The third ever Apex Legends map, the floating island of Olympus, features quite a few differences from the previous two locations of Kings Canyon and World’s Edge. From its brand new array of loot-filled locations to its long sightlines and fast travel times, there’s a lot to learn about this place – and our Apex Legends Olympus map guide will get you off to the best possible start with a close look at the map and all its major locations.

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The Xbox Series X and S have a handy "Optimised for Xbox Series X/S games" filter.

This is something spotted by Xbox console preview users last month, and was just tweeted by Microsoft's Larry Hryb.

You can access the filter from the Games list.

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The new character creator for Monster Hunter Rise is robust.

The post Get a First Look at the Monster Hunter Rise Character Creator appeared first on Siliconera.

We're nearly there!

Just seven more days until the next-gen arrives and we can start calling it the "current-gen." I'm going to milk the phrase "next-gen" as often as I can, so look forward to that in the next week or so. EA knows we're pretty much at the gates of next-gen (got ya) too, so they've shared their next-gen (got ya again) plans with the world today. Here's a rundown.

EA Sports are coming back according to the publisher, who notes that UFC 4, NHL 21, Madden 21 and FIFA 21 will run like they do on either Xbox One X or a PS4 Pro for now; while Madden and FIFA will get "next-gen upgrades" on December 4 for free. Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered, despite coming out so close to the generational leap, will also follow a similar path of running "like the Xbox One X or the PS4 Pro."

Sims 4, however, will get "faster loading and smoother framerates" on next-gen systems. Apex Legends will run at 1440p on next-gen systems, with "more formal enhancements planned for next year." Star Wars Squadrons will also see an upgrade, running at 2160p and 60 FPS on Series X with the "visual quality" setting and 2160p and 120 FPS on the "performance" setting. PS5 statistics for Squadrons were not provided, though it will "run with improved lighting and the same resolution and framerate as the PS4 Pro."

It feels like a lot of publishers are giving us this news down to the wire. The disparate nature of some of the numbers here when comparing the Series X and the PS5 really remind me of the launch of the last console era: where Microsoft was clowned on for having slightly lower resolution. The cycle will continue, I guess.

Backward Compatibility [EA]

Sega is selling its arcade business to Genda, a Tokyo-based company involved in arcade game rentals and online crane games.

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One week after a job listing said Motive were hiring for “an upcoming Star Wars action game”, the Star Wars: Squadrons studio have said oops nope, not true, no Star War here. It was “human error”, they say. Typical humans. No, whatever it is they are making next (and they do hint they’re “working on something pretty special”), apparently we will not see a single Galaxy-class starship or Ferengi.

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Valve has added a new Steam Playtest feature that lets developers easily invite players to test their games.

It means developers no longer have to bother with managing keys or external mailing lists, Valve said in an announcement on Steam. They control how many players get access, when they want to add more players, when to open testing and when to end it.

Existing tools such as demos and release-override beta Steam keys, which are already in use, will remain. Steam Playtest is an option in addition to these.

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There were some concerns that the iconic SEGA arcade game centers would have their names changed after the GENDA acquisition.

The post SEGA Arcade Centers Will Still Be Named SEGA After GENDA Handover appeared first on Siliconera.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War takes up 40GB more space on next-gen consoles, Activision has announced.

Treyarch and Raven's first-person shooter weighs in at 95GB on PlayStation 4 and 93GB on Xbox One. On PlayStation 5 it's 133GB, and on Xbox Series X and S, it's 136GB.

Activision added console players can uninstall specific game mode packs, such as for Campaign or Zombies, to reduce the overall file size.

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This is coming in hot, but Sony is warning fans not to expect physical PS5 sales this year. Meaning: the typical "camp out for your next-gen system" routine is right out in 2020.

Sony's content communications senior director Sid Shuman shared the news this morning, explaining that "in the interest of keeping our gamers, retailers, and staff safe" amid the pandemic, they are "confirmation that all day-of launch sales will be conducted through the online stores of our retail partners." "Don't plan on camping out or lining up at your local retailer on launch day," Sony re-iterates. "Be safe, stay home, and place your order online."

So what happens if you pre-ordered a console at a store already? Sony says that "you should still be able to do so," at a "designated appointment time, under the retailer's safety protocols." They state that you should confirm this directly before the day of.

As we rush headlong into winter and the shopping season, this move is completely expected: we suspect a lot of other retailers and manufacturers alike will follow suit. Except GameStop, maybe.

