One of the most pleasant surprises of E3 was Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. If you've gone from having no interest in the game when it first leaked to suddenly being intrigued by a special edition, you'll have to head to GameStop.
The Collector's Edition of Kingdom Battle is a GameStop exclusive in the US. As pictured below, this consists of the game itself, a six-inch figurine of a Rabbid dressed as Mario, a set of collector's cards, and a soundtrack CD. All of this comes inside of a special collector's box.
This package goes for $100, making it a $40 premium over the standard package. It launches on August 29 alongside the base game, and pre-orders are open now at GameStop.
Rocket League got a big boost today in its development as an esport, as developer Psyonix announced that it's coming to the Summer X Games this year. The competition, known more as an extreme sports event, will hold a Rocket League tournament for the first time.
The tournament is in collaboration with Faceit, the esports platform that also worked to get Rocket League a broadcast deal with NBC. The X Games tournament will feature a $75,000 prize pool, and it'll be streamed live on ESPN 3, ESPN's online channel. It takes place between July 14-16.
In a press release, Psyonix esports manager Josh Watson said, "The X Games and ESPN have done a great job of bringing attention to nontraditional sports over the years. Adding esports and Rocket League to that lineup is something we at Psyonix are very excited about."
The Summer X Games will be held from July 13-16 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and will feature the normal array of extreme sports alongside the Rocket League tournament. There'll be competitions in skateboarding, BMX, and motocross.
There've been countless different Monopoly editions released over the years, and there have even been several Monopoly video games. Now there's a video game-themed edition of the tabletop game in the works.
Hasbro announced the Monopoly Gamer Edition today, which is essentially a Super Mario Bros. makeover of Monopoly. You choose from Mario, Donkey Kong, Princess Peach, and Yoshi to play as, then progress around the board, attempting to collect coins, defeat bosses, and buy property.
The Gamer Edition isn't just Monopoly re-skinned with Mario aesthetics, though. It has a couple of new gameplay mechanics that are unique to this edition. "For the first time in Monopoly history, each character token will have its own unique power-up ability," Hasbro wrote in a press release. "For example, landing on the Super Star board space will activate Princess Peach's Super Star ability to collect rent from the bank. Players can also activate a special power-up boost by rolling the power-up die."
Hasbro is also selling additional "Power Packs" which contain another character token. These will go for $3 each.
The Gamer Edition will be available in August for $25 at most retailers. Hasbro is also selling a Gamer Collector's Edition for $40. This special edition has "premium packaging" and includes the special Bowser token. The Collector's Edition is on sale starting today at GameStop, and it'll come to other stores later this year. You can take a closer look at the game board and pieces in the video on GameStop's page.
An update to procedurally generated roguelike TumbleSeed will make the game easier following criticisms that it was overly difficult.
According to the developers' blog post, only 0.2% of players beat the game, which tasks you with ascending a mountain on a movable balance beam. The mountain has four themed sections before reaching the summit--forest, jungle, desert, and snow--but only 8.3% of players reached the desert due to the sharp difficulty spike there.
"It's too hard. And it's too hard because there are too many new things going on at once. It's undigestible," developer Greg Wohlwend writes in the post. In each new section of the mountain, there are new enemies, powers, and rules to learn, and on top of that, the mountain is randomly generated each time.
"[T]he issue is not necessarily that the game is too difficult, but that players feel overwhelmed with far too many things to learn at once," he says. "On top of this, they also feel overly punished for not learning them fast enough."
The new 4 Peaks Update on Steam will add four new mountains, each themed after one of the four sections in the original mountain. The mountains will be the same every time you play them, which gives you an opportunity to really learn the unique enemies and systems in each area before tackling the original, very difficult Adventure Mode.
TumbleSeed also suffered "poor Steam sales" after its critical reception. "While I don't think this update will change the course of our success, it does feel really good to know we gave it our all especially when it was hardest to," Wohlwend writes of the update.
You can read the full list of changes in a Steam post. Currently, the update is only available for Steam versions of the game; the developers plan to launch the update on consoles "ASAP."
