Blog: The hidden art of pacing - Part 1
A three-part trip that aims to bridge the gap between writers and designers by breaking down conventional structures, removing standard features, and exchanging techniques. ...
A three-part trip that aims to bridge the gap between writers and designers by breaking down conventional structures, removing standard features, and exchanging techniques. ...
Chinese developer miHoYo has today announced that Genshin Impact, an upcoming free-to-play open-world action-RPG, will launch for PS4 on Sept. 28, alongside PC and mobile versions.
Further, the article listed two pieces of PlayStation exclusive bonus content: The Sword of Descension, and the Wings of Descension. The former is apparently an impressive AOE weapon that boosts attack damage, while the latter is an exclusive glider that’ll help players traverse the landscape quickly.
For the unitiated, Genshin Impact takes players to the fantasy landscapes of Teyvat, a distincitly Zelda Breath of the Wild-looking land ruled by seven elemental gods known as the Archons. Players will take on the role of the “Traveler,” embarking on a journey to find out what has happened to their lost sibling and unveils mysterious secrets about this unknown land along the way.
Capcom has shared details on Monster Hunter World: Iceborne's fifth and final free update, Title Update 5. Scheduled to release September 30, the patch will introduce yet another Elder Dragon to hunt, along with new gear to craft and a new in-game event to enjoy.
As detailed during today's Developer Diary stream, Title Update 5 will introduce the Elder Dragon Fatalis to Iceborne. Defeat the powerful monster and you'll be able to craft new gear, weapons, and a special costume out of the materials it drops.
In addition to Fatalis, Title Update 5 will bring a new Event Quest. This one will send players off to hunt an Arch-Tempered version of Velkhana. You can take a look at the Iceborne roadmap below.
Continue Reading at GameSpotOnly one team wouldn’t be overrated in the number one spot in Madden 21 and that’s the underrated Kansas City Chiefs. Don’t get me wrong, the Saints are still fantastic, but they should not be the best team overall. They’re probably the most balanced team but are certainly not the best.
With an aging QB in Drew Brees, it’ll be interesting to see if he maintains his high level of play throughout yet another season. In reality, his deep balls have noticeably lost power and accuracy. Yet, he has a deep pass accuracy stat of 89 in Madden 21.
If his accuracy drops off in reality it’s likely that his stats in Madden will also decline. And if that’s the case, then I doubt that an offense run by backup Taysum Hill will get anywhere near the 96 rating that their offense is currently at.
Full Steam copy of the game
Soundtrack
Completely new full soundtrack
Same Stronghold atmosphere and epic battle feeling, but with a completely new set of instruments and historical inspirations
Created by fan-favourite series composer Robert Euvino, who has scored every Stronghold game to date
Based on music Japanese, Chinese, Cambodian, Mongolian and Vietnamese culture
Taking influence from musicians like Yo-Yo Ma and master Shakuhachi players
Cover a wide geographical area and hundreds of years of history
Available in high quality original format
Art Book
Over thirty pages of original Stronghold artwork from the game's artists
Everything from 2D concepts and character models to in-game renders, environmental illustrations and more
Includes key art created by polish artist Mariusz Kozik
When you ask Ubisoft fans what games they'd love to see return one day, chances are that more UbiArt the Prince of Persia series falls somewhere on their list. While 2008's rendition wasn't everyone's cup of tea, the reboot is remembered for its gorgeous stylized graphics and satisfying traversal that the series is known for.
Join Andrew Reiner, new hire Jason Guisao, and me as we return to the stylish sands of 2008's Prince of Persia.
We went live earlier but you can watch the full archive of the stream above! If you can't get enough of our live shows, remember to subscribe on YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, and Facebook to get notified when we go live each week!
We're about to enter the final week of Destiny 2's Solstice of Heroes event, which means time is running out to earn your special Solstice armor and to knock out key Moments of Triumph. It's a good time to visit weekend vendor Xur and rifle through his offerings of Exotic weapons and armor to get yourself the tools you need. Head to Titan to find Xur this week, on The Rig. For his weapon, Xur is offering Sunshot. Hunters can pick up the Gwisin Vest chest armor; for Titans, there's the Actium War Rig chest armor; and for Warlocks, Xur has the Contraverse Hold gauntlets.
Find Xur by spawning in on The Rig on Titan and heading north and east, along the edge of the area and around the building near the transmat zone. You'll need to go left and under some walkways, through an area populated by Fallen. On the far side, look for a low building to your left, near the edge of the area. Xur is hanging out in the shadows within.
Continue Reading at GameSpot
Seeing as not many people played Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning in the first place, let’s just pretend that the impending remaster is a brand new game. Forget that it came out in 2012. Forget that it flopped. Forget that it took its creators down with it. Forget that this all made a disappointed John Walker shout “Why didn’t everyone play Kingdoms Of Amalur?!” Breathe in, breathe out, and… we’re a clean slate.
