December 2020

They love him, Buggy Malone. It’s low hanging fruit, but it’s a pretty accurate pun to describe Romero Games’ new strategical crime romp, Empire Of Sin. It came out earlier this week, and while players are having fun with it, many have been plagued by pretty bad bugs ruining the experience. From mission progress getting stuck, to not being able to back out of the game, there are a lot of problems that need addressing. Hopefully things will start to improve soon, though, because game director Brenda Romero says updates are “coming your way”.

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Update 2: EA Sports has announced that the PlayStation 5 servers are now live. In order to connect to the servers, those who have already downloaded the PS5 version of Madden NFL 21 need to download and install a title update.

Update 1 – 12/3/2020 at 9:13 a.m. CT : EA Sports has updated us that the fix for the PlayStation 5 version will likely be implemented prior to the December 4 launch. We have updated the headline accordingly.

Original Story – 12/3/2020 at 6 a.m. CT

Prior to the last-gen launch of Madden NFL 21, EA Sports announced that those who purchased the game on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One would be able to upgrade to the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X version for free thanks to its Dual Entitlement system. The new-gen version is set to launch on Friday, December 4. However, EA Sports has announced that those who are upgrading from the last-gen version will have access to the new-gen version today, a day earlier than expected.

Unfortunately, there's some bad news for those upgrading from PS4 to PS5: The online is not currently available, but it can still be downloaded and played offline. According to EA Tiburon, the development team discovered a previously unknown issue with the PS5 version of Madden NFL 21 late in the final testing phase. The issue only occurs when the PS5 version is connected to the EA servers, so until the fix (which the team has already submitted for testing) is patched into the live game, EA Tiburon is turning off the PS5 version's ability to connect to the EA servers.

Hood: Outlaws and Legends was announced earlier this year during one of Sony’s State of Play events, and it’s been firmly on Twinfinite’s radar ever since. The upcoming multiplayer heist game aims to combine combat, stealth, and strategy gameplay with a compelling medieval setting that reimagines the iconic Robin Hood story.

Today, publisher Focus Home Interactive published four new trailers designed to help flesh out the backstories of the game’s different character classes: The Ranger, The Brawler, The Hunter, and The Mystic.

The animated sequences offer some context as to why each of the four characters is so hellbent on rising up against the State, which as you’ll discover, is about more than simply earning riches.

Below you can view all four trailers, starting with The Hunter:

The Ranger:

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (PS5) | $60 | Walmart
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (XSX) | $60 | Walmart
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (PS4) | $50 | Walmart
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (XBO) | $50 | Walmart

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Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today’s object of aural inquiry requires no introduction, so what am I even writing here? Let’s get to it.

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We've finally reached the point where we're less than a week away from the launch of Cyberpunk 2077, and perhaps unsurprisingly given all the release date changes, copies of the game appear to have shipped a little early. In anticipation of any potential leaks stemming from this, CD Projekt Red has requested that players avoid streaming or uploading videos of the game before release day... or else face a corporate take-down task force. I guess that's something you would expect from the world of Cyberpunk.

The source of the early copies, according to customer reports on social media, appears to be American retailer Best Buy. Several customers have uploaded images of their Cyberpunk 2077 boxes, and it's the flashy collector's edition that appears to have turned up ahead of time.

At the time of writing, nobody is attempting to stream the game on YouTube or Twitch - but perhaps that's due to a warning from CD Projekt Red. "We're getting closer and closer to launch and chances are some of you will get your hands on a copy of Cyberpunk 2077 before release day," the Cyberpunk 2077 account tweeted last night. "However difficult this might be for us to achieve, our ambition is for gamers all across the world to have the same spoiler-free experience at the time the game releases.

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One of Fight of Animals: Arena's new characters will be a dachshund who knows martial arts. Also, festive holiday costumes will be in the game.

The post Fight of Animals Arena Adds Kungfu Dachshund appeared first on Siliconera.

