January 2021

YouTube has announced it's rolling out a new feature: The ability to create short clips from a longer video. The announcement was made under the banner of its Live & Gaming departments, suggesting the company looks at this as a way to enhance its gameplay streaming and VOD community.

The feature is just in a limited alpha testing phase right now, among a small group of channels with access to the feature. Those tools are also only available on desktop and Android devices for the time being, and iOS devices are said to be coming soon. Content creators are not able to request access to this for their channels during the testing phase.

With clips, you can create a 5-60 second segment of anyone's content, and then share that clip. Content creators who have been given the ability to create clips will see a clip icon underneath a video, and once clipped it will play from the original video on loop. YouTube created a sample video to show off the feature in action, and it's inviting feedback via the replies or the standard report feedback form.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Warzone have had their multiplayer playlists updated on all platforms, co-developers Raven Software and Treyarch Studios outlined on Twitter.

Black Ops Cold War has several new playlist additions. There's the Snipers Only moshpit and a 24/7 version of the new Sanatorium map, as well as 24/7 versions of Crossroads Strike, Nuketown, and Raid. Gunfight, Face Off, and Prop Hunt are also available this week.

On top of these multiplayer playlist updates, Treyarch announced that Season One: Reloaded continues on February 4. It will bring about the new "Firebase Z" Zombies map, in addition to Express, 40-player Endurance, extra Prop Hunt maps, and more unannounced content.

Tony Hawk is an extreme sports legend whose name is synonymous with skateboarding. At 52 years old, he's still got it. Hawk recently landed a 720 at a local skatepark, but it was not easy.

In a video posted to Twitter, the Birdman battles hard to land the trick. He falls again and again and again, but each time he gets back up and he eventually nails the trick. It's an impressive feat and it speaks to Hawk's passion and character that he is still trying so hard after so many years.

Pokemon Go developer Niantic has outlined a variety of events happening in the game in February. In addition to February's Community Day and Kanto Tour, the studio will be hosting a Lunar New Year event, new Pokemon Spotlight Hours, and more next month. You can see all the biggest events happening in Pokemon Go in February 2021 below.

February Research Breakthrough Encounter: Snorlax

Niantic is rolling out a new batch of Field Research tasks and rewards starting February 1. In addition, a new Research Breakthrough encounter will be available. Each time you achieve a Research Breakthrough in February, you'll earn a chance to catch the Sleeping Pokemon Snorlax.

Legendary And Mega Raid Bosses

A variety of Legendary Pokemon are returning to five-star Raid Battles in February. You can see the full Legendary Raid schedule below:

Square Enix has announced a forthcoming War Table video broadcast where the developers of Marvel's Avengers will provide new insight on the Hawkeye - Future Imperfect expansion that adds the arrow-slinging hero to the game and more.

This broadcast, which is taking place on February 16, will also feature updates on what the developer is planning for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. The next-gen updates were originally planned to release in 2020 but were later delayed to 2021.

The video presentation will be pre-recorded and released on February 16; it won't be livestreamed. GameSpot will report back with all the details as they're announced.

"Okay, so that's the Crow, and he's the guy who killed Cayde-6, and it's a really big deal that he's back and that we're working with him--because we murdered him," I explained, somewhat breathless, over the Discord voice chat filled with four of my oldest friends. "You really should play Forsaken before this."

Nobody said anything for a few long moments as I thought about what other story elements of Destiny 2 might be relevant to the mission we were about to run. As I thought about it, two things dawned on me. First, that anything I could tell them about Destiny would be relevant because their introduction to the story and the world was so thin. Second, that they probably didn't care.

When Bungie released Beyond Light, the latest expansion to Destiny 2, it added new content to the game while removing a whole lot of old content. Several major in-game destinations were "vaulted," ostensibly because Destiny 2's install size was getting too big and because those areas of the game were getting too little attention, both from the developers and from players. But because of that, tons of old missions are now gone from Destiny 2--like the vanilla campaign that introduces you to the world and its characters.

