December 2020

Ukrainian developer GSC Game World has released the first in-engine video for its grim-looking adventure sequel S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, which is currently in development for Xbox Series X and PC.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is the official sequel to the '00s story arc, which began with 2007's Shadow of Chernobyl and ended with 2009's Call of Pripyat. The games are loosely adapted from Boris and Arkady Strugatsky's 1972 sci-fi novel, Roadside Picnic, telling the story of a fictional second explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear facility and its effects on the surrounding cities. Cheery stuff, I'm sure you'll agree.

The new trailer - which you can check out below courtesy of IGN - doesn't give too much away, but fans can rest assured that they will be thrust once again into an irradiated world of misery and mutants, as they explore a dystopia of destruction, meet their fellow wastelanders, and do battle against the horrifying creatures that have spawned out of this nuclear nightmare.

Cyberpunk 2077 will begin receiving free DLC early next year, as discovered by a new update to the game's official website. 

While no details were given, including specific release dates or what the DLC would entail, the official Cyberpunk 2077 website has been updated with the news. The page can be seen here at the link, which reveals only that the DLC will be free and released early 2021. 

Whether or not this is news might depend on how closely you watched the Cyberpunk 2077 launch trailer, released on December 8. As PC Gamer points out, at the end of the trailer, behind the game's logo, text flashes on screen revealing CD Projekt Red's plans for Cyberpunk DLC. 

Gaming resolutions? Well, I’m hoping to really go all in on 4K for...Hold on. What’s that? Ah, my editor tells me we more or less cracked this exact joke last year. And that it’s bad. And that I should feel bad. (I regret nothing.)

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Last Chance! December 2020’s PlayStation Plus Read More »

In case you don’t want to follow Michael Scott to Peacock

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A cross-platform hit? A deep experience made possible through Early Access? Or hey: what about an MMO? Our PC Game of the Year 2020 nods all deserve praise.

The post Siliconera’s PC Game of the Year 2020 appeared first on Siliconera.

During the latest episode of Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb’s Xbox Podcast, division head Phil Spencer talked about Microsoft Flight Simulator and how more games could enable the community’s creativity.

Spencer mentioned that he knew there was a strong community out there already, but a testament to Game Pass is that Microsoft can now build something that has a very dedicated core, with millions of people who already love the game, but then there also are tens of millions of people who are going to give it a try since it can seem daunting with retail being the only option.

Game Pass enables that and bringing it to Xbox Series X and S next summer will be “fantastic.”

Spencer was playing the game today to test his new gaming PC, flying over his house and more, and he noticed the community of creators on the game’s marketplace.

He believes this should be part of any game where it makes sense, with Microsoft Flight Simulator being clearly one of those.

The question is how to take the same capability and unlock the creative potential of the community to go and build content that they can sell to other players, obviously after it has been vetted.

Looking through the marketplace full of content for Microsoft Flight Simulator, he noticed how cool it is to see people building their business around creating content for video games.

Spencer believes this is something Microsoft will do more and more, unlocking creative communities that can bring their content to extend the life of video games beyond what the developers can do.

During the latest episode of Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb’s Xbox Podcast, division head Phil Spencer teased the long-term game.

First of all, Spencer talked about Game Pass, mentioning that 2020 was an important year, but 2021 is going to be an “incredible year” when he looks at the lineup of games coming to the service and at the continued work to bring it to more people.

Speaking more in general, he mentioned that he sees what is coming in the next year as “Horizon 0,” while things coming between two and three years in the future are “Horizon 1.” Finally, there is “Horizon 2,” representing things that may come three to ten years out. Most of those may not work, but some do. Backward compatibility was one of them.

Among those there are some things he’s “incredibly excited about” and they will be talked about in the next year or two. According to Spencer, those may get people as excited as xCloud or Game Pass are doing today.

While the team is in the moment, they’re also thinking about things that have the potential to be real changers, but are also risky.

“There are some cool things on the horizon there as well. It’s just an incredibly exciting time for the teams right now.”

Spencer is proud of the ability of the team to take some longer-term bets that can really make the difference.

Incidentally, we hear that 2021 will be an important year for Xbox, as it will bring the 20th anniversary of the launch of the brand with the original console in Nov. 15, 2001.

Today, during a livestream from Japan, Aniplex and Type-Moon revealed new gameplay of Mainichi Emiya-sanchi no Kyou no Gohan, which translates into Every Day Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family. 

The game was originally revealed exactly a year ago exclusively for Nintendo Switch and was recently delayed to next year.

We get to see how the game works, and how you can use the Switch’s Joy-Con controllers to cook alongside with the heroines of the Fate series.

