September 2020

Nvidia just unveiled its new line of next-gen video cards under the new Ampere architecture. The 370, 380, and 390 are the second generation of RTX cards, reportedly providing a massive performance boost over the current crop of RTX cards, especially when it comes to features like real-time ray tracing and 4K gaming.

We've got you covered with all of the details from Nvidia's comprehensive live stream, including information on pricing, pre-orders, technical specs, and performance compared to current-gen cards. If numbers and graphs aren't enough to convince you, however, Nvidia has also released a video of Doom Eternal running on an RTX 3080 at maximum settings in 4K.

If you missed grabbing Into the Breach before, you don't need to try again in another timeline – the turn-based tactical mech game from FTL creator Subset is free today on the Epic Games Store.

You have until Thursday, September 10 to claim Into the Breach, and I can't recommend it enough.

We've been through this before, so I'll keep it brief. Unlike many other rogue-leaning games, it feels like your fate is always in your hands, even from the first hopeful run. You don't have to sweat bad RNG.

Longer-term, as you settle into the kaiju-infested world and uncover bulletproof strategies, you'll unlock a bunch of different mechs that work in drastically different ways – some of which you'll find easier than others – and there are fun challenges to shake up your tried-and-true playstyle. Such a cool game.

Next week, from September 10 to September 17, the Epic Games Store will give out the folklore narrative adventure Where the Water Tastes Like Wine and the train management sim Railway Empire.

There’s a cloud hanging over Marvel’s Avengers. Since the third-person action game was confirmed to be a Destiny-style online game, one question has persisted: Just how much of a grind are we looking at? Is Marvel’s Avengers, officially out tomorrow for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, more of an endless toil than an…

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The Witcher III: Wild Hunt Geralt in Bath Statuette | $59 | Amazon

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Halo 3 has a rat. It looks like what would happen if you genetically modified a potato to give it legs. So of course, the rat is beloved by the Halo community. Now, thanks to the magic of modding, you can play Halo 3 as the Halo 3 rat.

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The month of September was looking very dry when it comes to new Switch games but now, thanks to that unexpected Super Mario Bros. 35th anniversary direct, there’s at least one big title to look forward to and that’s Super Mario 3D All-Stars.

There’s also a lot of indie games releasing this month, as well as WWE 2K Battlegrounds, which is an over the top arcade wrestling title.

You can check out the entire list of new Switch games for September 2020 down below and you can keep scrolling to view more info on the notable releases.

We’ve got some new passengers aboard the Monster Train, folks, so let’s clear some seats and make some room. The Friends & Foes update arrives today, bringing a party of new heroes aboard the one-way trip to hell – alongside two new baddies, a more chilled-out final boss, and some shiny new artifacts to pick up along the way. Choo-choo, deckbuilders.

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Packed your bags? Shined your fangs? Good stuff – you wouldn’t want to be late for A Monster’s Expedition now, would you? Alan “Draknek” Hazelden (of A Good Snowman Is Hard To Build and Cosmic Express fame) and friends are taking us to a monstrously delightful puzzle archipelago next Tuesday, navigating a peculiar museum of old humanity by way of log-pushing puzzle-solving.

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• X-Factor/Superstar Ability Customization: This highly requested feature by the community allows commissioners to assign X-Factors to any player via the edit player feature. Once a player has met the criteria to unlock an X-Factor ability, commissioners will be able to edit their player's Superstar abilities and Superstar X-Factor ability by selecting from those available within his position group.

Produced by Ridley Scott, the show introduces a dense, hostile new universe full of bad parenting

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EA Sports developers plot out the first improvements coming to a much-criticized mode

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Time-traveling mechs fight alien bugs

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The Switch Pro Controller is also supported

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A mom I’d like to fight

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Minecraft Live, developer Mojang's digital celebration of all things Minecraft (complete with tantalisingly glimpses of things to come), will take place on 3rd October.

