April 2020

Obsidian’s upcoming game Grounded takes one of my favorite setups – little guy in a big world – and builds a complex survival adventure around it. Don’t let the kid-friendly veneer throw you off; at this scale, the backyard is a perilous place, with danger lurking around every corner. Or, more accurately in this case, around the other side of that titanic discarded juice box. The setup got my attention, but the studio’s attention to detail and determination to make the most of this unusual scale kept it. With that in mind, here are three big ways Grounded is fulfilling the promise of its micro-sized world.

The Sense of Scale

When you start Grounded, you begin in what appears to be a rainforest. Everywhere you look is lush and green. Surprise! Those “trees” are actually blades of grass. And if you look up, you can see a tree, house, and other things you’d notice in a backyard – though they tower over you, and are impossibly far away. Obsidian makes the most of this change in perspective, not only pulling you down to ground level and showing you life at that scale, but having fun with it, too.

The Final Fantasy VII Remake Sephiroth appearances give him opportunities to haunt players and the cast and question what he's up to.

The post The Final Fantasy VII Remake Sephiroth Appearances Help Him Haunt the Cast appeared first on Siliconera.

With the Clubhouse Games Switch Mosaic Mode, multiple systems are placed alongside each other and linked for games like Slot Car.

The post Clubhouse Games Switch Lets You Use Multiple Switches Locally for Mosaic Mode appeared first on Siliconera.

The revolution will not be televised, but the invasion will be a video game. In exactly three months, Crypto begins his mission to overthrow all of humanity. Cow-er in fear.

THQ Nordic has the course plotted and its laser beams trained on a specific date: July 28, 2020. That's when Destroy All Humans blasts off on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. It's $30 on PC and $40 on consoles.

We were shown Destroy All Humans at E3 last year and we liked what we saw. This remake of the 2005 PS2/Xbox-era game preserves most everything about the original (like the story and voice acting) but everything explodes prettier. That's of paramount important when the objective is to murder and annihilate all those pesky humans.

That's not the only Destroy All Humans news for today. There's also a $400 limited edition that comes with a 23-inch tall Crypto figurine. There are people who will drop $400 on a Destroy All Humans statue, and that's precisely why humanity needs to be destroyed.

Bandai Namco has released a trailer for previously teased DLC expansion A New Power: Part 1,  launching today in open-world anime adventure Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot.

In this first piece of additional content, fans will see eternal rivals Goku and Vegeta team up to take down everyone's least favourite moggy, Lord Beerus, in a battle that developers promise will test players' skill-level to its absolute limits. Rocking Level 250, Beerus is not only the toughest opponent in the game to date, but will also limit the amount of stat-boosting items players can bring to the fact. Better knuckle up for this kitty.

Xbox's Games with Gold has looked a little thin lately, and May's offerings won't do much to change that perception. There's a huge tabletop property in the mix (who will license itself to anyone anywhere), but there's not a lot in the way of household names outside of that.

On the Xbox One side of things, Games with Gold subscribers get yet another racing game -- seriously, so many racing games -- as V-Rally 4 is available for the entirety of May. Halfway through the month, Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor -- Martyr joins the fray. It got decent reviews back in 2018, and it seems like a fine enough action-RPG. 

Moving over to Xbox 360, the first half of May takes to the pitch as budget footie game Sensible World of Soccer kicks things off. Finishing off the month is Overlord II, which has you controlling minions and taking over hell. As always, the Xbox 360 titles are playable on Xbox One through the magic of backward compatibility.

Here's the full breakdown of May's Games with Gold schedule:

Fans waiting for a Switch port of Lab Zero's Indivisible were pleasantly surprised today, when a digital release suddenly materialised without warning. While retailers have listed a June 30 release date for some time, it seems that the attractive action-RPG is available to purchase from the Nintendo eShop right now.

