Pikmin Bloom launch spreads to US, Canada

2 years 5 months ago

Niantic and Nintendo's adorable new Pikmin game is continuing its global rollout, and has today arrived in the US and Canada.

Bloom first blossomed onto the iOS App Store and Google Play very early yesterday morning in Australia and Singapore.

Read more

Author
Tom Phillips

Tags

Activision Blizzard To Introduce ‘Zero-Tolerance’ Harassment Policy

2 years 5 months ago

Activision Blizzard is currently facing serious ongoing allegations of harassment and mistreatment of marginalized workers. To learn more, please visit our timeline as well as our in-depth report on the subject.

Activision Blizzard has stated that it will implement a new “zero-tolerance” harassment policy across its entire company.

The announcement comes as part of a letter from Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, who also outlined a further four changes the company will be implementing. These include a promised 50% increase in the percentage of women and non-binary people employed by the company, an investment in diversity, a waiveing of required arbitration of sexual harassment and discrimination claims, increased visibility on pay equity, and quarterly progress updates. Kotick also stated that he’ll take a significant pay cut until the company’s problems are resolved.

In an open letter published at 5:15am EDT on October 28, Kotick outlined the five changes Activision Blizzard is set to make, starting with the zero-tolerance harassment policy.

Author
Matt Purslow

Tags

Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water Gets Launch Trailer Celebrating Release

2 years 5 months ago

Today Koei Tecmo released the upcoming remaster of Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water, and it’s celebrating with a new trailer

The trailer provides an overview of the characters that we’ll play and encounter in the story, and features its unique atmosphere.

You can check it out below with a bunch of launch screenshots.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

Tags

Shin Megami Tensei V for Nintendo Switch Gets New Trailer Showing Amon in Action

2 years 5 months ago

Atlus has released another of its trailers showcasing the 200+ demons of its upcoming JRPG Shin Megami Tensei V one by one.

This time around we get to see the gameplay of the demon Amon, who has been part of the Shin Megami Tensei franchise since his debut with Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei II in 1990.

You can watch him in action below.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

Tags

Sony Has Now Sold 13.4 Million PlayStation 5 Consoles

2 years 5 months ago

Sony's latest financial reports have announced that 13.4m PlayStation 5 consoles have been sold to date, with 3.3 million PS5s being sold within the July-September Q2 period.

As revealed in Sony's Financial Results for Q2, the company's Game & Network Services Segment sold 1 million more PS5s to retailers in the quarter when compared to previous three-month period. This is the second highest quarterly sales for the PS5, matching Q4 2020 and only just trailing behind Q3 2020's record 4.5m sales.

These sales contributed to a total of $5.86 billion in revenue for Sony's gaming division, up 27% year-on-year for the best Q2 PlayStation has ever achieved. Of that revenue, $0.751b was taken as profit. While sales are impressive, there has been a decrease in operating profit, which is down 21% year-on-year. This comes partly due to lower PS4 sales - the console sold just 0.2m units this quarter - and PS5 consoles being sold at a loss.

Overall, PlayStation accounts for 27% of Sony's total revenue this quarter, and 26% of its total operating profit.

In game sales, Sony reports 76.4m games sold during the quarter across PS4 and PS5. As for lifetime sales, God of War has been its biggest seller, at 19.5 million copies. Horizon Zero Dawn, meanwhile has shifted 10m, and Marvel's Spider-Man has sold 13.2m. On PS5, Demon's Souls has sold 1.4m copies, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart has sold 1.2m.

Author
Matt Purslow

Tags

Forget Far Cry 6, the bugs in Hollow Knight can send me snarky emails anytime

2 years 5 months ago

Recently, I've heard tales of Far Cry 6 players receiving snarky emails from Ubisoft about how much time they've spent in-game. They're supposed to read as if Anton Castillo, the game's evil dictator, is mocking you for not investing enough of it toppling his regime.

And even if you've spent a lot of time clearing Castillo's map markers, he'll still send you emails anyway. They feature stats like time played, checkpoints cleared, that sort of thing. Many people don't seem to like this, which I totally understand. But a part of me wishes these rude marketing emails were more of a thing. Specifically, I'd like it if the bugs from Hollow Knight spun some my way.

