THIS IS NOT A JOKE! Hyrule Warriors Coming to Wii U and SWEET CHRISTMAS THIS IS A THING

Okay, I'm calm, I'm calm...it's just. Wow. Totally out of left field, yet definitely something I want.

In their 3DS/Wii U focused Direct this morning, Nintendo announced a team-up with Tecmo Koei to bring Hyrule Warriors to the Wii U in 2014. The trailer shows Link restyled with some blue tonnage in his traditional green garb, laying waste to large amounts of goblins on screen with sword and flame rod. Hell, even Dodongo's massive self shows up!

Before you start speculating however - this isn't the new Zelda game that was announced in a previous Direct. They haven't released the curtain on that one yet. In the meantime, revel in the trailer above. This is something you want. Yes. Yes it is. 

No no no no....Steam Autumn Sale is LIVE (as My Wallet [and Backlog] Cries)

something about money to burn.

Thank Christ I'm working two jobs.

Right off the bat - Skyrim ($7.49) [Dragonborn DLC ($9.99)], Antichamber ($4.99), The Walking Dead ($6.49), Sleeping Dogs and Terraria at $4.99 and $2.49 respectively.

You've also got survival-horror Outlast at $6.79, and HammerWatch 66% off at $3.39. State of Decay, Rogue Legacy and Left 4 Dead 2 are all on sale as well. The current flash sales range from Space Hulk to Crysis: Maximum Edition. 

Sales run until December 3rd. Afterwards, the Winter Sale will commence to kick us in the teeth once more. Dammit, Valve...

Steam Autumn Sale

Also, sorry for the lack of posts. We're handling some MAJOR final projects here!!

A Steep Slope: Only a hill

In the promo series for GOLD!!!!!!!

Oh man I was hype, it was already about 10 pm and I had resolved that it was now or never. Either I get to Gold now or I will probably never do it. And so I waded in.

Also I realize that the several Amumu comments I've made in the past few posts may not have made sense but worry not, all will become clear. Also amumu is the cursed lonely mummy, that only wants love! and hugs

GAME ONE
A Varus game unlike any other, my team lost every lane including our own bot lane. things looked bleak, but a perfect Q snipe by yours truly, and a clutch assassination by our mid player allowed for an uneven team fight evening out the score. A few barons later and some increasingly good communication allowed for more catches, and eventually game one for me !
VICTORY

GAME TWO
I took to the jungle in game two as the space adaptation of my favorite deep sea diver, Nautilus. An early gank top secured a lead for my top laner, a rumble who does extremely well with a lead. So I told him that I was going to snowball the other two lanes, so he needs to buy wards and farm and we will win the game. So I begin my relentless assault on the middle and bottom lanes.

Our Ahri has 5 kills by 10 minutes, and bot has a combined 6 kills with each lane winning by at least 40 creep score (farm). And I'm feeling pretty damn proud of myself, until our rumble dies for the fourth time. See the enemy shen jungle, decided to do the opposite of me and sit their top laner, which should have been irrelevant because of Rumbles wards right ? O wait he never bought any, and that's my fault. I hope that confuses you, because it definitely confused me. Now this guy begins to spout the most ridiculous things and trying to just die outright and get the enemy riven fed.

Things are beginning to spiral out of control until I see it in chat, "gatekeeper". When our entire team demanded what he was doing our Rumble said that one word. Now understand because of past experience with these people you stop telling others when you are in your promo or how far in one you are in, but you can search your teammates to find out that information.

So I go hard mode, not on tilt though. I stayed in control and smart, but this rumble made it hard. But we did it somehow. Its still a blur but we won a 4v5 teamfight mid lane and pushed to win, while Rumble was spouting nonsense in all chat. All I did was respond, "It's ok man, we didn't need you anyway."
VICTORY

GAMES THREE AND FOUR
Without going into too much detail, more gatekeepers and several disconnects are hard to win with.
DOUBLE DEFEAT

GAME FIVE, FINAL MATCH, FIGHT (I had to)

I hugged Amumu,
Amumu hugged me back,
Amumu carried me to Gold.

For the fifth game in my promotion series, I looked at our team composition and decided that Amumu was the best choice of jungler for our team. So I took him into the jungle, for the first time in ranked. Now I'm one of the first to say that first timing someone in ranked is bad idea but just stick with me. Amumu has the gank potential and a super strong AOE(area of effect) stun that can change a game. But this doesn't help when every lane loses early and I get smashed in my own jungle for the first half of the game. Things were looking bleak, and part of me was beginning to accept that Gold was out of my grasp already. Until I saw it, the enemy team was going to Baron Nashor. We had two inhibitors down with hope fading quickly and the team fighting each other. So I went for it, I mashed the follow command to baron and sprinted there myself hoping my team would follow.

I got to the pit waited three seconds, and then launched myself in with a stun hitting their jungler preventing him from smiting (smite is a summoner that allows you to deal a large flat amount of damage to monsters allowing you to execute and secure them) then I ulted killing their already low AD Carry and again stunning their junlger, then I smited, hoping I timed it just right. I looked, and I was wearing the purple buff, I had secured Baron, and my team got the buff, and aced the enemy team at the pit, turns out they did follow. With our buff we brute forced an inhibitor, two turrets and nexus for the win. And so Gold was mine that day.
VICTORY

But looking forward now, I realize that this was just a hill in comparison to the real slope lying ahead, the Platinum and Diamond peaks, splitting the sky far above. Wearing my gold trimmed victory I look with apprehension and excitement, because although I am taking a break for now, soon the slope will steepen and the climb will begin again.

A Steep Slope: In the Clouds

In the top tier of Silver. SILVER I

It felt really good being there, until I realized nothing had changed sadly enough. But enough of that, I will rant on the lower divisions in another blog post. 

Amumu hugged me back

So with my head in the clouds of this mountain, I can see the golden crusted gates of the Gold division with Victorious Elise waiting for me. So begins the final climb, between Varus, Nautilus, Graves, Lee Sin, and Jarvan, I managed to scratch my way towards my goal. While only gaining 10 league points per game as compared to normal 20, I was still making progress albeit slowly. But then the real battle commenced.