Released on PS4, PC, and Xbox One back in October 2019, Indivisible tells the emotive story of a headstrong young girl, Ajna, on a quest to seek out those her brought ruin to her homeland. Along the way, Ajna meets a cavalcade of interesting and bizarre characters, who join our hero on her long and hazardous journey to confront the villainous Ravannanar.

Yesterday, a handful of Pokemon GO players on social media were reporting the appearance of something called Throwback Challenge 2020: Kanto. Niantic came out to announce it was a mistake and that the details will come out at a later date.

It turns out that the date is today. Earlier this morning, Niantic revealed the full details about the Throwback Challenge in Pokemon GO. This event is going to include all regions from Kanto up to Sinnoh and it will run from May 1 until the first week of June.

Here’s a full breakdown of when each event is going to take place. All times are local:

Each event will have eight sets of challenges — four for the Challenge Champion quest — based upon the specified region. Upon the completion of each challenge, you will be rewarded with 10 Rare Candies and a legendary Pokemon that has a special attack.

Here’s a list of the legendaries you can catch for completing all the research tasks for their corresponding regions:

Golden Week is kicking off in Japan this week and to celebrate the Land of the Rising Sun, Microsoft has discounted several Japanese-developed titles for a couple of days.

The recently released downloadable content for Kingdom Hearts III, ReMind, acts as a sort of epilogue to Square Enix’s JRPG and is a bit cheaper during the sale, which is worth noting. Dark Souls II, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and Little Nightmares are seeing discounts too, which are three fantastic games.

The Golden Week sale is live right now and you can see the entire list down below of Xbox One games that are currently on sale. To actually purchase these titles, just head on over to the official Xbox site.

Who needs a shotgun, when Warzone’s revolvers can do this

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The patch also adds a ranked mode to the game and buffs Omen

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You don’t have to risk bootlegs from Jolly Redd

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Gotta hunt fast

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This timeless 2015 Tim Rogers feature takes us on a tour of Bloodborne's design -- and that of the Souls series, while he's at it -- to explain what makes the games work as well as they do. ...

Mike Morhaime took a moment to reflect on Blizzard's biggest game, World of Warcraft, and to think about what made it a success. For him, it all boils down to how the game brought players together in a highly social way. ...

After receiving some criticism online for its slow cadence of game announcements, the Stadia team at Google has dropped a new Stadia Connect video focused entirely on games headed to the platform over the next year. ...

In this GDC 2020 virtual talk Wargaming Sydney's Andrew Glover educates devs about the potential problems and solutions of integrating a server-side record and replay system into a multiplayer game. ...

Those hoping for a blockbuster bonanza of a May for Xbox Games with Gold should probably take a moment to adjust their expectations; Microsoft has revealed its latest Games with Gold line-up, and it's a bit of a low-key month, offering V-Rally 4, Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Martyr, Sensible World of Soccer, and Overlord 2.

V-Rally 4, developer Kylotonn's 2018 revival of publisher Infogrames' classic racing series, will be available to download from 1st May until 31st May for Xbox Live Gold subscribers. Despite its pedigree (a few members of Kylotonn worked on the original games), Eurogamer's Martin Robinson had mixed feelings about this fourth instalment when it came to Xbox One.

"Despite the eccentric handling, the slim car list that offers little by way of customisation, the poorly thought through career mode, the lumpy melange of modes," he wrote in his review, "I've got a real soft spot for V-Rally 4. It's unashamedly old-school, told with a spring in its step and with glimpses of the unhinged beauty and spectacle that made the racing genre shine back in its 90s heyday... just be warned that the past really was a different place, and this particular nostalgia trip can provide an awfully bumpy ride".

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It’s important to analyze games with rigorous consideration. Games are art and we need to hold them accountable for everything they contain. So please understand how serious I am when I say that Tonberries are the funniest fucking thing on the planet.

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Goku and the rest of the gang have a lot to look foward to today. With new DLC available today, there are a variety of activities you can enjoy in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot with a DLC titled "A New Power Awakens - Part 1". There's new transformations, new sub stories, new training, and more. 

