Return to the Garden of Madness

Despite some earlier attempts at the hobby, I've come to accept that I am not a game collector. I don't have it in me to buy a game with the intention of keeping it forever. I'd rather play it and trade it than keep it on a shelf. However, a few games have warranted return visits over the years, such as my annual trek through Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, for instance, or the occasional dip into the post-game of Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies?. Thus, I keep a small binder on my shelve to house thos?e old games.

No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle have their own page in that old game binder. Every few years, I find myself gravitating back toward them, usually when I need to let out a lot of anger by cut??ting some fools in half. But I think now is the time for me to give those old games up for good. Not because I'm over them, but because the Switch ports for both games are so much bet?ter than the originals.

Review: No More Heroes, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle (Switch)
Developer: Grasshopper Manufacturer, Engine Software
Publisher: Xseed Games
Released: October 29, 2020
MSRP: $19.99 each

No More Heroes is really goddamn fun.

That's how Anthony Burch started his review of the original game more than a decade ago, and I honestly can't think of a better combination of words to start a review of this Switch port. It is goddamn fun, even after all these years. Its sequel, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, is still so goddamn fun too. Most everything that was good and great back on the Wii is still good? and great on Switch.

I say "most everything" because a lot has happened in the world since Suda51 first introduced us to Travis Touchdown. As a crass, otaku shut-in who spends his days watching porn and wrestling videos -- and his nights staining his anime body pillow -- he's never really been a class act. Jumping back into No More Heroes, I f?orgot just how poorly he treats the women of the game, either eyeing them purely as sexual fantasies, calling them bitches, or acting all chivalrous when tasked with killing them, even if a??n honorable death is what some of them want. 

But that's just the beginning of this hero's journey, and his personal growth through the countless killings over two games results in a well-rounded character. He becomes a man who recognizes his role in the world and the wrongs of his line of work while still occasionally perving out on Sylvia. Though she's able to dish out just as much as he can give. In its own weird way, No More Heroes and its sequel are not just stories of determination and revenge, but an epic tale of love between two seriously damaged peop?le.

This world is full of damaged goods, and not just the ones you eviscerate with your beam katana. One of the key draws of this series is its collection of killers. Both games task Travis with climbing his way up the ranks with the United Assassin Association, first from the eleventh-ranked spot, then from the fifty-first spot in the sequel. The members of the UAA you're tasked with disposing of are an eclectic bunch of psychopaths. Desperate Struggle has a fun gallery of baddies like Margaret Moonlight and Matt Helms, though I think, on the whole, the assassins from the first game are the superior bunch. It's tough to top someone like Destroyman or Bad Girl or having to fight upside down against a wily magician. While the assassins from the first game edge out those from its successor, Desperate Struggle ??excels with its leve?l design, which was one of the weakest points of the original.

That's probably because everything in the first game had to be tied to the big, empty, open-world map of Santa Destroy. I didn't care for open-world back when this originally released, and time hasn't exactly made its inclusion seem necessary. You still fight one too many bouts at the same damn parking garage and other equally uninspired locations like a subway train, bus, or just a long, straight corridor. Any chance at a properly paced game goes right out the window when you find yourself driving from one side of the map to the other to complete the menial jobs you have to do to buy your way into the next match of the UAA rankings. It quickly feels like unnecessary padding, and while both games are relatively short, Desperate Struggle makes far better use of its brief run time.

But even if I didn't like driving around the city, I will admit the streets of Santa Destroy have never looked so good. The art direction absolutely holds up. Grasshopper and Engine Software have done a fantastic job converting these games to high definition with pretty solid framerates. Unfortunately, those improvements don't seem to apply to anything not in the in-game engine, so pre-rendered cutscenes look fuzzy and unfocused compared to the rest of the visuals. It's particularly noticeable and jarring in Desperate Struggle. The fight against Charlie Macdonald a?nd his cheer squad is not a pretty sight.

That's easy enough to get past when the rest of the game is so damn fun to play. Both titles present players with two control options: you can play using the same motion controls found in the first title or go with a standard control op?tion like the one that was introduced in the sequel. I'm a bit of a purest, so any time I was playing in docked mode, I broke out the wrist straps for my Joy-Con controllers. The motion controls benefit from improved technology here, and I still get a kick out of flinging my arm left to slice some fool in half. I have noticed instances where the controls would be slightly unresponsive, such as when I'm asked to press Y to execute a guy on the ground, but these moments are fleeting.

What's not fleeting is the immense joy I have going through both these titles again. Sure, I think Desperate Struggle is the more well-put-together of the two, but they both have quirks, charms, and moments of frustration that are uniquely their own. I don't care for having to raise money just to progress through the story like you need to do in the first game, but I still get a kick out of seeing Travis mow a lawn or catch fire when I overfill a gas tank. The giant mech battle of the sequel is a massively w??asted opportunity, but by unshackling the narrative from an open-world design, the developers were able to flesh out Santa Destroy and its inhabitants.

I've been playing No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle for more than a decade now as they never cease to amaze me with their untethered style, violent action, and satisfying combat. Wit??h these HD ports o?n Switch, you can be damn sure I'll be playing them for the next decade as well.

No More Heroes: 8.0/10

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle: 8.5/10

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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PSVR, Steam, and Oculus Store keys!

Today's contest features a life-ruining experience -- take care of cats with a PSVR or PC copy of Kitten'd!

Cats are assholes. They are. But honestly, I'm coming around. I've left my old place with my roommate's asshole cat and move?d in with a beautiful, wonderful, incredible woman (shout out to Heston on this one)...and her two cats. I was nervous ??at first, sure, but Frank and Dean have become my children. It's weird and wonderful, and folks -- I'm becoming a cat person.

Celebrate my transformation int??o a cat lover by winning a VR copy of Kitten'd, the recently-released cat-ownership simulator. We've got some PSVR and PC copies t?o give away so you, too can join me in holy catrimony.

Read this description of the game, and let y?our anxiety flare up?? at the thought of your new kids barfing behind the couch!

Take care of cute kittens - lots and lots of cute?? kittens! Get p??oints for keeping them happy and lose points for everything they destroy. Use points to upgrade your tools. Get an automatic food dispenser or clean up poop faster with the PoopScoop 3000! What awaits inside the next box?! Or just hang out and play with lots of cute kittens in the more relaxed sandbox mode.

The idea for Kitten'd is loosely based on a recurring dream one of our developers had. In this dream more and more kittens entered his apartment from a hole in the wall. As the number of kittens grew so did the stress of this poor dev, but he also felt very happy because, you know, free kittens! This was later ?turned into the idea of an arcade-style game where you take care of a lot of kittens for a short time and get score?d on your performance when the time runs out.

• Take care of an overwhelming amount of kittens!
• 8 super cute kitten breeds with unique characteristics.
• 28 wacky levels on 4 worlds.
• Rewarding fast-paced family friendly gameplay.
• Relaxed sandbox mode! Take care of your own virtual pets.
• See the kittens eat, play and destroy your home in stunning VR.

The story behind this one is really great, so I'm glad I got to share that with everyone. Also, cats destroying your hom??e is a key feature of this game. Sounds about right!

To enter to win your copy, use the widget below to leave your name and email address. You can ?enter daily. I've also litter[box]ed the widget with other ways to earn bonus entries, so have fun!

We have three PSVR (NA and EU) keys, as well as three Steam and three Oculus Store keys to give away. Winners will be d??rawn Monday, December 2. Meow!

Kitten'd is available now for PSVR, Steam, and Oculus.

Dtoid Contest: Let these cats ruin your life?? in VR with?? a free copy of Kitten'd

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And a one, and a two...

Earlier this month, Nintendo announced Ring Fit Adventure to somewhat tepid response. Coming from seemingly nowhere, the game looked to replicate the exact formula of mini-game compilations that made up the overwhelming majority of the Wii's library. Was another iteration of Wii Fit really necessary in 2019? Desp?ite a somewhat silly trailer, I remained hopeful that newer technology could lend itself to a better game.

With this latest overview trailer, I'm more convinced we're there. Despite the gimmicky premise, Ring Fit Adventure actually looks pretty neat. The main problem with Wii Fit was that the Wii Balance Board wasn't really needed for more than half of the exercises. With Ring Fit, the ring is incorporated into every aspect of the game. You're performing exercises that have less of a chance of injuring you and that work around the specifics of the de?vice you're playing on. That's a much better implementation than before.

Now, I won't sit here and tell you that Ring Fit Adventure is going to be a must-buy experience. If you're already engaging with an exercise routine, this game looks pretty redundant. I actually do most of the exercises seen in the overview trailer every week. If you're not physically active, though, Ring Fit could potentially be a great way to get you moving.?? It helps that there's a proper game based around the peripheral instead of just random exercises and a faceless trainer.

Ring Fit Adventure Overview Trailer [Nintendo via YouTube]

The post Honestly, Ring Fit Adventure looks pretty good appeared first on Destructoid.

You're a wizard, 'arry

We've got a physical copy of PSVR title The Wizards: Enhanced Edition to give away in today's contest!

Is there anything cooler than being a wizard? I mean, apart from literally anything else, of course. But in the nerdy sense, being a wizard is kind of effing awesome. You get to wear a robe and grow a long beard and smoke hilariously long pipes and carry a big stick and do magic and stuff. Not like David Blaine magic, but real magic. ?Like getting your taxes done on time and whisking away your poop wh??en you crap your pants in the middle of campus.

