New Game Releases: April 11th-17th, 2014

Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn

In the words of former Square-Enix president Yoichi Wada, the 2010 release of Final Fantasy XIV “had greatly damaged the Final Fantasy brand”. In hindsight, the title’s production was a textbook example of groupthink- despite technical issues, server woes, and a lack of audience analysis, the development team was certain the game would be a rousing success. Instead, XIV was met with near universal criticism, prompting Square-Enix to take action.

Wada solicited the talent of Naoki Yoshida– a member of the Dragon Quest team who had little experience with the original project. As such, many doubted the developer’s chances of reinvigorating the tainted title. Yet, one year after XIV’s release, Version 2.0 debuted, improving server performance, providing a new visual engine, and reworking the game’s storyline and mechanics. This week’s release of no less than three iterations for Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn speaks of Yoshida’s success.

PlayStation 3
2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil
Backgammon Blitz (PSN, $7.99)
Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion Xl (PSN, $19.99)
Castle of Illusion Sega Genesis Bundle (PSN, $14.99)
Hyper Crazy Climber (PSN, PSOne Import, $5.99)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (PSN, $14.99)

PlayStation 4
Backgammon Blitz (PSN, $7.99)
Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn, Standard Edition (Also on PSN, $39.99)
Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn, Digital Collector’s Edition (PSN, $59.99)
Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn, Collector’s Edition ($79.99)
Pure Chess (PSN, $7.99)
Pure Chess Complete Bundle (PSN, $14.99)
That Trivia Game (PSN, $9.99)
Trials Fusion (PSN, $19.99)
Trials Fusion Deluxe Edition (PSN, $39.99)

Wii U
Kirby & The Amazing Mirror (eShop, $6.99)
My Exotic Farm (eShop, TBA)
WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ (eShop, $6.99)

Xbox 360
2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil

Xbox One
Trials Fusion (XBL, $39.99)

3DS
Atlantic Quest (eShop, TBA)
Boxzle (eShop, $2.99)
Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars
Disney Magical World (eShop, $29.99)
Governor of Poker (eShop, 4.99)
Mach Rider (eShop, $4.99)

PS Vita
Backgammon Blitz (PSN, $7.99)

Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars
Dead Nation Vita ($7.99, Free for PS+)
Ethan: Meteor Hunter (PSN, $9.99, Cross-buy)
Eufloria Adventures (PS Mobile, $TBA)
No Heroes Allowed: No Puzzles Either! (PSN, Free-to-play)

PC
Demolition Master 3D (Steam, $6.99)
Descent 3 (Steam, $4.99)
Finn and Jake’s Epic Quest (Steam, $7.99)
Eterium (Steam, $TBA)
Imperial Glory (Steam, $3.49)
Infectonator : Survivors (Steam, Early Access, $TBA)
Max: The Curse of Brotherhood (Steam, $14.99)
Mechanic Escape (Steam, $TBA)
Moebius: Empire Rising (Steam, $23.99)
NEStalgia (Steam, $11.24)
Praetorians (Steam, $3.49)
Smugglers 5 (Steam, $9.99)
T.E.C. 3001 (Steam, $3.99)
Volt (Steam, $4.79)
Wargame: Red Dragon (Steam, $39.99)

Robert’s Pick: Although there’s no shortage on engrossing real-time strategy games, Eugen System’s Wargame: European Escalation and Wargame: AirLand Battle rank among the best thanks to an enormous number of unit types, and an efficient engine that’s capable of rendering intense battles and zooming in to depict minute details. This week’s release of Wargame: Red Dragon elevates the formula, adding naval warfare to the franchise’s customary ground-based battles. Eugen’s announcement of free, post-release DLC only sweetens the deal.

Wargame Red Dragon

About Robert Allen

Since being a toddler, Robert Allen has been immersed in video games, anime, and tokusatsu. Currently, his days are spent teaching at two southern California colleges. But his evenings and weekends are filled with STGs, RPGs, and action titles and well at writing for Tech-Gaming since 2007.

40 comments

  1. My life is way too sane right now. I need Trials Fusion to shake things up and make me want to throw my controller across the room.

  2. I noticed Say’s picks aren’t listed anymore. I just assume “Moebius: Empire Rising” would be her pick.

    • Haha, I was waiting for that one comment – you guys always have to poke at me like that. I’ve been so damn busy with this launch that I don’t remember what it’s like sleeping, let alone enjoying time off to play. Last night I finally got the chance to play Castlestorm after buying it days ago, and I was passing out exhausted at like 8pm lol.

