We are less than a month out from the release of People Can Fly's class-based sci-fi shooter Outriders. Publisher Square Enix has released a short animated trailer offering an abridged version of the events that led to a squad of no-hopers somehow becoming the makeshift saviors of humanity.

With the Earth on its last legs and the best of society's experts lying in ash, the final hope for mankind lies in an expedition party made up of expendable mercenaries - tasked to explore the planet Enoch in hopes of finding a new world for colonization. Things go awry fast, however, when a powerful energy storm blasts the planet's inhabitants, infusing everything in its path with powerful elemental abilities, including our unlikely heroes.

Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s ongoing hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re hacking our way through the music of Grindstone, which was good enough to make a mockery out of my best intentions.

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Difficult news today for the Rust community, as developer Facepunch has announced a "total loss" of some servers in the EU and related data due to a huge fire.

Writing on Twitter, the studio said, "We've confirmed a total loss of the affected EU servers during the OVH data centre fire. We're now exploring replacing the affected servers."

However, it appears there might not have been any backups, as Facepunch added, "Data will be unable to be restored." In another, later update, Facepunch said EU servers are now coming back online, but all progress has been reset.

The popular anti-cheat software Denuvo is coming to PlayStation 5. The software's owner announced that Denuvo is now part of the PS5 Tools and Middleware program.

What this means is that the Denuvo anti-cheat software--which has been commonplace and controversial on PC for years--can now be used by developers and publishers on PS5.

Denuvo touts its software as having reached more than 2 billion game installs on all platforms, with more than 1,000 games protected by its software.

"Today, as a member of ecosystem players, Denuvo will carry on its mission of bringing fairness and fun back to gaming by providing its Anti-Cheat solution to all developers who want to protect their games and gamers, from hackers and cheaters, on PlayStation 5," the company said.

Denuvo said its anti-cheat tools are capable of protecting online and offline gameplay. "The technology helps game developers protect sensitive game logic or data, preventing cheaters from changing sensitive variables and ensuring its trustworthiness," it said.

The company said "a number" of PS5 launch titles already use Denuvo, but it did not say which ones.

"Cheating ruins video games for honest players," Denuvo boss Reinhard Blaukovitsch said in a statement. "This can lead to lower engagement, game traffic and shrinking revenues for game publishers. We are really proud be able to help the world's most talented developers to bring rich experiences for gamers on Playstation 5."

By nature of being DRM in the first place, Denuvo is often seen as controversial software in the eyes of PC players. One of the main pieces of criticism of Denuvo is that the anti-piracy software has been shown to impact performance in some cases.

A total of ten designs will be available to purchase as part of this special collection.

The post Monster Hunter Rise UNIQLO Shirt Designs Feature the Palico and Palamute appeared first on Siliconera.

So in 2020, Blizzard announced that folks were able to vote on a new free mount that would be added for everyone who owned World of Warcraft: Shadowlands. The time has come to claim it.

As a reminder, The Wandering Ancient, based on the classic Warcraft III structure motif, won. At this point you can log into WoW, and go grab it directly from your collection tab; which should be pulsing with a notification. Note that it's not obtained via the mailbox, but through the collection tab. I logged in earlier and confirmed that it does indeed work!

Here's a bit of lore-based info on it, which includes a little worm-like creature at the top of its head: "Not all ancients are interested in war or lore, some just want to travel the world! This arboreal nomad has traveled to many places and with each passing season embraces change, both in scenery and in the foliage atop its branches."

If you want an in-depth look at the mount, Blizzard artists did a low key full rundown of its creation during BlizzConline a few weeks back. You can watch that clip below.

Now Available: Wandering Ancient Mount [World of Warcraft]

Blizzard has released a next-gen patch for its popular hero shooter Overwatch, but it's only available on Xbox. The new enhancements on Xbox Series X|S include three different pre-sets that players can choose from based on their preferences around image quality, resolution, and frame rate.

If you choose "resolution," Overwatch will output at up to 4K/60Hz on Xbox Series X and 1440p/60Hz on Xbox Series S. The "balanced" pre-set reaches 1440p/60Hz on Xbox Series X and 1080p/60Hz on Xbox Series S. Finally, the "framerate" option boosts the game to 120FPS, but at a cost for image quality and resolution. On Xbox Series X, it will be 1440p/120Hz and 1080p/120Hz on Xbox Series S.

Of course, you will need a TV that is capable of displaying 120Hz or variable refresh rate to see the full benefits of the "framerate" mode in particular.

