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All Articles: Ori and the Blind Forest
New Retail Releases: Minecraft Wii U Edition, Ori and the Blind Forest Definitive Edition
E3 week is almost upon us, and you know what that means…
Since most game publishers won’t release new games during E3 week, those that followed the tradition have ensured today’s “New Retail Releases” report will be quite short. But Microsoft decided to buck the trend, and will release a pair of games this week that were previously available only as digital downloads.
First up, the consolemaker’s Mojang division will release Minecraft: Wii U Edition for the… wait for it… Wii U. Minecraft’s Wii U Edition is the same virtual playground that we all know and love, but it’ll include the Super Mario Mash-up Pack expansion, which adds Mario-themed characters, textures, and music to the game.
Also available this week is Ori and the Blind Forest Definitive Edition, an enhanced and expanded version of the well-received “MetroidVania” for the PC and Xbox One. Players will still be able to guide young Ori through the forest of Nibel, but the Definitive Edition will add new areas, new abilities, more story sequences, and multiple difficulty modes to the game.
That’s it for now, but we’ll be back soon with a round-up of this week’s additions to the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop.
Fallout 4 wins “Best Game” at 2016 BAFTA Games Awards
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) held their annual Games Awards ceremony last night, and Bethesda’s Fallout 4 looted the trophy for “Best Game.” Surprisingly, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Fallout 4’s main rival throughout the 2015/2016 awards season, came away empty-handed.
The same doesn’t need to be said for Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, Her Story, and Rocket League, each of which won three awards last night.
Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture’s accolades all revolved around its excellent use of sound as the post-apocalyptic title won for “Audio Achievement,” “Music,” and “Best Performance” (which went to Merle Dandridge). Rocket League’s universal appeal informed its three award including “Family Game,” “Multiplayer,” and “Sport.” Finally, Her Story’s unique storytelling structure lead to wins in the “Best Debut,” “Game Innovation,” and “Mobile & Handheld” categories.
Other winners during last night’s ceremony include Ori and the Blind Forest, Batman: Arkham Knight, Bloodborne, Until Dawn, Prison Architect, and Life Is Strange.
Congratulations to all the winners, which you can find after the break. (more…)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt wins “Game of the Year” at 2016 SXSW Gaming Awards
CD Projekt’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was on target once again as it collected another “Game of the Year” win this weekend at the SXSW Gaming Awards. In addition to its big win, The Witcher 3 won two other awards: “Excellence in Technical Achievement” and “Excellence in Narrative.”
The Witcher 3 faced stiff competition from several of last year’s other big releases, including Bloodborne and Rise of the Tomb Raider, both of which won a pair of 2016 SXSW Gaming Awards. From Software’s gothic RPG was recognized for its gorgeous environments in the “Excellence in Art” and “Excellence in Design” categories. Meanwhile, Lara Croft herself was named “Most Enduring Character” and her tomb raiding skills were honored with an “Excellence in Animation” win.
Finally, Her Story picked up some more hardware this weekend, winning SXSW’s “Mobile Game of the Year” award.
A complete look at all of this year’s winners can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Batman: Arkham Knight, Bloodborne, Her Story, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Ori and the Blind Forest, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Rocket League, Splatoon, Star Wars: Battlefront, Superhot, Tabletop Games, The Order: 1886, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is “Game of the Year” at 2016 GDC Awards
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt might be the last game in CD Projekt’s Witcher saga, but it’s first in the eyes of voters at the 2016 Game Developers Choice Awards. The final adventure for Geralt of Rivia was awarded “Game of the Year” honors at the annual ceremony, as well as “Best Technology” for “its complex game engine that combines brilliant visuals with a huge game world.”
However, the big winner of the night was Sam Barlow’s Her Story. After cleaning up earlier in the day at the IGF Awards, Her Story also collected the “Innovation Award,” “Best Narrative,” and “Best Handheld/Mobile Game” at the 2016 GDC Awards.
The only other multi-award winner was Ori and the Blind Forest, which shone brightly as the winner of “Best Visual Art” and “Best Debut.”
As they do every year, the Game Developers Choice jury also distributed a trio of special awards at this year’s ceremony. The “Ambassador Award” was given to Tracy Fullerton, professor and Director of the University of Southern California Game Design program. Bethesda’s Todd Howard won a “Lifetime Achievement Award” for his work with The Elder Scrolls and Fallout franchises. And finally, Markus “Notch” Persson, the creator of Minecraft, was praised with the “Pioneer Award.”
