Former Bethesda Softworks developer Matthew Picioccio recommends five video games that will hone your computer science skills and get you thinking like a programmer. ...
Valorant’s Prime skin line launched in tandem with the full version of the game back in June of last year, and they’ve remained one of the most popular ever since. No surprises, then, to see that Riot is bringing them back again for the start of the game’s next Act with the Prime 2.0 skin bundle.
They won’t launch until the Act kicks off tomorrow, but we’ve got our first glimpse of them in action today via a new trailer that introduces their design.
The bundle costs 7100 VP (about $70) and features five weapons, as well as the usual gun buddies, cards, and sprays. The weapons are as follows:
Valorant’s senior weapons artist Chris Stone said of the new skin line’s design:
“We want players who own the Prime Vandal to feel like the Prime//2.0 Phantom offers something new but still feels cohesive with their collection as they play. In terms of color, originally in development, Prime//2.0 was rich dark blue, gold, and white, but after looking at it with the team for a while, it didn’t feel premium enough. I ended up going back in to adjust the textures and I’m happy where it landed with black, gold, and white.”
As Pokemon marks its 25th anniversary this year, controversial YouTuber and occasional boxer Logan Paul decided to get in on the action as well. Paul spent big money acquiring several sealed booster boxes of First Edition Base Set cards, but he saved a $1 million dollar Pokemon first edition box for a livestream on February 28.
Within an hour, Paul had already begun pulling several incredibly rare and valuable cards that over 200,000 people tuned in to see. Two holographic Charizards and at least three holographic Chansey cards were pulled, and with Ken Goldin from Goldin Auctions present to do on the spot estimations of each card's worth, the box paid for itself in a short amount of time. "My heart is beating so fast, this is crazy," Paul said around 24 minutes into the stream when he pulled his first Charizard.
Goldin mentioned that he already has a first edition Charizard on auction which is ready to sell for nearly $400,000, although he expects it to reach a closing bid of $500,000 when the bidding ends this week. A Charizard holographic card with a Gen 10 rating would be worth as much as $750,000 at auction. Paul had previously livestreamed himself opening 36 packs of base set Pokemon cards in October last year, and he auctioned each pack off before opening them and donating the proceeds to charity.
Fans of Elden Ring, the joint collaboration between Dark Souls maker FromSoftware and Game of Thrones writer George R. R. Martin, have been desperate for confirmation that the game is still real and will eventually come out. It now sounds like they have an answer: according to a new report by VGC, trailer footage of…
Dream will use the cash to expand its audience following the full launch of its debut title, Royal Match. ...
A string of Elden Ring whispers and a report detailing leaked gameplay footage point to an impending reveal of new information on the under-wraps FromSoftware and George R.R. Martin collaboration.
The industry chatter has served to reassure some fans concerned by the fact they had not heard anything more of the project since its announcement at E3 in June 2019.
Over the weekend, Venturebeat's Jeff Grubb, speaking on the GamesBeat Decides podcast said that fans would not have to wait long for information, and alluded to having seen strong evidence the project was definitely "not vapourware". Shortly after, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier chipped in on Twitter to say there was "strong evidence floating around that the game will be shown relatively soon".
Tell them what you want!
The post Onion Games Survey Asks if Folks Want Chulip and Rule of Rose appeared first on Siliconera.
The next Battlefield game is due out this fall, and to make the most of it – to try and do better than the likable but too often shaky Battlefield V – EA has tapped Criterion to assist DICE and DICE LA. As a result, the new main-series Need for Speed game is coming later than expected – in fiscal year 2023.
The news circulated in a publicly-released letter to EA employees written by chief studios officer Laura Miele. "Criterion is one of the strongest racing studios in the industry, and the work they have accomplished on the next Need for Speed is truly inspired and will breathe new life into one of our most storied brands," Miele said. "We're going to give Criterion the time to reach the game's full promise."
As for what's going on with 2021's Battlefield game, EA has "recently seen the first version of the reveal trailer for Battlefield and it's shaping up to be a truly amazing first look at this groundbreaking game."
"The project is tracking towards the franchise's earliest Alpha, the gameplay is at an unprecedented scale, and we are taking full advantage of the technology in the next-gen consoles," she said.
Stellar Entertainment released Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered last year. Maybe we'll get another Criterion remaster to help tide fans over? It feels like only a matter of time for 2012's Most Wanted to be revived on current platforms.
Writing my fourth book on horror gave me the chance to revisit the entire Resident Evil franchise, and in today's post, I wanted to try and rank them in terms of horror design. ...
Bandai Namco will still sell arcade games in North America, even though it will no longer handles the facilities after March 2021.
