Today’s issue of Weekly Famitsu included a spread on the upcoming JRPG The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki by Nihon Falcom.

We get to take another look at the two protagonists, and at artwork showcasing the city where the story starts in the Republic of Calvard.

Then we take an extensive look at the battle system, which can be freely switched between action and turns.

As you move in the field, you can accelerate with R1 and target enemies with R3. You can also completely avoid battles if you so wish. On the other hand, you can close the distance and attack, but of course the enemies will also notice you and try to attack you in return.

Once battle begins, you can attack enemies repeatedly in real-time by pressing the attack button (circle) . If you have a party, you can switch active character whenever you want, and you can change to turn-based battles freely at the press of a button according to your preference.

Incidentally, the main hero wields a sword that can release a shockwave upon hitting, possibly stunning enemies.

The X button lets you evade attacks. The hero does so by backflipping, while the heroine can sidestep. You can also disengage your targeting and run away, leaving the battle at any time.

If you switch to turn-based, it works with command selection as usual, but the character whose turn is to act can still move freely in the battle area.

The effective range of arts has been tweaked and it’s now important to exploit weakness to certain attributes and keeping the range in mind when using them.

Other available commands are “defense,” which reduces received damage, and “BOOST.” S-Break also makes a comeback, when the conditions are met.

Song in the Smoke is a new VR title by 17bit, the team behind Galak-Z and Skulls of the Shogun. The game tosses players into the wilderness to fend for themselves, and given that this is all in VR, it aims to offer a more immersive take on classic survival for gamers to enjoy. 

Survival aficionados will have a good idea of what to expect. Players must manage their food and water intake to survive as well as build campsites in safe areas to stay warm and out of harm’s way. Crafting tools, clothing, potions, and weapons becomes key to lasting another day, especially against the aggressive wildlife. Song in the Smoke seems unforgiving, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be pensive moments of beauty as players take a moment to admire the scenic environments. 

Developer 17-Bit reveals next game for PSVR, Oculus Rift and Quest

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Games Japan Studio worked on, like Astro Bot: Rescue Mission, Bloodborne, and the original Knack, are on sale at the PlayStation Store.

The post PlayStation Store Discounts Japan Studio Games Like Bloodborne and Knack appeared first on Siliconera.

Doom 3: VR Edition

Song in the Smoke

Fracked

Magic: Legends is an isometric dungeon-crawler that takes a healthy bit of influence from Diablo, so as you might expect, its difficulty settings will work a lot like Blizzard's series. Cryptic Studios outlined how the difficulty and modifiers will work, ahead of its upcoming open beta on PC.

As detailed on the Magic Legends blog, the game has four base difficulty levels: Normal, Hard, Expert, and Master. You'll start on Normal and unlock the others through gameplay milestones. You can take on Hard as soon as you finish the tutorial, and you can then increase it to Expert and Master once you've reached level 30. And of course, higher difficulty levels will sport better loot.

In addition to the base difficulty levels, each region in the game will have its own regional enchantment available on any difficulty above Normal. You can toggle these enchantments off on Hard mode, but on Expert and Master they'll always apply. Cryptic outlined the regional enchantments that will be available in the open beta, which includes factors like enemies exploding after death, or taking extra damage based on how short you are on mana.

There are also world enchantments, which function as gameplay modifiers activated with single-use consumables. You'll have to craft these through earned materials, and each world enchantment comes with three tiers that increase the difficulty. The studio outlined the world enchantments that will be active in the open beta as well, which include magical spheres that help your enemies or the inability to heal outside of combat.

Justice for the birds!

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AMD has announced its mainstream RDNA 2-powered GPU, with the Radeon RX 6700 XT set to launch on March 18.

This is the most affordable GPU in the 6000 series yet, with specs that target 1440p for maximum performance. This pits it against Nvidia's RTX 3070 and less powerful RTX 3060 Ti, with AMD nestling in between the two with its $479 MSRP. Of course, if the past few months have been any indication, that figure might not count for anything, considering the inflation of GPU pricing due to stock shortages.

If you can snag one at release for anywhere close to the recommend price, AMD is promising performance on par and, in some cases, exceeding that of the RTX 3070. In its internal benchmarks, AMD has the RX 6700 XT beating its Nvidia rival in many modern titles. What isn't as clear in the image is that the benchmarks are making use of AMD's Smart Access Memory boost for increased performance, a feature which Nvidia hasn't yet rolled out to the RTX 3070.

