June 2021

Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis, the standalone-expansion-style next instalment in Sega's long-running free-to-play online action-RPG series, will - following its beta last month - be making its way to Xbox and PC next Wednesday, 9th June.

Announced last summer, New Genesis is described as the "next-generation" of Phantasy Star Online 2, and catapults the action forward 1,000 years after the Oracle's battle in PSO2.

Bundled alongside the base game, it includes a new graphics engine, enhanced character models, a new multi-weapon system, and, most notably, a "wide-open battlefield" with changing time and weather, traversable using new abilities like the Photon Dash and Photon Glide. There's also cross-platform play, plus fully localised text and character voices in English.

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Update: Crysis Remastered Trilogy launches October 15 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC. The enhanced bundle packages Crysis Remastered along with spruced-up versions of Crysis 2 and 3. 

On PS5 and Xbox Series X, the games can run at up to 4K/60 fps and sport improved lighting and high-resolution textures. The PC version features ray tracing and the option to lock the framerate or run it at max settings.

Crysis Remastered Trilogy is a digital-only release priced at $49.99. Crytek is also selling Crysis 2 and Crysis 3 Remastered separately for $29.99 each (with physical Switch versions coming later). As previously reported, the re-releases are campaign-only; each game's multiplayer modes are not included. 

Original Story: Crysis Remastered Trilogy is launching sometime this fall. The package includes last year’s modernized version of Crysis as well as remasters of Crysis 2 and Crysis 3 to run on modern consoles and PC. The bundle is the result of a development partnership between Crytek and Saber Interactive.  

Pixologic is looking for a 3D Graphics Programmer to support its digital sculpting software ZBrush. ...

Over the weekend, someone uploaded an ancient trailer used to promote 2002’s Evolution Championship Series fighting game tournament, and boy is it something else.

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Many, many, many YouTubers and streamers have attempted to deny cheating accusations over the years, but at the end of 2020, Minecraft sensation Dream took the cake by getting into a war of graph-filled, math-heavy statistics reports with Minecraft speedrun moderators who deemed his runs impossible. Over the long…

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For years now, Super Mario Bros. The Movie Archive has been working to obtain and restore a bunch of deleted scenes from Nintendo’s 1993 disaster. That work is now largely done, leaving us with a sort of “director’s cut” of the film that runs for 20 minutes longer than the original.

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Stonefly has offered an ideal experience so far. The action game about piloting bug-sized mechs was announced via an exciting and stylish trailer and now, three months later, it's out. That's it. I wish all videogames were as instantly captivating and swiftly released.

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Nintendo just announced plans to take one of its old production facilities in Japan and turn it into the “Nintendo Gallery,” a place to “showcase the many products Nintendo has launched over its history.”

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Nvidia’s DLSS isn’t foolproof, but when it works the performance benefits of AI-powered upscaling can be astonishing. It’s why fans have been pushing AMD for almost a full year to come up with an AI-powered solution of their own, and today, AMD finally announced it. Even better: it’ll work on any GPU hardware.

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SNK delayed KOF XV and cited the COVID-19 pandemic as a reason for the fighter being pushed back from 2021 to 2022.

The post KOF XV Delayed Until Next Year appeared first on Siliconera.

Let's take a deeper look into Sony†™s platform and content strategy, as the company orients itself even more singlemindedly around its video game IP and subscriptions. ...

After taking a year off for... reasons, the E3 Banner Contest is returning for a twelfth installment. Since 2009, the moderators here have held a contest challenges anyone in the GB Community to create E3 banners that will be placed at the top of each press conference's discussion thread in the forums.

This year's E3 is a little over a week away, and it is obviously going to be a bit different than the last twenty-five. On top of that, as of this posting (June 2), we don't have a complete schedule of presentations, but that ain't gonna stop us from making some jpegs and gifs.

That means we're going to be doing this year's contest a little bit by the seat of our pants. So, make sure to carefully read the rules below. Once you've done that, feel free to start making beautiful, awesome, terrible, and/or funny stuff. Then, just post your creations in the comments. Whether you're a Photoshop master or can't find the color blue in MS Paint, you could win!

