December 2020

After compiling the data and crunching the numbers, we’ve discovered that people who play video games also enjoy podcasts. To be fair, we’ve known that you’ll take time out of your week to listen to one video game podcast for a while, but it turns out you’ve got a hankering for even more video game-related audio.

And we’re more than happy to chat absolute wallop on mic for your listening pleasure, dear reader.

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Team IGA's great platform adventure Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is now available to purchase on mobile devices, squeezing the Gothic horror title right into your front pocket. The new port can be purchased today on iOS and Android for around $10 USD.

The mobile port of Bloodstained features the 2019 metroidvania in its entirety, as our hero Miriam traverses a grim, monster-filled kingdom en route to a showdown with her former pal Gebel. Bloodstained for mobile not only includes all previously released console DLC, but also sports a redesigned U.I. that offers a little more clarity for the smaller screen.

Developer Artplay notes that it has brought Bloodstained to mobile without compromising on visual quality or gameplay fidelity. Impressive. In the near future, Bloodstained for mobile will receive additional features such as Boss Rush and Speed Run modes, as well as new playable characters.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is available now on PS4, PC, Xbox One, Switch, and mobile platforms.

We've already seen some fairly creepy content based on Fall Guys (I'm still trying to forget the bean anatomy shared by the official Twitter account), and now there's even more. This time it takes the form of some suspiciously long legs, and some familiar crewmates are joining in on the action, as someone's made a Star Wars Battlefront 2 PC mod combining both Among Us and Fall Guys.

Made by TigerVenom22 and ToastedShoes, the mod replaces all original trilogy-era infantry with Fall Guys characters on the light side, and Among Us characters on the dark. Makes sense given a selection of the crewmates are basically eldritch horrors. They're capable of wielding lightsabers or using Force lightning (on the dark side at least), while the Fall Guys beans come with a range of costumes - one of which has Rowan Atkinson's face. I think there might be a joke there somewhere. My personal favourite is the extremely tall General Grievous Among Us crewmate with four floating lightsabers.

Starbreeze has paid the majority of its creditors, it's said.

The company behind Payday completed payments during the fourth quarter as part of a plan established by the Stockholm District Court on December 6, 2019.

Starbreeze has been under threat ever since the disastrous launch of Overkill's The Walking Dead on Steam. The game flopped, causing severe financial issues and the acrimonious exit of boss Bo Andersson. Check out our feature, The fall of Starbreeze for more.

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Pokémon Go has announced plans to give away an ultra-rare Shiny version of the already ultra-rare Mythical creature Celebi.

It's an eye-catching giveaway, available for a limited time later this month to tie into the release of the upcoming Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle, where Shiny Celebi appears.

Celebi was first introduced in 1999's Pokémon Gold and Silver. In the 21 years since, there have only been two other opportunities to legitimately snag its pink-coloured Shiny version without cheating: a Japanese cinema ticket promotion earlier this year, and the laborious process of soft-resetting the Virtual Console version of Pokémon Crystal likely several thousand times.

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The upcoming Mortal Kombat movie will launch on HBO Max and in cinemas on the same day in the US as part of a huge film shakeup at Warner Bros.

Warner Bros said all its 2021 releases would be available to stream instantly in the US, sending shockwaves throughout the cinema industry.

Warner Bros' current 2021 release slate includes the aforementioned Mortal Kombat, as well as blockbusters Godzilla vs. Kong, The Suicide Squad, Dune, and Matrix 4.

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It's been a long time since we've covered sports titles at Digital Foundry, but with the arrival of NBA 2K21 on the new wave of consoles, we're seeing something genuinely fascinating here, with a proper generational leap in fidelity across the board. To illustrate that, we took a look at the game primarily on PlayStation 5 and PS4 Pro, but we also spent some time with both of the Xbox Series consoles.

Delivering such a big improvement in quality is quite an achievement in my opinion. While it may not seem this way on the surface, sports games are - from what I can tell - one of the more difficult genres to work on. Truncated development schedules require annual entries in each series, meaning less time between each release but more than that, these games have to match up to a properly 'real' experience, often delivered with a TV-like presentation. A game like NBA 2K21 needs to deal with real people in real places performing complex, interlinking actions. If you're off by even a hair, you're diving straight into uncanny valley.

