Team 17 is bringing retro run-and-gun to PS3 and Vita with a PSN re-release of Alien Breed in early February. The British developer, better known for putting armaments in the (supposed) hands of invertebrates, first released this top-down shooter on the good old Amiga in 1991, the game inspired heavily by a certain big screen franchise.

The PSN re-release features cross-platform multiplayer between Vita and PS3, as well as ad-hoc/local and online co-op on respective platforms. New packs Convergence, Valiance, and Synergy bring up the total level count to 30, there's the option to play with original or enhanced visuals, and leaderboards are there for those who are competitive when it comes to extraterrestrial carnage.

Team 17 resurrected the Alien Breed franchise after over a decade with the downloadable isometric shooter Evolution in 2009, and that was soon followed by two sequel episodes. The original Alien Breed then came to iOS in August 2012, and Team 17 is now telling fans to "watch this space" for an announcement of an Android release.

Free 'High Tides' co-op content for Far Cry 3 is washing up on PlayStation Network shores on Tuesday, January 15. The PS3-exclusive DLC includes two chapters, Jailbreak and Redemption, that tell the epilogue of the game's co-op campaign.

Multiplayer-focused developer Massive Entertainment says High Tides features the "final moments" of the co-op campaign's quartet and their adventure on the island. Going by the description of "tougher fights," "bigger competitions," and "explosive moments unlike anything you've seen before," we suspect it won't chronicle a long day of struggling to nap on a rock-solid airport couch, which is how our island adventures usually end.

Two indie companies working on the Wii U eShop expressed optimism about the company's efforts to sell downloadable games, a significant vote of confidence given that both of them dealt with WiiWare.

Mike Roush and Alex Neuse of Gaijin Games don't speak especially highly of the original Wii service. "We don't know for sure, but it felt like it wasn't taken seriously by Nintendo, the desire for gamers to buy stuff digitally," Neuse told GamesIndustry.biz.

Martin Pichlmair of Broken Rules, whose game hasing Aurora was released on the Wii U eShop at launch and whose And Yet It Moves came out on WiiWare, said that "Literally everything was easier this time around," compared to WiiWare.

"What's more friendly right out of the starting gate is the Wii U is developed for people to have an eShop to spend their money in and buy games easily," Gaijin's Roush noted. Neuse drew comparisons to Steam, with a less stringent (read: available) updating functionality and no first-party concept approval.

Last year saw a total of more than 15 million purchases of Minecraft across all platforms, with Pocket Edition the leader at just under 5.9 million across iOS and Android. As if we needed any more proof of the blocky sandbox's success, Mojang published concrete figures for last year's sales, demonstrating just how prolific 2012 was for its franchise.

In addition to Pocket Edition, there were just under 4.2 million purchases of Minecraft on PC and Mac in 2012, and just over 5 million on Xbox Live Arcade. This is only speculation since it assumes all purchases were made at particular prices, but based on the games' current North American prices our supercomputer reckons Mojang's figures translate into a whopping $254 million of revenue, just from sales of the games alone.

Even if those figures are a little off, this video link feels entirely justified.

If you've been meaning to check out the Darksiders franchise, you couldn't pick a better time. For one thing, THQ could use the money. For another, it's really not that much money today. For the next two days, the PC download version of the "Franchise Pack" containing both Darksiders games, a Season Pass, and a ton of DLC, is just $13.19 on Amazon. The Saints Row: The Third "Full Package" with the game and DLC is just $12.49.

In non-THQ download deals, the Alice: Madness Returns Complete Collection, with both Alice games, is $11.99. In all three cases, these bundles are cheaper than buying the individual games! So even if you only want one Darksiders game, you should go ahead and buy the full set.

The United States loves Skylanders to the tune of a whopping $500 million of retail sales, as announced by Activision this morning. Based on recently released NPD data, US boys and girls (and US older boys and girls) can't get enough of the action-RPG games and those oh-so-lucrative accessory packs and figures.

$195 million of those retail sales come from Skylanders Giants and its associated retail products alone; the game only arrived on retail shelves just under three months ago. Maybe that figure isn't so startling when you consider the game brought with it an estimated $500 worth of new figures to collect. While Giants certainly did respectably in December's NPDs, coming in 8th on the month's best-sellers chart, it's clearly the accessory packs and figures which have brought in the big bucks.

