Humble Bundle has an incredible deal if you need a boost to your self-quarantine/social distancing entertainment backlog while also supporting charities on the front lines of the coronavirus fight.
There's no replacement for a new From Software action-RPG, but I'm more than happy to have other games tide me over while we wait for Elden Ring. Here's one that caught me off guard this afternoon. The trailer for Mortal Shell – a 2020 PC, PS4, and Xbox One title – makes a great first impression.
The dark fantasy tone is familiar (in a good way!), and the execution meets my modest expectations, at least at a glance. Worth noting: this is a smaller-studio project with a "core team" of 15 people.
The most alluring bit, at least to me, is right there in the name. You're playing as an "empty vessel" who can possess Mortal Shells, "the lost remains of defeated warriors," to alter your combat abilities.
"The stronger your connection to each Mortal Shell grows, the better you can harness their innate talents," according to developer Cold Symmetry. "Craft unique upgrades, sharpen your blade with acid, and study dark arcane abilities that imbue your attacks with supernatural devastation."
As for the foreboding narration, that's the Dark Father. It's probably best to do what he says.
Not all April Fool's Day stunts are born out of a desire to deceive. Sometimes they're born out of actual ambition. That's the case with this painful prank from Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom developer FDG Entertainment and the DuckTales QuackShot game that never came to be.
FDG wanted to work on a modern QuackShot game, but Disney wouldn't bite. FDG said the studio worked hard on a legitimate pitch but Disney wasn't willing to budge with licensing. So, the developer shared the concept art today -- half as an April Fool's Day joke, half as a grassroots plea to get Disney to realize there's a market for QuackShot. "It would've been a shame to bury the material," FDG says.
For those who can't remember back that far, QuackShot was a Sega Genesis game starring Donald Duck and his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie. It was DuckTales by way of Indiana Jones. QuackShot, like Darkwing Duck, is generally regarded as a DuckTales spinoff but with a more fantastical adventurous bent.
So, we're left with the rare April Fool's joke that no one actually wants to be a joke. If the prank progenitor had its way, FDG would be making QuackShot right now rather than goofing about it. And, FDG is leaving a trail of broken hearts in its wake.
Oh well, at least you can enjoy all the killer mockup concept art that's in the gallery below.
@FDG_Games [Twitter]
We won't get to read another "Everything that happened at Bethesda's E3 press conference" recap. (Would it have been merely "okay," like 2019? Or "mostly Fallout-based," like 2018? We'll never know!)
Speaking on Twitter, Bethesda's Pete Hines said that the company "will not host a digital Showcase in June" like it has in prior years "given the many challenges we're facing due to the pandemic."
It seems like that goes without saying at this point – E3 2020 isn't happening due to COVID-19 – but there's been this expectation that the larger video game publishers would still organize their own individual streaming-only events in June (or thereabouts) to compensate for the missing expo.
Even though Bethesda is skipping its June routine, the teams still "have lots of exciting things to share about our games and look forward to telling you more in the coming months," according to Hines.
I'm sure we'll see big gaming news elsewhere in June – it's such a long-held tradition – but things won't be the same this year, and it's tough to imagine 2021 will simply "go back to the way things were."
I'd typically be stoked to have the Sunday before E3 free to myself, but not like this.
The leaves are growing, the weather is getting warmer, and most importantly, the PS4 Spring Sale is making a comeback this month and discounts a bunch of fantastic digital titles such as Death Stranding, God of War, and Doom (2016).
The 2020 PSN Spring Sale is live right now and will come to an end on April 28, so if you’re looking for the best games to purchase during the sale, look no further.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer has commented extensively for the first time on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the planned launch of Xbox Series X later this year and more. Speaking to IGN, Spencer said he wants people to know that first and foremost, the safety and security of its teams is what is most important to him during this time of crisis.
"The thing I'm going to put front and center is the safety and security of the team," Spencer said. "There is no decision that I will make, or frankly anybody at Microsoft would even ask me to make, that would compromise the safety and security of the teams for a near-term financial or product gain. The teams are the most important thing."
