Crucible plucks popular staples from all over esports, attempting to forge a greater whole through the fires of interstellar warfare. This sci-fi multiplayer third-person shooter is a battle royale at one moment, and the next it’s a back-and-forth team affair closer to a MOBA, topped off with a hero-shooter veneer. During my 20 hours with Crucible thus far I grew increasingly exhausted with its manic hat-juggling, culminating in lifeless wildlife hunts, lonely team fights, and excruciating slow matches. Too often, this gauntlet is a messy jumble of parts that don’t fit together.

I catapulted into Heart of Hives first, eager to see what was awaiting my team and I as our drop pods flew through space and crashed on the planet's surface. The bay doors opened to a lush, neon hue-infused wilderness that stretched as far as the eye could see. Of the 10 playable hunter characters, Tosca, a humanoid rodent whose dry-wit is as corrosive as the acid rounds in her shotgun, was my pick for this excursion. With our boots on the ground, it was time to hunt down beasties and gain some levels.

Working with the real-time team, the Unreal Technical Director is responsible for developing content for film, VR, and virtual production. ...

Yostar is about to release a new update for its popular shipgirl-focused game Azur Lane tomorrow, and it’ll include new party dress skins and a new(ish) shipgirl.

The new party dress skins to be added on top of those revealed last week are for St. Louis, Sussex, Massachussets, Albacore, and Hamman.

We’re also getting a new-ish shipgirl in the form of Little Illustrious. 

Below you can see them all and also read the full patch notes. 

Diablo II executive producer Erich Schaefer details what went right -- and wrong -- during development of what became one of Blizzard's most impactful games. ...

You won’t be Valorant ranked Valorant player anymore

Continue reading…

As promised, Naughty Dog's latest livestream has served up another (grisly) helping of The Last of Us Part 2 footage for players to pore over ahead of the game's June launch; there were refreshers of previously revealed mechanics, a smattering of new details, and the whole thing culminated in a sizeable slab of gameplay, showcasing stealth and extremely visceral combat.

Setting the scene with some basic story details, director Neil Druckman explained The Last of Us Part 2 picks up several years after the events of the first game, with Ellie, now 19-years-old, settled into a thriving community of survivors, situated in Jackson, Wyoming. However, after a violent incident within the commune, Ellie sets out for retribution and justice, embarking on an adventure spanning seasons and numerous gorgeously realised locations, from the the snowy mountains of Jackson to the lush Pacific Midwest.

The bulk of the action, however, is said to unfold across the former quarantine zone of Seattle, where a battle between two warring factions - the well-armed, well-trained Washington Liberation Front, which formerly resisted Seattle's military occupation, and a religious cult known as the Seraphites - rages on. The latter, also referred to as Scars due to their self-inflicted wounds, are more reliant on stealth and silent weapons when encountered in the wild.

Read more

The Studio Ghibli director has mixed feelings about his childhood idol, Osamu Tezuka

Continue reading…

The Last of Us Part 2 is one of the most anticipated PS4 games releasing this year, and as its June 19 release date quickly approaches, fans now have another way to celebrate the game's launch and own a piece of limited-edition The Last of Us hardware. Sony announced a new PS4 Pro bundle that features a limited-edition console and controller inspired by The Last of Us Part 2, and it'll launch alongside the game on June 19. Aside from the PS4 Pro bundle, the Last of Us Part II PS4 collection also includes a new limited-edition Gold Wireless Headset and a Seagate 2TB Game Drive. Update: Unsurprisingly, the limited-edition PS4 console has sold out, but you can still buy the headset and controller at a few retailers.

Check out everything the Last of Us Part II PS4 collection includes below, including price and where to purchase. Plus, if you still need to pre-order The Last of Us Part II, we have a guide breaking down all every special edition and pre-order bonus.

I’ve played my fair share of MMOs over the years. Despite the excitement that used to come with an online world stuffed full of unknown people, I’ve started to feel some put too much “massive” in the MO. The next game by the folks known for the Shelter series—the ones about animal moms protecting their babies from hawks and rivers and such—is what they’re calling a TMO, a tiny multiplayer online RPG. Every new image or video I see of Book Of Travels convinces me that I really want TMOs to be the next big (but small) thing.

(more…)

Misaki's overprotective sister Nagisa has arrived and she already hates your guts.

The post Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation’s Nagisa Has Made Her Debut in the English Version appeared first on Siliconera.

The entirety of the Neo Geo’s Samurai Shodown library—plus one that hasn’t seen the light of day since 2005—will soon be available in one complete package for PC, PlayStation 4, and Switch.

Read more...

Well, COVID-19 & the cancellation of E3 2020 has left a big hole in the summer game announcement schedule. To be replaced by... indie game showcases! ...