Tesla has revealed a refresh to its Model S electric sports car that features an on-board GPU that rivals both the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.

The Models S is getting the first refresh the line has seen since its inception in 2012, which mostly includes improvements to things you'd expect to find in a car: updated interior and exterior designs, a better powertrain, and greater mileage. What is both very new and very out of place is the Tesla Arcade, which now features 10 teraflops of processing performance for gaming.

Games have been included with Tesla models in the past, most notably Cuphead, but this is in another ballpark. The promotional images show off a carousel that features games like The Witcher 3, Stardew Valley, and more. Tesla founder Elon Musk also tweeted saying that the new Model S will support Cyberpunk 2077. CD Projekt Red also benefitted from Musk's tweets recently, seeing a massive share price hike.

Bleeding Edge, the Microsoft-exclusive online brawler that combined elements of Battleborn and Overwatch into an over-the-top multiplayer action game, will no longer receive updates.

Developer Ninja Theory took to Twitter to deliver the news, saying it's "now focusing on our new projects." This includes the mysterious Project: Mara, the research-focused The Insight Project, and the highly anticipated Microsoft-exclusive Senua's Saga: Hellblade II. As a result, Bleeding Edge won't get any new content, such as maps, characters, or modes.

While it won't receive any more updates, Ninja Theory said Bleeding Edge will still be playable on PC and Xbox consoles, signifying that the servers will remain online for the time being.

Samsung's SSDs are among the best on the market, and right now, you can snag a couple of its most popular NVMe SSDs at a nice discount. At the moment, a 250GB Samsung 970 Evo Plus SSD is $48 and a 500GB Samsung 980 Pro SSD is $112 at Amazon. That's a fair discount from their regular prices of $70 and $150, respectively. This mini sale is only happening today, though, and stock is limited, so if you're interested, you'll want to take advantage of these deals as soon as possible.

A trading lockout on GameStop stock by a number of investing apps led to the saga’s weirdest day yet: class action lawsuits, calls for hearings on Capitol Hill, and the suggestion that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen might need to recuse herself from overseeing Wall Street’s latest shitshow because she took speaking…

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NVC is available on your preferred platform!

• YouTube
• Spotify
• Apple iTunes
• Stitcher
• Podbay
• PlayerFM
• Podbean

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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Apex Legends studio Respawn Entertainment announced changes coming to the Ranked mode in the battle royale title for the upcoming Season 8.

The developer first revealed the percentage of players between all the tiers earned during the second half of Season 7 with most tiers receiving a higher percentage, except Bronze and Gold tiers, than in Season 6:

• 16.35% Bronze (17.76%)
• 23.86% Silver (26.23%)
• 32.09% Gold (36.25%)
• 23.13% Platinum (17.75%)
• 4.37% Diamond (1.89%)
• 0.20% Master & Apex Predator (0.12%)

For Season 8, Respawn plans to create a bigger pool of players for Diamond, Master, and Apex Predator tiers. The idea is to improve the quality of matches by filling in players of the same rank and be competitively fair.

Some of the changes in-game include earning placement Ranked Points (RP) at 13 teams left instead of 10, raising the kill/assist count to six for more RP, and increasing the time to earn an assist on a kill to 10 seconds.

Changes to matchmaking itself include increasing the Apex Predator rank to the top 750 players than the current 500, and making it so players beneath Diamond ranked tier will matchmake “more often within their own Ranks.”

Season 8 ranked players will be playing on the Kings Canyon map until March 23 for the first half of the season, and the second half will take place on Olympus. The World’s Edge map will not be in this ranked season, but will return in a “later season.”

The key to a good offense is a good defense, and the best way to defend yourself while playing the Hitman games is to identify and utilize a level's many disguises. However, there are a lot of disguises in any one level, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Starting out, it can be hard to know which outfit will grant you the access you need to get closer to your target(s).