Minecraft Live was, of course, originally intended to be just one part of Mojang's event plans for 2020; back in February, the developer announced it would also be reviving its long dormant real-world live event format this year. Unfortunately, the global coronavirus pandemic rather scuppered those plans, shifting the real-world Minecraft Festival back to 2022, and leaving the online-focussed Minecraft Live as Mojang's primary event for 2020.

Now, the developer has confirmed that Minecraft Live will get underway at 5pm UK time/12pm EST on 3rd October, and that the community can look forward to updates on what the team has been working on this year, the chance to vote for Minecraft's next mob, plus other miscellaneous news, and "delightful banter". Also, chickens.

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We were a little disappointed when we found out that Madden 21's franchise mode felt nearly identical to last year's version. But, thankfully, a new post from the Official Madden Blog has revealed that three updates will be coming in the near future.

The first update, scheduled to be incorporated at some point in mid-November, looks to bring fan-requested features to franchise mode. These additions include X-Factor/Superstar ability customization, revamped player card statistics, balanced progression of player development and traits, and a visual playoff bracket that shines some light on the NFL's new Wild Card format. The blog post goes on to state that the list of updates may be subject to change, but EA Tiburon also promises that these new features will not require players to restart their franchises.

Does the update overhaul make you excited for the future of Madden's franchise mode? Here are some of our own push backs that we hope will be resolved in future Madden entries.

I've been a fan of Super Smash Bros. since the original Nintendo 64 release way back in 1999. Ever since then I've wavered in and out of being obsessed with the game to dropping it completely at times (thank you tripping in Brawl). But as I've grown older and gotten more into indie games, I've always felt that there was an untapped market for taking the Smash Bros. concept and giving it an indie skin. It almost worked with Rivals of Aether, but the itch was still there. Enter Bounty Battle.

Bounty Battle looks to stay in the vein of party fighters with an eclectic cast of characters and unique fighting styles. The catch is that Bounty Battle will feature faces from popular indie games from the past decade. It's an exciting and extensive list of games that the characters will be pulled from and there's sure to be something for everyone here.

The games include: Guacamelee!, Darkest Dungeon, Dead Cells, Awesomenauts, Nuclear Throne, Owlboy, Axiom Verge, SteamWorld Dig, Jotun, Battle Chasers Nightwar, Death’s Gambit, EITR, Super Comboman, Pankapu, Flinthook, Doko Roko, Tower of Samsara, Blubber Busters, Ruin of the Reckless, The Bug Butcher, Blasphemous, and Blocks That Matter.

Harmonix has never been left wanting for cool and innovative ideas that meld music and games. One such example went a bit under the radar in 2017 when Harmonix created some legitimately neat tech that allowed players to mash songs together on the fly. That was DropMix and it impressed most everyone who played it, but the expensive peripherals made it a tough sell for some.

Come November, Harmonix is basically releasing DropMix in video game form without the need for any additional devices. It's Fuser, a DJ mixing game where players take individual sections of popular songs and remix them against other songs, with options to change the tempo and key too. The possibilities are endless, and it seems like the kind of thing where Harmonix's tech will make even the most ridiculous mashup sound better than it has any right to.

Today, Harmonix announced that Fuser launches on November 10 on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One. Two months until the party kicks off. That's when you find out whether you can subvert Harmonix's intentions and come up with a creation that truly sounds like nails on a chalkboard.

Some good news, bad news-type stuff out of Torn Banner Studios recently. Ironically, we'll have to wait longer into the future to step very far back into the past.

Chivalry 2 has been delayed out of 2020 and into 2021. In an update on the game's site, Torn Banner explains that COVID has mucked up the developer's plans (literally everyone can empathize), forcing Chivalry 2 to be pushed back to next year.

However, this means that it'll launch on both new and old consoles. Chivalry 2 is coming to PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, an Xbox Series X. As noted during last year's reveal, the PC version will be a timed exclusive on the Epic Games Store.

The delay allows Torn Banner to include more features at launch, but your cavalry will have to stand on their own two feet for all the first-person medieval melee. Horses gallop onto the scene sometime post-launch. They'll be much needed reinforcements.