The post Bandai Namco Will No Longer Handle Amusement Facilities in America appeared first on Siliconera.
If you love old arcade games and specifically ones made by Capcom, then the Capcom Arcade Stadium is an absolute must-have title. It has titles from multiple genres each with its own detailed control manuals. It’s a fantastic bundle, though a few odd decisions dull the luster of this shiny new release.
But first, let’s break down the logistics. Capcom Arcade Stadium is a carefully curated list of 32 fantastic classic games spread across three packs of downloadable content and two free games — Ghosts ‘n Goblins and 1943. Each pack is $14.99 or you can save about $5 and buy all of them simultaneously for $39.99.
This is certainly a hefty price for someone who doesn’t care a bit about arcade games. But it’s a steal if you’re trying to feed your need for some old-fashioned arcade goodness.
As we’ve seen in past arcade ports on Switch, Capcom Arcade Stadium gives you tons of visual settings to tweak to your liking. Scan lines, portrait mode, landscape mode, a green frame with a cow sitting in the corner, and so many more options are at your fingertips.
And each game will save your personalized settings for that specific game. The only problem is that there is no option to set global settings. If you only play games that display vertically instead of horizontally, then it would be nice to be able to set that as the default. Or better yet, have separate global settings for vertical and horizontal games.
It’s fairly easy to jump into the settings menu for a game and pick your preferred display options, but it also becomes quite tedious when you have to do it over and over again.
After weeks of Nintendo's dominance, PlayStation finally had reason to celebrate. A supply restock - in addition to several store discounts - saw some of Sony's big-hitters shoot back up the UK Charts.
As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, comic-book adventure Spider-Man: Miles Morales saw a 172% rise in sales, climbing from number nine to number two in the Top Ten. Naughty Dog's misery-fest The Last of Us Part II was discounted at a variety of outlets, which saw the award-winning title skyrocket up the charts to make a grand re-entry at number three. FromSoftware's PS5 remake Demon's Souls also returned to the Top 40 at number 21.
GTA Online remains a popular (and incredibly profitable) game seven years after launch, thanks to the steady influx of new content, but one thing Rockstar seems unable to improve is the game's famously long load times. Over the weekend, an enterprising developer called t0st finally discovered why GTA Online takes so long to load - even on machines with fast processors and storage such as the PlayStation 5 and PC - and fixed those issues, reducing his load times by 70 per cent.
The blog written by t0st explaining the issues and fixes is brilliant, complete with excellent MSPaint illustrations, but it's a little hard to follow if you don't have programming experience. I'll try to summarise it as best I can!
So: after struggling through a six minute load for GTA Online on his mid-range PC, t0st opened Task Manager the next time he loaded up the game and noticed something odd: after the one minute mark, his computer's CPU usage spiked up dramatically, but storage and network usage were nearly non-existent. That suggested that the lengthy load times weren't caused by Rockstar's servers or data being read off a drive - instead, something was running on the CPU. Something that required a ton of processing to complete, and only used a single thread.
Attendance to the event will be entirely for free, but viewers will need to purchase tickets to get a sneak peak at the first episode.
The post The World Ends With You Anime First Episode Will Premier at UG Shibuya Fes appeared first on Siliconera.
If you like the Yakuza series but also only own a PS5, then you seem like a strange person. Also, some good news: Yakuza: Like A Dragon releases on PS5 later this week.
The Jujutsu Kaisen anime original soundtrack jacket will feature a special illustration as well.
The post Jujutsu Kaisen Anime OST Will Feature a Total of Sixty Songs appeared first on Siliconera.
Developer Frogwares has put out a succinct statement asking users not to purchase the Steam edition of The Sinking City, which recently returned to the PC retail platform following a period of commotion over the title's licensing issues. According to the Ukrainian studio, the Steam edition of the 2019 mystery horror title was not developed by them, though further details are not yet forthcoming.
The Sinking City - a Lovecraft-inspired period piece of madness and intrigue - was pulled from digital sale by the developer following fallout with publisher Nacon (then Big Ben Interactive). Frogwares filed suit against its publisher over a laundry list of allegations pertaining to ownership rights, marketing promises, and payment delays. In October 2020, a court ruled that Frogwares had acted unlawfully in pulling the title from release. The Sinking City would return to digital storefronts in January 2021, only to be pulled from Steam again in double-quick time.
Over on Steam, users are claiming that the latest re-up of The Sinking City is an old build of the game, and does not include access to DLC, post-release updates, cloud-saves, or achievements. Frogwares insists that it will follow up with more news on the situation "soon." In the meantime, The Sinking City remains available on Steam, the Nintendo eShop, and the PlayStation and Microsoft stores.
