March 2021

Today’s issue of Weekly Famitsu included a spread on the upcoming action-JRPG Utawarerumono ZAN 2.

Interestingly, the article includes a Q&A with developer Aquaplus, which talks about working with the PS5.

We hear that development for the platform has started just after it was released, so there are still a things the studio has to figure out.

That being said, work on it is going relatively smoothly and it’s a very powerful system, so they’d like to keep developing for PS5 in the future.

The main differences between the PS5 version of the game and the PS4 version are 4K resolution and faster loading times.

In the meanwhile, the article also included plenty of screenshots of the game, alongside more beautiful artwork.

You can check all the images out in the gallery below, proving a good look at the character and at the gameplay.

We’re likely to get a trailer soon, but we’ll have to wait and see.

With literally hundreds of different fixes to just about every part of Cyberpunk 2077, it’s hard to just pick just a few updates from this patch. But it’s much easier than digging through the whole list, so check out these 10 important changes to the game.

Today Focus Home Interactive released a new trailer of its upcoming multiplayer medieval heist game Hood: Outlaws & Legends.

The video showcases one of the maps included in the game, specifically the Marshland resulted from the state’s influence turning Middleton into a ravaged landscape.

You can check it out below.

Hood: Outlaws & Legends releases on May 10 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Pre-orders grant an early access period starting on May 7.

I'm sure I wasn't the only fight-fan left both surprised and delighted at last week's news that the cult fighting game series Melty Blood was getting set to make its return. After all, it has been many years since the schoolyard sluggers last stepped into the ring. But it's true, the anime fighting franchise is returning in 2021, with the release of Melty Blood: Type Lumina.

Developer French-Bread has followed up its announcement with a brand new teaser trailer, giving us our first look at the sequel in action. There's a lot of filler here, and unfortunately the heightened presentation style hides much of the action, but we can see Melty Blood's trademark 2D anime visuals, as well as some pretty slick animation and special effects. It's just a start, but it's an encouraging one.

No Man's Sky just keeps growing, with no sign of stopping. Developer Hello Games announced a new update today called the Expeditions update, which brings a set of challenges in a seasonal format to the space exploration sim.

Update 3.3 brings Expeditions to No Man's Sky, which are a new way to start out a journey in a different mode from a regular save file. Every Expedition starts players on a fixed point in the universe, to complete a series of Milestones and goals to win rewards. It also seems like Expeditions are intended to be fairly social events, with players starting on similar planets and specific "Rendezvous Planets" established along the route to create hubs of activity.

Milestones are open-ended and, according to Hello Games, intended to give players a chance to explore different aspects of No Man's Sky. Several Milestones make up each Phase on the Expedition map, with each Phase finished offering a prize, and finishing an entire Expedition yields an additional reward.

These Expeditions are limited-time only, and Hello Games plans on adding new Expeditions regularly. At the end of the Expedition, rewards will no longer be earned and the save will convert to a Normal mode save. Any rewards earned in this mode can be redeemed for free on other saves in any game mode though, so that sick golden spaceship can carry over to your main game.

Yohei Shimbori has left Koei Tecmo. Shimbori has headed up the 3D fighting franchise Dead or Alive for a lengthy 16 years, but has decided to take his leave of the developer/publisher.

"As of today, I have left Koei Tecmo Games," said Shimbori on Twitter (as translated by Gematsu). "I worked on Dead or Alive for 16 years, and while there were times I was pleased, there were also times I was unable to live up to expectations. I would like to take this opportunity to express my utmost gratitude to the many people who have supported and taken care of me. Thank you very much."

It's an honest and candid farewell message from Shimbori, who started with the Dead or Alive franchise as a designer for 2004's Dead or Alive Ultimate, and ends his time with the franchise as the producer/director of 2019's Dead or Alive 6. While I've always been a fan of the pacey, technical, and satisfying fighting mechanics of Dead or Alive, the series has steadily declined into repetition, with DoA 6 going all-in on the shopping cart mechanics.

Insomniac has done a pretty good job of handling the Spider-Man franchise.

I mean, the first game made some waves, but it doesn't get enough credit for how breezy its open world is. It's the kind of sandbox you can finish in the time it takes to fully complete some other bloated open world romps, and that sort of restraint should be commended.

While some lament the fact that Spider-Man: Miles Morales was shorter, I celebrated it. Once again I found myself hitting that 100% completion mark and not stressing it. The injection of free DLC costumes doesn't hurt either.

