February 2021

Following a glut of rumors and reports, Sony Japan has stated that it is currently in the process of "re-organizing" Japan Studio, Sony's oldest and longest-running in-house game developer.

Word of the restructure first came via an in-depth report by VGC, who noted that Sony Japan Studio had released a "vast majority" of its development staff, not renewing their annual contracts as the clock ticks down on a new financial year. It has also been impossible not to notice the growing list of producers who have recently left Sony to seek their fortunes and creative muses elsewhere. Sony has since responded to VGC's report, openly stating that the Japan Studio is currently in a deep process of consolidation and restructure.

"In an effort to further strengthen business operations, SIE can confirm PlayStation Studios Japan Studio will be re-organized into a new organization on April 1," said a Sony spokesperson. "Japan Studio will be re-centered to Team ASOBI, the creative team behind Astro's Playroom, allowing the team to focus on a single vision and build on the popularity of Astro's Playroom. In addition, the roles of external production, software localization, and IP management of JAPAN Studio titles will be concentrated within the global functions of PlayStation Studios."

In this post-Activision Destiny 2 world, Bungie has made several big missteps.

One is "vaulting," which takes away chunks of game content with the aim of making the base download more manageable. The other, far more contentious aspect, is "sunsetting." In short, this system created a constant grind by making gear untenable to use for long periods of time; which pissed off pretty much everyone. That latter bit is going away, but it won't apply retroactively.

The big news that brought about all this is the delay of The Witch Queen, Destiny 2's next big expansion. It's been moved into 2022, and Bungie needs to placate the playerbase until that date arrives. As such, "rewards will matter" now (very clever to sell old features back as a new one), as Bungie admits the execution of the late 2020-2021 system was "off the mark."

Here's a quick breakdown: "We've made the decision that any weapon or armor that can currently be infused to max Power will continue to be able to reach max Power permanently. Starting in Season 14 we won't be capping the infusion on any weapons or armor that have not already reached the cap as of the start of Season 13. This means you'll be able to take your Trustee, your Falling Guillotine, and all the high-stat armor you've earned this year to take on the raid in The Witch Queen."

As a concession, gear will be tweaked as needed (like the old days) to prevent things from getting out of hand, balance-wise. The Power Cap will also only be raised by 10 for each "non-expansion season," to avoid excessive grinding even further. It's a set of good changes! But the game didn't need to enter this territory in the first place.

My main concern for the rest of 2021 is whether or not Beyond Light is going to last me through the year just on seasonal updates.

The Road to the Witch Queen [Bungie.net]

Sources inside Electronic Arts are claiming that the publisher has done a severe about-face on the development of its upcoming Dragon Age sequel, pumping the brakes on the new title's multiplayer components in the wake of the recent sunsetting of BioWare's Anthem.

According to a report by Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, the still-unnamed Dragon Age sequel had its design concepts revised in 2017, with EA envisioning a multiplayer-centric affair, peppered with long-term monetization goals. This new take on the Dragon Age project was allegedly described by some employees as "Anthem with dragons," and is supposedly what led to creative director Mike Laidlaw leaving the project entirely later in 2017.

Pokémon pretty much has it made.

It has a huge history, and enough nostalgia to mine forever. Having a good cadence of "remakes, and new stuff" is pretty much perfect at this point. And they delivered both today.

Here's a full recap, including all the ancillary announcements before the big ones.

Fortnite's crossover with Alien is now live, and it includes skins for both Ripley and a Xenomorph for you to squeeze into.

The video below shows Fortnite's Agent Jonesy rifting in to save the day, while holding Jonsey the cat (no relation), then presumably transferring the characters into Fortnite's lucrative item shop.

Ripley comes with Jonesy in a Weyland-Yutani Cat Carrier. She and Xenomorph both cost 1500 V-Bucks, or there's a bundle for both priced at 2220 V-Bucks.

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Valheim's been out for a whole three weeks, so of course that means players have already constructed many outrageous builds that make my longhouse look like a garden shed. Although the Viking survival game places an emphasis on crafting old Scandinavian architecture, that hasn't stopped players from creating some seriously sci-fi structures - along with towers so enormous they seem to defy the laws of physics. So here's a round-up of some of the best and most outrageous builds from over the past few weeks.

On the topic of things that probably don't belong in Valheim, spaceships are almost certainly one of them. The sci-fi building trend has been going strong, with a Millenium Falcon build earning itself the top spot on the Valheim subreddit, and an equally-impressive "USS Valheim" representing Star Trek. I'll be honest, I'm not sure these would manage to exit Valheim's atmosphere, so it's probably just as well they're staying grounded. Or supported by trees, at least.

While Valheim's building pieces are inspired by Scandinavian architecture, it seems they also lend themselves quite nicely to Japanese castles - as you can see from some of these posts. If only Valheim had a cherry blossom season.

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Sub-factions can be used to give players an opportunity to personalize their play experience and create expandable content for a game. ...

