Epic Games announced Battle Breakers, its new free-to-play title for mobile and PC, at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. The game looks like a Saturday-morning cartoon, complete with larger-than-life characters and a huge, cinematic soundtrack to enhance the gameplay.

Source: Epic Games

Epic Games announced earlier today that it had around six games in development. It looks like one of them is Battle Breakers, a free-to-play tactical RPG inspired by Saturday morning cartoons from the '80s. The game will feature all manner of characters from the likes of ninjas, dinosaurs, robots, and knights along with having cross-platform play between mobile devices and PC.

In Epic's own words, "Master the elements and defeat your enemies with strategy, smash crystals to unlock hidden treasures, and power up your hero squads to take back the Kingdom, one break at a time!" The game will feature turn-based combat and the ability to harness the power of tsunamis, earthquakes, and firestorms as well as some base building stuff.

It's relatively easy for developers to preserve classic video games through emulators, museums, remasters and retro consoles. But what about the culture that surrounded it, such as ads, boxes, magazines and gamers' own experiences? That's where the newly established Video Game History Foundation wants to help. The non-profit hopes to collect and digitize as many video game artifacts as possible to understand the full context of a game or console. For instance, it's building an NES USA Launch Collection that covers the atmosphere surrounding Nintendo's American debut, including the company's sales pitch as it reassured retailers burned by the video game industry crash.

Source: Video Game History Foundation, Patreon

It doesn't take much to set video game fans down rumor rabbit holes these days, but in this case, hints about Hearthstone's first expansion in 2017 were correct. Blizzard has officially announced that Journey to Un'Goro will be the next content block added this year, bringing dinosaurs and new mechanics to the digital card game when the set launches in early April.

Source: Hearthstone blog

This week's big premiere is Horizon Zero Dawn on the PS4. If you're not pulled in by its open-world charms, then remember Planet Earth II is continuing on BBC America, and this week we're visiting the jungles. You can snag Academy Award Best Picture winner Moonlight on Blu-ray or video on-demand, while Amazon Prime instroduces season four of Annedroids. There aren't any big Netflix original premieres this week, but you should know that after tomorrow Clueless is going away, as well as the Jaws movies and the TV series Survivors, while the Jurassic Park flicks (1 - 3) are rotating on to the service. Look after the break to check out each day's highlights, including trailers and let us know what you think (or what we missed).

CCP Games is taking a break from the EVE universe with Sparc, its upcoming full-body virtual sport game created for Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR, and HTC Vive that's set outside the long-running property.

The trailer is cheesy in the way that a lot of VR game trailers tend to be, but I think Sparc could be cooler than it might initially look here. You're hurtling projectiles at another player while blocking or bouncing back the stuff they're flinging at you, and you can pretend you're in Tron, if you'd like.

"Players can watch matches in-person and queue for the next match in VR through Courtside, a freeform social area for spectating in VR or on screen," says CCP. "Sparc includes multiple two-player game modes as well as single-player challenges and training modes, plus a range of customization and personalization options for competitors."

This might sound familiar if you've kept up with Brett's Fanfest shenanigans in recent years. He once played a prototype VR game in which players threw and bounced discs at each other with a shield in hand. Same thing, it turns out. "When you score a point, it feels like an actual accomplishment," he said at the time. "It's just great." Then he bragged about winning because of course he did.

Sadly, it's unlikely that you'll ever visit the Trappist-1 system's newly-discovered Earth-sized planets in your lifetime... not unless someone develops near-light speed travel, anyway. However, you'll at least have the option of a virtual tour. Frontier Developments is promising Ars Technica that the second Elite: Dangerous version 2.3 beta will let you visit Trappist-1 and its seven worlds. The developers are really just modifying an existing system in a similar location (Core Sys Sector XU-P a5-0), but that still means that you'll get a rough sense of what it would be like. You'll get to land on at least some of them, two of which will be Earth-like.

Source: Ars Technica

We'll find out for sure soon enough, but based on a flyer that has surfaced online, it appears that Media Molecule's Tearaway Unfolded and High Horse Entertainment's Disc Jam will be among the PlayStation Plus free-with-your-sub games for March 2017. That'd be a real solid duo for PS4 owners.

Peter Moore is moving on not only from Electronic Arts, but the industry at large.

The executive known for his roles at Sega of America, Microsoft, and most recently EA is leaving to become CEO of Liverpool Football Club in June. It'll be super weird not seeing him on-stage at E3.

