Fire Emblem: Awakening Getting A Sweet Nintendo 3DS Bundle

I haven’t been joking when stating in every Fire Emblem: Awakening article I’ve written that its release date is also the day I’ll be buying my very first Nintendo 3DS. I am super pumped for more Fire Emblem in English, and it seems Nintendo knows fans like me exist.

Thanks to a leaked Game Informer ad, we all now know Nintendo will be giving fans who do not yet own a Nintendo 3DS a chance to buy the latest Fire Emblem game bundled with the system, much like the Japan release. As with most Nintendo bundles, the game will be installed directly into the handheld, so there will be no need to purchase a physical copy of the game.

The only drawback is that the bundle only comes with the original model of the Nintendo 3DS, not the recently released XL version. What’s the point in playing Fire Emblem: Awakening if airplane passengers flying overhead can’t see me fail the tough battles over and over again on my massive Nintendo 3DS XL screen?

Not to mention, I’m a stickler for my physical boxes. Call me old fashioned, but I love a clean, nicely organized video game shelf, and I prefer to hit up GameStop or Best Buy any day of the week before purchasing a game through digital channels.

Still, that design and color sure are cool. If you’re a Fire Emblem fan and are still on the fence about purchasing a Nintendo 3DS, does this bundle push you in either direction?

I’ll be sticking to my guns and buying both Fire Emblem: Awakening and a Nintendo 3DS on February 5th. Whether it’s the physical game and an XL or this slick looking bundle, I still have an entire month to think about it. I should also be considering my backup 3DS just in case another Fire Emblem games forces me to chuck my handheld over a balcony. Ugh, these games are hard.

via TechnoBuffalo http://www.technobuffalo.com/2013/01/11/fire-emblem-awakening-getting-a-sweet-nintendo-3ds-bundle/

Capcom Arcade Cabinet Confirmed for Western Release

My day just doesn’t seem complete unless I’ve got something to say about Capcom. Maybe I’m secretly in love, but whether it’s genuine appraisal or ranting in disgust, their stories just always bring out the deepest of my repressed emotions. Luckily, they’re off the hook today because this is exciting news, especially if you are a retro gamer like myself.

Capcom will be bringing the Capcom Arcade Cabinet to America via Xbox LIVE and PlayStation Network. They confirmed it for a Japanese release earlier this week, but they decided to go ahead and formally announce its Western release through a statement made to Eurogamer.

“So it looks as if the CAC’s out of the bag, and the world’s officially onto our plans to unleash a number of cherished 8-bit arcade games as part as Capcom’s 30th Anniversary. The Capcom Arcade Cabinet will feature numerous classic Capcom games as digital downloads for PS3 and 360, and it is definitely coming to western territories.”

So what does this mean exactly, well, pull up a chair and sit back for a history lesson. Capcom got their start in the arcade marketplace. They never struck it huge on the console scene until Mega Man was released in 1987, a full three years after their first arcade release. Many of the games over those three years remain lost to history, never being released in any shape or form outside of their cabinets, until now.

Capcom will bring these gems out slowly through the Capcom Arcade Cabinet, which will be free to download, and they will charge for each game the player wants to buy, although no pricing plan has been determined yet.

“We’re still debating how we’ll distribute the other titles, but one plan we have in mind is to have packs of multiple games available for really surprisingly cheap prices.”

Just to show off how serious they are about obscure 8-bit arcade games, Capcom has gone ahead and teased Black Tiger, one of many ridiculously difficult platforming games bound to appear in the cabinet’s library. You’d be hard pressed to find a better game that better encapsulates 80s fantasy action: insane monsters, huge dragons, and a shirtless barbarian who throws more axes and daggers than his belt can possibly hold. Unlike most Capcom arcade games though, it never got an NES interpretation.

A handful of other games can be spotted in the teaser image, but I’ll let you guys speculate. Each game will be a faithful port of the original arcade game with additional difficulty settings and the ability to fiddle with the game’s damage counters.

There will be more to come on the Capcom Arcade Cabinet once it becomes available. Because this is Capcom during a peak in their creative history, most of the games will definitely be playable by today’s standards and not just a history lesson of bad games. I’ll be sure to visit each of the games upon release if the price is right.

via TechnoBuffalo http://www.technobuffalo.com/2013/01/11/capcom-arcade-cabinet-confirmed-for-western-release/

TechnoBuffalo is Primed and Ready for the First Show Floor Day at CES

The show floor at CES 2013 is officially open, and we’ve got our walking boots on because it’s going to be a loooooong day. But that’s a good thing. Did you see what we covered yesterday? That was just an appetizer. Now we’re at the buffet, baby.

Walking through the brightly lit halls, I can already tell you that there is a ton of stuff to check out. Maybe too much. We’re going to do our darndest to bring you the best, most comprehensive coverage. That means videos, hands-on and everything else your heart desires.

My eyes are lit up with excitement—and Jon R. had this wild look, too—so keep it locked to TechnoBuffalo throughout the day for some awesome (and maybe weird) posts. Here’s Roy with the battle plans:

via TechnoBuffalo http://www.technobuffalo.com/2013/01/08/technobuffalo-is-primed-and-ready-for-the-first-show-floor-day-at-ces/

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Gets Free “Second Wave” DLC Today

XCOM: Enemy Unknown was one of our three 2012 Game of the Year picks for a many reasons, but the one that sticks out most in my mind is how infinitely replayable it is thanks to its random nature. Random enemies scattered across a large selection of random maps, delivered through random events in the game’s plot progression. There are no two XCOM experiences that will ever be the same.

Well, 2K Games and Fireaxis are releasing their first free expansion DLC, and it’ going to make defending the Earth from invading aliens even more unpredictable. Packed into the DLC are 16 options designed to change how you approach battles. Some options will randomly increase a single stat for rookie soldiers with each promotion. Some will increase the range or damage or guarantee critical hits on flank attacks. See the list below.

• Damage Roulette: Weapons have a wider range of damage.


• New Economy: Randomized council member funding.


• Not Created Equally: Rookies will have random starting stats.


• Hidden Potential: As a soldier is promoted, stats increase randomly.


• Red Fog: Combat wounds will degrade the soldier’s mission stats.


• Absolutely Critical: A flanking shot guarantees a critical hit.


• The Greater Good: Psionics can only be learned from interrogating a psionic alien.


• Marathon: The game takes considerably longer to complete.


• Results Driven: A country offers less funding as its panic level increases.


• High Stakes: Random rewards for stopping alien abductions.


• Diminishing Returns: Increased cost of satellite construction.


• More Than Human: The psionic gift is extremely rare.

All options are designed to keep the experience as fresh as possible for multiple playthroughs. Creative director David Solomon claims that this expansion was created to offer more bang for the $60 gamers dropped on it in the first place.

“One of the values we offer people who play our games is [that] we really want to reduce the dollar cost per hour spent on our games. We want to consider ourselves to be one of the greatest game values that there is.”

I just wrapped up an XCOM: Enemy Unknown campaign, and I’m more than happy to dig through my backlog a bit. If Fireaxis doesn’t want to ever let me move on, though, I might have to cut this relationship sooner that I thought.

via TechnoBuffalo http://www.technobuffalo.com/2013/01/08/xcom-enemy-unknown-gets-free-second-wave-dlc-today/

Microsoft: No Security Threat With Windows RT Jailbreak, But Mad Props To Clever Hacker

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