Animal Crossing: New Horizons has monthly updates that keep the game feeling fresh on Nintendo Switch. Pair that with the merch, clothing lines, and even manga surrounding this game, and it's easy to see that the fanfare surrounding New Horizons is brighter than it has ever been. For islanders looking for even more ways to celebrate the latest Nintendo adventure, a new Animal Crossing: New Horizons Build-a-Bear line has been announced. 

Unfortunately, we don't have a first look at the new line other than that we know it's on the way, but a full reveal is "coming soon." The news regarding the new line was revealed via Twitter: 

COMING SOON! Our Animal Crossing™: New Horizons collection is full of fun for all ages. Sign up for free email and text updates so you don’t miss a thing!

US: https://t.co/g37GrjpCWc
UK: https://t.co/D6Wesqr0Cc pic.twitter.com/ZJ0UwlAJx7

A comprehensive guide to designing, planning, and implementing a winning live ops cadence for your game to maximize user engagement. ...

Bethesda is taking up a lot of the news mindshare recently, especially since its purchase by Microsoft was approved. But don’t let that overshadow some of the exciting news about Bethesda’s big 2021 releases. We’re particularly excited for Arkane Studios’ Deathloop, which is featured on the cover of Game Informer this month.

Deathloop is a game about a man stuck in a repeating 24-hour time loop. You play as Colt Vahn, a man trapped on the desolate island of Blackreef who is being hunted by an insane “cult” of mask-wearing lunatics. However, Colt is one of the only people who seems aware of the fact that he is reliving the same day over and over again, and if Colt wants to break this loop he’ll need to orchestrate the assassination of eight extremely powerful individuals.

As part of our month-long coverage, we’re excited to share this collection of exclusive screenshots. Bethesda has released a few trailers for Deathloop, but these are some of the first screens we’ve seen to date. These images showcase Arkane’s unique 60’s mod style, the near-futuristic tech of Blackreef, and some of the aforementioned masked maniacs. What you won’t see is more on the history of Blackreef or how Colt can tackle any challenge in a multitude of ways. For that you should be sure to read this month’s cover story.

In this 2010 chat, Obsidian chief (and key team member on the original Fallout games) Feargus Urquhart discusses his team's approach to crafting Fallout: New Vegas and returning to their roots. ...

A tale of two cities

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It’s Mario Day! Today we celebrate everything about Nintendo’s iconic plumber, who has endured as one of the most beloved mascots in all of gaming. The character has a gigantic portfolio of games to his name, many of them fantastic, which begs the ultimate question: which Mario game is your absolute favorite? 

Is your all-time favorite one of the 2D classics on NES and SNES, such as Super Mario Bros., Super Mario World, or Yoshi’s Island (which is totally a Mario game, darn it). Maybe it’s Super Mario 64, the game that revolutionized the 3D platformer? Perhaps you prefer one of the two phenomenal Galaxy games, which took the 3D style to new heights and beyond. Or are you a renegade and swear by the polarizing Super Mario Sunshine? I hope there’s some of you out there who remember Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins and Super Mario 3D Land, especially if you’ve found yourselves loving the recent re-release of Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury on Switch. 

Valheim players are combating the frustration of losing everything after death by establishing and dispatching a Body Recovery Squad that ventures out to retrieve all lost items.

The Body Recovery Squad was recently set up through a dedicated Discord server. Their goal is for community members (or operators) to aid players in recollecting everything they lost after dying. This is done by players joining the server, entering a channel called #assistance-application, and pressing the "SOS" button. Once the message has been received, an operator will get in touch with that player in question to organize and execute the item recovery effort.

There are no stipulations for the assistance and it doesn't matter where a player's tombstone is located. The Body Recovery Squad, once mobilized, will complete the mission at all costs. Players aren't required to compensate the Body Recovery Squad; the group does it all for free.

The Body Recovery Squad founder Lucas (aka Rim Jaynor) detailed the rationale behind the group in a brief interview with Eurogamer. After nearly encountering a similar fate--losing everything when battling a deathsquito--but being lucky enough to have "a portal close by," Lucas thought of the other players who might not escape death and are forced to start over. This thought caused him to establish the Body Recovery Squad as a way to help other players.

"That singular moment, losing everything, can be so detrimental to players and has caused some to quit playing the game entirely," Lucas said. "I thought to myself, what if it didn't have to be that way? What if there was a lifeline out there that helped players keep going?"

Capcom shared the most used Street Fighter V characters list for February 2021, and Dan found his way into the top 10.

