Sega has just heavily discounted a number of their mobile apps, including Sonic 4. Sadly, most of the discounting seems to be iOS-centric, but there are a few Android price cuts as well. Prices are valid from now until the end of the day on 2/14, so get crackin’!

Personally, I can recommend Sonic 4 and Sonic CD, but your mileage my vary on the other titles; mostly due to the oddly designed control schemes. Hit the jump for a full list of titles.

iOS

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 (iPad) – $2.99/£1.99 was $4.99/£2.99

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 (iPhone) – $1.99/£1.49 was $3.99/£2.49

Sonic CD -$2.99/£1.99 was $4.99/£2.99

Streets of Rage 2 -$0.99/£0.69 was $2.99/£1.99

Streets of Rage 3 – $0.99/£0.69 was $2.99/£1.99

Altered Beast -$0.99/£0.69 was $2.99/£1.99

Golden Axe 2 -$0.99/£0.69 was $2.99/£1.99

Golden Axe 3 -$0.99/£0.69 was $2.99/£1.99

Gunstar Hero -$0.99/£0.69 was $2.99/£1.99

Virtua Fighter 2 - $0.99/£0.69 was $1.99/£1.49

Super Monkey Ball- $0.99/£0.69 was $1.99/£1.49

Super Monkey Ball 2 - $0.99/£0.69 was $1.99/£1.49

Super Monkey Ball 2: Sakura Edition - $0.99/£0.69 was $2.99/£2.99

Android

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 – $1.99/£1.28 was $3.99/£2.56

Sonic CD – $2.99/£1.92 was $4.99/£3.20

[Source: Sega]

Did you miss out on playing DS SRPG Radiant Historia the first time around because there was a limited number of copies? Well, shame on you because it’s a great game. But you’re also in luck; Atlus U.S.A. announced that they’re re-releasing the game in late March, 2012.

While this reprinting won’t come with the original bundled soundtrack, this is still a great chance to own a great game. Radiant Historia features strategic, turn-based combat and a time-travelling storyline where actions in one timeline can have repercussions in another. You can pre-order a copy of Radiant Historia from Amazon today.

[Source: Atlus]

While it’s not quite a firm release date, mega-publisher Activision confirmed a Q2 2012 window for the highly anticipated Diablo III in their most recent earnings call. This narrows the release date down to sometime between April and June of this year.

The game has already undergone changes, including some based on player feedback from the latest beta, but knowing Blizzard’s track record, it’s probably the safe bet the game’s going to be a hit. Diablo III takes place twenty years after the events of Diablo II. Though some familiar faces like Deckard Cain will make an appearance, the game features an all new set of heroes.

[Source: CVG]

As part of yesterday’s PSN (excuse me, Sony Entertainment Network) update, the Jak and Daxter Collection is now available for purchase. It’s been over a decade since the original Jak and Daxter was released on the PS2, so now is a perfect time to revisit the series or experience it for the first time.

I never got to play the original trilogy on PS2 so personally I can’t wait to get this. The collection is also available in stores for those of you who don’t like digital downloads. Jak and Daxter Collection sports HD graphics, 3D support, and trophies for you to collect.

[Source: Playstation.Blog]

Mechs are awesome. That’s one of the indisputable facts of the universe. And now the universe will get a little more awesome on December 12, 2012 when Adhesive Games’ Hawken blasts into action.

Read on for more info about this indie game you won’t want to miss.

Hawken is an online mech shooter that’s going to be free-to-play and will be published by Adhesive Games’ new publishing division, Meteor. The game was showed off at PAX in 2011, and it sported impressive visuals and fast, mech-based shooting action. While some mech games are plodding and slow, it looks like Hawken will try to capture more of that frantic Call of Duty-style feel.

According to an interview with VentureBeat, Khang Le–co-founder and Adhesive’s chief executive–said that “those with good PCs and decent broadband connections will be able to play the game at 60 frames per second. But [others] may experience the game at around 30 [fps].”

