The other major addition is Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, the last mainline title in the franchise, which further embraced the turn-based combat introduced in Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Other notable additions include A Little to the Left, art of rally, Expeditions: A MudRunner Game, The Exit 8, and Darkest Dungeon 2 – all playable on PS5 and PS4.

Meanwhile, A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead is exclusive to PS5 players. Though not the best survival horror/stealth title by any means, it could be a worthwhile experience for those who like the movies. Meanwhile, Premium subscribers, only one PlayStation Classic is coming – Ridge Racer, playable on PS5 and PS4.

It features all the usual classic features, including quick save, rewind, up-rendering, and custom filters. And really, what more can you say, other than it’s Ridge Racer? Whether you’re playing through Time Trials or battling it out against the AI in, well, Battle Mode, it’s the classic arcade racing experience that you (hopefully) know and love.

The PlayStation Now service is the original gaming streaming service and as that technology advances and more people get in on it, well, Sony already has a pretty solid footing. The service has a good selection of titles, and this month it will potentially add three more, all of different varieties.

First up is Rainbow Six Siege, the very popular ongoing shooter from Ubisoft that has seen continued updates since its launch in 2015. The second title is The Evil Within 2, the follow up to the acclaimed survival horror title, and finally Get Even, a unique first person shooter in a tale of revenge.

As of now there has been no official announcement about these games joining PS Now, but some people are already reporting they are able to access and play them. So, most likely they have gone live a little early, but for now we’ll treat this as a rumor, though it seems a good bet it’ll be made official soon.

Namco is one of the most important video game companies there is- it was responsible for the rise of video gaming in arcades, via its Pac-Man and Galaga cabinets, it was a frontrunner in NES development, it is credited with the rise of Sega with the Genesis, and it single handedly blazed the trail for PlayStation’s success, thanks to early games such as Tekken and Ridge Racer. Namco is a pioneer of genres such as 3D fighters and racing games, and even today, remains one of the largest publishers in the world, and one of the few Japanese companies to have escaped the decline of the Japanese market without being affected at all.

A large part of all of Namco’s accomplishments can be credit to founder Masaya Nakamura (who even named the company after himself- Nakamura Amusement Machine Company). Nakamura-sama truly stands as one of the pioneers of the video game medium, and one of the fathers of the medium as we know it today. So it’s with a heavy heart that we have to report today that he has passed away at the age of 91. Bandai Namco confirmed his passing in a statement, where they also noted that out of respect for his family’s wishes and privacy, they would not be disclosing the exact cause of his death.

Nakamura-sama is one of the fathers of video games, and one of the reasons that all of us are playing games today. On his passing, let us all of us unite as fans of the medium to pay respects to his memories. May he rest in peace.

Christmas has come very, very early for Tekken fans – Namco has announced on Twitter that a release date for Tekken 7 will be revealed next week.

Tekken 7 has actually been available to play in arcades for Japan since 2015 with its updated version Fated Retribution releasing in 2016. Along with two new mechanics – Rage Art that allows for critical hits once your health is critical and Power Crush to avoid being staggered by enemy attacks – Tekken 7 will include a single player campaign that mixes cut-scenes and QTEs with the usual fighting.

Producer Katsuhiro Harada said the tone will be darker than before as the saga behind the Mishima clan comes to a close. And for what it’s worth, Akuma from Street Fighter will have a role to play as well.

Tekken 7 is currently being developed for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. When do you think the release date could be? Let us know in the comments.

Super Smash Brothers for Nintendo 3DS marks the first time the series has had a handheld entry, and it’s meant to link up with the Wii U version once released. Standing alone as it’s currently doing though, Super Smash Bros for Nintendo 3DS is rather cramped within its hardware and it shows in very unfortunate ways.

" There are of course, other fighters that I’m avoiding for the sake of spoilers, but the newcomers all fit very nicely into Smash cannon.
"

It’s still Super Smash Bros, of course. Now boasting an inarguably massive roster of 51 characters (12 of them to be unlocked), the digital take on sumo wrestling has never been livelier. New fighters fit into the veteran roster like a glove and with all the care and detail one would expect from the series.

