October 2021

Resident Evil Village has been out for less than six months, having released on May 7 earlier this year, but it’s already shipped a whopping 5 million units. 

This news comes by way of a press release from Capcom, which reports steady growth of Resident Evil franchise sales overall thanks to a multifaceted expansion of the series. This alludes to the off-controller Resident Evil things happening such as Netflix’s Resident Evil Infinite Darkness anime series and the upcoming Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City movie.

“Capcom remains firmly committed to satisfying the expectations of all stakeholders by leveraging its industry-leading game development capabilities,” the press release reads. 

In our talks with Saints Row developer Volition for our most recent cover story, it quickly became apparent that it sees customization as a non-negotiable element of the core Saints Row experience. Ever since the first game came out in 2006, players have customized their character's appearance. Those customization options have only expanded throughout the series' history, growing beyond simply being able to choose how your character looks and sounds.

"Customization is one of the definitive things that Saints Row is known for," chief creative officer at Volition Jim Boone says. "Not just the characters, but even the vehicles. And in Saints Row IV, we introduced weapon customization. It’s extremely woven into the DNA to the degree where I feel like if you don’t have customization, it’s hard to say that you’re a full Saints Row game."

Volition has taken everything to the next level, giving players the power to tweak standard options like eye color and skin tone, add prosthetics to the main character, and even censor your protagonist’s nude body with things like emojis. "We’ve achieved dreams," art director Frank Marquart says. "There were things that we really tried and we could not do on previous titles that we can now do in this game."

Sony’s unprecedented success is attributed to music products, recent developer acquisitions, and the popularity of the PlayStation 5, among many other things.  A VGC report states that “Sony enjoyed its biggest revenue and operating profit ever for a Q2 window.” Moreover, a total of 13.4 million PS5s have been sold despite component shortages. 

Sony’s games division has garnered almost $6 billion in revenue between July and September. Similarly, over the same three months, 3.3 million PS5 consoles have flown off the proverbial shelf, a 1 million increase over the first quarter – compare that ridiculous number to the meager 200,000 PS4 units sold in the same period. And yet, PS5 availability is still a point of contention for many PlayStation fans around the world.

Apex Legends' next season, Escape, kicks off next week, and it introduces the new playable character Ash. She's a simulacrum (read: human brain in robot body) that you might recognise as the evil pilot from Titanfall 2's Into The Abyss level, or as the overseer of Apex Legends' 3v3 Arenas mode. Now she's descending into the Apex games herself, and having taken her for a spin already, I reckon she has some delightfully aggressive abilities that Wraith players in particular are going to enjoy.

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Want to know about Ash's abilities in Apex Legends? The upcoming addition to the Apex Legends roster will arrive next week, along with a brand new map, the new CAR SMG, and a host of weapon and Legend balance changes. Ash is turning a lot of heads thanks both to her complex and fascinating backstory and to her powerful and versatile array of abilities.

Below we'll walk you through how each of Ash's abilities work in detail, so you can get off to a great start with her once Season 11 drops. We'll also detail Ash's backstory for those who need to know every last detail about this dangerous new Legend.

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Looking for up-to-date and accurate CAR SMG stats for Apex Legends? The CAR is Season 11's addition to the Apex Legends weapons arsenal, and it's got a very impressive array of stats to show off. But what's truly unique about the CAR is its ability to use both Heavy and Light Ammo, and toggle between them at the touch of a button.

Keep reading for an in-depth look at the CAR SMG in Apex Legends, along with detailed stats covering everything from damage profiles and shots to kill to reload times and attachment slots.

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Beach map! Beach map! Beach map! Apex Legends' next season, Escape, is right around the corner, and it's bringing a tropical island to fight on. It's also bringing a the new Legend Ash, the CAR SMG and more, but most importantly: beach map! I had a chance to play a little of Respawn's battle royale in this new arena, and it is delightful. Named Stormpoint, it's the FPS's fourth map, and not only is it lovely to look at, but it's full of cool locations to explore and dangerous wildlife to dodge.

