Nacon has fired back at The Sinking City developer Frogwares, arguing that Frogware's lack of cooperation and a clause in its contract allows it to alter and host an alternative version of the game on Steam ...
I haven't revisited PlayStation VR since hooking up my PS5, but I haven't packed the headset up, either – it's crammed in a media-center drawer just in case there's something fresh to play this year.
Actually, there is! The headset is still hanging in there with software support. Sony highlighted six PlayStation VR games for 2021 in a series of PlayStation Blog posts today. Let's run through 'em.
After the Fall is a co-op shooter from the makers of Arizona Sunshine that's set in an "alternate 1980s" Los Angeles. Don't call them zombies – they're snowbreed. It's not every day we see a game with PlayStation VR Aim Controller support, and if you're going solo, you can team up with the AI.
Fracked immediately reminded me of that "Call of Duty in a kayak" game Phantom: Covert Ops, and I was on-point – it's made by the same team, nDreams. This time, you can ski and shoot! I think I'm down?
Following the recent arrival of Legendary Hero Claude von Riegan, Nintendo has announced "Seeds of Fodlan," the newest summoning event for its free-to-play mobile battler Fire Emblem Heroes. The new update will add further classy characters from Switch release Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
The latest quartet of characters consists of four officers taken from the hallowed halls of the Garreg Mach Monastery. Representing the Blue Lions are young polearm wielder Ingrid and the house's noble retainer, Dedue. Flying the flag for the Black Eagles is the notoriously subdued (read: lazy) Lindhart, while the Golden Deer are represented by introverted young mage, Marianne.
In late February, following years of tumultuous development, publisher Paradox Interactive announced further delays to its Gothic RPG Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. Most notably, Paradox announced that it was dropping the title's long-term developer, Hardsuit Labs, who had been working on the dark adventure since as far back as 2015.
Unfortunately, it appears that the changes in development have had serious repercussions for the studio's workforce, with various Hardsuit employees being laid off since the Paradox announcement was made. Producer Austin Maestre, as well as narrative designers Anna C. Webster, Samantha Wallschlaeger, and Nicole Stanford were among those who took to Twitter to announce that they had lost their respective roles at the Seattle-based studio, with Stanford confirming that Hardsuit's "entire narrative team" had been affected by the decision.
In a statement to several news outlets, Hardsuit Labs expressed its regret at the layoffs.
"While we worked hard to source some great work opportunities for the studio to move forward with, we were unable to provide work for a small number of individuals and thus made the difficult decision to part ways." reads the statement. "This decision was not made lightly and was done so only after we felt we had exhausted the opportunities to avoid such a layoff."
Ever listen to a song so powerful you stop, drop, and roll to frantically figure out what it is? That’s what happened to me last night while playing Maquette, a puzzle game out this week for PC, PS4, and PS5. Yes, the game’s fantastic, which we’ll get to in a moment, but first: that song.
This season of Fortnite has been a whirlwind of crossover skins and deranged players hoping that Epic puts Family Guy’s Peter Griffin in the game. But the latest in-demand item is a possible music track—the song “Butter Barn Hoedown.” The supposedly leaked track somehow, impossibly, rules?
In Siliconera's interview with Gust Producer Junzo Hosoi, Atelier Ryza 2, the possibility of Atelier Ryza 3, and the PS5 all came up.
The post Interview: Junzo Hosoi Says Atelier Ryza 3 ‘Depends on Everyone’s Support’ appeared first on Siliconera.
Mortal Shell served as a solid offering to Souls fans when it launched in August 2020. The game bleeds Dark Souls through and through, but features a unique twist by allowing players to take control of various bodies to use in combat. In a similar manner, the game has found new platforms to inhabit: the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. Mortal Shell is coming to Sony and Microsoft's new-gen consoles on March 4 (that's tomorrow!). This upgraded edition introduces new visual and performance improvements to make an already respectable experience even better.
