October 2022

Earlier this week, the length of the upcoming survival-horror action game, The Callisto Protocol was revealed. When speaking with Edge Magazine via MP1ST.com, Striking Distance Studios Director and CEO Glen Schofield revealed the length of the game while also revealing that it will feature alternate routes called “Beta Paths.” These different pathways will add replay value for players outside of leveling up their weapons.

How Long Is The Callisto Protocol?

The game will take players around 12-14 hours to complete. Perhaps on the shorter side if you just enjoyed God of War Ragnarok, but it should be crammed with enjoyable combat and a gripping story. We’re hoping to enjoy it as much as Dead Space!

According to Schofield, these paths “came later in the game, but some of them are so freaking cool. And we don’t tell you where they are or how many they are. But if you really explore, it may be longer.” Schofield also hopes that the Beta Paths will “encourage conversations between players who took different routes to finish.”

First announced back at the 2020 Game Awards, The Callisto Protocol was initially announced as part of the PUBG universe before its director backtracked, as the project ultimately “grew into its own thing.” The game will star Josh Duhamel as protagonist Jacob Lee, a prisoner in the Black Iron prison colony who must escape when the Warden engineers an alien invasion.

FIFA 23 is here, and notably, some staples remain. For instance, Squad Building Challenges (SBCs) remain an excellent way to earn specialty cards for your ultimate team. Of course, these can get a tad expensive. So we’re here to talk about the cheapest 83, 84, 85, and 86-rated players for SBCs in FIFA 23.

Cheapest Squad Building Challenge 83, 84, 85 & 86 Rated Players in FIFA 23

Oftentimes, players will need to achieve a rating-specific objective in order to earn certain cards through SBCs. Fortunately, there are several players out there that exist to help in situations like these. Maybe they’re not all that useful for your squad, but they’ve got a high enough rating to matter.

The following tables display the cheapest options at each rating. Keep in mind that transfer market prices do fluctuate periodically in Ultimate Team. Oftentimes, these prices are position-dependent. Or, they have one specific trait—usually pace—that sits high above the rest.

A few weeks ago, a heated debate arose within the Destiny 2 community regarding whether or not the Exotic raid weapon, Divinity, should receive a nerf or not. For hardcore players, they felt as though it should be, while more casual players felt it should remain the same.

It seems Bungie was paying attention to the debate, as in a TWAB that was released today, an official statement was made regarding Divinity.

Note that encounters are built around players having access to being able to weaken, as many folks have theorized.  We don’t believe that Divinity in its current form is actually a balance problem, i.e., it’s not necessarily too strong in isolation. That said, Divinity is incredibly dominant in endgame PvE because it trivializes aiming precision weapons and has an  extremely high uptime for weaken. The most important issue is that Divinity granting 30% weaken sucks the air out of the room for all other weaken sources (such as Tether and Tractor Cannon), and we don’t want to power creep past Divinity to make them interesting. 

With this in mind, we’ve been looking at Divinity for a while now, and have tested a variety of changes in Season 19 over the last few months, landing on reducing Divinity’s weaken from 30% to 15%. 

It’s hard to say how substantial this nerf will be until we see how it is in-game. For the time being, it seems to be a fair nerf for both parties. Initially, some hardcore players felt Divinity shouldn’t be able to weaken bosses, as it made encounters in raids too easy.

The Support heroes of Overwatch 2 are crucial members of the team that can be useful for healing and enhancing attacks. So, if you aren’t quite sure about selecting a character, here is a ranking of the best healers in Overwatch 2.

Steam has announced today that there is a big change coming to how they handle Steam Deck reservations. That big change? Reservations are entirely gone and interested customers can simply order one whenever they want and it will be shipped, no waiting until Q1 of 2023 and such.

This announcement was made in a tweet, saying “Steam Deck is now available without a reservation! Order one, we’ll ship it to you”.

You can see the full tweet below.

It’s October, so you know that it’s time to get spooky GTA Online players. In order to celebrate the coming frights and sights of Halloween, Rockstar Games is adding a boatload of content for the holiday that players can collect for free simply by playing the game.

Included in that is a new vehicle, The Obey 10F, and some terrifying Halloween Masks. Alongside this, an exciting new Adversary Mode called Judgment Day is being added, which pits Riders vs Hunted in a spooky game of hide-and-seek. You can check out the full details below.

Today Square Enix released an extensive trailer and a large gallery of screenshots and art of the upcoming JRPG Star Ocean: The Divine Force.

