Paul Brownlee

Heart Machine has extended the limited preview access of its 2D action-RPG Hyper Light Drifter to the end of October, and it’s also available to everyone.

Read You Can Play A Small Slice Of Hyper Light Drifter Right Now For $25 on Siliconera!

Demo now available in North America, too.

Read Bayonetta 2 Available In North America, Too on Siliconera!

Whaaaaaaat, Vib-Ribbon on PS3 and Vita tomorrow ⊟

Following the weird non-announcement at E3, Sony has announced for-real plans to publish Vib-Ribbon, NanaOn-Sha’s black-and-white musical platformer, on PS3 and Vita in North America.

Tomorrow! (Europe is next week)

And the PS3 version retains the ability to generate levels from music CDs! The Vita one doesn’t, for obvious reasons.

I’m definitely looking forward to paying an “attractive” price for this tomorrow. If you like music games, cool art games, or the work of the team that created Parappa, you should check it out too!

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HughPickens.com writes: Mo Costandi reports at The Guardian that a new study shows losing one's sense of smell strongly predicts death within five years, suggesting that smell may serve as a bellwether for the overall state of the body, or as a marker for exposure to environmental toxins. "Olfactory dysfunction was an independent risk factor for death, stronger than several common causes of death, such as heart failure, lung disease and cancer," the researchers concluded, "indicating that this evolutionarily ancient special sense may signal a key mechanism that affects human longevity." In the study, researchers tested a group of volunteers for their ability to correctly identify various scents. Five years later, they retested as many of the volunteers as they could find. During the five-year gap between the two tests, 430 of the original participants (or 12.5% of the total number) had died. Of these, 39% who had failed the first smell test died before the second test, compared to 19% of those who had moderate smell loss on the first test, and just 10% of those with a healthy sense of smell. Despite taking issues such as age, nutrition, smoking habits, poverty and overall health into account, researchers found those with the poorest sense of smell were still at greatest risk. The tip of the olfactory nerve, which contains the smell receptors, is the only part of the human nervous system that is continuously regenerated by stem cells. The production of new smell cells declines with age, and this is associated with a gradual reduction in our ability to detect and discriminate odors. Loss of smell may indicate that the body is entering a state of disrepair, and is no longer capable of repairing itself.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE is Now Available on Mac and is 15% off to celebrate!

Developed by Kojima Productions and PlatinumGames, METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE takes the renowned METAL GEAR franchise into exciting new territory with an all-new action experience. The game seamlessly melds pure action and epic story-telling that surrounds Raiden – a child soldier transformed into a half-human, half-cyborg ninja who uses his High Frequency katana blade to cut through any thing that stands in his vengeful path!

A second stage is now available to Mighty No. 9 backers that paid for access to the beta.

Read Mighty No. 9 Beta Backers Get Access To A New Stage on Siliconera!

Gauntlet™ is Now Available on Steam!

The classic Gauntlet 4-player co-op action gameplay returns in a completely new experience! Battle the endless hordes of foes as you and your friends fight for treasure and glory via both local and online co-op multiplayer. Invade the Darkness this Summer on PC and Steam Machines!

Clock Tower, Ju-on, Silent Hill talent collaborate on “Project Scissors” ⊟

A new “spiritual successor” to the Clock Tower franchise was announced at TGS. Project Scissors, for Vita, iOS, and Android, features the work of Clock Tower creator Hifumi Kouno and his studio Nude Maker, along with Silent Hill creature designer Masahiro Ito and Ju-on film director Takashi Shimizu, the latter of whom will work on the story and a live-action trailer. Shimizu’s most recent credit is a Kiki’s Delivery Service movie, but, like, that doesn’t add as much horror cache as the Ju-on stuff.

"The game’s setting is a board a luxurious cruise liner in the middle of the ocean . As the ship sails across the deep blue ocean, a series of gruesome and mysterious murders begi ns to take place, including those of the ship’s crew . Soon the ocean liner is crippled and adrift at sea, and has become an inescapable trap for the passengers . As a passenger of the ship, the player will be tasked with solving the murder mystery to ensure their own survival as well as the rest of the ‘innocent’ passengers."

Gonna be spoopy!

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From our archives: “In 1947 the fun-loving editors at Life magazine asked the celebrity cartoonists of the day to wear blindfolds and then draw their famous characters. The results are very pleasing.” Read the rest

A massive, painstakingly thorough chart comparing the sizes of famous spaceships from TV, film, and games by artist Dirk Loechel. Read the rest

Elminage Gothic is Now Available on Steam and is 20% off!*

From the makers of the world renowned “Wizardry Empire” titles, Starfish SD brings you the latest entry in their popular series of dungeon crawlers. Elminage Gothic, previously only available in Japanese on PlayStation® Portable, now comes to PC offering a classic old school dungeon crawling experience with a dark, gothic twist!

