Sony has told PlayStation 4 game developers that any new titles submitted for certification must also be compatible with PlayStation 5, beginning 13th July.

This means all PS4 games received by Sony for testing after the middle of that month are technically forwards compatible - playable on Sony's next-gen console - though it is up to each game's developer to ensure this is the case.

Developer documentation - released on PlayStation's internal Partner website and seen by Eurogamer - details an option developers must check to state their game has been tested for compatibility with PS5 hardware. This option was added at the end of April in a new version of Sony's PS4 software developer kit.

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In the second part of this blog series, we are going to delve deep into technical aspects, sharing some tips and a general workflow when working with Google Docs. ...

Dontnod Entertainment, the French studio behind a run of great mid-budget releases, has announced that opening of a brand new studio in Montréal, Canada. Staffed by talented folk from the city itself, Dontnod Montréal is expected to get right to work on a brand new project.

"We are delighted to share our plans of expansion with the opening of this new office in Montréal, completing the talented team working out of Paris," said Dontnod CEO Oskar Guilbert in a press release. "Our goal is to create video games as close as possible to our community’s expectations. With this new international team, we will be able to envision even more ambitious titles and keep writing wonderful stories for our players."

Dontnod has seen great success in recent years, with healthy sales of titles such as stealth RPG Vampyr and the very popular and critically acclaimed series Life is Strange. Currently on the horizon for the developer are murder mystery thriller Twin Mirror, and coming-of-age drama Tell Me Why, both of which are scheduled for release at some point in 2020.

Throughout the Zelda franchise, there have been plenty of friendly species that Link and his cohorts have met during their adventures. Most players know and love species like the big, friendly Gorons, the elegant Zoras, and the powerful Gerudo.

But there are plenty of other species in Zelda history with a whole lot of untapped potential that deserve another chance in the limelight. Here are our 10 Zelda species we think are worth another look.

The Deku

Let’s start with a familiar face first: The Deku are well-known to most Zelda fans, due to having pretty prominent roles in Ocarina of Time, and having an even larger one in Majora’s Mask. In the latter game, which is still a favorite for many, we got to see an entire Deku Kingdom, and Link himself even became a Deku Scrub via Skull Kid’s magic.

Life is Strange and Vampyr developer Dontnod Entertainment has opened a new studio in Montreal, Canada. ...

Mistwalker's smartphone RPG Terra Battle had quite the run since launching in October 2014, but it is shutting down this June.

The post Mistwalker’s Terra Battle is Shutting Down After Almost 6 Years of Service on June 30, 2020 appeared first on Siliconera.

Can you tell your Monkey Island from your Broken Sword? I hope so, or you’re going to waste a stupid amount of time trying to get George Stobbart to insult sword fight with Nico. If you pass this very low bar for adventure game knowledge you should probably take a swing at our new adventure game music quiz.

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Spike Chunsoft announced a new tactical adventure game for Re:Zero that is coming to PS4, Switch, and PC via Steam.

The post New Re:Zero Game Officially Announced for PS4, Switch, and PC via Steam appeared first on Siliconera.

I still remember where I was when I picked up Tony Hawk's Pro Skater for the first time.

I was at my friend David's house, completely unaware for what we were getting ourselves into. We were learning the ropes, then suddenly: "Superman" came on. It sounds cliche to say that hearing one song was a life-changing moment, but eight hours later, it still felt like we were in a split-screen trance. We just couldn't stop playing it.

That similar scene would happen as I played Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 and listened to "No Cigar" over and over, or "96 Quite Bitter Beings" in Tony Hawk 3, and...you get the picture. Soundtracks are a huge part of what makes THPS so memorable for a large swath of people, but the skaters were naturally a big draw as well.

Growing up, in and out of the game I was always a fan of Chad Muska. I not only admired his passion for skating, but the fact that each and every Tony Hawk entry he would reinvent himself and almost feel like a completely different person. He's also one of the few members of the cast that stuck with the series for so long, as he was frequently a large part of the various story modes across its strong decade-plus run.

