Welcome to Shit City (literally that's the name of the city)

After a busy day of Summer Game Festing, I'm pretty much spent, but leave it to Devolver Digital (and Suda) to supercharge my brain for a bit with another chaotic showcase. On one extreme, we saw the adorable 2D-meets-3D storybook adventure The Plucky Squire �and on the other, there was Anger Foot, a face-kicking action game for sickos.

The first gameplay glimpse from developer Free Lives (Broforce, GORN, Terra Nil) looks unhinged. I'm talking "Academy Award winner Russell Crowe in Unhinged" unhinged.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R1XJv-pylk

It's one of the most no-bullshit, take-it-or-leave-it showings I've seen in a while, and I also appreciate the synopsis, which reinfor?ces t??his game's unrelenting mood.

"Unleash the world's d??eadliest feet on a colorful cast of anthropomorphic ??enemies," as Devolver Digital and Free Lives put it. "Clearing out slums, sewers, and skyscrapers as you grab new weapons, unlock new sneakers, and upgrade your powers in absurd and wonderful ways. Kick and shoot your way to the exit as you leave behind a smoldering trail of shattered doors, broken bones, and crumpled energy drinks."

I can already tell Anger Foot will be the kind of game where there's an ideal "wow, that went smooth!" way to play, and getting the flow down just right will surely take practice. In the meantime, I'm sure it'll be funny to fumble your way through these setups, too. If you've ever wondered how Hotline Miami would (o?r could) translate its frantic room-clearing carnage to 3D, well, this is probably the closest we'r??e getting for now.

General mood aside, you don't need to take the reveal trailer's word for it �there's a demo right now on Steam. Anger Foot is planning a 2023 release.

The post Anger Foot might be Devolver Digital’s most unhinged game yet appeared first on Destructoid.

Put the storyteller's narration on your back

We've all seen some super text-heavy shirts out in the wild, but imagine standing in line for the self-check-out area at the grocery store and seeing this inexplicable gem: a rare Elden Ring hoodie containing the world-defining lore from the game's opening cinematic.

If you're hazy, here's the deliciously cryptic cinematic again:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_03kFqWfqs

The hoodie found its way onto my feed via Lance McDonald, and I was grateful to see it, having missed From Software's original Japanese tweet back in December.

//twitter.com/?manfightdragon/status/1493423978098032642

If you're racing to order one of these hoodies, hold up �they aren't widely available. From Software ran a lottery in Japan with this and other not-for-sale products.

Granted, I'm sure Bandai Namco will have plenty of material to work with for merchandise and apparel based on Elden Ring �but will this niche "thou shouldst take the crown" design ever get a wider release?? Well, maybe I'm alone on this one. I think it looks good!

I love how hyper-specific the hoodie is. I always preferred gaming merch that felt more subdued �the kind that looks good with or without context for the su?bject matter �but maybe I was wrong. Maybe it's best to double down? on our obsessions.

To that end, I once saw someone with a gnarly Uzumaki jacket at the mall, and that five-second "wait, wh??ere did he find that?!"? encounter has stuck with me to this day.

If I see any of you out there rocking this wordy Elden Ring hoodie �or any other, for that matter �then I promise to do my best Patrick Stewart quadruple take.

The post Th?is squint-worthy Elden Ring hoodie is full of lore appeared first on Destructoid.

I wish this was a joke

Over the course of the pandemic, Zoom has been both a blessing and a curse as it's allowed us to continue on with business as usual. It does have its vulnerabilities like any other software, however, and that has never been more apparent than during a meeting of the Italian Senate about data transparency in politics yesterday. About a half-hour into the three-hour official government meeting, as one of last year's Nobel Prize winners in physics Giorgio Parisi was being introduced, the senate feed was suddenly interrupted by unofficial Final Fantasy porn featuring Tifa Lockhart.

The porn continued on for an agonizing thirty seconds, while the audio lasted even longer as host and Five Star Movement Senator Maria Laura Mantovani frantically tried to turn it off with the help of her assistant. Parisi continues on with his prepared points after the porn is shut down, and I'm honestly impressed at his level of professionalism. The Zoom call was populated by both live and remote participants, and while some blamed hackers for the incident, we don't really have any? way of knowing what happened for su??re.

To top it all off, the meeting was being live-streamed to both Facebook and the Italian equivalent of C-SPAN. While the clip has been removed from the official VOD, it's still making ??the rounds online (view at your own risk, obviously).

