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PlayStation All-Stars, Sportsfriends free on PS Plus next month
Sony revealed next month's PlayStation Plus lineup, announcing that subscribers will get free access to PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, Sportsfriends, Velocity 2X, and other featured games throughout the month of September. Starting September 2, PlayStation 4 owners can download Futurlab's hybrid shooter-platformer Velocity 2X and Die Gute Fabrik's competitive multiplayer party game compilation Sportsfriends free of charge. PlayStation 3 members receive copies of the Super Smash Bros.-like mascot brawler PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale and dragon-riding multiplayer action game Hoard, while PS Vita players can expect to see Hello Games' motorbike stunt sim Joe Danger and Llamasoft's Tempest variant TxK. [Video: Sony]
Vita looking for someone to share in Europe's Adventure bundles
Did you follow the Adventure Line all the way to the end, Stanley? Did you? Because if you had, we wouldn't be stuck here telling you about the new Vita Adventure Mega Pack that's coming to Europe this fall, now would we? You silly goose. Anyway, it bundles in voucher codes for five games including Uncharted: Golden Abyss, TxK, Tearway, Gravity Rush and Escape Plan. It also chucks in a 8GB memory card for good measure, and wraps up the lot in a 40 euro bow - that's normally the cost of a single new Vita game, Stanley. There's a new 200 euro Vita bundle that includes the handheld too. So onwards, Stanley! To destiny! [Image: Sony]
Joystiq Weekly: Titanfall, The Last of Us DLC and Mario Kart 8 rivals
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. Did you see that the Koopalings are going to be new characters targets in Mario Kart 8? The Koopalings, the brats responsible for loads of deaths dealt to Mario and Luigi with lava, twirling hoops and rings of death from magic wands? Yup, we've got new rivals. You're annoying, Baby Mario, but you haven't stopped us from moving on to the next world of a Mario game before. Watch your back, Koopalings. There's something about family-friendly, inclusive Nintendo games that bring our most competitive spirit. Have you ever calmly congratulated a friend after their star thievery earned them the title of Party Champion in Mario Party 2? Have you nodded in admiration of your opponent's strategy in Mario Kart Wii, right after they steal your victory with a red shell a few feet away from the finish line? We have a feeling your dialogue might have been more ... "spirited" than civil. We're not judging though - heck, we just threatened a bunch of baby turtles one graf above this! Of course, a lot more happened this week beyond the Koopalings opening themselves up for a world of hurt. This week brought NPD data for January, a review of The Last of Us' "Left Behind" DLC and video previews for Titanfall and Evolve! There's lots more beyond that after the break though, so jump the break and dive into the biggest stories of the week!
TxK review: Tidal Tempest
Indie designer Jeff Minter has lingered on the fringes of the video game industry over the last few decades, producing refined versions of classic arcade games that reflect his quirky, bovine-loving personality. His latest game, TxK for the PlayStation Vita, feels essentially like a remake of Tempest 2000, Minter's groundbreaking arcade update that holds the dubious honor of being among the best games released for the unsuccessful Atari Jaguar console. Compared to Minter's follow-up, Space Giraffe (another Tempest-alike), TxK is a return to basics. Built on Tempest's foundation, TxK scales back Space Giraffe's complexity while incorporating many elements from Tempest 2000 for a refined and enjoyable – if overly familiar – look back at arcade gaming's past.