Oh hey look, here comes the first so-called “gameplay trailer” for Kingdoms Of Amalur: Re-Reckoning, which might look a fair bit like another World Of Warcraft-esque MMORPG but is actually a singleplayer game. That could be neat!
Two Genshin Impact PS4 exclusive items and a pre-order promotion bundle have been revealed ahead of its September launch.
The post Genshin Impact PS4 Exclusives and Pre-order Bundle Announced appeared first on Siliconera.
Nintendo of Japan released a new gameplay overview video for Pikmin 3 Deluxe this week, and while it's not the most substantial update for folks who have played the original version on Wii U (another exclusive bites the dust), if for no other reason, you should watch it to see some super cute illustrations.
I wasn't so sure I'd want to pay sixty bucks for Pikmin 3 again with the Deluxe version on Nintendo Switch, but the closer we get to its October 30 launch, the more this double-dip feels inevitable.
Even if the price stings, the inclusion of two-player co-op in the main story mode and not having to unpack my Wii U to revisit this game means I'll probably get it on Switch – and knowing how much I love Pikmin and how much Nintendo hates putting its games on sale, I'll probably show up day one.
I can't be helped. I'm that much of a sucker for split-screen co-op games.
Evil Genius 2: World Domination, the Rebellion-developed sequel to Elixir Studios' cult-classic management sim, will no longer release this year as originally announced, and is now expected to arrive on PC in the first half of 2021.
For those unfamiliar with the series, the original Evil Genius released back in 2004 (its developer, Elixir Studios, was founded by former Lionhead and Bullfrog alumni Demis Hassabis) and cast players, appealingly, as an international super villain intent on global domination.
In real terms, that meant an enjoyable, wonderfully campy experience focussed primarily on base building and defense, with players carving out an underground lair for their villainous machinations, bossing around minions, and simultaneously attempting to stave off attack from do-gooders determined to thwart their evil schemes.
The truly lackluster comic book movie was better left in limbo
The Elder Scrolls is a fantasy universe that has long been celebrated for its deep and compelling lore, and Skyrim is perhaps its most lauded and popular chapter.
More than just offering players enormous open-worlds to explore, its stories, characters, landmarks, and nomenclature combine to create a high fantasy role-playing experience only rivaled today by the very best of the genre — even 10 years after Skyrim’s original launch!
By this point, fans are likely to have embarked on countless adventures across Skyrim. But how well do you actually know the lore of the game? Can you really call yourself a true Dovahkiin if you don’t know your Daedras from Draugrs?
Here we’re giving you a chance to test your Skyrim knowledge in a 20-question trivia to determine whether you deserve the honor of being named Dragonborn.
And if you enjoyed this quiz, we have a bunch more right here for you.
Edebiri will also join the Big Mouth writer’s room for season 5
Ikenfell has a release date! Find out what's going on at this magical academy and look for your missing sister in October.
The post The Ikenfell Release Date Is October 8, 2020 (Update) appeared first on Siliconera.
There's a brand new Ni no Kuni game in the works, and it puts an interesting spin on the acclaimed anime RPG series. Titled Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds, this is an MMORPG. And it's releasing on mobile devices. And it's only in Japan.
Hey, where are you going?!
Despite all those caveats -- caveats that ensure the vast majority of you will never play this -- Cross Worlds has an intriguing approach. According to this translation from Gematsu, this Ni no Kuni puts you in the role of a beta tester on a VR game. You discover that the real world and Ni no Kuni's world are connected, and you have to travel between the two to rebuild the kingdom. If you're successful, you'll save both realms from ruin.
None of that really speaks to how Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds is an MMO though. It also doesn't really offer any explanation as to how the game works. It sure looks nice, though.
Ni no Kuni's mobile efforts actually outpace the PC/console games now. This will be the third Ni no Kuni title for smartphones in Japan. However, it's the first to try something as ambitious as an MMORPG bent.
Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds is being developed by Netmarble and published by Level-5. It'll launch on iOS and Android devices in Japan sometime in 2020. If that goes successfully enough, maybe it'll find its way west at some point.
Enjoy these flower-goat-leg-corset things
Over two years have passed since the initial reveal of Starfield by Bethesda at E3 2018, but the game remains mostly mysterious.
Today Bethesda hosted a livestream to celebrate the online version of Gamescom, and the German community managers quizzed public relations vice president Pete Hines on the status of Starfield.
Hines mentioned that the reveal is still a while away, but he believes that we’ll think it was worth the wait when it finally happens.
“Look, my life would be a lot easier […] if we were ready to show and talk about what the team is working on. Anybody can do marketing when the game is ready to show, right? Just show the game.