//twitter.com/FrancescoDonald/status/14834478688??37044224

Thankfully the meeting was able to continue on as usual after the feed was sh??ut down, but I ima??gine it was a bit more difficult to focus afterward.

Look, I'm not trying to kink shame? anyon??e, but there's a time and place for these things, and a government Zoom call just ain't it. This is certainly one of the weirder things I've witnessed in 2022, but hey, the year just started, right?

The post So, some Final Fantasy porn just played during an I?talian Senate meeting appeared first on Destructoid.

I want to believe this isn't some creepypasta

I love the idea of Capcom �or any purveyor of horror games �secretly adding a rarely-noticed sound effect, visual, or some other bit of surprising creepiness to a game we all thought we knew inside and out. I'm not saying that's what's going on with this creepy Reddit clip, in which a Resident Evil 7 player purportedly shares a mysterious out-of-nowhere scream they heard in the Baker ?estate, but man, I want to believe it's legitimate.

//www.reddit.com/r/residentevil/comments/pgxze?f/r??e7_i_have_over_100_hours_in_this_game_and_i_have/

I've definitely never heard this audio before. You don't ??forget a scream like that.

Aside from this post by Dolbert, there are a few other instances of folks asking for a second opinion about a "random" scream they heard from an unknown source in Resident Evil 7 �months apart! �across Reddit and Steam. No one seems to know what's up.

There's also this thread and accompanying video from CHRONicle Gamer:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6NTvCfW7Ho

Most people say they've never encountered it, but some players clai?med they have:

• "The first time I heard that scream I thought it came from outside my house..."
• "I replayed RE7 last weekend and I heard it (I remembering thinking what the heck was that while I was walking that way)."
• "Yes, I first heard it after meeting Marg in the Old House. I LOVE how creepy this game is."
• "I've heard this before which is weird because I'm literally on my first playthrough of any horror game."
• "I coulda swore I heard it first playthrough when first heading to the basement. Could be [the] Mandela effect tho."

Genuine or no??t, intentional or otherwise, how freaky is this? It reminds me of my experience with video games before the internet was so widespread, back when "impossible" secrets, speculat??ion, and hearsay could spiral out of control for years.

I'd al??most rather have the scream remain unconfirmed. In an era of launch-day game guides, it's cool to come across s??uch a hazy find, even if it feels suspicious.

The post Have you he??ard this ??mysterious scream in Resident Evil 7? appeared first on Destructoid.

This freaky old Big Daddy concept art is making the rounds, and the face cannot be unseen

If? I went through the rest of my life without ever seeing a Big Daddy's face undernea??th its suit, that would've been A-okay �but fate had another idea.

Courtesy of a late-night tweet from Andy Kelly, there's this fresh-to-me hell: a glimpse of BioShock's main squeeze witho??ut the cool suit maski??ng its face. I cannot turn away.

//twitter.com/ultrabrilliant/status/14123219448??67909632

It's pretty wild to me that I've somehow never come ?across this art before.

It's a simple "Big Daddy without a helmet" search away �one of many pieces of concept art that will pop up for BioShock �and I guess I just never bothered looking. That said, some questions are probably best left unanswered, and officially??????????????????????????, it's clear that the game's creators would rather leave the canon look of the Big Daddy's face up to our imaginations.

It's hard to differentiate their bodies and their suits considering that Protector Program candidates' "skin and organs were grafted and integrated into their suit, to become one functional ?unit." The stuff you learn in-game, forget about, and get reexposed to years later on wikis, I swear. No one ever said Rapture was?? a kind place.

Apologies for opening such a fle??shy can of worms here. We're in this mess together.

The post Y’know, I would’ve been fine never seeing a Big Daddy’s face beneath the helmet appeared first on Destructoid.

The Yakuza collaboration I didn't even know was an option

I can't begin to describe the whiplash I experienced today when I learned that not only is there a toy duck version of Yakuza's Kazuma Kiryu, he's just the latest in a long and bewildering line of gaming, movie, and comic book characters �even Tofu! �who have been rubber duck-ified by Tubbz.

RKG Studio shared the news with a head-turning tweet this morning. Love that shot.

Imagine taking a bath with the Dragon of Do??jima �now you don't have to!

