At PAX sandbox MMO ArcheAge got its release date announced. It will release on September 16th, with a four day headstart for those eligible (i.e. the Founders) as well as a four day open beta beforehand. This means that the alpha that is currently happening could be coming to an end as soon as today.

The dates and times for Open Beta were announced as starting Thursday, September 4 at 10:00 AM PDT and then running until the same time on Monday, September 8, and those who took part in the Closed Beta will have their characters to use during the Open. After this though the servers will be wiped in preparation for the Head Start for the Founders which begins Friday, September 12 at 10:00 AM PDT and runs through to the official opening for all.

Those who are disappointed that the Alpha is ending though should know that the ending will come with ‘due fanfare’. “Starting this Saturday at 6:00 PM PDT, our diligent Alpha testers should check their in-game mail, keep a weather eye on the horizon, and be ready for anything…”

Facepunch Studios have announced another title that they’re currently working on, an aptly named game called ‘Arcade’ about… well, arcades. The game allows players to set up their own virtual arcades in which others can enter, play arcade games, earn tokens and attempt to rack up high scores.

The main reason they’re doing this is for the nostalgia feel. “We’ve got fond memories of being in arcades, trying to decide what to spend our limited tokens on, watching someone get to a stage we’ve never seen before, etc.” said Facepunch’s Ryleigh Kotash. “Even in our early tests it already feels cool to play a game with people literally & virtually watching over your shoulder. And it’d be even cooler with VR support.”

The aim of the game would be to spend your limited tokens to play games to earn more tokens to play the more expensive games and eventually become ‘King of the Arcade’.

For those with fond memories of the arcade days, this could be one to watch.

When we heard that Volition was kicking off PAX this weekend and would be announcing their new project, we knew there was a good chance it was going to be related to the Saints Row franchise. Especially when the voice of one of its characters was there to help present the panel and then later artwork surfaced of a ouija board that contained the prominent fleur-de-lis image of the games’ titular gang.

So it comes as no surprise that the project turns out to be a new standalone expansion to the Saints Row 4 game – Saints Row 4: Gat Out of Hell has gone from the superheroics of the last main game to the supernatural. The two-player co-op sees Johnny Gat and Kinzie of the Saints sucked to Hell by ouija board to battle demons and eventually face Satan himself to rescue the Boss.

The game’s version of Hell will be half the size of SR4’s Steelport and will feature some new weapons which in true Saints style, are just plain bonkers. For example one of them is called Arm Chairmageddon and is basically a La-Z-Boy recliner with guns. Others draw more from the ‘hell and damnation’ side of the game’s style, including the Locust Gun.

Gat Out of Hell will be sold separately for $19.95 in North America and will be released for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, Xbox 360 and Xbox One on Jan. 27, 2015. The expansion will also be part of an upcoming re-release of Saints Row 4 called Saints Row 4: Re-Elected for PS4 and Xbox One. No word yet about prices or release dates for European versions.

Steam’s policy of refunding can be a bit of a nightmare at the best of times. Now the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) are planning to take Valve to court over the policy which they argue is in “breach of the Australian Consumer Law for businesses”. Pretty serious stuff.

The list of points that make up their case include the belief that Valve is seeking to modify guarantees and would not refund games that the customer hadn’t attempted to sort their differences out with the publisher or developer first (and weren’t Valve games themselves). Australian consumers have a right to a refund if a product does not work as advertised and that the “allegation is that Valve sought to remove those consumer rights which is a breach of Australian Consumer Law”.

On their part Valve have stated that they’re working with the ACCC to resolve the matter while still continuing to bring their services to all gamers around the world who love gaming through their platform.

When Nintendo came out with the Circle Pad Pro accessory for the original Nintendo 3DS – which added a second Circle Pad and extra buttons to the 3DS which allowed for even more control; and which Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate made good use of – many asked why a second Circle Pad could not have been a standard feature of the 3DS. When the 3DS XL was released and also lacked the second pad, the complaints became even more vocal.

Colour choices at launch for the New 3DS and New 3DS XL

Today in Japan, Nintendo have not only finally heeded the call, but have gone even further. The company announced all new models of their popular hand-held game consoles, the Nintendo 3DS and the 3DS XL (called the 3DS LL in Japan), which along with extra controls, make a number of other additions and improvements over the previous models.

