The DTOID Show: Street Fighter, Aliens, & Violent
Boggle

post from Destructoid on 24 August 2011 11:05:58 PM. © Destructoid

[The Destructoid Show gives a rundown of all the top news from Destructoid.com every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Subscribe to us on YouTube, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook.]

Hello my pretties. Today's Destructoid Show mixes things up a bit. First, we've got some quick news hits on Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition, which is now available on XBLA and PSN. Holmes gave it a 9/10 in his review, and it's also this first game in the PSN Play event, which is worth keeping an eye on. Meanwhile, we've finally got a juicy, dripping trailer for Aliens: Colonial Marines. Gamestop, in their ongoing effort to stop games, has ordered the removal of OnLive coupons from PC copies of Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Next, we had Gian Cruz from indie studio Feel Every Yummy in the studio to demo his latest game, Word Fighter. The game is a fun cross between Street Fighter and Boggle. Tara and I met Gian at earlier this year at GDC, and he showed us his game then. Since then, it's undergone some major changes.

We're going to have a special bonus episode tomorrow, where we go over out PAX plans. Our coverage is gonna be like The Return of E3: The Dtoid Show Strikes PAX, so you should subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter.

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Live show: Backlog hits the Silent Hill
underground

post from Destructoid on 24 August 2011 11:05:58 PM. © Destructoid

Live show: Backlog hits the Silent Hill underground screenshot

_{[Backlog is the ongoing quest to rid Conrad Zimmerman's collection of unfinished games. As voted on by the Destructoid community, Conrad plays each game from start to finish live on Destructoid's Twitch.tv channel every weeknight at 8pm Pacific]}

I've been doing a fun mental exercise today. See, last night we traveled from a spooky mall to an equally spooky subway station in Silent Hill 3. It has me thinking; Is there an environment or locale which could exist in a town like Silent Hill that wouldn't be made terrifying in the nightmare dimension? I can't come up with one.

Come join me as I continue Heather's quest to learn the secret of her birth and the horrifying plans the cult of Silent Hill has in store as we play more Silent Hill 3 on Backlog! I'm hanging out with the chat goons and playing live right now over on Destructoid's Twitch.tv channel!

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Kanye West headlining Call of Duty XP

post from Gaming Nexus on 24 August 2011 11:04:00 PM. © Gaming Nexus

by: Russell Archey
NEWS - Kanye West will make his first public appearance since the release of his "Watch the Throne" album when he closes Call of Duty XP, the only full-immersion fan experienc for Call of Duty gamers. West will take the stage at 8pm on Saturday, September 3rd to cap off an impressive roster of firsts for all CoD fans, including the world premiere of Modern Warfare 3's multiplayer, the first public hands-on with the game, the finals of the Call of Duty $1 million tournament, and more. Sounds like a lot of fun if you're a Call of Duty fan. I wonder if they'd have a live-action game of Zombies. That would be impressive.

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Microsoft may refuse to release your game on the
360 if it's not on their system first or at the same time.

post from Gaming Nexus on 24 August 2011 10:30:00 PM. © Gaming Nexus

by: John Yan
NEWS - If you want your game to appear on Xbox Live Arcade, you probably won't want to have it on a Nintendo or Sony online store first. Talking with Eurogamer, Chris Lewis of Microsoft stated that have the right to refuse to release a game on the Xbox 360 if it's released simultaneously on their platform as well and have the same content as others. This applies to Xbox Live Arcade as well.

Now, if you're a big name title, you'll get by for sure. One title that quickly comes to mind is Batman: Arkham Asylum as being able to play as the Joker was only available on the PlayStation 3 version of the game. If you're smaller or independent and hoping to get your game on the 360 as well as PSN or perhaps Nintendo's online store, you'll probably want to release it on all platforms at the same time.

Sony seems more relaxed on this policy, which should be the way to go. A game shouldn't be refused on a system just because it debuted on another one before.

