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Clones groan in puzzler The Swapper, coming to PlayStation
PlayStation portmaster Curve Studios has announced it's working on PlayStation versions of Facepalm's indie sci-fi puzzle game, The Swapper, due on PS3, PS4 and PS Vita sometime in late May. The Swapper strands players on a damaged space station called Theseus. With only a handheld cloning device at their disposal, players must search for a means to escape. The device creates up to four clones at any time and allows players to swap control between them, granted the clone in question is within the original player character's line of sight. The Swapper's visuals employ hand-crafted clay model animations, which helped Facepalm to produce one of the most visually stunning experiences of 2013. The Swapper is currently available (with controller support) for PC, Mac and Linux on Steam for $15, or as part of the current Humble Indie Bundle.
Sony shares more gameplay from PS4 exclusive The Order: 1886
If this quick gameplay clip from The Order: 1886 proves anything, beyond the moody visuals, it's that even alternate history, Victorian-era London can be home to quick time events and cover shooter mechanics. [Image: Sony]
Battlefield 4 enlists platoon support on February 27
The chaotic, virtual warfare of Battlefield 4 is about to grow more organized with tomorrow's addition of platoons. Despite the thematically-appropriate name, these platoons are best thought of as the Battlefield 4 equivalent of officially supported online clans. Up to 100 soldiers can join a given platoon where they will share a unique name tag and emblem with their fellow grunts. A private Battlelog feed will be available to each platoon, alongside a public feed useful for kicking off fights with other other groups of virtual soldiers. Developer DICE also notes that each member will have the "ability to earn stats for your platoon and rank it up," though those ranks are ornamental and offer no tangible reward beyond bragging rights. Hoping to avoid another Battlefield 4 server crush, DICE plans to roll out platoon support gradually over the course of a week. Both Premium and Standard iterations of the game will receive the feature at the same time, though a Premium membership and a rank of at least 10 will be required to create your own platoon. [Image: EA]
Trials Fusion flips, snowdives, and crashlands onto shelves in April
Expect a sharp upturn in broken controllers and smashed screens when Trials Fusion arrives on April 16 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Windows PC. The next entry in RedLynx's absorbingly thorny 2D platform-puzzler/stunt biker series, the first Trials ever on a PlayStation platform, is coming to physical shelves on Xbox One and PS4 in North America, as well as digital storefronts on all platforms. The downloadable version of Trials Fusion is priced $20, while the physical version is priced $40 and includes a season pass in addition to the game. According to Ubisoft UK, the season pass can be purchased separately for the same price as the game there, which is £16. Ubisoft UK adds that the season pass features six DLC packs that will be released across the span of a year, with each one including a variety of tracks, bike components, and rider gear among other bits and bobs.
'Stiq Tips: A Thief guide
You should probably understand right away that Thief is not an action game. You're not going to go in with swords a-blazin', hundreds of flasks of explosive liquid, and psychic powers, taking on an entire army at once. In fact, Thief actively encourages you not to fight, and in the game's challenge modes it detracts points for engaging in tussles. This is Thief, a tactical game that can actually get really tough compliments of its customizable difficulty system. Like, really, really tough.
Outlast reopens its gates with Whistleblower DLC in April
Outlast receives its first DLC in April both on Windows PC and PS4, obliterating any hope that you'd escaped the Mount Massive Asylum for good. The first-person survival horror features reporter Miles Upshur investigating the creepy hospital, and the "Whistleblower" DLC details the events that led him to the asylum's foreboding gates. Whistleblower stars Waylon Park, a software engineer working for the Murkoff Corporation, which owns and runs Mount Massive. After spending two weeks at the asylum, Park felt he had to email Upshur and other journalists to spill the beans on the secret horrors of the asylum - probably not the best idea from a self-preservation point-of-view, but there we are. Whistleblower doesn't just chronicle these events, though, with developer Red Barrels noting "it will actually stretch past the events of the first game to show the final chapter in Mount Massive Asylum's story." The above image is from the main game rather than the DLC, but we'll let you decide for yourself if you want to see the gruesome screenshot Red Barrels published alongside this week's news. Really, who drinks soda just before dinner? Revolting. [Image: Red Barrels]
Lego: The Hobbit shares in an adventure this April
Lego: The Hobbit and its merry band of plastic dwarves are coming to North America on April 8, and Europe on April 11. A Warner Bros. representative confirmed the release dates to Joystiq today, so fans will have a TT Games tie-in of the first two Hobbit films to tide them over before There and Back Again hits bigger screens in December. The news follows the reveal of a $270 500GB super slim PS3 bundle for the game, but if you'd prefer to join Bilbo and pals on other systems, you're more than in luck. Lego: The Hobbit is also on the way to Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, Vita, Wii U, 3DS, Windows PC and Mac. [Image: Warner Bros.]