He's still supporting the franchise, actually, as is evidenced in the video below, where he muses on the impact of Tony Hawk has a whole. That said, Brett also makes a compelling case for Rune Glifberg!

The main appeal of Tetris Effect - apart from the satisfaction of neatly stacking blocks - is the game's audiovisual elements, and in particular, its beautiful soundtrack. And now you can take this with you on the go, as Tetris Effect's music has been made available to stream or download on music platforms.

You can stream the soundtrack for free on Bandcamp, and find it on other major music platforms such as YouTube Music, Spotify, and Amazon. Composer Hydelic has also written a blog post to accompany the release, which details the process of creating a "zen Tetris" soundtrack from rough demo to a shimmering synesthetic backdrop.

Near the top of my ‘Things to do when lockdown ends’ list is ‘Visit my local public library’. Obviously I’m missing its extensive history and transport sections, and the profound feeling of well-being that comes from being surrounded by the printed word, but there are other draws too. You can meet very interesting people in libraries. People like John Williams.

I struck up a conversation with John when I spotted the book he was collecting from the request desk. Task for Coastal Command by Hector Bolitho is a pretty obscure tome – not the sort of book your average aviation enthusiast would seek out. As it turned out my fellow borrower was no ordinary aviation enthusiast. A flier with a long and unusual career in the Royal Navy behind him, Captain J.L.Williams, R.N. (Ret’d) flew an astonishing range of aircraft before hanging up his bone-dome in 2018. While today’s interviewee isn’t an ‘Atypical Simmer’ in the conventional sense I think what follows will interest anyone who has ever gripped a collective, thumped a round-down, ridden a thermal or reached for an ejection seat handle in Simulatia. (more…)

To completely defox today’s word chain you’ll need to provide Roman, my Chief Foxer Setter, with the sequence of 24 words suggested by the clues below. (more…)

Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath is now available to purchase. This paid DLC expansion to NetherRealm Studios' gory fighter includes five-chapter epilogue to the base game's story, as well as three new characters: Wind god Fujin, guest star RoboCop, and the welcome return of the Shokan Queen, Sheeva.

Sheeva made her Mortal Kombat debut back in 1995's Mortal Kombat 3, where she was the bodyguard of Shao Kahn's bride, Sindel (more accurately, she was responsible for keeping Kitana from reaching her mother and informing her of the truth about their bloodline). In Mortal Kombat 11, Sheeva returns with far more agency as a strong, proud and courageous ruler, sympathetic to EarthRealm's plight and honourable to her allies old and new.

The multi-armed Shokan continues her heritage as the powerhouse of the MK universe. Kitted out with a wealth of devastating grabs and throws, Sheeva is a terrifying foe at close range. If that wasn't enough, Sheeva also has an excellent projectile and an infuriating, unblockable full-screen stomp. All of these tools combine to make Her Highness one of the most dangerous characters on the roster, equipped to handle both close kombat and repetitive zoners.

Listen, we’re not having a pop at the base game version of The Sims 4, but you have to admit that it doesn’t offer everything you might want. It would be impossible for it to service every whim and desire you asked of it for! But still, sometimes you’ll be fooling around in build and buy mode, or Create A Sim, and just wish that you had more space gubbins to wear or cool plants for your kitchen. Or bunk beds! Lord almighty, if only there were bunkbeds.

Well, it just so happens that there are, if you know where to look. And that place is ‘at custom content’. There are some amazing creators out there making simply fabulous cc sets to make every Sims game your best version of it. And cc is all free! How amazing is that? That’s why we’ve rounded up all our favourite cc sets in one place, for ease of use to you the reader. Read on for more.

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Dontnod Entertainment has announced the opening of a new studio in Montréal, Canada, a move aimed at allowing the company to be closer to its North American community of players.

The developer is best known for its adventure and action-RPGs LRemember Me, Life is Strange, and Vampyr (pictured above), all of which have a strong focus on story-telling and whose atmospheric environments feature terrific worldbuilding.