Well, thanks to the wonders of technology you can experience all of that, and more! We've got a PSVR retail copy of The Wizards: Enhanced Edition to give away, so cast your spell to win it!

Read some press material I conjured up. And by "conjured up," I do of cours?e mean it was emailed to me. Actually remembering my password was kind of magical, though, so that counts.

In The Wizards - Enhanced Edition, players assume the role of a young sorcerer traveling through time to protect the realm of Meliora from destructive enemy forces. Casting elemental spells is key to freeze, burn or electrocute the legions of orcs, goblins and dragons infesting the lands. Players will unlock arcane secrets as they master the spell ??gestures, learning to adapt their tactics to the fast-paced flow of combat.

The Enhanced Edition adds a brand-new level to the Story Campaign for players to? explore a fresh map, face new battles, and dive into the expanded lore. Players seeking out global competition can try their magical hands? in the Arena Mode, confronting endless waves of enemies to conjure up a spot on the online scoreboards. Fate Cards, discoverable in both game modes, can change the difficulty and rules to the player's liking as they augment their skills or sacrifice their bonuses for high risk, high reward gameplay.

The Wizards - Enhanced Edition physical version features:

• Fantastical Story Campaign - The multi-part campaign offers players entrance into the enchanting fantasy world of Meliora, to travel through time and battle the vicious beasts threatening destruction of the magical realm
• Gesture-Based Spellcasting - Immersive spellcasting with intuitive hand gestures equips players with six element-based spells to learn, upgrade and master
• Mystical Fate Cards - Discoverable throughout the game's levels, these cards increase players' modifiers to unlock new playstyles for increased replayability
• Arena Mode - Three distinct survival environments are available for players that wish to invoke a true challenge, facing an endless onslaught of enemies to survive long enough to top the leaderboards
• Three Motion Options - Includes teleportation-based exploration and free movement, using PlayStation controllers or 3dRudder, the foot motion controller for PlayStation VR

I didn't ??read anything about cleaning up human waste with magic, but I'm guessing it's just a given and they don't feel the ??need to mention it in the features.

To enter to win your copy, use the widget below to leave your name and email address. You can enter daily. For bonus entries, follow Dt?oid and @TheWizardsGame on Twitter, and share our post with your friends.

While you're waiting to see?? who won, we want to know what else magic can hide. Can it hide your blemishes before a date? What about the s?keletons in your closet? Magic is versatile.

We have one physical copy of the game to give away. You must have a United States shipping address in order to win. Winner will be d?rawn Friday, August 16. This is a VR game, of course, so you need PSVR to play it.

The Wizards: Enhanced Edition is available at retail on August 13 at Amazon, Best Buy, and GameStop, and is available now digitally through the PlayStation Store.

Contest: Whip out your wands for a PSVR copy of T??he Wizards:?? Enhanced Edition

The post Contest: Whip out your wands for a PSVR copy of The Wizards: Enhanced Ed?ition appeared first on Destructoid.

Tilt controls are the new black

When Grid Autosport was announced for Switch, the first question on many peoples minds was, "How does it control?" For those unaware, the Switch Joy-Con do not have analog triggers, which is crucial for controlling a racing game (especially a simulation one). How were Codema?sters and Feral Interactive going to work around the limitation of Nintendo's chosen input device? It turns out that giving players complete freedom to customize their controls would be it.

If you don't care about having a throttle with your gas and break, simply select the opti??on that relegates those actions to the triggers. If you're all about applying slight pressure to the accelerator, you can opt to shift gas and break to the right stick. If you don't like any of the pre-configured options that Codemasters has come up with, make your own. Go for a mixture of right stick throttle with motion controlled steering. The choice is yours!

That's likely the best course of action, too. Racing fans take their games very seriously, so locking them out of options would be seen as heresy. By catering to all crowds at once, Feral Interactive has gracefully dodged any criticism that might have come its way. Now we'll just have to see how well Autosport runs on the Switch.

GRID Autosport for Nintendo Switch – Freedom of Control [Feral Interactive via YouTube]

The post Grid Autosport’s Switch trailer boasts ‘freedom of control’ appeared first on Destructoid.

The Shootman Cometh

I must confess: I haven't used my PlayStation VR headset in months. It's not down to d??isappointment or boredom, but mainly because I haven't had the time to just "disappear" for the length of time you need to get a satisfying session out of the hardware. 

The good news, though, is that experiences that people who engage with VR more regularly ?would see as pretty "basic" these days can still really impress me, so long as they get the fundamentals down right. ;

Lucky me, then, that Space Pirate Trainer can be described as exactly that.

Space Pirate Trainer (PSVR [Reviewed], HTC Vive, Oculus Rift)
Developer: I-Illusions
Publisher: I-Illusions
Release: November 27, 2018 
MSRP: $14.99)

Back in the day, Space Pirate Trainer was almost a killer app out of the first wave of games for Valve's monstrously expensive HTC Vive Headset. I-Illusions' work in putting together an immediately satisfying showcase of why VR could matter as a traditional game experience drove many a VR newbie to techno-lust. Later on, many a PSVR early adopter would look at space pirates-in-training with a bit of envy as they scrambled for equivalents or substitutes to get their s??hooting on with.

It took quite a while, but now it's here, and ??the core of it has translated over quite we?ll. 

The game is much the same as it is on Vive and Oculus, structurally??: Players are immediately dropped into a semicircular arena, defending a fancy spaceship on its landing pad from armies of floating robots and their deadly blasters. Aiding in the fight are the player's hands, which can each hold a weapon, be it a? modular blaster with six different gun modes ranging from a rapid-fire machine gun to a precise charge-and-fire rail gun, or a combination energy whip that has a sword mode and laser-reflecting shield.

What sets Space Pirate Trainer apart from any number of shooting gallery experiences available on the three platforms is that the weapons genuinely feel good to aim and fire off. Unbound by the contraints of more realistically styled shooters, you end up feeling like Peter Quill playing out a version of this scene from Guardians of the Galaxy, and that feeling has translated fairly well over to the PSVR hardware. That said, there are some noticeable differences, even someone like ??me who has never played a game on the Vive o??r Oculus, and has only PSVR titles and external footage as a reference point for what VR "feels like". 

For one, the graphics are noticeably less complex, with simpler lighting, models, and textures on a bas??e-model PS4 (and original-model PSVR) compared to even two-year-old footage of the game as it appeared on PC. This does have a minor impact on play, as the higher level of ??aliasing on the models makes certain styles of aiming sight more difficult to use (I ended up giving up on the "relex sight cross" option). 

That much is to be expected - PSVR has always been the least powerful of the major commercial headsets - but thankfully the experience itself is intact otherwise. I didn't experience any framerate drops or major issues with tracking the Move con??trollers as I moved my hands around to shoot at enemies. If there was anything that needed getting used to, it's that the Move controller wands don't quite "feel" like guns in my virtual hands, so I had to spend a bit of time adjusting the angle of the virtual barrels to adapt it to the way I held the wands.

One more potential concern that I haven't been able to test, seeing as I'm not very good at the game, is that the original Vive game us?ed room-scale tech to allow players to move around their play space to avoid shots. The PSVR, with its camera-based tracking, might be less forgiving of players stepping to and fro to dodge incoming fire. I ended up stepping pretty far back from the camera to allow the machine to better track my Move controllers, so the usual prescription of 2-5 meters distance may not be enough for a comfortable experience. Be warned if you don't have much space in your VR area.

Beyond those niggles, though, the game is pretty much as it is when we reviewed it two years ago, additional modes that change scoring and can make the experience more forgiving can change things up a bit, but it's still the same bit of shallow, feel-good shooting fun as before. Every weapon has a different use, and some weapons, particularly the shield and baton, can be used together in fun ways to eliminate the enemies creatively. I particularly liked batting away enemy blasts with the baton in my right hand and a pistol in my left, sort of like I was rol?eplaying Kirit??o from a certain story arc in Sword Art Online.

Despite the fact that it's a pretty basic experience by modern standards, with just three modes and little variation, Space Pirate Trainer has earned its reputation by handily nailing the basics and conveying the feel of being a sci-fi badass. It may not be as inventive or novel as the likes of Superhot VR or as hardcore as Firewall, but any PSVR owner that has two Moves and isn't tired of shooting ga??lleries yet should gi??ve it a whirl.

_{[These impressions are based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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Back in my day, controllers had what we called 'cables'

This weekend, a real curio showed up on a Japanese Yahoo! auction. Prospective buyers were bidding on a rare prototype controller, originally designed for the Nintendo Gamecube, t?hat is a Wiimote and Nunchuck in all but name.

The "Wiimote" section is practically identical to the game-changing Nintendo Wii controller, save for a lengthy cable that would apparently connect directly to the console. The Nunchuck element would then connect to the Wiimote as standard. Also included in the auction was a sensor bar, that apparently would have connected, of all places, to the mem??ory card slot.

Although it's easy to raise eyebrows at the existence of such a prototype, WayForward game director James Montagna showed up on Twitter to confirm the prototype's existence, having seen such a device back in the early days of the Nintendo Wii's d?evelopment. The auction ended at a surprisingly low ¥74,000, roughly $660 USD.

You can check o?ut images taken from the auction in the gallery below. What a neat bit of g??aming history.

Gamecube "Wiimote" sells for ¥74,0??00 at Japanese auction [arstechnica]

The post Gamecube ‘Wiimote’ prototype surfaces on Japanese auction site appeared first on Destructoid.

