March 2021

$50 PSN Gift Card | $42 | Eneba | Use code AchooSale

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Starting today, you’ll be able to play more than a dozen Xbox and Xbox 360 games via cloud streaming, Microsoft announced in a blog post. As with other game streaming, the perk is only available to members of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

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April’s PlayStation Plus games are here, and they aren’t bad! As always, these games are only “free” if you have an active PlayStation Plus membership.

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Fortnite got a “performance and resolution boost” on Switch yesterday, developer Epic announced. The game should now look and run better, and the file size is smaller too.

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Days Gone and Zombie Army 4: Dead War are your PS4 PlayStation Plus games for April, with Oddworld: Soulstorm also available for PS5: https://t.co/WlVLGGMOQg pic.twitter.com/nRH2euYAn1

A new Multiplayer map quietly went live in #ModernWarfare following tonight's update!

505 Games has announced that it now owns the cybernetic slice 'n' dice franchise Ghostrunner, having purchased the new IP from publisher All-In! Games for a mighty €5 million, roughly $5.9 million USD.

The Italian publisher worked alongside All-In! on the initial release of Ghostrunner back in the summer of 2020, but was apparently unwilling to outright purchase the IP for its own catalog. Unsurprisingly, a change of heart came about following Ghostrunner's release, which saw the tower-climbing title recover its production costs in a single day, before going on to shift over 500,000 copies by the end of the year.

Ah man, looking at how different publishers handle different Marvel games is night and day.

Some are probably more beholden to the license and answer to the Mouse. Others likely are given more creative freedom. Marvel's Avengers from Square Enix seems to be in a really weird spot, sandwiched between the whims of the MCU and deals with Sony for their Spider-Man exclusive. The game suffered for it, in any case.

Take these two Marvel promotions for instance. Spider-Man just got a free suit this week. Meanwhile, Marvel's Avengers is teasing "new MCU costumes" that you have to pay credits for. Credits that can be earned or purchased outright with real money.

In any case, "nameplates, outfits inspired by the MCU, and a deadly HARM Room hacked by Yelena Belova (that's Florence Pugh's character in the upcoming MCU Black Widow film)" are coming to the game "this spring." It's another in a string of glacial pace updates that a lot of people are tired of waiting for.

On top of the confusing PlayStation upgrade process, it hasn't been a good month for the game. It arguably hasn't been a good year for it.

Marvel's Avengers [Twitter]

Warner Bros. has announced that its upcoming adaptation of NetherRealm Studios' Mortal Kombat has had its release date pushed back by one week. The martial-arts action-adventure will now launch in theaters and on paid streaming service HBO Max on April 23.

As reported by Variety, Warner Bros. has rearranged the date in order to provide breathing room between MK and kaiju-smasher Godzilla vs. Kong, which hits both big and little screens today. Variety also suggests that Warner Bros. is holding off in anticipation of California relaxing lockdown laws in the coming weeks, which could see an allowance of increased capacity in cinemas. If you fancy cramming yourself into a crowded room with a gaggle of complete strangers at the very earliest opportunity possible, good luck to ya.

It has been a long road to fruition for the Simon McQuoid-directed video game adaptation, which has pushed through production and scheduling woes - as well as COVID-19 pandemic restrictions - to make it to next month's release. While fans were left waiting an extraordinarily long time to see the movie's first trailer, it left many in the kommunity feeling cautiously optimistic that Mortal Kombat will deliver a relatively good time. I don't think anyone's expecting The Dark Knight here, but as long as the action is solid and the journey is fun, then the wait will have been more than worth it.

Back in January, I wrote up an impressions piece for my hands-on with the Balan Wonderworld demo, saying it was saving its best bits for the final game. That statement wasn't really supported by any concrete evidence, it was more wishful thinking based on my memories of the wonderfully imaginative reveal trailer from last summer.

Now that I've played through the full game, I'm happy to say that I was right. Balan Wonderworld did indeed save its best levels, costumes, and ideas for the final game. However, if you hated that demo — and I know a lot of people did — nothing here is going to change your opinion of it. In fact, there's a good chance you'll actually end up hating it a whole lot more.

Torn Banner Studios released another two new trailers of its upcoming medieval combat multiplayer game Chivalry II.

The trailers introduce the two factions, the Agatha Knights and the Mason Order.

