Bioshock: Infinite – Burial at Sea Episode 2 Release Date February 5, 2014
Posted by Maniac in Game News.add a comment
The developers over at Irrational Games have announced today that the second and final episode of the Burial at Sea downloadable expansion for Bioshock: Infinite will be launching on March 25th. If that is too much of a wait for you, take a look at this brand new preview for the game. From the looks of it, we’ll be taking control of a new playable character.
Bioshock: Infinite is out now on the Xbox 360, PC and Playstation 3. Season Pass holders will be able to download Episode 2 at no extra charge.
LocoCycle Price Dropped February 4, 2014
Posted by Maniac in Game News.add a comment
Major Nelson is reporting that LocoCycle, a downloadable launch title for the Xbox One developed by Twisted Pixel Games, has been dropped in price by 40-50% depending on what region you live in. I loved the previous games made by Twisted Pixel, and because of that LocoCycle was the first game that I downloaded after setting up my Xbox One, and was the first Xbox One title I completed. If you were on the fence about giving it a look, now would be a great time to check it out. You can watch our review of it below.
And here’s our Let’s Play of the game’s opening.
LocoCycle is out now exclusive to Xbox One. It is coming to the Xbox 360 and PC.
Inside the Square – Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Director’s Cut February 4, 2014
Posted by Maniac in Game News.add a comment
The Director’s Cut of the Behind the Scenes documentary series for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, dubbed Inside the Square, has been released today. It combines all three parts of the Inside the Square web series into one thirty minute video. If you had any questions about the development process for the third installment in the Final Fantasy XIII series, take a look at this.
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is coming February 11th, 2014 to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.
Things To Do While Waiting for Bravely Default February 3, 2014
Posted by Maniac in Editorials.add a comment
If you’re planning to pick up Bravely Default on the 3DS when it gets released later on this week I recommend downloading the game’s demo off the Nintendo eShop before giving the full version a try. It covers a portion of the game that’s not in the full version and depending on how far you progress in the demo, you can unlock items that will carry over to the full game.
If you want access to some of the best items and equipment the demo offers, you’re going to need to check out the demo’s SmartPhone inspired mini game, and restore the town of Norande. It can be accessed by tapping on the arrow on the left side of the lower 3DS screen, and clicking on the icon that looks a little bit like a house from the menu that just opened up. In the Norende minigame, you assign workers to complete various tasks that need to be done, like clearning rocks which will allow you to work on new areas or building and upgrading shops, which will allow you to buy the demo’s best items from save points. By completing this minigame, not only will this allow you to purchase the best items and equipment from any of the game’s save points, it will unlock yet another set of free items you can bring with you to the full version of the game. Trust me, you’re going to want the game’s most powerful equipment if you want any chance of defeating the demo’s final bosses.
The downside is restoring the town of Norende can take a lot of time to accomplish, especially if you’re working by yourself. In fact I’ve heard figures taken that could amount to over 60 hours of real-time if you are just doing it by yourself with help from no extra workers, but with just four workers helping me out I was able to restore the town in less than a day. While this time issue isn’t much of a problem for SmartPhone games that make use of a similar system, the 3DS has several limitations that can make waiting for these tasks to finish more of a chore than they should be. You cannot quit the game or turn off the 3DS while the town is being restored, as either of those actions will cause the timers to stop. You can however play the game or put your system in sleep mode while the game is running and the timers will continue to run in the background.
So if you are trying to restore the town, you’re going to want to do something else while the 3DS is asleep working its magic. Here are a few things you can do while waiting for Norende to be restored.
- Play the Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII demo or watch our Lets Play of it. The demo can be downloaded right now on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.
- Read all of 8-Bit Theater. If you ever wondered what the story of the original Final Fantasy game would be like if all the characters were idiots (and the Princess was secretly evil) you should give the webcomic a read. While the series is finished, there are well over a thousand pages to read.
- Read The Grand List of Role Playing Game Clichés.
- Check out MistareFusion’s Final Fantasy Memories series.
- Watch The Spoony One’s hilarious Final Fantasy game reviews. As of this writing, Spoony has reviewed Final Fantasy VIII, X, X-2, and XIII. He goes really in depth about a lot of these games flaws, but they didn’t make me enjoy the games any less. In fact, his reviews made me seek out the games to give them a try myself and I haven’t regretted it. Spoony plans to review Final Fantasy XIII-2 some time down the road.
- Check out GameTrailers.com’s Final Fantasy Retrospective.
- Check out my RPG Memories video.
Don’t forget, you can always make these tasks take less time by simply assigning more workers to the same task, and you can get more workers by coming into close proximity with other 3DS players who are also playing the demo. If you don’t come across 3DS players during the course of your normal day, you can always check out a Nintendo zone hotspot. Anyone who uses the hotspot who has also played the demo will relay the demo’s StreetPass information along with their Miis. Obtaining just three other players’ StreetPass data through this process saved me 40 hours. The final version of the game will allow you to carry over a maximum of 20 workers from the demo that you’ve acquired through StreetPass.
Bravely Default is coming February 6th, 2014 exclusive to the Nintendo 3DS.
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition Free on 3DS January 31, 2014
Posted by Maniac in Game News.add a comment
I could not be happier with Nintendo right now. Just as soon as I completed all the actions in the Bravely Default demo, I checked the Nintendo eShop and found Nintendo had once again taken my advice. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition is back on the 3DS’s eShop and you can download it for free right now up until February 2nd, 2014.