Pragmatically, Spencer said he has observed that the supply chains in China have "started to come back," which would enable the parts to be assembled for Xbox Series X for launch this holiday.
Continue Reading at GameSpotAs the US and other countries mobilize to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, more and more people are finding themselves stuck at home these days, effectively ending normal social interactions with friends and loved ones unless they live with you. Because of this, online games and platforms like Netflix Party have become crucial links to friends and family, and one 2015 PC game is even helping people have virtual board game nights with friends they can't meet with in person.
Tabletop Simulator has been around for years, but it feels even more needed right now. The indie game from developer Berserk Games allows you to play digital versions of board games in a player-driven physics sandbox, with classics like chess, poker, and dominoes included in the base version. You can also create your own digital board games with Tabletop Simulator, which lets you import custom assets, automate games with scripting, and more. And players have done just that, with thousands of fan-created board games and card games available in the Steam Tabletop Simulator workshop that you can play for free.
Berserk Games has also partnered with some board game publishers to create official DLC for Tabletop Simulator, and there are currently 41 games available as DLC, including some of our all-time favorites like Blood Rage, Scythe, and Wingspan.
Continue Reading at GameSpotSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate's next Spirit Board event is themed around Animal Crossing, Nintendo has announced. The event kicks off at 11 PM PT on April 2 and adds four new Spirits from the recently released Animal Crossing: New Horizons to the game.
Spirits based on the major new characters introduced in New Horizons--Flick, CJ, Daisy Mae, and Orville & Wilbur--will appear on the Spirit Board at certain times during the event. On top of that, all of Smash Bros. Ultimate's previous Animal Crossing Spirits will also be featured periodically throughout the event, giving you a much better chance of encountering them.
The Animal Crossing Spirit Board event runs until 11 PM PT on April 7. You can learn more about the event on Nintendo's website.
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Hammer, which might end up being the world's only taste of Source 2 devtools, was originally planned to release alongside Alyx in March, but mention of it was noticeably absent on launch day. ...
With the release of Warlords of New York last month, The Division 2 added a big new playable area to the game. But this large update also added seasons, complete with special events and battle passes. We are now a few weeks into the first season and so far, so good. For the most part.
Hori has created a new controller for cats this April Fools' Day: the NYAN-CON. It is "set" to release on February 2, 2222.
The post Game Alongside Your Cat on April Fools’ Day With Hori’s NYAN-CON Controller appeared first on Siliconera.
It's wild to see Soldat, a near-two-decade-old web relic, resurface on Steam.
The blink-and-you're-gone side-scrolling multiplayer shooter launched on Steam this week, and if you have any nostalgia for classic browser-based games, you'll be pleased to know that it's totally free. The Steam build of Soldat is "an improved version of Soldat 1.7.1," according to the developers.
I loaded the game up, was promptly terrorized by rabid AI bots, and scanned the server list for a bit before realizing I'm too foggy to stand a chance. Some of you will surely get a kick out of it, though.
Not so coincidentally, there's also a new demo for Soldat 2 ahead of its Steam Early Access release.
Totally Reliable Delivery Service is one of those names that should be in scare quotes -- or at least half of it should. "Totally Reliable" Delivery Service is more accurate because hahaha nothing about this clumsy-ass bear is reliable at all.
There's a new contender in the ridiculous physics mayhem genre. Totally Reliable Delivery Service is all about getting a package from Point A to Point B and watching everything go off the rails in between. It's the open-world irreverence of Goat Simulator combined with the ragdoll awkwardness of Human: Fall Flat. Invoking those two names might mean it's destined for YouTube stardom.
You, however, aren't restricted to only watching. There are some pretty good options for playing Totally Reliable Delivery Service for free. For starters, it launched as free on the Epic Games Store through April 8; it's a forever-type deal too, not just for a limited time. It's also available as part of Xbox Game Pass. Lastly, the iOS and Android versions are also both free.
