New game releases.
MONSTER HUNTER: WORLD is Now Available on Steam!
Welcome to a new world!
In Monster Hunter: World, the latest installment
in the series, you can enjoy the ultimate hunting
experience, using everything at your disposal to
hunt monsters in a new world teeming with
surprises and excitement.
Epic have just launched sign-ups for Fortnite on Android. Tim Sweeney made the announcement during Samsung Unpacked, and now you can go to the official website and drop your name (or more precisely, your email) into the hat.
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Seems like Samsung have some kind of semi-exclusive on the beta – initial invites will roll out to anyone sporting a Galaxy S7 or newer, Note 8/9 and Tab S3/S4. According to Pocket Gamer, owners of the Samsung Galaxy S9 or Galaxy Tab S4 will get access to a new outfit.
After Samsung’s turn today, invites will start being emailed out to other users provided you have one of these devices:
The following devices are currently unsupported, but Epic are working on fixes:
The final bit of advice Epic has regarding device compatibility is that provided your phone/tablet meets the following specs, the game might work anyway:
OS: 64 bit Android, 5.0 or higher
RAM: 3GB or higher
GPU: Adreno 530 or higher, Mali-G71 MP20, Mali-G72 MP12 or higher
Whether you’ll receive a beta invite if it’s not a supported device is another matter – you can always try. Signing up for the beta requires you to have an Epic Games account.
Remember because the devs are by-passing the Google Play Store, you will need to install the beta via an ‘Unknown Source’ install.
09 Aug 2018
Guys. GUYS. Nomad Games have snagged another excellent board-game license to port to digital platforms. The Quartermaster General series are fascinating ‘lite’ board wargames that use cards to fuel the action, and revolve around strategic decisions and operations.
Even more important is the concept of supply – all of your armies and navies have to be able to trace an unbroken line of supply through units back to either their home territory, or another space that’s become a valid supply point (these quite often get brought into the game via events).
Quartermaster General itself is a WW2 game, where up to six players split between the Axis and Allies. Each player will have their own dedicated deck of action cards to draw from – you can build/muster armies and navies, prepare response cards to react to enemy actions, or play a card from your own dedicated staple of historically themed and powerful events.
Other games in the QMG series include a WW1 version, and an upcoming release set during the Cold War – hopefully Nomad can adapt them as well at some point!
Nomad Games have been very sparse on details – other than offering up a general description of the game all we know is that it’s coming in 2019. We don’t officially know which platforms either, but plenty of their games end up on mobile so we’re reasonably confident this should do as well. It’d be a perfect fit for it.
We’ll bring you more news as it comes.
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The Pokémon Company International and Nintendo announced new details about Mega Evolution and much more in the highly anticipated Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee! games, releasing later this year on the Nintendo Switch system. Both games are designed for players taking their first steps into the Pokémon video game world as well as longtime fans wanting a new way to play Pokémon.
Don’t Just Evolve—Mega Evolve
In Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee!, players will be able to Mega Evolve a Pokémon once per battle if they have a Key Stone and the Mega Stone corresponding to that specific Pokémon. Mega Evolution, known as “the Evolution that transcends Evolution,” momentarily unleashes the energy within a Pokémon and can only be accomplished when a strong bond exists between the Pokémon and its Trainer. The first three Pokémon that fans will be able to Mega Evolve during their adventure will be Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise.
Explore Iconic Kanto Region Location Vermilion City
Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee! will bring players to a variety of interesting locations in the Kanto region, including Vermilion City, where the luxury cruise liner the S.S. Anne docks once a year. In the Vermilion City Pokémon Gym, players can battle Gym Leader Lt. Surge, who is also known as the Lightning Lieutenant.
Here Comes Team Rocket!
Team Rocket, a nefarious organization set on using the world’s Pokémon in despicable plots to make money, is another example of the diverse cast of characters that players will encounter in Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee! This includes the most famous members of Team Rocket—Jessie, James, and Meowth!
Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee! will release exclusively on Nintendo Switch on November 16, 2018. For more information, please visit https://pokemonletsgo.pokemon.com/en-us/.
Mild Cartoon Violence
With the launch of Nintendo Switch Online in the second half of September, it’s a great time for Nintendo Switch fans to plan ahead for the new service.
Your Nintendo Switch Online membership will include:
Plus, you can enhance your online experience with features available through the smartphone app** and receive special offers. To learn more about Nintendo Switch Online, visit https://www.nintendo.com/switch/online-service.
Please note that Nintendo Switch owners won’t automatically become members when the service starts, so they will need to purchase an individual or family membership in order to avoid disruption of their online play in compatible games. For pricing information, and to pre-order a 3- or 12-month individual membership from select retailers so you can be ready to go once the service launches, visit https://www.nintendo.com/switch/online-service/pricing.
*Save Data Cloud backup compatibility varies per game
**Persistent internet and compatible smartphone or tablet required to use the Nintendo Switch Online app; data charges may apply.
MONSTER HUNTER: WORLD is Now Available on Steam!
Welcome to a new world!
In Monster Hunter: World, the latest installment
in the series, you can enjoy the ultimate hunting
experience, using everything at your disposal to
hunt monsters in a new world teeming with
surprises and excitement.