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Daniel Mullins says he's not sure that "horror" is the most accurate way to describe his gruesome new card battler Inscryption. He immediately follows this up by telling me a friend of his had nightmares because of the menacing figure you play cards against, so yeah, maybe it's a bit horror-like. But I kind of understand his point.

At the start, Inscryption is like a hostage situation, where you're forced to play a card-based roguelike against a sinister games master. Then, just as you start getting the hang of things, the game evolves into something way more complex. If you've played Mullins' other games you'll know his work can go to some weird, meta places. I won't say more above the cut, because I'd hate to spoil it. But for those of you who've already played, read on for more detail on how Mullins created an excellently unsettling world.

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Tri-Ace's action-RPG series Star Ocean will return with a new game next year, Square Enix have announced. Though the series started 25 years ago on the SNES, you needn't concern yourself with that history because Squeenix say Star Ocean The Divine Force will tell a new story with new characters. Come meet them and see some of the sci-fantasy world in the trailer below.

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Recently, I've heard tales of Far Cry 6 players receiving snarky emails from Ubisoft about how much time they've spent in-game. They're supposed to read as if Anton Castillo, the game's evil dictator, is mocking you for not investing enough of it toppling his regime.

And even if you've spent a lot of time clearing Castillo's map markers, he'll still send you emails anyway. They feature stats like time played, checkpoints cleared, that sort of thing. Many people don't seem to like this, which I totally understand. But a part of me wishes these rude marketing emails were more of a thing. Specifically, I'd like it if the bugs from Hollow Knight spun some my way.

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Want to know some tips and tricks for Guardians Of The Galaxy? The adventure will take you across the vast galaxy in search of fortune, fun, and a whole lot of kicking ass, but you won’t make it far without a solid grasp of the mechanics in Guardians Of The Galaxy.

This guide will offer some tips and tricks that you’ll need to get familiar with if you want to turn your rag-tag group of misfits into a heroic team to be feared. We'll cover tips for all of the main aspects of the game, including combat, exploring, and all of the chats that you'll have with your teammates during your adventure.

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The SteelSeries Arctis 7P+ is a brand new gaming headset, offering a series of small upgrades over the already-brilliant Arctis 7P. It's rare to see new items discounted right away, but today you can get this new model up for 12% off with code MOUNTAIN12.

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PNY isn't the first name you might think of when it comes to RAM, but they're sometimes a great value - including today, when a series of RAM kits are on sale in stores across the US. Here are the links - and some words about why you should consider them.

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I don’t know, folks. Between trying to keep up with Amazon’s New World and the upcoming Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker expansion, I just don’t think I have time for World of Warcraft any more. Wait, I can ride a giant kitten with tufted ears that chases its tail? You son of a bitch, I’m in.

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During a Facebook Meta keynote event dedicated to its future VR projects and plans, the social media giant revealed that PS2 classic Grand Theft Auto San Andreas is currently in development for the Oculus Quest 2.

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Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is getting the VR treatment and will be making its way to Oculus Quest 2 at a currently unannounced future point.

San Andreas, which debuted on PlayStation 2 back in 2004, is the fifth main entry in the Grand Theft Auto series and follows the adventures of street gang member Carl "CJ" Johnson as he returns to the titular location following his mother's death.

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Ubisoft has released its Q2 earnings report which, as well as confirming its 2022-23 release slate and a delay for The Division: Heartland, has revealed Assassin's Creed: Valhalla to be its "second largest profit generating game".

Valhalla, which was previously described as having the "biggest launch for any Assassin's Creed game to date", has reached that milestone in under 12 months (its one year anniversary arrives on 10th November), with Ubisoft saying the title has been "outperforming Assassin's Creed Odyssey across the board since its release. In particular, it highlights "higher" daily average revenue per user and "record engagement" for its Siege of Paris expansion.