Beta sign-ups are also available. If you refer enough people to the beta, your spot is guaranteed. I imagine the site is receiving lots of traffic, so don’t get discouraged if you have to try multiple times to get it to load.

[Source: VentureBeat]

SoulCalibur has always been a flashy franchise — in more ways than one. When the original came out on the Sega Dreamcast, I was completely awestruck, and wasted hundreds of hours clanging swords and flinging people out of the ring.

By the time SoulCalibur III rolled out, I was a bit disenfranchised, and became more a casual fan — that is, until I came back full circle for SoulCalibur V.

First things first — SoulCalibur V’s engine and mechanics are rock solid. The game looks great, plays great, and the netcode is superb (but more on that later). Considering how much time has passed in the series, nearly every character looks and feels fresh, and even the ones that don’t age look great in V.

Mechanics wise, SCV adds a few new moves and changes to the series. Firstly, there is no Soul Gauge — it has been replaced by a “Super Meter” of sorts, that allow you to execute a number of different special moves, up to and including a Critical Edge attack (which is reminiscent of a Hyper Combo from most Capcom VS games). There’s also a new Just Guard technique, which is executed by quickly pressing and releasing the guard button, that pretty much replaces the less useful Guard Impact.

All these new additions are very fresh, and add a new layer of depth to combat. Critical Edges help newer players gain an advantage in combat if they can learn to combo them in for high amounts of easy damage. On the flipside, Just Guarding is an incredibly hard mechanic to master, meaning Pros will have a lot of fun taking care of scrubs after some practice.

Overall the game has a good balance to it, and manages to mix a number of solid fighting game mechanics together, while retaining that unique weapon combat feel the series has always had. Additionally, Ezio, the game’s guest combatant, could easily be included in future games as a standard character. His fighting style and character design fit the SoulCalibur universe like no other guest star before — Assassin’s Creed and SoulCalibur fans alike are sure to enjoy him.

So for all you single player fans out there, how good is the content? Well, unfortunately, SCV’s story mode is short, and only occasionally sweet. Your enjoyment of the story will most likely entirely hinge on your enjoyment of Patroklos — a character that I personally found very uninteresting. Only a few times will you play as his equally uninteresting sister, Pyrrha, which is kind of like a less fun Sophitia .

As for the actual content, it’s pretty bare-bones this time around. If you’re wiling to skip the game’s cut-scenes (and most of you will due to their fan-fiction quality), you can complete the story mode in thirty minutes. It’s kind of odd, but SoulCalibur V’s story mode is handled by an utterly different developer — CyberConnect2 — which may explain the drop in quality.

Quick battle mode immediately reminded me of Virtua Fighter 4, in that you have the ability to battle over two hundred different unique CPUs, and earn titles/gear through their defeat. In this mode, you’ll be able to sort all the way from beginner to advanced CPUs — 99% of which are unique creations using the game’s creation mode. Quick Battle was fun for a while, but my interest quickly deteriorated in favor of online play.

Instead of a few half-baked single player modes, SCV would have greatly benefited from a “Challenge Tower” Mode that recent fighters have thankfully been offering. It would have given new players a chance to slowly learn all the game’s mechanics, and have fun doing it. Instead, they’re just going to have to tough out Quick Battle and Arcade until they have the guts to go online.

The character creator from Broken Destiny and SCIV is also intact — and it’s extremely expanded in V. You’re allowed to use your created fighter in every mode outside of Story. The only real complaint I have is that Project Soul could have easily added a lot more styles.

To seemingly make way for the story mode’s concise focus on Patroklos’ journey, the arcade mode is extremely bare. Sadly, each character doesn’t have a story driven arcade mode. Instead, you’ll play six rounds against various CPUs — that’s it. After completion, you can share your completion time with your friends via leaderboards. To say this is dissapointing is an understatement.

I doubt very many people will enjoy Patroklos, and as a result, there’s no real extra story to be had with most of the game’s other characters. However, we all know fighting games are mostly about multiplayer, and if Project Soul was willing to make that sacrifice in terms of single player to produce a better game, so be it.

