There’s certainly a lot wrong with Pokémon GO. The extraordinarily popular mobile AR game has just celebrated its fifth birthday, five years during which it’s routinely brought in more than a billion dollars for creators Niantic. I’d like to imagine would be enough money for them to fix a bunch of stuff. But I’d also…
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney was one of the first games I owned on my Nintendo DS. Since that game’s release in 2005, I have played every single game in the Ace Attorney series including the Professor Layton crossover and the Ace Attorney: Investigations spin-off. On my pie-in-the-sky video game wishlist, an English…
PlayStation has announced the trio of free games PS Plus subscribers can snag in August. As revealed last month during PlayStation's State of Play stream, battle royale title Hunter's Arena: Legends will be available to claim all month. Both the PS5 and PS4 versions of the game are up for grabs, which marks a change from the recent trend of offering one PS5-only freebie. Hunter's Arena: Legends will be joined by the wonderful family-friendly action-shooter Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville and Tennis World Tour 2.
Available from August 3 to September 6
This story is developing...
It looks like developer Witchcraft and publisher Bandai Namco have delayed Digimon Survive yet again. According to Toei Animation's latest financial report, the release date has been pushed back to "Q3 2022 and beyond".
Digimon Survive is supposed to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Digimon anime. The game follows a young man named Takuma Momozka and his group of teenagers. They get lost during a school camping trip and find themselves in a new world filled with Digimon. Takuma is paired with Agumon, and each of his friends earn Digimon of their own. Together, they must find a way to get back home again.
Digimon Survive was announced back in 2018 and was originally supposed to launch in 2020. However, producer Habu Kazumasa said that the game had been delayed to 2021. Now, it's suffered an additional delay into 2022.
This is the latest game announced to be pushed out of 2021 and into 2022. There have been other notable titles falling to the same fate, such as Rainbows Six Extraction, Resident Evil: ReVerse, and Ghostwire: Tokyo. Digimon Survive will launch on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
Microsoft has unveiled the Xbox Games with Gold lineup for August 2021. As always, there are a pair of Xbox One games and two titles that are playable with backwards compatibility. Next month's freebies include Darksiders 3, Yooka-Laylee, Lost Planet 3, and Garou: Mark of the Wolves. You still have until the end of the month to claim two of July's freebies, Planet Alpha and Midway Arcade Origins. Meanwhile, Rock of Ages 3: Make and Break will be free until mid-August.
Developed by Gunfire Games, Darksiders 3 is an action-RPG that will appeal to those who miss the days when open-world games didn't dominate the AAA game space. As a more linear action game, Darksiders 3 has stylish combat that is surprisingly challenging (sometimes to its detriment) and a great atmosphere. Though it's certainly the weakest entry in the series, it's worth checking out for yourself. Darksiders 3 will be available to claim for free all throughout August.
Yooka-Laylee is a spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie, and it definitely pays homage to the formula of the classic platforming series. Yooka-Laylee is a collectathon platformer that rewards players for searching every inch of its worlds. While Yooka-Laylee doesn't add anything new to the genre, it's an enjoyable platformer with colorful characters and worlds that will likely appeal to the youngsters in your home. Yooka-Laylee will be up for grabs from August 16 to September 15.
Madden NFL 22's ratings rollout continued on Wednesday with the announcement of the next 99-rated player, Travis Kelce, along with the top 10 tight ends in the professional football game.
Leading the group is Kelce (99 OVR), followed by George Kittle (96 OVR), Darren Waller (93 OVR), Mark Andrews (88 OVR), and Hunter Henry (87 OVR). Others tight ends making the top 10 list this year included Austin Hooper (86 OVR), Rob Gronkowski (86 OVR), Mike Gesicki (85 OVR), T.J Hockenson (85 OVR), and Dallas Goedert (84 OVR).
You can see the full top 10 list for highest-rated tight ends below, while more Madden NFL 22 player ratings are available further down the page.
For more Madden 22 ratings, check out the highest-rated wide receivers, best edge-rushers, top defensive linemen, and our overall roundup of all the Madden 22 ratings announced so far.
Developers from Call of Duty, The Last of Us, and PlayStation have formed a new studio to make AAA games, and they've received $100 million in funding for their first project.
The team is called That's No Moon Entertainment Inc (a reference to Star Wars), which is not to be confused with the UK studio No Moon--the latter was founded in 2016. South Korean studio Smilegate (CrossFire) invested more than $100 million into That's No Moon for the new game, which is described as an "ambitious, new action-adventure game that will push the limits of both gameplay and story."
