You’ve played Mario Kart on your phone, on a GameBoy, on a home console at even at a local arcade. Now, you can play Mario Kart using weird plastic toys in your living room and annoy your cats at the same time.
Amazon Prime Day is fast approaching, and other big retailers are lining up to compete with their own concurrent sales events. Those Anti-Prime Day sales include Target's Deal Days sale and Best Buy's early Black Friday sale, but Walmart's Big Save event is going a different route by starting early. It has already begun and will run through October 15.
The Big Save Event page is loaded with deals on everything from housewares to clothes. We've rounded up some of the biggest and best deals below, and we'll be updating as more become available throughout the week. Those include some big discounts on Nintendo Switch first-party games as well as hefty discounts on movies.
Unlike Prime Day, which requires you have an Amazon Prime subscription, Walmart's sale is open to all customers. You can pick up your purchases in-store or get free two-day shipping on any purchases over $35. While not required to get the most out of the Big Save Event, Walmart recently launched its own subscription service called Walmart+. You can check out see how the service stacks up against Amazon Prime if you're considering becoming a member.
How do you celebrate the eighth birthday of an MMO that technically still hasn’t been fully released? Why, you hold a Q&A to let fans know that its singleplayer spin-off is nowhere near coming out either, of course.
Over the weekend, the Star Citizen devs, Cloud Imperium, held a Q&A over on their forums as part of its birthday celebrations. Despite rules on the thread saying fans weren’t allowed to ask about “timelines or schedules”, that is exactly what they did. As it turns out, the story game set in its universe, Squadron 42, is still a long ways off.
Despite the proven staying presence of Crash Bandicoot in the UK Charts, this week sees Activision's Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time knocked from the number one spot after just one week by Electronic Arts' annual football release, FIFA 21.
But despite this seemingly mighty power play, GamesIndustry.biz notes that the FIFA series continues to see physical sales plummet year-on-year, with the 2021 edition down 43% on physical launch sales on last year's FIFA 20. It's also possible that some fans will be holding off for the next-gen version of FIFA 21, which is set to launch later this year.
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re going to get a taste of Zuntata, Taito’s legendary in-house music team, by way of one of its most distinctive talents.
Atlus will hold a Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster live stream on October 26, 2020, to mark the imminent Japanese release.
The post SMT3 Nocturne HD Remaster Japan Pre-Release Stream Set for October 26 appeared first on Siliconera.
One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4's new screenshots give us a first look at the foxfire samurai Kin'emon from Wano Country.
The post One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 Screenshots for Upcoming DLC Character Kin’emon appeared first on Siliconera.
Spellbreak, the spell-slinging fantasy-themed battle royale, is finally out of early access. Naturally, the next step is seasonal updates, which developer Proletariat is ready to talk about.
Teased via a new trailer, the 1.0 edition of the game will be updated on October 22, at which point the "Prologue: The Gathering Storm" edition will hit. Billed as a "major" update, clash mode (team deathmatch) will be the big highlight, as well as new talents, cosmetics and items. It'll be free, naturally.
Digging in, clash will be framed as a 9v9 team deathmatch gametype with squads of three. The cosmetic side is also themed around Halloween, with extras as in-depth as afterglows and emotes in addition to outfits (skins). Variety is something Spellbreak sorely needs, so a new mode should hopefully keep people playing without cannibalizing queue times.
You can also find the basic rundown below, straight from the developer.
Alongside numerous hackers, players in Call Of Duty: Warzone have had to contend with a new exploit which granted infinite healing. How fun! Players who used the Stim item could repeatedly juice up, letting them live in the deadly gas and wait while everyone else blasted each other to death. Good news, though, Infinity Ward have fixed the issue which should mean no more immortal gas dwellers.
Level-5 has been a beloved institution in my household since the year 2000.
Dark Cloud absolutely mesmerized me in a way that many games before it never could. Ever since then the company has been on my radar, and I've truly kept up with them. Professor Layton was a marvel back in the unstoppable era of the DS, and even their oddball spinoffs and niche titles thrilled me on occasion.