Various merchandise based on Devil May Cry 5 characters being dressed as waiters will be sold at Capcom Cafe in Saitama, Japan.

The post Devil May Cry 5 Capcom Cafe Waiter Merchandise Coming Soon appeared first on Siliconera.

It looks like Princess Connect Re: Dive will appear outside Japan. It has its own English Twitter account now and a product listing appeared.

The post Princess Connect Re: Dive English Twitter Account and App Store Page Appear appeared first on Siliconera.

Support is essential in healthy relationships because no matter how turbulent shared lives can be, your partner is always there to offer a steady hand. Haven weaves that affection into a beautiful science-fiction RPG about the misadventures of two star-crossed lovers. Whether I was joyfully catching ethereal waves on anti-gravity boots, blitzing alien critters during exciting turn-based battles, or just zesting up meals, it was delightful witnessing its protagonists’ adorable relationship bleed into every activity. And those highs hit that much harder in the brilliant co-op mode. But every healthy relationship means being willing to put up with faults, and in Haven’s case that means turning a blind eye to long stretches of mandatory, monotonous resource gathering across barren landscapes.

You’re supposed to put the genre in the introduction, but then you’re also supposed to write an introduction in the first place, and not a load of delaying tactics where you bang on about the vagueness of genres and how Haven is a hybrid of at least two of them anyway. You spend most of it skate-gliding around a 3D world, some of it fighting corrupted animals, and some of it in visual novel type sections that bring me to the plot and this paragraph to a merciful end.

Kay and Yu, a couple destined for a lifetime of Abbott and Costello routines, have fled a society that does not approve of their relationship, and hidden themselves away on Source, a floating archipelago that vaguely forms a planet. The End.

Oh no!

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The RPS Advent Calendar paddles on. What’s waiting behind the third door? It make take repeated scans to find out.

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Call Of Duty: Warzone

has been out for a while and all we’ve got are the green and grey pastures of Verdansk to tango in, but that looks set to change soon. According to dataminers, a new arena of death is on the way, and it’s called Rebirth Island.

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As we edge ever closer to Cyberpunk 2077‘s long-anticipated and final (hopefully) release date, CD Projekt Red are casting an ever-watchful gaze onto the content creators of the world. They’re asking nicely (and with a mild threat) that those who receive a copy of the game early not upload or stream anything before it comes out, so as not to spoil it for everyone else.

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Two classics of the Nintendo scene will collide this week, as Super Mario Bros. invades the world of Tetris 99 for the latter's latest limited-time Grand Prix - the 18th of such events since Tetris 99 first launched back in February 2019.

From tomorrow, December 4, Tetris 99 players will be able to use their hard-earned in-game currency to purchase a colorful theme based on the 1993 SNES compendium Super Mario All-Stars, complete with the classic Super Mario Bros. theme tune when things are going great, as well as Bowser's theme for when the playfield gets a little too hot to handle. Be quick, as this theme will only be made available until Tuesday, December 8.

The Super Mario Bros. x Tetris 99 crossover is one of a number of events celebrating 35 years of Nintendo's iconic and genre-defining platforming franchise. Other releases Switch compendium Super Mario 3D All-Stars, and Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. Away from the digital realm, Nintendo has worked with other companies to produce products such as LEGO Super Mario, as well as apparel from clothing brands Uniqlo, Levi and Puma.

Now that the Demon’s Souls remake is out, we figured it would be the perfect time to take a look at all of the bosses in the game and rank them from worst to best. Do note that this isn’t necessarily a ranking of how difficult the boss fights are, but rather an overall evaluation of each boss, how compelling their designs are, and the impact they could potentially leave on players as they encounter them.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

On paper, a Breath of the Wild prequel is a no-brainer. The original was fantastic and set up characters and scenarios that are well worth exploring in another game.

Deciding to make the prequel into another hack and slash Hyrule Warriors title instead of an action-adventure game gave plenty of people pause, though. Despite some doubts, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity still turned out to be another excellent installment in The Legend of Zelda series. 

