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Gather 'round, everyone. It's the weekend. It's March. It's the month of Titanfall, South Park, Dark Souls II, Ground Zeroes, Yoshi's New Island, the Game Developers Conference and, here in the northern hemisphere, spring. Hooray! Celebrate by catching up on the finest original Kotaku stories from the past week over at Kotaku Selects.Read more...

Same-y MOBAs that can’t quite manage the raw mechanical majesty of League of Legends and Dota 2 are an epidemic. So how do we cure that pestilence of painful mediocrity? Well, Techland and Stunlock Studios are suggesting we fight an epidemic with an epidemic – a Dead Island: Epidemic, to be precise. It ups the ante with another of the gaming industry’s more rampant diseases (zombies) but also puts some fresh meat on the genre’s bones with a three-team dynamic and more open maps. Also ramshackle weapons galore, because that is – in the parlance of our time – how Dead Island do.

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Cosmo-Nautica is Elite by way of The Sims. No, scratch that. Apart from having toilet and food needs, the crew of my vessel have more in common with Redshirt’s sci-fi caricatures than Maxis’ consumer-dolls. I’ve had a brief dabble with an early build of the Stuttgart-built indie game, and it’s exactly what the ‘Elite meets life sim’ beermat description suggests. The player’s ship is a rustbucket the size of a large townhouse and various rooms can be bolted onto its empty compartments. Living quarters, vending machines, cargo bays, weapons, engines…toilets. At present, there’s not much to do beyond trading basic commodities, but ground missions and enhanced combat are due before release. Take a look.

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Come Saturday, April 26, Walnut, California will play host to the 2014 incarnation of the Sega Cup Virtua Fighter Tournament, and now you, too, can throw your hat into the polygonal ring.

As with last year's tournament, Sega Cup Virtua Fighter Tournament 2014 will focus on the latest version of the fighter, Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown. Games will take place on the PlayStation 3 and each round will be decided by best of three matches. The top 16 players in the tournament will take home a portion of the "over $15,000" in prize money at stake at the event.

Full details on how to register for the tournament can be found at Eventbrite, though keep in mind that there is an entry fee of $10, and currently there are only 111 spots remaining. Additional details on the event can be found at the tournament's official website. [Image: Sega]

An awesome movie gets a little less awesome when shrunk down on portables.

Japanese cable company KDDI is set to roll out an Android app-based cloud service that will stream games from Sega, Konami, and other publishers to J:Com and JCN subscribers, Engadget reports.

The Ubitus-developed GameNow service, which is compatible with an upcoming lineup of Toshiba Smart TVs in the United States, will offer a number of paid and subscription-based games when it launches in Japan this year. Announced titles include Sega's Sonic Adventure, Milestone's World Rally Championship 3, and Konami's World Soccer Winning Eleven 2014 (Pro Evolution Soccer 2014).

Other featured games include Square Enix's puzzler Yosumin, Nigoro's indie adventure game La-Mulana, and Falcom's Eiyuu Densetsu: Sora no Kiseki FC (released stateside for the PSP in 2011 as The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky).

Sony's similar PlayStation Now streaming service recently entered a closed beta ahead of a planned launch this summer.

[Image: KDDI/Ubitus]

Following January's official release of Steam Family Options, Valve Software has removed Steam Family Sharing from its long beta test and made it available to all Steam users.

As its name suggests, Steam Family Sharing allows those with blood ties (or those willing to lie about blood ties) to freely share access to retail PC, Mac and Linux game releases via Steam. "Players who share computers can now also share their available libraries with one another, each earning their own achievements and saving their own game progress to the Steam Cloud," reads Valve's official description of the service. "It's all enabled by authorizing shared computers and the familiar accounts that log into them."

Full details on how to enable Steam Family Sharing can be found on the program's website. It's a quick process, which should leave you plenty of time to decide who is worthy of membership in your new virtual "family." [Image: Valve]

Coming from a Siliconera interview with Jools Watsham...

“My inspiration for the gameplay of Moon Chronicles—specifically in terms to the game flow and level design—was more from Super Metroid than the FPS Metroid games. However, the stylus control method was absolutely inspired by Metroid Prime Hunters on the DS.

One of the main ‘Metroid’ aspects that we incorporated into Moon Chronicles is the ‘gates’ or progression blockers that must be returned to once the solution has been acquired. In Super Metroid this is usually accomplished by collecting a new power-up, whereas with Moon Chronicles it is largely story-driven or involves accomplishing a task or collecting a special item to gain access to the new area and progress through the game.

