The PlayStation 5 DualSense is the priciest “next-gen” controller, but you can get it at a big discount right now. Stores are selling the mini-gravity wells of haptic feedback for just $50 a piece.
Everyone’s talking about Baldur’s Gate 3’s sexy times, be it with a giant red demon lady, a smarmy vampire, or a bear. What you might not have known about the fantasy role-playing game is that Larian Studios hired (at least) one voice actor to exclusively make sex sounds.
As Blizzard had decreed, there were to be two Realms in Diablo IV: Seasonal and Eternal, the former for characters built during each season, the latter for retired Seasonal characters. s Those born in the Seasonal Realm could transition to the Eternal, but never the other way, lest you incur the wrath of Blizzard’s…
Almost exactly one year ago, SNK announced a new Fatal Fury game, the first in over 20 years, was in the works. During EVO this weekend, the company revealed the game’s title is Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, alongside a new teaser trailer.
The video shows off some brief in-game footage of staples Terry Bogard and Rock Howard in action. Unfortunately, we don’t see much more than that, and SNK has only promised to share more information at a later date.
The last Fatal Fury game was 1999’s Garou: Mark of the Wolves, so a new entry has been a long time coming for fans. Hopefully, it arrives sooner than later and is another big fighting game to anticipate during a relative boom period for the genre thanks to Street Fighter 6 and the upcoming Mortal Kombat 1 and Tekken 8. Are you excited to play a new Fatal Fury game? Let us know in the comments!
Call of Duty Modern Warfare III will be released on November 10, and we got the briefest of teases in a new trailer today. Activision confirmed today’s reveal last week after the game leaked online.
The teaser doesn’t provide much to go on except the release date; platforms are unannounced, but we imagine it'll be on the usual suspects. Sledgehammer Games is taking the reins, making it the first Modern Warfare title not made by Infinity Ward (but it's still assisting, as all Call of Duty studios tend to). Sledgehammer's last entry was 2021’s Call of Duty: Vanguard, and it also developed WWII and Advanced Warfare.
Indie publisher Devolver Digital has announced a slew of delays for some of its more anticipated titles on the horizon. Framed through a humorous parody of a Nintendo Direct, Devolver released a "Devolver Delayed Showcase" to tell players all about the games they won't be playing in 2023. The showcase highlights five games in particular: The Plucky Squire, Skate Story, Anger Foot, Stick it to the Stickman, and Pepper Grinder.
"We have some exciting news about next year," one host says. "This year's delays," the other host follows up. "Some of our brightest upcoming titles are finding their way to 2024!"
The Plucky Squire, a game that bounces between 2D and 3D gameplay, is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, and PC. Pixel-art platformer Pepper Grinder is currently slated to arrive on Switch and PC. Meanwhile, roguelite brawler Stick it to the Stickman, kickflipping sports-action game Skate Story, and foot-based first-person shooter Anger Foot are currently only listed for PC.
You can see the full Devolver Delayed Showcase below.
Street Fighter 6 is popular right now. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is also pretty hot at the moment, especially with a new animated film out in theaters. That’s probably why Capcom is bringing the latter into the former in a fun-looking collaboration.
Beginning tomorrow, August 8, TMNT-themed costumes, cosmetic items, and emotes will let players transform their Street Fighter 6 avatars into Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo. The event also includes TMNT stamps and titles, plus wallpapers for camera mode. Even the Battle Hub is getting in on the spirit by decking it out with Turtles banners, signs, and trailers. In the trailer below, it looks as silly as you would expect.
Street FFighter6 had a big showing at EVO this past weekend, as a new fighter A.K.I. was also announced. For more on Street Fighter 6, check out our review.
Mortal Kombat 1’s roster continues to expand, and the latest trailer reveals a returning staple and two long-lost fighters from the series’ 2000s era: Reptile, Ashrah, and Havik.
The lengthy trailer provides a great look at the new looks and abilities of each character as well as their respective roles in the story. Reptile is back in his more human form but can still shapeshift into his natural, intimidating lizard body to devour opponents.