The post Dan Was Among February 2021’s 10 Most Used Street Fighter V Characters appeared first on Siliconera.

Top Product: Pokémon 11 Card Lot 1st Edition + Rare Included | $30 | eBay

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Today, Mediatonic showed off one of the levels for Fall Guys’ upcoming fourth season. The new stage, “Skyline Stumble,” looks quite fun with its gravity-based hijinks and bean-sized pinball bumpers—but it instilled in me an invasive, immovable thought: Man, we’ve really been doing this for a while, huh?

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The new Disney princess isn’t just a badass warrior

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Call of Duty: Warzone was released one year ago this week, and to celebrate, Activision created a new stat-tracking tool that lets you see your stats over the first year.

You can get your own "Warzone Report" by replying to the Call of Duty Twitter account with your gamertag/handle and the hashtag #WarzoneReport. Do that and it will spit out a personalized breakdown of your kills, deaths, kill/death ratio, hours played, games played, and wins over the past year. All of this information is already available in the game itself, but the Twitter system provides a graphic that shows all of the key information in one place that you can share.

Also be aware that your results will be posted publicly, in case that matters to you.

Activision also released a celebratory blog post that runs down the key moments and events from Warzone's first year. There is an interesting line at the end about Warzone's latest update that brought Zombies to the Vodianoy ship off the coast of the island.

The blog post said:

"It seems that after a year of smooth sailing, Warzone may have to prepare for a threat never before seen in Verdansk, and any Operators who wish to survive might need to save the celebration for another time and get back in the fight before it's too late."

Also in the blog post, Activision said it is eager to share more details on what's to come in the future. However, the company said, "It'll be better for you to experience it for yourself."

Roblox officially listed on the New York Stock exchange this morning, though notably no additional stock will be issued as trading opens due to the fact that it did so under a direct listing. ...

Microsoft might be teasing an upcoming enhancement for Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham Knight based on an image in the latest Xbox Wire post.

The post, which relates to a new feature allowing you to see which games support your chosen language, feature a screenshot of the Xbox Series X dashboard with a handful of games on it. One of the tiles is for Batman: Arkham Knight, and features a logo for Xbox Games Pass and another indicating it has been enhanced for Xbox Series X|S.

Batman: Arkham Knight is on Games Pass, and none of the other games featured in the screenshot have been incorrectly labelled either. This suggests that Microsoft, accidentally or not, has leaked a potential upgrade releasing in the near future.

Batman: Arkham Knight hasn't received any enhancements for both Xbox One X and the PS4 Pro, so even with the Xbox Series X you're still stuck playing at its native 900p resolution. An upgrade to that would be a nice treat for those wanting to play the game on a 4K display, or perhaps with a framerate beyond its current 30 fps.

Capcom warned that unofficial, fake Resident Evil Village beta invites are appearing to allegedly invite people to "demo" the game.

The post Fake Resident Evil Village Beta Invites Are Circulating Online appeared first on Siliconera.

Roblox Corp. CEO David Baszucki's own net worth is projected to rise by $3 billion on Wednesday thanks to his company going public. Yahoo Finance estimates that Baszucki made $3 billion thanks to the direct listing, which is in addition to the "hundreds of millions" he might have made by selling Roblox Corp. shares to third-parties in the lead-up to the direct listing this week.

Baszucki put about half of his 12% stake in Roblox in the Baszucki Family Office in California, which he registered in 2020.

The executive could get even richer, as Baszucki will get 11.5 million more Roblox shares if the company is able to reach long-term share price targets. A filing also mentions that Baszucki will not draw a salary or receive any equity-based compensation as Roblox's CEO until 2027. It's also stated that the executive will make charitable donations from his windfall.

Third-party developers are continuing to announce new add-ons and provide looks at more in progress for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

First of all, we get to take a look at the de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter from Aerosoft.

This includes more models of the seats and cabin interior, on top of the doors and baggage storage.

"Sweet" and "Headstrong" compete in the latest in-game tournament.

The post New SSBU Tournament Features Pyra, Mythra, and Joker appeared first on Siliconera.

10. Bowser's Fury - Super Mario 3D World

9. Donut Plains 1 - Super Mario World

A strange substitute for the NHL’s postponed Stadium Series

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Resident Evil Village is on the horizon and with another Early Access period on the way, Capcom is warning fans against fake Resident Evil Village demo invites that are already floating around. 