In a post on the company's website, That's No Moon alluded to the possibility that its new game will be a single-player experience. "We believe in the importance of single-player narrative games and that story and gameplay are not two distinct ideas, but rather extensions of one another," the post says. "Our shared vision is to craft captivating stories and relatable, emotionally resonant characters that are not only entertaining, but thought-provoking. We want to make experiences that will stick with you for long after you put down the controller."
The website also teases that whatever That's No Moon creates, it might not be just a game, and the company is laying the groundwork to make this a reality.
"We want to create characters and worlds that begin in our games, but will eventually extend into linear media--whether that’s TV, film, or beyond. To achieve this, we're building a state-of-the-art studio in Los Angeles with a dedicated, in-house virtual production stage that will be home to our team when it's safe to do so."
Back 4 Blood's upcoming early access beta will officially start on August 5 through August 9, with access coming from preorders of the game. An open beta will be held from August 12-16, with both betas being playable on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox platforms.
As for the content, Back 4 Blood's betas will feature two co-op maps where you can fight back against the Ridden and the PvP mode Swarm, a competition that has players battle it out as the Cleaners versus the Ridden to see which team can last the longest against the infected hordes.
Since it was revealed earlier this year, developer Turtle Rock's has been dropping details on its cast, modes, and generous system for handling DLC purchases to its spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead. Back at E3 2021, the studio confirmed that DLC such as maps and gameplay additions will be available to all party members as long as the group leader owns it.
PC players can also look forward to a number of supported features for the co-op first-person shooter, such as 4K resolution, an uncapped framerate, and more.
The Fortnite August Crew Pack has been revealed, and it makes for yet another fan-made cosmetic set in a game well-populated with fan creations. Once named Ava by the original artist, Summer Skye is the character's official name, meaning she's actually a reimagining of a previous Battle Pass character. Here's everything you'll find in the August Crew pack for Fortnite.
Summer Skye is a new alternate skin for Skye first developed by nollobandz, a fan artist who has been featured in the game before, most recently for their original character Eco. The young gamer character first featured in the Chapter 2 Season 2 Battle Pass. Summer Skye will include a full range of cosmetics to round out her set. Included with August Crew membership are the following items:
If that's not enough, Skye will also include an alternate style Stormy Skye. One of each included weapon and vehicle Wrap is meant to pair with one of Skye's two new styles. For those feeling nostalgic, Skye's classic hat can be put on or off with any style.
Gaming videos have taken over the internet. Whether on YouTube or elsewhere, recordings of people playing online games and giving some kind of reaction or commentary regularly get millions of views. The only requirements seem to be having a computer and a microphone, and you can begin putting your footage out into the world for everybody to see. There are other reasons you might want to record your gameplay, but this is probably the most common one. But when you're getting started down this kind of path, it can be difficult to decide which software to use in order to get the highest quality video of your gameplay.
Koei Tecmo has announced that Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water will launch just in time for Halloween on October 28 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch. It will be a digital-only title.
Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water takes place on Hikami Mountain, an infamous place for supernatural occurrences connected with local bodies of water. It follows three protagonists: Yuri Kozukata, Ren Hojo, and Miu Hinasaki. Yuri has the ability to bring people back to the real world from the shadow world, while Ren is a friend who accompanies her in order to research his new book. Miu is the daughter of Miku Hinasaki, who is a recurring protagonist of the series.
#FatalFrame: Maiden of Black Water the spine-chilling adventure launches digitally on October 28, 2021 across North America on Nintendo Switch/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox One X|S, PC Steam.
— KOEI TECMO AMERICA (@KoeiTecmoUS) July 28, 2021
Overview Trailer: https://t.co/U2ICZUSfpH#KTfamily #FatalFrameMOBW pic.twitter.com/j7smohejuA
This version of the game will include new costumes and a photo mode. Those who purchase the game within two weeks of launch will receive a free Ryza outfit from Atelier Ryza.
Non-player characters, especially in first-person games, can often be more interesting than the protagonist, and certain games thrive because of the big cast of colorful companions you meet along the way. Xbox and 20th Century Studios are recognizing those characters--sort of--with the first Xbox Game Pass Non-Player Character Awards, hosted by Ryan Reynolds, who also just happens to be nominated. That seems fair.
Ryan Reynolds won't actually get to decide who wins the award, however--that comes down to the fans. Alongside Reynold's character Guy in Free Guy, the other nominees are Samuel Hayden from the two recent Doom games, Parvati Holcomb from The Outer Worlds, and Chief Trader Mollie from Sea of Thieves. Yes, all of those games are from Xbox first-party studios, so we are calling shenanigans.
