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'Spider-Man: Miles Morales' arrives on PS5 this holiday
'Spider-Man: Miles Morales' continues the superhero story on PS5 this holiday.
Sony Interactive snaps up 'Spider-Man' developer Insomniac Games
Sony Interactive took to Twitter on Monday afternoon, announcing that it had acquired Insomniac Games, the studio behind last year's PS4 smash-hit Spider-Man.
Games of a Lifetime: Sam's Picks
After more than ten years devoted to video games and the people who make them, Joystiq is closing its doors. We won't be reporting on the best games of 2015, so join us for one last hurrah as the Joystiq family reveals their Games of a Lifetime. Some days, it seems like cynicism and derision earn more applause than kindness and optimism, and the things we love most can feel like they're the most neglected. So it can go with games, as we see hatred and vitriol spread online, watch quality of games dip and companies utilize decidedly unfriendly business practices on consumers. But there's a reason I got into this hobby, and there's a reason I got into this job: I love games. I want to see games continue to evolve, change and grow. I want my enthusiasm for them to never die, for my joy and sense of camaraderie in my fellow gamers to always persist. And so, at a time when it would be very easy to be jaded, we've decided to instead continue talking about why we love games. These are my picks for games of a lifetime.
Sunset Overdrive sale for Gold members, new achievements
Sunset Overdrive is on sale for Xbox Live Gold members, 40 percent off its normal tag of $60, making it a cool $36. The sale is on for "a limited time," Microsoft says in a press release. Also live today, Sunset Overdrive gets three new Buck National-themed achievements, each worth 25 points: "Hardcore!: Buck National vs The Apocalypse," "Hardcore!: Buck Strikes Back" and "Hardcore!: Buck Stops Here." Each achievement is for beating a particular score in each of those challenges – 600,000 for Apocalypse, 564,500 for Strikes Back and 703,700 on Stops Here. While we're here, a question for the room: Do you love or hate Sunset Overdrive? [Image: Microsoft Studios]
I'm delighted to hate Sunset Overdrive
I really, really can't stand Sunset Overdrive. Pretty much everything about it bugs me. I don't mean that I simply don't enjoy it, or that it's a love/hate kind of relationship like one would have with Dark Souls. No, I mean that it is finely tuned to aggravate and frustrate me every moment that I play it. Which, upon reflection, is kind of great. When you play a lot of games, you do start to worry about self-fulfilling opinions and echo chambers. You begin to wonder if you really like that game as much as you think you do, and when you do like something you begin to wonder if you really know why. To be any good as a critic, you need to constantly recalibrate your sensors, and so it's important for a game like Sunset Overdrive - whatever your version of that may be - to come along every now and again and remind you that your tastes are more than just a formula into which various developers can plug new guns and landscapes.
Joystiq Top 10 of 2014: Sunset Overdrive
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. Some days you just can't catch a break. Your apartment sucks, your job sucks and thanks to the greed of corporate fat cats, your technicolor city (which also generally sucks) has just been overrun by bloodthirsty mutants. Other people might flee in terror, but not you, the desensitized, self-aware, modern twenty-something. You see this horrible turn of events as a cathartic excuse to splatter creatures with unwieldy weapons while spouting cool one-liners. "How hard could the action hero schtick really be?" you think to yourself before setting off, flaming shotgun in hand, to save the world. That's all the story given in the first few minutes of Sunset Overdrive, but it's all you need. This isn't some somber, dragon-infested role-playing epic, nor is it the latest dour, paint-by-numbers futuristic military shooter. Instead, Sunset Overdrive is a vibrant rainbow smile; a game made by people who want you to share in their glee. Sunset Overdrive is an explosion of giddy rebellion in an industry obsessed with the stereotypical teenage boy's grim, overwrought idea of what's cool.
Sunset Overdrive rigs up first DLC today
The first downloadable expansion for Sunset Overdrive, Mystery of the Mooil Rig, is now available. The DLC adds new story missions to the third-person shooter as well as weapons, Amps, quests and other items. In it, players track a distress signal to an oil rig floating off the coast of Sunset City, where workers, mutants and monstrous creatures all seem pretty angry, as seen in the trailer after the break. As detailed earlier this month, players have two new movement options in Mystery of the Mooil Rig: Water Dive and Water Slam Bounce, the former allowing players to briefly submerge while the latter flings them high in the air after performing a melee smash into the water. The expansion costs $10 on its own, though it is free for those with the $20 season pass. Sunset Overdrive's season pass grants players access to three DLC packs in total, offering a variety of quests, outfits, weapons and more. [Image: Microsoft]
Sunset Overdrive free this Saturday
Xbox Live Gold members with an Xbox One will be able to play Sunset Overdrive for free all day Saturday, according to Microsoft's Major Nelson. Access to the free trial will begin at 12:01AM Eastern Time tonight. It is the "full game" and those who decide to purchase the game later can pick up right where they left off. We've confirmed this will also occur in Europe, but don't have clarification on timing as of posting. This is a pretty swanky deal to try out Sunset Overdrive, which we gave five stars in our review, saying it "sets out to create a world where the apocalypse is fun instead of depressing." There's no option to preload the demo, so if you're interested in the demo, make sure to set an alarm so it'll be waiting for you come morning.