So what makes this so difficult? Well, nailing down the arenas and player likenesses is a huge part of the equation but it's the motion that makes this so difficult. Realistic animation, momentum and collision of each player on the court is a huge challenge. Developer Visual Concepts - whose work on this franchise dates all the way back to the Dreamcast era - is doing some great work here. While it's easy enough to spot the imperfections in the visuals, if you just let the game wash over you, it really begins to look surprisingly authentic in action. When firing on cylinders, it really does look like basketball.

Call of Duty is massive business for Activision - the company has just announced it's made over $3bn from the franchise in the last 12 months.

In a note to press, Activision said it had shifted to a "shared ecosystem business model" for Call of Duty, which has seen the launch of battle royale Warzone, mobile hit Call of Duty: Mobile, and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold war this year.

The mention of a "shared ecosystem" relates to the emergence of Warzone and the integration of Modern Warfare and Black Ops Cold War into it. From mid-December, Black Ops Cold War and Warzone share battle pass progression, and you'll be able to level up and get XP no matter which game you play.

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A look at the five films that Steve McQueen directed for Amazon

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The big, greasy explosions don’t hurt either

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Behind the curtain of Warner Bros.’ 2021 release strategy

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Miriam is ready to collect shards and fight foes on the go with Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night's Android and iOS port.

The post Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Finally Goes Mobile appeared first on Siliconera.

Watch and listen to Pikachu run around while making Pikachu noises.

The post Pikachu ASMR Is Officially Now a Thing appeared first on Siliconera.

People will soon be able to collect physical Ninjala character cards that can be scanned into the game. A Puzzle & Dragons event is coming up too!

The post Ninjala Character Cards, Puzzle & Dragons Event Are Coming appeared first on Siliconera.

The Tales of series' 25th-anniversary event will feature voice actors and developers as special guests.

The post Tales of Series 25th Anniversary Livestream Event Dated and Guests Announced appeared first on Siliconera.

Happy Friday, everyone! It’s finally the end of the week and what better way to celebrate than by enjoying a 15-minute ASMR video featuring Pikachu? The Pokemon Company released the video to its Japanese YouTube channel, and it’s very relaxing, sort of.

It shows Pikachu tossing a bouncy ball around the room, taking a nap, and then getting woken up from the nap by a Mimikyu and getting sad –it’s all extremely relatable.

Put on some headphones, play the video in the background, and prepare to enter a state of pure bliss.

Enjoy.

There are also some other ASMR videos that The Pokemon Company has released over the years, such as this one featuring a Squirtle playing around on a beach and another one starring Charmander as it cuddles around a warm, crackling fire.

The developers of Ninjala have released a new dev diary video that showcases some new upcoming content for the online action battle game on Switch.

First off, GungHo Online CEO Kazuki Morishita and director Motoki Kaneda revealed the next collaboration for the game, which happens to be Puzzle & Dragons, a popular match-three puzzle series that’s also published by GungHo.

The collab will bring in new costumes based on popular characters from the puzzle series such as Sonia, Valkyrie, and Hattori Hanzo. These items will also come with BGM tracks from the series. Fans can also look forward to a Toragon-themed mask and a REMDra Gum Utsusemi. And during the event, players can earn Puzzle and Dragons Ippon decorations for competing in matches.

The collab event will kick off on Dec. 7 and will run until Jan. 6, 2021. It’s also revealed that Puzzle & Dragons Gold on the Nintendo Switch eShop will be discounted, starting on Dec. 10 until Dec. 27, to celebrate the occasion.

Now, regarding the upcoming season 4 content, that will begin on Jan. 7 and will come to an end on Mar. 24, 2021, and there will be a new stage, new gum weapons, new shinobi cards, and a new system update.

The new stage is called Fort Riverdale and is themed after London, taking place during the evening time. Two new Katana-type weapons will be added, which are called the Scrap Saber and the Chewing V.

As for the new specials and Ninjutsu, there’s one called Shinobi Disco that creates a field around your player character that forces nearby players to dance, which can make them susceptible to attack.

And the new system update will add several improvements to the game, such as speedier transitions from matching to the start of a battle and expanded communication menus.

An Insignia Air Fryer and a 48-pack of AAA batteries lead Friday’s best deals.

