God Eater 2: Rage Burst & God Eater: Resurrection Confirmed for NA In New Trailer


Posted on December 21, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

A brand new title in the God Eater franchise – God Eater 2: Rage Burst – alongside an enhanced remake of the original have been announced for PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita and Windows PC to be published by the folks at Bandai Namco Games.

In a brief announcement trailer we see cuts of garbled, possibly corrupted text, interspersed with anime cut scenes that tell a quite confusing tale about some type of infection that has ravaged the world.

The God Eater franchise is an action role-playing franchise that sees the player take the role of an unemployed warrior who decides to take on larger than life creatures. Originally debuting on the PlayStation Portable in Japan in 2010 an enhanced port of the original God Eater made its way to North American PSPs in 2011.

What do you think of this announcement? Let us know in the comments or watch the reveal trailer below.

[youtube id=”JcgxraQxhj0″]


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BrokenCast Episode #8: Game of the Year 2015


Posted on December 21, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

It’s that time of the year – the time when we reflect on all of the great games that have been released over the last twelve months. The year kicked off with major releases like The Order: 1886 and Bloodborne. By mid-year we saw the release of Blizzard’s Heroes of the Storm and CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher III: Wild Hunt. By the end of the year we finally got several games that fans have been waiting years for – Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and almost out of nowhere Bethesda’s Fallout 4.

Joining the discussion for our last podcast of the year is:

Rae Michelle Richards on Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/Kitsune86
Fionna Fox on Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/Just_Fionna
Renee Gittins On Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/RikuKat
Kenny Keelan On Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/ourwindsong

We’ll be back with more podcasts in the new year!


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Rise of The Tomb Raider Demo Now Available On Xbox One


Posted on December 20, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

Microsoft and Creative Dynamics have released a demo version of Rise of the Tomb Raider for Xbox One. Spotted by an eagle-eyed Neogaf user this demo version of the appeared on the Xbox Live web-store this evening.

It’s unknown as of press time what the demo contains in terms of content or how large the download is. As I do not have an Xbox One I’m unable to try it out at this time. The full version of Rise of the Tomb Raider clocks in at 20.86GB.

You can add the Rise of the Tomb Raider demo to your download queue by following this link.

The Xbox.com store offers this brief synopsis of the game:

“Featuring epic, high-octane action moments set in the most beautifully hostile environments on earth, Rise of the Tomb Raider delivers a cinematic survival action adventure where you will join Lara Croft on her first tomb raiding expedition. “

[Source]


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Nintendo Unveils The Miiverse’s Top 3 Games For Wii U / 3DS


Posted on December 20, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

Nintendo has unveiled the most popular games as measured via traffic on their Miiverse social media website / Wii U application.  This year didn’t feature the two big marquee releases for Wii U – Star Fox: Zero and The Legend of Zelda Wii U, as both of those games got delayed into 2016. However, it was strong year nonetheless for both platforms with releases including the surprise hit Splatoon, the ever inventive Mario Maker, monsters causing mayhem in Monster Hunter 5 on Nintendo 3DS among other great titles.

So which games made the top 3 per platform? I won’t leave you in suspense… according to Nintendo the top 3 choices according to fans on Miiverse where:

Wii U

  1. Splatoon
  2. Super Mario Maker
  3. Xenoblade Chrincles X

3DS

  1. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D
  2. The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes
  3. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate

Did any of these top six games surprise you? For me, it’s not shocking to see Xenoblade in the top 3 for Wii U even though the game has only been out for under two weeks. Fans have been anticipating its release ever since it was revealed several E3s ago. I also really enjoyed the fresh kicks that Splatoon introduced over the summer – with its focus on team based objectives rather than traditional KDR it was a refreshing take on the established Team Death Match formula.  Now that I think about it, my family ended up purchasing almost all of these games…

Did your favorite Nintendo titles make the cut? Check out the graphics Nintendo shared on Miiverse below:

Miiverse1

Miiverse2

[Source]


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Xbox Boss: Killer Instinct & Gears Ultimate Coming To PC In Early 2016


Posted on December 20, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

Earlier this year at E3 Microsoft announced that both Killer Instinct and Gears of War: Ultimate would be making the jump from the Xbox One to Windows PC. Since then PC gamers have been waiting to find out when they can dig into these currently Xbox One exclusive titles.