On top of the trailers, we learn that pre-orders for the console versions are now open, and will grant access to the cross-platform closed beta from Friday, April 23 at 10:30 am EDT through Monday, April 26 at 10:30 pm EDT.

Incidentally, free upgrade to next-gen versions will be offered for those who purchase the PS4 or Xbox One versions.

You can check out both trailers below.

Today Atlus West released a new trailer of the upcoming JRPG Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster.

The trailer focuses on introducing the dark setting of the game and is narrated in English. The game will come with both English and Japanese voice tracks.

You can watch it below.

Today Hello Games released another free update for its ever-growing space exploration game No Man’s Sky, titled “Expeditions.”

The update introduces a new game mode, the titular expeditions. Each of them starts at a fixed point in the universe, facilitating social interaction between players.

They will have a seasonal progression and a set of milestones that players will have to complete, letting you earn rewards and experiment with new ways of playing.

Milestones vary from simple to extremely challenges and can be completed in any order. Each grants certain rewards and you can track them in the mission log.

They’re grouped into “Phases” that also grant exclusive rewards to those who participated, and those who will complete the entire expedition will also get additional goodies.

Rendezvous Planets for expeditions will create hubs of activity, and new expeditions will begin regularly. Durations will vary.

On top of the Expeditions, we also get a rework of space station missions, that will now have greater depth and offer rebalanced rewards, especially at higher levels. Mission boards have been overhauled as well.

Explorer-class starships have received enhanced models and textures, and weekend events have been added for further interaction and rewards.

Mission locations won’t simply be found by following a marker. Finding them will require using a new tracking feature, which will also serve to find rare resources.

Sentinels have been improved in a variety of ways depending on their class.

The ability to receive in-game rewards for watching No Man’s Sky played on Twitch has also been added.

There’s a lot more, and you can read it all on the announcement’s page, on top of watching a trailer below.

April will mark another solid month for PS Plus subscribers looking forward to another batch of freebie games. PlayStation has today announced that the upcoming next installment of the Oddworld franchise, Soulstorm, headlines April on PS5.

Oddworld Soulstorm promises to deliver the grandest of Abe’s many adventures yet with production and scope far beyond what we’ve seen from the series before. It’s available only for those with PS5 consoles.

Over on PS4, meanwhile, Bend’s open-world zombie game Days Gone is available for download throughout April. While PS5 owners are likely to lament that a title from the PS Collection has made the cut, it’s a nice for those on PS4 who missed out on the game to catch up.

Twinfinite wasn’t hugely impressed with Days Gone when it launched in early 2018 (review here), but a number of patches and content updates have improved the package since launch. It might be a little generic, but Days Gone still thrills occasionally.

Finally, if you’re really in the mood for even more zombie killing, Zombie Army 4: Dead War should prove the hot ticket.

You can check out PlayStation Accesses’ latest video announcing the lineup below for a glimpse at the action to come.

The Witcher 3

The Witcher 3 is one of the best RPGs of not only this generation, but any generation, is a must-play for any Xbox One owner that is a fan of massive open-world RPGs.

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Our game of the year for 2014, Dragon Age: Inquisition, is another excellent open-world RPG that puts together what was good about each of the first two games into a complete package that finally satisfies the majority of the series’ fans.

Fallout 4

Like Bethesda games are one to allow you to do, you can lose hundreds of hours just working on side quests. And that’s before even touching the compelling main story about a parent searching for their son after a nuclear apocalypse. It’s definitely one of the best RPGs available on Xbox One.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

This is another Bethesda classic. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim might be on a quest to be on every platform under the sun, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s one of the best RPGs of the last decade.

Assassin’s Creed Origins

Assassin’s Creed went on a much-needed hiatus for a year to give the series a chance to reinvigorate itself, and luckily for fans, Ubisoft succeeded. Assassin’s Creed Origins is one of the best RPGs released in 2017, and it’s on Xbox One.

Dark Souls III

Dark Souls III is the fitting end to a journey that started way back with Demon’s Souls. FromSoftware, the originators of games now known as Souls-Like, has done it again.  Dark Souls III is the culmination of their efforts and expertise.

Diablo III

Although it got off to a rough start on PC, Diablo III found itself before releasing on the Xbox One and is now one of the most fun dungeon-crawler RPGs on the console. There’s bonus fun to be had if you play locally with friends.

