June 2020

Idiotic Curt Schilling shenanigans aside, the development team of Kingdoms of Amalur should be proud of what they accomplished back in 2012.

I remember tearing through Amalur and thinking, in many respects, "this is what Fable should have been;" but 38 Studios entered the perpetual legal arena and the series was completely destroyed. That is, until THQ Nordic and its islands of money purchased it. Now it seems like New-THQ is putting its money where its mouth is, and will resurrect the franchise in remaster form later this year.

Based on a listing plain as day on the Microsoft Store, Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning is coming on August 18, developed by Kaiko and published by the aforementioned publishing titan. Here's the info we have on this remaster thus far (as well as confirmation that it is a remaster): "The hit RPG returns! From the minds of the bestselling author R.A. Salvatore, Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion lead designer Ken Rolston, comes Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning. Remastered with stunning visuals and refined gameplay Re-Reckoning delivers intense, customizable RPG combat inside a sprawling game world." Only Xbox One is confirmed right now, but THQ Nordic's history indicates that every platform, including Switch, is fair game.

When this one comes out I'm going to be pushing it to a few RPG fans I know, as this series deserves a second chance. It's not Earth-shattering or anything, but what it does, it does well.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning [Microsoft Store]

Total War Saga: Troy

is out on August 13th and will be free at launch, and having played a demo battle which pitted Achilles’ Acheans against Hector’s Trojans, I’m intrigued to play more. I’ve chosen the word “intrigued” deliberately, here. Because while the tactical depth of what I played was impressive, and rooted itself emphatically in its semi-mythical setting, its multi-skilled infantry and attention-demanding heroes required a lot of micromanagement, and punished any forgetfulness on my part with a rapid spiral towards defeat. There was a lot to enjoy, in short, but I had to work for it.

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Oh, Valorant. If you read my Valorant review, you’ll know that the main emotion I associate with it is anguish. Playing in a group is grand, but playing by yourself is miserable, because of the internet. I think that feeling is crystallised in this video, where a bug fuses two players together and they get cross rather than becoming debilitated by laughter.

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Over the last couple of weeks, a few devs have been going public with various intriguing detailed Steam wishlist conversion stats. How do you lineup? ...

BioShock: The Collection returns! There's a Switch port on sale now (we'll have coverage on this soon) but meanwhile, the existing console releases have been updated to natively support PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X, with the promise of support for both consoles' 4K output modes. There are some improvements, resolution is boosted, but bearing in mind the vintage of the original games, we did expect to see a better turn-out.

Let's get the basics out of the way. With BioShock: The Collection, we're effectively looking at three separate games running on two different engines. BioShock and its sequel operate on a customised rendition of Unreal Engine 2.5, while Infinite leverages an enhanced UE3. This results in implementations for the enhanced consoles that directly relate to the engine used. So, for BioShock and BioShock 2, PlayStation 4 Pro renders at 1440p, while Xbox One X targets full 2160p - 4K. Curiously, with BioShock Infinite, 1440p is the standard for both machines. There's a further wrinkle though for PS4 Pro owners: if your front-end is set to 1080p and super-sampling is disabled, all titles run at 1080p instead of 1440p.

Looking at the first two titles to begin with, even with its lower resolution, PS4 Pro at 1440p definitely enhances the game's visual presentation by helping to bring out texture detail and reducing edge jaggies - it's just that the Xbox One X does this in a much better fashion when you look at them back to back. However, pure pixel count is only one part of the equation: The first two games have very simplistic anti-aliasing implementations in place, so specular shimmer in motion is an issue, even on Xbox One X.

The Bronze Age, it turns out, is not an easy period to turn into a historically accurate, highly detailed video game like Total War. But it does sound fascinating. There are huge gaps in important places, unusual changes to how armies are proportioned, and the small matter of Homer's Iliad sprinkling myth and magic over everything.

Playing it, I think there's room for a little more of the mythical stuff - but talking to Total War Saga: Troy's game director Maya Georgieva and senior game designer Milcho Vasilev, I'm also confident there's a good deal more to come.

"We wanted to take a direction that has not been taken by any Total War before," Georgieva told me, "this period of history, which is ancient history, the Bronze Age... I mean no Total War has gone there before us, and there's a good reason for that! It's not been missed by accident, it's really tough for a Total War game to go into this era because the sources that we need to make an on-par experience with the titles that you love are missing, or are scarce in that period.

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Slay the Spire, probably the best game in the world ever, is finally coming to iOS and Android devices. It's due this month on iOS and on Android at some point in the future.

A specific date will be shared in the E3-style Guerrilla Collective event taking place this weekend, it sounds like.

