The DTOID Show WAS live today! It was good, we
had juice

post from Destructoid on 21 October 2011 11:06:35 PM. © Destructoid

The DTOID Show WAS live today! It was good, we had juice screenshot

Today, we did our live show, as usual. You know, except Tara and our producer Zac are down at Blizzcon. Today I got left to my own devices with Anthony Carboni, host of Revision3's new show New Challenger, which I was on yesterday.

Today, we talked about Ezio and that damn Pierre being in Soul Calibur V, the fact that Sony and Microsoft are working on new consoles, and Touch My Katamari will be a Playstation Vita launch title. In addition to that, Doom 4 is NOT postponed, or something, and UK Gamestops might be taking Modern Warfare 3's side.

After that, we took some viewer questions and played Catwoman: Arkham Kitty. Stay tuned all weekend to our YouTube channel, because Tara's Blizzcon coverage of the new Kung-Fu Panda MMO will be going up tomorrow.

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New units and more Kerrigan in new StarCraft II
trailer

post from Destructoid on 21 October 2011 11:06:35 PM. © Destructoid

New units and more Kerrigan in new StarCraft II trailer screenshot

Fresh from of BlizzCon 2011, new information and an amazing new trailer have just been released for the next expansion in the StarCraft II series, Heart of the Swarm.

In the trailer, we get to see a post-Queen of Blades Sarah Kerrigan still clinging onto the fact that a certain Terran Dominion Emperor may have left her for dead on planet crawling with Zerg. No biggie. After donning a new set of Ghost armor, and somehow gaining telekinetic abilities, she starts on a quest for vengeance across the stars. The trailer looks fantastic, and you can tell that Blizzard has been investing a lot of hours into StarCraft II's cutscenes.

On top of all that, the new units featured in this expansion are shown. No word yet as to when Heart of the Swarm will be released, but I for one can't wait to see what kind of destruction this new Kerrigan will cause.

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New Suikoden gets a story, still not Old
Suikoden's story

post from Destructoid on 21 October 2011 11:06:35 PM. © Destructoid

New Suikoden gets a story, still not Old Suikoden's story screenshot

If it wasn't clear already, fellow fans, it looks like the days of Viki, Jeane, and "DIE PIG!!!" are truly over. Suikoden: The Woven Tale of a Hundred Years, the recently-announced PSP installment of the series is set in a new setting, with a new story.

As for what the story is, it seems to sound a bit like Final Fantasy X. Every hundred years or so a giant monster comes out to wreck the world. Your guy, an orphaned swordsman from the future, is whisked back in time by someone named Zephos, and must now wreck the monster before it can do its own wrecking. Presumably 108 people will be needed to do the job.

If you'll excuse me, I'm off to replay Suikoden V and cry.

Every Hundred Years a monster rends the world in PSP Suikoden [Siliconera]

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Details on Blizzard DOTA and what makes it worth
a look

post from Destructoid on 21 October 2011 10:05:30 PM. © Destructoid

Details on Blizzard DOTA and what makes it worth a look screenshot

Straight out of BlizzCon, Blizzard has shed some light on how Blizzard DOTA will work. With League of Legends going strong, Valve's Dota 2 on the way, and a score of DotA clones out there, it's sometimes hard to imagine just how much you can vary on the formula.

From differences to other DotA games, the game's cost, to heroes, Blizzard offered some good chunks of information to help you wrap your head around it.

Differences between Blizzard DOTA and other DotA games

Blizzard wants to take its "easy-to-learn, difficult-to-master" philosophy to the overall design of Blizzard DOTA, as they feel that this genre has a pretty demanding learning curve. They are also adding gameplay elements to encourage more aggressive, fast-paced gameplay, and team fights all over the map instead of just at key lane positions and boss creeps in jungles.

Towers will have a limited amount of energy that slowly recharges over time. So a tower can run out of "ammo" if you keep harassing it, interesting. The idea is that this way teams will be more encouraged to attack as a team and to reduce early-mid game tower hugging.

The jungles will be different from what you're used to. Jungles will have power nodes that are guarded by neutral creeps. Taking control of these nodes will add strength to the team's mobs in their lanes. So jungling will become more about control to strengthen the general push across the lanes than about buffs, XP, and gold for your heroes.

