The series has samurai pirates and a little bit of Shojo inspiration

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A sudden Pokemon Unite update will provide news about what's happening with TiMi Studios and The Pokemon Company's mobile MOBA this week.

The post Pokemon Unite News Update Will Appear Tomorrow appeared first on Siliconera.

We finally got a more comprehensive look at Breath of the Wild 2 yesterday during Nintendo’s E3 Direct. A montage of aerial combat, skydiving/gliding, and new and improved rune abilities set the sequel apart from the beloved original. In the next chapter of Link’s story, we know that Zelda will continue to play a big role (despite her gaping absence from the latest gameplay trailer) and that the narrative will take place at high altitudes. Apparently, the official title of Breath of the Wild 2 could tell us even more, so Nintendo has decided to keep it a secret until it's ready to divulge more details with the general public.

Nintendo Treehouse’s Bill Trinen and Nate Bihldorff talked with IGN about Nintendo’s decision. There is definitely a subtitle that has already been agreed upon but it might be too early for all of us to know. “As for why we’re holding back on the name, you’ll just have to stay tuned because, obviously, Zelda names are kind of important,” Trinen said during the interview. “Those subtitles… they start to give little bits of hints about maybe what’s going to happen.”

Over the last week, gamers got what they have come to expect at the beginning of the summer. A slew of big game announcements, thrilling trailers, and gameplay reveals set the stage for the coming year and showed an industry eager to stride into the future after the shared hardship of the last year in quarantine. For gamers, E3 has become a buzzword that represents a sort-of Christmastime for game reveals – with an accompanying crowd of ravenous fans who can’t wait to tear into the present of the next big announcement. Even among our staff at Game Informer, we used the words “E3 2021” to grasp the trends and cover the big news coming from the game industry.

The issue, of course, is that the news and reveals that excited us all this past week had little to nothing to do with the event run by the ESA – the actual official show called E3. That event – E3 2021 – failed to make the grade.

E3 has had a long history as a showplace for the gaming industry and is no stranger to changes in format and presentation. Over the years, it moved from Los Angeles to Atlanta and back again. It shifted to a small-form business focus in 2007 and 2008. In more recent years, it opened to the public, moving away from its trade show origins. And, like virtually every worldwide in-person event in 2020, it was totally cancelled.

Fishing is my absolute least favorite activity in any game that includes it. I say that, and yet Luna's Fishing Garden looks absolutely adorable. This super sweet angling and collecting game has an archipelago of islands to decorate, a bunch of massive animal spirits, and the style of fishing minigame I do actually enjoy in spite of myself. I may well wind up hooked, especially since it's just launched today.

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Today Microsoft released a new trailer of its Xbox Series X console, and this one focused on games.

While spelling the console’s features, we get to see footage from upcoming games including Microsoft Flight Simulator, Forza Horizon 5, Psychonauts 2, Halo Infinite, and more.

Considering the fact that Xbox had a definitely strong showing at E3, it’s not surprising that Microsoft is continuing to push with the promotional momentum.

Since before the launch of PlayStation 5 in late 2020, questions arose about when Sony might update its PlayStation VR hardware to the next generation. Throughout this year, there has been a small but steady trickle of information; first confirming the existence of a new headset, to now where we have a potential release year for the product.

According to a report from Bloomberg’s Takashi Mochizuki, Sony is working to bring the PlayStation VR successor to market in 2022. The news comes within a story focused on the LCD screen manufacturer Japan Display Inc. The company said it would be shifting its supply of screens from the mobile phone market to VR headsets. Having been a supplier for technology juggernaut Apple in the past, this move, while inherently to a smaller market, can lead to growth. JDI claims in the article it can produce higher resolution screens for headsets while keeping the cost down, both very important metrics in the VR space.

Nintendo has launched its epic Digital Deals sale on the Switch eShop. Over 1600 games have been reduced, including some of Nintendo's major titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario and Rabbids Kingdom Battle, and Pikmin 3 Deluxe.

The Nintendo eShop sale runs across both Europe and the US, with discounts of up to 75 percent in Europe, and up to 50 percent in the US.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is now just £41.99 in Europe and $41.99 in the US - the cheapest we've seen for a while.

