March 2023

Paradox Announcement Show 2023: Everything Announced

1 year ago

Cities: Skylines and Crusader Kings publisher Paradox Interactive held a showcase today, showing off updates on previously-announced games and some entirely brand new titles. From the newly-revealed Cities: Skylines II to a new expansion revealed for Crusader Kings III, read on to learn everything announced at today's event.

Colossal Order Reveals Cities: Skylines II

Cities: Skylines II is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC later this year. The reveal promised the most realistic city simulation ever created, with transportation and economy systems, construction and customization options, and more modding capabilities. This sequel to the 2015 original will let players build any type of city they want, from a tiny village to a huge metropolis.

Crusader Kings III: Tours & Tournaments Expansion Revealed

Crusader Kings III is getting a new PC expansion titled Tours & Tournaments. This expansion to Paradox's strategy RPG will let players tour their monarch's realm to check in on vassals, host or fight in grand tournaments, and plan royal weddings.

Author
Logan Plant

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Cities: Skylines 2 Revealed for Current-Gen Consoles, Coming Later This Year

1 year ago

Developer Colossal Order and publisher Paradox Interactive have announced Cities: Skylines II, the sequel to 2015's Cities: Skylines.

Revealed as part of today's Paradox Announcement Show 2023, Cities: Skylines II is leaving last-gen consoles behind and heading exclusively to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. The city builder sequel is set to launch sometime in 2023.

Paradox said Cities: Skylines II will improve and expand upon the robust city building mechanics fans know from the original, including fully-realized transportation and economy systems, tons of construction and customization options, and advanced modding capabilities.

Players will be able to build any type of city they want, from a small village to a bustling metroplis. Paradox is touting that Cities: Skylines II will be the most realistic city simulation ever created.

Cities: Skylines was originally released on PC and Mac in 2015, and the game eventually came to PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and even Stadia. The city builder also saw a number of DLC expansions, like major updates Cities: Skylines After Dark, Cities: Skylines Snowfall, a natural disasters DLC, and more. The original game recently got a remastered version for PS5 and Xbox Series consoles.

Author
Logan Plant

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How Inclusive Design Can Further Our Accessibility Understandings

1 year ago

When it comes to accessibility in games, the first aspect people always look for is an options menu. From customizing controls, adjusting subtitle size, or even activating varying colorblind filters, these settings help to dismantle any inaccessible barriers that could appear. And this constant search for features has become the primary topic when examining a title’s overall accessibility. Disabled players praise or criticize developers on social media platforms, and even content creators and publications will release videos or articles exploring menus to help disabled players make informed purchases. Yet, options alone do not make for an accessible game.

Before I explain further, I am not advocating for the removal of accessibility settings. I regularly scour menus to find features that suit my needs. I rebind keys, increase my mouse sensitivity, or even toggle actions like aiming or sprinting. I understand the importance and necessity of innovating, especially with groundbreaking settings like Audio Descriptive Cutscenes. But this notion that a game’s accessibility is solely based on what it does or doesn’t include in a menu ultimately holds back the greater accessibility movement.

Exploring Inclusive Design

The disabled experience is incredibly multifaceted. Even people with the same disability as me – Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type II – have varying levels of strength, stamina, and general mobility. While certain accessibility features are crucial for me to play games, some options may serve no purpose or may not be enough for other players. This is where inclusive design practices thrive.

Author
Alex Simmons

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Meta Quest 2 and Pro Price Cuts Are Live

1 year ago

Here’s some good news for anyone looking to pick up a VR headset: two Meta headsets have gotten price cuts. You can pick up a 256GB Meta Quest 2 for $429, which is $80 less than it cost last week. It even comes with two games. Or, if you want a more premium product, you can grab the Meta Quest Pro for $999, which is $500 less than its previous price. Not bad at all.

Meta Quest 2 (256GB) and 2 Games for $429

The 256GB model of the Meta Quest 2 used to cost $499, but is now available for $429. For comparison, the 128GB model costs $399, so it’s only an extra $30 to double the storage. That’s a pretty great deal, I’d say, considering there’s no way to increase the storage on these headsets. You can’t, for instance, pop in a microSD card like you can in a Switch or Steam Deck. The storage in the Meta Quest 2 you buy is all the storage it will ever have.

