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Monthly Archives: February 2019
Dead or Alive 6 Announces Deluxe Edition, World Championship and SNK Collab
Team NINJA took to EVO Japan 2019 and had a wide assortment of announcements concerning Dead or Alive 6. This includes the Dead or Alive 6 Deluxe Demo, their newest esports venture in the Dead or Alive World Championships, and the first news concerning the DOA6 Season Pass 1. This includes two characters from SNK’s The King of Fighters XIV.
Playstation Plus members and Xbox Live Gold members will be able to acquire the Demo on February 22nd, 2019, and it will last until February 24th, 2019 in North America. It will feature online ranked and lobby matches, Free Training, Tutorial, Command Training, Combo Challenge, and a Story Mode introduction. The demo will feature all 24 characters available at launch – all hairstyles and glasses will be available for each of the playable characters.
The Dead or Alive World Championships will also have qualifiers held in North America, Europe, and Asia, with each region’s top players competing at the Grand Finals in Japan. The Qualifiers and Grand Finals total prize will be equivalent to Ten Million Yen (JPY). Team Ninja also concifmred that Mai Shiranui will be joining the DOA6 cast in June as a guest character alongside a yet-to-be-announced character, also from the King of Fighters franchise. These will both be in the Season Pass 1.
DOA6’s Season Pass 1 will be available for purchase beginning March 1, 2019, and will also include 62 new costumes: DOA6 Happy Wedding Costumes Vol. 1 and 2, DOA6 New Costumes set Vol. 1 and 2, and additional character costumes for the two SNK fighters. Season Pass 1 bonuses will also feature new NiCO and Nyotengu costumes. All Season Pass 1 content will be made available between March and June 2019.
Fall of Light: Darkest Edition Launches on Steam with Free Update
Fall of Light, from 1C Entertainment and Runeheads are bringing a huge update to Fall of Light, and for free, no less. This update brings players a brand new dungeon, with a new boss, deadly traps, and horrific enemies to do battle with. This, of course, means new weapons to collect. This particular update was previously exclusive to console but is now officially on Steam. New content, tweaks, and quality of life changes also come with the Darkest Edition update.
- 20 different battle stances, including two-handed and dual-wielding
- 10 weapon classes covering both short-range and long-range weaponry
- Guide and protect your companion – Aether, the Indigo child
- Fight Shadows, soldiers of darkness and underworld bosses
- Explore the overworld, scour dungeons and temples to gain and use special powers
- Uncover many secrets and solve various environmental puzzles
- New content (including exclusive content originally available in the console version)
- A new dungeon with a new boss fight, traps, enemies and weapons
- Revamp of the hitboxes
- Improved combat animations
- Nyx stats rebalanced
- Aether stats rebalanced
- Enemies’ stats rebalanced
- Sunray sequence rebalanced
- Improved performances
- New visual effects
- New lantern behavior
- Also, increase the oil duration and charging time speeded up
- New sound effects
- Quality of life: roll/dodge and run have two separated buttons
- Minor Bug fixes
Far Cry New Dawn: How to Upgrade Your Base
In order to survive the post-apocalyptic setting of Far Cry New Dawn, you’ll need to build up your base, Prosperity. Here’s a peek at what you can do with this base to do battle against the Twins.
Dreamworks Dragons Dawn of New Riders Takes Flight
Dreamworks Dragons Dawn of New Riders has officially launched from Outright Games, Universal Games, and Digital Platforms. It launches ahead of the release of the new Dreamworks Animated movie, How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, which premieres in theaters on February 22nd, 2019. This story that takes place in the Dreamworks Dragons universe is live on Playstation Four, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC today.
Players will take to the skies in an epic battle to save Dragon-kind from Eir, a fiery new foe who is determined to control all Dragons to do her evil bidding. Alongside new friends Scribbler and Patch, players will discover exciting new locations and return to old haunts, meet familiar characters, and clash with fierce enemies in this all-new action-adventure.
KEY FEATURES:
- A NEW, AUTHENTIC ADVENTURE: Help Scribbler recover lost memories and forge a friendship with Patch, his unique hybrid dragon
- EPIC BATTLES: Unlock powerful abilities and take on fearsome foes
- EXPLORE VAST NEW LOCATIONS: Fly to familiar locations, as well as new locations, including Havenholme, Valka’s Mountain and Blood Briar Island
- SOLVE PUZZLES: Swap between Scribbler and his dragon Patch to conquer obstacles
Jump Force Brings the Ultimate Manga Crossover to Life Today
Bandai Namco is proud to bring to life their crossover extravaganza today – Jump Force! Celebrating 50 years of Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, which is published by Shueisha. Some of the greatest heroes and villains of all time in Shonen Jump are featured here, from Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Rurouni Kenshin and Hokuto no Ken!
The Jump world and the real world are merging, causing havoc, as villains from popular manga race to take over humanity. Enter the Jump Force, an elite group of manga heroes spearheaded by Goku, Luffy, and Naruto. Player will take on missions with the Jump Force to eradicate evil forces menacing Earth and restore balance to both worlds. Players will be able to create unique avatars to use in both Story and Versus modes. For the first time ever, players can select from numerous clothing options, hairstyles and special attacks from different manga franchises and combine them to create their ultimate warrior.
“Playground bets of who would win in a fight between Goku and Naruto can finally be settled,” said Eric Hartness, Vice President of Marketing at BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. “JUMP FORCE sets the stage for the ultimate collection of popular manga characters to come together for explosive battles to prove, once and for all, who is the most powerful character in the Jump universe.”
