Captain Toad Treasure Tracker Unboxing December 10, 2014

Fans of Super Mario Galaxy will remember Captain Toad as the little guy with a huge backpack always getting into trouble. In Super Mario 3D World, players finally got the chance to play as Captain Toad in a completely new style of gameplay. Now, that gameplay has been made into a full retail title in the form of Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker and I’ve been looking forward to it since this year’s E3,

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is out now on the Wii U.

D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die DLC 8 Released December 10, 2014

Part of the fun of D4 is trying on all new clothing in your vast wardrobe and seeing how that clothing can affect your gameplay experience. Since D4‘s launch, the game’s developer has released regular content packs for free to add more clothing options to the game. The downside is that this clothing is typically only out for a short period of time. Today, an all new collaboration pack has been released for D4 on the Xbox Store. The eighth DLC pack features some t-shirts and hoodies based on “République”!

The République content is currently free to download off the Xbox Store, but it is unlikely it will be up for very long. If you have this game on your Xbox One’s hard drive, you should give this DLC a download.

D4 is out now exclusively for the Xbox One.

Sim City 2000 Special Edition Free Through Origin On the House December 9, 2014

In their own words, EA is giving out an early Christmas present to PC customers in the form of a free copy of the critically acclaimed classic PC title Sim City 2000.  Sim City 2000 is now completely free to download on EA’s Origin service through their On the House promotion.  Like with all games released through On the House, EA is not saying how long the game will continue to be free, so it would be my recommendation for Origin users to get it as soon as they can.

All games purchased for free through On the House will remain free and on your record for as long as you’re an Origin user.  You will need the Origin client on your PC to download and play the game, and you can obtain that client here.  The Origin client software is free to download.

iOS 8.1.2 Released December 9, 2014

A small update has been released for iDevices including the iPhone and iPad today.

The new update, iOS 8.1.2 addresses a small issue with purchased ringtones disappearing. No other fixes were listed in the update’s patch notes. Depending on your device, it weighs in at around 20 MB.

The Apple TV does not seem to require an update at this time.

Playstation Experience Virtual Reality Panel December 9, 2014

I grew up in the 90s and I strongly remember the early push for Virtual Reality hardware from that era. Sadly, the technology just wasn’t there yet, and most people stopped talking about it after the failure of Nintendo’s Virtual Boy. Twenty years later, technology has improved and many gamers are anticipating Virtual Reality projects like Oculus Rift and the upcoming Project Morpheus.

An entire panel at the Playstation Experience was devoted to Virtual Reality. Whether you’re a kid of the 90s or just really want to check out Morpheus when it comes out for the PS4, its a really interesting discussion. There are a lot of factors that go into creating a convincing virtual world, and a lot of factors other than pure graphical hardware from feedback to control have to be taken into account.

God of War Retrospective Panel December 9, 2014

The guys over at Playstation were good enough to post up the complete version of one of my favorite panels from the Playstation Experience Convention, the God of War Retrospective panel.

Portions of the panel were broadcast during the event’s official Twitch.TV stream, but sadly the final few minutes were never broadcast. Now, here is the chance to catch the entire panel. Pay close attention, they might mention something they weren’t supposed to.

Rest in Peace, Ralph Baher December 7, 2014

It is my unfortunate duty to inform you that the father of video games has died at the age of 92.

Rest in Peace, Sir.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection Content Update 5 Released December 7, 2014

Here we are again. Another day, another content update for Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

The new update mostly addresses matchmaking issues, as well as some issues obtaining certain achievements. You can read the complete patch log here.

The demand for this update is pretty high tonight. Since you must install patches to play Xbox One games online, the patch is being downloaded like crazy by all of the players tonight and that might give you error messages if you try to install it. Just keep at it, eventually the Xbox Live service will allow you to download it. If you previously had the most recent content update installed, this new one clocks in at just over a GB.

I have a theory that the current issues with this game go deeper than just problems with the game itself, and it could be based on fundamental issues with the Xbox Live servers. On the day of the game’s launch I earned six achievements in the game, none of which were awarded to me when I earned them. While eventually some of the achievements would gradually be awarded to me in the days that passed, I still have not been awarded at least one of those achievements, and there have been plenty more achievements that my profile simply hasn’t recorded, like terminals in Halo 3 or Skulls in Halo 2 Anniversary. Perhaps the Collection was far to grand an ambition for Microsoft to deliver with any sense of polish. Time will tell if they will be able to make players happy with the game, but so far there are plenty of players, especially multiplayer users, who are not happy.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is out now exclusively on Xbox One.

Three EA Titles Free on Three Playstation Platforms December 6, 2014

Peter Moore took the stage at the PlayStation Experience Keynote today, but sadly it wasn’t to show any new tattoos. However, he did announce that EA had made a special deal with Sony for the duration of the PlayStation Experience event to give three games out for free to download.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted on PlayStation Vita, Mirror’s Edge on PlayStation 3, and Plants versus Zombies Garden Warfare on PlayStation 4 are now available for free digital download on your perspective platform’s PlayStation Store right now.

The games are only free on the specific platforms I listed above, so make sure that when you order them, you do so on the proper platform.  All three titles have been free since 12PM PST today, and according to Moore, they will continue to be free to purchase and download until 6PM PST tomorrow when the event concludes.  If you have a Playstation 3, Playstation 4 or Playstation Vita, you have no reason not to download these titles.  Mirror’s Edge alone is probably one of the best games of the last generation, and if you haven’t checked it out yet, you really should.