PlayStation 5: Launch Day Ordering Update [PlayStation Blog]

The Commander gametype has really taken off in Magic: The Gathering in recent years, no doubt due to its accessibility and the excitement of playing as a "hero," which standard Magic play can often lack.

In very basic terms, Commander games allow players to take one card that doubles as a "commander," that can be casted at any time via the "Commander Zone." There are also some deckbuilding nuances involved, but preset decks like the upcoming Commander Legends packs take care of that step for new players.

In addition to snagging exclusive full decklists for the new Legends sets (scroll down for those!), I had the chance to speak with Magic senior designer Gavin Verhey about a few of the finer points of the Commander scene, to really drill down into why Commanding is so enduring.

Nintendo has released its latest financial earnings report, which reveals that the developer/publisher sold an impressive 6.86 million Nintendo Switch consoles in the quarter ending September 2020. This pushes the global lifetime sales of the hybrid platform past the 68.3 million mark.

In addition, just under 50 million games were sold on the platform during the summer season, with worldwide lockdown legislation no doubt playing a part in the surge of in-home gaming. Accounting for the boosted sales, Nintendo has altered its forecast for the current fiscal year, raising its initial target of Switch hardware sales from 19 million to 24 million, a prediction that the company was hesitant to make earlier in the year.

2020 has been a good year for the Switch platform, with steady hardware sales alongside the launch of successful new titles such as Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Super Mario 3D All-Stars, and Paper Mario: The Origami King. As Microsoft and Sony prepare their powerful next-gen hardware for 2021, the Nintendo Switch will occupy a cozy spot where it will continue to be enjoyed by millions upon millions of video game fans worldwide.

Nintendo Consolidated Financial Highlights [Official]

Disc Room had me googling those funny spirograph shapes you sometimes get on bank notes. After a while, I guess, I don't see the discs anymore. I see the trajectories. The ways that some swoop, some follow, the ways that some advance and then slow and then boost off again. I close my eyes and there are these luminous spirograph trails in the darkness. Possible gaps in between them if I thread my way though. No discs, just movement, just arcs.

This game is compact and mysterious: I properly love it. On the one hand, it does exactly what it says it will. There are rooms and the rooms are filled with discs. The discs generally move about and if you come into contact with them you are very dead. It's a top down affair: left, right, up and down. Avoid the discs!

And then you die. And this is what Disc Room wants. You unlock new doors to new rooms by dying after having met specific criteria. Survive for five seconds, ten seconds, twenty. Succumb to every kind of disc available. Some of the criteria are really simple to understand. Sometimes it's easy to understand but very hard to achieve. Stay alive for twenty seconds in a certain number of rooms! Unlock more doors, and the connections between rooms grow. Sometimes the criteria is hard to understand! Mysteries. This game is a bit of a puzzle box.

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[Update: Make sure you log in by 10AM PT today (November 5) if you still want them!]

If you still play Marvel's Avengers, you should probably log in between now and November 5 (10AM PT) so you can grab this "Player Appreciation Package," that some might see as an apology package for delaying next-gen upgrades and new content.

In short, you're getting: 1500 credits, 7000 units, 250 upgrade modules and 20 DNA keys. That amount of credits is just enough for a legendary skin for your favorite character. Currencies! Can't live with them, live service games can't live without them. As someone who still plays Avengers from time to time: I definitely could have lived with a few less currencies in this one, as Crystal Dynamics, like Bungie before it, still has a long ways to go until they nail down a fun live service game loop.

Hell, even if you don't play Marvel's Avengers but own the game, you should probably log in just in case to claim those items anyway for future use. You never know, Crystal Dynamics could completely overhaul the game one day and you'll be glad you had those extras. Or, they could combine multiple currencies and devalue this set of rewards.

Who knows! Live service games are wild in 2020 and beyond.

Avengers War Table [Square Enix] [Image from VGphotomode on the Marvel blog]

NetherRealm Studios has released the long-awaited, highly anticipated gameplay trailer for the TRUE Outworld Kahnum - that minx of mischief, the sultry sai-thrower, the teleporting Tarkatan, and the source of a thousand and one abominable death threats. It's Mileena, of course.

Making her debut in 1993's Mortal Kombat II, Mileena is the pseudo twin-sister of Kitana, created in the Flesh Pits of evil sorcerer Shang Tsung in order to provide Shoa Kahn with the bloodthirsty daughter he so desired. Mixing her sister's DNA with Tarkatan blood gives Mileena her sister's stunning beauty, mixed with the razor blade smile and feral aggression of the Tarkatan race.

