July 2020

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot announced today in an email to employees that the game publisher will be revising the composition of its currently all white male Editorial Department which oversees creative decisions across all of its global studios. He also outlined other measures to try to address a recent wave of…

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The ideal candidate is a detail oriented, versatile artist who shows excellent drawing skills and can employ a variety of styles and techniques. ...

Ubisoft's Yves Guillemot has announced a series of changes after years-worth of allegations of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse emerged. ...

Zynga has closed a $1.85 billion deal to acquire mobile game developer Peak.  ...

Superhero nuns fighting demons and monsters shouldn’t be this dull of a dud

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Earth Defense Force 6 takes place directly after the events of 5. It seems we'll once again play as Storm 1, who's fighting all alone.

The post Earth Defense Force 6 Seems to Feature a One Man Army appeared first on Siliconera.

"At Nintendo, we are deeply disturbed by the allegations raised against certain members of the competitive gaming community. They are absolutely impermissible. We want to make it clear that we condemn all acts of violence, harassment, and exploitation against anyone and that we stand with the victims."

Over the past 24 hours, in response to serious allegations recently made public on Twitter, we have made the first of a series of important decisions regarding the future of our company. Effective immediately, Joey Cuellar will no longer be involved with Evo in any capacity. We are currently working towards his complete separation from the company and have relieved him of all his responsibilities. Going forward, Tony Cannon will act as CEO; in this position, he will take a leadership role in prioritizing greater accountability across Evo, both internally and at our events. Progress doesn't happen overnight, or without the bravery of those who speak up against misconduct and injustice. We are shocked and saddened by these events, but we are listening and committed to making every change that will be necessary in making Evo a better model for the stronger, safer culture we all seek. As a result, we will be canceling Evo Online and will work to issue refunds for all players who chose to purchase a badge.

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It seems like a lifetime ago now, but there was a time when I woke up before dawn, geared up in blaze-orange attire, and took to the woods of Maine in pursuit of the elusive whitetail deer. I was a freshman in high school and desperately wanted to fit in at our new school where hunting, not "playing Nintendo," was the preferred hobby of my peers. It turns out I much preferred staying indoors and playing video games to standing outside in the frigid Maine autumn while nothing happened for hours at a time. Thankfully, Hunting Simulator 2 combines a hobby I didn't enjoy too much as a teen with one I still love to this day.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/26/hunting-simulator-2-launch-trailer"]

While I don't go hunting anymore, almost everyone I know is obsessed with it (I still live in Maine), and I have been known to stalk whitetail with a camera rather than a loaded rifle. Hunting Simulator 2 scratches the primordial hunter-itch I didn't know I still had, while allowing me to stalk prey from the comfort of my home office. Plus there are zero bloodstains to contend with, which is another bonus. As a simulation, it does a great job, and as a game, it also succeeds. It sacrifices some realism for the sake of quality of life, sure, and it lacks any kind of concrete goals, but at the end of the day, I found Hunting Simulator 2 a fun and oddly relaxing way to spend some time.

With E3 and most other major conventions pretty much out of the picture this year, developers, publishers, and even entire industries are taking matters into their own hands with streams announcing their wares. And with mobile gaming industry being such a huge force in the gaming world, why wouldn't they jump on the bandwagon?

Our sister site, Pocket Gamer, took up the mantle to produce Pocket Gamer LaunchPad, the world's first mobile-centric digital streaming event.

You can win a physical PS4 copy of Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack in today's contest!

When it comes to anime-style stuff, I'm completely out of my element. Sometimes I think I'm the only gamer who falls under that affliction, but whatever; if y'all like it, then I'll keep giving it away!

We have two physical PS4 copies of the recently-released Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack, featuring Azure Striker Gunvolt 1 & 2 to give away today, so come take 'em off my hands! Because I'm confused.

What's next for Spiders after GreedFall? We'll find out next week during Nacon Connect.

