Five girls, one island, two weeks.
The post Choose Your Fave From the Quintessential Quintuplets in March 2021 appeared first on Siliconera.
2020 is finally coming to a close, wrapping up what was certainly an unprecedented year for the video game industry. While Sony and Microsoft both ushered in next-generation consoles, the Nintendo Switch marched into its fourth year on the market with some great releases that helped sustain its impressive sales momentum.
Although 2020 turned out to be fairly light in terms of Nintendo's first-party output, that certainly didn't mean that there wasn't anything to play on the system. A huge assortment of stellar third-party titles graced the hybrid console this year, including a variety of critically acclaimed indie gems like Hades and Spiritfarer. Nintendo also put out some great titles this year, from an original Switch entry in the Paper Mario series to the record-smashing Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Below, we've rounded up all the best-reviewed games to hit the Switch in 2020. This list covers every title that has scored an 8 or higher on GameSpot. For more of our end-of-year coverage, be sure to check out our Best Games of 2020 and GameSpot's top 10 nominees. And for a look ahead at what the future has in store for the hybrid system, check out our roundup of the biggest Switch games to play in 2021 and beyond.
Continue Reading at GameSpot
Developers, journalists, academics, now is the time to join the 2021 IGF Awards as an official Judge! Submit your application today. ...
Today Azur Lane publisher Yostar hosted its special Christmas livestream including a lot of new info about the next few weeks.
First of all, we get to see the Christmas skins that will be made available tomorrow (Dec. 22), including Marblehead, Saratoga, Cooper, Jenkins, Hamman, and Minneapolis.
Next is a brand new Iron-Blood focused major event coming on Dec. 29, titled Inverted Orthant.
The new shipgirls will be elite destroyer Z24, elite carrier Weser, elite light cruiser Nürnberg, elite destroyer Z28, super rare submarine U-37, super rare heavy cruiser Prinz Heinrich, and super rare carrier Peter Strasser.
We also get to see the New Year skins, also coming on Dec. 29 and featuring the new shipgirls heavily. Among them are Hartsuki, Z28, Z24, Nürnberg, Weser, U-37, Prinz Heinrich, Peter Strasser, Asashio, Haruna, Odin, Champagne, Tirpitz, Richelieu, and Jean Bart.
On Jan. 12 the Japanese servers will also get the Pizza Hut collaboration skins for Fubuki, Belfast, and Hornet. This isn’t yet confirmed for the western servers.
Below you can see the trailer of the new event, all the relevant images, and a preview of the Operation Siren feature, which will also come tomorrow alongside with the new Guild System and the Ashes shipgirls.
Yet another Naruto will be added to Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker as part of Season Pass 3. Are you ready for Last Battle Naruto?
The post Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker Will Get Another Naruto in Season Pass 3 appeared first on Siliconera.
mods are about crafting a more personal play space to make your evening truck fun just so. One person’s favourite sounds tweaks might sound like a broken axel grinding away to another person, which is a tricky thing to balance when gathering up some glorious gear-boxes. I took the view that the trucks themselves would be better off left largely alone and went looking for more immersive additions. Come truck with me, let’s see what I found en route.
Teamwork makes the dream work, but it also cuts your take into fractions. The lone wolves of GTA Online don't always want to carry out big tasks as a group. They'd rather take the spoils all for themselves. A lot more risk, a lot more reward.
Rockstar designed the newest GTA Online Heist, Cayo Perico, to have a singleplayer bent. It's every bit as squad-oriented for people who play in teams, but it was also perfectly approachable as a solo player. It's the first time Rockstar took solos into consideration when developing a new Heist, and part of the community seems to appreciate it.
In an interview with GQ, design director Scott Butchard says "It's something that's been on our minds for quite some time and the community has been vocal about it. It's something we're keen to carry forward. We want to respect teams and players who want to play co-op. But at the same time still allow solo players to still get just as valid an experience out of it. There's perks to both. If you go in there by yourself, you're taking 100 percent of the cut and it's a lot easier to do stealth and plan when you're not on comms. With multiple players you can split up and do multiple things at once."
Butchard adds that Rockstar is going to "inject more of that singleplayer element [in future Heists]." In fact, it'll influence the design of future GTA Online content, not just the big flashy Heist missions. GTA Online is a giant social game, but it doesn't have to be. Rockstar's making sure to cater to those who go at it alone.
Despite the harrowing circumstances impacting the world, 2020 was a stand-out year for PlayStation.
The future is here and you can be whoever you want to be! Put metal in your face. Dig the tackiest clothes you can find out of the bargain bin. Change what kind of sword you’ve got embedded in your arm. Oh, your hairstyle? No, sorry, that’s an immutable personal characteristic. Cyberpunk 2077 may not let you change V’s haircut after you’ve soared out of character creation but never you worry, modders are already on the case and have delivered an early version of a utility for swapping out your locks.
In space, no one can hear you scream “THAT’S RAD” when you see Alien: Isolation is the latest free game on the Epic Games Store. As their Christmas celebration of daily giveaways continues, you have until tomorrow to grab the fine first-person horror game that’s sorta a sequel to the classic film. It’s a good’un, I say despite having given up on it myself because I’m too much of a spacebaby.
