All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Thief comes out next week. No idea who that guy in the thumbnail is... This new trailer shows a bit more about the new adventure that Garrett will get caught up in, with heavy occult overtones and some glimpses of the environmental puzzles players will have to navigate.Read more...

And the real height difference between Samus and Little Mac in Super Smash Bros. Wii U? Masahiro Sakurai's here to show us, to make things clear.Read more...

Steam Greenlight seems to have settled into a fortnightly routine for approvals, and that means it's time for another 50 games to frolic past the gates and into the heady lands of the Steam marketplace. We'll try to point you towards some of the highlights.

The Star Fox-like Arc Squadron is one of the most recognizable names on there, and the Unreal Engine 3 iOS and Android game is warping to PC now, courtesy of Greenlight. If you prefer your space combat with more Minecraft, the first-person multiplayer of Blockade Runner may be more for you.

Meanwhile, after arcade classic Ikaruga came through Greenlight to launch on Steam this week, the Japanese-styled Danmaku Unlimited 2 is another vertical shoot-em on the way.

Finally, moving away from the space shooter theme, challenging action-RPG A Wizard's Lizard is Steam-bound - and Wii U eShop-bound eventually - and we also like the look of loot-grabbing dungeon-crawler Dwarf Quest.

That's not to say the other 45 games aren't worthy of your perusal, more that it's hard to keep up when Greenlight is pumping 50 at a time every two weeks. Anyway, you can find the full 5-0 of Greenlight approvals here. [Image: Psyonix]

Wurm Online, the long running MMO famously co-created by Notch, is currently Wurm Offline. Some scumbag DDoSpots took the site offline this week, and it’s not yet back up. In response the developers, Code Club AB, have offered a €10,000 reward for “tips leading to a conviction.”

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The meek shine of a cell phone light provides precious little comfort in the dark halls of an abandoned hospital. Its glow throws menacing shadows across every wall and beneath long-abandoned wheelchairs. Creaking steps and whispers flutter down the passage, and the promise of a scare is never far off. But Daylight, which launches on PS4 this April, offers a different take on the classic genre. And with the developers at Zombie Studios taking a keen interest in streaming tech, the horror of playing alone could actually be a shared experience.

Crafted by a small team at Zombie, Daylight follows the frightened footsteps of Sarah Gwynn as she works her way through a series of haunting environs. While many horror games rely on finely tuned scares specific to the moment, Daylight uses procedurally generated play to keep every moment fresh. Levels and scares change for each player, meaning that no two sessions will be identical. And no player will know exactly when that foreboding whisper will turn into a howling spectre hungry for Sarah’s life.

In Daylight, players have no weapons – only flares to fend off the supernatural powers at work in the hospital. Sarah’s only hope is escape. Not fighting for her life, but running for it. And Daylight involves a lot of breathless running, as players guide Sarah through the labyrinthine corridors and thick forests in hope of finding a way home. Collecting items (often in the form of creepy notes) will progress the story forward, and inch players one step closer to the end.

But the team at Zombie has other plans for Daylight. Streaming has been a huge boon to the PS4 community, and the devs want Daylight to have an involved relationship with livestreams. The hope is to allow viewers to control the actual scares in a streamer’s experience, providing a much more interactive dynamic between player and audience. This new form of communal play has been showered with attention recently thanks to the Twitch community streaming a classic RPG as a group.

With harrowing sound effects, random scares, and even 3D support (offering an incredible degree of depth), Daylight is already damn scary. And there’s nothing more horrifying than giving the internet the ability to frighten you, too.

Somehow Jeff got himself a Japanese PSN account and "accidentally" downloaded a bunch of... things.

Do you think they'll do the Antonio Banderas move?Read more...

Heads up, ladies and gents! Stock up on supplies, book time off of work, don your cloak and bow — whatever you need to get prepared — as Thief is coming to PS4 and PS3 next week! To hold you over ’til then, here’s our launch trailer, which unveils new snippets of Garrett’s story, as well as some new gameplay.

Ruled by power and money, the City grows sick. Unwise men have tempered with powers they don’t understand. You take on the role of Garrett, the Master Thief, and you can approach each situation in the way you choose. Play as a predator and strike from the shadows, or complete the game without taking a single life. You can even complete the game without causing an enemy alert. This is classic Thief.

