June 2020

Dreamcast classic Jet Set Radio and its Xbox sequel Jet Set Radio Future are beloved for their style and unique gameplay, but to this day there's never been a third game in the series. The original game (initially called Jet Grind Radio in the US) released 20 years ago, and in a retrospective published by USGamer, the team behind the game has reflected on its legacy--and why there hasn't been a follow-up.

Lead designer Kazuki Hosokawa, who still works at Sega, reflects on how the original Jet Set Radio was created by a young team, recalling how "non-photorealistic expressions began to garner more attention" at the time, which his team was able to leverage.

With this in mind, Hosokawa says that a new Jet Set Radio would need to come from a young, new team as well. He says that "more than 10 years ago," the game's producer told the team that they were "too old and experienced" to make a new game in the series, and he agrees. "I've gained enough experience that I can identify what works and how to present things... I can see the path to the end goal, whether I like it or not," he says.

Like many creative endeavors, not everything that was planned for Red Dead Redemption 2 made it into the game. The studio already spoke about how five hours of content was cut, and now the actors who play Dutch and Arthur Morgan have shared more insight on the content that was cut from the game.

Speaking to GameSpot, Arthur Morgan actor Roger Clark said Rockstar decided to cut one mission involving Arthur and Dutch. We don't know the full context of the scene, but Morgan said it involved an action sequence on a train. "There was one that got cut that was kind of fun where we take out some Boston bounty hunters on a train," he said.

Benjamin Byron Davis, who plays Dutch, said of this mission: "We spent a lot of time on that. That was going to be ... oh, I hate that that got cut. It got cut because I guess they couldn't get it up to snuff."

In one of the year's bigger NFL offseason moves, the New England Patriots have signed former Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton to fill the void after Tom Brady left for the Buccaneers.

We've yet to see Newton in a real Patriots jersey, so EA Sports has stepped in to show the athlete in his new jersey in Madden NFL 21. It's shocking to see someone other than Tom Brady leading the Patriots, but change is the only constant, and a new era of football in New England is about to begin.

As it happens, Newton isn't technically confirmed to be the new Patriots QB for this year. He needs to beat out Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer, the Patriots QBs who are currently leading the team during practices. Newton is expected to be the starting QB on opening day--after all, the Patriots are paying him $7.5 million USD for just one year.

Norton's antivirus software has been the standard for quite some time, and now the company has released a special edition of its Norton 360 program specifically for gamers. Norton 360 for Gamers is $50 for a year of protection for a limited time. It offers the same service the company is known for, with some special features optimized specifically for playing games. This includes turning off notifications while playing in full-screen mode, monitoring the web for your gamer tags through its identity theft protection, and much more. The best part is that it's currently discounted, so you can get protection at a good price.

Norton 360 for Gamers gets you protection on up to three devices, which can range from PCs and Macs to iPhones, iPads, and Android devices. It comes with a 60-day money back guarantee, which you can use to get a refund if you're not satisfied with the software's performance.

The PS4 doesn't have its own official Elite-style controller, but that doesn't mean you can't get a great one from a third-party manufacturer. Scuf Gaming makes some of the best PS4 controllers out there, offering a wide range of customization, and now the company has revealed the latest designs for its PS4 pads. 13 new designs are now available for the company's Infinity 4PS Pro and Impact controllers.

The Scuf Infinity 4PS Pro starts at $160, while the Scuf Impact starts at $170. This gets you the controller and its included paddles. However, if you want to remap them with the electromagnetic remapping key, you'll need to spend an extra $10. Triggers with stops or digital switches cost extra as does military-grade or high-performance grip.

Scuf Infinity 4PS Pro

Starts at $160

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot sent a memo to employees detailing how the company plans to rework its "solutions and tools [that] detect, report, and resolve any incident or serious problem" after numerous allegations against Ubisoft workers have come to light.

"I have gathered all of my direct reports to address this subject and your feedback," Guillemot wrote in a memo originally reported on by Business Insider. "I would like us to thoroughly review all of our systems so that these types of situations cannot happen again."

