Analysis: Xbox Demo Fest blasts off
So the Xbox One†s pre-release demo event is currently running, and hopefully some of you have checked it out - here's a run-down and analysis (alongside other game discovery news.) ...
So the Xbox One†s pre-release demo event is currently running, and hopefully some of you have checked it out - here's a run-down and analysis (alongside other game discovery news.) ...
In a recent interview, Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda revealed that Project Athia will be an open-world game.
The post Square Enix’s Project Athia Will Be an Open World Game appeared first on Siliconera.
Some parents are really invested in their kids’ report cards or success in extracurricular activities. Othercide offers a different kind of parental pride as you command a small army of warrior Daughters armed with giant swords and sleek revolvers they can use to slice, bash, and blast through a menagerie of Lovecraftian horrors. But this is more than an outlet for such dreams of blood-drenched parenthood, though. Othercide is also the best turn-based tactics game of the year so far.
With the help of a mysterious figure called the Red Mother, Othercide puts you in charge of a darkly ethereal realm called the Inner Void from which you summon Daughters – echoes of whatever the Mother used to be – to stop the coming of an eldritch entity known as Suffering. Similar to 2018’s Into the Breach, this will require failing and going back in time over and over until you manage to get it right. Each successive “Remembrance” allows you to carry over a currency called Shards from your previous run, so I never felt like I was having to start from square one. Failure is an expected and essential part of progression.
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Once I realized that death was never really the end, it could sometimes feel a bit too forgiving, though. Shards are used to activate unlocked bonuses on a per-run basis like increased health and damage, and even the ability to skip bosses you’ve already defeated. While there is a satisfying sense of progression, I usually earned so many shards per run that I didn’t have to make interesting decisions about how to spend them. I could activate all of the bonuses I’d unlocked at once.
For nearly two and a half decades, Nintendo fans have been trying to verify that Mario’s brother Luigi was somehow hidden away in the files of Nintendo 64 classic Super Mario 64. Thanks to this weekend’s so-called “Gigaleaks”, Luigi’s Mario 64 files have been verified, finally proving one of the longest-running gaming…
Not too many critters are leaving this month, so make sure to collect them
Stylish visual novel Necrobarista launched just last week but Route 59 are already brewing a second batch. The anime-inspired click and read ’em up will be getting several free DLC chapters to flesh out the stories of some characters you might have been curious about. The developers say they’re planning for these story additions, and some gameplay updates, to start rolling out later this year.
For anyone who’s ever watched a monster movie and thought “Hey, it would be pretty cool to be that monster,” the premise of Carrion is immediately appealing. It’s a power fantasy that has you going an utter rampage through an underground facility, terrorizing both armed and unarmed inhabitants along the way. Developer Phobia Game Studio is uncompromising in its approach to making Carrion as true to this fantasy as possible, and it makes for a game unlike any I’ve played thanks to a collection of truly excellent moments. Even when the novelty of grabbing a helpless scientist and slamming them all around a room, Hulk-style, wore off, Carrion’s puzzles and cerebral combat encounters still kept me thoroughly entertained. The monotony that lurks between them, however, is the real monster.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/23/the-first-14-minutes-of-carrion"]
If there’s one thing that Carrion nails, it’s the movement and abilities of its leading amorphous, multi mouthed, tentacled monstrosity. The monster has total freedom of movement, with its appendages automatically shooting out and pulling it toward whatever direction you point it in. It’s delightfully creepy to watch and there’s a great speed and fluidity to its movements, which is important because hit-and-run tactics are crucial when dealing with the more dangerous weapon-wielding enemies you’ll encounter.
I’ve played Halo: The Master Chief Collection off and on—more off than on—since it released in 2014. The serious connectivity issues that persisted well past launch were one thing, but the game also hit that fun wall all first-person shooters hit. Sometimes it takes months or years, but the run-of-the-mill players…
World of Warcraft’s 2020 expansion won’t come to consoles anytime soon
The Fairy Tail RPG will add Photo Mode, DLC characters Lyon, Levy, Lisanna, and Elfman on August 6, 2020.
The post Fairy Tail RPG Will Add Photo Mode Update, Lyon, Levy, Lisanna, and Elfman as DLC appeared first on Siliconera.
You might have had a good weekend—maybe played a video game and then moved to a different part of your home and played another game, because that’s quarantine, baby—but you probably didn’t have as good of a weekend as the developers of Fall Guys. The battle royale party game, which isn’t even out yet, shot to the top…
New ancestries appear in the Advanced Player’s Guide, which goes on sale July 30
Love in the Time of Corona...get it? Like the Gabriel García Márquez novel? Haha
Today publisher Versus Evil and developer Runwild Entertainment released a new trailer of their third-person co-op online action RPG Almighty: Kill Your Gods.
