June 2020

Following yesterday’s announcement of its MMORPG Noah’s Heart, Archosaurus Games released the first trailer in English.

The game is an open-world fantasy MMORPG for mobile platforms set on an actual spherical planet (the titular Noah) with 64 million square meters of land to explore. 

That’s a quite interesting concept for a MMORPG, even if we’ll have to see how it’ll work on mobile.

For now, the game looks quite fetching, as you can see in the trailer below.

Here’s how Archosaurus Games describes Noah’s Heart, which is coming in 2021 for iOS and Android.

“In Noah’s Heart, humans living in a post-civilization era enter a virtual world called “Noah”, which was constructed by a mysterious entity known as the Cube. This jumping-off point gives humans the opportunity to explore a potential future path within a world that combines romantic fantasy, steampunk style, and more to learn of the Cube’s secrets and discover the future of mankind.

Nintendo shared clip looking at Pokemon eating apples in New Pokemon Snap, showing how the returning Pokemon Snap Pokemon Food item could work.

The post New Pokemon Snap Apples Clip Focuses on Pokemon Snacking appeared first on Siliconera.

No Straight Roads digital copies will appear on August 25, 2020, with PS4 and Xbox One physical copies arriving that same day.

The post No Straight Roads Digital and Physical Copies Will Appear in August 2020 appeared first on Siliconera.

A big-budget Harry Potter game is reportedly in the works for PS5 and Xbox Series X with open-world magic action in late 2021.

The post Harry Potter AAA Game Reportedly in the Works for PS5 and Xbox Series X appeared first on Siliconera.

Serena and Fennekin are scheduled to be the next addition to the roster of Pokemon Masters

The post Serena and Fennekin Will Be Added To Pokemon Masters Alongside Serena’s Dessert Party Event appeared first on Siliconera.

A GameStop email said there will be 100+ Crash Bandicoot 4 levels and the Microsoft Store page has an "offers in-app purchases" note.

The post 100+ Crash Bandicoot 4 Levels and In-app Purchases Seem to Be Confirmed appeared first on Siliconera.

Death Stranding

is launching on PC in a couple weeks so of course Hideo Kojma is all over Twitter talking about planning Kojima Productions’ next game. Not-so-subtly placed references to Death Stranding could hint at a sequel. Or they could mean nothing. You know how it goes with creators being vague on social media.

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Following the launch of the Command & Conquer Remastered Collection earlier this month, EA have now slammed its soundtracks onto streaming services for your sonic satisfaction. Along with its remastered versions of the C&C and Red Alert soundtracks, they’ve put up an album of hard-rockin’ new recordings from C&C composer Frank Klepacki and his band, The Tiberian Sons. Put a pep in your step on those morning runs with Hell March, why don’t you.

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VR has been going from strength to strength in recent months, and with many of us continuing to be stuck at home, we’ve put together this list of our best VR headset recommendations to help you decide which VR headset is right for you. With the recent launch of Half-Life: Alyx and more heading up our [cms-block], there’s never been a better time to jump into the world of VR, so we’ve tested all the major headsets from Oculus, HTC and Valve to find out which is the best VR headset for PC.

Admittedly, the demand for the best VR headsets has been at an all-time high since Half-Life: Alyx came out, and many of them have either been out of stock or suffered from inflated prices. The Oculus Rift S and Oculus Quest have been particularly tricky to get hold of, but when it comes to buying the best VR headset, it really does pay to wait until the right one’s available. After all, VR headsets are a big purchase, so you don’t want to lumber yourself with the wrong one just because your top choice isn’t available.

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Good news, [cms-block] hunters. Prices are dropping on Nvidia’s RTX cards, with big discounts today on the RTX 2060, RTX 2060 Super, RTX 2070 and the RTX 2080 Super on both sides of the Atlantic. It’s almost as if retailers are trying to clear the decks a bit before the as yet undated launch of this year’s next-gen [cms-block] cards… Sure, graphics card prices may not be quite back down to pre-pandemic levels just yet, but it certainly makes building a ray tracing capable PC that little bit more affordable.

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Ori and the Will of the Wisps and the original Ori are fantastic games to play in rapid succession.

While that's entirely possible on the PC and Xbox One platforms, you'll have to adjust a bit if you played the first game on Switch: currently, the sequel is not available on Nintendo's platform. While that could change, developer Moon Studios has nothing to confirm at this time: in fact, they think it'll be downright difficult to get it up and running on Switch.

