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PSN Tuesday: Don't Starve, Tiny Brains on PS3, free DmC
This week's PlayStation Store additions are marked by Klei Entertainment's Don't Starve, which is now available on PS4. The roguelike survival game from the makers of Mark of the Ninja is $14.99, but also happens to be one of two games that are free for PlayStation Plus members starting this week. The other PS Plus freebie is DmC: Devil May Cry for PS3. Two games joined DmC on the PS3's digital storefront this week: Tiny Brains ($19.99) and Twisted Lands: Shadow Town ($11.99). Tiny Brains already launched on PS4, and the game is Cross-Buy-compatible for those with multiple Sony consoles in their household. StreetKix: Freestyle is also available on PSP for $11.99, discounted to $10.79 for PS Plus members. Among PSN's new add-ons is the Illustrious Pirates Pack for both PS3 and PS4 versions of Assassin's Creed 4, which is $9.99 and free for season pass holders. This week also saw a handful of permanent pricing changes on PSN, including Saints Row 4 ($39.99), Need for Speed: Most Wanted ($19.99), Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 ($39.99) and the Artorias of the Abyss DLC for Dark Souls ($9.99).
Don't Starve, DmC: Devil May Cry free on PS Plus this week
PS Plus subscribers can download two different free games this week when the PlayStation Store updates tomorrow. Don't Starve will be up for grabs on PS4, while PS3 users can try DmC: Devil May Cry. Don't Starve, from Klei Entertainment, is an open-world survival game where players must scrounge up supplies in order to survive as long as possible. DmC: Devil May Cry is a reboot of Capcom's popular action series from developer Ninja Theory. Both games are part of a packed January for PlayStation Plus. Other free downloads coming throughout the month include BioShock Infinite, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and a pair of PS Vita games: brain training game Smart As... and yet another entry in Team17's long-running Worms series, Worms: Battle Islands.
Best of the Rest: Alexander's picks of 2013
Joystiq is revealing its 10 favorite games of 2013 throughout the week. Keep reading for more top selections and every writer's personal, impassioned picks in Best of the Rest roundups. Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag is this year's Far Cry 3, which coincidentally happened to be my top game for Best of the Rest in 2012. Both games launched so late in the year and were saddled with incorrect expectations that it wasn't until folks actually played it en masse that the word on the street began to turn. It turned too late, once again, as is the case with Black Flag, which does feature the same incoherent storytelling that made Assassin's Creed 3 such an abomination, but finds redemption in what AC3 was lacking: a game. Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag has that element I define in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood – which up to this point was my favorite installment of the franchise – as ABD (Always Be Doing!). Snap your fingers and there's another thing to grab or stab in Black Flag. Add to that the fuller realization of the sailing mechanics introduced in the previous game and Black Flag is primed to be a full-blown pirate spin-off. Black Flag is Sid Meier's Pirates! for a new generation and I certainly hope this isn't the last we see of it. What hurt Black Flag were the Assassin's Creed tropes, and it would be best for both to sail in separate directions from here.
Best of the Rest: Jess' picks of 2013
Team Joystiq is barging into 2014 with a celebration of last year's best games. Keep reading throughout the week to see our assembly of ingenious indies and triple-A triumphs. Skulls of the Shogun I have a pre-existing penchant for human skulls as decoration, so maybe that's why Skulls of the Shogun still resonates so deeply with me, despite it launching way back at the beginning of the year – before GDC, before E3, before Gamescom, before the reveals and launches of two next-gen consoles, before the holiday madness. Through all of that, Skulls of the Shogun remains a purely joyful, fun strategy game, complete with morbid humor, accessible mechanics and a lovely Saturday-morning cartoon style. Developer 17-Bit has a precise hand, and the team's attention to detail and flow makes Skulls of the Shogun sing across platforms: Xbox 360, Windows 8, Windows Phone, Steam and iOS. Skulls of the Shogun started the year off in the right way for me, so it's fitting to give it another nod at the end of 2013. Cheers, skull-chewers.