To reduce the learning curve, Blizzard isn't saying much in terms of details but they feel players shouldn't have to read up on guides and item builds before feeling comfortable even thinking about trying a diferent hero. They're mostly interested in adding clarity by eliminating redundancies in hero abilities and items, and think that players will find this reflected in the heroes' design and the item shop.

Number of heroes and roles

The version of Blizzard DOTA at BlizzCon features 12 heroes that fall into four class types: tank, damage-dealer, support, and siege. Tanks and damage-dealers are what you expect them to be, soaking damage and being the squishy DPS assassins, respectively. Support heroes will do things like healing, stunning, and crowd control. Siege heroes attack from long range -- ideal for taking out towers -- and tend to have abilities that affect a wide area.

There are more heroes planned for release, obviously, but Blizzard stresses that they "want to ensure every hero and ability feels unique" and to go for quality over quantity -- a thinly veiled stab at League of Legends. One of the pillars of their design philosophy that supports Blizzard DOTA is that every hero should fit their roles very strongly and promotes teamplay.

Achievements, rewards and stat tracking

Upon launch, the game will give you access to a small group of heroes to start with. The more you play, the more heroes will unlock. After unlocking all heroes, you can work towards unlocking cosmetic prestige items by winning games with specific heroes, which sounds like you'll have to fill some achievement bars and conditions with a hero. These prestige items can include alternate weapons, crowns, and other accessories.

Blizzard DOTA will launch with an automated matchmaker that matches based on skill, like the regular StarCraft II ladder. Stats like the number of kills, destroyed towers, and average gold and XP gained per match will all be tracked.

How much will it cost!?

Blizzard plans to offer "a way" to play Blizzard DOTA for free, "possibly by including it as a part of the StarCraft II: Starter Edition." They haven't decided yet on what kind of content restrictions (i.e., amount of heroes, etc.) will be placed on the free-to-play version. They're also discussing the possibility of exclusive content, such as special heroes for owners of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and the upcoming Heart of the Swarm, but that is as yet undecided.

Beta? Release date?

There will be a beta "within the next few months." No release date, but at gamescom senior game designer Jonny Ebbert mentioned it would hit around the time of Heart of the Swarm. Did you really expect a specific release date?

It sounds like Blizzard is taking their DotA variant very seriously and are dedicated to bringing a more focused game to the table that capitalizes on their brand awareness and established universes. If you're into DotA, I can think of worse things than having two of PC gaming's behemoths getting neck-deep in the MOBA genre. I do hope Blizzard DOTA won't be region-locked like StarCraft II and Diablo III, though; I like playing with my friends all over the world!

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Hulu Plus for 3DS, Wii available by the end of
the year

post from Destructoid on 21 October 2011 10:05:29 PM. © Destructoid

Hulu Plus for 3DS, Wii available by the end of the year screenshot

Later this year, Nintendo will be expanding the Wii and 3DS to include the other big entertainment streaming option, Hulu Plus. The service, which features "limited advertising," provides access to thousands of television shows and movies at a cost of $7.99 per month.

Sure, choice is always nice. I won't personally be partaking in this, especially not on 3DS -- I watched 20 seconds of a Twilight Zone episode via Netflix once and never used the app again. Someone, somewhere, will likely benefit from this news. Just not me. (Also, what the eff, Ryan Gosling was Young Hercules?)

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BlizzCon 2011: Hands-on with the Pandaren Monk

post from Destructoid on 21 October 2011 09:05:52 PM. © Destructoid

BlizzCon 2011: Hands-on with the Pandaren Monk screenshot

After the announcement of the Mists of Pandaria expansion for World of Warcraft, I was able to jump right into the game and get hands-on with the class and race. Upon being dropped into the new starting area, I was instantly awed by the overwhelmingly cool visual aesthetic of an East Asian-themed kung fu panda village. Small changes made to the graphics engine have allowed Blizzard to make the game look and run even better than what we initially saw in Cataclysm. The highly-detailed landscape, sharper textures, and better lighting really help to immerse the player in the new setting.

While I don't want to spoil any of the starting-area content, I will say that the quest lines and story progression was rather fun and interesting. I found myself reading through much of the quest text, invested in what was happening beyond just the amount of XP I would receive at the end.

