Daily Scoop: May 10, 2017 – Alien and Assassin’s Creed in today’s sales

Posted on May 10, 2017 by Holly Scalzo

It’s time for madness! Er, midweek madness not general madness. I can’t condone that, though I understand it. Is there such a thing as Cold Madness, readers? Because I probably have that. It reached 50 degrees today, but I know it will go back down into the low 40s or even 30s tonight. And it is indeed maddening. At this rate, it won’t be warm until it’s time to get cold again in the Fall.

I envy Nicole’s mysterious trip to the tropics, because though a tad bizarre at least it’s warm (even though ironically they’re in their Autumn now, I think, and yet it’s still much warmer than here). Anyway, what was I supposed to be doing? Oh yes! Shirts ‘n sales. Let’s do it.

The Midweek Madness at Steam has some good discounts like Offworld Trading Company for 75% off and Worms WMD for 50% off. Also at Steam, fans of Alien: Isolation can get it, the Season Pass, and the DLCs (The Trigger, Lost Contact, Safe Haven) each for 75% off! And ending on Friday, Axiom Verge is on sale for $9.99. Meanwhile, Stellaris, Stellaris: Nova Edition, and Stellaris: Galaxy Edition are on sale until May 14th for 40% off, and for today only, Sid Meier’s Civilization VI and Civilization VI: Digital Deluxe are 33% off.

This week at the Xbox Games Store, Xbox Gold members can get Mass Effect: Andromeda for 35% and the Deluxe Edition for 40% off. Tom Clancy’s The Division and The Division – Gold Edition are each 60% off. And a few Saints Row titles are on sale including Saints Row IV: Re-Elected, Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell, and a Saints Row/Metro Double Pack for 75-80% off. And finally, available to everyone, get a “Resident Evil Game and Movie Bundle” including Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and a code for Resident Evil: The Final Chapter for 33% off. There’s also a Deluxe Edition Bundle with extra content for 33% off, too.

There’s something for Tom Clancy fans over in the PlayStation Store, with several PS4 titles from 25-60% off. Assassin’s Creed: Unity, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, and Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate are all 60% off, but be sure to check out the other Assassin’s Creed titles on sale as well. Also save 60% on Far Cry 4 and Far Cry Primal, or purchase them bundled together for 50% off. And get 60% off Watch Dogs and its Season Pass, and 65% off Rayman Legends.

Phew, that was a lot. I need to rest now. See shirts after the break!

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Posted in Daily Scoop |

Sega will bring Vanquish to the PC on May 25

Posted on May 10, 2017 by John Scalzo

Shinji Mikami is best known for creating terrifying works of art like the Resident Evil and The Evil Within. But the prolific developer has also tried his hand at a number of action games over the years, including 2010’s underappreciated Vanquish.

But if you missed it the first time around, Sega announced that Vanquish will soon be available for the PC (through Steam) on May 25:

Directed by Shinji Mikami, the creator of the Resident Evil series, Vanquish is a sci-fi shooter of epic proportion. Take control of DARPA operative Sam Gideon, who has been assigned a mission to battle legions of future-tech enemies using a vast arsenal of weapons. Vanquish boasts fluid and frenetic combat, spectacular melee moves, and intense speed, wrapped in a gripping story. Vanquish is the latest best practice conversion from Sega, and features a host of PC optimized options, including an unlocked framerate, 4K resolution support, extensive graphics options, and full keyboard and mouse support.

Best of all, Sega’s John Clark also revealed that even more Sega-published titles will soon be available for the PC.

“It was great to see the positive response from our community to the Bayonetta PC launch last month, and we are pleased that we are in a position to be able to announce Vanquish, another of our highly requested back catalog titles,” said Clark, the Senior Vice President of Commercial Publishing for Sega Europe. “There’s more to come from Sega in this space, so stay tuned for further announcements.”

