Microsoft has been making some rather interesting moves as of late – last year, it revealed that a number of Xbox One exclusives would be heading to Windows 10 on the PC as well. While it originally started by announcing Fable Legends for Windows 10 (featuring cross-platform support with Xbox One players), it followed up with Gears of War: Ultimate Edition and just recently, Comcept’s ReCore. Does that diminish the value of owning an Xbox One when you can simply purchase these games on PC?

Xbox division boss Phil Spencer answered a few queries regarding the same on Twitter. He first noted that with regards to ReCore going to PC, “We’ll continue to focus on Xbox One experience and bringing the Xbox experience to Win10. You can decide where you want to play.”

As for how this affects Xbox One sales with more exclusives going to PC, Spencer stated that, “Financials matter but it’s more about choice. XB1 is our best console exp. We want Win10 to be great for gamers as well.”

Will ReCore offer cross-buy support on PC with the Xbox One version, essentially allowing you to own the game on two platforms (much like some games on PS Vita/PS3 and PS4)? “We haven’t announced the model for ReCore yet, we’ll be sure to announce as we finalize the plans.”

In other news, Spencer also clarified the upcoming multiplayer beta for Crackdown 3. Arriving this Summer, Spencer promised that, “We will have more info coming. With the tech in Crackdown delivering MP/online is a big step.”

What about Xbox Arcade, which is a beloved memory for fans when it came to discovering some small yet awesome games? Interestingly, though smaller indie games are now handled by ID@Xbox, Spencer didn’t discount having a separate brand for them to fit under. “We partner w/ great ID@XBOX games to get smaller games. We don’t have umbrella brand like Arcade that we use, maybe we should.”

Remember when Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg teased some surprises for E3 2016? Well good news! They’re most likely going to be revealed at E3 itself. “We have some launches coming but no big consumer event before E3 planned,” according to Spencer.

Spencer also clarified of “large” updates for the Xbox One. Do they only ever come after E3 2015? “Honestly rather not do big updates EOY. Highest usage, new games, challenging time to update platform/service. Team did good work.” This could indicate that if there’s ever an update equivalent to the New Xbox One Experience, it may not necessarily arrive near the end of the year.

@tac93700 We'll continue to focus on Xbox One experience and bringing the Xbox experience to Win10. You can decide where you want to play.

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) January 4, 2016

@woelfel @tac93700 We haven't announced the model for ReCore yet, we'll be sure to announce as we finalize the plans.

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) January 4, 2016

@hypershaters @aarongreenberg We will have more info coming. With the tech in Crackdown delivering MP/online is a big step.

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) January 4, 2016

@SmallSoapDish We partner w/ great ID@XBOX games to get smaller games. We don't have umbrella brand like Arcade that we use, maybe we should

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) January 4, 2016

@pengy_gamer We have some launches coming but no big consumer event before E3 planned.

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) January 4, 2016

@Ells144 Honestly rather not do big updates EOY. Highest usage, new games, challenging time to update platform/service. Team did good work.

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) January 5, 2016

Nintendo is slowly but surely coming around to the Cross Buy craze. After announcing that the upcoming Mario vs Donkey Kong game would be Cross Buy across the Wii U and 3DS earlier this year, it appears that we now have the first third party Cross Buy game for Nintendo platforms too- it will be the upcoming OlliOlli, the sidescrolling skateboarding platforming game that it PS Vita, PlayStation 4, and PC to general acclaim last year.

OlliOlli is due out on Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, and Xbox One in March (around the same time as the sequel will be hitting PS Vita and PS4, actually), and it looks like Roll7, recognizing that the port is after all a year late, has decided to sweeten the pot a bit.

It remains to be seen how Cross Buy will work here, though- Nintendo had previously announced that for Mario vs Donkey Kong, you would get a download code for the other version upon buying the first version. Whether OlliOlli uses the same system, or is automatically added to your account across both platforms, remains to be seen.

Capcom’s Resident Evil HD will bring the Gamecube remake to current and previous gen platforms. It will support a bevy of new features including new control schemes and a 1080p resolution. Cross-buy also seems to be a feature supported, meaning that if you buy it on the PS3 or PS4, you’ll be able to play it on the other platform without spending any extra.

However, as outlined in a recent blog post, Capcom has revealed that players will need to pre-order the game and reside in North America. You’ll net an exclusive theme along with the cross-buy option so that’s a plus. It also seems that if you pre-order the game on PS3 and PS4, you’ll be able to pre-load it before it goes live in January.

Resident Evil HD will be out on PS3, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC on January 20th 2015. Stay tuned for more information on the same in the coming weeks.

Pixelopus’s Entwined was first released on the PlayStation 4 during Sony’s E3 media briefing, marking a fairly awesome moment since it was only just announced and showcased on the main stage. However, the game is now available to PlayStation 3 and PS Vita fans.

If you happened to purchase the game earlier, you’ll gain free access on other platforms thanks to Cross Buy support. Cross Save also ensures that your save data can be carried over without issues and immediately updated for all platforms regardless of which you play on.