For example, longtime request Mega Man is a very projectile based character and many of his special moves and smash attacks demand a bit of distance to use effectively. Villager is just as quirky as one might expect, able to pocket just about anything in the game and turn it against the user. Shulk offers a different take on the sword fighter with different modes to utilize that change up properties on his moves and Pac-Man represents not only himself, but a swath of classic arcade titles within his moveset.

There are of course, other fighters that I’m avoiding for the sake of spoilers, but the newcomers all fit very nicely into Smash cannon. Even a few returning veterans have their move sets shaken up, with Dr. Mario returning and playing much closer to how Mario manoeuvred in Melee, Olimar downsizing to three Pikmin but gaining some new moves himself and Shiek, Zero Suit Samus and Charizard all breaking free of their previous transformation status and becoming full fledged fighters.

" Nine stages are shamelessly ripped from older titles in the series and positioned right alongside the new stages, when previous titles only ever positioned them as bonuses.
"

There are still a handful of clones, and some of them are rather jarring after Brawl established that even clones play a bit different. Lucina is an almost note for note copy of Marth, with the sole difference being her more consistently damaging slashes. Pit gains a more fleshed out move set courtesy of his recent revival in Uprising, making it rather baffling how they didn’t use Dark Pit to reprise his style from Brawl, thus using him in a similar fashion as Dr. Mario.

Smash doesn’t stop its recycling with fighters though. The game borrows a lot of stages from older titles simply to flesh out its locations. Nine stages are shamelessly ripped from older titles in the series and positioned right alongside the new stages, when previous titles only ever positioned them as bonuses. Even a handful of the new stages reuse concepts almost completely from older stages, making the battlefield selection feel lazy at best.

Single player modes have been given a bit more love however. Classic mode borrows the intensity system from Kid Icarus: Uprising, allowing you to tailor the difficulty to an obtuse degree and bet in game coins that you can take the abuse in exchange for better and more prizes. All Star Mode has been condensed considerably, challenging you to a gauntlet of fighters based off when they first appeared to the world. The approximately six fights take about 20 minutes, meaning it still works for a bus ride.

" [Smash Run is] at the core a very repetitive style of game.
"

The classic distractions of Home Run Contest and Multi-Man Smash return to offer a break from the fighting, and they bring along a Nintendo take on Angry Birds with the “Target blast” mode that asks you to fling a bomb into a structure and take out as many targets as possible. Trophy Rush is the new trophy collecting game and thankfully is much more involved than anything previous. Paying money for more time in the mode, you want to break as many crates and blocks as you can to build up to a frenzy mode and then collect your prizes. It’s fast, frantic and most importantly, not the coin shooter from Brawl.

The most significant new mode, and one specific to the 3DS version of Smash is the new Smash Run mode. Challenging you and three other fighters to wander through a simply massive stage while fighting enemies from all kinds of games, you’ll build your stats via pickups, find items and take on challenge doors that can offer great prizes to those who can best them. Random events can occur on the map that fighters can take advantage of, such as certain power up types being more plentiful, a special challenge door appearing, or a protective light from above. Following the timer, a final battle will take place. Anything from a basic smash to “climb higher than your foes” or “Race to the Finish” could occur, and ask you to make use of the strengths you built up to claim victory

If this sounds familiar to anybody who’s played Kirby Air Ride, the developer himself admitted that the concept for Smash Run was shamelessly borrowed from the racer. While there isn’t anything inherently wrong with borrowing the idea, it’s at the core a very repetitive style of game. There is only one stage in Smash Run, and while it will take a few plays to see it all, you will eventually have taken the tour. The random nature of the pickups and final event might also rub some the wrong way and see them ignore the mode completely. Though it’s more engaging to play the mode with friends, you’ll need them in the same room. No online for Smash Run.