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We've already taken a deep look at Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition on PC and were genuinely impressed with its phenomenal ray tracing - perhaps not surprising when the new 4A Engine is built from the ground up with hardware-accelerated RT hardware in mind. However, the question we could not answer at the time was simple enough: how does that experience translate to the new wave of consoles? Is there enough horsepower on tap to deliver a state-of-the-art 60fps ray tracing showcase? We've now had the chance to test the game on both Xbox Series X and Series S hardware - and the results are excellent.

Comparisons up against the last-gen versions are entirely valid and looking at Xbox One X as the best of the lot, the new game is transformed. Yes, you're getting twice the frame-rate (last-gen topped out at 30fps) but it's the transition to an RT-based aesthetic that makes all of the difference. The rasterised real-time global illumination system of the old version looked fine, but ray tracing takes fidelity to the next level. All of the old artist-placed lights are gone, replaced with a fully ray traced alternative that 'just works'.

Light from the sun, the moon - or objects that emit light - taps into RT, illuminating any given scene with accurately calculated light bounce. The original Metro Exodus's PC RT solution shipped with just one light bounce, while the Enhanced Edition - even on consoles - works with infinite bounces, calculated over time. As a consequence of this, usual screen-space ambient occlusion (SSAO) isn't required. It's all part of the global GI solution delivered by ray tracing. It's also far easier to show rather than tell, so please check out the video embedded below to appreciate how this technology works.

Draw swords in October 2021!

The post Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles Japanese Release Date Set appeared first on Siliconera.

Yesterday, Nintendo came out swinging with its E3 presentation, showing off a trailer for the long-anticipated Breath of the Wild 2. But amidst the explosion of new fan art and fan speculation, you might have noticed that Nintendo isn’t calling this game BotW 2 like everyone else is.

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The God of Mischief meets his match

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EA and Codemasters is preparing to launch its next iteration of the acclaimed F1 series of racing games, and today a new features trailer offers a look at new and returning features to the latest F1 game, launching July 16 for Xbox Series X|S and PS5, alongside PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam.

In the new trailer, fans of the Formula 1 franchise can look forward to a plethora of gameplay innovations for casual and seasoned racers, including Braking Point, Career Mode, and My Team:

• Braking Point allows players to rise from the ranks of F2 with one of five 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship Teams and compete against returning antagonist, Devon Butler.
• The expanded two-player Career Mode feature allows racers to go head to head in synchronous online or local play, offering an exciting new way to experience the revered Career mode.
• For My Team competitors, real-world stat updates from F1 racers are updated throughout the season to reflect the action on the track, while Real-Season Start allows players to jump in at any point in the calendar that has already occurred with up-to-date standings.

Lee Mather, Franchise Game Director at Codemasters, said of today’s news:

“F12021 is a tour de force offering something for every type of racing fan. The Features trailer gives an insight into all the exciting innovations that await our players. Whether they want to experience their F1 story in Braking Point or compete with and against friends, F1 2021 is lights-out, the ultimate next-generation racing experience.”

Here’s today’s trailer breaking down those key features in more detail:

Yakuza spinoff Judgment has sold over 1 million copies worldwide since launching in December 2018. ...

Tanks are usually a boring, one note interruption to the exciting infantry shootytimes I was having.

Armoured Commander II, however, is fun. How dare it.

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Today Koei Tecmo released a playable demo of Samurai Warriors 5 in Japan.

The demo is available on the local PlayStation Store, on the Xbox Store, and on the Nintendo eShop and lets you play the beginning of the story mode.

Of course, you will need a Japanese account for the appropriate network to play it.

Saved games will be compatible with the final game, even if this is likely limited to the Japanese version.

At the moment, we don’t know if a demo in English will be released, but the western release is a month after the Japanese one, so it may come down the line.

A Steam version of the demo isn’t available, but this shouldn’t surprise, since the Steam version will come with the western launch.

In other Samurai Warriors 5 news, the Japanese city of Okazaki in Japan launched a collaboration campaign with the game centered on Tokugawa Ieyasu.

This is not surprising considering that Okazaki is the birthplace of the famous founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

The event will involve posters and life-sized cutouts of the game’s “bishounen” version of Tokugawa Ieyasu and a social media campaign, on top of the inevitable merch.

Super Robot Wars 30 is also scheduled to release on the PlayStation 4 and PC.

The post Super Robot Wars 30 English Language Version Confirmed appeared first on Siliconera.

