Valheim is the latest hit survival game that seemingly came out of nowhere, but ever since it launched in early access about a month ago now, the game’s shot its way up of Steam’s popular charts, and it’s all anyone can talk about. On the surface, it seems like just another typical survival game, but there are quite a few things that make it unique from the rest of its peers.

Here are four features that make Valheim stand out from other survival games of its ilk.

Loop Hero has sold over 500,000 copies during its first week on shelves, according to developer Four Quarters. ...

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, like the rest of the series, involves a certain amount of luck. When you're trailing the leader, a blue shell can send you soaring toward victory, but the game's latest speedrunning challenge has players trying to hit themselves with the blue shell.

Called "Blue Yourself," the challenge sees Twitch streamers trying to hit themselves with the blue shell as quickly as possible, and it's not as simple as just crossing their fingers. There are dozens of people trying to complete it. Dozens!

In a video from Skilloz, who appears to have set the current fastest time, he starts on the classic Game Boy Advance Mario Circuit stage and reverses course in order to get an item just behind the starting line.

He gets an invisibility star and a triple mushroom time, racing forward after collecting a blue shell so that when he does go into first place and uses it, it hits him. He accomplished this in just under 38 seconds. Of course, someone else--or Skilloz himself--is probably going to beat this record, as well, as it seems there is still a fair amount of luck involved and there are always slight ways to shave time off the clock.

The deck-building, dungeon-making roguelite RPG Loop Hero is getting some much needed quality-of-life improvements in an upcoming update, the game’s developers announced yesterday. The most important of these fixes? Finally letting you save your game.

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Learn nine top tips for finding success on Kickstarter in 2021 - even with a mobile free to play game. The team behind Kinder World share a mid-mortem for their 220 percent funded project. ...

Resident Evil 2 Remake’s voice actors will be reprising their roles

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Resident Evil 2 Remake’s voice actors will be reprising their roles

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If you’ve ever played a JRPG, then you know you’re in for some challenging, time-consuming boss fights; some of them might even be unwinnable. Bravely Default II is the same, and you even face your first unbeatable boss within the prologue of the game. Or do you?

This unstoppable boss is Adam, a powerful swordsman who tries to take the wind crystal from Gloria near the end of the prologue. You’re meant to fight him and immediately get eradicated, but there are ways to win this fight and get a secret ending.

The first method is shown in the video below. Before progressing in the story, you can do a lot of grinding to master the four jobs available to you; Freelancer, White Mage, Vanguard, and Black Mage. A warning, though, that it will take a lot of grinding if you plan to do it this way.

Xbox has announced that it will be retiring its Xbox OneGuide app. The TV listings service, which has stuck around since the Xbox One's initial release in 2013, will be removed from the Xbox dashboard in May, bringing an end to many years of... knowing what's on TV right now.

"Based on customer usage and feedback, we’re constantly evolving the Xbox experience," said Xbox in a recent blog update. "To that end, beginning this May we’ll be sunsetting live TV listings for OneGuide on Xbox One. You can continue to use OneGuide to view your connected HDMI devices or USB TV tuner. You can also keep using OneGuide for HDMI-passthrough and to watch TV via USB TV tuners, but you won’t be able to access the on-screen TV Listings guide."

Xbox is not the only platform to start re-evaluating its multimedia usage. A fortnight ago, PlayStation announced that it was calling time on the ability to purchase movies and TV shows via the PlayStation Store, pulling the shutters down on its online catalogue August 31.

[Via Eurogamer]

The sales numbers for February 2021 in the US have come in, and it was another massive month for the Nintendo Switch across hardware and software, while the overall US gaming business saw a big increase in total revenue.

In total, spending on gaming in the US during February--across games, hardware, and accessories--reached $4.6 billion, which was up 35% compared to last year. Year-to-date spending hit $9.3 billion, up by 39%.

