The big physical summer expos all got cancelled, but instead we have a whole load of great digi-vents to replace them. Looking at the schedule, it seems the Summer Of Games is going on until approximately next January. We’re in a bit of a hopeful mood for this week’s podcast, so the gang discuss their most anticipated upcoming releases, as well as their most anticipated and/or hoped for reveals that might come from the 2020 digital events.

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Football. Tennis. Conkers. What do these historic, reputable sports have in common, I ask you. That’s correct, they are not extreme enough. Please, quiet now. I am here to do the talking. Yes, there are sports videogames, your FIFAs and your Mario Tennises. But they do not fulfill the desire within all of us for the extreme, the radical, the pushing of it to the max. I will now demonstrate, through force of listicle, the 9 most extreme sports in PC games, from bone-breaking snowboarders to motorcycle Wipeout. And you, in your turn, shall be thankful to this website for providing such diversion. Now, read.

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Paramount Pictures, in association with Sega Sammy, has confirmed that a sequel to this year's big-screen adaptation of Sonic the Hedgehog is currently in pre-production stages at the studio. The sequel will retain director Jeff Fowler, along with writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller.

It was an inevitability, really. Sonic the Hedgehog was a huge success when it launched in theatres back in February of this year, grossing over $300 million USD on a $90 million budget. Sonic the Hedgehog's rush-release to streaming services (following the COVID-19 pandemic) only served to further bolster the film's reputation and coffers. Not too shabby for a movie that had a notoriously less-than-stellar reveal.

No details were noted pertaining to the sequel's plot, cast, or production date, but the Sonic universe is expansive, filled with strange and vibrant worlds and characters, so there's more than enough material to pull together for a second lighthearted, comedic adventure. Time to get the untold story of Big the Cat up on the silver screen, methinks.

Sonic the Hedgehog is available now on digital and Blu-ray.

Sonic the Hedgehog sequel in the works [Variety]

2K has released seven different games from three franchises on the Nintendo Switch today, all of them beloved titles. BioShock: The Collection, Borderlands Legendary Collection and XCOM 2 Collection are now available, and the individual titles within the first two collections can also be bought separately. Each game comes with all previously released DLC.

If you're buying these games digitally, you'll want to hope that you have plenty of space on your SD card--the smallest game in the bunch weighs in at 10.4GB. In total, the seven games weigh in at 103.1 GB.

BioShock 2, which originally launched with a multiplayer mode, features just the campaign, along with the Minerva's Den and Protector Trials DLC packs.

There is no part of Ape Out that is not good. I love it. It is perfect and glorious. You must play it.

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Fortnite's new Update 12.61 is out now, and as usual, there are no official patch notes to share from developer Epic Games. According to some voices in the community, including reliable leaker Lucas7Yoshi, the patch adds a smattering of new collectibles, including an emote for the Tootsie Slide, the dance that accompanies rapper/crooner Drake's number 1 hit of the same name. New offers also include a new Cyclo skin and the Windshear item, which are both apparently related to the upcoming Doomsday event. Note that these items are not yet live on the item shop and could be subject to change.

Tetris Effect was one of our favorite games of 2018 and signified a fresh revival of a timeless, classic game. It was fun to play, and the music certainly helped to strengthen it.

Today, the Tetris Effect soundtrack is officially available for purchase on Bandcamp, and composer Hydelic has taken to the PlayStation Blog to give some insight into how the soundtrack for the game came together. Essentially, the music had to be timeless and lasting, and it also needed to be zen and calming.

Throughout the development of the game, Hydelic got glimpses of images from the game itself, like how the particles would look in various stages. This helped with visualizing what the final product would look like, and also helped with deciding on the kind of music that would make it in and how it would work with the game overall.

“Just to share some insight into one of the stages and tracks, for the “Deep Sea” stage (the first stage), we wrote over 10 music tracks; because development started with this stage, the engineers and designers spent the most time working on it. Similarly, there was a ton of trial-and-error on the sound and musical side of things. At first it was ambient music with no vocals, next it became something with a beat, and then we experimented with both male and female vocals. It gradually developed into the present version of “Connected (Yours Forever)” featuring Kate Brady.

Tetris Effect is the culmination of all of our musical work up to now — it lets us harness all of the ideas we’ve accumulated and express them in a new way. This wouldn’t be possible without the group at Enhance and the Tetris Effect team, who really understand and deeply appreciate music.”