Not only with other summoners but with some of my own friends and with the "gatekeepers" of the gold division.

In order to get this far up the slope, I had dropped several things (including working out ) to give myself an extra few games per night in order to make my goal more attainable. But one day I jumped into our shared teamspeak server only to find several friends tearing me and my recent success down and claiming getting "carried" and getting lucky. 

Lets just say it was a mistake trying to play after that. So I dropped a few points of LP and took a break for the night. I resolved that I would only talk to my supportive friends until the task was completed. Then I ran into the next problem, the infamous gatekeepers. and nothing made me think of both of these issues better then this picture of Jarvan battling Noxus ( see above).

The Gatekeepers, a sourly group of individuals unable to promote who take out their anger on people still trying. and when you have a hot streak going and a plus percentage in LP, you become a prime target in the last week of the season. These people throw games, and troll to no end to make you lose despite the cost of getting reported. But despite all these obstacles it happened, I reached the arena before the gates, the last trial by fire.

The Gold Best of Five Promotion Series.

A Steep Slope: The Solo Que Hero

Well HELLO There !
Its been a bout a week and there are at least 2 failed attempts at blogging a steep slope and forgetting and overall sucking! So here you go. The Wrap up !

I gave Amumu a hug.

Mini Episode One: ATTACK ON RANKED !
Well in between watching every episode of Attack on Titan, and getting ultra hype about ranked play I managed to get sick. That seems out of order... WHO CARES! Moving on....

During my sick times i sat down in front of my computer but on a playlist of Attack on Titan music, and proceeded to play about 13 games of AD carry Varus.

And I only lost 2 of them........ This streak of play with the Arrow of Retribution allowed me to boost myself up the Silver III tier and through my promos ! clearing the way to Silver II and beyond as I cleared silver II with varus and a little help from my buddy Nautilus

Well Let's take a look at my buddy varus. He is an ad carry with extreme burst potential and harras in lane due to his passive along with their synergy with his Q and E moves. To explain that in at least words as possible, His W passive is that with each auto attack a point of "blight" Stack on the enemy doing bonus damage per auto and stacking up to 3 times. Now his Q, a chargeable long range arrow shot, and E, and aoe slow, synergize with his W passive in the way that depending on how many stacks of Blight on the enemy the ability bursts the blight stacks dealing massive bonus damage plus the base.

So he's very "stronk"

Now the reason I call him Solo Que Hero. Varus's ult is unique among AD Carries is that his ult is a skillshot stun, that spreads its stun to nearby teammates. A long range, aoe Engage/Disengage, on an ADC .............
Basically remember every I said in the How to Carry your team episode. Varus does them. He says GO IN TEAM with his ult, he says FOLLOW ME with his E, and then I GOT DIS with his Q snipes.
Varus you have my heart forever my friend.

Please Don't Play With My Heart - Ed Boon Teases Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks HD Remake

In continuing nostalgia news, Neatherrealm Studios boss Ed Boon tweeted a picture of an MK: Shaolin Monks strategy guide today, hinting at an HD remake of the beat-'em-up for download. Read the man's transparency below:

"Someone put this on my desk. WTF? Do they think we're doing an HD version to download ... um.. or something. 8|"

God this game was amazing, and way too much fun in it's heyday. And no DRM to unlock Sub-Zero and Scorpion as playables!! Make it happen, Boon!!

-- VG247

Soulcalibur II HD Online Footage Is Nostalgic

I remember playing Soulcalibur II on ye olde Xbox as a greatest hits title, and it was one of the few fighters I owned. Not a bad thing no less, as that game kept me busy every time I picked it up. It was perfect. Well-balanced, fun characters to play, looked brilliant, and enough modes to dip into for hours. I loved that game. It's one of the few reasons why I even keep the old black box around.

So of course, when I heard that Namco was updating the game for current-gen, I got pretty happy. When they said Spawn was going to be in it, I got friggin' ecstatic. SCII is widely regarded as one of, if not the best in the series, and so long as Namco doesn't touch the balance of the game at all, they've got gold again.

Check out this new gameplay video featuring badass samurai Mitsurugi and nunchuck acrobat Maxi. Soul Calibur II Online is set to hit the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 in the Fall, which is now. Right now. So, maybe tomorrow?

Next week.
...

We're in the season of Fall, Namco!

 -- VG247

Huh: Japan Finally Gets...Advance Wars: Days of Ruin?

Okay....

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin has been made available to Japanese Club Nintendo members of the Platinum level. Members have a choice between the DS classic or a 2014 calendar for right now, or there's also the option to pick it up as a regular prize for 800 next May. It'll be downloaded through the 3DS eShop.

Here's the kicker: for whatever reason, the game was never released in Japan. Strange, right? It was translated, but never put out. No idea why that is - maybe folks didn't care much for portable military warfare? But in that instance, Fire Emblem wouldn't be as popular. And since the series has remained stagnant for five years, maybe this will lead to a revival.

Either way, there you go, Japan. Have fun.

-- Tiny Cartridge

Get Your Midas On - Link Between Worlds 3DS XL Bundle Confirmed for NA

Right? Because gold...gold with a touch screen...

*cough*

Nintendo of America announced today that the gold 3DS XL bundle for the upcoming Zelda game, A Link Between Worlds, will indeed hit shelves at the same time the game will land here on November 22. The bundle was previously announced for Japan and Europe.

The pack comes with a gold and black 3DS XL with the triforce screened on the top left and bottom right sides, and a download code for Link Between Worlds. It'll retail for $219.99 when it hits shelves.

-- NoA Press Release

Mountiegamescast Ep. 5 - Pay to Win for the Killer

So...we have a podcast. We're slowly getting our legs on doing this, but five episodes in, and I think we're doing alright. What? Don't look at me like that. I was going to tell you about it, but I was waiting for the right time!! That, and running through three Journalism classes is much harder than it seems.

