Out of the Park Developments make some pretty decent baseball games. They have their main franchise on PC, Out of the Park Baseball, which they’ve also adapted to mobile in the form of MLB Manager. The former is celebrating a new release on steam in the form of Out of the Park Baseball 19.

To mark the occasion the developer are discounting their other baseball titles, including MLB Manager 18 which is the latest iteration of the mobile franchise. We currently don’t have our own review (something we’ll fix ASAP), but here’s the official blurb for MLBM 18 if you haven’t come across it yet:

MLB Manager 2018 features a living world that uses the same realistic simulation engine found in Out of the Park Baseball, the best-selling and best-rated baseball management game of all time. Each MLB team in the game features its actual 40-man projected 2018 Opening Day roster. The player ratings are based on the ZiPS player projection system created by famous baseball analyst Dan Szymborski.

You’ve got until the end of Friday, July 20^th to pick up the game at a 60% discount on both iOS and Android.

Hardback is a deckbuilding card game, which, if you’ve been living under a rock for the past ten years means that each player starts with a similar set of basic cards and gradually builds an individual deck by buying cards from a common pool. It makes the meta-game of buying cards for a collectable card game into the actual game on the table.

The twist with Hardback (and Paperback before it) is that cards are letters that can only be played as part of dictionary words. At first glance, screenshots might make it look like a word puzzler similar to Bookworm, but, of course, you shouldn’t judge a hardback by its preview images.

Playing Hardback like a pure word game is a great way to get trounced. You can play endless nine-letter deep cuts from the OED for peanuts while your opponent scores a ten-point “OFF” combo four times in a row to win the game. Hardback is fundamentally a deckbuilding game where high scores are built around adding cards to your deck that interact well with one another. The big difference between Hardback and a deckbuilder like, say, Ascension, is that plays rely on combining cards into words, so it can be a bit harder to build a reliable point-generating system. As with most deckbuilders, there’s very little interaction with your opponents. The players share a pool of buyable cards and occasionally a card played by one player can be shared by others, but this doesn’t make a huge impact on the gameplay.

If you played the previous game Paperback, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is how Hardback plays differently from Fowers Games’ previous title. The biggest and probably most elegant change is that the use of wild cards has been totally replaced with the simple ability to flip any card in your hand into a wild but losing that card’s points. This gives you a lot more flexibility in building words, shifting the focus on the game from word-building to clever management of cards’ special abilities and their influence on other cards in your hand and deck. Scoring has also changed in a way that puts focus on the special abilities: instead of buying points your cards can generate two different kinds of currency, one for buying cards and one for winning the game. A final change is the ability to draw a limited number of additional cards from your deck that you must use in your play, which lets you build bigger and higher scoring words if you are clever enough.

If you wished Paperback had more of a focus on building a deckbuilding-style ‘engine’ then Hardback is the game for you. On the other hand, if you are looking for a pure deckbuilder, you might find Hardback frustrating. Plays are not made of set groups of cards but can vary wildly based on the randomly-available cards, your own vocabulary, and the very limitations of the English language. The gameplay becomes a bit shaggy rather than purely tight like a classic deckbuilder.

Thematically, the game is a bit less on point than Paperback. Gone are the lurid pulp fiction covers, which were the most entertaining part of the graphic design for the previous game. Replacing them are varying font choices representing genres of books (Horror, Romance, etc.) that serve as ‘suits’ for matching card abilities. These can sometimes be hard to read and look to similar to one another–the font for the Horror-genre Y is very V-like for instance, and the style of the Adventure cards is a bit too close to the appearance of the generic cards you start with.

The mobile adaptation is well-coded, with only a few annoyances. I hit one game-breaking bug where a zoomed-in card wouldn’t retreat back into the screen to let me play, but I could easily restore my autosave to get out of it. Some buttons were less-than-responsive and more than once I tried to hit confirm only to accidentally close the popup. It does not play very well on very small screens, because the cards have a lot of information that is presented with very tiny icons. There’s a lot of screen real estate unused, so I wish the designers could have been more economical with the GUI. However, it is certainly playable, and it’s easy to zoom in on individual cards, albeit with the occasional interface hiccup. The AI is acceptable, but a good player will quickly outpace it. Pass-and-play and online multiplayer will offer more challenge.

