State of Decay was launched on Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360 this week, hitting two days ago, and has already become the 2nd fastest selling XBLA game in history, right behind Minecraft.
The sandbox Zombie Survival Game was developed by “Undead Labs”, as a prelude to an upcoming zombie survival MMO created by World of Warcraft co-creator and ArenaNet founder Jeff Strain. It sold over 250,000 copies in just two days. Compare that to Minecraft, which holds the #1 spot by selling a record-breaking 400,000+ downloads in the first 24-hours on XBLA. The game costs $20 or 1600 Microsoft Points, and is coming soon for PC.
Here is what State of Decay developer Undead Labs had to say about this Achievement:
“We didn’t have a physical copy to load onto shelves, no worldwide multimedia push, no studio reputation with millions of followers. All we had was what we believed was a great game and a great community. And make no mistake, a solid game is not enough, not in 2013. Plenty of great games wither away in obscurity. This train got rolling because you got out and pushed.”
State of Decay is a sandbox zombie survival game that focuses on survival, stealth, evasion, base-building and other features including a survival community, creating distractions, securing resources and quickly moving through the vast open world… All of this takes precedent over actually fighting zombies.
Base building is a big component of the game, and players have the ability to pick a specific location to be their homebase, which they can then fortify against the zombie hordes with various structures to build and place, including Workshops, Medical Bays, Kitchens, Watchtowers, Gardens, Barricades and Sleeping Quarters. Building up your base not only helps you defend against zombies, but also helps other survivors keep alive, allowing them to recover quicker, and gives you access to new tools and structures. You can even build vehicles.
To keep yourself alive, you’ll also have to eat, drink, find shelter, conserve ammo, and construct items out of various materials. Most of these materials will be claimed by grouping with other survivors and raiding local abandoned markets for supplies. Although you can even grow your own food! Besides raiding, you can trade food and resources with other survivors or NPCs, in exchange for equipment you need, food, ammo and the like. You can also rescue other AI survivors and have them join your team. At which point you can give them new commands and have them loot for you, find new base locations, etc. Build your relationship with these NPCs high enough and you can unlock them as playable characters.
There’s a lot more to the game, and it sounds pretty awesome. I wonder though how long it will take for people to get tired of zombies though… I’m already tired of the theme myself.
Tekken Revolution is coming exclusively for PlayStation Network on PS3 on Tuesday, June 11th, 2013.
The game was revealed via a GameSpot trailer, and although no actual gameplay footage was shown, we did get to see video of Tekken characters Paul, Bryan, Kazuya and Lars, which means they will be in the game.
What we don’t know is what exactly the game is. Is it a fighting game? Or could it be the Japanese Mobile Game Tekken Card Tournament TCG (Trading Card Game). This is a digital TCG free-to-play competitive card game that has yet to make it to the West.
It makes more sense that Tekken Revolution is the American version of that mobile card game but for a console… We’ll find out soon!
Looks like… Tekken!
Update:
It is indeed a fighting game and not a card game (or so it seems), a fighter in which players are able to level-up their characters (a first for the Tekken series) and increase key attributes including Strength, Endurance and Vigor, as they win matches against the AI in Arcade Mode, or against human opponents in Online Ranked and Player matches. New “Special Arts” and “Critical Arts” moves have been added, and players start the game with a core group of eight iconic Tekken characters, including: King, Paul, Lili, Marshall, Asuka, Steve, Alisa, and Lars. Although more characters can be seen fighting in the footage, such as Jack. Additionally the game seems to have a new graphical outline style similar to what’s been seen before in other recent fighters.
One assumes that more characters unlock after you defeat a certain number of opponents or the like. Also while the game is free-to-play, there is no mention of whether or not players will have to pay microtransactions to unlock certain new items, equipment, clothing, characters, or the like. But the fact that they are saying it’s “free-to-play” is… interesting. Could the aforementioned Card Game be included as part of this package? We’ll have to wait and see.
Here is the official Tekken Revolution Press Release:
Crafted by NAMCO BANDAI Games’ internal TEKKEN development team, TEKKEN REVOLUTION provides fighting game fans and newcomers alike the hard-hitting gameplay of the famed franchise. Choose from an initial cast of eight iconic TEKKEN characters to train and battle against AI opponents in Arcade Mode or take on fearsome human rivals spanning the globe through online Ranked and Player Matches. The game also features new bone-crunching Special Arts and Critical Arts moves designed to help newcomers deliver hard-hitting attacks and advanced players to employ new strategies with their favorite fighters. For the first time in TEKKEN history players will be able to level-up their characters, increasing three key attributes; Strength, Endurance and Vigor, to create a combatant tuned to individual play styles. Develop a defensive tank character with high HP to withstand knockout blows while offense focused players can create a damage-inflicting character with low health but high critical hit rates to devastate opponents with a flurry of attacks.