Speaking to fans via a Reddit AMA, Gennadiy Korol, co-founder of the studio and current lead engineer, noted that they still "love the Switch" (a go-to answer for studios these days), but "don't have anything to share" on a Switch port of the sequel. Korol possible portended how long a theoretical Switch Edition would take though, further explaining that it would be an "extremely difficult port" to run at 60FPS.

Never say never. Plus, if Nintendo ever does announce that long gestating "Switch Pro" project (my money is on next E3 after the PS5 and Series X have been around a bit), it should be a lot easier to manage (unless this is all just a ruse to back up Microsoft's prior statements of cooling off on Switch ports).

Moon Studios AMA [Reddit]

Recently, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night's development team released a "2020 roadmap" that gave us some semblance of what's to come down the road.

First up is a boss revenge mode and a chroma wheel, followed by chaos mode, versus mode, a "special crossover" and classic mode in the third quarter, with another crossover and the third playable character in quarter four. The former duo of DLC was due up recently: June 23, in fact, but that day came and went without a peep of the content.

Thanks to a tweet from the game's official account, we now know what's happening. Like pretty much every facet of this project it's been delayed due to a "last minute chroma wheel display issue." Now it's going to come sometime this week with details arriving soon. Confusingly, a tweet on June 27 noted that the DLC was coming on "June 25-26," which seems to imply an actual new "July 25-26" date. We've reached out for full clarification on the matter.

Presumably, the Switch update will still be coming later than the rest, as more polish is needed.

Bloodstained [Twitter]

The PlayStation Plus service turns 10 years old next month. That's 10 years of great (and occasionally not-so-great) titles for those signed up to the service. I can't deny it's done my library the world of good, even if the chance of me getting round even half of the games themselves is a bit optimistic.

July will see three more games added to the ever-mounting backlog. First up is 2K Games' notoriously lootbox-heavy basketball sim NBA 2K20, which first launched in September 2019. Featuring Career, GM, League and multiplayer modes, NBA 2K20 hopes to keep court fans happy while they wait for the real-world NBA to make its grand return on July 30.

Kitfox Games' Victoria Tran will be at GDC Summer to present a talk which will equip you with practical, specific community design strategies that encourage kindness among members. ...

Rockstar never meant to support GTA Online for nearly a decade and counting. That was never the plan. Yet GTA Online continues to be updated, and oddly, now in 2020, it’s bigger than ever.

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The United States Supreme Court reversed a restrictive Louisiana abortion law Monday that would force all but one abortion provider in the state to close its doors, and which would impact reproductive laws across the nation.

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With The Last of Us Part II out, Sony's focus is now shifting towards Ghost of Tsushima. The Sucker Punch-developed open-world game is out on July 17, and a new trailer reminds you of the imminent threat you'll have to face.

The pre-rendered trailer helps set the tone for protagonist Jin and his journey, showing you the island of Tsushima before war washed up on its shores. The contrast between the colorful and serene scenes with those of smoke-covered horizons and the sparks of clashing swords is effective at showing just how engrossing this setting can be. Check it out below.

If you're looking for a better representation of what it'll be like to play Ghost of Tsushima, Sony recently revealed a lot of footage from the game during its latest State of Play stream. It includes a look at how you'll get around the world, the differences between its melee and stealth combat, and a variety of filters that can help you make the game resemble some of your favorite classic samurai films.

Pokemon Sword and Shield players can grab another free Pokemon for a limited time. Because more than one million trainers defeated the Mythical Pokemon Zeraora in Max Raids this month, all players will be able to receive a free Shiny Zeraora starting today, June 29, at 5 PM PT / 8 PM ET. Here's how to claim it.

Once the distribution period begins, the free Mythical Pokemon will be given away via the mobile version of Pokemon Home. Everyone who has transferred a Pokemon from Sword or Shield into Home, or vice versa, between June 17 and July 6 will be able to claim it, even if you haven't participated in a Zeraora Raid.

Once you've met that requirement, follow these steps to receive your Shiny Zeraora:

Update: Not long after word of the game first surfaced, Ubisoft's teaser site has gone live, confirming the Hyper Scape name. The website itself doesn't offer a lot of information about the game, instead focusing on some of the lore surrounding it, and in particular, a company names Prisma Dimensions. More importantly, it points to a specific date--Hyper Scape will apparently be revealed on July 2, or we'll at least be learning more about it then. Some additional art has also surfaced online, as seen in the tweet below.

