Capcom has released a selection of trailers looking at the intricate and ornate weaponry that will feature in its upcoming Nintendo Switch adventure Monster Hunter Rise. Each death-dealer in the hunter's arsenal has a style and personality befitting of its bearer. Choose wisely, as these tools are the only thing standing between you and your humongous prey.

For those who like to stay in the thick of the fight, but just out of harm's way, The Lance is here for all your mid-range poking needs. A mostly defensive weapon, the lance allows for guard-stepping, slick evasive maneuvers, and medium to long-distance striking.

During the 25th anniversary livestream dedicated to the Tales series, Bandai Namco briefly addressed Tales of Arise.

Producer Yosuke Tomizawa mentioned that unfortunately he couldn’t provide new info on the new game for consoles today, and he apologized for having been quiet for a long time, but he’s preparing to provide a variety of new info in 2021.

Development is making good progress, so he asked fans all over the world to wait for new information and thanked them for their support.

If you want to take a look at the game, you can enjoy the latest trailer, another trailer in English, some screenshots and artwork, the first batch of images, and the original announcement trailer.

Tales of Arise was originally slated for 2020 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, but it was delayed due to the effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

If you’re unfamiliar with the game (considering that a long time has passed since the latest reveal), you can read an official description below.

The Cyberpunk 2077 refund situation is a mess today after developer CD Projekt's high-profile statement that suggested customers could get their money back.

Yesterday, in its statement apologising for not showing Cyberpunk 2077 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One before launch, CD Projekt told customers who were not pleased with Cyberpunk 2077 on console and didn't want to wait for updates: "you can opt to refund your copy." But it turns out some shops aren't playing ball - and have not changed their refund policies for the controversial blockbuster.

CD Projekt pointed customers to Sony and Microsoft for refunds on digital copies of the game. But how does it actually work? Sony says if you have started to download or stream purchased content, you will not be eligible for a refund unless the content is faulty.

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Producer Yusuke Tomizawa plans to share new information about Tales of Arise in 2021.

The post New Tales of Arise Information Will Appear in 2021 appeared first on Siliconera.

Playing World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, I was constantly in awe of the scenery. I mean, just look at the screenshots I took for my review!

Each zone was mesmerizing in its own way. Bastion was a literal city in the clouds and the aesthetics reflected its undying hope. Maldraxxus was dark and dreary, but ready for war at a moment's notice: the lush greens were evocative of the envy of some of its denizens. Ardenweald is breathtaking (just like you!) and has slowly become one of my favorite zones to roam around in. And Revendreth: it's vampire burg, enough said. That gothic architecture is kissy fingers perfect.

Blizzard knows that they knocked it out of the park when it comes to Shadowlands' art, so they've set up a huge deep dive on Artstation for everyone to take a gander at. This is basically a free "art book" online, compliments of Jeff Parrott, senior art manager on World of Warcraft.

In it, they take us all on a journey throughout all of the zones I mentioned above, as well as a number of character and weapon designs. It's extremely expansive! I'm talking over 100 pieces of art, with individual breakdowns of which artist worked on each piece. I especially love seeing how the concept art measures up to the in-game reality.

For reference, Blizzard is calling this "part one," so there's more to come. Having seen most of what Shadowlands has to offer these past few weeks, I can attest to that! There's so much more to explore.

Select Nintendo Switch Games | $45 | Amazon

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Creating the best possible Cyberpunk 2077 build is a very layered process. Not only do you have to consider the attributes, skills, and perks to increase, but you’ve also got to consider the right weapons, mods, and cyberware to go along with a build in order to make it truly powerful. Our Cyberpunk 2077 builds guide will walk you through multiple top-tier builds, covering in detail the exact perks to unlock and weapons to use, to ensure you’re cleaning out rooms of enemies in record time even on the toughest difficulty settings.

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Tonight will see Activision's blockbuster shooter Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War receive its exciting Season One content drop. Developer Treyarch has added one final update to the title earlier this morning, which is now available to download on all platforms.

There are no patch notes - with details likely coming alongside the Season One premiere - but dedicated CoD community member Drift0r has already started to pick away at the details, listing numerous weapon re-balances, (thank heavens I already maxed out the AUG), as well as the foreboding arrival of the H.A.R.P. scorestreak - a recon plane that shows enemy positioning and direction. The troublesome flak jacket has also received a small nerf.

