Image: ArtPlay/505 Games
Play as the sword-wielding Zangetsu, or randomize your next playthrough
Image: Oculus and ILMxLAB
The acclaimed VR experience will come with all three story episodes and the Lightsaber Dojos
Square Enix has given away a bunch of free games to promote social distancing, including a pair of Tomb Raider titles and numerous great mobile games. Its latest promotion isn't free, but it benefits a great cause. The Square Enix Stay Home and Play JRPG Collection features four games--Dragon Quest 11: Echoes of an Elusive Age, Final Fantasy 12: The Zodiac Age, Chrono Trigger, and Oninaki--for just $49.84. That's a massive savings considering the games would cost roughly $175 at full price. Plus, Square is donating all of its profits from the bundle to food banks and charities in North America and Europe.
From Ehrgeiz to Kingdom Hearts—here's a look at the many faces of Final Fantasy VII's Cloud Strife we've seen over the years.
The post From Ehrgeiz to Kingdom Hearts—The Many Faces of Final Fantasy VII’s Cloud Strife appeared first on Siliconera.
Much like its predecessors, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a game about forming friendships, but there's a sinister undercurrent below the cheerful surface – darkness lurks in every community. Once you catch a glimpse, you can never look at your neighbors the same way. Act natural. They're listening.
YouTube creator Evil Imp took the well-established "Animal Crossing is deeply unsettling if you think about it" concept and ran wild with it. They imagined New Horizons as a horror movie by stitching together spooky scenes to make a cohesive, convincing trailer. The premise: "A young woman escapes to her dream island. But what begins as a perfect paradise quickly spirals into an endless nightmare."
This is one of my favorite creations to come out of the fandom so far, and that's saying something. Evil Imp's Purgatory island tour is equally entertaining if you're looking for morbid design inspiration.
I haven't been able to justify another Bloodstained playthrough this year, but I'll have a bulletproof rationale for resuming the grind soon enough. The long-time-coming Zangetsu and Randomizer Mode update – a freebie, not paid DLC – releases May 7, 2020, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC players.
One not-so-small caveat: the equivalent Nintendo Switch update is lagging. It might not release until "the end of May or the beginning of June," according to 505 Games senior community manager Jason Ryan. It's been a less-than-ideal journey for Bloodstained Switch owners, and it's not over yet.
"We are still waiting to get a confirmed date for Switch and will announce it as soon as we are able."
To unlock Zangetsu, you'll need to have cleared the original True Ending with Miriam. He has MP-based abilities and was "designed to be a different experience than playing as Miriam." A "fast-paced" secondary playable character without shards, equipment, or consumable items sounds enticing.
That said, it's slightly disappointing to hear that Zangetsu won't have new story cutscenes.
As for the Randomizer (which was conceived as a roguelike mode until plans changed), it's a chance to "adjust eight different game parameters to mix up your experience as you play through the main story."
It'd be underselling the situation to say that The Last of Us Part II has had some setbacks during development. It was internally delayed about this time last year. Then, once it had a release date for February 2020, it was pushed back to May. The final delay came because of COVID-19 which made it impossible for Sony to manufacture physical copies for retail. Oh yeah, then some jackass spoiled the entire game.
But, as far as stumbling blocks go, that should be the last of them. Naughty Dog director and writer Neil Druckmann posted a from-home video today announcing that The Last of Us Part II has gone gold. That means, as Druckmann puts it, "discs are starting to get pressed and the executable is being put on the PlayStation Network." It's launching on June 19 and isn't in danger of delaying again.
Druckmann also takes a moment to congratulate the Naughty Dog team for creating "the most ambitious game we've ever made," and broadly lists the type of detail that he believes makes The Last of Us Part II so special. He also vaguely addresses the notorious leaks by saying "No matter what you've seen or heard or read, nothing compares to playing this thing from beginning to end."