If the game is not ready to show, there is not a whole lot we can do until it’s ready. I don’t know, what do you want from me? I can’t make it up.”
“The only thing that I can tell you is that when we finally get around it, when we finally get around to talk what it’s up to, I think you will be impressed. I think you will be excited. I think you will say “That looks like it’s worth the wait.
But we’ll see. It’s gonna be a while til we get there.”
Unfortunately, we don’t know much about Starfield just yet. Last year, Bethesda game studios director and executive pèroducer Todd Howard provided a few hints at E3 2019, but we’re still mostly in the dark.
Best Buy's Deals of the Day usually sprinkle in a gaming deal or two, but it's rare that the entire offering of daily deals is catered toward those who play games. Today's one of those days, however: Best Buy is discounting games, accessories, and hardware on its Deals of the Day page. Less than 24 hours remain to take advantage of the markdowns, however, so don't wait if anything catches your eye.
The spotlight deal features the Asus ROG Strix G15 15.6-inch gaming laptop, which is $120 off at $880 today. It comes with 8GB of RAM and a 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10750H processor, plus an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card and 144 Hz refresh rate. You can also save $100 on a pre-built gaming PC from iBuyPower that comes with 16GB of RAM and an Intel i9-10900K processor along with an Nvidia RTX 2070 Super graphics card. It's down to $1,500 today.
Several games feature in the sale as well, including a Switch download code for Cuphead for just $15, Halo: The Master Chief Collection (Xbox One) for $20, and Rocket League: Ultimate Edition (PS4, Xbox One) for $17.
Continue Reading at GameSpotThis episode of New Releases has a double dose of sports, thanks to Madden NFL 21 and Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions. You can also work together as a team in Surgeon Simulator 2 and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Remastered Edition. Meanwhile, the first episode of narrative adventure game Tell Me Why debuts this week.
Available on: PS4, Switch, iOS, Android
After a delay, this GameCube remaster is just a few weeks away. The re-release has better graphics, new music arrangements, and even some additional dungeons. What's more, there will be a demo on day one that'll let you explore three full dungeons with players who own the full game.
Continue Reading at GameSpotDoom Eternal is getting a hefty story expansion called The Ancient Gods, and we got our first extended look at Gamescom Opening Night Live. If you'd like to intervene in a heavenly conflict even though you don't own the full game, that option is open too. Ancient Gods will be a standalone expansion that you can buy a la carte.
“When we look at how many people have played through the game we have a large percentage--higher than 2016--that have completed it, so you're always looking at that and seeing how far players make it through your game," executive producer Marty Stratton told PCGamesN. "It's important as we want the DLC to reach as many people as possible. In fact, you don’t even need to own Doom Eternal to buy the DLC and play it."
Aside from not needing to own the game, his comments confirm that you can play the Ancient Gods without having finished the campaign. As he says, the studio is looking to make it available to as wide a player base as possible.
Continue Reading at GameSpotTime loop games seem to be all the rage right now don’t they? You’ve got stuff like Arkane’s Deathloop and Luis Antonio’s 12 Minutes, and now the upcoming FPS Lemnis Gate, which we saw a shiny new trailer for during Gamescom Opening Night Live. It’s a strategic first-person shooter in which players duke it out across five turns which each take place in a 25-second time loop. It sounds… different, and it looks kinda cool. Check out the new trailer for yourself below.
Three-way mega-battle FPS MMO PlanetSide 2 is about to unveil another big update. The Shattered Warpgate will introduce hazardous storms to one of its maps and some new equipment, but most importantly, a campaign.
Its big update back in March, Escalation, bought thousands of players back, but where that was focused largely on organised groups of experienced players, Rogue Games’ Andy Sites declared that “our goal for The Shattered Warpgate was to improve the experience for a much broader audience”. Central to that goal is a series of campaign missions, and a host of smaller side quests that will reward more of PlanetSide’s many playstyles, even if all you’re interested in is driving around for a while.
These Kaworu and Shinji Nendoroids wear matching plugsuits, will both launch in May 2021, and may be worthy of your grace.
The post The New Kaworu and Shinji Nendoroids Wear Matching Plugsuits appeared first on Siliconera.
Layers of Fear developer Bloober Team has finally confirmed that, yes, its striking sci-fi horror revamp, Observer System Redux, will be making its way to Steam alongside the previously announced next-gen console releases. And in equally pleasing news, there's a big discount for existing users, and a limited-time demo of the upgraded experience is out today.
The original version of Observer released back in 2017, and delivered a compelling blend of dystopian murder mystery and surreal, visually arresting, horror.
