Danny Cowan

PlayStation By Danny Cowan

Transistor, Yakuza 4 heading to PlayStation Plus next month

Sony has revealed next month's PlayStation Plus lineup, announcing that subscribers will receive free downloadable copies of Transistor, Yakuza 4, and more starting next week. Featured PlayStation 4 freebies for next month include Supergiant Games' Bastion follow-up Transistor and Alien Trap Games' side-scrolling action game Apotheon, while PlayStation 3 owners can expect to see Sega's open-world crime drama Yakuza 4 and Eidos Montreal's first-person stealth game Thief. The PlayStation Vita will host Jaywalkers Interactive's Kick & Fennick, and Cellar Door Games' roguelike platformer Rogue Legacy will be freely downloadable across the PlayStation 4, PS3, and Vita. All featured games will be available as free downloads for PlayStation Plus subscribers after the PlayStation Store updates on February 3. [Image: Sony]

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Gaming By Danny Cowan

Reptile gets the go-ahead for Mortal Kombat X

Who's next? Mortal Kombat series veteran Reptile will return in the upcoming multiplatform sequel Mortal Kombat X, developer NetherRealm Studios confirmed with IGN this week. After making his debut as a hidden character in the original Mortal Kombat, Reptile went on to appear in many subsequent series entries, boasting a moveset that revolves around his ability to spit acid and draw in his opponents with magnetic projectiles. Hopefully, you won't need to trigger a secret match-up to see him this time around. Mortal Kombat X will launch for the PlayStation 4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC platforms on April 14. [Image: Midway]

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Gaming By Danny Cowan

North American Tetris player achieves Grand Master rank

Tetris wizard and Twitch streamer KevinDDR has reached the notoriously difficult-to-achieve Grand Master ranking in Arika's Tetris: The Grand Master 3, becoming the first player in North America to receive the honor. An archive of the event as it happened is available here. To be considered for the Grand Master Promotional Exam, players must achieve a "GM"-quality rank during the majority of their last several Master mode playthroughs. GM rank demands that players fulfill many difficult requirements and reach the game's maximum drop speed level by clearing several dozen lines in under seven minutes. During the Promotional Exam, a Grand Master in training must complete one final challenge: playing a minute's worth of Tetris atop a credit scroll with pieces that turn invisible when dropped. Grand Master rank has previously been achieved by only five players in Japan, and KevinDDR is the first Tetris devotee in the United States to join the elite. His skills were showcased during the Awesome Games Done Quick 2015 charity marathon earlier this year.

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Nintendo

Nintendo By Danny Cowan

Smash Bros. creator Sakurai also has trouble tracking down amiibo

If you've been unsuccessful in finding an amiibo of your favorite Super Smash Bros. character, you're not alone. Series creator Masahiro Sakurai recently vented similar frustrations on Twitter, noting that he went home empty-handed when he hit up local retailers in Japan in the hopes of tracking down Meta Knight, Sheik, Lucario, and Rosalina & Luma. Nintendo of America announced last year that it would phase out many amiibo after an initial print run, leading to shortages and price hikes on secondary markets like eBay and Amazon. The Lucario figure also remains elusive in the weeks leading up to its release in North America, with exclusive distributor Toys R Us recently raising confusion over whether customer pre-orders are still valid. First-wave amiibo figures Wii Fit Trainer, Villager, and Marth have not yet seen a second print run in North America, leading Nintendo fans to import cheaper equivalent figures from Japan. Amazon additionally sold out of its initial allotment of Sonic the Hedgehog figurines after opening pre-orders last week, hinting at another impending post-launch shortage.

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Gaming By Danny Cowan

3D After Burner 2: M2's quest for port perfection

"Arcade-perfect" is a term that was bandied about in the '80s and '90s as developers struggled to port state-of-the-art arcade games to significantly less powerful console hardware. Compromises were made, features were removed, and many ports that were billed as "arcade-perfect" still needed to be scaled back quite a bit compared to their cabinet counterparts. These days, consoles boast enough horsepower to emulate classic games at a software level - virtually recreating arcade hardware in order to run original programming code, rather than porting graphics, sound, and gameplay components from scratch. Purists argue, however, that straightforward emulation lacks a certain appeal specific to original hardware. Playing the classic racer Daytona USA using an Xbox 360 controller, for instance, is a vastly different experience compared to sitting in the cockpit of the original arcade cabinet and gripping a force feedback-equipped steering wheel that fights you at every turn. Arcade-perfect ports still elude many publishers. Japanese porting studio M2, however, sets its sights higher than mere perfection. M2's 3D After Burner 2, released in the Nintendo 3DS eShop in North America this week, is more than an arcade-perfect port. Not only does it make great strides toward simulating the look and feel of a classic arcade game, but it also improves on the game's original design in ways that its creators planned but never fully achieved. The result is perhaps the first "complete" look at After Burner 2 as it was originally envisioned, and it's a rare treat for classic gaming enthusiasts.

