December 2020

Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa was supposed to start an animation revolution, but...

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From F1 to NHL, these games reminded us how much we take for granted

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There's a new Genshin Impact banner, but going for Albedo might not be wise. Bennett is the real draw and, if you don't need him, it's a good time to take a break.

The post Should You Pull on Genshin Impact’s Albedo Banner? appeared first on Siliconera.

With many of us unable to travel, it’s nice to virtually visit holiday destinations, albeit virtually. Orbx’s newest airport add-on Bastia-Poretta (LFKB) for Microsoft Flight Simulator is perfect for this purpose.

The airport is located in Corsica, France, and it sees a lot of international seasonal traffic on top of regular flights from domestic destinations. Of course, it also involves plenty of general aviation activity.

It’s located in an absolutely gorgeous area on the north-eastern coast of Corsica with a lovely approach passing by stunning mountains facing the sea. This makes the airport attractive even before we take a look at the specific scenery.

The add-on is available on Orbx’s own store for about $19 and can be easily and quickly installed via the developer’s Orbx Central client.

If you’d like to check out the airport in detail, you can enjoy a video below, alongside a second at the bottom of the review showcasing night lighting, rain, and snow. A third video shows an approach to Runway 34’s ILS Z.

Christmas music as a genre is rife with earworms (I’ve got chuffing Slade stuck in my own head right now) but the makers of Baldur’s Gate 3 have gone one step further with Christmas brainworms. Larian Studios today dropped the surprise Christmas present of Tadpole For You, Tadpole For Me – a festive song about being infested by Mind Flayer parasites. And yes, the devs sing it themselves. After all, iiiiiiiiiiiiitt’s Christmaaaaas. Ah god damn it.

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The RPS podcast network (comprising this podcast and The PC Gaming Weekspot) didn’t want to leave you bereft over the break, so we’ve got a little Christmas Eve treatette for you, stuffed right down in your filthy stocking. Yes, it’s a mini podcast – by which I mean about 40 minutes, which is actually quite maxi – where we just have a little chat about what games we’ll be playing over Christmas, and some of our Christmas traditions.

There is a very heated bit about cooking sprouts that, if I’m honest, takes up most of the run time, because it devolves into us interrogating Matthew about why he thinks fruit isn’t allowed to be added to the preparation of non-fruit foods.

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So you better believe

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The Alliance Alive is headed to two new platforms, as the HD Remastered version will show up on Android and iOS devices in Japan.

The post The Alliance Alive HD Remastered Will Regroup on Mobile Devices appeared first on Siliconera.

Square Enix Japan has released a new trailer for its upcoming adventure sequel Bravely Default II, ahead of its launch on Nintendo Switch in February 2021. The video focuses on the mythical kingdom of Wiswald, one of the many regions players will visit on their epic journey.

As one would expect from a city established by mages, Wiswald is an exceptionally magical place, serving as the home of the Magic Research Institute, which both trains young magic-casters while also working as the governing body of the region. However, it appears that Wiswald has been pretty lax on the upkeep lately, with the local plant-life and foliage growing out-of-control, and threatening to engulf the town entirely.

Bravely Default II will launch on Nintendo Switch February 26. You can check out CJ Andriessen's thoughts on the recent demo right here.

Square Enix and Platinum Games' Nier: Automata has now surpassed 5 million copies shipped and sold digitally. ...

The games that resonated with me were games that connected me with other people, that encouraged persistence in the face of hell itself, and intimate stories that would be lessened if told in any other format other than video games. ...

In the first exclusive video from our month of Hitman 3 coverage, Senior Editor Jeff Cork sits down with Mattias Engström, Game Director at IO Interactive, to ask 79 rapid-fire questions about the game, including which assassinations are the series' best, what it's like controlling Agent 47 in VR, and of course, what fans should expect from the exciting conclusion of the World of Assassination trilogy. 

Click the banner below for more exclusive coverage of Hitman 3, including the 5 Things You Should Know About Hitman 3 or our full cover story from Issue #332.

