New releases: Gears 3, Kirby, Persona 2, Rusty
and more!

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

New releases: Gears 3, Kirby, Persona 2, Rusty and more! screenshot

Gears of War 3. It's finally out for the Xbox 360 and marks the start of the avalanche of blockbuster titles that are about to clean out your bank accounts. So many good games!

Other big titles this week include Kirby Mass Attack, Persona 2 on the PSP, the new Fallout: New Vegas DLC, Rusty Hearts on the PC and so much more. What's looking sw33t to all of you this week?

X360: F1 2011, Resident Evil 4 HD, Supremacy MMA, Fallout: New Vegas - Lonesome Road, Burnout Crash!, Gears of War 3, Rotastic

PS3: F1 2011, Call of Duty: Black Ops - Rezurrection, Supremacy MMA, Fallout: New Vegas - Lonesome Road, Burnout Crash!

PC: F1 2011, Call of Duty: Black Ops - Rezurrection, Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes, Rusty Hearts, Fallout: New Vegas - Lonesome Road, Two Worlds II: Pirates of the Flying Fortress

DS: Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns, Kirby Mass Attack,

PSP: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2 - Innocent Sin

3DS: Frogger 3D

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 (DS)

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Kirby Mass Attack (DS)

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Supremacy MMA (PS3, X360)

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Rusty Hearts (PC)

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Fallout: New Vegas - Lonesome Road (PS3, X360, PC)

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Burnout Crash! (PS3, X360)

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Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2 - Innocent Sin (PSP)

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Two Worlds II: Pirates of the Flying Fortress (PC)

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Frogger 3D (3DS)

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Rotastic (X360)

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'Ashes of History' update coming to Rift next
week

post from Destructoid on 21 September 2011 10:06:14 PM. © Destructoid

'Ashes of History' update coming to Rift next week screenshot

Rift players are in for a treat, as next week will see the release of Rift 1.5 which comes with a lot of big features. Some of these additions are things you might expect from a paid expansion instead of a simple client update. Here's just some of what you can expect:

Planar Attunement - This new system allows players who have already reached the level cap of 50 to spend XP on Planar Attunement points to help increase their skills.
Chronicles - You and a friend can take on Chronicles, which lets you explore story-driven dungeons like Greenscale's Blight and Hammerknell and take part in the world's lore.
Veteran Rewards - Rewarding loyal players, veteran rewards will grant you item bonuses in regards to how long you've been subscribed to the game. While most of the items seems to be gear, there are some pretty useful items in there as well.
AddOns Beta - You will now be able to customize your UI with fan-made "AddOns." It's always so heartwarming to see a game go the extra mile and extend some extra love to their community.

There's even more mentioned over on the official update site for you to check out. It looks like they're trying their hardest to keep high-level players entertained as long as possible, which I know is one of the hardest tasks for MMOs to accomplish. It just seems like too many MMOs are heavily lacking with end-game content these days.

www.riftgame.com/en/game/veteran-rewards.php

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Rotastic release trailer looks rad

post from Destructoid on 21 September 2011 10:06:14 PM. © Destructoid

Rotastic release trailer looks rad screenshot

Sometimes less is more, as with Rotastic, the new game from indie developer Dancing Dots. The entire control scheme is one button. That's it; you use one button to grapple. In case you hadn't noticed from the launch trailer, there is more to this than just swinging from point to point. If you are interested in Rotastic, you can pick it up on Xbox Live Arcade for 800 MSP, anyone who wants it on the PC or PlayStation 3 will have to wait until next year. Because Microsoft.

The simplicity of gameplay with the complexity of the levels found in Rotastic is something that makes me want to play it, and brings to mind games like N+, which are deceptively simple. A development team that can take a simple idea (swinging around with grapples) and evolve it into a game with almost 70 levels and multiple game types has potential. I hope to see more interesting games from Dancing Dots in the future.

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League of Legends: Dominion beta is happening

post from Destructoid on 21 September 2011 10:06:14 PM. © Destructoid

League of Legends: Dominion beta is happening screenshot

The League of Legends: Dominion limited beta has started as of this morning. If you missed it, fear not because more chances to play will opened in the next few days. Each will be during off-peak hours, with an announcement in the forums beforehand to let you know when you can try it out.

Has anyone gotten a chance to try out Dominion yet? How is it compared to the other DotA-style play modes? I personally love the DotA maps and while I'm willing to try something different, I have my doubts that I will love this new map type more.