So what do you get for your money? You get a standalone headset that doesn’t need to be plugged into anything to play games (take that, PSVR 2). You get two Touch controllers, a charging cable, power adapter, and a glasses spacer. You also get two free games: GOLF+ and Space Pirate Trainer DX. Not a bad deal.

Meta Quest Pro for $999

For those who want a more premium piece of hardware, you can pick up the Meta Quest Pro for $999, which is a whopping $500 less than it cost last week. That’s a wild discount. This headset is quite a bit slimmer and sleeker than the Meta Quest 2. It has better controller tracking and fancy features like face tracking built in.

Author
Chris Reed

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Battlefield 2042's New Map Has a Mirror's Edge Easter Egg

1 year ago

Battlefield 2042 players have found an Easter Egg from EA's Mirror's Edge hidden in the game's new map.

As reported by Eurogamer, Battlefield 2042's Season 4 update added the Flashpoint map and with it a throwback to one of developer DICE's previous projects. Most known for its fast-paced parkour around vertigo-inducing environments, the Mirror's Edge reference can naturally be found at the top of a very tall object.

By flying to the top of a crane, players can find the sneakers worn by protagonist Faith in the Mirror's Edge games. As mentioned previously, however, this is likely just a fun reference to DICE's older games rather than an indication that more Mirror's Edge content is coming.

Author
Ryan Dinsdale

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Crunchyroll Names Cyberpunk Edgerunners Best Anime of 2022 Over Attack on Titan and Demon Slayer

1 year ago

Cyberpunk Edgerunners has been named the best anime of last year at Crunchyroll's 2023 Anime Awards, overcoming the fierce competition of Attack on Titan, Demon Slayer, and more.

Announced at the awards show in Tokyo over the weekend, the Netflix series from Studio Trigger and CD Projekt Red overcame Attack on Titan's Final Season Part 2, Demon Slayer's Entertainment District Arc, Lycoris Recoil, Ranking of Kings, and Spy x Family.

The show's official Twitter account posted a celebratory message (below), saying: "We'd like to thank everyone for their support, votes, and for watching our anime".

Author
Ryan Dinsdale

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Resident Evil 4 Teaser Website Is Full of Puzzles, Riddles, and Backstory

1 year ago

Resident Evil 4 has a new ARG that is full of puzzles and riddles for users to solve in an effort to recover the US president's daughter (codenamed Baby Eagle) before it's too late.

Those interested in participating can head to the secure agent portal at babyeagleismissing.com. There, they will find an urgent alert from Agent Greene of the Secret Service Northeastern Division requesting assistance with the kidnapping of "Baby Eagle" Ashley Graham.

On entering the site, users will be presented with a series of messages from various agents and will have access to top-secret evidence to help with the case. They must analyze and decode the fragmented data to advise agents on the ground on their next moves.

One piece of evidence is a shredded document that users must piece back together to solve the first mystery. The answer that is uncovered must then be typed into the comment box to proceed to the next task, which involves cracking another code and unlocking a phone.

The ARG builds backstory for Resident Evil 4 since the kidnapping of the US president's daughter directly leads into the events of the video game, in which special agent Leon S. Kennedy sets out on a mission to rescue "Baby Eagle" from a monstrous cult in rural Europe.

Author
Adele Ankers-Range

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The Last of Us Episode 8: TV Show vs Game Comparison

1 year ago

Warning: Full spoilers ahead for episode 8 of HBO's The Last of Us.

HBO's The Last of Us episode 8 has arrived and this time we see Ellie tangling with David and Joel stepping up his torturing game. But how close does the show compare to the game?

To help answer this question, we've gathered images from episode 8 of HBO's The Last of Us and put them next to stills from Naughty Dog's The Last of Us game to see how faithful the adaptation is. Check out the slideshow, or watch the video above to see the scenes from both the show and the game in action.