So here's episode five, and I'll drop a link to the others below. Please give it a listen - we know you guys are out there, reading the blog, so hopefully you'll give this a chance. Thanks again!!

This Week:

Managing Editor Sasha Chavez and Sports Editor Mike Chavez of the Mountaineer paper join us in this week's cast! In it, we talk about Killer is Dead's more... intimate actions, ponder the necessity of jet-pack wearing dragons in Divinity: Dragon Commander and speculate on Capcom's new fighting game.We also give Square Enix crap about Bravely Default's microtransactions, because REASONS. 

All this and my feeble attempts to get the talk back on track on this weeks Mountiegames cast!

- Damion
mountiegames.blogspot.com

Special thanks to Sasha and Mike

Here's a link to the rest: Mountiewire Soundcloud

I'm Not Surprised: Bravely Default For the Sequel has Microtransactions

Oh, Square Enix. You cannot leave well enough alone, can you? You didn't learn with that mess called Final Fantasy: All the Bravest, and now you're giving us crap like microtransactions on what is shaping up to be a fine 3DS game. Brilliant.

Bravely Default: For the Sequel has a feature called "Bravely Second" that enables you to slow down time using SP to beat down enemies like a Bayonetta QTE (just a reference). If you run out of SP, you can wait eight hours for it to replenish to use again. If that won't do ya, you can always spend real money to replenish the bar. As in your own hard-earned cash, to refill an in-game ability, because REASONS.

Here's producer Tomoya Asano, "the reason we decided to go through with the plan is because of our wish to have as many people possible beat the game. Some players might want to continue with the story but might not be able to beat the boss no matter how hard they try, and eventually give up on the game, which is the last thing we’d want."

Now you might think that complaining about this is probably tad trivial. I can understand that. However, I don't see a place for this to even be here as a helping aid, when the game already features adjustable difficulty and encounter rates as per the "Enhanced" moniker. So, we're looking at a cash grab, and a pretty blatant one at that. And I couldn't give less of a damn about what sort of ham-fisted, PR speak the company uses to dance around the fact that this is wholly unnecessary.

And (I'm probably stretching here), there's the issue that this may turn people off of the game entirely if this thing is exacerbated any further. That's after what it took to get this thing over here in the first place. I certainly hope that people still buy the game, and just don't delve into the monetary crap.

And for the sake of Bahamut, Square, change the damn name.

-- Destructoid via Siliconera

Titanfall Set For Release March 14, 2014 - $250(!!) Collectors Edition Announced

Just ignoring that monetary value here for a bit, we've got a solid release date for Respawn Entertainment's upcoming online shooter Titanfall - The 14th of March of next year. Pre-orders are now available at you favorite retailer.

Titanfall was revealed at this years E3 Expo as an online only shooter with freerunning and mecha trappings. As in killing people and other mechs in your mech, and this pretty cool thing where your mech will pick you up to get you into the cockpit. Seriously, it's actually kinda dope.

The other big deal stands at 18 inches tall. A collectors edition was also revealed, with an '18 Titan statue with a motorized cockpit. The box is a diorama with LED lights, and contains a 190-page artbook and poster. All that for $250 (again, !!!) bones. Yeesh. The Titanfall website is taking $100 deposits for the CE.

This is pretty pricey for a Collector's Edition, but then again, there was that Saint's Row IV Million Dollar Wub Wub Edition (probably a joke), so this is at least affordable to some. Emphasis on some, as EA stresses that these are "extremely limited."

-- VG247

Mine Eyes!! THEY BLEED!!

Just...wow. Wow. No. No thank you.

I do believe this is tied into the Every 2 Minutes promotion co-opted by Microsoft and Mountain Dew, with Dale Earnhardt driving the NASCAR racer. I hope this isn't the prize.

This is the kind of thing you'd probably enjoy having in your house for a while, then suddenly begin to search for case mods or make your own after the novelty dies down.

Yeesh.

Side Note - I'm not (well, I am) picking on the Xbox One alone. Believe me, if Sony, Nintendo...hell, even Steam were to put something like this up, I'd be saying the same thing. Just a little humor on a slow Saturday.

Xbox One: Real Name Option Won't be Available at Launch

Picture unrelated, I just like Kill La Kill.

A pretty cool feature of the new Xbox isn't going to be ready for the big dance come Nov. 19th. Speaking through a rep, Microsoft confirmed to Kotaku that the ability to use real names instead of Gamertags will drop at a later date through an update.

"While real identities continue to be part of our plans for the experience on Xbox One, at launch, customers will continue to search for friends using their Gamertags," a Microsoft rep said. "Our teams are working hard to deliver a quality experience for Xbox One. This means prioritizing some features and sometimes postponing others for a later update."

This is probably "world's tiniest violin" type stuff to most people, but I think it's an interesting feature. Better real names than XxX[insert uppercaselowercasenumbersaslettersbullsh*t]Xx

-- Kotaku

Watch_Dogs, The Crew Delayed Until 2014

 Ubisoft has moved two of its current/next-gen titles until next year. The open world hacker Watch_Dogs and MMO-style racer The Crew have both been moved to Spring 2014. WD had an initial holiday release window to premier alongside the new consoles while The Crew, despite not having a firm release date, was originally slated for early next year.

In a post on the UbiBlog, Watch_Dog's developers spoke on the delay: "We struggled with whether we would delay the game. But from the beginning, we have adopted the attitude that we will not compromise on quality. As we got closer to release, as all the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place in our last push before completion, it became clear to us that we needed to take the extra time to polish and fine tune each detail so we can deliver a truly memorable and exceptional experience."

This is a major bummer, and understandably a disappointment for folks looking forward to hacking Chicago (myself included). Ditto for The Crew, which had me hooked since Ubisoft's demo back at E3. Still, it's much better that a game take its time through development than be shoved out faster than your drunk uncle was onto the back alley of that one pub Saturday night. Both situations aren't pretty, and often times the end results contain a lot of shame. And tears.