Fans of 2004’s Mortal Kombat: Deception should be happy to see the returns of Ashrah and Havik. Each made their debut in that game, and neither has appeared in the series since Deception’s follow-up, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon in 2006. Ashrah sports a much different look and moveset but remains a demoness mostly cleansed of her inherent evil. Havik appears to retain his chaotic brand of body-contorting, limb-tearing offense. Sareena has also been confirmed as a new Kameo fighter to fan the flame of 2000s nostalgia. Check out the new trailer and a fresh batch of screenshots below.
The Logitech G502 X is an interesting remake of the RPS reader favourite G502 gaming mouse, and today it's discounted to $50 in the US when you use a $10 coupon code at Amazon.
It features a more streamlined design that James called "achingly close to perfection", with hybrid optical-mechanical switches and a slightly lower weight (89g) - plus the same high complement of programmable buttons and the hyper-advanced scroll wheel that made the G502 such a hit in the first place.
New graphics card generations are a typical driving force behind gaming laptop refreshes, but CPUs can floor that pedal with just as heavy a boot. The result is often something like this latest Asus ROG Strix Scar 17, which wields not just a top-spec Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 but also one of AMD’s newest and most number-crunchy processors, the Ryzen 9 7945HX.
That’s a lot of newness, and even more of a specs list: 32 threads from the Ryzen, 16GB of VRAM, DLSS 3 support and so on. And yet, what’s most impressive about the Strix Scar 17 is not simply its immense power, but how balanced – sensible, even – the whole laptop feels like in use. A quality that seems almost impossible at first, given its clear status as a brashly high-end gaming notebook with all the RGB bells and aggressive styling whistles.
PlatinumGames co-founder, Bayonetta director and celebrated Twitter shoutyman Hideki Kamiya would like the "retro" game label to go out of fashion. His argument is that calling something "retro" is inherently condescending - each game has its own particular achievements and qualities that deserve to be understood in terms of more than just nostalgia cultivated by a novelty-driven industry. After all, Johnny 90s Developer didn't spend months knocking together a bespoke cover system or fancy artstyle so that you could badge it "quaint", "old school" and so on, 30 years later. Assuming you can still access the game at all.
"I don't like the word 'retro game'," Kamiya told VGC in a wide-ranging interview also notable for some chunky insights on onomatopoeia in Japanese manga and its US adaptations. "I'm obviously not a native English speaker so it might be something I'm interpreting from a Japanese perspective, but hearing the word 'retro' from a Japanese viewpoint, suggests more of a 'fad' brought back from a past era and reskinned for the current era."
Activision has whisked back the curtain on this year's Call of Duty instalment, eliciting exactly zero gasps of surprise from anyone. As widely rumoured previously, it's titled Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and it's releasing on 10th November.
Today's official reveal comes courtesy of a brisk teaser trailer which, alongside a whole lot of hyperactive whizzing between abstract pointy things, includes glimpses of a few familiar faces from the Call of Duty series - namely Captain Price and Vladimir Makarov - and a voice over warning, "Never bury your enemies alive."
This year's Call of Duty instalment has, of course, been rumoured to be Modern Warfare 3 for quite some time. The name first surfaced back in May, and Activision effectively confirmed it in July when the name appeared during a spate of DMCA takedowns aimed at leakers online.
Square Enix announced that service for Dragon Quest X Online on the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U will end on March 20, 2024. However, more support is coming for the MMO. A new version 7.0 expansion is coming. The expansion is titled Dragon Quest X Online: The Door to the Future and the Sleeping Girl, and more information about it will appear after the plot of version 6.0 wraps up. The expansion is set to release in 2024.
Square Enix decided to terminate services for both the 3DS and Wii U versions of the game due to difficulties in continuing to support them. Additionally, Nintendo discontinued the hardware for both platforms, and other online services for both platforms have ceased service as well. It will regularly provide new information, and update the schedule until end of service for both the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U versions of Dragon Quest X Online.
Following a rundown of new features and Grimnir reveal, Cygames revealed the Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising release date at Evo 2023. It will arrive on November 30, 2023. There will be a full paid version and smaller "free" edition. In addition, we'll get a chance to play it again ahead of launch, as a second beta will arrive in Fall 2023.
