The Xbox hard drives of the world needed a break eventually. For February 2022, Xbox Game Pass isn’t cluttering the most jam-packed release slate in recent memory. Not only is the upcoming lineup fairly slight, but some of the best and biggest on Microsoft’s games-on-demand service will soon be unavailable.
Oh, this is classic Kingston. I don’t think any other SSD manufacturer so consistently goes quiet for months on end, then suddenly rocks up at your house, slams a world-beating NVMe drive on your desk and wordlessly disappears again. It happened with the A2000, it happened with the KC2500 and now it’s happened with the Fury Renegade.
Rocket Panda Games released a new trailer of the upcoming 2D fighting game Phantom Breaker: Omnia revealing two playable characters.
This time around we get the reveal of two new ladies, Maestra and Artifactor, bringing the roster up to 20 characters.
This follows another trailer featuring Mikoto, one showcasing Itsuki, one featuring Waka, one starring Yuzuha, one showcasing Ren, and one focusing on Ria.
You can check her out in action below, alongside the Japanese version.
Every year Final Fantasy XIV players welcome Valentine’s Day with Eorzea’s own version of the sweet celebration, Valentione’s day.
This year will be no exception, with the seasonal event starting on February 8 and ending on February 21.
As usual, our host will be Lisette de Valentione and we’ll find her at the amphitheater on Old Gridania.
You’ll need to be level 15 to participate, but this shouldn’t be an issue to achieve even for new players.
The rewards will be an adorable Postmoogle Barding for your Chocobo and a lovey-dovey Valentione Mobile wall-mounted decoration for your house.
Bungie’s major upcoming expansion for its popular shooter Destiny 2 is likely to prove a smash hit. The developer has today announced that just under three weeks away from its launch The Witch Queen has already been pre-ordered a whopping one million times.
The news comes by way of a Tweet from the developer’s official channel:
Thank you to the more than ONE MILLION Destiny players who have pre-ordered Destiny 2: The Witch Queen.
With your incredible support, it’s on track to be the most pre-ordered expansion in Destiny 2 history.
See you on 2.22.22, Guardians! pic.twitter.com/1fFzAWyV30
— Destiny 2 (@DestinyTheGame) February 1, 2022
For more on the expansion, you can check out our rundown of the six biggest things to look forward to in Destiny 2: The Witch Queen, when it launches on Feb. 2.
There was also a recent teaser trailer released by Bungie that seems to allude to an area in the vein of The Dreaming City and The Dreadnaught that is filled with hidden areas, secrets, and other Easter eggs. It also featured the returning character Eris Morn.
In other related news, Sony recently announced an industry-shaking acquisition of Bungie, which could see future Destiny games available exclusively on PlayStation systems.
Once upon a time, Microsoft’s platforms were known to be quite barren in terms of Japanese games. Nowadays, things have changed considerably, and you can find plenty of anime-like goodness on Xbox.
If you’re interested in some fine Japanese games and want to play them on the cheap, Microsoft Launched the Xbox Anime Month promotion, in which many anime or anime-inspired titles are heavily discounted until the end of January.
This means that you can purchase games like Valkyria Chronicles 4 Complete Edition for $14.99, Code Vein for $11.99, or Dragon Ball FighterZ Ultimate Edition for $16.49.
There are also plenty of discounts on the front of actual anime featuring Naruto, Inuyasha, Tiger & Bunny, and more. Do keep in mind that availability may vary by region, so what you see on your screen may be different from what I see.
You can find the full list here and check out a trailer below.
Sega and Creative Assembly released another brand new and extensive gameplay video about the upcoming Warhammer strategy game Total War: Warhammer III.
This time around, we get to see an extensive overview of the campaign of the new Chaos Undivided faction, that sees us play as a deeply customizable daemon prince, from humble beginnings nearly to the end.
You can watch the trailer below and read our brand new hands-on preview.
If you’re unfamiliar with Total War: Warhammer III, which is coming for PC (including Game Pass) on Feb. 17, 2022.
Microsoft has revealed the latest titles to be making their way to Xbox Game Pass this February.
The latest line up on Xbox Game Pass includes, but is certainly not limited to, Contrast, Telling Lies and Dreamscaper on 3rd February, before Besiege (Game Preview), CrossfireX, Skul: The Hero Slayer, Edge of Eternity and The Last Kids on Earth and the Staff of Doom on 10th February.
Xbox has revealed several new games coming to Game Pass in the second half of February 2022. This includes Total War Warhammer III, Madden NFL 22, and Alice Madness Returns via EA Play.
The first half of the month was also headlined by CrossfireX, which launched on the subscription service the same day it's released, on February 10. If you're not a member but would like to become one, Amazon currently has a three-month Game Pass Ultimate subscription on sale for $39.99.
If you consider yourself a diehard Pokémon fan, odds are you already own at least one replica Poké Ball. But there’s no such thing has having too many of them, right? The Pokémon Company and prop replica makers The Wand Company hope you agree because they're introducing a new line of premium Poké Balls throughout 2022.
The Wand Company has previously manufactured upscale replicas of the Poké Ball, Great Ball, Ultra Ball, Dusk Ball, and Premier Ball. This upcoming batch will feature four new balls starting with the Heal Ball. This to-scale replica measures 3.5 x 3.7 x 3.5 in diameter and is made of a die-cast metal shell with a high-gloss lacquer finish. Its coolest feature is its touch/proximity sensor that causes the front button to light up when someone is nearby, and pressing the button triggers the light sequence that occurs when Pokémon are caught. The Heal Ball comes with a matte black display case where it can sit atop a stainless steel display ring. It also includes a manual and three AAA batteries.
Click image thumbnails to view larger version
Update, 11/17/2022:
Earlier this year, Supermassive Games filed multiple trademarks for new games that many predicted were part of its Dark Pictures anthology series. One of those games was Directive 8020 and now, with the latest anthology game, The Devil In Me, out tomorrow, it's been confirmed that Directive 8020 is up next. It will be the Season 2 premiere of The Dark Pictures series.
This news comes by way of GameTrailers, who spotted the teaser trailer for Directive 8020 as part of The Devil In Me's release, keeping in tradition with the latest game teasing the next game, as reported by Destructoid.
Check out the teaser trailer for The Dark Pictures: Directive 8020 for yourself below:
Platform:
PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Stadia, PC
Publisher:
Bungie
Developer:
Bungie
Release:
Rating:
Teen
It’s time for the payoff. For years, Bungie has teased the potential of Destiny’s most devious villain. In recent months, that tease has escalated. The Hive queen named Savathûn has infiltrated all the major storylines, insinuating herself into the events shaping the story. Now, at long last, the Witch Queen’s trap is sprung, as she co-opts humanity’s most precious resource – the Light that gives power to its Guardians – and uses that power to make deathless warriors of her own.
Update: Titan reached out to Game Informer and provided more details. This series is written by Cullen Bunn, with art by Piotr Kowalski and Brad Simpson. The cover art featured below is by Kowalski.
Original Story: Titan Comics just revealed the cover of a forthcoming Bloodborne comic book that will be released on May 7 for absolutely free. As comic book fans know, the first Saturday in May is Free Comic Book Day. All of the major publishers in the industry are giving away free comic books on this day, and you should be able to walk out of your local shop with a stack of things to read.
This free comic is the first part of a new Bloodborne limited series that will also launch in May. Titan Comics' official description doesn't give us much of a hint of what we can expect from this series: "Enter the city of Yharnam through the eyes of its citizens, when new hunters take to the streets to fight against the cruel and unusual epidemic that has gripped the city. In the black of night, families and faith will be tested."
In January 2022, Capcom released its third quarter consolidated financial report. Now, we have a better idea of exactly how some titles did. In the report, it noted Resident Evil Village’s awards and growth. Now Capcom updated its list of Platinum Titles with data, and Resident Evil Village found its way into the top 10.
The new figure for Resident Evil Village sales figure is 5.70 million. Back in October 2021, Capcom noted it passed 5 million copies moved. It also was one of the top PlayStation Store downloads for 2021.
Here are the top 25 Capcom Platinum Titles as of December 31, 2021.
There will be more playable characters in Phantom Breaker: Omnia at launch than expected. MAGES confirmed two more people will be available when the game appears. Both Artifactor and Maestra will be a part of the cast, and there’s a new Phantom Breaker: Omnia trailer to show how they work.
The first new Phantom Breaker: Omnia character to appear is Maestra. She’s voiced by Xanthe Huynh in English and Mai Sato in Japanese. She wields a rather large sword. If her name sounds familiar, it’s because she is actually Maestro. That’s the Fu-mension Artifact greatsword Mikoto wields.
At the 48 second mark of the Phantom Breaker: Omnia trailer, Artifactor shows up. She’s a Reverant voiced by Cassandra Lee Morris and Yui Nakajima. She’s the person who made the Fu-menison Artifacts and universe. She uses her powers to attack, rather than any sort of weapon.
Here’s the full trailer.
As a reminder, the update to Phantom Breaker Extra will include more features than new characters. You can choose if you want an original or remixed soundtrack. There will also be Quick, Hard, and Omnia styles to choose from for fighters.
Wordle took an express ride from a breezy daily distraction to a seven-figure payday for its creator. No wonder everyone is copying it. But many—and there are so many—of its variants are similar exercises in wordplay. Far rarer is the Wordle clone that doesn’t feature any words at all.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus is the biggest Pokémon installment in quite some time, and as such, it can be a little daunting, even for experienced players. There’s a ton of stuff to track from new items and Pokéballs to Pokédex entries and updated Pokémon forms.
If you’ve grown green with envy seeing everyone’s green emoji squares on Twitter celebrating their Wordle success, these tips will help you up your game. People go back and forth about whether it takes skill or luck to be good at Wordle, but the truth is it’s both. Every once in a while, you’ll likely slip up no…
There's no two ways about it: I'm a big old card-carrying Life Is Strange nerd. Seriously, I own some geeky merch to demonstrate my love for this series; up to and including, yes, the official Life Is Strange deck of playing cards. In other words, I am exactly the sort of fan the Life Is Strange: Remastered Collection is geared towards; so you may be surprised when I say that I'm not planning on picking it up anytime soon.
I'll be honest, I've been wary of the remasters of the first Life Is Strange title and its prequel Before The Storm ever since the first stills were released. "Look how much emotion their faces show now!" was the boast, splashed across side-by-side images of Rachel frowning in the original vs Rachel smiling in the remaster, Chloe frowning in the original vs Chloe smiling in the remaster, Max smiling slightly in the original vs Max grinning widely in the remaster... perhaps you begin to see my issue.
Hi, nice to meet you. Can I get you anything? A drink, a bite to eat, an acquisition maybe? There are apparently a lot of them to go around, after all. Hear that? It's Sony buying Bungie. It's Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard. It's Tencent accidentally dropping £365 billion down a grate as they stroll down the street and unknowingly buy the Earth's crust. They were on the phone to me at the time, putting an offer on my flat. I am tired of these big companies buying everything. Can we just slow down for a hot second and chill out a bit, please?
OlliOlli World, the ambitious new entry in Roll7's acclaimed skateboarding series, is just a week away from release, and the developer is marking the final countdown to launch with news that Hollywood star Danny Trejo will be making an appearance in-game.
Trejo is certainly prolific, having featured in over 250 film and TV roles (including the likes of Machete and From Dusk Till Dawn), and his video game credits are steadily expanding too. His OlliOlli World cameo will be the actor's second video game appearance in a little over two months, having been given a starring role in his own Far Cry 6's DLC at the end of last year.
Having been punted clear of its original 2021 launch window last October, Shadow Warrior 3 finally has a release day, with developer Flying Wild Hog now confirming it'll be whipping its Wang out on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC from 1st March.
This third entry in the delightfully gaudy rebooted FPS series - inspired by 3D Realms' 1997 shooter Shadow Warrior - once again focuses on the adventures of protagonist Lo Wang, this time on a quest to recapture an ancient dragon unleashed from its eternal prison.
Hello and welcome to another special episode of Eurogamer's Newscast, as another two huge acquisitions shake the video games industry. Sony is buying Bungie for $3.6bn, of course, but let's not forget the beloved Wordle has also been snapped up by the New York Times.
Joining me for this episode are Eurogamer news reporters Ed Nightingale and Victoria Kennedy, as well as deputy editorial director Wesley Yin-Poole. Together, we discuss what Sony is actually getting for its $3.6bn if not exclusive games - or whether the companies are simply being coy about their true future plans.
Battlefield 2042's Season One has been pushed back to early summer 2022 so developer DICE can focus on resolving current issues in the game. The decision was made "to bring the game up to the highest standards" according to senior producer Ryan McArthur, who published a blog post on the game's website.
Battlefield 2042 was released in November last year with a number of issues including server connectivity and UI problems. A seasonal Battle Pass will add new playable characters and maps, but DICE didn't confirm a timeline for when Season One will begin.
McArthur said, "We are heavily invested and committed to the future of Battlefield 2042 — working on taking action on multiple fronts to address feedback and implement extensive fixes to the game, key features that are important to you, and getting team play where it needs to be."
Pushing back Season One "gives us the time to focus on improving the Battlefield 2042 experience when finalizing the development for our seasonal content," he added.
The blog post gave an in-depth explanation as to how these improvements will be made, starting with features DICE wants to implement "as soon as possible".
The next update will include a refreshed in-round scoreboard that separates the player's and enemy's teams into two tables. Kill to death scoring and end-of-round reports will be coming in a later update.
The melding of tabletop RPG and Borderlands in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands almost feels like a Pimp My Ride meme. "You like RPGs in your RPG-based Looter Shooters?" Because at its core, Borderlands has always been heavily influenced by role-playing games, both the tabletop and video game varieties. The visible damage counters as you unleash a clip or three-hundred into your enemies is a direct nod to the damage counters in games like Final Fantasy, and the Gearbox main offices in Texas have an entire room set aside with what might be the greatest TTRPG set-up I've ever seen. Giving Tiny Tina her own Borderlands 2 DLC (which is standalone as of last November) as well as a spin-off game with Wonderlands feels like the perfect encapsulation of the DNA of Borderlands as a whole… and then they added spells and melee attacks.
The first big difference between this and your ordinary, non-imagined Borderlands campaign is the addition of spells to your arsenal. In some ways, they replace grenades from the mainline series, but they have such a distinct look and feel that they easily differentiate themselves from the grenades you're used to chucking at psychos. For one, they have a cool-down period rather than a set inventory. You can cast spells to your heart's content and never need to fill up on ammo like you do with grenades: you just need to let your spells recharge. There are weapons and items that can cut down on the cool down time, and you can link moves and spells together and create all sorts of chaos. I really, and I mean really, liked the way spells add to combat. While there aren't healing spells per se, there are Dark Magic spells you can cast that feed your hurting and hungry Fatemaker with hit points while doling out damage to whatever fanciful baddie happens to be on the receiving end of your arcana.
The Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 Super Fashion Contest winners were revealed. People worldwide were able to use the full game or Lite Version to create an avatar look. They then submitted those to the development team to be picked. 16 were chosen. Those characters will then appear in a loading screen illustration in the near future.
Here’s the official announcement. There is also a page for the Super Fashion Contest on the Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 website going over the contest winners and showing the feedback. The two Super Fashionable Awards went to Bedhead’s Moshi design and ShadowSaiyan1’s Raxel attire. The other award categories were Avatar Design, Concept, Photo Mode, Super Cool, Super Cute, Super Gorgeous, Super Intelligence, and Super Powerful.
After giving it a lot of thought, we're very excited to finally announce the winners of the #DBXV2 Super Fashion Contest!
Winners will receive a Loading Screen Illustration with an original design portraying their avatar!
➡️ https://t.co/QfbTaEz2rZ pic.twitter.com/L25ZXeHE3q— Dragon Ball Games (@dragonballgames) February 1, 2022
Ubisoft is sticking to its post-launch plans for Far Cry 6 with the release of this free Rambo crossover DLC. The previous crossover mission had Dani team up with Danny Trejo to fight against Anton Castillo’s forces while delivering tacos all across Yara. This DLC should be added to your game automatically through the recent update.
This mission is titled All the Blood and, in this one, Dani is teaming up with a Rambo superfan. They’re still taking on Anton Castillo’s Yaran military, but with an ’80s action theme this time around.