Exploring backwater planets, recruiting pals and making important decisions that could come back to haunt you - I could be talking about Mass Effect, but I promise I'm not (this time). These are the sorts of things you can get up to in Klei Entertainment's Griftlands, which has now left early access. It's a brilliant deckbuilding roguelite that pits you against enemies in battles of the mind (to negotiate tough situations) or battles of the, uh, body (shooty shooty), as you follow the stories of three characters on a dingy sci-fi world.

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SNK has delayed King of Fighters 15 to the first quarter of 2022, it's announced. The fighting game was due out at some point this year.

In a message to fans, producer Yasuyuki Oda said the ongoing struggle with coronavirus in Japan had set development back.

"The development timeline we set out to reach in the beginning has been affected by the ever-still rising cases of COVID-19 within Japan," Oda said.

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Originally aiming for a 2020 release, and earlier delay saw SNK scheduling The King of Fighters XV  for this year. The game has, however, been delayed again.

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The Nintendo Gallery will showcase the video game company's history and past products, as well as offer other experiences and exhibitions.

The post Nintendo To Open an Exhibition House Showcasing Past Products in 2024 appeared first on Siliconera.

To mark Pride Month, Dontnod have made the full three chapters of Tell Me Why free for keepsies for the whole month. If you enjoy their games like Life Is Strange, their latest story 'em up is a good'un. Instead of paying for their game, Dontnod suggest, you might instead support queer and trans people with your money or effort.

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A small nod to internet imageboard 4chan has been quietly removed in Minecraft: Java Edition's latest update.

As spotted by Kotaku, Minecraft Java's new version 1.17 has deleted the splash screen message "Woo, /v/!" - a reference to 4chan's /v/ video game channel.

The message had sat in the code of the original Java Minecraft for over a decade, added by long-departed creator Markus "Notch" Persson. It was never featured in the newer Bedrock version of the game available on consoles, mobiles and Windows.

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Biomutant developer Experiment 101 has, as promised, released an update for the game that makes significant changes.

Chief among them is the ability to shut the annoying narrator up. Biomutant's incorporeal narrator is certainly pretty chatty, commenting on pretty much everything you do and translating everything anyone says. Prior to the release of this patch, while you were able to tone the narrator down, you couldn't shut him up completely. Now you can.

Here are the relevant patch notes:

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Nintendo has announced plans to open one of its former production facilities to the public from 2024.

Renovations on the building are now underway to transform the factory into a "Nintendo Gallery" where products from throughout the company's history will be showcased, alongside exhibits and other experiences (thanks, Nintendo Life).

The site was formerly Nintendo's Uji Oguru Plant, a facility originally built in 1969 to print Hanafuda cards, before it became a customer service centre for product repairs.

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There's something about spawning in against opponents with identical hairdos and outfits that makes my heart sink.

Before a single ball is thrown, I know we're going to lose. In fact, I'm pretty sure we're going to be crushed. This is only my fifth match - my induction into Knockout City thus far has given me an even win/lose split - but with matching greased-back quiffs, shades, and Letterman jackets - kind of like the T-Birds from Grease, only with considerably younger faces and less cigarette smoke - it's screamingly obvious that this is a team that's Taking Things Very Seriously Indeed. My trio of randos? Hmm. Not so much.

While I know that the skill-level of the players you match against can make or break many a multiplayer experience (I've been back on Destiny 2 lately, and have developed a love/hate thing with Gambit that ebbs and flows in direct correlation to the careful coordination of my opponents), there is no gentle learning curve in EA's new dodgeball-inspired action game, Knockout City. Yes, there are a handful of insightful tutorials to get you going - work through them all, and you'll learn not just the basics but also everything you need to know about trick shots and special balls and how best to move around the map - but nothing in those gentle training exercises will adequately prepare you for the frantic pace of a 3v3 deathmatch.

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Fans of the legendary Super Mario Bros. movie have restored a more adult version of the film, with 20 minutes of deleted scenes.

The cut footage was found back in 2019 via an old VHS tape, but was in poor quality. Since then, a group has worked on restoring the long-lost version, which is now available to watch in full via the Internet Archive.

As officially released, Super Mario Bros. was 104 minutes. This new version - dubbed the Morton Jankel Cut in honour of its husband and wife director team - runs 125 minutes, with most scenes extended.

