The Pixel Forecast: New Game Releases (week of 10/12/2015)

(The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Hearts of Stone)

        The first major expansion for CD Project Red's The Witcher 3 is out this week. This expansion adds more of almost everything; quests, enemies, equipment, gwent cards, and more. This is the first expansion created for the game and is expected to give players at least 10 hours worth of gameplay. 

 (Dragon Quest: Heroes)

Dragon Quest: Heroes is a spin off to the Dragon Quest franchise which takes famous characters from the series and pits them in an open-field action combat, similar to the likes of Dynasty Warriors. Many of these games have been coming out such as the recent Hyrule Warriors and One Piece: Pirate Warriors. This game is an exclusive to the PlayStation platforms.

Tuesday, Oct 13
Back to the Future: The Game (30th Anniversary Edition)(PS4, XB1, 360, PC)
Corpse Party: Blood Drive (Everafter Edition)(PSVita)
Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below (PS4, PS3)
Jackbox Party Pack 2, The (PS4, PC, XB1)
Legend of Legacy, The (3DS)
Minecraft: Story Mode - Episode 1: The Order of the Stone(PC, PS4, XB1, PSVita, WiiU, 3DS, PS3, 360)
Talos Principle, The (Deluxe Edition)(PS4, PC)
Wasteland 2: Director's Cut (PS4, XB1)
Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, The - Heats of Stone (PC, PS4, XB1)

Wednesday, Oct 14
Goosebumps: The Game (XB1, 360)

Friday, Oct 16
Warhammer 40,0000: Deathwatch - Enhanced Edition (PC)

SONY had E3 announcements for the Vita all along!

Sony has had a strange relationship with their portable platform. They are no longer producing first party games, but the system is still getting tons of support from third party studios.

Vita sales pale in comparison to Nintendo's 3DS, but it still has a nice foothold on the market.
Check out the video below to see a few games coming to the platform. Most recently the platform has sold over 600,000 units in Spain, and that's nothing to scoff at.

Late to the Party: Tomb Raider (1996)

Price I paid: About $1.50 as part of a Tomb Raider bundle while it was on sale on Steam.
Available on: Steam (reviewed), PlayStation, PlayStation Store, Sega Saturn, GOG.com, and probably others.
Released: 1996

When a game is so old it cannot recognize a mouse and the default controls have you using the arrow keys to move, it’s easy for it to turn players off. When the port to PC is so shoddy it loads a black screen if you don’t trouble shoot, I had to play it in windowed mode that didn’t take up my whole screen, and it looks like you’re watching the cutscenes through window blinds, it becomes difficult to enjoy the game because of all its problems. So when I say that Tomb Raider (1996) was one of the best games I played this year despite all of that, you better believe this gem has not lost its shine after 19 years. Unfortunately, I’m just not sure if I can recommend it because of how awful the port is.

Playstation 4 Is Getting a Portable Monitor Thanks To Hori

In last week's Pixel Loadout hangouts session, our fearless leader Kevin Harrison reminisced about an era in gaming history where each console of the generation (PS2, XBox and Gamecube) had a dedicated monitor.

Well here we are and like a blast from the past Hori has stepped up and is giving us gamers a monitor to game on!

While I am normally dismissive of such peripherals for being either low build quality or having poor performance, Hori is a well-known Arcade Stick manufacturer that is regarded as being at the top of the market. Being so engrained in the competitive fighting game scene I expect that they have performance in mind so hopefully we have something to look forward to.

Reported Specs are as follows:
Size 11 inches wide
External Measurements: 279mm x 275; 8mm x 28mm (10.9in x 10.8in; .3in x 1.1in)
Weight: 1.2 kg (2.6 lbs)
Full screen resolutions: 1920x3 (RGB) x 1080
Display Color: 18 bit color (262, 144 colors)
Maximum Brightness: 350cd/m2
Response Time: 25ms TYP
Video Input: HDMI x2
Audio Output: Internal Stereo Speakers, 2 headphone Jacks
Resolution: 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
Power Source: Attached AC adaptor DC 12V/2A
Electricity Usage: 24W maximum
Other: 250 mm (~10 in) HDMI cable

Source: www.dualshockers.com by way of www.gamersbook.com

July PS+ Preview

July is bringing a bunch of changes to the PS+ Formula. Beginning in July each platform (PS3, PSVita and PS4) are gauranteed 2 games each at no extra charge for PlayStation+ subscribers. Another change is that all of the games will be available for acquisition on the first tuesday of the month (July 1st). Read on to see what games are available for each console!

Dead Space 3 (PlayStation 3)

 The third installment of the main Dead Space series. This game makes a transition from the more suspensful formula of the first two games and transitions into a more "Action" take. In order to appeal to more fans, the silent protagonsit was also given a voice and it also includes a new multiplayer co-op that you have to do to access some hidden content.

Vessel (Playstation 3)

An indie game released in 2012 from developer Strange Loop Games, Vessel is a Puzzle-Platformer with a steampunk theme. The puzzles are physics based and generally require intuitive uses of water to progress.

Muramasa: Rebirth (PSVita)

Muramasa: Rebirth is the Vita port for the well received Wii game 'Muramasa'. In the game you choose between a possessed princess or a rebel ninja, each with their unique storylines, and topple gods and demons to fulfill your quest. The game features replayability in the form of Wave-based survival modes and a content grind which unlocks powerful and unique weapons. It is renowned for its beautiful hand-drawn artwork as well as the simple yet free-form combat.

TowerFall Ascension (PS4)

 TowerFall Ascension is a competitive multiplayer arena game where players fight each other on a 2D plane. The game is inspired by games such as Nintendo's Super Smash Bros series and features power ups and special abilities that players can use to destroy each other.

Strider (PS4)

 Stider is a 2014 update to the classic title of the same name. In this game you don the role of Hiryu, a cyber-ninja tasked with bringing down an evil power in the distant future. The game features a metroid-vania style of dungeon and ability progression.

Doki-Doki Universe (PSVita, PS3, PS4)

Doki-Doki Universe is a dynamic game with cartoon-visuals in which the player tries to discover and understand humanity. The game is unique in that it ivests much of the players personality in the discovery process as they discover and develop the main-character and the world around them.

Mark Cerny and The Road to PS4

I'm always fascinated about looking at video games from a historical perspective and the kind of decisions that have lead to what we play today.  Mark Cerny is a hugely important person in the gaming world when it comes to the success of the Playstation brand.  This sort of all-inclusive history as told by him gives us some fascinating insight to a console's creation process (as well as admitting some failings of such work as well).  While this kind of presentation isn't for everyone, if you have a vested interest into various topics such as the growth of game development teams or the choice to use the Cell processer in the PS3, you might like this.