The game features characters that are just as charming and lovable as in Breath of the Wild, a quest system that results in a satisfying gameplay loop, and surprisingly tactical musou-style gameplay.

Even if you’re not a huge fan of the genre, everyone should at least give Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity a chance if they’re interested, especially Legend of Zelda fans. 

Update (12/03/2020, 4:11 p.m. ET): Fortnite has officially announced Kratos. God of War items are available now across all platforms. Our original story follows below.

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Sea of Thieves will ditch its monthly update schedule and move to a Fortnite-style seasonal model starting next year, Rare creative director Mike Chapman announced in a new update to players.

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A few months ago, Mario Kaiser released Core Defense on Steam and grossed $20,186 in the first week. Good enough for a solo indie developer †" and here's how he did it. ...

FMOD has made its end-to-end audio solution FMOD Studio free for indie developers whose yearly revenue is less than $200,000. ...

Rival Peak lead software engineer Sol Sliwinski explains why developing artificial intelligence for an artificial, interactive reality TV show involved an unusual amount of cannibalism. ...

Avalanche Studios founder and former chief creative officer Christofer Sundberg has established a new studio called Liquid Swords. ...

Look out from the south-east coast of England and you can see France in the distance on a clear day. And now, if you open Pokémon Go at the same time, you might see a France-exclusive Pokémon, too.

At a time when international travel is not high on anyone's agenda, south coast UK Pokémon Go players are delighted to find they fit within the radius for the game's new French regional Pokémon, Klefki.

Players from London and beyond have already reported making the journey down to snag a few for themselves. Here in Brighton, Eurogamer guides writer Lottie caught one last night, while Eurogamer reader Kate, from just down the road in Seaford, says she scooped up several last night while in the bath.

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Prepare to find out who some of the Samurai Shodown Season Pass 3 characters are next month!

The post Samurai Shodown Season Pass 3 Characters Will Be Revealed in January appeared first on Siliconera.

The King of Fighters XV is on the way. We'll get a first look in January 2020, but character art for Kyo, Shun'ei, and Benimaru is already here.

The post We’ll See a KOF XV Reveal in January 2021 appeared first on Siliconera.

Haven dives into domestic life galaxies away.

The post Review: Haven Offers a Little Slice of Life on a Strange Planet appeared first on Siliconera.

Apex Legends is the sole Western title that won an award in PlayStation Partner Awards 2020 Japan Asia.

The post DBZ Kakarot and FFVII Remake Won PlayStation Partner Awards 2020 appeared first on Siliconera.

SNK teases the next KOF, promises more detail in January

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Bluepoint Games is a pretty special studio. They've managed to knock a few remakes out of the park so far, and are no doubt in demand by publishers everywhere. Demon's Souls on PS5 was their latest hit; which preserved the spirit of the original while adding a new coat of next-gen paint.

The developer is also known to get a little cheeky from time to time, as evidenced by this video shared this week. Technical artist Collin Harris (who was previously at Bluepoint, and is now at Gearbox) tweeted out this gem, which reveals that in testing, Demon's Souls developers had access to a suite of cute rubber ducks.

Basically, Harris says, they used them to "test various tech/effects" with, and "things quickly got out of hand." Don't go looking for this in some hidden room somewhere though, or even a hacked build. Harris confirms that "all of the stuff you see in the video (including the room and the duck) was [temporary] and didn't make it anywhere near the finished game."

You love to see it! It's great when developers share little jokes like these for otherwise intensely serious games.

Collin Harris [Twitter]

Dragon Quest: Your Story is an animated film on Netflix based on the SNES adventure Dragon Quest 5: Hand of the Heavenly Bride, and it did quite well with Western audiences despite the game's mixed reception. The animated film was received incredibly well in Japan initially, though that reputation has waned considerably since its release. When the film first launched, Dragon Quest 5 novelist Saori Kumi was less than thrilled, and she sought legal action. Now, the writer is suing Square Enix for how it portrayed Luca (also known as Ryuka) in the Your Story, and now that lawsuit is extending to Toho Co., Ltd as well.