As of now, you can grab a new update for Miles Morales, which includes the classic free costume add-on. In this case it's the Advanced Tech Suit, amid "various fixes" for the game itself. Insomniac also flaunts "realistic muscle deformation for select suits," which is a PS5 exclusive feature.

Remember when Microsoft kept touting "the power of the cloud" for basically every presentation? Well, now we just have the power of new consoles to fuel things like realistic muscles.

Insomniac Games [Twitter]

Cyberpunk 2077's launch was woefully negative. From falsifying demos to game-breaking glitches, all of it came to a climax after reports of crunch and lack of direction followed the game into launch day. CD Projekt Red has implemented several major patches to fix the game, fixes that were required due to ongoing investigations and the game itself being pulled from the PlayStation Store, but it looks like some restructuring is also being considered. According to a recent investors call, CDPR is considering pulling Cyberpunk 2077 multiplayer from its game goals. 

In a recent investors call, seen in the video below, CDPR president Adam Kicinski made a passing comment regarding the multiplayer component that was expected to arrive in 2022. According to Kicinski, the team is currently reconsidering whether or not multiplayer should be a focus or even a thing at all. Tha being said, he did add that online features for Cyberpunk are still important, saying, "We are focusing on bringing online into all of our franchises one day." With The Witcher reportedly getting a new take on the horizon, it will be interesting to see how that online component impacts a famously single-player adventure like the fantasy franchise. 

The free-to-play PUBG Lite is being shut down, according to its developer, Krafton. The game, meant to be a less technically demanding version of Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, launched in 2019 in Thailand in beta form before arriving in Europe that October. 

Kraton states that the game will wrap up for good on April 29. The developer has already axed the game’s webpage, player support and has disabled any new downloads. You can still play the game and spend the remaining in-game credits as normal until the shutdown. 

Kraton doesn’t cite a specific reason for the shutdown, but left this message on its blog: 

“We are deeply grateful for the passion and support from the astounding number of PUBG Lite fans that have been with us. During the strenuous times of the COVID-19 pandemic, we hope that PUBG Lite was able to provide our fans a fun way to stay safe. Unfortunately, we have made the difficult decision to close service after much deliberation, and the time has come for our journey to end. We regretfully inform you that service of PUBG Lite is scheduled to end on April 29th, 2021.”

‘If I take one more step, it’ll be the farthest away from home I’ve been since 2020’

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Giant weapons, magic powers, and Lu Bu all make appearances 

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To get a better idea of how Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town came to be, Siliconera spoke with Director Hikaru Nakano about the game and its pioneering spirit.

The post Interview: Pioneers of Olive Town and Encouraging a Pioneering Spirit appeared first on Siliconera.

Fighting EX Layer: Another Dash is out in Japan now, and it'll appear worldwide in the middle of April 2021.

The post Fighting EX Layer: Another Dash Will Appear Outside Japan in April appeared first on Siliconera.

The April 2021 PlayStation Plus lineup will include the PS4 game Days Gone and the PS5 game Oddworld: Soulstorm.

The post PlayStation Plus April 2021 Lineup Includes Days Gone appeared first on Siliconera.

Amid various PlayStation-ignited conversations about game preservation and digital longevity, Xbox has announced that it is uniting two of its big initiatives: cloud-based gaming and backward compatibility. ...

There's no question about it: a controller's gyroscope offers far more precision than a thumbstick for aiming. But without adhering to some very simple standards, most games fall far short of what's possible. ...

In this classic interview, four developers of Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon -- two from Vancouver-based Next Level Games, two from Nintendo -- discuss their collaborative game development process. ...

Today, the top streamer on Twitch was forced to quit mid-stream because, he says, he forgot to pay his power bill. He is a millionaire. You hate to see it.

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Wednesday’s Best Deals | Kinja Deals

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Futuristic delivery driver adventure Cloudpunk is dropping off what it calls a "sequel-sized DLC" that's apparently longer than the original game. In addition to continuing Cloudpunk's story with Rania the driver, the City Of Ghosts DLC also adds new areas, vehicle customisation, and street races. There's no expected delivery date just yet, but Ion Lands say it'll be avaialable on PC "soon".

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Imposter simulator Among Us has just pressed the big launch button on its new airship map. The new playground for sneaky assassinations has its own new chores to complete and shortcuts to memorize. Along with the new map, the big update also brings the account system Innersloth have been working on which allows reporting other users for their bad behavior. Worse behavior than crew murder, that is. They've given a rundown on both today with the map's launch.

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10. Shadow Complex

9. Blasphemous

• Episode 1: Fright of the Bumblebees – Wallace’s idea for accelerating his honey business’ growth with supersized flowers has unintended side effects.
• Episode 2: The Last Resort – Will the perfect holiday turn into the perfect crime?
• Episode 3: Muzzled! – Introducing Monty Muzzle – charitable philanthropist or canine conniver?
• Episode 4: The Bogey Man – Wallace & Gromit Take on the Country Club

• Ripperdocs Expansion
• Body Shops Expansion
• Fashion Forward Expansion
• Gangs of Night CIty
• Body of Chrome
• Rides of the Dark Future
• The Relic
• Neck Deep
• Night City Expansion
• Expansion Pass

Microsoft announced on Wednesday that it is bringing several Xbox 360 and original Xbox games to its Xbox Cloud Gaming beta for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.

Android smartphone and tablet owners with an Ultimate subscription can now stream 16 original Xbox and Xbox 360 titles to their devices. Three of the games available now; Viva Piñata, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, and Jetpac Refuelled, have also been updated to work with touch controls.

The company said more backward compatible games will be coming soon, but here is the full list of 16 games playable on Android now:

• Banjo-Kazooie
• Banjo-Tooie
• Double Dragon Neon
• Fable II
• Fallout: New Vegas
• Gears of War 2
• Gears of War 3
• Gears of War: Judgment
• Jetpac Refuelled (touch controls enabled)
• Kameo
• Perfect Dark
• Perfect Dark Zero
• The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
• Viva Piñata (touch controls enabled)
• Viva Piñata: TIP (touch controls enabled)

“We’ve listened to the feedback, going all the way back to our earliest cloud gaming preview, and making games from previous generations available on mobile devices has been one of the most requested features by the community,” said Microsoft.

The Kingdom Hearts franchise is finally on PC, so the only natural thing to do is celebrate this momentous occasion with a bunch of wallpapers featuring characters from the almost 20-year-old franchise. Enjoy and don’t forget to download a few of these Kingdom Hearts wallpapers for your own collection.

Even though this one from WallpaperTip is an oldie, it’s a classic that absolutely needs to be included. It has the fantastic Nomura art of Sora, Kairi, Riku, Goofy, and Donald.

Spring is finally here! The flowers are blooming, the sun is shining, and the PSN store is offering yet another insane set of deals. Sony unveiled the spring 2021 sale on the PlayStation blog earlier today, revealing that it starts March 31 and ends April 14. 

With over 500 PS4 and PS5 deals amongst this discounted catalog, it can be a little overwhelming to figure out which ones you should spend your hard-earned money on. Not to worry, though, as we’ve come up with a list of the four best games to pick up during the PSN spring 2021 sale for you right below. 

It is also worth noting that every since game listed below received Twinfinite’s Game of the Year award for their respective years. As such, you know they are definitely going to be worth picking up if you haven’t already.

Mario fans have declared today, March 31, as “The Day Mario Dies.” No, our favorite plumber isn’t actually dying, but today does mark the end of his 35th anniversary celebration.

Nintendo has reminded fans that Super Mario 3D All-Stars will be delisted from the Nintendo eShop, and physical copies will only be available while supplies last. Furthermore, the battle royale game Super Mario Bros. 35 will be permanently shut down at the end of the day.

Fans aren’t particularly happy about this news, so they’ve taken to Twitter to create the best memes, jokes, and art to cope with Mario’s death the end of Mario’s anniversary.

Yesterday, Crunchyroll provided a brand new update regarding all of the new shows that will be arriving to its Spring 2021 collection.

The streaming service revealed that these four new anime are set to be added to the lineup: Burning Kabaddi, Let’s Make a Mug Too, Seven Knights Revolution – Hero Successor, and Thunderbolt Fantasy Sword Seekers 3.

