March 2021

If you're looking at the 2021 calendar and really starting to miss your usual gaming convention trips, PAX has some good and bad news. The bad news is that PAX East, which had been tentatively scheduled for June 2021, is officially cancelled. The good news is that PAX Online will make a comeback in July and the organizers are feeling "cautiously optimistic" about hosting PAX West in person this September.

Read more

Insomniac Games’ superb 2016 remake Ratchet & Clank will benefit from an April update that will increase its framerate on PS5 to 60 FPS, the developer has announced today.

Ratchet & Clank (2016) will be playable in 60 FPS on PS5 after a new update in April! As part of the Play at Home campaign, download the game for free now through 3/31. #RatchetPS4https://t.co/Iw6CMNByFU pic.twitter.com/VEFiW3IMWK

— Insomniac Games (@insomniacgames) March 29, 2021

As you can see above, there’s good news for those who don’t own the game but want to get involved given that it’s now free as part of PlayStation’s Play at Home campaign. There are just two days left, though, so make sure you get in while you can.

Several other PlayStation games are being made free throughout the spring as part of Play at Home, from indies like Abzu to AAA blockbusters such as Horizon Zero Dawn. You can view the full list here.

As for Ratchet & Clank, it really is an exceptional remake that not only improves the original game’s visuals but also its gameplay and story. It’s a must-play ahead of the sequel Rift Apart, which is set to launch in June.

One of the charms of Microsoft Flight Simulator is that it allows you to fly to and visit some really exotic and extreme locations.

Today Aerosoft revealed the airport add-on teased a few days ago, and it’s indeed a rather extreme location, Rothera Air Facility (EGAR) in Antarctica.

Serving the Rothera Research Station, it’s equipped with a 3,000 ft crushed rock runway and a skiway. This should be perfect for Aerosoft’s own upcoming Twin Otter.

At the moment, the only image available is the one shown above, which was used to tease the add-on.

Speaking of more extreme locations, we hear from MK-Studios that they intend to add to their recently-released Keflavík add-on (which was just updated today to version 1.01 adjusting the airport’s data), including improvements to Akureyri Airport (BIAR) and Ísafjörður Airport (BIIS).

Both are considered among of the most dangerous airports in the world, and you can see why below.

Sega released brand new screenshots and artwork of the upcoming Phantasy Star Online 2 spin-off Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis.

The images were, as usual, provided by the official community Twitter account Rappy.Commu with some of the notes translated via the official PSO2 global Twitter account.

The Obvious: It’s Going Away

Reasons to Buy Super Mario 3D All-Stars

This is obvious but it does need to be stated.

The Suez Canal cargo ship that has gotten stuck has been an incredibly trying time regarding what that means for halted trade and economic process, but that hasn't stopped the memes from rolling in and doing what they do best: make us laugh to keep from crying. While the cargo ship in real life is experiencing freedom (at last), Microsoft Flight Simulator continues to push realism to its limit by making it stuck in-game as well. At least, this mod does.

The Ever Given has been stuck in the Suez Canal, effectively blocking world trade during this duration, for a few days now but efforts have finally yielded success when it comes to getting it back out on open water. After being "successfully refloated" today, the memes are coming to a close but Microsoft Flight Simulator is keeping the memory alive: 

The ship is even stuck on Microsoft flight sim pic.twitter.com/bp3lWKw4WY

Four million copies of Monster Hunter Rise have shipped, meaning that the latest entry in Capcom’s fantasy adventure franchise has had an incredibly successful launch. However, a severe bug that locks save files has been discovered. Capcom is aware of this issue and is working to implement a fix.

After completing a quest in the Monster Hunter games, it’s customary to strike a pose with others (or by yourself, I suppose) to celebrate the victory. As of right now, players are reporting issues with activating the Action and Hurt poses. Apparently, if you quit your game after using these poses from the action bar, you won’t be able to open your save file when you return to the game. 

We’re aware of an issue with the Action/Hurt Pose DLC gestures where setting either to the action bar and quitting the game can cause an error preventing you from opening the same save file the next time you launch the game.

We’re working on an update to fix this ASAP.

Outriders launches this week, but cheaters have already found ways to exploit the experience while playing the game’s demo. Specifically, some players have hacked files in order to give themselves legendary gear and bump up their levels. Although Outriders is a cooperative experience and has no competitive element whatsoever, People Can Fly would rather you didn’t partake in such things and has some rather unique methods of identifying and deterring hackers. 

