It’s no secret that bargain-savvy gamers the world over are guilty of buying more games than they’ll ever have time to play. Each Steam sale is greeted with excitement and regret as the pile of unfinished games inevitably grows. Well, it would seem that many Steam gamers are too busy to even try some of their purchases, with new research indicating that 37% on the games purchased on the PC’s top platform have never even been booted up. Continue reading 37% of Steam Games Sold Have Never Been Played→
Not long to go now before Mario Kart 8 lands on the Wii U and today we get to see some of the new weapons in action. Mario Kart 8 has long been touted as the Wii U’s most important game, with many gamers and critics thinking that it could turn things around for the struggling Wii U.
Sales of Nintendo’s latest console have been sluggish but Mario Kart 8 could be the first genuine system seller and should see them throw some serious marketing money at it if they want to replicated the previous Wii game’s success on the Wii U. With the last game still being advertised on TV less than a year ago, the series has proved it has serious staying power and could once again become a huge hit again when Mario Kart 8 lands at the end of this month.
Edge magazine are one of the few publications to have reviewed Mario Kart 8 and have awarded it a massive 9/10. The series has had huge success with casual and hardcore gamers alike, but will the latest title be enough to convince them to buy a new console?Both crowds have moved on from the Wii, with the hardcore players probably still rubbing their wallets after splashing out on a PS4 or Xbox One and the more casual crowd enjoying the mobile/tablet gaming explosion that’s hit since the Wii’s heyday.
There’s no denying that Mario Kart 8 is looking all sorts of awesome though. These new trailers, which will be all over your TV and interrupting your YouTube playlists soon, show off some of the new weaponry in the form of a Boomerang that allows multiple hits or the Super Horn that sends out a radial blast similar to a weapon in the fairly successful Sonic Racing series that emerged during Mario Kart’s slumber. Thankfully, none of them look as cheap as Bullet Bill or that controller-crushing Blue Shell.
Replay Events are bringing all things retro to the Play Blackpool Expo event next month and tickets are on sale now. The expo will be packed with arcade cabinets from the deepest decades of gaming history along with every console you can think off, giving gamers old and new the chance to experience some classic titles on their original machines.
Over the course of the weekend there will be tournaments, cosplay events and a few showings of modern indie games too, including a few using the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. Naturally, there will lots of stalls selling merchandise, classic games and consoles too. Continue reading Retro Gaming Expo Coming to Blackpool Next Month→
A recent European Parliament ruling has told Internet Service Providers that they will not be able to charge online companies that have data-intensive natures more. This has been an issue in recent years as broadband speeds have allowed for enormous amount of data to be streamed rather than downloaded.
The best example of course is Netflix, which manages to stream HD movies with download speeds as small as 5Mb. The ruling will also extend to future services on the horizon, like the much anticipated PlayStation Now service, which will stream video games from the PlayStation back catalogue. Let’s face it, streaming The Last of Us is potentially going to need more broadband oomph than an episode of Breaking Bad.
Creative director at Ubisoft Jonathan Morin has confirmed via Twitter that Watch Dogs will not be getting a downloadable demo on any platforms. When responding to a deluge of -oddly impatient- fan questions on Twitter, he responded with the below Tweet.
@Rawfan306 Dude relax, I receive too much tweets… They are no demo planned before release. Sorry for the wait, doing my best…
While we’d love to have a demo for Watch Dogs before release, we’re not exactly surprised that Ubisoft aren’t even working on one. This is a game that has seen very few hands-on opportunities and even the upcoming PAX East Expo will only feature a hands-off demo for attendees. The lack of a playable Watch Dogs Pax demo strikes me as more strange as expo demos are easier to put together as they can run off a machine of the developers choosing, with as much game data stored on them as needed. Should we be concerned that Ubisoft won’t let anyone play their game when they were so open with the likes of Assassin’s Creed IV? Or are they trying to create an aura of mystery about the game similar to Rockstar and the GTA games?
As far as a downloadable Watch Dogs demo goes though, was that ever likely? Probably not. Do you remember ever playing a demo for any of the Assassin’s Creed games or Far Cry 3? Exactly, these games are way too big to be able to be compressed into a PSN/XBLA demo. Sure, they could give us a confined warehouse shootout, but that would be a poor representation of the intriguing open-world adventure that awaits us in Watch Dogs.
