Leaked "Papaya" Map!
Veteran programmer Niklas Gray offers a description of how statistics recording is implemented in The Machinery. ...
The UK games industry has launched the 'Games for Carers' initiative to thank those NHS workers putting their own health on the line to fight COVID-19. ...
Hellpoint wears its influences on its sleeves. It’s obvious that Canadian developer Cradle Games knew what it wanted to make—Dark Souls in space—and set out to do just that. I recently had the chance to try a preview version of Hellpoint on Xbox One, and while I often found it frustrating from a technical standpoint,…
In a live stream that’s been going on since 8 AM Eastern on YouTube, artist Bosslogic is digitally painting a piece of art for the next Assassin’s Creed game. It’s looking a lot like Vikings.
The UK games industry has launched an initiative to provide free video games and subscription services to NHS workers, tirelessly working around-the-clock to care for those affected by the ongoing COVID-19/coronavirus pandemic.
The Games for Carers scheme was first conceived by VGC writer Chris Scullion, who found support and mobilisation through the UK's gaming trade body Ukie and streaming marketer Keymailer. With the support from a huge list of studios including Bethesda, Codemasters, Electronic Arts, and Media Molecule, Games for Carers has over 85,000 video games to give away to frontline NHS staff, with more games being added daily.
All NHS staffers need do is visit the official Games for Carers website and register their NHS email address. There are games across a huge range of genres and platforms, including mobile, so there should be something for everybody. Full details and conditions about the Games for Carers scheme can be found here.
UPDATE 30/4/20: Watch today's live reveal of the first Assassin's Creed Valhalla trailer at 4pm UK time, right here.
Be sure to check back as soon as you've watched for our continuing coverage.
UPDATE 29/4/20 9PM UK: Assassin's Creed Valhalla is the full name of Ubisoft's Viking-set entry in the series.
As April ends and May begins, Animal Crossing New Horizons scorpions are arriving and tarantulas leaving in the Northern Hemisphere.
The post Animal Crossing: New Horizons Scorpions Are Arriving and Tarantulas Are Leaving appeared first on Siliconera.
Final Fantasy VII Remake is great for so many reasons (with some room for improvement). The character and monster designs are detailed and creative, the combat is strategic and fast-paced, and each character within the game plays very differently.
What highlights these features the most is the boss fights in Final Fantasy VII Remake, which were one of the best parts of this new iteration.
Although the remake is just a small part of the original, it’s still filled to the brim with excellent boss fights.
But which boss fights are the best of the best? Well, we have just the list for you. These boss fights are ranked on creativity, how fun they were to fight, and originality.
Spoiler Warning: This article contains spoilers about the Final Fantasy VII Remake story. Although nothing about the plot will be spoken of, the boss fights can give some indication of where the story goes. Click away if you don’t want anything spoiled.
Today Compile Heart revealed a new batch of videos of its shipgirl-focused game Azur Lane: Crosswave.
The videos focus on the next DLC that will be released in Japan on May 11, focusing on Roon.
We also get to see the three shipgirls that will be added as secretary and support, Graf Zeppelin, Deutschland, and Graf Spee.
The story is set at the Iron Blood school where Roon is having a nice day with her friends. Yet, she hides a lot of power under that new uniform. In the wake of a raid by the Sirens, her blood will start burning and her desire for battle will awake. There is also a mysterious individual watching over her. Who might that be?
You can check out the videos below, keeping in mind that the DLC don’t have a release date for the west yet. When we asked Idea Factory International, they mentioned that for the moment they have no update on this.
In what is surely one of the most unique game reveals ever, Ubisoft is announcing the next installment of its popular Assassin’s Creed franchise today. A still on-going recording of artist Boss Logic creating the game’s logo in photoshop can be viewed live and has already run about 90 minutes. So far, the new game appears to be set in the medieval era, possibly during Viking Age.
Update: The logo now appears to portray distinctly Viking-looking ships.
Update 2: The castle has now been reverted to a ruin. There is additional detail on the warriors. The feature image and below gallery have been updated.