The XboxOne Reveal Event was the biggest, most watched event in Xbox history, and rivaled some of the biggest events that streaming partner Akamai had ever put on… Bigger even than their Election 2012 Romney vs Obama coverage, the Royal Wedding in 2011 and the 2010 Soccer World Cup!
Here is the entire Microsoft XboxOne Announcement Reveal Event Video:
All in all, over 8.5 million people watched the XboxOne reveal event within 24 hours, tripling the viewers of previous most-watched event in Xbox.com history.
Naturally, Xbox.com saw the highest amount of concurrent viewers ever. To quote:
“The XboxOne Reveal event had almost three times as many people watching the livestream at the same time, versus any other major event in Xbox.com history.”
Akamai stated the following:
“The XboxOne event was among the most watched live broadcasts delivered by Akamai in their history, nearly doubling peak traffic records and eclipsing concurrent viewership high-water marks set by events such as the 2010 World Cup, Royal Wedding in 2011, and 2012 election night.”
So in short, it was a HUGE and extremely popular event for Microsoft, one of their biggest of all time. Of course, how much of that turned into negative energy and how much of it was positive? That’s the real question.
Tippi of Africa. Ever seen a real life wild child little girl who rides elephants, sleeps with lions, plays with snakes, rides ostrich and hugs frogs? Meet Tippi Degre, a French white girl who grew up and was raised amongst the native black Africans and became part of their culture (at least, this is what I can assume from the webposting. I have not looked at the book yet).
She was born into a world that lives amongst wild animals as if they were domesticated. And as such, she learned how to play and interact with them on a level regular humans can never realize. The photos of her are stunning, and she claims that she can speak to animals and hear them, and that they understand her. It is known that animals have a language all their own, and the Bible says they will bow to Christ and know who He is. I find that a fascinating fact. Some quotes of her, a little girl in most of these pictures but now 23-years-old (you can see a few adult photos of her too), quotes her saying things like, “I don’t have friends here. Because I never see children. So the animals are my friends.”
Enjoy the photos and definitely check out her book. I definitely will.
Xbox One Games (XboxOne as I like to call it) will be plenty, as Microsoft confirmed during their Xbox 720 Reveal Show that a whopping 15 Xbox One exclusive videogames are in development. Of those fifteen, eight are all-new franchises or all-new IP! Which is fantastic news for those of us who are not yet sold on the XboxOne.
Of course, the real question is whether or not any of these 8 new Xbox One games will be compelling software or of the Kinectimals/Kinect Star Wars mold. That is, games that will not satisfy the hardcore.
However Microsoft is banking big on the Xbox One, so while one or two games may be casual, I’d be surprised if the majority are not games that appeal to hardcore gamers.
Pokemon FPS!? A Pokemon First Person Shooter? NOPE! It is simply a new Pokemon X&Y Screenshot showing off the Trainer’s hand as they throw the Pokeball to catch a Pokemon!
Seeing this however fills people with hope… The hope that ONE DAY, we will see a Pokemon FPS!
Here are all the main human characters in Pikmin 3!
Pikmin 3 was the definite highlight of the Nintendo Direct May 17th 2013 video conference, and Nintendo CEO and President Satoru Iwata showcased a bunch of new details about the game. He also revealed that the Pikmin 3 release date in Europe will be on July 26 2013. It hits America a week or so later on August 4 2013.
First of all, the three playable human characters that replace Captain Olimar and Louie from Pikmin 1 and Pikmin 2 were revealed and named. They are: Brittany (pink-colored) (the first and only female), Alph (blue-colored) and Captain Charlie (the green-colored leader). In the game you can control all three characters at once and can switch between them at will. This greatly expands your ability to multi-task and accomplish many different things at once and expands on the strategic gameplay of Pikmin exponentially.
Nintendo revealed that the new humans crash land on the planet (seemingly in separate places initially as well). This is where they meet the Pikmin, and discover that the land contains nutritious fruit scattered about. Their mission is now to collect food, specifically Fruit, so that they can survive as they explore the rest of the planet. However their ultimate goal is to send back the fruit seeds extracted from the Fruit they’ve collected to the starving people on their homeplanet of Koppai. That way they can make their home planet bloom with new food resources thanks to the many Seeds they’ve found. One of the fruits shown was a giant strawberry.