Entwined is a rather interesting indie puzzle game, concerning two star-crossed lovers on a journey to be together but always coming up just short. It garnered attention for its attractive art style and presentation, not to mention being one of the few big name indies at the Sony E3 media briefing.

What are thoughts on Entwined heading to the PS3 and PS Vita? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Score is a side note at best here, rather choosing to wrap itself in the basic framework of a team of scientists, trapped on the surface of a planet and the player as the lone rescue ship sent to recover them. Flavour text when you rescue head scientists fleshes out the actual goings on of the situation, but it’s all background noise to the action. Ultimate bundles the two PS3 entries into a continuous experience, offering a far more lengthy, valuable package than either of the original titles.

" The game really shines when it asks you to take these basic tools to manipulate your environment to your advantage. "

The half dozen, give or take zones are split into about 5 stages, each with about 4 levels to a stage. A stage can be knocked out in about thirty minutes, which works to the advantage of Vita players who want to go spelunking during a bus ride, and the controls are simple enough to fit on either platform it’s available on. The ships basic equipment includes a rudimentary blaster and a grappling hook, though other section specific suits pop up later to give more direct command over elements.

The game really shines when it asks you to take these basic tools to manipulate your environment to your advantage. Temperature of your ship is everything, and overheating spells doom. While things you do, such as firing missiles or ramming into enemies can heat you up, but the elements of the planet take centre stage again. The effect of Lava and water should be obvious to any newcomers, while others have more subtle effects.

Pixeljunk takes its handful of elements and has them all interact in unique ways, such as cooling water and lethal lava meeting to create rock and neutralizing both of it’s parts, or gas interacting with either of the previous to explode violently or freeze leisurely. The interplay of the elements creates more of a puzzle game environment then standard dual stick shooter setup.

"The game really shines when it asks you to take these basic tools to manipulate your environment to your advantage. "

As previously stated, the goal is to rescue the scientists trapped beneath the planet’s surface, of which there are five in each section. They are rather fragile, and five of them getting fried by anything from the wildlife to an errant shot from your own ship will force you to start over the section. You’re also encouraged to keep an eye out for diamonds, dotted around each level and typically out of the way enough to demand searching, and contributes to the unique pace of the game. They are mandatory to collect, opening up the end of world bosses that mix the unique mechanics of the game with a more standard shooter fair to scratch that itch.

The Playstation 4 takes the entire game and gives it a great, 1080p facelift. Liquids move more convincingly and now appear less opaque. The ship itself moves and angles more freely, and gives off a soft light on surrounding objects. Effects like heat shimmer that didn’t make the cut in the PS3 versions only further the presentation. This isn’t meant to lessen the Playstation Vita port, which looks on par with the generation seven versions and plays just as smooth as any other version. Cross buy and Cross save are both supported, so you can always pick up your game on the go or at home, though the cross-save system is structured confusingly, being half automatic and half player controlled. How you like the techno inspired soundtrack is entirely up to the player, though personally I could do without it.

The game comes with the multiplayer mode that Pixeljunk Shooter 2, taking a page from modern FPS and putting its own spin on it. The mode plays like a variation of Capture the flag, asking you to rescue more scientists from the stage, or your foes stockpile for the daring. Winning matches earns money that can go towards perks like a rudimentary radar or traps for the opposing player. The same problem that plagued the original game also returns though, and that’s the simple fact that a game like this isn’t pulling in much, if any player base. The few that are sticking around are so far ahead of the curve that it’s not welcoming to new players.

"The ship itself moves and angles more freely, and gives off a soft light on surrounding objects. "

Pixeljunk Shooter Ultimate is certainly a unique title, eschewing the conventions of it’s genre and wrapped in a shiny new package, it maintains the Pixeljunk legacy of being among the premier titles on the Playstation network. With vastly improved visuals, the flawless control Whether on Vita or PS4, and getting what is in essence two games for the price of one, Pixeljunk Shooter Ultimate is a tremendous package with a lot of value. Should something a little different out of a dual stick shooter sounds intriguing, then it’s easy to recommend Pixeljunk Shooter Ultimate.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

Enter Cel Damage, the antithesis of everything now normal. The bizarre and barebones plot is established within thirty seconds as a wacky TV show, taking the piss out of programs such as Comedy Central’s “Drawn Together”, as well as general saturday morning cartoons and product tie-ins. The zany cast of characters embody many tropes and styles, each with a unique and somewhat funny personality and excellent voice acting. While being serviceably minimal in plot, the cel shaded art style the original game wore so on it’s sleeve that it made the title of the game holds up excellently, and Cel Damage feels like a living cartoon that can only be described as the glorious lovechild of “Twisted Metal” and “Itchy and Scratchy”.

"Like any good cartoon, Cel Damage doesn’t let silly things like physics get in the way of its fun."

Like any good cartoon, Cel Damage doesn’t let silly things like physics get in the way of its fun. Cars twist and undulate with turns and the wide variety of the cartoon weaponry feels impactful and unique. While all the drivers move the same, they each get a unique weapon that mixes up their play style and goes with there personality. There are a meagre three game modes to Cel Damage and twelve maps across four visual styles in which to play them, leaving the game feeling rather wanting for playgrounds to unleash your havoc.