Update 3: We have a dragon head! Axes for Viking warriors and helmets for Saxon warriors added, too.
Update 4: The silhouette of the protagonist is being detailed. Feature image changed, images added to the below gallery.
Update 5: Full logo in feature image and gallery. Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla revealed as game’s subtitle. Click here for more.
What you can see above is the latest image at the time of writing. It features two contrasting halves, with one location appearing warm or temperate, while the other frigid and cold. Notably, the warmer region features a distinctly European-looking castle with what appears to be Saxon era warriors fighting outside. That would mean the game is possibly set sometime between 1000-1300 AD.
Interestingly, the castle looks to be modeled on Bamburgh Castle in northeast England. Bamburgh was originally a Saxon outpost before it was seized, destroyed, and then rebuilt by the Normans.
Kirby and Donkey Kong fans will be clashing it out this weekend in a new Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament. If you head over to the multiplayer mode of the game, you can compete and see which of the two Nintendo franchises is better than the other.
This tournament limits the fighter roster for three days starting on May 1 (Friday), only allowing players to choose characters from the Kirby and Donkey Kong series. This means that you can only play as these characters: Kirby, Diddy Kong, Metaknight, King K. Rool, Donkey Kong, and King Dedede.
You can see the announcement tweet down below that comes from the Japanese Twitter account for the Super Smash Bros. series:
Today Muv-Luv developer âge announced the full schedule of the online event coming in May, providing plenty of content for the fans.
You can see the full schedule for the first two days (May 2 and May 3) at the bottom of the post, while between May 3 and May 8 there will be a special program featuring a 120-hour marathon of Muv-Luv Alternative.
The event will be hosted mainly on YouTube and Discord.
A large part of the schedule is taken by broadcasts and commentary about the Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse anime from 2012 and the Schwarzesmarken anime from 2016. We received confirmation that those parts are exclusively for Japan due to licensing reasons.
That being said, there’s still plenty of content for those who want to know more about the upcoming games code named Project Mikhail and Project Immortal.
On May 2 at 1:00 pm Japan Time there will be a reveal about Project Mikhail (with a Q&A hosted at the same time on Discord), while another program at 4:00 pm promises “big news.”
On May 3 at 1:00 PM Japan time there will be a reveal about Project Immortal, with its own Q&A on Discord.
We’re also getting updates about merchandise, which is usually very popular among Muv-Luv fans.
Today Nintendo had another reveal to make about the upcoming JRPG Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, and it’s all about music.
First of all, we get a video posted by the European arm of the company featuring the remastered theme of the game.
We also get confirmation that you can switch between the remastered and original soundtrack while playing.
The Japanese official account of the game went a step further, actually showing a screenshot of the menu that lets you make the switch between the two versions of the music.
Interestingly, you can set battle music and field music separately, so you can have remastered music for one, original music for the other, or set both the way you prefer. If you’re wondering, the rest of the options in the menu are language and volume controls.
It’s always been hard to accept the beat ’em up’s idea of depth perception. Here’s a genre that asks you to punch and kick on a single wafer-thin plane, before slowly readjusting your 2D sprite a few millimetres deeper into the screen, to make a tentative punch at a foe somehow just out of reach, as if everyone exists as a sort of juiced-up Paper Mario goomba. Streets Of Rage 4 proudly holds that tradition aloft, like a big chicken drumstick. It is a solid game, in the sense that it is a handsome, tightly made thump ’em up, but also solid in the sense that it remains anchored in place by the genre’s rules and regulations. Between a rock and a chokehold, for better and for worse.
Power Armor, which is heavy plated apparel that makes you look like a space marine, can be found lying around in specific locations in Fallout 76. While most Power Armor has a standardised design there are some unique designs out there. So if you want to swagger into battle with Nuka Cola branded Power Armor, this is the place to learn where to find it. (more…)
Still raging 26 years later, Streets of Rage 4 is a faithful revival of the classic arcade beat-’em-ups. Move from left to right, punch enemies, destroy objects for points, health, and weapon pickups, punch a few more enemies, and repeat. It’s simple and unadventurous, and while it expands modestly on combat with a few new skills to master, Streets of Rage 4 definitely prioritises nostalgia over any kind of big modern reinvention.