Once Ni No Kuni came into the spotlight though Level-5 expanded their dominion even further outside of Japan. But recent years haven't been so kind. Level-5 really pushed hard for Yo-Kai Watch to take off in the west and become the next Pokémon, but it never really happened: and its success in Japan dwindled in recent years. Inheriting Comcept, the troubled developer of Mighty No. 9, also hasn't done them any favors.
Haven developer The Game Bakers have detailed in a new PlayStation Blog post how the gameplay of its PS5 co-op RPG game will function. Described as a Romeo and Juliet tale that features star-crossed lovers on the run, how Haven will play was broken up into three core categories by creative director Emeric Thoa: Exploration through gliding, combat, and preparing for your next adventure on a distant planet.
Exploration involves following a "Flow Thread," that is designed to feel relaxing, beautiful, and fun while also emphasizing the feeling of being a couple in Haven. By gathering Flow energy players can clean the planet up of the corruptive Rust influence that has blighted the land and discover resources that can be used to repair the Nest spaceship and base of operations, collectible items, and materials to help out during combat sequences.
Combat is also a cooperative experience that requires players to support and defend the characters of Yu and Kay when they encounter Rust-afflicted creatures, coordinating with one another in a tag-team effort that weakens an enemy and leaves it open for a heavy attack.
Among Us developer Innersloth recently announced it was cancelling plans for a sequel in order to work on the original game, and it seems the first of those changes are already being introduced in the Among Us beta's October update - with players spotting a number of additions that could make the deduction process rather more challenging.
There are no official patch notes, but the community has noticed a number of changes that should make a significant difference to the way group decisions are made (thanks AOTF). You can now choose to make votes anonymous, which means nobody will know who voted for who during a meeting - and should make it harder to root out imposters. You can also change when the task bar appears during a game, from the default setting of "always" to "meetings" (meaning it will only appear during meetings) or "never". This should make things far more stressful for legitimate crewmates, as it allows imposters to lie about the number of tasks remaining.
As promised in a recent blog post, Innersloth is also introducing some changes to make the game more colour blind-friendly, and so the wires task has been altered to display shapes rather than making players rely on colour alone.
Fans of the Gallifreyan time-lord Doctor Who will be pleased to hear that another digital escapade is headed to PC and console platforms early next year. Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality is a joint production of BBC Studios, Just Add Water, and Maze Theory.
Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality is described as a re-imagined version of 2019 VR release Doctor Who: The Edge of Time. The new game will see the 13th doctor (Jodie Whittaker) team up with the tenth doctor (David Tennant) in a continuation of The Edge of Time's generation-hopping adventure.
While the above teaser trailer offers nothing, essentially, The Edge of Reality promises fans the opportunity to leap through a variety of locations, traveling in the TARDIS, solving puzzles, wielding the legendary Sonic Screwdriver, and tackling pants-wettingly scary adversaries such as the Cybermen, The Weeping Angels and, of course, The Daleks.
The Weeping Angels in VR?.. Good lord...
Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality will launch spring 2021 on PS4, PC, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
This weekend, a Japanese porn maker Soft on Demand opened what it calls “an adult theme park” in Tokyo. Perhaps 2020 isn’t exactly the best time, no?
If you've been playing the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War beta, which was in open form over the weekend on PlayStation 4, then you'll probably have an opinion on the new Cartel multiplayer map.
Cartel is set in the jungles of Nicaragua where, as you'd expect from the name of the map, a remote cartel compound is housed.
As people have got stuck into Cartel over the weekend, one aspect of its design has sparked an interesting debate: the bushes.
SMGs in Warzone have been extremely powerful from day one. Built for speed both in their handling and how quickly they can drop an enemy to the ground, SMGs have always been very nearly as popular as Assault Rifles when it comes to premade Warzone loadouts.
Our Best SMG in Warzone guide will walk you through the stats of all the SMGs on offer in Season 6, before divulging our personal take on the very best and very worst SMGs that Warzone has to offer.
Like many other old school collectors, I frequently lament the lack of full-color, detailed manuals in the current climate. The rush of cracking open a new game and reading the entire manual first is something a lot of people will likely never experience in their lifetime.
