Dragon Ball FighterZ, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and plenty more are on sale

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Last year, Eidos Montreal released Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy - its own, original take on Marvel's oddball spacefaring family - to largely positive reviews which praised its single-player focus, character work and humour. But it remained unclear how well the game had performed commercially, and in February, publisher Square Enix said the title had "undershot expectations".

Ahead of the BAFTA video game awards last night, I sat down with members of the Guardians of the Galaxy team to discuss the game's emotional storytelling, where the series could go next - and some unexpected tussles with racoons.

But first, the issue of those sales - on which, the team said it had "no regrets".

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Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries has shared an "Outcomes" report that contains new insights into the feedback the studio has received about the game's "live" elements like its battle pass, microtransaction store, events, progression, and more.

One of the most significant pieces of feedback that 343 has received about Halo Infinite's customization elements is around giving players the freedom to customize their Spartans with different cosmetic units. "We agree that there is room to have better customization by lifting core restrictions where possible," 343 said.

Due to how the "core" system in Halo Infinite is built, it will "take time" and might not be possible for certain items, but 343 wants to give players the opportunity to use specific customization items on different cores. "As we investigate what expanding to cross-core customization would require from a tech perspective, our initial focus is on enabling as many helmets, visors, and armor coatings across different cores as possible. In short, our goal is that we will be incrementally moving to a model that has coatings and visors working across all cores; with helmets and chest gear working across canon cores as our first focused changes to make in the system," 343 said.

Possible remake or remaster of 20-year-old RPG on the table

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Digging into twists, what happens in season 2, and more

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Publisher aNCHOR hosted another livestream regarding the mobile game Immortals: Muv-Luv Alternative following its launch and subsequent removal from the stores due to issues.

Brand producer Kazutoshi “Tororo” Matsumura, who is now supervising the game, provided an update on what we can expect.

In the previous update it was mentioned that the game would remain unavailable at least until May, but now we learn that the reopening date remains undecided.

The development team has determined that the game needs radical changes based on the current state of development and feedback from players.

Anchor wants to review the gameplay thoroughly and make sure that everyone who plays will find the game enjoyable when service resumes.

Unfortunately, this means that all saved data will be wiped. Refunds for all purchases will be issued with more information coming next week.

While some of the bugs have already been corrected, a new update will come in early June when we may hear about a possible relaunch timing.

Of course, Matsumura-san also apologized for the issues and for the loss of playtime, thanking fans for their patience.

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Metroid Dread has added a Boss Rush mode in its latest free update, which has gone live according to Nintendo.

The mode allows you to take on a gauntlet of bosses, and while missile stock will be refreshed between each battle, Samus Aran will carry any damage with her into the next battle. For every boss that is defeated, Samus can upgrade her stats and arsenal.

Survival Rush has also been added, although this differs from Boss Rush mode as you'll have limited time to destroy as many enemies as possible. Missiles and health will not be replenished between rounds, but each successful boss encounter will add more time to your clock.

If that's not challenging enough, Dread Mode has been updated with its own Boss Rush challenge. You'll need to not only take on 12 bosses but do so without taking a single hit or it's game over. There will be a practice mode available to warm up in before you take on Metroid Dread's most lethal challenge.

Halo Infinite's Season 2: Lone Wolves is coming soon, and 343 Industries has released a new trailer for it that offers a glimpse of what to expect when it arrives May 3.

This includes new maps for Arena and BTB, as well as more modes like the battle royale-style Last Spartan Standing. Players are also getting a new battle pass, and like all Halo Infinite battle passes, it will never expire, so players don't need to rush to complete it before the end of a given season.

According to Halo community director Brian Jarrard, nearly everything on display in the Season 2 is included with the new battle pass either by spending money or grinding. In addition, there will be new items added to the shop and more free event passes throughout Season 2.

Halo Infinite's delayed campaign co-op feature is coming sometime during Season 2, but it won't be at launch. Another promised feature, Forge, will arrive during Season 3.