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Dark Horse is getting into games.

Dark Horse Comics has set up a division called Dark Horse Games to make games based on its portfolio of entertainment properties.

Dark Horse owns the likes of Hellboy, Frank Miller's Sin City and 300, Umbrella Academy, Polar, Lady Killer, Emily the Strange, Usagi Yojimbo, and Resident Alien.

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In 2020, The Pokémon Company posted record profits, with a 21.2 percent increase in net profit compared to the previous year.

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Romi Hoshino, the alleged administrator of now-shuttered manga piracy site Manga-Mura, was arrested on copyright charges in 2019 after a global manhunt. Today, the Fukuoka District Court found the 29-year-old guilty.

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Sega wants to first gauge interest in the franchise with Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown.

The post Sega Still Has No Concrete Plans For Virtua Fighter 6 appeared first on Siliconera.

Learn how to make food that packs as much a punch as a Shoryuken with this Street Fighter-inspired cookbook.

The post Insight Editions Has Released A New Street Fighter-Inspired Cookbook appeared first on Siliconera.

The chaotic opening is available on Aniplex's YouTube channel.

The post Fate/Grand Carnival Opening Available on YouTube appeared first on Siliconera.

The unnamed mascot is designed by FFIX and Crystal Chronicles character designer Toshiyuki Itahana.

The post Square Enix Celebrates Pride Month By Releasing New Mascot and Merch appeared first on Siliconera.

Mass Effect 3 contains a hidden Mars rover Easter egg - and now, 10 years later, there's an "official" map showing how to activate it for yourself.

Writing on the Mass Effect reddit, former BioWare designer Richard Boisvert explained the Easter egg was his creation, and there was a specific path players had to follow in order to see it properly.

"As far as I know no one ever stumbled upon it," Boisvert wrote.

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Are you an Amazon Prime member? If so, you can snag a free copy of Battlefield 4 on PC through Prime Gaming. Oorah, etc!

To get it, you'll need to be logged in to your Amazon account, pop over to the Prime Gaming microsite and a code will be sent for you to claim on Origin. The freebie will only be available until 21st June so you'll want to be Oscar Mike to the site quicklike.

I've delved back into the archives to see what Eurogamer's thoughts were on Battlefield 4 at the time of release and, shockingly, it's so far back that the game has actually been given a review score and not a badge. Ah, the memories. "Levolution" aside (remember that!) it scored 8/10, so pretty good!

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However, details remain scarce with more information to appear soon.

The post RPG by Former Shin Megami Tensei Staff in Development appeared first on Siliconera.

Additionally, this report reveals the top five best selling Nintendo Switch games in Japan based on physical copies.

The post Nintendo Switch Sales Exceed Over 20 Million Units in Japan appeared first on Siliconera.

Five storefronts to help find your group’s next adventure

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Game’s first international LAN earned more than 1M concurrent viewers

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But don’t worry, there’s no cross-play

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Years later, Hello Games has more than surpassed its original promise for No Man’s Sky

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Valorant, a competitive 5v5 shooter, emphasizes weapon accuracy, advantageous angles, and clutch plays. With a vivid color palette as well as character designs that are reminiscent of other infectious hero-shooters, it’s no wonder that Riot’s team-based title has finally amassed 14 million active players with half a billion games played in the first year. In light of this success, a mobile port is on the way and a month-long celebration is slated to begin.

“One of our top goals this first year was to earn the trust and respect of the global FPS community, and to prove to them that Valorant will always uphold the fundamentals of a truly worthwhile competitive tac-shooter,” stated Executive Producer Anna Donlon. “To see our growing player community recognize and appreciate what we’re trying to do with Valorant is beyond what we could’ve expected and we’re thrilled to soon offer the same competitive Valorant experience to even more global players.”

Nintendo will hold its big E3 Nintendo Direct on 15th June at 5pm UK time.

The showcase will run for 40 minutes and focus "exclusively on Nintendo Switch software", the company said, nodding to the rampant reports of an imminent Switch hardware reveal.

Of course, we're expecting that Nintendo Switch hardware reveal before E3 itself, paving the way for Nintendo and other developers to focus specifically on games during E3.

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Regal nice.