Fans of DC's animated movies will have much to celebrate this summer, when an epic anthology hits home entertainment platforms. DC Universe Original Movies: 10th Anniversary Collection is a 30-film collection of every single entry in the studio's animated superhero universe.
The collection kicks off with DC's first original movie, 2007's Superman: Doomsday. It includes adaptations of classic graphic novels (The Dark Knight Returns, The Killing Joke), origin stories (Justice League: Gods and Monsters, Batman and Harley Quinn), and superhero team-ups (Justice League Vs. Teen Titans, Justice League Dark).The set also includes five animated shorts and a variety of new special features.
Check out the full list of movies:
Superman: Doomsday
Justice League: The New Frontier
Batman: Gotham Knight
Wonder Woman Commemorative Edition
Green Lantern: First Flight
Superman/batman: Public Enemies
Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths
Batman: Under The Red Hood
Superman/batman: Apocalypse
All-star Superman
Green Lantern: Emerald Knights
Batman: Year One
Justice League: Doom
Superman Vs. The Elite
The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1
The Dark Knights Returns, Part 2
Superman: Unbound
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox
Justice League: War
Son Of Batman
Batman: Assault On Arkham
Justice League: Throne Of Atlantis
Batman Vs. Robin
Justice League: Gods And Monsters
Batman: Bad Blood
Justice League Vs. Teen Titans
Batman: The Killing Joke
Justice League Dark
Teen Titans: The Judas Contract
Batman And Harley Quinn
In a statement, Mary Ellen Thomas, Warner's VP of Family and Animation Marketing, said: "It's been an amazing journey from the initial concept of bringing comic book pages to screen to the completion of 30 animated films spotlighting the mesmerizing characters and stories of the DC library. We are proud to celebrate this first decade of filmmaking with an impressive box set filled with exciting extras beyond these stunning films themselves."
DC Universe Original Movies: 10th Anniversary Collection will be available on digital platforms from August 15, before hitting Blu-ray in a 32-disc box set on November 7. Details of the special features will be released later this summer.
The NES Classic Edition was a wildly popular console (in the short time it was available), so it comes as no surprise that Nintendo is back with the SNES Classic Edition, a 16-bit throwback console with 21 great games from the '90s. While the list of games is shorter on the SNES compared to the NES, it's arguably stronger, with explosive action games, cute Nintendo platformers, and epic-scale RPGs. The big shocker: the final version of the unreleased sequel Star Fox 2 will finally make its public debut.
There are a lot of reasons to get excited about the SNES Classic Edition, but as always, we're never satisfied: what about our personal favorite games that didn't make the cut? Not content to stew in silence, we've compiled a list of 11 games we wholeheartedly believe should have been included in the package, and the reasons they are not just good games, but classic SNES games.
Actraiser
The SNES Classic's library is full of amazing titles, but they're all relatively safe--fan favorites and ongoing franchises that have stood the test of time. Conversely, although the IP is all but dead, ActRaiser is a piece of gaming history that truly represents the experimental innovation that occurred in the SNES's heyday. While there were plenty of action-platformers and a surprising number of top-down strategy games, ActRaiser was the only one that deftly combined the two genres--and it featured a frame story that positioned you as the creator and protector of the world who needed to appease his followers in order to gain more power.
ActRaiser did get a sequel three years later, though it eschewed the strategy element entirely. And outside of releases on the virtual console and mobile, the entire franchise has lain dormant. But this quirky mishmash deserved a spot on the SNES Classic. - Justin Haywald
Chrono Trigger
The SNES was home to many beloved RPGs, including the charmingly odd Earthbound and, of course, Final Fantasy VI--both of which enjoy a spot on the list of games bundled inside the SNES Classic Edition. While you can't point a finger at Nintendo for ignoring RPGs with its upcoming mini console, you can at least (politely) begrudge that Chrono Trigger won't be coming along for the ride.