Luckily for you, we've put an absurd amount of time into Hitman 3, poking at its levels, experimenting with different disguises, and learning which make assassinating targets the easiest. Though this list is far from comprehensive, we collected a few different outfits that will help you navigate some of Hitman's trickier levels.

Dubai

Hitman 3's first level can be one of its most daunting – if only due to the sheer verticality of the setting. When you begin your mission in the Scepter skyscraper, your targets, Marcus Stuyvesant and Carl Ingram, will be on separate floors above the publicly available areas. Getting up close to them is relatively easy by using two costumes.

For the King was a game that I enjoyed immensely when it released back in 2018, and now developer IronOak Games has revealed it'll be bringing the table-top-style fantasy adventure's very first paid expansion, Lost Civilization, to PC on 10th February.

For the King received a generous helping of free DLC updates following its launch on PC, Xbox One, PS4, and Switch, adding the likes of new nautical adventures, journeys to icebound climes, and even a special "uncooperative mode".

Lost Civilization, however, will be For the King's first paid expansion - or Adventure Pack, as IronOak is calling it - and introduces a brand-new jungle region, arena battles, wands and dual wielding, two new playable characters, and "tons of" new enemies and loot.

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In today's contest you can win TOHU for Nintendo Switch or PlayStation 4!

Fish -- can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em! Amirite?! No but seriously, aquatic creatures kinda freak me out. At least they're good in sushi.

TOHU takes the fish motif and really runs with it! There are planets made of fish. Fish worlds, fish mountains, fish lakes, fish tacos...it's all fish! Win a Switch or PS4 copy and enjoy the life aquatic.

Noctis drains his fifth elixir in as many minutes, rising to his feet as Prompto, Gladio, and Ignis groan on the ground. The aramusha lurks silently, waiting. When Noctis stands, the monster makes ready, body crouched, bony hand on the hilt of its egregiously long sword.

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Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) turned heads at the inauguration of United States President Joe Biden. Unfortunately, it wasn’t because he rushed in like Stone Cold Steve Austin to steal the presidency with a folding chair, but simply for sitting quietly in a cozy outfit and practicing social distancing. The moment…

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Mask Rescue Detox Pads (3-pack)| $41 | Kiss My Face | Promo code KINJA25

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We’ve been absolutely spoiled for Yakuza games lately, especially if you’re a newcomer to the series who has been able to leap effortlessly from 0 to the Kiwamis to Like a Dragon. But now that some of the older games are out on PC, those interested in reaching back into the series’ history need to bear some things in…

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In a new blog post, 343 Industries has announced that Halo Infinite will feature a fully customizable control scheme on all platforms and shown off some classic Halo weapons in Infinite’s new engine.

Quinn DelHoyo, lead Sandbox designer on Halo Infinite (and weapons designer during early production), detailed in the blog how developer 343 Industries is focusing on accessibility and customization for players with their new control scheme.

“Everything should feel intuitive and we don’t want the player to have to “fight” the game in order to have fun,” DelHoyo said. “It’s because of this principle, and the fact that Halo Infinite will be on PC, that led us to rebuild the control scheme system to allow players to fully rebind and remap their controls, regardless of platform. How players control Chief or their Spartan is crucial and we recognize that players feel the most connected to the game when control customization is fully featured.”

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343 Industries continued later in the blog, stating that the company has a team dedicated to improving PC controls, in addition to feedback from an internal pro team and PC Master Chief Collection players.

“PC as a first-class endeavor is another aspect to Halo Infinite that we are actively taking into account,” DelHoyo said. “PC as a platform is not going to be a port after we launch the game. We are playing on PC every day. So now, not only does our game need to feel great and like Halo on a controller like it has natively for the past 20-some-years, the game and all of its systems need to take into account native mouse and keyboard functionality.”

Today Microsoft and Asobo Studio published their regular development update for Microsoft Flight Simulator, and it has a couple of treats.