Set almost exclusively in a dilapidated Kraków apartment block, populated by some extremely odd tenants, players are cast as Observer detective Daniel Lazarski (voiced by the late Rutger Hauer) on the hunt for his estranged son. The deeply atmospheric end result is part methodically paced investigation adventure, and part breathless hallucinatory nightmare, with players able to enter the minds of witnesses in search of clues.
has kicked off, though of course it’s not exactly taking place in a crowded hall in Germany this year. The Indie Arena booth has adapted somewhat like other virtual offerings the A Maze festival and Devolverland Expo from earlier in the FakE3 summer. The Indie Arena is now a quite neat browser MMO where you can check out trailers and demos for a huge harvest of 185 indie games while walking around the colorful virtual show floor.
Yesterday, Activision revealed Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War via a live event in their hit battle royale, Warzone. In squads of four, players had to kill five enemies, loot a code from a dead body, find a hidden crate, and collect a blueprint from Woods, the iconic Black Ops hero.
It was more than a simple mission that sent you running around Verdansk, however. It was a presentation; a visual and interactive spectacle that showed off the power Warzone can have.
The screen would shake, mysterious voices shouted around you, and planes flew above as teams scrambled to complete the checklist. It showcases that Warzone can be more than a game. Activision can use it as a marketing tool, engaging players and building hype in a way that few games have or ever could.
Every year on August 29th, people playing Deadly Premonition 2 can go through an event honoring victims of Hurricane Katrina.
The post Deadly Premonition 2 August 29th Event Honors Hurricane Katrina Victims appeared first on Siliconera.
Have any room in your life for a city-builder? What about a modern take on an old classic? Dotemu and Triskell Interactive are bringing back Impressions Games' 1999 Egypt builder Pharaoh in 2021.
The announcement trailer is light on gameplay – stick around until the final seconds for a glimpse – but we've got a pair of screenshots for Pharaoh: A New Era in the gallery below that you can pick apart.
This "Ultra HD remake" was created with "all-new code" and it's also promising a revamped UI and "improved mechanics." Content-wise, Pharaoh: A New Era covers the base game and the Cleopatra: Queen of the Nile expansion, so it's going to be a huge time-sink with 50-plus missions.
Some of these late-'90s PC remakes have a way of feeling slightly "off," for lack of a better word. There isn't much to go on yet for Pharaoh, and I'm hopeful it won't fall into that same trap – I dig the 2D art.
Do any of you have a soft spot for the original? I always meant to try Zeus.
Pharaoh: A New Era [Steam]
Read more...
Insomniac has confirmed today that Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart will have two different modes, one running in 4k at 30 frames per second and the other mode running in “lower resolution” at 60 frames per second.
During a Monster Hunter World: Iceborne livestream from Capcom, the team announced the fifth free (and final) title update which will add Fatalis to the game, a very powerful elder dragon that initially appeared in the first Monster Hunter title.
The update will add a special assignment that will bring players face to face with the Black Dragon but you can only start the quest once you finish up Iceborne’s campaign, which can take some time –you also have to wrap up the Alatreon investigation.
And of course, with the new monster to fight comes a brand-new armor set for players to craft, which you can see in the gallery down below. There’s also a really adorable Palico outfit that turns your feline partner into a miniaturized version of Fatalis.
There’s also a new skill being added to the game with this update called Clutch Claw Boost, allowing any type of weapon users to take full advantage of the claw’s features. So if you have some space for an extra skill, this could prove to be advantageous for certain monster fights.
You can also check out the Iceborne roadmap for the rest of 2020. This new title update will be out on Oct 1, there’s a 1 year anniversary event quest starting on Sep 5, and there’s also some other fun stuff like the Astera Fest/Seliana Fest Rush.
You can watch the Fatalis reveal trailer down below and the developer diary video that goes into detail on all of the new content that’s coming.
Intel are holding their annual Gamer Days deals bonanza at the moment, and there are buckets of savings to be had on all manner of Intel-based desktops, laptops and processors. Running from now until September 6th, I’m still working my way through all the many hundreds of deals on offer, but this one from Newegg immediately caught my eye. It’s an Intel Core i7-10700K and RTX 2060 Super desktop PC from ABS, and it’s currently got a whopping $800 shaved off its price to take it down to a very agreeable $1300. That’s a saving of 38%.
That’s not all, either, as there are also savings to be had on individual processors as well, plus lots of CPU and motherboard combo deals. Read on for the best of the bunch.
Today Bandai Namco released Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions in North America and Europe, and the publisher is celebrating with a launch trailer.
The trailer includes what you would expect, and that is plenty of epic anime soccer including many of the well-known Captain Tsubasa characters. Basically, it’s 1.5 minutes of pure fanservice.
You can watch it below.
If you want to see more of Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions, you can read our review.
Monster Hunter: World will get its fifth and final major update in October featuring the long-awaited face-off against the powerful black dragon Fatalis.