The trailer focuses on the massive Thunderhead Guardians, which are among the behemoths that we’ll find ourselves struggling against within the game.
On top of the trailer, we learn that the game has passed the publisher’s target for wishlisting on Steam.
Below you can read a comment by versus evil general manager Steve Escalante.
“Reception to Almighty: Kill Your Gods has been incredible and the Steam Wishlist goal we had originally set for the first month was exceeded in several days
This year’s line up of announcements from indies has been really inspiring but we’re humbled that fans have taken so well to Almighty: Kill Your Gods as they have.”
You can enjoy the trailer below.
Here’s how the developer describes Almighty: Kill Your Gods, which is coming for PC and unspecified “consoles” later this year. You can also watch the announcement trailer.
Playable comic book Liberated has looked pretty slick ever since I got my eyes on it. The developers at Atomic Wolf have explained during a digital Comic-Con presentation how they’ve achieved the stylish balance between digital comic and game, along with some of their inspirations. The cyberpunk noir game launches this week on July 30th, so we won’t have to wait long to see how this story ends.
Cryptic teasers from Infinity Ward reveal that an upcoming live event could drastically change the landscape of Warzone, including the demolition of the map’s worst landmark.
Writer Tom Cross parses out the complex blend of narrative and gameplay elements in StarCraft II for Gamasutra -- how are the characters and conversation related to the gameplay, and does it work well? ...
San Diego Comic-Con 2020 was an experiment to see if a convention could be moved entirely online during the novel coronavirus pandemic. The result was... mixed. There were a few things that worked about it, but overall the event was kind of a mess. With DC FanDome and other digital-only conventions on the horizon, the…
The COVID-19 outbreak didn’t slow down this year’s Pokemon GO Fest. While it took place virtually online rather than a public place for obvious pandemic related reasons this year, the event was incredibly popular still with fans.
Niantic shared some pretty bonkers numbers from over this past weekend while the event was active, where trainers from all over…:
Niantic is following up the event with a $10 million donation to various U.S. nonprofit organization that “that are helping local communities rebuild, in addition to funding new projects from Black gaming and AR creators that can live on the Niantic platform, with the ultimate goal of increasing content that represents a more diverse view on the world.”
Big time movie director and big time Pokemon GO fan Rian Johnson also made an appearance over the weekend also made an appearance over the weekend. He was last seen directing the commercial for this year’s Pokemon GO Fest, and spent some time talking about his work on said commercial.
Pokemon GO’s release back in July 2016 was the closest the human race ever got to achieving world peace as players from all over the world spent their time peacefully outside catching AR Pokemon.
While we didn’t quite achieve world peace, Pokemon GO is still very popular clearly, and still prints money for Niantic and Nintendo; that’s for certain.
Everyone’s rank will get a small reset when the new content launches
One drip of information in the deluge coming from Nintendo’s latest “Gigaleak” was source code and unused assets for Star Fox 2, including a never-before-seen human character. Completed in 1995, Nintendo shelved the game out of fear it’d look inferior to the next-gen graphics of the PlayStation. (The game was…
Warhammer 40,000: The App costs $4.99 per month, includes every codex
StarCraft II is officially ten years old and to celebrate, Blizzard is timing a slew of updates and improvements to coincide with the big milestone.
The most hyped up change from Blizzard are the improvements that are coming to the map editor. The map editor that players use to create custom games and campaigns is going to be made easier to use, and will contain new features to enhance the experience.
I’ll be honest, it’s a bit too technical for me to explain properly, but the patch notes for them are right here for those that are planning to dive in and give it a try. I’ll be waiting to play your work when you’re done making it.
What’s more my speed are the updates that are coming to Campaign, Multiplayer, and Co-op.
Every campaign mission, including the Nova DLC, will receive new achievements, challenging players to return to the campaign and collect them all.
Co-op commanders are receiving a new feature called Prestige Talents. This allows players to replay ranks 1-15 for any maxed out commander they have in return for a prestige talent that promise to change the way that you play with that commander.
Finally in the competitive realm, players will get two new quality of life improvements. A countdown timer will kick off each game instead games starting right after the the usually inconsistent loading bar fills up.
Also, players in custom lobbies will be able to select the server where the lobby is hosted from that menu. That last one is a low-key huge improvement for those that participate in leagues or practice with friends around the world.
Fans have been criticizing Halo Infinite’s graphics
Create your own designs, feel free to ignore the app
The fastest match in Overwatch League history took place over the weekend, with last year’s champions, the San Francisco Shock, beating the brakes off the Vancouver Titans in a blisteringly fast match that ran just 19 minutes and 23 seconds.
Plus, everything else Polygon watched this weekend
The box looks like an NES cartridge, of course
The line “respecting the legacy while adding fresh ideas” is one you hear almost verbatim about any series reboot, so it’s no surprise to hear something of a similar shade from Microsoft on the subject of Fable 4.
