October 2021

Don't be surprised if you see Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin's protagonist, Jack Garland, in your town whenever Limp Bizkit or Nickelback are playing nearby. As it turns out, he's a huge fan of butt rock.

Final Fantasy Origin's latest demo, which was released today along with a new trailer for the game, includes more content than the game's last demo. That includes some extra cutscenes too, notably including one where Neon, one of the game's main party members, talks about her backstory. Appropriately, Jack calls Neon's entire story "Bull****" and starts walking away, but not before taking out his phone and blasting what sounds like a low-rent Limp Bizkit cover band.

The cutscene then transitions to a view of the group walking outside, which can only imply that Jack was, just like an edgy middle schooler, blasting that song on repeat without asking any of his friends what they'd like to listen to. Nobody likes a speaker-hog, Jack.

Fortnite Monopoly first came out in 2018, but the board game is getting a refresh with new player tokens, new landing spots, new rules, and some in-game items that will be available to owners before they debut in the Item Shop at a later date.

Monopoly: Fortnite Collector's Edition overhauls the board game in the vein of Epic's popular battle royale, de-emphasizing property ownership and shifting attention to survival just like a round of Fortnite. Players will collect health chips rather than money, they can fight with other players, and they'll even need to stay ahead of the storm. It's available to preorder now for $37 at Entertainment Earth.

Each of the game's 10 zinc player tokens is modeled after a popular in-game skin such as Meowscles, Midas, and more. The previous version of the game only featured paper standees of characters, so the metal tokens are a noticeable improvement. Meanwhile, the board itself remains unchanged from the original Monopoly Fortnite Edition and features locations pulled from the Chapter 1 map like Polar Peak and Tilted Towers.

A Halo Infinite player has discovered a way to unlock split-screen in the multiplayer beta, although 343 has yet to announce plans for the feature and it is not officially supported. Reddit user u/freebeens discovered that it is possible to play offline multiplayer against bots via local split-screen by taking advantage of an exploit that seems to be extremely involved.

This apparently only works on Xbox--not PC--and players need to follow a very specific set of instructions and button presses to get it to work. As usual, it might not work for everyone, either. This method also takes players into the custom games menu, which is not officially supported in the beta.

Check out u/freebeens' full writeup to learn how to enable split-screen multiplayer in Halo Infinite.

343 confirmed in August that Halo Infinite will have split-screen support at launch this December for multiplayer, even though it's not officially unlocked in the beta. It isn't all good news for split-screen co-op, however, as campaign co-op and Forge won't be available at launch and will instead come in 2022.

PS5 owners may recall that the console's box boasts that it has the capacity to display 8K games. Today, a game can finally put the full power of the PS5 to the test, well, sort of. The Touryst is the first PS5 game claiming to display at 8K, 60fps, although Digital Foundry has pointed out that that's not technically what's happening.

While The Touryst renders internally at 8K resolution (or 7680x4320 for people who like really big numbers), the PS5 doesn't actually support that output over HDMI 2.1. Instead, according to Digital Foundry's report, developer Shin'en Multimedia is using an extreme supersampling technique to downsample every pixel on any connected 4K TV, resulting in an apparent 8K output. The developer also promised that, if Sony were to eventually enable 8K output on a PS5, it would release a patch allowing The Touryst to display without downsampling on an 8K TV.

As Digital Foundry notes though, an update for either the PS5 or Xbox Series X that lets the consoles display at 8K probably isn't coming anytime soon. 8K devices are far too uncommon in consumer markets, and the number of games that actually support that kind of output is, at the moment on PS5, just one.

343 Industries has outlined some of the accessibility features for Halo Infinite as part of Microsoft's announcement of wider changes and improvements to accessibility across Xbox. Overall, the studio said its aim is to make Halo Infinite more accessible and help even more players feel welcome.

"Inclusion is core to the Halo Infinite experience, and in recognition of that, the team built in new features to enable people to customize their Halo Infinite gameplay experience," 343 said.

The font of Halo Infinite's subtitles can be adjusted, while the opacity of the background can, too. Players can also enable color-coding for dialogue for each speaker, while they can also choose to see subtitles for all dialogue or only story dialogue during the campaign.

Elsewhere, Halo Infinite lets players customize the gameplay font size of the game's menu, while it also offers narration for the menu and adjustable narration speed. Halo Infinite also has a new Linear Navigation option that allows users to move through the UI without needing to visually see how controls are positioned on the screen. Additionally, players can change the friendly and enemy color indicators beyond only red and blue. Here are some of the additional accessibility features for Halo Infinite.

The Halo Infinite Big Team Battle beta begins today, and the developers at 343 Industries are inviting players to match up with them for a chance to earn a special emblem.

343's Community Playdate series airs its first Halo Infinite installment today, October 1. Starting at 12 PM PT / 3 PM ET, the studio will play the Halo Infinite beta alongside the community, and anyone who happens to match up with developers will get the Ice Unicorn emblem when Infinite launches.

Halo Infinite's beta is open to everyone this weekend on Xbox--all you have to do is download the Xbox Insider app. On PC, the situation is a little different. For more, check out GameSpot's guide to signing up for the Halo Infinite multiplayer beta.