*Offer ends September 25 at 10AM Pacific Time

This past E3, PlayStation unveiled Bloodborne, the product of a close collaboration between famed Japanese developer FromSoftware and Sony Computer Entertainment’s own Japan Studio. At gamescom in Cologne, we revealed the first public gameplay with a hands-on demo and 6-minute gameplay video (catch it here if you missed it).

Everyone involved with Bloodborne has been overwhelmed by the public response to the project, but the question we’ve received most of all, actually, is “when?”

Today, we’re happy to announce that fans will be able to experience Bloodborne’s unique blend of gothic horror, terrifying enemy designs, fast-paced offensive combat (complete with brutal transforming weapons), RPG character customization and progression, and unique online features on Friday, February 6th, 2015, exclusively on PS4.

We’re also happy to reveal the Collector’s Edition for Bloodborne, also available on February 6th, 2015, which will include a special Steelbook collector’s case, an exclusive premium art book featuring stunning concept art from the game, as well as the complete soundtrack featuring all of the haunting music from the game’s score. The Collector’s Edition will be available for $79.99 at participating retailers, and will only be available in limited quantities, so pre-order before it’s too late.

To help celebrate this announcement, watch the brand new trailer for the game above that showcases all new content, including chilling environments, gruesome enemies, devastating transforming weapons, and even a sneak peek at some of Bloodborne’s online functionality including cooperative and asynchronous play.

Now, for those of you who pre-order the game, either at your favorite participating retailer or through our digital PlayStation Store, we’ve got an exciting pre-order DLC for you. In Bloodborne, hunters have special companions called Messengers that have creeped up out of the nightmare world and facilitate some of the asynchronous online gameplay features. If you pre-order Bloodborne, you will be treated to an exclusive alternate skin for your Messengers.

Stay tuned to PlayStation.Blog for more information about Bloodborne in the coming weeks and months.

Typically, publishers close off an area for CERO Z games. Not this one.

Read This Is How People Are Playing Onechanbara Z2 At TGS on Siliconera!

The shoot-em-up will be released in Japan sometime during 2015.

Read Raiden V Announced For Xbox One on Siliconera!

Lots of explodey GIFs so explodey they could be directed by Michael Bay. Read the rest

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate will have a collector’s edition set in the U.S. too ⊟

It seems like nearly every retail game of any significance gets one of these fancy bundles nowadays. This one doesn’t seem as packed with junk as Japan’s LE that came with four figures and a plush, but that one was priced at $90+.

The $59.99 set includes a translucent Gore Magala figure, a pin of a Felyne wearing Gore Magala armor, a Monster Icon lanyard, a cleaning cloth, a copy of the game, and a supply item box to hold them all. It doesn’t look like the bundle is on Amazon yet, but standard $39.99 copies are available to preorder for their early 2015 release.

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Hatoful Boyfriend is Now Available on Steam!

Congratulations! You’ve been accepted as the only human student at the prestigious St. PigeoNation’s Institute, a school for talented birds! Roam the halls and find love in between classes as a sophomore student at the world’s greatest pigeon high school. Finding happiness won’t be easy, but it’s not all academic - there’s always time for a little romance in this delightful remake of Hato Moa’s popular visual novel / avian dating sim Hatoful Boyfriend!

Band Saga is a mix of Mega Man-esque arm-cannon blasting, albeit from an isometric view, and modifying audio in order to remix the environment to your advantage.

Read Band Saga Is A Musical Roguelike With A Mega Man Flavor on Siliconera!

Surprise! Vita themes, new Ys game, and more ⊟

Did you know there was a Sony press conference last night? I did, but I slept anyway. Labor Day, y’all! Anyway, here’s a quick roundup of news, thanks to the PS Blog and Joystiq:

• Themes for PS4 and Vita: Weird, new 3DS themes and new Vita themes within a week of each other! “This fall.”
• New Ys game: Also for PS4 and Vita.
• Senran Kagura: Estival Versus: …yep, PS4 and Vita.
• God Eater 2: Rage Burst: same!
• Light Pink x White PS Vita 2000: Oh wait, this one’s just a Vita.
• Luminous Arc Infinity: Also just for Vita. Wow, Luminous Arc is back!

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A beta version of Mighty No. 9 will be available to Kickstarter backers of the game that applied for the beta starting tomorrow.

Read Mighty No. 9 Beta To Be Available To Beta Backers Starting September 1st on Siliconera!