League of Legends: Dominion enters limited beta, playable now [Joystiq]

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Relaxation: Cheesy double chief burrito

post from Destructoid on 21 September 2011 09:05:38 PM. © Destructoid

Relaxation: Cheesy double chief burrito screenshot

_{[Last week's Bloggers Wanted topic asked you to tell me how you use video games to relax. Today, nekobun tells us how he relaxes by playing Halo while internet-drinking. (A process very similar to my own method of relaxation, except with TF2 and minus the Taco Bell.) If you want to participate in our Bloggers Wanted topic and see your own blog on the front page, take a look at our current prompt about TGS. -- JRo]}

Sometimes, the real world wears you down. Work, school, or whatever else day in and day out; your average Joes and Janes on the street being dicks for no reason, the state of affairs in general being pretty damn depressing... times like these call for a night out with your friends. A few drinks, getting a little rowdy, but all in good fun -- the perfect cure for most anything. Problems, however, tend to arise when your friends of a similar mindset live several states away, if not practically on the opposite side of the country.

Solving this isn't so hard, however. If you can come to terms with the idea that it's not drinking alone if you're at least talking to people, and you remember to pick up some food as to avoid dying of alcohol poisoning and/or starvation, it's easy enough to meet someplace a little more virtual than the corner pub. For my friends and I, such meetups come in the form of Taco Bell & 40oz night on the planet Reach.

We've had nights anywhere from six people to nearly a dozen, but it's a testament to how Halo, national fast food chains, and a little bit of alcohol can bring people together. We've all different backgrounds in our Halo experience; there's a married couple who tend to play co-op or multiplayer matches together, a couple of regulars I rarely see outside of these designated evenings, a Northeast Corridor ex-pat who'll jump into games with me on the reg so long as neither of us has work too early the next morning, and myself, who's obsessed with the lore and more into milking Score Attack these days for Commendation progress than actually playing with other people. None of that, nor our real-world differences matter when things come down to a sack full of tacos, some malt liquor, and killing space doods en masse.

There's a formula that's developed, of sorts, in the few instances we've actually managed to organize Halo: TB40 sessions. The first few matches tend to be social, dicking-around affairs: usually Speed Halo. For those not up on their Halo, imagine a long, ramped tunnel, with one poor bastard standing in the middle of it, and teleporters down at the very bottom that transport anything that falls through them back to the top of the ramp. Everyone who isn't that poor bastard gets to climb into a Warthog of their choosing up at the very top, and begins plummeting down the ramp in an attempt to run over said bastard, who is, at the same time, trying to smash their vehicle with a large hammer and bring them over to the bastard side of things. Impacts with other vehicles, the walls, and off-timed hammer strikes tend to send the vehicles into insane loops and spins that never end thanks to the aforementioned teleporters. Yeah, it's pretty sweet.

After the rapid spinning and chaos get to be too much, and most of the participants are through at least one 40oz, we roll on up into Big Team Battle. Woe betide anyone unfortunate enough to get swept up into our party if we're riding less than eight deep, because things tend to be moderately loud, occasionally vulgar, and regularly sprinkled with in-jokes no outsider could hope to fathom. That's not to say we scare or confuse a lot of people off; in fact, the opposite is more often how things play out. In the inaugural run alone, we came across a gentleman even more inebriated than the lot of us, who decided to stick around and be friendly for several games afterward, and a young man who insisted on warbling like a turkey pretty much constantly as we were playing. There's a great deal more acceptance of strange, new players when you've been sippy for a while, as well as a greatly lessened concern for any trash talk generated by potentially poor gameplay.

Not that poor gameplay tends to be an issue, either; sure, we screw around on the whole a great deal more after a certain amount of alcohol is flowing through each of our veins, but great things happen regardless of sobriety level as well. An impromptu TB40 session was called for last night (which I missed the memo on, and had to settle for adobo-seasoned tilapia and mezcal as my picked poisons), and our last game saw two non-friends and the married couple dropping just as a capture the flag match began on Utopie (which, normally, is a map I despise), leaving us at four fairly buzzed men against a team of eight (later seven). Despite this, I basically ended up throwing all fear out the window, and snagged two of our eventual trio of flag captures (the second of which causing a ragequit by one of the opposing team's members), defeating their mere single cap and winning us the game. Who says alcohol impairs your reflexes? The guy driving the 'hog on both my pickups seemed juuuuust fine, thank you very much.*

It's not classy, by any means, and there are probably better things we could be doing with our time, but honestly? When it's normal for most of us not to see one another for months at a stretch, lucky if we can get together in person once a year, it's great to have a way, once a month or so, to unwind with awesome, fun people and get a little stupid on the cheap. Taco Bell and 40oz nights help all of us cast aside both the wear and tear of everyday living, and of everyday Reach multiplayer; it's a jungle of racists, elitists, and homophobic tweens who should be in bed already out there, and it's nice to have a bit of liquid aid in not caring what they say or think about you.