For anyone who doesn't have the means to get Totally Reliable Delivery Service for free (or who just wants to play elsewhere), it's on all the consoles too. The Switch and Xbox One versions are both $15, while it's $19 on PS4.
Ever spent an afternoon pondering the inherent deficiencies of arcade classic Pong? Ever said to yourself in a flash of inspiration, "What this seminal bat battler really needs is jokes! And dungeons! And a paddle with a moustache!"? If so, congratulations! You are Atari and have just invented Pong Quest, the newly announced "hilarious" dungeon crawling spin on the legendary arcade game, coming to pretty much everything this spring.
Pong Quest - which, as far as I can tell, is the first official new outing for the series since 2012's Pong World - casts players as a "cheerful and adorable" Pong paddle, as it embarks on a vaguely RPG-like adventure to save the world from imminent destruction.
What that amounts to in gameplay terms is a bit of exploratory dungeon roaming - each new area is said to be loosely themed around classic Atari properties, including Asteroids and Centipede - with enemy encounters being resolved through spiced-up Pong battles, featuring over 50 Pong ball varieties adding "new depths and strategy".
Click to watch embedded media Even with the massive expectations going in, Resident Evil 3 hits its mark and makes for an especially spooky time. With the game's release on Friday, fans still have burning questions they need answered – that's where we come in. Join Ben Reeves, the game's reviewer, Leo Vader, and me as we do our best to not get pulverized by the Nemesis and answer your questions about Resident Evil 3.
We went live earlier, but you can catch the full archive of the stream above. If you can't get enough of our live shows, remember to subscribe on YouTube, Twitch, Mixer, Twitter, and Facebook to get notified when we go live each week! Thanks and enjoy the show!
Click here to watch embedded media Like previous entries in the series, Animal Crossing: New Horizons locks all kinds of progress and events to the progression of real world time. Changing your Switch system clock is an incredibly easy way to circumvent this, but whether you SHOULD change it is a topic of much debate.
Please enjoy the video above where I talk through a few sides of the issue before laying down a moral verdict! For more Animal Crossing: New Horizons, watch our New Gameplay Today Live!
Every once in a while, rumors and wishful thinking for the revival of PlatinumGames’ canceled project Scalebound surface on the Internet. Xbox division head Phil Spencer talked about it during an interview on IGN.
Spencer mentioned that he has a “ton of respect” for PlatinumGames and Hideki Kamiya. He feels no ill will about Scalebound’s cancellation, and Microsoft still talks to the studio.
Unfortunately what they tried to do didn’t work, and he regrets being so public about the game before a real and believable plan was in place. Scalebound simply didn’t get there, and this goes across both Microsoft’s own team and Platinum.
He also added that Microsoft loved some of the ideas that the developers were trying to achieve and wanted to be able to ship a great game.
That being said, no work is being done on it.
“We’re not working on it. I’m not at Platinum today but I’m almost positive they’re not working on it.
It’s something we’ve all moved past, and it’s not a moment that I see as a high point for me in my role, having to cancel a game that we’ve talked about for years… But yeah, for the people out there that are kinda thinking that maybe there’s some things still in the works, there is not.”
If you’re interested in Scalebound, last year we also heard more comments from PlatinumGames’ Atsushi Inaba.
Today Xbox division head Phil Spencer talked to IGN about a variety of themes, including the upcoming Xbox Series X also in comparison with PS5.
Spencer explained that development on the new console started in 2016 not knowing or even thinking much about other platform holders.
The Xbox team tried to set its own goals for what they were trying to build, and it’s the same they did with Xbox One X. It’s not an exercise relative to another company.
The team gave itself a price envelop, a certain performance goal (which is why the console looks the way it does), but didn’t look at others because it takes a lot of long-term planning.
After watching the recent presentation of the PS5 Spencer “felt really good about how the Xbox Series X lines up,” even if he believes that Sony’s team did some really good work on audio processing and SSD technology, which he defined “impressive.”