Microsoft can try to defend this all they want, but really who thinks this is any good besides the suits over at Redmond. The two quotes that make me laugh are, "we seek to maximise our own advantage to ensure the playing field is even, and certainly plays to our advantage wherever possible" and "we are able to offer things other people can't offer, that allows that exclusivity and unique elements to it that might not otherwise be available elsewhere."

There are many things that Microsoft does right, but also many that they do wrong. This is one of those things that's just wrong.

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Gamestop's tactics with Deus Ex: Human Revolution
is pretty childish

post from Gaming Nexus on 24 August 2011 10:07:00 PM. © Gaming Nexus

by: John Yan
NEWS - By now you've probably read about how GameStop was removing the free OnLive codes for Deus Ex: Human Revolution from the PC version and then selling them to customers as new. GameStop is getting into the digital delivery service and they see OnLive as a competitor so their reasoning was to remove the coupon, which as a consumer is rightfully yours, and not give you the chance to use OnLive.

That's going to cause an uproar of course. I mean, whoever thought of this decision, and it seems to be from a Field Operations Manager for GameStop, should've known what this was going to do. Who's not going to notice when they receive an opened box or go home to find a coupon missing that they intended to use.

Now, word comes out that GameStop is removing the game altogether from the store shelves going as far to say that they won't sell any physical copy of Deus Ex until Square Enix removes the coupon from the box.

All I have to say is, Wow. The gall of GameStop to actually tell a company to remove a promotion from a game before they will sell it is pretty disgusting. Also, I would have to think there's some legal issues with what GameStop was initially doing. When you open a product, you really can't sell it as new, which is what they were doing. It's like if Best Buy were to try and sell you a movie and remove the digital copy disc and still charge you the full price as CNN suggested.

This little incident seems to have the potential to blow up to something much bigger. I used to shop at GameStop occasionally, but now I'm going to take my business elsewhere. The fact that GameStop would do this and justify their actions by saying that they have a policy to not promote competing products puts a pretty bad taste in my mouth

Sorry, GameStop. Looks like I'll be buying my games elsewhere from now on.

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on-is-pretty-childish/Item23929.aspx

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Slaughter more fruit in Fruit Ninja's new DLC

post from Destructoid on 24 August 2011 10:05:41 PM. © Destructoid

Slaughter more fruit in Fruit Ninja's new DLC screenshot

Fruit Ninja Kinect is a game where you murder innocent fruit in the name of fun. And now there is more fruit slaughter (fruiticide?) with the new Storm Season DLC. Along with a few new achievements and backgrounds, players will also get the Lightning Bolt Blade. The entire DLC pack is only 180 MS Points (or $2).

I don't have Kinect, I may never own one, but for those of you that do, and are looking to get some varied gameplay with your ninja fruit killing, two dollars is not a bad deal. If you have a Kinect but no Fruit Ninja Kinect, the game is $10 on XBL and with the DLC it's a whole $12. Not a bad deal if you're into that sort of thing.

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DTOID Show Contest: Max and Tara vs. Plants and
Zombies!

post from Destructoid on 24 August 2011 10:05:41 PM. © Destructoid

DTOID Show Contest: Max and Tara vs. Plants and Zombies! screenshot

If you watch The Destructoid Show (and you should), you likely saw the Plants vs. Zombies contest we ran last week giving away a few hats and figurines that the guys at PopCap Games were nice enough to send our way. Like with most activities, what began as a simple, fun contest quickly turned into something much bigger than either Max or I expected.

When we asked our viewers to draw what we would look like as either plants or zombies, I immediately noticed two things. One, it's apparently impossible to draw a plant version of me without it having gigantic green plant breasts, and two, out of all the overwhelming responses we got - ranging from good to holy sh*t good - I felt guilty only showcasing the four winners. So I figured I'd make a proper gallery so we can all bask in the talent of our peers!

