The event will take place on Jan. 16

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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's next DLC fighter, Sephiroth, officially releases tomorrow (although you can unlock the One-Winged Angel early right now), but that's not all that's arriving this week. Nintendo has announced it is also rolling out another update for the Switch fighting game on December 22.

The company hasn't shared any details about the version 10.1 update, other than it will "include fighter adjustments." Ahead of the update, you'll need to convert any replay data by going into the game's Vault menu, as it will become incompatible once you've installed the patch.

Calico encourages the dream of running a cat cafe and frolicking with animals in a magical world, but doesn't deliver what it promises yet.

The post Calico Won’t Scratch Your Cat Cafe Itch (Yet) appeared first on Siliconera.

I personally promise you that every spider in this video has been censored

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It’s Monday and time for Ask Kotaku, the weekly feature in which Kotaku-ites deliberate on a single burning question. Then, we ask your take.

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From its roots with the constantly narrated storybook experience in Bastion to the futuristic experimentation in Transistor and the wild world of sports with Pyre, Supergiant Games doesn’t attempt to catch the same lightning in a bottle twice. With Hades, the lightning is a veritable superstorm of epic proportions, a roguelike hack-and-slash that transcends the genre with story, style, and speed. Tapping into Greek myth for inspiration, the tale of Zagreus and his escape from the bowels of Hades takes place over many attempts. But this isn’t a game solely for lovers of procedurally generated dungeon rooms, random powerups, and discovering overpowered combinations of weapons and abilities. If one word can convey what makes Hades one of the best games of 2020, it’s cohesion.

Here are contributing editor Bryant Francis' top 10 games of 2020. ...

Queenpins, Command, and Railjack

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It's no secret that playing Cyberpunk 2077, particularly on last-gen systems, can be messy, so imagining the game playing on Nintendo Switch sounds implausible. But a Nintendo enthusiast has found a way to get the open-world RPG running on Nintendo's console-handheld hybrid--and the process involves hacking the system to access Stadia.

YouTuber Nintendrew uploaded a video to his channel demonstrating how he got Cyberpunk 2077 to play on his hacked Nintendo Switch. He discusses the game's performance, which seems to run steadily at 720p when undocked and 1080p when connected to a TV, and how Stadia allows users to stream Cyberpunk 2077 to the system. There are a few required tools, like a Stadia account and payload injector, but Cyberpunk 2077 is apparently fully playable on Switch after downloading and installing a version of Google's Android operating system.

Once Android is installed, Switch players can download the Stadia app from the Play Store and start streaming Cyberpunk 2077. Both Joy-Con and Pro controllers are compatible with Cyberpunk 2077, with controller mapping being identical to its Xbox console inputs. And of course, once Stadia is installed on Nintendo Switch, a bunch of other AAA, non-Switch games--such as Destiny 2 and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order--can be streamed to the system as well. It's worth noting that while Stadia isn't directly available on Switch, Nintendo has released a few titles through the cloud, including Remedy's Control and IO Interactive's Hitman 3.

Get ready to spend your holiday break seeing everything the Stardew Valley 1.5 PC update has to offer. Beachfront property and split-screen local co-op await!

The post Stardew Valley 1.5 PC Update Is Already Here appeared first on Siliconera.

2021 is just around the corner, and Pokemon Go developer Niantic has now detailed the game's first Community Day of the new year. The event will take place on January 16, and the featured monster this time around will be the Fighting-type Pokemon Machop.

Throughout the event, Machop will appear in the wild much more frequently than usual, and you'll have a chance to encounter a Shiny Machop. The Fighting Pokemon will also be able to learn an event-exclusive move. If you can evolve Machoke (Machop's evolved form) into Machamp up to two hours after January's Community Day ends, it will know the Dark-type attack Payback.

With Pokemon GO gearing up for the Tour Kanto in a few months, it’s time for trainers to get ready.

With this giveaway, you have a chance of winning one of ten promo codes that will grant you an item bundle in Niantic’s popular mobile game

Here’s what each code (which must be redeemed before the end of 2020) grants:

• 1x Poffin
• 5x incense
• 3x Incubators
• 4x lucky eggs
• 5x Max revives
• 2x Star Pieces

The way to get involved is really, really easy.

All you have to do is comment on our articles, everywhere on the site. The more you comment, the better your chances. We want to hear your opinions and insight, and there is no better way for that to happen than sharing your comments with us.

