games

Video Game Soda Machine Project adds its 3,000th soda machine

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The Video Game Soda Machine Project has finally hit its 3,000th soda machine.

The Video Game Soda Machine Project has finally hit its 3,000th soda machine. If you haven’t heard of the VGSMP, where have you been? The project collects screenshots of soda machines found in video games. The huge compilation now of over 3K soda machines from across many different titles. Every major platform and gaming genre … Read more

Target unveils Black Friday ad; Blacks Ops 4 for $45

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Target unveils Black Friday ad; Blacks Ops 4 for $45 1

The holidays are upon us once again, which means Black Friday is quickly approaching to kickstart the festivities.

As such, everyone’s favorite shopping day of the year (or as it appears so) is around the corner. Target has released its Black Friday ads and features some very decent deals on games today. Their catalog shows us just what they’ll be marking down for the event and there’s really something for everyone.

The most notable sales are Marvel’s Spider-Man PS4 bundle marked down to just $199.99. This isn’t nearly as feature-full as the PS4 Pro Special Edition which was debuted alongside Spider-Man a few months back, but it’s a good bundle for those looking to finally get a PS4.

There’s also a 2DS package with Super Mario Maker priced at just $79.99. And a PS VR bundle at $249.99, which comes with all the basic accessories like the PS Camera and Move controllers with Creed: Rise to Glory and Superhot VR– a perfect setup for those looking for a fully-working VR experience who don’t want to shell out hundreds more for an Oculus or Samsung VR.

Starlink: Battle for Atlas will also be available for just $39.99 which includes the starter kit for Switch and has Fox McCloud and the Arwing included in the neat package.

Lastly, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will be marked down to just $45. Perfect pickup for this current-gen FPS that’s all the rage today and is constantly making headlines. Considering the game just came out, this price is a steal.

Black Friday officially begins on November 23.

Here’s what’s on Target’s Black Friday ad:

$35

  • NHL 19
  • SoulCalibur VI
  • We Happy Few
  • Forza Horizon 4
  • Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
  • Sea of Thieves

$29.99

  • WWE 2K19
  • Shadow of the Tomb Raider
  • Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker
  • F1 2019
  • Fallout 4: GOTY Edition

$25

  • Detroit: Become Human
  • Assassin’s Creed Origins
  • God of War
  • Nickelodeon Kart Racers
  • Far Cry 5
  • LEGO The Incredible
  • Call of Duty: WWII
  • Dragonball FighterZ
  • Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle
  • Just Dance 2019
  • Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
  • MLB The Show 18

$15

  • NBA Live 19
  • LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2
  • Overwatch
  • PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
  • Skyrim: Special Edition
  • DOOM
  • Star Wars Battlefront II
  • Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
  • The Evil Within 2
  • LEGO Jurassic World
  • Farming Simulator

The Binding of Isaac’s final DLC “Repentance” announced

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The Binding of Isaac's final DLC "Repentance" announced 2

The Binding of Isaac is getting its final DLC pack. Creator Edmund McMillen announced it over Twitter as the “FINAL (for real this time) DLC for Isaac.” It’ll be called The Binding of Isaac: Repentance and includes the popular fan-made Antibirth mod which adds a number of new rooms, enemies, and treasures to discover and a hidden end … Read more

Square Enix’s The Last Remnant being delisted from Steam

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Steam removes movies and videos.

Square Enix’s The Last Remnant, a nearly 10-year-old game, is being removed from the Steam store in just a few weeks. On the Steam News page, Square announced that it’ll be delisted from the DRM platform on different schedules for different regions:

  • Japan region: Wednesday 5th September, approximately 2:00 (JST)
  • NA region: Tuesday 4th September, approximately 10:00 (PDT)
  • EU region: Tuesday 4th September, approximately 17:00 (GMT)

For owners of the game, it’ll still be playable. But for those looking to buy it, it’ll be gone. The title was released for the Xbox 360 back in 2008 and a PS3 version of was never released. It wasn’t a flop by any means, but it is a pretty dated game.

It’s a JRPG developed by the same team behind SaGa and the Final Fantasy games. Get it on Steam for $9.99 if you’re interested in the PC version. The console version will be available used (or possibly new) and can easily still be had from various retailers that carry specialty or retro games.

Microsoft explains why they bought Ninja Theory

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Microsoft explains why they bought Ninja Theory 3

At this years’ E3 showcase, Microsft made some big announcements regarding the fact that they acquired five new developers. One of them happens to be a new team called Playground Games, based in Santa Monica and are best known for their Forza Horizon games. They also bought Compulsion Games (We Happy Few), Undead Labs (State of Decay), The Initiative, and Ninja Theory (Heavenly Sword).

