December 18, 2015

COLECO Chameleon: a rebranding of RETRO VGS into a COLECO comeback


Posted on December 18, 2015 by Erika

Fans new and old of the ColecoVision will probably be surprised to hear that a new cartridge-based system in partnership with Retro Video Game Systems, Inc will be coming out in early 2016. Dubbed the COLECO Chameleon, the system will be capable of playing classic games, and is also noted for being able to play new releases in 8-bit, 16-bit-, and 32-bit styles, which are still quite popular formats with adult gamers today. In a day of age where games are played on discs or flash cards, having a new cartridge-based system will be quite interesting to see that isn’t just a rehash of old systems released like the Sega Genesis or Atari 2600.

While information is still somewhat scant, it’s going to be demoed at the Toy Fair New York 2016, February 13-16. Upon some digging from their Twitter @RETROVGS, RGS had an unfunded Indiegogo campaign for a “RETRO VGS” system which looks quite similar to the now upcoming COLECO Chameleon, not only in design, but also it’s aim for a cartridge-based gaming system. With that said, this current console project looks to be a re-tooling of their previous attempt at doing a game system.

Going off of that, it wouldn’t be too far off to guess that the specifications will be quite similar to the following listed from that Indiegogo page:Read More


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Rainbow Six Siege Free Weekend Starts Today


Posted on December 18, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

Rainbow Six Siege

Ubisoft recently brought back the Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six franchise with the release of Rainbow Six: Siege earlier this month for Windows PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Now they’re giving PC gamers the chance to try out the multiplayer centric take on the long running series with a free weekend that just kicked off on Uplay.

Alongside the free weekend for Siege, and a heavily discounted price (25%) off the full game, Ubisoft has also begun their Holiday Sale. It looks like your wallet is the objective and every major publisher is using their best tactics to reach their goal. Its been awhile when we can say that you could try out two of the year’s newest shooters for free.

We published rather exhaustive impressions of the game’s closed beta back in October when that went live. If you want to get a sense of how the game plays before committing to the massive download you can check those out.

Also here’s a partial list of the discount Ubisoft has on offer:

  • Assassins Creed: Liberation – $11.99 CDN
  • Serious Sam HD: First & Second Encounter – $4.00 CDN Each
  • Not A Hero – $10.99 CDN
  • Killer Is Dead -$4.00 CDN
  • Escape Dead Island – $4.00 CDN
  • Dead Rising 3: Apocalypse Edition – $20.00 CDN
  • Remember Me – $6.00 CDN
  • Tomb Raider GOTY – $7.50 CDN
  • Witcher III + Both Expansions – $51.99 CDN

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Origin Launches Holiday Sale – Includes Several Huge Games


Posted on December 18, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

With just seven days until Christmas Day it is no surprise that publishers are rolling out some great deals on some of this year’s hottest games as well as excellent releases from years past. Electronic Art’s Origin service pulls the trigger on this year’s sale ahead of competitor Valve. They’re not only offering some fantastic prices on some of our favorite games like Dragon Age: Inquisition and the entire Mass Effect trilogy but also the lowest price I’ve ever seen for Battlefront, and that game is only a month old.

The hype for The Force Awakens is very real and with that film being officially released today I’m sure Star Wars: The Old Republic will experience an influx of some fresh players. Despite the game going the dreaded free-to-play route several years ago it still provides an excellent Lvl 1 – 50 experience for free to all players. If you’re an MMO player I would heavily consider the Old Republic bundle available on Origin during the holiday sale: You gain access to all 3 paid expansions, 60 days of game time and a whole bunch of Cash Shop credits for the price of two months’ subscription time. Maybe it’s time to pick the light saber back up!

