An Alan Wake Remaster Might Have Been Found In The Epic Game Store

2 years 10 months ago

Thanks to a post on Reddit, we may have a glimpse at a new Remedy project in the works. Information is routinely scraped from the Epic Games Store, which sometimes leads to the discovery of new games and products hidden in the store’s file system. Today, a curious folder string was found within Remedy Entertainment’s files reading: {dirUser}/Remedy/AlanWakeRemastered/. Could an upgraded version of Alan Wake be on the horizon?

As of the writing of this story, the folder has been renamed to “Heron” and its directory has been given the overarching name of “HeronStaging." Other files from Remedy within the Epic Game Store also use the “Heron” name going back to 2019, at least the folders themselves have been there that long. Staging, on the other hand, is usually a place where objects are grouped or assembled in preparation for a project. Because we know a folder in here was previously named “AlanWakeRemastered," we can infer this is now a properly codenamed store page for a possible remaster being released by Remedy or Epic.  

Author
John Carson

State Of Decay 2 Update 25: Plague Territories Goes Live On June 21

2 years 10 months ago

State of Decay 2's Update 25: Plague Territory will go live across all platforms on Monday, June 21. Undead Labs shared a short video on Twitter teasing one of the main aspects of the update, Plague Territories, which are regions controlled by Plague Hearts that cannot be inhabited until the controlling Hearts are destroyed.

Plague Territories have been available as part of the play testing beta on Steam since late April and while Undead Labs has not released the full patch notes for Update 25 yet, and while we don't know everything that'll be in Update 25 yet, the other new features in the beta might give some clues. Landmark Outposts offer one of three unique options depending on what the landmark itself is. Resource Outposts, which can produce food, ammo, or other resources, will get the ability to be upgraded, to increase their benefits.

These new features cannot be used on existing maps, so players will need to either load up a new map or change the difficulty on a current map to get Plague Territories, Landmark Outposts, and upgradable Resource Outposts. While only Plague Territories are confirmed for Update 25, we will know more when it goes live on June 21.

Author
James Carr

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F-Zero Lives In A Fan-Made Game Created Using Nintendo's Game Builder Garage

2 years 10 months ago

Nintendo made plenty of big announcements at E3 this year, but fans of the long-dormant futuristic racing series F-Zero were, perhaps predictably, left high and dry. Thankfully, one fan has taken the matter of a new F-Zero game into their own hands using a different Nintendo game altogether: Game Builder Garage.

You'd be forgiven for forgetting Game Builder Garage released. It actually launched on June 11 for Nintendo Switch, right in the midst of E3, and Nintendo didn't exactly draw attention to it during their various presentations or livestreams. That being said, fans are already doing some amazing work with the game-creation toolkit, in particular this F-Zero creation from ZeldaBoi1.

Author
Cameron Koch

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Microsoft Flight Simulator Douglas DC-6 Released by PMDG; Pricing Revealed

2 years 10 months ago

Today popular third-party developer PMDG released its Douglas DC-6 add-on for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

The aircraft is currently available on the developer’s own store for a discounted price of $54.99 (down from $59.99).

While it features the extreme simulation depth PMDG products are known for, the developer implemented an optional “Automated Flight Engineer” that will help lighten the workload for less experienced pilots.

Basically, it’s an AI feature that plays the combined role of the flight engineer and first officer, letting you focus on flying.

Of course, it’s completely optional, so if you want the full workload of a crew of three at your fingertips, you can have that as well.

Below you can read an official description of the product, letting you know what you can expect from this advanced aircraft.

“PMDG’s debut product for Microsoft Flight Simulator, the magnificent, new, flight simulation engine created by Microsoft and Asobo Studios is finally available.  The PMDG Douglas DC-6 has been built from the ground up to capitalize on the vast strengths of this new simulation platform and brings to life the magestic DC-6 in a way never before possible.

Leveraging PMDG’s multi-award winning, advanced simulation technology we have married completely new cockpit and aircraft models, built entirely new technology features and layered them in a new, full featured sound environment unlike any yet rendered for a PMDG product.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Bright Memory: Infinite Looks As Sharp As Ever In New Gameplay Trailer

2 years 10 months ago

Bright Memory: Infinite was among the standout Xbox Series X exclusives that impressed us during the console’s first big showing last year. If you’ve been patiently awaiting your chance to experience the game’s fast-paced blend of first-person shooting and stylish swordplay, a new gameplay trailer has emerged confirming that it still has a pulse and is a wild as ever. 