Chrono Trigger is regarded by many to be one of the best console RPGs ever made. It comprised an unusual (for the time) time-travel mechanic, a complex combat system that allowed you to strategically combine character abilities, and a memorable soundtrack--all of which remain valid reasons to play the game today, 22 years after its release. It also represents an interesting crossroads for Square and Enix, years before the two companies merged. Chrono Trigger was devised by the leaders of two competing RPG behemoths, Yuji Horii of Dragon Quest and Hironobu Sakaguchi of Final Fantasy, with additional input from the creator of Dragon Ball (Akira Toriyama.) An interesting touchstone, and an all-around lovely game, Chrono Trigger absolutely deserves a spot in the SNES Classic Edition's library. - Peter Brown
Earthworm Jim
Earthworm Jim may not be as iconic as Mario and Sonic, but the game he hails from combined platforming and 2D gunplay in a fun and uniquely bizarre package. Developed by Shiny Entertainment and released for SNES in 1994, the premise is that a space suit crash lands onto earth and gives a normal earthworm superhuman strength.
Earthworm Jim used a cool art style coupled with excellent hand-drawn animations. Visually, the game has aged relatively well. It also featured some crazy bat-**** levels that brought you to a planet made of mucus and a stage where you're navigating your way through intestines.
The original game was very challenging and featured particularly devilish boss battles. The gunplay allowed you to shoot in eight different directions, and the platforming allowed you to jump and swing from ledge to ledge using your earthworm head as the lasso. Earthworm Jim also featured some simple but "groovy" voice acting. The game spawned three sequels and a children's cartoon show, and deserves to be played if you're a fan of '90s-style platformers. - Jimmy Thang
Final Fantasy II (IV)
I know, I know, the SNES Classic Edition is already full of genre-defining RPGs. And if there were room for only one Final Fantasy game, it should 100% be Final Fantasy III. But storage is cheap, and Nintendo certainly could have squeezed a few more amazing games into the console's chassis. So if I could choose another RPG after FFIII (and Earthbound...and Chrono Trigger), it would be Final Fantasy II.
While the original Final Fantasy captured the imagination of gamers on the NES, Final Fantasy II upended the entire genre. The focus on intersecting narratives and human drama elevated RPGs--which had to this point primarily focused on streamlining their combat systems--and made them more about telling interesting, engaging stories. Kain, Cecil, Rosa...FFII was the birthplace of so many iconic characters, and it's an experience still worth enjoying today (or at least after those other RPGs I mentioned). - Justin Haywald
NBA Jam
As incredible as the SNES Classic Edition's library is, it's largely devoid of sports games, save for mini-golf (Kirby's Dream Course) and boxing (Super Punch-Out). While the NES Classic Edition included Tecmo Bowl, the SNES Classic leaves out its platform's most iconic sports game: NBA Jam. It's a game that was just plain, old-fashioned fun--2-on-2 basketball where players catch on fire when they're doing well, knock each other down to steal the ball, and generally ignore NBA rules, making for an incredibly entertaining experience.
The basketball game's appeal extended even to non-basketball fans--its arcade-style gameplay is approachable and doesn't require in-depth knowledge of the real-world sport. Add in the over-the-top commentary (boomshakalaka!) and multiplayer-friendly nature of the game, and NBA Jam was seemingly tailor-made for inclusion as an SNES Classic release. Licensing issues may be to blame, but whatever the reason, its absence is an especially notable and disappointing one. - Chris Pereira
Pilotwings
Pilotwings isn't a Nintendo property that gets a lot of love these days, but when the SNES debuted, the original Pilotwings was an impressive game that offered a lot of variety in a single package. Under the guise of earning various pilot's licenses, you were thrust into the cockpits of planes, into the harness of a skydiving parachute, and even buckled into a jetpack. Each scenario presented unique controls and objectives, but it was the intuitive and thoughtful controls that made the experience a pleasure, even when you failed repeatedly while perfecting your piloting techniques.