The PlayStation 5 is an impressive machine, but a big issue has plagued its players across the board: the inability to upgrade its internal storage. The PS5’s SSD only has 667GB of available storage (a lot less than Xbox Series X's 885GB SSD), and with triple-A games typically sizing up at around 50GB to 70GB minimum, managing new game downloads – plus updates – has been a bit of a nightmare for PS5 owners. Thankfully, a new report by Bloomberg indicates that Sony is working on a firmware update that will finally allow PS5 owners to upgrade its internal storage. 

According to Bloomberg’s anonymous sources, Sony's upcoming update will enable the PS5's expansion bay, allowing players to install a second M.2 SSD to the console. If you remove the detachable “fins” covering the PS5, you’ll notice the internal slot meant to house an additional drive. The slot has been disabled since launch, with Sony promising last November that external storage support would come in a future update.

Square Enix revealed the NieR Replicant English voice actors, and a lot of people are returning to reprise their roles in the game.

The post Here Are the NieR Replicant English Voice Actors appeared first on Siliconera.

Summer Catchers is a Switch game packed with personality. It also happens to mix elements of deck building into an endless runner.

The post Summer Catchers Combines Deck-Building and Endless Running on the Switch appeared first on Siliconera.

A new Blue Reflection Ray anime teaser video shared the theme song and April 2021 Japanese launch date for its first episode.

The post Blue Reflection Ray Anime Will Air at the Start of April appeared first on Siliconera.

Our readers know what’s up. Whenever we ask a question like “What’s the best projector?”, we know we’ll always get a good mix of thoughtful responses and great product recommendations. As expected, we received both this time around, making for a well-rounded and perfect overview of projector life. The most interesting…

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Outside of Square Enix announcing a new story DLC for Final Fantasy VII Remake, yesterday’s PlayStation State of Play event was kinda a dud. But there was a notable exception: Deathloop’s new original song “Déjà Vu.”

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Today during a Nintendo livestream we got our first look at Pokémon Legends: Arceus, a new open-world Pokémon game. Almost instantly after it was revealed folks on the internet began comparing it to Breath of the Wild. In fact, one particular shot in the new trailer caught the eyes of many fans for how similar it…

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Yesterday’s most important Final Fantasy news wasn’t delivered at the end of Sony’s lackluster State of Play livestream presentation but was instead casually tweeted out afterward: a new mobile game called Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis is coming. This latest FFVII remix will tell the story not just of the original…

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Bravely Default 2, a game about grinding, finding crystals, and saving the world (but not about climate change), is out now for Nintendo Switch. And it’s no cakewalk. Yes, Bravely Default 2 is a whole lot of game, with a complex network of interweaving systems and methodical, relentless battles that will mess you up…

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Its live-action characters and plots are dull but respectable by comparison

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And how it sets up for a big finale

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Pick up two weapons and two armor pieces in Trials of Osiris this week

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No actor has been attached to portray the Man of Steel just yet

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With Madden NFL 21 and NHL 21 as wingmen

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Head to Nessus for some Exotics

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Posts online point out the similarities between the two games in striking detail

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Since the early days of the franchise, fans wondered what it would be like to play an open-world Pokemon game in which you could explore the land and sneak up on Pokemon to catch them in a realistic fashion. After today’s Pokemon Presents, it seems we’re finally closer to this becoming a reality with Pokemon Legends: Arceus.

The game’s very first trailer showcased what appears to be a mashup of the familiar, core gameplay of Pokemon while adding new action and RPG elements within a large sandbox design.

This time, however, it doesn’t look like it will be the typical Pokemon story about a child who sets off on their very own journey to battle gyms and become the region’s champion.

Instead, players will be tasked with catching, surveying, and researching wild Pokemon in the ancient Sinnoh region to create the region’s first-ever Pokedex.

It’s Friday once again, meaning you’ve got plenty of time to relax and take in some great anime content. To help celebrate, we’ve compiled the best anime memes from across the internet.

We’ve got everything you’ll ever need, ranging from That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime to Redo of Healer.

Today Netflix released another extensive new trailer of the upcoming anime series Pacific Rim: The Black.

We get to take a more in-depth look at the series’ apocalyptic setting in which the Kaiju have taken control of Australia, the two protagonists, their parents who apparently are missing in action, and additional characters including a potential villain.

You can watch the trailer below, including both English and Japanese audio.

Pacfic Rim: The Black is animated by Tokyo-based Polygon Pictures and produced by Legendary Television Studios. It’s directed by Hiroyuki Hayashi and Jae Hong Kim.

Season 2 of Warzone and Black Ops Cold War began yesterday after what seemed like the longest season yet. Stim glitches and the DMR meta made for a few horrible weeks, so it’s nice to have somewhat of a reset come to Call of Duty’s massive battle royale.

No, it’s not the all-new map that Warzone desperately needs and has needed for months at this point, but it’s something new at least.

