Not many Hollywood directors could follow both George Lucas and Steven Spielberg... but not many Hollywood directors are James Cameron.
With in-person gaming events out of the question this year, Xbox is turning to a digital alternative to show off some upcoming Xbox One games. Starting on July 21, the Summer Games Fest Demo Event will allow players to check out early builds for a ton of games from their couches rather than a crowded convention center.
In this 2018 GDC talk, Roblox's Adam Miller dissects the explosive growth of Roblox as a company and platform and shares lessons that can help other companies looking to accomplish similar feats. ...
[Check out our previous Smash Ultimate DLC coverage: Piranha Plant, Joker, Hero, Banjo, Terry, Byleth.]
It's been a while since the last Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC drop (January), and there's a few reasons for that.
For one, the current pandemic is causing issues for Sakurai and his team right now. But it's also a very big transition period for Ultimate as it moves into the second Fighters [Season] Pass. While its debut fighter is seemingly out of left field (we were warned!), Arms deserves to be part of Nintendo's history and immortalized in Super Smash Bros. — Min Min is proof of that.
In true Fallout 76 fashion, things aren't going according to plan at launch of the game's first "season." More frustration than conveniences have popped up, as players are left wondering how much longer it'll be before Season 1 functions as intended.
The most overarching annoyance is that players aren't able to cruise through the battle pass despite completing actions that should help them progress. Season 1's "Legendary Run" board game meta-game has 100 levels with new rewards at each rank. Completing daily and weekly challenges earns you SCORE, which is a new form of XP specifically for ranking up through the season. There are more ways to earn SCORE though, like completing pubic events and leveling up.
The problem is that the public events are bugged right now, and they're generally not awarding anyone with SCORE. The game's subreddit is flooded with complaints about it. It takes 1,000 SCORE to level up once, and it's possible to earn 250 SCORE per day through daily missions. With public events not working, a lot of people are already feeling the inevitable grind of trying to hit the level 100 cap before Season 1 ends in September. Without paying to advance ranks, it was already going to require approximately two-to-three hours per day to get there. That's going to increase proportionate to however long it takes Bethesda to sort out the public events snafu.
The other major complaint is that the long-awaited ammo converter kind of flat-out sucks. It's a good idea in theory. Fallout 76 players are overencumbered with ammunition they never use, and this new gadget makes it viable for them to turn all those .38 bullets into something useful.
Easy Day Studios has released a new trailer for its sandbox skateboarding title Skater XL. The video showcases three brand new locations, all created by community members, that are available now on PC and will be arriving alongside the console ports later this month.
Forget cockroaches. Worms – the Team17 multiplayer game, but also maybe the slimy little fellas too – will outlive us all. The series has been going strong for decades and a new title is on the way in 2020.
Worms Rumble is a frantic 32-player game with real-time platformer/shooter arena combat, cross-play support, and three modes. Deathmatch is a series staple, Last Worm Standing is a battle-royale shootout, and Last Squad Standing – a variant with ten teams – lets players revive their mates.
They're really going for it. In both of the battle royale modes, "not only will you have your enemies to fight off, but the restricted zones will play a big part in the outcome of the battle," according to Team17 producer Danny Martin. "Linger too long in one of them, and you'll start losing health until you move into another. The restricted zones won’t always start or finish in the same location, so you'll need to keep an eye on the warnings when they appear and high tail it out of there to a safe location."
I know this format is extremely played out, but in Worms? It could be a nice jolt. I'm open to it.
Worms Rumble is coming to Steam, PlayStation 4, and PS5 in late 2020, and "the release is just the beginning." I'm sure that'll mean new cosmetic unlocks and seasonal events – two elements that are already confirmed for launch – but hopefully it also means updates with additional game modes.
If you're curious enough to want to try the closed beta, sign-ups are open for July 15-19.
Every Pokemon player has their favorite generation.
