March 30 – April 5

Section: 

Spring is in the air, and so is another inch of snow for those of us on the east coast of the United States. We don’t sweat it, though. It’s just that whole lion/lamb thing you read about.

If this week’s release list had happened a mere month ago, you’d be reading about [em]Project: CARS[/em] right now, followed by typing in a comment to the effect of how [em]Axiom Verge[/em] was robbed, but this is the New Week Crew you’re dealing with! We live to bounce your expectations around a bit, but we’re not heartless: You’ll still get to say [em]Axiom Verge was robbed.[/em]

First, though, let’s play a little Truth Or Dare. I choose truth, because any dare I take that’s videogame-related is bound to disappoint.

My dirtiest nerd-secret is that I don't like Star Wars. I find the storytelling to be incoherent after the original 1977 release and the technology appears to be following some kind of backwards Moore's law where everything gets crappier every year. Also, the existence of midichlorians means the rebels are just fighting to replace a divine-blood monarchy with a divine-blood oligarchy, and at that point it just becomes about what color the people blowing up planet-sized objects full of people are wearing.

My second dirtiest secret is that I like Star Wars games, because who wouldn't love to be a space-wizard?

Son of Nor, then, gets my Game of the Week nod. It offers all of the fun of being a Jedi without any of the messy philosophical questions like "Ok, Yoda. Up, your mind make. Is fear a bad thing or a good thing?"

What else we got, crew?

Felix Threepaper:

Spiritual successors are like when your favourite sports player’s kid enters the sport. Can they escape the shadow of the legend?

Mostly they don’t, and you mutter about reflected glory’s faded lustre. Sometimes they do and you marvel how the game that once produced Titans now spawns Olympians. Either way, you feel old.

Last week, Pillars of Eternity looked fine, but Obsidian has hurt me before. Twice shy, etc. This week we have another spiritual successor: War for the Overworld. It looks fine, and Subterranean hasn’t hurt me before. Can it do for Dungeon Keeper fans what Cities:Skyline did for SimCity fans?

Hope springs eternal, and whatnot.

Captain Forever: Remix looks like FTL meets Bad Piggies. That’s a “yes, please!” in my book, but it was released last week, so I won’t even mention it.

Wordsmythe

So here's the thing: Generally, I don't buy sports games. I tend to play sports games as the team I root for in real life, and when your team is mediocre in real life, the game isn't so much "fun" as it is a contest of which experience will be more frustrating.

But this off-season, the White Sox spent a lot of money on new players, and, as far as MLB 15: The Show knows, none of them will get injured or be huge disappointments. Then again, most power rankings place the White Sox in the 15-20 range out of 30 teams, so … maybe it's best that I wait until after they're done surprising all these "experts" who don't share my "obvious bias."

See? This is why I don't buy many sports games.

PC

Dead or Alive 5 Last Round
Axiom Verge
Son of Nor
War for the Overworld
Project: CARS

PS4

Axiom Verge
MLB 15: The Show
Toukiden: Kiwami
Bastion
Project: CARS

Xbox One
Neverwinter
Project: CARS

PS3

MLB 15: The Show
Bastion

PS Vita
...Was Robbed

Axiom Verge
MLB 15: The Show
Toukiden: Kiwami
Bastion

Nintendo 3DS

Story of Seasons

Wii U

Nuthin’ 2: The nuthening

Comments

Good news! Project Cars was delayed until May.

And Axiom Verge was completely robbed.

*checks on Project Cars WiiU release date*

Apologies to Axiom Verge. I was too busy playing Metroid games to vote for the Metroidvania... >_>

Axiom Verge for me. Isn't Bastion next week for Playstation? I thought Bastion got its own week in their Spring Fever deal.

I have not even heard of the first two picks on that list. Axiom Verge was totally robbed!

Zoso1701 wrote:

*checks on Project Cars WiiU release date*

"2015"

ccesarano wrote:

Apologies to Axiom Verge. I was too busy playing Metroid games to vote for the Metroidvania... >_>

Methinks you may be only taking into consideration the look of the game. It's more than a little Metroid-inspired, knowingly so, but it also takes some elements from Contra.

http://www.usgamer.net/articles/game...

http://www.usgamer.net/articles/axio...

I'm all over this.

It's more than a little Metroid-inspired, knowingly so, but it also takes some elements from Contra.

I feel like I've already died multiple times and become frustrated, and I haven't even started playing yet.

wordsmythe wrote:
It's more than a little Metroid-inspired, knowingly so, but it also takes some elements from Contra.

I feel like I've already died multiple times and become frustrated, and I haven't even started playing yet.

If I drank coffee, you'd owe me a new keyboard.

I wasn't talking to you old farts, I was talking to Chris who still manages to enjoy breaking controllers.

Steam is confusing... I go to check out Son of Nor and it says it was released in July last year... but oh wait, early access.

Whatever. It's only $20, looks kind of interesting. Will check more reviews.

Also is Axiom Verge actually coming to PC this week? Everything I see says PS4 first, PC later.

I'm shocked it's still planned on coming out on PC. I had thought Sony had gobbled it up completely, but I'm glad they haven't.

Ah, forgot about the Contra influence. I'll probably grab it this weekend after I get paid, but right now all games that aren't Metroid are on hiatus for me.

Releasing today for the PS3/Vita/PSP is the PSOne Classic Shadow Tower. For those of you playing along at home, you may remember this getting mentioned in a previous Week Ahead thread as one of From Software's predecessor's to the Souls series.