"Peter will leave an incredible legacy," said EA CEO Andrew Wilson in the company's announcement today. "Peter led our sports business to some of its biggest moments as President of EA SPORTS. As our Chief Operating Officer, he helped us navigate the transformation of our company and the evolution of our business in a digital world. In the past year as Chief Competition Officer, he has driven EA's rapid expansion in competitive gaming. Above all, through his time at EA, Microsoft and Sega, Peter has been a statesman and advocate for our industry."

Moore was born in Liverpool and is clearly a lifelong fan, so this must feel like an unbeatable gig.

An Executive Team Update [EA]
Peter Moore to be appointed LFC's chief executive officer [Liverpool FC]

Video games are a young industry, and the entire history of the medium fits into the space of just a few decades. And even though the industry at large always seems to be focused on the Next Big Thing, there are a few who are committed to preserving the history of the medium so that future generations can learn from the past.

Frank Cifaldi is a former games journalist and developer, probably best known from his time at Gamasutra and 1UP. I first became aware of him and his interest in video game history through the Retronauts podcast. You may also have seen his GDC talk from last year about emulation. He's been working to help archive games and their ephemera for nearly two decades, spending his own money to purchase unreleased titles and make sure they'll still be available in the future. You can read about these efforts on his website, LostLevels.org. 

Late last year, Frank teamed up with some other game archivists and historians to found the Video Game History Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the past of video games: not just the code, but the printed materials, advertisements, and other artifacts surrounding games. The foundation launched its first project today, a digital archive of pamphlets and ads surrounding the launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985. 

Preserving games is often thankless work, and it can sometimes be difficult to work with collectors who want to own the only known copy of a given item. Preservation efforts also have to work against "bit rot," the breakdown of physical media like magnetic tape and CD-ROMs. 

To celebrate the launch and help get the word out, IGN partnered with the foundation to show off some of the rare games preserved by the efforts of historians, and games like Daytona: Netlink Edition, a Final Fantasy 2 (NES) prototype, and a rare PC title called Where in North Dakota is Carmen Sandiego? were streamed. If you'd like to contribute to the foundation, they've set up a Patreon, or you can make a tax-deductible donation directly through the website.

It's been one year since the innocent-looking farm life sim Stardew Valley came into some of our lives and stole a whole bunch of free time. Where did it all go? I don't regret a single minute spent wrangling cows away from my crops, delving into mines for rare minerals, and power eating to keep marathon fishing sessions going late into the night. This has been and still is a special game for me.

Creator Eric Barone has reflected on the one-year anniversary with a blog post that's worth reading for any Stardew fan. "Considering that I had spent the previous 4-5 years in my own little bubble, working alone, doing essentially the same thing every day… and now suddenly to be thrust into the limelight… it was quite the change," he wrote. "I'm happy about it, of course. I mean… it is a weird feeling, at first, to have something that once seemed so distant, so impossible… some pipe-dream that you fantasized about in the dead of night… actually come true. It takes some getting used to, and that’s part of what this last year has been for me."

Not content to simply sell you the game, WB Games has unveiled the "Mithril Edition" of Middle-earth: Shadow of War for a quaint $300. Included in the package comes the "Gold Edition" of the game alongside a steelbook case, a war chest, 12" statue, the soundtrack, a cloth map of Mordor, a magnetic replica of the "Power Ring," a collection of lithographs, a sticker pack (joy!), and a collector's box.

In another surprise twist, this collector's bundle is only available at GameStop. The retailer also has a listing for a "Silver Edition" of the game (costing $80), but doesn't detail the differences between that and the "Gold" variant. All of these aforementioned different versions are listed for both PS4 and Xbox One, in case you are worrying.

At least if you were questioning how WB Games was going to milk customers, you now have an answer.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War Mithril Edition - Only at GameStop [GameStop]

Thimbleweed Park, an adventure game led by industry legend Ron Gilbert, doubled its kickstarter goal when it was announced in 2014. It's a beautiful throwback to early Lucasarts adventure titles like Maniac Mansion and Day of the Tentacle-- which is appropriate, since Gilbert and artist Gary Winnick got their start working on the former. The title has been in development for two and a half years but it's finally nearing release, and the team announced today that it will be available on Xbox One, Windows, Mac and Linux on March 30.

