Nvidia announced another addition to the Shield lineup last night, debuting an Android-based device capable of 4k playback and capture. The device is intended to be used in the living room, and Nvidia cited a number of reasons for using the Android OS.

“First, it’s based on the most popular OS in the world. Second, the richness of the Google Play store, with it huge range of applications,” Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang said. “Third, it syncs with all my other devices. Finally, it has an incredible voice search capability.”

He then went on to demonstrate video playback, voice capture and a variety of other features. The unit will featuure a very simple remote that can also act as a bluetooth reciever, as well as having touch sensitive volume controls. Android TV functionality is baked in, and users will be able to access a library of TV, movies and more.

Of course, Nvidia is primarily a gaming company, and games were well represented during the presentation. Current games being ported over include Portal, Crysis 3, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, The Witcher 3, Metal Gear Rising: Revengence, The Talos Principle and more. A common theme of the gaming side of the presentation was the ease of getting these games up and running on the system with little difficulty and no loss of features.

The box will pack a Tegra X1 processor with a 256-bit Maxwell GPU and 3GB of memory. On the external side, it has a MicroSD slot, Micro USB 2.0 port, gigabit Ethernet port, HDMI port and two USB Type-A 3.0 ports. Its an impressive bit of kit, and Nvidia is promising that it will ship bundled with the Shield Controller for $199 (USD)

Tools firm Autodesk is due to debut their entry into the game engines market at GDC in San Francisco with a preview of their Stingray Game Engine.

Built on the tech found in the Bitsquid engine that Autodesk acquired last summer, Stingray is supposed to be designed to be user-friendly for both experienced developers as well as those just starting out; helping them create what Autodesk says will be “graphically advanced games” for a range of different platforms. Last year Autodesk said that the new engine would “change the way games are made and buildings designed”.

The demonstration will take place on Wednesday March 4th in Room 3003 of the Moscone Center’s West Hall from 3:30pm to 4:30pm. They hope to demonstrate how the engine will allow developers to evaluate how their games run on multiple platforms as well as the integration with 3D content tools, among other things.

Already one developer, Fatshark Games, is using the engine for their Warhammer: End Times title, Vermintide.

Studios will be able to learn more about the engine, as well as gaining Beta access from the www.autodesk.com/stingray site.

The code of the latest Hearthstone has been unpicked by the people at Hearthpwn, and the findings have been quite interesting because they seem to hint at further expansions and what their content could be.

A string of code within the patch points towards what could be a Blackrock Mountain expansion and its presale. There’s very little to go on though, so it’s unsure if this is a final thing or if Blizzard are still going to make tweaks to have something else happen.

New cardbacks have also been determined from the datamine, although no images have been found. The information is as follows (with ‘brm’ believed to stand for Blackrock Mountain):

If you’ve ever wanted proof that some games are timeless, look no further than Titan Attacks! Originally published for Playstation 3/4 and Vita and now Nintendo 3DS, Titan Attacks is an unabashed throwback to the early arcade classic Space Invaders. But before you write it off as a quick cash in, you should know that Curve Digital and developer Puppygames have thrown a few new wrinkles into the formla. The game isn’t as nail bitingly difficult as Space Invaders, but its still a score based run that will keep you chasing the highscore. Unlike the original, those scores are now shared around the world thanks to online leaderboards, instead of being visible only to those who take the time to peruse the grimy arcade cabinet in the local pizza shop.

Titan Attacks has a decidedly retro look to it. the simple graphics make it easy to separate enemy types from the background- a not so minor concern later on in the game. Clean lines, explosions that pop and unique enemy designs create a great aesthetic for the game as you play through it’s various levels and backdrops. unfortunately, the soundtrack and effects don’t quite hold up to the same level. They get the job done, but you won’t be blown away. To be fair, I spent a fair amount of my time playing the game while watching a stream on my PC, so the sound certainly isn’t a deal breaker.

Playing Titan Attacks is a simple matter. Your ship is on the bottom of the 3DS’ top screen and you move it left and right with either the slide pad or D-pad. A simple tap of the A button fires your gun at the waves of steadily descending aliens overhead. Gameplay doesn’t advance from there. Enemies arrive in waves, and you ushoot them with A, occasionally pressing B to utilize a screen clearing Smart Bomb purchased from the shop with your hard won cash.

But therein lies the strength of Titan Attacks. It’s a simple core mechanic executed well. The added layers Puppygames has added only enhance the experience. Of course, they may make it to easy, but I’ll touch on that in just a moment. After each wave is cleared you are taken to a shop. There you can buy a variety of upgrades for your ship, ranging from increased gun power, shield recharges, the aforementioned smart bomb and even more bullets or addons for your ship.  These come in handy in later levels as, unlike Space Invaders, Titan Attacks isn’t slow. This is a fast paced version of the classic arcade shooting. Enemies move quickly, challenging you to lead each shot effectively, Some enemies dive at the ground, others pepper the area with scattered bursts of bullets. Keeping up with it all is a daunting task.

Fortunately, Titan Attacks rewards your skill. As you demolish your foes and avoid hits, you build a multiplier that carries across levels. Pickups rain from the sky, providing you with extra money, increased firing speed and a temporary invincibility shield. Pulling off a perfect set of waves as you advance from the Earth to the Moon and beyond is a satisfying feeling, and its easy to see your own skill growing as you more easily demolish weaker waves of foes.