The one that really kicks that nostalgia into overdrive above all others. For some, it's Red/Blue, because that's the only set of games they played and they never moved on beyond that. For others, it's Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum, otherwise known as the "Sinnoh games." I think that's definitely the case for Twitter user Petoke_028.
Amazingly, that fan managed to re-create a classic theme of the Sinnoh games (Route 201) using nothing but two styluses. For those who aren't aware, each badge in the game makes a "ding" noise when you tap it, and Petoke_028 cracked the code, managing to create a tune out of a feature a lot of folks don't even use.
What a great way to start July 2020, which hopefully beats out our previous hellish June. You can check out the video below as well as a comparison to the original.
The three-year wait for Ooblets, a game about farming crops for cash and raising a team of cute little critters, is almost over. Glumberland is starting its Early Access journey for Ooblets on Xbox One (with the Game Preview program) and PC (through the Epic Games Store) on July 15, 2020, for $24.99.
Ooblets is hovering over that highly sought-after Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, and Pokémon airspace, but not in an overly derivative way. The game should be a feel-good adventure full of chatting, collecting, leveling, and even dancing. (Instead of fights, there are dance battles.) It has a bunch of mechanics I'll enjoy digging into and everything's wrapped up in a pleasant, wholesome package.
"There's still a lot ahead as we work towards 1.0," according to the developers, "but we're very excited to hit this milestone." This may not be your ideal way to dive in, but I can't wait any longer.
If all goes well, we'll have Early Access impressions of Ooblets later this month.
Focus Home Interactive has proudly announced that Asobo Studio's grim adventure title A Plague Tale: Innocence has passed the one million sales mark, shining a light of deserved success on the dark tale of two brave children in one of humanity's darkest hours.
Set against the backdrop of The Great Plague in 14th century France, A Plague Tale is the story of two aristocratic children, Amica and Hugo De Rune, who are forced from their home by The Inquisition under the most violent of circumstances. Out on their own in a nightmare world of fascist rule and national sickness, Amica must rely on her sharp wits to guide herself and Hugo out of the city, away from the blades of The Inquisition and thousands of tiny, razor-sharp teeth.
Samorost and Botanicula developer Amanita Design's long-awaited, and slightly sinister, puzzle adventure Creaks will be heading to PC, Mac, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch later this month.
Creaks was initially announced at the tail-end of 2018, and is something of a departure for Amanita insofar as it eschews the studio's usual point-and-click-style template in favour of an experience closer to a puzzle-platformer. However, despite the genre shift, Creaks looks to be Amanita through and through, presenting a darkly surreal, richly atmospheric journey - featuring some typically lavish art - into weird and wonderful new locales.
As Creaks begins, a strange occurrence leads players to peel back a corner of wallpaper in their dilapidated old home - leading to the discovery of an entirely new world within its walls, a vast mansion descending into the depths, where avian creatures dwell and furniture monsters roam.
Publisher Annapurna Interactive and developer Graceful Decay announced two new platforms for their puzzle game Maquette.
The game was previously announced to be coming to Steam in 2020, but now we hear that it’s also going to be released on PS4 and PS5.
If you’d like to see what Maquette looks like, you can check out a video below.
If you’d like to know more you can take a look at the official description below.
“Maquette is a first-person recursive puzzle game that takes you into a world where every building, plant, and object are simultaneously tiny and staggeringly huge. Maquette makes it possible by twisting the world into itself recursively in an MC Escher-esque fashion.
Head to the center of the world and you’ll feel like a giant, towering over buildings and walls. But venture further out, and start to feel small as things get larger and larger – to the point where cracks in the ground become chasms.
In Maquette you will explore the scales of everyday problems in a modern-day love story. Where sometimes the smallest of issues can become insurmountable obstacles.”
Today British indie developer Phigames and publisher Dear Villagers announced that their game Recompile is coming to next-gen consoles.
This “Metroidvania-like hacking adventure” was previously slated for a Steam release in 2020, but now we learn that it’s also coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X.
