August 2020

Each month, Game Informer prints questions that are submitted by readers via email and standard mail. We'd like to give our website readers the chance to make the magazine as well.

You'll need to log in to your GI account, and click "okay to print" for your letter or question to go through. We'd also love it if you included your location (city, state, or country will do). We'll look through the questions and pick a few to include in our next issue, which releases on October 5.

In each issue, we ask readers a "Question of the Month." For the Marvel's Midnight Suns issue that should be hitting mailboxes now, we ask...

"Do you think Steam Deck will be as successful in the handheld space as Switch?"

You can answer this question and/or include any other feedback you want. Thank you again for all of your support throughout the years, and we hope many of you get the chance to have your letter printed in an upcoming issue!

The PlayStation 5 is here, but that doesn’t mean you should count out the PlayStation 4. In fact, given how hard it is to get your hands on a PS4, Sony’s last-gen console is probably your best bet for playing PlayStation games. And, oh man, are there a ton of all-timers. From tight puzzle games to sprawling open-world…

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The latest guidelines and health updates as theater chains reopen for new movies

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On the original poster for Studio Ghibli’s My Neighbor Totoro, as well as on the DVD and Blu-ray cover, there is a mysterious girl standing next to Totoro. She isn’t Satsuki or Mei, and this girl does not appear in the movie. Yet, there she is.

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Featured Deal: Watch Dogs Legion | $20 | Amazon

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Don’t get attached

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You can now make your strong Pokémon even stronger

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[Update: After sitting on the listings for two months, Sega has finally confirmed the double-packs officially. They are: Team Sonic Racing + Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces + Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD. They're out today for $39.99 each and you can find images for them below.]

Sega loves to bundle all their games together from time to time: bonus points of a bunch of Sonic titles are headlining it!

While I miss the days of rampant economical collections (sometimes we still get them!), double-packs are alive and well, as evidenced by a new Amazon listing from Sega. Simply titled Sonic Mania + Team Sonic Racing Double Pack, the Switch bundle is a physical release for both of the aforementioned games in one SKU. The retail price? $39.99.

As a note: this isn't a horrible deal, especially for hardcore collectors. Sonic Mania and Team Sonic Racing will run you around $35 each for new physical copies on Switch. Digitally, Sonic Mania is $19.99 on the eShop, with Team Sonic Racing clocking in at $39.99. At the worst, this bundle could drive the physical prices down for each game. We've reached out to Sega to see exactly what version of Sonic Mania is included here.

Sonic Mania + Team Sonic Racing Double Pack [Amazon] Thanks Jeff!

Preorder Pikmin 3 Deluxe

• Get it at Amazon - $59.96
• Get it at Amazon (digital copy) - $59.99
• Get it at Best Buy - $59.99
• Get it at GameStop - $59.99
• Get it at Walmart - $59.99
• Get it at Nintendo eShop (digital copy) - $59.99

PERLESMITH TV Wall Mount | $30 | Amazon | Use code PSLF250OFF

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State-by-state instructions on getting an absentee ballot

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AuKing Mini Projector | $63 | Amazon | Promo Code 4G63N2XD

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Final Fantasy VII Remake | $45 | Best Buy

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It’s exploitative, shallow horror that limits Monáe’s voice

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The Walking Dead Collection (PS4) | $24 | Amazon
The Walking Dead Collection (XBO) | $19 | Amazon

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You hear this said about annualized sports games every year, but this year it has a lot more truth to it than usual: NBA 2K21 is more of the same. That’s good in some ways: none of the minor changes have done anything to spoil the exceptional on-court experience, which accurately emulates the play and style of NBA basketball. Of course, it repeats the sins of its predecessor as well: Off the court, NBA 2K21 remains a disjointed mess and riddled with noxious pay-to-win microtransactions that leave a bad taste in my mouth. The addition of shot-stick aiming and a MyCareer reskin are nice improvements, but it’s becoming harder to ignore the lack of upgrades to key game modes while the focus on monetization only intensifies.

Plenty of games have followed in the action-looter footsteps of Destiny, but few have done so with a universe as exciting as Marvel’s Avengers. It’s a loot-based brawler full of superhero flavor, but the joy of smashing villains in the face with Captain America’s shield can unfortunately only carry it so far. While its single-player campaign is good on its own merits, that’s only a small portion of the whole package – and the endgame loot grind that’s meant to be the meat of the meal is an overly repetitive (and surprisingly buggy) mess that gave me very little reason to stick around.