Those titles will be joining the following new simulcasts this spring:

• Burning Kbaddi
• Cardfight! Vanguard Overdress
• Don’t Toy With Me Miss Nagatoro
• Fairy Ranmaru
• Farewell, My Dear Cramer
• Fruits Basket the Final Season
• Joran the Princess of Snow and Blood
• How Not to Summon a Demon Lord
• Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Run Away
• I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level
• Koikimo
• My Hero Academia Season 5
• Oddtaxi
• The Slime Diaries
• Those Snow White Notes
• Thunderbolt Fantasy Sword Seekers 3
• To Your Eternity
• Tokyo Revengers
• Zombie Land Saga Revenge Season 2

At the moment Crunchyroll still has seven anime that they’ve yet to announce. On top of that, only a handful of the new anime have specific airtimes.

Those anime include My Hero Academia, Koikimo, Joran the Princess of Snow and Blood, and So I’m a Spider, So What. To check out the full schedule, as well as the one for continuing simulcasts, check out their official website here.

Earlier today in a press release from Bethesda Softworks, it was revealed that the enhanced version of The Elder Scrolls Online will be releasing for current-gen consoles on June 8.

If you’re currently playing The Elder Scrolls Online on PS4 or Xbox One, there’s some good news. You’ll be able to get access to ESO: Console Enhanced on PS5 or Xbox Series X|S for no extra cost.

As you would expect from the name, ESO: Console Enhanced features better graphics than the original console version. But that’s not the only improvement in this new version.

There are now two graphics modes that you can choose from in the settings menu (Performance or Fidelity). The Performance Mode runs the game at a steady 60FPS and Fidelity Mode is all about getting the best 4K visuals running at 30FPS.

The press release also detailed even more visual upgrades that are coming in the form of, “…improved reflections, shadows, depth of field, ambient occlusion with screen space global illumination, along with updated antialiasing and unlocked textures.”

And one of the other biggest improvements is to the time you’ll be sitting around doing nothing. That means load times will nearly be cut in half on both current-gen consoles thanks to the speed of their SSDs.

But that’s not all there is to look forward to in The Elder Scrolls Online in 2021. The new Blackwood chapter is just a part of the overarching Gates of Oblivion story that will carry throughout the year.

The English version for Steam of the popular free-to-play game Dead Or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation is celebrating its second anniversary.

The game is well-known for its… aggressive monetization tactics, but it isn’t always like that. At times there are freebies to be had.

First of all, there is a  large celebratory gacha that includes every girl (excluding the latest addition Monica) with two different outfits which will also be destructible.

This means that if you haven’t unlocked the newest entries in the roster up to Kanna, you have a chance over the next two weeks, as this will be available until April 13.

To sweeten the deal, the SSR chance is 3.3% and every player will get a free 10-draw ticket for the new gacha as a daily login bonus for up to seven days within the duration of the event.

It’s worth mentioning that this is not valid for the Japanese version of the game, which had the same celebration all the way back in November 2019 and actually already celebrated the third anniversary.

On the other hand, if you’re playing that one, you get to celebrate Sayuri’s birthday in her own dedicated event. Yet, you won’t get any freebie, but you’ll have to pay real money if you want to participate. Birthdays in Dead Or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation are pricey affairs.

Today Nippon Ichi Software released a new trailer for its upcoming game Warui Oosama to Rippana Yuusha, which translates as “The Evil King and The Great Hero.”

The trailer shows both story and gameplay, providing a look at the mechanics that will prove familiar to those who played The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince.

We see how you can interact with the protagonist’s companions and use their dedicated actions to do things you can’t do.

Konko the snow fox can dig up items from the ground. Sakasa can use her knives to drop items too high for the hero to reach. Princess Flora can use her umbrella to float riding the wind and over obstacles.

They will also become stronger with time, acquiring new abilities. The hero will be able to slash enemies with a sword. Konko can attack enemies in a line. Sakasa can use a wind power to attack all enemies and quicken up allies. Flora will increase her avoidance.

You can check the trailer out below.

Disco Elysium opens with you on the floor. Your character, whoever they are or whatever might be left of them, is face-down in a nondescript hotel room. You are surfacing, breaching the plane between the void and the living only to find yourself harboring the grand-daddy of all hangovers.

This is the introduction to the character you'll inhabit through Disco Elysium. They are many things, and can become even more: calculating, feeling, thinking, judging, determined or remorseful. But in this moment, you are at a low, possibly the lowest of low.

Moments later, you can die trying to get your tie off the ceiling fan. The headline reads "Cop Suffers Final Heart Attack," and boy, does the word "Final" do a lot of work.