In a recent statement, Capcom Europe issued the following warning in an attempt to protect players from scams that have been caught: 

“We’re sending this message as we’ve been made aware that there are currently emails circulating that pretend to contain ‘Early Access invitations’ to Resident Evil Village. The sender address is being displayed as ‘no-reply(at)capcom(dot)com’."

Capcom continues, saying “We want to inform you that these messages are NOT from Capcom and appear to be phishing attempts by an unauthorized third party. If you have received such a message, please DO NOT download any files or reply, and delete the message immediately."

Diablo II: Resurrected had its own warning about fake invites, though that warning came attached to a callout against the game's subreddit. The mod of said subreddit even banned an actual developer on the game from commenting further after it was outed the subreddit was hosting fake access. 

Niantic is kicking off an Electric Pokemon-themed event in Pokemon Go next week. The Charge Up event begins at 10 AM local time on March 16, and it introduces Therian Forme Thundurus to the game, on top of increased Electric Pokemon spawns, new Research tasks to complete, and more.

Therian Forme Thundurus will begin appearing in five-star Raids when the event starts, marking the first time you can catch this version of the Gen 5 Legendary in Pokemon Go. That's not the only new form debuting, however; Niantic is also introducing Mega Manectric as a Mega Raid boss during the event. Defeating it will net you Manectric Mega Energy, which you'll be able to use to Mega Evolve your own Manectric.

In addition to the new forms, various Electric-type Pokemon--such as Alolan Geodude, Electrike, and Stunfisk--will be appearing more frequently in the wild and lower-tier Raids throughout the event, and you'll have your first chance to catch catch Tynamo. Electric Pokemon like Pichu, Joltik, and Elekid will also be hatching from 5 km eggs.

Yesterday morning, Chasing Rats Games debuted their Pikmin-inspired roguelike, titled Worship, on the crowd-funding site, Kickstarter. In this cult simulator, players must recruit new members for their Lovecraftian god via sacrifices.

To make those sacrifices, you’ll solve a number of puzzles that involve drawing patterns in blood, while also fending off threats from rival cults via the game’s competitive multiplayer format. Each team has the goal of summoning their god, with the winners getting the glory of being responsible for ending the world.

The cultish cherry on top is that Worship will support 4-player co-op. That means that you and you’re friends will be able to worship your nightmarish gods together in both online and local multiplayer.

Currently, Worship is already well on its way to attaining its required pledge amount, with only about $5,000 left till it passes the $52,000 goal. Considering the game is only on its second day of funding, hopefully that Chasing Rats Games will have more than enough capital to get the game out by its estimated Dec. 2022 release goal for PC and consoles.

A new Xbox update to both consoles and the Xbox Game Pass app lets you more easily find games that are available in your preferred language. With this update, you'll find clearer labels identifying languages for the interface, audio, and subtitles.

According to the announcement, the new label will appear alongside others like Smart Delivery, X|S Optimized, and genre identifiers. In the example shown, a small tag states that Forza Horizon 4 has 27 languages available. You can then click through to see a table with more details on the supported languages. If you've selected a default language for your console, that one will appear at the top of the listing.

Microsoft says it has already added language tags to hundreds of its games, and will be adding more going forward. The company states that this is a step toward "making you and your friends feel at home" on Xbox.

This announcement comes just after Microsoft officially completed its acquisition of Bethesda. That deal brings a ton of new game studios into the Xbox Game Studios fold, and the company has promised more of the Bethesda library will be coming to Xbox Game Pass subscription service. It also confirmed that some games will be exclusive in the future, though it hasn't named details yet.

Rumored 4K Nintendo Switch Details & Elden Ring Leaks! | Final Checkpoint Podcast Ep. 79 Read More »

If you've yet to experience Life is Strange developer Dontnod's beautiful mystery adventure Tell Me Why, you can now play the entire first episode for free.

Released last August, Tell Me Why serves up a deft blend of earnest homecoming drama and mystery thriller, setting its three-episode story against a picturesque rendition of small-town Alaska - all snow-banked streets, crystalline lakes, and icily majestic mountain ranges.

It's another vividly drawn backdrop for Dontnod's particular brand of narrative adventure, which this time finds real beauty and warmth in the relationship between protagonists Tyler and Alyson - two twins reuniting in circumstances that force them to confront their traumatic past.

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After almost exactly a year in early access, the Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth Metroidvania will launch in March 2021.

The post Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth Leaves Early Access in March appeared first on Siliconera.

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After uploading a video of his creation in December 2020, YouTuber and modder Gunnar Turnquist's tiny Nintendo 64 has been designated "the world's smallest modified Nintendo 64 console" by the Guinness World Records.