Konami recently rebranded eFootball series launched this week but eFootball 2022 did not go over as well as the publisher might have wanted. The game has suffered from a number of issues--including player models that don't look very realistic and gameplay issues--and now Konami has apologized and stressed that it continues to work on improvements to the live-service game.

"After the release of eFootball 2022, we have received lots of feedback and requests regarding game balancing that includes pass speed and defense operation. We would also like to acknowledge that there have been reports of problems users have experienced with cut-scenes, facial expressions, movements of players, and the behavior of the ball," Konami said.

"We are sorry for the problems, and want to assure everyone we will take all concerns seriously and strive to improve the current situation," Konami added.

Social media reports have documented the issues with eFootball 2022, including the face scans for popular players like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. NPCs in the crowd, too, also don't look so good, with players joking that they seem to be more fitting of a PS1-era game.

The Shockwave Launcher has returned to Fortnite following an in-game poll which saw the weapon earn the majority of fan support over the Rift-To-Go. It's the first such fan vote of its kind, but more will be coming throughout the whole season, so save some gold bars for what's next.

The Shockwave Launcher won the fan vote easily, with over 70% of votes across several weeks of in-game voting. Players can contribute their gold bars to the War Effort all season and decide which weapons and items will be unvaulted in Season 8. As of now, the Shockwave Launcher can be found in regular chests, Cosmic Chests, and Supply Drops.

The fan-favorite weapon fires long-range Shockwave Grenades, giving them more air than the typically thrown Shockwave Grenades themselves. When they land, Shockwave Grenades result in an area-of-effect attack that will thrust players away from the blast depending on their positioning, though it also protects those players from fall damage, so it's mostly used as a disruption, not to inflict damage. Clever players are known to use it to fling opponents back into the storm, or even shoot it behind their own feet so they can be thrust forward to quickly scale builds or escape danger.

Give us pumpkin to talk about We just hit October, and you guys know what that means: it’s officially spooky...

The post Bloggers Wanted: It’s spooky season appeared first on Destructoid.

‘Bye Shane’ I don’t think I’ve seen something this savage in a while, especially as it relates to the super-cute Stardew...

The post Someone’s daughter suggested this savage ‘divorce trophy room’ for their Stardew Valley playthrough appeared first on Destructoid.

Adding in the key elements Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is only a few days out from launch, but it’s locking in some...

The post Avatars Aang and Korra confirmed for Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl appeared first on Destructoid.

Magda is the real final boss Odds are if you’ve played Zelda: Breath of the Wild, you’ve come across Magda, who...

The post This person got their revenge on the infamous Zelda: Breath of the Wild flower shrine caretaker appeared first on Destructoid.

De-make the dungeon [Update: Dungeon Encounters launched today on PS4, Switch, and Steam, in case you’re eager to dive into some...

The post Dungeon Encounters looks like a minimalist dungeon crawler, and I’m kinda into it (Update) appeared first on Destructoid.

Prime Directive Metroid Dread is exactly one week away. It’s exciting, isn’t it? A new mainline Metroid game that isn’t a...

The post Where can Metroid’s future go from here? appeared first on Destructoid.

All titles must present ‘correct set of values’ China continues to tighten restrictions around the video games industry. According to...

The post China further tightens restrictions on violence, sexuality, and choice in gaming appeared first on Destructoid.

The company is apparently ramping up its premium game production Konami might be working on reviving some of its big...

The post Konami reportedly working on games in Metal Gear, Castlevania, and Silent Hill franchises appeared first on Destructoid.

Dodging The Green Mile NIS America has announced that it will be bringing  G.rev’s new shmup Yurukill: The Calumination Games...

The post Weird-but-cool shmup Yurukill: The Calumination Games headed west in 2022 appeared first on Destructoid.

You’ll have to supply your own door opening sequence The horrors of Raccoon City are set to enter your dining...

The post Resident Evil: The Board Game Kickstarter campaign opens October 26 appeared first on Destructoid.

Pay-per-view? Streaming service Twitch is under fire from both streamers and viewers after unveiling a new “Boost” scheme which will...

The post Twitch’s controversial ‘Boost’ feature lets viewers pay money to spotlight streamers appeared first on Destructoid.

Bonkers like a FOX Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is still a pretty insane concept to me. Team Ninja...

The post There’s a new Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin demo today, and it’s still bonkers appeared first on Destructoid.

The final Super Smash Bros. Ultimate livestream will take place on October 5 at 7 AM PT / 10 AM ET. As mentioned in the September 23 Nintendo Direct showcase, this upcoming reveal will show the last character addition to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It is, according to Nintendo, "The final presentation."

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate released in 2018 and since then has received a steady supply of new characters and DLCs. What's next for the Super Smash Bros. universe is unknown, but you can tune into the livestream to catch Ultimate's 82nd and final new character reveal.

How to Watch Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Livestream

Nintendo will stream the show on its YouTube channel, embedded above, and Twitch channel.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Livestream Start Time

The show starts at 7 AM PT and will be roughly 40 minutes long.