Sony and Facebook have cancelled their appearances at the Game Developers Conference this year, both citing concerns about the new coronavirus. The yearly conference for game industry workers is typically a source of new information each year, with presentations about the development of influential games and interviews with studio members. Both Sony and Facebook are stepping back this year based on concerns for the health and safety of their workers.

(more…)

Fortnite just began Chapter 2 Season 2, a new update themed after espionage between dueling spy agencies. That means a new battle pass and rewards to earn, but just how long you have to complete it is open to speculation. Based on an in-game message, the end of the season appears to be coming in late April.

GamesRadar reports that an in-game message on the refund policy suggests the end-date will be on or around April 30. That date is a Thursday, and the big seasonal updates tend to come on Thursdays. That would also make the current season ten weeks, which is the usual length for a Fortnite season.

The suit reminds us of a specific comic...

Continue reading…

Today, during an Azur Lane livestream from Japan, Compile Heart revealed the first look at new Azur Lane: Crosswave DLC shipgirls Sirius, Formidable, and Le Malin in action.

We get to see a clip made with PS4 gameplay showcasing their 3D models, gameplay, and special attacks. 

We already know that Formidable will be included in the second DLC package, Le Malin will be in the fourth, while Sirius will come last. 

The first DLC package will include Taihou, and the third will be all about Roon. Three additional shipgirls per DLC will also be available as secretaries and support fleet members.

You can watch them in action below.

If you want to learn more about Azur Lane: Crosswave, you should definitely read the interview we pubished a few weeks ago, in which Compile Heart President Norihisa Kochiwa talks in depth about the project.

Pearl Abyss MMORPG Black Desert Online crossplay between the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One will come this March.

The post Black Desert Online to Support Cross Platform Play Between Console Versions appeared first on Siliconera.

The weekend is for being able to squeeze in one more long run before I do my first half-marathon next week, which I am pretty nervous about! The weekend is also for playing video games while I try not to obsess over feeling unprepared.

Read more...

DOOM Eternal and Animal Crossing: New Horizons may be two wildly different games on the surface, but right now they have two things in common: fan communities that are in FULL support of each other, and a March 20 release date.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/20/animal-crossing-new-horizons-direct-2202020"]

Animal Crossing and DOOM Fans Unite

The love between these two fanbases began with a crossover from the DOOM Subreddit, with reddit user Genkiz-_ (with art by Popzotz) reaching out to r/AnimalCrossing with a message of support:

The goodwill from both sides began to snowball as crossover fan art was dreamt up by admirers across the video game divide in an armistice for the ages. Doomguy and Isabelle have been the focus of the community collaboration, with the pair often seen exchanging gifts and weapons across their respective games and battlefields.

Credit: Arturoware

From a sword in a stone to a game of competitive potion-brewing, each of these one-of-a-kind alt.ctrl.GDC 2020 games has a remarkable origin story -- read all about 'em in these Gamasutra interviews! ...

The recent Animal Crossing: New Horizons Direct showed off tons of new info on the game and fans are losing their minds all across the internet. New Horizons looks like it’s going to be a fantastic game, but Nintendo’s new save data solution for the title is still massively concerning.

We learned a few months ago that the latest installment in the Animal Crossing franchise is not compatible with the Switch Online Cloud Saves feature. I get Nintendo is trying to combat time manipulation exploits, but this decision negatively impacts everyone who purchases the game.

Initially, we thought this signaled certain doom if your console was lost or damaged. However, the recent Animal Crossing: New Horizons Direct tried to alleviate concerns over this issue by revealing a special data recovery service if your console becomes lost or damaged.

This is an odd workaround since the company clearly already has the infrastructure in place to make cloud saves work. As expected, you still will need to have an active Switch Online membership for it to work.

It’s better than nothing, yet Nintendo’s solution still won’t be enough to put my mind at ease. I appreciate that it took the time to find an alternative option to not offering backups in any form, but there’s still one discouraging catch.

Between Total War: Warhammer, Space Hulk: Tactics, Warhammer: End Time - Vermintide, and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine--among dozens and dozens of others--the Warhammer franchise has touched pretty much every genre imaginable. Up until this point, however, there haven't been any flight sims.

Warhammer 40,000: Dakka Squadron, announced today by developer Phosphor Games, fills that gap. From the name alone, die-hard Warhammer fans will know the game focuses on Orks, the hilarious green-skinned-maniacs who love warfare more than any other faction in the Warhammer universe.

Players will be able to choose from one of five Ork Clans in Dakka Squadron: Blood Axes, Goffs, Bad Moons, Death Skullz, and Evil Sunz. Each faction has their own unique traits and abilities, taking to the skies in Dakkajets, Blitza-Bommas, and Burna-Bommas.

