JC Fletcher
Articles by JC Fletcher
Black Ops 2 updated with Arms Race Team Deathmatch and multiplayer fixes
A new update has gone out for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, adding a new Bonus Playlist game mode, a Connection Quality survey "to assess online gameplay connection quality," and a list of multiplayer tweaks. The new mode, Arms Race Team Deathmatch, gives players 150 score per kill, leading to quick Scorestreaks. It's available for a "limited time."The multiplayer tweaks are mostly bug fix type changes – "Fixed an issue reported by the community where players could get infinite ammo for the Death Machine and War Machine" and the like. You can find a full list of tweaks on both PS3 and Xbox after the break.
Stealth Bastard Deluxe infiltrates Mac and Linux, cheap on Steam this week
Curve Studios' Stealth Bastard Deluxe may have been renamed Stealth Inc. - A Clone in the Dark for its upcoming PSN release, but it's still the same Bastard on Mac and Linux, where it launched this week.To celebrate the new platforms for the stealth platformer, Curve has discounted all available versions 50% on Steam. It's now $4.99 with SteamPlay, with the soundtrack and DLC also half off.
Square Enix releasing 'Remaster' soundtracks for SNES Final Fantasy games
Square Enix is dipping into its back catalog to offer remastered versions of its SNES Final Fantasy soundtracks, starting with Final Fantasy 4 on July 3. The Japanese release of the CD will come in a special box with art by character designer Yoshitaka Amano.While the CD soundtrack likely won't see official release in North America, you can purchase it from an importer like CDJapan. And Square Enix is surprisingly good about digitally releasing soundtracks.
Microsoft books LA venue for event on June 10
Microsoft has booked its usual LA haunt, the Galen Center, for an event on June 10. Neowin contacted the venue and discovered the booking, which suggests that Microsoft will hold a pre-E3 press conference the day before the show begins.This isn't a surprise – Microsoft always holds a pre-E3 event at the Galen Center – but the company has yet to announce this year's iteration. This event follows very shortly after the May 21 event at which Microsoft will reveal the next Xbox. Presumably we'll get more detail on that system and new game announcements at the E3 event. Or we'll be tricked into some avant-garde circus performance.
Game and Wario will retail for $39.99
Game & Wario, Nintendo's Wii U collection of GamePad enhanced microgames, will retail for $39.99, an unexpectedly low price for a retail Wii U game, especially one from Nintendo. Retailers posted pre-order pages over the weekend at that price, and we have just obtained confirmation of the $39.99 MSRP from Nintendo.Game & Wario will be released June 23 in North America.
Square Enix lays off staff in Europe
According to a statement given to UK press (including MCV and CVG) by Square Enix, the publisher is instituting an unspecified number of layoffs in Europe. "We do expect changes to the UK office, which will affect personnel," the publisher said. "We will update you when the time is right, but our priority right now is for the people within the business." We've reached out to Square Enix for more information.These cuts follow layoffs in Square Enix's North American division, during which the company warned of cuts coming in Europe and Japan. Square Enix is undergoing massive restructuring, due in part to the fact that its Western console games only sold excellently, and failed to meet the company's stratospheric expectations.
You gotta go fast on the new treadmill-based Sonic arcade game
Sonic Athletics is a new arcade game at Sega's Joypolis park that uses a control scheme that seems obvious, even natural for a Sonic game: running. The giant machine uses eight side-by-side treadmills to compete in 100 meter dash, long jump, and 110 meter hurdles. You won't have to make yourself ill trying to do spin jumps, as that's handled by a button.The ¥500 ($5.11) attraction seems a lot more sensible than Sonic's last attempt at motion controls. Even if playing it results in spending the rest of your day at the Tokyo amusement park covered in sweat.
Quell: Memento brings heritage, block shuffling to Vita, iOS, Android
Quell: Memento, coming to Vita, Android, and iOS, has a long lineage. "You see, the game prototype was originally created on an Amstrad CPC computer, way back in 1993," writes Fallen Tree Games art director Lewis Boadle on the PlayStation Blog. "Having said that, it was very different back then – it was called "Last of the Smileys" and was a lot more 8-bit in style."Since that Amstrad prototype, the Quell series has grown, with two other games on mobile platforms. Memento is a series of 150-plus puzzles set in an abandoned house, in which you slide a raindrop to collect pearls, navigating other obstacles with various idiosyncratic properties. The elements are, in general, recognizable real-world things. "This would mean, we felt, that the player is able to establish the rules of play quickly, because they know that a pearl is valuable, or that a thorn will likely burst a droplet," Boadle says.
Batman: Arkham City is a board game now
Batman: Arkham City Escape is a board game based on the game sequel to the game based on the comics, due in the UK this June (and elsewhere in "Q2") from Cryptozoic Games.In the two-player game, one player controls Batman's villains, using their special abilities to escape from Arkham City with hostages in tow. The other player controls Batman, using his stealth, tools, and impressive glower to prevent their escape. Randomly located gargoyles help him travel around the board, just like in the video game.Start working on your utility-belt style card holster now!
Lego Batman brings the DC Super Heroes to iOS
Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes continues its campaign to occupy every single platform, with the release of an iOS version. That joins the existing PC, Mac, PS3, Vita, 3DS, DS, Wii, Wii U, and Xbox 360 versions in a sort of Justice League of near-identical games.The iOS release costs $4.99 and includes two different control schemes, which means there's a slightly better chance you might find one that's workable, though we're always skeptical of console-to-iOS ports.