The ship that’s crashed into the open area between Port and Verdansk Prison is all that’s new for Season 2, beyond a couple of new weapons and Operators. While it’s busy for now so that players can check out the zombies that you can spawn there, it’ll likely soon become a deserted area of the map, just as it was before the Season 2 update.

I think Nick Mercs’ reaction to the new season sums it up pretty well.

Of course you play Genshin Impact for its beautiful cel-shaded world and engaging gameplay, but who can say they don’t adore its vibrant cast of eccentric characters? From cutesy Klee to bad boys like Razor, the ever-expanding roster help breathe personality into the world of Tevyat, and we just can’t get enough of spending time with them.

But if you had to spend all of your time with only one, who would you choose? Or rather, who would we choose for you based on 10 questions that scientifically narrow-down a list of names nearly three times that number? Well, that’s what we’re here to find out.

So, let’s see who your perfect Genshin Impact waifu or husbando is, shall we?

Unsheathe that steel, friend, Koei Tecmo has revealed a release date for the western launch of its warfaring musou sequel Samurai Warriors 5. The latest chapter in this epic  drama will arrive on PS4, PC, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on July 27, just one month after its release in Japan.

Omega Force's latest venture into the ground-shaking 1 vs. 1000 battle franchise will feature a huge roster of 27 characters handpicked from the series previous releases, all of whom have received a visual overhaul in order to better acclimatize them to Samurai Warriors 5's Sengoku time period. Favorites such as Hideyoshi Hashiba, Nou, and Yoshimoto Imagawa will be joined by ninja newcomer Mitsuki, with further new characters expected to arrive as post-release DLC.

While the typical en masse brawling and tactical combat will return as expected, Samurai Warriors 5 will include new mechanics and features, such as the all-new "Musou Frenzy," which sees the playfield transition to a traditional watercolor effect to truly showcase your chosen warrior's devastating, screen-clearing specials. Check out the action in the brand new trailer below, while you ready yourself for a hell of a lot of sword-assisted head-ectomies.

A lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into making Final Fantasy VII Remake from the ground up.

A full team had to basically reimagine this classic JRPG without screwing things up, and that included new sound effects, visuals, music, designs, mechanics: you name it. So it makes perfect sense that it took a team of three directors and countless others to make that happen. That directorial trio involved Testuya Nomura, Noaki Hamaguchi, and Motomu Toriyama. At least for the first part.

Speaking to Famitsu, Nomura confirmed that Part 2 will only have one director: Naoki Hamaguchi. Part of the reason is that Nomura will be busy, working on "more projects now than ever before" (okay, I want to know more about that). Since a lot of the groundwork is already done, Nomura feels comfortable that this one can be helmed by one person. However, Nomura is still involved as the "creative director on all things Final Fantasy VII," which specifically includes the remake and the mobile games. He says that it is "not a significant change."

Slowly but surely the Part 2 pieces of the puzzle are coming together. We know that it should feature the open world at some point, and that Square Enix is working on it in earnest remotely.

As a nice little musical interlude during last night's PlayStation State of Play presentation, Bethesda released a new gameplay trailer for Arkane Studios' riotous looking shooter Deathloop, which is headed to PS5 and PC on May 21.

The video features a veritable banquet of first-person carnage, as protagonist Colt run 'n' guns his way through an endless cycle of death and rebirth, brought about by an island of eccentric assassins, headed up by the stylish and deadly killer, Julianna. As Colt faces death time, after time, after time, he must find a way to eliminate his targets, take down Julianna, and end the literal cycle of violence for good. It looks like one badass game, that's for sure.

The new gameplay trailer is backed by a track recorded especially for the game: "Deja Vu" by Sencit feat. FJ0RA, both of whom I'm far, far too old to know. The track almost undeniably has a decadent and epic "James Bond Title Sequence" vibe, which is well suited to Colt's shadow-chasing, quick-drawing lifestyle. It's a slick and sexy song, and only serves to further hype Deathloop's subversive action, cool characters, and sense of style ever more.

Valve's been finessing its nifty Remote Play Together feature over on Steam, and its latest beta has switched things up so that any friend you want to play your game won't need their own own Steam account to get stuck in, dramatically easing the point of entry.

Remote Play Together, if you're unfamiliar, makes it possible for distant friends to play a game's local multiplayer mode over the internet as if they were all scrunched up together on a couch in the same room, with only one player needing to own a copy of the game.

To get it to work, the owner begins by launching their chosen game, then invites their chums to play using Steam's Friends List. Upon accepting those requests, invited parties - regardless of whether they're on their own Steam-equipped PC or using Valve's Remote Play app on phone or tablet - can hop into a local multiplayer session via the wonders of streaming.

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Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection is relentlessly challenging, but features mechanics to make things easier or harder, if you WANT to suffer.

The post Review: Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection Is Accessible for All appeared first on Siliconera.

After a few delays, the film will finally hit theaters in Japan nine months later.

The post Evangelion 3.0+1.0 Release Date Now Falls in March 2021 appeared first on Siliconera.