Matt ClariusMega Man 2 + Babbies
For those seeking a Mega Man 2 soundtrack with a gentler sound, look no further than Mark Polydoris' lullaby renditions.
Polydoris recorded 11 tracks for his nephew; songs include the opening and closing themes, "Crash Man," "Bubble Man" and more. Listen below, or check out the 30-minute collection on SoundCloud and Polydoris' website.
Matt ClariusMOAR XCOM!
A new narrated gameplay video for XCOM: Enemy Within shows off how new soldier abilities and weapons can make short work of invading aliens.
After two rookies (coincidentally clad in red, of course) meet grisly ends, it's time to send in a new squad: two genetically-enhanced soldiers and one equipped with the MECH power exoskeleton. The MECH soldier is able to destroy cover albeit at a high ammunition cost, and the team's sniper capable of leaping to great heights without a ladder, thanks to her augmentations.
The MECH soldier also boasts impressive melee prowess, dealing half of a Berserker's life in damage in a single punch. Of course, as the end of the video shows, the alien invaders have their own exoskeleton-equipped troops as...
Matt ClariusEEEEEEE!
A new trailer for XCOM: Enemy Within shows the new resources available to fight the alien menace.
While the aliens invading Earth have developed newer, nastier units to overwhelm the human defenders, we puny humans have discovered a new alien source of power. This power allows soldiers to be augmented both biologically and technologically in order to meet the aliens as equal combatants.
Check out our full preview of Enemy Within, including an interview with senior producer Garth DeAngelis.
XCOM: Enemy Within hits Windows, Mac, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on Nov. 12 in North America, and Nov. 15 everywhere else. There are currently no plans to bring it to iOS.
Matt ClariusHnnnnggg, I love Firaxis's expansions. This more than makes up for The Bureau being a disappointment.
Today, Firaxis Games announced XCOM: Enemy Within, and the expansion to the 2012 turn-based strategy strategy franchise reboot is headed to PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows PC Nov. 12. It will offer new maps, new multiplayer content and a clever name that both builds on it predecessor and describes the new mechanic that lies quite literally at the heart of the expansion.
And it all began with one man.
As development was wrapping up on XCOM: Enemy Unknown, XCOM: Enemy Within's lead designer, Ananda Gupta, was planning ahead.
"It was clear that we wanted to expand the game at some point," Gupta told Polygon in a recent interview. "And it was clear that we wanted to do it in the style of a Firaxis expansion pack, and that kind of...
Matt Clarius:(
I really wanted this to be as good as Enemy Unknown. I guess I'll wait and pick it up for 50+% off at the next big sale.
The concept behind The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is great.
We see the monolithic cross-government, anti-alien organization at its inception, stripped down to its core. With the first alien threat to our world striking without warning, we’re almost instantly on the ropes, relying on sheer wits, bravery and slapdash ingenuity to save us.
But that’s also how the game developer 2K Marin has built around this great concept feels — slapdash. It’s a decent tactical action base with material grafted on to it so incongruous it might as well be from another world.
Matt ClariusNever played the first one but I remember hearing about it on the online and maybe from John.
Tales of Game's released the first video featuring pre-alpha gameplay for Barkley 2, the direct role-playing sequel to 2008's Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden.
The Mystical Realm of Tír na nÓg: Escape from Necron 7 - Revenge of Cuchulainn: The Official Game of the Movie - Chapter 2 of the Hoopz Barkley SaGa (the game's full title) takes place in the year 666X, where an amnesiac ball-player must find the Cyberdwarf to recover his memories. Tales of Game's calls it "a coming of age story" about love, hope, betrayal and redemption. The video, which you can watch above, features a look at the game's puzzles, battles and futuristic setting.
Barkley 2 was funded via Kickstarter last year; the campaign raised more than $120,000, o...
Matt ClariusYup, that about covers it.
The latest installment of CineFix's 8-bit cinema tells the story of Blade Runner as a 16-bit game.
Check out CineFix's video above to see the newly pixelated sci-fi classic, which its creators admit in the comments is heavily inspired by the SNES version of Shadowrun.
CineFx has previously taken on G.I. Joe, Iron Man, Star Trek and more in the "8 Bit Cinema" series, and you can check out the other, mostly 8-bit-inspired videos on its official YouTube Channel.
Matt ClariusNew useless crap to waste money on!
Although 3D printers are proliferating to the point where NASA plans to bring them into space, consumer-level machines still produce fairly crude results. Joaquin Baldwin has played that to his own advantage, however, by using the technology to recreate an equally crude subject — the cast of PlayStation RPG classic Final Fantasy VII.