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged GDC 2016, Her Story, Life Is Strange, Ori and the Blind Forest, Rocket League, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Xbox Store Today: Hitman, Ori and the Blind Forest Definitive Edition, Cel Damage HD, more
Sneak in, take a gander at today’s Xbox Games Store update, and sneak out…
Agent 47 is back in IO Interactive’s brand new episodic Hitman game for the Xbox One. Today’s release of the “Intro Pack” will reintroduce players to everyone’s favorite assassin with two missions, Contracts Mode, Escalation Mode, and a variety of other content. The story will continue in six expansion packs that IO will release more-or-less monthly throughout 2016.
One of last year’s most popular Xbox One games, Ori and the Blind Forest, will receive an expanded re-release today as Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition. Players will be able to explore new areas, discover new secrets, wield new abilities, and dive deeper into the story.
Also available today are a trio of other titles, all for the Xbox One… Cel Damage HD is a re-release of a cartoonish car combat from the turn of the century, and I’m sure some people will find it surprising that it even exists. MagNets: Fully Charged is an arena game where players have to scoop up rogue maintenance bots and restore order to Polarity City. And Blast ‘Em Bunnies is a first person shooter starring a bunch of deranged rabbits.
More information on all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Hitman, Ori and the Blind Forest
Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture leads with 10 nominations at the 2016 BAFTA Games Awards
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) bestowed some absolutely rapturous acclaim on Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture yesterday. The game, which was developed by The Chinese Room and released exclusively for the PS4, was nominated in ten categories for this year’s BAFTA Games Awards.
Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture will obviously be competing for “Best Game” at the 2016 BAFTAs, and also for “Best British Game,” “Artistic Achievement,” “Audio Achievement,” “Game Innovation,” “Music,” “Original Property,” and “Story.” Two nominations in the “Performer” category (one for Merle Dandridge and one for Oliver Dimsdale) round out its double digit list of accolades.
However, five other games (Fallout 4, Life Is Strange, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Rocket League, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt) are also up for “Best Game” and any one of them could easily steal the spotlight from Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture.
We’ll find out who takes the top prize on Thursday, April 7, when comedian Dara O’Briain returns to host the festivities, which will be televised via Twitch and BAFTA.org. The complete list of nominees in all categories can be found after the break. (more…)
Fallout 4 wins “Game of the Year” at 2016 DICE Awards
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences held their annual DICE Awards ceremony last night, and Bethesda’s Fallout 4 emerged from The Vault to take home “Game of the Year” honors. The expansive open world RPG also won in two other categories, “Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year” and “Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction.” However, it wasn’t a sweep for the post-apocalyptic adventure.
A trio of other games took home three awards last night including Moon Studios’s Ori and the Blind Forest (“Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition,” “Outstanding Achievement in Animation,” and “Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction”), Psyonix’s Rocket League (“Sports Game of the Year,” “Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay,” and the “DICE Spirit Award”), and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (“Outstanding Achievement in Game Design,” “Outstanding Achievement in Story,” and “Outstanding Technical Achievement”).
While the ceremony featured plenty of revelry and merriment, last night’s DICE Awards were also a bittersweet affair as Satoru Iwata was posthumously awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for his distinguished business leadership of Nintendo. And Hideo Kojima, who recently parted ways with Konami after more than three decades with the company, was named to the AIAS’s Hall of Fame.
A complete list of this year’s winners (which also includes Super Mario Maker, Mortal Kombat X, Star Wars: Battlefront, and many more) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Fallout 4, Forza Motorsport 6, Helldivers, Heroes of the Storm, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Mortal Kombat X, Ori and the Blind Forest, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Rocket League, Star Wars: Battlefront, Super Mario Maker, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt nabs eight nominations at 2016 SXSW Gaming Awards
South by Southwest Gaming recently announced the nominees for this year’s SXSW Gaming Awards and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, not surprisingly, has captured the most accolades. CD Projekt’s sprawling RPG is up for eight awards, including “Game of the Year.” It was also nominated for “Excellence in Gameplay,” “Excellence in Art,” “Excellence in Technical Achievement,” “Excellence in Visual Achievement,” “Excellence in Narrative,” “Excellence in Musical Score,” and “Most Enduring Character.”
Competing against Geralt of Rivia for “Game of the Year” is a familiar-looking quartet of games including Bloodborne, Fallout 4, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, and Undertale. Bloodborne was actually a close second to The Witcher 3 with seven nominations.
Who wins at the 2016 SXSW Gaming Awards will be determined in part by a public vote that will hosted by IGN from Monday, February 1 through Friday, February 12. The winners will be announced on Saturday, March 19 at 9:00 PM (Eastern Time) and you can watch it live on Twitch.
The complete list of this year’s nominees can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Batman: Arkham Knight, Bloodborne, Fallout 4, Her Story, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Ori and the Blind Forest, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Rocket League, Splatoon, Star Wars: Battlefront, Superhot, Tabletop Games, The Order: 1886, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt