It really can make you feel better

I don't think it's a secret to anyone who plays games that they can be a huge help to our mental health. They can provide a much-needed escape for a while, provide us a means of relaxation, and even help us meet new friends. Pokémon Go is among the ranks of games that can help players with symptoms of depression, a study found, which is an unsurprising and yet wonderful-to-hear piece of news. Turns out Nintendo's massively successful alternate reality game has even more benefits than we orig??inally thought.

The study (via The Gamer) was conducted by the London School of Economics, and examined how the popular AR game affe??cted the mental health ?of its users.

The basic idea is that researchers looked at internet search data from those who play Pokémon Go versus those who don't. What they found was that those who played the game had fewer searches for negative terms relating to? mental health, such as "depression," "stress," and "anxiety." They concluded that "location-based mobile games may decrease the prevalence of local rates of depression."

Of course, the study is not claiming in any way that going out and playing Pokémon Go will cure depression, especially not "chronic o??r se?vere depressive disorders."

The game does, however, have "significant" short-term positive effects for users who suffer from mild or non-clinical depressive symptoms, even if they are non-permanent. While Pokémon may not be a one-time fi?x for anyone with depression, the fact that the researchers were able to see substantial evidence for its positive effect is pretty cool.

The reasoning behind Pokémon Go's effectiveness in lessening ?depression-related searches is because of its emphasis on "outdoor activity, face-to-face socialization, and exposure to nature," according to the study. This is also true of other "location-based mobile g??ames."

??????????????????????????The writers of the study also argue that due to the game's accessibility and relative low cost, it's worth policymakers and mental health professionals to take note of the potential these games have to make a difference in the lives of those struggling with their mental health.

The post Playing Pokemon Go m??ay help with symptoms of depre?ssion, study finds appeared first on Destructoid.

Get ready for a whole new adorable adventure

I feel like Niantic is one of those studios you don't often hear much about, but they've been a huge part of the gaming space for the past few years. Their biggest impact was far and away that of Pokemon GO, and culturally speaking, I think it's safe to say that that was one of the biggest game launches ever. The studio obviously knows what they're doing, which is why it's so exciting to see the new projects that they're working on, which now includes the freshly announced real-world adventure pet game, Peridot.

//twitter??.com/??playperidot/status/1514288492259422209

The main premise of the game is that you're raising little creatures called ?Peridots, with mechan?ics like petting them, feeding them, playing with them, and teaching them tricks.

With the help of the app's AR features, you'll also be able to take your Peridot on walks "wherever you go and discover new places in your local neighborhood," according to the game's website. You can also take photos and videos of your o??utings with your pet?? to "track all of your memories together."

Another prominent feature in Peridot will be teaming up with other players to breed new creatures, which will be a mix of "Peridot archetypes." Apparently, the designs of ?the creatures are based on anima??ls like cheetahs, dragons, and unicorns, just to name a few.

Honestly, this is a game I'd actually be interested in trying. I've been saying for years that someone needs to bring back a Nintendogs-esque game, because there's a real gap in the market there, and I get the feeling that Peridot might be able to scratch that itch. I'd also love another game that brings everyone outs??ide for a bit, becaus??e I think a lot of us would benefit from touching some grass every once in a while, myself included.

We don't have any kind of a release window for Peridot just yet, but pre-registration i?s available now with a "soft launch" beta test comi?ng soon in "limited markets."

The post ?Niantic announces Peridot, a real-world adventure pet game appeared first on Destructoid.

Launching in June

Yesterday, there was a shaky-but-realistic leak about a Cyberpunk 2077 limited edition Xbox One X. One of the pieces of evidence supporting it was that Xbox.com redirected to a fake site takeover, a Cyberpunk-seeming hacke?r message saying to check back on Monday, Apr??il 20.

Thanks to a group of diligent sleuths, the case has been cracked three days early. There was an associated ARG that people found, and it has been solved in approximately 24 hours. This reddit thread is a decent aggregation of some of the steps in the ARG, which included transposing invalid IP addresses into Cyberpunk 2077 tweets and gleaning info from this weird Dark Future blog.

The result is the video that's embedded above. It confirms the limited edition Cyberpunk 2077 Xbox One X and controller, which will launch in June. No price has been attached, and it's unclear whether the bundle comes with a pack-in pre-order code for Cyberpunk 2077 which is scheduled to release ??on September 17.

Despite solving the ARG well ahead of schedule, a common refrain in the YouTube comments and the Cyberpunk 2077 subreddit is that the reveal wasn't worth the effort. Most of these people seemed to have their hopes pinned on finding a new gameplay video -- especially considering Cyberpunk 2077 was originally set to launch yesterday. Getting a limited edition console trailer didn't live up to the hype, no matter how good that Cyberpunk 2077 Xbox One X and controller look.

The post ?Cyberpunk 2077 ARG sleuths confirmed the limited edition Xbox One X three days?? early appeared first on Destructoid.

Tender ARG still going strong

As reported a few weeks ago, Paradox Interactive has been running a "soulmate searching app" that is more than likely doubling as an Alternate Reality Game, possibly leading to some sort of Vampire: the Masquerade announcement. So far the puzzles and clues presented i?n the Tender Beta have been fairly easy and on the whole point towards something of the macabre. This weekend though, things got a little more clear with where we are hea?ded.

About a week ago, a poll went up on the anti-Tender website "Trust No More" inquiring whether or not users could be in Manhattan on February 23. The poll also asked about night-vision goggles and lock-picking skills, among other more munda?ne things. From this poll, a select few ?users were given an opportunity to attempt an "escape room" puzzle, that then was live streamed over Twitch.

Prior to and while this event was going on, there was what turned out to be a 21-hour stream held over at Twitch.tv/tenderbeta. The video featured security camera footage, coverage of an after party from the Manhattan event, and clues involving the Tender Beta. After the Manhattan event ended, a previously released - but semi-redacted - memo from the Tender CEO revealed that another event would take place on March 21, with? 300 invitees coming to San Francisco.

"I knew this wasn't going to e??nd well," she said. "I've seen it before. It's one of the reasons I got out. Man, it's really hitting me, that could? have been me tonight." The stream ends and we're left with more questions.

At this point, I'm going to have to put the hammer down and say that we are definitely not getting a Victoria III announcement, weep accordingly colonizers.

The biggest news from this is the March 21 date announcement. There are still some clues being sussed out about what going to happen, but the latest info points to the 16th Street Mission which is a San Francisco public transit station. This station is a two-mile hike from where GDC will be held that same weekend. So we have our industry-relative show, but I've never known GDC to be an announcement style event, it's more about the inner industry and not about making a press statement. Then again, Devolver Digital skirts E3 conventions by having a party in a parking lot, so why can't Par?adox do it at GDC?

For now, all we have are the clues pointing towards a potential World of Darkness/Vampire: the Masquerade announcement, sometime in the next few months. As always you can play along with the ARG at //app.tenderbeta.com/. Thanks to the sleuths at Gamedetectives.net who have been compiling all th??e clues and news drops for this ARG, it makes catching up with the things I've missed so much easier.

The post The veil is beginning to slip on a possible ?Vampire the Masquerade reveal appeared first on Destructoid.

The ARGame is afoot!

I love alternate reality games. Sure their sole purpose is to tease us with vague hints that will eventually lead to a product reveal, but at least it's better than someone dropping a press release at your feet with no soul or effort. After The Dark Knight ??ARG over a decade ago, they've fallen out of favor for some reason. Thankfully the spirit of bold advertising lives on in Paradox Interactive.

A new "soulmate algorithm" app called?? "Tender" just launched. At first glance, it seems to be just another dating app, but the Paradox Interactive copyright as well as the ability to?? sign in with a Paradox account is the first sign that something is amiss. Once you sign up and agree to the newsletter, you are presented with questions. The questions start out harmless like how would you describe yourself on a basic wheel of emotions, then things go a little batty.

You're presented with four images and asked which one you identify with most. None of those available are what you would see on a normal dating app. There's a girl who looks like she's right out of The Ring movie, a splatter of blood on the wall, a creepy smiling clown, and a bunch of maggots. The next question asks you about your blood type. Now I know in Japan there is a belief ?that blood types can say a lot about what type of person you are but in the context of maggots and angry clowns, I don't think it has anything to do with that.

Question five on the s?oulmate-finding app asks how lonely you are on a scale of 1-10. Not too creepy in comparison but still, wtf? After that you are presen?ted with an extensive list of interests, and once again there's a lot here that you wouldn't find on a generic dating app. Sure there are board games, and photography, but there's also hedonism and Illuminati. Here's a list of the words that seemed out of place to me:

Illuminati, ?Epicurus, thanatology, unknown, chaos magick, sorcery, demonology, Machiavel, esotericism, taxidermy, murderers, witchcraft, shamanism, De Sade, rituals, hedonism, cryptids, morbidity, and anime.

Once that is complete and you choose a silhouette for ?your profile, you are given a random selection of na??mes to choose from that are based on your interests. Finding humor in CaringHedonist, I selected that as a name. An intro video that followed laid out how the beta for this "dating app" would work. Every week over the next six to eight weeks we would be given tasks to complete.

This week the tasks asked me how I was feeling (hungry), what I did last weekend (ate a bicycle), and introduced a conceptual wheel of emotions popularized by Robert Plutchik. The video lists seven of the ei?ght emotions that are on the wheel and tasks you with finding the missing emotion and saying it's important that it's left out. The missing emotion is trust, so is the game telling us to trust no one?

Finally, the session concludes with ?instructions to wait for further instructions and a short meditation while some creepy child sings a hymn in a minor key.

All right so theory time. White Wolf is the publisher of the famous Vampire: The Masquerade tabletop RPG series. Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines is one of the most popular Western RPGs in PC history and the series has gone untapped in the video game world since then. White Wolf Publishing technically owns the license for V:TM and its accompanying universe, the World of Darkness. I say technically because after a controversial chapter was published in the 2018 version of the V:TM tabletop book, Paradox Interactive ??gutted the compan??y and assumed command.

With Dungeons and Dragons now fully back in the cultural zeitgeist, as well as Cyberpunk 2020 getting a video game adaptation, we are in a new age of video games based on existing tabletop series. I wonder if the World of Darkness is the next series to get some modern love? Guess we'll find out over the next six to eight weeks. Which by the way, six to eight weeks takes us to the second half of March into the first week of April. That's nowhere near?? E3 or PDXCon, so any speculation on that date is welcome.

Big kudos to the folks over at GameDetectives who have been working this case for the past few weeks. Using their sleuthing skills they have compiled the entire run of the ARG that has led here. You can read more into their work and the path that brought us here at this site.

The post Pa?radox Inter?active ARG teasing a new game, possibly Vampire: The Masquerade related appeared first on Destructoid.

Cooler than the DLC

Every so often studios will put time into crafting alternate reality games. Some of them don't go so well, like the time Capcom scattered fake body parts throughout a major city, but some are pretty awesome. I think this recent Destiny 2 stunt fits into the latter category.

For a few days since the launch of the recent Warmind DLC, fans have been cracking away at a puzzle that eventually led to a set of coordinates. This was a full-on investigation, with a lot of the credit going to the subreddit Raid Secrets, and the redditor Randomiser who solved the cipher. When an intrepid group went to the location they found coins, a letter, and a full-on Valkyrie spear -- the weapon type featured in the Warmind DLC.

It looks like the activity was the brainchild of Rob Gallerani, design lead at Vicarious Visions, who collaborated with Bungie on this particular add-on -- the two-decade old studio has worked on tons of properties and most recently handled the Skylanders series alongside of Toys for Bob. Nice one Rob!

Puzzle [Imgur via Reddit]

The post A real life Destiny 2 scavenger h??unt led people to an actual Valkyrie sp??ear from the game appeared first on Destructoid.

Bless your hearts, ARG solvers

Enterprising Oddworld fans have helped unearth an image for Oddworld: Soulstorm, this year's follow-up to Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty, as part of an alternate-reality game. You can see the high-res version below, but a word of warning: don't fixate on the cracked fingernails like I did. Ahh, too late.

Admittedly, I wasn't aware an ARG was even happening, but with so many developers creating these community-bonding brainteasers for their games, it's easy to lose track of who's doing what and when. In this case, though, it's fairly easy to catch up after the fact -- there's an official recap and everything. The community still has several more images to unlock, so the puzzle-solvin?g is far from over.

As for Soulstorm, Oddworld Inhabitants describes it as "a complete story retake inspired by our original tale." I know some of you are way into Oddworld -- especially when it comes to Exoddus -- and with that in mind, it's just terrific to see Lorne Lanni???ng and co. continue to do their thing.

Image Leaks Show A New Threat To Mudokons! [Oddworld]

The post First Oddworld: Soulstorm image surfaces appeared first on Destructoid.

Spoilers inside

Frog Fractions was a breath of fresh air when it launched in 2012. (Has it really been that long?) The unconventional game was full of surprises and left a lasting impression on pretty much everyone who stuck with it. The developer, Jim Crawford, successfully launched a Kickstarter for a sequel in 2014, and Frog Fractions 2 could have been hidden in plain sight ever since. There's been lots of speculation, but no one had discovered the true sequel to Frog Fractions until now.

This is the part where I start spoiling stuff. If you want to back out, now's the time to do it. It's going to happen after the picture, so don't say you? weren??'t warned.

Okay, I assume if you're still reading this you don't mind finding out where Frog Fractions 2 has been hiding. It turns out that the title was only released two weeks ago on December 13, under the name Glittermitten Grove. As you might i?magine, this title has become far more popular since the news broke, going from a maximum of 5 people playing simultaneously ?to over 300 a couple of hours ago. 

/this channel has been destroyed by sparkles/

— Is The Jig Up Yet? (@IsTheJigUpYet) December 26, 2016

Glittermitten Grove is nominally a game about resource management and helping faeries to collect berries and set off fireworks. In actuality, it's the candy shell concealing Frog Fractions 2, which was unlocked and went up on Steam after a lengthy alternate reality game (ARG) led to a mysterious box and key. One could easily argue that the ARG was a huge part of Frog Fractions 2, and that all the sigils and misdirection placed in other indie titles were all just part of the fun. If you'd like to try it out for yourself, Glittermitten Grove is available on Steam for $19.99.

Insid?e the Developmen??t of Gaming's Biggest Mystery, 'Frog Fractions 2' [Waypoint]

The post The jig is up: Frog Fractions 2 has been unveiled appeared first on Destructoid.

Ring in the new year with a rabbit hole

Valve has seemingly slipped an alternate reality game (ARG) into the 2015 Winter Steam Sale.

Over the past week, users have been searching for what they perceived to be clues all across Steam and in Valve's still-unraveling Northpole Noir web comic. Many of them have congregated on a new subreddit, /r/steamsaledetectives. Today, that collaboration led to some interesting developments which suggest, yes, this ac??tually is a full-blown ARG.

Notably, a hidden password prompt was discovered on the Steam store. To make it visible, go to an individual game's store listing (while using a web browser, n?ot the Steam client) and type "search" -- then hit enter. You should see an entry field pop up. Super weird, right?

Now, using that method, bring up the password prompt on the Hitman: Codename 47 page. Type in "94050999014715" and hit enter. That should result in a dialog box that says "ic/4f21ca7" which, somehow, user DevinWatson determined relates to the URL for the Winter Sale comic. Combining that text string with the Northpole Noir URL redirects to a waveform audio file with a ?short message: "I was on the right track. I could feel it. Tomorrow, I was going to sear??ch again."

If this mystery ends up having a significant connection to one of Valve's games, that wouldn't be a first for the company, but I'm going to keep my? expectations in check. It's better that way.

Still, who knows what tomorrow will bring. I get the distinct sense this is only the beginning. The Steam sale doesn't end until Januar??y 4 at 10:00am Pacific. Welcome to 2016.

[Via reddit]

The post This sure seems like a new Valve ARG appeared first on Destructoid.

Dug up a lost boy

The craziness and drama surrounding the release of The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth has been almost as fun as the game itself (which in my opinion is pretty damn fun). As reported two weeks ago, the initial launch of the expansion was accompanied by widespread confusion from the fanbase when it appeared that several items that were supposed to be included in it were not accessible. From there things quickly took a life of their own, and what seemed like a cheeky prank from a developer having a laugh at dataminers who spoiled his last big surprise was actually part of a much larger and complex scheme. An unbelievably complex ARG that included ciphers hidden in achievement pictures, cryptic tweets disguising clues, and creepy backwards voicemails in a complex breadcrumb trail of clues that eventually led a group of hardcore Isaac fans to a building in Santa Ana, California t?o dig up the truth.

The details of the ARG and the insane leaps of logic that members of the Isaac community had to make to solve it are convoluted. There is a fantastic summary of the events available on the Binding of Isaac subreddit (and an even more truncated version of the timeline in this Imgur summary if you really hate to read) that I highly recommend you read to appreciate the sheer scope of what happened. But the upshot to all of this craziness is that with the hard work of the Isaac community has been rewarded w??ith a new unlockable character being?? patched into the game.

The Keeper, unlocked by donating 999 coins to the greed machine at the end of a greed mode run (easier said than done) and then blowing the whole thing up, is a very strange boy indeed. The Keeper doesn't have a heart based health bar like every other character in the game, instead he regains health by collecting coins, which seems fine until you realize he's capped at a?? two cent maximum. On the plus side, he starts with a triple shot bonus and (after you ??beat the cathedral with him) the wooden nickle, so it's not all bad news. Guess I know how I'll be spending my next few free evenings.

This seems to be the end of Afterbirth's post-launch weirdness -- items have been unlocked, a new character has been released, and developer Edmund McMillen says he's planning to do a postmortem about it on his blog in the coming week or s??o. Even so, the reddit's recap of events does mention a few loose threads left including a few items left to be discovered by the community and a couple of achievem?ents that have yet to be obtained. With everything that has happened who can say when it will all be over? The basement only goes deeper and deeper.

The post Binding of Isaac’s ARG is over, unlocks new character appeared first on Destructoid.

My head is spinning already and it has nothing to with actual fractions

The original Frog Fractions was one of the most bizarre things you could play in in a web browser, so it wasn't a surprise to see a potential sequel arrive on Kickstarter last week. What is odd is that, if the Kickstarter is successful, Frog Fractions 2 will be re??leased into the wild and might even have a totally different name. In the game's trailer, a my?sterious face utters the numbers 0451 and that's all it has taken to lead folks down the Internet rabbit hole. 

The people over on the Unfiction forums have already started to dig through the code on the developer's website and uncovered a whole heap of clues and hints, including things like converting snippets of code into sound files that can be read by a Commodore 64 emulator. Reading through the thread reminds me of why I never get very far whenever Valve comes out with an ARG; mo?st of the time the clever clogs on the Internet have solved the damn thing before I've even gotten out? of bed.

The post Is there a Frog Fractions 2 ARG already underway? appeared first on Destructoid.

And I don't even really know what it is

I wasn't alone in thinking the teaser for Frictional Games' new project -- which may or may not be called SOMA -- showed real promise. It's not clear?? what the game itself will be like, but the universe it's centered around has captured our imaginations.

Even though I don't have much patience for drip-fed information, teaser sites, or alternate-reality games normally, damn -- this second video is too much. Again, I feel compelled to share. It's best if you just watch for yourself.

Frictional knows what it's doing a??nd I'm eager to see where this ends up going.

The post Frictional Games’ SOMA is utterly fascinating appeared first on Destructoid.

Sci-fi horror?

When the studio behind the Penumbra games and Amnesia: The Dark Descent puts out a teaser website like this, I have to talk about it.

If the above video and accompanying text -- which describes ??an unknown machine found during a salvage mission -- are any indication, I'm led to ??believe this game is going to have a sci-fi slant. And there's probably no one I'd rather take on sci-fi horror than Frictional Games, assuming that's what this ends up being. I sure hope so.

The site's file recovery? progress bar can't go fast enough. Three percent? That's it?

The post Amnes?ia developer F??rictional teases its next project appeared first on Destructoid.

Perform a Gobbleshaft transplant

The Surgeon Simulator 2013 has come through for us all. There was another alternate-reality game hidden inside of this hilarious title from Bossa that sounded like a real headache to solve -- but ?it's been figured out, thankfully, and the? reward for doing so is pretty great.

YouTuber MattShea369 walks through the process. To dive into the new surgery, start by going to the the brain transplant operation in space. There's a keypad on the right -- enter the code?? "29?6145." You'll return back at the office with a new VHS tape that has alien symbols. Toss that into the player to start operating on an alien. Quick question: What's a Gavichal?

The post Operate on aliens in n??ew Surgeon Simulator procedures appeared first on Destructoid.

'Let's hit that bastard where it counts'

An alternate reality game for Watch Dogs has surfaced, and somewhat surprisingly, it's taking place in the Great White North. Here's the? deal, you crazy Canucks -- do a little bit of hacking, find an ATM, profit.

A mobile app will give you mission updates every day with new codes that need to be cracked. ?Once all four security level??s are breached, the money becomes available.

I presume that this promotion is only available in Canada because they're too polite to bash someone over the head with a hockey stick to grab cash in the street. At least, I think they are.

Watch_Dogs Live App Crac??ked for Cash: Mission Begins Now [Watch_Dogs Forum]

The post Wat??ch Dogs ARG makes money spew from a Canadian ATM appeared first on Destructoid.

People really, really want Half-Life 3

Yesterday, word got out about a peculiar clue hidden underneath a statue in Surgeon Simulator 2013. This was part of the update that brought Team Fortress 2's Medic and Heavy to the game and, knowing Valve's history with alternate-reality ?games and teaming up with external studios, it seemed possible that another mystery was waiting to be cracked.

That last part ended up being true -- "So, we hear there's some puzzle you're trying to figure out..." tweeted developer Bossa Studios -- though it had nothing to do with Valve games, as the company later clarified once this situation started getting out of hand. When the mere hint of Half-Life 3 news is present, the internet comes together to work its magic.

Even if this puzzle ends up being a disappointment, as an ou??tsider, I must?? say that this has been entertaining to watch. There's speculation that this could still be related to the Steam summer sale; sounds like we'll find out one way or another on Saturday.

There's Korean writ??ing in Surgery Simulator...and has no??thing to do with Half-Life. [NeoGAF via PC Gamer]

The post Surgeon Simulator 2013 ARG isn’t related to Half-Life 3 appeared first on Destructoid.

"Come on man, WHAT'S IN THE BOX?!"

Augmented Reality games are a neat thing, but there aren't a lot of them which have captured my interest beyond that. But I've finally found one that I'm really into in the Sony booth at Tokyo Game Show. Open Me is a game where the player is presented with a box, which must be opened. Think Hellraiser, but without all of the clean-up necessitated by a visit from alte?rnate reality sadomasochistic demons.

The TGS demo featured puzzles meant for two players, though I was assured that there will ?be many solo boxes to open as well. After scanning a code block, a wooden box appears like the one above. The box is fully three-dimensional, and looks simple enough. On attempting to lift the lid, however, two metal ba?nds flipped up from the sides and clamped it down, preventing me from creating more than a slight gap. 

To keep those bands from popping up, I had to hold them down with my?? fingers while my partner opened the lid to reveal a coupon in the box. Tapping the coupon to retrieve it, the lid grew teeth and snapped bac??k down, which gave me a bit of a start (and a laugh). The box's lid would need to be held by the other player in order to prevent it from causing injury. A hand with one bandaged finger appeared in the lower right corner of the Vita's display, which serves as a health meter (a second hand pops up once the first is fully injured, for a total of ten mistakes possible before total failure).

And that's a very simple example. The next box was metallic, with a button on its top. Pressing this button caused panels to open on two of the sides, one displaying a five digit number and the other a nine button keypa??d and both with a meter indicating a limited amount of time to properly enter the sequence. There were five of the sequences to enter and, after each, the buttons for the keypad player would change their composition, introducing symbols as well as numbers.

Once several of these codes were en??te?red, the box changed again, producing a laser beam which had to be reflected over to a sensor on the opposite end using the two Vitas. This was probably the most challenging to pull off, as it was kind of hard to tell where the laser was in relationship to your partner, and getting the angles right was tricky.

I love this idea so much. It's not a complicated game, but the possibilities for challenging and creative puzzle designs is vast. The multiplayer element is really cool, and it's fun to work on a puzzle cooperatively with another player, but I can't help thinking that the chances of my encountering another person with a Vita who wants to play Open Me! when I have one with me are kind of ?low. So, I'm highly interested, but I'd have to know a bit more about exactly how much single-player content wil?l be available in the release before I would throw my money down. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for more on this as something to snag when I finally invest in a Vita.

The post TGS: Open Me,? open you, open everything in the room appeared first on Destructoid.

A new video on Sony's Japanese YouTube channel teases a prototype head-mounted display set to be unveiled at this year's Tokyo Game Show, during the public days (S??ept 22 and 23). They call it the Prototype-SR and it features a full head-tracking system and a front-facing camera that let the wearer experie?nce immersive 360 degree movement. Sony calls it the future of entertainment. 

This prototype looks a lot like that goofy Sony visort that we tried out during CES earlier this year. It seems that they've worked t?o tweak this design into something more focused, with some AR tech added on. Maybe the Oculus Rift gave them the push they needed to improve the device for gaming.

We'll be there t?o brave the crowds next wee?k to try this thing on.

The post Sony to show off 3D VR headset prototype at TGS appeared first on Destructoid.

Konami is putting together some sort of alternate reality game for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. The "Make it Right" video was teased a little while back, and as it promised, here we are with an extended video called "Arm". It's even more convoluted and confusing than the last teaser. The ?video description reads, "First recovered ??video segment from agent Raiden's severed arm. Warning: Subject's personal memories may have become entangled due to trauma."

It also asks that you share the video "to speed up the decryption process of the next video segment" and points you in the direction of Revengeance's website. Over there you'll find that (as of this writing) the decryption is at 11% complete. I thought I'd go ahead and see if I could find anything by entering a command on the side, and the only thing I discovered was the obvious "R?ay", which opened up a schematic of said Metal Gear.

This is all quite cryptic as of right now, but I'm sure as the internet keeps uncovering new hints and secrets something will be revealed eventually. Have any of you figured anything o?ut?

The post Ko?nami wants you to decrypt videos on Revengeance website appeared first on Destructoid.

In theory, the idea behind Spirit Camera is brilliant. Exploiting the 3DS' a??ugmented ?reality features to turn players into ghost hunters is a marvelous undertaking. I love the thought of scurrying around the house, pretending the 3DS is a magic camera that can see malevolent spirits in the real world. 

Unfortunately, the??re's a major setback to the whole thing, and it's apparent ??the moment you start the game. 

Spirit Camera is an eerie ghost story that warns you, from the outset, that it needs to be played in a w?ell lit area. 

That's just the first problem, too.

Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir (3DS)
Developer: Tecmo Koei
Publisher: Nintendo
Release: April 13, 2012
MSRP: $39.99

Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir keeps its association with the Fatal Frame series off of its packaging, but once you get into the?? game, you'll notice that the main story mode is supposed to be a spin-off of the classic horror franchise. Those expecting a chilling experience on par with Tecmo's survival horror games, however, are in for an immense disappointment. 

The convoluted premise sees players coming into possession of the Camera Obscura, a magical camera that can see supernatural phenomena. The 3DS itself proudly takes the role of the aforementioned camera, while a provided AR book, full of pages that the handheld system can recognize, acts as the Diary of Faces. Over the course of the game's two-hour campaign, players will interact with this diary, solve inane puzzles, and do battle with ghosts. ??;

More of an interactive novel broken apart by light challenges, The Cursed Memoir's story trots out the same tired Japanese horror tropes you've likely experienced a thousand times, with long-haired spirit girls, wearily "creepy" children, and arcane rituals all making their familiar and trite appearances. It's like a?? class reunion of every overplayed Eastern horror movie, with dialog that is only randomly delivered via voice acting, and a ghostly companion that players are constantly prompted to talk to in between narrative moments, for no reason whatsoever. 

The biggest problem with Spirit Camera is that the "gameplay" isn't worth the hassle of getting it to work. First of all, the 3DS doesn't have the best camera in the world, and it requires a lot of light before it will recognize the AR book, which itself needs to be constantly folded to stop the pages sticking up in the air. I was actually restricted to playing Spirit Camera during the day, for the lights in my house are too ?soft for the 3DS to work with. During afternoons, I was moving from window to window, attempting to chase the s??etting sun as it shifted over my house. To play it at night, you'll need rather bright lights which, for a ghostly horror game, really seems to defeat the object. 

When the 3DS can actually recognize the book, players will need to find the right pages to make the contained pictures come to life. Every now and then, there will be a simple puzzle -- usually involving changing the camera lens with a D-Pad press in order to see something special. At one point, there's a game of hide-and-seek with a child who gives vague clues as to which page he's on. It's all very remedial stuff, intended to show off the system's AR capabilities ... which are too limited to deserve showing off. 

The action picks up a little with combat sequences, during which players will need to stop hunching over the book and stand up to take photos of ghosts that could attack from any angle. Battles will be familiar to those who have enjoyed Fatal Frame, as players focus the camera on a ghost to charge up a power meter and snap photographs to reduce its health. When the meter turns red, the opponent is going to launch an attack, countered by quickly taking a ?picture. While these fights are interesting at first, the predictable attack patterns, limited interaction, and miserably slow pace cripple any potential excitement that could have been had. Eventually it becomes a case of walking around in a circle until you see red on the screen, hitting a button, and repeating. 

Not to mention, you can get a near-identical combat system in Face Raiders, which is packaged for free on the 3DS already. The only difference is that Nintendo's free game is a lot faster and far more engrossing than the trudging waste of time presented in Spirit Camera. 

Between the requirement for a strong light source, the need to either hunch over a book or spin around the room, and a number of puzzles that seem to require players having three arms, Spirit Camera presents itself as a game that truly doesn't care about the player's time or convenience. As is often the case with glorified tech demos, Tecmo K?oei's "horror" game selfishly puts its own ideas above its user's entertainment.

It's simply not fun to have to hold down a page on a book while pressing the D-Pad with a single hand, as the other hand is trying to hold the 3DS at the right angle and distance from the page. It's not fun to constantly twist the 3DS around and talk to some gormless fool sat "next" to you in order to continue a dull story. It's not fun to wander in a circle taking pictures of ghoulies that sound as bored as you are. Spirit Camera is everything a game should be n?ot -- self-absorbed and gleefully dismissive of the consumer. 

It's almost a mercy that the drudgery lasts less than two hours, but not enough of a mercy to escape criticism for being such a swindle. There's an "extra" mode and a few minigames that try to pad out the running time, but they're all fairly forgettable, mostly centered around taking photographs and finding pretend ghosts in them. In all fairness, these minigames represent what could have been a good idea. If Spirit Camera had dropped the lame story and geared itself more toward sp?ontaneous ghost hunting, it might have been fun. It also wouldn't have relied on the ridiculous AR book that contributes so much to the destruction of any and all atmosphere. 

To top it all off, the game looks like garbage as well. There are a few nice FMV sequences, but the on-screen chicanery is a joke. When the cursed diary "comes to life," players get to see superimposed images appear on the page, desperately trying to look authentic but coming across as embarrassing B-movie green screen effects. Characters are simplistic and poorly animated, and the 3D effects will likely need to be switched off, given all the moving around that the 3DS needs to do. After all, it's not like Spirit Camera actually cares about its ideas working properly. It only matters that we see how clever it's been.&nb?sp;

The only good thing to say about Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir is that somewhere, maybe, at one point in time, there was a laudable ambition at play. As I said at the top of this review, I respect the thinking behind this project, and the potential of augmented reality gaming to provide some unnerving adventures. The result of Tecmo Koei's attempt, however, is a demeaning waste of time. Shallow, predictable, awkward and pathetically brief, Spirit Camera isn't worth the paper that its silly ghost diary is ?printed on.

You'll have a scarier time using the AR features already packed into the 3DS and ?making spooky owl noises with your mouth.

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One of the hooks of the upcoming Kid Icarus: Uprising is the use of AR Cards to play special augmented reality minigames. The game itself will come with six cards randomly drawn from a pool of 20, but ther?e are still tons of others to obtain. How can you get your greedy hands on some of the more elusive cards?

The easiest way is to be a Club Nintendo member. While supplies last, members can visit the Kid Icarus: Uprising card giveaway page and order a pack that includes "Great Reaper," "Drill Arm," and a rare "Palutena." If you aren't a member -- and really, you ought to be if you want to have some ki??nd of proof of your digital purchases -- sign-ups are always free.