Blizzard's patch notes do not mention any next-gen upgrades for the PS5 edition of Overwatch, but perhaps a separate post is planned for later.

This isn't the first time a multiplatform game is getting more expansive next-gen upgrade options on Xbox over PlayStation. EA's Star Wars: Squadrons has more next-gen options on Xbox compared to PlayStation.

The next-gen upgrade for Xbox came as part of a wider Overwatch patch that makes a series of bug fixes, changes, and general updates across the game on all platforms. You can see the full patch notes below.

10th March is Mario Day. Or to give it the correct branding 'Mar10 Day' - you see what Nintendo did there? To get in on the celebrations, Currys PC World and Amazon have dropped the price of the Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros to just £30.

The retro handheld throwback launched at the end of last year for £45 as part of the jolly red plumber's 35th-anniversary shindig.

On it, you can play Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels and a Mario version of the classic Ball game. The Game & Watch also functions as a digital clock with 35 different animations and a few neat little easter eggs. If that's not enough of a selection, some enterprising folk have also got Doom running on it.

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Before Your Eyes is a new game from developer GoodByeWorld that plays as an interactive afterlife that you control with every blink of your ocular organs. As someone who is adjusting to their new status of being recently deceased, your boat trip to the great beyond takes a slight detour when the ferryman offers to help you relive pivotal moments of your life, starting from the beginning and progressing until your inevitable demise.

You'll be able to experience your infancy, childhood, and other milestone moments in a series of vignettes that contain contextual cues which you can interact with using your eyes, but these will all be over the second you close your eyelids. It's literal blink-and-you'll-miss-it gameplay that uses your webcam to track your eye movements which you can see more of below in the game's official trailer.

While you visit these memories you'll be able to explore and affect the outcomes of these stories, but the game is well aware that no player can keep their eyes open indefinitely. Before Your Eyes is scheduled to release on April 8 and will be available on PC via Steam.

This comic will feature another compilation of stories center around the Mother franchise.

The post Pollyanna 2 Mother Comic Announced With Submissions Now Open appeared first on Siliconera.

International plush toy brand Build-A-Bear has announced that it is teaming with Nintendo to produce a brand new range based on the latter's super-cute social sim Animal Crossing. The company made the succinct announcement on Twitter, but did not offer any information regarding characters, prices, or release dates - merely offering a mailing list for interested parties.

I'm an interested party. Not particularly because I care for Animal Crossing, but I do appreciate the hard-working, desk-bound attitude of cheerful good girl and staunch office worker, Isabelle. I think a plush edition of the pringle-wearing hound, sat just outside of my field of view, will offer me the drive and oppressive guilt needed to stay sat at my desk working - not wandering off to the kitchen to open the fridge... boil the kettle... look out the window... open the fridge again. Isabelle's jovial death stare will see my output increase an estimated 138%

You can sign up for more Animal Crossing x Build-A-Bear news here in the U.S. or here in the U.K.

Warzone was my lockdown game. Funnily enough, they both started around the same time.

Activision's big Call of Duty battle royale launched on 10th March 2020 and was an immediate hit. And then, just a fortnight later, the first UK lockdown began. Warzone popularity exploded.

A year later, and we're still in lockdown. And Warzone is increasingly popular. It topped 85 million players by the end of 2020. I mean, just look at what its updates do to download traffic in the UK.

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In early January, with Japan posting some of its highest covid-19 cases, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency for a number of prefectures, including Osaka. As part of this declaration, the government asked corporate employees to work from home or limit the number of staff in the office.

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Overwatch just got a significant update for Xbox Series X and S - but nothing yet for PlayStation 5.

Developer Blizzard outlined the additions in patch notes published to Battle.net. These "optimised for Xbox Series X|S enhancements" include a "preferred mode" graphics option that lets you switch between three different presets: Resolution, Balanced and Framerate.

Here's the breakdown:

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UPDATE 1.30pm UK: Rust developer Facepunch has released a fresh update on the game's EU servers following last night's devastating fire - and it's bad news.

"We've confirmed a total loss of the affected EU servers during the OVH data centre fire," Facepunch wrote. "We're now exploring replacing the affected servers. Data will be unable to be restored."

Earlier today, Facepunch said 25 EU servers had been lost. In general, Rust wipes player progress every month, but it's unclear how many of these servers hosted community-run servers with their own rules.

