January 2021

eFootball PES 2021 Season Update and others, too

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Vancouver studio moves in-house after a decade of developing for Nintendo

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It’s tough times for Harley after Joker War, but she’s tougher.

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Watch 14 minutes of Bloober Team’s next horror game

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Halo (20 Years)

Big Video Game Anniversaries in 2021

The Halo franchise hits a big milestone this year. Halo: Combat Evolved was a launch game for the Xbox in November 2001.

The series would go on to become Microsoft’s biggest exclusive for the Xbox and one of the highest grossing video game franchises of all time.

Today Capcom had a couple of reveals to make about its upcoming Monster Hunter game Monster Hunter Rise.

First of all, we learn about a digital event that will happen later this week on Jan. 7. It’ll be aired at 6 am PST, 9 am EST, 2:00 pm GMT, and 3:00 pm CET.

While its specific content is still under wraps, we do know that it’ll include Monster Hunter Rise news and reveals.

Secondly, we get to see a video revealing the gear you can grind from Bishaten, another of the new monsters coming in Monster Hunter Rise (we saw the gear from Somnacanth yesterday). As usual, it includes armor for your Palico and Palamute buddies on top of variations for male and female hunters.

If there's one aspect of the Persona series that truly epitomizes the franchise's slick and stylish aesthetic, it's the smooooth sounds. Every Persona title has been blessed with a magnetic and electrifying score, usually consisting of pulse-pounding beats, smooth jazz tones, and completely and utterly baffling lyrics.

From today, Persona fans can soundtrack their own lives with the same tunes that scored the adventures of The Phantom Thieves, The Investigation Team, and the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad. As noted by AniPlaylist, music streaming service Spotify has just added a slew of OSTs from the globally-popular RPG franchise.

Spotify now hosts a playlist of 14 Persona albums, compiling a whopping 746 tracks taken from 1999's Persona 2: Innocent Sin, right through to 2016's Persona 5. Also accounted for are fighting game Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, Nintendo 3DS spin-offs Persona Q: Shadow of Labyrinth and Persona Q 2: New Cinema Labyrinth, as well as a live recording of the "Night of the Phantom" concert – which took place at Japan's Budokan Hall back in 2015.

Currently, the OSTs for Persona 5 Royal and Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers have not been made available for purchase, and as such are not included here. Still, there's more than enough awesome music to keep you going as you steal hearts, battle demons, and solve murders in the real world. Just don't go diving into any TV sets.

The available soundtracks are as follows:

My first MMO was Ultima Online. But for a lot of people, it was EverQuest or RuneScape.

Several years before World of Warcraft would assert its dominance, folks gathered from around the world to partake in Jagex's 2001 odyssey, all through the use of a browser. It was extremely popular in schools due to the fact that you could basically circumvent any permissions that prevented application installs; and really took off.

Since then Jagex has maintained the original incarnation as "Old School RuneScape," and it's still here to this day. The game actually turned 20 on January 4, at which point the studio announced an event that kicks off on January 6. From there, it will evolve into the "Grand Party" celebration, which takes place throughout 2021 and will bring back classic storylines and characters.

RuneScape Classic isn't going anywhere. It's slated to come out on Steam this year and it arrived on mobile devices in 2018. It's not just a browser game anymore!

Old School RuneScape [Twitter]

Xbox Game Pass! You are the gift that keeps on giving.

A lot of my holiday was fueled by flipping through Game Pass, and this month, a few intriguing additions are coming into the fold.

Most notably on January 7, Injustice 2 is being added to the service on all platforms (mobile, console, PC). You too can smash action figures together and discover the wide world of NetherRealm's weird and sometimes thrilling DC universe plot: that's somehow more coherent than the cinematic DC Extended Universe.

On January 14, Torchlight III (hey, that like, just came out!) and What Remains of Edith Finch are the big ones. Honestly, for all of the shortcomings of the former in mind, that's a pretty dynamic duo. Edith Finch is one of those "wait and see" art games for a lot of folks, so it'll be nice to finally see a lot of people experience it for the first time. Torchlight III was a "wait and see" game for its own reasons.