A new Azur Lane major event starring the German Ironblood aircraft carrier Peter Strasser will kick off the new year.
The post Celebrate New Year 2021 With Azur Lane Peter Strasser Event appeared first on Siliconera.
It’s hard to imagine what the state of the Nintendo Switch would look like right now if 2020 hadn’t been so horrible. What could have been one of the hardware’s more stagnant years turned into one of its most memorable, when the soothing escapism of Animal Crossing met a world desperately in need of a soothing escape.
As expected, Alien: Isolation is the next free game on the Epic Games Store.
Epic's free Holiday Sale 2020 games list leaked last week, and it's all played out as accurate so far. The leak said Alien: Isolation would be today's free game and that's an affirmative, soldier.
Alien: Isolation is free to claim until from now until 4pm tomorrow, 23rd December, when if the leak continues to prove accurate, Metro 2033 goes free.
Jon Favreau clarifies the timeline with The Book of Boba Fett
A The Witcher anime adaptation is on the way, with Netflix working on a new film. You can even see a teaser for it ahead of its 2021 debut.
The post Netflix Teased Its The Witcher Anime Movie With a Logo appeared first on Siliconera.
Super Mario 3D All-Stars and an extra 20% off Sephora sale items lead Monday’s best deals.
The trailer has us asking a lot of questions
The awaited 1.5 update for Stardew Valley has arrived on PC, and ahead of its release indie developer Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone outlined some of what we can expect from the big patch.
In a tweet, Barone highlighted a couple of key features for new farmers just starting out after the version 1.5 update goes live. Those include a new farm type, Beach Farm. According to an attached screenshot, sprinklers don't work on a beach farm, but it's great for foraging and fishing, and sometimes you'll a supply crate will randomly wash up ashore. There's also be a new Advanced Game Options menu, which lets you toggle aspects like your community center bundles, mine rewards, and whether monsters will spawn on your farm.
Barone followed up shortly after with an update that the patch is now live. He had said just recently that it could release on PC this year, followed by consoles early next year.
Continue Reading at GameSpotWe're about to see Yoruichi's Jump Force debut, and a trailer shows exactly what the Flash Master is capable of in-game.
The post Watch Yoruichi in Jump Force With Her Debut Trailer appeared first on Siliconera.
On an episode of Housemarque's video podcast HouseCast, the director of Returnal shared details about the frantic roguelike shooter's origins and psychological horror vibes, and brought new gameplay footage. The clips pop up throughout, but my favorite sequence starts at around the 9:30 mark.
According to Returnal director Harry Krueger, "when the first seeds were being planted" around four years ago, Housemarque was plotting out potential ideas for a future game and wondered "what would be your absolute dream project if you didn't have to compromise on anything?" The team brainstormed with that jumping-off point, and "immediately a couple of really strong elements came up."
A few of the leading ideas that caught on were "dark sci-fi," "time travel," "maybe an unconventional, maybe female protagonist carrying some kind of trauma," and "some kind of psychological horror."
Returnal – originally known by its code-name Dark Planet – wasn't a "very crystalized idea that I saw in my sleep or something," said Krueger. Instead, the team followed more of an "organic creative process where we're just collecting all of the cool things we would like to really see in a game ourselves."
The end result is far more ambitious – especially from a storytelling perspective – than Housemarque's past high-score-chasing games like Resogun and Nex Machina. But Krueger says there's overlap.
My favorite part of the holiday season, next to family time and watching every Hallmark movie ever created, is the food. My mom and grandma make homemade kremas (think eggnog, but Haitian and much better) and my sisters and I eat dozens of Christmas cookies, while my dad judges us all for forcing our dogs into…
This time last year, Microsoft’s current flagship console was little more than a swanky video spot aired during a swanky awards show. Now, it’s the capstone to one of the biggest years for Xbox in recent memory. Time sure works in funny ways.
The Lord of the Rings director has finished a project 50 years in the making
My favourite video game series this year has been a steady flow of wee hidden object games with names like 100 Hidden Birds and 100 Hidden Aliens. Pay a quid and you get an illustration with 100 new thingies to find. That’s it. That’s enough for me.
To help give your team an edge in this competitive landscape, Xsolla has gathered valuable trends and insights about the benefits of integrating an in-game economy into your project. ...
Video games are a form of entertainment, but often their influence can extend far beyond the screen of our consoles. Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima had that effect in a rather unexpected way.
Back in September, a typhoon toppled a torii (the iconic sacred gates of Shinto shrines) at Watatsumi Shrine on the real island of Tsushima.
One of the priests at the shrine launched a Campfire campaign (basically the Japanese version of Kickstarter, as reported by Famitsu) to gather funds for the Torii’s restoration.
The campaign was launched less than a month ago (on November 27) and currently has 20 days to go. Yet, its original target of 5,000,000 yen (just north of $48,000) has already been overtaken four times with 20,177,777 yen donated at the moment of this writing by 1,513 supporters.