Nacon (the company formerly known as Bigben Interactive) is streaming its first-ever digital conference at 10:00 a.m. Pacific on July 7, and the RPG studio's "next project" is booked for the show.

The next project from @Spidersgames will be revealed at #NaconConnect on July 7th at 7:00 pm CEST! pic.twitter.com/MuaM7IqDyQ

— Nacon (@Nacon) July 2, 2020

The more I stare at this teaser image, the less sense it makes to me. I need your insight.

It's easy to overlook GreedFall, but much like Spiders' previous games – and the studio in general – I think it'll hang in there. Budget-minded RPGs with rough, interesting edges have an audience. Also, critically speaking, Spiders has been trending upward. I hope the new project maintains that pace.

As for Nacon Connect, Test Drive Unlimited 3 seems like another surefire guest. It's time.

By this point, everyone including John Oliver has touched on the PS5 design. So it may come off as obvious and trite when I say it looks like an Alienware Aurora R9 was bitten by a vampire then crushed on one side by your younger brother when you neglected to let him use the REAL PlayStation controller for a night of …

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Evo Online has been officially canceled following decisions by multiple developers to distance themselves from the event, Kotaku has learned. Street Fighter V, Mortal Kombat 11, and more were pulled from Evo Online following allegations of sexual misconduct against the organization’s co-founder and CEO, Joey “Mr.…

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Maybe you thought it would be easy to write/laugh this one off as a dumb gimmick, but for real: Pokémon Smile is one of the most important video games to have entered my household in years.

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Today on Highlight Reel we have Halo Good Samaritans, The Last Of Us 2 swimming, GTA stunts and much more!

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It's too early to tell if this new MSRP is an outlier or a next-generation norm. ...

Spiders, the team behind Greedfall and The Technomancer, is set to unveil a new game next week on July 7. All we have to go on so far is a single screenshot and a sizzle reel, both of which pose more questions than they answer.

The game will be revealed during Nacon Connect, a streaming event hosted by publisher Nacon (formerly Bigben Interactive). In the tweet below, Nacon shows off a screen from the game, although we're not entirely sure what it shows. It looks like armor, but there's not much to go on.

And here's the sizzle reel, which shows off a few of Nacon's other titles. We also get brief peeks here of what looks like previously announced titles, Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood, Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong, and a Test Drive Unlimited sequel.

Pretending I'm A Superman - The Tony Hawk Story, a long-awaited documentary film about the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater video game series, will finally be available next month. The film, which premiered at the Mammoth Film Festival in May 2020, has been acquired by Wood Entertainment and will be released digitally on August 18.

The film, directed by Ludvig Gür, explores how the series revived mainstream skater culture and earned $1.4 billion worldwide. The film is named after the iconic Goldfinger song from the first game's soundtrack.

The film features interviews with the game's developers, as well as the skaters who were a part of the experience. It includes skaters Steve Caballero, Rodney Mullen, Chad Muska, Jamie Thomas, and Tony Hawk himself. Hawk agreed to be a part of the film almost immediately when the idea was originally brought to him.

The film's poster has also been released, and you can check it out below.

Epic's hugely popular battle royale game Fortnite has added its latest celebrity skin--and this one is for none other than Marvel's Captain America. The Captain America's Super Soldier skin is now available to buy in the game, just in time for the 4th of July holiday.

This is just the latest America-themed update for Fortnite, as fireworks have begun to appear around Lazy Lake. They seem to be tied to a Captain America-themed challenge that will go live soon.

Fortnite is so popular that it's uniting Marvel and DC. Before this, Epic announced that a Jason Momoa Aquaman skin is coming to the game later this season--here's how to unlock the outfit. In a previous season, Fortnite welcomed a different Marvel character, Deadpool.

EA Sports was widely criticized earlier this week when it announced the first details on Madden NFL 21's Franchise modes. The Franchise mode from previous games will now be called "Classic Franchise," and this year's changes amount to what could be considered basic patch notes from last year's game.

EA has now released a new video in which Madden NFL 21 producer Seann Graddy acknowledged the negative feedback and promised that EA will be looking to "bolster" the mode with this year's game and beyond.