Guillemot didn't specifically mention sexual harassment in the memo despite Ubisoft being at the center of many allegations over the last week. The company suspended vice presidents Tommy François and Maxime Béland after an internal investigation into several claims of misconduct according to a Bloomberg report. The two were responsible for overseeing worldwide development of the studio's games.

World of Warcraft Classic is bringing back another old-school event next month. The Gates of Ahn’Qiraj will unlock on July 28 when the weekly raid reset occurs, opening a new quest chain.

The date comes from a community mangaer on the Blizzard forums. The note said that version 1.13.5 will go live in July, which will unlock a quest to craft the Scepter of Shifting Sands. Players will also be able to contribute resources to the Ahn'Qiraj war, and once both activities have been completed on a realm, it will open the gates.

The original event took place in 2006, and opened raids in the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj and the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj. It also consisted of elite quest chains and a lengthy war sequence. The gates were permanently opened in a subsequent update in 2009, but then the quests were closed in the Cataclysm expansion.

Atlus and Sega have released Persona 4 Golden on PC, which means that the floodgates have finally opened and modders can customize the game to their hearts’ content. To start, a modder is currently working on giving Yosuke Hanamura a romance storyline in his social link.

For the uninitiated, when Persona 4 Golden originally released, dataminers discovered unused voice lines for Yosuke which hinted towards a possible romantic subplot between him and the main character. Unfortunately those lines never made it into the main game itself, but with the new PC mod, things could change.

The mod doesn’t make use any of those dug out lines but it looks like the modder’s planning on adding them in later on down the line.

Considering the popularity of Persona 5 and its upgrade Persona 5 Royal, it’s not surprising that figure manufacturers have taken notice.

Today it’s the turn of a brand new figure portraying new heroine Kasumi Yoshizawa in her phantom thief costume. It’s coming from Kotobukiya’s brand ARTFX J.

She’s available for pre-orders at several Japanese retailers including Ami Ami, where you can find her for 14,590 yen, which translates approximately into $135.

The release window is November 2020, and she’ll be accompanied by a reprint of the figure portraying Joker in December 2020.

Sculpted by Hirotoshi Nakamura and Yoshihiro Nishimaru, she comes in 1/8 scale for 215 mm in height thanks to a rather elaborate base.

Below you can read an official description and take a look at a few images.

From Persona 5 Royal, the new character Kasumi Yoshizawa makes her way to Kotobukiya’s ARTFX J series in her Phantom Thief costume!

Her body proportions as can be seen under her phantom thief costume is perfectly replicated as she is displayed in a dynamic pose. This sculpt showcases a lovely finish that can be enjoyed from any angle.

The brilliant roses of the base, Kasumi’s ribbon floating around her, her dignified yet adorable expression, and her long sword and mask are recreated with exact precision making this figure a must-have for Persona 5 fans worldwide.

Display this figure with ARTFX J Hero Phantom Thief ver. (reproduction) and enjoy the gallant form of these two characters dashing past each other recreating the world of Persona 5.

Today Bandai Namco reached out with a press release to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Ace Combat series and provide news about Ace Combat 7: Skies Uknown.

The original Ace Combat was released on June 30, 1995, exactly 25 years ago.

We learn that Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown has passed two million shipments worldwide (including digital sales) on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

This brings cumulative shipments for the series to 16 million worldwide.

On top of that, to celebrate the anniversary, two T-shirts will be released for 3,960 yen (translating approximately into $37). You can check out what they look like in the gallery below alongside commemorative art for both the anniversary and the shipment milestones.

The shirts will be sold online starting tomorrow, July 1st, on Alpha Industries’ online store, or at the brand’s shops in Shibuya (Tokyo), Nagoya, and Osaka.

The press release also includes a message by producer Kazutoki Kono, who wishes he could have done more to celebrate the anniversary with the fans. Unfortunately, almost everything that has been in the planning since last year has been postponed or canceled. At least, the team managed to launch its new YouTube channel that enabled some celebration with the fans.

That being said, Kono-san swears that even if late, the celebration will come, and the team will do its best to make it even better. First and foremost, having passed the 25th-anniversary milestone, they will give their all toward the next anniversary and for the further development of the Ace Combat series.