Semi-pro

As much as I love my Nintendo Switch, and I certainly do, it's the first console I've bought where I haven't exactly been going wild with buying extra controllers. On the GameCube, I bought nearly every new color Nintendo put out. With the Wii, you better believe I have those specific Mario character Wiimotes lying around in storage.

Not so much for Switch??. Between the asking price of $80 for new Joy-Con and $70 for a Pro Controller, the allure of owning a massive armory of official Switch accessories just isn't there. Besides, why spend that much money on official Nintendo controllers when an officially licensed PowerA controller is nearly just as good for $20 less?

Product: PowerA Enhanced Wireless Controller (Switch)
Manufacturer: PowerA
Input: Wireless
MSRP: $49.99

I want to start off by saying that the PowerA Enhanced Wireless Controller may be the best third-party controller I've ever used. Testing it out with Splatoon 2, Fortnite, Black Bird, Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Edition, Super Meat Boy, and Sonic Mania Plus, it's held up better than any Mad Catz or Lo?gitech controller I've dabbled with in the past. Everything here is responsive, from the buttons to the control sticks, and it's light enough to hold for hours at a time without feeling weighed down by it.

There are few Nintendo Pro Controller features missing from the PowerA unit. First of all, there is no wired option for the device. It runs off two AA batteries that last about 30 hours (I got about 28 from the two pack-in batteries). There is also no rumble and no NFC support. I can honestly live without all those, however, as the controller does include motion capabilities. Putting it to the test with Splatoon 2, the motion cont??rols of the PowerA perfectly measure up to the standard Pro Controller.

After using the controller for about a week, what I notice most is how differently I hold it compared to a standard Switch Pro Controller. There are small differences between the PowerA and the Nintendo manufactured original that have a small impact on my exact finger placement. With the PowerA, there is no gap between the sets of trigger buttons. For me, this means my fingers comfortably rest on the ZR & ZL triggers, perfect for Splatoon 2. For games that use the regu??lar L & R buttons, it presents a minor issue for me, as moving my fingers slightly forward is uncomfortable. I can adjust how I hold the controller entirely, but I don't have to because of the programmable? buttons on the back on the unit.

Situated comfortably on the "armpits" of the PowerA, the left and right programmable buttons sit right under my middle fingers and can be programmed to replace most buttons on the controller. When playing Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection, I found giving these optional buttons the L & R inputs worked wonders for my ability to play and pull off combos. Programming each button is a snap. You just hold down the button in the center back of the controller until a light flashes, select t?he target face or shoulder button, then press the programmable button on th??e back. The controller does remember its programming once it's powered off, but you can reprogram these buttons as often as you want.

My only complaints with the unit are with the directional pad and some of the aesthetic choices made by PowerA. The directions on the d-pad feel a bit thin and more elevated than I prefer. When playing Super Street Fighter II Turbo, I was never really confident pulling off Ryu's hadoukens. I know the input by heart, but it seemed less reliable with the PowerA. Compare that to playing Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition on my New?? 2DS XL, where I can drop hadoukens on opponents like singles at a strip club.

As for the aesthetics, the PowerA controllers look pretty good overall. The standard Switch red and Target-exclusive Super Mario Bros. controllers are my favorites, with clean designs and letters on the face buttons that are easy to read. The Mario, black, and white controllers also have easy-to-read face buttons, but their directional pads are made of cheap-looking glittery, shiny plastic. Then there is the Zelda controller I've been using al?l week. From an aesthetic point of view, it's the worst. The face buttons?? are difficult to read, the gold directional pad is chintzy, and faceplate of the controller doesn't so much look like Link riding Epona as it does shitty camouflage.

With a better D-pad, this would be the optimal choice for Switch owners looking for a Pro Controller or a second controller for local co-op. As it is, ??it's a perfectly suitable Pro substitute with excellent motion controls and programmable button options that just might change the way you play your games.

_{[This assessment is based on a retail build of the hardware provided by the manufacturer.]}

The post Review: PowerA Enhanced Wireless Controller ??for Switch appeared first on Destructoid.

Taking a stab at it

Dragon Quest has been one of my favorite RPG series for about a decade. Simple, idealistic fairy tales resonated with me in my childhood the same way colorful, idealistic shonen anime worlds did in my college years,? so it’s little wonder these tradition-driven games pulled me in so strongly. But I was a pretty picky and stubborn kid growing up. I’d refuse to eat my greens, I thought all f??urries were gross weirdos, and I’d mostly buy games based on things I was already familiar with. I may still refuse to eat my greens today.

I never touched Final Fantasy until Kingdom Hearts’s crossovers with Disney bridged the gap for me. My exposure to traditional JRPGs in general was limited. While Dragon Quest’s popularity afforded it many commendable crossovers, we wouldn’t get Fortune Street in the west for a very long time. Instead, I found a game that appealed to one of my other obsessions at the time: moti?on ??controls.

As cool as they seemed when I was a kid, I now know most early motion control-based games have a well-earned stigma for unreliability. Practically any game using the Wii’s motion sensor for anything beyond pointing has been called a wagglefest under the pretense that is what those controls amount to -- waggling at random until your objective is met. Converting a turn-based RPG into a motion-controlled action RPG sounds extremely counterintuitive to JRPG fans. And yet, the wagglefest called Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors is credited with introducing me to one of my favorite JRPG series, and it’??s a game I still look back on with respect.

Naturally, I wouldn’t say I respect a motion control game if I didn’t respect its controls… mostly. Dragon Quest Swords is playe?d from a first-person perspective?? with real-time battles fought by swinging the Wii Remote to attack. The Wiimote would accurately detect which direction a swing was going from, only getting finicky with 22.5° differences in diagonal swings or with thrusts. It couldn’t detect the exact position, so every slash went through a focal point the center of the screen, and the Wiimote pointer could set a new focal point at will with the press of a button. While pointing felt a bit shaky in my limited playing space, it was fast and reliable enough for me to adapt to new enemy formations on the fly, and it allowed for much more variance in attack patterns than otherwise.

But a knight is nothing without his trusty shield. The pointer also acted as that shield with the press of the B Button. Parts of the shield would wear down and break off over time, but the sweet spot in it??s center would always remain sturdy. This meant that there was a grace period to learn new enemy attack patterns, but that grace would diminish over time if the player didn’t pay attention to them.

All enemy attacks were telegraphed with tar??get points, some more clearly or quickly than others. Some could even be parried with a well-timed slash (and thankfully, there’s an obvious marker for parryable projectiles). Since attacking and de?fending both required keeping the pointer at the ready, rapidly switching between offense and defense always felt fair. The result was the foundation of a patient combat system where the player has some control over the flow of battle, but which rewards observance and exploiting enemy openings more than blindly flailing the Wiimote.

Additional tweaks here and there made the whole package feel closer to its RPG roots. The protagonist leveled up and equipped new gear as he fought. Little nooks and crannies hid items to help his quest. The hero ??even had party members, though only one ally could join at a time and? they could only help by casting spells. Their MP was very limited, but it was a good way to keep the focus on swordplay while still mimicking some sort of party dynamic and giving options to cheese any frustrating encounters.

I blindly flailed the Wiimote (again, stubborn kid), and many enemies would consistently block or dodge my attacks unless I waited for them to attack first. I had to learn to think about my attacks, something that never occurred to me while playing Wii Sports. Waggling aimlessly didn’t immediately punish me i??n most cases, but it blatantly held me back from what I was trying to accomplish. This design gave me the opportunity to learn from my mistakes -- without invoking too much frustration -- while improving my skills using the unorthodox control style. Even though this made the chinks in the motion controls more obvious, it also made the process of trying to play pro?perly more rewarding.

Dragon Quest Swords did all of that without the Wii Motion Plus. It played like an arcadey predecessor to Skyward Sword before even Nintendo was ready to do so. Its limitations are glaring and cause problems, but it found ways to partially circumvent them and become a fun casual action RPG with the potential to keep hardcore players busy via a challenging postgame and high scores to pursue. Still, though “I had fun” explains why this game stuck so closely with me, that doesn’t explain what it did to hook me on other Dragon Quest ga?mes. I knew I wasn’t going to get ??any Wiimote sword action in the traditional turn-based RPGs.

What I did know is that I would get to experience similar tales. And, as I’d be happy to learn in the future, Dragon Quest Swords was ev?ery bit as shamelessly quirk??y as the rest of the series.

Every character was named after some sort of blade, from the hero’s father Claymore to Swordmaster Dao. Slimes, drackies, and other monsters attacked with wide goofy grins on their colorful faces. Claymore lost his sword arm fighting to seal the big bad years ago and he just decided “Nah it’s cool brah, I’ll just learn to use magic instead”. Magic which he used to wake up his son on his birthday by shouting KABOOM, followed by literally exploding him (it was slapstick, hero’s fine). Fleurette, the last party member to join, would give the nameless protagonist a sword-themed nickname of the player’s choice that her voice lines frequently called out. You could replace your shield with an orichalcum spoon. A spoon of orichalcum.

With all of its quirks on every corner, Dragon Quest Swords felt a lot different than what I expected it to be like from the cover. It doesn’t feel like it revolves around a central theme, not even a typical one like the power of friendship, and it has no need to pretend that it does. It’s more about having an enjoyable journey that makes you feel like a hero, a journey that begins simply because it's the hero's responsibility anyway. It feels aesthetically different from what I see in the stereotypical JRPG despite the fact that this is the stereotypical JRPG.?? And I can say the same about most of the rest of the series.

