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Written by Dustin Murphy

If you are like me, you grew up in the age of pen, paper, and dice RPGs where you rolled your stats, you checked for everything you did, and your characters actions could mean life or death depending on your level of caution. Over the past year or so we’ve been seeing a lot of these cRPG style games coming out on PC thanks to the award-winning crowdfunded cRPG franchise created by our friends over at Harebrained Schemes. As of August 20th, 2015, Shadowrun: Hong Kong has launched and has shown us why this third standalone title once more deserves the awards it has been given as the title it is.

featuring a new crew, expanded magic and cyberware, a completely revamped Matrix, and even an upgraded release of the Shadowrun editor, and much much more – the game is well worth the 19.99 USD on GoG, Humble Store, and Steam. for those looking to get the deluxe edition of the game will be able to get the original soundtrack, and even the Art of Shadowrun: Hong Kong PDF book for 29.99 USD. If that’s not enough to get you through the awakened and prosperous Hong Kong of 2056, fans will get to take a look at the prosperous port as it is caught up in a sea of chaos, warefare, and even political turmoil. Hong Kong in Shadowrun is a land of bright lights, gleaming towers, and restless spirits where life is cheap and everything is for sale, much different from the previous backdrops.

“The team went all-out on Shadowrun: Hong Kong,” said Jordan Weisman, CEO of Harebrained Schemes and creator of the Shadowrun franchise. “This is by far the best-looking Shadowrun game Harebrained Schemes has ever made.”

With having raised over 1.2 million USD in a Kickstarter campaign to add the new features, content, and even the game earlier this year, the campaign broke new grounds as the company sought co-funding to add the bonus features that were already in development. Within time? The game passed its goal in less than two hours.

Mitch Gitelman, co-founder of Harebrained Schemes and the game’s Executive Producer noted that, “With our Backers’ help, we’ve added a ton of new gameplay and features in Hong Kong. But for us, story and character will always be the most important element. The Shadowrun setting is an unparalleled environment for creating diverse and truly unique characters and situations.”

New in Shadowrun: Hong Kong, thanks to Kickstarter Backers:

• Revamped Matrix art and gameplay, featuring a combination of stealth and puzzles.
• Illustrated transition animatics that play at key moments in the story.
• Enhanced sound, and dynamic combat music that ebbs and flows.
• Rebuilt Inventory UI and easier management of items in-mission.
• All-new Cyberware skill-tree and new Cyberweapons to install.
• The ability to fluently switch between “free action” and turn-based combat modes
• Powerful new high-tech equipment and magical Foci objects for spellcasters.
• Upgraded interface and overall look & feel

Stay tuned for our upcoming review that will be found exclusively here on our website.

About the Writer:

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over onTwitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

 Join the Blast Away the Game Review Community on Facebook or Google+
Written by Dustin Murphy

When reading the email from Sega they had already asked the question that came to mind, which was “wait, what the heck is a Mikudayo,” and the answer came even quicker. For those unfamiliar, Hatsune Miku is a vocaloid, a character created using octaves of a persons voice using certain sounds you may remember from music class such as the “do re mi” chords we were used to singing growing up. This time? This little vocaloid has been brought to life using her Nendoroid form. As a first time release within the United States, fans will get to see her in her cheerful demeanor, yet oddly stiff and hysterically awkward movements that she has been known for.

In a series of videos released by Sega Japan, we got to see Ms. Julia and Mikudayo in action having their fun. Ever wondered about the relevance of these videos? Well it’s part of the Miku Lifestyle that you just boarded the train! This series is fun, energetic, and will give newcomers an idea of what to expect in the upcoming games such as Project Mirai DX, which is a Nintendo 3DS exclusive title that will get a Launch Edition that will feature a collectible outer box, Hastune Miku wallet chain as well as 19 double-sided AR cards.

Check out all the Mikudayo videos here, localized into English by SEGA staff!

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

Stay tuned for our upcoming review and a possible (if we can afford it) unboxing of the Launch Edition.

About the Writer:

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over onTwitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

 Join the Blast Away the Game Review Community on Facebook or Google+
Written by Dustin Murphy

If you’re like me, Rockband has been a game that has become a magnificent game to have around for when there’s friends about online or offline, and as of this past week? Our friends at Harmonix and Mad Catz Interactive have made an amazing announcement. For the first time ever, Van Halen will be featured on Rock Band with the upcoming Rock Band 4 title. The legendary #1 smash hit “Panama” will be on the game at launch for those looking to download the song from the ever-growing Rock Band Music Store.

“For years we’ve wanted to bring Van Halen’s music to Rock Band,” added Harmonix CEO Steve Janiak. “Not only are the songs incredible in their own right, but they’re amazingly fun to play and perform, whether you’re on guitar, bass, drums, or vocals.”

