July 2021

At the tail-end of June, Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut leaks came in fast, and now we've got confirmation that an improved version of the PlayStation exclusive is on the way. With new photo mode updates, added accessibility options, fixed lip-sync issues, 4K options, and more, it's a pretty solid deal for those that want a chance to revisit the game or to try it out for the first time. 

Sucker Punch's Andrew Goldfarb took to the PlayStation Blog to highlight what Tsushima fans have to look forward to. As the one-year anniversary of the samurai adventure looms closer, the team wanted to expand upon Jin's journey in a meaningful way. That's where the Director's Cut comes in. The Director's Cut will offer more to Jin's story, as well as ways to make the actual gameplay mechanics even better. 

Take a look for yourself in the video below: 

E3 may have been a couple of weeks ago at this point, but a few major players were missing from the festivities. Electronic Arts hasn't been an official part of E3 for a few years now, typically opting to host its separate EA Play event a few blocks from E3 when the event can happen in person. However, with E3 happening virtually this year, EA adjusted its schedule a bit. Now taking place in the middle of July, EA Play Live will feature four individual Spotlights centered on specific genres, franchises, and corners of the EA publishing arm, as well as one main stream on July 22 with the bulk of the company's major announcements.

The festivities kick off on July 8 at 10 a.m. Pacific / 1 p.m. Eastern with a Spotlight called "The Future of First-Person Shooters." In this panel, DICE general manager Oskar Gabrielson, DICE LA general manager Christian Grass, Respawn Entertainment founder and group G.M. Vince Zampella, and Apex Legends game director Chad Grenier will join IGN's Stella Chung to discuss Battlefield 2042, Apex Legends, and the future of the genre as a whole. The discussion will cover the Battlefield 2042 reveal and what fans of both games can expect to learn more about during the big July 22 EA Play Live broadcast.

Today at 2:30 CT, the Game Informer crew is going to try to survive against all odds in Dead By Daylight. As survivors, we’re going to face off against killers like Pyramid Head, Michael Myers, and of course, Resident Evil’s Nemesis. With the 5th Anniversary event going on and cakes giving everyone oodles more bloodpoints to play with and the Raccoon City Police Department map back in the rotation, now’s a great time for some horror fun. And fun will be had! 

Join Dan Tack, Liana Ruppert, and Alex Stadnik today for some extremely dangerous fun. Yes, we’re going to get put up on hooks and die. A lot. But there are party poppers and confetti involved so it’s very, very chill. We’re all relatively new players on the survivor side, so expect plenty of hilarious mishaps as we try to land flashbangs with Leon S. Kennedy, set up generator traps with Jill Valentine, and maybe even blind the killer once with a flashlight.

Back in June, Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon shared our first look at the Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms box art and the film's release date. At that time, we didn't have any video to go off of, but that's changed thanks to our first official trailer for the sequel to Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge. 

Courtesy of IGN, our first official look at the upcoming animated film from Warner Bros. Animation and NetherRealm Studios includes the art style we know and love and returning faces that always mean a good time is ahead: 

Directed by Ethan Spaulding, the director of the previous movie and Batman: Assault on Arkham, and with the script written by Supernatural's Jeremy Adams, the Battle of the Realms is based off of the popular video game franchise originally created by Midway Games. It features iconic fighters, recognizable moves, and a storyline that will feel both fresh and familiar to fans of this fighting series. 

Techland went a mighty long stretch in between news when it came to Dying Light 2, but when the studio opened those floodgates, they opened them up all the way. Once the silence was broken, the inside looks at the upcoming sequel have been coming in a steady stream, and that includes the latest Dying Light 2 developer update with Dying 2 Know episode two. For those interested, here's how you can watch. 

The latest look at Dying Light 2 Stay Human drops today, July 1, at 12 p.m. Pacific. We here at Game Informer will be doing another watch-along, just like we did for the first episode. If you're interested in chatting with us while we check out what's new together, feel free to mosey on over to our Twitch page here during that time! We'll also be doing some more streams later today, as well, for some good 'ole fashioned gaming. 