An important caveat is that comments on this post are not eligible for the giveaway. Of course, you’re welcome to comment here, but in order to participate, you need to comment at least on one other article.

On December 17, at 11:59 pm EST we’ll randomly select ten comments made after this post has been published, and the authors of those comments will win one of the codes mentioned above. You can find detailed redemption instructions here.

Of course, spam comments and throwaway one-liners will be disqualified, as we’d like to promote interesting commentary and conversations among our readers.

Stardew Valley added a whole new island to explore with update 1.5 on PC, and it's surprisingly fleshed-out. There's a lot to it! If you're looking for a straight-to-the-point starter guide, here goes nothing.

To reach the island, you'll need to complete the Community Center bundles (or the equivalent JojaMart questline), which means there's a ton of setup if you're starting a new save file for 1.5.

When you're done with your Community Center or Joja goal, Willy will mail you a letter saying he has unlocked the back room in the Fish Shop. Inside, you'll find a decades-old boat in need of repairs.

[Note: I'm not sure if there are any other requirements before Willy sends the letter, but I happened to have a save file with an almost-finished Community Center. Preparing the final bundles did the trick. On this particular file, I didn't catch every type of fish, so thankfully that's not a prerequisite for the boat.]

To fix the boat, you'll need to bring:

IGN's Game of the Year 2020: Hades

Hades is a one-of-a-kind rogue-lite that sets the bar for creatively combining wildly different genres and using their strengths to complement each other in unexpected ways. Satisfying, twitch-based combat combined with the Rogue-lite potential of breaking the game through a lucky pull of boons and power-ups leave you feeling like a god. Above all that, though is how Hades ties narrative progression to its gameplay loop. Failed runs, player choice, and built up relationships are authored moments that feel unique to your playthrough in a way that no game before it has even attempted to come close.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/09/17/hades-review"]

Hades was also our pick for the best action game of the year! Check out the Supergiant dev team's reaction to winning below, or more, check out our full Hades review here.

Beach farming, swimming ducks, and an entirely new island

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Whether it's welcome additions to navigation in next-gen consoles or impressive suites of accessibility options in AAA video games, improvements in video game and hardware accessibility have been particularly evident in 2020.

This is our winner for the most noteworthy advancement in accessibility this year.

Winner: The Last of Us Part 2

The panel of judges who voted in this category are Steve Saylor, Courtney Craven, Grant Stoner, Ian Hamilton, Stacey Jenkins, and Greg Haynes. Check out their work at Can I Play That? and Blind Gamer with Steve Saylor. 

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Stardew Valley’s long-waited version 1.5—the game’s biggest update yet—is available to download now for PC. The update will be coming to consoles and mobile in early 2021.

This update adds significant content to the popular farming simulation game, including “late game” additions.

We’ll share a few of the new Stardew Valley content here in a spoiler-free way, as outlined by developer ConcernedApe’s latest blog post, as well as a link to the full changelog.

First, there are additional options available if you are starting a new game. Most notably, there’s a new farm option called “Beach Farm” that is good for fishing and foraging with a chance for rare supply crate to wash up on shore

For new games, there are also now advanced options that you can set to do things like randomize community center bundles for a harder playthrough.

The next big addition is the inclusion of splitscreen co-op. You could previously share a farm with other players online, but now you’ll be able to share one locally.

ConcernedApe also shared in his blog post a list of spoiler-free additions you can expect in this update:

From the return of a cult favorite Mario series and some exceptional indie action, 2020 has been a great year for Switch owners.

One game, however, became a legitimate social phenomenon – this is our pick for the best Nintendo console exclusive* of 2020.

Winner: Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Not only was it exactly the kind of game everyone needed at the onset of an isolating pandemic, Animal Crossing: New Horizons took the laid back and comfortable town building simulator to the next degree with a level of customization unlike any that had come before it. New Horizons allowed players to shape their island getaway down to every last square inch, whether you wanted a bustling town filled with hand-crafted roads and parks, or a laid back island paradise full of waterfalls and bamboo forests.

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The new crafting and customization system let players not only decorate their dream house, but also welcome new villager friends to perfectly placed homes with as dazzling a front yard as you could dream up. And even though time spent at the airport will never not be a hassle, New Horizons' ability to accommodate groups of players made for the perfect showcase of your hard work of making the perfect island community.

