December 2021

The hot streak continues as we have another banger on this week's episode of The Game Informer Show! Join the crew as they take out their crystal balls and predict not only what games will win awards at The Game Awards, but what reveals we have in store for us as well. While the News and Playlist sections will return on another day, be sure to stick around for a heartfelt and hilarious listener questions section to wrap up the show!

Follow the crew on Twitter: Alex Stadnik (@Studnik76), Alex Van Aken (@itsVanAken), Marcus Stewart (@MarcusStewart7), Kimberley Wallace (@kstar1785), and Dan Tack (@dantack).

As governments and health authorities around the world battle to contain the spread of the new Omicron strain of Covid-19, it has been reported that one of the first cases detected in the United States—a man who had travelled to New York from Minnesota—was in the city to attend an anime convention.

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Hideo Kojima’s Twitter feed is one of the best in the gaming industry. He talks movies, shares his eclectic interests with fans, and generally provides a dose of positivity in a world sorely bereft of good vibes. But I really need someone to walk me through what the heck he meant when he sent a gif of Solid Snake…

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The Riftbreaker is a silly name for a game that is much better than its title might imply. Released in October on Xbox Game Pass and blending elements from Factorio, Minecraft, MechWarrior, Diablo, and others, I found this top-down survival game very hard to put down.

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Here's how to check if you are eligible to enter Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker's Early Access period.

The post How to Check if You Have FFXIV Endwalker Early Access appeared first on Siliconera.

Developer Colossal Order's acclaimed city builder Cities: Skylines is being reimagined for virtual reality devices, and will be coming to Oculus Quest 2 (or Meta Quest 2 as it'll soon be renamed) as Cities: VR in "spring" next year.

Cities: VR is the work of developer Fast Travel Games and aims to deliver the breadth and depth of Colossal Order's celebrated city management title, giving players control of urban planning, traffic flow, utilities, emergency services, entertainment, the economy, and more.

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UPDATE 6/12/21: The Matrix Awakens is real - and downloadable now for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S ahead of it going live later this week.

Today's 29GB download will get you ready for Friday's big Geoff Keighley-fronted marketing extravaganza that is The Game Awards 2021. There, Neo and Trinity themselves will appear to show off this Unreal Engine 5-powered collaboration between Warner Bros. and Epic Games.

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Techland's most recent episode of its video series Dying 2 Know shows off 15 minutes of gameplay and has an extra surprise at the end, which will be spoiled here, I guess. It's free games!

Senior producer Kornel Jaskuła sets up the footage (at the 4:36 mark in the video above), which starts with protagonist Aiden Caldwell and his associate Lowain, played by Rosario Dawson, celebrating The City's power roaring back to life before suddenly shutting back down. From there, you'll see plenty of what I'm now calling "the Five P's of Dying Light 2 Stay Human": Parkour, Paragliding, Politicking, Powering structures, and Popping zombies in the mouth with a lethal weapon ... It's not a perfect mnemonic. It covers a mission titled "A Place to Call Home" that shows off plenty of traversal, fighting, NPC interactions, and how your choices affect The City, its residents, and Aiden's relationships.

At the tail end of the broadcast, it's announced that Techland is celebrating its 30th anniversary, and it's the one giving out the gifts! Starting today on GOG, you can pick up a $0.00 copy of 2001's Crime Cities, and next week Steam will be harboring a complimentary copy of Call of Juarez: Gunslinger to add to your library.

The Stanley Parable is as unique and humorous today as when it launched way back in 2013. However, during the 2018 Game Awards, fans were treated to the announcement that an expanded version of the game, The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe, would arrive in 2019. It's now 2021, though developers Davey Wreden and Crows Crows Crows have always been the first to admit that window may have been wishful thinking. But after three years and a few sassy trailer updates, the game appears to be ready to ship – for real this time (hopefully).

Crow Crows Crows announced on Twitter that The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe is now content complete and is prepping to release it to consoles and PC in early 2022. This marks the first time the game will be available on consoles, though there’s still no mention of specific platforms. The game’s website only states the intention to release it to all platforms, basically. 