The main menu of Avengers actually has one button that launches its very strong “Reassemble” campaign, and another for its painfully repetitive and unrewarding “Avengers Initiative” multiplayer. Right off the bat, it warns you that the latter option is full of campaign spoilers, and you’ll still need to get almost to the end of the former to unlock all six heroes currently available. In this way, you could decide to just treat Avengers as a single-player game by playing its roughly 10-hour campaign and ignoring its multiplayer altogether if a game-as-a-service treadmill style of play wasn’t what you were looking for.

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[Update: Sega has confirmed that Yakuza: Like a Dragon will launch on November 10 on Xbox Series X/S. It also slyly hints that "release information on all platforms (read: PS5) in the coming weeks." We might have a timeline for Sony's big PS5 date/price reveal, if not sooner.]

We are about to enter new territory when it comes to the Yakuza series, and we're all going to be doing it together: On November 13.

Today, Sega has announced that Yakuza: Like a Dragon will be available on PC, Xbox One and PS4 on that very date, with vague promises of when the next-generation versions will hit. Sega has clarified, and say it with me now, that the Xbox Series X edition will be available "on day one of its release," with the PS5 port coming "at a later date."

Sega is celebrating the news with a trailer titled "How Will You Rise," which showcases more RPG elements of the game and our hero Ichiban Kasuga. This is a very rapid-fire clip, showcasing "20+ unique jobs" and some of the wackier elements of Like a Dragon in just under two minutes.

It's entirely possible that the Xbox Series X is actually out on November 13, and "day one of its release" is just third party PR talk for "Microsoft is the one that gets to announce its console release date."

Previously, on this review of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition, my Clavat caravaner completed his fourth year of travels, meeting some new friends and enemies along the way. And while his caravan is capable of holding three other adventurers, he completed his journeys alone. But riding solo on the road can get lonely, so for the second half of his quest to rid the world of miasma, he wanted to find a friend he could travel with.

Oh, if only it were that simple.

This episode of New Releases is taking a look at some of the biggest games launching in September. The new month starts off with a bang, with the action-packed Marvel's Avengers, the amped-up NBA 2K21, and the trick-filled Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 all dropping on the same day. There are also two big re-releases on the horizon: Crysis Remastered and Mafia: Definitive Edition.

Marvel's Avengers -- September 4

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Stadia

As you'd expect, Avengers lets you team up with friends to take on threats together. There's a whole squad of superheroes to choose from, including Iron Man, Black Widow, The Hulk, and more. Of course, each hero has their own set of powers and abilities, and you can rank them up by collecting loot and filling out skill trees.

Gunfire Games and Perfect World Entertainment recently released the Remnant: From the Ashes – Complete Edition, and we’re celebrating with a brand new giveaway.

With this giveaway, you can win one of six PS4, Xbox One, and PC codes of the Complete Edition (including the main game, the Swamps of Corsus DLC, and the Subject 2923 DLC), Kindly offered by the publisher. To be specific, we have two codes for each platform.

The way to get involved is 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.

IMPORTANT: Given the fact that we have two codes per platform, you will need to add your platform of choice to the end of each comment to make sure that you receive the game for the appropriate console. This means “PS4,” “Xbox One,” or “PC”. You can pick only one platform per comment. Only comments with the indication of your platform preference will be eligible.

Do keep in mind that PS4 codes are for the North American PlayStation Store, but you can use them regardless of when you live with a North American PSN account. PC codes are for Steam.

Pre-Order Marvel’s Avengers (PS4, Xbox One) | $60 | Best Buy

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[Update: These games are live later today! Make sure you grab Fall Guys and Modern Warfare 2 if you haven't already.]

PlayStation Plus! You're back again!

Last month gave us the unlikely pairing of Fall Guys and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, with the former scoring very big within the PlayStation community. This month we're getting another shooter, as well as another fairly interesting pick.

Alongside of the ever-enduring battle royale PUBG, the always-polarizing Street Fighter V will arrive on PlayStation Plus on September 1. We've reached out to Sony to clarify exactly what that release entails, but it seems like this is going to be the $19.99 "PlayStation Hits" version and not the "all-the-bells-and-whistles-edition." Capcom's got DLC and extra SKU add-ons to sell you! As a reminder, the Championship Edition Upgrade Kit is $24.99.

Sony also says that Street Fighter V tournaments will start on September 4 in the US and Canada, with prizes that include a "unique PS4 theme" and a custom in-game title. Both games will be listed on the service until October 5, so make sure you redeem them starting next Tuesday.

