March 2021

Getting vaccine appointments is a nightmare

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The Airship has arrived, but there’s more to come

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The series veteran worked on Dead or Alive for over 16 years.

The post Dead or Alive Director Yohei Shimbori Quit Koei Tecmo appeared first on Siliconera.

Talofa is seeking a Mobile (iOS/Android) Unity Software Engineer to join the team for our new social running game in development. ...

Call of Duty’s Season Two Reloaded update was released for Warzone today. In a weird turn of events, 2019’s Modern Warfare received the better part of the update, leaving many players upset.

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Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is practically as old as its subject matter at this point, but even the most devoted players haven’t dusted off all its secrets. Nowhere is this more evident than the so-called “Odin runes,” an arcane set of symbols strewn around digital 9th-century England. They no doubt house an underlying…

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The Elder Scrolls Online is a good-looking game, but playing it on console locked at 30 frames per second hurts my heart. Healing is coming, however, with the June 8 release of The Elder Scrolls Online - Console Enhanced, an upgraded version for Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 that includes, among many visual…

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Wise-cracking anthropomorphic crime-fighting duo Sam & Max will be making their VR debut on Oculus Quest this June in developer HappyGiant's brand-new adventure outing Sam & Max: This Time It's Virtual, with releases on Steam, Viveport Infinity, and PSVR to follow.

Sam & Max: This Time It's Virtual is the first entirely new video game outing for the Freelance Police since Telltale's third season of Sam & Max adventures, The Devil's Playhouse, in 2010. It sees the dubious dog and bunny duo indulging in appropriately outlandish VR-enabled mini-games as they explore Cap'n Aquabear's rotting theme park.

"Even multimedia evil-slappers like Sam & Max could use a hand," explains HappyGiant of its new VR endeavour, "and this time they're using the incomprehensible magic of virtual reality to invite the player into their off-kilter world for a furious day of monster-slaying, obstacle courses, responsibly discharged firearms, and, of course, saving the entire freaking world."

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What a grand day it is when past me gives present me the gift of having put us on the mailing list for a swell little indie game. As past me knows, I do really enjoy a cute but tricky puzzler, which is just what Wildfire Swap looks to be. Only you can stop these wildfires by swapping tiles on the board to contain them without letting houses catch fire. This puzzler is out now, so you can go scratch your head over these grim but cute conundrums yourself.

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At first glance, Amazon’s newest show, Invincible, seems to be just like any other Saturday morning superhero cartoon. The show follows Mark Grayson, a 17-year old that is finally gaining superpowers just like his father, Omni-Man.

*Warning: Spoilers for Invincible Episode 1-3 Ahead*

Throughout the first episode, Invincible hits on many of the cliches home to the genre, as Mark gets his own super-suit, attempts to blend in during high school, and trains tirelessly to be the best superhero possible.

The show even opens with an entire cast of characters that are based on the Justice League, called the Guardians of the Globe, defending the White House from villain-of-the-week characters. Overall, we are immediately given a tone that mirrors old-school cartoons like Batman The Animated Series, Justice League, and Teen Titans.

Among Us developer InnerSloth announced the game’s fourth map, The Airship, is now available on all platforms in a free update today.

The Airship is the game’s biggest map, and has exclusive features and new content over the previous maps. It contains new tasks such as jewel polishing and emptying trash, ladders and moving platforms to get around, and the ability to choose the room to start in.

A number of free hats including a heart pin, angry eyebrows, unicorn head, rubber glove, and more are available with the new update. Players can also purchase the Airship Skin Bundle with 16 skins that each come with a custom kill animation.

The update also brings and an account system and reporting tools, though account linking between multiple platforms will be “coming soon,” as revealed earlier this year.

Developer InnerSloth announced new features coming to Among Us in future updates such as a “full art style revamp” and larger lobbies. The game’s art style will be updated with “cleaner lines and an easier animation process,” while lobbies will increase from 10 to 15 players.

The studio plans to make more frequent, transparent updates about the development process and behind-the-scenes, and will make a public roadmap for the game “at some point.”

Borderlands 3 is still trucking along, with that patented string of Gearbox DLC and monetization.

It's crazy to think that it actually came out in 2019, but here we are, still getting paid add-ons for it. The Director's Cut is on the way, and will add a ton of content like more story missions and a new raid boss. But beyond that, it's also bringing in vault cards and diamond keys. 

The former are basically talismans that add loot and XP bonuses, and are granted via owning the Director's Cut add-on, which is still slated for April 8. "Three" cards are slated for launch "by the end of 2021," and you get the first one day one. Basically, you level up the cards for rewards, just like the system in Marvel's Avengers.