Dead Nation: Apocalypse Edition listed for PS4 by SCE Asia
Housemarque is bringing the twin-stick zombie massacre of Dead Nation to the PS4, according to Sony Computer Entertainment Asia. The Hong Kong PlayStation Blog lists the top-down shooter in a new Apocalypse Edition for the PS4, and says it'll be part of March's PlayStation Plus' freebies for the region. Housemarque announced an outsourced Vita port of the PS3 game last year, but this is the first word of it coming to the PS4. Interestingly, Korea's classification board published new Dead Nation ratings today for PS4 and Vita, suggesting the two versions could be released side-by-side. We've reached out to Housemarque to find out what's up. The PS4 launch saw the Finnish studio bring its intense brand of twin-stick action to the new console with Resogun - a PS Plus game itself - but another offering wouldn't hurt. Well, it would hurt the zombies, but they deserve it. Back in 2010, former Joystiq-er Andrew Yoon shelled out a perfect five stars to Dead Nation, lauding its "suffocatingly dense" swarms of undead and its strategically sound local and online co-op. [Image: Sony Computer Entertainment]
Buy Thief at Newegg, get free Domino's (because, pizza)
Pizza is great. Everyone loves pizza, even thieves-for-hire. In fact, a well-known byproduct of being a kleptomaniac is an insatiable craving for carbohydrates. A Thief promotion at Newegg capitalizes on this by granting all who pick up a PC copy with a $10 coupon for Domino's Pizza. Enter the promo code SENTFPO during checkpoint for an additional ten percent off. Thankfully, Newegg has extended some sales love to Thief's other platforms too. Grabbing a copy of Thief on PS4, Xbox One, PS3 or Xbox 360 before March 3 nets a gift card good for $5. Thief, which launched this week, is a game our review said is "best when it sticks to the involving, slow-paced stealth that made its ancestor such a tense affair." Our review adds, "Thief succeeds when it's quiet, fingers reaching out and almost – almost – touching an irresistible spread of glittering prizes." [Image: Eidos Montreal]
PSN Tuesday: Thief, Pac-Man Museum, Lords of Shadow 2
The PlayStation Store updated today with new games across every platform, led by the launches of Thief and Basement Crawl on PS4. Thief joins another new release in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 on PS3 this week. PS3 owners can pick up The Batman Bundle, which includes Batman: Arkham Origins and the Batman: The Dark Knight Returns animated film as well as the Tales of Symphonia Chronicles bundle that comprises both Tales of Symphonia and Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World. Rounding out this week's PS3 additions is Magus and Pac-Man Museum, the latter being a $20 pack of games spanning the yellow gobbler's series. Vita owners only get one new game this week: Mahjong 2 World Contest, as well as PSOne Classic Herc's Adventures, also available on PS3 and PSP. Though Vita owners can now download the Crackle app to watch movies and TV shows, the marquee media streaming addition this week is the WWE Network app on PS3 and PS4. [Image: Square Enix]
God of War studio Sony Santa Monica hit with layoffs
Sony Santa Monica, the studio best known for its work on the God of War series, has suffered layoffs today. Sony representatives confirmed the dismissals with IGN, citing "resource re-alignment against priority growth areas" within Sony Worldwide Studios as the cause. The statement reads: "SCEA can confirm that we have completed a reduction in workforce at Santa Monica Studio. This is a result of a cycle of resource re-alignment against priority growth areas within SCE WWS. We do not take these decisions lightly. However, sometimes it is necessary to make changes to better serve the future projects of the studio. We have offered outplacement services and severance packages to ease transition for those impacted." Sony Santa Monica most recently shipped God of War: Ascension. Currently, the studios is working on three collaborations due to launch this year: Hohokum with Honeyslug; The Order: 1886 with Ready at Dawn; and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture with The Chinese Room. It's currently unclear how these layoffs will affect ongoing projects, so we've contacted Sony for clarification. We wish the best of luck to those affected. [Image: Wikimedia Commons]
Awesomenauts Assemble! on PS4 March 4
The Awesomenauts will spring into action on PlayStation 4 this March 4 and 5 in North America and Europe, respectively. The '80s cartoon-inspired 2D MOBA from Ronimo Games will be known as Awesomenauts Assemble! on Sony's next-gen platform and will be available for $9.99. "Awesomenauts Assemble! brings 7 all-new characters to the console, a boatload of skins to customize your characters, a new map, improved controls, and a lot more upcoming content," said Fabian Akker, designer and co-founder at Ronimo. That upcoming content is likely to come in the form of Starstorm, the crowdfunded expansion to the original game that is expected to be complete by the end of the year.