Here’s a full list of deals:

Deals on Full Games

  • Star Wars: Battlefront – $39.99 USD
  • The Sims 4 Standard – $19.99 USD
  • Battlefield 4: Premium Edition – $19.99 USD
  • FIFA 16 – $29.99 USD
  • Dragon Age: GOTY Edition – $29.99
  • Mass Effect Trilogy – $14.99 USD
  • SimCity Standard – $9.99 USD
  • Titanfall Standard – $9.99 USD
  • Need For Speed Rivals: Complete – $9.99 USD
  • Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare Deluxe – $9.99 USD

Deals on Subscription Based Games

  • Star Wars The Old Republic – $29.99 USD
    • Includes:
    • 60 Day Subscription
    • Access to all three expansions – Rise of the Hut Cartel, Shadow of Revan and The Fallen Empire
    • 1050 Cartel Coins
    • Exclusive Pet Mount

Deals on DLC / Add-Ons

  • Dragon Age Inquisition: Trespasser – $9.99 USD
  • The Sims 4: Outdoor Retreat – $14.99 USD
  • The Sims 4: Spa Days – $14.99 USD
  • The Sims 4: Get To Work – $19.99 USD
  • Battlefield: Hardline Deluxe Edition Upgrade – $7.49 USD

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Try Black Ops III Multiplayer For Free On Steam This Weekend!


Posted on December 18, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

Black Ops III

If you’re in the mood for some fast paced futuristic Call of Duty multiplayer but don’t feel like shelling out $60 for the privilege of ranking up your custom soldier, thanks to Treyarch and Valve, you don’t have too. From now until 1PM PST on Sunday the Multiplayer component of Call of Duty: Black Ops III is free for all Steam users.

This free weekend was originally confirmed via Treyarch’s official twitter account before appearing on the Steam Store front page:

In terms of installation size you’re looking at a 29GB install to try out Black Ops III – so if you’re on capped internet this might be a bit of a behemoth to download just for 48 hours of free access. Wondering whether or not your rig is powerful enough to run the game? Here are the official recommended specs:

MINIMUM:

    • OS: Windows 7 64-Bit / Windows 8 64-Bit / Windows 8.1 64-Bit
    • Processor: Intel® Core™ i3-530 @ 2.93 GHz / AMD Phenom™ II X4 810 @ 2.60 GHz
    • Memory: 6 GB RAM
    • Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 470 @ 1GB / ATI® Radeon™ HD 6970 @ 1GB
    • DirectX: Version 11
    • Network: Broadband Internet connection
    • Storage: 60 GB available space
    • Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

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Street Fighter V Officially Heading To Steam OS


Posted on December 18, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

Fans of Capcom’s upcoming fifth installment of the Street Fighter franchise will have an additional choice when it comes to platforms to play on. No, this newly approaching challenger isn’t Microsoft’s Xbox One but rather Valve’s own Steam OS.

You might have missed this news since it was buried in the official announcements section of the Steam community for Street Fighter V. Not only will the game becoming to the fledgling OS but it will also support the Steam Controller as well. Users who have pre-ordered the game on Steam can try out the next beta from December 18th  through the 20th.

Here’s the full announcement:

Hey everyone. I’m excited to announce that Street Fighter V will be officially supporting Steam OS! We are working closely with Valve on this endeavor, and will have more details to announce in the near future, so stay tuned for updates.

Street Fighter V will also support the Steam controller, and you’ll be able to try that out right away during the upcoming beta test that takes place from December 18~20.


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Steam winter sale to begin December 22nd


Posted on December 18, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

DAM YOU PAYPAL YOU SPOILED IT

this image appears to tell us when it starts.

Valve has a horrid track record of concealing literally anything from anyone ever, so it really ought not to come as a surprise that the time and some details of the next steam sale have been revealed. Shacknews broke the story that an image had leaked out of a PayPal advertisement telling the public the date of the start of the sale.

We also know there will be no flash sales again, just as with the autumn sale just a few short months ago. I however think this is a good thing, as the sale is quite broken when everyone just waits for the lowest price. I actually wrote about that very thing  recently and personally im quite all right with the new format.