Maneater to Support NVIDIA Ansel Technology
Tripwire Interactive announced that Maneater, the Action RPG where you play as a shark, will support NVIDIA Ansel. This is a revolutionary way to capture in-game screenshots. With Ansel, players can compose high-quality screenshots, from any position, adjust them with post-process filters, capture HDR images in high-fidelity formats, and share them in 360 degrees with a mobile phone, PC, or VR headset. This ultimately lets players create beautiful, but also terrifying screenshots of this upcoming Shark-themed RPG. Maneater is coming to the Epic Games Store later on this year.
The World is Square – Album Review (Materia Collective)
by Jason Parker (Ragachak)
I’ve been sitting on this review for about a month now, and it’s been driving me mad. I’ve wanted to share this album’s existence with just about everyone I know because it’s one of the more interesting ones that I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing. But “The World is Square” from Scarlet Moon records is now live, thanks to its creator, Mustin. Mustin is better known for being the Co-Founder of OneUp Studios and the OneUps, and he’s put together this relaxing electronic rendition of some of my favorite RPG tracks of all time. It borders on chillhop, in my opinion, and is nonetheless a very relaxing, soothing album that I could see other artists sampling or getting inspiration from.
This is a shorter album, at eight tracks, but each one is absolutely delightful. There isn’t a song on it that doesn’t immediately conjure up memories of playing RPGs as a much younger man. Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy IV, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, and Final Fantasy VII are the inspirational titles used on this album, and though I do love all of them, I’d be here all morning if I just rambled about how great each track is. So, as per usual, I’m going to highlight just a few of my favorites. I do have an honorable mention or two though. Serenity, the main theme to Final Fantasy VII, and Secret of Mana’s Fear the Heavens. They’re both equally strong tracks, and I certainly feel they’re worth mentioning here.
“The World is Square” is also a tribute to Final Fantasy VI’s “World of Ruin”. While in Daryl’s Tomb, you come across several other tombstones, that ultimately spell out a scrambled phrase. Correctly returning to the blank tombstone and putting “The World is Square” on it will net you the “Exp Egg” relic. Equipping it offers double exp to whomever uses it. That’s not altogether useful to the album, but it’s a fun reference that I think is worth mentioning.
“This album is a celebration of my favorite time in gaming: the (then) Squaresoft RPG,” comments arranger/producer Mustin. “Having completed the first track in 2003, this has been a 15+ year project in the making. I hope you enjoy my first true solo outing.”
Final Fantasy IV: Theme of Love (Track 3): Theme of Love stays true to the original love ballad from Final Fantasy IV, while definitely adding some smooth drum machine sounds and an absolutely lovely violin. When I originally heard Ballad of Love in Final Fantasy 2 on the SNES, I felt like it would be performed on a violin (or a viola, since I’m very sincerely biased), and this is more or less what I pictured. Sans drum machine, because I was in Elementary School and didn’t know those existed. It’s a terrific blend of the hip-hop style of drum machine and classical violin, and I couldn’t think of a better track to start with for an album that launched on Valentine’s Day.
Chrono Trigger: Forest of the Butterflies (Track 4): This is a song I don’t see in a lot of remix albums/tribute albums, so I was glad to hear it. Forest of the Butterflies highlights the varied sounds and themes you find in the Chrono Trigger OST. When the track first starts, it uses a pretty high-speed roll of drum taps, but that’s a ruse! The song slows down almost immediately and blends nicely the electronic percussion and a smooth piano sound. The piano sounds like it transitions from a standard piano to a more electronic keyboard, and I think that’s a pretty cool technique to use. Forest of the Butterflies in my estimation, is supposed to convey mystery and wonder, being in a new, but beautiful area. Nothing is what it seems in the world of Chrono Trigger, and Mustin conveys that neatly in Forest of the Butterflies.
Final Fantasy VI: Coin Song (Track 5): It was incredibly hard to pick between this and Lonely Girl, which is the theme of Terra/Tina. But I’ve covered that enough times on here I think. But Coin Song, known as Coin of Fate, is a far more interesting song to me. There are two versions in Final Fantasy VI, one for Sabin and one for Edgar. Coin of Fate is more aligned with Sabin though, though both iterations feature the theme of their home kingdom, Figaro. Coin of Fate is the slower rendition of the song and tends to feel more somber and sad. Sabin Renee Figaro wants out of being in charge and wants nothing to do with ruling a kingdom. He tricks his bother Edgar with a double-sided coin and told him that this coin would define their fates. About a minute into the song, it transitions from chimes into violin and electronic percussion, which to me is probably where the coin goes flipping into the air, and Sabin ultimately commits to leaving home forever. I appreciate the song sticking to the slow, ponderous style of the original, as well as keeping the more somber tone. There’s one final transition towards the end, which sounds more triumphant, with a steady rolling drum. This is clearly the final walk out of Figaro Castle, where we return again to that sad violin. This is to me, the best song on the entire album, and if you listen to nothing else, listen to Coin Song.
THE WORLD IS SQUARE on Bandcamp
THE WORLD IS SQUARE on iTunes
Dying Light: Bad Blood DUO Mode Now Available
DUO Mode has officially arrived in Dying Light: Bad Blood. Players can team up to do battle with infected hives and opposing teams, as you fight to be the last ones standing.
Hollow Knight: Silksong – Announcement Trailer
Get ready to ascend to the peak of a Haunted Kingdom! Hollow Knight: Silksong is the sequel to Hollow Knight, and you control the lethal hunter Hornet. New lands, powers, and battles await.



