March 2021

There's an acute kind of horror to being very, very small. A lot of it's in the timing, I think: the time it takes just to get anywhere is so long, so monotonous and lonely, that you feel oddly trapped. All that infinite expanse around you and at the same time, nowhere you can really go. Shudder. Maquette, a debut effort from San Francisco-based studio Graceful Decay, gets this - in fact it's built on it, playing with size and space and infinite regress, and the dense atmosphere that comes with it. A game of teeny tiny footsteps and giant, clanging objects all at once, plus a touch of tilting nausea if you start to think a little too hard.

Maquette is a recursive puzzler, primarily - another stylish, concept-heavy indie from arthouse publisher Annapurna Interactive - and the core is excellent. Each level, as such, occurs under a large, domed-roof structure, several stories high. Beneath this giant dome are four gated puzzle areas arranged opposite each other, crossroads-like, and in the middle is another dome, this time only about two stories high. Beneath that middle dome is a waist-high replica of the dome you're in: four puzzle areas, an even smaller dome in the middle. Inside that middle dome? An even more miniature replica. Back outside that first big outer dome I mentioned? An even bigger replica - and presumably on and on from there.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has released the nominations list for the 2021 edition of its BAFTA Games Awards, which will be taking place later in March.

The Last of Us Part II has received a record-breaking 13 nominations - the most any one video game has received since the event's inception back in 2004. Naughty Dog's dramatic and violent sequel is up in numerous categories, including Best Animation, Best Music, Best Audio Achievement, and Best Game Design. Ironically for such as story-heavy title, TLOU II is not nominated in the Best Narrative category. Several actors, including Ashley Johnson, Laura Bailey, and Troy Baker, are also nominated for Performer awards.

The nominations have seen Sony sweep all categories, with a grand total of 41 nominations among the award categories. Titles such as Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Sucker Punch's Ghost of Tsushima, Media Molecule's Dreams, and Sumo Digital's Sackboy: A Big Adventure are all in-line for potential gongs. Fortunately, smaller titles such as Supergiant's Hades, Phobia Game Studio's Carrion, and Out of the Blue's Call of the Sea also get a look-in.

You can check out the full list of categories and nominations below. The 2021 BAFTA Games Awards will stream March 25, hosted by journalist and presenter Elle Osili-Wood.

Merchandising! Square Enix loves to do it. And with lots of people wearing masks in Japan, the Tokyo-based game maker saw an opportunity.

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Pokémon Unite - the new free-to-play MOBA from Tencent's TiMi Studios, which was also responsible for Activision's Call of Duty Mobile - has just launched its closed beta in Canada, and a heap of new details and footage have emerged as a result.

Originally announced last summer, Pokémon Unite pits two squads of five players against one another, battling it out in an arena threaded with control points to secure. As a match plays out, Pokémon are able to level up, unlocking new moves as they do so.

Following the launch of Pokémon Unite's closed beta, GoNintendo has been rounding up the various bits of footage to make it online so far. Unfortunately, videos are starting to disappear one by one, but there's still a decent selection of gameplay featuring a range of characters - including Cinderace, Greninja, and Garchomp - to be found.

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Microsoft has shown a Pokémon Go tech demo in which the mobile pocket monster phenomenon is playable via the company's Hololens headset.

A video of the demonstration, labelled as "proof of concept" and "not for consumer use", was part of a presentation detailing Microsoft Mesh, the company's new mixed reality platform (thanks, The Verge).

Introduced by Niantic boss John Hanke - the company's own Professor Willow - the demo shows how players can interact with creatures in mixed-reality, rather than AR, and use virtual controls which float around the user's wrist.

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For years I've been dreaming of a Left 4 Dead mod that features the cast of Frasier. Trapped between safe houses in an abandoned hospital, Niles caves someone's head in with a hardback copy of the ICD-9 codes, as Marty jams a door shut with his walking stick. Daphne - who's a little bit psychic - correctly predicts the arrival of a Jockey through a broken window while Frasier is lost in a panic, circling wildly and raging about his next trip to La Cigare Volant.

It would work, I think. A set-piece at the KACL studios, where zombie-Roz traps them all in the sound booth as Gil Chesterton - possibly not zombie-Gil-Chesterton - lights the place on fire. A frantic last-minute rescue mission back to the apartment to save Marty's armchair. Niles is wiping his new machine gun with a handkerchief because who knows who had it before him? Eddie sniffs out a cache of grenades. "Need a med-kit!" yells Daphne. I'm listening.

But is this the only way to take the greatness of Frasier and spin it into a video game? Is it even the best way? Let's go to a new caller.

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Nichijou fans may find that Asuka Langley looks familiar in this Mechatro WeGo Evangelion model kit.

The post Evangelion and Mechatro WeGo Collaboration Redesigns Asuka as a Nichijou Character appeared first on Siliconera.

The Starter Edition is geared towards newcomers, casuals, and novices who want to try out a Gundam Extreme Vs game.

