March 2020

Dead or Alive 6 hair colour change microtransaction "a complete slap in the face"

4 years ago

Koei Tecmo is charging Dead or Alive 6 players real-world money to change a characters' hair colour.

This microtransaction, bizarrely, is exclusive to the PlayStation 4 version of the game, and is done via its existing premium ticket system. The tickets work out at one dollar each, and it costs one ticket to change a character's hair.

In one of the most egregious microtransactions we've ever seen, Dead or Alive 6 charges players to change a character's hair colour from 16 colours, but that doesn't unlock the colour for unlimited use thereafter. Rather, you're just paying to change the colour. A premium ticket is consumed every time you change a character's hair colour.

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RPS asks: turn-based or real-time with pause combat?

4 years ago

Now that we’ve gotten a proper look at Baldur’s Gate 3, the ol’ war machines are firing up. Baldur’s Gate games from years of yore featured the combat shared by other Infinity Engine games—real time action with the ability to pause and dictate to your party. Baldur’s Gate 3, developed by those Larian folks of Divinity: Original Sin 2 fame, will have turn-based combat similar to Larian’s last big RPG. So then, which is better? Come hash it out, but please do so in an orderly, turn-based queue.

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Author
Lauren Morton

Meet the actual humans of Fallout 76: Wastelanders in Bethesda's 20 minute preview

4 years ago

Alright folks, it’s really happening. Fallout 76, the online Fallout game where the only people in town were other players, is getting more people. Fake people, that is, because it turns out that fleshy faces were quite missed in irradiated West Virginia despite the many amusing robot characters wandering around. As long promised, Bethesda are sending human characters into the mix to begin rebuilding, quest giving, and companion-ing with players. The big Wastelanders update is coming in April at last and Bethesda’s now shown off nearly 20 minutes of gameplay (with some developer Q&A over top) at PAX East.

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Author
Lauren Morton

6 Boring Tasks We Can’t Wait to Do in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

4 years ago

Pulling Weeds

Menial tasks we can’t wait to do in Animal Crossing New Horizons

Pulling weeds isn’t fun in real-life. Who wants to sit there and pull tiny green strands out the ground. They’re normally in really annoying places, too. Weeds are the nuisance of the world, and gardeners are the saints doing the lord’s work clearing them away.

So why oh why is pulling weeds so damn satisfying in Animal Crossing? We have no idea. Perhaps it’s the feeling of having a spotless town after clearing the 10 bajillion that spawn each day.

There’s always that little manhunt for the last one, too. You know there’s one hiding precariously behind a tree, and you’re the weed-seeking missile about to rip it out of its comfy home.

Author
Chris Jecks

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Final Fantasy VII Remake Lets Cloud Crossdress in Different Ways; Tifa & Aerith Have Different Outfits

4 years ago

Today, Famitsu posted an interview with Final Fantasy VII Remake director Tetsuya Nomura, at it included a few interesting details about the game.

First of all, we learn that there are multiple items that you can use to crossdress as Cloud in the iconic scene returning from the original. That way he can display a different look depending on your choices.

Tifa and Aerith also have different outfits on top of those that have been publicly shown so far.

Interestingly, we learn that the new Barret was designed first among the characters. He had a very deformed physique in the original game, so his new realistic design served as a guideline for the visual feel of the remake.

Red XIII used to have headdresses as his weapons, but for the Remake they have been changed to collars in order to enhance their visibility.

The Turks have been designed by Roberto Ferrari (an Italian character designer who previously worked on Final Fantasy XV and Final Fantasy Type-0). While they all wear suits, which normally would hinder the expression of their personality, they have been given differences and details to make it stand out.

The new character Roche was also designed by Ferrari. We also learn that there are many additional new characters that will appear in the side stories.

While characters from the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII don’t appear directly in the game, it touches on some elements. On the other hand, we’ll see characters from Kazushige Nojima’s novel Final Fantasy VII Gaiden: Turks ~The Kids Are Alright~.

