Most Recent: Vita

Tokyo Tattoo Girls will arrive on PS Vita and Steam in 2017

At their 2017 Press Event this weekend, NIS America announced that Tokyo Tattoo Girls will make its way to the PC (via Steam) and PS Vita in both North America and Europe. In addition to confirming the game’s western release, the publisher also provided us with a little information about its story, plus a trailer and some screenshots.

After a calamity befalls Tokyo, some of the city’s survivors find themselves with powerful abilities bestowed on them by colorful tattoos. The city is cordoned off from the world, its inhabitants isolated. To create peace, the city has been divided into 23 wards, each controlled by a powerful group known as “Kumi.” Together, these Kumi form the “Union.” It’s rumored that escape from the devastated city is possible, but only for the person who manages to defeat all 23 Kumi…

Tattoos are, as indicated by the title, a key feature in Tokyo Tattoo Girls. So much so that Japanese tattoo artist Koji Tanaka was tasked with designing unique, but traditionally-inspired, art for the game. In the game, players will choose a companion, and power them up with special abilities by giving them new tattoos. And in order to beat the game and escape the city, players must conquer all 23 of Tokyo’s wards by defeating the Union located there. With 23 wards, making up 23 levels, that should provide players with an ample amount of gameplay.

Tokyo Tattoo Girls will be released for the PC and PS Vita sometime in 2017. You can find the first four screenshots after the break. (more…)

Posted in News, PC, Vita |

Nihon Falcom and NIS America will release Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana this Fall

Publisher NIS America will team up with Nihon Falcom to release Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, the latest entry in the long-running action RPG franchise, this Fall for the PC, PS4, and Vita.

NIS’s Chris King confirmed (to the PlayStation Blog) the game will feature dual English and Japanese audio. He also revealed a few details about the game’s plot:

This will be the first brand-new Ys adventure in eight years! The story begins with Adol, shipwrecked and stranded on a cursed island. There, he and the other castaways establish a village to challenge fearsome beasts and explore mysterious ruins on the island. Amidst this, Adol begins to dream of a mysterious blue-haired maiden named Dana living in an unknown world. Join Adol as he unravels the riddle of the cursed isle and the blue-haired maiden in Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana!

And over on Ys VIII’s Steam page, Nihon Falcom President Toshihiro Kondo delivered a message to fans and teased about a minute of gameplay footage.

Posted in News, PC, PS4, Vita | Tagged

Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment is finished; Coming to Switch in March and other platforms in April

Yacht Club Games has announced (via Twitter) that they’ve completed development on Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment, the latest expansion to their NES-inspired platformer, Shovel Knight. The developer expects to launch Specter of Torment first for the Nintendo Switch in March. It’ll later be available as a free update on all other platforms (3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox One) in April.

The Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove compilation (as well as the Shovel of Hope and Plague of Shadows standalone campaigns) should also be available for the Switch in March, with additional platforms to follow a month later.

Specter Knight’s campaign will actually take place before the events of Shovel Knight, and will depict how The Enchantress was able to recruit the evil Order of No Quarter. If you’re interested in learning how it all went down, Yacht Club Games will be attending this year’s PAX East expo to give fans a taste of Specter of Torment before it launches. The Boston-based convention kicks off on March 10.

Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Vita, Wii U, Xbox One | Tagged , ,

NIS America announces release dates for Danganronpa V3, Disgaea 5 Complete, more

NIS America announced release dates for a huge batch of upcoming games last night, including their Nintendo Switch debut (Disgaea 5 Complete) and a highly-anticipated sequel on the PS4 and Vita (Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony).

Ready? Here we go…

  • Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (PS4, PS Vita)
    • North America: September 26, 2017
    • Europe: September 29, 2017
  • Disgaea 5 Complete (Nintendo Switch)
    • North America: May 23, 2017
    • Europe: May 26, 2017
  • Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness (Steam)
    • Worldwide: April 24, 2017
  • Cladun Returns: This Is Sengoku! (PS Vita, Steam)
    • North America: June 6, 2017
    • Europe: June 9, 2017
  • Operation Babel: New Tokyo Legacy (Steam)
    • Worldwide: May 16, 2017
  • Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy (Steam)
    • Worldwide: March, 27, 2017

These release date announcements were made during NIS America’s “2017 Press Event” livestream last night. However, if you missed the big show, you can watch a replay on the publisher’s Twitch channel right now.

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

For Honor, Sniper Elite 4, Ride 2, more added to PS Store

Ubisoft’s epic battle between Knights and Vikings and Samurai, For Honor, is now available to download through the PlayStation Store for the PS4. Players will be able to choose their Faction and compete in the game’s online multiplayer battles or fight through the single-player Campaign to claim ultimate victory.