The puzzles in Pikmin 3 will also be more elaborate and complex than before, with new puzzles around every bend. For example to drop the strawberry from it’s branch, you’ll need to throw enough Pikmin at it in order to pull the Strawberry down to the ground. While on the planet, they employ the use of the planet’s native Pikmin creatures to help them carry their newfound Fruit back to base and help them defeat the enemies that they encounter along the way.
The game even features an all-new mechanic (and collection feature?) where the Fruit found can be turned into juice after the seeds are extracted from it. The astronauts need the juice in order to keep them alive… Or something like that. It sounds like you cannot continue if you run out of juice. And there are many different juices to collect (and possibly combine?) as shown in the video.
Like in previous Pikmin games, you have a limited-amount of time to explore the planet during the daylight hours, and you must successfully get all your Pikmin into your spaceship at home base before nightfall, or your Pikmin will be eaten.
Pikmin 3 however is much more accessible to newcomers than previous games and you can choose to replay any day again or revert to the beginning of the day if you feel like you could do better.
There is no limitation in terms of the days and the time you have to explore them, time only runs out for that day. Making it less frustrating than previous games and more steamlined, but just as deep. The more you play, the better you’ll get at mastering the game and becoming more efficient in Pikmin management, learning the lay of the land, and beating it in a quicker time with less lost Pikmin.
As in past games, players will also be challenged to beat the game with a quicker time and with less lossed Pikmin and the like (hopefully with in-game Achievements to unlock too). So challenging your own score and the score of others will definitely be a fun competitive aspect of Pikmin 3. It’s unknown at this time whether or not Pikmin 3 will include online play or online leaderboards, but it will support MiiVerse, so you will be able to share your high scores with friends and strangers in that way at least, and likely tap into tips and comments from other players at specific points if you want.
View the video above yourself to see all the new details as explained by Iwata.
In addition to the new Rock Pikmin (gray) and Winged Pikmin (Pink), players will also have a number of new strategic ways to play and control the game.
You can use the GamePad, which is called the “KopPad” in the game, to see a map of the entire land that you’ve explored so far. The KopPad helps you to easily locate all three of your characters as well as see a detailed lay of the land and what exactly your Pikmin are up to. This allows you to more easily manage your Pikmin and accomplish several goals at once. Be it breaking down a wall, defeating an enemy, sprouting new Pikmin to grow your ranks or carrying important items back to base. You can even use the touchscreen on the GamePad to draw paths for your characters and Pikmin to go.
If you desire, Pikmin 3 supports Off-TV Play, allowing you to play Pikmin 3 entirely on the GamePad. Controller-wise, you also have many different control schemes to choose from, each of which offers different unique ways to play and ease-of-use for different aspects.
The main and preferred method from Nintendo’s standpoint is to play using the Wii Remote & Nunchuck, which allows you to easily point your Pikmin using the Wiimote pointer, and throw them using motion control. However you can also play using just the GamePad, or just the WiiU Pro Controller, or a combination of those controllers plus the GamePad.
You can even use the WiiU Gamepad as a sort of monitor, by propping it up on the GamePad Stand and keeping it next to your TV instead of holding it. Which is a cool and welcome feature.
We’ll still learn more about Pikmin 3 as it’s release date approaches, including details on the Challenge Mode and multiplayer modes in the next Nintendo Direct closer to E3 2013.
I can’t wait for this game! It looks absolutely amazing and you can tell that Nintendo has really, really expanded on the gameplay and the fun that Pikmin offers, with a much deeper gameplay system using the three characters, more Pikmin to collect and use, a much larger world and many more things to collect and unlock. Hopefully Pikmin 3’s rep will grow exponentially with this release and turn it into a bonafide system seller, AAA Nintendo franchise. Previously it was kinda/sorta niche, but I think it’s came into it’s own now with this third installment. Much like GTA3 did compared to the very niche and less-played previous GTA games.
A collection of new hit Game Gear titles are headed to 3DS eShop.
The Game Gear Collection available to download via Nintendo 3DS eShop will grow exponentially by 13 new games in the coming months announced Nintendo via their May 17th Nintendo Direct video presentation.
A whole slew of hit Game Gear titles are coming soon. You can view the whole list below. To date, only three Game Gear games have been released for the 3DS Virtual Console (all of them hit the store on March 15 2012), they include: The action game “Shinobi”, the hit platformer “Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble” and the Rogue-like RPG “Dragon Crystal”.