When the Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising release date rolls around, we’ll be able to choose between $49.99 standard and $74.99 deluxe editions of the game. The latter will include extra add-ons. While the free version is free, only covering the first part of the story and four characters, it will allow people to completely go through the new Grand Bruise Legends minigame mode and play online.
As for the second online beta, its contents were also teased. It is another part of the online tests. Console and PC players will get to participate and help test out lobby matches, cross-play multiplayer fights, and the Grand Bruise Legends mode.
There’s also a new trailer, which you can watch below.
A short Oshi no Ko spin-off, Oshi no Ko Interlude, will run for a limited period of time while the main series goes on hiatus. Oshi no Ko Interlude will be in Issues 37/38 to 41 of Young Jump. The plot of the spin-off will take place in the real world and focus on Mengo Yokoyari. [Thanks, ryokutya2089!]
Mengo Yokoyari is the manga artist for Oshi no Ko. She also wrote and drew Scum’s Wish. Since Interlude will take place from her perspective, it might be about her workflow, as well as real-life idols or events. While leaker ryokutya2089 seems to already have an idea of who the first chapter of Interlude will be about, they have not explicitly named the character on their site.
As for the main Oshi no Ko story, it will start up after Interlude ends, so we can expect it in Issue 42 of Young Jump. That will appear on September 14, 2023. The most recent chapters showed developments in Aqua and Ruby’s relationship. Until the series starts up again in September 2023, it's unclear just where the story will proceed from there with the twins.
The Oshi no Ko anime is available on streaming services such as HIDIVE. Yen Press is releasing the manga volumes in English, with Volume 3 coming out on August 22, 2023.
Rockstar Games announced that we'll see Red Dead Redemption and its Undead Nightmare expansion on the Switch and PS4. It will show up digitally on both platforms on August 17, 2023 for $49.99. If you prefer a physical copy, you'll need to wait until October 13, 2023 for that to show up in stores. There's also an initial trailer showing how the game and its zombie-themed add-on will look on the systems.
Here's the first trailer for Red Dead Redemption and Undead Nightmare on the Switch and PS4.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5Nwgd_T1-4&ab_channel=RockstarGames
Rockstar Games also noted Double Eleven is involved with the porting process. Previous, the developer worked on the Vita version of LittleBigPlanet, the console version of Rust, and Fallout 76.
Red Dead Redemption first appeared on the PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2010. The Undead Nightmare expansion, which also ended up being a standalone game, showed up later that same year.
The latest entry in the series is Red Dead Redemption 2. We can play it on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. It was also available on PCs via Google Stadia, however that service is now dead.
Red Dead Redemption and Undead Nightmare will come to the Nintendo Switch and PS4 on August 17, 2023.
Red Dead Redemption's newly announced PlayStation and Nintendo Switch release could have been a cause for celebration among the game's dedicated community, but instead fans are up in arms over today's news.
This morning, Rockstar revealed that 2010's Red Dead Redemption and its Undead Nightmare expansion are coming to PS4 and Nintendo Switch on August 17, with physical editions to follow on October 13. Rockstar is calling the port a "conversion" rather than a remaster or remake, and the company is charging $50 for this iteration of the game.
Red Dead Redemption players on social media are upset about Red Dead Redemption's price, missing multiplayer, and lack of a PC release. It doesn't help matters that rumors about a Red Dead Redemption remake have been flying for weeks following a fresh rating for the game in South Korea. Fans got their hopes up over a full-blown remake, with many clamoring for a version that would put the original in line with Red Dead Redemption 2, in a similar manner to how The Last of Us Part I is now visually similar to Part II.
Red dead redemption, what we wanted:
- Remake, the map is in rdr 2 already
- 60 fps
- Dualsene features
- Only current gen version (Ps5, Xbox series, good PC)
- The ultimate version
What we GOT:
- a 30 fps port
- no 60 fps
- no remake or remaster
- Rockstar not caring ☹️ pic.twitter.com/8BWHtK7SEM
Fans have long awaited the return of The Legacy of Kain, and one among them is the voice of Final Fantasy 16's Clive Rosfield, Ben Starr.