Metareview: Sunset Overdrive
Maybe you noticed, but we really liked spending time with Sunset Overdrive. Our five-star review of Insomniac's outlandish action game based in the apocalyptic Sunset City praised its variety in elements like mission structure and weaponry. Thanks to gear like the "rapid-fire weapon that launches vinyl albums" or "handheld helicopters with pistols dangling from strings," we found Sunset Overdrive to be "an MC Escher painting of comic book violence, with physics taking a back seat to personality and fun." Don't only take our word for it, though. Head past the break for a glance at other critical looks at the "complete and purposeful" game.
Sunset Overdrive review: It's my party
In developer Insomniac's world of Sunset Overdrive, it's not a typical post-apocalypse day unless you're grinding along the open city's railings, power lines and rooftops, bouncing off a truck hood, smacking a mutant with your special guitar that sends out a shockwave of miniature tornadoes and firing a gun that shoots electrified vinyl records, all while making clever wisecracks that shatter the fourth wall. You may be familiar with the phrase "if X and Y had a baby, it would be Z." Sunset Overdrive is no one's baby; it is the act of metaphorical lovemaking itself, and it incorporates ideas, style and gameplay lifted from the likes of Jet Grind Radio, Saints Row The Third, Infamous, Ratchet & Clank and some guy named Cliff who just plain likes to party. And it is glorious, offering something for everyone.
Xbox is teasing a Sunset Overdrive-related mystery
A tweet from the official Xbox account made earlier today seems to be hinting at something bigger than a television advertisement for the upcoming Sunset Overdrive. "On behalf of Fizz͊c͕o̳ ͐w̼e᷾'̪dͮ ̗ļi᷄k̚e̿ ̄t̐oͯ ͉a̮p᷁o͂logise for the █████ in our #SunsetOverdrive TV adver..." the tweet reads, linking to a TV spot for the game which is interrupted by a flashing screen showing Morse code. Translated, the Morse code reads "OVERCHARGEDRINK.COM404PAGE." Typing in the URL to a browser takes you to what at first appears to be a standard 404 page, but soon is distorted with a message from someone calling themselves "Floyd." His warning reads, "Hey! Quit staring at your damn screen and help us! Stuff's going down at Fizzco. I'm talking 'capital F Freaky'. When I started asking questions, the answers were less than friendly. I can't get any more dirt, but they've never seen your pretty face. So join me and together we can uncover the ugly, ugly truth. Floyd." A string of numbers at the top of the 404 page reads "9:20, 4:45, 5:76, 8:32, 1:73, 5:32, 8:80, 9:20, 1:31, 9:1, 6:60, 8:85, 4:100, 2:21, 6:79, 2:46, 9:31, 6:43." Aaaaaand that's as far as we've been able to figure out so far. Hopefully it doesn't end up being a mandate to "be sure to drink your Ovaltine Overcharge." Last time Microsoft pulled such a stunt, it ended with UK resident Brad Butcher winning an Xbox One, a copy of Titanfall and a swag bag of other goodies. We'll keep an eye out to see if this develops into something similar. In the meantime, happy hunting, conspiracy theorists. [Image: Insomniac Games]
Here's what you'll get for pre-ordering Sunset Overdrive
Tucked within an announcement stating that Xbox One-exclusive action game Sunset Overdrive is now being pressed to retail discs comes information on the game's day one bonus items, its pre-order bonuses and the content-packed Day One Digital Deluxe Edition. Those who pre-order Sunset Overdrive from the Xbox Live Marketplace will earn two additional weapons, the Hangover, a series of beer cans strapped to an electrified pitchfork, and the Acordes de la Muerte, which is described as a "guitar-with-melting-candles-on-it melee weapon that can bash in the skulls of [your] vilified enemies." Additionally, those who play Sunset Overdrive on launch day will pick up a costume of the game's foul-mouthed yet adorable mascot Fizzie, along with two more weapons. If you spend $80 for the Day One Digital Deluxe version of Sunset Overdrive, you'll take home all of the aforementioned content, as well as the Season Pass. (The Season Pass normally costs $20 anyway, on top of the base game's $60, so we're not really sure what makes this edition "deluxe.") There's no specific timeframe for when the Season Pass will receive its promised downloadable content additions, but they will include a handful of additional costumes, two new traps and two additional "Amps" which are essentially permanent enhancements that grant your character new abilities, such as additional weapon XP pickups and the ability to smite enemies with divine fury. Sunset Overdrive is slated to launch on October 28. [Image: Microsoft]
Sunset Overdrive live action trailer is impossible
Insomniac blurs the line separating fantasy and reality in the latest trailer for its Xbox One-exclusive shooter Sunset Overdrive, demonstrating just how difficult it would be to portray its violent fantasy world using easily punctured human actors. An interactive version featuring bonus content is available here, if you can't get enough of that lovable blimp Fizzie. Sunset Overdrive premieres on October 28. [Video: Insomniac / Microsoft]
You booze, you snooze in Sunset Overdrive
There's little time for rest in Sunset Overdrive, a ridiculous game that whizzes by like a rock star drinking espresso on a skateboard. You must, must remain in motion – bouncing, sliding, flipping, grinding, hurtling and weaving through a rain of rockets and a gauntlet of gnarled mutants. And that's ignoring the visual chaos of your outfit: red pants, a blue flannel jacket, a tall white bearskin on your head and ... is that a tail?
