Some of The Industry’s Top Developers Respond To The Xbox One Reveal

Like most gamers, we wanted to see more games from the Xbox One reveal and the confusion around the pre-played market is more than a little frustrating. But now that we have all had a chance to let the Xbox One reveal sink in, we thought we would ask some developers about what they thought (below). 

Microsoft certainly showed of some pretty sweet voice command stuff and we did get to see the box (even though it does look like a VCR from the late 90′s), but where were all the games? Okay so we all expected Microsoft to hold back some of the game play for the ever approaching E3, but we certainly didn’t need to see 30+ minutes of voice commands, TV integration, sports and Windows Explorer snapping. Continue reading “Some of The Industry’s Top Developers Respond To The Xbox One Reveal” »

Why History Tells Us Console Reveals Don’t Really Matter

It was a littler over eight years ago that Microsoft began giving audiences glimpses at the 360, by playing a little “game” called ourcolony, which allowed large groups of users to team up and peel away photos of the new console in all of its glory.

A more formal announcement was carried over onto MTV in a special dedicated to the “revealing of the next gen console”, a few weeks later.

Sony took a more conventional approach with the PS3 and mainly featured the console at E3 2005, showing off a slew of trailers and letting fans know that backwards compatibility was an option (at least initially).

Both consoles had announcements that were substantially smaller in scale than what we saw from the PS4 and XBOX One, respectively, but their initial releases saw little bearing on the product’s result now eight years later. Continue reading “Why History Tells Us Console Reveals Don’t Really Matter” »

Heavy Gear: Assault Brings Fast Paced Mech Combat To e-Sports With unique Free-To-Choose Model

The world of Heavy Gear has been around for a while starting in the mid 90′s as a tabletop and then translated into video games in 1997 and 1999 with Heavy Gear 1 and 2.

Heavy Gear 2 garnered critical success having scored 9 on GameSpot and 8.4 with IGN, and now the Heavy Gear franchise is set to continue into the next gen with developer Stompy Bot Productions and its new arena mech sim — Heavy Gear: Assault.

Continue reading “Heavy Gear: Assault Brings Fast Paced Mech Combat To e-Sports With unique Free-To-Choose Model” »

Xbox One Reveal Highlights Everything Frustrating About Modern Gaming

Little Big Planet Inspired Platformer: Ethan Meteor Hunter Takes You On The Mission of a Meteor Stricken Rat With Telekinesis (That’s Right)

Ethan: Meteor Hunter is a physics based puzzle-platformer vying for a spot on Steam Greenlight. Players take control of a small rat by the name of Ethan who was mysteriously struck by meteorites giving him the power of telekinesis.

Ethan’s newly found powers grant the player the ability to stop time at any point in a level and move objects to solve environmental puzzles in order to find all the fragments of the meteorite that struck him. Ethan is on a mission to solve the mystery of the meteorite: The dev steam a Seaven Studios said, “Who knows what he will be able to do when all the fragments are collected?”

Head below to check out our full in depth interview with the dev team at Seaven Studios along with the free demo download link, screenshots and gameplay footage.

Continue reading “Little Big Planet Inspired Platformer: Ethan Meteor Hunter Takes You On The Mission of a Meteor Stricken Rat With Telekinesis (That’s Right)” »

XBOX One Announces No Backwards Compatibility; Crybabies Commence Complaining

The much balleyhooed XBOX Reveal Event overtook the internet today, and splashed in between the proverbial oohs and ahs was the announcement that the next XBOX a.k.a. XBOX One would not be backwards compatible.

“The system is based on a different core architecture, so back-compat doesn’t really work from that perspective,” said Microsoft’s Marc Whitten in an interview with The Verge.

While we’re yet to know if this applies to XBLA games, we can assume only games intended for the XBOX ONE will work on the XBOX ONE.

Never mind that the event Reveal Event mostly focused on Steven Spielberg making a TV Show, a franchise whose boldest move was adding dogs, and the bromance that is EA Sports and Microsoft — the angst coming from gamers is that you can’t play old games on a new console.