Thimbleweed Park will launch with English voice and subtitles, and the subtitles can be changed to the French, Spanish, or Italian languages. Russian subtitles are in development and will be added as a free update after launch.

I got a chance to play an early version at PAX last year, and it's been near the top of my most anticipated games list ever since. A Steam page for Thimbleweed Park launched simultaneously with the announcement, though the price has yet to be determined. The game will hit Steam, GOG and Xbox Live on March 30, and iPad/iPhone/Android later this year. The team says they'd like to bring it to other consoles and platforms, but no other versions have been confirmed yet.

Streaming platform Twitch is getting into video game sales. It's a smart move, one that makes a whole lot of sense given the company's owner, Amazon, and one I'll be curious to see shake out.

"Viewers have always used Twitch as a way to 'demo' games before they buy," said the company. "Now we'll be giving them a way to close the loop and buy a game or in-game items they're interested in, when and where they discover it. It works like this: an offer to purchase will appear below the video when a streamer is playing a game that's available through Twitch. Partnered streamers who opt in will receive a 5% rev share for these purchases, and viewers who buy will receive a digital Twitch Crate that contains a randomly generated reward like an emote, badges, or Bits for Cheering."

So far, developers and publishers like Vlambeer, tinyBuild, Paradox Interactive, Telltale, Devolver Digital, and Ubisoft are signed on for the program, which is said to be launching later this spring.

A few more particulars: the video games that viewers buy can be downloaded and accessed through the Twitch launcher, though games and digital items "can also be fulfilled directly to developers' ID systems via account linking." Purchases are processed through Amazon, with US currency only at launch. And as for the exact revenue split, "creators will receive 70% of the revenue and Partnered Twitch streamers will receive 5% for sales originating from their channel pages [which leaves some for Twitch]."

"Giving players another way to support their favorite streamer is not only great for everyone involved - it's a logical next step in the relationship between developers, fans and streamers," said Paradox's Shams Jorjani.

Again, I'm eager to see this play out and how streamers, viewers, and game developers respond to the program in terms of disclosures (or lack thereof), adoption, and all that good stuff.

Coming Soon: Twitch Games Commerce [Twitch]

Rive was supposed to be Two Tribes' last game, but they're not done yet! Just like the crew in Ocean's 13 they're coming back for "one last job," but don't get too excited -- it's quite literally just a port job.

Yep, Two Tribes has announced that Rive is being ported to the Nintendo Switch, in its "ultra-fast and super-challenging 60 FPS glory." Like pretty much every other indie developer out there the Wii U version was taken out back behind the barn and shot (ha, the official description on Nintendo's site is even 404ed), and now we're getting the Switch port instead.

While I totally get why Two Tribes did this (they're a super small operation after all, and effectively dissolved), you have to give it to indie outfits like Yacht Club Games, who continue to support the Wii U in earnest while pivoting to the Switch.

The 2017 Game Developers Conference is happening this week in San Francisco, and we're here to keep you up to date on all the latest news from the event. Like last year, companies such as HTC and Oculus will probably share new virtual reality developments, while augmented reality may also be a major topic of discussion at GDC.

You may think you don't want a game about building huts in trees to house fairies while they collect sunlight and shoot off fireworks.

You may be wrong. Developing a functioning fairy society might be exactly what you want.

Former professional poker player Adrian "Lifecoach" Koy has retired from Hearthstone after a very successful run (roughly $134k in winnings). While that may not be big news for a lot of you out there, the implications might not bode well for the future of the game, at least on the competitive side. Following his exit, many players are already chiming in that they aren't happy either.

The core reason he's leaving the game is because of balance, and Blizzard's philosophy on the pro scene. Koy says he's "fed up" with how Blizzard is handling the situation, specifically how it nerfs new combos, allowing only a few viable decks, and doesn't listen to its pro playerbase. This is in stark contrast to Blizzard's other recent competitive games like Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch, which famously take suggestions from eSports players and implement them.

To break the situation down further, Koy wants there to be more viable combo decks (that require meticulous planning), and even less random elements (RNG) than the ones that are already inherent to a collectible card game. In the meantime he's moving to Gwent, which he states is already moving in a positive direction as a result of direct input from fans.

While this could be a flash in the pan for Hearthstone given how big Blizzard is, I have noticed how uncharacteristically stalwart they are compared to other teams within the same organization. I adore the casual scene (specifically the wonderful adventure expansions), but I can see where the pro players are coming from. It's a bold move Cotton, let's see if it pays off.