The hints are piling up.

The post Did Capcom Just Hint at a New Monster Hunter for Nintendo Switch? appeared first on Siliconera.

The best Minecraft seeds for 1.16.1

create fantastic worlds that capture your imagination from the first moment you set foot in them. And if you’re looking for a good seed to help kickstart your latest Minecraft adventure, you’ve come to the right place. Below you’ll find no fewer than 30 of the most amazing Minecraft seeds for 1.16.1 and 1.15.2. Whether you’re after Villages, Bamboo Jungles, Islands or whatever else, we’ve got the perfect seed for you!

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Earlier this year, Kotaku introduced a USB-connected fan to help chill things down during Japan’s notoriously hot summers. Now, here’s a USD peripheral is not one, but two fans. How cool is that?

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Infinity Ward has released a sweeping weapon balance update as part of today's big Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone patch - and the Grau has finally been nerfed.

The Grau was the undisputed most-popular weapon in Warzone, and with good reason. This devastating, meta-dominating assault rifle is easy to handle, easy to control, and powerful at a variety of distances. It had come to dominate battle royale - to the point where most players would call it in - or at least try to call it in - via a loadout drop.

But Infinity Ward - as promised - has taken a look at the Grau and significantly nerfed it. Not only has its damage range been reduced, but it's had a slight increase to high frequency recoil, and reduced recoil compensation and decreased range on the popular Tempus 26.4" Archangel and FSS 20.8" Nexus barrel attachments.

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If there's one thing we can all agree on, it's that every game is improved by kicking off with its own theme song, and Mr. Driller Drill Land's got one of the best - sugary, stirring and with just the right touch of sentimentality, it lets you know full well you're about to have a very good time indeed. And boy does the resulting game deliver on that.

Coming at the end of an outrageously prolific period for Namco's Project Driller team, Mr. Driller Drill Land was the fourth game in as many years for the Mr. Driller series. Four short years in which a team clearly enamoured with its own creation had poured their hearts into this colourful offspring of Namco classics Baraduke and Dig Dug, with Drill Land acting like a consolidation of all that had gone before in the Driller series. A small shame, then, that it never made its way out of Japan upon its first release on Nintendo's GameCube in 2002.

A minor miracle, then, that Bandai Namco has revived Mr. Driller Drill Land for a sumptuous remaster for Switch, and given it a global release too. It's a gorgeous thing - the vector artwork has scaled up beautifully for the Switch, and on a portable screen this thing just pops. That snack-sized gameplay sits just perfectly on Nintendo's Switch, too, with short sessions backed up by an in-game economy that sees you investing in items and objects in Drill Land's theme park to help you progress. If you've never played a Mr. Driller game before there's probably no better place to start than this compendium of all that's great and good about the series.

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It's a big day for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and the battle royale game Warzone, as Infinity Ward has released the Season 4 Reloaded update. The patch is out now on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

It's another gigantic update weighing in at 22-36 GB depending on your platform for those who own the full version of Modern Warfare. Console players must download this patch, in addition to a second update of around 3.5 GB. Free-to-play Warzone players will see a 22-30 GB update.

While you wait for the download to complete, you can check out the full Season 4 Reloaded patch notes. The big-ticket item is a new limited-time Warzone mode that supports up to 200 players. The update also introduces a new Juggernaut Royale mode, and a series of weapon balance changes.

The stylish music-action game No Straight Roads was originally intended to release on June 30, but had to be delayed due to complications arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, Malaysian studio Metronomics has announced that the game will be released on August 25 on PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PC via the Epic Games Store.

Headed by Wan Hazmer, lead game designer on Final Fantasy XV, and Street Fighter V concept artist Daim Dziauddin, No Straight Roads is an action-adventure game in a world where EDM is being used to control the masses, inspiring the protagonists to spearhead a rock revolution.

The rhythm-inspired gameplay includes a bunch of epic boss battle 'concerts,' in between exploring the world of Vinyl City. The player characters can be upgraded by progressing through the world and building a fan base to gain more power.