While Sega has collaborated with Tubbz before on "cosplaying duck" versions of Shenmue's Ryo Hazuki, Jet Set Radio's Beat, and a freaky Dr. Eggman that makes me uncomfortable, this is a new direction for the Yakuza series. Obviously, we gotta get Majima up in here t??oo. They complete each other.

The 3.54" tall Kiryu duck will be available in July 2021 for $15, and pre-orders are open today.

The post Oh my god, Kiryu is a rubber duck appeared first on Destructoid.

I can't look away from Together BnB's creepy chaotic energy

It started with a tweet about Together BnB, and then another tweet, and now here I am, telling you to watch an off-the-rails trailer for a trashy Steam Early Access game that has "mostly negative" reviews.

i found this game on steam where you own a bed and breakfast but you spend the whole time taking creepshots of girls in their room. then suddenly you're in the woods shooting wolves with a gun pic.twitter.com/dx0hZAuKId

�Lonnie (@veryfriendly) April 9, 2021

The game's plot �surprisingly, there's a plot! �??revolves around the newly-established manager of a bed and breakfast, James, and his brother, who owns the joint, but has vanished. In the meantime, James "has to assist the beautiful tenants of the BnB, satisfy them, and help them achieve their goals."

With that setup in mind, please enjoy this batshit trailer in which James drives up a mountain road, unloads his gun on a wolf (?), fires at his kitchen (????), and then sho??ots some late-night hoops (???).

"?This trailer looks like it's showing me the daily routine of a?? psychopath and I cannot tell if it's intentional or not," wrote one spot-on YouTube commenter.

"??Kojima's new project looks like a??n absolute banger," joked another.

Together BnB? has one of the strangest trailers I've seen in forever. Happy Friday, everyone.

The post I wasn’t ready for this off-the-rails video game trailer, and you won’t be either appeared first on Destructoid.

As the shop says, 'a strategically placed accent can bring the whole room to life'

Konami just launched an online merch store, and I know, I know –?? you're not in the mood.

Regardless of how out-of-sync the company can be with modern sensibilities, we've got the good old days, and there are some surprising back-catalog picks in here like a Sunset Riders mug, a sweatshirt plastered with Goemon, and Track & Field t-shirts. I'm not here to?? dwell on that stuff, though.

I immediately darted toward the Castlevania section, straight past the apparel, to this:

Your eyes don't deceive you. Those are pillows with Alucard and Richter looking all majestic.

My recent (and at this point probably annual) trip down memory lane with Castlevania Requiem and Castlevania Anniversary Collection has been build??ing t?o this silliness. I can't stop laughing.

$40 for a video game pillow?? I shouldn't. I really shouldn't.

The post There’s a pillow with Alucard from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and I really shouldn’t appeared first on Destructoid.

Zelda: Breath of the Wild meets *everything*

I'm not sure how I managed to avoid crossing paths with Craftopia until today – an abundance of Steam Early Access games and bad timing, I guess? – but one look at this trailer from June, and wow. I'm calling it: this is the most bewildering combination of video game concepts and?? inspirations I??'ve seen.

As Destructoid reader Roager put it this afternoon, "??There is a LOT going on in this trailer."

I wasn't sure what to expect – the thumbnail and name didn't exactly fire up my imagination beyond the usual survival-game fodder – but then I got to the 20-second mark, in which foxes, deer, and elephants stroll on wheels en masse to generate power. Then I saw the protagonist spin their sword into a group of comically tall skeletons. Then I saw her catch a giraffe, Pokémon style, and hoverboard with friends.

That's to say nothing of the player-crafted conveyor-belt machine shuffling cows i??nto a soup cauldron.

Will I play Craftopia while it's in Early Access, which is where it has been since September 2020? No. I'm not convinced I'??ll enjoy playing this in the best possible conditions, let alone in an unfinished state.

Will I continue to be fascinated by its audacity and flip through community screenshots? Hell yeah.

The post Craftopia is the most bewildering video game mash-up I’ve ever seen appeared first on Destructoid.

What a surprising turn of events

I am formally nominating Ark II as the wildest moment of The Game Awards. ??I can'?t even process it.

//youtu.be/RG2aOpCQQSA

In the lead-up to us seeing the title, I was convinced we were getting a rabid new Turok with Vin Diesel. Instead �and I can't stress enough how much I'm still coping with this �it's a sequel to Ark. That Ark.

