December 2021

From Spirited Away to My Neighbor Totoro, the possibilities are endless

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How do you even consider Halo Infinite in totality? Not just any Halo game but this Halo game—one that was supposed to herald a new generation of Xboxes but was delayed out of the launch window; one that’s had no shortage of public scrutiny over its tumultuous development process; one that’s not even out yet but has…

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It's a leap of faith, Halo Infinite. 343 took that old, reliable Halo formula, that magic golden triangle of combat its predecessor perfected, and dared to spread it across a sort of open world. It could have gone horribly wrong. Based on how the campaign looked just a year ago, I thought it had done. But I'm delighted to report 343 stuck the landing - like Master Chief slamming into the new and mysterious Halo ring upon which Infinite is set.

I thought Halo 5: Guardians did a lot right, but I get the feeling 343 has tried to leave it behind as it plots out Halo's future. Infinite is a spiritual reboot of the franchise, set chronologically after the controversial events of Halo 5, but taking inspiration from Bungie's seminal Halo: Combat Evolved not just in gameplay feel, but in tone, aesthetic and setting.

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Halo Infinite is a brilliant game. Honestly, against the odds, I feel that 343 has delivered one of the best first-person shooters of the last decade. It's a release that far exceeds the studio's previous work on Halo 4 and 5 in terms of design and in nailing the 'combat sandbox' experience. Worries I had about the transition to an open world have been assuaged and despite the seemingly difficult development period, I simply love the game. Is it perfect? Certainly not. There are numerous tech issues to address and fundamentally, I'm not sure this is the game that was originally envisaged based on reviewing early marketing assets. Regardless though, you've got to play it.

Let's tackle the thorny issue of the open world first. The gradual shift in the games business away from linear design to wide-open play areas crammed with busy work and filler content is becoming a real issue - franchise titles like Far Cry and Assassin's Creed exhibit these issues at their worst. Thankfully, Halo Infinite's approach to level design works brilliantly, just as the preview build suggested, taking the foundational building blocks of Halo 1's second mission and expanding it into something far larger in scope. It works and it retains much of what makes Halo special while introducing a level of freedom that feels like a natural extension. Think OG Crisis rather than latter-day Far Cry and hopefully you'll get some idea of what I mean.

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Halo Infinite on Xbox Series X

For the past four or five years, Microsoft has been attempting to close the gap with Sony when it comes to cinematic, AAA experiences. PlayStation has become synonymous with third-person, story-driven games that take players on epic journeys across frost-bitten mythological lands and immersive historical settings, while Microsoft’s studios have struggled to reach the same dizzying highs. Halo Infinite, however, marks a turning point in this narrative — not quite an all-conquering great, but certainly a sign that Microsoft has started to find its footing when it comes to evolving its iconic franchises with new, exciting design. Infinite’s incredible production value, which marries cutting-edge visuals to simply sublime gameplay, pushes forward a movement kickstarted by Gears 5 back in 2019.

Importantly for Halo fans, it’s a clear indication that 343 Industries has been listening to fan feedback following the divisive Halo 5 and, more recently that iffy gameplay trailer from last year. Combining another epic adventure with everyone’s favorite gruff-voiced Spartan, Master Chief, with a refined but still hectic multiplayer mode, Halo Infinite is a return to form and one you absolutely cannot miss out on.

Halo Infinite offers up two distinct experiences — one a lengthy adventure with Master Chief in its campaign, and the other a chaotic arena shooter multiplayer experience. For the sake of clarity, this review will be covering both under clear headings, and both parts of the game will play a part in determining the game’s final score at the bottom of this review.

Halo Infinite on Xbox Series X

For the past four or five years, Microsoft has been attempting to close the gap with Sony when it comes to cinematic, AAA experiences. PlayStation has become synonymous with third-person, story-driven games that take players on epic journeys across frost-bitten mythological lands and immersive historical settings, while Microsoft’s studios have struggled to reach the same dizzying highs. Halo Infinite, however, marks a turning point in this narrative — not quite an all-conquering great, but certainly a sign that Microsoft has started to find its footing when it comes to evolving its iconic franchises with new, exciting design. Infinite’s incredible production value, which marries cutting-edge visuals to simply sublime gameplay, pushes forward a movement kickstarted by Gears 5 back in 2019.

Importantly for Halo fans, it’s a clear indication that 343 Industries has been listening to fan feedback following the divisive Halo 5 and, more recently that iffy gameplay trailer from last year. Combining another epic adventure with everyone’s favorite gruff-voiced Spartan, Master Chief, with a refined but still hectic multiplayer mode, Halo Infinite is a return to form and one you absolutely cannot miss out on.

Halo Infinite offers up two distinct experiences — one a lengthy adventure with Master Chief in its campaign, and the other a chaotic arena shooter multiplayer experience. For the sake of clarity, this review will be covering both under clear headings, and both parts of the game will play a part in determining the game’s final score at the bottom of this review.

With over 10 million subscribers, Hikakin is Japan’s biggest YouTuber. He recently bought himself a $10,000 Gucci-designed Xbox Series X. I’m not sure which is more amazing—that he bought the Gucci Xbox or any Xbox at all.

