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Felt Qute, might destroy later Calling all shmup heads, Qute Corporation has announced that the recently released Switch port of 2011 blasterEschatosis about ready to jet off on western shores. Originally launched to the Nintendo platform in Japan back in November,Eschatoswill be hitting the Nintendo eShop on January 13. A vertically scrolling shmup with particularly frantic energy,Eschatossees a lone pilot charged with defeating an alien body known as “Purple Erosion” which is slowly consuming The Moon....

Atlus re-releasing action role-playing game digitally on PS3 Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Armywill make its digital debut on PlayStation 3 next week, thePlayStation Blogcastreports. Unlike the vast majority ofMegaTengames, theRaidou Kuzunohasub-series separates itself from the crowd by eschewing turn-based battles in favor of an action-heavy combat system. It also employs a unique setting, or at least time period, 1930s Japan. Atlus initially released the RPG back in 2006 for the PlayStation 2....

Character design in today’s “AAA hardcore” games seems to continually move away from the cartoon surrealism sensibility that was once the norm. Back then,Earthworm Jimwas ourGears of War,Q-Bertwas ourCatherine,andDragon’s Lairwas ourHeavy Rain. One of the few successful “AAA” games to keep that style of design going is last year’sThe Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. It’s not just that they continued the traditional “cartoon” visuals that the series has already utilized. That would be the easy way, the Mario way....

FRESH! The Nintendo Switch won’t be launching with too many games, but fans looking forward to this summer’sSplatoon 2won’t have to wait much longer to get some hands-on time with the game. Much like how Nintendo demoed the first title to stress test its online service,Splatoon 2will be receiving a test fire demo on the Switch. The demo will be held from March 24th to the 26th with six time slots available....

Hands-on with this shmup/roguelike hybrid I wasn’t sure what to expect when I loaded upStarr Mazer: DSPfor the first time. I haven’t played a shoot-’em-up game seriously sinceR-TypeandGradius IIIback on the SNES. After a surprisingly lengthy initial load, it booted up and I was ready to blast some aliens. Starr Mazerwas successful onKickstarterin February last year, and will combine a traditional point-and-click adventure game with its shoot-’em-up segments.Starr Mazer: DSPis set in the same universe but focuses on the shooty goodness, with some roguelike elements added to the mix....

With the release of theSteam Deck OLEDlast year, Valve keeps its place as the head honcho of modern handheld PC technology. However, the market is starting to become crowded with alternatives, and one more tech firm is throwing its hat into the ring. As spotted byThe Verge, it looks as though multinational IT corporation MSI will be releasing its own Steam Deck competitor. That’s according to leaked images, at least. In recentsocial media posts(originally reported byVideocardz), the company uploaded a teaser clip, showing something is certainly inbound from the laptop manufacturer....

Hamza is, shall we say,indisposedat the moment — so I’m filling in for him, because, y’know, us brown folk have to stick together. I can’t wait for PAX, where I’m finally going to meet him (and many of you as well!). Speaking of PAX, the official schedule for the three-day expo is now up; it includes theDestructoid panel, which is set for 4 PM on Saturday, August 30th. Be there! In addition, a new Batman game was revealed (and I did some crazy math);Variety’s Ben Fritz calledMirror’s Edge“gimmicky”; ourDevil May Cry 4contest winner was announced; Sam’s Club offered to print updatedMadden NFL 09covers for free, along with selling the game at a discount; and tons of other stuff happened on Tuesday....

Keep Doom-ing Back during their E3 conference last Sunday, Bethesda announced thatDoomwas getting a special demo that includes the first level — but it was only going to be available for one week. Thankfully the publisher has announced that they’ve extended the grace period for an undisclosed amount of time, so grab it if you haven’t ready. Seriously, grab it.Doomis an amazing shooter, and one of the biggest surprises of 2016 for me....

They’re back for a Star Fox Zero spot The Jim Henson Company’spuppetswere an honest-to-god highlight of Nintendo’s E3 2015 showing, and it’s about time someone dusted them off.Star Fox Zerois only a couple weeks away! I’m sure some of you will have opinions about the content of this “Foxy Fox” trailer, and I’ll leave you to it soon enough, but I do want to point out Peppy’s subtle nose twitch. Nice little touch there....

Best of 2013 Boiling a year’s worth of content down to ten top picks, as we did with our nominees, is taxing enough. Picking one as our Game of the Year? It’s not easy. We covered a large swath of titles in our nominations, from the triplest of A to a turn-based strategy RPG to an indie adventure game made by a few people, and still there were plenty of amazing games left off....

Metroid U BetweenMetal Gear Solid Vand SuperMario Maker, my schedule for September is Chinese-buffet full. Both games are going be huge time sinks. They’re also tons of fun to watch pre-release. Take this level created by Pixelkabinett. It’s designed likeMetroidin that players have to seek out “upgrades” (i.e.,Mariopower-ups) to reach previously-inaccessible areas. Some real clever use of the tools here, and I also loved seeing the creator get flustered during the first boss fight....

While Treyarch is considered the weaker of the twoCall of Dutydevelopers at the moment that doesn’t mean that they don’t put effort into their games. In a recent interview withGame Hunters, Treyarch studio head Mark Lamia said that the developer was getting advised by two former black ops operatives from both sides of the Cold War for the upcomingCall of Duty: Black Ops. Lamia first noted that the team was talking with Maj....

Do it, you cowards! For one reason or another,Splinter Cellhasn’t made a comeback since 2013’sSplinter Cell: Blacklist. While Ubisoft included series protagonist Sam Fisher insome bonus DLCforGhost Recon Wildlands, it hasrepeatedlydeniedthat a new game is in the works. As of last week, though, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot stated that a new entry in the series is actually being worked on. Just don’t expect that entry to come out anytime soon....