Nomura-san also mentions that sidequests have been created with a focus on quality, in the same way as the main story. Since the city of Midgar is quite big, there are areas where you can travel by vehicle.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Marvel Reveals Open World Mobile Game, Marvel: Future Revolution

4 years ago
Marvel and Netmarble have announced Marvel: Future Revolution, an open-world RPG for mobile. Announced at PAX East, the game comes from the developers of Marvel: Future Fight, and will see players play as part of the ‘Omega Flight’ Super Hero team. According to a press release, the players will, "work together to battle an onslaught of Super Villains, confront their suspicious behaviors and defend the universe." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/02/marvel-future-revolution-teaser-trailer"] Confirmed playable heroes include Captain America, Captain Marvel, Spider-Man, and Doctor Strange, and the open world will merge various Marvel locations, including Xanderth and Sakaar. The game will include new and existing costumes for heroes, with customisation promised. The story is being handled by Marvel Comics writer Marc Sumerak, who also worked on Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=marvel-future-revolution-screenshots&captions=true"] UPDATE: a representative for Netmarble reached out to clarify Marvel: Future Revolution gameplay won't be like Future Fight. An earlier version of this article hypothesized the two might share action-RPG similarities, but we now know this isn't the case, with Future Fight being open-world and not action-RPG. [poilib element="accentDivider"]
Author
Joe Skrebels

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Death Stranding PC Release Coming in June

4 years ago
Death Stranding is officially headed to PC on June 2 via both Steam and the Epic Games Store - and it'll have Half-Life crossover content. Kojima Productions and 505 Games announced the news, revealing new features such as a photo mode, higher frame rate caps, and ultra-wide screen support. As for the Half-Life crossover, we can see it teased in the trailer below - Sam Porter Bridges gets a Valve logo-like ponytail, is wearing the tech-covered gloves we've seen from Half-Life: Alyx, and is seen styling a headcrab hat. Those might even be some Gordon Freeman glasses he's rocking, too. It's not clear just yet how you'll get it in game, however. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/02/death-stranding-pc-release-date-trailer"] Anyone who pre-orders Death Stranding on PC will get a Chiral Gold and Omnireflector cap, sunglasses, gold and silver speed skeleton, and gold and silver armor plate.
Author
Jeffrey Lerman

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Mobile Monday: Summer Catchers, Orc Heist

4 years ago

I had regrets about starting this weekly feature early last week when I started looking for my next few games to talk about. Because, boy, there is a lot of crap out there. And while I'm sure the developers are nice people, I don't think you're going to get me to play a game called Super Jon's World: Adventure Castle Run Boy Jump.

Thankfully, the three games below provided me with more than enough amusement this week and I'm happy to share them with you.

Mobile Monday: Summer Catchers, Orc Heist screenshot

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Author
CJ Andriessen

(Update) Dead or Alive 6 now charging players to change character hair color, re-charges for each change

4 years ago

[Update: The official Dead or Alive Twitter has posted a statement regarding the maligned hair colour change system, which reads as follows:

"Dear fans, we hear and acknowledge your disappointment behind our roll out of the new hair color feature for DoA6. We greatly appreciate your feedback, and are working towards a solution that helps to mitigate this issue and will share our plans in the coming days.

We apologize for our misstep, and are working hard to resolve this situation. We thank you in advance for your patience and hope you continue to enjoy DoA6."

One would think a suitable solution would be "Don't charge people real money to change a video game character's hair colour". But we'll see what Koei Tecmo has in store for its community soon.]


Koei Tecmo's Dead or Alive 6 continues to come up with new and egregious ways to treat its dedicated fanbase as walking cash registers. As its reputation as a quality, underdog fighter seemingly falls further away with each new announcement, DoA 6 is now charging players real money in order to change their favourite character's hair colour.

As of Version 1.20, the PS4-exclusive feature lets players spend Premium Tickets, (only purchasable with real dollarydoos), to change a character's bouffant to one of 16 available colours. The double-kicker comes from the fact that this transaction must be made every time you give your character a dye-job, even if you're changing them back to a colour that you've previously purchased. For full disclosure, each colour change only costs around a single dollar, but that somehow makes the whole affair feel more miserly.

Author
Chris Moyse

Check out the Monster Hunter movie's monsterless teaser posters

4 years ago

Things have been a little quiet as of late in regards to Sony's movie adaptation of Capcom's beloved franchise Monster Hunter. But now we have two brand new teaser posters to check out... just don't expect to see any actual monsters just yet.

The two posters popped up on Twitter over the weekend, and feature Resident Evil's Milla Jovovich and Ong-Bak's Tony Jaa set against the backdrop of an arid desert wilderness. Adorned in hefty gear while grasping even heftier weapons, the duo certainly looks ready to take down a behemoth or two, which makes the far-reaching negative space in the posters all that more amusing - giving the impression that they've turned up for a battle that's never going to happen.

