November 2020

Those early [cms-block] deals just keep on coming over at Amazon UK, and today you can nab a 250GB Crucial MX500 SSD for just £30. 250GB may not be large enough to hold many games, but it’s a great size for having as your main Windows drive, and the Crucial MX500 is one of the best budget SATA SSDs you can buy today, too. It’s the perfect combination – especially when this matches the cheapest price the 250GB MX500 has ever been, too.

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The third ever Apex Legends map, the floating island of Olympus, features quite a few differences from the previous two locations of Kings Canyon and World’s Edge. From its brand new array of loot-filled locations to its long sightlines and fast travel times, there’s a lot to learn about this place – and our Apex Legends Olympus map guide will get you off to the best possible start with a close look at the map and all its major locations.

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One week after a job listing said Motive were hiring for “an upcoming Star Wars action game”, the Star Wars: Squadrons studio have said oops nope, not true, no Star War here. It was “human error”, they say. Typical humans. No, whatever it is they are making next (and they do hint they’re “working on something pretty special”), apparently we will not see a single Galaxy-class starship or Ferengi.

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Today Nippon Ichi Software released a new trailer for its dungeon-crawling JRPG Labyrinth of Galleria: Coven of Dusk.

The trailer introduces a few characters and the classes of the puppet soldiers that can be trained to fight at our services.

These include a melee attacker, a ranged attacker, a tank, and a magic attacker and healer.

The game is finally releasing in Japan on November 26 for PS4 and PlayStation Vita.

Yes. Let that sink. There isn’t a Nintendo Switch version, but the PS Vita is getting a fond farewell from Nippon Ichi software.

You can enjoy the trailer and the art below.

A day after winning her second term in the US House of Representatives, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has revealed that another Twitch stream is in the works--though first, she needs a nap.

AOC made waves in the gaming world when she sat down for her first Twitch stream in late October, playing Among Us with fellow Representative Ilhan Omar, as well as popular streamers including Pokimane, DrLupo, and more. Her stream reached a peak of over 430,000 concurrent viewers, and when combined with other co-streamers figures, likely reached over 700,000 viewers at its peak.

After her domination on stream, AOC celebrated another victory in this week's election, breezing into her second term in the US House of Representatives over a Republican challenger with over $10 million backing his campaign.

Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass subscription service has drawn comparisons to Netflix, with some calling it the "Netflix of Games." Xbox's Jason Ronald said in a new interview that he is flattered by that comparison--as Netflix is one of the biggest and most successful entertainment brands on Earth--but he also pointed out that it's not exactly a great comparison.

"To be compared to somebody like Netflix is flattering, but we think about it differently," Ronald told Inverse. "It really comes down to how can we find new ways to get more people to enjoy the art form that we all love. Plenty of people prefer physical media, and we support that with Xbox Series X. Then you look at something like Game Pass, which gets people trying and playing more games. Maybe you're new to a franchise, or have limited funds to devote to entertainment. With Game Pass, we eliminate that barrier. That's what we're really focused on--how do we reduce barriers so more people can find and play games they love?"

Before this, Xbox boss Phil Spencer also spoke out about how calling Game Pass the "Netflix of Games" is not quite accurate or even what Microsoft is trying to achieve.

A new game called Werewolf Among Us has become the most downloaded free game on the App Store in China this week, the South China Morning Post reported. It overtook gaming behemoth Tencent's Honour of Kings and Peacekeeper Elite to claim the top spot.

The clone boasts similar, if more cutesy graphics to Innersloth's surprise hit Among Us, and is set in a medieval castle instead of in space. Developed by a relatively unknown company called Shenzhen Youliang Technology, the game dropped on October 28 and has since racked up over 478,000 downloads, becoming the most popular of a number of Among Us clones being rushed for the Chinese market.

Apex Legends Season 7 is just hours away from starting, with the new season projected to land at 8 PM PT / 11 PM ET, November 4. With the start of a new season, one of Apex Legends' best--and definitely its most iconic--maps will be sent to the vault for a while, meaning you have just a few hours to play on it.

Kings Canyon will not be a part of Apex Legends Season 7, meaning that in a few hours it'll be locked away until a future season. The map, which has changed over time as new seasons and events have shifted the landscape, is a beloved classic--and it's worth dropping in for a last round or two before it goes away.

Spelunky 2 has had another update, and it's made some big changes that will make some parts of the game a little easier, and others, perhaps, a little harder. Patch 1.15.0 is now available on Steam and PS4. The biggest changes have been applied to the Olmec boss fight, although whether they help you beat the fight or not will depend on how you usually fight it.

The Olmec boss fight has been tweaked so that the boss will now only throw bombs at a player when they are below him. This means that bombs are only thrown when they might do some damage, which could make it harder to take Olmec down. However, the floaters sent out by the boss have had their HP reduced down to 1HP, so they'll be easier to take down now.

Layer doors have also been added on the right in Olmec's level.

The patch contains a long list of fixes and changes, too. The physics are now a bit more forgiving and less likely to crush players, and players will find that grabbing something in a hurry is now more responsive. Some other changes target exploits, like spamming the attack while climbing.

Here's the full list of changes and tweaks introduced in this update.

EA Motive, the studio behind the recently released Star Wars: Squadrons, has confirmed it has multiple projects in the works, but they are not Star Wars games.

A job listing spotted by GamesRadar mentioned specifically that EA Motive was hiring for an upcoming "Star Wars action game." However, the job listing apparently contained an error, and this project is not related to Star Wars.

EA Motive said on Twitter that "human error" was involved in the mistake. "Due to human error (hey, it happens!) we’ve seen a lot of speculation. While we're not working on a new Star Wars project, we are working on something pretty special," the studio said.