Below you can enjoy a trailer that came with the press release alongside a batch of official screenshots.
Yoko Taro about the totally “happy stories" and sexy "swimsuit outfits" he made for SINoALICE.
The post Yoko Taro Talks About Writing ‘Happy Stories’ and Making ‘Sexy Swimsuits’ for SINoALICE appeared first on Siliconera.
The previously Xbox One exclusive MMORPG Bless Unleashed will make its way to PC via Steam in early 2021.
The post Bless Unleashed Will Release for PC via Steam in Early 2021 appeared first on Siliconera.
The Xbox Game Pass subscription service has released its list of new additions for July. There are a couple extra options for Xbox One players, but us PC folk will be getting access to Fallout 76 and Out Of The Park Baseball 21. Out Of The Park has been added to the catalog today, while Fallout 76 is coming on Thursday, July 9th.
Click here to watch embedded media Developers The Game Bakers are taking a different approach for Haven compared to the studio's last title, action game Furi. Haven is designed as a simpler, less-frantic PS5/PS4 co-op action/RPG.
Creative director Emeric Thoa says he was inspired by the game Flower and its chill gameplay. Although Haven has standard elements like crafting, different approaches to combat, and much more, the aim was to make things as simple and un-confusing as possible, doing away with complex skill trees, crafting systems, and UI overload.
Instead, Haven wants you to focus on controlling Yu and Kay as they explore the world – including enabling seamless drop-in co-op – and becoming invested in the couple's story.
Haven was announced as part of Sony's PlayStation Indies initiative, but does not yet have a release date for either version.
Are you craving some puzzles? Flex your brain in a bizarre, surreal world from the makers of Machinarium, Amanita Design. Creaks is slated to hit this month on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC (Steam), and Switch!
An intriguing score by Hidden Orchestra accentuates hand-painted visuals as you explore many mysteries. Discover the secrets inside paintings take a journey through slightly eerie creativity.
We don't have an exact release date just yet, but check out this trailer for a taste of the oddities that you'll be able to explore sometime in July.
Click here to watch embedded media
Sony gave us another delightful indie reveal today for its PlayStation Indies initiative. Recompile has you exploring a digital landscape, either hacking or fighting to get by, all in the name of avoiding deletion.
Phi Dinh, co-founder, programmer, and game designer at Phigames, answered some questions about the game on the PlayStation Blog. "You’ll play as a sentient virus, trying to escape deletion as you infiltrate the digital, virtual world of The Mainframe in an effort to achieve sapience and bring about the first technological singularity. Humankind depends on it, but how you accomplish this goal will be up to you," he wrote.
A new trailer today revealed the game for PS5, showcasing the platforming, third-person combat, and environmental hacking puzzles. You can go guns blazing, hack security systems for distractions, or even turn enemies against each other with your hacking powers. The environment is also hackable to get past locked doors or disable complex machinery. But just remember, how you play will affect the A.I. you create.
Team17 is bringing Worms back yet again! The franchise that always seems to wriggle its way back is headed to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC later this year.
Some highlights of the new Worms Rumble include real-time battles with up to 32 players, battle royale mode, and deathmatch mode.
Worms Rumble features crossplay, and you won't have to wait too long to see it in action - multiplayer beta begins on July 15th on Steam. Until then, take a look at the rambunctious trailer below!
Click here to watch embedded media
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s latest multiplayer map is infested with rats, but you can pay the piper to help clean house.
Infinity Ward is looking for a UI Artist to work closely with the UI/UX Design team and UI Engineers to establish functional, original, and attractive interfaces for our game. ...
Support for Flash is expected to cease at the end of 2020, and Kongregate is changing some of its platform features to ready for that shift. ...
In this article I will explore what has the most impact on melee combat and how the contribution of level design to the engagement of the combat system can be increased. ...