You can watch it below courtesy of YouTube user GamersPrey.

The genre is “cooking adventure” and while the title may sound obscure to you, the name “Eemiya” may ring a bell.

Emiya-sanchi no Kyou no Gohan is a manga series illustrated by TAa that has been serialized in Japan on Young Ace Up for the past three years.

As we move into the new year with some countries considering new lockdowns to guard against increasing cases of COVID-19, PlayStation Plus subscribers will have a handful of new free games to keep them occupied. They include a new free PS5 game, replacing Bugsnax from the console's launch. This month, subscribers will be able to pick up Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Greedfall on PS4, as well as shark simulator Maneater, which will be free exclusively on PS5. You have a few days left to pick up December's games. Don't miss your chance to get them before they're gone!

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is the most recent instalment in the rebooted Tomb Raider series, bringing Lara Croft's ongoing adventure to the jungles of South America to save the world from a Mayan apocalypse. As the classic AAA adventure game you would expect, GameSpot's review of Shadow praised the thrill of exploration and the challenge of solving ancient tomb puzzles, but warned that the game's traditional mechanics can make the journey a frustrating one.

This Is It! Last Chance to Snag December 2020’s Games with Gold Read More »

So I have this thing where I constantly want to "check in" on people who are forgotten.

Take Hajime Tabata for example. When he was working on Final Fantasy XV, people knew who he was. And when the game came out; people knew for sure! Tabata's development style, particularly his approach to endless DLC, was controversial, so it was the subject of many heated conversations.

Then in late 2018, he just kind of...left the company. It was a whole to-do at the time, as he left three of the final four DLC projects in the lurch, effectively ending development on Final Fantasy XV before its time. In its stead, Tabata created a new company called JP Games, which was already up and running mere months later in early 2019.

So what's happened since then? Not much, actually. Tabata laid out his plans for JP games over two years ago and we haven't really heard much from him to date. It looks like we're going to have to wait a little longer, too, based on comments to 4Gamer from a recent end of year developer check-in.

Speaking to the outlet, Tabata says that the current pandemic has "significantly altered" their plans, and urges readers to "wait until 2022" until more info is given. So there you have it! It's a stark contrast to XV, which was perhaps revealed far too early by its publisher: now Tabata is in control of his own destiny.

End of Year Creator Interviews [4Gamer via Gematsu]

Nintendo has won its ongoing lawsuit with Japanese company Mari Mobility over the latter's enterprise "MariCar," which offered tours of the streets of Tokyo in go-karts and costumes themed after the former's popular racing franchise Mario Kart.

The MariCar franchise first fell afoul of Nintendo's legal team in 2017, with the street-touring crew eventually ordered to pay Nintendo compensation to the tune of ¥10 million (roughly $97,000 USD) for the unauthorized use of its IP and concerns that safety issues could bring the Nintendo brand into disrepute.

Undaunted, the newly-retitled "Street Kart" simply slapped "Unrelated to Nintendo" stickers onto its go-karts before hitting the road once again, much to The Big N's chagrin. Appeals from both parties to the Supreme Court of Japan have now been settled in Nintendo's favor, resulting in Street Kart being hit with an even larger fine of ¥50 million (or a staggering $480,000 USD).

These legal troubles couldn't have come at a worse time for Street Kart, who have been struggling to stay afloat in 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Despite launching a crowdfunding campaign earlier this year to build capital, it would seem a forgone conclusion that these recent events could run the attraction off-road permanently.

Nintendo's victory over MariCar finalized [Japan Today / Japanese Nintendo]

Katsuhiro Harada, most well known for his work on the Tekken fighting series, is heading up development for a new project at Bandai Namco that just might have the highest development budget in the company's history. 

Harada, who currently serves as general manager, director, and producer, for Bandai Namco, recently hinted at the new project during the "Piro Live! New Year’s Eve Special 2021" livestream event (translation via Gematsu). While he didn't reveal any specifics about what the game is, aside from saying it's not a fighting game, Harada did express surprise that company higher-ups approved a project of this scale. 

"Well, honestly I think this might be the most costly development project in Bandai Namco history,” Harada said during the event. "I think its incredible that the higher-ups approved of this. Well, the approval has passed, its just that due to the coronavirus, we haven’t really been able to properly start the project."

For better or for worse, in many ways, 2020 was defined by capitalism, a system unprepared to provide as many hospital beds as there are sick people during a pandemic. Or PPE gear to health care workers exposed to those sick people. Or even face masks to those ordinary people just trying to shop for groceries who are…

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Months ago, I wrote an elegy for the lost traditions of World of Warcraft Classic for Kotaku. After a long hype cycle touting it as a perfect recreation of the game’s provincial culture in the mid-2000s—those halcyon days before it was thoroughly brutalized by Blizzard’s egalitarian approach to server identity,…

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The Limited Run Games' Blowout Sale will give people a chance to get physical copies of games like Clannad and River City Girls.

