Today Paradox Interactive released a brand new and sizable video featuring several aspects of its upcoming grand strategy game Crusader Kings III.

The video is quite long and spans several aspects of the game, including religion, different culture, the giant map that spans most of the medieval world all the way to Africa and Asia, and a deep dive into the art.

We also hear about how players can customize and influence general rules that dictate things like gender and sexuality within the game and their realm.

You can watch it below. 

Crusader Kings III releases on September 1, 2020, exclusively for PC.

This is our first look at MAPPA’s work on the show

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Welcome back to another episode of a Jalopnik-approved workout, with me, Erica, as your tour guide to the town of Swoleville. I am assuming you are here for this advanced version of working out with your car because you did the first one so many times and its too easy now. I get it. But buckle up, because this time I…

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It’s another big PC gaming deals bonanza this week, as we’ve not only got GOG’s Summer Sale going on, but Ubisoft’s Legendary Sale is still going strong, as is Epic’s month of mega deals. Let’s not forget about Humble’s Cities Skylines bundle, either, where you’re able to grab the full game plus 11 DLC packs for under twenty quid. And that’s before we’ve even got to all the other deals happening this week, where you’ll find loads of Devolver games on sale, 10% off Monster Train, plus half price Yakuza, Civilization VI and a nice chuck off Disco Elysium. So let’s not stand around gawping. There are a lot of deals to get through.

Your phone’s camera is more powerful than ever, but it is far from foolproof. It’s always discouraging to think you’ve lined up the perfect shot, only to check your camera roll and discover you messed up something—your composition, your white balance, or who knows what—and you have captured a less-than-perfect…

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Developer Mojang Studios has confirmed that its recently released dungeon crawler Minecraft Dungeons will get some new DLC very soon. Across Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, Minecraft Dungeons is slated to received two pieces of content, with the first arriving sometime this July.

Jungle Awakens is Minecraft Dungeons' first piece of DLC. It will introduce three new missions, weapons, armor, and artifacts all within a distant jungle that houses some mysterious power. Additionally, Jungle Awakens will bring about new enemy types, including the Leapleaf, Jungle Zombie, Poison Quill Vine, and more.

Although Sony isn't planning on bringing PS5 exclusives to PS4 too, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan says that one of its upcoming exclusives, The Last of Us Part II, will run on the PS5, presumably at launch.

In an interview with CNET, Ryan confirmed that The Last of Us Part II will run without issue on Sony's next console. Although he made no mention of potential visual upgrades that could accompany the generational jump, he did confirm that the game as it launches next month will be playable on the PS5.

Ryan also mentions that The Last of Us Part II won't feature in the recently confirmed PS5 digital event on June 4, with the event focusing on games that will launch with the PS5 this holiday season, and during the months afterwards.

Prepare your wallet for a Third Impact from Oppo's Evangelion-themed Ace2 smartphone!

The post The Oppo Evangelion Smartphone Will Make a Third Impact on Your Wallet appeared first on Siliconera.

Ellie's hit list is long and blood-stained. Earlier this week, Naughty Dog treated us to 20 minutes of feel-bad brutalized carnage as Ellie ruthlessly murdered everyone within eyesight -- including a poor Vita owner. Her next victim? Your PlayStation 4's hard drive.

According to a reddit user (as reported by Twisted Voxel), The Last of Us Part II's install size is 78.3GB. That's just the raw download, and any day-one patches will push it higher. The minimum free space required is 100GB, so we've been expecting big and beautiful all along.

That's really big, but Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is like 6TB at this point. On one hand, a lot of people are only working with a 500GB PS4, so The Last of Us Part II will take up about 20 percent of that. On the other hand, it's the end of a console generation and of course game installs have swelled now that we're closer to PS5 than PS4. So, I guess this is a public service announcement. If you're playing The Last of Us Part II in June, make the necessary accommodations to rearrange your hard drive space.

