News of the Week (March #3) - Kinect Sports Rivals, Angry Birds Epic, Skylanders RPG
28The definitive source of family gaming news and advice, along with the top selling games by age group.
NEWS
Angry Birds Epic
In last week's news, we spoke about the teaser for a new Angry Birds game. We now have more details on Angry Birds Epic, which is not just traditional Angry Birds in a medieval setting but an adventure role-playing game. We have some footage of Wes trying the game if you want to check out what it's like -- we'll include a link in the description below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTo7yAPBUKM
Roller Coaster Tycoon
Another surprising new mobile game announcement comes from Atari, with news that popular franchise RollerCoaster Tycoon, the first of which launched for PC in the late 90s, is coming to mobile. The trailer for RollerCoaster Tycoon 4 Mobile invites players to "build the ultimate amusement park", "invite your friends", and "top the leaderboards online".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iomc1P7HaX8
Gauntlet
Parents may remember Gauntlet as a four-player coin-operated arcade game from when they were younger. It's coming back soon, this time as a top-down dungeon brawler.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvNxItMCK1w
Kinect Sports Rivals Hands-On
One brand-new game that we've had a look at is Kinect Sports Rivals, coming soon from Rare which Andy was able to check out at the studio in Twycross. This game is important because it will be the first to make really good use of the Kinect that comes bundled with every Xbox One console.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Imsvc-fHfc&list=PL02RKkMS5T4jq7ZlspQrIK2VkWwGyqmbm&index=6
Wii U Sports Club Free
Keeping on the subject of sports, Wii U owners in the US will be able to play Wii Sports Club for free this weekend, from the 21st to the 23rd of March. Nintendo of America Tweeted the news, but we've heard nothing from Nintendo UK. However, those of us in the UK do get the free update that brings new golf courses to the game, specifically "9 classic holes from Wii Sports Resort".
https://twitter.com/NintendoUK/status/444462883813228544
BAFTA Game Award Results
Finally, the British Academy Games Awards, for which we told you the nominations in our awards special video, took place last week. You can find out the winners for each category on the BAFTA website, but the big winners were The Last of Us (with five awards including "Best Game" and "Performer" for Ashley Johnson as Ellie), Grand Theft Auto V (with three awards including "British Game" and "Multiplayer"), and Tearaway (with three awards including "Artistic Achievement" and "Family").
Here's our coverage of these games:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNjRL_PGwPY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6ZT9c651G4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTafM6hlkKI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxC0RPWiH1Q
Skylanders
One of Swords interviewed Toys for Bob co-founder Paul Reiche. While Reiche doesn't give away many specific details, it seems like that's not only because he's been told to keep quiet -- he talks about wanting to preserve the surprise. What he does confirm is that the game will come with a new line of characters, which he says will be "the best we've done -- not only in terms of the cool characters and their powers, but the toys".
http://www.oneofswords.com/community/1os/blog/2014/03/13/interview-with-toys-for-bob-co-founder-paul-reiche-about-all-things-skylanders
Disney Infinity
Fansite "Disney Infinity Fans" has apparently found a way to play the game as Perry the Platypus rather than as his secret identity Agent P, which is how the figurine (and thus in-game character) comes.
Minecraft
There's not much news from the Minecraft teams this week, as it seems most of them are at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, but there is a new snapshot for the PC version. 14w11b changes the minecart physics, apparently makes the furnace minecart "actually useful", improves the mob AI, and includes "some surprises".
On the console side of things, 4J Studios has Tweeted that they plan to release one or two texture packs for the PS3 version of the game at the same time as Title Update 14.
https://twitter.com/4JStudios/status/444535382081032192
CHARTS
3+ FIFA 14, Yoshi's New Island, Forza Motorsport 5
7+ The Lego Movie Videogame, Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare, Lego Marvel Super Heroes
12+ N/A
16+ Titanfall, Dark Souls II, Call of Duty: Ghosts
18+ South Park: The Stick of Truth, Thief, Battlefield 4
NEW RELEASES
March 21
12+ Final Fantasy X|X-2 HD (PS3, Vita)
16+ inFamous: Second Son (PS4), The Witch and the Hundred Knight (PS3)
18+ Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS4, PS3, Xbox One, 360), Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z (PS3, 360)
March 25
18+ Diablo III: Reaper of Souls (DLC) (PC, Mac)
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