February 2020

Outriders for PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, & PC Gets Spectacular New Videos & Lots of Details

4 years 1 month ago

Today Square Enix and People can Fly hosted a panel at PAX East focusing on the newly re-revealed cross-generation co-op RPG shooter Outriders.

The developers in charge of storytelling including lead writer Joshua Rubin and lead narrative designer Szymon Barchan talked about the game, the story, and the process of creating the world of the game.

We also get to see some brand new footage showing the world and another focusing on the guns and their gameplay.

Below you can read a summary of what the developers shared.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Sakura Wars gets set to unleash mecha mayhem with new story trailer

4 years 1 month ago

It has been a very long wait for western fans, but we're finally approaching the release of Sakura Wars, which will arrive on PS4 in North America and Europe in April. Publisher Sega has released a new English-language story trailer to help get fans up to speed on the strategic anime adventure's narrative.

Set in a (very) alternate 1940s Tokyo, Sakura Wars will tell the epic tale of a city at war, with the Imperial Theater and its compatriots facing off in dramatic battle against hordes of demons, brought about by man's inhumanity to man. As young military Captain Seijuro Kamiyama, players must manage the interpersonal relationships of a cast of mech-riding warriors, sallying forth into battle to prevent the fall of Japan to the nightmarish menace.

Sakura Wars gets set to unleash mecha mayhem with new story trailer screenshot

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Author
Chris Moyse

Which hemisphere will your Animal Crossing: New Horizons island be set in?

4 years 1 month ago

We're less than a month away from the launch of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. On March 20, the ravenous fans of the series who've hounded Nintendo nonstop across social media will finally be able to put their cell phones down and pick their NookPhones up as they begin island life. As with any Animal Crossing game, there are a lot of decisions to make before you even start playing and New Horizons is giving players yet another choice to agonize over. For the first time in the franchise, players will be able to pick which hemisphere their island escape is located in.

This is something I didn't think about too much in the past. For the 10 years or so, I lived in parts of the United States that don't experience the traditional changing of seasons. My winters were more dreary than white; my falls bereft of the colors normally associated with the time of year. Because of this, I loved diving into my little Animal Crossing world to see the seasons as they should be.

But now I live in a place that does have a distinct spring, summer, winter, and fall; and a question I've been asking myself since the Nintendo Direct is whether or not I want to see those same seasons on my island when I can go outside to experience them in real life. Should I keep things consistent with my immediate surroundings or treat the game as a true escape from my world, getting glimpses of December snow when it's 105 degrees outside? 

Choosing the name of my town used to be the most difficult part of starting my life in Animal Crossing. Now, I'm just fretting over whether or not I want to build snowmen in the summer. Is this issue as much of a conundrum for you as it is for me?

Author
CJ Andriessen

Baldur's Gate 3 developer says current-gen consoles couldn't handle the game

4 years 1 month ago

The curtain is finally pulled back on Baldur's Gate III. We just got a full look at the game at PAX East courtesy of a gameplay stream from Larian Studios, and we now have some sort of window for Early Access: "a couple of months." Thanks to a new interview with executive producer David Walgrave by way of Eurogamer, we have even more of an idea of how this project is shaping up.

One of the big debates in the community deals with the decision to go turn-based in 2020, and Walgrave has his own answer for that: "Why did we go for turn-based instead of real-time with pause? Because D&D to us is a turn-based game and we're really good - or we have become really good - with turn-based combat. So that, I think, is one of our strengths, and trying out real-time with pause for now, just because the originals were that? It's a big risk."

But what about the fact that Baldur's Gate III isn't coming to PS4 or Xbox One? According to Walgrave, the game couldn't run in its current incarnation on consoles. He muses, "There's a lot of technical upgrades and updates that we did to our engine, and I don't know if it would be capable of being able to actually run on those things," then concedes that there is a chance it could run, but they've had to tone down the textures and nearly everything else visually: at that point it wouldn't be the same. When asked if next-gen consoles were a possibility, Walgrave responded with a nod, though nothing is confirmed yet.