It’s been two weeks since Cyberpunk 2077 officially released. In my initial impressions, I wrote that I was ready for everyone—developer CD Projekt Red, the studio’s PR people, fans—to stop talking about the game and just let me play it. I’ve been playing steadily since before launch, but weeks later, it feels like…

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Alright, that’s it. RPS is concluded for 2020. We wish you a merry Christmas, a happy Hogmanay, a Festivus for the rest of yous, and a general good’un for whatever else you might be doing after the RPS treehouse falls empty. We’ve left Horace a big bowl of Twiglets, Nate’s put a mince & onion pie out for Jason Statham, a series of traps involving Warhammer 40K figurines and coconut crabs should deter burglars, and a few posts are scheduled for the break. Hold tight. We’ll see you back on Monday, the 4th of January, 2021.

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Sometimes, you only have a few minutes to pick away at a game. Casual or mobile games are great for that! Or maybe even bigger games you just don't take seriously.

The post Our Favorite Games to Play Casually appeared first on Siliconera.

To say 2020 was a rough year would be an understatement. But there were a few games that were real bright spots!

The post What Were 2020’s Most Uplifting Games? appeared first on Siliconera.

As we reported recently, World of Warcraft Classic is quietly nearing the end of its major content cadence.

So what's next? Well, we probably would have gotten that news this past November if BlizzCon would have happened. Instead, we'll likely get it in February during Blizzard's BlizzCon Online festivities.

But before that happens, what do you want from WoW Classic?

It's that time of year again. The holidays are a time to send love to those closest to you, get cozy on a cold winter's day, and find the craziest Christmas-themed Steam games to play with your friends. 

One of our favorite traditions at Game Informer is putting together the holiday episode of Replay, and this year didn't disappoint. Join Andrew Reiner, Dan Tack, Joe Juba, and me as we pick some truly bonkers Christmas games and celebrate the holiday the only way we know how. 

First up is Christmas Adventures: A Winter Night's Dream, a hidden objects game that not only tests our eye but our patience as well. After that, we boot up Cold Call, a horror game that tasks us with solving the supernatural disappearance of a family on Christmas eve. Next up is The Santa Paradox which...actually, I've already played the game, and I'm still not sure what it was about. There were pumpkins and a kid wanting to be a wizard. Anyway, we round out the show with one last game that I won't spoil for you, but I can promise it's one of my favorite titles we've played during my time on Replay.

God, this year sucked. Video games were supposed to be a reprieve from that, and in many ways they were. But in other ways they were just as messy, ill-fated, and broken as the year itself.

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Simmers often come up with some incredible stuff, but content creator Bako Malfoy has blown everything into the park with her Sims 4 edition of the Edinburgh Christmas Market. A winter scene usually bustling and full of fun, the Christmas Market was cancelled this year. Thankfully, it was brought to life by her anyway in-game.

Check out some of the Sims Christmas Market pictures below. The lighting alone makes us feel closer to Christmas than ever!

What games really got you thinking those deep thoughts this year? Let's talk about the games that stuck with us.

The post Best Games That Made You Think in 2020 appeared first on Siliconera.

The latest NieR: Automata sales figures are in, and it'll end 2020 by passing the 5 million mark.

The post NieR: Automata Sales Passed 5 Million appeared first on Siliconera.

Teruyuki Toriyama has announced that he will be leaving Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan at the end of the year. Speaking on Twitter earlier today, Toriyama thanked the fans for their support and noted that he intends to continue producing games in future.

"I will be leaving SIE WWS JAPAN Studio at the end of Dec." announced Toriyama. "To all the users who have supported JAPAN Studio so far, thank you so much! I will continue to take on the challenge of creating new game IPs in my new company, and I ask for your continued support."

Toriyama's impressive resume includes producer duties on grim 2015 adventure Bloodborne, and more recently Astro Bot and Demon's Souls for PlayStation 5. Toriyama is one of several producers taking their leave of SIE Japan, which also recently saw the departure of Gravity Rush designer Keiichiro Toyama, The Last Guardian producer Kazunobu Sato, and Siren series planner Junya Okura, all of whom left to found new company Bokeh Game Studio.