Case in point: Continue reading “XBOX One Announces No Backwards Compatibility; Crybabies Commence Complaining” »

You Are a Feared and Powerful Knight “Cursed With The Gift of Magic” In: DORMANT SKY

Dormant Sky is a fantasy RPG developed by Edge Entertainment, who has taken to Kickstarter to finish production on the game and license newer modern game engine. Deeply inspired by Chrono Trigger and the Final Fantasy series, the freeware PC RPG game is a love letter to the 16-bit, SNES era. Dormant Sky is a character driven story where players take on the role of Seeo, a feared and powerful knight “cursed with the gift of magic.”

This is a game that will be very familiar to those who loved FF6, Star Ocean, Chrono Trigger and even Chrono Cross, but has some newer features that add a new level of immersion and a more modern feel to the gameplay like the up tempo battle system and voice acting. More on this below.

You can check out our full exclusive interview with Edge Entertainment along with a bunch of early game screens below (note: much of the environment assets will be upgraded and replaced in the final build).

Continue reading “You Are a Feared and Powerful Knight “Cursed With The Gift of Magic” In: DORMANT SKY” »

Devs Sound Off On What They Want To See From Tomorrow’s Xbox Reveal + New PS4 E3 Trailer

It won’t be long now…T minus 18 hours and counting until Microsoft finally unveils its next generation of gaming. Now eight years since the original Xbox 360 units shipped (the number one selling console in North America for 28 straight months), Microsoft is finally ready to share its “vision for Xbox, and give you a real taste of the future.”

Everybody knows about the rumors on what the next Xbox could come with including those disheartening always online requirements, every next gen Xbox needing a Kinect or a Kinect-like set up to function as well Microsoft’s continuing lack luster treatment of indie developers. Scroll down to check out what a select group of devs and industry professionals feel about this and want they want to see ouf of tomorrow’s Xbox reveal. Sony has also dropped a brand new PS4 teaser trailer (probably hoping to quell excitement on tomorrow’s Xbox event), where we catch a brief and blurry image of what the hardware could actually look like.

Continue reading “Devs Sound Off On What They Want To See From Tomorrow’s Xbox Reveal + New PS4 E3 Trailer” »

How SAINTS ROW IV Will Bring “A Level of Freedom of Movement Never Before Seen In an Open World Game”

Volition’s fourth entry in its over-the-top Saints Row franchise is set to hit stores this summer on August 20th. The highly anticipated open world title will introduce a host of new features this time around while still maintaing what fans have loved over 11 million times since the series was introduced in 2006.

Along with the game’s new alien enemies: Zinyak and his Zin Empire, Saints Row IV will introduce a host of super powers to the player that are split into two different categories, movement powers and combat powers. As you can see in the recent gameplay video below players will be able to leap over buildings soar around the city, run 90mph, freeze cars and slide them around the streets, throw fire projectiles and much more. 

Continue reading “How SAINTS ROW IV Will Bring “A Level of Freedom of Movement Never Before Seen In an Open World Game”” »

What EA Getting Rid of Online Passes Tells Us About The Games Industry (And Gamers)

From out of the heavens this week, EA reigned down the announcement that they will discontinue their practice of online passes. For those not privy to how the “passes” work(ed), a customer who bought a second hand or used game had to purchase an additional, separate pass to access the game’s online features (which usually cost around 10 bucks). If you buy the game new, the “online pass” could be activated with a code included with the game.

The measure allowed the publisher to pocket some coin on the sale of a used game; while EA is largely credited with beginning the practice, it has since been adopted by publishers Activision and Ubisoft. However, EA, in impeccable corporate speak, said the practice is donezo: Continue reading “What EA Getting Rid of Online Passes Tells Us About The Games Industry (And Gamers)” »

It’s Time For a New Hero: Action Puzzle-Platformer KR-17 Has a Character “To Fall in Love With” [Exclusive Images]

KR-17 is a 32-bit action puzzle-platformer developed by Wonderfling, who has recently started a Kickstarter campaign for the game. Unlike many indie titles in this genre, Wonderfling is pushing KR-17 as a highly story driven experience that is a “no gimmicks” affair with “a quirky little robot” main character “to fall in love with.”

