This new trend of retro has brought back some useless things, like fedoras, gearless bicycles and sepia photo filtering. But every now and then, we get something good come back to the spotlight, like Queen, vintage cars and most importantly, classic games. Most of us having never stopped treasuring the games that we played as kids, whether it was a Gamecube or the first PlayStation. Nintendo has picked up on this and is bringing some really old styles to the Wii U with Life of Pixel.
Nintendo has already been going this for a while, bringing their old N64 games to the 3DS, with the next one being Zelda: Majora’s Mask. However, they are taking it a step further with Life of Pixel as it will be bring 8-bit back. So whether you are the generation who remembers them the first time round or the younger generation playing them for the first time, Life of Pixel is the game to discover (or rediscover).
Life of Pixel is an epic platform adventure game,with challenging gameplay, fun characters, stunning 8 & 16-bit graphics and a lot of heart. It follows the story of a little green pixel that was tried of being part of the crowd so set off on an adventure. This cute clever game sends you on a journey through video game history, as you have to collect bit-gems to unlock levels, each representing a different classic console from the early Atari 2600 to SNES and more. If you’re interested, but only go for PC games, Life of Pixel has already been release on Steam for a low pirce. Life of Pixel will show you the coolness of console video gaming and the history of where it all began and how it evolved.
Sony is expanding their business to the People’s Republic of China. After a 14 year ban on foreign consoles was officially lifted earlier this year, Chinese gamers will finally be able to get their hands on officially supported PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita units on January 11, 2015. The PlayStation 4 will cost 2,899 RMB and the PlayStation Vita will cost 1,299 RMB. Since this is an official launch, Sony will have an service network in place to service local PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita units.
Over 70 developers and publishers will be supporting the Chinese launch. Some developers are China-based teams, and others are big name multi-national brands like Ubisoft. Ubisoft has revealed a few of the titles they will be launching in China, including Trials Fusion and Rayman Legends.
Techland is rewarding players who pre-order their upcoming parkour based zombie FPSDying Lightwith some neat swag. Those who pre-order can register at the Weapons Dockets site to get a docket every week. Once Dying Lightlaunches, players can trade in these dockets at the quartermaster for top-tier weapons. This promotion will run for the next eight weeks leading up to the game’s launch, so those who pre-order early will get more weapons.
Dying Light is an open world action-survival FPS. Kyle Crane is sent to Harran, a city under quarantine after a zombie outbreak. Now he is trapped with factions fighting tooth and nail to survive the zombies and the power struggles between the survivors. Dying Light launches for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows on January 27, 2015 in North America, January 28th in Australia, and January 30th for the rest of the world.
Ready to start getting the most out of your Season Pass? Well, Activision have just the thing for you. If you own Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and own an Xbox One, you can now download the Havoc weapons pack, adding AE4 the directed energy assault rifle and its custom weapon variant, the AE4 Widowmaker, combine a versatile firing mechanism with all-around movement speed and handling.
Not too shabby at all for those looking to add some futuristic guns to their online or offline experience. You can watch the new trailer for the Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare DLC down below, and expect more content to be approaching in coming months.
Square Enix announced at the recent PlayStation Experience event that, in addition to porting the remastered version of Final Fantasy VII to the PS4, the Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster will also be ported to the PS4. The games will be available digitally in Autumn 2015, with the Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster also receiving a physical release. The Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster, originally released on the PS3 and PS Vita, will feature system-exclusive features that have not yet been revealed.
Final Fantasy VII will be priced at $15.99, while the Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster will be priced at $49.99. It is not clear if the $49.99 price tag is for the physical release as well as the digital release.
For more information about Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster, visit this page. For more information about Final Fantasy VII, visit this page.
Kingdom Hearts is well known for bringing together the hugely popular worlds of Final Fantasy and Disney so Square Enix have released a couple of trailers to show off the best that both franchises bring to the series. The first trailer titled “Disney Worlds Connect” highlights the vibrant Disney cast as they encounter countless dangers and villains in worlds both familiar and new. Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix includes the following Disney worlds for you to explore (look away now if you don’t want spoilers!), Never Land (Peter Pan), Olympus Coliseum (Hercules), 100 Acre Wood (Winnie the Pooh), Pride Lands (The Lion King), Space Paranoids (Tron), Timeless River (Steamboat Willie), Deep Space (Lilo & Stitch), Port Royal (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl) and more.