Author
Chris Carter

Infinity Ward is using Modern Warfare weapon charms to reference some of the best moments from the MW2 campaign

4 years 1 month ago

The Call of Duty games are packed full of Easter eggs - and Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare soft reboot is no exception.

It turns out Infinity Ward is using Modern Warfare weapon charms to reference the Modern Warfare 2 campaign - and that discovery has led fans to speculate that each Modern Warfare season is themed around one of Infinity Ward's previous games.

Eagle-eyed redditor AnalVor noticed three new weapon charms found in Modern Warfare as part of the game's second season battle pass directly reference iconic moments from the Modern Warfare 2 campaign.

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Mario Maker Contest: I Love Power-Ups

4 years 1 month ago

I love a good power-up in a Mario game. Especially one that makes the level easier or more exciting to play through. Or what about that feeling of grabbing a Super Star and knocking out every enemy in your way. It never gets old.

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Author
Zack Zwiezen

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Red Dead Online Leap Day Challenges All Involve Jumping, or Getting Jumped

4 years 1 month ago

You’d be forgiven for forgetting that today, February 29, is Leap Day. You know, the day that comes about every four years because calendars and planetary rotations are weird. In any case, Red Dead Redemption 2 developer Rockstar Games definitely did not forget, and threw in a little treat for observant cowboys and cowgirls in the game’s online mode.

First spotted by Reddit user Moonshiner, a list of daily challenges popped up in Red Dead Online tasking players with, well, leaping a whole bunch on Leap Day.

red dead online jump challenges

Challenges include jumping from a horse onto a moving train, jumping from a horse onto a moving wagon, jumping from a horse onto...another horse, and jumping onto a horse from a height of at least three meters.

Nice one, Rockstar.

Reddit user jason21521 also pointed out that a daily challenge to "successfully fend off an ambush" could also count as "getting jumped." Bit of a leap itself, but we'll go with it. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/20/red-dead-redemption-2-online-recreated-in-dreams"]

If you want some assistance completing these challenges and others in Red Dead Online, check out our Red Dead Online wiki, where you’ll also find our huge interactive world map and more.

Author
Joseph Knoop

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Baldur's Gate 3 was revealed, Covid-19 cancelled everything, and more of the week's news

4 years 1 month ago

This week, we got to see Baldur’s Gate 3, the Game Developers Conference was postponed following Covid-19 concerns, the coronavirus caused trouble for a load of other events too, and Platinum announced a kaiju game. Read on for more of the week’s PC gaming goings-on in our News Digest, and do also check out the Weekly Updates Update for the week’s patches.

(more…)

Author
Alice O'Connor

PlatinumGames Discusses New Game Project G.G.; Shares 101 Facts You May Not Know About the Studio

4 years 1 month ago

Today PlatinumGames hosted a panel at PAX East with Director Hideki Kamiya and Producer Atsushi Inaba, who talked about Project G.G. and more.

First of all, we get to see a video showcasing 101 interesting facts about the studio. It’s actually 97 in the video itself, and you can read the rest under the clip.

You can see it below.

Inaba-san and Kamiya-san talked about the Kickstarter campaign for The Wonderful 101: Remastered, mentioning that the reasons they resorted to crowdfunding included wanting to start on a new path with players and fans, to provide an assortment of cool stuff with the game, and a more robust game experience thanks to the stretch goals.

Ths game includes a lot of music and the soundtrack is five disks.

When they want to created a lot of goodies and interesting things associated with a game, normally developers have to go through a lot of approval steps and formalities, but Kickstarter allowed PlatinumGames to skip many of those issues.  

We also hear more about the new development studio that is being opened in Tokyo. The studio will focus on creating new content and will be hiring international developers for multiple roles.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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NIS America has two announcements coming next week

4 years 1 month ago

Publisher NIS America has revealed that it has two announcements incoming next week. The new news will be revealed on Tuesday, March 3 and Thursday, March 5.