Unfortunately, once you gain enough upgrades, your ship becomes an unstoppable juggernaut that is all but impossible to kill aside from the occasional ill timed dodge directly into a plummeting enemy ship. These upgrades can also hurt your performance in another unexpected way. Every so often, a destroyed ship will erupt into flaming wreckage and plummet towards the earth. If you destroy the ship, you get extra money. The pilot may also eject from his ship, and if you capture him, you get another bonus. Unless you shoot him. Once you have a massively upgraded ship, firing veritable storms of bullets upwards, it becomes impossible to reliably stop your fire in time to catch these plummeting aliens. In effect, the upgrade system can nullify a very interesting quirk in the game mechanics.

Despite the few negatives, Titan Attacks is a fun game. A great time waster, especially for those who like to grind for highscores and bragging rights amongst there friends, or for those who want a more turbo charged take on the classic Space Invaders gameplay.

Titan Attacks: 7.5/10

You find yourself at a table in a strange place. Across from you is a mysterious man, his face hidden. Are you ready to play his game, defeat his challenges, collect all the cards, and face your fate?

Hand of Fate is Rogue-Like RPG that also combines a Deck-Building card game with an Action Brawler. This game also has a strong feeling of a choose-your-own adventure.

Mechanics

Every level you play is randomly generated and if you die you have to start the mission all over again. What makes this game different from the other Rogue-Likes out there is instead of the level just being randomly generated by the computer you actually have somewhat control how your game may turn out. As you play though the game you unlock cards. You can use these cards to build your decks, which determine what equipment will be available for you to use in the game and also determine what encounters you may come across as you move though the level. The encounter cards are then dealt out on the table. You must move your character from card to card, dealing with whatever encounter you land on, until you reach the exit to the next level of the mission, ultimately making your way to the boss.

You find yourself progressing though the game trying to get from the starting position to the exit to the next level. Each move you make consumes food, if you don’t have food when you move your character loses health. Each move you make delivers you a new encounter to deal with. Encounters can be everything from being ambushed by rat men or skeletons, fighting goblins to get back items they stole from you, helping a dying man by hunting down the men who robbed his town, giving food to a priest to receive a blessing, etc.

There are also encounters that will have you make a choice. For example you can calm an angry mob by giving them half your food, or you can try to avoid trouble. Whether or not you succeed in an event is often determined by you choosing between 4 cards that represent success or failure. Some events, the likelihood of them going your way are better than others. If you succeed, you most likely be rewarded with food, gold, blessings, and/or items from the equipment deck you made.

Building a deck in this game is incredibly important. While you are able to let the computer make a deck for you of suggested cards, you can make much more of a personalized adventure if you do it yourself. And of course the decks can get more and more complicated as you gain more cards. While creating a deck you will not know exactly what an encounter is until you actually play it in game, so it encourages you to test new things. Also with many of the encounters you are able to win the ability to unlock more cards if you successfully complete them. That too also encourages you to change your deck around as well.

So far this game is just sounding like a RPG Card game but what I haven’t talked about yet is, in most encounters the cards come alive in a 3D setting where you take full control of your character. The fighting in this game is very Arkham like, mostly focused on chaining attacks and countering attacks right at the right moment. This usually happens with encounters where you most fight creatures, make your way through a trap filled maze, got to a shop, etc.

Now the reason you ultimately go through all these encounters is to make yourself ready to face the boss at the end. Hopefully your luck was with you and you were able to get enough equipment to help you succeed. Each boss in the game has a unique attribute. Some can’t be blocked; some have strong special attacks, etc. Some bosses also have effects that affect you throughout the whole level, like one was every time I finished a combat encounter the King of Dust, boss of the level, would take a certain amount of gold off me depending on how much health I had left. This of course makes it harder to get the items and food you need to get to him. It was added on to the fact that because he was the leader of the bandits, it was more likely you will come into an encounter against bandit ambushes.

Atmosphere and Story

Right off the bat there isn’t much of a story in the game. You don’t even know why you find yourself playing this Mysterious Man’s game. But as the game progresses you pick up info here and there from the Dealer as he makes hints at things. Also in the card game itself each boss has a story behind him or her. This story too is expanded on by the Dealer.

The Dealer adds so much to the game and really has an “in the moment” feeling to him. He will bring up info on the boss you will have to face, as well as make hints of others who have played at this table before. But what is really neat is how he will react to certain decisions you make, like he will make comment on you keeping certain cards in the game and make you second guess yourself on the choices given to you.

The art style of the game is very interesting. The art on the cards look like they could have been taken out of one of those old Choose-Your-Own Adventure Books; while the look of the rest of the game has a wonderful art style and nuances.

My Opinion of the Game

All in all I think this is a wonderful game. The combination of Deck-Building and 3-D Brawler is something I haven’t really seen in a game yet and they mostly nail it down pretty well. The strength of the game is definitely the personality of the game expressed though the Dealer, as well as the endless combinations and exploration of the cards.

If I had to say what one of the flaws of the game was, it would most likely be the combat. It is defiantly a combat style that is being used a lot lately; the Arkham like system of attack combos and countering when it indicates too. They do pull it off decently but at times it feels a bit clunky, especially in the movement. But once you get the hang of it and also get some good gear that gives you special abilities in combat, it begins to feel better. Though I do wish I was able to move a camera around sometimes. Because of the combat I would definitely suggest using a controller on this game.

This game has wonderful mechanics, an awesome art style, and a wonderful replay-ability. I would suggest this game to anyone who likes card games, RPGs, rogue-likes, brawlers, and/or choose-your-own adventure games. It is clearly on my list of some of my favorite games I’ve played in a long while.

You can find the game on Steam here

Also Available on PS4 and Xbox One.