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Forget caves, cool kids hang out on Destiny's Loot Stairs
While Destiny's multiple "Loot Caves" lack deeper insight into the game's purpose, they offer a bunch of sweet gear. But who needs caves when you can hang out on steps? Ministry of Geeks guided players through a new loot-producing area in the early parts of the game in a new video, the Loot Stairs.
Rejoice: Loot Cave 2.0 surfaces in Destiny
Decided to blow up our Loot Cave, Bungie? Our precious, treasure-dumping respawn point in Destiny? Fine then, we'll find another one. In fact, PS4 Trophies did just that in a new video, detailing a new legendary farm point in the game's rocket yard area. Get it while it's hot, people!
Bungie closes Destiny's 'Loot Cave,' discusses future fixes
Well that was fun while it lasted. The infamous "Loot Cave" that allowed Destiny players to collectively shoot into the darkness and reap massive rewards has been fixed by Bungie. "The Hive of the holy 'Treasure Cave' have realized the futility of their endless assault on Skywatch and have retired to lick their wounds and plan their next attack," the developer wrote in its latest update notes. Bungie also issued notes on some of Destiny's other issues that it plans to address in the future, in which it said that "shooting at a black hole for hours on end isn't our dream for how Destiny is played." Aside from addressing the Loot Cave exploit, Bungie will "increase engram drops from completing activities" and allow players to opt-in to voice chat during online matchmaking sessions. The developer also plans to increase damage dealt by players and reduce the impact from bosses during Strike missions as well as issue a number of balance changes to impact the effectiveness of weapons at different ranges. [Image: Activision]
Diablo III previews the Vault
There's nothing worse in Diablo III than seeing a treasure goblin waltz up and snatch a valuable item away from you whilst you're dealing with a pack of monsters. It's endlessly satisfying to catch the little monster and take it down. But what if you could head back to the goblins' base and start taking stuff from them for a change? That's the idea behind the Vault, a new area being added to Diablo III with patch 2.1. Whenever you take down a treasure goblin in 2.1, there's a chance that a portal to the Vault will spawn. Inside the Vault there's a ton of items pilfered by the treasure goblins, as you'd expect. There's also the Baroness Greed, who doesn't take kindly to having her space invaded and her pilfered goods re-pilfered by someone else. Still, it turns the game on its head; instead of being annoyed when a treasure goblin pinches your loot, now you'll have a chance to get something even better.
Ikaruga creator reveals new PS4 shooter, 'Ubusana'
Though Hiroshi Iuchi left developer Treasure for M2, the Ikaruga creator continues his efforts to craft elegantly difficult shooters, namely the upcoming Ubusana. At the urging of M2 president Naoki Horii, Iuchi recently announced Ubusana on his personal blog. Scant details are available on the game, though, thanks to a Siliconera translation, we can tell you that it's going to be a shooter that will debut as a PlayStation 4 downloadable game. It's possible that Ubusana may come to other platforms, though Iuchi is currently focused solely on the development of the PS4 game. According to Iuchi, the team at M2 is working to polish Ubusana's core systems, though he cautions fans that it's going to be a while before the game is available. As with most niche Japanese games, there's no guarantee that Ubusana will find its way to Western shores, though Iuchi's legendary pedigree among shooter fans should help it find a publisher outside of Japan. [Image: Treasure]
Arr Jim lad: Nokia's Treasure Tags keep your phone and wallet within 50 paces of each other
Phone, wallet, wooden leg. That's the mental, if not physical, pat down today's urban pirate typically goes through as they leave the house. Nokia's Treasure Tag hopes to remove some of that anxiety. The "tag" part attaches to your "treasure" and connects to your phone over Bluetooth (with NFC pairing). Should your gold and your phone be parted -- say, as you leave one on your desk as you dash out for lunch -- both pieces of hardware alert you with an alarm. The sonic part also helps you find the forgotten item, should you not remember where you left it. There's also a companion app that will locate your lost bounty on a map. The extra forgetful can pair unto four tags with one phone, and disable/enable alerts for each at will, and with battery life claimed to be around six months, you're good for a long while. It comes in Nokia's four favorite/regular hues, and costs $30 a pop. It's not restricted to Windows Phone, either, it seems, as Nokia states there will be support for third-party iOS and Android apps. What if you're prone to forgetting you keys and phone together? Then you probably don't deserve nice things in the first place, swashbuckler.
