March 2021

The start of 2021 has been a relatively dry period for next-gen releases, but there have been some amazing games popping up on Steam. Namely, there's Viking survival sandbox game, Valheim, and the never-ending Roguelike, Loop Hero - both of which are well worth your time.

If you're tempted to dive in and check them out and don't know where to start with a gaming mouse and keyboard, or you've been waiting for an opportunity to upgrade your setup, Amazon UK has reduced the price on some Logitech PC and gaming accessories by as much as 54 per cent.

Whether you're working to a budget or you've been waiting for an opportunity to wrap your fingers around a Logitech G502 Hero at an affordable price, all of the bases are pretty much covered here.

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EA has announced a next-gen golf game called EA Sports PGA Tour.

The company said EA Sports PGA Tour, which is built using the Frostbite engine, will include many of the world's most famous courses, and lets you play against and as some of the biggest names in professional golf. But it didn't say which courses or golfers, and didn't say when the game will come out.

It did say it had signed a long-term deal with the PGA Tour, so this amounts to EA getting back into golf games at a time when rival publisher 2K signed a long-term deal of its own with Tiger Woods for PGA Tour 2K.

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We've got contact, Commanders. Elite Dangerous has fired up the alpha test for its Odyssey expansion—the one that'll let you stomp around on space surfaces. No longer will pilots be confined to their cockpits. Starting today, Alpha players will be testing out combat and exploration over the course of a few weeks, according to this new flight plan. Frontier Developments say that the full launch for Odyssey is still expected in late spring this year, but you can catch a look at what's coming right now.

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The lair is on fire. A generator just exploded. A superspy has infiltrated the vault. This is Evil Genius 2 at its most hectic, a game of base-building and minion management, with a bit of tower defense thrown in. In true supervillain style, this game has two dramatically different faces. One reveals a handsomely animated base-building game of trap-setting and floor-planning, with a fun theme, appropriately silly voice-acting and plenty of panicked fire-fighting. The other shows a gurning numbers game, a stubborn goblin of timers and clicky icons, withholding resources and chuckling. I like one of these faces a lot more than the other.

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The greatest spectacle of 2021 has been a container ship stuck in the Suez Canal. The saga of the Ever Given has thrilled many, who will need to find something new to fill the howling void now that the ship is free and on its way. But you can keep the memory alive in Microsoft Flight Simulator, thanks to a mod adding the Ever Given stuck in the Suez Canal and all the busyness around it. Even if the Ever Given didn't grab you, do stick around for the cool mod which fills waterways with loads of different boats.

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Alright, so it's not that weird, when you sit down and listen to me explain it to you. But it's also something that I've never seen before. Maybe I'm a fool of the highest order, and loads of games have been doing it for years. If so, please cite those games in the comments.

In Spacebase Startopia (a spirtual sequel to 2001's Startopia) you become the administrator of a big donut-shaped space station. A large part of your job (in fact, the largest part) is building rooms that provide different services, and thus fill the different needs of your alien vistors. There's a berth for sleeping and eating, and a disco for dancing and possibly dropping space Es - although this is not represented in the game, I just assume nobody could dance like those aliens do without chemical help of some kind.

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If you’re eager to enjoy the Final Fantasy XIV Digital Fan Festival on May 14 and May 15, today Square Enix provided new details.

Below you can find a full list of the events:

Day 1:

• Keynote Address: Join FINAL FANTASY XIV Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida as he reveals new information.
• Development Panel: Join members of the development team as they take you behind-the-scenes and showcase the work that goes into creating FFXIV!
• Welcome to Naoki’s Room: Settle into Naoki’s Room, a segment where Yoshi-P invites special guests over to chat. Who will join him this time?
• How do You Like Hydaelyn?: The Japanese Community team will be sharing delightful insights into the world of FFXIV live from the venue.
• Piano Performance: Reminisce on past adventures and enjoy the mesmerizing melodies of FFXIV in this piano concert performed by Keiko.

