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Nintendo eShop’s Nindies Summer Jam kicks off on September 1
The Nindies are coming! The Nindies are coming!
Nintendo has announced that they’re ending this Summer with a bang… or more specifically, a Jam. The Nindies Summer Jam will kick off on September 1 and that means that Nintendo fans will find a new “Nindie” game on the eShop for the 3DS or Wii U (or sometimes both) every Thursday. All Nindie Summer Jam titles will receive a 10% discount during their first week of availability, and you can find the full lineup right here:
September 1
Axiom Verge (Wii U)
In this retro-style action-platform-exploration game, use the Wii U GamePad as your map, a way to easily swap between weapons or for Off-TV Play. A failed scientist dies in an accident, only to awaken in a mysterious, alien world. Where is he? How did he get here? And why do the fundamental laws of reality appear broken? Life. Afterlife. Real. Virtual. Dream. Nightmare. It’s a thin line. It’s Axiom Verge.September 8
Jotun: Valhalla Edition (Wii U)
Jotun is a hand-drawn action-exploration game set in Norse mythology. In Jotun, you play Thora, a Norse warrior who died an inglorious death and must prove herself to the Gods to enter Valhalla. Jotun: Valhalla Edition features Valhalla Mode, a boss rush mode with even fiercer versions of the already challenging jotun. Exclusive to the Wii U version, the map is always displayed on the GamePad and God Powers can be activated using the touch screen. Impress the Gods!September 15
Noitu Love: Devolution (3DS and Wii U)
The year is 2288. The city is protected by an organization called “The Peacekeepers League” and everything is swell except that it’s under attack by a robot army lead by professor Darnacus Damnation! Or is it… ?September 22
Severed (Wii U)
Take control of a one-armed warrior named Sasha, who wields a living sword on her journey through a nightmare world in search of her family. Features include Cross-Buy between Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, Wii U Off-TV Play, in-game Achievements, HD graphical optimizations.September 30
Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 (3DS)
Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 is a 2D action-platforming game in the style of the Japanese classics of yesteryear. The great controls, crisp graphics, unique play mechanics and epic boss battles from the first installment are all here, along with a host of new features.
“Our Nindie partners have been hard at work creating amazing content for Nintendo fans,” said Nintendo of America’s Damon Baker. “The Nindies Summer Jam promotion not only makes it easy for fans to check out all the latest and greatest indie games on Nintendo eShop, but to also learn more about the developers that have worked so hard to create them.”
Nintendo also plans to add more than a dozen other Nindies to the Nintendo eShop throughout the Fall. That schedule is available after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Axiom Verge, Azure Striker Gunvolt 2
Axiom Verge will be released for Wii U on September 1
Thomas Happ has revealed that Axiom Verge will be released for the Wii U on September 1. In a new post on the game’s official website, the developer said that Axiom Verge’s 8-bit inspirations made this announcement feel like a homecoming:
The Nintendo games of my childhood are what inspired me to make Axiom Verge. Metroid is probably one of the more obvious influences, but it’s actually a lot more than that. Axiom Verge actually started out as an exercise in game design. I wanted to deconstruct my favorite games from my youth and see what would happen if I took the best elements of each and put them together. The Bionic Commando’s grapple hook and Rygar’s Yo-Yo in the setting of Blaster Master and Shatterhand. I wanted to see what would fit together – and just as importantly what wouldn’t work.
Happ also refers to the Wii U version of the game as “probably the best one” because it’s the only console version to support Leaderboards for Speedrun Mode and includes Wii U GamePad support for Off-TV Play or a dedicated map screen.
Axiom Verge is also in development for the Xbox One, though its release date is still a mystery.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Axiom Verge
PS Store Today: Invisible Inc, Lichdom Battlemage, Axiom Verge for Vita, more
It’s Tuesday, so it’s time for Sony to update the PlayStation Store.
The consolemaker’s Launch Party promotion continues to roll on this week with the addition of Invisible Inc to the PlayStation Store. Previously available only on the PC, the isometric stealth game sneaks onto the PS4 this week in a special “Console Edition” that also includes the Contingency Plan expansion.
PS4 owners can also look forward to the addition of Lichdom: Battlemage to the PlayStation Store this week. The first-person spell casting game also debuted on the PC last year, but its fast-paced action and elemental magic system can now be controlled with a DualShock 4 controller.
And speaking of games with new homes, Axiom Verge has shrunk itself down to Vita size this week. The game, which is Cross-Buy compatible with the PS4 version, attempts to recreate the lonely existence of exploring an alien world that Metroid mined back in the 80s. So it’s almost fitting that it was developed by just one person.
Finally this week, Bandai Namco will re-release a quartet of arcade classics for the PS4. Dig Dug, Galaga, Ms. Pac-Man, and Pac-Man are now available to download for Sony’s newest console, and I’m sure this news is very exciting for the retro game fans out there.
