Additionally, a stage play based on the original manga will appear sometime in 2022.
The post New Fruits Basket Anime Announced for 2022, Will Star Tohru’s Parents appeared first on Siliconera.
About a decade ago, racing games seemed to be a genre on their way out - arcade racers like Blur and Split/Second weren't selling, great studios were closing and even mainstream series like Need for Speed were struggling to get the attention they once had. Outside of a Mario Kart or a Gran Turismo, it seemed the days of the big-ticket racing game, and of the genre as an exciting mass-market draw, were over.
Happily for racing fans, things now look much better. Forza Horizon made driving games cool again, indie studios have resurrected the joys of the 90s-style arcade racer, the PC simulation racing scene is more competitive than it's ever been, and Codemasters has ridden a successful stint on the Formula One licence all the way to an incredible $1.2 billion acquisition by EA, which shows just how highly racing games are valued now.
Here we present our picks of the best racing games to play right now - mostly modern, because this is a genre that tends to improve with technology, but with a classic or two that has stood the test of time thrown in. As usual, we're focusing on games that are easy to find and play on current hardware. To break things up a bit, we've divided out list four sub-genres: open-world racing games that combine racing and exploration over a large map; arcade racing games which are all about immediacy and fun, and less about realism; motorsport games based on licensed real-world sports; and sim racing games which concentrate on the authenticity of the driving experience.
Hello! All this week Eurogamer is celebrating Pride with a series of stories examining the confluence of LGBT+ communities and play in its many different forms, from video games and tabletop games through to live-action role-play. Here, Lottie takes a personal delve into the visual novel A Summer's End - Hong Kong 1986. Please note this article contains significant plot spoilers.
The last thing Michelle expected when visiting a shoe cobbler in Mong Kok was to share dinner with his daughter, Sam. Yet, she finds Sam interesting and, even though she doesn't understand why at first, feels an undeniable connection to her. Their romance blossoms in A Summer's End - Hong Kong 1986 - a visual novel created by the Vancouver-based independent game studio Oracle and Bone, a game which has drawn considerable acclaim for its tender portrayal of a LGBT+ romance since its launch last year.
Its creators, Charissa So and Tida Kietsungden, say they knew they wanted to make a game with a focus on an Asian LGBT+ storyline from the onset. "We felt there was a need and opportunity to tell such stories through the medium of video games," they explain. “As LGBT+ identifying Asians ourselves, we understand the importance of representation and know that positive and authentic portrayals of ourselves are necessary in humanizing our experiences and also reducing the stigma that surrounds LGBT+ sexuality."
With WitcherCon right around the corner, many fans are gearing up to learn more about the various shows going on surrounding the witchers and their tales. This includes Netflix's The Witcher season 2 and the anime adaptation. What it won't have to offer, as confirmed by the fully-released schedule, is a new Witcher game announcement.
This bit of clarity is needed because the rumor mill began to swirl immediately upon the revelation of the first-ever WitcherCon, and for good reason. CD Projekt RED has already confirmed that a new Witcher experience is currently in the works alongside more work being done on Cyberpunk 2077. With members of the studio in attendance at WitcherCon for some of the panels, speculation was high about if the Polish studio would have anything official to reveal. Time to reign in those expectations a little bit, because the full schedule can be seen below:
Want to know more about what we've got in store for #WitcherCon? You've come to the right place. We're teaming up with @CDPROJEKTRED to bring you an epic lineup of panels with the cast and creators, Season 2 sneak peeks, and much more.
Get the details at https://t.co/zQ2dBGS0k4! pic.twitter.com/OhMnWHXZeW
Both Sony and Microsoft are making power moves in recent years regarding studio acquisitions for the PlayStation and Xbox camps. Following E3 2021's Xbox showcase that celebrated the acquisition of Bethesda and other ZeniMax studios, Sony has just announced that it has purchased Housemarque, the studio that gave us Returnal. More than that, evidence suggests that Sony has also acquired Bluepoint. But first, let's start with what's confirmed.
PlayStation's Hermen Hulst took to the PlayStation Blog to talk about the latest acquisition. In the post, Hulst celebrates Housemarque's most recent successes with Returnal while reflecting upon the studio's past. "I have been a fan of Housemarque since the studio's early days when they introduced Super Stardust HD to PlayStation fans," he said. Adding Housemarque to PlayStation's growing creative team is a smart move and one that the studio's co-founder couldn't wait to celebrate, as well.