Quake, which was re-released for modern consoles and PC back in August, is receiving even more love from the devs at Bethesda and Wolfenstein developer Machine Games with a new mode and content added with Update 2.

Out today on all platforms, Update 2 brings a host of big fixes, but most importantly, an entirely new Horde Mode. Developed by the team at Machine Games, Quakes Horde Mode pits teams of 1-4 local or online players (or bots!) against swarms of AI enemies on four brand new horde maps. Every third wave of baddies will include a boss which coughs up a silver key which can be cashed in to collect more weapons and items, bolstering your arsenal for further battles.

Also included in Update 2 is an add-on called Honey where you'll "delve deep into the darkness to conquer a deadly plague infecting the land." It's a new Quake experience authored by senior level designer Christian Grawer from Machine Games.

Today Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games released a brand new video about upcoming ships in development.

The newly-announced exploration ship MISC Odyssey takes the lion’s share of the video, showing off a first look at the interior, including the vast hangar that will finally give pilots a chance to park fighters that aren’t ant-sized (or fish-sized, I guess. I’m looking at you Carrack).

On top of that, we also take a look at the Hull A, the Hull C, the Drake Vulture, the RSI Scorpius, and the first look at the whitebox for the Banu Merchantman.

To top it all off, we get a glimpse of the ship-mounted tractor beams and the refinery update for the Starfarer.

You can check it all out below.

In other Star Citizen news, the crowdfunding total has just passed $418 million and it’s currently sitting on $418,652,521.

Ludwig, formerly of Twitch and now of YouTube Gaming, won a small Among Us tournament a while back, and as his prize was offered the chance to receive a one-of-a-kind, hand-made GameCube controller.

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The Nintendo Switch Online’s expansion pack, which brought N64 games to the subscription service for the first time, launched with nine titles, many of which were not in great shape. The tenth, out later this month, will be the original Paper Mario.

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Valve has released hardware before, but nothing quite so big and ambitious as the Steam Deck. And releasing proper hardware means Valve had to think of something a software-first company hasn’t had to think of very often: what should its box look like.

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Paper Mario will be the first of the Nintendo 64 games added to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack service. This upgraded tier to the Switch’s online membership service launched in October with the promise of more games added over time.

In a tweet, Nintendo of America has announced that members of this higher Nintendo Switch Online tier soon be able to “adventure through the Mushroom Kingdom to save Princess Peach from Bowser’s clutches” in Paper Mario starting on December 10.

People who own the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack will be able to play the original Paper Mario N64 game on their systems next week.

The post Paper Mario Nintendo Switch Online Release Date Confirmed appeared first on Siliconera.

You can place your own characters in the Chinese Three Kingdoms era.

The post Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires New Trailer Marks Demo Release in Japan appeared first on Siliconera.

Today third-party developers revealed new details about add-ons coming to Microsoft Flight Simulator.

First of all, we take a look at a new freeware traffic solution. FSLTL, which stands for FS Live Traffic Liveries, has released an impressive trailer showcasing its aircraft in action.

I call it “new,” but those with a good memory may remember this appearing about a year ago and then disappearing. Its developer went back to the drawing board and worked behind the scenes to create something they believe is much better and more comprehensive for what Microsoft Flight Simulator needs nowadays. Considering that it’s a completely new approach to simulating traffic, I’d say it’s “new” enough.

Looking at the trailer below, what’s on offer definitely feels impressive.

Players can now boost their Gunbreaker and Dancer to level 80 if they don't want to grind.

The post Final Fantasy XIV Gunbreaker and Dancer Level Skips Now Available appeared first on Siliconera.

The full title of the event is "Doraemon: Nobita's Flying Ship."

The post Granblue Fantasy Reveals Doraemon Collab Characters appeared first on Siliconera.

Following yesterday’s reveals, today Sony Interactive Entertainment announced the recipients of the Grand Awards within the PlayStation Partner Awards 2021.

