Hello! Welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we've found ourselves playing over the last few days. This time: rats, sieges and samurai.

If you fancy catching up on some of the older editions of What we've been playing, here's our archive.

Online multiplayer games have never been my thing. I've heard too many stories about toxic players and the abuse directed towards women, POC, and queer players, let alone the anger thrown your way if you're - god forbid - learning how to play the game and don't have the reflexes of a teen who just downed three espressos.

Read more

Panic sold 20,000 of its quirky crank-laden Playdate consoles in under 20 minutes after opening pre-orders yesterday. ...

I keep coming back to rhythm with games like this. Rhythm's always had a part to play in action games, where good combat is a dance, and bad a little out-of-step. It's all in the one, two, dodge, the little passive mental counter ticking over from that boss' second smash to the third, the half a beat between the third and the jump.

So it is with Death's Door, a sumptuously beautiful Zelda-like about the immutable beat of time, the rhythm of life and death. Except there's something else, hard to place, that seems to give it something extra. Death's Door has something, like a flavour that maybe isn't actually a flavour, more of a sensation. Umami. What's the umami of dance?

Acid Nerve's last game was Titan Souls, which came out way back in 2015. Titan Souls is one of those games that's all about simplicity - you get one arrow, you die in one hit, you have a world to explore and quite a few bosses to kill, off you go. Its cleverness is the classic indie creative cleverness, where you give yourself an arbitrary restriction to keep things focused, keep the concept pure, and then you just build outwards from there. And it's important context here, because build outwards from Titan Souls and you'll arrive more or less exactly at Death's Door, a game with no restrictions but plenty of restraint. Bosses, combat, a mysterious overworld, some lightly puzzling environments - the totality of the first is the foundation of the next, and so the impression is one of clarity: as a studio, Acid Nerve comes across as having a clear plan, a clear trajectory, but then as a result of that so do its games.

Read more

Forza Motorsport 7 will reach "End of Life status" on 15th September, developer Turn 10 Studios has announced.

That means you will no longer be able to purchase the game or its DLC from the Microsoft Store after that date, nor will it be available on Xbox Game Pass.

Existing owners will still be able to download and play the game after the date, and online services will continue to run.

Read more

Ahoy there, Captain!

The post Houshou Marine Nendoroid Has a Detachable Hat appeared first on Siliconera.

Today Nihon Falcom released a new gallery of artwork and screenshots of its upcoming Trails JRPG The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki.

We get to meet plenty of secondary characters that we’ll meet during our adventure. Here’s a list.

• President Roy Gramhart: the president of Calvard.
• Ashen Lu: Daughter of the influential Lu Family and Aaron’s childhood friend.
• Paulette: She owns the building where Van’s office is located and runs the bistro “Montmartre.”
• Yume: Paulette’s daughter.
• Dingo Blood: a journalist working for a gossip magazine. He has connections with the underworld, including the Spriggan.
• Nina Fenry: a popular actress and Judith’s junior.
• Gilliam Thorndike: the general manager of Marduk Corporation.
• Kasshim Al-Fayed: Feri’s brother. He was known as the best warrior among the Khurga Warriors and now works as Marduk’s security chief.
• Latoya Hamilton: one of Professor C. Epstein’s three pupils and mother or the Orbital Revolution.
• Esmerai Archett: One of Latoya Hamilton’s pupils. She designed the Xipha tactical ornament.
• Albert: a student at the prestigious Aramis High School, in charge of accounting for the Students Association and Agnes’ friend. He appears to consider her more than a friend, putting him at odds with Van.
• Odette: secretary of the Students Association of Aramis High School, Agnes and Albert’s friend.

You can find all the images below.

Today SNK released a new trailer and screenshots showcasing another fighter that will be playable in its upcoming fighting game The King of Fighters XV.

This time around we get to see another returning character and she’s Athena Asamiya. We also see the reveal of her team, Team Super Heroine, alongside Mai Shiranui and Yuri Sakazaki.