Anguish.

-- Ubiblog, IGN, Destructoid

Side Note - Both Amazon and Gamestop have said that they'll still honor pre-orders of the Playstation 4 bundle that came with Watch_Dogs. Amazon said via Twitter, "Don't worry if you pre-ordered the Watch Dogs PS4 bundle, you will still be getting your PS4 based on your current delivery estimate." A follow-up tweet added,"your console pre-orders are safe," and that more information is coming.

Gamestop released this statement:

"With the news that Ubisoft has delayed the release of the highly-anticipated title Watch Dogs until next year, GameStop is contacting customers who had reserved PlayStation 4 and Xbox One bundles featuring the game. Customers can elect to keep their current bundle orders and their consoles will ship as scheduled with the game shipping separately once it is available, or customers can choose another bundle to replace their current order. Customers should also note that there may be a difference in the price if selecting another bundle and that all reserved orders will be charged upon shipment."

Despite the delay, Target is still pushing the bundle, while Best Buy has yet to update. They still show a release date of November 19.

Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix Hits in 2014

Schweet.

At the D23 Expo in Japan (here I thought they just had it in Anaheim), Square Enix announced news that they've started work on Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX, and will launch it here in North America sometime in 2014.

The collection is similar to the 1.5 ReMIX recently released, in that it contains the Final Mix versions of Kingdom Hearts 2, the PSP game Birth By Sleep, and remastered cutscenes from Re:coded. I'm sincerely struggling to keep myself contained right now, I'll be quite honest.

Ah, maybe one. EEEEE!

That's better.

New Patch for GTA V Kills Farming Exploits for Online, Missing Characters Still a Problem

The new 1.03 patch for GTA V has been released, and will remove some farming exploits for the game's Online mode, according to VG247. The patch will settle in at 59 MB for the 360, and 39 MB for the PS3.

Specific details on the patch haven't been released, but according to commenters on a Rockstar Newswire post, the update closes off exploits performed through mission repeats.

The studio is also aware of Online characters disappearing from players' slots. They say the issue is connected to the cloud servers going down, and have since warned users from making a new character in its place. The solution?

“If you receive the message ‘The Rockstar Cloud Servers Are Unavailable’, please return to GTAV Story Mode and follow the steps above. Please do not press 'Retry' on the message and do not proceed online with saving disabled, as this may lead to overwriting your existing character. Do not create a new character in the empty slot where your character should be.”

Hoo boy. This reminds me that I should probably update our game at home ASAP. Hasn't been since we got it, and my brother just lost about 6 hours of gameplay last night when he booted up. 

-- Shack News, VG247, CVG

League of Legends World Championships

As someone who was able to attend the Semi-finals for the World Championships and watched most of the rest of it on the live streams and I must say it was amazing!

Not even taking into account the amazing level of play displayed by all teams from a players standpoint but as a spectator, it was something to see.

The venues whether the stage at Riot Studios, The Galen Center at USC, or eventually the Staples Center in Los Angeles were all prepared perfectly and adorned in League oriented awesomeness. The Life Size statues of Tryndamere, Katarina, Ziggs, and Ryze, the huge wall sized team vs posters and all the cosplayers made the event the place to be for anyone who loves the game.

Even despite some of the outrages prices, all of the merchandise was perfect for the event. From posters to t-shirts, jackets to plushies there was something for any league enthusiast.

And its impossible to mention the quality of coverage by Riot. Not only was the casting for the actual games spectacular, but the additional analyst desk something to watch! The funny yet informative commentary that came from the pro players and casters kept me and many other viewers stuck to the screen in between games to see what we had missed or misunderstood.

In reality there is way to much to say about Worlds then I could possibly mention in a reasonable length post. I will suffice to say that Worlds this year was amazing and it is something I will definitely strive to attend every year.

The Season Three World Champions are Korea's SK Telecom T1, and their victory was very well earned against China's Royal Club. For all coverage of the games and events at worlds go to the league champion series youtube page.

New Strider Reminds me of Sonic and Metroidvania - and I'm Okay With That

Lemme straighten out the title: Sonic, because you're running right at high speeds and attacking. Metroidvainia, because you're hunting for powerups within hidden rooms.

Okay, so it's not too much like Sonic, because of the hunting...and the...uh...searching, yeah, and the...[ahem]

Capcom's dropped another gameplay trailer with kinda more of the same since the initial launch trailer. Strider runs around, takes a few hits, dices fools and robots to keep moving, but he now has a sweet energy bird to get him to higher ground. Capcom also announced the game's being made available for $14.99, which should make it a download-only title.

The biggest fear I've got (and a lot of other folks have) is that this is being developed by Double Helix, the guys behind sorta 'meh' titles such as Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters, and Battleship. Basically, who you go to for movie tie-in stuff. But I can't lie to you: as a huge fan of the original Striders, the reboot looks great, and I'd love to give a demo a try if they push one out. I hope we don't get let down.

Anyone headed to the New York Comic Con will get to play this at Capcom's booth. Strider hits Xboxes, Playstations, and Windows PCs in 2014.

-- Destructoid

A Steep Slope: Another Chance at Glory !

The past few days I had begun to accept that Gold League would not know my name until next season, because season three was to end right after worlds this past weekend. I thought my quest had not only failed but not even come close as I am still only in Silver 3.

But another chance has arisen! Season three has been extended to October 31st, giving me another critical 22 days to complete the climb. 

So faithful readers join me in this last stretch ! I will be streaming the majority of it on my twitch.tv channel 

http://www.twitch.tv/amissus so if you feel like watching and cheering me on, let me know in my chat that you are there and where you came from !

Tomb Raider Headed to Mac Before Year's End

The reboot to the long running adventure series is arriving on Mac computers later this year through Feral Interactive, a Mac-based publisher. Release dates, cost, how the multiplayer works, if it will be on Steam, etc. will be revealed at a later time, according to the publisher's press release.