The plot is wafer-thin and predictably corny, but it's beautifully presented in a comic book panel style. Mr and Ms Y, the twin offspring of series’ villain Mr X, are the big bads this time and their evil scheme is to control the city by “corrupting everything good” while looking like a couple of sub-par Scott Pilgrim villains. It’s all very silly, but in a knowing, not-taking itself-too-seriously kinda way, and it just about pulls it off.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/29/the-first-9-minutes-of-streets-of-rage-4"]
It’s 10 years since the events of Streets of Rage 3 and series regulars, Axel Stone and Blaze Fielding, return to fight crime again despite likely being “too old for this shit.” To balance out the familiar with something different is the addition of two brand-new characters, Cherry Hunter (the daughter of series stalwart, Adam Hunter) and a cybernetic armed, absolute unit called Floyd Iraia.
The Epic Games Store will temporarily require users to enable two-factor authentication to claim free games. ...
A Nintendo Switch Lite, an Anker PowerWave wireless charging duo, 400 Hershey’s Kisses, an official Xbox One stereo headset, and more highlight Wednesday’s best deals.
When Streets of Rage 4 was first announced, I was wildly skeptical. The little I saw didn’t immediately live up to expectations I’d developed for a 2D brawler series that had its last official last entry in 1994. I feel a lot better about it now. I’ve played Streets of Rage 4 for 15 hours, and, I’ve fallen in love…
It’s only a matter of time before there’s an official video game version of Nintendo and Lego’s upcoming interactive Super Mario building sets. Using Media Molecule’s Dreams, master video game remaker/demaker Bearly Regal beat them to the punch.
It's been 10 years since the events of Streets of Rage 3, and Oak Wood City is only mildly safer than it once was. Having left the police force decades ago to embark on their tax-break vigilante careers, Axel Stone and Blaze Fielding have since retired from this hazardous moonlighting gig to live relatively normal, mundane lives.
But you know what never retires? Evil. And now the downtrodden metropolis faces a new threat in the form of the mysterious "Y" siblings: two privileged young psychopaths who are bringing death and destruction back to Oak Wood's rain-stained alleyways. With local law enforcement on the syndicate's payroll, there remains but one option: Axel and Blaze, accompanied by allies old and new, must return to the mean streets and rescue the burned-out 'berg the only way they know how: at the business end of a broken bottle.
Over 25 years since its last official entry, Streets of Rage is finally ready to make its long-awaited, highly anticipated return. The 16-bit era was an entire lifetime ago, and action games have advanced far beyond the traditional arcade brawlers of yore – is there even a place for Blaze and crew in the modern gaming age? You bet there is, Jack.
This morning, Ubisoft took part in a good old fashioned tease as they steadily revealed the "setting" of the next Assassin's Creed game. I know.
Yes, it's a very caveat-filled event. Ubisoft teamed up with artist BossLogic (Kode Abdo) for the reveal, who slowly brought more details into focus in Photoshop over the course of several hours. As you may recall, the next Assassin's Creed game was expected to be a Viking-era adventure. Well, it looks that way!
BossLogic hit us with howling fjords in what seemed like a cool summer's eve, then tipped his hand with icy crags half an hour in. Then the castle came, followed by another hour of smoothing the environment. At the two-hour mark, some NPCs were filled out that gave us an even bigger clue, followed by boats two and a half hours in. Six hours later, the potential protagonist was filled in.
Note that given the wide topographical berth that the Vikings conquered beyond Scandinavia, the setting could include a Europe-hopping epic, much like Ezio's story. More details are coming at some point, like these things usually go, but it seems very clear that the next Assassin's Creed was going to be revealed at E3 2020 during Ubisoft's yearly presser.