Fail at two-player Ikaruga with one controller, out now on Steam
Long-revered shoot-em-up Ikaruga is available now on Windows PC for the first time, after Treasure brought it to Steam this week. The newly tweaked PC version is based on the 2008 Xbox Live Arcade port, so Xbox 360 controller support and screen rotating between vertical and horizontal play are included. The fee for entry to Treasure's bullet hell is $10 in North America, and £7/9 euros across the ocean. The arcade classic, which debuted back in 2001, is centered around its polarity-shifting mechanic. Players use light and dark weapons to take down ships of the opposite color, but they can also absorb same-colored bullets to power homing lasers. Ikaruga is also famed for its difficulty, and as if to drive that home, the Steam version features a new Double Play mode that tasks you with beating the two-player game with just one controller. Good luck with that. [Image: Treasure]
Ikaruga weaves its way onto Steam next week
Ikaruga, one of the most acclaimed shoot-em-ups out there, hits Steam next week in a newly tweaked re-release. After blasting through Greenlight, Treasure's polarity-shifting classic makes its Windows PC debut on February 18 - still no news on the price, though. Ikaruga debuted in arcades at the turn of the millennium, before scrolling onto Dreamcast and GameCube a few years later. It then came to Xbox 360 in 2008, and the Steam version is based on that re-release. No surprises, then, to see Xbox 360 controller support reprized along with screen rotating, allowing you to play the game either horizontally or vertically. The Steam version does have a few tricks of its own, though, including a Double Play mode that lets you control the two-player game with just one controller, if you fancy yourself as some kind of wizard. [Image: Treasure]
Ikaruga on Steam offers screen rotation, two ships on one controller
Ikaruga, the dual-tone GameCube shmup from Japanese developer Treasure, is hitting Steam with a few tweaks and tune-ups, including Double Play Mode and game screen rotation. Double Play Mode allows the player to control two ships with one gamepad, which sounds absolutely bananas. Screen rotation puts the game on a horizontal axis, like a side-scrolling shooter. Ikaruga on Steam will use the Steam Cloud, achievements and leaderboards, and supports screen resolutions up to 1920x1080 and 1920x1200. Ikaruga made it through Steam Greenlight last year and it's now under final debugging. "Won't be long before you can play it," Treasure says on its Steam page. [Image: Treasure]
Treasure considering an original game for Steam
Following up on its successful Steam Greenlight campaign for Ikaruga, Treasure is considering developing a new original game for PC. Treasure is a Japanese development studio lauded for its intense action games, such as Gunstar Heroes, Mischief Makers and Bangai-O. "Ikaruga is the first one, and we don't intend on stopping there," Treasure president Masato Maegawa told Famitsu about the studio's plans for Steam. "There are some players who say 'How about Radiant Silvergun?' but we also don't intend to only do ports. We're thinking of making a new original title for the platform, Steam." Maegawa added that Treasure's current business plan is to focus on PC and work on ports it can release on other platforms later. "For a small company like us, it's almost impossible to release the same title on all hardware, and on the same day," Maegawa concluded. Treasure's last game was monster beat-em-up Gaist Crusher on the 3DS, published by Capcom in Japan last December.
Ikaruga dances between light and dark on Steam Greenlight
Ikaruga, the iconic two-tone shmup from Japanese development studio Treasure, is looking for votes on Steam Greenlight right now. This proposed PC port is based on the latest version of the game, the Xbox Live Arcade remaster, with Xbox 360 controller support, local two-player co-op and compatibility with vertical screen set-ups. The gameplay of Ikaruga is that of a frenetic shoot-em-up experience married to a dual-color mechanic. Players, switching between two different polarities, must use light or dark weapons to destroy ships employing the opposite polarity, and may absorb similarly-colored bullets to power their special homing laser weapon. Treasure first launched Ikaruga in Japanese arcades in late 2001 before porting it to the Dreamcast there in late 2002. A GameCube port made its way outside of Japan to North America and Europe in 2003, preceding the Xbox Live Arcade version that launched years later in 2008. The most recent installment launched on Android in January of this year.