Mortal Shell: Enhanced Edition boasts upscaled 4K visuals with improved textures and targeted 60fps gameplay. The game also takes advantage of the DualSense’ haptic capabilities for greater immersion while cutting down all manner of monstrosities. Players will feel subtle sensations including heartbeats and whispers, as well as the haptic feedback of arrows and other projectiles whizzing by. The trailer below provides side-by-side comparisons between the original game and the Enhanced Edition.
Click here to watch embedded media 
The Mass Effect Trilogy: Legendary Edition is just a few short months away, and to celebrate the musical stylings of the fully calibrated remaster, SpaceLab9 has revealed a brand new trilogy vinyl collection box set for N7 fans to enjoy.
The company took to Twitter to share our first look at the vinyl set with its white backdrop and cutout N7 logo emblazoned on the front. The collection is set to go live to pre-order on March 4 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and will include 85 tracks from the trilogy specifically tailored to the vinyl format:
MASS EFFECT TRILOGY: VINYL COLLECTION 4LP BOX SET – Presale begins March 4th @ 1pm EST at https://t.co/ln0ybwPDhz - Massive collection features 85 tracks from the critically acclaimed game trilogy, painstakingly curated by the BioWare sound team and specially mastered for vinyl. pic.twitter.com/BoS6iqiCeh
Now that Lucasfilm is allowing more publishers and developers to take a crack at making Star Wars games, I'd love to see a handful of Star Wars "classics" get reborn as interactive experiences. I put "classics" in air quotes because Star Wars' history is so complicated and messy that some its greatest stories no longer exist in the universe's ongoing continuity. Yes, you can still buy and read these stories, but most have been retconned. Lucasfilm now calls them "Legends," treating them like "what if" alternate timelines or dreams.
Seeing amazing creative works get reconned is awful, but I understand why Lucasfilm did it from business and storytelling perspectives. With dozens of stories hitting each year, the Star Wars universe quickly became a mess of confusing plotlines and crossed wires; there was just too much happening at once and not enough checks were in place to ensure quality content was being delivered. When it came to creating a new sequel trilogy with Luke, Han, and Leia, they all had lived full lives in novels and comics. Communicating their character developments to theatergoers would have been a monumental task, a task that would need to be nailed down to every small detail. Could it have been done? Yes. Should it have been done? Yes. Did Lucasfilm's decision to turn the Death Star's laser on these stories pay off? I think the answer is also yes.
It’s been four years since Breath of the Wild arrived on the Nintendo Switch, changing the video game landscape with innovative ideas and gameplay. Fans are celebrating this anniversary and that innovation to the landscape quite literally, crafting hilarious Twitter memes comparing any game with a landscape overlook to Breath of the Wild.
We’ve rounded up the best ones we’ve seen so far and compiled them below. Be sure to comment on your favorites or even post your own hilarious versions of the meme in the comments below.
Third-party developers have released new screenshots of their upcoming aircraft for Microsoft Flight Simulator.
First of all, Just Flight showcased another look at its Piper PA28R Turbo Arrow III & IV package.
The images show the variety of liveries available for the aircraft. The visuals are “pretty much complete” and only coding and tweaking remain to be done.
Incidentally, it’s worth mentioning that Just Flight will also release a non-Turbo Arrow III, which should come very soon.
Today D3 Publisher announced the first DLC for its upcoming JRPG Maglam Lord, and it’s a rather special one.
The DLC will offer deco items that will change the appearance of weapons in the game to that of well-known ones from the Tales Of series, and also change the battle music accordingly.
We get to see swords from Tales of Destiny, Tales of Innocence, and Tales of Hearts.
The DLC doesn’t have a release date yet. It will be announced at a later time.
The collaboration shouldn’t be too surprising. While it isn’t a well-known fact, D3 Publisher is actually a subsidiary of Bandai Namco.
Paladins unveiled a new champion today via a cinematic trailer on their official YouTube channel. Octavia is the champion’s name and they are designed to be a tactically-focused character that used a scoped weapon and has abilities to “control the flow of battle”
Check out the cinematic down below:
A livestream that followed the announcement went into a bit more detail about what Octavia plays like in-game. At the time of this writing, it’s still ongoing but what we can glean so far is that the champion is built around her long-range, high-powered, semi-automatic rifle and will be a damage champion.