Multiplayer wise, Soul Calibur V is pretty much all you can ask for in a fighting game. It has online lobbies, ranked play with a solid matchmaking system (that allows you to actually only play people of higher skill level if you wish), and a solid netcode that’s basically lag-free. Speaking of the lobbies, they’re easily the best part of the online experience.

Not only do you get to watch full fights in a window in the lobby, but you get to chat with other fighters as well. The ability to text and voice chat really adds to the enjoyment of the game’s all new Global Colosseo, the granddaddy of all online lobbies.

With this bad boy, you’ll be able to go in and play constantly with a gigantic amount of players, and even enter and compete in tournaments online.  Unlike most other fighting games that feature smaller lobbies, you’ll never sit there without a match — you can challenge people pretty much every free second you have. With the Global Colosseo, Project Soul has sucessfully created a way to facilitate community growth in the game itself, which is always a plus for new players looking to get into the tourney scene.

Overall, Soul Calibur V is a great title that will be sure to win back fans of the series. It features a solid mixture of new and old mechanics, as well as an incredibly fun and rewarding online playground.

This review is based on a retail copy of the Xbox 360 game Soul Calibur V.

[Achievements that require no explanation will be branded as such]

A lot of people out there have been having issues obtaining a number of SoulCalibur V’s cryptic achievements, so I decided to share some tips.

There are a number of unlocks that can be obtained simply through completing the game’s single player modes and ranking up online, but a number of them are unlocked through in-game options and through your combat prowess — as well as your general knowledge of SoulCalibur V’s new mechanics.

Hit the jump to figure out how to get every achievement or trophy — if you’re new to the game, you might learn a few things too.

History Repeats

Battle in SOULCALIBUR V for the first time (excluding training and VS battle).

(Self Explanatory)

A Soul Coalesces

Edit a player license.

The easiest way to obtain this is to quickly create a character, then press Start on the main menu and change your license portrait to that character.

Beginning of Destiny

Register 3 rivals.

Every time you play someone online you have a chance to register them as a rival. After completing a match, win or lose, you can register them immediately into one of three slots.

Proof of a Fighter

Win consecutive matches on Xbox LIVE/PSN

Win two matches on Xbox Live/PSN in a row

Mercenary of War

Fight 30 times on Xbox LIVE/PSN

Simply compete in 30 matches on Xbox Live/PSN

Strategist of War

Fight 75 times on Xbox LIVE/PSN

Simply compete in 75 matches on Xbox Live/PSN

Hero Carved in History

Fight 100 times on Xbox LIVE/PSN

Simply complete 100 matches on Xbox Live/PSN

Carry Out Your Beliefs

Win 5 times in one style on Xbox LIVE/PSN

Use one character (or one created character) and win five times. “Style” = character.

Courageous Warrior

Win 20 times on Xbox LIVE/PSN

Simply win 20 times on Xbox Live/PSN

Conqueror of the Arena

Win 50 times on Xbox LIVE/PSN

Simply win 50 times on Xbox Live/PSN

Synchronize DNA

Use Ezio in a player match.

Use Ezio one time in a non-ranked online match

Awakened to Violence

Reach E4 rank in ranked match.

Play enough ranked games to get to rank E4.

Reason to Fight For

Reach E1 rank in ranked match.

Play enough ranked games to get Rank E1.

First Step of a Legend

Reach D1 rank in ranked match.

Play enough ranked games to get Rank D1.

Sings Own Praise

Upload a replay of your win.

This one is tricky. Right after a match, upload a video. Then, go to “replay” in the online play menu (not your player card). Go to the Battle Log section and save one of the uploads. Then, go to the “My Battles” section to complete the requirement.

Notes on Rivals

Play back another player’s replay.

The easiest way to do this is register a rival, press Start and view their player card, then view a replay.

Path to Glory

Quick Battle: defeat 50 warriors.