One fan in particular, @brycethatoneguy on twitter, took to the social media platform to ask Xbox Boss Phil Spencer exactly when we can expect these games on Windows 10. Spencer’s response? They haven’t announced dates but both games are expected “won’t be too far into 2016”.

Here’s the full tweet from Phil Spencer, which you can use to trace back to the full conversation:

Are you excited for either Gears of War: Ultimate or Killer Instinct on Windows 10? There have been 3 DLC “seasons” of Killer Instinct that have brought a total of 22 combatants into the arena – 9 from Season 1, 9 from Season 2 and currently 4 from Season 3. Gears of War: Ultimate is of course a remastered version of the Xbox 360 2006 original with enhanced graphics and new content.


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Voting For PlayStation Blog’s Game of the Year Opens


Posted on December 19, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

The Official PlayStation Blog has opened up voting in their annual user lead series of polls for The Game of the Year Awards. As 2015 comes to a close perhaps it is time to reflect upon which games have left the biggest impact on you over the past 12 months before clicking on over to vote.

The year in PlayStation started off with a bang with the release of exclusives like The Order: 1886 and Bloodborne while continuing to amaze right up until December with massive open world games like Just Cause 3.

SCEA’s Social Media Manager Justin Massongill outlines some of the rules that Sony used in the selection of their eligible titles. Readers even suggested new additions in the comments section of the original poll, like Life Is Strange, and they’ve found their way into the official polls.

Here are the ground rules:

  • Nominees are limited to games that have never appeared on a PlayStation platform before.
  • Additionally, if a game has won for a specific category in a previous year, it’s no longer eligible to win in that category this year.
  • We tried to include a (very) wide range of nominees for each category, but if your favorite isn’t on the list feel free to write it inat the bottom of each form.

Voting is performed via a series of rather long polls available on the PlayStation Blog. Each category contains a number of titles – for example in the running for “Best PS4 Game” are Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, Axiom Verge, Arkham Knight, Bloodborne, Broken Age, Black Ops III, Dying Light, MLB the Show 15 & more. So take your time and pick your favorites carefully.

Did your favorite game make Sony’s cut? 2015 was certainly a fantastic year for gaming!

[Source]


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First Update Issued For Turok: Remastered


Posted on December 19, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

Turok: Remastered has received its first major patch since launching this past Tuesday. In addition to remedying bugs that resulted in cut-scenes not playing or the game hard crashing improvements to the AI and animations have been implemented for the harder difficulties.  They have also implemented a new set of headbob options allowing players to adjust bobbling for various directions and underwater sections.

Turok: Remastered is an enhanced version of the 1996 Nintendo 64 original as well as the 1998 sequel Turok 2: Seeds of Evil. Both of these games did receive PC ports back in the days of Windows 98 and dial-up internet but Night Dive Studios have ensured that the games will run on modern 64-bit hardware without all that nasty fog that was pretty mandatory in the original releases.

You can purchase Turok: Remastered through it’s official Steam Store page. Full patch notes below:

Changelist for 12/18/2015

  • Safeguard checks for initializing video. Will fall back to starting the game in windowed mode if it is unable to create a window for fullscreen mode
  • Head bobbing options implemented
  • Possible fix for a crash when loading a level or loading from a save file
  • Tremor effects no longer affects the player’s velocity (won’t be doing short hops)
  • Animation speeds for AI on Hard and Hardcore difficulties have been toned way down
  • Changing the difficulty in the gameplay menu now automatically updates all active AI, where before they would change their behavior only after revisiting the level (which was a bug).
  • Fixed crash with moving platforms in level 8 bonus stage.
  • Several minor updates to levels (wood pillars in Jungle all moves down rather than moving up. Looks silly with extended draw distance enabled as they all look like they’re floating).
  • Clamped XY coordinates in light scatter shader. This fixes very bad rendering artifacts caused by the shader in certain graphics drivers.

