In Ninja Gaiden Z you take the role of Yaiba Kamikaze who is an antagonist killed by Ryu Hayabusa, except Ryu didn’t finish the job and Yaiba is kind of pissed off about it he sets out to take revenge. That’s pretty much it for the story but it’s already more interesting than the usual “fiend” rubbish we normally get in Ninja Gaiden so we’ll take what we can get.

The game is being developed by Team Ninja, Spark Unlimited and Comcept which is Keiji Inafune’s new company that he headed up after leaving Capcom. Keiji Inafune is otherwise known as the man who created Megaman so he’s kind of a big deal. He’ll be serving as the game’s director with Grant Kirkhope providing the score.

Who is Grant Kirkhope? Well he’s probably responsible for some of your childhood memories as he was the man behind the excellent  soundtrack to the Banjo games.

As you can see for yourself Yaiba Ninja Gaiden Z is a completely different take on the series which is probably the right direction to go after Tomonobu Itagaki left Team Ninja in 2008. It’s always refreshing to see a series reinvent itself and as someone who had written off the series after the dreadful Ninja Gaiden III, it looks like they may have pulled me back in.

Yaiba Ninja Gaiden Z is still quite far off with a Q1 2014 release date but it’s arriving on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 so no need to make the jump to next-gen just yet. It could be rubbish, it could be great but I’m currently keeping my eye on this one and so should you. We’ll let you know more about Yaiba Ninja Gaiden Z as we learn it ourselves in the coming months ahead.

The post Yaiba Ninja Gaiden Z Trailer appeared first on Masonic Gamer.

Right time to get down to a quick analysis in regards to what’s new on the PlayStation Store and immediately the Calculator app on the PlayStation Mobile catches my attention. Clearly Sony has listened to the cries of fans across the world and are aiming to please everyone with a Calculator app for a mere 79p. The Last of Us will have to step aside , this calculator app is clearly Sony’s forerunner for game of the year 2013.

Once you’re done spelling “boobless” on the calculator app, you may also want to check out the awesome Jak & Daxter Trilogy. Don’t bother buying them separately, pick up the whole trilogy for a fair asking price of £19.99 and enjoy some platforming goodness on the PlayStation Vita. Well the first Jak & Daxter anyway considering the series decided to turn itself into a shooter with Jak II and Jak 3.

PlayStation 3 Digital Downloads

• 10 Pin: Champions’ Alley
  Price: £2.99/€3.59
  Availability: Not available in Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Turkey

• Bladestorm: The Hundred Years’ War
  Price: £15.99/€19.99
  Availability: All

• Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles Of Mystara (Trial available)
  Price: £11.99/€14.99
  Availability: All

• Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams (Trial available)
  Price: £11.99/€14.99
  Availability: All

• MotoGP 13
  Price: £39.99/€49.99
  Availability: All

• Thunder Wolves (Trial available)
  Price: £11.99/€14.99
  Availability: Not available in Australia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, India, Israel, Kuwait, New Zealand, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, Ukraine, UAE

• Tour De France 2013 – 100th Edition
  Price: £39.99/€49.99
  Availability: Not available in Turkey

PlayStation 3 Demo Downloads

• MOTO GP 13
  Availability: All

PlayStation Vita Digital Downloads

• Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power Of Two (available from 21st June in UK/IRE)
  Price: £11.99/€14.99
  Availability: All

• MotoGP 13
  Price: £29.99/€34.99
  Availability: All

• The Jak & Daxter Trilogy (available from 21st June for UK) (Cross-Buy)
  Price: £19.99/€29.99
  Availability: All

• Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (available from 21st June for UK) (Cross-Buy)
  Price: £11.99/€14.99
  Availability: All

• Jak II: Renegade (available from 21st June for UK) (Cross-Buy)
  Price: £11.99/€14.99
  Availability: All

• Jak 3 (available from 21st June for UK) (Cross-Buy)
  Price: £11.99/€14.99
  Availability: All

• Lego Legends Of Chima: Laval’s Journey (available from 21st June)
  Price: £24.99/€29.99
  Availability: Not available in New Zealand, Norway, Russia

• OMG HD Zombies!
  Price: £2.99/€3.59
  Availability: Not available in Australia, New Zealand, Russia

PlayStation Mobile Downloads

• Calculator (Game of the Year 2013)
  Prices: £0.65/€0.79

• Miko Gakkou Monogatari: Sanae Episode
  Prices: £2.59/€3.29

Source: PlayStation Blog Europe

The post PlayStation Store Update For June 19th appeared first on Masonic Gamer.

