Most Recent: Retro

Xbox Game Pass launches June 1 but Gold subscribers can try it out now

Posted on May 25, 2017 by John Scalzo

Microsoft has announced that their Netflix-like game subscription service, Xbox Game Pass, will be available to all Xbox One owners on June 1. But if you’re an Xbox Live Gold subscriber, you can sign up for a free trial right now at Xbox.com.

Unlike Sony’s streaming-based PlayStation Now service, the Xbox Game Pass gives subscribers the chance to fully download any of the games on offer. Players will also be able to earn Achievements with these full-game downloads, and they can even be played offline for up to 30 days.

All Xbox One and backwards compatible Xbox 360 games available with the Xbox Game Pass can be purchased at a 20% discount (so you can keep playing them if they’re ever delisted from the service), and Microsoft is currently offering more than 100 games to subscribers. Some of the first games available include big hits like Halo 5: Guardians and the BioShock trilogy, as well as smaller games like Mega Man Legacy Collection and Pac-Man Championship Edition DX. The full list can be found at the Xbox Game Pass’s official website.

After your free trial expires, Xbox Game Pass will be available for $9.99 per month.

Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One |

Netflix’s Castlevania series will debut on July 7… and here’s the first teaser trailer

Posted on May 25, 2017 by John Scalzo

For quite a while now, all we’ve really known about Netflix’s Castlevania series is that it’s an animated adaptation of one of the franchise’s best games, Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, and that it was penned by the award-winning Warren Ellis. But today, we finally got our first peak at a teaser trailer and confirmation that it’ll premiere on the streaming service on July 7.

After watching the teaser, we still don’t know much about Netflix’s Castlevania, but we did get this rather awesome exchange:

Woman: “Who are you?”
Alucard: “The man who’ll kill Dracula.”

The first season of Castlevania will include four 30-minute episodes, and a second season is said to be in production for release in 2018.

Posted in Etcetera, News, Retro | Tagged

Friday the 13th, Rime, Gwent, Marvel Heroes Omega, more coming to PS Store this week

Posted on May 24, 2017 by John Scalzo

Two brand new Open Betas are now available to download through the PlayStation Store for the PS4… and they’re both free.

First up, CD Projekt Red will give players the chance to try out Gwent: The Witcher Card Game. According to the developer, Gwent is “based on skill rather than luck” and will require the clever mastery of strategy and deception if you want to defeat your opponents. Elsewhere on the PlayStation Store, Marvel has launched a free-to-play beta for Marvel Heroes Omega, an upgraded adaptation of the mobile action RPG.

It’s also possible to travel back to the past this week with the PlayStation Store as Square Enix has added Star Ocean: Till the End of Time to the PS2-On-PS4 collection. Whether you’re playing it for the first time or the fifth, the epic RPG is now available to download for the PS4.

Later this week, Jason Voorhees will tear his way through a helpless group of camp counselors in Friday the 13th: The Game. The 4v1 multiplayer game will be available to download on Friday, May 26. Also set to launch for the PS4 this Friday is Rime, an exploration adventure from Tequila Works.

You can learn more about all of these games (and a few other new releases) after the break. (more…)

Posted in News, PS4, Vita | Tagged , , , ,

Take-Two has shipped more than 80 million copies of Grand Theft Auto V and GTA Online is more popular than ever

Posted on May 24, 2017 by John Scalzo

Grand Theft Auto V continues to steamroll the competition. Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick lead off yesterday’s quarterly financial report by announcing that the publisher has shipped more than 80 million copies of the game since its release in 2013.

Even though that’s an absolutely astonishing number, Grand Theft Auto V still trails Wii Sports and Minecraft on the list of best-selling games of all time.

Grand Theft Auto V’s continued sales success is mostly due to the way its sprawling single-player story draws in new players every month. But the game’s multiplayer component, “Grand Theft Auto Online,” has actually never been more popular. According to Zelnick, Take-Two made more money through microtransactions in “Grand Theft Auto Online” during their last fiscal year (April 1, 2016 – March 31, 2017) than ever before. Not bad for a game that’s almost four years old.

New content for “Grand Theft Auto Online” is released on a nearly weekly basis, and Zelnick confirmed that Rockstar Games is currently hard at work on even more updates to the game mode:

On “GTA Online,” we have said that plenty more content is coming. More announcements will be made by Rockstar Games. The title is absolutely being supported by the label.

With Red Dead Redemption 2‘s recent delay, this strategy will surely sell more copies of Grand Theft Auto V (and keep “Grand Theft Auto Online” players happy) for a long time.

Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Tagged

Spider-Man’s Tom Holland will star as a young Nathan Drake in the Uncharted movie

Posted on May 23, 2017 by John Scalzo

Brace yourself… the Uncharted film adaptation is undergoing yet another writer switch.

