November 2022

Exclusive: Former Capcom Producer Behind Resident Evil and Killer 7 Opens Up About His New Studio

1 year 4 months ago

Following Yakuza series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi and No More Heroes creator Goichi Suda, popularly known as "Suda51," Capcom veteran Hiroyuki Kobayashi announced his move to NetEase Games back in August this year. Today, NetEase revealed Kobayashi's new studio as GPTRACK50, located in Osaka. At Capcom, Kobayashi worked as the producer on the Resident Evil series as well as Devil May Cry.

“I was at Capcom for 27 years. During my time, the company became a lot bigger and a lot of new staff came in,” Kobayashi told IGN in an exclusive interview.

“I worked on a wide array of titles at Capcom, but I wanted a new challenge,” he explained. “Of course, it’s not like Capcom didn’t allow me to try out new things, but now that the company is a lot bigger, things are different from the way they were when I joined the company as a freshman back in 1995. Everything now needs to be approved and things just take more time to get greenlit. I’m the kind of creator that wants to be able to deliver a new experience while it still feels fresh, and I had been thinking of creating my own studio to make that possible.”

I worked on a wide array of titles at Capcom, but I wanted a new challenge

Kobayashi had heard that major Chinese publisher and developer NetEase Games gives its studios a lot of creative freedom. After joining the company, he feels relieved to have the liberty to be able to pursue his ideas without having to take too much time to explain himself.

Author
Kat Bailey

Tags

How to Play the Resident Evil Games in Chronological Order

1 year 4 months ago

Through its (near-)consistent excellence, innovation, and longevity, Resident Evil games has earned its crown as the king of survival of horror. Capcom debuted its world of mutants and mercenaries in 1996 and has since grown Resident Evil into a multimedia franchise that spans over two dozen console games, six films, two recent Netflix series, novels, comics, and even stage plays.

It can be an exciting franchise to explore given the amount of content it houses, though for the same reason, it can be an equally daunting series to approach. This article focuses exclusively on video games and cuts out the convolution by presenting two ways to play only the most narratively significant and accessible Resident Evil games in order.

Jump to:

How Many Resident Evil Games Are There?

There are 10 core Resident Evil games: RE 0-7, Village, and Code: Veronica. However, the total number of Resident Evil console games — including spinoffs and remakes — sits around 30. That number rises near 60 when accounting for mobile and pachinko games.

How to Play the Resident Evil Games in Chronological Order

For this list, we’re focusing on 12 Resident Evil games: all 10 core entries and the two Revelations spinoffs. While many others are considered canon, this is not an exhaustive chronology, but rather an approachable guide to entering and enjoying the world of Resident Evil video games.

Author
Jordan Sirani

Tags

Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord Review

1 year 4 months ago

The claustrophobic press of frenzied melee, whistling of missiles, and thunderous charge of cavalry are often represented in games, but rarely so personally as in the Mount & Blade series. It’s not often I get the feeling I’m experiencing what must’ve been the needs of a commander at eye-level on the field trying to maneuver his forces, or being forced to desperately scramble among bodies for a quiver of arrows or fresh shield. This is the appeal of Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord, and it outweighs all of the holes, bugs, and underwhelming strategy and roleplaying mechanics you have to wade through to get here. When you reach the battlefield, this low-fantasy medieval simulation is unmatched.

Bannerlord drops you into the shoes of a capable, temporarily impoverished wannabe in a sandbox world based on late antiquity, complete with a fragmenting Roman Empire stand-in. It's an engaging scenario for its variety of combatants, mercenary bands, and warring societies, each with a unique historically-based way of fighting. In contrast, Bannerlord's main story is very thin, but revolves around finding the remnants of an ancient and symbolic banner – then deciding whether to use it to finish off the empire or take the banner to reunite its fragmented territories.

Author
Dan Stapleton

Tags

Phil Spencer: Call of Duty Will Continue to Ship on PlayStation 'As Long As There's a PlayStation to Ship To"

1 year 4 months ago

Xbox’s Phil Spencer has said that that should Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard go through, the company will continue to ship Call of Duty on PlayStation as long as there are PlayStation consoles out to ship to.

On the Same Brain YouTube channel, Spencer said (starting at 28:40), “We're not taking Call of Duty from PlayStation. That's not our intent. Our intent is not to do that and as long as there's a PlayStation out there to ship to, our intent is that we'll continue to ship Call of Duty on PlayStation. Similar to what we've done with Minecraft since we owned that.”