Hardware showed impressive gains, with sales rising by 121% compared to February 2020, reaching $406 million. In fact, February 2021 was the biggest February since 2011 ($468 million). For the year so far, spending on hardware has reached $724 million, up 130%, and fueled in part by the launches of the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and the ongoing success of the Switch.

The Switch was once again the best-selling console overall in the US in terms of unit sales and dollars. "Unit and dollar sales of Nintendo Switch hardware in February were the highest for any hardware platform in a February month since the Nintendo Wii in February 2009," NPD said.

With February's numbers accounted for, lifetime spending on Switch hardware in terms of dollar sales has now surpassed the DS to become Nintendo's second-best selling console in the US. It now only trails the Nintendo Wii.

The PS5 was the second-best selling console in February for unit sales and dollars, and NPD said the system continues to be the fastest-selling hardware platform ever in the US after four months on the market.

It also bears mentioning that the PS5 and Xbox Series X have been constrained as it relates to their supply, which is certainly not helping things.

NeoGeo Arcade Stick Pro | $101 | Amazon

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Apple Watch SE (40mm) | $259 | Amazon
Apple Watch SE (44mm) | $289 | Amazon

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The face of lo-fi chill beats music on YouTube is being turned into a 12 inch collectible statue because if you love something set it free, or in this case make a toy out of it.

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You can knock things off the edge of the ring in Halo Infinite, developer 343 has confirmed.

You've never been able to do this in a Halo game before.

In a video Q&A, below, gameplay director Troy Mashburn was asked if the player can knock things off the edge of Zeta Halo, the ring on which Halo Infinite is set.

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Music can make a game, but sometimes it is the game. OutRun without Hiroshi Kawaguchi's selection of iconic tracks is like a country drive without any tunes on the stereo; it's a journey robbed of its heart and soul. Few other game series feel as dependent on their score as Darius, but rather than the sun-kissed, summer breeze of OutRun the mood summoned by Taito's in-house band Zuntata here is... Well, it's something else entirely.

I used to have it down as otherworldly, which is perhaps an overly literal reading of all that dissonance you'll find during Darius' late 90s pomp - listening to the soundtracks for Darius Gaiden or G-Darius, where the strangeness is maxed-out, it feels like you've chanced upon some transmission from a distant star. Earlier entries chimed with alien melodies, sampled voices that sound like they're reaching out to you from another dimension while beats skitter in and out of time - a realisation of composer Hisayoshi Ogura's desire to break free from soundtrack convention.

"At the time, it was pretty adventurous to use avant-garde rhythms and irregular meter in game music," Ogura said in a remarkable interview a few years back. "I remember telling one of my juniors at the company that a few years from now, this kind of thing will be everywhere, so... I mean, I think I just wanted to destroy something, and saw Darius as an opportunity to wipe out what was considered common sense in game music at the time and recreate things from the ground up."

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Aimee Blackschleger and Florence McNair will also be present to perform songs from the Phantasy Star Online series.

The post Phantasy Star Online Sympathy 2021 Concert Will Happen This April appeared first on Siliconera.

Activision, in association with developer Toys 4 Bob, has announced that wacky platformer Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time will finally make its debut on PC (via Battle.net) March 26.

Already available on PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch platforms, the long-time-coming sequel sees Crash, Coco, and Tawna reunited on a dimension-hopping adventure to stop the nefarious Dr. Cortex and the arrogant Dr. N. Tropy - both of whom are attempting to wreak havoc through the very fabric of time and space itself.

Stuffed with unlockable skins, hidden surprises, bonus stages, time trials, challenges and more, all dressed up in Crash Bandicoot's colorful, recognizable style and laced with the franchise's very silly sense of humor. Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is a great return to form for the much-loved franchise. Fans of 3D platformers would do well to give it a whirl.

Ubisoft's Zelda-like open-world game Immortals: Fenyx Rising is expanding very soon with the launch of the game's second DLC pack, Myths of the Eastern Realm. The expansion launches on March 25, Ubisoft has announced.