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The next two SMT V daily digest videos are here and offer a more detailed look at Yaksini and Amon in the game.

The post See How Yaksini and Amon Look in SMT V appeared first on Siliconera.

This crossover might seem out of nowhere, but Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars makes a lot of sense and will likely please fans.

The post Neptunia x Senran Kagura Makes Sense appeared first on Siliconera.

PlayStation has announced the PlayStation Plus lineup for November and it’s one of the largest free games offerings for the service yet. 

Six titles are up for grabs this month, three of which are exclusive to VR. Knockout City, Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning, and First Class Trouble are your "standard" games this month. The Persistence, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, and Until You Fall are what you can expect on PSVR. All of these will be available to add to your library on November 2. 

Knockout City was released just this year and it’s coming to PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 for free as part of the PS Plus lineup next month. It’s an online multiplayer game where you play dodgeball across multiple maps while using a variety of abilities and powerups to stay alive and take your opponents out. Check out Game Informer’s Knockout City review to find out why we gave it an 8.5 out of 10. 

Oculus, the virtual reality company owned by Facebook, has revealed that it is currently working on bringing the classic Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas to its Quest 2 device. 

This news comes by way of Facebook’s identity-changing livestream today, where the company is expected to announce its new name. During the stream, it was revealed that Oculus is working on a “built-for-VR version” of the famed GTA.

“Today at Connect, we announced that the Rockstar Games classic Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is in development for Quest 2,” an Oculus blog post reads. “Get a new perspective on Los Santos, San Fierro, and Las Venturas as you experience (again or for the first time) one of gaming’s most iconic open worlds.”

Oculus says this project has been “many years” in the making and that it’s excited to reveal more, but more was not revealed today. There weren’t any screenshots of what the VR perspective in San Andreas might look like, nor were any details shared about whether or not this would be a port of the classic game to VR, a port of the upcoming remaster, or a complete remake. 

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has made Ubisoft a lot of money.

That’s because it’s the publisher’s “[second] largest profit-generating game” in its entire history, and it achieved that title in less than 12 months. Curious as to what Ubisoft’s biggest game of all time is? So are we, but Ubisoft doesn’t mention who wears that crown in its First-Half 2021-22 Fiscal Earnings Report released today.

“Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has been outperforming Assassin’s Creed Odyssey across the board since its release,” the fiscal report reads. “This quarter, the Siege of Paris expansion, whose creation was led by the amazing team at Ubisoft Singapore, delivered record engagement. In less than 12 months, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is already the second-largest profit-generation game in Ubisoft’s history, reflecting the remarkable strength and value of the franchise.” 

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Developer: Rockstar Games
Release: October 26, 2018 (PlayStation 4, Xbox One), November 5, 2019 (PC)
Rating: Mature

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has detailed plans for the company to rebuild itself following numerous legal cases and protests over alleged harrassment, discrimination, and retaliation at the company. Key points include a policy of zero-tolerance for harassment and an end to forced abitration in claims of sexual harrassment and discrimination. An employee group call this "a huge win". And Kotick himself has volunteered to take a huge pay cut until they achieve their stated goals.

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Today Microids provided the first details about the upcoming UFO Robot Grendizer/Goldorak/Goldrake game teased a few months ago.

The game will launch in 2023 for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch, and PC, basically spanning every available platform.

It will be developed by French studio Endroad, originally founded by Ubisoft and Amplitude veterans and known for Fallback.

UFO Robot Grendizer is one of the best-known series of the golden age of robot animation, aired originally in 1975 at the same time as the publication of the first manga. It became extremely popular in Europe, where the hero robot was renamed Goldorak in France and Goldrake in Italy. This also explains the three variations of the title of the game.

The original IP was created by Go Nagai, who is basically considered the father of Japanese super robots, having also designed classics like Mazinger, Getter Robo, and many more, on top of horror franchises like Devilman.