Author
George Yang

Tags

Ghostbusters VR Gets Official Title, and Release Window

1 year 4 months ago

Sony Pictures VR officially announced the official title and release window for its upcoming Ghostbusters VR game.

Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord is slated to launch in 2023 for the Meta Quest 2 and PlayStation VR2. The game was initially announced back in April during Meta's Gaming Showcase as a surprise announcement to wrap up the show.

Set in San Francisco, players run their own ghost-busting business. As noted in the press release, players will have the chance to play solo or with up to three friends as they try and "stop the powerful Ghost Lord and his band of malevolent ghosts from causing chaos" through San Francisco.

Ghostbusters%3A%20Rise%20of%20the%20Ghost%20Lord%26%2339%3Bs%20Official%20Keyart%20%7C%20Image%3A%20Sony%20Pictures%20VR

Sony Pictures VR confirmed to IGN that the upcoming Ghostbusters game will not be a direct sequel to the 2021 film Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Instead, the publisher explained that it was "really important" for the game's developer, nDreams, to "move forward and create a whole storyline."

Author
Taylor Lyles

Tags

IKEA Sends Cease and Desist to Indie Dev Making Furniture Store Survival Game

1 year 4 months ago

Ikea has sent a cease and desist letter to the developer of The Store is Closed, an indie survival game about spending the night in a furniture store.

As reported by Kotaku, lawyers representing Ikea have accused solo developer Jacob Shaw of committing trademark infringement and have given him ten days to change parts of his game that allegedly represent Ikea branding.

This includes a blue and yellow sign, a Scandinavian name (STYR), yellow vertical striped shirts, a grey path on the floor, and some furniture. "All the foregoing immediately suggest that the game takes place in an Ikea store", the lawyers' letter said.

No reference to Ikea exists on The Store is Closed's Steam or Kickstarter pages, however, and Shaw maintains that he wasn't inspired by Ikea for the game's furniture as he bought a generic furniture asset pack that can be used in any game. The Ikea lawyers also cite press outlets and online commentators for drawing a comparison between his game and Ikea.

The letter continued: The "unauthorized use of the IKEA indicia constitutes unfair competition and false advertising under Sections 43(a) of the U.S. Trademark Act, 15 U.S. C § 1125(a), and state unfair competition and false advertising laws.

Author
Ryan Dinsdale

Tags

The Best Horror Video Game: Our Face-Off Winner Revealed

1 year 4 months ago

Halloween has officially arrived and we are here to help celebrate by presenting you with the winners of our best horror video game face-off. Not only do you now have an idea of what terrifying games you need to play for the first time or hundredth during this spooky season, but we also now know which horror game IGN's audience believes is the best of the best.

So, after 1.2 million battles with matchups like Resident Evil 4 vs. Dead Space and Silent Hill vs. P.T., which game earned the right to be called the greatest horror game of all time? Bloody drumroll please...

Pyramid Head fans, rejoice! Silent Hill 2 has won our horror game face-off with a commanding win percentage of 88.5%. The game from 2001 that is officially getting a remake from The Medium's Bloober Team won 19,747 of its 22,308 duels, indicating that the idea of a remake was probably a great decision.

Speaking of remakes, Resident Evil 2 Remake came in second place with a win percentage of 83.8% and narrowly surpassed Resident Evil 7: Biohazard's 83.2% win percentage. We chose Resident Evil 2 Remake as our second-favorite Resident Evil game of all time recently, and it beat every game aside from Resident Evil 4, another game getting a remake.

Author
Adam Bankhurst

Tags

Amsterdam Hotel Featured In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Is Unhappy With 'Unwanted Involvement'

1 year 4 months ago

The real world Amsterdam hotel featured in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is not happy with its "unwanted involvement" in the first person shooter from Activision Blizzard.

As reported by de Volkskrant (and translated by PC Gamer), the manager of the Conservatorium Hotel in Amsterdam said the business is currently considering how to deal with its near-exact recreation in Modern Warfare 2's Tradecraft level and Breenbergh Hotel multiplayer map.

