Mercenary Kings early access coming soon

Tribute Games put out this new trailer ahead of Mercenary Kings’ PC/Steam early access release on July 22 — it’s looking dope as hell, right?

I had a chance to try out the PlayStation 4 version at E3, and the shooter delivered on all its promises: fun run’n gun action, amazing 2D sprites and backgrounds, great four-player co-op play, interesting non-linear stages, and a complex crafting system in between stages for weapon/player customization. This is going to be fun times, people.

BUY Wizorb for Windows/Mac/Linux, other upcoming games

The original Ronald McDonald was pure nightmare fuel (click through for video of him in action). Fun fact: he was played by Willard Scott, who went on to be the weatherman on the Today Show.

The Original Ronald McDonald or The Joker? (via Neil Gaiman)

Broken Age, the Double Fine adventure game that popularized Kickstarter in the videogames community, is going through some trouble.

Read Double Fine Still Don’t Have Enough Money For Their Crowdfunded Adventure Game on Siliconera!

Klei Entertainment, developers of Mark of the Ninja, have announced their next game—Incognita, a turn-based tactical espionage game.

Read Mark of the Ninja Developer Making Turn-Based Tactical Espionage Game on Siliconera!

We are overjoyed to announce that pre-ordering LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII will unlock the most epic Final Fantasy weapon and outfit of all time – Cloud Strife’s SOLDIER 1st Class Uniform and Buster Sword! Before you guys go crazy in the comments, here’s what your pre-order will get you:

When you preorder LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII, you will receive the exclusive Cloud Strife SOLDIER 1st Class DLC — straight from Final Fantasy VII — for free! So you’ll get the SOLDIER 1st Class Uniform, Buster Sword, and Soldier Band… but not Cloud’s blocky hands.

We’ve put together a short gameplay trailer that shows off the DLC set and how it helps Lightning get to level 99 quicker. Watch it at the top of this post.

Go ahead, we’ll wait.

Did you catch the last bit? The victory fanfare comes with the Cloud Strife SOLDIER 1st Class DLC pack when you pre-order, as well!

Much like in LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII, time is limited with this pre-order offer, so march over to a participating retailer to preorder LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII. We’ve made this decision easier than choosing to go on a date with Aeris or Tifa, so what are you waiting for? Get out there and preorder LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII now!

LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII is coming to PS3 on February 11th, 2014 for 5999 gil — er, $59.99. Got any questions? Ask away in the comments below, and we’ll get to them faster than it takes to cast Knights of the Round.

Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers is on sale on the Nintendo eShop for 3DS. Until July 14th, you can grab the game at a discounted price.

Read Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers Is On Sale On The Nintendo eShop on Siliconera!

Watching the trailer for Luther‘s newest series season, you'd never know that Idris Elba is having the biggest summer of his career, starring in Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim. Indeed, he's slipped right back into the skin of the best, most unstable detective in Britain. (How do someone's shoulders convey so much emotion?)

It’s July! That means summer! Sun! But we must be careful and enjoy those things in moderation, because… videogames. They need playing. And this month, PlayStation Plus is bringing plenty of content as part of the Instant Game Collection; which means free games as part of your PS Plus membership, not to mention discounts galore on fantastic content throughout the PlayStation Store.

Battlefield 3 is leading the way this month and will be free to download for PS Plus members starting with the 7/2 PS Store update. You’ll also find some truly great savings with this year’s two week long Summer Blast 2013 sale! Read on to learn more about what’s coming in July, as well as the deals in the PlayStation Store this week.

July Preview

The following games are slated to be free to PS Plus members through the Instant Game Collection in the month of July.

Leaving PS Plus In July

• July 2nd – Deus Ex: Human Revolution
• July 9th – Joe Danger 2 The Movie
• July 16rd – The Cave
• July 23rd – Germinator
• July 30th – Zero’s Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward

Entering PS Plus in July (in no particular order)

• Battlefield 3 (PS3)
• Metal Slug XX (PSP, Compatible on PS Vita)
• Jet Set Radio (PS3)
• Dokuro (PS Vita)
• Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee HD (PS3)

Remember, check back every Monday to learn when Metal Slug XX (PSP, Compatible on PS Vita)
Jet Set Radio (PS3), Dokuro (PS Vita), and Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee HD (PS3) are arriving to PS Plus members. You’ll also find more discounts and other exclusives that we weren’t able to detail here just yet. Remember the month preview is subject to change.

July 2nd PlayStation Plus Update

Thanks for reading this week’s update along with the month outlook. Got more questions on Plus? Leave your comments below, or, if you’re looking to engage with more of the PS community, make sure you head over to the PlayStation Community Forums to discuss this week’s news more, find other topics to contribute your thoughts to, or start one for yourself. See you in the comments!