Following the show, Studio Wildcard confirmed that Ark II will be "launching on PC and exclusively on Xbox," and despite what the Game Awards trailer might imply, it's an "online multiplayer sandbox."

Ark: Survival Evolved is huge in a way that affords its sequel a lot of ambition, but man. Vin!

The post Ark II is an honest-to-god Vin Diesel video game appeared first on Destructoid.

A rhythm puzzle-adventure with multiple protagonists and a giant hand sent from the future to save the planet

As a multi-genre adventure drawing from rhythm gaming, role-playing, and claymation, Starstruck: Hands of Time isn't? easily classifi??ed, but that's a good thing! The upcoming PC and PS4 title from Createdelic brings me back to the let's-try-anything-and-everything oddball energy of the PS1.

As much as I'm more interested in the "giant destructive time-traveling hand" that strolls around like Thing from The Addams Family and stomps a playground-esque diorama city, I respect Starstruck for trying to blend other elements (like guitar gamep??lay) into a multi-protagonist puzzle adventure.

The first act – around an hour of two or gameplay – is readily available on Steam in a Prologue demo.

As for the final release, it's planned for PlayStation 4 and PC in 2021. What a cool-ass game.

The post Starstruck: Hands of Time captures that wacky experimental PS1 energy s??o well appeared first on Destructoid.

'Feel the Power'

Sony has run some pretty out-there ads for PlayStation in its time. The latest – a promo urging players to "feel more than love this Valentine's" – doesn't reach those same dizzying hei?ghts, but it's weird.

I hope they k??eep this tone going. Don??'t let this be a one-off.

From what we've heard about the PlayStation 5 so far, it's shaping up to be a safe, straightforward continuation. Let's face it, the PS4 sold really well, and ??people are down for (mostly) more of the same for PS5. Outside of backward compatibility, I can't say I'm expecting any bold changes with the console.

A?ll the more reason to spice ?things up with some freaky ads.

The post Sony is doing weird PlayStation ads again appeared first on Destructoid.

Nothing creepy at all about that, no sir

Look, if I had to catch even a brief morbid-curiosity-driven glimpse of this official Pokémon ASMR video in which? a Charmander curls up and snoozes ??next to a fire for half an hour, then so do you.

It's highly uncomfortable, but we're in this to??gether. Those are the rul??es.

CJ also sent in an ASMR video of a Chespin munching on macaroons, and I can't. I just can't.

The post T?he Pokemon Company is ?cool with us watching a Charmander sleep appeared first on Destructoid.

This intentionally boring game is someone's dream come true

At this point, I'm convinced you could make a simulation?? game for a?ny niche on this planet.

On one end, we've got Microsoft Flight Simulator – a jaw-dropping recreation that lets you fly planes around the world above eerily accurate landscapes and cities. On the other end, there's Airplane Mode.

I s??imultaneously can and can't believe something like th??is exists.

Airplane Mode is a video game that simulates flying – but as a passenger. On a commercial transatlantic flight. With crossword puzzles, crying babies, inflight ent??ertainmen?t, slow meal service, and those blasted little overhead nozzles that put out entirely too much or too little air despite your best efforts.

"The circumstances ?of your flight will change every time you play," according to creator Hosni Auji??. A few examples of randomized events include the usual "turbulence, bad Wi-Fi, and delays."

Airplane Mode is inspired by Desert Bus – a criminally boring yet weirdly entertaining game about driving a bus from Tucson to Las Vegas in real-time – and, in a clever bit of cross-promotion, it'll make an appearance on the Desert Bus For Hope 2019 charity stream on November 12, 2019.

Following the charity drive, Airplane Mode will launch on Steam in 2020. It's published by AMC Games of all places. "The game is as insightful as it i??s absurd; a meditation on life between destinations, and one that we will be proud to bring to players worldwide next year," said Clayton Neuman, VP of Gaming.

I watch some peculiar stuff on YouTube to wind down, so I can't judge anyone who's into this pre?mise.

Airplane Mode [Steam]

The post Airplane Mode is a very spe??cific sim for a very specific crowd appeared first on Destructoid.

Pikachu always gets all the attention

Humans are pretty adept at findin?g new and increasingly outlandish ways to spend their mon??ey.