The Last of Us Part II Takes 78GB of HDD space [reddit via Twisted Voxel]

In the past few days, an alarming headline has made the rounds: “Half of Fox News viewers think Bill Gates is using pandemic to microchip them, survey suggests.” This idea is nonsense, of course, but coronavirus conspiracy theories have spread almost like the virus itself across the meticulously calibrated algorithmic…

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June 1 marks the start of Play For All, GameSpot's summer gaming event and charity celebration. It's going to be an exciting month-plus of news and announcements, with numerous companies sharing details on their upcoming games, and Microsoft and Sony continuing to detail the Xbox Series X and PS5. But beyond that, a core component of Play For All will be our daily charity livestreams, which will feature fun guests from the games industry and media. Things get underway this coming Monday at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET, and we've got a great lineup for the week--here's what to look forward to.

To kick things off, we're sitting down with Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney and CTO Kim Libreri. We'll be discussing a variety of subjects, including Unreal Engine 5 and the future of gaming--along with some more eclectic topics that you'll definitely want to see for yourself.

Minecraft Dungeons, the new dungeon crawler Minecraft spin-off that puts adventuring, looting, and combat above building and crafting, is out now on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One (included in Xbox Game Pass), and Nintendo Switch. The newly renamed Mojang Studios has put a lot into expanding Minecraft's crossplay options over the years so that players can join up in cooperative multiplayer together across different platforms, but does the recently launched Minecraft Dungeons, co-developed by Double Eleven, also support the popular feature? Here's what we know about Minecraft Dungeons crossplay.

Does Minecraft Dungeons Support Crossplay?

No, Minecraft Dungeons does not support crossplay across PC, PS4, Xbox One, or Nintendo Switch--at least, not yet. According to the official FAQ for Minecraft Dungeons, you will only be able to play the game with other players on the same platform for now, but Mojang Studios is looking into "enabling cross-platform play in a future free game update."

However, Minecraft Dungeons still supports both local and online co-op with up to four players at launch, meaning you can still enjoy its multiplayer elements as long as it's on the same platform. But Mojang Studios does note that local co-op and online co-op cannot be played at the same time at launch--so you can either team up with friends locally or connect online, but not both at once.

‘We do believe in generations’

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This is a great week to revisit some games you may have already played. Mortal Kombat 11 is getting an action-packed epilogue with the Aftermath expansion, and Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition has new story content on Nintendo Switch as well. That's not the only game making a comeback on Switch, either. 2K is launching a trio of big game bundles: BioShock: The Collection, the Borderlands Legendary Collection, and the XCOM 2 Collection. The adventure continues in Minecraft Dungeons and Shantae and the Seven Sirens too.

Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath -- May 26

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch

Aftermath picks up right where the story left off, with Liu Kang setting out to create a new timeline. A new timeline is a great place to introduce new characters, and MK 11 is adding Fujin, Sheeva, and even Robocop, voiced by original actor Peter Weller. If you don't want to spend money on the new story and characters, good news: May 26 is also when a free update drops for all players. This adds new stages and brings back Friendships.

Ahead of its PlayStation 5 games reveal next week, Sony has shed more light on its next-gen transition plans, revealing that, counter to Microsoft's Xbox Series X strategy, it won't be making its PS5 games compatible with PlayStation 4.

Microsoft, of course, has pledged all its first-party Xbox Series X games will, for the console's first two years at least, be playable on existing Xbox One machines, albeit with additional bells and whistles for next-gen versions. According to Sony Interactive Entertainment's president and CEO Jim Ryan, however, that's not a strategy PlayStation plans to follow.

While Sony is now telling developers that new PS4 games must function on PlayStation 5, Ryan, speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, confirmed the company has no interest in making its PS5 games compatible with PS4. "We have always said that we believe in generations," he explained, "We believe that when you go to all the trouble of creating a next-gen console, that it should include features and benefits that the previous generation does not include."

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The fourth and final season for the popular anime Attack on Titan is coming this year and we finally have an action-packed trailer that will most definitely give you the “feels.”