[Update: The developer has reached out and wants to make it super-extra-clear that the delay isn't the reason Chivalry 2 is coming to next-gen consoles. Those plans were already announced in June. However, it probably is the reason that it's launching on PS5 and Xbox Series X rather than getting ports a little while later -- but that's my read on the situation, not Torn Banner's official word.] 

Chivalry 2 Development Update -- August 2020 [Chivalry 2]

Microsoft is calling Microsoft Flight Simulator the "biggest game launch in Xbox Game Pass for PC history," and there's a concrete figure to back up that hazy milestone: over a million unique players.

The most popular airport? JFK. The longest flight? 10.39 hours.

It's been tough to gauge if existing fans are just that into the game and super vocal about it on social media or if Flight Simulator has tapped into a wider audience of players who haven't tried the series before or haven't touched it in many years. Either way, their jolly travels are begging to be shared.

I've considered Flight Simulator to be perfect fodder for Game Pass since it was announced, but to see it climb to the top is still impressive. Even though the sim is intriguing as a subscription inclusion, it's not necessarily an impulse decision – you've gotta set aside a lot of space and time to fully download it.

The real question, though, is how will it fare on Xbox One? We still don't have a release date. More niche games with wider audience potential will be greatly appreciated on Game Pass. Bring 'em on.

Microsoft Flight Simulator is the biggest game launch in Xbox Game Pass for PC history with over 1 million players to date [Xbox]

One of the best mainline Mario games ever was nowhere to be found during today’s Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary Direct.

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In this role, you will direct the SCAD Savannah visual effects department, develop curriculum, and teach classes annually as assigned ...

In this classic 2014 interview, the composer behind everything from Ocarina of Time to Super Mario 64 offers timeless advice to fellow video game composers. ...

It's been over five years since CD Projekt Red launched The Witcher 3, and even still the game remains a key contributor to CD Projekt's earnings. ...

Microsoft Flight Simulator received its first update yesterday and it’s proving rather popular, but its developers are not resting on laurels just yet.

Today they posted a new development update in which they announced that another patch that should address specific issues within the game is in the final testing phase and planned for this month.

We also get a development roadmap that hints to the fact that we should be getting updates in late October and December as well.

Interestingly, a feedback snapshot addresses feedback from the community and indicates what is being acted upon in this month’s update.

That includes wind simulation and water interaction, loading times, performance issues caused by glass cockpits and CPU with lower thread counts, insufficient inertia, and landing gear overspeed simulation.

Other issues are being addressed and marked as “in progress.” You can check them out below.

Today in the latest TWAB, Destiny 2 fans got a deep dive into what is going to happen with triumphs, seals, lore, and medals once Beyond Light hits in November, and as content is moved into the Destiny Content Vault for the first time.

It’s quite the deep dive into something that in the grand scheme of things is a fun side pursuit, but here are the cliff notes.

The simplest way to distill what Bungie will be doing with triumphs is that there will now be two scores at any given time. Your Career Score, which will keep track of every triumph you’ve ever completed, and also an Active Score which will track what is currently attainable in the game.

The reason the distinction is being made is because as content is moved into the DCV many triumphs, and also seals, will no longer be able to be achieved. Also, Bungie wants to make sure that your career history is preserved, while also having an up-to-date triumph system that new players that might have missed out on older content, can still participate in and max out potentially.

It was made explicitly clear that the following seals will no longer be attainable when Beyond Light hits, so make sure to get them if you haven’t already. You need to also equip them at least once to make sure they are definitely locked in.

• A Shadow Rises – Shadow 
• Reckoner – Reckoner 
• Black Armory – Blacksmith 
• Destinations – Wayfarer
• Lore – Chronicler
• Arrivals – Forerunner
• Season 5 through Season 11 titles 

Also, lore will be getting its own section now making it more prominent and easier to read according to Bungie. A very underrated change considering how good the lore is but how frustrating it is to keep up with.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2

doesn’t need to explain why its schoolyards, warehouses and backlots are devoid of human life. It’s a skateboarding game, who cares? Nevertheless, a little bit of worldbuilding has landed Tony’s kickflip adventure squarely in reality, revealing that at least one of the game’s school stages has been closed for Covid-19.