Last week, a 1998 Pokémon Illustrator card fetched $195,000 through Philip Weiss Auctions in New York. Not only is this trading card just plain rare – it was originally obtained through a Japanese illustration contest in CoroCoro Comic – it's also in excellent condition, he??nce the ?sky-high price.

Actually, including the buyer's premium, the card went for $224,500, according to CNET.

"In the January 1998 issue [of CoroCoro], three 1st Place winners won a copy of the card, as did another 20 2nd Place winners," noted the auction listing. "With cards awarded in two more contests that year, there were a maximum of 39 copies released. It is not known exactly how many surviving copies are still around; however, only 10 PSA certified copies are known, a ve??ry important note because there are many counterfeit copies. This card is considered the most rare of an individual Pokémon card."

No judgment here, honest – I love these ridiculous auction stories.

Pokémon Pikachu ?Illustr?ator Promo Card PSA 9 Mint [Invaluable via Kotaku]

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'The Wandering MC'

Conan O'Brien shares a video game with Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen, Lindsay Wagner, Nicolas Winding Refn, and, bless his soul, Guillermo del Toro. If literally nothing else, Death Stranding is neat.

Even if you aren't feeling Death Stranding, you may still get ?a kick out of Conan's Kojima Productions tour – his remote segments are some of his funniest. He showed off his stomach! (He always does.)

There's actually a worthwhile reason to seek out Conan, too. If you do what he says, he'll g?ive you the Sea Otter Suit, a fluffy hat that lets Sam Bridges (Norman Reedus) safely float downstream.

Conan O'Brien appears as a prepper “The Wondering MC†in DS. You get “Sea Otter Suit†when you get connected with him. With this suit, you’ll be able to swim easily in the river, you won’t be drifted away! BB would be happy as well. ðŸ‘🌈🦀☔ï¸ðŸŸðŸ‹ðŸ¬ðŸ’€ðŸ‘¶âœ‹ðŸ¤©ðŸ˜ pic.twitter.com/nIsw5JS5t0

— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) October 24, 2019

It is officially called a Sea Otter hood. Originally, it was a full body suit which memorizes every gear and baggage that the player has. But we had some difficulty to adjust for all players’ situations, so we changed it to a hood instead. But I still call it a Sea Otter Suit. //t.co/oWWShVipI1

— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) October 24, 2019

It's nice to ??see Hideo Kojima continue to dress his cool-guy protagonists in silly headwear.

The post Conan O’Brien basically plays himself in Death Stranding appeared first on Destructoid.

Is this peak Nintendo?

Nintendo is closing out a busy week of video game news with one more announcement: whatever the hell? this fitness contraption is. Today's first-look demonstration raises so many questions.

The video shows actors running in place, doing poses, and just generally exercising indoors while holding a ring-like device that has some fle?x to it. We can't actually see what they're looking at on-scre??en, but this "new experience," as Nintendo puts it, involves strapping a Joy-Con to one of your legs and securing a second controller within the ring itself, presumably for motion-tracking purposes.

First impressions? Switch Fit (???) looks absolutely wild. I may not be into Pilates – on the surface, this as-yet-unnamed device seems similar to a magic circle – but I'm curious to see the accompanying software. We'll learn more details about Nintendo's late?st fitness experiment on?? September 12.

A decade from now??, this thing will probably live i??n a box next to my DK Bongos.

The post Nintendo’s new fitness device for Switch is bonkers appeared first on Destructoid.

Make it work girl

Since the advent of the 3D accelerator in the fifth generation of gaming, developers have been pushing for more and more realistic engines to smudge the line between reality and gaming as much as possible. Recently, we've stagnated with near photorealistic engines becoming the norm in AAA game development. That is until now. From the good folks at Electronic Arts, Destructoid is proud to present to you ??Frostbite's hair engine!

Just look at her, with her luscious locks of logarithmic language. So fierce. So bold. So in need of a brush. With these improvements coming to the Frostbite engine, hopefully, Cristiano Ronaldo will bring back his frosted tips so we can see Frostbite frosted tips in FIFA 20.

Frostbites New hair?? tech puts Geralt's locks to sham?e [PC Gamer]

The post Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s Frostbite’s new hair engine appeared first on Destructoid.

Very good

Can you imagine finishing a From Software game without getting hit? How about five games, back to back? And to make the challenge even more despicable, if you mess up, you have to start over at the first game. Twitch streamer The Happy Hob has done the n??ear-impossible. He's cleared the "god run."