Metal Gear Rising's Blade Wolf DLC out in Japan May 9
Metal Gear Rising Revengeance's upcoming DLC stars Blade Wolf, who is sure to be recognized as this year's best chainsaw-tailed robodog character. It's due in Japan on May 9, Konami announced today, which suggests it won't make the April date originally given for the North American release.The preceding Jetstream Sam DLC was met with complaints that it wasn't actually that different from the base game. We're holding out hope that this new pack will be a more varied experience – after all, Blade Wolf is much less similar to Raiden than Sam was, what with the four legs and all.
Get Deoxys for Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 next month
The creepy-looking Pokémon Deoxys will be available in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 starting May 8, through a special character distribution online. If you're still playing the trading card game, it's also being released for that in a new "Plasma Freeze" expansion. Are people still playing the TCG?When Deoxys was first introduced back in 2005, it was revealed as part of a cross-promotion between Pokémon and NASA designed to help teach kids about DNA. Perhaps you didn't realize, when you woke up this morning, that you lived in a world where NASA and Pokémon had collaborated.
Nintendo details its new E3 plans
Nintendo isn't doing the full E3 press conference this year, as revealed last night. In a statement, Nintendo of America explained what its revised plans are, offering details of the two closed events it will host in lieu of a Ravi Drums-enhanced conference."Beyond the news that will be communicated through Nintendo Direct videos in the run up to E3, at the show itself we're hosting two smaller events on Tuesday morning before the LACC opens instead of just our traditional one event," Nintendo said. "A media event and a partner presentation will both occur that morning," which is when the press conference would traditionally occur.The media event will take place at Nintendo's E3 booth before the show, allowing "a small group of media" to play new games. Meanwhile, "at the Nokia theater we'll meet with business partners (retailers, publishers, analysts, etc.) from the NOA territory and discuss our plans for driving the business and providing tailored information that this group finds useful to their operations."Yes, that's right. Nintendo is still renting out the Nokia Theater, and just putting on a smaller show there. That suggests that either this plan was conceived very recently – after the company had already booked the theater – or that Nintendo is going to try to wow its smaller, focused audience with a big show.
Neo Geo X hits $100 at Best Buy
The Neo Geo X Gold console has reached its lowest price yet, with Best Buy putting the handheld (with Neo Geo-shaped dock, full-size joystick, and Ninja Master's cartridge) on sale for $99.99, $100 cheaper than its original price. If you'd like an extra arcade stick, it's also half-price, on sale now for $25.Amazon still offers the set for $129.99 – which will be the MSRP of the standalone Neo Geo X (with no dock) when that launches.
Sony talks up DualShock 4 features
Sony still isn't willing to show more than the controller for the PS4, but it's getting all the mileage it can from that. Here, Sony devs go over each feature of the DualShock 4. Well, mostly the new ones – the share button, the light bar, the speaker. There's not too much discussion of, like, L2.
New Nintendo eShop releases: Rayman Legends Challenges, Mega Man 4
The free Rayman Legends Challenges app launches today on the Wii U eShop. Half demo and half conciliatory gesture, this exclusive app was promised after Ubisoft delayed the Wii U version to prepare a multiplatform release. The full game is due September 3.On 3DS, the collection of NES Mega Man games grows with Mega Man 4. And Color Commando launches on DSiWare, a puzzle-platformer about placing blobs of paint around a level to neutralize same-color monsters.
Nintendo not doing E3 press conference, holding smaller closed events instead
In an investor presentation, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata announced that Nintendo will skip the usual large-scale E3 press conference this year in favor of "a few smaller events that are specifically focused on our software lineup for the U.S. market."One of these events will be for American distributors, with another closed event "for mainly the Western gaming media." Iwata noted that Nintendo is not planning to announce any new hardware at this E3, with showing off software the main focus.While Nintendo is dropping a lot of mainstream press attention with this move, it makes a lot of sense for a company with the recent financial history of Nintendo to skip out on some expensive pageantry. Especially when the company makes E3-level announcements monthly, for a tiny fraction of the cost.
Miiverse now accessible through web browsers
You can't quite draw Mario tableaux on your smartphone to share with your pals yet, but you can load up Miiverse on your computer or smartphone's web browser to look at your friends' stuff. Browser access to the Wii U's adorable social network has launched, in beta.Load up the Miiverse site here and you'll be able to view your Activity Feed, friends list, and notifications, and "Yeah!" others' posts – pretty much everything but make new posts and new accounts.Even though it's now accessible outside the Wii U, you still need to make a Nintendo Network ID on a Wii U in order to use Miiverse.
Steve Jackson's Sorcery conjured onto iOS next month
Steve Jackson's Sorcery is on the way to iOS next month from Inkle, a studio formed by ex-PlayStation designer Jon Ingold and industry veteren Joseph Humfrey, "specializing in interactive storytelling."Steve Jackson's Sorcery is a version of a 1983 Fighting Fantasy gamebook, sort of a Choose Your Own Adventure RPG. The iOS version updates the formula with 3D maps, a touch-based swordfighting system, and graphics.If you ask nicely, you can have some of Steve Jackson's Sorcery in May. He doesn't need all of it.%Gallery-186707%
Animal Crossing: New Leaf has new ways to spend money
The latest "tourism" trailer for Animal Crossing: New Leaf shows potential new mayors some of the shopping options available in the latest game. For the first time, you can actually choose how you'd like your house to be renovated, instead of having Tom Nook demolish your house based on his own assumptions.The result is the same, however: You owe Tom Nook crazy Bells.