Basically, Hardback is what it advertises on the cover: it’s a combination of a deckbuilder and a word game. If either of those elements is a turn-off for you, or you aren’t interested in a game that dilutes the elements of one genre with another, then Hardback won’t be the game for you. But, if you like both, the combination is definitely fun and interesting, and this mobile adaptation is worth the price.

© 2018 Valve Corporation. All rights reserved. All trademarks are property of their respective owners in the US and other countries.

© 2018 Valve Corporation. All rights reserved. All trademarks are property of their respective owners in the US and other countries.

Hi there! 20XX, out today, is an action-platformer roguelite that plays like the 2D sidescrolling platformers of yesteryear, but with random level generation so it’s always fresh, and co-op so you can play it with a friend! If you’re reading this, you’ve either jumped into 20XX and gotten whomped a few times, or you’re really excited to. 20XX is a very knowledge-based game; the more you know about the game’s ecosystem, the better prepared you’ll be for every Job you undertake. While 20XX is a challenging game, its wide range of difficulty options make it accessible to any gamer looking for an action platforming challenge. Here are a few nuggets to help you get going.

Use Boss Powers

When you defeat a boss, you’ll have the option to take his power, some nuts (currency), or a stat-boosting Augs. It’s tempting to take the known quantity – money’s always good, and a damage or health boost can be really handy – but until you know enough about each power to know which ones you don’t want, try them out! Powers make every contractor’s life easier – each either deals excellent damage, helps keep you safe, or both. In addition, powers each have two special properties.

1) Each boss has one power they’re weak to (learning this cycle will make your life a lot easier)
2) Each power has a bonus utility effect. For example: the Boomerang Blade (from the Rollster boss) can pick up items for you, and the Force Nova (from Vile Visage) can destroy Skytemple’s laser pairs! Learning to effectively use 20XX‘s powers is a big piece of getting good at the game

Manage your Nuts

As you find nuts from slain enemies and destroyed crates, it can be tempting to spend them at every opportunity. The allure of spending three nuts per health to top off at a Green Machine is strong, but sometimes it’s better to resist unless you really need it. Spent wisely, your nuts can buy you powerful Augs to complement the way your character develops over the course of a run; spent poorly, your nuts can buy you items you don’t need and make you very sad. Knowing what Augs could be coming in a nearby shop — and knowing when to save for them — will dramatically improve your play.

Beware of Prototypes

Every so often, the game will offer you the chance to enter a Very Safe Lab. These labs are not very safe, or even a little bit safe, as their spooky music might indicate. The prototype Augs offered in these areas offer great power at a great cost; each has specific situations where it’s very useful, but careless acquisition of prototypes is sure to doom your run. Nothing’s worse than picking up Focusing Sagelens (massive boost to power damage, but basic attacks are almost useless) when you either have no boss power or no energy to use them with, but with the right setup, the Sagelens is a potent damage boost. Think before you pick them up!

Pay Attention to Stage Order

20XX‘s levels are randomly generated, but in most cases, you’ll still have some control over which stage and theme comes next. Each stage theme evolves over the course of a playthrough, and it’s important to make sure you have the tools you need to tackle the later stages of the game. If Skytemple gives you trouble, taking Force Nova (to disable its laser pairs) or picking Skytemple early will make your runs much easier.

Good luck learning the intricacies of 20XX. We hope these tips help ease you in.

With Sonic Mania Plus‘ recent release on Switch, it feels fitting to allow ourselves another chance to bask in the nostalgia-filled glory the original game presented. Sonic games can be a touchy subject to talk about, with fans of the series liking and disliking different elements of each – and a general sense of disappointment emanating from some recent Sega-developed releases – but Sonic Mania seemed to change all of this. Suddenly, Sonic fans were happy again.

But how did this happen? Why were Sonic fans pretty much universally enamoured with Mania? To try and answer this, Eurogamer recently sat down with the game’s project lead Christian Whitehead – a man responsible for a number of fan-made Sonic remakes before getting the official call-up from Sega itself.

“The first game I ever really played was Sonic 2 – and that really set off my interest in video games,” he says. “There was this special cheat debug mode, and for me it was the first time you could see some of the tricks of how games work. That really sparked my curiosity in how games are developed.”