The post Gundam Extreme Vs Maxi Boost ON Starter Edition Offers Easier Entry appeared first on Siliconera.

March 2021 is the last chance to get the version with exclusive pre-installed theme songs from the anime shows.

The post SD Gundam Cross Rays Premium G Sound Edition Will Be Taken Down appeared first on Siliconera.

Zynga has acquired Torchlight III developer Echtra Games for an undisclosed fee to bolster its cross-platform development capabilities. ...

Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s ongoing hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today, it’s time to revisit an obscure PS1 classic from Square Soft’s JRPG heyday, which had some of the chillest city-builder tunes around. I’m talking about Legend of Mana, of course.

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When Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town was released last month in Japan, fans complained of long load times, bugs, and glitches. Producer Dai Takemura addressed these issues on the game’s official blog and offers his apology.

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The Sims 4 already has a vast amount of DLC packs, ranging from bundles to large Expansion Packs, medium-sized Game Packs and smaller Stuff Packs, but now EA is introducing an even tinier type of DLC called Kits. And one of them will deliberately make your Sim's house dirtier.

Described as "mini collections of content", EA has launched three Kits - a Throwback Fit Kit full of retro gym clothing, a Country Kitchen Kit adding vintage kitchen furniture, and the weirdest one of all... the Bust The Dust Kit. This one adds dust to your Sim's home, and it's alive: if you don't sort out the dust piles, they'll spawn "friendly bunnies and dastardly filth fiends". Frankly, anything spreading mess in my house is no friend of mine.

Successfully cleaning up will get you some buffs and rewards, and the Kit also provides two new aspirations for your Sims: Filthy and Fabulous Sims will enjoy living in disgusting hovels, while Perfectly Pristine Sims will require regular cleaning. Thankfully you'll have a new collection of full-size and handheld hoovers to help with this task.

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EA has issued a lifetime ban to a FIFA player who racially abused Ian Wright after he lost a match while playing with the Arsenal legend's in-game version.

This week, Wright slammed a judge's lenient sentence for a teenager who hurled racial abuse at the Arsenal legend on social media last year.

18-year-old Patrick O'Brien lost a game of FIFA after playing with the Ian Wright icon card in the Ultimate Team mode.

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Pokémon Go developer Niantic has apologised for the issue in the game's recent paid Kanto Tour event which let some players in for free, and detailed its bonus event for those who did purchase a ticket.

"We apologise for this issue, and to help Trainers who purchased a ticket feel like they are receiving its value, paid ticket holders will be able to participate in a bonus event," Niantic wrote in a blog post.

A new timed questline will become available in the game this Friday, 5th March at 10am local time. Completing it will reward you with a variety of premium items, including a pair of Elite TMs which are usually sold at particularly high prices, alongside a smattering of other bits and pieces.

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Hironobu Sakaguchi sat down to talk about the various contributors to Fantasian, including an artist many will be familiar with.

The post Final Fantasy Series Creator Hironobu Sakaguchi Talks Uematsu’s Involvement in Fantasian appeared first on Siliconera.

Kuro no Kiseki will have a new battle system that lets you toggle between action and command-based battles at any time!

The post Kuro no Kiseki Will Let You Toggle Between Battle Systems appeared first on Siliconera.

These DLC weapon skins feature swords from Tales of Innocence and Tales of Destiny.

The post Maglam Lord to Include Tales of Series Weapon Skin DLC appeared first on Siliconera.

Get to learn more about Yuffie and Sonon's mission through these new character biographies.

The post Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Yuffie and Sonon Character Biographies Released appeared first on Siliconera.

5th Cell (Scribblenauts) is back with Castlehold, a free-to-play competitive strategy game that combines aspects of collectible card games and strategy board games. In 1v1 battles, players can create armies of different factions and attempt to take over each other's keeps. A vast number of different kinds of troops and factions are available, such as samurai, pirates, Wild West, future soldiers, vikings, medieval, and more. Take a look at the trailer below to see exactly how it all plays out!

You can choose to go right for the opponent or attempt to control various points on the board so that you can deploy better, more powerful units.  You may be able to win the game quickly by beelining to the opposing castle and using a tricks to infiltrate and win the game right away, but many strategies involve expanding out across the map to take over the outlying villages and gain board control. Smaller, agile units are perfect for moving across the board quickly to capture territory, but will lose in battle easily. 

Valorant’s Patch 2.04 is now live alongside the new Act, which marks the introduction of a brand new Agent and battle pass.

In addition to the new content, this week’s patch notes have revealed a number of tweaks to competitive play, Escalation mode, and some new quality of life features aimed at improving in-game communication.

Perhaps the most significant change to ranked for most players they’ll finally be able to queue with a wider range of ranks, allowing friends to play together when before they had to be within three ranks. The below image shows the new spread, with Iron 1 – Silver 3 now allowed to queue; Silver 1 – Gold 3; Gold 1 – Platinum 3, etc.

