Monthly Archives: April 2015
Bandai Namco Announces Galaga/Tekken Crossover Game
Bandai Namco Games has announced the release of Galaga: Tekken 20th Anniversary Edition, a crossover game for mobile platforms.
It celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Tekken fighting game franchise by combining its characters with the gameplay of Galaga, one of Bandai Namco's classic arcade games. The Tekken characters enter the battle against enemy aliens via spaceships, and players will be able to use Tekken's "tag" mechanic to call upon an additional character to help deal double damage.
Evolve’s Broken Hill Maps Arrive on PS4, PC
The Broken Hill Mine and Broken Hill Foundry maps are coming to the PlayStation 4 and PC versions of Evolve today, free.
Both maps debuted first on Xbox One and can be played in Hunt, Nest, and Rescue, as well as Skirmish, Custom matches, and Evacuation campaigns.
The first Broken Hill map is a bohrium mine deep under Shear. If Hunters win in Evacuation campaigns, their Mining Drones are converted into Shield Drones for the next match.
Monsters get a campaign effect too: if they break the mining drill, a series of earthquakes will "flush out" birds in the environment, creating a flurry to disorient Hunters.
Valve Gives Developers Power to Ban Players
Valve has announced that developers are now able to personally ban players that are "disruptive."
According to the Steam community announcement, Valve now allows developers to "implement their own systems that detect and permanently ban any disruptive players, such as those using cheats."
The game developer will notify Valve when such a player has been detected in their game, and Valve will apply the game ban to that account.
Steam is a massive platform, so it makes sense that Valve might outsource cheat detection to individual developers. It means that devs can issue a ban on players in a specific game, even if that game isn't enforced with Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) system.
Win Evolve Skins With Headshot Challenge
If the Evolve community can collectively land 2 million headshots on Monsters with Parnell over the weekend, anyone who plays during that timeframe will win a free Parnell Predator skin.
The Evolve headshot challenge begins on Friday, May 1st at 12:01 AM ET and ends Monday, May 4th at 12:01 AM ET.
If Evolve players can surpass 2.8 million, the community will also receive the Assault Predator skin set.
What Happens When Sega and Capcom’s Heroes Unite?
It's no surprise that Archie Comics would choose to follow up on last year's big Sonic the Hedgehog/Mega Man crossover, Worlds Collide, with a sequel. What is a surprise is just how ambitious the scope of Worlds Unite is. This new crossover doesn't just reunite Sonic and Mega Man. It also draws in the heroes of the Mega Man X and Sonic Boom franchises, as well as a host of other Capcom and Sega video game properties (including Golden Axe, Ghost & Goblins, Skies of Arcadia, NIGHTS Into Dreams and Street Fighter).
2 Minutes of Gameplay Starring The Witcher 3’s New Heroine
Ciri, the second playable character in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, doesn't play like Geralt at all. To begin with, she has limited magical powers -- Geralt's incredible Sign magic is nowhere to be seen. But Ciri isn't just an apprentice of Geralt of Rivia -- she's an extraordinary heroine with mysterious ghostly abilities, and a side-story with distinct quests to call her own. We've played her first few missions, and her linear, action-centric missions are a refreshing, regular change of pace from the expansive open world. Check out the debut gameplay for Ciri above, and learn more about her role from developer CDProjekt Red below.
The Escapists Busts Onto PS4 Soon
Prison break puzzle RPG, The Escapists, is out on PlayStation 4 on May 29th in Europe and Australia, and June 2nd in North America. It'll be $20 / £15 on the PlayStation Store.
The Escapists Alcatraz DLC will also launch alongside its PS4 debut for $3 / £2.
After half a year on Steam Early Access, The Escapists had its official PC launch in February, alongside its console debut on Xbox One.
Our review of The Escapists called it "fresh and entertaining." The game, as its name suggests, is about breaking out of prison.
Players can establish good relations with fellow inmates, who they can barter with for items like escape tools.
LG Unveils Its New Flagship Phone
LG has unveiled its latest leading phone, the LG G4.
The G4 boasts a removable battery, along with a microSD slot. Seeing as Samsung went with a unibody design for the S6 Edge, this makes the G4 the only Android flagship currently to offer a removable battery and microSD.
The camera comes with an f/1.8 lens and 0.6 shutter speed, which just about tops both the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge by 0.1. As for improvements, the back camera gets a generous bump from 13 megapixels to 16 megapixels. Likewise, the front camera also gets a hefty increase, this time going from 2.1 megapixels to a whopping 8 megapixels, matching the resolution of the iPhone.
Spacecraft Due to Crash Into Mercury Today
The Messenger probe, which has been mapping Mercury since 2011, is due to crash land today after running out of fuel.
This is only the second Mercury mission which has ever been conducted. The first, Mariner 10, only flew past the planet three times in the 1970s. Messenger has been in orbit for four years.
The mission launched on August 3, 2004, and the probe traveled 4.9 billion miles, circling the Sun 15 times, before settling into orbit around Mercury. NASA expects the probe to crash into the far side of the planet today.
Nintendo Direct: Splatoon Special Coming Next Week
Splatoon is set to get its very own Nintendo Direct next Thursday, May 7 at 7am PT / 10am ET / 3pm GMT.
Both Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Europe have confirmed the stream, so it's likely we'll be seeing the same content.
Nintendo unveiled a 3-pack of Splatoon-themed amiibo earlier this month, but unfortunately it doesn't look like they'll be included in an otherwise-cool Best Buy bundle. If you want your own collectible inkling boy, girl, and squid, it appears you'll have to buy the pack separately.