The next game is being developed by Playground Games of Forza Horizon fame, as former Fable makers Lionhead Studios were shut down in 2016. Microsoft are touting Playground’s experience with open world environments as part of what they’ll bring to the next Fable game. They also haven’t definitively shut down rumors that it’s an MMO, so do with that as you wish.
A John Denver Muppet Christmas album extra promises everything will be okay in the end
How did Sega's new Sakura Wars game happen? What was development like? We talked to three people behind the game in our Sakura Wars interview.
The post Sakura Wars Interview: Changing Genres, Localizing Old Entries and How a New Game Happened appeared first on Siliconera.
Welcome to Ask Kotaku, the new weekly feature in which Kotaku’s rank and file weigh in on the burning questions of our time. Each query is a crucible on which nerds and giants clash, monumental contests of wit, that...well, OK. It’s just another excuse to talk vidya games. You down?
A few days ago, well-known horror mangaka Junji Ito mentioned the possibility of a collaboration with Hideo Kojima during a video interview hosted by Comic-Con 2020.
The statement, delivered through a translator, hinted to the possibility of the collaboration on a horror game. Several media outlets reported the mention depicting it in a way that indicated that official talks were in progress between the two creators.
Today Ito-sensei took to Twitter to clarify.
According to the Tweet (aptly translated by Twitter user eigogamejikkyo, Ito-sensei mentioned that he responded lightly during the interview. A conversation with Kojima-san happened at a party, and the popular game developer mentioned that if an opportunity arises, he may ask for the mangaka’s collaboration. There is no actual negotiation or related project in the works, and Ito-sensei apologized to Kojima-san and to the fans that were misled into believing something solid was afoot.
Electronic Arts’ three-versus-three third-person online multiplayer shooter Rocket Arena begins its first season on July 28 alongside a steep discounted price for the game.
Season 1 will introduce the new hero Flux, a “science prodigy and cat lover” who uses alternative dimensions to hide from opponents with rockets that can bounce and are guided missiles. She will be free for players alongside two new maps: Grand Harbor and Lagoon of Doom.
The Ranked mode for Season 1 begins with 50 ranks earned by winning games, though losing often can decrease a player’s rank. A quit penalty for players who leave games will be implemented with Season 1.
The game will have a battle pass called the Blast Pass, which offers more than 100 cosmetic and other rewards for 950 Rocket Fuel, the game’s premium currency. A limited-time mode, Blast in Paradise, was also teased.
Were you a tie-dye T-shirt ’90s kid or a checkered Vans ’90s kid?
I adored my time exploring Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima, and said as much in my review of the game. It’s a somber and thoughtful exploration of war and suffering, with an incredibly gorgeous setting.
But it can also be pretty funny.
In one especially amusing moment that I captured, Jin Sakai follows the telltale yellow bird to a quiet cliff overlook, there to contemplate (of all things) the nature of defeat. As he kneels in silent contemplation, and the softly flowing chant music begins to swell, the view cuts to the nearby lake. There, in perfect view, a pair of Mongol warriors are hard at work attempting to take down a bear. The bear picks up one of the men, flings him into the lake, and the man never surfaces. The other Mongol warrior, in a fierce act of vengeance, proceeds to kill the bear. And then, after an all-too-brief moment of looking out over the water for his buddy, he gives up and just hangs out on the shore.
You can check out the brief but amusing exchange below.
Oh, and for the record, this is the actual haiku I composed in the game, in response to the unfolding scene:
Stillness of one’s mind
Warriors fall, birthed anew
Gasping for new life
In this GDC 2018 talk writers Cass Phillipps, Marisa Bell, Jon Ingold and Rachel Weber discuss and debate how to create great narratives for players of mobile games. ...
Over the weekend video game mystery lovers got treated to something special. Arguably one of the most famous gaming conspiracy theories, Super Mario 64’s L is Real 2401, kind of sort of was proven true on Sunday. Let’s back up and explain.
L is Real 2401, for those that have never heard of it or have forgotten, is an old gaming rumor/mystery that goes back to Super Mario 64.
In the castle courtyard near the entrance to Big Boo’s Haunt, there is a star statue with an inscription that many believe to read: “L is Real 2401.” Back in the day, this led gamers to believe that the L stood for Luigi and that somehow, he could be unlocked as a playable character.
All sorts of rumors and hoaxes would be floated in the years that followed about how to unlock Luigi, as was common place in the early years of the internet.
After nothing ever turned up, many started to come to the realization that it didn’t mean anything, or it was just there to torture fans. A supposed letter to a fan from Nintendo themselves may even have confirmed the latter years ago.
Still, in spite of the fact of Luigi not being playable in Super Mario 64, it was a fun rumor that piqued the curiosity of gamers for many years.
Well… that was the narrative until yesterday.