Rising above her status as a mere "experiment," Mileena would go one to become ruler of Outworld following the death of Shao Kahn, before meeting a gruesome end at the hands of the Outworld Rebellion, led by Kotal Kahn and the sly D'Vorah. Having found her way back into the world of the living thanks to Kronika's time shenanigans, Mileena is out on her own... and out for revenge...

Today  Nintendo announced its quarterly financial results for the first half of the fiscal year, related to the period ended on September 30.

First of all, we learn that the console manufacturer’s results were extremely strong recording a +73.3% increase year-on-year in sales and a +209.3% increase in operating profit year-on-year.

The percentage of sales outside of Japan was 77.5%

You can find all the relevant tables below.

I used to play in an under 10s football squad once upon a time. I was pretty good, but I was easily distracted. I distinctly remember, during one important match against a rival town’s squad, my football coach (whose name was Graham, funnily enough) shouting at me to focus on the game and stop picking up conkers on the side of the pitch.

But I was fixated on a far more glorious sport. The most extreme sport of all, according to certain chestnut seeds. That sport is Conkers.

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Nintendo just gave us an update of their top 10 best-selling Switch game list, and it's a doozy! Although not a whole lot changed per se, the rich just keep getting richer as Nintendo continues to sell through a ton of software.

The last update was through June 30, 2020, but now we have a better idea of how several titles are selling through as of September 30, 2020 thanks to a new report this morning. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has pushed all the way up to 28.99 million units sold, a roughly 2.2 million increase since the June 30 report. It's still the crown jewel of the Switch and refuses to give up its throne.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons however is nipping at its heels, commanding a powerful 26.04 million units sold as of the end of September, a nearly four million unit increase since the last period. Smash Ultimate also sold a little over a million more units to hit 21.10 million, while Zelda sold nearly a million more, a testament to its pedigree and long word of mouth tail (my wife just started playing Breath of the Wild recently, so I've seen it first-hand!).

Pokemon Sword and Shield hit the 19 million mark with around .8 million more units sold, while Mario Odyssey peddled nearly a million more copies in that same period. Let's Go Pikachu saw one of the smallest gains with just .29 million more units, with Super Mario Party seeing gains of .16 million units, and Splatoon 2 increasing by roughly .5 million. New Super Mario Bros. Deluxe is hanging on to that number 10 spot with 8.32 million units sold, a roughly .9 million unit increase from the June 30 report.

What does this all mean? Well, first-party Nintendo games, which rarely, if ever, go down in price, are still crushing it. I wonder if we'll see another game creep up on New Super Mario Bros. in the next six months. You can find the full list below!

Today  Nintendo announced its quarterly financial results and provided an update to the number of Switch and 3DS units shipped worldwide since the consoles’ release.

The data you’ll see below is updated as of September 30, when the latest fiscal quarter (which began on July 1) ended.

In the infographic below you can see exactly how many Nintendo Switch units have been shipped to retailers, alongside shipped units for game software. We also get the same info for the veteran 3DS portable console.

The Nintendo Switch has now reached 68.3 million units shipped worldwide.

This means that 6.86 million Nintendo Switch units were shipped during the quarter.

We also hear that the estimated sell-through (which means sold to customers) for the console is over 63 million units.

Today Nippon Ichi Software released a new trailer for its dungeon-crawling JRPG Labyrinth of Galleria: Coven of Dusk.

The trailer introduces a few characters and the classes of the puppet soldiers that can be trained to fight at our services.

These include a melee attacker, a ranged attacker, a tank, and a magic attacker and healer.

The game is finally releasing in Japan on November 26 for PS4 and PlayStation Vita.

Yes. Let that sink. There isn’t a Nintendo Switch version, but the PS Vita is getting a fond farewell from Nippon Ichi software.

You can enjoy the trailer and the art below.

Today Konami announced its financial results for the second quarter of the fiscal year 2021, related to the period between July 1, 2020, and September 30, 2020.

As you can see in the tables below, Konami’s Digital Entertainment business (which includes games) performed very strongly with +31.8% higher revenue and +65.8% higher profit year-on-year.

The rest of Konami’s businesses underperformed due to the closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic .

Japanese gamers love lining up at stores on day one to buy an anticipated new console or game, but the PS5’s launch will be different.

Today Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan announced via its own PlayStation Blog that the pre-order allocation for the PS5 is completely sold out.

Since there are still concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic, there are no plans to hold any launch event or to sell the console at stores on release dat in order to ensure the safety of customers, retailers, and staff.

Those who managed to pre-order a console are advised to check the delivery method and contact their retailer for details.

While pre-orders for the launch days are closed, Sony plans to shop more units in the future and encourages those who want to purchase the PS5 to contact their local store for further details on future availability.

In case you missed it, the PS5’s standard edition will cost $499.99, €499.99, £449.99, or 49,980 yen while the Digital Edition is priced at $399.99, €399.99, £359.99, or 39,980 yen.

The first release date for the console will be on Nov. 12 in the United States, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea.

Everyone else will have to wait a little more: the console will launch in Europe and in the rest of the world on Nov. 19.

Incidentally, Sony recently announced that it plans to ship more than 7.6 million units by the end of March 2021, beating the PS4’s debut shipments.

A day after winning her second term in the US House of Representatives, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has revealed that another Twitch stream is in the works--though first, she needs a nap.

AOC made waves in the gaming world when she sat down for her first Twitch stream in late October, playing Among Us with fellow Representative Ilhan Omar, as well as popular streamers including Pokimane, DrLupo, and more. Her stream reached a peak of over 430,000 concurrent viewers, and when combined with other co-streamers figures, likely reached over 700,000 viewers at its peak.

After her domination on stream, AOC celebrated another victory in this week's election, breezing into her second term in the US House of Representatives over a Republican challenger with over $10 million backing his campaign.

Today Square Enix released a sizable batch of new screenshots of the upcoming JRPG Bravely Default II.

We get to take a look at the main characters Seth, Gloria, Elvis, and Adelle on top of the continent of Excillant, which is the setting of the story.

One of the five kingdoms forming the continent is Halcyonia, governed by King Placido, known as the Brave General. It’s popular among many for the fruits of its mountains and its seas.

New characters introduced today are Sloan of the Blue Forest, known as the best swordsman of the whole continent. He escaped the destruction of Musa to Halcyonia alongside Gloria.

Placido Halcyonia is the king of the country, trusted by his people thanks to his fair way of ruling. He takes Gloria after her flight from Musa.

Doug Rampage is a rough and crude mercenary. He isn’t squeamish about what he has to do to earn money. That being said, he’s in love with his business partner Selene.

Speaking of Selene Noetic, she’s a smart and calm mercenary who has survived on many battlefields while firmly holding Doug’s reins when he tends to go berserk.

The battle system is turn-based based on a combination of jobs and abilities and the concepts of Brave and Default.

While managing Brave Points (BP) that control actions in battle, it’s important to control the flow by choosing when to use Brave or Default.

For each character, you can set a main job and a sub job for each character combining their abilities by using them at the same time. You can create versatile characters with good offense or defense, specialize in magic, or more. The strategy and progression are up to the player.

You can meet characters defined “Asterisk Holders,” which are associated with certain jobs. By defeating them, you can obtain their Asterisk, which comes with the ability to change into that job.

A new game called Werewolf Among Us has become the most downloaded free game on the App Store in China this week, the South China Morning Post reported. It overtook gaming behemoth Tencent's Honour of Kings and Peacekeeper Elite to claim the top spot.

The clone boasts similar, if more cutesy graphics to Innersloth's surprise hit Among Us, and is set in a medieval castle instead of in space. Developed by a relatively unknown company called Shenzhen Youliang Technology, the game dropped on October 28 and has since racked up over 478,000 downloads, becoming the most popular of a number of Among Us clones being rushed for the Chinese market.

Today Capcom released a new trailer of Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition to celebrate its upcoming release.

The trailer features a new song by Japanese musician HYDE, titled “Defeat.”

Of course, the trailer isn’t just rocking the song, but also plenty of gameplay including the new playable character, Vergil.

You can enjoy it below.

If you’d like to see more about Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition, you can check out the original announcement, some gameplay showcasing the new features, and even more on PS5.

Here’s how Capcom describes the games and the improvements it brings.

Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass subscription service has drawn comparisons to Netflix, with some calling it the "Netflix of Games." Xbox's Jason Ronald said in a new interview that he is flattered by that comparison--as Netflix is one of the biggest and most successful entertainment brands on Earth--but he also pointed out that it's not exactly a great comparison.