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• Resolution: Series X: 4K @ 60Hz, Series S: 1440p @ 60Hz – "This mode prefers higher-resolution output at the cost of some image-quality"
• Balanced: Series X: 1440p @ 60Hz, Series S: 1080p @ 60Hz – "This mode prefers image-quality at the cost of resolution"
• Framerate: Series X: 1440p @ 120Hz, Series S: 1080p @ 120Hz – "This mode prefers higher frame-rate at 120 frames-per-second at the cost of both image-quality and resolution"

These absurdist commercials may teach you a thing or two about the hunt.

The post Monster Hunter Rise Japanese Commercials Will Teach You About Hunting appeared first on Siliconera.

So you've been enjoying Nioh 2 on PC? That's good! Things seem to be mostly fine, and the reception on Steam has been pretty positive. But not everyone is operating at the same capacity.

Just recently, Team Ninja put out a new set of bug fixes mostly aimed at the PS5 edition of the game, which cleared up a number of bugs that were unique to that version. Specifically, there was a problem with reduced input latency for certain control schemes, as well as save transer issues from PS4. Also, 120FPS mode was causing some issues (which happens a lot more than you'd think in action games).

But things were mostly quiet on the PC front, outside of one response from Team Ninja's Twitter account directly. When asked about random crashes for some PC users, the developer explained that they were "looking into it." So if it's happening to you, it's on their radar.

As more and more Japanese developers have moved into the PC realm, these sorts of patches and checks have become more expected and commonplace. Not every game can rely on a Durante patch!

Team Ninja [Twitter]

UK retailer Currys has launched a lottery system for the release of new PlayStation 5 consoles.

It follows nationwide problems across numerous UK retailers, as demand for consoles continues to outstrip supply - and new machines are pounced upon by stock scalpers looking to turn a profit.

You can sign up now for a Currys Priority Pass via the retailer's website. You'll need to leave a name, email and address - then cross your fingers and hope for the best (thanks, VGC).

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Florian Munteanu, most famous for playing Viktor Drago in Creed 2, is set to star as Krieg in the Borderlands movie.

Krieg is the playable Psycho class character in Borderlands 2. Munteanu, who plays Razor Fist in upcoming Marvel movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, joins a star-studded Borderlands cast that includes Cate Blanchett (Lilith), Kevin Hart (Roland), Jamie Lee Curtis (Dr. Tannis), Jack Black (Claptrap), and Young Gamora actress Ariana Greenblatt (Tiny Tina).

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Borderlands movie will see Krieg in charge of protecting Tiny Tina.

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Aspiring idol producers will have to wait longer for the new console game to be released.

The post The Idolmaster: Starlit Season Delayed To October 2021 appeared first on Siliconera.

Bertie: It's the monsters that do it for me. They are manifestations of phobias, and even though I am lucky enough to not have any phobias (that I know of), they unsettle me. Take the Tokophobia monster: it's based around a fear of childbirth, and here it's depicted by a silhouetted pregnant woman on her knees, whose bulging stomach morphs into an angry child when it attacks. That's freaky, right?

Or there's the Haptophobia monster, which I think ought to be Haphephobia because it's based around a phobia of touching. Here, it's a creature made of many hands that all reach out and grab at you when it attacks, and it's grotesque.

There are others but I don't want to spoil them. But it's the way they're brought to life, the way they look and behave, moving as if made for a vintage cartoon, in a kind of flick-book animated way, which speaks to a kind of quality in Neurodeck which elevates it. That, hand-in-hand with the game's focus on mental health, and cards themed around ways to deal with phobias, and keeping a mind calm and positive, are what makes Neurodeck more than another game moulded around a Slay the Spire frame. They're its difference. And they manage a kind of relevance and connection with, certainly, me, that other games have to work much harder for.

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Ever wondered what your pet cat would look like as a Palico?

The post Monster Hunter Rise TikTok Collaboration Will Add New Filters For Your Pets appeared first on Siliconera.

So! The Pokemon Company showed off a lot of new franchise news recently, and confirmed two new games. Well, one brand new game and one set of remakes for Diamond and Pearl.

Although each generation has its fans, Diamond and Pearl are beloved by many, so the new remake style didn't really grab a lot of folks. The thing is, it's not even Game Freak that's working on the official remakes; it's ILCA.

Enter fan remakes! Well, fan mockup trailers, at least. Content creator millenniumloops decided to take it upon themselves to deliver a new take on the series, complete with a near-two-minute reimagining clip. It even has the same intro and outro, which is a nice touch to make it all look more official.

Is it going to satisfy everyone? Probably not, but neither is the official set of remakes. Although this fan project would be a much bigger undertaking, I do like a lot of what is shown here. Maybe we'll get there eventually?