Winner: Call of the Sea

Call of the Sea harkens back to mystery tales of old, telling the story of a mysterious island, a missing husband, a cursed disease, and a woman on a quest to connect them all together. Not only is the tale compelling from start to finish, Call of the Sea's logic puzzles are JUST tough enough to solve without beating your head against a wall, but still feel immensely satisfying – at the end of most of them, you feel like a bonafide genius, but it's all in the game's sly design. By the time you've finished this compact (but compelling) journey, you'll just want to start it all over again, hoping something of its ilk comes to fill the void before the black ooze takes over.

Call of the Sea also won IGN's People's Choice for the best Xbox console-exclusive game of the year! For more, check out our full Call of the Sea review here!

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/21/call-of-the-sea-team-reacts-to-xbox-game-of-the-year-win"]

From strategy to VR and even a highly-detailed flight simulator, there was a wide range to choose from on PC this year.

We saw a diverse crop on PC this year, but one stood head(set) and shoulders above the rest. This is our pick for the Best PC-Exclusive Game of 2020.

Half-Life Alyx

Despite hopeful trends and breakthrough products like the Oculus Quest 2 bringing down the price-point, VR remains a “sometimes food” for most gamers. To us, that makes what the Half-Life: Alyx team did even more impressive. Beyond being a stellar gaming experience, Alyx represents a vote in the future of Virtual Reality on the PC, and a high watermark for the form. We can only hope that more exciting, engaging, terrifying games like Alyx make their way to PC in the near future, and likewise that the player base for such experiences continues to broaden. Alyx is one of the rare VR games that stands on its own as a great game, regardless of immersion level. It’s not an exercise in new tech, it’s a masterclass in game design, and demands the most from our PCs. With beautiful environments and models, top-tier voice-acting and crisp gameplay mechanics all rendered in the virtual space, Alyx deserves all the credit for pushing our PCs to perform new and astounding tricks for our amusement.

Netflix revealed the Beastars season 2 opening, so sit back and watch Legoshi and Haru while YOASOBI’s “Kaibutsu" plays.

The post Beastars Season 2 Opening Focuses on Legoshi and Haru appeared first on Siliconera.

VR always brings a different experience to the table with the realism of playing games in a 3D environment, and the lineup this year is nothing short of jaw-dropping.

From fighting among the stars to in-your-face survival horror and even being the Marvel star himself, there were some great VR games in 2020 - but only one could be the best.

Half-Life: Alyx

Half-Life: Alyx feels, in many ways, like a state-of-VR demonstration. It took what shined about physics-based combat engines like Boneworks, the stellar storytelling and atmospheric abilities of the Valve creative team, and the learnings of countless VR experiments in traversal and engagement and seamed it all together into what feels like the most complete and truly AAA VR gaming experience to date. Terror, tension, humor, scale, spectacle, character – Alyx has all the hallmarks of a full-on interactive experience, with a combat system that feels challenging but fair and a variety of play styles required to persevere through each memorable segment. Very little in the VR realm has felt as satisfying as smoothly reloading a weapon in this game. Alyx’s wild ride through this dystopian future not only gave us a solid Half-Life game, it put real energy behind pushing VR technology forward in a way that only an outfit with the resources and pedigree of Valve can muster.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/23/the-first-17-minutes-of-half-life-alyx"]

For more, check out our full Half-Life: Alyx review!

See Half-Life: Alyx on Steam

Whether reliving classic adventures or exploring bold new landscapes, it's been a great year for PlayStation fans.

From long-anticipated game releases and the launch of the PS5, this is our pick for the best PlayStation exclusive of 2020.

Winner: The Last of Us Part 2

Debuting early in a year of fantastic PlayStation exclusives, The Last of Us Part II remains a standout blend of rich storytelling and insanely satisfying gameplay. The level of polish here is incredible; every frame of every cutscene and each gameplay encounter have been so meticulously crafted that it's impossible not to appreciate the level of care put in by Naughty Dog. From the small-but-important details - like the near-flawless blending of character animations – to the marvelously open-ended stealth and combat encounters, to its brilliant story that constantly forces characters to reckon with the consequences of their actions, every moment of this long-awaited sequel is striking. The Last of Us Part II is easily one of the best games the PS4 has to offer – not just of 2020, but of the entire generation.

The Last of Us Part 2 was also IGN's People's Choice pick for this year's best PlayStation exclusive! Listen to Neil Druckmann's reation to winning, and for more, check out our full Last of Us 2 review here!