Again, Game Pass! It's kind of the best way to play some of these games. You can find a full rundown of January's Xbox Game Pass offerings below.

Monster Hunter fans looking forward to the upcoming Switch release Monster Hunter Rise will be pleased to hear that more info will be heading their way later this week. Developer Capcom has announced a fact-filled live stream, set to take place on Thursday, January 7.

The Monster Hunter Rise Digital Event will feature a panel consisting of director Yasunori Ichinose and producer Ryozo Tsujimoto, who will be offering up "big news and reveals" concerning this latest jaunt into the beast-filled undergrowth. The stream will also include a brand new trailer, as well as a date for the eagerly-awaited demo, which is set to arrive sometime this month.

Best of all, the stream will be broadcast with English subtitles, so western fans can get in on the action as it happens. The Monster Hunter Rise Digital Event will take place Thursday, January 7 at 06:00 PT / 09:00 ET / 15:00 BST and can be viewed on the official Monster Hunter YouTube and Twitch channels. Bring your best Switch Axe.

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Next Level Games is the studio that brought fans Luigi's Mansion 3 and today, Nintendo has announced that they have officially acquired the Canadian company. 

The purchase was made to fully transition Next Level Games into a first-party studio in an official capacity. With Next Level's past history tied to the Nintendo name like Luigi's Mansion 3, Metroid Prime: Federation Force, and more, this acquisition makes perfect sense. 

"NLG’s shares are currently held entirely by its owner-directors and employees," reads the official statement regarding the acquisition. "A number of owner-directors recently determined that the time is right for them to sell their shares, and NLG therefore began exploring potential sale transactions. Completion of the Acquisition will serve to secure the availability of NLG development resources for Nintendo, including development expertise, as well as facilitate an anticipated improvement in development speed and quality by enabling closer communication and exchange of staff with the Nintendo development team."

While the purchase is official, the acquisition itself won't be closed until March 1 of this year. It will be interesting to see what this more standardized move will mean for the team regarding future projects for the ever-growing and robust Nintendo Switch library.

It's a new year, which means new games are coming to Xbox Game Pass with its ever-evolving library of free games for Xbox fans to enjoy. With a monthly membership fee, players can enjoy a plethora of titles at no additional cost in addition to day-one first-party games, DLC, and more. Now that it's January and the start of the new year, here is what is coming to — and leaving — Xbox Game Pass this month. 

A personal favorite being added to the PC version of Xbox Game Pass is What Remains of Edith Finch. This indie title is a delightful collection of short stories revolving around a Washington family. Tales of loss, survival, and human resistance; it's a beautiful game and one I definitely recommend if you haven't played it yet. 

As for what else is joining the Xbox Game Pass Library: 

Trevor’s Top 5 Games of 2020 Read More »

If you're taking down your Christmas decorations this week, you're not alone. Assassin's Creed Valhalla will do the same this Thursday, 7th January when its festive Yuletide event comes to an end.

You've still got a couple of days to drop in if you haven't done so already, and there's a couple of things worth seeing. But while I've long thought Valhalla's settlement area is one of its most promising features, its potential is never quite fully realised in the base game, and despite it being the focus of this seasonal update, the same is true again here at Yuletide.

If you're yet to check in, you'll have two short questlines waiting for you. The Case of The Missing Ale is a straightfoward mission which asks you to raid a bandit camp for a barrel of missing brew. It features new character Ake, your regular brewer's new apprentice, and it is seemingly bugged for a lot of people. (Don't go to Sciropescire to finish the quest as directed, Ake is actually just stood nearby the bandit camp.)

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It’s easy to forget about your CPU when it comes to boosting your PC’s gaming performance, but finding the right processor can often make a surprising difference to your overall frame rate, especially if you tend to play games at 1920×1080. To help you get the best gaming CPU for you and your budget, we’ve put together this list of our top Intel and AMD processors. Whether you’re building a budget-friendly 1080p machine or a high-powered mega rig, here are my best CPU for gaming recommendations for 2021.