Best of the Rest: Mike's picks of 2013
Team Joystiq is barging into 2014 with a celebration of last year's best games. Keep reading throughout the week to see our assembly of ingenious indies and triple-A triumphs. FIFA 14 Regardless of any indicator that 2013 was a "tune-up" year for EA Canada's ongoing soccer sim series, FIFA 14 arguably remains the best sports gaming has to offer for another year. Retaining the elements of unpredictability with the game's ball physic, introduced in FIFA 13, the developer improved teammate AI and slowed the game's pace to force more deliberate, tactical on-field play. The result couldn't be any clearer in the PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game, which saw significant improvements graphically, particularly in the crowd's character models. While it may not be a top-ten game of the year, FIFA 14 was easily one of the most enjoyable.
PS Plus in January: Don't Starve, BioShock Infinite, Brothers
The January freebies for PlayStation Plus have just been revealed and it's quite the eclectic mix. Next week, PS4 owners will be able to partake in Klei's survival simulator Don't Starve, a game about scrounging for supplies and surviving for just one more night in a hostile environment. On PS3, will offer three separate free downloads in January: BioShock Infinite, DmC: Devil May Cry and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. BioShock Infinite, which takes place in the floating city of Columbia during 1912, is the latest first-person opus from Ken Levine and Irrational Games, while DmC: Devil May Cry is Ninja Theory's reboot of Capcom's devil hunter action series. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, the story of two young brothers on a quest to obtain medicine for their sick father, is from Starbreeze Studios. Finally, rounding out next month's downloads are two PS Vita offerings: Smart As... and Worms: Battle Islands. The former is a brain training game while the latter is another entry in Team17's long-running Worms franchise.
PS Plus Europe in December: Borderlands 2, DmC, Soul Sacrifice
Europe's seasonal batch of PlayStation Plus freebies comprises Borderlands 2, DmC: Devil May Cry, Soul Sacrifice, and BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend, and in what's very much a case of Christmas coming a day early, they'll all arrive on December 24. PlayStation 4 owners have to wait a bit longer for their next Plus-wrapped pressie, because Klei's survival forager Don't Starve is due on January 8 - it'll probably hit North America the day before, but a release date hasn't been confirmed. It's a cracking line-up of games to dig into on Christmas Eve - forget all that quality time with family nonsense, amirite? However, Christmas isn't just a time of giving, but also a time of taking, in this case games removed from the Plus service: Grid 2, Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen, and Sonic and Allstars Racing Transformed head off on December 24, while PS4 platformer Contrast exits stage left on January 8. One final bit of PlayStation Europe news: The 12 Deals of Christmas continues to chuck discounts at continentals, with Battlefield 4 bombing to £25 (€35/AU$45) and The Walking Dead on Vita sliced to £7 (€10/AU$15) - with a further 10 percent off the latter for PS Plus members. If those deals take your fancy, you have until the end of tomorrow to grab them.
Still time to get Steam sale Day 2
No need to go out in the Black Friday madness to get some great deals on PC games. The second day of the Steam Autumn Sale (Spring Sale for this of the southern lands) is still available for the next three hours. As usual, it's a bounty of... no, wait, we can do better. As usual, it's a cornucopia overflowing with magnificent delights. Almost all of them under $10. Go take a walk through the virtual aisles, more deals will hit in a few hours. We'd mention some games here, but there are just too many and they're all beautiful snowflakes.
Don't Starve plushie funded in 90 minutes
Indie darling Don't Starve must be a hit, as a plush doll based on one of the game's ancillary characters was able to meet its $15,000 Kickstarter goal in less than two hours. Currently the fundraising effort sits at $48,746 with the full 30 days remaining on its countdown clock. For those bad at math, that's nearly 3.25 times more cash than the $15,000 the fundraising effort was initially seeking. What could inspire such a generous outpouring of money? Chester, a helpful character found in Don't Starve who is something of a fuzzy chest that players can use to store their in-game items. He doesn't look like much - imagine Chester as a cross between a garbage can, a pig with inexplicable devil horns and a few shag carpet samples - but he is quite useful, and his bizarre, almost Henson-esque good looks have apparently struck a chord with fans. Reacting to news that the Kickstarter has proven a phenomenal success so quickly, the developers of Don't Starve will be adding a new variation of Chester to the game. Dubbed "Shadow Chester," this new character features three additional inventory slots as well as a more sinister color scheme. There's currently no word on when Shadow Chester might make its in-game debut.