Kojima Productions will be five years old tomorrow, and the developer will offer some "updates" to celebrate.

The post Kojima Productions Announcements Will Appear on Its 5th Anniversary appeared first on Siliconera.

Grab your pals and prepare to blast off to the Moon, for Spelunky 2 added online multiplayer today. Four players can plunder the Moon’s treasures in online co-op, though the murdersome Arena mode isn’t activated yet. Technically online is in “public beta” right now, so don’t expect perfection, but you can play it! Eventually, you’ll be able to play with folks on PlayStation 4 too.

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Treyarch has issued the long-awaited balance patch for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

Treyarch said to expect download sizes to range from 3.4GB to 7.1GB, depending on your platform. It weighs in at 6.817GB on PlayStation 5.

The developer hasn't released patch notes for the update yet - they're due out ahead of the launch of Season One tomorrow, 16th December. So players have spent the morning trying to work out what exactly has changed.

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Sega will hold PSO2: New Genesis beta tests in Japan, and the first one will look at character transferring.

The post PSO2 New Genesis Closed Beta Will Be Held Next Year in Japan appeared first on Siliconera.

Today, Nintendo held yet another Indie World Showcase, to "ring in the holidays," as the publisher put it.

Although their big first-party push is done for the year, their indie side isn't, and for 15 whole minutes, we got a look at what other publishers have in store for the Switch. Yes, just the Switch. That's how Nintendo rolls these days! The 3DS and Wii U are dead, and there isn't a whole lot of new mobile development focus in 2020.

Behold! All of the news from today's Indie World Showcase, down to the menial dates and "console exclusive" windows and everything. As usual, they bookended the big stuff: the highlights are Spelunky 1 and 2 hitting Switch in the summer of 2021, and Among Us coming out today.

No Hollow Knight: Silksong news eh?

So as of...about five minutes ago, Spelunky 2 was only slated for PC and PS4.

But now, as part of today's Indie World Showcase, developer Derek Yu has revealed that both the original and the sequel will be available on the Switch together. Yu confirms that it's arriving in 2021, with both local and online multiplayer.

Later on in the broadcast, Nintendo confirms a "summer 2021" window for both titles.

Mamoru Hosoda (Summer Wars, Wolf Children, and The Boy and the Beast) has announced his newest film. Called Belle, the movie tells the story of a young woman in modern-day Japan as she enters a massive virtual world.

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Anna Sui will release Demon Slayer apparel and accessories modeled after Nezuko and Shinobu.

The post Demon Slayer Anna Sui Items Are Inspired by Nezuko and Shinobu appeared first on Siliconera.

The EA Star Wars Triple Bundle is here, and it's down from £90 to just £36 if you're buying on the Microsoft Store. It comes with Star Wars: Squadrons, Jedi: Fallen Order and Battlefront 2, as well as special upgrades for the latter two.

The three games offer distinctly different takes on the Star Wars experience. Squadrons is all about space fighter combat, Fallen Order is about being a lone jedi roaming the galaxy, and Battlefront 2 is about being one soldier among many in vast battles. Something for every kind of Star Wars fan, at least until somebody makes a Cantina management sim with optional arm dispensary.

What with these games being linked to your Microsoft account, it means you'll be able to play them both on a PC or on your Xbox, assuming your account is linked to both. Not only that, but all these games will work fine on both the Xbox One and Series X/S! And if you're still interested in getting the latter, don't worry - we've got all the available stock and discounts on Xbox Series X/S right here!

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This is probably one of the coolest things I've seen all year, and a bright gaming spot in an otherwise rough 2020.

As Modern Vintage Gamer has pointed out, it is possible to run the system link feature across four generations of Xbox. As in, the original Xbox console, the Xbox 360, the Xbox One, and the Series X/S. That's 19 years of backward compatibility with features like local multiplayer on top of already running the game.

Modern Vintage Gamer goes over the entire process in the video below, using Crimsons Skies' system link to connect all four generations. Back in my day you used to have to make your own 50-foot crossover CAT-5 cable to play Halo between two consoles (yes, I crimped it myself and everything).

Having run many multiplayer LAN parties before (you haven't lived until you've played Mario Kart Double Dash to its true potential), this is an amazing achievement, and would make the logistics of those get-togethers so much easier. I've commended Microsoft again and again for sticking to backward compatibility and game preservation, and now I'm doing it again today.