Last of Us DLC, Lightning Returns, TxK join EU PlayStation Store
Yesterday the North American PlayStation Store was updated with a host of new software. Today it's Europe's turn. The highlights of this update include the addition of Jeff Minter's retro-shooter TxK, unexpectedly great roleplaying epic Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy 13 and Left Behind, the final singleplayer DLC release for award-winning zombie apocalypse drama The Last of Us. In addition, European Vita owners now have access to Toukiden and Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. The former is a riff on Capcom's Monster Hunter formula that pits players against oversized beasts drawn from Japanese mythology, while the latter is an anime-inspired visual novel that melds courtroom tension with teenagers murdering one another. It's less grim than it sounds. In less modern news, this update also brings with it the PSN digital release of Atlus' excellent PlayStation 2 roleplaying game Persona 3: FES. While this incarnation lacks certain mechanical improvements added to the PSP's Persona 3 Portable, it still features hundreds of demons to befriend, loveable characters and more teenaged drama than your average inner city high school. A full rundown of today's additions can be found on the European PlayStation.blog. [Image: Llamasoft]
PSN Tuesday: Lightning Returns, TxK, Far Cry Classic
The PlayStation Store has been updated with fresh content, including full game downloads like Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Far Cry Classic and a special version of The Last of Us that includes season pass DLC. Jeff Minter's Tempest 2000 remake, TxK, brings a psychedelic light show to PlayStation Vita. Wolf Fang, an import run-and-gunner, and Pac-Man World 20th Anniversary are this week's PSOne Classics. Payday 2 is the free game on PS Plus this week, and there are a multitude of deals to consider like Tiny Brains for $10, Beyond Good & Evil HD for $5 and Earth Defense 2017 Portable for $10.
Tempest 2000 remake TxK blasts its way onto PS Vita today
TxK, Jeff Minter's remake of the Atari Jaguar game Tempest 2000, will be available on PS Vita alongside the PlayStation Store update later today. In TxK, players travel down a corridor while shooting obstacles; special musical bonus stages, which players cannot fail, are scattered throughout TxK. "We've tried to create something that is pure and beautiful in the same way as the old abstract vector-graphics arcade games, but vibrant and modern in aspect and effects as you play," Minter wrote on the PlayStation Blog. "You'll blast your way through 100 levels and 3 different game modes to keep you challenged whether you want a long session or a quick 5 minutes of gaming on the go." Minter's TxK was originally due to launch last year. A lengthy gameplay video of TxK, available here, should give you an idea of what to expect: an explosion of color set to a thumping techno soundtrack. And perhaps a llama or two. [Image: Llamasoft]
Sony kicking off PS Vita PLAY rebate promotion tomorrow
PlayStation Vita owners can earn some cash back by keeping up with the platform's latest releases over the next month as part of Sony's newly announced PS Vita PLAY campaign. The offer gives $3 in PlayStation Store credit to players who purchase two featured games between January 21 and February 17. Buy three featured games and you'll get $6 back. Collect the whole set of four and Sony will send you a $10 rebate. PlayStation Plus members get an additional 20 percent discount during each respective game's launch week. The promotion launches with tomorrow's release of the skateboard platformer OlliOlli, then continues next Tuesday with Namco Bandai's Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z. Players can further boost their rebates by purchasing the custodial side-scroller, Dustforce, on February 4 and the Tempest-like arcade shooter, TxK, on February 11.
TxK, Jeff Minter's remake of Tempest 2000, on PS Vita this year
Earlier this month, Jeff Minter announced he was remaking Tempest 2000, the lauded Atari Jaguar game pictured above, for the PS Vita under the moniker TxK. Today, Minter has revealed TxK will launch this year on PS Vita."The new game – TxK – will draw on the spirit of the classic T2K, extending and enhancing it using the fantastic graphical power of the PS Vita system, resulting in what we hope will be a new modern classic arcade shooter," Minter wrote on the PlayStation Blog. He promises new terrains, bonus rounds, enemies, weapons and a completely redone soundtrack.Tempest 2000 launched in 1994 for the Atari Jaguar, itself a remake of the original arcade classic Tempest. Tempest is a fixed-perspective shooter – a player controls a ship skirting the edge of a geometric tube, shooting enemy ships and other obstructions approaching from the center of the screen.
Minter's 'TxK' is a new spin on Tempest for Vita
Jaguar killer app Tempest 2000 (pictured) is being updated by creator, and flashing-lights-and-colors enthusiast, Jeff Minter for Vita. TxK is a new version of his frequently iterated game, which sees players circling the periphery of a geometric prism, shooting down the sides into the screen."It'll be the pure, straightforward shooter that maybe you hoped for when you first saw Space Giraffe," Minter said on his blog. "We're not going to overload you with ultra psychedelia, but we will make it fluid and colourful and awesome-looking on the Vita's delicious, vibrant OLED screen.Minter was approached by Sony, presumably as part of the company's indie PSN push. He plans to keep a development log for updates on TxK, a game that he already promises is "going to be *awesome*."
