Reject modernity, embrace tradition

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Call of Duty: Warzone has been teasing a major zombies event for months now, and it appears that the rumored destruction of the game's map might be just around the corner. The game's social media accounts recently posted in-universe (i.e. fictional) news broadcasts that claimed that the zombie situation is under control, but on Friday the zombies overcame the TV studio itself.

A recent update moved the zombies to Verdansk's TV station to go along with the storyline, and some of them have mutated to become more resistant to bullets. There are also machines on Verdansk that indicate the percentage of zombie spread, implying that they will continue to grow as the storyline progresses. Some have speculated that the game's new "bombardment" killstreak, which unleashes a cluster bomb on an entire area of the map, might be used as part of the anti-zombie initiative.

Update 4/5/2021: Sales of Monster Hunter Rise continue to, well, Rise. Capcom announced that the game has now surpassed 5 million units sold. That's an impressive feat given it was less than a week ago that we reported the game hitting the 4 million mark (posted below). Who would have thought that a new entry in a very popular series released exclusively on a very popular platform would perform so well so quickly? Probably everyone, but kudos to Capcom regardless. 

Original Story: Capcom has announced that Monster Hunter Rise has now shipped over 4 million copies worldwide. The latest addition to the franchise is currently available exclusively on the Nintendo Switch. It looks like the series is now well-established and embraced in the mainstream gaming reality, as opposed as its perhaps more niche inclusion in circles years ago as it lived on handhelds. Looking to get started in Monster Hunter Rise? Check out our guide right here.

Build-a-Bear sent out a notice to people who signed up for Animal Crossing collection emails and announced sales will open for it tomorrow.

The post Animal Crossing Build-a-Bear Orders Open Tomorrow appeared first on Siliconera.

In honor of this weekend's springtime holiday, game developers are sharing some of their favorite Easter eggs in games they've worked on. A Twitter thread asked devs to respond with "the best Easter eggs you ever hid in a game," and developers were happy to oblige.

The request from Vlambeer lead Jan Willem Nijman was followed by a treasure trove of Easter eggs in everything from big AAA releases to smaller indie games. The homages range from film references to hat-tips to other games to small in-jokes.

Both Uncharted 4 and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy have a camera-pan reminiscent of the Assassin's Creed franchise. All four Ninja Turtles weapons are tucked away in different spots in The Division. The original Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare has a background meant to evoke the island from Zelda: Wind Waker. The list goes on and on.

This comes just after a few other recently discovered Easter eggs, like the Last of Us 2 reference in Uncharted 4, or the "F--- the Oscars" reference in It Takes Two. You can see some of our favorites from developers below, and comb through the Twitter thread for even more.

Video chatting app Houseparty has expanded its livestreaming tools by letting Fortnite players on PC and PlayStation consoles stream gameplay to up to nine of their friends.

The feature is only available for PC, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. There's no word on if it will become available to other platforms. Epic Games said it will "let everyone know if we're able to support more platforms in the future."

Those who connect their Fortnite account to the Houseparty app on their Android or iOS device can livestream their gameplay to up to nine of their friends and the friends of those in the Houseparty room. Users will get a notification when their friends are going live.

To livestream Fortnite using Houseparty, users must first download the app on their Android or iOS device. Once installed, link your Houseparty account to your Epic Games account. This will enable video chat and streaming on the app, as well as where it can be disabled. Open the app on your phone and connect to Fortnite through Settings. Join your friends like normal, boot up Fortnite on the specified consoles, and go live.

Epic Games and Houseparty unveiled the video chatting feature in Fortnite in November 2020. Epic responded to safety concerns at the time, saying that only a users face would be cropped and a Fortnite-themed background would scrub the rest. It's worth noting that since June 2019, Houseparty is owned by Epic.

Blizzard’s having a laugh while also teasing Overwatch 2

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Sucker Punch Co-Founder Brian Fleming discussed transitioning from inFamous development to Ghost of Tsushima in an April 2021 GDC showcase.

The post Sucker Punch Co-Founder Compared inFamous and Ghost of Tsushima Development appeared first on Siliconera.

Microsoft Flight Simulator add-on developers are continuing to work around the clock to deliver new scenery for the growing and popular sim.

Today Onfinal Studio announced it they will release Stokmarknes Airport, Skagen (ENSK) in Norway.

It’s a small but scenic airport host to scheduled flight by Widerøe, and you can check out the first two screenshots below.

A group of independent developers known as Team SCU recently released a demo for Prime 2D, an impressive side-scrolling remake of 2002’s Metroid Prime that has been in the works for over 15 years. After spending some time with it, I can say it was definitely worth the wait, even if Nintendo’s lawyers are no doubt…

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Marvel's Avengers is doing it again. Although this new weekly War Table update has some tweaks, and the game just launched a second Hawkeye, the marketplace is the big focus this time. Such is the life of a live service game.

