Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku’s reader-run community: Spacemon: Frontier - Chapter 80: Payback • Backlog Files: Code Vein • Kaiju Crush Dev Diary: The Final Push, Day 7 • TAY Retro: Nintendo Entertainment System - Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout [TV Commercial, FR]
This is not a live-action Evangelion movie. I repeat. It’s not. Rather, this is an ad for an OPPO Ace 2 smartphone that’s been emblazoned with Eva.
Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time will not include microtransactions, the game's developer has insisted.
Toys for Bob took to Twitter last night to reassure fans on the issue, following a Microsoft Store listing which suggested in-game purchases would be included.
It's a thorny issue for the Crash franchise, following the post-launch addition of microtransactions to Crash Team Racing.
It's once again a presidential election year in America - unfortunately - and although campaigns are getting underway in the US, some political slogans have appeared in a particularly unexpected place. Multiple Roblox users have reported their accounts have been hacked and are now being used to send pro-Trump messages to other players.
As reported by BBC News, hackers are changing the affected avatar's clothing and forcing them to don a hat called The Encierro, which resembles the Trump campaign's red "Make America Great Again" cap. Hackers are also switching the player's clothes to either an eagle t-shirt, or a red, white and blue getup. And, once the user has been completely transformed, they can send messages to others on a player's friend list, such as "ask your parents to vote for Trump this year!" and "MAGA2020".
Although it may seem somewhat harmless, there is a more serious side to this: Roblox is a huge gaming and game development platform, with 90 million users logging in monthly as of April last year. Many of these players are under 18, with a core demographic of kids aged 9 to 15 - making it a more serious problem when hackers are supposedly targeting kids with political messages.
Fortnite fans have found a new location hidden under the waters of its latest update.
The Ruins will emerge later this season as water levels around the submerged map slowly recede.
Today brought the first of these incremental changes, though full plans for the island through until the end of this season (currently pegged for late August) have been found in the game's files and posted to reddit.
Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon
The Southern Hemisphere is unfortunately not getting anything new this month
If you have followed the games revealed under the umbrella of Sony Interactive Entertainment’s China Hero Project, you may remember F.I.S.T. by TiGames Network Technology.
The game was originally announced during a dedicated presentation in March 2019 and then showcased again at Chinajoy in August.
Following a quick look a few days ago at Bitsummit Gaiden (which featured the same Chinajoy trailer), today the house of PlayStation revealed a brand new promotional video alongside a new title, F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow.
While the game doesn’t yet have a firm press release, this confirms that it’s coming west for PS4 with all of its bunny rage and Unreal Engine 4-powered action-platforming gameplay.
Watch it in action below.
If you’re unfamiliar with the game, below you can read an official description shared by the China Hero Project.
Microsoft revealed another batch of games coming to Xbox Game Pass on PC and console for the first half of July, including two games now available today.
Bandai Namco’s fighting game Soulcalibur VI is now available on the service for console only. The sixth entry in the franchise includes guest characters Geralt of The Witcher series and 2B from Nier: Automata, though the latter was added later via paid downloadable content.
The other game available today is Out of the Park Baseball 21 on PC only. The strategy game allows players to draft new baseball talent, negotiate deals, trade with other teams, and build a franchise. Out of the Park Baseball 21 is also officially licensed by the MLB, MiLB, and the MLBPA for accurate rosters.
On July 9, Bethesda Game Studios’ Fallout 76 will be added for both Xbox Game Pass on console and PC. The online multiplayer game recently received an update that added a new progression system, its first season of content, and more.
Also coming on July 9 is CrossCode, a retro action RPG with more than 30 Boss fights and over 120 enemy types, for console only.
Microsoft also announced six games that will be removed from the service on July 15 including:
Nintendo games have wonderful music. The problem for long-time fans of the Japanese gaming giant is that its precious music is hard to find legitimately on streaming services and the like. That’s where this incredible fan mock-up comes in. It’s a design for a paid Nintendo Switch music application, appropriately titled ‘Nintendo Music.’
Ramses Cabello, a designer (and big-time Nintendo fan) from Denmark, shared his designs on Twitter and he talked about how he loves listening to video game music, especially Nintendo tunes.
He’s been dreaming of one day being able to play music from his favorite franchises straight from the Switch, and while this may not actually happen anytime soon in an official capacity, these UI designs that he’s created can give all of us a clear idea as to how an app like this could work.
As you can see in the images below, some of the key features of the Nintendo Music app includes the option to search Nintendo’s collection of music by inputting keywords, moods, or the franchise name that you’re seeking out.
And one of my favorite things about this concept is that it would allow you to play a song from the app while playing other video games. You can see an image of someone playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons down below while listening to a chill Super Mario Galaxy track while wishing on a shooting star.