Cloud Strife, Sephiroth, Vincent Valentine, and others have all been printed out as full-color sandstone figurines, and are available on Shapeways with prices between $13 and $19. The results are startlingly true to the original game's simple 3D models; with fans of the game crying out for a modern remake, it's easy to forget just how basic the source material really was.
Matt ClariusAdvice to live by
Matt ClariusEEEEE! New Firaxis game!
Firaxis Games is working on an unannounced project that will be revealed at Gamescom, publisher 2K Games confirmed to Polygon today, and it may be the next entry in the XCOM franchise.
"Fans will be able to get hands-on time on the Consumer Showfloor with The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, NBA 2K14 and WWE 2K14, [and see] a hands-off presentation of the currently unannounced project from Firaxis Games," said a 2K representative to Polygon over email.
The project may be called XCOM: Enemy Within — listings with that title appeared on the Korean ratings board earlier this week and were spotted by CVG. The ratings board lists Enemy Within releases on Windows PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and describes it as a strategic third-person...
Matt ClariusAAAAARGH! WHYYYY!
Paradox have sounded the news bugle to announce that Crusader Kings II, the game that has continued to expand and consume my days throughout 2013, is refusing to abdicate its crown. A polite ruler would step aside to make room for the next in line to the throne, but CK II has never been polite. It’s a devious, murderous omnicidal lord and it will never die. Today’s grand strategy news is this – Europa Universalis IV will couple with Crusader Kings II via a save-game converter.
Fans of Crusader Kings II will be able to maintain the empires they have established and guide them through the age of exploration in an all-new strategic experience, continuing their personal stories of expansion and conquest.
There’s a very good chance I won’t be playing anything else ever.
Matt ClariusGuacamelee on Steam!
Drinkbox Studios' action-platformer Guacamelee will be released on Steam as a special Gold Edition, IGN reports.
The game will be available for $14.99 Aug. 8 and will include downloadable content The Devil's Playground and the Costume Pack. The new edition will introduce cloud saving, leaderboards, achievements and more. Those who purchase Guacamelee Gold Edition during its initial launch week will also receive a free copy of Drinkbox's side-scrolling platformer Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack.
Guacamelee launched in April for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita, where it snagged the honor of best-selling PlayStation Network title for the month. Drinkbox is currently working on more downloadable content for the game and is c...
Matt ClariusI guess Phil Fish took his ball and went home :\
Not sure if I should be sad about the loss or roll my eyes at Phil Fish. I haven't really paid attention to all the drama surrounding him so I don't know if he deserves all the bitching, but from the little bit I've read he seems like kind of a coarse personality.
Fez 2 has been canceled by developer Polytron, according to a tweet on the developer's official account.
It's with a heavy heart that we announce that FEZ II has been cancelled and is no longer in development. We apologize for the disappointment
— Polytron (@Polytron) July 27, 2013
Fez creator Phil Fish has confirmed the cancellation with us via email, saying "Yep. I'm done." No details have been given as to why the game is canceled.
Shortly before the announcement, an argument between Fish and writer Marcus Beer broke out on Twitter in response to Beer's comments during a recent episode of GameTrailer's Invisible Walls. During the episode, Beer touched on the media's recent efforts to reach out to indie developers during...
Matt ClariusObviously you should just take your teeth out before eating corn on the cob.
Matt ClariusNot sure how I feel about this. I think that if Valve was forced to allow the resale of licenses we'd see the Steam sale gravy train come to an abrupt stop, but they do already have the infrastructure for taxing user transactions, so maybe it wouldn't do that much damage to Valve's relationship with publishers.
Though, the Steam Market is an awful lot like how Microsoft described their used game market. Are Steam trading cards Valve's love letter to publishers? Just sayin'...
The Federation of German Consumer Organizations confirmed plans to take digital distribution platform Steam to court by the end of this year following the game distributor's refusal to change its terms of service regarding the right of users to re-sell digital software purchases.
The federation, known also as VZVB, announced its intentions earlier in February after last year's ruling from the European Court of Justice stating European consumers should have the right to re-sell digital titles.
"Unfortunately a date of the trial is not fixed - we hope it will take place this year," representative Eva Hoffschulte said, as reported by Gaming Blend. "Until then, it is not realistic that Valve will change their policy. But our chance to win...
Matt ClariusI want so badly for this to be good, but free-to-play is a huge turn off and I think the cheap PvP aspect is going to overshadow all the stuff that made STALKER great.
