Vampire-themed shows are a dime a dozen, but you might have a better-than-usual reason to care about this one. Producer Adi Shankar (of Dredd and The Grey fame) has revealed that he's working on a Castlevania animated series for Netflix, with a first season due in 2017 and a second due the following year. Not only that, but you may be familiar with some of the contributors. Warren Ellis (from the Red graphic novel and numerous comic book imprints) is writing, while Adventure Time's Kevin Kolde is also involved.

Via: Glixel

Source: Adi Shankar (Facebook)

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has rounded up prolific creators for an interview series called The Game Makers: Inside Story, and does that sound cool to you? It sounds cool to me!

The 10-part series from director Jennie Kong will debut on February 15, ahead of the 20th annual D.I.C.E. Awards this month, and you'll be able to catch the 10- to 15-minute episodes right on YouTube.

Expect to see appearances from these creators:

• Will Byles (Until Dawn)
• David Cage (Detroit: Become Human, Heavy Rain)
• Jenova Chen (Journey, Flower)
• Ian Dallas (What Remains of Edith Finch, Unfinished Swan)
• Mary DeMarle (Deus Ex series)
• Neil Druckmann (The Last of Us series, Uncharted series)
• Brian Hastings (Ratchet & Clank series, Edge of Nowhere VR)
• Amy Hennig (Untitled Star Wars project, Uncharted series)
• Hideo Kojima (Death Stranding, Metal Gear Solid series)
• Matt Korba (King’s Quest series)
• Jade Raymond (Upcoming Star Wars Battlefront, Assassin’s Creed 1&2)
• Dominic Robilliard (Farpoint VR, Entwined)
• Sean Vanaman (Firewatch, The Walking Dead)
• Ru Weerasuriya (Lone Echo VR, The Order: 1886)
• Kiki Wolfkill (Halo series)

I probably should've watched this debut trailer for Party Hard 2 with an eye on the scornful new protagonist or any potential stray details that might've popped up, but I was too distracted by the vibrant lighting and colors to take notice of much else. It's a cool visual hook in motion, one that places 2D characters in a 3D setting backed up by real-time shading and physics-driven objects.

"With the original Party Hard, we released 5 public alphas which helped us generate a ton of feedback," noted publisher tinyBuild. "Expect the same approach here, with playable builds landing in your inbox as development progresses. For now, we urge everyone to sign-up for the Alpha."

The first game (catch our review here) eventually worked its way around to PC, consoles, and even mobile devices. Party Hard 2 is only confirmed for PC right now, and it'll be playable at PAX East.

Little Nightmares looks like one of those games that, once you have an interest in it, you're better off skipping trailers and news scraps. That's especially true for a longer video like this, with seven minutes of extended (but not completely unedited) footage of the creepy platform-adventure title.

When's it out? April 28, 2017. What's the deal with that short-legged, long-armed prowling monster man? I haven't the slightest clue and I'd rather not acknowledge his existence ever again, thank you.

Yesterday, I told you about the launch of the Kimochi Red Light, a crowdfunding project created exclusively for adult video games. While adult projects aren't banned from other crowdfunding sites, this one sets itself apart by giving all the money raised directly to the developers. That intrigued me. How would this platform support itself if it isn’t taking any money from the projects it hosts? To answer that question, I was put in contact with Mia Mason, communications manager at Nutaku.

“In growing the 18+ gaming market, Nutaku benefits indirectly from this," Mason explained. “Nutaku is a market leader in understanding the adult games industry and because of this we’re now creating tools and services such as Kimochi Red Light for developers to start creating. Even though Kimochi Red Light projects are not obligated to distribute on Nutaku.net, it’s our hope that they do.”

Puyo Puyo Tetris is a name that doesn't fuck around. This is a game that is Puyo Puyo and it's also Tetris, but sometimes it is both at the same time. That's cold-blooded efficiency, the kind you'd expect from something that is about the economical erasure of everything on the screen.

Three years after releasing in Japan, Puyo Puyo Tetris comes west this spring. A month after the announcement, Sega has put a date on it. Puyo Puyo Tetris will launch on April 25 in the Americas and on April 28 in Europe.

The formats for the various versions are interesting. It's launching on both PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. On PS4, only physical copies will be available; there won't be a digital release for some reason. However, the Switch gets both digital and physical releases. Physical on PS4 and digital on Switch are priced at $30. Physical on Switch is priced $10 higher at $40, but the first run comes with a pair of keychains packed in.