The Monster Hunter movie is helmed by Paul W.S. Anderson, who is no stranger to video game adaptations, having directed 1995's Mortal Kombat, 2006's DOA: Dead or Alive and multiple Resident Evil movies. Anderson is also responsible for writing Monster Hunter, which will tell the story of a U.N. military team who discover a portal to a dangerous alternate world. Having wrapped shooting back in December, the film is still on schedule for release this fall.

Monster Hunter debuts in theaters September 4.

Check out the Monster Hunter movie's monsterless teaser posters screenshot

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Author
Chris Moyse

Riot Games reveals Valorant, its 5v5 shooter project

4 years ago

Back in October Riot Games announced like...a billion secret projects, but the veil is slowly lifting off of most of those.

You probably don't remember this, but Project A was announced as a "stylish, competitive, character-based tactical shooter for PC." As of this week, we now know that Project A is actually Valorant. Riot states that the game is still a 5v5 shooter, with "128-tick servers," "at least 30 FPS" on older rigs with a goal of 60-144 FPS on modern rigs, with a global spread of datacenters and anti-cheat "from day one."

Other than that, unique character-based gameplay is promised, and there's a new trailer of (very early) alpha footage that you can check out below. More info is coming later, but it seems very early yet for this project.

While Overwatch is the obvious comparison, the aesthetics and mechanics of the stage are extremely reminiscent of Counterstrike: and with Riot being so well-versed in the realm of esports, it makes a whole lot of sense to mash those two scenes together.

Valorant [Riot Games]

Riot Games reveals Valorant, its 5v5 shooter project screenshot

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Author
Chris Carter

New Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Is $50 In Limited-Time Deal, Releases This Friday

4 years ago

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX was announced in early January, and now its release date is less than a week away. The upcoming Nintendo Switch game launches this Friday, March 6, and in a limited-time online deal, you can snag it for $10 off before it's even out. That drops your price to $50, a rare discount for any first-party Switch game.

The discount is available over at Rakuten, which currently has the game discounted to $54.95. By using promo code SNG4X at checkout, however, you can slash an additional $4.96 off that price, dropping the overall cost to $49.99 (plus any sales tax) with free shipping. To claim the deal, you'll have to log in or create a free Rakuten account if you don't have one already. Shipping dates will vary based on where you live, of course, but Rakuten will show you a delivery estimate.

This promo code can be used one time only, and it's only valid until March 5, so don't wait if you're planning to pick up Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX.

Continue Reading at GameSpot
Author
Jenae Sitzes

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Uncharted Movie Casts Antonio Banderas

4 years ago

Antonio Banderas has joined the latest incarnation of the long-in-production Uncharted movie project, according to a report from Variety. He will appear alongside Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg, who are reportedly set to star as treasure hunter Nathan Drake and his mentor Victor "Sully" Sullivan respectively.

The film will be directed by Ruben Fleischer, who is best-known for helming 2009's Zombieland and the recent Venom. It's unclear what role Banderas will play. The actor recently received his first Oscar nomination at the latest Academy Awards, for his role in Pain and Glory.

The Uncharted movie has languished in one form of production or another for many years, losing several noted directors in the process, including David O. Russell (American Hustle) and Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum). Travis Knight (Bumblebee) was the most recent director tapped for the project, but he left due to a scheduling conflict involving Holland's role as the MCU's Spider-Man. According to an interview with Holland, the film will begin shooting in 2-3 weeks.

Author
Steven T. Wright

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Death Stranding And Half-Life Are Crossing Over On PC

4 years ago

Death Stranding is coming to PC in June, and as part of its exclusives features the Hideo Kojima directed game will have crossover content with Valve's Half-Life.

Publisher 505 revealed the special crossover alongside the announcement of Death Stranding's June 2 release date for PC players, but has kept most of the details secret for now. Aside from a small clip of Sam Bridges wearing a Headcrab at the end of the trailer, there's no indication what other items from the popular shooter will be making an appearance in Death Stranding.

Half-Life is set to get its first entry in over a decade this month, with the VR-exclusive Half-Life: Alyx launching on March 23. It supports a bunch of VR headsets that work with SteamVR, so make sure you read our guide on which is the best fit for you.