Perfect Ten: Why we need more post-apocalyptic MMOs
With the recent re-release of the 1988 classic RPG Wasteland and the development progress of Wasteland 2, my mind's swimming in post-apocalyptic wonderment these days. Aside from those titles and the insanely popular Fallout series, post-apoc hasn't proven to be as popular a setting for games as it is in, say, film, TV, and novels. And when it comes to MMOs, the only major effort that's been made to produce a similar title has been limited to Fallen Earth (and in a lesser sense, Defiance and Xsyon). Now, I love me some Fallen Earth, especially as of late, but every time I log in it makes me think of just how rich and fertile this setting is for MMO studios. Considering just how rampant fantasy titles are, I feel strongly that devs need to be exploring outside this well-trod path to other genres, and the post-apocalypse is a perfect place to start. Here are my reasons that we need more post-apoc MMOs, and no, I'm not going to list "rampant prostitution and drug use" because that would also apply to a Los Angeles MMO.
Don't Starve, Binding of Isaac free with PlayStation Plus when they launch on PS4
Don't Starve will be free with PlayStation Plus membership when the game launches in "early January," a Sony representative confirmed today at the PlayStation 4 review event, currently being held in New York City. The critically acclaimed survivorcraft will launch on PS4 with all content available at that time in the PC version. Sony expects the PC and PS4 versions will update in parallel from that point forward. "A Vita native version with cross-save is coming a couple months after the PS4 version," the rep also told us. Either way, the PS4 version will support remote play, so it'll be functional on the Vita when it launches for PS4. We were also told that The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, due out in early 2014 on Steam, PS4 and Vita, will also be free to PlayStation Plus members when it launches. Update: Don't Starve developer Klei informs it's focusing on the PS4 version and remote play functionality at this time. A PS Vita native version is still being explored. Also, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth will receive a simultaneous native launch on PS3, PS4 and Vita.
Bargains abound as Humble Bundle evolves into Humble Store
In case periodic Humble Bundle releases and weekly sales aren't enough to sate your appetite for wildly cheap games that directly benefit charity, the people behind the Bundle have now launch the Humble Store. The video above serves as a mute demonstration of how the Humble Store works, but anyone familiar with Steam or Good Old Games should feel right at home. The virtual retailer offers a number of games (largely independent titles) at sizable discounts, only unlike those aforementioned digital distribution services, the money earned by the Humble Store will be partially earmarked for charity: 75 percent of your purchase goes to the game's creators, 15 percent goes toward administrative fees, and the remaining 10 percent goes to charity. The game selection on the Humble Store is a bit scant at the moment, but it's a quality over quantity situation. You'll find games available on Windows, Linux and Mac, and standout releases such as Don't Starve, Gunpoint and Rogue Legacy - none of which are currently priced higher than $7.50. If you prefer the old way of doing things, you're in luck: Despite the Humble Store's debut, the Humble Bundle will continue to appear on a regular basis. Joining the Humble Bundle mailing list will now inform you both about upcoming Bundles as well as new deals on the Humble Store, which are said to change on a daily basis.
Don't Starve's free horror mod, The Screecher, turns survival into terror
Halloween is a good holiday for Don't Starve, since it generally involves a hefty amount of eating (candy) and more mad scientists than any other festive day. To celebrate, Don't Starve is half off on Steam, $7.50, and a horror mod called The Screecher is free to all owners. The Screecher turns the Don't Starve design on its head, offering players a view of the main character in third-person, from behind, rather than the front-facing angle in the main title. It's less of a "build things to survive" game and more of a "find dead bodies and blood in a dark forest and run away from the terrifying monster to survive" game. Think Slender Man meets Telltale's The Walking Dead with developer Klei's sensibilities. Yeah, it feels like Halloween now.