Stardew Valley isn't a game that receives updates often, but when it does, they add big chunks of new content and significant quality-of-life improvements to the popular farming simulation. Today, the Stardew Valley's 1.5 update was released on PC, and developer Eric Barone (a.k.a. ConceredApe) has let players know what to expect from the changes. 

The Stardew Valley 1.5 Update is out now on PC! pic.twitter.com/DJ8gUYR614

— ConcernedApe (@ConcernedApe) December 21, 2020

Remember earlier this year when more end-game material was teased (including a mysterious door in Willy's shop)? That's presumably in the game now, as well as a host of other major and minor additions. Barone runs through the spoiler-free features in a blog post,  which include a new type of farm (a beach!), advanced game options, and new hairstyles.

Even challenging movies offered viewers a warm hug this year

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Cyberpunk 2077 has a weirdly specific character creation tool that I may or may not have spent far too much time in, but once you make your V? That's your V for the entire game unless you're willing to start from scratch. While there's no official way to go back and make any changes post-creation, this Cyberpunk 2077 mod allows players to play around with different hairstyles to perfect that personal touch. 

This week's Mod Corner is centered on this particular mod because I was looking for something just like this over the weekend. A friend was playing and really didn't like her pigtailed V, so we took to Nexus Mods to see what other players were able to come up with. Uploaded on Sunday, this mod is called "User-friendly hairstyle changer" and it's a pretty straightforward process post-creation. 

The mod in question works for both Male and Female V, allowing players to go into their save files (on PC) and swap out the numeric assignment for the selected set: 

Today third-party add-on developer Sim-Wings released another relevant airport add-on for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

The airport is Munich (EDDM), the second-busiest hub in Germany. It can be purchased on Aerosoft’s and Simmarket‘s stores for €21 plus VAT.

Below you can check out a few screenshots and read a description from the developer, on top of an official feature list.

Inkle Studios of Heaven’s Vault and Pendragon fame began teasing their Arthurian strategy game in January this year and launched it in September. For their next outing, they want to be much more open about their development process than they’ve been in the past. So much so that they’ve begun talking about their next game, something set in the Scottish Highlands, just a few months after Pendragon’s launch. Come have a look-see at what they’ve revealed about it so far.

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Every year I look forward to (hopefully) getting another Husky Raid Destiny dance video. That may sound strange to the uninitiated but this group has been putting together extremely impressive choreographed music videos in Destiny using the game’s emotes and weapons for years now and they just keep getting better.

This year, unsurprisingly, they make heavy use of Stasis’s icy powers to create a winter and holiday themed video taking place on the Cosmodrome and Europa. Check out it below for some laughs.

Whether you like Destiny or not, you just have to marvel at the effort it must take to put together these videos each time. I was floored by the double Titan bubble and glaciers making a snowman.

As usual it’s excellent stuff. If you want to see more of their “Saw Something Weird” series of music videos, you can do so right here. For me it’s hard to top MJ & Thriller from D1 on the Moon.

Destiny 2 has been around for over three years now and we’re working on year four as this article is being published. Over the years Destiny 2 has seen many exotics added into the game. So many that it’s hard to keep track of them sometimes.

Well, if you’re here you probably already know what’s going to happen. We want to see how well you can keep track of all these Destiny 2 exotics.

Below we have a mix of exotic armor and weapon perk descriptions. Can you identify which exotic weapon or armor is associated with that perk description? Give it a try and good luck!

2020 was a lot. We recapped the events and trends that shaped the game industry in this definitely-no-good-very-bad-year. ...

Today Koei Tecmo announced that the upcoming remasters Ciel Nosurge DX and Ar Nosurge DX are coming later than expected.

Both games were going to launch in Japan on January 28, 2021, but will instead release over a month later, on March 4.

The platforms are still the same, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC. The reason provided is the usual, to improve the quality of the final release. Producer Akira Tsuchiya also conveyed the team’s apology to those who were eagerly awaiting the remasters.

If you’re unfamiliar with the original games, Ciel Nosurge was the first game created by Gust for PS Vita after the acquisition by Koei Tecmo. It’s a life simulator in which the player had to help a girl named Ion regain her memories. 

The game shares the setting with the more well-known Ar Tonelico even if it’s not a direct sequel or prequel. It was originally released in 2012 exclusively for the PS Vita.

Ar Nosurge continued the series in 2014 for PS3 and PS Vita, shifting the genre to JRPG.

