GDC 2019: Castle Crashers Remastered Coming To Switch & PlayStation 4

Today at GDC 2019, The Behemoth announced that Castle Crashers Remastered will be coming to the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. It was also announced that PlayEveryWare are porting the game. Here are some notes below that they shared about Castle Crashers on the Switch. “Castle Crashers on the Nintendo Switch has HD Rumble, Switch Online, and 4 player local Joy-Con support. Bring those little knights with you in handheld mode or put them up on the big screen while docked! On your PS4, we’ve utilized the latest in lighting technology to lighten up your lightbars with your character affinity color!” Here is what the remastered includes in case you forgot: A multiplayer mini-game called “Back Off Barbarian” that’s frantic and weird. Texture sizes of the game are five times the texture size of the original game CCR runs at 60 frames per second. The original ran at 30 frames per second which feels kind of like a slideshow if you go back to it after trying this new one. All previously released downloadable content like characters, weapons, and animal orbs are available in-game Various performance updates and improvements to gameplay and online multiplayer The company also answered why they won’t make a sequel right now:  “We might make one someday, but it would have to hit all the right points at the right times. It has to be a product that would end up vastly improved, rather than “more of the same”, which is only something we can accomplish with gaining experience.” Next week is PAX East 2019 and Castle Crashers Remastered on both Switch and PS4 will be playable at the event which is no surprise. We knew this announcement was coming today as last week The Behemoth were hinting to the game coming out on both current gen consoles. The game was already available on Xbox 360, One, and Steam. There was not a specific release date revealed yet. Source

GDC 2019: Google Reveals Stadia Video Game Controller

Over the last week there have been rumors of Google’s upcoming video game controller with the patent being filed. Today, Google revealed its look for the future of video games, a cloud streaming service known as Stadia. The new streaming service gives instant access to play games across Chromebooks, tablets, smartphones and Televisions. It will be compatible with keyboards and other input devices like the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller that we reported about earlier. The new Stadia controller comes in three different color schemes. It connects to Google’s servers via Wi-FI, and it can identify what screen you want to play on. It also features two buttons. One is a capture button that will allow you to share and save gameplay to Youtube. The other button is a Google Assistant button where it will give players access to the controller’s built-in microphone. Of course there are some similarities to current gen platform controllers like the Switch Pro Controller, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 controllers. The Stadia controller still has some uniqueness to it and Google is using Youtube to their advantage with their new gaming service. What do you think of the new Stadia controller? Source

Review: Devil May Cry 5

  Developer –Capcom Release Date – March 8, 2019 Platforms – PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC “Nature calls? It’s in the back.” The opening moments of Devil May Cry laid the foundation for what has become a classic action franchise. A bad sequel here, spin off game their and Devil May Cry would ultimately go dormant for several years. Like much of Capcom’s storied franchises it just seemed as if the passion was gone, and outside of a reference or cameo fans of the series just assumed it would stay that way. Luckily for us, Capcom changed all that when they finally announced Devil May Cry 5 and blew everybody away at E3 2018 with a stunning debut trailer. Spearheaded by Hideaki Itsuno, Capcom set out to do what they have done with near perfection as of late, and modernize a classic franchise without losing what made it so special to begin with. Devil May cry 5 picks up where 4 left off more than a decade ago. Dante has taken a job, hired by the mysterious new character named V, to tackle a demon lord who has occupied an entire city. Nero gets involved, Lady and Trish are around and that’s the gist of the story when you start up. I’m not going to spoil how wild things end up because the story goes places and for a game not lauded for its plot much, I was genuinely surprised by how well the story was told, and the surprises it had in store for me as I progressed through it. While most of the action is tried and true the game does feature a number of changes. In terms of plot, while the structure of the game is familiar to any returning veterans the way the story is laid out is a bit unusual. Dante, Nero and newcomer V are all playable and who you play as is largely based on the story-line. Every new and then a chapter will allow you a choice of character but for the most part the game will dictate who you are using at any given moment. The story-line itself is also told in a non linear fashion. The game will constantly shift and weave forward and backwards through time. It’s an initially confusing way to tell the story but after a couple chapters the full picture comes into view and the jumps in time will become clear. While it seems limiting all three characters are a blast to play, and provide enough unique upgrades and skills that any one of the three could power an entire game by themselves. The return of Dante and Nero also brings a return to their gameplay. Nero, losing an arm from the onset is given a set of prosthetic arms called Devil Breakers. His friend Nico, the latest gaming trend towards pretty mechanics drives a super van that can be called upon to perform upgrades for the team. Part of the upgrades are numerous devil breakers for Nero to buy, equip and make loadouts with. Each one is vastly different and brings unique attacks and gameplay styles with them. however each arm is limited, and after several uses will break and leave you without an arm until you pick up more strewn about his stages, Nero also uses his trusty blue rose and red queen, fully rounding out his arsenal with the ex gauge timings and special attacks you expect if you played the previous game. Dante also returns with just about every trick in the book you would expect and even a little bit more. He has the ability to swap between four different sets of melee weapons, ranged weapons, and fighting styles. Dante seems purely built to be a combo creators dream. His flexibility with the real time switching between gun, sword and style can truly lead to spectacular moments in combat. V, the mysteriously Klyo Ren-esque new character is where the gameplay changes the most. He is a radical departure from Nero and Dante, as he is weaker and more frail than his buddies. V is a summoner, and has three different companions he can summon to help him in combat. Griff, Shadow, and the leviathan Nightmare are his three summons and they are the backbone of his combat. V, cant actually physically attack his foes, and his summons, cant finish anybody. When an enemy is weakened, V has to go up to them and finish them off and until he does that enemy will not die. This mechanic truly pushes V into a different category of action. managing his summons, his own positioning and keeping track of which enemy you have to finish off next all at once feels akin to spinning four plates while trying to say the alphabet backwards. It’s a lot to take in, and he probably has the largest skill gap in the game but when you dig into his style the carnage on screen is unmatched by any other action game. A panther uppercutting an enemy while a bird is juggling them with lightning while your riding on the back of a giant is a sight to behold, and I found myself gravitating to V whenever I had a choice of character to use simply because his style is completely unique in this genre. Outside of the traditional gameplay and game structure, the one unique mechanic introduced is social co-op.  At various moments through the campaign the characters will often cross paths or have sight lines of each other. If networking is turned on other online players will seamlessly fill the roles instead of AI, and although its a small touch it goes a long way towards creating some truly epic moments during the campaign. I hope to see this co-op come back for the free Bloody Palace update that is launching shortly as well. Rounding out the package are the visuals and performance that you can expect from the RE engine. Absolutely stunning graphics are