"We have taken note of the fact that the Conservatorium Hotel is undesirably the scene of the new Call of Duty," said manager Roy Tomassen. "More generally, we don't support games that seem to encourage the use of violence. The game in no way reflects our core values ​​and we regret our apparent and unwanted involvement."

The hotel is still considering what steps to take next but gave no indication as to its plans, whether it be legal action, something else, or nothing at all. IGN has reached out to Activision Blizzard for comment.

The Conservatorium Hotel (called the Breenbergh Hotel in-game) is one part of a much larger Amsterdam level that recreates several streets and locations from the real city, though it is obviously the sole focus of the multiplayer map of the same name.

Author
Ryan Dinsdale

Tags

Marvel and EA Sign Three-Game Deal, Starting With Iron Man

1 year 4 months ago

Marvel has entered an agreement with FIFA and Battlefield publisher EA to make at least three action adventure video games based on the Marvel comics.

As reported by Bloomberg, this deal will begin with the previously announced Iron Man game from EA Motive, with all three games coming to consoles and PC. Though details about what's coming after Iron Man are still thin, each game will feature its own original story set in the Marvel universe.

Perhaps known more for its sports or traditional shooter games, EA is looking to increase its offerings with the Marvel deal. "We have an intentional, deliberate strategy to have a balanced portfolio," said chief operating officer Laura Miele. "There will be Marvel fans who don’t play other EA games."

It's unclear if the second and third game will be centred on different Marvel characters like The Hulk or Thor or if they'll be follow-ups to the Iron Man game, similar to what Insomniac did with Spider-Man, its spin-off Miles Morales, and upcoming sequel.

Nothing about a release schedule or single versus multiplayer focus was mentioned either, though we do know that EA Motive's Iron Man is a "single player, action-adventure game".

Author
Ryan Dinsdale

Tags

Phil Spencer Admits It's Been Too Long Since Xbox Had a Major First Party Exclusive

1 year 4 months ago

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has admitted it's been too long since a major first party exclusive game landed on the Xbox Series X and S.

Speaking to Same Brain on YouTube, Spencer said he understands why players are frustrated at the lack of major Xbox-only games - with last year's Halo Infinite arguably being the most recent - but noted that 2023 is set to be a big year for the company.

"One thing we've definitely heard loud and clear is that it's been too long since we've shipped what people would say is a big first party game," Spencer said. "We could have our excuses on Covid and other things, but in the end I know people invest in our platform and they want to have great games."

He continued: "We're excited about 2023. We've talked about games that are coming, and those games are tracking well. Getting our first real Xbox first party games out of Bethesda, having them ship Redfall and Starfield, will be a lot of fun."

Forza Motorsport 8 is also expected to be released in spring 2023, adding to Xbox's line-up for the year and returning to the simulator-based series for the first time since 2017.

Author
Ryan Dinsdale

Tags

NASCAR Driver Scores Spot in Championship Race With Last-Second Video Game Move

1 year 4 months ago

NASCAR driver Ross Chastain has credited a childhood video game habit for his bold last-corner move at Martinsville Speedway today, which saw him catapult from 10th to fifth in the final seconds of the race by riding the wall at high speed.

The move secured Chastain a spot in next weekend’s 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4, the first appearance in the series finale for his team Trackhouse Racing. Chastain also broke the stock car track record at Martinsville Speedway.

“I played a lot of NASCAR 2005 on the GameCube with [younger brother] Chad growing up, and you could get away with it,” explained Chastain in a post-race interview. “And I never knew if it would actually work; I mean, I did that when I was eight years old.”

“I just made the choice; I grabbed fifth gear down the back and full committed.”

Riding walls at high speed has long been a common cheat in the low-stakes world of racing games to slingshot around corners and blaze past opponents, but Chastain has proven it can also work in the real world. That is, it can work once, at least.

Author
Luke Reilly

Tags

The Valiant Review

1 year 4 months ago

One part small-scale, isometric sword-and-shield skirmishing and one part continent-spanning treasure hunt for a powerful religious artefact, The Valiant is a medieval squad-based RTS that’s as much clicking as it is conquering. If you microwaved your copies Kingdom of Heaven and Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade and made a scented candle out of the molten goop you might get a whiff of what developer Kite Games is going for here. However, while the result is a competent strategy game overall, it’s also a bit repetitive and shallow – and subsequently not quite as fun as that previous fusion sounds.