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Entertainment

Entertainment By Danny Cowan

Nintendo Direct Japan: New Rhythm Heaven, Style Savvy games announced

Nintendo fans in Japan saw a slightly different Nintendo Direct presentation earlier this week than their compatriots in North America and Europe, as the company revealed a handful of upcoming Japanese games that are unlikely to see release elsewhere in the world. First up is a 3DS Rhythm Heaven compilation that collects a large number of music-driven minigames featured in previous series entries. The collection will feature 30 new minigames in addition to 70 graphically updated stages previously seen in Rhythm Heaven, Rhythm Heaven Fever, and the Japan-only Game Boy Advance series debut Rhythm Tengoku. A new Style Savvy sequel is also in the works, following up on predecessor games released stateside on the DS and 3DS. Girls Mode 3, as it's called in Japan, will offer fashion-focused gameplay that challenges players to manage their own boutique and create ensemble outfits for picky customers. Other games featured exclusively in Japan's Nintendo Direct presentation include the HAL Labs-developed 3DS puzzle-platformer Hako Boy (Box Boy), 3DS RPG The Legend of Legacy, cross-platform online mahjong sim Yakuman Houou, and Rodea: The Sky Soldier, a 3DS and Wii U aerial action game created by Yuji Naka's studio Prope. Games omitted from the North American and European Nintendo Direct presentations are not currently scheduled for release in either region. [Video: Nintendo / NintenDaan]

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PlayStation By Danny Cowan

Driveclub gets free Japan track DLC later this month

Evolution Studios revealed that Driveclub players will receive a free set of Japan DLC tracks as part of an update launching later this month. The pack includes the new Nakasendo challenge, a lengthy point-to-point race featuring trackside cherry blossom trees and other traditional Japanese aesthetic elements. The track is one of several arriving in this month's update, and a collection of new cars, including the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 Centennial Edition, will accompany the launch for Season Pass buyers. A full runthrough of the Nakasendo track is available here. A more specific release date for the free DLC is not yet known. [Image: Evolution Studios]

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Xbox By Danny Cowan

December NPD: Xbox One leads consoles in December, hardware sales surge in 2014

Video game hardware sales saw a significant uptick last year in comparison to 2013, but software sales at retail continue to chart a decline, the NPD Group's latest report states. Hardware sales saw a slight drop to $1.31 billion in December compared to the $1.37 billion earned during the same period last year. Annual hardware sales for 2014 peaked at $5.07 billion, however, representing a 20 percent increase over the $4.24 billion reported in 2013. Software sales at retail channels totaled $5.30 billion in 2014, dropping 13 percent compared to 2013's reported $6.11 billion. Though console-specific sales numbers are not available, Microsoft notes that the Xbox One emerged as 2014's "best-selling console in the U.S. in November and December."

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Nintendo

Nintendo By Danny Cowan

Nintendo of America addresses lack of non-XL New 3DS systems, bundled chargers

Yesterday's announcement of a North American release date for the New Nintendo 3DS XL left a few unanswered questions for fans looking forward to the platform's non-XL hardware variant. Today, Nintendo addressed those concerns.

