Saving the Princess looks almost too easy armed with an Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device. But that doesn’t mean we’re not overly excited to play Mari0, a side-scrolling that jams Valve’s brand of teleportation into Nintendo’s NES classic.
Developers at the ominous sounding Stabyourself.net are responsible for Mari0, a mash-up of Super Mario Bros. and Portal, a real game that we’d previously seen as a Dorkly-produced joke video.
Traditionally, I enjoy my breakfast while listening to Ravel and watching the labouring classes hurrying back and forth in the street below. That all changed today. I nearly choked on my toasted muffin as my brain attempted to process the contents of The Binding of Isaac trailer. I had assumed Edmund McMillen’s latest would be an inspiring and moving parable relating to the limits of blind faith and infanticide. Turns out I was wrong. It’s actually about a terrifying Man-Baby refugee from an Aphex Twin video going bonkers in a dark room. I should have known. John talked about the game here and there’s no fresh information to digest along with the trailer. But if you can digest the contents of the trailer itself, you have a steelier stomach than I. All this madness can be yours sometime in September through Steam.
It looks crazy but it just might work. N-Control has opened up preorders for the PlayStation 3 version of its Avenger controller cover, adding levers, pulleys, and other odds and ends to a controller design that’s worked perfectly well for over a decade.
The Avenger is meant to improve controller reaction times, giving players of games like Activision’s upcoming Modern Warfare 3 an advantage over their non-cybernetically enhanced controller using rivals. Ashcraft seemed to like the Xbox 360 version well enough, so maybe this is a thing you would like to have.
If so, you might want to hit up the preorder page quickly; N-Control is only releasing 5,000 units of the $48.99 device this November.
Sega wants in on the Street Fighter IV-led fighting game resurgence. Their entrant? A new version of 2006′s Virtua Fighter 5, Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, scheduled for a downloadable release on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 next summer.
Final Showdown is supposed to include “a full overhaul of Virtua Fighter 5′s mechanics, balance and animations, along with new game modes, new dynamic fighting arenas, a massive collection of customizable character items and new characters added to the roster,” according to a press release from Sega.
The new game will offer an optional simplified controlled scheme, arenas with destructible fences and walls that “are different for every round,” new wall-based combat moves, a new single-player mode, a “responsive one-on-one online battle system”, and 19 characters, “including fan favorite Taka-Arashi from Virtua Fighter 3 and an all-new character, Jean Kujo” along with costumes and character items.
Um… wow. Now, I’m hardly an expert on Aliens videogames, but does anyone else think Colonial Marines looks extremely badass? Sure, plenty of games are set in dark sci-fi locales, and plenty of games have monsters pop out at you… but there’s something about seeing the aliens crawling just out of site, like cockroaches, that’s extremely unnerving… especially when they can kill your teammates in the blink of an eye. I don’t find many horror videogames that scary, but this… this looks genuinely a bit unnerving. Although it could probably use a little more Lance, if you ask me. Thanks to David V. for the tip!
Gary Hudston commissioned three spectacular custom-built Portal 2 levels complete with fresh dialog from the voice of GLaDOS, Ellen Mclain, just to ask his girlfriend to marry him. After watching the glorious spectacle unfold, I’m ready to marry the guy.
Over the course of this three-level marathon of pre-marital proportions, GLaDOS manages to find a way to melt our hearts without, you know, actually melting our hearts. Sadly there’s no reaction video of Stephanie playing through the level, but I’d imagine there were happy tears shed and possibly the odd enthusiastic squeak.
Because that’s what came through on my end. Shut up.
Things That Make Me Happy #2: Good 2-D action-platform games. Also, things that are beautiful — so Atlus’ upcoming Trine 2 game makes me pretty goddamn happy indeed. Every time I hear there’s a new game trailer for it, I wonder, “Could it really be as good-looking as I remember? Nah. I must be remembering it wrong or something.” And then I watch the trailer, and all I can do is try to mop the drool off my keyboard. Seriously, Konami, I would set orphans on fire for you to give these guys a chance at a Castlevania game. Or not set orphans on fire, whichever you’d prefer. Just think about it, okay?
Deathspank will be making a triumphant return to the XBOX 360 at the end of this month, via The Baconing.
The third entry in the downloadable series of quests, laughs and mischief will be available on XBOX Live Arcade on August 31. It’s just one day later than the game’s PSN release date, as part of the PlayStation Network PLAY promotion. Unlike Bloodrayne: Betrayal, it won’t be receiving a lengthy delay because of a timed exclusivity deal or anything like that.
PC and Mac users will also be able to get in on the fun with this release, as its going to be making its rounds to their computerized platforms as well.
If you’ve played the last two games in this very popular series, then you’re surely getting ready for an epic feast. We’re very much the same and have already started getting ready for The Baconing‘s roasting later this month.
Lollipop Chainsaw is the ‘un-deadly’ story of sweet and killer zombie hunter Juliet Starling and her quest to uncover the root of a colossal zombie outbreak. With her wickedly awesome chainsaw in hand, Juliet slices, dices and splits her way through hordes of the undead, but soon realizes the horde is only the opening act to a festival of zombie rock lords determined to kill the chainsaw wielding cheerleader.
Dance Central 2 gets a whole lot more user-friendly with these new features.
While you may think that Gamescom is all about PC strategy titles in which players micromanage the economies of medieval fishing villages, you’d be wrong. Yes, that’s a big part of the show, but don’t forget: Europe also loves dancing. So it’s no surprise, then, to see that Harmonix is here showing off the latest additions to Dance Central 2 for Kinect. Let’s talk about some of those new features on display here in Cologne.
First, there’s the new Dance Battle multiplayer mode. If you tried out the multiplayer in Dance Central, you’ll remember having to swap players in and out, taking turns dancing in front of Kinect one player at a time. Dance Central 2 now supports two-player simultaneous dancing, and the Dance Battle mode is where you can add a competitive elements to your moves.
In Dance Battle, players dance side-by-side to the same song, with occasional call-and-response moments where the screen focuses in on one player and then lets the other see if they can best their moves a moment later. Another interesting part of Dance Battle is what happens halfway through each song. At the midway point, a random collection of dance moves are shown on the screen with varying points levels to give the losing player a chance to get back into the contest outside the main song. It’s sort of like the half-time at a basketball game. Only instead of resting, it’s a minigame. And there’s no basketball. Just dancing.
Anyways, let’s move beyond terrible analogies and onto some other new features. Dance Central 2 looks to be a lot more user-friendly than its predecessor, starting with a revamp of its Break It Down tutorial mode. You can now use voice commands to slow down dance move tutorials that are giving you trouble, skip forward and back between moves in a song, and even record a video of yourself doing a move to compare it side-by-side with the in-game character. Voice commands can also be used in the main interface as well, giving you the choice between using your arm to swipe through menus or just shouting at your Kinect when you’re not too out of breath after finishing a particularly grueling dance number.
Harmonix also took the time to reveal some new songs coming to Dance Central 2. The big new, of course, is that Lady Gaga makes a return with “Born This Way.” After that you have the likes of David Guetta (“Sexy Chick”), Daft Punk (“Technologic”), Flo Rida (“Club Can’t Handle Me”), and Gnarls Barkley (“Run”) plus a bunch more of various genres and geographical origins. Whatever your musical tastes, you can expect Dance Central 2 to arrive OCtober 25.