That said, naturally, there's a lot of waste involved with manuals. A lot of folks aren't quite as giddy about a piece of paper slipped into their game case; and not having to print or design them saves game studios some cash. It's very easy to see why they were phased out, but that doesn't mean they still can't be a niche product.
In addition to all of the collector's editions and companies like Limited Run that keep print media alive, artist Rowan Fox-Noble crafted their own "Super Mario 3D All-Stars Manual." What does it entail? Well, it's a lot like the manuals of old. It's 44-ages, with sections for the main game, Mario 64, Sunshine and Galaxy. It also provides a soundtrack list, as well as controls for each individual game and what each power-up does.
Most importantly, it provides star checklists! This thing is incredible. You can find the listing over on Etsy, where Fox-Noble is offering a week-one discount. For reference, they create several other "companion booklets" for other Switch games.
Knowing the very best guns in Warzone like the back of your hand is a key skill in Modern Warfare’s uber-popular Battle Royale mode – and we’re here to help you hone that skill. Below you’ll find our tried and tested Warzone weapon tier list, along with detailed explanations and tips on the very best guns in Season 6 of Warzone.
Rez is absolutely timeless.
I can't believe it came out in 2001, but the even crazier realization is that so many powers that be have kept this classic alive for so long. It easily could have died on the Dreamcast and PS2, becoming an urban legend: the sort of $150 disc that's passed around in whispers at tradeshows. Instead it got a new lease on life in 2016 on the PS4 with the Infinite edition. The rest is history.
This one is here to stay.
Late last week, a gem-mint first-edition shadowless holographic Charizard #4 from 199 sold for $183,812 at Iconic Auctions. With the twenty percent buyer’s premium, the grand total was over $220,000. This is the highest price ever paid for this Charizard card.
Tomorrow sees the official launch of epic adventure sequel Torchlight III, which is finally ready to open its dungeon doors after spending the past few months in Early Access.
Publisher Perfect World Entertainment has released a lengthy overview video to showcase the sequel's classes, customisable forts, skillsets and - most importantly - pets. Whether you enter the dungeon armed with crossbow, blunderbuss, or axe, accompanied by dog, wolf, owl, or... erm... alpaca, many monster-filled floors of high-adventure and glorious looting action awaits.
Torchlight III launches tomorrow, October 13, on PS4, PC, and Xbox One. It will arrive on Nintendo Switch later in 2020.
Dell have started their so-called “Semi-Annual Sale” this week, with up to 40% off their Alienware gaming monitors and 12-14% off their gaming laptops and desktops. It’s one of the many alternative sales taking place this week to combat [cms-block] (which starts tomorrow), and there are already some great deals to be had here, including almost £100 off their 25in, 240Hz AW2521HFL gaming monitor, and just over £200 off an RTX 2070 Super desktop and monitor combo. Read on below for my deal highlights.
The SP-R 208 is the newest piece of gear added to the Marksman Rifle category in Call of Duty: Warzone, and it’s an absolute treat. Fans of the Kar98k will immediately fall in love with this weapon, as it boasts massive damage at pretty much all ranges, as well as a great deal of customisation potential. For this reason, it can be tough to kit it out optimally, so here’s our in-depth SP-R 208 loadout guide to help you get the best possible kit on this exciting new marksman rifle.
Genshin Impact is already pretty packed for a free game, but a recent blog post from developer and publisher miHoYo sheds some light on what's in the pipeline.
According to the post, miHoYo is aiming for updates "every six weeks," with patches arriving on Wednesdays. The studio says that patches won't just be technical fixes and the like either, as each will come "with its own themed activities."
We'll get the first one on November 11, which will add the Unreconciled Stars event. On December 23 the next update will follow suit, adding a brand new area (Dragonspine) and extra content. In February of 2021, a Lantern Rite event is a go. Presumably, the "six weeks" format will continue after that.
Smaller quality of life changes are also coming to Genshin Impact, like the ability to track the stuff you find in the game with a compendium-like tool and quick-use items. Truth be told I'm fairly content with how the actual game works foundationally; it would just be great to have more activities to do between leveling.
