September 2021

I adored Halo 3 and Halo Reach's multiplayer. So much so, I never want to play them again. In my mind, I view them through a next-gen lens, coloured by nostalgia and post-homework energy. I know that if I jump into the Halo: The Master Chief Collection, I simply won't be able to recapture those heady times. I'm genuinely afraid of tarnishing those memories.

Halo 4 didn't do it for me, and I skipped Halo 5 altogether. They just felt off, you know? But having spent some time with Halo Infinite's tech preview this weekend, though, I'm hopeful that this is the Halo that recaptures those former glory days. It's a step backwards in the best possible way.

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Following the recent delay of Battlefield 2042's launch into November, Electronic Arts have now confirmed new timing for the open beta test of Dice's near-future shooter. It'll start on Friday the 8th of October and run until the morning of Sunday the 10th, inviting everyone to play Conquest mod on the map Orbital.

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Echoes Of The Eye, the new expansion for Outer Wilds, is out... now! And I’d like to congratulate Mobius Digital and Annapurna on just how little promoting their promotional campaign did. The reveal trailer did anything but, showing us the familiar solar system of Outer Wilds, only with the beginning of an eclipse followed by shots of murky caves and forests. And take a look at the official screenshots used in this article: obscured to the point of ugliness. Here’s a team so determined to keep their secrets they’d rather present the game in an unflattering light. It was worth it.

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So, the main point of discussion on this week's podcast is the Outer Wilds: Echoes Of The Eye DLC. Talking about it is tricky, because saying pretty much anything about it feels spoiler-y. Christ, I'm trying to be careful writing this blurb in case I say something that I shouldn't. But, somehow, I think we managed to talk about it, without talking about it. Know what I mean?

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Squid Game is a South Korean survival drama show that's been taking Netflix by storm recently, and it's inspired a whole bunch of Squid Game games on Roblox. The show pits folks against each other in games like tug-of-war, where the winners earn cash, and the losers earn, well, death. It's a fun (read: somehow even more sinister) twist on the battle royale genre. It reminds me a bit of when the Hunger Games films inspired loads of Minecraft mods.

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Benjamin Mendy, a Manchester City defender in the real-life Premier League, was suspended after being charged with four counts of rape and one count of sexual assault of three women at his Cheshire home between October 2020 and August 2021.

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It’s a new world, if not exactly a brave one. New World, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game published by Amazon, is officially out today for PC, marking the first legitimately successful game release for the planet’s most valuable company. (Pour one out for the super-face-planted Crucible.)

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Exactly one year ago today, Genshin Impact was released. We were almost six months into the coronavirus pandemic, and now, looking back, I can’t imagine my adventure starting any other way. The fantasy world of Teyvat became my safe harbor in a year filled with grief, uncertainty, and disappointment.

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Amazon Games has its first major hit following the launch of New World today. The MMORPG’s servers went live across the world earlier this morning and the numbers are incredibly impressive. At the time of writing, concurrent player numbers have exceeded 700,000, while Twitch viewership is nearing the million mark.

The numbers come by way of SteamDB, which are slowly creeping up with every minute. The official all-time high peaks across concurrent players and Twitch are so far 703,712 and 923,176 respectively.

To put that in perspective, that makes it the most popular game on Steam right now, with the venerable Counter-Strike: GO coming in at second place with 696,158 and DOTA 2 at 499,269. Of course, the question will be whether New World can hold onto its player base in the long term, but given that it is a content-rich premium game that Amazon has big plans to expand moving forward, it seems destined to continue as one of the world’s most played games for some time to come yet.

You can be sure that Twinfinite will be adding New World to its list of the most popular games of 2021 by concurrent players over the coming days. In the meantime, check out its launch trailer below for a glimpse of the action:

Far Cry 6 is launching next week, so Ubisoft isn’t letting up with the trailers and overall media rollout. This new TV commercial takes us through Yara as we follow a rooster named Chicharron.

Chicharron is part of the Amigo feature in Far Cry 6 that allows Dani to travel with animal companions as they aim to take down Anton Castillo’s dictatorship. This is only a cinematic trailer, but Chicharron can cause a similar amount of chaos as a companion in the game.

The video also features various guerrilla fighters that you’ll meet throughout your journey in the game, with Chicharron creating more than a few convenient situations for the fighters to deal some blows to the regime.

You can check out the Far Cry 6 trailer for yourself below to follow Chicharron the punk rooster through the streets of Yara.

Far Cry 6 is launching on Oct. 7 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Stadia. You can pre-order it right here on the official site if you want to get your hands on it as soon as possible.

Third-party developers had a few announcements and updates to share about upcoming add-ons for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

First of all, we learn that Aeroplane Heaven is working on a Lockheed Electra 10-A, which apparently is coming “really soon.”

No further details were shared, but we got some really neat screenshots of this classic airliner from the roaring thirties.