EVO 2017 has filled the vacant spot on its lineup. Fighting game fans voted with their wallets, and the game that brought in the most money for Make-a-Wish International was none other than our dear old friend Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, which had donations totaling $71,690. One more year!

Among the runners-up were Pokkén Tournament ($66,906), Killer Instinct ($6,116), Windjammers ($4,000; good on ya!), and Arms ($1,337). All told, fans brought in upwards of $150,000.

As a consolation prize and "a nod to Pokkén's incredible effort" for this charity drive, EVO says it "will commit $10K to support Pokkén tournaments in 2017."

I know some of you are real tired of seeing UMvC3 at EVO, and I respect your probably well-founded reasons, whatever they might be, but I'm admittedly stoked about this news. As much as I would've been fine with Pokkén or Arms coming in at number one, I'm still into watching this frenetic game.

Super Mario Run kind of came and went after a lot of hype, partially on Apple's end. But with Fire Emblem Heroes, they're keeping the good times rolling -- and I suspect they're going to reap the benefits financially from that effort.

Not only have they planned monthly story missions, but they've also cross-promoted the game in two of their existing mobile titles, hosted multiple launch events for bonus items, and put up a "choose a character" poll. That poll closed last week, but the results will be revealed tomorrow, and whoever wins will eventually arrive in the game as a guest hero.

If you participated you can grab 200 Platinum Points now by logging into My Nintendo. Although I'm not really blown away by Heroes (I kind of just went back to Fates), if it's a gateway into the core series for casual or new fans, that works for me.

Fire Emblem [Twitter]

Zelda II turned 30 years old in Japan a few weeks ago. It was a quiet anniversary, one fitting the black sheep of a prestigious family.

Just last year, writers were tripping over themselves to mark the 30th anniversary of the release of the original Zelda. I suppose that’s fair, since the origin of such a storied series deserves special recognition. But no such trumpets have been blown for its sequel. A few scattered stories, the odd mention or nod. The reserved, distant acknowledgement of a relative most would prefer to forget.

Zelda II was always the aberration of the series. The weird break from format that would always mark the title with an asterisk. The bizarre little entry that decided to walk a different path from its beloved older sibling, and would serve as a cautionary tale to all the other younger siblings, cousins, and grandchildren down its line.

It’s also (probably) my very favorite game of all time.

See that headline? Good. Read it again. Here it is in case you don't want to look up: "There's going to be a Castlevania Netflix Original series this year."

The reason for the sass in the opening paragraph is because the headline is all that we really know about this. Netflix has announced its near-future original programming and among the entries is "Castlevania Season 1, Part 1 Coming to Netflix in 2017." Anything beyond that is speculation.

But, as Gizmodo points out, at least our speculation can be rooted in plausibility. This is probably the project that Adventure Time production company Frederator Networks and producer Adi Shankar are collaborating on. Late last year, Frederator owner Fred Seibert said this on an episode of the Nick Animation podcast:

Man, Full Metal Alchemist. It's required reading for incoming anime enthusiasts, and for good reason -- it ticks all the right boxes -- especially the newer series, Brotherhood, which is a direct manga adaptation.

If you're pining for the old days (especially so, since Funimation lost the rights) you might want to check out the Game Boy Advance game Fullmetal Alchemist: Stray Rondo (Hagane no Renkinjutsushi: Meisō no Rondo), as someone just translated it. There were a decent amount of games released for the series (five from Square Enix, four from Bandai, and three from Destineer), and only two of them were distributed internationally.

Now's your chance! The cart is only $30 or so if you care to import it.

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi: Meisou no Rinbukyoku [ROMHacking.net]

Weird Nintendo is the best Nintendo. We now know there are a total 28 minigames in Nintendo's upcoming party game 1-2 Switch, according to the official Japanese website. One eagle-eyed Reddit user also spotted unlisted trailers for the bite-sized activities on the company's Japanese YouTube channel. We already knew about the simulated cow milking and sandwich eating; Nintendo revealed them weeks ago during a Switch presentation. But that was apparently just the tip of the quirky iceberg.

Via: The Verge

Source: Nintendo

Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin will be launching for PS4 on February 21. It is a PlayStation VR exclusive that takes place immediately after the events of the first game. That may sound daunting to anyone who hasn't played the first title, but fear not! Sony has a pretty nifty deal going on.

All digital pre-orders for Rhombus of Ruin will include the original game with a purchase. Psychonauts is a PS2-for-PS4 title, so you'll receive higher resolutions, Trophy support, and Remote Play, along with not having to find room for your old PS2. The price for Rhombus is listed as $19.99, but PlayStation Plus users can nab it at $17.99.