The iconic Nintendo 64 is known for two things: its slimmer profile on an entertainment system (when compared to other consoles) and that awkward controller with its protruding third leg. It wasn't as heavy or as massive as other systems in the '90s, but the Nintendo 64 is still a pretty big console in its own right. Its dimensions stand at 2.87 in tall, 10.23 in wide, and 7.48 in deep.

For Gunnar's part, converting that mass proved difficult. But Gunnar "unlocked the secrets of the motherboard," as he put it on his YouTube video explaining how he constructed the tiny Nintendo 64, and shrunk the system to a smaller chassis. His finished product, a NeoGeo Pocket-looking N64, stands at 3.3 in tall, 4.64 in wide, and 1.77 in deep. These measurements are record-breaking; Gunnar said it's a 23% reduction in total volume from the 2015 record.

More importantly, this Nintendo 64 is built using a real Nintendo 64. Gunnar didn't opt for shortcuts, like an emulator or a printed circuit board (PCB). As a result, it plays real cartridges. Check out Gunnar's video about building the process of building the modified N64 console.

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord has been in early access for a few months and TaleWorlds Entertainment has been updating it very actively. Today, they released a new round of patches.

To be specific, the developer released the Beta e1.5.9 update and the Main e1.5.8 branch update.

The most relevant change is likely the sandbox mode in the beta branch that lets you play however you like without being burdened by the main questline.

• Sandbox mode has been added to the game:
  • Weight and build sliders have been added to both sandbox and campaign mode.
  • Sandbox mode allows players to choose a starting age group.
  • Sandbox starting positions on the world map are determined by the selected character culture.

It was introduced in a video last month. While it was implemented via user-made mods before, it’s nice to have it officially implemented.

You can read the full beta patch notes here, and the main patch notes here.

We've had a plethora of Resident Evil films in the past, but that doesn't mean more aren't on the way. First announced back in 2019, the upcoming Resident Evil movie reboot release date is set in stone for later this year, bringing director Johannes Roberts' vision to life, and to celebrate, we've got our first sneak peek at the film's poster. 

Actor Chad Rook took to Twitter to share a Sony Pictures film poster, equipped with a September 3 release date at the bottom. In addition to the Netflix animated series also on the way, the Resident Evil experiences will keep on coming, especially with Resident Evil Village also dropping later this year. 

Are you ready? #ResidentEvil #Theatres #Sept3 ♠️♥️♣️♦️ pic.twitter.com/dHz5mKUXbD

Options like 4K and 120 fps are now on the table

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I haven't exactly been subtle in my undying love for the Dragon Age franchise and since it'll be quite a bit of time before we get more Dragon Age 4 news, I have to get my fix where I can. So when a friend of mine shared this incredible Dragon Age Inquisition recreation of Skyhold in The Sims 4? I just had to share. 

Redditor user r/StarshinePrince took to the forums to share their creation and I'll be honest; I was shocked. When I saw the title of the post of being a recreation, I expected it to be one frame of a building that looked similar to that of Skyhold. What I wasn't expecting was a detailed recreation, even going room to room.

The latest patch for NBA 2K21 for PS4 and Xbox One has arrived. The patch, which is coming to other platforms later, includes a series of general updates, along with fixes specific to MyTeam. Additionally, the 2K Beach gets some love with this update.

The update adds the 2K Foundation court at the game's social space, the 2K beach, along with some "seasonal decorations." 2K didn't say what this might be.

This new patch also makes some updates to player likenesses to bring the game more in line with how players look in real life.

For MyTeam, this new NBA 2K21 patch addresses issues with Dark Matter player cards, including an audio issue involving its animations. The patch also makes "various preparations" for new content to come to MyTeam.

This update will be available for other platforms "at a later date," 2K said. The game is also available on PC, Stadia, Nintendo Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.

NBA 2K21 March 10 Patch Notes

GENERAL:

• 2K Foundation inspired court at 2K Beach along with new seasonal decorations.
• Updated another set of player likenesses for current NBA players.

MyTEAM:

• Addressed a rare issue with Dark Matter player cards not displaying the player reveal during pack openings
• Addressed an audio issue with Dark Matter card animations
• Addressed a name display issue for some playbook cards
• Additional various preparations for upcoming additions to MyTEAM

Blast some kaiju for justice!

The post New Godzilla: Singular Point Trailer Centers on Jet Jaguar appeared first on Siliconera.