Get in, Guardian, we're going loot-grabbing. Destiny 2's Solstice of Heroes event returns as Season of the Splicer continues its trek towards completion. As with every Solstice event, there will be special packages available for participating Guardians as well as gear to earn, including a brand-new Legendary Shotgun up for grabs. 

In order to celebrate those who took a courageous stand in defense of the Last City, we must play Destiny 2 in hopes of that sweet, sweet, God Roll. This year will tasks Guardians with going back to the European Aerial Zone in order to unlock caches and kick boss butt. Every day, players will need to pay special attention to the assigned element. Guardians will need to keep that element in mind when choosing how they approach battle and which sub-class to use. Doing so will charge one of four elemental buffs and then on Prism Days, players can charge all four buffs with the restriction of only one being active at any given time. 

The event is free for all to enjoy, so no Guardian is left behind when earning Class-specific and upgradable armor. Check out the new digs in our first look below: 

Bandai Namco shared a Tales of Arise video with developers discussing its "inheritance and evolution" theme and an opening animation still.

The post Tales of Arise Theme and Opening Animation Teased appeared first on Siliconera.

Square Enix is selling FFVII Remake necklaces with dog tags from Shinra employees like Rufus, Reno, and Rude. Each one will cost $270.

The post FFVII Remake Shinra Dog Tags Cost $270 Each appeared first on Siliconera.

Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut will come to the PS4 and PS5 in August 2021 and include the Iki Island expansion.

The post Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut With Iki Island Arrives in August appeared first on Siliconera.

A Yo-kai Watch 8th Anniversary presentation will appear online in Japanese next week, and a game-related announcement will be made during it.

The post Yo-kai Watch Game Announcement Teased for 8th Anniversary Stream appeared first on Siliconera.

The latest SMT V demon trailer offers a look at Lilim, a character who's appeared in all entries in the series (and Persona games) so far.

The post The Next SMT V Demon Trailer Stars Lilim appeared first on Siliconera.

Despite being released eight years ago, Grand Theft Auto V can still use help with performance. It’s just that sort of game. You can use the in-built upscaler (running the game at a lower resolution than your monitor's native resolution then upscaling to the correct size) to do so, but the image quality definitely suffers from it. Thankfully, a better method has appeared in the form of AMD's DLSS-alike, FidelityFx Super Resolution (or FSR). It's been ported over to GTA V by a fan, and when you compare the two side-by-side AMD’s image quality definitely wins out.

Read more

The Logitech G915 Lightspeed, 'the holy grail of wireless gaming keyboards', has hit an all-time low price at Amazon UK. The ultra-premium keeb, which normally retails for £210, is down to £149 - a savings of around £60.

Read more

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was one of the first games I bought for myself rather than playing whatever my older brother brought home. I saw my mate playing Oblivion at his house and alas, etiquette dictated that I could not simply steal it. I'm glad I got a copy all for myself, though, because one of the most memorable quests I found in it was called A Brush With Death, partly because the name is a very funny, low effort pun. In A Brush With Death, you see, you go after an artist who has become trapped in his own painting.

It also reminded me of the bit at the start of terrifying children's tale The Witches by Roald Dahl, where a little girl gets trapped inside a painting in her family's house, where they watch her grow old and eventually die. So imagine a game that is basically entirely that. Surprise! It exists, and it's called Summertime Madness, a first-person puzzle game where a sad artist living in 1940s Prague makes a deal with the devil. He gets to live in one of his nice paintings for six hours - but if he doesn't get out before midnight, he's trapped forever. And you know what? Big deal. These paintings are lovely.

Read more

Bungie has revealed its plan for this year’s Solstice of Heroes, an event designed around celebrating the year’s achievements. Think of it as a victory lap to celebrate another year of whooping on everyone else in the solar system. This year, of course, Guardians are letting the victory over Quria wash over them.

The event appears very similar to previous year’s versions. You’ll run through the European Aerial Zone, complete subclass-themed bounties, and be rewarded armor that can glow according to your subclass. Standard Solstice of Heroes stuff that you can read about in detail here if you’d like.