"We're excited to bring Tomb Raider to the Mac, and in doing so introduce a new audience to Lara Croft's original story," said Square Enix's head of product development Darrell Gallagher. "This is one more step on the road to achieving everything we wanted with the game."

Neat. It's great that Mac's are getting more attention as far as games go, and this is another worthy addition to the list.

-- Polygon

Sunset Overdrive Not Happening on PS4

And the collective Insomnia/Playstation fans let out a big, "Well, sh*t."

Insomniac Games' Paul Vitti responded to a forum post petitioning for a PS4 release of the upcoming Sunset Overdrive. He let 'em down gently.

"Sunset Overdrive is and will be a exclusive to the Xbox One. Petitions will not change that. We have a partner in Microsoft, that we are happy for this title. That doesn't mean we can't and won't work with other publishers (see Into the Nexus).

We realize that not everyone is happy it's exclusive. We hope the game speaks for itself though and the console becomes a nonissue."

There you have it. I hope we don't get another Bayonetta Incident on our hands, where people lose their collective sh*t over console exclusivity. I'd love to see SO on other consoles, including the Wii U. The game looks boss as hell. But with a new generation on the horizon, there's going to be more like these. I don't like it either, but that's the reality. People got to get paid.

Then again, devs have said this sort of stuff before...then the reverse happens.

[Also, can we agree that Sunset Overdrive is a sick title for a game? -DJR]

-- Insomniac Forums via Destructoid

A Steep Slope: Sometimes the slope isn't the only adversary

Well after an overextended break of about a week and a half (or maybe more), I am back. Stuff has been a bit crazy with league with the championships and all and my personal life got VERY busy there for a bit. And without going into detail between watching championships and my life, ranked league took a back seat to everything else and it shows.

The few games that I was able to play, actually did more harm then good and I deranked back to silver IV.
So I am going to keep working on it but seeing as only 7 days remain and honestly ranking up is a good amount of work with my current work and school schedule, gold may be unrealistic but I will still be going for it !
Stick with me people, even if I don't make it there are still lessons to be learned and slopes to be climbed !

SteamOS Devices Drop 2014, Beta Testers Get 'Em Early

So...SteamOS. I was a little confused about the system early on, but now we've got a few new details about the set up. Starting in 2014, different manufacturers will drop devices with SteamOS on shelves, with a range to choose from.

Additionally, Valve is also pushing beta devices for a select 300 gamers. On the Steam Machines page, they write:

"While these products are still in development, we need your help. As always, we believe the best way to ensure that the right products are getting made is to let people try them out and then make changes as we go. We have designed a high-performance prototype that’s optimized for gaming, for the living room, and for Steam. Of course, it’s also completely upgradable and open."

We've been doing how-to's here in the Journalism lab, so here's another one to get signed up to the Beta, straight from Valve.

Before October 25, log in to Steam and then visit your quest page to track your current status towards beta test eligibility:

1.  Join the Steam Universe Community Group
2. Agree to the Steam Hardware Beta Terms and Conditions
3. Make 10 Steam Friends (if you haven't already)
4. Create a public Steam Community profile (if you haven't already)
5. Play a game using a gamepad in Big Picture mode.

Good luck. 

-- Valve via VG247

YES! - South Park: The Stick of Truth Arrives this December

Aw, yeah. After wading through a bankrupt publisher, staff layoffs, and a new publisher that seemed to be remiss in its existence for a while, we now have a solid release date for South Park: The Stick of Truth.

Ubisoft has posted a December 10th release date for the title, and also announced a special edition (because of course they did). Snark aside, The Grand Wizard Edition actually looks pretty boss - it comes with a six-inch Wizard Cartman figure from Kidrobot, a physical map of South Park, and the Ultimate Fellowship Pack that's free with a pre-order of either version of the game. All of this is priced at $79.99, which is a steal as far as Kidrobot prices are concerned. The UFP comes with Elf, Necromancer, Sorcerer, Necromancer, Rouge Assassin and Ranger costumes for the main character, each with their own abilities.

This is sweet. Everything I've seen of the game looks brilliant, and the heavy influence of the show's creators makes it even more worth it. Definitely hyped to see this finally drop.

-- Destructoid

$1 Billion in Sales Makes GTA V the Fastest Selling Game Ever

Consider this - when Call of Duty: Black Ops II came out last year, it hit a billion in sales within the first 15 days of it's release. Not bad, not bad...

Grand Theft Auto V did it in three.

In a press release dropped last week, GTA publishers Take-Two Interactive said that the game raked in $1 billion in sales worldwide within the three days it was released. To be precise, that is 16.5 million units moved during that timeframe.

"We believe that this marks the fastest that any entertainment property, including video games and feature films, has reached this significant milestone," Take-Two said in the release. Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO of the publisher said that the game, "is a cultural phenomenon (ahem), and Rockstar Games continues to redefine what can be achieved in interactive entertainment."

Just...wow. I can kinda agree with the sentiment on the whole "fastest selling entertainment property," bit as well, as I haven't found anything to the contrary as far as games or movies go. My brother picked the game up the other day, and so far I'm having a blast. Definitely renewed my faith in the series after the thing that was GTA IV.

The only credible threat to the title of "fastest selling" is Call of Duty: Ghosts. Gamestop has said that it's "the most pre-ordered game of the year." We'll see what happens when that hits shelves, but in the meantime: Bravo, Rockstar. Bravo.

-- Engadget, Forbes, Joystiq

Valve Announces New SteamOS For Living Room PC

In the first of a trifecta of announcements, Valve loosed the covers on "SteamOS," an operating system based around Linux for living rooms. The system is designed to stream game libraries from the Steam client on one computer to a living room based PC or device connected to a television.

On the SteamOS website, Valve writes that with the "openness" of the operating system, hardware developers can, "iterate in the living room at a much faster pace than they've been able to."

"Content creators can connect directly to their customers. Users can alter or replace any part of the software or hardware they want. Gamers are empowered to join in the creation of the games they love. SteamOS will continue to evolve, but will remain an environment designed to foster these kinds of innovation."