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition is a special promotional port of The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, originally released bundled with the game The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for the Game Boy Advance. It is redesigned to take full advantage of the features of the 3DS, including wireless multiplayer. The game was originally created as a special promotion for The Legend of Zelda’s Anniversary, and was released for free only for a short time. As this period of release took place before the release of the 3DS XL, I was not lucky enough to be able to download this game, and seeing the game’s listing in the official Hyrule Historia only served to put salt on that wound. Now that it’s back out, I couldn’t hit the download button faster.
As far as I know, Nintendo has not widely reported on this. Their website makes a small mention of the event, but I cannot recall a single message on their Twitter Feed or YouTube Channel. Regardless, if you have a 3DS or plan to pick one up before the 2nd of February, you have no reason not to give this game a download. Nintendo said it may be a very long time before they bring it back.
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition is free right now exclusively to the Nintendo 3DS.
Mind of Maniac – Acts of Gord January 30, 2014
Posted by Maniac in Mind of Maniac, Site Videos.add a comment
Maniac reminisces about one of his favorite sites on the web, Acts of Gord. The site is about the Gord, a game store owner from Canada, and the idiots who he would have to deal with on a daily basis. It’s one of the few websites I can admit coming across and wanting to read every piece of work published on it.
If you want to give the website a look or put in an order for a book of your own, you can check it out here. Just be aware there are probably only a few copies left. If you want to check out the webcomic based on the series, you can check it out here.
Bravely Default Gameplay Trailer January 30, 2014
Posted by Maniac in Game News.add a comment
Yesterday, Nintendo released the latest gameplay trailer for Square Enix’s newest RPG franchise, Bravely Default. Inspired heavily by the gameplay of earlier Final Fantasy games, Bravely Default takes full advantage of the 3DS’s features (including StreetPass), while still offering a ton of options you will recognize from earlier Final Fantasy games, like a great jobs system. I’ve put several hours into the Bravely Default demo, and I hope to be lucky enough to complete it and unlock all of the demo’s extra bonuses before the full version of the game gets released, because the demo’s unlocked bonuses carry over into the main game. So check out this latest gameplay trailer. If anything, it should be something fun to watch while you wait for Norende to finish rebuilding.
Bravely Default is coming February 7th, 2014 exclusive to the Nintendo 3DS. You can download the demo right now off the Nintendo eShop.
Final Fantasy XIII RETRO-spective January 30, 2014
Posted by Maniac in Game News.add a comment
The third entry in the Final Fantasy XIII series, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, is coming in just a few weeks. To help prepare anyone interested in picking it up who may not have played any of the previous Final Fantasy XIII games, Square Enix has produced a FANTASTIC retrospective on the series story, with a little twist. Instead of cutting together gameplay footage from the game’s CGI cutscenes, this new video is done very much in the style of the classic 16-bit RPGs like Final Fantasy VI (Final Fantasy III is the US SNES version’s name) and Chrono Trigger. This could have been done because that era is considered by many to be the finest era in the history of Console RPGs. Well, check out the video below to see for yourself. It really puts the RETRO in retrospective.
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is coming February 11th, 2014 to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. A Collector’s Edition for the game is for sale exclusively through the Square Enix Online Store. Anyone who preorders any version of the game from a participating retailer will get an exclusive Lightning costume based on Cloud’s outfit and Buster Sword from Final Fantasy VII.
Rest in Peace, JewWario January 28, 2014
Posted by Maniac in Uncategorized.add a comment
Saturday night I received incredibly shocking and distressing news that Justin Carmical, better known to the rest of the internet as JewWario, had died. A former member of That Guy With the Glasses, Justin had one hell of a career as a video game journalist. He was the host of You Can Play This, an import game review series, participated in three anniversary features for TGWTG (Kickassia, Suburban Knights, and To Boldly Flee), and he was also contributing to William “Suede” Dufrense’s review series on the Pokémon feature films.
I know this is not late breaking news, as many other organizations and people have reported on this since the internet heard the news some time around Saturday. Having never met the man myself, I can only speculate on how to feel, but after pondering it for several days now I don’t know if I’m any closer to being able to express my feelings about this. Needless to say, I truly respected the man’s work. I thought he provided a unique perspective on his videos, and had a style all his own.
I can think of no better way to honor the man I respect than to show some of my favorite work of his. The following was a short film he did on the third anniversary of his channel. In it, he discovers a new power he can use to fight a new evil. You can watch it part 1 here and part 2 here.
Justin was planning to create an entire webseries for his FamiKamen Rider character. Now, we will never be able to see it.
Rest in Peace good sir.
Let’s Play Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Demo January 28, 2014
Posted by Maniac in Let's Play, Site Videos.1 comment so far
Just as promised, Maniac plays through the entire Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Demo on the Xbox 360. The video is directly captured through a digital HDMI source in native 1080p and presented without commentary. From someone who has played Final Fantasy XIII, I can say that I was not as interested in playing this game until I got a chance to check out the demo for myself. I’m really happy that I did as I LOVE the new real-time combat system. Check it out.
For reasons of time, I chose not to include the most recent Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII trailer that played as soon as the demo wrapped up. If you would like to watch it, you can check it out below.
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is coming February 2014 to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.
GameXcess.net - Gaming News, Videos and Editorials! 