Just like in the last crossover, a free new reward item will be gifted to players — the Vengeance Bow. And you’ll be able to test it out and complete the mission solo or in co-op with a friend.
You can check out the trailer for this Far Cry 6 and Rambo crossover right here to see the new weapon, Dani’s outfit change, and a whole lot of chaos.
Today Sega had quite a few reveals to share about upcoming content and features coming this month to Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis.
Things will start on February 9 with Nadaereh’s concert in Retem City, alongside the increase of the level cap to 40 and much more.
On top of the content, we’re also getting support for Nvidia DLSS & AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution.
February 16 will see the introduction of the Dark Falz 8-player urgent quest and new high-rank enemies.
Of course, all will be sprinkled with a healthy dose of scratch tickets to quench the players’ thirst for fashion and emotes.
You can see the video below, including the Japanese version if you prefer the preview of the concert in its original language.
Nexon and Arc System Works released a video focusing on one of the music tracks included in their upcoming fighting game DNF Duel.
The video lets us listen to the “The Rival” track that serves as the background music of foreboding “Zelva” stage, which we also see portrayed without characters.
This follows another similar video focusing on the “Upward” track, another featuring “On the Sea,” and one showcasing “TroubleMaker.”
You can listen below.
DNF Duel doesn’t yet have a full slate of platforms, even if we know that it’ll at least come for PS5, PS4, and PC. an open beta test for PlayStation platforms only was recently hosted and you can check out more videos showcasing the basics of the game.
Today Paradox Interactive released a new video about the upcoming major expansion to Crusader Kings 3, Royal Court, which was announced back in May.
The video focuses on cultural hybridization and divergence, two ways to change your culture in case it has traits that don’t fit your playstyle or you simply want to shuffle things around.
You can watch the video below, alongside the previous one on artifacts and one on the basics.
Royal Court is going to launch on February 8, 2022, and below you can check out a summary of its features.
Yesterday, Team17—the studio behind the classic Worms series—announced it was getting into the NFT space, teaming up with a third party to release “collectible digital artwork based on one of the most beloved IPs in indie games.” A day later, that plan is in the bin.
UPDATE 2/2/21: Dying Light 2 developer Techland has detailed some of what will arrive in the game's day one patch, after earlier advising players with early copies to hold off and wait.
Techland said it had added over a thousand fixes and improvements via updates over past two weeks, and that another thousand "tweaks" would be included in the day one patch due to go live on consoles "within the next few days". The PC version, meanwhile, is being kept up to date in "real-time".
Don't look now, but a new wave of Pokemon Funko Pop figures has just gone up for preorder. For those counting, this is wave 10 of of Pokemon Funkos, introducing vinyl figures of Lapras, Leafeon, and Piplup. You can preorder them all individually on Amazon. They're set to ship June 22. There's also a jumbo Lapras that's exclusive to Target.
Secure a preorder for these pocket monsters now, and they'll ship as soon as they're released in June. And in fact, the ninth wave of Pokemon Funkos hasn't shipped yet, either. You can preorder them on Amazon also.
Funko Pokemon wave 9 is also still available to preorder (coming in March 2022). The figures are up for preorder on the heels of the release of Pokemon Legends: Arceus (on sale for $54.99 on Amazon). This latest installment in the long-running series is an ambitious new take on the world of pocket monsters, offering players an open world version of the ancient Hisui region to explore in order to complete your pokedex.
You can check out our Pokemon Legends: Arceus review to see what our critic thought of the new direction for the series. Then pick up these Funkos, all of which you can also find in the game.
Xbox will celebrate Black History Month by spotlighting Black and African American developers and creators for the entire month of February.
The company announced their plans in a blog post, where content developer and social lead Albert Dankwa said Xbox would be "celebrating gaming as a source of joy, connection, and self-care for many in the community."
The company has been celebrating Black History Since 2020, highlighting Black industry professionals and their contributions to the gaming industry.
Dankwa said he relates to finding joy through games: "I have fond memories of summer afternoons spent at a friend's home playing Halo and later enjoying Gears of War on my own first Xbox. was fascinated by the narratives, drawn to the worlds, and inspired by the heroes and the hope they represented. As a lifelong gamer, it's important to me to help inspire and uplift others to join the industry or to simply share their love of gaming."
