During MegaHobby Special Week 2021 Winter, unpainted prototype figures of Bleach characters Rangiku, Gin, and Ulquiorra appeared.
The post MegaHouse Bleach Rangiku, Ulquiorra, and Gin Figures Revealed appeared first on Siliconera.
I don't tend to keep up with Sony's monthly most-downloaded-games lists for the PlayStation Store, but a few months after the PlayStation 5 launch seems like a good time to check in. What are people actually playing? As someone who has bought only a few PS5 games so far, I was curious to find out.
February 2021's most-downloaded list has a few surprises, though the top-tier is what you'd expect.
US / Canada
1. FIFA 21
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
3. Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales
4. Madden NFL 21
5. NBA 2K21
6. Assassin's Creed Valhalla
7. Mortal Kombat 11
8. Hitman 3
9. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege
10. Demon's Souls
11. Nioh 2 Remastered – The Complete Edition
12. Immortals Fenyx Rising
13. Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood
14. Borderlands 3
15. Godfall
16. Sackboy: A Big Adventure
17. No Man's Sky
18. Watch Dogs: Legion
19. Dirt 5
20. Dead by Daylight: Special Edition
People can get both the Switch and PC versions of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel at the beginning of April 2021.
The post The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV PC Will Appear in April appeared first on Siliconera.
In 2014, FiveThirtyEight published a story by Mona Chalabi titled “Why Women Don’t Cycle,” examining studies that attempted to answer the baffling question of why a gender gap exists among outdoor cycling enthusiasts. The article found a number of wide-ranging answers, including cost, safety, fashion, and convenience.…
Imagine the cover-shooting mechanics of Gears of War combined with four unique superhero classes and an open world layout with up to three player squads - and basically, that's Outriders. Developed by People Can Fly, the demo is enjoying plenty of attention at the moment - allowing players to test out the first chapter, then roll that progress into the full game due early next month. Within this advance sampler, users get a slice of the story, some side-missions, along with a chance to check out some fiery superpowers. All are hugely satisfying in their own right and combat is fast and dynamic, but it's fair to say that the experience varies significantly by the platform. We checked out the game on Xbox One X for a taster of the last-gen experience, then moved on to the new wave of consoles to see what's what - and the results are intriguing.
The key difference between the generations is very simple - frame-rate. It's worth pointing out here that Outriders isn't a straight 'back compat plus' upgrade as far as we can tell, it is definitely a native PlayStation 5 application, but the overall effect looks pretty similar in that a 30fps experience on the last-gen machines has the frame-rate limiter removed, allowing what is effectively the same game to run at up to 60 frames per second. Xbox One X is the most powerful machine of the prior era, and Outriders is certainly an impressive looking experience: Unreal Engine 4's temporal upscaler delivers a 4K output, but native resolution rendering is dynamic - 1728p at the minimum, 1944p on the maximum.
Marvel Studios’ WandaVision is a series that probably never should have worked to begin with. Taking two underdeveloped characters from the world’s most popular film franchise and sticking them in a feature film-like series is a tall order. Forget the budget; what makes a show like WandaVision work is the richness of its characters, and no matter how big or small, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has them in spades. If WandaVision tells us anything, it’s that all of the MCU’s side characters have so much potential.
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn has been killing it for nearly eight years straight. The "Realm Reborn" bit of the moniker was a battle cry, as Square Enix truly allowed this game to be rebuilt from the ground up and live on for many years. It's become a case study and a strategy for many games after it. If your game fails, you can potentially invest in the "Realm Reborn treatment."
But XIV is at the point where it can really stretch its legs and enjoy that success. Which is why they've tried so many different things over the years, including interesting anime ad campaigns. But this new series is definitely aimed at a more western audience, as it hearkens back to those old World of Warcraft commercials that transposed the game into real-life situations.
This trio deals with three jobs: Dark Knight, Black Mage, and Dragoon. The gist is simple, as it tries to sell folks on Final Fantasy XIV using everyday situations like going to the gym, watching TV at home, or picking up a subscription box.
The writing is kind of stale, but they're totally worth the minute or so just to see the elaborate real-life renditions of the in-game jobs. Or you can just admire them in the thumbnails below. The costumes are great!
"By cultivating the next generation of developers, we hope to grow the number of women of color in the technology sector who will ultimately become the future leaders in this space." ...
The new loot shooter Outriders hasn’t even launched yet and players are already hard at work grinding for some of its rarest gear in the game’s recent demo. According to the developers, it’s gotten so out of hand that they need to patch it to make legendary guns harder to farm, before players end up breaking the…
When Seiros: Saint of Legend and Lyn: Ninja-Friend Duo faced off in Fire Emblem Heroes A Hero Rises 2021 event, the ninjas won.
The post Fire Emblem Heroes’ Lyn: Ninja-Friend Duo Wins A Hero Rises 2021 appeared first on Siliconera.
Throughout gaming history, there have been a number of titles announced way too early.