“When we finally saw the final disclosure, I felt even better the choices that we’ve made on our platform, and I kind of expected that I would.”
Speaking of price, Spencer added that he feels good about that as well.
“I feel good about the price that we’ll be able to get to. I feel good about the price and the performance capabilities that we have with Serious X. I feel incredibly strong about the overall package.”
[…]
“We’re definitely going to continue to keep our eyes wide open as we go toward launch, looking at what the competition is doing, but we have a plan and we feel very solid about our plan. We think it’s a winning plan.”
Former Xbox console marketing director Albert Penello has shared his thoughts on the hot topic of AA batteries versus internal recharegable cells for controllers. His comments came in the wake of the news that the Xbox Series X will continue to use AA batteries.
Writing on Twitter, Penello--who now works at Amazon--said the tradeoff between AA batteries and internal cells is "more complex than people think."
"It's a debate that's raged for years, and there are good points on both sides. The toughest part is that it's a binary decision--choosing one alienates the other," he said.
Continue Reading at GameSpotTaleWorlds Entertainment has released another patch for Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, which is now out via Steam Early Access. This patch follows on the heels of a day one update and day two patch, the latter of which addresses a pesky bug that was affecting the Rival Gangs quest.
Like the March 31 patch, the April 1 patch for Bannerlord addresses a bunch of bugs that have been causing the game to crash. The patch doesn't focus on any one quest though--instead it addresses several problems associated with both Bannerlord's single-player campaign and multiplayer modes. The full patch notes are listed below.
"We know that many of you are experiencing issues that are preventing you from enjoying the game right now, for which we are very sorry," TaleWorld wrote in a blog post. "With the help of you, our community, we are finding and fixing these issues and pushing updates out as soon as we can. Unfortunately, as was the case with [the March 31] patch, this [April 1 patch] may result in previous save files becoming unplayable for some people. We will always try to ensure that your save game remains compatible with each update, however, sometimes this will not be possible."
Continue Reading at GameSpotDoom and Doom II, which were launched on PS4, Switch, and Xbox One last year (alongside Doom 3), have received another substantial update. The new update adds the No End In Sight expansion to both games, which provides another 30 levels for your Doom Marine to shoot, rip, and tear their way through.
This update is coming to the mobile and PC versions of the game, too. Doom I and II's relaunch came with invasive DRM originally, but it has since been removed, and the games have received several free expansions. No End In Sight is generally well-regarded as a challenging, deep expansion on Doom, so players who feel like they have mastered these classics will be able to truly prove themselves by beating it.
The 1.0.6 update, announced by Bethesda, adds various other fixes and changes to the game. Here's the full list of everything in the update.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer has commented broadly and non-specifically about the price of the Xbox Series X. Speaking to IGN, Spencer said he feels confident about the price point, adding that he believes Microsoft has a "winning plan" for the next-generation console as it competes with the PlayStation 5.
"I feel good about the price we're going to be able to get to," Spencer said. "I feel good about the price and the performance capabilities that we have for Series X. I feel incredibly strong about the overall package."
The Xbox Series X price isn't set yet, it seems. Spencer said he is "eyes wide open" in regards to the final price of the console, adding that Microsoft will be looking at what Sony does in terms of pricing for the PlayStation 5. No matter what, however, Spencer said Microsoft believes it has a "winning plan" for the console.
Continue Reading at GameSpotWith each new month in Animal Crossing: New Horizons comes new fish and bugs to catch, but also seasonal fish and bugs that will no longer be available--sometimes for months at a time. If you're a completionist, these limited and sometimes extremely rare critters are the ones you should focus on, and it's recommended that you get a head start.
For a more comprehensive list of critters, hit up our Animal Crossing: New Horizons fish guide and bug guide, which include the full list of what we've caught so far, tips on how to catch, and more. Don't forget to check out what fish and bugs are new in April as well.
April has just begun, but unless you want a repeat of last month's last-minute Stringfish hunts, here's the list of fish and bugs that are leaving after this month is up. Catch them while you still can!
