Nintendo Direct 1/14/15 January 14, 2015

The Nintendo Direct is a video series produced by Nintendo where fans can get a first look at some of the upcoming games for the 3DS and Wii U. Today’s Nintendo Direct is expected to show new content from the upcoming Majora’s Mask 3D remake, Xenoblade Chronicles X, and might even reveal an updated Nintendo handheld!

So without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Iwata.

Playstation Now Subscription Service Active on Playstation 4 January 14, 2015

Those turned off by the high rental prices of the game’s offered through the Playstation Now service can rejoice. Sony is now offering a paid monthly subscription plan (similar to services like Netflix) for the Playstation Now service to PS4 owners. One monthly fee will empower players access to a hundred Playstation games from across multiple generations, without the need to download any games to your PS4 Hard Drive. That’s because Playstation Now games are streamed to your console directly from Sony’s servers online just as you might stream an online video.

The service costs $19.99 US for one month, which was probably the absolute highest price I said I was willing to pay for the service back when the software was first demoed last year. Those looking for a bit of a discount can find it if they sign up for three months of service at a cost of $44.99 US, they would pay a price of just short of $15 a month. I’m all for a discount but if you ask me I think $14.99 should have been the persistent monthly price.

Right now this subscription option is only offered to PS4 players, but it is expected to be offered to Playstation Vita, PS3, tablet and Smart TV owners soon. You will have to have a persistent Internet connection to use Playstation Now.

Grim Fandango Remastered Now Taking Preorders January 13, 2015

It looks like January 2015 is going to be the month of unique digital releases on the PC and consoles. Fans of old school LucasArts adventure titles are probably salivating right now as Grim Fandango Remastered is going to get released later this month as a digital download.

Today, I’m happy to report that the game is now being offered for preorder on the PC, Mac, Linux, PS4 and Playstation Vita platforms. Users interested in buying it for their computer or laptop can preorder it right now on Good Ol Games. If you prefer to play it on your Playstation 4 or Vita, Sony platform owners should be able to find it up for preorder right now on the Playstation Store. The price is $14.99 US. Sony says that PS4 owners who preorder will be entitled to an exclusive dynamic theme for their console.

Today also saw the release of the third part in The Making of Grim Fandango Remastered documentary series. Produced by 2 Player Productions, the series has not only covered the development of the game but the history behind why this game has been such a cult classic. Check it out below.

Grim Fandango Remastered is coming January 27, 2015 to the PC, Mac OS X, Linux, PS4 and Playstation Vita.

Farewell, FamiKamen Rider Teaser Trailer January 11, 2015

A year ago, the world lost a great cultural guide, reviewer, and friend when Justin Carmichel, known to the Internet as JewWario, died.

Justin was the host of the webseries “You Can Play This”, a review series which mainly focused on great games that are only available overseas. He also helped English speaking gamers by providing information on how these games were played, or how you can play the games on your own systems.

One of my favorite videos that Justin produced was his fourth anniversary video, where he was bequeathed the power of the FamiKamen Rider by the creator of Super Mario, complete with an epic transformation effect. The Rider was a Nintendo-ized superhero heavily inspired by the hugely popular Kamen Rider franchise. Justin planned to create a FamiKamen Rider series, but that series never saw a release.

Now, one of his friends, Kaylyn Saucedo, better known to the Internet as Marzgurl, is planning to bring the FamiKamen Rider back. The project is called Farewell, FamiKamen Rider.

After a massive fight in Canada, the FamiKamen Rider has gone missing in action, leaving his transformation belt behind and his cartridge vanished. In the aftermath of the battle, a new enemy appears, seeking out the power of the FamiKamen Rider for himself.

For three years, MarzGurl has kept the transformation belt safe from enemy hands. Her search for the missing cartridge proves futile, until Chris, a rare video game collector, stumbles upon the cartridge by chance. Not knowing what he has found, Chris’s curiosity makes him a target for this new evil. As he learns about the history of the FamiKamen Rider, with the additional support of an old friend and a new hero, it is up to MarzGurl and Chris to make the journey to find answers, confront their own fears, and stop this new threat before it is too late.

You can keep up with all the latest information about the project here.

The first trailer was released a few days ago. Here it is, I think it does a great job setting the stage for what has happened to the world without the Rider.

Here is the second trailer.

The full video will be shown at Magfest on January 23rd. Hopefully it will see a release online shortly afterwards because I can’t wait to see this. JewWario would be proud.

Life is Strange Design Documentary January 10, 2015

Life is Strange is a five part episodic game being made by DONTNOD, the same studio responsible for the game Remember Me. Whereas Remember Me was a third person action game which put you in a futuristic Paris and allowed you to manipulate the minds of your enemies for your benefit, Life is Strange looks like a complete 180 from that. This modern day adventure game takes place in the real world and offers a nostalgic take on what growing up is like.