Developer Vostok Games is aiming to launch the open beta for Survarium, the spiritual successor to STALKER 2, by the end of the year for Russian-speaking territories, Oleg Yavorsky told Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
Survarium will include a PvP, PvE and co-op mode, though the beta will only feature the game's PvP mode.
"PvP provides for session-based play experience where two teams fight with each other on dedicated maps," Yavorsky said. "The goal of the players is not only to frag each other, but also to locate valuable game objects (highlighted) and deliver those to their base, all to help their team survive the ‘Storm' — an inevitable deadly blast of energy covering the location by the end of the session."
Yavorsky added that the team...
Matt ClariusSaw the headline: "Aww shit :D "
Read the first sentence: "Aww, shit :( "
Firefly Online, a social online role-playing game based cult TV series Firefly, is currently in development and is slated to launch on iOS and Android-based smartphones and tablets during the summer of 2014, Fox Digital Entertainment announced at San Diego Comic Con today.
Developed by QMXi and Spark Plug Games, players take on the role of a ship captain where they hire a crew and lead missions, while trading with other players. Firefly Online features customisable ships and pick-up and play cross-platform, cross-device functionality.
"At QMx, we know firsthand how great and powerful a franchise Firefly is and how mighty the Browncoats are," said Andy Gore, CEO of QMXi and Quantum Mechanix Inc. "It has always been our mission to...
Matt ClariusNew Super Time Force footage!
A new trailer for Capybara Games' bullet-hell platformer Super Time Force shows the game's mind-bending time-travel gameplay in action.
The player controls a single member of the titular Super Time Force like Lady Sniper, Jef Leppard or Lou Don Jim, and can pause time to change characters at any moment. The player can also rewind time either upon character death or at his or her choosing, allowing another character to fight alongside the time ghost of the player's previous actions.
At PAX East earlier this year, Capybara co-founder Nathan Vella told Polygon that while original versions of the game sent players back to the beginning of the level to fight alongside their previous ghosts, the new continuous-play mechanic was developed to...
Matt Clarius:(
This is coming out sooner than I'm comfortable with. I just bought a shit ton of games and now I have to buy this in a little over a month?
The Bureau distinguishes itself with its setting: the 1960s, easily the most tumultuous decade in 20th-century U.S. history. But the game's developers at 2K Marin want to use those large-scale elements — an invasion by a technologically superior alien race, and the era's political and social upheaval — as a backdrop for a more personal, human tale.
"In all media, the alien invasion is well-trod [ground]. For me, it comes down to who is the alien invasion happening to, and how are they reacting to it? And that's really where I think the difference between one story and another [lies]," said Erik Caponi, The Bureau's lead narrative designer, in an interview with Polygon last week. "Because we can blow things up in various ways, and...
Matt ClariusPrepare yourselves
Two-button fighting game Divekick will be released for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita on Aug. 20, developer Iron Galaxy Studios announced at Evo 2013 today.
The downloadable fighter, a parody 2D fighter created by Adam "Keits" Heart and co-developed by One True Game Studios and Iron Galaxy, will cost $9.99 and support Sony's Cross-Buy feature — players can purchase Divekick on one PlayStation platform, then download for both.
Divekick is a send up of fighting games and their players, with a roster of 13 characters that both poke fun at and serve as homage to popular games (Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Street Fighter 4) and community figures (Seth "S-Kill" Killian, Mark "Markman" Julio, Alex Jebailey).
A Windows PC version of Divekick is...
Matt ClariusFor Pete:
Fans of Adventure Time can now create their own web-based video game using elements from the cartoon with the Adventure Time Game Creator, developed by mobile and social studio Yamago and posted to Cartoon Network's official website.
Players can build their own free-to-play games in the browser-based game creator, creating and assigning special powers to protagonists Finn and Jake and setting them on their won tailor-made perilous quests. The program lets users place a number of different obstacles in the heroes' way, tweak the environment and choose which power-ups are available. Players can design each level to their own specifications and decide which enemies Finn and Jake will have to take down.
All games created with the Adventure...
Matt ClariusGood news for everyone that bought this for the free Nintendo fun bux.
Shin Megami Tensei 4 builds a convincing argument for making peace with your foes.
Like previous entries in the series, Shin Megami Tensei 4 is about working with demons. There's no emotional interaction — your relationships are entirely based around appreciation for the skills they possess. But developer Atlus manages to build a deeper connection than you might think by virtue of the consequences of your actions.
