Jump to content
Show all categories

What's New?

LeaveIt2Beaver
Hey Extra Life Community -
 
We have some exciting news to share! In an effort to help make fundraising more fun, more accessible and ultimately easier, we’ve added a new application to the Extra Life experience. Now you can fundraise through our mobile app made possible by a grant from the ESA Foundation! 
 

 
Extra Life Mobile App
Manage and share your Extra Life experience on the go with our new Extra Life mobile app. This free app lets you fundraise and connect with others through SMS, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & Email. You can update your Extra Life page and check your fundraising progress all from the palm of your hand. Learn more in our best practices section!

Download the app here: iPhone | Android
 
We’ve also spent the last couple of months improving the mobile experience on the Extra Life website so give the new apps a try. We want to hear what you think so send any feedback and ideas to community@extra-life.org or comment below and let us know!
For The Kids,

Mike Kinney
Team Extra Life
Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals
Jack Gardner
Today marks the official release of Capybara Games' Below, which first appeared at E3 2013 and then went dark for years. Between the official announcement and Below's release, the studio released Super Time Force and OK K.O.! Let's Play Heroes, but now their highest profile game is out in the world.
 
Capybara Games made a mark for itself when it released Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP for mobile and PC back in 2011. The title wove a magnificent soundtrack by Indie Game: The Movie composer Jim Guthrie into a mysterious RPG adventure that just felt great to play. Below seems to follow in those footsteps while relying on a set of roguelike dungeon-delving mechanics that include punishing combat and perma-death.
 
The tag line, according to the developers, is, "Explore. Survive. Discover." Players take on the role of an enigmatic explorer of The Isle, a small island in the middle of the ocean that holds the entrance to an underground ruin and cavern system that spans an unfathomable distance into the earth. The long abandoned ruins are home to all manner of perilous traps, deadly monsters, and rich rewards. As players proceed, they'll pick up many scavenged materials that can be used to craft tools and elixirs that could prove the difference between life and death. No one knows what awaits at the bottom of The Isle's ruins, but perhaps your journey will be the one to make it there in one piece. 
 
 
Below has launched on Xbox One and PC. While there are no announced release dates for PlayStation 4 or Switch, it's safe to assume that those will be coming sometime in the future as Capybara has only signed a timed exclusive deal with Microsoft for the game to release on their platform first. 
 
Don't forget to sign up for Extra Life to help sick and injured kids in hospitals around the US and Canada by playing games!
Jack Gardner
The musician and producer deadmau5 and his team won a charity gaming tournament this past weekend giving all $20,000 to Extra Life. This isn't the first time deadmau5 has supported Extra Life. Last year, he placed the winning bid on a coveted McDonald's Szechuan sauce being sold to benefit a number of charities, one of which was Extra Life! 
 
The tournament was put together by a partnership between eSports broadcasting network OGN and Player Unknown's Battlegrounds. OGN designed the event to bring fans and influencers together for charity while also commemorating the opening of OGN's Super Arena, one of the largest eSports arenas in the United States. The stage holds the unique distinction of being the only eSports arena in the country that can accommodate battle royale style competitions.  
 
Over the weekend, deadmau5 led his team of fans into battle at the OGN Supermatch: Alpha against fan teams captained by the professional gaming team Cloud9, streaming personality Jericho, YouTube stars The Try Guys, and more. Team deadmau5 came out on top in three of the four PUBG matches to secure the tournament win. The teams performed in front of a sold out crowd of about 400 people as they duked it out on the digital battlefields. You can watch the full broadcast below.
 
 
OGN also took the opportunity to launch an ongoing partnership with PUBG called the National PUBG League. The league will keep tournaments going year-round while OGN moves part of its operations from South Korea to the US. The Super Arena will play a major part in their plans for the future, allowing them to have an exclusive, professional stage from which to stream large competitive titles like Player Unknown's Battlegrounds and Fortnite. “With this event, our U.S. launch is now official and we are very excited to be able to unveil our new arena and studio for fans here and around the world,” said CJ E&M America (the parent company of OGN) CEO DJ Lee. “We can’t wait to show everyone the next phase in this journey.” 
 
