April 2021

Yakuza 0 fans probably agree that the game has some pretty sweet tunes inspired by the 1980s. If you're someone who prefers to enjoy such musical delights on an actual record player, Sega has something special for you. The company has partnered with Laced Records to create not one but two Yakuza 0 vinyl sets.

First up is a 6 LP box set that boasts over 90 remastered-for-vinyl tracks. These include karaoke favorites like “24-hour Cinderella” and “Bakamitai”. The vinyls themselves are heavyweight, 180g LPs and come in printed sleeves housed in a nice box. There are two editions of this box: the Standard one features black vinyls while a Limited version exclusive to Laced Records boasts color-in-color discs. You can pre-order it now for $120 here. 

Creative director Marcus Smith just revealed 15 minutes of new Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart gameplay footage during Sony's most recent State of Play. This is the second trailer we've gotten this week, going more in detail about some of the new faces we'll be meeting and Rift Apart's latest evil. 

With every trailer we get, it feels like the latest Ratchet & Clank gets even more stunning. With PlayStation 5's ray tracing and impressive load times, Rift Apart is poised to be an incredible new ride for longtime fans (and newcomers) of the Insomniac franchise. 

Among Us isn't a new game by any stretch, but the jellybean/astronaut online game is currently seeing a massive surge in popularity that began in early September of 2020. Since that boom in visibility, this murder mystery adventure has taken over the gaming world, showcased on the biggest stream channels on Twitch, on late-night talk shows, and even in the world of politics. Now, it's growing its player base even more with the confirmation that the sus little game is making its way over onto PS5 and PS4 systems. Even better? An adorable new cosmetics pack is also on the way. 

The arrival of Among Us on PlayStation comes with both generations being included, an exclusive Ratchet & Clank skin, hat, and pet, and the ability to play with others no matter the platform. It's great, especially if you're one of those who have some unresolved issues with friends. Keep it simple and just murder them (in-game). 

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is set to release this Summer, and Sony is hosting a new State of Play today to showcase new gameplay from the upcoming PS5 game. The event promises a 15-minute presentation on Insomniac's platformer action game, during which we're hoping to hear more about one of the game's new protagonists, as well as a few announcements about the upcoming indie games on PS5.

We'll be watching along and commentating in real-time, so be sure to join us starting at 3:55 PM Central on the Game Informer YouTube channel. The latest gameplay promises to show off brand-new weapons that we've never seen, plus a closer look at some of the new armor, and more about what Rivet (the game's evergreen character) brings to the story in this journey to defeat Nefarious. 

At long last! We finally have Netflix's Castlevania Season 4 trailer to see exactly what the show's final season will have in store for fans. It looks like we're going back to where it all began for one final fight, one final chance at survival. 

In the trailer below, we see our cast once more ready to finish the fight that hit a crescendo in season 3. With Hector now ready to create an army of deadly night creatures and the fight to make sure that Dracula stays dead once and for all, it looks like the final season is prepping to go out with a massive bang. 

Check out the first official trailer for Castlevania season 4 below: 

Back to where we started. Castlevania Season 4 streams May 13th pic.twitter.com/AIkC2LUj6S

— Netflix Geeked (@NetflixGeeked) April 29, 2021

The Castlevania Netflix animated series first made its debut back in 2017, and fans immediately fell in love with the creative take. Castlevania lovers were thrilled by the (very short) first season so much that the second season was received in an even more positive light, netting a very rare 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 

Today, during Sony’s State of Play event, developer Insomniac Games revealed new gameplay footage from Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, the latest entry in the long-running series of oddball action games.

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The future is bright for the current and upcoming crop of AAA releases. Reviews for Returnal are positive. I’m gassed as hell to have Lady Dimitrescu chase me around in Resident Evil Village before I let her snap me in half. Rift Apart looks so sharp on the PS5 that it might become my first Ratchet and Clank…

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Are you a cat person or a dog person? A life of raising pets traditionally imbues one with a preference, but a new poll shows Monster Hunter Rise players are overwhelmingly in favor of its canine companions.

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Europa Universalis IV's latest expansion, Leviathan, adds new ways to enrich your historic empire. Unfortunately it seems a slew of bugs has led to it becoming the worst rated game on Steam with 90% negative reviews.

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I like a good "platformer but you can't jump" game. VVVVVV remains the gold standard, but Super Magbot's playable demo suggests it has a magnetic appeal of its own. Instead of jumping, you navigate its deadly, single-screen levels using a magnet ray that can attract and repel you from certain surfaces. I played it and liked it.

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Bungie also detailed some upcoming balance changes for Destiny 2’s next season

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The loose technophobic theme doesn’t hold together, but some of the entries are standouts

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Insomniac Games†™ Character TDs are responsible for creating character setups, including the rigging of various heroes, enemies, weapons, vehicles and props. ...

