Daily Scoop: May 15, 2014 – Nearly the weekend

Posted on May 15, 2014 by Nicole Kline

We’re so close to the weekend, I can practically taste it! Anthony Amato and I have been working so hard on getting our game ready for IndieCade, and now that it’s been submitted, I hope to have some time to play games this weekend. After I do my homework and write all my articles, of course!

Let’s talk deals! There are lots of new bundles once again – Indie Royale has the Debut 13 Bundle. Pay the minimum for Toxic Bunny HD, The Howler, Data Hacker – Initiation, Memories of a Vagabond, Age of Conquest III, and ONE DAY for Ched. Over at Humble Daily Bundle, they’re showcasing The Banner Saga! Pay what you want for artwork and the starter pack; pay $10.78 to unlock the Variations starter pack; and pay $15 or more to unlock the entire game.

But wait: there’s more! There’s a brand new Humble Weekly Bundle as well – this one’s all about platforming! Pay what you want for Shank 2, Blocks that Matter, and Bit.Trip Runner. Pay more than $6 to unlock Bit.Trip Presents… Runner 2, Megabyte Punch, and Fly’n. Pay $10 or more to unlock King Arthur’s Gold and Mark of the Ninja: Special Edition.

And now, time for t-shirts!

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Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

Nintendo Download: Wii Party U, Scram Kitty, Moon Chronicles, more

Posted on May 15, 2014 by John Scalzo

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This week’s Nintendo Download wants you to Scram! No! Wait! Come back! I’m just talking about Scram Kitty and His Buddy On Rails, an overhead shooter from Dakko Dakko, that is now available to download through the Wii U eShop.

It’s joined this week by a trio of puzzle games as Wii Party U (a minigame collection that was originally released for the Wii U last year), Color Zen (a shape-based puzzler), and Adventures of Lolo (a great “move the blocks” puzzler from the NES era) are now also available from Nintendo’s digital storefront.

3DS owners will be able to download four new games today. The four games include Renegade Kid’s Moon Chronicles, a first person shooter that is a remake of the cult favorite DS game Moon; Mega Man IV, a Virtual Console re-release of the Game Boy platformer; Arc Style: Baseball 3D, a simplistic baseball game from Arc System Works; and Candy Match 3, a match-3 puzzler (just how many of these does the 3DS have?).

More information on all of these titles (as well as Deep Sea Creatures on the DSiWare Shop) can be found after the break.

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Posted in 3DS, DS, News, Wii U | Tagged , ,

Ubisoft officially announces Far Cry 4 will be released on November 18

Posted on May 15, 2014 by John Scalzo

farcry4-boxI swear, the Far Cry series gets nuttier with every new release. When I look at the box art for the recently announced Far Cry 4, all I can think of is John “J. Peterman” O’Hurley in his “white poet warlord” phase shouting gibberish at an errand boy. Throw in a dash of Michael York and you’ve got yourself a villain.

He doesn’t have a name yet, but that villain is the “despotic self-appointed king” of Kryat, a mysterious (and fictional) region in the Himalayas. According to Ubisoft, players will have access to “a vast array of weapons, vehicles, and animals” as they venture across Far Cry 4’s open-world landscape.

Ubisoft Montreal is the primary developer on Far Cry 4, but the Watch Dogs studio will receive assistance from Red Storm Entertainment, Ubisoft Toronto, Ubisoft Shanghai, and Ubisoft Kiev. Once they’re finished, this development studio Voltron will release Far Cry 4 on the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on November 18.

“Following the success of Far Cry 3, we wanted to take the franchise to the next level and create a game that will surprise players and exceed fans’ expectations,” said Dan Hay, Executive Producer. “Given the unique setting, we feel Far Cry 4 will stand out as a top first-person shooter and we’re eager to reveal more about the game in the coming months.”

Players who are eager to pre-order Far Cry 4 will be upgraded to the Limited Edition, which includes the Hurk’s Redemption DLC pack and access to a harpoon gun known as “The Impaler.” Hurk’s Redemption will include three single-player missions starring Hurk, a character originally found in Far Cry 3‘s Monkey Business DLC.

Ubisoft plans to give us our first look at Far Cry 4 during their E3 2014 Media Briefing, which will be held on Monday, June 9 at 6:00 PM (Eastern Time).

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

Duke Nukem gets a sex change for Interceptor’s Bombshell

Posted on May 15, 2014 by John Scalzo

February’s non-announcement of Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction, a top-down action RPG for the PC and PS4, was one of the strangest things I ever saw (or rather, didn’t see). After very publicly selling the rights to the character to Gearbox in 2010, 3D Realms launched a teaser site and countdown for a brand new Duke Nukem game. Understandably, Gearbox sued 3D Realms over this rather blatant breach of contract. The countdown was put on hold and the lawsuit pushed Interceptor Entertainment’s parent company to purchase 3D Realms (Interceptor was previously teased as the developer behind Mass Destruction).