In addition, she has a large leap that can clear lots of distance and she has the ability to aim down sights while in this leap to freeze in place to shoot.
Octavia will also have powerful passive abilities that you can choose at the start of the match to define your playstyle and boost the team, playing into the fantasy of being a commander.
Octavia is the 48th champion to be released into the game, which sounds like a lot until you compare it to Smite’s 113 gods.
Studio calls changes ‘a foundational piece for our tuning in the future’
You’ve got this, Trickster, make them work for it ... Boom.
Among Us and Genshin Impact have boomed in a time when most people aren’t “mobile” at all
Motorsport Games continues to make inroads into the world of sim racing, with the announcement that it has entered a binding term sheet to acquire Studio397 and its widely acclaimed rFactor 2 platform.
It formalises a partnership that helped make last year's officially sanctioned 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual race, with the highly praised handling dynamics of rFactor 2 set to underpin Motorsport Games' forthcoming takes on BTCC - a hugely anticipated comeback for the series into the virtual domain - and Le Mans.
"Studio397 has a clear passion for virtual racing and together we recognised an opportunity to work as one team to advance the genre to the next level," said Motorsport Games' president Stephen Hood in an official press release. "We see this as great news for the sim racing community as we can now leverage the best elements of the rFactor 2 platform, combine it with our foundational use of Unreal Engine (developed by Epic Games) and layer in the additional components our talented teams have spent the last two years developing. Our aim was to start out with a product that had heart and soul. When the planned acquisition is completed, we can operate safe in the knowledge that another piece of an ambitious puzzle has been secured."
Pokemon has been around for 25 years now, and there are numerous ways to enjoy the well-loved franchise for its 25th Anniversary. The core RPGs where it all started, the massively popular trading card game, the countless spin-offs like the upcoming New Pokemon Snap, and even a few board games. However, there is a truly cooperative group activity perfect for a nostalgic crew of Dungeons & Dragons fans who want to play Pokemon while also being social (or, socially distant): Pokemon 5e, a set of unofficial tabletop RPG rules built just for Pokemon.
Some of the lead developers on Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild talk earnestly about how (and why) they designed the game's convention-breaking systems and mechanics. ...
Here's one for all you retro fans. Ziggernaut Interactive, in collaboration with 612Games, has secured the rights to 15 classic arcade games from old-school developer Data East. The first eight of these titles are now available to purchase on PC, under the new "Retro Classix" banner.
Newegg has just kicked off two new sales, one called Home Court Madness and another 72-hour flash sale. The Home Court Madness sale discounts a number of 4K TVs, gaming laptops, and PC components, while the 72-hour sale has deals on gaming peripherals and other products. Home Court Madness lasts until Sunday, March 7, while the 72-hour sale runs through Friday, March 5. One of the most notable deals is for the 256GB Oculus Quest 2, which comes with a $20 gift card. While that's not exactly a discount, this is the first deal we've seen for new VR headset.
We've selected some of the best deals and compiled them below. In addition to keyboards, mice, and controllers, there are also a number of discounts on PC gaming components, such as cooling systems, processors, and SSDs.
A proposed bill before the Arizona House of Representatives could have big implications for Epic Games' legal battle against Apple and Google over Fortnite. If it is ultimately passed into law, it could create another facet for the ongoing litigation between the software giants.
The Verge reports that an amendment to Arizona's HB2005 prevents app stores in the state from forcing developers to use their preferred payment system. In practice, that would mean that Apple and Google can't require Epic Games or other software developers to go through their own proprietary payment systems for in-app purchases.
The legislation places the restriction on stores exceeding 1 million downloads, which would include Apple's App Store and the Google Play store, and bars those companies from retaliating against developers who use third-party payment systems. It also applies to state residents, keeping them from being required to use exclusive payment methods. It carves out an exemption for game consoles and other "special-purpose devices."