Valve also stated that they already have "hundreds" of games running on the software, with triple-A titles to be announced in the coming weeks. The 3000-plus titles already on the client will be streamable to the OS, including Mac-based games. 

I'm certainly interested as to seeing this work, I'm just confused as to how. Valve does mention living room PC, so I'm wondering: Are we talking about another PC connected to a television opposite a person's main comp? Smart TV's or a Linux rig? Or (cue AH-HA! style voice) the Steam Box. There are two more announcements to come from the company, so we'll see what goes down in the coming days. At the very least, they may announce Half-Life 3 (doubt it).

-- SteamOS

Nintendo Legend Hiroshi Yamauchi Passes Away at 85

The man who took Nintendo from card games to video games has passed away. Former Nintendo head Hiroshi Yamauchi died of pneumonia today at the age of 85.

Yamauchi steered the company into the realm of video game with the NES, and was responsible for the SNES, Nintendo 64, and the GameCube. Handheld games were also brought to gamers through the GameBoy under his eye. He vacated his post as president in 2002, but stayed on as an executive advisor.

Without this man, Nintendo and gaming would not be what it is today. Shigeru Miyamoto wouldn't have happened to Nintendo without Yamauchi, and we would not have some of the best games ever in our hands. So thanks, Yamauchi. Thanks.

-- Reuters via Joystiq

Egads, Man: Grand Theft Auto 5 Rakes in $800 Mil in One Day

Of course it did, but it's still no small feat.

Take-Two Interactive announced that Grand Theft Auto V has brought in a cool $800 million in worldwide sales on launch day. Cultural phenomenon, people. Cul-tur-al phen-om-en-on.

This is the biggest launch day sale for the GTA series, and also the biggest in Take-Two's publishing history. What's even more impressive is that GTAV beat out Call of Duty: Black Ops II's previous record of $500 million in first-day sales.

Congrats to Rockstar and Take-Two, honestly. Although the series fizzled out for me after Vice City, it's always a sight to see something like this. I kinda feel like checking the game out, myself.

Oh, hello Redbox text alert, telling me I have one free game rental today. Time to go hunting.

-- VG247

Meet the new CEO of Electronic Arts

EA decided to reach from within, and picked up Andrew Wilson to be their new CEO. Wilson will vacate his post as executive Vice President of EA Sports to take the chair left by John Riccitiello back in March. He was also the head of Origin, the company's digital distribution service.

In a statement, Wilson said, "I envision EA as the World's Greatest Games Company."

"This is not about what we are aiming for or what we will become. Rather, it is about an unfaltering commitment to what we will be every day. This is an attitude that must drive our culture as one team.

"I also believe EA's strategy is sound. Our focus on our talent, our brands and our platform together with our investment in next-generation consoles, mobile and PC free-to-play, as part of our ongoing transition to digital, is right. But we have plenty of work ahead to ensure our collective success."

Wilson also said that he will continue to follow the company's current business plan for this fiscal year, and said that he would focus on, "delivering amazing games and services across platforms."

So in a nutshell, it'll still be business as usual. With the orange blob that is Origin, and the whole "games as services" thing with mountains of DLC and content cut from games to be repackaged as DLC. I'd love to be optimistic about this and hope changes will be made, but...nope. 

Ah well, at least we have Mirror's Edge 2 to look forward to. 

Oh wait, it's just Mirror's Edge, the reboot. Riiiight.

-- Games Industry

Blizzard to Shut Down Diablo III Auction Houses Next Year

...yeap.

In a post on the Diablo III website, Production Director John Hight said that while the main objective  of the Gold and Real Money Auction Houses, "was to provide a convenient and secure system for trades," it went against what the core of the game was supposed to be: kill demons, get paid. Or loot. You know what I mean.

"When we initially designed and implemented the auction houses, the driving goal was to provide a convenient and secure system for trades. But as we've mentioned on different occasions, it became increasingly clear that despite the benefits of the AH system and the fact that many players around the world use it, it ultimately undermines Diablo's core game play: kill monsters to get cool loot. With that in mind, we want to let everyone know that we've decided to remove the gold and real-money auction house system from Diablo III."

                          - John Hight

There you have it. Not much more needs to be said, but good on Blizzard to listen to the fans. Interesting is that the shutdown is scheduled to occur on March 18th of next year, which is when the new Reaper of Souls expansion is rumored to hit the game. Additionally, the Loot 2.0 patch is coming, which is said to improve drop quality. The studio has said that they'll keep gamers informed throughout the process of removing the auction houses.

-- Blizzard via Destructoid

Don't Install that Second GTA V 360 Disc

Getting Grand Theft Auto V on the Xbox 360? Sweet. Don't install the second disc.

Rockstar's Support twitter is asking players not to install the data on the second disc, for "optimal performance." Disc one is a mandatory 8 GB installation in order to use the second 'play' disc that has an optional install. It's a big file, but the pro is that if you're rocking an original white console, it won't sound like Air Force One getting set for takeoff.

"For optimal performance, we recommend not installing that second disc," tweeted Rockstar to a customer. "We'll have more info on our Support Site at launch."

I'm curious as to know what happened with that second disc, but it sounds like something that could be fixed with a patch. Time will tell, but in the meantime, the game is getting rave reviews as usual for the series. GTA V hits stores tomorrow for the 360 and Playstation 3.

Source [@RockstarSupport]

No U-nification Yet: Nintendo 'aware' People Want 3DS, Wii U Unified Accounts

Yes, the title. I know. The first bit. Don't start.

Gamers (and people in general) love a bit of convenience. We enjoy linked email accounts on our phones. We love the classic drive-thru, even when the voice box sounds like they gave Azmodan's voice actor the headset for the day. Sony and Microsoft have also set up linked accounts across their platforms: I didn't have to enter in any new info on my new Windows phone (because Xbox) which was nice.

With Nintendo's platforms? Ehhh...they're getting there.