Regardless of whether you choose to play the basic gate races, the capture the flag mode or the completely insane “Smack Attack” arena mode, the carnage is kept lighthearted. Loony Toons-esque effects like hanging over a sheer cliff for a moment before a plummet or slowly sinking into water create a style to the chaos, while the manic action of all these cars barreling around the arena manages to feel like a huge dust-cloud punch up without making the action impossible to follow.

Just so the fans can have the thrills of putting foes through the wood-chipper anywhere, Cel Damage HD offers itself up on all current Playstation Platforms for the single purchase. The controls are simple enough to not feel cramped by the Playstation Vita, nor are the visuals too demanding that the game won’t run flawlessly on whatever you might decide to play it on.

"the complete lack of any online functionality leaves more secluded or older gamers…left hanging on what still amounts to a rather anemic offering."

The cross save functionality works flawlessly, never needed any input on the player’s behalf to pick up your progress on whatever console you might have at hand. However, it curiously splits the trophies into a list for the console and a list for the handheld, creating sync problems for no apparent reason, even though it is easily ignored.

Taking Cel Damage for what it does do, it’s a great time. It’s what it doesn’t do however that leaves an overall taint of disappointment over the package. While an argument could be made that Cel Damage is best served by having three friends on a couch, the complete lack of any online functionality leaves more secluded or older gamers who can’t have friends come by too often left hanging on what still amounts to a rather anemic offering.

Any single player component is just the multiplayer mode without company, and the only rewards for punching through with each character are more weapons and a handful of brief cutscenes, though they might send you through a few dozen matches worth of motivation, the pool dries up fast regardless of how funny one might find them. The Vita version of the game doesn’t offer any sort of multiplayer at all, limiting the title even further to platform fans until it’s just a time killer, good until you get home to the real consoles.

Overall, Cel Damage is a great proof of concept and could really do great things with a sequel in this day and age. The amazing presentation and unadulterated fun of the gameplay does little to help the odd handling of cross-platform features and unfortunate lack of ambition, time or whatever to even go as far as online play. That lack of drive alone really kills any longevity for all outside of grade school or a collage dorm, and makes Cel Damage hard to recommend to anyone but the fiercest of couch warrior clans.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty, developed by Just Add Water and published by Oddworld Inhabitants, will be coming out very soon. In fact, it’s been announced that a release date will be revealed before E3 2014. This means it’ll be out between now and June 9th when E3 begins, so it seems reasonable that it should come out next month.

The studio has also revealed that it will retail for $29.99 in the US, £19.99 in the UK and €24.99 in Europe. The game will support cross-buy for PS3, PS Vita and PS4, which means you can pick it up for any of the above PlayStation platforms and be able to play it on the others. There will be other announcements for the remaining platforms in the coming weeks.

Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty will be releasing for PC, Mac, Linux, Wii U, PS3, PS4 and PS Vita. And no, it’s not an “HD remake” of Abe’s Oddysee.

Minecraft will be heading to the PS3 at retail in the coming months, but it will be heading to the PS Vita and PS4 as well. Mojang’s Owen Hill spoke about the PlayStation Blog EU about allowing users to transfer their worlds from the PS3 version to the PS4 and apparently to the Vita as well.

“The plan is to enable users to transfer from PS3 to PS4. We’re still working out how it’ll work with the Vita version.”

At this point, you can expect both versions to be out in Q2/Q3 of 2014 so keep a look out till September. More details on cross-buy and upgrades will also be provided soon according to Hill. “We’ll have more news on cross-buy/upgrade options soon! I understand that the wait is frustrating, but we don’t want to make false promises.”

How does that sound for you? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

The odd little indie title Doki Doki Universe will be finally be available soon for PlayStation owners. HumaNature Studios has announced the game’s release date for PS3, PS4 and PS Vita as December 10th, and has confirmed that it will support cross buy. This means you can purchase it for one platform and immediately play it on others.

Doki Doki Universe is odd, for sure, as you play as robot QT3 as he works to learn about humanity. There will be personality quizzes to take and depending on which version you go with, you’ll wind up with a few different features overall.

The full game will retail for $14.99, and will include 31 personality quizzes along with Doki Doki Mail messaging and a Story mode. meanwhile, the Starter Pack will be available for free and comes with 16 personality quizzes along with a tutorial planet, Doki Doki Mail and QT3’s home planet. Stay tuned for the game’s release next week.

(Source)

Jason Perkins, Managing Director of Curve Digital stated that, “Don’t be fooled into thinking this is just a port to console. It’s very clear just how much work Jasper and the team at Curve have put into making this a game worthy of the ‘Director’s Cut’ title”.

Jasper Byrne stated that, “I’m really proud and excited to bring you this enhanced version of Lone Survivor which has been a labour of love from all involved. I’m very excited to see how the fans react on discovering the secret new content, and very much look forward to their interpretations of it.”

The game will feature a new lightning system, new dialogue, new endings and a bunch of new items and support for Trophies.