A game about learning how to pilot various contraptions doesn't sound exciting, but the use of the SNES's Mode 7 feature gave Pilotwings' environments a sense of depth that was unparalleled in console gaming at the time. It was easy to respect the work Pilotwings did to differentiate the SNES from the competition, and it's disappointing to hear that it won't be a part of the SNES Classic Edition. - Peter Brown
Super R-Type
The SNES was one of many consoles that brought an arcade experience to the living room. These ports were seldom ever "arcade perfect," but SNES games like Super R-Type had selling points beyond its similarities to their arcade counterparts. Part port, part remix, Super R-Type took four stages from R-Type II and introduced three new areas. As a result, it has managed to stand the test of time even with the availability of arcade-perfect ports of R-Type II on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.
Much of Super R-Type's appeal is how well it retains the original game's engaging weapon system. Some weapon pick-ups are more useful than others in specific situations and environments, and one way of mastering an R-Type game is knowing when to use a specific armament and where to obtain it. This also speaks to Super R-Type's high difficulty, which would have complemented the equally challenging Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, a game that has been confirmed for the SNES Classic. - Miguel Concepcion
The Legend of Mystical Ninja
Is there a more quintessentially Japanese game than The Legend of the Mystical Ninja? Set in a medieval-inspired Japan and starring a hero based loosely on the hero/outlaw Goemon (though localized as Kid Ying here in America), Mystical Ninja was a genuinely fun beat-em-up with RPG elements.
The game is included in the Japanese version of the SNES Classic Edition, which includes a few other different games western version of the console. But Mystical Ninja would've been a great choice for the US just to show how prevalent (and excellent) Japanese game development was in the early days of Nintendo's system. - Justin Haywald
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4: Turtles in Time
The biggest omissions from the SNES Classic's library are arcade-style beat-em-ups, and few games embody that genre more perfectly than the Turtles games. With the advent of the SNES, kids could feel like they had arcade-quality graphics right in their home, and they could play through punishing brawlers without fear of losing an embarrassing number of quarters. And TMNT 4: Turtles in Time was the epitome of that arcade experience.
Although it's listed as the fourth game, this was the direct follow-up to the original TMNT arcade game from 1987 (there just happened to be a load of other TMNT games that came out for the original NES in the preceding years). The simple cartoony graphics still hold up today, but the thing that makes the game a standout are the wide array of settings and time periods--a big upgrade from the previous game. With iconic enemies, great music, and, of course, plenty of pizza power-ups, Turtles in Time is the kind of nostalgia trip that belongs on a console like the SNES Classic. - Justin Haywald
U.N. Squadron
By the time U.N. Squadron was released, the Super NES had been out for less than a month in the US. It was already the third side-scrolling shooter in a console library that--by that point--only had 11 games. If one of the goals of the Nintendo Classic consoles is to impart some sense of historical significance, the impact of side-scrolling shooters during the SNES's first year is a glaring omission. The closest thing the Super NES Classic has is Contra III, which is a run-and-gun shooter.
A horizontal-scrolling shooter, U.N. Squadron was a significant design departure for Capcom, which had been known for its vertical-scrolling shooters set during World War II. It also offered a level of gameplay depth not found in many prior shooters. Not only could you select one of three fighter planes, you could make minor weapon customizations, driven by an in-game economy based on how many planes you shot down. The remarkable thing about this feature is how it perfectly ties in with the gun-for-hire premise of Area 88, the manga series U.N. Squadron is based on. - Miguel Concepcion
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
While many people consider Street Fighter the pinnacle of fighting games on Super Nintendo, it was the Mortal Kombat series--and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 in particular--that first pulled me into the genre. It was undoubtedly the violence that caught my attention as an adolescent, but what kept me playing was the large, varied roster and stellar mechanics, which felt approachable even to me as a fighting game novice. Yes, the SNES version was neutered in several ways, with elements cut in favor of toning down the violence, but its core experience is still among the best on the platform.
Even with the toned-down violence, the intrinsically violent nature of the game likely precluded its inclusion on the SNES Classic. Nintendo has shied away from Mature-rated games for its Classic Edition consoles, so it's not terribly surprising to see UMK3 left out of this package, which can now be safely marketed as a gift for the whole family. Still, it is a missed opportunity to round out the fighting game portion of the SNES Classic's library, which will now have to make do with only Street Fighter and Punch-Out. - Chris Pereira
Robot Entertainment has announced a release date for the PlayStation 4 version of Orcs Must Die: Unchained. The tower defense game is coming to Sony's console on July 18.