" The biggest hurdle to the online mode, and it’s a rather unacceptable one given that Nintendo has had about seven years to figure this out, is the shaky netcode.
"

The Online mode itself has only improved marginally from Super Smash Bros Brawl, and that means the good and the bad. Random online is now split between “for fun” and “for glory”, or as most other fighting games would call it, unranked and ranked respectively. For Glory takes place solely on Final Destination and stage variants of it, with no items and even disables every character except Fox (Ok, that’s a lie. Miis are unavailable, but more on that in a bit). Free for all, team battles and one on one all offer different flavours of battle to the death.

“For Fun” is quite the opposite. Locking out any form of Final Destination and keeping all the items on, it’s a mode to just fight without worrying about a kill-death Ratio. Classic, wacky fun kind of Smash. This one just has free for all and team smash variants. Spectate returns for the betting (wo)man in all of us, though it’s a novelty at best. For Friends offers the full suite of battle options among those on each others friends lists.

The biggest hurdle to the online mode, and it’s a rather unacceptable one given that Nintendo has had about seven years to figure this out, is the shaky netcode. Lag is still way too frequent during games and turns this otherwise gorgeous looking game into a slideshow way too often. Nintendo has had several very smooth online titles on the 3DS, such as Mario Kart, and it’s inconceivable how Smash still has issues.

" …considering that it has to be able to keep those visuals up at about 120FPS when the 3D is considered, it’s a marvel that they even crammed it all onto a single cartridge.
"

During general gameplay though, it’s inarguable that the little 3DS is groaning with the pressure. Most assets run at a full 60fps, and in full 3D if you want. It’s visually about as impressive as Melee was, and especially considering that it has to be able to keep those visuals up at about 120FPS when the 3D is considered, it’s a marvel that they even crammed it all onto a single cartridge. The only hiccup comes in the assist trophies and pokemon, which only run at 30FPS and eagle eyes might find that jarring.

It’s not as musically sweeping as Brawl was unfortunately, limited to two tracks a stage and again, many of them repeats. The tracks that are there though are at least on par production wise with Brawl’s soundtrack and the rest of the game. Trophies return, with a massive 686 to collect within the 3DS version. Whoever wrote the descriptions clearly let loose here too, making them a lot more fun to read and several are rather punny. Take that to mean a good or bad thing as you will.

Smash 4 makes several changes to gameplay mechanics as well that make it more friendly to competitive play and more fair to casual play as well. Character size difference is more drastic this go, making the larger characters have larger hitboxes and smaller fighters even more nimble. The dreaded random tripping from Brawl is out completely, though a loose banana peel can still send characters tumbling and game speed sits somewhere between Melee and Brawl.

" Smash 4 has the fighting down better than ever before, but it’s still easy to miss the distractions that the 3DS version is lacking.
"

The most striking changes lay in edge grabbing though, buffing tether recoveries and allowing multiple tethers to grab at once, and in an amazing shake up of a Smash defence staple, characters with lower damage will be able to knock ledge guarding characters out of the way so they can grab themselves. It’s the most balanced Smash in a long time, and the changes are able to be appreciated by casual and core alike.

Smash 4 has the fighting down better than ever before, but it’s still easy to miss the distractions that the 3DS version is lacking. Matches can only be time or stock, and we drop coin matches and special condition fights. Event match is nowhere to be seen and there is no Target Test to speak of. Smash Run is poor replacement for the adventure modes that the series has had since Melee, and though Classic mode has been iterated upon it’s bound to get tiring.

Finally, the most unique thing about Smash 4 is the introduction of a customization system. Each character has two alternates for their special moves that can be unlocked, and they can change a character subtly or drastically, depending on the fighter. Equipment can also be loaded on that alter the stats of a fighter, but they do little else.

This option also plays heavily into the Mii characters. There are three classes of Mii, the Swordfighter, the Brawler and the Gunner, and they can all be customized to a degree within their class. Most of the moves are in fact ripped right from other fighters, though you can now link them in unique ways. The customized fighters can be saved as presets, though they have to be activated before they can be made useful and are banned from online random matches, making the function another novelty to play with before dropping.