Don't let your dreams be dreams, kids, because Dead by Daylight's new killer is a K-Pop star with a serious grudge. Be that musically-included murderer you've always wanted to be with the newly announced Trickster killer. 

Revealed exclusively via IGN, the newest chapter on the way for Dead by Daylight fans is called All-Kill and its setting centers around a K-pop star that is overcome with jealousy. He wants to be front and center and he's not above murdering his fellow bandmates to get to where he wants to be. 

Is this a very different direction for the game, especially following the Silent Hill chapter? Absolutely. Is it kind of neat they went this far left field? You betcha! Part of what keeps this game alive is every chapter is different. Some chapters bring in iconic faces from the archives of horror legends, while others — like this — show off the more adventurous side of the team. 

We've got a small look at what's ahead with the teaser trailer seen below: 

Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War and a Vankyo mini projector lead Wednesday’s best deals.

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AMD has unveiled its latest desktop graphics card, the RX 6700 XT. The new card, which sits beneath the RX 6800 and 6800 XT in the company's stack, is designed for 1440p gaming at 60fps with high settings throughout. This kind of performance pits the RX 6700 XT against the $399 RTX 3060 Ti and $499 RTX 3070, as does the price point of $479. (We checked with AMD, and no UK or EU pricing has yet been announced.) AMD is primarily targeting gamers on 10-series GTX or AMD RX 500-series graphics cards, who can expect around a doubling of performance when shifting to the RX 6700 XT if AMD's figures are to be believed.

This is a 40 compute unit design, meaning this card has half the CUs of the flagship RX 6900 XT, but the card is driven at a higher frequency. Looking at the rest of the specs, the new graphics card has a smaller Infinity Cache than its bigger Big Navi predecessors, with 96MB here compared to 128MB on the other cards; likewise the total VRAM count here is 12GB versus 16GB. This is due to the 192-bit bus; each 32-bit channel of that bus that access 1 or 2GB of memory, so AMD could only realistically choose between 6GB and 12GB with this design.

Given the target on 1440p gaming, I think the 12GB allocation makes sense - and provides a marketing win over Nvidia, whose 3060 Ti and 3070 ship with only 8GB of RAM. AMD highlighted a few games that require over 8GB at 1440p max settings, so it'll be interesting to see whether the RAM advantage is impactful once we begin benchmarking!

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Madden NFL 22 will have a better Franchise mode than its predecessor, or that's at least what EA Sports is aiming to achieve with this year's game. The promise came from executive producer Seann Graddy, who also spoke about the final update to Madden NFL 21's Franchise mode, which is launching this week with a number of notable changes. It's a mode that wasn't particularly well-received.

For Madden NFL 22, Graddy said in a blog post, "In Madden 22, work is well underway. We're collecting input from a number of resources to ensure that we deliver a Franchise experience that our fans want. This includes feedback from you, the community; [and] of course our Game Changers, and the many passionate Franchise fans that work on the development team."

"The Franchise community continues to be incredibly important to us. On behalf of the entire Madden NFL team, we can't wait to share with you what we're working on for Madden NFL 22, so please, stay tuned," he added.

Who will become the first Vikings of Legend?

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A new round of FFVII Remake Intergrade screenshots look at the new Photo Mode and Yuffie episode.

The post FFVII Remake Intergrade Screenshots Also Look at Yuffie’s Episode appeared first on Siliconera.

We live in an age where you can easily download the entire NES library, fire up an emulator, and spend five minutes with one game before getting bored. The internet never forgets, which is fortunate since there should be nothing ephemeral about a video game’s availability. If I wanted to go back and play something stupid and obscure like Classic Concentration, then I should be able to and you shouldn't be able to stop me.

While I know there are less-than-legal options that would allow me to do this, I’ve always preferred to go about things on the up-and-up. I’ve got walls of cartridges rather than a couple ROM folders, and sure, I’ll pay to have Leisure Suit Larry in my library. It’s comforting to know that my money will go to continued-ish support for the game. Best case scenario will be someone takes the time to convert it to widescreen and give it native Windows support, but maybe the effort isn’t worth it for something no one remembers, like Blake Stone. But, I mean, at least you can still buy Blake Stone! And you should!

The following is a list of games that have not received a re-release. Even GOG, the bastion for old games of yore, doesn’t feature these titles. They’re not completely unobtainable for someone determined enough, but they really should be available for everyone.