Track: Gratitude | Artist: Beastie Boys | Album: Check Your Head

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Developer Naughty Dog has a handful of pieces of new concept art for The Last of Us: Part II that showcase the developer's inspiration for the much-anticipated post-apocalyptic sequel.

The art--which is based on scouting trips to Seattle--was released in the latest Inside the Details episode, and you can see each of the stills in the gallery below. Be sure to click each image to see it in full size.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is continuing its rollout on PC, with Halo 3 and ODST added next. Developer 343 Industries has now confirmed that the first beta test, or "flight," for Halo 3 on PC will begin in mid-June.

Community manager John Junyszek confirmed this on Twitter. He added that more details on the Halo 3 beta test will be announced on May 29, so we'll know more very soon.

The beta tests for Halo 3 will start very small. Microsoft will kick things off with "Ring 1" testers, which is a very small group of people who work closely with the developer. After that, future beta tests will be available for members of the Halo Insider program, which is free to sign up for--go here to sign up.

After a long wait, the full Tetris Effect soundtrack by composer Hydelic is finally available to purchase or stream. The game, which was recently released on Oculus Quest, is known for its extraordinary soundtrack--and now you can listen to all 40 songs of it, lasting 2 hours and 50 minutes.

The Tetris Effect soundtrack is available on Spotify and YouTube, or you can purchase it on Bandcamp for $10. Limited Run was stocking an LP of the soundtrack too, but it has sold out.

Today Mistwalker announced the upcoming closure of another of its mobile games, Terra Battle.

According to the announcement, the developer will interrupt the sale of in-game currency today, May 29, while services will be shut down completely on June 30.

Terra Battle was one of several mobile games launched by Mistwalker, the studio founded by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, following a console stint culminated with the frankly awesome The Last Story.

Since then, the studio already terminated the sequel Terra Battle 2 and its spinoff Terra Wars, which lasted only six months.

Terra Battle, which was launched in October 2014, is the one that survived the longest, but it’s finally time to close the curtain.

The announcement includes a message by Sakaguchi-san himself.

“It is with deep regret that I inform you, service for Terra Battle will be terminated.

Terra Battle’s test version was released in Canada back in September of 2014, and the game went on to officially release in the United States, Canada, England, France, Germany and Spain in October of the same year. Finally, the game was available in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao in April of 2015.

I am so grateful for all the fans who played Terra Battle for nearly six years.

It feels as though our conception of the “Pincer Shogi” mechanic happened in the distant, nostalgic past.

This game was also our first smartphone service-type RPG. I personally learned a lot from this experience, and am constantly reminded that “there are no paths that aren’t worth taking.”

On Twitter today, CDProjekt Red announced that The Witcher series has hit a major milestone - 50 million copies sold.

While everyone waits with mad anticipation for the studios' next upcoming effort with Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher has been slaying monsters and making trouble for quite some time, and has even transcended to other major media forms such as the popular Netflix series.

Over 50 million adventurers joined Geralt on his journey from Kaer Morhen to Vizima, through Flotsam and Vergen, Velen and Novigrad to Skellige Isles and Toussaint, and many, many more places, time and time again…

Thank you and may we meet on the path again! ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/cZwOup9CEc

— The Witcher (@witchergame) May 28, 2020

Check out our review of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt here!

Today Spike Chunsoft Announced a brand new game from the light novel and anime series Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World.

The game is titled “Re: Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu Itsuwarino Ou Sen Kouo,” which translates as “Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World – The False Royal Election Candidate.”

It was actually leaked by the British arm of Amazon as “Re:Zero The Prophecy of the Throne” so it’s safe to assume that it’ll be coming west at some point, even if the Spike Chunsoft didn’t say the official word just yet.

It’ll be released for PS4, Switch, and PC this winter and it’s a hybrid between a visual novel and a tactical JRPG.

The story is based on the first season of the anime about a month after the beginning of the story, and it’s centered on the royal election.

The character design for the game is by Shinichirou Ootsuka, who illustrated the light novel series.

If you’re unfamiliar with the franchise, it debuted in 2012 with a light novel series by Tappei Nagatsuki, which sparked plenty of manga and anime series, and even a visual novel by 5pb.

Below you can see the first screenshots of Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World – The False Royal Election Candidate.

On the heels of Sonic the Hedgehog’s theatrical success and subsequently fast home video release, the Sonic movie is finally getting a sequel.

According to an exclusive report by Variety, Paramount Pictures and Sega Sammy confirmed on Thursday that the sequel to the recent Sonic the Hedgehog movie is officially in the works.