Author
Alessandro Barbosa

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Three new Half-Life: Alyx videos show off gunplay and dead headcrabs

4 years ago

Half-Life: Alyx will be here before the month is out and Valve are kicking off March with three new gameplay videos. There’s the usual headcrabs, of course, but we also get a look at exploding, healing, shooting, and plenty of other important VR action verbs. Valve have separated these into three videos to show off three types of VR locomotion: teleporting, shift, and continuous. Step lightly around the headcrabs though, right?

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Author
Lauren Morton

Runeterra patch notes

4 years ago

With recent Runeterra patch notes making some much needed changes, the newest patch (0.9.1) is more here to fix bugs and introduce some new guardians and boards. Detain also now works as it should against champions. In order to keep up with all the changes that will be made to the game, I will be looking over the changes that are being made when every Runeterra patch note post is released and seeing where the biggest changes are going to be.

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Author
Dave Irwin

E3 2020 is going ahead as planned, organisers say

4 years ago

Following the postponement of this year’s Game Developers Conference due to concerns about the Covid-19 virus, the organisers of other upcoming games events must surely be asking themselves that same difficult question. For E3 2020, at least, the Entertainment Software Association say they’re keeping an eye on things but “moving ahead full speed” with planning. Which I guess means they’re are hoping this will have blown over by June?

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Author
Alice O'Connor

New Half-Life: Alyx Gameplay Clips Showcase Movement Options, Combat, & More

4 years ago

Three gameplay clips –currently unlisted over on Valve’s YouTube channel— provide a substantial first-look at what’s to come in the developer hotly anticipated VR shooter Half-Life: Alyx.

Simply called Gameplay Video 1/2/3, the (unexpected) clips, which appear to be scenes from a random point within its game and do not give away any story spoilers, showcase how VR combat and movement will work according to player preference — in particular, the option to either teleport using a click and go system, move freely, or use the “shift” motion system.

The first video demonstrates teleportation:

The second clip showcases what Valve calls “continuous locomotion” (free movement):

Author
Alex Gibson

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New Uncharted Movie Cast & Crew Details; Antonio Banderas Possibly Set to Star

4 years ago

The Uncharted has taken a long time to swing into action, but it looks as though it’s finally happening. After having its script rewritten and losing a number of directors along the way (most recently, Travis Knight), the latest iteration of its production seems likely to press on as it confirms cast and crew members. Namely, Hollywood star Antonio Banderas is set to play a central role, and the film is to be directed by Ruben Fleischer (“Venom”).

Production is being handled by Charles Roven and Alex Gartner for Atlas Entertainment, as well as Avi Arad and Ari Arad for Arad Productions. On the PlayStation side, Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan will serve as executive producers for PlayStation Productions.

The information comes by way of a Variety report earlier today. The outlet also claims that “Sophia Ali and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina actor Tati Gabrielle have also boarded the film.”

None of the actual roles have yet been confirmed, but you’d imagine that Banderas is set to play a central role given his pedigree.

Antonio Banderas was recently nominated for an Oscar following his performance in Pedro Almodovar’s “Pain and Glory.” As noted by Variety, Banderas has a long-standing history with Sony Pictures, having starred in several of its films, including Desperado, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and The Mask of Zorro.

Today’s report follows on from another toward the end of 2019 by Deadline that broke the news of director Travis Knight’s departure from the project and the Uncharted film’s potential release date push-back from the proposed Dec. 18, 2020, release date.

Author
Alex Gibson

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6 Best Indie Games From PAX East 2020 to Keep on Your Radar

4 years ago

The video game fan convention that is PAX East 2020 was filled to the brim with indie and AAA titles for people to get their hands on. While I played a variety of different games during my time there, here are the best indie games from the show that you’ll all want to keep an eye on this year.

Author
Greysun Morales

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Let it Die Slashes Past 6 Million Downloads; New In-Game Event to Celebrate

4 years ago

Let it Die, the hack-and-slash roguelike directed by esteemed developer Goichi Suda, has today surpassed six million downloads across PS4 and PC. The news comes by way of a press release from publisher GungHo Online Entertainment and developer Grasshopper.

Kazuki Morishita, President & CEO of GOE said of the milestone:

“We owe it entirely to our dedicated fanbase, our ‘senpais’, for getting behind Let It Die and making this milestone possible.

The journey with them has been a pleasure as we have watched the game grow – just imagine the sheer amount of Death Data out there!”