Ar Nosurge was actually localized in English between 2014 and 2015, while Ciel Nosurge never landed on the western market. At the moment, we don’t know whether the DX remasters will be localized or not. 

If you want to take a look at Ciel Nosurge DX and Ar Nosurge DX, you can enjoy a trailer and gameplay.

The post Ciel Nosurge DX & Ar Nosurge DX for PS4, Switch, & PC Delayed by Koei Tecmo appeared first on Twinfinite.

Now hold up just a second, Stardew Valley. I’ve already worked out what I’m playing during RPS’s holiday hibernation and you’re just going to muscle in by dropping that big 1.5 update today? Yup, you sure are. We found out earlier today that the new update would definitely bring a beach farm. Well, now it’s out for all us PC players to download and load up right this minute.

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We’re all probably a bit tired of hearing what’s wrong with Cyberpunk 2077, but its latest issue is one worth paying attention to. According to Eurogamer (and corroborated by The Verge) players are starting to report that their save files are becoming corrupted. The reason? The save file might be too big.

By “too big,” that apparently means anything exceeding 8 MB. The exact cause has not been confirmed, but multiple users on Reddit and CD Projekt Red's forums have reported problems with their save files that exceed that threshold. The issue appears to primarily affect the PC version of the game, but players on all platforms should be wary since the full details have not been officially confirmed. 

Cloud Imperium Games released a new video of its growing space simulator Star Citizen.

Following a look at the refinery deck introduced in the recently-released version Alpha 3.12, the video showcases a deep dive into the development of the game through 2020, including most of the major features that were added during the latest year.

A lot of progress was certainly made on quite a few fronts, as you can see below.

In other Star Citizen news, the crowdfunding total just passed $338 million, and it’s currently at $338,060,337

The number of registered accounts has also recently passed 2.9 million and it’s currently at 2,921,783.

As usual, you should keep in mind that it’s known that not all of them are paying players. The number includes free accounts created for a variety of reasons, including Free Fly events like the one held at the beginning of the month.

Cyberpunk 2077 has been mired in controversies since launch, but a brand-new Nexus Mod aims to bring some much-needed levity to the experience by giving PC players the ability to change their in-game hairstyle whenever and however many times as they want.

The mod, created by user woodbricks, grants players access to all the hairstyles available in Cyberpunk 2077. Once installed, players can swap between the 39 haircuts for both male and female characters. However, those who've customized their V with a totally bald cut cannot change it to any of the other 38. Additionally, while the mod is compatible with both genders, hairstyles won't neatly swap between the two due to head shape and character model.

There are specific instructions for changing V's hairstyle with this Nexus Mod. PC players will have to locate their save file, download and install a Hex editing program like this one, edit the file in question by changing V's hair to the corresponding Hex code of their choosing, and save. Relaunching the game after completing the steps is not necessary; players can simply load their save file and continuing playing Cyberpunk 2077 with their freshly cut V.

Say goodbye to Flash Player by finally playing level 10 of Homestar Runner’s Stinkoman 20X6, a Mega Man-like that's gradually received new levels since 2005.

The post Homestar Runner’s Stinkoman 20X6 Level 10 Finally Appears appeared first on Siliconera.

We made it, everyone. It’s winter 2020, which is really just a couple of weeks of 2020, with the vast majority of game releases coming in the year 2021. What will we be playing as we put the year of hell behind us and move on to what’s hopefully not just more of the same? Let’s find out.

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Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto is one of the most revered names in gaming, and for good reason. What he's done for the Nintendo community (and gaming in general) has been incredible, but it's his kindness and genuine nature that makes him so endearing to gamers everywhere. In a recent interview with New Yorker, Miyamoto-san detailed how he wants to make the world a kinder place and video games more than the perception of violence. 

When asked what, if he could, change about the world currently, Miyamoto-san responded, saying "I wish I could make it so that people were more thoughtful and kind toward each other. It’s something that I think about a lot as I move through life. In Japan, for example, we have priority seating on train carriages, for people who are elderly or people with a disability. If the train is relatively empty, sometimes you’ll see young people sit in these seats. If I were to say something, they’d probably tell me: “But the train is empty, what’s the issue?” But if I were a person with a disability and I saw people sitting there, I might not want to ask them to move. I wouldn’t want to be annoying.

"I wish we were all a little more compassionate in these small ways. If there was a way to design the world that discouraged selfishness, that would be a change I would make."