The amendment made its way through the Arizona House Appropriations Committee last week before going to a full House vote this week. Arizona Democrats have argued that the state legislature shouldn't insert itself into the middle of a legal battle between the software companies. Now that it has passed the House, it will go to the state senate and then, if passed there, to Governor Doug Ducey.
If successfully passed into law, it will represent another wrinkle in the legal feud between Apple and Google. It could very well impact both companies' business in the state, though it may also lead to further legal action.
The creator of the Yakuza series says it may be time for the development team to try something entirely new, after so many years devoted to the franchise. In an interview, Ryu Ga Gotoku director Toshihiro Nagoshi talks about his hope that he can allow his team to stretch their development muscles.
"The Ryu Ga Gotoku team members, they've only really worked on the Yakuza series," Nagoshi told Game Informer. "But I think it would be a waste if these really talented team members that we have aren't able to use all of their skills to their full potential. That might be challenging themselves, creating something of a whole different genre and a different style. We don't know that yet, but that’s something that we're really taking into consideration right now for the growth of our team as a whole."
Ryu Ga Gotoku has dabbled in new genres within the Yakuza universe--it explored the other side of crime dramas with Judgment, and turned its latest Yakuza game, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, into a turn-based RPG. But it does sound like the team may want to venture even further from its comfort zone.
The Yakuza series has been in development for more than 15 years, and only gained more mainstream success in the West relatively recently. Most of the series focuses on the life of yakuza Kazuma Kiryu, while Like a Dragon introduced an entirely new protagonist, Ichiban Kasuga. Like a Dragon scored a 9/10 in GameSpot's review.
Take-Two's top executive has spoken about remasters, saying what separates his company's games from the competition is a focus on quality and making sure the remaster feels like it's taking advantage of the new hardware instead of standing as a simple port.
During a Morgan Stanley speaking event, Strauss Zelnick said remasters have always been a part of Take-Two's strategy, and this is expected to continue.
"I'm not sure they'll be a bigger part of the strategy. Remastering has always been a part of the strategy. What we've done differently than the competition is we don't just port titles over," he said (via VGC). "We actually take the time to do the very best job we can making the title different for the new release for the new technology that we're launching it on."
Take-Two's new major remaster is Grand Theft Auto V for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, which launches in the second half of 2021. The Rockstar-developed game will have a series of upgrades on the new machines, and Zelnick believes Take-Two's commitment to quality is "why I think our remastered titles typically do so well."
Zelnick specifically praised the Mafia remasters from 2K Games, while he also remarked that GTA V is now heading into its third console generation, which demonstrates a massive level of success for the game. Zelnick said he feels "confident Rockstar is going to deliver a great experience but you can't do that if you're just doing a simple port."
Sony has announced a string of partnerships with four different non-profits with the ultimate goal of "improving access to the tech and gaming industry" for the Black community.
The four non-profits Sony has partnered with--which the company unveiled in a blog post from late-February--are Black Girls CODE, Black In Gaming, Gameheads, and The Hidden Genius Project. It's unclear how Sony intends to bolster these non-profits' efforts; however, the company committed $1 million in June 2020 to support organizations aimed at ending systemic inequality following George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police.
Each of the non-profits targets the same goal: increasing the number of Black employees in the fields of gaming and technology. A couple have specific parameters--such as Black Girls CODE focusing on girls between the ages of 7 and 17--but all are intent on ensuring Black employees are well-represented in a burgeoning industry, where 83% of Black teens play video games as compared to 71% of white teens, according to a 2015 Pew Research study.
This partnership comes almost a year after Sony--along with other gaming companies like Nintendo and Xbox--has urged for the plague of racism to finally dissipate. Each of the major players in gaming has made their own commitments, from pledging hundreds of thousands of dollars to support organizations to releasing lengthy statements lambasting discrimination.
Scribblenauts dev 5th Cell released a new Early Access game titled Castlehold. A competitive strategy game, Castlehold requires players to navigate what it calls an Active Resource Control System. The core of such resource management is choosing when to expand territory, defend villages, and plan strategic retreats in order to secure the end goal: your opponents' castles.