It is hoped that this new North American studio will help continue to grow and produce even more immersive, engaging and innovative video games, Dontnod CEO Osakar Guilbert explains:

“We are delighted to share our plans of expansion with the opening of this new office in Montréal, completing the talented team working out of Paris. Our goal is to create video games as close as possible to our community’s expectations. With this new international team, we will be able to envision even more ambitious titles and keep writing wonderful stories for our players.”

As for what’s first on the agenda for the studio, the team will be working on a brand new project. Dontnod will be looking to hire from Montréal’s renowned talent pool of developers as it sets up over the next few months.

A roadmap of the developer’s history and future plans is included in a press release sent to Twinfinite.

Debuting in 2016, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba has sold 60 million print copies. Amazingly, between May 17 and November 18 of last year, it has sold 45.29 million print copies.

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This is it. Here’s the trailer for the final season of the massively popular Attack on Titan anime.

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We are the Power Rangers!

If your reaction to the release of Intel’s new set of 10th Gen Comet Lake CPUs is to celebrate the lower prices now available on 8th and 9th Gen [cms-block] models, then this pair of Z390 motherboard deals from CCL might well be for you. One comes with a free SSD, while the other gets you some fairly generous cashback if you buy a CPU at the same time.

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You may have heard the rumours about a secret cow level in Minecraft Dungeons. In an homage to the long-standing bovine rumour and Easter Egg in the Diablo series, it seems that Minecraft Dungeons also has its own take on the secret cow level.

There are lots of steps you need to complete to unlock this hidden level, mainly finding nine hidden runes, but once you do you’ll get access to the craziest secret area in the game.

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You’d have thought people would have escaped from Tarkov by now, but they’re still at it. Escape From Tarkov is a brutal, sandbox-ey shooter about scavenging for loot in a warzone where everyone has better guns than you – except for right now! A big update to the current early access build has brought a load of changes, but one of the most significant parts is the character wipe. Tarkov’s central appeal lies in looting, and now (not for the first time) all your loot has gone. My friends say they’re happy about this, and I still do not understand them.

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Industria, a first-person shooter set in a parallel dimension "shortly before the end of the Cold War," looks cool enough. Not out-of-this-world cool, or give-it-to-me-now cool, but cool enough. It's the kind of game you might see pop up on Steam, give a once-over, and toss on your wishy-washy wishlist.

Bleakmill was inspired by Half-Life 2 and David Lynch, which is a hell of a jumping-off point.

With a 2021 PC release in mind, the independent studio is aiming to pull off a four-hour-long story set in a reality with humanoid robots – a realm described as "Berlin at the time of the fall of the wall meets a surreal industrialized city." Nora, the protagonist, follows a missing colleague's trail into an abandoned research facility. She treads "right into the heart of the universe, where time seems to stand still."

I hope they get out-of-control weird with this one. The freaky lumbering giant is a good start.

Five of the Best is a weekly series about the small details we rush past when we're playing but which shape a game in our memory for years to come. Details like the way a character jumps or the title screen you load into, or the potions you use and maps you refer back to. We've talked about so many in our Five of the Best series so far. But there are always more.

Five of the Best works like this. Various Eurogamer writers will share their memories in the article and then you - probably outraged we didn't include the thing you're thinking of - can share the thing you're thinking of in the comments below. Your collective memory has never failed to amaze us - don't let that stop now!

Today's Five of the Best is...

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Developed by Red Hook Studios, Darkest Dungeon continues to be one of the best and easy to recommend rogue-lite dungeon-crawling game in the genre. It’s received quite a few DLCs since its launch, and Red Hook has just released the latest on Steam, titled Butcher’s Circus.

This time, however, the DLC doesn’t just take you to a new area and expand the story. Butcher’s Circus is focused on PvP gameplay, which is a huge departure from the core of the game. Players will be able to enter an arena and assemble a team of four characters, and then pit their parties against each other.

There are PvP rankings in this mode, and winning battles will unlock cosmetics like banner components to set yourself apart from the masses. Battles will allow the use of trinkets for each character, though it’s worth noting that your parties in Butcher’s Circus will be separate from the main game.

Darkest Dungeon is now available on Steam, and will be free to play till June 1. The Butcher’s Circus DLC is now available for download.