Slay the Spire developer MegaCrit announced the news in a Steam update. It said the iOS version will be the full PC game. Screenshots of the iOS version seemed to confirm the newer fourth character, the Watcher, will be included (it's pictured as a fourth, unlockable character).

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Update: THQ has confirmed the not-so-subtle rumors, adding that the game will also include all of the released DLC.

The rumours are true! Prepare for a Re-Reckoning, because Kingdoms of Amalur is coming back.

Remastered with stunning visuals and refined gameplay, it's soon time to experience an epic RPG journey and all its DLCs like never before.#KingdomsOfAmalur #ReReckoning pic.twitter.com/MlpSCTrjPe

— Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning (@ReckoningGame) June 4, 2020

[Source: THQ Nordic]

Original Story:

Listings for Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning have been discovered on the official Microsoft store (and is still up as of the time of this writing) and Amazon, unofficially revealing a remastered edition for 38 Studios' cult title.

Flexibility has always been one of the important tenets of the Project Cars franchise. At first, it was nice just to have a series that gave you customization features like a bespoke HUD and weather progression, along with its various cars and racing series. But in the 2017 sequel and the upcoming third title, developer Slightly Mad Studios is not only layering on additions, but doing so in the spirit of the franchise.

Today Creative Assembly released the first official gameplay video of the upcoming Total War game A Total War Saga: Troy.

The gameplay video showcases a battle between an army led by Achilles and one led by Hector, two iconic heroes portrayed in Homer’s Iliad.

We see how duels among heroes return from Total War: Three Kingdoms, but there are many new features to make battles between infantry units more dynamic and interesting. This is due to the fact that cavalry is rare in this period, and horse are mostly reserved for chariots.

Among the elements showcased are new terrain types (mud and tall grass) and a new distinction between heavy, medium, and light infantry.

On top of that, some units have different modes that let you switch them between offensive and defensive.

You can enjoy the video below.

Thomas Vinterberg’s latest film was a Cannes 2020 official selection

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An unprecedented loss comes with no sign of recovery

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Six years after its successful Kickstarter, footage of Unsung Story's first three missions have been shared by Little Orbit.

The post See What Unsung Story’s First Three Missions Look Like appeared first on Siliconera.

Want to take part in Evo Online? People around the world can sign up to take part starting tomorrow.

The post Evo Online Registration Will Begin June 5, 2020 appeared first on Siliconera.

Usurp Kirito's place at the center of the story by donning a custom avatar in Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris

The post Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris Drops Details on Avatar Customization appeared first on Siliconera.

The Catherine Switch demo is on the way... to Japan. We now know its launch date and a little about what it will contain.

The post Japan’s Getting the Catherine Switch Demo on June 11, 2020 appeared first on Siliconera.

Oftentimes, the first image we see from a new Marvel Studios film is its concept art. The studio uses that art, not just to help in the development of the film, but as promotional material to hand out at events like San Diego Comic-Con. When that happens, though, the images are on flimsy, cheap paper, and there are…

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A PlayStation Plus 12-month subscription, a Honeywell fan, Nintendo Labo Toy-Con kits, a 6V/12V car battery charger from Gooloo, and a Mr. Robot Blu-Ray collection kick off Thursday’s best deals.

Nintendo has released details for the next Summoning Event in its mobile battle Fire Emblem Heroes. Due to go live in-game tomorrow, June 5, the Book IV Midpoint event will see a quartet of new characters arrive from the 2012 3DS release Fire Emblem Awakening.

Available to check out in the new trailer below, Book IV Midpoint sees the arrival of samurai princess Say'ri, the troubled antagonist Mustafa, sleep light elf Mirabilis, and the ever-present Anna, who has the honour of having appeared in almost every single Fire Emblem title to date, usually acting as a guide, shopkeeper, or in some other non-playable capacity.

In case you missed it, Super Smash Bros. boss Masahiro Sakurai likes to share what he's been up to in Japan's Famitsu magazine fairly regularly.

Whether it's health updates or insights into the developmental process, Sakurai is one of the more open developers that works on projects for Nintendo of Japan, likely due to the fact that he's actually an employee of Sora Ltd (his own company), which is contracted out for games like Smash Bros. and Kid Icarus: Uprising. Not all of his updates are positive though, including this new one (as translated by Nintendo Everything), which explains that he needs to walk on eggshells now due to the insane demands that Super Smash Bros. now commands.

Sakurai says that while he "normally plays a ton of games," he now has to be careful sharing anything publicly, lest he be met with a flood of "did Sakurai just confirm [x] for Smash?" comments. He outright says that he "doesn't write what he plays on Twitter," and even "declines appearing on TV shows or programs that highlight a specific game."