The skins in question this time around are the "Aerospace outfits," which come in a set for the entire team, including the new Hawkeyes. "Subsequent weeks" will swap new outfits in and out, so in addition to spending real cash on them, (900 premium currency, which is roughly $9), you'll also have the FOMO of getting matching costumes as a group.

This week, Captain America and Iron Man are up. Starting strong! Our community said that those two were in the top three most-used characters in our poll near launch. Who knows how many people still play, of course. If you want, you can also grab a Black Widow BW046 nameplate for free as promotion for the upcoming MCU film.

Marvel's Avengers is in such a weird spot. It wasn't the best-received game at launch, much less after a number of improvements. It's a learning experience for big publishers. Maybe coming out of the gate super strong with mobile service provider tie-ins and a huge push for live service isn't always beneficial when it alienates the people you want to monetize.

Still, there's plenty of life left in this game, and I'm curious to see where it goes. Black Panther and Spider-Man are up later this year, among others.

War Table [Avengers]

Outside of the fun team-based gameplay, Overwatch events have continued to be a main draw for its dedicated playerbase. These events — from the Summer Games to Winter Wonderland — usually introduce new arcade game modes, cosmetics, sprays, emotes, victory poses, and play of the game cutscenes. Overwatch’s Archives event goes a step further by including PVE story missions that provide more details about the Overwatch universe and the colorful personalities that inhabit it. As you might have already guessed, the Archives event has returned. 

Prepare to experience the past while fighting for the future.

The Overwatch Archives are back starting April 6! pic.twitter.com/whwjyGL9T2

Slowly but surely, Sony’s PlayStation Now streaming service has been improving leaps and bounds over the past 18 months, and today the service is announcing another three games coming in April that make it all the more appealing. From April 6, Marvel’s Avengers, Borderlands 3, and The Long Dark will be made available.

PlayStation Now games for April: Marvel’s Avengers, Borderlands 3, and The Long Dark, all available to play starting tomorrow: https://t.co/XRje3Lakf8 pic.twitter.com/Qj8JQve6WN

— PlayStation (@PlayStation) April 5, 2021

It’s the first two that really catch the eye; Marvel’s Avengers wasn’t received all that well critically but still finished 2020 as one of the year’s best-selling games. Borderlands 3, meanwhile, was one of the previous year’s big standouts, earning rave reviews and smashing sales records for the franchise. Certainly, both are major additions to PS Now’s growing library of games.

As for The Long Dark, the first-person exploration-survival experience is now more than five years old, but it’s still absolutely worth checking out if you’re a fan of the genre. You can read Twinfinite’s tips and tricks for the game if you’d like a helping hand getting started.

April is officially underway, which means some new Field Research tasks and rewards are now live in Pokemon Go. In addition to the new rewards, Niantic is offering a new Research Breakthrough encounter this month. Each time you achieve a Research Breakthrough in April, you'll earn a chance to catch a male Frillish.

To achieve a Research Breakthrough in the game, you'll first need to earn seven stamps. You'll get one stamp for the first Field Research task you complete each day, so you'll need to complete tasks over at least seven days before you can catch Frillish. If you weren't able to achieve a Research Breakthrough last month, any progress you made will carry over, which will reduce the number of stamps you need to earn this month.

Unlike Special Research, which is assigned by Professor Willow, Field Research tasks are typically distributed at PokeStops and Gyms. You'll randomly receive one task from an overarching pool when you spin the Photo Disc, and the rewards for completing them may include Pokemon encounters or helpful items like berries and Poke Balls. You can see this month's Field Research tasks and rewards list, as compiled by The Silph Road, below.

I’m not sorry

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Obsidian's survival game Grounded has been updated on all platforms to address a number of issues raised by the community and more. The new 0.8.1 update is out now on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, and the patch notes are outlined below.

Starting off, bases built on certain objects will no longer return an "Unsupported" error when you try to load them. Additionally, melee and ranged attacks should now register more like they should, while you should experience less lag and hitching when looking at buildings. Furthermore, any backpacks that escape the game world will now resync with you.

Outside of these fixes, Grounded's trail market for the "Weed Killer Peak" quest will now show up in the right place, while any insects you've stuffed can be placed on furniture.

There are also some UI changes. Hammer build icons are now part of the "Toggle Trail Marker and Backpack" icons action, while the "Eat/Drink or Die" warning, along with the breath meter, should no longer become stuck on the screen after you respawn.

You can see the full list of patch notes below, as shared by Obsidian. The Microsoft-owned studio's next project is the RPG Avowed, which is set in the Pillars of Eternity universe.

