WWE 2K17 gets October 11 release date, Cover Reveal Trailer featuring Brock Lesnar

Posted on June 27, 2016 by John Scalzo

2K Games is getting ready to release WWE 2K17 this Fall, and today the publisher it’ll be available for the PS4, Xbox One, PS3, and Xbox 360 on October 11. In addition to promising that a number of features for the franchise are in the works at Visual Concepts and Yuke’s, 2K Games also unveiled WWE 2K17’s cover athlete, Brock Lesnar.

“Brock Lesnar’s unmistakable talent, no-holds-barred mentality and unequivocal determination perfectly complement 2K’s commitment to authentically represent WWE at the absolute highest level,” said Chris Snyder, 2K’s Vice President of Marketing. “With Suplex City as the ultimate backdrop and the Beast Incarnate in charge, WWE 2K17 will come to life with an incredible roster and to-be-announced features like never before.”

“My career has been defined by dominating every opportunity presented to me,” said Brock Lesnar. “I am excited for my newest opportunity representing WWE 2K17 as the franchise’s ambassador and honored to serve as the WWE 2K17 cover Superstar.”

2K Games previously announced that fans who pre-order WWE 2K17 will get the chance to play as Bill Goldberg.

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Capcom reveals more details about Balrog’s abilities in Street Fighter V

Posted on June 27, 2016 by John Scalzo

Last night, Capcom confirmed that Balrog will be part of this Friday’s massive update for Street Fighter V, which also includes the Cinematic Story Campaign, Ibuki, and a number of new stages and costumes.

The Cinematic Story Campaign will be a free update, but if you’re interested in the bruising boxer known as Balrog, Capcom provided an update on his new fighting style this morning at the Capcom-Unity blog:

About Balrog
Balrog in Street Fighter V still remains as one of Shadaloo’s top enforcers, working alongside M. Bison, F.A.N.G and Vega. Be sure to check out his Character Story and of course the Cinematic Story Mode to see what sort of trouble he gets himself into this time around.

His playstyle in Street Fighter V puts the focus on his devastating punches, and with the use of his V-Trigger, he can chain these attacks together to deal serious damage. He also has a few cheap attacks up his sleeve to keep the fight in his favor, so don’t let your guard down for a moment!

V-Skill: KKB
A unique move that twirls his body while moving forward. While activated, you can dodge projectiles as well as string together attacks. You can even activate KKB before a special hits you, allowing you to be a technical inside fighter.

V-Trigger: Crazy Rush
A chance to be the aggressor when activated! Steam rises from his body and allows you to string together specials like Charging Buffalo and Bursting Buffalo.

Critical Art: Gigaton Blow
Unleash the fury from your fist with this simple, yet destructive critical art. It can be connected with various moves. Make sure to include it in your combos.

And in case you missed it, Balrog’s Reveal Trailer has been embedded above.

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Animation Throwdown: The Quest for Cards brings together American Dad, Bob’s Burgers, Family Guy, Futurama, and King of the Hill

Posted on June 27, 2016 by John Scalzo

animationthrowdown-header

Fox Digital Entertainment and Kongregate have announced they’re partnering up to create Animation Throwdown: The Quest for Cards, a Hearthstone-like collectible card game that’ll mash together characters from American Dad, Bob’s Burgers, Family Guy, Futurama, and King of the Hill.

Animation Throwdown: The Quest for Cards will give fans the unique ability to play as their favorite characters from each series as they set out to create the ultimate show-themed deck and compete against friends and other players in epic battles.

Kongregate is leading the game design and management and is co-developing the title with Chicago-based Synapse Games (developer of Tyrant Unleashed, Global Assault, and Spellstone) and San Francisco-based Chinzilla Games (developer of Little Alchemist). Synapse and Chinzilla have deep experience creating card battle games that appeal to both casual and core gamers. Animation Throwdown draws inspiration by combining the most popular gameplay elements of their titles into a single franchise.

Animation Throwdown: The Quest for Cards will be available this Fall for iOS and Android devices, and it’ll “eventually” be released for “other platforms.”

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Balrog is also stepping into the ring for Street Fighter V’s June update… which was pushed back to July 1

Posted on June 27, 2016 by John Scalzo

There’s some good news and some bad news on the Street Fighter V front.

The bad news isn’t all that bad, so let’s start there. Capcom announced last night that the Story Expansion and Ibuki won’t be ready to go by the end of the month as originally planned. But don’t panic! The good news is that we’re only looking at a minor delay and both will be available to download this Friday, July 1.

The even better news is that players will also be able to download Balrog this Friday as well. The beloved boxer will return to the Street Fighter universe as a free download for Season Pass owners, and as a standalone download for everyone else. You can get your first look at Balrog’s new appearance in the Reveal Trailer above, which also includes a glimpse at Juri and Urien, the final two Street Fighter V additions planned for 2016.