It's a shame that he seemingly can't live his best life, and I hope he retires at some point so he can share his thoughts on random games with the world. He just needs to find someone that can steward the Smash series going forward and take a break. Or, he may want to pull a Hayao Miyazaki and work his whole life: and if that's what he wants, I wish him all the luck in the world.

Sakurai [Famitsu via Nintendo Everything]

As America and other nations continue to protest the killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd, urgently calling for the eradication of racism within law enforcement, communities in and around the gaming industry have come together to raise funds for Black Lives Matter and associated charities.

On Monday, the Street Fighter subreddit hosted an impromptu Street Fighter V tournament, allowing viewers to donate money to the cause while watching over 100 players duke it out in Capcom's fighter. r/StreetFighter administrator Joe Munday hosted the event, getting the ball rolling with a donation of $200. Within hours, the total skyrocketed to $12,000, which includes donations from pro-players such as Justin Wong and Carl "PerfectLegend" White. The sum currently stands at just over $17,500.

Players who participated in the tournament were able to designate a charity to benefit from the donations. The tournament was eventually won by player Kevin "DualKevin" Barrios, who nominated Minnesotan organisation Black Visions Collective. Ultimately, so much money was raised from the tournament that it was decided the grand total would be divided among several BLM charities.

If you want to check out the action, then the VOD is available to watch on the Reddit Fighting Twitch channel. Further donations are applicable at the Black Lives Matter Charity Tournament Matcherino page.

Black Lives Matter. To honor the legacy of George Floyd, today, 6/4/20, from 2:00-4:00 p.m. ET, we will be shutting down access to our online games, Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Online.

— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) June 4, 2020

Following the memorial, we hope you will join us in further honoring the many victims of America's racial injustices by supporting their families, black-owned businesses, those marching on the streets, and coalitions through the organizations listed here: https://t.co/yIQu2R1pJb

Last month, Nvidia announced their next-gen Ampere GPU architecture, which is set to form the foundation of their next generation graphics cards, currently being dubbed the RTX 3000 series. While the RTX 3000 series GPUs haven’t been formally announced just yet, it’s only a matter of time before Nvidia lift the lid on their next-gen graphics cards such as the hotly-anticipated RTX 3080 and RTX 3080 Ti, so I thought I’d round up everything we know so far about Nvidia’s Ampere GPU architecture and what it might mean for the RTX 3000 series.

I will, of course, be updating this article on a regular basis as and when more information about Nvidia’s RTX 3000 GPUs gets announced, so watch this space for more details on the RTX 3080 and RTX 3080 Ti’s release date, price and specs. For now, though, here’s everything we know so far.

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For Battlefield V, the war is finally over. Oh, internet strangers will be blasting each other for months to come, don’t worry about that. But today’s final major update marks the last new front in Dice’s World War 2 campaign with two new maps and a warehouse of new vehicles, guns, gadgets and grenades. Make ’em last, because from here on out that’s all you’re getting – at least, until the next game rolls around.

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Each fifteen seconds of a match of competitive FPS Quantum League repeats, creating its own timeline of player actions which persist until the end of the third run, or until that timeline is interrupted by the actions of a player in a subsequent run. It’s Clock Blockers, basically. Sometimes, you pull off supremely tactical synchronized plays with versions of your past self. Sometimes, you have to spend your third run killing your second run to stop yourself accidentally blowing up your first run with a grenade launcher. I like it a lot, even if I’m not sure I can adequately explain it.

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AMD’s Navi GPUs are hands down some of the [cms-block]s you can buy today, and the good news is that more of them are on the way. Specifically, their Big Navi (also known as Navi 2X) GPUs, which are set to be their 4K rivals to Nvidia’s flagship RTX cards. We don’t know too much about Big Navi’s price, specs or exact release date just yet. We just know that they’re coming before the end of 2020. But thanks to new information from an investor webcast, AMD have reaffirmed that Big Navi will definitely arrive on PC later this year, and that we’ll also likely see it before the launch of the PS5 and Xbox Series X this Holiday season. So to help keep you up to date on all things Big Navi, here’s a round-up of everything we know about AMD’s Big Navi GPUs so far.

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It seems a listing on the Microsoft Store went up a little earlier than intended yesterday, as it’s revealed that a remaster of Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning is on the way. The hack and slash RPG originally came out in 2012, and despite having a pretty adoring fanbase, it didn’t quite reach the level of success players thought it would. Perhaps it’ll do a little better this time around, though, when the remaster releases August 18th.