With the arrival of the new wave of consoles, we didn't have the time to fully check out Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered when it launched, but the Criterion masterpiece is especially deserving of our focus now as support has been added for the nex-gen consoles, opening the door to a 4K experience running at 60 frames per second. More than that, in the wake of the news that Criterion's new Need for Speed title has been delayed, it's also an opportunity to reflect on an astonishing run of iconic racing games from the Guildford-based developer.

It's something I was discussing with John Linneman recently: what exactly is peak Criterion? Some might say it's Need for Speed Hot Pursuit - a game that radically rebooted the franchise, bringing over the best of Burnout but respecting the core DNA of what made the original NFS titles so great. And then there was Autolog, of course, a remarkably successful attempt to meld social networking into a video game. But despite some remarkable coding resulting in input latency that matched or even beat some 60fps games, Hot Pursuit was a 30fps title in an era where 60fps was Criterion's hallmark. So maybe it's actually Burnout Paradise that's peak Criterion? But what about the incredible Burnout 3: Takedown? Or maybe the purist's favourite, Burnout 2: Point of Impact?

It's been a long road for Madden NFL 21's franchise mode. On the heels of a community campaign to "#FixMaddenFranchise" when it was revealed that the latest edition of the game featured franchise changes that read more like patch notes than upgrades worthy of a new game, EA Tiburon unveiled a long-term vision for the series' franchise mode.

Now, following previous updates that added things like smarter CPU trade logic, playoff brackets, revamped player-stats cards, and additional commissioner tools, EA Tiburon and EA Sports have announced the final franchise update to Madden NFL 21's franchise mode. This latest update delivers on the promise EA Tiburon made to go further down the CPU trade logic and evaluations path, while also adding additional historical context to your league.

Xbox Game Pass is adding six new titles to the rotating library later this month and going into April, and the latest additions are especially great for sports fans. The Game Pass offerings change every single month, rotating older titles for new entries, allowing for new play experiences

The latest lineup is unusually themed, sticking heavily to sports games with the exception of Star Wars: Squadrons (though, that's racing, so if you squint your eyes...). For the full lineup of what's coming next, here's what Xbox had to share: 

The cycle of Game Pass continues unabated. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will depart Microsoft’s games-on-demand service on March 15.

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i had zero expectations of @Outriders (largely bc the marketing to date had left w me no clear sense of the game’s identity or style) but damn did the demo get its hooks into me.

Seemingly out of nowhere this morning, a new article dropped on the PlayStation Blog revealing a brand-new(ish) game for PSVR. The VR version of the 2004 horror first-person shooter, Doom 3, will be playable in its entirety on March 29.

That means this package will also include the Resurrection of Evil and The Lost Missions expansions in full VR.

Associate Content Manager at Bethesda Softworks, Parker Wilhelm, went into more detail on what will be included in this VR version of Doom 3.

Uncover the secrets of the UAC’s unholy experiments, encounter uncanny monstrosities in claustrophobic environments, and wield an arsenal of iconic (and even otherworldly) weaponry with new textures, shaders and sound effects as you survive against the forces of Hell across over 15 hours of heart-stopping action.

So far, it seems like the only visual upgrades will be to the weapon textures. And that makes sense since your guns will be the closest objects to your eyes throughout the game.

Wilhelm also went into detail on how VR will change Doom 3.

Feel even closer to the terror with all-new VR enhancements that allow you to peer around corners, angling your shots with flashlight-mounted weapons using motion controls, 180-degree quick-turn functionality to catch demons sneaking up from behind and an immersive wrist-mounted display to track your health, armor and ammo.

He also briefly mentions that you can use the aim controller to play Doom 3 VR, but there’s no indication if that’s the only option you have.

Well, I hope you like sports. This month's Xbox Game Pass additions are headlined by Football Manager 2021 on PC and console, which will join Microsoft's subscription library tomorrow, on 4th March.

NBA 2K21 for console and on Android via xCloud also becomes available tomorrow, while Madden NFL 21 is available now via EA Play (which is included on console if you are an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriber).

EA Play also gets Star Wars Squadrons at some point this month - that's Motive Studios' spaceship dogfighting game which launched in October last year. Emma wrote that it was a "scrappy, compelling starfighter that excels in VR" in Eurogamer's Star Wars Squadrons review.

