Today Namco Bandai announced that they will be hosting two panels at Wondercon later this month which will take place from March 29th to March 31st in the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.
The first panel will be for Tales of Xillia which will occur on March 29th from 3 to 4 PM in room 207BCD. This panel will feature Tales series producer Hideo Baba as well as the game’s lead English voice actors who will discuss their interpretations and inspirations for Jude Mathis and Milla Maxwell.
Interestingly enough, it is worth noting that the press listing did mention that Tales of Xillia would be released in the Summer, making it the first release window for the game outside of 2013.
Anyways, the second panel is for the already released Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 which will be held on March 30 from 4 to 5PM. The room will remain the same and it will feature CyberConnect2 boss Horishi Matsuyama who will give fans in attendance a special inside look at the franchise’s future as well as make a special Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 announcement.
Besides these panels, Hideo Baba and Horishi Matsuyama will also be available to sign autographs at various times at Namco Bandai’s booth.
Hey Canada! It’s supposed to be spring! You’re supposed to get warmer, not colder! Oh well, another excuse to stay indoors and play video games, right?
Bear with me. This is going to be a long section for Steam. This week, Steam is running an Ubisoft themed weekend for their Daily Deals along with knocking down the price of many Ubisoft titles. For those unwilling to wade into the hellhole known as SimCity’s DRM, check out Ubisoft’s reformed DRM title Anno 2070 for %66 off. Ubisoft stripped out almost all of the unpalatable DRM restrictions and have changed it to a 3 activation limit with an activation returned every month. The futuristic game is a city builder with some combat elements. City builder fans who are looking for something a little more serious in tone than Tropico 4 should definitely check out Anno 2070. All of the DLC except Deep Ocean can be easily skipped as they are mostly game shortcuts mixed with special unit skins. Deep Ocean on the other hand is a fully blown expansion pack.
Three smaller Ubisoft titles is today’s deal. I Am Alive is also 66% off. Originally released on the consoles as a downloadable title, I Am Alive tried to implement some new and interesting gameplay ideas that ultimately didn’t do so well. Adventure game From Dust is 75% off. The game was released to a lot of praise for its creativity when it was released. Finally Rayman Origins is 66% off. The game is a return to Rayman’s 2d platforming roots packaged in modern look. If I had to choose between the three, I’d probably choose Rayman or From Dust as the game to buy.
Steam has a large list of games on its week long sales this week. RPG Arcania, platformer Cargo Commander, the DLC for free to play strategy game Frontline Tactics, turn based strategy game Endless Space, co-op FPS Left 4 Dead 2, trippy rollerblading game Jet Set Radio, F1 racing sim F1 2012, and kart racer F1 Race Stars are all on sale this week. I highly recommend purchasing Left 4 Dead 2 and Jet Set Radio. They are slightly older, but excellent titles. Left 4 Dead 2 has support for Steam Workshop now which really extends its life.
Finally, Steam wraps up their giant list of sales this week with two weekend deals. Ace of Spades has a free to play weekend and is also on sale for 50%. The game is the result if Team Fortress 2 and Minecraft had a love child. Considering the game is a free weekend, I highly recommend downloading it and giving it a try before purchasing. Also, thanks Jagex. I have now had the song Ace of Spades stuck in my head for the last two weeks because of your trailer, jerks. The adventure game Little Inferno is on sale for 60% off. The game is simultaneously on sale on iTunesfor $0.99. So if you are ok with using an iPad, you’ll probably be better off snagging the iOS copy.
I wasn’t kidding when I said Steam Sales was a long section. But alas, there are more vendors than just Steam selling games. Greenman Gaming’s 20% off coupon expired today, but there are a ton of indieand EA games on sale this weekend. Sort of a David meets Goliath weekend. Particular titles to note are Crysis 3 and Dead Space 3 which are both %33 plus an additional $4.00 instant cash back or $5.00 store credit. This is one of the best prices for Dead Space 3. However, if you’re looking for Crysis 3, I highly recommend getting a 50% off coupon at the Crysis Facebook page and using it on Origin.
There is a giant list of indie games on sale. Excellent titles to note include Dustforce, Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, the Cognitiongames, Frozen Synapse, Psychonauts, Trine, and To the Moon. If you plan on playing To the Moon, keep some tissues close by, that game is known to make grown men weep with its touching story. Additionally, if you’re looking to purchase Cognition Episode 2, I highly recommend saving some money and buying the Indie Royale Thoughtful Bundle. You will get the second episode plus a few extra games for less money.