The developer recently posted a lengthy Steam blog (shared by Gamasutra) discussing the latest updates to hit the game ahead of its launch on April 1. In addition to detailing the changes coming to the launch version and post-launch support, People Can Fly explains exactly what it means to cheat in Outriders and how they plan to lay down the law. 

Per the blog post, cheating is identified as: 

Earlier this month, a report surfaced stating that the PlayStation Store would be permanently shutting its doors on legacy content concerning PSP, PS Vita, and PS3 games. Following that, Sony has quietly shuttered support for these storefronts on the PlayStation Store's web version. 

The web-based PlayStation Store re-launched last year, and while the legacy content associated with it was still acceptable, it was noted today that the classic storefront had been shut down completely. 

There are a lot of reasons why people were still using the classic store. The interface was much more user-friendly, and the performance made it a much more enjoyable experience. The new store looks pretty, but it's a convoluted design that doesn't include anything beyond PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 digital experiences. It also operates very slowly, more often than not, so the closure of the legacy content is even more saddening. 

Anthem director Jonathan Warner has announced that he has left developer BioWare after 10 years with the company. Warner worked with the Canadian studio as a producer on the Mass Effect series, and also operated as the studio's Chief of Staff.

Speaking on Twitter, Warner wished his former studio best wishes, but did not denote his career plans going forward. "BioWare has been home to my grateful heart for nearly 10 years and I want to wish them all the best," he wrote. "[Dragon Age, Mass Effect] and [Star Wars: The Old Republic] are in good hands and I can't wait to play from this side of the screen."

Warner joined BioWare back in 2012, having already had a high-ranking career in the entertainment industry, having previously worked for Microsoft, Electronic Arts, and Walt Disney. Warner's final title for BioWare, Anthem, is in the process of winding down operations as BioWare focuses on its other IPs.

BioWare has lost three of its producers in the past six months, with the departure of Mass Effect director Casey Hudson and Dragon Age producer Mark Darrah back in December.

It’s Monday and time for Ask Kotaku, the weekly feature in which Kotaku-ites deliberate on a single burning question. Then, we ask your take.

Read more...

Pokémon cards have been having a bit of a boom lately, and nowhere is that more obvious than in auctions for the holographic Charizard card that acted as the base set’s crown jewel in 1999. A third card featuring the fire lizard recently sold for over $300,000.

Read more...

YouTube is a real mixed bag. It’s home to so much of our favorite stuff on the internet, but the experience of using website itself isn’t great—filled with distracting recommendations, poor personalization, and ads, ads, ads—unless you take advantage of desktop browser extensions that can make it better.

Read more...

A 28-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly using a rope to descend into a Japanese store and stealing Pokémon cards and cash, according to a report from Mainichi (via Kotaku).

Tokyo resident Kensuke Nakanishi is suspected of descending from a six-story rooftop and into a top-floor store in the Higashi-Ikebukuro district around 5 A.M. on March 23. Nakanishi allegedly made off initially with 1 million yen (approximately $9,100 USD) worth of Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokémon cards, as well as 260,000 yen ($2,370 USD) in cash from the store office.

Nakanishi later reportedly told authorities that he committed the act to pay off a debt. Ikebukuro police approached Nakanishi as a suspect after he was identified thanks to security camera footage.

Evidently, Nakanishi wasn’t terribly out of his element during the robbery, reportedly telling police "I was in the rock climbing club in high school, so I wasn't afraid of heights."

Nakanishi really only had to climb five meters (~16 feet) from the top of the six-story building to a window on the sixth floor, which he reportedly broke through using an unidentified tool.

The capture pallet helped World feel like one cohesive experience

Continue reading…

Does Gwen stand out in the League roster?

Continue reading…

Netflix and Eric Andre delivered a genuinely hysterical movie

Continue reading…

Russell Crowe is the latest to join Taika Waititi’s sequel

Continue reading…

Game is free to March 31; patch coming in April

Continue reading…

Who wins in the end? We do.

Continue reading…

Sony promises previously bought games and content are still accessible

Continue reading…

Atlus Producer Daisuke Kanada and Koei Tecmo Director Kazutoshi Sekiguchi spoke with Siliconera about Persona 5 Strikers' unique elements.

The post Interview: Preparing Persona 5 Strikers and Maintaining Its Atmosphere appeared first on Siliconera.

Following the quiet closure of an old web version of the PlayStation Store this weekend, Sony has confirmed it'll be permanently closing all PS3, Vita, and PSP digital stores this summer.

Writing on the PlayStation website, and corroborating an earlier report by TheGamer, Sony confirmed it would be closing the PS3 store on 2nd July, and that all remaining PSP purchase functionality will cease at the same time. The Vita store will close on 27th August.