Capcom collaborating with Treasure on Gaist Crusher
Capcom's 3D, action-oriented game connected to its cross-media Gaist Crusher efforts will be a collaboration with Sin and Punishment 2 developer Treasure, their website revealed today, as translated by Siliconera. Gaist Crusher is scheduled for release on the 3DS in Japan this winter. Gaist Crusher's futuristic setting follows the world's discovery of Gaimetals, a type of high-energy metal. Gaimetal-plated monsters called Gaists appear shortly after the resource's discovery and promptly do their best to destroy all of mankind. In retaliation, the world's leading scientists launch the "Gaist Crusher Garrison," a program that directs a four-pack of Saturday morning cartoon heroes through their efforts to save the world. Gaist Crusher will include both co-operative and competitive multiplayer modes. A real-world Gai Metal replica can also be placed upon the 3DS to grant rare and exclusive items. The game's first trailer shows footage of each protagonist in battle and offers a glimpse of Gaist Gear's anime.
Treasure working on 3DS exclusive
Treasure, the renowned developer of Bangai-O, Sin and Punishment, and Gunstar Heroes, is at work on a new action game for 3DS now, CEO Masato Maegawa revealed to UK magazine GamesTM. "We are making a new game on Nintendo 3DS now," he said. "Not multiplatform, but exclusive to 3DS."Maegawa explained that the team is "keen" on working on the 3DS, despite the challenges of working in (both polygonal and stereoscopic) 3D. While you can design the same game in 3D or 2D, Maegawa said, "My preference is 2D. It's hard to preserve the quality of the game when you make it completely in 3D."
Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary shirt is a real treasure, for a limited time
You enter the quiet, overgrown cavern by pushing open the heavy stone door with all your might. Inside, sunlight streams through the broken ceiling, and dust that hasn't been disturbed in hundreds of years lazily floats through the air, shaken up by your entrance. The sunbeams land on the summit of a small set of stairs, where an ornate, red and gold chest sits, teasing and waiting for you to open it. You do. As you crack open the ancient treasury, a small fanfare plays, starting quietly and then opening up into a triumphant series of simple notes, telling you that you have finally done it. The item you pull out of the centuries-old coffer is fine treasure indeed. It's a shirt, adorned with some kind of legendary logo, a heart container tag, and the number "25" on the back. It's available in five sizes, for a special one-time only printing. Order now, before February 20, 2012, to get it sometime this May. You fold the shirt into your leather pack, and move on through the dungeon -- who knows what fearsome beast you might have to use this on, three different times, to defeat it?
The Road to Mordor: Treasure hunting!
It's not been an insignificant week for Lord of the Rings Online, as Turbine rolled out its big holiday patch: Update 5. With it came all manner of goodies, from an instance finder to another book in our epic quest across Middle-earth. Cooks got coffee (have you had a cup of joe yet?), and I reveled in the ability to expand my sorely taxed wardrobe beyond 100 slots. But amidst all of the excitement and analysis of the new features slid in something surprising. The night of the update, Turbine opened up its long-promised treasure hunting mini-event for a sneak peek. I joined the throngs of curious lookie-loos who made a beeline for Ered Luin and some mysterious patches of glowing soil that promised riches galore. Treasure hunting was originally supposed to hit the game much earlier this year, but for reasons unknown, Turbine pushed it back until a later date. Personally, I was psyched that another non-combat event was on its way, so when I saw that there was an actual sneak peek of the event, I cast aside all of the shiny new content of the update to see what this was all about. While I came away with favorable impressions, it was with a slight bitter aftertaste of something not quite palatable. What could it be? Well, you're just going to have to keep reading these here fancy words to find out!
