Digitally Downloaded – Page 952 – Your specialist source of news and reviews for games, anime, manga, film and literature

zombie-studios-has-been-shuttered

January 8, 2015

Financial results/News/sad news/studio close/Zombie Studios

News by Matt S. Mid-tier developer, Zombie Studios, has announced that it has shut its doors. But not for the reasons that we’ve seen so many developers close down in recent years. Zombie Studios is no more simply because the owners are retiring. This is good news for people looking…

kissy-time-hyperdevotion-noire-goddess

January 8, 2015

Compile Heart/Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart/Idea Factory/JRPG/News/Strategy RPG

News by Jedediah H. Idea Factory has blown its Hyperdimension Neptunia faithful a kiss in the form of a release date for its first strategy RPG, Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart, exclusive to the PlayStation Vita – in North America, it’ll be available February 24th via digital and physical distribution;…

Game Theory: The Roguelike and the absurd; what dungeon grinding tells us about humanity

January 7, 2015

absurdism/Chocobo Mystery Dungeon/Game Theory/Nethack/Opinion/Roguelike/Sorcery Saga Curse of the Great Curry God/The Guided Fate Paradox

Article by Matt S. The roguelike is one of my favourite RPG sub-genres. From the early days when as a school kid I discovered the free Nethack, right though to my time as a university student when it was all I could afford to play, the classic roguelike was something…

Preview: Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta (Microsoft Xbox One)

January 7, 2015

343 Industries/Beta/Halo 5/Halo 5: Guardians/Microsoft/Microsoft Xbox One/Preview

Preview by Shaan J. The video game industry, and the people involved with it, is slowly moving in a direction that I can more easily relate to. Sure, we still have our problems (last year was riddled with controversies, scandals, and more broken games than needed), but it’s hard to…

Looking for a game to play? 2,400 DOS games were just made browser compatible and free

January 7, 2015

DOS games/Internet Archive/News/Retro

News by Matt S. Here’s a nice bit of news for fans of retro games – around 2,400 classic DOS games are available to play for free via your browsers. This is courtesy of the Internet Archive – a great organisation dedicated to preserving the history of digital media. The…

Review: Battle Miner (Nintendo 3DS)

January 6, 2015

3DS Review/Battle Miner/Indie/Minecraft/Minecraft clone/Nintendo 3DS/Reviews

Review by Matt S. Battle Miner is a truly appalling piece of work. I appreciate that the Nintendo platforms don’t have a version of Minecraft on them yet, and I do understand that Nintendo fans want a version of Minecraft on their preferred console. In that context I understand why…

Anime review: Bayonetta: Bloody Fate (DVD)

January 6, 2015

anime/anime review/Bayonetta/Bayonetta 2/Bayonetta Bloody Fate

Review by Matt S. Bayonetta 2 was one of the best games released last year. And by Wii U standards it was a commercial and critical hit, landing both our Nintendo Wii U game of the year award and a highly commended for the overall game of the year award,…

The Australian games industry in 2015; why consoles are the big opportunity

January 6, 2015

Australia/Financial results/report/Straight Right/Tantalus

Report by Matt S. The Australian games industry can look forward to a positive 2015, with the increased adoption of the new generation of consoles, the cheaper lower value of the Australian dollar and the growing power of digital distribution all compensating for the complete absence of any interest from…

Review: Monopoly Family Fun Pack (Sony PlayStation 4)

January 5, 2015

board game/Monopoly/Monopoly Family Fun Pack/PlayStation 4/PS4 Review/Reviews/Ubisoft

Review by Matt S. I think Ubisoft has done everything it can to accurately encapsulate Monopoly in digital form. Since picking up the license from EA earlier in the year Ubisoft has taken the opportunity to kickstart the new partnership with Hasbro by releasing a very down-the-line take on the…

Interview: The CEO of gumi Asia on Chain Chronicle, Brave Frontier, and F2P mobile publishing

January 5, 2015

Brave Frontier/Chain Chronicle/David Ng/gumi/Interview/Interviews

Interview by Matt S. Last year one free-to-play game really impressed us – SEGA’s Chain Chronicle, which was localised for the market by gumi Asia, a Singapore-based developer, localiser, and publisher. A massive hit in Japan, I was keen to see how gumi Asia sees that English-speaking Asian and western…

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