The post Limited Run Games Blowout Sale Begins New Year’s Day appeared first on Siliconera.

During the latest episode of Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb’s Xbox Podcast, division head Phil Spencer discussed the acquisition of Bethesda.

Spencer mentioned that final approval of the deal will come in 2021 and everything is on track. He feels really good about it. At the moment Microsoft is “hands-off” with Bethesda as they continue to do the work they’re doing, as the deal hasn’t gone through yet.

Incidentally, speaking about the $7 billion deal, Spencer confirmed that the business is doing well, and it’s profitable and growing.

He then mentioned that Bethesda’s teams are going to be “very, very critical” to Xbox’s progress going forward. He can’t wait to close the deal so that they can start working as one company. He is “incredibly excited” about Starfield and more games, some of which have been announced already and some haven’t.

Spencer believes Bethesda is going to be an “incredible addition” to Microsoft’s first-party studios. He is excited about 2021 and Bethesda is “an incredibly important part of that.”

It’ll certainly be interesting to see what this partnership between Xbox and Bethesda will bring. At the moment, we know that Bethesda is working on Starfield, which is likely still a while away, while The Elder Scrolls IV is probably even further into the future.

Dinosaurs are on the short list of good things. They go, in order: Back massages, dinosaurs, astronauts. That's it. That's comprehensive.

You have a fine opportunity to close 2020 with dinosaurs, to begin the new year with dinosaurs, or to bridge the two with (you guessed it) dinosaurs. Epic is back to its weekly free games and Jurassic World Evolution is first up. Life finds a way (to escape from its cage and ruin your park).

Although Epic hasn't come out and said it's doing another year of weekly free games, that trend certainly looks set to continue. After Jurassic World Evolution expires on January 7, Crying Suns takes its place. Free video games almost makes the cut of life's good things. Almost.

Jurassic World Evolution [Epic Games Store]

It's going to be a weird year with 2020 in our rear view mirror, I'll tell you that much.

But for now: Switch games! There isn't a whole lot here today, as Nintendo isn't featuring anything in particular outside of the Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled trial that's running from now until January 5.

There's a few notable releases in here like Deemo Reborn, as well as Monster Prom: XXL. There's also an interesting release called The Innsmouth Case, which is based on the popular Shadow over Innsmouth novella from author H.P. Lovecraft. This one actually came out earlier this year, and lines up nicely with another spooky fish-person-flavored release: Fantasy Flight Games' Arkham Horror: The Card Game's current Innsmouth cycle.

There's a few options this week on Switch! But mainly Nintendo is banking on your buying Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity if you haven't already. The Switch has a powerful enough library as it is to be able to coast for a few months.

Hitman 3 is the highly anticipated finale to IO Interactive’s expansive World of Assassination Trilogy that began back in 2016. The game will take Agent 47 on an adventure across the globe as he eliminates the leaders of a menacing organization that runs the world in secret – and it all begins in the United Arab Emirates. You can now watch the first 5 minutes of Hitman 3’s opening Dubai mission as part of our exclusive coverage of the game, during which Agent 47 descends upon the tallest skyscraper on Earth.

Please note that this Hitman 3 gameplay was captured on PC by Game Informer.

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.

Valve has revealed its Steam "Best of 2020" lists, highlighting the best-selling and most played games on the digital storefront this year. While Valve doesn't rank the games, meaning we don't know what the overall best selling game on Steam is, nor does it include data like overall revenue, it does give a detailed peak at what kind of games trended throughout the year. 

Ask people which superpower they’d want, and you’ll likely hear the same answers. Flight. Super-strength. Invisibility. You’re less likely to hear about the unusual ones—say, the ability to literally reshape the planet to fit your needs. Such an ability is the crux of Carto, a cozy adventure game that grants you…

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Between One-Punch Man, baseball man, and multiple nods to popular fantasy franchises, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is basically the Metropolitan Museum of Easter Eggs. But the best surprise—or at least the one that’s sure to delight series fans the most—doesn’t show up until late in the game.

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It was a record year for the Nintendo Switch. What game is the best of the bunch, though? What is the Siliconera Switch Game of the Year 2020?

The post Siliconera’s Switch Game of the Year 2020 appeared first on Siliconera.

It feels super strange to pick a Capcom title as one of my favorite overlooked games of 2020 when there are far more obscure gems to suggest, but I'm doing it. I'm going with Shinsekai anyway.