Check out the first look of the new PS4 interface in video below. The video shows just how easy it is to use your PS4 to download games including an option to download the multiplayer or single player mode first allowing you to jump straight into the action with your online friends. You will also see just how easy it is to capture and share gameplay video straight from your PS4. PS4 voice chat and twitter like chat feeds are also demonstrated in the video.

We at Masonicgamer.com would like to know what you think of the PS4, have you already pre ordered? Let us know in the comments below…

The post Check out the PS4 Interface appeared first on Masonic Gamer.

“When it’s difficult to see the line between playtesting and leisurely gaming around the studio, it’s a sure sign that we’ve created something fun with Vengeance,” said Mark Lamia, Studio Head of Treyarch.  “From the four multiplayer maps to our new Zombies experience, “Buried,” Vengeance continues doing what we set out to accomplish from the very beginning of development on Call of Duty: Black Ops II: pushing the boundaries of fans’ expectations.”

Call of Duty Black Ops II Vengeance delivers four new, diverse multiplayer maps starting with “Cove,” where the stage is set for all-out conflict on this small, forgotten island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, with players battling it out amongst the wreckage of a jet that crash-landed during a smuggling operation gone wrong.  Next up is “Detour,” a destroyed suspension bridge, high above an East Coast waterway, packed with scattered vehicles, exposed iron and collapsed pavement where the head-to-head action will play out on multiple levels.  The third map, “Rush,” sets the stage for fast, close-quarters engagements in this paintball course turned full-combat arena, giving players new opportunities and challenges to use the cover to their advantage.  Rounding out Vengeance’s multiplayer maps is “Uplink.”  In this re-imagined adaptation of the fan-favorite multiplayer map “Summit” from the original Call of Duty: Black Ops,players clash deep in the rain-soaked jungles of Myanmar, high atop a hi-tech mountain facility.

Treyarch yet again expands the Zombies storyworld in new, mind-bending ways with “Buried.”  Players meet up with old characters and will encounter new ones as they face off against the undead residents of an abandoned underground Old West mining town.  A healthy arsenal of equipment and weapons that will be at players’ disposal, but with one very special addition – something so powerful it will also appear in all other Call of Duty Black Ops II Zombies maps (with the purchase of Vengeance DLC): the Ray Gun Mark II.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II Vengeance will be available first, exclusively on Xbox Live for Xbox 360 for 1200 Microsoft Points on 2^nd July, with other platforms to follow. 

The post Call of Duty Black Ops II Vengeance All You Need To Know appeared first on Masonic Gamer.

Azael, the Lead Games Designer for WAKFU talks about the features within their latest project through a developers diary vid. Haven Worlds looks to be an impressive addition to the gorgeous online tactical turn-based MMORPG, with an emphasis on the player customizing their own personal region of the online world.

You can create your own region with it’s own fields, houses, taverns and – something altogether astounding – the monsters that appear. You can even kit out your houses and whatnot with different themed skins for extra added flavour – with an inclusion of a completely customisable version of each object just in case you were feeling that bit more special. Azael makes sure to emphasise that you will be able to move your objects around once you have placed them – this isn’t about strategic placement of towers, this is about creating an area that you will enjoy shaping to your own liking.

The concept of creating your own section of a world is nothing new to games; Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire introduced the Secret Bases and Habbo Hotel had you kitting out your room with all the furni that money could buy. But the idea that you can orchestrate how the monsters appear within your level has set a new agenda for the most creative folk out there.

Players will also be able create their own DUNGEON. If this doesn’t get you excited I don’t really know what will.

You can place your own casino, your own crafting workshop – if the possibilities aren’t endless, they’re pretty darned close.

Check out the video here:

Official Website

Ankama Games

The post WAKFU Developers’ Diary – Haven Worlds appeared first on Masonic Gamer.

It appears to be a growing trend these days that survival horror is just another way of saying “somewhat creepy third person shooter”. Shinji Mikami otherwise known as the father of survival horror helped pave the way for the genre with the Resident Evil games up until his departure from Capcom shortly after Resident Evil 4.

The Evil Within is Shinji Mikami’s return to TRUE survival horror, take at look at the small gameplay scenes from the interview Sony posted over on it’s YouTube channel.

There obviously isn’t a whole lot of gameplay to see but we do get a much better understanding of what the game will play like. It’s extremely atmospheric and very tense, the protagonist Sebastian is definitely not a one man army and players will no doubt have to be very careful with how that tackle various situations.

If there’s one thing that games these days have lost it’s the idea that the player is vulnerable at all times, our biggest fear as gamers is the dying but what do we have to be scared of if we can just unload entire magazine rounds onto bullet sponge enemies?

