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Sega's Fourth of July sale includes iOS, Android, PSN and XBLA savings
If we've learned anything from the world of digitally distributed video games, its that virtually any American holiday is a good excuse for a sale. Not that we're complaining, mind you, we're as into the idea of a discount as we are blowing up a good chunk of our back yard once a year.Sega's contribution to the festivities comes in the form of discounted iOS, Android, XBLA and PSN titles, including House of the Dead III and various mobile Monkey Balls. The full list of deals can be found after the break and, while some last longer than others, you should be fine so long as you make your purchase on the fourth itself.
Renegade Ops DLC adds vehicles, continues campaign storyline
Starting tomorrow, operatives in the field will receive two supply drops from HQ. Renegade Ops agents can opt to bolster their fleet through The Vehicle Pack, which adds two new heroes to your ranks: Crystal and Blazemo. Each has their own unique set of weapons and abilities. They can be yours for 240 MS Points ($2.99). The other option is codenamed Coldstrike Campaign, and adds three new war zones to the Renegade Ops mission agenda. Accepting this mission will require you to produce 400 MS Points ($5) for the cause -- the enemy is entrenched in the icy tundra and is employing new enemy variants such as the Golem, a large factory that pumps out low-flying aerial units. It's much different from our original intel, which showed the enemy enlisting the aid of Jewish sorcerers. Relax, sorcerers do not exist.%Gallery-142099%
Sega discounts select PSN, iOS, XBLA games for the holidays
This time of year, you can count on two things: long lines anywhere you can purchase goods and/or services outside of your home, and sales at those capitals of consumerism. Sega's hitching itself to the sales star now by slashing prices on its digital wares across PSN, XBLA and iOS starting this week. PSN's lineup includes healthily discounted classics, added savings for PlayStation Plus subscribers and a smattering of newer stuff on the cheap until January 3: Daytona USA, Sega Rally Arcade, Sonic Adventure, Renegade Ops and more. On the iOS side, classic titles make up the majority of what's on sale for $0.99; Golden Axe 2 and 3, Chu Chu Rocket, Streets of Rage 2 and 3, Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, and Sega's newest iOS game, Brick People, are on sale until January 9. Xbox Live Arcade users get the least amount of variety -- only Renegade Ops and After Burner Climax are on sale. You can download each at their reduced price of 800 MS Points ($10) and 400 MS Points ($5) respectively until January 2.
Steam version of Renegade Ops includes Gordon Freeman's buggy, Antlions
We're sure the inclusion of Gordon Freeman and his buggy in the Steam version of Renegade Ops was conceived to be a fun bonus for fans of the Half-Life series. We're also sure that allowing players to use Antlions as special weapons was intended merely as a clever homage to one of gaming's most revered titles. Furthermore, the fact that the bonus content will be included at no extra charge when the game is released on October 14 seems well-intentioned. The unfortunate (and surely unintended) side effect: Renegade Ops is the first game in years with a playable Gordon Freeman and it isn't Half-Life 2: Episode Three. %Gallery-134882%
Renegade Ops review: Twin stick drive
Renegade Ops has a story that can be classified either as an earnest failure of seriousness, or a reminder that parodies aren't obligated to be funny. After an overacting psycho threatens to immolate the world for no discernible reason, General Bryant loses his cool over negotiations and vows to destroy evil -- in operations that have not been granted strict governmental authorization, you see. As a member of Bryant's Z-Team equivalent, your job is to foil terrorism by blowing everything up.
