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In honor of tonight's launch of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, the fine folks at Carbot Animation have delivered their own interpretation of the expansion's dark, doom-filled opening cinematic. It's so good. Read more...

We didn't ask for this. Deus Ex: The Fall on PC is an awful repackaging of a respectable mobile game.

With the dust of the Xbox One launch having settled, Microsoft corporate vice president Phil Spencer is ready to turn the company's attention toward the future of PC gaming.

During a recent roundtable discussion at GDC, Spencer was asked his thoughts on Valve Software, and more specifically, the upcoming Steam machine platform. "[Valve has] been the backbone for PC gaming for the last decade when you think about the work that they've done," Spencer replied.

"As the Windows company I appreciate what they've done," he added. "In a lot of ways they've focused more on PC gaming than we have, and for me that's something inside the company that we'll have a renewed focus on - Windows and PC gaming inside of Microsoft is definitely happening - you saw the DX12 demos here and you will see more from us over the summer."

Spencer failed to specify when we could expect to see more from Microsoft, though he later suggested the company is preparing for a big showing at this year's E3 conference. [Image: Microsoft]

I've Got to Run!, the exciting 2D autorunner exclusively coming to the Wii U eShop, has just gone gold.

What does this mean? It means I'm DONE. D.O.N.E. making the game. For now! There will be future announcements, and the game will receive updates in the future, but the game has reached a solid (and thoroughly-bug-tested) state where I feel comfortable releasing it!

When will I submit to Nintendo? ASAP! Meaning maybe tonight, tomorrow, or at the latest, Wednesday.

This does not reflect any release plans. The release window is still Q2 for North America, and I'm sticking by that. There are no release date announcements to be made at this time.

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Almost two weeks in, Dark Souls 2 becomes a walk in the park. Almost...

A portion of a Venturebeat interview with Just Add Water's Stewart Gilray...

VB: How did your studio get pulled in to working on this project?

Gilray: We’ve been working now with [publisher] Oddworld Inhabitants since late 2009, so this has been almost five years in the making. It’s something I’d suggested to a mutual friend of myself and [series creator Lorne Lanning] for years, but when we spoke about doing it, it took some time to explain, “Why?”. The thing for me was to show the game to a new generation of players on new systems.

I first heard about Boon Hill from a friend while we read epitaphs in a graveyard. That’s only fitting, given that Boon Hill is a game about exploring a graveyard and reading epitaphs. It’s been successfully funded on Kickstarter, and its creator recently climbed in bed with Nathan. It seems only reasonable that we now give it its own post. Trailer below.

… [visit site to read more]

Placed after the jump due to autoplay...

Read the rest of the story...

Australia requires more sexy, Red Bull gives you appeals, Danny speaks a made-up language, and MORE in the run-up to Malaysia.

YEAR OF THE GOAT, Y'ALL

Coming from former Shaba dev, Bradley Meyer...

I was working at Shaba Games, where we had just finished up the DLC/Gold Edition of Marvel Ultimate Alliance and were looking for a new project. Like many others, we were captivated by the Wii and began working on a concept for a downhill skateboarding game for the platform. Shaba’s other sound designer, Lorien Ferris, and myself began brainstorming ways we could introduce interesting audio to what would ostensibly be a multiplayer racing game. Obviously the skateboard sounds would reign supreme and we came up with an idea of emitters tied to occluder objects such as buildings which would play a quick whoosh as you passed them (an idea I would later harvest for the mobile title, SummitX Snowboarding). Another idea we had was to have music emanating from buildings as you skated by. You’d be going fast and could never go back uphill, so they could be short loops, and once we applied some doppler it would sound awesome!

Unfortunately, while the Wii as a piece of hardware was popular for a slew of years, the software didn’t seem to sell as well, so the project was scrapped before we got very far.

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@GoldMetalSonic DLC isn't affected, so you can still download updates if they're available. But all matchmaking will no longer be available.

— Akinwale Lakeru (@Sempuukyaku) March 24, 2014

@GoldMetalSonic That DLC still wouldn't be affected. My Pokemon Ranch uses local connection with the Nintendo DS. So, no issue there.

— Akinwale Lakeru (@Sempuukyaku) March 24, 2014

Rather than face plant after botching a gnarly kickflip, OlliOlli will stick the landing when it jumps from PS Vita to new platforms this summer. Roll7's pixelated skateboarding game will appear on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 as well as Mac, Linux, and PC via Steam.
"The PS Vita was where Sony's big Indie push was in 2013, so that's what they funded," Roll7's Simon Bennet told Joystiq about the game's debut as a Vita exclusive. "We are hyped about playing it on a Dualshock though, it really feels more tactile when going for more complicated tricks!"