Genshin Impact [miHoyo]
Yakuza: Like a Dragon is the best and worst game to try and preview.
On the one hand, there are questions – about the new protagonist, the shift to JRPG combat, and the English VO – that people want answered. On the other, Yakuza is a go-at-your-own-pace sorta series, the kind that lets you obsess over dramatic big-picture moments while also immersing yourself, for hours on end, in surprisingly in-depth management sim mini-games and silly one-off side stories.
Trying to convey everything I want to convey within the confines of a particularly-worded NDA – using a save file that starts with Chapter 5, "five to seven hours into an average playthrough" – will be tricky.
Yesterday saw the eighth anniversary of celebrated adventure series Bravely Default. In lieu of any actual news, publisher Square Enix simply tweeted out the announcement that new info pertaining to anticipated sequel Bravely Default II would be coming "soon."
In addition, Square also released a cute sketch of series heroes Ringabel and Edea Lee, as realised by artist Naoki Ikushima. You can check out the artwork and Square's succinct message in the tweet below.
Bravely Default launched on Nintendo 3DS in Japan on October 11, 2012, before heading west in expanded form in 2013. The series has since seen the release of tie-in in manga and drama CDs, alongside browser game Praying Barge and spin-off release Bravely Second: End Layer.
Bravely Default II news coming soon [Gematsu]
Back when Genshin Impact was first announced last year, this lush open-world adventure bore some key similarities to Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Now, over a year on, Genshin Impact still hasn't shaken those comparisons, but since the release of 1.0 last week it's clear it's so much more than a free-to-play clone of Nintendo's finest. That's evident from the numbers alone: Genshin Impact is now the "biggest global launch of a Chinese game ever", and is currently on track to gross more than $100 Million in its first month alone.
Developer MiHoYo is no stranger to technically impressive free-to-play mobile titles, with a decent pedigree with titles like Honkai Impact 3rd, another action-focused game with gorgeous graphics, locked to mobile devices. Of course, how a company is able to put out high-budget games for free is that they rely on you spending money on in-game currency to get a lootbox for items and characters in the game. We've even seen Nintendo pull out their own "gacha" games in the form of Dragalia Lost and Fire Emblem: Heroes, but there's something different about Genshin Impact. Instead of having a lower budget game locked to mobile devices, MiHoYo has thrown a $100 Million budget at it, and come out with a fully-fledged AAA open-world RPG that's on console as well as mobile.
While there aren't too many new games being released for the PS4 as we move closer to the PS5 release, Sony's most downloaded games of September show some old favorites going strong. Although Rocket League only switched to a free-to-play model on September 23, it quickly rocketed to number one for the month.
As far as paid downloads, NBA 2K21 dominated the US PlayStation Store in September, joined by Marvel's Avengers, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, Madden 21, and Fall Guys. You can also check out the stats for the EU market here, which are slightly different.
However the free-to-play ranking is where it gets interesting--Rocket League sits at the top of the list, over newcomers Spellbreak and Genshin Impact, after only one week of being free. With Rocket League's Endo Starter Pack sitting in the top ten DLC purchases for the week, it looks like going free-to-play may have paid off for the quirky sports game.
Let’s travel back in time. To the distant year 2018.
We’re at peak Fortnite. Ninja urges a new year’s crowd to floss with him as rain beats down on his sodden bandana. Water seeps into his suit, into every fabric of his being. The flash of his smile is the only source of light, but it’s a bit too bright. He begins flossing. The sound of awkward shuffling blurs with the music. My eyes shatter into a thousand pieces.
During this was also the peak of game studios being like “Battle Royale equals money”, so along came Hi-Rez with Realm Royale. As you’d expect, players drop onto a map, there’s a ‘deadly fog’, yada yada. But you know what? This actually has a few fun twists on an overused formula, so much so, I consider it some of the most fun I’ve ever had with a Battle Royale game.
TV executives and creators alike are struggling to figure out how to make sure the show(s) goes on in the midst of a pandemic. For many, that’s meant putting a pin in things (for others, it’s meant just axing them despite existing renewal orders) and shifting season and midseason premieres to 2021. Network sitcoms…