While Tokyo Game Show will be hosted exclusively online this year, Japanese developers are already gearing up to participate, and among them is Square Enix.

The publisher opened its special site for the event and the lineup includes plenty of games that will be showcased.

Here is a list. 

• Marvel’s Avengers
• Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory
• Dragon Quest XI S Definitive Edition
• Collection of SaGa
• Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai games
• Babylon’s Fall
• Balan Wonderworld
• War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
• Toji to Miko
• Dragon Quest X
• Dragon Quest Rivals Ace
• Final Fantasy XIV
• Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
• Romancing SaGa Re:Universe
• Dragon Quest Walk
• Dragon Quest Tact
• Dragon Quest Monsters 2: Iru and Luca’s Mysterious Key
• Final Fantasy Trading Card Game

Yet, perhaps the most interesting part is in the schedule for the livestreams split over four days.

There are five slots marked as “coming soon” which possibly indicates unannounced games.

Those slots are on September 24 at 6:00 pm and 10:00 pm local time, on September 26 at 12:30 pm local time and 10:00 pm local time, and on September 27 at 4:00 pm local time. 

It’s worth mentioning that possibly not all of them are unannounced games, because Babylon’s Fall and Balan Wonderworld appear in the lineup but not yet in the schedule.

Today Takara Tomy released a new gameplay trailer of Zoids Wild Infinity Blast, alongside the release date for the Japanese market.

The game will launch locally on November 26, exclusively for Nintendo Switch. 

At the moment, a western release of this game, which is the second on Nintendo’s hybrid console, has not been announced.

The trailer showcases both CGI cutscenes and plenty of gameplay featuring well-known Zoids.

You can check it out below alongside a previous one, which I had missed when it was released, so you’re getting it now. 

If you want to see more, you can also check out a gallery of screenshots released with the original announcement.

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown is going to expand its aerial arsenal with three new aircraft. This new DLC is scheduled for an autumn release, and contains the ASF-X Shinden II, XFA-27, and the CFA-44 Nosferatu planes. All of these have appeared in earlier entries in the franchise.

You can check them out in action in the trailer below. As well as these planes, the DLC will contain new weapons, skins, and emblems--the skins are revealed in the trailer alongside the new aircraft. It's unclear how much this DLC will cost, and a specific release date has not been announced yet.

At the same time, a free update will unlock a new, easier difficulty level for Ace Combat 7. The new difficulty is called "Casual Easy," and is designed as an entry point for players who struggle with the harsher elements of Ace Combat.

Anu Chouhan is an illustrator and character artist from Canada working in the video game business.

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Players get banned for cheating every day, but you know who usually doesn’t get smited from the competitive heavens? Coaches.

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One of the most exciting new additions for NHL 21 is the "Michigan" skill move, so when the game's closed technical test went live today, people understandably tried to pull it off.

However, it's proving to be exceptionally difficult--so much so that some believe it might be bugged. Hockey YouTuber Nasher says he's tried more than 500 times but hasn't been able to do it. He even created a "dangler" build to give himself a greater chance, but it still isn't working for him.

For what it's worth, EA Sports said players should expect The Michigan to be an extremely difficult deke to pull off in NHL 21 to replicate the high degree of difficult of the real-life move. The studio has said it will use feedback from the closed tech test to tune this deke specifically, so whatever experience you get in the tech test may not reflect the final game.

Yandere Simulator developer YandereDev finally made an announcement today that fans of the game have been waiting a long time for.

The first full-fledged rival Osana is now complete, and the developer released the previously-promised official demo of the game, which comes with a lot of content and pretty much the ability to try out the full gameplay loot.

The next step, if feedback is positive, will be a crowdfunding campaign to help finance professional developer that will bring the game to completion. 

The developer also released an extensive video in which he explains in depth the state of development and what comes next. 

At the moment, we don’t know exactly when the crowdfunding campaign will launch, as YandereDev wants to gather feedback from the demo and make possible changes to refine the experience before making the jump. 

You can check out the v below and download the demo here. 

Yandere Simulator is coming for PC and doesn’t yet have an official release date.

Total War: Three Kingdoms is getting a massive free update soon, and it'll bring many additions and changes to the game. Update 1.6.0 will introduce new playable character Shi Xie, along with unique faction mechanics, as well as a map rework, a new unit type, and much more.