Wreckateer and Killer Instinct Season 2 and 3 developer Iron Galaxy Studios has named Rejess Marshall as its new program lead of diversity, equity and inclusion. ...
As the rest of the world learned about Sony's acquisition of Returnal developer Housemarque, PlayStation Japan also welcomed Demon's Souls maker Bluepoint Games into the fold. ...
Developer Owlcat Games and publisher Koch Media have this week announced that their anticipated upcoming sequel Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous will launch on consoles this year alongside the already confirmed PC version, which itself launches in September. A solid release date for the console version hasn’t yet been set in stone, but sometime within the autumn window is the plan. There will be both digital and physical copies available.
“As a game developer, we are always happy to bring our games to as many players as possible. We received a lot of questions from our fans and today we can officially confirm that Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is coming to consoles both digitally and in retail,” said Oleg Shpilchevskiy, Head of Owlcat Games in a press release sent to Twinfinite.
“And we are glad to continue our partnership with Koch Media and its newly launched Prime Matter label to bring physical console copies to the stores around the globe,” he added.
This week’s console announcement coincided with a new developer diary episode revealing the city of Drezen in greater detail. The huge urban settlement servers as a key location in the early portion of the game as players are tasked with sieging its central fortress by its Queen.
It will incorporate pieces of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s never-written sequel
After eight years on the shelf, many are saying the smart money is on EA announcing a new Dead Space game at the upcoming EA Play in July. Given the fact that EA have gone back to Mirror's Edge and they're in the process of reviving Skate, it's not a bad shout.
Square Enix has released a statement, detailing the violation in full and will provide compensation for players affected by the instance.
The post Square Enix Apologizes for Violation of Gacha Laws in Final Fantasy War of the Visions appeared first on Siliconera.
Square Enix shared, then pulled, a Japanese trailer that teased a July 2021 release window for potential Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster games.
The post Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster July 2021 Release Teased appeared first on Siliconera.
Atlus shared its newest SMT V demon video, and it announced the return of Fafnir and let people know Mothman will show up tomorrow.
The post Fafnir Will Return in SMT V Too appeared first on Siliconera.
If this doesn’t make you wanna hug your besties, I don’t know what will
Finland’s oldest studio is now officially part of PlayStation
In the past, Digital Foundry has enthused about the quality of high-end CRTs, the display technology of yesteryear that can still deliver some aspects of image quality that no modern screen can match. We've talked about contrast, precision, motion resolution and much more. Now, two years on from us acquiring the Sony GDM-FW900 - quite possibly the best gaming CRT money can buy - we've tested out how the display works with the new wave of consoles: Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5. Are all of the benefits of CRT still there? How on earth do you connect an HDMI device to an 18-year-old display? How does today's 4K rendering stand up on a CRT screen? And since we first looked at CRTs, have modern displays made any strides in matching up to the strengths of the cathode ray experience?
You can see for yourself by checking out the video below, where I test out a range of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X games on my own FW900 and show off how the latest OLED screens from LG are able to compete against one of the key strengths of CRT - but first of all, let's go back to basics. What makes the FW900 so special? Put simply, it's Sony deploying its Trinitron tech to maximum effect, with a relatively large 24-inch 16:10 screen. It's able to process virtually resolution up to 2560x1600 at 60Hz, and if you scale down resolution, it's possible to increase frequency - so yes, high refresh rate gaming is possible. The downsides? A 24-inch screen is small by today's standards, but the FW900 is a huge, desk dominating box, and it weighs 42kg, meaning it is hardly portable.
Microsoft has announced July's lineup of Xbox Games with Gold titles.
Xbox One and Xbox Series X and S gets gorgeous Another World-esque sci-fi side-scroller Planet Alpha for the entire month of July, and competitive tower defense meets arcade action game Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break from 16th July to 15th August.
Two games are available via backwards compatibility: Rare's OG Xbox game Conker: Live & Reloaded (1st to 15th July); and 2012 Xbox 360 collection Midway Arcade Origins (16th to 31st July).
Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut is an unannounced new game spotted on a rating board website.
The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has a listing (thanks, ResetEra) for Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut, with Sony Interactive Entertainment mentioned as publisher, and PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 listed as platforms.
We don't yet know what this Director's Cut entails, but Sucker Punch's adventure is reportedly set for a standalone expansion / DLC called Ghost of Ikishima. Perhaps that's included.