The second of three planned DLC packs, Myths of the Eastern Realm adds a "new open world," with more characters and story elements inspired by Chinese mythology. A new hero named Ku is at the center of the story. Development on the expansion was led by Ubisoft's studio in Chengdu, China.

Myths of the Eastern Realm will be available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, as well as Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. It's also coming to the Google Stadia and Amazon Luna streaming platforms.

While you have to wait a bit longer to try out the DLC, a new "primer quest" is available in Immortals right now. Called "We Are Not Alone," the quest is available now through a free update.

"Appearing at the southern end of the Valley of Eternal Spring, the new quest offers a stamina-testing platforming challenge in the clouds, with an appropriately themed prize for players who complete it," reads a line from the description.

Outriders (Xbox) | $50 | Newegg | Use code EMCETHS38

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Director Christopher Nolan's 2020 film Tenet was designed to be seen on the biggest screen possible, but YouTuber Wullf had an even grander plan in mind for watching the time-bending action movie. Using conversion software and emulators, Wullf shrank the 150-minute movie down dramatically into five 30-minute videos that ran at 6 frames per second, lowered its resolution to 192 x 128, and reformatted the film to run on a Game Boy Advance emulator.

That alone would have made for a funny story, but the graphic designer took the idea a step further and used his skills to transfer Tenet onto five Game Boy Advance cartridges, complete with custom labels that he had created. Why would anyone go through this much trouble to downsize a movie? Like all great ideas, Wullf's scheme was born out of spite for the director who encouraged people to watch Tenet during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I got this idea when the whole meme was going around about how much Christopher Nolan really wanted you to go to the theatres to see this movie," Wulff said. "You know, in the middle of a global pandemic! He said: 'This is a film whose image and sound really needs to be enjoyed in your theatres on the big screen.' So I immediately thought, yes, exactly, we have to put this on the Game Boy immediately. I'll show you how I did it, so you can too if you really have to experience this movie in the worst way possible."

During yesterday’s “Bethesda joins Xbox Roundtable” event, ZeniMax Online Studios studio director Matt Firor revealed what a superb 2020 its MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online enjoyed off the back of 3 million new players joining the game over the course of the year.

That growth has now seen the game’s player base exceed an impressive 18 million in total. Firor stated during the presentation (thanks mmorpg.com for the transcription):

“It’s no secret that ESO stumbled when it launched in the beginning. But Robert didn’t lose faith in us. ‘You guys are smart,’ he said. ‘It didn’t go the way you wanted, so now you fix it.’ And we did fix it, and some of you might not know how successful we’ve become. We’re one of the most successful, virtual-world fantasy games – period. Over 18 million users logging in from all over the world, 3 million new residents of Tamriel in just 202 alone.”

General manager of Xbox Games Marketing, Aaron Greenberg, also weighed in, celebrating that The Elder Scrolls Online has become the “number one, multi-plat online roleplaying game in the world.”

Certainly, the game is destined to continue as one of ZeniMax’s most lucrative titles and is therefore of particular interest to Microsoft moving forward as its new parent company. It will be interesting to see how new funding and development support from Microsoft helps continue ESO’s success moving forward.

The boyband provided theme songs for InuYasha, Eyeshield 21, and Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage 2.

The post Japanese Boy Band V6 Will Disband This November appeared first on Siliconera.

It's back!

Bethesda just announced that the Fallout 76 PTS (public test server) is ready for business again, which will allow players to try out all of the upcoming major additions to the game. Those additions, mind, have a date: April 27.

So what's coming? As Bethesda has been hinting for a while now, you'll be able to further customize your loadouts and your CAMPs, which is going to please a lot of hardcore and casual players alike. Fallout 76 is heavily based around role-playing for a ton of folks, so more CAMP options are great. When the update hits, it'll be called "Locked and Loaded."

If you want to get a quick look at the big new features (again, SPECIAL loadouts, CAMP slots), you can watch the dev gameplay video below. Four Fallout 76 developers walk us through how the new mechanics work in roughly 10 minutes. Daily Ops (dailies) are being expanded too.