This curiosity and fan-level understanding of what makes a Sonic game truly feel like a Sonic game helped Whitehead to produce Sonic Mania. In a period of time when fans of the series were left consistently underwhelmed with the latest games, Whitehead managed to stand up and give them a game worth celebrating. The full interview is very much worth a read if you’re interested, but this snippet below talks about Whitehead’s own ideas on what makes Sonic tick – and ultimately, what makes Sonic Mania so great, too.

“It’s interesting with Sonic. There’s a lot of different fans, and they all have different feelings on what Sonic is to them. So I can only use what my own personal feelings are for Sonic, and for me it’s always been… Obviously the character itself has a very appealing design, it’s very iconic. For gameplay there are a lot of inspirations from pinball – all these outside elements – almost skateboarding, really, the idea of picking up speed as you roll down slopes. It’s all these physics interactions.

“The core premise of the game is really simple – it’s just get to the end of the level and win – but there are so many different ways you can interact with the stages, picking up speed at certain angles, jumping off at certain angles. It’s got a very playground feel. Going fast feels good – and at the time on the Mega Drive that was a very impressive technical feat – but also the freedom of gameplay, it’s what appeals to me as a Sonic fan.

What are your thoughts on Sonic Mania and its relationship to other games in the franchise? Was it a welcome return to the gameplay you’ve always loved, or were you happy with Sega’s recent efforts anyway? Share your thoughts with us below.

Update: As if to lovingly prove us right, Nintendo France has shared this tweet to confirm a European release on the same day. North America is very much expected to follow suit.

Original Article: Nintendo has revealed that the lovely Octoling set of amiibo for Splatoon 2 will land in Japan this November.

To celebrate the release of Splatoon 2’s Octo Expansion, Nintendo had previously announced a three-in-one pack for Octoling amiibo, with Boy, Girl, and Octopus figures all available. This new tweet below reveals that the figures will become available in Japan on 9th November, either as that triple set or individually if you prefer.

No western release date has been confirmed just yet, but amiibo figures often release on the same day worldwide so we’d expect to see them in other regions on the same day (or at the very least in a similar time frame).

Will you be getting your tentacles on these?

Live Spectating:
* You will no longer be removed from the matchmaking queue while live spectating.
* Fixed a bug where you could get stuck in a Battle Cup match lobby.
* Alt-Clicking on the death screen damage numbers no longer incorrectly broadcasts the message.
* Fixed various bugs that would occur after changing the camera to Player Perspective and back to Free Camera (for example having to drag to select units, and still seeing that player’s mouse cursor).
* Chat can be now opened like normal by hitting Enter (live spectators still cannot send messages, but this allows them to bring up the chat history).
* Enemies can no longer be selected by clicking their portrait on the top bar.
* Fixed a bug where you’d see an error message if you tried to live spectate a game you were already live spectating.

This week at Bungie, we released a prestigious update to Destiny 2.

It’s been another busy week. We deployed Update 1.2.3, kicked off a World First raid race, and started up the last Faction Rallies of Season 3. All on the same day!

World First

We had a double serving of World First runs this week. Tuesday featured Prestige Eater of Worlds, and Wednesday followed up with Prestige Spire of Stars. Players already knew the mechanics and were at max Power, so it was just a matter of who could execute the quickest with the loadouts and modifier we threw at you. Here are the results…

Prestige Eater of Worlds

Prestige Spire of Stars 

Congratulations to these elite fireteams who rose above the rest. These races were close—Spire of Stars saw the top two teams finish within a minute of each other. The next World First race is coming in September. Maybe your team will be the next to be honored here. 

A Final Rally

Future War Cult is still riding high from the last Faction Rallies, where they claimed their first victory ever. Dead Orbit won the first event of this season, so New Monarchy should be eager to reclaim the crown they wore many times last season. Who do you think is going to win? Go to the Tower to cast your vote.

This is the final Faction Rallies event of Season 3. Grab up any gear you haven’t collected yet. Here is a look at what you can expect through the month of July:

Hotness

Here are a few moments from the event.

Player Support Report

You may have noticed we have a fancy new GIF. We are rebranding this section. Player Support Specialist Chris Alejo has the details.