Vita means death

Continue reading…

Today’s gameplay of The Last Of Us Part II was quite exciting for many fans of the series, but Naughty Dog also included a funny moment. 

One of the scenes features one of the characters distracted while playing on a PS Vita.

While we don’t see the game itself, we hear its music, and it’s unmistakably  Dennaton Games’ ultra-violent indie darling Hotline Miami. 

You can hear the same music below, courtesy of YouTube user Gamemusic.

Unfortunately, the gaming joyride doesn’t last long, and the fun is brusquely interrupted. Looks like Vita doesn’t men “Life” Anymore. Could this be a metaphor representing Sony pulling the plug on PS Vita?

What a way to go.

In the meanwhile, yesterday we learned that a new official podcast is also coming, and will launch on June 9.

Niantic has announced two new features that are coming soon to Pokemon Go, both of which will continue to enhance the game's AR capabilities. The first is dubbed "Reality Blending," and it will make Pokemon blend more naturally into the environment around you.

Utilizing the AR tech in certain modern smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S10 and Google Pixel 4, Reality Blending will allow the game to display Pokemon partially or fully behind objects. As you can see in the sample clip below, Reality Blending will make it so that Bulbasaur will be obscured when you move the camera behind a tree.

Disney’s directors have long admired Ghibli’s movies, but the company never gave them their due

Continue reading…

Minecraft Dungeons is a brand new spin-off from blockbuster crafting game Minecraft, but it's pretty different to its source material. What I mean is, even if you're a huge fan of Minecraft, Minecraft Dungeons might not necessarily be what you're expecting--instead of mining blocks, chopping down trees, and building all kinds of creative structures like you would in a building game like Minecraft, Minecraft Dungeons is an action role-playing game. For those less acquainted with the genre, that means it involves the hacking and slashing of a lot of monsters and other bad things, taking inspiration from a variety of classic titles like the illustrious Diablo series.

Minecraft Dungeons tells the story of a bad guy called the Arch-Illager, who was ostracized by a group of mean Villagers because he looked a bit different to them--sort of like what happened to Shriek in Ori and the Will of the Wisps. Anyway, he ended up becoming quite powerful, which radically accentuated the chip on his shoulder and made him reckon it was a good idea to set loads of villages on fire. Naturally, Minecraft Dungeons is all about your quest to stop him.

Once you're up to speed, consider reading about our essential tips and tricks for playing Minecraft Dungeons, and keep an eye out for more nitty-gritty guides coming soon.

Naughty Dog vice president Neil Druckmann narrated a new look at The Last Of Us Part II, offering some in-depth details about how the game plays.

Part II picks up the story several years after the end of the first game, when Ellie and Joel have settled in a protected community in Jackson, Wyoming. Ellie is now 19, and just as she is beginning to gather a life for herself, disaster strikes in a form that that will likely wait until the game’s release to discover. Ellie sets out alone in pursuit of retribution and justice.

While the game includes varied locales including snowy areas near Jackson and lush forest zones in the Pacific Northwest, the bulk of the story is told in the old quarantine zone of Seattle. There, we see that Ellie has a host of new navigation options, including jumping gaps, and using ropes to swing to new platforms or for tactically bypassing enemies. She also regularly makes use of horseback riding and a motorboat to get around.

Seattle is a warzone between competing factions. The Washington Liberation Front (WLF) is one of the two factions, made up of militaristic and well-equipped soldiers who often use guard dogs to track down their targets. The other major human faction are the tribalistic Seraphites, or Scars, who ritualistically scar their bodies and faces, and use more stealth-oriented combat methods.

Plus the start of GOG’s Summer Sale

Continue reading…

The next big Call of Duty: Modern Warfare season is just around the corner.

The action kicks off next week on June 3, and there's a spiffy new trailer to catch you up on exactly what's going on in the larger story.

Yes, there's a story going on outside of those Shoot House 24/7 matches! Check out the new trailer below.

HBO Max, Netflix, Hulu, and rentable options in one place

Continue reading…

Game makers and publishers will now have to opt into having their game playable through Nvidia†™s game streaming service GeForce Now, and already has 200 publishers representing 2000 games on board. ...

Famitsu columnist Zenji Nishikawa has revealed that his column will contain a "major scoop" regarding Sega in next week's issue.

The post Sega-Related ‘Major Scoop’ to be Revealed in Famitsu appeared first on Siliconera.

The Last of Us Part 2 Locations and Map Details

• The Last of Us Part 2 picks up several years after the events of the first game after they settle in the relatively peaceful settlement in Jackson, Wyoming.
• Ellie is 19 at the start of the sequel.
• The game will cover expansive parts of the world, including real-life locations.
• The game will take place over multiple seasons and climates, from the snow-capped mountains of Jackson to the lush Pacific Northwest.
• Naughty Dog has put great detail into recreating the real cities the maps are based on.