If you didn’t know, Attack on Titan is set in a world where humanity lives in closed-off cities that are guarded by extremely tall stone walls that are meant to protect the citizens from the deadly, human-eating titans.

You can feast your eyes on the brand-new trailer down below and yes, that is Eren Yeager who is shirtless in the thumbnail:

And not only is the final season of Attack on Titan happening this year but there will be a new film called Attack on Titan: Chronicle that will recap the first three seasons of the anime series to prepare folks for the last season:

Ghost of Tsushima was one of 2020’s most anticipated games even before the excellent gameplay demonstration broadcasted during PlayStation’s State of Play last month. But now fans are really chomping at the bit, with even more questions about the game’s various mechanics and features.

To that end, Nate Fox and Jason Connell from developer Sucker Punch have joined PlayStation content communication manager Justin Massongill in a Q&A over on the PS Blog to answer the most burning of those questions.

Some of the key takeaways that stand out include the confirmation that there will be no karma system as there was in Sucker Punch’s acclaimed Infamous series. Regardless of how you play Jin –samurai or ghost–, his reputation amongst the locals will remain the same.

And for those who were disappointed with what they perceived as an over the top amount of knock-back when enemies were hit with arrows, fear not; the devs explain that there are two different arrow-shooting weapons and Jin was using the hard-hitting longbow here. He was also heavily upgraded in regards to his abilities. Not all arrow kills will send enemies flying in such fashion.

I encourage you to head over to the PS Blog and read the full interview, which details Ghost of Tsushima’s combat mechanics, side quest content, progression, difficulty, game-length and more.

If you missed it last week, Nate Fox and Jason Connell spoke during PlayStation’s BlogCast about Ghost of Tsushima’s minimalist HUD design, its photo-mode, and more.

The rumors were true! A PlayStation 5 event will be held next week. People can learn more about PS5 games on June 4, 2020.

The post PlayStation 5 Reveal Event Will Be June 4, 2020 appeared first on Siliconera.

This whimsical little seaside town builder is another project by Oskar Stålberg whose tiny planet and city builder projects RPS have marveled at in the past. Unlike his prior browser-based experiments, Townscaper is being treated to some extra polish and plans for a paid release. It’s been on my mental wishlist since before it had a name, but now there’s a handy page on the Steam store to help me not forget. Check out the trailer below for some extremely satisfying pips and pops as the rainbow cities spring from the sea.

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Ghost of Tsushima is 100% Jin's story, so he'll be the only playable character. However, you get to pick his horse and the game's difficulty level.

The post Jin Is Ghost of Tsushima’s Only Playable Character appeared first on Siliconera.

Warframe’s next major update, The Deadlock Protocol, is fast approaching, and with it comes a new Warframe, a boatload of backstory, plenty more. But probably the flashiest addition is developer Digital Extremes’ continued efforts toward refreshing the look of some of its rough edges – and this time they are modernizing the oldest area in the game.

Part of The Deadlock Protocol will include a remaster of the Corpus tileset, an environment made of procedurally pieced together sections that are among the very first ever added to Warframe. That means adjusting the layouts, incorporating new backstory beats, and, of course, making all of it look shiny and new.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/29/warframe-corpus-reimagined-trailer"]

Watch the exclusive trailer above to see how much the Corpus tileset has changed.

“When you look at everything we’ve remastered so far,” Digital Extremes’ Rebecca Ford explains to me, “it’s actually a shock we haven’t done [the Corpus tileset] yet.” Previous remasters include tilesets for the Earth and Gas City environments, as well as Warframe’s first open world called the Plains of Eidolon, which was remastered less than two years after its introduction in late 2017.

[poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=%E2%80%9CIt%E2%80%99s%20actually%20a%20shock%20we%20haven%E2%80%99t%20done%20%5Bthe%20Corpus%20tileset%5D%20yet.%E2%80%9D"]

In contrast, the Corpus tileset was first added back in 2012. “It was literally our first environment in Warframe,” Ford says, explaining you can even go back and see it shown in all of the original marketing for Warframe, like this 2012 teaser trailer. “The main goal is to bring the quality and design up to 2020 Warframe standards.”