Day 2:

• Letter from the Producer LIVE: Join Yoshi-P as he discusses the latest information in this installment of the Letter from the Producer LIVE from Fan Festival!
• Flashback with the Cast (Name Pending): Members of the FFXIV voice cast look back at key moments from the game.
• Live Q&A (Name Pending): Yoshi-P will be answering questions gathered from Warriors of Light around the globe! He may even let some secret details slip…
• Glamoured to Life Showcase (Name Pending): Join us as we showcase a variety of entries for this unique event!
• Band Performance: Jam out to exhilarating tracks from FFXIV and relive your moments of triumph in this live performance by THE PRIMALS!

A number of digital activities will be available during both days for fans to enjoy:

You’d be hard-pressed finding a more iconic film than Ridley Scott’s sci-fi horror masterpiece, Alien. 

Blending believable science fiction with chest-bursting body horror, the award-winning 1979 classic was equally groundbreaking as it was eerily plausible. From Sigourney Weaver’s career-defining turn as Ellen Ripley to Dan O’ Bannon and Ronald Shusett’s inventive high-concept screenplay to H. R. Giger’s legendary creature design, Alien was akin to catching lightning in a blood-splattered bottle. 

Now, with a new Alien movie from Fede Alvarez on its way as well as a TV show in the works from Noah Hawley, we thought that it would be a good time to test your knowledge on the original seminal classic that kickstarted the hugely popular multi-media horror franchise.

So, grab your flamethrowers and tracking devices and come join us as we take a trip through the deep recesses of intergalactic space in our bid to separate the wheat from the chaff. In space no one can hear you get a perfect score in Twinfinite’s Alien trivia quiz.

Today organizers ReedPop and Penny Arcade announced that PAX East 2021 has been canceled and replaced with a PAX Online event.

The event, which will obviously take place only online, will happen between Thursday, July 15 and Sunday, July 18. 

That being said, not all hope is lost for those who hope to attend PAX events in person this year, as the organizers are “cautiously optimistic” about managing to run PAX West and PAX Unplugged 2021 as planned on Sept. 3-6 and Dec. 10-12, respectively.

Below you can read the full statement.

“In light of ongoing public health concerns, ReedPop and Penny Arcade will not hold PAX East this year. Given the United States’ progress towards addressing COVID-19 in recent months, we are cautiously optimistic PAX West and PAX Unplugged will proceed as planned with in-person festivities Sept. 3-6 and Dec. 10-12, respectively.

Since we can’t wait until September to reconnect with the wonderful PAX community, PAX Online will return July 15-18. We hope to build on the success of last year’s record-breaking event and also engage with our community in new ways, such as the Indie Showcase that will take place between now and PAX Online. Expect to hear more about these exciting plans soon.

Today developer Level-5 released two new trailers of its upcoming mobile JRPG Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds.

On top of that, we learn that pre-registration for the game will be available in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan starting on April 14.

A release date has not been announced just yet, but we know that the game is coming for iOS and Android.

A release for the west has not been announced, but Level-5 has aired videos in English during Tokyo Game Show, which means we can hold on to some hope.

You can check out the new trailers below.

Let’s look at the best JRPGs on Xbox One. The JRPG genre on the Xbox One isn’t exactly flourishing, but it isn’t non-existent, either.

Best Xbox One JRPGs

• Final Fantasy XV
• Kingdom Hearts III
• I Am Setsuna
• Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition
• Dark Souls III
• Final Fantasy Type-0 HD
• Valkyria Chronicles 4
• Nier: Automata
• Romancing SaGa 2
• Octopath Traveler
• Yakuza: Like a Dragon

Final Fantasy XV

After years of waiting, and assuming that this game would never see the light of day, Square Enix finally got it together and released FFXV. To the delight of many, especially action RPG fans, FFXV is actually a solid game as long as you won’t miss the slower, more tactical nature of the earlier games.

Kingdom Hearts III

Speaking of games that we assumed would never launch, there’s Kingdom Hearts III. It’s a good return to the series that brings new worlds, amazing visuals, and even more insane plot reveals after the 13-year gap following Kingdom Hearts II. Fans of the series who have been keeping up with all of the spin-offs shouldn’t pass this one up.

I Am Setsuna

I Am Setsuna is a modern throwback game to the JRPGs of the SNES/Playstation 1 era. Inspired by classic games like the Chrono games, I Am Setsuna is a fast-paced JRPG that won’t wear out its welcome or force you to trudge through 60+ hours of random encounters.