Oddly, some major Xbox characters aren't included in the poll, like Cortana from Halo, Captain Keyes from Halo, Sergeant Avery Johnson from Halo, 343 Guilty Spark from Halo, Dr. Halsey from Halo, or Thomas Lasky from Halo.
Despite the global semiconductor shortage, Sony's PlayStation 5 has now sold more than 10 million units as of July 18. This makes it the fastest-selling PlayStation console ever over a similar period of time after launch, eclipsing the initial sales of the PS4, PS3, PS2, and every other PlayStation.
Sony made this announcement less than a day after Microsoft also announced that the Xbox Series X|S is the fastest-selling Xbox console platform in the company's history. Microsoft does not share hard sales data for its Xbox consoles, but an estimate from analyst Daniel Ahmad put Series X|S sales at 6.5 million units.
Sony also announced new sales and player data for some of its top recent games:
Of note, MLB The Show 21's total player number is double its sales figure no doubt due to Xbox Game Pass. In a major shakeup for the series, Sony brought the game to Xbox platforms this year, and it's included on Xbox Game Pass.
As for Returnal, Sony recently announced that it acquired its developer, Housemarque, which will now make something "bigger and more ambitious" as it next game.
Mortal Shell's next update will be its biggest one to date, as The Virtuous Cycle expansion will add a roguelike element to the game when it launches on August 18. Players will have to adjust their tactics to deal with enemy positions and cycles being reset whenever they die, but a collection of pillars scattered across the land of Fallgrim will allow for more than 100 new abilities to be discovered and combined.
These pillars can unlock anything from exotic weapon enhancements to entirely new combat maneuvers, which developer Cold Symmetry says will have the potential to break the mode if certain abilities are correctly discovered and fused together. In addition to that Mortal Shell's fifth Shell will be the elusive teacher Hadern, who has a unique skill-tree that includes dagger mastery and the ability to soak up punishment.
The Axatana--one of the fabled legendary weapons of Mortal Shell--has also been added and can transform between dual katanas and a supreme heavy axe form that each have their own movesets.
Donuts and gaming don't often go hand in hand due to the fear of spreading all that sugar all over your controller, but at least you'll be able to dig into a next-generation guilty pleasure treat soon. Krispy Kreme in the UK is teaming up with Xbox and has revealed The Nexus Level Donut, a baked good consisting of injected brownie batter, green icing layered on top, and a white coating used to create the Xbox logo.
Is the donut better than an Xbox Series X console? Technically it is more ergonomic, has better sharing options, and is more edible than Microsoft's current hardware.
Welcome to the next generation
— Krispy Kreme UK (@krispykremeUK) July 28, 2021
Introducing... The Nexus Level Doughnut
Coming Soon 👀https://t.co/UVteHkCnjT@xboxuk #KrispyKremeXbox pic.twitter.com/Xf3hRuKybw
Digging into a glazy day treat also comes with a few benefits, as buying a Choose Your Own Dozen selection at Krispy Kreme Stores or Sharer Dozen in grocery or services cabinets will unlock a free month of Game Pass Ultimate.
It's worth noting that the free month promotion is limited to one per customer, so buying a dozen boxes won't result in a year's worth of Game Pass. In addition to that, Xbox Series S consoles will be given away and Krispy Kreme has a few more surprise prizes in August.
As part of EA's week-long Madden NFL 22 player ratings reveal, the publisher is revealing the ratings for the game's top players, and the best of the best get a 99 rating. This puts them in the elusive "99 Club," as it's known, and three members have been announced so far.
Davante Adams, a wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers, was the first player to be announced for the 99 Club. EA Sports surprised Adams with the news while he was playing golf, and it was all documented on video. Every member of the 99 Club gets a special "99" necklace and other goodies, as you can see in the video below.
Another #99Club for @tae15adams 👏 @Packers | #Madden22 pic.twitter.com/EBDCu9EF3C
— Madden NFL 22 (@EAMaddenNFL) July 26, 2021
The second member of the 99 Club is Aaron Donald, who, in addition to his 99 OVR rating, boasts a 99 in the Strength category--this makes him the strongest player in the entire game. "He also has the holy grail of RE skills with absurdly high ratings across all line-penetration attributes and top scores in field awareness," EA said in its announcement.
Netflix has made another big move, scooping up the global rights to a new action movie starring Will Smith that will be directed by John Wick and Deadpool's David Leitch. The movie is called Fast & Loose, as was reported earlier this year.
According to Deadline, "every major player" was in the mix to buy the rights to Fast & Loose, but Netflix won out in the end.