Nioh is a return to form for Team Ninja. Not only does it preserve the hardcore nature of their roots, hearkening back to their golden age era that peaked with Ninja Gaiden Black, but it also has some modern conveniences built into it.

Here's a quick rundown of what to expect from the New Game+ mode. Note that there are a few minor non-specific, non-story spoilers involved.

Most major eSports games have a fairly simple way of getting the community to help fund the competitive scene. The developer comes up with some sort of system of in-game purchases, and a portion of those proceeds go toward the prizes at the world championships. The most successful example of this has to be Dota 2's Compendiums which pushed The International 2016's prize pool to nearly $21 million.

In the summer of 2016, Psyonix added a crate and keys system to Rocket League with this exact intent. Crates contain a single, random cosmetic item. Players earn crates through gameplay, and they have to buy keys to open the crates. When people go through this process, some percentage of the transaction goes to funding the best players in the world at the Rocket League Championship Series.

Now, nearly a year into the practice, Psyonix is calling an audible on the breakdown of things. As announced on the Rocket League site, community purchases are being revamped to better benefit the community rather than a tiny group of top players.

More than $2.5 million will be invested in Rocket League's competitive play in 2017. Here's the list of changes, as outlined by Psyonix:

I don't think I've had a nightmare in the past five years or so. Occasionally I hear stories of people waking up terrified (one involved a clown that chased my friend through a city, ripped off the top of a building, and yelled "I'm in control of your dream now"), but it hasn't happened to me in a while.

I get it though, as folks like HR Giger used to have horrific dreams that led to the creation of works of art like Alien, and the same goes for Hideo Kojima -- but that's something he wants to move away from. Speaking to IGN, Kojima noted that he isn't really into making a horror game anytime soon because the process ends up scaring him.

In Kojima's own words: "I get scared very easily. Actually, this is true of Alfred Hitchcock as well as Steven Spielberg. Because they scare easily, because I scare easily, it’s actually easy for us to make something that is scary, because we understand what is scary. But while in that process, we’re constantly imagining, like, terrifying situations so it ends up giving me bad dreams. That’s the reason why I don’t want to make a horror game."

Death Stranding won't be scary -- confirmed! Well, maybe. Either way it looks like this is yet another nail in P.T.'s rancid, festering coffin. At least he got his dream team back.

Kojima on why he doesn't want to make another horror game [IGN]

E3 has traditionally been a media-only event -- at least in theory. But starting in 2017, you won't even need a WordPress account to get access to the latest and greatest in gaming. The Entertainment Software Association, which organizes the event, announced on Wednesday that it is reserving 15,000 tickets for the general public to attend the show. Each pass will cost $250 ($150 if you buy it before next Monday, February 13th) but they'll grant you access to the show floor, panel discussions and other stuff from Tuesday to Thursday of E3.

Source: Gamestop

Ever since 1-2-Switch has been announced it's been met with lots of criticism. The more we saw and the more we played, the more skeptical we have all become of this $50 party game. One thing that was not completely disclosed until today was just how many mini-games it will include.

It will feature 28 in all, and videos introducing 10 such mini-games have been released today. They are the same videos in-game that act as tutorials. The 10 games are Shaver, Baby, Sword Fight, Wizard, Liar Dice, Runway, Beach Flag, Telephone, Soda, and Joy-Con Rotation. 

It hasn't even been a month since I reviewed Resident Evil 7, a game that I thought was solidly okay (that's a joke, I'm the jerk who gave it a 10), and a big ol' chunk of DLC came out last week. It's called Banned Footage: Volume 1 and is part of the $29.99 season pass, but can also be purchased separately for $9.99. You'll get two new videotapes -- the fun framing device from the game proper that allows you to see past events -- and a new, masochistic mode called Ethan Must Die. 

Whether these additions are worth it to you or not depends on what you enjoyed about Resident Evil 7. I'd advise against reading further unless you've finished the full game.

One of the most confusing things about the Switch is how it has three different "modes." The Wii U was the same way with two specifications, one of which (tablet only, or, "off-screen play") may not have been supported. It's the same thing for the Switch, so it's important to understand how it works before you drop $300 on the thing and $50 or more on a game.

This video hits all the right notes, showcasing the TV mode (traditional console play), handheld mode (attach the two Joycon like a tablet and go, much like the Wii U GamePad), and tabletop mode (propped up with a stand with the two Joycon controllers off, for multiplayer).

The roughly three and a half minute clip is worth watching, as they also go over what the Joycon remotes can actually do, and beyond. With under a month to go for the Switch, now it's just time to wait.