You can check out the trailer just below and see her in action, alongside her cute new look in a few screenshots from the official press release.

Developed by Heart Machine, best known for releasing Hyper Light Drifter, Solar Ash is a new 3D action platformer game that looks just as beautiful and stylized as its predecessor. It was announced a while back with no set release window, but Heart Machine is finally ready to reveal when it’ll be available to the public.

You can check out the release date trailer for yourself down below:

Players take control of a protagonist named Rei, a Voidrunner who journeys through a beautiful and vibrant world while trying to protect it from evil beings known as the Ultravoid. The trailer gives us a better look at some of the core gameplay mechanics such as grappling and cloud surfing, and the combat certainly looks as fluid as the developers have promised.

Solar Ash is set to be released for PS4, PS5, and the Epic Games Store on Oct. 26.

The post Solar Ash Dated for October Release on PS4, PS5, & PC appeared first on Twinfinite.

Marvel’s Avengers may have had a rough launch, but Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics have continued to support the game with updates and new content. The new DLC, War for Wakanda, will be made free for all players and it’s coming in August, but before that, new players can get a taste of what the game is like for free this weekend.

Here are the timings and details for the all-access weekend:

• PlayStation: 9 AM PT 7/29 through 9 AM PT 8/2
• Steam: 9 AM PT 7/29 through 9 AM PT 8/2
• Stadia: 8 AM PT 7/29 through 8 AM PT 8/2

Players who jump in during this time will get to enjoy free resources as well as XP boosts to give them a head start.

When it goes live on Aug. 17, the War for Wakanda expansion will introduce a brand new environment for players to explore, new enemies to fight, as well as new multiplayer missions to check out with your friends.

Marvel’s Avengers is now available on PC and consoles.

The post Marvel’s Avengers Gets a Free Trial this Weekend, Black Panther Arrives in August appeared first on Twinfinite.

Steve Kim is a software developer and graphic designer.

Read more...

Today Kadokawa Games had more assets, and information to share about its upcoming strategy simulation JRPG Relayer.

First of all, we meet Genjiro Akeboshi, nicknamed the “Meisei Maintenance Manager” due to his old-fashioned ways. He’s responsible of the maintenance of the Stella Gear mecha on the Asterism. His skills are top-notch but he can be either quite harsh or kind with his team and his granddaughter venus.

We also get a video featuring his voice actor, Hideki Kojima, as he introduces himself to the fan.

On top of that, we get more information about progression. By unlocking stars on the starboard, which is basically a skill tree based on a character’s job, you can actually unlock not only skills but also passive perks like “HP+10.”

That being said, a perk that grants additional job points won’t be implemented. It was a point of contention in the developers’ previous game God Wars, as many players pretty much felt compelled to have it, limiting options.

You can find the relevant tweets below.

PS2 game boxes were entirely unremarkable, because they looked like every other plastic case available at the time, from Xbox games to DVDs. But an earlier design for them that Sony ended up ditching was a lot more interesting.

Read more...

The Samsung T7 is a rather good portable SSD, available in the extra-secure "Touch" version (shown in the photo above) or as the cheaper and equally speedy "vanilla" variant. Today, that plain Jane Samsung T7 has been discounted heavily at Newegg, with the company offering a 500GB capacity drive for just $59.50. That's well below the original $100 asking price of the drive, and makes for a great deal against more expensive competition like the Crucial X8.

Read more

In Civilization VI's latest expansion Gathering Storm, the world fights back and your actions have far-reaching, unintended consequences down the ages and across the whole of the map. ...

The Gigabyte M27Q is one of the best value 1440p monitors on the market, packing in a 170Hz refresh rate, a Fast IPS panel and unique KVM functionality into a package that normally retails for $360. Today, this 27-in monitor has become even more appealing at Newegg, where it's been reduced to $290, the lowest price we've yet recorded for it. It even comes with a free game, Outriders, for PC. Here's why you should consider this particular model while it's on sale.