PlayStation Network PLAY is (a lot) like Summer of Arcade; starts later this month
Sony has just announced PlayStation Network PLAY, "a new program showcasing four of the season's hottest action titles." We'll just cut right to the quick here, guys: It's Summer of Arcade, but for PS3. Oh, and with a way dumber name. The four games on offer are Street Fighter III Third Strike Online Edition which will be available on August 23 for $15; the latest DeathSpank adventure The Baconing available August 30 for $15; the impressive BloodRayne: Betrayal, available for $15 on September 6 (a delay for PSN); and lastly Avalanche's Renegade Ops, available on September 15 for $15. There's one last game in this lineup of four: If you purchase all four of the above titles you'll be gifted Payday: The Heist by way of a voucher code "for redemption when the game releases." One caveat: You've got to be 18 or older (read: lie on your PSN account). If you don't want to bother with all that, you can pick it up solo for $20. So that separate free game also sounds a lot like Summer of Arcade, but since we already know how Summer of Arcade works, we've taken it upon ourselves to catalog the ways that PlayStation Network PLAY is, in fact, totally different than Microsoft's initiative: You can pre-order titles; each pre-order nets you a free PS3 theme "PLAY also offers gamers a separate gift with purchase for each order made throughout the duration of the program" – These mostly take the form of free in-game goodies, like a DLC fighter for Street Fighter III, a bonus co-op character for The Baconing, a PlayStation Home tchotchke for Bloodrayne: Betrayal, and some extra vehicles and weapons for Renegade Ops PlayStation Plus subscribers get "an automatic 20% off every PLAY program purchase" One final difference: Unlike Summer of Arcade, it doesn't appear any of these titles, short of Sony's own Payday: The Heist, have any exclusivity. We're following up with Sony and all of the individual publishers now. And that's about it. Get the full details at that Source link below.
Renegade Ops' co-op modes demonstrated
The latest Renegade Ops trailer introduces the two- and four-player co-op modes in the top-down vehicular shooter. In local co-op, the screen splits dynamically, with the divider rotating as needed; online co-op just puts more cars on your screen. Pretty intuitive, really.
Avalanche Studios to open New York City studio this fall
"Kaos and THQ Digital suffers from the twists and turns of the games biz. You are more than welcome to join the Avalanche Studios US family!" Avalanche Studios founder Christofer Sundberg teased on Twitter yesterday. Today, there's a proper announcement of a new North American expansion for the Swedish-based Avalanche and it's located in ... New York City? Yup, it's true! Just days after THQ closed its NYC-based Kaos Studios – the publisher was never shy about the prohibitive cost of operating a developer in one of the most expensive locations in the country – Avalanche has announced the expansion, to be headed by Activision and Atari veteran David Grijns and opened in the fall of this year. The studio is expected to hire "up to 50 new staff" in its first two years of operation, to work on "large-scale, online-enabled original IP for next-generation consoles, handhelds and PC." That whole "original IP" bit makes it seem unlikely that Avalanche's long-rumored Mad Max project will be developed in the NYC office. The press release says that the studio's "premiere project is an unannounced AAA title directed by Roland Lesterlin, former Creative Director at Mindspark Interactive, and targeted for release on next generation platforms in 2014." The NYC studio will include "senior staff" from Stockholm and will be recruiting other candidates from, say, recently closed AAA studios in the area.
Renegade Ops trailer blows up everything in the world
If you're jonesing for one of the most explosion-filled trailers we've seen since we woke up this morning, you should peep the Renegade Ops gameplay demo posted below. Man, we never knew vehicles this tiny were physically capable of causing such vast amounts of destruction.
See some Renegade Ops in action
Sega has provided the first look at Avalanche's Renegade Ops in this teaser trailer, which you can see after the break. When the game was first announced, it was described as "all about driving or flying around blowing stuff up while playing with your friends," which seems pretty much spot-on in light of the clip. Renage Ops was also announced as a PSN/XBLA title, but the trailer also shows a Steam logo, and Sega's blog post mentions a PC release, as well. So that's even more people who get to drive, fly and blow stuff up together.
Avalanche and Sega rolling out 'Renegade Ops' for PSN and XBLA
Just Cause 2 developer Avalanche Studios joins the Generic Title Squad (home to recruits like Modern Combat: Domination, Conflict: Denied Ops and Sniper: Ghost Warrior) with its new downloadable game, Renegade Ops. The game itself sounds much more distinctive. The Sega-published PSN/XBLA title, due this year, focuses on vehicular combat, with players taking control of a commando unit fighting to defeat the evil terrorist Madman Inferno. Playing online in groups of up to four, Renegade Op-eratives will have a variety of vehicles at their disposal, capable of attacks " from dispersing electromagnetic shock waves to the deployment of a huge Gatling gun armed to the teeth." In the announcement of the game, Avalanche senior producer Andreas Thorsén said that "the IP is all about driving or flying around blowing stuff up while playing with your friends," which he calls "a dream-project" for the studio. May we suggest a title change to "Driving or Flying Around Blowing Stuff Up?" We think it sticks better.