Six weeks and a handful of days -- that's how long until The Last of Us Part II releases. Make sure to tread cautiously around the internet, steering clear of any spots where someone might spring a spoiler trap. Naturally, the comments on the YouTube video are turned off.
Is May too early to be talking about Game of the Year? Not if you've played Streets of Rage 4. The brawler is getting rave reviews all over the internet, including on this week's episode of Podtoid. On the show, Charlotte, Dan, Occams, CJ, and Chris talk SoR4, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Policenauts, cross-dressing martial artists, bidets, and more. All that, plus we're answering your listener questions, on Podtoid Episode 442.
Not to shove you down a wiki rabbit-hole, but Yaddle – "a member of the same mysterious species as the revered Jedi Master Yoda" – will be featured in this year's LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga.
In an interview with developer TT Games posted today, the studio shared the game's key art, a few screenshots, and a tease about Skywalker Saga's rightfully absurd roster. You can't cover all nine mainline episodes without reaching into the deep well and pulling out strange, silly, obscure characters.
"There are nearly 500 characters in this game, with many of them playable," confirmed Lucasfilm Games managing producer Craig Derrick. "When choosing characters for a game this large, we just looked at every film in the saga and tried to say 'yes' as much as possible. That said, it often comes down to storytelling and the specific role of the character in the quests and game progression."
"Of course, we have almost all of your favorite heroes and villains from the films, many background players, a few surprises, and…Yaddle," he said. The game will run the minifig gamut from "Admiral Ackbar to Zorii Bliss," according to head of production and strategic director Jonathan Smith.
I love how this is the picture on file.
The duo also reminded me about one of the best aspects of LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, which is that we can begin "at any point in the timeline" rather than stick to the chronological order.
What appears to be an unprecedented trove of information related to several past Nintendo consoles was leaked to the internet starting last Friday. Many of the thousands of leaked files concern Nintendo’s 2006 Wii console, including detailed design documents and even seemingly its source code. Such information would…
The last X-Wing has left the station and the Death Star is shutting down: Star Wars Battlefront II will no longer receive big content updates. While the servers will remain up, the game will not be supported in a major way by Dice or EA moving forward. Released back in November 2017, Battlefront II has had a…
Meet Dave Fennoy, the man behind the voice of some of the most popular video game characters around. The award-winning actor is perhaps most known for voicing The Walking Dead’s Lee Everett and is credited for countless other roles. You may also recognize his voice from shows like Young Sheldon, early Hulu…
Mick Gordon, the composer behind the both Doom (2016) and this year's followup Doom Eternal, officially isn't working on Eternal†s DLC and the reason for the split is a bit of a complicated affair. ...
Join the team in Roswell, Georgia and collaborate with designers, artists, audio designers, and various other specialists to design and develop best-in-class game experiences. ...
Few franchises can claim to have created as many beloved characters as Star Wars can. From iconic, universally recognizable characters like Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker to more obscure faces like IG-88 and Max Rebo, every character has their fans.
Why is it then, that the Star Wars franchise has so few character-specific video games when there are so many promising options to choose from?
We think it’s about time Star Wars expanded its horizons in the video gaming market, and we have some suggestions we’d like to pitch. Here are six Star Wars characters that deserve their own spinoff game.
The ever-popular bounty hunter Boba Fett has had a rough time of it in video games, with the starring role always eluding him in favor of other characters.
Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon
It only works in very specific conditions
After the official soundtrack for Doom Eternal was released on April 18th to Collector’s Edition owners, players quickly noticed that something sounded off. It turned out that there was a marked difference between the tracks Eternal’s composer Mick Gorden had mixed himself and those done internally by Id Software. At the time, it was unclear why, though Gordon seemed displeased with the disparity. Id’s executive producer Marty Stratton has published an open letter today offering their side of the story.
Among the first next-generation games to be announced is Daedalic Entertainment's Lord of the Rings game that's focused on Gollum. The first screenshots for the PS5 and Xbox Series X title have now been released, showcasing the studio's artistic take on Gollum and Middle-earth.