The game takes place in a futuristic version of Earth, set in 2036. An organization called the Supernatural Science Research Organization (SRO) has discovered strange phenomena occurring in the skies and sends agents out to investigate. Protagonist Sheila is one such agent, and during your investigation you’ll uncover an ancient mystery connected to events that could affect the fate of, not one, but two worlds. 

Click here to watch embedded media

Author
Marcus Stewart

Thanos Returns To Fortnite In The Thanos Cup

2 years 10 months ago

Today, Epic Games revealed on its blog that Thanos is returning to Fortnite for Season 7. This is fairly appropriate as season 7 has an alien invasion theme, and also includes character like Superman and Rick Sanchez from Adult Swims hit show Rick and Morty.

Thanos first appeared in Fortnite in 2019, as a tie in for the release of Avengers Endgame. Players who discovered the Infinity Gauntlet on Fortnite’s island could transform into the near-unstoppable foe and wreak havoc on the masses. At the time Thanos was fairly overpowered, but that was a limited time event.

Author
Ben Reeves

PGA Tour 2K21 Community-Made Maps Are Available Now

2 years 10 months ago

PGA Tour 2K21 is adding a new set of custom courses in its multiplayer playlists, designed by community members. Six new course collections--some fan favorites, some new--will be added into multiplayer playlists over the next few months, with the first set available now.

The courses are being designed by a number of PGA Tour 2K21 content creators from the U.S., U.K., Canada, and New Zealand.

Here is the full list of creators:

Author
James Carr

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Best Prime Day TV Deals 2021: Sony 75-Inch 4K TV For $600 Off; Fire TVs Starting At $100

2 years 10 months ago

Amazon Prime Day is finally here and it's one of the best opportunities outside of Black Friday to pick up a new TV for less. Whether you're looking for a budget option or a high-end gaming TV, you'll have some great Prime Day TV deals to choose from, both at Amazon and competing stores like Best Buy, the latter of which is running flash sales every day through Tuesday.

Author
Alessandro Barbosa

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Odin: Valhalla Rising Gets New Cinematic Trailer in English

2 years 10 months ago

Today Lionheart Studio released a new cinematic trailer of the upcoming MMORPG Odin: Valhalla Rising.

This trailer is in English, focusing on introducing the backstory of the Nose mythology-inspired MMORPG.

At the moment, there is no information about a western release of the game, which is coming to the Korean market on June 29. Of course, the presence of trailers in English appears to indicate that there is interest from the developer to launch outside of Korea.

You can watch it below.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Second Witcher season 2 teaser trailer confirms yup, plenty of Geralt here

2 years 10 months ago

Netflix has just tossed out another very short teaser trailer for the second season of their Witcher show. I'm happy to tell you that the teaser confirms yes, Geralt will appear in this season. There's probably some other details in there too aside from the existence of the show's main character, but you're probably going to have to go frame by frame to pick them out. Check it out down here.

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Author
Lauren Morton

Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin Demo Extended After Being Unplayable At Launch

2 years 10 months ago

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, the new Final Fantasy spin-off from Team Ninja, is having its limited-time PlayStation 5 demo extended by two additional days.

The demo will now be available to download and play until June 26. The news, via a translated Famitsu interview on the official Square Enix website, comes as a response to the Stranger of Paradise demo being completely unplayable when it first launched shortly after the game's official reveal during Square Enix's E3 2021 presentation. Eager players looking to try the game firsthand following the reveal were greeted with error messages saying game data was corrupted, and that it needed to be deleted and downloaded again.

Square Enix has been upfront about wanting feedback from fans who have played the demo, with Stranger of Paradise creative producer and longtime Final Fantasy developer Tetsuya Nomura telling fans that "if you have the setup to play it, we would really appreciate it if you could give it a go and let us know any feedback that you might have."

In the same interview, Nomura goes on to clarify that Stranger of Paradise is not a sequel or prequel to the original Final Fantasy, but that the two games do share a setting. Stranger of Paradise game director Daisuke Inoue also shines some light on what exactly the game's title is referring to.

Author
Cameron Koch

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FIFA 21 Players Can Now Preview What's Inside A Loot Box Before Buying It

2 years 10 months ago

FIFA 21 players can now see what is inside loot boxes before choosing to purchase them, in a new feature added as part of the game's ongoing "Festival of FUTball" event.

Called "Ultimate Team Preview Packs", these packs can be previewed in the game's FUT Store. As detailed by Eurogamer, players can choose to preview the contents via a pack opening animation. Players can then decide to purchase that specific pack. These packs can either be bought with FUT Coins, which are earned through gameplay, or with FIFA Points, which are acquired with real-world money.