Since Animal Crossing New Horizons released last year, fans have managed to create some pretty insane things in-game, making everything from custom designs to even Mario Kart’s Rainbow Road. As of today, though, it is going to be really hard to top this fan-made shot-for-shot recreation of Hercules’ beloved Disney song, Zero to Hero.

In a post to the Animal Crossing subreddit, Reddit user Melhunnibee posted the video you see above, detailing that it took her about two months in total to make. In the comments section, they go into a bit more detail on how they managed to make this masterpiece.

It’s Monday, which means that you’re likely starting another long work week. To help you beat those early week blues, we’ve compiled a list of gaming memes that are sure to brighten your day.

We’ve got everything you’ll need to start off your week right, from GTA Online to Skyrim to Final Fantasy. We hope this starts your week off well enough to help you beat those Monday blues!

Meet the first batch of your IGF 2021 Jurors! ...

Capcom has announced that Monster Hunter Rise has shipped over four million copies. The game launched just last week. ...

Former Naughty Dog technical art director Andrew Maximov has shared an in-depth video keynote detailing how his next venture, Promethean AI, will help devs more easily create rich virtual worlds. ...

In this 2019 GDC session, Bungie's Raylene Deck digs into practical ways to build game worlds that your players will love. ...

With excitement building for the upcoming Godzilla vs. Kong film, what better time than the present to revisit the world of Godzilla.

From the studio
In this gritty, realistic sci-fi action epic, Godzilla returns to its roots as one of the world's most recognized monsters. Directed by Gareth Edwards and featuring an all-star international cast, this spectacular adventure pits Godzilla against malevolent creatures that, bolstered by humanity's scientific arrogance, threaten our very existence. Click to see more!

While it is available for purchase now, we have 10 GODZILLA 4K digital movies to give away, all you need to do is enter below by 4/12/2021 for your chance to win one. You can enter once per day via some methods below. Winners will be selected by random drawing from all eligible entries on or after 4/13/2021 and digital codes will be sent via email. GODZILLA 4K is rated PG-13. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Must be a legal resident of the U.S. age 13 or older to redeem movie. Full rules available with each entry method below. Good Luck!

Super Mario, Hello Kitty, and more have all invaded the world of Animal Crossing: New Horizons but the latest mashup has truly become the crossover of the ages. While not an in-game event, a new Adult Swim video shows off how Rick and Morty would thrive in the world of Animal Crossing: New Horizons as a special tribute to the Nintendo Switch exclusive. 

The below video is in stop-motion animation style and was made in homage to the one-year anniversary of the latest Animal Crossing game. Was this video needed? Nah. Is it cool? You bet your stop-motion tooshie. You can check out the crossover for yourself below for your own celebration of the ACNH anniversary: 

The above video shows off the chaotic duo doing usual the Animal Crossing shenanigans. Catching butterflies, fishing, digging for fossils; everything is just a little bit better when Rick and Morty is involved. 

Last week, there was a hugely disappointing rumor that Sony would close the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, and PlayStation Portable stores this year. The report served as a wake-up call for people who see value in PlayStation's legacy platforms, and it was accurate – Sony confirmed the news this morning.

When do we lose access to the stores and, as a result, the ability to buy legacy games and DLC? These are the dates to remember: July 2 for PS3 and PSP, and August 27 for PlayStation Vita.

The silver lining (though I hesitate to call it that): we will still be able to re-download the games that we own as well as the games that we got through PlayStation Plus. We'll also be able to access our purchased media content and redeem game and PS Plus vouchers even after the stores are closed. That said, once the dates come and go, we won't be able to redeem PSN wallet vouchers on the old systems.

For many people, even just having download access is crucial. You'll be able to do it using the Download List on PS3, Vita, and PSP. The race is now on to get our libraries situated before it's too late.

It's a shame Sony put an end to the workaround that let folks use the "old" PlayStation Store in a web browser. Actually finding and buying content on the old consoles is an unwieldy mess in 2021. As it stands, this is going to be an all-out scramble even for people who know which games they're missing.