The next-gen update for Doom Eternal was first announced during the Xbox Games Showcase at E3. Today, the optimized game finally arrives on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X (on Game Pass as well). A post on the official Bethesda website details the performance and graphical settings that’ll be available for next-gen console owners. For Consoles, there are three different modes that can be enabled while playing: Performance Mode which focuses on frames and smoothness, Balanced Mode which is a happy medium, and Ray Tracing Mode which, unfortunately, is not available on the Series S.
With our latest look at The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 during this year's E3 2021 Nintendo showcase, it's easy to see why so many have this particular universe on the brain. The first open-world adventure for the Breath series was expansive, beautiful, and a joy to traverse. While we wait to see what the sequel has to offer, one Breath of the Wild cosplayer brings her Urbosa cosplay to life in stunning detail. Which, of course, sent me down the rabbit hole of looking at her previous cosplays, and now I'm just sitting here thinking about how I can't even sew a button on correctly and basking in the talent that the cosplay community continues to share.
The cosplayer in question goes by CutiePieSensei on socials, and her cosplay portfolio includes everything from Metroid to Apex Legends - even Marvel. But we're here to talk about her Urbosa take because, let's be real: it's pretty awesome.
I came to feed y’all things since I never post here. I’m sorry lovelies!!
Look at this swimsuit Urbosa I designed and made thoooo!! Forgive me plz!! #botw2 #TheLegendofZelda pic.twitter.com/lqlgJ5lkDa
June is coming to a close, which means it's time to see what Xbox Games With Gold's July 2021 free games lineup has to offer. A little more niche than previous months, including June's which currently includes Injustice Gods Among Us and The King's Bird, July's offerings includes an arcade collection and a return to the Conker universe.
Just like every month, Microsoft offers a select few games to give away for free, both for Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members. Whether you want to beat the tar out of a previous high score or you're looking to explore a vast world in Planet Alpha , here's what you have to look forward to on Xbox next month.
Bethesda revealed its new Indiana Jones game back in January of this year, and fans were immediately interested in what Machine Games would bring to the fandom table. Now, Bethesda's Todd Howard is opening up a little bit on the road to here with the adventurous new game, sharing that he's actually been campaigning for this since 2009.
Sitting down with The Telegraph, Howard revealed that the Indiana Jones game is something he and his team are very excited about and that he's been pitching this project since 2009. Back in 2009, he first shared the idea for Indiana Jones with George Lucas, and he's been "trying to find a way to make that" since that point. Luckily, that vision is seeing fruition thanks to the efforts by MachineGames, efforts that are "phenomenal" when looking at narrative craftsmanship and game design as a whole.
"I think the work MachineGames have done, they're just phenomenal developers and storytellers," Howard gushed. "And when I started talking to them about it, it was a good fit. And we got the opportunity to talk to Lucas and Disney about it, and they were super excited."
After a year of watching Microsoft throw around billions buying up game studios, Sony has returned fire with a small acquisition of its own. The purchase of Returnal developer Housemarque is only the second studio Sony has acquired over the last decade, however, marking a clear difference in the two companies’…
Fact: If you cover games, someone will call you a “shill” at some point. Over the weekend, a contingent of games-focused writers and influencers pushed back on that claim by plastering Twitter with tongue-in-cheek posts about the purported value of Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft’s subscription-based games-on-demand…
A summary of my experience and knowledge on video game pitching I gathered over the course of years in the games industry. ...
Lonely Mountains: Downhill and SteamWorld Quest publisher Thunderful has named former ID@Xbox director Agostino Simonetta as its new chief strategy and investment officer. ...
Rainbow Six Siege has changed a lot since its release, as Ubisoft has added plenty of new maps, operators, and features to make the game better. Even though the game has been made significantly better, though, many still miss a lot of the old quirks that the earlier version of Siege had, including the classic Q+E wiggle on PC.
While playing Rainbow Six Siege on PC, players used to be able to spam the Q+E buttons fast to learn, wiggling their character left and right really quickly while firing. Not only did this look funny, but many were actually able to use it as a tactile advantage to make their players harder to hit.
Ubisoft has since patched Rainbow Six Siege Q+E wiggle to make it a bit less ridiculous, making characters lean far less drastically if used. Even though it is gone, that doesn’t mean it is forgotten. In the animation below, you can see a dedication to the tactic, created by Youtuber Siege Tales
The adorable Rainbow Six Siege video displays Ash showing the ropes to a Recruit, as she spams the Q+E to wiggle in and out of cover. It is a cool callback to how the game used to play while also being pretty hilarious as well.
