Randy Nelson
Articles by Randy Nelson
Microsoft signs skeleton-filled strategy title Skulls of the Shogun for XBLA
Microsoft has snapped up exclusive publishing rights to the first game from Haunted Temple Studios, the dev established by former EA Los Angeles staffers Jake Kazdal, Ben Vance and Borut Pfeifer. Under the agreement, the trio's original strategy offering, Skulls of the Shogun (which we first previewed here), will debut on Xbox Live Arcade under the Microsoft Game Studios banner. Haunted Temple's Kazdal, who worked on EA and Steven Spielburg's canned Project LMNO with his two studio-mates, told Gamasutra that Microsoft "totally got" Skulls of the Shogun and "have been fully behind it" since signing it. "The support we're getting out of them has been seriously as much as I could ever ask for," he added. The game, which we've made no bones about loving so far, is due out this fall.
SOTA's new Darksiders, Darkstalkers and Okamiden toys go to Comic-Con
Toymaker SOTA has announced that it's prepping a trio of exclusive, licensed video game-based items for this year's San Diego Comic-Con International, which runs July 21-24. The biggie (and by that we mean nearly a foot tall) is a statue ($160) of Morrigan and Lilith from the gothic fighter Darkstalkers, which depicts the two as they "fall, together, in a loose embrace, unaware of how much longer they have together" and "freezes in time a moment that Morrigan and Lilith wish to last forever." SOTA's words, not ours. Smaller and fluffier, a keychain-sized Okamiden plush will be included as part of a "San Diego Comic-Con Impulse Pak" ($40) that features three of SOTA's non-game-related Bobble Budds. Finally, there's our favorite of the bunch: Darksiders' War astride his horse, Ruin, in an LED-lit statue (above, $250) that looks as hot as the flames erupting from the Apocalypse rider's steed. All three items will be available at the show and through SOTA's online store. You can view more pictures and details at the source link.
Fieldrunners HD storms Android June 30, $.99 for first 24 hours
Just in time for the Fourth of July fireworks, Subatomic Studios is bringing its hit iOS tower defense title Fieldrunners to Android -- and it'll be a buck on day one. The Cambridge, Mass. based developer has announced that the $2.99 price for its game will be cut to $.99 on Thursday, June 30, which is when it arrives on the Android Market. From July 1 on, it's full price. (Note: The press release, which says the game is free during the first 24 hours, is incorrect.) As its title suggests, Fieldrunners HD has undergone a visual upgrade for Android devices, with all its art assets getting a fresh coat of 950x540 resolution paint. Other than that, the game looks to be a facsimile of its previous iterations on iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad -- all of which were great. You don't need to be a West Point graduate to realize that grabbing this gem on day one is the winning strategy.
Amazon's vorpal sword cuts $20 off Alice: Madness Returns
As if it'd taken a swig from a bottle labeled "Drink Me," the price tag on Alice: Madness Returns has diminished in size at Amazon. This week only, the retailer is offering American McGee's second excursion into Wonderland for $20 off, making it $40 on PS3 and 360 and $30 on PC. The deal is available only "while supplies last," and joins similar week-long discounts on Brink and The Witcher 2 -- which is also a fantasy game, but features far fewer flying pig snouts.
Capcom's store slashes PSP game prices for limited time
Remember the PSP? With all of the PS Vita news lately, we wouldn't blame you if Sony's current handheld had dropped off your radar. Well, Capcom's giving PSP owners a reason to charge up their systems again, dropping the prices on a portion of its UMD-based titles (little discs, seriously!) while supplies last. Starting at $10 and maxing out at $20, the list includes: Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, Power Stone Collection, Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max and seven more. Capcom says the quantities of some titles are "extremely limited," so hit that source link fast if you're at all interested in this deal. You'll find the full list with prices after the jump.
Cut the Rope debuts on Android, free for one week
ZeptoLab has a candy-filled treat for owners of Android devices: its hit puzzler, Cut the Rope, has launched for the mobile platform and will be available free of charge for one week. The game is debuting exclusively on the GetJar app store but, according to its developer, will be made available through the Android Market and other branded e-storefronts eventually. Cut the Rope for Android will be ad supported during this initial period, so those who eventually pay for it will be getting something extra -- or, rather, something less, in terms of advertising.
