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New Nintendo eShop releases: Layton vs Phoenix Wright, Mega Man X3
There's a good helping of eShop eStuff to tuck into this week, both on Wii U and 3DS. On the portable side, Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright features two characters who were born to point together - check out our review for a more nuanced analysis. Also, Azure Striker Gunvolt pumps Mega Man-inspired side-scrolling action onto the 3DS, complete with Mighty No. 9 crossover mini-game. Talking of the (original) blue bomber, Mega Man X3 coming to Wii U completes the Nintendo set of X games on the system. If you prefer your platforming a bit more vertical and underground, Steamworld Dig may be the Wii U game for you. As ever, the full list of new releases is below the break. On the sales side, Capcom has a decent-sized one this week across Wii U and 3DS, and Splinter Cell Blacklist will be permanently reduced from $40 to $20 starting September 1.
Humble Weekly Bundle shoots for the stars
Brace yourself for an influx of neon, spaceships and robots in the Humble Weekly Bundle: Sci-Fi Edition. Available for any price you wish is Velocity Ultra, Cosmic DJ (Early Access game) and QUBE. For $6 or more, add in The Fall, Strike Suit Infinity and Strike Vector. The Last Federation is available for $15 or more. These purchases include the soundtracks for Velocity Ultra, QUBE, Cosmic DJ and The Last Federation. As is the case with these delicious Humble Bundles, part of the cash goes to charity, this time Child's Play and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Also, pay at least $1 and grab Steam keys for all of the games in the bundle. [Image: Humble Bundle]
Crowdfund Bookie: Hyper Light Drifter is the post-apocalyptic Zelda
The Crowdfund Bookie crunches data from select successful Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns that ended during the week and produces pretty charts for you to look at. A post-apocalyptic, Zelda-like action game and a reboot of a beloved brawler were both funded this this week, as the Kickstarter projects for Hyper Light Drifter, River City Ransom: Underground, The Fall, Epic Space Online: Capital Ships, Luna's Wandering Stars and Soul Power ended. Hyper Light Drifter, a pitched as a blend of the Diablo and Zelda series, earned the most money ($645,158) and had the highest number of backers of the group (24,150). The "Capital Ships" expansion for the Epic Space Online infinite sandbox MMO had the highest pledge-per-backer rate for the week, as each of the project's 491 funders invested an average of $50.27 into the campaign. Head past the break for the week's results, accompanied by some fancy charts.
Kickstarter project The Fall is sci-fi Limbo by way of Super Metroid
The Fall is a dark and moody cocktail currently seeking $17,000 (Canadian) on Kickstarter so that it can fall into your lap on PC, Mac and Wii U. The game draws inspiration from three classic titles, each representing a pillar of the game's own design: Super Metroid represents exploration, The Secret of Monkey Island represents interactivity, and Limbo represents atmosphere. In The Fall, you won't control a human. Instead, you'll play as an AI programmed into a suit of combat armor worn by a human who has been rendered unconscious. Your task will be to control the suit and make it carry the injured human to safety. The Fall's story will "slowly begin to unfold a unique story of self-understanding and civil rights," according to the game's developer, John Warner. Although the game is initially set to release on PC, Mac and Wii U, stretch goals also list Linux, PS4, Vita, Xbox One and "possibly" Ouya as other potential launch platforms.
PC version of Assassin's Creed 3 'UbiWorkshop Edition' pulls back its hood
Ubisoft was all too happy to reveal its $99.99 UbiWorkshop Edition of Assassin's Creed 3 for Xbox 360 and PS3 back in May, but today finally brings word that there will be a special UbiWorkshop Edition of the latest stabbing simulator for the PC crowd. It's available for pre-order right now.Just like its console cousins, the PC version will include a hardcover encyclopedia, graphic novels The Fall and The Chain, and a copy of Assassin's Creed 3, all bundled in special packaging for $99.99. Watch out for paper cuts!
Assassin's Creed: The Fall comic now available on iPad
Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed tie-in comic, The Fall, which tells the tale of Russian assassin Nikolai Orelove across three separate issues, is now available for download on the iPad. $.99 will get you the first issue, with each subsequent issue costing $2.99 through in-app purchase.A sequel to Assassin's Creed: The Fall, called Assassin's Creed: The Chain, is due this summer. The Chain not only picks up from where The Fall left off, but also "sheds a new light on Assassin's Creed 3."%Gallery-160295%
Gorillaz iPad album, called The Fall, out now
As promised, the new Gorillaz album showed up online over Christmas, and it's available for download right now. The album is called The Fall, and you can listen to one of the 15 tracks, called "Phoner to Arizona," embedded after the break. The whole record was made completely with an iPad, and CNN has a list of apps used to make the album, including Amplitube, Mugician (written by a TUAW commenter), and Moog's Filtatron, among quite a few others. I just gave "Phoner to Arizona" a listen, and it's ... weird. Weirder than I thought -- the Gorillaz are already pretty trippy, but this seems much more like an experiment than an actual album. Still, it's worth a listen, and it's an impressive feat to build a whole album using just Apple's iPad. Again, you can hear it for free on the Gorillaz' website, or join their fan club to download it yourself. [via Engadget]
Gorillaz iPad album now available, as are the apps used to make it
A major artist recording its latest album on an iPad? That's something new, and that's what Gorillaz has done for its latest release: The Fall.
WoW Mountain Dew ad was directed by Tarsem Singh
A number of sites have done a post-mortem on the Mountain Dew WoW Game Fuel ad (featuring two ladies battling it out through their WoW characters in a live-action supermarket), and they've uncovered a really interesting fact: the ad was actually directed by Indian director Tarsem Singh, one of my favorites -- he not only did the visually stunning sci-fi/horror flick The Cell a few years ago, but more recently made The Fall, which is an very well-done kind of mirror-life fairy tale. He's directed a number of commercials before, including some for Nike and Levi's, and teamed up with a company called Zoic Studios (they've done a few other spots for video games already) for this WoW commercial.The original CGI models for the ad did come from Blizzard (I'd guess that they're the original models from the WoW CGI trailer), though they were spruced up quite a bit by Zoic to add facial expressions and dynamic costumes and hair. They were then connected to motion captures from stunt artists (which were probably also tweaked to seem a little more than human, and then composited all together in the supermarket scene.Very cool stuff. This isn't the first time WoW characters have been used to sell soda, but hopefully we'll see more fun sequences like this come out of the deals between Blizzard and their partners.
