The first time I played Mount Wario, I thought, "Holy shit, that was a really good Mario Kart track."
Months later, I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that action studio extraordinaire Platinum Games is behind an Activision-published videogame adaptation of The Legend of Korra . Potential -- real potential -- for a licensed title. Here's hoping it's not too good to be true.
We'll find out when The Legend of Korra hits PC, PS3, and PS4 on October 21, and Xbox 360 and Xbox One a day later. It'll be $14.99 via digital distribution on those platforms.
As someone unfamiliar with the source material, Platinum might have just given me an easy way in.
The Legend of Korra: Game Release Date and New Mode, Plus What to Expect in Book 4 [IGN]
The next entry in the long-running Age of Empire series is Castle Siege, a touch-based game built for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 by Smoking Gun Interactive.
Players will gather resources and build up civilizations such as the Britons and Teutons and then go on the attack, swiping their finger to send troops into battle to bring down other empires.
If you'd rather skip the trailer, this quote from the announcement should tell you whether or not this "fast-paced experience" is right for you: "Castle Siege is built for you to enjoy the expansiveness of an Age of Empires game with the speed and simplicity of touch-based gaming."
Introducing Age of Empires: Castle Siege [Age of Empires]
Ken Worrall plays Diablo, World of Warcraft and Starcraft on Twitch under the name NoHandsKen. It means a whole lot to him, because as a result of an accident 20 years ago, Ken has Tetraplegia.
While finishing up work on the roguelike puzzler Road Not Taken this year, Spry Fox also began prototyping its next project, an action title called Free-Range Dragons. With a name like that, it's already off to a good start.
This teaser trailer is sufficiently teaser-y, but a description by the studio offers more insight: "Free-Range Dragons is all about the joy of movement. We've spent a ton of time experimenting with and refining the mechanics of flight in this game, as well as the mechanics of chasing and being chased by wild dragons. Your dragon can loft itself into the air slowly, or use the terrain to send itself rocketing. You have a flaming dash maneuver that can be used as both an attack and a tool for altering your trajectory. We're still experimenting with a variety of additional attacks and powerups, like fireballs, flame breath, lassoing, and more."
As with many of the independent games we've covered lately, Free-Range Dragons will be playable at PAX Prime this weekend -- head to booth #135 to try it out.
Unveiling Free-Range Dragons! [Spry Fox]
Screencheat is one of the more conceptually interesting shooters I've seen in quite some time. This is a multiplayer game in which you're not only encouraged to look at your opponents' screens but are essentially required to do so since, well, everyone is invisible. Novel idea.
From these trailers, Screencheat is somewhat disorienting but I'm willing to bet that over time, the four simultaneous screens become far less overwhelming. Folks attending PAX Prime later this week can find out for themselves -- the game will be playable at the Indie Mega Booth.
Otherwise, this is in beta with a full release set for October 2014 on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