One quarter of GDC State of the Industry respondents indicated their companies are not currently investing in D& I initiatives. ...

"We needed to make a big game that blew away our previous efforts. It needed to sync up with the just-getting-started film. And we needed to ship it in 10 months to line up with the movie release." ...

Rovio's flagship Angry Birds franchise appears to be hovering mid-air rather than soaring higher and higher, but Rovio leadership isn't terribly concerned. ...

Just as it promised earlier this week, Sony has shown off a big new chunk of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart gameplay, and, if you missed it, you can now whet your appetite for the game's June launch on PS5 by watching the whole thing below.

For its latest Ratchet and Clank adventure, developer Insomniac is taking the twosome on a breakneck trip to another dimension, one that will supposedly offer a mix of brand-new locations and familiar favourites given an alternate-dimension twist.

Insomniac's latest gameplay demonstration kicks off in one of those new areas, a dazzling, bustling, neon-hued future-metropolis - complete with a sky full of flying cars, naturally - known as Nefarious City. Upon arrival, Ratchet discovers two things: firstly, robot buddy Clank has gone missing, and secondly, some familiar faces live in this strange, new dimension - although they aren't exactly as he knew them back home.

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If you're eagerly awaiting the release of Insomniac's upcoming PS5 exclusive, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, there's not much longer to go. Set directly after the events of Ratchet and Clank: Into the Nexus, Rift Apart is shaping up to be something very special indeed. Chris' Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart review only confirms that.

We can't wait to rip through multiple dimensions as Rivet as we take on the evil Emperor Nefarious. And now, with just days to go until you can explore the cross-dimensional worlds of Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, we've gathered a list of the best places to pre-order the game ahead of its official release on 11th June.

It's worth noting that most retailers include a policy that will refund you any price difference in the pre-order price, so don't be worried if it ends up dropping a little before launch.

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The super-popular social deduction game Among Us is coming to PlayStation consoles this year. And as a bonus, patient PlayStation players are getting some cosmetics when it arrives.

Among Us' PlayStation 4 and 5 debut will have online and crossplay, but importantly, PS4 and PS5 players will get an exclusive Ratchet & Clank skin, hat, and pet. So you can have Ratchet ears and have a little Clank follow you around on all your tasks (or pretend-tasks).

The PlayStation Among Us will also come with all four maps available to play. It's already a number of other systems, like PC and Nintendo Switch, but more mediums for impostor games is never a bad thing. There's no firm date set yet, but the PS4 and PS5 launch of Among Us should arrive sometime later this year.

My Nintendo is at it again, and it seems like "roughly a day or so before a first-party launch" is going to be the cadence for new rewards.

In case you missed all the fanfare, New Pokemon Snap is out this Friday on Switch, and My Nintendo just added a 400 Platinum Point option to pick up: a letter set. It's literally just 12 letter sheets and two envelopes, containing various facets of Pokemon lore. The envelopes also double as a photo stand for 4x6 images. You can find the reward directly on this page.

While the letter set is front and center on the main rewards page, you may have missed the proper news article for the announcement. While most of the details are the same in regards to the letter reward, the page also teases an upcoming "clear zipper case set," which will go for 500 Platinum Points. You can find the mockup of the reward below.

As a reminder, you can find our full Platinum Point guide here. Bookmark it for when you need quick points for a reward! As a refresher, the Bowser's Fury Cat Mario keychain is back in stock, as is the Racer ID holder and lanyard, the Mario & Me Three Year Journal, the Smash Ultimate greeting card set, the Bravely Default II reversible poster, the Pokemon Sword and Shield four pen set, the Pokemon memo pad, and the Pokemon sticker set.

New Pokemon Snap Letter Set [My Nintendo]

During this afternoon's State of Play stream, Sony gave minor updates on a pair of indie games, and one of them was Subnautica: Below Zero of all things. Not that I'm complaining — I adore Subnautica.

We got some familiar footage of this standalone new underwater adventure, along with word of a performance mode "targeting 60FPS" and that gotta-have-it haptic feedback support on PS5.

Nice gesture: there's a free PS4-to-PS5 upgrade offer for Subnautica and Subnautica: Below Zero.

As explained during the stream and on the PlayStation Blog, "If you already own a physical or digital version of the first Subnautica on PS4, you'll be able to upgrade to the digital PS5 version at no additional cost." The same goes for Subnautica: Below Zero, which is launching on May 14, 2021.

I imagine a lot of people recently picked up the first game for free from Sony's Play at Home 2021 promo — if so, enjoy. And if you happen to have a PS5, even better. I'm tempted to replay it.