The sequel’s production will bring Jeff Fowler back to the director’s chair, and Neal H. Mortiz as the producer, along with Toby Aschey and Toru Nakahara. Hajime Satomi, Haruki Satomi and Tim Miller are slated to be executive producing.

As the sequel to the Sonic movie is in the development, no decisions have been made as to who will be cast in the film nor when production will begin.

This news comes just one month — in Sonic years, a day — after Fowler said there were no talks nor plans of a sequel, but that he would love to tell more stories of the Sonic cinematic universe.

In the three months since Sonic the Hedgehog’s theatrical release, it made No. 1 in the box office on its opening weekend, grossed over $306 million and sped over to the digital home release two months earlier than most films running in theaters would due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In the first movie, Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) is sent to Earth, where he lives alone for a decade until he befriends a cop named Tom (played by James Marsden) to defeat Eggman (marvelously portrayed by Jim Carrey) and his plot for world domination.

Today Nihon Falcom released a new trailer of its upcoming JRPG The Legend of Heroes: Hajimari no Kiseki, the next game of the Trails series.

The trailer focuses on showcasing the many heroes that will appear in the game, including plenty of familiar faces from the previous games of the franchise. 

You could say that it’s a supreme form of fanservice, and it’s also rather epic.

You can watch it below.

The Legend of Heroes: Hajimari no Kiseki will be relased in Japan, Korea, and Asia for PS4 on August 27. Just yesterday we learned that it’ll include PlayStation VR support with a post-launch update.

At the moment there is no information on when the game will release in the west, especially considering that the previous title of the franchise, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV, hasn’t been released yet and won’t come before fall 2020.

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted on Switch

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted might be exactly what fans of the series are looking for in terms of a one-stop-shop for a majority of the released titles in the series, as well as the bonus content that joins this symposium of scares. However, some issues with the VR conversion mean this Switch collection leaves a lot to be desired.

The Five Nights at Freddy’s series has been a phenomenon of the horror genre since the first title’s original release in 2014. The series has made its way over from the PC and mobile space recently allowing for console players to get in on the action. These point-and-click horror titles are filled with deep lore, simple management gameplay, and the creepiest cast of mechanical antagonists this side of Chuck E. Cheese.

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted was initially released as the series’ first VR endeavor, coming to PC VR units, as well as the PlayStation VR. This subsequent port onto the Nintendo Switch takes away the interactive virtual reality mechanics to offer a more streamlined experience.

With each of the first three titles on offer here, as well as some mini-game content that takes you to locations from the fifth mainline title —Sister Location— and several additional bonus modes, you will have a lot to play through with the Help Wanted collection.

The head of Take-Two, the parent company of Rockstar Games and 2K Games, has offered some high-level thoughts on what the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X can offer in terms of new experiences. During the Bernstein Annual Strategic Decisions Conference, Strauss Zelnick said the next-gen consoles will allow for lots of new richness and depth.

"We're very excited about what the new consoles will allow our creative folks to do," he said. "We've obviously been developing with new technology for some time [already] so we're very familiar with where that can take us. Generally speaking, what new technology in our business allows us to do is better memory, better graphics, more fidelity, more beauty, more subtlety, more speed, more richness, and more depth. More characters."

Zelnick pointed to Red Dead Redemption 2 versus Red Dead Redemption 1 as an example of how its developers leveraged new technology to make more in-depth experiences. Indeed, Red Dead Redemption 2 offered a much larger, richer world than the original game, which was released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

If you love the Muv-Luv franchise, today is a good day. Publisher aNCHOR finally released the official version of the trailers of its upcoming games and anime series.

The trailers include the mecha action game Project Mikhail, the diablo-esque doujin title turned offcial game Project Immortal, and the upcoming Muv-Luv Alternative anime series. 

While they debuted at the beginning of the month during the “Comifuri: I Don’t Want Dojin Circles to Get Hurt, So I Maxed Out My Web Event,” the frame rate during the livestream was rather dodgy, meaning that this is the first time we actually see them in decent quality.

According to the press release, “lots more” is coming soon.

Incidentally, if you’re interested in the Muv-Luv series, I suggest you stay tuned on Twinfinite, because we may have some surprises coming soon.

Chad Muska, one of the iconic skateboarders from the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series, is returning for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, and in a new video he has talked about the series' legacy and impact on both his life and skating culture.

Muska, who was 21 when he appeared in the first game back in 1999, says that "the games influenced my life in general," and was very important for the skateboarding industry. "To this day, people come up to me and they're like, 'Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, I picked you! If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have started skateboarding!'"