If a player opts not to buy the pack, the preview pack's contents will remain in the store for viewing, now on a timer. Once the timer expires, players can then choose to preview another pack. Ultimate Team Preview Packs are the only type of pack available for purchase during the duration of the event, though EA says other types of packs will return in the future. It's currently unclear if all packs going forward will support the new preview feature.

It's a huge change to one of EA's biggest sources of revenue. FIFA's Ultimate Team mode saw more than 6 million daily active players in December 2020. In an EA earnings report from February, the company disclosed it had earned close $4 billion from microtransactions across its portfolio of games in the previous 12 months, with FIFA Ultimate Team in particular seeing growth year-over-year of 177%.

Author
Cameron Koch

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Baldur's Gate 3 is "for sure" not leaving early access this year

2 years 10 months ago

Larian Studios' next mega RPG Baldur's Gate 3 ventured forth into early access in October 2020. It's been getting regular hotfixes and larger updates like the Druid class, but don't get antsy as the one year mark approaches. Larian had already said that BG3 would be in early access for at least one year and CEO Swen Vincke has now confirmed that "its not going to release this year for sure." The good news is that another major update, the biggest yet (again) is "around the corner".

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Author
Lauren Morton

All-Digital E3 Was A Mess

2 years 10 months ago

Another E3 has come and gone. This year’s multi-day commercial for upcoming video games sure...happened. Was it terribly exciting? No, not that we were expecting it to be. Was it downright terrible? Also no. But in failing to find its footing on an all-digital stage, E3 2021 ended up being a showcase for the many…

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Author
Nathan Grayson

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Bright Memory Infinite Gets New Trailer Showing Impressive PC Gameplay

2 years 10 months ago

Developer FYQD-Studio and Playism released a new trailer of the upcoming “lightning-fast fusion of FPS and action” Bright Memory: Infinite.

The trailer shows a mix of cutscenes and gamplay from the PC version of the game, and looks quite impressive.

You can check it out below.

If you’re unfamiliar with the game, which is coming in 2021 for PC and Xbox Series X|S. You can read an official description below via Steam.

“Bright Memory: Infinite is an all-new lightning-fast fusion of the FPS and action genres, created by FYQD-Studio. Combine a wide variety of skills and abilities to unleash dazzling combo attacks.

Bright Memory: Infinite is set in a sprawling, futuristic metropolis in the year 2036. A strange phenomenon for which scientists can find no explanation has occurred in the skies around the world. The Supernatural Science Research Organization (SRO) has sent agents out to various regions to investigate this phenomenon. It is soon discovered that these strange occurrences are connected to an archaic mystery – an as-of-yet unknown history of two worlds, about to come to light.”

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition: how does PS5 compare to Xbox Series X?

2 years 10 months ago

We've already discussed 4A Games' marvellous work on Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition on both PC and Xbox Series consoles, but today we can complete the set as we look at the PlayStation 5 version - and it's an absolute treat. Just like all the other versions of the game, it's using the latest rendition of the 4A Engine, rebuilt from the ground up to support hardware accelerated ray tracing, which is used to deliver phenomenally realistic global illumination. And similar to its console brethren, 60 frames per second is the target. Oh and while it's brand new for PlayStation 5, owners of the PS4 version get a free upgrade.

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Microsoft Flight Simulator Spotlight Landing Challenge Brings You to Iceland’s Most Dangerous Airport

2 years 10 months ago

Microsoft and Asobo added a new spotlight landing challenge to Microsoft Flight simulator, and it’s a really breathtaking one.

To celebrate the latest world update that includes Europe’s Nordic countries, the new landing challenge brings you to the remote and scenic Ísafjörður Airport (BIIS), which is one of the five included in the update.

Ísafjörður is well-known among aviation enthusiasts due to being one of the most challenging and dangerous airports in the world. Landing on runway 08 requires a full 180-degree turn just before touchdown while flying very close to the surrounding hills.

Of course, flying this approach with a Cessna Grand Caravan isn’t the worst, since Icelandair regularly execute it with Dash 8 regional airliners, but since we don’t yet have Dash-8 in the sim, we’ll have to wait to try that.

Recently, we published our massive interview with head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jorg Neumann, who provided a lot of new info about the present and future of the sim.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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George R. R. Martin's Time Working On Elden Ring Ended Years Ago

2 years 10 months ago

Video games unsurprisingly take a long time to create, and the process unfolds in different ways for every game. Elden Ring is like every other game in this respect, but it’s been under a microscope this week, in part because of the excitement from its fanbase, but also because we haven’t heard much about it in quite a while. Following the premiere of the new trailer at Summer Game Fest, the silence of a key creative mind on the project has been broken. That person, of course, is famed novelist and creator of the A Song of Ice and Fire series George R. R. Martin.