In addition, Game Informer and Nintendo Power subscribers will receive exclusive cards of their own, as will the first 250 Kid Icarus: Uprising purchasers on launch day at the Nintendo World Store. Packs will also be distributed at various events throughout the year, such as WonderCon and PAX East. So fire up? the collector's spirit within and start hunting, you rabid consumer monkeys!

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On the GDC show floor Sony showed several ?working examples of Magnet (working title), a new series of demos showing off augmented reality technology that does not require AR cards or any other type of special markers to function. Instead, cameras look to patterns in real world objects?? to create their own markers. 

We saw this tech at work in a demo where a PS Vita camera was pointed at an intricate floor rug. We could see tiny little mapped marker points, plotted on the screen in real time as plus signs. After mapping, users could drop a rubber duck anywhere I wanted on the rug, and then move around it with the Vita to view? it at all angles. In another demo we were able to use the front and rear touchscreens to freely warp the carpet, with the scanned object becoming a freely warp-able texture. Another demo called AR Hockey used objects on a table to instantly create a two-player air hockey table game.

The Magnet tech is just at the demonstration stage now, but these and other demos ?point to augmented reality usage that is a bit more powerful than the card-based options that Vita shipped with. Plus, not having to carry cards around would be nice.

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Just in time for the PlayStation Vita's North American launch, a trio of free games bounced onto the PlayStation Store, hoping to demonstrate the handheld's augmented reality gameplay. You might notice that your Vita came packaged with mystical tarot cards bearing eldritch runes. Do not burn them in green fire as a sacrifice to your Gods -- they ?have a purpose. 

You'll need those cards to ??play soccer, make people jump into cliffs and detonate fireworks. S?urely that's a much better hobby than all those pagan rituals of yours.

Let's get the first game out of the way, Table Soccer. This is the most ambitious of the games on offer, and it's also the least fun. The premise is quite interesting, as it allows you to build your own soccer field using all of the cards available. Three cards are positioned lengthways to create the pitch, a further two are requir??ed for the stands, and the final one creates a scoreboard. You can move the cards around to increase the size of your stadium, which is quite cool. 

Table Soccer is, essentially, what it sounds like. It's a table soccer game in the same vein as Subbuteo. Little toy players are scattered around the pitch, and you flick them to kick balls, move into positions, and tackl?e other players in a turn-based scenario. Frankly, however, I barely spent much time with it d??ue to the controls being rubbish. Even when you zoom in, the players were far too tiny for my fat penis fingers to control. If you are Jack Skellington, you might have a better time, but make sure to wear protective gloves so that your bony hands don't scratch the Vita!

In all seriousness, people who are really into soccer might get off on it, but it's too much of a hassle to set up when you could just get FIFA instead. 

Next up, we have Fireworks. This is something of a rhythm game, although there's no real rhythm to speak of. You set up your cards to serve as the foundation of a twee little house. Fireworks shoot from the house and your job is to tap on them so they explode in a shower of pretty flames. Fireworks can b??e detonated as soon as a target appears on them, but timing the detonation until the target's curved lines are joined in a circle is the key to achieving perfect scores. 

Fireworks looks quite nice, and having a miniature firework display on your desk is cool. However, the game's biggest challenge comes from seeing how long you can ke?ep playing until the four-note background tune drives you absolutely insane. The monotonous music -- though I use the term "music" loosely -- is enough to turn a sane man mad and a mad man sane, but i??f you are possessed of a steel will, then the actual gameplay provides some simplistic amusement that shows off the AR features in a clean, solid manner. 

The standout game is Cliff Diver, despite how bland and unexciting its name is. Cliff Diver uses a card to er??ect a diving board and pool of water, and requires your timed button presses to make Diver Dan perform perfect jumps. It's a little more involved than the other games, but it is far from complicated. 

First, you have to tap the rear touchpad in time with a?? beeping heart monitor so that our half-naked hero can build enough adrenaline and make his jump. You'll then have to wait until he reaches the optimum point on the diving board (indicated by a marker that flashes green at the right momen?t) and hold the X button. The longer you hold down X, the further Dan will dive. As he falls toward the water, he'll pass through several hoops, and you'll need to press one of the face buttons (shown on screen) as the hoops turn green in order to increase his score. 

It's pretty simple, but there's enough variety in terms of diving boards and hoop patterns to make for quite a neat little distraction. If you're going to test any of the AR games out, I fully recommend Cliff Diver as the first download. It's barely much of a game, but it doe?s a decent job as an entertaining little tech d??emo. 

Besides which, they are all free, so don't expec??t too much and you might end up having a little more fun than you bargained for.

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If that headline sounds confusing, frightening, or mildly obscene, it has probably done its job. If the rumors are true, Frictional and TheChineseRoom - of Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Dear Esther fame, respectively - might just be collaborating on a freaky-sounding game called A Machine for Pigs. Which sounds goddamn awesome. 

Not too long ago Frictional ran a potato-esque alternate reality game (ARG) campaign teasing its next release. The title is finally out, and it'll be called A Machine for Pigs, due this Fall. Fans digging into the ARG's "China" tease, however, seem to have uncovered more, particularly hints suggesting that TheChineseRoom's own top-secret survival horror game, also slated for a "Q4 2012" release, might be somehow related. None of this is confirmed, but the chain of hints seems pretty solid. Check out a couple of pieces of concept art in the?? gall??ery.

Oh, and the phr??ase fans got after they solved the ARG's final anagram puzzle?

“The world is a machine. A machine for pigs. Fit only for the slaughtering of pigs.”

Sold!