Read more

Today both Microsoft and third-party developers had news to share about the popular sim Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Starting with Microsoft itself, we’re getting a hotfix tomorrow at 8:00 am PT (15:00 UTC).

The patch will fix some of the issues seen on both PC and Xbox Series X|S since the latest update (and the release of the console version).

Here’s what you can expect:

STABILITY/PERFORMANCE

• Fixed various crashes in game and on the world map
• Fixed crashes related to the offline AI traffic
• Fixed minor memory leaks

INPUT

• The title should no longer freeze for a very long time when connecting / disconnecting peripherals

NAVIGATION

• Fixed broken flight plan for Garmin devices when adding an enroute waypoint that was inserted as a destination
• Fixed flightplanner not resetting when going from one activity to another
• Fixed flightplan from flight assistant not displaying on certain planes when VFR map is open after the destination is set
• Fixed freezes happening when using the flight assistant when setting a new destination

UI

• VR options should no longer be duplicated in the Option menu
• Marketplace “Get and download” and “Download” buttons will now function as expected on the Content Page
• User unable to interact with UI elements with the in game cursor for free flight in some cases

PLANES

SMU Guildhall is looking for faculty to fill a position in one of these areas of specialization: Gameplay Creator, Team Game Production, Art or Programming. ...

Road 96 developer Yoan Fanise has told Axios that Facebook rejected an advertisement for his team's upcoming game, on the grounds it contained "political messaging." ...

Today, during a livestream hosted by the vTuber Takanashi Kiara, Bandai Namco introduced a few videos of Tales of Arise in English.

We get to see an example of a skit and camping, also hinting to fishing and farming. The second video shows cooking and its results.

The third video showcases Kisara as she talks about her favorite activity, fishing. The fourth video focuses on dialogue between Alphen and Rinwell.

Incidentally, those are similar to the videos showcased earlier today, but in English instead of Japanese, so you can see both versions.

Last, but not least, we take a look at a lot more screenshots of the costumes coming with the limited editions. Interestingly, we also see how most of the costumes have three color variations.

Updated: Valve has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought against it by Wolfire that alleged the company had created a monopoly with Steam, and was not earning its 30 percent cut on game sales. ...

Tonight's Annapurna showcase brought news of many games, and among them was Stray. First announced at E3 last year, it's a gorgeous-looking third-person adventure in which you control a cat trying to survive in a cybercity.

The first developer walkthrough of Stray revealed that someone has given the cat a gun. Watch the trailer below.

Read more

SkateBird, the adorable avian-themed skateboarding title from developer Glass Bottom Games, has pushed back its release by just over a month, and will now come to Xbox, Switch, PC, and Amazon Luna on 16th September.

SkateBird, which was originally due to release in August, casts players as a "chill little skateboarding bird" that passes the time waiting for its owner to come home from work by constructing a glorious, homemade skatepark.

In this bird-sized skateboarding paradise, players can trick and grind their way toward completing missions and unlocking courses, hopefully attracting a loyal bird following and fixing their human friend's life along the way.

Read more

The second free update for Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin arrives on Nintendo Switch and PC on August 5. This update will introduce a new monster to hunt, the Elder Dragon Kulve Taroth, as well as another pair of Monstie companions.

Following the update, you'll be able to take on Kulve Taroth in a Co-Op Expedition Quest. The new Monsties, meanwhile, are both variants of existing monsters: Hellblade Glavenus and Boltreaver Astalos.

Title Update 2 arrives only a couple of weeks after the game's first update, which introduced the Palamute from Monster Hunter Rise as a Monstie. To collect a Palamute egg, you'll need to obtain a Palamute Ticket (either by purchasing one from Melynx Inc. or completing the five-star quest called Throw Me a Bone) and use that to embark on a Palamute Den Expedition Quest.

