The “Official Story Trailer” for Lego Dimensions is absolutely bonkers

Posted on July 30, 2015 by John Scalzo

  • The Riddler riding a Balrog!
  • Gandalf riding a hoverboard!
  • Marty McFly fighting evil with “The Power of Love”!
  • The Batman from the Lego Batman games arguing with the Batman from The Lego Movie!

Ladies and gentlemen, the Lego Dimensions “Official Story Trailer” has it all! This absolutely ridiculous look at WB Games’s massive crossover project seems to includes everything that made TT Games’s previous Lego projects great. But if the official plot description is anything to go by, there’s a lot more insanity to come:

In the game, there is an ancient planet at the center of the Lego Multiverse inhabited by an evil mastermind, Lord Vortech. It is said that he who controls the Foundational Elements that this planet is built upon, controls all of the Multiverse. Lord Vortech has vowed to be that ruler, summoning characters from a variety of Lego worlds to help him find these building bricks of Lego civilization. Some have agreed, others have rebelled, and only the combined powers of the greatest Lego heroes can stop him.

Lego Dimensions will mix together 14 Lego worlds including DC Comics, The Lord of the Rings, The Wizard of Oz, Back to the Future, Scooby-Doo, Doctor Who, Jurassic World, Ghostbusters, The Simpsons, Portal, Lego Ninjago, Lego Chima, and The Lego Movie. WB Games will also add characters from Midway Arcade to the action, and if that means that I get to play as Lego Sub-Zero I will lose my freakin’ mind.

Lego Dimensions will be released for the PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on September 27.

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Nintendo Download: Xeodrifter, Badland: Game of the Year Edition, more

Posted on July 30, 2015 by John Scalzo

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Nintendo update the Nintendo eShop today with a trio of new games for the Wii U and another three for the 3DS. Though one can be played on both systems with a single purchase.

Yes, Nintendo is offering another Cross-Buy promotion with Rengeade Kid’s Xeodrifter. The Metroidvania-style Wii U game will offer players “mystery and adventure” as they “blast through alien landscapes, seek out valuable secrets, and defeat ancient guardians.” As a Cross-Buy title, purchasing Xeodrifter on the Wii U will also make the game available to download on the 3DS, and vice versa.

Also available this week is Badland: Game of the Year Edition, a high definition upgrade of the popular mobile game. The Game of the Year Edition of the side-scroller comes with “more than 15 hours of single-player levels” and a four-player local multiplayer mode.

More information on these titles, and a small handful of additional Wii U and 3DS games, can be found after the break.

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Blizzard will announce sixth World of Warcraft expansion at Gamescom 2015

Posted on July 30, 2015 by John Scalzo

metatop100-worldofwarcraftBlizzard has announced they will reveal the sixth expansion to World of Warcraft at this year’s Gamescom expo.

According to a post on Battle.net, the expansion will makes it worldwide debut as part of a presentation will take place on Thursday, August 6 at 12:00 PM (Eastern Time). If you’re not going to be in Cologne, Germany next week for the expo, don’t worry, Blizzard plans to livestream the entire event at BlizzGC.com.

Blizzard will host a second presentation during Gamescom on Sunday, August 9 at 11:00 AM (Eastern Time). This “World of Warcraft developer chat” will reveal more information about the MMO’s next expansion.

If you do find yourself in Cologne, Germany next week, Blizzard will have a booth at Gamescom in Hall 7.1 and they’re encouraging all their fans to stop by.

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Comcept signs publishing deal with Fuze as Red Ash Kickstarter campaign struggles

Posted on July 30, 2015 by John Scalzo

redash-logoWith just three days to go, Comcept’s Kickstarter campaign for Red Ash: The Indelible Legend is struggling. The developer has only reached 60% of their $800,000 goal and things look bleak. However, a new development deal with Fuze Entertainment, a publisher based out of China, will allow Comcept to complete the game. Not only that, but the deal allows the team to also bring the game to the PS4 and Xbox One, in addition to the PC.

According to an update posted to the Kickstarter campaign, all money pledged towards Red Ash will go towards the development of additional content. While reaching their Kickstarter goal is far from a certainty, Comcept also said they will retain all franchise rights to Red Ash.

Comcept has also decided to go on the offensive and give their fans a small taste of Red Ash with a short mock-up demo. Instructions on how to download (and play) the demo can be found in a recent Kickstarter update.

Red Ash was pitched as a spiritual successor to Mega Man Legends by Comcept’s Keiji Inafune, and I’m sure fans are excited that the game is now assured to be completed.