I already wrote at length about why Dragon Quest’s overarching tone means so much to me, but to summarize, there just aren’t many “feel good” games in the RPG genre. It’s refreshing to have something brimming with charm and optimism even when you have to save the world from a demon lord. I love a deep, dramatic, and emotional story, but I’m just as happy with an enjoyable romp alongside comrades-in-arms. I’m a simple man like that. Dragon Quest Swords let?? me know th?at those were the kinds of adventures I’d be in for when I dove into its main series.

At an age where I was still learning to break out of my shell and broaden my gaming horizons, Dragon Quest would eventually help me get out of my comfort zone by first getting out of its own. But it remained true to what makes the series iconic, despite the unfamiliar framework around it. I find that commendable of Dragon Quest spin-offs in general, really. They usually do something drastically out of the series’s norm with their gameplay, but they remain consistent in tone and in its ideals. Some will be more goofy or serious than others, as is typical of anything that doesn’t want to get stale?, but I can believe that they all draw from the same anthology of whimsical anime fairy tales.

It’s hard to say for sure whether these controls were as good or bad as I thought they were when I was a kid. I only rented Swords (multiple times) about a decade ago, so my memories beyond broa??d or outlandish details are fuzzy at best. Many reviews both old and new aren't so fond of it, so it's possible I'm in the minority for loving this game so much. That also doesn’t ma??tter much to me. I enjoyed it back then, and it was my gateway into a series I love even more. That alone makes me happy I spent so much time on it.

It still took me a while to get into the actual core games, but the whole process might not have ever happened if I never played Swords by chance. Or it would have at least happened a lot later. Either way, Swords shaped my tast??es today by giving me a chance to validate my continued fascination with worlds of i?ts ilk.

As little sense as it makes for a JRPG to pursue a motion control action route, I can imagine why it might seem appropriate for Dragon Quest. Even though this series balances between E10+ and T ratings, its tone invokes a childlike playfulness that appeals to kids at heart. When motion controls were still young, a quest where you swing your own ?sword invo??ked a very similar playfulness. It definitely did so for me.

The post How Dragon Quest Swords got me into Dragon Quest appeared first on Destructoid.

Sleight of hand

Fortnite Season Five has just started and with it comes a new update for the game. While the list of changes is fairly extensive, one notable addition to the Switch version is gyroscope aiming. While I don't personally care for such an inclusion, there is a subset of fans that swear by the feature for things like Splatoon 2 and Doom on the console.

Taking the groundwork that Nintendo set with Splatoon 2, Epic Games has tweaked the i??mplementation of the feature to better suit the needs of each player. You can activate gyro aiming at all times, or enable a feature that only makes it work while aiming down your sights. You can even do the ?reverse, making iron sights use joysticks while regular aiming is motion based.

It reminds me a little of how Panic Button implemented the feature in Wolfenstein II, recently. My biggest gripe with Splatoon 2's use of gyro aiming is that you're forced to use motion for aiming up and down, but Wolfenstein II lets you use the joystick at all times. A?? reset button would be nice, but allowing players to fine-tune their shots with motion instead of requiring it wholesale is the way to go.

Guide: Fortnite - How To Use Gyr?o / Motion Controls On Nintendo Switch [NintendoLife]

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Motion-control Kamehamehas confirmed

If you had told me last year that 2017 would be a banner year for all manner of Dragon Ball-related news, I probably wouldn't have believed you. Not because the idea of more new Dragon Ball-related games arriving was so unbelievable, but more related to the notion that they could be headline news. But lo, here we are, and times are good (for Dragon Ball fans, at least). Dragon Ball FighterZ ??ended up being one of the best-received?? games of E3.

Now Bandai Namco isn't about to leave Nintendo fans empty-handed, though, and they're bringing the thoroughly decent Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 to a Switch near you and yours. The game, slated for a September 22nd launch, promises to be just like its original incarnations on the PS4 and Xbox one, except with some added, Switch-exclusive features. These include a 6-player mode for "grand Dragon Ball adventures", as well as optional motion controls for doing moves like the iconic Kamehameha and Spirit Bomb. As a new Switch owner (I've already lost one of my Joycon grips!), I'm intrigued by the 6-player mode, but I have to say the motion control bits may leave me cold, if they're anything like the motion controls present in Ultra Street Fighter II. 

The post Dragon Ball Xenoverse? 2 heads to the Switch dimension this fall appeared first on Destructoid.

Job Simulator: Starfleet Edition

If there's any quintessential Star Trek fantasy, it's probably of being on the bridge of one of the series' iconic starships. Be it the Enterprise, Defiant, or Voyager, Star Trek has long defined itself? through command decks and the people sitting on them. 

Star Trek: Bridge Crew promised to use VR tech to put players in that fantasy,?? but after repeated delays, can Ubisoft ??and Red Storm bring that 23rd-century Federation experience to life?

Star Trek: Bridge Crew (PlayStation VR [Reviewed], Oculus Rift, HTC Vive)
Developer: Red Storm Entertainment
Publisher: Ubisoft
Released: May 30, 2017
MSRP: $49.99

I’m not going to bury the lede here: Star Trek: Bridge Crew accomplishes this feat rather brilliantly. At this point, it might be my favorite VR experienc?e to date.

That said, I am compelled to qualify my statement, in that that brilliance comes more despite the limitations of the game than because of it. Indeed, while what Red Storm has developed can be solid platform for some choice Trek inte?ractions, the content in the software itself come across as a bit thi??n.

If nothing else, the game does exactly what it says on the box: It places up to four players in the position of being members of a Star Trek starship’s bridge crew. Each player, wearing one of the three major VR headsets (I played on a PSVR), takes one of the stations aboard the bridge?? of a ship, and uses either a pair of motion controllers or a gamepad to manipulate the controls for that station. Together, the players will cooperate to accomplish the missions and run the ship.

Each bridge station has a distinct function and unique capabilities. Helm officers pilot the starship, plotting courses to different navigation points, aligning the vessel on impulse or warp vectors, and managing the throttle. Tactical officers can scan objects in the local vicinity, locating life signs, ferreting out navigational hazards, and isolating enemies’ subsystems. They can raise and lower the ship’s shields, as well as use phasers and photon torpedoes to destroy or disable enemy ships. Engineers allocate power to ship systems, increasing or decreasing their effectiveness. They can temporarily reroute power to different systems for a quick boost, as well as direct repair teams to contain da??mage sustained in combat.

Shared between these three stations are controls for the ship’s transporter, as well as a “System Intrusio?n” hacking mechanic that allows the crew to get a leg up on enemy ships in combat. The fourth station, the Captain’s coordinates the other three stations’ efforts, by alerting the crew to mission objectives, answering incoming communications, and manipulating the main viewscreen. Captains are also the only players who can take control of AI crew stations, in case the session is short a station or two.

?These interactions, in and of themselves?, are fairly simple ones. Ultimately, they boil down to three different ways to interact with a control panel, after all. But it's more than that, though. The genius of Star Trek: Bridge Crew - lies in the fact that no one person on the crew?? has everything they need to do their ??job.

The Captain knows the objective and how to complete the mission, but needs the other three stations ?working in order to actually get anything done. A helmsman can maneuver the ship and set course to the objective, but needs the Engineer to allocate power to his systems and prime the warp engines for travel. The Tactical officer can engage targets and destroy threats, but will need both the Helm and Engineer to keep the ship in effective range and ensure there's enough power. The Engineer can greatly increase the effectiveness of the other stations, but needs to balance their demands as well as keep the ship in good working order. 

Staying on top of all of this under pressure to accomplish mission objectives like rescuing castaways while under fire, or scanning crucial anomalies and escaping before a star explodes, requires communication. Bridge Crew isn't a game for the?? shy, and everyone on a crew will need to speak up to get the job done.

But the best part is that the nature of this required cooperation tends to prompt people to, for lack of a batter word, act professionally. Rather than trash-talk or racial epithets or insults (the usual language of pick-up game voice chat) the vast majority of random crewmates I played did their jobs, and in doing so ended up sounding just like one might imagine an actual Star Trek bridge crew might, issuing reports on their status, making (polite) requests, and even cracking up a bit during the more stressful missions. Even little things, like the way it's easier to say "Helm", or "Captain" or "Tactical" than it is to read someone's absurd nickn??ame tends to have people address each other like they might if they were actual crew members on a ship. This natural "role-playing" feels profound and frankly magical when combined with the sense of presence one gets from using VR headsets and motion controllers.

Of course, I might be a somewhat biased observer, being a hardcore Trek nerd who's been dreaming of this sort of experience since childhood. I'd wager that many of the people I interacted with were in the same boat. I also can't imagine what it might be like trying to get over a language barrier (the Asia-region servers weren't especially populated at the time of review). And yet, I can still recognize that while Bridge Crew is the closest I've come yet to realizing that l?ongtime Trekker fantasy, it's not quite all there yet.

The campaign is something of a disappointment, for one. Lasting between 3 and 5 hours, the handful of story missions available tell the tale of the U.S.S. Aegis, a new starship from the rebooted continuity (AKA "The Kelvin Timeline") sent to explore a region of space in search of a new homeworld for the Vulcans. Unfortunately, mo??st of the drama just doesn't land, and the actual missions merely function as an in-depth tutorial for the different stations. 

This puts the onus for the game's longevity on its "Ongoing Missions" mode, a procedurally generated set of challenges and randomized missions designed to test a crew's coordination. These work, but it's clear that something is m??issing without the benefit of a bespoke, scripted campaign.&n??bsp;

Further, Bridge Crew's (natural) emphasis on limiting action to the bridge and ship itself expose a somewhat uncomfortable truth, that contradicts the opening statement of my review: As it turns out, Star Trek is a lot more than?? the bridges of its famous s??tarships. 