After a day short of a year in early access, turn-based anthro-animal battler Banners Of Ruin has launched in full. It's Wind In The Willows crossed with Slay The Spire, or Animals Of Farthing Wood crossed with Game Of Thrones. Check out the launch trailer below.

Read more

Yves Guillemot, CEO of Ubisoft, has release a statement in response to the hundreds of company employees who signed a letter in support of Activision Blizzard workers who staged a massive walkout on Wednesday, July 28.

In the statement, tweeted out by Axios reporter Stephen Totilo, Guillemot said Ubisoft wants to "reiterate our commitment to creating real and lasting change" at the company. He ran through a list of actions Ubisoft has taken in the wake of last year's sexual harassment allegations and toxic workplace accusations. This includes revamping HR processes, installing a new code of conduct, rolling out mandatory training regimens, and hiring new leadership.

Guillemot also talked directly to the employee letter. He said that upper management understands employees want to improve working conditions at Ubisoft, reiterating that this commitment is a priority for everyone involved.

"Yesterday's letter expresses concern from employees who want to make Ubisoft a better place," Guillemot said. "We have heard clearly from this letter that not everyone is confident in the processes that have been put in place to manage misconduct reports. This is a top priority for Anika [Grant, Ubisoft's Chief People Officer who was hired this past April], who continues to ensure they are robust and independent. In addition to our current processes, we are currently recruiting a new VP Global Employee Relations."

During today’s Annapurna Interactive showcase, French developer BlueTwelve Studio finally gave us an in-depth look at its first game, Stray.

Read more...

Hyper Light Drifter developer Heart Machine's gorgeous sci-fi action-adventure Solar Ash finally has a release date and will be heading to PlayStation and PC on 26th October.

Announced back in 2019 under the working title Solar Ash Kingdom, Heart Machine's latest adventure takes players to a "surreal, vivid and highly stylised world filled with mystery, wild high-speed traversal, endearing characters, and massive enemy encounters" as they, in the role of Voidrunner Rei, attempt to save their home planet from the Ultravoid - a massive black hole that swallows entire worlds.

In more practical terms, Solar Ash (which trades Hyper Light Drifter's intricate top-down pixel art for a fully 3D world) is a third-person action-platformer with a focus on "fluidity of movement". Players are able to quickly leap, slide, grind, and grapple across huge distances as they explore the likes of sunken cities, vast water shelves, and dangerous lava zones, battling ever-more fearsome enemies along the way.

Read more

Food Fight, first released in 1983 as an arcade machine and later released for the Atari 7800, is getting a modern, multiplayer reimagining. Scheduled to launch early next year and sporting modern 3D visuals, the game comes from Mega Cat Studios and can be played single-player or co-op, with support for online multiplayer.

The game will be a timed exclusive for Atari's new VCS console, and will release for PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and PlayStation platforms at a later date. Atari says the VCS version of the game will contain content exclusive to that platform, but did not offer details on what exactly that exclusive content will be.

Mega Cat Studios' Food Fight will feature procedurally generated environments and updated gameplay mechanics as players use up to 30 different items to defeat the competition in food-based battles, with different types of food sporting unique attributes, such as "slippery" or "sticky," that will affect gameplay. Atari says more details on the game will be released in the coming months, but that Food Fight is the first example of its new "refocus" on premium PC and console games.

Atari's VCS console released in June at $300 for the Onyx base model. Another VCS model, which includes an additional controller and sports a wood grain finish, retails for $400. The machine has been billed as a console/PC hybrid and comes with a large collection of classic Atari games preinstalled. It also supports a number of entertainment apps like YouTube and Netflix.

Annapurna Interactive's showcase today brought news of both familiar and new projects, including the announcement of a new studio working on its first project with Annapurna Interactive's backing. ...