You must defeat 50 CPUs in the Quick Battle Single player mode. If you’ve already beaten a CPU it will display their name in white. If you haven’t, it will be green. Note that you can sort/flip the quick battle menu with the option at the bottom of the screen. The easiest way to gauge this is to view your “titles earned”, not “wins”.

Road to the Duel

Quick Battle: defeat 150 warriors.

You must defeat 150 CPUs in the Quick Battle Single player mode. If you’ve already beaten a CPU it will display their name in white. If you haven’t, it will be green. Note that you can sort/flip the quick battle menu with the option at the bottom of the screen. The easiest way to gauge this is to view your “titles earned”, not “wins”.

Sudden Temptation

Quick Battle: defeat all warriors.

Quick Battle has 240 total warriors. You must defeat all of them. This is easily the hardest achievement in the game. The easiest way to gauge this is to view your “titles earned”, not “wins”.

Perfect Trainee

Arcade: clear Asia route.

Go to the single player Arcade section. Select the Asia route. You can set this to easy, or if you choose hard, you can get two achievements in one (War Veteran).

Purge of the Holy

Story: clear episode 1.

Self Explanatory – story mode progress. By skipping cutscenes you can complete the story in 30 minutes.

Shields Come Together

Story: clear episode 8.

Self Explanatory – story mode progress. By skipping cutscenes you can complete the story in 30 minutes.

Resurrection of Order

Story: clear episode 16.

Self Explanatory – story mode progress. By skipping cutscenes you can complete the story in 30 minutes.

Home is Faraway

Story: clear final episode.

Self Explanatory – story mode progress. By skipping cutscenes you can complete the story in 30 minutes.

War Veteran

Arcade: clear any route with difficulty set on hard.

Choose any Arcade Mode path and beat it on Hard. All paths offer similar difficult levels.

Mask Another’s Memory

Arcade: clear a leaderboard route with a record better than your rival.

To make this easier on yourself, register all 3 rivals. Go to the Arcade section and select “Leaderboard route”. If your rivals have times, simply beat them to unlock this. If your rivals do not have times, register new ones online — the more rivals that have times, the better. Nightmare and Mitsurugi are particular good CPU bashers.

Usurped True Name

Quick Battle: win against 10 players with titles and use the obtained title on the player license.

Earn this in Quick Battle. After 10 wins, simply switch your title to the last CPU you beat (pay attention to their title). If you go over 10, you can simply switch to the next CPU you defeat’s title.

Pursuit of Obsession 

Quick Battle: defeat Harada TEKKEN.

To find Harada TEKKEN easily, switch the criteria for quick battle search to “Advanced”, “Japan”. Cycle through the list until you find him. He’s fairly hard to beat as he uses cheap tactics. I found Ezio’s crossbow attacks or Yoshimitsu’s spins to be the easiest way to defeat him, as well as constantly attacking low with most characters.

No-hitter 

Ranked Match: win 10 times with Ezio.

Simply win 10 times as Ezio ranked online. Do this sooner than later unless you plan on learning Ezio, because by the time you rank up, everyone else will be more skilled than you.

Skills for Duels 

Legendary Souls: win with brave edge.

After you beat the story, Legendary Souls mode will unlock. It is a boss rush mode. To obtain the achievement, win a match with a brave edge attack (these vary from character to character).

Passionate Artist 

Creation: create a character with full-on coordination (used everything except for height).

Create a throwaway character with every single equipment slot filled. Hats, armor, stickers; everything. To be sure you get it, fill your portrait up entirely and take a snapshot, then save the character. Your creation will look ridiculous, but at least you’ll unlock the requirement.

Colorful Illusion 

Creation: take a thumbnail by manually setting a decoration frame and background.

After creating a character to go the snapshot menu option. Create a full background and both frame options. Take a picture.

Fetal Soul

Player level reaches 5.

“Player Level” is earned through doing everything in the game — not just online ranked play. You can earn points by playing every mode.

Throbbing Soul

Player level reaches 50.

“Player Level” is earned through doing everything in the game — not just online ranked play. You can earn points by playing every mode.