Building an army is a key gameplay element necessary to achieve conquests. Soldiers can be collected with currency from leveling up and completing quests. 300 units, five captains, and four different battlefields are available to mix and match in Castlehold's Early Access version.
While the setup feels pretty medieval--castles and villages form most of the game's landmarks--the units appear to be from wildly different contexts. You can assemble armies out of cowgirls, buccaneers, samurai, vikings, futuristic cyborgs, and more.
"The team at 5th Cell is thrilled to reveal and release Castlehold today," said 5th Cell's CEO and Creative Director Jeremiah Slaczka. "This project is an exciting next step for our studio that draws on our roots as innovators to push new boundaries and deploy a fresh and appealing experience for trainees and master tacticians alike. We welcome everyone from across space and time to join us in the Drift as we launch now on Steam Early Access."
Castlehold's full edition will likely add more units, captains, and battlefields. 5th Cell also hopes to add new modes in addition to the ones currently available in Early Access, of which include AI Training, a Casual Mode, and a Ranked Ladder Mode.
The PlayStation Store's latest iteration of the Essential Picks sale is live now, with deals on a bunch of AAA games, including some recent titles like Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Watch Dogs Legion. The sale runs until March 18, so you have a couple of weeks to make your picks. Additionally, those looking to add to their PS5 and PS4 library for cheap can check out the newest Games Under $15 sale, which is also live until March 18.
The Essential Picks sale includes both the PS4 and PS5 versions of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. The standard PS4 edition is discounted to $45, while the Cross-Gen bundle with PS5 upgrades is $54.59. Watch Dogs Legion's Gold edition is discounted to the lowest price we've seen at $40. Normally $100, the Gold edition comes with the season pass, which includes an upcoming story expansion, extra missions, and the original Watch Dogs.
March is upon us, and it's looking to be an extremely good month for RPG fans and anyone with a Nintendo Switch. Monster Hunter Rise brings intense battles against enormous creatures to the very-much-not-enormous Nintendo Switch, and the cooperative experts at Hazelight launch their next adventure It Takes Two this month, as well.
Below, you can see the biggest game releases in March on all major platforms. You can also check out our video games release dates of 2021 article for a comprehensive list of the whole year.
The next big PS4 update has arrived to beta tests, and while it brings several quality-of-life improvements to the system, it also removes a feature.
As reported by MP1st, the PS4 beta update 8.50 adds options to turn on or off notifications for each group that you are in. This should help keep things from getting too hectic if you're in several groups at once.
When players are in a game session screen they can also use the Request to Join button that sends a notification to the session leader. When playing a game that you've hidden, other players will no longer see you play it.
The PlayStation Communities app on smartphones was shut down back in March 2020, and the latest firmware looks set to kill the social feature off entirely when it arrives. No reason why was given, but with the rise of gaming social spaces such as Discord, a lack of activity in PlayStation Communities could be a likely factor.
Back in October, PS4 firmware update 8.00 added enhanced two-factor verification security features, new avatars, and a traditional amount of stability. Parental controls were also simplified, while features such as the ability to create Events or access existing Events created by other users were removed alongside the option to start private communities.
Another big change coming to PlayStation consoles will see users no longer able to rent and purchase TV shows and movies from August 31, 2021. This major change is due to the rise of various subscription services, which have seen a drastic shift in how people consume entertainment.
Resident Evil Village will be getting ray tracing support on PC, thanks to a partnership between Capcom and AMD. Footage of Village running with ray tracing enabled was shown off during AMD's announcement of the RX 6700 XT, its latest RDNA 2-powered GPU for desktops. The footage showed off the now-familiar foyer of Lady Dimitrescu's mansion, which was illuminated with accurately-traced reflections and lighting.
The partnership between AMD and Capcom also includes FidelityFX support; A suite of AMD-specific enhancements such as variable-rate shading, super resolution support, and more. This does mean that Resident Evil Village is unlikely to get the full suite of Nvidia options on PC, too, which could exclude support for DLSS--a big boon for high framerates when enabling ray tracing.