For music fans, many of you may already know that the band has recently released remastered versions of each of their six first albums, which also includes their newly recorded live album, “Tokyo Dome Live in Concert”. With them touring right and performing many of their live albums, it’ll be astonishing to see their music scrolling the screen in all the glory of Rock Bands well known graphical appeal.

Van Halen recently released remastered versions of their first six albums, as well as a newly recorded live album, Tokyo Dome Live In Concert. The band is currently on tour in multiple cities and venues throughout North America, and will be performing many of their hits from these classic albums. With more than 75 million albums sold worldwide, and more No. 1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart than any other artist, Van Halen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.

Rock Band 4, the next generation of the award-winning social and interactive music gaming platform launches globally on October 6, 2015 for Xbox One and the PlayStation 4.

About the Writer:

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over onTwitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

 Join the Blast Away the Game Review Community on Facebook or Google+
Written by Dustin Murphy

Prepare your phones, tablets, your hands, and your eyes, today DeNA has unveiled the latest update coming to Marvel: War of Heroes. In this card battle based game, players will get to find themselves using characters such as Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Wolverine, and many, many more heroes in the largest superhero card game. With the newly announced updated, fans and newcomers will get to see all new gameplay mechanics, a newly revamped user interface, and even a newly implemented dynamic card evolution system so that you can update your brand new set of Nexus cards once the update is applied.

Not familiar with “TCG” style games? Don’t be well fear not! For those unfamiliar with card games such as these or Marvel: War of Heroes, players will take on the challenge of going into the Marvel Universe with a card battle system. Here you will take on the task of going through the Nexus portal in order to experience various iconic locations within the Marvel Universe while taking on missions, fighting using the new Revolution Battle system, obtaining new cards, and even using a new systems that were made in order to make the game a little easier for those of you playing. This means new strategic card placements, a new skillful deck maneuvering system in order to take out enemies and collecting your rewards. With the new Nexus portal, fans will be able to gather new Materials, Gear, and even equip their cards with 60+ new items. This includes new cards from the Nexus update as well as battling Agents and even bosses for new powerful rewards.

the first zone that fans will get to enter with the release of Nexus will be Asgard, which many will know from the Thor comics, movies, and well Avengers. Here you will be tasked with helping Thor and experience the “Might of Asgard” as he seeks to show his worth to his father – Odin. As he does he will battle his friends Heimdall, Sif, and many more as he collects the cards and uses their unique abilities.

Interested in trying the game out? Visit App Store for iDevice users while fans on Android can visit Google Play. Do note that the game does contain in-app purchases and micro-transactions, but they are not required in order to play.

About the Writer:

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over onTwitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

 Join the Blast Away the Game Review Community on Facebook or Google+
Written by Dustin Murphy

Mike “Flamesword” Chavez poses for a portrait in Seattle WA, USA, on 26 February 2015. Property of Ian Coble/Red Bull Content Pool

If you’ve been following Destiny you know that Destiny: The Taken King is getting extremely close to launching and will be featuring some major changes, new raid(s), and even some new PvP arenas for you to enjoy. As of today, Destiny, Bungie, and Redbull have announced that Mike “Flamesword” Chaves will compete in the first ever PvP exhibition to showcase the upcoming mode “Rift”. Flamesword will not be alone for this as he will be joined by top members of Destiny’s community. The event will be hosted by Bungie’s DeeJ and Lars Bakken.

The event known as “Red Bull Quest” for Destiny was created as an in-game experience by collaboration between Bungie, Activision, and Red Bull for their partnerships together to prepare for the upcoming launch of Destiny: The Taken King when it launches on September 15th, 2015. If you haven’t participated in the “Red Bull Quest” head over to RedBullQuest.com for more information in order to get in on this.

While you do that? You can check out  Bungie’s Community Manager, David “DeeJ” Dague, Crucible Design Lead, Lars Bakken will host the livestream. The first eSports athlete to be featured on a Red Bull can and an avid Destiny player, Mike “Flamesword” Chaves will compete alongside competitors of the Destiny Community including Holtzmann, nKuch, Datto, Mtashed, KJHovey, and Flamesword’s guests Clout, FizZoR and tripleWRECK as they take on the new content before it launches on August 22nd at 10:00am PST, 12:00pm CST, and 1:00pm EST on the Red Bull eSports Channel on Twitch. The event will be created and produced by Red Bull Media House and broadcasted live from the Red Bull eSports Studio in Santa Monica, the Destiny PVP livestream will be on Twitch at http://www.twitch.tv/redbullesports just so that those of you who aren’t there can get in on the upcoming content.

Follow Red Bull eSports @RedBullESPORTS, Flamesword @OpTicFlamesword, Bungie @Bungie and Destiny @DestinytheGame on Twitter.

About the Writer:

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over onTwitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.