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Meet me in the ring. Not the normal scary Apex Legends death ring though, the boxing ring! Respawn Entertainment are kicking off a new collection event for the battle royale this evening: Fight Night. It’s a new town takeover themed around the lovable murderbot Pathfinder, in which players will be stripped of their guns and face-off in fisticuffs. A new game mode is joining the fray too, as are lots of new cosmetics and a small army of robots you might recognise from the Titanfall games.

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Once you learn that a movement glitch in Cyberpunk 2077 lets V bound along streets faster than any motor vehicle, it’s even more galling that everyone in Night City is bugging her to buy their old cars. Yep, bunnyhopping in Cyberpunk is real, and I’m delighted. With careful timing, V’s robot legs can send her zooming. It looks wild. This is one Cyberpunk 2077 bug I hope developers CD Projekt Red never fix.

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Are you ready to fight alongside a Demon Queen? The new #Teppen Hero is Oichi, and she's bringing new Sengoku Basara cards with her.

The post Teppen’s Oichi Has the Sengoku Basara Heroine Play With Death appeared first on Siliconera.

The remaster of the first Akiba's Trip game is also headed to Switch.

The post Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed PS4 and Switch Copies Appear in Product Listings appeared first on Siliconera.

Were you not seeing your Monster Hunter World Iceborne Delivery Requests when offline? Well, there will soon be a patch for that.

The post Monster Hunter World Iceborne Patch Will Bring Delivery Requests Back appeared first on Siliconera.

The Phantasy Star Online 2 comic series PSO2COMI is being localized and shared online by Sega. You can already start reading it.

The post Sega’s Localizing the PSO2COMI Webcomics appeared first on Siliconera.

Don’t worry, he’s still punching crime into submission.

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While the parent company gets criticized for lack of diversity, Amazon Studios is all-in on Black film and TV

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Cara Gee is killing it as Camina Drummer

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Today the Nintendo Switch version of the remaster of the original game of the Akiba’s Trip franchise was temporarily listed on the website of the Japanese retailer Yodobashi Camera alongside the previously announced PS4 version, titled for the west Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound and Debriefed.

While the listing has been taken down, the remaster for PS4 and Switch, titled for Japan “Akiba’s Trip: First Memory,” left a trail in the form of cover art and images, which you can see below, courtesy of Twitter user れんか.

The popular developers at FlyTampa have released their new airport for Microsoft Flight Simulator and it’s Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (YSSY).

The add-on is now available on Orbx Central for about $18. It installs easily and quickly via Orbx’s installer, so you won’t need to deal with folders and copying files around.

That being said, you should uninstall the “handcrafted” airport that came with all editions of Microsoft Flight Simulator to avoid conflicts. All you need to do is to go into your “content manager” menu, search for “YSSY” and remove the package by Asobo.

Sydney Airport is the busiest hub in Australia and one of the busiest in the world, so you know you’re in for all kinds of flight simulation opportunities, from international long-haul to short airliner hops and large general aviation.

It begins!

Like all great hardware purges, Sony is starting with Japan. It happened with the Vita, and now it's going to happen to the PS4.

As reported by Game Watch, Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Asia will be phasing out all PS4 Pro models and all but one PS4 Slim model. In short, the only PS4 that will be actively sold in Japan by Sony will be the PS4 slim 500GB Jet Black model. As Gematsu points out, the "OG" PS4 has been discontinued already.

Although the PS4 had a fantastic run, hitting 113.5 million units and counting (putting it squarely in the top five all-time best-selling console list, right above the original PlayStation), Sony is obviously looking to the future here.

There's a lot of considerations when it comes to hardware, like physical retailer shelf space, as well as manufacturing concerns and overhead. Sony needs to meet the PS5 demand and get hardware into the hands of everyone they can; and move out of an era of PS5 "lotteries" and chaos. For Sony, it's the beginning of a new era. For PlayStation fans and collectors, it's the end of one.