You can watch the short video below, and compare 1999 PlayStation 1 Muska to 2020 PlayStation 4 Muska.

Today Cygames released the first trailer of its first Nintendo Switch game, titled Shadowverse: Champions Battle. 

You may be familiar with Cygames for the collectible card game for PC and mobile Shadowverse itself, while its console forays have been focused on the Granblue Fantasy franchise, with the recent release of Granblue Fantasy Versus and the upcoming Granblue Fantasy Relink, alongside the still-mysterious Project Awakening, all for PS4.

Shadowverse: Champions Battle is based on the brand new Shadowverse anime series, but bring the gameplay of the collectible card title into a new console-based form.

It was announced back in March, but finally we get to see it in action with the first trailer.

The protagonist of the game can be both male and female, and will interact with the cast of the anime, which we can see portrayed in the video alongside the first look at gameplay.

It supports one player offline and two online, and it’ll cost 5,980 yen both in physical and digital form.

A new game from publisher Devolver Digital is launching on the Epic Games Store today, May 28--and it won't cost a cent. The game, Sludge Life, has been on our radar since it was announced for its wild sense of style and mellow graffiti gameplay. It's also full of cat butts, and features a dedicated button for farts, as all games should.

The game involves exploring a small island on a planet with a serious sludge problem. You play as Ghost, a tagger looking to move up the graffiti food chain, and a lot of the game involves committing vandalism. There are no specific objectives given to you, but there are three potential endings to be discovered.

The game's launch trailer is below, and once you're done watching it you can jump onto its Epic Games Store page and download the game for free.

Phantasy Star Online 2 has finally released for PC in the west, eight years after its Japanese launch, but it hasn't been the smoothest experience. As reported by PC Gamer, players have been facing issues at the very first steps of getting the game going--installing it and logging in.

The game, which came to Xbox One a month ago, launched exclusively on the Windows Store for PC--and the game's official Reddit is full of complaints that the game is not working, failing to install or refusing to let players log in. Worse still, different players are getting unique error codes from one another, which makes the issue harder to pin down and address.

The game's official Twitter account is also fielding complaints, and assuring players that their complaints are being passed on to the developer.

Square Enix's MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV is teaming up with gaming chair maker DXRacer for a limited edition collaboration chair.

The post Final Fantasy XIV Parties With DXRacer for a Limited Edition Gaming Chair in Japan appeared first on Siliconera.

Ready to bring Melia home with you? Good Smile Company's working on a scale figure of the Xenoblade Chronicles heroine!

The post Good Smile Company’s Working on a Melia Figure appeared first on Siliconera.

Today Microsoft and Asobo released a new video dedicated to the upcoming new chapter of the Microsoft Flight Simulator series.

The video was included alongside a feedback snapshot in an account-protected insider update on the official site.

It’s is dedicated to IFR (which stands for Instrumental Flight Rules), which is that set of features allowing our aircraft to operate based on instrument readouts, as opposed to VFR (Visual Flight Rules).

This includes navigation, instrumental landings aids, air traffic control, and more.

Interestingly, we learned that Asobo and Microsoft partnered with NavBlue (a subsidiary of Airbus) to provide real flight navigation data updated every 28 dates.

Despite the fact that the video is dedicated to features that would let you fly from gate to gate without ever looking out of the cockpit, it still comes with plenty of glimpses at the simulator’s gorgeous graphics.

You can watch it below.

The feedback snapshot mentioned above provides a look at what alpha testers have identified as the top issues so far, and as their most-wished features. 

A new study has shared new insight on how people enjoy to eat and drink while playing games. The Newzoo study found that the overwhelming majority--80 percent--of all gamers eat food or drink regularly while playing games.

Cheaters get banned every day, but something you don’t see too often is the cheaters getting banned after winning a tournament.

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The June 2020 Stadia Pro games list comprises five different titles, all making their debut on Google's streaming platform.

The post June 2020 Stadia Pro Games Include Panzer Dragoon: Remake and Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid appeared first on Siliconera.

Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku’s reader-run community: The Garden of Sinners & Starting Over From Nothing • NES Memories: Battle City • TAY Retro: Nintendo Entertainment System - Jack Nicklaus’ Greatest 18 Holes Of Major Championship Golf [TV Commercial, NA]

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Vincent Ménier is an artist at EVE Online developers CCP, who has previously worked on stuff like Fortnite.

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Crystal Dynamics has revealed a new character for their upcoming Marvel's Avengers game, and it's someone we've never seen in the comics or movies. In a new post on Square Enix's website, the team is introducing Cerise--a new "inhuman" team member.