The images, posted on German games media site Gamestar, show off a Gollum who has wispy hair and a frail body, as well as big eyes and strong facial features. Daedalic has gone with a more stylized approach to Gollum's design, it seems, and it's neat to see yet another interpretation of Tolkien's character.
Some of the other images showcase the game's various environments from across Middle-earth, including picturesque outdoor areas and dank caverns filled with spiders. It seems Gollum will embark on quite an adventure in the new game. Another image shows off how players will seemingly have choices to make at key moments. Check out all the images here at Gamestar.
Continue Reading at GameSpot 
Star Wars Day always brings several surprises. I suspected we'd get a tease for The Mandalorian's second season today, but instead got something even better: news that Taika Waititi is directing a new Star Wars film! We also learned a new Disney+ Star Wars series is on the way from Leslye Headland. We don't know anything about either project, but it's always nice to hear more Star Wars is in the works with big names attached.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/04/12/we-played-vader-immortal-and-hung-out-with-darth-vader-in-vr-star-wars-celebration-2019"]
Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series - Episode 1 Review
VERDICT: Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Story - Episode 1 does a fine job of letting you bask in Star Wars surroundings and the impressive presence of Darth Vader himself. Its mechanics are simple and nearly ubiquitous among VR games but refined well enough, and the story is a serviceable excuse to run through them.In today's contest you can win a copy of action-based comic shooter Fury Unleashed for Switch, PS4, Xbox One, or Steam!
Are y'all ready for round three? Way back when (nearly two years ago -- yikes!), we put up some Early Access copies of an awesome cartoonish shooter called The Badass Hero so you guys could check it out. We followed it up a few months later when the name changed, and several more improvements could be made.
Well, now it's ready for its official release across Steam and current-gen consoles! So buckle up and enter for your chance to win a copy of Fury Unleashed for your platform of choice!
The fighting game community’s shift to online competition in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic has increased the scene’s vulnerability to problems that rarely proved serious in the past. Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament organizers learned this firsthand when a top player using a fake name threw their plans into…
As far as made-up holidays go, Star Wars Day is pretty hard to beat. Celebrated annually on May the 4th in homage to the popular “May the Fourth be with you” pun (despite the fact that the anniversary of the original film is just over two weeks later, making it all the more mystifying that Lucasfilm established the…
Fans of the gorgeously surreal point-and-click-meets-room-escape Rusty Lake adventures have another unsettling slice of narrative fancy to sink their teeth into, courtesy of a refreshed and revised version of series precursor Samsara Room, which is out now - and free - on Steam.
If you've yet to experience the Rusty Lake games, I can heartily recommend you remedy that immediately. They're wonderfully entertaining endeavours, many of which are playable free, with each deliciously sinister entry offering a largely self-contained experience but forming another piece in the series' vast, centuries-spanning narrative puzzle.
The games have grown increasingly ambitious as time has gone on, but they're ultimately casual puzzlers at their core, with just enough challenge to illicit a satisfied nod; the real joy, though, comes from their deliciously off-kilter atmosphere and the mental delights of connecting the narrative dots across 15 distinct instalments, where recurring characters, locations, and motifs drift in and out like a fever dream.
Halo developer 343 Industries has thrown itself into fundraising for COVID-19 relief, and has now revealed how much money they have raised. The developer raised funds through two channels--the sale of $10 REQ packs in Halo 5, and with a new shirt that was sold for $25 (it's now sold out).
In a tweet from the official Halo account, we now know that over $430,000 has been raised and presented to Global Giving's coronavirus relief fund. At the time of writing, this fund has brought in a total of over $6.8 million, and is seeking to provide aid where it is most needed during this global pandemic.
Together, through the @metathreads #WeGotThisSpartans shirt and the Relief & Recovery REQ Pack, the Halo community's combined support raised over $430,000 for @GlobalGiving's Coronavirus Relief Fund. Thank you for your contributions, Spartans. pic.twitter.com/6LdT9xQxPV
— Halo (@Halo) May 4, 2020
The shirt is sold-out, and while we don't have exact figures on how many REQ packs sold, it must have been quite a few.