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Day Dream 2

post from Escape Games 24 on 24 August 2011 09:06:13 PM. © Escape Games 24

Day Dream Escape 2 is another Japanese point and click room escape game from Caracol. In this game you are in a room and you try to escape the room by finding items and solving puzzles. Good luck and have fun!Play This Game

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Preview: Jagged Alliance Online

Preview: Jagged Alliance Online screenshot

Jagged Alliance: Back in Action, the remake of Jagged Alliance 2, has a bit of controversy surrounding its new take on turn-based combat, but purists will be happy to hear that Jagged Alliance Online gives you a more traditional turn-based affair.

The only thing you'll have to come to terms with is that it's a free-to-play browser game. The upside of this is that you'll be able to play it anywhere you have a laptop or computer. While you can do that with the original game if you install it everywhere, there's a few things that make the F2P game worth a look for fans of the series.

Jagged Alliance Online (PC, Mac)
Developer: gamigo
Publisher: gamigo
Release date: January 2012

Essentially, Jagged Alliance Online is the Jagged Alliance you know and love and taken to the current age of free-to-play. Just like in the old games, you can hire mercenaries for your squad and nurture them to perfection through a series of contracts that give you combat missions. Mercs have skills that define their ability to use weapons effectively and grant bonuses to factors such as health.

Combat is purely turn-based with hit percentages for shots on body parts and everything else you remember from Jagged Alliance and Jagged Alliance 2. Movement and shooting costs Action Points, with every merc having a set amount of AP per turn. Once you've run all your moves, the enemy does the same in turn.

Destructible walls can be blown open to create different paths, but you might want to watch out for all the enemies that you'll alert by doing so. Explosive barrels dot the battlefield to lure your foes next to, before making them go boom should you want to risk it, and cars with alarms will make you want to rethink just how much cover the merc hiding behind it really needs.

The contracts offer you a range of missions, each with a choice on how to approach it. If you want to try your luck with a frontal assault on an enemy camp, then by all means go for it. If you want to sneak around without drawing too much attention, that option is there as well. These contracts can be played again if you want, but to minimize grinding and keep things fresh, they'll have slightly different conditions and rewards every time you play them.

If your merc dies, you can revive him or her, but it will take some time and cost you money. To boost abilities like reviving mercs, you have a central base with buildings that you can upgrade. For instance, a medic tent can be upgraded in multiple stages to become a lot more effective.

Instead of fighting a group of enemies that just moves towards you until you kill them all, there will be a number of different enemy types that have their own behaviors. Some will be suicidal and try to get as close to your mercs as possible, while others will take a more tactical approach and try to flank you.

Of course, one of the bigger selling points of Jagged Alliance Online is being able to play it for free with friends. Instead of taking a simple PvP approach where two or more teams fight it out, the implementation here is slightly different, because no one wants to run around that one remaining guy who just keeps walking in circles until you catch up with him.

In multiplayer, you fight different teams that have to reach a goal obstructed by a wall of enemies. Whoever fights through them and reaches the goal the first, wins. After launch, Gamigo will be adding cooperative play as well.

The F2P elements are offset by mercs and items that you can buy for real money, but these will be balanced to a degree so that they won't just make the player with the deepest pockets the most powerful. If you don't want to play a lot of missions to earn enough money to buy what you want, you can take a monetary shortcut.

I used to love Jagged Alliance back in the day, and with so many F2P games popping up everywhere, I was a bit apprehensive of whether or not this game would be any good. Gamigo is working with bitComposer, who owns the rights to the franchise, and it looks like they are doing a good job with it from what I saw.

It's good old Jagged Alliance that you can play online for free, with friends. What's not to like?

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Happy 15th birthday, Team Fortress

Happy 15th birthday, Team Fortress screenshot

With this birthday celebration, Team Fortress is now presumably the same age as those people who call me swears when I hug them with my knife. Rather than us give Valve presents, the team has goodies in store: a hilariously annoying/awesome noisemaker, a party hat, and health and ammo kits have been turned into cake and gifts.

Best of all, there's an inflatable beach ball in spawn that you can shoot/punch/stab. You'll also find that gibbed players now sprinkle balloons and confetti across the landscape. You really should log into Team Fortress 2 just to see some of this stuff happen first hand.

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