Check out the trailer below for a look at A New Power Awakens - Part 1!

After a tumultuous lead up to release that saw a social media riot and a lengthy character redesign process, Sonic the Hedgehog released to overall positive reviews, and raked in over $300 million internationally at the box office. Despite those facts, as well as a major tease at the end of the film, a sequel might not be a sure thing just yet.

In an interview with USA Today, Sonic the Hedgehog director Jeff Fowler said no official talks or plans have begun for a potential sequel. However, Fowler is hopeful he'll be able to continue the story, citing wanting to bring in more characters to tell more stories. "Nothing would bring me more happiness than getting another shot with these characters and to tell more stories," he told USA Today. "We'd love to do more with the Sonic cinematic universe." 

Fowler also said that the tease at the end of the film was a nod that he knows fans want to see more characters from Sonic's world on the silver screen. Sonic the Hedgehog hit theaters on February 14, released digitally March 31, and is scheduled to hit Blu-ray and DVD on May 19.

[Source: USA Today]

Rogue One and video game writer Gary Whitta (Gears of War, Prey) has started his own talk show within the world of Animal Crossing: New Horizons called Animal Talking.

Above is a highlight clip from the pilot episode, and the first official episode can be seen on Gary's YouTube channel and Twitch, with regular ones to follow.

Per usual with a talk show, Whitta will chat with celebrity guests, and he even has a musical sidekick courtesy of game developer Adam Nickerson (Ding Dong XL).

[Source: Gary Whitta on YouTube]

Pokemon Sword and Shield's Gigantamax event has ended, but a new event is now underway in the games. For a limited time, some of the most popular Pokemon in competitive battling will be featured in Max Raids, and you're guaranteed to get some great TRs for defeating them.

Throughout the event, Pokemon like Tyranitar, Dragapult, Togekiss, Whimsicott, Excadrill, and their pre-evolved forms will appear much more frequently in Max Raids in both titles. On top of that, you'll also be able to encounter the Heat and Wash forms of Rotom.

This Max Raid event runs until May 11. To refresh your Raid dens, you'll need to connect the game online either by activating the Y-Comm or going into Mystery Gift and selecting the option to Get the Wild Area news. Be sure to also check out our Sword and Shield Max Raid guide for helpful tips on battling Raid Pokemon.

The story-driven puzzle game Catherine: Full Body will get additional voice options on Nintendo Switch, Atlas has announced. The "Ideal Voice" DLC will feature three more voices, on top of the originals.

Siliconera reports that the Full Body base game features two voice options--original voice actor Miyuki Sawashiro and "Elegant Yandere" voiced by Mamiko Noto. The Ideal Voice DLC adds another nine for a grand total of 11 voices. The upcoming Switch version includes all the previous DLC, but also adds "Healing Flower" (Kana Hanazawa), "Cheeky Sempai" (Ayana Taketatsu), and "Intelligence Beauty" (Marina Inoue), for a total of 14. Atlas Japan also released trailers teasing the voices.

Developer Infinity Ward confirmed that an upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone update across all three platforms will give players yet another tool to report cheaters.

Now when you get killed unfairly in a Modern Warfare or Warzone match, you can use your killcam to report that player. Similarly, if you just joined a match or are fine-tuning your loadout, you can use the spectate function to report players who may be racking up seemingly impossible kills. This new anti-cheat update will arrive in both Call of Duty games on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One sometime this week.

Riot Games has released a new patch for Valorant. The update addresses several aspects of the competitive shooter, including map changes and the implementation of new features.

In terms of gameplay, the patch mostly makes adjustments to Omen. Phoenix and Viper don't get any balance changes, but bug fixes have been issued to address problems with a few of their abilities. Both Omen and Breach also now have updated visuals when it comes to their respective character model and abilities.

Most exciting, however, is the mention of a competitive mode in the patch notes, though Riot says that competitive mode and ranked matchmaking isn't live yet--it's scheduled to be available in the "near future." You can read the full patch notes below.