This is a game about meaningful characters “you can relate to and love,” something lead designer Gregory McKnight tells us  he feels “modern gaming has come away from.”

So who is that quirky little robot? You will play as KR-17, “sent to defend the galaxy from a terrorist rebellion,” and more specifically “to subdue a rogue agent operating out of a military installation on the planet Valiant.”

Head below to check out some gameplay footage, a link to the free demo and  our exclusive interview for new details on KR-17. You can also check out some of the game’s soundtrack below as well. Continue reading “It’s Time For a New Hero: Action Puzzle-Platformer KR-17 Has a Character “To Fall in Love With” [Exclusive Images]” »

Three Gaming Blogs Run By Ladies to Keep An Eye Out For!

The thing I enjoy most about networking with other female gamers are that you learn some interesting things about them. Moreover, with all of the male-run gaming information sites, it’s always a great breath of fresh air to see one or two that’s entirely run by females, that’s fair, tackles all of the tough issues, and can still give you a great review of your favorite (or not so) favorite video games as well. I will say, that as a girl who is a gamer, it’s hard to find blogs that actually emphasize certain female gaming issues as opposed to making a mockery of it.

Unfortunately, these are the blogs/pages that are often overlooked, and it’s usually because (from what I understand, and have seen firsthand) when a few people hear the words, “Girl gaming blog”, some people have a tendency to believe that at any, given moment, while scrolling through the blog, there will be some feminist rant on how awful all male gamers are, or, perhaps a picture of a half-naked Cloud from Final Fantasy that will pop up out of nowhere.

But I’ve found that more than not, it’s all very untrue (and unfortunately true for some blogs). Continue reading “Three Gaming Blogs Run By Ladies to Keep An Eye Out For!” »

Co-op Fantasy Hack n’ Slash HAMMERWATCH Gets The Greenlight On Steam

Today we are taking a look at an interesting hack n’ slash adventure title called Hammerwatch. It has a very strong focus on its up to 4 player co-op as well as a streamlined and simplistic combat system.

Recently Greenlit on Steam the development team described the game to us as a “fast paced pixel art hack and slash game which should be simple to pick up but challenging to play and has a strong cooperative experience.”

You can check out some of the latest gameplay footage and our exclusive interview with developer Hipshot along with a link to the free open beta so you can try the game for yourself.

Continue reading “Co-op Fantasy Hack n’ Slash HAMMERWATCH Gets The Greenlight On Steam” »

There Can Never Be A Citizen Kane Of Video Games (Don’t Worry, That’s A Good Thing!)

No, no, no, hold your horses, this isn’t saying games will never be as good as films, or that Citizen Kane is the almighty work of art or something, this is something a bit more important. This is about history, and understanding what a word like “Citizen Kane” means, and what a discussion about Orson Welles’ legendary film actually means for the gaming world.

In 20th/21st century art terms, “Citizen Kane” is shorthand for “greatest film of all time.” The shorthand implication is that a work created in 1941 is somehow the greatest cinematic work, embodying everything the form has to offer and unstoppable by any following work of art.  Continue reading “There Can Never Be A Citizen Kane Of Video Games (Don’t Worry, That’s A Good Thing!)” »

Armed With Nothing But a Flashlight, Pistol, and Cassette Tapes, RECEIVER Immerses You Unique Cyberpunk World

Originally created for the 7-day FPS challenge and recently Greenlit on Steam, Receiver is much more than your average first person shooter. Developed by Wolfire Games, the experience takes an extremely unique and somewhat realistic approach to gun handling mechanics along with its minimalistic aesthetic and intense difficulty.