PSA: PS3 firmware 3.66 incoming
We hope you're ready for improved system stability "during use of PS3 format software and network services," because that's what the just-announced PS3 firmware 3.66 is bringing -- and evidently nothing else of note -- likely any time now. PSN director Eric Lempel writes on the PlayStation Blog that this is a "minor update," though based on Sony's servers and your connection speed, it could be a less-than-minor interruption in your ability to play online.
Report: Sonic Generations demo hitting PSN, XBLM on June 23
A report by Andriasang claims that Sega has chosen tomorrow, June 23 to launch the demo for its remastered retro remix, Sonic Generations. Although it doesn't cite a source for the information, the site says that the demo will be available for PS3 and Xbox 360, the latter requiring an Xbox Live Gold account to download. Additionally, the one-level trial game will evidently expire on July 12, vanishing from both e-stores and disabling itself if it's been downloaded. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has listed the demo as part of tomorrow's European PlayStation Store update, lending a lot of credence to this news, although a representative for Sega America couldn't comment when asked by Joystiq if the demo is planned to hit the US tomorrow, too. It's entirely likely -- though not confirmed -- that the demo's release is being prepared as a surprise to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Sonic franchise, which is, conveniently, June 23. PS3 owners in Japan would need another surprise tomorrow in order to play the demo, Andriasang points out -- that country's PSN is still offline, with no indication it will be brought back into service within the next 24 hours. Update: The Sonic Generations demo is now available on Xbox Live -- for the next 20 days.
PlayStation Vita's rear touch panel almost got bumped
It seems as if Sony wasn't quite feeling the PlayStation Vita's rear touch panel at first. Speaking to Famitsu (as translated by Andriasang), Sony's president of worldwide studios, Shuhei Yoshida, revealed that the portable's most groundbreaking feature was nearly stricken from the final design due to cost concerns. Specifically, Sony wasn't sure that the effect it would have on gameplay was worth its part of the sticker price. That changed, though, after people actually got their hands on it; it went from questionable to being a must-have feature. Yoshida said in the same interview that while the touch panel is definitely a keeper, some small elements of the Vita's design are still subject to change. We're guessing he means minor cosmetic tweaks, since the hardware we saw at E3 seemed pretty much final. Whatever gets altered, it'd better not involve removing the ultra-spiffy PlayStation icon pattern on the touch panel.
Fallout: New Vegas 'Old World Blues' DLC drops July 19
Bethesda is going to give Fallout: New Vegas fans a case of the blues next month. "Old World Blues," the third DLC pack for the game -- joining Dead Money and Honest Hearts -- arrives for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on July 19. This new pack sees players trapped as subjects of a twisted science experiment. Also, as the screenshot above confirms, there will be robotic radscorpions. Yeah. The days leading up to the DLC's release will see a title update issued for the game across all platforms that promises to improve stability in "major areas," along with performance increases. Bethesda says to expect a trailer for Old World Blues soon.%Gallery-126926%
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier beta deploys January 2012
Aspiring future soldiers will get their first taste of playing as "F-16s on legs" in Ubisoft's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier when the game's beta rolls out in January. " We know you have been asking about the beta," the publisher wrote in a tweet Monday, before saying, " We're excited to announce that the MP beta will be launching in January 2012." Ubisoft had previously said a beta would launch this summer, but any hope of that happening was pretty much dashed when the game itself was delayed into 2012 aka the future.
Binary Domain trailer terminates after the rise of the machines
We'll admit that the premise of Sega's new cover-based shooter Binary Domain by Yakuza boss Toshihiro Nagoshi -- man versus machine -- isn't the most immediately compelling, but this new trailer makes its nuances sound pretty cool. That is if you can get past the absolutely bored-sounding narrator.
Trenched review: Let's mech love
I wouldn't blame you if your reaction to the announcement of Trenched, Double Fine's downloadable tower defense title, was entirely non-plussed and even a bit disappointed. "Wow, how original." After all, this sub-genre of strategy games is approaching -- or has already reached! -- full saturation. I would blame you, though, if you didn't give it a chance, because it's honestly a desperately needed breath of fresh air in the genre. It's not just that Double Fine's trademark wit and humor is evident in every facet of the game's design; Trenched a seriously polished and surprisingly deep game, too.%Gallery-118276%
Report: Kinect for Windows SDK beta launching tomorrow
Spring may have already sprung, but Microsoft appears ready to finally deliver its promised Kinect for Windows SDK to coincide with a live web event tomorrow, Thursday June 15. According to a report by WinRumors, the release is being timed along with a special Microsoft "Channel 9" streaming presentation on the Microsoft Developers Network site. Microsoft Spain president María Garaña reportedly slipped the news during her presentation at the Red Innova conference in Madrid today. The MSDN site is currently hosting a countdown to tomorrow's announcement, which is when we'll presumably learn the full details of the beta.
