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Aksys will release Guilty Gear Xrd Sign on PS3, PS4 this Fall

guiltygearxrdsignThe latest game in the Guilty Gear series, Guilty Gear Xrd Sign, will be available this holiday season in North America, according to Aksys Games. This addition to the fighting game franchise will be coming to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 systems.

Fans can head to the Aksys Games meeting space (Booth #8816) during this year’s E3 Expo to get a poster signed by creator Daisuke Ishiwatari on Thursday, June 12 from 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Pacific Time). There will also be open house hours on Tuesday, June 10 from 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM and Wednesday, June 11 from 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM.

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Steam Machines/Steam Controller release delayed to 2015

SteamControllerNotesEarlier this week, Valve announced that their living room initiative, Steam Machines, and the accompanying Steam Controller won’t be ready until 2015:

We’re now using wireless prototype controllers to conduct live playtests, with everyone from industry professionals to die-hard gamers to casual gamers. It’s generating a ton of useful feedback, and it means we’ll be able to make the controller a lot better. Of course, it’s also keeping us pretty busy making all those improvements. Realistically, we’re now looking at a release window of 2015, not 2014.

Their reason is, of course, something that everyone is interested in, and that is making sure that we get an amazing experience with the Machines and the crazy new Steam Controller. PC fans want this more than anything, and while this is disappointing news, we’re ready to wait the extra time to make sure it’s awesome. And knowing Valve, it will be.

If you want to get more involved in the process, check out the Steam Community discussion group, where your voice will be heard.

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Next Harvest Moon game will come to US as Story of Seasons

storyofseasonsEarlier this week, XSEED Games confirmed on their website that they will publish Marvelous’ next Harvest Moon game, Story of Seasons, in North America. The game will be exclusive to the Nintendo 3DS, and is already available for pre-order at North American retailers for $39.99.

Yoshifumi Hashimoto, Head of Development at Marvelous AQL, said: “Story of Seasons represents a new chapter in our amazing tale… We are creating a new experience that will carry on the spirit of Bokujo Monogatari, and in doing so, will fulfill our loyal fans’ expectations and desires while ushering in a new generation of games to come.”

The game has been out in Japan since earlier this year, and it allows players to create a character that is fully customizable, as well as some new items to decorate your house with – including items from the Super Mario Bros. games. There’s also a brand new StreetPass option, bringing multiplayer to the series. It sounds like they’re taking more than a few pages out of the Animal Crossing book!

Story of Seasons will be released in Winter, but you can check it out at the XSEED Games booth (#5436) if you’re going to the E3 Expo this year.

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1001 Spikes will be released for 3DS, PC, PS4, Vita, and Wii U next week

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1001 Spikes, another one of those insanely unforgivable platforming games, will be released on June 3 for 3DS, PC, PS4, Vita, and Wii U. Fans of similarly difficult Spelunky will be excited to be able to die in new and different ways!

That’s not all. Nicalis has announced that the PSN version will feature Cross-Buy, so that players will pay $14.99 to get both versions of the game. If you already own Nicalis’ Cave Story or NightSky on Steam or the 3DS, the company is offering a $5 loyalty discount as well.

1001 Spikes will have both single-player and multiplayer modes, and the multiplayer modes will include both co-op and versus. It’s also got unlockable guest characters, an awesome chiptune soundtrack, multiple possible endings, and plenty of levels to curse through.

1001 Spikes will be released for 3DS, PC, PS4, Vita, and Wii U on June 3. Hit the jump for the full press release.

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Hitman 6 won’t be at E3 2014… so have some concept art instead

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IO Interactive updated their blog to let their fans know that they would not be bringing the latest in the Hitman franchise to E3:

First up, we’ve seen a lot of people talking about what we might be bringing to E3 this year. We know the worst thing is to hope for something that doesn’t turn up; so we wanted to let you know that our next Hitman is going to be under wraps for a bit longer. We’re focusing all of our time and efforts into creating the best possible Hitman game. That’s our number one priority and we don’t want to divert valuable resources to show something before it’s ready.

To make up for it, though, they’ve shared some absolutely gorgeous concept art, which you can see above (and can see in full resolution after the jump). In the meantime, those of you who need your Hitman fix can pick up Hitman Go, which you can play, well, on the go.

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