Receiver is a rogue-like experience where players are armed with only a gun, a flashlight and a cassette player. The player will have to learn how to reload and maintain their weapon with an intense amount of detail and precision.

Scroll down to check out our exclusive interview with Receiver programmer David Rosen along with gameplay footage from the latest content update and a developer overview video of the game’s mechanics.

Continue reading “Armed With Nothing But a Flashlight, Pistol, and Cassette Tapes, RECEIVER Immerses You Unique Cyberpunk World” »

Stop Your Crusade, Internet — This Isn’t Justice, It’s an Inquisition

Fair warning, this story is going to get complicated and messy. And due to the dark nature of the inciting incident, I’m putting a trigger warning at the top of the article for discussion of suicide and sexual harassment. There are a lot of tough issues at the heart of this tragedy, and to be honest, I’m not going to come out of this thing with an answer to any of the problems I’m about to show you.

But dammit internet. We’ve got to talk about this stuff. Continue reading “Stop Your Crusade, Internet — This Isn’t Justice, It’s an Inquisition” »

Spider-Man 2 Swing Mechanic Inventor Jamie Fristrom Talks: ENERGY HOOK

Jamie Fristrom is the inventor and creator of the popular swing mechanics as the technical director and designer on Spider-Man 2. He has recently come to Kickstarter with a new title that implements this swing mechanic in a brand new IP. This time around we won’t be swinging around NYC as a super hero, stopping crime but rather as Delilah in a brand new take on the extreme sports genre.

Energy Hook is a new fresh take on a lot of the mechanics and gameplay Jamie has been developing for other major franchises over the years. Harkening back to his work on the Tony Hawk series, Fristrom tells us that the game “combines Spider-Man-like grappling-and-swinging-and-wall-running goodness with Tony-Hawk-like extreme sports trick-doing action.”

Scroll down to check out our exclusive interview with Jamie Fristrom, some prototype gameplay footage and the game’s cell shaded art-style in some early-development screenshots.

Continue reading “Spider-Man 2 Swing Mechanic Inventor Jamie Fristrom Talks: ENERGY HOOK” »

Gamers Weigh In On: The Top 10 Video Game Mothers

In honor of Mother’s Day, I asked readers to send in their favorite MILFS in the video gaming world. Because let’s face it; whether they gave birth to the heroes and heroines we love and admire, helped raise them, or they are in battle themselves, kicking ass and taking names, these ladies put the “bad” in “Bad Mamajama”.

So, here they are, in no specific order, your favorite MILFS of the video game world:

Jun Kazama (Supposedly the character “Unknown”): Tekken 2

Mother of: Jin Kazama

“Let’s hear it for the woman who gave birth to the legendary Akuma Jin, lived to tell about it, and is still the best looking woman in the entire series, and if the rumors are true, then she’s apparently TTT-2’s final boss: Unknown. They need to bring her back ASAP.”—Camden

Lulu: Final Fantasy X/X-2.

Lulu (Right), Pictured with Yuna (Bottom left)

Mother of: Vidina

“I was seriously shocked when I played Final Fantasy X-2 and learned Lulu was pregnant. I mean I think it’s pretty safe to say that it was a HUGE shock to everyone that even she married Wakka, but seriously! COME ON! Opposites attract much? Anyway, Lulu is my favorite video game mom because she’s not only a badass, but she managed to whip Wakka into shape (and apparently, not magically show during her pregnancy). She has always been my favorite favorite Final Fantasy vixen and moreso now that she’s a mom.”–Jessie, 26

Maya (AKA: Crimson Viper):  Street Fighter

Mother Of: Lauren

“I think it came as a huge surprise to we, the undisputed champions of Street Fighters, to discover that Crimson Viper of all people, has a daughter named Lauren. Seriously, Viper herself is a fearsome, money-grubbing diva-esque CIA badass that looks like a pretty hot fetish/worst nightmare rendition of your boss. So she’s like the last person I ever expected to have a kid, but sure enough…

Then you gotta realize this: Some man, somewhere on this planet, actually survived (or not) some incredibly violent sex with this woman. I don’t know if Lauren’s dad is a stay at home father or possibly lying in that same bed where Viper left him after breaking his pelvic bones. Either way, you can’t deny that with her mom being like the top hottest/smartest MILF in the video game world, her daughter is gonna be equally awesome. Or just as batshit crazy.”—Leandra

Sophitia: Soul Calibur series.