PSA: Crysis 2 'Decimation Pack' DLC out now for Xbox 360, PC
It's an ongoing Crysis -- EA and Crytek have launched the second DLC expansion for Crysis 2, dubbed the Decimation Pack, for Xbox 360 and PC. Available right now via the Xbox Live Marketplace and as an in-game purchase for PC, the 800 MSP ($10) add-on content brings five new maps and two new weapons to the Crysis sequel's multiplayer mode. The added maps are: 5th Avenue, Apartments, Chasm, Plaza and Prism. Players' arsenals have been expanded with the long-range FY71 assault rifle and smoke grenades. This is the second multiplayer DLC for the game, which received the Retaliation Pack -- adding four new maps -- last month. Look for the the Decimation Pack to arrive on PS3 June 28. See the new maps and weapons in action after the break.
Steam: Darkspore 40% off for Midweek Madness
Don't pay more for 'spore -- at least that's Steam's motto of the day, as it puts the Maxis developer action-RPG hybrid Darkspore on sale for 40 percent off its normal asking price. From now through 4PM PST / 7PM EST on Thursday, June 16, the PC-only title is going for $30, down 20 bucks from the MSRP. Steam is also offering an eight-pack of the multiplayer-enabled game for $90, normally $150. Our review said that Darkspore was all right, but had "a lot of room for improvement." Now at least one way to improve it has been addressed: make it cheaper.
Duke Nukem Forever review: Fail to the King, Baby
The year was 1997, and I'd just begun writing about video games professionally. Like most of my fellow gamers, I was pretty excited when 3D Realms announced that it was working on a sequel to Duke Nukem 3D, the runaway PC hit that it had released just a year before. At my first E3, a year later, I saw the game running for the first time. Now, just as my 14th E3 has come and gone, I'm sitting at my computer having finally played the finished Duke Nukem Forever. Yet it feels like I'm still in 1998. That's because DNF is, for better but mostly worse, perpetually stuck in the late 1990s. For all the delaying, the stalling, the drama surrounding the game, it's tough to say if any part of it has actually benefitted from the more than a decade of development. What has, at long last, been committed to a disc and placed into a box might have been alright a dozen years ago, but by today's standards it simply doesn't hold up.%Gallery-126036%
The mother of all PlayStation Vita trailer posts
If you're looking for footage of PlayStation Vita games, we can't think of anything more handy than the post you're reading right now. That's because it contains absolutely every scrap of video we've managed to assemble related to Sony's fantastically impressive new handheld. It's the kind of thing you'll want to bookmark and come back to whenever you need a little encouragement to wait out the months until the system's release. It's not going to be easy. Click past the break to commence the trailer-a-thon.
IGF winner Desktop Dungeons gets a facelift, up for pre-order on PC and Mac
Hailing from South Africa -- notably the home country of Joystiq editor Ludwig Kietzmann -- QCF Design is building on the momentum it earned at this year's IGF awards with its bite-sized roguelike Desktop Dungeons by ... building on Desktop Dungeons. The game, which took home Excellence in Design honors, will be getting a major makeover for its full release on PC and Mac that "looks better, sounds better and is generally just more awesome," according to its developer. In addition to general gameplay and balance fixes, the release -- the game's currently playable in a free alpha version -- will evidently boast an entirely new inventory system with a focus on character class progression and converting weapons when they're worn out. That and "so. much. content." Pre-orders are open through QCF's site for the standard ($10) and special editions ($20) of the game, both of which offer access to its upcoming closed beta. The latter includes a "commemorative building," extra quests and an addition character class. No longer on offer: a $75 "exclusive edition" that gets its purchasers referenced in-game and their names in the credits.
Bodycount squeezes off six shots, demo on the way
Codemasters hopes to fill your daily requirement for explosions with these half-dozen new shots from Bodycount. Development on the new FPS, designed by Black creator Stuart Black, continues apace despite his departure from the project and Codies is confident enough in the work so far that a demo is incoming. Game director Andy Wilson tells VideoGamer.com that, "When people play it, they seem to really get on with it, so we want to put it in as many hands as possible." No word yet on a release date for the demo -- the full game is due "this summer" -- but at least we can count on there being one.%Gallery-125027%