So here we are today staring down at an official announcement for Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction. Except it’s not a Duke Nukem game anymore. Say hello to Shelly “Bombshell” Harrison, the star of Bombshell and a take-no-guff intergalactic bounty hunter. She’s on a mission to save the President from an apocalyptic alien threat in a top-down action RPG for the PC and PS4.

The game’s debut trailer is above and you can practically see the seams where Duke was removed and “Bombshell” was pasted in. A news ticker even includes a dig at Duke’s penchant for chewing bubblegum and kicking ass (“Kick-Ass BubbleGum sales plummet as only customer has ‘too much ass to kick.'”). But she’s got a Skrillex-style haircut and a bionic arm, so she’s clearly an entirely new character.

Bombshell will be on display at this year’s E3 Expo and 3D Realms and Interceptor plan to release it in early 2015.

Posted in News, PC, PS4 | Tagged ,

Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON’T KNOW! Review: I Don’t Know Why I Bothered

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Nicole Kline

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I had a lot of fun with 2012’s Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why’d You Steal Our Garbage!? on the 3DS. It was a cute little game that was a lot like Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, except with Adventure Time characters instead. WayForward returned with another game based in the Land of Ooo, Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON’T KNOW!, last year. The game, the first for the PC, PS3, Wii U, and Xbox 360, is an overhead dungeon-crawler that lets you play as several different characters instead of just Finn and Jake. I was super excited to play as Lumpy Space Princess because, well, she’s LSP, and she’s the best. But even being able to play as my favorite character didn’t make the game any better.

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Posted in PC, PS3, Reviews, Top Story, Wii U, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Daily Scoop: May 14, 2014 – Bundles ending soon!

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Nicole Kline

There are two bundles that are ending soon, so if you want them, you need to jump on them now! The Royale with Cheese bundle at Indie Royale and the Humble Weekly Bundle are both ending soon. The former includes Continue?9876543210, while the latter includes System Shock 2 with a minimum payment of $9. Scoop ’em up while you still can!

There’s a new Humble Daily Bundle as well – From Outer Space! Pay what you want for X3: Terran Conflict. Pay more than the average to unlock Universe Sandbox. Pay $10 or more to unlock early access to Kinetic Void. Finally, over at Steam, the Daily Deal is Volgarr the Viking for $4.07.

As always, I’ve got a few t-shirts for you!

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Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

XBL Store Today: Super Time Force, Walking Dead Season 2 Episode 3, Bullet Witch

Posted on May 14, 2014 by John Scalzo

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After multiple delays, Capybara’s Super Time Force, AKA “Contra with time travel,” is now available for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

On the Xbox 360 Game Store, the side-scroller will be joined by Bullet Witch, an “action girl” game that was originally released in 2007. Needless to say, it’s legacy has been eclipsed by a similarly-styled game released three years later.

And speaking of the number three, this week also marks the release of The Walking Dead Season 2: In Harm’s Way, the third episode in Telltale’s episodic adventure series. What hard decisions will Clementine have to make this time?

More information on all of these games can be found after the break.

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Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Tagged ,

Rockstar will release next-gen game by March 2015 after shipping 33 million copies of GTA5

Posted on May 14, 2014 by John Scalzo

rockstarlogoRockstar Games had a pretty good year. The developer’s parent company, Take-Two Interactive, presented their quarterly financial report yesterday and announced that more than 33 million copies of Grand Theft Auto V have been shipped to stores since its September 2013 release. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick didn’t specify how many copies of the game have been purchased by gamers, but I’m going to go out on a limb and assume it’s somewhere between “a lot” and “a metric crap-ton.”

However, one piece of information Zelnick was interested in sharing was the news that Rockstar plans to release their first game for next-generation consoles sometime between today and March 31, 2015. While Rockstar still has 70s spy story Agent officially in development and hinted at Bully 2 in the past, this new game is most likely a PS4/Xbox One port of Grand Theft Auto V. Zelnick would only say that “we are excited about what they have in store for the new generation of systems for this fiscal year.”

Rockstar Toronto began hiring developers to work on a project for “next-gen consoles” last year, so whatever it is, it’s been in the works for quite a while now.

Zelnick confirmed that Take-Two would reveal more about Rockstar’s next-generation game at a later date. Presumably, he’s referring to the upcoming E3 Expo.

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