This past Saturday, the actor attended SlayStation: The Crystal Ball in London, England, a recurring monthly performance of video game-inspired drag which themed its most recent show around the Final Fantasy series. The Clive actor took the stage for an interview with hosts Loose Willis and Miss Terry Box.
Starr was asked which character from any other game series he’d most like to portray. He answered with a surprising deep-cut: Raziel from Soul Reaver, later confirming to IGN that should the role be available in a remake, remaster, or continuation of the series, that he’d love to be in the running for it.
The Legacy of Kain series once belonged to Final Fantasy publisher Square Enix, which might have made Starr's campaign for the role much less complex, but the rights were purchased by Embracer in 2022. Last year Crystal Dynamics posted a poll that asked fans if they'd like to see another Legacy of Kain game, and specifically asked if they'd prefer to see a remake, remaster, reboot, or sequel.
Mat Jones is IGN's UK Social Coordinator, and will turn back into a pumpkin at midnight.
There’s this mobile game ad I see all the time on social media. It shows a number of vials filled with differently colored liquid. The goal is to combine matching colors until all vials have one single, solid color contained in them. If you’ve never seen this before, one version of it looks like this:
I love watching this ad – it’s extremely soothing. But if I look through a mobile storyfront to play the actual game it depicts, almost all the versions of that game are either so full of ads and microtransactions they’re agonizing to play, or they’re outright scams. And it’s not the only game like this. “Color Water Sort” (for lack of a better title) is part of a larger genre of mobile games with similar premises. It has catchy ads depicting players fumbling very easy puzzles that the viewer immediately thinks they could solve, but when you go to play the game, it’s heavily monetized, full of ads, or a different game entirely. Other variations include a man trapped in a weird tomb puzzle trying to get to treasure, and a game about choosing the correct path through a series of battles that will make your character strong enough to reach the end.
For years, I’ve wanted to play “those games.” And now, thanks to the developers of Katamari Damacy Reroll, I can.
In a recent interview with Video Games Chronicle, Bayonetta and Devil May Cry creator Hideki Kamiya addressed criticism toward the term “JRPG,” saying Japanese developers should actually be very proud of the distinction it implies.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is dense, but really rewarding once you’ve gotten the hang of all its systems. For some, the RPG’s combat has been particularly challenging, because it’s so embroiled in the game’s deep systems.
After finally launching in its full form on August 3, the wait for Baldur’s Gate 3 is now over (for PC gamers, anyway). So, does the long-awaited return of a classic CRPG series, developed by the studio behind modern CRPG hit Divinity: Original Sin 2, live up to the hype?
A blind gamer who competed in the biggest fighting game tournament of them all, the Evolution Championship Series (EVO), took home the ultimate W this year: An uproarious applause from nearly 10,000 competitors and fans alike.
Sony's PS5 DualSense gamepad is one of the best controllers for PC, but with a $70 MSRP it's also one of the most expensive mainstream options. Thankfully, DualSense price cuts that appeared first in the UK have now spread to the US, bringing the Sony pad to a reasonable $49.
Given how well this controller is supported for PC gaming, thanks to the efforts of Valve and modders behind projects like DualSenseX, this makes it an awesome pickup - whether you're looking to play Baldur's Gate 3 in couch co-op or F1 23 with full adaptive trigger support.
With a million sales to its name already, a lot of people are playing Remnant 2 right now, and developer Gunfire Games has confirmed its currently figuring out a way to give all of them the opportunity to play together, regardless of platform, through crossplay - meaning everybody's pool of potential co-op partners could soon get a whole lot bigger.
That's according to Remnant 2 director and Gunfire Games president David Adams, who shared the news during a recent AMA (Ask Me Anything) Q&A session on Reddit.
"Yes, we are looking at it", Adams explained when asked if crossplay was something Remnant 2 might get in the future. "There are issues with the different platforms and what they require in order to allow crossplay," he continued, "but it is being actively worked on".