PlayStation 4 moves just shy of 350K units in first two days at Japanese retail
By Japanese game console launch standards, the PlayStation 4 is off to a great start. In the first 48 hours of availability, Japanese console buyers snapped up just under 350,000 PlayStation 4 systems (322,083 to be exact, according to Famitsu). That's roughly four times what the PlayStation 3 moved at launch back in 2006 and about six times what Xbox 360 sold in 2005 -- not too shabby! That's just a drop in the bucket for PS4's worldwide sales thus far, which crested 5 million last week (well ahead of Sony's sales estimate for its current financial quarter). It also inches the PS4 ever closer to 6 million units sold worldwide, putting it well over the competition's (admittedly not recently updated) numbers. You might be wondering, "Why does this matter to me?" It might not! But it certainly doesn't hurt your chance of playing more great games if the console makers are doing well and facing stiff competition. It's like the opposite of the slogan for Aliens vs. Predator: Whoever loses, we win!
Metal Gear Ground Zeroes: price cuts, iDroid, Phantom Pain DLC
"Kept you waiting, huh?" whispered Konami, before dropping a collection of news bombs this morning. For starters, the company announced a price cut to the physical PS4 and Xbox One versions of Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes. Rather than costing $40, the two consoles' retail versions are now priced at $30. The company says it wants to "provide as many people as possible an opportunity" to play the game - awwwwwwww. Other versions of Ground Zeroes remain at the same price; you can check out the game's still highly-convoluted pricing structure here. Incidentally, the price cut is matched in the UK, where PS4 and Xbox One retail versions will set Brits back £30. In addition, Konami confirmed the previously speculated inclusion of Phantom Pain DLC with early purchases of Ground Zeroes. The codes, which include additional staff to utilize in Big Boss' Mother Base headquarters, which apparently plays a "central role" in The Phantom Pain, are available in the first batch of retail copies and for an undisclosed "limited" amount of time with download versions. In case you've been living under a rock or with bandages wrapped around your ears, MGS5: Ground Zeroes is being billed as the prologue chapter to MGS5: The Phantom Pain. If you'd rather wait before you Snake, the good news is all copies of Ground Zeroes have some integration with the Mother Base in The Phantom Pain. The POWs and VIPs you rescue in the prologue will carry over to the follow-up, as will character skins you unlock. Finally, it wouldn't be Metal Gear without some peripheral capers, and if you so choose you can download a free second-screen "iDroid" app on iOS and Android to use with the game. The app, which is integrated into SmartGlass for Xbox, lets you view maps, play cassettes you discover, and summon air support in the game ... Oh, the game! Yes, the small matter of Ground Zeroes itself arrives on March 18 for PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PS3. [Image: Konami]
Design your own team logos, uniforms in Madden NFL contest
EA Tiburon kicked off a design contest late last week for the next game in the Madden NFL series. The developer is challenging fans with creating new logos and uniforms for the game, and is accepting submissions now through March 7. EA's last release in the series, Madden 25, brought back the ability to relocate NFL teams in the game to 17 different cities. While the contest announcement stresses that EA prefers user-created logo and uniform designs based on those 17 cities and the dozens of team names that were created for Madden 25, it will accept submissions that involve other team names and locations. Those looking to enter their designs for, say, a Milwaukee-based football franchise can download EA's uniform and logo design packet (in .zip file form) to get started. [Image: EA Sports]
PlayStation 4 Japan launch reaps 322K sales in opening weekend
The PlayStation 4 sold 322,083 units across its opening weekend in Japan, according to numbers published this morning by Famitsu. The console hit the country's retail shelves last week, some three months after launching across North America and Europe. The PS4's launch in Japan only marginally exceeds the Wii U's - Nintendo's system achieved 308,570 sales in its first two days - but it's a huge step up from the corresponding 88,400 sales of the PS3 launch. Siliconera notes that, according to Famitsu's archives, the PS2 shifted a whopping 630,552 systems when it launched in Japan just under 14 years ago. Last week, Sony announced it's sold more than 5.3 million PS4 systems since the Western launch in November 2013, meaning the console's already surpassed fiscal goals. We'll hear more about how Japan factors into the total sales in the coming months, not least in May when the company's expected to announce its financial results for the fiscal year. [Image: Sony]