Doom is the ultimate game. It runs on pregnancy tests, it runs in cars, and now it runs on RTX - with hardware-accelerated ray tracing, of course. Sultim Tsyrendashiev, creator of the Serious Sam path tracing mod delivered this new RT-infused rendition of Doom on April 1st this year, but make no mistake, this is no joke. It's a visual revamp of the original game, creating a clever path-traced RT aesthetic for a title that essentially has no real-time lighting model as we'd understand it in a modern game. The results are excellent overall and the processes required to make it happen are often ingenious.

First up, let's talk requirements: what do you need to get going? A copy of Doom itself is essential, obviously - specifically for the WAD file that contains the bulk of the game data. You'll also need the RT version of prboom, available here. Therein, you'll note that there are optional downloads for higher quality music, plus the DLSS .dll plugin, required to drastically improve performance. The final requirement is an Nvidia RTX GPU. For reasons that are not clear, AMD RDNA 2 graphics cards are not supported - maybe it's simply the case that the developer doesn't own one.

Ms. Pac-Man has been transformed into Pac-Mom in Bandai Namco’s Arcade Archives: Pac-Land game, likely due to an ongoing dispute over rights.

Ms. Pac-Man is known for her red bow and boots, but in this new game Pac-Mom has taken over - sporting pink stilettos, hat and gloves. Huh?!

Twitter user Nick C spotted the change and shared it online. Looks like Baby Pac has also been changed.

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Platform: Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC
Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
Developer: 343 Industries
Release: December 8, 2021
Rating: Teen

Xbox and 343 Industries announced last month that Season 2 of Halo Infinite’s multiplayer is called Lone Wolves and would begin on May 3. Now, the studio has released a quick trailer to showcase some of what players can expect in it. 

Medieval city builders that pit you against enormous waves of enemies are clearly having a bit of a moment right now. In the last few months alone, we’ve endured the cursed nights of Age Of Darkness: Final Stand, called down sky lasers on the hordes of Diplomacy Is Not An Option, and now we’ve got ORX, a dark fantasy tower defence game that blows all of them out of their ditch water moats with its compelling mix of deckbuilding and real-time strategy. It’s not out in full just yet, but its demo got a substantial update this week, adding more levels and a bunch of game-changing cards to the mix that are well worth making a return trip for if you’ve only ever played the original half-hour version from 2020. I’ve lost several evenings to it already, and lemme tall ya, RTS turtlers have never had it so good.

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Following a leak, a new Star Trek video game has now been officially confirmed. Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova, based on the animated TV series Star Trek: Prodigy, is on the way for PS4, Xbox One, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

Like the TV series, it follows the story of six alien teenagers living on an abandoned Federation starship. "This game also marks the first ever Star Trek video game aimed at younger players, bringing gaming to a new generation of Trekkies," reads a line from the announcement.

Outright Games, a company with lots of experiences with licensed games, is working on Supernova. Outright has developed games in the My Little Pony, Fast & Furious, and Hotel Transylvania franchises, among others. Tessera Games, a newly formed studio, is also listed as a developer.

More details on the upcoming game will be shared over the coming months.

Supernova joins the recently announced Star Trek: Resurgence. This is a third-person adventure game that tells an original story that takes place after the events of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This game is coming from a studio made up of former Telltale developers.

Clear!

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New tool is designed to analyze your completed game each day

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The Xbox Store has kicked off its annual Spring Sale, with deals on popular games as well as Xbox and PC accessories. More than 700 digital games are included in the Spring Sale. You can also save on a wide variety of gaming peripherals from popular brands such as SteelSeries, HyperX, and Razer. We've rounded up the best deals in the Xbox Spring Sale below.

Xbox Spring Sale game deals

When it comes to game deals, you can save on just about every Xbox exclusive right now. That said, since first-party titles are included with an Xbox Game Pass subscription, you may want to specifically look for third-party discounts--and there are plenty. The sale features some recently released games such as WWE 2K22, OlliOlli World, and Destiny 2: The Witch Queen.