Soul Fulfilled 

Player level reaches maximum.

“Player Level” is earned through doing everything in the game — not just online ranked play. You can earn points by playing every mode.

Stalwart Barbarian 

Perform a wall hit 50 times.

When you knock a player into a wall, whether it’s destructible or not, it’s considered a wall hit. You cannot “cheat” this achievement/trophy by doing it in Versus against a dummy player, but you can boost this in online player matches with a friend.

Adored by Heaven 

Perform 20 grapple breaks.

Press L2 or LT right as a player is going to grab you to break it. Eventually you will easily earn this achievement even by accident. You cannot “cheat” this achievement/trophy by doing it in Versus against a dummy player, but you can boost this in online player matches with a friend.

Like a Flowing Stream 

Successfully perform a just guard 5 times.

Press Guard the moment a player attacks and quickly release it to perform a Just Guard. You cannot “cheat” this achievement/trophy by doing it in Versus against a dummy player, but you can boost this in online player matches with a friend.

Momentary Pleasure 

Successfully perform an impact 100 times.

Impacts have been changed in Soul Calibur V — they are basically obsolete in SCV given how good Just Guarding is. But for the purposes of this achievement, press back or forward, and (A x B x G).

Black Sword of Death 

K.O. with critical edge 30 times.

Simply finish an enemy with a critical edge (super, in other games) 30 times. Press DF, DF A+B+K to execute it with all characters when the enemy has low health.

Hands of the Abyss 

Win by ring out 50 times.

Self Explanatory. You cannot “cheat” this achievement/trophy by doing it in Versus against a dummy player, but you can boost this in online player matches with a friend.

Parrier of Swords

Perfect win 50 times.

Win without taking a hit 50 times. You cannot “cheat” this achievement/trophy by doing it in Versus against a dummy player, but you can boost this in online player matches with a friend.

Wind of Battle 

Reach over 87,600 m in total movement distance in battle.

Self Explanatory. This one could take you a while.  You cannot “cheat” this achievement/trophy by doing it in Versus against a dummy player, but you can boost this in online player matches with a friend.

Alluring Kaleidoscope 

Land a brave edge 100 times.

A Brave Edge differs from character to character, but is executed after certain moves with (A+B+K). Look up your character’s movesets to figure out each Brave Edge. You cannot “cheat” this achievement/trophy by doing it in Versus against a dummy player, but you can boost this in online player matches with a friend.

Gale Forces 

K.O. the opponent 25 times with an attack after a quick move.

Press Up or Down twice to quickly move, then press an attack — KO an enemy 25 times with this ability. You cannot “cheat” this achievement/trophy by doing it in Versus against a dummy player, but you can boost this in online player matches with a friend.

Never Ending Effort 

Land an attack 20,000 times.

Self Explanatory. You cannot “cheat” this achievement/trophy by doing it in Versus against a dummy player, but you can boost this in online player matches with a friend.

Footprints of Soldiers 

Defeat 100 male characters.

Self Explanatory. You cannot “cheat” this achievement/trophy by doing it in Versus against a dummy player, but you can boost this in online player matches with a friend. This is probably easiest attained with defeating all 240 characters in Quick Mode.

Give in to Temptation 

Defeat 100 female characters.

Self Explanatory. You cannot “cheat” this achievement/trophy by doing it in Versus against a dummy player, but you can boost this in online player matches with a friend. This is probably easiest attained with defeating all 240 characters in Quick Mode.

Fancy of a Mad King 

Guard burst 30 times.

When your Life Gauge changes to red, you are suseptible to a guard burst, which means your guard will be broken and you will be stunned for a few seasons. Against turtling opponents, don’t let up when their meter is yellow, and break their guard 30 times to earn this achievement.  You cannot “cheat” this achievement/trophy by doing it in Versus against a dummy player, but you can boost this in online player matches with a friend.

Lively Pub 

Change the BGM in options.

Go to the options menu, and change any stage’s default background music. You can earn this faster than any achievement/trophy in the game.