This should also help combat smurfing.

Social and mobile games company Zynga Inc. announced today it has acquired Torchlight III developer Echtra Games.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Zynga said the acquisition of the studio founded by Diablo and Torchlight co-creator Max Schaefer will add cross-platform play experience and “proprietary cross-platform development tools and technologies that have been built on top of the Unreal Engine.”

“Max and his team at Echtra Games are responsible for some of the most legendary game properties ever created, and they are experts in the action RPG genre and cross-platform development. I’m excited to welcome the Echtra Games team into the Zynga family,” said Frank Gibeau, Chief Executive Officer of Zynga. “This acquisition will be instrumental in growing our iconic licenses and brands from mobile to PCs and consoles, while helping to further expand Zynga’s total addressable market.”

The company also said Echtra Games will be working on a new, yet to be announced RPG for cross-platform play in partnership with Zynga’s NaturalMotion studio. The internal studio is developing the recently announced free-to-play arena combat game Star Wars: Hunters for the Nintendo Switch alongside LucasFilm Games.

“Echtra Games is delighted to be joining the Zynga family,” said Max Schaefer, Chief Executive Officer of Echtra Games. “We share Zynga’s vision that cross-platform play is an essential part of the future of RPGs and interactive entertainment and are eager to apply our vast experience and talents to this effort.”

5th Cell, the developer best known for creating the Scribblenauts series, has simultaneously announced and released its next game: Castlehold, a tactics card game now in Early Access with a characteristically eclectic theme that pits pirates, ninjas, cowboys, and more against each other. It’s a smaller-scale take on a familiar (and frankly somewhat foreboding) genre, but one that brings along plenty of fresh ideas.

Castlehold is set in a world where a cataclysmic event has mixed different eras of history, bringing all of humanity onto floating islands in the Astral Sea. What that means practically is that basically anything goes when it comes to theme, with different eras essentially acting as synergistic card groups similar to Magic: The Gathering’s different colors. You can cram pirates alongside cowboys in the same deck, but some might gain benefits based on certain types of units you play – or even the type of terrain you pick as your home turf, like grass or snow.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/03/castlehold-launch-trailer"]

Since the November 2019 launch of Pokemon Sword and Shield, Game Freak has done a decent job of running various max raid events, as well as doling out items for random celebrations.

Some of them require a "community goal" of sorts (a modern staple of the series after online play was implemented widely), and a few are given out just because. Either way, you can sign in now and grab a free Mystery Gift reward. Spotted on Serebii, all you need to do is head to the main menu, select Mystery Gift, then "receive from internet" as normal. After you do so, you'll get 87 Dynite and 87 Armorite Ore.

This was all unlocked because 874,808 Pikachu creatures were killed off in the event announced during the recent Pokemon Day stream. For reference, Armorite Ore wand Dynite Ore were introduced in the Sword and Shield DLC expansions, Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra. While the merits of each can be debated, the latter is especially useful for folks who have exhausted everything Isle of Armor has to offer; as Dynite can be used to finish up your Pokemon collection via new Dynamax adventures.

Pokémon Sword & Shield - Item Distribution [Serebii.net]

Now this is something a little different. Following on from the appearance of cinematic horror legends such as Freddy Krueger, Leatherface, and Michael Myers - and not forgetting video game monsters like Silent Hill's Pyramid Head - the newest chapter in Behaviour Interactive's Dead by Daylight will see players stalked and slaughtered by a psychopathic K-Pop superstar.

The new chapter, titled "All-Kill", tells the tale of budding Korean boy-band superstar Ji-Woon, whose desire to become the greatest music sensation of all-time led, in a roundabout way, to the deaths of his fellow band members. Going solo as "The Trickster", Yun-Jin then took to murdering innocent people - including friends and fans - torturing them for days while sampling their death throes to be included in his newest records.

Funnily enough, this is something of a PR nightmare for The Trickster's producer, Yun-Jin Lee, and her label, Mightee One. The label dropped the maniacal star in a four-four beat. Unfortunately, however, The Trickster remains at large and out for revenge, setting his sights on his former producer with plans on making her his latest and greatest hit. Literally.

Publisher Koei Tecmo, alongside developer Omega Force, has announced that it has delayed the release of Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires. Originally scheduled to launch in "Early 2021," the warfaring sequel will now launch at a non-specified later date.

Koei Tecmo announced the delay on Twitter with the following statement.

"Although Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires was initially announced as an early 2021 release, the team is still working hard on delivering the best game possible, so we wanted to let our fans know the current situation and will announce the new launch window in future updates. We apologize for the delay and appreciate your continued support. In the meantime, check out this first look at a scene from our opening movie. (pictured below) Just a taste of what’s to come as we get closer to finishing the game."

Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires is in development for PS4, PS5, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Switch.

The Sinking City has been removed from Steam amid an ongoing dispute between developer Frogwares and publisher Nacon. ...