We get the introduction of several new characters, including two playable ones.

The first is Teo Klemraat, a cousin of Laeticia (her uncle’s son) and her childhood friend. He serves as a commander of the fleet and he’s torn between the hawkish political views of his father and those of the king and Laeticia. He’s voiced by Takuya Sato, who also voiced Alphen in Tales of Arise.

The second is JJ, a swordsman with a fully mechanical body. He meets Raymond and Laeticia while fighting to protect his hometown. He’s calm, fair, and always puts the safety of his companions above his.

If this did not make him cool enough, he’s voiced by Takaya Kuroda, whom you may know as Kazuma Kiryu from the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series.

Non-playable characters introduced today are the King of Aucerius Rainbaut Aucerius, Neian Keisar, the commander of the knights of the kingdom of Aucerius, Emperor Boldor (Boldor Il Vey’l), ruler of the Vey’l Empire, and Benett Mosley, captain of the Battleship Astoria.

We also get to see boss battles, the ability to attack enemies’ weak points (with the help of Elena’s ability to analyze enemies), and the ability to destroy parts of certain monsters, which can block specific attacks, generate rare drops, and more.

The game also has a dungeon that specializes in boss battles called “Denmor Cave.” While it’s challenging, it lets you fight bosses over and over, making it a great place to level up your characters and collect items.

Supports are the backbone of a team in Overwatch 2, bringing steady healing to the match, as well as useful damage negation, damage enhancing, and speed boosting abilities.

Just as every Support character has their own ability kits to use within the game, they also have individual personalities and roles that they play in the world of Overwatch 2. Overwatch 2’s unique cast of characters is part of what makes the game so special from a storytelling perspective to many players.

The Overwatch 2 support roster holds various character concepts and personalities, including a doctor, a mad scientist and a ninja – just to name a few! To celebrate the Support role, we’ve created a personality quiz that matches you up to the Support character you are most like in Overwatch 2.

Who will you get? Jump in and complete this quiz to find out!

(Image Source: Blizzard Entertainment)

Ubisoft’s chief creative officer, Igor Manceau, will step down next month after only a year in that position at the troubled Assassin’s Creed publisher, the company announced internally on Thursday. According to a message to staff from CEO Yves Guillemot, the move comes as part of a larger change in how some of the…

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Nintendo has released the first trailer for its upcoming Super Mario Bros. movie and it features plenty of the famed plumber as well as Toad, Luigi, Bowser, the Mushroom Kingdom, and more. It also features our first listen to Chris Pratt's Mario.

Pratt teased back in June that his Mario voice is "unlike anything you've heard in the Mario world," and it turns out he's right in that we've never heard Pratt's voice in the world of Mario, which is to say his Mario just sounds like him. Elsewhere in the trailer, which aired during a special Nintendo Direct all about the film today, we get a glimpse at the movie's villain, Bowser, who is voiced by Jack Black, Toad, voiced by Keegan-Michael Key, and even a quick shot at Luigi at the end. 

Check out the Super Mario Bros. movie trailer for yourself below: 

As you can see, Super Mario Bros. looks like you'd expect, in line with Illumination's other animated movies like Despicable Me and Minions. It looks like it will be a great time at the theater, making the wait until its silver screen release on April 7 that much harder. 

In this week's episode of The Game Informer Show, the crew shares exclusive details from our latest magazine cover story on Bayonetta 3, including Marcus Stewart's hands-on impressions, a focus on the sequel's larger-than-life villains, and newcomer protagonist, Viola. During The Playlist, we break down our Overwatch 2 review and chat about our hands-on Gotham Knights preview. 

Follow us on social media: Alex Van Aken (@itsVanAken), Brian Shea (@BrianPShea), Marcus Stewart (@MarcusStewart7), Wesley LeBlanc (@LeBlancWes)

The Game Informer Show is a weekly gaming podcast covering the latest video game news, industry topics, exclusive reveals, and reviews. Join host Alex Van Aken every Thursday for a chat about your favorite games – past and present – with Game Informer staff, developers, and special guests from around the industry. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

Battlefield 2042 is getting a new in-game event from October 11th until the 25th. Called The Liquidators Event, it adds a new mode focused on fast-paced, close-quarters combat featuring only infantry and no vehicles. You'll find a trailer and more details below.

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After a year of lengthy, but steadily diminishing, queues to purchase a Steam Deck, Valve has announced its impressive handheld gaming PC is now available without a reservation.