Continue Reading

The bidding procedures for assets in the THQ bankruptcy have been posted, along with a mention that Tim Schafer's Double Fine Productions has requested some documents from the case. The Distressed Debt Investing Twitter feed – which has been a solid source on the proceedings – mentioned Double Fine was checking things out. It was previously reported Warner Bros. and Electronic Arts were also sniffing about.

Before going to bed tonight with dreams of Double Fine making the next Darksiders game, let's tap the brakes here for two seconds. Any company with half a brain (and a couple million laying around) right now is looking at THQ, especially since the assets of the company will be split up if the individual pieces receive bids more than the whole. So, while the big dogs fight for Saints Row and other similarly large properties, a smaller company could take a... oh, a Homeworld? Perhaps a franchise that won't continue "in any meaningful way" like Red Faction?

Double Fine and THQ had a relationship in producing Costume Quest and Stacking, although it's unclear who owns the actual intellectual property (we're following up). If you're interested and have the cash, feel free to read the bidding procedures. Bids are due January 22, 2013, by 9AM Eastern.

US vice-president Joe Biden is meeting with games industry representatives today to discuss the role of violent video games with regards to gun violence, as part of a response to last month's massacre at a Connecticut elementary school. As the Associated Press reports, today's meeting in Washington is the latest in a series of discussions Biden's task force is undertaking before presenting recommendations on how to suppress gun violence to President Barack Obama on Tuesday, January 15.

Meetings with film industry representatives and the National Rifle Association took place yesterday, with the NRA emerging "disappointed" from what it felt was an attack on the Second Amendment, objecting to a number of proposals including limits on high-capacity ammunition magazines and bans on assault weapons.

The Entertainment Software Association confirmed to Polygon that it's being represented at today's meeting by president Michael Gallagher. Sources involved with the meeting told Polygon other attendees include representatives for game publishers, research on the impact of video games on children, and the retail sector.

Several industry organizations, such as the International Game Developers Association and the Electronic Consumer Association, issued open letters to the vice president ahead of today's meeting. The IGDA calls on the government to consider the "totality" of research into video game violence, and to avoid causing the games industry similar damage to that suffered by the comic book industry because of the censorship laws of the 1950s. Similarly, the ECA notes a negative correlation between the growth of the games industry and the decrease in violent crime across the last decade.

As Polygon learned this week, there are plans to reintroduce a bill to Congress calling for a Federal Trade Commission study into connections between violent video games and harmful effects on children. The bill, originally brought to Congress last month following the Connecticut shooting, failed to make it through the 112th session on January 2. Its author, West Virginia senator Jay Rockefeller, is likely to reintroduce the bill before the end of the month. Previous FTC studies failed to establish any causal connections between violent video games and violent behavior.

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed patiently sits at the PC starting line, waiting for the green light on January 31, 2013. And rather than cough up the full $30 for the PC port, if you pre-order through Steam, you'll receive a 10% discount – that's $3 off, for all you math types out there.

The console version of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed launched on just about every gaming device out there back in November, a game our review says "should not be missed by anyone who truly values a fun, exceptionally well crafted racing game." Also, a working knowledge of Sega mascots doesn't hurt.

Based on sheer volume of Internet fanart alone, we're pretty sure Fennekin is the favorite new starter in Pokémon X/Y. Above is one of our favorite pieces of the preliminary collection found on the web so far – there's plenty more to ogle over on Tiny Cartridge.

Pokémon X/Y was announced for the 3DS two days, a game slated to emerge from its Pokeball worldwide in October. Pokemon X/Y promises more cinematic battles and a 3D cel-shaded art style that does away with the 2D pixel sprites found in previous Pokémon games in the past.

The PC version of Borderlands 2 has received its monthly update. Among the addressed items are a miscalculation of gun damage when Gunzerking, and shotguns ignoring buffs from stats, abilities and gear. Mechromancers need not suffer their stalwart companion Deathtrap randomly healing enemy shields anymore, "even though it was hilarious," Gearbox says.