Deja Review: Radiant Silvergun
We're of the firm opinion that your time is too precious, too valuable to be spent reading a full review for a game that was already reviewed many, many years ago. What's the point of applying a score to a game that's old enough to be enrolled in the sixth grade? That's why we invented Deja Review: A quick look at the new features and relative agelessness of remade, revived and re-released games. It may not have garnered the same enthusiastic posthumous cult following as its little brother, but the Sega Saturn was a very good console -- provided you were a very specific type of gamer. Unlike its contemporaries whose processing architectures were designed to excel at 3D graphics (not 3D-glasses 3D, just, you know, polygons), the Saturn's extremely complex and unconventional processor configuration was uniquely suited for 2D, sprite-based games. While the Crash Bandicoots, Crocs, and Super Mario 64s of the period were pioneering the field of depth perception, the Saturn became a safe haven for 2D skill-based games like Radiant Silvergun. Despite the fact that it was never released stateside, Treasure's manic 1998 shooter is thought of as a definitive Saturn classic, which continues to influence contemporary shmups even to this day. Now, through the magic of XBLA, an entirely new generation of gamers are being exposed to the genesis of bullet-hell, and even after 13 years, Radiant Silvergun is still a relevant, infuriating masterpiece.%Gallery-102402%
Guardian Heroes dated on XBLA -- for real this time
We've already reported a Guardian Heroes XBLA release date once, which turned out to have been an error on the part of Microsoft's Major Nelson. Sega announced a new October 12 release date for the updated Saturn brawler today, and we hope it sticks this time. Guardian Heroes will be available on XBLA for 800 Microsoft Points ($10). For those of you who got into Treasure games post-Saturn -- or, gasp, have yet to discover the rewards of the Treasure fanatic lifestyle -- you can get a glimpse of what you've been missing in the above trailer. And that trailer doesn't mention the 12-player online play.
Hidden Treasure: Guardian Heroes out this week on XBLA [update: no it isn't!]
Hey, remember earlier today, when we said you'd have time to get through Radiant Silvergun on XBLA before Guardian Heroes came out? Well, we were mistaken -- it'll be impossible to finish Radiant Silvergun before then. Major Nelson just announced the release date for Guardian Heroes, and it's ... tomorrow. The questionably (and optionally) remastered Saturn brawler shares a release date with Rock of Ages, The Baconing, Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection, and the Ugly Americans game. It's like another Summer of Arcade in one single day. Update: Major Nelson just tweeted that the listing was a mistake, and Guardian Heroes won't actually be out tomorrow.
Radiant Silvergun comes to XBLA on September 14
We hope you didn't just buy a copy of Radiant Silvergun on eBay, because Treasure's XBLA shmup remake is coming to Xbox Live Arcade soon. On September 14, you'll be able to download Radiant Silvergun for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15) like it's no big deal. In addition to the classic vertically-scrolling shooter, the XBLA version includes online 2-player co-op, "Saturn" and "arcade" style game variants, multiple graphical modes, and an optional "Ikaruga" scoring system. And when you get that wrapped up, Guardian Heroes is coming sometime this fall. It's a great time to own the Saturn Xbox 360.
LotRO's Draigoch revealed in his full glory
While we've previously been treated to concept art of Lord of the Rings Online's new 24-man raid boss, we haven't seen how the dragon Draigoch actually looked in game... until now. Today Turbine released three screenshots showcasing its ginormous dragon, and we have to admit: The dude looks intimidating. Glowy eyes? Check. Fire breath? Check. Squatting on a pile of treasure? Check. Horns, claws and leathery wings? Check. Hipster beard? Uh... check! It is surprising to see a dragon with a beard, although it does lend Draigoch an aura of maturity. Well, that and the possibility that he's planning to audition for ZZ Top. Draigoch is one of the last of the great dragons of Middle-earth, and Turbine has said that he will not only talk but lip-sync his dialogue to players. You can check out Draigoch's photo shoot in the gallery below. %Gallery-9579%