Gamersgate is running a Witcher Weekend. Both The Witcher 1 is 60% off and The Witcher 2 is on sale for 40% off. Although they are both excellent RPG games, the deal is pretty luke warm to pretty crappy. Both games have been seen on sale for 75% off consistently during major Steam sales and elsewhere. The more interesting sale is the group of Paradox Interactive titles on sale for 75% off. Grand strategy game fans are highly recommended to purchase Victoria 2 and its expansion A House Divided. X-Com games are also 50-60% off this weekend including the recent XCOM: Enemy Unknown.
GetGames has a big Adventure Sale. Titles to note include Beyond Good and Evil, Prince of Persia, Quantum Conundrum, Gemini Rue, and Trine. If I could only recommend one title in the whole sale, I would recommend purchasing Beyond Good and Evil. It is one of those cult hit action adventure titles that is finally getting a long awaited sequel.
So, in what has become a standard practice lately, EA and DICE have announced that they have an announcement to make. Neat. Well, they already spoiled their above announcement with the above picture but hey, you don’t know anything about Battlefield 4 besides the fact that it exists.
Of course, saying that EA isn’t going to make a Battlefield 4 is like saying Actvision isn’t going to release a new Call of Duty title this year, which is just crazy. Anyways “a new era of Battlefield” will be unveiled at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco on March 26. That is certainly nifty.
Today Nintendo decided to announce a release date for Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D in both North America and Europe. Gamers in North America can expect the title on May 24th and surprisingly gamers in Europe will be getting the title on May 24th as well.
This port of Donkey Kong Country Returns for the 3DS is being handled by Monster Games which is the company that handled development for PilotWings and something called Excite Truck. As for the original developers, Retro Studios, they are best known for their Metroid Prime Wii series. Then again, since this was once released on the Wii, does the 3DS version have enough appeal to warrant a separate purchase?
Just yesterday the programmer and co-designer for the long quiet Road Rash series started talking about possibly making a new game in the series. Now it seems that the enthusiastic fan response has made Dan Geisler take action.
Speaking with Destructoid, Geisler said that he is “amazed at the level of interest in the remake” and that he feels “this needs to happen.” However another game in the series may not come quite as easily as some think. EA owns the license to the Road Rash name, but Geisler did say that he is “having discussions with my Chief Technology Officer about it now.”
Indie Royale released their new bundle today entitled The Thoughtful Bundle. In celebration of PAX East, all the developers participating in the bundle have some sort of tie to Boston, Massachusetts. The bundle contains Retro Affect’s plaformer Snapshot, the second episode of Phoenix Online Studio’s adventure game Cognition entitled The Wise Monkey, Dejoban game’s base jumping action game AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! – A Reckless Disregard for Gravity, Subatomic Studio’s tower defense game Fieldrunners, and Owlchemy Lab’s driving game Snuggle Truck.
Those who pay more than $8.00 will receive Bright Primate’s album Night Animals. Those who are attending PAX East should go watch Bright Primate’s Concert. Check out the bundle here.
EA has announced 16 launch titles for the new Samsung Galaxy S4. The games range from free to play titles like The Simpsons: Tapped Out and Real Racing 3 to premium titles like PopCap’s Plants vs. Zombies. “We’re delighted to be partnered with Samsung to bring some of our fans’ favorite mobile gaming titles to the Samsung Galaxy S4 in time for launch,” said Glenn Roland, VP of New Platforms and OEM at Electronic Arts. “The device’s higher resolution, larger screen and increased processing power will give our games an opportunity to look even more beautiful for Samsung consumers.”
Scrabble for iPad received a major update yesterday. The new game has been optimized for Retina displays, improved social features, and better matchmaking features. The paid version of the game includes solo play, four player multiplayer, and the ability to play without a network connection. To celebrate the launch of the new update, the price of Scrabble for iPad has been knocked down to $0.99 until March 20th. Check it out here.
Finally, The Sims Freeplay received a major content update entitled Livin’ Large. The update allows players to create more Sims, access larger lots, provide more career options for their Sims, and some gameplay tweaks to provide a more enjoyable experience. The update has been rolled out for both Android and iOS players. Check out the game on iTunes, Amazon AppStore, or Google Play.
Evelend Games is turning to popular crowd funding site Kickstarter to raise the required funding to bring their upcoming medieval RPG Pixelry to completion. The game is currently in alpha state and the developers are looking to add multiplayer, more mini games, and extra customization options with the funds raised on Kickstarter. The Kickstarter will start on March 19th and the team is looking to raise £23,000. To help bring attention to their Kickstarter project, the Pixelry team has ported one of the mini games to HTML 5 for free here.
Pixelry is a medieval RPG starring a young knight who dreams of winning the heart of the beautiful Princess Arianna and the approval of her father by winning his tournament. Players will work their way from a lowly jouster battling at small tournaments organized by the local taverns to competing in the King’s tournament against the five unbeatable knights. Find out more about Pixelry here.