We've partnered with Capcom to utilize raytracing and AMD FidelityFX to enhance the atmosphere and next-generation visuals in Resident Evil Village. We can't wait to play #REVillage on May 7th. pic.twitter.com/VgSZiPlJvz
There is a key moment in The Last of Us: Part II involving a golf club, and game director and writer Neil Druckmann has now provided more context on the matter. Druckmann also shared his own personal history with golf and how he sustained a permanent head injury from it.
The character Abby brutally murders Last of Us protagonist Joel with a golf club in The Last of Us: Part II. It's a gut-wrenching sequence that sticks with you.
Druckmann told The Washington Post that the decision to have Abby kill Joel with a golf club came later in the writing process. Originally, Abby was going to stab Joel with a knife and paralyze him by twisting the blade into his back. But it was changed to a golf club later on.
"For a long time, Abby stabbed Joel in the back then twisted the knife to paralyze him," Druckmann said. "But knife felt more like an Ellie thing. We wanted something different."
Druckmann does have a personal connection to golf club-related injuries, as he was struck in the head by a golf club when he was 16. He needed 30 stitches and he still has a dent in his skull from it.
"My friend was into [golf]," Druckmann said. "He invited me to go to a driving range. He was showing me the ropes. I stood behind him, and got smacked on the back swing. Blood everywhere."
Activision has once again patched Call of Duty: Warzone to fix some issues that have cropped up in the wake of the Season 2 update. The new patch for March 3 addresses the Agencry/GRU/Wrapped suppressors and fixes problems with Baker's Operator mission.
Elsewhere, there are some small changes to the UI to make things like icons, store bundles, and other elements appear more as they should and pleasant to the eye. You can see the full patch notes below, as posted by Raven Software.
This is the second update for Warzone this week, following one on March 1 that made changes to Reactive blueprint skins and the Vulture Exo blueprint in particular.
In other news, Actvision is reportedly planning to blow up the current map--Verdansk--and introduce a huge overhaul to the battle royale game with a theme around Black Ops.
Magic: Legends is an isometric dungeon-crawler that takes a healthy bit of influence from Diablo, so as you might expect, its difficulty settings will work a lot like Blizzard's series. Cryptic Studios outlined how the difficulty and modifiers will work, ahead of its upcoming open beta on PC.
As detailed on the Magic Legends blog, the game has four base difficulty levels: Normal, Hard, Expert, and Master. You'll start on Normal and unlock the others through gameplay milestones. You can take on Hard as soon as you finish the tutorial, and you can then increase it to Expert and Master once you've reached level 30. And of course, higher difficulty levels will sport better loot.
In addition to the base difficulty levels, each region in the game will have its own regional enchantment available on any difficulty above Normal. You can toggle these enchantments off on Hard mode, but on Expert and Master they'll always apply. Cryptic outlined the regional enchantments that will be available in the open beta, which includes factors like enemies exploding after death, or taking extra damage based on how short you are on mana.
There are also world enchantments, which function as gameplay modifiers activated with single-use consumables. You'll have to craft these through earned materials, and each world enchantment comes with three tiers that increase the difficulty. The studio outlined the world enchantments that will be active in the open beta as well, which include magical spheres that help your enemies or the inability to heal outside of combat.
AMD has announced its mainstream RDNA 2-powered GPU, with the Radeon RX 6700 XT set to launch on March 18.
This is the most affordable GPU in the 6000 series yet, with specs that target 1440p for maximum performance. This pits it against Nvidia's RTX 3070 and less powerful RTX 3060 Ti, with AMD nestling in between the two with its $479 MSRP. Of course, if the past few months have been any indication, that figure might not count for anything, considering the inflation of GPU pricing due to stock shortages.
If you can snag one at release for anywhere close to the recommend price, AMD is promising performance on par and, in some cases, exceeding that of the RTX 3070. In its internal benchmarks, AMD has the RX 6700 XT beating its Nvidia rival in many modern titles. What isn't as clear in the image is that the benchmarks are making use of AMD's Smart Access Memory boost for increased performance, a feature which Nvidia hasn't yet rolled out to the RTX 3070.