In the week prior to the launch of Nioh, new releases Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 Road to Boruto and BoxBoy! Stuffed Box enter the top ten while the usual suspects Resident Evil 7 and Pokémon Sun & Moon retain the top spots. While technically new releases, Road to Boruto is an expansion of Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 and Stuffed Box is not my e-mail inbox but rather a compilation of the three BoxBoy games in one.

Those two titles join Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World, Super Mario Maker for 3DS, and Yo-kai Watch 3: Sukiyaki as games re-released in some fashion, making up half of the top ten. If you consider the 4990 version of Grand Theft Auto V, that makes a majority. 

Although it was kind of hinted at during the reveal event, Nintendo hasn't openly stated whether or not Wii U Pro controllers will work on the Switch. Well, based on a statement Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima just gave Time, it's definitely not happening.

When asked about whether or not the Switch is powerful enough to emulate the Wii U, Kimishima responded, "We can take games and bring them and make them playable on Switch. So they can be remade for Switch, yes. That said, Switch is not backward compatible with games designed for other systems, and is not currently compatible with controllers designed for other systems. Support for certain controllers may be considered for a future update. In some cases, games from past systems may be re-released for the Nintendo Switch system as either enhanced or original versions."

"Certain controllers," eh? Yeah, I can easily see that including Wiimotes and the Wii U Pro Controller for certain games or as a Virtual Console option. What controllers exactly, and when this update may even occur, is information that's probably buried in a bunker somewhere in the hopes that people will forget about it. My guess is they're playing a wait and see game in terms of how many Joycon they sell -- and if they need to flick that switch to ensure that everyone has four controllers for titles that support them, they'll do it.

19 Things Nintendo's President Told Us About Switch and More [Time via NeoGAF]

In part one of our interview series with Yoshiro Kimura, I asserted that Kimura-san is the game dev equivalent of Bob Ross. Before announcing that opinion, I should have remembered that not everyone thinks the image of a boy kissing a frog as they blast off into outer space is as wholesome as I do. While Kimura-san shares many of Bob Ross's personality traits, his art shows little of the same adherence to calming realism that made the famed TV painter such a hit.

This was especially true in the days of the PS2 and the Wii, two consoles with audiences large enough to support even the most bizarre, potentially unmarketable games at retail. Kimura-san really got to cut loose back then, with a particularly keen eye for the twilight years of adolescence, the place where childhood ends and adulthood begins. It's a painfully human place, where feelings define perception of reality, and innocence and evil can walk hand in hand with no contradiction. 

These places can be funny, scary, or just plain "inappropriate" by puritan standards, but in Kimura's hands, they never failed to provoke. Rule of Rose's cruel and unusual coven of young women, the kiss-crazy protagonist of Chu Lip, the child-monarch of Little King's Story, and of course, the laser sword-stroking antics of No More Heroes are just a feww examples, all bearing Kimura-san's signature.  

For part two of our three-part interview with Kimura-san, we talked about how he defines this era of his career, his disdain for the idea of big publishers, love, death, gratitude, regret, and a lot more. Peeling back the layers, this onion's guts are starting to show... 

For the past five days, every free moment I’ve had has been filled with quick battles in Fire Emblem Heroes. Whether I’ve been continuing in the campaign, taking on the armies of other players, or leveling up my newest characters in the training towers, my face has been glued to the tiny screen on my phone. It’s probably not that good for my eyes, but when I’m having this much fun, I don’t want to look away.

Will I still feel the same a month from now, when all the pomp of the launch period has subsided? I’ll let you know, but for now, this is the only TRPG I want to be playing.

I try to place headers into Souls stories that are as generic as possible, avoiding spoilers when I can. Sometimes it's unavoidable, but the most important thing you can do? Not watch videos.

That includes this Dark Souls III: The Ringed City clip, which showcases roughly four minutes of the upcoming DLC. In other news, Bandai Namco has explained that this will be the "conclusive ending to the Dark Souls III saga," and will arrive with "more PVP maps," on top of the Hollow Arena from the previous DLC. Improved matchmaking will also follow suit.

As usual, we'll be one of the first people to finish the DLC near its launch on March 28, and provide you with a full rundown then.

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, Microsoft has decided to woo gamers with a week-long Gears of War 4 event. Taking a few tips from Cupid, February 10th will see the week-long return of popular multiplayer-mode Torque Bow Tag. The limited-time event also includes daily Valentine's themed bounties, a new craftable character and introduces two new maps - Impact Dark and War Machine.

Source: Xbox