Ever since the first chapter in Final Fantasy VII Remake came out in early April, fans and critics alike have debated the meaning of its ending. Well, we have more information from the creators of the game on that front, but it's maybe not the clarification that we've all wanted.

Warning: major spoilers for FFVIIR ahead.

According to an interview translated by Twitter user @aitaikimochi from Final Fantasy 7 Remake Ultimania--a 750-page book that accompanies the release of FF7R--co-director Yoshinori Kitase says that Square Enix will not drastically change the story of the game to make it completely different than the original.

The Greymoor expansion for The Elder Scrolls Online finally has a definitive release date. It's slated to hit Mac and PC on May 26 and PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on June 9.

Previously, Greymoor was supposed to release on May 18 for Mac and PC and June 2 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. But due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, game director Matt Firor confirmed that the DLC had to "launch one week late." Firor also noted that this new date is subject to change.

Greymoor is ESO's biggest piece of content, as it wraps up the Skyrim storyline. A free prologue chapter is available in order to get the stage properly set for the Greymoor expansion. There's also a patch to download that makes some adjustments to abilities and more.

The Skywalker Saga of Star Wars films has come to a close, and Star Wars Battlefront 2 is finishing up too. The latest update, which will be the final major piece of post-launch content, adds loads of cosmetic options, game mode changes, and balance tweaks. A note from creative director Dennis Brannvall thanks the fans for their support.

The final update, titled The Battle on Scarif, is coming on April 29. Named after the planet featured prominently in Rogue One, the update will bring Supremacy and Instant Action to new locations: Hoth, Tatooine, Yavin 4, Death Star II, and Scarif. Supremacy will be fought exclusively in the ground phase on Scarif and Death Star II, while other locations will allow you to pilot starfighters.

The update also adds some new cosmetic appearances for some favorite heroes. Those include ones inspired by Rise of Skywalker, like Kylo Ren with his reforged mask, Palpatine in his red robes, and Rey wielding her own personal lightsaber. Darth Maul has a new look inspired by the Star Wars Rebels TV series, with his mechanical legs. Rey also gets a hooded look.

The Closed Network Test for Gundam Extreme VS Maxiboost ON showed the series at its best, bursting with playable units.

The post Gundam Extreme VS Maxiboost ON Network Test Shows the Series’ Return to Form appeared first on Siliconera.

Epic has spent nearly a year-and-a-half giving away free games weekly (sometimes daily!) with no real catch apart that you have an account on the Epic Games Store. For the next few weeks, there's one more stipulation. Don't worry, it's not too burdensome, and it's actually a good internet habit anyway.

Between now and May 21, claiming a free game through the Epic Games Store will periodically require that you have two-factor authentication turned on. It's not an unreasonable request. Go here to turn on 2FA. You have the choice of being delivered the 2FA security codes via an app, text messages, or email.

What Epic describes as "a minor inconvenience for some" should actually be your standard practice with all accounts. But I'm preaching to the choir here, right? Y'all are smart enough to have 2FA enabled everywhere.

Two-Factor Authentication Required When Claiming Free Games April 28 - May 21 [Epic Games]

There are many great PlayStation Vita titles that players continue to hail even to this day. Breach & Clear is not one of them. The tactical shooter was met with middling reviews when it released for the Vita in 2015. With a forgettable name and forgettable gameplay, there's good reason to believe it should have slowly been lost to time like so many other minor Vita titles. Instead, it stands as a testament to the popularity of physical media in an age where we're continuously pushed to go digital.

Mighty Rabbit Studios, the developers of Breach & Clear, were in an unfortunate position in 2015. Contract work dried up and its next title making the jump to console, Saturday Morning RPG, wasn't quite ready for market. Facing bankruptcy, the developer put its efforts into a new company that would publish physical copies of its titles. Its name? Limited Run Games.