When we were putting together our most anticipated games of 2022 list back in January, there was one game I knew had to be on it: Mojiken Studio’s A Space For The Unbound. It’s a slice of life adventure about two Indonesian high school students set in the late 90s, and the demo (which has recently been expanded to include the first chapter in addition to its short prologue) instantly captivated me when I first played it a couple of years ago. There are some light supernatural elements that will be instantly familiar to anyone who’s watched the films of Japanese anime directors Makoto Shinkai and Mamoru Hosoda (including a giant, ominous Your Name-style comet, no less), but for the most part this is a much more grounded game than Mojiken have made in the past, such as the fantastical point and click puzzlers She And The Light Bearer and When The Past Was Around.

Halo Infinite's second season, Lone Wolves, has been teased via a new trailer.

The new season, set to arrive on 3rd May, will contain "new maps, modes, themed limited-time events, and an all-new Battle Pass," the video's description states.

Last weekend, 343 community director Brian Jarrard said the studio understood some fans were "simply out of patience" with the game's various frustrations, and that his team was "certainly not happy to be unable to meet player and community expectations". However, some of these should be addressed as part of the new season, he added.

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Not one, but FOUR ways to revisit the bosses of Dread

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Epic's Unreal Engine 5 was fully released this week, and one developer has already begun using the software to create a Superman-style game from The Matrix-themed City Sample asset pack.

While the hero in video game tech artist Volod's flight demo doesn't bear any resemblance to the Man of Steel physically, he does have a similar powerset and can fly around the city at a velocity that is likely faster than a speeding bullet.

Platform: Switch
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: MercurySteam
Release: October 8, 2021
Rating: Teen

Nintendo just added a new Dread Mode and Rookie Mode to Metroid Dread last month alongside news that a Boss Rush mode would be added to the game in an April update. That update is now live in Metroid Dread and it brings not just one boss rush mode, but three to the game. 

New trailer shows off battle pass rewards, two maps, and a few new modes

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Everyone knows that making a video game is simply a matter of deciding how much graphics, sound, gameplay, and replayability you want, then clicking the "Make Game" button in Unreal. This process is now even simpler with the launch of Puck, a game-making AI you can download right now and set to work designing brand new video games for you to play. It's the latest gamebot from Mike Cook, the maker of Angelina.

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Just in time for Easter, Square Enix is launching a Hatching-tide event in its MMORPG, but a certain emote is causing debate.

As part of the event, various items and minions will be available to collect, as well as an emote for eating an egg.

A picture of the emote shows a cute little Lalafell eating an egg, but the egg still has half the shell on. Which begs the question: how are you meant to eat a boiled egg?

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The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD released for Nintendo Switch last summer, and we haven't seen many deals on it thus far--particularly when it comes to the physical edition. We've seen the customary 10-buck discounts here and there, but Best Buy's current deal is by far the best yet. Today only, you can snag Skyward Sword for just $30, which is 50% off its list price.

Pop your head round the door of a Hardspace: Shipbreaker planning meeting and, according to Blackbird Interactive communications lead Ben Kuchera, you might hear somebody ask: “is that a Blackbird thing, or is it a Lynx thing?” Lynx are Hardspace's overall antagonist, and your employer - an orbital salvaging corporation that essentially enslaves workers by saddling them with a billion-credit on-boarding debt, taking the copyright on your DNA for good measure.

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Lost Judgment: The Kaito Files DLC on PS4

Last year, Lost Judgment was my game of the year. Its narrative, characters, and gameplay built upon the foundation of the first game to make for a perfect sequel. So when I heard that they were doing a DLC centered around my favorite character in the series, Kaito, I was thrilled. Thankfully, The Kaito Files delivered yet another amazing experience fans won’t soon forget.

Lost Judgment: The Kaito Files takes place sometime after the finale of the base game, but this time – as the name would suggest – it centers around the adventures of everyone’s favorite Aniki, Masaharu Kaito. With Takayuki Yagami out of town, hunting down a divorcee who kidnapped his own son, Kaito is in charge of the Yagami Detective Agency.