The post Darkest Dungeon’s New PvP-Focused DLC, Butcher’s Circus, Is Free on Steam appeared first on Twinfinite.

In the past, Bethesda opened up private test servers (PTS) for select individuals to test out Fallout 76 content, but it looks like things have changed.

As of this week, Bethesda is making the process more accessible, allowing players to grab the PTS inside of the Bethesda launcher on PC. As in: if you have the PC edition, within the Bethesda launcher itself, you can access it (as usual, there's no console access and the publisher doesn't mention Steam). Right now they're looking at testing out the hefty Update 20 on the PTS, but seasons will not be available (likely to fight any controversy they'll cause until absolutely necessary).

In other 76 news, another dupe exploit has been running rampant across the game's world, so display cases and vending machines were disabled a few weeks ago. If all goes well, next week Bethesda should implement a hotfix that brings everything back. Even nearly two years on, Bethesda explains that they "take duplication exploits seriously, and work to correct them as often and as quickly possible."

Also, another double XP weekend is set for next week (June 4 at 12PM ET through June 8 at the same time). That includes adventure mode, a private world or nuclear winter. Good luck!

Inside the Vault [Bethesda.net]

Each season there are shows I, and perhaps you, look forward to. But this summer, there is one show that I am excited about most—Japan Sinks:2020.

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Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced that it will be holding a presentation on June 4 dedicated to its upcoming hardware, PlayStation 5. "The Future of Gaming" live stream will give players everywhere "a first look at the games you’ll be playing after PlayStation 5 launches this holiday."

"We've shared technical specifications and shown you the new DualSense wireless controller. But what is a launch without games?" said SIE President Jim Ryan on the official PlayStation Blog. "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."

Ryan goes on to state that next week's presentation is just part of a series of PS5 updates, with more info to arrive in the weeks and months preluding the console's official launch.

The PS5: Future of Gaming presentation will take place on June 4 at 13:00 PT / 16:00 ET / 21:00 BST / 22:00 CEST and is scheduled to run "a little over an hour." You can watch it live over on the official PlayStation YouTube and Twitch channels.

PlayStation 5 launches worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Riot Games is on a roll.

As we've talked about many times before, their host of new projects are finally coming to fruition. "Code names" no more, Valorant is poised to be released soon and make a splash in the esports scene, with Runeterra freshly launched, having already made an impact on the digital card game genre. So what's next? Well they have their fighter on the horizon, and Wild Rift: a mobile and console-ized version of League of Legends proper.

Thanks to a gameplay reveal this morning from the Summer Game Fest event, we now have a better idea of how Wild Rift will play. As a bit of background, Wild Rift was originally revealed last October, and is still slated for a "2020" release. The gist is to bring a more compact version of the MOBA to alternative platforms outside of PC, with "15-20 minute matches." That's down from the average length of a regular League match, which is roughly 30 minutes according to some data-gathering sites.

The main goal, Riot says, is to make Wild Rift accessible to everyone, to the point where folks get their friends to play it when they otherwise would have felt alienated by the original. It'll also be "free of cheats and cheaters and lag-free," feature a slightly smaller map and a pared-down (for now) "alpha roster" of characters with "lots more coming in the near future."

Here's something to lift you out of the lockdown blues: the Sonic the Hedgehog film, infamous for that initial trailer with human-like Sonic and Gangsta's Paradise, is getting a sequel. Hopefully without needing to redesign the principal character this time.

As first reported by Variety, a Sonic the Hedgehog sequel is in the works, and will reteam the filmmakers from the original - including director Jeff Fowler, and screenwriters Pat Casey and Josh Miller. It sounds like work on the film is still in the early stages, as a production start date has not yet been set, and casting decisions are yet to be made. You'd imagine that Sonic voice actor Ben Schwartz, Sonic's friend Tom (James Marsden) and Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) will likely be making a return, however.

When the first film eventually came out after a delay to work on the (much-improved) redesign, it actually did pretty well: generating £76.6m on its first weekend, making it the best ever opening weekend for a video game adaptation. Apparently many people's idea of a romantic Valentine's Day date was Sonic after all.