Want to really challenge yourself? Completely turn off the screen’s interface, or even enable Iron Man mode, which triggers a Game Over if Garrett dies. There’s a multitude of ways to fully customize your experience, as we know you guys like to tinker. So make sure you check out all the options we’ve made available before you step into the shadows.

We’ve said it many times before, but at Eidos-Montréal, we’re huge fans of the original Thief games, and we’ve done our absolute best to bring you a superb stealth game.

Thief will emerge in stores on Tuesday February 25th for PS3 and PS4. For more details, or to pre-order the game, visit the official website.

The latest trailer for the PS3 and Vita remasters of Final Fantasy X and X-2 showcases the HD games' new features, including the additional audio episode and expert sphere grid, and the Iutycur dungeon from the International version of X-2. Sadly, Square Enix didn't add a scene of Wakka telling wakka wakka jokes for 10 minutes straight, like we requested.

We recently caught up with Yoshinori Kitase, the Square Enix veteran who produced the two remasters, and he told us how much of a challenge it was to remaster the PS2 JRPGs.

"Some people might argue it's a simple high definition version of the game released ten years ago, but it had to be more than that," Kitase said, "because those who played the original version ten years ago, in the space of ten years all those memories become sweeter. They probably remember those games actually better than it was really."

Some two and a half years after they were announced, Square Enix is finally ready to put the remasters on Western retail shelves next month. You can relive Tidus and Yuna's stories on PS3 and Vita starting March 18 in North America, and March 21 in Europe. [Image: Square Enix]

I'll tell you what. When I park my car, the thing I fear most isn't theft, careless drives, or hazardous weather. It's Ryu.Read more...

Developers Treasure are masters of the shoot ‘em up though and Ikaruga is among their greatest works. That would be reason enough to recommend it – a superb entry in a genre under-represented on PC – but there’s more than mastery at work here. Applying the sort of twist that could snap a neck, Radiant Silvergun had already shown Treasure’s willingness to reinvent and subvert the traditional shoot ‘em up without cracking the mould completely. Even though a decade has passed since its original release, Ikaruga may still be the ultimate expression of the developer’s refined risk and reward mechanics. Here’s wot I think.

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You are not looking at a rice ball. You are looking at a furry cat butt. However, does resemble a rice ball. Just don't eat it!Read more...

It's an alien invasion! Blood, guts, mutilation, and morphing-blade-headed aliens. This manga has it all.Read more...

It's day 3 of the Xbox 360 Ultimate Game Sale, and that means seven more discounts vying to divorce hard-earned cash from bank accounts. The big name games include FIFA 14, Skyrim, and Dead Island: Riptide, but the biggest discount of the day goes to Bejeweled 3; should you want your precious time consumed by addictive match-3 puzzling, the Arcade game is down by a whopping 93 percent to just over a buck.

We've got today's one-day-only discounts in full below the break. Don't forget, there's also a collection of games staying on sale throughout the week, including a little-known gem by the name of Portal 2. Could be a sleeper hit, that game, so if you want to get ahead of the curve, it's two-thirds off at $9.89/£6.59/9.89 euros.

At some point, we’re just going to have to accept the fact that Valve is all. Where once it was merely a humble game developer, it now has a synonymous-with-PC-gaming storefront, its own series of console-ish boxes, a mini-convention, a virtual reality department, the largest collection of virtual hats on Earth, and every number in human history all the way up to 2. Oh, and now it’s got its own movie too, because why not? Free To Play: The Movie is a high-budget Valve production about three DOTA 2 pros. Color me intrigued. And also purple. I am feeling very purple right now.

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In a three-part series, the developers of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII reveal and analyse

Top-down heister Monaco: What's Yours is Mine reached the milestone of 500,000 sales this week, no doubt thanks to its inclusion in Humble Indie Bundle 11.

Andy Schatz's Pocketwatch Games trumpeted the news on Twitter, saying total sales are around the 520,000 mark, and only include about half of the total HIB 11 sales - at the time of writing the bundle's sold 270,000 odd. Monaco is a "Beat the Average" optional purchase in HIB 11, meaning it's a bonus for people who spend more than the average amount spent on the bundle.

Monaco hit and ran onto Xbox 360, PC, Mac, and Linux last year, and some eight months ago the sales news wasn't as encouraging. Back then, Schatz noted he was very disappointed with the game's Xbox Live sales, conceding the parts played by an underwhelming demo along with the delay that prevented a simultaneous release alongside PC.