Still not sure about whether to pre-order Watch Dogs? Well, the truth of the matter is, nobody is holding a gun to your head, wait for a few reviews if you’re not sure. It’ll still be there a week after launch. Personally, I’m back on Team Excited for the game after seeing the Welcome to Chicago trailer. That and Ubisoft’s last two open world games in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and Far Cry 3 have been amongst the best I’ve ever played.
Amazon has invited members of the press to a media event in New York on Wednesday and speculation suggests that the online retail sales giant is poised to announce their long-rumored console. The official line for the event is quoted as an “update for our video business.” Continue reading Amazon Console to be Announced on Wednesday?→
Despite a serious lack of compatible software, Sony have managed to flog over 900,000 units of the PS4’s camera. With six million consoles sold, that means that nearly one in six PS4 owners have bought a camera. But why? Continue reading PS4 Camera Closes in on One Million Sales. But Why?→
Well, it looks like all those Paris rumours and leaks were on the money folks. Ubisoft have just officially announced Assassin’s Creed Unity for the PS4, Xbox One and PC platforms. The game will be out this year with a rough ‘Holiday 2014’ release date given. Continue reading Assassin’s Creed Unity Sneak Peek at Trailer→
Warner Bros. Interactive have just announced a remake of the retro classic, Gauntlet. The game will be released this summer through Steam and will also be available on the range of upcoming Steam machine platforms. Development is being handled by Arrowhead Game Studios. Continue reading Gauntlet Remake Coming in Summer to PC→
Well, that’s hardly a glowing endorsement for the upcoming Wii U and 3DS exclusive Sonic Boom is it? In a recent Gamespot interview with Bob Rafei at developers Big Red Button, he talked about when the head of Team Sonic in Japan Takashi Iizuka, visited the studio to check on the team’s progress with the new Sonic Boom game.
“Early on, when we had our first review of all the crazy things we wanted to try, Iizuka-san came down to Los Angeles and looked through all the different concepts. I felt sorry for the guy because sometimes he couldn’t actually look at the screen -it was too traumatic seeing all the crazy stuff we wanted to do. Over the course of that meeting, when we were coming up with new ideas, we had a very sincere -just two adults talking- conversation about why a character should or should not wear pants, and that was a very surreal moment in my life and my career. But it helped us understand the rules of clothing in this universe. Any small adjustment went a very long way, so we had to be very careful.”
Seeing the head of Team Sonic turn his head away from the screen on your desk as you show him designs must have been pretty tough, not to mention extremely embarrassing. But it would seem that some of these unviewable designs have been ditched. Apparently early concepts saw extra detail like fur and scales added to characters. This doesn’t sound that bad to be honest, but I can see how Sega might want to keep the style for Sonic Boom colorful and cartoonish rather than imposing any sort of realism. We are talking about a speeding hedgehog after all.
Sonic Boom will release on the Wii U and 3DS later this year and there will also be a Sonic Boom TV series tie-in. Check out the trailers for both the game and the TV show below. Anyone else wish this was coming to PS4 and Xbox One too?
I’d like to think that we UK gamers are quite savvy when it comes to finding the best deal when buying games. And let’s face it; everything is generally cheaper online from the vast number of websites like Amazon, ShopTo, Zavvi, Game Collection and deal forums like HotUkDeals when comparing prices to high street stores like Game, HMV, Argos or the local supermarket. Continue reading High Street and Supermarkets Still Dominate Boxed Games Market→
Sucker Punch, the developers of Infamous: Second Son on the PS4 have just posted a message on their facebook page, asking gamers who have managed to get a hold of a copy of their game before the official release to stop posting video footage, citing spoilers as a key reason. With only neon and smoke powers officially confirmed for the new Infamous title, it’s no surprise to see that gamers have been eager too see what other powers Delsin can steal from his fellow conduits. Here’s what Sucker Punch had to say on the matter: Continue reading Infamous: Second Son Devs Implore Gamers to Stop Leaking Footage→
We’ve been excited to see more of the upcoming Street Fighter live action series since the Street Fighter: Legacy short from 2010. Well, Capcom have teamed up with the creators of that video and have turned it into a full series to be debuted on the Machinima site. Despite so many video game tie-ins being an uninspired mess, we’ve got some seriously high hopes for this one as the footage so far seems to be nailing the game’s tone. So, without further ado, we present the new teaser trailer for Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist.
