While surfing around Amazon today, I found way too many great games on sale. I won’t even mention them, but… all I’m saying is… this is a terrible time to be anywhere near Amazon if your willpower is as bad as mine is. OK, I lied, I’ll mention them… Borderlands: The Handsome Collection is $14.99! Tom Clancy’s The Division is $19.99, as is Homefront: The Revolution! OK, OK, I’m closing these tabs…
But not the tab with the Humble Store! There are so many great deals, including the Daedalic DRM-Free Holiday Bundle. For $59.50, you’ll get Candle, Caravan, Deponia Doomsday, Memoria, Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, and Valhalla Hills. Also, today’s Humble Happy Hour game is WRC 4 FIA World Rally Championship. Try it out for free now!
The Free Weekend at Steam is Dead by Daylight. Play it for free for the next two days, and if you like it, pick it up for just $13.99 for the standard edition, or $20.99 for the Deluxe Edition. The Daily Deal is Warhammer 40,000 : Eternal Crusade, which is on sale for $20.
Just three shirts today! Hit the jump to check them out!
A few months ago, Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima gave a very interesting answer when a reporter from Bloomberg asked if the Switch would ever receive its own virtual reality headset. While the executive didn’t answer in the affirmative, he admitted “it’s something we must consider.”
And consider it they have.
Earlier this week, Nintendo filed a patent application with the US Patent and Trademark Office for a Switch accessory that looks quite similar to mobile virtual reality headsets such as Samsung’s Gear VR or Google’s Daydream View. The goggles-style headset would feature a slot at the top, which would house the Switch’s tablet screen. After strapping it to their head, players could then use the detachable Joy-Con controllers or a Switch Pro Controller to play VR-style games.
However, as with all patent applications, it’s important to remember that Nintendo is merely disclosing a possible use for the Switch. There’s no guarantee this headset accessory is in development, and on top of that, the patent application doesn’t include any mention of “virtual reality” or “VR.”
Nintendo will fully unveil the Switch on January 12, after which they’ll immediately take it on a multi-city Preview Tour across North America. While it might be a while before we learn more about the console’s possible VR capabilities, it’ll be released sometime in March.
It looks like Sega had quite a bit of success with last year’s launch of Valkyria Chronicles Remastered, as the publisher has announced the fourth game in the franchise, Valkyria Revolution, will be released in North America and Europe next Spring.
Unlike the original trilogy, Valkyria Revolution takes place in an alternate timeline with a new set of characters and an entirely original storyline:
All it takes is a single spark to start the inferno of war, and in the story of Valkyria Revolution, players will experience that firsthand. Five lifelong friends consumed by personal revenge plunge an entire continent into a terrible war, sacrificing the lives of countless innocents for a cause based on twisted half-truths and outright lies. This “Circle of Five” use their combined influence in their political and military positions to motivate their small, economically blockaded homeland to rise up and become a powerful resistance against its imperialist oppressors. Will the Circle of Five be remembered as heroic liberators, or will their selfish motives expose them as traitorous conspirators who sacrificed untold lives just to carry out a personal vendetta? Players will watch this history unfold in Valkyria Revolution and find out the truth behind the events…
In addition to the new setting, Sega has created a brand new battle system for Valkyria Revolution that mixes real-time combat and tactical strategy. Other features players can expect to find in the game include:
Valkyria Revolution Features
A Brush with Death – Turning the tide of battle in Valkyria Revolution is Brunhilde, one of the last of the ancient and powerful Valkyrur, magical beings with near limitless power. She’s bound by oath to the enemy forces and players will have to figure out how to defeat her.
Prepare for LeGION – Valkyria Revolution has a brand new battle system that mixes real-time combat and tactical strategy. Players can take control of the battlefield using brazen combos or cunning tactics and finding a balance between them is the key to excelling in skirmishes.
The Ingenuity of War – Through adversity comes great engineering, and with a besieged homeland, players will have upgrade their existing weapons through branching customization paths.
A New Painterly Look – Valkyria Revolution has a refined look thanks to the new Gouache rendering engine, giving the graphics a unique canvas texture.
Classic Composer – Valkyria Revolution has a vibrant soundtrack brought to life by the incredibly talented composer Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger, Stella Glow).
Valkyria Revolution will be available as a physical disc for the PS4 and Xbox One. Sega will also release the game for the Vita exclusively as a digital download through the PlayStation Store.
Nintendo will reveal all about the Nintendo Switch during the “Nintendo Switch Presentation 2017” on January 12. But immediately after, they’re taking their console/handheld hybrid on the road for a six-city North American tour:
Nintendo Switch Preview Tour
January 13-15: New York City
January 27-29: Toronto
February 10-12: Washington D.C.