The June 25 announcement that Microsoft's game streaming platform Mixer would be shuttered came as a surprise to most, though company insiders have revealed that Mixer has struggled for some time both with internal culture and service issues. A new report by Business Insider features interviews with former Mixer employees, including the company's co-founder Matt Salsamendi, to find out what happened.

Mixer began its life in 2016 as a small start-up called Beam, created by Matt Salsamendi and James Boehm, which was soon. As a competitor to the already-established Twitch, the new service focused on low-latency streaming, allowing better interaction between streamer and audience. While the concepts behind Mixer had promise, it always struggled to compete with Twitch's overwhelming market share.

One of the biggest problems pegged by insiders that led to Mixer's demand was one the platform is publicly infamous for--spending alleged tens of millions of dollars to attract Twitch's top talent. One former employee said that in 2017 the company hosted a lecture called "Why not just hire PewDiePie?" which argued the value of boosting smaller streamers on Mixer rather than trying to poach big names from other platforms.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has released its 8.0 patch, bringing Arms character Min Min to the game alongside several new features and Mii Fighter costumes. Alongside these big changes, though, there's also been a raft of changes to the characters you know and love.

There are numerous buffs and nerfs being introduced in Update 8.0, introducing changes to many of the game's characters. Some characters have gotten reworked harder than others--Captain Falcon has seen changes to five of his attacks, for instance, while other characters like Mario and Sonic have just seen their Final Smash attacks tweaked.

Don't expect any major reworks here, but it's possible that your main has changed a bit, and that some of their attacks will be more or less powerful than before.

Naughty Dog just released The Last of Us Part II on PlayStation 4, and it could be the developer's final game for the console. The team will presumably shift to the PlayStation 5 for its next game, whether that be The Last of Us Part II, a new IP, or something else entirely. Naughty Dog VP Neil Druckmann has now spoken about the PS5 and what it will allow the developer to achieve.

In an appearance on former Nintendo boss Reggie Fils-Aime's new podcast, Druckmann said the PS5's new SSD will help cut down on load times, which will in turn open new doors for Naughty Dog's developers.

Druckmann pointed out that Naughty Dog already works hard to minimize loading zones in its games, but this is only possible due to technical wizardry happening behind the scenes that the player never sees. With the PS5, developers won't need to be as crafty, Druckmann teased.

Seven years after the release of the original, The Last of Us Part II is finally out now on PlayStation 4. Even before release, writer-director Neil Druckmann acknowledged that some fans of the first game would dislike the sequel, and now that the game is out, he's responded to more of the internet hate.

Speaking on former Nintendo boss Reggie Fils-Aime's podcast, Druckmann said it's worthless to fight against people when they share their opinions about a game--whether it be good or bad. However, Druckmann said he can't understand how people get so worked up and upset about fictional characters.

"I think you have to create some separation to say, we made this game, we believe in this game, we're proud of this game, now it's out there and it's like whatever reaction people have--whether they like it or not--that's fair," Druckmann said. "That's their reaction and you don't fight that. The other thing with the more hateful stuff, the more vile stuff, that's a little harder. It's especially harder when I see it happening to team members or cast members who play a particular character in the game."

First impressions of Cyberpunk 2077 have started rolling in after a number of journalists spent time with a demo of the upcoming CD Projekt game. However only IGN's preview seems to have unearthed a very important feature of the game: that you can, in fact, pet the cat.

The preview unfortunately didn't go into too much detail on whether there is just a single, pettable cat to be found, or whether multiple are dispersed throughout the game, but it's still a big improvement on The Witcher 3's disappointingly Witcher-averse cats. Whether dogs are present or pettable in Cyberpunk 2077 still has yet to be seen.

While "can you pet the dog?" has long been an important question in video game criticism, inspired by the Twitter account of the same name, cats are only just starting to get the same kind of recognition in virtual petting.

More details about Crysis Remastered have leaked ahead of a bigger reveal on July 1.

A listing on Xbox Live reveals the game's supposed release date, July 23, while the page also contains the game's first screenshots and its debut trailer. The trailer is available below, as spotted by Wario64 on Twitter. You can see the first three screenshots further down the page.