Once the stores close, it will no longer be possible to purchase digital content for PS3, Vita, and PSP - including games, in-game purchases, and videos - and wallet fund vouchers will no longer be redeemable on the platforms. Wallet funds can still be used to purchase PS4 and PS5 products via the web, PlayStation App, and consoles, however.

Read more

Call of Duty: Warzone gets a mid-season update this week that reduces the overall install footprint of the game - but it comes only after an enormous download.

Season Two Reloaded creates a lower, optimised file size across Warzone. If you own the full version of Modern Warfare and Warzone, or if you own the free-to-play Warzone on its own, you'll see the overall file size footprint reduced, Activision said.

This is particularly welcome given how much space the recent Call of Duty games take up. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone have a reputation for enormous update downloads and massive install footprints, which we've reported on in the past. It got so bad that in February, Activision warned a standard 500GB PlayStation 4 may no longer fit Call of Duty: Warzone, Black Ops Cold War and Modern Warfare.

Read more

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Warzone Season Two Reloaded launches this week, Activision announced.

The mid-season update for both shooters adds several new maps, modes and features for Black Ops Cold War, as well as two new operators, and the new ZRG 20mm sniper rifle.

This all goes live following updates to Black Ops Cold War at 5am UK time tomorrow, 30th March, and to Warzone at 7am UK time on Wednesday 31st March.

Read more

Avian combat 'em up The Falconeer has doubled back for another fly-by. The very pretty falcon dogfighting game has just gotten a free DLC called Atun's Folly which adds some new missions and enemies and lets you become a more dastardly pirate than before. You can get a look at what's arrived in the update in its new trailer right here.

Read more

Today Wired Productions had quite a few new games to announce for a variety of platforms.

The list is rather long, including a couple of titles with virtual reality support.

Tin Hearts by Rogue Sun was announced for PS5, PS4, PlayStation VR, Switch, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and even Oculus. It’ll release this winter.

“Behind every brilliant invention, hides an incredible story. From the makers of the critically acclaimed Fable series comes Tin Hearts – an immersive puzzle game wrapped in a powerful tale of love and compromise. Discover an epic tale spanning generations and dimensions.

Guide a troop of mischievous tin soldiers through a world full of beauty, magic, and mystery, using a variety of whimsical and inventive contraptions to bounce, shoot and glide them to their goal. Are you guiding the soldiers, or are they guiding you?”

Today Wired Productions announced that the popular action-adventure game Deliver Us The Moon by KeokeN Interactive will soon come to new platforms.

The game will get a “remastered” release for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and those who already purchased the PS4 and Xbox One versions will be able to upgrade for free.

You can check the trailer out below.

If you’re unfamiliar with Deliver Us The Moon, you can read an official description below. The game is already available for PC, Switch, PS4, and Xbox One.

“Deliver Us The Moon is a Sci-Fi thriller set in an apocalyptic near future where Earth’s natural resources are depleted. In an effort to solve the energy crisis, global powers created the World Space Agency and secured a promising new source of energy on the moon.

Today Wired Productions released a new update for the popular air combat game The Falconeer, titled Atun’s Folly.

The update, which is now live and free, brings to the game’s colorful world the titular Atun’s Folly, a pirate settlement where the players can receive missions to raid the Imperium’s traders.

Below you can watch a trailer and read an official feature list.

The first season of JuJutsu Kaisen accomplished a lot of amazing features, including awesome fights, animation, and character development most anime struggles achieve even after multiple seasons. One of the most underappreciated aspects of the first season has to be JuJutsu Kaisen’s pop culture references, though.

From celebrity shoutouts to literal appearances from other anime characters, these are 10 hilarious JuJutsu Kaisen Pop Culture references you may have missed in season 1.

(Images source: Mappa via Crunchyroll)

Tom Cruise & Jennifer Lawrence

Considering how many movies Itadori is told to watch for training during episode 6, it really is no surprise that there are at least two prominent actors that are either referenced or mentioned. This includes a Tom Cruise-like character cutting a wire in an action flick and even a direct mention of Jennifer Lawrence.

Lawrence gets a few more mentions as the show goes on, as well as a poster dedicated to her that is hung up on Yuji’s wall. At one point, he even says, “I’m Yuji Itadori! I’m into girls like Jennifer Lawrence!”

Super Smash Bros.

During episode five, Megumi and Nobara are speaking with their elders about participating in an event. Before they can even tell them what it is, Nobara begins to speculate, with one of her guesses being a Super Smash Bros. tournament.

