Between the end of closed beta and next week’s official launch, we’re in something of a Valorant dead-zone. To make sure you haven’t forgotten about their new tactical wizard shoot ’em up, Riot have filled this short break with a teaser for Valorant’s eleventh superpowered soldier – a purple-clad disruption vampire who grows in power with each and every kill.
Ubisoft’s summer of racing might’ve been postponed, but now we know how much Trackmania‘s high-speed stunts will cost you. As it turns out, nothing. If you just want to set some hot times on limited tracks this year’s Trackmania is completely free to play. But if you’re looking for more revs in Trackmania’s engine, Ubisoft Nadeo have outlined a three-tiered annual subscription model for the July release.
Sundays are for honing your juggling skills. Here’s the best writing about videogames from the past week.
For Paste, Natalie Flores wrote about how If Found subverts the concept of erasure into an empowering, self-directed practice. This gave me chills, in a good way.
Testing for 343 industries' remastered Halo 3 is rolling out to PC "in the first half of next month".
In a new community update, 343i's Postums said the closed Halo 3 testing will permit the team to test its distribution pipeline, test updates to Challenges, gather feedback on the content, and "ensure all supporting systems are functioning properly in preparation for bringing Halo 3 to Halo: The Master Chief Collection on PC".
"Halo 3 is the next game in our lineup making its way to PC," wrote "Postums" (thanks, RPS). "In 2007, it was the Halo title that brought us Theater, Forge, and some of the community's most beloved gametypes like Grifball, Infection, and many more. Halo 3 holds a special place in many player's hearts and we know it's one of, if not THE most anticipated titles in the collection. In good news, public flighting for Halo 3 PC is on the horizon!"
It’s been a while since we’ve heard a good rumbling from the Dwarves at Hammerting – but then, you don’t tend to hear from the bearded lot unless they’ve riled up a dragon or dug into hell. A year on, under newfound stewardship with the mountain lords at publishers Team 17, Hammerting developers Warpzone Studios have finally emerged from the forges with a new trailer for their upcoming mine-maker.
There have been some big changes in Apex Legends recently, from the arrival of new Legend Loba to nerfs and buffs to existing Legends like Mirage and Pathfinder. However, Respawn's attempts to shake things up haven't been enough to impact which are our favourite Legends, it seems.
According to DreamTeam.gg (thanks, Dexerto), Wraith remains the most popular Legend to use in season five, hitting a usage rate of 27 per cent across all platforms - that makes her three times more popular than the second most used character.
Pathfinder and Lifeline come in second and third place with usage rates of 10 per cent and 9 per cent respectively.
Build-A-Bear is listening, Animal Crossing aficionados.
When a fan tweeted the build-your-own-stuffed-companion company stating that a "build a bear x animal crossing collab would be a cultural reset", the official Twitter account responded with: "Wow! [teddy bear emoji]. We're taking notes..."
Since then, the tweet has been liked a staggering 149,000 times, intimating it's not an isolated request, and a Change.org petition (thanks, MXDWN) - which went live six months ago but has only recently found a little traction - has, at the time of writing, secured almost 6,500 signatures.
On July 4th you'll be free to catch the latest news on Demon Slayer, Sword Art Online, Fate and more, thanks to the Aniplex Online Fest.
The post Aniplex Online Fest Will Show Off Its Anime and Games via YouTube appeared first on Siliconera.
If anything was going to throw a wrench into Factorio‘s meticulously manufactured mechanisms, you’d never think it was a punk’d up cyborg in a leather jacket. Yet, even as they powered full-steam towards release, the folks at Wube Software have decided Cyberpunk 2077‘s launch-day noise risks drowning out their contraptions. This week, the developers announced plans to bring Factorio out of early access five weeks early, releasing instead on Friday, August 14th.
Screenshot Saturday Sundays! Summer is here, but it’s both far too warm and a little too infectious to bother with all that “going outside” nonsense. Let’s go see what the world of videogames are up to over on our favourite Twitter hashtag instead. This week: A stroll through the woods, panic platforming, knife-fights in the jungle and a disco inferno.
UPDATE 1/6/20: Seems it was a false alarm, as Killzone: Mercenary's servers are reportedly back online. Hurray!