"To be compared to somebody like Netflix is flattering, but we think about it differently," Ronald told Inverse. "It really comes down to how can we find new ways to get more people to enjoy the art form that we all love. Plenty of people prefer physical media, and we support that with Xbox Series X. Then you look at something like Game Pass, which gets people trying and playing more games. Maybe you're new to a franchise, or have limited funds to devote to entertainment. With Game Pass, we eliminate that barrier. That's what we're really focused on--how do we reduce barriers so more people can find and play games they love?"

Before this, Xbox boss Phil Spencer also spoke out about how calling Game Pass the "Netflix of Games" is not quite accurate or even what Microsoft is trying to achieve.

Today Compile Heart updated the official site of its upcoming JRPG Go! Go! 5D Game Neptunia ReVerse.

We get to see new screenshots showcasing the revised menus from Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 and a comparison of the visuals against Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1+ for PS4.

On top of that, two more images showcases the quality of the event CGs we can expect from the game.

Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku’s reader-run community: Dubs w/ Dil: Armed Girl’s Machiavellism • TAY Retro: TurboGrafx-16 - Keith Courage in Alpha Zones [TV Commercial (NA)] • TAY Retro: Atari Lynx - “Only Ever One Winner” [TV Commercial (NA)]

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Fatima Mandouh is an environment artist based in the US.

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Sony announced collab Sackboy costumes for Ghost of Tsushima, Death Stranding, and Days Gone. Check out images of the little guys here.

The post Sackboy: A Big Adventure Costumes Inspired by Ghost of Tsushima, Death Stranding appeared first on Siliconera.

While there are still many questions as to why Nintendo would limit the availability of Super Mario 3D All-Stars to just six months, there's no denying it's been an effective sales tactic. After seeing big preorders and demand for the game back in September, we finally got a look at just how successful its launch was. Today, Nintendo revealed the game has sold 5.21 million copies worldwide since its release.

Its success is just one of the highlights from Nintendo's most recent quarterly statement. Paper Mario: The Origami King also proved to be a hit, moving 2.82 million copies since launching in July. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is also still showing its legs, selling nearly four million units in just the last quarter. According to Nintendo, 20 different games have sold more than a million copies on Switch in just this fiscal year.

Consolidated Financial Highlights [Nintendo]

Chibi Plushies

Oh man, these two chibi-sized versions of Banbaro and Rathian are way too cute to hunt. You can find the adorable plushies over on Crunchyroll’s shop for $22.99 (Rathian) and $27.99 (Banbaro).

Teardown’s central contradiction should be infuriating. True to its name, you can tear down basically any structure in a level, up to and including the ground beneath your feet. But you shouldn’t! I repeat: You, functionally all-powerful to an extent few video games have ever allowed, should not destroy everything the…

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Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War studio Treyarch announced how much space the upcoming first-person shooter will take across all consoles’ hard drives and updated the memory requirements for the PC version.

The developer said in the blog post that the console versions will initially require a set amount of space to downloads the entire game, but players can then uninstall separate parts of the game after. The storage requirement per console as follows:

• PlayStation 4: 95 GB
• PlayStation 5: 133 GB
• Xbox One: 93 GB
• Xbox Series X/S: 136 GB

For the PC version, Treyarch had announced last week that Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War would require 50-250 GB at launch depending on modes and installing an extra graphics pack for “Ultra RTX” settings, according to the original chart below.

If Blinkclick Games wanted to make the most relaxing management game possible, they’ve certainly picked the right subject matter with their upcoming Fishkeeper.

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Kinetic Games, the one-person studio behind smash-hit co-op ghost hunting game Phasmophobia is 'reconsidering' its development plans - which had initially only called for a short early access period - as a result of the game's huge success.

Phasmophobia's developer, who goes by the name of Dknighter, released the horror game onto Steam back in September, but despite humble expectations for the project, it quickly proved a hit. "I was planning for the server capacity hitting a maximum of 500 players on launch day and it to drop off from there," Dknighter told IGN, "Now the game has over 2 million sales, with a player peak of around 90k"

Phasmophobia's meteoric rise has ultimately forced a bit of a rethink in terms of how development will proceed. "I was originally planning the early access to be short, where I just add a few more maps, ghost types and equipment," Dknighter explained, "However, due to the game's popularity, everyone's expectations are increased so I am going to have to reconsider my plans for the game's future."

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