In the second brand-new trailer titled “Original Characters and Cameos Worlds Connect,” fans can catch a glimpse of the cameos of some of their most beloved Square Enix characters, including Setzer (FINAL FANTASY VI), Aerith, Cloud and Tifa (FINAL FANTASY VII), Squall (FINAL FANTASY VIII), Vivi (FINAL FANTASY IX), Auron (FINAL FANTASY X) and many more. Both trailers are available below for your viewing pleasure and you can pick up Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix now exclusively on the PlayStation 3. You can check out our hands on preview of the product here.
On February 11th 2015, samurai style fighting game ‘Ukiyo No Ryoshi’ will be released for the PlayStation Vita in Japan at a price of 5,800 yen. As it’s a fighting game first and foremost, it is understandable that the story will take a backseat in the game, as players get stuck into the fighting mechanics slicing apart foes accompanied by the Edo period backdrop. However, lets take a look at the main storyline for the benefit of those who wish to know the reason as to why they are maiming enemies at every turn.
You will be playing as a character called Yoshijiro Okita, who is part of the Shinsengumi – a police force who were dedicated to protecting Shogunate representatives during their time in Kyoto. Yoshijiro managed to enlist in the Shinsengumi successfully thanks to his swordsmanship and his ukiyoe skill (a distinctive Edo period drawing style). It was through his art interests that he met his love interest, a fellow artist named Oryu. Predictably, and acting as the catalyst for the story, she is murdered in mysterious circumstances. Yoshijiro then begins his quest to avenge Oryu’s death.
The developers Spike Chunsoft (who are behind the popular series Way of the Samurai) are also releasing a closely related game on the PlayStation 3. Titled ‘Ukiyo No Shishi’, the game will be exactly the same in regards to the setting and gameplay mechanics, but there will be major changes to the storyline and fighting sequences. The release date for the console version will be on January 29th.
Since 1999, Super Smash Bros. has been one of Nintendo’s hottest properties. The love letter to fans in the form of a fighting game has had some of the best gameplay and atmosphere of any game out there and after its triumphant introduction to hand-helds with Super Smash Bros. for 3DS, the game is franchise on consoles with Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Developed alongside the 3DS version, the first ever high definition Smash Bros. game shares a lot with its handheld component, but has more content than you can shake a stick at, and is without a doubt some of the best gaming that the Wii U has to offer.
Gameplay
This is a Smash Bros. game so the basics remain largely unchanged from the original 1999 game. You play as one of Nintendo’s brightly-coloured, hugely popular franchise mascots and pit them against one another in epic combat. Smash Bros. has always managed to differentiate itself from other fighting games in some very real, very notable ways. Firstly, instead of relying on impressive combos or sweeping controller inputs to deal damage to your opponents, Smash Bros. has a simplistic “specials” system. There are two attack buttons, and which directional input you press while tapping them will change what moves you make. There are normal attacks, and specials that draw on the power of the character. So for example, Pikachu has a lot of light attacks where he headbutts his opponent or hits them with his tail, but can sling electric attacks like its nobody’s business. The second major difference between Smash and other fighting games is that outside of a few special modes, it doesn’t use a traditional HP system. Instead, the aim of the game is to knock them off the edge of the map so that they plummet to their death and the more damage you rack up on them, the futher away they will fly, making it harder for them to get back to the safety of the map.
So now we have gotten the basics down, lets talk about Smash Bros. for Wii U specifically. With a staggering roster of 49 characters, this is the biggest Smash Bros game to date. The characters span from the usual mascots like Mario, Link, Samus and Pikachu all the way to some obscure inclusions like Little Mac (from the Punch Out franchise), Shulk (from Xenoblade) and the Wii Fit Trainer. Each character has their own strengths, weaknesses and play styles, and the diversity of the roster leads itself to a near-endless amount of playability, as you can pick a different character every time you play and have a completely different experience.
Smash Bros for 3DS had a couple of game modes to keep players interested, but the level of content is absolutely dwarfed by its bigger brother. While the game’s main focus is the traditional “Smash” battles, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U has an absolute smorgasboard of single and multiplayer game modes to ensure that you will never have a reason to put down that controller.
The biggest addition that the 3DS version of Smash brought to the franchise was the Smash Run. Unfortunately that is not present here on the Wii U, but in its place we have a new game mode known as Smash Tour. Smash Tour operates a lot like Mario Party and has players traversing around a game board and collecting as many fighters as they can. At the end of the game, each of the participating players faces off against one another in a winner-takes-all match, and each of your collected fighters represents one life. I really liked the new Smash Tour mode and the fact that every time I played it was a completely different experience. It is a game mode that lets players of varying skill level to be able to stand on the same stage together.
When you need a break from the fighting, the game features the return of Trophy Rush, Home-Run Contest, and Target Smash as ways to take a breather while still getting your smash on. These are nothing more than mini-games but they do enough to break up the pace of the action while still keeping you iengaged in what’s going on. Many of these help you unlock other characters, trophies, special abilities and other unlockables so there is a purpose to them rather than “just because.”