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Xbox By Danny Cowan

Never Alone, Jackbox Party Pack discounted on Xbox Live

Co-op puzzle platformer Never Alone and the five-game Jackbox Party Pack headline this week's Deals With Gold lineup on Xbox Live, as publishers Capcom and 2K offer steep price drops for several featured Xbox 360 games. Xbox 360 owners can pick up cheap Games On Demand versions of featured games like Borderlands 2, Spec Ops: The Line, and the original Dead Rising, along with discounted add-on content for BioShock Infinite, SSX, and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. The Xbox One versions of the 2D Minecraft-like Terraria and WWE 2K15 are also on sale this week for Xbox Live Gold subscribers. Listed prices are active through January 19. [Image: Upper One Games]

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Xbox By Danny Cowan

Phantom Dust for Xbox One will retell original game's story, may release in 2015

The upcoming JRPG Phantom Dust for Xbox One will offer a "reimagining" of the story featured in the game's original 2005 Xbox release, Microsoft Studios Creative Director Ken Lobb revealed on The Inner Circle podcast this week. Few details regarding Phantom Dust were divulged since its E3 2014 unveiling, but Lobb clarifies that it will feature improvements to the original game's pacing and storyline. Limited sales following Phantom Dust's initial release drove the decision to produce a remake, rather than continue its story. Lobb additionally states that Phantom Dust may be better-suited to a Killer Instinct-styled free-to-play release, claiming that "gamers might not want to go out and take a sixty dollar risk" on a niche deck-building strategy game. Lobb notes that Phantom Dust "may or may not" see a release in 2015. [Image: Joystiq]

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Technology

Technology By Danny Cowan

Xbox One February system update introduces game hubs, TV updates

Microsoft detailed a new system update rolling out to Xbox One consoles next month that will introduce game-specific hub areas, among other new and expanded features. Following the launch of February's update, Xbox One games will each have their own hub area that displays leaderboards, clips and broadcasts, and content from top players. The patch will also enable a transparency feature for Home tiles, allowing players to tweak visibility of custom background images. The Xbox One's TV-specific functionality will see additional features and updates, enabling TV trending in OneGuide and live TV streaming on Windows Phone and Android devices. Members of the Xbox One preview program can download the system update starting today. [Video: Microsoft]

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PlayStation By Danny Cowan

GTA5 tops PS4 digital sales charts for December

Gamers who found a PlayStation 4 under their Christmas trees last month very quickly turned their holiday cheer into murderous bloodshed, as Sony revealed that Rockstar's remastered port of Grand Theft Auto 5 ranked as the PlayStation 4's most popular digital purchase in the month of December. GTA 5 beat out Minecraft: PlayStation 4 Edition, Battlefield 4, and The Walking Dead: Season Two to claim the platform's top digital sales spot last month. Digital versions of Minecraft: PlayStation 3 Edition and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare ranked as the PlayStation 3's best digital sellers in December, while Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition and Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment headed up the PS Vita charts. December was also a big month for classic RPGs. Konami's recently reissued Suikoden 2 took top honors in Sony's PS Classics sales chart last month, leading over the original Suikoden and Square Enix's Final Fantasy 7. [Image: Rockstar]

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Buying Guides

Buying Guides By Danny Cowan

The best and fastest: Highlights from Awesome Games Done Quick 2015

The annual Awesome Games Done Quick marathon is one of the biggest charity events in gaming, with this year's show raising more than $1 million in charitable donations for the Prevent Cancer Foundation over a grueling week-long campaign. During the course of the event, gamers from across the globe gathered to complete classic and modern games at lightning speed, producing amazing playthroughs and earning thousands of viewer donations from the collective atmosphere and camaraderie. This year's event was the most financially successful to date, and we've already covered highlights like this ultra-quick Pokemon Blue playthrough and an unlikely Mischief Makers marriage proposal. With more than 100 hours of speedruns to sift through, however, it may be tough to find the best of the best. With that in mind, here are our favorite runs from AGDQ 2015, with links to the original Twitch archives provided by this Reddit thread. You've got a lot to catch up on if you missed out on this year's event, so let's dive right in.

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Xbox By Danny Cowan

Microsoft Studios lays out Let's Play monetization rules

Microsoft Studios has outlined a revised ruleset for players looking to monetize footage from Microsoft-published games on video-sharing sites, granting permission to Let's Players and Twitch streamers with some stipulations. Under the publisher's rules, players may monetize footage from Microsoft Studios games if it was captured during normal gameplay, without the use of reverse engineering or hacking. Microsoft's rules additionally prohibit the use of gameplay footage to produce content that is pornographic, lewd, obscene, vulgar, discriminatory, or otherwise "objectionable." "Whether an Item is 'objectionable' is up to us," the rules page states, "but you can expect us to be concerned if a significant number of people in the game's community or the public at large report the content as offensive." Additional rules prohibit gameplay footage gated behind paid-access websites and subscription-based services. Revenue earned through network partnerships is still permissible, however. A full list of Microsoft's revised guidelines is available here. [Image: Microsoft]