The Grand Awards honor the top three sellers worldwide between October 2020 and September 2021 among games developed in Japan and Asia.

The games are Genshin Impact, Resident Evil Village, and eFootball PES 2021 Season Update.

It’s worth mentioning (as you may imagine) that sales counted don’t just include unit sales, but also additional content and DLC, gauging the overall monetary success of each game.

It has also not been mentioned whether the awards were provided in any particular order.

You can find celebratory videos for all three awards below.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons players have reported a glitch in the game's new DLC that is turning their villagers into nudists.

All animal villagers in the game wear clothes (besides rockstar pup KK Slider) and a big appeal is designing clothes for them to wear.

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This week, PlayStation Plus subscribers reacted in surprise when a new version of Godfall was confirmed as part of December's game offering.

The Godfall: Challenger Edition is a version of the game which lets players try three endgame modes, and provides a sampling of high-end loot and skill points so you can test the game at max level.

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The game that started the Paper Mario series, Paper Mario 64, will be added to Nintendo Online.

It will be available for Nintendo Online Expansion Pack members from 10th December.

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In fall 2020, Kit-Kats were released in Japan at a smaller size. At the time, as YouTuber PDS points out, Nestlé said the smaller size was for customers worried about sugar and calories. Maybe that’s true, but in Japan, snacks have been getting smaller and smaller for years, while prices haven’t changed.

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Koei Tecmo also details the game's scenarios, quests, and reputation system.

The post Atelier Sophie 2 Roytale Characters and Reputation System Detailed appeared first on Siliconera.

Another story skip is now available through the online shop.

The post Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers Story Skip Added to Online Store appeared first on Siliconera.

With Early Access now available, spoilers will potentially appear.

The post Square Enix Asks Players Not to Share Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker Spoilers appeared first on Siliconera.

In total, there are 21 variations of Char bromides.

The post Char Bath Bombs Come With Waterproof Bromides appeared first on Siliconera.

With a spate of intriguing horror games currently in the works, like Martha Is Dead and Instinction, we can now add another title onto the to-watch list. Yes, developer One-O-One Games and META Publishing have revealed their upcoming apocalyptic survival thriller, Aftermath, for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC.

The news comes by way of a brand new announcement trailer, which you can check out down below:

Aftermath is all set to be a narrative-focused experience that centers on European astronaut, Charlie Gray, who is trying her best to find her daughter after a cataclysmic, world-ending event. Players will have to contend with a mysterious otherworldly threat that are trying to stop Gray from achieving her mission.

Hello! Welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we've found ourselves playing over the last few days. This time: alien worlds, strange ruins, and a proper classic.

If you fancy catching up on some of the older editions of What We've Been Playing, here's our archive.

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It Takes Two, the latest game from Brothers: A Two Sons' Josef Fares, has been hit by a trademark claim from Grand Theft Auto parent company Take-Two.

The acclaimed co-op puzzler about a pair of divorcing parents was struck by a trademark claim before its release earlier this year, it has emerged. Records show developer Hazelight subsequently abandoned ownership of the name.

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It's that time of year when every games publication rolls out its best-of-the-year lists, and the calendar-topping Game Awards looms large. It's hardly a phenomenon unique to games; every broadsheet culture section is busy recapping and ranking books and TV shows right now (though awards are different - the film industry, for one, spins out its laborious and intensely political awards season well into the following year).

Personally, I love it. I get a superficial enjoyment from the argument and speculation and positioning that goes with ranking things and selecting winners, however spurious the criteria and comparisons may be - of course I do, I'm only human. But what I really love is the more important and worthwhile process that lies beneath that: taking stock, joining the dots, finding the trends, celebrating great artistry. Pausing the relentless march towards the next thing to take a moment to enjoy what we've had.

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On December 3, 1994, the first PlayStation was released in Japan, and video games haven’t been the same since.

It’s hard to underscore the PlayStation’s impact. The graphics and sound were all cutting edge for their time. Compared to the cartridge-based games of Sony’s competitors, the PlayStation looked like the…

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