Brendan:

Infantry! Ready your shields! Okay, move to– hang on. Sin, why is your shield not readied? We are trying to play the multiplayer in Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord, so we can pass a substantial sneer or cheer in its direction, and you have not even readied your shield. It is wholly unreadied. Explain yourself!

Sin: …what?

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Friday fact: More games could stand to let us play as legion-leading necromancers.

The Unliving, a roguelite action-RPG from RocketBrush Studio and Team17, looks like it could be one of the good ones. You'll raise hordes of skeletons, sacrifice them to cast spells, and gather artifacts until the day you die. Of course, death is only temporary – you're a necromancer. You can be your own boss.

"The world is randomly generated for each run and is richly populated with an array of creatures, artifacts, secret rooms, and deadly traps," according to the developers. "You'll go from raiding quaint villages to even wading through swamps." There's also talk of boss creatures – the Steam page teases a multi-eyed tentacle monster – and a story concerning "the supreme hierarchies of the Church."

If you liked Overlord, you might like The Unliving. Let's keep tabs until... oh. 2021. Hang tight!

Only a few days remain until Valorant launches in full on 2nd June, and now the two-month closed beta has wrapped up, Riot has published some statistics on how it went. The main takeaway: Valorant is pretty popular, surprise surprise.

According to stats from Riot, "an average of nearly 3 million players logged on each day to play Valorant", which is impressive considering you had to jump through several hoops to actually gain access. We'll have to wait until Valorant's full launch to see how its player numbers measure up to other big titles such as Fortnite and Minecraft. Or, dare I say it, CS:GO - which earlier this year kept breaking its own record for concurrent players, and even managed to tip over the 1m concurrents mark.

Something that does give us a better indication of interest in Valorant, however, are Twitch viewing figures. Riot says fans watched more than 470m hours of gameplay on Twitch during the closed beta, while Twitch stats website Twitch Metrics lists Valorant as the most-watched game for May (ignoring the just chatting category). Valorant also broke Twitch's record for the "single-day hours watched in a single game" category, with 34m hours watched on day one.

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Square Enix

The first of the game developers we’ll talk about is Square Enix. They need no introduction especially since they’ve been in the industry for a long time.

Very little has changed to move the game to mobile

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10 Years with Hayao Miyazaki is an intimate look at Miyazaki’s process, and it’s free online

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You won't find out if it is "wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon" with Infinite Combate in English until later this summer.

The post Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Infinite Combate’s Delayed Until Later This Summer appeared first on Siliconera.

Well, I have good news and bad news. Which one do you want first?

Bad news? Each of the clips in this Baldur's Gate 3 sizzle reel is about one-second long. That's super short! A mayfly lives for 24 hours, yet a mayfly could watch 86,400 of these Baldur's Gate 3 clips. That is not what you should be doing with your little precious time on this earth, mayfly. Figure your life out.

Sony is finally spilling the beans on its upcoming next-generation hardware; an announcement across its blog and social media channels today has booked next week, June 4 at 4 PM EST, for a digital reveal showcase focused on the console’s games.

The event is subtitled as “The Future of Gaming,” with PlayStation’s CEO and President Jim Ryan promising an hour-long showcase of the console in action:

“The games coming to PS5 represent the best in the industry from innovative studios that span the globe. Studios, both larger and smaller, those newer and those more established, all have been hard at work developing games that will showcase the potential of the hardware. 

This digital showcase will run for a bit more than an hour and, for the first time, we will all be together virtually experiencing the excitement together. A lack of physical events has given us an amazing opportunity to think differently and bring you on this journey with us, and hopefully, closer than ever before. This is part of our series of PS5 updates and, rest assured, after next week’s showcase, we will still have much to share with you.”