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Gaming By Danny Cowan

3D After Burner 2 simulates multiple arcade cabinet styles

If your memories of Sega's classic arcade shoot-'em-up After Burner 2 are tied to one of the game's many unique cabinet styles, a new port for the Nintendo 3DS will hit you with an unexpected wave of nostalgia. The upcoming 3D After Burner 2 will simulate all of the game's arcade cabinet variations, porting studio M2 revealed as part of an ongoing interview series this week. "The game had a number of arcade cabinet variations, starting with the 'Double Cradle' (moved both forward/backward and left/right) and the 'Single Cradle' (moved left/right)," the article reads. "More variations were released later, including 'Sit-down' and 'Upright' variations." Footage demonstrating the "Double Cradle" variant is available here. 3D After Burner 2 will simulate any of these machines at the player's option, surrounding the gameplay screen with cabinet artwork and flickering lights that indicate incoming enemy attacks. Another option simulates cabinet movement, tilting the emulated gameplay screen at appropriate angles according to player flight paths. M2 previously simulated arcade cabinet aesthetics and motion in last year's 3DS ports of Space Harrier and Super Hang-On. 3D After Burner 2 will launch for the Nintendo 3DS eShop in North America this Thursday, January 15. [Image: Sega]

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Xbox By Danny Cowan

Rogue Legacy coming to Xbox One 'sometime-ish' this year

Developer Cellar Door Games confirmed that an Xbox One version of its roguelike platformer Rogue Legacy is in the works, non-specifically narrowing down a release date to "sometime-ish." A studio representative later told Polygon that a release is "definitely coming this year." Rogue Legacy originally launched for PC platforms in 2013 before making its console debut on the PlayStation 4, PS3, and PS Vita as a Cross-Buy release last year. Boasting a steep difficulty curve, Rogue Legacy challenges players to traverse into a randomly generated castle with characters who inherit traits and equipment from their predecessors. Further details regarding Rogue Legacy's upcoming Xbox One port are not yet known. [Image: Cellar Door Games]

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Entertainment

Entertainment By Danny Cowan

Dragon Ball Xenoverse delayed to late February in Europe

Bandai Namco's self-insert fanfiction brawler Dragon Ball Xenoverse has shifted to a late February release date in Europe in an effort "to ensure the highest possible gameplay experience for our fans," the publisher states. In Dragon Ball Xenoverse, players guide a custom-created character through the Dragon Ball timeline, righting past wrongs and experiencing alternate takes on landmark series events. By fighting alongside familiar series characters, you'll unlock their moves and outfits for use in Xenoverse's campaign, and the characters themselves are playable in other included gameplay modes. Xenoverse is still on track to launch for the Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PS3, and PC platforms via Steam in North America on February 17. A European release will follow on February 27. [Video: Bandai Namco]

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Gaming By Danny Cowan

Next week's Destiny patch fixes Crota's End exploits

Bungie will deploy a Destiny patch fixing several issues within the recently introduced DLC raid mission Crota's End, addressing lingering bugs before introducing a harder difficulty mode for the level. Notably, the patch will eliminate the "knee glitch" that allowed players to easily take out raid boss Crota by yanking a teammate's LAN cable during a specific mid-battle moment. The update will additionally tweak Crota's End treasure chest contents, add new requirements for the bridge encounter, and fix enemy-spawning bugs that currently prevent some players from fighting the Deathsinger. Bungie's patch will begin to roll out for Destiny players on January 13. [Image: Bungie]

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Xbox By Danny Cowan

Report: Xbox avatars to get a facelift on Xbox One

Xbox avatars may soon return in an upgraded form on the Xbox One, PC platforms, and mobile devices, a pair of recent Microsoft job postings indicate. "As we cross the threshold to a unified operating system and product experience across Microsoft, it is time to for Xbox avatars to also advance to the next level," the latter posting reads. "Come with us, as we take Xbox avatars on their biggest adventure yet in new Xbox experiences. You will be part of the broader Xbox Experiences team, which owns the Xbox One Shell, and the Xbox experiences across console, desktop, slate, mobile, iOS, and Android." Created by Microsoft-owned studio Rare, Xbox avatars made their debut as part of an Xbox 360 firmware update in 2008, allowing Xbox Live members to associate digital characters with their gamertags. Though avatars and purchasable customization items remain a focus on the Xbox 360, the characters aren't currently given the same treatment on the Xbox One, where they only appear as part of a gamerpic photo app. "We're always looking for talented people to innovate now and in the future," a Microsoft spokesperson told Eurogamer in response to a request for clarification. "We don't have any further comment on this or any other job posting." [Image: Microsoft]