For anyone wondering, my weapons of choice are Olde English 800, with some orange juice added in once you drink down to the label, and a few Baja Chalupas, "beef." We tend to be pretty loose and non-judgmental, however; Mickey's is also popular, Steel Reserve has been noted as thematically appropriate, and food alternatives such as Qdoba and Chipotle are equally acceptable. So long as you don't pronounce it "chih-pole-tay," like some kind of uncultured savage. I mean, really.

* - For crying out loud, don't drive drunk, ever, you'll kill someone. Which works if you're running around in brightly-colored MJOLNIR armor, I guess, but is not cool if you're behind the wheel of a real car. Always pound unwise quantities of malt liquor responsibly.

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Podtoid 168: Hotel For Pigs (With Guest Tommy
Wiseau!)

post from Destructoid on 21 September 2011 09:05:38 PM. © Destructoid

Podtoid 168: Hotel For Pigs (With Guest Tommy Wiseau!) screenshot

On this fun-stuffed episode of Podtoid, we chat to none other than Tommy Wiseau, famous for creating The Roomand The House That Drips Blood On Alex. He's got a new videogame-themed series coming up, The Tommy Wi-Show, and we ask him all about it while he tells us about the positive aspects of gaming and listens to a special movie pitch.

Also on the show, we find out that Jonathan Holmes once looked after pigs in a hotel, we complain about Gears of War 3 and wonder what's up with the PlayStation Vita. Also, we read negative reviews that people have written and laugh, laugh, laugh.

As ever, you can subscribe to us on iTunes and RSS, buy our Android App or download directly!

(Oh, and check out Flixist's interview with Tommy, too)

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Check out Namco Bandai's Japan office!

post from Destructoid on 21 September 2011 09:05:38 PM. © Destructoid

Check out Namco Bandai's Japan office! screenshot

While Dale North slaved away, covering the pre-TGS Sony Press Conference, Hamza and I traveled to Shinagawa, Tokyo to check out some Namco Bandai games, last week.

Since Hamza loves Gundam, I love the Tales series and everyone loves Pac-Man, we toured the epic M-shaped building (formerly the home of Panasonic) and took some photos. Check out the photo gallery for images of Namco's crazy cave/auditorium (the "Fun Theater), Tales concept art and the Gundam arcade pods employees hop-in during their lunch breaks. It's pretty much the type of crazy studio grounds you imagine in your head when you think of dream jobs.

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Space Channel 5, Sega Bass Fishing set for early
October

Space Channel 5, Sega Bass Fishing set for early October screenshot

Sega has the dates for two long-awaited digital re-releases, Space Channel 5: Part 2 and Sega Bass Fishing. For PlayStation Network, it's October 4th; the Xbox Live Arcade versions are coming a day later.

Since these games are $9.99 (or 800 Microsoft Points) each, it's the better deal to go with the disc-based counterpart, though there's certainly an appeal to launching games without having to physically get up, sad as that may sound. (We've all been there.) It's been confirmed that PlayStation Move is supported by Sega Bass Fishing.

While I have no intention of picking either of these up, I'm always glad to see Dreamcast titles resurface like this so they might be exposed to new audiences. Also, Space Michael.

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Kongregate Arcade 2.0 is here and adds messaging

Kongregate Arcade 2.0 is here and adds messaging screenshot

Kongregate Arcade, the Android version of the Kongregate service which features close to 600 mobile games, has just received a rather large update in the form of Kongregate Arcade 2.0 which has added several new social-focused features.

On top of the fact that players can now earn GameStop PowerUp Rewards points by scoring points on Kongregate Arcade (and the main site now as well), Arcade players now have access to the iconic Kongregate chat and messaging system, as well as the ability to invite friends to compete via the leaderboards and view them in real time.

“We’re proud to be one of the highest rated gaming applications on the Android Market,” said Jim Greer, CEO of Kongregate. “The enhancements we’ve made to Kongregate Arcade 2.0 enable gamers to directly challenge their friends in hundreds of games, adding a new competition layer to an already addictive gaming experience.

Kongregate Arcade 2.0 is out right now for you.

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A glimpse of the Gears of War 3 Times Square
launch

A glimpse of the Gears of War 3 Times Square launch screenshot

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The premiere launch event for Gears of War 3 took place at the Best Buy Theater in Times Square on Monday night where hundreds of gamers gathered to ring in the release of Epic Games' latest installment in the chainsawing saga. Among the aspiring COG were Epic developers (including none other than Cliffy B), cosplayers, Big Sean, and a ton of drunks who didn't miss a beat at the open bar.

After standing in line for nearly the entire day and watching the constant loop of TV Land's advertisement for Everybody Loves Raymond on one of the many billboards in New York City, roughly 300 people were given access to the insides of the Best Buy Theater. Once in, they were able to play Gears of War 3's Horde mode, watch rapper Big Sean perform, or drink by themselves at the aforementioned bar. Most people, however, took to the Gears of War 3 stations.