Fans of Street Fighter Alpha's Rose and Street Fighter III's Oro won't have too much longer to wait to see the characters make their grand return. Capcom has announced a new live stream, where the developer will show off both characters in their Street Fighter V form.

The Street Fighter V: Champion Edition Spring Update will take place on Tuesday, April 6 at 15:00 PT / 18:00 ET / 23:00 BST and will be viewable on Capcom's YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook channels. The stream will feature an in-depth look at Rose, spotlighting the Italian fortune-teller's range of Soul Power attacks, and will also give us our first SFV glimpse of the weird, boneless Oro. Both characters will arrive this year as part of SFV's fifth and final season of content.

Rose has been my Street Fighter main since her debut in 1995, so I'm very much looking forward to her scarf-twirling return. It will be interesting to see what Oro - making his first playable in-game appearance since 1999's Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike - brings to Street Fighter V's hyper-aggressive playstyle. I can't wait to see both in action!

Super Nintendo World just shot up on a lot of bucket lists, and it's going to be...a while before a lot of people can safely visit it. Thankfully Universal seems like it's going to be in this partnership for the long haul, even recommitting to a delayed 2025 date for the US version. Still, it is open in Japan, and lots of folks are flocking to it.

This recent insider info for one of their rides just made me even more interested in a future visit. Speaking to IGN, Universal Creative producer Tom Geraghty confirms that the Mario Kart ride is basically a game.

He explains: "Mario Kart was built in a game engine, so while [senior vice president Thierry Coup] was back in the States he could actually drive Mario Kart in a game engine, and give us notes in Japan. Because it's in a game engine, we can keep updating, upgrading, putting new characters [in], changing themes, changing actions on the fly. So if there's a special event, anything we want to release can be done overnight if we really wanted to. That makes it so much more flexible – it freshens up the experience. Every time you come back you could experience something new and exciting."

It's interesting on multiple levels. Not only could they test out the software virtually for guest experience notes (which came in handy during the last year!), but they could also feasibly update the game and add new iconic Nintendo characters into the mix. Or, for instance, promote a potential "Mario Kart 9," whenever that happens.

Mistwalker is a legendary name in some circles. They made Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey ages ago: full stop, that's all you need to say to some people. They completely changed how a lot of people perceived the Xbox 360 with that pair of RPGs, but we're probably not going to see them on newer platforms anytime soon.

Speaking to VGC, Mistwalker head Hironobu Sakaguchi made it abundantly clear that newer projects are their top priority. Given that Fantasian is about to come out soon, that's obviously fresh, along with whatever they decide to do after that.

Sakaguchi notes: "To be perfectly honest, there aren’t any plans for any remakes at the moment. Although they’re called remakes, the amount of effort and resources it would command means the difference is basically nil between [developing] a remake versus a completely new game. I would personally find myself more attracted to the idea of coming up with another original story or world, or building something new."

I completely understand that a smaller studio may not have the resources to both revisit old games via remakes and work on new projects. With all that said, as a preservation advocate, there is merit in bringing older classics to a newer audience: not just from a monetary standpoint, but because it would allow the game to proliferate for a longer period of time and through more mediums.

Koei Tecmo has announced a brand new entry in the decades-long strategy series Nobunaga's Ambition. Details are extremely thin on the ground with no gameplay footage or platforms offered, but Koei Tecmo did release get a teasing cinematic, (which you can check out below), and a title: Nobunaga's Ambition: Rebirth. Developed by Kou Sibusawa, the new title is expected to launch in Japan later in 2021.

It's that time of year again. Time to put aside your balloon parcels, shirt exchanges, and fossil trades and dedicate every single second, minute, and hour, of your Animal Crossing: New Horizons day to the coming of Zipper, Animal Crossing's dead-eyed, eerily cheerful bunny.

As reported by good doge Isabelle, non-denominational Bunny Day will take place on April 4 this year, which is this coming Sunday, and will see Zipper visit your island to collect all of the souls eggs that you have gathered. As of yesterday, you might start finding eggs here, there, and everywhere in the environment: buried in the soil, at the bottom of the lake, falling out of trees. Wherever you find them, be sure to save them for Sunday, when you can trade them with Zipper for a range of seasonal goodies.