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The weekend is for figuring out what my children want for Christmas aside from “a toy” and “get the fick out of my bedroom.” It’s also for playing video games, and it turns out there are quite a few to play.

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According to an unlisted video on Atlus’ YouTube channel, since pulled, the Dynasty Warriors-style sequel to Persona 5 is finally coming to North America and Europe on February 23, including a release on Steam for PC, along with PS4 and Switch. That’ll wake you up, get you up, and get you out there.

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In this 2017 GDC session, Chickadee Games' Adam DeGrandis breaks down the visual design process for Tooth and Tail, the follow-up to Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine. ...

Activision has made over $3 billion in net bookings from the Call of Duty franchise alone over the past 12 months. ...

Payday maker Starbreeze has repaid the majority of its creditors, settling all debts categorized as Supplier creditors and small Supplier creditors. ...

I come to you today with important news: there is in fact more than one video game out this month.

Yes, that one video game is quite a biggie, and it’s definitely the one most will be picking up this December, but that doesn’t mean everyone is champing at the bit to play it. Maybe you’re not interested in the Deus Extra RPG that is Cyberpunk 2077. Perhaps you want gangsters, underwater puzzles, two-headed dogs!

So, if you’re one of those people, and you’re looking for a new game to play over the festive period, look no further than this list of the top 10 video games to play on PC this December.

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I miss Hollow Knight. Almost every day I scroll through the brilliant Metroidvania’s subreddit and Discord server. It used to be a ritual news-hunt, to quickly check if anything new had been said about the upcoming sequel, Hollow Knight: Silksong. But as time has gone by, I don’t go to those places for information, I go to remind myself I’m not the only one who misses the game desperately.

I know I could just play Hollow Knight. But that’s not really the point. Do you ever wish that you could wipe your memory of a favourite game, just to experience it all again?

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While most of us on this side of the world will be waiting a few weeks to crack open the boxes of biscuits, our American cousins had their big food day last week.

So, in tribute to The Land Of The Full and their recent holiday, we’ve made ourselves both very hungry and awfully thirsty by focusing on games that involve food and drink for this week’s Mystery Steam Reviews.

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These phantom thieves sure need to work on their stealth because they’ve been spotted trying to make a sneaky entrance. It looks like Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers, the hack and slash ’em up spinoff of Persona 5, is getting a worldwide release and on PC to boot. According to a trailer spotted on YouTube, it will launch as Persona 5 Strikers in February.

Update: Atlus have tweeted saying, “All will be revealed December 8” and have updated their official site to say “The Phantom Thieves of Hearts will return”. (more…)

Did you finish the new Deep Stone Crypt raid in Destiny 2? Well, you still have plenty of time to do it going forward, but if you wanted the jacket, you had until December 1.

As it turns out, a lot of people tried to get that jacket, as Bungie has shared that 258,049 players cleared Deep Stone Crypt in the first 10 days of launch (starting on November 21). On day one, 29,814 plucky raiders finished the crypt and earned their "first-ish" emblem.

While the excitement for the raid opening is in the rear view mirror, December 8 is also a huge day for Destiny 2. The "next-gen" upgrade is coming, on top of the return of Iron Banner. At 9AM PT on that day, Iron Banner will return (a 6v6 PVP event), as will the chance to earn upgraded gear.

But the real main event is that new upgrade! It'll allow 4K visuals in both the Xbox Series X and PS5 arenas, as well as 60 FPS across all new platforms (PS5, Series X/S), 120hz Crucible (PVP) support on X/PS5, and enhanced field of view sliders and faster loads. It's a doozy! I wash hoping to jump into Beyond Light day one with these enhancements, but for now, a couple more days of waiting will have to do.

This week at Bungie [Bungie.net]

We are just under a week away from The Game Awards 2020. Once again, producer Geoff Keighley will be hosting the annual show, dishing out awards to some of the industry's best developers and releases, while also offering a cornucopia of new trailers and updates for some of 2021's most-anticipated titles.

Among the guest hosts helping Keighley out this year are a trinity of superheroes - in a fashion - as Tom Holland, Brie Larson, and Gal Gadot have all been announced as virtual hosts for the ceremony. Tom Holland is, of course, known for his role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as web-slinger Spider-Man, while Brie Larson blasts through the stars as the titan-headbutting Captain Marvel. In the corner of DC Comics, Gal Gadot dons the golden lariat of the incomparable Wonder Woman, whose new sequel, Wonder Woman '84, is set to premiere on HBO Max later this month.