As the news is coming directly from the North American branch, then it's possible that we might be getting word on some upcoming localisations. That said, it could just as easily be news related to the upcoming GDC 2020 event, or teases for entirely new releases.

In other news, the publisher is currently in attendance at PAX East this weekend, where it is selling merch and promoting games such as Kemeno Heroes, Langrisser I & II, and Trails of Cold Steel III.

Whatever NIS America has up its sleeve, we'll be sure to keep you informed when the mystery news is finally made public, so stick around, folks.

NIS America is teasing two announcements for next week [Push Square]

NIS America has two announcements coming next week screenshot

Author
Chris Moyse

Senran Kagura characters making a splash in Kandagawa Jet Girls

4 years 1 month ago

Marvelous! has released a trailer spotlighting two more Senran Kagura teams, arriving in cheesecake racer Kandagawa Jet Girls as new DLC characters. The four new "Jetters" join their SK pals Ikaruga, Yomi, Ryobi and Ryona, who were added to the roster last month.

First up are Crimson Squad buddies Hikage and Homura, whose natural tree-hopping, roof-running, shuriken-throwing ninja skills will no doubt help them make the natural transition from shinobi to jet-ski racer. It also appears that the pair have brought swords to this sporting event. Yeah, why not?

Senran Kagura characters making a splash in Kandagawa Jet Girls screenshot

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Author
Chris Moyse

Fallout 76's Wastelanders expansion looks promising

4 years 1 month ago

Bethesda has shown off gameplay of the upcoming Fallout 76 Wastelanders expansion - and it looks like it makes some significant improvements to the game.

In the video below, Bethesda developers show off a raft of new locations, NPCs, conversations and a quest.

Much has changed in the massively multiplayer online game - and perhaps the most significant change is the addition of NPCs you can talk to. Upon leaving Vault 76 you'll bump into a couple, and some areas once dead are now alive with people.

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Bad Kitty!

4 years 1 month ago

This week on Snapshots, some Spider-Men, some Stormtroopers, a cool collection of feathers, a gold mask, some shoes in a maze and one bad kitty. And more!

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Author
Zack Zwiezen

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The Witcher Finds Its Uncle Vesemir

4 years 1 month ago

Geralt of Rivia may be a surrogate father to young Ciri, but he’s got a father figure of his own. Netflix has announced that Killing Eve actor Kim Bodnia has joined the cast of The Witcher for season two.

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Author
Beth Elderkin on io9, shared by Zack Zwiezen to Kotaku

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Final Fantasy X Voted Best Final Fantasy by Japanese Fans in Massive Survey; Cloud Is Best Character

4 years 1 month ago

Today the Japanese state TV NHK announced the results of a massive survey related to the Final Fantasy series, in which 468,654 fans voted for their favorite games, characters, and more.

The voters were fairly evenly split between men (50.8%) and women (49.2%).

4.7% of respondents were 19 years-old or younger, 27.3% between 20 and 29, 44.5% were betwen 30 and 39, 19.3% were between 40 and 49, 3.6% between 50 and 59, while 0.5% were over 60.

The ranking for the most popular games of the series was as follows, with Final Fantasy X managing to beat Final Fantasy VII.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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'Shop Contest: Tom Nook On Vacation, Winners!

4 years 1 month ago

Vacations! We all want one, but most of us can’t really take one. Animal Crossing’s Tom Nook, on the other hand, has plenty of bells to spend on some rest and relaxation. So I asked you fine folks to create some images of what he did on his long vacation.