Even in its handful of weaker moments, Shin Megami Tensei 4 makes every choice matter, both in battle and out. I found my abilities called into question more than once, but it was worth treading this murky pool of moral dilemmas. Conquering the challenges of Shin Megami Tensei 4 is as remarkable an undertaking as the...
Matt ClariusFUUUUUUUUCK. My wife is going to be mad...
The Steam Summer Getaway Sale kicked off today, offering discounts on thousands of games and content through July 22 on Valve's digital distribution platform.
The games discounted at the beginning of the Summer Getaway Sale include the following:
Matt ClariusThis looks pretty neat
Aaru's Awakening, a hand-drawn 2D platformer from Reykjavík, Iceland-based Lumenox Games, is headed to Linux, Mac and Windows PC this fall, with an alpha for download now.
"The game is 100% hand-drawn and has a dreamy artistic feel, and uses a combination of charging and teleporting," marketing director Johann Gudjonsson told Polygon via email.
Check out the trailer above from earlier this year to see the game's unique style in motion and learn the lore that underlies Aaru's Awakening. You'll also see how the developer designed the game for mouse and keyboard control, the finesse required for the charge and teleporting moves — and the importance of combining the two while battling the game's scaling difficulty.
Interested players...
Matt ClariusOh, internet. You don't know what the fuck you want.
I hope Microsoft does another 180 to make it an Xbox 360 (SEE WHAT I DID THERE???)
Last month, when Microsoft announced its now-famous reversal on the initial licensing policies and online requirements for the Xbox One, we argued that triumphant throngs of gamers should recognize that they were losing out on some potentially interesting features alongside the removal of online check-ins and the revival of used game discs. Now, some armchair activists seem to be realizing the same thing.
The petition on Change.org for Microsoft to "Give us back the Xbox One we were promised at E3" notes that the system as originally envisioned would let users "buy games digitally, then trade, share, or sell those digital licenses." Unfortunately, as the petition puts it, "uninformed [consumers]… railed against it… because Sony took advantage of consumers' uncertainty."
"It can't be all or nothing, there must be a compromise," the petition goes on, suggesting that the creator wants the option for these new digital sharing options to sit alongside more traditional disc-based sale and resale.
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Matt ClariusI didn't need Verge to tell me Pacific Rim was going to be awesome, but now I'm more excited to see it.
Whether or not it sounds like damning the film with faint praise, the greatest virtue of Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim may be that you can always understand what’s happening, what the characters are doing, and why they are doing it. After what seems like years of convoluted megamovies whose pretzel-like twists, turns, and double-crosses confound logic and confuse audiences, it’s incredibly refreshing to watch a film where the setup is simple, the mythology straightforward, and the execution consistently clear.
Working on his biggest canvas to date, the director of Hellboy and Pan’s Labyrinth introduces an entirely new world to audiences with a robots-versus-monsters scenario that includes the same sort of nerdy details and...
Matt ClariusHere's an Animal Crossing thing that I don't get but everyone else will probably go apeshit over.
YouTube user and musician misterrandell has been "completely obsessing" over the latest Animal Crossing title, New Leaf, and he's found a way to demonstrate his love in a festive way: song covers.
The musician provides incredibly accurate, full-vocal renditions of two songs from the game's singing sailor, Kapp'n. You can check out his covers in the videos above and below, and — hey! Stop mashing that button and just listen.
For more on Animal Crossing: New Leaf, check out our review or special New Leaf episode of The Besties.
Matt ClariusI'm going to drive the fuck out of that thresher!
Publisher Focus Entertainment has released a trailer for the console version of the long-running and inexplicably popular game PC series Farming Simulator, set to come to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
The new console release, slated to hit during the first week of September this year, featured a few new additions including an extensive American backdrop that will double the gameplay area of the title. The trailer also offers a look at some of the new vehicles you can expect in-game, including Case IH Axial-Flow harvester and the Magnum 340.
Check out our earlier interview with the game's studio art director Thomas Frey on the reasoning behind the development of a genre that appears to be impossibly niche.
The latest video from Iron Galaxy Studios and One Game Studios for fighting game parody, Divekick, makes light of game development and showcases the title's two button-based gameplay.
Divekick is a two button-based fighting game with no directional movement, and features one-hit kills. It was revealed in May that former special advisor at Capcom and current producer at Sony Santa Monica Studio, Seth "S-Kill" Killian, joined the parody fighting game's roster of characters. S-Kill will feature as the final boss in the game's story mode and will also be playable with his own unique set of moves.
Divekick's remaining roster of eight includes the game's two main characters, Dive and Kick, and outlandish fighters such as a cigar-loving...