The first season of Jujutsu Kaisen has officially come to an end after an incredible 24 episode run. As one of the best show’s to debut this past anime season, we wanted to celebrate the series by looking at some of the absolute best moments from Jujutsu Kaisen so far.

We will be talking about moments from the anime series so far, so spoiler warning for those who haven’t watched the first season yet. We will not be getting into any manga spoils, so nothing to worry about there.

Here are the five best moments from Jujutsu Kaisen’s debut season.

Image Sources: MAPPA.

Earlier this month, Sony detailed 10 free PlayStation games that are arriving as part of its 2021 Play At Home program. Initially created to give players some solace during quarantines at the start of COVID-19, Sony is continuing the celebration of videogames with more freebies. Ratchet & Clank is currently among those free titles, and it is getting a PS5 update next month. 

No PlayStation Plus subscription is required to cash in on this deal, but it is a limited-time offer. For those who want to scoop up their free copy, Ratchet & Clank is free until March 31. 

The freebie deal comes at the perfect time, because Insomniac Games has confirmed that a PS5 update is just around the corner, which will allow the game to run at 60 FPS on PlayStation 5. The update is also free at no additional charge. For those who play Ratchet & Clank through the PlayStation Plus Collection, the update will also be available there as well. 

Other free games with the Play At Home initiative include: 

If you’ve been waiting to play League of Legends on a mobile device, today’s your day, as League of Legends: Wild Rift comes to open beta on both iOS and Android. While many players are still eagerly awaiting Wild Rift’s console debut, it looks like they will still have to wait a bit. In the meantime, Wild Rift is here!

Update 4/5/2021: Remember when I mentioned that you could get Funko Pops of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier's other, less punchable faces? How about figures for Baron Zemo (yes, even he's more tolerable than John Walker) and Sharon Carter? Both are available for pre-sale at $11.00 on Funko's website and will become available at an unspecified date. Though if you really want a figure of the new Captain America, keep on scrolling. 

Original Story: Funko Pops! You like ‘em, you want ‘em, you gotta have ‘em. I’m back to share a new figure from the popular line of dolls, this time based on the latest Marvel series, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. If you enjoyed the line of WandaVision line Pop figures you’ll probably want to make room for another Disney+ bad boy. I mean that literally. This boy is really, really bad. 

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Warzone file sizes have been massively oversized since launch, a caveat that has been a huge pain in the CoD community. Luckily, that is about to change as Activision reveals how it is making the Warzone file sizes smaller and, therefore, much easier to manage. 

The Warzone Season Two Reloaded file size will still be a little hefty, but Activision promises that following that, the amount of space required will be much easier to manage. For PlayStation 5 and 4 players, Season Two Reloaded's file size comes in at 52.0 GB. For Xbox Series X and One, the file size is 57.8 GB, with PC coming in at 52.4 GB (unless you're also updating Modern Warfare, which will bring that file size up to 133.6 GB).

Disney's decision to create new Star Wars and Marvel Cinematic Universe stories as episodic streaming shows has paid off handsomely so far. The Mandalorian, WandaVision, and now The Falcon and the Winter Soldier are all smash hits. Many more shows are on the way, including Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi, which begins filming in April.

Ewan McGregor is reprising his role as Old Ben, who we last saw in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. That film's tragic ending of Anakin Skywalker transforming into Darth Vader is the foundation for this show, which picks up roughly 10 years after that event. Hayden Christensen is also reprising his role as Darth Vader, who will hopefully have more lines of dialogue than "Noooo!"

After playing and being thoroughly wrecked by Nier: Automata, I was curious if Nier: Replicant ver.1.22474487139… the “version up” (since according to the developers it’s not a remake or a remaster) of the original Nier would inspire similar emotional devastation. I have dim memories of the first game. I remember the…

Read more...

Free 30-Day Trial | Prime Gaming

Read more...

It’s impossible to understate the impact Ghostbusters has had on my life. I was fanatical about it when I was a child, and then I rediscovered it in my adolescent years and became fanatical all over again. I still carry a massive torch for it, dressing up in the costume I built in my teenage years, rewatching the cartoons and movies frequently, and pretending that no movies have been released since Ghostbusters 2, and none will ever be released again. Nope.

It’s just unfortunate that video games have treated the franchise so badly. I’m still waiting on my Ghostbusters business tycoon game. I own both the best and worst games released under the franchise, but I don’t think any have hurt me as badly as the NES release. It was first released on 8-bit home computers in 1984, the Atari 2600 in 1985, the Famicom in 1986, and finally the Sega Master System in 1987. Since that wasn’t bad enough, North America would get their NES version in 1988. Thanks, Activision.