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PS Plus in July: Towerfall, Muramasa, Dead Space 3
July is soon to arrive, and with it comes six games for PlayStation Plus subscribers to freely download. Falling in line with the program's rule changes introduced in late May, the six games are split evenly among PS4, PS3 and Vita, though some are Cross Buy-compatible. Leading the group on PS4 is Towerfall: Ascension and Strider, followed by Dead Space 3 and Vessel for PS3. The two Vita games going free this coming month are Doki-Doki Universe and Muramasa Rebirth. The former is Cross Buy-enabled, so PS4 and PS3 owners will also have access to the game, whereas Muramasa will only be available for free in North America. European PS Plussers will instead receive Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes. Heavy discounts for the six games will available as of July 1, so those that haven't picked up June's free games should do so this week before it's too late. [Image: Capcom]
Tomb Raider, Strider discounted for Xbox One Gold subscribers
This week's Deals with Gold lineup spotlights a pair of high-profile Xbox One releases, offering discounts of 50 percent off of Capcom's Strider and Square Enix's Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition exclusively for Xbox Live Gold subscribers. Xbox 360 owners can also partake in this week's sale with discounts on multiple Rockstar-published games, including Bully, Red Dead Redemption, LA Noire, and Max Payne 3. Other deal highlights include price drops for the Saints Row The Third and Saints Row 4's Season Passes, along with an 80 percent discount on Killer Instinct's Sabrewolf add-on character. Gold subscribers also get access to free downloadable versions of Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition and Charlie Murder starting this week, while Xbox One members get free copies of Max: The Curse of Brotherhood and Halo: Spartan Assault through the end of the month. [Image: Capcom]
Capcom fan service runs thick in Strider
Capcom has always been a slave to self-reference, and the recent Strider reboot drives that point home with remixed tunes, classic costumes and retro collectibles - everything short of dressing the futuristic ninja as a certain plucky blue robot. [Image: Capcom]
Strider, AC4 Freedom Cry added to EU PlayStation Store
Double Helix's surprisingly good action game Strider headlines this week's PlayStation Store update in Europe. With favorable reception behind Killer Instinct and Strider, we imagine Amazon is extra happy with its recent acquisition. Joining Strider this week is Rayman Legends and standalone expansion Assassin's Creed 4: Freedom Cry, both available on PS4. Earth Defense Force 2025 drops on PS3 this week and retro 2D side-scroller Gunslugs makes an appearance on PS Vita. Battlefield 4 Premium subscribers can also grab Second Assault today. Knack and Tearaway have had their prices almost halved this week as part of a February sale promotion, and Lost Planet 3 receives a substantial permanent price drop down to £39.99 (€29.99). This simply scratches the surface of all the content added to the European PS Store this week, so head on over to the PlayStation Blog for the complete lowdown. [Image: Capcom]
Strider review: Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go
If you missed the 1980s, it's difficult to explain just how important ninjas were to the pop culture of the decade. The global zeitgeist was transfixed by Japan's mythical shadow warriors, and stealthy assassins appeared in everything, from movies to breakfast cereals to mutated amphibians. Video games were no exception, but few captured the essence of what made ninjas so popular as did Capcom's Strider, which allowed players to climb walls, flip around like acrobatic lemurs and slice through enemies as fast as their greasy digits could mash arcade cabinet's attack button. Now, after 25 years of relative obscurity, Strider has returned. The ninja's latest mission features modern flair and a new world to explore, but at its core Strider is recognizable thanks to intuitive controls, an immediately responsive main character and reflex-dependent stage design. It may not be perfect, and most of the novel ideas in Strider can be traced to earlier games, but the end result is an engrossing adventure that cleverly blends the old with the new.
Amazon buys Killer Instinct developer Double Helix Games
Online retailer Amazon has acquired Killer Instinct developer Double Helix Games. The acquisition spans both the development studio as a whole and all of the intellectual properties owned, though terms of the deal beyond that are nonexistent. Silicon Valley surveyor TechCrunch is reporting the news, which it says has been confirmed directly with Amazon. "Amazon has acquired Double Helix as part of our ongoing commitment to build innovative games for customers," the statement provided to TechCrunch reads. All 75 Double Helix employees will stay on through the transition. Amazon took its first steps into video game creation when it founded Amazon Game Studios in 2012. Double Helix, an independent studio formed in 2007 through a merger between The Collective and Shiny Entertainment, is located in Irvine, California and is finishing up a new Strider game for Capcom. [Image: Wikimedia Commons]
Strider somersaults onto PS4, Xbox One and other systems this Feb.
Strider brings its sci-fi ninja platforming to PS4 and PS3 on February 18 in North America, with Xbox One, Xbox 360, and Steam welcoming the game the day after. The latest revival of the classic series comes courtesy of Double Helix, the studio behind the recent return of Killer Instinct, and the fare to get back on board is $15. The other news from today's announcement is Strider includes two challenge modes in addition to the main story mode: Beacon Run is a slice-and-dice speedrunning challenge, and Survival mixes up harder and harder waves of enemies to defeat. Both modes feature leaderboards, as does the main campaign. Joystiq ninja extraordinaire Dave Hinkle got hands-on time with the game couple of months back, and he was encouraged by its ability to mix old with new. "Even in my brief encounter with Strider, I felt it successfully toed the line between those old-school sensibilities of punishing platforming segments and unforgiving enemies with modernized mechanics such as ciphers and catapulting," he wrote. "Strider didn't feel like a mindless affair of running left-to-right and slashing everything in sight. Instead, Strider made me think about how I needed to stab every enemy in my path, proving that the mind is the ninja's greatest weapon." [Image: Capcom]
Strider is a re-imagining with that classic feel
Most ninjas tend to enjoy the stealth approach, but the offensive powerhouse Strider Hiryu, star of Capcom's side-scrolling series, takes everything head-on. In the upcoming Strider revival from developer Double Helix, Hiryu will once again lay waste to adversaries with his fusion of devastating technology and ninja grace. "It's a re-imagining, so it's sort of its own separate canon, but it definitely draws from those previous titles. There are easter egg-type stuff that you'll see, like enemies that look familiar and, beyond that, the overall story setup is similar," Capcom's Tristan Corbett, product manager on Strider, told Joystiq. The league of Striders – a league of assassins – have been hired to infiltrate Neo-Kazakh and once again take down series antagonist Grandmaster Meio. During my brief demo of the PS4 version, I navigated Strider through a robot assembly facility chock full of lasers and precision-based platforming segments – and, once again, I was thankful to have Strider back in my life.
Strider flips out, kills everything in this gameplay trailer
The protagonist in Double Helix's upcoming reboot of Strider shows us his best flips and murder moves in this latest trailer.