Bravo.

Gears for Breakfast, the studio behind beloved adventure A Hat in Time, has revealed the brand new title Here Comes Niko!, currently in development at indie studio Frog Vibes.

As the announcement trailer details below, Here Comes Niko! sees the titular kid arrive in a new locale as part of an "Professional Friend" internship, before they immediately set about micro-managing the lives of the island's inhabitants, while sprucing up the landscape itself. We get to see Niko growing plants, gathering fruit, solving dilemmas, playing games, exercising, painting, and just generally working hard at enjoying their new world, all while making a bevy of anthropomorphic pals. What a glorious way to live.

With noticeable vibes of several popular titles - including Paper Mario, Animal Crossing, and Harvest Moon - and described as a "cozy 3D platformer for tired people", Here Comes Niko! looks set to become a sweet obsession to keep your fingers busy during lazy afternoons. Available for wish-listing right now on Steam, (with a Nintendo Switch edition also in the works), I'm definitely looking forward to hearing more about this cute title in the coming months.

Google's I'm Feeling Lucky button has nothing to do with luck. It actually shows you the first search result, something it took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out. I always thought that if I hit IFL on, say, 'dogs', I'd get a dog related webpage plucked randomly from the entire internet. Pretty stupid. But it's a compelling idea, right?

Random is something of a dirty word nowadays. For people who came of age in the late noughties it sparks 'Nam flashbacks of pale teens, their hair stiff with neon dye, blurting out nouns like waffle and narwal to demonstrate their irreverent wit. Put those children aside for a moment. Consider instead the crowning jewel of a character creation screen: the randomize button.

I love the word 'randomize'. It sounds like something Jean-Luc Picard would bark in a moment of stress. So high-tec, so powerful. Slam down the randomizer to see something never before witnessed by human eyes. It's an inherently fun concept, and so video-gamey, too. Oli Welsh waxed lyrical on the power of randomization in his Champions Online preview, calling the game an 'inexhaustible factory for charismatic super-beings'. Satisfying as it may be to tweak your character's eyebrow density just-so, there's an equal thrill in being thrown a random jumble of parts and powers and told, in the style of Project Runway, 'Make it work!'

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GTA Online continues to live on after its 2013 debut, as Rockstar continues to pump resources into this money-maker.

At this point it's tough to say when GTA VI should actually come out from a financial perspective; as it would behoove Rockstar to avoid oversaturating their own online market and have people jump ship if the main squeeze is still healthy. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me to see GTA VI's online component arrive much later.

Either way, today, GTA Online players feast. The free Cayo Perico Heist update is out, but it's more than just a heist. Rockstar is calling it the "biggest update ever," with a substantial geographical landmass increase, alongside of a new club, extra music and DJ performances, and more vehicles, clothing, and weapons. 

The most significant part of the update for me? Rockstar says that this is the "first heist that's playable completely solo from start to finish," on top of the open-ended nature of the event. So even if you're pressed for time and don't want to wait for Mark to show up 20 minutes late to every online session (Mark!), you can just run it on your own schedule.

Oh and one more thing: if you log in between December 18 and December 20, you'll get a free Dinka Veto Classic go-kart.

Cayo Perico Heist [Rockstar]

It's been a bit of a bumpy road for Warner Bros.' new cinematic adaptation of NetherRealm Studios uber-violent fighter Mortal Kombat. But, following minor shooting and schedule delays, it seems that Scorpion and his pals are good to go, with the new movie premiering on April 16, 2021.

Mortal Kombat, which wrapped shooting back in early 2020, was tentatively scheduled for release in April 2021, before being pulled forward to January 2021 so as not to clash with certain other Warner Bros. projects. However, given that the COVID-19 pandemic has rendered many productions unfinished and thrown release schedules into disarray, it seems that Mortal Kombat has officially returned to its original release date.

The new film will premiere in theaters and on HBO Max. As a reminder, all of Warner Bros. major releases for 2021 - including Denis Villeneuve's Dune, DC Comics' Wonder Woman '84 and The Suicide Squad, and The Matrix 4 - are all set to arrive in theaters and on the paid streaming service simultaneously, offering an at-home experience for those still unsure about visiting the theater in these unprecedented times.