Let it Die’s continued popularity is actually at odds with its middling critical reception. At launch, it was criticized for its rough-around-the-edges UI and wonky PvP mechanics, but solid post-launch support has since ironed out many of those kinks.

In fact, to celebrate today’s download milestone news, a new in-game event is said to be on the way later today. We’ll keep you posted with details as and when they’re made available.

Let it Die was first released on PS4 back in 2016 before coming to PC two years later in 2018. Today’s sales update follows on from news of it breaking the one million mark in 2017, and then the four million milestone a year after that.

Author
Alex Gibson

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Final Fantasy VII Remake Has Gone Gold; There Won’t Be Any More Delays

4 years ago

Today the Japanese website 4Gamer published an interview with Final Fantasy VII Remake director Tetsuya Nomura who talked about the upcoming game.

First of all, Nomura-san mentions that the game has already gone gold.

If you’re unfamiliar with the industry lingo, it means that the development of the data that will be shipped on the disk has been concluded, and the game is ready for its release.

Nomura-san also added that while the delay allowed the team to improve the quality of the final game, there won’t be any more.

Interestingly, we learn more about the story elements that have been added on top of the original game.

For instance, we’ll be able to visit Jessie’s parents house to have a meal there. Nomura-san explains that the individual members of Avalanche aren’t really fleshed out in the original game, but the Remake will be different.

In order to make that part more solid, there is also an event that places Jessie under the spotlight.

This is not part of a subquest. It’s part of the main story, and according to Nomura-san, fans will be satisfied by when they finally leave Midgar.

While the story of the first game includes only Midgar, he feels that once you have played it, we’ll be satisfied, and you’ll definitely want to continue with the next.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Half-Life: Alyx – Watch 3 New Gameplay Trailers

4 years ago
Our March IGN First game (think of it as IGN's monthly magazine-style "cover story") is Half-Life: Alyx, the long, looooooong-awaited new entry in the legendary Half-Life series. The first-person shooter is going VR this time around, and you're about to see why that's cool. The first video below is our first exclusive piece of Alyx content for the month: a nine-minute gameplay video from early in the campaign, when you first encounter zombies and headcrabs. Take a look: [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/02/half-life-alyx-9-minutes-of-gameplay-ign-first"] And here are the three trailers Valve also released today. The first covers some of the same ground our exclusive video does (though it is a different playthrough). The second video, meanwhile, shows off Alyx using grenades as well as what happens when Xen begins to infiltrate City 17. And the third video is a tense, hectic firefight with Combine soldiers that gives you a look at the shotgun. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/02/half-life-alyx-official-gameplay-trailer-1-subway"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/02/half-life-alyx-official-gameplay-trailer-2-xen-infestation"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/02/half-life-alyx-official-gameplay-trailer-3-combine-shootout"] Half-Life: Alyx will be released for PC-based VR platforms on March 23. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s Executive Editor of Previews. Follow him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan, catch him on Unlocked, and drop-ship him Taylor Ham sandwiches from New Jersey whenever possible.
Author
Ryan McCaffrey

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Our Hands-On Preview of Destroy All Humans at PAX East 2020

4 years ago
We got a chance to go hands-on with the upcoming Destroy All Humans remake at PAX East, giving us our first look at the game since late last year, and we've harvested plenty of new details. It's been almost 15 years since Destroy All Humans originally released, but with an estimated release date later this year, you won't have to wait much longer to get your hands on the remake. Developer Black Forest Games have already explained its vision is to create “not a remake, but a remake of what people remember it being,” and in doing so have expanded many aspects of it while still remaining faithful to the original. One of the first major differences I noticed was the world is much more open than the original. Sure, you're still given small missions to fulfill, but once completed, the world is yours to explore until you decide to leave. This allows you to wreak as much havoc as you'd like to, and really enjoy the sandbox environments. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=destroy-all-humans-pax-east-2020-new-screenshots&captions=true"] While all 22 of the original story missions are present, there is a small surprise in store. A mission 13.5 has been added, something Black Forest Games discovered in the archives of the original 2005 release that has never been playable before. In an effort to be more inclusive, the team also added a number of African-American characters, as none were present in the original game. All of Crypto-137's abilities from the original are present including the Zap-o-Matic, Disintegration Ray, Ion Detonator, and yes, even the Anal Probe. This time around, however, abilities can be mixed and matched in fun and unique ways.
Author
Matthew Adler

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