The Medium, Bloober Team’s occult horror game, is making its way to PlayStation 5. The title launched in January as one of the first (if not the first) third-party Xbox Series X/S exclusive, albeit a timed one. The port adds full haptic feedback support for the DualSense controller. 

The Medium’s plot centers on Marianne, a spirit medium who is summoned to an abandoned and very haunted hotel in Poland. Marianne is not only able to communicate with the dead, but she can access and traverse the spirit world alongside the world of the living. This is represented by a split screen where players simultaneously explore the physical and spirit version of an area to access objects and paths accessible on one side to open routes for the other. As Marianne communes with spirits and uncovers the mystery of the hotel’s past as well as her own, she’s stalked by a malevolent (and invisible) entity bent on making Marianne’s visit an unpleasant one. 

The Medium has some cool ideas that don't always live up to their potential. In his review of the game, GI editor Ben Reeves wrote:

GTA Online, the multiplayer mode of Grand Theft Auto V, will be shut down on Dec. 16, 2021 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions, Rockstar Games announced on Wednesday.

The company said support for these platforms will be ending this winter as it launches “expanded and enhanced” versions of Grand Theft Auto V and GTA Online for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S this November. The Shark Card microtransactions for GTA Online will also not be sold through the two older systems after Sept. 15, 2021, and stat tracking via the Rockstar Games Social Club will also be shut down for the online mode on Dec. 16.

Additionally, stat tracking for PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of L.A. Noire alongside stat tracking, online multiplayer, and leaderboards for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Max Payne 3 will be shut down on Sept. 16, 2021. The company noted that access and progress to the story modes for all these titles will not be affected.

GTA Online originally launched for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on Oct. 1, 2013, about a month after Grand Theft Auto V released. The mode will still be available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and is currently forward-compatible with PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

The post GTA Online Shuts Down for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in December appeared first on Twinfinite.

Today Atlus hosted a livestream from Japan showing off even more gameplay of the upcoming JRPG Shin Megami Tensei V.

Unlike yesterday’s livestream, this one was in Japanese, but its contents are no less interesting. We get to see cutscenes including the one in which the hero gets his powers and the encounter with the “lord of the world of wickedness” Sophia.

Gameplay includes negotiation, battle, and the inevitable fusions. Below you can watch all the relevant clips set at the correct timestamps.

Each and every month, Microsoft provides Xbox Live Gold subscribers with a bunch of free games, called Games with Gold. Normally, we get our hands on four titles, two for Xbox One and two for Xbox 360. Here, we’re going to be predicting the July 2021 Xbox Games with Gold free games for Xbox One.

The Bigger Game – Outer Wilds

Xbox Games with Gold July 2021 Predictions

First up we’ve got Mobius Digital’s Outer Wilds. The space exploration game sees you joining Outer Wilds Ventures as their newest recruit. Now a part of this fledgling space program, you must take to the space to search for the answers to the mysterious Nomad species that planet-hopped many years ago, all before the sun goes supernova and you wake back up on your home planet.

The time has come to decorate your surroundings with a plethora of Hee-ho!

The post Atlus 35th Anniversary Merchandise Items Feature Jack Frost appeared first on Siliconera.

Multiplayer stab 'em up Chivalry II says it is inspired by "medieval war movies". The word "movies" is significant. Any historical theme invites complaints of inaccuracy, and the usual shield-wall pedantry. But by channeling Braveheart, Gladiator and that one scene in Anchorman, the makers of this bloodthirsty sequel are saying up-front: "No, this is the fun kind of head chopping". And they'd be right. Chivalry II is a ridiculous, over-the-top ruckus, with knights being catapulted across the field and infantry chucking trout at each other in a breathless panic. "Blood is my paint and the land is my canvas!" shouts one soldier, using the game's dedicated "battlecry" button. I couldn't agree more. This is art.

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Dominique “SonicFox” McLean, the non-binary Defender of Trans Rights and perhaps the best fighting games player of a generation, got their own plushie yesterday.

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E3 is done and dusted, which means it's time for the Eurogamer News Cast team to run through the week's events and deliver our verdict. Join Eurogamer reporter Emma Kent, news editor Tom Phillips and me in the video below as we declare a victor.

It’ll be a little while longer before the Uzumaki anime drops, but a new trailer shows that it’s shaping up nicely.

On June 15, an update video for the anime was streamed via Adult Swim’s official YouTube channel. In it, the anime’s director Hiroshi Nagahama offered some insight into the adaptation’s progress and explained why it would be delayed from its original 2021 release window.