More information on all of these titles (along with a few other new releases) can be found after the break. And a complete rundown of this week’s new game add-ons is available at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita
Tagged Axiom Verge, Galaga, Invisible Inc, Lichdom: Battlemage, Ms. Pac-Man
Axiom Verge will be released for the Vita on April 19
Axiom Verge made its PlayStation 4 debut exactly one year ago today. To celebrate, developer Tom Happ has announced that the award-winning Metroidvania will be released for the Vita on April 19. Writing on the PlayStation Blog, Happ described some of the difficulties in bringing Axiom Verge to the Vita:
Tom Spilman from Sickhead Games was in charge of the porting process. Porting an engine to a new platform is an incredibly complicated task, yet he was able to pull it off easily for PlayStation 4. After the PlayStation 4 version was done, however, porting it to Vita turned out to be a lot more challenging. Optimizing an engine is slow and painstaking work.
One analogy that I like to use when describing getting Axiom Verge working on PS Vita is that of a lightbulb. For months, Tom Spilman was putting in all of the wiring, but until it was fully connected, the light bulb just couldn’t turn on. And finally, about a month ago, Tom Spilman was able to make the final connection. The build went from not running at all on Vita to running almost perfectly. There were a few bugs here and there that needed to be tweaked, but most of that was fairly minor and easily handled.
Axiom Verge will be Cross-Buy compatible between the two platforms, so if you already own the PS4 version, the Vita version will be available as a free download. And if you’re new to the world of Axiom Verge, you’ll be happy to know the game will receive a 10% discount for a week after the launch of the Vita version.
Earlier this month, Happ confirmed that Axiom Verge is also in the works for the Xbox One and Wii U, and it should be available on those platforms sometime this year.
Posted in News, Vita
Tagged Axiom Verge
Axiom Verge is officially coming to the Wii U and Xbox One in 2016
Tom Happ has been tiptoeing towards an announcement about his future plans for a while now, but today the developer confirmed that Axiom Verge will be released for the Wii U and Xbox One sometime this year.
Axiom Verge is a “Metroidvania” that takes much of its inspiration from the Metroid half of that portmanteau, as Happ’s side-scroller puts players in the shoes of Trace, a scientist trapped on an alien world. Trace will need to do whatever it takes to escape, but he’ll also do it with style on the Wii U and Xbox One, because Axiom Verge took home multiple statues during our annual Golden Pixel Awards.
Presumably, Wii U and Xbox One owners will receive the same game that PS4 and PC fans have been enjoying since last Spring, as no platform-specific special features were announced.
Posted in News, Wii U, Xbox One
Tagged Axiom Verge
Axiom Verge is “really, really close” to launching for the Vita
Axiom Verge launched last Spring to ecstatic reviews and closed out the year with a trophy case full of awards. But sadly, the promised Vita release never materialized.
But it looks like a Vita launch for the game is closer than we realized. In a lengthy update on the game’s official website, developer Tom Happ confirmed that the Vita version is “really, really […] close” to release:
The tl;dr version is this: we have a list of mostly known issues that we are working through and we really, really are getting quite close.
[…]
So here’s the good news: the game is ported. It runs and is playable! Anyone who has worked on a porting project can tell you that that represents the biggest hurdle. Going from ported game to polished and shippable ported game is much easier than going from non-ported game to ported game. In fact, one of the reasons I couldn’t give a status update on the port before was that there was nothing to show. It was all plumbing and wiring. It’s only when you get everything hooked up and hit the switch that it goes from 0-100 pretty much overnight.
Happ also shared some alpha footage of Axiom Verge running on the Vita, which has been embedded above. And don’t forget, Axiom Verge on the Vita will be Cross-Buy compatible with the already-available PS4 version when it finally does get released.
Posted in News, Vita
Tagged Axiom Verge
Warp Zoned’s 2015 Golden Pixel Awards: Honoring Our Favorite Games From Last Year
The conventional wisdom will tell you that 2015 was a down year for games and that all the good stuff got pushed back to 2016. But how can you trust the conventional wisdom when last year featured a ridiculously entertaining string of good games starring kid squids, gothic hunters, glitchy sci-fi heroes, and the lone survivor of a nuclear war. And all that’s before you dip into the millions of user-created levels from Super Mario Maker.
Yup, we think 2015 was a pretty great year for games, especially the ones that took home some hardware during our annual Golden Pixel Awards… (more…)
Posted in Etcetera, Features, Mobile, PC, PS4, Top Story, Wii U, Xbox One
Tagged Alphabear, Axiom Verge, Batman: Arkham Knight, Bloodborne, Broforce, Earthbound Beginnings, Fallout 4, Guitar Hero Live, Her Story, Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, Mortal Kombat X, N++, Splatoon, Super Mario Maker, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Until Dawn
Tom Happ says Axiom Verge will probably be released for Wii U in 2016
Axiom Verge is currently only available on the PS4 and PC, but that will likely be changing in 2016. Tom Happ recently stopped by the comments section at Destructoid to say that the game will “probably” be available for the Wii U sometime in 2016:
I can’t commit to anything, but Axiom Verge will *probably* be available for Wii U in 2016. 3DS is quite a bit more difficult since the hardware is so completely different. Should Nintendo be reading this and decide to lend me a hand, that’d be VERY appreciated!!
Again, note the “probably” and the “I can’t commit to anything” just in front of it. Axiom Verge appearing on the Wii U in 2016 sounds like far from a done deal, but it also sounds like the game will appear on the platform eventually.
In the more immediate future, Axiom Verge will be released for the Vita sometime this year.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Axiom Verge