Now, Bunny Day last year was a liiiiiittle bit divisive. While it's obviously a fun and cute holiday event, players were utterly frustrated by the amount of eggs turning up everywhere, at a time when most players were just hard at work looking for materials and resources. Perhaps this year, now the community is settled in their DIY homes, they can just chill and join in the spirit of the season.

After all, you wouldn't want to upset Zipper would you?... WOULD YOU?...

Sony has confirmed today that the PSN digital stores on PlayStation 3 and PSP will be closing on July 2. The PS Vita store will also shut down on August 27. Players will still be able to download games after the stores shut down.

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More than a year out from release, Dreams stands apart for its unique combination of game creator and sharing platform. But one aspect that has attracted much criticism over the past year is its curation. For the longest time, memes and unfinished “Dreams” buried the best of what the platform had to offer, giving the…

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Monster movies often ride or die by their over-the-top action. One can be willing to forgive failures elsewhere—many of them, even—as long as the bits where the monsters punch the bejesus out of each other are satisfying. But Godzilla vs Kong has a problem: its titanic action heights just come too rarely to justify an…

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Late last year, I replayed Assassin’s Creed III via the remastered PS4 edition. I played it on my PS5 and after completing it, I deleted the game. Yet its digital ghost haunted my PS5 for months. Finally, this weekend, I removed it thanks to a random Twitter user and Greg Miller.

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A 28-year-old Tokyo resident has been arrested for allegedly breaking into a trading card shop atop a six-story building to steal Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, after climbing over the side of the building with a rope.

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Unfortunately, we have no idea what it’s about or when it will be released

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The PS3, PSP, and Vita PlayStation Stores will be closing on consoles. This comes after Sony shut down access to the web store.

The post PS3, Vita, and PSP PlayStation Stores Will Close in July and August 2021 appeared first on Siliconera.

An Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day 10th anniversary project is coming up, and there's new key art and a new site now open.

The post Anohana 10th Anniversary Image Shows Everyone All Grown Up appeared first on Siliconera.

The newest Genshin Impact comic installments involve Kaeya and Lisa and are based on the Crash Course and Sparks Among the Pages quests.

The post Genshin Impact Kaeya and Lisa Comics Highlight Their Personalities appeared first on Siliconera.

The latest Digital Foundry Direct Weekly has just been posted! This extended show is our chance to sit down and relax a little during the week, discuss the topics that have dominated the news and to share some behind the scenes details on the projects we're working on - while also tackling some Q+A with questions offered up by our fine Patreon supporters. This week, the big topics up for discussion include the extended trailer for the revamped Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade for PlayStation 5, plus - once again - reaction to the latest rumours about the so-called Nintendo Switch Pro.

Of particular interest to our DF Retro people is the rumoured closure of the PS3 and PlayStation Vita PSN stores, its impact on the PlayStation back catalogue and the fact that some games will simply vanish forever - or at least they would be gone, if both systems hadn't been hacked and the games in question 'preserved' via piracy. Should Sony be doing more to support its own legacy? Then there's bizarre removal of the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection - has Nintendo really deleted a release that would otherwise be enjoyed by new Switch owners for years to come?

"There is a thin line between courage and stupidity."

That's the line that intrigued me. It's one of the first things you see when you load Hundred Days up, even before the main menu. But why? This is a gentle game about making wine. A game about taking on an abandoned winery in Italy and returning it to prosperity. It's part card game, part management game, part puzzle game. What business does it have with philosophy? Unless - and this is what gnawed at me - unless there was a secret behind the game I couldn't see.

Yves Hohler lived in Switzerland until he was five years old, and his parents led an unconventional life. They would move around a lot, between Switzerland and France, carting him and three other siblings around as they found work picking herbs on farms. Have you ever eaten those nice Ricola sweets? They come in a bright yellow packet that looks like it should have cigarettes in. His parents would pick the herbs for them, as well as strawberries for yoghurts. They did it because they liked the lifestyle. "My parents are the last hippies on Earth," Hohler says, affectionately, I think. "And what they wanted," he tells me in a video call, "[was] that we grow up on land, not in a city."

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