The crew can’t get together in a conference room to figure out that the mysterious signal that’s giving them horrible visions of atrocities is, in fact, a psychic memorial planted by a long-dead alien race. They can’t get the engineer can’t m?odify the navigational deflector to mimic cosmic string vibrations and draw off a dangerous herd of two-dimensional space beasts. They can’t infiltrate a malfunctioning holodeck game program and seduce its boss character to end its feud with a race of holographic aliens.

By the way, all of the above are actual plot points from Star Trek episodes. Suffice it to say that much the drama, adventure, and hijinks of the last fifty years feels absent when people are confined to their seats and left to simply do their jobs. In a way, playing Star Trek: Bridge Crew feels sort of like being part of a crew that is not starring in its own Star Trek show, they're just there, doing their jobs while other, more phot?ogenic officers, go and get themselves into trouble.

One could, of course, try to do this in a more single-player setting. Bridge Crew supports the use of AI crewmates, with the player using the captain's chair and issuing orders with a radial menu, but the resulting game is oddly silent and quite difficult, as the AI is a bit dim and will require babysitting. It's like trying to play Overcooked alone: You can do it, but it's clear that it??'s not the best or most enjoyable way to play.

Of course, this assessment is somewhat unfair. The game is Star Trek: Bridge Crew, not Star Trek: Story Simulator. And yet even 2001's Star Trek Bridge Commander had a more substantial and diverse story campaign, one with a classic Next Generation plotline. I guess I'm trying to say I wish the campaign was stronger and more fitting of how lovely the game feels to play, especially with other people. That's why I referred to Bridge Crew as a "platform" for Star Trek, since its actual content doesn't quite l??ive up to its design.

But what a platform, though! Star Trek: Bridge Crew is a brilliant VR experience, and pushes the technology to emphasize social interaction and cooperation in a way only a handful of other titles have been able to realize. Beyond that, it's fine slice of Star Trek fan service, as well. There's plenty more new life and new civilization to find in Star Trek: Bridge Crew, and I'm hoping that it'll be able to boldly go and realize ??the rest of its potential.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the??? game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: Star Trek: Bridge Crew appeared first on Destructoid.

No no no, don't shake the baby

Ever since 1-2-Switch has been announced it's been met with lots of criticism. The more we sa??w and the more we played, the more skeptical we have all become of this $??50 party game. One thing that was not completely disclosed until today was just how many mini-games it will include.

It will feature 28 in all, and videos introducing 10 such mini-games have been released today. They are the same videos in-game that act as tutorials. The 10 games are Shaver, Baby, Sword Fight, Wizard, Liar Dice, Runway, Beach Flag, Telephone, Soda, and Joy-Con Rotation. 

We knew of eight before, so that leaves ten yet to be unveiled. They are however teased. Baseball, boxing, and most of ?these seem apparent, but I can't imagine what a yoga game would entail, especially with just the Joy-Con. I'm sure caressing your Switch like a Baby makes for an excellent $50 game to play at a party though. Oh wait that's silly.

1-2-Switch Official Webpage [Nintendo]

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The sequel to 'Legs?'

There are times when I feel like I'm not playing a game to its max potential, that there is some high skill ceiling I'm not quite reaching. That often comes when playing fighting games, but not just fighting games. Games like Crysis and Vanquish just ooze this mysterious feeling that you can do cool shit in them. That feeling did not come to me in Arms. C??onversely, I felt like I had run the course of what is possible.?? 

That is not to say I can't get better, but the game is relatively simple compared to even the most casual-friendly fighters. When the advertised way to play is holding the Joy-Con facing inward (playing on a Grip or Pro Controller is also possible), using only motion and the four shoulder buttons,?? it has to be. 

After two players select one of the quirky characters, they then choose one of three available arm weapons for each arm. The same options are available on each arm, allowing you to equip any of the three on either arm or double up if you so choose. Each character has their own unique set of three arm weapons that operate in a variety of ways including curving around obstacles and shooting projectile fists. You can change your load-out at the start of each? round in a best-of-three bout. The depth ends with the weapon selection screen, however.

In battle you move by tilting both Joy-Con left, right, ?forward, or back. Blocks are performed by tilting both of the Joy-Con inward towards each other, and you can 'fire' each arm by making a punching motion with the respective Joy-Con. Combining specific motions with the shoulder buttons al??lows you to jump, dodge, and also grab the enemy which immediately closes the distance and unleashes an attack. When your meter fills up, you can activate a special attack that pummels your opponent with a barrage of punches.

You'll mostly be fighting a fair distance away from your opponent (they didn't give them extendable arms for nothing). This makes the fight all about timing your punches and dodges. You can fire both arms out simultaneously if you like, but it will leave you vulnerable to attack while waiting for them to retract in case? you miss. It?? may be safer to hold one arm back. You can't block with only one arm, but you can fire it to hit and deflect an incoming attack.

I have described it to sound more involved than it plays, however. Due to the nature of extendable arms, there are no real combos. You and your opponent shuffle back and forth trying to land punches and grabs until someone gets the special attack meter filled. For a fairly simple game, the rounds seem to go on a little bit too long, especially considering the slower rate of play than, say, Marvel vs. Capcom. We played on several?? different levels, but they all felt the same for the most part with the effect on gameplay coming from breakable column-shaped objects t??hat I tried to fire my arms around. 

If I'm cynical I'd say they designed this game with extendable arms to fight from a distance because they have doubts about the ability of the Joy-Con to track a lot of motion input in a short time. If asked, Nintendo would likely respond "We want to slow the pace of play so people don't tire out or injure themselves when they get competitive." This game's existence begs the question: without this focus on fighting from a distance, could it have become a new entry in the Punch-Out!! series? Whatever th??e game is, I think I prefer closer and more direct punching when boxing, regardless of the controller.

In my short time with Arms I had fun, though it feels potentially light. There hasn't been a ton of details about the amount of content in this game, but I'm hoping there's at least a Punch Out!!-style single-player mode. The game ran very smoothly at what I can only guess was 60fps, and most of all, it's just gorgeous to look at. Nintendo is the best a??t making simple, colorful art in high defini??tion and it really shows here. Spring Man's hair causes my brain to smell bubblegum if that's any indication.

The post Arms is beautiful ?and fun, but not the next big eSport appeared first on Destructoid.

It has one huge design flaw

Boy, what a doozy! If the??re was an award for most complicated game system, Nintendo's Switch would win in a landslide. The simple name really betrays the true complexity of the system given its seemly uncountable number of ways to play games. The newest console truly is a combination of Wii, Wii U, and 3DS yet still adds enough new features to make it stand on its own.

The Nintendo Switch has three advertised modes of play but since "handheld mode" and "tabletop mode" are technically the same thing I'll refer to them together as "portable mode." For controls, you can use both Joy-Con (doesn't make a difference if you hold them freely or attach them to either the screen? or Grip), a single Joy-Con held horizontally, or of course the Pro Controller (sold separately). The Joy-Con are a natural evolution of the Wii Remote & Nunchuk, no longer requiring a sensor bar but now ??featuring "HD rumble" along with the amiibo NFC reader and an IR sensor in the right Joy-Con for added gimmick.

You read the article title; just why am I so lukewarm on the Switch? Well this is Nintendo, who, since the Wii, has focused on controller gimmicks innovation rather than power. Specs-wise, it's once again "just a box" (this time figuratively rather than literally) that is not as strong as competitors but good enough to run the first-party content everyone wants to play. The s??tory is yet again input gimm?icks on a technically unimpressive console.

Long story short, I played three games: 1-2 Switch, Arms, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I also watched other people play games like Splatoon 2, Snipperclips, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe up close. In TV mode all the games looked expectedly gorgeous and ran rather smoothly. I can't tell you "oh for sure it was 1080p 60fps" because I'm just no good at judging that stuff, though I did notice frames dropping every now and then in Zelda. 

The screen slides in and out of ??the dock smoothly, locking into place firmly. Likewise, the Joy-Con slide on and off both the screen and Grip cleanly, requiring a button to be pressed to pull them off which makes for a secure connection. All components feel very sturdy and of solid construction (Nintendium still being used!). As advertised, the system is very quick to 'switch' to the portable screen when you undock the system. Putting it ??back in takes slightly longer but it's not significant enough to care especially since you'll have to grab your controller of choice after putting it back in. 

Playing in portable mode with the Joy-Con attached is a diffe??rent experience. Again, you all know the specs enough to know it's less powerful when undocked, and even to my untrained eye, I could tell it was at a lower resolution though the frame-rate seemed relatively unchanged in my experience. The feeling is just uncomfortable though, for a variety of reasons.

Compared to the Wii U GamePad, it's longer and thinner and just overall a bit smaller. Despite that, it's noticeably heavier and something about the way the Joy-Con felt attach??ed to it was uncomfortable enough for me to want to 'switch' back to TV mode fairly quickly. I'll talk more about the Joy-Con in a bit, but I preferred the way they feel on the Grip or unattached to anything than attached to the screen. Button placement a?nd feel is not as good as the Wii U GamePad, which is a shame considering the screen quality is much better.