In celebration of the upcoming release of 343 Industries’ highly anticipated FPS, Halo Infinite, SuperGroupies has announced a brand new collaboration based around Master Chief. The fashion line includes the following themed items: Watch, Jacket, Backpack, and Wallet.

Information and pictures for this fresh set of Halo Infinite gear can be found below.

Square Enix has shared its full presentation schedule for this year's Tokyo Game Show, confirming fresh looks at a range of upcoming games, including Final Fantasy Origin, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Forspoken. Also planned: jazz live painting.

The complete schedule spans three days - running from Friday, 1st October, to Sunday, 3rd October - and kicks off with a big one-hour showcase at 7pm JST (that's 11am in the UK) before shifting the focus to individuals titles. You can also expect a handful of special events, including a live concert and the aforementioned jazz live painting, along the way.

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It’s been a bit of a wait for Battlefield 2042, especially given the title's delay to November 19. However, if you’d like to get your hands on DICE’s epic shooter before that worldwide launch, then check out the upcoming open beta on October 8-9 on all platforms. However, EA Play members and anyone who has preordered the game can also access the title two days earlier, starting on October 6. 

Additionally, there were plans for at least seven playable characters at one point.

The post Interview: Suda51 Shares Possible No More Heroes 3 DLC Ideas appeared first on Siliconera.

There are two more SMT V demon videos to view, this time for Anzu and Yurlungur. Each one focuses on how they'll fight in battles.

The post Both Anzu and Yurlungur Show Their Moves in SMT V appeared first on Siliconera.

Seasonic is known the world over for their high-spec, high-reliability power supplies, and today one of their small form factor (SFX-L) PSUs is heavily discounted at Newegg. The fully modular Focus SGX-500 is a 500W PSU that comes with a ten-year warranty and a footprint of less than 5 x 5 inches. Normally you'd expect to pay $120 for it, but a combination of a Newegg discount, a $15 mail in rebate and a code for $10 off (NEOCTOBER) has dropped it to just $35 when all is said and done - pretty impressive!

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Yesterday we featured a cut-price 49-in Samsung ultrawide monitor, which was marked down to £1099. That's still stonking expensive, so how about something more reasonable? This is the Samsung CRG9, the Odyssey G9's predecessor, and it offers almost all the same specs for much less - just £699, down from £1099. Here's why it gets the sagely RPS nod of approval.

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Nigel Thornberry, patriarch of the eponymously wild Thornberrys, is one of the weirdest characters in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl. Earlier today, the developers behind this cartoony platform fighter released a breakdown of the nature documentarian’s moveset, which includes one very big homage to the undisputed king of…

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Developer 1047 Games has rolled out a massive update for its popular Portal shooter Splitgate. The patch introduces several quality-of-life improvements and bug fixes, as well as adding two important adjustments to make the game a little easier to play: the option to change the armor color of friends and foes, and the…

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The newest entry in the long-running Tales Of JRPG series is finally here. Tales of Arise has been out for a few short weeks now, so players have been able to meet the new party and get familiar with their personalities. After spending some time with these characters, we thought it would be fun to set up a personality quiz to find out exactly which Tales of Arise party member each player has the most in common with.

Are you always lending a helping hand like Alphen, or more independent like Shionne? Answer the 10 questions below to see which of the six main party members your personality leans toward most.

And if you enjoy this Tales of Arise personality quiz, be sure to check out others we’ve made for games like Death Stranding, Life is Strange, and Doki Doki Literature Club.

To celebrate the first anniversary of Genshin Impact, miHoYo recently announced that they’d be running an Anniversary Video Submission Contest that features prizes like Primogems, Apple AirPods, Razer mice, and much more. And while we’ve seen plenty of great entries into this contest, a recent post to the Genshin Impact subreddit takes the cake.

As you can see below, user Rondeseo created a touching tribute to the game set to Childe’s theme, Letter From Ajax. The video briefly shows locations from each region – Mondstadt, Liyue, and Inazuma – and also references three major boss fights – Childe, Raiden Shogun (Baal), and Dvalin that makeup Genshin Impact.

Fore! Yes, Montreal-based developer, Ocidokico, has announced that its super chill golf experience, A Little Golf Journey, will be making its approach to Nintendo Switch and PC on Oct. 14.

To coincide with the news, the indie studio dropped a brand new trailer to celebrate. Go ahead and check it out down below:

Blending the calming gameplay of golf with a myriad of light puzzle elements, A Little Golf Journey is a meditative adventure that boasts a tranquil yet catchy original soundtrack.

Players will be able to explore an expansive map with over 100 holes, discover secrets and collectibles, and putt their way through ten gorgeous destinations. From what we can tell, A Little Golf Journey looks like it’s shaping up to be more of a birdie than a bogey, eh?