Today Dead or Alive 6 Producer Yohei Shimbori announced on Twitter that he retired from Koei Tecmo.

Shimbori-san mentions in the tweet that he has worked at the company for 16 years. While there have been times in which he was pleased for the results, he admits that there have also been times in which he believes he has not met expectations.

He’d like to take this opportunity to express his gratitude to those who supported him.

Shimbori-san worked mostly on the Dead or Alive series since Dead or Alive: Ultimate, including Xtreme 2 and 3.

His latest known role was on Dead or Alive 6, on which he served both as producer and director until after release, when he moved on to focusing on the producer role.

Dead or Alive 6  is available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, and if you want to learn more about the game, you can read our review.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Warzone received a hefty Season 2 Reloaded update this week. Not only does the mid-season patch reduce the overall file size, but it also includes new maps, new modes, new operators, a new weapon, various balance changes, and a mysterious new area in Zombies.

Specific updates for both titles are already live and available to download. Let’s get into what’s been added in the latest Season 2 Reloaded patch.

Earlier today on the PlayStation Blog, a brand-new beer brewing simulator was announced by Auroch Digital‘s Marketing & Community Manager, Jemima Crow. Brewmaster gives players their very own home brewing kit and plenty of space to concoct numerous different styles of beer.

The title is being published by the UK-based Sold Out and aims to give players a realistic brewing experience with, according to Crow, “…authentic brewing techniques in the ultimate celebration of craft beer.”

And just judging based on the Brewmaster trailer released alongside this PlayStation Blog post, Auroch Digital appears to be on the right path. The creation of the wort is spot on with boiling hops in water together with malt extract and then adding in yeast at the end after cooling. There’s even a hydrometer you can use to measure the alcohol content of your brew.

It’s no wonder that the process already looks spot-on since, “Lots of people on the Auroch team are foodies and craft beer fans…” Crow continues, “We’d been exploring brewing in our spare time, so making this game made so much sense to us.”

Crow also talked about the team’s vision while working on this project, “Brewmaster is about the process, not just the end result.” They also aim to make the game accessible to people who aren’t into brewing while having enough depth that experienced homebrewers will want to stick around.

No matter what your level of brewing expertise is, Brewmaster seems like a good way to try out new flavor combinations without having to wait the multiple weeks that it usually takes to brew a batch of beer.

Just like that, another anime season has come to an end. While it may be bittersweet to see some of our favorite series wrap up another year, there is always something new on the horizon to look forward to. As we looked back at what the winter 2021 anime season had to offer though, we realized something — this was an insanely good season of anime.

Seriously, this season had a ton of standout moments and may just be the best anime season we’ve had in a while, including plenty of debuts that blew expectations out of the water, just like JuJutsu Kaisen.

Update 4/29/2021: The (mostly) horror-free Adventure Mode is now live in the PlayStation 4 version of Amnesia: Rebirth. Furthermore, the update also includes a PlayStation 5 upgrade that bumps the performance to 60 frames per second. To clarify, the update applies to those who play the PS4 version on PS5; there is no native PS5 version of the game. To learn more about what the Adventure Mode entails, check out the original story below: 

Original Story: Amnesia: Rebirth, like previous entries in the series, can be a tense, anxiety-inducing experience. At the same time, it’s also an adventure game filled with puzzles to solve. If you’re a newcomer more interested in the story and puzzles (or just a returning player that wants to replay the game without dealing with the stressful insanity mechanic), Frictional Games has added an Adventure Mode designed to cut down the horror elements to create a more liberating, exploratory experience.

People Can Fly's Outriders RPG-shooter-hybrid is out tomorrow and we thought we'd celebrate by causing a little chaos of our own. We had a lot of fun with the game's demo that's out now, and it's definitely a looter shooter that harks back to fond memories of games like Borderlands, Destiny, Fallout, and People Can Fly's own Bulletstorm. So strap in tight, because we're going live! 

You can take to the world of Outriders solo or with friends to build up skills, explore untold dangers, make a new future for humanity, and figure out just what the heck that mystery signal really means. We loved our time with the shooter, which you can learn more about right here with our hands-on impressions, and we can't wait to see what this game has to offer beyond what the demo showcased. 