The update will arrive alongside the game's next DLC, The Furious Wild, on September 3. Shi Xie will be playable in 190 CE and 194 CE start dates, and comes with two unique mechanics: Splendor and Tribute Chests. Splendor "can be gained by smuggling family members into important court positions," and provides the player with bonuses relative to the court positions their family members hold. Tribute chests can be unlocked with splendor, and will provide bonuses for 20 turns.

Shi Xie will bring multiple members of his family with him, including three brothers and five sons.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is adding cross-play support between Xbox One and PC in a future update, and now developer 343 Industries has shared some details on how it will work and what's being done to ensure a fair experience.

Technical designer Dana Jerpback said in a blog post that there will be input-based matchmaking for certain playlists. "We are looking at input-based matchmaking being implemented at the playlist level. This allows us to have more control on where we do and don’t separate players into sub-groups," Jerpback said.

"Basically, what that means in terms of implementation, in certain playlists, players will be locked to a given input, and we will have a couple of different knobs we can tune to alter this experience over time," the developer added.

Moon: Remix RPG Adventure is a niche “anti-RPG” from 1997 that last week made its way westward, for the first time ever, via Switch. While the digital manual provides some much-appreciated assistance, I recently found myself stuck in a game-ending situation that would have been entirely avoidable had I respected the…

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Madden NFL 21 didn't have the smoothest release. As with many of the previous years' releases, this year's Madden was criticized by many reviewers, including here at GameSpot, for its bugs and oddities.

EA has now reiterated that launch is just the beginning for the game. "Madden NFL is a live service and longtime players know that launch is just the start of the annual Madden journey," EA said in a blog post.

To that end, Title Update 2 came out with the game's official release on August 28, and it includes fixes for Face of the Franchise and Ultimate Team, among other areas of the game. EA is planning another, more substantial update to be released in September closer to the start of the NFL season. This patch sounds like it will provide fixes for some of Madden 21's more annoying and frustrating bugs.

Dragon Ball FighterZ will now be temporarily or permanently banning players who disconnect from online matches on a consistent basis.

According to an in-game message, developer Arc System Works will be placing temporary one-week bans for players who deliberately disconnect from online games and could possibly turn into a permanent ban if done often enough. The full message:

We will now be imposing restrictions on players who deliberately disconnect during online matches. These players will be restricted from entering online lobbies for a set period of time (about one week).

(During this restricted period, players will still be able to play in the offline lobby.) If you are unintentionally disconnecting several times, please check your internet connection settings.

If a player is found to be repeatedly engaging in the above behavior, the restrictions mentioned above may become permanent for that player.

We will continue to do what we can to ensure all players have an enjoyable experience with the game.

The message gives no information about how many times one can rage-quit before receiving a ban, or how the system will differentiate between deliberate and accidental disconnects.

Dragon Ball FighterZ is now available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. The next downloadable content character, Master Roshi, will become playable sometime in September.

Crusader Kings 3, Paradox Interactive's newest addition to its medieval strategy RPG series, is out September 1. Ahead of the launch, we've rounded up a selection of reviews to help you decide if Crusader Kings 3 is worth it.

Critics generally praised Crusader Kings 3 highly. It has everything that players loved Crusader Kings 2 for: an imaginative and expansive strategy component, coupled with an in-depth and compelling RPG element.

David Wildgoose, in GameSpot's Crusader Kings 3 review, gave the game a high score of 8/10. Wildgoose stated, "[T]he singular vision of Crusader Kings 3 [is] a grand strategy game that successfully operates across a bewildering scale, feeling vast and unknowable one moment yet awkwardly intimate the next. It's a marvel of connectivity, effectively linking together complementary elements plucked from different genres--the role-playing game, the visual novel, the life simulation, the city-builder, the wargame--even if at times you can sense it straining at the seams."

Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries has shared some new details about the game's story--specifically, the studio has revealed a new enemy character. Jega 'Rdomnai is a member of The Banished, which is the evil faction of aliens in Halo Infinite. Here is how 343 summed up Jega in a post on Halo Waypoint:

"In hushed whispers throughout the ranks of the Banished, Jega ‘Rdomnai’s name is spoken of with care. The blademaster’s history is shrouded in rumor and half-truths. Some say he was an experiment, an affront to his own kind. Others make mention of a clandestine ambush gone wrong. Very few know the truth, fewer still speak of it. One thing is certain: he has hunted demons before, and as the first recruit welcomed into the Hand of Atriox, he will do so again."

Jega is further described as a "mysterious and battle-ravaged Sangheli warrior." He is one of "several" new characters that players will meet in Halo Infinite, 343 said.