Overall, Smash 4 is great, but between all the borrowed content, missing modes and disregard for basic series principles, it’s hard to say Super Smash Bros for 3DS has an identity. It’s just kind of a thing. Honestly, what it does do is done well. It’s impressive that it made it onto 3DS and while I’m glad it exists, I’m not sure it needed to exist. Corners were cut, and this certainly isn’t the main course. You won’t go wrong if you want to play the 3DS version of the game, but dial back the hype and put it on the Wii U version.

This game was reviewed on the Nintendo 3DS.

Namco Bandai has officially announced the Limited Edition of Tales of Xillia.

The Limited Edition of Tales of Xillia will include 2 Downloadable Content Costumes, Special Limited Edition Packaging, Tales of Xilla itself, Soundtrack CD and an Art-book with Character Profiles. The Limited Edition will only cost $59.99, those who pre-order the regular edition will automatically be bumped up to the limited edition.

Tales of Xillia has been out in Japan for quite a while now since 2011 and now North America and Canada are finally getting the Japanese RPG treat on August 6th 2013.

Let us know if you’re looking forward to playing Tales of Xillia later this summer on your PlayStation 3 in the comments below.

Check back on GamingBolt for more updates and our review of the game in the coming months.

Namco PR director Lee Kirton told OXM that Dark Souls 2 will be much bigger than its predecessor’s “small scale” campaign.

“The good thing this time around is we’re investing more in it from a marketing perspective,” he said at a media preview event. “With Dark Souls and Demon’s Souls it was very focused, small-scale.

“We’re treating this as a massive, massive triple-A title.”

Kirton said that while the campaign will target Dark Souls fans it will also aim to win new followers, though he admitted that not “every Skyrim player’s going to be jumping on Dark Souls, but it would be nice if some of them did.”

Dark Souls 2 was announced in December 2012, and a 12 minute gameplay video (presented by IGN) was released in April.

This anticipated sequel will be coming out for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC sometime in 2014.

Are you looking forward to Dark Souls 2 next year? Let us know in the comments below.

Check back on GamingBolt for more news and media for Dark Souls 2.

Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures is not your traditional Pac-Man game that you’ve come to expect. The players will still consume ghosts and food, meanwhile, the ‘debut trailer’ demonstrates a mix of platforming and action. In the video Pac-Man also eats a power petal that grants him new and unique abilities.

Screenshots Gallery:

Are you interested in the new Pac-Man title? Let us know in the comments below.

Check back on GamingBolt for future updates of this newly announced game in the coming weeks at E3 2013.

Namco Bandai have announced Ridger Racer Driftopia for PlayStation 3 and PC targeted for release later this year. Ridge Racer Driftopia is the very first game in the series that will be going free-to-play.

The title is being developed by Bugbear Entertainment – the studio which originally worked on Ridge Racer Unbounded which came out in March 2012 for multiple platforms.

Namco hasn’t spilled the beans yet on the game, however, the game promises to “put the series’ irresistible signature drifting right at the heart of the experience”, and will contain “in-game transactions”.

Check out the announcement trailer:

It will be interesting to see whether this game comes out on the PlayStation 4 as traditionally there has always been a new Ridge Racer game to accompany a new PlayStation at launch.

Stay tuned on GamingBolt as Ridge Racer Driftopia details start flowing in the coming months>

Leave any comments you have down below.

In a video game first, bringing along a copy of Tekken Tag Tournament 2 to Frith St. Tattoo will award the first 5 fans a £300 voucher for a tattoo, valid for three months. Turn up tomorrow, 14th September for a chance to get inked Tekken-style.

Lee Kirkton, Marketing Director of Namco Bandai UK said, “It’s exciting to be working with The Frith St. Tattoo studio – they are one of the best in the business and will provide the highest quality TEKKEN TAG TOURNAMENT 2 tattoos. The characters in the game have been intricately designed so the 5 lucky dedicated fans will get themselves a fantastic tattoo that would normally cost hundreds.”

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 comes out tomorrow 14th September on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.