What is notable, though, is that it doesn’t appear that Stasis is going to be invited to this party. This is the first year that Destiny 2 has had a Darkness subclass, and it seems apparent that Solstice of Heroes is a celebration of the Light, not the Darkness. At least as of the time of this writing, there isn’t any indication that there would be Stasis-themed armor/glows.

There is, however, a new Legendary Shotgun, a new Exotic Ghost Shell, and a new emblem to collect. Can’t have too many shotguns, that’s for sure!

Check out the trailer below for a quick look at what to expect. The event will start on July 6 and will run until Aug. 3.

Today Ubisoft released a new trailer of its upcoming squad-based shooter Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction.

This time around, we get to see the presentation of Aria “Alibi” de Luca, the Lybian operator serving in the Italian Carabinieri’s Gruppo Intervento Speciale (GIS). If you play Rainbow Six Siege, you’ll likely be already familiar with her.

This trailer follows the video focusing on Ela and the one focusing on Sledge.

You can check her out in action below.

Earlier this week Twinfinite reported an ESRB Rating for Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut, which seemed to all but confirm that an updated version of the game was set for release. Today, that speculation has been officially confirmed as PlayStation has revealed a new trailer that introduces its new features and a story expansion called Iki Island.

Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut, which is available for both PS4 and PS5, will launch on Aug. 20. It is a premium upgrade across both platforms that costs $19.99 on PS4 and $29.99 on PS5. Unfortunately, if you purchase the PS4 version and then later want to upgrade to PS5, you will need to pay an additional $9.99.

Of course, you can also purchase the whole package outright for both platforms; Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut costs $69.99 USD on PS5 and $59.99 USD on PS4. Here’s what’s included if you opt to go that route:

The rebooted Mortal Kombat film might have grabbed mainstream interest this year, but hardcore fans of the franchise are likely to be far more interested in the continued story of the acclaimed 2020 animated movie storyline that kicked off with Scorpion’s Revenge last year. The sequel, Battle of the Realms, is due out on Blue-Ray and digital platforms soon, and it’s just got a brilliant new story trailer via IGN that looks set to deliver another epic spectacle.

If you’re not familiar with Battle of the Realms, here’s the official story description:

Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms picks up shortly after the explosive finale of Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge, the 2020 blockbuster hit that initiated these animated films – which are based on one of the most popular videogame franchises in history.

In Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms, our team of heroes are besieged by the enemy forces of Shao Kahn – forcing Raiden and his group of warriors into a deal to compete in a final Mortal Kombat that will determine the fate of the realms. Now our heroes must travel to Outworld in order to defend Earthrealm and, simultaneously, Scorpion must find the ancient Kamidogu before it’s used to resurrect the One Being – which would mean certain destruction of all things in the universe. Time is short and the stakes are high in this action-packed continuation of the Mortal Kombat journey.

Here’s the new trailer:

Today Marvel Games and Netmarble released a new trailer their upcoming AAA open-world mobile game Marvel Future Revolution.

This time around, the trailer is all about one of the most classic heroes included in the initial roster of the game, Captain America.

You can check him out below.

Marvel Future Revolution is coming soon for iOS and Android, with pre-registration already open. You can also check out yesterday’s big reveal, our interview with the developers, and the first live gameplay featuring Spider-Man.

In case you’re unfamiliar with the game, here’s an official description and a set of bullet points to catch you up with what it’ll offer.

While dungeons and combat are forefront amongst the most challenging things you can do as a player in Breath of the Wild, nothing quite compares to trying to find and unlock all of the Korok Seeds in the game. Not only are there a lot of these things, with a total of 900 scattered throughout the map, but figuring out the puzzles that unlock each of them isn’t always as easy as they appear.

One player learned this the hard way, as it seems even the easiest of puzzles can be difficult at times. As you can see in the post below to the Breath of the Wild subreddit, user RainbowInTheDork simply couldn’t get the Korok Seed to unlock for them, even after placing their apples in the right place.