Also available to download for the PS4 this week is Sniper Elite 4, Rebellion’s latest World War II-era shooter. This time, players will engage in missions on the Italian front and attempt to “liberate wartime Italy from the grip of Fascism.”

If you’d prefer to speed around a racetrack instead of going to war, Milestone will release Ride 2 for download on the PS4 this week. Offering more than 170 bikes, this motorcycle racing sim includes plenty of options.

Finally this week, Nidhogg developer Messhof will release Flywrench for the PS4. In Flywrench, players will need to quickly flip the color of their spacecraft to deftly maneuver around a series of obstacles.

More information on all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)

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Indie Megabooth will host 12 games in their GDC 2017 Showcase

The Indie Megabooth will once again offer a small chunk of real estate at the Game Developers Conference to up-and-coming developers this year. Their GDC 2017 Showcase will feature 12 games that are sometimes goofy (Keyboard Sports), sometimes terrifying (Perception), and sometimes without explanation.

The full lineup includes:

Indie Megabooth’s GDC 2017 Showcase

  • _Transfer
  • A Duel Hand Disaster: Trackher
  • Cosmic Express
  • I, Hope
  • Keyboard Sports
  • Lightfield
  • Monster Prom
  • Perception
  • Post Human WAR
  • Rogue Process
  • Snake Pass
  • Super Slime Arena

The Indie Megabooth will set up shop in San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center on the third floor of West Hall, and more information about every game featured in the Showcase can be found on their official website.

The 2017 Game Developers Conference will begin on February 27.

Posted in News, PC, PS4, Switch, Vita, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Nioh, How to Survive 2, 8Days, more added to PS Store

Today’s PlayStation Store update is small, but fans of brutally-hard action games should definitely check it out…

Team Ninja is giving Ryu Hayabusa a break to bring Nioh to the PS4 this week. Nioh is an action RPG that takes place in ancient Japan, and players will have to contend with the warring factions of a civil war while also doing battle with an army of rampaging monsters.

Also available to download for the PS4 this week is How to Survive 2, a survival game where players will have to overcome a worldwide zombie pandemic by building a camp, learning skills, and foraging for food and water. You can even be neighborly and meet with other locals, but as George Romero taught us, sometimes the living are more dangerous than the dead.

Finally this week, 8Days is a retro-inspired twin-stick shooter that takes place in a dystopian future where players might not be fighting for the forces of good.

More information on all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)

Posted in News, PS4, Vita | Tagged

The Video Game Canon: Madden NFL Football (Series)

Dig deeper into the Video Game Canon with an examination into the validity (or lack thereof) of the Madden Cover Curse. Here’s a teaser…

A gambler will tell you that they believe Lady Luck will reward them for respecting a streak, and a professional football player will tell you that he doesn’t believe in the Madden Curse. The former is a wishful thinker, and the latter is a liar.

The sports world is filled with superstitions. As a Little Leaguer growing up, I could show you what a “rally cap” was and explain the importance of never touching the baselines. I understood completely why retired Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland refused to change his underwear during a 12-game winning streak in 2011. I’ve even got strong opinions on what you say to a pitcher in the middle of a perfect game. The answer is you don’t say anything, because talking to him at all is bad luck.

For decades, the Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx served as a well-known precursor to the Madden Curse. Those who believe in the Jinx are convinced that any player who appears on the cover of Sports Illustrated will experience some form of terrible luck, even though a handful of high-profile hits have obscured the long list of players who avoided the Jinx over the years. If the sheer number of cover subjects doesn’t dissuade you (more than 3,000 issues have been produced since the magazine’s launch in 1954), the illustrious career of Michael Jordan should. The basketball great has appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated a record 50 times, and he’s had the kind of career that other athletes dream about… not counting his detour through Minor League Baseball and Space Jam.

But what of the Madden Curse? Although you’ll find a few executives at Electronic Arts who enjoy hyping up the current year’s game with talk of the Curse, most of them like to downplay it. In 2008, the then-President of EA Sports, Peter Moore, said, “I guess when you look back there’s a grain of truth to the Madden Curse.” At the time, he wasn’t wrong. Five of the last six offensive players on the cover succumbed to some horrible calamity. The publishing giant even considered producing a movie based on the Madden Curse in 2010, though that project seems to have fallen off the radar in the years since.

And that’s probably because the Madden Curse is as mythical as a wild turducken.

Visit VideoGameCanon.com to continue reading this article and to explore the complete Top 1000.

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