There's no question that Animal Crossing: New Horizons was one of the biggest games of 2020. The latest entry in the popular franchise launched on March 20, just as many people were starting to stay home due to COVID-19. Its highly anticipated release contributed to a massive spike in Nintendo Switch console sales and shortages, with people eager for a new form of entertainment to enjoy safely at home. Now the second best-selling Switch game of all time, Animal Crossing: New Horizons was embraced by millions of fans new and old, sparking a major resurgence for the series and introducing it to a new generation of gamers as well.

In addition to New Horizons, a new limited-edition Animal Crossing Switch console was released earlier this year, and though it sold out fast at launch, Nintendo recently restocked the system at major retailers. A slew of new Animal Crossing merchandise hit stores this year as well, offering new Switch accessories, apparel, and more for fans to add to their collection.

If you're shopping for an Animal Crossing fan this holiday season, you've got plenty of options to choose from--in fact, there's an almost overwhelming amount of Animal Crossing merch out there these days. To keep you from having to wade through all the Isabelle plushies and villager Amiibo out there, we've done it for you and rounded up the very best Animal Crossing gift ideas for fans of New Horizons and the series as a whole. From carrying cases and controllers to T-shirts, Nendoroids, and more, here are some of the best Animal Crossing gifts for 2020.

Fans of sleeper hit ghost-hunting sim Phasmophobia may be disappointed to know that the developer has officially canned any plans to bring a PvP mode to the game.

At one point, Phasmophobia's public Trello board mentioned the addition of a PvP mode where one player could control the ghost being hunted. But in an interview with IGN, Kinetic Games' sole dev Dknighter said that he added that PvP post to gauge reactions, but he currently has no plans to add a PvP mode.

"Right now I have no plans to add another game mode, as it would turn the game into something completely different, and push the game away from what I want it to be. I want the game to remain 4 players vs. 1 AI, and balance the game, then add new features around that style of gameplay," Dknighter stated in the interview.

The PlayStation 5 DualSense controller has been going out to customers ahead of the PS5 launch, and it's already gotten picked apart quite a bit by the community. One such deep drive into the hardware shows what appears to be a previously unknown customization feature.

As seen in a video from YouTuber John Glasscock, the black piece of the DualSense faceplate can be easily removed. That suggests it could be replaced with a customized faceplate. Though Sony has not announced alternative plates, it seems likely that this could attract third-parties to offer their own designs.

But, it's not clear whether Sony would allow this kind of sale. A third-party had planned to sell customized PS5 faceplates for the console hardware itself but changed its plans after Sony issued a legal notice. Instead, the company is offering vinyl skins, which cost less than the plates.

In Japan, Sony won't sell the PlayStation 5 in shops due to coronavirus.

The Japanese PlayStation Blog made the announcement (thanks, Kotaku). In the post, Sony said the spread of coronavirus is still a concern, "and therefore, to protect customers, retailers, and staff, we have no plans to do events or sell the PS5 in-store when it goes on sale".

PS5 goes on sale on 12th November in Japan, and a week later in the UK. Sony said those in Japan with in-store PS5 pre-orders should contact shops to arrange an alternative.

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Nintendo has recorded huge profits for 2020 and raised its financial forecasts for the year as it sold millions more Switch consoles, and tens of millions more copies of both new and evergreen games.

Super Mario 3D All-Stars has shifted 5.21m copies in just 12 days (Nintendo's sales data only runs up to 30th September) - a total number perhaps boosted by Nintendo's bizarre decision to remove it from sale at the end of March.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is now on an incredible 26m sales since launch in March - double the sales of predecessor New Leaf. Its enormous sales place it just behind the Switch's top-selling game and long-time evergreen seller Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which is now on 29m.

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The Xbox Series X and S have a handy "Optimised for Xbox Series X/S games" filter.

This is something spotted by Xbox console preview users last month, and was just tweeted by Microsoft's Larry Hryb.

You can access the filter from the Games list.

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Disc Room had me googling those funny spirograph shapes you sometimes get on bank notes. After a while, I guess, I don't see the discs anymore. I see the trajectories. The ways that some swoop, some follow, the ways that some advance and then slow and then boost off again. I close my eyes and there are these luminous spirograph trails in the darkness. Possible gaps in between them if I thread my way though. No discs, just movement, just arcs.

This game is compact and mysterious: I properly love it. On the one hand, it does exactly what it says it will. There are rooms and the rooms are filled with discs. The discs generally move about and if you come into contact with them you are very dead. It's a top down affair: left, right, up and down. Avoid the discs!

And then you die. And this is what Disc Room wants. You unlock new doors to new rooms by dying after having met specific criteria. Survive for five seconds, ten seconds, twenty. Succumb to every kind of disc available. Some of the criteria are really simple to understand. Sometimes it's easy to understand but very hard to achieve. Stay alive for twenty seconds in a certain number of rooms! Unlock more doors, and the connections between rooms grow. Sometimes the criteria is hard to understand! Mysteries. This game is a bit of a puzzle box.

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Valve has added a new Steam Playtest feature that lets developers easily invite players to test their games.

It means developers no longer have to bother with managing keys or external mailing lists, Valve said in an announcement on Steam. They control how many players get access, when they want to add more players, when to open testing and when to end it.

Existing tools such as demos and release-override beta Steam keys, which are already in use, will remain. Steam Playtest is an option in addition to these.

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Nintendo updated its list of top-selling Switch and 3DS titles with the latest quarterly results.

The post Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Continues to Lead Nintendo’s List of Top-Selling Switch Games appeared first on Siliconera.

Get ready for a makeover. The Demon's Souls character creator has 12 appearance categories with elements you can customize.

The post Demon’s Souls Character Creator Has ‘16 Million Permutations’ appeared first on Siliconera.