Joe Carnahan turned in a completed draft of an Uncharted film adaptation back in January, and filming was expected to begin this Summer with Shawn LevyAc in the director’s chair. While Levy is staying with the production, Carnahan’s script has been tossed out in favor of a “Young Nathan Drake” story that’ll feature Spider-Man: Homecoming‘s Tom Holland as a teenage version of the adventurer.

According to Deadline, Sony Pictures is currently searching for a new writer to pen the screenplay. The report also claims that Tom Rothman, the Chairman of Sony Pictures, instigated the change after viewing an early cut of Holland’s performance in Spider-Man: Homecoming and finding inspiration in a similar “Young Nathan Drake” level that Naughty Dog included in Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception.

Nathan Drake’s video game career came to an end last Spring with the release of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, but Naughty Dog plans to continue the series with a standalone spinoff, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, for the PS4 on August 22.

Posted in Etcetera, News, PS3, PS4 | Tagged ,

Inti Creates will release Mighty Gunvolt Burst for the Switch and 3DS this Summer

Posted on May 22, 2017 by John Scalzo

Inti Creates has announced that Gunvolt (from Azure Striker Gunvolt 2) and Beck (from Mighty No. 9) will cross paths once again in Mighty Gunvolt Burst, which will be released for the Nintendo Switch and 3DS this Summer. The side-scrolling sequel will include a redone graphical style, and a “deep character customization system”:

Gunvolt from Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 and Beck from Mighty No. 9 make their return as playable characters! Find out what happens when their home worlds intertwine in the realm of virtual reality!

The game systems have been completely revamped and powered up with lots of new additions, including a deep character customization system that lets you mold and shape your character into the ultimate hero that works best for you! The classic pixel-style graphics have also been completely redone to blur the line between 8-bit and 16-bit and take you back to the golden age of 2D action games!

The first trailer for Mighty Gunvolt Burst has been embedded above, and you’ll be able to download it beginning next month on both platforms. Mighty Gunvolt Burst will available to download for the Switch on June 15 and for the 3DS on June 29.

Posted in 3DS, News, Switch | Tagged

New Retail Releases: Ultra Street Fighter II, Disgaea 5 Complete, Rime, More

Posted on May 21, 2017 by John Scalzo

After recording a huge retail victory in April, Nintendo and its third-party partners are storming back this week with another batch of fresh Switch software.

Leading things off, Capcom will release Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers for the Switch on Friday, May 26. The publisher is hoping that this re-release will introduce the arcade classic to an entirely new generation, but it also includes a brand new first-person minigame, new color variations for all characters, and two new fighters (Evil Ryu and Violent Ken). Another re-release will make its way to the Switch this week courtesy of NIS America. The import house will launch Disgaea 5 Complete on Nintendo’s console, which will include the original strategy RPG and all of its downloadable content.

If you’re looking for new and never-before-seen games this week, Tequila Works will bring their puzzle platformer Rime to the PS4 and Xbox One. Featuring a unique and moody graphical style, the exploration game should offer an interesting change of pace.

Finally this week, THQ Nordic will bring the original Darksiders to the Wii U as Darksiders: Warmastered Edition. This new version of the action/adventure game include enhanced visuals and redone graphical effects.

A complete list of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)

Posted in News, PC, PS4, Switch, Vita, Wii U, Xbox One | Tagged , , ,

The Switch continues to soar as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was the best-selling game in April 2017

Posted on May 19, 2017 by John Scalzo

Nintendo continues to dominate the retail charts with another strong showing in April for their Switch console. According to The NPD Group, Nintendo added another 280,000 Switch consoles to its tally last month, and the newly-launched Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sold more than 459,000 copies (in just two days) to take the top spot on the list of best-selling games. The company’s success also seems to be great for the industry as a whole, as the industry generated $636 million in sales in April 2017, a 10% increase over the year before.

The other big news in April is that Persona 5 pushed the franchise and gave the RPG the #2 spot on the best-seller list, just below Mario Kart 8.

“Persona 5 experienced the strongest debut month for any title in Persona franchise history, with packaged dollar sales five times that of the previous best-selling debut, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4,” NPD Analyst Mat Piscatella told GamesIndustry.biz.

Additional new releases were thin on the ground in last month’s Top 20, but Lego Undercover‘s re-release on the PC and current-generation consoles helped it secure a spot (#13). And as expected, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild continued to sell well, landing in the #3 position for the month. But the big retail winners in April all came from the backlist, including Grand Theft Auto V (#6), Overwatch (#9), Call of Duty: Black Ops II (#10), and Minecraft (#20).

The NPD Group’s complete list of best-selling games for April 2017 can be found after the break. (more…)

Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Xbox 360 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,