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The cutie-pie farming adventure game Summer in Mara is coming to Nintendo Switch and PC on June 16, 2020. Better yet, developer Chibig has prepped a free Prologue demo for Summer in Mara that's available on Steam today and should arrive on the Switch eShop a little "closer to launch."

Playing as an 11-year-old named Koa, "you'll have to take care of your own island, harvest your crops, create new tools and buildings, and sail with your boat to discover new islands and secrets."

After soaking up all the Stardew Valley and Wind Waker vibes, I'm beyond stoked. My bags are packed.

Not only is there sailing – a huge hook in and of itself, especially in the context of a farming sim – there's a sense of progression. You can upgrade your ship to be "bigger, better, and faster." Along the way, Koa will make friends, trade resources, and become a thorn in a corporation's side. Yeah, I'm in.

Summer in Mara is also releasing on PS4 and Xbox One, but not until later this year.

With Final Fantasy VII Remake well into its post-launch honeymoon period, the time has come to chat with the development team and witness their reactions to all of our reactions.

While the recent Ultimania book gave us a ton of info on the actual design process, at this point Square Enix and company have had the chance to dwell on the game's impact; including this interview from VG247 with producer Yoshinori Kitase and co-director Noaki Hamaguchi.

Once again teasing a new entry that could be very far away, Kitase opens with this powder keg of a remark: "We've really enjoyed seeing these theories and guesses of what the ending means. We wanted the fans to keep the discussion going on social media and keep their excitement high as we head towards the next game." No spoilers here, but the ending is a huge point of contention for Remake players, and the single most polarizing part of the game (for the record, I didn't have a major problem with it: there's more to this story and there's no shame in waiting to see if they hit their mark).

After teasing their new VR cybergoggles earlier this year, HP have now fully unveiled their new Reverb G2 headset, and it looks an awful lot like the Valve Index. That’s probably because it’s been designed in collaboration with Valve, and uses the same lenses and speakers that they created for the Index. However, HP’s Reverb G2 takes things even further with a higher resolution display and even more tracking cameras. And the best thing about it is that it’s not going to cost the earth to buy, either.

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F.E.A.R. was a game that gave the player military hardware with one hand, and a sense of terror with the other. As effective as the horror element remains today - including a number of admittedly cheap jump scares - what remains truly impressive 15 years after release is a side-effect. Arguably, no FPS before or since has offered the player such a powerful, transporting sense of place.

Horror is perhaps the genre most difficult to master in any medium. It demands a thunderous emotional response in order to be classed as successful which, in turn, requires an unchallenged suspension of disbelief. That emotional response needs to leap from a stable baseline, one that is in sync with one's day-to-day life. Here is a game that understood and, remarkably, even achieved that.

As you walk F.E.A.R.'s warehouses, stalk its streets, and creep along its corridors, you hear... almost nothing. It's unnervingly beautiful. Music is used sparingly throughout the game. It's ordinarily extremely subtle or - at the best moments - entirely absent. There are times that you'll receive a brief message over the radio, or you'll hear the telltale chatter of nearby enemies. Yet for much of the time - most in fact, or so it seems - it's just you and the bumps in the dark, real or imagined.

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Another week, another Warhammer 40K game - but this latest does present a curious blend of genres, with Aeronautica Imperialis: Flight Command offering turn-based aerial combat courtesy of small Sheffield-based outfit.

Keeping up with Warhammer 40K releases feels like it could be a full-time job, and I was surprised to learn that we've already had an aerial combat game in Games Workshop universe this year courtesy of Warhammer 40K: Dakka Squadron. Both releases come hot on the heels of the release of a new edition of Games Workshop's Aeronautica Imperialis tabletop game, and Flight Command offers a more strategic take with a simultaneous turn system. You can see a bit more of how it works in the launch trailer.

It's out now on Steam, and is part of the Skulls for the Skull Throne sale that's running on Steam until June 1st. Reviews are mixed at the moment, so proceed with caution - though I admit I remain intrigued by the concept.

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