An adequate way to quickly describe The Valiant might be as a 13th century Company of Heroes. A more accurate parallel, however, might be 2018’s Ancestor’s Legacy thanks to its broadly comparable Middle Ages setting and its very similar range of unit types. They differ considerably in terms of story, though; while Ancestor’s Legacy is more overtly inspired by historical events (albeit loosely), The Valiant is a the tale of a retired crusader knight, Theoderich von Akenburg, and his search for an ancient and dangerously powerful relic – which he’s racing against an equally dangerous Templar of doom to recover. Joining Theoderich along the way is a brave band of medieval expendables, plucked from several corners of the post-classical world.

Author
Luke Reilly

Tags

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Will Get Its Hardcore Mode, Now Called Tier 1, in November

1 year 4 months ago

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's hardcore playlist, which is now called Tier 1, will not arrive until the start of the game's first season on November 16, 2022.

As detailed on an official Call of Duty blogpost, the Tier 1 playlists offer a "more challenging experience compared to traditional Multiplayer. Operators have less health and limited HUD elements, and friendly fire is on. These elements are consistent in all game modes that support the Tier 1 variant."

The Tier 1 playlist isn't the only thing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 owners will have to wait for, as the game's Battle Pass will also go live on the first day of Season 01 alongside the long-awaited arrival of Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0.

Speaking of Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0, which will be free-to-play and will include the traditional battle royale gameplay with a new twist, the game will also include a new "extraction mode" called DMZ that appears to be similar to titles like Escape from Tarkov.

Warzone 2.0 is a "fully revamped experience" and will take place in the desert of Al Mazrah, a fictional region of Western Asia. Players will contend with A.I. as well as real players if they want to be the last ones standing. There will also be a new "Multi-Circle closure," water combat, a new gulag, and more.

Author
Adam Bankhurst

Tags

Elden Ring Player Beats Every Boss Without Taking a Hit

1 year 5 months ago

The seemingly unthinkable has happened: An Elden Ring player has defeated every single boss without taking a single hit. The accomplishment was achieved by Twitch streamer and Elden Ring challenge runner GinoMachino.

There are 165 bosses in FromSoftware's Elden Ring, ranging from some of the easier bosses in Limgrave, to the infamously difficult ones, like Malenia. GinoMachino took two months to plan out the route for the no-hit run, before finally completing the challenge on October 25. It's worth pointing out that this is a true no-hit run, meaning if GinoMachino got even a single scratch from any boss, he had to start the entire game over from the start.

Author
Logan Plant

Tags

Epic's Defunct MOBA Paragon Is Back Under New Ownership

1 year 5 months ago

After Fortnite's success eclipsed Paragon, Epic shut down the MOBA's servers just two years after the game's beta release. Now, thanks to free assets from the game on the Unreal Marketplace and a trademark agreement with Epic, Paragon is making a return four years later, albeit under a new title and new ownership.

As pointed out by PC Gamer, Paragon: The Overprime is a Paragon rework that's being developed by the South Korean studio Netmarble. The free-to-play title is currently in open beta until November 21. It's headed to Steam and the Epic Games Store in the near future, but it's unclear when the full game will release.

According to Paragon: The Overprime's Epic Games Store page, when released, it will function as a live service game, with new heroes being added over time.

"We invite you to Prime where the space opera of a symphony of heroes echoes across the universe," the game's tagline reads.

Epic released $12 million of Paragon assets for free on the Unreal Marketplace when Paragon's servers closed. A few other games have utilized its assets since their release in 2018, though this marks the first time Epic has granted a studio permission to adopt Paragon's branding.

Author
Amelia Zollner

Tags

Xbox Games With Gold for November 2022 Revealed

1 year 5 months ago

Microsoft has announced the Xbox Games with Gold lineup for November 2022, including Roman Empire RTS Praetorians - HD Remaster and co-op twin-stick shooter Dead End Job.

According to Xbox Wire, the library update begins with Praetorians on November 1 (available until November 30). Dead End Job follows up later in the month on November 16 (available until December 15), while the October Games With Gold offering Bomber Crew is free until November 15.

On Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, Praetorians gets an HD makeover for the 2003 strategy game. In a bid to become emperor, you’ll navigate the Roman Empire’s political intrigue through reworked console controls and high-definition visuals. The remaster includes more than 20 campaign missions, plus online multiplayer with up to eight players.

The colorful, playful ghost-blasting of Dead End Job offers another co-op game for the service, and still includes the option to go at it alone. Inspired by the whimsy of 90’s cartoons, paranormal pest buster Hector Plasm will rid offices, restaurants, and more of otherworldly critters with his trusty plasma blaster and vacuum pack.

Author
Andrea Shearon

Tags

Destiny 2: Where Is Xur Today? Location and Exotic Items for October 28-November 1

1 year 5 months ago

The mysterious sack of dandruff, Xûr, is now live in Destiny 2 for the weekend until next week's reset. If you're looking to get your some shiny new Exotic armor or weapons for your Guardian, look no further.

Each week, Xûr has a random assortment of Exotic armor, one for each Guardian class, as well as a random Exotic Weapon and an Exotic Engram available for purchase. In addition to his Exotic wares, he's got a random collection of Legendary weapons and armor to deck out your Guardians.

We've rounded up all the info on Xûr for the week including where to find Xûr, which Exotic weapons and armor are available, as well as which Legendary weapons you should pick up, either for PvE or PvP.

Where Is Xûr This Weekend?

Xûr's location today can be found at Watcher's Grave on Nessus on October 28 through November 1. To reach him, travel to the landing point at Watcher's Grave. When you arrive, make for the red moss-covered tree straight ahead. Climb up the roots and you'll find Xûr waiting at the top to sell you exotic items and legendary weapons.

Author
Travis Northup

Tags

Blizzard Sells an Overwatch 2 Charm Cheaper in Real Life Than In-Game

1 year 5 months ago

Overwatch 2’s monetization has been a point of contention since the game’s shift to free-to-play has made cosmetics that were once free through the original game’s loot boxes fairly expensive. It turns out one of the in-game items is also for sale in Blizzard’s online store and costs more in Overwatch 2 than it does in real life.

As VG24/7 and users on Reddit have pointed out, Overwatch 2 has a cosmetic weapon charm featuring Pachimari, an in-universe mascot character, that costs 700 coins in the game’s currency, which roughly equates to $7 USD. Meanwhile, a real keychain with the same design costs $5 on Blizzard’s Gear Store.

Notably, the 700 coins you would need to buy the Pachimari charm in Overwatch 2 are difficult to come by without paying for one of the preset currency bundles, and the cheapest one that would get you 700 coins is the $10 transaction that gives you 1000 coins.

Author
Kenneth Shepard

Tags

NASCAR driver pulls off crowd-stunning ‘wall ride’ he learned on GameCube

1 year 4 months ago
Stock car No. 1, headed right to left, hugs the white concrete barrier ringing Martinsville Speedway, with a cloud of debris and paint trailing off the side
We’d say don’t try this at home, but you probably did 17 years ago. Ross Chastain “wall rides” on the last lap at Martinsville Speedway, overtaking five cars to secure one of four qualifying bids for NASCAR’s season-ending series championship race | Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images

Ross Chastain said the move came straight from NASCAR 2005

Continue reading…

Author
Owen S. Good

Tags

Sega's Lost 'Erotic Thriller' Has Been Found

1 year 4 months ago

In the mid-90s, with the Saturn bombing and the video game landscape changing rapidly, Sega rolled the dice and made a few risky bets. One of those was, uh, sinking $3 million into the creation of an adult-oriented FMV game called Sacred Pools, that was so bad it ended up being binned before it was ever released.

Read more...

Author
Luke Plunkett

Tags

Yu-Gi-Oh! Comes To Life Like That Star Wars 3D Chess Game

1 year 4 months ago

After 7 months of testing, work and tinkering, French Yu-Gi-Oh! fan SuperZouloux has built one of the coolest card game tricks I have ever seen: a game mat and camera setup that, thanks to augmented reality tech, is able to broadcast 3D versions of his monsters as he plays his cards.

Read more...

Author
Luke Plunkett

Tags

Microsoft Loses Between $100-$200 On Every Xbox It Sells

1 year 4 months ago

Video game consoles are very expensive pieces of computer hardware crammed into relatively small boxes and packaged with pricey controllers. So it’s not surprising to hear that Microsoft isn’t making money selling Xbox consoles. In fact, these days it loses up to $200 for every console sold.

Read more...

Author
Zack Zwiezen

Tags