The Madden NFL 21 closed beta is about to begin. EA Sports has confirmed that the beta test runs this 4th of July holiday weekend--from July 2 at 8:30 PM ET through Sunday, July 5 at 11:59 PM ET.

This beta will be double the audience size of the Madden NFL 20 beta last year, EA said in a blog post. To get in, you needed to have signed up for the Good Morning Madden link in June. Additionally, almost everyone who earned points from the Madden Championship Series will get a code sent to their email. On top of that, if you finished in the top 10,000 players in Madden NFL 20's Ultimate Team and Franchise modes, based on play time, you will receive an invitation.

If you don't fit any of those criteria, you can follow Madden NFL 21's social media accounts and watch for a giveaway there. Additionally, the game's developers, along with influencers, creators, athletes, and NFL teams, will give away codes. Note that the beta is only available in the US and Canada. EA did not announce a list of platforms for the Madden NFL 21 beta, but the game is confirmed to release on PS4, Xbox One, and PC in August before coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X later in the year.

Tencent Games is opening a new AAA studio in Orange County headed up by Rockstar veteran Steve Martin. The studio's first project will be an open-world game for Xbox Series X and Playstation 5. This is Tencent's second studio located in LA, the other being TiMi Studio's LA studio.

Originally reported by GamesIndustry.Biz, the new developer falls under one of Tencent's existing subsidiaries--LightSpeed and Quantum--one of four studios the company currently has. Steve Martin will serve as both studio head and executive producer of development at LightSpeed LA, after leadership roles working on both Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2.

"We're ushering a new era of game culture by combining world-class development with a stress-free work environment," Martin said. "From day one, our teams will be focused on building the highest caliber games while promoting integrity, proactivity, collaboration, and creativity."

343 Industries recently published a blog post that stated a new update for Halo: The Master Chief Collection would allow players to "purchase" items in the game's battle pass-style progression system. The line has since been removed, and now the studio has re-affirmed that The Master Chief Collection is not adding microtransactions.

"There was one line in the interview where we were talking about using the season points to purchase unlocks. The word purchase was misunderstood to mean money," 343's Tyler Davis said on Twitter. "We updated the wording to remove the word 'purchase' to 'unlock' in the blog."

The Master Chief Collection is a rare example of a big game that does not feature any microtransactions. Halo 5: Guardians features microtransactions with the Req system, and Halo Infinite is expected to feature the business practice as well.

Call of Duty: Warzone's Season 5 update releases in August, and it's is rumored to make significant map changes to make it more in-line with this year's Call of Duty. Originally reported by Video Games Chronicle, the revamps will include an open interior of the football stadium and the addition of a loot-filled train that circles the map, according to people involved with its development.

The rumored Cold War-themed Call of Duty has already been teased in the battle royale for over a month, with a number of hints found by players related to the mysterious Warzone bunkers, including a spy plane found by glitching through walls. Other secrets that have been found include a war room, number countdown, and nuclear warhead, which is rumored to be used to trigger a map revamp, similar to Fortnite's black hole transition to Chapter 2.

The new Call of Duty will reportedly have its own campaign, multiplayer, and Zombies modes but will also incorporate Warzone in a similar fashion to Modern Warfare. Warzone will continue to use Modern Warfare's engine, with Raven Software--which also worked on Black Ops 4's Blackout mode--leading development, according to sources.

Ubisoft's co-founder and CEO, Yves Guillemot, has detailed a series of steps he intends to implement at the company to combat problems of discrimination and mistreatment. This includes restructuring the editorial department, improving human resources processes, and ensuring all managers are held accountable on these subjects.

In a lengthy blog post, Guillemot said fundamental changes need to occur at all levels of Ubisoft. "We are not looking for a quick fix, but rather a structural shift at Ubisoft that fully aligns with our values--values that do not tolerate toxic behaviors and where everyone feels safe to speak out," Guillemot said. "We must do everything we can to ensure no one is in these situations ever again."