Frustration soon turned to hilarity, though, as it turns out that their horse was helping themselves to all of the free apples Link placed on the ground before the player could finish placing all of them. Have you had any similar Korok Seed stories in Breath of the Wild? Be sure to let us know in the comment section below.

Third-party developer Drzewiecki Design recently released Kraków John Paul II International Airport (EPKK) for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

As the second-busiest airport in Poland, EPKK is another relevant addition to the simulator. It’s a hotspot for low-cost carriers like Wizz Air, Easyjet, and Ryanair’s local arm Buzz, on top of many more traditional airlines. It’s also a mixed-use airport used by the Polish military.

The airport is available on Orbx Direct for approximately $24, which means it can be installed and updated without any issue simply by using the publisher’s handy Orbx Central client.

If you want to take a good look at what the airport looks like, you can watch an ILS approach and landing on runway 25 in the first video below, and a full flyover in a variety of lighting and weather conditions in the second video.

This package includes a lot more than just the International airport. It also comes with Kraków-Rakowice-Czyżyny Airfield (EPKC) and a large number of bespoke landmarks for the city itself.

Yesterday, Famitsu revealed that an official artbook is coming for the cult classic anime Gurren Lagann later this summer. The book is set to feature a collection of materials focusing on illustrations and design drawings from the anime, movies, magazines, and other related works for the series.

Gurren Lagaan’s art book will have over 350 illustrations and 488 pages of characters, designs, and information, which are all drawn by character designer Atsushi Nishigori. This will include plenty of storyboards and even some pages that are filled out fully in color.

Below, we’ve included some of the sample pages so you can get an idea of what the book will look like.

Quria deserved more after 6 years

Continue reading…

Get in the Amazon drone, Shinji!!

Continue reading…

It’s a little bit E.T. and a little bit Goonies, with Saw’s Tobin Bell thrown in for fun

Continue reading…

[peasant voice] Off I go then

Continue reading…

Includes new region with its own story this August

Continue reading…

What good is a whole day celebrating a single Pokémon without a special theme song? The Pokémon Company must have had the same idea, because it kicked off today’s promised Bidoof Day celebration with a video featuring the only track worthy of the Pokémon’s meme status: a Rickroll parody.

Read more...

Earlier this year, Humble Bundle came under fire for announcing it would begin limiting the amount of people’s purchases that would go toward charity and temporarily reversed course. Today, the company announced it will begin rolling out caps on donations that are more generous but still prevent customers from sending…

Read more...

Sucker Punch’s epic action-adventure game Ghost of Tsushima gets even more epic on August 20 with the release of the Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut. It’s an enhanced release featuring an entirely new island to explore and PlayStation 5 specific enhancements like haptic feedback and Japanese language lip sync.

Read more...

Newgrounds creator Tom Fulp will receive the Pioneer Award, and industry luminary Laralyn McWilliams will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2021 Game Developers Choice Awards on July 21st. ...

BioWare has revealed its newest expansion for Star Wars: The Old Republic with Legacy of the Sith. The new expansion kicks off the game's 10-year anniversary and will give players a brand new story to enjoy, more endgame missions, character upgrades, and more! Here's our first look at what's going down later this year. 

Revealed during today's live stream event, Legacy of the Sith is the latest major expansion for the MMORPG and the studio says that it marks the first of many new things on the horizon in the Star Wars universe. Or the galaxy. Something about a galaxy far, far away.

Kidding.

The new storyline will send players headfirst into a new military campaign with the mission of securing a very important planet for their faction. The narrative will center around Darth Malgus, a renegade Sith, and his secret plans but it's not just a new story that fans can enjoy, there are quite a few Quality of Life enhancements to look forward to, as well, with more to be revealed at a later date. 

Our latest look at Dying Light 2, now called Dying Light 2 Stay Human, includes a closer inspection of the upcoming sequel and how it will enrich what so many loved about the first game. Techland answered commonly asked fan questions while also delving into topics like choice impact on multiplayer and how big of jerks the Renegades really are. 