As you’ll have seen in the above image and teaser video below, today’s tease actually alluded some brand new information itself: possible confirmation of a black colored Dual Sense controller.

Join us Thursday, June 4 at 1:00pm Pacific time for a look at the future of gaming on PlayStation 5: https://t.co/Yr8fafcOVd #PS5 pic.twitter.com/F0yBbDmOtC

Sony has announced that it's hosting a livestream next week, which will be focusing on the PlayStation 5. More specifically, it's all about the games this time.

The stream will be on Thursday, June 4, at 1 p.m. Pacific. On a post on the PlayStation Blog, Sony Interactive Entertainment president and CEO Jim Ryan outlined a few details on what to expect. "This digital showcase will run for a bit more than an hour and, for the first time, we will all be together virtually experiencing the excitement together," he said. "A lack of physical events has given us an amazing opportunity to think differently and bring you on this journey with us, and hopefully, closer than ever before. This is part of our series of PS5 updates and, rest assured, after next week’s showcase, we will still have much to share with you."

The stream will be available on Sony's official YouTube and Twitch channels.

We probably sound like a broken record at this point, but it nonetheless remains true: coronavirus has disrupted supply chains, and monitors deals are in pretty short supply right now. Generally they’re still pretty expensive as a rule, but there are exceptions, and we’ve rounded up the best and cheapest gaming monitor deals on all of today’s [cms-block]s below for your delectation. Whether you’re looking for the best G-Sync monitor deals or the best cheap ultrawide monitor deals, here are the top gaming monitor deals of the week.

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Backward compatibility is a big topic for gamers and the upcoming next-gen systems. Sony hasn't publicly talked about this topic as much as Microsoft has for its Xbox Series X, but Eurogamer has seen developer documents which state that developers of PlayStation 4 games which are submitted for certification with Sony on or after July 13 must make those titles "technically" playable on the PlayStation 5.

The report's qualifier of "technically" playable on the PS5 means that it's up to each developer to make sure this is the case, although Sony is working with its partners on the process.

Also, submitted is different than released, as companies must turn in their titles to Sony for approval months before they come out. This means that PS4 games releasing this summer may fall outside the July 13 start point – although Eurogamer believes that high-profile first-party summer titles Ghost of Tsushima and The Last of Us Part II will indeed play on the PS5. 

The report also reveals that PS4 titles must contain the same features between the systems, and any update or remaster of the title after the July 13 cutoff would have to retain compatibility. Updates or remasters submitted before that date would be "strongly recommended" to keep compatibility.

Sony will show off games for the PlayStation 5 during an official online showcase at 4pm ET on Thursday June 4.

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A report from Eurogamer today claims that Sony has told PS4 game developers that any titles submitted for certification from July 13 must be forwards-compatible-capable with PS5.

In other words, all PS4 games must be able to run on Sony’s next-generation hardware, even if they don’t end up actually doing so.

Eurogamer has apparently seen documentation that features a section requiring developers to acknowledge a responsibility to ensure their games have been tested for compatibility with PS5 before moving any further forward with the certification process. This section was added in April in a new version of Sony’s PS4 software developer kit.

According to the guidelines, a game is concerned compatible with PS5 only if its submission code runs without issues on the hardware, and provides the same features on PS5 as it does on PS4.

That is to say, all functionality on PS5 must work on PS5 as well, so no game modes of features will be left behind when the game migrates to next-gen.

Sony also strongly recommends that any game submitted before July 13 that is either patched or remastered also includes PS5 compatibility — though it isn’t mandatory. Any game submitted after July 13, however, must remain PS5 compatible after new patches or remasters are released.

Eurogamer rightly makes special mention of appreciating the difference between submission for certification and release; the mandatory PS5 compatibility does not necessarily apply to games released after July 13, only games submitted for certification after July 13.

The outlet uses the example of Ghost of Tsushima, launching after July 13 but not necessarily obligated to run on PS5.

Sony to unveil new games in hourlong presentation

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