He apologizes for the anime’s delay, and explains that they’ve been working hard to make it the best adaptation possible. This has meant reassessing how they’ll create the final product regularly, and they now know that it’ll take a bit more time to hone and refine to their liking.

However, Nagahama did want to show off some of what he ands his team had created so far. As a result, the update also includes a brief snippet from the Uzumaki anime adaptation’s first episode. In it, main character Kirie Goshima monologues about her home town of Kurouzu-Cho, a quiet and secluded locale. She then says she’ll be telling the viewer about the strange events that befell it.

As she says this, scenes of her walking down a hill toward the town are shown. Everything is in black and white, and the animation is incredibly fluid, with Kirie’s hair and clothes fluttering regularly in the wind.

It’s a promising showing of what the team is putting together, and fans of Uzumaki will definitely want to see it for themselves down below.

Rockstar will shut down Grand Theft Auto Online on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in December this year. ...

If you’re eager to fly a challenging but gorgeous vintage airliner for Microsoft Flight Simulator, the Douglas DC-6 is coming soon.

Today acclaimed developer PMDG, known for its highly-detailed and complex aircraft, announced with a video that the release date has been set for Friday, June 18.

At the moment, the precise timing and pricing information have not yet been revealed, but you can check out the video below (and plenty of recent screenshots here).

Produced by Douglas between 1946 and 1958, this four-engine airliner is a true classic, but some are still flying. Soon, we’ll be able to take control of this beauty in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Speaking of add-ons, do keep in mind that we have a spiffy giveaway going on that can let you win one of 10 add-ons from Orbx’s lineup. You can find all the details here, but leaving a pertinent comment at the bottom of this post will serve as a valid entry.

Both Blaster Master Zero 1 and 2 will appear on the Xbox One and Xbox Series X ahead of the debut of Blaster Master Zero 3 in July 2021.

The post Blaster Master Zero 1 and 2 Heading to Xbox One and Series X appeared first on Siliconera.

Silence screams volumes. Over the past five days, video game publishers have shouted announcements for the biggest games from the rooftops. But that chorus has been drowned out by the far more deafening din of what wasn’t announced at E3 2021.

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Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster Only on Steam and Mobile

Square Enix came to E3 2021 and brought the biggest self-own with it. The Final Fantasy series is one beloved by players of all ages, and the first six titles are arguably some of the best the series ever produced. So you can imagine how over the moon fans were when the publisher announced it was remastering Final Fantasy’s 1 through 6 with pixel-art refreshes to both its characters and environments. Seriously, this was a massive announcement.

And then it happened, at the very end of the brief trailer running players through the changes the development team has been busy working on, the title appeared on screen. Each of the six games appeared below it, and ‘Coming Soon’ slowly faded into view.

The challenge of using computers to render imperfection

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Once an Xbox exclusive, The Medium is now coming to PlayStation 5

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I’ve logged over 500 hours into the Mass Effect trilogy. I’ve freed the Rachni Queen, cured the genophage, rescued the Council, united the geth and quarians, and determined the fate of all sentient life in the galaxy half a dozen times.

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E3 2021 is finally coming to a close, and we got to see a ton of new games get announced over the course of the week. For all the RPG fans out there, however, here are our picks for the best-looking RPGs that we got to see at E3 2021 that should be making your shortlist.

Elden Ring

We’ve heard basically nothing about Elden Ring since its initial announcement, but we finally got to see some actual gameplay footage of the George R.R. Martin and Hidetaka Miyazaki collaboration project during Summer Game Fest. It pretty much just looks like Dark Souls, but with a heavier emphasis on world-building and perhaps even more direct storytelling.

We also got a glimpse of some large, grotesque, Dark Souls-esque bosses, along with that same chunky action gameplay Souls fans will likely enjoy. And honestly, I’m here for that.

The long-lived Grand Theft Auto Online will finally shut down its PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 servers on 16th December 2021.

In a blog post, Rockstar said it had made the decision to shutter the service for last-last-gen consoles as it prepares to launch GTA Online for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S (the game's third console generation to date).

Shark Cash Cards will no longer be sold for PS3 and Xbox 360 after 15th September. Grand Theft Auto 5's Story Mode will not be impacted.

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The game will go offline for both consoles on Dec. 16

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