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Gaming By Danny Cowan

Minecraft was YouTube's second-most popular search query of 2014

Mojang's breakout hit Minecraft took second place in a Google-issued list of the most popular YouTube search queries of 2014, ranking immediately behind the word "music" in terms of search frequency. According to Google, the word "Minecraft" was more frequently searched on YouTube in 2014 than the term "movies." Gaming personality PewDiePie also ranked among the service's most popular searches in 2014, trailing queries for Disney's Frozen and for artists Drake and Beyonce.

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Nintendo

Nintendo By Danny Cowan

Xenogears, SaGa Frontier resurface in Theatrhythm Curtain Call DLC

Xenogears, SaGa Frontier, and other classic RPGs from Square Enix's back catalog make an appearance as part of this week's DLC lineup for the publisher's 3DS rhythm game Final Fantasy Theatrhythm: Curtain Call. New Battle Music Sequence tracks hitting the eShop today include Final Fantasy 7's "Opening: Bombing Mission," "Primal Judgment" from Final Fantasy 14, "Soaring" from Xenogears, and "Last Battle: T260G" from SaGa Frontier. Players can also download the Battle Music Sequence track "Sacrifice Part Three" plucked from the Japan-exclusive Secret of Mana follow-up Seiken Densetsu 3 starting today, along with the Field Music Sequence stage "In Search of the Sword of Mana," originally featured in the Game Boy action-RPG Final Fantasy Adventure. All DLC tracks are priced at 99 cents apiece. Square Enix notes that additional songs will hit the eShop on January 22. [Image: Square Enix)

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PlayStation By Danny Cowan

Nyko unveils Data Bank hard drive upgrade kit for PS4

Peripheral manufacturer Nyko unveiled its upcoming Data Bank accessory at CES this week, promising users a cheap and easy way to upgrade their PlayStation 4's storage capacity using a standard 3.5-inch desktop computer hard drive. A year into the console's lifespan, PlayStation 4 owners may find themselves running short of space on the platform's included 500GB hard drive. While the PS4's stock drive can be swapped out with a larger-capacity 2.5-inch hard drive intended for laptops, upgrading can prove costly, given the increased price of 2.5-inch drives compared to 3.5-inch models. Nyko's Data Bank sits atop the PlayStation 4 after partially removing the console's casing, and draws on the PS4's AC adapter to power an attached 3.5-inch hard drive. Nyko tells IGN that it's aiming for a "$30-$40 price range" for the peripheral. Compatible hard drives are sold separately. [Image: Nyko)

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Buying Guides

Buying Guides By Danny Cowan

Best of the Rest: Danny's picks of 2014

ATTENTION: The year 2014 has concluded its temporal self-destruct sequence. If you are among the escapees, please join us in salvaging and preserving the best games from the irradiated chrono-debris. Fantasy Life Sometimes, you just wanna sidequest. For those times, there's Fantasy Life. Fantasy Life is fun in the way that checking off items on a checklist is fun. There's a solid action-RPG here from Professor Layton series creator Level-5, sure, but much of my time in Fantasy Life was spent completing sidequests, crafting equipment, and hunting down component items so that I could craft more equipment and complete more sidequests. You don't even have to kill anything to complete the game - you can smith, cook, sew, and alchemize your way to victory if that's the way you want to play it. Fantasy Life is an endless grind that remains compelling even after I've completed hundreds of its quests. If you don't fit into its niche, you'll be bored immediately. If you're a specific breed of completionist, Fantasy Life is impossible to put down. In either case, beware.

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PlayStation By Danny Cowan

PSA: Players report sporadic PSN connection issues

Sony is currently investigating PlayStation Network connection issues affecting a number of users this morning, citing "heavy network traffic" as a culprit via its support page. "We're aware that some players are seeing drops on PSN," the official PlayStation Twitter account confirms. "Engineers are on the case and investigating." Today's reports follow up on the recent restoration of PSN service after a disruptive DDoS attack on Christmas Eve. A timeframe for a fix is not yet known. [Image: Sony)

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