Halo: Reach On MCC Will Have Armor Customization

Today, 343 Industries are answering questions about the latest news that came to Halo: The Master Chief Collection. In case you missed it, Halo: MCC will be coming to PC later this year and Halo Reach will be added to the collection as well. One of the great things about Reach that fans loved so much was the armor customization and the progression to unlock everything via credits earned. Brian Jarrard, the Community Director at 343i had answered a question regarding the customization when it comes to MCC. Here is his answer: “We’re happy to say that Halo: Reach in MCC will in fact have the same level of “mix and match” customization found in the original games (all the individual armor pieces, etc..).” The ability the mix and match your armor pieces is a big deal since you can’t do it with any of the current titles in the collection. There wasn’t any word on if the ranking system will make its way onto Halo: MCC or how we’ll unlock new armor pieces as it’s a little early to tell. Brian was answering a lot of other questions and answered one about how your achievements, stats, etc from console would transfer to the PC version. You can read more in the thread here.     

Minecraft Bedrock: 1.10 is Out Now

This update is rolling out to all Bedrock platforms right now. It can take a while for the update to reach your device. Nintendo Switch will receive this update in about 7 hours. This update can be quite big for several reasons. Firstly the ENTIRE game is changing its looks. The new resource pack was announced a few months ago and seeing it fully introduced into the game is great. A few actual features into the game is blocking some things… like shields! This is a nice feature to have introduced as MANY people have wanted it for such a long time. To use a shield you can crouch. A few community requested features have also been introduced in this update including Chorus Fruit Flowers now break when struck via an arrow and Added Dead Bush as a furnace fuel. This is quite a big update so you should check out the changelog down below! This is planned to be the final update before the BIG village and pillage update! Source

Call of Duty: Mobile announced for iOS and Android

Activision and Tencent have announced that Call of Duty: Mobile will be making it’s way to Android and iOS devices this year. Call of Duty: Mobile is a free to play title that has a collection of maps, characters, weapons, and modes from the Call of Duty universe including the Black Ops and Modern Warfare games. They list the Team Deathmatch, Search and Destroy and Free-For-All modes as well as maps including Nuketown, Crash, Hijacked and more to be announced in the future. You can sign up for a public beta at https://www.callofduty.com/mobile which is planned for a summer release in select regions. Call of Duty: Mobile will be available for Android and iOS devices later this year.

