Mara rides again, so NSFW Ever since we came up with the idea for Occamsdex, I have been looking for the excuse to do aShin Megami Tenseientry, as it is my favorite RPG series. Besides, what would you expect from someone that named themselves after Pixie the Fairy? With the release ofShin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypsethis week, I have the perfect excuse to do just that and I turned to the community last week to submit their favorite demonic beasties and deities from that multi-faceted series....

What a lovely sounding game! Talented composer Laura Shigihara is best known for herPlants vs. Zomiessoundtrack, but she has also had her hands in other great soundtracks, includingWorld of Warcraft, Penny Arcade’s On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness(I also worked on that game!), and one of my favorites, the heartstring puller indie gameTo the Moon. After about a year of development, Shigihara is now revealing her latest, calledProject Rakuen. Shigihara is working alongside friend and artist (and fellow former EA employee) Emmy Toyonaga to create a game that she describes as a mix betweenManiac Mansion, The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past, andTo the Moon....

With all the turmoil centered around layoffs at38 StudiosandBioWare Austin, it’s comforting to note that there’s some developers out there who have been around a while and go from strength to strength. Such as Vancouver’s Relic Entertainment who is celebrating its 15th anniversary. Founded in 1997, they knocked it out of the park with the brilliant outer-space RTSHomeworld. After releasing a sequel, Relic got down to the business of translating Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40K universe into the excellentDawn of Warfranchise....

Radical Summer Psyonix is keeping players busy all summer. Now that Psyonix is owned by Epic Games,Rocket Leagueis leaning into one of the thingsFortnitedoes best: Limited-time modes. A trio of LTMs span the summer months with enough 80s flair to make a-ha blush. Starting on June 10,Rocket Leagueshines a spotlight on 80s movies with aGhostbusters-themed event. The Ghost Hunt mode has players firing proton beams to carry the ball to the opponent’s containment zone....

And Ryu’s releasing early [Update:Best Buy has changed orders for Ryu back to March 18.] Two of the amiibo that are releasing in March are up for pre-order right now on Best Buy’s website.RyuandFamicom ROBare both available, but, like always, there’s no telling how long they’ll last. Logic would dictate that Ryu will be a pretty popular figure, given the crossover appeal toStreet Fighterfans. An interesting note is that Ryu’s release date also seems to have been pushed up by ten days....

Rather tempting weekend deals There are a number of separate Steam deals going on this weekend and with the big holiday sale seemingly not happeninguntil at least mid-December, I … oh. My money’s already gone. Ubisoft has discountedCall of Juarez: Gunslinger, andFar Cry 3: Blood Dragonto $7.49 each. The latter is easy to recommend at that price, and I seem to recall people quite liking the more arcade-y take onCoJas well....

Tecmo throws a damned good party. The above video does a pretty good job of showing that. Faithful Destructoid readers might remember ourtotally tasteless Tokyo Game Show 2007 press party coveragefrom last year. In it, we detailed an equally epic press-only party from Tecmo. In fact, last year we even gave youvideo of their lovely maids. This year the “entertainment” was cowgirl cheerleaders, serving both the Western press and the launch ofTecmo Bowl....

Plus: RIP X-Men Destiny Here’s today’s action-packed Destructoid Show! Bethesda has released a big ol’ video aboutThe Elder Scrolls Online,Call of Duty: Black Ops 2is allowing the internet teenagers to livestream their online gun-shooting right from their gaming system of choice,Silicon Knightsis being forced to destroy all their Unreal Engine 3 games, and some Navy SEALs got in trouble for working onMedal of Honor: Warfighter. The big news? Well, the cat’s out of the bag aboutGrand Theft Auto V, and it sounds awesome....

The Secret Worldis coming along quite nicely. We saw Funcom’s unconventional modern day, classless, action driven MMO at their offices late last year, but I’ve had the pleasure of checking in on their progress last week. They’re about to wrap up on about a decade of work, putting the final touches on thisearly summer release, and it’s clear that they’re excited for the world to start playing their game. Funcom was nice enough to have us out to show off a bit more of the game’s huge story and world, a couple of the insane dungeons and several of the most brutal bosses I’ve ever encountered....

A faster-than-expected turnaround for this Early Access game A couple of weeks into its Steam Early Access run,Torchlight IIIis readying its first big update. On June 30, Echtra plans to addTorchlight III‘s “third and final act” (Echonok mountains), the Contracts system (and Fame), and a nasty flock of “bird-machine hybrid scavengers” called the Voltura. “These features will be accompanied by a vast list of fixes and updates to other areas of the game,” CEO Max Schaefer said in a post on Steam....

Wargaming = high rollers A familiar site at every E3 for the past few years has been a giant tank sitting just outside West Hall of the LA Convention Center. Wargaming has been constantly promoting its free-to-play tank shooterWorld of Tanks, and the strategy has paid off big time. As Wargaming CEO Victor Kislyi explained to me, the entire Wargaming staff numbered only 60 people four and a half years ago....

Coming to Scorpio too Well, that extremelyofficial looking Target leak was right! WB has officially announcedMiddle-earth: Shadow of War, the follow-up toShadow of Mordor. It’ll hit the PC and PS4, as well as Xbox One as an “Xbox Play Anywhere” game. It’s launching on July 09, 2025, and will hit the Scorpio (which we still know next to nothing about) later that year. Akin to games working on PS4 and PS4 Pros interchangeably, WB also confirms that it will be playable on the Scorpio for no extra charge....

Something like Kamitani’s latest New Year’s drawing, I reckon Vanillaware chief George Kamitani has a lovely annual tradition. Every New Year’s theDragon’s CrownandOdin Spheredesign director celebrates by sharing a lavish piece of art with the world. It isn’t a teaser for the studio’s next project. Well, it could be. History suggests otherwise, though. The previous pieces, some of which are pictured below, bear little resemblance to Vanillaware’s recent ventures, you know, aside from Kamitani’s unmistakable signature style....