JC Fletcher
Articles by JC Fletcher
Angry Birds: Star Wars free through Starbucks
You don't really have to care about Star Wars or Angry Birds in order to try Angry Birds: Star Wars. It's Starbucks' free app of the week, so there's not much investment required on your part.Don't worry, you don't even need to care enough to get up and go to Starbucks. While codes for the game are available on cards in stores, you can also get a free copy of Angry Birds: Star Wars through the Starbucks app.Although a bit of coffee might help with your motivation problem.
Ridge Racer Driftopia is 'free-2-drift' on PS3 and PC
Ridge Racer usually breaks ground by being a launch game on ... pretty much every platform ever. Now it's innovating by adopting a new model, free-to-play, and bringing it to a new level of silly nomenclature by calling it "free-2-drift."Ridge Racer Driftopia, developed by Ridge Racer Unbounded's Bugbear Entertainment, is a racing game in which you can buy cars, "repair kits," and XP packs. Namco previously experimented with a similar business model with Ridge Racer for Vita, which shipped with a small number of cars and courses, and sold the rest as DLC. Of course, that game had a $30 MSRP. So this is progress! It's due out this year, Namco says.
Draw Something becomes a game show in UK
The plans to adapt Draw Something, the app you probably still have on your phone from last year, into a primetime game show don't seem to have amounted to anything in the US, but a UK version is on the way.Channel 4's "Draw It!" pits two teams of one contestant and one celebrity together to ... wait, it's not even called Draw Something? Victory Television made a deal with Zynga for the rights to the app, which is very popular, and then adapt it into a TV game show, and they don't even use the name of the app?Without the name tie-in, this show is literally just Win, Lose, or Draw.
Scribblenauts Unlimited PC for $9 for a limited time
Scribblenauts Unlimited is one of Amazon's "Digital Games Deals of the Week," available for download on PC for $8.99. Strangely, the "week" for this deal started today, so you have through April 17 to pick it up. Just don't get Starbucks for two days and you've properly saved up.If making an infinite universe of objects and then tweaking them isn't enough stuff for you, you can also get ... American Pickers, the hidden object game based on the History Channel show about antique shopping.
New Nintendo eShop releases: Dillon's Rolling Western, Kirby's Adventure
Wii U's excellent Virtual Console promotion continues, with the NES Kirby's Adventure available for 30 cents. If you have a Wii U, of course you should pick that up! Also coming to Wii U soon is Injustice, which will be downloadable from the eShop on April 16, concurrent with its release on other platforms.Also out on April 16: Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers on 3DS. It'll be out digitally and in stores as well. Today, you'll be able to download the Dillon's Rolling Western sequel.
Report: Ace Attorney 5 out July 25 in Japan
Capcom may not be officially ready to announce the release date for Ace Attorney 5, but investigators picked up evidence of a July 25 release in Japan. A page advertising an upcoming Q&A session originally said the game would be available on that date, before Capcom noticed its mistake and updated, according to Siliconera.Capcom hasn't given a timeframe for a western release, intentionally or unintentionally, but the company is planning to localize the 3DS adventure game.
A video character sheet for Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara's fighter
You might have known this from playing the arcade games before – or assumed it from prior knowledge of Dungeons & Dragons ... or any video game. But Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara has a fighter in it. Watch him fight here, and learn more about the class at Capcom-Unity.
WayForward smurfing the Smurfs 2 game for Ubismurf
Yes, there's another CG and live-action Smurfs movie coming out this July, and Ubisoft is publishing the official game adaptation.However, instead of the truly off-putting dance game released for the first movie, Ubisoft has smurfed WayForward into making a 2.5D, co-op platformer for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and Wii U, and an "interactive storytelling book and collection of mini-games" for DS. All versions will march into stores this July.Each playable Smurf has unique special abilities: Papa Smurf can throw potions, Grouchy can stomp, and Vanity can ... pose to become a platform. We don't expect too much from a licensed Smurfs game, but WayForward has a particular talent for licensed games, with Aliens: Infestation and Adventure Time as recent examples.%Gallery-185246%%Gallery-185247%
'Full Indie Summit' brings Vancouver dev industry together
In the absence of GDC Canada (the first, and last, installment took place in 2010), a group of Vancouver developers have decided to throw their own conference. The Full Indie Summit is a collaborative effort by the Full Indie Group and VBlank's Brian Provinciano (no stranger to taking on massive organizational tasks on his own), to create a one-day event with developer talks and plenty of networking opportunities.Presenters include Klei Entertainment's Nels Anderson, 17-BIT's Jake Kazdal, and more, with both Sony and Nintendo in attendance to help developers learn how to get their games onto consoles. Interested Vancouver or Vancouver-adjacent indies can pick up tickets here. The event takes place April 20.