ORIGINAL STORY 31/5/20: Sony has reportedly closed down the servers for PlayStation Vita shooter, Killzone: Mercenary, seemingly without notice.
As yet it's unclear why the servers were turned off, but first fans gathered on Reddit to question why they couldn't get into multiplayer games (thanks, Digital Trends), and then to voice their dismay about rumours that purport it's been taken offline for good.
A super cute Game Boy Color lunchbox, $3 best-sellers, Haggar pants and shorts, a ton of candy, and more headline Sunday’s best deals.
Hello! It’s time for Kotaku’s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon.
It's wild to think how far Microsoft and the Xbox One has come. It started this generation with what even the company has admitted was a huge misstep. The Xbox One's debut was nothing short of a catastrophe borne of mixed messaging that targeted the completely wrong crowd, and what many described at the time as anti-consumer strategies. It was a fumble that presented its competitor, Sony's PlayStation 4, an opportunity. And Sony seized it.
Microsoft hasn't been able to come back from that stumble. PlayStation 4 has maintained a sales lead and owned a great deal of the gaming community's mindshare, but while the Xbox One hasn't been able to gain ground, it has at the very least established steady footing again. The process of recovering has been a long and arduous one, but under the leadership of Phil Spencer, Xbox has worked its way back into the hearts and minds of gamers.
A new era of Xbox is now on the horizon, but in order to confidently move towards the future, it's important to keep in mind lessons from the past. And that's exactly what this episode of Remember When aims to do. It explores the original pitch for the Xbox One, arguably one of the worst sales pitches of all time, and then charts how Microsoft turned it all around to put Xbox in a strong position to achieve success with the Series X.
Continue Reading at GameSpotToday Bandai Namco released a new video and a screenshot of the upcoming JRPG Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris.
The new assets were shared on the official Twitter account, with the video showing the sub-episode dedicated to the Integrity knight Renly Synthesis Twenty-Seven.
On top of that we also get to see a screenshot featuring Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-One’s episode which will be shown fully next week.
You can check both out below and see if you want to get closer to either of them.
Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath is now available to purchase. This paid DLC expansion to NetherRealm Studios' gory fighter includes five-chapter epilogue to the base game's story, as well as three new characters: Shokan Queen Sheeva, guest star RoboCop, and the God of the very winds themselves: Fujin.
Fujin first appeared in the Mortal Kombat franchise as a boss character in the infuriating PlayStation platformer Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero. Scant months later, Fujin made his debut proper as a roster member for 1997's Mortal Kombat 4. Since then, the benevolent but savvy Wind God has appeared in numerous MK titles, and even had a role in the story mode of Mortal Kombat X. With Aftermath, however, Fujin returns to the ring proper, taking a starring role in the five-chapter story expansion.
It's early days, and pro-MK players seem a little up in the air (no pun intended) on Fujin abilities. Fujin definitely plays quite differently from most of the MK 11 roster, with unique, old-school kung fu strikes, the ability to both hover and sprint through the air, and a huge array of Krushing Blows. While a slower and more deliberately paced character, Fujin's unique abilities may unlock new fighting techniques and playstyles yet to be seen in the MK 11 meta.
Baldur's Gate 3 developer, Larian Studios, says it will be "revealing more" about the highly-anticipated sequel, starting 6th June.
The announcements will come via Guerrilla Collective, a three-day indie showcase from a number of developers including the likes of 11 Bit Studios (Frostpunk), Coffee Stain Studios (Satisfactory), Larian Studios (Baldur's Gate 3), Raw Fury, Rebellion, Versus Evil (The Banner Saga) and many more.
"Throughout June, we'll be revealing more about #BaldursGate3 starting June 6, on the #GuerrillaCollective Showcase," Larian Studios tweeted recently. "It's almost time to venture forth."
Sony has confirmed that despite early leaks spoiling several key plot points of the upcoming The Last of Us Part 2, preorders remain healthy.
PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan further added in an interview with CNET (via VGC) that in Europe, preorder demand of the sequel is outstripping that of Marvel's Spider-Man at the same point before its launch. Widely considered one of the greatest PS4 exclusives, Sony purports Marvel's Spider-Man remains the best-selling superhero game' in US history.
"We hope this'll be a defining game for this generation," Ryan said, talking about The Last of Us Part 2.