Since unlike the Wii U, you can't have two screens running simultaneously, it is no longer possible to use a second screen in games for things like map and inventory. Granted no one will miss such trivial uses, but in my opinion Nintendo did put it to good use in first-party titles like Nintendo Land, Mario Party 10, Wii Party U, Game & Wario, New Super Mario Bros. U, and of course Super Mario Maker. I'm one of the few people who absolutely loves asymmetrical multiplayer and wacky party games, so content like Mario Party 10's Bowser Party, Nintendo Land's Mario Chase and Luigi's Ghost Mansion, and a ton of stuff in Wii Party U is no longer possi??ble on the Switch due to insufficient screens and also the lack o??f a visible spectrum camera.

There is a lot to talk about with the Joy-Con themselves, but first I have to point out the HUGE design flaw in portable mode. Soon after I undocked the system for portable mode while playing Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the event staff member on hand attached the USB charging cable...to the bottom of the screen. This is not ?news, as you can see it in detailed images of the system put out by Nintendo itself, but it wasn't til I had it in my hands that I realized.

Having the USB charger on the bottom of the screen is not only highly uncomfortable while holding it in your lap, but it makes charging it and setting it up on its kickstand simultaneously impossible. With a two- to six-hour battery life, in many cases, you're going to be playing it while plugged in, such as on the plane. I've been on more planes than I can count and while it's a coin-flip if they have a USB port, none o?f them feature tray tables with a hole in them. I'm really surprised no one else is making a fuss about this. About the USB port, I mean -- not perforated tray tables.

The Joy-Con are going to be used in a lot of ways: using a single left or right Joy-Con, holding both detached Joy-Con, attaching them to the screen, attaching them to the Grip, holding them sideways in Arms, and many configurations for the variety of mo??tion control games. Both feature the oddly advertised "HD rumble" and the right Joy-Con also features the NFC reader for am?iibo and an infrared sensor.

I didn't actually play a game with a single Joy-Con, but I did hold each in my hand and pretend I was playing games like I did when my Game Boy's batteries died as a kid. Most people express fear over the size of the Joy-Con, but the issue is more with the button placement. Yes it is small, but when the wrist-strap is attached, it becomes a little bigger and thus more ergonomic but it comes at the cost of making the SL and SR buttons feel m?ore flimsy than if you play with a naked Joy-Con.

The right Joy-Con has the joystick in the middle of the controller while the left Joy-Con has the face buttons in the middle of the controller. In either case you are cramming both of your hands on one side of an already sma??ll controller. It also feels awkward having the joystick or face buttons centrally between the shoulder buttons when traditionally d-pads and joysticks?? are closer to being under the left shoulder button(s) and the face buttons closer if not directly under the right shoulder button(s). 

Joy-Con buttons function the same whether they are detached, on the screen, or in the Grip. The sticks feel less like the perfect circles on the Wii U GamePad and more like the Nintendo 64 or Wii Remote joysticks which ?have little divots. The sticks, + and - buttons, capture button, and Home button all feel fine. The face buttons and "d-pad" buttons are pretty much the same and are similar if not identical to the Wii U GamePad face buttons; firm and satisfying to press. It's just...I don't like the idea of having buttons rather than a traditional d-pad. Pressing them feels unnatural and maybe I'll get used to it, but being located directly underneath the left joystick adds to the jarring feeling which perhaps also will take some getting used to. They obviously made the choice to make them buttons so that you can play on a single Joy-Con in multiplayer, but continuing to use the arrow denominations is going to cause confusion when switching between different layouts at some point.

Similar to Wii U GamePad, the ZL and ZR buttons are not analog triggers, but they feel a little worse in that your fingers slip off them fairly easy. The L and R buttons feel slightly weird to press in a way I can't accurately communicate. All four shoulder buttons feel much more natural if you turn the controllers sideways (joysticks facing each other) like when playing Arms, again suggesting a design focus on gimmicks. ??But man, I really miss those GameCube analog triggers.

As mentioned, playing in portable mode to me is uncomfortable, but of all the control methods for the Joy-Con, the Grip felt the most natural. Looking at a picture of it makes?? it look really odd, with that big square jutting out of the bottom-center. However, it fits into your hands quite naturally and after a long day of waggling, punching, and tilting, it felt very much at home to have a standard controller in my hands. For many it will negate the need or desire to pick up a Pro Controller, but based on my prior complaints with the shoulder buttons and "d-pad" buttons, I think I will for the first time pick up a Pro Controller. 

Arms has you hold the two Joy-Con facing inward and uses only the shoulder buttons along with motion in-game, while all other b??uttons do nothing. It makes the shoulder buttons feel natural, but it feels very weird holding the Joy-Con in this fashion. Not only is it odd pressing buttons despite the fact you k?now they do nothing, but time and time again through either subconscious reasons or muscle memory or whatever I kept turning the Joy-Con to face me unintentionally mid-fight. Navigating the menus including selecting characters, stages, and your weapons in-between rounds requires you to use the Joy-Con normally (facing you), thus making you continually shift the mode of operation. Annoying.

For games featuring motion controls, I only played Arms, which doesn't require precise movement, and one mini-game in 1-2 Switch (the Samurai one where you have to swing a sword at your opponent who tries to catch it). Overall there weren't any issues and no longer needing a sensor bar is a huge plus. If you're not already tired ??of wagglin?g Wii Motes around, you'll be happy to hear these are like a better version of the Wii Mote/Nunchuk combo.

If a rumble pack is 240p, standard rumble is 480p, and a true HD rumble is 1080p, I would put the Joy-Con's "HD rumble" at around 720. I played the ball-counting mini-game in 1-2 Switch where you must guess the number of balls that are in your box by tilting the Joy-Con and feeling the rumble. At first I was really blown away by the fidelity of it; it truly felt like a real ball was rolling in my hand to the point that it was kind of scary. But when it came to multiple balls it wasn't so clear. Spoiler: I had two balls in my box, though I didn't know while playing. No matter how much I tinkered, I couldn't seem to get them to "roll" individually; it always felt like the other balls' rolling was ancillary or attached to one main ball, and crashing at one end of the box felt too chaotic to make an accurate guess (it's extra difficult without sound). My guess was three based on these observations, but when I found out it was two I felt like it should've been easier to determine such a low number. This is one anecdote, though. Overall I'm very impressed with what they did and I think I may just have had a bad go, but I don't see what use this would get outside of 1-2 Switch or a potential Mario Party.

Playing multiplayer with a single Joy-Con is cute idea, but it's only going to work for simple games like Super Mario Bros., Mario Kart, Mario Party, and Snipperclips. To be fair, more complicated games generally aren't split-screen anyway (including Splatoon), but don't expect to play many shooters like Call of Duty on a single Joy-Con, if such third-party games even come to Switch. You either need friends to buy their own Switches o??r someone has to have more controllers. Carrying more than one set of Joy-Con or at least one Pro Controller in addition to a heavy Switch screen, Joy-Con set, and a USB charging cable does not make for a very portable system. In their minds they are probably thinking "tablets are not ??small enough to fit in pockets either but they still sell," but tablets don't need controllers and tablets have longer battery life. The 3DS is light, compact, and can be closed to make for a smooth object.

Considering the Wii U's failures and the popularity of mobile gaming in Japan, it's easy to see why this console was made. Hardcore gamers (I don't like the term "gamer" any more than you but it's a convenient term) will be satisfied playing it as a home console with either the Grip or Pro Controller, but I don't see many of the casual Wii consumers lining up for this. Going to and fro the Switch event I played games like Kirby and Picross my 3DS on the train and also while waiting in line. I can close it into sleep mode and toss it in my pocket without fear of an accidental button press in a matter of seconds. Switch is n??ot going to be so simple to pocket.

None of that is possible with a huge Switch screen, but you can play big games like Breath of the Wild, I guess? I just would rather play those big games at home where I can focus. The Switch games I would play on a train I would rather just play on a 3DS. It's cool if you're going to a friend's house to play games together, but in that case I'd still bring the dock s??o we don't have to split a small screen for a few hours or while it lays flat on the floor plugged into the wall. The Switch will be a fine home console but technically it just feels like I'm playing the Wii U again.

I'm no console maker; I don't know the costs of things. However, I still wish they would stop devoting so many resources towards likely expensive things such as IR sensors, motion control, "HD rumble," and NFC readers for amiibo and instead put that focus into making a stronger console and lineup of games. Not to say if they did that it would be on par with Xbox?? One or PS4, but at the very least there is the possibility that the console and its peripherals might be cheaper.

The post Hands-on: Nintendo Switch won’t blow you away but will satisfy core gamers appeared first on Destructoid.

Name one game motion controls made better

IGN reports that, despite earlier claims, motion controls can't be fully disabled for Star Fox Zero.

Nintendo issued a statement explaining that "motion controls cannot be entirely disabled in Star Fox Zero, although players will have some options to choose how they are implemented. T??he game was designed to be played with motion controls, and it would be incredibly difficult to complete certain areas of the game without the independent aiming and flight that they offer."

Not great news for those of us who don't love motion controls (read: most of us), or for the game being accessible to players of all types. I can't think of a single game made better with motion control, though I've heard some people prefer it in Splatoon. I hope Nintendo reconsiders, but seeing as how Star Fox Zero is sup?posed to?? come out next month, I don't see that happening.

5 Big questions about Star Fox Zero Answered [IGN]

The post Star Fox Zero’s motion controls can’t be fully disabled appeared first on Destructoid.

Maybe this one will actually work

One challenge faci?ng virtual reality designers is what they should do with the player's hands. Some games, like flight simulators, have it relatively easy. A joystick and throttle can easily mirror what's going on in a cockpit. But for most everything else, some sort of new controller is needed to avoid creating a disconnect between what players see and what they feel.