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s ongoing hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today’s pick comes from the dawn of the 32-bit era, when makin’ “Virtua Fighter, but with robots” just seemed like a natural thing to do.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (PS5) | $35 | Amazon
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (PS4) | $35 | Amazon
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (Xbox) | $35 | Amazon
Over the last year, I can say with a clear conscience that I never once hoarded toilet paper. But I did stockpile instant Korean noodles, with no thought or care for those who might go without.
The original soundtracks of both NieR games will be released on the same day in Japan.
The post NieR Replicant and Re[in]carnation Soundtracks Will Come Next Month appeared first on Siliconera.
Apex Legends exploded at launch on Twitch, and has since retreated to a respectable top five position or so since then. But each season waxes and wanes, and the recent launch of Season 8 has been a boon for the game.
Amid a launch on Switch, Season 8 has seen the highest concurrent player count on Steam to date. As reported by SteamDB, Apex Legends managed to hit the 196,799 mark on February 27. That's good!
As a bit of background, we now have access to cold hard data for Apex Legends beyond vague Twitch stream views. Apex Legends is still fairly fresh on Steam as it only arrived in November of 2020, so we're now able to quantifiably track the game's progress for the first time in ages.
Season 8 was undeniably a success so far for Respawn, following a few mixed reception choices in the past few years. Fuse (the new character) is a hit in many circles, and the rework of King's Canyon has been a nice change of pace. Live service games are constantly on a razor's edge, but Apex Legends is surviving, and then some.
Apex Legends News [Twitter via SteamDB]
Just to set expectations: this is not happening. There are always things we have in the works, but nothing coming soon that would feature game announcements or world premieres like this. https://t.co/nO868SCbpZ
A fashion contest is currently underway as well. Winners will receive a special illustration of their character.
The post Obtain Super 17’s Outfit in Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 in Upcoming Raid Battle appeared first on Siliconera.
Early in March, Littlewood popped up on my radar, and it hasn't left.
Originally released in August of 2020 on PC, the "peaceful and relaxing RPG" came at the perfect time, and many comparisons to Stardew Valley started to pop up since. Well, it's out on Switch now as of this past week, and will bring that peace to you in portable form.
What really grabbed me is the hook: of starting the game "after the world has already been saved." It's such a great selling point, and it helped suck me in immediately. Over time, I noticed that the pacing is pretty much on point. It's not going to be a replication of Stardew Valley, and I'm sure the developers never wanted that in the first place.
Instead, the "relaxing" bit of the game's description is apt, as everything is very slow-going without being too slow or exploitative, like some modern "building" games are. Give it a shot if you're looking for a new simmy game in your life.
Littlewood [Nintendo]
E3 2021's live event has been cancelled, according to paperwork filed by the Board of Los Angeles Convention and Tourism.
Last month, we heard that E3's organiser the Electonic Software Association (ESA) had plans for a digital-focused show, though a live or hybrid event had not been ruled out.
Now, documentation dug up by ResetEra (thanks, Twinfinite) lists the show as a "cancelled live event", though with a potential license to return in 2022 and 2023.
Hu Tao makes quick work of enemies in the latest Genshin Impact character demonstration video.
The post Watch Hu Tao in Action in Latest Genshin Impact Character Trailer appeared first on Siliconera.
Nintendo and cloud gaming? It's a match made in...well, it's technically a match.
The publisher hasn't shied away from cloud-based games, going as far back as Resident Evil 7 and into the recent past with Control. But speaking to financial outlet Nikkei, it seems like it's all a flight of fancy, not a fully-featured focus.
As Nintendo of Japan president Shuntaro Furukawa notes (as translated by Nintendo Everything): "I’m sure new offerings like cloud gaming and streaming will emerge, but they won’t be a top priority when choosing what game to play. I think the most important things there are the contents of a game as well as the kind of games you can play."
He does, however, concede that Nintendo is "always actively researching technologies that could be the starting point of fun," and that they are still trying to "grow the population of people who play video games" through branching out to technology like smartphones. It's good investor fodder: a president who is open to pivot to the newest gold rush.
Still, the times are changing, and Furukawa admits as much. When asked about the old adage that "there is no relation between how fun a game is and how good the hardware is," Furukawa explains: "That’s something that’s always on my mind. Of course, as the times have changed, some parts of our philosophy must change too."
Ominous and wise! Though if I had to put money on what the next iteration of Nintendo hardware would entail, it would be something akin to a "Super Switch."
This year marks the 35th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda. To celebrate, artist Pikousa reposted an excellent Majora’s Mask she sculpted.