Oh, and it’s named Kingdoms Of Amalur: Re-Reckoning, because of course it is.

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There have been game and hardware delays left right and centre over the last few months, but AMD have confirmed that their upcoming Big Navi GPUs are still due to launch before the end of 2020. Speaking at Bank Of America’s Global Technology Conference webcast, AMD’s chief financial officer Devinder Kumar said, “We remain on track to launch our next generation of Zen 3 CPUs and RDNA 2 GPUs in late 2020,” and he also stated that we’ll see these [cms-block] graphics cards before the launch of the PS5 and Xbox Series X. Will these 4K-capable cards be going head to head with Nvidia’s upcoming Ampere GPUs sometime this autumn? Here’s everything you need to know.

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Hidden Folks

never needed instruments to be musical. This week, the hidden object sketchbook goes On Tour, bringing its quirky vocals to muddy festivals, basement discos and the studio floor. It’s free, too, along with all of Hidden Folks’ previously-released DLC – at the cost of making the charming monochrome pixel-hunt a little pricier for newcomers.

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Former Big Huge Games executive producer Mike Fridley walks through what went right and what went wrong with Kingdoms of Amalur's production leading up to a release that would sink two studios. ...

Update: Thanks to a statement from Take-Two Interactive that was shared with Kotaku today, it appears that NBA 2K, Dragon City, and Monster Legends, will also shut down for two hours today.

Video game developer and publisher, Rockstar, has announced today via Twitter that it will be temporarily shutting down the servers for two of its popular online multiplayer titles, Red Dead Online and GTA Online, in support of Black Lives Matter.

The two-hour shutdown is taking place to honor the legacy of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man that was killed by a white police officer on May 25 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, causing protests in all 50 states around the country.

The shutdown will occur from 2 PM to 4 PM ET today (June 4) and in an added tweet from Rockstar, the company hopes that people go out and “further honor the many victims of America’s racial injustices,” by supporting their families, black-owned businesses, and donating to organizations that also support the human rights movement that is Black Lives Matter.

You can read the tweets in full down below:

THQ Nordic have dropped a trailer for the upcoming SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated that gives a look at the new multiplayer mode (which is entirely new and was not present in the original release) ahead of the game’s launch on June 23.

The trailer shows off what appears to be a type of horde mode, where players go from island to island and fight waves of enemies. The islands, as far as the trailer shows, are all based on iconic show moments. One such island appears to be SpongeBob in his karate gear.

While it isn’t explicitly mentioned in the trailer, the multiplayer mode in SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated is for only two players and can be played both locally and online.

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated is a remake of the game based on the Nickelodeon show that released for every possible system it could back in 2003. It was out on Game Boy Advance, GameCube, Xbox, PS2, and PC. After all these years it has returned with the help of THQ Nordic, who are experts at resurrection.

You can take a look at the special editions for SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated, called both the “Shiny” and “F.U.N.” Editions, here. Though by this point, it’s possible they aren’t available, but the $300 for the F.U.N. Edition (not a typo) price tag might be helping retain stock.

You can see the trailer for yourself here and below and watch has the citizens of Bikini Bottom you know and love fight for their city.

The Muv-Luv series is considered by many one of the best visual novel franchises of all time, and now you have a chance to play it for free.

With this giveaway, you can win one of three packages including all the games currently available in English on Steam: Muv-Luv, Muv-Luv Alternative, and Muv-Luv Photonflowers.

That’s over $80 in Muv-Luv games, and the way to get involved is really, really easy.

All you have to do is to comment on our articles, everywhere on the site. The more you comment, the better your chances. We want to hear your opinions and insight, and there is no better way for that to happen than sharing your comments with us.

An important caveat (and a difference with our previous giveaways) is that comments on this post are not eligible for the giveaway. Of course, you’re welcome to comment here, but in order to participate, you need to comment at least on one other article.

On  June 11 at 11:59 EST we’ll randomly select three comments made after this post has been published, and the authors of these comments will win a set of digital codes for the three games mentioned above. It’s that simple.

Incidentally, the winners will receive three separate codes for the games, which means that if you already have one or more of them, you can simply hand over the codes you won’t use to a friend and “spread the Luv.”

Of course, spam comments and throwaway one-liners will be disqualified, as we’d like to promote interesting commentary and conversations among our readers.

Two-hour server shutdown also extends to NBA 2K

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It’s free until June 11

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Hope you enjoy indoor activities, because that’s where we’re at

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Build tiny houses to your heart’s content

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The comedy group’s best sketches and films are on Netflix

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Leak includes a launch date of Aug. 18

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