Death’s Door is straight-up strange. During my circa-three-hour stint with a preview build of the game, I got to explore the stunning sights of its dark and desperate world, met a character called Pothead, and reaped countless souls with my new Crow buddy.
In Death’s Door, you’ll team up with a soul-reaping Crow to track down the bird’s stolen target. Your target is a thief, and they’ve slipped into a realm untouched by death and teeming with tough, towering creatures that dwarf your winged warrior.
It’s a simple premise, and it’s all the game really needs to get started. The further you dive in, though, the more the game unveils just how weird and wonderful its world is. In the first hour, I met Steadhone the gravekeeper who, as you’ve probably guessed by his name, has a headstone for a head and desperately wants me to try and kill him whenever I get a chance (or a new ability). Then there was the aforementioned Pothead, not because he has a penchant for the pongy plant, but because he has a literal pot for a head.
It’s rather on-the-nose, silly stuff, but in a game where you’re playing a soul-reaping crow, are you really here for the deeply intellectual giggles? No, I thought not.
Death’s Door feels like a clear evolution of developer Acid Nerve’s Titan Souls. Where Titan Souls was almost solely focused on the boss battles, Death’s Door provides a fascinating, sprawling world of a desolate wasteland, gloomy graveyards, and musty mansions as you embark on the adventure. Each one has been wonderfully designed with hidden paths leading to power-ups and other secrets to help you along the way.
For those of you lucky enough to own an RTX capable graphics card and a copy of Doom Eternal (I assume there's a decent amount of crossover there), the ray-tracing update promised since the shooter’s launch has finally arrived. Nvidia’s tech has added a final level of polish to the game’s surfaces, and also brings DLSS support to balance out the power-hungry enhancements.
Eh, I'm not convinced by this HD remaster of hack-and-slasher No More Heroes. This is as barebones a port as you can get, really. And even if you can get past that, I'm not sure the game holds up 14 years later, on a new platform and with a new control scheme. Unless you're powered entirely by nostalgia, I'd say it's a middling time.
Slime Rancher 2 was a bit of an unexpected announcement this E3, albeit a very welcome one. I'm always up for being pleasantly surprised by adorable slimes. The sequel to the slime-corralling sim is set to release in early access next year, and it'll feature a vibrant new world to explore, and some excellent bat slimes. Naturally, I needed to find out more about these good squishy orbs, so I caught up with Nick Popovich, Slime Rancher game director and CEO of developer Monomi Park. We talked about the game's art direction, the pressure of making a follow-up to a much-loved indie, and how the sequel has the potential to be a hell of a lot bigger than the original.
This is delightful. Most games struggle through the tangled thorns of PR, marketing, and that one dude who spots errors from seven miles away, before getting a single screenshot to you. But this little glimpse into Kerbal Space Program 2’s progress is via their show and tell sessions on the official forums, where the team gathers up what they’ve been working on and shares it with the community. In April and May, the clouds got fluffier, the terrain more specular, and the Mun really embraced its impact craters.
There’s not a lot here, but what there is has made me very happy. I’ve officially given up trying to mod Kerbal Space Program after watching the work being put into the skies and terrain for the second game. I’ll happily wait to split these clouds with my best attempt at a rocket.
The Mun really caught my eye. It’s gorgeous. Every shade of grey imaginable, covered in overlapping impact craters, shadows piling up in every scoop of dirt. I'm going to spend weeks admiring it as I work out how to get there without sacrificing my grinning little Kerbalnauts.
The FFV and FFVI PC versions will be delisted from Steam and “no longer be available for purchase" ahead of Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster versions.
The post FFV and FFVI PC Versions Will Be Delisted From Steam in July 2021 appeared first on Siliconera.
A new green tome Legendary Hero arrives.
The post Legendary Byleth Joins Fire Emblem Heroes appeared first on Siliconera.
The English Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles release will include dual audio options with voice actors from the anime adaptation.
The post Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles Dual Audio Confirmed appeared first on Siliconera.
Square Enix shared the FFXIV 14-Hour Broadcast schedule for the July 2021 event and listed all of the events and people who will appear.
The post FFXIV July 2021 14-Hour Broadcast Schedule Shared appeared first on Siliconera.
The elder dragon figure will dwarf figures of Rathalos and other monsters in the same series.
The post Monster Hunter Fatalis Figure Will Appear in December appeared first on Siliconera.
The ESRB rated Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut for the PS4 and PS5. It is almost identical to the original game's rating, with one change.
The post Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut PS4 and PS5 Rated appeared first on Siliconera.