Japan has long been a tough market for Microsoft, but recently this has been changing. And now,…

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Watching end credits of older expansions may result in an automatic logout due to inactivity.

The post Automatic Logout Reported During Final Fantasy XIV End Credits appeared first on Siliconera.

UPDATE 07/12/21: Square Enix has confirmed that Final Fantasy 14 now has 25 million registered players.

Back in October, the game was confirmed to be the most profitable in the series and had surpassed 24 million players. That means the game has added around a million new registered players in the last month or so.

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Sony has fired PlayStation Network senior vice president of engineering George Cacioppo, after a livestream which appears to show him caught in a paedophile sting.

The footage finds Cacioppo, wearing a "PS5" T-shirt, in front of his house at nighttime, apparently ready to meet the person approaching him. When a flashlight is turned on his face, he quickly returns to his house.

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Baiken will join the game sometime in January 2022.

The post Baiken is the Fourth Guilty Gear Strive DLC Character appeared first on Siliconera.

The new party outfits are described as "chic."

The post Hololive Myth to Reveal New Party Outfits on Stream appeared first on Siliconera.

Over the last couple of years, the Game Awards has become an annual highlight that honors the biggest games and hardest workers in the gaming industry. It's also a night for big reveals, as the Game Awards usually has plenty of new games to show off, updates on highly anticipated titles coming out the following year, and the occasional reveal of a next-gen console that looks like a black monolith. So what can you expect from this year's Game Awards show?

A whole lot of hype, according to this latest trailer that sets the mood for Thursday.

While the hype trailer isn't giving away any clues as to which upcoming games you can expect to see in greater detail, it did shine a spotlight on some of the best titles of the year. Kena: Bridge of Spirits. Resident Evil Village, Deathloop, and It Takes Two are just of the games released this year that earned high praise from across the industry, and that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the creative output of 2021. Expect some of the award categories of 2021 to be hotly contested.

The Game Awards will be streaming live on its official YouTube and Twitch channels, along with direct feeds on social media sites like Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter and right here on GameSpot.

To mark Dragon Age Day on December 4, BioWare confirmed that the new Dragon Age game remains in development. However, the company said not to expect any news until 2022. This suggests there won't be any news about the long-awaited RPG during The Game Awards this Thursday, December 9.

"We want to let you all know that we're still hard at work on building the next single-player focused experience for Dragon Age," BioWare said in a blog post. "We're excited for next year when we can talk more about what we're working on."

Dragon Age 4 and The Game Awards have gone hand-in-hand in recent years, with BioWare debuting new teaser for the game back in 2018 and following it up with a new cinematic in 2020.

BioWare's specific wording is that the studio won't "talk" about the new Dragon Age game until 2022, which technically leaves open some wiggle room for the studio to show it before the year is out. But this is just speculation. In any event, we'll know soon, as The Game Awards is just a few days away now.

While fans might not get any new Dragon Age 4 news soon, BioWare has published two new Dragon Age-themed short stories--read them here. In addition to the next Dragon Age game, BioWare is developing a new Mass Effect title.

This weekend's big Chapter 3 launch - mere hours after Chapter 2's explosive finale - brought with it a brand new map bustling with fresh places to visit, several fan-favourite locations from the game's original map, and plenty of fun Easter eggs and secrets.

There's loads to explore already, but beyond launch there's already a lot more on the way. Next week will bring Spider-Man's web-shooters to the game as a way to swing around. An upcoming crossover for Gears of War will also see Marcus Fenix and Kait Diaz come to the Island.

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A leading voice acting studio in the UK has reached an agreement with Equity, the trade union for performing arts and entertainment workers, to support voice actors working in the games industry.

Specifically, the first of its kind agreement sets out minimum fees and conditions of engagement for voice actors. The hope is that other studios will follow suit.

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The popular netcode will come to the PC releases of both games, and the PS4 version of Cross Tag Battle.

The post BlazBlue Centralfiction and Cross Tag Battle Will Have Rollback Netcode appeared first on Siliconera.

The 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles will use artworks from the popular video game.

The post NieR Automata Jigsaw Puzzles Will Appear in 2022 appeared first on Siliconera.

Once again, K-pop fans prove themselves among the most active activists. This time, around 10,000 of them from 83 different countries are calling for Korean music companies to do their part in combating climate change.

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Final Fantasy XIV producer and director Naoki Yoshida has publicly apologized for the ongoing congestion issues occurring in the MMO due to the newest expansion, Endwalker. 

He also revealed that the team will give all active players and owners of Final Fantasy XIV seven days of game time for free to make up for the current queue times and congestion. This news comes after the early access release of Endwalker, which has seen players waiting hours to queue into the game. Many find themselves in the thousands in terms of their spot in queue lines, meaning there’s a large number of people that players must wait in line behind before they’re able to enter the MMO. 

If you were hoping to see more of Dragon Age 4 during The Game Awards 2021 on Thursday, which was showcased at last year’s show, don’t hold your breath – BioWare says it won’t be talking about the game again until next year. 