A new Shenmue 3 voice acting mod brings back the original Ren and Lan Di actors to reprise their roles.

The post Shenmue 3 Mod Brings Back Lan Di and Ren Voice Actors appeared first on Siliconera.

An analysis of what makes for compelling storytelling in games, and a proposed set of guidelines for maximizing the intrinsic advantages of video game narration. ...

Stone Ocean will follow the journey of Jolyne Cujoh

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A line in Outriders that appears to reference the January 6 insurrection in Washington DC is "purely coincidental," according to publisher Square Enix.

Outriders features a sci-fi story in which Earth has been abandoned for a new home, but various characters are old enough to remember their prior planet. In a dialogue exchange reminiscing about old times and swapping war stories, your player character makes a reference to saving your partner from a "redneck mob storming DC."

At a glance, this appears as if it could have been a reference to the January 6 storming of the United States Capitol building, in which supporters of former President Donald Trump attempted to overturn the 2020 election results. However, Square Enix says this isn't the case.

"We wrote and recorded the script for Outriders a couple of years ago and all aspects of it are entirely fictional and related to the backstory of the game," a spokesperson told Kotaku. "Any similarities to real-world events are purely coincidental."

Basing such a line on real-world events would have been difficult in any event, given that games require such long development times. The line of dialogue was already present in the game's demo, which was released on February 25. That was just under two months after the insurrection, so making, recording, and implementing the dialogue just afterwards would have been exceedingly quick.

PlayStation Now subscribers are getting a big dose of superhero content this month. Sony announced that Marvel’s Avengers will be a part of the batch of games hitting the library for April. Crystal Dynamics' multiplayer hero title will join Borderlands 3 and The Long Dark.

All three games will be available tomorrow, April 6. Marvel’s Avengers will be available to subscribers until July 5. The game puts players and their friends in the boots of Earth’s mightiest heroes in a game that combines action, RPG, and live-service elements to mixed results. 

Meanwhile, subscribers have until September 29 to dive into Borderlands 3. The multiplayer looter-shooter landed during the fall 2019 and brings the explosive gameplay and irreverent writing to a new generation of players. You can read our review here. 

The upcoming stream will feature Suda51, Mafia Kajita, and Botan from Hololive.

The post No More Heroes 3 April 2021 Live Stream Will Have New Information appeared first on Siliconera.

After hearing the PSP, Vita, and PS3 store shutdown news last week, I was disappointed, but I wasn't as fired up as some. More like all-around bummed and tired. We're really doing this, Sony? Welp, okay.

With the recent clarification that we'll still be able to download our purchases after the store closures (for the time being, anyway), I had planned to procrastinate on getting my libraries in order. July 2 – the PS3 and PSP store shutdown date – felt far enough away that I didn't need to spring into action.

With that "I'll get around to it later" mentality, on Friday, I began poking around various forums and communities to refresh myself on which digital-only games and cost-effective buys are worth looking into before it's too late. Tomba costs how much on disc nowadays? Okay, sure, another PS1 Classic for the list. Next thing I knew, I was in the researching groove and I couldn't help myself. I went a bit nuts.

Playdemic, the mobile game studio owned by Warner Bros., has announced a partnership with golfing great Bubba Watson for its golf game, Golf Clash.

This takes the form of a limited-time event that runs April 8-10 in the game, during which players can compete in what's being called Bubba's 9-Hole Cup. This is a three-round tournament set on the Southern Pines golf course.

While the tournament doesn't begin until April 8, you can check it out through a practice mode right now on iOS and Android.

In addition to the tournament itself, a series of Bubba-inspired items are coming to Golf Clash, including the Bubba Ball, the Bubba Tee, the Bubba Hole explosion, and a Bubba Emote that captures the golfer's "UR welcome" catchphrase. There is also a Bubba chat message--"High Bomb!"--that's coming to Golf Clash in this new event.

The ball, tee, explosion, emote, and chat message can also be purchased with real money.

What's more, a closest-to-the-pin mini-game called Bubba's One Shot Challenge is coming to Golf Clash as part of the event. It's live now through April 11. You can score the Bubba Ball if you get a hole in one, but that's not easy.

"The Golf Clash team has been a great partner to work with to come up with fun, innovative ideas, and I think the fans are really going to enjoy it," Watson said.

Meet the fine folks who will be voting on the nominees for the IGF Audio, Narrative, and Nuovo Awards! ...

From The First Avenger to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Marvel has defined the hero in a consistent way

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Whole New World

Tasomachi: Behind the Twilight, an adventure designed by nocras and with music from Ujiko*, will release on PCs next week.

The post Tasomachi Will Release on PCs Next Week appeared first on Siliconera.