Up until now, Sony has utilized PlayStation Move wands when demoing PlayStation VR, and while they work better than a DualShock controller in this circumstance, it seems the company is testing out other ideas and lo?oking to push things further with new technology.

With that in mind, the electronics giant has filed three patents for a ??glove controller that would track individual finger positioning, include contact sens??ors, and send data back to the headset display so what your hands are doing is reflected on-screen in real time. The patents also include notes regarding sensors for detecting pressure and wrist movement, as well as haptic communicators (rumble) to provide a sense of touch to pair with the visuals.

Who knows if the gloves will ever see the light of day. Companies file patents for products that never come out all the time, but I for one, think it would be so bad to see VR gloves work like the Power Glove was advertised to in The Wizard, as opposed to the barely functional real thing.

Glove Interface Object [USPTO [1] [2] via NeoGAF]

The post Sony patents new Power Glove for PlayStation VR appeared first on Destructoid.

Was shelved twice before this version

Scalebound is one of those games I've just been excited about since it was shown off at E3 last year. A new game from Platinum,? the master of character action, about riding dragons into ancient combat while modern music blares in your Beats headphones. That sounds like a pretty badass combination to me.

However, according to an interview between GameSpot and Hideki Kamiya, the game went through a few very? distinct redesigns between its init?ial pitch in 2006 and the version that surfaced in 2014.

Perh??aps most notably, at one point it was going to be a motion-controlled Wii game a?bout a little girl and some dinosaurs.

When they first started, the idea was for a Wii game and we wanted to use a Wii remote to do the orders for the dinosaurs. You were in control of the dinosaurs, you were ordering the dinosaurs around, and they'd do cool things. Then after we made Bayonetta, we started the prototype. The first thing that I made a change to?? was making it? a dragon game.

We changed the dinosaurs to dragons, but at that point the lead character was even weaker than Drew is in the context of Scalebound. She was actual??ly a little girl who was with these dragons. As we were making this prototype, I realized that I didn’t want to just be watching the ?fight, I wanted to be more participatory in the fight. And I started talking with the staff about how maybe we should change this to be a swordsman or someone a little bit older. This was when the prototype got put on the backburner, so to speak, and the project was halted.

While the change from a Wii game with dinosaurs to Xbox One game about dragons was probably a pretty good call, there is a little bit of me that's sad the game's protagonist was?? changed to being a male hero for combat strength reasons. I kind of like the idea of a super strong eight-year-old warrior girl flying into b??attle and swinging a halberd around adeptly. 

So, would you have ??bought a Platinum Ga??mes Wii game about a little girl and her dinosaurs?

The post Scalebound origina??lly starred a young, fem?ale protagonist appeared first on Destructoid.

Yogawful

"A game that captures pictures of you when you pose to build levels for your character to platform on? This is gonna be a blast," I thought naively as I excitedly volunteered to review Commander Cherry's Puzzled Journey, "Finally something I can use my Kinect for!"

Note to self: Never, ever, ever volunteer to review a Kinect game again, no matter how cool it migh?t?? look.

Commander Cherry's Puzzled Journey (PS4, Xbox One [reviewed])
Developer: Grandé Games
Publisher: Grandé Games
Release Date: August 11, 2015 (PS4), August 14, 2015 (Xbox One)
MSRP: $13.99

Think of the most basic indie platformer you've ever played with minimal graphics and okay at best platforming mechanics, because that is what Commander Cherry's Puzzled Journey is, only worse. 

Commander Cherry has to get from one side of the ten available levels to the other, using snapshots of your body taken with the Xbox One Kinect or the Playstation Eye as platforms. When posing for pictures you'll have to position yourself so the edges of your body touch red circles causing them to light up, thus making them collectible for Commander Cherry. These yellow dots must be collected to allow advancement to the next part of the level and granting you a rating of yo, yoga, or yogawesome depending on how well you performed, then rinse and rep??eat for what felt like a billion times.

Here's the thing about capturing your body in crazy poses: in theory it sounds great, but in practice the functionality blows. The Kinect was picking up like half my arms, half my face, and half my legs. On top of that, the detection wasn't that great, often times leaving wide areas of the room behind me in the picture, instead of cropping me out. So don't be fooled by Commander Cherry's original trailer, it certainly doesn't work as ?well as I was led to believe it was; fo?olish me.

As far as the actual platforming goes it could be better. Early on you're asked to press a button that shows you all what all the controls are, only you can't do two of the functions yet??: double jump and laser. You can only double jump if you have a power-up that turns your weak mustache into a long wizard-like beard, but the game doesn't tell you that as the control screen just says "Hold A to double jump" which isn't even how you double jump once you have the ability! The laser is granted to you in later levels allowing you to cut through your snapshots of yourself, which helps a great deal and should have been available from the start.

Speaking of available from the start, double jump should have been as well. The platforming isn't exactly smooth, and most of the time I only found myself able to make it through sections when I had the power-up. The double jump power-up is lost upon falling to your death or hitting the weird eyeball grass and oranges that shoot flames, much like the super mushroom power-up in Super Mario Bros. The big difference between this and Super Mario Bros. is the added double jump ability; getting hit as Mario makes you smaller and harder to hit versus in Commander Cherry it just causes you to lose functionality and makes?? the ??game harder.

Because of this I started to purposefully kill myself three times in ??a row when I lost the double jump ability, as it causes a power-up to spawn for you. Nothing says "this might not be a great idea" like someone playing your game and killing themselves deliberately to make your game even remotely possible let alone enjoyable.

I'm clearly not in shape, at all -- though Seaman once told me round is indeed a shape -- but I didn't have much trouble posing to complete the platforming puzzles. Poses start with just making basic platforms to guide your character across, but eventually add other mechanics, like avoiding touching grass-like eyeballs, blocking firebreath from oranges, and bodies that move when you have Commander Cherry jump on them.

The problem is it gets tedious when sometimes ??you're asked to make up to six poses for one section while holding the controller in your hand and contorting your body in all different positions. It just wasn't fun, and eventually I had to take a break as my knees, and back started to ache a bit. Later on I figured out I could ?just play while sitting in my chair closer to the camera, and totally cheesed my way through the final levels with no shame. 

All the levels look pretty similar, just bland textureless polygons, and what music there was was pretty forgettable, just like the rest of the game. With only ten levels you'd think Commander Cherry's Puzzled Journey was over far too soon, but it was quite the opposite; I couldn't wait f?or this yoga-like Hell to be over. Knowing the game was made by only two people makes me feel a bit like a yogasshole by saying this game is yogawful, but this is one cherry pit I couldn't wait to spit out.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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Kinda. Maybe. Possibly?

Talking of backwards compatibility... did you notice what wasn't on that list of playable titles?

Kinect games. There are no Kinect games. No Kinectimals, no Kinect Sport, no Dance Central. It seems that Xbox's all-singing, all-dancing motion/voice control system Kinect - once Microsoft's poster child - has been unceremoniousl??y dumped in a corner.

Sniff.

Apparently, it's not inte??ntional. As the Xbox One will essentially be simulating an Xbox 360, it's unable to take account of pe??ripherals added by way of a USB port.

TL;DR - your sad, lonely Kinect.

But following the removal of Kinect from Xbox One bundles - and not a sniff of a mention at yesterday's con??ference - it sure feels as though Kinect's days might be numbered. What do you think?

Want to know what 360 games you will be able to play on the Xbox One? Check out our handy list. 

Microsoft kills Kinect support in Xbox One's backward-compa?tibility push  [PC World]

The post Has Microsoft killed Kinect? appeared first on Destructoid.

It's all fun and games till someone shoots their eye out

The Delta Six controller is the latest entry in my inadvertent series on crowdfunding drama. Hot on the heels of news that The Stomping Land was abandoned by its development team, details have emerged of project mis??management, unfulfilled orders, and lack of communication between Kotkin Enterprises and Kickstarter backers.

The Delta Six is a motion controller designed to enhance the first-person shooter experience by duplicating the look and feel of a real assault rifle. It received a lot of media coverage and brought in almost double its $100,000 goal via Kickstarter in May 2013. Backers were told that the c??ontro?ller would ship in December 2013, with the first shipments going to those who pledged at the $500 tier and trickling down as units came off the line.

Unfortunately, that's not what happened. After several delays, Kotkin started shipping the final product May 2014. Although several $500 pledgers confirmed receiving their controller, as the months went by, backers became more and more restless as to when they were getting their product. The comp??any did post updates in July about being on the news and its new Instagram account, and again in August detailing a Fusion TV appearance. However, it did not comment on repeated inquiries as to when the product was going to reach backers.

After the Fusion TV update, in a move out of the, "Oh shit, everyone is on to us," Internet marketing playbook, Kotkin Enterprises went silent. From August 12 until February 16 the company released neither any updates to backers, nor shipped any Delta Six controllers. Monday, it finally released an update on its Kickstarte??r page stat?ing that Kotkin Enterprises was under new management and the product is being manufactured under a completely new team. The "management team" admitted, "In looking at the pledge amounts from the backers and the cost of goods on our end we found HUGE problems in the management of the Kickstarter process. It was very very poorly managed from the start."

So who is this new management? Details are as sketchy as the rest of this ordeal, but interestingly enough, the link provided for backers to pay arbitrary ext??ra shipping costs leads to the domain of a product that is also mired in controversy, the Avenger Controller. Way back in 2011, the Avenger and its producer N-control were taking heat for delivering the product late (surprise), and the actions of their chosen public relations firm, known internet asshole Paul Christophoro's Ocean Marketing. At some point Kotkin Enterprises either changed its name from N-control, or bought the rights to the Avenger Controller and its domain. If you peruse the website, you can purchase your very own Delta Six, ?that will be mailed right?? to your door, while the Kickstarter backers continue to wait for theirs.