Head Bobbing Options
This menu can be found in Options->Gameplay->Head Bobbing Options. The following options are:

  • Head Bobbing – Toggles all bobbing while walking/running on ground and jumping.
  • Turn Bobbing – Toggles the rolling of the view camera when turning (on land and in water).
  • Adjust View To Slopes – Toggles your view being aligned to the floor surface that you’re standing on.
  • Underwater Bobbing – Toggles all bobbing related to being on water and underwater.

AI Updates

  • The timing on how long it takes for AI to respawn has been heavily re-factored now. It will take roughly 15-30 seconds for them to begin fading out and another 10-15 seconds for them to begin respawning. Its still randomized but there should be a longer delay before they start respawning though it really depends on their configuration in the levels.
  • The speeds of the AI has been lowered for the harder difficulties and they will be instantly updated if the difficulty option has been changed in the gameplay menu. The issue with them not updating until that level was revisited has led to a lot of confusion regarding to the broken nature of the AI and speed of the game.

[Source]


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Insurgency 85% Off In Flash Sale As Server Population Breaks Records


Posted on December 19, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

The developers behind Insurgency: Modern Infantry Combat have announced that their game will be a staggering 85% off today as part of their celebration of reaching a brand new server population record. Over 10,000 players recently connected to Insurgency to play the team vs team Deathmatch fting American Special Forces vs the titular Insurgents.

FlashSale

While the game has its roots in the real world conflict that defined the post 9/11 world of the mid-00s modders have been able to create new content for the game for quite some time.  One such modification is the Wild West Theatre which adds brand new weapons like a double barreled shotgun and changes the names of the teams to Outlaws Vs. Lawmen.

Devs have officially promoted a live-stream of the Wild West Theatre alongside today’s flash sale. You can check it out in the embedded player below or by following this link to twitch.

Will you be joining the insurgency with this flash sale?

Watch live video from insurgencygame on www.twitch.tv

[Source]


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Arkham Knight PC Improvements Continue Months After Release


Posted on December 19, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

Warner Bros Interactive has issued a brand new patch for the Windows PC for Batman: Arkham Knight. This new patch restores the advanced rain & weather effects that were present in the PlayStation 4 version of the game but struggled to run on some PC configurations. Another important update is the improvement of target prioritization – I can’t tell you how many times I had Batman just rolling around, having difficulty deciding his next target.

Arkham Knight had a very rocky launch on PC this past June which included the suspension of sales of the game for several months while RockSteady and Warner Bros Interactive worked out all of the Kinks. Although the game does not have SLI / Cross-Fire support there have been a number of improvements made in the past few months (We also found that AMD Crimson drivers also helped performance somewhat.)

We reviewed the PC version of Batman: Arkham Knight this past August and found the game to be quite enjoyable.

Here are the full patch notes via Steam’s announcements section:

  • Fixed some issues with stars being awarded or lost incorrectly in specific AR Challenges
  • Improved target prioritization during combat
  • Restored heavier rain during the opening section of the game
  • Fixed missing rain effects on a few remaining player character skins
  • Miscellaneous gameplay fixes and stability improvements
  • Fixes to some keyboard and mouse prompts after being rebound
  • Made frame times more consistent for 60hz monitors running at 30fps with VSync enabled
  • Previously equipped gadgets can be selected with keyboard and mouse again after restarting an AR Challenge
  • Fixed the default key binding for Harley’s Snare gadget
  • Batgirl’s Remote Hacking Device can now be properly selected with keyboard & mouse in AR Challenges
  • Minor performance optimizations for certain combinations of hardware
  • Fixed keyboard & mouse controls that did not function in DLC AR Challenges when no previous save data existed
  • Quick Photo Mode can now be triggered with keyboard and mouse controls when using the Batmobile
  • Special Combo Takedowns can now be performed with Quickfire Gadget binds if they were rebound
  • Fixed graphical corruption that may occur after Alt-Tabbing
  • Improvements and corrections to some localized text
  • Added new Classic Harley Quinn skin for use in AR Challenges & the Harley Quinn Story Pack
  • Added Arkham Knight as a playable character for AR Challenges & the Red Hood Story Pack
  • Added support for December DLC content

[Source]


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Rainbow Six Siege Free Weekend Starts Today


Posted on December 18, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

Rainbow Six Siege

Ubisoft recently brought back the Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six franchise with the release of Rainbow Six: Siege earlier this month for Windows PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Now they’re giving PC gamers the chance to try out the multiplayer centric take on the long running series with a free weekend that just kicked off on Uplay.