EA's Peter Moore: Digital revenue will overtake retail in two years
EA COO Peter Moore is betting on a dominating role for digital revenue in video games. Speaking at the Digital Entertainment World conference, Moore said (via GI.biz) he expects digital sales to fully eclipse retail numbers in two years. He likened the rising prominence of downloads as a type of "creative destruction," in which an industry is unable to regulate the evolving purchasing habits of its consumers. Moore compared the scenario to the music industry, which he says is still recovering from its shift away from relying primarily on physical disc sales for revenue to a more download-centric model. Moore relates that EA's "customers" used to be retailers but, in the global always-online environment of the modern era, those "customers" are now the players. This has caused EA to triple its customer service operations over the last five years and even affected the company's marketing efforts – TV advertising spend is down and online and social advertising is up. Social media is more important than ever to EA. EA just reported third-quarter earnings for its fiscal 2014. While the massive games publisher suffered an overall net loss of $308 million during the period, digital sales accounted for over half of all earnings. EA attributed this big upswing to a 60 percent increase in transactions in EA's lineup of collectible card-based simulations, FIFA Ultimate Team, Madden NFL Ultimate Team and NHL Ultimate Team. [Image: Wikimedia Commons]
Now Playing: February 24 - March 2, 2014
Hide your valuables, Thief is on the loose this week ... Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list: [Image: Square Enix]
Metareview: Thief
Say "hello" to Thief, the first game of the year with review scores across the board. Ours trended toward the higher side calling it a game where the "balance isn't entirely successful." Game Informer (80/100): "Locked behind this old-school game design is a gem that stealth fans should eye up for their collection." Edge (70/100): "Fans who take the time to customise their settings ahead of their first playthrough will find a rewarding world here to pick clean. Nevertheless, it's still difficult to shake the feeling that, for all his dexterity, Garrett has stumbled in his attempt to gain access to a new generation. IGN (68/100): "Between the hit-or-miss missions is an extremely annoying city hub map and a weak story full of bland characters, and Garrett himself isn't as sure-footed as a master thief ought to be. Ignoring the story and cherrypicking the best side missions is the best way to approach it." Gamespot (60/100): "Each time I thought I might fall in love, the game doused my passions with a new annoyance. There was the bug that had me swimming in place on top of some boards I'd leapt to. (Thank goodness for reloadable checkpoints!)" Telegraph (40/100): "I had more fun making my way up to bed in the dark after playing Thief than I did at any point during its benighted trudge across The City." [Image: SquareEnix]
PS Vita celebrates anniversary with deals on Hotline Miami, Flower and more
Most birthday celebrations involve a cake, paper hats and some light tomfoolery, but celebrating the life anniversary of an inanimate object is understandably a little less rowdy. The PS Vita enters its third year of existence by slashing prices on a bunch of games, starting tomorrow. The PS Vita Anniversary sale, which runs through March 3, makes it a good week to be a PS Vita owner. PS Plus subscribers can grab games for up to 75 percent off, while everyone else can enjoy deals of up to half-off. Cheap downloads for Hotline Miami, Escape Plan, Flower, Killzone Mercenary and many more are available. If you're a PS Plus member, you can grab Machinarium for a paltry $1.75. A supplemental Back to 2013 sale provides further temptations tomorrow with discounts on Dragon's Crown, Guacamelee, Spelunky, Super Motherload and Injustice: Gods Among Us. Many of the PS Vita games are cross-buy enabled, and PS3 users can enjoy discounts on Diablo 3, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, Rayman Legends, Terraria and more. Both promotions will be active after the PlayStation Store updates tomorrow. There's quite a lot to pore over, so we'd suggest taking a second to review your checkbook first. Checkbooks are still a thing, right? [Image: Sony]