This was pretty big news because although they’re not huge companies, they’re still pretty significant in the titles they’re known for. Seeing how Ninja Theory is now an in-house developer, people got excited about the future game lineup from this developer. Head of Microsoft Studios Matt Booty talks about the reasoning behind buying a studio like Ninja Theory in a recent interview:

“When you think about our existing content as it relates to Game Pass… you can see that we’re fortunate to have some really large franchises, with Halo, Gears of War, Forza, Minecraft, Age of Empires… these are all well-established franchises.”

“I use the world franchise deliberately, because these games are typically multi-platform, they have a presence off of Xbox, they have millions of players and iterations of the game going back a decade or more.

“An amazing thing about Ninja Theory is that it is very clear that the studio orbits around ideas and creativity, and the characters, storytelling, and settings really come first for them. That just meshes really well with our desire to provide our players, especially those in Game Pass, with content that is new, unique, has variety, and sits outside of the stuff we are doing with our bigger franchises.”

The main reason is Game Pass, which is Xbox’s subscription service aside from their Gold Service for online play. Game Pass allows players to unlock over 100 indie and first-party titles for just $10 a month with unlimited play. New games are always added and older games are rotated out. Some third-party titles are also in the mix- even some AAA titles like DOOM.

Valiant Hearts: The Great War and Child of Light coming to Switch

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Valiant Hearts: The Great War and Child of Light coming to Switch 4

Child of Light and Valiant Hearts: The Great War are both coming to the Nintendo Switch this Fall. They were confirmed for the Switch in a news post on the official Ubisoft site. Child of Light will release on October 11th and Valiant Hearts will release on November 8th.

Child of Light features amazing artwork and players must save their kingdom from evil forces. The game is a turn-based RPG in a fantasy world where players must take the role of a hero named Aurora who happens to reside in the kingdom of Lemuria. The game has a skill-tree progression system for all characters and allows the freedom to tailor each character to suit different roles or playstyles.

The isn’t the first game in this series on a Nintendo console, as it was also available for the Wii U back in 2014. This game won’t have any new Switch exclusives, but a second player can join in with a Joy-Con to control Aurora’s companion Igniculus to allow players to play in co-op. However, this feature is available in other releases of the game.

Valiant Hearts: The Great War will ship with integrated touch controls just like the iOS, Android, and Windows versions. Switch owners will have Valiant Hearts: Dogs of War which is an interactive comic that was previously available on mobile platforms.

This is a point-and-click adventure game which focuses on multiple strangers during WWI. You’ll guide a character through many puzzles with a trusty dog as your companion to infiltrate enemy bases, investigate different events, and discover WWI history. Valiant Hearts for the Switch is the first time it’s ever been on a Nintendo console.

Stay tuned for more news upon release.

Salt and Sanctuary released for Nintendo Switch

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Salt and Sanctuary released for Nintendo Switch 5

Salt and Sanctuary, a 2D hack-and-slash platformer released on the Nintendo Switch yesterday, the 2nd.

The game is also available on PS4, PC, and PS Vita and will also be released in digital and physical form. There will also be a collector’s edition called Salt and Sanctuary: Drowned Tome Edition which will launch sometime this “holiday” according to the developer Ska Studios. The game is being ported by BlitWorks, a Spanish developer who’s previously worked on Bastion, Spelunky, and Don’t Starve.

Ska Studios uploaded a new trailer for the game. It features some very nice artwork with plenty of hacking and slashing indeed:

It looks similar to Dark Souls with a lot of punishing combat and a few character classes. It uses a checkpoint system as you explore the world and typical boss encounters which you’ll struggle with unless you know the weak points and attack patterns. The player can also upgrade their abilities in order to unlock the world’s various zones.

The game follows a protagonist who’s been player-created. This character sails across the ocean to stop a war between two kingdoms. You’re then shipwrecked on an island and you must solve the puzzles behind an evil mastermind and survive the attacks by the hostile enemies on the island along with the traps and tricks.

Salt and Sanctuary is available now for the Switch. It has no exclusive content for this port, but if you’re looking for an awesome and distinctive platformer, you should consider this game.

 

Star Control: Origins releases Fleet Battles update patch – what’s new?

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Star Control: Origins releases Fleet Battles update patch - what's new? 6

Star Control: Origins, a space strategy indie game, just got a whole bunch of new updates in the Fleet Battles Beta patch.