Also releasing last week for the Wii U was the well-reviewed Dot Arcade, an indie game that evokes retro arcade games. There were also a couple other indie games and virtual console games for it and the 3DS. Since Nintendo doesn't usually release their eShop lineup until Thursday, I'll try to keep an eye out for it and maybe we can update that "Nothin' 2: The Nothin'ing" to be a little more accurate.

Since Nintendo doesn't usually release their eShop lineup until Thursday, I'll try to keep an eye out for it

That'd be much appreciated.

Back when games writing was this concentrated, monolithic, print-based thing, a publication could just sit back and collect release info as it was mailed to them. These days, we need to go out and scrounge for it. It's remarkable how bad some publishers are at getting that info readily and reliably disseminated. I've wondered if someone in some marketing department came up with the idea that release info works best when conveyed via the Cpt. Brannigan surprise strategy.

For this week:

Wii U

  • Super Mario 64
  • Yoshi's Island DS
  • Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures
  • psyscrolr
  • Underground
  • Mon Premier Karaoké
  • Bubble Gum Popper

3DS

  • BOXBOY!
  • Excave II: Wizard of the Underworld
  • Story of Seasons

It's hard to tell for next week, but at the very least the 3DS is getting Pokémon Rumble World. I'll see if I can find out more. Nintendo's a little annoying about revealing digital game release dates before Thursdays.

Much appreciated!

If you find info about next week's stuff in the next couple days, I'll make sure it gets into next week's TWA list.

My dirtiest nerd-secret is that I don't like Star Wars. I find the storytelling to be incoherent after the original 1977 release and the technology appears to be following some kind of backwards Moore's law where everything gets crappier every year. Also, the existence of midichlorians means the rebels are just fighting to replace a divine-blood monarchy with a divine-blood oligarchy, and at that point it just becomes about what color the people blowing up planet-sized objects full of people are wearing.

Hey, me too. Except it's no secret. Every time someone mentions Star Wars, including the original, as some kind of example of objective quality I need to make a Willpower roll to keep me from spouting off about its many, many flaws.

I usually botch the roll.

My second dirtiest secret is that I like Star Wars games, because who wouldn't love to be a space-wizard?

Me too here as well. Despite the flaws in the movies it is an interesting universe to inhabit. The Star Wars universe deserves better exemplars than the movies.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

It's hard to tell for next week, but at the very least the 3DS is getting Pokémon Rumble World.

This is the EXACT series I expect them to bring to mobile and a F2P version on the 3DS seems like a prelude to that.

MrDeVil909 wrote:
My dirtiest nerd-secret is that I don't like Star Wars. I find the storytelling to be incoherent after the original 1977 release and the technology appears to be following some kind of backwards Moore's law where everything gets crappier every year. Also, the existence of midichlorians means the rebels are just fighting to replace a divine-blood monarchy with a divine-blood oligarchy, and at that point it just becomes about what color the people blowing up planet-sized objects full of people are wearing.

Hey, me too. Except it's no secret. Every time someone mentions Star Wars, including the original, as some kind of example of objective quality I need to make a Willpower roll to keep me from spouting off about its many, many flaws.

I usually botch the roll.

My second dirtiest secret is that I like Star Wars games, because who wouldn't love to be a space-wizard?

Me too here as well. Despite the flaws in the movies it is an interesting universe to inhabit. The Star Wars universe deserves better exemplars than the movies.

I think they call those exemplars "Mass Effect."

Couldn't tell you first hand, though. Never played it. It's just something I hear a lot.

Wow, you guys failed to list Star Ruler 2, Out There: Omega Edition and VoidExpanse. Why the space game hate up in here, huh?

I think they just hate you, Veloxi.

It's personal.

garion333 wrote:

I think they just hate you, Veloxi.

It's personal.

Typical.

garion333 wrote:

I think they just hate you, Veloxi.

It's personal.

Yeah, let's go with that. It's a much simpler explanation than this:

wordsmythe wrote:

Back when games writing was this concentrated, monolithic, print-based thing, a publication could just sit back and collect release info as it was mailed to them. These days, we need to go out and scrounge for it. It's remarkable how bad some publishers are at getting that info readily and reliably disseminated. I've wondered if someone in some marketing department came up with the idea that release info works best when conveyed via the Cpt. Brannigan surprise strategy.

Indeed. We are not malicious. We are incompetent.

(By the way, I saw Elite Dangerous hit steam this morning and started hyperventilating, but I don't have enough in the budget to get it right now. Space games are not my enemy.)

Luke isn't even a Jedi until the third movie, and the rebellion doesn't give a f*ck about neither midichlorians nor Jedi.
And the Jedi were never an oligarchy, not even close.
But I suppose this can simply be seen as relating to one's supposition that the story-telling is incoherent.
Or that words or hard or something, I can't be sure.

RolandofGilead wrote:

Luke isn't even a Jedi until the third movie, and the rebellion doesn't give a f*ck about neither midichlorians nor Jedi.
And the Jedi were never an oligarchy, not even close.
But I suppose this can simply be seen as relating to one's supposition that the story-telling is incoherent.
Or that words or hard or something, I can't be sure.

Rebels were the oligarchy, not the jedi. The idea that Leia, Luke replaced the emperor and Vader.

Those pesky words.

I love that we're having this conversation on the front page. This place is the best.

I can say I don't recall the Rebel Alliance specifically saying they wanted to restore democracy, but still not sure where the replacement part comes in.

It probably has something to do with generalizing things. Like, he didn't like Star Wars so he didn't spend tons of time trying to parse out every unspoken detail and generalized his impression of what was happening in the movies.

People are allowed to not like Star Wars, eh?