Diamond keys are like a new evolution of golden keys. Billed as a "full room of loot" (not just a chest, like how the golden keys interact with the game), you'll access the "diamond armory" to use them (which has been added to the hub below the bridge). Once you open a chest, you have a specific amount of time to grab one item from it. Then you get a guaranteed piece of legendary gear.

It's all sort of confusing and very skinner box-like: just like Gearbox wants it to be. But at least we know how it works ahead of time.

Vault Cards and Diamond Keys Quick Guide [Borderlands]

The Analogue Pocket, a new machine that can play a breadth of portable games, is delaying shipments due to a shortage of necessary components.

Analogue confirmed in an announcement that the current global state of affairs has created supply chain challenges outside the company's control. The new shipping window for the Pocket is set for Oct. 2021.

"There have been sudden and severe electrical component shortages as well as logistical issues leading to a domino effect of challenges for nearly everyone in the industry," the blog says. It also backlinks two news stories, including one about the Ever Given, the boat that was stuck in the Suez Canal.

Analogue says it is working to get the Pocket out as fast as possible, and that those who pre-ordered and would like to cancel for a full refund should reach out to Analogue Support.

The Pocket was revealed in 2019 as a multi-video-game-system portable handheld. It's set to be able to play Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games out of the box, and adapters will allow it to play other systems' games, including the Game Gear and Neo Geo Pocket Color. 

It's also set to have the ability to dock and connect to an HDTV, and on the console itself, it will have a 615ppi LCD with 1600x1440 resolution. Basically, a super-powered Game Boy.

Dr. Grant was right...those "six-foot turkeys" are ferocious.

Going along with the "Primal" theme of this new season, Fornite just added raptors into the mix. Cleverly, they set the whole thing up with eggs littered about the map beforehand, then decided to hatch them via an update. That very same update that added extra stability for the Switch version of the game.

Raptors will roam the map in pairs and add another wrinkle into the survival mix for the main battle royale mode. They're joined by the existing wildlife of wolves, boars, chickens, and frogs: which all can make up various questlines in Fornite that task players with picking up animal bones and taming them for experience.

It took some time for the primal theme to grow on me, but the spire in the middle really adds a lot of character into the mix. I dearly miss a few locations from the last season (the colosseum especially), but it's always good to shake things up.

And raptors randomly roaming around is a shakeup!

In the shadow of its big Oblivion expansion, The Elder Scrolls Online makes the jump to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S this summer with the Console Enhanced edition. As the name implies, this updated port takes advantage of the current console’s power by allowing ESO to run natively on those systems, giving the game’s performance and graphical fidelity a big shot in the arm.

The update arrives on June 8 and comes free of charge to those who own the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of ESO. Console Enhanced bumps the game’s framerate from 30 frames per second to 60 while playing in Performance Mode. Fidelity Mode nets you native 4K visuals and 30 fps. According to the official press release, load times have also been cut in half. 

ESO’s draw distance has also been nearly doubled across the board, so you can gaze even further out into Tamriel’s horizon. Other graphical perks include improved reflections and shadows, circular depth of field for more realistic background views, as well as high-resolution textures and updated antialiasing. It also sports better ambient occlusion and screen space global illumination for improved lighting. 

Could we get another April 1 season premiere?

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More like knives in ... your living room

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Nyadoken! NECO DROP is back again and this year, there are more cats than ever for you to defeat and befriend.

The post Collect Street Fighter Cats Again in NECO DROP 2 appeared first on Siliconera.

Even though it’s officially refused classification in Australia, it doesn’t look like Steam has paid much attention to Disco Elysium – A Final Cut‘s ban because Aussies can still buy it as of this morning.

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Analogue just announced its Analogue Pocket handheld console will miss its original May 2021 shipment date and will slip to October instead.

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The latest trick in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker speedrunning has the potential to do away with the game’s previously unskippable cutscenes entirely.

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Today Square Enix released a new trailer of Story of Seas… ahem… NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139…

The trailer is rather peculiar, basically portraying the game as your usual farming/slice of life game in which you farm, fish, interact with animals, and so forth.

The fact that it’s the game “April Fools Trailer” should tell you more about the video’s nature.

That being said, the developer specifies that the gameplay showcased can indeed be enjoyed in the game. The trailer simply arranges it to give a misleading idea of NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139…

Today Neko Works announced Nekopara: Catboys Paradise, a new otome game coming in summer 2021.

It’ll be released for free for PC, iOS, and Android.