I wear glasses. Many of you wear glasses. And it turns out next week, on June 6, there is a holiday for all of us: National Eyewear Day! Congrats. So let’s give video game characters glasses!
The blaze of protests that spread across the country this weekend in response to the police killing of George Floyd and countless others throughout American history is being responded to by policing so brutal even Alanis Morissette could clock the irony.
UPDATE: The Killzone: Mercenary servers have returned to operation after a brief downtime. It's unknown what caused the servers to go down, but Vita owners can return to the groundbreaking portable FPS and play online again right now. Perhaps The Last Of Us Part II is right, and the Vita will remain relevant for quite a while yet.
The original story is below.
Killzone: Mercenary was one of the PlayStation Vita's only exclusive multiplayer shooters for years, with a deep competitive mode alongside its single-player campaign. However, it appears the multiplayer servers have been shut down and this mode is no longer available.
Players attempting to connect to the game's multiplayer mode are met with an error message, and GameSpot's sister site ComicBook.com was told by PlayStation Support the servers were indeed shut down. However, it's unclear if this is a permanent closure or if they could return at a later date. The multiplayer mode is still listed on the game's official PlayStation Store page.
The Danganronpa Identity V crossover has begun! Monokuma is on the hunt, going after Junko, Kyoko, and Makoto.
The post The Danganronpa Identity V Crossover Adds Monokuma, Junko, Kyoko, and Makoto appeared first on Siliconera.
Today Intrepid Studios released a large batch of gameplay of its upcoming MMORPG Ashes of Creation.
The gameplay clocks nearly two hours in shiny 4K resolution, showing the rather lovely visuals of the game and plenty of its mechanics and rather unique ideas in today’s MMORPG scene.
That being said, we should keep in mind that this is a pre-alpha build, so it includes many elements that are far from final.
Here’s a word of warning from the developers:
“First and foremost, this IS pre-alpha footage and that means you will see many bugs, the game is still largely unpolished and not optimized since our primary focus is testing core systems and functionality.
You will see mechanics implemented that are not intended design, this is purely for testing certain code (IE flagging, crafting, caravans, etc). Many things will change and Art/FX will get polished up before our Alpha One release late this year.
Also, we may have cheated a little bit with some GM powers, in order to show you around a bit more during the playthrough”
Today, during the Cloud Matsuri livestream, Koei Tecmo showcased some brand new PS4 gameplay of the Fairy Tail JRPG in development at Gust.
The gameplay was from the PS4 version and it was presented by Koei Tecmo Europe senior PR executive Nathan Millis.
We get to see familiar characters (sixteen playable announced so far, and five can be in the party at the same time) as they prepare to take on the challenge of the Grand Magic Games.
As an added bonus, the build is already localized in English, even if voices are in Japanese. The game certainly seems to have made a lot of progress since the last time I played it in December last year.
Update: added a new upload of the gameplay without commentary, so you can enjoy the audio of the game without distractions.
This is such a simple idea: something you can probably aspire to if you're looking for a creative outlet. Over on Reddit, user Space_Neko23 posted their recent pastime: taking screenshots in Zelda: Breath of the Wild and painting them.
It sounds silly saying it out loud, but being able to capture the identity of a "real place" you can visit digitally is mesmerizing. Space_Neko23 has posted several of these works due to the positive feedback from the community, all of which are found within the game. This one, for instance, is of the top of Hyrule Ridge.
Given the aesthetics of the game, the sheer breadth of its map and the baked in screenshot feature; there are few titles currently on the market that would fit concept as perfectly Breath of the Wild. I'm kind of tempted to do it myself! I already have plenty of paint from my miniature exploits (Gloomhaven lately, mostly).
I took pictures in BotW and painted them [Reddit]
Summer is fast approaching. Days are getting warmer. The sun seems brighter and I’m wearing more shorts. And Red Bull has released a new Summer-inspired flavor but in two forms. The traditional canned energy drink and an icy slush drink at Sonic. Which is better? Read the headline. And the rest of this post!
Update: Sony has postponed the planned PlayStation 5 event indefinitely. Although it did not cite ongoing Black Lives Matter protests as the reason, it did suggest the delay is to "stand back and allow more important voices to be heard." It follows statements issued by Sony and PlayStation, among those from many other companies, in response to the protests. The original story follows.