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[Editor's Note: This review and score cover only the multiplayer of Iron Harvest; you can read our review of the single-player campaign here.]

Iron Harvest's multiplayer is a unique take on the tactical real-time strategy game. It tries a new mix of balance of strategy, tactics, and speed that works in some ways, but is frustrating in others. Like I said in the single-player review, this is a very ambitious game, and the multiplayer has that same ambition – but it’s not quite as well realized here. There are only six maps at launch, for example, though more are promised in the coming month. As it stands at launch the bigger ideas are fun, but the deliberate balancing just isn't there yet.

There are three factions: Light, fast, harassing Polania with its long-range units; fearsome Saxony with its damage-resistant mechs that rarely give up ground; and Rusviet, the fierce, close-range fighters who specialize in finding and exploiting an enemy's weak points. The balance between the factions is pretty good, though some factions suffer in specific ways more than others. Rusviet, for example, has to rely on infantry or heroes for anti-armor since their mechs aren't very good at it.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/09/01/iron-harvest-single-player-review"]

Iron Harvest's basic rules are familiar: You build a very simple base composed of only three kinds of buildings. You must capture points to get resources, and can win the game by getting enough victory points or by destroying the enemy base. Defense is far less important than offense, and though you can build bunkers and mines they're too static for the fast-moving matches and rarely see play. The adage that "the best defense is a good offense" is well-used here.

• 00:00:00 Welcome! Gamescom news
• 00:14:00 What we would change about the Switch
• 00:28:30 Nintendo Direct drought…
• 00:38:37 Games out this week
• 00:43:18 What we're playing
• 00:51:38 Question Block!

• Ary and the Secret of Seasons - 9/1, $40
• Good Pizza, Great Pizza - 9/3, $8
• Spinch - 9/3, $15
• Paradise Killer - 9/4, $20
• NBA 2K21 - 9/4, $60
• Lair of the Clockwork God - 9/4, $20
• Here be Dragons - 9/3 - $17.99

NVC is available on your preferred platform!

What the heck is Disney Plus’ ‘Premier Access’?

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During the latest Division 2 State of the Game stream, "The Summit" endgame content was announced. Division agents must climb a 100-floor skyscraper, clearing each floor of alternating enemies. Boss battles take place every 10 floors and serve as checkpoints so that players don't have to start over at the 1st floor. The skyscraper itself changes every time players return adding an element of surprise as well as new, unexpected challenges. 

Players who already own the Warlords of New York expansion pack will have immediate access to The Summit. The new game mode doesn't have a solidified release date, but it will be available on the PC test servers in the near future. 

Endgame updates keep our favorite titles refreshing and engaging. Check out Marvel's Avengers' latest War Table stream for their endgame content plans. 

Splatfests are exceedingly rare nowadays. We just saw one wrap up in late August (eggs rule, chickens drool) but that was only the second in all of 2020. However, there are two more planned by the end of March 2021.

In a low-key rush-job section of this morning's knockout Mario Direct, Nintendo revealed one of those two Splatoon 2 Splatfests. In January, players will fight for their favorite Mario power-up. As Nintendo frames it "Which Super Mario power-up do you prefer? Supersize with a Super Mushroom or become invincible with a Super Star?"

It's not as slapdash as it may seem at first. Whichever side you choose says a lot about you. The star is for the reckless and the confident. It is for those who will bowl through everything now without an insurance policy for 10 seconds later. The mushroom, however, is for the responsible. It's for the person who adds to their 401(k) instead of buying a Porsche. Your mom would want you to be a mushroom person. (Well, you know what I mean.)

Like all of life's important questions, it'll be settled on the battlefield. Get your Rocky montage training sessions in now. Come January, we fight.