Ratchet & Clank Collection brings lombax memories to Vita [update]
Sony quietly announced the Ratchet & Clank Collection is coming to Vita tomorrow, July 22, as a PSN downloadable. The publisher unveiled Insomniac's compilation for European and Australian Vitas in May before finally ending the radio silence over North America. Over on PSN Europe the Ratchet & Clank Collection is cross-buy, meaning if you buy either the new Vita version or the original PS3 compilation, you'll get the other for free. There's no word yet if the same deal is coming to North America, though. As for a physical release, the PlayStation Blog only denotes the game as "digital." Update: The PS Blog has updated its post, saying Ratchet & Clank Collection will in fact not launch on July 22. According to the update it's now scheduled for release on July 29.
Poster maestros Mondo debut stylized Sunset Overdrive art
Insomniac Games has tapped Austin, Texas-based Mondo to work its stylized poster design magic on the upcoming Sunset Overdrive and the results are appropriately explosive. While perhaps not as iconic as Mondo's prior pop art efforts, the above image does an excellent job of depicting the vibrant, kinetic chaos of Sunset Overdrive in a still image. From the massive explosion to the blue shadows it casts over the rest of the image to the impish smirk on our protagonist's face, the poster depicts a world where destruction is a cause for revelry - the exact same impression one gets from watching a Sunset Overdrive trailer. Not bad, given that this is Mondo's first stab at a poster based on a video game. As you've probably guessed, the above is only a small snippet of the full poster. Pay a visit to Entertainment Weekly to see the entire image in all its stylized glory. [Image: Mondo]
Watch Sunset Overdrive's intro cinematic, 8 minutes of gameplay
The opening cinematic for Sunset Overdrive underlines three life lessons: Always read the ingredients before consuming energy drinks When a haircut is asking for trouble, trouble will come answering Apocalyptic fires and high-speed trains are worth listening to. The vid was recorded at this year's Rooster Teeth Expo, which took place over the weekend and where Insomniac Games showed eight minutes of gameplay from its Xbox One action adventure. Check that out below the break, and the full presentation from the RTX stream.
Join the 'Chaos Squad' in Sunset Overdrive's multiplayer trailer
Insomniac Games' third-person shooter Sunset Overdrive received a trailer for its eight-player cooperative multiplayer mode, Chaos Squad. In it, teams complete objectives during the day, then participate in tower defense-style battles at night. The Xbox One exclusive arrives October 28.
Watch a small Insomniac team make its next game, Slow Down Bull
Ratchet and Clank series developer Insomniac Games announced a new pet project this week, Slow Down Bull. The game is in development for PC by a small team of four or five people at the studio. Slow Down Bull is an action game in which players will attempt to rein in an "overachieving" bull named Axel, who is keen on collecting "beautiful things." Axel's nature is of the more temperamental and tumultuous variety however, so players will need to help Axel stay stress-free while collecting the game's goodies. Little else is known about the project, such as its targeted release window, though it is being created in Unity. A small piece of concept art for the game can be found after the break. The small team does intend to host livestreams of Slow Down Bull's development process every Friday afternoon on its Twitch channel at 2:00 p.m. PT (5:00 p.m. ET), starting tomorrow. Meanwhile, a larger chunk of the developer is working on getting its Xbox One exclusive game Sunset Overdrive ready for its release on October 28. [Image: Insomniac Games]
Sunset Overdrive is full of overdosing mutants and Scabs
Insomniac Games is known for creative weaponry - it's the developer behind the Ratchet and Clank games, after all - but a cool gun loses some of its flair when it's used on the same old enemies over and over. Thankfully, the studio's next project, Sunset Overdrive, looks to keep things fresh with a multitude of foes which were recently detailed on the company's site. For those just tuning in, the enemies in Sunset Overdrive are mutants, transformed by a toxic energy drink called Overcharge. The most basic of these is referred to as an "OD," since they've overdosed on the drink. These zombie-like minions gather in hordes to swarm the player with melee strikes. Meanwhile, "Blowers" can launch Overcharge at range and "Herkers" charge forward like the walking tanks they are. Not everyone has turned into a monstrous shadow of their former selves, however; some people are just jerks. Non-mutated humans, called "Scabs," will also show up to fire assault rifle rounds at your decidedly non-bullet-friendly body. The Scabs will target mutants as well, leading to cross-faction warfare. Insomniac promises that players will encounter even more enemy types throughout the game, leading to all kinds of crazy encounters. We'll find out when the game hits shelves on October 28. [Image: Insomniac Games]