If you’re unfamiliar with Otome Games, they’re visual novels usually featuring a reverse harem cast (one girl with many pretty boys), mostly aimed at a female audience. They’re quite popular in Japan.

This one isn’t an exception. The protagonist will have to staff a bar with four charming catboys in what’s basically the mirror image of the popular Nekopara series.

I know what you’re thinking. It’s April 1st, but this isn’t an April Fool prank, or more precisely, it isn’t anymore. It was, in 2019, but due to popular demand Neko-Works officially announced that this is happening.

The game is produced by Nekopara creator Sayori and written by Yuki Yoshino, who worked on Ensemble Stars!! and more.

G Yusuke, known for the Dies Irae series, is tasked with the character design.

Nekopara: Catboys Paradise will support Japanese, English, and Chnese (simplified and traditional) text.

Below you can check out the trailer and first images.

Tokyo Game Show is the latest in a growing crowd of industry events that will once again be held online in 2021. As COVID-19 continues to render mass gatherings unsafe environments, the decision was made by organizers CESA, Dentsu, and Nikkei BP to return to an online format similar to that used for the previous TGS event, held back in September 2020.

TGS 2021 will still offer up news and previews of a catalog of upcoming releases, and will offer online interviews between developers and press. The organizers are looking into ways to roll out demos online, and will also host a small, socially distanced, in-person event to allow members of the gaming press to try out games and hardware. Viewers at home will be able to check out all of the action through various social media outlets.

This year will see the Tokyo Game Show celebrate its 25th anniversary, and will run TGS 2021 under the banner theme of "We'll Always Have Games." It's a shame that this marked occasion will have to be held in an online capacity, but it's definitely the right thing to do given the ongoing uncertainty of the current global climate.

Tokyo Game Show 2021 will take place between Thursday, September 30 and Sunday, October 3.

Tokyo Game Show will be online-only in 2021 [Gematsu]

We know just how many games there are out there, and how tricky it can be to get featured by notable streamers. So let's talk about 'variety' streamers and the best targets for your game. ...

In 2015, Microsoft showed off its fancy new HoloLens augmented reality goggles with a very impressive Minecraft demo. In 2021, the company has just agreed to sell “up to 22 billion” worth of headsets based on that original tech to the U.S. military.

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Sometimes, you just decide that you’ve gotta fix something, and you’re not going to rest until you’ve won a battle of wits and wills against a piece of plastic. Most of the time, though, you don’t have 80,000 people watching you do it.

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Today Square Enix announced with a press release that it’s integrating two of its production divisions.

The Visual Works division is going to be merged with the Image Arts Division into the newly named Image Studio Division under the direction of Takeshi Nozue, director of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV on top of having worked on the cinematics of multiple Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts games.

Visual Works has been responsible for many of cinematics of most of the publisher’s top games, while Image Arts, formed by Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV veteran, has focused on high-end visual expression mostly in real-time graphics.

You can read the official announcement below.

Square Enix is newly establishing SQUARE ENIX Image Studio Division today through the integration of its Visual Works Division and Image Arts Division.

The Visual Works Division has created pre-rendered movies for many of the Company’s game titles. The Image Arts Division, whose core staff includes members from the team that created the movie KINGSGLAIVE: FINAL FANTASY XV, has meanwhile engaged in research and development into high-end visual expression with a focus on real-time graphics.

By fusing the technologies and attributes of the two divisions into the SQUARE ENIX Image Studio Division, the Company aims to become faster at its research and development efforts into next-generation visual expression and at incorporating the results of those efforts into actual content. It thereby hopes to provide its customers with an even higher quality of experience.

Today SNK released a new trailer and screenshots showcasing another of the characters that will be playable in its upcoming fighting game The King of Fighters XV.

This time around we get to take a look at King, another returning fighter from previous games of the series, on top of a theme park stage.

You can check her out in action below in her trailer and dedicated screenshots.

The latest KOF XV trailer focuses on King, who looks as dapper as usual.

The post King Looks Ready to Deal Some Damage in Her KOF XV Trailer appeared first on Siliconera.

A few seconds into this announcement trailer for Loot River and I’m thinking, OK, it’s a top-down Dark Souls game. Fine, whatever. A few seconds later suddenly there’s Tetris in there too and everything looks a lot more interesting.

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Today Aquaplus released the first trailer, plenty of screenshots, and details of the upcoming action-JRPG Utawarerumono ZAN 2.

The trailer showcases the opening cutscene of the game, on top of the first look at gameplay in action.

We also get to take a look at plenty of screenshots showing relevant elements of the game.