Slim pickins’. That’s all I got to say about this week’s new offerings from Nintendo. But you know what they say, “One man’s slim pickins’ is another man’s DLC GOTY.” Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s how the saying goes.

Hit the jump for this week’s full list.

Nintendo eShop

• Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword

Nintendo eShop + Nintendo DSiWare

• GO Series: Undead Storm

Nintendo Video

• “Drown in the Now” by The Crystal Method

Iwata Asks

• Swapnote

WiiWare

• Carmen Sandiego Adventures in Math: The Great Gateway Grab

As part of THQ’s restructuring and layoffs, the company also reported that they’re no longer producing uDraw hardware. The bad news just continues to pile up for THQ.

Read on for more details about THQ’s financial woes.

According to THQ’s Fiscal 2012 Third Quarter Results, “earnings from successful games Saints Row: The Third and WWE ’12 were offset by poor results for uDraw hardware and software. Lower uDraw revenue, high inventory reserves” and other factors all had a multi-million dollar impact on the company’s operating income for the quarter. New President and CEO Brian Farrell said, “Sales of the uDraw GameTablet and related software, and other titles in the kids, family and casual category were far weaker than anticipated, substantially reducing our financial results for the quarter.”

It might not all be gloom and doom though; THQ’s core IPs did well in the third quarter. Saints Row: The Third shipped 3.6 million units, and WWE ’12 shipped more than two million units. Maybe with the company’s realignment away from kids’ games, they’ll be able to capitalize more on their more successful franchises. Hopefully this isn’t all too little, too late.

[Source: THQ]

While everyone assumed it was inevitable, it was just confirmed by Infinity Ward Creative Strategist, Robert Bowling, that Modern Warfare 3 players on PS3 will receive the new Liberation and Piazza maps on February 28th.

Hit the jump for more info about some of the strings that come with the new maps.

The catch is that the maps will only be available for those with Call of Duty Elite Premium membership. The two maps are already available for Xbox 360 paid Elite members and have been on the market since January 24th. Chances are the new maps will be made available for everyone at some point for a high price.

[Source: @fourzerotwo]

Fast-action multiplayer shooter Tribes: Ascend by Hi-Rez Studios is currently in closed beta, but a big update is coming. According to Hi-Rez’s Todd Harris these changes are “among those most requested by our Beta group.” For those of you in the closed beta, here’s some details about the changes coming your way.

The next update is set to include a more polished UI and more class customization. While the number of playable classes will be reduced from twelve to nine, each class is getting more weapon unlocks for more variety. Three of them–Light, Medium, and Heavy–will be available to new players right off the bat. No surprises there.

Tribes: Ascend is a free-to-play shooter for PC that’s coming out in 2012 based on the popular Tribes franchise. Players interested in getting in the closed beta can apply for a spot or can pre-purchase the Tribes: Ascend VIP Starter package. The package comes with automatic admission to the beta, permanent VIP status in the game, a 30-day Booster and 3000 Tribes Gold. I don’t know if I’d pay for access to a beta when the full game is going to be free-to-play, but if that’s your thing, go for it.

According to an SEC filing from February 1st, THQ’s CEO and President Brian Farrell will take a 50% cut in base salary, and the company will lay off up to “240 selling, general and administrative personnel worldwide.” This announcement came after previous ones that THQ was undergoing a restructuring and getting out of the licensed kids’ games market.

The filing also says that the restructuring will start being implemented in March, 2012 with the “remainder completed by September 30, 2012.” However according to Joystiq, “most of the affected employees have already been notified.” This restructuring plan is also expected to cost THQ up to $11 million in special charges.

Personally, I hate to see THQ in such a tough financial situation as I’ve enjoyed many of the games it’s published over the years. In fact, Darksiders was my personal game of the year back in 2010. While THQ has said that these layoffs aren’t affecting its development studios, I can’t help but think this isn’t good for them and the games they have in the works.

[Source: THQ Investor Relations, Joystiq]