First of all, we hear about the upcoming World Update which will improve scenery in the UK and Ireland.

More specifically, we learn that its release is now planned between Feb. 9 and Feb. 11.

We also get two work-in-progress images of London’s photogrammetry. We know that this wasn’t finished, which is part of the reason behind the delay of the update, and that’s certainly visible in the images, even if they give a good idea of the level of detail we can expect.

There is now a specific PS5 Deals section when you check the PlayStation Store tore on your system, with categories looking at featured sales.

The post PS5 Deals Page Is Now Open on the PlayStation Store appeared first on Siliconera.

Emmanuel Edeko is an artist we only featured here last year, but I loved his depictions of what he’s calling Maria, Louise and some royal himbos so much I wanted to share his stuff again.

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Marvel’s Avengers released last year to lukewarm reception, and while it’s certainly not the big superhero game and multiplayer experience fans might have been wanting or expecting, that hasn’t stopped Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics from continuing to support it. Point in fact, the next War Table Deep Dive has been set for Feb. 16, and it’s going to show off Hawkeye’s new story.

The official Twitter account shared a tweet today, showing off new key art for the new update. The Deep Dive will go into more detail on Operation: Hawkeye – Future Imperfect, as well as the current-gen versions of the game coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

The key art also features Maestro, a well-known villain in the Marvel universe who has the strength of the Hulk.

Another Good Smile Company Marnie figure is in the works, and this time she's being made into a figma. Gloria and Raihan have a new friend!

The post Good Smile Company’s Marnie Figma Wants You to Smile appeared first on Siliconera.

News about the Marvel's Avengers Hawkeye and PS5 and Xbox Series X versions will come up during a February 2021 video presentation.

The post Marvel’s Avengers Hawkeye and Next-Gen War Table Coming in February appeared first on Siliconera.

Bungie is making a number of changes to Destiny 2 starting in its upcoming season, adjusting how content will be dished out and how you'll earn rewards when you log in. Starting in the next content season, Bungie is doing away with its weekly bounty system that requires players to sign in and complete certain objectives within a week in order to gain certain rewards, including premium currency.

The latest This Week At Bungie blog runs down how Destiny 2 will change starting with the next content season, which kicks off on February 9. Currently, players can log in each week and pick up weekly bounties from various in-game vendors, which reward experience points and Bright Dust, one of Destiny 2's premium currencies, upon completion. You only have a week to knock out those bounties once you have them, and if you want to maximize both your XP gains (which controls your climb to rewards on Destiny 2's season pass) and your Bright Dust gains, you need to play every week.

Bungie is changing out that system for a new one called Seasonal Challenges. New challenges unlock each week through the first 10 weeks of a new season, giving players objectives to chase across a variety of activities. Instead of expiring each week, however, the challenges pile up and last until the end of the season, so you can skip a week or two (or more) and still come back to the game and earn your rewards.

Apex Legends Season 8 is bringing a slew of changes, including a shiny new gun called the 30-30 Repeater. It's a lever-action rifle designed to fill the hole players were feeling in the heavy weapon set.

Starting out, the 30-30 will have six shots. Obtaining higher level magazines will increase its shot count, starting at eight with a level one magazine, ten with a level two magazine, and 12 with a level three magazine. The gun also has a charge bar that will change location depending on what kind of sight you have equipped. As you'd expect, the more you charge the 30-30, the more damage it deals, with its hits scaling accordingly if you only complete the charge midway. Full-charge headshots do 100 damage, and full-charge body shots do 57 damage. Meanwhile no-charge spamming body shots do 42 damage, and no-charge headshots do 74 damage.

The Razer Viper is one of the best gaming mouse options out there, and the company has just released its latest iteration of the mouse, which features the fastest polling rate of any available on the market. The Razer Viper 8K sends data at eight times the speed of its standard model, reducing latency and improving input delay. The Viper 8K also replaces the standard model at the $80 price point. It's available right now through Amazon and Best Buy.