An NBA star has been banned from Twitch and has been dropped by sponsors after using an antisemitic slur while playing Call of Duty: Warzone.

While playing Warzone live on Twitch, 29-year-old Miami Heat player Meyers Leonard, said: "F***ing cowards, don't f***ing snipe me, you f***ing k*** bitch." A clip of the moment subsequently went viral on social media, where it has had millions of views.

Leonard's Twitch channel, which had 58,000 followers, has now been deleted. But it looks like things are about to get a lot worse for the NBA star, whose future with the Miami Heat is now in serious doubt.

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Update (1PM): The BX and CX are now sold out at Argos, with the pages now showing a "Sorry, this product isn't available right now" message. We'll update via @dealsfoundry if we see similar deals elsewhere in future! Original article continues below:

Our favourite 4K TVs for gaming are going for ludicrously low prices at Argos today. The LG BX OLED costs just £894 right now when you use code LG10, which is more than £200 cheaper than it is at any other retailer and the best price we've ever seen for a current model year OLED!

The slightly higher-tier LG CX, our top TV recommendation for gaming, has also had its price slashed at Argos, to a mere £1052 when you use the same LG10 code. That's another best-ever price for this model, and nearly £250 cheaper than you'll find the TV at any other retailer!

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Lost Words: Beyond the Page was one of the Stadia launch titles a year ago, but its being exclusive meant - interesting though it was - it passed a lot of people by, which was a shame.

It was a shame because there's a "potent" story about childhood there, Vikki wrote in her Lost Words review for Eurogamer. A story written by Rhianna Pratchett, about a girl whose tumultuous life unfolds in a diary as you play - playing a heroine character of her imagining in a platforming, fantasy world.

It's a roundabout way of saying I'm glad Lost Words is now finally getting a proper release, snarky though that may sound. It's due 6th April on PC (Steam), PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.

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Hello! Welcome to a Someone Should... with a Music Week twist. A classic album tangled with a classic piece of hardware.

We all have a sound which reminds us of our gaming childhood. For me, it's the Artisans theme in Spyro The Dragon. For Frank Ocean, evidently, it's the Street Fighter 2 opening beep. It's this sound which opens his debut album Channel Orange, a narrative album about a conflicted adolescence whose only constant was video games. This beep follows the distinctive start up sound of the original PlayStation, before Ocean takes us on a journey of unrequited love, drug addiction, coming out, religion, Hurricane Katrina, and existential dread.

We might associate the PS1 with Final Fantasy 7, Tekken 3, and Crash Bandicoot, but the truth is we all associate the console with something deeper. The sounds, the look, and the feel of the machine reminds us of the time we were enthralled by the PS1. Channel Orange, bookended by the PS1 start up and the fuzz of a CRT TV switching off, wraps up Ocean's songs in the era and the memories of the PS1.

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Meet Yuusuke Kawai. He is running for governor of Chiba Prefecture and recently appeared on NHK to present his platform. It looks as though he wants Japan to put on a happy face.

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Dotemu has announced a brand new arcade-style brawler starring those Heroes in a Half Shell: the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Produced in conjunction with Nickelodeon, TMNT: Shredder's Revenge is currently in development at Tribute Games (Mercenary Kings) and looks to capture the fun, chaotic gameplay and nostalgic spirit of Konami's legendary 1989 arcade beat 'em up.

The just-released teaser trailer below sees Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael laying waste to The Foot Clan in colorful, old-school, arcade action. Also popping up in the preview are punk rock bad dudes Bebop and Rocksteady, as well as The Shredder himself, no doubt up to one of his nefarious, world-conquering schemes. The new adventure will see the totally tubular foursome kicking shell all over New York City, en route to a climactic showdown deep the mysterious Dimension X.

Dotemu is yet to announce platforms or a release date for TMNT: Shredder's Revenge, but the new title is available for wishlisting on Steam and will be coming to "consoles." For more details, call April O'Neil in on this case, and you better hurry up, there's no time to waste. We need help, like quick, on-the-double. Have pity on this city, man, it's in trouble.

Capcom has become the king of private and public "pre-release" events, so to speak.

They've run a private group for testing out Resident Evil games for years, but they also hold a decent amount of public-facing demos. Resident Evil Village already got one, but if you're getting notifications for another, stop right there. Specifically, for "Early Access Invitations from a "Capcom.com no reply" email.

We've obtained a message directly from Capcom confirming the scam: "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."

Normally we don't pick up on every single phishing scam (there's a lot), but Capcom felt the need to address this publicly as it's become fairly widespread. Consider this your PSA!