Space Hulk (the original DOS game) is a forgotten gem that by all rights should have inspired an entire genre of ‘real-time tactical horror’ clones. Based loosely on the Warhammer 40k board game (that also gave us the more-faithfully-adapted but less-critically-acclaimed Space Hulk: Ascension), Space Hulk was a masterclass in tension and tactics, with slow, powerful Terminator Space Marines stomping their way through abandoned corridors, and alien Genestealers doing their best to sneak around behind them and tear their hearts out through their armor.
Much like its venerable grandfather, Dereliction sees your squad of marines making their way slowly through a derelict vessel while fighting off swarms of alien bugs as they try to get from point A to point B and close the blast door behind them (ideally, for drama’s sake, at the last possible second.) Dereliction‘s also played in real-time with time-slowing if it all gets too overwhelming. After the encounter you can buy upgrades including new weapons and are free to replay missions you’ve unlocked previously for more coin.
Unlike Space Hulk, in Dereliction you have perfect information about the map and enemy movements. Rather than carefully managing an unknown threat you must deal with an overwhelming threat: but that razor-edge sense of impending doom stays with you. You need to juggle several tasks–locking doors, picking up useful and necessary items, operating terminals–while also being on watch for a stream of bugs that could instantly mess up your whole game plan. Well-coordinated, your marines can easily hold back the horde, but if you let something slip through its game over, man, game over.
The setting is your typical military-style spaceship built of square rooms and unlikely corridors, lockers full of cash and ammo crates stuffed with grenades, all shadowy or sickly lit. Creepy ambient noises and music set the mood perfectly. The story text is even well-composed; just evocative enough without seeming too purple.
Dereliction is dripping with atmosphere, which unfortunately tends to smear all over every important element of gameplay. The interface is largely integrated into the game map, which is highly immersive, but difficult to use. To know what keycard you need for a given terminal you have to peer at the actual in game model. To lock a door you have to spin the camera until you can hold your finger on the keyhole. To look at the map, you have to zoom all the way out, which is elegant at first, but cumbersome when you are trying to get a quick overview of your tactical situation. The lurid acid green floor lighting is the same color as the discs you drag around to identify and control your marines.
These discs are also where you have info on health status, weapon and carried items. Since you are dragging this around to move the marines they can easily become separated from their vitals. There’s no other way to know at a glance even how many marines are still alive, not to mention what they are carrying or armed with. What’s more, without their discs around them troops gray-black armor blends into the gray-black bulkheads of the ship. If they are stuck somewhere away from their control spot, good luck trying to find them before they get eaten. You do have the ability to slow time while still handing out orders, but that doesn’t help much if you can’t figure out who’s who, where they’re going, and what they’re supposed to be doing.
Controls are especially fiddly. If your soldiers are stacked up it can be tough to grab the one you want. Dragging to move takes precious extra seconds, and sometimes fails if you try to move the wrong way, leaving your finger hovering over the screen for far too long. Some destinations will grab your cursor like a magnet while others won’t activate no matter how hard you try. It also takes a lot of wiggling to get the soldiers facing the right direction.
This is especially a big problem because units need so much handholding they won’t even turn around until the swarm is already devouring them. Pointed in the generally correct direction they will effectively defend their angle but turned too far one way and they’ll stubbornly ignore approaching death. They will also happily wade out into danger if they think that is the most efficient path to where you want them to go.
There’s a good game in here about carefully managing the movement of the aliens and protecting your perimeter. Some features do have opportunities to make interesting gameplay choices. For instance, I loved how locking a door behind you had the potential to backfire if the bugs were able to break through, thus essentially turning the passage into a one way path for aliens only. It was cool how you had to be careful not to break batteries–but they could be used as electrical bombs.
As it is, Dereliction has some pretty fundamental design problems that prevent it from being recommendable. It’s just plain hard to play for now, which is a shame since the atmosphere is so good and the genre is so under-served.
08.08.18
Nintendo Switch
A legendary vampire hunter and a fan-favorite villain are joining the sprawling cast of the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate game. In a Nintendo Direct video presentation entirely focused on the Nintendo Switch exclusive, it was revealed that Simon Belmont from the Castlevania series and King K. Rool, the main antagonist from the original Donkey Kong Country games, are both joining the game as playable fighters. In addition, the Nintendo Direct also shared additional information on Echo fighters, new stages, new modes and one of the most impressive collections of music ever in a single game, with more than 900 music tracks and 28 hours of music. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate launches exclusively for Nintendo Switch on Dec. 7.
“Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is one of the biggest games Nintendo has ever released,” said Doug Bowser, Nintendo of America’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “Between all the iconic fighters, stages and music, it’s the largest video game crossover ever produced – and nothing short of a Nintendo fan’s dream come true.”
To view the Nintendo Direct video in its entirety, visit https://www.nintendo.com/nintendo-direct. Some of the highlights revealed in the video include:
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate launches exclusively for Nintendo Switch on Dec. 7. For more information about the game, visit https://www.smashbros.com/.
Remember that Nintendo Switch features parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about other features, visit https://www.nintendo.com/switch/.
May Contain Content Inappropriate for Children. Visit www.esrb.org for rating information.