Stardock, the developer, calls the update a major milestone in the game’s progress. It adds a few new ships, maps, weapons, and various improvements overall. The quality of life updates has also been implemented. The beta update is available to all players who pre-purchase the game.

The game is developed by Michigan-based company Stardock Entertainment. Star Control: Origins is the newest game in the series which began back in 1990. The game is different from earlier titles because it takes place in an alternate universe. Origins were announced back in 2016 and are available for PC via Steam on September 20th.

The Fleet Battles mode is probably the major update in this patch. It allows plates to build a fleet of starships and fight other fellers. Players can control fleet and battle enemy fleets, AI, or even with friends in local multiplayer. The game also now offers a fully integrated crafting system, which allows players to create, craft, and build, their own vessels and even share them with others in the Steam Workshop community.

A new gameplay feature has also been added to the game. Scavenging allows players to collect power-ups from destroyed ships found around the battlefields in the game. Each power-up allows players to get abilities like acceleration, restore energy, refill HP, and even get speed bursts.

There are also new ships added to the lineup in this update patch. Two new ships, the Kzinti Intimidator and the Arillou Observer, which both have their own unique features. The former is a “nimble ship equipped with deadly proximity mines and a Repulsor” while the latter can cloak. They both also have their weapon loadouts and players will receive new maps.

Performance improvements include an improved camera, UI, and multiplayer. Stardock has also released new content in the form of DLC, which add music, lore, and concept art. This is only available to players who pre-purchase the game.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance games pulled from digital stores

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Marvel: Ultimate Alliance games pulled from digital stores 7

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 have been pulled from all digital purchasing platforms- Microsoft Store, PlayStation Store, and Steam. A user on Reddit reported the rude awakening earlier on the 26th.

This isn’t the first time Marvel games pulled a game from online stores. Deadpool is another example that’s exhibited this behavior multiple times already- twice from Steam and is still currently not available for purchase on the platform at the time of this writing.

The Marvel universe consists of many titles in many different series. It consists of big-name heroes, villains, and dozens upon dozens of lesser-known ones. The Ultimate Alliance games allowed players to team up fantasy selections of these characters and battle the villains. The games were known for their attention to detail, artwork, level system, and the game’s cosmetic costumes.

But regardless of these features, Ultimate Alliance and its Ultimate Alliance 2 can’t be purchased at the moment on those platforms. Players can still buy it in a bundle on HumbleBundle, but there’s no telling if and when it’ll be pulled from there also. If you’ve been thinking about getting this game, you should buy it now because it could disappear for some time if it’s anything like the Deadpool game. Seriously.

Sega classics are coming to the Nintendo Switch by Summer 2018 under Sega Ages

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Sonic is coming to the Switch!

Classic games from SEGA Genesis and Master System will be available for the Nintendo Switch during the Summer of 2018, according to an announcement at Sega Fest 2018.

Fans of the classic Sega games like Sonic the Hedgehog, Phantasy Star, Thunderforce 4, and more, will all be available on the Switch under the Sega Ages brand. There will be a total of 15 games available including the 3 above.

A company called M2 is behind the move and will be developing the games for emulation for the games. They’re specialists in game emulation for older titles and they’ve been doing this with Sega games for a while now- they ported games onto the Virtual Console on the DS, so they know what they’re doing. The Sega Ages label has been used by Sega since 1996 when they re-released games on their SEGA Saturn console.

As for now, we have no info about the other remaining games. We’ll post an update when we hear word about them.

Photo: Flickr.

Carrion is a new “reverse horror game”

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Carrion is a violent reverse horror game.

Carrion is a new “reverse horror game” that has you playing the role of the violent monster instead of the traditional format.

It’s a very gruesome, gory, and violent horror game that has you playing as this huge blog that wants nothing but human destruction. The game is made with old-school pixel art and is full of violence. The gameplay videos released so far has scenes where the player controlling the blob using its long tendrils to slowly crawl through an old lab and literally rip the scientists apart.

There’s also a skill system where you can upgrade your blobby activities like dashing, throwing, and of course, grabbing. Using these abilities is needed to get around barriers like fences, vents, and other things that may try to slow your alien blob down.

The game is played in a 2D sidescrolling format using a traditional point-and-click interface. The game features 16-bit graphics (or it appears so) and is detailed with grungy colors.

There’s also a splitting ability that divides you into two blobs and is needed unlock high-security doors that require two levers to be pressed.

So far, the game has no set release date. Carrion is a new twist on the old-school horror we’re accustomed to. You can check it out here.

Microsoft Studios gets a new seasoned veteran takeover

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Microsoft Studios gets Matt Booty as the new boss.

Matt Booty is now the CEO of Microsoft Studios.