Shinsekai: Into the Depths originally launched in 2019 as an Apple Arcade exclusive before coming to Nintendo Switch in March 2020. That less-than-ideal rollout caused the game to slip through the cracks on multiple fronts – for many metroidvania fans, it was the right game on the wrong platform. By the time it came to Switch, it wasn't necessarily "too little, too late," but many of us were busy elsewhere.

Whenever or wherever you play it, though, Shinsekai is a cool game. It's a more survival-oriented underwater metroidvania rather than the usual combat-heavy power fantasy. There's this exciting sense of danger to its propulsion-based movement, and the thought of recklessly busting your explorer's extra oxygen tanks can even make routine item-nabbing expeditions feel threatening.

On paper, that might sound overbearing, but Capcom mostly strikes the right balance. I also love the context the setting brings. Rather than use video-game-y doors (which I'm fine with!), certain areas are "gated off" simply because the pressure is too intense for your suit to handle. Nothing feels phoned in.

I should probably stop volunteering to review fitness games. Not because I don’t need them or I don’t enjoy them, but because every time I sit down to write the lede, I have to face the fact that I ultimately failed at getting the most out of the last game I played. Every time I start one of these things, I tend to be in the same place I was the last time I reviewed one: overweight and out of shape.

But I imagine most people feel that way around the holidays. With all the cookies, candy canes, and prime ribs, it can be easy to let yourself go before making that big New Year’s resolution to lose weight. With COVID-19 lockdowns still a reality for much of the world, now is as good a time as any to start an at-home exercise routine. Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise is a fine way to get started toward your fitness goals, provided you don't already have another game at your disposal.

2020 was a challenging year to enjoy the full breadth of the tabletop hobby. Many players were unable to gather with friends and gaming groups to play in person, but it didn’t stop publishers from continuing to pump out some remarkable and incredibly fun games. And many players responded by finding ways to play games remotely, sharing the hobby with partners, family, and roommates, as well as buying and learning new games solo, with the hope of playing again with bigger groups in the coming months and years.

Amid an extraordinary mix of game styles and settings, the selections below were 10 of the very best new releases, each promising the potential for many hours of shared fun. And for more great tabletop games from the last year, check out some of the Best Tabletop RPGs of 2020. 

Atheneum: Mystic Library
Publisher: Renegade Game Studios

On the eve of your magical exam, you have a lot of spells to study, but you can’t forget to re-shelve the books before you’re done. Atheneum is filled with charm and lovely components (including individually named book chips), but it’s the solid card-drafting system that really makes the magic work.

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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.

As teased a few days ago, Arc System Works released the new trailer of its upcoming fighting game Guilty Gear -Strive-.

The trailer focuses on showing off Mito Anji, who was revealed a while ago alongside Giovanna.

He has a new look, but he certainly seems to still pack a punch.. ahem… fan.

We also learn that the next character reveal is coming in February. It should be the the last of the initial roster of the game, which will include 15 characters.

That being said, we already know that five more are coming with the first character pass.

You can check the trailer out below.

It’s January 1 in Japan at the moment of this writing, which means that it’s the birthday of Monica from Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation.

Of course, the free to play PC game is “celebrating” in the usual way. If you’re familiar with the game, you know the drill.

The developer released a new paid-only costume gacha with the usual abysmal SSR chance that pretty much turns this into a money sink.

There is a 1.1% chance to draw an SSR, but the odds to get the new one are even lower since they threw in random older costumes. You need to hit a crazy-low 0.78% and that’s certainly not easy.

Since only one gacha wasn’t enough, they also restored the costumes from last year, so you get two ways to sink money into the game instead of one. isn’t throwing money at frustrating low-chance gacha a joyous way to celebrate the new year?

Incidentally, only the older gacha is included in the Steam version in English, which is behind in content by approximately a year.

You can check out a trailer featuring the new costume below.

Hisense 100" L5 4K HDR Laser TV | $2,399 | BuyDig | Promo Code QQA210

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After a tease that felt like ages, Arc System Works finally gave us the full reveal for Guilty Gear Strive Anji Mito's new fighting style.

The post New Guilty Gear Strive Anji Mito Fighting Style Revealed in Latest Trailer appeared first on Siliconera.

In today’s contest, UK residents can win a Twin Mirror custom Xbox controller, along with a free copy of the game!

Are all you chaps in the UK sad that you can never win physical prizes because most of the contests are US-based? Well, let’s change that up a little bit!

We’ve got this really awesome custom-made Twin Mirror Xbox controller to give away to one lucky UK resident. In addition to the gamepad, you’ll also get a digital copy of the game to test out that new bad boy!