This week, after countless heartbreaks and close calls, the streamer completed a stupefying no-hit gauntlet of Bloodborne, Dark Souls II, Dark Souls, Demon's Souls, and Dark Souls III, in that order.

Here's the stressful final fight in Dark Souls III. (Warning: it's about to get loud up in here.)

And here's the heartwarming victory pose.

The full five-game run took over 1?6 hours to conclude, and it's madness. Absolute madness. I'm struggling to grasp the raw mechanical skill and sheer willpower needed to pull off somethi??ng like this. Even as a viewer, my nerves are frayed. I can't fathom how The Happy Hob keeps his cool.

His wild accomplishment didn't go unnoticed. The Dark Souls Twitter account offered its congrats.

Please accept our sincere approbation.

— Dark Souls (@DarkSoulsGame) March 21, 2019

While the god run was surmounted in time for Sekiro, something tells me a break is long overdue.

The post Streamer beats the whole Souls series and Bloodborne without taking?? a ??hit appeared first on Destructoid.

Food for thought

Chowing down on cereal is one of childhood's greatest joys, and if your sugary breakfast happened to come with a free prize inside the box, you were on cloud nine. It didn't even matter if the little trinket was pure junk and you got bored with it before your cereal had a chance to get soggy. It was yours.

One of the most coveted cereal-box prizes in the '90s was Chex Quest, an honest-to-god video game. It was ahead of its time, both as a promotional product and as a non-violent take on the Doom formula.

As the Chex Warrior, your goal is to teleport (not kill!) mucousy aliens who are causing trouble for human colonists on the planet Bazoik. Your dude rocks a??rmor that looks like a literal giant piece of Chex cereal and he can wield a spoon. It was a marketing-fueled Doom clone, sure, but as the modding scene has since proven, there's a lot of fun to be had in the wide world of weird, not-that-great Doom remixes.

If you don't have any particular nostalgic fondness for Chex Quest, you might be surprised?? to learn that the game has enough of a following to receive an HD remake. Over the weekend, we got a new trailer.

Chex Quest HD is a passion project from lead artist Chuck Jacobi and volunteers created with permission from General Mills. They haven't committed to ?a release date just yet, but once the game's r?eady, it'll be free. "Like the original, this will be a five-level, single-player first-person shooter suitable for all ages."

I can't see the remake being anything more than a novelty, ??but that's all it nee?ds to be.

The post Remember Chex Quest? It’s getting a free HD remake appeared first on Destructoid.

I love a good bargain

These are crazy times we live in. Monkeys are riding dogs, strange creatures are appear???ing as sports team mascots, and ??jewelry companies are appealing to gamers by offering up Nintendo Switches for purchasing their overpriced relics of forgotten luxury.

As part of their bid to make more money than we'll ever see this holiday season, if you spend more than $1,200 at Helzberg Diamonds before December 24, you will receive a Nintendo Switch as a bonus. Helzberg wants to say you're getting it for free but I just?? can't justify that word when yo??u need to spend more than I make in a month to get it.

This isn't the first time that Helzberg has pulled a stunt like this either. Last year they offered an Xbox One X to customers who spent more than $1,000 so I'm guessing the promotion worked out well enough for them to do it again? The difference here is that last year the Xbox One X was nary a month old, cost more, and you had to spend less. Whereas this year the Switch is pushing two-years-old and is selling like gangbusters. Maybe they are expecting you to want to dazzle your beloved so much that you can sneak off and ledge fish as Isabelle in Smash Ultimate. Who knows?

Helzberg Diamonds Coupons [Helzberg]

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He rides on a giant bar of soap

This is not a drill! At long last, the fan-made Janitor Leoric concept for Heroes of the Storm is happening. During a showcase for the all-new character Orphea at BlizzCon, Blizzard revealed?? several silly skins and one of them caused us to do a double take. Leoric finally has a mop in han?d, folks. All is well.

Our first Nexus-Born Hero, Gameplay Updates, Mounts, Skins, and much more. See what’s coming to Heroes of the Storm with our BlizzCon 2018 announcements! pic.twitter.com/37JSHUJiTV

— Heroes of the Storm (@BlizzHeroes) November 2, 2018

Fans have been rallying for Janitor Leoric for years now. As we covered back in June, the community literally ran an ad for the contest-winning skin concept on reddit to try and get more traction.