If you actually care that the new models are a few mm bigger in most directions, you probably have an Apple device and/or no shame
(click pictures to enlarge)

The real big news of the announcement, however, comes in the form of a small toy.

If you’re wondering why this pic shows just the Amiibo logo instead of an actual Amiibo, blame Nintendo.

With the new consoles including an NFC Reader, the new 3DS and 3DS XL will come with built-in support for Amiibo, Nintendo’s upcoming range of NFC-enabled figurines. Previously thought to be exclusive to the Wii U, the new addition enables future 3DS games to also offer the ability to allow select Nintendo characters to be stored and shared across compatible games or to use the toys for special in-game functions; and use of the feature in the 3DS version of Super Smash Bros. is already confirmed – what it consists of is yet to be announced, but if one is to make a guess, imagine something like the sticker mode in Brawl, but with an actual physical toy to enhance and make your own character with.

Those colourful SNES-like buttons.

As to the controls, the new 3DS and 3DS XL will add a splash of colour to the A/B/X/Y button. The new 3DS gets the more significant facelift with fully-coloured buttons, while the XL simply gets coloured button labels. The colours are the same as those originally used on the Japanese SNES controller, in a nice homage to Nintendo history.

…But that’s not what you care about, is it? The bigger news is both devices finally feature a second Circle Pad – well, kind of. Dubbed the “C-Stick” by Nintendo in another homage (this time to the yellow analogue stick of Nintendo’s own GameCube controller), the new stick is much smaller than the main Circle Pad – in fact, it’s roughly the same size as one of the four A/B/X/Y buttons. This isn’t accidental – according to Nintendo’s own Satoru Iwata, while the new control will function like a stick, it’s also designed to be used as though it were a button itself. Iwata also claims the new C-Stick “is easy to use”; with Nintendo releasing a picture showing that the size and positioning of the button should make it easy to control with the same thumb used to press the lettered buttons – it remains to be seen if this turns out to be the case. The new C-stick will be used in Dragon Quest X: Online, Final Fantasy Explorers, and Monster Hunter 4G to control the in-game camera function, and in the upcoming Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS to unleash Smash Attacks.

The back of the New 3DS XL. Notice anything different?

The new 3DS models will also include ZL and ZR buttons on the back beside the existing L/R buttons, thus making the Circle Pad Pro accessory entirely redundant. Because there is no longer space for the game card, the game card slot is now found on new 3DS and XL’s bottom-left side, which seems poorly thought out – surely it’ll be right underneath your left palm thus making it easy to accidentally push the card in and eject it? The space at the top previously occupied by the game card slot now houses the charging port, which has been moved from its original off-centre position.

Battery life comparisons (given in minimum to maximum expected time between charges) for the New 3DS XL (left image) and New 3DS (right image) compared to their predecessors
(click to enlarge)

Nintendo claim that the new 3DS and XL models also make small improvements on the battery life, with their rated maximum life up half an hour on the XL to 7 hours; and up a whole hour on the regular 3DS to 6 hours. Part of the reason for these gains are due to a new adaptive brightness feature, where the screen will automatically brighten or darken depending on the currently displayed picture, which is also aimed to improve colour quality. Another big reason for the small improvement is a new, more efficient processor – which also grants the new models a small speed boost to make downloads and loading times quicker – though exact specs are not yet known. Speaking of downloads, you’ll also now be able to use Micro SD cards with both new 3DS models, with a new slot located under the bottom covering.

The new Nintendo 3DS models also have an improved 3D function. With the original 3DS and XL, if you viewed the 3D effect from the side and didn’t stay in the “sweet spot,” the graphics became all blurred. However, the New 3DS has improved 3D, enabling players to continue to see the 3D effect even if viewed from an angle. Using the device’s cameras and gyroscopes, the new 3DS and 3DS XL actually track your face to work out the angle the screen is being viewed from – and will adjust the 3D effect to what’s best for your view. Clever!

Though the international launches of the new 3DS and 3DS XL models is still to be announced, both will be out October 11 in Japan. The New Nintendo 3DS is priced at 16,000 yen (approx. £92.75 at time of posting) and the New Nintendo 3DS XL is priced at 18,800 yen (approx. £109 at time of posting) – given the usual mark-ups, however, I’m personally predicting prices of £129 and £159 when they hit the UK. Sorry, that’s business.