“Los Angeles, CA, March 14, 2014 – Machinima, Assassin’s Fist Limited, and Capcom U.S.A., Inc. announce today, in partnership with Producer Jacqueline Quella, and Director Joey Ansah, that STREET FIGHTER: ASSASSIN’S FIST will debut in its entirety on Machinima, the number-one global video entertainment network for young males. The exact air date will be announced soon. The live-action series, which is distributed by Content Media, is the brainchild of Ansah (The Bourne Ultimatum, Snow White and the Huntsman), a member of the creative team behind the hugely successful fan film Street Fighter: Legacy—which has received almost 5,000,000 views to date. Ansah, who also stars in the series (Akuma), wrote the script with Christian Howard, who reprises his role as Ken Masters from the original fan film. The series also stars Mike Moh as Ryu, Togo Igawa (47 Ronin, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Last Samurai) as Gōtetsu, Akira Koieyama as Gōken, Gaku Space as Gōki, Mark Killeen (300: Rise of an Empire, The Dark Knight Rises) as Mr. Masters, and Hal Yamanouchi as Senzo. Through the coming of age story of Ken & Ryu, we are shown the back story of some of the game’s most iconic characters, and over the course of the series we will see how the past, present, and future of all of those characters are intertwined, as the battle to become Ansatsuken Master threatens to tear apart another generation of brothers.”
And not a Van Damme or Kylie Minogue in sight! Is this the one folks? Will this end the chain of abysmal movie tie-ins like Need for Speed (trust me, don’t even bother if you love the Fast and Furious movies), the many Resident Evils or anything Uwe Boll touches?
Just in-case you’ve haven’t seen the original piece -Street Fighter: Legacy- that inspired the new series, I’ve included it below. It gets extra awesome points because Ken looks like former Juventus/ Czech Republic soccer legend, Pavel Nedved.
It’s fair to say that console gamers will have bought, or are on the verge of buying, an Xbox One especially to play Titanfall. However, according to Titanfall’s Lead Engineer Richard Baker, when development began on Respawn’s debut, an Xbox One version wasn’t even on the cards. Continue reading Titanfall Wasn’t Conceived With the Xbox One in Mind→
Enric Alvarez, Director of the recent Castlevania: Lords of shadow 2, has publicly lashed out against the low scores his game has received since launch, even going as far as to call Edge’s 4/10 review “blind”, “stupid” and “totally unfair.”“One must be blind or stupid to give it a 4/10 for a game of this quality. With a 4/10, people interpret it is a crappy game, badly done, it breaks, with mechanics that do not work, with some awful graphics.” Continue reading Castlevania Director Lashes Out At Low Review Scores→
Well, this makes a nice change. Bethesda have been able to confirm that the upcoming Wolfenstein: The New Order will run at a crisp 1080p and 60 frames-per-second on both the PS4 and the Xbox One. This is encouraging news for Xbox One owners who have seen many multiplatform titles run at lower specifications than the PS4. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition and Battlefield 4 are just some of the examples. Hell, even Titanfall is struggling to hit 1080p. Continue reading Wolfenstein Will Run at 1080p on Xbox One and PS4→
Most media outlets haven’t even been given a chance to try Alien: Isolation yet, but Sega are giving YOU the chance to play the game at the EGX Rezzed event at Birmingham NEC on the 28th-30th March.
Sega seem keen to show gamers the game first-hand with no smoke and mirrors after the utter farce that was the finished product of Aliens: Colonial Marines. So why not head on down? Tickets are available at the event’s site here from as little as £9. The game will be playable on PS4, Xbox One and PC platforms. Creative Assembly’s survival horror approach certainly has us interested, but we’re cautious as to whether they can maintain it throughout a whole game against just one alien. That said, we’ve been hearing rumours of androids being used as gun-fodder in-between all the hiding in cupboards. Continue reading Play Alien: Isolation at Rezzed Expo in Birmingham→
Still on the fence about putting a pre-order down for Infamous: Second Son on your PS4? Well, you need to do two things. One: Check out Matt’s recent hands-on preview. Two: Head down to one of the participating Game stores and play the game for yourself ahead of the game’s release on March 21st.
Dates and venues are included below. To sign up, you’ll need to visit the store in advance and ask for a free ticket. Note: you’ll need to be 16+ and a Game card owner. If your local store isn’t on the list, but you’re planning on travelling a few extra miles to the nearest venue, you could always try contacting the store’s Twitter account to see if they’ll hold a ticket for you so you don’t have to travel twice. That’s my plan anyways.
It’s also worth noting that attendees will be given some free food and refreshments while you wait. Better yet, place a pre-order for the game and you’ll get an exclusive Infamous poster and a Destiny summer beta key.
The No Sleep Gamer 