For the sake of comparison, here's the original?? drawing:

"All shall be cleaned!"
Winner of the 1-year Heroes anniversary drawing contest.
Source: //t.co/YNmDZNiAnU pic.twitter.com/0h0Oe0MQTb

— Heroes of the Storm (@BlizzHeroes) July 4, 2016

Once this skin becomes available, I'm su??re players will waste no time finding a new ?cause to support.

The post Blizzard is actually making?? a Janitor Leoric skin for Heroes of the Storm appeared first on Destructoid.

More of this silly stuff, please

I'm sure many of us spent at least a few moments trying to stack Goombas as high as possible in Super Mario Odyssey. It's a fun goof! Making our hijinks look like mere child's play, here's YouTuber SKELUX using a bit of tri?ckery to push the sentient tower to its absolute limit: around 200 Goombas.

"Any more than this and the Switch crashes," according t??o the video creato??r.

I love the contrast between the Cloud Kingdom's cheerful music and the knowledge that? Mario's about ?to send a bunch of Goombas to an early grave with a single monstrous ground pound.

Godspeed, little mushroom monsters.

[Via reddit]

The post Someone managed to stack hundreds?? of Goombas in Mario Odyssey appeared first on Destructoid.

#891

We may have gotten an accidental glimpse of the new Pokémon that will debut in Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee later this year. I won't lie: I feel like the way-too-young kid who couldn't resist sneaking downstairs late at night to find his parents watching A Nightmare on Elm Street. I've seen too much!

The apparent leak comes from @Chrales, who spotted a pair of conspicuous icons in Pokémon Go. He says "it's labeled as Kecleon in Pokémon Go but Unity files are tagged with ?Poké??;mon 891."

You might've clicked this article out of curiosity but now you're having second thoughts. If so, well, this is just me buying you time. Don't scroll ??any further if you don't want to see the weird new Pok&ea??cute;mon.

And here it is:

new kecleon icons pic.twitter.com/fdI2znMJRB

— Chrales (@Chrales) September 21, 2018

_{(Note: The image in the embedded tweet might look distorted. You may need to click through.)}

So yeah. If this is a real design, I can't wait to read the creature's in-game description. If for whatever reason it's not a real Pokémon, at least the fan art community will have ple?nty of fun.

@Chrales [Twitter]

The post This supposed new Pokemon looks a bit nuts appeared first on Destructoid.

Leave it in!

So??me??times we see real dumb stuff in games and keep it to ourselves. Not today!

huh pic.twitter.com/JMS2CviA0r

— Jan Xanadu (@HBJohnXuandou) September 11, 2018

Aerial tricks in Spider-Man can look funny enough as is even when everything's working as intended (real talk: it was one of the first skill-tree upgrades I went for), but rolling on water? I'm cracking up??.

A few other players captured the water glitch. It turns out you c??an do more than just roll.

I have?n't been able to pull off the feat yet, but maybe you'll have the secret touch. Responding to a viewer question, YouTube user Jimmy Cazar said he "Tried it about 30 times and fina??lly got it."

J. Jonah Jameson is going to hav??e a lot to say about this strange behavior.

The post Spider-Man rolling on water is my kinda glitch appeared first on Destructoid.

The only good bug is a dead bug

History has not been kind to Aliens: Colonial Marines, and today's story doesn't exactly improve its shoddy reputation. As spotted on ResetEra, a modder attempting to overhaul Colonial Marines found an issue in the game's .ini file causing Xenomorphs to act, well, stupid. You remember the reviews. You remember that infamous gif??. The aliens' behavior was a b??ig sticking point back in 2013.

It might sound wild, but fixing a typo in a text file is seemingly all that's needed to improve how Xenomorphs act in Colonial Marines. Here's how modder jamesdickinson963 summed up the situation:

Inside your games config file (My D??ocum??ent\My Games\Aliens Colonial Marines\PecanGame\Config\PecanEngine.ini) is the following line of code :

ClassRemapping=PecanGame.PecanSeqAct_AttachXenoToTether -> PecanGame.PecanSeqAct_AttachPawnToTeather

I'm sure you'll notice the spelling mistake.

ClassRemapping=PecanGame.PecanSeqAct_AttachXenoToTether -> PecanGame.PecanSeqAct_AttachPawnToTether

If you fix it to look like the above an??d then play the gam??e, the difference is pretty crazy!