Manufactured by Broccoli, the May Another Color Ver 1/7 scale figure is now available to pre-order. This figure is of the character May from the fighting game series Guilty Gear, with the outfit based on her Strive appearance. May Another Color Ver is scheduled for release in February 2024 and will be available for 24,200 yen ($170). BigBadToyStore is also taking pre-orders outside Japan for the price of $199.99. It also estimates a February 2024 worldwide release. [Thanks, Hobby Watch!]
Broccoli intended to capture May’s lively personality with a dynamic pose with this figure. It features a variant of May’s original design, reflecting the purple and silver color scheme of her seventh in-game skin. Her weapon-of-choice, a massive anchor, is also featured in the figure.
Being a 1/7 scale figure, May stands at a height of 260mm. The figure is made up of ABS and ATBC-PVC materials.
You can view the painted prototype photos in the gallery below:
[gallery ids="976807,976808,976809,976810,976811,976812" link="file"]
Guilty Gear Strive is the seventh mainline game of the Guilty Gear series, developed by Arc System Works. It is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Arcade, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. Jellyfish Pirates member May is part of the base game’s cast, though the crew’s Captain Johnny is appearing as DLC in season 3.
Taito and Banpresto announced volume 2 of Banpresto's Chainsaw Man Break Time Collection and this time the prize figure features Power in a sitting pose, with her playing with her cat Meowy. Being a prize figure, Power and Meowy are set to appear in Taito game centers across Japan beginning on August 8, 2023. Big Bad Toy Store is also taking pre-orders outside Japan at the price of $26.99. The figure is set to ship sometime in September 2023.
Get a complete look at the figure in the gallery below:
[gallery link="file" columns="2" size="full" ids="976836,976837,976838,976839"]
Chainsaw Man, a manga-turned-anime written by Tatsuki Fujimoto and produced by MAPPA, became a worldwide phenomenon when it began airing in October 2022. Only season 1 of the show is available now, and the manga is still running.
A prize figure of the protagonist of Chainsaw Man, Denji, appeared in Break Time Collection Volume 1. Denji is portrayed in a similar sitting pose, but he is holding his pet devil Pochita. BigBadToyStore is also taking pre-orders outside Japan for Denji and Pochita at the same price, with shipments set to arrive in August 2023.
Here's a look at Denji's figure:
[gallery link="file" columns="2" size="full" ids="976840,976841,976842,976843"]
Usada Pekora, the third-generation rabbit Vtuber from the talent agency Hololive, revealed her original Pecola soda syrup during her livestream on August 7, 2023. This partnership marks a first for U Products, as it hasn't released a Vtuber cola before. The label and box of Pecola feature illustrations by Bkub Okawa, the manga artist behind the series Pop Team Epic. Two 200ml bottles of “Pecola” are available for 5,400 yen ($38) in Japan.
According to the collaboration website, Pecola can be enjoyed with carbonated water, hot water, milk (both hot and cold), or over yogurt. The cola syrup is made with a complex blend of spices, primarily domestically grown lemons and cardamom sourced from Nabari City in Mie Prefecture.
A set of merchandise to accompany the Usada Pekora Pecola soda is also available. The Pecola Goods Set includes a cola glass featuring the illustration by Bkub Okawa in gold foil, a pop glass charm, a cork coaster, and two label stickers. The complete Pecola Goods Set is available at the price of 3,300 yen ($23) in Japan.
Here's a closer look at that:
[gallery columns="1" size="full" ids="976763" link="file"]
This is the second Usada Pekora announcement in August 2023. She will be a playable character in the fan-made fighting game, Idol Showdown, at Evo 2023. The Vtuber originally made her debut in July 2019, and has been gaining popularity both domestically and globally.
Out of everything I experienced at Final Fantasy XIV FanFest 2023, there was one thing that stood above the rest. It wasn't The Primals concert, or the announcement of the Dawntrail expansion. It was the Crystalline Conflict PvP tournament. Nothing got my blood pumping as fast, or held my attention as hard, as watching Big Succ and John Darksouls ultimately steal the show. While they didn't walk away as winners of the tournament, watching their performance, alongside the other matches that took place, reinvigorated my love for FFXIV PvP.