Cyberpunk 2077 was announced in 2012 and released in 2020, though even that was too soon. Kingdom Hearts 3 was announced in 2013 and released six years later, despite being in development for over a decade.
While none of the titles on this list have reached the 6-8 year mark, they are at serious risk of being in development for that long after being announced. Regardless, here are five games that were announced way too early.
Of course if you’re going to talk about games that were announced too early, you have to mention the one that inspired this list to begin with: Elden Ring.
Indie outfit PixelHive has released a new trailer for its '90s-syle platformer Kaze and the Wild Masks, which will come bounding onto PS4, PC, Xbox One, Stadia, and Nintendo Switch on March 26.
The animated preview tells a wordless tale of Kaze's quest, as the brave bunny battles her way through The Crystal Islands of a journey to rescue the soul of her friend Hogo from a malicious curse that is smothering the landscape. In order to combat an army of killer vegetables and traverse numerous perils and hazards, Kaze will call upon the power of several mythic masks, which will imbue her with the powers of animals such as tigers, hawks, reptiles, and sharks. Altered Beast would be very proud indeed.
"Writers' Room" is a well-known technique used in movies, TV, and other productions, but only recently started being applied to games. This post looks at how it can serve video game production. ...
Just recently the Fallout 76 playerbase was collectively amped up to try out some upcoming new changes in the public test server (PTS), but Bethesda put a little damper on that with an update this week.
Here's the full rundown: "We know that some in the community have been eagerly waiting to get hands-on playtesting time with our next Fallout 76 update in the Public Test Server, and we can’t wait for you to dive in, either. We still need some more time to make sure everything is fully implemented, but we’re getting much closer."
Bethesda says that the goal is to open up the PTS again in "mid-March," at which point we'll be able to try out long-awaited features like Daily Ops upgrades, more CAMP slots, and extra SPECIAL loadouts. In short, it's a ton of quality of life features that should make adventuring that much easier.
The reason for this delay is multifaceted, due to the nature of the world this last year, but the "icy curveball" in regards to the weather in Austin, Texas in February was brought up by name. Given that waiting for crucial updates for Fallout 76 is a community staple at this point, I think a little more time is something everyone can deal with.
Inside the Vault [Bethesda.net]
Have a special Necromancer you’ve been farming Diablo II with for years? There’s good news: Diablo II Resurrected will let you import them to continue commanding armies of the dead over 20 years later.
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s ongoing hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re kicking open the vault of weird-ass Final Fantasy spin-offs and unearthing Dirge of Cerberus.
The Evangelion statue will be placed on a Japanese shopping complex located nearby a gigantic Buddha statue in Ibaraki.
The post Evangelion Statue Will Appear Temporarily In Ibaraki, Japan appeared first on Siliconera.
For me, it's hard to believe Monolith Soft is even still around, but I'm glad it is.
Kicking off in 2002 with Xenosaga, the studio felt like a fever dream almost, but they expanded into several other franchises since then, and most notably, made a big name for themselves with Xenoblade Chronicles.
That game, which almost didn't see life outside of Japan, blossomed into a full franchise; almost like Xenosaga 2.0. I don't think they even knew how big it would get, hosting a sequel, an expansion, a remaster with new story content, and now, a Smash Ultimate appearance.
They're celebrating that last milestone this week, as the studio dropped a new "thank you" video showcasing Pyra and Mythra, of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 fame. It's a short little clip that has the duo accepting Smash invitations, with Pyra stating "I'm joining Super Smash Bros. today, I hope you support me," and Mythra exclaiming "I'm definitely not gonna lose."
She hopes we support her? Well, as an anime style character and a sword user, she's going to need that hope!
SmashBrosJP [Twitter]
Coinciding with the launch of Apex Legends on Switch, next week the battle royale is getting another Collection Event with a bunch of new cosmetics, a playlist called Ring Fury, and a Caustic Town Takeover. Yeah, I'm not totally sure I want to check out Caustic's idea of home renovations either.
Starting on 9th March and running until the 23rd, the Chaos Theory Collection Event brings a number of free earnable cosmetics, which largely seem to have an orangey-brown theme. You can earn 1000 points per day, with challenges that refresh daily and additional "stretch challenges" that give out unique badges if completed during the event.
Alongside the free stuff, there's also a bunch of premium skins that you'll have to purchase either with Apex Coins or Crafting Metals - or alternatively, through buying Event Apex Packs. If you really want to buy all 24 of these packs (something that in previous events has totalled over £100), you can unlock the new Bangalore heirloom - but this item will also become available through regular heirloom crafting (via Apex Packs) once the event is over.
Last night, Pokémon Go's Kanto Tour bonuses - designed to make up for the fact the game's ticketed event was available to people who hadn't paid - were released and accidentally also made available to people who hadn't paid.
This latest error was fixed within a couple of hours - the research questline and box of free remote raid passes disappearing for a while in the interim - but not before some players accessing it for free in Australia and New Zealand had claimed the bonuses already.