Unchained is the third installment in the Orcs Must Die series. The title was released earlier this year for PC, though it had been available for the platform in open beta since 2014. Like other tower defense games, Unchained tasks players with protecting their fortress from an invading army of orcs by outfitting it with various traps. What sets the series apart from other titles, however, is that it plays more like a third-person action game, allowing players to take on the invading hordes directly while building traps for their fortress.
Along with the traditional Survival mode, Unchained includes a head-to-head party mode called Sabotage. In this mode, two teams of three players compete on their own version of the same map and summon spells, enemies, and bosses on the opposing team's map in an effort to disrupt them. The team with the most rift points at the end of the match wins.
Prior to its PC release, Unchained also featured a MOBA-like PvP mode called Siege. This mode pitted two teams of five players against each other on symmetrical maps. However, Robot ultimately decided to remove the mode as only a "small portion" of players actively played it. The team explained, "Ultimately, the Siege game mode has a small hardcore group of players, but it isn't building a healthy long-term community around itself." Removing the mode allowed Robot to turn its focus "entirely toward making Survival feel, look, sound, and play more like a clear evolution of OMD and OMD2."
Orcs Must Die: Unchained will be free-to-play when it launches for PS4. Additionally, PS Plus members can snag an exclusive bundle of skins, consumables, in-game currency, and more--normally valued over $20--for free until August 17.
There's new Rocket League DLC in the works, and this pack is all about Rick and Morty. For the game's second anniversary, developer Psyonix is releasing a number of cosmetic items related to the popular TV show.
Writing on its website, Psyonix revealed the new content, explaining that the items are coming as a free update available to all players. The pack includes antennas with Rick and Morty perched on top of them; Cromulon, Mr. Meeseeks, and Mr. PBH toppers; an Interdimensional GB rocket boost; and Sanchez DC-137 wheels. You can see all of the items in the GIF below.
Once the update goes live, these items will appear as Common drops after matches. They'll be available starting July 5.
This is just one part of the much larger Second Anniversary Update coming to Rocket League on July 5. The update also adds a new arena, Achievements and Trophies, cars, cosmetic items, and music. You can read more about it here.
The former won the headline Best of Show award, as well as Best Console Game and Best Action/Adventure Game. Ubisoft's Rabbids crossover, meanwhile, took away Best Original Game and Best Strategy Game.
Elsewhere, EA's FIFA 18 grabbed Best Sports Game, while Best Online Multiplayer went to Star Wars Battlefront II. Microsoft claimed two prizes, too: Xbox One X won Best Hardware/Peripheral while Forza Motorsport 7 claimed Best Racing Game.
Sony has announced its lineup of free PlayStation Plus games coming in July, and it's a good one. It brings a total of six games for Plus subscribers, three of which are playable on PS4 thanks to Cross-Buy.
The dedicated PS4 titles include PS4-exclusive horror game Until Dawn and Telltale's episodic Game of Thrones series; the timing of the latter works out nicely with the show returning to HBO in July. Joining these is Don't Die, Mr. Robot, an action game for Vita that features Cross-Buy support with PS4. Vita owners also get their hands on Element4l.
Tokyo Jungle
On the PS3 side, Plus members receive Darkstalkers Resurrection, which is actually a collection of two different games from the Darkstalkers fighting game series: Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge and Darkstalkers 3. Also free on PS3 is Tokyo Jungle, the brilliant, quirky action game where you play as various animals--ranging from Pomeranians to lions--in a post-apocalyptic version of Tokyo.
Plus members will get their hands on two other perks beginning in July. A booster pack for Orcs Must Die: Unchained, which launches in beta on July 18, will be available until August 15. Additionally, to celebrate the launch of PlayLink--a new multiplayer game platform on PS4 that lets you play using your smartphone--the game That's You will be free until October 24.
Nintendo has announced a release date for the next 3DS Kirby game, Kirby's Blowout Blast. The title will arrive in the 3DS eShop in both North America and Europe next week, on July 6.