Steam users who pre-order Vanquish before its May 25 launch date will also receive a five-song soundtrack sampler, character and enemy avatars, a digital art book, and exclusive wallpapers. On top of that, fans who already own Bayonetta on Steam will receive an additional 25% off when they pre-order Vanquish.

Posted in News, PC |

Visor sees everything in the latest Quake Champions trailer

Posted on May 10, 2017 by John Scalzo

The Quake Champions “Large Scale Technical Test” begins this Friday, May 12, but Bethesda and id Software have decided to whet our appetite for destruction with a small appetizer… a sneak peek at the newest Champion to enter the Arena, Visor.

Here’s what players can expect when they encounter the “Cybernetic Clone,” straight from the developer:

Visor (Cybernetic Clone)
Now – let’s turn our attention to Visor. Another veteran Champion returning from the bloody halls of Quake III: Arena, this cybernetic clone is as cold as the Russian winters of his youth. His mutilated body — impervious to panic or pain — is the result of attempts by Moscow’s GRU to create the perfect infantry; his grafted mask is filled with putrefied blood that allows him to see through matter with his Piercing Sight Active Ability. And he has unlimited speed with his Passive Ability. That’s a vicious combination for Deathmatch and an absolute killer in Duel.

Active Ability – Piercing Sight: You can’t hide from Visor. Using his Piercing Sight Active Ability, Visor can briefly see through all matter, glimpsing foes as outlines running behind walls. You might think you’re sneaking up on Visor, but he’s probably waiting for you with a tasty Rail Gun gift. Твоё здоровье!

Passive Ability – Grasshopper: Speed kills. Are you sick of all those psychotic Anarkis hoverboarding around the Arenas, turning it “up to eleven” all over your face? Visor’s Passive evens the playing field. Grasshopper allows Visor to continually gain speed when strafe-jumping – with no cap. Skilled players will be able to keep up with anyone, even that drug-addled freak.

If you haven’t signed up for Quake Champions’s “Large Scale Technical Test” yet, there’s still time to request a key. All you have to do is head over to Quake.com now and fill out a short form.

Bethesda is also encouraging fans to join the “Large Scale Technical Test” so they can practice for the first Quake Champions tournament, which will be held at this year’s Quakecon. A qualifying round for the tournament, which will feature Duel and Sacrifice Mode, will be held in June.

Posted in News, PC | Tagged

Contra is being adapted into a live-action movie in China

Posted on May 10, 2017 by John Scalzo

Konami gleefully ripped off Aliens and Predator when they were developing Contra back in 1987, but they also wound up creating one of the greatest side-scrolling shooters of all time. so I’d call it a wash. But 30 years later, it looks like Contra will finally be going the other way, as a group of Chinese filmmakers have stepped forward to create a live-action adaptation of the game.

According to China Film Insider, Contra: The Movie will shift the action to an island in the South China Sea, but it’ll otherwise stick to the same story beats:

In 1988, a huge meteorite lands on an uninhabited island in the South China Sea. Chen Qiang and Li Zhiyong investigate but come up empty handed. 29 years later, Chen sends commandos Bill and Lance into a combat mission there to neutralize the villainous Red Falcon Organization, but end up facing a different enemy altogether.

Contra: The Movie is being produced by Beijing Starlit Movie and TV Culture, and a short teaser video has been embedded above.

Posted in Etcetera, News, Retro | Tagged

EA delays BioWare’s untitled next game and EA Sports UFC 3

Posted on May 10, 2017 by John Scalzo

Electronic Arts hosted their quarterly financial report yesterday, and while the publisher was quite proud of their increased revenues, they also chose to delay two upcoming titles.

BioWare is fresh off the release of Mass Effect: Andromeda, and the developer was planning to launch a brand new game unconnected to any of their previous franchises in Early 2018. But according to CEO Andrew Wilson, that title has been pushed back to “Fiscal Year 2019” (April 1, 2018 – March 31, 2019) to make it more “disruptive”:

Looking forward, we will continue our aggressive pace of innovation through experiences that capitalize on our technology, network and creativity. We are very pleased with the progress of our new action IP from BioWare. The design is stunning, gameplay mechanics are excellent, and the action will be exhilarating. This game is built around a live service, and through our creative process, we’ve decided to add more to the disruptive new social designs for our players. To accommodate that, we are moving the launch date for this project into Fiscal Year 2019.