 


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Team Fortress 2 adds massive update


Posted on December 18, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

Sometimes it can be easy to forget that before all the Overwatch hype, before Paladins, before Destiny, there was a little game called Team Fortress 2. Well Valve hasn’t forgotten. In fact they have decided to keep updating this little game that could in their newest addition the “tough break” update. TF2 has rarely gone a year with out major new additions and it seems that 2015 is not to be that year. The game has a large healthy player community, and its nice to see that Valve is still showing it some love.

Read More


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Kojima: “I will still make big games”


Posted on December 18, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima remains intent on making “big games” in the wake of his departure from Konami, a task that he feels is his “role in this world.”Kojimas eyes so intesnse

In a new interview with the New Yorker, Kojima revealed he considered taking a year-long trip to a deserted island after leaving Konami under reportedly less-than-amicable terms. He has decided to keep making games after sharing the plan with an unnamed ” Hollywood friend” who suggested he instead keep working.

“Hearing that affirmed to me that my role in this world is to keep on making big games for as long as I can,” Kojima said. “That is the mission I’ve been given in life.”

Despite this, Kojima suggested earlier this week that the first project from his new studio, Kojima Productions, could be “smaller-scale.” Following whatever that first game turns out to be, the studio “could consider movies, animations, anything.” I think this is a good thing honestly, lets let him get his legs under him as an independent studio find and work with good talent, and then we can ask for another epic.  In the new interview, Kojima seemed to be happy with the flexibility that being independent provides.

“When working in big companies, especially Japanese companies, every little thing has to be approved beforehand, and you need paperwork to do anything, Now that I’m independent, I can do what I want with much more speed. I don’t need to invest time in unnecessary presentations. I shoulder the risk.” this idea fascinates me, Japanese business culture is very structured and rigid, but will Kojima’s new studio be more fluid and flexible, or will he ultimately fall back on the ways of traditional Japanese style development?

It seems that at least for new Kojima is quite content to even have the right to say what ever he wants as he said regarding Konami as a company  “When I was in a company, my personal statements could be taken as the overall direction of the company, as such, I couldn’t say just anything.”

Konami has said they intend to keep making Metal Gear games, so it’s unclear if Kojima was commenting directly on his former employer, but this shift is brought up by the New Yorker, which then quotes Kojima as saying, “If you’re only focused on the profits immediately in front of you, the times will leave you behind. It becomes impossible to catch up again.”

Sony announced earlier this week that it’s partnering with Kojima Productions on its first game. That title will debut on PlayStation 4 before later being released for PC.


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Psyonix has made over 50 million on Rocket League


Posted on December 18, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

Developer Psyonix’s amazing super powered ultra fast sports racing car game is crazy fun. Dont belive me? Read my review or check my steam library and see all the play time. However it also seems that at least according to the Wall Street Journal its also crazy profitable.  In an interview with the WSJ Psyonix said ““Rocket League” has raked in nearly $50 million in revenue and amassed more than 8 million registered players since its July launch on PC’s and Ps4s”

This is pretty unprecedented for an indie game from a small studio with out a backing by a major publisher. the report also details how Psyonix spent over two years and a figure close to two million dollars to develop Rocket League. That figure is quite large for a studio considered by many to be an “indie”. When asked how they manged studio founder Dave Hagewood said ” “We paid the bills by working on some of the biggest games in the industry,  including Mass Effect 3 and Gears of War.”

Perhaps most interesting is that the article also tell us that the most recent addition to Rocket league, the famed deloran of Back to the Future, was not something Psyonix sought out. Rather Universal (the studio that owns the property) came to them and said we want to work one of our properties in to your game, lets get a deal made.  Hagewood added, “It didn’t really sink in until they told me they had to get Steven Spielberg’s approval.”  and when it comes to additions to an already existing great game the hits just keep on coming for Psyonix. Since adding the Delorian, Psyonix has done a deal with Bethesda to add the Vault Boy from Fallout 4 to the game, and more recently it added a pile of holiday goodies through an update that includes antlers, Christmas trees, and Snow Day, an unranked three-on-three play style that trades the giant soccer ball for a giant hockey puck.

No doubt there are many more planned additions to this already amazing game, and I personally cant wait to see what Psyonix has up their sleeve.


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