Gearbox president Randy Pitchford wrote a related post in the forums, thanking fans and asking for patience while the team continues to work on Borderlands 2. He also says "awesome" a lot.

You can find the notes from this month's patch just after the break or through the source link below.

Continue Reading

If there are two things we love around the Joystiq office, it's clandestine communication techniques and robot ladies with big praying mantis-style arm blades. Obviously, we were chuffed to bits when Cyberpunk 2077's ultra-stylized teaser trailer gave us a big ol' dose of the latter, but it turns the former was in there as well, waiting to chuff our bits even further.

A single frame at the end of the trailer contains a message from developer CD Projekt, which states that the game's release date is "currently scheduled way off in 2015, but in truth the delivery date is more like 'when it's done,'" which was the "date" officially given in the trailer.

The missive goes on to say that CD Projekt's "other project," which is also a "fully open-world game with an intense story," is much closer to completion and that further information will be delivered on Tuesday, February 5. Here's hoping said information is contained within a floppy disk buried in a secret location that can only be discovered by dialing into a BBS, whose number can only be found by decoding the hexagon string written in Morse code on a scroll strapped to the leg of a pigeon. But which pigeon?!

Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge, Team Ninja's second and sharper stab at last year's Ryu Hayabusa outing, is to be Australia's first game classified as R18+.

Australia's harsh video game restrictions have been criticized for years. The country passed a bill in June allowing the sale of video games targeted at players 15 years of age and older. As of January 1, 2013, these new laws allow for the sale of games like Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge, making it the first adult video game to launch in Australia.

Originally announced sans moniker back in September, Microsoft UK's new London-based studio now has something to put on its letterhead: "Lift London."

Helmed by former Rare production designer Lee Schuneman, Lift London is a "21st century studio – not a studio that would make retail games – but a studio that would make games for the cloud," says Microsoft EMEA corporate vice president Phil Harrison, according to Develop. As announced previously, Lift London will primarily focus on developing games for connected mobile Microsoft devices in European territories, with an emphasis on tablet gaming.

Harrison also announced that Rare studio boss Scott Henson will begin calling various shots as Lionhead Studios' new head of operations, permanently replacing the long gone Peter Molyneux. Until now, Lionhead has been the purview of COO Mark Webley. Additionally, former EA Partners/Origin senior director of business development Roger Walkden has been appointed as Lionhead's head of staff, presumably after several hundred puns were made out of his last name.

During a period that encompassed both post-Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping and the Christmas season (November 25 through December 29), the physical retail sector of the video games industry pulled in $3.2 billion, bringing the total dollar amount spent in 2012 up to $13.26 billion, which is just a little less than half of one Scrooge McDuck money vault. Both December and the year as a whole were down 22 percent from their respective 2011 counterparts, according to NPD data, with December 2011 earning $4.10 billion and all of 2011 pulling down a smooth $16.99 billion.

Hardware sales specifically amount to 20 percent less in 2012 than in 2011, reporting $1.07 billion for the period and $4.04 billion for the year as a whole. Most of the decline this December, however, was seen in non-HD system sales, according to NPD analyst Liam Callahan. Hardware bundles that included software sold 37 percent more than they did last December, with sales of stand-alone hardware SKUs dropping 37 percent to balance the scales.

The Xbox 360 once again held the top spot in overall hardware sales in December, with 1.4 million units sold according to Major Nelson. Meanwhile, the Wii U experienced its inaugural holiday shopping season this period. It sold fewer units that the original Wii did during its launch in December of 2006, but earned comparatively three percent more moolah than the Wii for the month. The Wii U's most expensive SKU costs $350, compared to the Wii's single $250 model.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 topped off physical retail software sales in both December and 2012 as a whole, which totaled $1.54 billion for the month and $2.67 billion for the year, down 26 and 23 percent from 2011, respectively. Surprisingly, Far Cry 3 accomplished the second-most successful December launch NPD has recorded since it started monitoring sales in 1995, earning it the number six slot on the list of December's top 10 best-selling games. The list of 2012's 10 best-selling games can also be found after the break, in all of its "comprised entirely of sequels" glory.

Continue Reading