Mother Of: Pyrrha (Daughter), and Patroklos (Son)–Not pictured

“Sophitia wins hands down for being the HOTTEST video game milf every created. I don’t play Soul Calibur for the plot but, if I did, it would be mainly because Sophitia is built like a brick house. AND manages to keep her awesome body after she has two kids and still manages to travel all over the world defeating Soul Edge? One of these days, gonna marry a woman like her. Finally: here are some big breasts that actually make sense. Sorta.“–Tyler

Ayame: Dead Or Alive

Mother Of: Kasumi, Ayane, and Hayate

“Ayame is my favorite video game mom because even though she was raped by Raidou (that’s how Ayane was born and Raidou is also her husband’s brother), she still manages to love her daughter, but in her own special way. I’m pretty sure there are some kind of abortion ninjutsus she could have used, but in the end, Ayame decided to give birth to Ayane who is also named very closely after her. Plus she also gave birth to Kasumi who is like the FACE of Dead Or Alive. And Hayate. Who, you know, is just eyecandy.”–Monica

Eva: Metal Gear Solid

(Foster) Mother Of: Solid Snake and Liquid Snake.

“Can we just take a minute to talk about the ULTIMATE Bond girl, Eva? I mean what else do you need to know? She raised Solid Snake and Liquid Snake.”—Richard

Tifa: Final Fantasy: Advent Children

(Foster) Mother Of: A lot of kids—and not one of em belongs to Cloud (unfortunately).

“When A.C first came out, and I saw all these kids running around, I literally paused and freeze-framed every, single, last scene featuring those brats and I was extremely disappointed to know that even after Tifa and Cloud had been shacked up for however many years after the events of Final Fantasy 7, didn’t get married or even have some spontaneous sex that would result in one of those kids.

Getting real tired of your emotional shit, Cloud.

Still, Tifa has a gift; the ability to nurture all of these children, and put up with a big manchild like Cloud makes her one of my favorite video game MILFS.”—Sam

Queen Sindel: Mortal Kombat

Mother Of: Princess Kitana

“Sindel’s been giving me boners since 1995. She looks scary as all hell, but she’s actually supposed to be a very kind character. Not only is she strong, but she gave is Kitana. Her awesome looks and power are clearly some damn good genetics.”—Raphael 

Who are your favorite video game mothers/MILFS? Which ones would you like to add to the list?

“A Virtually Limitless Amount of Insane Guns to Collect!” in The Shooter RPG: MOON RIFT

Moon Rift is a 2.5D platformer shooter with a “virtually limitless amount of insane guns to collect!” The game is currently in development by sole creator Sam Hutcher and will be releasing for Android and iOS later this year, followed by PC, Linux, OUYA and Mac releases.

Think a 2.5D Borderlands-like experience with random levels and procedurally generated enemies. “I wanted to focus a little more on the old school RPG feel, Hutcher tells us. “I would have to say game draws a lot of inspiration from games like Zelda or the old Final Fantasies, as well as the shoot em up games like Borderlands.”

Continue reading ““A Virtually Limitless Amount of Insane Guns to Collect!” in The Shooter RPG: MOON RIFT” »

Everybody Calm Down, Kickstarter Is Fine

Seriously guys, it’s okay. Everything’s gonna be fine.

There’s an argument I’ve had with several people over the last few days, among them my compatriot Paul Nyhart, who wrote this article proclaiming Kickstarter is headed for the dead zone. The argument is that bigger institutions are joining the crowdfunding craze and this (somehow) damages the movement. Seriously? Continue reading “Everybody Calm Down, Kickstarter Is Fine” »