Upcoming 3DS Game Gear Virtual Console Game Releases Via eShop Include:
1. Crystal Warriors
2. Columns
3. Shining Force II: The Sword of Hajya
4. Defenders of Oasis
5. Sonic Blast (Already available in Europe)
6. Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
7. Sonic Drift 2
8. G-Loc Air Battle
9. Tails Adventure
10. Sonic the Hedgehog
11. Sonic the Hedgehog 2
12. Sonic Laybrinth (Already available in Europe)
13. Vampire: Master of Darkness
Such a classic system!
Dragon Crystal cost $3 and was originally released on 1992 (the Game Gear version being a port of the Master System game from 1990). Shinobi costs $4 and was originally released in 1991. Last up is Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble, it costs $5 and was originally released in 1994 (called “Sonic & Tails 2” in Japan).
So as you can see, the price of Virtual Console Game Gear games differs depending on the perceived popularity of the title itself. Dragon Crystal is not well known and is a niche Rogue-like-style RPG, so it only cost $3. Shinobi is a well-known brand to gamers and Sega fans, so it cost $4. Whereas Sonic is a popular character so Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble will likely sell the best of the trio on brand-name alone, so it cost $5. So far the pricing of Game Gear games lands between $3-5, so don’t expect to have to pay much for the upcoming games listed below.
It’s great to see more classic Game Gear releases for 3DS eShop. Especially since some of these have been marked as “coming soon” for the past year! Either way, this is definitely some welcome, good news for retro game fans like myself!
The Wonderful 101 will be released exclusively for WiiU on September 15th 2013 in America and in Europe a month earlier on August 23rd.
This title has been long-awaited and was one of the first games revealed for the WiiU, being developed by Platinum Games, the makers of Beyonetta, MadWorld, Okami and other critically acclaimed, artistic titles. It was originally supposed to hit at launch, but was eventually delayed beyond the launch window to the end of Summer, and now into the Fall for America.
The gameplay looks awesome!
A very cool new logo was revealed for the game which you can see above. Check out the trailer too if you haven’t seen it before! The Wonderful 101 is somewhat similar to Pikmin, but like previous Platinum Games GameCube title Viewtiful Joe (made by the guys who went on to form Platinum back when they worked for Capcom); The Wonderful 101 has an interesting Superhero theme and vibe, where you control an entire group of superheroes! Over 100 of them, as the title suggests. They then combine their powers to take down enormous foes and pull off super attacks!
It looks pretty awesome, and is definitely an interesting, unique title to add to the growing WiiU library of hits and AAA titles. Now let’s hope it sells well!
New Super Luigi U will be hitting physical stores as a WiiU packaged product on August 25th for $30, for those players who want to play the game but don’t yet own (or already sold, or don’t have online access) their copy of New Super Mario Bros. U.
If that’s the case, then you’ll definitely want to think about picking up the full retail version!
This version of the game will be exactly the same as the digital version, but it will cost $10 more and will come in a snazzy, green-colored Wii U retail box that’s been Luigi-branded and includes a physical instruction book, case and disc, instead of simply being a digital DLC product.
Of course, you can still download the game if you own New Super Mario Bros. U when it releases as downloadable content on June 20th. If you go the DLC route, you’ll only pay $20 to get New Super Luigi U, which re-imagines all 82 levels of the game with harder difficulty and has you playing as Luigi! It even adds a new playable character in Nabbit… Who cannot be hurt by enemies! Although Nabbit cannot pick up power-ups either…
The new Nabbit playable character in NSLU!
This new Nabbit character will definitely be a cool option for those players who want to play co-op with a less-experienced player, or a younger family member who won’t have to worry about getting hit if they play as Nabbit. All of these new announcements are to celebrate the “Year of Luigi” in 2013, which is definitely getting a boon with Luigi getting another all-new retail boxed game with this announcement (to add to the already-released “Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon” for 3DS).
It’s worth noting that the retail New Super Luigi U will be released in America on August 25th, but Europe gets it way earlier on July 26th. While Europe will get the digital version on July 20th.
I think this is really cool to see DLC released as a physical product in New Super Luigi U. I dig the fancy new box and I’ll definitely be picking this up to have a physical copy. It’s also worth noting that the physical copy version IS a standalone product and does NOT require New Super Mario Bros. U to play the new Luigi version. Huzzah!