Temtem sales figures have already passed 500,000, and stats about Lumas, defeats, and creatures have been shared.

The post Pokemon-like Temtem’s Sales Pass 500k One Month After Its Early Access Debut appeared first on Siliconera.

Star Wars fans know Revenge of the Sith begins with the end of the Clone Wars. So, most people assumed The Clone Wars TV show would end before that, or at least right at that moment.

I love eighteenth century composer Frederic Chopin. I love video games. I really love video games featuring Frederic Chopin. With the release of Fred3ric, available now on the Nintendo Switch eShop, Forever Entertainment cements its position as the world’s most prolific producer of Chopin video games. They’ve made…

Read more...

While we're still waiting for Spawn to come to Mortal Kombat 11, artist and creator of the fictional superhero Todd McFarlane has provided a first-look at what Spawn will look like in the fighting game.

The Spawn Mortal Kombat action figurine is a very detailed 7-inch model "designed with 22 points of ultra-articulation and can achieve full range posing," McFarlane said on Twitter. It's coming from McFarlane Toys and will be available sometime this March, probably tying in with Spawn's March 17 release in Mortal Kombat 11 on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Stadia, and Xbox One.

Though no retail stores have been confirmed to carry it, the Spawn action figure will retail for $20 USD and you can check out some images below.

The Sword tasks players with guessing weights to correctly (and heroically) pull a sword from the stone, and Bruce and Box needs them to hide and keep themselves covered up with a box. ...

As workers in the video game industry, we have a huge responsibility to participate in the training of our future recruits, we cannot just wait for someone else to do it. ...

As I discovered earlier this week, games with Twitch integration can be pretty fun. So much so that Leo Vader and Jeff Cork also wanted to get in on the action. What's a better way to do so than by playing one of Leo's favorite games of last year?

We were live earlier, but fear not as you can watch the archive above. Enjoying the streams? You can subscribe over on YouTube, Twitch, Mixer, Twitter, or Facebook to get notified when we go live in the future! Thanks for watching!

Autumn de Wilde’s Jane Austen adaptation is a joy

Continue reading…

Square Enix usually has a strong Final Fantasy XIV presence at PAX East, but unfortunately this year something got in the way.

The publisher announced that due to concerns caused by the Coronavirus outbreak, the game’s staff from Japan who was supposed to be in attendance will stay home, causing the cancellation of some planned events.

You can read the changes below.

Hunt through Deadpool’s garbage and be rude to the bus driver

Continue reading…

Yakuza Remastered Collection is a love letter to the series, a way to restore what was lost, and a means of preservation.

The post Yakuza Remastered Collection Honors an Incredible Series appeared first on Siliconera.

Ruiner excels at everything it sets out to accomplish. It's dripping in cyberpunk futuristic dystopia aesthetics, a visual assault of deep reds and neons. It's also a tough-as-hell action game, one that Anthony described as part twin-stick shooter and part bullet-hell in his review.

Now this Devolver-published gem is making its way to Switch. Developer Reikon Games announced the port this afternoon via this tweet:

Cross-party play support coming in update 6.2, live on test servers now

Continue reading…

First announced back in 2018, Othercide is back with a new trailer today. The mostly grey tactical RPG is full of horrific creatures with plague masks and spindly limbs mixed with splashes of red. Gives me somewhat Bloodborne vibes  seeing those long hunter cloaks and broads fighting monsters in red pumps and scarves. Or maybe it was the organ playing in the trailer wot did it. Anyway, it’s got grimdark vibes—the trailer bangs on things like “suffering” and severed hearts—and is coming this summer.

(more…)

HAL Laboratory, the makers of the Kirby and BoxBoy series, reached its 40th anniversary.

The post HAL Laboratory Celebrates 40th Anniversary With A Cute Illustration and a Giveaway appeared first on Siliconera.

So many things have changed for the Animal Crossing series, but I feel like I need to keep one old tradition alive for New Horizons: playing the game with a physical strategy guide by my side. I still have my original Official Nintendo Player's Guide. Against all odds, the GameCube book is in good shape!

I know, I know. We have access to reliably up-to-date wikis, and phones with which to easily browse them while we play – but it's just not the same experience. I like seeing all the full furniture sets I'll never be able to finish. I like having visual aids. The lack of auto-playing ads is pretty swell, too.

If you're coming at Animal Crossing: New Horizons from a similar mindset, you'll want to know that Future Press is handling the game's Official Companion Guide, a 432-page paperback. It's releasing a little after the game comes out – on April 9, 2020 – and it'll cost $29.99. Pre-orders are up.