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) June 1, 2020
Sony has announced plans to host an event focused on PlayStation 5 on June 4 at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET. The PlayStation 5 presentation will run for just over an hour and will showcase new PS5 games for the system and the first real gameplay from Sony's next-generation console.
Specific details beyond that have not yet been shared, but in speaking with GameSpot sister site CNET, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan reiterated once again that PS5 is still set for a release in 2020.
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick says that Google Stadia overpromised on its technology, and didn't seem to expand the market like it had hoped. In a talk at the Bernstein Annual Strategic Decisions Conference, Zelnick explained why the company had supported the release of streaming, and he doesn't sound positive on the platform so far.
"Streaming technology is upon us," he said. "The launch of Stadia has been slow. I think there was some overpromising on what the technology could deliver and some consumer disappointment as a result."
Most of his comments, though, were focused on the business aspect. Zelnick was critical on that point as well, appearing to suggest that it doesn't have immediate plans for Stadia and stressing that it wasn't the "game-changer" it was made out to be.
Continue Reading at GameSpotThe Frame Music Girl Hatsune Miku model kit can be a fun build, but it isn't easy to pose and feels more flimsy than later releases.
The post Frame Music Girl Hatsune Miku’s Performance Is Pretty Stiff appeared first on Siliconera.
Yostar is continuing to reveal new content coming on the short-term to its popular shipgirl-focused mobile game Azur Lane.
First of all, we learn that we’re getting a rerun of the Moonlit Overture event on the English servers.
This means a new chance for western players to get three Eagle Union heavy cruisers, Astoria, Quincy, and Vincennes.
During the AzurSta livestream from Japan, we also got to see a new retrofit from the Sakura Empire destroyer Hatsushimo.
Today, during the Cloud Matsuri livestream, Bandai Namco provided some news about Gundam Extreme VS. Maxiboost ON.
Producer Akihito Chiba mentioned that an “open access” for the game is coming in mid-june to offer everyone a chance to try the game for free.
Interestingly, he did not use the wording “open beta” so we’ll have to wait and see what will the final form of this “open access” be.
Of course, we’ll keep you posted on further news by Bandai Namco.
In the meanwhile you can enjoy a trailer showing plenty of gameplay below.
Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme VS. Maxiboost ON releases exclusively for PS4 on July 30.
If you want to see more, you can enjoy the announcement trailer, and another providing an overview of the game in English.
Today, during the Cloud Matsuri livestream, Bandai Namco presented a new trailer of the upcoming JRPG Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris.
The trailer showcased plenty of gameplay features that we’ll be able to enjoy in the game including fishing, crafting, and more.
We also see character customization and the sub-episodes that let you get closer to the many familiar characters included in the game.
Incidentally, Producer Yusuke Futami mentioned that the game will feature a different ending to Kirito’s story.
You can enjoy it below.
[Update: It seems as if the rep that spoke to Comicbook.com was misinformed, or Sony had a change of heart. Mercenary servers are back online.]
As we continue our "farewell tour" for the PlayStation Vita, we can add another stop: Killzone: Mercenary's online play.
As confirmed by Comicbook.com through Sony support, the platform holder has shut down Killzone: Mercenary's online servers, seemingly for good, without a warning. For reference, Mercenary was one of the Vita's marquee (and frankly, upper echelon) first-party games from 2013 on, and people were still playing it. Giving a heads-up before shutting down services for big-name games like this is customary, but didn't happen here.
Destructoid has also confirmed the shutdown. Busting out our trusty (I won't joke that it's "dusty" as it has been next to my bed for the past eight years!) OG OLED Vita, we tried to boot up Mercenary's online component to no avail. You can find said confirmation below.
This is the second Vita related diss track in a week!
PlayStation Quietly Shuts Down a Game's Servers With No Warning [Comicbook]
Dtoid sister site, The Escapist, is proud to announce that they’ve partnered with GOG.com to host their very first Indie Showcase event from June 11-14, 2020.
This completely digital event will begin on June 11 with a "direct"-style showcase on YouTube, where they'll be showing off over 70 different indie games from developers all around the world. The showcase will include new reveals and lots of gameplay, and even had developers create short little developer diaries so you could meet the passionate people behind the games you'll be playing.
Image: Rip Off Press via 
Image: Studio Ghibli