It starts off as a simple journey, with the player being tasked with helping various masters, picking up new techniques along the way. It soon turns into an important arc for the player, revealing more about the Pandaren and their role in the world of Azeroth.

I moved through the village, picking up my first few quests. There were numerous Pandaren focused on their training, sparring, meditating, or even just rolling around everywhere. Your master directs you to first spar with the punching bags, an important step in understanding the new combat mechanics that Blizzard has created for the class. The Monk has no auto-attack; instead there is a completely manual combat system that utilizes Chi and Light or Dark energy to execute moves.

The standard attack button uses Chi, simultaneously generating Light or Dark energy in the process. This energy can be expended during battle to unleash more devastating attacks and even combinations. Button mashing is a perfectly acceptable method of playing the class, simply hitting buttons as they light up, but I suspect that true mastery will require keen focus and timing.

The new class encourages players to be constantly active, mobile, and observant of their surroundings. A new roll maneuver, while fun to simply spam while running around, is also an important tool in combat. While it is impossible to tell what all of the uses might be for the ability, I was able to use it both offensively and defensively. I could use the roll to quickly move out of harm's way, or to instantly get range on an opponent to execute a brutal flying kick.

With the Monk, Blizzard is trying to cater to as many players as possible who might enjoy the new combat system, allowing the class to fulfill the role of a tank, DPS, or healer depending on their specialization choices. This certainly won't be for everyone, especially if you enjoy playing as passively as possible, but it should hopefully introduce a bit more thrill to the game for players who have gotten tired of the same old combat mechanics.

For anyone who is excited about playing a Pandaren or Monk, but worried about potential racial or faction restrictions, fear not! The Pandaren are WoW's first truly neutral playable race, with players able to choose between either Horde or Alliance upon completion of the starting zone story arc.

Pandaren are not restricted to playing only as a Monk: they can choose any class with the exception of Death Knights, Druids, Paladins, or Warlocks. Conversely, all other races with the exception of the Goblin and Worgen can start as a Monk.

Let us know what you think about the announcement in the comments below.

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The DTOID Show WAS live today. It was good. We
had juice.

post from Destructoid on 21 October 2011 09:05:51 PM. © Destructoid

The DTOID Show WAS live today. It was good. We had juice. screenshot

video details and more

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BioWare details January-bound Mass Effect 3 demo

BioWare details January-bound Mass Effect 3 demo screenshot

Ahead of Mass Effect 3's full release in March of next year, the game will receive a playable demo in January that includes both single-player and multiplayer segments.

Those who redeem the Battlefield 3 Online Pass will get early access to this multiplayer content. There will be other, unpaid ways to get it early as well, though BioWare isn't ready to explain what those methods are. Hmm, I wonder if Facebook is going to be involved.

Mass Effect 3 Demo FAQ [BioWare Social Network]

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Binary Domain pre-order bonuses are all about
multiplayer

Binary Domain pre-order bonuses are all about multiplayer screenshot

It looks like Binary Domain will try to keep players engaged in its multiplayer modes, as pre-ordering at GameStop will net you the Multiplayer Pack. This pack gives you an exclusive multiplayer map "Outside High-rise, Upper City" (probably set in an underwater medieval dungeon), exclusive multiplayer weapons and a new playable class.

The class in question is the Ninja, supposedly "perfect for surprise attacks and adapting combat style to the situation." The weapons are the "Hoga Type 69" sniper rifle for long range action (you'd think with that number it would be short range) and the "Yamato-0 Handgun" for short range assault. Maybe the numbers indicate the amount of horse lengths they're effective at?

Anyway, ninja!

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Update for Monster Hunter iOS brings monsters,
price drop

Update for Monster Hunter iOS brings monsters, price drop screenshot

A big update for Monster Hunter Dynamic Hunting should have already made its way onto your iPhone with all its added content. As a result, you'll now be able to slay four new monsters and get your hands on brand new weapons to boot.

Don't have Monster Hunter Dynamic Hunting yet but you've always wanted to check it out? Starting yesterday the price of the app has dropped from $6.99 all the way down to the irresistible price of $0.99 and will stay that way until the 24th of this month. If I had an iPhone I would totally be all over this to help tide me over for Monster Hunter 3G. Too bad it's not on Windows Phone, eh Capcom?