Our next release is a very special one: the official companion guide for Animal Crossing: New Horizons! We’re truly excited to announce this book. It’s released early April and will be filled to bursting with invaluable island-building information!https://t.co/BWglpCZEOQ pic.twitter.com/66o4Ztw1US

Muv-Luv creator Kouki Yoshimune just hosted âge’s weekly livestream, and he detailed another image board of the upcoming Alternative sequel Muv-Luv: Integrate.

The image board is the one you see above (you can find a version that can be enlarged below), featuring a very relevant character from the series, Yuuko Kouzuki. 

Yoshimune-san provided a lot more details (reported by Famitsu) on how to read the image.

Of course, do keep in mind that if you have not played Muv-Luv and Muv-Luv Alternative, you likely shouldn’t read below, because spoilers are included. It’s better if you go and play the games first (and you really should) and then come back.

Wolcen’s biggest bug at the time of writing is at the end of the third act. The boss seems to have a bit of an issue with moving and taking damage. It’s really quite aggravating when it happens as you’ll need to restart the fight. I scoured the internet for an answer and while it’s not been patched out yet, there is a workaround. (more…)

Thank goodness it's Friday, as they say! Yes, yes! We're busy sending information about the deserted island getaway package to all of our Nook's Homes customers. That's a whopping 383 letters... You can be sure we're pouring our heart and soul into each and every one! #ACNH pic.twitter.com/fHbF3rHHHN

The accumulated revenue from sales of The Witcher 3 on @Steam platform for the period of time between October 1st 2018 and today has exceeded 50M USD. As a result, we are now getting 80% on any subsequent sales of TW3 on Steam. Thank you all for your support! pic.twitter.com/JgNgrrI5h0

We only have a few weeks of Destiny 2's Season of Dawn left, which means new content will soon be on the way. That makes this a good opportunity to start messing around with some new Exotics to find new guns and armor builds you might like, especially since Bungie has announced a whole bunch of weapon nerfs coming next season. Xur has arrived in the solar system with another opportunity for you to get the Exotics you're missing--here's where to find him and everything he's carrying.

Xur is located on Earth in the EDZ right now, in Winding Cove. His Exotic weapon this week is The Colony. Hunters can get Raiden Flux chest armor; Titans have the Mask of the Quiet One helmet on offer; and Warlocks can purchase the Crown of Tempests helmet.

Xur Location

You'll find Xur on a cliff in Winding Cove. Drop into the transmat zone and head north to the edge of the area. Climb the cliffside up toward a crashed Fallen dropship--Xur is standing at the edge of the cliff beside it, but watch out for the Fallen hanging out in the area.

This makes me happy

Continue reading…

Temtem, the massively multiplayer creature-collection adventure game, has managed to sell over 500,00 copies worldwide. The PC game was released in early access on Steam back on Jan 21, 2020.

The announcement was shared via the Twitter account for Temtem earlier today:

“Interesting facts, don’t you think?

Here’s another nice number: Temtem has officially sold over 500.000 copies worldwide!

We wanted to thank everyone for their support, and take a look at how we are doing so far

There is so much more yet to come!

In another tweet, the Temtem team shared that a roadmap is currently in the works and will be out soon for everyone to check out. A roadmap for online games is essentially a calendar that goes over all of the upcoming special events, patches, updates, etc, etc.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX has gotten a new overview trailer highlighting the new Rare Qualities feature.

The post Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX Video Explains Its New Rare Qualities appeared first on Siliconera.

You're a good Shepard. A well-meaning, considerate, kind, and benevolent Shepard. Well, at least 90 percent of you are. Other 10 percent? Total dicks.

There's a fascinating (and optimistic!) split between Paragon and Renegade playstyles in the Mass Effect games. Former BioWare cinematic designer John Ebenger revealed that approximately 92 percent of players chose a Paragon path through Mass Effect -- all while lamenting that the developer put a lot of work into the Renegade content that players couldn't bring themselves to see.

Count me among the masses who couldn't go about saving the universe while also being a jerk. I tried it once during the second run of the original Mass Effect (you needed three to hit max level and to play on Insanity difficulty), and that unofficial non-canon Renegade approach for an achievement still doesn't sit well with me. My third playthrough was pure Paragon, which I imported to Mass Effect 2 and carried all the way through the end of the trilogy.

It's always great when players take developers by surprise -- like when Ubisoft was blindsided that way more people played Assassin's Creed Odyssey as Alexios than it ever imagined. In theory, there are equal rewards and drawbacks between a Paragon and Renegade character. But, apparently being a good person is an irresistible reward unto itself. 

@EbengerJohn [Twitter]

Crytek and Star Citizen developers Cloud Imperium Games and Roberts Space Industries have agreed to settle the years-long legal dispute, though terms of that arrangement remain unknown. ...