Martin was being recognized this week with an honorary doctorate awarded from his alma mater, Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism. During an interview about his life and career with Chicago PBS affiliate WTTW, Martin’s foray into game development was brought up. He spoke briefly on when he was part of the Elden Ring project. “My work on it was actually done years ago. These games, they’re like movies. They take a long time to develop,” says Martin.

Author
John Carson

Nintendo Will Announce New Hardware When The Time Is Right, Bowser Says

2 years 10 months ago

Having now entered its fifth year, the Nintendo Switch console is doing great business and the company isn't in a rush to introduce new hardware to the market, according to Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser.

"We are always looking at technology and how technology can enhance gameplay experiences," Bowser explained to The Washington Post. "It's not technology for technology's sake. It's how specifically can technology enhance a gameplay experience. And then where do you apply that technology? Do you want to apply it on current existing hardware or platforms, or do you want to wait for the next platform? And then what's the right gameplay experience with that? There's a host of factors that goes into it, and it's something we're always looking at."

Bowser added that Nintendo is currently focused on its upcoming slate of games that cater to a diverse audience, a key pillar of the company's business strategy. Nintendo has also been branching out into other areas with its biggest intellectual properties, reaching the mobile gaming space, partnerships with Lego, and the creation of several theme parks around the world.

Author
Darryn Bonthuys

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Bayonetta 3 is "Progressing Well" Despite Another E3 Absence, Nintendo Says

2 years 10 months ago

Bayonetta 3 was announced back in 2017, and with no news on the game--like, at all--since then, one might assume that something is wrong with development or it has stopped entirely. However, Nintendo has assured us this is not the case, though it didn't actually provide any estimate on when we'll see the game for the first time.

During an interview with GameSpot's Tamoor Hussain, Nintendo Treehouse employees Nate Bihldorff and Bill Trinen confirmed Bayonetta 3 is still in the works, with Trinen even going so far as to say the game is "progressing well."

In terms of what that means for us as eager players, it doesn't actually tell us much. "Progressing well" could mean it's in the early stages and the team is hitting its targets, or that it's nearing completion. Given the massive amount of time since it was announced, we're hoping it's the latter.

"We like to show things when we're ready to show them. And certainly we like to show things when the developers are ready to show them," Trinen added. "We didn't have it here at E3, but stay tuned."

Platinum Games director Hideki Kamiya, who created the Bayonetta series originally, appears to be trolling fans with his tweets over the last several days. Several of them show Bayonetta Nendoroid figures, and some are in groups of three, though Kamiya himself also said he is frustrated with people jumping to conclusions because of how long it has been without news.

Bayonetta 3 will probably come out eventually for Nintendo Switch.

Author
Gabe Gurwin

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Knockout City Will Innovate On Its Storytelling And Develop Its Lore In Future Seasons

2 years 10 months ago

Knockout City fans have noticed that there's a narrative-driven conflict in the background of the dodgebrawl game. It's an element of the game that will become more prominent going forward, as developer Velan Studios plans to innovate on Knockout City's storytelling in future seasons.

"The fan base is asking for more lore and there are already really fun fan theories about the DJ on the moon and Malcolm Magpie," Velan Studios CEO and co-founder Karthik Bala told me. "We always intended Knockout City to be 'action in the foreground and narrative in the background.'"

Similar to other online multiplayer games with prominent narrative elements like Apex Legends and Hood: Outlaws & Legends, Knockout City's narrative supports its world building. According to Bala, it brings some internal consistency to everything.

"There's a lot of visual storytelling and we're doing some pretty cool things where the narrative supports the gameplay--but doesn't get in the way," Bala said. "There are clues already in Season 1--that players haven't found yet--as to what's coming in Season 2."

"We're also planning to introduce some new innovations to storytelling in future seasons that's going to help us develop out the lore, which we think fans are going to love. It's still 100% multiplayer action, but an interesting new way to build out more narrative around that action."

Author
Jordan Ramée

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Tales of Arise for PS5, Xbox Series X|S & More Introduces Alphen With New Trailer

2 years 10 months ago

Today Bandai Namco released a new trailer of the upcoming cross-generation JRPG Tales of Arise.

The trailer focuses on one of the main characters of the game, Alphen. We both get to see story cutscenes and gameplay, providing a look at his fighting styles and some rather impressive combos he can deliver.

You can check the trailer out below.

“No pain, no face, no memories. Determined to free the Dahnans, Alphen will have to overcome many challenges during his journey to finally taste freedom.”

Tales of Arise is coming on September 10 (September 9 in Japan) for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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