While this year's socially distanced endeavor will certainly feel a bit more low-key than previous TGAs, I must admit the idea of an all-star superhero showdown certainly livens up matters. Gadot is a little outnumbered here, going head-to-head with Holland and Larson's Team Marvel, but maybe she could call in her Fast & Furious/Game Awards alumni Vin Diesel for backup... Wait, he was also Groot, wasn't he?... Six degrees of Vin Diesel...

...And that's the end of the article. Have a good afternoon.

The Game Awards 2020 takes place Thursday, December 10.

This past week, Bethesda unleashed their Steel Dawn update for Fallout 76, a follow-up to their big Wastelanders expansion earlier this year. Like the latter, Steel Dawn was also free, and is seemingly being fueled by the game's Fallout 1st subscription service and new expanded season pass: on top of all the microtransactions.

As Bethesda has shared in the past, originally, Steel Dawn was going to be multiple updates. But instead, they decided to mesh two of the three parts together into one giant patch. Truth be told, it's probably the much smarter move, as these sorts of big free upgrades generate so much more buzz than a half-hearted tease.

This isn't the end of the Brotherhood of Steel though. Bethesda notes that there's still a third part, titled Steel Reign, that is coming in 2021. What lies beyond that, outside of more season pass runs, is unknown: that's the sort of thing they usually announce at an E3 showcase.

In more "right now" news, there's a double S.C.O.R.E week underway until December 7, with a Double XP Weekend set for December 10. On December 15 season three will start, with December 17-31 serving as the period for the holiday scorched event.

Inside the Vault [Bethesda.net]

In a truly surprising bit of industry news, Microsoft has purchased online tournament esports platform Smash.gg. Microsoft acquired the site for an undisclosed amount earlier in the week, with news of the purchase being broken on the Smash.gg Twitter account.

For those less-inclined, Smash.gg is a website that allows for the preparation, marketing, and execution of video game tournaments - both online and localized. Promoters can arrange events, receive sign-ups and collect entry fees, run brackets, post results, and more. Since its inception in 2015, Smash.gg has been considered a "go-to" site for tournament runners, and is used by local communities of players for friendly weekend punch-ups, as well as by major league esports companies for mass-market events.

Smash.gg has stated that it will be "business as usual" going forward, and that the site will still provide its tournament platforms for worldwide gaming communities in a self-service capacity. In these early days, it appears that Microsoft's initial plans are to boost the strength of the site via the use of its massive network of support resources, with a view to making Smash.gg the de-facto website for global esports tournaments.

There's a double-whammy of Obsidian-Entertainment-shaped RPG freebies coming to the Epic Games Store next week, so if you've been eager to sink your adventuring mitts into either Pillars of Eternity or Tyranny, you now know where to point your internet in the coming days.

They're both good 'uns, of course, with Pillars of Eternity managing to secure itself a Eurogamer Recommended badge when it released back in 2015. It's a spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate, deliberately designed to replicate the nostalgic old-school whiff of '90s RPGs - which is to say, exactly what the 73,000 people who stumped up four million dollars to support the project on Kickstarter were hoping for.

There's overworld exploration and dungeon crawling to be done as one of the game's eleven classes - Barbarian, Chanter, Cipher, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Priest, Ranger, Rogue, and Wizard - and the end result is an experience Eurogamer called "an RPG with [its] design firmly rooted in nostalgia, but one that absolutely doesn't rely on it to be enjoyable today."

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Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Warzone's Season One update has been delayed a week, Activision has announced.

Season One was set to launch on 10th December - the same day as Cyberpunk 2077 comes out. It will now launch on 16th December.

"It's an unprecedented amount of free content and the teams are currently prepping for the biggest Season One launch week ever seen," Activision said in a blog post.

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Head to the EDZ for some Exotics

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CD Projekt Red sure has got everybody talking about this game

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Gaming conventions could return in June, organizers say

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Make way for the next generation of heroes

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Chapter 14 was a surprise setup for the season’s final two episodes

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Warning: Pikachu is a snorer

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