      Say’s Pick – Sleep.

      • That’s my pick at well. I might even buy the Pleasant Dreams DLC for it.

      • Did you work on Mobius? Thats so cool!!!

        • My one and only development experience has been The Silver Lining, the King’s Quest tribute that got granted a fan license by Vivendi/Activision so many moons ago. I was rather briefly in the art department, eventually I moved onto PR and Web Direction and that’s when TSL featured everywhere, even on Mtv News without even having a demo at the time! Way back then when Stephen Totilo was starting out in the business, long time ago.

          Everything else I have done in this industry has been Business/Marketing oriented: Cognition, Face Noir, Moebius, Quest for Infamy, Lost Civilization and The Last Door are entirely through publishing via Phoenix. Gabriel Knight is being published via Pinkerton, but most likely involving most of Phoenix people. I don’t even think about it much right now because everything needs to go through Activision first.

          Everyone automatically assumes I’m a developer when working directly with games, but fact is I’m the most boring part of the whole thing! I’m data, logistics and social media content management – I love interacting with people, though.

          The whole Moebius madness isn’t over yet, I’ve got a lot to do still – launch and post launch; after next Tuesday the next big launch is for May with two other games. Phoenix is also getting new games for publishing for the next lineup, so a lot of work coming through thankfully.

          • Marketing is more important that most people think. If people don’t buy the game, then the business can’t continue.

            Very cool!

          • “Way back then when Stephen Totilo was starting out in the business, long time ago.

            I remember thinking Totilo was one of the industry’s better writers. Now it seems any talent is squandered at Kotaku. You think something like that would choose a smaller, more important outlet over a site with big numbers.

  3. Robert’s gone full MMO with FF XIV this week.

    • His pick is Wargame: Red Dragon, not FFXIV.

      • My pick is “The Assinating Adventures Of The Suffocating Butt”

      • And it’s not, which looks like Pokemon, but you make babies with your loli waifu.

        This might be the most wapanese sentence I ever wrote.

      • But he wrote Two paragraphs about FFXIV history- for a new release list. That’s one paragraph more than most blogs.

        • Well, these are only about 30 more characters compared to last week. As someone who distributes content on different social media platforms, I have got limited chars for text and I am forced to pay attention to these details. My life is that exciting.

          • Are you sure? I could 113 words to 149. Way more that 30 characters.

            Unless you’re talking about game characters, then I feel stupid.

          • I’m amazed that someone not affiliated with the site is counting words. Really?

            Max: The Curse of Brotherhood is really fun. I may not full full price, but I’ll grab it when I see a good Steam sale.

      • You know what cute girl character you see in FFXIV, it’s probably Robert or Blue when he gets a PC.

  4. The Jogging Dead

    I looked at a video for Conception II. I found tell WTF the game was about.

  5. The video for Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars has me curious. I need to download the demo.

  6. I’m a little interested in Moebius: Empire Rising because I was a huge GK fan back in the day. That is what got me into adventure games.

  7. I’m surprised Disney Magical World hasn’t got more attention. It’s like Animal Crossing but with Disney characters.

  8. You guys made the weekly meeting!

    Today at work, they were talking about web browsing and showing a screenshot showing some of the more popular sites which we shouldn’t be spending time at. Tech-Gaming was right above Giant Bomb on the chart. Chaturbate was there too (who is doing that). I wanted to grab a pic for you, but couldn’t quite pull it off.

    • “Popular sites which we shouldn’t be spending time at” I’m sure they meant something like should be spending more time at, instead. And, what weekly meeting is that? lol.

    • Waffles for Supper

      “Chaturbate was there too”

      That’s the boss, I betcha. Check his browser history, that could be worth an extra $100 in hush pay.

  9. Youd think the name “Giant Bomb” might not get through a filter. I do IT for a medium sized company and the site (along with anything with “gaming” in the title) is blocked. IGN isn’t, those sneaky bastards.

  10. You guys forgot Kinect Sports Rival last week.

  11. Those Final Fantasy characters look creepy as hell. No thanks.

  12. I hope you review Wargame: Red Dragon and maybe Conception II. Those are the 2 games I’m interested in.

  13. I heard Crazy Climber is finally coming out this week.

  14. I hope Trials Fusion has a demo. That’s about the only thing I’m interested in.

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