Team17 has dipped its toes into the shooter genre in the past with games like Alien Breed (and its modern follow-ups), but they're jumping in with two feet with Genesis Alpha One as its publisher, backing up developer Radiation Blue. It's a sci-fi tinted Unreal Engine 4 shooter with "roguelike, base building, and survival elements," and is set to drop on PC and console in the future.

As a shooter fan myself I'm used to seeing hundreds of these kind of come and go (or get converted into free-to-play with lucrative microtransactions that prey on a small but dedicated userbase), but I'll keep my eye out on this one. Team17 as a whole is a more reliable publisher than some of these other one and done studios.

With all of the issues Oculus is having, and the sufficient sales for PSVR, are we entering an era where developers start to port over their projects and favor the latter over the former? It's too early to tell, but for now, we're getting Steel Combat on the PS4 in Japan.

Released in August of 2016 for the Oculus Rift, the Colopl-developed Steel Combat will hit the PSVR tomorrow (maybe "today," over there by the time you read this!) for 3,990 yen. It's a 360 degree arena fighting game that focuses on both melee and ranged combat with online play.

Before you get too excited, note that the original had a middling reception on the Oculus storefront, partially due to the whopping $40 pricetag. Keep that in mind when the game eventually hits the North American PSN.

Samsung and Oculus are making sure their mobile VR headset keeps up with Google's DayDream VR. The partnership announced a new version of Gear VR and it has a controller now. In fact, that's the major difference, with the headset itself getting marginally lighter and getting a few cosmetic tweaks. I got to handle the controller for a brief spell here at MWC, and while there were no demos to try, Gear VR's take on the mobile controller feels closer the HTC's Vive peripherals more than anything else. That's certainly no bad thing.

First things first: This review is full of spoilers. The review itself is a spoiler. If you don't know if you want to play Frog Fractions 2, stop reading. Heck, if you've never played Frog Fractions, go do that right now before you take in anything else on it. It's free.

There is a very real chance your enjoyment of Frog Fractions 2 will be diminished the more you read about it. There is a very real chance your enjoyment of Frog Fractions 2 will be diminished by simply knowing you're playing Frog Fractions 2.

And that's its biggest hurdle.

Having a Nintendo system be region free again is so weird. Whereas the logistics of ordering up a Wii U game would have been a nightmare (3DS less so given how cheap the systems are, even by way of importing), playing a Japan-only game on the Switch is going to be a breeze.

Especially so if a game has English language support, like Voez, a rhythm game with 116 songs that is arriving in Japan with the console's launch. Interestingly enough though an FAQ on the game's official site clarifies that you can't play it on TV mode on the Switch, since the touchscreen is a requirement. This is likely going to be an exception and not a rule for the Switch, but it's something to keep in mind regardless.

Because unlike the Wii U, the Switch can't display inputs on both the TV and the tablet -- it's one or the other. Still, I'm considering importing this if I hear good things!

Voez [Flyhigh Works]

Bulletstorm had a fun idea before getting quietly shuffled away back in 2011. Now that Gearbox Publishing and People Can Fly are bringing a port with updated visuals (touting higher-res textures, 4K resolution on PS4 and PC) and new modes,  maybe it'll find its audience six years later. 

Speaking of finding an audience, if you pre-order Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition you get access to Duke Nukem. Forcibly inserted into the story with fresh lines from original Duke Nukem voice actor Jon St. John, maybe you can pretend this is actually Duke Nukem Forever and you weren't horribly disappointed years ago. Thanks to IGN, we have a look at how this'll work and it's...fine. Duke himself needs some finer tuning as his model doesn't quite fit in with the Bulletstorm universe (and the lip sync is even worse for wear), but once it gets into gameplay it's the same as it ever was just with occasional Nukem barbs. Who knows, maybe this is what Bulletstorm needed to be popular? 

Check out the story trailer, 14 minutes of gameplay, and Duke Nukem below. Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition is out on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC April 7th. 

Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition - 9 Minutes Duke Nukem Gameplay [IGN] 

14 Minutes of Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition Gameplay in 4K [IGN]

In many ways, Jonathan Watson is like other 11-year-olds. He does his homework, dreams of becoming a doctor and plays video games when he can. Depending on the day, his favorite is either Minecraft or The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Unlike most kids his age, though, Jonathan is at the hospital every three weeks for blood transfusions -- a procedure that can take up to six hours at a time. When I visited him at Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, he wasn't slaying dragons or building a pixelated fortress; he was replaying the opening levels of Rayman Legends on a kart that had just been wheeled in. The kart was donated by a local Eagle Scout who raised funds through the Gamers Outreach Foundation (GO), a nationwide charity that puts medical-grade gaming equipment in hospitals around the country.