It isn’t long into this adventure that Kaito stumbles on a mystery, as the husband of one of his former lovers, Mikiko, begs the detective to look into her questionable suicide that took place two years prior.

Now, it is important to note that The Kaito Files is more of a very long, detailed side story than an entirely new campaign. That mostly means that there aren’t any kookie side missions or mini-games to play. Stuff like tailing and investigations are still in the game, but those are more features than separate gameplay experiences.

Instead, the mystery and investigation surrounding Mikiko’s apparent suicide take center stage. At first, this bummed me out a bit.

343 Industries is planning some additional changes to Halo Infinite's in-game shop. In a blog post, the studio started off by saying it has received "lots of feedback" around the pricing of Halo Infinite's microtransaction offerings and what's available to buy in general.

In response to this, 343 has already begun to sell some items from bundles individually and it also attempted to "standardize" pricing with the overall goal of lowering prices across the board.

Looking ahead, 343 said it agrees with the feedback that players want even more purchasing options, along with a higher rate of rotation when it comes to what's available. Not only that, but 343 teased that it might look into adding a second page of microtransaction items for sale.

"We also agree with all this feedback around allowing the purchase of specific items within bundles, increasing the rate of offer refreshes, and even potentially adding a second page," 343 said. "We'll be looking to improve these aspects of the Shop in future updates."

Halo Infinite's in-game store sells all manner of items on a rotating basis, including cat ears. Being a free-to-play game, the title makes money from microtransactions, so it makes sense to hear that 343 wants to further refine and expand the experience.

In other Halo Infinite news, Season 2: Lone Wolves launches on May 3. It adds new maps and a battle royale-style mode called Last Spartan Standing, among other things.

The Halo TV show, meanwhile, is currently in the middle of its first season. For more, check out GameSpot's breakdown of the 11 easter eggs and other references you might have missed from Halo Episode 3.

Fortnite has come a long way since it first debuted, pioneering multiple gameplay systems and an evolving storyline over the years that other games would in turn adopt. Currently in its third chapter of storylines, newcomers to the battle royale have missed out on a lot of story over the years, but one Fortnite fan has put together a brief highlight reel of the game's debut season.

Over on Twitter, Nate Evans aka Nexiph uploaded a loop of major Fortnite events, ranging from the game's humble beginnings through to the Blast Off, Ice Storm, and Final Showdown events. It's just under a minute long, but it's a great recap that shows just how Fortnite has come over the years.

PlayStation games walked away with numerous prizes at this year's BAFTA Games Awards, with Housemarque's Returnal winning the award for best game.

In addition to Returnal, Insomniac's Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart walked away with awards for best animation and technical achievement, while Returnal also added awards for audio achievement, music, and best performer for Jane Perry's portrayal of Selene.

Outside of Sony's dominance, Hazelight's It Takes Two was honored with best original property and best multiplayer game awards, while No Man's Sky earned the title of best evolving game at the Baftas. The delightfully charming Unpacking got the honor of being named the public's game of the year and also earned a nod for its narrative.

Returnal launched last year on PS5, earning critical acclaim from various outlets for its dark sci-fi themes and challenging gameplay. Currently, the game has expanded with the massive Ascension update. This free expansion adds both co-op and a new Sisyphean endless mode to the roguelike third-person shooter. You can see the full list of Bafta Game Awards winners below.

Nintendo Expansion Pack subscribers can soon try out a new game, as Mario Golf is being added to the service's line-up of N64 titles on April 15. Just in time for the Masters Tournament.

Released back in 1999, Mario Golf was joined that year by a Game Boy Color and has since then become a regular franchise fixture in Nintendo's library. The most recent game in the series is Mario Golf: Super Rush, a fast-paced spin on the leisurely sport that was released last year.

The Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack is an enhanced version of Nintendo's online subscription service, which gives members access to additional N64 and Sega Genesis games. Membership costs start at $50 for 12 months, and a family account that supports up to eight profiles retails for $80.