Rumour: Amnesia, Dear Esther ??devs to collabo??rate on A Machine for Pigs [VG247]

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One of the neater aspects of portable gaming to come about in recent years is the advent of augmented reality experiences. We're seeing them crop up all over the place now, as every handh??eld device with a screen, a camera and a little processing power seems capable of it in some form or other.

Enter the PlayStation Vita and its AR cards. In a tiny room at the back of Sony's booth, we were given a chance to check out how they are approaching these kinds of game experiences with a simple game called Table Soccer. With six cards on the table, we were able to see how the Vita offers some dynamic possibili??ties, as positioning them allowed us to expand the size of the play area, add some ??stands (complete with crowd) and a scoreboard.

Forgetting for the moment that there's an actual purpose for them,?? Sony's AR cards themselves are kind of impressive in their own way. Slightly larger than a standard playing card and square, they have a plastic coating on them that gives them a bit of thickness while still remaining flexible. These cards are likely capable of taking a fair beating.

As for the games, they're still pretty basic at this point, more compelling technically than in terms of gameplay. The aforementioned Table Soccer is... well, it's a simple soccer game for two players. Your excitement level for that sort of thing may be (probably is) a lot higher than mine. On the other hand, Fireworks is something of a spiritual successor to Fantavision where you tap fireworks to make them explode over a backdrop of whatever you have your Vita pointed towards at the moment, and that's pretty fun. A third title, named Cliff Diver will also be avai??lable, though we were forcibly removed from the meeting room before we? had a chance to see it.

It's a gimmick, but ??a visually impressive one and as a pack-in for the U?S launch of the console, it's a neat little extra.

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Metal Gear Solid director Hideo Kojima has embraced a future where Cloud delivery and augmented reality take hold, joining a growing cabal of developers who believe that consoles are on the way out and game streaming is on the way in.

That said, ?the ecc??entric designer was unsure how this technology would manifest itself.

While speaking at the University of Southern California last night, he also claimed that having one man leading a game project was the heart of "true" game design, likening game dir?ectors as head chefs in a restaurant. However, he noted that collaboration was still important, saying,  "First, come up with something you like and then show it to as many people as you can. Tweak it, and get their opinions."

Having one man leading development is good only if you have a game director with a keen enough eye for narrative. Even Metal Gear Solid, a series I absolutely love, might have benefited from greater outside influence to keep it getting so waffling and complex. I'd also mention another game director, but I don't want to encourage that "Jim has a vendetta" thing. So I won't talk about him. 

Hideo Kojima talks l?ife, influences at USC present??ation [Joystiq]

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Nintendo has a gaming lounge set up right next door to the San Diego Convention Center, where Comic-Con is taking place. In the San Diego Ballroom at the Marriott Marquis & Marina, right outside and to the right, is the Nintendo Gaming Lounge, and they actually have a lot of what we saw at E3 playable for the public for the first time. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is the big title for the Wii, but there's a ton of upcoming hits for 3DS, including Super Mario, Starfox 64 3D, Metal Gear Solid 3D Snake Eater, Kid Icarus Uprising, Mariokart and more. 

Speaking of big things, Nintendo also has some huge Augmented Reality cards on the floor of the Nintendo Gaming Lounge. They work just like your little ones, but they're waaaaay bigger. There's even a platform for gamers to stand on to look dow??n on these cards, letting them snap 3D pics ne??xt to the beasts. 

You can get a look at some of the ??other attractions in Nintendo's Gaming Lounge in our gallery.

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The Dutch indies at Monobanda have created a true digital sandbox in the most literal sense possible -- one with real sand. Using manual labor, you shape ??and create an augmented reality landscape that is affected by, and projected on, a box with sand.

Up to four players at a time can use the created world to "control a ball that can roll around, jump and glide through the Mimicry world. Tiny virtual characters roll around in the sa??ndbox. You can b?uild obstacles for them or create a racetrack."

It looks like From Dust with real sand and without the god game elements to crude old me, but the project is certainly not lacking in creativity. Any takers for a box of sand peripheral? What about if they add sandworms and graboids? There you go.

Trailer: Project Mimicry (Monobanda) [Indie Games via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

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Crap! The media room at E3 is about to close! We've got crap loads of work to do, but before I'm totally buried, I wanted to give you these E3 exclusive Pokedex 3D AR cards. Download your free Pokedex 3D app? from the 3DS store, touch the gear, select AR Viewer, then watch them Poke-mans pop out o?f your computer screen.

I love it!

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It's a sizable read, but Gamasutra's feature on the Portal 2 alternate-reality game is worthy of your attention. Written by Rob Jagnow from Lazy 8 Studios (Cogs), it reveals the story of how Valve got a bunch of indie developers? together to make -- and formed a community around -- a compelling ARG.

Most interesting to me is page four, which details what went right, as well as the elements that didn't turn out as anticipated. The final phase (unlocking Portal 2 early), in particular, left a bad taste for some people who tend to get angr??y about these sorts of things.

"If we had been able to do this all over again, there would have been several changes. First, we would have stuck to the original schedule of having the crescendo be no longer than 36 hours. Given the toss-up between media attention and player goodwill, we'll choose the player every time," wri??tes Jagnow.

"Next, we would have continued to add new in-game puzzle content during the crescendo so that the core ARG play?ers could maintain their excitement and have a way to contribute to the launch in the way that they knew best. One other option that we could consider for future projects is to move a crescendo-style event to the start of the ARG to alert the?? media and engage our core fans from the very beginning."

The POrTAl TwO ARG: The Whole Story [Gamasutra]

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