Writing on top fan reddit TheSilphRoad, some fans expressed exasperation at this latest slip-up - while others simply found it hilarious.
Nippon Ichi Software (NIS) has announced the launching of a new retro range. Prinny Presents NIS Classics will tag-up titles from the NIS archives for release on modern platforms. The first volume launches on PC and Nintendo Switch this summer and will feature Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle Remastered and Soul Nomad & The World Eaters. As for what Prinny themselves brings to the party... I'm not too sure.
Originally released on Sony PSP in 2010, Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle is itself a remastered edition of the 2004 PS2 release Phantom Brave. The story follows the adventures of a young orphan girl and her ghostly guardian as they strive to protect their beautiful world from the wrath of a returning demon. The Prinny Presents edition of Phantom Brave is expected to be the same release that arrived on Steam back in 2016.
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 strange map, a reminder of arcade brilliance, falling blocks, and a trip to the Hoenn region.
I've recently spent a lot of time in my local town for some reason and found there's something rather comforting about getting to know an area very well. The routes I can walk down with my eyes closed, the same faces at the same times, all walking the same dogs. A friend of mine and I recently started sending each other obscurely-angled phone snaps of somewhere in town for the other to guess. Usually we're able to. We make our own fun.
There's something of that to Carto, too, the brilliant top-down adventure game whose map you construct yourself. I started playing it on Xbox Game Pass this week, though it's available from other good platform stores also. About an hour in, finding myself hooked and unexpectedly engrossed in its story, I sat back and looked at the world map I'd created so far. The handful of tiles I'd been given made up a tiny space - I'd barely gone anywhere! - but I had swapped and rearranged and watched as new tiles appeared as if made out of hidden origami. And I knew each of those map tiles in detail.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Pokémon Trading Card Game. What better way to celebrate that than sticking Professor Willow from Pokémon Go in it?
You can import Diablo 2 save files into Diablo 2: Resurrected on PC, Blizzard has confirmed.
Speaking to IGN, Diablo 2: Resurrected producer Matthew Cederquist said: "Yes! Keep your old save files.
"Back when we were working on [the remaster], we wondered if the old save files would work, so we kind of shoved it in, and it worked! So yes, your local single-player save files will carry over.
This month, the Nintendo Switch turns four years old. In that time, we’ve spent countless hours solving Shrines with Link in Breath of the Wild, collecting moons with Mario in Odyssey, and embarked on the epic quest to catch ’em all a couple of times with Pokemon Let’s Go and Sword and Shield.
Certainly, we’ve had a lot of top-tier games from Nintendo’s biggest and best franchises, and there are many more first and third-party titles that have ensured the Switch didn’t meet the same ill-fate as its predecessor.
To that extent, Nintendo has succeeded. The Switch has seen a huge resurgence in the brand and set a new, positive tone for the company moving forward.
Indeed, despite a quiet 2020, the Switch’s hot streak has continued; it’s best-selling console in the US for over two years at this point, even in the wake of the Sony and Microsoft’s next-generation consoles’ launch late last year.
Now, Nintendo Switch Pro rumors are rife around the internet, suggesting the big N will release a superpowered Switch to keep pace with its competition sometime later this year.
The performance bump is reportedly only minor, but the big storyline is that it’s to feature a larger, more colorful and punchy 7-inch Samsung display on the Switch itself. Importantly, in docked mode it will output to your 4K, bringing the console’s resolution in line with modern standards (though it’s unclear whether that’ll be native 4K or an upscaled image).
The compilation of opening movies from Tales of Phantasia to Tales of Berseria will be available this December.
The post Tales Of Series Opening Movies Will Be Compiled In a Blu-ray Disc appeared first on Siliconera.
When I got the chance to sit in with a few of the producers of Diablo II Resurrected, one of the first things that was asked was how the team was going to avoid the sins of Warcraft III Reforged. Much like the original Warcraft III, Diablo II has a huge legacy to uphold, so it was an important thing to get out of the way first.
Although they ducked the direct Reforged comparisons, they explained that this was not only going to be the same Diablo II, fundamentally, underneath the skin; but it was also not going to replace the original in any way. That's a huge deal, in the sense that the original game isn't getting overwritten or erased.
Going even further, the new re-release will evidently allow players to import their old save files. Yes, those old ones, the save files you likely abandoned years ago. Speaking to IGN Middle East, producer Matthew Cederquist confirms that they will work, and to "keep" your old saves.
Explaining the process, Cederquist says it was basically a fluke: "back when we were working on [Resurrected], we wondered if the old save files would work and we kind of shoved it in and it worked! And we were like, ‘okay, that’s the best feature ever."
It...kind of is? So far so good, at least. This seems like the polar opposite of how Reforged was handled, and hopefully it'll launch when it's ready. With a multiplayer stress test alpha on the way sometime this year, things are looking up in terms of them getting a handle on login issues early.