Fast & Loose tells the story of a criminal organization leader John Riley, played by Smith, who suffers memory loss after an attack. He then reunites with his crew but things are not how he remembers. The script was written by Jon Hoeber and Erich Hoeber (Battleship, The Meg).
Here is the rest of the synopsis for the film:
"When John Riley (Smith) wakes up in Tijuana after being left for dead with absolutely no memory, he follows a string of clues to uncover his identity discovering he's been living two different lives: one, as a super-successful crime kingpin, surrounded by beautiful women, expensive toys, and a lavish lifestyle, and the other as an undercover CIA agent, but with a puny salary, no family or home life whatsoever, and zero trappings of success. The problem is, he can't remember which of these two personas is his true identity, and, more importantly, which life he really wants to live."
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic opening ceremony featured a suite of video game music - including tracks from Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and Sonic the Hedgehog - but one publisher was notably missing from the lineup. Where was Nintendo? According to leaked documents, it seems that there were once plans for the publisher to be more involved with the opening ceremony, with Nintendo songs included in the soundtrack and various Mario-themed shenanigans.
The news comes via Japanese media outlet Shukan Bunshun, which has obtained several documents for the opening ceremony ranging from April 2020 to July this year. According to these plans, the event would have featured performances inspired by the "8-bit world of video games" including Super Mario and Space Invaders, overseen by Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto.
One composition plan dated 4th October 2020 featured a proposal that would have seen the return of the warp pipes from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics closing ceremony... with something of a twist. One graphic shows Lady Gaga entering a pipe, only to re-emerge as comedian Naomi Watanabe (sporting a blonde wig and red cap).
Microsoft has announced August's Xbox Games with Gold lineup, which includes colourful platformer Yooka-Laylee and the... slightly less colourful Darksiders 3.
Darksiders 3 will become available for Games with Gold subscribers to claim from 1st to 31st August. Yooka-Laylee will then be available from 16th August to 15th September.
"Playtonic's tribute to Banjo is a gentle, irreverent platformer let down by spotty handling and a slight shortage of genius," Edwin wrote of Yooka-Laylee in Eurogamer's review.
Picross is already amazing, but what could make an amazing thing even amazing-ier? I'll tell you what: giving it all a big 'ol Master System and Mega Drive themed makeover and then hurling the whole nostalgia-tweaking package onto Switch next week, on 5th August.
Picross S Mega Drive & Master System Edition (known as Picross S Genesis & Master System Edition in the US for obvious reasons) is an official collaboration between Sega and developer Jupiter, the team behind the long-running, and consistently brilliant, puzzle series.
Once again, the meat of the game involves filling in little squares on a grid - using the numerical clues above and beside each column and row for pointers - until you've successfully managed to create a picture. This time, though, players are working toward creating final images that conjure characters from a total of 59 classic Sega games (and to musical accompaniment from each), some of which are revealed in the announcement trailer below.
Microsoft has run up against questions about Xbox Game Pass' financial viability ever since it launched the subscription service.
Is Xbox Game Pass too good to be true? That's the question Eurogamer's Chris Tapsell asked in a recent feature, speaking to developers and Microsoft executives to try to find out the answer.
Despite all the insistence from Microsoft that Xbox Game Pass makes sense for the bean counters in Redmond, I've had my doubts. How can something so good value, something that offers all Microsoft's first-party games and an increasing number of third-party games day-and-date, make financial sense? When you consider you can get in on Xbox Game Pass for a quid, it really does seem too good to be true. Like Epic with the Epic Games Store, I assumed Microsoft was burning through millions of dollars trying to get Xbox Game Pass off the ground.
A new studio has been formed by veterans from the Santa Monica dev scene, taking in talent from Infinity Ward,, Naughty Dog and Sony Santa Monica, with a $100 million investment from South Korean publisher Smilegate helping them make an all-new single player AAA adventure.
That's No Moon's new project will see Taylor Kurosaki - formerly narrative design lead at Naughty Dog and studio narrative director at Infinity Ward - as creative director, with The Last of Us' lead game designer Jacob Minkoff working as game director.
Offices will be split between San Diego and Los Angeles, with talent from Bungie and EA also on board. Don't expect to see what the team's working on anytime soon, though - the announcement comes as part of a recruitment drive, with That's No Moon looking to ramp up to 100 staff in 2022.
The SNL and Miracle Workers writer on his new book and the whole being funny thing
This weekend’s preview is all about bots and education
Company says it cleared 10 million units sold in 249 days; PS4 sold 10 million in 271
Bobby Kotick promised company-wide changes in his letter
Blizzard says it will ‘remove references that are not appropriate for our world’