Earlier in the same presentation, Wilson also confirmed that EA Sports UFC 3 won’t be released by the end of the year as originally planned. The fighting game is now scheduled to launch in Early 2018.

With the 2017 E3 Expo less than four weeks away, we’ll likely learn more about both of these games soon.

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

LocoRoco Remastered, Strafe, NBA Playgrounds, more added to PS Store

Posted on May 10, 2017 by John Scalzo

It’s another throwback day for the PlayStation Store as several classic games receive re-releases on new platforms and long-forgotten genres get another chance with the gaming public.

First up is LocoRoco Remastered, a PS4 re-release of a quirky puzzle platformer originally released for the PSP. Players will need to tilt LocoRoco’s world of “blowing flowers, lively creatures, and pastel scenery” to fight back against a group of evil outer space creatures.

Also available to download this week is Strafe, a retro-styled first person shooter for the PS4 that includes procedurally-generated levels and tons of gore. And speaking of retro style, Saber Interactive has brought back the arcade antics of the NBA Jam franchise in NBA Playgrounds, which also launched yesterday for the PS4.

Fans of the Harvest Moon series will be pleased to learn that Yasuhiro Wada is back with another life simulation, Birthdays the Beginning. It’s launching on the PS4 alongside Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland, which was originally released for the PS2 in 2001. Resident Evil: Code Veronica X was also added to the PS2-On-PS4 section of the PlayStation Store yesterday.

You can learn more about all of these games (and a few other new releases) after the break.

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Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita | Tagged , , ,

Deus Ex composer is working on Retro Studios’s next game

Posted on May 9, 2017 by John Scalzo

When Nintendo unveiled the Switch in January, they shared the stage with most of their development partners to give fans a glimpse at what was coming soon to their then-unreleased console. But one notable name missing from that party was Retro Studios, the creators of the Metroid Prime trilogy.

It’s been more than three years since Retro launched Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze in 2014. In all that time, they’ve been completely silent about their next project, but fans received an interesting clue about the developer’s future last week. Posting on Facebook, composer Alexander Brandon revealed that he’s joined forces with Retro to help shape their next game:

I’m currently working with Retro Studios here in Austin. As much as I’d like to say more (except the work is incredibly exciting and the team is awesome), I can’t.

Brandon is best known as the composer of Deus Ex, but he’s also created music for Unreal Tournament, Thief: Deadly Shadows, and Torment: Tides of Numenera. Some fans might be tempted to say that the composer’s expertise in scoring so many fantastical games makes him the perfect candidate to work on a new entry in the Metroid Prime series, but that might be jumping the gun a bit.

Either way, Retro Studios is clearly working on something, and hopefully we’ll find out what it is soon.

Posted in News, Switch |

Slightly Mad Studios will begin work on an adaptation of a “Blockbuster Hollywood Franchise” after Project CARS 2

Posted on May 9, 2017 by John Scalzo

Since its inception, Slightly Mad Studios has put all of their efforts into the racing genre, releasing titles such as Need For Speed: Shift and Shift 2, as well as independently developing Project CARS and its upcoming sequel. But it looks like their next project will go in a slightly different direction.

Speaking to GTPlanet, Slightly Mad CEO Ian Bell revealed the developer is working on a game adaptation of “a blockbuster Hollywood franchise.” That’s all the executive was able to divulge at this time, but a full reveal is expected to happen in a few months.

Licensed games aren’t as popular as they used to be, so we’re fairly in the dark about what the developer could be working on. But, you know, it’s been a while since somebody put out a new Fast and the Furious game. Perhaps that’s what Slightly Mad is up to…

Posted in News |