Teruyuki Toriyama leaves Sony Japan Studios [Resetera]

A New York-based law firm filed the lawsuit on Thursday

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Aniplex has announced that the upcoming Demon Slayer mobile game Kimetsu no Yaiba: Keppu Kengeki Royale has been delayed.

The game was announced back in March with a 2020 release window, but it won’t make it this year (as it was quite obvious by now).

The reason is the usual, to further improve quality. There is no new release window even if 2021 is likely.

The development of the game is handled by Quatro A and Soleil, and the genre is defined as “asymmetric battle survival action.”

Players are split in two teams, demon slayers and demons. The game reproduces the conflict between demon hunters and man-eating demons on a map that recreates the world of the anime.

Incidentally, we have no additional news about the other game that was announced at the same time, CyberConnect2’s “Kaimetsu no Yaiba:  Hinokami Keppu Tan.”

We already knew that this game, in development for PS2, was targeting 2021, so it’s likely that we’ll learn more at a later time.

The genre of the PS4 game is “demon-slaying action” and the story follows that of the anime, with Tanjiro Kamado who becomes a demon-slayer to protect the people and his sister Nezuko, who has become a demon herself.

It’ll be interesting to see which of the two games will get its prime time first now that the mobile title has been delated to 2021.

Cloud Imperium Games founder and Star Citizen boss Chris Roberts has posted one of his extensive “letters from the Chairman” providing insight on the development of the crowdfunded game.

Roberts started by talking about the achievements reached in 2020 and the growth of the Star Citizen community.

“I can’t think of a better quote that encapsulates what Star Citizen has achieved this year, and the horrible year that 2020 became, as the world became upended by the biggest global pandemic since the 1918 influenza pandemic.

I would have never guessed last year that I would spend the last nine months of 2020 working from home under various levels of lockdowns, that I wouldn’t be able to travel to see friends or family in person or visit our various offices. COVID-19 has affected billions of people and cut short the life of way too many. To any of you that have lost friends or family members, or been adversely affected economically, our thoughts are with you. Hopefully 2021 will be a better year, allowing all of us to get back to a semblance of normal life. We certainly miss the personal connection we have internally when working together in the same space, or we get to experience with the community at events like CitizenCon, various Bar Citizens or get-togethers.

On a trip to a state park, I’m pretty sure my partner, my dog, and I stumbled into a video game. My own personal isekai.

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An ENZOO automatic vacuum food saver machine and a set of The Child pint glasses lead Friday’s best deals.

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For the first few months during lockdown, I spent some of my time at home working on a model greenhouse. I used white glue to attach small pieces of wood to other small pieces of wood, making door handles and boxes of pot plants and watering cans. There was an undeniable feeling of safety in the sway of a life in miniature. That is, up until I got overwhelmed by the prospect of finishing a project and let the pieces while away unglued on my bookshelf.

Perhaps I’ll get back to it at some point. In the meantime, the charming little diorama homes in The Almost Gone are here to give me my tiny-house fix.

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Q: Which game has racked up nearly two thousand hours of play on the steam account for the Gorilla house at London Zoo?

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Sharkboy and Lavagirl are back... but this is about the next generation

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You can listen to NVC on your preferred platform every Thursday at 3pm PT/6pm ET. Have a question for Question Block? Write to us at nvc@ign.com and we may pick your question! Also, make sure to join the Nintendo Voice Chat Podcast Forums on Facebook. We're all pretty active there and often pull Question Block questions and comments straight from the community.

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Logan Plant is the Production Assistant for NVC. You can find him on Twitter at @LoganJPlant.

A lot of games showed up in 2020! So many that you might have overlooked one or two. Or maybe you want to call out one others didn't catch!

The post Best 2020 Games You Might Have Missed appeared first on Siliconera.