Make no mistake about it: I was very down on Fallout 76 when it launched. Balance issues, inventory tedium, bugs galore, and an experience that just didn't feel much like Fallout -- it added up to a game that I didn't want to play. I was certainly far from alone in that sentiment.
Since then, things have slowly turned around. Some quality of life changes here, a lot of technical fixes there, and suddenly people say it's something of an enjoyable game. The recent Wastelanders update -- the one that added NPCs, dialogue choices, a reputation system, and an overhauled main questline -- did a ton to make Fallout 76 feel like a real single-player RPG.
It's a much different game now, even though it still seems like your mileage may vary when it comes to how much you get out of it. But, for those who have been curious but understandably holding off, there's an upcoming opportunity that might make checking it out mostly painless. Fallout 76 is coming to Xbox Game Pass for console and PC on July 9. Subscribers can hop into the West Virginia Wasteland and see if this irradiated MMO-like is for them. The timing coincides nearly perfectly with the launch of Fallout 76's first season (which, in an unsurprising twist, is off to a rough start).
That's not all for Game Pass additions in early July. Today, Soulcalibur VI joins Game Pass on Xbox, and Out of the Park Baseball 21 rounds the bases on Game Pass on PC. Joining Fallout on July 9, futuristic retro RPG CrossCode joins the party on Xbox.
I hadn't come across Recompile before, but I'm down for a "metroidvania-inspired hacking adventure" with zippy air-dashes, a "sentient virus" protagonist, and a story that branches based on play style.
Recompile is planning a 2020 PC release on Steam, and as of today, it's also aiming for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. To put you in the right headspace, Phigames was inspired by Axiom Verge, Hollow Knight, and even The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, among others. Quite the mood board!
"The landscape of The Mainframe is a completely open and explorable seamless experience," Phigames co-founder Phi Dinh explained today in a PlayStation Blog post.
"We've crafted a small yet fully-realized environment bursting with character and details. There are multiple biomes each representing a single function of the mysterious computer system you've been tasked to infiltrate. From the heavily armed security fortifications of The Tet to the authoritarian engineered world of The Hex, each location requires different skills and strategies to master."
As for the branching narrative, it comes down to "your play style, and how you decide to resolve certain narrative situations." Recompile is about the creation of a self-aware AI – if you play too aggressively, you could "end up creating a similarly violent antagonist" – and there are multiple potential endings.
Another fun tidbit: "The game's entire story takes place within one second." I'll be keeping tabs.
Now that the Shiny Zeraora craze is pretty much all over (as far as the reward is concerned anyway), Game Freak has another set of Max Raid battles planned for Pokemon Sword and Shield.
This one is rock and steel themed, with an enhanced focus on Onix, Rhydon, Meowth, Rolycoly and Cufant evolutions. TMs like Heavy Slam, Drill Run or Power Gem will also be rewarded alongside of the rock and steel concept. The event will run through August 1 at 8:59AM JST (7:59PM ET).
As you may recall, this event previously bugged out the game, adding in an item that didn't exist in the game code yet. It's fixed now though!
Pokemon [Twitter]
Yesterday saw action-packed sky-fighting series Ace Combat celebrate its 25th anniversary. Publisher Bandai Namco marked the occasion with the announcement that the series' latest entry, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, has hit an impressive milestone of two million combined global shipments and digital sales.
Releases in January of 2019, Ace Combat 7 offers an advanced dog-fighting experience among the skies of "Strangereal," a continent currently caught up in the embittered "Lighthouse War." Players can choose to battle it out in a single-player campaign or numerous multiplayer modes, piloting a host of sophisticated aircraft and engaging in explosive air-to-air combat.
Team 17 has unveiled the latest entry in its long-running Worms franchise: a 32-players, real-time spin on the classic turn-based battle formula called Worms Rumble that's coming to PS4, PS5, and PC later this year - and, yes, it has a battle royale mode.
While the shift to real-time combat is a significant one, the classic Worms DNA is still very much evident in Worms Rumble, based on the announcement trailer below.
