Taking just enough time out from the Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn beta weekend to bring you the news. The sacrifices I make for you, dear readers…

• Ripple Dot Zero exists and is amazing. A side-scrolling action game inspired by the 16-bit era, and especially the Megadrive, the game is a mix of Sonic The Hedgehog-style speed and Strider-style action, with a bit of Rocket Knight Adventures thrown in for good measure. If that doesn’t get you salivating, then maybe the launch trailer will. Best of all? It’s free.

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• One of the best fighting games to ever come out of SNK was Samurai Shodown II. It was easily the best weapons-based fighter of its time, and a regular consumer of my spare change. The good news is that it’s now available on Android and iOS! Yep, you can have some classic fighting action in the palm of your hand right now. Here’s another launch trailer to remind you of why this game is so great:

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• Not content with releasing giant, 80MB panoramic screenshots for upcoming title Total War: Rome II, Creative Assembly have also announced the specs your PC will need to be able to hit to actually play the game. While most computers should easily hit the minimum specs, one number does stand out: the 35GB of disk space needed to install the game. That’s a hefty chunk of most people’s monthly data allowances, so make sure you’re prepared if you plan to purchase the game digitally.
• According to a report on CVG, releasing a demo for your game may cut sales by up to 50%. The revelation comes from a talk by Jesse Schell at the Gamelab conference in Barcelona. The data, gathered by EEDAR, shows that an XBox 360 game can sell an average of 525,000 copies over six months with just a trailer. Factor in a demo alongside the trailer, and that falls to 250,000 copies. Have neither, and you’re looking at 100,000 copies.

This week’s cover image is Major Motoko Kusanagi from Arise: Ghost In The Shell which is completely brilliant and you should all go check it out.