The Razer Viper 8K does feel significantly smoother than my mouse of choice, the Razer DeathAdder V2 Pro. I haven't noticed too much difference in my K/D ratio, but I have had a great time using it, thanks to that 8,000Hz polling rate. It's not quite as dramatic as going from a 60Hz monitor to a 144Hz one in terms of in-game performance, but it does feel like a similar jump in smoothness that will only get better if it comes to Razer's other mouse shapes--the Viper doesn't boast my preferred ergonomics, but if this technology came to the DeathAdder, I could see myself switching back to a wired option.

With Halo Infinite set for a fall release window, 343 Industries has committed to delivering monthly Inside Infinite updates so that the community can keep up with the game’s development progress and learn more about what they can expect from the latest entry in the series. This week saw the release of the first Inside Infinite post for 2021, and it gets pretty technical.

The post featured a Q&A session with Halo Infinite’s Sandbox Team, who went over a few elements about how the sandbox was going to work in the game. The team went over the Halo Combat Doctrine, which essentially outlines several aspects of combat and gameplay in Halo Infinite, and was broken down into several player goals that the team had to make sure they’d be able to achieve in development.

For instance, The Dance is a principle in the Combat Doctrine whereby players should feel that “combat is in their hands to win or lose” and the developers have several key ingredients to keep in mind while focusing on this goal such as “the right balance of kill time, movement, using a diverse sandbox, energy shield based health model, etc.”

The team also goes over the role of vehicles in Halo Infinite, referencing the iconic Warthog and how it can be used in the game. It’ll have no problem going over rocky areas and rough terrain with its large tires for instance, while the antigrav capabilities of the Ghost simply lets you boost through such terrain.

Suffice it to say that the team views vehicles as important “long-term tempo pieces for encounter” and they can be used to create diverse encounters and experiences in the game.

You can read the full article and Q&A session here. Halo Infinite is set to be released for the Xbox Series X|S this year.

Today Marvelous Entertainment shared its financial results for third quarter of the fiscal year, related to the period between October and December 2020.

We learn that the company’s sales were 17,292 million yen (down 6.8% year-on-year), while operating income was 3,340 million yen (up 58.2% year-on-year).

Sales for the consumer business, which includes games for consoles and PC were  8,834 million yen (up 1.4% year-on-year), while operating income was 2,474 million yen (up 27.8% year-on-year).

The recently-released Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is the star of the party, achieving over 850,000 shipments worldwide, and the documents define it a big hit.

We also hear that No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2, just relaunched for Switch, also recorded strong sales in North America and Europe.

The great sales of Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is mentioned as one of the reasons of a sensible increase for the full-year sales and income forecast alongside good pre-orders of Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town.

Speaking of mobile games,  Shinobi Master Senran Kagura New Link continued to perform well, showing that fans certainly haven’t forgotten the franchise that has been dormant for a while on consoles.

If you’d like to compare, you can check out the results of the previous quarter, published in October.

Lochlannarg's dungeon is nothing like a dungeon. It's not even a lair, really. Outside, by the gates, clear water falls from one bronze urn to another in a peaceful overspilling burble. It's practically inviting: a spa. Inside, rivers of jade flow through channels worn in dark grey stone, between little islands of swaying straw. Lochlannarg in person awaits at the top, inside a temple - I say in person, but they're a sort of earless stone cat-monster caught in the act of having a bath. Maybe it really is a spa? Anyway, the stone tub is lofted by zombies. Lochlannarg surprised me, the first time I met them, with lightning, which I was not remotely expecting, and which killed me.

This is a special game. I am horrible at it, and it, in turn, is horrible to me, and yet I keep pushing on, returning to Gods Will Fall again and again. What first seemed like a muddle of odd ideas has resolved itself into one of the most promising things to happen to roguelikes and Soulslikes in an absolute age. Lochlannarg has earned that lightning, if you ask me. And that bath. I am tempted to slice up some cucumber for them.