Backers were told, due to the company's mismanagement, the Delta Six's costs were higher than anticipated, and to receive the product they've already paid for, they must pay an additional $30 in the U.S. or $70 internationally for shipping, in contradiction to the Kickstarter description that assured shipping was included with the pl?edge. As if the backers weren't screwed over enough, Kotaku spoke to the company's namesa?ke, David Kotkin, who had this to say about refunds, "When you invest in this company, you invest in it. If you did invest in the company, I spent the money on ordering a certain amount of Delta Sixes. So if, all of a sudden, you don't want it, it's [not possible]. It's not like you bought the purchase. You didn't purchase a product. You invested in a company to develop a product in the hope of getting a prize. But I want you to realize I'm honoring the promise. I'm more than honoring the promise, I believe."

Kotkin's excuse for the product being available on the? website is that the current inventory was being sold to fund an improved version of the Delta Six, which would be the version that goes to backers. However, he didn't state any of that to anyone before speakin??g to Kotaku, and instead went silent for 6 months, and then his company updated their Kickstarter to ask for more money. Also, why would the new model go to backers, when they're being expected to pay even MORE just to get the current model shipped. Are they going to pay shipping, receive the current model, then a free improved model? Are they going to have to wait even longer after paying? What the fuck is going on?

According to the comments page on Kickstarter, none? of those who chose to pony up the extra cash have received any solid tracking information other than "pre shipment info received." Several backers have also filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau and their State's Attorney Gen??eral's office (or their country's equivalent).

When contacted, Kickstarter replied its typical "¯\_(ツ)_/¯," and linked to its Kickstarter 101 page.

After all the screw ups and excuses involved in this Kickstarter, I wouldn't trust these people to manage putting on a pair of pants, much less a electronics manufacturing operation. If you were a backer of ?the Delta Six c??ontroller, you may want to wait to see proof that the controllers are even shipping under new management before committing to spending even more on the product.

I've got a weird feeling? that this story isn't at its ??end.

$200,000 Gun Cont?roller Kickstarter Goe??s Dark, Then Asks For More Money [Kotaku]

The post Backers of crowdfunded Delta Six controller hi??t by friendly fir??e appeared first on Destructoid.

Anthony Carboni explains it all

Number 56 on the master list of 235 "Things that I say that sometimes annoy people who play videogames" is that it's very rare for a game to have "bad" controls. Most of the time when people say that, they are focusing too much their idea of what the game should provide them with, and not ?their responsibility to adapt to how the game handles.

Number 78 on my master list of 798 "Reasons I love about videogames" is that the interaction between the player and the game adds up to something that's more than the sum of its parts. Both parties are bringing something active to the table. When? the game and the player don't fit well together, it's usually neither one's fault. It's a mutual lack of fit. This is especially true when it comes to a game's controls, though it's fairly rare to find a game reviewer who looks at it that way. The game almost always gets all the blame.

Thanks to my old pal Anthony Carboni, we've finally got some science to back up that claim. So the next time you play a round of Rhythm Heaven Fever and think "The controls must be jank cause I can't make these monkeys happy," maybe it's time to check yourself. 

The post Think a game has bad controls? Maybe it’s your fault appeared first on Destructoid.

Sure, why not?

A ratings board listing has outed the existence of Fruit Ninja Kinect 2. You cool with that?

Fruit Ninja was one of the rare titles for Xbox 360 that made decent use of the motion-sensing device?, so it makes sense that the newer console would want one, too -- not a lot o??f Kinect software on Xbox One currently.

Curiously, a company called Hibernum is listed as the author of Fruit Ninja Kinect 2, w?hile Halfbrick Studios will apparentl?y be publishing this time around.

Fruit Ninja Kinect 2 [Australian Classification via Kotaku Australia]

The post There’s going to be a Fruit Ninja Kinect 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

Uses your muscles to determine your motions

The Oculus Rift is a great piece of equipment, and up until now you needed to use motion--based controllers to simulate your own arms in some Rift games. Myo looks to take things one step further by freeing up y?our hands, thus creating a more immersive experience.

The way the Myo works is by detecting the electrical activity in your muscles in order to tell what kind?? of gestures you're making with your hands. The device uses Bluetooth 4.0 low energy connection, proprietary muscle activity sensors, ARM processor, a 9-axis inertial measurement unit, and a rechargeable Lithium ion batter. Plus there's haptic feedback.

Myo is available in both black and white for $149, but note that's just for a single unit??. Dev kits are on offer at the same price too.

Great way to suck play?ers into the world of virtual reality better, but it's going to be a bit too pricey to get the full immersive? experience for both arms. It's a good start though, at least. What we really need are gloves that can be connected to the Rift for individual finger action.

The post Myo is a h??ands-free alternative for the Oculus Rift appeared first on Destructoid.

Optimus-PrimeSense

Apple confirmed that they bought PrimeSense, the company behind the original Kinect, for $360 million dollars. A spokesmen told the BBC that "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans." I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that Apple wants to make some type of wired camera that?? watches you whi?le you watch television.

It makes sense for Apple to try to make a move into the living room, and to compete with the Xbox One's advanced Kinect technology. ?I can picture Apple TV using a Kinect like device for browsing television, and Siri could easily become a part of our living rooms.

"Siri, watch sports!"

Apple confirms ac?quisition of Kinect maker PrimeSense [BBC News via GamesIndustry International]

The post ?Apple definitely bought the origi?nal Kinect company appeared first on Destructoid.

No really, it's better this time

Ever dedicated to evangelizing the usefulness of Kinect 2.0, Mic??rosoft has released two tech demos showcasing the camera's improvements over its predecessor. The first video focuses on how the Kinect 2.0 interacts with your body: reading your skeleton, muscle structure, heart rate, and pulse. The second demo shows the specifics on how the camera will hold up to low-light situations, as well as distracting ambient lights that proved a pain to the original sensor. 

While a lot ??of the information in th??ese demos has been known since the Xbox One reveal event last May, it's still pretty cool to see the tech at work first hand. I guess now all that remains is to see how well the tech is implemented by game developers.

The post Kine??ct 2.0 tech demos showcase a more responsive system appeared first on Destructoid.

That's not terribly surprising

When Kinect launched for Xbox 360, it was immediately compatible with Windows PCs. When Xbox One's Kinect launches, that won't be? the case.

Microsoft confirmed that the Xbox One's Kinect sensor was built specifically with?? the new console in mind, meaning that it has a proprietary connector that the ?company does not intend to release a USB adapter for. However, a next-generation Kinect for Windows sensor is in the works that will serve that particular niche.

Honestly, this news isn't particularly surprising. The first Kinect released as a peripheral several years after the Xbox 360. Microsoft intends for the Xbox One's Kinect to be an essential, integrated component of the console. Giving users the option to take it into another room, leaving the Xbox One ?a useless brick doesn't seem very cohesive to Microsoft's vision.

Microsoft: Kinect for Xbox One w?ill not work on PCs [Ars Technica]

The post Xbox One’s Kinect won’t work anywhere but on Xbox One appeared first on Destructoid.

First images of Dropchord

Following the release schedule for the Leap Motion Controller and tease that Double Fine would have a game of its own for the device, more details have come out. This new title, "a music driven score challenge game" designed by folks who worked on Kinect Party, is called Dropchord.

Set for release this year initially on Leap Motion's app store Airspace (Windows and Mac), Dropchord will also be a??vailable for iOS devices. In the meantime, there will be playable builds of the game at South by Southwest this Saturday and at Double Fine's PAX East booth.

It's unclear exactly how this will play, as I've yet to come across any footage, but knowing that hands and fingers will be tracked gives me ?some ideas.

The post This is what Double Fine’s Leap Motion game looks like appeared first on Destructoid.

Easier said than done

Some of us aren't so keen on using Kinect for playing most types of games, but that's not to say the technology doesn't have its applications elsewhere. Can you imagine Microsoft integrating Kinect with laptops or tablets? Chief research and strategy office Craig Mundie can. "You want to be as cheap as possible and physically as small as possible," he said this week at Microsoft's Te?chForum. "My dream is to get a Kinect into the b??ezel of something like this [Surface tablet]."

For laptops, "It's not gonna happen tomorrow, but we can see a path towards that sort?? of thing," he?? commented. The company isn't quite there yet, however: "There's a whole bunch of problems, not just miniaturization, in designing the sensors so they actually do what you expect them to do in all of the environments." Frankly, I'd rather energy be spent here than on cramming Kinect into games that are better controlled with a gamepad.

Microsoft shows displays with built-??in Kinect, predicts future laptop integration [The Verge]

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The Destructoid Show's 420th Episode Takes The High Road

As we do every Friday (except for sometim?es) we did a live Destructoid Show.

CD Projekt Red announced some stuff about The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt, and then dropped some new screens. Some stuff is being released in May, including Metro: Last Light, and the LEAP Motion. In the best news ever, Willem Dafoe is playing a paranormal social worker in Beyond: 2 Souls. Playstation 4's social interface thingies got shown off, and  apparently Playstation Plus will be a big deal next generation. Finally, microtransactions are kinda dumb, sometimes.

The post Witcher 3 ge??ts horses and? fire, Beyond gets Willem Dafoe appeared first on Destructoid.