February 17-19: Chicago
February 24-26: San Francisco
March 3-5: Los Angeles
According to Nintendo, the first two days of each three-day stop will be invite-only, but the final day will be open to the public. The exact location of each tour stop has yet to be announced, but space is expected to be very limited and the consolemaker said that “early arrival is highly recommended.” If you can’t make it to one of these limited engagements, Nintendo also plans to hit the convention circuit with the Switch, with stops in San Antonio, Boston, and Austin:
Nintendo Switch Convention Tour
January 27-29: PAX South
March 10-12: PAX East
March 16-18: SXSW
If you can’t make it to any of these preview shows, don’t worry, the Nintendo Switch will launch sometime this March, which is only three months away.
Ubisoft wants players to celebrate St. Valentine’s Day in 2017 with For Honor, a game devoted to the eternal feud between Knights, Samurai, and Vikings. It’s an absolutely silly premise, but the publisher is building a plot-heavy single-player campaign around the conflict, which is on display in the brand new trailer embedded above:
Three legendary warrior factions – The noble Knights of the Iron Legion, the deadly Samurai of the Dawn Empire, and ferocious Vikings of the Warborn clans – are under threat from a mysterious and bloodthirsty warlord named Apollyon. Storm castles, defeat invading armies, and win epic duels as you battle for the survival of your people.
In addition to the single-player campaign, Ubisoft revealed a bit more about For Honor’s Faction War contest, which appears to be patterned after Mortal Kombat X‘s similarly-named metagame. In For Honor’s Faction War, players will choose a side and earn War Assets after competing in multiplayer matches. Players can use these War Assets to help other players fight for territory, and members of each faction will receive rewards based on their performance during each ten-week season.
Prospective players will get a taste of the Faction War metagame during For Honor’s Closed Beta, which will take place in January, and registration for a chance to join is now available at ForHonorGame.com/war.
Finally, Ubisoft wants to help with your faction decision by unveiling three new trailers (available after the break) that focus on a prominent Knight, Samurai, and Viking:
The Peacekeeper: Selected from the desperate, the humbled or the devoted, they are sworn to secrecy by unbreakable oaths. Quick and lethal, they fight with a short sword in one hand and a dagger in the other. Peacekeepers are the deadliest duelists of all Assassins, capable of winning a fight before their enemy even knows they are here.
The Shugoki: Once the guardians of the Samurai, they have become as family. Massive and fierce, their weapon of choice is the kanabo, a huge stick that they only can wield efficiently. The Shugoki might not have the same agility as the other Samurai, but their rock-like resistance and demon-like strength make them an unavoidable force on the battlefield.
The Warlord: Warlord is a name from an ancient Viking tradition, a name that is earned by only the true leaders in combat, those who are ready to spend their whole life servicing all who need it. Warlords’ shields are as versatile as they are strong and their sword, while simple in design, is sharp and deadly.
For Honor will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on February 14.
After the strong sales of 1080 Snowboarding, Nintendo embraced their extreme sports success and pushed out a sequel, 1080 Avalanche, for the GameCube. More than 13 years later, the consolemaker hasn’t shown any interest in revisiting their surprise hit.
And yet, it’s hard not to be reminded of the 1080 franchise after watching Link shred some powder in this brand new mini-trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The hero wants to wish fans a “Happy Holidays” and tear down a mountain with reckless abandon on his shield. The epic music is also a nice touch.
In addition to the new mini-trailer, Nintendo is trotting out a series of new Breath of the Wild screenshots on Facebook that will “explore the Hyrulean landscape.”
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be released for the Nintendo Switch and the Wii U sometime in 2017.
I’ve gone hands-on with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard twice now, first with the original Beginning Hour demo and then with the VR Lantern demo. Both left me with very different impressions, but since the Beginning Hour demo received one last update following Sony’s PlayStation Experience event, I decided to jump back in with high hopes. How did it go?
I’m getting super close to the end of The Last Guardian! I know I keep talking about my backlog, but playing this has really just made me want to replay Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. Hopefully I will not fall for that! Too many other games to play…
Speaking of too many games, there’s a Rockstar sale happening in the Humble Store! Pick up Grand Theft Auto IV for $6.99, Bully: Scholarship Edition for $5.24, and Midnight Club II for $3.49, among many others!
Steam’s Free Weekend is Tom Clancy’s The Division. Play it free, and if you like it, pay just $24.99 for the regular edition or $44.99 for the Gold Edition. The free play and the deals are available until December 19. The Daily Deal is Town of Salem, which is $3.34.
There are some great shirts today. Hit the jump to see them all!
While surfing around Amazon today, I found way too many great games on sale. I won’t even mention them, but… all I’m saying is… this is a terrible time to be anywhere near Amazon if your willpower is as bad as mine is. OK, I lied, I’ll mention them… Borderlands: The Handsome Collection is $14.99! Tom Clancy’s The Division is $19.99, as is Homefront: The Revolution! OK, OK, I’m closing these tabs…