Why is this line important? There are two reasons:
1) AttachXenoToTeather doesn't do anything. It's basically empty or stripped.
2) AttachPawnToTether does ALOT. It controls tactical position adjustment, ??patrolling, and target zoning.

When a Xeno is spawned, it is attached to a zone tether. This zone tells the Xeno what area is its fighting space and where different exits are. In Combat, a Xeno will be forced to switch to a new tether (such as one behind you) so as to flank, or disperse so they aren't so grouped up, etc. (*di??sclaimer* this is inferred opinion, I can't see the actual code only bits)

Whenever the game tried to do this, nothing happened. Now it doe?s!

Of course, the tweak isn't some silver bullet that automatically fixes the entire game and flips the script, but the results are noticeable. Times like this remind me why I never got in??to cod??ing.

Aliens: Colonial Marines A?I fixed by a single letter [ResetEra -- Thanks, Kristofer]

The post Modder finds and fixes typo in Aliens: Colonial Marines that caused?? bad Xenomorph AI appeared first on Destructoid.

Sega wants to know

As spotted on Sega Forever's Facebook page, Sega has gotten the Very ??Good idea to make replica Mega Drive and Dreamcast candles. There's just one question: what scent should ?they have?

Folks have been chiming in with suggestions like Streets of Rage roast chicken, Shenmue ch??erry blossoms, chili dogs, and "the smell of the '90s dust left in o??ne of the Mega Drive cartridges."

I'll go with a safe bet: give me? that unmistakable fre??sh-out-the-shrink-wrap new-game smell.

Whoever comes up with Sega's favorite response will?? earn themselves one of each candle.

Sega Forever [Facebook via Game Informer]

The post What should these Sega candles smell like? appeared first on Destructoid.

Lost his treasure

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is actually an idea that started off in Super Mario 3D World on the Wii U. While it was originally supposed to be just a mini-game, Nintendo liked it enough to invest in a full-on title based on the concept. When the game launched the following year, you were able to explore a couple of levels from 3D World as Captain Toad (unlocked with save data from the previous game or by 100%ing Captain Toad's mai??n levels). Sad??ly, those levels will not be included in the upcoming Switch port.

Nintendo outlet Nintendo World Report has posted a hands-on report of the title and made note that the bonus Super Mario Odyssey levels have full on replaced the levels from 3D World. Along with that, any references to Mario's Wii U outing have ??been completely remo?ved, meaning you won't be able to find the hidden Cat Mario and Peach in each level.

Seeing as how Captain Toad stems from 3D World, the exclusion of this bonus is very odd. Maybe Nintendo felt the need to remove the levels with 3D World not being on Switch, but that doesn't really explain why Cat Mario and Peach are gone. Considering the game is smaller than the Wii U original, it isn?'t?? like cartridge space is a concern, either. Truly an odd decision by Nintendo.

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Switch) Hands-on Preview [Nintendo World Report]

The post Captain Toad on S??witch does not include the levels from Super Mario 3D World appeared first on Destructoid.

The search for 2018's weirdest game is over

Hylics was the "trippiest RPG" I had ever seen as of 2015, but now it's time for a new king: Hylics 2!

Creator Mason Lindroth shared a video preview for the sequel earlier this week, and I'm delighted knowing that some of you will have never seen or heard of Hylics before, making this your first exposure to the series' wondrously strange aest??hetic. Take a seat, clear the gunk? out of your eyes, and behold.

Hylics 2 has t?he same off-kilter vibe, but its art, animation, and especially the world look more refined. I'll also never stop being amazed by all of those extravagant hand movements during battles.

If any of this speaks to you, follow along on Lindroth's blog. You'll find treasures like this:

The post Hylics 2 is a total fever dream and I love it appeared first on Destructoid.

'A Hard Man is Good to Climb'

I'm still cracking up at the full name for Stegersaurus Software's Mount Your Friends 3D: A Hard Man is Good to Climb. That wordplay is on point! The game itself is about what you would expect from a sequel. It's silly, beefy, super dangly, and still? about climbing dudes, except now everything's in 3D.

Maybe don't watch the trailer in front of others.

This is slated for a Q1 2018 release on Steam with support for local and online multipla?yer.

Mount Your Friends 3D: A Hard Man i??s Good to Climb [Steam]

The post Mount Your Friends 3D looks suitably ridiculous appeared first on Destructoid.