PS4 [Game Watch via Gematsu]

One of the trends I saw on social media in the lead-up to the new year was a pledge by people to be "better" in 2021. To be more kind, more thoughtful, more patient, and more forgiving. Basically, taking the negative energy 2020 gave us and turning it into a force for good.

I am 100% down with directing my actions toward making 2021 a better year for myself and those around me. Even if those actions are small, as Alba: A Wildlife Adventure shows us, they can go a long way toward creating a world that's more hospitable place for all.

Last year, Nintendo rolled out a series of video quizzes.

In June, it showcased a "Can You Guess that Game" challenge, with fuzzy logos and characters slowly coming into focus: it's still the best one! Then it went game-centric, delivering a Mario Kart quiz. Now it's Pikmin 3's turn.

While it's only three questions strong, Pikmin is a pretty good choice for a quiz for multiple reasons. Chiefly, it's not exactly a blowout title in terms of popularity, so fringe fans aren't going to know all of its secrets. It's also fairly nuanced, as there's tons of obscure lore bits to pick from (like what the game labels each piece of fruit; a tidbit used here), as well as a degree of mechanical depth.

You can find all of the questions below!

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Collecting memorabilia is an incredible way to bring the love of our favorite games, movies, books, and more into our daily lives on a more intimate level. Collectible statues, replicas, and other odds and ends have been a pastime for me for over 30 years – from becoming Commander Shepard with an exact N7 helmet replica to harnessing the power to ruin friendships with the Energy Sword from Halo. Through the years, that love of collecting transcended just being a hobby and transformed into a means of empowerment and, at times, a symbol of safety. It sounds silly, but hear me out. 

Warning: The following article contains sensitive subject matter including thoughts of self-harm and/or suicide

I first began my journey into being a hardcore collector with the NES back when I was four years old. I was in love with Contra as a kid, and it became my life goal to find every collectible and action figure, and work my little child butt off to earn money so an adult could buy them for me. Super Mario, F-Zero, Legend of Zelda, and so many more presented these worlds that I could fall into and become something bigger than myself. Collectibles gave me the chance to bring that power into the real world. The road of gaming is paved by epic loot, and bringing that treasure into my daily life helped me during many pivotal points throughout the years. 

Update: When Funko first announced a wave of Pop figures based on Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, it looked like it would be a smaller line consisting of just three figures, all of Miles. That number has jumped to 11 with Funko planning a second series slated to launch this April.

Oddly, all of the figures are again just of Miles. Prowler, Rhino, and other characters have not yet gotten Pop figures. This line does, however, dive deep into Miles' closest of suits, and consists of the tech-based 2020 suit, the Bodega Cat suit, the winter suit, and more. You can see all of the new additions below:

Warlocks just can't seem to catch a break. As a former hunter main turned warlock, this class seems to be hit the hardest with changes, the latest being a Destiny 2: Beyond Light update that stealthily changed Warlock Rift. The good news? For once, the hidden change to this class is actually a good one as noted by keen-eyed Destiny players. 

For those that may be unfamiliar, Rift is a Warlock-locked ability that grants allies a buff while within the AOE. Healing, damage buffs, and more are attributed to this ability, all of which have seemingly been improved upon thanks to recent changes. Bungie is known for leaving out certain changes in its patch notes every once in a while and it looks like this potential buff is left out of the latest update. 

A recent Beyond Light Reddit thread opened up a discussion about noticed changes with the Rift, specifically concerning the animation surrounding the Rift. The amount of times I've been picked off in PvP when casting my Rift because I wasn't paying attention is unreal, especially since the initial animation cast leaves the player vulnerable. Because of that, the recently noticed change is actually a good thing, because it seemingly adds 20% damage resistance to the caster during the animation, allowing them better resistance when they are open to attack. When the animation wraps, the Rift is fully implemented and the third-person perspective due to the animation goes back to the usual first-person mode.