It's so rad to see prominent people out there using their powerful platforms to rep for Extra Life. It's even more awesome when they are able to go out there and fight for the kids in such a public-facing way that gets people wondering about how they can play games and heal kids, too. You're amazing deadmau5, thank you! 
 
Don't forget to sign up for Extra Life to help sick and injured kids in hospitals around the US and Canada by playing games!
Jack Gardner
Players can now get their hands on 2084 a new first-person shooter with horror elements from the newly formed Feardemic development studio. The game follows the exploits of junior researcher Laura Lofi as she navigates an ever more deadly maze of horrors at the behest of her employer, Chiron Incorporated. Laura relies on hacking, gunplay, and her wits to stay one step ahead of the crazed hordes of infected civilians looking to nibble on the surviving members of society. Imprisoned by Chiron, possibly for her own safety, Laura will have to overcome the world of 2084 for a chance to see the outside world once again. 
 
2084 delivers an aggressively bleak vision of the future. Set in the Fifth Polish Republic, a horrible plague has swept through the country and decimated the population. Even worse, the infected become violent killers willing to sacrifice their own lives just to rip apart those still untainted with the disease. The futuristic cyber enhancements the majority of the population has installed in their bodies compounds the issue, making modified humans even more dangerous in their delirious state. 
 
With Cyberpunk 2077 looming on the horizon, the dystopian techno-future has become all the rage. Feardmic's FPS, only now entering Steam's Early Access development phase, hopes to capitalize on that trend with a slick action experience and psychedelic, beautifully messy imagery. The team expects to fully release the commercial version sometime in 2020. That might seem like a long way, but the Feardemic will regularly update the game with more content, story, and gameplay expansions in the time between now and final release. The title will be discounted 15% for a limited time to encourage people to give it a shot during this Early Access period. 
 
 
Feardemic burst onto the scene last year and exists as a wholly owned property of Bloober Team SA, the company behind the critically well received Observer and Layers of Fear. The studio initially developed 2084 as part of a 72-hour game jam held within the company. The central hacking mechanic captured the team's attention since it forced players to think quickly and react when given the small window to gain the upperhand while blasting away at the zombified masses. The CEO of Feardemic, Martin Kawa, made a case for how far the game has come and where it will go saying, "The Early Access version of the game is fully functioning and we have been receiving great feedback from players on both the story mode and on Chiron’s endless training arena mode. In the latter, foes are numerous and ammunition is scarce, forcing players to hone their shooting skills and reaction times to gain an advantage and climb up the leaderboard.”
 
The television-headed zombie-like enemies, the hacking in-combat mechanics, and the presentation of the story scenes in the Steam Early Access trailer all come across as incredibly compelling. Those touches put 2084 on an elevated playing field compared with the conga line of arena shooters that have released onto the Steam store over the years. There's effort and skill on display, though whether that pays off in a refined gameplay experience and cohesive narrative remains to be seen until the final release. Until then, Feardemic seems to have a solid grasp on a vision for 2084 and have added yet another worthwhile digital game to 2018's amazing year of video games. 
 
2084 is available on PC through Steam Early Acce- oh, 2084! Like 1984, but a century ahead! I get it now! Neat. 
 
Don't forget to sign up for Extra Life to help sick and injured kids in hospitals around the US and Canada by playing games!
Jack Gardner
The gang solves the mystery of the dark secret lurking in the heart of the Church of Bones and lifts the magic holding their sorcerous ally in bondage. After all, the guy just wants to resurrect a dead sport. What could go wrong? 
 
We Wanted Adventurers is a liveplay Dungeons & Dragons podcast that follows a motley trio of unlikely heroes as they bumble into adventures both big and small across the fantastical continent of Nevarrone. For the uninitiated, a liveplay podcast features an unscripted recording of a traditional tabletop roleplaying game, with all of the goofs and drama that comes with the territory.
 

 
"Static Motion", "Summon the Rawk"
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
 
You can download or listen to the podcast over on Soundcloud, our hosting site, and iTunes. You can follow the show on Twitter for updates. Let us know what you think of the show! We know that some parts of it are a bit bumpy, but I hope it doesn't get in the way of your enjoyment as we all learn and grow together. Thank you for listening! 
 