Well, it's taken a spell, but the Kingdom Hearts series, (or at least its mainline entries) are now available for purchase on PC. Square Enix released the holy trinity of Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8: Final Chapter Prologue, and Kingdom Hearts III + Re Mind on Epic Games Store yesterday, alongside rhythm-action spin-off Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory.

It's a fairly contentious release - I believe y'all call it a "Monkey's Paw" - in that while fans have been clamoring for the iconic crossover franchise to make its PC debut for some time, the Epic Games Store exclusivity is making it a bitter pill for some. Not helping are the unsurprising price-tags, with each title running between $50-$60. It's undeniably great to see these excellent adventures finally available on the PC platform but, at full price, you're looking at the best part of $200 for the complete set. Gawrsh.

Regardless, Square Enix is very pleased with the EGS debut of one of its finest franchises. Series producer Ichiro Hazama released a brief message speaking of his happiness that the legendary series could now be experienced by new audiences, adding to the thousands upon thousands of fans who have enjoyed Sora, Donald, and Goofy's adventures through the magical universes of both Walt Disney and Final Fantasy. They're great games, and absolutely worth checking out. But perhaps leave the EGS iterations to Scrooge McDuck.

Whether it's a game I've played for five minutes or five-hundred hours, I always love hearing about no-brainer tips that are easily overlooked – the kind that are small but impactful over time, and make you do a double-take for failing to notice them. For my fellow Stardew Valley fanatics, here's a big one.

You know how you need to greet/pet your farmyard animals each day to get a little heart and grow your bond so they produce the highest-quality goods? Well, for many of us – especially those of us with more goats, chickens, cows, and pigs than we probably need – the morning ritual can be fussy. The animals can get all bunched-up in close quarters, and it's a little pesky to greet them once (and only once!) so that you don't accidentally bring up their friendship rating menu when you tend to them.

I have painstakingly greeted my animals one by one throughout my hundreds of hours in Stardew Valley. As it turns out, you can just hold the pet/interact button and run up to them – it'll work perfectly. You'll get friendship points with every animal and you won't pull up the dreaded menu.

Here's a demonstration of the trick on PC from Reddit user Boiled_potato8:

Took me ages to realize you could just click and hold the mouse to pet all of the animals from r/StardewValley

How did I not know about this? I could've been more efficient this whole dang time!

The Games Done Quick team has announced that it will once again be hosting its sunny speedrunning event Summer Games Done Quick in July. The event will bring together some of the fastest and... furiousest players from across the globe to compete in a week-long extravaganza of speedrun challenges, tool-assisted chicanery, and fascinating longplays.

As the world remains rocked by the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this year's SGDQ will once again be an online affair, with hosts and runners streaming directly from the comfort and safety of their own homes. While GDQ fans are most certainly missing the camaraderie of the event's traditional hotel gathering, the online GDQ events have been no less entertaining and enjoyable in terms of content.

The online setting and difficult world circumstances have also had seemingly no effect on the generosity of the gaming community, who last year donated an amazing $2.3 million USD to non-profit charity Medecins Sans Frontieres. The GDQ team is yet to confirm who will be the beneficiary of SGDQ 2021, but I wouldn't be surprised if they don't return to the global medical and healthcare initiative, as has been the case for several years now.

As I've made it known many, many times before, Summer Games Done Quick is one of my favorite times of the year. Chilling in the sun with good drinks and good games, all for a good cause. I haven't missed it in years, and I don't intend to in 2021. You can check out all of the action yourself when SGDQ 2021 kicks off Sunday, July 4, live on the official GDQ Twitch channel.

[Update: It's time to claim the PlayStation Plus games for April 2021, so follow those links.]

Sony is back with three games for PlayStation Plus in April, and it's an interesting lot.

Some people – notably, PlayStation 5 owners – are probably going to feel short-changed by Sony's decision to double-dip. From April 6 until May 3, PlayStation Plus subscribers will be able to claim Oddworld: Soulstorm (PS5 only), Days Gone, and Zombie Army 4: Dead War for their library.

In a vacuum, I like this lineup, but for anyone who got a "free" copy of Days Gone with their PS5 through the PlayStation Plus Collection promo, it's a retread. Of course, there's a lot to like with this open-world romp – more than people were initially thinking – and it's a meaty game. As a freebie, it's a solid pick.

Where to start with the director whose meta-humor helped define Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and the language of American cartoons

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Raise an Angel, now in English

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