Watching The Nevers—HBO’s new epic fantasy series created by Joss Whedon, who’s no longer involved with the show—can be overwhelming. “Victorian ladies with superpowers” is already a high-concept idea, but The Nevers, while entertaining, somehow finds a way to make things even busier.

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The first Force of Nature has come to Pokémon Go

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Sometimes pacifism can be the path to victory. That often isn't the case in competitive shooters, but Reddit user Pinkys Brain somehow managed to net a solo victory in Call of Duty: Warzone without harming another individual. When this incredible feat was achieved, Pinkys_Brain pulled out a camera and recorded the post-match statistics to verify no kills were made, and no damage was dealt.

In the Reddit comments section, Pinkys_Brain said a pacifist run wasn't necessarily the game plan. "I was waiting to fight people in the final circle, and they got stuck at the bottom of a hill and died in the gas." Pinkys_Brain netted a score of 4,900 and somehow managed to complete a contract along the way.

Personal information for over 500 million Facebook users was recently posted online on a hacking forum. According to Business Insider, the data includes phone numbers, Facebook IDs, full names, birthdays, bios, locations, and some email addresses.

The posted data includes users from 106 countries, with the vast majority of records coming from either the US, the UK, or India. Business Insider obtained a sample of the publicly available data and verified its contents by matching known Facebook users' phone numbers with information in the data set.

A Facebook spokesperson told Insider that the leaked data is the result of a data breach that occurred in 2019. The tech company patched the vulnerability that allowed hackers to scrape the set later that year. Alon Gal, the chief technology officer of the cybercrime intelligence firm Hudson Rock, told Insider that while the data is old, it can still be used by hackers and scammers to trick users into giving up their private information.

"A database of that size containing the private information such as phone numbers of a lot of Facebook's users would certainly lead to bad actors taking advantage of the data to perform social-engineering attacks [or] hacking attempts," Gal told Insider.

Outriders is available now and rocky server launch issues aside, players have been enjoying what People Can Fly has to offer. Before taking on the dangerous world of Enoch, there are a few things you should know. We've got our master guide here to cover all of the bases, but the first step is deciding what you want to play. With four classes to choose from, here is everything you need to know to decide which Outriders class you should pick. 

Which Outriders class should you pick? 

There is a playstyle for everyone. Whether you want to go full-on tank with the Devastator class, or want to take on the role of support with Technomancer, here is what you can expect from each choice: 

With the dust having settled from Re:Zero’s second season, it’s safe to say the series has moved forward in some big ways. Big reveals have been made, and Subaru has inched closer to uncovering the truth behind the circumstances surrounding his new and fantastical life. Not every plotline has been tied up though, resulting in these five questions we still have after Re:Zero Season 2’s finale.

Spoiler Warning: The following goes into heavy detail about the plot of the first and second seasons of Re:Zero. If you want to avoid these spoilers, we recommend you don’t read any further.

Housemarque’s upcoming third-person shooter Returnal marks a big change of pace for the developer. Beyond the increased level of production in comparison to its resume of arcade games over the past decade, it marks the first time that storytelling and narrative design through cinematic elements is a central element of the design.

Today, in the fourth and latest episode of its HouseCast dev diary, narrative director Gregory Louden explains how storytelling in Returnal fits in with the typically gameplay-centric design of traditional Housemarque games. He runs through a number of examples that highlight how storytelling is conveyed in an organic and seamless fashion without interrupting the pace and flow of gameplay.

There are also some story tidbits that he uses as examples, which tease some interesting themes and narrative arcs we’ll experience throughout the game — obviously, no spoilers!

The episode is below. Be sure to visit the developer’s YouTube channel to catch up on the previous three if you haven’t yet seen them.

Michael Pick, an engineer that documents his electronics-based DIY projects on YouTube, just posted a new video where he creates the world’s largest working Nintendo Switch. In the past, Pick uploaded videos about creating tiny PCs and inexpensive Tetris gaming rigs, but his latest effort is definitely his most impressive. And once the Switch was finished, Pick donated the hulking console to a children’s hospital!

The video above runs a little over four minutes, but you can tag along and watch Pick’s entire process. “I really like the Nintendo Switch,” Pick says during the opening seconds of the video. “It’s small, it’s portable, but it’s really easy to lose and for me, that was a problem...so I decided to fix that by making something that was a little bit larger, and just a little bit harder to lose.” 

Capcom teased its April 6, 2021 Street Fighter V update again, and this time its announcement specifically mentioned Oro gameplay.

The post Street Fighter V Spring Update Teaser Mentions Oro Gameplay appeared first on Siliconera.

I tell this story time and time again, but my introduction to Oddworld was completely by accident.

It was dropped into my lap by a family member, who heard I liked interesting adventure games and gifted me a PlayStation copy. Man, I'm glad that happened.