Both id Software And Ubisoft Will Be Present With Google At GDC

The annual Game Developers Conference is just on the horizon and people throughout the industry are already discussing what could possibly be happening at the San Francisco-hosted event. The one with the most chatter currently circulates around Google and the possibility of the rumored console officially debuting. As we already know, there is some sort of hardware already in the works according to sources from Kotaku back in June. With many hoping this could possibly be a new alternative to either Sony or Microsoft’s platforms, that doesn’t seem to be the case. As it was already discussed that the could-be system will focus primarily on streaming and won’t hold much power over the more beefed up PlayStation Pro or Xbox One X. More recently, it was announced via Twitter that both Ubisoft as well as Bethesda’s id Software will be present alongside Google for their approaching presentation at the upcoming convention. BREAKING NEWS We're excited to welcome @idSoftware, makers of DOOM, to our #GoogleGDC19 Developer Day session! If you haven't already registered, do it now and join us on March 19 at 12:30 PM PT in West Hall, Room 2011. More details here → https://t.co/u6wYIixHWr pic.twitter.com/HjDh9ABfY9 — Google for Developers (@googledevs) March 13, 2019 This just in! We're stoked to share that @Ubisoft will be part of our #GoogleGDC19 Developer Day sessions. Join us on March 19 at 2 PM PT in West Hall, Room 2011. pic.twitter.com/HKRfEgtONt — Google for Developers (@googledevs) March 14, 2019 This will answer half of the rumors that was released last week surrounding Google’s presence at this year’s GDC. The other and more unlikely rumor that still has yet to be debunked is the chances of Sega playing a major role in creating titles for the tech giant’s unannounced console. With Ubisoft already being involved with Google through Project Stream, their chances for the publisher to be present were pretty high. On top of the two companies to be standing on stage along with Google, two industry veterans will be special guests for the tech company for the forthcoming presentation. Revealing that both Amy Hennig, former Naughty Dog & now EA, and Crystal Dynamics’ Raph Koster who currently worked on Tomb Raider and the lesser detailed Avengers title. And now this … Very special guests join our #GoogleGDC19 Developer Day session! Who? @amy_hennig, @CrystalDynamics and @raphkoster. Join us for an awesome panel on March 19 at 3 PM PT in West Hall, Room 2011. Stay tuned for more updates as we get closer to the main event! pic.twitter.com/QnVhIrQ04Z — Google for Developers (@googledevs) March 14, 2019 For what will actually be revealed at Google’s Presentation will be told tomorrow as the keynote will be taking place on Tuesday 10 AM PST / 1 PM EST. What do you think could be coming for Google’s platform with the amount of industry influence surrounding the upcoming event?  

Rectify COD Will Be Attending CWL Anaheim With New Captain & Roster Shakeup

Fort Worth marked the 4th Call of Duty event Rectify has attended, but only the 2nd time where we had at least 3 or more of the same players playing in consecutive events. Since Vegas in December we made two roster moves which took out Futuristic & GRVTYTWO and then added Ebelerb as well as GJSincear ‏. The team made it to Round 3 losing to Vertex Black and then got downed by Socially Esports in the losers bracket, making us eliminated on day one again, so the team has decided to make some changes. During the weekend KruptStarfish announced his departure from the competitive Call of Duty scene and wishes nothing but the best for all his friends and former teammates. Don’t know where to even start, spent almost two years now talking every day and dedicating our time to make our dream a reality. Even though we didn’t make it as far as we wanted we made the most of it. Thank you @GaIvanxze ❤️ won’t ever forget the times we have shared. pic.twitter.com/rgHlpvfUJY — Chase (@ltsImpel) March 17, 2019 Alex or better known as Apollo has also parted ways with the team and is currently a Free Agent. Here are some words from the former Rectify Call of Duty Captain: “I will be taking an EXTENDED leave from competing. I say extended leave because I will be taking a break to re-evalute if this is worth it anymore for me. I have so much fun doing this but losing hurts me too much since I have always grown up with sports and losing was not something I ever wanted to do and or acceptable for myself.” “I WILL BE A FREE AGENT for Anaheim, and if the right offer comes around and is worth jumping on then I will make it work and of course my 100% all will be put into it just like I have been doing for over a year now but if not then I am fine with that and I will gladly “retire” happily knowing I made good friends in this community and for over 2 years it gave me something I didn’t have since baseball was taken from me.” We wish nothing but the best for Alex, Chase, Corey, Ebeler, & Gerrit. They have made our experience with competitive Call of Duty easier than expected since it’s still something new we are dealing with and as we all know this scene has a lot of different personalities. Moving forward Galvanize will be leading the Rectify Call of Duty team as captain and of course with Chris ‘VENGNC3’ Kinghan as the manager. So starting now we are recruiting serious Call of Duty players for Anaheim in June as we plan on attending the event in full force. If you are interested in applying for Rectify COD feel free to go here.  We are looking forward to the future and once again to every former Call of Duty player of ours, thanks for making great memories!