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Rip and tear, virtual reality fans, because Sony has just announced that Doom 3 VR is on the way for PSVR players. What's more terrifying than a usual trip to Mars to fight for your life? Taking a trip to Mars to fight for your life in VR. 

In a recent PlayStation Blog post, Bethesda's associate content manager Parker Wilhelm detailed what players can expect with Doom 3: VR Edition when it arrives on March 29. The title itself arrives later this month for PlayStation 4 players with a backwards compatible version for those that own a PS5. 

Doom 3: VR Edition comes with a completely revamped base game, both the Resurrection of Evil and The Lost Mission expansions, and a completely retooled experience specifically made with VR in mind. For those that have played the original, remember all of those itty bitty claustrophobic areas? Yeah, now you can feel like you're there in real life with VR, and Bethesda promises that it will be amazing. 

Square Enix has partnered with Polish studio Forever Entertainment to remake some of its catalog titles. ...

Four students from Three Houses are on the way!

The post Fire Emblem Heroes Banner With Marianne and Dedue Revealed appeared first on Siliconera.

Doom 3 VR Edition will launch for PlayStation VR on 29th March, Bethesda has announced.

This VR-enhanced version will contain the 2004 first-person shooter and its expansions Resurrection of Evil and The Lost Mission, enhanced with new textures, sound effects and virtual reality features.

The game makes use of the system's Aim controller for its motion-controlled flashlight-mounted weapons. You'll also use it to check your handy wrist-mounted display.

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Anker Nano Charger | $15 | Amazon | Clip Coupon

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Rare, in-season Game Pass appearance of a current sports video game

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Don’t Breathe director Fede Álvarez is behind the experimental series

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Make sure you fill up your Character Showcase for the Genshin Impact Vishaps and Where to Find Them event.

The post Genshin Impact Vishaps and Where to Find Them Lets You Borrow Allies appeared first on Siliconera.

Here's one for all you retro fans. Ziggernaut Interactive, in collaboration with 612Games, has secured the rights to 15 classic arcade games from old-school developer Data East. The first eight of these titles are now available to purchase on PC, under the new "Retro Classix" banner.

2064: Read Only Memories might have my favourite opening of any game ever. I'm thinking specifically about the bit you can play in a demo on Steam. You're a writer, sat in your tiny apartment, procrastinating about writing a review of some fancy new headphones. You manage to power through the review and go to sleep after flicking eyes across the local news, and then you wake up in the middle of the night when a polite robot breaks in and tidies up.

2064 is the work of MidBoss, a studio based in Berkeley, California, and which specialises in games with a LGBTQIA+ focus and a strong sense of diversity and inclusivity. The game is an adventure affair set in a future poised on the brink of three singularities, and in the opening ten minutes there's a brilliant joke about being a writer and an excellent discussion of Asimov's laws of robotics. I've spent the morning playing the demo for Read Only Memories: Neurodiver, the studio's follow-up. It's every bit as good as 2064. It might be love.

The Neurodiver in question is a genetically-engineered lifeform that allows Espers to move through other people's memories. In the demo, which is short but filled with details and conversations and possibilities, it allows you to travel back in time to a client's missing memories of a long-ago bar transaction that may or may not have gone awry.

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As a young girl in the small town of Cromwell, Connecticut, all Andraya Yearwood wanted to do was run. Born into a family that prized athleticism, she dabbled in soccer, basketball, football, and dance as a child. But one day in the sixth grade, she saw older students running around the track oval, and she was hooked.…

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Fans will have to wait a bit longer for Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires, the revamped version of the latest entry in the franchise, as an announcement from the game’s developer Omega Force shows.

In a statement posted to Twitter by the official Koei Tecmo America Twitter account on Mar. 3, it was revealed that the game would not be releasing in its previously announced launch window.

“Although Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires was initially announced as an early 2021 title, the team is still working hard on delivering the best game possible so we wanted to let our fans know the current situation and will announce the new launch window in future updates,” the statement reads. “We apologize for the delay and appreciate your continued support.”

The announcement also came with a preview of the game’s opening movie via a screenshot. The shot features three key characters of the game standing together, though what they’re doing together and what they’re about to do is unclear.

The image, and the full statement from Koei Tecmo America, can be viewed down below.

We will have to wait a bit longer until we can enjoy the new Dynasty Warriors game with robust character customizations.

The post Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires Delayed Past Early 2021 appeared first on Siliconera.