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Auto-run structure, NES in every other way It wasn’t that long ago that auto-run platformers were novel, even quaint.Bit.Trip RUNNER,Canabalt,Vib-Ribbon, and evenAnthony Burch’sRunnerall managed to get out to the market before Endless Runner stigma became a part of gamer culture. If you tell people these days that you’re putting out an auto-scrolling platformer on iOS/Android, they’ll roll their eyes at best, and do awful internet things to you at worst. If you are one of those eye-rolling people, this game was made for you....

Fable Legends isn’t coming back After multiple sources had heard that Lionhead Studios, formed in 1996,still had hope, the end has finally come. According to Kotaku UK, the developer has officially closed down for good following a nominal consultation period.Fable Legendsofficially shut down on April 13, and it’s not coming back. “We can confirm that after much consideration over the six week consultation period with Lionhead employees, we have reached the decision to close Lionhead Studios,” reads Microsoft’s statement on the issue, sent over today....

Plus Fable, Forza, and Age of Empires as well Microsoft showed off its plans for the Xbox Originals programming to Destructoid and one of the major takeaways from the meeting we had was that the company is currently looking at creating live-action content based onHalo,State of Decay,Gears of War,Forza,Fable, andAge of Empires. We’ve known aboutHalofor sometime now — in fact there’s going to be two live-action pieces, one directed bySteven Spielberg, the other byRidley Scott....

Graphing calculator programmer Brandon Wilson likes to tinker with machines and post his findings online, for no reason other than entertainment and curiosity. Recently, he turned his attention toSkylanders, the unique game that uses physical toys to interact with a virtual world. Activision apparently didn’t like it, slapping him with a cease & desist order. Wilson worked out the encryption protocol used for storing data on the toys, and intended to emulate his ownSkylandersportal peripheral....

Maybe it won’t suck now Arkham AsylumandArkham Cityare both pretty solid games. What wasn’t solid was their conversion to current-gen consoles with theReturn to Arkhamport being pretty crappy on launch. While patches have fixed a majority of the issues, it looks like PS4 Pro users will finally be getting the definitive console version of these games. The 1.02 patch, which actually released last Friday, has stealth Pro support that looks to add stability improvements along with providing a more consistent framerate....

I don’t know what’s crazier: some talented dudes coming together to make an 8-bit, YouTube-based videogame for the latestTwilightmovie, or me literally playing this choose-your-own-adventure-style faux game to completion. Admittedly, it’s kind of rad. Both because it riffs on the sheer absurdity ofEclipseand its predecessors (high five!), and because actual, honest-to-goodness game mechanics are presented. The animation was done byDoc Octoroc, while (presumably) everything else was handled byBenny and Rafi Fine....

[Update:I thought those CD prices were a little exorbitant! They are pre-order bonuses for the game, so the CD will come bundled with the software. That makes sense!] When it comes to guilty pleasures, jamming out to some of the recentSonicsoundtracks ranks way, way, waaaaaay up there. Yeah, I’ve got a few Crush 40 tracks on my Zen, big whoop, wanna fight about it? The music ofSonic Generations, a collection of arranged tunes spanning the Blue Blur’s career, might be a little more palatable to you....

Win a trip to E3 and a killer gaming rig The prize for this Ultimate Thief Mod contest is so good that even my spoiled ass wants to enter! Square Enix, Amazon, AMD and others have teamed up to bring you a contest that will celebrate the return of the Thief franchise. They want fans to submit entries in one of two categories; either a video of a mod they’ve created, or a pitch for a mod they would like to be made....

Yes! Mariohas had a lot of licensed toys over the years, but starting this fall, K’NEX is pumping out more products. Instead of just being a generic “Mario” theme, one of the sets is taking onSuper Mario 3D World, and will feature cats — oh yes, there will be cats. The first major playset is the Cat Mario Building set for $34.99, which will come with Cat Mario, a mouse, coins, a clear warp pipe, and a flag....

The name “Game Boy Advance Touch” sounds a heck of a lot neater than what it really is in execution: cramming an iPhone into a hollowed-out GBA. On the plus side, it offers good protection against would-be thieves, assuming people don’t go around jacking Game Boys from one another in the year 2010. As you can see from the quick video demonstration of this project, you’re still using the iPhone’s touch controls to play games....

Tales from Borderlands Space I’ll be the first to admit — I was extremely skeptical aboutTales from the Borderlands, especially considering how disappointed I was byThe Walking Dead‘s second season. But I’m happy to have been proven wrong. This game looks awesome, and plenty of people I trust — includingour own Darren Nakamura— really dig the series. Speaking of Darren, the folks at Telltale have just released a trailer for the finale with a pull quote from this very site!...

Sorry, everyone. Due to circumstances beyond our control, RetroforceGO! will not be recording episode 57 tonight. I can’t go into too much detail, but Topher will not be around for the next few days and wanted me to pass along the message. In an unfortunate coincidence, Colette isalsounavailable (she is not on a plane, though, I promise). So unless you want to listen to a podcast of me singing all my favorite songs for an hour, the obvious decision here is to delay the show a week....

I have a friend who is a genius atSonic the Hedgehog. She played it religiously in college, but even today can sit down, load it up on my Virtual Console, and still remember where every single jump and power-up is in the game. If there is ever a sequel toThe Wizard, I think I have a candidate for the main character. She’sso bad. Do you think you all know the SEGA classic well enough to impress her (sheissingle)?...