Continue Reading at GameSpot
Author’s Note: The following story is a work of fiction. If you’re a G/O Media executive reading this, bear in mind there is no reality on which this is based. Tercius has never once played a video game during work hours. [Editor: Can confirm.]
In 2017, Activision was sued by AM General over Call of Duty’s accurate depiction of Humvees. In its defense, the publisher said the vehicle’s inclusion was a “first amendment” issue, a point a federal judge agreed with today while dismissing GM’s case.
While it’s perfectly expected and cool that people are using Animal Crossing’s design tools to create unique and interesting clothes, some players are simply using them to craft recreations of outfits they already own. Or, in this case, might never own.
We've got Steam copies of mech-based action game Metal Unit in today's contest!
I hate to be a party pooper, but April Fool's Day kinda sucks. At best you get some chuckle-worthy jokes; at worst you get ill-intended pranks or fake announcements that get people's hopes up only to have them come crashing down when they remember it's April 1st. No me gusta.
So, I'm going to alleviate some of the stress of the day by giving away some copies of this awesome-looking mech action game, Metal Unit. This is not a joke, folks -- this is real!
Rogue Legacy developer Cellar Door Games knows April 1 isn't the day to make announcement. It does, however, think April 1 is the day for teases.
We'll evidently hear about a sequel to one of the most successful indie games ever tomorrow, April 2 -- a day that's faraway and safe from all the foolishness of April 1. The studio posted this to Twitter, and, maybe I'm misreading the situation, but it doesn't really feel like trickeration:
According to Respawn, fans of Titanfall and Titanfall 2 may be excited to see what Respawn has in store for Apex Legends at the start of Season 5. Season 5 is scheduled to begin in late May or early June, as Season 4: Assimilation is halfway done, having gone through its ranked series split.
In an interview in Game Informer Issue 324, Apex Legends general manager Dusty Welch and game director Chad Grenier spoke about the future of Respawn's battle royale game, with one of them saying, "We're always bringing in stuff from the Titanfall universe. We built an awesome world in Titanfall 1 and 2 and want to make sure we're bringing that forward. I will say this: There could potentially be a pleasant surprise for Titanfall fans in Season 5."
Neither Welch nor Grenier provided further details beyond that, though Season 5's tie to Titanfall could be hinted at with the arrival of Bloodhound's town takeover. The arrival of the technological tracker's town takeover was teased with a prowler, a vicious wolf-like creature native to the planet Leviathan (the setting of Titanfall 2's incredible Effect and Cause level). Perhaps, just as Apex Legends left Kings Canyon after two seasons, the battle royale is getting another brand-new map after two seasons on World's Edge--one that will be located on Leviathan.
Thanks to the addition of terraforming and infrastructure options available in the newest Animal Crossing game, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, players are free to create almost any island home they like. One player, reddit user VaynMaanen, has created an impressive homage to Zelda: Link to the Past, recreating the original SNES map with high levels of detail and dedication.
Xbox Series X is due holiday 2020, but up until now we haven't seen many game reveals for the console beyond Halo Infinite and Hellblade II. But in an interview for IGN's podcast Unlocked, Xbox boss Phil Spencer says that's going to change soon, and future reveals will have a much greater focus on games.
When asked if there was anything left to say about the system itself, or whether it was "all games from here on out," Spencer said that while there are still things to reveal about the system and services provided by Xbox Series X, what they've announced so far has been done to "make room for games" in their further reveals.
"We know games are what people play," Spencer says. "You don't play variable rate shading, you don't play ray tracing, you play the games that use those technologies." Showing off these technologies has paved the way for them to show off how their games will use them. "This is one of the reasons we had Hellblade when we did the unveil at the Game Awards--I thought showing up at the Game Awards without a game would be a little tone-deaf," he continued.
Continue Reading at GameSpot
Niantic
Image: Nintendo via YouTube/RinHara5aki
Image: Remedy Entertainment/505 Games
Image: Capcom via Polygon
Image: Disney