The Evil Within currently has a vague release date of 2014 and it’s looking downright amazing. If you’re a fan of survival horror, you know the genre where you might actually want to conserve your ammo and watch your health, then please keep an eye out for The Evil Within. It’s without a doubt one of the most promising games in development period.

The post The Evil Within Gameplay Trailer appeared first on Masonic Gamer.

Phoenix Wright Dual Destinies will NOT be getting a physical release upon it’s arrival later this year, instead it will be a digital download exclusive. Capcom states it’s to do with difficulties securing retail space for the game or something, hey whatever it sucks but there may be some hope.

Christian Svensson of Capcom Unity forums recently posted the following regarding the matter.

In the days after we announced AA5 for the West being digital only, and the requests of others for a physical release, we mobilized our US team to put together possible options that may address the concerns.

As a part of that process, Eshiro-san and I have met multiple times, including the morning where he gave the interview where he made the statement above. I was not quite ready to open the possibility to folks until we had a few more ducks in a row but Eschiro suggested he mention the potential in an an interview he was having that afternoon.

So, if you’d like to be heard, you can post on this thread (I’ll leave it open), PM me on Capcom-Unity or hit up my twitter (@chrissvensson) as many folks already have. I need some additional ammo and these requests fit that need.

Basically if you want that physical version of Phoenix Wright Dual Destinies then you’re going to have to let your voice be heard. I’m personally doing my bit to help by helping spread awareness via this post so hopefully enough fans respond in strong numbers that causes Capcom to reconsider a Phoenix Wright Dual Destinies physical release.

Oh and Capcom if we DO manage to get a physical release, can you be a little more careful with the typos. Thanks.

The post Want A Physical Phoenix Wright 5 Release? Make Some Noise Says Capcom appeared first on Masonic Gamer.

Although PlayStation Plus will be required to play most PlayStation 4 games online, some free-to-play games such as PlanetSide 2 and DC Universe Online will not require a subscription, Sony confirmed to Polygon in a statement during E3 last week.

The news comes straight from the mouth of Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios. In the statement, Yoshida told the site that the decision to gate a free-to-play game behind PlayStation Plus is “up to the publisher.”

Additionally, Yoshida also confirmed two other free-to-play titles that won’t require a subscription: Warframe from Digital Extremes, and Blacklight: Retribution from Zombie Studios.

And don’t worry ‘online movies services’ will remain for free, but they have not decided yet how the Cloud streaming of old games will work when launched later on in 2014, it might need an ‘extra fee’ on top of Plus also!

“It is time to charge, but it is time to charge and still continue to deliver phenomenal value,” SCEE UK & Ireland MD Fergal Gara told VideoGamer.com during E3.

“A PlayStation Plus subscriber for PlayStation 4 comes away with a hell of a lot. First of all, the subscription applies across all three platforms [PS4, PS3 & PS Vita], so if you have the three platforms then you have an instant game collection on all three. So that’s hugely powerful in its own right. But it is true to say that the online multiplayer element for PS4, you do require the subscription in order to [make use] of that.

“If you choose not to subscribe we are still gating relatively little in many senses, so access to online catch-up TV and online movie services sit outside of the gate, for example. The social features of PS4 and PS4 games sit out of the subscription service… things like auto-updates on PS4 sit outside of PlayStation Plus, so we’re trying to be as balanced and as fair as we possibly can. If you choose to pay the subscription, yes, you get one important element of modern-day gameplay, but you also get fantastic value in games, including the PlayStation Plus Edition of DriveClub.”

Auto-update functionality had previously only been available to PS Plus subscribers on PS3, and though it isn’t yet clear what Gara means by PS4′s “social features”, it’s possible he could be referring to the console’s broadcasting and video upload features.

The service seems relatively more open than Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE service, too, which blocks users from accessing services like Netflix and 4OD unless they’re an Xbox LIVE Gold subscriber.

Whether PlayStation Plus users will be required to pay an additional fee for access to PS3 title streaming through Gaikai, however, is still undecided.

“In short, we haven’t decided,” said Gara when asked whether the firm plans to introduce additional PlayStation Plus tiers to accommodate backwards-compatibility streaming. “The Gaikai developments are exciting. The Remote Play feature which we’re particularly excited about not just benefits PS4 but PS Vita – that uses some Gaikai technology.