In our The Last of Us episode 8 review, we said "As Ellie reaches her most desperate moment, darkness comes knocking in an outstanding episode of HBO’s The Last of Us. A chapter that explores the depraved depths humanity will plummet to in order to survive, it’s endlessly engaging and hard to turn your eyes away from, even when you want to. Packed full of crucial character moments and flashes of ferocious action, it’s as horrific as this world can get, even when the infected remain firmly below it."

For more, be sure to check out our similar comparison for last week's episode.

Author
Dale Driver

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Why PSVR 2 is Better Than Quest 2

1 year ago

The PSVR 2 is here and I’ve never been more excited to jump back into a virtual world of reality. Sure, we have our fair share of PC VR headsets and two generations of Meta’s standalone Quest, but it’s been almost seven years since we’ve gotten a console VR headset. PlayStation sure did take its time to bring us this new virtual tech, and as someone who’s been using the Quest since way back when it still said ‘Oculus’ on the box, I noticed quite a few differences that, in my opinion, make the PSVR 2 far superior to its main competition.

Comfort

Let’s start with comfort. The PSVR 2 is by far the best fitting VR headset I’ve ever used. The halo design makes it easy to adjust and the actual visor portion feels extremely lightweight. One of the Quest’s biggest advantages is also a downside: it’s all-in-one, but it’s also all on your head – and the elastic straps do little to help it stay there.

I even avoided wearing glasses with the Quest 2 because I already had a problem with light leakage because there’s nothing to really help block out environmental light. With the PSVR 2, however, it has a built-in rubberized housing fixed to the visor, which blocks out almost all environmental lighting. What’s more, the visor can be adjusted separately to make room for glasses, should the wearer, like me, do so. This is the first time I’ve been able to play VR with complete clarity and that’s huge.

Author
Alex Simmons

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Counter-Strike 2 Rumors Are Picking Up Steam

1 year ago

While its important to take all this with a grain of salt and wait for official confirmation, there have been some rumors circulating that Counter-Strike 2 may be on the way very soon.

Richard Lewis, a notable journalist and caster within the Counter-Strike community, claims to have received evidence from sources that Valve is getting ready to release a new version of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in the near future and that a beta may arrive as early as this month or in April.

This project is said to have a working title of Counter-Strike 2 and to have been in development "for some time." Lewis mentions that Counter-Strike 2 has been a priority for Valve and is one of the reasons why the current version of CS:GO has been "largely unattended to for some time."

According to these sources, Counter-Strike 2 will run on the Source 2 engine and that move "should improve the optimisation and graphical fidelity of the game." It is also said to have, much like Valorant, 128-tick servers, which is a number that describes how fast a game's server can process information.

Matchmaking will also be improved in this new version and Valve appears to be hoping that third-party services won't be necessary to put players together in a more efficient way.

Author
Adam Bankhurst

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Valorant Episode 6 Act II: New Agent Gekko All Abilities Explained

1 year ago

VALORANT Episode 6 Act III features a new Agent entering the fray. Hailing from Los Angeles, Gekko and his adorable creature friends will be joining the roster. Here’s what you need to know about the latest VALORANT Agent.

Gekko’s Abilities

Gekko’s kit is fairly unique with the way his abilities are named after each of his creature buddies. He’s able to retrieve most of his abilities as well after deploying them and collecting their orbs where his abilities expired.

Author
Stella Chung

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Can F1 23 Hope to Match the Drama of the Real Thing?

1 year ago

Formula 1 is back for another year but, while pundits fruitlessly flail with trying to parse meaning from pre-season testing times ahead of the Bahrain GP, let’s consider what Codemasters has been doing with this year’s inevitable F1 23.

Back in 2021, amid the continuing gloom of a global pandemic, Codemasters introduced a fully-fledged story mode – dubbed Braking Point – into its long-running Formula 1 series for the first time. Threading an original story through the real sport, Braking Point told the story of a fictional rookie’s rise through the ranks via a series of curated racing challenges.

This fresh-faced driver was Aiden Jackson, a talented Brit who lacked experience on the big stage. Jackson was initially placed at odds with his veteran Dutch teammate Casper Akkerman, but (spoiler alert) the two eventually repaired their prickly relationship and joined forces to subvert their Machiavellian rival Devon Butler – Braking Point’s token slimeball.

One particularly interesting element of Braking Point was that it didn’t introduce a custom team for Jackson and Akkerman; the drivers actually raced for one of five real teams based on the player’s choice – Williams, Haas, Alfa Romeo, Alpha Tauri, and Racing Point (which became Aston Martin during the story, as it spanned the years that branding change occurred in the real championship). Another driver from one of the four remaining selectable teams was replaced with Butler. The storytelling didn’t really push the boat out but overall it was an earnest effort well executed, and it was neat that real teams had been convinced to sideline either one (or both) of their actual drivers for the purposes of the story (which, at one stage, even involved their team cars being depicted getting embarrassingly tangled up on track).

Author
Luke Reilly

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The Community Spotlight 2023.03.04

1 year ago

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight! I, @zombiepie, am once again honored to be your host as we look back at the best community-created works from the previous week. This time we have an incredibly well-rounded edition of the Spotlight that has a little bit of everything while people get excited for Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty and Atomic Heart.

However, many of you are still having issues with the new video player as well as the video encoder. As mentioned last week, the embiggen and fit to window options are in the works, but we don't have an ETA at the moment. The design and bug team are working with the tickets that Rorie is filing on your behalf, so, continue sharing your issues with the video player and the current API.

On a related note, timestamps on podcasts and videos on YouTube are rolling out slower than expected and this is not due to Giant Bomb no longer valuing timestamps. This week, Jan, who does most of the timestamps, had things that ate into the worktime he normally uses to make those.

Author
Marino - Brad Lynch

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The Community Spotlight 2023.02.25

1 year 1 month ago

Welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight! I, @zombiepie, am once again honored to be your host as we look back at the best community-created works from the previous week.

After a delay due to recent events, the Giant Bomb Community GOTY 2022 Winners have been announced! If you want to see how the community vote stacked up with the staff GOTY awards, or just like this feature, drop a supportive comment in the article!

Dylan Host, the Community Manager of Safety for Fandom’s Community Safety team wants to introduce himself! What's his job and when should you contact him? Some people are confused as to how their overlaps with Rorie's and, as they say in the write-up, they are happy to respond to any comments you drop their way.

This next note is a throwback to those of you that have been on Giant Bomb for a while. Drew Scanlon and Danny O'Dwyer have a new episode of their F1 podcast available. Give it a listen if you want a fun rundown of all the upcoming events for the season and other news connected to F1! Likewise, Grubb's off-site Game Mess Patreon is nearing the 250 patrons mark and thanks anyone who joins.

Finally, if silly but fun stuff like this does not sell you on why you should join the Official Giant Bomb Discord, then I don't know what will.

Author
Marino - Brad Lynch

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These 4 Horror Titles Are The Ultimate Anti-Cozy Games

1 year ago

There are different kinds of “scary” things. There’s what I’d call “haunted house scary,” anything that immediately elicits a sharp scream, like a plate falling on the kitchen floor, that you forget about as soon as it’s over—you gather up the shards and move on.

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Author
Ashley Bardhan

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Pokémon Fans Love This Gym Leader Because He's Just Like You, FR

1 year ago

Welcome to the first edition of Exp. Share, Kotaku’s new Pokémon column in which we dive deep to explore notable characters, urban legends, communities, and just plain weird quirks from throughout the Pokémon franchise. This week we’re taking a look at one of the breakout characters from Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.…

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Author
Kenneth Shepard

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The Last Of Us Show Makes Its Most Horrific Character More Horrifying

1 year ago

When I finished The Last of Us’ eighth episode “When We Are in Need,” which recounts the events of the game’s winter section, I had to go take a walk. I thought I was emotionally prepared to see a live-action version of the source material’s darkest moments, but I was once again surprised by the HBO show’s willingness…

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Author
Kenneth Shepard

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9 Ridiculously Iconic Video Game Outfit Changes

1 year ago

“Fashion experiences itself as a right, the natural right of the present over the past,” critic Roland Barthes said in his 1967 book The Fashion System. Likewise, I’m saying that an outfit change can completely usurp a video game, pushing itself to the front of the crowd, making all previous outfits and vibes null.…

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Author
Ashley Bardhan

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