Skylanders Giants toys in Happy Meals this month
Starting this Friday, when you feed your little giants at McDonalds (or find a friend's kid to help you have an excuse to buy a Happy Meal), they'll get some Skylanders Giants toys.Each of the nine Giants toys includes a "play feature" – think "shoots a missile" rather than "connects to the game" – and comes with a $10 coupon for Skylanders Giants, helping Activision clear out the warehouse before the new game hits.The toys will be available through May 2 in the US, with a rollout planned in other countries this year. McDonalds can just package up the meals and ship them around the world! They'll keep.%Gallery-185206%
RPG 'Mystic Chronicles' moves from iOS to PSP this summer
Natsume is localizing the PSP version of Kemco's Mystic Chronicles, a retro-style RPG developed by Kemco. Yes, Kemco's back, and has been quietly releasing RPGs on iOS and Android for a while! In fact, Mystic Chronicles was one of those mobile releases. Siliconera notes that it was called Fantasy Chronicles on iOS, and featured what appears to be a different translation.Mystic Chronicles is a turn-based game in which protagonist Lux and other characters are accompanied by AI "guardian beasts," whose assignments and basic behaviors can be set by the player.The PSP version is due this summer, and we hope for Natsume's sake it'll be downloadable on Vita immediately.%Gallery-185235%
Mega Man's Bass and Treble in figure form this summer
Capcom is celebrating the 25th anniversary of Mega Man in every way it can think of outside of video games. Next up is a US release of Bandai's D-Arts Bass and Treble figures, based on the sorta evil robot and his dog from Mega Man & Bass and Mega Man 8, coming this summer as a two-pack for $42.99.They look pretty cool, for the Mega Man universe "giant-footed anime robots" definition of cool. They join a D-Arts Mega Man/Rush set released in January.
Vivian Clark, Soda Drinker Pro's secret game, Kickstarted
Soda Drinker Pro is a weird game, a first-person, real-time simulation of drinking some soda. Full disclosure: we don't fully get it. And we didn't know that there was a secret passage in the game, leading into a completely different game called Vivian Clark.Snowrunner Games revealed Vivian Clark in a Giant Bomb interview, and has now gone on to Kickstart a full version of it. It's bizarrely surreal where Soda Drinker Pro is bizarrely hyperreal, a game in which you start as a raindrop and then become the next object or creature you touch – "Everything from a raindrop to a turtlefish to microscopic organisms to electricity to a star wearing roller skates," all rendered in hand-drawn art.The Kickstarter project seeks $20,000 to build Vivian Clark out from a game jam prototype into a full game, with 100 additional playable "worlds" (or more depending on funds). If you want a proof of concept, look no further than Soda Drinker Pro, which, we'll remind you once again, exists and is inexplicable. Here's how to find Vivian Clark in there.
Disney's Planes adapted into Wii U, Wii, 3DS, and DS games this August
All of the recent news about Disney Interactive has been related to layoffs, studio closures, and in general, disappointment. Or Disney Infinity, which has appeared to be the exclusive focus of the division all year. But Disney Interactive has a second game in the works. A game based on Disney's Planes, the Disney-produced, formerly straight-to-DVD spinoff of Cars, will be released on Wii U, Wii, 3DS, and DS on August 6, three days before the movie is released."The game will expand beyond the storyline of the Disney's Planes film," Nintendo reveals, "offering players the opportunity to enjoy the thrill of flight as one of the popular characters from the film."