Original story: The biggest publishers in gaming have each taken their shot with successful triple-A battle royale games like Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone, and it looks like Ubisoft is about to try its hand at it. According to esports reporter Rod Breslau, the publisher will tease a new game called Hyper Scape this week, which is a battle royale game set in a virtual world.

Today, June 29 marks the 20th anniversary of Diablo 2, the dungeon-crawling game that's still seen by many to be a genre-defining experience. Blizzard is marking the anniversary with some retrospectives, special merch, and a free in-game item in Diablo 3.

In a post on the Blizzard blog, the company outlines some of the ways you can celebrate the classic loot-hunting game today. Those include an animated short (below), a detailed retrospective, and a speedrun from MrLlamaSC. The company also unveiled a new Lord of Terror bust, which goes for $140.

But if you just want to celebrate one classic dungeon crawler by playing another, you can log in to Diablo 3 anytime after June 29 to claim a pair of Prime Evil Wings. "Baal--as we saw in him in Diablo 2--did not have wings, but try to imagine what they would’ve looked like if he did, and if you could've fastened them to your hero's shoulders," says Blizzard.

A rumored Harry Potter game is said to be planned for a formal reveal sometime after August this year, even as the developers look to distance themselves from the property's controversial creator.

Bloomberg reports that the project is in development at Avalanche Software, known for its work on Disney Infinity before becoming acquired by WB. The game is planned for release in 2021 on multiple platforms, including PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. You can play as a wizard and roam around the grounds of an open-world Hogwarts and other iconic locales from the popular series.

Sources within the studio also said that some developers were made uncomfortable by the game's association to JK Rowling, given recent comments criticized as transphobic. Those caught enough attention to prompt a response from actor Daniel Radcliffe and Universal Parks, but the studio management reportedly hasn't addressed them widely with team members. Rowling herself is said to have very little direct involvement with the game.

In early May, Microsoft laid out its plans for Xbox 20/20, a series of "monthly moments" to reveal details of its next-gen consoles, services and games. May's 20/20 moment was the episode of Inside Xbox which focused on third-party games. July, meanwhile, was pegged as when we'll see next-gen games from Microsoft's own studios.

May's event had its critics - with Microsoft admitting it had "set some wrong expectations". But what about June? A day away from the end of the month and with no further mention of Xbox 20/20, it should perhaps come as no surprise to hear Microsoft does not have a big reveal still tucked up its sleeve for tomorrow.

All Microsoft said publicly on its Xbox 20/20 plans for this month was a vague comment from Xbox marketing exec Aaron Greenberg that the "June news will be done differently than [an] Inside Xbox show".

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The Nintendo Switch has an incredibly strong library of games, with many worth recommending. For our 10 absolute favorite games, however, you can check out the list below. We will update this list as often as games worthy of inclusion release.

Please note that while the list below contains 10 entries, we aren’t actually ranking them – if a game has made it this far (and managed to stay here), it’s a must-play, period. As such, we’ll be listing entries in reverse chronological order. Also, you’ll find a rundown of previous entries at the bottom of the list. While those titles have gotten bumped for bigger and better experiences, they are still all great games in their own right and worth exploring if you’re already caught up on the latest hits.

Here are Game Informer’s picks for the top 10 games on the Switch.

For a limited-time, players in Call of Duty: Warzone can really up the stakes, with more players than ever before. Starting today during Season 4, players can suit up with up to 199 other players in Call of Duty's battle royale experience.

The 200-player soiree is limited to quads, so this means up to 50 teams battling it out for supremacy in a single match. That's a lot of action! While the mode probably won't stick around forever, it's definitely a good chance to find three friends and get ready to bust your way out of the gulag.

Following a leak that Ubisoft is working on a new Battle Royale called Hyper Scape, the company officially teased the project with a fake website for a company called Prisma Dimensions. 

Prisma Dimensions' website features a letter from the company's CEO boasting about its work on "neural stimulation," which ends by teasing that people will soon be able to explore the neon-drenched streets of a virtual city called Neo Arcadia using an advanced Hyper Scape technology. We certainly don't know what to make of this at this point, but it sounds like we'll be getting more details on July 2. 

The biggest battle royale is getting even bigger

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He’s gonna have to start rationing his batarangs next

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CD Projekt RED is certainly making a considerable effort to immerse fans in the world of Cyberpunk 2077, and it just revealed a new song.

The song is titled “The Ballad of Buck Ravers” by Johnny Silverhand’s own band Samurai.