Chris: Some of you may remember, in a bygone era, Bungie’s weekly blog was titled the “Bungie Weekly What’s Update.” In the age of Destiny, in partnership with our Destiny Operations Center, we took this name and began publishing a segment called “What’s Up, DOC?” The purpose of this segment was to inform Destiny players of known and emerging issues, as well as make official statements on the state of the Destiny service.

This segment has long since been authored by the Destiny Player Support team, but now we’re officially making it our own. Players can expect the same content and coverage that they’ve come to know in “What’s Up, DOC?”, but with a fresh coat of paint and a new identity. Our prime directive continues to be serving Destiny players.

Today, I’m proud to announce that this segment is donning a new name: the Player Support Report.

Destiny 2 Update 1.2.3

This week, we deployed Destiny 2 Update 1.2.3 to players. This update brought changes to the game experience, including Prestige raid lairs, new Exotic Masterworks, and Crucible playlist updates.

Since this update has gone live, two important issues have emerged that we’d like to bring to the attention of players:

• Armor earned from the “Leviathan, Eater of Worlds” raid lair is not displaying its Prestige raid lair ornament or ornament requirements. These ornaments may still be unlocked by completing the actions listed below. This information is also available in this help article.
• Head Armor Ornament: Complete Prestige “Leviathan, Eater of Worlds” and the Throne Challenge
• Arms Armor Ornament: Complete Prestige “Leviathan, Eater of Worlds” and the Gardens Challenge
• Chest Armor Ornament: Complete Prestige “Leviathan, Eater of Worlds” and the Pools Challenge
• Leg Armor Ornament: Complete Prestige “Leviathan, Eater of Worlds” and the Gauntlet Challenge
• Class Item Ornament: Complete Prestige “Leviathan, Eater of Worlds”

• Weapons earned in Prestige raid lairs cannot be infused directly into other Legendary weapons. They may be infused into Exotic weapons, and those Exotic weapons may then be infused into non-raid Legendary weapons, but players should exercise caution when doing so because non-Prestige raid lair Legendary weapons will be capped at 385 Power when infused. This information is also available in this help article.

[Editor’s Note: Weapons from Prestige raid lairs and armor from Solstice of Heroes were not intended to be infusion fodder for two reasons:

• These items are intended to be trophies, for players to show their accomplishments leading up to Forsaken.
  
• If players who own Curse of Osiris but do not own Warmind use these items for infusion, any gear infused above 335 Power will no longer be available for use.

Players who have already done this can claim a duplicate of their weapon from their Weapon Collections, which will become available to all players when Forsaken launches on September 4, 2018.]

Faction Rallies

Right now, Destiny 2 players are invited to participate in the final Faction Rallies event of Season 3. Players can pledge to Dead Orbit, Future War Cult, or New Monarchy for glory and rewards, but they should be reminded that all pledges are account-wide. 

Players in search of more information on Faction Rallies should see our Faction Rallies Guide. Players who encounter game issues should report them to the #Help forum.

Bungie.net Emblem Codes

Over the past months, players have had the opportunity to earn exclusive Destiny 2 emblem codes by participating in special offers in the Bungie Store, as well as by playing Gambit at E3 and GuardianCon. 

Players who have received these codes should visit our Code Redemption Guide for information on how they can redeem the codes. When redeeming Bungie.net codes, players should pay close attention to which account they are logged in with. Codes redeemed on unintended Bungie.net accounts will not be restored or returned.

Green Screen

 

Welcome to another edition of Movie of the Week. This is our chance to pick a few community-created videos and share them with a wider audience. The creators also get a special emblem for their excellence. If you want your shot, submit your video to the Creations page. Just make sure you tag the player names for all who contributed to the video in the description.

Movie of the Week: Like a River

Honorable Mention: My Tractor Is Sexy

Before we go, here are last week’s top scores for the Nightfall. We seem to have some familiar faces in the top three each week.

I’ve been out for a bit lately—went to visit the fam, then GuardianCon. It’s good to be back. This update is lighter than some, but we have a lot more we’ll want to talk about before the launch of Forsaken. We know you have burning questions about how exactly we’ll keep some of our promises regarding the new state of combat, and we’re working out details for how we’ll serve up those answers. Some of them will happen in real time on stream. Others will land right here, on a Thursday yet to come.

Keep your eyes on this space, and you’ll learn everything you need to know to take your first steps in avenging Cayde!

<3 Cozmo