Hopefully, we'll be seeing a trailer for Mortal Kombat very soon. Given the talented cast of stuntmen and martial arts experts, it seems that solid fight sequences are a given. As for everything else? That remains a bit of a dice-roll.

Kalimba

is probably the greatest puzzle platformer you’ve never played. Just saying its name brings a smile to my face. It’s a delightful word that just rolls off the tongue, much like the pair of grinning totem heads you’ll send cascading through its subterranean levels in search of ever-larger totem faces to help bring the light back to your cursed island. It’s a real gem, old Kalimba, and it remains one of my favourite games of all time.
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Today Bandai Namco revealed a new gallery of screenshots and details about the upcoming JRPG Scarlet Nexus.

We get to take another look at the eerie world of the game and at the enemies named Others.

We also take a look at newly revealed characters.

Arashi Spring is a public relations officer and basically the face of the Other Suppression Force. She is a pretty and cheerful girl enthusiastic about her work, and as such she has many fans regardless of gender and age.

That being said, that’s how she acts exclusively in front of a camera. When she’s not on air, she’s lazy and always tries to skip work.

However, her actual abilities are said to be Septentrion-level and she’s also a genius engineer. As long as she can be motivated, her skills are very reliable.

She’s actually the real sister of Fubuki, commander of the 1st team of the Force. Due to a disparity in the growth control process, she looks younger, but she’s actually the older of the sibling.

Siden Ritter is a powerful soldier with a venomous tongue. He has a strong pride and a negative personality, being very strict both with himself and others, which causes relational problems.

In his previous unit he did not get along with the captain, so he has been transferred. That being said, his abilities are excellent, allowing him to achieve results during operations.

Despite his attitude, he tends to admit it when he meets someone stronger than him, and he admires the Septentrion. He looks up to Seto Narukami, who has the same kind of powers.

Kyoka Eden is known as both talented and beautiful. While she has many fans in the Force, she doesn’t appear to care about her appearance. She is very caring and is often placed in organizational roles. While her aura is usually gentle and calm, she becomes very serious and determined in battle, suddenly changing her personality.

Capcom is continuing the series of trailers dedicated to the weapons of the upcoming Monster Hunter game Monster Hunter Rise.

The first trailer is dedicated to the lance, while the second takes on the sharp and technical challenge of the long sword.

You can watch both below.

“Stoic, poised and precise. The Lance is a weapon with excellent defensive and evasive capabilities. Guard or step-dodge enemy attacks to stay in the offensive as much as possible.”

“Cool, calm, and collected. The Long Sword relies on consecutive slashes to charge up the Spirit Gauge, then unleash powerful Spirit Blade attacks, calculated dodges and counterattacks.”

Review aggregate site OpenCritic has accused developer CD Projekt RED of demonstrating "deceptive and selfish behavior" in regards to the marketing and launch of the PS4 and Xbox One editions of Cyberpunk 2077.

The last-gen editions of CDPR's epic action-RPG launched alongside their PC brethren on December 10. However, the console edition of Cyberpunk 2077 is particularly shoddy, so much so that CDPR is now offering refunds to customers who picked up the new release on PS4 or Xbox One. Prior to release, all reviews covered the vastly-superior PC edition of Cyberpunk 2077, while footage of the console ports in action was almost non-existent.

OpenCritic co-founder Matthew Enthoven vented his thoughts in a scathing article on the score-gathering website, claiming that "[CDPR] did it knowing that many publications generally can't re-review games. [...] They did it knowing that, to this day, it is still challenging for consumers to return a video game. [...] They did it knowing what they were doing was wrong. It was deceptive, selfish, and exploitative. They did it anyway."

Gaming peripherals brand SteelSeries has announced the acquisition of KontrolFreek. The KontrolFreek name will live on after the sale, with the company continuing as a wholly owned subsidiary of SteelSeries.

KontrolFreek are best known for their controller-augmenting thumbsticks and controller grips, with themed products allowing for gamers to customize their controllers after their favorite games. The company targets console players, with accessories available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, as well as PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. They also sell a range of cables, along with RGB lights for customizing gaming stations.

With much of SteelSeries' existing product range focusing on PC gamers, the KontrolFreek acquisition will give them an edge with console players, right when four new consoles are being released onto the market.