OlliOlli made limited but impactful use of Vita's specific features, particularly the touch screen for navigation. According to Bennet, the transition from Vita to controllers has been smooth. He even teased a new feature. "There will be one major change which the fans will like. Touch Screen works just as well with controller input, so we see no major issues [in the transition.]"
Bennet's studio is not making these ports. BlitWorks, the crew behind numerous ports like the PS Vita version of Spelunky, is working on the PlayStation 4 and PS3 versions of OlliOlli. Devolver Digital, the publisher behind Hotline Miami, is working on the Steam version. Roll7 isn't resting on its laurels, though. The studio is still trying to fix a game-crashing bug that's affected the PS Vita version, and plans to patch in that fix with a larger update soon.

OlliOlli released on PS Vita in January and was warmly received by critics, receiving a 4-star review from Joystiq. [Images: Roll7]

Ne'er has a Goat faced an adventure so demanding, so puzzling, and of such extraordinary magnitude since... well, the first Escape Goat. MagicalTimeBean's Escape Goat 2 is the sequel to the 2011 puzzle-platformer, and it's breaking for freedom today on Windows PC, Mac and Linux via Steam, GOG and the Humble Store, priced at $10.

Escape Goat 2 follows the formula of the first game: Our purple caprine hero has to make his way through rooms filled with environmental perils, lots of moving parts, and puzzles that require the help of his magical mouse companion. However, the sequel ups the ante with a graphical overhaul, a new, more interconnected map system, and just to ram it home, there are 100-plus rooms compared to the original's 50 or so. [Image: MagicalTimeBean]

A portion of an NWR review...

Rather than the fast-paced, explorative action platformer with a cool time traveling twist, Aeternoblade turns out as a dull repetitive button mashing without much soul.

Full review here

Josh McDermitt works on AMC's The Walking Dead, and now, he's here to tell us all about. Plus, Gears of War's Cliff Bleszinski is feuding with IGN.

DLC expansions to Diablo III and Bioshock Infinite headline the week, Fez comes to PlayStation platforms and The Wolf of Wall Street hits Blu-ray.

If you thought you knew how Ken Kutaragi, onetime CEO of Sony, turned the PlayStation into a success, you were way wrong. This is the real story:Read more...

The Xbox One wasn't supposed to need a remote control. That was the whole point, right? With its high-tech Kinect camera, we could just talk to it and tell it what to do. Remote controls were a thing of the past, a finally bygone relic of the 20th century! Except, well, not really.Read more...

Echo Of The Wilds is a mysterious game that initially appears to be both a retro-pixel arthouse tenant and a crafting/survival sim. If that were the sum total of its being, Anthony Case could lay claim to have created an accurate container for indie gaming’s most popular current trends. Heck, the difficulty level is high and there’s enough randomisation to claim roguelike tendencies are in play so we could go for a full house. There are even elements of the mighty Going For A Walk genre but what is it really and wot do I think of it all?

… [visit site to read more]

I am dying to see what you guys have to say about this. Which one is the stranger product in your eyes? Everytime I think I've come up with an answer, I look at the other item and rethink my stance!

A portion of a Nintendo Life review...

Taken as a whole it has enough charm and energy to raise a smile, while it may be one of those humorous one-off games for a quirky battle with a friend. It has lost some grace in its age though, and isn't as slick as it perhaps once was.

Full review here

Microsoft is set to reveal one or more Japanese Xbox One exclusives, made by a renowned Japanese studio.

A portion of an official Watch_Dogs Tumblr interview with production manager, Alexandre Forest-Boucher...

WDT: What does a typical day at work look like for you?

AFB: That’s what’s interesting; no work day is ever the same. When I walk in, situations fall on my desk and I have to figure out solutions. I have to be ready for everything from a WTB (walkthrough break) to a major game design change. A typical day starts out with me finding out what exactly we’re going to work on in the game. Where are we with our deliverables? Are we late? Are we early? I need to make sure that things are moving forward according to our plan, and if not, making the adjustments that would rectify the situation. But my job is not only about shipping on time; I also need to make sure that we deliver top quality content. To achieve that, we run reviews to figure out if the missions are delivering on the initial promises.