Graceful Explosion Machine is a dreamy shooter with a great name

Posted on April 1, 2016 by John Scalzo

Vertex Pop’s first game, We Are Doomed, was a dreamy take on Geometry Wars. Yesterday, the developer announced their second game, Graceful Explosion Machine… a dreamy take on Defender.

In addition to being a great name for a starship, Graceful Explosion Machine is a game that asks players to dash back and forth across a 2D field, blasting baddies along the way with a number of different weapons.

Graceful Explosion Machine will be released for PC and consoles in early 2017, but Vertex Pop plans to bring a playable demo of the game to this month’s PAX East convention (April 22-24) as part of the Indie Megabooth area.

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Hitman: Episode Two will be available on April 26

Posted on April 1, 2016 by John Scalzo

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IO Interactive has revealed (via Twitter) that the second chapter in their episodic Hitman series will be released on April 26:

Agent 47’s second mission will take him to Sapienza, a fictional coastal town in Italy. Further details on the famed assassin’s Italian trip are currently pretty scarce, but we did enjoy the Intro Pack quite a bit. However, IO’s marketing tactics haven’t gotten any better over the years.

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Axiom Verge will be released for the Vita on April 19

Posted on March 31, 2016 by John Scalzo

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Axiom Verge made its PlayStation 4 debut exactly one year ago today. To celebrate, developer Tom Happ has announced that the award-winning Metroidvania will be released for the Vita on April 19. Writing on the PlayStation Blog, Happ described some of the difficulties in bringing Axiom Verge to the Vita:

Tom Spilman from Sickhead Games was in charge of the porting process. Porting an engine to a new platform is an incredibly complicated task, yet he was able to pull it off easily for PlayStation 4. After the PlayStation 4 version was done, however, porting it to Vita turned out to be a lot more challenging. Optimizing an engine is slow and painstaking work.

One analogy that I like to use when describing getting Axiom Verge working on PS Vita is that of a lightbulb. For months, Tom Spilman was putting in all of the wiring, but until it was fully connected, the light bulb just couldn’t turn on. And finally, about a month ago, Tom Spilman was able to make the final connection. The build went from not running at all on Vita to running almost perfectly. There were a few bugs here and there that needed to be tweaked, but most of that was fairly minor and easily handled.

Axiom Verge will be Cross-Buy compatible between the two platforms, so if you already own the PS4 version, the Vita version will be available as a free download. And if you’re new to the world of Axiom Verge, you’ll be happy to know the game will receive a 10% discount for a week after the launch of the Vita version.

Earlier this month, Happ confirmed that Axiom Verge is also in the works for the Xbox One and Wii U, and it should be available on those platforms sometime this year.

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This live-action Doom trailer will prepare you to “Fight Like Hell”

Posted on March 31, 2016 by John Scalzo

Doom‘s Closed Beta kicks off tonight, and publisher Bethesda wants to prepare everyone for the carnage to come with a brand new live-action trailer for the game. Joe Kosinski (who also directed Oblivion and Tron: Legacy populates Mars with Imps, Cacodemons, Barons of Hell, and all the rest of Doom’s demonic forces. It might be a slightly less-than-typical trip to the Red Planet, but don’t worry, Doomguy’s got this.

Doom will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on May 13. And if nothing else, this trailer gives me hope that some Hollywood types could eventually produce an amazing film adaptation of id Software’s seminal shooter.

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Nintendo Download: Lovely Planet, Mario Super Sluggers, Pokken Tournament demo, more

Posted on March 31, 2016 by John Scalzo

After launching Miitomo, the Nintendo Account service, and the My Nintendo rewards program, this week’s Nintendo Download is a bit on the slim side. But 3DS and Wii U owners will be able to browse a completely revamped Nintendo eShop through Nintendo.com starting this week, so I guess that’s something.

Leading things off this week is Lovely Planet, a speedrunning first person shooter for the Wii U that takes place in a colorful world that bears a slight resemblence to the Katamari Damacy franchise. Developed by QuickTequila, Lovely Planet may look cute and cuddly, but it’s said to include a “brutal” interior that players may be surprised to discover.

Also available this week, just in time for Opening Day, is Mario Super Sluggers. Originally released for the Wii back in 2008, Wii U owners will be able to download it now and play the grand old game with Mario and all his friends.

Finally this week, Wii U owners who haven’t tried Pokken Tournament yet can grab a downloadable demo of the game from the Wii U eShop.

