In the action game Toukiden: The Age Of Demons, Vita owners got to track and kill fantastic creatures. Now a new version of that game, Toukiden Kiwami, is slated to bring the game’s beast stalking action to the PlayStation 4 and Vita on March 31st. But in talking to Toukiden Kiwami Producer Takashi Morinaka, it’s clear that this edition is both new and improved…and that you shouldn’t mention that other monster hunting game when you talk to him.
In 1997, writer and motivational speaker Richard Carlson released his now wildly popular self-help book Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff…And It’s All Small Stuff. But I really wish the good people at Arrowhead Game Studios had never read that book because it’s actually the small stuff that ruins their new game, the arcade-style, top-down, sci-fi shooter Helldivers (PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Vita).
It’s been three long years since Zen Studios last onade an original table for Pinball FX2 (Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC), Zen Pinball 2 (PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, WiiU, Mac), or Zen Pinball games (iOS, Android, Amazon Fire). But after playing the new “Wild West Rampage” table — one of two in the just-released “Iron & Steel” pack — it’s clear they haven’t lost their touch.
While 2014 wasn’t a great year for video games — and no, I’m not just talking about that #gamergate crap — there were a bunch that I had a lot of fun playing.
Here now, in no particular order, are the best games I played in 2014.
You’d think after thirty years that there’d be nothing new to do with Tetris. Which is why you’re not a game developer. In honor of the game’s thirtieth anniversary, Ubisoft have released Tetris Ultimate on the 3DS, with versions coming next year for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation Vita, and PC. Though in talking to the game’s producer, Adrian Price, while Tetris may have hit the big 3-0, it’s still young, it’s still young.
Over the years, some of Spider-Man’s adversaries have been accused of plagiarism by comic book fans who think, for instance, that Sandman is a bit too much like Batman’s bad guy Clayface or that The Green Goblin is a rip-off of The Joker. But one (of many) exceptions to this is Venom, since Batman never fought an alien symbiote who used to be his suit. Which makes it fitting that the new Venom pinball table — which Zen Studios have released for Pinball FX2 (Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC), Zen Pinball 2 (PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, WiiU, Mac), and Zen Pinball (iOS, Android, Amazon Fire) — is also pretty unique.
In 1999, when Sega built their South Park pinball table, it ended up being the last pinball table they would ever make. Let’s just hope that’s also not the fate of Zen Studios, who are bringing South Park Pinball — a two-fer with the tables South Park’s Super-Sweet Pinball and South Park: Butter’s Very Own Pinball Game — to Pinball FX2 for the Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PCs via Steam; Zen Pinball 2 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, WiiU, and Mac; and Zen Pinball for iOS, Android, and Amazon Fire.
With The Pinball Arcade, FarSight Studios have brought classic pinball tables from Williams, Bally, and Stern to the PlayStation 4, 3, and Vita, iOS and Android devices, PCs, and the even the Kindle Fire and Ouya. But how exactly do they recreate those classic pinball machines so exactly, and what does the future hold for this series (and does that include bringing this series to the Xbox One)? I spoke to art director Jason Juneau (who’s been at the company for six year, starting as an animator) and Lead Designer Bobby King (another six year vet who’s also the VP of Product Development), to find out.
A couple days ago I wrote a piece with the self-explanatory title “5 Pinball Tables I’d Like To See For Pinball FX 2 & Zen Pinball 2 (But Probably Never Will).”
Now, in the interest of fairness, I present this piece about the five tables I’d like to see for FarSight Studios’ Pinball Arcade, which is available for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and Vita.
Except that since FarSight don’t make original tables for Pinball Arcade, but instead recreate real ones that were originally built by Bally, Williams, Stern, and other real pinball machine manufacturers, I decided to put a slightly different spin on things.
Since it would be easy for FarSight to get the rights to one of the original tables from Bally and their brethren, I kept my list to pinball tables that weren’t wholly original, but were instead based on movies, TV shows, and rock bands.