Cool karate man Jim Kelly who starred in such films as "Enter the Dragon" and "Blackbelt Jones" died this weekend. He was 67. Above, Kelly gives some nasty cops the what-for in "Three The Hard Way" (1974). (via Los Angeles Times)

An anonymous reader writes "Legendary DIY gaming guru Ben Heck has given a new interview in which he talks about the Access Controller, his modular controller for consoles that lets disabled gamers play with one hand, and how he plans to update it for the next generation of consoles: 'I'm sure I will. At the very least people are going to want the accessibility controllers I build...People have already asked about them for the next-gen consoles, and that was at E3. When I was there, the thing I looked at the most was the controllers. The Xbox One looks pretty similar to what we have at the moment, but they finally fixed the D-pad.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Complain and accept. Complain and accept. Using Facebook is a lot like being in an abusive relationship. Complain and accept…

PS Vita

Remember when I wrote about the PS Vita being a must-own if you’re into playing portable versions of great indie games? Here’s a video backing that argument, showcasing already available and upcoming indie games for the system. I forgot all about Divekick coming to PS Vita — that simple fighter is way more fun than it deserves to be.

Adding to the underdog handheld’s indie appeal, PS Vita opened an Indie Games category yesterday on its PlayStation Store (PlayStation 3 has had one for a month now) alongside the PSN release for Hotline Miami. There are currently more than 50 indie titles under development for PS Vita.

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G.Rev’s Nintendo 3DS shoot-em-up by the creator of Ikaruga has a release date and price.

Read Ikaruga Creator’s New Shoot-em-Up Out Tomorrow In U.S. on Siliconera!

So last week was a crazy E3 blur for us at Dynamighty. Thanks to the good folks at Sony we were able to show CounterSpy to lots of people in their booth. While we were not showing on the main floor we still had a great presence with lots of buzz and even an award nomination! (Thanks Hardcore Gamer!) and we also released our first trailer for the game!

At the show, we were sandwiched between two absolutely beautiful games, Puppeteer, which looks gorgeous, and Beyond: Two Souls, which I swear, people were mistaking for a PS4 title, it looked that good. It was humbling but also inspiring to see the company we were in.

John and I were running between two locations, as the game was being shown in two areas, plus we did some interviews. This Live interview with Gamespot was a particular highlight.

It was our first EVER live interview talking about our game and as John was demoing the controller stopped working! I can only imagine they have crazy microwave frequencies bouncing around in the Convention Center during E3. I can tell you at the time it felt like it lasted for ever. Fortunately they fixed everything and hopefully we didn’t appear too much like a deer in headlights.

The Indie love from Sony was really palpable and it was great to see so many awesome titles from small teams next to the big budget stuff. The two highlights for me personally were Hohokum, which is a fantastic game with such attention to craft. The game just feels beautiful in your hands. And Transistor from SuperGiant Games. I was a huge fan of Bastion with its clever narrative approach and the game is so beautifully polished already. I’m in awe of what the SuperGiant team are doing with such a small group.

The other highlight was going for dinner with our Sony friends and Greg Johnson, of Toejam & Earl fame. One of the things that I love about games is how many people whose games I grew up playing are still out there doing it. Greg is making a game called Doki Doki Universe, which is being published by the same Sony group as us. Greg was the sweetest, nicest guy and pulled out a card game over dinner that he had designed for getting to know people.

So that’s it, now we are back at Dynamighty HQ and hunkered down for our big production push. We got some great feedback from seeing people play the game at the show. We’re busy implementing it all!

During E3 we released an Announcement Trailer, which you can watch at the top of this post. We are super excited to be able to show a bit of the actual game and give you a bit of the flavor of the tone we are going for. It sets the scene for the world we’re creating and your role in it. If you didn’t see it yet check it out!

Time to panic: Atlus/Index in trouble

I try to keep this site light on industry news, but this is too troubling to skip! Tokyo-based Index Corporation, known best for its Atlus game division (maker of great niche RPG series like Etrian Odyssey and Shin Megami Tensei/Persona), has filed for “Civil Rehabilitation" — Japan’s close equivalent to our bankruptcy process.

The company plans to continue operating as usual, but it’s expected to seek restructuring from creditors, and it will search for an investor or potentially a buyer to take over the business, according to reports on Index’s translated press release. There are probably a dozen publishers I could imagine swooping in to absorb Index/Atlus — hopefully it will be one of the good companies (and by “good," I mean one that will allow Atlus to keep releasing 3DS games) if it comes to that.

I don’t think this will affect the release of Shin Megami Tensei IV in a few weeks, nor do I believe Dragon’s Crown is in jeopardy. This does not bode well, however, for the U.S. release of Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millenium Girl or Wii U’s Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem.

Props to RaidingHearts for the GIF from Atlus’ Catherine.

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