I really enjoyed the firstYakuzagame. It managed to cram a lot of interesting things to do into a area that never felt as overwhelming as many other sandbox-style games. Plus, the story interested me and I found the combat system to be really satisfying. Now, nearly two years after its release in Japan, the rest of the world is finally getting to check out the sequel. I realize it won’t make much of an impact, running as it is on hardware that’s already on its last legs and particularly with all of the other AAA content coming over the next few months....

It was pitched with a PowerPoint and everything! One of the big new features for the latest iteration of the DualShock controller is its Share button. It will allow users to, for instance, broadcast footage of the game they’re playing with minimal effort and representsa “huge focus”for the PlayStation 4, according to Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida. Chatting withEdge, Yoshida gave background information about who, exactly, brainstormed the concept. “I think it was [creative director] Nathan Gary in Santa Monica Studios who suggested it: how about adding a dedicated button on the controller so that everybody can just press that button to share?...

Don’t spend them all at once SEGA has seen fit to grace the Internet with two new screenshots forAliens: Colonial Marines. One of them features some people, one of them features the Queen. You can look at them with your eyes and then think about them in your brain. Won’t that be nice for you? Is it February yet? Can it be? Can SEGA just send it over now? I’ve just about had enough of not having this....

Oh, don’t tell me you honestly didn’t see this one coming!Angry Birdshas become Finland’s chief export, so naturally, a theme park was going to be constructed. It happened withPokémon, it happened with Charles Dickens (true story!), and it’s happening with Rovio’s golden goose. Technically, the forthcoming Angry Birds Land will not be a standalone attraction but a themed addition toSärkänniemi Adventure Parkin Tampere, Finland. In other words, Angry Birds Land is to Särkänniemi as Seuss Landing is to Universal’s Islands of Adventure....

Looking sharp I mostly rememberChimeas a game that hadone super easy achievementworth 50 Gamerscore. It did a thing where proceeds went toward charity, so just buying the game was enough of an achievement, I guess. I was pretty bad atChime, so I don’t remember getting much further, but I did enjoy the relaxing time I had with it. It turns out that developer Ste Curran is working on a followup for Linux, Mac, and Windows calledChime Sharp, and it went up onKickstartera few days ago....

[Update:Contest over! Winners will be notified via Twitter PM by the end of the weekend.] Dyad— Shawn McGrath’s psychedelic, puzzling, “abstract racing game” for the PlayStation Network — isfinallyout! PlayStation Plus users can expect a 20% discount off the $14.99 asking price, but an even better deal would be winning one of the 10 codes Destructoid is giving away! Jonathan Holmes had adifficulttimeputting into words exactly whatDyadis, so we’re asking you for help!...

You can’t make me call it a ‘ZOMBA’ The closed beta forDead Island: Epidemichas gone liveand can be played “24/7,” on the off chance you signed up for it at the beginning of the month and haven’t since lost interest. In this multiplayer online battle arena game, three teams of four survivors attempt to gather supplies and take control points while zombies do their best to make these tasks challenging. I missed hearing that players will have direct control over their character (WASD + mouse), which had meslightlymore open-minded aboutEpidemicuntil I saw a few videos on YouTube....

My “What I want for the PSP2” article, written last October, was a list of daydreams for Sony’s next portable. I thought it would be fun to revisit the article today, a day before Sony fully unveils this new portable to the world.Jim shared a similar list of wishesa few months later, though it was quite a bit more…lively than mine. He called Sony “sh*tting chimps” while I was dishing out boundless love for my favorite portable....

The Destructoid Show sleeps through its alarm sometimes Hey everybody! I’m wearing a really stupid shirt, it must be Friday! Suddenly, there are two newEverquest Nextgames on the horizon, and they look really cool. Quakecon is happening right now, and there’s some Bethesda news out of that, includingWolfenstein: The New Orderbeing delayed andThe Elder Scrollsanthology. In spite of underwhelming sales,Square Enixis still gonna keep making AAA video games, and anotherTomb Raideris in development for next gen....

Destructoid readers are the first to see the first developer diary from the team at Sony Online Entertainment working onMagic: The Gathering Tactics. This is what you’ll be seeing when you first fire up the game and start delving into the universe of the Planeswalkers in a new take on what has become a legendary series. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I have my doubts as to how successful this can be....

Contrary toour satirical articlein which I saidFinal Fantasy XIIIwould be blatantly better on the Xbox 360, Square Enix has revealed that Blu-ray will lead to a superiorPS3version after all. The Xbox 360 version isgoing to featurecompressed video and audio, presumably in an attempt to get as much content as it can on one DVD. Despite the compression, the Xbox 360 version willstillship on multiple discs. Meanwhile,Final Fantasy XIIIon PS3 will be uncompressed and resplendent on a single dual-layered Blu-ray disc....

Now you’re playing with power! Nostalgia’s a hell of a drug, eh? Nintendo’s banking on it this fall when it releases theMini NESfor $60. It doesn’t seem like a risky venture, though; it feels like a smart one. This thing will sell like hotcakes. Still not convinced? Would a totally tubular ’80s-styled video change your mind? There’s a laser grid and that neon purple aesthetic that makes it look like it jumped right out ofDavid Hasselhoff’s “True Survivor” video....

Quite a while ago, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford tookdevelopers like Bungie and Infinity Ward to task, admitting thatHaloandCall of Dutymight be top tier games, but that he wants to see what else these studios can do. Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling hasresponded to the call, promising that Infinity Ward isn’t just a one-trick pony, and that other projects may come along. “Well, we like to do new stuff all the time as well,” he stresses....