The first of these changes is the appointment of a "Head of Workplace Culture." Lidwine Sauer, who serves as Ubisoft's projects director in the Strategic Innovation Lab, has taken on the role and will be in charge of examining all aspects of Ubisoft's culture, as well as suggesting changes that will be beneficial to the company. She will also form an "international and diverse multidisciplinary working group" to support these efforts.

Week 3 of Fortnite Season 3 is here, which means there's a new batch of challenges to complete in the battle royale game. While most of the challenges are fairly straightforward, one that may give you a bit of trouble is to collect floating rings at Lazy Lake. To help you out, we've put together this map and guide detailing where to find the floating rings and how to complete the challenge.

Where Are The Floating Rings Locations?

As the challenge states, the floating rings are all located around Lazy Lake in grid square F6. You'll find them in various places around the area, but if you're having trouble tracking them down, we've marked the locations of all the rings we've found on the map below.

Valve has had quite the video game history, having developed and published a bunch of incredible games. With the latest Steam Summer Sale underway, many of Valve's games are hugely discounted in the Valve Complete Bundle. While this bundle doesn't actually feature every Valve game, it boasts most of the company's catalogue, from Half-Life and Team Fortress Classic to Left 4 Dead 2 and Portal 2--Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 are included on the bundle page, but both of those games are already free-to-play.

The Valve Complete bundle currently costs $13.14, down from its full regular price of $145.82. Even better, the bundle gets even cheaper if you already own some of the games. As someone who already owns most of these games, my price drops to below $5 for the last six games I need to complete Valve's library.

Byron Bernstein, the popular Hearthstone and World of Warcraft streamer who was better known by his gamer tag "Reckful," has passed away, according to multiple sources. He was 31 years old.

A cause of death remains unconfirmed but a software engineer and friend of Bernstein's, Blue, confirmed his death early Tuesday morning. Esports consultant Rod Breslau corroborated the report. Multiple memorials are now being held within WoW across multiple servers and locations to honor Bernstein's legacy.

Bernstein rose to prominence in 2009 for being a top WoW player, where he claimed the highest-ranked spot in PvP for six consecutive seasons. He also won Major League Gaming's WoW tournament in 2010, cementing both his talent and his career as a professional gamer. Following this, Bernstein transitioned to competitive Hearthstone play, participating in and casting professional matches for several years.

An Apex Legends developer gave a thorough explanation of what's causing an issue with Loba's tactical on the World's End map with the Lost Treasures' patch. Loba's tactical ability is a teleport that lets her throw her bracelet and travel to it once it lands.

Jason McCord, design director at Respawn, explained in a series of tweets why Loba's ability is failing more frequently on World's End than it should be. The game has triggers around cliffs on both maps to stop players from staying up there, which is why an out-of-bounds warning occurs when you land up there. Loba's bracelet is designed to fail when thrown into these zones to stop her from going up there.

The issue on World's End stems from a slight difference in coding from Kings Canyon, with the triggers being grouped more on World's End than on Kings Canyon. McCord explained that Loba's tactical is failing when passing through the grouped triggers instead of only when landing in them.

GTA Online is celebrating Independence Day with tons of red, white, and blue cosmetics, sales on some popular in-game items, and benefits for PlayStation Plus and Twitch Prime members. The sales will last through next Wednesday, July 8.

During the celebration period, you can get special rewards like the Statue of Happiness T-shirt and Supa Wet Beer Hat by taking part in Business Battles. The Missle Base Series will also reward you with double GTA$ and RP, so you can stock up on currency. Plus you can try the casino's Lucky Wheel for a chance at a Western Sovereign with a new custom livery.

If you need something to spend your newfound riches on, several Independence Day sales are going too. You can take half-off items like the Liberator Monster Truck, Firework Launcher, Yachts, some vehicles, and Arcade Properties; 60% off Mammoth Avengers and customizations; and 70% off Bunkers, Hangars, and Facilities. You can check out the full sale list below.