We learned a little more about the Steam Deck yesterday via Gabe Newell's chat with IGN, but that wasn't all that was discussed. IGN also asked Newell how he felt about Half-Life: Alyx one year on - and (with no spoilers), how he felt about the game's ending.

Read more

A month after the flurry of events surrounding E3 week back in June, indie publisher Annapurna Interactive put on a gaming showcase of its own. The company's debut presentation was filled with fun game announcements, release date reveals, and a few surprises.

We were excited to see more of several Annapurna titles going into the show and we were not disappointed. Stray, Solar Ash, The Artful Escape, and Neon White, among others, all took the spotlight today with fresh trailers and exciting news to share.  The show even revealed a handful of new indie projects and we may have to update our list of indie games to watch.

If you missed the Annapurna Interactive Showcase, don't worry. We have rounded up all the exciting games and announcements from the show for you. 

Months after its official launch, Sony is finally allowing PlayStation 5 owners to expand their limited internal SSD storage with a range of Gen4 NVMe SSDs. What makes Sony's approach different from Microsoft's with the Xbox Series X|S is that the company isn't making its own SSD; instead, the PS5 will be compatible with numerous third-party SSDs you can buy today--if they fit within a certain specification.

It's important to stress that right now, the firmware update you need to enable internal storage expansion is only in beta. This means that Sony hasn't released its own list of SSDs that it has evaluated for use and can only guide you toward SSD options that might work based on the console's requirements. On Sony's official page for the update, it is stressed that even SSDs that meet the specifications laid out might not work as intended and that SIE takes no responsibility for purchases you make that end up not being compatible with your PS5.

Until Sony releases its own approved list or more PS5 players can test certain SSDs firsthand, you should be warned that any seemingly compatible SSDs might not work once the firmware is finally pushed out to everyone. That said, some manufacturers are already stating that their SSDs will be compatible when that time comes, with Seagate confirming that its FireCuda 530 range of M.2 drives will work with the console.

PS5 M.2 SSD requirements

All SSDs will need to adhere to the following specifications for compatibility with the PS5:

Armor customization in Halo Infinite aims to include lore while also allowing players to fit their own personalities. In the Halo Infinite technical preview livestream, 343 Industries went over some of the customizations options that will be available in the Halo Infinite tech test this weekend and the launch version of the game.

One of the main pieces of armor customizations are the armor cores, which serve as a base for your Spartan. Some of the armor cores will be based in the Halo Infinite lore, like the Mark VII armor shown in the video. Other armor sets like the previously revealed Yoroi armor, which is designed to look like Samurai armor, are considered fractured cores, and exist outside of the Halo Infinite lore.

Today, the Annapurna Interactive showcase showed off a bunch of brand new games and footage for titles that are set to release over the next year. In the showcase, there were plenty of cool reveals and updates that fans of the publisher are sure to be excited about.

To make things a bit easier for you, we’ve compiled everything in one place. Here is everything that was shown during the Annapurna Interactive showcase for July 2021.

The Artful Escape

Annapurna Interactive Showcase July 2021

The Artful Escape is an upcoming platformer being developed by Beethoven & Dinosaur. This title centers on the character of Francis Vendetti, the nephew of a deceased folk-music legend, Johnson Vendetti, as he tries to create a new identity for himself to get out of the shadow of his famous uncle.

It releases for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC on Sept. 9.

The post Recapping the Annapurna Interactive Showcase (July 2021) appeared first on Twinfinite.

Minecraft Dungeons's latest DLC is out now, promising "the conclusion of the Minecraft Dungeons story." Conclusions sound to me like the sort of thing you ought to include in the base game - but the DLC does also add the Minecraft biome known as "The End", Endermen mobs, and new items. There's a trailer below.

Read more

I wanted to like Tribes of Midgard. It has great style, with wonderful visuals that feel ripped out of an ancient painting. The combat is fun and responsive. But it also incorporates some of the worst parts of roguelikes and survival games and quickly becomes repetitive, with little payoff or progression.

Read more...