This news comes by way of a new blog post recently released by BioWare, as reported by GameSpot, and in it, the team reveals that it’s excited to talk about Dragon Age 4 again next year. Seeing as how The Game Awards 2021 is happening on December 9, it seems another Dragon Age 4 appearance at the annual awards show is not in the cards. 

“Speaking of building new worlds and stories for you to explore, we want to let you all know that we’re still hard at work on building the next single-player focused experience for Dragon Age,” the blog post reads. “We’re excited for next year when we can talk more about what we’re working on.”

UPDATE 13/12/21: The wonderful Spiritfarer has now sold 1m copies, developer Thunder Lotus has said. The milestone was announced today, as the game's biggest and final free update arrives.

As of today, Spiritfarer has been updated to its all-encompassing Farewell Edition, which includes all free updates and DLC released so far. Today brings two new spirits to your ship plus a number of other additions - all detailed in our original story below.

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Epic Games is collaborating with The Matrix Revelations to produce an interactive storytelling experience for current generation Xbox and PlayStation platforms, which is designed to demo Unreal Engine 5 technology to the public for the first time. The demo, which will be made available during The Game Awards later this week, Dec. 9, but is available for pre-download from today.

Over on the official download page for Xbox Series X|S, Epic Games tees up the The Matrix Awakens’ with the following synopsis:

Created by members of the original movie team including Lana Wachowski along with Epic Games and partners, ‘The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience’ is a wild ride into the reality-bending universe of ‘The Matrix’ that features performances by Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss.

The Game Awards producer and host Geoff Keighley also weighed in on Twitter to promote the event:

I’ve been waiting a long time for a moment like this.

Thursday, witness the future of interactive storytelling and entertainment. #TheMatrixAwakens world premieres at #TheGameAwards

Today aNCHOR revealed an upcoming update that will bring several improvements to its action game Project Mikhail: A Muv-Luv War Story.

The update will be released in two days on December 8, and below you can read a list of changes and fixes that players can expect.

Major Changes
・Diagonal movement is now possible.
・Boost movement can now be stopped by letting go of the button.
・Gunfire will no longer stop intermittently when the fire button is held down.
・Gun damage is increased.
・Blood splatters on your TSF can now be turned on/off.
・Adjusted freeze-frame time when hitting enemies.
・Added play guide
・Game can now be played without logging into Z-aN (Only Story and Frontier Mode)
・Added a warning about passing items between seasons in Frontier Mode.
・Added Target Filter to PvP Mode.

Bug Fixes
・Fixed an error where the Fubuki and Fubuki[UN] TSFs had their affiliations reversed.
・Fixed an error where the wrong items were listed for the Story Mode development mission for the Su-27.
・Fixed an error where BETA would stack on the outer walls of a hive map.
・Fixed an error where opening the Item List under certain conditions would cause items to be displayed improperly.
・Fixed an error where Control Assist Units were not dropping in Frontier Mode.
・Fixed an error where performing certain actions while firing would stop a step cancel from occurring.
・Fixed an error where targets would not switch when target filtering.
・Fixed an error where NPC real-time dialogue would interrupt assault cannon firing when the mouse button was held down.
・Fixed an error where text and voice didn’t match in the prologue, as well as other assorted spelling errors and English-language changes.

Today Koei Tecmo released a new trailer of the upcoming JRPG  Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream.

This time around, the trailer introduces Alette Claretie following the one that showcased Sophie herself, the one focusing on Plachta, and the third on Ramizel.

She’s voiced by Aoi Yuki, who played Futaba in Persona 5, Renne Bright in the Trails series, Lumine in Genshin Impact, Lysithea in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Taihou in Azur Lane, Menat in Street Fighter V and many more roles.

You can check the video out below.

Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream will release in North America and Europe on February 25, 2022, for PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Japanese gamers will get it a day earlier, on February 24.

Avex revealed the first screenshots and the synopsis of the tenth episode of the ongoing Muv-Luv Alternative anime series.

The episode will be aired on Wednesday, December 8, and you will be able to enjoy it on Crunchyroll if you live in one of the regions in which the service is available.

Below the gallery, you can read about the plot, but keep in mind as usual that it includes spoilers. if you have not played Muv-Luv Alternative, I advise you don’t read it and just take a look at the images in the gallery itself, which are spoiler-free.

The Genshin Impact Bantan Sango Case Files event will begin and give people a chance to catch animals with a Omni-Ubiquity Net gadget.

The post Genshin Impact Bantan Sango Case Files Animal Event Detailed appeared first on Siliconera.

Square Enix hit stop on the FFXIV automatic housing demolition timer, as it decided to pause all demolitions due to congestion in the MMO.

The post FFXIV Automatic Housing Demolition Suspended Due to Congestion appeared first on Siliconera.

The idol voiced by Saori Hayami will be the star in the next expansion story for the console game.

The post Kaede Takagaki Will Appear Soon in The Idolmaster: Starlit Season DLC appeared first on Siliconera.

Cupid Parasite tasks players with finding love for five weird, maybe hopeless guys, and along the way makes them lovable.

The post Review: Cupid Parasite Embraces Its Absurdity appeared first on Siliconera.