In reality, it’s performed by Swedish punk rock band Refused, and you can listen to it at the bottom of the post.

Below you can read the full credits for the song, and I mean the real ones.

• Music by David Sandström, Kristofer Steen, P.T. Adamczyk
• Lyrics by David Sandström, Dennis Lyxzén
• Mixed by Martin “Konie” Ehrencrona
• Mastered by Magnus Lindberg
• Executive Producer : P.T. Adamczyk

If you want to hear more, you can also listen to a previously-revealed song titled “Chippin’ in”.

Japanese companies can be quite imaginative and wacky in creating promotional campaigns, and apparently Bandai Namco isn’t an exception, as they proved with a new stunt for the upcoming JRPG Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris.

With the trailer you can see below, they encourage fans to join the “SNS Underworld” social media platform (SNS is the acronym used in Japan to indicate “Social Networking Service” and “Underworld” is the name of the virtual world in which the anime and game are set), promising a revolutionary service in which your posts will receive exclusively positive comments, countering the negativity of traditional social networks. 

If you dare to ignore what Sword Art Online has been teaching us for years, you can join here. All you need to do is to link your Twitter account, but do keep in mind that Twinfinite will take no responsibility for what happens to it, or you.

While you decide whether to risk life and limb for science or not, you can watch the weirdly positive trailer below.

I actually joined to test it out, and made a test post, below you can see the answers I got (Google translated. I think that’s enough to give you a good idea of what to expect).

Upcoming action-adventure game Ary and the Secret of the Seasons has a new trailer today that gives us a detailed look at its gameplay. Supporting developer commentary from eXiin studio also offers an overview of what players can expect from the game before it launches later this summer.

For those not up to speed, Ary and the Secret of the Seasons follows the titular protagonist as she begins her unexpected duty serving as Guardian of Winter. Equipped with the power to change the seasons, she embarks on a quest to find her brother Flynn and become a Winter Guardian.

As you’ll see, there are some distinctly Zelda vibes to proceedings, with a cel-shaded art-style, puzzle-platforming gameplay, and similar combat system.

Ary’s big trump card is that she’s able to manipulate areas of the map by changing the season. For example, she can, say, transform a summary field into an icey tundra to create wedges of ice to platform across to a new previously unreachable area.

From the looks of today’s new trailers, it appears as though players will be able to get pretty creative using Ary’s bag of magical tricks to traverse.

Shortly following a tease, Infinity Ward and Activision have announced that 200 player Warzone lobbies will be coming as part of Modern Warfare’s Season 4 Reloaded update.

It had been rumoured for a while, but a tweet from the official Call of Duty account saying, “we’re gonna need a bigger plane” with a 200 spelt out in parachutes gif attached was the closest we had seen to confirmation.

Rather than increasing the number of players in each squad, it will feature 50 quads dropping into Verdansk. As of yet, 150 is still the largest number of players you can have in a single Warzone lobby, but players have been clamouring for something new to test themselves and their squad in.

It’s worth noting though that 200 player lobbies will be a limited time mode so won’t be around for ever, much like Plunder has been.

Shortly following that tweet, Infinity Ward revealed Season 4 Reloaded, which will see the following Warzone and Modern Warfare changes:

Destroy the Red Drones

Before you jump into Ninjala, you should know that these big, red, floating drones are more important than they seem. Breaking these bad boys open will grant you extra S-Energy, which is that yellow bar on the bottom-left corner of the screen.

The higher this gauge is, the more actions you can perform. Dodging with the L button takes up S-Energy, dashing in the air takes up energy, and the bigger the gauge is, the bigger your gum can get.

Oh, and more thing, there’s also bonus points granted to the player who breaks the most drones in a match, so make sure not to miss out on hitting these when you can. It can make or break a close match.

Mr. Driller DrillLand deserves a larger audience, and it may get it with its Switch remaster. It also provides a template for other beloved GameCube titles.

The post Mr. Driller DrillLand Got the Treatment F-Zero GX Deserves appeared first on Siliconera.

June ends with ports of games onto other systems, including Blaster Master Zero and Zero 2 on the PS4, and Catherine: Full Body on the Switch.

The post This Week In Imports: Blaster Master Zero PS4 Ports Appear appeared first on Siliconera.

Digimon Adventure Digivice pre-orders have opened. The $98 toy will arrive in February 2021 and include new Battle and Quest systems.

The post Digimon Adventure Digivice Will Arrive at Premium Bandai in February 2021 appeared first on Siliconera.