He wears the new badge of the previous holder- Phile Spencer. Spencer was promoted to Executive VP for Games by Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella.

So, what’s Booty in charge of at MS Studios?

Well, if you’ve played any game developed by Microsoft, he’s in charge of that- pretty much. They’re in charge of developing and publishing first-party titles across platforms like Windows 10, Android, iOS, and Xbox. Some games are also released on PS4 and Nintendo Switch, such as Minecraft. Spencer is still a part of the department, as Booty will report to him and develop a strategy for their studio. Booty overseas all the other departments, such as software, hardware, and online play.

Previously, Booty was just in charge of Mojang, which is the developer behind Minecraft.

Booty had a previous history of working for companies like Midway Games as an engineer and then later CEO of the same company. He joined Microsoft in 2010 and built games for Windows Phone and Xbox Live Arcade.

He’s a seasoned veteran and believes in “great games” and that “content is extremely important.”

Either way, it’s nice to see people shifting around. This brings in new tides for Microsoft Studios and possibly new processes.

Twitch gets exclusive rights to Overwatch League for the next two years

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You'll only be able to watch Overwatch League on Twitch...but who cares?

Twitch has locked in the third-party rights to stream Overwatch League exclusively for two years. The news rolled out that Blizzard and Twitch (owned by Amazon) have already decided to bring 20 esports categories to the leading streaming platform for gamers throughout 2018. Of course, this will allow Twitch to throw out some goodies for Twitch … Read more

Iron Harvest will have destructible terrain and allow you to hide behind obstacles

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Iron Harvest

Iron Harvest is an anticipated RTS game coming up that features giant mechs and realistic graphics. The game is based on artist Jakub Rozalski, who wanted a game based on huge mechs roaming the earth in a WWI-wrecked landscape. The game takes place in an alternate universe similar to ours, but not exactly. Iron Harvest … Read more

Sony shutting down servers for many games – including Killzone 2 and 3

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sony server shutdown

Sony has announced that it’ll be shutting down its servers for several titles ranging across a variety of platforms. Killzone 2 and 3 are probably the most popular games out of the crew. Killzone 2 dates back to 2009 while Killzone 3 released in 2011. These games were heavily advertised and considered to be some … Read more

Teemo from League of Legends may be getting his own game

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teemo's adventure riot games lol

The tiny little yordle from the popular MOBA League of Legends is possibly getting his own game. It’s called “Teemo’s Adventure” and is developed as a standalone product by Riot Games, based on a rumor floating around that was first seen on a Chinese website. The game was apparently noticed by the AVDPA of China, … Read more

Cuphead is coming to iPhone and iPad…not.

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Cuphead on a Tesla.

  A Cuphead imposter was found on the iTunes store today. It basically presented itself as a port of the wildly-successful difficult platformer by Studio MDHR, which released the game a few months ago. It’s pretty much a sidescroller Rambo-style platforming game with old-fashioned animation and graphics. It was very well-received among its audience and instantly blew … Read more

Ataribox pre-ordering delayed due to development problems

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Ataribox pre-ordering delayed due to development problems 8

Did you order your Ataribox retro console yet? Well, it turns out that you can’t- according to a report on Engadget. The retro gaming console was due for pre-order availability today, but it never came through. Apparently, the console had some development issues so it’s currently delayed. The developers have stated that they need more time to … Read more

Indie game removed from Steam because it’s “porn”

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you must be 18 or older porn game removed from steam

An indie game was removed from the ubiquitous Steam platform because it’s porn. The game’s called (as appropriately titled) “You Must be 18 or Older to Enter” and focuses on your character trying to watch pornography in the middle of the night- without getting caught by anymore. Your goal is to sneak onto the computer an … Read more

Rainbow 6 Siege just keeps on giving…

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Rainbow Six Siege update.

Over 25 million players have been on the battlefield of Rainbox 6 Siege.     The tactical FPS from Ubisoft has now accumulated over 25 million people around the world. This was probably sustained by their generous free DLC-worthy updates and patches/fixes for the game’s issues at launch. See what happens when a developer actually … Read more

Dragon’s Crown Pro remake comes with a new OST and DLC included

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Dragon's Crown Pro remake by Atlus and Vanillaware.

Dragon’s Crown Pro is an action sidescroller RPG that’s coming in 2018. It’s a remake of Vanillaware’s 2013 classic. It comes with enhanced 4K visuals and a brand-new OST from Hitoshi Sakimoto and both Japanese and English audio. It’ll also have cross-platform compatibility with the original game. You can also transfer your saves between both releases. … Read more