This particular version of Smash brings a lot to the table, including one thing that no other entry in the franchise has done before: eight player simultaneous brawling. Typically limited to a maximum of four players, the new eight-player smash mode is a huge jump and can lead to some absolutely insane battles. having eight players on screen at one time is chaotic, frantic and almost impossible to keep track of but an absolute blast none the less. This mode is exclusive to couch-multiplayer, showing that Nintendo still cares about the people all sitting around together at home, as opposed to just those playing online.
Speaking of online however, in this day and age online multiplayer is an absolute necessity (the merits of which are a discussion for another time) and unlike Super Smash Bros. Brawl for Wii and Super Smash Bros. for 3DS, the online component of this game is near perfect. While the last two Smash games struggled with lagging and disconnection issue, my online experience with Smash Bros. for Wii U has been nothing short of glamorous. I have suffered close to no lag or dropping out and my matches have felt buttery smooth, especially if I was against someone from the same country.
Visuals & Audio
I am consistently impressed with what Nintendo is able to accomplish with their Wii U hardware and Smash Bros. is no different. This is the series’ first foray into the high definition scene, and it has been pulled off perfectly. Character models are all highly detailed and look as distinct as they play, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. It is no short feat to have 49 different playable characters, each having their own unique look, feel, and movement animations but the developers have done almost magical work in bringing all of these beloved characters to life.
The characters aren’t the only beautiful things in the game. Each serving as homages to Nintendo’s past, present and future, each of the game’s stages look fantastic. Whereas Super Smash Bros. for 3DS’ stages focused on popular Nintendo handheld games like Zelda: Spirit Tracks or Super Mario 3D Land, the Wii U version’s stages take heavy inspiration from the console-specific games that Nintendo has offered. Stages based on Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario Galaxy and even the upcoming Yoshi’s Wooly World are just some of the many stages you will be playing on. Not only are the stages visually distinct from one another and manage to keep the art style and thematic feel of their respective franchise, but they play uniquely to one another and require players to adapt to the nuances of each.
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is a fighting game, so as expected it runs at a buttery smooth 60fps, and an impressive 1080p resolution. The frame rate ensures that you are never throwing the controller away in frustration or screaming that “I pressed that button seconds ago!” while the resolution makes the game absolutely sparky with beauty. I will admit that there were a few times where the frame-rate dropped down for me, but there were REALLY infrequent, probably only happening two or three times during my entire play time and only for less than a second each.
For as great as Smash Bros. looks, it sounds just as good. The characters all sound great and many of them keep their VOs from their respective games. Character voices are one thing, but the real “wow” factor comes from the game’s soundtrack. Just… Wow, I’ve never seen such an amazing compilation of hit game tracks in one place. Be it Cynthia’s theme from Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum/Black/White/Black 2/White 2 (wow she is in a lot of games), or Saria’s Song from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, each piece has been brought into the modern age in and in many cases remastered or remixed to perfection. Each stage has a selection of tracks that players can pick between so that you have control over what music appears when you play.
Overall
This has been a stellar year for Nintendo, and Super Smash Bros. capped it off perfectly. Just about everything in this game is amazing: It has a massive, unrivaled roster, jam packed with game modes to play, looks and sounds beautiful and has a great online component. You will find yourself playing Smash for hours and hours on end, and still not be bored. The game is approachable to anybody yet the nuances of the game lead itself well to competitive playing. While it isn’t as competitive as Melee, it fits neatly in between it and the hyper-casual Brawl, allowing for tonnes of fun without ever getting over the top.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Today Nippon Ichi Software released the first in what will be a series of videos introducing us to the main characters in Disgaea 5 and they have kicked things off with the main protagonist, Killia. Killia is a Dragonewt demon who is seeking revenge against Void Dark, the strongest and evilest demon emperor.
The company has yet to say what happened to him, but the source of his revenge is due to certain events that happened in Killia’s past. You can check out the character introduction below while Disgaea 5 is currently still set to be released in Japan on March 25th for the PlayStation 4.
Last week it was announced that due to strikes, Aksys Games was not going to be able to obtain some of the components needed for Guilty Gear Xrd: Sign‘s limited editions. At the time they stated that the delay would hopefully be a short one and it turns out that that is indeed the case.
Today Aksys Games has confirmed that the Limited Edition versions of Guilty Gear Xrd: Sign will now be released on December 23rd, only a one week delay from the original release of December 16th. Now it is worth noting once again that this delay is only affecting the Limited Edition release of the title and all standard versions will still be available starting on December 16th.