After much back-and-forth-ing about whether or not I should play Below Zero while it was being built in Early Access, I've pretty much run out the clock. I resisted, and there are only two weeks left to go.

Third-party scenery developers are continuing to release, announce, and showcase more goodies for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

First of all, we learn that the Nordic-focused developer Vidian Design is rebranding into SimNord. They also announced the development of Denmark’s third-largest airport, Aalborg Airport (EKYT) in North Jutland.

Next is Flight Sim Development Group, that released St. Lucia George F.L. Charles Airport (TLPC) in the West Indies.

It can be purchased at the developer’s own store for €11.90 including applicable VAT.

Today Bushiroard revealed another English trailer of the waifu dj rhythm mobile game D4DJ Groovy Mix.

The trailer focuses primarily on introducingRei Togetsu from the Happy Around! unit, which is one of the characters who appear in the game and other related media.

Toward the end, we take a look at the whole D4DJ project, which also includes live performances and the anime mentioned above, on top of a quick overview of the rest of the cast of the franchise.

You can watch the trailer and get to know Rei below.

At the moment, we don’t yet have a precise release date of the English version of the game, but we do know that it’ll come in Spring 2021, so the wait shouldn’t be that long.

D4DJ Groovy Mix released in Japan on October 25, 2020 for iOS and Android.

It’s part of a mixed media project by Bushiroad that includes games, anime, and live concerts. You may be familiar with Busiroad mostly due to another rhythm mobile game, BanG Dream!.

I am VERY excited for Returnal but reading that the average run can last 90+ minutes and there is no way to save midway (aside from Rest Mode) makes me really wish that PS5 had Xbox's Quick Resume feature.

A total of four games will come to Amazon's cloud gaming platform.

The post Trails of Cold Steel IV and The Wonderful 101 Hitting Amazon Luna in May appeared first on Siliconera.

Bugbear Entertainment's Wreckfest tore up last-gen consoles with glorious destruction turning every race into a junkyard of smoldering steel. A nicely enhanced version of the game is readily available on Xbox Series X, giving the racing a boost in resolution and fidelity, but an even more tricked out version is coming to PlayStation 5 on June 1. If you already own the PlayStation 4 version, the PlayStation 5 upgrade will cost you $9.99.

Now to complicate matters with a free option: PlayStation Plus subscribers will be able to download Wreckfest on PlayStation 5 for free on May 4, one month before the enhanced version's update hits the store. That's right, you won't have to fork out $9.99, and you get it early.

This update offers a number of significant tweaks, including improved shadows, particles, and environmental lighting. You'll also see more foliage, more dynamic dirt on the vehicles, and more realistic skid marks. Like most enhanced new-gen titles, Wreckfest will offer faster load times, higher-resolution textures, and new DualSense haptic effects.

I remember when I was younger, seeing games like Theme Park and Rollercoaster Tycoon, and wondering why nobody could do something like that only for my teenage spiritual home: the mall.

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An actual game of Major League Baseball, that is, not a round of Call of Duty.

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Everyone knows that kicking grunts intro traps in Dark Messiah of Might & Magic is one of the greatest pleasures in videogames. Radio Viscera looks like a game entirely about that feeling. Played from a top-down perspective, you wield an air cannon that can blast holes in walls and punt peeps into meat grinders.

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It'll soon be the end for Netflix's enormously enjoyable Castlevania adaptation, with the animated series' upcoming fourth season set to be its last. If the streaming service's newly released trailer is any indication though, Trevor and chums could be going out in style.

Netflix's take on Konami's classic video game series first aired back in 2017, with its initial four-episode run introducing disgraced monster hunter Trevor Belmont and Dracula, the latter grief-stricken and out for revenge after his wife's murder by the church.

The series has gone from strength to strength since then, thanks to an excellent cast - which has included the likes of Richard Armitage as Trevor Belmont, Graham McTavish as Dracula, and James Callis as Alucard - and some solid showrunning by Warren Ellis.

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Friendship-destroying social assassination game Among Us will launch for PlayStation 4 and PS5 later this year.

Sony confirmed the smash hit PC and mobile game would arrive on its consoles during the opening of tonight's Ratchet & Clank-focused PlayStation Nintendo Direct.

Speaking of Ratchet & Clank, our brief look at Among Us on PlayStation also included a look at an exclusive Ratchet & Clank skin, hat and pet.

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In today's contest you can win a physical Switch copy of ABZU from Super Rare Games!

Hey gang, remember me? I'm the guy who used to give stuff away like every single day. Then life happened and well it's been a few weeks. Allow myself to reintroduce...myself. I'm Wes, I'm 34 years old, and I like to roll around on the ground with bubble wrap duct taped around my body.