Alongside the free weekend for Siege, and a heavily discounted price (25%) off the full game, Ubisoft has also begun their Holiday Sale. It looks like your wallet is the objective and every major publisher is using their best tactics to reach their goal. Its been awhile when we can say that you could try out two of the year’s newest shooters for free.

We published rather exhaustive impressions of the game’s closed beta back in October when that went live. If you want to get a sense of how the game plays before committing to the massive download you can check those out.

Also here’s a partial list of the discount Ubisoft has on offer:

  • Assassins Creed: Liberation – $11.99 CDN
  • Serious Sam HD: First & Second Encounter – $4.00 CDN Each
  • Not A Hero – $10.99 CDN
  • Killer Is Dead -$4.00 CDN
  • Escape Dead Island – $4.00 CDN
  • Dead Rising 3: Apocalypse Edition – $20.00 CDN
  • Remember Me – $6.00 CDN
  • Tomb Raider GOTY – $7.50 CDN
  • Witcher III + Both Expansions – $51.99 CDN

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Origin Launches Holiday Sale – Includes Several Huge Games


Posted on December 18, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

With just seven days until Christmas Day it is no surprise that publishers are rolling out some great deals on some of this year’s hottest games as well as excellent releases from years past. Electronic Art’s Origin service pulls the trigger on this year’s sale ahead of competitor Valve. They’re not only offering some fantastic prices on some of our favorite games like Dragon Age: Inquisition and the entire Mass Effect trilogy but also the lowest price I’ve ever seen for Battlefront, and that game is only a month old.

The hype for The Force Awakens is very real and with that film being officially released today I’m sure Star Wars: The Old Republic will experience an influx of some fresh players. Despite the game going the dreaded free-to-play route several years ago it still provides an excellent Lvl 1 – 50 experience for free to all players. If you’re an MMO player I would heavily consider the Old Republic bundle available on Origin during the holiday sale: You gain access to all 3 paid expansions, 60 days of game time and a whole bunch of Cash Shop credits for the price of two months’ subscription time. Maybe it’s time to pick the light saber back up!

Here’s a full list of deals:

Deals on Full Games

  • Star Wars: Battlefront – $39.99 USD
  • The Sims 4 Standard – $19.99 USD
  • Battlefield 4: Premium Edition – $19.99 USD
  • FIFA 16 – $29.99 USD
  • Dragon Age: GOTY Edition – $29.99
  • Mass Effect Trilogy – $14.99 USD
  • SimCity Standard – $9.99 USD
  • Titanfall Standard – $9.99 USD
  • Need For Speed Rivals: Complete – $9.99 USD
  • Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare Deluxe – $9.99 USD

Deals on Subscription Based Games

  • Star Wars The Old Republic – $29.99 USD
    • Includes:
    • 60 Day Subscription
    • Access to all three expansions – Rise of the Hut Cartel, Shadow of Revan and The Fallen Empire
    • 1050 Cartel Coins
    • Exclusive Pet Mount

Deals on DLC / Add-Ons

  • Dragon Age Inquisition: Trespasser – $9.99 USD
  • The Sims 4: Outdoor Retreat – $14.99 USD
  • The Sims 4: Spa Days – $14.99 USD
  • The Sims 4: Get To Work – $19.99 USD
  • Battlefield: Hardline Deluxe Edition Upgrade – $7.49 USD

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Try Black Ops III Multiplayer For Free On Steam This Weekend!


Posted on December 18, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

Black Ops III

If you’re in the mood for some fast paced futuristic Call of Duty multiplayer but don’t feel like shelling out $60 for the privilege of ranking up your custom soldier, thanks to Treyarch and Valve, you don’t have too. From now until 1PM PST on Sunday the Multiplayer component of Call of Duty: Black Ops III is free for all Steam users.