This weeks' imports focus on digital purchases, including individual releases of previously bundled games and stories.
The post This Week In Imports: Individual Rereleases Galore appeared first on Siliconera.
[Update: Tetris Effect launched today for Oculus Quest with gamepad and Oculus Touch support. It's a fantastic game that's arguably even better in VR, so for $29.99, I wouldn't think twice.]
The wait for Tetris Effect on Oculus Quest shouldn't be much longer if a now-removed Oculus Store listing proves to be accurate. Earlier today, (understandably) restless fans spotted a "coming soon" notice for the gorgeous puzzle game, and while it's no longer visible, a few screencaps still exist.
Tetris Effect has been available on PlayStation 4 since November 2018 and PC since July 2019. The latter version – an Epic Games Store exclusive – officially supports Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.
I don't necessarily expect every VR game to make it to every platform, but Tetris Effect is one of the greats – it's precious. It's up there as one of my favorite VR experiences. It needs to go far and wide.
Oculus Quest owners have constantly wondered if and/or when it's coming to the platform. Hopefully this momentary store listing was just a tad premature and we're on the cusp of hearing a release date.
Tetris Effect found in the coming soon section in the Quest Store [Reddit]
A group of Star Wars fans have taken their action figures off the shelf and done something practical with them for a change, dressing them up in amazing dioramas and recreating, set-for-set, the plot of Star Wars: Episode IV.
Last year, Super Mario 64's N64 code was reverse-engineered by fans, allowing for all kinds of new and exciting things to be done with Nintendo’s 1996 classic. Like building a completely new PC port of the game, which can run in 4K and ultra-wide resolutions.
A video game soundtrack release is normally a pretty straightforward thing, but Doom Eternal’s 59-track OST has found itself mired in controversy as the game’s composer and publisher Bethesda are at odds over the quality and composition of much of the score.
The Bloodstained Zangetsu and Randomizer update has a release date for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC and a release window for the Switch.
The post Bloodstained’s Zangetsu and Randomizer Will Arrive on May 7, 2020 appeared first on Siliconera.
You’ve no doubt seen countless lists of the best video games set in the Star Wars universe today, since so many websites like to do those things on May 4. I’d like to try something a little different, and tell you what the best Star Wars video game is.
When Animal Crossing: New Horizons first launched, it wasn’t long before players found a duping glitch that they could exploit with two people and make tons of Bells that way. That problem’s been taken care of, but another glitch has been discovered.
This one can be pulled off by just one player, though the conditions for it are way more specific. To start, you can only dupe 2×1 items, though this means that valuable items like katanas from Gulliver or 50 inch TVs can be duplicated and sold for vast sums of Bells.
You’ll need a 2×1 table and a 2×2 table, and the process involves you positioning these tables and the item you want to dupe in the middle of your house’s main room. You can check out the full process and explanation of the dupe glitch in the video down below.
It’s highly likely that Nintendo will be patching out this exploit soon now that it’s been found, so this is your chance to scam Tommy and Timmy out of as much money as you possibly can while it’s still available.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is now available exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.
May 4th is almost over, but there’s still time to show off your love for the Star Wars franchise if you’re playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Over on the game’s subreddit, user _canisdirus has posted a custom clothing design for a pretty nicely done Jedi robe that you can download right now. All you have to do is pop over to the Able Sisters, use the internet kiosk, then input the design code as shown below to download it. You’ll then be able to use it on your clothing and make it look like you’re actually wearing a Jedi robe.
Now, everyone can complete their Star Wars cosplay and show off their love for the series. We just need actual lightsabers to be a thing in Animal Crossing and the dream will be finalized.
Blizzard Entertainment via Freyja R.
Image: Lucasfilm Ltd.