Can this please be a real thing one day, Nintendo?
Bandai Namco is preparing to launch its upcoming JRPG Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris, and the publisher is showcasing the game’s inevitable waifus.
Different heroines were showcased by different arms of the publisher today.
The Southeast Asian branch of Bandai Namco focused on Sinon, with two videos showing her in action.
On the other hand, the Japanese branch of Bandai Namco showcased another video on Twitter featuring Lisbeth.
Today the Japanese arm of Square Enix announced with a press release the launch date of upcoming update 5.3 for Final Fantasy XIV.
The patch is titled Reflections in Crystal and will release on August 11. Among its main features will be the conclusion of the storyline started with Shadowbringers and the next chapter of the YorHa: Dark Apocalypse raid tied in with NieR: Automata and a new stage of the Save the Queen questline.
Below you can see the logo of the update and the key artwork.
It’s been just over a week since the launch of The Last of Us Part II, so many of us have finally been able to experience all of the emotional moments that the game has to offer.
These memorable scenes are part of the reason the game has become the fastest-selling PS4 exclusive to date, with over four million copies sold in three days. There are definitely more than a few stunning moments, but here are the most emotional scenes from The Last of Us Part II.
Note: This article contains major story spoilers regarding multiple plot-related scenes. If you do not wish to be spoiled, please do not go any further in this article.
Crash Bandicoot 4 developer Toys for Bob confirmed that Crash Bandicoot 4 is free of microtransactions, following a Microsoft Store listing.
The post There Are No Crash Bandicoot 4 Microtransactions appeared first on Siliconera.
SoulCalibur VI is available on Xbox Game Pass right now! (CrossCode and Fallout 76 are coming soon.)
The post SoulCalibur VI Xbox Game Pass Debut Dated appeared first on Siliconera.
There's RPG Maker MV! NIS America is bringing the Switch and PS4 versions to the West in September 2020.
The post RPG Maker MV Switch and PS4 Versions Arriving in September appeared first on Siliconera.
The first thing that tends to strike everyone about NewCity, is how massive its cities are. They make Cities: Skylines metropolises look poky, and cities from 2013’s SimCity look like quaint little villages. There’s no doubt about it: NewCity is all about urban sprawl, and actually comes close to being able to replicate the terrifyingly massive size of actual, real world cities. Indeed, in the later stages of the session I played with it, I kept zooming out and having the uncanny sensation I was looking out of an aeroplane window.
Looking out of an aeroplane window with a migraine, that is. Because for all its wonders, NewCity is, as it stands, a fairly ugly game. It stutters a bit, at least on my PC, when speeding up time in a decent-sized city, and it feels very feature-sparse, to an extent where in the early game I wondered if I was missing some menus. Its UI is bleak, and its music is – with profound apologies to the composer, who I’m sure has done much better work in other genres – horrendous. But this is early access, friends! And early early access, too, as the game’s only been up on Steam a couple of weeks. NewCity’s problems, therefore, don’t concern me, as they’re all fairly peripheral set dressing issues. The game’s core, on the other hand, feels like the foundation of something really special.
I’ve had a lovely afternoon building quaint island towns in Townscaper, launched into early access yesterday. It’s a town-building toy where the outcome is a surprise, really. All you do is place coloured blocks, then Townscaper translates them into apartments, steps, terraces, gardens, towers, and so on based on the shapes they form with other nearby blocks, then fill the whole place with lovely little decorative details. Every town cannot help but look lovely. Its creator, Oskar Stålberg previously made several procedural landscape toys I’ve enjoyed before, and was the artist for Bad North too.
Newegg have kicked off their 4th July celebrations early today with a good old-fashioned sale on thousands of PC components. If you’d rather not go through the faff of building a PC, though, then some of the biggest savings to be found on gaming laptops and pre-built desktops. Fancy knocking $400 off an RTX 2070 gaming laptop or bagging a RTX 2070 Super desktop for $200 off its normal price? Then read on for our deal highlights.
Originally due in June before being pushed back multiple times due to covid-19 related concerns, Final Fantasy XIV’s next big update, “Reflections in Crystal,” is finally on track for an August 11 release.
Today is the beginning of July, when swarms of cicadas, bunches of big beetles, and schools of new fish start showing up on Northern Hemisphere islands in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Nets up, people.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Xbox One) | $50 | Amazon
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Switch) | $50 | Amazon
A new partnership will let Unity Asset Store creators sell their 3D models to players in free-to-play MMO Sandbox, Sinespace. ...
Nintendo said the decision was made after carefully examining the "evolving European marketplace," and came into effect today. ...