Despite coming away from Final Fantasy XIV FanFest 2023 with perhaps one of the worst flus of my life, I jumped back into the game. The first thing I did? Queue up for a match of Crystalline Conflict in FFXIV. For those unfamiliar with it, it's sort of like the MMORPG's own Overwatch-inspired mode. Players need to escort a crystal to the opposite side of the map. Whoever gets there first, or makes the most progress before the time runs out, wins.
After being pulled on Steam earlier this year, Ironmace's PvPvE fantasy game Dark and Darker has been released in early access... but not on Steam.
Its been released on Steam competitor indie gaming storefront Chaf Games, Ironmace announced on Discord today. It's also available for download on Dark and Darker's official website.
In late March, Dark and Darker was pulled from Steam after the developer was served with a cease and desist and a DMCA takedown. Despite legal issues, Ironmace kept distributing Dark and Darker on Discord, with a playtest being held in April.
Before the game's removal from Steam, it was reported that Korean officials searched Ironmace's offices on the suspicion that the developer might have possessed stolen game assets and code. Roughly a month later, it was reported that Nexon was suing Ironmace for copyright infringement, with Ironmace starting a GoFundMe to pay for the company's legal fees.
In today's announcement, Ironmace noted that they "encountered some challenges" that didn't allow them to support Dark and Darker in Korea for the early access launch.
For some reason, Sony decided to run a massive sale on all things PlayStation this week. That’s cool with us, because discounts are like kittens: everybody loves them. You can check out all the items on sale in our best PlayStation deals mega-post, but if it’s games you’re after, you’ve come to the right place. Below, we’ve gathered all the best PS5 game deals available at all the major retailers. Let’s take a look at what’s on sale.
Basically, if you want a first-party PS5 game, you can get a deal on it right now. Speaking of, now's a great time to catch up on the Spider-Man games if you haven't played them, because part 2 is coming out this fall and acts as a sequel to both the original Spider-Man and Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN's board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on (long inhale) Threads, Bluesky, Mastodon, and the social network formerly known as Twitter.
James “MrBeast” Donaldson, one of the biggest YouTube stars in the world, is now being sued by Virtual Dining Concepts for $100 million. The food company behind his MrBeast Burgers alleges in the newly filed lawsuit that MrBeast is a “social media celebrity who believes his fame” means he can break contracts and say…
Before Greta Gerwig exploded some men’s brains with her blockbuster Barbie movie earlier this summer, and some decades after toy company Mattel exploded parents’ wallets with the Barbie doll in 1959, video game companies released a bunch of Barbie games.
Dark and Darker, the mediaeval extraction looter from Ironmace Games, has - after a turbulent few months and amid ongoing legal troubles - launched into early access, but not on Steam.
Dark and Darker, you might recall, received a hugely positive reception when it featured as part of Valve's Steam Next Fest earlier this year. Soon after, though, Korean game publisher Nexon accused Ironmace of copyright infringement, claiming members of the development team had used "materials and assets they worked on during their time" at Nexon to create Dark and Darker - an accusation Ironmace has repeatedly denied.
Ironmace's woes continued when a cease and desist demand from Nexon forced the game off Steam, and, despite successfully getting Dark and Darker's recent playtests into players' hands through some creative problem solving, the game's early access launch - which was originally planned for late April to early May this year - has seen several delays.
Recently while playing Baldur's Gate 3, I've noticed that sometimes after multiple very good or bad rolls in a row, my luck on the dice would suddenly seem to swing the other way. Was this randomness? Probably? But then a friend told me to turn off something called "Karmic Dice" in the game's menu, and everything suddenly made sense.
If you're like me, you might want to turn this mysterious feature off entirely for a more authentic D&D experience.
You'd be forgiven for not knowing what "Karmic Dice" was if you haven't been immersed in the game's early access. Basically, Karmic Dice is a sort of bad luck protection in Baldur's Gate 3. It's a setting that effectively manipulates dice rolls to prevent characters (both player-controlled and NPC) from having long streaks of good or bad rolls. So if you've been rolling especially badly lately, the setting will put a little finger on the scale to tip it in your favor. But it also seems to work against you if you're having a long streak of good roles, and also will help and harm your enemies in the same way.
The idea of Karmic Dice is to help make sure things feel truly random, because everyone's getting a consistent spread of different dice rolls. But the reality is that there's an unseen hand guiding the dice some of the time. If you're like me and want true, pure, chaotic randomness, you might want to navigate to the Options menu and under Gameplay, User Options, toggle those Karmic Dice off. We have a guide on how to do so right here.
Devolver Digital has delayed a bunch of its games, and, Devolver being Devolver, it announced those delays in a special three-minute showcase - complete with inane Nindies-style banter - that also (presumably in the name of balance and order) featured a couple of games still on track to release this year. Want to know what landed in which pile? Then here we go.
First up on Devolver's 'now coming in 2024' list is The Plucky Squire, an eye-catching adventure from former Pokémon artist James Turner, that wonderfully blends 2D and 3D as illustrations from a living picturebook escape and begin to cause chaos in the real world.
Equally eye-catching and equally delayed is Sam Eng's Skate Story, in which a skateboarding demon navigates an Underworld made of "glass and pain" in order to swallow the moon.
SuperGroupies announced a new line of Suikoden II merchandise inspired by protagonists Hero and Jowy, as well as recurring character Luc. There is a watch and a bag inspired by each one of them. All items are expected to appear in December 2023. International shipping for these items are available.
The Suikoden II Hero, Jowy, and Luc watches are all ¥20,900 each, which is about $147. Hero’s is black and red with the Bright Shield Rune on the face. Jowy’s is blue with the Black Sword Rune on the face. Luc’s is green with the True Wind Rune on the face.
You can check out the Suikoden II SuperGroupies collaboration items below:
[gallery columns="4" ids="976931,976930,976929,976928" link="file"]
The bags are all different styles, so their prices vary. The Hero one is ¥19,800, which is $139, and is a backpack in the same colors as his outfit. The Jowy one is a blue and beige tote bag for ¥16,500, which is $116. The Luc model is a brown and teal tote bag. It is ¥16,500, which comes out to roughly $116.
Here are the SuperGroupies Suikoden II Hero, Jowy, and Luc bags:
[gallery columns="2" ids="976926,976927" link="file"]
For the last few days I've been trying to understand what it is exactly that Thronefall reminds me of. This is the follow-up game from the small team that made Islanders, a brilliant minimalist city builder that I properly love. Although Thronefall has its own city building elements and a breezy deftness when it comes to conjuring a sense of nature, it's not Islanders that keeps prodding at the edge of my memory as I play. Thronefall's a sort of tower defence game too, but it doesn't put me in mind of anything from that blessed lineage, either.
Last night, though, after a busy day of Thronefalling, I woke up at four and I suddenly had it. Spectral cubes were falling all around me in the night air and I could almost hear shifting, shuffling beats in the distance. It's Lumines. Thronefall really reminds me of Lumines. And yet Lumines is a block matching puzzle game. What's going on?
We'll get to that in a minute. First, some basics. Thronefall's out now in Early Access. It's a game about building a kingdom during the day and defending it from waves of attackers at night. And spoiler: it's a treat. Every day you spend coins turning little nodes in the landscape into structures: arrow towers and walls for defence, say, houses and mills and farmlands to grow your economy. Some structures straddle the line between defence and economy, rather brilliantly. You can choose, when building a mill, whether you want extra coin production or a mill that explodes when attacked causing damage. It's clever stuff and it's filled with little choices like this.
Following the announcement of cloud game streaming in June, Sony has started to roll out a beta for the offering to PS Plus Premium subscribers.
Back in June, Sony didn't mention when to expect the feature to release, though Sony exec Nick Maguire stated it was in the "early stages" of testing.
Yesterday, users on ResetEra and Reddit began to report they had received invitations to an exclusive beta for PS5 cloud streaming.
Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian has explained why the rules of Dungeons and Dragons make any potential expansion to its hit PC role-player "very hard" to make.
Indeed, Larian currently has no Baldur's Gate 3 expansion in the works.
Speaking to PC Gamer, Larian boss Swen Vincke said the rules of D&D - which Baldur's Gate 3 follows closely - mean any continuation of the game would enter potentially tricky territory, with characters at higher levels able to wield game-breaking godlike powers.