The gist? CAMP slots let you "place a new CAMP on top of the one you already have," which also increases your fast travel points and building capabilities. SPECIAL loadouts are more self-explanatory, as you can now swap between specs like a lot of popular RPGs and experiment more quickly with new builds.

Win/win! Especially if the host of bugs get reported before the still-a-month-and-a-half-out update launch.

Inside the Vault [Bethesda.net]

Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s ongoing hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re setting the morning on fire with the rock, pop, rap, and techno-jazz of Sega’s Burning Rangers. And then we’ll put it out, which is only polite.

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SanDisk 512GB microSD Card | $100 | Amazon

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The Microsoft-Bethesda event might not be the only Xbox show for March. Windows Central reported that Microsoft is planning some kind of "gaming show" for March 26. The site's sources said this event may provide a "glimpse at some upcoming Xbox games for 2021, and possibly beyond."

Before you get too excited, however, bear in mind that official details are unavailable at this stage. Windows Central said it's possible this will be more of a "tech and platform-oriented event with some smaller game announcements." Alternatively, it could be "something more."

This report came after insider Paul Thurrott tweeted that a "what's new for gaming" event from Microsoft is slated for March 23. Windows Central said it understands this event may actually take place on March 26. Whatever the case, those dates are rapidly approaching, so we should know more soon, if the show is indeed real.

With Microsoft's recent $7.5 billion acquisition of ZeniMax now officially completed, Microsoft certainly has a lot more to talk about, but it's too soon to say what might be featured in this show.

Outside of this one, Microsoft also recently confirmed that there will be more news to share from Microsoft and Bethesda sometime this summer, likely outside of E3.

Ubisoft has confirmed this week that Immortals Fenyx Rising’s second DLC, Myths of the Eastern Realm, is set for launch later this month, March 25, across all platforms.

The content introduces a new open-world, characters, and story inspired by Chinese mythology, and centering on a new hero named Ku.

Players interested in the DLC will need to either purchase it separately ($14.99), as part of the game’s season pass ($39.99), or as part of a Ubisoft+ subscription ($14.99 per month).

There’s actually a free primer quest called “We Are Not Alone” available to all players which tees up the DLC’s story premise and servers as a taster for those who would like try before they buy.

Ubisoft explained in a blog post yesterday:

“Appearing at the southern end of the Valley of Eternal Spring, the new quest offers a stamina-testing platforming challenge in the clouds, with an appropriately themed prize for players who complete it. Like the primer quest for Immortals Fenyx Rising – A New God DLC, playing or completing We Are Not Alone isn’t required to jump into this new DLC.2

Immortals Fenyx Rising is out now on Google Stadia, Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

For more on the game, read about Twinfinite’s belief that its comedic elements help it to stand apart from other open-world Ubisoft titles.

This bundle will include a limited edition calendar featuring illustrations of various monsters.

The post Capcom to Sell Monster Hunter Rise Bundle with Calendar for Limited Time appeared first on Siliconera.

Tobias Fünke really needs to listen to himself when he talks. But he did come up with a hell of a catchphrase, so we'll let it slide.

You guessed it: the new speedrunning craze in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (which is still a wildly successful game with over 33 million sales under its belt) is called "Blue Yourself." It involves trying to hit yourself with a blue shell as quickly as possible, and there is a fierce competition going on right now in the Mario Kart community.

To achieve this task, you'll acquire boost items, strategically hang back so your odds of getting a blue shell are high, then boost ahead quickly and "blue yourself" with the blue shell. There's chance involved, but given how quickly runs are, it's not maddening. The whole process takes roughly 40 seconds or less.

Just recently, YouTuber Skilloz (below) beat out the world record of GsFlint, which was set at 39.56 seconds. Skilloz managed to sneak under with a decent chunk of extra time, clocking in at 37.89 seconds with Baby Peach.

I think one of the most virtuous aspects of the speedrunning community is when folks make up new parameters and stick with them as a group. The "All Dog Treasures" runs in Breath of the Wild are proof of that.