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ZombiU drops the “U” and will be available to download on PC, PS4, Xbox One on August 18

Posted on July 30, 2015 by John Scalzo

Ubisoft has announced that ZombiU, one of the best games available during the Wii U’s launch window, will be available to download on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One beginning August 18. While it’s the same ZombiU that Wii U players fell in love with, the game’s new destinations have necessitated a name change to Zombi.

After being one of the Wii U flagship titles in 2012, Zombi returns to challenge gamers on multiple new platforms to find out how long they can survive in the dilapidated, infected London. For the second time in history, a great plague has shrouded the city in a fog of death and thousands have died, or worse, been infected by a sickness more gruesome than death. Once again, this fear-fueled first-person shooter invites all players to dive into the horror, chaos and tension found in the best of the genre.

Zombi’s permadeath mechanic will once again force players to think strategically to survive (or to risk it all to regain their loot if they don’t). The “bug-out bag,” which was only accessible through the Wii U GamePad, will also be back in some form. Probably through a pause screen that doesn’t pause the action or a second screen app.

London Bridge is falling down…

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Xbox Store Today: King’s Quest Chapter 1, Life Is Strange Episode 4, more

Posted on July 29, 2015 by John Scalzo

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Four new games were added to the Xbox Games Store today. Without further adieu, here we go…

  • King’s Quest: A Knight to Remember (Xbox 360, Xbox One) kicks off The Odd Gentlemen’s reboot of the classic adventure game. Return to the middle ages as King Graham reminisces on his journey from a young teen to the most powerful man in all the land.
  • Meanwhile, Life Is Strange: Dark Room (Xbox 360, Xbox One) is nearing its end as Chloe finds out exactly why time travel is a bad idea. And not just because of all the runaway open-air manure trucks.
  • World of Tanks: Xbox One Edition will, not surprisingly, bring the World of Tanks franchise to the Xbox One for the first time. Players will be able to pilot a wide variety of mid-century tanks and battle both Xbox One and Xbox 360 players in this free-to-play game.
  • Finally, Squid Hero For Kinect (Xbox One) asks players to smash ice with motion controls.

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

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It’s Always Blocky in Minecraft… because Rob McElhenney is directing the movie

Posted on July 29, 2015 by Holly Scalzo

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Have you heard? Word on the Internet is that there’s going to be a Minecraft movie coming out… sometime. There’s really no information on it just yet. But here’s one thing we do know, the director of the film has been announced to be It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia‘s Rob McElhenney.

McElhenney has mad credits on Sunny for creating, writing, producing, directing, and starring as Ronald “Mac” McDonald… not to mention snagging colleague and funny lady Kaitlin Olson. The announcement was made in a succinct blog post from Mojang, which offered no other information about the project. While McElhenney’s ascension to the position remains a temporarily confusing but delightful mystery, we have noticed some fun similarities between Minecraft and several recurring Sunny characters.

Minecraft aficionados will certainly remember the Creepers, which are very reminiscent of the infamous Green Man (Charlie Day’s Charlie, high out of his mind, in a full-body green spandex suit), who first debuted in the season three episode “The Gang Gets Invincible.” And who can forget Day Man and the creepily suggestive Night Man, which viewers may recall from Charlie’s weird musical, “The Nightman Cometh,” from the end of season four. Both characters seem to parallel the protagonist “Steve” and the mysterious Enderman.

With these concurrent elements in mind, McElhenney now seems like a natural fit for the film. It almost begs the question, was Notch just a huge Sunny fan all along?

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Go Set A Watchbird… and watch the first gameplay trailers for Angry Birds 2

Posted on July 29, 2015 by Holly Scalzo

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Fresh from Rovio’s mystical ice castle comes a new addition to the Angry Birds roster. Angry Birds 2 arrives in app stores for iOS and Android devices tomorrow, July 30th, and two new trailers released late last night give a glimpse at some of the action. Fans of the franchise will see some par-for-the-course gameplay that looks fairly similar to the original game. Some slight variations on the formula can be seen in the trailers including giant inflating pig heads, different lush scenery, new fortifications that the pigs are hunkered down in, lots of dynamite, and what looks to be some wheeled contraptions a la Bad Piggies, also known as the franchise’s Bad Spinoff.

Fans of the slingshot genre will know what to expect, while those new to society who have just been released from prison will be confused that although there have been about 37 incarnations of Angry Birds, this one is entitled number two. (It is thus because it is a direct sequel of sorts to the original, and the other games all have different wacky themes which make them different somehow.)

Anyway, as I am the Senior Angry Birds Correspondent, I think it’s my place to just throw in here that if they’re still so angry, they should probably seek counseling. It’s just not healthy to hang onto that rage, you guys. You can find both gameplay trailers after the break.

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