Microsoft Reward members in the U.S. can earn and donate points to organizations supporting Black communities with Xbox, such as Cxmmunity, Black Girls Rock!, and Gameheads. Meanwhile, Halo will be adding a special emblem and nameplate, and Forza Horizon 5 will be hosting an in-game livery contest. Xbox itself is adding a new Gamerpic, profile theme, and avatar items for the occasion.
Valve have announced the dates for a number of upcoming Steam sales and events. That includes the demo-laden Next Fest on February 21st-28th, the Steam Summer Sale on June 23rd-July 7th, and several themed sales around specific genres such as JRPG, racing, and survival.
There’s never been a better time to be a fan of pop culture, superheroes and their villainous counterparts, D&D, fantasy books, and just general nerd culture. That’s because some of the world’s most popular licenses are making their way to consoles and PCs this year. These games promise to give us new ways to interact with some of our favorite media franchises like DC, Harry Potter, Star Wars, and more.
What’s more is that each of these games is not only unique in license, but in gameplay too. That’s because these titles aren’t straddled to just one genre. Hogwarts Legacy is a third-person magic-casting RPG, while MultiVersus is a platform fighter. This list of games covers all kinds of genres and all kinds of licenses, and we can’t wait to check them out sometime this year. Here are Game Informer’s most anticipated licensed games of 2022, listed chronologically by release date.
Hot on the heels of yesterday’s news that Sony is acquiring Bungie, the studio has released a new Destiny 2: The Witch Queen trailer that’s all about the gear and weapons coming with the new expansion.
With The Witch Queen, Destiny 2’s latest expansion launching Feburary 22, it’s not surprising that Bungie is ramping up its marketing for it. After a trailer a couple of weeks ago all about Savathun’s Throne World, today, the studio opted to reveal some of the weapons our Guardians will be using later this month.
Click here to watch embedded mediaAs you can see in the trailer above, there are a handful of exotic weapons coming to the game, starting with the Grand Overture, a Slug Launcher that charges full auto missiles. There’s also the new Parasite weapon, which is a worm launcher with increasing damage, and the Osteo Striga, which fires swarming projectiles that trigger toxic bursts on the battleground.
The Azure Striker Gunvolt series always featured these strong characters. Which makes sense, as so many of them are Adepts. They’re people who possess psychic septima powers that let them do extraordinary things. Copen, an ordinary Minos (human), always was exceptional too due to cybernetic enhancements. With Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX 2, we’re able to see even more so how capable and powerful he’s become.
The game begins with a familiar sort of set-up. Copen, Kohaku, and Lola are together. While Copen’s researching a weapon, they hear a voice calling for help. It pulls all three into another world. There, a robot named Null assists and asks for their aid. Together, the four head to the Grave Pillar to find a way home. It also means a chance to learn more about its world and the Gravekeeper robots that remain. It’s also, well, a chance to fight through all sorts of themed areas, acquiring new EX Weapons as he does. Which means, yet again, a very Mega Man sort of run-and-gun feel. You fight your way through spaces, hoping to do your best. As you do, you gradually get more powerful.
Tom Brady has officially announced his retirement after a week of rumors and two decades of elevating the sport of American football. Whether you loved him as a Patriot, grew to appreciate him as a Buccaneer, or passionately rooted against him as a fan of a forever-bumbling AFC East rival, Brady's accomplishments are unmatched in football and arguably some of the most impressive feats in sports history. We wanted to look back on his storied 22-year career through the lens of his annual overall (OVR) Madden ratings. From no-name rookie to GOAT, here's how Brady performed in Madden each year since he first arrived in the league he would go on to reshape forever. If you're not one for football history, you might also enjoy the year-by-year image gallery of Brady's player avatar in Madden, from his first proper likeness in Madden 2003 all the way up to today.
In case you haven't heard by now--like if you were living on Mars for the past 22 years--Brady was drafted in the sixth round, 199th overall, by the Patriots in the 2000 NFL Draft. He entered the league as an apparently unremarkable QB, and his debut Madden rating reflected that. Brady threw just three passes that year in spot duties behind Drew Bledsoe, connecting on one of them for six yards. No one--least of all the New York Jets--knew who he would go on to become.