The description for Crysis Remastered states that the game will have "remastered graphics optimized for a new generation of hardware." It will be about 7 GB, according to the listing. The leaked trailer shows that Crysis Remastered was co-developed by Saber Interactive and original creator Crytek.

[Update: Ask for leaks and you shall receive delays. Or something like that.

Just this morning Crytek has announced that Crysis Remastered has been delayed. We didn't even get the reveal yet officially, but the below information makes it clear that it was originally set for a July 23 release. Now, the trailer premiere is even getting a delay as the team needs a few weeks for "polish." Crytek surprisingly openly admits that the backlash for the underwhelming trailer was a reason for the delay, noting that it needs extra time to get the game up to the "PC-console-breaking standard" the series is known for. Good luck!]

It's been a great summer for people trawling Xbox.com, as they've uncovered a veritable treasure trove of "E3" leaks thus far.

As one of a string of leaks, Crysis Remastered info has been revealed ahead of the Wednesday morning official stream. Plain as day, you can head to the Xbox listing for Crysis Remastered now, which showcases several details about the new re-release.

After a short delay as a result of COVID-19 stay-at-home conditions, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne’s latest free title update finally has a new release date. A teaser trailer shared by Capcom earlier today reveals the content is set for a July 9 launch across all platforms.

Players can look forward to a sixth developer diary later this week, too, which will showcase a deeper dive into what’s on offer.

Capcom included the following reminder and thank you message with today’s news:

Another important update for all diligent hunters out there: Event Quests in Iceborne will be returning to their normal rotation, starting on July 8. So take on those quests whilst there currently still active!

The Event Quest schedule on our website will also be updated soon, on July 3, so you can check it out on monsterhunter.com/world-iceborne, and in game by visiting the Notice Board in the Gathering Hub and plan your hunting accordingly.

We’d like to thank you once again for your continued support and patience whilst we’ve navigated the obstacles created by coronavirus (COVID-19). From all the development team at Capcom – happy hunting and stay safe!

Expect to see the Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Free Title Update 4 this July.

The post Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Free Title Update 4 Is Scheduled To Release July 9, 2020 appeared first on Siliconera.

Following a customary Covid-19 delay, Capcom have announced that Monster Hunter World: Iceborne’s next big content update will launch on July 9th. Title Update 4 will let us hunt Alatreon, the elder dragon introduced back in Monster Hunter 3. Yes, of course, you’ll get to turn this dragon into shoes and swords. Come meet the frightful beast in the trailer below.

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Microsoft has joined a growing list of companies which have "paused" advertising on Facebook.

That's according to a Bloomberg report, which cites an announcement made internally by Microsoft marketing exec Chris Capossela.

In the past week, numerous big brands such as Coca-Cola, Honda, Unilever, Ford and Starbucks have all publicly stated they will - temporarily, at least - no longer spend their advertising money on the social network.

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After three years and 13 battle royale seasons, Fortnite is finally losing its Early Access label across all modes.

It comes as Epic Games signals a winding down of the game's original Save the World portion, which will soon shift to a recurring annual schedule offering "long term replayability".

"Development of new content will slow down after this official release," Epic said, while Save the World's main story is now "complete" - dousing fan hopes of any further major expansions.

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Epic Games says it’s slowing down development of Fortnite’s original mode

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“We are continuing to aim to improve our products”

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A historical romance from a unique time and place

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Pokémon Go maker and Punchdrunk

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Remember Samurai Jack? Well, Genndy Tartakovsky's stylish cartoon hero is coming back, this time in an all-new adventure called Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time. In this episode of NGT, Matt Miller shares his thoughts on the title with me and Leo based on his recent hands-on demo.

Even if you aren't familiar with the show, which was a Cartoon Network staple back in the early 2000s, the combo-heavy gameplay is pretty self-explanatory. Just know that there's probably a canonical reason why he keeps losing the top part of his outfit, and that he's really good at using a sword, bow, and a host of other weapons.

Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time is coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC this year.