Slapstick battles are, for instance, still viewed from a side-on perspective as players hurl themselves around a series of colourful, partly destructible arenas - and it sounds like plenty of classic weapons will be returning too (alongside a variety of new additions), with Team 17 making reference to the likes of the Bazooka, Shotgun, Sheep, Holy Hand-grenade, and Banana Bomb in its announcement material.
Bandai Namco celebrated the Ace Combat series’s 25th anniversary with a special wallpaper and producer's message.
The post Ace Combat Series 25th Anniversary Celebrated With a Special Message appeared first on Siliconera.
I do not like The Last Of Us 2. I didn’t like the first one either (it kinda fell apart for me in the final act) and everything I’d heard about its sequel made it sound like a carnival of violence I’d feel okay about abstaining from. And yet, despite the foul taste left from others’ reviews, Naughty Dog’s childish…
The Division 2 received its second post-game raid, Operation Iron Horse, yesterday, setting off a mad dash by players and content creators to be the first in the world to finish the difficult mission. It took the eventual winners over eight hours to complete the raid, but what should have been a moment of celebration…
We've seen Steam rally behind the idea of digitally-hosted game demo events, and now Xbox is doing the same through a partnership with Summer Game Fest. ...
Can you spare some room for more fancy limited editions? Limited Run Games is counting on it.
The publisher went out on a limb with its own E3-adjacent press conference a couple of years ago, and 2020 – the year of work-from-home broadcasts – will be no different. Limited Run's show is airing on Twitch at noon Pacific on Wednesday, July 8 "with dozens of physical game announcements."
Above all, they're having fun. I could use some of that lately.
Happy last day of shooting! We trust that none of you will do any goofs with this picture. pic.twitter.com/Pn7uUMfvvv
— Limited Run Games (@LimitedRunGames) July 1, 2020
What are you hoping to see pop up next in the world of digital-to-physical small-batch publishing?
Crashing into an endless brick wall in your 2BC runs of Dead Cells? Same. I have a long way to go.
Motion Twin and Evil Empire patched Dead Cells today on Steam in an attempt to refine the difficulty curve "between Boss Cells." (It's coming soon to consoles.) With the Update of Plenty, basic 0BC runs will be a little more "challenging" so first-time players don't get ahead of themselves without learning fundamental lessons, and 2BC "shouldn't beat you up and take your lunch money anymore."
That's far from the only rework. Update 19 also altered crossbows to be two-handed, adjusted the gold economy and shop to be less "peculiar" (and encourage mid-run character build experimentation), buffed the long-term scaling for DPS mutations, and made damage-over-time effects stand out more.
There's another big adjustment for longtime players to grapple with: "Bonus stats have been removed from ++ and S gears, but to compensate new scrolls have been added in biomes, enemy damage has been reduced, and gear damage has been changed to increase with item level." As the developers explain, "this change was implemented to give back some importance to gear level, and in pair with the economy rebalance, give you more opportunities (and an incentive) to switch gears during your run."
Nier: Automata director Yoko Taro's free-to-play mobile RPG SINoALICE is, after a three year head start in Japan, finally making its way to iOS and Android in the west today, 1st July.
SINoALICE, which was developed by mobile studio Pokelabo, has been available in Japan since 2017, and is typical mobile fodder in many ways, festooning its simple real-time battles with the likes of gacha mechanics, premium currencies, and other assorted free-to-play trappings.
Where it deviates though is in its striking tone and presentation, offering a darkly atmospheric twist on familiar fairytale stories, with players able to battle - making use of over 150 weapons, each featuring their own lore - as a wide range of classic fairytale characters, including Alice, Snow White, Rapunzel, Red Riding Hood, and Cinderella.
Game Gear Micro Red has two Megami Tensei Gaiden games, the first handheld Shinobi, and the match-three puzzler Columns.
The post Game Gear Micro Red Games Get a Closer Look appeared first on Siliconera.
Photo: James Bareham/Polygon