We have a copy of God Of War Ascension Special Edition to give away courtesy of Sony Computer Entertainment.
Pack contains the following :
Premium steelbook game case
Double XP bonus for multiplayer
Official game soundtrack (digital version)
PS3 dynamic theme and an avatar pack
“God Of War Ascension is the seventh instalment in the God of War series and a prequel to the entire series. Loosely based on Greek mythology, the game will be set in Ancient Greece with vengeance as its central motif. You control the protagonist Kratos, the former servant of the God of War, Ares. Kratos attempts to sever ties with Ares—who tricked Kratos into killing his wife and child—by defeating the three Furies.”
All you have to do to win is to simply answer the following question: “If you were Kratos, how would you deal with Ares after he tricked you into killing your family?” Leave your answer in the comment section below.
A Lucky winner will be drawn at random on March 23rd, 2013. Good luck to you all!
**SPECIAL NOTE**
When you enter please leave a VALID email address so we can notify you if you are the lucky winner.
Welcome back for this week’s iOS Game Suggestions. If you missed last week’s, or are new to the suggestions, click on the link below and check out what cool games you should be picking up for your iOS device along with the introduction on how the suggestions work. (suggestions 1 has how it all works)
A great week on iTunes! As always, it started slow and but ended with a bang! There are many must-buy games this week in all departments, FREE, 99c and over 99c. This week I’ve suggested a total of 18 great quality titles. Make sure you check them all especially… Castle Champions, Heroes Of Destiny, Rolling Hero, NightSky, Le Vamp just to name a few.
Break down below :
11 – FREE Games
2 – $0.99c Games
5 – Over $0.99c Games
As always for this week’s suggestions are all new titles that you should take a look at and consider spending your hard earned iTunes cash / time on. Well the Free games just below certainly should all be given a shot as they won’t cost you anything!
For The Cheapskates – FREE GAMES
MASTERABBOTT’S FREE GAME PICK OF THE WEEK!
Castle Champions – Price : FREE – Publisher – Gamenauts (Build & Battle – experience the addictiveness of tower building meets RPG hybrid gameplay! The coveted honor of being the Castle Champions is up for grabs! Build your castle to house and train an army of mages, paladins, archers, and other warriors to battle in the Amateur & Pro Leagues against other fearsome teams. Manage your castle by housing civilians who must run the restaurants, banks, and other establishments and protect them vigilantly against monstrous invaders.) on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
The Croods – Price : FREE – Publisher –Rovio Entertainment (From the creators of Angry Birds and the creative minds at DreamWorks Animation: a FREE new game based on the upcoming motion picture phenomenon! Meet the world’s first modern family: The Croods! These cavemen are breaking out of the Stone Age with the use of a new r-evolutionary tool: the IDEA! The Croods will Hunt & Gather their way through spectacular new landscapes as they tame fantastic and never-seen-before creatures. Help The Croods survive the wild…and each other!) runs on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Eat Eat Hooray! – Price : FREE – Publisher –The Playforge (Morps are happy creatures that just like to build and eat! But the mischievous Rexputin, renowned dinosaur wizard, has kidnapped all the Morp-izens! Only you remain to rebuild a Morp City and teleport to different worlds where you will save your Morp friends, discover treasure, collect prizes, foil the dinosaur wizard, and more!) runs on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Heroes Of Destiny – Price : FREE – Publisher –Glu Games (Direct a team of heroes with unique skills through a series of intense battles for fame, glory, and epic loot! A mysterious evil known as the Darkness has invaded the Kingdom of Lerona and beyond, corrupting everything in its wake and unleashing chaos. Assemble your hardy group of heroes – champions to battle the hordes of crazed, blood-thirsty monsters that terrorize the kingdom.) runs on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
UNO & Friends – The Classsic Card Game – Price : FREE – Publisher –Gameloft (Playing UNO with friends, family, and the millions of fans worldwide has never been easier! Join one of the largest online mobile gaming communities and enjoy an all-new multiplayer experience, competitive leaderboards and fun customization options that let you shout “UNO!” on a whole new level!) runs on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Electric City: A New Dawn – Price : FREE – Publisher –Jump Games (Your task is to build an urban experiment in a post-apocalyptic age where Earth’s inhabitants are dead-set against making the same mistakes that preceded to the eventual fall of the previous civilization. This is a time when electrical power is not only a measure of the society’s economic and technological development, but transcends in becoming the core social glue, acting as state, religion AND economy. You alone are in charge. Use your instincts, resources and experience to build, power and populate Tom Hanks’ Electric City.) runs on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Shooting Showdown – Price : FREE – Publisher –Naquatic (Experience the game that changed the FPS genre forever. Match up against your friends, your enemies, or anyone in the world in the world’s first virtual reality shooting range!) runs on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Tree World – Price : FREE – Publisher – Playforge Games(Can you grow your tree to the sky and make it a home for adorable critters? From the developers of the hit games Zombie Farm and Zombie Life, The Playforge presents Tree World! DISCOVER over 140 different critters from the adorable Caterpillow to the legendary Nautilus! COLLECT them all! TRADE with friends to complete your collection!) on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Towers & Dungeons – Price : FREE – Publisher –Ravensburger Digital (Build a magic tower high up towards the sky with your minions or dig far down to reach the dungeons in search of the legendary dragons’ home. Explore the world of Eugene – the little green dragon – floor by floor, and help him find his home. Compete with your friends, visit their towers or caves and play lots of pranks with your minions.) runs on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Dragon Story – Price : FREE – Publisher – TeamLava (Hatch, raise, and breed dragons of all colors on magical islands! Raise your dragons from babies to epic adults and breed them to discover rare dragons! Become the best Dragon Caretaker – you could be the first to discover the ultra rare Diamond Dragon!) on iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Match-Up! by Big Fish – Price : FREE – Publisher – Big Fish Games (Lose the wait with Match-Up! by Big Fish and play in FREE, fast paced, real-time casual game tournaments. Are you tired of your friends taking forever to play their turn? Well now you can Match-Up! instantly in a Word, Match-3, or Mahjong game and play LIVE against players all over the world.) on iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
For The Bargain Hunters – 99c Games
Rolling Hero – Price : $0.99 – Publisher – Chillingo (The evil Redman has kidnapped our hero’s girlfriend and you’ll have to turn the world upside down to find her — literally! Roll though snowy regions and scorching volcanoes, rotating each level to solve the puzzle and guide our spherical hero to each portal.) runs on iPad & iPhone. BUY NOW
Super Stickman Golf 2 – Price : $0.99 – Publisher – Noodlecake Studios (20 Dynamic Courses. Never have the links been better looking or as unique as now. Moving obstacles, portals, magnets and more await you on the most creative courses to date. Turn Based Multiplayer. What is better than golfing alone? Why bringing a friend of course. Now you can go head to ahead against all your friends on your schedule with the new Turn Based multiplayer mode. Earn big rewards and even bigger bragging rights.) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
For The Millionaires – All games over $0.99
MasterAbbott’s over 99c Pick Of The Week!
NightSky – Price : $1.99 – Publisher – Nicalis (With varied and beautiful worlds, each is broken into different areas. Use intuitive touch controls to maneuver a mysterious crystal sphere and unlock the mystery. There are no enemies, no bosses and no violence in NightSky. Combining black silhouettes with vibrant colors and beautiful artwork, NightSky will capture your imagination instantly. Roll through picturesque worlds, each with its own atmosphere, environment and personality. Discover its secrets.) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
Blazing Souls Accelate – Price : $13.99 – Publisher – HyperDevbox Japan (Several decades have passed since the end of the Seven years’ war, and peace has finally begun to take hold throughout the war-weary world.
It is in this time of relative tranquility that Zelos, who makes his living as an independent contractor,
comes into possession of a crystal infused with incredible levels of magical energy called a “Core Elemental”
after being involved in a freak accident.) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
Master Of Alchemy – Vengeance Front– Price : $1.99 – Publisher – Forge Reply (Become a true Alchemist using new and peculiar alembics! The environment itself is a tool at your disposal, so that matter can vaporize or sublimate. Will you go for the alchemic cannon to shoot the particles? Or will you transform them, following a different path? There are even special badges for those who can reach their goal using as few tools as possible.) runs on iPad. BUY NOW
Ridiculous Fishing – A Tale Of Redemption– Price : $2.99 – Publisher – Vlambeer (A handcrafted game about fishing with guns, chainsaws & toasters. Follow Billy as he tries to find redemption from his uncertain past. Chase your destiny on the high seas and embark on a heroic quest for glory and gills.) runs iPad & iPhone. BUY NOW
Le Vamp – Price : $1.99 – Publisher – High Voltage Software (It’s a beautiful day and little Le Vamp just wants to go outside and play like any other boy. Of course, most other little boys aren’t Vampires! It’s your job to guide and protect the rambunctious young Le Vamp as he runs through the forest, oblivious to the dangers it contains. Only your quick flicks and taps can protect him from sunlight, running water and deadly foes. Along the way, you can help him gather coins for upgrades, or feed him Blood Pigs to keep him happy and healthy (or as healthy as an undead can be, at least!).) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
There you have it folks these games should keep you busy for quite some time well until next week at least. I’ll be back next week for another dose of iOS goodness, in the meantime if you would also like to suggest your own suggestions, please feel free to share them in the comments section below or in the iOS forum section on the site here.