Cerise is a wheelchair user, and the motion capture for her was provided by accessibility specialist Cherry Thompson. The post is light on details about the character, but game designer Mariah Robinson talks about the importance of accessibility and representation to the team. "We have been working on a variety of ways to represent diversity," she says. "We see all kinds of people in our society, so why not reflect that in our in-game world?"

Senior community and social media manager Meagan Marie shares similar sentiments in the interview. "The fantasy of being a Super Hero is universal, so options that allow players to customize their experience to fit specific needs and playstyles means we can share our vision with even more fans," she says.

The presence of Cerise suggests that there could be other original characters in the game too--hopefully we'll find out more when the next gameplay footage debuts on June 24.

Marvel's Avengers is due to launch on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Stadia on September 1, 2020.

Minecraft Dungeons is the new dungeon-crawling spin-off of the illustrious Minecraft series. Aside from the blocky aesthetic and inclusion of some well-known Minecraft monsters, it’s pretty different from the crafting game people have grown to know and love.

For one, although Minecraft features a combat system, it’s nowhere near as complex as that of this action-adventure spin-off. In the latter, you’ve got melee weapons, armor, and bows, all of which can be enchanted to create a diverse range of character builds specializing in specific combat strategies. On top of this, you’ve got Artifacts, which are like magical spells from standard RPGs.

Although many of the builds are pretty simple, there’s a specific kind of combat in Minecraft Dungeons that requires harvesting Souls to deal with extraordinary damage or heal you up right before you fade away. For the uninitiated, Souls is a type of ammo that you get from defeating enemies, and it’s only used for certain types of Artifacts--you can tell which ones use it based on whether or not they have a Souls icon.

For the next week, Grand Theft Auto V Online is all about the Weeny Issi. Rockstar has declared this Weeny Issi Week, and they clearly want to get as many players into these diminutive cars as possible. You'll unlock bonuses by racing in the Weeny Issi, and there's apparel to be earned and variants to buy and win. Here's everything in the latest update.

This week, Issi Classic Races will give triple rewards to all entrants, so you'll want to make sure you know how to handle one of these things. Every player who jumps in this week will also be given a free Weeny tee, so if you really love this in-game brand you can now signpost your allegiance.

If you don't have your own Issi, every model of the car is on sale at 50% off. You can also win a Weeny Issi Classic at The Lucky Wheel in the Diamond Casino and Resort right now.

Microsoft is releasing a Halo Infinite art book, and pre-orders are now available. The book is called The Art of Halo Infinite, and you can reserve a copy now from Amazon and other platforms for $40 USD.

The official description of The Art of Halo Infinite states that the 200-page book, which is produced by Dark Horse, will showcase all kinds of art from the next-gen Halo title. The team at Dark Horse worked with 343 Industries and spoke with the artists, including art director Sparth, for the book.

Well, this is awkward. Despite my best efforts to persuade her otherwise, Cate Blanchett has officially signed up to take part in the upcoming Borderlands movie, where she’ll be playing Lilith.

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Update: Call of Duty: WW2 is one of June 2020's free PS Plus games, but you can grab it early and start playing now. If you're about to dive into the game for the first time, check out our guides below for some helpful tips and tricks.

Call of Duty: WWII's focus on brotherhood and bonds are both refreshing and familiar as it shed its futuristic, sci-fi storytelling to return to its roots in war. From its moving story to the multitude of ways to play online, it maintains the jump-in-and-play attitude while breaking out of its recent tropes. While it's still a grab-and-go kind of title, there's a lot more depth here than meets the eye. Our in-depth guides are an easy way to get started and stay invested.

Be sure to check back here for changes to our guides as we do update them often. Some guides may contain mild spoilers.

After four years on the market, Bandai Namco Entertainment's Dragon Ball: Xenoverse 2 will get some new DLC. The announcement of the new content comes just as the game's worldwide shipments and digital sales have surpassed a new milestone, with six million units having shipped across Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Stadia, and Xbox One.

According to the latest issue of V-Jump magazine (reported by Ryokutya2089 and translated via Gematsu), DB: Xenoverse 2's newest DLC will add the Supreme Kai of Time, Chronoa, as a playable character after a major update comes out on all platforms. Alongside Chronoa, the update will include a Broly wig and armor set, a Supreme Kai of Time costume, and an expanded Partner Customization feature. This new feature will allow previously unplayable characters to now be playable. No release date or pricing information for this DLC has been revealed as of yet.