New episodes of We Wanted Adventurers will be released every Wednesday
 
Don't forget to sign up for Extra Life to help sick and injured kids in hospitals around the US and Canada by playing games!
Jack Gardner
Konami announced that the company had teamed up with IDW Games to create a tabletop game based on their popular Metal Gear Solid franchise. IDW has made a name for itself in bringing licensed properties to the table with projects such as a Planet of the Apes board game, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover with Munchkin, and even an adaptation of the classic Centipede arcade title. Metal Gear Solid will follow in the footsteps of those classics and become Metal Gear Solid: The Board Game.
 
Metal Gear Solid stood as one of Konami's flagship titles for well over a decade under the direction of game designer Hideo Kojima. Unfortunately, Kojima left Konami back in 2015 following the tumultuous development process of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. This left Konami in a bit of a pickle regarding the series he had personally overseen and imbued with his own quirky personality. His absence was later felt in Metal Gear Survive's lackluster release earlier this year. 
 
IDW Games revealed today that the tabletop has been designed by Emerson Matsuuchi which should be good news for fans of the Metal Gear Solid series. The game follows the story line of the first Metal Gear Solid game with each player taking the role of pivotal characters like Dr. Hal "Otacon" Emmerich, Meryl Silverburgh, Gray Fox, and, of course, Solid Snake himself. Each character possesses a unique skill that players will have to exploit to complete their objectives across each map. Missions can be completed in a variety of different ways as players contend with the open-ended gameplay and responsive AI of the enemies. IDW says that no two games will play out the same way. Matsuuchi is known for his work on Specter Ops, a well received stealth-action board game - very similar to Metal Gear Solid's core conceit.
 

 
It also helps that Matsuuchi has been a longtime fan of the Metal Gear franchise. “Ever since playing the first Metal Gear Solid, it has forever altered the way I view games. The story it told was so memorable and the gameplay experience so rich that it has shaped my expectation of games as both a designer and gamer," said Matsuuchi in the initial announcement from IDW. "The opportunity to bring this masterpiece to the table has been an honor and dream come true. I’m excited to be able to capture the tactical stealth action that is the hallmark of the franchise as well as create a new experience and story for the Snake fans. Age hasn’t slowed him down one bit.”
 
This step into board games isn't as strange as it might initially appear. IDW has worked with Konami in the past to create a line of Silent Hill comics that ran from 2004 until 2008. Those interested in seeing Metal Gear Solid: The Board Game in action can expect it to make its first hands-on media appearances at E3 in 2019. There's no word yet on when fans might expect the tabletop to release, but there's a good chance we could see it either at the tail end of 2019 or early 2020. 
 
Don't forget to sign up for Extra Life to help sick and injured kids in hospitals around the US and Canada by playing games!
Jack Gardner
Vane, an upcoming indie game courtesy of developers who previously worked on The Last Guardian, thrusts players into the skin of a bird who can take the form of a young child to explore the ruins of a decrepit civilization. Created by the folks at Friend & Foe Games, players will have to delve deeper and deeper into the mystical ruins of a culture long gone (or is it?). The trailer seems to intentionally remind the viewer of minimalist titles like Ico and Journey.
 
Vane comes to us courtesy of Friend & Foe Games, a studio founded in 2014 by several developers who have worked on titles like the previously mentioned The Last Guardian, but their pedigree also includes action-oriented games like Battlefield 3 and Killzone. Despite the impressive credentials, the studio isn't a large one. Their website only lists a team of eight who have worked on Vane. They also seem to have another project in the works; an arcade brawler titled Dangerous Men, though not much is known about it at this time.
 
As far as the story goes, all we know is that a pile of mysterious, golden dust transforms a curious crow into a young child. Armed with curiosity and the ability to transform back into a bird form, the kid begins to explore a vast world filled with wonder, excitement, danger, and dread. Mysterious technology begins to churn to life at the child's approach, reshaping the world as they continue their journey to who-knows-where. As the journey continues, who knows what shape the barren desert might take as it awakens. 
 
