Tech-Gaming Technology, Gaming, and Culture
While Fall and Spring are usually known as the transitional seasons, the latest batch of mid- Summer releases demonstrates an unusually high number of changes across platforms. PC indie Rogue Legacy offers a simultaneous release across all three Sony’s systems with cross-buy as a tempting incentive, while Pinball FX2 makes its way onto Microsoft’s next-gen machine, albeit without table import functionality. Undoubtedly, many gamers will be scrutinizing the conversion of The Last of Us Remastered, to see how successful developer Naughty Dog was in meeting their target of a sixty frame-per-second output.
OUYA
Platdude in a Go-Kart
PlayStation 3
Rogue Legacy (PSN, $14.99, Crossbuy)
PlayStation 4
Rogue Legacy (PSN, $14.99, Crossbuy)
The Last of Us Remastered
Wii U
Ufouria: The Saga (eShop, $4.99)
Wooden Sen’SeY (eShop, $9.99)
Xbox One
Pinball FX2
3DS
Blaster Master (eShop, $4.99)
Siesta Fiesta (eShop, $5.99)
PS Vita
Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds (PSN, $12)
Rogue Legacy (PSN, $14.99, Crossbuy)
PC
Colin McRae Rally (Steam, $6.99)
Commander: The Great War (Steam, $20.09)
Fall of the New Age: Premium Edition (Steam, $9.99)
Firefall (Steam, Free to Play)
Gold Rush Classic (Steam, $7.99)
Industry Empire (Steam, $25.49)
Lovely Planet (Steam, $TBA)
Mount You Friends (Steam, $3.99)
Murder Miners (Steam, $3.94)
Nicole (otome version) (Steam, $18.99)
Pineview Drive (Steam, $TBA)
Recruits (Steam, $TBA)
Selknam Defense (Steam, $4.99)
Terrorhedron (Steam, $8.49)
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky (Steam, $16.99)
The Maker’s Eden (Steam, $7.19)
The Room (Steam, $4.99)
Total Pro Golf 3 (Steam, $16.99)
Vertical Drop Heroes (Steam, $4.89)
Robert’s Pick: When The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky was released for the PSP back in 2011, Nihon Falcom-fanatic SeanNOLA begged to review the title. Sadly, his enthusiasm was humbled by a humdrum storyline and the age of the source material. Yet, over the years, a growing number of role-playing loyalists have continued to sing the game’s praises, citing the quality of combat and how convincing towns feel. This week, I’ll keep my expectations tempered, but most admit there’s a tingle of hope that we’ll have a different opinion of the title. After all, we never say eye to eye on the Disgaea franchise.
Gonçalo’s Pick: Beat’em ups are my videogame equivalent of comfort food. It may not be deepest of genres, but they provide that unmistakable old-school arcade fun few games tap into these days. Phantom Breaker Battle Grounds seeks to modernize them with the addition of RPG elements, over-the-top combo systems, and online co-operative modes while maintaining an adorably retro aesthetic and soundtrack.
By now we should be playing the second chapter in Trails in the Sky.
I probably won’t pick it up, but Blaster Master was one of my favorite NES games ever. I think I bought ever Sunsoft game that came out after hoping they’d be able to duplicate the magic.
They never really did.
Blaster Master was, as the kids still might say, “the shit”.
I rented it, played it for two days straight, then begged grandma to get it for me as an early birthday present. She gave it about a week later.
Granny’s gone now, but I still have the original cart. Ain’t never gonna sell that.
Failing to pick The Last of Us Remastered makes Baby Jesus weep.
I wasn’t crying, an angel feather broke off and got it my eye. That’s all.
Please Baby Jesus, make TLOU a solid 60 fps. Do it for the kids.
You can never go wrong with tits. (Trails in the Sky)
Absolutely solidly stated (ass).
No PS+ deal on Rogue Legacy. That would have been the deal maker for me.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky looks like it might get a purchase this week.
Whatever happened to SeanNOLA?
I heard that he tried to play LoH:TitS a second time to see what the hell people were talking about when they said it was good, and he literally died of boredom. Some say his ghost haunts these comments to this very day. If you listen, you can still hear him say “I don’t care about your goddamn soup, just let me explore a dungeon or something – OH MY GOD, WHO WROTE THIS GARBAGE!”
Haha. Comment of the week.
Seems everyone drank the kool-aid on this one then.
Funny. I say the exact same thing when I go to Panera.
Kind of shame that Pinball FX2 doesn’t grab your previously bought tables. Good thing I invested in the PS3 version.
“Platdude in a Go-Kart”
Oh, OUYA keep trying.
Is Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds the same version as the Xbox 360 one?
Does The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky come out on Tuesday or Wednesday? Maybe you can post the exact dates.
It’s out today. GOG has a sale on it, $16 and change.
I’m a bit surprised that Robert didn’t pick Phantom Breaker. A loli fighter should get the pick and the pic!
Ninjago: Nindroids also released this week for the Vita and 3DS. If you played the 3DS/Vita version of LEGO Marvel and enjoyed it, this one looks like the exact same game, but with vehicle levels.
I read nindoroids and got excited for a second,
The portable versions of LEGO games are usually pretty awful. Like they adapt them from the mobile version.
I don’t mind them, I just wish they were open world. I like the isometric perspective better than the weird free-camera that the console versions have for that kind of mindless beat-em-up. If they weren’t segmented into levels, they would almost feel like mindless beginners’ Ys games. You can’t really approach them as “how does this compare to the console version” so much as “can this hold your attention on the bus” and they are generally perfect for that.
If you ARE looking for a more “traditional” lego game for Vita, the Chima game is pretty much just that. It’s alright. I now know more about Chima than I ever really wanted to. They built a Chima water park in San Diego, and I knew the names of the characters in the commercial, so I basically hate myself now.
“Why do you have opinions on this crap, Sean?” I’ve pretty much ONLY played Vita games for the past 8 months, and both Chima and LEGO Marvel were cheap. I’m about to platinum Marvel, just by virtue of the fact that I can clear most challenges in about 45 seconds. It really is well paced for commuters.
If I recall correctly (its been a long time since the last show) Chima was the game that broke Robert from LEGO games. I want to say he said it was really boring. Coming from someione who like JRPG grinds that must mean something.