"Limited Run Games formed from a desperate situation," says Douglas Bogart, one of the co-founders of the company. "I worked at Mighty Rabbit Studios as a tester/community manager and was asked to help start Limited Run Games with Josh [Fairhurst, founder of Mighty Rabbit Studios] as I had sales and community knowledge. We basically took a gamble if the game would sell and everyone was telling us it was insane to sell a Vita game when the platform was 'dead.'"

With available funds, Bogart and Fairhurst produced 1,500 copies of Breach & Clear for sale on the Limited Run Games website. 

It sold out in less than two hours.

"It as pretty crazy," Bogart tells me. "We knew then there was definitely still demand for physical games and we started reaching out to other companies to see if we could help them preserve their games."

Whether or not you've been personally hurt by Darkest Dungeon, a brutal RPG about stressed-out heroes trying not to lose their cool despite bleak, overwhelming odds, the game is fascinating to dive into and learn from. It's the subject of an hour-long documentary from The Escapist that covers the brilliant highs and blistering lows of launching a super successful game on Steam Early Access.

The Gameumentary production covers the seeds that led Chris Bourassa and Tyler Sigman to form Red Hook Studios, their Canada Media Fund rejection, Kickstarter pitch, design process, the soundtrack and narration, demoing Darkest Dungeon at expos, the January 2015 Steam Early Access release, ongoing updates, a small but vocal backlash that spiraled out of control, review bombing, and the 1.0 launch.

"The name, Darkest Dungeon, all of that was just kind of like these loose ramblings in a sketchbook," said creative director Chris Bourassa. "I just feel like I got to a point where I'd had enough [of working at bigger studios]. If a project was going to get canceled, I wanted to have an intimate understanding of the why and the how as opposed to just being informed one day that that was it."

Eventually, the timing "finally lined up" for Bourassa and Darkest Dungeon design director Tyler Sigman. They had a moment where they were both free to commit to something new – an idea they had to get out of their system. "We wanted to make a game about [that feeling] when you really accomplish something heroic in a situation that is horrible, then it's all the more meaningful," Sigman explained.

Ninjala, the Switch game that I like to describe as a free-to-play battle royale game with major Splatoon vibes, is currently in the midst of its first open beta before the launch next month and things aren’t going so smoothly for players.

The action game from GungHo Online is open now to the public in the form of a downloadable open beta but playtimes are restrictive, taking place today and tomorrow during very specific periods of time, as you can see below:

PDT
April 28, 12:00-12:59
April 28, 20:00-20:59
April 29, 04:00-04:59

BST
April 28, 20:00-20:59
April 29, 04:00-04:59
April 29, 12:00-12:59

CEST
April 28, 21:00-21:59
April 29, 05:00-05:59
April 29, 13:00-13:59

The first play session for Ninjala opened up around 3 PM EST today and lots of players have been tweeting about multiple error codes and frustrating disconnections. I myself jumped into the beta around 3:45 and for some odd reason, the game told me that the beta is not currently in session.

Here’s what’s been happening to some players and some hilarious memes that have come out of this situation:

If you love Kingdom Hearts III, Square Enix made a couple of super-cute plushies available for pre-order.

The plushies portray Sora and Kairi from the latest game of the series and you can find them at Japanese retailers including Ami Ami for 3,550 yen each. That approximately translates into a rather affordable $33.

Both will be released in August 2020. Sora is 190 mm tall while Kairi is 175 mm tall since her hair is less spiky.

If you’re curious about what they look like, you can find a gallery with both below and decide which one is the cutes. It’s hard to decide.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons may start off simple and chill, but once you start to expand your home, room by room, things can get a bit stressful. Having to design each room to the fullest and also taking care of your island can be daunting but now, thanks to Bobby from Queer Eye, you can get some tips to help you make your place look hip and cool.

The Queer Eye Twitter account for the Netflix series tweeted out today that Bobby Berk will be sharing his design expertise with people who reply to the post and of course, tons of fans are responding by posting pics of their home, awaiting Bobby’s response.