That said, there should be plenty more Monaco sales to hit over the next fortnight, with Humble Indie Bundle 11 not set to conclude until March 3.

Here's YouTuber shockinfilms with a brainy summary of all the League of Legends player types. Many of these types would fit perfectly with other multiplayer games on the PC, too.Read more...

Shadow of Mordor already looks like it'll boast great gameplay, but the story and commitment to Tolkien's legacy is what should get you excited.

The PC is not entirely bereft of Big Hair And Superfluous Zippers: The Neverending (Candy) Saga, which is sometimes colloquially referred to as “Final Fantasy.” The series’ MMO entries, FFXI and FFXIV, got their starts here, and PlayStation One classics FFVII and FFVIII recently received refurbished Steam ports. That majority of numbered Final Fantasy games, however, have stuck to the realm of buttons, thumbsticks, and cameras that have yet to change gaming in any meaningful way. But that might be changing sooner rather than later. Very late to the party but nonetheless welcome, Square Enix has finally realized that maybe people kinda like playing games on their PCs after all.

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Humanity Asset is Now Available on Steam and is 25% off*!

Humanity Asset is a Metroid-style 3D platformer that pays homage to the traditional retro classic shoot em up genre.

Aliens have invaded Earth to strip the planet of its resources, to save their own dying planet. As in all classic shoot 'em ups, only you can save the day - now theres a surprise!
With 16 levels, over 400 stages and a multitude of awesome weapons, you must hack, slash and shoot your way to survival and victory.

*Offer ends February 27th at 10AM Pacific

Antisquad is Now Available on Steam Early Access!

Widely known in small circles as AntiSquad, they are a military tactical response unit. These hardened military professionals, tired of bureaucracy, politics and serving the armed forces, have established a private paramilitary formation located in south United States. Being true military professionals, they periodically execute contracts for jobs that may not be considered clean.

The Team consists of many complex individuals with their own back story, but they do not shun mercenary applicants. Members of the team are idealists; they dwell on moral issues, as well as question blind nationalism, etc. AntiSquad strongly differ from military units. They truly are a bunch of contradictions put together - heartfelt cynics, gregarious egoists, aggressive pacifists, and phlegmatic rebels all under one banner.

My idea of a dinner out isn't being served what looks like cat food by a feline waiter. But hey, that's just me.Read more...

In Japan, there are numerous "street snap" sites. They take photos of hipsters who hang out in cool urban areas to show what stylish and outrageous trends are taking Japan by storm. Well, now there's a fashion snap site for survival games.Read more...

The demands of the 'Nemesis system' means that the current-gen version of Shadows of Mordor is likely to be lighter on features.

After 2012′s peculiar diversion into side-scrolling beat-em-up territory, the long-awaited Sacred 3 is finally properly announced, and due to reach us in the Summer months. And this time out, the emphasis is on co-op.

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It's been a year since game creator Kenji Eno passed away, but his spirit lives on as his friends and fellow creators seek to make what was his last game proposal a reality.Read more...

At what point does a microtransaction cease to be a microtransaction? It’s a question that’s plagued my more contemplative brain tubules for years now, twisting the follicles of my whiskey soaked beard until they snap. But finally, I think I have an answer: when it’s the price of a full goddamn game. We already knew that World of Warcraft‘s Warlords of Draenor expansion would bring with it the option to boost one of your characters straight to level 90, but what if you don’t want the expansion or need another boost (come on, man – just one more that’s it I promise)? Well, do you have $60 you’re prepared to fling into Blizzard’s abyssal bank account? Are… are you sure?

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It's only halfway HD, but this re-release is great way to play a classic JRPG... with a just-okay one thrown in.

Graham recognised the brilliance of Democracy 3 in his review while also drawing attention to its limitations. I agree that the joy of the game is in tweaking and plucking, observing the way that a decision influences the cat’s cradle of government, and how the taut lines of the interface tremble and intersect. The new Social Engineering expansion adds 26 new policies and eight new dilemmas. Cliffski explains: “with social engineering you get to influence the population in far subtler ways. From TV ad campaigns to promote healthy eating to free parenting classes, city farms and a smart-meter program”. The scalpel rises and a country dies by a thousand subtle incisions.

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