Mods already make first-person views possible in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. One player, however, has apparently figured out how to do that without one.

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Microsoft has released another deep-dive video on Halo Infinite in which several developers from the team spend 44 minutes answering questions about the game, which was originally supposed to launch with the Xbox Series X|S. One feature that won't be in the game, at least initially, is dual-wielding weapons. Introduced in Halo 2, the feature has been critical to many players' loadouts since then.

The whole video is treat, with sandbox designer Quinn DelHoyo, lead world designer John Mulkey, campaign art lead Justin Dinges, and gameplay director Troy Mashburn answering numerous questions that fans submitted on Twitter.

Among the things we learned is that dual-wielding is not in the game. DelHoyo said dual-wielding is "not currently in the cards," at least at the moment. "Whenever you set out to make a game with the size of Halo Infinite, there's so many things you can do. I think we have a very talented team where we can do anything but we can't do everything," DelHoyo said.

The developer said 343 instead chose to focus on Halo Infinite's weapons, gunplay, grenades, and melee, as well as equipment.

This collection will feature a wide range of watches, bags, and wallets.

The post Super Groupies to Release Demon Slayer Themed Merchandise appeared first on Siliconera.

Vanillaware has proudly announced that 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim has hit 400,000 sales. The story-driven action strategy title launched on PS4 in Japan back in 2019, before heading west in the fall of 2020.

Written and directed by George Kamitani of Dragon's Crown fame, 13 Sentinels sees players take control of 13 individual characters, whose stories and fates intertwine against the backdrop of an alternate history 1985 - occasionally bouncing back to the past and forward to the future. The epic tale consists of dialogue-heavy story sequences, complex RTS battles, and side-scrolling action, all decorated in Vanillaware inimitable visual style.

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: a Music Week special.

I have a stack of about four DDR Wii games at home, and having mastered the tracks on Hottest Party Three, I've started working my way through the other titles. Going back to the early learning stages has reminded me just how much DDR reminds me of sight-reading music on clarinet or piano. Unless you want to get your legs in a tangle, or set yourself badly off-balance (creating problems further down the line), you have to read several beats ahead and anticipate both the rhythm and footwork required. That includes jumping height, speed of movement, and how to angle your body. Playing guitar in Rock Band feels similar, but moving your whole body means you really have to commit to what you think is the right combination of footwork. On top of all that, DDR can sometimes present you with incredibly dense and slow-moving arrows, something which can be tricky to parse. Not to mention some sneaky off-beat rhythms are thrown in on harder tracks.

Eventually, once you've practiced the hard sections long enough, you'll develop the muscle memory to automatically know the footwork for a song. But practice will also make you better at sight-reading new tracks: I can now bring up a video of DDR on Youtube, and read the arrows as if I were actually dancing it. When you finally crack the code, that's a pretty cool feeling to have.

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Additionally, the title has been nominated for an award in Japan.

The post 13 Sentinels Aegis Rim Sales Reach 400,000 Units Worldwide appeared first on Siliconera.

Wait what? And it's gone!

In case you missed it, Bandai Namco's Latin America Instagram account (what a wild world we live in with global brands on social) had a little snafu recently. In a new ad for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot (which came out last year but is getting new DLC soon), a conspicuous "Switch" logo was spotted at the bottom.

Now, as we know, Kakarot is only out on PC/PlayStation/Xbox. But is there a Switch version in the cards, perhaps for a Game of the Year-like release bundled with that DLC? Not anytime soon, at least. Bandai Namco acknowledged the mistake, and noted that the logo was added in error.

It is strange, because Kakarot on Switch is entirely believable. It's not the most graphically intensive game, plus, Bandai Namco has made an effort to bring a ton of games to Switch these past few years; even from third-party developer partners.

Although it was a "mistake" to have the logo on this particular ad campaign, I wouldn't be surprised to learn about a port down the line.

Bandai Namco [Instagram via Twitter] Thanks Rick!