It isn’t surprising that a French publisher picked up the license to create the game, considering the anime’s popularity in the country. While this may not be developed by a Japanese studio, I certainly hope that it’ll be good, because Endroad and Microids are playing with my childhood here.

You can check out the teaser trailer below.

Mass Effect fans have likely already seen at least the first part of Twitter user Skyllianhamster’s alternative ending idea for Mass Effect 3 online by this point, as they came up with an idea that Shepard not only got indoctrinated but that their romance/squadmate with the highest relationship points is the one in charge of putting them down. And while that concept alone is heartbreaking enough to imagine, the artist has recently added a part 3 to their alternative ending that’ll surely make fans cry.

As you can see in their recent post to Twitter, Skyllianhamster showed off images of what it would look like if the low EMS Destroy ending occurred for Spacer Shepard and highest relationship Liara. In this epilogue, Shepard’s mother and Liara’s father can be seen crying at their funeral in the rain accompanied by the quote, “No parent should have to bury their child.”

We’ve also included the first two parts beforehand for anyone that hasn’t seen them before (just keep in mind the first two parts are out of order in terms of their release):

With the Boruto anime firing on all cylinders at the moment, there is no better time to look back at the foundation of the show’s success, aka the show about Boruto’s dad. One fan of Naruto recently managed to celebrate everyone’s favorite Hyperactive, Knucklehead Ninja with an amazing collage that showed everything that he went through in the first two series.

As you can see in the post to the Naruto subreddit below, Turnedninja managed to create and color in a portrait of Naruto that is made up of all his adventures from Naruto and Naruto Shippuden. That includes everything from the famous swing scene to his rise to becoming Hokage.

It’s truly an amazing work of art, as it encapsulates all of Naruto’s biggest moments and characters in one awesome image. Anyone that would like to get their hands on this can actually head over to TurnedNinja’s website, as they are selling posters, t-shirts, hoodies, coffee mugs, and more on the site.

Earlier today, it was revealed on the Oculus Twitter account and at the Facebook Connect 2021 event that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is in development for the Oculus Quest 2. There’s no release date or window yet, but the tweet indicated that there will be more information coming soon.

You can find the official statement about this announcement from Oculus down below:

Today at Connect, we announced that the Rockstar Games classic Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is in development for Quest 2. Get a new perspective on Los Santos, San Fierro, and Las Venturas as you experience (again or for the first time) one of gaming’s most iconic open worlds. This is a project many years in the making, and we can’t wait to show you more of it.

As of right now, it doesn’t appear that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is currently in development for any other headsets from Oculus or other VR hardware manufacturers.

It’s currently unclear which development team will be developing this VR version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for the Oculus Quest 2. But what we know for sure is that this will be only the second Rockstar original game that will be remade for VR and the first one since LA Noire: The VR Case Files released back in 2017.

The tweet announcing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for the Oculus Quest 2 can be found below.

Video games are a lot like years: They start coming, then they don’t stop coming, and they don’t stop coming, and they...yeah. Then you’ve got the games industry’s tectonically shifting release calendar, defined by an endless march of delays and cancellations. Even if you’re the most avid gamer, it’s a lot to keep…

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Dubbed series include Platinum End and Don't Toy WIth Me, Miss Nagatoro.

The post Crunchyroll Announces Fall 2021 Dubbed Anime appeared first on Siliconera.

Facebook is ditching the Oculus branding for its range of VR devices as part of the embattled company's newly announced name change to Meta. Additionally, it says it plans to remove requirements to have a Facebook account to use its hardware, starting "sometime next year".

The Oculus brand has been synonymous with VR for almost a decade now, and Facebook opted to keep the name when it purchased the Oculus company in 2014 - although it has been steadily phasing the name out for all but its VR hardware in recent years.

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Riders Republic, Ubisoft's new extreme sports game, is out now, welcoming players to its giant, national park-themed playground. With skis, snowboards, bikes, wingsuits, and snowmobiles to choose from, Riders Republic has no shortage of things to do.