Now, Ubisoft, among other publishers, is pivoting in a scattered fashion, appealing to people who have plenty of time to watch these reveals. Expect more of these before June rolls around.
EA has been forced to postpone a popular FIFA 20 Ultimate Team promo as it looks increasingly unlikely real-world football will return any time soon.
Team of the Week Moments, itself a lockdown replacement for the traditional Team of the Week promo, will be placed on hold during the ongoing Team of the Season So Far promo, EA confirmed in a blog post.
It's a particularly tough time for frontline NHS workers right now, with services stretched and many overwhelmed with work due to the coronavirus outbreak. To help alleviate some of the stress, games companies in the UK have now launched an initiative called Games for Carers, which will distribute free games to NHS workers for use in their downtime.
More than 85,000 free games from a variety of genres and platforms will be available for NHS staff to download, in a campaign backed by companies such as EA, Codemasters, Konami, Jagex, Media Molecule, Xbox, Team 17 and more. The initiative was organised by UK games industry body Ukie, along with marketing firm Keymailer.
"The UK games industry has been proud to play its part in conveying these vital public health messages during this national emergency," said Ukie CEO Jo Twist. "Now our community has united again to say thank you to the truly extraordinary people who make up the NHS frontline team.
If you ask me what it is that made Sega's games really sing when they were in their 90s pomp, I'd settle on just one thing. It's the swagger, that cocky self-assuredness backed up with an impeccable sense of style. Any doubt that Streets of Rage began life as a Final Fight clone is soon erased if you look at the similarity between the two leading men, but could Cody Travers ever match the sheer attitude of Axel Stone as he piled through neon-slicked streets full of hoodlums in step to Yuzo Koshiro's searing techno beats?
There might have been better Sega games in the 90s, but there's no better 90s Sega games than the Mega Drive's Streets of Rage trilogy. From the soundtrack to the set-up to the styles that characters wear - this is stonewashed denim through and through - Streets of Rage and its two sequels embody so much of the 90s spirit, something backed up by the fact that this is a series that never saw beyond the decade.
Until now, that is, but Streets of Rage 4 is more than a belated sequel. Like Sonic Mania before it, this is a fan-made game that's at once a faithful and fully-endorsed follow-up to a Sega classic as well as a little more besides. And as with Sonic Mania before it, Streets of Rage 4 proves that, sometimes, the fans really do know best.
A group of Polygon staff enjoy the music video to “Scatman & Hatman.” | Image: Squad via Polygon
The desktop version of the app has options that Netflix Party was missing
Image: Giants Software/Focus Home Interactive
Uncharted 4 and Dirt Rally 2.0 are leaving the service
Image: Walt Disney Animation
A look back at what the ratings board thought kids could and couldn’t handle
Image: Infinity Ward/Activision
The patch also adds a new Warzone item and fixes a few bugs
Image: Lizardcube, Guard Crush Games, Dotemu/Dotemu
Streets of Rage 4 is the sequel fans deserve
Dungeon Defenders: Awakened is leaving the Steam early access program and launching into full release on May 28. With official launch comes a ton of new content, including game modes, bosses, stages, and gear. Players can face off against the Ancient Dragon and Goblin Mech for the first time, select new difficulty levels, and collect new rewards.
Dungeon Defenders: Awakened is planned to head to other platforms after the Steam release, including Nintendo Switch in Q3 and PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in Q4.
Check out the release trailer below!
Click here to watch embedded media
Techland has announced new paid DLC for its 2015 zombie game Dying Light. When Dying Light initially released, Techland was also working on another title featuring first-person combat: a dark fantasy title known as Hellraid. While we liked what we saw at Gamescom 2014, Techland announced it was suspending development on Hellraid shortly after the launch of Dying Light, saying Hellraid was not up to the studio's standards and that it would instead focus on expanding Dying Light. This new Dying Light DLC allows players to access an all-new game mode set in that dark fantasy world that never was.
Image: Epic Games via Polygon
Image: Ubisoft