Below you can see the Torii in its original condition and after it was toppled, as portrayed in the Campfire campaign. Torii are most commonly seen at the entrance of Shinto shrines to help mark the transition from the mundane world to consecrated soil. If you have played Ghost of Tsushima, you have likely seen and crossed quite a few.
GTA Online is like a Xenomorph, in a lot of ways. It's an iconic behemoth, one that creates a parasitic relationship with its hosts and refuses to die. It also thrives unexpectedly during quarantine.
Grand Theft Auto 5 celebrated its seventh birthday during this noxious year, but Los Santos has never been busier. The game sold 400,000 copies in under four months in the UK, in the midst of our first national lockdown. That success might have had something to do with the *ahem* player-driven alien gang war that consumed the game (and most of social media) in April.
But if you need a stone-cold example of GTA Online's enduring relevance, Sony led with the damn thing during its PlayStation 5 reveal conference. In 2021, Rockstar's service sandbox will land on the monolithic mini-fridge and its router rival, the first of its kind to span three generations of consoles.
Collectors are the target market of a franchise that once courted imagination
It turns out PQube is the company behind Bustafellows' Switch and PC localization. Solve mysteries, fall in love, and hope for a happy ending.
The post Investigate Bustafellows Switch and PC Copies in 2021 appeared first on Siliconera.
Alien: Isolation is basically Home Alone if you really think about it. A bunch of people live on the Sevastopol Space Station, so it's their home. Ripley is alone, in isolation if you will. It all checks out. Alien: Isolation is definitely a Christmas game.
I don't know why I'm trying to sell you on Alien: Isolation which is today's free game on the Epic Games Store. It's an absolute gem of a horror game, and it's the best Alien game maybe ever. It transcends holidays. It's great no matter what season you play it during.
Go treat yourself to Alien: Isolation because you're worth it. I hope all my opinions about this game hold up. I'm too much of a scaredy cat to play it again after I finished it once in 2014.
Alien: Isolation [Epic Games Store]
Genshin Impact's big 1.2 update is arriving on December 23, bringing with it a huge new area, a host of new rewards and content, and some well-overdue quality-of-life updates. The update will bring two new 5-star characters across two banners--first, the sword-wielding Geo alchemist Albedo, and later in January the Cryo archer Ganyu.
Developer Mihoyo has now revealed the event banner for Albedo, showing that 4-star characters Bennett, Fischl and Sucrose will all be easier to obtain while wishing on the "Secretum Secretorum." The new main character Albedo is a Geo sword user who seems to be designed for a support role.
Albedo's story quest "Princeps Cretaceus Chapter" will launch at the same time as his banner and will be a pre-requisite for the Dragonspine-centered The Chalk Prince and the Dragon event. Accordingly, the story quest will temporarily be available to all players above AR20 without the need for a story key. After the event, the level requirement will be raised to AR40 and a story key will be required.
Continue Reading at GameSpotDestiny 2's big Beyond Light update may have started the process of retiring much of the game's old content, but Bungie is also bringing back some old favorites--starting with the original Destiny raid, Vault of Glass. In a new interview with Polygon, assistant game director Joe Blackburn has explained how he's working to make sure the new version of Vault of Glass plays just how you remember, despite the differences between Destiny and the current version of Destiny 2.
Blackburn said that the goal of the re-release is to make running Vault of Glass in Destiny 2 feel the same as it did when players got into it for the very first time. He explains why this means that some tweaks are necessary, rather than including the original version of the raid as a straight port.
"The guardians have become significantly stronger in this amount of time," Blackburn explains, saying that the raid team went back into the original raid to see how it played, before deciding that "we would smoke this with Destiny 2 weapons and armor mods."
Continue Reading at GameSpot
Swedish game company MAG Interactive has purchased mobile studio Apprope for an initial SEK 50 million. ...
Strike a pose for the Kamera. That's not a spelling error--it's the name of a new Genshin Impact gadget.
The post Genshin Impact Photo Mode Adjustments and Kamera Coming in 1.2 appeared first on Siliconera.
Late last week, Slightly Mad Studios CEO Ian Bell dropped a few tweets demonstrating his excitement for the company's upcoming road-ripper Project CARS 4, which is currently in development for next-gen platforms.
In messages since deleted from the head honcho's social media account, Bell focused on the incredible advancements in technology that will make the next iteration of Project CARS "the most realistic simulation ever made." Specifically, Bell spoke of the intricate details that will go into creating a true-life atmosphere, including amazing shadow effects, bump-mapped tracks, 14-hour weather cycles, and even real-time leaves, that will whip around and even stick to the player's windscreen.
While this, of course, is no reflection on how Project CARS will actually play, it's a telling sign that Slightly Mad is going all-in on the technological capabilities of next-gen platforms, creating as close a photo-realistic racing experience as is possible. While the release might still be some time away, hopefully franchise fans will be given more screens and footage of this momentous project soon.
Project CARS 4 will be "the most realistic simulation ever made" [PlanetGT]
