I gotta admit, Forza is the last place I’d expect to see a Fallout 4 tie in, but here it is. The recently released Forza 6 is getting a Fallout themed racing pack featuring two cars inspired by the upcoming sequel. The first is a rusty 1956 Ford F100 with a Vault-tech inspired paint-job while a second vehicle, a Chryslus Rocket 69 coupe, will be available soon for only a limited time. I can’t imagine putting your beat up Ford F100 up against the game’s multi-million dollar sports cars, but hey, whatever makes you happy. This isn’t the only Fallout 4 promotion either. Bethesda has partnered with Jones Soda Co (the maker of all those bottled hipster sodas with pictures on them) and Target to produce Nuka-Cola Quantum, a brand of cola inspired by the game’s radioactive beverage which has it’s caps used as currency. Fortunately, unlike its digital counterpart, there will be no trace of radioactivity. As you know, Fallout 4 hits next Tuesday for Xbox One, PS4, and PC. Hopefully this should tide you over until then.

For the past few years, there has been a trend in gaming. More and more newer games have been taking a classic retro approach to the point where you’d swear the newest release was an NES game rather than something you see on Xbox One, Steam, or PS4. Games such as Shovel Knight, Hotline Miami, and Retro City Rampage have relied on a minimalist retro design rather than utilizing the latest graphical engines. You know what? I’m cool with it. Guys like me grew up playing games like these, and it’s always nice to see a throwback to gaming’s classic era. Odallus – The Dark Call is the latest entry to utilize this style of game design, and fans of classic gaming will love it.
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Created by designer Sam Barlowe (Silent Hill Origins, Silent Hill Shattered Memories), indie game Her Story is a throwback to Sega CD FMV games of the 90s. However, it has more in common with games like Gone Home and Hate Plus in the way that you are given the narrative in pieces and have to rely on your critical thinking skills to put together the details. You are given the task to revisit a 1994 murder case, and you have to piece together the details by examining a database of videos stored on an old computer. The videos are consist of a series of interviews with a woman suspected of killing her husband. You have to dig through the database by using keywords. When you find results, you will only be able to access 5 at a time even though the results might have bought back more. Therein you have to examine the videos in order to find additional keywords in order to filter through the videos. As you keep looking at the video footage, it becomes clear that there is more going on with this woman than just the murder. While there is a completion message and a credit sequence at some point, there is no real ending to this game (even if you unlock all the videos), and the plot is open to your interpretation. Like other games of its type, it obviously isn’t going to appeal to everyone. However, if you love a good story, Her Story is a good way to spend $4.99.

This past August, there were reports that Fox was interested in bringing a live action X-men series to TV. Today, we got details on two new series that are coming to TV thanks to a partnership between Fox and Marvel TV. Hellfire will be coming to Fox while Legion will be coming to FX with a pilot already being ordered. Both projects are executive produced by X-men movie director Bryan Singer, with Legion having Noah Hawley (Fargo) attached to it as head writer. Hellfire will take place during the late 60s and follow the exploits of the club of millionaire mutants that was introduced in X-men First class, and is features prominently in the comics. A special agent investigates the group after learning that a powerful woman is in charge of the group. Legion will tell the story of Charles Xavier’s illegitimate son, David Haller, a powerful mutant with schizophrenia. While there are obviously no details in the way of date, stars, timeslot, or even if these shows are in X-men movie continuity, this is certainly exciting news for fans of Marvel’s merry mutants. It’s even more surprising to see Marvel TV and Fox working together in spite of Fox’s stinginess over the X-men and Fantastic Four rights.

Marvel Puzzle Quest is a popular free-to-play adaptation of D3 Go’s Puzzle Quest franchise. Based loosely on 2009’s Dark Reign storyline, players collected heroes and utilized them in a match-3 game in order to bring down several of Marvel’s top villains, unlocking and leveling up their heroes as the game progressed. Thanks to Wayforward (Contra 4, Shantae, Mighty Switch Force Go), the game will be hitting Xbox One, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Playstation 4 later this year as a fully paid title. The game itself will be $14.99 when it releases, and players won’t have to buy bundles of coins or ISO-8. As the game won’t feature all of the heroes from the mobile game at launch (as of now the mobile versions of the game feature over 80 unlockable heroes including Lady Thor), the game will have downloadable content releases. The game will feature local and online multiplayer, which isn’t in the mobile game. No word on the exact release date, but it will be on display at this week’s New York Comic Con along with a version of Puzzle Quest based on Adventure Time. While I would like to see versions of the game for PS Vita and Nintendo 3DS, this will still be a perfect deal for fans who are intrigued by the game but were put off by the f2p features from the mobile game.

Karate Champ is a different kind of fighting game. A spiritual successor of sorts to old school karate games like Karate Champ, Battle K-Road, and Best of the Best Championship Karate, Karate Master 2: Knockdown Blow puts emphasis on realism rather than fantasy bullshit like fireballs, high jumps, and spinning kicks. Unlike those old school games, this game actually looks and plays well. The game’s graphics area throw back to SNES and Neo-Geo fighters, and the controls are responsive. You are in control of a young martial artist who has a dream of opening his own dojo. You have to master several different styles of combat, increase your fame by competing in tournaments, and earn money by working the forklift. The game tends to get repetitive, but you’ll get into grinding, training, and enhancing your skills. There are several training exercises to unlock, one of them even involves a bull for those of you who played Karate Champ back in the days. The matches themselves utilize real life karate rulesets, and they get brutal. You and your opponents can suffer torn muscles, concussions, broken bones, and other gruesome injuries. While the game could benefit from some customization options, a multiplayer mode, and a bit more variety, the game is still fun, and if you are a martial arts aficionado, you’ll be into its realism. Oh, and it’s on sale for $5.99 on Steam until next Monday.

This past April, Running with Scissors released the Paradise Lost expansion for Postal 2 – 12 years after the game’s original release.

It’s a great time to be a fan of old school games, even if the game is only a decade or two old. Every other week seems like there’s an HD remake, dlc expansion, spiritual successor, compilation, or plain old re-release of a classic game on the horizon. Take Postal 2 for instance. This past year, developer Running With Scissors released Paradise Lost, an expansion for Postal 2 which sees the Postal Dude returning to his hometown, which has been reduced to a radioactive wasteland. Along with Postal, four other games from the late 90s and early 2000s are receiving new content this year. Read on to see what’s new with your favorite modern day classics.
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Project X Zone 2: Brave New World, the mega crossover featuring characters from Capcom, Namco Bandai, and Sega was featured this past week at the Tokyo Game Show, and several new characters were revealed. Chrom and Lucina from Fire Emblem Awakening join the cast, which now means that we could be seeing characters who aren’t originally from a Capcom, Sega, or Namco game. Also, Fiora from Xenoblade Chronicles joins Kos-Mos to form a team. These 4 characters will join characters such as Pheonix Wright, Leon Kennedy, and Jill Valentine as just a few of the many playable characters in Project X Zone 2. There’s another new character coming to Project X Zone 2 as well. Find out who it is after the jump.

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