“But secondly, the full cloud gaming service comes a bit later – we announced that 2014 will start to see that introduced for PS3 titles in the US, and we’ll start to see a gradual increase in consoles, titles, devices and countries involved as we go forward, so there is a plan there to bring the PlayStation experience to more devices out of the cloud using the Gaikai that will broaden over time.

“Will that be part of PlayStation Plus? I genuinely don’t know. Will that require some other, different charging mechanism? Perhaps. We just haven’t sat down to answer that question yet.”

The post Sony details PS4 PlayStation Plus changes appeared first on Masonic Gamer.

Let’s not jump the gun here, I’ve yet to play the game for myself and will be doing so next week at a invite only event Nintendo is hosting but isn’t it a bit weird to think “there’s a new Yoshi game and I sort of don’t care“. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but I personally believe that this is one of the finest games ever created.

It’s a classic no doubt about it, I even would go so far as to say it’s much better than Super Mario World (yeah I went there). From the striking visuals to the soundtrack to the amazing level design coupled with tight gameplay, the original Yoshi’s Island is just about everything any self respecting gamer could ever want from a game minus the annoying baby cries we all love to hate.

In 1998 Nintendo released Yoshi’s Story for the Nintendo 64 and whilst it wasn’t a bad game, it was kind of rubbish by Yoshi standards. I sometimes forget that a Yoshi game even exists for the Nintendo 64 which just goes to show how little I think of it. I own it on the Nintendo 64 and on the Virtual Console yet I can never seem to bring myself to spend more than 20 minutes playing before I get bored.

2006 saw the release of Yoshi’s Island DS for the Nintendo DS which stuck much closer to the original Yoshi’s Island formula instead of the weird fruit collecting madness seen in Yoshi’s Story. For reasons I honestly can’t even remember, Yoshi’s Island DS felt like a watered down version the original Yoshi’s Island. It’s still a very good game that I would recommend to others but it lacked that extra something that separates good games from the great ones.

It’s now 2013 and Nintendo is at it again with a new Yoshi game for the Nintendo 3DS. I’ll let you take a quick look at the newest trailer for Yoshi’s New Island.

The first reaction everyone has is typically “what happened to the art style?“. Well that’s a great question and I honestly don’t have a clue, it appears to be some kind of strange mix between Yoshi’s Island and the more “plastic” look seen in Rare’s Donkey Kong Country series. Here’s a better question though, what’s wrong with the original Yoshi’s Island artstyle that warranted a change in the first place?

In terms of gameplay I obviously can’t say much until I play it but is that giant Yoshi egg the only difference here? For what it’s worth Yoshi’s Island DS at least introduced new babies each with their own unique abilities. Yoshi’s New Island on the other hand just ends up looking like a lesser version of something I already played in 1995.

We’ve had some other Yoshi related titles over the years such as the awful Yoshi’s Universal Gravitation for the GameBoy Advance and the rather decent Yoshi Touch & Go for the Nintendo DS. When you combine all the Yoshi games together you end up with the amazing Yoshi’s Island, a solid sequel in Yoshi’s Island DS and a bunch of more forgettable titles that are usually farmed out to outside developers to mixed results.

There is however some glimmer of hope with Yarn Yoshi for the Wii U which is looking SUPER COOL, I’m VERY excited about this one and look forward to learning more.

Maybe Yarn Yoshi will be seen as the “spin off” title but you’d think that the game carrying the name “Yoshi’s New Island” would be the bigger deal out of the two upcoming Yoshi games. It’s almost as if Nintendo has more important matters to attend to so they throw out the Yoshi IP to random developers to see what sticks. If Yarn Yoshi does end up being awesome then I can’t help but think that it’s more down to Good Feel doing a good job rather than Nintendo going out of their way to make it so.

Anyone else feel that Yoshi is being consistently shunned by Nintendo despite starring in one of the greatest games of all time?

The post So The New Yoshi Game On 3DS Looks Kind Of Weird appeared first on Masonic Gamer.

The game will be available via the iTunes App Store for £13.99 for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch (complete list of supported devices is below).

XCOM Enemy Unknown for iOS takes the complete XCOM experience of the console and PC version of the game and optimizes it for the touch interface of iOS devices. XCOM: Enemy Unknown for iOS is a universal app that includes GameCenter support and utilizes iCloud functionality so players can save games across their iOS devices.

While not included at launch on June 20^th, the popular head-to-head multiplayer mode in XCOM Enemy Unknown will be added to iOS at a later date as a free update.

Complete list of supported iOS devices includes the iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad 4, iPad mini, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5 and iPod touch 5^th Generation

The post XCOM Enemy Unknown coming to iOS on Thursday appeared first on Masonic Gamer.