Still, after I took a look at this documentary I still felt like all the charm and polish I remembered from their last game is still here. Take a look.

Life is Strange is coming January 30th, 2015 to the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox One and Xbox 360.

Twitch.TV Announces Friday Movie Night January 8, 2015

Movie buffs and gamers alike have a reason to celebrate. Game streaming site Twitch.TV has just announced they will be streaming game related films and documentaries every Friday night until February 20th.

Here’s the full schedule of films they’ll be streaming.

January 9: Stream Dream and Winter Releases Trailer

January 16: Pixel Poetry – A games-as-art documentary

January 23: (no broadcast)

January 30: Angry Video Game Nerd – The movie adaptation of the popular comic web series

February 6: Gaming in Color – LGBTQ gamer documentary

February 13: Super Game Jam: The Movie – Game development becomes entertainment

February 20: To be announced

I think this is a great way to offer gaming fans a chance to watch this content. I’m a huge fan of documentaries and since G4 was shut down, video game related content in any form is really not broadcast on TV. Twitch may end up offering a better, more interesting schedule of content than anything that my digital cable package will offer for the next month.

The movies will stream on the Official Twitch Channel starting at 2:15PM PST this Friday.

PlayStation Now Subscription Service Announced January 5, 2015

It looks like Sony decided to take my advice and is launching the PlayStation Now game streaming software as a subscription service.

If you ask me this is a brilliant decision as it will allow players a much more flexible price point then what they were initially offering, with the option to discontinue if the service is ever shut down.

They plan to launch with over 100 playable games including Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, God of War: Ascension, Bioshock: Infinite, and Batman: Arkham City.

The service launches first on PS4 January 13th. You will need an Internet connection to play.

PlayStation Network Announces Compensation for Christmas Downtime January 1, 2015

Online services for the PlayStation Network were down for most of the Christmas break, preventing paying customers from using online services on their consoles. Today, Sony has announced how the users that were affected by that downtime will be compensated.

All active PlayStation Plus users will be comped an extra five days of playtime automatically on their accounts. Also they announced that they will be offering a 10% discount on the PlayStation Store pretty soon, and more details on that will be posted soon. If you want to read the full details you can go here.

If you ask me, this is nothing in comparison to what Microsoft has offered Xbox One owners suffering from issues with Halo: The Master Chief Collection’s multiplayer.

Pokemon Pinball Ruby and Sapphire Released on Wii U January 1, 2015

Happy New Year, gamers! I hope you are all enjoying the day however you choose to spend it.

Nintendo has decided to spend the day updating their catalog of downloadable titles on the Nintendo Wii U’s eShop. Today, they’ve rereleased the fan favorite Game Boy Advance title Pokémon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire to the Wii U Virtual Console, and you can buy it right now.

This game is loved by both pinball fans and Pokémon trainers alike. It was considered by fans to be an improvement over the original Pokémon Pinball title, a game which sadly, hasn’t hit the 3DS Virtual Console yet.

Yes, it can be played exclusively on the Wii U controller. Take a look for yourselves.

Pokémon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire is out now on the Wii U eShop.

Halo 5: Guardians Beta Preloading Has Started December 28, 2014

Owners of Halo: The Master Chief Collection on the Xbox One itching to play Halo 5: Guardians early can start putting their consoles to work right now as 343 Industries has started allowing players to preload the Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer beta a day before the beta is scheduled to go live.

If you own a copy of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, you can start preloading the Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer beta from the game’s Extras menu. You’ll notice the option for Halo 5 MP is no longer inactive. By selecting it, the Halo Channel app will activate and play an all new cutscene made specifically for Halo 2: Anniversary featuring Spartan Locke and The Arbiter. Once it finishes, you will be automatically redirected to the Xbox Store, where you can download the Beta client completely free of charge. If you really liked the cutscene between Locke and Arbiter and want to watch it again do not worry, the video is located in the Halo 2 Cutscenes viewer on the Halo Channel, and owners of The Master Chief Collection can rewatch the scene as much as they like from that menu.

You must have the most recent Content Update for your game installed to download the Halo 5 Multiplayer Client, but if you already have it installed you will not need to install any new system update just to download the beta. The Halo 5 beta client clocks in at just over 10GB. Current Beta players who got access to the multiplayer test early will find themselves downloading an 8GB Content Update starting today to bring their version of the beta in line with the version that Halo: The Master Chief Collection players are getting.

Just remember this is only a preload and even after it finishes downloading it will not be playable until the beta goes live tomorrow. I’ll try to keep you guys posted when it goes fully online, and will try to provide game footage for New Year’s Eve.

UPDATE: Beta is live! Go play!

The Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer beta is scheduled to run between December 29th and January 19th.

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