Due to COVID-19 concerns, Anime Expo 2020 was canceled earlier this year. But, in an announcement that came out today from the Anime Expo team, there will be a free two-day live stream event that will begin on July 3, appropriately called ‘Anime Expo Lite.”

Anime Expo Lite will feature content from industry partners such as Bushiroad, Crunchyroll, Pony Canyon, VIZ Media, with more to be announced in the weeks leading up to the online-only expo.

Fans can expect to see special live-streamed panel discussions, announcements, exclusive Japanese content, giveaways, and much more.

And the most important part of this story –at least for The World Ends With You fans like myself– the official artwork for the expo features the cast of Square Enix’s TWEWY with Ai and Xeno in the background, which are the mascots of Anime Expo –just in case you thought they were new characters like I did.

Ever since a port of the cult JRPG made it to the Nintendo Switch back in 2018, Square Enix has been quiet regarding the future of the series.

The title, which originally released on the DS, never received a numbered sequel and now that this artwork has surfaced, fans are speculating on whether we’ll be seeing a TWEWY-related announcement during the upcoming expo.

As of writing, TWEWY (The World Ends With You) even managed to trend on Twitter thanks to the vocal fans:

We’ve heard hardly a peep from the Marvel’s Avengers corner since Crystal Dynamics announced a delay earlier this year. They’re not ready to unveil more just yet, but the Avengers are allegedly reassembling. The developers will be hosting a livestream on June 24th to tell us more.

(more…)

As it turns out, the remake of Trackmania Nations will also have a free-to-play version. Simply titled Trackmania, the fast-paced arcade racer will be available in three editions: Starter Access, Standard Access, and Club Access. Starter Access will be free when the game launches July 1 on PC via the Epic Games Store and Uplay.

The Trackmania series is know for its streamlined four-button gameplay and snappy tracks that are often littered with sharp turns, corkscrews, and flips that make for a consistently exciting experience.

With Starter Access, you'll be able to play a rotating series of campaigns that refresh every three months, race on 25 official tracks, and have access to user-created tracks as well as tinker with the editors yourself. You can compete in online Nations League matches each week, too.

Monster Train owes much to Slay the Spire for popularizing the roguelike deck-builder RPG, both at a high level and in some of its features and mechanics. But don’t dismiss Monster Train as a mere clone or derivative work like so many other games today attempting to capture the deck-building magic.

Minecraft Dungeons may be the perfect starting point for newcomers looking to dip their toes into the action RPG genre or for someone looking to have a relaxed playthrough in a game world they know and love.

But, according to our own Jeff Cork's thorough and well-written review, hardcore fans of games such as Diablo and Path of Exile may want to look elsewhere if they're craving a deep loot-driven experience.

Join us as we analyze Mojang's latest foray into a new world with Game Informer's latest video review.

As always, your feedback has been instrumental in improving each video and I can't thank you enough. Please reach out in the comments below or on Twitter if you have any constructive feedback. I look forward to hearing from everyone. If you can't get enough Minecraft Dungeons, be sure to check out our New Gameplay Today as I play co-op with some of your favorite GI editors.

Sony Interactive Entertainment and Naughty Dog have revealed some brand new gameplay of The Last of Us Part II.

We start with an introduction about the story by Naughty Dog vice president and director Neil Druckmann. 

We also take a look at the settings that we’ll be able to enjoy, with most of the game taking place in a ruined Seattle. 

The video then introduces the factions that we’ll encounter, fighting for control of Seattle and survival. 

There are also new forms of infected, some of which (defined the “most terrified and lethal”) are still a mystery. 

A look at combat and encounters shows how we can use stealth, various lethal means, and even allies, to our advantage.

Crafting and progression are also showcased, including the new workbench system. 

Last, but certainly not least, Vita doesn’t mean “Life” anymore. You’ll see what I mean below.

In the meanwhile, yesterday we learned that a new official podcast is also coming, and will launch on June 9.

I forgive you if you didn’t even notice that the TurboGrafx-16 Mini was officially released last week. Who could know? I don’t see so much as a press release in my inbox about it. The extent of the marketing for it seems to be Konami’s official Twitter account sporadically retweeting people who bought one. But yes, …

Read more...

Disney and Lucasfilm have announced that its Hidden Temple-esque game show set in a galaxy far, far away will be premiering on June 3 with two new episodes back to back.

Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge was first announced back in December as a Disney+ exclusive series. The game show will be hosted by the famous voice actor of Jar Jar Binks, Ahmed Best, and will “test young Padawans’ strength, knowledge, and bravery in a series of trials designed to discover who is capable of becoming a Jedi Knight.“

Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge will be 10 episodes long and will be available to watch on the official Star Wars Kids YouTube channel and StarWarsKids.com. It’s worth noting that Lucasfilm did not mention whether the series would still be coming to Disney+.

You can watch the first trailer down below via YouTube:

All the personality packed into this short little game really makes it stand out. The Helltaker characters are deeper than one might expect.

The post The Helltaker Characters Make the Game appeared first on Siliconera.

A few weeks out from the June 16 Steam Early Access launch, we've got a fresh look at Hardspace: Shipbreaker, a cathartic game about slicing derelict spaceships to extract their precious innards so you can pay down a billion-credit debt. I'm on board for the sinister premise and cool laser cutting.

Today's video is a four-minute gameplay overview. If you ever got a kick out of Dead Space's "strategic dismemberment," Hardspace is like that, but more – minus the terrifying, effed-up body horror.

That said, it's by no means a carefree venture. As the voice-over explains, "one accidental cut could mean the destruction of the entire ship and you along with it." During each job, you'll scan for potential hazards like fuel lines and pressurized cabins that require finesse with your laser cutter tool, and when you reach the heart of the ship in hopes of a big payday, you'll have to hurry. When a ship's valuable reactor is extracted from its coolant tank, it becomes a ticking time bomb, and you'll need to safely drag it around with a leash-like grapple tool until you deposit it at the salvage bay's drop-off zone.

Blackbird is also planning to bring Hardspace: Shipbreaker to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but one thing at a time. For now, I'm pretty intrigued by the Early Access pitch. I'm hopeful the mechanical foundation and carrot-on-a-stick gear upgrades are strong enough to support the weight of a 15-hour story.

Available on PlayStation 4 on June 19

Continue reading…

Another month means another batch of piratical activities on the Sea of Thieves, and today's Lost Treasures update - a somewhat lower-key offering than usual - brings a number of quality-of-life improvements such as Tall Tales checkpoints, plus a quivering heap of new limited-time events and recurring challenges, designed to encourage regular returns.

Tall Tales checkpoints (revealed to Eurogamer last month) are probably the biggest game-changer this month, enabling players to quit a session and resume an in-progress story episode at a later time. Crucially, it means pirates won't be forced to restart, losing hours of effort as a result, if an enemy crew decides to pillage mission-critical items mid-way through an adventure.

Newcomers should also find it a little easier to navigate their way through Tall Tales thanks to a few new additions to the ship's onboard map; Rare has now implemented tooltips for certain icons, guiding players in the right direction to begin their next quest.

Read more

Tyler "Nina" Blevins is hosting his own invitational Fortnite tournament series through July 2.

The blue haired, green eyed streamer announced Ninja Battles Featuring Fortnite on Wednesday. It kicks off on May 28 with six events, each with their own $80,000 prize pool, over the next 2 months. The action starts tomorrow at 12 PM PT / 3 PM ET streamed on Ninja's Mixer channel.

Fortnite World Cup champion Kyle "Bugha" Giersdorf and Nicholas "Nick Eh 30" Amyoony are two confirmed competitors among more than 60 gaming personalities that will take part.

Over a decade after the last samurai game of the series, Samurai Shodown is getting a reboot. SNK have reimagined yon olde fighting game from 1993 for the current generation of button mashers. Shodown just got slapped with a launch date right around the corner on June 11th. A collection of past Shodown games will join it on the same day.

(more…)

Psyduck has finally kicked that terrible headache and found some much-needed R&R. They say Psyduck evolves into Golduck, but not this one. This dude can chillax so hard that he pretty much leveled up into a Snorlax.

The Pokemon Company has given Psyduck his own music video and, frankly, it rules. He has no interest in battling other pocket creatures or being crammed into a ball. You can catch him poolside chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool. This is the life Psyduck deserves. This is the life all of us deserve.

My favorite part? Psyduck looks like he's auditioning for a spot in NWA. Shades and a gold chain is an absolutely iconic look, and it takes an icon like Psyduck to pull it off.

Pokemon Co. Releases a Music Video for Psyduck [Go Nintendo]

In today's contest you can win a Steam Early Access copy of roguelike twin stick shooter I, Dracula: Genesis!

Ever since the days of Gauntlet, I've always enjoyed what has now become the twin stick shooter. It can be chaotic and difficult at times, but running around in circles like a madman avoiding enemy fire while taking ou baddies on all sides is just one of those pure "gaming" experiences that I just can't stay away from.

Today, we've got Early Access copies of upcoming shooter I, Dracula: Genesis up for grabs so you can do your best Wes Tacos impersonation in a weird, nightmarish post apocalyptic world!