A few other games were added to the Nintendo eShop this week and a complete look at all of them can be found after the break.

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Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U |

Daily Scoop: March 31, 2016 – Last day for PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold free games of March

Posted on March 31, 2016 by Nicole Kline

It’s the last day of the month, which means it’s the last possible day to get your free PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold games! On PlayStation, you’ve got Broforce and Galak-Z on PlayStation 4, Flame Over and Reality Fighters on Vita, and The Last Guy and Super Stardust HD on PlayStation 3. On Xbox, Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishment on Xbox One and Borderlands on Xbox 360 are both expiring today.

There are some great games on sale at the Humble Store. Don’t Starve: Shipwrecked is $4.49, Ashes of the Singularity is $44.99, and Minecraft: Story Mode is $21.24.

The Weekend Deal at Steam is Divinity: Original Sin – Enhanced Edition, which is on sale for $19.99. Alternatively, you can get the Collector’s Edition for $34.99. The Daily Deal is Knights of Pen and Paper 2, which is just $3.19.

There are some great t-shirts today!

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Second Call of Duty: Black Ops III DLC Pack, Eclipse, will launch for PS4 on April 19

Posted on March 31, 2016 by John Scalzo

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Activision and Treyarch have announced the second downloadable expansion for Call of Duty: Black Ops III will launch next month. The Eclipse DLC Pack will include four new multiplayer maps (including one based on CoD: World At War‘s “Banzai”) and a new chapter in the Zombies saga:

  • Spire: Spire takes Multiplayer combat to a futuristic sub-orbital airport terminal set high in the clouds. Multiple levels and open areas promote intense, mid-range combat around a clean, high-tech civilian environment. Watch your step, because one wrong move could send you plummeting back through the stratosphere.
  • Rift: Head to the core of a harsh futuristic military complex, set high above an active caldera. Rift funnels and forces tight, intense engagements, where the only way through is forward. Utilize the unique core movement opportunities to outsmart and outplay enemies as you traverse the suspended rail system.
  • Knockout: Housed in a traditional Shaolin Temple with a retro twist, Knockout sets the stage for a bloody Kung Fu tournament. This mid-sized map showcases a sharp contrast between the mid-range engagements of the traditional exterior architecture and the tight close-quarters of an eclectic 1970’s styled interior.
  • Verge: In this re-imagination of the classic Call of Duty: World At War map, “Banzai,” Verge drops Multiplayer combat into the center of a distant post-apocalyptic future, where two warring factions are entrenched in constant battle. Take control of the key bridge, fortresses, tunnel systems and waterfalls as you engage in high-speed action through this medium-sized map.

Eclipse also sets the stage for “Zetsubou No Shima,” the highly-anticipated, all-new entry in the Call of Duty: Black Ops III Zombies storyline that spans the four DLC Map Packs for Black Ops III this year. The Origins characters continue on their mission to stop the zombie apocalypse not only in this universe but in all universes. Our heroes find themselves stranded on a remote Pacific island which is home to the Division 9 facility: a secret biological research lab whose experiments with Element 115 and its effects on human, animal, and plant biology has created horrors beyond belief. “Zetsubou No Shima” features a foliage rich island map including new terrifying zombie enemies, a variety of innovative transport mechanics, more devastating traps and classic Zombies side quests.

The Eclipse DLC Pack will be available for PS4 owners on April 19 as part of the Black Ops III Season Pass or as a standalone download. And if Activision follows their standard operating procedure for Call of Duty DLC, PC and Xbox One owners should be able to download the new maps sometime in late May.

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Two new Dark Souls III trailers reimagine the game as an animated short and 80s Direct-To-Video schlock

Posted on March 31, 2016 by John Scalzo

With less than two weeks to go before Dark Souls III‘s launch, Bandai Namco has decided to have a little fun with their marketing materials.

First, the publisher commissioned Eli Roth (the director of Cabin Fever and Hostel) to produce an animated short based on the game’s lore. In “The Witches,” a “lonely knight” comes face-to-face with three witches and attempts to repel their attacks. If you’re at all familiar with the Dark Souls franchise, you can guess how well that goes.

The second video reimagines Dark Souls III as the kind of ridiculous Direct-To-Video flick that haunted the shelves of Blockbuster in the 80s and 90s. You can check out a faux commercial for this “VHS release” after the break.

Dark Souls III will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on April 12.

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