Multi-appendaged mod sneaks Octodad into Don't Starve
Octodad is a master of infiltration, evidenced by his covert undercover operation as father to a human family in Octodad: Dadliest Catch. But now Octodad has found himself all alone and lost in Don't Starve, Klei Entertainment's wilderness survival game, through a new mod created by Klei forum user Memoski. Mods were added to Don't Starve last month when developer Klei flipped the switch on Steam Workshop support. You can check out Octodad fending for himself in the Let's Play video above or, if you want to see how long you can sustain Octodad's new rural life yourself, wrap your tentacles around the mod right now either through Steam Workshop or the Klei forums.
Don't Starve adds Steam Workshop support on PC
Klei's wilderness survival sim, Don't Starve, has added Steam Workshop support on the PC. This allows players to better find and install mods directly through Steam. New character skins, language translation packs, world generation modifications and custom creatures are just a few of the things players can now add. With the Steam Workshop update, Klei has also added a new level to Don't Starve called The Ruins, made up of five different areas. Within players will find new items and creatures, including an Ancient Guardian and the Dangling Depth Dweller spider. There's also a new Morgue screen now that keeps tabs on all the times you died, in case you need that information for some reason.
Don't Starve coming to the PlayStation 4
Sony just announced at its E3 press conference that Klei Entertainment's Don't Starve would be arriving on the PlayStation 4, as an exclusive console debut. No word on date yet, but we'll be in touch with Klei soon and find out for sure.
Don't Starve review: Leave the light on
Boy Scouts should be required to play Don't Starve before going on any camping trips – they could even get a badge for it, in the form of a gaping, pointy-toothed wormhole. Or maybe a friendly campfire. Don't Starve is packed with wonderful advice about survival and personal growth: In the wilderness, you must build your own tools using only the immediate environment Animals are a great source of nutrition, no matter how cute they are The world is bigger than it first appears; explore it Scary things that will kill you hide in the dark When you die, your world disappears Fire is fun Go for the eyes And that's not mentioning the obvious one.%Gallery-189368%
Steam Trading Cards enter beta
Steam Trading Cards are the next 10-gallon hats from Valve. If you understand that line, then the rest of this story will make sense to you. If not, then you have every right to scratch your head and ask "Why?" to everything that follows. In beta starting today, Steam Trading Cards allow users to earn Steam rewards for playing games. The current line-up of participating games is Don't Starve, Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Team Fortress 2, Portal 2 and Half-Life 2. Users will earn game-specific trading cards that can be collected to earn "game badges, profile backgrounds, emoticons, coupons, and more." Here's the simplest way we understand it: Create trading Card sets > craft badges > get prizes listed above. There's more details on the Steam Trading Card site.
Super Joystiq Podcast 049 Live: Splinter Cell Blacklist, Don't Starve, Metro Last Light
Update: The live show is over. Watch the replay above! This week on the Super Joystiq Podcast, the team tackles the hard subjects to the ground and interrogates them. Dave discusses going hands-on with Spies vs. Mercs multiplayer in Splinter Cell: Blacklist, Xav dives into the war-torn world of Metro: Last Light and Jess tries to survive in Don't Starve. Be here for the live broadcast at 4:00 p.m. ET!
PSA: Klei's 'Don't Starve' now on Steam
Survival game Don't Starve from Klei Entertainment (Shank, Mark of the Ninja), is available now for PC, Mac and Linux through Steam. Though it's a single-player experience, Don't Starve is available in both a solo pack for $13.49 and a twofer (send a code to a fellow survivalist) for $22.49.Klei previously announced Don't Starve will receive at least six months of free updates, and a representative for the developer told us this afternoon to think of them as "expansions." The first update is expected in a month, during the week of May 21.
