Read Ashley Davis' Valkyrie on ShiftyLook today!

Former Destructoid editor and doodler of all things cute, Ashley Davis, has done many wonderful things in her years as a freelance artist. From her animated GameTrailers series, Once Upon a Pixel, to her contributions to various art books and fan 'zines, she has perfected an art style that melts even the coldest of hearts.

On hiatus from her main webcomic, Jailbird, Ashley has taken over Legend of the Valkyrie on Namco Bandai's ShiftyLook site. Based on a Japanese-exclusive action-RPG series that dates back to the Famicom days, the comic was originally drawn by Fernando Heinz Furukawa, a South American comic artist who has worked on a number of StarCraft graphic novels. Though the strip had very detailed and dynamic art, it didn't quite sync up with the writing, which shoehorned Internet humor and attempted to appeal to otaku culture with basic Japanese phrases.

Beginning June 4 with the strip entitled "Time for a Change," Ashley has assumed both art and writing duties, and the comic is much better off for it. I'm simply annoyed that it took me so long to learn what she's been up to lately. Anyway, enjoy the comic, which updates twice a week.

And as an added bonus, here's Ashley's original rendition of series heroine Valkyrie as posted on her art blog, no marios allowed!, last September.

Day-one patch needed for Xbox One DRM policy changes

Sony went in a different direction than Microsoft with respect to always-on requirements and used games, and the latter company didn't hear the end of it. We certainly weren't buying the explanations. But that's in the past, now. As of today, the Xbox One has shed most of the policies gamers took issue with. According to Microsoft's Marc Whitten, that's not all the console lost.

"One of the things we were very excited about was 'wherever we go my games are always with me,' the VP of Xbox Live told Kotaku. "Now, of course, your physical games won’t show up that way. The content you bought digitally will. But you’ll have to bring your discs with you to have your games with you. Similarly, the sharing library [is something] we won't be able to deliver at launch."

Speaking to Polygon, Whitten said users "have to be connected" for the cloud-based processing to work, as you'd expect. "All of the things that require the Internet will require the console to connect. We want and expect most people to take advantage of those things, but we also want to give people the choice that they can play offline."

The family sharing concept was one I liked, in theory, as was not needing to keep the disc of an installed game in the tray while playing -- but not at such a high cost. Not even close. In light of today's news, Whitten also confirmed that there will be a day-one patch for the console.

Surprise Xbox One DRM Reversal Requires Day One Patch, Cuts Features [Kotaku]
Xbox One loses some disc-free play, family game-sharing plan with revised policies [Polygon]

Live show: Fist Puncher with Team2Bit

_{[Mash Tactics airs Monday through Friday at 4p.m. Pacific on Dtoid.TV. Watch King Foom play a variety of games, each day with its own theme. With a heavy focus on community and viewer interaction, you can be as much a part of the show as anything else.]}

Do you miss old-school, 2D beat-em-ups such as River City Ransom, and Final Fight? Do you like the quirky style and humor that Adult Swim Games brings to the table? If you answered yes to either of these questions, then do we have a show for you this evening. Tonight on Mash Tactics, we'll be jumping into the wild world of Fist Puncher, a nod to classic brawlers filled with over a dozen playable, and upgradeable characters, all armed to the teeth with special attacks and abilities to be used against the hordes of evil doers you'll be up against. 

If that wasn't enough to get you interested, wait, there's more! We'll also be joined via Skype, by a couple of fine gentlemen from Team2Bit, the developers of all this amazingness. If you enjoy what you see this evening, you can grab the game this Friday on Steam. However, if you are thinking about picking this up, I'd highly suggest you pre-order now. Not only will you get the game at a discounted price, but you'll also get access to an exclusive playable character from Robot Unicorn Attack, who of course, is a unicorn. What's better than that?

QotD: What is your favorite side scrolling 2D beat-em-up?

Microsoft, please stop desecrating Killer Instinct

Dear Microsoft,

Please stop making Killer Instinct look like, as our own Jonathan Holmes put it, “a mash-to-win, noob-friendly combo fest.” I've played your game -- even had a proper lesson from Double Helix to help understand all the advanced systems that are in place for fighting game aficionados -- but your recent showing on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon has done nothing for the cause.

Sure, mashing down repeatedly on the buttons against an opponent brand new to the game may result in limited success and look kind of cool on-screen, but what good does it do for your game when you're slapping buttons like a five-year-old playing whac-a-mole at Chuck E. Cheese’s?

I understand that the majority of the Late Night viewership may not be hardcore fighting game fans, but if you wanted to show off spastic button pressing then why not show the opening moments of Ryse? Oh right, violence.

Not down with Transistor yet? Watch this demonstration

There was a lot of good buzz surrounding Transistor during PAX East. However, it wasn't until right now, while watching this extensive demonstration from developer Supergiant Games, that the sci-fi action-RPG had me looking into cryogenic freezing. Sadly, I'll have to wait it out like the rest of you.

Beyond the standard real-time combat, players can pause the action to plan out -- and then execute -- their next attacks. This should give Transistor a different pace from the studio's last release, Bastion, while still appealing to people who dug that title.