Draw Slasher brings touch-based swordplay to Vita this month
Imagine Fruit Ninja, but instead of using your finger to slash at mangos, bananas, and juicy oranges in the middle of their graceful arcs, you're separating monster heads from monster bodies. And instead of imagining yourself as the agent of all this slashing, you see your ninja avatar on the screen ending the unlives of pirate monkey zombies.You've now got a working model in your head of Draw Slasher, a new Vita game by Polish dev Mass Creation. Based on a mobile series, the latest Vita game has added enemies and locations, "doubling the amount of content compared with the original," producer Artur Gosk told Eurogamer Poland.Draw Slasher is coming out on PSN April 23 in North America, and April 24 in Europe. Check Eurogamer for a video clip.
Level 5 'planning' a PS4 game
Level-5 was listed as one of the third-party developers signed on for PlayStation 4 development. CEO Akihiro Hino told Nikkei (translated by Siliconera) that the company has a specific game in mind for the platform, which is in the "planning" stage now. He indicated that the developer and publisher "may" be able to announce this game in the near future.Hino said that it's important to figure out the PS4's network components when planning a game for it, as well as the usual specs and graphical tech.It's going to be really satisfying when Level-5 is making a PS5 game. Just for the sake of symmetry.
Muramasa Rebirth out June 25, special edition revealed
On June 25 you can put Muramasa: The Demon Blade in and on your Vita. "The Blessing of Amitabha Edition" of Muramasa Rebirth adds a Vita skin and cover by Hori, a pouch for the console, and a framed lithograph of art by designer George Kamitani. Aksys hasn't announced a price for this version yet, but Amazon has it for $60.If you pre-order either the Blessing Edition or the regular old game at either Amazon or GameStop, you'll get an "Abridged Soundtrack" with five songs from the game, composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto.%Gallery-185152%
Naughty Dog had to 'specifically request' female focus testers for The Last of Us
Naughty Dog hired a research firm to focus test The Last of Us, who then didn't bother to involve any women in the testing. "My big surprise during this process is that the research group wasn't planning on focus-testing female gamers," Naughty Dog creative director Neil Druckmann told The Escapist. "It's something we had to specifically request. I hope this is a relic of the past that will soon go away."Though it's tempting to say that's problematic for this particular game, the issue here isn't just that they were commissioned to gather feedback for a game with both male and female leads. The firm was commissioned to gather feedback for a game, which automatically means that its audience is not exclusively male. And focus testing that starts with a warped, unrepresentative group doesn't seem like it would result in useful data.
Capcom senior VP: time to 'slow down' on HD fighting game remakes
"Sadly, I think we've probably run the course of feasible titles here given the dropoff we've seen in sales with each new introduction," Capcom senior VP Christian Svensson said on the Ask Capcom forums, referring to the HD ports and remakes of fighting games, most recently Darkstalkers Resurrection."It seems the novelty of such projects is wearing off even within just the fighting game community based upon the sales data of our last two launches. That said, we have been quite prolific in these areas (despite the assertion above that we haven't) and it's probably time for us to slow down anyway." Recently, the company has focused its porting and remaking resources on a wider variety of projects, like Dungeons & Dragons brawlers and Ducktales Remastered.
Armature Studio worked on an unreleased Mega Man X FPS, 'Maverick Hunter'
Armature Studio, the Austin-based developer formed from Retro Studios talent, was working with Capcom to create a new Mega Man X FPS, Polygon reports. Maverick Hunter would have kept X's weapon stealing ability and the platforming from the side-scrolling games, and added a deeper story and a new look, including armor by Adi Granov, who designed the armor for the Iron Man movie.Capcom canceled the project, like other recent Mega Man games including Mega Man Universe and Mega Man Legends 3, likely coinciding with the departure of series producer Keiji Inafune. Armature prototyped it in early 2010, Polygon's sources said. The site has five videos of the unreleased game, along with several gameplay details.Perhaps Mega Man didn't need this "gritty" reboot treatment, but on the other hand, it would have been a game, which is an increasingly rare thing to happen in that series.