Read more

Author
Ed Thorn

Guardians Of The Galaxy tips

2 years 5 months ago

Want to know some tips and tricks for Guardians Of The Galaxy? The adventure will take you across the vast galaxy in search of fortune, fun, and a whole lot of kicking ass, but you won’t make it far without a solid grasp of the mechanics in Guardians Of The Galaxy.

This guide will offer some tips and tricks that you’ll need to get familiar with if you want to turn your rag-tag group of misfits into a heroic team to be feared. We'll cover tips for all of the main aspects of the game, including combat, exploring, and all of the chats that you'll have with your teammates during your adventure.

Read more

Author
Hayden Hefford

Dr Dre is working on music for a new Grand Theft Auto, says Snoop Dogg

2 years 5 months ago

Grammy award-winning rapper Dr Dre is producing music for a new Grand Theft Auto title, according to his pal and fellow rapper Snoop Dogg.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Snoop, who was asked whether we will see any new music from Dr Dre soon, said "I do know he's making great fucking music. And some of his music is connected to the GTA game that's coming out. So I think that that will be the way that his music will be released, through the GTA video game."

Read more

Author
Ishraq Subhan

Tags

Halo Xbox 360 games go dark in January

2 years 5 months ago

Online services for numerous Halo Xbox 360 games will be switched off on 13th January 2022, developer 343 Industries has confirmed.

This will impact Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo 4, Halo: Reach, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Spartan Assault, and Halo Wars.

Read more

Author
Tom Phillips

Tags

Daily Deals: Get Deathloop on PS5 for £35 (Save £25)

2 years 5 months ago

There are some perfect deals right now for new PS5 owners. Deathloop for PS5 is down to just £34.99 at the moment (was £59.99), with code GAMENEXTDAY at Currys. It's also down to £40.99 at Amazon, £35.99 on PC, and £39.59 on the PS Store (digital).

You can also currently get 50% off a 12-month PlayStation Now subscription online right now. This is for both new and returning customers, so if you've let your subscription run out, you can jump straight back into PS Now with this great deal.

TL;DR - Best Deals

Deathloop (PS5) Now £34.99 with Code GAMENEXTDAY

PlayStation Now 12-Month Subscription Down to £24.99 (50% Off)

PS5 DualSense Midnight Black Controller down to £51.95 (was £60)

NordVPN down to £2.44/Month (72% Off)

Author
Robert Anderson

Tags

KartRider: Drift Gets New Gameplay Trailer; Coming to PS4, Xbox One & PC Next Year

2 years 5 months ago

Despite the popularity of Mario Kart on Nintendo platforms, there’s a surprising lack of kart racers on the console market right now. That may be about to change, however, as Nexon Korea Corporation – the studio behind popular popular PC hit, Crazyracing Kartrider, from back in 2006 – is set to bring its signature brand of kart racing expertise to PS4, Xbox One and PC next year in the form of KartRider: Drift.

Pitched as a free-to-play ModNation Racers-esque experience, KartRider: Drift looks like it will be the spiritual successor to the developer’s aforementioned offering, and features a bunch of colorful customizable characters, new tracks and new mechanics. It’ll also support cross-play, too, which is always a nice touch.

What’s more, during PlayStation’s State of Play livestream last night, a brand new video was unveiled showing off the arcade racer in all its glory:

Author
Dylan Chaundy

Tags

Resident Evil Village Officially Ships Over 5 Million Units Worldwide

2 years 5 months ago

While the critical reception towards Resident Evil Village seems to be a little mixed, that hasn’t stopped it from being a commercial success for Capcom. Just today, the company announced that they have officially sold over 5 million copies of the game worldwide, and this number includes digital sales as well through storefronts like the PS Store and Steam.

Village marked the series’ debut on the current-gen consoles, and was made with the impressive RE Engine that showed off photorealistic graphics and character models, and also made use of 3D audio to create a more immersive gameplay experience.

The game continues the story of Ethan Winters, who travels to a European castle in search of his baby daughter after Chris Redfield shows up at this house to murder his wife, Mia. The game deviates from series norms rather drastically, but retained other staples like level exploration and puzzles.

Resident Evil Village is now available on PC and consoles.

The post Resident Evil Village Officially Ships Over 5 Million Units Worldwide appeared first on Twinfinite.

Author
Zhiqing Wan

Tags

PlayStation Studios’ Recent Acquisitions Grew Dev Workforce by Almost 20%; Sony Plans to Continue Investing

2 years 5 months ago

Today, during Sony’s quarterly conference call for investors and analysts, chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki talked about the PlayStation business.

We hear that the total gameplay time of PlayStation Users in the quarter (between July and September) dropped by 17% year-on-year. Yet, since sales of add-on content increased, Sony interprets this as “a positive sign that the quality of user engagement has increased.”

The company expects user engagement to increase further during the second half of the fiscal year thanks to the launch of major first-party games like Gran Turismo 7 and Horizon Forbidden West, on top of strong third-party games.

Sony isn’t changing its target for PS5 shipments for the whole fiscal year (over 14.8 million), but “several factors are significantly impacting the supply of the product such as disruption of the global distribution supply chain and limitations on the supply of components.”

That being said, Sony continues to “exert every effort to maintain the momentum of the PlayStation platform by meeting the expectations of people waiting for PS5.”

Later in the call, Totoki-san mentioned that by applying various measures, he believes hitting the target mentioned above for the year is possible, despite the supply issues.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

Tags

Dungeon Encounters review - all-star team assembles for one of Square Enix's best RPGs in an age

2 years 5 months ago

There are some names in the realm of JRPGs that are next to royalty: Yuji Horii, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Nobuo Uematsu and, if you're of a certain vintage, Hiroyuki Ito. Okay, so perhaps Ito's not so much a household name, but a look at his CV should assure you of his credentials; this is the man who invented the Active Time Battle mode that's been a mainstay of the Final Fantasy series and more than that this is the director of Final Fantasy 6, Final Fantasy 9 and Final Fantasy 12. No matter where you stand on what the very best Final Fantasy game might be (it's Final Fantasy 12, by the way), I'm sure you can agree that those three earn themselves a place among the greatest we've seen to date.

And for almost 15 years now, Ito's whereabouts have been something of a mystery, frequently picked at by Final Fantasy's fanbase, his name only fleetingly appearing in the credits of a handful of mobile projects or as special thanks in bigger games. There was some speculation he might emerge as part of the Final Fantasy 16 team, given how it leans into the more classical era of the series Ito is associated with, though when its reveal finally came to pass there was no mention of one of the grandees of the series.

Read more

Author
Martin Robinson

Tags

Capcom Announces Record Financial Results Again for Both Sales & Profit

2 years 5 months ago

Today Capcom announced its financial results for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2021, which is related to the period that ended on September 30, 2021.

Sales were 69,995 million yen (up 66.4% year-on-year), while operating income was 28,924 million yen (up 61.9% year-on-year).

Once again, both sales and income set a new record for a second quarter of the fiscal year. Capcom is definitely on a roll, with records having been set and broken for multiple quarters in a row.

Of course, the gaming business is what drove said excellent results with home video game sales exceeding 19.8 million units (up 43.5% year-over-year).

We learn that Resident Evil Village contributed “significantly” to earnings, while Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin has shipped over a million units.

Sales of Monster Hunter Rise, which was released at the end of the previous fiscal year, continued to grow as well. The latest figure is 20 million units from a few days ago.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

Tags

The First Substantial Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous Patch Is Live

2 years 5 months ago

If you love your computer role-playing games, then chances are, you are aware of Owlcat Games’ Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. The sequel has already seen some success, with high sales numbers during launch indicating an appetite for such games. To keep the momentum going, the first major Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous patch has arrived, bringing the game to version 1.1.0i.

A huge download at 14.2GB on PC and even bigger on other platforms, there is certainly much content that players can enjoy. Judging from the lengthy patch notes, the new update does changes things up a lot.

Some of the highlights of the Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous patch includes improved visuals and overall performance in several locations and ensuring that choices and consequences are reflected accurately in-game. For those that like playing in turn-based mode, the mounted combat has also been improved. Crusade management is also made easier, as players can now run things from the throne room itself.

Be sure to familiarize yourself with the many changes so you can truly enjoy this old-school RPG. Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is currently only available on PC, but a console launch is planned for March 2022.

Author
Jake Su

Tags

Aliens: Fireteam Elite Reveals Year 1 Roadmap Amid Struggles

2 years 5 months ago

Multiplayer fun seems to be the buzz in recent months, but for Cold Iron Studios’ Aliens: Fireteam Elite, the struggle is real. For a game that only launched in August, the player count has been dramatically dropping in recent months, and not even the recent free update has helped. However, the team is not giving up, and is planning for a robust Year 1 roadmap that will hopefully reinvigorate the Aliens: Fireteam Elite community.

Players can expect to see new game modes, weapons, perks, and more for the next year or so. With Season 1 already in motion now, the next season will begin before the end of 2021. This will see a new game mode and feature be added as part of the Aliens: Fireteam Elite roadmap. In addition, there are four new weapons, more than 10 new attachments, more cosmetics, and challenge cards.

Season 3 will arrive in the second quarter of 2022 with similar content, with a new kit replacing a new game mode. Lastly, one more new game mode will arrive in Season 4 alongside other goodies.

Author
Jake Su

Tags

Chivalry 2 DLSS Update Sees 45% Performance Boost for All GeForce RTX GPUs

2 years 5 months ago

Nvidia is certainly not taking it slow when it comes to Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) support for games, and this has seen plenty of benefits for some of the biggest games out there. For those that love their multiplayer medieval warfare, the trademark mass battles of Chivalry 2 has gotten even better with Nvidia DLSS. The new update is providing a 45% boost in performance, but that is not all.

This update will enable all GeForce RTX gamers to enjoy the game at 4K, 60FPS with max settings enabled. Based on the statement, those with older 20-series GPUs can also theoretically enjoy dismembering fools in glorious 4K resolution. Nvidia’s helpful comparison video does seem to corroborate this achievement.

For those that are less familiar with DLSS, the upscaling technology provides a considerable performance boost when gaming, making older RTX cards more viable as newer iterations pop up for consumers to choose from. Without requiring additional resources from the GPU, the technology is able to output at a higher resolution thanks to its AI prowess.

Author
Jake Su

Tags

Watch The Mountain From GoT Try To Throw Stuff Farther Than A Trebuchet For AoE 4

2 years 5 months ago

Old-school Age of Empires fans probably don't need much convincing to check out the well-reviewed Age of Empires 4, the first mainline game in the series in over 15 years. That won't stop us from enjoying the game's delightful launch promotion, however, which features the world's strongest man and Game of Thrones actor Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson competing against a trebuchet to throw things really far.

The launch event saw fans vote on what items should be launched from the 18-foot-tall trebuchet the Xbox team had set up at the UK's historic Berkeley Castle. The team then asked Björnsson, known for playing The Mountain in HBO's Game of Thrones series, to compete with the trebuchet's throws. The items thrown included a basketball, an old CRT monitor, a stuffed sheep, an exercise ball, and full-sized human dummy in a suit of armor.

Author
Hayley Williams

Tags

Ubisoft Plans Big Division 2 Content Update For February

2 years 5 months ago

There is no doubt that many fans were caught by surprise when Ubisoft revealed it will continue the support for urban shooter The Division 2 at the start of the year. That’s not to say the game was not fun, but it had seemingly run its course, but the developers feel otherwise. While the original window for the next big content was estimated to be late 2021, we now know that the next proper update for The Division 2 will be in 2022.

More specifically, we will see the content drop in February next year. For a game that first launched in March 2019, it has certainly come a long way. For players still spending their time in Washington, D.C., Ubisoft wants to make sure that you will be excited by the content.

“We remain confident that this content will bring an exciting experience to our players and pave the way for the future of The Division 2 with future title updates coming in 2022,” Ubisoft explained. “That being said, and to make sure we deliver this content on par with our vision, we have made the decision to move our new season, game mode and associated content release to February 2022.”

Author
Jake Su

Tags