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Austin-based game developers, Minicore Studios have revealed at this year’s GDC in San Francisco that they’re currently working on a new PC/XBLA game named Laika Believes. The game tells the tail of Laika, the first dog to orbit the earth, however in this alternative reality Laika makes it back home as a half robot-half dog with advanced intelligence. She returns to a world where the Soviets have discovered highly advanced tech and stand as supreme rulers of the globe, while America and Great Britain are little more than smoking ash heaps. Against all odds, Laika believes that she can protect the countless lives crushed by the Soviets. The game is said to be a classic Metroidvania platformer, featuring:

• Massive, nonlinear levels that model the layouts of real locations in a way as of yet unseen in other platformers
• Large, choice-rich skill trees that let players approach the game how they want to
• A novel defensive mechanic that lets players turn the firepower of Laika’s enemies against them
• Smoothly flowing, fast-paced shooting action
• A story of struggle and hope, full of twists and revelations
• Rich, evocative art depicting a world overgrown by a technologically ascendant Soviet empire
• Secrets and rewards hidden in every corner for the determined player

Minicore Studios are aiming for a late 2012 or early 2013 release so it’s a while away yet but we’ve got some interesting concept art for you to check out after the cosmic jump.

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We announced this week that Grasshopper Manufacture’s Diabolical Pitch would be sliding into home on April 4 but now we finally have a price. The Kinect-enabled baseball throwing fest …
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In an preview on Hookshot Inc., we got additional details on the upcoming Bloodforge from Climax and Microsoft Game Studios. The story so far involves a warrior named Crom, …
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Everything you need to slice your way through
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I told myself I would never play Minecraft as I have this incredibly easy ability to become quickly addicted to something. To put it in perspective, I’m the guy who watches entire series of TV shows straight through in a day, not just seasons. I’ll try and fail for hours at a game like Super Meat Boy or Trials HD until I can get through sections perfectly. When I started Skyrim, I had eighty hours put into the game before I even remembered to start the main quest. When I fell in love with XBLA games, I helped start this website. So it was no surprise when I finally picked up a controller to play Minecraft an hour passed by like nothing had even happened.

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The February NPD report is out and it has proved to be yet another solid month for Xbox. Microsoft maintained its place as the top console producer selling 460,000 …
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Last summer, skateboarding legend Tony Hawk made use of Twitter to call upon fans of his videogame series to vote in their top 10 favorite maps from the series. Fans happily obliged, but Hawk was dismayed when his own fave, Downhill Jam, failed to make the cut. One of the advantages of being Tony Hawk, however, is that people tend to listen when you talk. Since the titular skater is such a mega-fan of the stage, Josh Tsui, co-founder of developer Robomodo, says the team decided to toss it into Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD despite it not cracking into the fan list.

Speaking at San Francisco’s Game Developers Conference, Tsui said that Hawk has remained “very involved” in the development process of the game. He’s also remains a big fan of his own games, and was seen playing the newest title while fielding questions during yesterday’s press event. It wasn’t just for sure either, as he appeared to be one of the best players of the day. Basically, the man has no shortage of clout when it comes to his licensed video game franchise.

As for the game itself, Hawk’s favorite map will join Warehouse, Mall, the Hanger, School II, Venice Beach and Marseilles as the stages in the HD remix, Tsui told you GDC man on the scene, John Laster. In addition, Joystiq has reported that Pro Skater HD could potentially receive some maps from the third and fourth games in the series as DLC. “The dream of doing this is we can throw levels from 3 and 4 and make them downloadable in this,” Hawk told them.

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This summer’s Trine 2 DLC will include six fresh stages, an entirely new story and plenty of new skills to complement some returning old ones, Frozenbyte Marketing Director …
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Almost every game does something right; whether it’s a fantastic new engine or physics, creative and quirky design, or interesting and challenging levels in which to experience it all, but to truly leave a mark a game needs to do everything right. After playing The Splatters a few dozen times and watching those colorful blobs explode and stain the screen, this could easily be one of those games. It’s launching on April 11 and it needs to be on your radar. Coming into GDC, I wasn’t too familiar with The Splatters or its developer Spiky Snail, an Israeli company founded in 2010 by two childhood friends. Yet throughout the week I keep finding myself wanting to come back and play more.

Players take control of these blob-like creatures and attempt to destroy bombs by exploding their splatter, releasing a paint like substance and coating the bombs in the paint. The basic controls are incredibly simple, as the left analog stick points the direction and the A button launches the splatter. Holding A will result in the splatter launching with enough force to cause it to explode should it come into contact with a wall or spikes, while lightly tapping the button will allow it to move locations. Players can change direction in midair both before exploding and after exploding through this same mechanic. The beginning levels have a few stages and slowly introduce basic mechanics. Every splatter that is still alive after completing a stage will continue to the next one until the end of the level where they will add points to a players score.

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We previously confirmed that The Splatters, developed by SpikeyNail, was coming to XBLA on April 11. Now thanks to Daniel McConnell, Product Manager at Microsoft Studios, we can also confirm …
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