Yoko Taro is extremely busy these days.
While he was once known as "The Drakengard Guy" ages ago, he's now extremely in demand, overseeing multiple NieR universe titles and even collaborating with Square Enix on a constant basis. But a lot of people are about to get to know him better, as SINoAlice (a mobile game featuring fairy tale characters who fight to resurrect their authors) is on the verge of its release this month.
We got the chance to chat with Yoshinari Fujimoto (producer), Shogo Maeda (producer) and Yoko Taro (director) regarding the western release of SINoAlice, sneaking in a few NieR questions along the way.
Crash Bandicoot fans were whipped up into a tizzy a little over a week ago with the official reveal of a brand new entry in the super-popular platforming franchise. But while the initial buzz around Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time was positive, recent murmurs that the new sequel is set to be a microtransaction-heavy release quickly poured rain on everyone's parade.
Yesterday, developer Toys 4 Bob took to Twitter to plainly state that these concerns were unfounded. "We're seeing confusion about MTX in Crash Bandicoot 4 and want to be (crystal) clear," began the tweet. "There are NO MICROTRANSACTIONS in Crash 4. As a bonus, the Totally Tubular skins are included in all digital versions of the game."
No doubt this straight statement will come as a relief to those that thought the Mad Marsupial was about to take players for a spin in more ways than one. Or will it? After all, let's not forget that racing remaster Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled launched completely microtransaction-free, before Activision slapped on the MTX factor post-release. Given this experience, it's understandable that fans remain antsy. "Fool me once..." and all that jazz.
Of course, June 2020 had to have one last wrinkle before it retreated into the mist.
Following the recent shift in Max Raid battles after the arrival of the Shiny Zeraora, folks uncovered a nasty glitch in Pokemon Sword and Shield. Evidently, after fighting certain Pokemon while raiding, their game would crash. The culprit? An item that doesn't exist yet.
In short, people would battle a Pokemon that rewarded them with an item that has yet to be added to the game's database (#1604). When the battle complete screen would pop up the game attempted to gift them the item, then promptly crashed. Dataminers have figured out that the item seems to be a type of Armorite Ore (a new item from the season pass DLC) that is set to debut in the Crown Tundra expansion.
Game Freak fixed the issue several hours after the bug became apparent (roughly yesterday afternoon), so don't worry if you're raiding now.
Kurt [Twitter via Serebii.net]
Guiding a couple of kids through a rat pandemic in Medieval France might be an odd elevator pitch for a game - but let me tell you, A Plague Tale: Innocence was one of my favourites from last year.
It's a tale of two young siblings cut adrift and left vulnerable in a beautiful, horrible world. It's a stealthy, puzzley adventure with some increasingly cool special powers. And it has really, really freaky rats.
Today brought the announcement the game has now passed 1m sales worldwide since launch.
Since its inception Gran Turismo has always pushed the envelope for each new console. With the reveal of Gran Turismo 7 at Sony's recent PlayStation 5 event then, we have an exclusive that appears to live up to that reputation: both 4K resolution and 60fps are on display in the trailer, alongside taxing ray traced reflections. And yet despite the technical ambition, it's a true, classic circuit that's used to demonstrate it all: Trial Mountain. After its absence in Gran Turismo Sport on PS4, Trial Mountain's return shows the huge strides developer Polyphony Digital has taken. Not just in comparison to its last appearance with Gran Turismo 6 on PS3, but going all the way back to the original 1997 PlayStation game. Every numbered entry features this track, and so, it charts a clear path of technical evolution for the series - today letting us see how far we've come in seven numbered entries.
Much was shown in the trailer, but what's curious is how Polyphony Digital has chosen a track not available in GT Sport, ruling out a PS4 vs PS5 comparison. There is an overlap in the choice of vehicle though: the Mazda RX Vision GT3 was Kazunori Yamauchi's car of choice, and it is indeed available on GT Sport's dealerships. In theory, most cars could transfer over in a similar manner, with the design of the Mazda making the jump from GT Sport more or less as-is. Much of the internal material-work - chair fabric, the rubberised wheel, LEDs, and even rear-view screen, are matched between the two. Still, GT7's rendering has an advantage: we're getting a native 3840x2160 image from the trailer as opposed to PS4 Pro's checkerboarded 1800p target.
Image: Crytek
The new game is headed to Nintendo Switch, PS4, Windows PC, and Xbox One
Image: Netflix
The Speed Cubers focuses on a blossoming friendship in the world of competitive speedsolving
Photo: Netflix
Second season of The Umbrella Academy, Kissing Booth sequel, and The Baby-Sitters Club
Image: Disney
Image: Bethesda Softworks
Image: Epic Games
Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via 
Image: Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment