January 2022

Hello Kotaku,

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Any number of things can serve as personal distractions in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, but one I’m sure a lot of folks will enjoy is shiny hunting. Searching out with these alternately colored pocket monsters is half the fun of these games for many hardcore fans, and Arceus offers up an interesting way to do so with its…

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Hello beautiful babies,

We're Albummer!, the first show on Giant Bomb to scientifically prove sincerity is the ultimate cringe, and selling ringtones is the only true art. Since everyone at this wonderful and foolishly supportive website is starting their Game of the Year conversations, we thought it might be kind of cool to give you our individual Game of the Year answers in the art form made most popular by The Heavens Gate cult, a blog post.

Jordan Olds

My game of the year was The New Therapist I Started Seeing. This one has a much better open-world map and also she isn't constantly threatening to steal my dog that she wrote an emotional support letter for.

Kenny Omega is one of the co-founders of All Elite Wrestling, and is also known for his video games-inspired persona. He's @KennyOmegaManX on Twitter.

Austin Creed (AKA Xavier Woods, AKA King Woods) is a member of the Tag Team crew known as The New Day, and the host of gaming YouTube channel UpUpDownDown and G4TV. He's @austincreedwins on Twitter.

Adam Cole is Adam Cole BAY BAY! He tweets from @AdamColePro.

Confined to a remote cabin in a remote location, free from all distractions while working - remotely - on this year’s TOP 10 video game list, only one burning question remains... Where’d I leave the remote???

Creed: Okay, I can see leaving the intro to you was a mistake already. Is this all supposed to be clever?

Bakoon is a cool dog who makes crazy-cool photography art. Follow him on Twitter, you won't regret it.

Hello again, friends. It still feels like 2020, and that I made another list just months ago. Time has gotten weird as hell, but it has managed to unfold itself in such a way as so I could game like a heathen finally. Here are some I had fun with in no real significant order (Returnal is probably the best out of them this year, if I had to pick):

Psychonauts 2

For some reason I was sort of bummed about this finally coming out! I loved the original and just sort of assumed it wouldn’t be as neat but it was neater and meatier (no meat circus though). It was nice to go back into that world and see those little people again. Some really clever bits. Pop psychology based enemies and devices, and they made the platforming fun this time.

Rich Gallup is Executive Producer at OtherSide Entertainment and the scruffy on the outside, soft on the inside Zamboni driver for his family’s backyard ice rink. Find him on the side of the road scanning cars for a Wyoming license plate, or on Twitter.

Hello everybody!

It’s true, another year has passed! What a weird time to try and track time. I’ve written and rewritten this preamble, trying to capture the emotions that emerge when reflecting on another year of bunkering down with my wonderful family, while feeling so much concern for people around the globe, and so much frustration with others. Just know that if you are reading this, I wish you well and will do my best to fill some of your day with lighthearted stories about how my family and I spent our isolated leisure time in 2021.

Compile Heart released a new trailer of its upcoming JRPG Hyperdimension Neptunia: Sisters vs Sisters.

The trailer is all about gameplay like the previous video, showcasing combat mechanics including combos, chains, and tactical skills.

You can watch it below.

The game is a spin-off of the Hyperdimension Neptunia series coming to PS5 and PS4 in Japan on April 21, 2022. 

It’ll focus on Nepgear, Uni, Ram, and Rom, younger sisters of Neptune, Noire, and Blanc and it’ll be an action JRPG.

Today Compile Heart released a new trailer of the upcoming Nintendo Switch version of Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars.

The trailer showcases the costumes that were released as DLC for the PS4 version that will be offered out of the box with the Nintendo Switch and PC version.

Those will let you dress the girls from the Senran Kagura series with their school uniforms.

You can check it out below.

Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars is currently available for PS4. It’ll launch in Japan for Nintendo Switch on March 17, while a western release for Switch and PC will happen in spring 2022.

Below you can read its official description.

Gamninjustri – a place where all manner of ninjas gather.​ As the struggle for control increased between the Daimyos of the nations, tensions rose between the two great nations, each of which was home to one of the major schools of martial arts.​

Today Gust announced that the development of Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream has been completed.

The announcement was made on the studio’s YouTube channel with a brief video showing off beloved heroine Sophie Neuenmuller dancing to celebrate.

It’s good timing, as you can also read my hands-on preview of this new JRPG published yesterday.

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.

On January 31, 1997, Final Fantasy VII launched in Japan. 25 years later? We’re in the middle of a remake effort, the original is on virtually every platform and Cloud and Sephiroth are both in Smash Bros. The Siliconera staff is sharing its favorite FFVII memories. Why not share yours in the comments!

I think finally playing Final Fantasy VII on the PS1 is a big one for me. See, the first time I played it on the PC. (That's how I played FFVIII originally too!) I didn't have a controller, so I had to rely on keyboard controls. And since I didn't have my own computer, I was going into my parents' office and using one of theirs. Which meant I was right at the Northern Cave and end of the game when circumstances meant it was uninstalled to make room for a new business program. Since my first disc ended up too scratched to work along the way? I didn't get to restart and beat the game proper until I played it on a console later. — Jenni

People have a chance to play Valkyria Chronicles 4 without paying for it. Microsoft announced its Free Play Days for folks with active Xbox Live Gold and Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions. Until January 30, 2022, folks can download a copy and go through it. For Honor is the other title up on offer alongside it.

There's also a sale on Valkyria Chronicles 4 on most platforms at the moment. However, how much you pay depends on where you're buying it. If you are getting the Xbox One version, it will be $12 for a standard copy and $15 for the Complete Edition. On the PlayStation Store, the PS4 CE is temporarily $19.99 until February 3, 2022. It is cheapest of all on Steam. The CE is $9.99 there. That offer also lasts until February 3, 2022. The Nintendo Switch isn't reduced right now. Normally the base game is $29.99 and the CE is $49.99.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus is finally here, and with it comes the biggest evolution the iconic series has seen in a long time. With that kind of change comes new mechanics and concepts that fans may not be familiar with. Whether it’s the addition of crafting, the streamlined battle system, or traversing the semi-open world biomes, there’s plenty to discover and learn. Consider us your Professor Oak as we give you 10 tips for Pokémon Legends: Arceus to get your journey off to a swimming start!

Last October brought the new that LookingGlass Technologies' cult-classic 1994 sci-fi horror System Shock was to be the latest entry in a rapidly ballooning list of video games getting the live-action TV adaptation treatment - and it's now been revealed that Greg Russo, writer of last year's Mortal Kombat movie, will be handling its transition to television.

The show - which will retell the story of the Citadel space station and its rogue AI, SHODAN - is a collaboration between Nightdive Studios, which currently holds the System Shock license, and Binge.com, an "immersive streaming platform created for the gaming universe".

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World War Z developer Saber Interactive has announced a second delay for its Evil Dead game, which will now launch for PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and PC on Friday, 13th May this year.

Saber's Evil Dead game - a co-operative experience that brings together familiar faces from all across the Evil Dead franchise to battle the forces of Darkness - was initially expected to arrive in 2021. However, the developer made the decision to delay its release last August, pushing the game into February 2022 in order to implement a single-player option for those occasions when co-op companions aren't readily to hand.

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The LG C1 4K OLED TV has been enjoying huge savings all week, including discounts at Amazon, John Lewis and more. Now, Hughes Electrical has stepped up to the mark with possibly the cheapest deal so far. The retailer has knocked down the price of the 55" LG C1 to under a grand.

So, if you're thinking about upgrading your TV to improve your gaming and cinematic experience or you've been waiting for the right time to buy a 4K TV, this Digital Foundry-recommended television ticks all the boxes in terms of 4K 120fps gaming and low input latency, unbeatable contrast and superior colour accuracy. It's now also £259 cheaper than its Black Friday price‬ of £1,185, making it all the more tempting to buy.

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Ubisoft were the first huge games company to excitedly launch a line of NFTs then be told by almost everyone no, don't do that, it sucks. Well done, almost everyone! In a new interview, Ubisoft's blockchain boys have said people "don't get it".

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Developer Techland has today revealed the performance of its anticipated sequel Dying Light 2 on what it has dubbed ‘old-gen’ hardware. The video sequence highlights the game running on the PS4 and Xbox One family of consoles at 30fps.

As you’ll see, the game runs fairly smoothly despite the obvious performance setbacks of not being capable of running at 60fps. There is a fair amount of motion blur that helps to smooth things out and make it appear more cinematic, though its presence won’t be appreciated by those who dislike the effect’s impact on overall screen clarity. You can be the judge yourself:

Released back in 2015, the first Dying Light blends fluid first-person running-and-gunning with a post-apocalyptic zombie-infested open-world. Scavenging for supplies, fending off the shuffling menace and completing quests for a ragtag motley crew of survivors is the order of the day. It was well-received by critics and fans alike, too, and even had some pretty cool DLC support as well.

Yacht Club Games, the developer behind the acclaimed 2D side-scroller Shovel Knight, has today announced that its annual showcase event will air on G4’s Twitch channel. The presentation will focus on new content in the works as well as the development of all-new projects.

The announcement comes by way of a Tweet from the studio’s official Twitter channel:

We’re proud to announce that the 3rd official Yacht Club Games Presents will be hosted on G4’s Twitch channel. We’ll be focusing on a selection of games that have brand new content currently in development! We also have a hair-raisingly exciting MEGA ANNOUNCEMENT! You do not want to miss this historic event!

A blog post highlighting further details featured the following statement from Sean Velasco, game designer at Yacht Club Games:

“We can’t wait to unleash everything we’ve been cooking up since our last showcase in February 2020. It’s been difficult to keep all this cool stuff a secret!. We hope you tune in and get excited too, because this is just the beginning!”

If you want to check out some of Yacht Club’s most recent work, then take a look at our review of Shovel Knight: King of Cards or get caught up by watching their last Yacht Club Games Presents stream.

The post Yacht Club Games Presents Is Set to Air on G4 Xplay appeared first on Twinfinite.

If you subscribe to the digital edition of Game Informer, you can now learn all about Elden Ring, the latest game by From Software! Following this week's cover reveal, our digital issue is now live to subscribers on web browsers, iPad/iPhone, and Android devices. Individual issues will be available for purchase later today. You can download the apps to view the issue by following this link. All of these digital options are included in a standard subscription.

The issue launches later this week on our third-party subscription apps, including Kindle and Nook.

Not a digital subscriber yet? Convert your existing print subscription or start a new subscription here.

Boss battles in Elden Ring are frequent, ranging from small-scale affairs in coves, caves, and catacombs to incredibly intense boss battles in the legacy dungeons. However, there are also other boss battles located in both mid-tier dungeons and outside in the open world. While many players had a chance to take on a dragon in the Network Test, we encountered a new kind of open field boss in our time with Elden Ring, a ghostly mariner in the middle of a shallow lake. There’s no indication you will be entering a boss battle, other than fairly serious environmental clues. If you’re exploring organically, you may have also encountered the NPC “D” nearby, who hunts the undead and warns you that this small town has been beset by this ghostly fiend. Other than that, there’s just a big shallow lake with a glowing boat in the middle. It’s pretty safe to assume you’re wandering into dangerous territory, but it’s certainly possible to just be oblivious to everything around you and wander into the middle of the lake. 

Elden Ring features numerous mini-dungeons like caves and catacombs to explore alongside giant sprawling dungeon crawls like Stormveil Castle. Castle Mourne, nestled in southern Limgrave on the Weeping Penninsula, is a place where horrors abound. Chimeric leonine creatures and other surprises await the player should they dare approach. While this locale would fall into the mini-dungeon classification, it's substantially larger than any of the minor offerings that I experienced during my 10 hours of gameplay, with a dangerous approach and several checkpoints. 

Watch our exclusive Elden Ring gameplay in the video below. Afterward, check out our commentated breakdown of the footage here.

Subscribe to the Game Informer YouTube channel and Twitch channel so you don't miss future videos. Find all of our exclusive coverage, including the 18-page magazine cover story, right here. 

Legendary writer George R.R. Martin collaborated with From Software and Hidetaka Miyazaki to essentially create the mythology of the world of Elden Ring before the catastrophic Shattering event. The characters involved were often crafted as humans, heroic but flawed in their journeys and adventures. However, as From Software took on the task of converting these characters to entities that would fit into Elden Ring, these mythic heroes and personalities got broken down into something twisted and more suited to occupying a “boss monster” role.

“When Martin wrote these characters, and when he provided that origin story that mythos for the world of Elden Ring, these demigods were much closer to their original form, and maybe closer to human form back then, before the Shattering, before it all started. So it was more up to us to interpret this and say, ‘how did they become such inhuman monsters? And how did the mad taint of the shattered shards of the Elden Ring and its power affect them?’ So that was our job to take these grand heroes and sort of misshape them and distort them into something they were not,” says game director Hidetaka Miyazaki. “And I think if we get a chance to show Martin and if he gets a chance to see the game and see these characters, I think he might be a bit shocked. When he wrote them, he was really envisioning something a little bit more human, a little bit more traditional human drama and fantasy characters. So I hope he gets a kick out of that.” 

After months of waiting, we finally got our hands on Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Not only has Brian played it, but he's beaten it and is ready to give his final verdict on the title. Brian is joined this week by Game Informer's Alex Stadnik, who has also been playing the latest Game Freak title and is raring to share his thoughts on the first major game release of 2022.

If you'd like to follow the people from this episode on Twitter: Brian Shea (@brianpshea), Alex Stadnik (@Studnik76)

The All Things Nintendo podcast is a weekly show where we can celebrate, discuss, and break down all the latest games, news, and announcements from the industry's most recognizable name. Each week, Brian is joined by different guests to talk about what's happening in the world of Nintendo. Along the way, they'll share personal stories, uncover hidden gems in the eShop, and even look back on the classics we all grew up with. A new episode hits every Friday!

Be sure to subscribe to All Things Nintendo on your favorite podcast platform. The show is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.

Players that have been enjoying From Software’s last decade of action/RPG fare have discovered recurring characters, themes, and weaponry to be found in various forms across the games. While they don’t always make an explicit appearance, sometimes they’re found as shimmering surprises that delight (and terrify). This is the case during Ludwig’s phase two battle, where he decides to pull out the Moonlight Greatsword and attempt to dunk on the player with some incredibly flashy power moves. In Elden Ring, players will be able to interact with the duplicitous traitor Patches as well as acquire both the Storm Ruler and Moonlight Greatsword. 

“I can confidently say yes, this time. Elden Ring is the sort of game that forgives a massive sense of volume and bulk,” says game director Hidetaka Miyazaki. “And so I felt like I was entitled to include these things this time. So yes, you will find them if you look hard enough.”

Of course, with Elden Ring being a vast open-world full of secrets and exploration, it’s likely that some of these items will be tucked away and hidden behind mysteries. While we probably won’t be taking down a manta ray Storm King with the Storm Ruler this time around, since Patches will be there, it’s possible that some other pieces of King’s Field and From Software history will be around somewhere. Since we’ve seen multiple dragons as part of this world, it wouldn’t shock me to see something akin to Seath the Scaleless slithering around.

Thanks to an investigation into online gaming subscriptions by the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Microsoft will soon improve the ways in which its Xbox Game Pass service handles auto-renewal, refunds, and inactive memberships. (h/t PC Gamer)

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If you’ve frequented Félix “xQc” Lengyel’s Twitch channel recently, you’ll have noticed he’s doing a lot of Grand Theft Auto Online role-play and reactions to video content. That’s fine. It’s his channel, so he can do whatever he wants with it…or maybe not? A small but vocal portion of his millions-strong community…

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In the closed network test, players explored a small slice of Limgrave and Stormveil. When I went hands-on with the game, all of Limgrave and Stormveil were open to me, including the haunting Weeping Penninsula to the south. But to the north of Stormveil lies another realm, a biome with a completely different aesthetic. Each realm in Elden Ring has its own signature set of creatures, flora, fauna, and more. The big boss of Stormveil, Godrick the Grafted, does not need to be beaten before moving on to the realm to the north, as a mildly hidden mountain path can lead players into this area without ever stepping foot inside the dangerous castle dungeon. 

This is the home of the magical academy of Raya Lucaria, and instead of the pastoral greens and rolling fields of Limgrave, it is draped in different shades of blue. I had the least amount of time in this zone for my demo and was only allowed to adventure here for a brief 30 minutes. A half-hour of game time in Elden Ring feels like seconds, so I sped around on Torrent, hoping to take in as much as possible during my brief stay. Crystals adorn everything from the environment to enemies, and a dusty fog hovers over shallow waters that impede movement ever-so-slightly. Deeper into the zone, the waters deepen, and the player must traverse over the submerged tops of buildings as they get closer to the imposing, brilliantly-lit Raya Lucaria. 

While Limgrave offers players a variety of smaller-scale dungeon and boss experiences, Stormveil Castle looms over the entire zone and features two major bosses. Many have already seen Margit the Fell Omen, who punished players in the closed network test. During my hands-on time with the game, I had the chance to face off with Godrick the Grafted himself, the current lord of Stormveil, and a serious challenge, especially for an “early game” boss. Granted, you don’t have to fight Godrick at all to get to other adjacent zones to continue exploring and powering up, so my path to the many-appendaged tyrant was brisk. I didn’t really do a whole lot of leveling up or gear optimization because the clock was ticking during my 10-hour play session, and I wanted to see and do as much as possible. It’s safe to say I was fairly underleveled compared to when From Software expects players to take on Godrick, but it’s important to reiterate that because of the open-world structure of the game, everyone’s experience is likely to be quite different. If you do wander into Godrick early on, perhaps it’s best to take a detour and check out the surrounding biomes before attempting to take him on.

From the Nexus to the Firelink Shrine to Majula, From Software’s dark fantasy realms have always had a place of respite to hang out, resupply, and talk to a variety of collected NPC guests gathered from adventures around the world. Access to Elden Ring’s hub realm, known as the Roundtable Hold, does not come right away when starting the game, though it may be possible to speed access given the player fulfills the right conditions. Sometimes when you come across a site of lost grace (checkpoints similar to bonfires in the Souls games) and rest, Melina will appear and offer some interesting words of guidance or commentary on the Lands Between. 

We debuted exclusive Elden Ring gameplay earlier today as part of our cover story on From Software's upcoming Soulslike title. The footage showcased Castle Mourne, a never-before-seen area nestled in southern Limgrave on the Weeping Penninsula, featuring gargantuan armor-clad archers, grizzly chimeric monsters, and an optional boss fight.

In the video below, Dan Tack and Alex Van Aken analyze everything showcased in Game Informer's Castle Mourne walkthrough in an exclusive Elden Ring gameplay breakdown. Thanks for watching!

Subscribe to the Game Informer YouTube channel and Twitch channel so you don't miss future videos. Find all of our exclusive coverage, including the 18-page magazine cover story, right here. 

If you’ve played one of the From Software action/RPG titles from Souls to Bloodborne, chances are you’re used to coming face to face with an area where the environment itself can feel like a major boss encounter. These oppressive poisonous swamp areas really got their stride in the Valley of Defilement all the way back in Demon’s Souls, but have continued to plague players to various degrees through the notorious Blighttown to other poisonous pits, caves, and muck. Speaking with Elden Ring game director Hidetaka Miyazaki, he relays that in this game, he rekindled his love for creating these horrific environments.

“In terms of how the player feels when they encounter this area that is a different story,” says Miyazaki. “But when making the game I rediscovered my love for making poison swamps. I know how people feel about them, but you know, suddenly I realize I'm in the middle of making one and I just can't help myself. It just happens.”

And happen it will in Elden Ring, where players will once again battle challenging environments alongside titanic bosses. In the past, players have had to deal with poison and toxic, with toxic being a more virulent and deadly version of the standard poison that often just ticks down at the player until they die. However, Elden Ring is bigger all over, and there may be even worse status effects to deal with here as part of the poison swamp package. 

This weekend I am looping the Assault On Precinct 13 theme to build the plodding determination I will need to survive the impending NFT bonanza. I do take some comfort in the fact that NFTs are so unpopular that Riot had scramble to cover after accidentally suggesting a Valorant character liked NFTs. And I especially enjoyed Yanis Varoufakis explaining why the metacryptofungiverse sucks. But more and more companies are talking about NFTs and things will get worse, and I'll need the energy I can only get from Precinct 13 (and the amazing unused Jimmy Chambers song based on it).

But the terrible future can wait, what are you playing this weekend?

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An assassin made of insects and knives shrieks somewhere in the dilapidated church behind me. I'll deal with that in a minute, for now I need to focus on something even more terrifying: a man with a rifle. Moments before, he'd landed a headshot on my partner before disappearing back into the treeline. We think he was alone - but you can never be too sure. By now, he could be anywhere, but I'm banking on him being exactly where I would be: cowering in a bush, healing, reloading, and getting ready to emerge again. If he isn't, aiming out the window at this bush will prove very foolish of me. Every passing second, that possibility weighs heavier. Another moment passes, and - there he is, crouch-walking from one bush to another, rifle raised, but not pointed in my direction. I have him dead to rights.

I take the shot.

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Support studio Certain Affinity may be working on a new game mode for Halo Infinite.

The news broke around the same time rumours bubbled up that Certain Affinity is also reportedly working on a Monster Hunter style co-op game with Xbox.

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