This free weekend was originally confirmed via Treyarch’s official twitter account before appearing on the Steam Store front page:

In terms of installation size you’re looking at a 29GB install to try out Black Ops III – so if you’re on capped internet this might be a bit of a behemoth to download just for 48 hours of free access. Wondering whether or not your rig is powerful enough to run the game? Here are the official recommended specs:

MINIMUM:

    • OS: Windows 7 64-Bit / Windows 8 64-Bit / Windows 8.1 64-Bit
    • Processor: Intel® Core™ i3-530 @ 2.93 GHz / AMD Phenom™ II X4 810 @ 2.60 GHz
    • Memory: 6 GB RAM
    • Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 470 @ 1GB / ATI® Radeon™ HD 6970 @ 1GB
    • DirectX: Version 11
    • Network: Broadband Internet connection
    • Storage: 60 GB available space
    • Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

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Street Fighter V Officially Heading To Steam OS


Posted on December 18, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

Fans of Capcom’s upcoming fifth installment of the Street Fighter franchise will have an additional choice when it comes to platforms to play on. No, this newly approaching challenger isn’t Microsoft’s Xbox One but rather Valve’s own Steam OS.

You might have missed this news since it was buried in the official announcements section of the Steam community for Street Fighter V. Not only will the game becoming to the fledgling OS but it will also support the Steam Controller as well. Users who have pre-ordered the game on Steam can try out the next beta from December 18th  through the 20th.

Here’s the full announcement:

Hey everyone. I’m excited to announce that Street Fighter V will be officially supporting Steam OS! We are working closely with Valve on this endeavor, and will have more details to announce in the near future, so stay tuned for updates.

Street Fighter V will also support the Steam controller, and you’ll be able to try that out right away during the upcoming beta test that takes place from December 18~20.


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Tencent Purchases Remaining Stake In League of Legends Developer Riot Games


Posted on December 17, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

League Of Legends Logo 2015

TenCent the Chinese technological behemoth that operates the popular Chinese FPS Cross Fire and holds a minority stake in Epic Games among other entertainment ventures has purchased the remaining equity in League of Legends developer Riot Games.

This change in ownership was announced via Riot Game’s official website. They say that this allow them to offer more competitive wages and benefits to the employees while continuing their upward growth.

Here’s the full statement as it appears on Riot’s website:

“As a result of our continued growth and changing circumstances, we’re shifting to a new structure to recognize and reward Rioters’ contributions – and that first involves a big change to our existing equity program. As part of this effort, our majority investor, Tencent, recently purchased the remaining equity of Riot Games. This allows us to move away from a Riot equity program towards a cash based incentive program that allows Rioters to share in Riot’s success. This program comes in addition to our highly competitive salaries, open PTO, learning and development programs, 401K match, subsidized medical plans, and kitchens stocked with snax (poro and otherwise) all full-time Rioters get.”

TenCent originally invested a reported $400 million USD in Riot Games in return for a majority share in 2011. After this acquisition it was reported that League has earned Riot more than $960+ million dollars per year according to their 2014 financials.

Considering that this is a business transaction I don’t think that existing League players should be too concerned about their favorite heroes disappearing into the aether.


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Turok: Remastered Trailer Proves Game Isn’t Extinct


Posted on December 17, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

Do you remember Turok: The Dinosaur Hunter for the Nintendo 64? If you’re younger than 25 I’d not considering the original version was released nearly 20 years ago in 1996! Despite its age there is a high of enough demand that a Windows PC port is launching on Steam nearly two decades after the game hit store shelves.

Developer Night Dive Studio is handling the translation to modern operating systems. Turok: Remastered won’t just include cleaned up textures and various Steam features but also the removal of the once infamous “pea soup” fog that plagued the original games. Due to the hardware limitations of the Nintendo 64 the original games had quite the poor draw distance.

Turok: Remastered includes content from the 1996 original as well as the sequel 1998’s Turok: Seeds of Evil. It is also available for purchase via GOG and the Humble Store.

[youtube id=”gHX5NArspxg”]

 


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