 
If you ever wondered what Ico would be like if you could turn into a bird and were exposed to existential terror, Vane might be right up your alley. in many ways it reminds me of Rime, last year's indie game about a child exploring a strange world from Tequila Works. That's some high praise given that Rime was flippin' great. Also, the synth music buoying the action in the above trailer is just excellent.
 
Vane will release on January 15 for the PlayStation 4. 
 
Don't forget to sign up for Extra Life to help sick and injured kids in hospitals around the US and Canada by playing games!
Jack Gardner
League of Legends was once the most played and most popular game in the world. To this day, it enjoys a colossal following that most games can't even dream of matching. Let's dive into the history of the MOBA genre and discuss some of the game's best qualities and biggest faults. 
 
With schedules being what they are, sometimes coordinating a full episode of The Best Games Period can be difficult. When we can't have a proper discussion, we will be breaking off to do these shorter mini-casts, Honorable Mentions, to talk about fringe games that we might not otherwise be able to talk about on a full episode.
 

 
Outro music: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening 'Sweet Dreams, Koholint' by DaMonz, Christine Giguère, Denis Bluteau (http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR03825)
 
You can download or listen to the podcast over on Soundcloud, our hosting site, and iTunes. A YouTube version is available, as well!
 
If you want to have your opinion heard on air, share your opinion in the comments, follow the show on Twitter, and participate in the weekly polls: @BestGamesPeriod 
 
New episodes of The Best Games Period will be released every Monday
 
Don't forget to sign up for Extra Life to help sick and injured kids in hospitals around the US and Canada by playing games!
Jack Gardner
Sonic the Hedgehog will be coming to the big screen in November 2019 and the official movie poster has made its way to a debut on IGN. Some interesting tidbits were dropped in the handful of quotes they were able to snag from people working on the production - it's totally worth a read if you have the time.
 
And without further ado, feast your eyes on the full Sonic the Hedgehog poster:
 
 
The poster reveal comes on the heels of a teaser trailer shown in Brazil that had the audience "agitated" and... yeah, that sounds about right. I'm anxious and excited and more morbidly curious than ever before to see what exactly this incarnation of Sonic will look and sound like. The team clearly intends for the hedgehog to be a more realistic take on the character than ever before, with hair effects and some updated running shoes that clearly had a lot of time and effort put into their design. Also, his hands. Look at them. Sonic is supposed to wear big, dumb gloves so that he doesn't have freakishly human-sized hands when compared to his massive noggin! OH NOOOOOO-
 
This live-action Sonic film stars Ben Schwartz as Sonic, James Marsden as a human sidekick named Tom Wachowski and Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik. The story, what little we now know about it, seems pretty straightforward: Sonic finds himself in the modern day world, befriends Tom Wachowski, and makes an enemy of Dr. Robotnik. Also, there will supposedly be sections of the film that don't take place on Earth, which hints at some interesting directions for the story. 
 
Also, apparently the realistic approach for Sonic's design means that they took a more grounded approach to the blue blur's eyes. What exactly that means is unclear since the poster doesn't reveal the character's eyes. Hopefully this creative gamble pays off in a charming character we can believe in and not some sort of eldritch monstrosity that haunts the popular zeitgeist for decades to come. 
 
We'll find out when Sonic the Hedgehog races into theaters on November 8, 2019.
 
Don't forget to sign up for Extra Life to help sick and injured kids in hospitals around the US and Canada by playing games! 
Jack Gardner
Spoiler alert: Both machines rely on emulating games made for other consoles and handhelds.
 
Soulja Boy has taken it upon himself to enter the console business by launching two new pieces of hardware with his name attached. Under the brand SouljaGame, the rapper released the SouljaGame Console and the SouljaGame Handheld, both of which seem to be part of a larger effort on his part to put together a line of branded products that includes the SouljaWatch, SouljaPad, SouljaPhone, and SouljaPods. While certainly an interesting business move, observers have noted the similarity all of the products bear to high profile knock-off electronics that can be found on services like Wish or Alibaba.
 