Super Rare Games just dropped their physical release of ABZU, so grab some bubble wrap and win yourself a copy!

In recent years, we've seen a whole bunch of official new micro versions of some of our favorite old consoles, the most respectably ridiculous of which has got to be the Game Gear Micro — a system so small, you might as well keep a magnifying glass in your pocket. But when it comes to custom builds in the modding community, there's been a renewed interest in bulking up retro consoles to a silly degree.

We recently showed you a room-filling Nintendo Switch that, realistically, would need at least two players to handle hitting all of the buttons. Now here's a hulking Game Boy — excuse me, Game Man.

The creator of this "handheld" console, Grumpy Modeler, showed off the system in a video last November. I missed it, but now that it's making the rounds again (good eye, SIFTD), I couldn't resist. In the builder's own words, the Nintendo Game Man is "completely impractical and pointless."

The sheer size of this thing is entertaining in its own right, but what makes this build so appealing is that it captures the authentic look of the original Game Boy. What about the inside? There's a Famicom board crammed in there, not repurposed Game Boy innards. Yeah. It's an illusion, but a fun one at that.

Sony debuted a new State of Play today that was centered around one of its big upcoming PlayStation 5 exclusives, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. A large portion of that consisted of gameplay of the new platformer-shooter, and lord, it looks good.

Some games are still in the half-step between console generations, but Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is one of a few big next-gen exclusives Sony has lined up for the year so far. With that in mind, today's showcase was both a good look ahead at the next Ratchet & Clank, and a bright sign of what's to come on the new generation of consoles.

As detailed in the accompanying PlayStation blog, Rift Apart is making use of haptics inside the PS5's DualSense, as well as the adaptive triggers; Insomniac showcased how one gun fires single shots with half-trigger pulls, and goes into full auto when the trigger is pulled all the way down. That's alongside the rift-jumping dimensional chaos that Insomniac has shown off before, which it says utilizes the PS5's SSD.

A really cool note is the focus on accessibility options, too. Insomniac says there's more to share in the future, but spotlighting it in the State of Play is pretty rad, and the early glimpse we saw today reminded me a bit of The Last of Us Part II's impressive accessibility features.

Today Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games released a brand new video of the growing space simulator.

The video starts with a chunky look at armor that is being created for the game.

We also take a look at Crusader’s new landing zone Orison, coming in alpha 3.14. You’ll probably notice some similarities with Star Wars’ Cloud City.

In other Star Citizen news, the crowdfunding total  has just passed $356 million and it’s currently at $356,320,524

The number of registered accounts recently passed three million, and it’s at 3,069,961 at the moment of this writing.

As usual, you should keep in mind that it’s known that not all of them are paying players. The number includes free accounts created for a variety of reasons, including Free Fly events and more.

We recently learned that a new studio has been opened to create new systems and content for Star Citizen, while Firesprite will work on the Battlefield-like mode “Theaters of War.”

Sony just got super sus, as the company revealed that Among Us is heading to Sony consoles in 2021. The announcement came as a part of the company’s State of Play conference, with the trailer showing one of the crewmates with an unusual hat, skin, and pet.

That customized look is taken straight from PlayStation’s exclusive Ratchet & Clank, allow crewmates to equip Lombax horns, a unique jumpsuit, and Clank as their pet. Any Among Us players that want to get their hands on this getup themselves will have to play the game on PS4 or PS5, as it is only available on Sony consoles.

Despite releasing back in 2018, Among Us blew up in 2020, as fans rushed to console and mobile devices to play this murder mystery title with their friends while being stuck indoors.

Innersloth provides the following description of the game via their website:

Join your crewmates in a multiplayer game of teamwork and betrayal!

Subnautica: Below Zero is nearly here, and a new trailer shows off some of what players can expect from the full release.

Streamed during the State of Play livestream held on Apr. 29, the trailer offers a glimpse at the gameplay provided in the full release version of the upcoming sequel. It starts with the new main character crash-landing on the game’s planet. After saying she doesn’t think anyone spotted her, she sets out to explore the landscape. Footage of a research facility is shown, and it appears to still be fully functional.

From there, the trailer jump to short clips from throughout the game. One moment, the player character can be seen avoiding some aquatic life that is out to make a meal of them. The next, they’re in an icy cave, face to face with a massive creature that has been encased for who knows how long.

All the while, the game’s audio producer Jeff Tangsoc provides input on the game via developer commentary. He offers insights into the story playing out in the game and what awaits in the sequel’s environments, including the fact that the player character has come to this planet to find out what happened to her sister.

It’s a brief trailer, but one which gives a nice look at what players will have their hands on in a matter of weeks. Fans will definitely want to check it out in its entirety down below.