The "GO Kart" Jonathan was using included everything needed to play video games: a modest Samsung television, an Xbox 360 (though any console will fit) and a pair of gamepads. The kit itself is hardly revolutionary, but anyone who's schlepped their gear to a LAN party can appreciate the simplicity of this rolling, self-contained setup. At Mott and 19 other hospitals around the country, they're the most popular "toy" available. And when you're a kid with a medical condition like Watson's, it's easy to see why.

Here's another developer talking big about a system he hasn't really commuted to yet, but it's an interesting tidbit nonetheless. Speaking to Polygon, Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata called the Nintendo Switch a "dream machine." Why is it so dreamy? Mostly because of its ability to turn into a console and a handheld device on a whim.

Specifically, Tabata explained, "You have your Switch sitting in front of the television and you’re playing on the big screen and then you take it out, put it down on the table. It becomes a monitor. You take out the two Joy-Cons, and you play with a friend … it doesn’t stop there, because in my mind, it would be really perfect if you could then take this new monitor and use it like a tablet, for example, and play different apps on it like you would on your iPhone or your Android. So basically, it’s accomplishing three tasks in one machine. It’s kind of like the dream machine. "

To his credit Tabata does clarify that while he "isn't working on anything for it at this time," he is intrigued by it mostly because a lot of the people on his team are married with children, and he thinks it would be a good fit for them.Square Enix isn't snubbing the Switch either, as they're set to deliver an I Am Setsuna port on launch (as well as Dragon Quest Heroes I+II for Japan's Switch launch), have confirmed Project Octopath Traveler for a later date, and are considering Final Fantasy XIV for it.

So hey, they're trying! More than a lot of other big publishers are, at least.

The future of Final Fantasy 15 [Polygon]

It has been 28 years since the original River City Ransom released, and it finally has a proper sequel in Underground. I know, I know, some of you purists are saying, "But Jed, RCR had a ton of sequels and spinoff sports titles, they just didn't come to the USA other than River City: Tokyo Rumble."

While this is true, none of those games are true sequels to the game we know and loved growing up. The English version of River City Ransom was heavily localized to cater to a Western audience, meaning most everything dealing with Japan was removed and replaced with something a bit more American. The characters names were also changed from Kunio and Riki to Alex and Ryan. Essentially the game was whitewashed for the sake of sales.

River City Ransom: Underground is not only the sequel RCR fans have been waiting for but one of the greatest beat 'em ups of all time.

This is the strangest death I've suffered in Horizon Zero Dawn. I can handle taking a laser beam to the face from a gigantic metal bobcat or being knocked to the ground by an overzealous robot velociraptor, but this? What a way to go.

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor was one of the most important blockbuster games of 2014, proving that an open-world title set in a very familiar fantasy world could still feel fresh and innovative. And apparently, it was popular enough to get a sequel... including on a platform that isn't even out yet. Warner Bros. has unveiled Middle-earth: Shadow of War, a follow-up that will be available on PS4, Windows PCs, the Xbox One and Project Scorpio -- yes, this is one of the first known titles for Microsoft's 4K-capable console. The publisher isn't saying what the Scorpio version will bring to the table, but it'll launch this holiday season. Every other edition arrives on August 22nd.

Source: Shadow of War, BusinessWire, Xbox Wire

Well, that extremely official looking Target leak was right! WB has officially announced Middle-earth: Shadow of War, the follow-up to Shadow of Mordor.

It'll hit the PC and PS4, as well as Xbox One as an "Xbox Play Anywhere" game. It's launching on August 22, 2017, and will hit the Scorpio (which we still know next to nothing about) later that year. Akin to games working on PS4 and PS4 Pros interchangeably, WB also confirms that it will be playable on the Scorpio for no extra charge.

That's great news for those of us who were worried that the Scorpio would be less of a "1.5" upgrade for the Xbox One and more of a shift to a new generation. Of course this could be an "at the discretion of the developer" type thing, but this precedent is a good one,  nonetheless. We'll see the official gameplay reveal on March 8.