And in case you missed it, “Tokido” emerged victorious over “Infiltration” during last night’s Street Fighter V Finals at CEO 2016.

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Yacht Club Games is asking their fans to help choose their next project

Posted on June 26, 2016 by John Scalzo

yachtclubgames-logoYacht Club Games is busy adding King Knight and Specter Knight to Shovel Knight, but the team is also brainstorming their next project… and they need your help.

Listing a few specific titles (a single-player Shovel Knight 2, a Shovel Knight & Shield Knight multiplayer platformer) alongside a number of different gameplay styles in an online poll, the developer wants their fans to help them decide where they should focus their energy in the future.

In a previous life, many of Yacht Club’s developers worked for WayForward, and they actually have real experience with many of these genres. The team tackled “A Contra” in 2007 when they partnered with Konami to create Contra 4. They also developed “A Metroid” and “A Mario” after working on 2011’s Aliens: Infestation and the long-running Shantae series (which began in 2002).

Yacht Club isn’t sharing the results of the survey just yet, but the company’s “Captain,” Sean Velasco, is happily telling everyone on Twitter that Shovel Knight 64 (a Shovel Knight done in the blocky polygonal style of N64-era games) is “a lock.” This isn’t the first time that Velasco has joked about Shovel Knight 64, and Nintendo themselves even hinted at a second game in the series back in 2015.

I’m on board for whatever Yacht Club is up to next, but I’d really like to see what Shovel Kart looks like.

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Force yourself to watch this Lego Star Wars: Force Awakens Character Trailer starring Rey

Posted on June 26, 2016 by John Scalzo

Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be released in less than 48 hours, but WB Games and TT Games are still cutting together new Character Trailers for the title, including the newest one starring Rey (with new dialogue from Daisy Ridley).

We still don’t know if her last name is Skywalker or Kenobi or Solo, but we do know that Rey has natural Force abilities, and you can see them all in this trailer. Watch as she uses her staff to disable a foe, blasts away at a few Stormtroopers, and gives Kylo Ren something to cry about.

Lego Star Wars: Force Awakens will be released for the 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on June 28.

Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Tagged

A quartet of new novels will fill in the story between Mass Effect 3 and Andromeda

Posted on June 26, 2016 by John Scalzo

masseffectandromedainitiationEA and BioWare will help produce a quartet of novels that will bridge the gap between the events of Mass Effect 3, and those of its upcoming sequel, Mass Effect: Andromeda.

The novels were outed by a “Rights Guide” from Titan Books, and the first, Mass Effect Andromeda: Initiation, will be written by N.K. Jemisin and released this August. Jemisin is an award-winning fantasy author, and her first novel, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, was nominated for a Hugo, a Nebula, and a World Fantasy Award.

Titan plans to sell the novel series to readers by promising to “answer the many questions fans have been asking”:

While earlier Mass Effect games focused on the defense of the Milky Way galaxy, with humans pitted against a race of ruthless mechanical invaders known as the Reapers, the new story will take the game in a dramatic new direction and is set in a new region of space, with a new and deadly enemy.

The novels will act as prequel and sequels to the events in the games and will become part of the overarching Mass Effect saga. They will focus on key characters and answer the many questions fans have been asking.

The series will continue with Novel 2 in March 2017 and Novel 3 in September 2017, though an author wasn’t announced for either book. The concluding volume, Novel 4, will be written by BioWare’s Mac Walters, and will be published in March 2018.

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

Team Bondi’s followup to L.A. Noire, Whore of the Orient, has likely been canceled

Posted on June 26, 2016 by John Scalzo

teambondi-logoShow of hands… who remembers Whore of the Orient, Team Bondi’s proposed followup to L.A. Noire? I think I see a few hands in the air, but not too many.

That’s because we haven’t heard a peep out of Team Bondi (which is part of George “Mad Max” Miller’s Kennedy Miller Mitchell these days) in more than three years. And the last bit of news to emerge from the studio was a rumor that progress on Whore of the Orient had stopped.

So here we are in 2016… and that rumor was probably true. The GameHugs podcast recently caught up with Derek Proud, a Producer formerly employed by Kennedy Miller Mitchell, and he confirmed that Whore of the Orient is most likely dead:

“Well Whore of the Orient was the spiritual successor to L.A. Noire. We were going to use that tech and we were going to create a game set in the 1930s, maybe 1940s, of Shanghai. Shanghai was the only place in the world you could go to in the 1930s and 1940s if you didn’t have a passport. So everybody who was running from something went to Shanghai. The whole city was run by a gangster called Big-Eared Du and it’s just the most fascinating time, place, and setting.”

Proud later admitted that even though Whore of the Orient had plenty of support from Team Bondi’s senior management, it was wasn’t enough to keep it alive. And while there’s a chance the game could be revived someday, when asked if we’ll ever see it, he responded, “I don’t think so.”

At this point, I guess you could say that Whore of the Orient needs another hero.

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