The novelization written by Kumi-san fleshed out a character that is commonly referred to as simply "Hero," expanding Luca (the English version of Ryuka's name) as a character in the Japanese novelization post-launch. 

Kumi-san first began her legal pushback against the animated film back in December of last year, where she sued the film production company behind Your Story. In her original declaration, she was seeking credit for her work on the character portrayed in the film, as well as a public apology from the entire crew. In more recent news, her legal action has now extended to both Square Enix and Toho Co., Ltd, asking for 2 million yen in reparations, as well as a public apology from all involved. 

With Black Friday behind us and the 2020 holiday season upon us, Microsoft has just pushed out a new commercial featuring a slew of titles including Microsoft Flight Simulator, the Halo franchise, and Minecraft. Certainly an ad for these titles isn't anything new, but the packaging comes with an all-star cast - of dogs. Yep, there are all kinds of adorable dogs in this commercial, and they even participate in a variety of Microsoft Teams video networking calls. I wonder what they talk about in their meetings. Probably treats. 

The lighthearted and dog-filled commercial touches upon the stark realities of 2020 without getting too heavy-handed about it, displaying the need for serious distancing, the rise of the virtual office, and a touch of much-needed escapism into gaming worlds. COVID-19's effects on the world are far from over and have caused massive shifts in society during the last year, and this ad taps into many of those briefly. While not everyone is lucky enough to have a job that can be shifted to a virtual environment through the use of tools like Microsoft Teams, Slack, Zoom, Discord, and other software, those who have adapted to a world without the same travel, meetings, and in-person conferences can readily see that shift in the commercial, which deliberately avoids the typical hustle and bustle of watching swarms of people congregate during the holidays for both shopping and soirees. 

With The Mandalorian now confirmed in Fortnite season 5 and a leaked PlayStation ad having confirmed God of War's Kratos, it looks like the list of "hunters" joining the fray in Fortnite will continue to grow with the inclusion of an Xbox staple. According to a reputable dataminer, Halo's Master Chief could be joining in on the battle royale adventure. 

With the most recent iteration of Kratos looking like he's joining the fight, the possible inclusion of Master Chief is kind of perfect. While console wars are silly, just play what you want to play, it is kind of an interesting avenue given the nature of battle royale to have two platform staples go toe-to-toe with PlayStation's God of War and Xbox's Halo. 

The latest datamine comes from known leaker @ShiinaBR, showing off the Master Chief skin in the game's item shop: 

RUMOR: Upcoming Halo collaboration!

(via @Mang0e_) pic.twitter.com/s8jkBZspnW

Despite numerous cancellation rumors and changing of hands, Dead Island 2 may not be as dead in the water as many originally thought. While news about the upcoming sequel has been either non-existent or worrisome, the studio over at Deep Silver has confirmed that the zombie-driven game is still in development with one simple tweet. 

In a recent post by the studio regarding Saints Row: Gat Out Of Hell being free thanks to Xbox Games With Gold, one fan responded back with the simple question: Dead Island 2? Another Twitter user responded saying "Give up, man. It's not coming. Just move onto Dying Light." It was that response that elicited Deep Silver to join in on the conversation: 

We wouldn't be so sure about that! 😉

— Official Deep Silver (@deepsilver) December 3, 2020

The original naysayer responded in disbelief, asking Deep Silver not to give them false hope. The final exchange from the studio concluded with, "We're not quite ready to talk about the latest Dead Island just yet, but when we do, you'll see it here!" 

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The clock’s reset and the blood cleaned off the stage, which means it’s time for another Total War: Warhammer 2 grudge match. This time, it’s fashionable forest-dwellers versus a nasty old rat in The Twisted & The Twilight, with today’s latest DLC for Creative Assembly’s bloody high fantasy strategy throwing down a colourful gauntlet of neon pinks, sickly greens, and a familiar coating of bloody red paint.

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