Dying Light 2 is enriching the experience with heavier choice options where player decisions can have the biggest - and smallest - of impact on the in-game world. Dawid Lubryka, animation director for Dying Light 2, talked a little bit about a reoccurring question that players have about said choice and what that means for multiplayer. As we've talked about before, Dying Light 2's choice system has the power to level the entire world: literally. So how does that impact the multiplayer experience? Burkda tells fans, "The host makes all the decisions, and our players experience them. So you can witness how the world of the host changes as a result of their choices, and you can compare this outcome to your own world. So all choices and their consequences stay with the host—they don’t affect your solo campaign, but you get to keep all the player progress you’ve made and all the loot you’ve found."

Square Enix announced during its E3 2021 livestream that it was remastering the first six Final Fantasy games for a series christened Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters. Although the old-school games have been re-released before, this batch would feature updated sprites and a reworked soundtrack, among other modern tweaks. Fans have waited with curiosity to see how Square handles these classics (again), and they can find out when the first three games arrive later this month. 

Final Fantasy I,II, and III Pixel Remasters launch July 29 for Steam and mobile devices. Final Fantasy I and II run for $11.99 while the remaining four games cost $17.99 each. Final Fantasy IV, V, and VI will launch later this year, but you can pre-order a bundle on Steam with all the games for a temporarily discounted price of $74.82. That’s 22% off of the standard price of $95.94. 

You're likely saying to yourself “well that seems pricey". I can only assume that has to do with the work put into these remasters. Each title boasts redrawn pixel art by original artist Kazuko Shibuya and a rearranged soundtrack overseen by legendary Final Fantasy composer, Nobuo Uematsu. Modern controller support along with touch controls for mobile, plus contemporary UIs and an auto-battle system, are among the features designed to make these classics easier to wrap your hands around. 

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy releases this October, and as part of our exclusive coverage of the game, we sat down for an exclusive interview with the game's Senior Creative Director, Jean-François Dugas, about how his team at Eidos Montreal is creating a faithful but truly unique story in the Marvel Games universe. We learned about the game's pre-production and initial pitch to Marvel, why the team wanted players to control Star-Lord instead of other characters like Rocket Raccoon or Gamora, and how player choice is weaved through this story-driven action game.

If you're interested in learning more about Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy after watching this video, be sure to read our 12-page cover story. Here's a brief snippet that sets up the game's story:

There’s nothing on Earth that compares to playing your favorite games with the most immersive surround sound experience available. Unfortunately, unless you live in a home with a built-in 7.1 surround system and no neighbors to worry about bothering during your peak gaming hours, you’re sorely out of luck when it comes to getting that immersive surround sound experience!

That’s why we suggest gaming with a nice pair of 7.1 surround headphones. Whether you’re zooming across the galaxy as Commander Shepard in the Mass Effect series or scoring the top headshot count for your team in Apex Legends – 7.1 surround sound headphones with wireless support, like the Atrix E-Series Pro Black Wireless Headset from GameStop, can maximize your immersion and make you feel like you’re inside the game without costing too much or angering your neighbors.

Included 50mm drivers mean that you get to feel the bass behind every explosion and gunshot. That’s great for competitive games like Battlefield 2042 and Rainbow Six: Siege, but why stop there? Racing games like Forza Horizon 4 are especially intense with the E-Series Pro – you can practically feel the rev of your high-octane engine as you blaze a trail through North England.

In Siliconera's Monster Hunter Stories 2 interview, Capcom staff talked about its development, new features, and influences.

The post Interview: All About Monster Hunter Stories 2’s Beginnings appeared first on Siliconera.

Capcom shared a behind-the-scenes look at the Monster Hunter Rise soundtrack recording sessions. Songs like “Yummy Dango Song No. 1" appear.

The post Making of Monster Hunter Rise Soundtrack Video Shared appeared first on Siliconera.

Dorfromantik is an entrancing early access building game about placing hexagonal tiles to complete challenges and construct beautiful, pastoral landscapes. Run out of available moves and it's game over, however, consigning your crafted world to the scrapheap.

For now. An update coming this summer will add what I've been clamouring for: a creative mode.

Read more