Speaking with Destructoid's Tony Ponce, Nintendo of America's head of business development Dan Adelman (also known as the Indie Guy) spoke on any possibility of adding unified accounts between the 3DS and Wii U.

"We don't have anything new to announce, unfortunately, other than we've definitely heard that feedback many times from both inside and outside the company," he said. "It's definitely something that we're very much aware of. All development for the infrastructure really happens out of Japan, so we've kind of communicated this need in the market, and they're very much aware of it and working towards just really improving the eShop."

You could take this as a seemingly small complaint from gamers, in the vein of adversity to entering new (or repeated) information on a new system. But it goes deeper. For the two consoles, games are tied to the devices themselves, not the accounts tied to them.

So for example, if the console breaks, you'll need to go through Nintendo for repairs. Getting a new console would mean losing all of your games on the old device. It's DRM and it's archaic. That said, there is a big update coming in the Fall for the Wii U, so...fingers crossed for a change?

Sources [Destructoid via Joystiq]

Pyroar Introduced to Pokemon X/Y

Nintendo dropped the curtain on a brand-new Pokemon today, set to make its debut in the upcoming Pokemon X/Y games. Pyroar (get it? get it?! Read the name)  is an interesting Normal/Fire type with the abilities Rivalry and Unnerve. It's the  the evolved form of Litleo, which was unveiled back on June 14th, and looks like what would happen if Lion-O was an ACTUAL LION. Go figure.

The new monster can learn the Normal-type move "Echoed Voice," which according to the Pokemon Company, makes him a team player as it, "...makes its power grow with every turn. Its power will increase even if other Pokémon use it, so try Echoed Voice out with your allies in Double Battles and Triple Battles to experience its real value.”

Sounds neat. Use Lion-O, I mean, Pyroar in X/Y on the 3DS October 12th.


Source [IGN]

A Steep Slope: Silver III and At the Point of Rage

So this past weekend I was able to reach the halfway point of my journey, the Silver III league. Once again my first attempt at promotion failed but the second proved more fruitful.

But it is that first attempt that I want to talk about briefly, because it brought me closer to raging at League of Legends then I have in months. First what is raging, for me the urge to mash in ALL CAPS at my team about the smallest and largest mistakes, the ability to argue the smallest disagreements of the team. And to be truly angry, angry at a video game, see where I am going with this yet?

So let’s look at the situation, game one of promotion I decide to take to the jungle with one of my favorite tanks, Nautilus. His ability to stick to the enemy while being an ignorable nuisance is something I find invaluable to the teams I like to play in. So suffice to say I was confident with my ability to help lead my time with this champion. So the game starts off with my successful gank of top and bottom securing a kill in each for myself and one for the AD Carry bot lane. Before I can go mid however, our Vladimir player dies 1v1 to the opponent, an Annie. So I proceed with my set forward plan try and help mid as much as possible and get top fed, as bottom was doing fine. Before I know it Vladimir has died three more times, twice to the enemy jungler Lee Sin (once during a counter gank in which he was unable to escape) and once more to Annie 1v1. After the second gank I noticed that he had not bought wards yet to help him defend against Lee who was sitting him. So I decide to try and encourage him while letting him know he needs some vision, “Sight vlad, you need some. Come on man !” Before I can type the next message asking if he wanted me to pick up some wards for him since he was behind, vlad responds with “Enjoy your 4v5” and AFK’s (AFK meaning away from keyboard) from the game leaving us to fend for ourselves down a player with a Fed Annie. To say the least I was angry, just a tad. It seems that everyone else on the team understood what I meant so I couldn’t make sense of my apparent mistake, and that only angered me more as the game went further and further downhill but because he didn’t disconnect from the game surrendering was impossible because our support player thinks “Surrendering is Dumb”, which in some cases I can agree as surrendering can make you miss out on a potential upset comeback. But Trust me folks, this game was beyond saving. So to say the least I was angry but was able to accept my defeat without making a fool of myself in the team chat too badly.

The Second game however, went much too similarly for me to keep my composure. When almost the same exact thing happened in the second game, I lost my proverbial “shit”. My caps lock may as well have been glued down, my play became erratic and worse as time went on, and well, I was definitely being the type of person that I have reported other people for plenty of times.

Suffice to say I didn’t play for the rest of that night a took a long look at league and remembered a promise that I made myself way back in league, that if league become something stressful and not fun I needed to stop playing. So the next day, I did not uninstall (HAH! Tricked you !) I jumped back into ranked and well I was just generally more polite, accepting and I took it as serious as I should have the day before. It’s a game, sure a game that is competitive and I want to succeed in, but overall a game and games are meant to be fun.

The moral of the story is, ranked doesn't give you more or less of an excuse to be an ass to your team, despite what happens or what they do, you can only control your own play. And when you can control yourself to that point, even 4v5 victories are possible.

See you next time !

Gonna be a While Before Kingdom Hearts III

You guys know that Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix came out today? Nice little thing there - comes with the Final Mix version of KH 1, RE: Chain of Memories (ew), and the cutscenes from 365/2 Days all wrapped up in a beautiful HD remaster.

Yeah, play that for a while if you're waiting for Kingdom Hearts III. As in stretch it out for as long as possible.

In an interview with IGN, Kingdom Hearts series producer Shinji Hashimoto said that because Square Enix stalwart Tetsuya Nomura is directing both the newly christened Final Fantasy XV (read: Final Fantasy Versus XIII), and the finale to the KH trilogy, it may be a while before we see the latter game.

"Both have Tetsuya Nomura as their director, so we can’t create these two big games at the same time...It’s a difficult job, as we want each game to be perfect in terms of quality."

I can understand all that, but fellas: You talked up Final Fantasy Versus XIII way back in 2004 before the renaming. For the love of all that is holy, PLEASE don't let this turn into a Last Guardian situation. We keep seeing rereleases and sequels and spin offs...just DO IT. Finish the games. I know it takes time, but as far as I've seen, that "time" gets eaten up by other items in the pipeline. No distractions after Lighting Returns, just clean out KH III and FF XV. Seriously.