 
Compare the SouljaGame Console on the left to the Product X PRO 4K Video Game Console found on Alibaba
 
The reliance on emulation stands out as perhaps the most shocking part about the launch of these devices. The SouljaGame Console comes packaged with 800 console titles and promises to play games intended for SouljaGame, PlayStation, NeoGeo, PC, Sega, Game Boy Advance, and NES games. The console also claims to be capable of outputting 4K resolutions. Meanwhile, the SouljaGame Handheld comes stocked with 3,000 titles and claims to play games intended for Nintendo Switch, 3DS, PlayStation Vita, NeoGeo, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advanced. 
 
Setting aside the dubiously legal nature of emulation as an explicit purpose for a commercial product, the console itself seems to be a slightly repackaged version of the Product X PRO 4K Video Game Console. Both share almost exactly the same specs, right down to the built-in library of 800 games and the support of TF memory cards up to 32gb in size. Both consoles even make use of controllers that appear to be wholesale ripoffs of PlayStation's controller designs. 
 

 
As for the SouljaGame Handheld, it's even more of a mystery. The handheld's massive library seems to be an eclectic grab-bag of titles with the games advertised on it ranging from something that looks like an Incredibles game from the Game Boy Advance, an untranslated Pokemon game, Golden Sun, Sonic Racing, and more. It also claims to have download support and the ability to play games on the handheld on the television via a "connerting cable." The device seems like it can also play videos as it boasts MKV and AVI file support.
 
Honestly, I don't know what to make of this. I don't think I could recommend anyone go out of their way to buy either of these machines, but I also can't deny that I have a morbid curiosity that makes me want to experiment with this strange collection of devices. On the other hand, with the recent revelation that Sony's PlayStation Classic runs on emulation, boasts fewer games, and is easily hacked, maybe there's a market for a dedicated emulation machine with a much larger library?
 
What do you think of Soulja Boy's ambitious foray into the console and handheld markets? 
 
Don't forget to sign up for Extra Life to help sick and injured kids in hospitals around the US and Canada by playing games!
Jack Gardner
Will the woeful saga of Fallout 76 ever end? If you'll recall, earlier this week Bethesda announced that they would indeed be offering replacement bags for those who bought the Power Armor edition of Fallout 76 and were dismayed by the cheap nylon of the bags as opposed to the sturdy canvas bag that was advertised. To do that, customers were directed toward Bethesda's support site where they could fill out a form for a replacement. 
 
The only problem? Due to lax security on the support site, some people who filled out the form were given access to the data of other customers. 
 
The leak has since been fixed, but the data of over one hundred people was visible to some customers seeking their rightfully owed duffle bag. That information included emails, addresses, partial card numbers, and the types of cards used. It remains to see how or if Bethesda will make up with its customers for this particular goof. For the moment, here's a gif of their likely internal strategy.  
 

 
Since the initial reporting of this security breach, Bethesda has released two statements about its internal investigation into the matter:
 
 
After a brief investigation, Bethesda updated the community again with a statement you can read below:
 
 
How do you feel about Fallout 76 after all these kerfuffles and a rocky launch for the title?
 
Don't forget to sign up for Extra Life to help sick and injured kids in hospitals around the US and Canada by playing games! 
Jack Gardner
According to Brazilian entertainment website PremierLine, Paramount Pictures debuted a teaser trailer for the upcoming 2019 Sonic the Hedgehog film at the São Paulo Comic Con. The teaser hasn't quite made its way online just yet, though there are some interesting details from PremierLine's account of both the teaser itself and the audience reaction to it.
 
The teaser begins with a close up on the face of Sonic which the site compares to the stylings of the upcoming Detective Pikachu film. It's "textured and realistic" which... I'm not sure if that's what fans of Sonic the Hedgehog are looking for in their zippy hero flick, but maybe I'm off-base with that assessment. After the close up, Sonic begins running and breaks the sound barrier with a boom to conclude the teaser.
 
It's not much to go on. Interestingly, the PremierLine describes the audience as "agitated" which doesn't sound good. However, that could also be a poor translation, so we'll have to wait and see for ourselves. Supposedly the teaser will drop for other regions later today.
 
The Sonic the Hedgehog film will be hitting the big screen on November 8, 2019.  
 
Is a realistically styled Sonic the Hedgehog something you want in your live-action Sonic film? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments.
 
Don't forget to sign up for Extra Life to help sick and injured kids in hospitals around the US and Canada by playing games! 
×