For more information about the game, here’s the rundown courtesy of an official press release that we received today:

Everyone and their mother is excited for Marvel’s next installment in the MCU, Spider-Man: No Way Home, especially as rumors (that are all but confirmed at this point) continue to swirl about who will be in it. To celebrate the movie, the talented folks over at Woodart Vietnam have crafted a brand new wood carving of spidey, which you can see for yourself below.

As you can see in the clip above, this Red Wood & Mahogany wood carving depicts Tobey Maguire’s iconic Spider-Man suit and webs swinging throughout New York City. According to the details section of the YouTube video, it took Woodart Vietnam seven days to carve this piece.

Maguire’s Spider-Man is just one of the many characters that are rumored to appear in Spider-Man: No Way Home, as the movie has already confirmed that his former foes – Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin and Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus – would be reprising their role in the film.

Netflix's fledging foray into video gaming continues today as the streaming service launches three new games for subscribers in select European territories.

Back in July, Netflix confirmed it was "in the early stages" of expanding into games and that it would initially focus on mobile titles. The first fruits of its labours emerged in August, when it added a tiny handful of mobile games to its entertainment library - Stranger Things: 1984 and Stranger Things 3 - as part of an early Poland-exclusive test.

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Remember Genshin Impact? The gacha game that took the world by storm? Well, it’s celebrating its one-year anniversary right now, from today (September 28) to October 12. You can get some goodies by participating in various tasks and activities, as is usually the case during Genshin Impact events of all kinds. There’s more than one activity to participate in over the course of things, so stay tuned over the next few weeks!

Anniversary Web Event "An Unforgettable Journey" Now Online: Watch your own anniversary theater to obtain Primogems and other rewards

Click Here to Take Part in the Event:https://t.co/xt7L7Zo2Na#GenshinImpact

Feel that chill in the air? We must be entering October. That means a brand new line-up of Xbox Games With Gold titles that are available for Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. Sure, Games With Gold isn't as prolific as Xbox Game Pass, but who can say no to free stuff? 

Let’s look at the modern offerings first. Aaero puts you in the cockpit of high-speed vehicle to zip around techno-style environments to a licensed soundtrack while battling bosses and other enemies. On a similar note, Hover also takes place in a futuristic world where you control a gang of rebellious youths fighting against an oppressive government by parkouring around the world in a manner reminiscent of Jet Set Radio. You can play alone or with friends in online co-op. 

Picture the scene. You're playing newly released coloniast theme park New World when who should walk over to you but Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The billionaire says that he's locked out of his bank accounts, but if you buy him several Amazon gift cards, he'll pay you back with "extra" once he gets his access back.

This situation probably can't happen, because "Jeff Bezos" and almost every variation of it aren't permitted names in Amazon's MMO.

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Inscryption is reportedly "inky black card-based odyssey that blends the deckbuilding roguelike, escape-room style puzzles, and psychological horror into a blood-laced smoothie." It's also from Daniel Mullins, the makers of Pony Island and The Hex, which means it's probably a few other, secret genres, too. It's coming October 19th, but there's a demo available now and a new trailer below.

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Amazon's MMO New World launched earlier today, and it's apparently great if you like queues.

To put the login issues players are experiencing in context however, it's maybe worth noting that New World is currently the most popular game on Steam, knocking CS:GO from its perch within hours of release.

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Deathloop has some of Arkane Studios’ biggest, most kinetic-feeling levels to date. Yes, they’re beautiful to behold, and a joy to traverse, but their best quality may be a little more subtle. They’ve proven to be perfect laboratories for players to experiment with ever more dastardly and amusing ways to kill…

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Death’s Door, an isometric dungeon-crawler that came out for PC and Xbox earlier this year, is a master class in elegant game design. Nowhere is that more apparent than in one late-game boss fight. In pretty much every way—visually, thematically, mechanically, musically—the bout is a tour de force. I cannot stop…

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The Neopets developers recently revealed on their website that they are creating NFTs for over twenty thousand customized pets, all in partnership with several blockchain companies. So far, the public response from past and present community members has been overwhelmingly negative.

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When I meet the mask crafter for the first time, I am unsure if I am touching a spirit, god, or machine. The machinists, whose ranks I plan to join today, would probably dismiss the distinction altogether. As I remember this, my hoverbike Simoon purrs outside the tent. She has been a good teacher.

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The incredible popularity and success of the Harry Potter films have seen the franchise become a cornerstone of pop culture, adored by children and adults alike. And aside from the titular wizard himself, Harry’s two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, are equally among the most recognizable fictional characters from any story ever.

Of course, the Harry Potter saga is memorable not just for its iconic trio but a whole host of personalities from across Hogwarts and beyond. The question is, though, who of them springs to mind when you’re put on the spot? More specifically, how many!

In this quiz, we’ll be tasking you with remember the names of 15 side characters who Harry and his pals bumped into along the course of their epic adventure at one point or another. Some of them feature fairly frequently throughout the series, while others were only brief cameos. Suffice to say, you’ll have to be a true Harry Potter fan to nail this one. Good luck!