Source [IGN]

Here's a Roundup of the Sony Japan Press Conference

So, I messed up. Slept in. Didn't know. Didn't know that Sony Japan was even having a press conference (although signs point to it being "mysterious" so go figure). My journalizms have failed you folks.

No, seriously: I feel bad. What you should be seeing is individual posts on the big news that happened during the conference (and there are some big ones), and yet the best I can do for you is a hopefully nice roundup of the what was announced at the show. Sorry about that. But take a look at the links below - anything thrilling?

No Fun: PlayStation 4 releases later in Japan: February 22nd, 2014

New slim Vita announced, screen switches from OLED to LCD (?)

Lily Bergamo is the latest game from Suda51 (EEEE!!), PS4 exclusive [Trailer]

PS Vita TV is announced, let's you play Vita games on your TV. Yup. [Trailer]

Deep Down, the Panta Rhei-powered Capcom game showed off at the PS4 announcement show, takes place in...New York?

Final Fantasy XIV Beta available for PS4 at launch, is free for the PS3 folks.

Yakuza Ishin is Yakuza Restoration in the states, launches with the PS4 in Japan [Trailer]

Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends drops on Japan PS4 launch [EXTREEEEME Trailer]

New Strategy Role-Playing title, Natural Doctrine, on the way to all Sony consoles.

Gran Turismo 6 PS3 bundle announced, hopefully tides people over 'till the PS4

Soul Sacrifice Delta set to hit the PlayStation Vita, is "more than an update" to the original

Phantasy Star Nova drops on the Vita as well for 2014, carries up to four players

One more for the Vita: Final Fantasy X/X-2 bundle coming for the Vita, has a limited edition handheld

BONUS ROUND: God Eater 2 and Gundam Breakers also get LE Vitas, look MILES better than the Final Fantasy one.

ONE MORE THING: Here's a cheesy yet neat video showing off some of the new tech announced today:

League Of Legends NA Regionals at PAX Seattle

The NA team roster for the League of Legends World Finals was decided this weekend at PAX in Seattle. in the group stage Team Solo Mid, Counter Logic Gaming, Dignitas and Curse Gaming went head to head to enter the semifinals where Teams Cloud9 and Vulcan were waiting due to their buys after the Season.

In day one the TSM vs CLG games came down the several close games that were decided at the Baron pit, but with their LAN Faces on TSM pulled the rug out from under CLG with a 2-1 win. With TSM advancing to the semi finals the last open spot was between Dignitas and Curse. After a decisive first win for Curse, Dignitas came back with a one two punch in the last two games of the series eliminating curse and setting them on a collision course with Vulcan in the Semifinals.

Day two saw the fifth place match between CLG and Curse. The winner of this match would earn their spot in next seasons series while the losing team would have to go back through the grueling promotion tournaments to re-enter the season. With CLG's Doublelift dominating the first game and CLG bringing the team together the second game, Curse was sent home packing with CLG securing the season 4 spring LCS spot. The first semifinal series was between the Fan Favorite TSM and the hot streak Vulcan team. TSM's captain Reginald brought the pressure for his team all game keeping Vulcan on their heels until they gathered as a team to deliver a deathblow at 25 minutes. In the second game Vulcan showed that they would not go down without a fight with their smart plays and daring Baron grabs, but TSM took advantage of Top laner Dyrus and used a perfect fight to decimate Vulcan and secure a spot in the NA finals. The Next Semifinal match-up was between the front running Cloud9 and the 5th place Dignitas. Dignitas came out strong the at the start of the first match earning an early lead over Cloud9. But after a few key plays by AD Carry Sneaky, Cloud9 bounced back and took game one by storm. Once again showing that their early game is their only weakness Cloud9 gave gidnitas a few free early kills. But it didn't last long for Dignitas as a tower dive bottom lane would gain Cloud9 the kills back and then some. Cloud9 would continue on the rampage to definitively claim the finals spot versus TSM.

Day three began with the third ticket to worlds representing North America being desperately fought over by Teams Dignitas and Vulcan. Vulcan rushed Dignitas for an early lead in game one, and their relentless assault took game one is a quick and effective fashion. Dignitas' desperation showed in several early mistakes in game two leading to a very large lead for Vulcan. Vulcan similarly took game two and securing their place in worlds and sending Dignitas home. The Final match-up of the tournament  was between reigning NA champions and the new kids on the block Cloud9. Cloud9 quickly established their intent by taking TSM in the first game quickly after 20 minutes in a forceful manner. Game two leaned in TSM's favor in the beginning but Cloud9 soon brought their lead back in a destructive team fight at baron where TSM was aced. The Third game quickly spun out of control for the reigning champs as Cloud9 rode their momentum straight into the TSM base for another quick victory despite TSM's baron buff.

In the end PAX Prime Seattle ended with Cloud9 reigning as the new North American champs and TSM and Vulcan going with them to world championships carrying the hopes of the North American circuit with them.

Train Your Vehicle Skillz in Battlefield 4's Test Range.

Yes, that's a 'z' in "skillz"

No, I'm not changing it.

In a Q&A with IGN, DICE Creative Director Lars Gustavsson spoke on player's fears of flying and driving the vehicles in previous Battlefield games, and said he and the team know about their hesitation with the heavy machinery. That said, they've put together a test range in the upcoming Battlefield 4 so future pilots and tank drivers can get used to the vehicles without crashing them into their own squadron accidentally on purpose.

"We've definitely heard that people are afraid of getting in there [and using vehicles like helicopters] and that's not our intent, so what we've done is, we've added a test range, which allows you to try out all the hardware ahead of time so that if you want to learn to fly a helicopter you can get in there and you can find the settings that work best for you."

Gustavsson even suggested that players, "...start doing some stunt flights just to feel safe..." before carrying fellow squadmembers into battle. Neat. I never got the chance to drive one, but the things did look complicated. Might have been the reason why you never actually flew in the campaign (as far as I know). 

Source [IGN Battlefield 4 Q&A]