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Author
Zack Zwiezen

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The Community Spotlight 2020.02.29

4 years 1 month ago

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight and I, @zombiepie, am once again honored to be your host as we look back at the creative endeavors from the community from the previous week. First, I just want to thank everyone who joined me in reminiscing over HitmanAgent47 last week. It was a trip and somewhat comforting to see those Hitman meme pictures didn't all disappear. However, a few other usernames cropped up during that time that are equally memorable, but probably in a better light. Speaking of which, have I ever said how much of a shame it is Claude isn't on the forums anymore? Jeez, I'd LOVE to see what Claude thinks about the Nintendo Switch! In fact, I'm willing to allow him to have a mini-paragraph review of the system on the next Spotlight if someone can get a hold of him. I know he had a rough go of it a while ago, but MAAAAAAAAAAN would I love to see him talk about the current state of Nintendo consoles, even if it was for just a hot minute. Anyways, we actually have LEGIT news about the forums worth discussing! Also, it was an incredibly "active" week on the forums!

Author
Marino - Brad Lynch

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Doom Eternal Shows Absolutely Brutal Master Level Single-Player Gameplay & More

4 years 1 month ago

Today, during a panel from PAX East, Bethesda showcased new gameplay of the upcoming FPS Doom Eternal, focusing mostly on the Master Level single-player feature.

We start by taking a look at the Fortress of Doom, which is basically your home base and hub area.

It looks like our Slayer is a nerd with a rocking gaming setup.

Yes. The developers like to pause videos a lot. 

We then get to see an example of the Master Level feature, which is a more challenging version that gets unlocked after completing a default level in the campaign. 

Of course, you can still set the difficulty level.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Final Fantasy XIV Artist Shares Many Details About the Popular MMORPG’s Beautiful Artwork

4 years 1 month ago

Today Square Enix hosted a livestreamed panel focusing on the art created for its popular MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV.

The panel was supposed to happen at PAX East, but Square Enix opted to do it from its headquarters in Japan due to the Coronavirus outbreak.

The artwork was presented by producer and director Naoki Yoshida and lead concept artist Yosuke Mogi. You can see it all at the bottom of the post.

We learned that the art for the Blue Mage’s outfit was inspired by the movie “The Greatest Showman.”

When designing the Dancer’s outfit, Mogi-san really wanted to design a male character like a Hrothgar, but there was no other outfit that would fit the Viera as well, so in the end, he had to design a Viera.

The outfit itself was inspired by Maya from Dragon Quest IV.

Interestingly, we also hear that we may see more variation in the design of the chakram in the future. Originally, the idea was to have dancers wield fans. While that would become a bit too similar to Dragon Quest, the team still liked the idea of them to be able to throw a lot of different things.

Most of the weapons we have so far were designed very early in the Shadowbringers’ development process. That’s why they’re all chakrams. In the future we might see different items, and things like giant shuriken could be a possibility.

The Gunbreaker’s outfit had to look a bit more modern in design. It was challenging to make it fit into the world. The pillar from the ruins of Ronka was added to balance the modern with the past.

The original design had a gunblade resembling a light machine gun. Mogi-san was playing a lot of Overwatch at that time. That design was rejected.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Final Fantasy XIV Getting New Dyes; Aymeric & Estinien Portraits for Your in-Game House Also Coming

4 years 1 month ago

Today, during a livestream from Tokyo, Square Enix had a couple of interesting announcements related to future content coming to Final Fantasy XIV.

Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida revealed two portraits created by lead concept artist Yosuke Mogi that will soon be available “pretty soon” portraying Aymeric and Estinien. Players will be able to hang the portraits in their in-game houses.

You can see them below.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Monster Hunter World: Iceborne’s Raging Brachydios Update Gets a Release Date and First Gameplay

4 years 1 month ago

Today Capcom hosted the Monster Hunter World: Iceborne USA Championship in Boston and and there were news in store for the fans.

We learn that the update including the previously-revealed Raging Brachydios and Furious Rajang now has a release date. It’ll come on March 23 for PS4 and Xbox One. We also know that the PC version will get the update in April when it’ll finally catch up with the console versions. 

On top of the release date, we also get the first gameplay of the Raging Brachydios variant, which you can watch below.

At the moment we don’t know when Capcom will announce the content of additional update beyond this one, but it’s nice to see that they plan to continue supporting the game in the long run. In fact, we already know that updates will continue beyond June

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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