Since last July, Valve has been using a reservation system for Steam Deck orders that first required purchasers to pay a small, deductible sum to join the reservations queue then wait for an invite to make a final purchase. For some time, the wait between the two steps was upward of several months, but the gap has been steadily narrowing as Steam Deck production began to outperform Valve's estimates.

Now, some 15 months after reservations for Steam Deck initially opened, Valve has announced the queue has been eradicated. Anyone looking to acquire a Steam Deck can now do so immediately, without needing to wait for an invitation to purchase.

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Nintendo has revealed the first trailer for the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Movie. The company held a Nintendo Direct to premiere the trailer, which went live at 1:05 PM PT (4:05 PM ET). The presentation aired simultaneously at New York Comic Con 2022.

You can watch the trailer below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KydqdKKyGEk

Before showing the trailer, the Nintendo Direct aired messages from several of the people involved with the project. Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto, Illumination's Chris Meledandri, and Chris Pratt and Jack Black, who voice Mario and Bowser, respectively, each shared some of their thoughts on the movie.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie trailer opens with Bowser's huge, fiery castle landing in an icy kingdom. Bowser and his army of Koopas attack the penguins living there and burn down the castle to find a Power Star. Then, we see Mario shoot out of a warp pipe, landing on the outskirts of the Mushroom Kingdom. While trying to figure out where he is, he meets Toad (Keegan-Michael Key), who leads him to the kingdom itself. A list of much of the voice cast is shown, followed by a short scene where Luigi (Charlie Day) is chased across a river of lava and into a castle by a horde of Dry Bones. The trailer ends with a reconfirmation of the movie's April 7 release date.

Aqua, one of the main characters in KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World, is making her appearance on the arcade rhythm game Sound Voltex. Konami revealed that it has added Aqua-related content for Sound Voltex: Exceed Gear that players can unlock for a limited time. The company has also added the anime show's first opening theme, "fantastic dreamer," as a playable song.

Players in Japan can access the Premium Generator to purchase in-game content related to Aqua. The main highlight is Aqua's appearance as a Nemsys Crew that will greet the player in the game's menus. The lineup also includes 10 Voiced Stamps and 20 Slide Show Touch Panels based on Aqua's famous pictures.

While Sound Voltex is also available in several other countries, the announcement has a fine print notifying players that content related to KonoSuba's Aqua will be available exclusively in Japan.

Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie has finally seen the release of its first trailer. With this first bit of early news, we can now start to see the film’s cast of actors in action as our favorite characters from gaming’s most iconic series. There’s a very star-studded list of actors here, too; here are all the confirmed cast members for The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

Super Mario Bros Movie Cast List

So far, only nine actors have been confirmed with their proper roles in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The early cast list is as follows:

After years of waiting, months of anticipation, and weeks of speculation, Nintendo fans finally got their first look at the all-new Super Mario Bros. Movie teaser trailer at New York Comic Con.

After a quick introduction by the series creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, Illumination President Chris Meledandri, and Stars Chris Pratt and Jack Black (Mario and Bowser, Respectively), fans were finally shown a full CGI-animated look at Mario’s world.

In the trailer, Bowser and his minions attack the Snow Kingdom. Despite its inhabitant’s best efforts, they are no match for Bowser as he destroys the snow castle, with Kamek (Kevin Micheal Richardson) quickly dispatching them. Bowser then goes ahead and takes the Power Star before screaming, “Now, who’s gonna stop me!”

The trailer then cuts to Mario being tossed out a green pipe, landing in the Mushroom Kingdom, and meeting Toad (Keagan Micheal Key), who then leads our hero toward Princess Peach’s castle. It’s interesting to note that Mario speaks with a Brooklyn accent, similar to Bob Hoskins from the 1993 live-action film.

The final part of the teaser cut to black with the title before showcasing a quick glimpse of Luigi (Charlie Day) being chased by a legion of Dry Bones.

Directed by Teen Titans Go! creators Michael Jelenic and Aaron Horvath, The Super Mario Bros. Movie will be released on Apr. 7, 2023.

Adept Raid weapons in Destiny 2 currently serve little to no purpose outside of collection incentives, as their regular versions that can be crafted are far superior in every way. Today that all changes, as Bungie announced in their latest TWAB that the upcoming Lightfall DLC will see the Adept Raid weapons get a massive upgrade.

You can ake a look at what the developers had to say regarding the improvements in an excerpt from the blog post right down below.

What about Adept raid weapon viability? 