March is almost over, which means a new month is on the horizon for gamers to dive right into new adventures. Just like every month, Sony is offering a few free games for PlayStation Plus members. While March's free games are still available for a little longer, here is what the free PS Plus April 2021 lineup looks like. 

Free PS Plus April 2021 Games Revealed

The latest free games lineup includes Oddworld Soulstorm, Days Gone, and Zombie Army 4: Dead War. Personally, I can't recommend Dead War enough. Zombie Army is a hilariously campy zombie co-op adventure that feels satisfying and is super fun to play with friends. If you like games like Left 4 Dead, that is definitely a title worth picking up. 

Days Gone was a PlayStation exclusive that also centered on zombies. While the reception was mixed, the journey was stunning and it was fun riding around on a motorcycle taking out zombies left and right. If you like living out a biker's fantasy with a story that focuses on surviving in a zombie-eat-zombie world after suffering insurmountable loss, it's a solid deal to dry out. Fair warning: the story starts off pretty slow, but the gameplay does eventually pick up if you're willing to stick it out. 

Udon picked up the Steins;Gate 0 manga and will release the first of its three volumes in September 2021.

The post Steins;Gate 0 Manga English Volumes Will Begin Appearing in September appeared first on Siliconera.

Atelier Ryza and Atelier Ryza 2 will get free matching dresses as DLC to celebrate the entries passing 1 million copies shipped. Here's how they look.

The post Atelier Ryza and Atelier Ryza 2 Free DLC Costumes Revealed appeared first on Siliconera.

Neko Works' Twitter account shared details about the upcoming Nekopara: Catboys Paradise otome game inspired by its 2019 April Fools' joke.

The post Nekopara: Catboys Paradise Otome Game Announced appeared first on Siliconera.

The 2021 PlayStation Store Spring Sale started. The first wave of games includes 13 Sentinels, Atelier Ryza, Disgaea, and Jump Force.

The post PlayStation Store Spring Sale 2021 Includes 13 Sentinels, Atelier Ryza, and Disgaea appeared first on Siliconera.

‘We recently received more cards in three days than we did during the previous three months’

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And immediately turned away, because comics are confusing

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Mamma MIA!

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PS Plus subscribers get 3 games for April 2021

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Backward compatibility reaches the cloud

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Developer Ion Lands is returning to the neon-drenched streets of its gorgeous Blade Runner-esque delivery thriller Cloudpunk in a new "sequel-sized" DLC, City of Ghosts.

City of Ghosts introduces a second, fully voiced campaign that serves as a direct sequel to the the main game, once again following protagonist Rania as she zips around the striking open-world metropolis of Nivalis in her trusty flying HOVA. Canine companion Camus is also along for the ride, but this time Rani is joined by a second hero - deadbeat gambler Hayse - with players switching between the pair's interlinking stories as City of Ghosts unfolds.

"As Rania attracts the unwelcome attention of the massive delivery corporation Curzona," explains Ion Lands, "she must also evade a secret society of AI worshipping zealots. Her night gets even worse when the Debt Corps finally track her down, and Rania finds herself trying to outrun her past as well as a homicidal, chimeric cyborg. Meanwhile, drunken gambler Hayse tries to clear his debt before morning, but with an appetite for self-destruction and a bumbling CorpSec android for company, the odds aren't in his favour."

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In this 2019 GDC talk, Uken Games' Nick van Vugt ll reviews ways you can work with your community and internal teams to provide the best experience for both parties. ...

As it does, No Man's Sky has expanded its universe with a biggo new update. This time, it's beefed up with a brand new game mode called Expeditions. A bit like a seasonal event, Expeditions give players a bunch of time-limited goals and set them off along the same path together. They seem like they'll channel the energy of some massive community scavenger hunt, everyone knocking around close to one another as they zip from goal to goal, which actually sounds like good fun. The first Expedition has just kicked off and is set to run for two months.

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Growing up, my favorite movies were Indiana Jones, The Lord of the Rings, James Bond—anything with action and adventure. They typically starred daring men, but as a young woman I started admiring more powerful, smart women who could command a room. Fast forward to today, and more women than ever are badasses who…

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The best Star Wars game that doesn’t involve the player swinging a lightsaber is getting an April 6 release on PlayStation 4 and Switch, but those looking for a physical version of Republic Commando will need to wait until April 16, when the four-week pre-order window opens for Limited Run’s physical version,…

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