When you first hop into the game, though, you may be overwhelmed by the various different options for controlling how bikes, skis, and boards control. Even veterans of the game's predecessor, Steep, might find themselves confused by the new control schemes. In addition, the control schemes affect how many points you earn during events, which can quickly add up and make the difference between finishing in the middle of the pack and winning it all.

With that in mind, we've put together some tips and explanations for what all of the different control options do so that you can be better prepared for getting your start in Riders Republic.

Controller Preset

One of the first screens you're presented with when starting up Riders Republic for the first time gives an option to choose between two preset control schemes: Racer and Trickster, which apply identically to skis, boards, and bikes. As the names suggest, the former emphasizes ease of use while in race events that deprioritize stunts, while the latter gives you more granular control over spins in order to rack up big points. What that screen doesn't tell you is that there's actually a third option, Steep, which is built specifically for fans of Ubisoft Annecy's previous game.

Racer

If you're a total newcomer to Ubisoft Annecy's games, extreme sports games in general, or are just more interested in going fast without bothering with all the fancy spins, Racer is for you. This scheme gives you full camera control on the right analogue stick, while spins and flips are moved to the face buttons.

Despite being perhaps the name most associated with VR gaming, Facebook is retiring the Oculus branding. Alongside Facebook's plans to rename itself Meta, it has announced plans to rename the Oculus line of VR products to align them with the new name for the overall company.

The news was shared in a post by Facebook CTO Andrew Bosworth, who said the shift will begin in early 2022. Oculus Quest will become Meta Quest, while the Oculus App will be renamed the Meta Quest App.

"VR will be the most immersive way for people to access the metaverse and as we look toward our goal of bringing 1B people into VR, we want to make it clear that Quest is a Meta product," he wrote. "For this reason, we're simplifying our brand architecture and shifting away from the Oculus brand."

Bosworth described this as a "very difficult decision to make" given the "strong attachment" to the Oculus brand. "While we're retiring the name, I can assure you that the original Oculus vision remains deeply embedded in how Meta will continue to drive mass adoption for VR today," he said. "We'll also expand Meta Horizon as the brand that will encompass all of our first-party immersive social experiences. You've seen this already with Horizon Workrooms and Horizon Worlds. Soon you'll see us shift from Oculus to Horizon Home, Hori."

The news will come as a puzzling decision to some given the brand recognition of Oculus (not to mention that people will likely continue using the Oculus Quest name regardless). But Facebook/Meta is attempting to make a major pivot to refocus its efforts on establishing a metaverse, however maligned or ill-fated some may believe that concept to be. Dropping the Oculus branding is just one part of a wider initiative to embrace the new Meta name.

Call of Duty: Vanguard launches on November 5, but developer Sledgehammer Games has already revealed patch notes with the latest changes from the beta. Players can expect the launch version of Vanguard to arrive with improved audio, smoother gameplay, and even a new perk.

Sledgehammer Games says the goal for Vanguard's beta "was to give players a faster and smoother gameplay experience at launch." To achieve this, the developer reduced weapon swap/pickup animation speeds and increased and re-balanced the sprint out times.

Additionally, a new perk is being added to Vanguard at launch, with the classic Ninja perk that provides players with silent footsteps at all times. Ninja wouldn't have been a popular perk in the beta, as the footstep audio was very faint, but Sledgehammer Games describes "big changes" have been made to Vanguard's audio mix, including increased footstep sounds, reduced announcer frequency, and more.

The patch notes also address some of the visual concerns from the beta, including the distortion effects being removed from the muzzle flash, and a reduction of smoke that's emitted when firing a weapon. The overly bright lens flare was also reduced.

Players can also expect improvements to the performance of Vanguard across all platforms. Vanguard's alpha and betas were a rough experience for some players on older consoles like the PlayStation 4. These performance improvements include fixed glitches resulting in pixelation, lighting issues, and graphical corruption during the beta.