N3: Nightly News Narration – Monster Hunter, Pirates, The future of RPGs, & More

Capcom has released the next incarnation of the Monster Hunter series on the Wii U and 3DS today–both at retail and digital downloads through the Nintendo eShop. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate allows players to once again embark on a journey to slay oversized monsters as they participate in hundreds of quests. 

Wii U users will be able to play online with 3 others to hunt via a wireless connection. 3DS users, on the other hand, will need a Wii U to establish an online connection. If the user does not have a Wii U and LAN Connection Kit, they will have to play with AI or seek players via a local network. Regardless of which version you play, your save data can be transferred from Wii U to 3DS. Capcom will also be providing free DLC, for the first several months after release, via the Nintendo eShop.

Ron Gilbert, now former developer at Double Fine, is hard at work with Clayton Kauzlaric, co-creator of Deathspank, on a new title called Survy Scallywags. This is a match 3 game, based around pirates, music, and has plenty of RPG elements. The pieces, instead of falling straight down, on the screen, will drop in the direction you swipe. This is one of the many innovations Gilbert and his team are hoping to bring. He further says:
“An odd side effect of doing this was you could move pieces around the board. So unlike Puzzle Quest – and just about every other match-three RPG that sprang up after it – in Scurvy Scallywags you actually move your hero/pirate around the board and position her/him next to enemies to do battle. It creates this new layer to the matching that is a lot of fun.”

 Gilbert plans to have Survy Scallywags on iOS in the next 4 to 6 weeks. The game will be released on Android in the future. 

Looking for more gaming on your Mac? Hotline Miami, the indie hit from 2012 is now available on the Mac platform via Steam. Users who already own the $9.99 title will be able to download and play on both their Mac and PC with a single purchase.

Next up for Hotline Miami is the planned release to the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita platforms this spring.

The Humble Bundle is expanding to include a weekly sale. Today it was announced that you will be able to look for a new deal every Tuesday and it will follow the same structure of past deals–splitting money up your purchase price between The Humble Bundle, the Developer, and Charities. First up for the new weekly sale program is Bastion. 

 Bastion will be a DRM free version and be available for the Mac, PC, or Linux platforms for as little as a dollar. If you pay more than a dollar, you will get an additional Steam Key. If you pay more than the average price, you will also get a digital soundtrack of Bastion’s incredible musical score and previously unrleeased artwork. If you are looking for physical goods, if you pay more than $25, you will get a physical CD soundtrack, Bastion Bandana, and Postcards featuring Bastion and their next game Transistor.

Speaking of Transistor, the game will be playable at PAX East this weekend. You can see a video of the the reveal trailer below:

The popular Dungeon Defenders is getting a sequel for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and web. Dungeon Defenders II, as it is so uniquely named, continues the same Tower Defense gameplay but also adds in a MOBA gameplay mode as well. The sequel hopes to bring in fans of the original and a large group of new players as they are adding more RPG elements and drastically simplifying the learning curve. Also, to further encourage users to try the new sequel, Dungeon Defenders II will be released as Free to Play with no word on what the pricing model will be for content or how free characters will be rotated. 

 You can see the first reveal trailer below:

The future of the RPG genre from one of its earliest creators, at least in videogame form, is confirmed to be continuing its development. Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues has surpassed the one million dollars they asked for in their Kickstarter campaign. The impressive thing is that they did this in a mere 10 days with 18 days remaining. 

Shroud of the Avatar is currently scheduled to be released in Alpha in late 2013–with a full release in 2013.

Finally, Deep Silver, the new owner of the Metro franchise, has revealed a new gameplay trailer for the eagerly anticipated Metro: Last Light. Entitled Salvation, this makes me want to play this game now. However, the game will be available on PC, PS3, and X360 on May 14, 2013.