Another key element that I love about the Metroid series is the sense of many secret hidden pick-ups scattered all about, requiring the player explore beyond the main path of the game, which improve the player’s attributes in some way. This is where we utilize the Remote Access Droid (RAD) in Moon Chronicles, enabling the player to navigate the RAD unit into small ducts that Major Kane cannot enter in order to disable force-fields to allow Major Kane access and collect special items or progress into new areas. The RAD also provides a great sense of puzzle solving, which is another key aspect of the Metroid series.

There is a chance that each enemy destroyed will drop a pick-up that helps your current situation. You’ll find that you will typically get what you need at that moment, whether that is ammo for your Muon Pistol or a health pick-up. This serves as a great way for the player to feel the need and satisfaction from destroying enemies.”

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How the DC-themed MOBA is setting itself apart from those that came before it.

Prepare to laugh, cry, and be amazed in this week's Top 5 Titanfall Kills of the Week.

What's gonna happen on True Detective? Who's the Yellow King? What's Rust been up to all these years? Your guess is as good as mine. If you DO have predictions, I hope you'll share them here, and also check out this great Wired feature breaking down some of the most popular theories.Read more...

Alfredo uses what he learned from the beta to create a killer loadout for when Titanfall drops.

More than just a pretty face, sharp fangs and philosophical ramblings on what a man consists of, the Dracula of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 can throw down as well as any centuries-old creature of the night. [Image: Konami]

Rocksteady Games may be revealing its next Batman game in the very near future.

The PES and FIFA games may be capable simulations of men running around a field kicking things. But there's a new, more ridiculous football (soccer) simulation in town. Goofball Goals. Read more...

The next expansion pack to hit Battlefield 4 puts water-based warfare in the spotlight.

Toy Soldiers: Complete is Now Available on Steam Early Access!
Toy Soldiers: Complete
Command your Toy Soldiers in multiplayer or co-op with Toy Soldiers: Complete! Bring your toys back to life in this action-packed, strategy-based game with Toy Soldiers: Cold War, and its two DLCS - Napalm and Evil Empire. Before its full release, the original smash hit, Toy Soldiers, Kaisers Battle and Invasion DLC will be reignited as you man the guns for control of the trench-filled battlefields of Europe!

Toy Soldiers
One of the top 10 best-selling Xbox LIVE Arcade games of all time, Toy Soldiers is a unique, action-packed strategy-based game in which players command antique WWI toy soldiers vying for control of the trench-filled battlefields of Europe.

Test your mettle by: Deploying an exciting arsenal such as tanks, cavalry, biplanes, and flamethrowers in a vintage WWI toy diorama. Putting your foot soldiers, snipers, cavalry, and fighter pilots to the test by commanding individual units. Controlling the entire battlefield from a strategic view.

With challenges focused on torching your enemies, additional weapons at your disposal, a brand-new vehicle, and expanded single-player, co-op, and competitive modes, Napalm is sure to set a new standard for startling authenticity and intense action.

The gang is reunited! We discuss the merits of Dead Nation: Apocalypse Edition on PS4 (out this Tuesday!), Wolfenstein: The New Order on PS4, and lay out all the new releases for March 4th. We’ve also got a nifty pair of interviews with some of the minds behind 1001 Spikes and Sniper Elite 3. Listen up!

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Stuff We Talked About

• Dead Nation: Apocalypse Edition
• Wolfenstein: The New Order
• 1001 Spikes
• Sniper Elite 3

Recent Episodes

• Episode 110: The Secrets of Left Behind
• Episode 109: Podcast Evolved
• Episode 108: The Brave and the Gold

Send us questions and tips: blogcast@playstation.sony.com or leave a voice message! 650-288-6706 The Cast

• Sid Shuman – PlayStation Social Media Manager
• Nick Suttner – PlayStation Account Support Manager
• Justin Massongill – PlayStation Social Media Specialist
• Ryan Clements – PlayStation Social Media Specialist

[Editor’s note: PSN game release dates are subject to change without notice. Game details are gathered from press releases from their individual publishers and/or ESRB rating descriptions.]

• Thanks to Cory Schmitz for our beautiful logo and Dormilón for our rad theme song and show music.

Good news for gaming headset owners: The Xbox One March update will bring with it support for optical Dolby audio output, meaning that your Astro/Turtle Beach/other gaming headset will finally get a full surround signal. Polygon's tested an Astro headset and they say it works great.Read more...

- collaboration going on between Capcom’s Monster Hunter series and the Shinshu Shiba Onsen (hot springs) in Nagano prefecture
- Onsen will regularly feature special foods and items in their shops
- special limited edition Felyne that you can get during the spring season
- this is available only through Onsen’s Wi-Fi download spot

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