Like a traditional Kirby game, Blowout Blast is a platformer that revolves around Kirby's ability to inhale enemies. Rather than endowing him with new powers, however, Kirby spits the foes out to defeat other enemies. Players guide the puffball through more than 25 stages, inhaling foes to unleash a powerful "Blaster Bullet." The more foes you inhale, the more destructive your Blaster Bullet becomes, allowing you to wipe out entire rows of enemies with a single gust. The game also features Amiibo support; when you scan a Kirby figure, you'll build a new statue in the game's plaza that changes the music.
Blowout Blast is the second Kirby game to hit the 3DS eShop so far this year; back in April, Nintendo released the multiplayer-focused Team Kirby Clash Deluxe for the service. In that title, players could choose one of four different classes of Kirby and team up to take on quests and battle bosses. Nintendo has also announced that a new Kirby "multiplayer action game" is in the works for 3DS and is slated to arrive in stores this holiday season.
All three Kirby 3DS games are being released to commemorate the series' 25th anniversary, though they aren't the only Kirby titles on the horizon. At E3 earlier this month, Nintendo unveiled a brand-new Kirby game for Switch. Like Kirby's Return to Dream Land for Wii, the Switch title is a side-scrolling platformer that seems to allow up to four players to play together cooperatively. Kirby for Switch will launch sometime next year.
The film follows Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014). It's directed by Matt Reeves, whose previous credits include Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and Cloverfield.
In a recent interview with Empire, Reeves spoke about the movies that influenced War for the Planet of the Apes. "I wanted this film to be like a Biblical epic," he said. "Mark [Bomback, co-writer] and I looked at classic war movies: The Bridge on the River Kwai, Patton, Apocalypse Now.
"But we were also thinking in terms of things such as The Ten Commandments. I wanted it to feel very intimate in the foreground, but with grand vistas always dwarfing [the characters]. In a sense it's about these two species pitted against each other and nature being greater than both of them. I wanted a David Lean ape movie."
War for the Planet of the Apes hits theaters on July 14, 2017.
"In all the films what I try to do, in almost a Hitchcockian sense, is use the camera and use the storytelling so that you become the character and you empathise with that point of view," he said. "And I think there is a chance to do an almost noir-driven detective version of Batman that is point of view driven in a very, very powerful way. And hopefully it is going to connect you to what's going on inside of his head and inside of his heart."
Nintendo's newest system, the Switch, is off to a strong start in Japan. The latest sales report shows that it's now surpassed the 1 million units sold mark after just under four months on sale.
This milestone was first reported by Japanese publication Famitsu (and translated by NeoGAF user Okami), which states that Switch has sold 1,016,473 units in Japan as of June 25. Taking only 17 weeks to get there, the Switch eclipsed the 1 million unit mark in roughly the same amount of time as the GameCube and significantly faster than the Wii U (34 weeks), PS3 (36 weeks), or PS4 (49 weeks), according to data compiled by GAF. But it was not as quick as a number of other systems, including Nintendo's own Game Boy Advance (3 weeks), DS (4 weeks), and 3DS (13 weeks).
In terms of game sales, it's the expected names at the top of the list. Here's the top five, according to Famitsu:
Indie darlings Inside and Limbo are coming to retail later in 2017 as part of a physical double pack for PS4 and Xbox One. The box will include both games and some collectors' items, "including a limited run poster and art card," according to the bundle's publisher, 505 Games.
The double pack launches in the US on September 12 and Europe on September 15, though it's unclear if it will come to other territories. It costs $30--the same price as buying them individually from the PlayStation Store or the Xbox Store.
Limbo originally launched on Xbox 360 in 2010, before later coming to PS3, PC, mobile, and current-gen consoles. It was critically acclaimed and was awarded a 9/10 in our Limbo review.
Inside, meanwhile, received an 8/10 when it launched in 2016. Critic Alex Newhouse called it a "beautiful, haunting, and memorable game," and a "worthy follow-up to Limbo." Read more in our full Inside review.
Jake sits down with developer, Johnnemann Nordhagen, to discuss the game's world and the music.
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