As it stands, crafted base raid weapons are flat out better than Adept raid weapons. We’re not happy with this current state and have changes coming in Lightfall that give the new Lightfall raid Adept weapons access to enhanced perks (note that this is not going to be full, freeform crafting). It’s a little complex, so please look out for more information to come when we’re a little closer to Lightfall’s release.

This is both excellent and bad news for the present and future of Destiny 2. It’s great for the game’s future, as Adept Raid weapons desperately needed some form of upgrade, and adding Enhanced perks to their pool was a good call to make.

Unfortunately, this is bad news for the present, as it implies that the Adept Raid weapons currently in the game will continue to have no purpose whatsoever. This includes the weapons from the Vow of the Disciple and King’s Fall Raids. Vault of Glass is an exception, as their Adept guns are better because a player cannot craft the standard version of the weapon.

Patience is a virtue, as somehow it is still difficult to find a PlayStation 5 some two years after launch. But fortunately, if you’re in the market for a Steam Deck, there’s no longer any need to chase after a far-off pre-order: Valve is now shipping them right after purchase. No waiting, no queues, no $5…

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Nintendo’s trailer for The Super Mario Bros. Movie is finally out in the world, and so is Chris Pratt’s extremely normal-dude Mario voice. The first look didn’t explain why everyone’s favorite Italian plumber lost his ass, but it does appear to confirm the recent leak of a Mario movie calendar by an alleged McDonald’s…

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Nobody is excited about Chris Pratt’s Normal Dude rendition of Mario in Nintendo’s upcoming Super Mario Bros. movie, but that’s perfectly okay. The disappointment is balanced out by the sheer hype we now all have after hearing Jack Black as Bowser. It sounded like perfect casting the moment it was announced, and the…

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Today, a Nintendo Direct dedicated entirely to the upcoming Super Mario movie gave us our first proper look at the film, letting us see what all the familiar characters will look like and, more importantly, letting us hear what Chris Pratt sounds like as Nintendo’s mustachioed hero. It’s all timed to coincide with…

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When Bayonetta 3's first gameplay trailer hit last year, her new braided hairstyle caught the attention of fans for its resemblance to the look of Cereza, the little girl who tagged along with players in the first game. Spoiler for Bayonetta 1: Cereza is the child version of Bayonetta, so perhaps our hero simply wanted to return to her adolescent roots. However, the third game's focus on the multiverse has prompted some fans to consider a more tantalizing theory. 

First, to provide some context, here's a (relatively) quick refresher of Bayonetta's backstory for newcomers or lapsed fans. Five hundred years prior to the events of the first game, Bayonetta, whose real name is Cereza, was born the child of an Umbra Witch and a Lumen Sage. Since the light-worshipping Sages were rivals to the darkness-wielding witches, this was viewed as a forbidden union. Cereza's mother, Rosa, was imprisoned as a result. Thus, the witches treated Cereza as an outcast during her childhood and originally banned her from learning magic (but she does anyway), though Rosa does her best to raise Cereza regardless. 

Up until now, buying a Steam Deck meant first purchasing a reservation, then waiting weeks or months until you came to the front of the queue before you could complete your purchase. No longer. Valve say that they've increased their manufacturing capacity such that you can now buy a Steam Deck without a reservation.

They've also made the Steam Deck's dock available to purchase. It costs $80/£80 and has the same 1-2 week delivery estimate as the Deck itself.

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Core developers of Disco Elysium were allegedly "fired on false premises", according to Martin Luiga. Luiga, who worked on the game in its early days, made the comment in a new interview in which he also says that he believes "fans had a right to know" about the developers' departure from the studio.

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After years of behind-the-scenes chatter, Nintendo has shared the first trailer for its Chris-Pratt-starring animated Super Mario movie.

Announced back in 2018, The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a collaboration between Nintendo and Universal Pictures' Illumination animation division. It sees Pratt heading an all-star cast that includes Jack Black as Bowser and Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach.

Since initial casting details broke last year, all has been largely quiet, but the veil of secrecy has finally been lifted today with the first official teaser trailer, which you can see below.

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Today, it was officially announced that the popular Manga Hoshikuzu Telepath (Stardust Telepath) would be getting an anime. The entire 4-panel manga series, written and illustrated by Rasuko Ōkuma, is being adapted.

Details about the anime are still quite sparse, though there is an official website and an accompanying link to a colorful manga page being part of the announcement.

The key visual depicts the main character, Konohoshi Umika, who’s a high school girl with an anti-social personality and oddities. She feels like she doesn’t belong and one day meets another girl who claims to be an actual alien. This alien girl is Yū, a transfer student who reads the feelings of someone who touches foreheads with her.

The manga series was serialized a few years ago in 2019 via Manga Time Kirara, with two collected volumes being released in 2020 and 2021. Hoshikuzu Telepath was nominated for a Next Manga Award Best Printed category in 2021, and although it didn’t win, it was a good way to help boost the first work of this manga author.

The long-anticipated first trailer of the Super Mario Bros. Movie was shown off today at New York Comic-Con and via Nintendo Direct for the world to see. Fans around the world had…lots of thoughts.

The general consensus seems to be that the trailer for the movie itself looks great, from the visuals and plot to the voices of most of the characters. Not everyone seems to be sold on Chris Pratt’s voice for Mario, though.

Here are many of the reactions that have been popping up on Twitter after the reveal of the Super Mario Bros. Movie trailer that capture all the emotions we’re going through, starting with reactions to Pratt as Mario.

We have a feeling we’ll be seeing this image of Mario in pain as a reaction image for many years to come. It’s first usage, a reaction to Pratt’s voice as Mario, is very fitting.

If you watched the premiere of The Super Mario Bros. Movie trailer earlier today, you got to hear the voices of several of the cast such as Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, and of course, Chris Pratt as Mario himself.

Fans had a wide range of reactions to Pratt as Mario, especially since it had been long teased that nobody would be prepared to hear his voice as the Mushroom Kingdom hero, when in fact the reveal of his voice was…pretty average.

Pratt as Mario isn’t really overly great or overly terrible. It sounds like Pratt with a slight accent. We can’t tell if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

On the other hand, fans are going wild over Mario’s voice in the French-dubbed version of the movie. A clip from the trailer was shared by AnimeAjay on Twitter that highlights how the French voice actor portrays Mario as he jumps across some mushrooms. The clip quickly surpassed 35k likes on Twitter.

You can see the clip that Ajay shared below.

RimWorld, the acclaimed sci-fi colony sim from Ludeon Studios, is getting a third paid expansion, titled Biotech - which'll be bringing babies, mechanoids, and gene modding when it launches later this month alongside a free content update for all players.

Biotech's first big additions come in the form of children and reproduction, with colonists and outsiders able to get pregnant and give birth - either naturally or via technological means.

Once babies grow into children, they can learn through lessons, play, or by watching adults work, with players able to determine their traits and passions every few years. Children given more attention and better education are more likely to become happy and talented adult colonists - but players can alternatively skip the nuturing and use growth vats to pump out soldiers and cheap workers to exploit.

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Nintendo has just announced that Pilotwings 64, which was originally launched alongside the Nintendo 64 back in 1996, will soon be arriving on the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription service.

The trailer announcing that the game is coming to the service features a seductive voiceover narrative accompanied by smooth jazz music. Not exactly what you’d expect from a Nintendo 64 flight simulation game, but it’s pretty convincing.

In Pilotwings 64, you pilot airborne vehicles while taking on various challenges and missions. It’s a sequel to the first Pilotwings game on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, which is also on the Nintendo Switch Online service.

In order to play Pilotwings 64 and the rest of the Nintendo 64 games on the Switch, you’ll need the Expansion Pack upgrade to the base online membership. This upgraded membership costs $49.99 per year for an individual membership and $79.99 for a family plan of up to eight people.

Pilotwings 64 will be the 10th Nintendo 64 game to be added to this expansion pack service of games since it began last year. The most recent game to the service, Wave Race 64, was added mid-August; new N64 games are added roughly once a month, though there was no new game added in September.

Another week, another exciting episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. There’s so much to unpack. A couple of crime fighters new to the series – one new and silly, another a fan welcome fan-favorite. The episode also answers a burning question longtime MCU fans have been asking: whatever came of the Sokovia Accords? But before we get into this episode, let’s catch up with some important parts from previous episodes.

She-Hulk Episode 8 Recap

In the last episode, we learned that the man Jen was seeing, Josh, was secretly a member of the She-Hulk hating forum on the Intellegencia. After spending the night with her, he copied data from her phone and then ghosted her.

It’s also important to mention that Jen is a client of Luke Jacobson, an exclusive, high-end tailor who caters to superheroes. He is currently working on a dress that Jen can wear as She-Hulk to the Southern California Law Awards where she will accept her award for Female Lawyer of the Year. Caught up? Great.